History Main / BlastOut

* ''Film/EnemyOfTheState'': During the movie's climax, Mitch Rapp hides under a table during a MexicanStandOff. It devolves into a blast-out between the Mafia and the evil government agents, and nearly everybody dies.

* The end of the Will Smith movie ''Film/EnemyOfTheState'', in which Will Smith hides under a table during a MexicanStandOff. It devolves into a BlastOut between the Mafia and the evil government agents, and nearly everybody dies.

Someone has just pulled a trigger in an unstable situation where everyone is armed. Everyone freaks out and starts blasting at each other, often wildly and at very close range. For this trope to work right, the outcome has to be truly up for grabs. If someone in a MexicanStandoff starts shooting, this is the expected result.

[[folder: Comic Books]]

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* On ''Series/{{The 100}}'', the peace talks between the 100 and the Grounders were tense to begin with, but when Jasper (who'd been hiding in the nearby woods with a gun) spots a Grounder hiding in the nearby woods with a bow and arrow, he opens fire, and everything goes right straight to hell.

* Parodied in ''Film/{{Facepunch}}'', a fictional movie in the film adaptation of ''[[Literature/{{Twilight}} New Moon]]''. The only audio we hear consists of a standoff quickly falling apart. LET'S DO THIS!

* ''Film/ThheGrandDuel'': The Saxons agree to meet Clayton at the cattle pens. At the confrontation, when Clayton approaches, David says that the three must draw first to overcome Clayton's faster and expert gunplay. Vermeer, from a distance, shoots off Clayton's hat so that he draws first. It works and Clayton reacts by killing the three men and only getting a small wound.

* ''Film/{{Infamous}}'': The MexicanStandoff in the bank ends when Kyle takes his eyes off Arielle for a second to glance at dean, and Arielle pulls the gun she has [[PantsPositiveSafety tucked down the back]] of her short shorts. She plugs Kyle between the eyes and everyone else fires. When the shooting stops, Arielle is the only one still standing.

* ''VideoGame/GhostReconWildlands'' has situations similar to the one from ''Perfect Dark Zero'' mentioned above, only with Santa Blanca sicarios and Unidad soldiers as the participants. These two groups are nominally enemies but usually leave each other alone unless Unidad spots Santa Blanca openly using violence. Sometimes squads of both can be seen together in tense conversation, and all it takes to trigger a bloodbath is a single untraceable shot by the player. Unidad usually comes out on top thanks to their superior armor and weapons, but the one or two wounded soldiers left standing pose much less of an obstacle than two dozen trained killers with itchy trigger fingers.

* One MexicanStandoff between four Mah Jhong players in ''VideoGame/{{Killer 7}}'' winds up with all four men pulling the triggers simultaneously and all dying at once.

* The cruiser night action in Ironbottom Sound off Guadalcanal on November 13th, 1942 (which happened to be a Friday), one of two naval engagements just two days apart that are sometimes lumped together as the "Naval Battle of Guadalcanal" (though there were at least a half-dozen of those; the island was hotly contested). A force of American cruisers and destroyers met a force of Japanese cruisers and destroyers led by two battlecruisers. The Japanese outgunned the Americans, but the Americans had radar, though the advantage wasn't exploited because the American commander didn't trust the technology. The two fleets were less than 3,000 yards apart when a Japanese destroyer shone a searchlight on the light cruiser USS ''Atlanta''. The cruiser's captain ordered his own lights to counterilluminate the contact, but a gunnery officer with better common sense replied,[[note]] These are his exact words as recorded in the log[[/note]] "Fuck that! Open fire!" ''Atlanta'' tore the destroyer apart in seconds, and both fleets opened up at rapidly-decreasing range. Both sides' battle lines broke down, multiple ships collided, and every ship on both sides suffered hits from friendly fire. Within minutes, Ironbottom Sound became a maelstrom of twisted steel, burning oil, and dying men. By morning, the only ships of either fleet left in the sound were either dead in the water or on the bottom, with the rest having retreated in disarray. By the numbers, the Japanese technically won, having sunken or rendered combat-ineffective all but two of the Americans' ships, but strategically it came out as a draw. While Japan likely would have encountered little more resistance had they pressed their advantage and moved to bombard Guadalcanal, they were disoriented and had expended much of their ammo in the battle; using the rest of it to bombard Henderson Field would disable American air cover and clear the way for Japanese troop transports, but it would leave them and the transports vulnerable to American naval aircraft. Compounding this was that the ship carrying the Japanese naval commander had been heavily damaged,[[note]]Unable to maneuver, it would sink the next day, helped along by U.S. air attack[[/note]] with much of the command staff dead, the commander himself wounded and badly concussed when the ship's bridge was shot up by an American destroyer,[[note]]enough so that, when later debriefed, he was unable to remember anything after the point when the bridge was hit[[/note]] and the radio barely operational, meaning there was almost no way to coordinate for an attack or even know how many ships he had available in the first place.

* The Cruiser Night Action in Ironbottom Sound off Guadalcanal on November 13th, 1942 (which happened to be a Friday), one of two naval engagements on consecutive nights that are sometimes lumped together as the "Naval Battle of Guadalcanal" (though there were at least a half-dozen of those; the island was hotly contested). A force of American cruisers and destroyers met a force of Japanese cruisers and destroyers led by two battlecruisers. The Japanese outgunned the Americans, but the Americans had radar, though the advantage wasn't exploited because the American commander didn't trust the technology. The two fleets were less than 3,000 yards apart when a Japanese destroyer shone a searchlight on the light cruiser USS ''Atlanta''. The cruiser's captain ordered his own lights to counterilluminate the contact, but a gunnery officer with better common sense replied[[note]] These are his exact words as recorded in the log[[/note]], "Fuck that! Open fire!" ''Atlanta'' tore the destroyer apart in seconds, and both fleets opened up at rapidly-decreasing range. Both sides' battle lines broke down, multiple ships collided, and every ship on both sides suffered hits from friendly fire. Within minutes, Ironbottom Sound became a maelstrom of twisted steel, burning oil, and dying men. By morning, the only ships of either fleet left in the sound were either dead in the water or on the bottom, with the rest having retreated in disarray. By the numbers, the Japanese technically won, having sunken or rendered combat-ineffective all but two of the Americans' ships, but strategically it came out as a draw. While Japan likely would have encountered little more resistance had they pressed their advantage and moved to bombard Guadalcanal, they were disoriented and had expended much of their ammo in the battle; using the rest of it to bombard Henderson Field would disable American air cover and clear the way for Japanese troop transports, but it would leave them and the transports vulnerable to American naval aircraft. Compounding this was that the ship carrying the Japanese naval commander had been heavily damaged[[note]]Unable to maneuver, it would sink the next day, helped along by U.S. air attack[[/note]], with much of the command staff dead and the radio barely operational, meaning there was almost no way to coordinate for an attack or even know how many ships he had available in the first place.

* The Cruiser Night Action in Ironbottom Sound off Guadalcanal on November 13th, 1942 (which happened to be a Friday), one of two naval engagements on consecutive nights that are sometimes lumped together as the "Naval Battle of Guadalcanal" (though there were at least a half-dozen of those; the island was hotly contested). A force of American cruisers and destroyers met a force of Japanese battleships, cruisers, and destroyers. The Japanese outgunned the Americans, but the Americans had radar, though the advantage wasn’t exploited because the American commander didn’t trust the technology. The two fleets were less than 3,000 yards apart when a Japanese destroyer shone a searchlight on the light cruiser USS ''Atlanta''. The cruiser's captain ordered his own lights to counterilluminate the contact, but a gunnery officer with better common sense replied[[note]] These are his exact words as recorded in the log[[/note]], "Fuck that! Open fire!" ''Atlanta'' tore the destroyer apart in seconds, and both fleets opened up at rapidly-decreasing range. Both sides' battle lines broke down, multiple ships collided, and every ship on both sides suffered hits from friendly fire. Within minutes, Ironbottom Sound became a maelstrom of twisted steel, burning oil, and dying men. By morning, the only ships of either fleet left in the sound were either dead in the water or on the bottom, with the rest having retreated in disarray. By the numbers, the Japanese technically won, having sunken or rendered combat-ineffective all but two of the Americans' ships, but strategically it came out as a draw. While Japan likely would have encountered little more resistance had they pressed their advantage and moved to bombard Guadalcanal, they were disoriented and had expended much of their ammo in the battle; using the rest of it to bombard Henderson field would disable American air cover and clear the way for Japanese troop transports, but it would leave them and the transports vulnerable to American naval aircraft. Compounding this was that the ship carrying the Japanese naval commander had been heavily damaged[[note]]Unable to maneuver, it would sink the next day, helped along by U.S. air attack[[/note]], with much of the command staff dead and the radio barely operational, meaning there was almost no way to coordinate for an attack or even know how many ships he had available in the first place.

* The Cruiser Night Action in Ironbottom Sound off Guadalcanal on November 13th, 1942 (which happened to be a Friday), one of two naval engagements on consecutive nights that are sometimes lumped together as the "Naval Battle of Guadalcanal" (though there were at least a half-dozen of those; the island was hotly contested). A force of American cruisers and destroyers met a force of Japanese battleships, cruisers, and destroyers. The Japanese outgunned the Americans, but the Americans had radar, though the advantage wasn’t exploited because the American commander didn’t trust the technology. The two fleets were less than 3,000 yards apart when a Japanese destroyer shone a searchlight on the light cruiser USS ''Atlanta''. The cruiser's captain ordered his own lights to counterilluminate the contact, but a gunnery officer with better common sense replied[[note]] These are his exact words as recorded in the log[[/note]], "Fuck that! Open fire!" ''Atlanta'' tore the destroyer apart in seconds, and both fleets opened up at rapidly-decreasing range. Both sides' battle lines broke down, multiple ships collided, and every ship on both sides suffered hits from friendly fire. Within minutes, Ironbottom Sound became a maelstrom of twisted steel, burning oil, and dying men. By morning, the only ships of either fleet left in the sound were either dead in the water or on the bottom, with the rest having retreated in disarray. By the numbers, the Japanese technically won, having sunken or rendered combat-ineffective all but two of the Americans' ships, but strategically it came out as a draw. While Japan likely would have encountered little more resistance had they pressed their advantage and moved to bombard Guadalcanal, they were disoriented and had expended much of their ammo in the battle; using the rest of it to bombard Henderson field would disable American air cover and clear the way for Japanese troop transports, but it would leave them and the transports vulnerable to American naval aircraft. Compounding this was that the ship carrying the Japanese naval commander had been heavily damaged, with much of the command staff dead and the radio barely operational, meaning there was almost no way to coordinate for an attack or even know how many ships he had available in the first place.

* Possible OlderThanPrint ur-example: The Battle of Camlann in [[Myth/KingArthur Arthurian legend]] is said to have begun when, at a tense parley, a soldier drew his sword to kill a snake.

* The Cruiser Night Action in Ironbottom Sound off Guadalcanal on November 13th, 1942 (which happened to be a Friday), one of two naval engagements on consecutive nights that are sometimes lumped together as the "Naval Battle of Guadalcanal" (though there were at least a half-dozen of those; the island was hotly contested). A force of American cruisers and destroyers met a force of Japanese battleships, cruisers, and destroyers. The Japanese outgunned the Americans, but the Americans had radar, though the advantage wasn’t exploited because the American commander didn’t trust the technology. The two fleets were less than 3,000 yards apart when a Japanese destroyer shined a searchlight on the light cruiser USS ''Atlanta''. The cruiser's captain ordered his own lights to counterilluminate the contact, but a gunnery officer with better common sense replied[[note]] These are his exact words as recorded in the log[[/note]], "Fuck that! Open fire!" ''Atlanta'' tore the destroyer apart in seconds, and both fleets opened up at rapidly-decreasing range. Both sides' battle lines broke down, multiple ships collided, and every ship on both sides suffered hits from friendly fire. Within minutes, Ironbottom Sound became a maelstrom of twisted steel, burning oil, and dying men. By morning, the only ships of either fleet left in the sound were either dead in the water or on the bottom, with the rest having retreated in disarray. By the numbers, the Japanese technically won, having sunken or rendered combat-ineffective all but two of the Americans' ships, but strategically it came out as a draw. While Japan likely would have encountered little more resistance had they pressed their advantage and moved to bombard Guadalcanal, they were disoriented and had expended much of their ammo in the battle; using the rest of it to bombard Henderson field would disable American air cover and clear the way for Japanese troop transports, but it would leave them and the transports vulnerable to American naval aircraft. Compounding this was that the ship carrying the Japanese naval commander had been heavily damaged, with much of the command staff dead and the radio barely operational, meaning there was almost no way to coordinate for an attack or even know how many ships he had available in the first place.

* ''Film/{{Infamous}}'': The MexicanStandoff in the bank ends when Kyle takes his eyes off Arielle for a second to glance at dean, and Arielle pulls the gun she has [[PantsPositiveSafety tucked down the back]] of her [[WhoWearsShortShorts short shorts]]. She plugs Kyle between the eyes and everyone else fires. When the shooting stops, Arielle is the only one still standing.

* ''Film/{{Infamous}}'': The MexicanStandoff in the bank ends when Kyle takes his eyes off Arielle for a second to glance at dean, and Arielle pulls the gun she has tucked down the back of her [[WhoWearsShortShorts short shorts]]. She plugs Kyle between the eyes and everyone else fires. When the shooting stops, Arielle is the only one still standing.

[[folder:Film]]

* Given ''Film/SixReasonWhy'' opens with a four-way MexicanStandoff, and most of the film is dedicated to explaining HowWeGotHere, there was really one way it could end...

* In one episode of ''Anime/ProjectAKo'', the entire clientele of the alien warship-turned-restaurant turns out to be agents from different special intelligence agencies. This naturally results in a massive free-for-all brawl and shootout.
* PlayedForLaughs in ''Manga/BlackLagoon'': when Jane comes to Eda's church seeking sanctuary, she is being chased by a group of gangsters. One gangster fires a warning shot that damages a church door and breaks a shot glass Revy is drinking from. Sadly for the gangsters, both women have literal [[HairTriggerTemper Hair-Trigger Tempers]] and start unloading on the gangsters. They are soon joined by Rico, a priest-in-training with a heavy machine gun; and Yolanda, Eda's mother superior who comes packing a [[BlingBlingBang gold-plated]] [[HandCannon Desert Eagle]] with [[StuffBlowingUp HE rounds]].[[note]]For context, Eda's church is also ''the'' source for gun-running in [[WretchedHive Roanapur]], everyone there (including that gangster's more local subordinates) knows it, and firing a bullet even ''near'' the church is effectively considered an act of gang-war. The gangsters were lucky to walk out of there with bullet holes only in their ''cars'' and not their ''bodies''.[[/note]]

* The ending of ''Film/ReservoirDogs''. Mr Orange, Mr White, Nice Guy Eddie and Joe Cabot are pointing guns and yelling at each other and then it's over very quickly.
* ''Film/InglouriousBasterds'':
-->'''Lt. Archie Hicox''': It would appear there's only one thing left for you to do.\\
'''Maj. Dieter Hellstrom''': And what would that be?\\
'''Hicox''': Stiglitz?\\
'''Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz''': Say ''Auf wiedersehen'' to your Nazi balls!
* And again in ''Film/DjangoUnchained''. Tarantino loves this trope.

* The ending of ''Film/TheWildBunch''. A literal MexicanStandOff between The Bunch and The Mexican Army ends with everybody (women, children, livestock, etc.) getting killed in a hail of bullets, [[MoreDakka complete with a heavy machine gun blazing]].
* The end of the Will Smith movie ''Film/EnemyOfTheState'', in which Will Smith hides under a table during a MexicanStandOff. It devolves into a BlastOut between the Mafia and the evil government agents, and nearly everybody dies.

* The movie ''Film/{{Tombstone}}'' portrays the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral as a [[MexicanStandoff tense standoff]] before a sly wink from Doc Holiday to Billy Clanton turns it into a full blown BlastOut.
* In the film version of ''Film/ChildrenOfMen'', [[spoiler:the battle between the military and the rebels is cut short when the hero comes through, holding the first baby in nearly two decades, as everyone looks on in awe, not wanting to harm it and quite possibly starting to cool down in general. Not long after he's cleared the battlefield, though, someone fires their gun and the whole thing starts again. Then the carpet bombing starts, more or less rendering the exercise moot anyway.]]
* The Til Schweiger movie Eisbär (Ice Bear) from 1998 has many references to Pulp Fiction, but it ends in a Mexican stand-off (only with Europeans). It culminates in a very impressively staged BlastOut.
* ''Film/BattleRoyale'' has this as one of the most memorable scenes in the film: A group of about 10 schoolgirls are sitting around a table, in a refuge from the senseless slaughter around them. Then someone gets poisoned. Someone else gets paranoid, picks up a gun, and starts shooting. Everyone else follows suit. Survivors: 0. Time elapsed from happy to everyone being dead: 2 minutes, 17 seconds.
* In ''Film/LockStockAndTwoSmokingBarrels'', the gangs of Rory Breaker and Dog stumble upon each other with guns drawn, both expecting to find someone else. They start shooting anyway.
* Parodied in ''Facepunch!'', a fictional movie in the film adaptation of ''[[Literature/{{Twilight}} New Moon]]''. The only audio we hear consists of a standoff quickly falling apart. LET'S DO THIS!
* Double subverted in ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan'', during one scene an American soldier accidentally knocks down a wall by leaning on a log, only to reveal a squad of Germans on the other side, both the Americans and Germans scream and point weapons at each other, and right when the viewer thinks both sides will start firing...[[spoiler:''another'' American squad of soldiers, who are off screen, open fire and kill the Germans.]]
* In Creator/PeterJackson's adaptation of ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheTwoTowers'', Saruman's forces reach Helm's Deep and there is a tense moment while the Uruk-hai pound their spears on the ground in unison. and the defenders of Rohan prepare to loose their arrows. Suddenly, one of the archers, an old man, loses his grip on his bowstring and lands an arrow in an Uruk-hai neck. After a moment of stunned silence, the battle begins, though contrary to this trope's usual context, there's no way in hell that legion of Uruk-hai would have allowed a peaceful solution.
* In ''Film/{{Basic}}'', two Army prisoners are held after their squad is apparently wiped out, along with their [[FamedInStory prestigious]] and [[DrillSergeantNasty famously cruel]] commander. Each tries to spin the story to their own individual advantage, which results in us seeing [[RashomonStyle multiple different versions of a blast out]].
* Done on an organisation-wide basis in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier''. [[spoiler:Steve Rogers broadcasts that S.H.I.E.L.D. has been infiltrated by HYDRA, causing the loyalists and the infiltrators to point guns at each other, including Agent 13 and Brock Rumlow. Brock drops his pistol in apparent surrender, then uses a knife to slash 13's gun-arm. Everyone then starts shooting at each other.]]
* In ''Film/TheBrassTeapot'' [[spoiler:Arnie and his wife, and the two Hasidic brothers]] pull guns on each other over possession of the titular Teapot near the movie’s climax. It’s not long before one of them shoots and they all kill each other.
* Most of the running time of Creator/BenWheatley's ''Film/{{Free Fire|2017}}'' is taken up by an apocalyptic ''twelve-way'' blast-out, with bloodied characters stumbling from one piece of cover to the next, making and breaking alliances at breakneck speed.
* ''Film/TheTallBlondManWithOneBlackShoe'': Francois' pal Maurice, a practical joker, hands out a couple of [[ExplodingCigar exploding cigars]] -- one of which, late in the picture, goes off in an ashtray during a tense MexicanStandoff between four men, all of whom promptly shoot each other.

* At the start of ''Film/DenOfThieves'', Merriman and his crew are holding the armoured car guards at gunpoint while they hijack the armoured car. Things are going according to plan till one of the guards goes for his gun (or possibly just drops his coffee). Bosco shoots, a firefight kicks off that leaves one robber, most of the guards and several cops dead, and several others injured.
* In ''Film/{{Circus}}'', the MexicanStandoff in the GreasySpoon looks like it is going to be resolved amicably, with everyone starting to lower their weapons, when an employee works through the back door at the wrong moment. One of Bruno's hired guns starts shooting, and a firefight erupts. [[spoiler:At least, according to Julius's version of events.]]
* ''Film/DeadtimeStories'': In "Goldi Lox and the Three Baers", the local police are one side of the house, and the state police are on the other: both forces with guns drawn. One cop sneezes and both sides start shooting.

* ''Literature/TheExecutioner''. Mack Bolan sets this up on several occasions, making one Mafia faction suspicious of another faction, and when they meet to hash things out (with [[ProperlyParanoid their weapons and mooks]], of course) he'll open fire with a sniper rifle to make it look like they've been LuredIntoATrap by the other side.
* In ''[[Literature/LeviathanWakes Caliban's War]]'', Prax, who is searching for his kidnapped daughter, is in the middle of a tense standoff that looks like it might actually end peacefully -- he then tries performing a dramatic gun cock because that's what heroes in action films always do -- and inadvertently turns the MexicanStandoff into a BlastOut.

* On ''Series/{{The 100}}'', the peace talks between the 100 and the Grounders were tense to begin with, but when Jasper (who'd been hiding in the nearby woods with a gun) spots a Grounder hiding in the nearby woods with a bow and arrow, he opens fire, and everything goes right straight to hell.
* ''Series/{{CSI}}'': "Better Off Dead" opens with a furious firefight in a gun store that results in multiple fatalities. Flashbacks later show that is was triggered by a Blast Out, and the man responsible walked away without a scratch despite standing at the centre of the hail of bullets.
* ''Series/BreakingBad'': "To'hajiilee" ends with a shoot-out between a group of Neo-Nazis and Hank with Gomez. [[spoiler:When the next episode begins, Gomez is dead and Hank is wounded.]]

* Season 2, Episode 4 of ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'' ends with [[spoiler:either Clementine or Kenny shooting Rebecca, who had began to turn into a walker, which triggers the group of Russian survivors to start blasting away with assault rifles. Cue SmashToBlack.]]

* An early level of ''VideoGame/PerfectDark Zero'' has the player coming up on a room full of enemies, split between the henchmen of a local crime boss and dataDyne's personal army. They're all very twitchy and constantly bickering between each other, however, so it doesn't take much - just shoot one without letting the rest see you, for instance - to set them against each other.
* ''VideoGame/GhostReconWildlands'' has situations similar to the one from ''Perfect Dark Zero'' mentioned above, only with Santa Blanca sicarios and Unidad soldiers as the participants. These two groups are nominally enemies but usually leave each other alone unless Unidad spots Santa Blanca openly using violence. Sometimes squads of both can be seen together in tense conversation, and all it takes to trigger a bloodbath is a single untraceable shot by the player. Unidad usually comes out on top thanks to their superior armor and weapons, but the one or two wounded soldiers left standing pose much less of an obstacle than two dozen trained killers with itchy trigger fingers.
* This happens during "The Wrap-Up" in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV''- an ''utterly insane'' MexicanStandoff, consisting of [[InterServiceRivalry multiple government factions]], a PrivateMilitaryContractor and a [[SpannerInTheWorks couple of criminals]] has an FIB agent with an itchy-trigger finger shoot another FIB agent in the leg; that agent then shoots another in the head and things go to hell.
* Deliberately invoked by Gene (aka Viper) in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPortableOps''. Using his MoreThanMindControl, he plants feelings of paranoia amongst a large platoon of defectors, creating a PowderKegCrowd, until inevitably one pulls the trigger on their rifle, causing the entire group to start gunning each other down to a man. Only Big Boss and Johnathan were unaffected.