Random thoughts: longest time to die

Whether they’re the bane of comics or a necessary evil, we all know two things about superhero deaths: they don’t stick, and sooner or later it happens to all long-running characters.
Which got me thinking: which superhero took the longest time to die?
I’m only doing this for Marvel, since multiple continuities make this way too hard for DC.

As always, a few necessary rules.

-Rule #1: the hero must be considered dead by the reader for AT LEAST one full issue. For example, if a character seems to die at the end of issue 1 but the reader knows the character is alive by the end of issue 2, it doesn’t count.

-Rule #2: it doesn’t matter if the character is then revealed to never have died at all, or if all we’re told is “maybe he’s dead”. As long as the character COULD be dead for all the reader knows, it counts.

-Rule #3: if the character stopped being published and reappears with characters saying “I thought you were dead”, it ONLY counts if the character appeared to die the last time we saw him. For example, Captain America’s first death is not when he returns to the Silver Age in 1964, because he wasn’t considered dead in his previous appearances.

-Rule #4: I’m stopping at characters created during the Golden and Silver Age. Both for brevity and because this allows me to skip the headache of the 70s X-Men.

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A couple of notable exceptions that would otherwise add a ton of characters.

The original Secret Wars is not counted: all heroes die in the cliffhanger of issue 11, but by the finale they’re back.

Onslaught also doesn’t count. A bunch of heroes are supposed to be dead, but the following month they debut in the various “Heroes Reborn” series.
By the time Onslaught ended it was well-known they were not really dead.

Infinity Gauntlet, on the other hand, CAN count… if the characters that are snapped out of existence or murdered by Thanos are not appearing in the same month on their own book.

Finally, special thanks to my good friend Carlo for helping with the research.

Now, without further ado… who took the longest time to die?

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GOLDEN AGE

Human Torch
First appearance: 1939
First death: 1966, Fantastic Four Annual #4
Years to die: 27
Stayed dead for: 23 years (1988, Avengers West Coast #50)

Pretty straightforward. Even if, as an android, he was more “deactivated” than “dead”.

Namor
First appearance: 1939
First death: 1989, Iron Man Annual #10
Years to die: 50
Stayed dead for: 3 months (Fantastic Four Annual #22)

The “Atlantis Attacks!” event was supposed to celebrate Marvel’s 50th anniversary… meaning Namor dies in the first chapter and returns in the last.

Captain America
First appearance: 1941
First death: 1995, Captain America #443
Years to die: 54
Stayed dead for: 2 months

Captain America dies in the last issue written by Mark Gruenwald. Issue 444, written by Mark Waid, is Cap’s state funeral and he doesn’t return until issue 445.

I’m counting this on strict technicalities, though, because issue 444 does end with a Capsicle… but TECHNICALLY we’re not told it’s the real Cap.

Bucky
First appearance: 1941
First death: 1964, Avengers #4
Years to die: 23
Stayed dead for: 40 years (2004, Captain America v5 #34)

Bucky’s death coincides with Captain America’s arrival in the Silver Age.

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FANTASTIC FOUR

 Mr. Fantastic
First appearance: 1961
First death: 1986, Fantastic Four #290
Years to die: 25 years
Stayed dead for: 2 months

 Reed seemingly dies in the Negative Zone during the John Byrne run. He’s considered dead until #292.

Invisible Girl
First appearance: 1961
First death: never?

Based on my rules, I could not find a single instance that fits. She’s presumed dead during Fantastic Four #340 (1990), but she’s confirmed to have survived at the beginning of the following issue.

She is among the heroes snapped by Thanos in Infinity Gauntlet #1… but she was appearing regularly in the Fantastic Four book that does NOT acknowledge those events, so I don’t think it should count.

Thing
First appearance: 1961First
death: 2004, Fantastic Four #508
Years to die: 43 years
Stayed dead for: 3 months

He’s also snapped during Infinity Gauntlet, but as discussed that doesn’t count. So we have to wait the Mark Waid run, where he only stays dead until Jack Kirby resurrects him in #511.

Human Torch
First appearance: 1961
First death: 2011, Fantastic Four #587
Years to die: 50 years
Stayed dead for: 10 months (Fantastic Four #600)

Another victim of Infinity Gauntlet that doesn’t count. He one-ups his buddy by lasting almost a year.

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AVENGERS

Ant-Man
First appearance: 1962
First death: 2015, Avengers: Rage of Ultron
Years to die: 53 years
Stayed dead for: 9 years (2024, Avengers Inc #5)

This is complicated. Hank Pym merged with Ultron in 2015, and some part of him WAS present inside the robot… but acted mostly as Ultron, until the two were separated in 2024.

Wasp
First appearance: 1963
First death: 2008, Secret Invasion #7
Years to die: 45 years
Stayed dead for: 4 years (2012, Avengers vol4 #31)

She was snapped by Thanos in Infinity Gauntlet, but that wasn’t acknowledged in other books. So we have to wait until the disappointing finale of Secret Invasion. She’s back soon enough.

Hulk
First appearance: 1962
First death: 1988, Incredible Hulk #345
Years to die: 26 years
Stayed dead for: 2 months

In the masterful “Ground Zero” arc by Peter David, the Hulk is nuked by the Leader. He’s not back until #347.

Thor
First appearance: 1962
First death: 1991, Mighty Thor #432
Years to die: 29 years
Stayed dead for: 2 years (1993, Mighty Thor #457)

This might be questionable, but his soul is seemingly exiled and taken by Mephisto to Hell… is that dead enough?
He wasn’t REALLY in Hell, but that’s what we were led to believe for a while. He’s eventually rescued after Eric Masterson takes his place for quite a while.

Iron Man
First appearance: 1963
First death: never?

Thanos murders him in Infinity Gauntlet #4, but it’s not acknowledged in the Iron Man book so it doesn’t count.
Unfortunately, the Len Kaminski run (my favorite ever) doesn’t count: Tony dies in Iron Man #284, but the same issue reveals he’s just in cryogenic stasis… and unlike Captain America, we hear his thoughts so we know he’s alive.
And since Onslaught doesn’t count for the aforementioned reasons… we have to wait for Civil War II.
Where he’s often considered to have died, but TECHNICALLY he was just in a coma. Something acknowledged in the same issue where he “dies”.

Scarlet Witch
First appearance: 1964
First death: 2021, X-Factor vol4 #10
Years to die: 57 years
Stayed dead for: 6 months (2022, “X-Men: The Trial of Magneto #4”)

 Also killed by Thanos in Infinity Gauntlet #4 AND she was in Onslaught, but those don’t count.
Although it’s often misremembered that she died during either “Avengers: Disassembled” or “House of M”… I couldn’t find any direct claim that she did! She just left and people didn’t know where.
That means we have to wait until the “Trial of Magneto” saga.

In this period, the X-Men have an almost literal deus ex machina for resurrections, but Wanda resurrects herself.

Quicksilver
First appearance: 1964
First death: never?

Snapped by Thanos and disappeared with Onslaught, but since neither counts… with the rules I established, I couldn’t find an instance with Quicksilver dying.

Hawkeye
First appearance: 1964
First death: 2004 (Avengers #502)
Years to die: 40 years
Stayed dead for: 3 years (2007, New Avengers #26)

Once again skipping all the cases I mentioned… Secret War, the Thanos snap, Onslaught… so we have to wait for the abysmal Avengers: Disassembled, where he’s killed by Bendis being just the worst a convoluted mess of a story.

Black Widow
First appearance: 1964
First death: 2017, Secret Empire #7
Years to die: 53 years
Stayed dead for: 8 months (2018, Tales of Suspense #103)

Killed by the Nazi doppelganger of Captain America. Technically speaking the Black Widow running around today is a clone of the original with all of her memories, so everybody pretends Secret Empire never happened. And that’s fine for most.
(I actually think the event is over-hated, but that doesn’t make it good)

Wonder Man
First appearance: 1964
First death: 1964, Avengers #9
Years to die: 0
Stayed dead for: 12 years (1976, Avengers #154)

He dies in his first appearance! Specifically, he’s dead 16 pages after his first panel.
Tracking his return is a bit tricky… he’s resurrected a couple of times by villains, but it’s not until Avengers #154 that he acts independently from the villain reanimating him, so I take that as his full return.

Hercules
First appearance: 1965
First death: 1988, Avengers Annual #17
Years to die: 23 years
Stayed dead for: 10 months (1989, Thor #407)

At the end of Evolutionary War, Hercules “evolves beyond godhood”. It’s kind of weird to consider this his death, I know, but gods are a bit difficult to define in this context… and the move effectively removes Hercules from regular appearances.

Vision
First appearance: 1968
First death: 1989, West Coast Avengers #43
Years to die: 21 years
Stayed dead for: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

If the Human Torch was the easy android to track, Vision is the opposite.
He’s been damaged before, but when he’s COMPLETELY taken apart during the Byrne run… not only it’s hard to say he’s still alive, but once he’s re-assembled he loses his memories.
And even once he re-gains them, it takes a long time for him to regain his emotional attachment to those memories. To the point that Vision considers HIMSELF a different being from the original.
So if you ask him, he’d probably say he never came back.

Swordsman
First appearance: 1965
First (and only) death: 1974 (Giant-Size Avengers #2)
Years to die: 9
Stayed dead for: as of this review, 51 years

He may be nobody’s favorite Avenger, but he got a heroic death. And BECAUSE he’s nobody’s favorite Avenger, he’s still dead.

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SOLO HEROES

Spider-Man
First appearance: 1962
First death: 1985, Web of Spider-Man #17
Years to die: 23 years
Stayed dead for: 2 months

After Spider-Man seemingly dies in one of his books, for a whole month all his series starred somebody else.

Doctor Strange
First appearance: 1963
First death: 2021, “Death of Doctor Strange #1”
Years to die: 58 years
Stayed dead for: 2 years (2023, Strange vol3 #10)

I could also count 1994’s Doctor Strange #61, where he emerges as this weird thing and doesn’t say a word for a while. But it’s more of a transformation than anything.

So we have to wait, appropriately, for the (rather excellent) “Death of Doctor Strange” event.

Daredevil
First appearance: 1964
First death: 2023, Daredevil vol7 #12
Years to die: 59 years
Stayed dead for: 2 months (Daredevil vol7 #14)

Daredevil is among the ones snapped by Thanos during Infinity Gauntlet, but as mentioned that doesn’t count. So we have to wait until a storyline I haven’t read in 2023.

Black Panther
First appearance: 1966 

T’Challa is considered dead by the general public for a while during Doomwar, but as far as I know he’s never actually died in comics.
Except… this time it counts!!!

First death: 1991, Infinity Gauntlet #2
Years to die: 25 years
Stayed dead for: 4 months (Infinity Gauntlet #6)

Unlike other characters I mentioned, Black Panther was not a regular in an ongoing series. So the exception doesn’t apply, for once.

Silver Surfer
First appearance: 1966
First death: soon? 

Marvel announced a “Death of the Silver Surfer” book for later this year. I believe that, based on my rules, this will mark his first death.

Captain Marvel
First appearance: 1967
First (and only) death: 1982, “Death of Captain Marvel
Years to die: 15 years
Stayed dead for: as of this review, 43 years

 Even Marvel doesn’t DARE to undo this one. There’s been a couple of fake-outs with impostors and time travel, but I don’t think they’ll go past that.

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X-MEN

Props to UncannyXMen.Net for doing the job for me.

Professor X
First appearance: 1963
First death: 1968, X-Men #42
Years to die: 5 years
Stayed dead for: 2 years, X-Men #65

 The first of many, many, MANY attempts to have the X-Men grow past their mentor AND get past his nearly story-breaking power.

Marvel Girl
First appearance: 1963
First death: 1980, X-Men #137
Years to die: 17 years
Stayed dead for: 6 years (1986, Fantastic Four #268)

Come on, does ANYBODY reading this site not know about this?

Cyclops
First appearance: 1963
First death: 2000, X-Men vol2 #97
Years to die: 37 years
Stayed dead for: 1 year (X-Men: Search for Cyclops #1)

Since both Secret Wars and Infinity Gauntlet don’t count, we have to wait for Apocalypse to absorb him. The other characters treat him as if he’s dead, so it counts.

Angel
First appearance: 1963
First death: 1987, X-Factor #15
Years to die: 24 years
Stayed dead for: 9 months (1988, X-Factor #24)

He apparently dies before taking the role of Apocalypse’s Death.
I guess he was auditioning.

Iceman
First appearance: 1963
First death: X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023 #1
Years to die: 60 years
Stayed dead for: 1 month, Astonishing Iceman #1

Not counting Infinity Gauntlet for the usual reason, so we have to wait for Nimron to kill him in order to give him a regular series.
And while it’s just a month later, I’m still considering it counting since he returns in a different series.

Beast
First appearance: 1963
First death: 2024, X-Force vol6 #50
Years to die: 61 years
Stayed dead for: as of this review, 1 year

Skipping Infinity Gauntlet for the usual reasons, I guess he was jealous of Iceman because he ALSO decided to kick the bucket.
At the time of this review he’s still dead, but… not only it’s comics, it’s the X-Men.
Just wait.

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And here’s the podium!

LONGEST TIME TO DIE

Beast: 61 years
Iceman: 60 years
Daredevil: 59 years

SHORTEST TIME TO DIE

Wonder Man: 0 months
Professor X: 5 years
Captain Marvel: 15 years

SHORTEST-LASTING FIRST DEATH

 1 month: Iceman
2 months: Spider-Man, Mr. Fantastic, Hulk and Captain America
3 months: Namor and Thing

LONGEST-LASTING FIRST DEATH

Swordsman: as of this review, 51 years
Captain Marvel: as of this review, 43 years
Bucky: 40 years

MOST TIME NOT DEAD

Invisible Girl: 64 years as of this review
Iron Man: 61 years as of this review
Quicksilver: 61 years as of this review

I’d be a bit worried if I were Susan… if Marvel wants to one-up itself after Beast’s first death, she’s probably next.