Marvel's 'Dead No More' teases a major character returning to life

If there's one truth about superhero comics that will never go unproven, it's that no one stays dead forever. If you can think of a major Marvel superhero, there's a good chance they've been dead and returned to life at some point — from Captain America to the Human Torch.

If today's teaser from Marvel Comics is to be believed, another currently-dead comic book character will be rejoining the realm of the living very soon. This afternoon, Marvel sent out the image below to various press outlets:

Marvel provided no further information. It's unclear if "Dead No More" is the name of an upcoming book, a story arc in an existing book or just a promo tag for another event entirely.

What we do know is that tomorrow marks the release of Secret Wars #9, the long-awaited finale to Marvel's universe-ending event. Major delays on the series have kept fans on edge waiting to see how things wrap up even as books already taking place in the freshly revised Marvel Comics universe have already launched.

Meanwhile, Marvel is already gearing up for its next big event, Civil War 2, which will begin in June. A report by the New York Daily News revealed that a major hero will be killed off as a center plot point of that story. Will someone be returning alongside that death to balance the scales? Or is the return part of Secret Wars' conclusion? Or something else entirely?

Fan speculation is all over the place, with names being thrown around including Mar-Vell (a.k.a. the original Captain Marvel), Spider-Man's old love interest Gwen Stacey and even Spider-Man's plot motivation for his heroics, Uncle Ben. Others have pointed to the recently-killed Wolverine or even Jean Grey, the X-Men's Phoenix, who has a whole superpower based around returning from the dead but has, astoundingly, stayed in the ground for over a decade now.

Sort of. There's a time-traveling young Jean Grey who's still around and ... listen, comic books are weird.

We'll update if whatever Marvel is teasing becomes more apparent with tomorrow's Secret Wars #9.