Comic Book Superheroes Who Died and Stayed Dead

Again and again in comic book lore, the common trope resurfaces that you can't keep a good guy down, and superheroes who die don't have a habit of staying dead. There are some, however, who have managed to exit the mortal coil without tripping through the revolving door of convoluted plots or retconning. Of course this is all correct as of the date this article is published, but we can't actually guarantee that any of these fan favorites haven't been miraculously resurrected after this point. So without further ado, here are some superheroes who died and have been gracious enough to stay dead.

Ant-Man

"What!? Ant-Man is dead?" we hear you say. Why yes dear reader, Eric O'Grady, arguably the grayest on our list. O'Grady is shady, he steals the Ant-Man armor from SHIELD, he swindles, steals, and is pretty much just a self-serving jerk, but we love him anyway, sort of.

Sure, he wanted to be a better man, but he never quite managed to get there. He joined leagues here and there, from the initiative to the Secret Avengers, which did help him tip the scales in a better direction.

O'Grady was known as the "irredeemable Ant-Man" for obvious reasons, yet he managed to get closer to shaking off that title with his untimely demise. In 2012, he sacrificed himself while protecting a child. See. he wasn't too bad when all was said and done.

Starman

Starman, or Ted Knight to his friends, is one of the few heroes to manage to live to a ripe old age instead of say, being cut down in his prime. Even though he was long in the tooth, he still managed to die a hero.

The root of Starman's power came from a cosmic rod, yes really, but don't get all worked up about it, it wasn't exactly a magic wand. In fact, it was more akin to the Green Lantern's ring of power. It made him fly, it even created energy blasts and forcefields. It was a pretty nifty piece of kit.

Ted passed the baton to his son Jack after discovering that he had cancer, an illness quite common in the comic universe, too. The thing is, it wasn't the cancer that killed him. He got his hands on another cosmic rod when his old nemesis Mist attempted to bomb Opal City. Starman teleported the bomb, Mist, and himself to a safe location for the bomb to detonate, killing both of them in the process.

Jean Grey

Jean Grey is one of the most prominent X-men and is one of the superheroes on our list who has died more than once. The first time she passed was during the Dark Phoenix saga, but we don't really need to worry about that. The second time she died, the one that stuck, that is the one we are interested in today.

It's a complicated one, but the long and short of it is that Magneto had a stroke and had been "replaced" by Xorn. Now Xorn wasn't on the best terms wit hthe X-men, as Magneto destroyed New York and the X-men had taken up arms in order to defeat him. Unfortunately this didn't go well for Jean and as she perished when struck with an electromagnetic pulse.

She was technically resurrected, but it was only for a short while so it doesn't count. Just saying.

Captain Marvel

In the 60s a Kree warrior by the name of Mar-Vell was the original Captain Marvel. That's right, many, many moons before the Carol Danvers that we know and love. Mar-Vell was the result of the fact that Marvel Comics didn't want any other comic books to trademark the name Captain Marvel. Mar-Vell had a dignified passing, instead of going out in a blaze of glory, he succumbed to cancer. This was uncharted territory during the 80s.

Wildcat

Yolanda Montez was the second incarnation of Wildcat, the first being her grandfather, but you know that what these superhero folks are like, keeping it in the family. Plus she was a metahuman, so that definitely helped.

Yolanda was one of the superheroes who died while attempting to defeat Eclipso. She, along with other members of Shadowfighters, met her end at the hands of the super villain.

Scarlet Spider

Okay so there was a time, known as the 70s, that a clone of a character showing up was not only a rarity, but no-one really knew how long a clone would be around for. Peter Parker's clone Ben Reilly decides to stay away for 20 years, living a nomadic life until he discovers that Aunt May is ill, forcing him to return. Then, shock horror, it turns out that Peter is Ben and Ben is Peter.

Peter hangs up his spidey-suit and settles down with the pregnant Mary Jane while Ben takes over roof swinging and sass talking. In the end Ben died from one of Green Goblin's elaborate schemes including a broken spine, a long drop and a bomb blast.

Wolverine

Logan is one of those characters who makes us think that what is dead may never die. He also happens to be one of the most popular comic book characters of all time, coming second only to Batman these days. If you have been living under a rock all of your life, Wolverine is one of the X-men who has an adamantium skeleton, regenerative powers, and some serious sideburn game.

Due to his healing powers, many suspected that he would never pass, but alas, he joined the list of superheroes who died, but what killed the strapping buck? Basically Logan is infected with a virus that burns out his healing power and he ends up stuffed with adamantium and suffocates.

The Atom

After the Crisis On Infinite Earths storyline, the Justice Society of America and one of its founders, Al Pratt, end up making a comeback, bringing some of those old fashioned values back to the young'uns. It wasn't all peaches and cream though, Pratt was forever changed by the murder of his pregnant wife Mary.

He too would lose his life at the hands of the villain Extant. Extant was trying to mold the world into his horrible image when the JSA attacked and he fought Atom, destroying him with an energy blast.

Hawkwoman

Shayera Thal was a cop of sorts from the planet Thanager. She came to Earth with her partner Katar Hol and in time they became heroes. Shayera retired during a remarkably convoluted plot involving a Hawk God. She ends up traveling back to her home world, only to die in the Rann-Thanager war. Such a shame.

Abin Sur

Okay so this pink skinned lantern has a more popular death than life because he is the reason that the ring of power found its Green Lantern on Earth. Sur crashed his ship on Earth and passed on his ring to Hal Jordan, who just so happened to become the best Green Lantern of all time! In all seriousness he is pretty cool, except in the movie, don't watch it.

What makes Sur's death so powerful is that even in his last moments, instead of wallowing in his pain, or screaming uncontrollably, he uses that time to pass on the ring of power. That's a true hero.

Some superheroes seem to think death is a vacation, except Deadpool (he thinks Death is a date) but as we said, there are some exceptions to the rule. The thing is, with characters being resurrected here and there, it can take the punch out of very poignant ends. However, even though we do enjoy a comeback kid, it's nice to know that there are some superheroes who died and managed to actually stay dead.