History WhoWantsToLiveForever / ComicBooks

* ''ComicBook/X23'': {{Downplayed|Trope}}: Laura has yet to seriously examine the fact that she will remain young and live on long after her friends and loved ones grow old and die. However it does get subtly referenced when, while trying to cope with [[ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} Logan]]'s death during her focus issue of ''The Logan Legacy'', Laura remarks to Kitty how she thought Logan would always be there for her because of his (and thus by extension her) mutation making him functionally immortal. His death severely rocks her view of her own future as a result, not least of which because it leaves her feeling alone.

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] during ''ComicBook/TheAvengersKurtBusiek''. [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] states that as a god, he realizes he's destined to outlive most of his friends on the team, but that doesn't stop him from [[BerserkButton going absolutely berserk]] when he thinks that ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, ComicBook/{{Black Knight|MarvelComics}} and Quicksilver have been killed by the Presence. He then advises Firebird to be careful about forming bonds, as it will only be that much more painful when her friends and family inevitably pass away.

* ''ComicBook/{{Suspense}}'': Issue #14 follows Dr. Parker, an amoral scientist who makes himself immortal in a bid to TakeOverTheWorld. At first, he quite enjoys his immortality; however, over time, he starts to grow increasingly isolated from society as his shifting perspective makes it difficult for him to relate to others, and he's left to spend the centuries as a beggar and vagabond. As the millennia wear on, the future descendants of humanity cease to see him as a person at all and confine him to a zoo, before an interplanetary war annihilates them and leaves him as the only sapient being in a world of ruins and animals. By the end, having long since been driven insane by his isolation, Parker gleefully runs into a swarm of giant wasps and lets himself be torn to pieces.

* A pre-[[UsefulNotes/TheComicsCode Comics Code]] horror story, "Death and Doctor Parker", has the title doctor inject himself with an immortality serum, planning to TakeOverTheWorld, but finds that first loneliness gets to him, and then eventually humans evolve to [[MyBrainIsBig large-headed beings]] who regard him the way modern humans might regard a living example of ''Homo erectus''; he ends up in a zoo. He even outlives those beings and ends up "ruling" over a planet that has no sapient life. Read it [[http://thehorrorsofitall.blogspot.com/2009/06/death-and-doctor-parker.html here.]]

* ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} falls in love with [[TheGrimReaper the cosmic entity representing Death]] and is cursed to never die by a magic-using mercenary named T-Ray. In one comic, Deadpool waits in a refrigerator for nearly 1000 years, spawning a second personality out of boredom to play hangman with.
** On several occasions, many characters talk about how Deadpool despises his own immortality. His psychologist Doctor Bong states that he is afraid to live.
*** Deadpool himself says: "You know what else is boring? Immortality." Meanwhile, he throws a bucket of blood to the sea and dives for a little shark fishing.
* Characters/DoctorDoom achieved immortality at one point with the intention of trading it away -- as he put it,
-->''"My years already feel like eons. I fear the eons themselves cannot be endured."''
** He may have done it again, if indeed it's not the same case. He became immortal just to use it up so that he could vanquish his only real opponent -- his own conscience.
* After dedicating his entire villainous career to cheating death by [[TheParanoiac killing anything in the universe that might be a threat to him]] (which is [[OmnicidalManiac everything]]), ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' foe Annihilus's latest incarnation has come around to this line of thought. As it turns out, in the Negative Zone, the endless cycle of death and resurrection gets old fast.
* At the end of ''ComicBook/TheThanosImperative'', [[spoiler:Thanos]] goes on a rampage when he realizes that one of the consequences of [[spoiler:his ThanatosGambit to defeat the Cancerverse]] is that he can ''never'' die. [[spoiler:Since he is in love with the AnthropomorphicPersonification of Death]], the idea of eternal unending life [[spoiler:forever apart from her]] drives him mad. He eventually decides on [[ComicBook/{{Infinity}} a much worse tack than usual]] in his madness.
* In ''ComicBook/Eternals2006'', [[spoiler:Sprite (the only child Eternal)]] goes to enormous lengths to make the Eternals into normal people who age (and can die) because [[spoiler:he's sick of being stuck at the same age]]. (In the end, he only [[spoiler:makes himself mortal, the others are restored by the Dreaming Celestial]]).
** A later [[AllThereInTheManual Marvel handbook]] would say that Sprite was suffering a form of dementia for Eternals called [[https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Eternals_(Homo_immortalis)#Mahd_Wy.27ry Mahd Wy'ry]], which is described as being due to the fact that they're made to be immortal but psychologically are still human enough to eventually break under it. Periodic [[FusionDance Uni-Minds]] are intended to stave this off.

* In the graphic novel ''Hooky'', ComicBook/SpiderMan meets a sorceress named Mandy who is cursed not only with immortality, but eternal childhood, and she hates it. Every now and then, she leaves her home dimension to educate herself, and finds a family to adopt her, but eventually, people realize that she isn't aging, at which point they either give her hormone treatment or try to burn her at the stake (depending on which dimension she's in) forcing her to flee and start over again. [[spoiler:During the course of the story, she and Spider-Man face and ultimately defeat a creature that she believes was sent by an enemy of her family to kill her; in truth, defeating it breaks the curse, and she is able to start growing up.]]
* {{Downplayed|Trope}} with ComicBook/{{X 23}}: Laura has yet to seriously examine the fact that she will remain young and live on long after her friends and loved ones grow old and die. However it does get subtly referenced when, while trying to cope with [[ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} Logan]]'s death during her focus issue of ''The Logan Legacy'', Laura remarks to Kitty how she thought Logan would always be there for her because of his (and thus by extension her) mutation making him functionally immortal. His death severely rocks her view of her own future as a result, not least of which because it leaves her feeling alone.

* A minor character from an issue of ''ComicBook/{{Lucifer}}'' was cursed with immortality by her gods several thousand years ago. Every day, her body is reverted to the way it was the moment of the curse, which means that [[spoiler:she has had the same miscarriage every day for thousands of years]].

* Creator/NeilGaiman's run of ''ComicBook/TheEternals'', [[spoiler:Sprite (the only child Eternal)]] goes to enormous lengths to make the Eternals into normal people who age (and can die) because [[spoiler:he's sick of being stuck at the same age]]. (In the end, he only [[spoiler:makes himself mortal, the others are restored by the Dreaming Celestial]]).

[[folder: Dark Horse Comics]]

[[folder: DC Comics]]

* Professor Anthony Ivo, an old foe of the ComicBook/JusticeLeague, started out an ImmortalitySeeker, and successfully came up with a viable ImmortalityInducer. However, while he succeeded in making himself immortal, the serum he came up with had the serious drawback of progressively and painfully hardening his body to the point of immobility. These days he pingpongs between this trope and ImmortalitySeeker - while he's terrified of living forever in pain, he's just as equally terrified of dying.
* ''ComicBook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' eventually makes this a plot point with Mina Harker and Alan Quatermain after they become immortal and eternally young after the events of Volume 2 (by bathing in the Fire Of Immortality from ''She''). Unlike fellow immortal Orlando, who's well over 3000 years old in present day and personifies LivingForeverIsAwesome, Mina and Alan barely make it past 100 years before the pressure starts getting to them. In Alan's case it's even worse because he was already well into his 70's before he got his youth back and had been dealing with drug addiction for years on top of that.
** Mina belives that Orlando has gone slightly insane from the events of his life and all he has experienced, and is manic rather than happy. As shown in ''Century: 2009'', she might be on to something as Orlando is showing symptoms of PTSD.
* A minor character from an issue with ComicBook/{{Lucifer}} was cursed with immortality by her gods several thousand years ago. Every day, her body is reverted to the way it was the moment of the curse, which means [[spoiler:she has had the same miscarriage every day for thousands of years.]]
* Multi-Man is "sort of" immortal. Any time he is killed, he comes back to life with a [[{{Repower}} new super power]]. It's never explicitly stated whether or not this can happen throughout eternity, or if he will otherwise have an ordinary lifespan. Other super villains frequently take advantage of this, killing him repeatedly until they get a power they want, most notably [[spoiler:The Joker during the ''Last Laugh'']] and [[spoiler:Shilo Norman]]. Needless to say, Multi-Man is pretty traumatized by his power.
* There's also has ComicBook/ResurrectionMan who has the power not only to come back to life, but also manifest a new power related to prevent the last thing that killed him from killing him again. He went through the 'repeated killings' technique, thanks to Hitman, three years before Multi-Man.

* ''ComicBook/TheSandman''
** "Facade" depicts Elemental Girl as a washed-up superhero who takes no joy from life, but finds it impossible to commit suicide due to her powers.
** The demons of Hell in the ''Sandman'' series while away their endless time in Hell by coming up with wordplay and slang to use when speaking to each other and the damned. (e.g., speaking only in iambic pentameter).
** The trope is, however, averted by Hob Gadling, a regular man who was granted the gift of immortality. He has his ups and downs, but he persistently refuses the offer of death, because dying would be ''stupid'' when there's always so much more to see and do.
** In A Winter's Tale, Death says that at some point in her younger days she got so tired at living creatures getting angry at her when their time was up so that she quit her job and let everyone live. She later changed her mind after seeing that the alternative to things dying "wasn't very nice".

* In ''ComicBook/WhateverHappenedToTheManOfTomorrow'' [[spoiler:Mxyzptlk]] says that one problem with immortality is that one becomes bored. The first two thousand years he tried doing nothing, being carried on inertia, the next two he was good and after that another two thousand years of being mischievous (as usually portrayed). [[spoiler:Things go very bad when he gets bored again and tries to be plain evil.]]
!!''Franchise/{{Superman}}''
* In ''ComicBook/TheImmortalSuperman'', Superman cannot die of old age, and he has become all but indestructible because of several well-meaning aliens removing his usual weaknesses. By the end of the story, Superman has lived one million of years, and [[ComicBook/LoisLane everybody]] [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} who]] [[ComicBook/JimmyOlsen he]] [[ComicBook/LanaLang has]] cared for has been dead for a very long while.
--->'''Master Healer Robot:''' At last... You nearly died... But I saved your life!\\

* The Cyborg Superman seeks to end his life after the loss of his human body and suicide of his wife. An immortal EnergyBeing, he is able to survive any injury, including disintegration or being thrown into a black hole, without being destroyed. As such, he purposely antagonizes Superman, Franchise/GreenLantern and other powerful beings in the hope that one of them will find a way to kill him. The whole reason he agreed to join the Sinestro Corps in the ''ComicBook/SinestroCorpsWar'' was because the Anti-Monitor promised to kill him. After that whole fiasco, he actually did die, [[YankTheDogsChain only to be revived by the Manhunters]].

!!''Franchise/WonderWoman''
* [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: Dalma is able to find a whole contingent of Amazons who want to give up their immortality with her and leave Paradise Island to live in the wider world. None of them are permitted to, being treated as criminals by Aphrodite and locked in Venus Girdles to brainwash them into enjoying their position.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWomanBlackAndGold'': Discussed in "I'm Ageless", with Batman and Wonder Woman having a back-and-forth on how serious she actually takes being a superhero given that her immortality makes it so she'll outlive virtually every friend, ally, and even enemy she'll ever know. At the end of the story she passes Batman's grave on her way to put flowers on the headstone of an even older friend.

[[folder: Disney]]
* The whole plot of a particular ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse story with Scrooge [=McDuck=] revolves around a character who claims to be hundreds of years old. It turns out to be a true claim, and Scrooge is the key to finding the antidote to his immortality, which he is seeking because he is so tired of living. During the story it is revealed he gained his immortality via eating a mysterious blue powder.

'''Khan Khan:''' The chemical antidote to a blue powder I foolishly swallowed, '''too many''' years ago. (''swallows the grey powder'')

[[folder: Image Comics]]

* Marvel Comics' ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} fell in love with the cosmic entity representing Death, and was cursed to never die by a magic using mercenary named T-Ray. In one comic Deadpool waited in a refrigerator for nearly 1000 years, spawning a second personality out of boredom to play hangman with.
** On several moments many characters talk about how he despises his own immortality. His psychologist Doctor Bong states he is afraid to live.
*** Deadpool himself says: "You know what else is boring? Immortality." Meanwhile he throws a bucket of blood to the sea and dives for a little shark fishing.
* ComicBook/DoctorDoom achieved immortality at one point with the intention of trading it away - as he put it,
--> My years already feel like eons. I fear the eons themselves cannot be endured.
** He may have done it again, if indeed it's not the same case. Became immortal just to use it up so he could vanquish his only real opponent. His own conscience.
* After dedicating his entire villainous career to cheating death by killing anything in the universe that might be a threat to him (which is [[OmnicidalManiac everything]]), ComicBook/FantasticFour foe Annihilus's latest incarnation has come around to this line of thought. Turns out, in the Negative Zone, everyone is like [[ComicBook/GreatLakesAvengers Mister Immortal]] mentioned above, and the endless cycle of death and resurrection gets old fast.
* At the end of ''ComicBook/TheThanosImperative'', [[spoiler:Thanos]] goes on a rampage when he realizes that one of the consequences of [[spoiler:his ThanatosGambit to defeat the Cancer Verse]] is that he can ''never'' die. [[spoiler:Since he is in love with the AnthropomorphicPersonification of Death]], the idea of eternal unending life [[spoiler:forever apart from her]] drives him mad. He eventually decides on [[ComicBook/{{Infinity}} a much worse tack than usual]] in his madness.
!!The Avengers
* Creator/NeilGaiman's ''Eternals'', [[spoiler:Sprite, the only child Eternal]] goes to enormous lengths to make the Eternals into normal people who age (and can die) because [[spoiler:he's sick of being stuck at the same age]]. (In the end, he only [[spoiler:makes himself mortal, the others are restored by the Dreaming Celestial]]).

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played With]] during ''ComicBook/TheAvengersKurtBusiek'' run. [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] states that as a god, he realizes he's destined to outlive most of his friends on the team, but that doesn't stop him from [[BerserkButton going absolutely berserk]] when he thinks ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, Black Knight and ComicBook/{{Quicksilver}} have been killed by the Presence. He then advises Firebird to be careful about forming bonds, as it will only be that much more painful when her friends and family inevitably pass away.
** Also from this continuity, Mister Immortal has tried suicide numerous times using increasingly drastic means. It's not until he finds out his true destiny that he finally accepts his "condition."
* Comicbook/TheVision suffers from similar feelings in Creator/MarkWaid's ''Avengers'' run. [[Comicbook/TheIncredibleHercules Hercules]] is the one to pull him out of his funk, telling him that as long as he remembers and cherishes his friends, their memories will make them immortal long after they are dead.
!!Franchise/MarvelUniverse
* The Elders of the Universe in the are immortal due to their fanatical devotion to a specific aspect of life (gardening, playing games, running, fighting). While none of them seem depressed they're pretty much irretrievably insane.
* Varnae, the first vampire in the Franchise, ultimately succumbed to this. Choosing Dracula as his successor in 1459, Varnae passed on nearly all of his power to the young vampire before committing suicide via sunlight.
!!''{{Franchise/Spiderman}}''
* In the graphic novel ''Hooky'', ComicBook/SpiderMan meets a sorceress named Mandy who is cursed not only with immortality, but eternal childhood, and she hates it. Every now and then, she leaves her home dimension to educate herself, and finds a family to adopt her, but eventually, people realize that she isn't aging, at which point they either give her hormone treatment or try to burn her at the stake (depending on which dimension she's in) forcing her to flee and start over again. [[spoiler: During the course of the story, she and Spider-Man face and ultimately defeat a creature that she believes was sent by an enemy of her family to kill her; in truth, defeating it breaks the curse, and she is able to start growing up.]]
!!''Franchise/XMen''
* Downplayed with ComicBook/{{X 23}}: Laura has yet to seriously examine the fact that she will remain young and live on long after her friends and loved ones grow old and die. However it does get subtly referenced when, while trying to cope with Logan's death during her focus issue of ''The Logan Legacy'', Laura remarks to Kitty how she thought Logan would always be there for her because of his (and thus by extension her) mutation making him functionally immortal. His death severely rocks her view of her own future as a result, not least of which because it leaves her feeling alone.

[[folder: Vertigo Comics]]

* A pre-UsefulNotes/ComicsCode horror story, "Death and Doctor Parker", has the title doctor inject himself with an immortality serum, planning to TakeOverTheWorld, but finds that first loneliness gets to him, and then eventually humans evolve to [[MyBrainIsBig large-headed beings]] who regard him the way modern humans might regard a living example of ''Homo erectus''; he ends up in a zoo. He even outlives those beings and ends up "ruling" over a planet that has no sapient life. Read it [[http://thehorrorsofitall.blogspot.com/2009/06/death-and-doctor-parker.html here.]]
* In Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine this happens particularly badly to Sato Katsura, a 17th century Samurai who the Doctor accidentally gave immortality to when healing him with nanites, though what Sato wants most is an honourable death, leading him to hate the Doctor. He ends up living for 4 centuries, not enjoying fighting as he knows he will win, allows himself to be captured by the Spanish Inquisition and spend 50 years imprisoned. Finally, [[spoiler:when Kroton the good Cyberman becomes [[GuardianOfTheMultiverse Keeper of the Glory]] he enables Sato to die.]]

* In the Creator/ECComics story "The Precious Years," a perfect future society has extended people's lifespans indefinitely by giving them all rejuvenation shots. The 550-year-old protagonist, who looks 25, has had enough of it all.
* Occurs frequently enough in ''{{Transformers}}'' comics that writer Simon Furman has made a [[AuthorCatchphrase Furmanism]] out of "Never '''did''' want to live forever!"

* One of the reasons Dr. Manhattan from ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' isn't all there anymore. The other one being his [[NonLinearCharacter non-linear sense of time]].

* In ''ComicBook/GreatTen'', the Seven Deadly Brothers' powers are derived from a curse placed upon him, that he would have seven lifetimes of mastery in the martial arts. This gave him the ability to split into seven bodies that are each unparalleled grandmasters of a different style, but he is fated to live out all seven of those lifetimes. When he is one person, his mind is a jumble, housing so many different personae that all want different things; only when split and in combat does he know peace. He's been living with this for over 300 years and he's got a lot more mileage in him yet. He admits, however, that he feels he deserves it.
** Contrast Immortal Man in Darkness, who will eventually be killed by the technology of the Dragonwing and replaced by another pilot. There are dozens of men waiting desperately in the wings for the chance.

* Creator/WarrenEllis' Lazarus Churchyard, a comic book character, was unable to kill himself because his brain was trapped in an indestructible body.

* Lazarus Churchyard, a comic book character, was unable to kill himself because his brain was trapped in an indestructible body.

* Creator/NeilGaiman's ''Eternals'', [[spoiler:Sprite, the only child Eternal]] goes to enormous lengths to make the Eternals into normal people who age (and can die) because [[spoiler:he's sick of being stuck at the same age]]. (In the end, he only [[spoiler:makes himself mortal, the others are restored by the Dreaming Celestial]]).
** A later [[AllThereInTheManual Marvel handbook]] would say that Sprite was suffering a form of dementia for Eternals called [[https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Eternals_(Homo_immortalis)#Mahd_Wy.27ry Mahd Wy'ry]], which is described as being due to the fact that they're made to be immortal but psychologically are still human enough to eventually break under it. Periodic [[FusionDance Uni-Minds]] are intended to stave this off.
* In Creator/PhilFoglio's ComicBookAdaptation of ''ComicBook/MythAdventures'' (but not the original novel), the villain's motivation is to get enough power to cancel the immortality enchantment on him. He never specifies exactly why he wants to die, but apparently he's been trying for a long time.
* Zzed, a supervillain from [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] ''ComicBook/{{Airboy}}'' series and its 1980s revival, has been immortal for tens of thousands of years. Although originally, he enjoyed the possibilities eternal life afforded him, he eventually grew sick of seeing people around him dying and set out to find a way to end his life. As technology progressed, he took increasingly drastic measures, until, in the ''Total Eclipse'' crossover, he set out to destroy the multiverse.
* In the graphic novel ''Hooky'', ComicBook/SpiderMan meets a sorceress named Mandy who is cursed not only with immortality, but eternal childhood, and she hates it. Every now and then, she leaves her home dimension to educate herself, and finds a family to adopt her, but eventually, people realize that she isn't aging, at which point they either give her hormone treatment or try to burn her at the stake (depending on which dimension she's in) forcing her to flee and start over again. [[spoiler: During the course of the story, she and Spider-Man face and ultimately defeat a creature that she believes was sent by an enemy of her family to kill her; in truth, defeating it breaks the curse, and she is able to start growing up.]]
* The protagonist of Drew Hayes's ''Poison Elves'' mentions in one episode that elves find it difficult to care deeply for anything or anyone, because of their long lifespans. Of course he's something of a SociopathicHero so his outlook [[UnreliableNarrator may not really reflect]] the psychology of the elven race in general.
* Creator/MarvelComics' [[ComicBook/GreatLakesAvengers Mister Immortal]] has tried suicide numerous times using increasingly drastic means. It's not until he finds out his true destiny that he finally accepts his "condition."
* ''ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}'': John Constantine's Cromwellian ancestor Harry Constantine wound up cursed with immortality by a supernatural entity. It wasn't a particularly strong curse though, so he was buried alive to keep anyone from ever finishing the job. Over three centuries later, he would be exhumed by his descendant twice, with the second time resulting in his death. Having been left underground for so long to the point that his body was half-rotten and festering with worms, he gladly obliged when John took his head off with a shovel.
* A minor character from an issue with ComicBook/{{Lucifer}} was cursed with immortality by her gods several thousand years ago. Every day, her body is reverted to the way it was the moment of the curse, which means [[spoiler:she has had the same miscarriage every day for thousands of years.]]
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
** In ''ComicBook/TheImmortalSuperman'', Superman cannot die of old age, and he has become all but indestructible because of several well-meaning aliens removing his usual weaknesses. By the end of the story, Superman has lived one million of years, and [[ComicBook/LoisLane everybody]] [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} who]] [[ComicBook/JimmyOlsen he]] [[ComicBook/LanaLang has]] cared for has been dead for a very long while.

** The Cyborg Superman seeks to end his life after the loss of his human body and suicide of his wife. An immortal EnergyBeing, he is able to survive any injury, including disintegration or being thrown into a black hole, without being destroyed. As such, he purposely antagonizes Superman, Franchise/GreenLantern and other powerful beings in the hope that one of them will find a way to kill him. The whole reason he agreed to join the Sinestro Corps in the ''ComicBook/SinestroCorpsWar'' was because the Anti-Monitor promised to kill him. After that whole fiasco, he actually did die, [[YankTheDogsChain only to be revived by the Manhunters]].
** In ''ComicBook/SupermanVsShazam'', [[BigBad Karmang]] manages to make himself immortal, but in the process he accidentally kills one billion of Martians whose souls become bonded to him, and who will haunt him forever unless he finds a way to set them free.
* In Scott [=McCloud=]'s ''ComicBook/{{Zot}}'', deranged cyborg Dekko turns 13 people into robots without their knowledge or consent specifically to make them effectively immortal. As they come to realize what had happened to them, not a one of them accepts or likes the change, a fact that broke what used to be Dekko's heart. Dekko himself, however, ''does'' want to live forever, one of the many indicators of how far removed from his humanity he is.
* [[PlayingWithATrope Played With]] during ''ComicBook/TheAvengersKurtBusiek'' run. [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] states that as a god, he realizes he's destined to outlive most of his friends on the team, but that doesn't stop him from [[BerserkButton going absolutely berserk]] when he thinks ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, Black Knight and ComicBook/{{Quicksilver}} have been killed by the Presence. He then advises Firebird to be careful about forming bonds, as it will only be that much more painful when her friends and family inevitably pass away.
* Comicbook/TheVision suffers from similar feelings in Creator/MarkWaid's ''Avengers'' run. [[Comicbook/TheIncredibleHercules Hercules]] is the one to pull him out of his funk, telling him that as long as he remembers and cherishes his friends, their memories will make them immortal long after they are dead.
* Vogelein the Clockwork Faerie is, a clockwork fairy who must be wound every thirty-six hours to stay alive. So she's passed from caregiver to caregiver like an heirloom. She's basically tied to each guardian and has to stay a secret, so when one dies without passing her on...
* Occurs frequently enough in ''{{Transformers}}'' comics that writer Simon Furman has made a [[AuthorCatchphrase Furmanism]] out of "Never '''did''' want to live forever!"
* The Elders of the Universe in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse are immortal due to their fanatical devotion to a specific aspect of life (gardening, playing games, running, fighting). While none of them seem depressed they're pretty much irretrievably insane.
* ComicBook/DoctorDoom achieved immortality at one point with the intention of trading it away - as he put it,
--> My years already feel like eons. I fear the eons themselves cannot be endured.
** He may have done it again, if indeed it's not the same case. Became immortal just to use it up so he could vanquish his only real opponent. His own conscience.
* [[Franchise/TheDCU DC Comics']] Multi-Man is "sort of" immortal. Any time he is killed, he comes back to life with a [[{{Repower}} new super power]]. It's never explicitly stated whether or not this can happen throughout eternity, or if he will otherwise have an ordinary lifespan. Other super villains frequently take advantage of this, killing him repeatedly until they get a power they want, most notably [[spoiler:The Joker during the ''Last Laugh'']] and [[spoiler:Shilo Norman]]. Needless to say, Multi-Man is pretty traumatized by his power.
* [[Franchise/TheDCU DC Comics']] also has ComicBook/ResurrectionMan who has the power not only to come back to life, but also manifest a new power related to prevent the last thing that killed him from killing him again. He went through the 'repeated killings' technique, thanks to Hitman, three years before Multi-Man.
* ''ComicBook/ElfQuest''. Any elf not descended from Timmorn Yellow-Eyes is default immortal. They react in different ways as the years progress; Rayek's reaction was to eventually perfect the art of angsting about it.
* In ''ComicBook/WhateverHappenedToTheManOfTomorrow'' [[spoiler:Mxyzptlk]] says that one problem with immortality is that one becomes bored. The first two thousand years he tried doing nothing, being carried on inertia, the next two he was good and after that another two thousand years of being mischievous (as usually portrayed). [[spoiler:Things go very bad when he gets bored again and tries to be plain evil.]]

* In the ''ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}'' story "Darkness Calls" HB's main enemy is Koshchei the Deathless, a Russian warlord whose soul was hidden in an egg (that's inside a rabbit, that's inside a duck, that's inside a goat) by the Baba Yaga. When we meet him, he is sitting on his throne covered in cobwebs just because he no longer gives a damn. The only way that Koshchei agrees to go after Hellboy is the Baba Yaga promises to let him die if he does.
* ''ComicBook/TheWarlord'': The eponymous character is fond of reminding the less valiant warriors around him that they never wanted to live forever anyway, during the heat of battle. This is particularly prevalent in his more suicidal periods.

* A Creator/HarveyComics [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] villain who called himself Satan was originally a 16th century Spanish explorer who discovered the Fountain of Youth. Upon drinking from it, he was turned into a devil-like creature, so he became a villain in hopes that someone would eventually kill him. None of the heroes ever succeed, but not for the lack of trying.
* One of the reasons Dr. Manhattan from ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' isn't all there anymore. The other one being his [[NonLinearCharacter non-linear sense of time]].

* In the Creator/ECComics story "The Precious Years," a perfect future society has extended people's lifespans indefinitely by giving them all rejuvenation shots. The 550-year-old protagonist, who looks 25, has had enough of it all.
* After dedicating his entire villainous career to cheating death by killing anything in the universe that might be a threat to him (which is [[OmnicidalManiac everything]]), ComicBook/FantasticFour foe Annihilus's latest incarnation has come around to this line of thought. Turns out, in the Negative Zone, everyone is like [[ComicBook/GreatLakesAvengers Mister Immortal]] mentioned above, and the endless cycle of death and resurrection gets old fast.
* In ''Comicbook/{{Empowered}}'', the Caged Demonwolf tells Ninjette that normally he thinks LivingForeverIsAwesome. But since Ninjette is a mortal woman and she will die eventually, he will miss and remember her until the end of the universe.
* Varnae, the first vampire in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, ultimately succumbed to this. Choosing Dracula as his successor in 1459, Varnae passed on nearly all of his power to the young vampire before committing suicide via sunlight.
* In Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine this happens particularly badly to Sato Katsura, a 17th century Samurai who the Doctor accidentally gave immortality to when healing him with nanites, though what Sato wants most is an honourable death, leading him to hate the Doctor. He ends up living for 4 centuries, not enjoying fighting as he knows he will win, allows himself to be captured by the Spanish Inquisition and spend 50 years imprisoned. Finally, [[spoiler:when Kroton the good Cyberman becomes [[GuardianOfTheMultiverse Keeper of the Glory]] he enables Sato to die.]]
* The whole plot of a particular ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse story with Scrooge [=McDuck=] revolves around a character who claims to be hundreds of years old. It turns out to be a true claim, and Scrooge is the key to finding the antidote to his immortality, which he is seeking because he is so tired of living. During the story it is revealed he gained his immortality via eating a mysterious blue powder.
-->'''Scrooge:''' Hey, there's nothing in here but a vial of grey powder.\\
'''Khan Khan:''' The chemical antidote to a blue powder I foolishly swallowed, '''too many''' years ago. (''swallows the grey powder'')

* In ''ComicBook/AlphaGods'', Cravely's main motivation for serving Malak is so that he can honor his end of their bargain and finally be allowed to die.
* The revivers of ''ComicBook/{{Revival}}'' regenerate most injuries within a few minutes. Most of them are emotionally detached from everything, unable to feel joy or accomplishment and without any remaining goals. Their families are unable to grieve and in several cases shun them.

* Professor Anthony Ivo, an old foe of the ComicBook/JusticeLeague, started out an ImmortalitySeeker, and successfully came up with a viable ImmortalityInducer. However, while he succeeded in making himself immortal, the serum he came up with had the serious drawback of progressively and painfully hardening his body to the point of immobility. These days he pingpongs between this trope and ImmortalitySeeker - while he's terrified of living forever in pain, he's just as equally terrified of dying.
* ''ComicBook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' eventually makes this a plot point with Mina Harker and Alan Quatermain after they become immortal and eternally young after the events of Volume 2 (by bathing in the Fire Of Immortality from ''She''). Unlike fellow immortal Orlando, who's well over 3000 years old in present day and personifies LivingForeverIsAwesome, Mina and Alan barely make it past 100 years before the pressure starts getting to them. In Alan's case it's even worse because he was already well into his 70's before he got his youth back and had been dealing with drug addiction for years on top of that.
** Mina belives that Orlando has gone slightly insane from the events of his life and all he has experienced, and is manic rather than happy. As shown in ''Century: 2009'', she might be on to something as Orlando is showing symptoms of PTSD.
* In ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperboy'' comic book series tie-in with the TV series, the title character and his friend Lana Lang meet Ponce de Leon in the modern age, who was cursed with immortality, and ended up dying at the end of a story where he leads somebody to the fabled Fountain of Youth and gets shot because its waters actually had no power to revert or stop aging.

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman''
** [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: Dalma is able to find a whole contingent of Amazons who want to give up their immortality with her and leave Paradise Island to live in the wider world. None of them are permitted to, being treated as criminals by Aphrodite and locked in Venus Girdles to brainwash them into enjoying their position.
** ''ComicBook/WonderWomanBlackAndGold'': Discussed in "I'm Ageless", with Batman and Wonder Woman having a back-and-forth on how serious she actually takes being a superhero given that her immortality makes it so she'll outlive virtually every friend, ally, and even enemy she'll ever know. At the end of the story she passes Batman's grave on her way to put flowers on the headstone of an even older friend.
* The ''ComicBook/ConanTheBarbarian'' story "The Forever Phial" is about an immortal wizard who has grown tired of his endless, meaningless life. He wants to die, and since his immortality does not prevent him from being killed, he uses his powers to lure Conan to his tower and force a confrontation. Soon enough, Conan hacks his way through the tower's defenders and gives the wizard what he wants.

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played With]] during ''ComicBook/KurtBusieksAvengers'' run. [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] states that as a god, he realizes he's destined to outlive most of his friends on the team, but that doesn't stop him from [[BerserkButton going absolutely berserk]] when he thinks ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, Black Knight and ComicBook/{{Quicksilver}} have been killed by the Presence. He then advises Firebird to be careful about forming bonds, as it will only be that much more painful when her friends and family inevitably pass away.

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: Dalma is able to find a whole contingent of Amazons who want to give up their immortality with her and leave Paradise Island to live in the wider world. None of them are permitted to, being treated as criminals by Aphrodite and locked in Venus Girdles to brainwash them into enjoying their position.

* The whole plot of a particular ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse story with Scrooge [=McDuck=] revolves around a character who claims to be hundreds of years old. It turns out to be a true claim, and Scrooge is the key to the character finding the antidote to his immortality, which he is seeking because he is so tired of living. During the story it is revealed he gained his immortality via eating a mysterious blue powder.

'''Immortal:''' The chemical antidote to a blue powder I foolishly swallowed, '''too many''' years ago. (''swallows the grey powder'')

* [[ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}} John Constantine's]] Cromwellian ancestor Harry Constantine wound up cursed with immortality by a supernatural entity. It wasn't a particularly strong curse though, so he was buried alive to keep anyone from ever finishing the job. Over three centuries later, he would be exhumed by his descendant twice, with the second time resulting in his death. Having been left underground for so long to the point that his body was half-rotten and festering with worms, he gladly obliged when John took his head off with a shovel.

* The Cyborg Franchise/{{Superman}} seeks to end his life after the loss of his human body and suicide of his wife. An immortal EnergyBeing, he is able to survive any injury, including disintegration or being thrown into a black hole, without being destroyed. As such, he purposely antagonizes Superman, ComicBook/GreenLantern and other powerful beings in the hope that one of them will find a way to kill him. The whole reason he agreed to join the Sinestro Corps was because the Anti-Monitor promised to kill him. After that whole fiasco, he actually did die, [[YankTheDogsChain only to be revived by the Manhunters]].

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played With]] during Kurt Busiek's ''[[Comicbook/TheAvengers Avengers]]'' run. [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] states that as a god, he realizes he's destined to outlive most of his friends on the team, but that doesn't stop him from [[BerserkButton going absolutely berserk]] when he thinks ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, Black Knight and ComicBook/{{Quicksilver}} have been killed by the Presence. He then advises Firebird to be careful about forming bonds, as it will only be that much more painful when her friends and family inevitably pass away.

* ComicStrip/ThePhantom once dealt with a gladiator from AncientRome who was cursed with immortality and NighInvulnerability (though like an ant, his back is vulnerable). Said gladiator even tried suicide throughout the centuries (and got really happy at his defeat and consequent death by the hands of the Ghost Who Walks).

** Doomsday (the creature that "killed" Superman) is revealed in the Hunter/Prey miniseries to have a very similar ability, as a result of a Kryptonian experiment (involving killing him over and over again, and then reviving him with immunity to whatever had killed him the last time). Despite the fact that [[CriticalResearchFailure evolution does not work that way]].

* ''ComicBook/ElfQuest''. Any elf not descended from Timmorn Yellow-Eyes is default immortal. They react in different ways as the years progress; Rayek eventually perfected the art of angsting about it.

* ComicBook/{{Invincible}} once visited a future, where, after some serious cataclysm, the Immortal saved remains of humanity and become their leader. However, years later he get tired of his life, and immortality right to the point he decided to turn into a merciless dictator, hoping that the oppressed people will form a resistance and find a way to kill him.
** Invincible himself isn't exactly crazy about his half-Viltrumite life expectancy far exceeding that of his human friends.

* ''ComicBook/ElfQuest''. Rayek eventually perfected the art of angsting about it.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': Dalma is able to find a whole contingent of Amazons who want to give up their immortality with her and leave Paradise Island to live in the wider world. None of them are permitted to, being treated as criminals by Aphrodite and locked in Venus Girdles to brainwash them into enjoying their position.

* In ''ComicBook/LoriLovecraft'', Amma Ton is a priest from ancient times who attempted to kill the gods for taking his love from him. The gods punished him by trapping him a dimension were he does not age, but also cannot leave. He becomes an intermediary for humans looking to make [[DealWithTheDevil deals with demons]], and hates his unending existence until he encounters Lori ([[ReincarnationRomance whom he believes to be the reincarnation of his true love) and she reminds him of the better man he used to be.

* The Cyborg Franchise/{{Superman}} seeks to end his life after the loss of his human body and suicide of his wife. An immortal EnergyBeing, he is able to survive any injury, including disintegration or being thrown into a black hole, without being destroyed. As such, he purposely antagonizes Superman, GreenLantern and other powerful beings in the hope that one of them will find a way to kill him. The whole reason he agreed to join the Sinestro Corps was because the Anti-Monitor promised to kill him. After that whole fiasco, he actually did die, [[YankTheDogsChain only to be revived by the Manhunters]].

* In the graphic novel ''Hooky'', SpiderMan meets a sorceress named Mandy who is cursed not only with immortality, but eternal childhood, and she hates it. Every now and then, she leaves her home dimension to educate herself, and finds a family to adopt her, but eventually, people realize that she isn't aging, at which point they either give her hormone treatment or try to burn her at the stake (depending on which dimension she's in) forcing her to flee and start over again. [[spoiler: During the course of the story, she and Spider-Man face and ultimately defeat a creature that she believes was sent by an enemy of her family to kill her; in truth, defeating it breaks the curse, and she is able to start growing up.]]

* The Elders of the Universe in the MarvelUniverse are immortal due to their fanatical devotion to a specific aspect of life (gardening, playing games, running, fighting). While none of them seem depressed they're pretty much irretrievably insane.

* Varnae, the first vampire in the MarvelUniverse, ultimately succumbed to this. Choosing Dracula as his successor in 1459, Varnae passed on nearly all of his power to the young vampire before committing suicide via sunlight.

* In ''ComicBook/TheGreatTen'', the Seven Deadly Brothers' powers are derived from a curse placed upon him, that he would have seven lifetimes of mastery in the martial arts. This gave him the ability to split into seven bodies that are each unparalleled grandmasters of a different style, but he is fated to live out all seven of those lifetimes. When he is one person, his mind is a jumble, housing so many different personae that all want different things; only when split and in combat does he know peace. He's been living with this for over 300 years and he's got a lot more mileage in him yet. He admits, however, that he feels he deserves it.

* In ''The Great Ten'', the Seven Deadly Brothers' powers are derived from a curse placed upon him, that he would have seven lifetimes of mastery in the martial arts. This gave him the ability to split into seven bodies that are each unparalleled grandmasters of a different style, but he is fated to live out all seven of those lifetimes. When he is one person, his mind is a jumble, housing so many different personae that all want different things; only when split and in combat does he know peace. He's been living with this for over 300 years and he's got a lot more mileage in him yet. He admits, however, that he feels he deserves it.