10 Best Fakeout Endings In Comics
Those fantastic swerves that totally had us all fooled.
Transcript
00:00The world of comic books is one forever full of false twists and turns as it looks to pull
00:04the rug out from under its readers. Just when you think a tale is taking a left turn, so often we
00:09see said tale veer off and take a right. These fake-out endings in comics were so bloody good
00:15that you had to commend them. So let's take a look at them as I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com,
00:19and these are the 10 Best Fake-Out Endings in Comics.
00:2210. Superman Can't Save Green Arrow
00:26This particular fake-out was great in how DC Comics actually went through with killing off
00:31Oliver Queen. Once the all-powerful Man of Steel arrived on the scene, it was presumed that the
00:35big blue Boy Scout would fly in and save the day as he had done so time and time again over the
00:40decades. Superman is Superman, and thus forever does Superman things. For the most part, this
00:45means always overcoming any odds, always triumphing, and always being the great shining hope of comics.
00:51This time, though, the last son of Krypton was helpless as Oliver sacrificed his own life
00:55to save Metropolis. Essentially, this was a fake-out that was the opposite of what we were
01:00used to. As Green Arrow number 100 came to an end, Ollie was in an airplane heading to the home city
01:05of Superman, with his arm trapped in an explosive device that would detonate and wipe out Metropolis
01:10should he remove his limb. The big cliffhanger was how Supes could save the Emerald Archer.
01:15After weighing up all options, the only way Kal-El can save Queen is to use his heat vision to sever
01:20the arrow's arm, and then detonate the bomb elsewhere. Shockingly, the concept of Superman
01:25saving the day was the fake-out here, with Ollie setting off the bomb and sacrificing himself for
01:29the greater good, rather than becoming a one-armed archer. That was in 1995,
01:34and Queen would remain dead for the next six years.
01:379. The Not-Quite-Death of Captain America
01:40While Captain America more recently had the fake-out revealed that he actually hadn't been
01:44working as an undercover HYDRA agent for the past several decades, a far more engaging fake-out
01:48relating to the Sentinel of Liberty occurred in the aftermath of 2006's Civil War arc.
01:53After Steve Rogers and Tony Stark had butted heads over Stark's belief that all superheroes
01:57needed to be registered and governed, the fallout of this saw the does-exactly-as-it-said-on-the-tin
02:02tale of Fallen Son, the death of Captain America. Having handed himself into SHIELD custody after
02:07Civil War, Cap is assassinated at the orders of the Red Skull. Skull first had Crossbones shoot
02:12Rogers from a distance with a sniper rifle, and then brainwashed Sharon Carter, who was at this
02:16point dating Steve, to deliver the fatal shot from close range. With that, Captain America was dead.
02:21The world of Marvel Comics grieved, two funerals took place, and the world tried to adjust to a
02:26life without Steve Rogers by having Bucky Barnes take on the Cap mantle as per Rogers' wishes.
02:31Much like the death of Superman back in 1993, Rogers remained dead for a hefty amount of time,
02:36and it would be two years later with Captain America reborn that we'd see Steve return,
02:41what with it revealed that the fatal shot from Sharon Carter had phased Cap through space and
02:45time rather than killed him. Because of course it did.
02:488. Wolverine Isn't Dead, He's Death
02:521999 saw Marvel Comics make the bold move to kill off one of its most popular characters
02:56ever in the form of Wolverine. Of course, comics being comics, this death was shown to be a ruse,
03:01and Logan would be dead for barely a month. Not just that, but Wolverine himself would be revealed
03:06as his own killer. To clarify this point, September 99's astonishing X-Men number 3
03:11has Wolvie murdered by the latest new horseman of the apocalypse, Death. With this taking readers
03:16by genuine surprise, the rest of Charles Xavier's merry band of mutants discovered that the dead
03:20Wolverine is actually a shape-shifting Skrull who had been serving undercover as Wolverine for
03:25months. By the time of X-Men number 95 a month later, the mysterious Death would eventually be
03:29unmasked to reveal themselves to be… Wolverine. In an explanation typical of the time, it would
03:34be detailed how Apocalypse had orchestrated the plan to have Old Knucklehead replaced in the X-Men
03:40via Doppelganger. The real Logan would be kidnapped and brainwashed in order to serve as Death under
03:45the charge of Apocalypse. This may have been a tad too convoluted once the truth was spotlighted,
03:50but it was still a great rug pull to find Wolverine as the person parading as Death.
03:54Number 7. Robin is forced to kill Batgirl
03:57The daughter of assassins Lady Shiva and David Kane, Cassandra Kane spent her younger days
04:02solely being trained in brutal fashion to become a master martial artist. While she became well-versed
04:07in a plethora of fighting styles, part of the strict training regime meant she wasn't allowed
04:12to speak, and thus she was a mute when readers were first introduced to her as the new Batgirl in
04:161999. As part of 2005's Fresh Blood story, Cass and the Tim Drake incarnation of Robin find
04:23themselves caught up in one of the Penguin's schemes. Forced by Cobblepot and his cohorts to
04:27fight to the death or both be killed, these two heroes get surprisingly brutal with one another.
04:32The violent, aggressive auntie upped by Kane mocking Tim for how he'll never be Batman,
04:37and Robin responding by slating Batgirl's off brutal methods. With Cass knocked unconscious,
04:43Penguin wants to make sure the deed is done, and so he gives Robin a gun to make sure Batgirl
04:47really is dead, and jarringly, Drake doesn't hesitate in putting a bullet into his teammate.
04:52The brilliant part of this is that Batgirl's intense training means that she's remarkably
04:56able to not flinch after being shot. The tragic part of this, of course,
05:00is that it shows how disturbing that training was. Regardless, Kane soon gets to her feet,
05:04as our two heroes then take out the bad guys.
05:076. Jean Grey Doesn't Return
05:10Death is famously far from a permanent arrangement in the world of comics,
05:14and few characters have had as many encounters with the Grim Reaper as the X-Men's Jean Grey.
05:19Jean has died, been resurrected, died again, had fake-out deaths, had fake-out resurrections,
05:23had alternative versions of herself surface, and a whole lot more since she debuted in September
05:281963 as part of the original X-Men lineup, created by the legendary duo of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
05:34At the times that Jean was dead in the main 616 Marvel canon, it always felt like yet another
05:39return from the grave was only just an issue or two away. So when Joss Whedon and John Cassidy's
05:44run on Astonishing X-Men began with a mutant cure being tested out on unwilling subjects,
05:49it seemed as if Jean was back from the dead when Beast pondered,
05:52why does nothing ever stay buried? In response to Beast's troubled comment,
05:56even Cyclops believed that Jean had returned. Skip ahead to the end of Astonishing X-Men 4,
06:01and it was actually Colossus, who died four years prior, who was back from the grave.
06:05And thank God for that, because another return of Jean Grey was so not needed at that point in time.
06:095. There's Still Life Left in The Dark Knight
06:13Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns is widely regarded as one of the greatest comic book tales
06:18in the history of the medium. Picking things up ten years after Bruce Wayne has hung up the old
06:22capon cowl, the battered, broken, older Bruce is forced to suit up once more when the brutal
06:28mutants gang surfaces to terrorise Gotham. But with the re-emergence of the Caped Crusader,
06:32the US government sends Superman to politely talk Wayne out of returning from retirement.
06:37Of course, once the threat of the mutants is finally quelled, not to mention a battle with
06:41the Joker that'll see the Clown Prince of Crime take his own life and frame Bats for his murder,
06:45readers got the inevitable match-up of Batman vs Superman. In a war that saw both men beat
06:50the tar out of each other, this legendary fight was only brought to a halt once Bruce's heart
06:55failed on him. Here we get the image of the Man of Steel cradling the dead body of his long-time
07:00friend-slash-foe, before the scene then cuts to Wayne's funeral. As Clark Kent, Selina, Kyle,
07:04and Jim Gordon stand at the grave of Gotham's greatest protector, it's then that Clark and
07:09his super-hearing picks up the murmurs of a heartbeat. This led to the revelation that
07:13Bruce had slowed his heart down by using certain chemicals, and that Carrie Kelly,
07:17his new Robin, was able to dig up Wayne's air-quote dead body.
07:214. Doc Ock's Superiority Over Spider-Man Kills Peter Parker
07:25While he often uses his smarts for nefarious means, there's absolutely no doubting the vast
07:30intelligence of Otto Octavius. Likely the greatest example of said smarts came during the Dying Wish
07:35Tale, where Doctor Octopus was able to change the very fundamentals of the Spider-Man books of the
07:40time. And how did he do this? Why, Ock managed to switch bodies with the one and only Peter Parker.
07:45After years of tormenting the wall-crawler, and obviously continually getting bested by
07:49the old web-head, the terminally ill Otto put into place one final masterplan in an
07:54attempt to save his life. Said masterplan saw Octavius swap consciousness with Peter,
07:58just as Doc's body was about to take its final breath. Thus, Parker died in the body of Ock,
08:03and the spirit of Otto was placed in the alive, and very well, body of Spider-Man.
08:08With that, readers were left to believe that Peter Parker had died in the body of Otto Octavius,
08:13as Ock, now proclaiming his intention to prove himself as the superior Spider-Man to Peter
08:17Parker, encouraged his long-time rival to embrace a life of heroism.
08:21The complete demise of Peter was a fake-out here, with his consciousness eventually resurfacing in
08:26his own body to serve as something of a good angel to Otto. Still, Octavius would parade
08:30as Spider-Man for over a year before voluntarily letting Parker regain control of his own body,
08:35in order to stop Norman Osborn as part of the Goblin Nation arc.
08:393. The Joker as Gotham's Eternal Prince
08:43Having been absent for over two years following the events of 2012's A Death of the Family,
08:47the Joker resurfaced in magnificent fashion in Batman Endgame. When the disguised clown
08:52prince of crime comes face-to-face with bats, he lets the cat out of the bag that he is an
08:57eternal prince, who has tormented Gotham City for centuries. For Jim Gordon and Batman,
09:01this bold claim is given further credence when they discover Joker in countless images
09:05from Gotham's past. Despite it sounding impossible, the excellent storytelling of
09:10the arc makes the reader, in addition to Gordon and the Dark Knight, start to believe that the
09:14jester of genocide's claims of being immortal are actually genuine. This is only further
09:18emphasised when the Joker rises up after being fatally shot by Gordon. All of this plays out
09:23over the backdrop of Gotham City being infected by a new strain of the Joker virus, and we're
09:27led to believe that Mr J really has got the better of Batman this time out. The world's
09:31greatest detective would eventually deduce that his long-time rival is actually just
09:35full of bullshit, and that the Joker has merely beefed up his immune system using a ton of drugs.
09:39As for the images of Joker from decades past, that was all merely a well-constructed ruse.
09:442. The Death of Deadpool is Far More Than We Thought
09:47The 250th of Deadpool's collective solo titles, also known as Deadpool Volume 5,
09:52Number 45, was heavily billed as the death of the famed Merc with a Mouth. This issue
09:57involved an all-out war that pitted Wade Wilson against Flag Smasher and the Ultimatum Group.
10:02Promoted as Deadpool's final stand, reading through the issue really did have you leaning
10:06towards Marvel being serious about killing off the regenerating Degenerate. And while Wilson's
10:11death would eventually happen, the fake-out element was that his demise was a whole lot
10:15more than we were led to believe. Wade actually overcame the odds to topple Flag Smasher and
10:19Ultimatum, and readers got somewhat of a fake-out when Wade Wilson discarded his Deadpool costume
10:24and weapons before declaring Deadpool was dead. This was a part of Wilson leaving behind his
10:29superhero slash anti-hero slash supervillain alter-ego as he and his nearest and dearest
10:34stole a yacht to start a new life. Was this really what was meant by the death? It seems so,
10:39well, until not only was Wade killed off, but the entire population of Earth died as the incursion
10:44between the main 616 Marvel Universe and the Ultimate Marvel Universe happened in order to
10:48set up the Secret Wars crossover event. 1. James Gordon Jr. Is Not His Sister's
10:54Knight in Shining Armor
10:56One of the great comic book runs of the modern era is Gail Simone's time writing Batgirl,
11:01as Barbara Gordon successfully underwent experimental surgery to regain her mobility.
11:05And with said regaining of mobility came Babs once more suiting up to protect the
11:09streets of Gotham City. With Barbara still haunted by what the Joker did to her so many
11:13years ago, it's not long before Batgirl once again finds herself butting heads with the
11:17gesture of genocide. After taking her mother hostage, the Joker insists Batgirl become his
11:22bride in order to spare Mrs. Gordon. Just when it looks like Babs has no choice but to give into
11:27the harlequin of hate's demands, her brother James Jr. arrives on the scene to put a stop to
11:31the Joker's scheme. As this issue, Batgirl Volume 5, Number 16, rolls to a close, these strained
11:36siblings look to be on the same page, only for this in itself to be a fakeout, as James Jr.
11:42sneakily ambushes his sister with a chemical attack. With that, Jimbo leaves Batgirl for
11:47the Joker in order that Mr. J let his mother go free. Having often been a menacing presence himself,
11:52we were all fooled into thinking that James Gordon Jr. had finally changed his spots.
11:57Only he hadn't, the sinister little prick.
11:59And there we go my friends, those were the 10 best fakeout endings in comics. I hope you enjoyed
12:03that and please let me know what you thought about it down in the comments section below.
12:06As always, I've been Jules, you can go follow me over on Twitter at RetroJ with a zero,
12:10or you can swing by Live and Let's Dice where I do all of my streaming outside of work,
12:13and it'd be great to see you over there. As always, I've been Jules,
12:16you have been awesome, never forget that, and I'll speak to you soon. Bye.