Comics How could Marvel convince you an X-Man was "really, really dead"?

[Lorendiac]

I've been looking over my notes for the eventual 4th Draft of my X-Men Fatality Timeline lately. I'm not ready to post it yet, but I do have a question that's been nagging at me:

Suppose your favorite X-Man or former X-Man dies next month in a new story. (Storm, Kitty, Beast, whoever.) And suppose you know that X-Men have come back from the dead dozens of times before.

What could Marvel do to convince you that this character was going to stay stone cold dead for at least the next ten years?

(I won't even ask how they could convince you that this character would stay dead forever -- I take it for granted that this would be a lost cause!)

Is there anything they could do? Or would you automatically disbelieve everything they said on that subject, as a matter of principle?

If I get enough clever suggestions for things they could do, I may start a Poll later so people can vote on which, if any, of those possibilities would seem the most convincing!

 

[SuperFerret]

They could die suddenly in their sleep, and stay dead. Forever.

 

[Majik1387]

They could never bring the character back for starters.

 

[DarknessOfDeath]

heres a thought...if your gonna bring back ...lets say Jean and Scott for example, atleast let them live for as long as possible or if they die...let them stay dead but thats only if they come back for a short time.

 

[Cyclops]

I think it's frankly impossible to convince me that any character can remain dead. Comicbooks as they are now render characters such as Mr. Immortal from the Great Lakes Avengers as redundant.

I'm afraid I'm just too jaded.

 

[Xplicit Content]

Pay me.

 

[DarknessOfDeath]

Pay me.

how much?

 

[Valechan]

Thing is, every death has a "loophole" of sorts, there is always one way to bring the char back. Unless there is a definite absolute way of killing and obliterating someone...

The only way I could think of is Roma somehow merging all alternate versions of one character into one and then obliterating him to smithereens, or maybe there is cristal that represents a person, very much like the ones she has that represent a reality, and smashing it means destroying that person utterly throughout the omniverse... but even so I bet she can bring them back...

 

[Harlekin]

Show the body.

Then again, they did that for Colossus and...

 

[gothicFLAVOURS]

They all come back eventually. And if you see the body, they just retcon it like they did with Colossus. He's one of my favorite X-Men, but that explanation just sucks.

 

[Renegade]

I think it's frankly impossible to convince me that any character can remain dead. Comicbooks as they are now render characters such as Mr. Immortal from the Great Lakes Avengers as redundant.

I'm afraid I'm just too jaded.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

[Xplicit Content]

how much?

They can make me an offer. I'll have my people talk to their people...I'm negotiable.

 

[rjb182]

No death is ever going to stick as long as comics keep changing writing teams every few storylines. I'm sure that when Writer X kills off Character Y, he intends for them to remain really, most sincerely dead. But then along comes Writer Z who says "Oh, I really LIKED that character! I want to use him/her!"

Yes, a strong editorial policy could prevent that, but strong control of continuity is not exactly a strength over at Marvel, and anyway, when you're recruiting these star writers like Whedon et. al, are YOU going to tell them they can't use the characters they want?

As long as the creative vision keeps changing every few months, characters will remain stuck on the Afterlife Shuttle...

 

[Boba_Fett_123]

Two things. First, and most important, the writer doing the killing would have to be in the midst of a lengthy, Claremont-esque run, with the guarantee of many years ahead, which sadly is unheard of nowadays. Second, the death would have to be "normal". Say, if Xavier had a heart attack and died...I'd buy that. It's much easier to say, that guy's really dead, if it's something "real", and not fantastic.

 

[Galact-Gal]

The Munchkins could sing me a song about it .

Other than that, I don't think I can be convinced.

 

[ghost113]

They could cremate the body like they did skin

 

[danielisthor]

Marvel couldn't convince me that Abraham Lincoln is dead

 

[javon]

They could never bring the character back for starters.

dang! I was gonna say that.

 

[Galact-Gal]

They could cremate the body like they did skin

Well it seems a body that the X-Men thought was Colossus' was cremated, because Kitty took the ashes back to Russia and scattered them there.

So I guess this means Skin could be brought back, too. [It wadn't really him; it was a trick!]

 

[Bastila]

They die in a big story line and never ever ever ever come back at all.

 

[gambitfire]

you mean like we thought collossus did?

How about we don't have the character in the movie since it might create a spark that will bring him or her back. In other words let ppl forget about the characte and it loses popularity.

 

[KingOfDreams]

Well, as far as I know, nobody's head has been chopped off yet. That would be pretty convincing.

 

[mad_harleyq]

wasnt collossus cremated? kitty said she scattered his ashes in russia or something like that, so i guess thats not very convincing either

 

[mad_harleyq]

wasnt collossus cremated? kitty said she scattered his ashes in russia or something like that, so i guess thats not very convincing either

 

[Midnight Ice]

He was supposed to be, but apparently Ord switched out another body, so the mystery body was cremated.