RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books Which superheroes were your favorite that they killed off?

I have a few! Karate Kid from the Legion Of Superheroes. He was my all time favorite hero from his introduction in Adventure Comics # 346 - 347 in summer 1966 to his "death" in sumer 1984. Val Armorr - his real name..was born on Earth and adopted by Sensei in Japan, and taught many forms of self defense and hand to hand combat, super karate being just one of them. He could karate chop through solid steel! He was brave, a good friend, and a caring person. Kieth Giffen hated him so he killed him off in a really lame way, smashing into a power grid thingie and getting all burned up. That was SOOO lame! It was as meaningless as Tasha Yar's death!

Killing him off was a TERRIBLE waste of a terrific and highly original character!

Illyana Rasptutin..I loved her from the first issue when Belasco kidnapped her back in X Men. He kept her a prisoner for 7 years, and she learned the dark arts and discovered her mutant power.. to be able to summon "stepping disks" that enabled her to teleport through both time and space. Her control over this power is haphazard, at best, which is partly what makes her so interesting!

She can summon up her soul sword, which has the ability to disrupt all things of a magical nature. She has a "Dark Child " persona, which is where she is in touch with the evil nature that the nefarious sorcerer Belasco imparted to her against her will.

She has evil in her thanks to this, but has a good soul and has done much good, including saving her friends in the New Mutants many times.

She became a metaphor for the dark nature within us all that we constantly have to struggle with, as we are after all, only human.

I had quit buying comics a few years before she was killed by the " Legacy Virus". That was lame, too.

They have brought Karate Kid back, sort of..but the character is not the same....

They have a loophole for bringing Illyana back, as well, she can always pop back into Marvel reality again from an alternate Limbo, but unless Chris Clairemont writes her character again, she won't be the same ...unless a VERY competent writer who loves sword and sorcerery heroes and who is sensitive to this character can do a more than adequate job of bringing her back to life.

Recently Dream Girl in the Legion. This version reallized the potential of the character only to be cut down. Not sure if this is a permanent death though.

Death in comics these days is way to frequent & just doesn't have the impact that it used too IMHO. It's become more like the 80's slasher films really. I wish writers would concentrate more on building things then destroying them.

I agree with you, MEM..writers know it is much easier to destroy than to create.........I think that, with sufficient imagination, even the most minor of super heroes can be used to their fullest potential.

Spoiler (although I think everyone here knows that lol)

Gert from Runaways.

I agree with BG about Illyana Rasputin.

Superboy/Conner.

Ferro Lad of the Legion Of Super Heroes. He was introduced in Adventure Comics # 346 - #347, along with Karate Kid, Princess Projectra and Nemesis Kid. He was created just to die. Very lame!!

That's almost as bad as killing off an old established character..just to generate sales of comic books.

He was killed off in Adventure Comics # 353, only eight issues after he was first introduced.

He was a mutant with the ability to turn his body into a super strong isotope of iron This ability gave him great strength and invulnerability. Apparently, he wasn't invulnerable enough or he'd not have died in the first place.

They brought him back many years later, in the Legion before the current Legion, but, of course, it was not the same.

The Star Spangled Kid. He died in an Infinity Inc. issue during the late 1980's, just before that wonderful series folded due to ramifications from Crisis on Infinite Earths.

He was introduced in the early 1940's during the Golden Age explosion of new super heroes. He had no super powers, save for being brave, in shape and wanting to do good. He fought crime with his friemd, Stripesy. With his red, white, and blue outfit, he looked more than a little like Captain America, but who cared? He was a fun character.

During the 1970's, he gained a cosmic converter belt, which gave him cool powers like flight, a force field, and a ray weapon. Then they took that away from him shortly after he joined Infinity Inc. He became Sky and had gravity powers. Then He was killed when enemies took Mr. Bones' deadly bare cyanide hand and touched him with it, both killing off a great character with a long 40 - year plus history, and framing a new hero for the murder.

Star-spangled Kid was a favorite of mine too. Roy Thomas seemed to like the character what with making him the leader of Infinity but it was downhill all the way. Broken converter belt, Skyman & a really lame death.

Gaurdian of Alpha Flight..liked him a lot. Then, at issue twelve of Alpha Flight, Byrne kills him off.

He had a suit that gave him electromagnetic powers, but it was badly damaged during a batle with Omega Flight and it exploded and killed him before he could deactivate the damaged power pack.

He was a terrific character. Again, another lame death.

I have created characters based on all the aforementioned Marvel and DC heroes to sort of have them live on in a way...

Warrior - created in 1982, based on Karate Kid.

Ultra Man - Created in 2002 - Based on Guardian, loosely...

Samantha - Created in 1988 - based on Illyana Rasputin

Heavy Metal - Created in 2000, based on Ferro Lad and Colossus....

In this way, I honor the fallen heroes by writing stories using these characters.

It's amazing how attached we become to our fictional characters.....

I was really pissed when Northstar was killed. offpage. by an unremorseful wolverine.

Wolverines don't kill people. They are more scared of people then we are of rabbits.

uh, im pretty sure wolverine is hetero.....

I meant about NORTHSTAR....

i dont think Northstar is a gay basher...

wild accuser!

Agreed!

in my mind, they became ponies.

awwww..that's sweet.

later they were turned into glue

glue made all the pages of my mags stick together

Nature's most powerful glue is only produced by love.

reax has a lot of nature glue in his socks

He has to wait until they fall apart to be able to put on new ones.

I miss the Kree hero known as Captain Marvel. He was pretty cool. He died from cancer in some big deal special edition book. Bleh.......

I started buying Captain Marvel with the first issue, around 1967. At first, he just depended on gadgets and gizmos, but then acquired great strength and speed and resilience..... He was a member of the Avengers for a while. He was a pretty cool hero, actually....

Yeah, of the characters they've killed off and who have stayed dead, Capt. Mar-vell was probably my favorite.

Let us not forget Nuke and Tom Thumb of The Squadron Supreme.... Nuke had a lot of potential as a man with energy powers..Tom Thumb was a genius inventor....

Yeah, but that was a mini-series and so I think they were designed to be killed off.

I realize that..but you know that "Heroes who were created to die" are one of my pet peeves in comic books...

I miss Genis Mar-vell (sp) He was great, butI think he was better when Peter David was writing him. I didn't care for how he was written in (it's too early in the morning and I'm drawing a blank on the series name right now) Then they killed him off. Supposedly they're bringing him back.

In the Legion series before the current one, they killed off Colossal Boy. He was always one of my fav. Legionairres! I also didn't like when they killed off the first Invisible Kid, Lyle Norg, or Chemical king..who was another hero slated to die from his creation, as it has a statue of him in the dead Legionairres memorial room on the cover of Adventure Comics #354.

I know that, G Man..but I don't have to like it.