Within a superhero universe, death feels more like a formality than anything else. For characters that make the impossible possible time and again, coming back from the dead is just one more accomplishment to add onto the list.

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Having said that, not every character that’s died actually needed to come back to life. Sometimes they were bad characters, sometimes their death was too fitting, and sometimes the universe is just better without them. At the same time, some characters who’ve been dead deserve an opportunity to make a comeback. This list gets into them both, with five Marvel characters that should’ve stayed dead, and the other five we think should have been back already.

10 SHOULD'VE STAYED DEAD: PUNISHER

Punisher went up against Norman Osborn during the Dark Reign period and things went terribly. Norman had the full power of SHIELD (or HAMMER) and sent all of it directly at Castle, who’s never really had the resources to punch in the weight class of Kingpin, let alone someone with control over the United States’ military. Eventually, he gets killed by Wolverine’s son Daken, though he gets revived later as Frankencastle. It’s really not that he’s back that’s the issue...it’s that he never should have died. Frank dealing with supernatural stuff feels out of place. If he’s going to die, leave him dead and let someone take over in his place.

9 NEEDS TO RETURN: SHARD

Shard Bishop worked alongside her brother Lucas in the future as a member of Xavier’s Security Enforces. The character’s actually died twice since her introduction—once after being infected by the Emplates, where she was killed by her brother so she wouldn’t have to feed on mutants to survive. Then again she died when she allowed Bishop to absorb her energy to defeat their enemy Trevor Fitzroy. Both are such tiny deaths that people barely remember, she deserves to have a second chance to come back. And judging by the way Hickman is bringing back literally every mutant ever, she may yet get a chance.

8 SHOULD'VE STAYED DEAD: ADAM WARLOCK

No one ever knows what to do with this guy. Either he’s wielding godlike power thanks to the Infinity Gems or he’s some scrub displaying how powerful the latest threat is. But no matter what, he eventually winds up dying. Over the past ten years they’ve been playing with bringing him back as his evil other half the Magus, which raises further questions. Either the Universe brings him back as himself, or the Universal Church of Truth tries to create his evil half, but in either case it feels like things have gone around in circles enough. Let him stay dead.

7 NEEDS TO RETURN: VALKYRIE

valkyrie wielding a sword

She just died, but this is an instance of believing she never should have died in the first place. As fun as it is to see Jane Foster take her place in the new series, it seems like there was still plenty of potential for Brunhilde to operate as well. Of course, part of the point of all this is that Jane is now the last of the Valkyries, but that seems a bit absurd considering how many souls she’ll have to see to the other side. Marvel should Brunhilde back and perhaps allow her to maybe work on another team or carry out her adventures outside of Midgard.

6 SHOULD'VE STAYED DEAD: THANOS

It really seems like Thanos’ story has been told several times over at this point. He reaches for godlike power, fails, then slinks back into a hole somewhere until he can get a new plan. He’s died multiple times, each time it gets less impressive. During Annihilation he was killed just by Drax punching through his chest, for instance.

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It seems like in the aftermath of Infinity we had a replacement in his son Thane, someone who could have been a far more complex, tragic figure. Instead he was cast aside and we were left stuck with the same character who’s been doing the same things since the early 90’s.

5 NEEDS TO RETURN: BLACK WIDOW (MCU)

Black Widow in Captain America: Civil War

Black Widow’s death in Avengers: Endgame is one of the more moving scenes in the series...but it’s still pretty awful that she died at all. Unlike Tony and Cap, who’s stories felt like they came to a fitting end, it felt like there was still so much left for Natasha to do. No one’s saying to kill Hawkeye and leave his family without a father, but he’s also a character who wants to be doing with doing his superhero work. Natasha on the other hand has so much potential left that we’re still getting a film about her even in the aftermath of Endgame. It’s supposedly “impossible” to bring her back, but then that was supposed to be true about half of the universe’s population as well.

4 SHOULD'VE STAYED DEAD: SCARLET SPIDER

scarlet-spider-ben-reilly jumping into action

After his clone body broke down in the early 90’s, Ben Reilly was brought back during “The Clone Conspiracy” as a version of the Jackal. Though he failed at his grand plan then, he took off to Vegas and began a new life as the Scarlet Spider once more. Unfortunately, after dying so many times while being experimented on by the Jackal it turns out his soul has been fractured in such a way that one more resurrection will cause him to become corrupted.

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The end of the ongoing sees him dying again and coming back, leaving him to a fairly dark fate that Spider-Geddon “kind of” rescues him from. But if it was going to be this much work to allow him to become the hero he was before he died...shouldn’t they have just left him alone?

3 NEEDS TO RETURN: LILANDRA

Lilandra, leader of the Shi'ar Empire

The Empress of the Shi’ar has always maintained a surprisingly tenuous grip on her power considering her claim to the throne is more legitimate than anyone else’s. She goes back and forth between having control, battling against D’Ken, her sister Deathbird, and eventually losing it to Vulcan for a time. Eventually, she’s assassinated by one of the fraternity of Raptors during the 2009 story War of Kings, and that’s been it for her. If the Shi’ar were to become relevant again, it’d be nice to see her make a return to guide them during those times.

2 SHOULD'VE STAYED DEAD: ULTIMATE UNIVERSE

Yes, the entire thing. When we pulled Miles Morales from this thing we basically got everything we needed from it, what was the point in bringing it back wholesale? That’s not to trash everyone who loved the Ultimate Universe, but the entire point of it was to create an offshoot of the Marvel Universe anyone could get into and enjoy. It was jettisoned because it was ten years old and that was deemed too much continuity for most laypeople. What’s changed about that rationale since then? If we needed a new Marvel Universe, why not create a different one with new creators and a new vision?

1 NEEDS TO RETURN: HANK PYM

Hank Pym Fused With Ultron

Yes, Hank Pym is still alive...kinda. He’s some terrifying fusion of himself and Ultron, which is like the worst possible outcome for both of them. The heroes are either afraid to go all out on him because he’s attached to their friend, or they seem cruel because they no longer care about Hank. For all his flaws, the Marvel Universe is far more interesting with Pym around than not around. Especially now that he has the opportunity to interact with his daughter...while not as a supervillain. He’s been used recently in this fused form but it’s about time to split the two characters up again.

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