There are certain tropes in fiction that storytellers employ to get the attention of fans (particularly collectors), and one of the big ones is to apparently kill a character.
THERE THEY GO AGAIN!
Even in 2026, we are not immune to death in comics. In fact, both Marvel and DC are using death to try and increase sales right now!
First up is Marvel letting word come out that an Avenger is dying in Avengers: Armageddon. So far, the good news is that just who that will be has not been made public as of this writing. But I’m sure we’ll know soon!
I know that person will NOT be Spider-Man, Wolverine, Iron Man, Captain America, or Thor. However, given that pretty much every hero in the House of Ideas Has been a card-carrying member of that group at one time or another, it’s likely to be a character of lesser rather than greater importance in the MCU. But we’ll see.
At DC, the word is that Bruce Wayne (the alter ego of Batman) is being hunted by assassins, one of whom will apparently hit the target. Of course, his death is greatly exaggerated since Batman is not going anywhere anytime soon in DC. He is their most popular hero these days!
DEATH IN COMICS IS ALMOST ALWAYS TEMPORARY
Those of us who have been reading comics for any length of time know that, unlike real life, when a character dies, it’s most likely only going to last for a short while.
Fans point to Ma and Pa Kent, who famously (or infamously, if you prefer) come and go on a pretty regular basis. It all depends on if Superman needs a family to talk with in a story.
Sometimes books will replace “living” characters with holographic or imaginary versions, like Jarvis, the Avengers butler, or Alfred, Batman’s confidant. Both of them have been around after their untimely passings either via computer or imagination. Recently, a new, female Pennyworth has arrived on the scene, but I’m still suspicious of her, wondering if, like Alfred before her, there might be a more villainous plot going on à la The Outsider. Again, we’ll see.
THE ONE DEATH I WISH WERE TEMPORARY
I’ve mentioned this previously in this column, but the aforementioned Alfred is the one comic death that seems to have stuck, and I regret it. I know older, more senior characters aren’t as popular with readers, but he, like James Gordon, often played a strong, behind-the-scenes and fatherly function for the Dark Knight, and I miss his often more realistic perspective, asking, “You want to do WHAT!?”
Fortunately, Alfred isn’t completely gone. He’s around in Absolute Batman and in the Webtoons comic Batman: Wayne Family Adventures, which I continue to enjoy regularly. I like the seasoned point of view he provides, and the regular title hasn’t been the same without him. I even was willing to accept the odd imaginary version of him that Bruce conferred with at times.
MAKE IT LAST
I still believe that if a creator wants to make a significant change to an established character, it should be mandatory that this change stay in place no less than two years, preferably five.
I point to the recent Doctor Doom takeover of the MCU that no one I ever spoke with thought was permanent. Yes, it lasted longer than some Marvel events have—slightly over a year—but I was never even beginning to consider it was “forever,” at least by comic book standards. I always want to start a contest to see who can correctly predict when the change will be reset to the standard operating procedure. They ought to do a “What If?” comic that explores what the MCU would have been like if he indeed did stay in charge. However, based on previous stories in this series, the MCU would have been much worse off than how the MCU “really” turned out.
I feel the same way with Superman after the DC K.O. Event. We KNOW he will be back sooner rather than later. He has comics to sell, after all!
So, how long will whatever Avenger gets “killed” will that character actually be gone? His long will it appear that Bruce Wayne has been “murdered?” I’m not exactly sure, but neither will last long—THAT I am sure about! Death is still a gimmick in comics, after all!
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