Top 10 Times Superheroes Quit
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Hey, nobody said saving the world would be an easy gig. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the Top 10 Times Superheroes Quit.
For this list, we’ll be looking at the most memorable moments in comic book history when our beloved heroes tried to hang up their capes, tights and super suits.
#10: Spider-Woman Loses Her Powers
Introduced in 1977, Spider-Woman was originally committed to the page as a simple utilitarian move to secure the rights to the name before some other publisher thought to do the same. After she was killed and subsequently resurrected, Drew lost her powers as a result of the spells Dr. Strange had used to heal her, causing her to retire from the superhero game. Of course, it’s hard to keep a good hero down, and her retirement was really just her pivoting to work as a Private Investigator as her powers began to return slowly; she even teamed up with Jessica Jones for a time. She would eventually regain her powers fully and take up the mantle of Spider-Woman once more.
#9: Steel Passes the Mantle
Superman is a huge source of inspiration, both to readers and for people within the comics themselves; John Henry Irons is an example of the latter. After the death of Superman, Irons was one of the people who stepped up in an attempt to fill the void left behind. A genius weapons engineer, he became the superhero Steel by making himself a powered suit or armor. During the events of the "Our Worlds at War" storyline, however, the alien Entropy Aegis armor nearly cost him his soul and life. After this, he retired, building a set of armor for his niece, Natasha Irons, who took up the mantle.
#8: Plastic Man Looks for Love
It’s gotta be tough being a hero with an admittedly silly set of powers like... being able to stretch your body. But such is the hand that life dealt to Plastic Man, the DC equivalent of Marvel’s Mr. Fantastic. A comedic figure with a smart mouth, Plastic Man was always a B-lister, which is apparently why he hung up the spandex. In the Brave and the Bold #95, it’s learned that Plastic Man retired to find love. Spoiler: it didn’t work out. And it was only a matter of time until he once again became Plastic Man.
#7: Batgirl Runs for Office
Long before she lost the use of her legs after being attacked by the Joker, Barbara Gordon left the mantle of Batgirl by choice - for politics! In the backup story of 1972’s Detective Comics #424, the aptly titled “Batgirl’s Last Case”, Gordon foils a criminal attempt to derail her shot as Gotham’s Congressional representative. They even go so far as to plan an assassination. She ultimately overcomes these criminal elements, however, and the issue ends with her boarding a plane to Washington. For a number of years, this would remain her primary focus, only occasionally donning her suit when criminal activity or her ties to the Bat-family required it. When her re-election campaign became secondary to crimefighting, however, she returned to being Batgirl full time.
#6: Hal Jordan Tells the Green Lantern Corps to “Shove It”
No… we are not referring to the time he spent as the maniacal Parallax. That’s not retiring from being a superhero - that’s turning to the dark side. In 1984’s dramatically titled story "Take This Job - - And Shove It!", Hal Jordan officially quit the Green Lantern Corps. His reasoning? The strain that it was putting on his personal life. It’s hard enough balancing earthly super-heroics and relationships, but when you’re responsible for an entire sector of space… it’s nearly impossible to keep the romance alive. And so, in the name of his love for Carol Ferris, he called it quits. This retirement would only last for about 18 issues, but this provided a window for John Stewart to join the ranks.
#5: Captain America Drops His Shield
This man lost in time bleeds red, white and blue. But after devoting more than one lifetime to the pursuit of justice in the name of his country and the people who inhabit it, you can imagine the devastation he must’ve felt when he found out just how corrupt his country had become. In Captain America #175, Steve Rogers discovers that the nefarious Secret Empire’s influence goes all the way up to an official at the top of the United States government. Disheartened, Steve walked away, but being a hero through and through, it wasn’t long before his innate desire to do good saw him return to super-heroics - first as Nomad and eventually as Captain America again.
#4: Iron Man’s Drinking
There are very few villains that Tony Stark can’t outwit or outfight, but the brilliant inventor and natural leader can also be his own worst enemy - especially when alcohol comes into the picture. This wasn’t the first time that Tony had dealt with “the demon in the bottle”, but in 1983’s Iron Man #170, his drinking finally forced someone else to step up and don the Iron Man armor, and so longtime best friend and ally James Rhoades took over the mantle. It would be a full 30 issues and two years before Tony would once again suit up, making Iron Man #200 the start of a new era.
#3: Batman Hangs It Up
We could have included the time that Azrael took up the mantle of Batman, but we think that Bane breaking Bruce Wayne’s back falls squarely into the category of “forced retirement”. So instead, we’ve chosen to take a look at Earth-2 Batman, who retired in a way far more serious and long-lasting than most of his peers on our list today. In this reality, Batman and Catwoman were successfully married, only for Catwoman to lose her life in a firefight. Devastated, Bruce hung up the cape and cowl for good, turning his energies to fighting crime legally as the police commissioner. This version of Bruce Wayne would not return as Batman until a major threat forced him to, and this battle would ultimately cost him his life.
#2: Superman Ditches the Double Life
Almost all heroes are driven by altruism - a deep drive to help others even at great personal cost. But there is arguably no hero with a stronger moral compass than the Man of Steel. As such, this particular chapter in his history always stands out as a notable deviation from his usual priorities. In the mid-70s, Clark began experiencing strange power fluctuations. When dressed as Superman, it was business as usual. But when he was wearing his civilian guise, he was left with the strength of a normal man. Clark sees it as a sign that he can’t lead a double life anymore. And so for a brief time, he chooses to just be Clark Kent, even when there are signs of trouble.
#1: Spider-Man No More
Most heroes with a secret identity struggle to balance the responsibilities of super-heroics with a healthy personal life. But there’s perhaps no hero who has more obvious difficulty with this double life than our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, Peter Parker. And it’s been an issue since pretty much the very beginning. The cover of 1967’s Amazing Spider-Man #50 bears the dramatic declaration“Spider-Man no more”. In its pages, sure enough, Parker walks away from his career as a superhero, finally breaking under the pressure of J. Jonah Jameson’s smear campaign, coupled with the illness of his Aunt May. Of course, he’d be back at it before the end of the issue, but the story still holds up, even years later!
