# CBR Community  > Comics Should Be Good >  What character deaths upset you the most?

## Dr. Skeleton

Character deaths in comics have become a pretty common thing now.  A character gets killed either to boost sales or it more or less made sense depending on the storyline or just because.  A character would come back in a matter of either a few months to 10 years.  What characters that you loved who were killed off made you so upset that it made you write a nasty letter to the company or just gave up on the comics?  Here are a list of mine and let me know your list.

Colossus
Iron Man
Nick Fury
Batman
Rapture (from Savage Dragon)
Betty Ross
Capt. America
Elongated Man

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## Neil Kapit

I think we need to differentiate between "upset because it was an emotionally moving story" and "upset because it was a cheap shock ploy". For the former category, I have;

Jean Grey (first time)
Damian Wayne
Ultimate Peter Parker
4/5ths of The Boys (interpret that as you will, because I don't want to spoil it)
Rorschach
Marko's father in Saga
Henry in American Vampire
Superman in All-Star Superman
Gertrude Yorkes
Gwen Stacy
Roger the Homunculus
Agent 355
Tony the Cat in The Filth 
Mr. Hyde in the League of Extraordinary Gentleman (sort of)
Magneto in Planet X (sort of)
The High (Stormwatch)

And the latter, sucky category features;

Martian Manhunter (Final Crisis)
Colossus (Scott Lobdell's second Uncanny run)
Nightcrawler (X-Men: Second Coming)
Ant-Man, Vision, and Hawkeye (Avengers Disassembled)
Corsair (Brubaker's X-Men)
Sue Dibny
Iron Man (the Crossing)
Everyone who died in Ultimatum
Everyone who died in Ultimate Cataclysm 
Giles (Buffy Season 8)
Cyclops (X-Men: The Shattering)
The Doctor in Authority: Revolution
The Wasp (Secret Invasion)
Stature (Avengers: The Children's Crusade)

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## KurtW95

Whenever it's a character I like. So basically, all of them except Famtomex.

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## Dr. Skeleton

> Martian Manhunter (Final Crisis)


Forgot about MM.  His death was rather ridiculous and vague at first and then was clarified later on.  DC were at the point where they were following Marvel's footsteps to kill characters to sell a few books.

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## Lady Warp Spasm

Well I was super pissed at the fake Bucky death in Fear Itself more for the fact how utterly dumb it was and that Ed did not write that fake out. After that, I stopped caring about deaths.

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## coveredinbees

Jean's death in Morrison's run. We just saw her come back to life! And she was rapidly becoming Morrison's most well written X-Man.

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## Bradley

I would say probably Blue Beetle's.  Not just because I really liked the character (although I did), but because it seemed like they killed one character and ruined another (Maxwell Lord) in an effort to prove that superhero comics could be "serious" and "mature"-- as if grown-up entertainment is all about shocking acts of violence.  I've picked up the occasional DC book since then, but that was when I realized that I probably wasn't part of DC's target audience anymore.

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## earl

> I would say probably Blue Beetle's.  Not just because I really liked the character (although I did), but because it seemed like they killed one character and ruined another (Maxwell Lord) in an effort to prove that superhero comics could be "serious" and "mature"-- as if grown-up entertainment is all about shocking acts of violence.  I've picked up the occasional DC book since then, but that was when I realized that I probably wasn't part of DC's target audience anymore.



This was a dumb one.


Killing off Doc Sampson was a waste of an interesting support character, especially considering that Warren Ellis had just used the character in a different title and a way showing what was unique about it and could be done
.

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## Carabas

Sarah Essen-Gordon still smarts. I really liked that character.

And Black Widow Yelena Belova. Who was first turned into an unambiguous villain by Frelling Bendis and then unceremoniously killed off. Reading Wikipedia it seems she's back, but the unambigious villain aspect sadly seems to have stuck.

Oh, and in Peter David's X-Factor there was Syrin's newborn baby that was unexpectedly turned out to be just a Madrox copy and was absorbed back into dad as soon as he touched it, like minutes after she gave birth. 
That was vile enough that I haven't read anything by that writer since.

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## The_Greatest_Username

> Oh, and in Peter David's X-Factor there was Syrin's newborn baby that was unexpectedly turned out to be just a Madrox copy and was absorbed back into dad as soon as he touched it, like minutes after she gave birth. 
> That was vile enough that I haven't read anything by that writer since.


This, and the fact that Siryn holds absolutely no resentment towards Madrox really bugs me.

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## Wedge Antilles

Guardian (James MacDonald Hudson) of Alpha Flight, really upset me back in the day.  I think nothing else comes close for me.

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## Mari

> Oh, and in Peter David's X-Factor there was Syrin's newborn baby that was unexpectedly turned out to be just a Madrox copy and was absorbed back into dad as soon as he touched it, like minutes after she gave birth. 
> That was vile enough that I haven't read anything by that writer since.


This is my answer.  I remember this and felt so sad, I could imagine all the pain and labor of birth, and then the child is gone.

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## CliffHanger2

> Guardian (James MacDonald Hudson) of Alpha Flight, really upset me back in the day.  I think nothing else comes close for me.


 Yeah same for me. Thinking back it was really well done and unexpected.

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## Omar Karindu

_This, and the fact that Siryn holds absolutely no resentment towards Madrox really bugs me._

I recall her breaking his finger at the time and basically leaving the team entirely for a stretch.

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## Dark Soul # 7

Basically all the deaths of pre-established characters in Avengers Arena. Wasteful removals of characters whose story potential had just been scratched. All so Marvel could make an edgy Lord of the Flies/Hunger Games kind of story.

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## Shawn Hopkins

Lian Harper's death in Cry for Justice. Pointless, and darkness for darkness sake. Also, she was so cute. And her death was used to push Roy in a ridiculous over the top grim and gritty direction that had him beating people up with cats.

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## Tom Badguy

I didn't like how Tim Drake's dad got killed in Identity Crisis. It seemed pointless. One of the best things I liked about Tim is how, for the most part, he was a pretty normal kid. To orphan him to be more like Batman was just stupid. Tim's normalcy made him unique in a world of not so normal things. He didn't need to have a great tragedy to happen to him. He was find the way he was.

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## Kensei

I saw a mention of Buffy in this thread, so can I reference a couple of comic-based tv shows?  

The very sudden and unexpected murders of both Shado and Moira Queen on "Arrow" were so out of the blue and just downright brutal that they left me going, "Damn, that was some harsh tv!"  They both made me remember the death of Benjamin Linus' teenage daughter on "Lost," shot in the head while on her knees crying and pleading.  

Then there was "Smallville" and the three (count 'em, THREE) babies they killed, one born and two unborn.  There was Lex's little brother Julian, smothered to death by their mother, the witnessing of which caused Lex to go insane.  There was Martha Kent's unborn baby, miscarried after an accident caused by something Clark did.  And then there was the moment that gave me the harshest blow of that show's entire 10-year run.  Faora was pregnant with Zod's child, but Zod didn't know it yet, and she was about to leave him and go and side with Clark.  They argued, and Zod killed her.  Then with his super hearing he heard a heartbeat, and was confused.  She's dead, why do I still hear a heartbeat?  And then he understood, and in anguish he knelt down and put his ear to her stomach and listened to the baby's heartbeat slow and then stop.  I swear, it just made me curl up in my chair and go "Oh God, you guys, kids watch this show!  That's horrible!"

(Then of course there was the baby that Lana thought she had lost, only to learn that she'd never really been pregnant and that Lex had made her think she was.  Just one more example of how "Smallville" seemed to have it in for babies.)

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## Choos

> Jean's death in Morrison's run. We just saw her come back to life! And she was rapidly becoming Morrison's most well written X-Man.


Yes absolutely WTH happened to kill Jean, this was the only time I felt disgusted with Marvel and stopped reading comics from Marvel altogether.

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## MattinDurham

Captain Marvel

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## WestPhillyPunisher

Captain Marvel. The fact that he died from cancer, wasting away in a bed, just like my mother had made his passing all the more poignant, and painful. Every other character death since then, and I do mean EVERY SINGLE ONE has been nothing more than needless shock and senseless schlock to me.

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## arosenbarger

Aunt May - Amazing 400
Harry Osborn - Spec 200
Jean DeWolf
Any character that dies in Preacher
the fate of Kitty Pride in Astonishing X-Men
The last issue of 100 Bullets
The Last issue of Y the Last Man

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## Captain Britain of Earth 20

Colossus' sacrifice to cure everyone of the Legacy Virus & Kara Zor-El's  death in the COIE. They tore me up inside.

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## GrifterWC

> I didn't like how Tim Drake's dad got killed in Identity Crisis. It seemed pointless. One of the best things I liked about Tim is how, for the most part, he was a pretty normal kid. To orphan him to be more like Batman was just stupid. Tim's normalcy made him unique in a world of not so normal things. He didn't need to have a great tragedy to happen to him. He was find the way he was.


Seconded.

I'd also include the death's of Shayra, Ronnie Raymond and Orpheus as senseless.

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## Mango

Forager in Cosmic Odissey

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## Dredd

Rorschach 

(insert sound of hopeless sobbing here)

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## Chris Lang

Ah, yes. The poster quoted below makes a good point. The title of this thread is a bit ambiguous. So of course it's important to make the distinction between 'made you upset in a GOOD way' (because it was an emotional and moving moment) and 'made you upset in a BAD way' (because it was a cheap way of looking 'shocking' or 'edgy').




> I think we need to differentiate between "upset because it was an emotionally moving story" and "upset because it was a cheap shock ploy". For the former category, I have;
> 
> Jean Grey (first time)
> Damian Wayne
> Ultimate Peter Parker
> 4/5ths of The Boys (interpret that as you will, because I don't want to spoil it)
> Rorschach
> Marko's father in Saga
> Henry in American Vampire
> ...


To this 'upset in a GOOD way' list, I'd add in...

Kara Zor-El in Crisis on Infinite Earths
Barry Allen in Crisis on Infinite Earths
Aunt May in Amazing Spider-Man #400 (her return, on the other hand, made me upset in a BAD way)
Harry Osborn in Spectacular Spider-Man #200
Kraven the Hunter in 'Kraven's Last Hunt'
Harry Leland in Uncanny X-Men (a bad guy, but he ended up dying while helping to save both the X-Men and the Hellfire Club from Nimrod)
Magik (presumed) at the end of Inferno (at least I consider that part the end of Inferno since I consider the real story about Illyana and the Limbo demons)
Tomar Re in Green Lantern #198 (a Crisis on Infinite Earths tie-in)
Skurge the Executioner in Thor #362 (during Walter Simonson's run)





> And the latter, sucky category features;
> 
> Martian Manhunter (Final Crisis)
> Colossus (Scott Lobdell's second Uncanny run)
> Nightcrawler (X-Men: Second Coming)
> Ant-Man, Vision, and Hawkeye (Avengers Disassembled)
> Corsair (Brubaker's X-Men)
> Sue Dibny
> Iron Man (the Crossing)
> ...


In this latter bad category, I'd add to the above list...

Blue Beetle in Countdown to Infinite Crisis
Everyone who died in Countdown to Final Crisis
Everyone who died in Cry for Justice (including but not limited to Lian Harper)
The Freedom Fighters in Infinite Crisis
The various Titans in Infinite Crisis #4 (to add insult to injury, not only were their deaths undignified, gory, and pointless, but their NAMES weren't even mentioned)
Katma Tui
Kilowog and other Green Lanterns in Emerald Twilight (though thankfully they got better)
Everyone who died in the post-Decimation New X-Men run (including Laurie Collins/Wallflower and Jay Guthrie/Icarus)
(This spot reserved for many Secret Wars deaths if it lives down to my expectations which have been lowered by many of the above-mentioned event comics).

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## Custodes

Gwen Stacy......cause he really saved her. And because, it was real.

Superman, Captain America and Batman.....because, they obviously weren't.

It just made me drop Wolverines' books. From now on this will be my strategy.

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## Chris Lang

> Gwen Stacy......cause he really saved her. And because, it was real.
> 
> Superman, Captain America and Batman.....because, they obviously weren't.
> 
> It just made me drop Wolverines' books. From now on this will be my strategy.


Honestly, we KNOW that the A-listers will be back. They're corporately-owned cash cows. We KNOW that Superman, Captain America, Batman, and Wolverine will be back.

It's the lesser-known characters (including many on my list) who tend to stay dead when they die, regardless of whether or not they had any story potential left. A-Listers are people who are basically Immortal. C-listers, meanwhile, are mortal, and one is advised not to hold their breaths waiting for them to come back.

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## Neil Kapit

> Harry Leland in Uncanny X-Men (a bad guy, but he ended up dying while helping to save both the X-Men and the Hellfire Club from Nimrod)


"Fat man had his faults, but he made his exit in style."-- Wolverine, putting it eloquently as always 




> (This spot reserved for many Secret Wars deaths if it lives down to my expectations which have been lowered by many of the above-mentioned event comics).


Given how many universes will be smashed together to make BattleWorld, it's possible that it'll set a whole new record for pointless culling.

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## popestu

Agent 355. It broke my heart. I remember just staring at the wall in disbelief,  rereading it a few times to make sure I read it correctly, and then finishing the issue. Damn you, Brian K. Vaughan.

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## popestu

> I would say probably Blue Beetle's.  Not just because I really liked the character (although I did), but because it seemed like they killed one character and ruined another (Maxwell Lord) in an effort to prove that superhero comics could be "serious" and "mature"-- as if grown-up entertainment is all about shocking acts of violence.  I've picked up the occasional DC book since then, but that was when I realized that I probably wasn't part of DC's target audience anymore.



Good choice. I was so pissed off...I'm pissed off now just thinking about it. I felt like Ted was treated like a second-rate chump. Lord should not have been rewritten as the powerhouse he became.

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## THANOSRULES

Richard Rider really kills me. I have some trouble getting over it...so I basically just choose not to.

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