Comic Book Death - Outside Comic Books

Outside Comic Books

The return of a character previously thought dead is certainly not limited to comic books. An early and famous example is the return of Sherlock Holmes after his supposed demise in his battle with Professor Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Final Problem. In many slasher films and monster movies, the killer or monster seemingly dies at the end of the film only to return for a sequel; for example Jason Voorhees of Friday the 13th. Daytime and prime-time soap operas are notorious for comic book deaths; famously, an entire season of Dallas was retconned into one character's dream so that a character who had been dead throughout that season could return. Even before Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan opened in June 1982, the media reported that Spock, who died at the end of the film, would return in the sequel. In the Manga/Anime Dragon Ball the main character Son Goku is killed off without the possibility of being revived by the Dragon Balls, only to have a Kaioshin give his life to him seven years later.