10 Most Iconic Comic Book Resurrections From Jean Grey to Superman

Marvel and DC Comics are famous for creating incredibly popular and enduring characters. Their stories offer readers amazing adventures unlike anything found elsewhere. However, after decades of comics, many readers have seen familiar storylines repeated – the same heroes battling the same villains can become predictable. To shake things up, creators sometimes kill off characters and introduce replacements. But these replacements are rarely permanent, as Marvel and DC, like any business, eventually bring back popular characters to continue generating revenue. This leads to frequent resurrections of beloved heroes and villains.

Comic book fans are used to seeing beloved characters die and come back to life. These resurrections can be hit or miss – sometimes they’re disappointing (as a Wolverine fan, I still cringe at how bad *Return of Wolverine* was, despite the great art), sometimes they’re just okay and appreciated for bringing back a character we love (like Barry Allen’s return in *Final Crisis* #2), and sometimes they’re truly fantastic. We’re focusing on those amazing returns today – these ten comic book resurrections are the best of the best.

10) The First Krakoan Resurrection

The recent Krakoa era marked a creatively bold period for the X-Men, and that became clear with the start of the *House of X/Powers of X* storyline. A major surprise came in *House of X* #4 when the X-Men launched an attack on the Forge, a space station in orbit around the sun where the Orchis Initiative was building the incredibly powerful Nimrod Sentinel. The mission went terribly wrong from the start, with the entire team ultimately perishing. What made this particularly shocking wasn’t that it was a group of lesser-known heroes, but that it included core X-Men like Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Mystique, Archangel, Monet, and Husk.

The situation was completely unexpected, and everyone wondered what would happen next. The answer came in *House of X* #5: the mutants had discovered a way to bring people back from the dead. This was made possible by the Five – five mutants whose combined abilities, along with Mister Sinister’s genetic research and Professor X’s psychic powers, allowed for resurrection. This incredible moment fundamentally changed the meaning of death in the X-Men comics.

9) The DC Multiverse

DC Comics’ history can be confusing, and it all started with the idea of multiple universes. When DC revamped its characters in the 1960s, instead of simply acknowledging the new heroes followed the old ones – as Marvel did – DC created the DC Multiverse. This meant readers saw different versions of the same heroes existing on separate Earths. Eventually, DC decided this multiverse was too complicated and eliminated it in the story arc *Crisis on Infinite Earths*. While they later introduced alternative storylines called Elseworlds, the original DC Multiverse was gone.

The storyline in *Infinite Crisis* hinted at the Multiverse’s eventual return, which finally happened in the *52* weekly series. A worm from Venus named Mister Mind transformed into a being that threatened to consume entire universes, and Booster Gold and Rip Hunter managed to stop it in a truly spectacular scene. Bringing the DC Multiverse back was fantastic; it restored a vital element of DC’s history, and even if some debate how well it was utilized afterward, it was still a welcome development.

8) Jean Grey

As a longtime Marvel fan, I’ve gotta say, Jean Grey dying and coming back to life has become almost a running gag! And honestly, there’s a reason for that. She’s always been incredibly powerful, especially with the Phoenix Force, and we’ve seen her resurrected big time three times now. My favorite? Definitely the first one. It was so cool seeing the Fantastic Four discover her in a cocoon at the bottom of Jamaica Bay. The Phoenix Force had essentially created a copy of her to live a life on Earth, and the whole thing was just a really imaginative story beat.

Jean Grey has been resurrected several times throughout the years. After being presumed dead since 2004, she returned in 2018, empowered by the Phoenix Force and taking on a leadership role with X-Men Red. While her earlier resurrections were impactful, her most recent one, following her death at the Hellfire Gala in the Krakoa era, felt less inspired. It was a standard Phoenix resurrection, paling in comparison to her 2018 return. There’s also a less-remembered instance in *Uncanny X-Men* #283 where she transferred her consciousness into Emma Frost’s body, though it wasn’t a true death and resurrection. I particularly enjoy her first two returns, but consider the third one a letdown.

7) Wally West

Wally West is, in my opinion, the best Flash. I’m just stating what’s true, and I’m here to back it up. While Barry Allen is great, Wally is the superior hero, which made his absence in the New 52 storyline so confusing. He wasn’t actually dead – the last time we saw him before the *Flashpoint* event, he was alive and well. However, he was completely erased from DC’s history with the New 52, frustrating many fans. Thankfully, the New 52 didn’t last, and *DC Rebirth* #1 arrived, promising to restore what fans loved about the DC Universe.

Okay, so this 80-page comic, which only cost a couple of bucks, was packed with stuff, but the real highlight was the return of Wally West. It’s tough to explain to anyone who didn’t pick it up when it first came out just *how* good it was, but the story had been building to this for so long. When Wally finally showed up and hugged Barry? Honestly, it was a perfect, genuinely moving moment. It’s pretty much how you *wish* every superhero return from the dead would go – flawlessly executed and emotionally resonant.

6) Animal Man’s Family

Grant Morrison and Chas Truog’s *Animal Man* is a highly regarded comic book series, and rightfully so. Over its 26 issues, Morrison heavily explored the idea of fiction within fiction. The story examines how creators and readers impact the characters they create and enjoy – alongside themes of animal rights and compelling storytelling. This point is powerfully illustrated when Animal Man’s family – his wife, Ellen, and children, Maxine and Cliff – are killed by government agents. These agents wanted to stop Animal Man’s environmental activism, which was gaining popularity and hurting the financial interests of those who backed them.

Issue #26 of *Animal Man* featured a meeting between the hero and writer Grant Morrison. Their conversation explored the nature of storytelling and the comic’s direction, leading Morrison to decide to reunite Animal Man with his family. It wasn’t a typical resurrection; Animal Man simply found his wife and children back home with him. This moment is particularly powerful, both emotionally and because Morrison chose to repair the harm done to the character. It’s still one of my favorite comic book scenes ever, and I highly recommend reading Morrison and Troug’s work on *Animal Man*.

5) Superman

“The Death of Superman” was a landmark story for DC Comics in the 1990s. It proved DC could dramatically change things up – even killing off and replacing a central hero – without losing its audience. While Superman’s death wasn’t permanent, the story introduced the villain Cyborg Superman and featured a giant purple robot emerging from the Fortress of Solitude, heading toward the human world.

Steel, Superboy, Supergirl, and the Eradicator were bracing for another fight with the Cyborg Superman, but they were shocked when the enemy mech opened to reveal… Superman! He was back from the dead, sporting a black suit and a new mullet, though his powers weren’t fully restored. It was a truly great moment, expertly handled by DC Comics. While this issue didn’t sell quite as well as *Superman* (Vol. 2) #75, it was still a memorable and impactful resurrection.

4) Green Goblin

Norman Osborn’s death was a pivotal event in Spider-Man’s history. After tragically killing Gwen Stacy, Osborn, as the Green Goblin, fought Spider-Man. During the battle, Osborn attempted to attack Spider-Man with his glider but crashed and seemingly died. Marvel kept him dead for several years, but he unexpectedly returned during the Clone Saga. It was revealed that the Goblin formula had given Osborn a healing ability, allowing him to survive and secretly orchestrate the entire saga. This led to an incredible showdown between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin. His return was a huge surprise at the time – in the mid-90s, nobody anticipated Norman Osborn coming back – and combined with the fantastic fight, it remains a truly memorable moment for fans.

3) Captain America

As a huge Captain America fan, the storyline after *Civil War* really blew me away. Seeing Steve Rogers surrender and then… seemingly get killed right outside the courthouse by Sharon Carter was a total shock! It paved the way for Bucky to take on the Captain America mantle, but it quickly became clear there was much more going on. Turns out, the Red Skull was the mastermind behind everything, trapping Steve in a sort of time warp so he could steal his body! Thankfully, Steve fought his way back, and the ensuing battle was epic. But honestly, the *Captain America: Reborn* storyline? It’s one of the best resurrections in comics, period. Watching Steve relive his life and ultimately overcome both his greatest enemy *and* death itself was just incredibly powerful.

2) Spider-Man

In *The Amazing Spider-Man* #700, a shocking event occurred: Doctor Octopus seemingly killed Spider-Man. Otto Octavius transferred his mind into Peter Parker’s body, effectively removing Peter from the picture. However, Peter’s memories remained, influencing Otto to act heroically, which led to the *Superior Spider-Man* series. During this time, Otto proved surprisingly capable as a hero. But the return of Green Goblin disrupted everything, ultimately leading Otto to restore control of his body back to Peter. This pivotal moment, captured in four iconic panels, is one of the most widely shared and celebrated in Spider-Man comic history.

1) Supergirl

I remember when Supergirl first showed up – she was a huge deal back in the Silver Age, basically Superman’s first super-powered partner! It was so sad when she sacrificed herself during *Crisis on Infinite Earths* to save Superman from the Anti-Monitor. After that, DC brought her back, but it wasn’t *quite* the Supergirl we knew – it was this shapeshifting version. Thankfully, they eventually brought back the *real* Supergirl, and Peter David’s run in the late ’90s was absolutely amazing!

I was so excited when DC brought back elements of the pre-Crisis universe in the mid-2000s, and a big part of that was the return of Supergirl! They told her origin story in a six-issue arc of *Superman/Batman* – it was a bit different than before, with her being launched from Krypton during the planet’s explosion instead of escaping Argo City afterward – but it was definitely the classic Supergirl I remembered. The story itself was fantastic, taking us all over the place, from Gotham to Themyscira and even Apokolips! It all culminated in an incredible battle between Superman and Darkseid. Seeing Supergirl back was amazing, and honestly, it’s still one of the coolest character returns I’ve ever read.

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2025-09-21 18:14