Death, also known as the Grim Reaper, is the titular main antagonist of "Reaper Madness", a segment from the The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror XIV". He also appeared in many other The Simpsons episodes.
As his name suggests, he is a Grim Reaper summoned by God to kill people who are on his death list. However, he is easily killed by Homer with a bowling ball, which causes the entire world to be immortal due to him being no longer present. Despite his death, his cloak takes control of Homer and turns him into the new Grim Reaper, reviving him indirectly, even though it backfires after Homer refuses to kill his own wife.
Appearance[]
Death is only shown as a cloaked entity with red glowing eyes. When he dies, he is just revealed to be a skeleton.
Biography[]
Death is first seen ringing the door bell to the Simpsons house, which Homer answers and opens the door, as a thunderstorm starts to form outside. He introduces himself as Death and tells Homer that he needs to take Bart as his death has come, but Homer closes the door on him, telling him that they don't need anything, only for him to break the door down and enter the house, chasing Homer and his family around the house. Eventually, Bart gets restrained by Death's scythe and was about to be killed, but Homer kills Death with a bowling ball, freeing Bart but also indirectly making death impossible, as shown when Frankie does not die of his multiple bullet holes inflicted by the mafia and Moe committing suicide but remaining alive.
This, however, would be temporary, as Homer, instead of putting the Grim Reaper's corpse to the curb, he puts on his robe, causing his hand to become nothing but bones, as a death list and a scythe appear in his hands. This scares Lisa as her own father now became the new Grim Reaper, indirectly reviving the old Grim Reaper as it takes control of Homer. He would then use his new power to kill many people (as well as some of the crowd just to pass by and have a place to watch a match), this pleases Homer until he is ordered to kill his own wife, which he refuses and instead kills Patty with Marge's hair to fool God, causing him to become annoyed and attempts to kill Homer with a sunbeam, but he avoids it and escapes on a motorcycle, posthumously backfiring the Grim Reaper's plan.
Trivia[]
- Despite dying in the beginning of the segment, Death continued his killing spree using Homer's soul when wearing his robe, indirectly making his screen-time much longer.
- In other The Simpsons episodes, Death either appears as a judge or in a different role, like appearing in one of the couch gags.
- When Homer is about the kill Jasper, the latter mentioned Doug, so it is assumed that Death’s real name.