This Collider feature rounds up ten comic book deaths that the writer argues genuinely reshaped the medium, rather than being reversed or used purely for shock value. It distinguishes these from widely known deaths like Uncle Ben's, focusing instead on moments that altered a character's world or the industry's approach to storytelling and violence.

Highlighted examples include Superman's 1993 death fighting Doomsday, which introduced four temporary replacement heroes and proved even DC's most invincible character could die; Mar-Vell's death from cancer, notable for showing a superhero could be killed by something as mundane as illness rather than a battle; and Alexandra DeWitt's murder in 1994's Green Lantern #54, whose graphic nature prompted writer Gail Simone to launch a website critiquing the trope of violence against women in comics, a debate that spread well beyond the industry.