User blog comment:Drayco90/Marvel vs. DC- The Red Skull vs. The Joker/@comment-5338740-20120326041609/@comment-143604-20120328000407

That a fact, Las?


 * Shortly after, a major cross-over event happened, and to shake up the status quo, said A-List super hero was killed, rather horrifically and tragically, during a heroic sacrifice. However, neither hero was dead at all, and actuall stuck in some time-travel nonsense, before they could come back to life about a year or two after their death.


 * Their deaths caused a huge outbreak in the superhero community about who should be the replacement ("Who Should Wield The Shield" and "Battle for the Cowl") which pit side-kicks and friends against each other in personal and emotional stuggles, except Jason Todd being evil in Battle for the Cowl, because he's a dick anyway. It concludes with the original sidekick taking up the mantle of their predacesor, despite their own fears that they aren't worthy or that it is tasteless.


 * During their time dead, one of their sidekicks took up the mantle of the character at about the same time, and with a slightly changed costume, they spent a while fighting a new, weirder, rouges gallery while their classic villains struggled with the "new" character, because they weren't used to fighting the sidekick.


 * When said A-List superhero returned from the dead, there was some debate in the community about who should wear the cowl/wield the shield- the replacement, or the original, and both conclude with both the superhero and the sidekick remaining the actual hero. (although Cap would become simply "Commander Rogers" a little later, but that's not the point...)

There's been a lot of death-revive in comics, but these two arching storylines have been VERY eerie and unsetteling. Marvel HAS been putting the stories out first, however. That and the crossover Batman "died" in was nearly unreadable until months after it finished.