# Easiest "in story" ways to bring a comic book character back from the dead? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 13, 2014, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easiest-in-story-ways-to-bring-a-comic-book-character-back-from-the-dead/686038 "2014-04-13T21:22:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easiest-in-story-ways-to-bring-a-comic-book-character-back-from-the-dead/686038/1 "2014-04-13T21:22:59Z")
It’s an old [del]joke[/del] standby that comic book characters never stay dead—it’s only a matter of time until editorial fiat or artistic whim brings most of them back from the grave. But I’m wondering: Aside from retcons and fake-outs (e.g. “oh, he wasn’t _really_ dead, that was a robot double”), what are the easiest procedures for bringing someone back to life, in-story? Something that can be carried out at least fairly reliably, and fairly on-demand? DC’s got the **Lazarus Pits** —alchemical cauldrons that can heal and revitalize the wounded and aged, and even reanimate the dead. Downsides being their rarity, usage limitations, and causing temporary insanity. Marvel’s ninja clan **“The Hand”** apparently has the ability to bring people back to life through occult means—I’m a bit fuzzy on the details, however. The film version seemed to accomplish this by a simple combination of pressure points and shouting. I _think_ Marvel’s also got at least a couple of mutant healers who can revive the dead, but I don’t know offhand who, or how many of them there are. (Or why they aren’t the most valuable, heavily defended people on the planet, but nevermind.) So, that’s all _I’ve_ got. Can anyone else chime in? And no, for this discussion, bringing someone back as a mindless zombie does not count. Nor does merely cloning them and imprinting the clone with the deceased’s memories—not without at least _some_ lip service to transferring the deceased’s unique soul/life force/katra/spark/“mind”/whatever into the clone. ---
**Author:** ![heathen\_earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/13edae/32.png) [@heathen\_earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heathen_earthling)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easiest-in-story-ways-to-bring-a-comic-book-character-back-from-the-dead/686038/2 "2014-04-13T22:47:41Z")
It’s basically the in-story version of a retcon, so it might not count, but do comic books ever make use of time travel to undo deaths? That was the plot of a Family Guy episode last year. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easiest-in-story-ways-to-bring-a-comic-book-character-back-from-the-dead/686038/3 "2014-04-13T23:01:49Z")
Alternate timeline version? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easiest-in-story-ways-to-bring-a-comic-book-character-back-from-the-dead/686038/4 "2014-04-13T23:49:26Z")
There’s the Orpheus Option. The afterlife is essentially treated like a geographic location. A character died? No problem, just go to Heaven or Hell and find them. Then bring them back to Earth and they’re alive again. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easiest-in-story-ways-to-bring-a-comic-book-character-back-from-the-dead/686038/5 "2014-04-13T23:52:11Z")
Marvel’s Alpha Flight had a self-parodying sequence where Vindicator (whom we all saw die when his suit exploded) came back from the dead. He gave a very lengthy, very complicated explanation (I can’t remember half of it.) Everybody said, “Wow!” Then it turned out, no, it was an imposter who just made up some pseudo-scientific claptrap. Actually kinda funny. In DC, at one point (after the death and return of Superman) Blue Beetle and Booster Gold were about to do something dangerous. One of them said, “This is really dangerous. We could get killed. Whatever that means.” Some of this goes back to DC in the 1960s with their (ugly and stupid) penchant for dream stories, hoax stories, imaginary stories (is there another kind?) and alternate world stories. They’d kill Lois Lane…and then reveal that it was just on Earth-35 or something. (DC really, really sucked toads in those days.) ETA: Oops, misread. I thought the OP asked “earliest” not “easiest.” ETA: No, I mean literally. They put toads in their mouths. ---
**Author:** ![Harg\_Fargusen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/da6949/32.png) [@Harg\_Fargusen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harg_Fargusen)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easiest-in-story-ways-to-bring-a-comic-book-character-back-from-the-dead/686038/6 "2014-04-13T23:58:20Z")
Last I looked, which has been quite a while ago, Marvel’s go-to resurrection means was usually some cosmic-level something or other…_deus ex machina_ in tights…a being of Beyonder-level powers or Infinity Gems or some other gimmick. Wipe out half the galaxy, then restore it all when another character swipes whatever caused it and simply reverses it (wiping everyone’s memory in the process so that “it never happened”). This device ended up boring pretty quick; just like their yearly apocalyptic “The End of Everything!” miniseries, you just limited how much further you can go next time. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easiest-in-story-ways-to-bring-a-comic-book-character-back-from-the-dead/686038/7 "2014-04-14T02:34:16Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > And no, for this discussion, bringing someone back as a mindless zombie does not count. Nor does merely cloning them and imprinting the clone with the deceased’s memories—not without at least _some_ lip service to transferring the deceased’s unique soul/life force/katra/spark/“mind”/whatever into the clone. That does give me the amusing image of some guy like Maelstrom who has been using the “series of clones imprinted with his memories” form of resurrection showing up in the afterlife only to find it to be a room full of a dozen or so duplicates of himself. “Yeah, about that ‘immortality via mind-copies in clones’ idea you had; well, we’ve got some bad news about that for you.” ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easiest-in-story-ways-to-bring-a-comic-book-character-back-from-the-dead/686038/8 "2014-04-14T02:38:42Z")
Alternate Earth or clones seem to be among the easiest standbys. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easiest-in-story-ways-to-bring-a-comic-book-character-back-from-the-dead/686038/9 "2014-04-14T02:39:24Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > No, I mean literally. They put toads in their mouths. Considering some of the stories they had back then, licking toads actually seems pretty plausible. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easiest-in-story-ways-to-bring-a-comic-book-character-back-from-the-dead/686038/10 "2014-04-14T02:50:44Z")
[5 Absurd Ways Comic Books Have Resurrected Dead Superheroes](http://www.cracked.com/article_18835_5-absurd-ways-comic-books-have-resurrected-dead-superheroes.html) ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easiest-in-story-ways-to-bring-a-comic-book-character-back-from-the-dead/686038/11 "2014-04-14T03:01:00Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Marvel’s Alpha Flight had a self-parodying sequence where Vindicator (whom we all saw die when his suit exploded) came back from the dead. He gave a very lengthy, very complicated explanation (I can’t remember half of it.) Everybody said, “Wow!” Then it turned out, no, it was an imposter who just made up some pseudo-scientific claptrap. > > Actually kinda funny. > > In DC, at one point (after the death and return of Superman) Blue Beetle and Booster Gold were about to do something dangerous. One of them said, “This is really dangerous. We could get killed. Whatever that means.” Given Beetle’s fate and staydeadness…that’s funny. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easiest-in-story-ways-to-bring-a-comic-book-character-back-from-the-dead/686038/12 "2014-04-14T03:01:36Z")
Back in the mid 1970s, during one of the Justice League’s annual “Crisis” story-lines, the bad guys wiped out the Justice Society. Later, they suddenly re-appear, alive and healthy, with no explanation. In the epilogue, it turns out to be the Specter. Resurrection was slightly beyond his power, but he just prayed to his boss, and it was done. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easiest-in-story-ways-to-bring-a-comic-book-character-back-from-the-dead/686038/13 "2014-04-14T03:28:17Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > Resurrection was slightly beyond his power, but he just prayed to his boss, and it was done. Jenette Kahn? ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easiest-in-story-ways-to-bring-a-comic-book-character-back-from-the-dead/686038/14 "2014-04-14T04:04:22Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > ETA: No, I mean literally. They put toads in their mouths. https://www.youtube.com/embed/KslxpY95vYg?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque ---
**Author:** ![magnusblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@magnusblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magnusblitz)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easiest-in-story-ways-to-bring-a-comic-book-character-back-from-the-dead/686038/15 "2014-04-14T06:26:19Z")
Off the top of my head, ways the X-Men have (actually) died and come back: Angel: Got stabbed with a Life Seed, which basically rebooted him in his original form, but removed all his memories Nightcrawler: Died and went to Heaven; went the X-Men showed up and needed his help, he sold his soul to the Bamfs to return to Earth (aka the “Orpheus Option” **Little Nemo** mentioned) Banshee: Resurrected as a Horseman of Death by the Apocalypse Twins, using a Death Seed Colossus: Resurrected by alien technology Psylocke: Her brother used reality-warping powers to reach backwards in time for her soul Emma Frost: Shot while in diamond form, Jean Grey used her Phoenix powers to resurrect her Magik: Body was recreated by a demon, and the body later merged with a soul gem containing her soul ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easiest-in-story-ways-to-bring-a-comic-book-character-back-from-the-dead/686038/16 "2014-04-14T13:59:22Z")
For that matter, there’s the Specter himself: If you can’t bring a character back bodily, just bring back their ghost. Almost no justification is needed for that one. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easiest-in-story-ways-to-bring-a-comic-book-character-back-from-the-dead/686038/17 "2014-04-14T13:59:24Z")
In both comics and serial literature, mistaken identity (either intentional or accidental) seems to be the most common and straightforward way. Hey, it worked for Captain Metropolis and Hooded Justice… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easiest-in-story-ways-to-bring-a-comic-book-character-back-from-the-dead/686038/18 "2014-04-14T14:19:14Z")
In _Excalibur,_ Galactus killed the Rachel Summers Phoenix by putting her in the Phoenix Killing Box and pushing the big red button, decided that was a bad idea and pushed the other button, which brought her back to life. So, kind of a specific way in which to be brought back, but it was as easy as pushing a button.