Summary
Booster Gold, from the future and armed with advanced technology, has never died, possibly due to his knowledge of future events.
Batman is the only iconic Justice League member who has never died, with his supposed death turning out to be a time-travel incident and his brief death during Lazarus Planet being quickly reversed.
The heroes of the Justice League regularly put their lives on the line, and over the years, many League members have been killed in action. The nature of superhero stories means many of these deaths have been reversed, with those who perished able to return to life, and rejoined the team for another tour of duty – and as a result, it might seem as though every Justice Leaguehero has been killed off at some point or another.
As it turns out, this is not the case. Not every Justice Leaguemember has made the ultimate sacrifice. More than a handful have managed to survive their entire tenure with the organization. In fact, some have even achieved the improbable feat of not being killed at all. Below are ten DC Comics superheroes who have never died in official DC continuity.
10 Plastic Man
Plastic Man is one of the least surprising Justice League heroes to never die – considering he literally can’t. Due to the unique powers of Plastic Man, the character is functionally immortal. He’s been shattered, stretched, and tossed into space, but time again he has always managed to reform and come back, just as strong as ever. Aside from reality-warping enemies, the nature of whose powers are able to circumvent Plastic Man’s – though again, not put an end to him in any definitive way – nothing the Justice League has gone up against has ever managed to leave a significant scratch on Plastic Man.
9 Booster Gold
Booster Gold, also known as Michael Carter, is a man from the 25th century, though he really wasn’t special or important in that time period. At some point, Michael got the brilliant idea to use his technology to travel back to the past, where his advanced tech would allow him to function as a superhero. Despite these initially selfish reasons, Booster Gold did grow into being a true hero over time. There have been many times that Booster has been prepared lay down his life to save the world, but surprisingly, he hasn’t actually died in DC’s main continuity, perhaps due to the fact he’s from the future and knows everything already.
8 Steel
After the iconic death of Superman, multiple characters stepped up to try and take his place, including John Henry Irons. Known as the superhero Steel, John had been saved by Superman previously, and witnessed Superman’s death at the hands of Doomsday. Inspired by Superman’s sacrifice, John decided to take the Man of Steel title literally, building himself a steel suit, which he used to fight crime, and protect Metropolis in honor of Superman’s memory. This eventually led to John joining the Justice League, where he continues to put his life in danger for the good of Earth’s populace, and so far has managed to avoid dying like Superman did.
7 Cyborg
Victor Stone was a fantastic college athlete, but after a tragic accident, his body was left mangled and destroyed. Thankfully, his brilliant scientist father, Cyrus Stone, was able to rebuild his son. This created the superhero known as Cyborg. Cyborg has had a long history in the DC Universe, primarily as a member of the Teen Titans, but he has also been a member of the Justice League. As a member of both the Titans and the League, Cyborg has fought for humanity, doing his best to defend them from the terrors that would do them harm – and he has done so without getting killed in the process.
6 Kyle Rayner
The Green Lanterns are often at a much higher risk of death than other members of the Justice League. Green Lanterns are usually in charge of entire sectors of the universe, while the Justice League focuses primarily on keeping Earth safe. Hal Jordan, arguably the most famous Green Lantern, was killed during the events of Zero Hour, after he went insane and tried to rewrite time. Other Green Lanterns have come close to death, such as John Stewart being sentenced to death for a mistake he made, though he was ultimately spared the punishment. The main DC continuity’s Kyle Rayner has managed to avoid death so far, though alternate versions of him have not been so lucky.
5 Zatanna Zatara
The DC Universe has a large and diverse magical side to it, and one of the company’s most iconic magical heroes is Zatanna Zatara. Zatanna grew up under the tutelage of her father, Giovanni Zatara, who was a world-renowned magician. Because of her father’s training, Zatanna is rich in magical ability, and is one of DC’s greatest mystical heroes. In addition to being a member of the Justice League, she has also led the Justice League Dark, saving the world numerous times. Considering one of Zatanna’s many mystical skills including escapology, it is no surprise that no matter how dangerous a situation Zatanna finds herself in, she always has an out.
4 Black Canary
Almost no one in the DC Universe has the resume that Black Canary does. She has been the leader of both the Birds of Prey and the Justice League. She is one of the greatest hand-to-hand fighters on the planet, and Black Canary’s powers are strong enough to bring down Superman. To put Dinah’s skills into perspective, even when she went up against an evil Superman in the Injustice universe, she still wasn’t killed. She’s one of the few characters to face off against Superman, when the Man of Steel isn’t holding back, and come out of it alive, proving that her status as one of DC’s perennial survivors is well-earned.
3 Lex Luthor
The New 52 was a very weird time for certain comic book characters. After the death of New 52’s Superman, Lex Luthor was inspired by the Man of Steel’s sacrifice, and decided to honor Clark by taking up the mantle of Superman himself. While this storyline may seem inexplicable, or readers may expect that Luthor was working some nefarious plan all along, this was legitimately done in good faith, as Lex tried to be a hero. This would eventually culminate with Lex Luthor joining the Justice League, fighting alongside them for the betterment of humanity for a time. While Lex Luthor has encountered Death, before he’s never experienced it himself – at least not yet.
2 Blue Beetle (Jamie Reyes)
There have been three Blue Beetles throughout DC Comic’s history, from Dan Garret, to Ted Kord, and finally Jamie Reyes. While Blue Beetle has never had the draw of Batman or Superman, the character still manages to consistently show up in DC’s animated features, and has just recently gotten a major live-action movie adaptation. Blue Beetle is a character that revolves around the Scarab, an alien artifact from outer space, which grants the user an amazing set of armor and fantastic skills to go with it. While Jamie has faced all kinds of lethal threats, he’s so far managed to avoid facing a similar fate to Ted Kord, the second Blue Beetle, who was infamously killed by Maxwell Lord.
1 Batman
Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, The Flash, Martian Manhunter, and Green Lantern – one commonality they share is that all have died over the course of their time in the Justice League. The only iconic member of the League who has never died is Batman. The most famous example of Batman’s death was during Final Crisis, where Batman was presumed killed by Darkseid, but this turned out to not be true. Batman was merely sent back in time by Darkseid’s Omega Effect. Batman did technically die during Lazarus Planet, he was only dead for a few moments before being brought back by a Lazarus Pit, a far cry from the true death experienced by many of his teammates. While death has been used for drama in Batman stories countless times, the Caped Crusader has never been killed off.
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