Marvel Comics has a habit of bringing the dead back to life, often before the bodies are still warm. In the recent Imperial crossover event, Cosmic Ghost Rider murdered Gamora and Darkhawk and left their charred bodies in a ship on a foreign planet. However, one of the follow-up series makes it sound like at least Gamora will be back, and this isn’t even the first time that Darkhawk has died. Everyone from Jean Grey and Professor X to Spider-Man, Iron Man, and Captain America has all died, but still found a way back into comics. That said, some Marvel Comics heroes are still dead, and some have been dead for a long time.
Videos by ComicBook.com
From a hero murdered during the Civil War storyline to one of Marvel’s most iconic deaths, here are the Marvel heroes who are still currently dead in comics.
7) Goliath
Goliath was Bill Foster, and he was a respected and well-liked member of the Avengers. That made his death such a tragedy. He was on the anti-registration side during Marvel’s Civil War storyline. He was involved in a battle when he faced Ragnarok, a Thor clone that Reed Richards, Tony Stark, and Hank Pym worked to create. However, this clone had no morals and murdered Goliath in cold blood by shooting a lightning bolt through his chest.
What was more chilling was when a civilian said he deserved to die for being against the registration. It was even worse when Bill’s own friends blamed the anti-registration group for his death, even though it was caused by them creating his clone to begin with. Goliath died in 2006, and he has been dead for almost 20 years now in Marvel Comics.
6) Captain Mar-Vell
Marvel Comics was working on creating their new graphic novel format of comics in the 1980s, and that is when they hit on the idea of an event story that would make the prestige format make sense. This was The Death of Captain Marvel and was released in 1982. It was a tremendous success when released and helped launch the upcoming graphic novel craze that has continued to this day.
The story saw Captain Mar-Vell not killed by a villain or an enemy. Instead, he developed lung cancer, and this is what ended up killing him. Earth’s greatest scientific minds tried to find a cure and couldn’t, and it was a sobering reminder that cancer kills countless people every year, and not even a superhero was able to escape its grasp. Mar-Vell’s return was teased several times, but they were clones or impostors, and he has remained dead for over 40 years now.
5) Valkyrie (Brunnhilde)
Valkyrie was one of Asgard’s greatest Valkyrie warriors, and she represented that role for years as a hero on Earth and beyond. Her most memorable moments in Marvel saw her as part of the Defenders, and she was always one of Marvel’s strongest female heroes. However, in the last decade, Marvel brought in a different Valkyrie based on the one from the MCU and also set up a new role for Jane Foster as a Valkyrie.
This made Brunnhilde expendable, and she finally died in the War of the Realms crossover series. As part of the Asgardians of the Galaxy, they defended Earth from Malekith’s attack, but they all fell with Brunnhilde, the last to die. This death happened in 2019, and Brunnhilde remains dead six years later.
4) Hope Summers
The Incredible Hulk showed that when gamma mutates die, they go to the Below Place, which is where the Green Door exists, which helps them come back from the dead. It turned out mutants have a place like this as well, called the White Hot Room. During the Fall of X event that finally ended the Krakoa Era in X-Men comics, Orchis attacked the third Hellfire Gala and killed countless mutants.
Most of the dead mutants were resurrected thanks to the White Hot Room, but Hope Summers was not one of them. Hope knew the mutants needed Jean Grey and the Phoenix to save mutantkind, so she sacrificed herself to kill the dying Phoenix and then resurrect it, costing her a chance to return. Hope’s spirit remained on in the White Hot Room, ending her life in Marvel Comics. It has only been just over a year, but Hope Summers has not returned.
3) Drax the Destroyer
Drax the Destroyer was a cosmic warrior that Thanos created, who housed the soul of Arthur Douglas, a man whom Thanos murdered on Earth. Kronos was able to bring the two beings to life, and this sent Drax on a mission to bring down Thanos, making it his life’s mission. Drax became even more popular in later years thanks to the MCU and Dave Bautista’s brilliant performance as the Guardians of the Galaxy member. Infinity Wars was where Drax’s eventual death came. This was when Gamora turned bad because she wanted to get the part of her soul trapped in the South Gem back.
She ended up creating Warp World, which separated Drax and Arthur Douglas from each other. Drax ended up sacrificing himself in the end, with Arthur living in a recreation of the happy life he never had, and Drax was rewarded with an endless battle with his enemies. Eventually, Mantis and Gamora rescued Arthur’s soul and gave it back to Drax, where he died peacefully. It has been six years since Drax’s death.
2) Legion
Another Marvel hero who died during the Fall of X is David Haller. This is Professor X’s son, also known as Legion, and he was part of the final battle in the White Hot Room with Hope Summers. As mentioned, Hope was there to kill Phoenix and then help it be reborn to ensure the survival of mutants, and David was there to help her in this matter.
While Hope Summers ended any attempt at returning, killing her to bring back the Phoenix, it left David’s fate open. However, as Marvel Comics has since shown, David is happily enjoying his afterlife in the White Hot Room with Blindfold, and he remains dead since the end of that storyline.
1) Sentry
Sentry’s death was highly ironic. As a part of the Dark Avengers, Norman Osborn ordered him to help him with anything he needed, and this included him ripping Ares in half after the Greek God betrayed Norman. It was an incredible show of power, which is no surprise since Sentry is widely considered one of the most powerful Marvel heroes in existence. However, his death was the same.
During the King in Black storyline, Knull was on his way to Earth, and Sentry went to try to stop him. It didn’t work, and Knull ripped Sentry/Void in half, killing him instantly. This happened in 2020, and despite Sentry being part of the MCU now, he remains dead in Marvel Comics five years after his death.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
