Who’s Who in the DCU- Blackest Night Dead Heroes Roll

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I really hate Geoff Johns. His stupid spreads in Blackest Night #1 have totally ruined my weekend and actually the last few days of last week, since I knew I had to tackle these questions. Let’s get it over with.

Oh, look, it’s Manolis with a question;

How about naming everyone in this spread?

Dead Heroes
Dead Heroes

Once again we’ve got a splash page full of dead people that are just begging to be identified. Let’s get to work, shall we?

Starting on Hal’s page we’ve got Elongated Man and Sue Dibny, He died in 52 and she was killed in Identity Crisis. C’mon, this one’s been dealt with to death.

Phantom Lady was killed in Infinite Crisis by the Society. Man what a brutal way to go.

Skyman was a member of Infinity Inc and was killed by a combination of Solomon Grundy and Mister Bones.

Tarantula had grown to a ripe old age before getting killed in an explosion commissioned by Blockbuster on the pages of Nightwing.

Al “The Atom” Pratt was killed during Zero Hour by Extant. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Al Pratt, so this was the second best thing to come out of Zero Hour.

Negative Woman was killed in Final Crisis Resist. She was just Valentina then, having given up the negative parts of her life. While she was part of the Doom Patrol, she died as part of Checkmate.

Wildcat II was part of that ill-fated attack on Eclipso in Eclipso. We lost a lot of good characters that issue.

Hawk & Dove died on separate occasions. Dove died during the original Crisis. Hawk was killed after he became Extant. He was killed when Atom Smasher put him on an airplane one second before it crashed and burst into flames.

The original Black Canary died as a result of radiation poisoning she got from fighting Aquarius. But really, c’mon, she was getting up there anyway. Only in the DCU is this death unexpected.

Vibe was a member of the Justice League “Detroit” era who was killed during Legends by Professor Ivo’s robots. He’s notable for a couple reasons. He’s a horrible “Transformers 2” level stereotype and he’s the first member of the JLA to die in the line of duty.

Wildebeest was killed during Infinite Crisis by Superboy-Prime. What else can you really say? Um, it was a member of the Teen Titan family in some capacity.

Amazing Man was killed by the second Mist on the pages of Starman. Amazing Man is, if I’m not mistaken the only member of that massacre who hasn’t been resurrected, despite James Robinson making such a resurrection incredibly easy.

Fury died while the Spectre was rampaging causing wreck in terms of magic. She and her husband Hector Hall ended up on a frozen mountain top. Freezing to death they took up their son’s offer to journey to the Dreaming and give up mortal life.

Osiris was killed in 52, by his best friend in the world. Sad, tragic story. Oddly enough I didn’t see that one coming.

Aquaman died on the pages of Aquaman. And no one noticed.

Kole died during the original Crisis. She was actually created so that she could be killed off.

Hector Hall who was once Silver Scarab then became Sandman and later became Dr. Fate died with Fury. He was a member of the JSA and Infinity Inc.

The Golden Age Sandman met his end in JSA Secret Files & Origins #1, sacrificing himself to thwart an evildoer. He was an awesome old dude who had a dignified death. Really classy affair.

Martian Manhunter was killed on the pages of Final Crisis.

Batman was too.

The original Steel was another member of the Justice League (Detroit) team that was attacked by Prof. Ivo. He was wounded badly enough to be placed in stasis. That is until Despero attacked the JLA compound and destroyed his safe haven.

Halfway there!

On the Barry half of the page you’ve Blue Beetle II who was killed in Countdown to Infinite Crisis. Some people were saddened by his death and some felt it was his finest hour. I’m in both categories.

Mr. America was gloriously killed early on in the current run of the Justice Society of America. Seriously, his death was really well handled.

Katma Tui was killed on the pages of Action Comics Weekly. She was married to one GL from Earth and was killed by the girlfriend of another GL from Earth.

Aztek met his end on the pages of JLA. But his book was a thrill to read.

The original Dr. Mid-Nite was killed by Extant during Zero Hour. I’m a much bigger fan of the current mantle holder than the original one.

Doctor Fate was killed passed away and passed the mantle to Eric Strauss.

Pantha was killed by Superboy-Prime during Infinite Crisis in a rather gruesome fashion. But I’m sort of glad she was killed off, because she represents such a dark period for the DCU.

Ronnie Raymond was killed by Shadow Thief during Identity Crisis. He was a typical underachiever. I’m a “Jason Rusch” man myself. I’m not a fan of Ronnie mostly because the Ronnie guys on DC’s boards got really ugly when Jason took over.

Airwave II died during Infinite Crisis. He’s a character who had some potential, but it was never utilized.

Celsius was part of the Doom Patrol, but died during Invasion. She was the first casualty of that crossover. Some people think that she died a crazy woman and some say she died a hero.

Pariah was killed by Alexander Luthor at the end of Villains United. It’s really sort of weird how he was killed considering he’d avoided death for 20 years.

Jade met her end during Infinite Crisis as well. She’s the daughter of Alan Scott and the ex of Kyle Rayner.

B’wanna Beast died on the pages of Animal Man, issue #47 to be exact. And recently his successor died as well too.

Dolphin was killed during the Final Crisis attack on Atlantis. I was a fan of her evolution on the pages of Aquaman. I liked how she hooked up with both Orin and Garth. She was a very interesting character.

The original Blue Beetle died too. Honestly, does anyone care?

Azrael was died in the final issue of his own title. I guess this means that he’s actually dead.

Both of the twins who took up the guise as Crimson Fox were killed. One was killed by the Mist on the pages of Starman and the second was killed on the pages of Justice League of America.

Aquagirl aka Tula was killed by Chemo during the original Crisis. And Aqualad/Tempest is still mourning her to this day.

Doctor Midnight II was killed during the aforementioned ill fated attack on Eclipso in Eclipso. She was a poorly conceived legacy character.

Vic Sage aka The Question succumbed to cancer at the end of 52.

Harbinger was killed on the pages Superman/Batman trying to protect Kara Zor-El. It was a subtle death and very few people took notice.

Bushido was killed by Superboy-Prime during his rampage on the pages of Infinite Crisis.

Black Condor was killed by the Society.

The original Tempest and member of the second incarnation of the Doom Patrol was killed by Nile Caulder on the pages of Doom Patrol.

Rocket Red #1 was killed when he went toe to toe with his friend Kilowog, the co-creator of the Rocket Red Brigade.

Now it’s sort of weird that Hal would show Barry some of the these people. I mean Osiris, Mr. America, Pantha, Aztek, Azrael, Amazing Man, Bushido, Black Condor, Phantom Lady, Wildebeest baby and Rocket Red #1 weren’t active when Barry as The Flash. So while I’m sure Barry, the class act that he is, mourns their passing, he doesn’t really have a connection with them.

Also I’m not sure that Barry’d be familiar with Wildcat II or Pariah since they both started during the Crisis and Barry was sort of busy then.

And then there’s the Blue Beetles and Vic Sage, who were on another Earth and Barry didn’t have any contact with.

But whatever, it’s a comic book.

I’m almost through with this and I can’t wait.

“The hum of the clock is a faraway place.”