Un-Killing Characters (spoilers for various media)

[Slimybug]

So, this is, after all, a comic-book-oriented website, and we know that comic books are particularly notorious as a medium for killing and then resurrecting characters. This is a slippery slope, as it's generally seen as undermining the impact of the characters' death as well as the sense of mortality and danger.

Geoff Johns finally addressed it in "Blackest Night," by saying that everyone who had died and been brought back was done so through some supernatural force that is no longer around, so "dead is dead" from now on. Thank goodness DC Comics were rebooted soon after, because there is no way other writers were going to respect that if that continuity went on for 20-30-40 more years!

I have a friend from film school, best writer I've ever met, who's very adamant that it should never happen at all! I think it depends. Like, Tony Stark? Yeah, he should stay dead. That was just so emotional, intense, iconic, it would be the worst idea ever to undo it! And I think Downey knows that, which is why he's very solidly geared against ever coming back.

There's also two different ways about this. There's actually magically or otherwise resurrecting someone, for the fantasy or sci-fi crowd, or just saying they were never really dead at all. Gotcha!

If we were to talk about comics, we'd be here all day. So what are some examples you know from other media?

1903 - Sherlock Holmes - The Adventure of the Empty House
So far as I can tell, this is the first example of this phenomenon in all of fiction. From what I was told in school, people were so upset by Doyle killing of Holmes that they would wear black armbands and point at Doyle in public and yell "murderer!" So he was sort of forced to bring him back, saying that, as he fell from Reichenbach falls, he landed safely on an outcropping, and let the criminal element believe him dead for whatever reason.

1984 - Spock - Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
This may be the first time since Sherlock Holmes that this was done!
For the uninitiated, there's a long story about how Nimoy hated Star Trek and never wanted to return, so he asked to be killed off in Star Trek II, then had some kind of experience that made him do a complete 180 and ask to be brought back (resulting in making 5 more films, guest appearing on TNG, and taking directing and producing roles as well. So yeah. Total 180)
So yeah, the idea came about that they would shoot shots that would tease his return. Director Nicholas Meyer abhorred the idea, thinking it undermined the emotional story he was telling, and refused to be a part of the filming of those shots. (though he too would later return to the franchise for IV & VI and, much later, Discovery.)

2015 - Charlie Harper - Two and a Half Men
Never watched this show, but wasn't he intimated to be alive in the series finale?

2018 - Ziva David - NCIS
Again, never watched this show, but I heard about this one.

2001 - Buffy Summers - Buffy the Vampire Slayer
To be fair, this one, like the "death" of Superman, was never really intended or taken to be permanent. The show was cancelled at The WB, and picked up by UPN for the next season. So I'm not sure if this was done before they were picked up, as a "just in case," but I believe by the time it aired it was known that the show was coming back next season.

2003 - Spike - Angel
Killed off in the Buffy series finale, only to be resurrected three months later on the Angel season premiere. About 20 years ago, I was at a con and saw Joss Whedon, IIRC, he himself was saying something about being opposed un-killing characters, and I shouted out "Spike!" to which he shouted back "That was contractual! Not that I don't love James."

2023 - Data - Star Trek: Picard
This is actually what prompted me to think about all this and start this thread. I'm very happy now that they did this, it's brought me such joy. But at the time, I had some trepidations about it. Not because his first death was too emotional. Not only should all of Nemesis be ignored anyway, but heck, they made it look like he was coming back even in that film. In fact, I remember the reviewer in my local paper even took it for granted. Idiot that he was, he spoiled the film in his review and said "A major character is killed. Then brought back. In the same film." Then, the comic book Countdown had him back, and I believe treated it like it should just be assumed he was back after the end of Nemesis.
No, I had trepidations because of his SECOND death, when his "spirit" essentially tells Picard to euthanize what's left of him, and there's a huge note of finality to it. After that, I thought it was weird that they brought him back. But like I said, in the end, I'm very glad.

I remember hearing about some TV show where fan outcry to the death of a character was so intense, they brought him back and literally stated that the death scene and everything since it was a dream!

[useridgoeshere]

I feel like soap operas do this all the time. Not as often as comic books, but for example, Stefano DiMera died a ton of times.

[Zauriel]

Remember the Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z? The anime/manga series where nearly everybody died and came back to life?

[The Gold Stream]

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dr marvin monroe