Which DC characters have died at some point?

General Discussion
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I was talking about this to my son a few days ago, and it’s harder to figure out than I thought.

Anybody want to work on a list with me? I’d like to start trying to figure out the bigger names first, and work our way down. And PLEASE correct jump in and correct anything we get wrong :slight_smile:

I’m about to leave work, so I’ll start with a few I think may be sucker punched by the grim reaper:

I think every one of the original big seven of the JLA has died at some point, right?

How about Kyle Rayner? I’m really not sure if he has.
Wally West has, right?

How about the rest of the original Justice League going up to the satellite era?

Hawkman & Hawkwoman: Yes (duh :slight_smile: )
Green Arrow: Yes
The Atom: No?
Firestorm: Yes?
Zatanna: No?
Red Tornado: Yes
Black Canary: No?

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The Creeper unfortunately has.

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Has Batman actually died? I can’t remember a time where it’s certain that he died. Maybe at the end of Endgame, but has that been 100% as a death? I’ll go check to see if Dark Nights: Metal mentions if it is or not.

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I forgot the word “confirmed” after 100%

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I think Resurrection Man has

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Yeah it seems like Batman did die at the end of Endgame

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Well, since you asked about the JLA up through the Satellite Era:
-Superman died in 1992 in the helpfully titled Death of Superman storyline.

-Batman has died like twenty-seven times, most notably in Final Crisis.

-I think Wonder Woman died at some point in the '90s, but I’m not sure when that was.

-Martian Manhunter also died in Final Crisis.

-Barry Allen died in Crisis on Infinite Earths, while Wally West died (and… sorta came back, or rather had it retconned out by time travel) in Tom King Hates You. I mean, Heroes in Crisis

-Hal Jordan turned evil in Emerald Twilight and died in The Final Night. I don’t recall any instances of any of the subsequent Earth Lanterns dying.

-Aquaman died sometime in the '90s too, but don’t ask me when, how, or what happened with the identity in the meantime.

-Green Arrow died… Guess when? The '90s. He was actually dead for a while. Connor Hawke took over and it was surprisingly pretty cool.

-I don’t believe Ray Palmer has ever been formally killed off, but if you’re hankering for an Atom death, I believe Al Pratt died sometime in the '80s, and Ryan Choi was unceremoniously killed off by the dumb Deathstroke-led “Villains for Hire” Titans.

-Hawkman… Man, who can frickin’ tell with Hawkman?

-Black Canary has not properly been killed off, thank goodness.

-Elongated Man died at the end of 52.

-Red Tornado has died like five hundred times because the writers can just rebuild him later.

-At least one of the Hawkgirls or Hawkwomen probably died at some point or something, I think.

-I don’t recall any Zatanna deaths.

-Ronnie Raymond definitely died in Identity Crisis. I’m pretty sure Martin Stein and Jason Rusch have both died at some point or other.

-I can never figure out whether Black Lightning was officially on the team. Some sources list him and some don’t. Regardless, he’s phased in and out of prominence due to rights issues, but I don’t think he’s died.

-Oh, and the Phantom Stranger is an honorary member, and it’s fairly clear that he can’t die.

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@BatJamags Batman didn’t die in Final Crisis. Darkseid just faked Batman’s death. I would count it as a death if the whole Omega Section/Hyper-Adapter thing was a retcon, but it’s shown that Batman is still alive in the same story.

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Every single character to ever appear in a comic has died and then been resurrected.

There. Answered. End thread.

@BatJamags

Wrong on Aquaman. He was killed in Sword of Atlantis #50 in 2007. At least that’s the only Aquaman death I know. They were doing a weird thing with a new guy who was basically Aquaman but not Aquaman, and Arthur Curry had become someone named the Dweller and was a weird Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man’s Chest extra. It was a whole weird thing. Taken alone, the Sword of Atlantis comics were actually pretty good, but long time fans were ticked off. Aquaman was resurrected at the end of Blackest Night.

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A few more things.

Yeah, Red Tornado dies constantly. It’s kind of annoying.

Lol on the Hawkmen. They are a mess. Hawkman definitely died during the New 52 due to I don’t know what because I didn’t like New 52. He was resurrected in Metal…I think. It’s a whole weird thing where he was in the dark universe and a bird thing/slave maybe. I don’t know. Metal was weird.

I’m 95% sure Black Lighting was in the post-Final Crisis version of Justice League of America. I think that’s the only time he joined. What are the right issues with Black Lightning? DC doesn’t own him?

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Ferro Lad died in Legion of the Superheroes Silver Age

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The Question has died twice. First in The Question (1986-) #1, and second in 52.

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@BatWatch: I think the rights to Black Lightning are partially owned by Tony Isabella, who created him, and that’s at least prevented them from putting Black Lightning in adaptations before, leading to the long string of similarly powered and color-schemed knockoffs. Whatever it is, they clearly managed to resolve it for his TV show and Young Justice. I’ll look it up when I get the chance.

Also, whoops. Misremembered when Aquaman died. This is what wikis are for. Sorry about that.

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No big. I incorrectly said BL was in the JLA after Final Crisis. I meant Infinite Crisis.

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To paraphrase a moment from the 138th Episode Spectacular episode of The Simpsons:

“If you said Ron Troupe and Dana Tan, you are wrong. They were never dead.”

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You should instead ask “Who hasn’t died at some point.” It would probably be a shorter list.

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All of them except Detective Chimp

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Red hood

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Bat-Family death breakdown:

Batmen:
Bruce Wayne - Addressed previously.
Jean-Paul Valley - Died at the end of his series and brought back by Flashpoint.
Dick Grayson - Narrowly escaped death at the cruel hands of Dan DiDio on numerous occasions.

Robins:
Jason Todd - May have died at some point. Possibly. Just a guess.
Tim Drake - No deaths that I’m aware of.
Stephanie Brown - Depends whether you count “retconned not to have been dead in the first place” as dying and coming back. From a meta perspective, she was treated as dead, so I’m counting it.
Damian Wayne - Died (Yay!) and came back (Crap.), so there’s that.

Batgirls:
Betty/Bette Kane - I don’t think she’s died.
Barbara Gordon - Does having your personality and character development erased count as dying? No? OK then.
Helena Bertinelli - They said she was dead in the Helena Wayne Huntress series from the New 52, and she turned out not to be, so I’ll count her.
Cassandra Cain - Died and got Lazarus Pit’d in the last issue of her Batgirl series.

Others:
Alfred Pennyworth - No deaths. The fans would riot.
Kate Kane - I don’t think she died at any point. However, Kathy Kane was killed by the League of Assassins. If you treat them as pre- and post-crisis versions of the same character, that’s a death and return.
Onyx - I don’t recall her dying, but it might have happened.
Gavin King - Died but didn’t come back.
Michael Lane - Never paid attention to this character. If he died, I didn’t hear about it.
Harper Row - No deaths.
Duke Thomas - No deaths.

So that’s Bruce, Jean-Paul, Jason, Stephanie, Damian, Helena, and Cass.

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Whoops, forgot about the Batwings. Don’t know much about either character, but I’m not aware of any deaths or resurrections for them.