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A comic death is expected in the world of graphic novels. Almost every major crossover event has to have at least one, and sometimes, they’re announced ahead of time to spark interest.
It’s part of the medium, as fans have come to expect their beloved characters to die.
However, there are times when a comic death hits us a little bit harder than others. Often, it’s because we’ve grown attached to a specific character, or we think there’s no way they can be killed off.
On rare occasions, the powers-that-be blindside their readers by unexpectedly killing off a character. A tough pill to swallow is that no character is ever safe from the clutches of a writer and their proverbial pen.
Ten most tragic comic deaths
10) Gwen Stacy
Many expect heroes and villains to die eventually. It’s just the way the world works. It’s another thing for a civilian to die, however.
Gwen Stacy was Peter Parker’s girlfriend and nowhere near anyone’s comic death radar. When she was killed off, she remained out of comics for a few decades. It was thought that her death was much like Uncle Ben’s: permanent.
However, Gwen was eventually reintroduced, albeit from an alternate universe where she has Spider-Man’s powers. Gwen has easily become a fan favorite, starring in her own comic and having a supporting role in the Into the Spiderverse movie.
9) Al Simmons
For a character that is already dead, hearing Image Comics announce Spawn’s comic death in Spawn: Endgame was a tad ironic. The first issue of the entire series deals with Al Simmons being dead and returning to the land of the living as the Hellspawn.
In Spawn: Endgame, Al took his own life the only way one can truly kill a Spawn: decapitation.
Almost immediately after dying, a patient in a hospital named Jim Downing woke from a coma. He had no memory of who he was, but he possessed all the abilities of a Spawn, including the symbiotic suit.
Eventually, it was learned that Jim Downing was the form Al Simmons first took when he returned to Earth in issue #1.
8) Bruce Wayne
Batman has had many close calls over his tenure as the caped crusader. He’s been driven to exhaustion by fighting his entire rogue’s gallery in a night, had his back broken, and was driven to madness by the machinations of Doctor Hurt.
However, there was one time when writer Grant Morrison decided to kill off the Bat. His comic death may have been a bit exaggerated, though.
After being struck by Darkseid’s Omega beams, Bruce was transported back in time to the prehistoric era. Readers got to follow his adventures through time in Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne.
In this limited series, Bruce took on the role of a private detective, a caveman, a pirate, and more until he eventually found himself back in modern times.
Bruce even returned from his comic death with a new mindset. After seeing that he is not alone in his fight to save Gotham, he expanded his mission and trained Batmen across the globe, establishing Batman: Incorporated.
7) Steve Rogers
Civil War played out much differently in the comics than in the “solo” Captain America movie. There was a lot of fallout to be dealt with, like Spider-Man’s true identity being revealed. Not least of which was the comic death of Captain America.
Shot by Crossbones and dealt the killing blow by a brainwashed Sharon Carter, Steve Rogers died while being taken into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody for his role against the Superhuman Registration Act. Of course, he wasn’t actually dead.
Somehow his consciousness was floating through time, jumping from one major point of his life to another.
6) Superman
Superman’s comic death took fans by surprise because of his powerset. Nigh invincible and the pinnacle of what a superhero stands for, the thought of him dying was the last thing fans expected.
Enter Doomsday. A living weapon explicitly built to kill the last son of Krypton. His death shook the DC universe to its core.
When the smoke cleared from Superman’s battle with Doomsday in the heart of Metropolis, fans were gifted the creation of five new Supermen. Some of them continue to grace the pages of DC titles like Superboy and John Henry Irons (better known as Steel).
Connor Kent (Superboy) is often seen in his own title or working with Young Justice or the Teen Titans. Steel can be seen protecting the streets of Metropolis alongside Lana Lang after DC Rebirth.
5) Wolverine
As far as unexpected comic book deaths go, this would be at the top of the list. Wolverine’s healing factor has kept him from the brink of death since his inception.
He’s been stripped of his adamantium plating, disintegrated down to his adamantium skeleton, lacked a body save for his spine and skull, and has survived it all.
His healing factor has also kept his appearance young despite being hundreds of years old. So, when it came time for this mutant to bite the dust, his healing factor had to be in jeopardy in some manner.
Not knowing Logan no longer had his healing factor, a professor from the Weapon X project wanted to harvest it. When he learned there was no power to take, he smothered Wolverine in molten adamantium, suffocating the fan-favorite mutant while dying himself.
An interesting comic death, to say the least.
4) Barry Allen
To a lot of fans, Barry Allen is the one true Flash. No, he’s not the only one, but he was the Silver Age Flash and remains a fan favorite.
As the main character of the hit CW series The Flash (played by Grant Gustin) and soon starring in his first solo movie (played by Ezra Miller), Barry Allen is the most popular Flash. His comic death would be one felt for decades by the DC universe and fans alike.
During the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths, Barry sacrificed his life to save the DC universe and prevent the Anti-Monitor from consuming all of reality. Unlike so many others, fans expected this to be a permanent comic death.
Barry would remain dead for two decades, until 2008, when Geoff Johns would bring him back in Flash: Rebirth.
3) Human Torch
During Johnathan Hickman’s Fantastic Four run, fans knew that one of the iconic heroes would meet their end. It was a mystery as to who, and Hickman was clever with the subtle hints he dropped along with a red herring here and there.
Sometimes, it seemed like Mister Fantastic was going to pass away. When the time finally came, it was clear that it would be the comic relief of the team.
Fighting off swarms of insectoid aliens in the Negative Zone along with other team members, Johnny Storm made a last stand to give the others a chance to escape. Unable to fight off the entire horde on his own, he was captured and subsequently killed after refusing to open the portal to Earth for Annihilus.
His comic death was felt by his family, team members, and readers alike.
2) Lori Grimes
The Walking Dead is a comic all about death, with somebody meeting their end in every other issue. So it was easy to be desensitized early on after picking up the title.
Lori, the wife to the lead protagonist Rick, eventually bit the bullet (literally) in issue #48 during the prison arc. Her comic death was harrowing for readers to digest because she was pregnant at the time, which was unexpected.
The aftermath of Lori’s comic death was particularly difficult to read, considering all the sorrow and tension it would fuel. Rick was emotionally scarred from her passing to the point that he started hallucinating and would hear her voice through a telephone that was not operational.
This put a strain on more than a few of his relationships.
1) Jason Todd
There aren’t many comic deaths that impact readers quite like the death of Jason Todd. As the second Robin, fans were on the fence about Jason as a character because he wasn’t too dissimilar from Dick Grayson, the first Robin.
Their appearance was similar, except Jason had red hair, and their origin was nearly identical. Like Dick, Jason’s parents were circus acrobats and were killed, only for him to be adopted by Bruce Wayne.
Jason was eventually killed off at the hands of the Joker. Bloodied to a pulp by a crowbar is not an easy image to take in, especially when fans realize that Jason was just a kid when it happened.
Jason Todd would be absent from comics for some time, with fans thinking this would be one of the few deaths that would stick. He eventually returned to the land of the living and was even better than before.
Out of the shadow of both Dick Grayson and Batman with his own identity, Jason has managed to star in his own comics and team up with various heroes in the DC pantheon.
Note: This article reflects the author’s views.
