Comic Book Characters Most Shocking Deaths

This article was originally published on worldtravelling.com and has been republished here with permission.

Most of us love comics because they present us with incredible worlds and stories full of superpowers that we would love to possess. We frequently mistakenly believe that having abilities grants us immortality, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. In comic books, it is usually made very clear that even our favorite heroes are not immune to dying just like regular people. In this ranking you’ll find out how the characters of your favorite comics died, and you may even discover some that you didn’t know were dead. In any case, you should not fear, in the world of comics everything is possible, and what today is a tragic death, can be prevented tomorrow in an alternate universe.

Archie Andrews

This character died in a rather noble way, as a result of receiving a bullet that was intended for someone else. Archie Andrews has been a well-known comic book character for many decades, mainly remembered for the Riverdale series. The fateful event occurred in 2014 when Archie intervened in the assassination attempt on Senator Kevin Keller who was advocating for more stricter gun controls at that time. There is no denying that he died a true hero.

This awful tragedy finished the “Life of Archie” series’ chapters and stunned everyone because the death of such a charismatic character in such a horrific manner was unexpected. The final chapter of the series showed all his friends and relatives paying tribute to him a year later. The “Life of Archie” series was just one of the comics, fans can still watch the protagonist in other comics narrating new and exciting adventures.

Gwen Stacy

This comic character gained notoriety in the Amazing Spiderman comics that were published in the 70s. In them, the story was told of how Gwen, Peter Parker’s love interest, dies at the hands of his archenemy the green goblin when he pushes her from a bridge in order to torment Parker. The really tragic thing about this story is that at one point it hinted the possibility that Peter could have contributed to that outcome.

This was a pivotal moment for Peter and fans talk about how it marked the personality of this superhero forever. Gwen died from the shock of the fall and the web Parker tried to catch her with could not have changed the course of events.

Robin

As we all know, the Batman multiverse is huge, and for every comic or story there are alternate realities of its characters. Depending on the comic, Robin can be depicted as male or female. The death we are referring to occurred within the narrative of the series “A Death in the Family” that was published in the 1980s; in which it is told how Jason Todd is killed by the famous villain The Joker.

The character dies as a result of a bomb explosion, and as the image portrays, he is discovered by Batman in a terrible scenario where he finds his partner under the rubble unable to do much. Oddly enough, this death was directly chosen by fans who voted the outcome through a telephone line.

Captain Marvel

Sometimes we assume that comic book characters should die as a result of a spectacular event, saving lives or preventing a catastrophe; that is precisely why the death of Captain Marvel in this story was so shocking. It turns out that the death was caused by cancer, reminding us that these characters are only humans just like us. Captain Marvel contracted the sickness after fighting in the Dark Dimension and being exposed to Compound 13.

Due to exposure to radiation, the condition had no cure, and even characters normally associated with the dark side, such as Thanos, were there accompanying Captain Marvel until the end. It’s worth mentioning that this character has since resurfaced in various forms, for example when the Grandmaster summoned his spirit as part of the Legion of the Unliving.