Death Is Cheap: Difference between revisions

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Since villains tend to do this often, it is usually necessary to kill them [[Deader Than Dead]] to ensure they don't just come back eventually. Because normal death means little, this "advanced form" is usually permanent. [[First Law of Resurrection|If it works as planned.]]

So common is this trope in comics that many other sources refer to it as Comic Book Death. Comics have a [[How to Cheat Death|slew of means]] to undo death, often involving [[Opening a Can of Clones]]. Usually the only characters in comics to stay dead are those involved in a [[Death By Origin Story]].

So common is this trope in comics that many other sources refer to it as Comic Book Death. Comics have a [[How to Cheat Death|slew of means]] to undo death, often involving [[Opening a Can of Clones]]. Usually the only characters in comics to stay dead are those involved in a [[Death by Origin Story]].

See also [[Disney Death]], and the [[Sorting Algorithm of Deadness]] for a closely related phenomenon. [[Immortal Hero]] applies when this applies to heroes, but not villains. Compare [[Death By Origin Story]]. [[Death Is a Slap on The Wrist]] is a gameplay equivalent of this trope; oddly, so is [[Continuing Is Painful]], even though it basically amounts to Death Is Expensive. Not to be confused with [[Nintendo Hard|video games that make you die frequently]]. When this applies in the afterlife, as in the myth of Valhalla, see [[Warrior Heaven]] or [[Hell Is War]].

See also [[Disney Death]], and the [[Sorting Algorithm of Deadness]] for a closely related phenomenon. [[Immortal Hero]] applies when this applies to heroes, but not villains. Compare [[Death by Origin Story]]. [[Death Is a Slap on The Wrist]] is a gameplay equivalent of this trope; oddly, so is [[Continuing Is Painful]], even though it basically amounts to Death Is Expensive. Not to be confused with [[Nintendo Hard|video games that make you die frequently]]. When this applies in the afterlife, as in the myth of Valhalla, see [[Warrior Heaven]] or [[Hell Is War]].

May cause villains (or readers) to exclaim [[Why Won't You Die?]]

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** Someone even called Marvel out on their frequent use of comic book death in the letters pages of that very same issue, to which the response was "Okay, okay, we won't kill Nick Fur--Oops."

* Lampshaded by Hammerhead in ''[[Ultimate Spider-Man]]''. His first appearance ended with his '''skull being exploded''' by Gambit. When he returns a Mook remarks "geez Hammer I thought you were dead". Hammerhead responds with "I was. It sucked. I came back".

* A brilliant quote from Fabian Nicieza after fans attacked him for apparently killing off two members of the [[Legion of Super-Heroes (~~Comic Book~~)|Legion of Super-Heroes]]: "In that case, I want to take this opportunity to formally apologize to all the readers for having killed off a '''shapeshifter''' and a '''teleporter''' in a '''superhero comic book'''."

* A brilliant quote from Fabian Nicieza after fans attacked him for apparently killing off two members of the [[Legion of Super-Heroes (comics)|Legion of Super-Heroes]]: "In that case, I want to take this opportunity to formally apologize to all the readers for having killed off a '''shapeshifter''' and a '''teleporter''' in a '''superhero comic book'''."

* A scene in the '90s DC comic ''[[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Titans]]'' had a couple of junior members being shown around the Hall of Deceased Former Titans to show them the stakes being played for. The lesson didn't really take, as they had been hanging around other superheroes long enough that the senior member had to explain "You realize when people die, they don't usually come back... right?" The former Titan in question eventually came back.

** A dead character was actually resurrected in the Teen Titans series. The infamous villain Terra was resurrected as Terra 2, who turned out to be a hero. At first they offered a different story but eventually it was confirmed she was resurrected. Before they could tell her [[Final Death|she died]] [[Dying to Be Replaced|to be replaced with a "Terra 3"]].

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*** In "Mortal Coil", Neelix was killed by a shuttlecraft accident. He was then resurrected by Seven of Nine using modified Borg nanoprobes that reversed his brain death. This was never tried again, as Neelix was [[Damaged Soul|rendered suicidal]] [[Came Back Wrong|by his experience]].

*** In "Relativity", Captain Braxton uses multiple versions of Seven of Nine to try to destroy Voyager, being tired of their "temporal meddling". He gets her killed a few times in his attempts.

** And then there's Lyndsey Ballard in "Ashes to Ashes", a [[Death By Origin Story|previously unknown character]] who was resurrected by a species who reanimates the corpses of other species to "procreate".

** And then there's Lyndsey Ballard in "Ashes to Ashes", a [[Death by Origin Story|previously unknown character]] who was resurrected by a species who reanimates the corpses of other species to "procreate".

* The plot line of ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' plays it straight, averts, and lampshades it at different times of the series. Played straight with the two leads (who have died so many times that the angels and their dead friends (Ash) in heaven are sick and tired of seeing them. Even [[The Grim Reaper|Death]] himself has become mildly annoyed as of late because the Winchesters keep coming back from the dead. Averted in the case of any main character that the fan base hates enough (the writers are very, very sensitive to pressure apparently...). And Castiel has a get-out-of-death-free card personally guaranteed by [[God]]. That said, death has become cheaper as the series has gone on (in the beginning it was pretty damn expensive). ''Sanity'' is now actually far more expensive than death. Once heaven and hell started taking an active (as in 'interactive') interest in the Winchesters, the bigger worry become not what happens if you die but [[And I Must Scream|what happens]] [[Fate Worse Than Death|after you're dead]]. You just ''know'' the next time either one of them dies Heaven or Hell is gonna rip them to pieces for the rest of eternity (anyone want to count how many angels and demons they've killed?). Most clear was Dean's reaction in "Dark Side of the Moon" when about to be shot in the head: "Do it. But I warn you, when I come back I'm going to be pissed."

* Rimmer from ''[[Red Dwarf]]'' has been brought back to life multiple times. He first dies in the accident he causes ([[Retcon|maybe]]) that wipes out the crew which is the set-up for the whole premise. Then he comes back as a hologram. In series 3 after messing with the timeline, he actually gets a body in one episode, but ends up blowing himself up shortly afterwards. So he's back to being a hologram. Then after hologram Rimmer goes off to be Ace Rimmer in series 7, the original Rimmer from 3 million years ago is resurrected by the nanobots who rebuild Red Dwarf with the original crew. It looks like he's about to die in that season's finale, but manages to escape death (literally, he knees death in the privates). And in the 2009 special ''Back to Earth'', set nine years later, he appears to be a hologram again, whether by nanobot Rimmer dying or series 1-7 Rimmer coming back from his Ace adventure is not made explicit.

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** The DL-6 incident features this heavily as Gregory Edgeworth is channelled by the then Master of the Kurain Channelling School, Misty Fey to testify about his own death. He names the wrong guy, though whether he knew this, and if he did, why, is left up to speculation.

** Dahlia Hawthorne is asked to be channelled by her innocent, little half-sister Pearl by their mother Morgan Fey, so they can exact their revenge and become the main family, respectively. This plan all goes wrong, so instead she gets channelled by Maya and is exorcised by Mia's [[Pre-Mortem One-Liner]] in the middle of the courtroom.

* Death is treated as somewhat of a minor inconvenience in ''[[Arcanum of Steamworks and Magick Obscura]]'', as any number of spells and magically restorative items can bring back someone to the land of the living. Companions will actually have unique sets of dialogue available when revived, and generally find the whole affair of being dead to be a rather pleasant experience. One companion's major sidequest even has him being inevitably killed in a [[Hopeless Boss Fight|hopeless battle]], but there are some resurrection scrolls conveniently located on a nearby desk.

* Death is treated as somewhat of a minor inconvenience in ''[[Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura]]'', as any number of spells and magically restorative items can bring back someone to the land of the living. Companions will actually have unique sets of dialogue available when revived, and generally find the whole affair of being dead to be a rather pleasant experience. One companion's major sidequest even has him being inevitably killed in a [[Hopeless Boss Fight|hopeless battle]], but there are some resurrection scrolls conveniently located on a nearby desk.

** This becomes a major plot point later in the game, as it turns out that death in ancient times was so cheap that the only way destructive mages such as Arronax could be permanently defeated was by sealing them in an alternate dimension known as The Void. This still doesn't stop some of its inhabitants from trying to take over Arcanum anyways.

* In ''[[Spore]]'', death is rarely anything but a minor annoyance - you're playing as but one member of a whole species, after all. The implication is when you die you are born again as another member of the species. However, this extends even to the Space Age, where you are directly implied to be one person no matter how many times you die.