History Main / FirstEpisodeResurrection

* Eric Draven is already dead at the beginning of the film adaptation of ''Film/TheCrow''. He is resurrected early in the film, although in the film's chronology he was dead for a year before being resurrected.

* ''Fanfic/{{Paradoxus}}'': In the [[Recap/ParadoxusCapitulo01 first chapter]], Sylvanas, after her canonical assassination by Greymane, is given the opportunity to return to the point before she was crowned Warchief by a mysterious time traveler in exchange for her loyalty and trust.

* The second chapter of ''[[VideoGame/CognitiveDissonance Mother: Cognitive Dissonance]]'' begins with Larice, a [[MechaMooks Starman]] who attempted to reason with Giegue only to be attacked and killed by him, booting back up.
* The ''Fanfic/ANewChanceSeries'' starts out towards the end of ''Anime/PokemonHeroes'' when Latios died saving the city of Alto Mare, but a soul-bonding technique with Ash and Latias revived him. The rest of the fic deals with Ash with the Eon Dragons during the rest of the Johto Saga.

* ''Film/JonahHex'': Jonah's near-death experience at the hands of his archenemy gives him the power to talk to the dead.

* Film/JonahHex's near-death experience at the hands of his archenemy gives him the power to talk to the dead.

* Neo's death and subsequent resurrection by Trinity at the end of the first ''Film/TheMatrix'' movie is what triggers his TheChosenOne powers for the following two movies. It was even foreshadowed earlier by the Oracle when she told him he was not The One and that it felt like he was waiting for something, "perhaps your next life".

* ''VideoGame/AlteredBeast'' begins with Zeus resurrecting your hero(es) to rescue his daughter. ''"[[ElmuhFuddSyndwome Wise from your gwave!]]"''

Have you always wanted to try your hand at being TheHero but you're too boring and unskilled to have what it takes to get the job done?

Have we got a solution for you!

All you have to do is die in front of a supernatural protagonist (often of the opposite sex) by the end of the pilot episode of your series. [[HeroicSacrifice Sacrificing]] yourself is a huge bonus. Chances are good that you will be resurrected in short order. Most of the time, you will be granted some form of {{immortality}} — and, if you're lucky, you may even get [[JustForFun/HowToGiveACharacterSuperpowers other]] [[ViralTransformation powers]] [[CameBackStrong to go along with it.]]

Congratulations! Once you've experienced the horrific pain of death, the series will now focus around you [[SuperEmpowering and the]] [[{{Psychopomp}} being]] that [[EmergencyTransformation resurrected you]]. Happy hero-ing!

Based on ancient archetypes about death and transformation; usually a hero has to go through his darkest hour to get a powerup, but in some series, they cut to this moment right away. Compare SacrificialLamb, DeathByOriginStory. See FirstEpisodeTwist for when it is supposed to be a surprise. Can overlap with DeadToBeginWith.

* ''VideoGame/{{Blood}}'' - you literally begin the game getting out of your grave.

* This happens in ''LightNovel/BludgeoningAngelDokuroChan'', but it is a subversion both because Dokuro is the one who kills Sakura, and she kills him in almost every episode, sometimes more than once.

* The first episode of ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDXD'' has Issei Hyoudou murdered by his (ex-)girlfriend, a Fallen Angel named Raynare, and then revived by Rias Gremory as one of her servant devils. [[spoiler:The same later happens to Asia Argento, which can be considered one for the light novels.]]

* Neo's death and subsequent resurrection by Trinity at the end of the first ''Film/TheMatrix'' movie is what triggers his TheOne powers for the following two movies. It was even foreshadowed earlier by the Oracle when she told him he was not The One and that it felt like he was waiting for something, "perhaps your next life".

* At the beginning of ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline", the [[PlayerCharacter Vestige]] wakes up in Coldharbour, the plane of Daedric Prince of Domination, Molag Bal, and a loose equivalent of hell, having been sacrificed by cultists of Molag Bal for the Big Bad's evil scheme. The tutorial is escaping from Coldharbour back into Tamriel, sans your soul. Retrieval of your soul drives the main quest line, and lacking a soul provides certain benefits, such as [[DeathIsCheap being able to revive at the nearest wayshrine with only a few extra dents in your armor]], or being immune to magic that affects/controls/steals the soul of its target, like the sort of magic commonly used by necromancers and the like.

* ''Literature/ErHaHeTaDeBaiMaoShiZun'': The novel opens with the despotic emperor who's taken over the entire cultivation world killing himself, only to be revived in the body of his 15 year-old self in the past.

* More like Eighth Episode Resurrection, but Church's death in the first season of ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' kicks off the entire plot by [[spoiler:revealing, if those around him had paid any attention, that he's actually an AI]], and more directly by being the catalyst that led to Tex coming to Blood Gulch. It also gives him the only remotely useful ability he has (aside from taking responsibility when Tucker doesn't want to, which is always), the ability to possess people.

* Drax the Destroyer was raised from death by Cronos and Mentor in order to defeat Thanos, in Creator/MarvelComics. Possibly a subversion, in that almost nothing of Mr. Douglas's personality remains--Drax is a giant green humanoid with energy powers and about the same level of intelligence as that [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk other giant green humanoid]] from Marvel. Drax began with all his memories and personality intact, unfortunately in helping the Avengers stop his daughter Moondragon from mentally enslaving a world she destroyed his mind resulting in his second resurrection having the Green Hulk level mind (she eventually sacrificed some of her mental powers in order to restore him to near-normal).

* Subject Delta, the hero of ''VideoGame/BioShock2'', dies in the opening cutscene. He then wakes up in a Vita-Chamber, the game's in-universe resurrection device.

* ''Manga/BusoRenkin'': Kazuki Muto sacrifices his life to protect a girl he's never met when she is attacked by a monster. The girl, Tokiko Tsumura, happens to be an ExtraordinarilyEmpoweredGirl who was just playing helpless to bait out the monster,and feels badly enough about his death that she uses an alchemical device known as a kakugane to resurrect him. With his new {{Magitek}} artificial heart Kazuki decides to help Tokiko protect his town from man-eating monster.

* This is the basis for [[KidHero Hiro's]] servitude to Hime in ''Manga/PrincessResurrection''. Hiro dies saving Hime, and she brings him back to life. The catch is that he has to be her servant forever, protecting her from all the dangers that come with the job. [[ImmortalLifeIsCheap This makes him effectively immortal, being able to heal from any injury]]...[[ConditionalPowers as long as he gets regular blood donations from Hime.]] If he doesn't, he dies.

* One of the first and most infamous examples was actually from a MagicalGirl series, ''Anime/MagicalPrincessMinkyMomo'', and it was more of a First Episode Reincarnation, but still.

%%* Yakumo from ''Manga/SazanEyes''.
* Yusuke from ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' dies in the first episode, but it takes an entire arc for him to come back to life with supernatural powers.
** You can tell the author loves this trope, considering that the series begins with the narration: "This is Yusuke Urameshi. He's fourteen years old. He's supposed to be the hero of this story, but unfortunately, he's dead."
** The original idea for this series was actually a punk ghost boy floating around and undergoing CharacterDevelopment while trying to [[EarnYourHappyEnding earn his life back]]. This apparently got boring, and the hooks for it as an extended process were cut short; Yusuke abruptly came back to life and the manga became a fighting series instead, turning some of the beginning into BrokenAesop stuff. Then it was going to be a series of short 'case' storylines, with hooks for ''that'' in the form of the spirit tools, which Yusuke was supposed to get more of as he could handle them. [[ArcFatigue Then all was devoured]] [[TournamentArc by tournaments]].
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' somewhat changes the order around; Ichigo intentionally stabs himself with Rukia's EmpathicWeapon to [[BlatantLies temporarily]] gain her {{Shinigami}} powers.
* Tsuna from ''Manga/Reborn2004''. Of course, Reborn is the same gender as him (not to mention one year old), and Tsuna gets this about OnceAnEpisode, thanks to Reborn's "dying will bullets".
** Reborn ''kills him'', rather than resurrecting him. Also, he's been one year old for a ''long'' time now.
* ''[[Manga/DotHackLegendOfTheTwilight .hack//tasogare no udewa densetsu]]'' begins with Shugo dying and being given the eponymous Twilight Bracelet by Aura; note, though, that he died in a computer game, not the real world; it's more of a respawning than a resurrection, so it's a bit more believable.
** ''.hack//Roots'' begins the same way.
* ''Manga/BirdyTheMighty'': It happened to Tsutomu Senkawa after the titular Space Cop accidentally killed him and merges with him to save his life... though depending on which version you watch, how far into the first episode he dies varies; in the OVA, he dies within the first few minutes while in Decode, he dies after the episode is halfway through.
* Spoofed in ''Anime/ExcelSaga'', where Excel gets hit by a bus at the start of the first episode, and the Great Will of the Macrocosm has to resurrect her (after chastising Excel for getting killed in the first episode). Excel then gets killed (mostly by Lord Il Palazzo) and resurrected three more times before the episode is finished.
* Shirou from ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight''. Though he didn't actually die, he was taken for dead by both his attempted killer and the one who tried to revive him.
* The first episode of ''VideoGame/{{Gungrave}}'' ("Destroyer in the Dusk") shows Brandon Heat, freshly resurrected as Beyond the Grave, in action, and the rest of the series is an extended flashback of Heat's mortal life until it catches up with the first episode.
%%* Played straight with Rumina in ''Manga/TokyoUnderground''.
* In the first episode/chapter of the ''Manga/HappyWorld'' manga and OVA, the main character's [[spoiler:house burns down. Thus, he has to go to school in an unwashed uniform. He steps in a deep puddle, and trips, falling over and landing with his hand in a dog poo. Washing his hand at a public tap, the tap snaps off and sprays him in the face. Chucking the tap over his shoulder in frustration, it strikes a vicious dog on the head which then chases him down the road, though he manages to trick it into running into a tree. Unfortunately, he then runs into a telegraph pole himself (kicks it in the manga), and a part of it (the large, metal, corrugated cylinder part) falls off, the corner of it striking his head and killing him. It is at this point that the story's romantic lead, the angel Elle, appears, apologising profusely for being late, and resurrects the hero]].
* ''Anime/TheSoulTaker'' does this with a twist. The absolute *first* scene, prior to even the opening credits, has our hero Kyosuke Date killed by his mother in a church for seemingly no reason. The next scene involves a girl we have no knowledge of pulling up out of a coffin in the ground. It's later explained [[spoiler: the trauma of "dying" awakened his powers as an alien.]] The ''actual'' BigBad in the series, [[spoiler: his little sister Runa, went through a similar experience but didn't understand it and freaked out, thinking their mother hated her.]]
* ''Manga/UFOPrincessValkyrie'' sees protagonist Kazuto Tokino getting crushed by a landing UFO and resurrected by its pilot (who is, unsurprisingly, a Valkyrie Princess). Granted, we don't really get the whole story of it 'till episode 2, but it IS seen in a flashback near the end of the first episode.
* After accidentally killing the main characters of ''Manga/UltimateGirls'', UFO Man sacrifices much of his power and energy to resurrect them, which has the side effect of shrinking his body.

* ''Manga/BusoRenkin'': Kazuki Muto sacrifices his life to protect a girl he's never met when she is attacked by a monster. The girl, Tokiko Tsumura, happens to be an ExtraordinarilyEmpoweredGirl who was just playing helpless to bait out the monster,and feels badly enough about his death that she uses an alchemical device known as a kakugane to resurrect him. With his new {{Magitek}} artificial heart Kazuki decides to help Tokiko protect his town from man-eating monster.
* The main character of ''Manga/KashimashiGirlMeetsGirl'' dies after being hit by a spaceship, but is brought back to life as a [[GenderBender girl]] instead of a boy.
* Happens to Kate, Rose, Claire, and Rachel in ''Anime/RedGarden''.

* This happens in ''LightNovel/BludgeoningAngelDokuroChan'', but it is a subversion both because Dokuro is the one who kills Sakura, and she kills him in almost every episode, sometimes more than once.
* The hero of ''Manga/BlackGod'' technically doesn't ''die'', but since he lost an arm, the bleeding would have killed him if Kuro hadn't taken matters into her own hands.
* ''Manga/{{Gantz}}'', every character dies before we meet them. When they all meet for the first time they go around the room giving names and method of death.
** This is established by the first episode's graphical death of Kurono and Kato, and their expository resurrection by Gantz. After that it becomes easy to assume every new character had died. [[spoiler:Except for the subversion, Kishimoto. She wasn't shown to have died, and it turned out that she hadn't.]]
* ''Anime/AngelBeats'' begins with Otonashi dying and arriving in the afterlife.
** More like getting up after dying, then dying again. Twice.
* ''Manga/ShindereShoujoToKodokuNaShinigami'': Nishigami accidentally pushes Akira off a tall cliff in the first chapter. She is revived as an immortal being by the Snake God (at a steep price), mostly because she didn't want Nishigami to blame himself for her death.
%%* ''Manhwa/ImmortalRegis''
* Parodied in ''Anime/BenTo''. The first episode begins with the main character, Satou lying on the ground as the narration explains that this is the day he died. A minute into his PosthumousNarration however, his stomach grumbles and he stands up to get some food. It's at this point that the onlookers realise he isn't actually dead and call an ambulance.
* The first episode of ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDXD'' has Issei Hyoudou murdered by his (ex-)girlfriend, a Fallen Angel named Raynare, and then revived by Rias Gremory as one of her servant devils. [[spoiler:The same later happens to Asia Argento, which can be considered one for the light novels.]]
* ''Anime/{{Penguindrum}}'': Himari Takakura dies of her weak heart and is revived by a spirit that resides in her penguin hat. ItMakesSenseInContext.

* In ''Manga/{{Aposimz}}'' Etherow is killed by Yiyu of Rebedoa Empire and is revived by Titania in the first chapter.

* In Franchise/TheDCU, this was the key trope in the origins for Deadman and ComicBook/TheSpectre (at least before the latter was {{Retcon}}ned as something completely different).

%%* ''ComicBook/TheCrow''
%%* ''ComicBook/TheSpirit''
* Drax the Destroyer was raised from death by Cronos and Mentor in order to defeat Thanos, in Creator/MarvelComics. Possibly a subversion, in that almost nothing of Mr. Douglas's personality remains--Drax is a giant green humanoid with energy powers and about the same level of intelligence as that [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk other giant green humanoid]] from Marvel.
** Drax began with all his memories and personality intact, unfortunately in helping the Avengers stop his daughter Moondragon from mentally enslaving a world she destroyed his mind resulting in his second resurrection having the Green Hulk level mind (she eventually sacrificed some of her mental powers in order to restore him to near-normal).
* ComicBook/GhostRider2099 marginally qualifies. Kenshiro "Zero" Cochrane is dying while connected to the Net, and willing to "upload" his brain patterns as a device to delete information he doesn't want to be collected postmortem. Uber-[=AIs=] catch him instead and rebuild as a robotic anti-hero.
* ComicBook/TheQuestion experiences a non-supernatural version. In the first issue, the angry, two-fisted Ditko avenger is [[RasputinianDeath defeated by Lady Shiva, beaten with a pipe, shot in the head with an air gun and dumped in the river.]] Due to a MillionToOneChance and the diving reflex, he survives, but the near-death experience changes his philosophical outlook.
* The very first panels of ''ComicBook/{{Lazarus}}'' have main character Forever Carlyle being shot multiple times and killed. As the series is set at least 4 decades in the future and Forever is majorly bioenhanced, she promptly begins healing from her wounds, comes back, and kills her attackers. This turns out to be little more than an EstablishingCharacterMoment, and then the story begins properly getting underway.
* Dusk in ''ComicBook/{{Slingers}}'', although technically she died in the zero issue preview that came with Wizard Magazine.
* [[DontFearTheReaper Bernie]] offers resurrection to certain characters in ''ComicBook/DeathVigil'' in exchange for helping her fight against {{Eldritch Abomination}}s from beyond reality. Both protagonists accept her offer.
--> '''Clara''': Yeah, no, you had me at you won't be dead!

* The first issue of ''ComicBook/DeadAt17'' opens with Nara Kilday being murdered. By the end of the first issue, she is back from the dead, just in time to save best friend Hazy from zombies.
* ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk'' opens with a girl getting killed in a botched robbery. A disguised Bruce Banner rounds on the guy responsible, eyes flashing green... only to be killed before he can HulkOut. That night the Hulk emerges and smashes his way out of the morgue.

* The ''Fanfic/ANewChanceSeries'' starts out towards the end of ''Anime/PokemonHeroes'' when Latios died saving the city of Alto Mare, but a soul-bonding technique with Ash and Latias revived him. The rest of the fic deals with Ash with the Eon Dragons during the rest of the Johto Saga.
* The second chapter of ''[[VideoGame/CognitiveDissonance Mother: Cognitive Dissonance]]'' begins with Larice, a [[MechaMooks Starman]] who attempted to reason with Giegue only to be attacked and killed by him, booting back up.

* Eric Draven is already dead at the beginning of the film adaptation of ''Film/TheCrow''. He is resurrected early in the film, although in the film's chronology he was dead for a year before being resurrected.

* [[Creator/CatherineWebb Kate Griffin's]] fantasy novel ''A Madness of Angels, or, The Resurrection of Literature/MatthewSwift'' begins with its protagonist mysteriously waking up after having been dead for two years.

* ''Literature/MagnusChaseAndTheGodsOfAsgard'' begins with Magnus fighting the fire giant Surtr, and dying. Because he died in battle, with a weapon in his hand, he's claimed by the valkyries and taken to the Hotel Valhalla as an ''einherji'', where he learns about his new powers, which include immortality within the hotel itself. Subverted in that he's still dead, and even visits his dead body to confirm that he is. It's about as creepy as you'd expect it to be.

* ''Literature/APieceInTheGameOfGods'': The first chapter has the protagonist dead and is resurrected in a few sentences, because he's [[spoiler:respawning in a game]], but then in the second chapter, out of forty-five, he dies again [[spoiler:for real, and is resurrected in the third chapter]], getting superpowers due to a [[spoiler:SuperGenderBender]].

* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'':
** The Abyssal Exalted flirt with this trope. While no actual resurrection occurs, they are brought back to vitality from the brink of death by virtue of Exaltation, without which they would succumb. It is possible for a character to play a prologue for their Exaltation scene, and all Abyssal prologues inevitably involve this.
** The Liminal Exalted subvert this. Probably the most common way for a Liminal to be created is for someone to try resurrecting the dead, drawing the attention of the 'dark mother', an ancient Underworld entity, who Exalts the corpse as a Liminal. Thing is, while it ''looks'' like a resurrection, a Liminal is actually an entirely new person, perhaps with some lingering memories from the original.

* In ''VideoGame/KingdomsOfAmalurReckoning'', [[PlayerCharacter the Fateless One]] starts the game dead, but is resurrected by a machine created by a gnome to bring someone back from the dead.
* The titular character of ''[[VideoGame/{{Oddworld}} Abe's Oddysee]]'' is killed in a cutscene after the first two levels, just as Big Face shows up to conveniently bring him back to life.
* The main character of the original ''VideoGame/OnimushaWarlords'', Samanosuke Akechi, starts out the game as an ordinary samurai... then he gets (apparently) killed by a demon, and is resurrected by the Clan Ogres, granted superhuman powers, and proceeds to clean house, ''Franchise/ResidentEvil''-style.
* Shepard dies in a cutscene at the start of ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', and is reconstructed right after the opening logo.

* You're killed soon after completing the JustifiedTutorial in ''VideoGame/{{Rune}}'', only to be resurrected by Odin.
* Both Kain and Raziel, the two main protagonists of the ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'' series, started their respective games in this manner. In both cases their resurrections are [[DealWithTheDevil Faustian bargains]] with the beings that arrange for their returns - and they're both all too aware of it. And in Raziel's case, he didn't even ask for the resurrection, and was more or less strong-armed into accepting it.

* At the beginning of ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline", the [[PlayerCharacter Vestige]] wakes up in Coldharbour, the plane of Daedric Prince of Domination, Molag Bal, and a loose equivalent of hell, having been sacrificed by cultists of Molag Bal for the Big Bad's evil scheme. The tutorial is escaping from Coldharbour back into Tamriel, sans your soul. Retrieval of your soul drives the main quest line, and lacking a soul provides certain benefits, such as [[DeathIsCheap being able to revive at the nearest wayshrine with only a few extra dents in your armor]], or being immune to magic that affects/controls/steals the soul of its target, like the sort of magic commonly used by necromancers and the like.
* If you play as a Forsaken in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', the storyline starts with your death and resurrection in the crypts of Brill.
** As of ''Cataclysm'', the Forsaken story now begins as a long-dead corpse being reanimated by a Val'kyr.
** The beginning moments of a new Death Knight character are similar, except you wake up in Acherus in front of the Lich King prior to your HeelFaceTurn.
** The Demon Hunter starting zone gives you the option of sacrificing yourself or an NPC to power a portal. If you choose to sacrifice yourself you get resurrected shortly after, being given an explanation of how you have the immortal soul of a Demon, like Illidan.
* The protagonist of the flash game series ''VideoGame/{{Sonny}}'' [[DeathByOriginStory died prior to the start of the first game]] (of what is unknown since Sonny doesn't remember any part of his life prior to death, including his name). In his new life, he is a zombie with extraordinary powers.
* ''VideoGame/{{Blood}}'' - you literally begin the game getting out of your grave.

* ''VideoGame/ShadowOfDestiny'': you die THREE SECONDS in and are sent back to life. Very plot-relevant since the game is about dying, reviving and then having to [[TimeTravel travel to the past]] in order to avoid the root cause of your death. Over and over again.
* In the first scene of ''VideoGame/MaximoGhostsToGlory'', the kingly title character is usurped and killed by the BigBad, and his queen is abducted. Fortunately for him, TheGrimReaper intends to make use of his talents.
* Subject Delta, the hero of ''VideoGame/BioShock2'', dies in the opening cutscene. He then wakes up in a Vita-Chamber, the game's in-universe resurrection device.

* In the MMORPG ''VideoGame/{{Skyforge}}'' you begin the game arriving at a big city, where in a flashback you tell a god the story of how you died, and then revived, discovering yourself to be an Immortal. It's the way In-Universe of how all immortals find out about their powers.

* ''VideoGame/OriAndTheBlindForest'' has Ori expire at the end of the prologue, but being the protagonist, he is revived on the spot thanks to the Spirit Tree's remaining magic.
* ''Pocket Card Jockey'' begins when the protagonist is offered a new horse that proceeds to buck and kick them, leading them to be trampled by more horses. Fortunately, an angel offers to revive them and provide them with the central plot mechanic of linking the horse's performance to the player's skill at Golf Solitaire.

* The captain is killed from a hydra attack in the beginning prologue of ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy'', causing Lyria to create a [[{{Synchronization}} life link]] with him, saving his life and giving him the power to summon Primal Beasts.
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' begins with Link awakening in a secluded room called the Shrine of Resurrection [[AmnesiacHero with no memory or knowledge of where he is]], and he spends the rest of the game piecing together what happened that led to him being there.
* The opening of ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'' has your player character rising from his/her grave as an Unkindled Undead.
* ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'': Lan's twin brother Hub died from a terminal illness when they were infants. Their father, a computer scientist, uses BrainUploading to resurrect Hub as a [=NetNavi=], [=MegaMan.EXE=].
* ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'': Keiji Inafune originally planned to have this happen to Zero; he would be resurrected by a Cyber-Elf at the start of ''VideoGame/MegaManZero1'', a century after being KilledOffForReal at the end of ''VideoGame/MegaManX5''. This got reworked into a double subversion to compensate for Zero being retconned BackFromTheDead in ''VideoGame/MegaManX6''. Zero is now hibernating in stasis at the beginning of ''Zero 1'', not dead. But that distinction isn't made relevant until later in the game, so Zero's revival proceeds unchanged as a full resurrection from death.
* The opening of ''VideoGame/MadRatDead'' involves Mad Rat dying via dissection, but the tutorial sees him resurrected by the Rat God. [[spoiler:However, this is subverted because she never truly resurrects him, she just made him aware of his time powers.]]

* ''Webcomic/SparklingGenerationValkyrieYuuki'' begins with the protagonist having a gem roughly the size of a fist shot directly into his chest, along with an accompanying huge spurt of blood and shocked expression. He's reborn instantly as a valkyrie, but it seems a safe bet that this killed him. [[FridgeBrilliance Which explains rather nicely why Hermod isn't strong enough to reverse the process.]]
* Cherri (at the time going by her human name Charlotte) starts the comic ''Webcomic/SchoolBites'' like this, arising as an undead after being fed upon by a vampire.

* In the prologue of [[http://www.winglesscomic.com/ Wingless]], the protagonist is decapitated by a booby trap and then resurrected by an unknown, but presumed evil, entity.

* The first chapter of ''Webcomic/SlightlyDamned'' begins with the protagonist Rhea being murdered by an unknown assassin and being sentenced to The Ring of the Slightly Damned, a part of the afterlife on the edge of Hell where people who failed to qualify for Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory are sent. The first chapter ends with her escaping back to the world of the living and bringing Buwaro, the innocent demon child who was assigned to punish her for her sins with her. In between the beginning and end of the first chapter, she also [[TheyKilledKennyAgain gets killed and revived a few times]] while in the afterlife since mortal souls who die again while already dead come back the next morning. She doesn't find out why or by whom she was murdered until several chapters after her resurrection.

* The eponymous hero of ''WesternAnimation/GerryAndersonsNewCaptainScarlet'' does this in the first episode -- twice. Granted, the first time left him under the control of a malevolent alien force bent on destroying the Earth, but still. And it was the ''second'' time (via [[LightningCanDoAnything an electrical accident]]) that rebooted his human side.
* The first Creator/ComedyCentral episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' starts with every main character except Fry and the Professor dying when the Planet Express Ship and the Nimbus (Zapp Brannigan's ship) explode, and the episode opens with the Professor resurrecting them, with complications leading to Leela being resurrected in a comatose. [[spoiler:Actually, it was Leela who survived the explosion instead of Fry. Fry was rendered somewhat deader than the rest, and when it looked like he was gone for good Leela made a robot duplicate of him out of grief, who shorted out and accidentally killed Leela, which also wiped their short term memories.]]
* When we first meet Cubix from ''Animation/CubixRobotsForEveryone'', he's the mysterious trophy sitting around the Botties' Pit that no-one has ever been able to fix. New kid Connor decides to fix him for his initiation, despite the fact that no-one expects him to succeed.

* Both Kain and Raziel, the two main protagonists of the ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'' series, started their respective games in this manner. In both cases their resurrections are [[DealWithTheDevil Faustian bargains]] with the beings that arrange for their returns - and they're both all too aware of it.