History Main / DIsneyDeath

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': In [[Recap/StevenUniverseS5E2OffColors "Off Colors"]], [[spoiler: Lars makes a HeroicSacrifice to protect the Off Color Gems from one of Homeworld's Robonoid probes. Steven cries over the dying Lars, and [[SwissArmyTears his tears]] (when Steven had only been able to use his spit to channel his mother's healing powers) miraculously bring Lars back to life... [[TouchedByVorlons though not without a few changes]].]]

%%* ''Film/{{DARYL}}'' features a classic Robot Disney Death as part of its climax/denouement.
* In the second live-action movie of ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', ''Film/AFairlyOddChristmas'', Timmy falls off a cliff while saving Mr. Crocker's life. After everyone mourning his death, and Mr. Crocker [[{{Foreshadowing}} suggesting]] a [[TookALevelInKindness heart growing]] moment, Timmy is revealed being alive, climbing the cliff using some candy canes that Santa [[{{Foreshadowing}} had given him before]].
* ''Lethal Weapon''
** In ''Film/LethalWeapon2'', a SmugSnake diplomat shoots the Creator/MelGibson character, who falls into a pit. In response, the Danny Glover character shoots the diplomat. Then he goes down into the pit to check on Mel Gibson. And guess what? He's fine! Well, mostly fine, anyway.
** In ''Film/LethalWeapon3'', Lorna is shot several times by [[BigBad Jack Travis]] with the cop-killer bullets. However, after Riggs kills Travis, it turns out that Lorna had actually worn ''two'' bulletproof vests prior to this shootout, but it still wounded her.

* At the end of ''Film/AFishCalledWanda'', [[spoiler:Otto is run over by a steam roller but manages to survive for one final gag]].
* ''Film/SupermanReturns''. When Superman was stomped to death by ComicBook/LexLuthor on his Kryptonite island, he was on the verge of death, but eventually he sprang back to life.
* ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'':
** In ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'', the T-101 robot is seemingly beaten then impaled by the T-1000, leaving Sarah and John Connor helpless. Then his backup power source turns on, and he [[BigDamnHeroes heads off to save the day]]. Moments later he does die for real, [[ICannotSelfTerminate but by choice]]. In the novel version, he deliberately feigned death after the impaling in order to give himself the chance of a surprise attack.
** In ''Film/TerminatorGenisys'', [[spoiler: "Pops" appears to die after holding off John in the quantum field generator, but survives thanks to a little dip in the liquid metal]].

* One of the most mind-boggling examples is in ''Film/HudsonHawk'', when a friend of the Creator/BruceWillis character, who seems to have died in a car fire shortly before, shows up again and explains, "The sprinkler system turned on!" This in spite of the fact that the car careened off of a cliff and exploded upon impact with the ground (but it is a parody/comedy). Since the line immediately following is, "yeah! I bet that's what happened!" its mind-boggling improbability can be chalked up to the RuleOfFunny.

* In ''Film/JurassicParkIII'', Alan Grant's assistant Billy [[RedemptionEqualsDeath redeems himself]] for putting them all in danger by stealing raptors eggs by making a HeroicSacrifice to save the KidSidekick from pteradons and is last seen being pecked to death by a number of them. Except about half an hour of screen time later, when the survivors are picked up by a rescue chopper, they inexplicably find him already onboard, with noticeable but apparently not life-threatening injuries.
* Alpha Centauri, the TricksterMentor from ''Film/TheLastStarfighter'', appears to die heroically halfway through the movie, only to reappear with a {{Handwave}} at the end of the movie.
* ''Film/MeanGirls'' plays with this trope with the "just kidding" death of Regina, who gets ''much'' better after [[LookBothWays being run over by a bus]].
* It seems like anyone who falls off a cliff in the ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' movies is going to show up later (apart from {{Mooks}}, but since when have they counted?).
** [[spoiler:Frodo]] is seemingly killed when he is stabbed by the troll in ''The Fellowship of the Ring'', and again in ''The Return of the King'' when he is [[spoiler:poisoned by Shelob but turns out just to be paralyzed]]. (Both incidents are canon.)
** In ''The Two Towers'', Frodo appears to fall to his death, but we are immediately shown that he only fell a couple of feet into the fog. (Not canon.)
** Also in ''The Two Towers'', [[spoiler:Aragorn]] is seen to fall over a multi-hundred foot cliff and all the characters mourn, but it turns out he's completely uninjured, besides a little dizziness and some scrapes. (Definitely not canon but almost lethal to Creator/ViggoMortensen who came close to drowning while filming that.)
** In ''The Return of the King'', Faramir is grievously wounded in battle and would've been [[KillItWithFire killed with fire]], albeit accidentally, in his insane father's suicide attempt had Gandalf and Pippin not shown up. After he's rescued, he regains consciousness. (Basically canon.)
* The main character's son in the Creator/{{S|tevenSpielberg}}pielberg version of ''Film/WarOfTheWorlds''; about halfway through the movie, he leaves his father and runs into a battlefield which is then obliterated in a fiery Martian burst of death from which nothing can survive; at the climax, however, he shows up at his mother's house in Boston without so much as a scratch. Granted, we never actually saw a body, but it's still pretty cheesy and something of a cheat.
* Subverted/justified in ''Film/GroundhogDay''. Phil Connors is finally driven to commit suicide to escape from living the same day seemingly for eternity. He kidnaps the local groundhog and drives a truck off a cliff. Phil's cameraman says he might be okay, but then the truck blows up. The next thing Phil knows, it's morning again; not even his death can stop the time loop. Cue montage of him killing himself in every way possible.
* In ''A Night on the Town''/''Film/AdventuresInBabysitting'', a character gets a knife thrown at his foot. He's rushed to the doctor, the doctor administers the solitary necessary stitch. He then gets told that while he was administering this tiny stitch to a tiny wound a man with a stab wound just died. He then meets the plucky bunch of kids in the hall, who want to know what happened to their friend with the stab wound. He tells them he died, they go into a fit of mourning, he walks into the corridor asking everyone what they're crying about, "Don't you ever die on me again!", etc.
* Used in ''Film/TenThousandBC'', helped along by ThePowerOfLove, or something close to it.
* ''Film/ShortCircuit'' subtly {{lampshade|Hanging}}s, then utterly subverts the Robot Disney Death version of the trope. The SAINT-model robot that NOVA Robotics destroyed (and cannibalized) at the end of the movie was a mindless, remote-control replica which the real Number Five was controlling from the safety of the supply van. This, after showing how said van was completely equipped with enough spare parts to build a whole new robot from the ground up, Number Five's expertise at reassembling himself and rewiring his own circuits, as well as him playing with the TV using his remote-control transmitter.
* In ''Film/ShortCircuit2'', Number Five (who in this move insisted on being called Johnny Five) seemed to die after running out of both his main power and backup power just after capturing the jewel thief who ordered him to be destroyed in the first place. He is brought back to life by {{Magical Defibrillator}}s which were used to "recharge" his batteries, and also gave the human actors a chance to do some of the best soap opera acting this side of ''Series/GeneralHospital''.
* Subverted amusingly in the movie ''Film/LittleBigMan''. Cheyenne chief Old Lodge Skins, Jack's blind mentor, has finally grown tired of life. He and Jack ascend a hill where Old Lodge Skins prays for his death and lies down with his eyes closed. It then begins raining. Old Lodge Skin blinks, then sighs. "Sometimes the magic works. Sometimes it doesn't." and they both go back to their village.
* The heroine of ''Film/WhaleRider'' nearly drowns in the climax (and her narration informs us she "was not afraid to die", since she's rescued the pod), but she is found and recovers in the hospital.

* Toward the end of ''Film/CrocodileDundeeII'' the hero appears to have been fallen off a cliff, but we later discover that [[spoiler:he and the villain had switched clothes]]. The characters figure it out before the reveal.
* In ''Film/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'', Sawyer apparently dies helping prevent the destruction of Venice, but it turns out he didn't somehow.

* In ''Film/TheBoatThatRocked'', [[spoiler:Phillip Seymour Hoffman's character nobly sacrifices himself and goes down with the ship, broadcasting to the end. As the other characters are saved and jubilant, they take a moment to remember him, just as he splutters to the surface decidedly undrowned]].
* ''Film/{{The Mummy|1999}}'': Oded Fehr pulls a YouShallNotPass on an army of mummies. Cut to the end and he's alive somehow [[note]]He was originally scripted to die, but the filmmakers liked him so much that they wanted to keep him alive for the sequel, which was easy to get away with since his fate was shown off-screen[[/note]].

* ''Film/TransformersFilmSeries'':
** ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'': When one of [[TheScrappy the Twins]] is sucked up by Devestator, all the other characters are sad. However, moments later, he fights his way through Devestator's head.
*** Also happens with [[spoiler:the main character near the end, who has a dream vision of the original Primes before being miraculously brought back. Lampooned upon in Kirbopher's ''Revenge of the Lollin'' where a solider says "he's dead," cutting to a few Primes on a cliff stating "And now he isn't!"]]
** Prime gets his own Robot Disney Death too, as did Megatron in the first movie.
** In ''Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon'', the Autobots were believed to have killed by Starscream under Dylan Gould's orders when the Xanthium was destroyed during launch. However, it turns out they faked their deaths (hiding themselves in the booster section instead of the Xanthium itself) in order to have humanity realize that the Decepticons aren't true to their words, and then pulled a BigDamnHeroes moment in Chicago to reveal their survival.
* In ''Film/EndOfWatch'', [[spoiler: Taylor is shot in the chest and falls unconscious as his partner, Zeke, stays at his side, before the villains catch up and shoot Zeke fatally, leaving both protagonists lifeless in the alley as the cavalry arrives. The next scene shows an injured Taylor at Zeke's funeral]].
* This happens may times in the ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'' movies. [[JokerImmunity Jason Voorhees just keeps coming back]]. Even when he's supposedly incinerated by the time ''[[Film/FridayThe13thTheFinalChapter Part IV]]'' is over, it's revealed at the start of ''[[Film/FridayThe13thPartVIJasonLives Part VI]]'' that his (still-living, surprisingly enough) father went out of his way to pay for him to be properly buried. Tommy, already driven crazy by Jason trying to enter his mind from beyond the grave (to the point of almost becoming the his replacement in ''[[Film/FridayThe13thPARTVANewBeginning Part V]]''), exhumes him to [[KillItWithFire finish the job]], but lightning strikes before he can torch him, and Jason is back ''yet again''.
* ''Film/HowardTheDuck''. Howard does it ''twice'' in one scene.

* In 2010's ''Film/TheExpendables'' (featuring a bevy of action stars from the 80s and 90s), Gunner is apparently killed by boss-man Barney who is forced to ShootTheDog when Gunner goes homicidally berzerk in a drug-induced homicidal rampage after he went rogue due to resentment at being ejected from the team due to his continued drug habit. Cue implied CradlingYourKill as Gunner whispers his dying message to Barney in exchange for a decent burial in an apparent DeathEqualsRedemption. In the epilogue, he is miraculously still alive and back to normal in a happy reunion with the rest of the team, a fact which is even {{lampshade|Hanging}}d by Barney commenting on it, with Gunner replying that he's thankful that he was still spared by his friend despite everything that happened.
* In ''[[Literature/TheMillenniumTrilogy Millennium 2: The Girl Who Played with Fire]]'', protagonist Lisbeth Salander gets shot in the head and buried. At dawn, she climbs out and goes AxCrazy
* In ''Film/ThePhiladelphiaExperiment'', the protagonist David Herzeg dives back into the time vortex after breaking the mechanism that was keeping a 1943 Navy destroyer and a 1984 Midwest town suspended in hyperspace. After the vortex collapses, Allison is wandering through the freshly restored town in 1984 when David appears out of nowhere, having not only survived but magically returned to his {{Love Interest|s}}.
* In ''Film/ProblemChild'', prunes stop bullets.

* In ''Film/IndependenceDay'', our two heroes set off a nuclear explosion in the alien mothership and try to OutrunTheFireball, but it catches up to them. Cut to their friends on the ground having their victory celebration interrupted by news that they had lost contact with the heroes. We get about five seconds for the mood to set in before they see something on radar, drive out to the desert and find them walking away from their crashed ship unscathed.
* Happens to [[spoiler:Bella Swan]] at the climax of ''Film/TheTwilightSaga: Breaking Dawn Part I''. [[spoiler:Having earlier been given permission by Edward himself to kill him [[IfYouEverDoAnythingToHurtHer should anything happen to Bella]], [[NotWorthKilling Jacob tells him right to his face that living with his loss is punishment enough for what happened]]. And then Edward's venom finally gets around to kicking in and transforming her, bringing her back to life in the process.]]
* In ''Film/KillerKlownsFromOuterSpace'', the Klowns' spaceship blows up at the end of the film with [[spoiler:Dave and the Terenzi brothers]] on board. All three of them are alive and well a minute later.
* In ''Film/TwoOfAKind1983'', the fate of the universe hinges on whether a morally dubious couple (played by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John) can make sacrifices for each other out of their newfound love, which would prove to God that humans are redeemable. She keeps him from going to prison for his attempted bank robbery that started the Earthly plot, but what about him? In the climax, with minutes left to go before God starts over with everything, she is taken hostage by a robber (actually a disguised Satan, whose existence is at risk!) and his attempt to save her leaves him dead. This proves a sufficient sacrifice, and not only does God spare the universe, He also brings the dead lover back to life.
* ''Film/TheDarkCrystal'' has female lead Kira die in hero Jen's arms, but she is then revived at the very end.
* ''Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}}'' ends with the heroes defeating Gozer, but tragically Dana and (to a lesser extent) Louis have seemingly died after being transformed into Gozer's demonic dog minions and then getting burnt to a crisp. The team barely has time to mourn before learning that the two are still alive, and human, inside the now destroyed demon husks and proceed to help them break out.
* Yes, even Creator/LucioFulci did this at least once (shenanigans of the living dead notwithstanding, of course) -- ''Film/CityOfTheLivingDead'' has this happen early on, as Mary Woodhouse is presumed dead of shock and is taken straight to a cemetery for burial before regaining consciousness after finding herself six feet under. If not for Peter Bell, she would've suffocated to death for sure.

* ''[[Film/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters]]'' is probably the record holder. The film shows some ''five'' Disney Deaths, of which one barely lasts a minute.
* In ''Film/AlienResurrection'', [[spoiler: after Mason Wren betrays the group shoots Call, a later scene reveals that Call had survived the gunshot wound, [[RoboticReveal because she is an android]]]].
* In ''Film/IronEagle'', Chappy gets shot down during the mission, and Doug is forced to go alone. However, it's later revealed that Chappy was picked up by American forces after he got shot down.
** In the sequel, Doug is shot down by Soviet pilots in a dogfight within the first few minutes of the movie, but in the fourth movie, it is revealed that he had ejected from his plane, but was later captured and held prisoner by the Soviets.
* In ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}'', the nuke that was dropped on Godzilla in the beginning should've killed him, right? Nope, he lived through it, in true Kaiju style. [[spoiler:This happens twice in the last battle, both times coming out alive but exhausted after a long and brutal fight with each of the Mutos. The first time occurs when he's buried by a skyscraper after crushing the male Muto against it. The second time occurs when he literally collapses to the ground after killing the female Muto, and stays there well into the next day before waking up.]]
* In ''Film/{{Legion}}'', the archangel Michael is killed but reappears in the end due to God's intervention.

* At the end of ''[[Film/TheFastAndTheFurious Furious 7]]'' [[spoiler: Dom apparently dies finishing off Jakande during the climax, and all of Brian's attempts to resuscitate him seem to fail. The shock of this causes Letty to regain her memories and reveals that she remembers that they were married. Dom then opens his eyes moments later and it turns out he heard her say all of this]].
* ''Film/TheHungerGamesCatchingFire'': Peeta has one of these on the first day of the Quarter Quell.

* Zigzagged in ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy''. Plant-being Groot heroically sacrifices himself to save the other Guardians--but his friend Rocket finds a still-living twig and plants it. By the end-credits, we see a little baby Groot growing again. But he looks subtly different, and in the sequel we find that he has quite a different personality. WordOfGod [[https://www.cbr.com/guardians-of-the-galaxy-groot-dead-baby-groot-son/ confirmed]] that Groot had in fact died, and "baby Groot" is a different being--essentially, the old Groot's son.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''Film/{{DARYL}}'' features a classic Robot Disney Death as part of its climax/denouement.

** In the episode "Doppelganger" in ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' [[spoiler:Rodney [=Mckay=] ]] dies from a entity that kills people in their sleep, while [[spoiler:John Sheppard]] is trying to save him. Turns out, the whole thing was really [[spoiler:John]]'s Nightmare, and the character wakes up in the real world, perfectly fine, minus a technical cardiac arrest.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'': At least two examples:
** "Stop and Smurf the Roses": Chlohydrous, annoyed at the Smurf's beautiful woodelf (and mute) friend, Laconia, sets out to kill Laconia by destroying her very life source: flowers. Indeed, Laconia does "die" after Chlohydrous casts a spell, growing sick as the flowers die off in groups. The other Smurfs do come to rescue Laconia (along with Papa and Natural), but even after they defeat Chlohydrous, it may be too late for Laconia. The other Smurfs prepare for Laconia's funeral, laying her on a lilypad ... but then, she is revived after Papa Smurf reverses Chlohydrous' spell.
** "Smurfquest": As the Smurfs rapidly age in their quest to restore the Long Life Stone, Grandpa Smurf (introduced in this episode) dies just as the elements are being placed in the Stone's box. While the other (now elderly) Smurfs mourn Grandpa's death, the stone goes through its restoration cycle, and it isn't long before the other Smurfs' youths are restored ... and Grandpa is brought back to life.
* In the second live-action movie of ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', ''Film/AFairlyOddChristmas'', Timmy falls off a cliff while saving Mr. Crocker's life. After everyone mourning his death, and Mr. Crocker [[{{Foreshadowing}} suggesting]] a [[TookALevelInKindness heart growing]] moment, Timmy is revealed being alive, climbing the cliff using some candy canes that Santa [[{{Foreshadowing}} had given him before]].
* A good example of a Robot Disney Death in ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse2002'' episode "The Roboto Gambit", where the episode's title character sacrifices himself to foil an evil plan, complete with a death scene. Later, Teela mourns that she should have appreciated Roboto's courage and resourcefulness when she had the chance. However, Man-At-Arms immediately states that she will have that opportunity, as he presents the good-as-new Roboto, whom he just repaired.
* WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker pulls this on purpose on the classic short ''The Loan Stranger''. Specifically, he tricks the Loan Shark into thinking he smashed Woody's skull with a single punch, killing him right there, in order to get the Loan Shark to tear up the loan he had been trying to get Woody to pay back the whole time.
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckDodgers'' uses it, and then subverts it. Dodgers' RobotBuddy performs a HeroicSacrifice by hurling itself against a comet and knocking itself to pieces. Dr. I.Q. High is confident that the robot can be rebuilt. But Dodgers really didn't like his Robot Buddy in the first place and "accidentally" breaks the remaining parts. Somehow he comes back later, gathers all the other one-shot villains from previous episodes, and plots Dodgers' demise, only to end up going through the same thing again.

* Alec Deleon in ''WesternAnimation/ExoSquad'' actually ''does'' die, but his SuperPrototype HumongousMecha happens to [[VirtualGhost contain his personality and memories]] up to the moment of his death, so his friends simply clone him a new body and download his memories into it, effectively bringing him back to life. (This was actually a result of ExecutiveMeddling.)
* Parodied in the ChristmasSpecial ''Robbie the Reindeer in Hooves of Fire'': Robbie's mentor, Old Jingle, appears to die tragically [[DiedInYourArmsTonight in his arms]]. Then Jingle starts snoring.

* In the episode of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' with the hippie music festival, the mayor shoots herself in the head when she finally realizes the gravity of her folly. She later reappears when they're using the giant drill with a bandage on her head, ready to take command at mission control. For some reason headshots are often non-fatal in ''South Park'': see also Bill Gates (shot in ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut'', reappears with a Band-Aid on his head in "The Entity"), Music/BritneySpears, the scientist in "Night of the Living Homeless", and Kenny. [[FridgeBrilliance Could it be because the characters have no]] [[spoiler:''brains'']]?
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003'' LOVES this. Done with Michelangelo in season 3, Leonardo at the end of season 3 (The TonightSomeoneDies commercial didn't hurt matters either), done with April, Casey, and Mikey's cat in season 4 (this one a case of AllJustADream), done with Leo's entire family during a two-parter in season 4 (both the audience and Leo learns of their surprisingly logical survivals in pt 2 through flashbacks), and Casey and April again in season 7 (complete with ominous commercial promising "a VerySpecialEpisode"). A number of supporting characters stay dead for multiple episodes.
* ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' did this in its first season, with Brainiac 5 handing Superman a little piece of himself before running off on a suicide mission. Clark can't both do his part to free the rest of the team ''and'' save Brainiac, and when they find him, he's mourning Brainy's lifeless body. The Legionnaires promptly ask who has the back-up disc.

* ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'' uses this tropes a lot.
** Yumi gets thrown into the Digital Sea in the Season 1 episode "Cruel Dilemma". ''Fortunately'', at the beginning of the episode, falling candy ''just so happens'' to complete the materialization code Jérémie'd been working one since forever for Aelita. Loop Hole: He can use it once since he doesn't know what to press. He actually has to ''think about it'' before deciding to use the one-shot on Yumi and not Aelita. As such, Yumi becomes un-deleted and can be rematerialized.
** Same thing with Aelita in "Just in Time". She does a HeroicSacrifice, but thanks to a hair Jérémie managed to materialize at the beginning, he can bring her back (without her memories of the episode, though).
** In "The Key", XANA takes the keys of Lyoko from Aelita's memory, and in turn kills her lifeforce. She dies, until, ''oh wait'', her father (who was supposed to have been killed by XANA already) appears from the abyss of Lyoko and ''savez her''!
** Speaking of Franz Hopper, all evidence gathered (and Jérémie's rude remarks to Aelita) says that Franz killed himself saving Aelita in said incident above, [[spoiler:''until'' Season 4, when he suddenly lives again as a ball of glittery purple and pink energy. Apparently he can't stay out of the Digital Sea for too long (even though the Digital Sea is supposed to ''delete'' everything thrown into it), or else he'll get attacked by XANA real fast]]. He eventually dies in the Series Finale.
* The immortal ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short, ''WesternAnimation/WhatsOperaDoc'', in which we see Elmer Fudd actually ''kill'' WesternAnimation/BugsBunny (in a particularly malevolent fashion), at which point [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone he laments the foolishness of his actions]], carrying Bugs away. Bugs looks to the audience and asks "What did ya expect from an Opera? A ''happy'' ending?"
* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersTheMovie'': Ultra Magnus is dismembered by the Sweeps, but reassembled by the Junkions shortly after.
** ''Anime/TransformersArmada'': Optimus is blasted into dust by the Hydra Cannon, but is resurrected 3 episodes later. Earlier, Smokescreen sacrifices himself, but is rebuilt as Hoist.
** Happens to Optimus at least once in most films and series.
* Death seems cheap in the series ''Series/AceLightning'', at least for the "videogame" characters. Also subverted in one episode when Ace is surprised to learn from Mark that when humans die they ''can't'' come back in a similar fashion. This does not make Sparx's "death" any less traumatic...
* Twice in ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'' ([[NeverSayDie not in the 4Kids dub]]).
** Season two: During the witches' break-in at Red Fountain to get the Codex, Icy kills Sky. The giveaway? His heart stops. But [[DeusExMachina Bloom suddenly discovers her healing magic]] and ''brings him back from the dead''.
** Season three: To earn their Enchantix powers, fairies have to sacrifice themselves for someone from their realms. While trying to retrieve the time-turning tears of the Black Willow, Flora dives into tainted water to save her little sister. She gets caught in the vines at the bottom and presumably drowns. Then the Willow "cries" into the river; Flora is returned to the moment before she died and obtains her Enchantix.
** There was another one in season 3, when Tecna was believed to have died after closing up the Omega portal. She managed to survive thanks to her new Enchantix powers.
** The aversion: In season four, [[spoiler:Nabu sacrifices himself to close a dark abyss the Wizards have created to suck up the fairies of Earth]]. Aside from a couple animation goofs, [[spoiler:Nabu]] doesn't return at the end of the season, so it looks like [[spoiler:he is]] dead for real. This hasn't sat well with the fans. And it also created some FridgeLogic, since Bloom seems to have [[ForgotAboutHisPowers forgotten her healing powers]].
* In the ''WesternAnimation/SuperRobotMonkeyTeamHyperforceGo'' Season 2 finale, [[spoiler:Antauri dies, much to Chiro's sorrow. By the time we start Season 3, he comes back as the silver monkey]].
* Happened a couple times to ''WesternAnimation/{{Underdog}}'', such as being electrocuted, chained up, and thrown in a lake in ''A New Villain''. Then again...
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' episode ''Heavenly Daze'' Tom gets hit by a piano and dies, ending up in heaven, but he won't be able to pass through the gates without Jerry's forgiveness. Tom is given a set amount of time to receive Jerry's signature on a certificate of forgiveness, but gets it seconds too late, and falls down to Hell. Turns out to be AllJustADream and Tom suddenly hugs a bewildered Jerry.
* ''WesternAnimation/TimeWarpTrio'':
** In "Wushu Were Here", Joe and Anna thought Fred got killed by a monk, but it turned out that Fred wasn't dead, and in fact a monk never kills.
** In "Dude, Where's My Karma?", the kids thought Fred ate something poisonous, but turns out he was only sleeping.
** In "The Good, The Bad and The Goofy", Joe thought Sam and Fred drowned in a rapid river turns out they were alive.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS2E11OneFishTwoFishBlowfishBlueFish One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish]]" Homer eats fugu which is poisonous if cut incorrectly. When Dr. Hibbert is unable to determine for sure whether Homer indeed ate toxic portions of the fish – he merely accepts the word of the sushi chef – he tells Homer that he has 22 hours to live (24, minus the two hours it took to perform tests and contact the chef). Homer is left to make a list of things to do before he dies. That night, Homer falls asleep in an armchair while listening to the Bible-on-tape ... although with his head suddenly drooping and arms falling limp, plus a dark music cue to underscore the moment, the viewer is led to believe that he possibly did succumb to the poison. The next morning, Marge finds Homer and fears the worst when she sees him lying still in the armchair; she begins to cry and caress him ... only to touch his drool, which is still warm, making her realize her husband is still very much alive. Homer realizes this too when he is awakened by his wife holding him.
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/DragonTales'' did this with a caterpillar. It wasn't even dead, just metamorphosing into a butterfly.
* [[ZigZaggingTrope Zigzagged]] with ''WesternAnimation/Thundercats2011'' Jaga. The CourtMage of Thundera, initially performs a YouShallNotPass, seemingly dying in the attempt, allowing Thundera's young king Lion-O and his allies to flee as the city is invaded by the forces of BigBad Mumm-Ra. Jaga is soon revealed to instead be Mumm-Ra's prisoner, tortured for information on a mystical GreatBigBookOfEverything's location. Mumm-Ra eventually forces the issue by performing a YourSoulIsMine, imprisoning TheDisembodied Jaga in a SoulJar that will lead them to the book. In a last-ditch effort to prevent Mumm-Ra from getting it, Jaga performs a magical HeroicSacrifice that shatters his soul jar, dissipates him, and sends Mumm-Ra fleeing, leaving Jaga's allies to grieve his loss ''again''. Soon after, when Lion-O closely examines the book, it is revealed as {{Magitek}} that draws Lion-O's soul inside, where he meets Jaga, now serving as a SpiritAdvisor[=/=]VirtualGhost. When Lion-O asks if he's alive, Jaga gives an [[CrypticConversation opaque non-answer]].
* Happens to [[spoiler: Ilana]] in "The Demon Within" episode of ''WesternAnimation/SymBionicTitan''. Technically also happens to [[spoiler: Octus]] later on, only it takes two episodes for the character to be revived.
* In the [[WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends U.S. Acres]] segment "No Laughing Matter", [[spoiler: the aliens from Clarion get killed by laughing at Roy slipping on a banana]]. In the Quickie before "Much Ado About Lanolin" (a later episode), Orson, Booker, and Shelldon watch a show [[spoiler: about the Clarion aliens, whom are revealed to (still) exist at the end of the Quickie by coming out of the TV]].
** Speaking of Much Ado About Lanolin, [[spoiler: in that episode, the fake Lanolin, Lanolina, disappears with sparkles after kissing Orson]].
** In Snow Wade and the 77 Dwarves, [[spoiler: Snow Wade dies after eating the poison apple. His last words? "Uh-oh, I'm doomed." He also holds his stomach while doing this]].
*** Unlike [[WhatTheHellHero Orson and the other characters who only took this as a story]], [[spoiler: Roy (who was taking this seriously near the end of the two-parter) was the only one, who seemed alarmed/upset that Wade could really be hurt/dead, when Wade didn't wake up right away]].
* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'':
** Happens twice to [[spoiler:Nova. First as a ShoutOut to ''Disney/TheLionKing'' then when she appears to have flatlined in the hospital, it turns out she's being possessed]].
** In "The House of the Nightmare Witch" Shaggy appears to have fallen to his death. Scooby barely has a few seconds to start crying before Shaggy quickly opens his eyes.
** In "Gates of Gloom" [[spoiler: Fred, Velma, and Daphne all apparently perish inside the Mystery Machine when they blow it up to destroy Pericles' robots. Fortunately, Fred was actually piloting it with remote control so they're all okay. Though the fact that the gang's iconic van is gone still manages to be a pretty big gut punch in itself]].

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' does this to the titular trio in both "The Rowdyruff Boys" and "Knock It Off".
* In the last episode of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' book 2, Aang is struck by Azula's lightning. Luckily, [[spoiler:Katara has some spirit water that she uses to heal him]], but it doesn't work right away and we don't learn [[spoiler:that he survived until the first episode of the next season]].
* In the first of the two animated specials based on the short-lived ''WesternAnimation/RosePetalPlace'' toyline of TheEighties, Rose-Petal is hit with a double whammy by the villainess Nastina: First she's tricked into consuming a potion that ruins her magical singing voice, and then imprisoned in a virtually lightless room -- being a flower-woman, this proves fatal. Her friends manage to recover her body and [[EverybodyCries as they weep]], their tears fall upon the tear-shaped crystal on her leaf-and-blossom headdress. She and they were originally borne of a little human girl's tears falling upon flowers, so [[SwissArmyTears this is sufficient to bring her back to life and full health]].

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': In "Off Colors", [[spoiler: Lars makes a HeroicSacrifice to protect the Off Color Gems from one of Homeworld's Robonoid probes. Steven cries over the dying Lars, and [[SwissArmyTears his tears]] (when Steven had only been able to use his spit to channel his mother's healing powers) miraculously bring Lars back to life... [[TouchedByVorlons though not without a few changes]].]]
* ''WesternAnimation/BumpInTheNight'':
** In the episode "Journey to the Center of the Lungfish" Captain Jetlag appears to sacrifice himself to let Mr. Bumpy, Squishington, and Molly Coddle escape the lungfish. After the three make it out of the lungfish, Bumpy gets the lungfish to cough up Jetlag completely unharmed by blowing raspberries at it.
** The ChristmasEpisode "Twas the Night Before Bumpy" has the earthworm Juaquin Gusanito Sin Manos appear to be crushed by Stonehenge, but the end of the special shows that he survived by ducking into the earth right when the stone structure collapsed.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/OhYeahCartoons'' short "The Feelers", Mitzi Moth gets sprayed by bug spray and appears to die in Mo Skito's arms. She turns out to be alive after Crusty starts playing the Feelers' recorded song and the song is praised by Mr. Katzeneisner.
* Nightcrawler appears to die near the end of ''WesternAnimation/PrydeOfTheXMen'', but subsequently turns out to have survived his fall to Earth by teleporting into a closet at the last second.
* ''WesternAnimation/FantasticFour''
** Lady Dorma gets stabbed in the chest in "Now Comes the Sub-Mariner", but Reed Richards manages to revive her using his molecular resuscitator.
** The Thing turns out to survive his beating at the hands of the Hulk in the episode "Nightmare in Green".
** [[spoiler:Doctor Doom appears to die in the GrandFinale "Doomsday", but ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibleHulk'', which takes place in the same continuity as the 1994 ''Fantastic Four'' cartoon, reveals that he's still alive in the episode "Doomed".]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'' has given Slimer at least two fake-out deaths.
** In "Big Trouble with Little Slimer", Walter Peck appears to succeed in blowing Slimer to pieces, but Slimer manages to reassemble himself shortly afterward.
** Slimer ends up one of the ghosts vaporized by the titular ghost-hunting robot in "Robo-Buster", but it later turns out that all of the ghosts Robo-Buster blasted weren't destroyed, but simply fused into a giant ectoplasmic amalgamation. The Ghostbusters manage to separate Slimer from this fusion while trapping the other ghosts that make up this enormous entity.
* We get a brief one in the second ''WesternAnimation/ScaryGodmother'' movie, ''The Revenge of Jimmy'', when it looks like the house fell on Scary Godmother and crushed her. Skully and Bug-a-Boo are crying, while Harry rejoices. Soon enough, Scary Godmother re-appears, commenting on how sweet it is that Skully and Bug-a-Boo miss her.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* In the final episode of the original ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'' series, Ultraman is felled by Zetton, and is KilledOffForReal, until Zoffy comes to rescue him.
* In ''National Lampoon's Film/LoadedWeapon1'', the Jon Lovitz character (modeled after the Creator/JoePesci character in the ''Film/LethalWeapon'' sequels) dies early on, only to return a few scenes later. When asked how he got back, he replies, "I thought this was the sequel!"
* In ''Film/LastActionHero'', when the Schwarzenegger character receives a fatal blow in the "real" world, he needs the main character's help to get back into the movie world, where the same shot qualifies only as a "flesh wound".
* Parodied in ''Film/KungPowEnterTheFist'': the Chosen One's mentor Master Tang, love interest Ling, rival Wimp Lo, and his beloved dog are dying. After imparting their "final wisdom" to him, it turns out Master Tang's not dead! And Ling's not dead either! And dog is fine!
-->'''Chosen One:''' Then surely Wimp Lo!...\\
''(he runs to Wimp Lo; we hear flies buzzing)''\\
'''Chosen One:''' ... oh.
* In addition to its more serious examples, ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope]]'' also features a more humorous take when C-3PO and R2-D2 are desperately trying to save Luke, Han, Leia, and Chewbacca from being crushed inside a trash compactor. R2 successfully shuts it off leading to everyone in the compactor to start crying out in joy, but 3PO initially believes that they're screaming from being crushed to death and that they failed to save them in time.

* ''Series/AshesToAshes'' has one in the episode "Charity Begins At Home", [[spoiler:with Shaz]] via [[CleanPrettyReliable CPR]] though it is actually a pretty well done and relatively believable. It's also quite violent as it leads to [[spoiler:a very brutal beating of the "murderer"]].

* Zigzagged in ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy''. Plant-being Groot heroically sacrifices himself to save the other Guardians--but his friend Rocket finds a still-living twig and plants it. By the end-credits, we see a little baby Groot growing again. But he looks subtly different, and in the sequel we find that he has quite a different personality. WordOfGod [[https://nerdist.com/james-gunn-groot-dead-baby-groot-guardians-of-the-galaxy/ confirmed]] that Groot had in fact died, and "baby Groot" is a different being--essentially, the old Groot's son.

Not to be confused with DisneyVillainDeath, which refers to a villain falling from a very high place, such as a cliff. Also not to be confused with Creator/WaltDisney's actual death.

* The surprisingly plausible fan sequel to ''Literature/EarthsChildren'', "Broud's Destiny", has Ayla's chief antagonist defending the Clan against gangs of Others who paint themselves white and kill "flatheads" for kicks. At the climax, the leader of the "chalk-faces" viciously stabs Broud in the abdomen at the same moment Broud breaks his neck. Broud drops to the ground and everything looks like a beautiful death scene. End of chapter. The next chapter opens with a Clan funeral ceremony... turns out it's for Broud's mom Ebra. Broud will take time to recover but is fine.

* ''Series/{{Angel}}'':
** A good Creator/MutantEnemy example is Lorne's head asking for the praising and extolling of his virtues. For whatever reason, his particular variety of demon can survive decapitation--the body needs to be mutilated. The bad guys didn't forget to, though--the Groosalugg, knowing Lorne was Cordelia's friend, switched his body with a soldier.
* ''Series/{{Sliders}}'':
** In one episode, crooner Mel Torme helps the Sliders with their mission, only to apparently die in a car bomb. He inexplicably resurfaces at the end, though, to wish the Sliders well on their way.
** Another episode had a rather cruel example. The characters land in a world run by the Russians and help the Resistance in one of their operations. During the pull out though female protagonist Wade Wells is shot and mortally wounded. The other main characters start to grieve for her till she suddenly appears right behind them alive and well. [[ExpendableAlternateUniverse Turns out it was her double from this particular alternate earth that got killed not her.]]
** The same method of death happens in another episode with [[spoiler: Arturo]]. This was just stretched out for years after the show ended. It took the WordOfGod to clear things up.
* ''Series/{{Lost}}'' basically runs on DeathIsCheap:
** "All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues" uses a very cheap Disney Death, when Charlie is found strung up by the neck, not breathing and with no pulse. But after a particularly protracted CPR session, Jack is able to revive him. Some fans decided to blame the unlikely event on the possibly magic island (similar to AWizardDidIt).
** Shannon apparently dies in "Hearts and Minds", but the sequence is shown to have been a drug-fueled hallucination by her brother Boone.
** At the end of season 4, the Kahana explodes [[spoiler:with Jin on board]]. A few episodes into season 5, he's found alive and clinging to shipwreck.
** In season 6, [[spoiler:Lapidus is whacked round the head as the submarine sinks from the Man in Black's bomb, and he is presumed dead by viewers]]. However, he resurfaces clinging to debris several episodes later.
** Near the end of season 3, [[spoiler:Locke gets shot and thrown into a hole full of bodies]], but eventually gets back out of the pit. He later mentions that he didn't die because [[spoiler:[[ArtisticLicenseBiology the injury location was where his stolen kidney used to be, and if he'd still had that kidney, he would have died]]]].
** On the villain front, Mikhail Bakunin survived multiple seemingly fatal incidents in Season 3. Including impaling.
* The robot version happened to K-9 in the "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E3SchoolReunion School Reunion]]" episode of ''Series/DoctorWho'', although it is unclear if this is the same robot rebuilt (with the same personality and memories) or just another robot of the same model.
** Also in the ''Doctor Who'' original series serial "[[Recap/DoctorWhos26E4Survival Survival]]" [[spoiler:The Seventh Doctor]] has a head on collision on a motorbike with the enemy, resulting in a huge explosion which we see nobody escape from. Ace begins to mourn his death after she finds [[spoiler:his hat]] and [[spoiler:his umbrella]] laying on the ground. We soon after find out he's somehow just ended up face first in a pile of rubbish with his backside in the air.
** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E13TheBigBang The Big Bang]]", there are ''two''. [[spoiler:In 1996, Centurion Rory is presumed dead from pulling the Pandorica out of the fires of the Blitz during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. He's actually the night watchman of the museum holding the Pandorica. The Doctor also gets one. He travels back in time a few minutes faking his death from a partially powered Dalek raygun. He uses this as a diversion to travel back to the Pandorica to jump start the universe in a [[TitleDrop Big Bang]] Two. Geronimo indeed.]] %%Amy was Only Mostly Dead, but still clinically dead for a few minutes, so it's not this trope.
** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E6TheDoctorsDaughter The Doctor's Daughter]]" [[spoiler: Jenny [[TakingTheBullet takes a bullet]] for the Doctor near the end of the episode. After the Doctor has accepted that she won't regenerate, he leaves her body with her fellow soldiers and goes off in the TARDIS. Suddenly she pops back to life, apparently none the worse for wear (seemingly due to the {{Terraforming}} process that was still ongoing), and takes off in a stolen spaceship ([[LikeFatherLikeSon like father like daughter, apparently]]). The Doctor, however, is unaware that she came back to life]].
** Technically, whenever the Doctor is about to regenerate in front of a companion who doesn't know what he's about to do counts, as they have no idea he's going to be alright, if a bit different.
*** The same applies to Jack Harkness, who gained ResurrectiveImmortality after [[CameBackWrong Coming Back Wrong]]. [[spoiler: And Rex Matheson from Torchwood.]]
** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E8LetsKillHitler Let's Kill Hitler]]" plays this trope straight. The 11th Doctor has been poisoned by a brainwashed [[spoiler:River Song]] to the point of no regeneration. After he's died, [[spoiler:River redeems herself by sacrificing her regenerations]] to bring the Doctor back to life.
* There are also a few instances of this trope happening to ''Doctor Who'' companions:
** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E3TheIceWarriors The Ice Warriors]]", Victoria witnessed Jamie's apparent death at the hands of an Ice Warrior. However, while the man with Jamie was killed, Jamie himself survived.
** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E4PlanetOfTheDaleks Planet of the Daleks]]", the Third Doctor believed Jo had been killed when the Daleks blew up the Thal spaceship in which she was hiding. In fact, she had been rescued at the last minute by a Spiridon named Wester.
** Following the Thals' missile strike against the Kaled City in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E4GenesisOfTheDaleks Genesis of the Daleks]]", the Fourth Doctor believed Harry and Sarah Jane (whom he had sent to warn the Kaled leaders) had died in the attack. In fact, they had been waylaid by Mutos and never even reached the Kaled City.
** This trope was averted in the Fifth Doctor story "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E6Earthshock Earthshock]]", which ended with Adric being KilledOffForReal
** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS23E2Mindwarp Mindwarp]]", the Sixth Doctor was shown a scene in which Peri, her mind hijacked by an alien, was apparently killed. However, it later emerged that the scene in question had been fabricated and Peri was "alive and well and living as a queen".
* In ''Series/KamenRiderDragonKnight'' the term venting is used to describe the disintegration of the losing Rider at the end of a battle. By saying that the Riders were trapped in a void instead of dead, it enabled lost Riders to be pulled back in for the climactic battle at the end of the series.
* In the ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'' finale, [[spoiler:Venjix breaks into Dr. K's lab, hacks her computers, and downloads everything to do with the Rangers. Using this data, he can not only "delete" megazords out of existence, but also the Rangers themselves. He finishes the first of the two episodes by "deleting" Gem and Gemma (Gold and Silver), but with help from Tenaya, Dr. K is able to retrieve their data and reassemble her first two friends to help defeat Venjix once and for all... [[TheEndOrIsIt or did they]]? The final scene of the series is one light on one of the Rangers' morphers lighting, red like the Venjix Eye, with the big V's theme music playing. One good Disney Death deserves another.]]
** Its source material, ''Series/EngineSentaiGoOnger'', also features an example: [[spoiler:in [=GP35=], Yogostein turns Sousuke [[TakenForGranite into a bronze statue]], seemingly killing him off... until the next episode, where he's revived and defeats Yogostein in a one-on-one duel.]]
* ''Series/PowerRangersOperationOverdrive''. In the season finale, Mack, the Red Ranger, uses his full power on one of the {{Big Bad}}s using the MacGuffin of the series -- and dies. Sentinal Knight used the MacGuffin to turn Mack into a human.
* ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy'' has Kendrix, the Pink Ranger, sacrifice herself in a failed attempt at {{McLean|ed}}ing Valerie Vernon, who was leukemia-stricken at the time; Vernon recovered in time for Kendrix to be BackForTheFinale.
* In ''Series/TensouSentaiGoseiger'', [[spoiler: Buredoran embodies this trope and is a rare villainous example. Not counting his reappearances in movies, he seemingly dies twice. First as Buredoran of the Comet and second as Buredoran of the Chupercabra when he's revived as [=BuredoRUN=] after being OnlyMostlyDead. He's finally killed for good, ...for the time being, after his reveal as Brajira of the Messiah]].
* [[CruelTwistEnding Rather mean subversion]] in ''Series/GhostWhisperer'': At the end of season one, Melinda's best friend (and the only main character other than Melinda at this point) realizes that she, not her brother, is the ghost and she was killed in the plane crash earlier in the episode. The season two premiere reveals that she was merely in a coma, thus allowing her spirit to wander (as has happened at least once before) and she has a very good chance of recovery. Then Melinda wakes up; it was a dream and her friend really ''is'' dead. She has remained dead ever since.
* Another [[CruelTwistEnding rather mean subversion]] in ''Series/UglyBetty'' in the beginning of the second season. Throughout the whole episode Hilda and Santos are shown in her bedroom going over details of their impending marriage, him having only been injured when he was shot. However at the end of the episode, it is revealed that it was all in Hilda's head, and that Santos really is dead.

** In the SeriesFinale, this happens to Robin Wood.
** Also played straight with Cordelia in the season 3 episode "Lover's Walk".

* ''Series/TheMiddleman'' episode "The Boyband Superfan Interrogation" plays the Robot Disney Death relatively straight (though with tongue firmly in cheek, as with everything on the show). {{Ridiculously Human Robot|s}} Ida is destroyed defeating the villain's scheme, given a hero's funeral -- and then Wendy finds a box with a brand-new Ida robot inside. It is never mentioned again.
** It is implied again that they can just 'get a new model' when Ida malfunctions in a later episode, although they don't realize this (or know how) until it's far too late, leading Wendy to start making an impromptu {{Video Will|s}}. [[spoiler:Naturally, she gets out of danger at the last minute.]]
* Partially subverted in ''Series/BabylonFive''. After calling down a nuclear bomb on his own position and jumping down a huge hole, Captain Sheridan really is dead. However, he's frozen at the moment of death by Lorien, the first living being ever to come into existence, who tells him he can "breathe on the remaining embers" of Sheridan's life. This means he gets to live for the remaining two years of the series, but Lorien's action only bought him twenty more years, so that he'll die at age 66.
* The first season finale of ''Series/RobinHood'', where [[spoiler:Marian is mourned, avenged, and then discovered to be still alive]]. (Setting the scene for a major audience shock when [[spoiler:she died in the second season finale]].)
* In the series finale of ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' of all places. [[spoiler:During the battle in the first half of the episode, Helo is shot and severely wounded while rescuing his daughter Hera from the Cylons. His wife Athena tearfully leaves him behind to save Hera (and at that point she wasn't the only one shedding tears), at which point he doesn't appear for the rest of most of the episode...only to turn up alive on Earth at the end of the episode, living happily with his family. He even had the standard Disney Death walking stick to at least acknowledge that he was injured earlier. Strange to see this trope in such a dark AnyoneCanDie CrapsackWorld, but if any couple deserved a happy ending on that show it was them.]]

* In the episode "Doppleganger" in ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' [[spoiler:Rodney [=Mckay=] ]] dies from a entity that kills people in their sleep, while [[spoiler:John Sheppard]] is trying to save him. Turns out, the whole thing was really [[spoiler:John]]'s Nightmare, and the character wakes up in the real world, perfectly fine, minus a technical cardiac arrest.
** In the series finale, [[spoiler:Ronan]] is killed by the Wraith in order to up the stakes for the remaining characters and then gets [[AssPull Ass Pull'd]] back to life (also by the Wraith, because they're a bunch of morons).
* Used twice (well, almost) in the season finale of ''[[Series/{{Blackadder}} Blackadder the Third]]''. First, The Duke of Wellington fires a cannon at Edmund, but it is revealed a moment later that the cannonball was [[PocketProtector stopped by a cigarillo case]]. Several minutes later, (though this is actually a subversion) Wellington shoots the Prince Regent and, while Baldrick mourns him, the Prince gets up and reveals that he, too, had a cigarillo case, searches for it in his coat, realizes he left it on the dresser at home, and dies for real.

* ''Series/StargateSG1'': Daniel Jackson has several of these. Considering he dies over twenty times in the series and all the movies, it's fairly understandable. The [[Creator/{{Syfy}} Sci Fi Channel]] once had a "They're dead, no they're not, yes they are, no they aren't!" marathon.

* ''{{Series/House}}'':
** During the series finale [[spoiler: House is trapped in a burning building and dies when the building collapses on him. Paramedics pull a body out of the rubble and confirm that the body was indeed House. At his funeral, Wilson receives a text message from House during his speech. It turned out that House actually faked his death so he could be with Wilson during his final 5 months instead of spending it in prison]].
* ''Series/TwentyFour'':
** Season 2 has Jack captured by terrorists and brutally tortured to death. Yup, his heart actually stops and he's actually pronounced dead at the end of the episode. However, they manage to get a doctor to resuscitate him time at the very beginning of the following episode.
** Additionally, late in its fourth season Tony Almeida is take hostage by the assassin Mandy and when CTU corners the two of them she seemingly blows them both up. Everyone is in shock and Tony's wife Michelle grieves, but Jack is eventually able to figure out that Mandy faked their deaths and he and Curtis are able to truly save Tony in time.
** Two-thirds through Day 9, the cliffhanger for one episode has [[spoiler: President Heller]] apparently get blown up by a missile. The following episode opens with everyone mourning his death, only for it to turn out that it was faked by Jack and Chloe to buy everyone some time.
* The ending of the second season of ''Series/VeronicaMars'' has the season's BigBad [[spoiler: Cassidy]] detonating a remote bomb aboard a plane that presumably has Veronica's dad on it. However, it turns out that her father drove home and he wasn't on the plane.

* In the fourth season finale of ''Series/{{Chuck}}'' Sarah apparently succumbs to being poisoned with Chuck even pulling a PleaseWakeUp. It cuts to sometime later, with the scene being a church implying that it's her funeral... and then seconds later pulls down to reveal that Sarah is fine and that she and Chuck are actually at their wedding.
* In the series 3 finale of ''Series/MooneBoy'', "Gershwin's Bucket List", George Gershwin, Grandpa Joe's imaginary friend, is assumed to have kicked the bucket upon [[spoiler:Grandpa Joe's unexpected death following a line dance outing]], only to turn up at his own funeral as Sean is delivering the eulogy.

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'':
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'' has this with Paz. Even though she was ejected from an exploding Metal Gear Zeke that she hijacked into the Caribbean Sea, Paz can still be seen in the Personnel files. Big Boss even hints at the possibility that Paz survived, as he noted to Chico in a briefing file that she took scuba gear with her when she was ejected.
** Subverted for drama in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidV'': [[spoiler:Paz did indeed survive the events of ''Peace Walker'', and is rescued in ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVGroundZeroes Ground Zeroes]]'', but she ends up jumping out of a helicopter because of the [[WhyAmITicking bombs]] that Skull Face planted in her, which then explode, only for her to show up in ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain The Phantom Pain]]'' nine years later with hard amnesia and an eternally young body... only for that to have been a hallucination. It's not absolutely confirmed if she did die, but given that Venom was five feet away from her before the explosion, and woke up to find that he had shards of bone and teeth lodged inside his body... yeah, she's almost certainly dead]].
** And Solid Snake at the end of ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 2|SonsOfLiberty}}''[='s=] first act, Raiden in ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 4|GunsOfThePatriots}}'', as well as Big Boss himself, twice. [[spoiler:Actually, Big Boss only does it once; his apparent Disney Death in ''VideoGame/MetalGear1'' was actually his BodyDouble being KilledOffForReal.]]
* Near the end of ''VideoGame/StarFoxAssault'', quite a few Disney Deaths ensue in the build-up to the final battle.
** Every death in ''Assault'' other than [[spoiler: the Aparoid Queen]] ends up being this. Even [[spoiler: Pigma and Oikonny]], who were seemingly dead, came back in ''VideoGame/StarFoxCommand''.
*** [[spoiler: Pigma didn't exactly come back as a person, but more of some kind of mechanical, borderline EldritchAbomination thing, and he seems to have died at the end of ''Command.'']]
* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
** In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'', the robot pump FLUDD is seemingly destroyed in the final battle, and guess what? He/she/it comes back.
** [[spoiler: The Lumas]], and to a much lesser extent, [[spoiler: Mario/Luigi, Peach, and Bowser]] at the end of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'', as a result of the universe being destroyed and recreated due to Bowser's galaxy collapsing.
* A largely ignored Robot Disney occurs in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''. TalkingAnimal Cait Sith agrees to remain inside the [[LostTechnology Temple of the Ancients]], 'solving puzzles' to make it shrink so it can be picked up and taken by the characters -- naturally, this means anyone inside will be crushed. But Cait Sith is actually a robot, with a backup copy lurking nearby in case of disaster, which was why he agreed so readily (although his pre-death speech suggests he is genuinely able to feel sad about dying, even knowing a duplicate will come along). The temple shrinks, Cait is crushed, and 'Cait Sith Number Two' approaches, identical to the first - and naturally arrives at the worst possible time. It's been theorized that the game does this to increase the shock of the death of another main character later on. This copy is not only at the same level as the one that just died, but also has all of his equipment, which is near-impossible.
** Also, as mentioned above Rufus's death gets {{retcon}}ned into a Disney Death because [[EvilIsCool he proved to be a]] [[EvilIsSexy fan-favorite villain]].
** Dirge of Cerberus implies that Weiss received this fate. Despite being defeated by Chaos Vincent, as well as Omega being destroyed, the 100% ending (the Genesis Ending) has Genesis arriving to pick up Weiss and states to him not to go yet, as they still have more to do before taking off with him.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' is known for this. Cid is given one when he leaps off of the airship and detonates a bomb in order to let the rest of the party escape from pursuers-you later find him, not just alive but in good enough shape to upgrade the airship. Yang also has one when the Tower of Babil explodes-he seems dead, but if you go down into one of the underworld dungeons, he's alive but comatose and being tended by Sylphs. You can wake him up from his ''coma'' by hitting him in the face with a frying pan.
** Only two characters are ever dead for good. Many of the others don't rejoin the party, but even the pair that gets [[TakenForGranite turned to stone]] makes an appearance by the end.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'' is [[AnyoneCanDie the exact opposite]] of ''FFIV'', but still has an instance of this. When the party is [[spoiler:swallowed up by Leviathan]], Leila vanishes...only to turn up in Fynn, having washed ashore and recovered.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' also has one of these moments, depending on how you play the game. If the player decides to [[spoiler:kill Cid]] in the World of Ruin then [[spoiler:Celes will commit suicide by throwing herself off a cliff]], an idea conceived after being told others had effectively ended their lives in this manner. However, [[spoiler:we find her waking up on the beach after having been nursed back to health by a bird!]] ...who just happens to [[spoiler:have Locke's bandanna bandaging it's wing]], signifying there ARE others also alive after [[spoiler:the apocalypse of their world]].
** Also, Shadow has one of these after [[spoiler:Kefka kills Leo]]. Rather than being unconscious, though, he's gone missing [[spoiler: (to the DiscOneFinalDungeon to take on the baddies, even though he is injured, because he is a badass ninja)]] and, since his dog Interceptor is injured, your party assumes he is dead. Serves as revenge fuel against the Empire, as if there wasn't already enough of that. He will [[spoiler: die for real]] if you don't wait for him during the Apocalypse.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'': At the end of the storyline for ''A Realm Reborn'', [[spoiler:Nanamo is assassinated when her wine is poisoned as part of a plot by the Monetarists to frame the heroes and consolidate their power]]. It is later revealed in ''Heavensward'', however, that [[spoiler:Lolorito, one of the Monetarists, had sabotaged the assassination attempt by stealthily having the poison swapped with a sleeping potion that put the Sultana in a death-like slumber, but kept her alive, because even he knew that the death of Ul'dah's leader would cause chaos that would hurt profits. As a show of goodwill, he provides the heroes with an antidote that awakens her]].
* A little over halfway through ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', [[spoiler:Crono is killed off by an attack courtesy of the planet-destroying monster Lavos, leaving the game without its main character for an extended period of time. In the meantime, the remainder of the party sets to work on reviving him using judicious use of time travel and a clone won in a carnival game]].
* In ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus'', [[spoiler: the protagonist's faithful steed apparently falls to his death when a bridge gives out, only to return during the ending alive, but with a broken leg... [[DownerEnding which is usually a death sentence for a horse anyway]]]].
** [[spoiler: [[OnlyAFleshWound It's just a bad sprain!]] [[HesJustHiding Agro is fine, dammit!]]]]
* Episode 5 of ''VideoGame/TalesFromTheBorderlands'' has [[spoiler:Sasha make a HeroicSacrifice so the rest of the gang can bring down the Traveller once and for all. She is badly injured and on the brink of death, and at one point closes her eyes and goes still. Her sister and friends break down in tears - only for her to quickly say “Uh, I'm not dead yet”, and for Felix's healing device to start working and heal her wounds]].
* In the rare Multipath Adventures of Superman, the finale to the story arc, "Scream of the Banshee" contains this trope, depending on your final decision. In one outcome, the Silver Banshee and Boggane are banished, and Lois and Jimmy go to the side of an unconscious Superman as he slowly regains said consciousness. In the bad ending, Superman will get hit with a charge of the Banshee's haywire magic before the same cutscene of Banshee and Boggane being sealed within their stone, followed by Lois and Jimmy examining Superman. The trope is averted in this ending, as Superman doesn't wake up, and Lois begins sobbing, realizing he is lifeless, as Jimmy tearfully utters, [[PyrrhicVictory "At least...we saved the world."]] as the camera pans out and gradually fades to black.
* Subverted in ''VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness'', when the robot Thursday is saved by the ghost the main characters have put to rest... only to be immediately broken again by Flonne.
** Later, just before the FinalBoss, [[spoiler:Flonne is turned into a flower by Seraph Lamington for what appears to be an incredibly stupid reason]]. In some of the MultipleEndings, this death is for real; in others, it turns out to be a Disney Death.
* In the Creator/{{Infocom}} text adventure game ''VideoGame/{{Planetfall}}'', [[spoiler:the cleaning robot Floyd 'dies' heroically sacrificing his life to obtain an essential keycard, complete with an eulogy given by the PC. At the end of the game he reappears, repaired]]. In the next game, [[spoiler:he becomes BrainwashedAndCrazy and you have to kill him for real]].
* Parodied in the Creator/{{Infocom}} text adventure game ''VideoGame/LeatherGoddessesOfPhobos'', in which your sidekick Tiffany (or Trent, depending on your character's gender) heroically sacrifices themselves about half a dozen times to help you out, complete with a silent moment of loss and mourning on your part, before they turn up again in the very next area, having survived through increasingly implausible coincidence.
* ''VideoGame/{{Geist}}'' does this twice with the same character. The first time, he is swallowed whole by a boss monster, then escapes from its stomach when you kill the boss monster, causing it to burst open. The second time, his helicopter is shot down, but he appears at the end of the game with no explanation of how he got there.
* ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy'' has a Robot Disney Death with the [[ArtificialHuman Golem]] Adam. He breaks down at the end of the first arc, after having sustained too much damage defending the Grancypher, but by the time the crew visits Mephorash again, he's up and running again, having been repaired.
* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'', [[spoiler:this happens to your ''entire party'' at one point. They all supposedly sacrifice themselves to allow Lloyd to get to Colette, but [[MultipleEndings either Zelos or Kratos]] shows up to save each and every one of them]].
* PlayedForLaughs in ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor''. On Keelhaul Key, Admiral Bobbery is assaulted by some of the local spirits and appears to be on his last, stubby little legs. Barely clinging to consciousness, he begs you to fetch the Chuckola Cola he brought along with him, to drink in honor of his late wife. After Bobbery chugs to Scarlett's memory, he promptly... starts snoring. Your partner, realizing he was confused and overdramatic at worst, encourages you to give him a sound whack on the head to rouse him. He goes from asleep to fighting stance in .7 seconds flat.
** This also pops up in the post-game in a more serious fashion, where it turns out that [[spoiler:TEC survives having his hard drive deleted and then blowing up, and Grodus survives having his head and body destroyed separately]]. No clue how on either one of those.
*** When talking to [[spoiler:TEC]] after beating the final boss, he mentions that he saw a bright light and heard [[spoiler:Princess Peach's voice]] before being resurrected. It is possible that [[spoiler:Peach, while breaking temporarily free from the Shadow Queen's grasp to send Mario her power, also uses a portion of her power to save TEC]]. This is actually what many fans believe. No clue about the other one, though. Another Disney Death case is [[spoiler:Lord Crump]] who is blown into space.
** ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' does this a ''lot'', namely with [[spoiler:Peach, Bowser, Luigi, Luvbi, and Nastasia]].
* ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'':
** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam'': Britta appears to die after being saved from Torkscrew in Dozing Sands, but just as the screen begins to fade out, she wakes up and yells at her subordinates for thinking she was dying.
** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPaperJam'': After defeating a BrainwashedAndCrazy Wiggler, he comments on being "sleepy" and lies down, and Paragoomba-angels fly down to spirit him away... except he was just metamorphosing into a butterfly.
* ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon: Explorers of Time''/''Darkness''/''Sky'' [[spoiler:ends with the hero character being knocked out of the time line when s/he changes the future (yep, the main character is from TheFuture). However, after your partner cries his or her heart out to Bidoof before the end credits, Dialga decides to grant you partner his or her greatest desire - which is the revival of your character. It's not like you could reach the postgame content if you were dead, huh?]]
** [[spoiler: Hydreigon]] in ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeonGatesToInfinity'' also comes back to life in the ending, despite [[spoiler: being frozen solid and then [[LiterallyShatteredLives shattered]]]].
* Surprisingly averted in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars''. A character rarely dies without much fanfare and usually gives a protracted speech before death, or at least everyone else remarks about said death. Otherwise, the character simply retreated. In some cases, doomed characters can be saved from their fate (and sometimes brought over to the player's side) by a set of specific actions, some quite byzantine.
** The bit where they tend to avert character deaths of popular or important characters, especially Gai Daigouji from ''Anime/MartianSuccessorNadesico''... though then there's poor Schwartz Bruder from ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'', who rarely gets to live.
%%* The ending from the first ''VideoGame/{{Grandia}}''.
* After the fight against the final boss of ''VideoGame/GoldenSun: The Lost Age'', it is revealed that [[spoiler:this monster was in fact created from the parents of some playable characters (the father of Isaac, and the parents of Jenna and Felix), whom they thought already dead. By defeating the boss, they also killed their parents.]] However, they are alive and well during the last minutes of gameplay, with only a cheap explanation ([[spoiler:the Psynergy of Mars Lighthouse is supposed to have revived them]]) as to why they are not dead.
** Cheap explanation? Not so much. [[spoiler:Saturos and Menardi set this up way back in the first game by using the Venus beacon to bring themselves back from the brink of death]]. It still counts, though, because nobody but [[TheChessmaster the Wise One]] realized it would work.
* Played straight in ''VideoGame/MassEffect1''. [[spoiler:The group, having just defeated Sovereign, is fleeing from an incoming chunk of Reaper. Cut to the two party members with you, as a C-Sec officer and Anderson pry open one of the chunks that was a near-miss to reveal them. Anderson asks where Shepard is, they shake their heads, and all parties involved get a crushed expression - cut to the side, where you see a form moving toward the group through the wreckage. Swell of music, Shepard mounting the top of the biggest chunk, with a huge [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu "I just punched out Cthulhu"]] grin on his/her face. Cut to final sequence.]]
** Also seen in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' with the same character. (Early game spoilers) [[spoiler:Shepard's ship is attacked, despite being in the "undetectable" stealth mode. Shepard gets the majority of the crew out alive but is unable to get in an escape pod before the ship blows, and then goes through the ship exploding, the space suit failing, and the massive heat friction endured by entering a planet's atmosphere. Shepard actually does die from the experience, but a certain organization from the first game invests a lot of time, effort, and a lot of money in restoring body and brain to life.]] It takes two years, but they do it.
** And ''[[RuleOfThree again]]'' at the end of ''VideoGame/MassEffect3''. [[spoiler:If you choose Shepard to destroy synthetic life, he/she dies, like in the other endings. [[SubvertedTrope And stays dead.]] [[DoubleSubversion Unless you get 100% completion. Then there's a small scene where Shepard may have lived.]]]]
* ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar [[VideoGameRemake Ultra]]'' not only manages to retcon [[spoiler:Marx]]'s death into this trope but also uses it as the explanation for his power boost in the True Arena ([[spoiler:What's left of Nova merges with him.]]). And then he dies for good.
* Any time ''VideoGame/MegaManX's'' Zero gets blown to pieces. Don't expect it to last long. [[spoiler: Then he actually does get killed off at the end of ''VideoGame/MegaManZero 4''.]]
* In ''VideoGame/MegaManStarForce 3'', [[spoiler:a villain ''vaporizes'' two significant characters, including Luna Platz, which shakes the main cast so much that Geo has to try and convince the others she isn't dead. In the next portion of the game, Aaron Boreal, a friend of Geo's, indicates that the effects are reversible... but his demonstration of this is a blatant example of Came Back Wrong. Geo decides to proceed with the recovery process anyway, hunting down Luna's digitized fragments, but the recovery attempt is stymied at several points by Dark Phantom, who effectively takes the necessary equipment hostage in a gambit for Mega Man's newest power. Despite all this, Luna effectively recovers, but has no memory of the attack.]]
** The credits indicate that [[spoiler:Ace, who performed a Heroic Sacrifice against the same villain, was also restored or repaired to life and limb following the events of the game]].
** Actually both cases are justified, [[spoiler: It is due to the brotherband between the characters and Luna that the power of the brotherband had helped save Luna. Ace became noise and he was sent to Meteor G by King. This lead to them getting his data and recreating him like Luna]].
* Played straight and averted in ''VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed''. Played straight when [[spoiler:the apprentice gets thrown out the window of a star destroyer]] and when something similar happens to [[spoiler:Rham Kota (sic)]] and averted with [[spoiler:PROXY]] and [[spoiler:the actual death of The Apprentice]].
** PlayedForLaughs (and a bit of SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming|Moments}}) in the sequel when [[spoiler: PROXY and Starkiller are reunited, each saying "I thought you were dead!" to the other at the same time.]]
* Done in ''VideoGame/LufiaIIRiseOfTheSinistrals''. Dekar, the world's strongest man, has a temple dropped on him, with a miniboss holding him with magic so he can't get away. He eats it, and comes back in the end, clearing a path for your dirigible to reach Doom Island.
** In [[VideoGame/LufiaCurseOfTheSinistrals the remake]], he gets thrown into a hellish otherworld. [[EscapedFromHell He fights his way out and blows up the entire dimension behind him.]]
* The [[spoiler: Jumi arc]] in ''VideoGame/LegendOfMana''. ''In spades.'' You don't find out until the very end, though, by which point [[spoiler:they've invoked the sister trope OurHeroIsDead]]. It's PlayerPunch-eriffic!
* The ''[=MassMouth=] 2'' GameMod for ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' gleefully parodies this trope, with nearly every major character returning to life at least once. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in one boss fight:
-->'''Linguica:''' You fag! I'll kill you for killing me!\\
'''[=MassMouth=]:''' Why doesn't anybody stay dead around here?
* Albert Wesker gets impaled and apparently dies on-screen in the first ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil1'', yet continues to operate from the shadows in later games. The on-screen death is sort-of retconned in the UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube version, but only after ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica'' was released.
** Ada Wong also "dies" in both of her scenarios of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'', only to return to throw the player a rocket launcher during the penultimate battle. She lives on to be one of the driving forces behind ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4''.
* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' [[spoiler:Link's uncle gives a speech about his and Link's time together before he dies. During the end credits it shows that he's alive and well in the house]]. Justified in that [[spoiler:Link used his wish to the Triforce to undo the damage Ganon had caused, so his casualties, Link's uncle included, were revived.]]
%%** [[spoiler:Midna]] in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]''.
%%** [[spoiler:Zelda herself]] in that one.
* Played with in ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland2LeChucksRevenge'', when one puzzle with a time limit will cause Guybrush to die if he runs out of time...until the player is reminded that the entire game is told in flashback to Elaine, who doubts Guybrush's claim that he died and gives the player another chance at the puzzle.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Nostalgia}}'', Gilbert Brown pulls it off so often that [[spoiler:his HeroicSacrifice loses a lot of impact, if not all of it.]]
* Happens to Ryu himself at the end of Chapter 2 in ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden Black'', where he is cut in half by Doku, but revived by the falcon spirit.
* ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'':
** In ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankUpYourArsenal'', Ratchet, Clank, and Captain Qwark are on a ship set to self-destruct. Qwark goes back for something, and doesn't get off in time... until the duo investigates the wreckage on planet Zeldrin and finds an escape pod and a recording of Qwark DisguisedInDrag calling a cab to take him somewhere. Later, upon completing the final [[GameWithinAGame Vid-Comic]], Ratchet and Clank discover that [[spoiler:Qwark has a hideout in the Thran Asteroid Belt]]. Sure enough, [[spoiler:he's found FakingTheDead because he doesn't want to ''actually'' die]].
** In ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankFutureACrackInTime'', [[spoiler:Alistair Azimuth]] shoots [[spoiler:Ratchet]] in the chest. You can actually hear his heartbeat slowing to a stop before he plummets off the edge of the platform. However, it's reversed when [[spoiler:Clank uses the Great Clock to turn time back six minutes]].
* In ''VideoGame/WildArms2'', Brad was presumed dead by everyone half way through the game when he offered to sacrifice himself. Later on he was revealed to be alive and rescued his friends from danger by firing a railgun weapon at his enemy ship. He rejoins the party after that.
* ''VideoGame/{{Drakensang}} 2: The River of Time'' essentially is a "retelling" of the events of the game by Forgrimm to Kladdis (who wanted to know about her parents). On a TPK, you get treated to either of a variety of scenes like "That cannot be right -- I was just seeing whether you were listening" -- "Just kidding" and similar exchanges, before the game offers to reload at an earlier point.
* Maria Messa in ''VideoGame/{{Ys}} II'', when she is "sacrificed" by Dalles. ''Ys IV: Mask of the Sun'' does this to Leeza, Lilia, and Adol himself. Also, Adol's near-drowning at the beginning of ''The Ark of Napishtim''.
* In the one UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis ''Franchise/StarTrek'' game, Data was the most useful of the command staff for this reason -- it was very hard, if not impossible for him to get severely injured and taken off active duty. He would just get repaired, as opposed to others who have a good chance of getting that injured. All of the other command had a WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou as either Picard is injured (he always seems to be severely injured) or he [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone resigns in guilt over causing them to get hurt.]] Thus the player could send only Data and his death wouldn't matter.
* In ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'', [[spoiler:Anthony Higgs]] is slapped into a pit lava by [[spoiler:Ridley]]'s tail. At the first ending of the game, [[spoiler:Anthony]] comes out of nowhere to escort Samus back to her starship, accompanied by a flashback showing how he escaped certain death.
** The creators of ''Other M'' took into account how [[spoiler: Phantoon's death sequence could be taken as him fleeing... after the main game, Phantoon takes over the Bottle Ship and is fought as the True Final Boss.]]
* This happened to Sonic in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2''. Eggman finds out from [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Tails]] that he had been given the fake Chaos Emerald, and proceeds to jettison Sonic into space. However, thanks to Chaos Control, he manages to escape the blast just in the nick of time.
* Namco uses this trope a lot in their ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' series. The Mishimas have all been thrown off cliffs in some morbid test of strength, presumed dead but not. Even Jin's mother, Jun Kazama has "died" and returned with little explanation. ''Tekken 5'' tried to sell the death of Heihachi only he didn't die. Even the ''VideoGame/SoulCalibur'' series has had examples of this, such as Li Long.
* In ''VideoGame/BraveTheSearchForSpiritDancer'', [[spoiler:Gray Bear]]. They just turn up alive at the end. Although it could be possibly that [[spoiler:since the Wendigo's curse was lifted]], [[WildMassGuessing maybe that allowed them to come back to life]]?
* In ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'', [[spoiler:Orin/Oojam]] performs a HeroicSacrifice to help Mara/Maya and Nara/Meena escape. The game gives all indication that he is dead, with the standard "No response, seems to be a corpse" message. But later on, [[spoiler:you find him wounded at the inn in Frenor/Vrenor]].
* In the NES version of ''VideoGame/DoubleDragonII'', Marian is StuffedIntoTheFridge in the game's opening sequence, only to wake up perfectly fine after the final boss battle, unlike the arcade version, where she is KilledOffForReal.
* In ''Videogame/{{Portal 2}}'' co-op whenever one of the robots "dies" they just come back through a vent.
* Originally subverted in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' (Either you or a NPC had to die to finish the main quest), but the ''Broken Steel'' DLC changed this sacrifice into a 2 weeks coma. However, Sarah still [[KilledOffForReal dies for real]] if you send her in to activate it.
* Gabriel Belmont from ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadow'' is killed by [[spoiler: Satan]] right before the final battle. His wife, Marie, resurrects him.
* In ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVIHeirTodayGoneTomorrow'', [[spoiler:Alexander pulls this one off by [[FauxDeath feigning suicide via the heart-stopping powers of the "Drink Me" potion]], making him appear dead to {{Sha|peshifting}}mir [[GenieInABottle Shamazel]] and the Pawn Shop Owner. While Shamir runs off to report to BigBad Alhazred, the potion's effects wear off, and Alex revives to the owner's surprise and [[HonorBeforeReason explains the whole gambit]] for re-entry into the castle where Cassima is]].
* In the first episode of ''Franchise/SamAndMax'': Season 1, Max throws Jimmy Two-Teeth out the window to his (presumed) death. He later re-appears in their office unharmed.
** In season 3, a subversion. [[spoiler: In the final episode, Max becomes a giant monster and eventually has to be destroyed. Sam wanders around the city aimlessly mourning the loss of his best friend all the way through the end credits. Then suddenly, a Max from an alternate timeline (from the previous season) appears, and reveals that in his universe the same events happened although in his world Sam was the one that became a monster and died. This Max then takes the previous one's place. So the Max of this world actually is dead, but we technically still have him since the alternative universe is the same character with just a few slightly different experiences.]]
** In the final episode of Season 3, [[spoiler:Sal the Cockroach dies inside monster Max's body, but during the post-credits scene as the camera pans upward to the sky, you can see a giant cockroach crawling up a building if you look closely. Could this mean that Sal somehow survived?]]
* Unless you screw up and get locked into the BadEnding, Nanako seemingly flatlines from her mysterious IncurableCoughOfDeath in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'', only to recover a few minutes later.
* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'': Ryuji Sakamoto seemingly gets caught in a explosion while helping the rest of your party escape the sinking Cruise Ship dungeon, only to walk up completely fine a few minutes later and reveal that said explosion ended up blasting him into the real world. Soon afterward, the protagonist and Futaba return to Le Blanc cafe, but Sojiro's missing and the news of someone's kidnapping and murder is playing on TV. However, Sojiro returns soon afterwards, and Futaba says [[LampshadeHanging he's just as bad as Ryuji.]]
* In the best ending for ''VideoGame/HeavyRain,'' [[spoiler: it seems like Ethan is too late to save Shaun from drowning and collapses in tears. Then Shaun starts coughing..]].
* During the final main campaign mission in ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'', "The Talon of God", [[spoiler: Mordecai and Brick are apparently killed during the attack on Heroes' Pass when their hijacked transport is shot down, but they appear in time to celebrate your victory after you defeat the final boss]].
* In ''VideoGame/AdvancedVariableGeo 2'', Tamao, Yuka, and all of the game's characters, including Chiho, who appears to be fatally wounded from [[BigBad Miranda]]'s gunshot, all combine their attacks to destroy Miranda's getaway plane and kill Miranda herself, though at the cost of Chiho's life. TheStinger then shows Tamao and Yuka visiting Chiho's grave... Until a hand suddenly touches Tamao's shoulder and as she turns her back, she smiles and the game ends, implying that Chiho survived the plane crash.
* In ''VideoGame/MetalSlug 3D'', Oguma pulls a HeroicSacrifice to stop Lieu as Marco and his soldiers escape in a helicopter, despite Marco's protests. TheStinger, however, reveals that Oguma survived, and he is last seen talking to Rumi Aikawa as the game ends.
* In ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone'', [[VideoGame/GhostsNGoblins Arthur]] apparently [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifices himself]] in the climax of Chapter 17. In the next chapter, as some of the group begin to mourn his "death", he promptly comes back, revealing that he can survive anything as long as he has his armor on, subverting ArmorIsUseless.
* In ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'' during the prologue when The Boss and Shaundi are escaping Philippe Loren's plane, Johnny tells them over the intercom from behind the flight deck door that he'll see them back in Stilwater, when gunshots and the sound of a body dropping are heard and he suddenly goes silent. In ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'' it's revealed that the body getting shot was a random Morningstar goon that Johnny was using as a HumanShield against Loren; Johnny was actually abducted by [[AliensAreBastards Zinyak]], who believed that Johnny was powerful enough to destroy his whole empire, and Loren threatening The Boss that Johnny's corpse was the beginning was [[ILied just him taking the piss]] to get the Saints to back off.
* In the conclusion of ''[[VideoGame/LunarTheSilverStar Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete]]'', Alex and Luna apparently sacrifice themselves to stop Lunar's corruption, only to turn up alive and well one cutscene later.
* At the end of Season One of ''Videogame/TheWalkingDead'', [[spoiler:Kenny]] dives into a horde of Walkers to distract them so that Lee can progress. In the decisions screen, he's stated to have been "lost to the horde" rather than outright dead. Unsurprisingly, he shows up in Season Two, with the handwave of having gotten lucky. However, depending on your decisions he's given a far more conclusive demise in the Season Two finale or [[DroppedABridgeOnHim an unceremonious death]] in a flashback sequence in Season Three.
* ''VideoGame/TheMatrixPathOfNeo'' has a PlayingWithATrope example in that while the player knows that Neo didn't permanently die, a security guard who was {{BodySurf}}ed by Smith believes Neo to be dead...until they meet again six months later.
* In ''VideoGame/TheWitchAndTheHundredKnight'', Metallia spends the last portion of the game trying to revive [[spoiler:Visco]] after her brutal murder and, despite her best efforts, fails to do so. [[spoiler:However, upon defeating the final boss, Metallia finds an incredibly heavy concentration of mana and decides to use that and [[HeroicSacrifice her own soul to bring Visco back to life]]. Luckily, the Hundred Knight coughs up the seed Metallia was born from and, after having her seed planted, is brought back to life when it sprouts.]]
* In ''[[VideoGame/TimeCrisis Time Crisis 5]]'', [[spoiler: [[MissionControl Cathy]] apparently sacrifices herself to destroy the missile that [[BigBad Robert]] was going to use on New York. After you kill Robert, Cathy is revealed to have survived the crash]].
* At the end of ''VideoGame/SunsetOverdrive'', [[spoiler: the player character is [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat apparently fatally crushed under rubble]] after RidingTheBomb into the MegaCorp's headquarters, but then [[TheStinger after the fake credits]], they walk out of the ruins to chew out [[CreatorCameo the developers]] for the depressing end, then the game rewinds for the real FinalBoss battle]].
* In ''VideoGame/OriAndTheBlindForest'', this happens to the title character [[RuleOfThree a total of three times]]; first at the beginning of the game, then after completing the first dungeon, then lastly at the end.
* Princess Aurora of ''VideoGame/ChildOfLight'' dies in her sleep before the game even starts, whence she is spirited to Lemuria, then at the climax she is killed by Umbra but [[CameBackStrong Comes Back Strong]].
* At the end of ''VideoGame/HouseOfTheDead'''s first chapter, [[DamselInDistress Sophie]] is apparently dealt a fatal blow by Chariot, but in the GoldenEnding, [[CuttingOffTheBranches which is also the canon ending]], she emerges from the mansion none the worse for wear. In the BadEnding, she [[CameBackWrong comes back as a zombie]].
* In ''VideoGame/Gamer2'', helpful NPC Kora is murdered by LoadBearingBoss ACE in the factory level cutscene. She later shows up still alive, reminding the player that she's an NPC in the game world, and therefore unable to permanently die. [[spoiler:However, since the player has killed ACE, she immediately points out the game is being destroyed and she will die along with it.]]
[[/folder]]

* [[DisneyDeath/{{Disney}} Disney]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* Used a few times in ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure''.
** In ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'', [[spoiler: Joseph gets a knife to the throat from DIO and then get's most of his blood sucked out (he even gets an WingedSoulFliesOffAtDeath moment like Iggy and Avdol). He is little more than a dry husk when the Speedwagon Foundation picks him up, but thanks to a blood transfusion from DIO and Jotaro restarting his heart, he was brought back]].
** In ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'', [[spoiler: Okuyasu gets his abdomen blown up in the fight with Yoshikage Kira, and doesn't wake up after being healed, just like with Josuke's grandfather. However, he gets one last chat with his brother, where he decides [[ItIsNotYourTime It Is Not His Time]], and returns just in time to pull a BigDamnHeroes moment]].
* Creator/HayaoMiyazaki's ''Manga/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind'' pulls this with Nausicäa ''herself'', who dies being launched into the air by a stampede of monstrous insects.. before said insects realize she was trying to tell them she had safely returned their lost baby, began empathizing with her and healed her, inducing a trippy hallucination/resurrection scene in which Nausicäa manages to get back to life.
** She dies in an attempt to stop a stampede of giant insects from killing off her people. The insects stop their stampede shortly afterward, and restore her to life by using their golden feelers.
** She actually had a lot going against her. She was hit so hard she flew hundreds of feet in the air, and then hit the ground after falling back the same distance! Then she was trampled (not actually shown, but it's unlikely that EVERY ONE OF THEIR FEET MISSED HER, so the trampling can be assumed) by the giant "ohm" bugs. This all happened before they finally stopped their stampede. She was ''DeaderThanDead'' but somehow the ohm's power revived her.
* ''Anime/MaiHime'':
** The anime [[spoiler:pulls off over a dozen Disney Deaths in one fell swoop]].
** [[spoiler:At least the story worked up to that one. There are also roughly half a dozen spread throughout the series where the character just walks back into the room, resulting in a few surprised looks, but no explanations asked or given.]]
** In the manga, [[spoiler:Takumi]] appears to die at one point, but it turns out that he is actually not dead, and is in fact, [[spoiler:ascending as the Obsidian Lord]]. In the final battle, the Obsidian Lord tries to kill [[spoiler:Mai, Natsuki and Yuuichi, after Mai turns on him]], but they are saved by Mashiro, and [[spoiler:Haruka, Yukino and Midori]] seemingly pull a HeroicSacrifice, but later turn up alive, at a mock funeral Shizuru is holding for Haruka.
* ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}''
** In the final episode of the second season, the results of that have Lina sacrificing herself in order to save everyone [[spoiler: by giving herself up to the Lord of Nightmares and then [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence being taken away to its true home]]. Gourry flat out refuses to lose Lina and follows her there, bringing her back]].
** Much earlier in the same season, Lina has been BroughtDownToNormal for a couple episodes and is apparently killed by Kanzel by falling to her death since she can't levitate anymore. However, by this point she's secretly regained her powers and was faking it to get a sneak attack on him. Gourry doesn't take it well though.
* Basara Nekki actually DOES die near the end of ''Anime/{{Macross 7}}'', but comes back to life through ThePowerOfRock because the BigBad, in his words, "Needs to listen to my song!"
* Possibly the cheapest example ever was from ''Anime/WitchHunterRobin''. About halfway through the series, an episode ended with a {{cliffhanger}}: all but two of the main characters were gunned down, on camera, by the bad guys. In the next episode, it is revealed that the "killers" were using nonlethal weapons, and the only consequence is that one guy is on crutches.
* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' does this frequently, starting with Sasuke early on in the series; also during the "Retrieve Sasuke" arc, where [[spoiler:several of Naruto's teammates each got a prolonged, heavily dramatized "death" scene from which they all eventually recovered]].
** Another example is [[spoiler:Hinata. Pain apparently stabbed her [[StuffedInTheFridge to provoke Naruto]], seemingly killing her but she was shown as alive in the next chapter and survived her wounds with medical treatment from Sakura]].
** [[spoiler:Naruto has Kurama extracted from him and Sasuke is [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice stabbed through the heart]], both by [[BigBad Madara]]. They both "die" despite the assistance they get. However, they are revived by Obito and Kabuto, respectively, and receive a massive power-boost from the Sage of the Six Paths to boot.]]
* ''Manga/DragonBall'' (and its various sequels) is rather notable for this trope, probably even more so than Disney. This is done with General Blue, where he survived an underwater cavern collapsing on top of him, as well as survive even being launched all the way to Egypt before finally meeting his end at the hands of Mercenary Tao. Mercenary Tao had a similar fate to General Blue, as it was later revealed that he had survived Goku deflecting his grenade back at him, although he required extensive surgery to become a Cyborg as a result. The Trunks Saga also had Freeza being rebuilt as a cyborg, similar to Mercenary Tao, although unlike Tao, he ended up being killed for good after he resurfaced. The Cell Saga also had Android 18's survival (as Krillin noted when Cell regurgitated 18 that he thought she was a goner), as well as Cell's "revival" through Piccolo's Cells and Freeza's cells when he self destructs, killing off Goku, King Kai, Bubbles (and in the anime, Gregory) and implicitly Android 17. Majin Buu is blown to pieces repeatedly. Goku succumbed to this in the Piccolo Jr., Freeza, Majin Buu, Baby and Shadow Dragon sagas, where he's presumed dead prior to gaining the upper hand. It's also happened with Movie villains such as Broly and Cooler.
** If one counts video games, then General White certainly applies in ''[[VideoGame/DragonBallZAttackOfTheSaiyans Attack of the Saiyans]]'' where he was revealed to have both survived and attempted to create a new Red Ribbon Army.
** Piccolo himself went through this trope twice: During the Freeza Saga, he either took Freeza's Death Beam for Goku, or was the direct target of it, depending on the Anime or the Manga's depiction, and yet he survived the attack albeit wounded. Similarly, during the Cell Saga, while attempting to get Android 17 to flee and holding off the eponymous villain, he ended up being punched by Cell with enough force to knock him back and apparently break his neck, and then Cell fired a beam clean through Piccolo's torso at point blank range, and then hurling his body into the ocean. When Goku had to save Tenshinhan from being killed by Cell's Semi-Perfect form, he also sensed Piccolo's ki (the little of it he had left, anyways) and saved him as well.
** Android 17 is seemingly killed defending Goku and Vegeta from Jiren's blast in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', he vanishes after his energy shield gives out and a massive explosion occurs, several episodes later when Goku is about to get knocked off the fighting arena and Frieza saves him, Android 17 is revealed to be still alive under the rubble.
* Played for laughs in the ''Anime/GalaxyAngel'' anime, where more than once, characters are killed off and restored at least by the next episode; the first instance of this had the [[TheDitz ditzy]] and gullible character in question honestly convinced that she was dead.
* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'':
** A subversion when Rei appears to die fighting the sixteenth Angel, but then turns up alive. It is later revealed that [[spoiler:she ''did'' die, and was replaced by another clone]]. The fact that the members of the cast who don't know about this can't tell the difference is quite disturbing.
** At the end [[spoiler:everyong gets turned into Tang]]. How many of them later get better, or whether getting better is an option for those who got straight up killed in traditional ways before that, is left as an open question; there are only a couple of characters ([[spoiler: Shinji and Asuka]]) that we actually ''see'' afterward.
** ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'' plays it straight, though this time with [[spoiler:Asuka, during the doomed Unit 03 test]].
* Both ''Anime/SaberMarionetteJ'' and, more blatantly, ''Anime/SaberMarionetteJ Again'' appear to kill off characters in the finale only to have them show up in the last minutes, just fine, with no real explanation for how they survived.
* ''Manga/ElfenLied'' (sort of): [[spoiler:in the last episode, Lucy apparently gets killed in a BolivianArmyEnding; however, if you sit through all the ending credits, you can see a silhouette standing in a doorway that looks a bit too much like Nyu]].
** The manga plays it straight with [[spoiler:Bandou]].
** [[spoiler: The nameless Agent also has one, she's surrounded by Diiclonii, and the view point shows a GoryDiscretionShot, but she shows up later, no worse for wear, because the ground had given way and she fell into an underground cavern]]
*** Nousou is a [[spoiler: subversion, he embraces his diiclonius experiment, and then is crushed under a flaming helicopter, but it turned out she protected him, and the previously mentioned Agent, dug him out. when he releases a mind controlled device on the daughter, however, she decapitates him]].
** There's also [[spoiler: Nana getting dismembered by Lucy, with the end of the episode implying that she died. A few episodes later, though, she's back, and with a set of ArtificialLimbs]].
* Watch ''Anime/YuGiOh'' and try to keep track of how many times Bakura is beaten and manages to come back somehow. Some of his revivals are justified - most are not.
* ''Anime/{{Vandread}}'''s second season: [[spoiler:Gascogne rams a Harvester in a HeroicSacrifice and her ship explodes. The characters angst over it for a full episode, then move on. However, several episodes later, it's revealed Gascogne not only survived but took control of the damaged Harvester. She then... doesn't do anything particularly special for the last two episodes, which even removes the excuse of "we needed her/the Harvester to win the final battle". ''It did'' give Barnette an excuse to wear her skimpier outfit again, but that's incidental]].
* Ryoko apparently dies near the end of ''[[Anime/TenchiMuyo Tenchi Universe]]'', succumbing to wounds caused by the villain Kagato an episode prior and more that she incurred while flying Tenchi to Kagato's palace for the final battle. She appears in the final episode near the end in front of Tenchi, who has been pining about life returning to normality. All the other characters are implied to have returned to Tenchi as well.
* Many characters are apparently killed in ''Manga/OnePiece'', only to reappear alive-but-in-bandages at the end of the arc, having mysteriously survived. An ongoing joke people say is that "nobody dies in ''One Piece'' unless it's in a flashback." The only characters who ''don't'' escape death are the family members of the main characters...
** This trope is so prevalent in ''Manga/OnePiece'' that [[spoiler:when Ace ''did'' die, the chapter was titled "The Death of Portgaz D. Ace" as if to convince fans "we're serious this time, guys."]]
* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', particularly the movies, love pulling these:
** ''Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie'' has Ash get turned to stone by Mewtwo and Mew's power, only to be [[SwissArmyTears resurrected by]] [[EverybodyCries Pokémon tears]]. ItMakesSenseInContext.
** In the eighth movie, ''Anime/PokemonLucarioAndTheMysteryOfMew'' the humans (Ash, May, Max, Brock, Team Rocket, and Kidd Summers) all get eaten by the giant tree's immune system. Then Mew tells the tree they're not enemies and it regurgitates them.
** Ash drowns in ''Anime/PokemonRangerAndTheTempleOfTheSea'', but [[DeusExMachina gets some unspecified kickass power]] and subsequently destroys the Bad Guy.
*** Said unspecified kickass power (flight, more or less) was apparently just a feature of the intact "Temple of the Sea," as the whole cast is shown zipping 'round the Temple afterwards.
** In ''Anime/PokemonTheRiseOfDarkrai'', Darkrai sacrifices himself to prevent the ruin of the city. At the end of the movie, he's even given a ReallyDeadMontage, yet is still shown to have come back at the last second.
** In ''Anime/PokemonZoroarkMasterOfIllusions'', Zoroark gets brutally electrocutes and is mortally wounded. After a PleaseWakeUp from Zorua, Celebi manages to bring her back to life with the Time Ripple's power.
** ''Anime/PokemonGenesectAndTheLegendAwakened'' seemingly kills off the Douse Drive Genesect (complete with EyeLightsOut), only for it to wake up later. Because [[SarcasmMode you were so clearly fooled the first time]], the movie does it ''again'' to the same character soon after!
** Thanks to [[SpoiledByTheMerchandise the soundtrack appearing before the movie]], ''Anime/PokemonVolcanionAndTheMechanicalMarvel'' will seemingly have Volcanion undergoing one thanks to a track titled, "Volcanion Dies?".
* [[spoiler:Mitsumi and Hareta]] have this happen to them in ''Manga/PokemonDiamondAndPearlAdventure'', since they're trapped inside a falling building. Luckily one of their friends comes in and saves them. The former's Disney Death was [[spoiler:a suicidal version of RedemptionEqualsDeath, since she wanted to stay inside the building]].
* In ''Anime/LastExile'', [[spoiler:during an assault to capture the Guild's Claudia Units, which keep Anatoray and Disith's airships aloft, a character is shot and fatally wounded, and his ally/love interest's reaction is deliberately portrayed to mean that he has died (including [[BigNo a gut-wrenching scream]].) Two episodes later, during the epilogue, he shows up perfectly fine, and playing with the love interest's younger sibling, with no explanation whatsoever]].
* Happens constantly in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': if it's not a flashback and the character isn't a Hollow or [[NominalImportance random nameless mook]], their [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat apparent death scene]] will inevitably be nothing of the sort.
** An example being Byakuya Kuchiki suffering a major defeat from Sternritter F, As Nodt, believed to be dead until the members of the Zero Division took him to the Royal Palace and he came back in perfect condition with an upgrade in power.
** Which has lead to the MemeticMutation of "NOBODY DIES IN BLEACH."
*** ... until it was averted in several other cases in the final arc:[[spoiler: Yamamoto, Unohana, Ukitake, Sasakibe, and several of the Sternritter.]]
* ''Manga/InuYasha'':
** Has this in the episode with the Peachman. Inu-Yasha (while he is a regular human) and the Peachman are sent over a cliff. Seeing no sign of his body, his companions think that the Peachman must have flattened him. Inu-Yasha wakes up, having landed in a nearby tree, and he wakes up just as Kagome starts shouting how stupid he was (for dying).
** The Band of Seven arc contains several of these moments as well. Early on, in one episode Kagome, Miroku, and Sango are all poisoned by one of the Seven and the three are in a coma for several episodes. Then it appears that they've all died and Inuyasha and Shippo spend the first half of the following episode mourning them. However, then it turns out they were all saved by Myoga the flea sucking the poison out of their blood. Later on, Inuyasha seemingly sacrifices himself fighting Renkotsu, and as Kagome grieves, he turns up still alive and well. The very end of the story culminates with Kikyo apparently being killed by Naraku, but she turned out to still be alive much later.
* [[spoiler:The Wolkenritter]] of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs'', who all had dramatic, agonizing deaths that were reversed once [[spoiler:[[UpgradeArtifact Hayate came to power]]]] and restored them.
* In ''Anime/SonicX'', the Robot Disney Death is applied to Dr. [[strike:Robotnik]] Eggman's MechaMooks Decoe and Bocoe in Episode 48. Somehow, [[Creator/FourKidsEntertainment 4Kids]] manages to {{Bowdleri|se}}ze this into a plain Disney Death by removing the scene where the other characters are mourning them and saying that they "pulled themselves back together" rather than being repaired by Chuck Thorndyke.
* In ''VisualNovel/{{Kanon}}'', both the 2002 and 2006 versions [[spoiler:Yuichi remembers near the end of the series that Ayu fell off a high tree and presumably died seven years ago. However, by the very last scene of both versions, Ayu is shown to be alive after coming out of her coma, though the 2006 version ends with her in a wheelchair while she recovers]].
** [[spoiler:Makoto doesn't come back, although there's a suspiciously familiar fox in the background of the last shot.]]
* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'', Kira Yamato gets stabbed through the cockpit of his Mobile Suit by Shinn Asuka. The Mobile Suit is more or less completely destroyed, but he survives.
** The reason he wasn't killed is because Shinn was off target. The Freedom's design is different from the standard (due to the inclusion of a nuclear reactor), and its cockpit is located higher in the chest than normal. Shinn stabbed the Freedom's abdomen, which is where the cockpit is usually located, but not where Freedom's cockpit was. Kira also had the good sense to hit the Suit's SCRAM button before the reactor was breached, and some quick thinking by the crew of the ''Archangel''` allowed them to extract him before it sank into the ocean. Still, it was a miracle that he walked away from that.
** Shinn himself also fall into this trope at the end when he looses his battle against [[spoiler: Athrun]] and the ''Destiny'' is sent careening into the surface of the Moon. While Shinn falls unconscious, he's otherwise okay (physically anyways) and is on his feet a short time latter. Those suits must have some safety features designed to protect the pilot in case of a crash.
* Several times in ''Anime/CodeGeass R2''. The show seems to be a series where AnyoneCanDie, which does tend to happen, but a few others get what looks like a death scene and may somehow turn up fine episodes later, at most with a couple of bandages.
* In the final episode of ''Anime/NadiaTheSecretOfBlueWater'', [[spoiler:the lead character, Jean, falls to his death on account of Gargoyle. After initially grieving over him, Nadia realizes she can revive him if she uses both her Blue Water and Nemo's... and that's just what she does]].
** In that same episode, [[spoiler:Nemo sacrifices himself to ensure everyone's escape. (This is actually a subversion.)]]
* In the ''Manga/ZatchBell'' manga, [[spoiler:Kiyomaro honest to goodness dies. But he is revived by the juice of Faudo, which seems to have that effect on people, and [[TookALevelInBadass takes a level in badass]], gaining Answer Talker eyes and a crapload of new spells]].
* An example from the ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' manga, but not the anime. Akane is [[ItMakesSenseInContext turned into a doll after having all the water sucked from her body]] and her ability to come back to life is [[LifeMeter measured by how open]] the doll's eyes are. At the climax of the battle the doll's eyes close fully meaning Akane is dead, but Ranma's anguished [[ThePowerOfLove declaration of love]] allows her to come back to life anyway.
** Another sort of example occurs in an earlier arc when Ryōga is throttled to death by a super-strong GiantMook and is so depressed by what he sees in the afterlife he musters up the HeroicResolve to come back to life.
* In ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'', this is both proven and subverted. Practically over and over. First, [[spoiler:Envy stabs Ed through the stomach, killing him in a delightfully bloody and dramatic manner]]. Afterward, [[spoiler:Alphonse, being the Philosopher's Stone, sacrifices himself to pull Ed's soul back from the Gate and let him live]]. To fill the role of HeroicSacrifice as he is required, [[spoiler:Ed sacrifices ''himself'' to bring back Al, complete with his human body (instead of the armor), and Ed goes to live on the other side of the Gate (a.k.a. our world)]]. They both end up living in the end--even when you swear they're both dead.
** [[EquivalentExchange Given the nature of the show]] It was completely justified. [[spoiler:Body for a body, soul for a soul, they were even brothers.]]
* In ''Anime/FreshPrettyCure'', [[spoiler:Setsuna is killed by Cline [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness after proving herself useless to Labyrinth one too many times]], and Cure Peach and Chiffon use the Akarun to bring her back to life as Cure Passion.]]
** [[spoiler:23 episodes later, Westar and Souler push Cures Berry and Passion away from an incoming black hole before being sucked into it themselves. Then they come back two episodes later and... [[HeelFaceTurn you probably know where this is going]]]].
** A similar situation happens in ''[[Anime/FutariWaPrettyCureSplashStar Splash Star]]'', with [[spoiler:the Kiryuu sisters, Michiru and Kaoru]].
*** In the ''Anime/PrettyCure'' franchise, it's so traditional to have at least one Disney Death for [[HeelFaceTurn villains turned good]] that the only ones to [[RedemptionEqualsDeath survive the process]] are [[spoiler:[[Anime/YesPrettyCure5 Bunbee]]]], [[Anime/SuitePrettyCure Siren]], and [[spoiler:[[Anime/DokiDokiPrettyCure Regina]]]].
*** In ''Anime/HeartCatchPrettyCure'' episode 33, [[spoiler:Cologne is killed by Sabaku's projectile to prevent Cure Moonlight from dying like in the first episode, when she was killed by Dark Cure's Dark Forte Wave. Her last words were "Fairies, go search for my replacement!"]]
* Araruu's death in battle in ''VideoGame/{{Utawarerumono}}'' was so dramatic that it awakened a dormant super power in the amnesiac hero, which served as a DeusExMachina that allowed him to triumph against overwhelming odds. A lot of blood was lost by the little girl. Too much. She even went limp. Some confusing stuff happens and she is soon back to normal again without a scratch and no emotional traumas or scars from the incident.
** Actually, [[spoiler:he is the DeusExMachina. Or rather the vessel of half of a god. In the beginning, before the game begins, Aruruu is mortally wounded by an earthquake and is saved by Witsuarunemitea after Eruruu pledges herself to him, so this was not unprecedented]].
* In ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack'', Mao's mind seems to "die" without being connected to whatever kept him from reverting to the mind of a real cat. In the second season however, it's revealed that his mind was kept... In storage, or something like it, and now he's in the body of a flying squirrel.
* ''Manga/KatekyoHitmanReborn'' does this in the ''very first chapter'' where protagonist Tsuna is told to "go die" by Reborn and then shot in the head. Tsuna lies motionless in the street for a page, then gets up again, full of energy and resolve. Only then do we learn that he was shot with a special "dying will bullet" which kills and instantly resurrects the victim, and in the process transforms the victim's final regrets into tremendous strength of will.
** Played more straight elsewhere; many battles throughout the series end with someone lying on the ground, presumably dead. They almost always end up spending several chapters in the hospital before making a full recovery. This is usually what happens to ''the winner'' of the battle...
* The robotic variant is rarely used in ''Manga/AstroBoy'' -- generally, dead is dead, even for robots -- but it does crop up occasionally. In one episode of the [[Anime/AstroBoy 80s anime]], three abandoned robots are instrumental in saving a space station in distress... but use all their remaining power and shut down. Since they're still intact, though, they're powered back up and fine by the end of the episode. In one storyline, Astro ''himself'' dies... but comes back -- although, in something of a subversion, it's not easy, nor is he "good as new".
* Towards the end of season 2 of ''LightNovel/KyoKaraMaoh'', Wolfram [[spoiler:has the key in his heart ripped out by Shinou. His heart stops, as it can't function without the key, and he dies]]. BUT, OH WAIT, WHAT'S THIS? [[spoiler:The moment the key returns to his heart, he is magically alive and kicking again, as if nothing ever happened.]]
* ''Manga/TokyoMewMew''. Remember... the anime where everyone died at the end? The manga did the same as well. That Mew Aqua is some powerful stuff...
* In ''Anime/EurekaSeven'', Holland's LFO got split into half and exploded at the hands of Anemone in episode 42, but later turned up still alive and didn't suffer any form of injury at all. In the final episode, [[spoiler: Eureka was presumed dead by everyone, including Renton. However, Anemone told everyone that Eureka was still alive, which gave Renton hope of saving her.]]
* In the final manga volume of ''Manga/GreatTeacherOnizuka'', Onizuka was presumed dead in the hospital bed when his heart stopped beating. However, he later miraculously recovered and able to ride a bike to save the principal of his school from a fire.
* In ''Anime/AngelBeats'', [[spoiler:Yuri is assimilated by the shadows. Unlike Takamatsu, though, she barely escapes with her soul]].
* ''LightNovel/KaraNoKyoukai'', seventh movie: [[spoiler:both Mikiya and Shiki. Mikiya's Disney Death (though Shiki and us did not know it was the case at the time) finally goads Shiki into killing Lio for vengeance, but she then lays down to die after losing Mikiya (and a large quantity of blood). We then see Mikiya still alive, limping, and then ''crawling his way to Shiki'', and find out that he arrived just in time]].
* ''Anime/MawaruPenguindrum'' loved this trope, the most notable example being Himari, who [[spoiler: died at least 3 times but was brought back each time and ultimately lived in the end. Masako also died twice only to be brought back both times, and Kanba was severely injured by bullets in episode 21, but was okay with a few bandages by episode 22]].
* In ''Anime/TigerAndBunny'', this happens to [[spoiler:Kotetsu at the end of episode 24 when he holds the RN-1 in place so Barnaby can blast it with a laser rifle and fails to duck in time. The resulting scene has it all: PleaseDontLeaveMe from Barnaby, PietaPlagiarism, and final words from Kotetsu while the rest of the heroes look on sadly. In fact, he still seems dead for a significant amount of time into episode 25--until [[PapaWolf Maverick takes Kaede hostage]]. He {{lampshade|Hanging}}s this when he asks if anyone had ever bothered checking his pulse the whole time he was out]].
* Near the end of the "Fate" route of ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', [[spoiler: Kotomine attacks the house and leaves Rin Tohsaka seemingly fatally wounded. However, after the final battle, she returns to Shiro, completely unharmed days later]].
* At the very end of ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'', where for the most part, AnyoneCanDie, [[spoiler:Bat has seemingly died after being put through utter hell by Bolge and managing to take him down after a final titanic battle alongside Kenshiro, and poor Lin is heartbroken. But Kenshiro, who has saved him and Lin time and again throughout the manga, isn't going to leave the two without a parting gift -- it turns out that he saved Bat's life by pressing his vital points]].
* A story arc at the end of the first ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' anime centers on Asuna undergoing this. It takes the efforts of Negi and her classmates (particularly Lingshen Chao), including a bit of time travel, to bring her back.
* ''Anime/LupinIII'':
** A few installments have had the titular thief seemingly get killed, only to later turn up alive and well. In ''Missed by a Dollar'' for example, Lupin is apparently shot and dropped off a plane, and is actually absent for a good chunk of it while Jigen, Goemon, and Fujiko attempt to work together in Lupin's memory. Then later on Lupin shows up to bail them out of trouble.
** Zenigata has also gotten this on occasion.
*** "The Day the Old Man Died" centers on it, as Lupin is blamed for killing him and decides to investigate with the help of Jigen and later steals his not-quite-dead corpus from a blazing incinerator in one of his most daring capers yet.
*** In ''Island of Assassins'', he's shot up, and declared dead upon flatlining... only to come back at the mere mention of Lupin's name.
*** In ''The Last Job'', he gets killed onscreen... or so it seems. Many scenes after his interment, he digs himself out of his own grave, Asuka Kagurazaka having done something that allowed him to simulate death for a short time.
* In ''Manga/{{Trigun}}: Badlands Rumble'', late into the movie Vash is shot and apparently drowns in quicksand. Vash is actually MIA for a good ten minutes, Wolfwood and Amelia team up to confront Gasback, and Wolfwood even starts wearing Vash's trademark sunglasses in tribute to him. Then Vash naturally shows up for a BigDamnHeroes moment. Of course, given how this takes placed in the middle of the TV series [[ForegoneConclusion everyone knew he would show up sooner or later]].
* The climax of ''Manga/{{Cyborg 009}}: Legend of the Super Galaxy'' sees 004, Albert Heinrich, sacrifice himself against [[TheDragon Gallo]] and several of [[BigBad Emperor Zoa]]'s other goons so that the other cyborgs would live to fight another day. As the others mourn his loss, he comes back out of the blue, and even 009, who had been in the Vortex, was surprised. It's explained that somehow, 009 wished him back to life while in the Vortex.
* In ''Anime/PriPara'', [[spoiler: Falulu]] dies after [[spoiler: her friend ticket is snapped, since it contained her system data]]. In the end, [=SoLaMi=] Smile and the fans from around the world [[spoiler: are finally able to revive her by giving her their support and making the Paradise Coord shine]].
** Parodied in episode 105, when [[spoiler: Gaaruru]] snaps her ticket to form a team with [[spoiler: Aroma and Mikan and falls to the floor]]. It turns out [[spoiler: she was fine the whole time and was just faking it, which angers Unicorn]].
* This happens to [[spoiler: Ruru]] in Episode 10 of ''LightNovel/MyriadColorsPhantomWorld'' when she apparently [[spoiler: lets herself get blown up by fireworks near the end. She ultimately survives]].
* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans'', [[spoiler: Lafter is revealed to have survived the destruction of her Mobile Suit in Episode 25 along with Azee and Norba. Her cockpit was relatively undamaged and she ended up with a small wound to the chest]].
* Happens to [[spoiler: Nadie and Ellis]] in the penultimate episode of ''Anime/ElCazadorDeLaBruja''.
* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' famously has this happen with [[spoiler:Eren]] early on. [[spoiler:He is initially set up as a DecoyProtagonist and gets eaten by a Titan, so Mikasa takes center stage... only for it to turn out a while later that he not only survived, but the experience has awakened the ability to transform into a Titan himself, allowing him to take on the other Titans.]]
* Episode 2 of ''Anime/DanganRonpa3'' ends with [[spoiler: Asahina appearing to be fatally stabbed in the chest with a knife. In the next episode, however, the knife is revealed to be a toy, and the blood is actually tomato sauce]]. Later in the series it's shown that [[spoiler: Kirigiri appears to succumb to her poison, but she survives thanks to an antidote created by Seiko, which put her in a coma and was later revived by Mikan]].
* ''LightNovel/MagicalGirlRaisingProject'' isn't afraid to kill people by the dozens, but occasionally someone manages to survive a seemingly fatal attack.
** At the end of the first arc, Ripple seems to have died from her injuries sustained against Swim Swim, but Snow White's Lucky Rabbit's Foot activates and helps her survive.
** Ripple again in ''Limited'' is seemingly killed by Postarie via being stabbed by her own shurikens and falling down a hole, but her wounds weren't quite fatal, and Pythie Frederica managed to give her first aid.
** Prism Cherry in ''JOKERS'' is thought to have died in the control room when Shufflin attacked, but she's saved by Frederica just in time, allowing her to heal and return for the climax.
** Stuntchika in ''JOKERS'' is thought to have blown herself up to stall Joker Shufflin. In actuality Frederica managed to pull her out. [[spoiler:Seeing as she's a disguised Ripple, this makes her third time with this trope.]]
** Princess Deluge is seemingly slashed to death by Snow White in the climax of ''QUEENS'', but she's able to hang on long enough for Mana to give her medical aid.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theater]]

** ''Anime/PokemonIChooseYou'' keeps the tradition of Ash dying, this time featuring [[spoiler: Pikachu [[SuddenlyVoiced suddenly speaking to him]]]].

** PlayedForLaughs (and a bit of [[HeartwarmingMoments heartwarming]]) in the sequel when [[spoiler: PROXY and Starkiller are reunited, each saying "I thought you were dead!" to the other at the same time.]]

** This trope was subverted in the Fifth Doctor story "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E6Earthshock Earthshock]]", which ended with Adric being KilledOffForReal

* [[spoiler: Hydreigon]] in Gates to Infinity also comes back to life in the ending, despite [[spoiler: being frozen solid and then [[LiterallyShatteredLives shattered]]]].

* At the end of Season One of ''Videogame/TheWalkingDead'', [[spoiler:Kenny]] dives into a horde of Walkers to distract them so that Lee can progress. In the decisions screen, he's stated to have been "lost to the horde" rather than outright dead. Unsurprisingly, he shows up in Season Two, with the handwave of having gotten lucky.

[[folder:Comics]]

* Every ''ComicStrip/SpyVsSpy'' strip contains this trope. A black or white spy gets killed every comic, only to make a return next strip to treat the living spy to a death of their own.

[[folder:FanWorks]]

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]

[[folder:Theatre]]

* In ''VisualNovel/{{Snatcher}}'', [[spoiler: Metal Gear]] uses himself as a target for a KillSat beam. He comes back, but [[spoiler:in the form of whatever console the version of the game you're playing is on]].

[[folder: Web Comic]]
* ''Webcomic/{{Earthsong}}'' opens with a battle in which a man named Richard is stabbed through the heart and disappears, enraging his allies as though he had actually been killed and alarming the newly-awoken protagonist, Willow. Richard's "killers" explain that the sword actually destroyed his soulstone, simply returning him to his home planet. This is the typical way to "die" on Earthsong, making it rather shocking when actual deaths occur. (However, it is sometimes the case that they are returning to imminent death on their world ''anyway''.)
* Set seems to be have been killed in ''Webcomc/SonicTheComicOnline'' by being beaten to death by [[spoiler:Tekno]] who has been experiencing a SanitySlippage. However it turns out [[spoiler:she]] inexplicably missed any major organs and he survived.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* At the end of ''WebVideo/TheCartoonMan'', [[spoiler:Karen is fatally wounded by Simon's knife, but Roy manages to save her by transforming her into a cartoon with black ink]].
* In episode 3 of Ark Angels by ''WebAnimation/Qem95'', Nick jumps in front of a bullet that The Masked Man throws at the viewer, leaving the bullet to impale his clockwork heart and all the cogs and springs fall out causing him to rust up. However, Bang brings him back to the office and fixes him. If you click him, while he's leaping, he falls to the ground and the bullet hits you instead. When the screen goes back to normal, your surrounded by Nick, Qem, Bang, Malcolm and The Masked Man, who turns out to be Soldier.

[[folder:Comics]]

[[folder:Films -- Live Action]]

Named after its frequent use in the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon, though even Disney likes to kill 'em off for real now and then.