History Main / DeathTrap

** In the Battle City arc, the villains often pulled a few of these and ''claimed'' that the same conditions applied to them; thing was, ''they'' had a way to escape. In Pandora's duel with Yugi, the trap had two spinning rotary blades that would hack the loser's legs off, and only by winning the duel could one of the duelists unlock a box with a key. Pandora lost, but he had a spare key up his sleeve. In the team duel between Yugi and Kaiba and Lumis and Umbra, the duel took place on the top of a skyscraper with a glass ceiling rigged with bombs that would cause the loser to fall; the villains had parachutes. Of course, the villains didn't actually escape. In Pandora's case, Marik [[IWillPunishYouForYourFailure clouded his mind]] so he couldn't see the key, and Yugi had to rescue him with his. But this heroic act was pointless, because Marik killed him anyway after [[DemonicPossession possessing his body]] and using it to threaten Yugi. Marik apparently did the same thing to Lumis, and probably Umbra too. (It can at least be safely said that they were never seen again.

* The original ''Manga/YuGiOh'' manga (before it got taken over by card games, and ever occasionally after) is one long series of these. An interesting twist is that it's usually ''the hero'' setting them up as a punishment for local bullies. At one point, he turns his own mind into a death trap when someone invades it. Then there's BigBad Kaiba, who builds an elaborate theme park of doom for the heroes in an insane revenge plot. His Death Traps are unique in that they involve things like trained mercenaries and serial killers trying to kill Yugi and his friends, so he does at least avert WhyDontYouJustShootHim.

* SaturdayNightLive did a JamesBond movie parody, where archvillain Christopher Walken has Bond captive in his lair, which is still under construction, so he can only describe the death trap he was going to subject him to, with conceptual drawings as an aid.

* The Marvel villain Arcade ''always'' uses elaborate death traps, intentionally providing his victims a chance at escape however slim, because he's in the business for the fun of it. That is psychologically understandable, but considering that his business is assassin-for-hire, one wonders how he finds any customers.
** To be fair, Arcade is rich enough that he doesn't really need the money to begin with, and so his deathtraps are more for his entertainment than anything else. He also [[CutLexLuthoraCheck markets his deathtraps to others]], setting up obstacle courses that villains sometimes use to train themselves.

* TrappedInSinkingCar

* Bond. JamesBond.

* Averted in one of the ''JamesBond'' novels, ''You Only Live Twice'', when he sneaks into a Japanese castle. He peeks through a keyhole, and sees a guy at the far end of a hallway, fiddling with something beside a door, then leaving. Upon entering, he makes it halfway across the room before the floor falls out from under him. As he falls, he berates himself for not remembering the traditional traps of such castles. He nearly dies.

* A particularly {{egregious}} example from the 2004 video game ''Everything or Nothing'': the villain captures JamesBond and takes him to his underground mine, where he straps him to a table, points a large mining laser at him, turns the laser on, and then ''leaves the room'', leaving not so much as a guard to notice when Bond inevitably escapes.

* There is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deception_series a whole series]] of [[{{Deception}} games released by Tecmo]] where YOU are the one in control of the death traps that you set up.

* The infamous [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._H._Holmes#Chicago_and_the_.22Murder_Castle.22 H. H. Holmes]] converted a hotel into a building full of death traps, to the point it was dubbed the "Murder Castle." Special mention goes to the trapdoors leading straight down to the basement, stairways to nowhere, bedrooms in which gas could pumped in to asphyxiate the victim at any time, and a bank vault where people were left until the air ran out.

* [[MeaningfulName F.A. Schist]] has a scientist build one of these to end {{NighInvulnerab|ility}}le {{Man-Thing}}'s meddling, once and for all.

* The original ''Manga/YuGiOh'' manga (before is got taken over by card games, and ever occasionally after) is one long series of these. An interesting twist is that it's usually ''the hero'' setting them up as a punishment for local bullies. At one point, he turns his own mind into a death trap when someone invades it. Then there's BigBad Kaiba, who builds an elaborate theme park of doom for the heroes in an insane revenge plot. His Death Traps are unique in that they involve things like trained mercenaries and serial killers trying to kill Yugi and his friends, so he does at least avert WhyDontYouJustShootHim.

* Lampshaded and played straight simultaneously in the ComicBook/{{X-Men}}'s first confrontation with DoctorDoom: He captures them, places them in situations which could kill them, then explains that he doesn't care if they escape or not. If they don't, he's rid of them; if they do, he gains valuable information concerning their skills and powers. [[XanatosGambit Either way, he benefits]].

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' entitled "The Cape and Cowl Conspiracy" centers around this trope. An interrogator named Wormwood, who specializes in using Death Traps to terrorize people into giving him information is hired to steal Batman's cape and cowl. He repeatedly sets up a number of traps for Batman, who escapes every one until the Bat finally captures him. As it turns out, [[spoiler:it was a disguised Batman who hired Wormwood[[ThePlan to retrieve the loot Wormwood had obtained]] in a previous crime.]] Joker also had a habit of using these deaths on victims (ironically often being unable to kill them as a result). For example, he hurls Bullock and Batman into a Great White Shark Tank, Sid the Squid into a tank of acid and the Dark Knight (again) by trying to electrocute him.

* At the ''BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode ''[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesTheClockKing The Clock King]]'' there are two of them:
** The first one is for Batman, as Gotham’s VigilanteMan, must be LuredIntoATrap so he is placed in a GasChamber with a TimeBomb that will suck all the air in a RaceAgainstTheClock. ClockKing got the VillianBall leaving a TheTapeKnewYouWouldSayThat JustBetweenYouAndMe that will help Batman get free because BondVillainStupidity and ClockKing needs to set the second trap the real EvilPlan.
** The second one is put the victim invoking DescendingCeiling with the hands of a ClockTower, this time ClockKing will be around to do TheReveal with his MotiveRant, this is a CruelAndUnusualDeath because ItsPersonal… [[spoiler: but Batman will get JustInTime.]]

* ''Detective Comics'' #824 parodies the [[Series/{{Batman}} ''Batman'' TV series]] by suggesting that with some villains, it's just a quaint routine; the Penguin traps Batman in a death trap that Batman easily escapes from -- and when Batman challenges Penguin as to this, Penguin admits that he knew Batman would escape, and that he wouldn't have even bothered if he thought that Batman ''wouldn't'' ("I even left your utility belt on.")
*** The Penguin had "reformed" at the time, and had the public image of a law-abiding businessman. It wouldn't have exactly done wonders for his reputation if Batman actually died in his nightclub.

* In ComicBook/AllFallDown, [[spoiler:AIQ Squared]] employs a deadly PowerNullifier on the moon. [[spoiler: It succeeds in killing Siphon.]]

* In the DonRosa Scrooge [=McDuck=] story "Treasure of the Ten Avatars", Scrooge and Donald have to get out of [[DeathCourse a series of these]]. Among other things there's a DescendingCeiling and FakePlatform with SpikesOfDoom, TheWallsAreClosingIn, FedToTheBeast, and a SnakePit. Donald even lampshades it by the end when he points out that they've already been through every B-movie cliché.

* In ''HalfLife'', [[spoiler:there's the part where Freeman gets knocked out and [[TheWallsAreClosingIn thrown into a garbage crusher]]. By using the conveniently placed crates that are to be crushed along with you, you can jump up above the compressing walls. The whole thing could have been averted by a simple bullet to the head.]]

At the ''BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode ''[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesTheClockKing The Clock King]]''there are two of them:

* Honorable mention goes to ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'''s deathtraps, which are not to be confused with actual {{airship}}s. Despite the name, the one the Light Warriors end up using and crashing repeatedly failed to actually kill anyone.

* ''Series/{{Revolution}}'': In the episode "Recap/RevolutionS1E4ThePlagueDogs The Plague Dogs", one psycho captures Charlie and ties her to a chair with a crossbow set to go off if anyone opens the door to the room.

* ''Series/{{Revolution}}'': One psycho captures Charlie and ties her to a chair with a crossbow set to go off if anyone opens the door to the room.

* ''{{Batman}}'': The live-action series from the 1960s used this plot device as a typical schtick for the {{Cliff Hanger}}s. The trope remains common in Batman comics; the Riddler in particular seems fond of death traps. (This is slightly more excusable in ''Batman'', since most of the villains are ''insane''.)

* OlderThanFeudalism: In ClassicalMythology, Daedalus used a booby-trapped bathtub to kill King Minos. Daedalus was living in exile in Sicily, and Minos came demanding the right to execute Daedalus for helping Theseus solve the Minoan Labyrinth. The Sicilian king pretended to be hospitable and invited him to take a bath with running water (courtesy of Daedalus' engineering) but the water was set to overheated, and burned Minos to death when he turned on the tap.

* ''The Pit and the Pendulum'', making this OlderThanRadio. The page pic is the trap: A man is secured to a table, over which is a large curved blade which swings back and forth like a pendulum, lowering itself slowly with each swing.

* The most bizarre, improbable and overly-complicated deathtrap '''ever''' was the winning entry sent in to Amiga games mag ''AmigaPower'' as part of a [[http://amr.abime.net/issue_41_pages competition]]; they also had to come up with an escape plan for the hero:

# Mr Hero telepathically contacts eagle.