Superheroes We Lost In 2023

There are only four certainties in life — death, taxes, superhero death, and the retconning of superhero death in future stories. The following victims of tragic, usually violent circumstances may all very well follow the trajectory of Superman after his murder at the hands of Doomsday in 1993's "The Death of Superman," as well as Jean Grey when she nobly sacrificed herself at the conclusion of 1980's "Dark Phoenix Saga." Jean's not even the only X-Man with a touch-and-go approach to the great beyond anymore. Most of her teammates have died and returned to life several times over ever since they moved to Krakoa and became functionally immortal in 2019's "House of X" and "Powers of X." 

And what about superheroes who die in alternate realities while their counterparts in adjacent dimensions remain among the living? What about heroes who die in one medium but remain upright and breathing in another? It's all profoundly confusing, but if we didn't enjoy being confused then we wouldn't be fans of superhero media, would we? Let's gaze upon the superheroes we lost in 2023, mourn their passing, and anxiously await their inevitable return to glory.

Updated on December 28, 2023: From cinematic supes to comic book characters, here are the superheroes who met their fates in 2023.

In case anyone who watched "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" needs a reminder, whimsical sci-fi novelty characters like Veb the squishy guy and the glowing cylinder-headed Xolum are a dead giveaway that somebody from the "Rick & Morty" writing staff had a strong hand in Scott Lang's most contentious big-screen adventure. Jeff Loveness will get another MCU at-bat with "Avengers: The Kang Dynasty," which is more than we can say for poor dumb Xolum. 

Despite his lack of a backstory or really much of an identity beyond a warrior-like disposition, an alliance with the Quantum Realm rebels, and his aforementioned flashlight-for-a-head thing, audiences the world over felt a slight tug on their heartstrings when Kang popped Xolum's cranium like an overcharged florescent bulb. Granted, it might have been a very slight tug in most instances, but as far as "Quantumania" characters go, Xolum definitely does more to further the plot than Lord Krylar or Hope van Dyne, and they're both played by major celebrities. Xolum didn't deserve much better, but he definitely deserved a little better.

In this instance, when we say Shazam "died" this year, we actually mean a couple of different things. Since basically nobody saw "Shazam! Fury of the Gods" during its theatrical run in March, star Zachary Levi invited us all to question his judgement with some truly baffling PR blunders, and the entire live-action DC Universe is in the process of a highly publicized reboot overseen by James Gunn, the prospects for this iteration of "Shazam!" carrying on as a franchise look very slim. Incidentally, the character Shazam, aka Billy Batson, also fails to survive a battle against the film's ultimate antagonist, the goddess Kalypso, one of the daughters of Atlas. But Billy's death is very temporary; Wonder Woman makes a surprise cameo and brings him back to life in a scenario that makes Krakoan mutant resurrection look plausible by comparison. Incidentally, Wonder Woman probably doesn't have a third movie coming out, either.   

Hespera is a Greek goddess of nymphs; MODOK is a Lee 'n Kirby creation from their late-'60s phase, when they were learning just how many out-there concepts their readers would put up with. You wouldn't think Hespera and MODOK would have much in common, but in fact, they share a handful of distinctions. Both appear in poorly received 2023 superhero movies; both begin their stories in these films as baddies but switch sides and fight on behalf of order and decency before the credits roll; both perish at the conclusion of their respective, redemptive story arcs. 

Despite being played by Oscar winner Helen Mirren, Hespera is done in by her sister Kalypso, an even meaner nymph goddess. Let us note that Kalypso is portrayed by Lucy Liu, whom we must respectfully note does not yet have an Oscar. Makes you wonder about the judgement of the Academy, doesn't it? After all, if Helen Mirren is powerful enough to win best actress in a leading role, then how is it that she can be pretend-killed by the Oscar-less and therefore presumably less powerful Lucy Liu?

Heading into director James Gunn's final installment of his "Guardians of the Galaxy" trilogy, plenty of fans were bracing themselves for a bloodbath. Dave Bautista and Zoe Saldaña have indicated a strong interest in moving away from Marvel, and in the trailers, Rocket Racoon and Star-Lord both look like they're in pretty rough shape. For all we knew, Gunn would blast the whole zany found family to oblivion on his way out the door just to give his new bosses at DC one less beloved franchise to compete with.

As it turns out, the Guardians themselves all survive the events of "Vol. 3," but Gunn found a totally unexpected way to break our hearts. In flashbacks to Rocket Racoon's early years as a living experiment in the High Evolutionary's space laboratory-slash-baby animal jail, we meet young Rocket's adorable cellmates and pals Lylla the otter, Teefs the walrus, and Floor the rabbit. One thing leads to another, and Rocket attempts an escape with the intention to bring his buddies — framed almost like a proto-Guardians team, at least from Rocket's perspective — to freedom with him. In a move that should instantly make the High Evolutionary one of the most despised MCU villains ever, he cruelly executes the kindhearted Lylla in front of Rocket, ensuring that she'll never get a chance to experience life outside of a cage.

We know James Gunn reviewed Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's "All-Star Superman" to prep for his next major superhero project, but "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" — particularly its inclusion of Floor the rabbit — suggests a familiarity with one of the other Morrison and Quitely collaborations from the 2000s. 

In "We3" — published by DC's Vertigo imprint (RIP) — a shadowy government agency converts a dog, cat, and rabbit into cyborg black-ops assassins, while the animals wish only to resume their original frolicking- and naps-oriented existences. Out of Rocket's friends from the High Evolutionary's cages, Floor appears to contain the most mechanical enhancements — she requires a sound converter around her mouth to form words and bounds around playfully on rickety, spider-like legs — and thus seems like an indirect resemblance to Pirate the rabbit from "We3." Floor, who whimsically names herself "Floor" out of a seemingly lack of better ideas, dies along with Lylla and Teefs. Like Rocket, we will probably never get over it.

In 2022, Kamala Khan made her long overdue live-action debut in "Ms. Marvel," one of the better-received shows in the MCU's slate of Disney+ projects. Fall 2023 is looking like an even bigger deal for Kamala; once again played by Iman Vellani, she's co-starring in "The Marvels" alongside Teyonah Parris' Monica Rambeau and Brie Larson's Carol Danvers. With all this momentum and subsequent potential for marketing synergy, Marvel Comics has decided to ... kill Ms. Marvel off in an issue of "Amazing Spider-Man"? Yep. Not only does she get bumped off when she's on the cusp of her all-time height of visibility in mass media, she goes out as a supporting cast member in another hero's ongoing. And this information somehow fell into the hands of major news outlets weeks before its publication. This is all scanning as a bit strange, and we don't mean Stephen. 

Anyway, Kamala Khan — who's been interning for the lately reformed Norman Osborn — dies protecting her co-worker and friend Peter Parker's ex Mary Jane Watson from a thoroughly unremarkable supervillain. Some influencers predict Kamala — already a verified mutant in the MCU, let's remember — will simply enter the Krakoan resurrection protocols and make a surprise-ish return as the star of her own new series before the end of the summer, and jolly jeez, do we ever hope they're right.

In "Shin Kamen Rider" Hongo rescues his mentor figure and platonic companion Ruriko Midorikawa (Minami Hamabe) from a kidnapping attempted by Spider Aug (Nao Ōmori) — arguably the least endearing spider-themed character to appear in recent memory. Hongo starts the story missing considerable chunks of memory, leaving it up to Ruriko — whose brain, helpfully, is part super-computer — to fill him in on the nature of the empowering invisible force known as prana, as well as SHOCKER's whole deal and her own connections to SHOCKER and Hongo's creator, Dr. Hiroshi Midorikawa (Shin'ya Tsukamoto). Right around the conclusion of the second act, Ruriko meets her own conclusion via the claws of Mantis-Chameleon Aug, the only augmented cyborg hybrid in the movie who combines two animals instead of one. Happily, Mantis-Chameleon Aug's ability to sneak up on folks does him very little good in a fight against Kamen Rider No. 2, who avenges Ruriko shortly thereafter. 

With his widely lauded run on "Daredevil," Chip Zdarsky mustered up a distinctive take on Hell's Kitchen and its various inhabitants, carved out previously unexplored sectors of the Man Without Fear's mythology, and wrote a Matt Murdock who appeals to longtime fans as well as folks primarily familiar with Charlie Cox's take on the character. Whether the quality got a little wobbly when Zdarsky started splitting his attention between "Daredevil" and that other comic about a punchy guy with a pointy-eared mask he's been working on is a worthy discussion, but as of issue #12, his tenure with "Daredevil" appears to be sticking the landing.

In a bid to destroy the Hand once and for all and rescue his pals Foggy Nelson and Stick in the process, Matt must travel to the nefarious ninjas' answer to literal hell and confront its ruler, the Beast. To do this, Daredevil must die. He soon sets about facilitating this event himself. Elektra — who has undergone a superhero origin story of her own during this series — will have none of it, but in the ensuing scuffle, Matt manages to run one of her sais through his own heart. The story continues to follow Matt as the manifestation of his soul — complete with an ironically angelic white Daredevil outfit — prepares for its inevitably brutal showdown with the Beast. Since a new "Daredevil" #1 penned by Saladin Ahmed drops in September, we bet our usually crimson-clad boy won't stay damned for long.

Tim Burton's "Batman" movies occupy a special place in the history of superhero cinema, which means even the most jaded, cynical fans of the genre could get a kick out of seeing Michael Keaton in the ridiculous rubber suit for the first time since 1992. When the two Barrys of "The Flash" decide to seek assistance in their efforts against Zod's invasion of Earth, they first go in search of Bruce Wayne, who they correctly assume will be easier to find than Superman. This world's version of Batman is retired — apparently Gotham City has evolved into a crime-free utopia with no need of a knight, dark or otherwise — but the spirit of the Barrys and the global threat of Zod inspire Batman to return to caped crusading. Following a beat-'em-up scene that might make audiences wish Warner Bros. had spent $200 million on a live-action "Dark Knight Returns" adaptation starring Keaton instead of what they're watching, the Kryptonian invasion proves too much for this reality's Batman, and Bruce finds himself squeezed in with Supergirl and Barry's mom in the very crowded graveyard of "The Flash."

Nick Fury's erstwhile second-in-command at S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) debuts in 2012's "The Avengers" and hangs out in the Marvel Cinematic Universe throughout many of its most pivotal installments, including "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Avengers: Endgame." She's very much a supporting character, for sure; it's not as if anyone is shocked to discover an "Agent Hill" film trilogy was never in the cards. But in a franchise that's arguably struggling to reproduce the box office glory and cultural clout of its "Infinity Saga" era, the continued presence of Maria Hill provided a sense of connectivity with the "Avengers" flicks of yore. 

But never mind all that, because she's easily and unceremoniously gunned down by malevolent Skrull leader Gravik — briefly masquerading as Fury — during a terrorist bombing of Moscow in "Secret Invasion" Episode 1. Given the lowercase cloak and dagger and extraterrestrial elements of this series, we can't rule out the possibility that the Maria Hill who dies is one of the good Skrulls in disguise. But since, at the moment, that doesn't seem likely, let's pour one out for an MCU OG. 

At the risk of sounding cynical, we imagine there's a Disney executive or two out there, pushing Marvel Comics to make sure Wolverine and his pals once again live in a familiar, comparatively uncomplicated upstate New York academy for gifted youngsters, far, far away from any polyamorous immortality islands by the time the MCU's first feature-length "X-Men" endeavor is a thing. The "Fall of X" saga begins when mutant-hating super-robot Nimrod literally falls out of the sky and squashes the newly announced X-Men team at the 2023 Hellfire Gala. Superhero comics have to do superhero comics stuff, after all, but are we forgetting our place if we suggest that if this is, in fact, the end of the Krakoa era, it feels a little inelegant?

Joanna Cargill, mutant name: Frenzy, is among those annihilated by Nimrod during his aforementioned plunge from above. Formerly one of Magneto's Acolytes on Asteroid M, Frenzy recently operated as an agent of S.W.O.R.D. and planet Arakko's ambassador to the Galactic Council.

A founding member of the New Mutants and X-Force, Samuel Guthrie is torn in half by Nimrod's ruthless one-robot air raid. During comics published in the previous handful of years, Sam moves to the Shi'ar throneworld of Chandilar to be with his wife — the Imperial Guard enforcer known as Smasher — and their young son. That's definitely where he should've stayed. 

We don't intend any disrespect, but it's not like the X-Men absolutely, definitely needed another guy who does flying and force fields. Cannonball's a classic character, but there are dozens of mutants who could provided the team with roughly his same powerset. Coming out of semi-retirement is dangerous and pointless for this dude before the disturbing and extremely violent end of his life.        

At the conclusion of "X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023" #1, Charles Xavier believes he's bungled a hostage negotiation with Dr. Stasis (aka Mr. Sinister) and Moira MacTaggert that dooms almost all Krakoan residents. If he's correct, that means the Five are dead, and there's not going to be anybody who can bring Cannonball back from the great beyond. Then again, Professor X has been wrong before. 

A cult favorite ever since Marvel rolled her out as a late-to-the-party attempt to capitalize on disco in 1980, Alison Blaire is also a notch in Nimrod's nefarious belt as of the 2023 Hellfire Gala. In the months before this regrettable incident, Alison had been using her light-based powers to combat vampires in a team known as the X-Terminators. 

Here's a humorous coincidence: Three out of the five X-Men killed in the initial Nimrod attack — Jubilee, Dazzler, and Prodigy — are prominently featured in either "X-Terminators" (2022) or "X-Factor" (2020) — both penned by Leah Williams. Here in 2023, Williams' latest mainstream superhero endeavor is a Power Girl story for DC Comics. It appears when it came time to select recognizable mutants to reduce to slurry, the X-Offices just so happened to pick characters lately associated with a writer who started working for the competition. This probably doesn't actually mean anything — "Legion of X" scribe Si Spurrier has an "Uncanny Spider-Man" series (starring Nightcrawler) on deck in addition to his anticipated run on "The Flash," after all. Writers work for Marvel and DC simultaneously all the time. But still, it's fun to notice things. 

After wiping out the officially designated X-Men, Nimrod targets the Omega-level mutants on site, starting with Bobby Drake. At first, Iceman — who is powerful enough to terraform Mars, as he reminds us during the fight — more than holds his own. Sadly, Nimrod's come prepared and injects Bobby with a fatal dose of cellular napalm. Aware of his immediate fate and panicking, Iceman looks to his fellow founding X-Men — namely Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Angel, only one of whom is anywhere near earshot — apologizes, and melts into a puddle. 

However, since "Astonishing Iceman" #1 should have hit the shelves by the time you're reading this, chances are Iceman's luck is about to turn around. While some of the Hellfire Gala-related deaths resonate as shock value stunts, Iceman's death (along with a couple of others) is pretty clearly designed to tee up what's next for him. If X-fans are grumpy about Hellfire Gala '23, at least the other X-books don't seem interested in dwelling on it for very long ...

Jonathan Hickman and Bryan Hitch's "Ultimate Invasion" unfolds in a manner that might make it difficult to determine what, precisely, the heck is going on in this story until we've seen all four issues. But at least we've got a general idea to work off of. The Maker — that's evil Reed Richards from Earth-1610 — creates some kind of conduit through the space-time continuum and hops through. He lands in the past and uses his knowledge of upcoming events to reduce and control the superhero population; for instance, The Maker intercepts a radioactive spider before it can bite promising teen scientist Peter Parker, and the Fantastic Four's space flight gets delayed just long enough for a cosmic storm to harmlessly pass by. With no meddling do-gooders in his way, the Maker becomes the ruler of this new reality: Earth-6160. 

During the second half of "Ultimate Invasion" #2, a heavily publicized meeting of global leaders led by the Maker in Latveria is interrupted when a rampaging hoard of Captains America, Thors, Visions, Giant-Men, and Wasps fall out of the sky. They might look like the so-called Ultimates readers remember from the edgelord-friendly days of post-9/11 superhero comics, but later in the book, The Maker explains that these are clones, and, effectively, "temporal suicide bombers" sent to attack him from the future. So, the Maker determines which oblivious civilians will eventually provide the genetic material needed to create these clones, rounds those folks up, and executes them, thereby preventing these clones from ever existing and making an awful mess. We didn't used to know that people collapse into puddles of disgusting pink and purple muck when they're erased from their respective timeline, but now we do. Thanks, Marvel.

Characters in "Harley Quinn" Season 4 cope with more than their share of identity crises — Harley joins the Bat Family full-time in a bid to erase the "anti" from her "anti-hero" default alignment, while Poison Ivy becomes the Legion of Doom's progressive new CEO. Can Harley control the chaotic, nihilistic side of herself that wants to commit crime instead of fight it? Can Ivy convince her new villainous employees to support her corporate agenda of socially conscious evil? Isn't socially conscious evil an oxymoron? These are questions "Harley Quinn" tackled this year. In fact, Harley is so at odds with herself that she makes out with herself for a few seconds and, immediately after, tosses herself off the roof of a tall building so she can watch herself explode on the pavement.

As you might've already guessed, the microwave in the Legion of Doom breakroom doubles as a cloning device. While grabbing coffee, Ivy brushes a strand of Harley's hair off her jacket; it lands on a baked potato that James Gordon (reduced to a Legion of Doom security guard by this point) attempts to heat up. Instead of becoming dinner for the former commissioner, it becomes a hybrid being composed of 95% Harley Quinn and 5% potato. Clone Harley quickly displays a greater aptitude for superhero life than her source material. But tragically, like all clones inevitably do, Clone Harley decides she could live the original Harley's life better than the original Harley. So, original Harley has to quite literally turn her doppelganger into mashed potatoes. 

In the pages of the monthly "Wolverine" title, Hank McCoy decides to produce a small army of Wolverine clones, each with reduced intellects and heightened savage animal instincts. Why does a former hero known for his near-Richards-level intellect think this isn't the stupidest idea ever? Because, for better or worse, comics aren't real and don't need to make sense 100% of the time. The original Logan eventually shuts down Beast and heads out to hunt three remaining not-Wolverines in issue #37. After enlisting the aid of the incredible Hulk, Logan tracks one of the not-hims to Japan, where the clone's been taken in by a forest-dwelling death cult. The cultists somehow discovered they can use the blood of a Wolverine clone to heal their wounds; as a consequence, this not-Wolverine regularly shouts phrases like "Help good! Blood good!" and "Wolverine help! Wolverine good! No more hurt!" We don't see what the Hulk does to him off-panel, but the actual Logan describes it as a "mercy killing" — we can infer it's slightly less terrible than we can imagine, but still too messed up to put in a comic book an impressionable child might read. 

 Because this particular not-Wolverine demonstrates genuine enthusiasm for helping others — quite unlike Beast's other savage Wolverine clones, who demonstrate quite the opposite — we feel he deserves to be honored as a superhero, albeit a short-lived and ineffective superhero.

Calling Tom King a polarizing writer is a comics journalism trope by this point, so maybe we shouldn't be surprised that we have no idea what to make of "Danger Street" — a self-contained 12-issue maxiseries and King's latest with "Rorschach" artist Jorge Fornés. Its advocates might appreciate the excavation of forgotten corners of DC lore and the experimental structure. But a cynic might wonder if somebody at DC figured that if King can take a basically bad idea Bill Finger and Dick Sprang barfed up in 1960, slap a two-word catchphrase and a self-deprecating personality on it, and turn Kite Man into a beloved IP and the star of his very own HBO animated series, well, we might as well see if King can do something similar with the Dingbats of Danger Street or Lady Cop or Starman or The Creeper or any of the other way too many characters in "Danger Street." 

Manhunter Mark Shaw — who DC nerds may remember from his prominent role in Brian Michael Bendis' tenue overseeing Superman — is also one of the too many characters in "Danger Street," and he embarks upon a mission to snuff out a malignant boy billionaire known as The Commodore. For his efforts, Shaw finds himself without a left leg, impaled on an adversary's sword, and expired in a pool of blood atop a Los Angeles skyscraper known as the Green Team building. This all comes courtesy of Commodore's personal bodyguard, Codename: Assassin.

In strictest terms, calling Social Media Jeff a superhero might be a stretch. He has no superpowers that we know of; in an official capacity, he works for Godolkin University, which is pretty much evil, and a subsidiary of the thoroughly and intensely evil Vought International. He also mansplains a Vought-branded personal body massager to Marie during a conversation in which he uses the terms "soul sista" and "yas queen," as well as "hashtag black girl magic" because in addition to being so performatively anti-racist that he scans as actually kind of racist, he also doesn't see an issue with saying "hashtag" out loud in normal conversations. 

Social Media Jeff is a monster; his specific version of terminally online brainrot glows with insincerity and a nasty inclination for oblivious overreaching. But he's also Godolkin's social media director, and isn't there something a little super-heroic about every digital media professional? We here at Looper certainly think so, and we're certain that you do, too. 

After signing off a livestream with "hashtag hot Jeff summer," Social Media Jeff uses a sonic weapon to subdue a marauding supe who recently escaped from the Woods. Then he force-feeds her a small bomb, which ends her life very soon thereafter. Later, in an instance of poetic justice, Cate Dunlap mind-pushes Social Media Jeff into exploding the same kind of small bomb within his own mouth, adding Social Media Jeff to the conspicuously long list of characters from "Gen V" and "The Boys" who die by head explody. 

Played by stuntperson Vaios Skretas, the teleporting Godolkin student imprisoned in the Woods was colloquially referred to as "Teleporter Guy" until Amazon Prime's X-Ray info revealed that he's officially listed as "Shredded Shirt Supe." This nomenclature made little sense to us, at first; after all, his shirt appears intact throughout most of Episode 8. However, his shirt does indeed become shredded when Marie sends a barrage of blood blades through his torso in order to protect a helicopter full of Vought executives — including CEO Ashley Barrett — from what certainly would've been an ugly teleportation-oriented demise.   

Moments earlier, Marie de-escalates the rioting of a character labeled Glowing Eyes Supe by inducing a heart attack. However, we have no way of knowing whether or not Glowing Eyes Supe survived the incident. She certainly wouldn't be the first person to live through a heart attack. 

"Invincible" Season 2 begins with a major downer: Having apparently joined his father's megalomaniacal quest to conquer Earth, Invincible engages in a mid-air "Dragon Ball"-style battle against the Immortal. The two heroes are fairly evenly matched until Omni-Man swoops in, removes Immortal's left arm from the rest of his body, breaks his other arm, and decapitates him so that Invincible can squish the Immortal's disembodied head. "Immortal your way out of that," quips Invincible. As it turns out, Immortal was attempting to draw Invincible and Omni-Man away from a base of resistance fighters organizing to fend off Omni-Man's domination of Earth. 

Not long after, we find out that this is all happening on an evil alternate timeline and the version of the Immortal "Invincible" fans recognize from Season 1 is alive and well. But this is the second time we've seen Omni-Man rip the Immortal to pieces, so let's go ahead and not be surprised if Immortal turns up again on a future "Superheroes We Lost" list. 

It's been a rough year for mutant rock stars. Created by Chris Claremont and Bob McLeod during Claremont's famously prosperous 1980s, Lila Cheney is a Joan Jett and Pat Benatar merger with long-range teleportation powers. Granted, she's at least a little redundant whenever Dazzler and Magik or Dazzler and Manifold are anywhere on the premises. But Lila's superfluousness hasn't stopped her from adventuring alongside the likes of Cable and Captain Marvel, and she happens to be the central focus of one of the better "X-Men" fan films on the 'net.

Sadly, as revealed by Kurt Wagner — aka the Uncanny Spider-Man, formerly known as Nightcrawler — during a date with his nemesis and fling Silver Sable, the sentinels that descended upon Krakoa during the 2023 Hellfire Gala made a point to snuff out the teleporters first, and they terminated Lila with a degree of viciousness and brutality that's a little uncomfortable to describe in detail on a family-friendly entertainment website. 

Though he's technically a mutant, Solarr's really been more like a third-tier Avengers antagonist than an affiliate of any X- or X-adjacent group since his debut in "Captain America" #160, published 1973. Killed by a zombie in "Power Man and Iron Fist" #113, published 1984, the sun-powered bottom-feeder returns to the mortal coil on Krakoa and eventually stumbles into New York City's Limbo Embassy following the tragic events of the 2023 Hellfire Gala. Though he's never officially declared a member of Madelyne Pryor's Dark X-Men team, he nevertheless attempts to defend the Embassy from Orchis' attack in "Dark X-Men" #4. His heat abilities are completely useless against Orchis' Goblin Queen — the de facto final boss of this mini-series — who immediately turns his power against him and melts all of the skin off his bones.    

In a previous life, Solarr was a third-rate Captain America villain; in this life, he was a third-rate X-Man. Let's bid Solarr farewell, and hope he continues to climb the ladder after the next time he gets brought back from the dead for some reason. 

As Orchis' Gobin Queen makes her way through the Limbo Embassy, Brimstone Love surrenders and proposes a compromise right before the evil(er) version of Madelyne Pryor sticks her fingers in his eye sockets, stabbing him in the brain and concluding his existence. Though this reality's iteration of Brimstone Love has principally been a thorn in the side of Captain Kate Pryde's Marauders, since he's technically defending the Dark X-Men's headquarters right before Goblin Queen literally pokes him to death, we think that qualifies him as just enough of a superhero for this list. Also, he's a pretty obvious Hellboy knockoff, and who would argue that Hellboy isn't a superhero? A dumb person, that's who. 

Oddly enough, Brimstone Love is a bona fide, serious supervillain on Earth-928 — aka the 2099 timeline, home dimension of Miguel O'Hara. who recently underwent a spike in notoriety via his shenanigans in "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse." Meanwhile on Earth-616, unfortunately for the Dark X-Men and the Limbo Embassy, this universe's Brimstone Love was a pushover.    

It's been an eventful few years for Marc Spector, the most prominent among the many personalities comprising the entity known as Moon Knight. In 2022, he became the focus of a decent if underwhelming Disney+ series starring Oscar Isaac. In 2023, as is sadly common for notable sci-fi-fantasy characters in this cursed era of media, Moon Knight briefly found himself at the center of a phony "wokeness" panic via grifters desperately attempting to squeeze just a few more precious clicks out of warmed-over Gamergate talking points. Also, Moon Knight died.

Moon Knight's passing hardly comes as a surprise — Marvel announced it was bumping off the Fist of Khonshu in July, and kept its promise in "Moon Knight" #30 by Jed MacKay and Alessandro Cappuccio. The issue ends with Moon Knight sacrificing himself to protect New York City from a bomb that would've driven the whole town insane, while his Scooby gang consisting of Tigra, Reese, Hunter's Moon, Soldier, and 8-Ball hold down the fort at Midnight Mission.