In comics, what are the longest gaps between death and revival?

[Hybrid]

Ah, comic books... where dead doesn't really mean dead, just a wait. There are some characters who have remained dead, but it's so often for characters to come back to life somehow that this is called the Comic Book Death. One of the most common ways of doing this is to retcon it, by saying they somehow survived and got better when that was never intended.

But what are the longest waits between death and revival?

I think the record for A-list villains is Norman Osborn / Green Goblin. He died in The Amazing Spider-Man #122 in July 1973, and didn't come back until Peter Parker: Spider-Man #75 in October 1996 where that death was retconned by a healing factor staving it off. That's 23 real world years of no Norman Osborn in the MU, but he did leave behind a major legacy of successors and impersonators, and him killing Gwen Stacy forever changed Spider-Man's stories. Funny thing is, he's been making up for lost time, as despite taking a massive break, he's still the Spider-Man villain with the most appearances in comics (him becoming a General MU villain in the '00s likely had a big part to do with it).

Anyways, what other notable examples are there?

[ed2962]

Barry Allen was gone for at least 30 years in real life.

[Mister Mets]

There will be longer gaps with characters who were dispatched in the Golden Age and returned in another book (JSA, Starman, The Twelve.)

It seems Kulak was killed off in his debut in All-Star Comics #2 in 1940 and then returned in a 1983 All-Star Squadron three-parter.

The stories were set a few years apart, though.

One prominent character who comes close is Black Adam who was killed off in his sole golden age appearance in Marvel Family #1 (published in 1945) and revived in Shazam! #28 (published in 1977)

[Malvolio]

Barry Allen was gone for at least 30 years in real life.

Not quite. Barry died in CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #8 in 1985. He came back right before the new 52 in 2011. That's only 26 years.

[mogwen]

Bucky is one of the longest deaths.

[Kusanagi]

Does Bucky count? Retcon death in 1968 didn't return until 2006 so about 38 years.

[DrNewGod]

Does Bucky count? Retcon death in 1968 didn't return until 2006 so about 38 years.

Bucky was the first I thought of. In spite of the retcon, he was on the list of dead folks that The Grand Master set on The Avengers, so yeah, until the retcon, he was dead.

[CaptCleghorn]

Yeah, Bucky should be like any character that the reader believed to be dead, but came back through a "I wasn't really dead" twist. Same would apply to Professor X from silver age X-Men. Stuff like Bruce Wayne being trapped in time through omega beams and thought dead wouldn't apply.

[Hybrid]

Jean Grey died in New X-Men #150 in 2004, and was briefly resurrected before dying again in X-Men: Phoenix – Endsong in 2005, and then stayed dead until coming back in Phoenix: Resurrection – The Return of Jean Grey in 2018. That's a gap of 13 years.

Though, Bendis did do the story of the teenage O5 getting time-displaced to the present, which lasted a while. There was a Jean Grey, but not the Jean Grey.

[DragonKent17]

Does Jason Todd count since his death via the infamous phone vote in the Death in the Family storyline in 1988 then DC decide to retcon his death by bringing him back in 2005 in Under the Red Hood storyline almost two decades since his death

[icctrombone]

Uncle Ben hasn't come back yet.

[Hybrid]

Uncle Ben hasn't come back yet.

This is for characters who did come back.

[superduperman]

Buck Rogers? He was "dead" for like 500 years.

[Hybrid]

No, this is for real world gaps not in-universe.

[worstblogever]

Bucky is one of the longest deaths.

Does Bucky count? Retcon death in 1968 didn't return until 2006 so about 38 years.

It's almost definitely Bucky Barnes.

Jean Grey died in New X-Men #150 in 2004, and was briefly resurrected before dying again in X-Men: Phoenix – Endsong in 2005, and then stayed dead until coming back in Phoenix: Resurrection – The Return of Jean Grey in 2018. That's a gap of 13 years.

Though, Bendis did do the story of the teenage O5 getting time-displaced to the present, which lasted a while. There was a Jean Grey, but not the Jean Grey.

Moira MacTaggart got killed back in 2001. They just retconned that death a few months ago, so Moira was "dead" for 18 years of real reader time. Chaos War was still just her ghost running around, but not an actual resurrection.

I don't know if any of the old-school X-stories top that, with folks like Changeling and Thunderbird pretty much staying dead other than "PSYCHE" resurrections in events during Chaos War. And Chaos War they were still dead, their ghosts were just featured.