So, I got the latest Avengers today, aaaand it comes with this not too terribly surprising reveal:


After the amusement of my sudden ability to rhyme wore off, it got me wondering what significant characters in the Marvel and DC Universes are still dead despite the trend of comics to bring them back within relatively short order. Since I'm relatively new to comics, I thought I would reach out to you guys for help.

Jean Grey has been dead for what feels like about 7-8 years. Not counting young Jean coming from the past. Captain Marvel is another they haven't brought back but still use when they can.

Uncle Ben Parker
Thomas and Martha Wayne
Ted Kord
X-Statix (except Doop)
Moira McTaggert
Gwen Stacy
Banshee
Nightcrawler (616)
Sentry
Terra I

Got ninja'd on Ted Kord, but Don Hall (Dove) is still dead, though in a way the nu52 revived/immediately killed him in order to get back to the Dawn Granger Dove.
Is Jack of Hearts still dead?
Sylvester (Skyman and old school Star Spangled Kid) Pemberton
Several old JSA members. Sandman, Mr Terrific, OG Hourman, etc

Man, there really aren't many if I can't think of more off the top of my head.

Ferro Lad
Invisible Kid I
Val Armorr Karate Kid
Chemical King
Goliath (Bill Foster)

Jubilee is still a vampire. That's technically being dead.

Skurge the Executioner has been dead since 1985, and every writer since has known darned well that they best not mess with that. I mean, when a character has what is widely regarded as one of the best death scenes in the history of comics, that is not a thing that you try to undo on a whim. Look at that last page, for crying out loud. That's poetry, is what that is. Poetry, and a half-giant beating back the hordes of Hel with an M-16.

I love how dying actually made Jubilee a more interesting charactor and with the apparent restoration of her mutant powers she's going to be a very powerful charactor.

I think most the people that have died in the Ultimate Marvel universe have stayed dead. With an occasional 'glitch' here and there.

I thought vampires were un-dead.

With "Ultimatum," they essentially killed the Ultimate universe (for me).

Dead was dead in the Ultimate universe for the most part, with Beast being an exception in Ultimate X-men.

Bendis is ripping off what DC did with the Atom......

Thunderbird?
Earth-2 Superman
Ralph & Sue Dibny
Clark Kent?
Kraven the Hunter

Wait, what? Ray Palmer never died. At the end of Identity Crisis, he helped bring his wife to Arkham Asylum, then shrank to "dissappear from the world." Then they tried to bring him back in that mess called "Countdown to Final Crisis."

Choi, the All-New Atom, came along to fill the role of Atom while Palmer hid from the world.

I think Ben Reilly is still dead.

My point exactly, cause now neither has she.

Okay, the similarity ends with the microverse deal, because they retconned Janet's death. Ray Palmer was never killed, sacrificed, or martyred in Identity Crisis. He couldn't deal with the guilt of what his ex-wife had done "for him," so he voluntarily shrank away to be on his own for a while.

Janet's body was offed in Secret Invasion, as a twist by the Skrull Pym. They explored her death on a few occasions, then Bendis pulls this out of the blue.

When Jason Todd, Donna Troy, and Kyle Rayner found Ray Palmer in Countdown, they were intentionally looking for him.