Back for the Dead: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
A sort of middle-ground between being [[Put
Contrast with [[Bus Crash]], in which the actor does not return, and we are told of their off-screen death some seasons later, complete with a failure of their body to appear, at least in an intact state.
A number of reasons may exist for this: perhaps the actor has agreed to return, but insists on being killed to give their character closure. Or perhaps the writers have just grown a pair and decided to do something nasty to the character that they'd previously been afraid to do something irrevocable to. Or it could just be a way to [[Killed Off for Real|kill someone off for real]] with the impact of killing a major character without the plot inconveniences this usually causes. Occasionally it's because they need a character they previously [[Killed Off for Real]] briefly, so they pull an [[Not Quite Dead]] or [[Back
Compare [[Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome]].
{{deathtrope}}
{{examples
▲== Anime andManga ==
* In ''[[Super Dimension Century Orguss]]'' Sley, the protagonist Kei's rival in love, is presumably lost in battle about mid way through the series, with it left unknown whether he survived or died. Some time later, Sley reunites with the crew and, within that same episode, performs a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to allow the heroes to get away from the enemy.
* In the ''[[D
* In ''[[Transformers Headmasters]]'', Ultra Magnus appears in the first few episodes, then drops off the radar as the action moves away from Earth. When he reappears, it's only to be killed by Sixshot in the [[Exactly What It Says
* Gauron in ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]! The Second Raid''. Kinda a weird example, since he was already assumed to be dead at the end of the first series.
** Gauron had been "assumed dead" at least 3-or-4 times in the past (and twice in the first season) before the second season. Every time he and Main Character Sōsuke cross paths, something happens that should have killed him (for example, the first time Sōsuke shot him in the head), only for him to reappear later with some excuse as to how he survived (He had a metal plate in his skull from an earlier wound). However, Sōsuke kills him for good in the second season.
* Averted in ''[[Digimon Savers]]''. Daimon Suguru is your typical shounen [[Disappeared Dad]], whose fate is left uncertain for most of the series. However, it's revealed that Suguru's body is possessed by [[Crystal Dragon Jesus|Yggdrasil]], and his consciousness inhabits the group's mentor, BanchouLeomon. In the end, it seems Suguru is destroyed body and soul, but after being defeated in his true form, Yggdrasil resurrects Suguru and returns him to his family.
** However, this is pretty much what happens to Leomon when he returns in the latter half of ''[[Digimon Adventure]].''
*** Eh, at least Leomon got two episodes and managed to take out MetalEtemon. The beginning of the Dark Masters saga, on the other hand, saw two in one
* In ''[[
* After running out of regeneration power, Gluttony from [[Fullmetal Alchemist]] is absorbed into Father during Volume 14. In Volume 21, he returns.....Only to be killed off by Pride by the end of the Volume.
* Yoki in the first [[Fullmetal Alchemist]] anime, who shows up just long enough to be skewered through the head by Lust and spark a riot.
* Ryoufu in the [[Ikki Tousen]] anime. She dies in the first series, is revived, gets [[Laser
* Yurin L'Ciel in ''[[Gundam AGE]]'' appeared a little early on. She then comes back for a while, and quickly gets killed off.
* Frieza was apparently killed by Goku at the end of the infamous Namek fight in ''[[Dragon Ball
== Comics ==
* This is ridiculously common during big [[Crisis Crossover]] events in superhero comics. Almost every single one features a scene where some forgotten character who hasn't shown up in a comic since forever gets killed just to establish how dangerous the villains are. The other heroes will of course react as if the deceased was a major player who had been around all along.
** The most infamous example probably comes from Marvel's Civil War crossover. Early advertising for the storyline implied that many beloved heroes would die. In reality, only one established hero died: Goliath, a character who hadn't done anything of note since the 1970's.
* In late 2010, DC came out with a ''[[
* In 2010 ''[[Marvel]]'' released ''[[Exactly What It Says
* Towards the end of the Underbase Saga in Marvel's ''[[Transformers Generation 1|Transformers]]'' comic, a whole bunch of characters who haven't been seen in years of real time come back in order to be killed by Starscream.
* One early example would be Kathy Kane, the original [[Batwoman]]; she had been written out after Batman was revamped in 1964. She briefly came out of retirement to guest star in several several issues in the late 70s (over a decade later!) only to be [[Stuffed in The Fridge|killed off for dramatic effect]] by the League of Assassins after several appearances.
* [[Jeph Loeb]] also seems fond of this trope, as he's dug through various characters to use as murderer fodder in his murder mystery storylines. ''[[The Long Halloween]]'' and its follow-up ''Dark Victory'' were originally made to show what happened to the mobster characters from ''The Long Halloween''. ''The Long Halloween'' brings all of the mobsters shown or mentioned as well as two characters from Two-Face's origin story to be killed off by the Holiday killer and/or Two-Face himself (although to be fair some of them, like Falcone himself, get actual storylines before dying). ''Dark Victory'' gives the same treatment to pretty much every cop character that had been named in ''Year One'' as well as a modern counterpart of Chief O'Hara. His later storyline ''Hush'' is lighter in comparison murder-wise, although long absent Batman ally Harold (the deaf-mute who acts as a mechanic for the Bat-Mobile) was brought back to serve as one of Hush's victims.
* Another Batman murder mystery storyline example was James Robinson's "Face to Face" storyline, in which various supervillains whom had fallen into obscurity were brought back to be murdered by a new serial killer (the Tally Man under Great White's orders). The victims, some of whom had appeared more recently than others, were The Ventriloquist I, Magpie, [[KG Beast]] and Orca.
* One of [[Spider
== Film ==
* ''[[Planet of the Apes]]'': Charlton Heston agreed to be in the sequel only on the condition that his character dies at the beginning. He actually dies at the end.
* In ''[[Transformers
** The third film, ''[[Transformers
* [[The Kirk|Captain Kirk's]] appearance in ''[[Star Trek Generations]]'' actually [[Dropped a Bridge
** Ironically, the first "death" was only shown in the beginning of that film. If they hadn't "killed" him to begin with, he wouldn't have been anywhere near to be killed again later. And then the expanded universe immediately resurrected him, putting him in ''[[Star Trek:
*** It should be pointed out that the Kirk "return" novels were written in part by William Shatner himself...
* Dobby in the ''[[Harry Potter (
* Pegasus and Yugi's Grandpa in the ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh Tenth Anniversary Movie]]''. Good thing that this is a story about time travel.
* Clear Rivers from the original [[Final Destination]] was intended to survive to the third installment, but due to legal issues she appeared in the second movie and was killed off.
* ''[[Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
** Sephiroth implies that he cannot truly die, and can continue to return.
== Literature ==
* This is ludicrously common in ''[[
** One [[
* ''[[
* In the [[
* {{spoiler|Hollyleaf}} in ''[[
* William Smithback, Jr., suffers this in the [[Agent Pendergast]] series of novels. He is a recurring character in the books, and after the events of ''Book of the Dead'' he does not appear at all in the next novel, ''The Wheel of Darkness.'' He then returns in the novel after that, ''Cemetery Dance," only to be killed in its very first chapter.
** Additionally, it's subverted for Margo Green. She was actually the main character in the very first two books, ''Relic'' and ''Reliquary'', and did not appear again until the sixth novel, ''Dance of Death,'' which had her attacked and apparently killed by Diogenes Pendergast barely halfway through the novel. The very end of the book reveals that Pendergast saved her life.
== [[Live
* A famous example is Max Fenig, a fan favorite from an episode of the first season of ''[[
** There's also the Cigarette Smoking Man, who was killed off at the end of the seventh season. Two years later he was revealed to still be alive in the series finale, and then proceeded to get blown up by a missile.
* ''[[Star Trek:
* The character of Carey from ''[[Star Trek
** The writer of that episode wanted to kill someone off, and was given the choice of Vorik or Carey. He thought Carey would have more impact, since fans would relate to a human more than a Vulcan. Bad choice. He was obviously unaware of how much fans liked Vorik, and of how fans already thought Carey was dead. Furthermore, rumour has it that Carey's odd treatment was because the writers were for a long time confusing him with Lt. Hogan, who had indeed been killed off in Season 2.
* Lieutenant Ford from ''[[
* Similarly, in ''[[
** Martouf did come
* In ''[[
* Charlie DiSalvo from ''[[Highlander (TV series)|Highlander]]'' falls into this. Charlie gets sort of [[Put
* David Palmer in ''[[
** The return and subsequent death of Milo Pressman in Season 6 has oft been referenced as an example of this trope, though he did survive for almost the entire season.
** Additionally, the character of Tony Almeida was injured in an explosion that left him in a coma for the first half of season 5. He was brought out of it midway through only to get killed off an episode later. {{spoiler|Although eventually subverted in that he was later revealed to still be alive two seasons later, he was dead for all intents and purposes for the rest of the fifth season.}}
* ''[[Seres/Lost|Lost]]'': arguably, Michael's return in episode 4x07 and death in episode 4x13. Later on, a named background character wound up reappearing only to be killed off by [[Arrows
* Aiden was fired from ''[[CSI: NY]]'' for tampering with evidence; she returned some time later as a [[Stuffed in The Fridge|charred corpse]] and in [[Necro Cam]] flashbacks.
* After a rather unpopular character arc which had eventually seen her [[Put
** This did serve to give her a good send-off, and allow her to work as a [[Mentors|mentor]] one last time.
* Arguably, Bryce Larkin from ''[[Chuck]]''.
** Chuck's father Stephen returned for a couple of late season 3 episodes, before becoming a [[Sacrificial Lamb]] / [[Sacrificial Lion]]
* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'': Adam Monroe, former immortal, was [[A Fate Worse Than Death|buried alive]] at the end of season two, but he was let out briefly in the following season apparently for the sole purpose of being [[Killed Off for Real]] in a rather egregious manner. Maybe they were saving him for this. (His death basically created the new [[Big Bad]].)
** A variation happened earlier in season two for DL. The second season starts by skipping months ahead, and we're told that DL is dead, presumably from his gunshot wound in the season one finale. But no, he appears in a flashback only to get killed [[Dropped a Bridge
** Done with Emile Danko at the beginning of Season 4. As the [[Big Bad]] of Season 3, he survived that season only to be brought back for two episodes for a somewhat contrived reason during Season 4 only to be killed off immediately by the new villains.
* Chloe Richards returned to ''[[Home and Away]]'' in 2005 in the lead up to the show's 4000th episode after leaving in 1999. Meanwhile, promos for the 4000th episode promised that [[Tonight Someone Dies|a beloved character would die]] as a result of events happening in that episode. Who died as a result of that episode's car accident? It was Chloe of course.
* Blake returned in the last episode of ''[[
** Blake's death was apparently a
*** The deaths of the other characters was left deliberately ambiguous so that they could return if the series was extended.
* In ''[[
* While this is open to dispute, the return of Dennis "Dirty Den" Watts in ''[[Eastenders]]'' could be considered a '''very''' drawn out example of this. When actor Leslie Grantham wanted to move on, Dirty Den was hit by gunfire on screen, but deliberately not shown to be dead. Den subsequently returned ''14 years'' later, and died again, this time [[Killed Off for Real|for real]], 18 months after that. Leslie Grantham states in his autobiography that this was how it had been planned when he agreed to return: that the character would be killed off permanently after no more than 18 months.
** Another instance of this on ''Eastenders'' was Ethel Skinner - after a 3 year absence from the show, she reappeared in Albert Square as part of a storyline on euthanasia.
* ''[[Earth 2]]'' - Commander O'Neill "died" in the pilot, then literally comes back from his grave only to be murdered by the end of episode 2.
* Mike Royce in ''[[
* Keith from ''[[One Tree Hill]]'' leaves after his disastrous wedding. He comes back more well adjusted and marries Karen only to be killed by his brother Dan. At least she has [[Someone to Remember Him By]].
* Joyce Summers, in ''[[
{{quote|
* ''[[
* Alicia in ''[[
** Whitney also qualifies: We see him die on-screen [[Not Himself|before the shapeshifter shows up]].
*** If Alicia counts, so do several other characters, including but not restrained to the above mentioned shapeshifter.
* The writing staff of ''[[Amar
* All of the surviving cortexifan kids from ''[[
* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' has an odd example. Jo and Ellen Harvelle, two characters from season 2, were let go at the end of the season for budgetary reasons and did not appear in seasons 3 or 4. They were brought back in season 5, and survived their return episode, only for both of them to be killed off in their next appearance.
** Another example is Anna from season 4, an character who has a two part episode central around. Like the above, survives her return episode and than is killed off her next episode in season 5.
* ''[[NCIS: Los Angeles]]'' does this when Dom is [[Not Quite Saved Enough]].
* [[Inverted]] on ''[[
** Ultimately averted, as not very long after that, Lyta joined the main cast for the rest of the show.
* [[Parodied Trope|Parodied]] on ''[[
** Played straight with Ben Sullivan.
* For the first several seasons of ''[[
* Daniel Dickinson in ''[[Warehouse 13]]'' was initially part of the primary cast. After the first season ended, he disappeared until the ninth episode of the second-in which he was murdered before the opening credits rolled.
* ''[[Boy Meets World]]'' had a [[Yank the
* In ''[[
== [[Video Games]] ==
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* ''[[Resident Evil]]'': Brad Vickers, brought back in ''3'' seemingly solely to [[Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome|have a bridge dropped on him]].
** Technically, Brad already showed up dead as [[Guide Dang It|a hidden zombie enemy]] in ''[[Resident Evil 2]]''. His death in ''Nemesis'' was a [[Continuity Nod]] to that.
* ''Robo'' from ''[[
* In ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]'', Big Boss who was thought to be dead is revealed to be alive and then promptly dies after providing a truly epic 45 minute [[Info Dump]].
* In ''[[Illusion of Gaia]]'', Kara's pet pig, Hamlet, gets separated from her early on in the game, namely when Kara decides to [[Rebellious Princess|leave her castle]], but later manages to join up with the party. However, very soon after, the party is captured by cannibals, and are only saved when Hamlet sacrifices himself to be food for the cannibals instead of the party.
* Ortega, the hero's father in ''[[
* In ''[[Framcjose The Legend Of Zelda]]'', every time Ganon somehow manages to break the [[Sealed Evil in
** The same happens to Dracula in the ''[[Castlevania]]'' series.
* ''[[
** To say nothing of the fact that it's not even revealed that it was her until much later...
* ''[[Call of Duty: Black Ops
** In ''[[Modern Warfare]] 3'', Sgt. Kamarov (the Russian Loyalist who rescued Soap and Price during the final level of the original ''Modern Warfare'') returns, and dies a couple missions later when Makarov's men kidnap him and use him as bait to keep Captain Price in one place so a bomb can kill them both. Price catches on when Kamarov tells him he's sorry, and manages to get out of the blast zone before Kamarov is killed. Earlier, Wallcroft and Griffin (the two main supporting characters who assisted you in "Crew Expendable" from the original ''MW'') reappear as they respond to a terrorist bomb threat in London, and in the process of chasing the train carrying the bomb, Griffin is killed when his truck crashes.
== [[Web Original]] ==
* In ''[[
* ''[[
* In ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'', Achyls was a minor character in V1, working as one of the technicians for the terrorists. However, he vanished inexplicably afterwards with no explanation. He returned for V4, and seemed set to have a bigger role from before, then was abruptly killed not long after his redebut.
* Happens to the original Paper in the 200th Strong Bad Email from ''[[Homestar Runner]]''. The Paper actually died in Email 173, and later replaced by the New Paper.▼
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[
** In a season 14 episode, Pip, who didn't have any speaking line at all since season 6, came back, only for him to deliver a [[Sedgwick Speech]] and be killed by Mecha-Streisand moments later.
*** According to southparkstudios.com, he may not be entirely gone.
* ''[[Speed Racer:
▲* Happens to the original Paper in the 200th Strong Bad Email from ''[[Homestar Runner]]''. The Paper actually died in Email 173, and later replaced by the New Paper.
▲* ''[[Speed Racer the Next Generation]]'': In "The Beginning", Speed Jr. and his friends find and restore the long-disappeared Mach 5, but it ends up truly totaled after a vicious race.
* In the DCAU, Professor Milo was a minor recurring villain on ''[[
▲* ''[[American Dad (Animation)|American Dad]]'' has a whole episode of this.
▲* In the DCAU, Professor Milo was a minor recurring villain on ''[[Batman the Animated Series (Animation)|Batman: The Animated Series]]''. He shows up again 13 years later in an episode of ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'' only for Doomsday to kill him offscreen.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Death Tropes]]
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