Aug 22 2012
Six Epic Comic Character Deaths
Did you know people who die in tragic, violent ways are three times more likely to be “remembered” than people who die of natural causes? It makes sense if you think about it. If I died tomorrow in my sleep, people would mourn, but get on with their lives rather quickly. But if I was ripped apart by sharks while body surfing off the coast of Australia, people would be talking about it for years.
Sadly, sharks don’t seem to want to eat me, so an an aneurysm on my toilet seems more likely. But hey, that’s pretty memorable, too. Here are six comic book characters who had far more epic deaths than I most likely will. Well, actually, the death toll for this piece ends up being way higher than six by the end of the list, but I am bad at math,so SIX it is! Caution, though. There may be some spoilers here. I made most of these as older selection, but if you are looking to read Old Man Logan or the Marvel Ultimatum event, I would skip the last two entries on this list.
Hal Jordan
A wise old man once asked me how I wanted to die, and I said I wanted to fly into the sun.I was six at the time, and he had kidnapped me, so this quote might out of context, but imagine my genuine joy when I saw Hal Jordan die in my dream manner, once I had escaped as an adult? It was an extra cool moment, accentuated by the fact that it just reminded us how bi-polar Hal Jordan was (is he good, is he bad?). It was a final sacrifice to make up for all his dickery, but dickery is what we loved Hal Jordan for.
Holy crap, I wanted to yell BEWARE MY POWER as I did it, too!
I may end up thinking less of this if our sun ever burns out, but this one is up there for epic deaths. Plus, when I pretend it is Ryan Reynolds, I get chills. Just knowing he could be dead and stuff.
Wolverine
Man, Wolverine is another one that, between all the alt-Universes and his healing factor, has died many times over. And picking one “death” that stands out as more epic then the others is tough. I wanted to go with him getting torn in half by Hulk and being left that way for almost four years, but I know it’s not death. I also wanted to talk about the Punisher blowing Wolverine’s face off with a shotgun and then running him over with a steamroller. But come on, no one will even believe that. That’s just silly.
Man, Garth Ennis must have loved him some Loony Tunes as a child!
And what is up with Wolverine’s hair? I mean, just in general?
I decided, though, to go with the alt-Universe tale, Days of Future Past, when that sentinel vaporizes Wolverine. Only because I remember reading that as a kid, and being genuinely shocked and upset. And I really loved the John Byrne art of that shot. Felt like I could smell the burnt Wolverine. Which smells like burnt hair and bacon, I’m pretty sure.
Shown: My loss of innocence.
This death is the exact reason I re-imagine this battle, over and over again, in the Marvel Versus Capcom game series. And I know people may find the next entry on the list too similar, but come on. You can’t bring up Wolverine and death. and somehow not mention…
Sabertooth
I, for one, truly enjoyed the Wolverine/Sabertooth back and forth matches all the way up until that awful Wolverine film ruined it. So for me, whenever I remember that film, I just look up this death, and I pretend its Liev Schreiber, and all is well.
I won’t even give you the lame backstory, because Rob Bricken can do it much better, but I can tell you that the absurdity of this almost makes it awesome. Almost.
I’m sorry, Sabertooth, but your human meat reduction was just not up to snuff, you have been CHOPPED.
You can almost hear the writers foraging for this idea among the scraps of other ideas. A soul forged from Wolverine’s soul? REALLY? And Wolvie calls Sabertooth a “Sorry S.O.B” when he begins to chop off his limbs. Come on, Wolverine is a tortured character. That scene suffered from crappy writing, but there is something almost TROMA-esque to it all that makes it OK. Note I said ALMOST again.
I also wanted to bring up that time Wolverine stuck his claws in Sabertooth’s brain (Wolverine 90, for you guys keeping score) but that didn’t so much kill Sabertooth as turn him into a “puppy”.
Flash
This was during the Crisis on Infinite Earths series that DC ran. Much like the Days Of Future Past storyline I brought up earlier, this one kind of messed me up when I read it. Just like Hal Jordan, and all the best superhero death, though, Barry Allen sacrificed himself to save the Earth, without the Earth even knowing. Altruism at its finest.
And the way Flash died? Well, long story short, he runs so fast in order to create a sort of vacuum to suck in a blast from a ray that was going to destroy the Earth, that he basically mummifies himself. The Flash runs himself to death.
My Mom didn’t let me watch MTV as a kid. Little did she know, the stuff I was reading was worse. Atleast in terms of trauma.
That is like Batman Batmanning himself to death. I guess more so than just epic, it is the one death that we should have all seen as inevitable. The Flash runs himself to death. Wow, how convenient. Still, though. Seeing him mummify was pretty badass.
Everyone in Ultimatum
Alright, I know Ultimatum was not so much a comic event as it was an homage to grindhouse films. That comment may sound insane, but let me show you my side of the argument:
Well, I take comfort in knowing a good guy would never do something this deviant and psychotic.
Oh…..
Um…..
OK, this one I am good with. The Thing crushing Doctor Doom’s head to pulp for causing all this was kind of cool.
I mean, really, a LOT of people died.
The Sixth Sense straight-to-comics sequel was shaping up to be badass.
So like I said, Ultimatum wasn’t so much a comic event as it was an homage to grindhouse films. But I can’t justifiably talk about deaths in comics and not talk about this blood-soaked-orgy-of-death. I mean, it HAD to be an homage to grindhouse films.
Right?
That’s the only theory that makes sense to me, and I needed a lot of drugs to reach it.
More Unreal Posts
I like the article, but I wish the images were a little bit bigger/would link to a larger pic. Can’t really see it this way.
It’s pretty sad that I can’t recall any other eipc deaths. Nerd card revoked.
Old Man logan was really a hell of treat. Its one of my favourites, so brutal, not only in violence but representing the state in which the world has fallen.
i cant believe hitman was left out again..(spoiler alert) every great character dies in that comic and most off them have either heart wrenching or awesome deaths..( especially ringo) and an awesome quote when you go try to go whit dogs at your feet..but the final issue and the final deaths are a perfect ending..tommy has the chance at a decent life whit a good women and his best friend and saving a girl thats not only pregnant and wanted dead but can help bring a evil organization down ..but wlie there trying to save the girl tommys best friend nat the hat is shot in the chest while there escaping nat falls down dying and begs tommy not to leave him there for the bad guys to experament on him(you have to read the rest of the comic) tommy saves the girl but leaves her and his new love intrest to go back against an army to get his friend he gets one good shot against the main bad guy right between the eyes and gets shot up completely..him and his boy lay on the floor bloody and dying and they reminisce about all there dead friends siting around there favorite bar and drinking and beeing happy and how the bar never closes but they have to leave there guns outside to come in..heaven baby..the last issue is so much better than i discribe it especially if youve read the whole series but i hope i did it justice..any real comic book fan should check it out..
I always thought that Bart Allen’s death was pretty brutal. He loses his powers in the middle of a fight with the Rogues, and they proceed to beat the hell out of him and kill him anyway. It was also cool to see the aftermath, with some of the Rogues being haunted by what they did.
As for “Ultimatum”, I personally hate it. Everything was “shocking” just for the sake of it. The real shock is that someone like Jeph Loeb could give us so much good, and then lose his mind and consistently put out garbage like “Ultimatum” and “Ultimates: Vol. 3″ that completely ignore any of the actual established characterization. But, yes, the deaths were pretty insane. Great list, as always.
@blood, yes “Hitman” is extremely superb. If you ever want to see prominent DC heroes looks like idiots, well, there ya go. Classic Ennis.
I wanted to do a few Preacher deaths, too, but went with more well-known story lines to avoid any spoilers for great books (Preacher and 100 Bullets, for example).
And I KNEW I would catch heat for posting Ultimatum, but I had to give some legs to my “Grindhouse” theory, and this was the place to do that.
It is a shit-show of a book, no doubt.
But as far as deaths go, it is almost comical.
I think it merits a read just based on how bloody and over the top it is. I never said it was good, though. Hahaha.
I also almost went with Mary Jane getting poisoned by Peter Parker’s radioactive seamen, from Spiderman: Reign, but I couldn’t bring myself to actually speak of it.
I HOPE it’s a “Grindhouse” homage , haha.
I don’t want to sound insensitive, but I often thought that maybe he went off the deep end after his son died. I could see then how this was his way to get his anger out creatively. Like, my son died, then every and anyone can die, too.
A tragedy to be sure.
Personally I think the most epic death isn’t from a superhero comic. Anavel Gato from Gundam 0083 Stardust Memory. After nuking 1/3 of the Earth Federation’s fleet leaving it immobilized then successfully dropping a colony on Earth and out maneuvering the rest of the Feddies. His final mission was to regroup with Axis allies, by flying through the Feddie fleet between them. He didn’t make it, but he took out as many ships as he could and the last ship suffered him smashing his mobile armor the Neue Ziel right into it, both going up in a massive ball of fire. That is epic.
Don’t go quietly and don’t go alone.
@DocDoom, very powerful realization there. I worked in thanatology for a while (grief counseling) and would say you just hit the nail on the head. Actually, you should write out that theory and explore it. As dark as it is, that actually makes me respect Ultimatum even more. “If my mortal son can die, than so can these immortal heroes.” Wow, that is quite sad. Also, could be his resentment toward them (YOU guys took all my time that I could have had with my son, so now, you pay). Very well thought out, Doc.
One of the deaths over the years that stuck with me over the years was the relaunch of the What If series with What if wolverine was never deprogrammed and continued killing off supe heroes. It ended with Kitty Pride phasing her arm into his skull and leaving it there. And of course who didn’t like Punisher kills the marvel universe where his family is killed not by the mob but by a battle involving the x-men.
Deadpool’s death at the middle (end of weapon x storyline) of his 90′s run of comics is brilliant. He is basically turned into goo.
The article you linked to on Topless Robot wasn’t written by Rob Bricken. I know it looks that way, but just a bit under “By Rob Bricken” it says “By Alicia Ashby”. I guess Rob was just really proud to have posted it, or something. . .?
I will say, that although its not gruesome or anything, Dream’s(Sandman/Morpheus)death was…heart-shattering for me.. and its sooo simple. He basically has his sister “Death” just..I don’t know..end his life and thus, his son is the new dream guy. I say that his death was epic, some may disagree, but come on..Dream…dies…he dies…one of the Endless…dies…endless people aren’t supposed to die. But…he dies…*starts to cry*
i loved the Age of Apocalypse arc, and i think the brutality of it was what sold it. here’s all these characters rebooted or reimagined in awesome ways (Sabretooth + Blink), and then they’re (almost) all doomed when they fix the timeline…unless they were killed off in frame before the final showdown! even knowing it was an alternate reality that wasn’t gonna stick around anyway, they still made it suck to lose some of the best.
fuck you for being so awesome.
@Charlie, good call. Shoutout to Alicia Ashby!
Gee, thanks Greg!
Saved yourself by admitting what garbage Ultimatum was, and I appreciate (despite having read it) that you swerved around spoiling the reason Wolvie has gone all pacifist.