6 Superhero Deaths We Knew Wouldn’t Stick

Death is a fixture of superhero comics. Once a taboo subject that would lead to compelling stories, the deaths of both major and minor characters have become par for the course. With fans making bets for how long it’ll take for the dearly departed to return, death has become a largely a normalized plot device. While very seldom the death of superheroes stick, some characters return quicker than others much to the dismay of a lot of readers wanting a lasting impact with repercussions. Whether it was for a decade or as little as a few months, there are characters we all knew from the outset simply wouldn’t stay dead.

Becoming popularized by the infamous “The Death of Superman” storyline, many characters would follow suit with their own “Death of” titles. Whether it’s for an upcoming storyline or for a sales boost, the tactic has overstayed its welcome as a plot device and here are six instances of big deaths that we knew wouldn’t last.

1) Superman

Starting off strong with the one that kickstarted the trend, “The Death of Superman” was one of DC’s biggest storylines of the 90’s. This is the best story on the list and it makes sense why. Introducing a new extreme threat for the Man of Steel to stop and die in the process of doing so gave DC a huge hit. Being in the speculator market era with various polybagged covers, it was a huge event to sell to everyone with one drawback: did anyone actually think he was gone for good? It would be insane to kill him off for good.

With weird happenings all over Metropolis and the Fortress of Solitude, the writing was on the wall. Follow that with the emergence of four replacement “supermen”, the real was bound to return and he would. In hindsight seeing the sales boost from this it’s no wonder they followed suit with “Knightfall” over in Batman despite not killing him. This story however works for Superman and Superman only while everything other major hero death since has felt cheap for the most part.

2) Batman

In the events of Grant Morrison’s Final Crisis event, Batman was seemingly killed by Darkseid in issue #6. The death was a bit of an outlier as, for a moment, It did seem possible that Batman really had perished but somehow Batman would survive. Instead of striking Batman with his omega beams, Darkseid instead used the omega sanction which sent him back through time.He also created a clone of Batman and the charred remains were the skeleton the audience saw making people believe the hero was dead. But, this is Batman, one of the biggest heroes in popular culture so we all knew this woudln’t last. It would be revealed one issue later that Batman was alive and stuck with some cavemen in the past. He would of course return properly a little over a year later.

3) Wolverine

Written in 2015 during the no X-Men or Fantastic Four era of Marvel Comics, Wolverine was killed off in The Death of Wolverine. Through losing his healing factor and fighting off one of the men who gave him adamantium, Wolverine was suffocated as he was covered in the molten metal. It was a tragic and controversial end for Logan that was not super popular. However as Secret Wars was on the horizon we would have two Wolverine titles during that time in the form of All-New Wolverine following Laura Kinney as Wolverine and a new Old Man Logan title with a version of Logan still around. That alone was a clue that it was only a matter of time before Wolverine returned properly — and he did. In 2018 fans would get their wish as Logan came back from the dead and has been back to his usual self since then.

4) Ms. Marvel

In an attempt to save Mary Jane Watson, Ms. Marvel was killed as she shape shifted into Mary Jane. It was a tragic moment for fans of Kamala Khan who in her short time was a very popular hero. Kamala’s death was a huge loss to all who loved her and for many, Ms. Marvel was one of the best Marvel creations in recent years. Until they turned around and brought her back to life as a mutant just a few months later. Previously an Inhuman, it was the character’s co-creator G. Willow Wilson who revealed she was supposed to be a mutant from the start but was denied due to the mutant embargo. Killing off — and then bringing back — Kamala paved the way for the character to get that pivotal reset of sorts. She stayed dead for a month or two until it was announced she was back.

This particular death was met with a lot of concerns with the big one being “what was that point?” It was revealed a bit prior that Wilson’s intent for Kamala to be a mutant is why she became a mutant in the Ms. Marvel television series and to make the comics reflect that Kamala was killed for the span of a week in the universe, give or take. Now that she’s back and an X-Men all is good but the event itself still leaves a sour taste for many, particularly since it’s a death that everyone knew wouldn’t really stick.

5) The Human Torch (Johnny Storm)

In 2011 Marvel did the unthinkable and killed the Human Torch in Jonathan Hickman’s legendary run. Acting as a climax of sorts to the story, Johnny would sacrifice himself to save the rest of his family from a horde of Negative Zone creatures. With no way to save himself, the loveable goof of the team was gone. With that as the end to issue #587, the series saw the aftermath his death and how everyone grieved in #588 which ended the series for the time.

While Spider-Man joined in place of the Human Torch at Johnny’s request, there’s no way Marvel actually killed the fan favorite right? You would be correct, so much so that Johnny never actually died and was still stuck in the Negative Zone being revived constantly. While the characters believed him to have died, we the audience didn’t. The lack of believability ultimately lessened the emotional weight of losing the beloved member of the Fantastic Four for fans.

6) Literally any member of the X-Men

Who hasn’t died in the X-Men? Almost everyone in the X-Men at the very least once. If you’re Jean Grey, that number is too high. At any point in the X-Men’s history someone will be dead or recently returning from dead, it’s that common for them. What’s a devastating action for any character that dies and returns is tough as is, but for the X-Men that’s what they call Wednesday. It has become so popular they figured out a way to revive themselves constantly when they were in Krakoa. It’s gotten so ridiculous that no X-Men death has any real stakes anymore. Fans just don’t buy it, and for good reason.

What are some of the other death in comics you know wouldn’t stick? Let us know down in the comments.