Basic Trope: A character dies, but then comes back to life.
- Straight: Bob is killed but then is resurrected by the Phlebotinum.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob was shot, hanged, stabbed six times, gutted, decapitated, thrown into the trash, and then his soul was sealed to make sure he's Deader than Dead. He comes back anyway.
- Bob was one of the first humans. He died, but millions of years later, he got revived.
- Death Is Cheap
- Bob comes back from a Cessation of Existence or a Ret-Gone.
- They Killed Kenny Again
- Downplayed: Bob is technically brought back from the dead but will require major medical attention in order to not die. Even then he'll probably be crippled for life.
- Justified:
- The character in question is a Messiah or the big guy himself. Do you really expect him to stay dead?
- Phlebotium exists that can get people's souls back/regenerate the body. Associates of the character just have to find it.
- Inverted: Everyone is a zombie. Bob gets revived, but then dies again.
- Subverted:
- Everyone expects Bob to come back, nothing can kill him, right? Nope, he's really dead.
- Bob comes back... as a ghost. He's definitely dead, and he's staying dead.
- Bob comes back... only as a zombie possessed by Emperor Evulz's Dragon, Neko the Necromancer, the others have to give him a Mercy Kill.
- It's not the original Bob, but a clone.
- Back for the Dead
- Alternatively, Bob faked his death.
- Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated
- Double Subverted:
- Everyone expects Bob to come back to life, and are severely disheartened when he doesn't, only to be overjoyed when he suddenly appears alive and well in the third act.
- The next few hours of the story are devoted to getting a new body for Bob and bringing him back to life.
- After pounding Neko over and over again, it leaves her with no choice but to resurrect Bob properly, this time he is truly alive again.
- Bob's clone eventually remembers who he is through Genetic Memory.
- Parodied: Bob has been killed and come back so many times killing him loses all meaning. The villains don't even bother anymore.
- Alice, Bob's friend, makes a papier-mâché Bob and acts emotionally joyful in his return.
- Zig Zagged: Everyone expects Bob to come back, and are disheartened when he doesn't. They're overjoyed when he shows up alive and well in the third act, but he Came Back Wrong and is now being controlled by the villain. The rest of the heroes are forced to fight against him, killing him for good this time. However, killing Brainwashed Zombie-Bob causes Bob to come back to life as his normal self, returning everything to the status quo.
- Averted:
- Bob ain't coming back.
- Bob is not killed.
- Enforced:
- Bob is the most popular character on the show, and killing him would defy common sense.
- For villains only, Joker Immunity. For everyone, Like You Would Really Do It.
- Lampshaded: "How many times do I have to kill these people?"
- Invoked: A character makes a Heroic Sacrifice and invokes the power of the Phlebotinum to bring him back.
- Exploited: A character is chosen for his likelihood to return from the dead and is killed in order that he can take a message to the afterlife and return with an answer.
- Defied: "We'll burn his body and bury his ashes deep underground so he stays dead!"
- Discussed: "You can't die, Bob! This is only the first act."
- Conversed: "Do you notice how the heroes never stay dead?"
- Implied:
- Bob survives that.
- Bob appears to die, but then has an Unexplained Recovery.
- Deconstructed:
- Bob comes back to life, but remembers the pain associated with dying and suffers PTSD.
- Bob's resurrected, and people are understandably horrified at seeing a dead man walking the earth.
- Bob died Thousands of years ago, resurrecting makes him a Fish out of Temporal Water.
- Reconstructed:
- Bob comes back to life, but remembers the pain associated with dying and suffers PTSD. This makes him no different than his buddies who have fought but haven't died and they all help each other.
- Bob's resurrected, patched up, and soon looks no different from a man who was injured. His friends, teammates, etc are glad that he's back.
- Bob came back from the dead, but he has to pay some price for the resurrection in order to satisfy Balancing Death's Books.
- Played For Laughs: Bob gets killed horribly, including having his legs ripped off. He gets back up sometime later and continues on his way, seemingly not bothered by the fact that he's missing half his body.
- Played For Drama:
- Bob comes back from the dead, but not in the way he was supposed to.
- Bob comes back from being dead... about 70 years after he originally died.
Play Lazarus and come Back from the Dead