Top 10 Worst Resurrections In Comics

Top 10 Most Ridiculous Resurrections in Comics Nobody stays dead in comics, but did they have to come back like this? Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Top 10 Ridiculous Resurrections in Comics. For this list, we’re looking at the weirdest, silliest, and downright laziest ways that comic book characters have made their way back from the Great Beyond.

#10: Jean Grey

The death of this beloved character at the climax of the epic Dark Phoenix Saga is one of the most iconic moments in X-Men history, with this founding member of the team dying to save the universe itself. The fact that she later came back to life has sullied that moment somewhat, especially given the reveal that it wasn’t even Jean at all. In reality, the one who died was a construct created by the Phoenix Force in her image. The real version was actually sleeping in suspended animation in a pod underneath Jamaica Bay the whole time. It was like the whole Phoenix thing never happened.

#9: Nick Fury

You don’t get to be the leader of S.H.I.E.L.D without making a few enemies and painting a pretty big target on your back. This eyepatch-clad master of espionage knows this better than most and has spent almost his entire life dodging bullets. But a few times, those bullets have hit their mark, seemingly ending the career of Marvel’s resident super-spy. How did he turn up to die another day? Through the use of robotic body doubles called Life Model Decoys. Able to imitate a normal human almost perfectly, they’re perfect for when a dashing spy needs to fake his own death, which Nick has on numerous occasions.

#8: Hobgoblin

Ahhh, the long-lost twin brother: a staple of soap operas, 90s Van Damme movies and lazy resurrections since time immemorial. If you really wanna scrape the bottom of the barrel in terms of resurrection methods, just have your would-be Lazarus have a previously unmentioned identical twin, who conveniently died in their place. This Spider-Man foe pulled this old trick after he was seemingly decapitated by Phil Urich, who had taken up the mantle of Hobgoblin for himself. Not long after, it was revealed that the guy who lost his head wasn’t the genuine article, but a twin brother who, though referenced before, was technically a surprise, prompting the original to return and take on the new Hobgoblin.

#7: Superman

DC Comics rocked the comic book world in 1993 when it seemingly killed off its most iconic character, the Man of Steel himself. In a massive battle with the hulking monster Doomsday, the last son of Krypton seemingly perished, sending an entire nation into mourning for one of its greatest heroes… psych! It turns out he was actually never dead at all, but in a kind of hibernation that Kryptonians enter upon extreme trauma. Bringing characters back from the dead is one thing, but engineering an entire event around the death of a character only to reveal they never actually died? Weak.

#6: The Punisher

Comics, it must be said, can get pretty weird. Almost every major character has strayed pretty far from their established status quo at one point or another, becoming something quite far from what they were intended to be. Such was the case that this gun-toting vigilante found himself in for one of his handful of resurrections. After being killed and dismembered by Wolverine’s son Daken, the violent anti-hero was brought back to life by Morbius, who turned him into a Frankenstein-style creature dubbed Frankencastle. This is about as far from the gritty vigilante the character originally was as you could get, and the change didn’t go over well with fans.

#5: The Thing

The term ‘Deus Ex Machina’ is a Latin phrase literally meaning “God from the Machine.” It’s used to describe a trope in fiction where a seemingly unsolvable problem is resolved in a way that is contrived, unexpected, and out of nowhere. The time that the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing was brought back to life is a very literal example of this trope, as the FF traveled to Heaven, where a godlike being who looked suspiciously like comics legend Jack Kirby brought him back to life just….well, just ‘cause. He’s a supreme being, he doesn’t have to answer to us!

#4: Aunt May

Spider-Man’s doddering aunt has seemingly been at death’s door for decades, continually presented as being quite frail. Eventually, she seemingly passed on in a touching and heartfelt scene that was as dignified and solemn a send-off as any comics character could hope for. Except, no. Turns out that that was actually an actress hired by Norman Osborn and altered to look like Spidey’s aunt in a ridiculously convoluted scheme to mess with Spider-Man’s head. The means of her resurrection, in this case, aren’t quite as egregious as the fact that a really good death scene got written out of existence. What a waste!

#3: Alfred Pennyworth

Superhero comics used to be silly. Like, really, really silly. Case in point, the time in the 1960s where Batman’s faithful butler seemingly bit the big one. After apparently dying to save Batman and Robin from a giant boulder, their trusty manservant was laid to rest. However, the World’s Greatest Detective somehow neglected to notice that Alfred wasn’t dead at all. Kept alive by, and we’re not joking, his love for the Caped Crusaders, he was eventually found and revived, briefly becoming the villain known as The Outsider. The power of love is one thing, but keeping someone alive in a sealed coffin is another thing entirely.

#2: Jason Todd

At the climax of the epic “Crisis on Infinite Earths” event, a small handful of characters from the Silver Age of comics including classic versions of Superman and Superboy departed for a paradise dimension. This seemed a fitting way to give the age-old characters a happy ending. However, Superboy, in particular, grew angry at the state of affairs in the DCU, which he could see from his new home. Angered at the heroes’ increasingly ambiguous morality, he began striking the dimensional walls, sending ripples through reality itself. This caused many minor changes, including the seemingly spontaneous resurrection of the second Robin, Jason Todd. Resurrection via reality punching. Well, that’s definitely original. And pretty silly!

#1: Spider-Man

In a story that has since gone down in infamy as one of the most WTF stories in Spidey history, the web-slinger was once kissed by a female villain known as The Queen. This caused him to start mutating into a monstrous spider-creature, and even more bizarrely, also caused him to become pregnant. At the climax of this transformation, Spidey seemingly died moments before giving birth to...himself. Yep. A fully human Peter emerged from the husk of the creature he had turned into, having gained a few new powers in the process. That’s definitely a unique way to cheat death, but also an incredibly gross one.