Ecocomics considers the viability of life insurance policies in comic book universes.

Let’s say we use Jean Grey in the early 80s. So Jean has nice responsible parents who love her deeply. They don’t want to think that its possible that their daughter could die, but like responsible adults, they need to plan for contingencies. Especially when their daughter is the kind of person who picks fights with the Living Monolith. So the Greys purchase a plan for their daughter. Then when she gets exposed to solar radiation, possessed by an alien life force, and blasted with a laser on the moon, it’s time to collect on their policy.

The Greys then use the money from their daughter’s life insurance policy to give their daughter a nice respectable funeral where all of her friends (including the blue elf creature, hairy canadian, and russian metal guy) and her laser blasting fiancee can mourn her properly.

And then the Fantastic Four finds Jean in a cocoon at the bottom of the Hudson River. What happens now? Has fraud been committed? Does the insurance company who paid out for Jean’s death get their money back? If so, who pays them?

I imagine that in a world of constant resurrection and uncertain deaths, most life insurance policies would either cease to be, or cease to pay out in one lump sum, opting instead for an annuity approach so the insurance company can cut its losses. Maybe some companies might even sell “Temporary Death” policies, which pay out smaller sums for briefer periods of death than, you know, eternity.