Those fantastic swerves that totally had us all fooled.
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00:00 The world of comic books is one forever full of false twists and turns as it looks to pull
00:04 the rug out from under its readers.
00:06 Just when you think a tale is taking a left turn, so often we see said tale veer off and
00:11 take a right.
00:12 These fake-out endings in comics were so bloody good that you had to commend them.
00:16 So let's take a look at them as I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com, and these are the
00:19 10 Best Fake-Out Endings in Comics.
00:22 10.
00:23 Superman Can't Save Green Arrow
00:26 This particular fake-out was great in how DC Comics actually went through with killing
00:30 off Oliver Queen.
00:32 Once the all-powerful Man of Steel arrived on the scene, it was presumed that the big
00:35 blue Boy Scout would fly in and save the day as he had done so time and time again over
00:39 the decades.
00:41 Superman is Superman, and thus forever does Superman things.
00:44 For the most part, this means always overcoming any odds, always triumphing, and always being
00:49 the great shining hope of comics.
00:51 This time, though, the last son of Krypton was helpless as Oliver sacrificed his own
00:55 life to save Metropolis.
00:57 Essentially, this was a fake-out that was the opposite of what we were used to.
01:01 As Green Arrow #100 came to an end, Oliver was in an airplane heading to the home city
01:05 of Superman, with his arm trapped in an explosive device that would detonate and wipe out Metropolis
01:10 should he remove his limb.
01:11 The big cliffhanger was how Supes could save the Emerald Archer.
01:15 After weighing up all options, the only way Kal-El can save Queen is to use his heat vision
01:19 to sever the arrow's arm, and then detonate the bomb elsewhere.
01:23 Shockingly, the concept of Superman saving the day was the fake-out here, with Oli setting
01:27 off the bomb and sacrificing himself for the greater good rather than becoming a one-armed
01:31 archer.
01:32 That was in 1995, and Queen would remain dead for the next six years.
01:37 9.
01:38 The Not-Quite-Death of Captain America
01:39 While Captain America more recently had the fake-out reveal that he actually hadn't
01:43 been working as an undercover HYDRA agent for the past several decades, a far more engaging
01:47 fake-out relating to the Sentinel of Liberty occurred in the aftermath of 2006's Civil
01:52 War arc.
01:53 After Steve Rogers and Tony Stark had butted head over Stark's belief that all superheroes
01:57 needed to be registered and governed, the fallout of this saw the 'does exactly as
02:01 it says on the tin tail of fallen sun' - the death of Captain America.
02:05 Having handed himself into SHIELD custody after Civil War, Cap is assassinated at the
02:09 orders of the Red Skull.
02:10 Skull first had Crossbones shoot Rogers from a distance with a sniper rifle, and then brainwashed
02:15 Sharon Carter - who was at this point dating Steve - to deliver the fatal shot from close
02:19 range.
02:20 With that, Captain America was dead.
02:21 The world of Marvel Comics grieved, two funerals took place, and the world tried to adjust
02:26 to a life without Steve Rogers by having Bucky Barnes take on the Cap mantle, as per Rogers'
02:30 wishes.
02:31 Much like the death of Superman back in 1993, Rogers remained dead for a hefty amount of
02:35 time.
02:36 And it would be two years later, with Captain America reborn, that we'd see Steve return,
02:41 what with it revealed that the fatal shot from Sharon Carter had actually phased Cap
02:44 through space and time, rather than killed him.
02:47 Because of course it did.
02:48 8.
02:49 Wolverine Isn't Dead, He's Death
02:51 1999 saw Marvel Comics make the bold move to kill off one of its most popular characters
02:56 ever in the form of Wolverine.
02:58 Of course, comics being comics, this death was shown to be a ruse, and Logan would be
03:02 dead for barely a month.
03:03 Not just that, but Wolverine himself would be revealed as his own killer.
03:07 Clarify this point, September '99's astonishing X-Men #3 has Wolvie murdered by the latest
03:13 new horseman of the apocalypse, Death.
03:15 With this taking readers by genuine surprise, the rest of Charles Xavier's merry band
03:19 of mutants discovered that the dead Wolverine is actually a shape-shifting Skrull who had
03:22 been serving undercover as Wolverine for months.
03:25 By the time of X-Men #95, a month later, the mysterious Death would eventually be unmasked
03:30 to reveal themselves to be… Wolverine.
03:32 In an explanation typical of the time, it would be detailed how Apocalypse had orchestrated
03:36 the plan to have Old Knucklehead replaced in the X-Men by a doppelganger.
03:41 The real Logan would be kidnapped and brainwashed in order to serve as Death under the charge
03:45 of Apocalypse.
03:46 This may have been a tad too convoluted once the truth was spotlighted, but it was still
03:50 a great rug pull to find Wolverine as the person parading as Death.
03:54 7.
03:55 Robin is forced to kill Batgirl
03:57 The daughter of assassins Lady Shiva and David Cain, Cassandra Cain spent her younger days
04:02 solely being trained in brutal fashion to become a master martial artist.
04:06 While she became well-versed in a plethora of fighting styles, part of the strict training
04:10 regime meant that she wasn't allowed to speak.
04:12 And thus, she was a mute when readers were first introduced to her as the new Batgirl
04:16 in 1999.
04:18 As part of 2005's Fresh Blood story, Cass and the Tim Drake incarnation of Robin find
04:22 themselves caught up in one of the Penguin's schemes.
04:25 Forced by Cobblepot and his cohorts to fight to the death or both be killed, these two
04:29 heroes get surprisingly brutal with one another.
04:32 The violent, aggressive Ante upped by Cain, mocking Tim for how he'll never be Batman,
04:37 and Robin responding by slating Batgirls off brutal methods.
04:41 With Cass knocked unconscious, Penguin wants to make sure the deed is done, and so he gives
04:45 Robin a gun to make sure Batgirl really is dead.
04:48 And jarringly, Drake doesn't hesitate in putting a bullet into his teammate.
04:52 The brilliant part of this is that Batgirl's intense training means that she's remarkably
04:56 able to not flinch after being shot.
04:58 The tragic part of this, of course, is that it shows how disturbing that training was.
05:02 Regardless, Cain soon gets to her feet, as our two heroes then take out the bad guys.
05:07 6.
05:08 Jean Grey Doesn't Return
05:10 Death is famously far from a permanent arrangement in the world of comics, and few characters
05:14 have had as many encounters with the Grim Reaper as the X-Men's Jean Grey.
05:19 Jean has died, been resurrected, died again, had fake-out deaths, had fake-out resurrections,
05:23 had alternative versions of her self-surface, and a whole lot more since she debuted in
05:27 September 1963 as part of the original X-Men line-up, created by the legendary duo of Stan
05:33 Lee and Jack Kirby.
05:34 At the times that Jean was dead in the main 616 Marvel canon, it always felt like yet
05:38 another return from the grave was only just an issue or two away.
05:42 So when Joss Whedon and John Cassidy's run on Astonishing X-Men began with a mutant cure
05:47 being tested out on unwilling subjects, it seemed as if Jean was back from the dead when
05:51 Beast pondered, "Why does nothing ever stay buried?"
05:54 In response to Beast's troubled comment, even Cyclops believed that Jean had returned.
05:58 Skip ahead to the end of Astonishing X-Men #4, and it was actually Colossus, who died
06:02 four years prior, who was back from the grave.
06:05 And thank God for that, because another return of Jean Grey was so not needed at that point
06:09 in time.
06:10 5.
06:11 The Dark Knight's Life Left
06:13 Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns is widely regarded as one of the greatest comic
06:17 book tales in the history of the medium.
06:19 Picking things up ten years after Bruce Wayne has hung up the old cape and cowl, the battered,
06:24 broken, older Bruce is forced to suit up once more when the brutal Mutants gang surfaces
06:29 to terrorise Gotham.
06:30 But with the re-emergence of the Caped Crusader, the US government sends Superman to politely
06:35 talk Wayne out of returning from retirement.
06:37 Of course, once the threat of the Mutants is finally quelled, not to mention a battle
06:41 with the Joker that would see the Clown Prince of Crime take his own life and frame Bats
06:44 for his murder, readers got the inevitable match-up of Batman vs Superman.
06:49 In a war that saw both men beat the tar out of each other, this legendary fight was only
06:53 brought to a halt once Bruce's heart failed on him.
06:56 Here we get the image of the Man of Steel cradling the dead body of his longtime friend/foe,
07:01 before the scene then cuts to Wayne's funeral.
07:03 As Clark Kent, Selina, Kyle and Jim Gordon stand at the grave of Gotham's greatest
07:07 protector, it's then that Clark and his super-hearing picks up the murmurs of a heartbeat.
07:11 This led to the revelation that Bruce had slowed his heart down by using certain chemicals,
07:16 and that Carrie Kelly, his new Robin, was able to dig up Wayne's air-quotes "dead
07:20 body".
07:21 4.
07:22 Doc Ock's superiority over Spider-Man kills Peter Parker
07:25 While he often uses his smarts for nefarious means, there's absolutely no doubting the
07:29 vast intelligence of Otto Octavius.
07:31 Likely the greatest example of said smarts came during the 'Dying Wish' tale, where
07:36 Doctor Octopus was able to change the very fundamentals of the Spider-Man books of the
07:40 time.
07:41 And how did he do this?
07:42 Why, Ock managed to switch bodies with the one and only Peter Parker.
07:45 After years of tormenting the wall-crawler, and obviously continually getting bested by
07:49 the old web-head, the terminally ill Otto put into place one final master plan in an
07:53 attempt to save his life.
07:55 Said master plan saw Octavius swap consciousness with Peter, just as Doc's body was about
07:59 to take its final breath.
08:01 Thus, Parker died in the body of Ock, and the spirit of Otto was placed in the alive
08:05 and very well body of Spider-Man.
08:08 With that, readers were left to believe that Peter Parker had died in the body of Otto
08:12 Octavius, as Ock, now proclaiming his intention to prove himself as the superior Spider-Man
08:16 to Peter Parker, encouraged his long-time rival to embrace a life of heroism.
08:21 The complete demise of Peter was a fakeout here, with his consciousness eventually resurfacing
08:25 in his own body to serve as something of a good angel to Otto.
08:29 Still, Octavius would parade as Spider-Man for over a year before voluntarily letting
08:33 Parker regain control of his own body in order to stop Norman Osborn as part of the Goblin
08:38 Nation arc.
08:39 3.
08:40 The Joker as Gotham's Eternal Prince
08:42 Having been absent for over two years following the events of 2012's 'A Death of the Family',
08:47 the Joker resurfaced in magnificent fashion in 'Batman Endgame'.
08:51 When the disguised clown prince of crime comes face to face with bats, he lets the cat out
08:55 of the bag that he is an eternal prince, who has tormented Gotham City for centuries.
09:00 For Jim Gordon and Batman, this bold claim is given further credence when they discover
09:04 Joker in countless images from Gotham's past.
09:07 Despite it sounding impossible, the excellent storytelling of the arc makes the reader,
09:11 in addition to Gordon and the Dark Knight, start to believe that the gesture of genocide's
09:15 claims of being immortal are actually genuine.
09:17 This is only further emphasised when the Joker rises up after being fatally shot by Gordon.
09:22 All of this plays out over the backdrop of Gotham City being infected by a new strain
09:26 of the Joker virus, and we're led to believe that Mr J really has got the better of Batman
09:30 this time out.
09:31 The world's greatest detective would eventually deduce that his long-time rival is actually
09:34 just full of bullsh*t, and that the Joker has merely beefed up his immune system using
09:38 a ton of drugs.
09:39 As for the images of Joker from decades past, that was all merely a well-constructed ruse.
09:44 2.
09:45 The Death of Deadpool is Far More Than We Thought
09:47 The 250th of Deadpool's collective solo titles, also known as 'Deadpool Vol. 5 #45',
09:53 was heavily billed as the death of the famed Merc With a Mouth.
09:57 This issue involved an all-out war that pitted Wade Wilson against Flag Smasher and the Ultimatum
10:02 Group.
10:03 Promoted as Deadpool's final stand, reading through the issue really did have you leaning
10:06 towards Marvel being serious about killing off the regenerating Degenerate.
10:10 And while Wilson's death would eventually happen, the fake-out element was that his
10:14 demise was a whole lot more than we were led to believe.
10:16 Wade actually overcame the odds to topple Flag Smasher and Ultimatum, and readers got
10:21 somewhat of a fake-out when Wade Wilson discarded his Deadpool costume and weapons before declaring
10:26 Deadpool was dead.
10:27 This was a part of Wilson leaving behind his superhero/antihero/supervillain alter-ego
10:32 as he and his nearest and dearest stole a yacht to start a new life.
10:36 Was this really what was meant by 'the death'?
10:38 It seems so, well, until not only was Wade killed off, but the entire population of Earth
10:43 died as the incursion between the main 616 Marvel Universe and the Ultimate Marvel Universe
10:47 happened in order to set up the Secret Wars crossover event.
10:51 1.
10:52 James Gordon Jr. is not his sister's knight in shining armour
10:56 One of the great comic book runs of the modern era is Gail Simone's time writing Batgirl
11:00 as Barbara Gordon successfully underwent experimental surgery to regain her mobility.
11:05 And with said regaining of mobility came Babs once more suiting up to protect the streets
11:09 of Gotham City.
11:10 With Barbara still haunted by what the Joker did to her so many years ago, it's not long
11:14 before Batgirl once again finds herself butting heads with the jester of genocide.
11:18 After taking her mother hostage, the Joker insists Batgirl become his bride in order
11:22 to spare Mrs. Gordon.
11:24 Just when it looks like Babs has no choice but to give in to the harlequin of hate's
11:28 demands, her brother James Jr. arrives on the scene to put a stop to the Joker's scheme.
11:32 As this issue, Batgirl Vol. 5 #16, rolls to a close, these strained siblings look to be
11:37 on the same page, only for this in itself to be a fake-out, as James Jr. sneakily ambushes
11:43 his sister with a chemical attack.
11:45 With that, Jimbo leaves Batgirl for the Joker in order that Mr. J let his mother go free.
11:50 Having often been a menacing presence himself, we were all fooled into thinking that James
11:54 Gordon Jr. had finally changed his spots.
11:57 Only he hadn't, the sinister little prick.
11:59 And there we go my friends, those were the 10 best fake-out endings in comics.
12:02 I hope you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you thought about it down in the
12:05 comments section below.
12:06 As always I've been Jules, you can go follow me over on Twitter @RetroJWithA0, or you can
12:10 swing by Live and Let's Dice where I do all of my streaming outside of work, and it'd
12:14 be great to see you over there.
12:15 As always I've been Jules, you have been awesome, never forget that, and I'll speak
12:19 to you soon.