History Main / CoupDegrace

* From the {{Deryni}} works by KatherineKurtz:

* Film/JamesBond generally [[InstantDeathBullet didn't need]] to execute a coup de grace on his targets. An exception is Dr. Dent in ''Film/DrNo'', who after being shot down receives an extra bullet in the back, for safety. (An act that [[DarkerAndEdgier does not occur in any of Ian Fleming's novels]].)

* A later episode of the original ''Series/LaFemmeNikita'' TV series has the heroine rather disturbingly firing bullets into the heads of a group of unconscious Section agents, to ensure their deaths.

* It's strongly implied in the ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' season finale "Judgment Day" that either Jenny Shepard or Mike Franks does this to several bad guys during the gun battle that results in Jenny's death.

* Relatively common in mechanized and naval warfare. An enemy disabled in the heat of combat may then be ignored while more threatening targets are focused on. While it is a crime to SinkTheLifeboats, there is nothing particularly wrong with swinging back to finish off a crippled CoolShip if there is any chance the crew may repair her and bring her back into the fight. This was indeed a common role for submarines during larger battles during WorldWarII. Arguably justifiable under rules of war as one is technically delivering a death blow to an inanimate vessel, not the people aboard her (who simply become collateral damage if they don't survive).

* Roy Greenhilt from ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' delivers several of these to Goblins afflicted with sleep in one of the early chapters. The technique he uses is even called "Coup de Grace." It wasn't V's spell which put them to sleep but the length and boring nature of the incantation.

* ''PansLabyrinth'': Done generously throughout, mostly by Captain Vidal but briefly by the heroic guerrilleros as well.
* When clearing the White House lawn and foyer, the DangerouslyGenreSavvy terrorists in ''OlympusHasFallen'' shoot each and every downed opponent in the head whether they seem alive or not. When Banning turns the tables on them, he has no problem with ventilating their skulls in kind.

* ''[[Film/ThreeHundred 300]]'': An amusing hero-on-villain version; Leonidas and the Captain idly converse about how there's no reason they should not "be civil" when dealing with the Persians. Leonidas is even eating an apple... and all the while the rest of the Spartans are searching the fallen for wounded Persian soldiers to finish off. This is also present in the comic, with one of the Spartans humming or whistling.
* ''Film/{{Serenity}}'': Hero on bad guy: Mal shooting an Alliance pilot, although Book had already shot his ship down by the time the crew of ''Serenity'' got there.

* Relatively common in mechanized and naval warfare. An enemy disabled in the heat of combat may then be ignored while more threatening targets are focused on. While it is a crime to SinkTheLifeboats, there is nothing particularly wrong with swinging back to finish off a crippled CoolShip if there is any chance the crew may repair her and bring her back into the fight. This was indeed a common role for submarines during larger battles during WorldWarII.

--> '''Gabe''' - "Killing me won't bring her back, you know."

Also used in assassinations. In Russia, this is known as a "control shot". It's also used by hero protagonists on occasion, often spy characters, either to ensure a kill has succeeded, or to make sure a BigBad is indeed dead. Not to be confused with actions such as a "double tap" in which multiple bullets are fired during the initial action; these are additional killing shots (or blows) delivered at some point after the target is disabled.

If it's done to ensure a swift and painless death, see MercyKill. May be used as (part of) a FinishingMove. Contrast FinishHim. Part of the CoupDeGraceCutscene, obviously. Its {{Subversion}} is the ThwartedCoupDeGrace.

If pronounced after the French manner, the term is pronounced "coo deh graass" and translates as "blow of mercy". However, most English speakers anglicize the pronunciation so the last word is pronounced "grah", which in French changes the meaning to "[[MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels blow of fat]]". However, since we're speaking English and not French, it's a bit of a moot point. It comes from the use of such execution methods as the "Breaking Wheel", often used in France during the Dark Ages, where the victim is stretched across a wheel and has their limbs broken by a very large hammer. Often, it was then ordered for the executioner to deliver a fatal blow to the chest, in order to end the torturous ordeal quickly.

** Subverted when it comes to [[SamuelLJackson Tenpenny]] in ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas San Andreas]]'', where he's already dead after delivering his last words, and when the player character takes aim to put a bullet in Tenpenny's corpse, another character tells him not to.

* ''KillBill'': The Bride was a victim of one such, described as such by the Bride's own words. [[TisOnlyABulletInTheBrain Proven unsuccessful, naturally.]]

* A later episode of the original ''LaFemmeNikita'' TV series has the heroine rather disturbingly firing bullets into the heads of a group of unconscious Section agents, to ensure their deaths.

* In ''FullMetalJacket'', Joker shoots a Vietnamese sniper in the head as a MercyKill. She'd already been so wounded, she was going to die anyway, but Joker eased her suffering. His squadmates completely miss the point, and praise it as a cold-blooded kill, despite the HeroicBSOD, complete with ThousandYardStare on Joker's face.
* ''{{Heat}}'': Bad guy on bad guy example.
* The 2004 ''Film/ThePunisher'' movie contains several instances, both from the good guy and the villains.
* ''[[ThreeHundred 300]]'': An amusing hero-on-villain version; Leonidas and the Captain idly converse about how there's no reason they should not "be civil" when dealing with the Persians. Leonidas is even eating an apple... and all the while the rest of the Spartans are searching the fallen for wounded Persian soldiers to finish off. This is also present in the comic, with one of the Spartans humming or whistling.

* Troika's ''Return to the TempleOfElementalEvil'' uses this as per the Dungeon's and Dragon's rules, and uses it as the method to ensure trolls remain dead.

* After the traitor Lord Ian Howell loses his single combat to Alaric Morgan in ''[[{{Deryni}} Deryni Rising]]'', Charissa administers one of these to him. Before she does, [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves she tells him that she read his thoughts and thus knew he planned to defeat her later]].

* Clarence Boddicker, noted cop killer, shoots Detroit police officer Murphy in the head after Boddicker's men have just [[KickTheDog had their fun shooting the officer with shotguns]], [[CruelAndUnusualDeath repeatedly]]. With Murphy dead, [=OCP=] technicians have a fresh corpse they can use to build Film/RoboCop.

* After the traitor Lord Ian Howell loses his single combat to Alaric Morgan in ''[[{{Deryni}} Deryni Rising]]'', Charissa administers one of these to him. Before she does, she tells him that she read his thoughts and thus knew he planned to defeat her later.

** Much later, [[spoiler:Durkon]] snaps Zz'dtri's neck after knocking him out.

* At the end of ''ReservoirDogs'' does Mr. White shoot the badly-wounded Mr. Orange in order to [[MercyKill put him out of his misery]], or is it because Orange has just confessed to White that he's a cop?
* In ''ThePatriot'', Benjamin Martin is treating wounded American and British soldiers. The British Colonel Tavington orders the American soldiers shot and the house burned down as punishment for "harboring the enemy".
* In ''{{Rambo}}'', after the titular character has shot up the crew of a pirate boat (with a pistol vs automatic weapons, no less; he gets six shots off in the space of about one second, and they ''all'' hit) there is still one pirate left wounded, so Rambo blows his brains out.
* Clarence Boddicker, noted cop killer, shoots Detroit police officer Murphy in the head after Boddicker's men have just [[KickTheDog had their fun shooting the officer with shotguns]], [[CruelAndUnusualDeath repeatedly]]. With Murphy dead, [=OCP=] technicians have a fresh corpse they can use to build RoboCop.

* In one scene in ''{{Blade}} Trinity'', Blade and his sidekicks get into a fight against a bunch of security guards armed with nightsticks. After easily overpowering most of the security guards, Blade whips out a gun and kills the last security guard for no apparent reason other than to show that he can.

* After Sonny's NoKillLikeOverkill execution in ''TheGodfather'', one of the killers walks over and gives him a superfluous final burst to the chest. Then kicks him in the face.