you know what they say no one stays dead
in comics except for Bucky Jason Todd
and Uncle Ben well at least Uncle Ben’s
still dead right here
welcome to watchmojo.com and story
devices that won’t go away
before we begin we publish new videos
every day so be sure to subscribe for
more great content on this episode we’re
taking a look at resurrection we act of
bringing a character back from the dead
the history of storytelling has proven
that in contrast to our own reality
death doesn’t have to be that big of a
deal for our favorite heroes be it a
comic book superhero film baddie or Ken
characters will often appear to die only
to come back to life at a later date
with explanations for the resurrection
ranging from the supernatural to the
super lazy oh my god oh my god oh Jenny
you bastard
this happens all the time in comics with
the likes of Batman Superman and Captain
America all having returned from the
afterlife just to name a few
a home faraman death resurrection is one
of the oldest story tropes in the
business so old in fact that it predates
any film comic book or television show
play a few thousand years many ancient
civilizations believed in resurrection
with written accounts of God’s being
brought back to life peppered throughout
the cultures of ancient Egypt and Greece
of course the most famous story of
resurrection belongs to none other than
Jesus Christ who as the story goes was
resurrected three days after being
crucified that is good in pop culture
this trope has persisted for as long as
the entertainment industry has existed
from the works of Shakespeare all the
way up to the Marvel Cinematic Universe
characters have continued to be
resurrected both literally as well as
metaphorically that’s one of the major
steps of the standard hero’s journey
Batman climbing out of the hole and
being born again in The Dark Knight
Rises is one example of a different kind
of resurrection in terms of literal
resurrections this trope has been played
out on the big screen countless times
some like Gandalf returned in the second
Lord of the Rings movie were epic and
memorable about life in the a game while
others like landfill being killed then
quickly replaced by his identical twin
brother in Beerfest
have been downright silly and pull
fun at the wildly strange ways this
trope can play out if it wouldn’t be too
uncomfortable I was hoping maybe you
guys could call me landfill in honor of
him yeah sure sure the important thing
to remember is that a resurrected
character can come back in a variety of
ways often having gone through dramatic
physical or mental changes take the
matrix where neo is brought back to life
moments after being killed now with the
ability to stop bullets in their tracks
ultimately allowing him to defeat agent
Smith who also comes back to life in the
next movie surprised to see me you may
find yourself asking why do characters
get killed off in the first place while
the death of a hero sidekick or evildoer
can have a dramatic effect on the story
it can also increase readership and
boost sales when Jean Grey died at the
end of 1980s the Dark Phoenix saga that
was meant to be the end of that
character but she returned years later
with a red calm that absolved her of all
the crazy evil murdering she had done at
dark Phoenix I destroyed a solar system
and reveled in it Phoenix did not you
another famous example is the death of
Barry Allen aka the flash in the hugely
successful crisis on Infinite Earths
crossover from 1985 it was a landmark
moment in comics history and he wasn’t
brought back for over two decades but in
comics what goes up will eventually come
right back down even if it takes a lot
the most famous example of this trope
run amok is 1992’s the death of Superman
in this infamous story arc the Man of
Steel appears to be killed during an
intense battle with doomsday PC got a
ton of publicity for killing their most
iconic character but he couldn’t really
be dead could he of course not
over my dead body turns out Superman
wasn’t dead he was just in stasis
regaining his strength
finally awaking in practically full
health a few issues later oh and he also
now had super long luscious hair fit for
a 90’s hockey star so the death of
superman turned out to be the power nap
of superman and fans were more than a
little disappointed with the
misdirection this arc is cited as a huge
turning point as DC went on to kill and
then quickly revived a bunch of their
characters due in large part to the
financial success of the story
despite fan backlash there’s only one s
in resurrection didn’t
Eli’s proofreading was one of our
superpowers no one wants to see their
favorite character bite the bullet and
stay gone and from a marketing
standpoint killing off a major character
only to have them resurrected at a later
date it’s pure gold where creators can
have their cake and eat it too
fictional worlds depend on the
protagonist to drive the plot forward
and character deaths are simply too
dramatic and effective to pass up even
if everyone knows they’re just temporary
cheating death has always been and
always will be interesting to us mortals
no matter how predictable it’s become so
what do you think do you believe
resurrecting a character is the ultimate
marketing stunt what are some of your
favorite examples of the Resurrection
trope you have no oh yeah gotten out the
gray check out these other great clips
from WatchMojo and subscribe for new
videos every day
in comics except for Bucky Jason Todd
and Uncle Ben well at least Uncle Ben’s
still dead right here
welcome to watchmojo.com and story
devices that won’t go away
before we begin we publish new videos
every day so be sure to subscribe for
more great content on this episode we’re
taking a look at resurrection we act of
bringing a character back from the dead
the history of storytelling has proven
that in contrast to our own reality
death doesn’t have to be that big of a
deal for our favorite heroes be it a
comic book superhero film baddie or Ken
characters will often appear to die only
to come back to life at a later date
with explanations for the resurrection
ranging from the supernatural to the
super lazy oh my god oh my god oh Jenny
you bastard
this happens all the time in comics with
the likes of Batman Superman and Captain
America all having returned from the
afterlife just to name a few
a home faraman death resurrection is one
of the oldest story tropes in the
business so old in fact that it predates
any film comic book or television show
play a few thousand years many ancient
civilizations believed in resurrection
with written accounts of God’s being
brought back to life peppered throughout
the cultures of ancient Egypt and Greece
of course the most famous story of
resurrection belongs to none other than
Jesus Christ who as the story goes was
resurrected three days after being
crucified that is good in pop culture
this trope has persisted for as long as
the entertainment industry has existed
from the works of Shakespeare all the
way up to the Marvel Cinematic Universe
characters have continued to be
resurrected both literally as well as
metaphorically that’s one of the major
steps of the standard hero’s journey
Batman climbing out of the hole and
being born again in The Dark Knight
Rises is one example of a different kind
of resurrection in terms of literal
resurrections this trope has been played
out on the big screen countless times
some like Gandalf returned in the second
Lord of the Rings movie were epic and
memorable about life in the a game while
others like landfill being killed then
quickly replaced by his identical twin
brother in Beerfest
have been downright silly and pull
fun at the wildly strange ways this
trope can play out if it wouldn’t be too
uncomfortable I was hoping maybe you
guys could call me landfill in honor of
him yeah sure sure the important thing
to remember is that a resurrected
character can come back in a variety of
ways often having gone through dramatic
physical or mental changes take the
matrix where neo is brought back to life
moments after being killed now with the
ability to stop bullets in their tracks
ultimately allowing him to defeat agent
Smith who also comes back to life in the
next movie surprised to see me you may
find yourself asking why do characters
get killed off in the first place while
the death of a hero sidekick or evildoer
can have a dramatic effect on the story
it can also increase readership and
boost sales when Jean Grey died at the
end of 1980s the Dark Phoenix saga that
was meant to be the end of that
character but she returned years later
with a red calm that absolved her of all
the crazy evil murdering she had done at
dark Phoenix I destroyed a solar system
and reveled in it Phoenix did not you
another famous example is the death of
Barry Allen aka the flash in the hugely
successful crisis on Infinite Earths
crossover from 1985 it was a landmark
moment in comics history and he wasn’t
brought back for over two decades but in
comics what goes up will eventually come
right back down even if it takes a lot
the most famous example of this trope
run amok is 1992’s the death of Superman
in this infamous story arc the Man of
Steel appears to be killed during an
intense battle with doomsday PC got a
ton of publicity for killing their most
iconic character but he couldn’t really
be dead could he of course not
over my dead body turns out Superman
wasn’t dead he was just in stasis
regaining his strength
finally awaking in practically full
health a few issues later oh and he also
now had super long luscious hair fit for
a 90’s hockey star so the death of
superman turned out to be the power nap
of superman and fans were more than a
little disappointed with the
misdirection this arc is cited as a huge
turning point as DC went on to kill and
then quickly revived a bunch of their
characters due in large part to the
financial success of the story
despite fan backlash there’s only one s
in resurrection didn’t
Eli’s proofreading was one of our
superpowers no one wants to see their
favorite character bite the bullet and
stay gone and from a marketing
standpoint killing off a major character
only to have them resurrected at a later
date it’s pure gold where creators can
have their cake and eat it too
fictional worlds depend on the
protagonist to drive the plot forward
and character deaths are simply too
dramatic and effective to pass up even
if everyone knows they’re just temporary
cheating death has always been and
always will be interesting to us mortals
no matter how predictable it’s become so
what do you think do you believe
resurrecting a character is the ultimate
marketing stunt what are some of your
favorite examples of the Resurrection
trope you have no oh yeah gotten out the
gray check out these other great clips
from WatchMojo and subscribe for new
videos every day
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