In Comics, Death Rarely Means Goodbye
Comic books have killed off some of their biggest heroes in dramatic, emotional, and sometimes downright brutal ways, but longtime readers know not to start mourning too quickly. When a character has decades of history, an instantly recognizable costume, and their name printed across the cover, staying dead is often harder than dying in the first place. Some came back within a few years while others barely stayed gone long enough for fans to process what happened, but these 20 deaths had readers wondering how the character would return rather than whether they would.
1. Superman
Superman's 1992 battle with Doomsday was presented as one of the biggest superhero deaths ever published, ending with an exhausted Clark Kent collapsing after saving Metropolis. The Death of Superman became a huge cultural event, but permanently getting rid of DC's most famous superhero was always hard to imagine. Sure enough, several would-be replacement Supermen arrived before Clark eventually returned and reclaimed the cape.
2. Batman
During Final Crisis, Darkseid seemingly killed Batman with his Omega Beams, leaving behind what appeared to be Bruce Wayne's burned body. DC even gave him a funeral while Dick Grayson stepped into the Batman role, but Bruce's absence never felt very permanent. The story eventually revealed that he'd actually been blasted backward through time rather than killed for good.
3. Captain America
Steve Rogers was shot outside a courthouse following the events of Civil War, giving Marvel one of its biggest shock moments of the 2000s. Bucky Barnes took over as Captain America, and the comics spent plenty of time exploring what the Marvel Universe looked like without Steve. Even then, few readers expected one of the company's most important heroes to stay gone forever, and he eventually returned after being revealed to have been displaced through time.
4. Spider-Man
Marvel appeared to kill Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man #700 after Doctor Octopus switched minds with him and Peter died inside Otto's failing body. Otto then took over Peter's life as the "Superior Spider-Man," determined to prove he could do the superhero job better. It was certainly a bold change, but convincing fans that Peter Parker was permanently dead while someone else walked around in his body was always going to be difficult.
5. Wolverine
Wolverine's healing factor had carried him through so many impossible situations that Marvel needed something unusually extreme to kill him. In 2014's Death of Wolverine, Logan lost his regenerative abilities before being encased in molten adamantium. Even that didn't convince many readers that one of the X-Men's most popular characters had truly reached the end, and Wolverine returned a few years later.
6. Jean Grey
Jean Grey has become so closely associated with death and resurrection that another apparent demise almost feels expected. Her most famous death came during The Dark Phoenix Saga, when she sacrificed herself on the moon rather than risk becoming Dark Phoenix again. Marvel later revealed that the real Jean had been recovering inside a cocoon while the Phoenix Force had taken her form, kicking off a long history of increasingly complicated returns.
7. The Flash
Barry Allen's sacrifice in Crisis on Infinite Earths lasted much longer than the average superhero death, which gave it more emotional weight than most. He disappeared while destroying the Anti-Monitor's antimatter cannon, allowing Wally West to become the main Flash for more than two decades. Still, when your powers involve breaking the rules of time and reality, there's always a way back, and Barry finally returned during Final Crisis.
8. Green Arrow
Oliver Queen seemingly died after a bomb attached to his arm exploded aboard an airplane, with Superman unable to rescue him without amputating the trapped limb. Connor Hawke then became Green Arrow, keeping the identity alive while Oliver remained gone. Considering the increasingly strange ways comic book characters had already returned from death, however, it wasn't too surprising when Oliver was eventually resurrected through a storyline involving Hal Jordan.
9. Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman was killed during John Byrne's run after the demon Neron severely injured her, and she eventually died from her wounds. Instead of simply disappearing, Diana became the Goddess of Truth while her mother Hippolyta took over as Wonder Woman. Turning the title's main hero into a literal deity was certainly dramatic, but it also made it fairly easy to imagine Diana eventually returning to mortal life.
10. Thor
Thor has faced several apparent endings over the years, but his death during the 2004 Ragnarok storyline was supposed to close the door on both him and Asgard. The Norse gods vanished after Thor broke the endless cycle that repeatedly forced them to experience Ragnarok. Marvel even canceled his ongoing series, but keeping one of the Avengers' biggest names unavailable forever never seemed especially realistic, and Thor returned when his solo title relaunched in 2007.
11. Professor X
Cyclops killing Charles Xavier during Avengers vs. X-Men was meant to permanently reshape the relationship between Marvel's mutants. Xavier stayed dead for several years, and his absence became a major source of guilt, anger, and resentment throughout the X-Men titles. Still, psychic powers, cloning, resurrection, and alternate bodies are all pretty common in his corner of Marvel, so his eventual comeback wasn't exactly difficult to picture.
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12. Nightcrawler
Nightcrawler sacrificed himself while protecting Hope Summers from Bastion during the Second Coming storyline. His funeral gave the X-Men a genuinely emotional loss, especially because Kurt's optimism had long made him one of the team's moral centers. Of course, when a superhero universe contains actual versions of Heaven and Hell, death doesn't necessarily stop someone from returning to the action, and Nightcrawler eventually escaped the afterlife.
13. Human Torch
Johnny Storm seemingly gave his life while holding back an enormous wave of creatures from the Negative Zone in Fantastic Four #587. His teammates were devastated, and Spider-Man temporarily joined the group as they reorganized into the Future Foundation. Readers didn't have to wait particularly long for the twist, since Johnny was eventually revealed to have survived before being repeatedly killed and resurrected by Annihilus.
14. Hawkeye
Scarlet Witch's unraveling powers threw the Avengers into chaos during Avengers Disassembled, and Hawkeye ended up sacrificing himself after his exploding arrows caught fire. Clint Barton flew into a Kree warship and appeared to die in the resulting explosion. It looked like a heroic final moment, but with reality itself being manipulated throughout the storyline, his later resurrection was much easier to believe than the idea that he'd stay dead.
15. Colossus
Colossus sacrificed himself to cure the Legacy Virus, injecting himself with a treatment that previously only became effective when the infected patient died. His death saved countless mutants and gave a long-running X-Men storyline an emotional conclusion. Years later, though, the team discovered that Colossus had actually been revived and was being secretly held prisoner by the alien Ord.
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16. Cyclops
Cyclops died after being exposed to Terrigen Mist during the growing conflict between mutants and Inhumans, although readers initially learned about his fate through a deliberately misleading version of events. Emma Frost created the illusion that Scott was still alive long enough to transform him into a symbol of mutant resistance. With the X-Men constantly dealing with clones, alternate timelines, resurrection, and reality-changing events, betting on Scott Summers staying dead was never particularly safe.
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17. The Punisher
Frank Castle has survived enough impossible situations that killing him permanently was always going to be a challenge, but Marvel has certainly tried. One especially strange storyline had Frank die and return as a supernatural agent fighting evil on behalf of Heaven. He eventually returned to ordinary human life as well, proving that not even the afterlife could keep the Punisher from finding another mission.
18. Deadpool
Marvel wiped out Deadpool and much of his supporting cast when the main Marvel Universe collided with the Ultimate Universe at the beginning of 2015's Secret Wars. The timing alone made the death hard to take seriously, especially since Wade Wilson had become one of Marvel's most popular characters by then. Once the universe was rebuilt, Deadpool returned along with nearly everyone else, making his death feel more like a brief interruption than a permanent ending.
19. Doctor Strange
Doctor Strange's murder became the central mystery of 2021's The Death of Doctor Strange, with Marvel putting his supposed fate directly in the title. A younger version of Stephen Strange then appeared to investigate the death of his future self, meaning readers were never exactly dealing with a story that lacked Doctor Strange. Considering magic, alternate dimensions, and time travel are routine parts of his world, some kind of path back to life seemed inevitable from the beginning.
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20. Magneto
Magneto has seemingly died so many times that longtime X-Men readers have learned to be skeptical whenever Marvel declares him gone. He's survived apparent deaths involving explosions, collapsing structures, and enormous battles, often resurfacing once the story has moved on. His importance to mutant history, combined with the endless resurrection possibilities available in comics, means even a convincing Magneto death usually leaves readers wondering when he'll show up again.
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