Not Quite Dead: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Any situation where the bad guy has been dealt a mortal blow which he [[No One Could Have Survived That|could not possibly have survived]], and it looks as though [[The Hero]] has won - but a couple of scenes later comes [[The Reveal|the twist]]: He's [[Title Drop|not quite dead]]. On the contrary, he's back, ready for more - and [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|pissed off]].

Compare [[Only Mostly Dead]] and [[Almost-Dead Guy]]. There may or may not be some overlap with [[Staying Alive]]. It can be shown - [[Deus Ex Machina|if at all]] - by having their [[Eye Awaken|eyes open]] or [[Finger-Twitching Revival|fingers twitch]]. Not to be confused with [[The Undead]]. If a villain does this a lot, it's probably because he has [[Joker Immunity]].

 

 

** Broly was stabbed in the stomach as an infant, punched in the abdomen by Goku (with chi donated from the others) and finally hurled into the sun by a triple Kamehameha. While that last one did kill him, he still came back as a clone. They finally beat him in Movie 11, wanna know what kills him? [[Kill It with Water|The Ocean]].

** This can basically be said of most of the villains in Dragonball series:

** He comes back ''again'' from within Sasuke during his battle with Itachi, practically tasting revenge, ''except'' he's almost instantly defeated permanently. '''Then''' you see a snake that's obviously some sort of piece of him that can regenerate, '''''but''''' {{spoiler|the Amaterasu fire spreading all over ''[[Kill It with Fire|completely incinerates it]]''.}}

* ''[[Bleach]]'' is full of these, on both sides but especially with the heroes.

** Happens frequently enough with both protagonists and antagonists in the Hueco Mondo arc, one would think that the giant clouds of dust kicked up by the horrible attack ''du minute'' had incredible regenerative powers.

* [[Everything's Better with Monkeys|Etemon]] in ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'' is sucked into a space-warping... warp... thing that was apparently destroyed, but managed to bide his time and evolve before coming back as Metal Etemon. Vamdemon (aka Myotismon) is shot through the chest by Angewomon, but survives in order to fulfill a prophecy and has to beaten by War Greymon and Metal Garurumon.

** Don't forget {{spoiler|Guilford, whose mech for all intents and purposes was within the blast radius of a weapon that disintegrates everything in its path, yet lived to appear at Cornelia's bedside in the last few episodes.}}

** In a more extreme example, {{spoiler|Empress Marianne actually ''was'' killed, but managed to transfer her mind and soul to another person before her physical body died.}}

* This happens to Shuda in ''[[Rave Master]]''. While character in the manga do have a tendency to survive insane amounts of damage and be up and about as if it hadn't happened only two days later (which made it so weird when one of them actually did have to spend time in a hospital), cutting off your arm and falling at least 2000 feet into a forest is over the top. No explanation is given for how he survived too (not that one ever is).

* Thief King Bakura, from the final season of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' gets locked in a tomb and supposedly falls into a deep dark pit... only to somehow escape and sneak back into the city.

* ''[[D.Gray-man]]'' has the protagonist {{spoiler|lose an arm, have his [[Empathic Weapon|Innocence]] shattered, and has a ''hole put into his heart''}} and yet he wakes up the next episode.

* {{spoiler|Kotetsu}} in the finale of ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]''. [[He's Dead, Jim|He is not impressed by his friends' inability to properly determine when someone is dead.]]

* Being stabbed through the heart with a large spike? With an actual doctor checking his pulse to make sure he was dead? Minor things when it comes to the self-proclaimed ''[[Ultimate Teacher]]'', Ganbachi Chabane.

 

* Hammerhead in the [[Ultimate Marvel]] and regular continuities make heavy use of this trope.

* Played with in ''[[Blue Beetle]]'' #33-34.

* [[The Phantom (comic strip)|The Phantom]] was the ultimate inversion of this: every time the old Phantom kicks the bucket, [[Legacy Immortality|a new one is chosen]], usually his son or closest kin. This allows them to project the illusion to their enemies that the Phantom is immortal, though their friends know better.

* A sequel comic based on Disney's ''[[The Great Mouse Detective]]'' was actually about [[The Dragon|Fidget the bat]] being revealed to have survived the fall from [[Vincent Price|Ratigan's]] blimp at the end of his film, and immediately choosing to be on the side of good.

* In ''[[The Secret History (comics)|The Secret History]]'', Dyo always seems to just cling onto life one way or another. {{spoiler|It remains to be seen if this applies to Aker and William de Lecce.}}

 

* [[Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (novel)|Snow White]] and [[Sleeping Beauty]]. And all their numerous variants. Especially creepy in [[Neil Gaiman]]'s adaptation of the former, "Snow, Glass, Apples", in which the huntsman really does remove Snow White's heart and give it to the queen. {{spoiler|It just doesn't stop beating until Snow White goes into her coma - and when she wakes up, it starts again...}}

** Similarly, the brothers in "[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/412.htm The Bird Grip]" throw the hero into a lions' den, and in "[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/368.htm The Golden Blackbird]", into a lake.

* In "[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/pt1/pt113.htm The Brown Bear of the Green Glen]", John's brothers set on him, to kill him, but he recovers.

 

* This trope is pretty common in [[Fanfic]] - in fact, any given fandom is bound to have at least one fic in which a [[Killed Off for Real]] character, usually a popular one, returns from the dead.

* One such example with its own page on the wiki is ''[[The Ghost Map]]'', in which it's revealed that [[Bigger Bad|Professor Moriarty]] somehow ''did'' survive his duel with [[Sherlock Holmes]]. Of course, in-universe, this is merely suspected by Holmes and confirmed by [[Big Bad|Colonel Moran]], who [[Captain Obvious|isn't exactly the most trustworthy fellow.]] However, [[Word of God]] ''has'' confirmed that Moriarty is indeed alive - now the author simply needs to [[Author's Saving Throw|explain]] ''how''.

 

* Inverted in ''[[Johnny Mnemonic]]''. The Priest is blasted with EMP, frying most of his cybernetics, and is then electrocuted to a crisp. At the very end of the movie, he ''starts to rise from the floor'', and a frightened gasp comes from Jane... only to reveal that his body is actually just being hauled up on a pulley. "Just garbage. Get rid of it."

* A nameless character apparently killed in the ''first scene'' of ''[[The Good, the Bad and the Ugly]]'' comes back for revenge about two hours later, only to be shot more decisively.

*** Marshal (not Sheriff) Jed Cooper is Clint's character in ''Hang 'Em High''. The relevant character in ''High Plains Drifter'' is Marshal Jim Duncan. Second, Clint was "The Stranger", but not Jim Duncan; that role was played by Buddy Van Horn, who was Clint's stunt double on many occasions.

* Karl, Hans Gruber's second-in-command, in the original ''[[Die Hard]]''.

* Lampshaded in ''[[Scream (film)|Scream]]'':

{{spoiler|'''Sidney''': [[Defied Trope|(shoots Billy)]] Not in my movie.}} }}

** Lampshaded in all the sequels, too, but to the best effect in 4:

{{spoiler|Sidney: they always are. [beat] (grabs Dewey's discarded gun and shoots Jill, poised to attack, in the chest)}} }}

** Used to full effect to justify the creation of ''Halloween: Resurrection'': {{spoiler|1=it turns out that Laurie had killed a paramedic instead of Michael at the end of ''H20''; Michael had attacked the paramedic, crushed his larynx, and switched places with him before "Michael's" body was carted out to the ambulance}}.

** Chucky does this in the first two films.

* An example of the scenario which this page is actually about appears at the climax of ''[[Iron Man (film)|Iron Man]]''.

* ''[[Evil Dead|Army Of Darkness]]'': "It's a trick. Get an axe."

* The comedy ''Freaked'' parodies this trope to death.

** [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Not quite.]]

** Grishnakh, who is more or less a mook, is stabbed by a Rider of Rohan in ''The Two Towers'', yet he is still able to chase Merry and Pippin into the forest before Treebeard kills him.

* ''[[Miller's Crossing]]'' plays it straight {{spoiler|with Bernie's "murder"}}, then lampshades it with Caspar's policy:

* ''[[Red Dragon]]'' features this during {{spoiler|the final confrontation between Detective Graham and the titular villain}}, when {{spoiler|they shoot each other through a flimsy bedroom door.}} Later averted when {{spoiler|Graham's wife puts a bullet in the killer's head. Several times.}}

* ''[[Men in Black (film)|Men in Black]]'' loves this. Kay shoots the giant cockroach from the inside and splits him in half. However, his top half lives and attacks them for a split second before he is finally killed by Laurel.

* In ''[[Galaxy Quest]]'', Sarris's ship is blown up with mines. However, out of nowhere, he appears on the Protector, having teleported away from his ship at the last second. He is beaten down by Mathasar with a cane, but returns once again before an audience during the final scene, before Jason finally destroys him.

* ''[[The Gamers]]:'' "It's Hunk, the mercenary you left for dead!

* In ''[[The A-Team (film)|The a Team]]'', it turns out that {{spoiler|General Morrison}} survived the explosion that apparently killed him.

* From ''[[The Emperor's New Groove|The Emperors New Groove]]'':

'''Kronk''': Yeah, that would be kinda awkward, especially after that lovely eulogy. }}

* ''[[Austin Powers]]'' plays with this numerous times. Usually by dragging it too far.

* Wesley in the beginning of the ''[[The Princess Bride (film)|The Princess Bride]]''. Supposedly, he goes to seek his fortune and is lost at sea within the first five minutes of the movie. [[The Law of Conservation of Detail|Yeah, right.]]

 

* [[Sandman Slim]] teaches us that when you die in Hell you end up in Tartarus. Not to mention that the main character is virtually unkillable.

* In the tenth and final book of the [[The Pendragon Adventure]] series, every character who has died in or before the other books (including the main character who died at the end of the ninth) turns out to be resurrected in the exact condition (age, etc) they were in at the time of death, minus, of course, the cause of death, and they all band together to fight the [[Big Bad]].

* Morjin in ''[[Ea Cycle]]'' survives {{spoiler|decapitation}}.

* Prince Andrei in ''[[War and Peace]]''. He's left in a village with other hopeless wounded after the Battle of Austerlitz, and the way the chapter ends suggests that he dies there, but of course [[Only Mostly Dead|he doesn't.]]

* A footnote in one of the [[Ciaphas Cain]], '''[[Ciaphas Cain|HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!!!]]''' books reveals that Cain has been listed as "killed in action" so many times that the Munitorum eventually gave up trying to keep track and decided to keep him on the payroll regardless - even long past his confirmed death, and burial with full military honors.

* In ''Hardwired'' by Walter Jon Williams, one character, Reno, is killed when his home is the target of a missile attack. He later makes a series of telephone calls to the hero. Turns out that he was a wirehead and was "jacked into the net" when the missiles struck. He spends pretty much the rest of the book as a disembodied mind, wandering around the equivalent of the Internet, looking at everyone's most secret files.

** In [[Graham McNeill]]'s ''False Gods'', when Horus is felled by his injuries, the word on the ship is that he died; Mersadie and Karkasy go to see the arrival, and Karkasy notices that apocetharies are still tending him, so he must be alive.

* In the ''[[Dragonlance]] War of Souls'' novels, Tasslehoff's death is retconned with the use of a magical time-travelling device given to him by a god. He's cheated death many other times also.

* Voldemort, the main antagonist of the ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'' books, blew himself up by accident a decade before the story begins, and only managed to survive as a soul because of {{spoiler|[[Soul Jar|Horcruxes]]}} .

** Let's not forget {{spoiler|Harry himself, who everyone believed dead and for a time}}; he might actually have been.

* At the end of ''[[Matador Series|The Man Who Never Missed]]'', Emile Khadaji has zapped 2388 [[The Empire|Confederation]] soldiers (with paralyzing darts) before they found out who he was and [[Never Found the Body|imploded his hideout]]. And then they found he'd used ''exactly'' 2388 darts. The commanding officer is not pleased, because he knows this one-shot-one-paralyzed soldier legend will be a headache for the Confederation, but at least they've killed him. And then the narrative finishes:

** If you include the First Age and the Second Age, it happens to Sauron often enough to border on [[Joker Immunity]].

* Cunégonde and Pangloss in Voltaire's ''[[Candide]]'': the former is raped and disemboweled; the latter is hanged in a [[Kangaroo Court]]. Both come back with a [[Lampshade Hanging]] .

* Bailey in ''[[Martin Chuzzlewit]]'' ([[Charles Dickens|Dickens]]) is thrown from a crashing coach and left insensible. His death is later reported to other characters. Guess who reappears at the denouement, with a bandage round his head, reeling about with comic concussion?

** She's probably not quite dead either, but I guess we won't know till the next book comes out.

* In ''[[Percy Jackson & the Olympians|Percy Jackson and The Olympians]]'', "The Titan's Curse", the main antagonist Luke falls off an insanely high cliff on to the rocks below. Percy is sure he's dead, after all [[No One Could Survive That]] but alas, Luke is still alive.

** In "A Witch Shall Be Born", Taramis believes her sister dead.

* In the [[Sherlock Holmes]] story "The Final Problem", Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has Holmes commit a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] by {{spoiler|throwing himself and the [[Big Bad]] Moriarty off Reichenbach Falls}}, but as we discover in "The Adventure of the Empty House", he didn't actually die.

** This is also done to a lesser extent in "The Adventure of the Dying Detective", wherein Holmes pretends he's dying of a poison used by the murder suspect in the [[Mystery of the Week]]. Luckily we only have to wait a few more paragraphs afterwards to find out he was just faking it.

 

* Captain Jack Harkness of ''[[Torchwood]]'' and ''[[Doctor Who]]''. If he dies, he gets better. This has fooled many a foe. He normally turns up again after the villain says to the rest of Torchwood 'Well, your leader's dead'.

* In ''[[Torchwood]]'', {{spoiler|he actually takes a few days to become alive again at the end of season 1.}}

** In the season 4 finale, {{spoiler|Keamy is [[Left for Dead]], only to later surprise Locke and Ben in the Orchid.}}

** Not to mention back in Season 1, when we are led to believe {{spoiler|that Shannon has been killed by the 'monster,' only to find out that it was just Boone's hallucination.}}

* Caleb in Season Seven of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' is thought to be dead, but gets back up and ruins the reunion between Angel and Buffy.

** Not to mention a lot of other characters, including Buffy herself. Death just doesn't agree with those people.

*** The line in episode "Once More With Feeling" is, "Hey, I've died twice" -Buffy

** Subverted in 5x01 'Buffy vs. Dracula', after Dracula's been staked for the second time.

* ''[[CSI: Miami]]'' almost does this with {{spoiler|Tim Speedle, who was [[Dropped a Bridge on Him|killed by a misfire of his gun]] during a shootout in Season 3, but had evidence of his survival found in Season 6. Cleverly subverted at the end, when it's revealed the "evidence" turns out to be head trauma-induced hallucinations from Speedle's best friend and a lab tech using his stolen credit card after the incident.}}

** ''[[CSI New York]]'' also has someone is pronounced dead, stolen, dropped in the sea and then starts coughing up water, {{spoiler|he turns out to be part of a hibernation experiment and now is in a coma}}

* Also in ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' Dr. Daniel Jackson is able to survive the un-survivable. He repeatedly actually dies, almost dies, or is believed to be dead a total of <s>nine or so</s> seventeen times including the movie {{spoiler|such incidents include getting shot by a staff-weapon or other energy weapon ('Stargate' the movie, 'The Nox,' 'With the Serpent's Grasp'), radiation poisoning ('Meridian'), not-dead deaths ('Fire and Water,' 'Threads'), temporary deaths such as a heart attack ('Avalon') and alternate universe deaths ('Moebius,' 'There But For the Grace of God,' '2010'). His robotic clone also died first in 'Double Jeopardy', ''before'' we knew that they were the robot SG-1.}}

** This is lampshaded by two archaeologists finding some ancient ruins:

"What, again?" }}

* Father Jack Hackett from ''[[Father Ted]]''. Jack drank floor polish which only brought about the symptoms of death including lack of pulse, rigor mortis, decomposition...

* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' had a bit of fun with this when Sylar and Peter Petrelli faced off for the second time in season one.

'''Peter''': Didn't take. }}

* At the end of the ''[[Star Trek]]'' episode "Amok Time", Spock resigns in disgrace after having killed {{spoiler|Jim Kirk}}. Tri-ox compound, my ass.

* When the ''[[Law and Order: Criminal Intent]]'' episode "Great Barrier" aired, NBC let viewers vote on whether [[Magnificent Bastard|Nicole Wallace]] would be [[Killed Off for Real]] or given a [[No One Could Survive That]]. They chose the latter, and Nicole returned for a couple more eps.

* As of ''[[Fringe]]'' episode 3x16, {{spoiler|[[Guile Hero|William]] [[Manipulative Bastard|Bell]]}}.

* In the Season 1 finale of ''[[The Pretender]]'', Dr. Raines should not have survived when {{spoiler|Sydney shot his oxygen tank and it exploded}}, yet he's still alive {{spoiler|albeit badly burned}} in Season 2.

* ''[[Power Rangers Wild Force]]'' had this in the final battle against {{spoiler|a revived Master Org. Said org took 2 finishers directly and some other zord attacks until 1 more finisher destroyed his body. However the org heart survived and was still beating. It then brings back Master Org and he proceeds to [[Curb Stomp Battle|resume his rampage]].}}

** Before ''that,'' he'd appeared dead when he lost his powers battling Cole's [[Super Mode]] and was soon tossed off a cliff by the new [[Big Bad]] Mandilok. He got better and made Mandilok [[Killed Off for Real|Quite Dead]] (though he did revive him and the other Org generals to serve as guardians during his final transformation. Presumably [[Brainwashing]] was involved, which he can do.)

* Seriously, [[Power Rangers]] love this trope. In ''[[Power Rangers Zeo]]'', King Mondo is destroyed yet somehow he returns towards the end of the series, {{spoiler|only to be blown up again}}. Even after that he appears in ''[[Power Rangers in Space]]''. An earlier example in Zeo was when Adam assumed Rito and Goldar didn't survive the explosion of the Command Center. The viewers soon learned he was wrong.

* {{spoiler|Trakeena}} from ''[[Power Rangers Lost Galaxy]]'' does a cross-series one. Surviving the events of the finale, {{spoiler|Trakeena}} appears in ''[[Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue]]'' seeking to regain her former power.

 

* The ''[[Shadowrun]]'' 4th Edition handbook advocates gamemasters using this trope:

** Of course, in 3.5 the lost level is a problem, as is the cost. Low level Resurrections require an intact, fresh body and several thousand gold worth of Diamonds, higher level spells have an even heftier pricetag. And if the DM wants you to stay dead, then there are ways to make sure that dead you stay. Such methods include certain abilities and spells that prevent a characters resurrection by anything but Miracle/Wish, and even then only with a 50% success rate; making it so that the character doesn't want to come back (Resurrection spells can only pull back someone willing); trapping or outright destroying the soul; animating the body as an undead which limits what will raise the character to the highest spells possible unless the undead can be destroyed; and more.

** In D&D 4th edition several epic destinies have level 30 powers that cause a "dead" character to get back up there next turn/at the end of the fight/the next day.

**** The Dark Wanderer Epic Destiny takes it even further than the Undying Warrior; unlike the Undying Warrior who just never dies, the Dark Wanderer ''does'' die, but then simply ''walks out of hell''.

 

* The second act of ''[[Into the Woods]]'' reveals of {{spoiler|The Mysterious Man}}, "I thought you were dead." "Not completely. Are we ever?" Of course, what he means by this is left ambiguous.

* At the end of ''[[Wicked (theatre)|Wicked]]'' {{spoiler|Elphaba is revealed to be, in fact, quite water-insoluble}}.

 

* [[Big Bad|Darth Revan]] was killed when Malak [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|bombarded the bridge of his flagship with turbolasers]]. {{spoiler|He manages to come back, destroy Malak's plans, and kill him anyway}}.

* When Commander Shepard shows up on the Citadel in ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', s/he is stopped by security guards who observe that his/her records say s/he is dead. "I was only mostly dead. Try finding ''that'' option on government paperwork."

*** Which was re-retconned in ''[[Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles]]'' as showing Wesker being impaled by the Tyrant, rising from the dead as a superhuman, and being highly pissed the place was about to blow.

*** Also in the original ''[[Resident Evil 1]]'', if certain conditions were met, instead of Wekser being killed by the Tyrant, you can find his body decapitated by a Chimera in the self destruct control room. The Battle Game in the Saturn version even had a zombie Wesker. Seems he was going to be [[Killed Off for Real]] but Capcom changed their mind and saved that for ''[[Resident Evil 5]]''.

*** Even in that same game, about five minutes after this happens a shadowy female tosses down a rocket launcher to Leon while he's fighting the final boss.

** Jack Krauser in ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'' has this as well. It would appear that he was [[Killed Off for Real]] in the final battle with Leon, only for him to appear and be killed at least three more times in Ada's mini game that is taken as canon. Fans still believe he's alive.

* ''[[Borderlands]]'' has a downloadable side quest, called "The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned", in which {{spoiler|Dr. Ned is defeated and the credits roll. But in the middle of the credits, a horrific twisted undead version of Dr. Ned tears through the screen and another battle begins.}}

* Forum Community/MMORPG ''[[Gaia Online]]'''s storyline is notorious for this. Many of the main characters have been shot, dropped off freakishly tall towers, and then crushed by said tower, ''all in the same plot update''. Every single person killed in that particular incident was later revealed to be alive and well in later updates. Two by use of [[Applied Phlebotinum]], and the other two simply by turning out to be vampires. In fact, the characters ever to be [[Killed Off for Real]] are characters introduced solely for making the current Generic Horror Movie Parody plausible.

** Also done to {{spoiler|Lancer}} in the same route, who gets {{spoiler|impaled on his own spear (which is supposed to cause certain death), but hangs around out of sheer willpower long enough to drive off an antagonist, save Rin, and set the entire place on fire once she leaves.}}

** Also Saber in Heavens Feel. {{spoiler|This is ''not'' a good thing, however.}}

* M. Bison of the ''[[Street Fighter]]'' series has apparently been killed off thorough the series, only to come back in the next game. Chronologically his first death occurs in ''[[Street Fighter Alpha]] 3'', in which his body is destroyed by the [[Kill Sat|Psycho Drive]], but his conscience survived and he receives a new host body for the ''[[Street Fighter II]]'' series, which doesn't have the same abilities that his "original" body from the ''Alpha'' series had. Apparently Bison's body is destroyed again at the end of ''Super Street Fighter II Turbo'', this time by Akuma's "Raging Demon" technique, only to get another new host body for the ''[[Street Fighter IV]]'' series (which reveals that he has an entire factory of host bodies). Since ''IV'' is a prequel to ''[[Street Fighter III]]'', where Bison doesn't show up, so it remains to be seen if he will be [[Killed Off for Real]] this time.

* In ''[[Army of Two]]'', Phillip Clyde goes through this one a lot, to the point where ever after you kill him in the final boss battle, they [[Never Found the Body]].

** There's also Kael'thas "[[Memetic Mutation|Merely a setback]]" Sunstrider. The lore says he's dead now, but since Tempest Keep was merely a setback, fans would not be surprised at all if it turned out that the Magister's Terrace was too. Heck, the quest to beat him in the Magister's Terrace is even called "Hard to Kill."

* ''[[Pikmin]] 2'' had some enemies that, after they're defeated and left alone for a while, would slowly recover their health and eventually come back to life.

* ''Super [[Metroid]]'': [[Big Bad]] Mother Brain pulls this one off twice in the epic [[Final Battle]]. First, {{spoiler|Mother Brain appears as it did in the original NES Metroid game -- stuck in a glass tank, attached to various life support systems, incapable of attacking on its own, and apparent missile fodder. Once enough damage is done, the entire structure holding Mother Brain in place will be blown away, and the brain will crash to the ground, seemingly defeated... until it starts to rise up into the air, newly attached as a head to a gigantic grotesque body, and emits a horrible shriek at Samus, letting her and the player know that she won't go down quite so easily this time around.}} Second, {{spoiler|the reformed Mother Brain proves to be too much for Samus to handle, but [[Androcles' Lion|the eponymous Super Metroid shows up at the last second to save Samus from the brink of death and seemingly incapacitate Mother Brain]], transforming it into the same sepia coloring that the player has seen from the rest of the Super Metroid's previous (deceased) prey, and starts restoring Samus to full energy. Unfortunately, as this is happening, the final boss BGM continues to play -- [[Musical Spoiler|already never a good sign that the foe you're facing is truly defeated]] -- but just to hammer the trope in, suddenly some drool and puffs of smoke emit from Mother Brain's mouth... cue the upcoming [[Tear Jerker]] scene where the Metroid sacrifices itself in a last-ditch effort to stop the revitalized Mother Brain's advance, followed by [[Mama Bear|Mother Brain's third (and final) asskicking from Samus.]]}}

** No mention of Ridley? He practically embodies this trope! The actual entity known as Ridley has died 5 times, the first four of which he came back from. Subsequent appearances in the chronology ([[Other M]] and [[Metroid Fusion]]) have merely been clones, though {{spoiler|his clone's appearance in [[Other M]] was enough to make Samus go through a terribly controversial [[Heroic BSOD]].}}

** Perhaps a much stranger example from the second game is {{spoiler|the [[Companion Cube]]}}.

* In ''[[Super Mario Galaxy 2]]'', the final fight with Bowser seems to be just like the previous two fights, only with more attacks from Bowser. You beat him, he falls into the darkness, and he loses the Grand Star just like in his previous battles. {{spoiler|Before Mario can claim the star, Bowser quickly rises up and EATS IT, becoming more massive than he ever had been in his history! Epic battle ensues as Bowser tries to fly closer to Mario and punch him while Mario leaps from meteorite to meteorite and smashes Bowser with a few of them.}}

** In ''[[Super Paper Mario]]'', {{spoiler|Dimentio}} seemingly blows himself up in what appears to be an attempt to kill one of the protagonists. {{spoiler|It turns out he was setting him up so he could possess him and become the final boss of the game.}}

* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time]]'', {{spoiler|after Link defeats Ganondorf, he and Zelda have to [[Load-Bearing Boss|escape the castle]], only for Ganondorf to climb out of the ruins and [[One-Winged Angel|transform into Ganon]] for one final fight}}. He does this again in ''[[Twilight Princess]]'' {{spoiler|as the Sages try to execute him; he survives and kills his killer with the sword before being banished to the world of Twilight}}. In the same game, after Stallord is seemingly defeated and his skull is lying motionless, Link uses the Spinner to raise the central platform into a pillar, only for the skull to reveal itself to be perfectly okay and attack Link, forcing a second round of the fight.

** In ''Phantom Hourglass'', when Bellum is defeated by Link, he falls, and is believed to be dead, although Oshus's power has not yet returned. He beleives it will eventually, but guess who attacks them later on... and guess who regains all his power once we officially see Bellum turn to sand and explode.

** In fact this serves as part of the plot for ''Sonic Chronicles: Dark Brotherhood''. In the game's start Eggman is apparently killed when his battleship explodes while he is in it. Naturally he's still alive. The trope is even lampshaded by the protagonists, many of whom suspect that Eggman is still alive before there's even any reason to suspect as much.

* In ''[[Chrono Cross]]'', it's revealed that {{spoiler|Lavos, the giant space tick that was destroyed by Crono in ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'' wasn't quite dead; instead, it fused with Schala and became the [[Eldritch Abomination|Time Devourer]]. The Devourer itself is also an example; killing it the normal way doesn't work. Due to the nature of the Chronoverse, there will always be a timeline where you didn't kill the Devourer, and it'll just come back from there.}}

 

== [[Web Comic]] ==

* Happens in ''[[Dominic Deegan]]'' quite often. {{spoiler|Klo comes back from oblivion for no reason, as did Celesto who on top of a similar oblivion, escaped an alternate dimension that is normally unescapable. The Infernomancer also escaped this dimension after being banished there. The return of both Celesto and the Infernomancer is explained: when the souls of the Chosen were detonated by Karnak, it breached the planes, allowing them to return.}}

* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in [http://www.webcomicsnation.com/shaenongarrity/narbonic_plus/series.php?view=archive&chapter=21513#80756 this] ''[[Narbonic]]'' strip.

* This is one theory among many as to how Oasis keeps returning from the dead over and over again in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]''.

* The page quote is parodied in [http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/011123 this] [[Bob and George]] strip as well.

* Initially, Mark, then {{spoiler|Luke}} in [[Freak Angels]]. Both look worse for the wear though (especially the latter, {{spoiler|what with being shot in the head and all}})

* ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'' has {{spoiler|Frans Rayner}} come back for a second round. {{spoiler|And now he has [[We Can Rebuild Him|"the best laser eye and robot leg".]]}}

* [http://www.goldcoincomics.com/bios/blake/ Blake] from Gold Coin Comics is a childhood rival that somehow survived his entire hometown being wiped out.

* In ''[[Endstone]]'', [http://endstone.net/2009/10/29/issue-2-webpage-22/ Jon's reappearance is greeted with this]. Then, it was fifteen years.

 

* Believe it or not, [[Kill'Em All]] series ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'' has this in {{spoiler|Andrea Vanlandingham and Denise Dupius.}} There are also hints that more supposedly-dead characters may show up, at least the ones whose deaths [[Never Found the Body|haven't been shown.]]

** It's been revealed that {{spoiler|most of the students whose deaths weren't shown ended up being involved in an escape plot and had their collars removed. However, around half of those have now been [[Killed Off for Real]] by the terrorists.}}

* In ''[[Tales of MU]]'', the main character's mother is believed by everyone to be dead, but side stories reveal that she may be alive and living under an assumed name, for reasons not completely clear yet.

 

* Kenny in ''[[South Park]]'' does this often in Season 1, only to be killed seconds later.

** No Baxter Stockman? Its been lampshaded lots of times and he has practically died at least 5 times.

** Another example of this trope occurs during episode 5 "A Date with the Health Inspector". Ed Wuncler the III and his friend Gin rob a store ran by people of Middle Eastern descent. A police officer happens to be there who in a parody of the Iraq War and the status of whether Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction or not is asked by Ed if he sees any weapons on the Middle Eastern man. The police officer refuses at first but then agrees not wanting to get on Ed's bad side, as it turns out the Middle Eastern man '''did''' have a gun and he and some other Middle Eastern men open fire on Ed and his friend Gin with the police officer getting caught in the cross fire. Then the police officer is laying down on the ground and Ed's friend Gin has a brief exchange with the man, whose name turns out is Freddie, that is word for word with [[Monty Python]]. Freddie then gets up and gets shot '''again.''' At the end of the episode back up is called and the Middle Eastern men are arrested and Ed and Gin are viewed as heroes who stopped "terrorists" and Freddie makes a full recovery.

* In ''[[Aqua Teen Hunger Force]]'', Satan sends MC Pee Pants back to Earth often, providing the only continuity the show has.

** For that matter, this should also apply to the monkey in Chris's closet, Connie, and of course [[Butt Monkey|Meg]], who have all sustained typically fatal injuries and even led fans to wonder whether or not they were actually [[Killed Off for Real]] by the end of these episodes until they show up fine in later episodes.

* Shendu from ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures]]'' is killed off at the season one finale, and is assumed dead. The act of "killing" him off allows him to become a spirit and he returns in the body of Valmont. The rest of the series sees him being resealed in the demon underworld, reborn, resealed in his original state, revived, and final sealed off for good in another dimension. Note, he is never actually killed.

** Also, in the similarly non-canonical Treehouse of Horror VI story "Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace," Martin Prince falls asleep during class and is strangled to death in his dream by Groundskeeper-Willie-gone-Freddy-Krueger. As his body is being taken away, Martin reanimates into a crazed zombie and is about to attack Ms. Krabappel's class but is sedated and prevented from harming them. Groundskeeper Willie himself fits this trope, given it's a parody of ''[[Nightmare On Elm Street]]''. But Willie's death, reanimation and vowing of revenge are not even mentioned until after Martin's death and reanimation at school.

* Occurred quite often in ''[[Swat Kats]]'', especially in the season 1 finale "Katastrophe", where four of the major recurring villains are caught in a massive warehouse explosion. They all get better by unknown means.

 

** He must have survived drowning then to die of hypothermia, that's how - at the post-mortem - they knew he was alive when they put'' 'his body' ''in the river: there was water in his lungs!

** He also had his belly sliced wide open in a previous assassination attempt, eliciting a cry of ''[[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|"I have killed the Antichrist!"]]'' from his would-be murderer.

** [[But Wait! There's More!]]! It turns out that when they cremated his body, they forgot to cut the appropriate tendons in his body, thus, the heat caused them to contract, causing him to ''sit up''.

* Mark Linkous, leader of the band Sparklehorse, fell into a coma after mixing anti-depressants and sleeping pills in a London hotel room in 1995. He was found clinically dead with his legs pinned under him, and was lucky not only to be revived, but also to be able to walk again after six months of rehab. Linkous, who continued to struggle with depression and substance abuse, killed himself more decisively in 2010 by shooting himself in the chest with a rifle in an alley near a friend's house while intoxicated.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Death Tropes]]