History Main / TheDeathOfDeath

* In the ''Series/{{Oz}}'' fanfic ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/8402923 When Death Died]]'', Keller and Beecher are confronted by Death after they're killed during a slightly altered version of the series finale, who judges them for their sins. Beecher uses his experience as a lawyer to basically argue him to death, and the two take over the position, using their newfound power to kill everyone who ever pissed them off. Except [=McManus=], who Beecher decided it would be more fun to mess with instead.

* ''VideoGame/LegendsOfRuneterra'' has [[https://leagueoflegends.fandom.com/wiki/The_Etherfiend_(Legends_of_Runeterra) the Etherfiend]], a grim reaper whose job is to reap other grim reapers once they have been forgotten. He's currently after the [[https://leagueoflegends.fandom.com/wiki/Fading_Icon_(Legends_of_Runeterra) Fading Icon]], a grim reaper of a group of demigods cursed with immortality (since they can't die, they've forgotten all about him), and while Kindred, the big personification of death that appears in ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'', is currently safe from the Etherfiend, even they will fall to him in the distant future.

* ''VideoGame/LegendsOfRuneterra'' has [[https://leagueoflegends.fandom.com/wiki/The_Etherfiend_(Legends_of_Runeterra) the Etherfiend]], a grim reaper whose job is to reap other grim reapers once they have been forgotten by everyone. He's currently after the [[https://leagueoflegends.fandom.com/wiki/Fading_Icon_(Legends_of_Runeterra) Fading Icon]], a grim reaper of a group of demigods cursed with immortality (since they can't die, they've forgotten all about him), and while Kindred, the big personification of death that appears in ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'', is currently safe from the Etherfiend, even they will fall to him in the distant future.

** In "Night of the Living Grim", Grim ends up becoming sick with Encroaching Doom Syndrome, so he is brought to the doctors in the underworld. However, they are unable to save him, and he ends up passing away...in that he is now a living human being.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/MaryShelleysFrankenhole'' episode "Edgar Allan Poe's Jesus!", Death finds Jesus's company so unbearable that it drives himself to drink, eventually dying of alcohol poisoning. This causes all attempts at death (whether they are regular humans or immortal monsters) impossible.

* ''Literature/ReaperMan'' opens with Death being fired and given a mortal life by the Auditors of Reality. At the climax of the book, the new Death comes to claim him and the old Death outsmarts and kills his would-be replacement. And the reason that Death was "retired"? The Auditors though he [[DontFearTheReaper cared about his "charges" too much]]. The New Death...didn't.

** In the final season, Billie, the aforementioned new Death, is killed by the Shadow/Cosmic Entity. And ''her'' successor is easily killed by Lucifer.

** In the final season, Billie, the new Death, is killed by the Shadow/Cosmic Entity. And ''her'' successor is easily killed by Lucifer.

--> ''The last enemy to be destroyed is death[[Literature/BookOfRevelation -Revelation 20:14]]''

--> ''Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death. [[Literature/BookOfCorinthians - 1st Epistle to the Corinthians 15:26]]''

* At the end of Literature/TheBible, Death itself will be destroyed.
--> ''Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death. [[Literature/BookOfRevelation -Revelation 20:14]]''

* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'': In "Night of the Living Grim", Grim ends up becoming sick with Encroaching Doom Syndrome, so he is brought to the doctors in the underworld. However, they are unable to save him, and he ends up passing away...in that he is now a living human being.

* [[PlayingWith Played with]] in the GrandFinale of ''Series/TheColbertReport''. "Grimmy" attempts to strangle Creator/StephenColbert so Stephen shoots Grimmy dead, resulting in Stephen becoming immortal.

* In ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', Death himself met his demise at Dean's hands after [[TooDumbToLive handing him the only thing in existence that could kill him,]] his scythe. Although the personification of death ceased to exist, the concept of death did not and a different, friendlier reaper took up the mantle.

%% See current thread for further discussion.

%% Image Pickin' thread did not produce a new image: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1587917153003729000

[[quoteright:320:[[VideoGame/DantesInferno https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thedeathofdeath_7.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:320:[-A paradox has never looked so cool.-] ]]
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* ''VideoGame/TwistedMetal'': A {{downplayed|Trope}} example in ''Twisted Metal: Head On''. If Mr. Grimm wins the Twisted Metal tournament, he wishes for somebody else to take his role as the grim reaper. When Claypso grants his wish, a nearby girl is turned into the reaper while Mr. Grimm is turned into a mortal human being. Unfortunately for him, he is almost immediately killed by a truck.

* ''Literature/ReaperMan'' opens with Death being fired and given a mortal life by the Auditors of Reality. At the climax of the book, the new Death comes to claim him and the old Death outsmarts and kills his would-be replacement. And the reason that Death was "retired"? The Auditors though he [[DontFearTheReaper cared about his "charges" too much]]. The New Death... didn't.

* In ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', Death himself met his demise at Dean's hands after [[TooDumbToLive handing him the only thing in existence that could kill him]], his scythe. Although the personification of death ceased to exist, the concept of death did not and a different, friendlier reaper takes up the mantle.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': In the [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/end-of-death-hub End of Death Canon]], during the research of [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-3448 SCP-3448]] (Halfterlife), Foundation agents visit afterlife and accidentally kill Death. This causes an ΩK-Class ("End-of-Death") Scenario, which means "immortality is forced upon all life, without any other biological change".

* PlayedForLaughs in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' where Death is killed in a car accident, where a taller version of himself, Super Death, tells him that he's going to be born as a kid in China. He disappears for a second, then reappears; apparently Death was born as a girl.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'': In "Night of the Living Grim", Grim ends up becoming sick with Encroaching Doom Syndrome, so he is brought to the doctors in the underworld. However, they are unable to save him, and he ends up passing away... in that he is now a living human being.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In the ''WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror'' segment "Reaper Madness", Death comes to the Simpsons house to claim Bart. As the family runs to keep Death from taking him away, Homer hits him with a bowling ball, killing him and creating a world without death until Homer puts on his cloak and [[RelievingTheReaper becomes Death himself]].

* Nekron, the Embodiment of Death in Franchise/TheDCU is the BigBad of the ZombieApocalypse CrisisCrossover event ''ComicBook/BlackestNight''. Being the Death himself, it's impossible to kill him, even with Sinestro taking The Entity and converting himself into a White Lantern. But he was eventually defeated when [[Franchise/GreenLantern Hal Jordan]] and the rest of the superheroes that had been revived, included [[Franchise/{{Superman}} The]] [[Franchise/{{Batman}} DC]] [[Franchise/WonderWoman Trinity]] take The Entity's power and all become White Lanterns and all of them aim Black Hand (Nekron's avatar and connection to the Earth) with their rings and revive him as a White Lantern too, [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/63/72/2f/63722f6ca6d0a1f12d82838148789566.jpg causing Nekron to explode]]. He is later resurrected as part of a GodzillaThreshold to kill The First Lantern Volthoom, but is imprisoned a second time for good.
* In ''ComicBook/TheThanosImperative'', we see an alternate universe called "The Cancerverse". In the Cancerverse, "life won" and Death was destroyed. This resulted in all life in the universe becoming a CosmicHorrorStory (almost all living beings in the Cancerverse worship the "Many Angled Ones") and almost all available space in the universe is filled by a [[EldritchAbomination truly]] [[MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily horrifying]] organism, described as "a cancer attempting to metastasize into our reality" to find more space to occupy.

* ''ComicBook/SecretWarsII'': The Beyonder is a RealityWarper who wants to make things better for mankind, and doesn't think that mere superhero stuff is enough. An advisor convinces him to kill Death itself, but unlike most of his other feats, this one would not be possible to reverse. After he does this, cosmic entities show up and complain that The Beyonder has upset the cosmic balance. The Molecule Man argues that, without death, life is meaningless. The advisor agrees; they've made a terrible mistake. But, as resurrecting (the original) Death is beyond the Beyonder's power, he instead turns the advisor into a new personification of Death.

* Nekron, the Embodiment of Death in Franchise/TheDCU is the BigBad of the ZombieApocalypse CrisisCrossover event ''ComicBook/BlackestNight''. Being the Death himself, it's impossible to kill him, even with Sinestro taking The Entity and converting himself into a White Lantern. But he was eventually defeated when [[Franchise/GreenLantern Hal Jordan]] and the rest of the superheroes that had been revived, included [[Franchise/{{Superman}} The]] [[Franchise/{{Batman}} DC]] [[Franchise/WonderWoman Trinity]] take The Entity's power and all become White Lanterns and all of them aim Black Hand (Nekron's avatar and connection to the Earth) with their rings and revive him as a White Lantern too, [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/63/72/2f/63722f6ca6d0a1f12d82838148789566.jpg causing Nekron to explode]] and finishing the Black Lanterns' menace once for all.

* ''Discworld/ReaperMan'' opens with Death being fired and given a mortal life by the Auditors of Reality. At the climax of the book, the new Death comes to claim him and the old Death outsmarts and kills his would-be replacement. And the reason that Death was "retired"? The Auditors though he [[DontFearTheReaper cared about his "charges" too much]]. The New Death... didn't.

* ''ComicBook/SecretWarsII'': The Beyonder is a RealityWarper who wants to make things better for mankind, and doesn't think that mere superhero stuff is enough. An advisor convinces him to kill Death itself, but unlike most of his other feats, this one would not be possible to reverse. After he does this, cosmic entities show up and complain that The Beyonder has upset the cosmic balance. The Molecule Man argues that, without death, life is meaningless. The advisor agrees, they made a mistake. But, as resurrecting (the original) Death is beyond the Beyonder's power, he instead turns the advisor into a new personification of Death.