Death at Marvel and DC Comics used to mean something. A character would die and stay dead (outside of alternate universe stories,) that death would have major repercussions for characters. However, eventually, both publishers learned something — deaths sell but resurrections sell, generate hype, and give creators a chance to tell new stories with characters that some younger readers have never even heard. Death has become something of a revolving door in comics; every major character that you can name has died at least once, and it’s gotten to the point where death is basically meaningless in a comic. Every time a major death happens, we know that it’s going to get undone. On top of that, characters that people never thought would come back have and it has made readers even more cynical about the icy touch of death in superheroes stories.
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However, even with all of that, there are still deaths that matter at Marvel and DC. These deaths remain important to the history of their characters, and in some cases the entire universe, influencing characters still. On top of that, there are some deaths that despite being undone still matter, the events that happened because of them echoing down the years. These ten deaths actually mean something, even if some of the dead have been resurrected.
10) Silver Fox
Wolverine’s rivalry with Sabretooth is iconic, and it all began with one terrible moment. At some point in the past, Wolverine lived with Silver Fox, a member of the Blackfoot tribe. They lived in a beautiful little cabin in the Yukon, and lived something of a charmed life. One day, on Wolverine’s birthday, he went fishing and left her alone. While he was gone, Sabretooth came, assaulting Silver Fox, and killing her. Wolverine got home to a grisly scene, and carried the body of his love to town, confronting Sabretooth. The two of them had their first battle, and Sabretooth savagely beat Wolverine, leaving him for dead. This sparked off their hatred of each other. In the ’90s, it was revealed that this whole situation may have been a trick, with Weapon X setting the whole thing up and Silver Fox still alive. However, even with that retcon (which has been retconned more than once over the years), Silver Fox’s death still means something.
9) The pre-Crisis DC Multiverse
Crisis on Infinite Earths is the greatest event comic ever, and it’s honestly not even close. Crisis changed event comics forever, taking the idea of universe-wide crossovers and revolutionizing it by ending the DC Multiverse and recreating the universe, as well as killing multiple characters. The death of the DC Multiverse is the biggest death in the history of comics, and despite the return of the multiverse, it still means something to this day. The death of the pre-Crisis DC Multiverse is a demarcation line between DC’s wild past and its more grounded future. The end of the original Earth-Two alone has completely changed the way the history of DC’s Earth works, bringing the Golden Age heroes to the same universe as latter heroes, and making legacy more important to DC. It’s a death on an infinite scale, and if you’ve enjoyed new DC Comics since 1986, it’s because of this death.
8) Barry Allen
Crisis on Infinite Earths was the death of pre-Crisis DC Multiverse, and that multiverse had started with the introduction of Barry Allen, the Flash. Allen is basically the most Silver Age DC character ever — a sci-fi character with a colorful costume and amazing powers, who’s so good that he’s frankly kind of boring. Barry became so unpopular as the years went on that The Flash was cancelled, and he went to the future to join his wife Iris and father the Tornado Twins. His death in Crisis on Infinite Earths #8 spelled the death knell for the Silver Age; Supergirl’s death in the previous issue was part of a one-two punch that ended an entire era of DC Comics, which is why Crisis on Infinite Earths remains the most important event comic. Allen has come back to life, but his death basically made sure he had a mantle to come back to. Barry literally ran the Flash into the ground; killing him and replacing him with Wally West made the Flash popular again. Plus, he’s looked at as a patron saint of the DC Universe because of this death, which has stayed with him in the years after his resurrection.
7) Superman
“The Death of Superman” was a huge moment in pop culture. It was on the nightly news, and people were lined up around the block when Superman (Vol. 2) #75 came out. Superman’s battle with Doomsday became an instant classic, and was followed up by some brilliant stories — “World Without a Superman”, “Funeral for a Friend”, “Reign of the Supermen”, and “The Return of Superman”. Superman came back, obviously, but that doesn’t mean his death no longer matters. It’s a moment that showed that Superman wasn’t invincible, and changed the way the metahuman community operated. Superman’s death even shook him, as he realized that even his life could be taken from him at any time. It’s a moment that has echoed through the years, and still gets brought up in the modern day.
6) Gwen Stacy
Spider-Man’s life as a hero has been defined by death (that’s a hint, by the way), and the death of Gwen Stacy is one that will always be one of the most important. Losing Gwen Stacy has had major repercussions, both in-universe and on the publishing side of Spider-Man. Spider-Man went after Green Goblin in revenge, and Goblin accidentally killed himself trying to take out Spider-Man. Gwen Stacy’s death led to the relationship between Peter Parker and Mary Jane, and has served as a source of tragedy for Spider-Man even since. In the real world, Gwen Stacy becomes the favorite Spider-girlfriend of writers and editors like Dan Slott, Joe Quesada, Tom Brevoort, and Nick Lowe, all of whom have spent years canonizing Gwen Stacy (check out The Amazing Spider-Man #400, which contains a back-up story that’s much more realistic about Peter and Gwen’s relationship). Gwen’s death has sent shockwaves through the Spider-Man fandom for decades, and even with alternate Gwens like Spider-Gwen and Gwenpool, this death still means something, a lot of it bad.
5) Krypton
Seeing as how the death of the entire pre-Crisis DC Multiverse is on the list, the death of Krypton can be as well. Krypton has changed multiple times over the years, and it’s only important for one reason — it destruction sends Superman to Earth. Over the years, readers have gone to Krypton many times — whether in stories set in the past, time travel stories, or alternate universe books like Absolute Superman — and there have been multiple survivors discovered. The cause of the destruction has been changed several times. However, the death of the planet still matters. It will always matter, because it brought the Earth Superman, and it doesn’t matter how many times survivors are discovered.
4) Jean Grey
Jean Grey has died multiple times, and every time has been resurrected. It’s become a running joke among the fandom — and in-universe — that Jean Grey is going to die and come back. However, that doesn’t change that two of those deaths still matter. Her first death in “The Dark Phoenix Saga” closed the book on the first era of Claremont’s Uncanny X-Men. “The Dark Phoenix Saga” is Marvel’s best story, and the death of Jean Grey changed the X-Men forever. It was the team’s biggest failure and it still affects them and Jean Grey, as for years, everyone was scared of her falling to darkness and/or dying again. Her next major death (most people don’t remember the one in Uncanny X-Men #281, because it was undone very quickly, but Pepperidge Farm remembers; apparently, I’m Pepperidge Farm) was in New X-Men #150 and again was a massive shock to the X-Men, one that birthed the relationship between Emma Frost and Cyclops, which changed both characters and probably mutant history. Cyclops still fears the death of his wife because he’s experienced it several times before, yet another example of why this death is so important.
3) Captain Marvel I
There are few important characters whose deaths haven’t been undone in the present day. The Big Two loves to bring back their classic characters, but has shown restraint with certain characters. Captain Marvel I is one of those. Captain Marvel I is a characters that was extremely important to the Silver and Bronze Age Marvel Universe (and also had one of the greatest costumes ever in his red and blue number). Mar-Vell was everyone’s friend, and helped keep Earth and the cosmos safe from enemies like the Kree and Thanos. He was a true hero, giving his all for the people of his adopted homeworld and for the rest of the universe. However, years of battling the villain Nitro gave him a type of cancer, and no one was able to cure it. He died in bed, surrounded by the heroes of the Earth mourning their friend. Marvel has teased bringing Captain Marvel I back to life — once there was a Skrull who pretended to be Mar-Vell so well that he ended up believing he was the Kree hero, Silver Surfer once fought alongside him in the realm of the dead, he resurrected in the Earth X universe and saved creation from Mephisto, and several times a past version of him has been brought to the present — but they’ve never completely undone his death on Earth 616. It’s kept its sting all these years later, and if you get a chance, read The Death of Captain Marvel by writer/artist Jim Starlin. Bring tissues.
2) Thomas and Martha Wayne
The death of Thomas and Martha Wayne is one of those formative deaths in the history of the comics, on par with the destruction of Krypton and one more death (stay tuned). Without this moment, Batman wouldn’t exist and, as we’ve seen in multiple alternate universes, Bruce Wayne would be a feckless billionaire playboy. Now, we’ve gotten plenty of alternate universes where the Waynes survive that fateful night in Crime Alley — most notably the Flashpoint universe, where both of the Waynes survive with Thomas becoming Batman and Martha becoming the Joker, and the current Absolute Universe, where Thomas died but not Martha — but that has never taken away the sting of the death of Waynes.
1) Uncle Ben
Of course, number one was going to be the death of Uncle Ben. The death of Ben Parker is one of those moments that will always be important to Spider-Man’s history because it changed Peter Parker’s life. Like other formative deaths on this lists, we’ve gotten stories where Ben never died — the current Ultimate Universe is one of the best examples of this — but that doesn’t change that most versions of Peter Parker as Spider-Man, both in comics and in outside media, have the death of Uncle Ben as the most important moment in Spider-Man’s life. Uncle Ben’s death will always matter in every universe it happens in and remains integral to the character of Spider-Man.
What deaths do you think actually meant something? Sound off in the comment below.
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