Retroactive Immortality

Retroactive Immortality
As the avatar of the Phoenix Force, Jean Grey (Marvel Comics) keeps coming back from the dead as the Phoenix continually resurrects her.
Power/Ability to:	Be immortal by not staying dead.

"Go ahead and shoot! I'll be back! I always come back!"

― Chucky (Bride of Chucky)

"You ruined my plan! But I'll be back! You can't kill me!"

― An angered Dr. Franklin, swearing revenge on the protagonist who put an end to his goal of reanimating the deceased and infecting the living. (They Hunger)

"I can't die. I've experienced death countless times. Sometimes I see a bright light, sometimes I see Heaven or Hell. But eventually, no matter what, I wake up in my bed wearing my same old clothes."

― Kenny McCormick (South Park)

The power to be immortal by not staying dead. Variation of Immortality.

Also Called

• Resurrective Immortality/Immortal Resurrection
• Retro-Metabolism (Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons)
• Banished From Death (Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor/War)

Capabilities

The user is immortal in the sense that when they do die, they won't stay dead. This could be the result of instant resurrection, being reborn, transferring one's mind/soul into a clone, etc. The user can still die from various causes, like physical trauma, but the user will always come back to life.

Applications

• Semi Immortality
• Resurrection

Variations

• Ash Resurrection
• Enhanced Self-Resurrection
• Immortal Cloning
• Infinite Resurrection
• Reincarnation
• Self-Resurrection

Associations

• Constant State of Death
• Death Negation
• Phoenix Physiology
• Superior Human Physiology

Limitations

• Can be negated or even removed entirely.
• May only be able to resurrect a given number of times.

Known Users

See Also: Resurrective Immortality and Staying Alive.

Cartoons/Comics

• Master Shake (Aqua Teen Hunger Force)
• Carl Brutananadilewski (Aqua Teen Hunger Force)
• Hellboy (Dark Horse Comics)
• Hank Henshaw/Cyborg Superman (DC Comics)
• Doomsday (DC Comics)
• Mitchell Shelley/Resurrection Man (DC Comics)
• Volthoom (DC Comics); as long as the Emotional Energy Spectrum exists
• Happy Tree Friends (Happy Tree Friends)
• Jean Grey (Marvel Comics); via the Phoenix Force
• Joshua Foley/Elixir (Marvel Comics)
• Mr. Immortal (Marvel Comics)
• Molecule Man/Owen Reece (Marvel Comics)
• Hans Moleman (The Simpsons)
• Kenny McCormick (South Park)

Movies

• Chucky (Child's Play)
• Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th film series)
• Victor Crowley (Hatchet)
• Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street series)
• Matthew Cordell (Maniac Cop Trilogy)

Folklore/Mythology

• Jesus Christ (Christianity)

Literature

• Marrow (Arkwell Academy); through his bond with the phoenix
• Monsters (Camp Half-Blood Chronicles)

Live Television

• Humanoid Cylons (Battlestar Galactica)
• Paul Metcalfe/Captain Scarlet (Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons/Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet)
• Jack Harkness (Doctor Who)
• Henry Morgan (Forever)
• Nathan Young (Misfits)
• Prometheus (Supernatural)
• Rayna Cruz (The Vampire Diaries); via Multiple Lives
• Wendy Beauchamp (Witches of East End); via Multiple Lives
• Klaus Hargreeves/Number Four/Séance (The Umbrella Academy)
• Immortals (Highlander)

Anime/Manga

• Ajins (Ajin: Demi-Human)
• Immortals (Baccano)
• Kurenai Rin (Big Order); via her Order called Rebirth Fire: the Flame of Resurrection
• Tailed Beasts (Naruto)
• Otsutsuki Clan (Naruto/Boruto: Naruto Next Generations); via the Karma Seal
• Reinforce/Book of Darkness (Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha)
• Phantom (Marchen Awakens Romance)
• The Lifemaker/Yaldabaoth (Negima/UQ Holder)
• Makima (Chainsaw Man)
• Phoenix Ikki (Saint Seiya)
• Dandy (Space Dandy)
• Tomie Kawakami (Tomie)
• Bernkastel (Umineko When They Cry)
• Featherine Augustus Aurora (Umineko When They Cry)
• White Queen (The Unexplored Summon://Blood Sign)
• Kyubey/The Incubators (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)
• Kaworu Nagisa (Neon Genesis Evangelion)

Video Games

• Susan Ashworth (The Cat Lady)
• Count Dracula (Castlevania)
• Alduin (The Elder Scrolls)
• Dragons (The Elder Scrolls)
• Erim/Lufia (Lufia)
• Geras (Mortal Kombat 11)
• Ridley (Metroid)
• Nameless One (Planescape: Torment)
• Sekiro (Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice)
• TATARI's malignant copies (TYPE-MOON)
• Snow White (Valkyrie Crusade)
• The Tenno (Warframe)
• Guardians (Destiny)

Web Comics

• God Tiers (Homestuck); ability is conditional, and can only truly die with a Just or Heroic death.
• Oasis (Sluggy Freelance)

Web Original

• The Smiling Man (The Fear Mythos)
• Ozma (RWBY)
• SCP-076-2 - "Able" (SCP Foundation)
• SCP-607 - Dorian the Grey Cat (SCP Foundation)
• SCP-1166 - Perfect Lab Specimen (SCP Foundation)
• The Palm (Whateley Academy)

Other

• Squee (Magic: The Gathering)

Known Objects

• Cure-All Elixir (Baccano)
• Grand Panacea (Baccano)

Gallery

The most famous quality of Ajins (Ajin: Demi-Human) is that they never stay dead.

Humanoid Cylons (Battlestar Galactica) continuously resurrect in new bodies upon their current bodies' deaths.

After being killed and reconstructed by the Mysterons, Captain Scarlet (Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons) gained the Mysteron power of "Retrometabolism" which allows him to heal from serious injuries and return from death.

Mitchell Shelley/Resurrection Man's (DC Comics) power is the ability to die and resurrect with a random power, usually somehow associated with his death.

After being killed by the Daleks and then resurrected by Rose Tyler, Captain Jack Harkness (Doctor Who) gained the ability to come back from death

Henry Morgan (Forever)

Nathan Young (Misfits)

As the central hive mind of the parasitic Flood, the Gravemind (Halo) can keep resurrecting itself ad infinitum as long as even a single Flood spore still exists to infect other creatures.

After becoming a spirit, if Victor's (Hatchet) body is somehow destroyed or "killed", he'll come back because he has to repeat the night he died for eternity until he finds his father.

Chucky (Child's Play)

Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th film series)

Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street series)

Matthew Cordell (Maniac Cop Trilogy)

Phantom (Marchen Awakens Romance) cannot stay dead as long as he has the Zombie Tattoo. It’ll take a few years, but Phantom will eventually be resurrected.

Mr. Immortal (Marvel Comics) is a Homo Supreme, having evolved beyond death, he will always come back to life no matter how many times he is killed

Nathan Young (Misfits) will always come back to life upon death, no matter how long it takes.

Geras (Mortal Kombat 11) is a living fixed point in time. Every time he's killed, he will eventually return to life, stronger than before.

Upon death, Ozma’s (RWBY) soul merges with a like-minded person in a process of reincarnation.

Whenever SCP-076-2 - "Able" (SCP Foundation) is killed, his corpse disintegrates and his body reforms inside the stone cube designated SCP-076-1, making him essentially immortal.

Sekiro (Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice) has the ability to resurrect himself an infinite amount of times thanks to his master, Kuro, the Divine Heir, granting him the power of the Dragon's Heritage.

Hans Moleman (The Simpsons) has a running gag of him being killed in various accidents only to come back alive and unharmed.

Tomie Kawakami's (Tomie) healing factor can not only bring her back from death...

...but any part of her has the chance of turning into an entirely new version of her.

Snow White (Valkyrie Crusade) is an absolute immortal in that while she can die, she never can stay dead, and will always come back to life, no matter how she dies.

Joshua Foley/Elixir (Marvel Comics)

Kenny McCormick (South Park)

Videos

SCP-076 ABLE (SCP Animation)

Origin of Dr. Bright (SCP Animation)