Welcome back, nerd squad.
Although we often joke that most deaths in the comic book world are not permanent, sometimes
they do have a tendency to stick.
And even if they don’t, comic book deaths still provide us some time to miss and mourn
the heroes we have lost, even if it’s temporary.
There are certain heroes I just don’t want to live without, even if it is for a short
time.
Today we’ll be taking a closer look at some of the heroes we’ve recently lost and what
happened to them as we count down the top 10 newest superhero deaths.
And be sure to stick around till the end of this list where I will have some bonus content
coming your way.
Alright, let’s get counting.
10 Nora West-Allen - October 2018
Also known as XS, Nora West-Allen from the Arrowverse is Barry and Iris's daughter from
an alternate timeline.
She is from the future of earth-1 and was named after Iris' mother, Nora.
She met her end in 2018 when she chose to be erased from existence rather than take
refuge in the Negative Speed Force.
Nora's erasure from existence began as a result of Team Flash defeating Cicada and destroying
his dagger which altered the timeline Nora was from.
With a final heartfelt embrace, Nora said goodbye to her parents as she faded away.
9 Black Widow - April 2019
While Black Widow has died in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we still have her standalone film
which is supposed to be a prequel, coming out soon.
I say supposed to because I don’t fully trust any of the details that Marvel shares
with us about the films.
They could be trying to psych us out, you never know.
Though I don’t think they are trying to mislead us on this fact.
We shall see.
Natasha Romanoff met her end in Avengers Endgame when she sacrificed herself in order to acquire
the soul stone so that the Avengers could return all those who had been lost in the
snap.
8 Iron Man - April 2019
Tony Stark also met his end in Avenger Endgame in the MCU.
His end happened on the big screen as a result of him being the one to wield the deadly Infinity
Gauntlet.
The amount of energy and power that it took for Iron Man to use the infinity gauntlet
was so great that it ended up killing him.
Though at least he was able to hold on long enough to say a heartfelt goodbye to some
of his loved ones, namely Spider-Man and Pepper Potts.
In the comic books, it was Adam Warlock who chose to wield the Gauntlet but Warlock was
so powerful that this didn’t result in his death.
While we have yet to see Warlock in the MCU as of yet, it is likely that we will be introduced
to him in the films during Guardians of the Galaxy 3.
And who knows, although we had a funeral and big send off for Tony Stark, there is a chance
that we could see him return in some form via more pre-recorded holograms or as an AI.
7 Gotham - April 2019
Gotham died not just once but twice.
This hero first appeared on the scene, crime fighting alongside Gotham Girl, his sister.
The duo both seemed to have heroic intentions and in them, Batman saw potential so he took
them under his wing.
Unfortunately both eventually turned to the darkside, with Henry Clover Jr, aka Gotham,
going on a murderous rampage due to the loss of his parents combined with Psycho Pirate’s
manipulation of him.
His powers began to destabilize, killing him and he eventually died as a result.
His sister attempted to bring him back, but once again overexerting his powers led to
his demise shortly after his resurrection.
And by demise, I mean he kind ‘sploded.
So he’s definitely dead now.
6 Translucent - July 2019
In Amazon’s live-action television adaptation of The Boys, Hughie gets his first kill in
a different way than the comic series.
One of the first major deaths of the show happens when Wee Hughie makes the choice to
take out a member of the Seven.
Translucent is a superhero in the world of the Boys who can turn invisible but not in
the way you’d normally expect.
He can transform himself into a diamond form which causes him to appear invisible due to
the way his diamond-form warps light around him.
5 Eros - August 2019
Not going to lie.
I kind of
like this death for Titan Eros, aka Starfox, Thanos’ brother.
Starfox first appeared in comics in 1973 and has become a longstanding albiet odd mainstay
as time has progressed.
He has been a member of the Avengers and is technically an Eternal.
As such he is super powerful and has a variety of superpowers but the one has has become
most well known for is his power of seduction.
He can basically make people fall in love with himself or others, using pheromones to
influence their feelings, and make them do whatever he wants.
See what I mean?
As such he has been tried twice in the comics for sexual assault and was even at one point
accused of being responsible for Thanos’ violent and murderous exploits as it was suspected
that Starfox has been responsible for making Thanos fall in love with Death.
He died trying to prevent the resurrection of his brother Thanos.
Originally Starfox thought that Gamora would be the one to fulfill Thanos’ prophecy of
resurrection found in his will, and that he would return by taking hold of her body.
Turned out that it wasn’t Gamora he had to worry about though, but himself.
While the Black Order worked to transfer Thanos’ consciousness into Starfox, Gamora was actually
forced to kill Eros to prevent Thanos’ return.
4 Heimdall - October 2019
What a rough go, we've now lost Heimdall in both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the
comics.
At least for now.
Fingers crossed his death doesn't stick.
Heimdall is known as one of the wisest and oldest beings on Asgard.
Odin made him the Guardians of the Rainbow Bridge Bitfrost which connects Asgard to Midgard,
aka Earth.
In the new Valkyrie series with Jane Foster taking up the mantle as Valkyrie we saw Heimdall
bite the dust.
He died protecting Jane in a fight against Bullseye.
Bullseye with a sword no less.
Unfortunately during the fight he was stabbed and later died of his injuries after being
spartan-kicked 300 style off of a building.
Youch.
3 Will Payton - December 2019
There have been various superheroes in DC to take up the mantle of Starman but Will
Payton is the one that we are talking about here today.
He was first introduced in the New Earth continuity in 1988 in Starman #1.
In both continuities that he’s appeared in, he gets his powers the same way after
being hit with a beam of energy misfired from a satellite.
But while the new Earth version of Payton died in the comics in 1992, he would get another
chance at heroics in the New 52.
Prime Earth Starman was introduced in Dark Nights: Metal #1 and even went on to become
a member of the Justice League.
But during his time with the Justice League in volume 4 of the series during the Year
of Villain event, the Doom Rising issue, he met his end literally at the hands of Perpetua.
She crushed him in her giant hand.
This was just after Starmen had felt and connected with the Starmen who had come before them
and thought this gave him enough power to win.
Sad.
2 Green Arrow - January 2020
In the Arrowverse, Oliver Queen died multiple times during the Crisis on Infinite Earths
story arc.
And he didn't go alone.
He was also accompanied by many heroes from CW's Arrowverse as well as almost everyone
from Earth-2.
After eight seasons it was time for Green Arrow to come to a close and Oliver Queen
went out with the last season.
His first death happened as a result of him sacrificing himself to save billions from
Earth-38.
He was the resurrected by John Constantine and returned in Lazarus Pit on earth-18 only
to later be destroyed by antimatter.
Finally he came back as the Spectre--Hal Jordan's like, hey that's my thing--only to sacrifice
himself once more in order to recreate Earth-Prime and resurrect some of the fallen heroes.
1 Stan Lee
Stan Lee died on November 12 of 2018.
Over a year ago.
Still he, remains one of the greatest heroes we got out of comics.
He was inspirational, never picked favourites--although I think Spider-Man might have been his true
fave--always appeared to be a genuinely positive person.
Stan helped to create Marvel, transforming it from Timely comics into the publisher that
we know and love today.
He started his career in editing at just 19 years old and during his time with Marvel
worked to completely redefine the way comics and comicbook characters were written, making
the process more efficient and streamlined and adding more depth to characters in the
comicbook world.
Creating superheroes who felt more grounded and real.
Without him we likely wouldn’t have the Marvelverse as it is and mainy of the characters
within it that we know today.
If that didn’t make Stan the Man Lee super, I don’t know what will.
A lot of the time when we talk about the death of comic book heroes we know they are just
“comic book deaths” and somehow, someway, we’ll likely see them return eventually.
But with Stan Lee, his death is one of the most permanent ones and the most world-altering,
in comicbook history.
Thanks so much for watching, nerd squad.
I hope we didn’t make you cry too much with this list.
How many of these deaths listed do you think will stay permanent?
Are there any superheroes who have died in the past that you would like to see brought
back?
How do you feel about the idea of comic book deaths vs more permanent ends to comic book
characters?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
And while you’re on your way down there, be sure to like, subscribe and ring that bell,
if you haven’t already.
You know how much I love it when you ring that bell.
This has been top 10 nerd, and I’m your host, Amanda McKnight.
Stay nerdy, Youtube.
And watch out for that bonus content.