The mothers of superheroes, and even some villains don't have much representation when it comes to comic books. Perhaps they get a few panels, but sadly, it's the fathers who are often seen as the most significant parents to their children's heroic personalities. But the truth is that many mothers of superheroes have been incredibly important to their children's mythology and lore, despite being so underrepresented. So I've decided to take a look at five of the most significant mothers of superheroes in order to show just how important they really are in the grand scheme of comics. You might be suprised by how influential many of them have been.
Doctor Doom may be a malevolent dictator/evil genius hellbent on world domination, but like most people from eastern Europe, he’s really just a mama’s boy. Doom has spent most of his life trying to resurrect his deceased gypsy mother from Hell, which has mostly always ended up blowing up in his face — literally. The entire basis for his and Reed Richard’s long-time feud began when Reed tried assisting him in an experiment to open up a doorway to the underworld, but the experiment went wrong and Doom’s face was irreversibly scarred. Naturally, he assumed it must have been Reed’s fault, and he hasn’t forgiven him since. To be fair, Doom was trying to open a portal to Hell, so maybe it’s for the best.
Peter Parker’s mother Mary, along with his father Richard, has been permanently dead for almost all of Peter’s life, usually the result of an accident. Of course, this being comic books she and Peter’s father have also been alleged Cold War spies who were killed by the Red Skull, as well as resurrected from the dead as Russian robots built by Norman Osborn. However, the less said about any of that, the better. Parker’s mother, as well as his father, have a rocky road being portrayed in comics, as well as on film, but they’ve always been best as simply the victims of a tragedy unrelated to Peter's super heroics. This pattern of personal tragedy is one of the ways Peter Parker is so relatable to people as a superhero, and adding anything that messes with that just ruins it.
With her (in)famous pearl necklace, Martha Wayne is one of comics' most well-known deceased mothers. She and her husband were Bruce’s whole world, then they got shot, becoming the most overplayed deaths in comic book history. This may sound cruel, but it might be for the best. In Flashpoint — which, coincidentally, another deceased mother was partly responsible for, but we’ll get to that later — she ended up becoming the Joker with her husband as Batman. It should also be noted that in the Earth 1 version of Batman, it is suggested that she may be a descendant of Amadeus Arkham, founder of Gotham’s most infamous home for the criminally insane, which makes it sounds like insanity runs in the family. Regardless of any of that though, what she did do most significantly was help to instill a great sense of empathy in her son, which continues to guide him to this day.
Lara was Superman’s biological mother whom, like her husband, was a brilliant Kryptonian scientist — overshadowed by her husband’s brilliance, naturally — who helped build the rocket that sent young Kal-El to Earth. Then, like all mothers in the DC universe, she died horribly. Luckily for Kal, he was found by the Kents, and got a new mom named Martha. Hey, wait a minute - Martha? Wow, Batman and Superman’s moms have the same name! Isn’t that weird? Hold on… maybe that’s why they’ve always been allies! What if the greatest superheroes of all time teamed up just because their moms had the same name? Forget about justice, making the world a better place, or because it makes strategic sense to fight a common adversary - their moms have the same name, that has to be why they get along so well! HAHAHA! Just kidding, that would be stupid. Anyway, she, unfortunately, gets overshadowed by her husband quite a bit, even though she was supposedly just as brilliant as he was. But luckily she's managed to grab a bit more of the spotlight in recent years.
Atlanna was a member of the Atlantis royal family whose doomed love for the human Arthur Curry gave birth to DC’s most misunderstood hero, Aquaman. After saving and then falling in love with the lighthouse keeper, she died, or lived and was then murdered by her other son and Aquaman’s half-brother, Oceanmaster. Sadly, little is known about Atlanna, except that Arthur takes after her the most. DC has tried to give her a bit more of a backstory in recent years as a proud warrior for Atlantis, but hopefully they can do more with her in the future, as she seems like a potentially fascinating character. At least she didn't come back as a Russian robot spy (yes, I’m still ticked off about that).
Out of all the deceased mothers in comic books, none may be as significant as that of Nora Allen. Like many deceased mothers, her death has been one of Barry’s biggest motivations in his career as The Flash, but as a comic book reader, I couldn’t help but wonder why Flash had never tried using the Speed Force’s ability to send him through time as a way of saving her. We got our answer with 'Flashpoint,' where after the Flash does just that, it throws the entire DC universe into disarray, creating a dark reality where Superman is a government experiment, Wonder Woman and Aquaman are at war, Batman kills, and worst of all, Cyborg is the world’s greatest hero! Eventually Flash went back in time once again to stop himself from saving his mom, thus paving the way for the New 52.
