History Main / AssassinationAttempt

* The [[NoExportForYou Japan-only]] sequel to ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth'' features this, with the first case involving an attempted assassination of the President of Zheng Fa, and the last case begging with the same president discovered dead. [[spoiler:In truth, the present president was a fake. He was a BodyDouble who plotted the murder and replacement of the real president 12 years prior in a fit of jealousy. However, he wasn't strong nor courageous as the real president. The assassination attempt in the first case was in fact faked in order to make him more popular. As for the fake's murder, he was killed by the game's BigBad, who witnessed the assassination of the real president as a young boy, and was hunted down for knowing too much.]]

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[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In the ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'' fanfic ''Fanfic/BecomingFree'' a spy disguises himself as a guard and tries to kill Elsa. Freya gets shot instead [[spoiler:and loses her ability to work as a horse farrier.]] The assassin knew of Elsa's and Freya's relationship as well but it was regarded as MaliciousSlander. Later, another assassination attempt occurs against Elsa but Freya also stops it.

** Firefly is one of the last assassins to confront Batman. That's because he spent the night setting bombs up along the Pioneer's Bridge, forcing Batman to work with the GCPD to diffuse the bombs while avoiding Firefly so he doesn't blow the bridge the hell as soon as he sees Batman on it.

* As a child Prince Zen Wisteria from ''Manga/AkagamiNoShirayukihime'' was befriended by a new archer in the castle who was actually working with a group that wanted to kill him to punish his older brother. While the plot ultimately failed he was unable to fight his FalseFriend and had to be saved by his brother and the knight Mitsuhide. He's then accidentally poisoned by "the stupid prince" Raji of the neighboring country in the first chapter, though it turns out the poison wasn't designed to kill, and later in the story a disgruntled northern lord from his own country tries to kill him. Luckily Zen's a decent swordsman.

* ''Film/TheDeathOfAPresident'' is a 2006 {{Mockumentary}} positing the fall-out of the assassination of UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush by a disgruntled Syrian-American man. President Cheney authorizes PATRIOT Act II authorizing even more extensive invasions of privacy and sending the U.S. on the way to becoming a police state. However, the end of the film reveals that [[spoiler:the real assassin was the father of a U.S. soldier who was killed in Iraq.]]

* ''Death of a President'' is a 2006 {{Mockumentary}} positing the fall-out of the assassination of UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush by a disgruntled Syrian-American man. President Cheney authorizes PATRIOT Act II authorizing even more extensive invasions of privacy and sending the U.S. on the way to becoming a police state. However, the end of the film reveals that [[spoiler:the real assassin was the father of a U.S. soldier who was killed in Iraq.]]

* Harvey Dent dodges this throughout ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' as a result of his war on the mobs of Gotham. Less focal characters like the police commissioner and a local judge deal with this without Dent's luck.

The leaders of countries--Kings, Presidents, Prime Ministers, Chancellors, etc.--are the most famous, rich and as a result powerful people in the world. Everybody from their home country at least knows about them because the fate of their nation may sometime depend on them (no stress!) and that goes for any politician. Of course, for that same reason, some things a politician may do, say, or simply be may anger some residents. And some residents may be ''very'' angered to the point that they want to threaten your life and therefore attempt to.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': In [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS3E15ThroughImperialEyes "Through Imperial Eyes"]], [[ReverseMole Kallus]] reprograms Grand Admiral Thrawn's assassin droids to get rid of the OverrideCommand and sics them on Thrawn in his office. Although [[AssassinOutclassin the attempt fails]], it does succeed in the ''other'' goal of giving Ezra and Chopper the opportunity to escape from Thrawn's office, where they'd been forced to hide when he came in.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': In [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS3E15ThroughImperialEyes "Through Imperial Eyes"]], [[spoiler:[[ReverseMole Kallus]]]] reprograms Grand Admiral Thrawn's assassin droids to get rid of the OverrideCommand and sics them on Thrawn in his office. Although [[AssassinOutclassin the attempt fails]], it does succeed in the ''other'' goal of [[spoiler:giving Ezra and Chopper the opportunity to escape from Thrawn's office, where they'd been forced to hide when he came in]].

[[folder:Film]]

* ''Film/{{Valkyrie}}'' centers on a dramatized depiction of the Thursday 20 July 1944 attempt by Colonel von Stauffenberg and others to plant a bomb in the Nazis' Wolf's Lair headquarters to kill Adolf Hitler and his generals. They almost succeed.

* ''Film/TheMadnessOfKingGeorge'' has an early scene where the King descends from a podium, and is set upon by a madwoman, who attempts to stab him. His Majesty is remarkably composed during this affront, and is unhurt by it. He mentions to a minister that a butter knife is a poor weapon, which is what the dotty widow used. The scene establishes that King George was observant and rational during the early stages of his affliction; this lucidity is slowly eroded as his condition worsens.
* When a White House intern is found dead in ''Film/MurderAt1600'', President Neil is implicated, and vilified by the press. However, once Detective Regis deduces the culprit and the motive, TheStarscream sees his effort to sunder national policy crumble, and grabs a pistol. TheVillain fires one sloppy shot at the President, which results in OnlyAFleshWound. The Secret Service promptly swiss-cheese TheStarscream on the spot.

* ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' opens with two assassination attempts on Senator Padme Amidala, forcing her into hiding along with the wholesome and untroubled Anakin Skywalker.
* Believe it or not, the Adam West and Burt Ward picture ''Film/BatmanTheMovie'' revolves around assassination. Specifically, Batman's RoguesGallery prepares a device to turn the members of the World Council into a powder and send the world into chaos.
* Harvey Dent dodges this throughout ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' as a result of his war on the mobs of Gotham. Less focal characters like the police commissioner and a local judge deal with this without Dent's luck.

* ''Film/TheJackal'' is a remake of the French movie (and book) ''Literature/TheDayOfTheJackal'', but here the Jackal is hired by Russian mobsters to assassinate the Director of the FBI because they dealt their organization a blow in a joint operation with the FSB. [[spoiler:In fact, his real target is the First Lady of the United States.]]
* ''Death of a President'' is a 2006 {{Mockumentary}} positing the fall-out of the assassination of UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush by a disgruntled Syrian-American man. President Cheney authorizes PATRIOT Act II authorizing even more extensive invasions of privacy and sending the U.S. on the way to becoming a police state. However, the end of the film reveals that [[spoiler:the real assassin was the father of a U.S. soldier who was killed in Iraq.]]

* ''Series/{{Scandal}}''
** President Fitzgerald Grant is shot en route to his fiftieth birthday party.
** The President's son Jerry is poisoned with a bacterial strain of meningitis which kills him.
** The 40th President Edward Cooper was shot in the head, which finally managed to kill him around thirty years later when he suffers from an aneurysm.
** VP Andrew Nichols stages an assassination attempt to get Fitz to declare war on West Angola.

* In ''Series/HouseOfCardsUS'', Lucas Goodwin seeks revenge against President Frank Underwood by killing him. He only succeeds in wounding him (albeit severely; Underwood spends several episodes in the hospital needing a liver transplant), before suffering a MutualKill with Underwood's chief Secret Service agent, Edward Meechum.
* Russian Foreign Minister Anton Gorev from ''Series/MadamSecretary'' is assassinated in "The Long Shot", just as he announced his intention to run for the presidency in Russia.

* ''Series/MurdochMysteries'': The episode "The Spy Who Came up to the Cold" opens with the assassination of US President William [=McKinley=].
* ''Series/TheManInTheHighCastle'':
** A plot involves [[spoiler:the attempted assassination of the Japanese Crown Prince]].
** At the end of the first season, Wegener is sent on a mission to kill Adolf Hitler. Hitler gives Wegener the choice of completing his mission, or killing himself and allowing Hitler to prevent rogue elements of his government from inciting a war with Japan. [[spoiler:Wegener chooses the latter.]]
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'':
** In the season 1 finale "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS01E20InTheHandsOfTheProphets In the Hands of the Prophets]]", the ultra-orthodox Vedek[[note]] equivalent to a Roman Catholic archbishop or cardinal[[/note]] Winn Adami orchestrates an assassination attempt against Vedek Bareil Antos, a religious and political moderate and her rival for the title of Kai[[note]]Bajoran equivalent of the Pope[[/note]]. The attempt is foiled but Winn isn't implicated, and the religious/political conflict continues for some time (including the opening three-parter of the next season where Winn secretly backs a coup attempt against the Bajoran provisional government).
** In the later seasons the Federation-supporting NoSuchAgency Section 31 [[spoiler:tries to use biological weapons to kill off the Founders, the shapeshifter rulers of the Dominion]].

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse''. One scene has Steven targeting the mayor and shooting him with t-shirts.

* In ''Series/HouseOfCards'', Lucas Goodwin seeks revenge against President Frank Underwood by killing him.

The leaders of countries--Presidents, Prime Ministers, Chancellors, etc.--are the most famous, rich and as a result powerful people in the world. Everybody from their home country at least knows about them because the fate of their nation may sometime depend on them (no stress!) and that goes for any politician. Of course, for that same reason, some things a politician may do, say, or simply be may anger some residents. And some residents may be ''very'' angered to the point that they want to threaten your life and therefore attempt to.

* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', it's apparently common for nobles to attempt to murder the Lord of the city over decisions they disagree with. Shojo recalls surviving an attack from someone unhappy with the decision to implement meatloaf day, which led him to practice ObfuscatingInsanity to let the nobles think he was a less effective ruler than he actually was. Starting very shortly after taking the throne, Hinjo suffered a series of assassination attempts from Daimyo Kubota until Kubota's death.

* The ambush and assassination of the FBI director during his trip to Colombia in Literature/ClearAndPresentDanger infuriates the President and leads to an escalation in the covert actions the CIA is taking against the cartel.
* Literature/ExecutiveOrders: An unnamed Expy of Saddam Hussein is assassinated by one of his bodyguards - who was a sleeper agent from Iran - and a second sleeper agent is given orders to assassinate Jack Ryan, the President of the United States. He isn't successful.

* In the ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'' fanfic ''Fanfic/BecomingFree'' a spy disguises himself as a guard and tries to kill Elsa. Freya gets shot instead [[spoiler:and [[CareerEndingInjury loses her ability]] to work as a horse farrier.]] The assassin knew of Elsa's and Freya's relationship as well but it was regarded as MaliciousSlander. Later, another assassination attempt occurs against Elsa but Freya also stops it.

* Harvey Dent dodges this throughout ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' as a result of his war on the mobs of Gotham. Less focal characters like the police commissioner and a local judge deal with his without Dent's luck.
* John Harrison lets himself get caught at the scene of a bombing in ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'' in order to get all of the Federation's leader in one room. He uses the opportunity to fly by and gun down some of the top admirals of Star Fleet before fleeing to the other side of the galaxy.

* The plot of Literature/TheEmperorsSoul concerns an emperor made comatose by a partially-successful assassination.

* In the recent novel Commander In Chief, the North Korean intelligence agency hires a bomb maker from the Middle East to build a large bomb near the route the Presidential motorcade would take in Mexico City, in order to attempt to kill President Ryan.

* ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' revolves around Macbeth's cold murder of King Duncan and the downward spiral Macbeth falls into trying to ensure his continued rule by any means necessary.

* ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' allows the player relive dozens of historical assassinations, even reframing natural deaths as being caused by the Assassins' Brotherhood. Examples range from Crusaders like Robert de Sable to Revolutionary Generals like Charles Lee.
* The plot of ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins'' comes down to a young Batman surviving eight of these while catching the man who put a price on his head.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' opens with one on Big Boss, having just awoken from a nine year coma, courtesy of a fully equipped military kill squad. One assassin in particular gets lit on fire while choking Boss to death; she comes back later with impeccable aim, supernatural speed and sudden muteness. Needless to say, [[DefeatMeansFriendship she joins your team]].

* A plot in ''Serie/TheManInTheHighCastle'' involves [[spoiler:the attempted assassination of the Japanese Crown Prince]].

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* A later arc in ''WesternAnimation/XMen'' forces the team to protect Senator Robert Kennedy from death, or be forced to endure a BadFuture.