The Young Children of Superhero Moms Don't Fare Well in the Comics

Today, we look at how often the young children of superhero moms suffer some pretty awful fates.

In Drawing Crazy Patterns, I spotlight at least five scenes/moments from within comic book stories that fit under a specific theme (basically, stuff that happens frequently in comics). Note that these lists are inherently not exhaustive. They are a list of five examples (occasionally I'll be nice and toss in a sixth). So no instance is "missing" if it is not listed. It's just not one of the five examples that I chose.

Superhero comic books are funny because on the one hand, people definitely like it when time theoretically passes, as it gives a strong background to the drama behind the various fights. You know, at the very basic level, Batman fighting against the Joker has a whole other meaning with Batman knowing all of the crazy stuff that the Joker has done over the years than if that stuff wasn't part of the continuity. So stuff has to happen, but at the same time, superhero comics also don't like to age characters too much, so stuff like children is often a major no no unless, like in the case of the Fantastic Four, the concept of the characters being a "family" is already baked into the concept. So those two impulses (move stuff forward while not aging the characters) have a major issue when it comes to the introduction of children. The children help move the story forward, but then writers feel that it ages the characters too much (or adds too much of a story anchor to them) and so they often get rid of them, and it typically ends up being pretty messed up for the kids in question. I actually thought of this last week, but I thought, "That's not a good topic for Mother's Day, Brian," so instead, here we go!

MERA'S LOSS OF HER SON DROVE HER INSANE

Back in the Silver Age, ideas would be introduced and come to fruition all in one issue, like Aquaman #23 (by Bob Haney and Nick Cardy), where we find out that Mera is pregnant...

and she gives birth later that issue!

Years later, in Adventure Comics #354 (by David Michelinie and Jim Aparo), Aquababy is killed by Black Manta...

This drives Mera insane, as she blames Aquaman for the death of their child, as seen in 1989's Aquaman #3 (by Keith Giffen, Robert Loren Fleming, Curt Swan and Al Vey)...

SCARLET WITCH'S LOSS OF HER SONS DROVE HER INSANE

In the final issue of the Steve Englehart, Richard Howell and Frank Springer maxiseries, Vision and Scarlet Witch, the Scarlet Witch gives birth...

to twin boys...

A few years later, the Vision and Scarlet Witch have joined the West Coast branch of the Avengers. John Byrne took over writing duties on the series (from Steve Englehart, actually) and right away, in West Coast Avengers #42 (by Byrne and inker Mike Machlan), Byrne throws things for a loop by having Vision kidnapped.

The Avengers search for Vision. During all of this, we get an interlude in West Coast Avengers #43 where the governess for the twins discovers something shocking...

At the end of the issue, the Avengers find the Vision but, well, it isn't good...

During the next issue, while Wanda is freaking out about the Vision, she gets a distress signal from the governess, and they check it out and well, Wanda is not happy to learn that the governess claims that the kids just vanished...

The next issue, the Vision returns, but his personality has been altered, and he no longer has feelings for Wanda. That same issue, Wanda gets a new governess and, well, guess what happens? Finally, in Avengers West Coast #51, the villain Master Pandemonium shows up, and he steals Wanda's twins and claims that they are the missing pieces of his soul. We get the horrific sight of the dude having two little babies as his hands, which continues into the next issue.

Finally, he's defeated, but the kids are now gone, as Agatha Harkness explains...

DARK!

Like Mera, this briefly drove Scarlet Witch insane (and then not so briefly, it drove her insane again years later, in Avengers Disassembled)...

DONNA TROY'S FAMILY WENT DOWN IN A BLOODBATH

During the classic New Teen Titans run by Marv Wolfman and George Perez, Donna Troy started dating Terry Long, a professor who was supposed to be "only" ten years older than her despite not looking 29 at all. In New Teen Titans #28 (by Wolfman, Perez and Romeo Tanghal), Donna met Terry's daughter with his first wife, Jennifer...

Many years later, after Donna and Terry married, Donna gave birth to a son, Robert in Team Titans #1 (by Wolfman, Kevin Maguire and Will Blyberg. Ignore the whole "adult version of her son trying to kill her after she gives birth" part)...

Donna and Terry then divorce and Donna loses custody of Robert.

In Wonder Woman #121 (by John Byrne), Terry, Robert and Jennifer all die in a car crash...

How freakin' dark is that?!

SIRYN FACED A SICKENING LOSS AFTER GIVING BIRTH

During a drunken night hanging out together, Jame Madrox and one of his duplicates had sex with both Siryn and M. Jamie was so drunk that he doesn't remember which one slept with each teammate. Well, in X-Factor #28 (by Peter David, Pablo Raimondi and Jeromy Cox), Siryn reveals that she is pregnant...

In X-Factor #39 (by David, Valentine De Landro, Craig Yeung and Cox), Siryn gives birth to her and Jamie's son and gives the baby to his father...

And...well..Jamie absorbed him...

As it turned out, it WAS the duplicate Madrox that Siryn slept with and apparently kids of duplicates can't exist on their own. BLEAK!

Siryn actually handles things as well as you could expect, breaking Jamie's finger and threatening to kill him...

JANE FOSTER'S FAMILY DIED PRETTY MUCH EXACTLY LIKE DONNA TROY'S FAMILY

In Thor #394 (by Roger Stern, Bob Hall and Tony DeZuniga), we learn that Thor's ex-girfriend, Jane Foster, now has a son with her husband, Keith Kincaid...

Like Donna Troy, she later divorced her husband and gave up custody of her son and in Mighty Thor #704 (by Jason Aaron, Russell Dauterman and Matthew Wilson), we learn in a FLASHBACK that her son and ex-husband ALSO died in a car accident...