Which Dead MARVEL Characters Might Be Next To Return?
by Albert Ching, Newsarama Staff Writer
Date: 29 September 2011 Time: 09:01 PM ET
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If you're a dead Marvel character, you might be in luck. Since the last time we revisited this countdown, five — a full half! — of the temporarily-deceased heroes and villains on this list have been revived in the publisher's storylines, albeit a couple — Sentry and Banshee — as the Horsemen of Death in <i>Uncanny Avengers</i>. <p> With a high-profile character reintroduced in the freshly released <i>Daredevil #26</i> (no spoilers here, but <a href=http://www.newsarama.com/17885-what-marvel-comics-spoiler-did-usa-today-reveal.html>full details in this article</a>, be cautious when clicking), one wonders: Who's next? And with all of these rampant resurrections, who's' left? <p> Here are 10 major Marvel characters that haven't yet been awoken from their semi-permanent sleep.
As far as comic book deaths go, Ben Reilly's seemed pretty definitive: He was impaled by a Goblin Glider, fell off a building, and disintegrated into dust. <p>Yet that hasn't stopped the faithful followers of Peter Parker's bottle-blond clone from hoping that he might come back some day. And it's not like Marvel hasn't played on those expectations a bit — another Spidey clone, Kaine, is now using Ben Reilly's old identity in the ongoing series <i>Scarlet Spider</i>. <p>And speaking of that series, here's what was solicited for August's issue #21: "At his lowest point, he comes face to face with the one man that’s fueled his obsession, hate and guilt his entire life... BEN REILLY." <p>Does that mean Ben Reilly is back? Or is it more of a metaphorical encounter? Smart money says the latter, but Marvel has moved in some unexpected directions with the Spider-Man books lately. Speaking of which...
Recent Spidey developments in <i>Superior Spider-Man</i> have shown that nearly nothing is sacred. We're in a world where Spider-Man isn't even Peter Parker right now, even if he is using his body (it's complicated). <p>Like Uncle Ben and the pre-Ed Brubaker Bucky, Gwen Stacy has for decades been one of those characters that are just "supposed" to stay dead. But given the risk Marvel has shown they're willing to take with the Spider-Man mythos, and the fact that Gwen has now been seen by millions of people on the big screen via <i>Amazing Spider-Man</i> — with a sequel coming in summer 2014 — might Marvel be considering bringing her back in the comic books? <p>Probably not. <p>But maybe... <p>(But probably not.)
Marvel has a new Captain Marvel, and it's Carol Danvers, the former Ms. Marvel. She's been successful in her new role, but the original has been gone for so long, it seems that he's almost due for a comeback under <i>some</i> identity, if not his previous one. <p>Kree soldier Mar-Vell has been dead since the descriptively titled 1982 graphic novel <i>The Death of Captain Marvel</i>. Despite all odds, he's managed to remain dead, though a now-deceased Skrull impersonated him for a period during <i>Secret Invasion</i>. <p>Given how much fans have taken to Carol Danvers in the role of Captain Marvel, bringing back Mar-Vell to take back that mantle would seem to be a rather unwise move — but him trying to reintegrate into the current Marvel Universe after all of these years (he died pre-<i>Secret Wars</i>, after all) is a potentially intriguing story, no matter what name he uses while doing it.
There's a new Nova, and it's Sam Alexander, the star of his own recently launched ongoing title and one of the main players of the <i>Ultimate Spider-Man</i> animated series on Disney XD. <p> Given the push Marvel has given the character, it's clear that he's not going anywhere. But the Marvel Universe is already a crowded place, and seeing Richard Rider — Marvel's first Nova — help mentor the still-fledgling Sam could be neat. <p> Nova was presumed dead in the same incident that appeared to claim the life of Star-Lord, who has already returned. Though the exact details haven't been spelled out yet, that would seem to at least open up the possibility of him returning. Plus, the new <i>Nova</i> series writer is Zeb Wells, who wrote Rich Rider in the 2005-2006 <i>New Warriors</i> miniseries — and the solicitation to August's #7 reads "Nova’s Eventful World-Wide Adventure Rockets Roaringly Into Our Renegade Spider!," which, when you take the first letter of each word, spells "NEW WARRIORS." A clue? Just messing with people's expectations? August isn't that far away.
Marvel doesn't seem to be able to support two superheroic members of the Lang family at a time. After Cassie's father, Scott "Ant-Man" Lang died, she took up the identity of Stature as part of the Young Avengers. <p>In <i>Avengers: The Children's Crusade</i>, Scott Lang came back, but Cassie died shortly after. And it's that incident that is Ant-Man's No. 1 motivation as the lead character of <i>FF</i> — yet how would that be changed if it was found that his daughter also cheated death? Just as there's a new <i>Young Avengers</i> series for her to potentially show up in? Perhaps worth thinking about.
Ares actually came very close to not making this list, as <i>Uncanny Avengers</i> writer Rick Remender <a href=http://www.newsarama.com/17851-rick-remender-revives-sentry-daken-in-uncanny-avengers.html>recently told us</a> that he considered bringing the character back as part of the Horsemen in that series — which ended up as Daken, Grim Reaper, Sentry and Banshee. <p>So clearly, influential people at Marvel have had Ares on their mind in the not-too-distant past. It could either stop there, sure, but there's at least some interest out there in the former Avenger/God of War, so don't be totally shocked if he shows up some time in the near-ish future.
Nightcrawler's death in 2010's "Second Coming" crossover brought tears to the eyes of many X-fans. And since it is X-Men, readers immediately asked, "How soon until he comes back?" The other major "Second Coming" casualty, Cable, returned in <i>Avengers: X-Sanction</i>. So what about Kurt Wagner? <p>The (much more hardened) Age of Apocalypse version of Nightcrawler was living in the "mainstream" Marvel Universe, working with Uncanny X-Force to take out villainous AoA escapees. Yet the original version remains out of the picture, despite clear affection for the character on the part of both creators and readers — though "Bamfs" have continued to pop up in <i>Wolverine and the X-Men</i>.
Professor Charles Xavier was the big casualty of <i>Avengers vs. X-Men</i>, struck down by a Dark Phoenix-ized Cyclops in the heat of battle. <p>His death has led to significant drama in the pages of several titles, notably <i>Uncanny Avengers</i>, where Red Skull has managed to use his brain — and by extension, his ultra-powerful telepathy — to unkind ends. (This type of corpse abuse could make a resurrection more or less likely, depending on your perspective.) <p>While many key Marvel creators <a href=http://www.newsarama.com/10210-was-the-avengers-vs-x-men-death-a-mercy-killing.html>stated that a dead Professor X creates more story possibilities</a> than a live one, a character this important likely won't stay dead forever. But staying dead for a long time? We've seen that with key X-Men characters before. (More on that soon.)
It looked like Spider-Man was down for the count at the end of <i>Amazing Spider-Man #700</i>, where, following a body switch machinated by Doctor Octopus, Peter Parker's mind died with Doc Ock's rapidly failing body. Or did it? <P>It didn't. At least, not completely. At the end of <i>Superior Spider-Man #1</i>, it was shown that a shred of Peter Parker's consciousness was still left inside of his body, and fighting for control. Good news all around. <p>Except for <i>Superior Spider-Man #9</I>, which showed a mental battle between Peter and Ock for control of their shared body — one that resulted in Otto Octavius winning, and seemingly deleting Peter Parker's mind forever, free to roam the New York City streets as an unencumbered Superior Spider-Man. <P>Except probably not forever. Because it's Peter Parker. But as right now, even if his body is still alive and well, Spider-Man at least technically counts in the "dead" category at Marvel — though likely not for long.
Ah, Jean Grey. The great white whale of comic book resurrections. <p>Jean Grey has been dead (well, this time around) since December 2003's <i>New X-Men #150</i>, meaning that, as unlikely as it may seem, this death has actually lasted longer than the span between her (well, what was thought to be her at the time) committing suicide on the moon at the end of "The Dark Phoenix Saga" and returning in <i> Fantastic Four #286</i>. (That was a mere six years.) Jean Grey has now been dead for nearly a decade, meaning that there is a generation of comic book readers out there who haven't read a current, mainstream Marvel Universe comic book where she was alive. <p>While many expected her return at the end of <i>Avengers vs. X-Men</i>, it didn't happen — though something along the lines did take place shortly after, with Beast bringing the original five X-Men (including a teenage Jean Grey) into the present. So while the contemporary Marvel Universe does have <i>a</i> Jean Grey — a younger version of the original — the adult version has continued to remain dead, longer than many fans expected.
