Iron Man with the Infinity Gauntlet from Endgame
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Ambrose Tardive
Published 51 minutes ago
Ambrose Tardive is an editor on ScreenRant's Comics team. Over the past two years, he has developed into the internet's foremost authority on The Far Side. Outside of his work for ScreenRant, Ambrose works as an Adjunct English Instructor.
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These are the most impactful comic book deaths ever. Of course, the list is dominated by Marvel and DC moments, but there are also several critical Image Comics kills that make the list, as well as an unforgettable moment from Alan Moore's Watchmen. Each entry, in its own way, helped to change the landscape of comic book stories.
Death and resurrection are tropes of comic storytelling, and for many heroes, dying is a matter of course. It's a cost of doing business. Which is why many of the most impactful comic deaths are those of people in the heroes' orbits.
As for the heroes themselves, there are some equally epic and unexpected deaths that make the list.
Thomas And Martha Wayne
Died In :Detective Comics #33, Written By Bill Finger; Art By Bob Kane; Published In 1939
Young Bruce Wayne kneels by the bodies of his death parents
The progenital superhero tragedy. The murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne left their son Bruce traumatized, prompting him to grow up to be the crime-fighting vigilante Batman. The Waynes' death established the origin story formula. It told comic book readers that the "why" of a superhero's character was as important as the "how." It was a foundational lesson the genre never forgot.
Every generation of DC Comics storytellers returns to the deaths of the Waynes. Which is natural, because Batman can never escape his personal motivations for his caped crusade. Whatever spin or subversion on the original story a new version offers, it serves as a reminder that Thomas and Martha's demise is essential to the fabric of the DC Universe.
Uncle Ben
Died In: Amazing Fantasy #15, Written By Stan Lee; Art By Steve Ditko; Published In 1962
Uncle Ben's death set the gold standard for superhero origin stories. His nephew Peter Parker actively decides not to act heroically, and it inadvertently leads to his uncle's murder. Consequently, the fledgling Spider-Man learns arguably the greatest lesson in comic history: "with great power there must also come great responsibility."
Uncle Ben's death has been revisited, revised, retconned, reversed, and more in 60+ years of Marvel Comics history. Like the death of the Waynes for Batman, Ben's murder is part of the bedrock of modern superhero stories. It also set an ominous precedent: people close to Spider-Man are never really safe.
Gwen Stacy
Died In: The Amazing Spider-Man #121, Written By Gerry Conway; Art By Gil Kane; Published In 1973
Again, to reiterate: being close to Peter Parker is dangerous. Marvel proved that with hands down one of the most shocking moments in comic history: Gwen Stacy's death. At the time, The Amazing Spider-Man #121 teased a gamechanging demise, but no reader could have anticipated that it would be Peter's first love Gwen, or predict the manner in which it happened.
The ambiguous nature of Gwen's death is debated to this day. Green Goblin threw her off a bridge, but in his haste to save her, Spider-Man's webbing might have caused fatal whiplash, which broke her neck. Uncle Ben's death was a motivating trauma for Spider-Man, the hero, but Gwen Stacy's death is the most haunting moment in Peter Parker's history.
The Punisher's Family
Deaths Depicted In: Marvel Preview #2, Written By Gerry Conway; Art By Tony DeZuniga; Published In 1975
Comic panel, Frank Castle clutches his dead family
The Punisher initially appeared as Spider-Man antagonist, but creator Gerry Conway always had bigger plans in mind for him. The vigilante character's popularity quickly led to a standalone solo issue, which revealed the tragic origin story of Frank Castle, in which the murder of his family instigated his transformation into the Punisher.
It was a brutal 1970s update on the murders of the Waynes, and Uncle Ben's death. Frank's family was killed in the crossfire of a mob gun battle while having a picnic in the park. Every gruesome death the Punisher has been responsible for in the 50 years since has been direct fallout from this moment.
Mar-Vell
Died In: The Death Of Captain Marvel, Written And Illustrated By Jim Starlin; Published In 1982
Captain Marvel on his death bed surrounded by Marvel heroes
The Death of Captain Marvel was a pioneering story in the early 1980s. It showed a vulnerable side to superheroes, while also dialing up the patented Marvel blend of realism and the fantastical. In the story, the orginial Captain Marvel, Mar-Vell, is diagnosed with cancer, and has to grapple with facing an ordinary death after living an extraordinary life.
The story does give Mar-Vell one final fight against Thanos before he's taken away by the Marvel Universe's personification of Death herself. Yet Death of Captain Marvel's singular unforgettable moment is the image of the hero on his deathbed, hooked up to life support tubes, with Earth's Mightiest Heroes crowded around to say their goodbyes to a colleague.
Barry Allen
Died In: Crisis On Infinite Earths #8, Written By Marv Wolfman; Art By George Perez; Published In 1985
Crisis on Infinite Earths, Barry Allen runs himself to death to save the DC Universe
Barry Allen's death is the opposite of Captain Marvel's. The Flash unforgettably sacrificed himself to save the DC Universe at the climax of Crisis on Infinite Earths. The Speedster literally ran himself to death, in a haunting scene that proved to be his last in DC lore for nearly twenty years.
Crisis on Infinite Earths is among the most formative comic book crossovers in history, and Barry Allen's ending established a tradition of heroic sacrifices in a similar vein. It was the birth of a trope, as much as the death of a beloved hero. Still, decades on, few have turned out to be as dramatic, well-earned, or impactful as Allen's Crisis death.
Rorschach
Died In: Watchmen #12, Written By Alan Moore; Art By Dave Gibbons; Published In 1987
Rorschach urges Doctor Manhattan to kill him
Watchmen was a literary tour-de-force from start to finish, one that reinvented the superhero genre. However, like any story, the difference between good, great, and masterpiece comes down to the ending. The climax of Watchmen is effectively anti-heroic; its protagonists choose complicity in covering up the deaths of millions for the greater good.
Except, that is, for Rorschach, whose uncompromising ideology causes him to demand Doctor Manhattan kill him. Manhattan obliges, vaporizing the unhinged vigilante. Just like every preceding page, Watchmen pulls no punches in its final moments, and Rorschach's death has to be in the conversation for the greatest superhero exit in the genre's long history.
Jason Todd
Died In: Batman #428, Written By Jim Starlin, Art By Jim Aparo; Published In 1988
A distraught Batman carrying the limp, bloody body of Jason Todd in "A Death in the Family."
A Death in the Family was one of the darkest moments in Batman history. Not just because it killed off Batman's sidekick, Robin, but because it did so as the result of a gimmick. DC Comics left Jason Todd's fate up to the whim of its readers; a vote was held after Batman #427, and the majority called for Todd to be killed off.
It was controversial at the time, partly because of, and partly in spite of the fan vote. Still, Jason Todd's death is retrospectively considered an all-time great Batman story, and it has had an outsized impact on DC lore ever since. Starting with Batman's guilt and trauma from losing his ward, and continuing on through Todd's eventual resurrection.
Al Simmons
Died Prior To: Spawn #1, Written And Illustrated By Todd McFarlane; Published In 1992
Spawn crouching surrounded by his cape and chains.
The death of Al Simmons was the birth of the demonic superhero Spawn. The character debuted in 1992's Spawn #1, which was the second-ever Image Comics release; at the end of 2025, Spawn remains the longest-running independent superhero comic at 370 issues and counting. Notably, Simmons' death is a unique twist on the usual superhero origin tragedy.
That is, instead of losing a loved one, it is the hero himself who dies. Al Simmons' subsequent resurrection as Spawn began a 30+ year saga that shows no signs of wrapping up anytime soon. It is one of the greatest success stories, outside of DC and Marvel, in the genre. As such, Simmons' death deserves recognition for having instigated his character arc.
Superman
Died In: Superman #75, Written And Illustrated By Dan Jurgens; Published In 1992
It is hard to convey the gravity of DC's The Death of Superman when it was released in the early 1990s. In the pre-MCU era, it was as close to a mainstream pop culture phenomenon as superhero comics have arguably ever gotten. The Death of Superman generated media attention, and created a new generation of comic book collectors.
The plan was always for Superman to return, but that didn't seem so obvious at the time. It seemed unfathomable that DC would kill off the hero; his "final" battle against Doomsday also ranks as one of the top hero/villain brawls ever. There have been many "Death of" stories since, and all follow the Superman model in some way or another.
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