Which Dead MARVEL Characters Might Be Next To Return? 

Look, they promise, Wolverine is actually going to die in <b>Death of Wolverine</b>. But what does that <i>really</i> mean in the Marvel Universe? It means that the countdown to his return is on. Look at Alex Wilder, once in the least-likely-to-return bracket, alive and - well, not well, by the looks of things, but he is somewhat resurrected in July\'s <b>Avengers Undercover #7</b>. <p>And that got us thinking about our countdown looking at the characters in the Marvel Universe we’d actually <i>like</i> to see return. Thanks to the revolving door in both heaven and hell in this comic book world, it’s an ever-changing one. <p>If you’ve been following this list since its original incarnation in September 2011, you know over half the entries from that countdown have in fact, already made the journey, and even subsequent new entries from updated versions have also booked the return trip. <p>So here’s out latest take on the 10 most likely Marvel returns, with at least one entry we think you’ll find interesting (i.e. you’ll hate us for). <p><i>Michael Doran and Lucas Siegel contributed to an updated version of this feature.</i>

As far as comic book deaths go, Ben Reilly\'s seemed pretty definitive: He was impaled by a Goblin Glider, fell off a building, and disintegrated into dust. <p>Yet that hasn\'t stopped the faithful followers of Peter Parker\'s bottle-blond clone from hoping that he might come back some day. And it\'s not like Marvel hasn\'t played on those expectations a bit — another Spidey clone, Kaine, is now using Ben Reilly\'s old identity in the ongoing series New Warriors series as the current Scarlet Spider. <p>And in Kaine\'s own ongoing, Ben Reilly\'s return <i>was</i> recently teased there, though it turned out to be a trick. <p>Of course, we have confirmed that Ben Reilly will appear in Spider-Verse, though the multiversal nature of that storyline means it might not be "our" Ben Reilly. Still, it\'s hope!

Recent Spidey developments in <i>Superior Spider-Man</i> have shown that nearly nothing is sacred. We\'re in a world where Spider-Man wasn\'t even Peter Parker for over a year! <p>Like Uncle Ben and the pre-Ed Brubaker Bucky Barnes, Gwen Stacy has for decades been one of those characters that are just "supposed" to stay dead. But given the risk Marvel has shown they\'re willing to take with the Spider-Man mythos, and the fact that Gwen has now been seen by millions of people on the big screen via <i>Amazing Spider-Man</i>, might Marvel be considering bringing her back in the comic books? <p>Probably not. <p>But maybe... <p>(But probably not.) <p>We will, like Mr. Reilly, see a version of Gwen in <i>Spider-Verse</i>, one who got bit by the spider instead of Peter Parker!

Marvel has a new Captain Marvel, and it\'s Carol Danvers, the former Ms. Marvel. She\'s been successful in her new role, but the original has been gone for so long, it seems that he\'s almost due for a comeback under <i>some</i> identity, if not his previous one. <p>Kree soldier Mar-Vell has been dead since the descriptively titled 1982 graphic novel <i>The Death of Captain Marvel</i>. Despite all odds, he\'s managed to remain dead, though a now-deceased Skrull impersonated him for a period during <i>Secret Invasion</i>. <p>Given how much fans have taken to Carol Danvers in the role of Captain Marvel, bringing back Mar-Vell to take back that mantle would seem to be a rather unwise move — but him trying to reintegrate into the current Marvel Universe after all of these years (he died pre-<i>Secret Wars</i>, after all) is a potentially intriguing story, no matter what name he uses while doing it.

There\'s a new Nova, and it\'s Sam Alexander, the star of his own ongoing title and one of the main players of the <i>Ultimate Spider-Man</i> animated series on Disney XD. He\'s even appearing in <i>Disney Infinity</i>\'s video game world this fall. <p> Given the push Marvel has given the character (He\'s headlining a new <b>New Warriors</b> team book, as well), it\'s clear that he\'s not going anywhere. But the Marvel Universe is already a crowded place, and seeing Richard Rider — Marvel\'s first Nova — help mentor the still-fledgling Sam could be neat. <p> Nova was presumed dead in the same incident that appeared to claim the life of Star-Lord (and Thanos), who has already returned. Though the exact details haven\'t been spelled out yet, that would seem to at least open up the possibility of him returning. <p>Not for nothing, there is an entire <i>corps</i> of Novas showing up in the <i>Guardians of the Galaxy</i> film next Summer, so if ever there were a time for more than one to merchandise, it\'s now. <p>Thankfully, we\'re getting <i>some</i> kind of updated on Rich\'s status in September 2014 - whether that\'s a return or just a "no, seriously, he <i>dead</i>" remains to be seen.

Yeah, um, spoiler alert? So in the pages of <b>Uncanny Avengers</b>, basically everyone has died. First it started with the up-close-and-personal deaths of Rogue and Scarlet Witch (and presumably Wonder Man), then escalated quickly to, well, everyone in the world except the remaining mutants. <p>Thanks to alternate timelines and the impending time travel save-the-day moment from Havok, it looks like these deaths will be erased soon. <p>The question then remains: could we see some of the other dead characters, like the four Horsemen of Death, come back? While there isn\'t exactly a lot of clamoring for Sentry or Grim Reaper to come back, at least a few fans would be excited to see Banshee, and even Daken come back to the land of the living. Perhaps the wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff can make that happen, too?

Marvel doesn\'t seem to be able to support two superheroic members of the Lang family at a time. After Cassie\'s father, Scott "Ant-Man" Lang died, she took up the identity of Stature as part of the Young Avengers. <p>In <i>Avengers: The Children\'s Crusade</i>, Scott Lang came back, but Cassie died shortly after. And it\'s that incident that was Ant-Man\'s No. 1 motivation as the lead character of <i>FF</i> — yet how would that be changed if it was found that his daughter also cheated death? While the <i>Young Avengers</i> series is currently waiting for the next revolutionary creative team, members will be showing up throughout the other series. Cassie Lang\'s return could certainly punctuate all the time-travel and multiversal mayhem in the Marvel universe over the last few years.

Ares actually came very close to not making this list, as <i>Uncanny Avengers</i> writer Rick Remender <a href=http://www.newsarama.com/17851-rick-remender-revives-sentry-daken-in-uncanny-avengers.html>recently told us</a> that he considered bringing the character back as part of the Horsemen in that series — which ended up as Daken, Grim Reaper, Sentry and Banshee. <p>So clearly, influential people at Marvel have had Ares on their mind in the not-too-distant past. It could either stop there, sure, but there\'s at least some interest out there in the former Avenger/God of War, so don\'t be totally shocked if he shows up some time in the near-ish future.

Okay, okay, hear us out on this one. Yes, we understand Uncle Ben leads the shortlist along with Thomas and Martha Wayne of characters you <i>never</i> bring back (though we’ll remind you Barry Allen and Bucky Barnes used to be charter members of this shortlist as well). But that’s because like Batman/the Waynes, Uncle Ben\'s death served as <i>the</i> catalyst for the very existence of Spider-Man. Death was the reason Uncle Ben existed. <p>But with Peter Parker’s life in utter disarray since he returned to his own body (it’s a long story), and the looming threat of a couple of killers traversing from world to world killing Spider-men of all shapes and sizes, could now be the time for some a serving of sage Uncle Ben’s advice? <p>We originally added Ben to this list while Doc Ock was still in Spidey’s body - and that would’ve been the more interesting story on its surface, but a Peter completely overwhelmed by his <i>own</i> return is also a Peter ripe to get side-swiped by another return.

Professor Charles Xavier was the big casualty of <i>Avengers vs. X-Men</i>, struck down by a Dark Phoenix-ized Cyclops in the heat of battle. <p>His death has led to significant drama in the pages of several titles, notably <i>Uncanny Avengers</i>, where Red Skull has managed to use his brain — and by extension, his ultra-powerful telepathy — to unkind ends. (This type of corpse abuse could make a resurrection more or less likely, depending on your perspective.) <p>Time travel often leads to characters\' returns, but surprisingly there were none during the "Battle of the Atom" crossover, though <i>a</i> Charles Xavier showed up from the future, this one the son of the man who founded the X-Men. <p>While many key Marvel creators <a href=http://www.newsarama.com/10210-was-the-avengers-vs-x-men-death-a-mercy-killing.html>stated that a dead Professor X creates more story possibilities</a> than a live one, a character this important likely won\'t stay dead forever. But staying dead for a long time? We\'ve seen that with key X-Men characters before. (More on that soon.)

Ah, Jean Grey. The great white whale of comic book resurrections. <p>Jean Grey has been dead (well, this time around) since December 2003\'s <i>New X-Men #150</i>, meaning that, as unlikely as it may seem, this death has actually lasted longer than the span between her (well, what was thought to be her at the time) committing suicide on the moon at the end of "The Dark Phoenix Saga" and returning in <i> Fantastic Four #286</i>. (That was a mere six years, and we\'re over 10 now!) Jean Grey has now been dead for over a decade, meaning that there is a generation of comic book readers out there who haven\'t read a current, mainstream Marvel Universe comic book where she was alive. <p>While many expected her return at the end of <i>Avengers vs. X-Men</i>, it didn\'t happen — though something along the lines did take place shortly after, with Beast bringing the original five X-Men (including a teenage Jean Grey) into the present. <p>Likewise, the "Battle of the Atom" did bring an adult Jean back into the Marvel Universe - but it was (somehow) the young Jean who had been brought forward, all grown up and having never returned to the past (yes, the paradoxes there are numerous and problematic). Still, at the end, no real resurrection of Jean. The older one apparently died, and the younger one stuck around. <p>So while the contemporary Marvel Universe does have <i>a</i> Jean Grey — a younger version of the original — the adult version has continued to remain dead, longer than many fans expected.

Which Dead MARVEL Characters Might Be Next To Return?