Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Comic Book "Deaths" ???

well all know most characters that "die" !!! eventually come back !!! [ well almost all .... ]

so !!!

1. who had the shortest death ???

2. who remained that way the longest ???

3. who's died the most times ???

Matthew.

1. ULtra Boy (the reflecto saga)
2. Bucky (still dead)
3. Jean Grey

1. the Immortal Man from the Forgotten Heroes

2. Rita Farr, Elasti-Girl

3. the Immortal Man from the Forgotten Heroes

Steve Trevor probably holds the record for supporting character who has died the most times.

Metamorpho comes in close though. Betcha he already has VIP status up there in the sky.

Wait, are we talking about "dead" dead, or dead dead? How do we tell the difference? If dead dead means "hasn't come back yet", then Elasti-Girl and Bucky don't count.

I think Mysterio had a really short death that time he commited suicide in "Daredevil" then "mysteriously" popped up next month in Spider-Man. I think that was an editorial gaff that has since been explained though. He might be "really" dead now.

In terms of someone being dead for a long time only to come back, I think Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin was dead a good long time before being retconned back. (even in the retcon, did he spend any time being dead or did he never really die in the first place as we thought?)

In terms of dying the most, I think certain villains probably die a lot more than heroes. Doctor Doom has died several hundred times now I believe (oh look, he's just done it again...!) Ra's al Ghul certainly dies a lot, as does Wildcat (five or six out of his nine loves by now?)

Wasn't the Joker dead for like three panels or something, when Batman or Nightwing killed him a while back (and then resuscitated him almost immediately)?

There's also Terra over in the Titans, it's almost a certainty that it's the same one because the original Terra's coffin was empty. And of course there's Wonder Woman, and Steel. And obviously,Adventure Era Lightning Lad.

thanks for the info so far !!

regarding "Terra" we never did find out what the deal was with her [ did we ??? ]

Matthew.

Yeah, BUCKY doesn't count. He's "dead dead"! (And STILL is!)

Norman Osborn was long thought to be "dead dead". Then some ASSHOLE decided to undo it, making a farce of the whole "Gwen Stacy is dead" thing.

THANOS-- now he REALLY WAS dead!!! And he STAYED that way-- until Jim Starlin brought him back in his 1st issue of SILVER SURFER. It was a rare case-- it wasn't your typical "he was never really dead" thing-- this guy actually came back FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE! I guess that's something he shares with Mr. Spock and Superman.

Jim Corrigan, on the other hand... while he came back in the same story in which he was killed, it wasn't the same thing. Because, in the words of the Emperor Caligula (Jay Robinson), "HE'S STILL DEAD!!!" And he REMAINED dead for his entire 60-year comic-book career!

Why doesn't dead dead characters count, at least for longest? Until someone revives them, they're certainly dead longer than anyone else...

In that vein, I'd argue Quality Comic's #711 has the longest continous time of being dead, since 1942 and counting. I think Archie's The Comet was the only hero to pre-date him in death [and not coming back as a ghost of some kind], in late 1941, but unlike #711, The Comet was revived when Archie tried to relaunch their hero line in the 60s and again in the 80s. Certainly #711 predates Bucky's death [in 1945 in story continuity, but revealed in a 1964 Avengers story] and Rita Farr in 1968.

Shortest "death"? The Shredder, in the new Ninja Turtles cartoon. Gets decapitated by Leonardo, only to get up and pick up his head three minutes later (real time; in the show it's about an hour). Still my favorite moment of 2003.

I don't think the Terra mystery has ever been solved, but I've heard that the Time Trapper may have been involved somehow. I've also heard that there may have been plans to bring Kole back, I know someone who appeared to be Kole showed up in the Team Titans series, in the alternate future. Does Hal Jordan count, seeing as how he's the Spectre now? And of course Ollie (Green Arrow) counts too. Can't remember any others though, but I think Dove II (Dawn Granger) may have been brought back in JSA, I think they said she was never dead or something... And would characters who were thought to be dead but were never killed at all count? For example, Wildfire, who wasn't actually killed in the issue he debuted in. Or Mister Miracle, I think a robot double of his was destroyed in the Giffen League.

This isn't my thread, but I would think retcons where someone didn't "really" die still count since the original story was intended to be their death. Something else else like Superman wouldn't count since his rebirth was always going to be part of the story.