DC Comics has had many high-profile superhero deaths over the years. Everyone followed the Death of Superman storyline, which ended up being adapted into two animated movies and worked its way into Batman v. Superman. Batman’s also been killed (er… blown through the timestream) and Hal Jordan’s Green Lantern has spent more than his fair share of time in the Great Beyond.
In all of these cases, however, the characters didn’t know they’d come back from the dead. Some stories, however, show heroes and villains alike intentionally faking their deaths using creative, comic book-style techniques. The reasons for these fake outs vary – maybe they need to work undercover or maybe they just want to retire from the superhero game permanently. Regardless, people can go to great lengths to disappear when they want to, as the following examples show.
Pretend You Froze In The Arctic
This first example may have actually fooled some readers! In the tale “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” writer Alan Moore and artists Curt Swan and George Pérez collaborated to tell the “last” Superman story. Billed as one of DC’s “imaginary stories,” the two-part comic book story was intended to tell the final story of DC’s Silver Age of Comics as their “Crisis on Infinite Earths” event had effectively rebooted the DC Universe and erased decades of old stories.
The comic offered an epic finale to the Silver Age Superman’s life as old villains Bizarro, Toyman, Brainiac, and Lex Luthor returned, more violent than ever, and killed many of Superman’s friends. As Superman secured his remaining friends in the Fortress of Solitude, the 5th dimensional imp Mr. Mxyzptlk revealed himself to be the mastermind behind the whole scheme. In a final desperate move, Superman killed the imp with the Phantom Zone Projector but, unable to live with the fact that he broke his vow to never kill, he intentionally destroyed his powers with Gold Kryptonite. The world subsequently believed Superman wandered into the Arctic and froze to death.
Only he didn’t. The final pages show that Superman adopted a new identity as “Jordan Elliot” and married Lois Lane, allowing himself to have the normal mortal life he always desired. Although his infant son apparently inherited some Kryptonian powers, Superman seemed content to let the world believe he was dead.
Get A Friend To Claim She Killed You
It takes a lot to fool the Batman. Bruce Wayne isn’t called the World’s Greatest Detective for nothing, after all. But even Batman was caught by surprise when his long-time friend and confidant Dr. Leslie Thompkins claimed she let one of his Robins – a teenage girl named Stephanie Brown – die when she could have saved her. Bruce was horrified and disgusted – so much so that he branded Leslie a criminal and told her he’d have her arrested if she ever came back to Gotham.
So, Leslie left to do some work in Africa – with Stephanie. That’s right, Leslie had helped Stephanie fake her death to get her away from the dangers and corruption of Gotham. Her actions even fooled some readers for some time, as Stephanie wasn’t revealed to be alive until much later. Stephanie would return to Gotham some time later to take on the mantle of Batgirl – but Leslie gave her a needed break from her superhero activities, even though it cost her the close friendship she had with Bruce. Stephanie’s since returned to her Spoiler identity – and may be reuniting with Robin (aka Tim Drake).
Travel Back In Time So You Can “Cause” Your Own “Death”
Time traveling superhero Booster Gold once came up with a very elaborate way to fake his death. During the 52 DC Comics event, Booster Gold appeared to be his usual grand-standing self as he got his robot sidekick Skeets to give him historical information on disasters he could prevent and improve his brand image. Part of Booster’s motivation appeared to be jealousy since a new masked hero, Supernova, had entered the scene and was taking the spotlight away from Booster.
However, Booster’s overzealousness proved to be his undoing when he tries to stop a nuclear submarine from exploding in Metropolis, but gets into a fight with Supernova instead. The sub explodes and Booster is reduced to a charred corpse. The twist? Booster is Supernova, having traveled back in time to take on the identity so he could throw suspicion off himself for his own fake death.
Why fake his death? Booster suspected his robot Skeets was under the influence of evil forces, which he was – namely Shazam’s diminutive psychic worm Mr. Mind.
Slow Down Your Heart So It Looks Like It Stopped
Batman is a mortal man – and nowhere did this seem more poignant than in his battle against Superman in the climactic scene from The Dark Knight Returns. Now an elderly man, Bruce used an Iron Man-like armored suit against the Man of Steel – to no avail. Before Superman could take him down, however, Batman directed Green Arrow to shoot Clark with a synthetic krypton tipped arrow. Weakened, Superman can only hear Batman’s heart growing slower and slower, until it finally stops…
… only to start right back again during Bruce Wayne’s funeral. Clark’s there to hear his old friend come back to life – having faked his heart attack with his own chemical concoction. Superman chose to respect his privacy, and allowed Batman to continue his war on crime from the shadows.
SPEED UP Your Heart So Fast It Seems Like It Stopped
On the flipside, Flash – the Fastest Man Alive – once convinced Batman that his heart had stopped by speeding up his heartbeat. During the episode “A Better World” from the Justice League animated series, Flash was taken captive by an alternate world’s Justice League (calling themselves the Justice Lords). Even Batman couldn’t outmaneuver his dimensional twin, but Flash – completely improvising at this point – managed to catch the Justice Lord Batman off guard by pretending to be dying.
Of course, this “death” didn’t last very long – the second Justice Lord Batman got too close, Flash knocked him out and freed his world’s Batman. When Flash asked Batman why he couldn’t break free himself, Bruce replied that his counterpart could anticipate everything he would do. “But who could anticipate you?” Batman asked the Flash, showing his genuine admiration for the Scarlet Speedster’s quick thinking.