"No one stays dead in comic books" is a lie.

Hey guys, it's GLJossan, got something to talk about, just geekdom in general, it's comic books specifically, you know the old saying of "No one stays dead in comic books", I mean this is so true, that in the last 5 years DC brought back to life a hero known as Deadman, who's power was the fact that he was DEAD, this character had been dead since 1967, though was an active character, but still dead.

Deadman dead October, 1967 - October 2010

But that's a tired subject, today though, I want to talk about characters that have STAYED DEAD, and no we're not talking about Bruce Wayne's Parents or Uncle Ben, those are catalyst characters, they couldn't bring them back to life without completely destroying everything the hero stands for. We're talking characters who died who were either heroes or had nothing to do with why the heroes became heroes. I would also like to state that with DC Blackest Night  Black Ring resurrections DO NOT COUNT due it it really just being possessed corpses and not actual resurrections.

Gwen Stacy died June, 1973 

The Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #121

We'll start off with the most obvious, which is Gwen Stacy. She's been dead since June, 1973 and has stayed dead, that's 41 years two months ago. She died when thrown from the George Washington Bridge by Green Goblin, Spider-man shot a web to catch her, thought he web didn't have enough give and the sudden stop caused her neck to snap.  Though some I'm sure would call this a catalyst character, but she didn't make Peter Parker into Spider-Man and I really doubt Peter would stop being Spider-Man if she came back to life, as a matter of fact, I honestly think he'd kick into overdrive, making sure he didn't lose her again.

The Atom (Albert Pratt) died September, 1994

Zero Hour #3

Here's a hero who has been dead for almost exactly 20 years! The original Atom! He died during Zero Hour, a long side team mates Doctor Mid-Nite and Hourman while fighting time manipulating villian Extant. I can't think of any real reason that bringing him back would really disrupt things, I mean DC has been known for having their classic versions fighting along side their modern. I mean there is Flash and Green Lantern for example. At the same time though, I don't see a reason to bring him back either, we have an established Atom (Ray Palmer) as well as others (Ryan Choi) who have taken the mantle as well.

Doctor Mid-Nite (Charles McNider) died September, 1994

Zero Hour #2

If you think Daredevil was an original idea, you don't know comics very well, Doctor Mid-Nite, a blind hero introduced to us in 1941, 23 years before Daredevil made his way onto paper. Another 20 years since this character died, as stated above, died along side Hourman and The Atom, this one didn't get a successor until 5 years later though, I wouldn't mind him returning, but his successor seems to have a handle on things.

Jean Grey-Summers died February, 2004

New X-Men (vol. 1) #150

So yeah, here is a surprising one, a character who has died multiple times and is known for 'rising from the ashes' as the Phoenix has been dead for over 10 years now! This surprises me a lot actually, I didn't realize it had been so long. She was killed by Kuan-Yin Xorn, blasting her with an electromagnetic pulse. this character is so notorious for coming back, so don't be surprised if I have to revise this some time soon.

Mister Terrific (Terry Sloane) died October, 1979

Justice League of America (vol. 1) #171

Here we have another main stay of the JSA, Mr. Terrific, though this one is a bit more than 20 years ago, this one is more like 35 years ago. I'm noticing a trend with DC, they like to kill their characters in October. He died during an explosion on the Justice League Satellite, he was found strangled to death, he was about to name a hero as a possible traitor. He is fine remaining dead, just like his other JSA team mates, has a great replacement and they don't really need this character to return.

Spider-Man (Ben Reilly) died December, 1996

Spider-Man (vol. 1) #75

He's that infamous clone of Peter Parker, and despite all the hate the character gets, he's really one of my favorite characters growing up, his costume was always cooler than Peter's, be it as Spider-Man or Scarlet-Spider. He died while he and his original Peter Parker fought Green Goblin, getting impaled by Goblin's glider. I don't see a reason to bring him back, though recently they brought back another clone thought to be dead, who used to be a villain, known as Kaine as Scarlet-Spider, I was a bit disappointed it was Kaine and not Ben.

Changeling (Kevin Sydney) died March, 1968

X-Men (vol. 1) #42

This guy has been dead for 46 years and I'm sure most of you have no idea who he is. It's funny though, he was a main character of a certain Marvel 90s cartoon, where funny enough he died in the first season and returned in the second season. You guys will probably know him better as Morph. He died while replacing Professor Xavier in a time of his secret absence, he was killed in attack on the X-Men by villain Grotesk, leaving the X-Men to believe the Professor him self had been killed. I'm more familiar with his alternate universe counterparts, like the Animated X-Men as well as Age of Apocalypse and Exiles. I never want this character brought back to life though, his history was too important of a moment in X-Men history and I would love to see him beside the X-Men, but I'd rather they pulled something like Nocturne, where he's from an alternate universe.


Well, this is the end of that, I know I missed some, feel free to add some names in the comments, maybe I could do a part two on this and talk about them a little.