Asking the hard questions! Let's talk about DEATH.

[lemonpeace]

No long intro, just a simple question: how would you kill your favorite character?

no "characters shouldn't die"
no cop-outs like old age (unless you got something creative behind it)

[Falcon16]

Grid shuts down Cyborg's life support
Black Lightning actually gets pneumonia (if you remember a quip he made in his first issue back in 1977, you know where I'm going with this)
Scorch is already dead (mou shindeiru)
John Stewart stabbed by a Red Energy Construct

[Gurz]

Batman: Future, Damian turned evil. Batman and Damian have a last battle to the death... And they both kill each other. It's pretty tragic father had to kill his son, and son had to kill his father... I like tragedy.
Nightwing: Dies of old age :P don't kill Nightwing damn it. (:

[Ra-El]

In my head Superman is immortal, his future is DC One Million. But if he was to die, Morrison already did it perfect in All-Star.

[lemonpeace]

Batman: Future, Damian turned evil. Batman and Damian have a last battle to the death... And they both kill each other. It's pretty tragic father had to kill his son, and son had to kill his father... I like tragedy.
Nightwing: Dies of old age :P don't kill Nightwing damn it. (:

Goddammit, what did I just say!

I'll let it slide because I dig the idea of Damian and Bruce killing each other. Is it a murder-suicide or just like a double KO death? Also, in my headcanon of your headcanon (headcanception(?)) they fight to the death because Damian murdered the other batfamily including Dick. Mwahahahahahahahaha

[Ascended]

A couple walk with their son down crime ally at night. A mugger accosts them, and Batman falls into their midst. He saves the family but the mugger, just some no-name two bit mook, pulls the trigger as he's knocked unconscious and through sheer, stupid dumb luck, gets the kill shot.

I like the parallel of Batman dying where he was born. And while it might be fun to do the big, over the top battle between him and Joker for the fate of all of Gotham, or Ra's for the fate of all civilization, or some other big epic thing......I think the Batman's death should be a small, personal, human moment. Something real. No red skies breaking overhead, just a man saving a family.

[Gero4568]

Wally West: Eventually, the Speed Force breaks his body down into pure energy. Not really "death" per se, but his physical form is dead. Either in Barry Allen type way, or in a Sela Allen type way. It's hard to kill speedsters.

Donna Troy: Ascends to Olympus in a form of what again, equates to death, much like Golden Age Wonder Woman. Probably after some sort of Crisis like event.

Nightwing: Actually gets a happy ending and dies of age-related illness and a lifetime of injuries in his 90s, surrounded by his loved ones. Dick deserves nothing less.

John Stewart: Sacrifices himself while fighting for his country. Again, if the character were to die, he would deserve a memorable and meaningful death.

[Jon Clark]

A couple walk with their son down crime ally at night. A mugger accosts them, and Batman falls into their midst. He saves the family but the mugger, just some no-name two bit mook, pulls the trigger as he's knocked unconscious and through sheer, stupid dumb luck, gets the kill shot.

I like the parallel of Batman dying where he was born. And while it might be fun to do the big, over the top battle between him and Joker for the fate of all of Gotham, or Ra's for the fate of all civilization, or some other big epic thing......I think the Batman's death should be a small, personal, human moment. Something real. No red skies breaking overhead, just a man saving a family.

This is my preferred death for Bruce as well, though if it was known ahead of time I was killing him it'd be cool to set up one of those epics you describe just to subvert it by having Bruce die in this less flashy moment in an alley. Oh, and my one other change would be to have Bruce come across the mugging out of costume so that Batman just seems to vanish as far as the average Gothamite knows.

[Jon Clark]

Lois manages to pass her head cold onto Jon. Jon's hybrid immune system causes the cold to mutate into a strain that is fatal to Kryptonians. Superman is the first victim of the pandemic (followed by Kara, Zod, Faora and Lor-Zod). Lois dies a week later when she tries to cover a story and Superman isn't there to protect her from her own recklessness.

[Jackalope89]

My favorite already died once. And really, it's one of the defining deaths in DC comics.

My other favorite was kicked out of both heaven and hell and since made certifiably immortal.

[Gurz]

Goddammit, what did I just say!

I'll let it slide because I dig the idea of Damian and Bruce killing each other. Is it a murder-suicide or just like a double KO death? Also, in my headcanon of your headcanon (headcanception(?)) they fight to the death because Damian murdered the other batfamily including Dick. Mwahahahahahahahaha

Dick and Cass are busy with the henchmen... It's an all out battle against the league of assassins. It's double KO death between Damian and Bruce... Damian says: lets embrace each other in death father... And the last attack from both sides... and DEATH ! Dick lives.... FOREVER...

[Restingvoice]

Anything that makes sense and does justice for the characters. So my answer would be heroic if it's a heroic character and cathartic if it's a villainous character.

Like for example Jason, Barbara, and Bruce, in a huge epic fight with all three Jokers. The heroes with their guns, Batarang, martial arts, computer and detective skills, and The Joker with gas, acid, knives, sharks, and torturous mindscrew. The culmination of chaos vs order, intelligence vs madness. Should the Batfam die as well, it would be by sacrificing themselves against the triple Joker's master plan so the rest of the fam, Gotham, and the world would be at peace.

Now I actually want to read that

[Ascended]

This is my preferred death for Bruce as well, though if it was known ahead of time I was killing him it'd be cool to set up one of those epics you describe just to subvert it by having Bruce die in this less flashy moment in an alley. Oh, and my one other change would be to have Bruce come across the mugging out of costume so that Batman just seems to vanish as far as the average Gothamite knows.

Oh sh*t that's good.

And I really like the idea of "Bruce" being the one to save the family instead of "Batman." That's got some nice optics to it.

I wrote a whole thing about Superman dying (well.....dying by Superman standards) in another thread recently, and if lemonpeace wants (he seemed to like the idea) he could re-post it here. But Im not sure if it fits this thread so I'm leaving that up to him/her.

[lemonpeace]

Oh sh*t that's good.

And I really like the idea of "Bruce" being the one to save the family instead of "Batman." That's got some nice optics to it.

I wrote a whole thing about Superman dying (well.....dying by Superman standards) in another thread recently, and if lemonpeace wants (he seemed to like the idea) he could re-post it here. But Im not sure if it fits this thread so I'm leaving that up to him/her.

Ay man, it does more or less kill the character so it's fair game (and i do really dig the idea) so I'll allow it.

If you want an idea for a Golden Age Superman who kept going......

Okay, so typical Golden Age stuff, right? Champion of the people, smasher of corruption and greed, WWII hero, husband, adopted father (Power Girl), etc.

Clark and Lois live a good life. Lois never stops being a reporter but Clark becomes publisher after Perry (or whoever his boss was in the GA, I forget his name) retires.

At some point, Clark stops and look around and realizes that he's basically stopped aging somewhere in his mid-late 40's. Lois and most of Clark's friends have all died, Jimmy's in a nursing home (or a mansion with live-in nurses, depending on how successful he's become) and the new generations of heroes have things well in hand. Power Girl has been Power Woman for years and is a influential member of the heroic community, and the other new(er) heroes all benefit from the experience and lessons Clark and his generation learned.

So Clark buys the Planet, becoming owner as well as publisher. He reveals his secret identity to the world, and Superman goes into retirement, pulling out the cape only when things have become so nuts that the universe itself needs Superman. But you know Clark Kent can't give up the never ending battle. He's retired Superman but not the fight. What Clark does is, he takes the Planet and expands it, recruiting the best, bravest, and most honest people he can find. He expands circulation, invests in new media formats (like streaming and social media and what not, but whatever the earth-2 equivalents would be) and creates a networking app that allows every subscriber to combine their research, uncovering secrets and connections so deeply hidden no single reporter would ever manage to stumble upon them.

Clark turns the Planet into the world's biggest, most effective, loudest news outlet. And he wields this company the same way Superman used to use his fists. The Planet is a blunt instrument of pure, unvarnished Truth. It destroys corrupt politicians, pulls down tyrants, decimates organized crime rings. Evil people live in fear of the Planet and its endless army of journalists turning its attention on them. Imagine what a "superhero as a company" would look like....and you've got Clark Kent's Daily Planet. It is just as effective as any hero, as Clark himself used to be, and it forces changes in policy and world events with just as much power as any super-strong man.

And.....eventually, Clark decides that the Planet is in great hands. Power Woman's kids have kids and Clark.....he just doesn't feel like he has a place in the world anymore. He's basically won the battle. Earth is on the right path that'll eventually lead humanity to the bright, wonderful world of the Legion's 31st century and Clark just....doesnt need to be there anymore. So Clark says his goodbyes to the few people he has left, and takes off for the stars. He travels time and space, visiting planets who need him. He helps out, stays as long as he has to, and moves on. And this journey across space-time creates the universal myth of the Super-Man. That shared folktale is one of the things that helps lead to the formation of the United Planets, as all those races realize that if they have the same shared myth, there's other things they share as well.

At some point.....Clark dies. But that's no reason to stop adventuring. And Clark, now existing as raw, pure energy, continues to do what he does (think All-Star and DC 1 Million). And.....billions of years later, Clark watches the universe die.

He's there, his essence anyway, for the birth of the next universe; no longer a strange visitor or the Last Son of Krypton or even Clark Kent (not really, not after all this), but the Fifth World's Archetype of Hope and Tomorrow; essentially a science-god who helps shape the new reality.

[Falcon16]

Black Manta... let's not talk about it