NOTE: Cross posted to Peoria Pundit:
Ohmygod! Captain America is dead! I never would have thought that Marvel Comics would kill off such an iconic character. Well, yeah, suuuuuure they did. Nobody thinks this death will “take.”
The “death of Captain America” — a segment on the issue out today is running on friggin’ Nightline tonight– is just another stunt. Even if Marvel is really serious about it now, in about a year, some new writer would bring him back ’cause the character is just do darn cool. Also, the art is better now than it’s been in a long, long time, making it one of the few Marvel books I pick up every single month. Seriously, Captain America is as good as Daredevil these days and they would be nuts to screw it up.
Until then? I’m assuming Cap’s World War II-era partner Bucky will be assuming the mantle until this is all revealed to be a plot by Nick Fury to help Cap undercover to bust the Red Skull. Bucky had been listed as killed in action since Marvel brought Cap back from the dead back in the 1960s. But a recent story line brought the character back. It turns out the Commies had his body on ice and re-programmed him to do their bidding, but he’s all better now.
Death is never permanent in Comic Book Land. The following is a list of comic book superheroes who have died with great fanfare and publicity, yet have come back. It doesn’t include imaginary stories or instances where a new character was created and given an old character’s name. And I’m more familiar with D.C. than Marvel characters, but I’m sure my loyal readers can come up with a few that I’ve missed.
Superman (D.C.): Both post-”Crisis on Infinite Earths” Earth 1 and pre-”Crisis” Earth 2 versions were sent off. The “Golden Age’” Superman returned from the dead, only to die at the end of the “Infinite Crisis” storyline. Moder-era Superman died at the hands of Doomsday, was replaced by a series of duplicates, but was, as predicted by absolutely everybody, brought back as the real Man of Steel.
Robin (D.C.): The Jason Todd version (Dick Grayson’s replacement after he became Nightwing) was killed off because a reader poll suggested it, giving fan wonks the death at the hands of The Joker that was alluded to in the acclaimed “Dark Knight” mini-series set in the future. He’s back, thanks to immersion in the life restoring Lazarus Pit, and running around as the Red Hood, blowing criminals away. Word is he’s going to make a comeback as a superhero in the Robin costume from “Kingdom Come.”
Flash (D.C.): The Silver-Age Barry Allen version died in the classic “Crisis on Infinite Earths” mini-series while warning the other heroes about the Anti-Monitor. We even saw his body decaying and turning to a skeleton in the process. Silly of us for thinking this meant he’s dead. He was actually being transported into the “Speed Force,” which is where all super-fast superheroes vanish to when writers cannot think up interesting plot lines for them anymore. We’ve seen good, old Barry on occasion, although at present, he’s still living in the Speed Force, but one suspects he’ll be back soon, if for no reason other than to bond with all the other back-from-the-dead Justice Leaguers.
Green Lantern (D.C.): They turned Hal Jordon evil, had him kill off the entire Glen Lantern Corps, killed him, brought him back as the new Spectre, then revealed he’s been under the influence of a malevolent space entity the entire time, then freed him of possession by the Spectre and made him a Green Lantern again. Oh, and it turned out that many of the Green Lanterns he killed at the time really weren’t dead, just captured by those mean, old Manhunters. Talk about a galactic do-over.
Green Arrow (D.C.): He was literally blown to bits trying to diffuse a bomb. But his ex-running buddy Hall Jordan (acting as the evil, time twisting Parallax) arranged to create a soul-free duplicate that walked around doing good deeds but no memory of the past few years of his life. Now, GA (real name “Oliver Queen”) is the mayor of fictional Star City. As if having the name “Oliver Queen” isn’t enough of a burden at the ballot box, how to you explain to voters how you were friggin’ dead for other a year?
Hawkeye (Marvel): This fan favorite member was killed by the Scarlet Witch when she went insane. Thanks to her reality-warping powers, he came back to live in a storyline in which every major member of the Marvel universe got their fondest wish to come true, thanks again to reality-warping powers. But the result wasn’t all that pretty, so reality was set back to what it was before, but Hawkeye was walking around living and breathing, again thanks to the Scarlet Witch’s reality-warping powers. He was last thing hunting down the Scarlet Witch, then jumping into the sack with her, something he’s wanted to do since Avengers 16 back in the ’60s.
Colossus (Marvel): Peter Rasputin of the “X-Men” sacrificed his life to find a cure for the legacy virus. He was resurrected and imprisoned by an alien warmonger seeking clues as to which X-Man was destined to destroy his home world. Turned out it’s supposed to be poor Colossus. But hey, at least in this most recent lifetime, Petey hooked up with Kitty Pryde.
Supergirl (D.C.): The original Girl of Steel (Kara Zor-El, the Maid of Might) was around for decades but they decided to kill her off in “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” It turned out it was a very efficient death, as her entire friggin’ existence was erased. This allowed for the post-crisis Superman to be the one and only Last Son of Krypton. Interestingly, the Earth 2 version of Kara Zor-L — named Power Girl — survived the Crisis, but to keep the “Last Son” concept pure, they kept coming up with cockamamie new origins for her (one had her as a survivor of ancient Atlantis, transported to the future). Meanwhile, the6 brought back a “Supergirl” who was in reality an artificial life form from yet-another alternative reality. This being merged somehow with a girl named “Linda Danvers” (the Supergirl’s secret identity). Soon, that character was sent off into the ether, and lo-and-behold, a new spaceship landed on post-Crisis Earth containing one pretty blonde girl who just happens to be named Kara Zor-El, cousin to Kal-El. Meanwhile, thanks to “Infinite Crisis,” everyone remembers that Power Girl is from Krypton and is Superman’s cousin, but is from a parallel dimension. So much for Kal-El being the last survivor of Krypton. By the way, they’ve brought back the Phantom Zone filled with Krypton’s criminals, the Bottle City of Kandor and Krypto the Superdog. Coming soon, Beepo the Super Monkey.
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