Death might be permanent in real life but it isn’t so in the MCU. In fact, it’s quite far from it. Characters can be brought back from the dead by innumerable means. Here we will be exploring 9 ways that the MCU can reincarnate characters.

1. Mephisto can resurrect the dead

The ruler of hell, Mephisto can resurrect the dead sometimes even by simply touching them. He’s essentially the Devil of Marvel. He has resurrected many characters such as Sentry, Agent Coulson and even Johnny Blaze. To resurrect Johnny Blaze he slammed his cane on the ground and voila! This would also give Marvel the opportunity to finally introduce Mephisto in the MCU, something that fans have been eagerly waiting for.

2. Wanda can rewrite reality

Scarlet Witch is one of the most powerful characters in the MCU currently especially with her chaos magic. Her power knows no rules and no bounds. As seen in Multiverse of Madness, Wanda can actually rewrite reality. She defeated Black Bolt purely because she made his mouth disappear. Then when he spoke, his sonic energy killed him by blowing up his brains. It wasn’t just an illusion, it was real. This means that she can also bring back the dead by changing reality. This isn’t as simple as Mephisto resurrecting the dead, but as seen in WandaVision, its definitely a viable method.

3. The Soul Stone has some soul within 

We have seen the Soul Stone and the sacrifice required to acquire it. Both Infinity Wars and Endgame showed us how people died for the Soul Stone. However, the stone can also bring people back from the dead. Essentially, the Soul Stone has complete control over souls both living and dead and basically over all of life. It also acts as a portal to the Soul dimension. This allows it to resurrect the dead.

4. The Eternal flame in the MCU

Eternal flame is an inextinguishable fire that we last saw during Thor: Ragnarok. It was the source of Surtur’s powers. The eternal flame can reanimate the dead. It might not exactly resurrect the dead and return them to their previous condition, however it does bring them back to life. Hela utilizes this power to reanimate her dead armies of Berserkers and her trusted Asgardian wolf Fenris. She simply took a handful of the flame and used its power.

5. The Ten Rings in Marvel comics

We were introduced to the mystical ten rings during Shang Chi. We know that there’s a Shang Chi 2 coming out as well. While the first movie explored a lot of the ten rings’ powers, there’s still one that fans are unaware of. The ten rings have been used in the comics to resurrect the dead, specifically Killmonger. The Mandarin used Killmonger’s corpse and brought him back to life, although not whole. He was simply a shadow of the man he used to be. Nonetheless, this gives the MCU a bunch of options of using this ability.

6. MCU Eternals’ Immortality Machine

The Eternals’ immortality machine as shown in the MCU, is supposed to bring them back to life automatically once they perish. In the Marvel comics this machine was also utilized by Thanos to come back to life multiple times.

7. The Five governed by resurrection protocols

In the X-Men, The Five including Egg, Elixir, Hope Summers, Proteus and Tempus are a group of mutants whose combined powers can bring back mutants from the dead. Charles Xavier first though of this idea. He was also the one to put in place the resurrection protocols that governed the process. In the Marvel comics, this process also brought back Kitty Pride from the dead, with her powers restored completely.

8. GH.325

This is a drug derived from a dead Kree’s blood and has been used before in the MCU. It has unimaginable healing properties and can heal fatal wounds. What’s even more interesting is that it can sometimes bring back the dead. This drug was used to bring back Agent Phil Coulson after he was killed by Loki. This revived him despite him being dead for several days. It pretty much regenerated the damaged heart tissue.

9. Death can bring life in Marvel Comics

In the Marvel comics, Death has brought back her love interest, Thanos multiple times. Even Hela, the Goddes of Death has brought back Thanos with the help of the Black Order. This method can definitely be explored in the What If…? series while also exploring Thanos and his love triangle with Death and Hela.