History Main / DIsneyDeath

** In the climactic final battle of ''Film/Eternals'', Ikaris grabs [[spoiler: Druig]] by the throat, lifting him into the sky, hurls him into the side of a volcano and then lasers him into the ground for good measure. Ikaris then flies back to the other Eternals and reports that [[spoiler: Druig]] is gone, earning himself a revenge-fueled beatdown from a grief stricken and enraged [[spoiler: Makkari]], only for the supposed murder victim to turn up just in the nick of time to save [[spoiler: Sersi’s]] life so that she can [[spoiler: kill the Celestial that Ikaris was trying to protect]].

** The apparent death of [[spoiler: Bucky Barnes]] in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'' is central not only to the Captain America trilogy, but also the whole Avengers arc. [[spoiler: Bucky appears to fall to his death during a combat mission during WWII, but is instead captured, brainwashed and periodically cryogenically frozen by HYDRA and used as their most effective assassin-weapon for over seventy years. The discovery of this by Steve Rogers and his commitment to his lifelong best friend

** In ''Shattered Sky'', Twigpaw appears to die when she is struck by a car. It turns out she had only been knocked unconscious, and had survived the initial impact. {{Justified}} in that although the search patrol [[NeverFoundTheBody doesn't find her body,]] they ''do'' find significantly large traces of her blood and fur where it happened (identified by scent), and it was safe to assume that she had been killed. Also, Twigpaw would've died of her injuries if not for her getting rescued by a human veterinarian.

Animated films seem destined to have these, considering the target audience is primarily young kids, and nobody wants to give a DownerEnding to them. Writers who are considering implementing it need to be extremely careful, as it can very easily come across as a tacky and lazy way to add some cheap and predictable drama to the ending. Over the years it has been done to — um — [[{{Pun}} death]], and [[LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt audiences expect it]]. You run the risk of making your viewers remember they're watching television, even if it does shut up the {{Media Watchdog}}s.

* In a particularly pointless version that removes the very last bit of pathos from the film, Snails in ''Film/DungeonsAndDragons''. Especially JustForFun/{{egregious}} is that this ending was apparently at the behest of focus groups, who didn't like the original graveside ending where Snails is still clearly dead. The original scene was the closest thing to respectable dignity the movie could manage, but even that got stripped away.

* ''Fanfic/{{Mad World|Invader Zim}}'': [[WesternAnimation/InvaderZim Zim]] gets butchered by [[ComicBook/JohnnyTheHomicidalManiac Nny]], and has his PAK pulled by Dib as a MercyKill. But his mind [[BodyBackUpDrive survives inside the PAK]], and he ends up [[SharingABody sharing bodies]] with Dib until they can clone him a new body.

* In the Season 2 opener of ''Series/{{Mayday}}'', Captain Tim Lancaster is partially sucked out of a cockpit window, and everyone thinks he's dead, especially when the flight attendants see that his eyes are open and not blinking. To the surprise of everyone, he turns out to be alive and not even that badly hurt. (''Mayday'' being a non-fiction series, this is a true story, but the episode also specifically sets up the narrative to conceal Lancaster's survival and make the viewer think he's dead, only to hit them with TheReveal about halfway through the episode.)

->''"Yeah, boo hiss. I know, look, I hate it too. In movies, where the studio gets all paranoid about a downer ending so the guy shows up, he's magically alive on crutches? I hate that. ''I mean, shit, why not bring them all back?''"''

[[caption-width-right:350:[[Advertising/TrixRabbit Silly witch! Death is for villains!]]]]

Beloved [[CharacterDeath major character is seemingly killed]] at the climax of the movie/episode, [[TearJerker hearts are wrenched, four-year-olds are traumatized, grown men are reduced to tears,]] and then — oh look, the character is NotQuiteDead after all. "I thought you were dead!", [[StockPhrases they recite]] before walking off into the sunset.

* One episode of ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' has Crow developing the touch of death and accidentally killing Mike when he shakes his hand during one of the host segments, and this actually sticks for a bit when they return to the theater with Mike's corpse just propped up in his seat. After his body keeps falling on Servo, Crow shakes his hand again which brings him back to life. Upon learning they're still watching the crummy movie, Mike actually wishes Crow had left him dead.

* In another triumph for Don Bluth, Petrie does this in ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'', getting seemingly devoured by [[TyrannosaurusRex Sharptooth]] just before drowning.