Off My Mind: Superhero Wills

What happens when a comic book character dies? 99.9% of the time, they will return. It might not be right away. It could even be a few years or decades, but chances are, they will make a return. For readers, when the death occurs, we might be touched reading the story and seeing the reaction of the character's loved ones but at the same time, we're rolling our eyes. We know they'll be back. It's not a question of if they'll return but one of how or when. 
 
When the death occurs in the comic book world, despite the number of characters that have returned, others are still sad. No one thinks they'll automatically come back to life if they die which leads to one question. What do superheroes put into their will and what happens to their stuff when they die? 
  

Because their jobs are dangerous, the heroes would be silly not to have wills set up. If they were to die during a battle or mission, they would have to have plans as for who gets their possessions. This is highly important for heroes with gadgets. What happens to Spider-Man's web shooters? Who gets Iron Man's armor? Is Wonder Woman concerned with what happens to her Lasso of Truth? Of course there's their normal possessions as well. What happens to the Human Torch's hot rods? Is Lois Lane going to take care of everything in Superman's Fortress of Solitude? 
 
Along with the heroes' high tech items and personal effects, do they have any plans to deal with their secret identities and the possibility that their death could reveal it to the world? What is Spider-Man's plan if he dies in the middle of a battle against Doc Ock? Who will protect Aunt May after his death? 

If a hero does have his act together and creates a proper will before their death, the big question is what happens when they return? Is there some sort of clause that tells those that have been bequeathed something that they will have to return it if and when the hero manages to beat death? 
 
An easy solution might be to put in some sort of time clause. Loved ones receiving items might get them on the condition that they might just be temporarily maintaining possession of them until the hero returns. But what sort of time limit could be placed? Jean Grey, who we all know has died and returned several times, has been dead since 2005 (our time). If you consider Bucky Barnes, he was considered dead for decades before people realized he was alive. It would be difficult to place a realistic time limit since there is no rhyme or reason to a heroes return after dying.
 
I suppose if you managed to be lucky enough to inherit the Batmobile, you could try taking Batman to court if he was considered legally dead. Of course if you were close enough to Batman to get something like the Batmobile, you wouldn't be a jerk about it and refuse to give it back.    What it comes down to is all heroes need to have carefully detailed wills. Hopefully their death won't result in the world discovering their secret identity (if they had one). Loved ones need to be understanding in case the dearly departed does return. We all know the return of someone we care about is much more important than keeping any items, no matter how cool they might be.

Spider-Man's will: To Johnny Storm, I leave the burning remains of the Spider-Mobile,  and the Fantastic Bag Man costume to you as well. To MJ, I leave, my actual car, the owner-ship of my mansion that I bought after Spider-Island, and my love and kisses. To Ben Grimm, I give you all my Pecan Sandies, pretty much all of my food hat hasn't been rotten. To Iron Man, I give you a detailed description of why I hated the Iron Spider costume, and to Captain America, I give you a thick alloy of Vibranuim, Carboranium, and True Atadmuaim? (Seriously, how do you spell this?) 
 
And finally, to JJJ, I give you a letter filled with all my pictures of Spider-Man.

I assume their will is the same as in the real world, now the question is, if Barrey dies, & Wally takes over as Flash, does the "Flash" count as a seperate persona, like a corporation does, & does everything the Flash owns go to Wally?

How does the IRS & tax agencies handle this?

If I got a Batmobile, when Batman returned, why would he come knocking on my door to get it back?  He has like 50 million of them, and besides, now that he's back, I'm sure he would want to drive a brand spanking new and improved one anyways, not his old busted model.

Usual Will, involves the rights to be that superhero,gadgets, vehicles, everything. The first sidekick or son usually becomes the next main hero

Good question: only if a superhero has dependents( wife, children, siblings , cousins , aunts/uncles) would this be a problem. Be honest- if YOU were related to a superhero/heroine would you want to step forward and in claiming to be his/her legal heir, and attract the vengeful attention of not just supervillains but also all those "ordinary" crooks including mobsters he or she brought to justice?
 
Captain America and Iron Man are both only children with their parents long deceased( true, Tony Stark has a cousin, Morgan, but they are estranged and he is unlikely to want to inherit cousin Tony's millions-which are presumably going to charity anyway). Anyway who legally defines what is death in the Marvel Universe, given that some characters have dropped out of sight for over seven years- ( in the real world, if somebody is missing for more than seven years, then he  or she is legally declared to be dead at the end of it) and up to twenty years such as Seraph ( last seen in Defenders#151) who has the power to declare somebody legally dead?
 
Terry
 
Are some characters(admittedly not heroes) such as Dracula or Frankenstein's Monster legally alive or dead anyway(vampires are known as the "undead" and the pieces of corpses that make up the Frankenstein's Monster are all from people who died)?

Even in "death" Batman has a plan.

i personally think there needs to be a mandate on an editorial level, specifically at marvel, that if a writer kills of a character it has to last for an established period, say 20 years. because comic writers throw death around like its nothing and it makes for really bad storytelling. i would enjoy and be more affected by comic deaths if i knew the characters were going to be dead for a substantial amount of time before being brought back and i think it would make writers more hesitant to use death as cheaply as they do.

Superman's Will: *After  heart felt passage that the earth is safe thanks to the global team of super heroes*
I give my perception filter glasses to Batman
 
Batamn: Aw sweet I can wear my bat costume 24/7 now!

Does anybody got Superman's Will? Cause I so want that Fortress of Solitude! *evil grin*

I reckon it's either passed on to a sidekick/partner or left to gather dust in some cave or warehouse until some new creation can stumble across it and the character can get reinvented.

Their stuff  goes with the person who died, next to their grave or burned.

You know spider-man did die, but Aunt May was taken care by MJ and the New Avengers.....

 
I always thought that the hero's belongings went to either their closest friend (like Cap's things would go to Bucky Barnes) or to their children (such as Dick Grayson even thought he's Bruce's adopted son). I mean it makes sense to me that this is the order in which things happen because it makes the most sense. 
 
It just seems like that's how things work. I mean the only other option is the team they are a member of keep thier belongings in an isolated part of the headquarters (especially seein' as how they wouldn't want villains to get their hands on them).

The secret identity thing kinda makes it difficult.

This would make a great mini-series ala damage inc approach. :) 
Hell of a thought to ponder that they should actually address better.

Actually, this has been addressed on occasion.  But it's usually slightly more exciting that executing a real probate hearing - which can make watching paint dry look exciting sometimes, so it kind of gets glossed over.  It's an interesting question, but it takes a lot of work to turn it into an interesting story, so it rarely gets written about.
 
But it was covered a little bit in the Atom, just not recently.  After Ray Palmer and Jean Loring separated he went off and was presumed dead in a plane crash (See the Sword of the Atom).  There was a body - it was burned beyond recognition and he was "id'd" by the engraving that on the wedding ring worn by corpse.  His ex didn't know that it had been stolen.
 
She went through the steps of getting the will done (since she was an attorney before she went cuckoo and Eclipsoed).  That was one of the really frightening things about having her lose her mind - she probably prepared the wills for several members of the JLA, so she was probably privy to private info that some of the other JLA members didn't even know.

I'd rather know what's in a superhero's medicine cabinet.
 
Unless it's Red Arrow's.

It might be the biggest cliche in comics that dead heroes and villains never stay dead, but in the comic book world itself I'm sure they don't think that way. They believe dead is dead, I think. That being the case, I don't think there's a "if I should come back to life" clause in their wills. They always seem to be surprised when someone rises from the ashes.

lol, that is pretty interesting...it makes you wonder if any of the recent deaths had anything worth dividing up

An interesting question to ponder and a good article.

If I was a superhero I would just place my stuff in the hands of a trustee for 10 years, and failing my eventual resurrection, it would go to various people that I loved.  I would however, will all my villains to my fellow superheroes immediately, and have a contract placed on my murderer's life.

I sometimes like comic deaths but it cud be really sad moment when some one is killed or dies trying to save some one.

LMAO
 Jean Grey's Will: to my one true love scott summers, i leave you my heart and soul, and hope you never change and that ill forever be in your mind and that no other woman will ever replace me.

"   Spider-man has mephisto so don't worry about death "

Interesting, but if they came back they wouldn't be considered legally dead anymore, would they?

poor jean grey

Super Hero Will  
"To my sidekick___ 
 
I leave my identity, tech, and  base. They are yours to use to battle villainy and injustice...until I return six months to a year from the reading of this document..."

I won't be a jerk about giving Batman the Batmobile back, but he's shit out of luck if he expects me to return Wayne Manor and all that money.

Wolverine Weapon X #16 deals with this a bit.  Nightcrawler names Wolverine the executor of a piano to be bequeathed to a monastery on a mountain by explicitly manual means. 
 
In general, however, you'll probably want to avoid a will and take advantage of the flexibility of a trust.  A living sentient trusted trustee can gauge the likelihood for return or revival, the proper handling of the secret identity, notification, filing for a death certificate (or waiting for the state's Dead Man's Statue to kick in), etc. with maximum flexibility to deal with the uncertainty of superhero death.  In overly broad strokes a trust means everything will be handled by a mind whereas a will means beneficiaries and the probate court might get bogged down in fighting it out between the language and meaning of your will. 
 
You'd probably want to avoid a testamentary trust and make it an inter vivos one because of the speculative nature of superhero "death"... rather than have Dick and Tim fight it out as to whether Bruce is dead or lost in time, simply assign someone to handle such ambiguous situations for as long as needed (which is essentially what happened with a bit of Hush shenanigans in there).

"Nice question to ponder."

Most these wills will become void sooner or later.

" Batman is covered he has Dick, Tim and Damian for that   Superman has Lois and in his secret Identity (Clark) well there's not much to inherit..   Spider-man has mephisto so don't worry about death "

I totally agree, if I got the Batmobile after Batman's death, I take that mofo to court if/when he came back.

What would be the point of a will except to say "Don't divvy up any of my stuff, I'll probably be back in a few months anyway.  Could you please water my plants while I'm gone." 

I like how they did  the green arrows will, where shade was suppose to go and find certain objects and destroy the rest of the proof who he was.  i think it was the Archer's quest arc

I like how Steve and Bucky kind of have fun with the concept in this panel