Unexplained Recovery: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[Mazinger Z]]'': During the second-to-last episode, {{spoiler|the [[Cool Airship]] where Dr. Hell was escaping in got blown up.}} Whatever was left of him after that explosion surely sank in the ocean. Nonetheless he showed up again in the last season of ''[[Great Mazinger]]'', his body grafted into a [[Humongous Mecha]]. One eyepatch covering his left eye was the only mark of the ordeal he had endured. Little explanation was given other than an statement of [[Big Bad]] and [[Physical God]] Emperor of Darkness had relived him and turned into one of his Warrior Monsters (and high commander of his army). It can may be worth mentioning many Mazinger-Z characters returned in the last episodes from the sequel, so maybe [[Executive Meddling]] was involved.

* Nabeshin's return at the climax of ''[[Puni Puni Poemi]]''.

** Pagaya, a minor character during the Skypiea Arc, is clearly seen being hit by an island-destroying attack early on in the arc, but reappears after the [[Big Bad]]'s defeat with no explanation, except that it makes the resolution even happier.

** The previous arc had another minor character, Pell, fly away while carrying a city-buster bomb in a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to prevent the heroes and civilians from being caught in the blast. The bomb explodes while he's still carrying it. He's later seen alive and none the worse for wear...walking up to his own (empty) grave, as everybody in-universe had assumed he died too.

* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'':

* In ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED]],'' Kira is supposedly "killed" when his rival's MS self-destructs. His crew finds his MS, the cockpit scorched and no body. A few episodes later, he is found, relatively unhurt considering the INSIDE of his MS was burnt to a nice crisp. The manga side story, Astray tried to [[Hand Wave]] it by having its main character find Kira and bring him to get medical attention... but it doesn't explain how in god's name Kira survived the attack that should have killed him initially.

** Episode 15 has a nurse explain that Coordinators can survive injuries that would kill normal humans. Or maybe that whole "[[Fan Nickname|Jesus Yamato]]" thing wasn't so far off after all...

*** Lending credence to the nurse's explanation is Andrew Waltfeld, a Coordinator commander, who also survived a similar fate. He wasn't so lucky - he lost an arm and an eye - but he still survived to come back late in the series.

** Played straight with Mwu La Flaga, a natural, who shows up in Destiny, after his mobile suit is quite clearly vaporized by the Dominion's Lohengrin.

** The [[Battle Royale With Cheese|series finale]] has some of this going on, too, although (dramatic cheat or not) it's at least plausible under the rules of the series.

* The minor antagonist {{spoiler|Mao}} from ''[[Code Geass]]'' was on the receiving end of a hail of gunfire from police officers that Lelouch [[Mind Control]]led into shooting him. {{spoiler|He showed up alive in the next episode saying Lelouch should have been more specific and told them to ''kill'' him. Despite the firing being from about fifteen feet away, by about ten officers and ''[[Humongous Mecha|a Knightmare Frame]]''}}. Too bad he decided to come back and try to take on Lelouch again. Didn't work out so well that time.

* A constant source of humor in ''[[Bobobo-Bo Bo-bobo]]''.

 

* [[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]] has had quite a few deaths go by where he reappeared again with no explanation and the death itself completely ignored by the plot.

* ''[[Spider-Man]]'' villain Hammerhead has been killed multiple times in seemingly irreversible ways, including a ''nuclear explosion'', only to bounce right back with some [[Hand Wave|hand waved]] explanation, if any at all. In the [[Ultimate Marvel|Ultimate universe]], he had his ''head exploded'' by Gambit in ''[[Ultimate X-Men]]'', only to appear sometime later in ''[[Ultimate Spider-Man]]'', right as rain. When another character points out that he's supposed to be dead, his response is, "It sucked. I came back."

* The joke ending for ''[[The Walking Dead (comics)|The Walking Dead]]'' is made of this trope. A bunch of folks who died in the series 'get better' and go fight some zombies again. By punching them. A lot.

* [[Marvel Comics]] ''[[The Transformers (Marvel Comics)||The Transformers]]'' featured one really blatant example. In one issue Megatron is becoming increasingly unstable and violent over shame that he didn't get to kill Optimus Prime. Brawl, one the Decepticons, finally gets fed up with Megatron's brooding and yells at him to get over it. Megatron promptly ''crushes Brawl's skull with his bare hands and smashes apart corpse against a nearby wall''. Brawl later turns up perfectly fine.

 

== Fan Works ==

{{quote|'''Samus:''' You're not pissed off because I waxed [Kraid]?

'''Ridley:''' Nah. He'll get better. }}

{{quote|'''Player:''' >SAY "AREN'T YOU DEAD?"

'''Millard Fillmore:''' I got better. }}

** The Doctor later gives at least some of these answers.

* In the infamous ''[[My Immortal]]'', Draco commits suicide by slitting his wrists. But a couple of chapters later "Voldemort had him bondage" like nothing ever happened...

'''Thundercracker:''' Look, what part of "I got better" don't you understand? }}

** Note that this ''indeed happened,'' with the characters who became Cyclonus, Scourge, and the Sweeps (Scourge's clone army) appearing later without comment. It has to do with a lot of the production of ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'' being rushed, so the animators and script writers also aren't always on the same page.

* In the [[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|2004 ''Battlestar Galactica'']] and ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' crossover ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20120429162414/http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3439783/1/Encounter_At_Dawn Encounter At Dawn]'' by JA Baker, {{spoiler|Kara Thrace gives this explanation as to how she's not dead anymore after she's de-ascended.}}

 

* ''[[Ice Age]]'' used this with Diego's "death". He seemingly sacrifices himself to save his friends from the other sabertooths, but he's fine and dandy at the end of the film. His response?

{{quote|'''Diego:''' [[Cats Have Nine Lives|Nine lives, baby!]]}}

* ''[[Titan A.E.]]'' Gune, while attacking the Drej with the ''Valkyrie'' after seemingly dying saving Stith from a bomb:

{{quote|'''Gune:''' I FINISHED MY NAP!}}

* ''[[Monty Python and the Holy Grail]]'' is the former [[Trope Namer]].

{{quote|'''Sir Bedevere:''' What makes you think she's a witch?

'''Max:''' "We finish this by sunrise [[Deal with the Devil| or we have to go back to limbo for another two years]] before we can try again. Let's get our Cole cocktail on and finish this.}}

 

* Randall Flagg in [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[The Stand]]'' is ''standing right next to a nuclear bomb'' when it goes off, and is presumably incinerated instantaneously. He gets better in time to appear in ''[[The Dark Tower]]'' series. In a scene added to the end of the extended version of ''The Stand'', after the bomb goes off, he finds himself walking out of the ocean on the coast of western Africa with no idea how he got there.

** However, Flagg does in fact vanish the instant before the bomb detonates; his clothes are seen standing up with no one in them, and then they collapse. This appears to be Flagg's signature "get out of jail free" card. Why he does not use this ability to escape from {{spoiler|Mordred}} in the ''Dark Tower'' books is not clear.

* A squirrel in ''[[The Moomins|Moominland Midwinter]]'' after getting frozen to death by The Lady of the Cold.

 

* The [[Obituary Montage]] at the end of one episode of ''[[Look Around You]]'' casually says, "Viewers may be pleased to know that Clive Pounds, who died during filming of the this program, has since come back to life."

* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' serial ''The Mark of the Rani'', the Rani discusses the fact that the last time we saw the Master, {{spoiler|he was being burned to death in a volcano}}.

{{quote|'''The Master:''' Come, come, the whole universe knows I'm indestructible!

'''The Rani''': Is that so? }}

{{quote|'''The Doctor:''' So you escaped from Castrovalva. I should have guessed.

'''The Master:''' As gullible as ever, my dear Doctor. }}

* In season 5 of ''[[24]]'', Tony Almeida dies in Jack Bauer's arms. {{spoiler|In season 7, he's alive and well and has pulled a [[Face Heel Turn]], and Jack is genuinely surprised to learn this. It's implied that his death, which at the time appeared to be a genuine attempt to kill him by a captured terrorist with ties to [[President Evil]], was in fact staged in the same manner that Jack's was in season 4.}}

** And if you thought {{spoiler|Jack Bauer would kill him... and this time, he'd stay dead! Think again. He's a [[Reverse Mole]]! Wait a minute... [[Heel Face Revolving Door|Now Tony's bad again]].}}

{{quote|'''DiNozzo:''' I thought you were dead, Fornell.

'''Fornell:''' I got better. }}

* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in ''[[Friends]]'' when Joey is nominated for a Soapie award:

{{quote|'''Rachel:''' I mean, you're up against the guy who survived his own cremation.}}

* In the pilot of ''[[Andromeda]]'' Trance was shot, only to revive shortly after with no explanation. In a later episode she actually said "I Got Better".

* The short-lived show ''[[The War Next Door]]'' has this as its premise. A retired secret agent and his arch-nemesis [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|live next door]] in a suburb and constantly engage in battles. Each episode invariably ends with one of them (usually, the villain) dead, only to get better by the next episode. In fact, the pilot starts with the agent killing the villain before retiring, only for the villain to come back ''in the same episode''. No explanation, of course.

 

* In [[The Lonely Island]] song "Like a Boss", the titular boss recounts his typical daily life, which ends in turning into a jet (like a boss), bombing the Russians ([[Memetic Mutation|like a boss]]), flying into the sun (like a boss), and now he's a dead ([[Overly Long Gag|like a boss]]). His performance reviewer expresses incredulity that he can chop his balls off and die every day. The boss just shrugs it off.

* The pirates in Cosmo Jarvis' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dysG12QCdTA Gay Pirates] walk the plank... and somehow get better. It's not explained, but that doesn't matter, because it's a combined [[Awesome Moment]], [[Heartwarming Moment]], and [[Tear Jerker]].

 

* In ''[[Pearls Before Swine]]'', Whale, a killer-whale character who was killed off via packaged explosive in 2006, inexplicably returns in a 2008 strip for a baseball game. When Rat confronts [[Author Insert|author Stephen Pastis]] about this, Pastis just [[Shrug of God|casually answers]] that Whale had "undied". Partially subverted in the next day's strip, when Rat takes Whale off their team for being "technically dead".

** The irony is that the excuse of "[character] undied" is something ''Rat'' first used. He periodically writes a story called "''The Adventures of Angry Bob''", which invariably ends with the protagonist dead (most memorably after being assaulted while expressing happiness via a kazoo: "Many toots-for-joy later..."). To explain how he could write sequels, he started the first one with, "Angry Bob undied." (Goat reacts as one would expect.)

'''Fearless Fosdick:''' Yes, but it didn't prove fatal. Just a mild case. }}

 

* [[Professional Wrestling]] does this a lot. The most blatant example was at the end of the 2000 [[Survivor Series]] Pay-Per-View, which ended with [[Stone Cold Steve Austin]] hijacking a forklift and dumping a car containing [[Triple H]] from high up in the air. The next night on ''Raw Is War'', it was revealed that Trips had only suffered "minor injuries" and seven days later, he reappeared on television looking as good as new aside from some medical tape around his ribs.

* A particularly egregious example, though, is from [[WCW]], which just seems to go [[Beyond the Impossible]] for pure strangeness, even for wrestling. After a Monster Truck Match on a rooftop for a PPV, [[Hulk Hogan]] and the Giant (now [[The Big Show]] in WWE) have a scuffle at the edge of the roof. And, yup, the Giant takes a tumble over the edge. Hogan's in shock... and then for the main event regular match between the two, on the same night, the Giant comes out without so much as a scratch. Not much in the way of explanation is ever provided, although [[Bobby Heenan]] once said that they wanted the Giant to come to the ring with a fish in his tights, to explain that he fell into the river.

* A strange example occurred when [[John Cena]] was supposedly "injured" after getting stabbed by Carlito's bodyguard,<ref>A story made up to explain Cena's absence, as he was filming ''[[The Marine]]''.</ref> as Cena then returned a couple of weeks later at Survivor Series without stab wounds whatsoever.

 

 

* ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series)|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' ended its first radio series with Zaphod, Trillian and Marvin being eaten by a shape-shifted alien. The Christmas special that launched the second series brought back Zaphod and Marvin (and changed Trillian's fate to [[Put on a Bus]]). Zaphod's first words in the episode were "I've recovered." Marvin had lost an arm shortly before getting eaten; as this was never referenced again, it presumably got better too.

** Since he was a robot, it was probably replaced. Every other part of his body was replaced at some stage, except of course the terribly painful diodes all down his left side.

'''Seed''': I see. I wish ''I'' had. }}

 

* In ''[[Candide]]'', Candide meets Cunegonde, who was earlier apparently killed, and in the duet "You Were Dead, You Know" asks her how she escaped death. She [[It's a Long Story|dodges the question]].

 

* In general, ''any'' [[Video Game]] character can recover as long as he has enough extra lives. And even if they lose all of those, they can ''still'' get better through the use of a continue. Plus the enemies come back sooner or later. This won't usually extend to cutscenes and plot though due to [[Plotline Death]].

** And interestingly enough, an obscure Flash game called ''[[You Only Live Once]]'' deliberately averts this trope to the extreme. No, the title isn't saying you have to restart the whole game every time you die. It's saying you can't play anymore ''at all'' after you die.

** You assume that 1-ups only work for the Brothers.

* In ''[[Assassin's Creed II]]'', Ezio is stabbed in the stomach by Rodrigo Borgia in the penultimate boss battle and collapses in a spreading pool of blood, complete with fade to black. Then he wakes and stands up, completely shaking it off. The sequel explains it by his armour blunting the attack. But if that was the case... why was there so much ''blood?''

 

* In the final chapter of ''[[Broken Saints]]'', {{spoiler|Raimi and Oran are miraculously alive and well, despite that fact that in the [[Grand Finale]] the former was hit with some crazy mind blast thing that threw him across the room and made him unable to move, and the latter had his hand cut off and was later stabbed about ten times with a big ol' knife, with no suggestion that they received immediate medical attention.}}

** One possibility is that {{spoiler|when Shandala reversed the broadcast to positive energy, it manifested in some kind of healing magic that kept Raimi and Oran alive, although even if so, that they survived long enough to be healed is itself a miracle.}}

* In the second ''[[Potter Puppet Pals]]'' "Trouble at Hogwarts", Voldemort kills Snape with Avada Kedavra, but then Snape shows up at the end of the skit with no explanation as to how he came back to life.

 

* In the ''[[Walkyverse]]'', how Mike came back from being [[Deader Than Dead]] and unrevivable in ''It's Walky'', to working at a toy store in ''Shortpacked'' is only questioned once when Robin started, and never brought up again. Galasso may have some hand in it, as he was somehow able to resurrect ''[[Ronald Reagan]]''.

** It's been stated he showed up at his parent's house five years after was reported dead, and they decided not to ask anything. Mike commented that the only method of resurrection he knows of is the same one that the plot made impossible to use on him, meaning that even ''he'' doesn't know how it happened.

** [[Justified Trope|This is, of course, due to the existence of resurrection magic]].

** [[Dead Horse Trope|Referenced again]] and [[Deconstructed Trope]] in [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0793.html strip #793].

* ''[[VG Cats]]'' has [http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=271 this strip]:

{{quote|'''Leo:''' You've got a [[Time Machine]]?! You gotta let me use it!

** This is, of course, because in most ''Final Fantasy'' games, characters are revived after a stay at an inn or the use of a tent. Not, however, in the first game, off of which the strip is based!

*** Maybe he wasn't dead but at critical health. [[Squishy Wizard|Mages aren't known for their physical strength.]] And how much is Fighter relying on his brain, anyway?

* Used in [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20021002.html this] ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' strip. Partly justified by their level of medical technology, but still hilarious.

** A ''lot'' of the main characters have been killed or "so close to dying it is hopeless" or even "nothing left but his head", and still come back stronger. Often, they come back a lot stronger than before.

* In ''[[No Rest for The Wicked (webcomic)|No Rest for The Wicked]]'', November tells Perrault how Red had told her about being eaten by a wolf—well, obviously she ''recovered.''

 

* On an episode of ''[[Ask That Guy With The Glasses]]'', Bennet the Sage appears out of nowhere after his apparent death at the hands of Ask That Guy, much to his surprise.

{{quote|'''Ask That Guy:''' Why Sage!... I thought I killed you.

* ''[[Dragon Ball Abridged]]'' had this happen to an entire ''species'', the [[Captain Obvious|Kanassans]], who were quite visibly murdered to extinction, but just inexplicably all just... got better one day. Much to the consternation of those around them. Presumably, this is related to their ability to [[No Indoor Voice|SEE THE FUUTUUUUUUURE]].

 

{{quote|'''Bart:''' Ralph? I thought you died!

'''Ralph:''' Nope. }}

* ''[[Invader Zim]]'' hilariously does this in a conversation with the [[The Chew Toy|often screwed]] Invader Skooge:

{{quote|'''Zim:''' Skooge? I thought the Tallest killed you?

** Notably in episode "Die Hippie, Die" {{spoiler|1=Mayor McDaniels shoots herself in the head but apparently she got better before the end of the show.}}

*** She turns up at the end of the episode with her head wrapped in a bandage.

* Despite having an enormous gravity cannon [[Non-Fatal Explosions|blow up in his face]] (taking about half of the city's tallest building with it,) the title character of ''[[Darkwing Duck (animation)|Darkwing Duck]]'' survived... although he was still [[Amusing Injuries|wearing casts and was bandaged head-to-toe]] several days later.

* ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' uses this a few times to varying degrees. The most blatant example is the second season finale, "Aftershock", where Terra hunts down and seemingly kills all five Titans. Her methods range from [[No One Could Survive That]] deaths to smashing Robin with a boulder at point-blank range, at which point it immediately cuts to her kicking his crest across the floor to Slade, implying that yes, there was even a body, and she pulled it off. And then they all show up underground looking little the worse for wear and ready for round two.

{{quote|'''Gwen:''' We saw you two go up in an explosion!

'''Octagon:''' Yeah, that sort of thing occurs on a fairly regular basis. }}

** Reportedly, [[Word of God|the writers have confirmed]] that Poison Ivy's stamina booster from back in the day is responsible for her survival. It also helps that The Joker himself was a master of this kind of thing.

* For examples of Mr J being a master of this kind of thing, see ''[[Batman: Mask of the Phantasm]]'' and ''The Batman/Superman Movie''.

{{quote|'''Mad Jack:''' Didn't you die a while back?

'''Angus Dagnabbit:''' Aye. I got better.

* In the season 3 premiere of ''[[Metalocalypse]]'', {{spoiler|Offdensen is revealed to be alive -- having "gotten better," despite having been shot, pronounced dead, and presumably undergone an autopsy and coroner's report ''certifying'' him as such, after the end of Season 2. Then again, other previous indications have shown that he's not quite human to begin with.}}

** In ''Doublebookedklok,'' {{spoiler|there's a flashback to the season 02 finale. Offdensen is bleeding from his injuries but still alive and coherent, asking a Klokateer to "kill him." With this ambiguous wording, it's entirely possible that he was [[Faking the Dead|alive the whole time and just staged his death.]] It's still a bit unclear.}}

{{quote|'''Tristepin:'''But you died.

'''Goultard:'''Death was overrated. }}

 

* Wild Bill Hickock, while grossly exaggerating the odds against him in a fight would answer the breathless question "What happened next, Bill?" with, "Why, boys, they killed me!"

* Towards the end of the Winter War, [[Simo Hayha]] was shot in the face, supposedly shot the guy who shot him in the face and fell into a coma he woke up from eleven days later.

** The information of the incident that reached his hometown led people to believe he had actually died. Häyhä had the rare privilege of reading about his own memorial service from the newspaper.

* Finnish [[Ace Pilot|fighter ace]] Ahti Laitinen (10 kills) was shot down 17 July 1944 and his Bf 109G went down in flames. He was reported to have been killed in action. Miraculously, he had survived alive and was taken prisoner of war. His family thought he was dead and published his obituary in local newspaper. When Capt. Laitinen returned from captivity 1945, he later added his own obituary on his pilot's scrapbook.

* There are many recorded instances of people reappearing or recovering from situations that common logic dictates should have been fatal. The circumstances sometimes turn out to be relatively mundane when analyzed but there are cases where the evidence has been destroyed, rendered irrecoverable or is simply intangible—leaving the victims and observers wondering if there was something otherworldly involved.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Death Tropes]]

[[Category:Tropes of Legend]]

[[Category:Resurrection Tropes]]