The Last Words Of Every Fallen DC Movie Hero And Villain

The DC universe can be a dark place. Batman's crusade for justice is catalyzed by his parents' demise. Superman arrives on Earth because his entire planet explodes. Martian Manhunter flees to Earth as one of the last survivors of a civil war. The greatness of DC heroes lies in their tireless fight against this sort of injustice and misery: These crusaders struggle to end the endemic evils of society as readily as they face the darkness within themselves. Even DC's villains struggle to do what's right now and again, and often aren't all bad. Harvey Dent, for example, is a pure soul made evil by unimaginable misfortune. Sometimes heroes are villainous, and sometimes, the bad guys do good — this murkiness keeps the DC universe unique, engaging, and meaningful.

Sometimes, however, a character's journey ends in death –  especially when it comes to DC movies. More than a few do-gooders, ne'er-do-wells, and all those in between meet their maker in these films, often uttering an unforgettable final line before they do so. These are the last words said by every DC hero and villain to have met their doom.

As dangerous as General Ludendorff is to the world, especially through his collaboration with Dr. Isabel Maru, AKA Dr. Poison, the greatest threat in Wonder Woman is otherworldly. Ares, the Greek god of war, has been insidiously propagating destruction for a long time. He subtly implants ideas of war in the minds of humans, but insists that ultimately it is they who choose violence, due to their intrinsic corruption.

Diana, in contrast, believes that the most inherent quality of humanity is love. As much as the world might forget this truth, it is the most important virtue, no matter what terrors are visited upon the planet. As she and Ares duke it out, he tries to take advantage of her grief over losing Steve Trevor. Diana asserts that she is devoted to her belief in love, despite the pain of Steve's death. "Then I will destroy you," Ares responds. These words are his last: She redirects his lightning back at him, just as she redirects grief into love.

In Man of Steel, Faora, Zod's loyal second-in-command, dies on the ship that crashes into the Black Zero prison craft. This collision opens a black hole that sucks Faora and the crew into the Phantom Zone. Everyone involved is presumed dead from the crash, or at least trapped in the void with no hope of return. Faora's final words arrive long before this moment, however, when General Zod orders her to take command of his ship. "Yes, sir," she replies, a flawlessly loyal soldier to the end.

The unofficial hero of the day is Colonel Hardy. He's been skeptical about Superman, due to his association with the threat of hostile aliens, but he's slowly begun to respect the Man of Steel after witnessing his heroism. Hardy plays a central role in Lois and Superman's plan to use Superman's ship against the Black Zero, from which Zod has unleashed his gravity beam on the city.

As Hardy flies Kal-El's ship to Metropolis, Faora hijacks it. Hardy realizes that the only way to stop Zod is to sacrifice himself. In the moments before their deaths, Hardy repeats a line Faora said to him in an earlier encounter: "A good death is its own reward." Going out the way they subsequently do probably isn't what she meant.

There are two (with an asterisk) major deaths in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, but no real last words. Though he's a huge villain, Doomsday doesn't exactly have last words, because, well, he doesn't really speak. But actions speak louder than words, and threatening to destroy Superman and the world as we know it is a pretty substantial action. So we'll chalk that up as his final utterance.

Superman ends this film in a coffin, but considering that he either gets revived or was never dead at all ... well, suffice it to say, his "last words" in this film aren't actually his last words. But part of the significance of last words comes from who they are spoken to, and the urgency of that final conversation. This tension is evident in what he thinks will be his last words, which are to Lois Lane: "I love you. This is my world. You are my world." Immensely meaningful stuff, considering that he knows exactly what it's like to lose your whole world. Luckily for this world, he comes back.

Incubus is an inter-dimensional creature of very few words. His most notable line comes long before his death: "But they worshipped us. We were gods to them." This line points to Enchantress and Incubus' past, during which they were worshipped as deities by ancient Latin Americans. Ultimately, however, the sibling gods were betrayed by their subjects and sealed away in caves for thousands of years.

Enchantress awakens her brother in order to restore their worshipped status among humanity by destroying the world's defenses. Incubus is tasked with guarding her lair while she amasses her powers. He's a fearsome fighter and a capable commander of Enchantress' enslaved army. His final line is, in fact, an order to one of her mindless drones: "Bring me my sister's heart." He and his sister are inextricably bound up in each other — it's only right his final line acknowledges this.

Once Incubus attains his true form by absorbing a number of unfortunate humans, he is easily able to annihilate all the military forces that mass against him. He is, for all earthly intents and purposes, as powerful as a god -– and a devil is the only thing that can stop him. He dies when he is lured into the blast zone of a bomb by El Diablo. As Incubus is a power source for Enchantress, his death weakens her as well. The twin gods rise in power together, but their connection and scheme also causes them to fall.

El Diablo is primed to offer the ultimate sacrifice, because he has already done the emotional work of coming to terms with his accidental murder of his family. When Enchantress telepathically offers to fulfill the Suicide Squad's deepest desires, he alone is able to power through his longing for his wife and children. He's grieved them healthily and fully already, and so he can let them go.

A powerhouse emotionally, physically, and supernaturally, El Diablo commits to a final battle to destroy Incubus. "It's on, b*tch," Diablo sneers at the beginning of their showdown, in Spanish: "Ora sí, cabrón." In a way, he is issuing this challenge not just to Incubus, but to himself, to access the full extent of his powers and transcend his past in order to secure the future of the world. Though in comic book canon, his powers arise from his being the host of a spirit of vengeance, he saves the world in this movie by embracing the opposite ethos. As the contest progresses and he lures Incubus into the trap set by the Squad, he cries in English, "Blow it!" in reference to the explosive planted underneath the brawl. At this moment, he realizes that he has to go down in order to vanquish Incubus once and for all. Just before the two get blown up, El Diablo utters some pretty great last words: "Ya chingaste, wey," or, "Now you're screwed."

Sid Sivana's story in 2019's Shazam! ends not in a showdown with a hero, but with his own brother Thaddeus. Sid's abuses towards his brother are motivated by grief and resentment: Thaddeus had, as a young boy, been selected by the wizard Shazam to become his champion, but was then rejected due to impurity of heart. Confused and hurt, Thaddeus has an angry outburst while in the car with his father and brother, causing them to crash and his father to become crippled. Sid, who goes on to rise in the ranks of their father's company, blames Thaddeus for the tragedy and tortures him from that day forward.

The last words of Thaddeus' tormentor are representative of his arrogant and abusive temperament. When Thaddeus, boasting newfound powers, shows up to a board of directors' meeting to confront his father, Sid snarls, "Don't make me throw you out of here, Thad. You don't need to make a scene." After this, Thad throws Sid out the window instead. This ill-fated familial encounter serves as a foil to the closeness that lies between Billy Batson's family, and the superpower they end up sharing.

Black Mask serves as a something of a second Joker to Harley Quinn: His patterns of intimidation and abuse very nearly break her, in addition to threatening the women around her. After engaging in a tense exchange with him as he lurks in the shadows, during which Harley realizes that "Mr. J" figures are not her protectors, but her tormentors, she tries and fails to shoot Black Mask, hitting a decoy instead. He taunts, "That was super embarrassing. You think you can beat me? You're a f*ckin' moron."

But Harley isn't the same Harley any longer. She's undergone major changes in the way she thinks about herself and what she deserves. In an apparent admission of defeat, Harley tells Cassandra that she made her want to be a less terrible person — pretty much the opposite of the impact the Joker or Black Mask have ever had on her.

Roman's reply? "Ew." Not very iconic for final words, but a fitting summation of the condescension Harley faces. His final dismissal means nothing to the two young women, however — especially since Cassandra has planted a bomb on him.  Harley kicks the villain off the bridge as the grenade detonates.

Though the live-action Batman films sustain plenty of casualties on the villains' side, most of them are minor characters. This makes sense: Batman's no-kill rule is central to his identity, and has deep roots in his violent origins. The Joker, as a result, rarely dies in any Batman-related media. Killing is a line that can't be crossed by the Dark Knight –- killing the Joker would symbolize the ultimate violation of this rule. Batman has reflected before on how he can't  ever kill the Joker because he wants to so badly: He knows that if he gave into that impulse, he might not be able to pull back.

The death of Jack Nicholson's Joker in the 1989 Batman movie is, appropriately enough, preceded by these words: "Sometimes I just kill myself." It truly is a demise of his own design: All Batman does is tether him to a gargoyle, and the Joker's attempted escape leads to his fatal fall. Thus, Batman keeps to his code ... sort of. As we see in the next moment, when he saves himself and Vicki Vale from plummeting to the ground, Batman had another grappling hook on him. Could he have saved the Joker? Would ruining the punchline have been worth it? Oh well. At least he still hasn't technically killed anyone.

Bane appears to have every advantage against Batman in The Dark Knight Rises. His stated goal is to destroy Gotham and force Batman to watch, only allowing him the mercy of death once he's seen everything he loves go up in flames. But vengeful mass homicide is complicated. Eventually, it becomes inconvenient to keep Batman alive, even though the final stages aren't yet been executed. This change of plan is a small sacrifice for Bane, who doesn't seem overwhelmingly bothered when he tells Batman, "We both know I have to kill you now. You'll just have to imagine the fire." But that never happens, because he's shot in the chest by Selina Kyle and the Batpod's cannon.

The image of Gotham burning is a bitter threat to this film's Batman, who has watched his name burn for eight years to keep Gotham standing. But Bats will weather the fires of the city's hatred forever, if it means that Gotham is safe from the flames. This strength is one that Bane can never match, and never completely kill.

Though the main villains in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice weren't human, there were certainly a couple of earthly adversaries who committed their share of atrocities and in general made things difficult for the good guys. For much of the film, two of the most vicious of these, African terrorist General Amajagh and Russian mercenary Anatoli Knyazev, were working together, and their last words have a similar ring to them.

Though he didn't have as big of a role in this film, Knyazev is the alter ego of a DC Comics supervillain known as KGBeast. Fans are hoping that somehow or other, the character will get another chance in the DC Cinematic Universe that explores the breadth of his presence in the comics: Multiple people have pointed out that the original character is cybernetically enhanced, and that perhaps these modifications could have been a result of the explosion that, at least as far as Batman v. Superman viewers know, killed him.

Batman shot the flamethrower Knyazev was holding, torching the mercenary and rescuing Martha Kent, after Knyazev warned, "I'll kill her. Believe me, I'll do it!" Batman stated that he did believe him, and in response destroyed both Knyazev and the flamethrower he would have used to kill Martha.

In a world like Marvel's that sometimes involves immortality, supernatural powers, and magical manipulation of reality, death can come with an asterisk. Bodies are swapped, essences are transferred, torches are passed... Dead or alive status can get a little confusing. But when a character exits the scene for good, you can usually pick up on the intent, and the old Wizard Shazam dissolving into dust after transferring his powers to Billy Batson is as good an indication as any. Shazam lives on, but the old wizard is gone.

Plus, his last words come in the form of an extremely quotable speech, give background on the magic and age-old conflicts at play, and lay the groundwork for Billy to become the hero he is meant to be. After explaining that his brothers and sisters have all been wiped out, Shazam finally convinces the young boy to speak his name and become the new Champion. "Carry my name," he instructs, "and with it you carry all my powers. The wisdom of Solomon. The strength of Hercules. The stamina of Atlas. The power of Zeus. The courage of Achilles. And the speed of Mercury!" Sounds like a good deal. And Billy gets to skip puberty and become a deep-voiced, deified superhero.

"You have been transformed to your full potential, Billy Batson," Shazam informs him just before he crumbles to dust. "With your heart, unlock your greatest power. The thrones of our brothers and sisters await!"

Since Rorschach discovers him dead (and ends up being framed for his murder), Moloch's last words on film come significantly before his actual demise must have occurred, in a previous meeting between the two men. Rorschach confronts Moloch, a retired supervillain, at his apartment, demanding to know why Moloch attended the funeral of the Comedian's civilian alter ego — and how Moloch knew they were the same person.

Moloch's account details an encounter with a drunken and unmasked Comedian who invaded Moloch's bedroom late at night. A former adversary of the Comedian, Moloch feared that he was there to kill him, but the Comedian just wanted to talk. In this conversation, the Comedian foreshadowed his own final words, repeating both "It's all a joke" and "Mother, forgive me."

Seeing that Rorschach was satisfied enough with, if not entirely convinced by, his story, Moloch asks if things are settled between them. Rorschach rummages through one of his drawers and finds an illegal apricot-pit-derived medicine known as Amygdalin. Moloch begs him not to confiscate it, saying that he's trying any treatment for his cancer. "You know the kind you eventually get better from?" he asks. "That ain't the kind I got."

Moloch is later found with a gunshot wound to the head, but perhaps the Comedian was right in choosing him to confide in: Both men had somewhat resigned themselves to having their days numbered, even before they were murdered.