Hero Deaths We Need to See

Ok, so there are a lot of heroes who die for no other reason than to sell books. I've never been a big fan of deaths done just to progress a bad story or throw a little shock value into a lagging title, but there are some heroes whose deaths might actually be a powerful moment in comics. Here are my candidates and why:

John Stewart

Ok, so you have entire sectors of the universe that have one Green Lantern patrolling them, but on Earth we have four? In an effort to cut down on things, I say Stewart should go. Kyle and Guy are part of the Honor Guard and are key players in "Green Lantern Corps" stories, and Hal Jordan isn't going anywhere, but imagine the possibilities. In the middle of "Darkest Night", we have Stewart fall and become a Black Lantern. Since the Black Lanterns all come back with their super-powers, we have a former Green Lantern who falls and controls a ring through will power. So what if he could make the Black Lantern rings do something similar to the Green Lantern rings but have some dark effect over them? This man has fought with all the Green Lanterns, so he'd know exactly how to put up the best fight to take them out. He wouldn't win, of course, but imagine how cool the fight scenes would be!

Aunt May

While not technically a hero, she still needs to go. Yes, years ago she had a purpose and place in comic lore as the protector of Peter Parker. Now though, she's outlived her usefulness. It's time to let the hero grow past her. The death of Jonathan Kent (when it wasn't retconned) was powerful because it was the moment the boy had to stand on his own and become a man.

Peter Parker, on the other hand, has been coddling over this woman for decades. Every time she "dies" in the comic books, she always finds a way back to life. She's like a female Doctor Who or something!

Just kill her off and let the death have some emotional impact on Peter. When "Back in Black" was happening, I thought it brought a really tough image to Spider-Man and loved the new direction of the comic. When "Brand New Day" happened, I dropped the title altogether.

Cyclops

He's been killed in the movies and in the Ultimate universe, but let's get rid of him in the standard titles as well. What has Cyclops ever done except constantly pull every reincarnated version of Jean Gray away from Wolverine? Have there been better leaders of the X-Men? Yep. Would his death throw the title forward as shaking the very foundations of the team? Well, yes, only because of his exaggerated importance in the Marvel Universe.

Imagine how powerful the moment would be if he were dead and the team had to move on? He would serve better as a martyr than the hero he currently is. He's not that big of a void to fill, as Beast, Kitty Pryde, or even Wolverine would do a better and tougher job than Scott.

Renee Montoya/The Question

Pretty much just a faceless Lara Croft, Montoya has brought nothing to the character that wasn't there already with Vic Sage. Rather than this conspiracy theory behind-the-scenes tough guy, we have this tough girl who shoots guns and does karate to the bad guys. In other words, "Generic Hero #122".

Look at it this way: kill her off and have the Spectre (her former partner in the police force) go in to pull her soul from eternal torment or something, but have him find Vic waiting to help. Vic and Spectre save her and then Vic is brought back to become the Question again. With all the weird stuff going on in the DC Universe right now, you can believe there's some sort of conspiracy he could unravel.

The Falcon

The real Captain America is coming back. What could be more powerful than Steve Roger's former partner giving his life to bring him back? We saw how Bucky's "death" drove Steve so much over the years and really tormented him over time. Well, Bucky's going nowhere now that he's back as Winter Soldier/Captain America, so why not take out Cap's second-longest running partner, Sam Wilson?

It makes sense because Sam's never faced death before and it would take readers by surprise. His death could make Steve's return this really iconic moment because now Steve has a new drive to succeed for Sam's memory.

What do you think? Which heroes do you feel would better serve their storylines by dying?