10 Untouchable Comics Heroes (Who Shockingly Died)

If a character dies from cancer in a comic book, chances are good that they're not coming back anytime soon. DC and especially Marvel tend to save the more realistic ways to go for characters whom they have every intention of keeping dead.

The original Captain Marvel is easily among the most obscure characters in the entire Marvel canon. It took Carol Danvers to bring it out of total obscurity and even then it took 2 or 3 decades for that to happen. Meanwhile Mar Vell wallowed in total obscurity alongside the original Guardians of the Galaxy, only kinda saved by Jim Starlin. And even then, he was mostly promoted to only *kinda* obscure instead of "who is this guy again?"

Eventually, Marvel got the memo that no one liked Mar Vell, so they decided to get rid of him in the most certain way imaginable: Kill him via cancer. This occurs in "The Death Of Captain Marvel", where Mar contracted cancer from a supervillain, fails to cure himself, and ends up dying.

They would seem to bring him back later, only to discover that - like all unpopular resurrections in Marvel - it was a Skrull posing as him the whole time.