History Main / StayingAlive

* The ''Series/ForeverKnight'' pilot sees LaCroix staked through the heart with a stake that was on fire in a building that followed suit, but by the start of the second season, he's back as if nothing happened.

Apparently, some villains and other characters have discovered the secret to staying alive even after they've visibly died a horrible, gruesome death. Explanation? Apparently, they don't need one. Maybe they're just too badass for death itself. Maybe they bought the advanced ContractualImmortality plan which also includes death insurance. Or maybe they're just [[EscapedFromHell too tough for Hell to contain]]. Or maybe you were only FightingAShadow and only succeeded in driving them back to hell for a while. Either way, they're given a full SnapBack [[BackFromTheDead from the dead]] at the start of the next episode, game, or season, and all the audience can do is accept the fact that they're back and at it again!

* Inverted in ''WebAnimation/TeenGirlSquad'', when Tompkins famously "died somehow". [[spoiler: [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Torso took silver]]]] ''Teen Girl Squad'' plays this trope straight all the time thanks to a combination of KillEmAll and NegativeContinuity. Indeed, the mentioned episode takes place mostly in a flashback, in which many of the eponymous girl squad are killed in their infanthood before being shown alive in their teens reflecting on their memories (before being killed again).
* ''WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends'': The entire point of the series is [[KillEmAll Everyone Dies]], yet they still have a large group of recurring characters. This one is definitely NegativeContinuity at work.

** A more egregious example would be Orochimaru, whose extensive forbidden justu research and body modification brought him to the point where his physical body is [[GrandTheftMe a possessed host he renews every 3 years]] and his spirit is a giant collective of white snakes that grants him FromASingleCell immortality. Also, any reservoir of his chakra seems to act as a SoulJar for him, which Sasuke casually exploits when he needs Orochimaru's assistance after having personally murdered him. In his case, it's justified by the fact that obsession with obtaining immortality (so that he can live long enough to learn everything) is his entire driving motivation.

* ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'': Dracula is pretty well-known for this in most media, anyway, that's true, but the Castlevania incarnation is the KING of this trope. The series is over 20 games strong, Dracula is in all but three of them (at least in his Lord of Darkness vampire form) and in each of them he dies--vaporized disintegrated the end--and is resurrected in pretty much every sequel, sometimes after a...[[HijackedByGanon "surprising"]] revelation.

* Parodied in the English dub of ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', when Team Rocket somehow escape from being caught in their own traps: "[[BreakingTheFourthWall The writers]] [[NoodleIncident couldn't figure it out, either!]]"

* Medusa from ''Manga/SoulEater'' gets rather decisively cut in two and then disintegrated by Stein... only for a rather suspicious-looking snake to slither out of a drain at the end of the episode. [[spoiler: Sure enough, a few episodes later, she's back, and now possessing the body of a little girl.]]

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'': [[spoiler: Jean Pierre Polnareff]] has been in countless life-threatening situations, gone up against multiple Stand users, and faced off with not one but ''two'' [[BigBad Big Bads]] and lived to tell the tale. [[spoiler: He even survives the ''death of his physical body'' thanks to his soul being preserved in the body of the turtle Coco Jumbo.]]

---->"Doesn't anyone stay dead anymore?"
-----> --'''Arthas''', ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} III: The Frozen Throne''

----> "Don't look so smug! I know what you're thinking, but Tempest Keep was merely a set back."

-----> "Naxxanar was merely a setback!"

** The one in ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'', at least is actually a clone. Canonically he died in ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'', the two subsequent games either have a clone of him or a rejuvenated clone. That copy is killed in ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'', and no games have taken place after that yet.

* Oasis and Kusari from ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance''. Oasis has died multiple times, including being blown up twice and taking a bullet to the head, while Kusari's one (on-screen) death was a decapitation. It's implied that there ''is'' an explanation for how they can seemingly come back from the dead, but after nine years we still haven't gotten it.

** Elsewhere in Pratchett's works, Literature/{{Discworld}}'s Dorfl and Angua, although non-villains, have both revived after suffering violent deaths: Dorfl, because freed golems turned out to be hardier than owned ones; Angua, because it's hard to keep a good werewolf cop down. Note that Angua's "death" seemed real enough at the time, as Pratchett hadn't yet established what was necessary to permanently kill the [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolves of Discworld]].

* Aaron in [[Literature/ChaosWalking The Knife Of Never Letting Go]] - he gets [[spoiler: attacked by a crocodile, half his face ripped off, left unconscious and face-down in a river and his nose ripped off by a dog while travelling for days on end seemingly without rest before being beaten to a bloody pulp in a brawl that includes him getting smacked repeatedly in the head with rather large rocks before finally being stabbed in the neck. Even then he still manages to stagger to his full height and try to say something before he finally tumbles into a waterfall.]] Wtf?!

[[folder:Mythology and Religion]]

* Ganondorf/Ganon in the ''Zelda'' series has died in a variety of ways from simply exploding to being stabbed through the head, but somehow never manages to stay dead thanks to being [[NotQuiteDead effectively]] [[ContractualImmortality immortal]]. It seems that the ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' timeline is the only one of the three where he ''hasn't'' been revived or reincarnated yet.

** And in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'', he survives [[spoiler:getting tossed into the sun, and depending of your interpretation of the [[GainaxEnding bizarre ending]], the BIG CRUNCH AND THE BIG BANG]].

** Vaati, who (chronologically) first appeared in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap'', is also shown to be able to do this, most likely through the power of [[spoiler:the hat he stole]]. In ''The Minish Cap'', the endgame implies that he's either dead or eternally sealed... and ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaFourSwords'' proves he was alive, only sealed -- temporarily, though; he broke out of the Four Sword, hence the game's name. And then, after the rest of the plot, you defeat him ''again'', only for him to, unsurprisingly, return in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaFourSwordsAdventures''. This time, he is confirmed to be dead in the Child Timeline through ''Hyrule Historia'', but nothing is said of the other two.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Metroid}} Prime 2: Echoes'', after defeating Dark Samus, she is shown simply re-appearing in outer space after the credits. She actually regenerated from being destroyed twice during the game, with your scan visor explaining that only "total atomic disruption" can kill her completely. Apparently, this is what happens in ''Metroid Prime 3: Corruption''...
** There's also Ridley, the Dragon of all dragons who has been killed no less than ''five'' times, killed ''twice'' in the same game (''Metroid Prime 3''), and even gets captured after getting killed in ''Super Metroid'', and still hangs around to harass Samus another day? Hell, it even happens in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Brawl''!
** The one in ''Metroid: Other M'', at least is actually a clone. Canonically he died in ''Super Metroid'', the two subsequent games either have a clone of him or a rejuvenated clone. That copy is killed in ''Metroid Fusion'', and no games have taken place after that yet.

Wait, '''''[[RecordNeedleScratch what?!]]'''''

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': TheMaster has been killed off DeaderThanDead and revived four times in the TV canon, through being caught on fire, being eaten by the Eye of Harmony, deliberately refusing to regenerate after getting shot by his wife, and being shot with an AntiRegeneration blast before being left on a spaceship deck destroyed by an explosion minutes later. Let's not even begin to count the number of times he has faked his death or survived even when NoOneCouldSurviveThat.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/Rio2'', the trope is invoked\discussed as CardCarryingVillain Nigel (who had already survived a painful collision with a plane's engine in the original movie) does a [[WaxingLyrical dramatic reading of "I Will Survive"]] as an audition.

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

* The Master from ''Series/DoctorWho'' has been killed off DeaderThanDead and revived three times in the TV canon, through being caught on fire, being eaten by the Eye of Harmony and deliberately refusing to regenerate after getting shot by his wife. Let's not even begin to count the number of times he has faked his death or survived even when NoOneCouldSurviveThat.

-->'''Missy:''' Death is for other people, dear.

* In ''Series/StargateUniverse'', First Lieutenant Mathew Scott has almost died in several episodes, only to survive by sheer luck.
* In ''Series/BabylonFive'' [[spoiler: Mr. Morden is a few hundred feet from two 500-megaton nuclear explosions that destroy an entire city. He shows up a few weeks later with nothing but some severe burns that heal within a month or so. He does not survive having his head cut off and stuck on a pike, however. A book involving the techno mages explains exactly HOW he survived. And note that the burns included minor insanity as a side effect, and he was PEELING OFF HIS OWN FLESH!]]
* Played for laughs in the final episode of the second ''Series/BlackAdder'' series. It appears that Edmund Blackadder has saved England and killed the master of disguise who was attempting to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I. But, in a scene [[TheStinger after the ending credits]] said villain is standing over the bodies of the Queen, Edmund, and many of the others, disguised as Queen Elizabeth I. There's no explanation as to how this may have happened.
** Well, his [[MeaningfulName name]] ''is'' [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Ludwig the Indestructible]], so...
* Sylar at the end of the first season of ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' pretty much defines this trope. Peter bludgeons him with a metal bar and super-strength for a while, and then Hiro impales him with a sword. We're then treated to a close-up of his eyes showing all the people he's killed in a very final-seeming death scene. Then, come season 2, he's back alive again.
** Honestly, Sylar has pulled this one so many times over the course of the show he's pretty much up there with Jason Voorhees at this point.

* In ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy'', [[BigBad Trakeena]] is last seen being apparently vaporized by a pointblank blast of Leo's Battlizer (although her laughing face can be seen rising from the explosion). Then the next season, she turns up alive and well, though she does at least get some scars. She has another, shorter version in the climax when [[spoiler: she seemingly explodes after being hit by the combined finishers of the Omega Megazord and a Lights of Orian powered Galaxy Megazord]] and much to the Ranger's surprise, she's not dead yet. She does stay dead after they explode her one more time, though.
** ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' does this on occasion, often due to the PR story disagreeing with the imported ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' footage. Most recently (as of 2012) it was ''Series/PowerRangersRPM:'' Kilobyte goes through his counterpart's final battle footage, getting explodiated quite utterly by no less than the combined might of five Megazords. He later staggers back into the villains' lair a little singed.

-->'''John''': '''''You're dead! I saw you! You're buried! You're dead!'''''
-->''(later)''
-->'''Crichton''': (to Scorpius) Kryptonite, silver bullet, Buffy. What's it gonna take to keep you in the grave?
-->'''D'Argo''': Perhaps we should just take your head off. Worked for Durka.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

[[folder:Myths and Religion]]

* Dr. Fu Manchu repeatedly hung a lampshade on it, ending movies with "The world will hear from me again".

* Dr. Eggman from the ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' series survives just about everything if he can't just flee from danger. Even if stuck in his collapsing doomsday machines or sent to fall to his death whenever Sonic destroys his escape pods, he'll always return for the next game.

Can sometimes count as a type of NegativeContinuity. Could be due to AsLongAsThereIsEvil. TheyKilledKennyAgain is when this happens so much that it becomes expected. See also JokerImmunity, NotQuiteDead, NoOneShouldSurviveThat, OnlyMostlyDead and WhyWontYouDie.

* Dr. Wily from the ''VideoGame/MegaManClassic'' series always seems to return to menace the eponymous character with his army of robot masters, even after [[spoiler:getting a rock dropped on him]] at the end of ''VideoGame/MegaMan3'', not to mention, taking a series of direct buster shots to the face during his boss fights, since not all the machines covers his face. The next game in the series attempts to subvert this by introducing a new villain, but guess who's TheManBehindTheMan?

* Dr. Wily from the ''VideoGame/MegaManClassic'' series always seems to return to menace the eponymous character with his army of robot masters, even after [[spoiler:getting a rock dropped on him]] at the end of ''VideoGame/MegaMan3''. The next game in the series attempts to subvert this by introducing a new villain, but guess who's TheManBehindTheMan?

** Later canon goes on to state that the battles are all intentionally nonlethal and the player characters never actually kill anyone or are in danger of dying themselves. This makes a fair bit of the dialogue in the earlier games become very strange.