History Main / DelayedExplosion

** The explosion that destroys the Death Star in ''Film/ANewHope'' happens a bit after Luke fires the critical shot at its weak point, giving the surviving heroes ample time to get out of range.
** In ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'', there's an example of the "Realistic" delay (light before sound). But it's not realistic anyway since there's no sound in space so it's a moot (or is it mute?) point...

* ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' has a particularly macabre example of a Gag Delay. When the Joker pushes the button, a few minor explosions happen, but not nearly enough to take down the whole building. The Joker has time to abuse his detonator before the real blast occurs. This is because in real life the explosions were set in separate parts of the building intentionally so that it'd have a domino effect, [[ThrowItIn but Heath Ledger didn't know that was supposed to happen.]] Whacking the control during the WheresTheKaboom moment was ad-libbed, and running like hell when the explosions began in earnest was ''[[EnforcedMethodActing the actor running for his life]].''

* ''Film/IndependenceDay'' has several of these.

* In ''Film/PearlHarbor'', we see at one point a bomb crash on a building. It doesn't immediately go off, and the guy who was in the building thinks it's a dud. In fact it does detonate a couple of seconds later. Gag Delay or Shoe-Drop Delay? You decide. Could even be a half-hearted attempt at Realistic Delay; detonators of that period could be somewhat persnickety.
** A similar bomb also hit the ''U.S.S. Arizona'', though the sailors have even less time to react before the detonator triggers and breaks the battleship in half.

* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' has an episode where there's a bomb in a cabin. Everybody dashes out the door, jumps over the car and hunkers down behind it... and they wait there for what would seem to have been about half an hour or more before it finally blows. Hilarious.

* The explosives-laden destroyer in the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII St. Nazarre raid]] didn't explode until several hours after it was supposed to, serving as a Gag Delay (apparently it went off right as the German commander was mocking the British attempt to ram the docks with a destroyer, doing almost no damage) and a very Impolite Delay (it held off long enough to catch a lot of German souvenir-hunters on deck).
* More generally, this trope is exactly ''why'' "dud" explosives of any kind need to be treated with all due caution.

* A RunningGag in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' is Mario destroying the castle he clears by stepping on a dynamite switch and blowing up the castle, with seemingly random success. At one point,[[note]]specifically, after Roy's castle[[/note]] as depicted in the page image above, Mario steps on the plunger and the fuse seems to break right before it hits the castle. Mario goes to inspect it... and ''then'' the castle blows up, resulting in an AshFace for Mario.

* In the movie ''Film/TheFury'', Gillian - who has telekinesis - realizes Childers is the BigBad, and when he tries to comfort her after her friend dies (because he had her friend killed), she tells him to "Go to Hell!" and we watch as she uses her telekinetic powers to blow his head off. We see him holding his head in pain as the pressure builds, until he gives a graphic demonstration of the ChunkySalsaRule from eight different places in the room.

* {{JustForFun/Egregious}} Delay, where there is no discernible reason other than the makers wanting it that way. See also RuleOfCool.

[[folder:Film -- Animation]]

* ''VideoGame/TheMatrixPathOfNeo'' has a expository delay with the Det. packs in the sewer, except you don't see Neo press the button unless the camera is in the right place.

* The Death Star in ''Film/StarWarsANewHope''.
** In ''Film/AttackOfTheClones, there's an example of the "Realistic" delay (i.e. light before sound) - But it's not realistic anyway since there's no sound in space so it's a moot (or is it mute?) point...

%% Image and caption selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1339469974092620100
%% Please do not change or remove either without starting a new thread.

* ''Anime/KiddyGrade'' has a number of Expository Delays, particularly in the spaceship combat scenes.

* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}.'':
** ''The entire franchise'' (and many RealRobot shows thereafter). [[HumongousMecha Mobile suits]] are MadeOfExplodium, so you just ''know'' they're going to blow up when they're critically damaged, but very often there's a Shoe-Drop Delay so the victim can display an OhCrap face before his mobile suit explodes. Of course, if the fatally damaged mecha contains a major character, there may well be a full on Egregious Delay to let the character give his dying speech. Quickly killing off a MauveShirt with barely an OhCrap is a good way to show that WarIsHell.
** When [[spoiler:Kycilia]] dies in the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' via [[NoKillLikeOverkill rocket launcher direct hit]], there's a bizarre form of Shoe-Drop Delay where the projectile managed to [[OffWithHisHead obliterate the target's head]] and keep sailing ''past'' them before exploding (whether from a timer or hitting a wall).
* ''{{Manga/AKIRA}}'' had a BrickJoke example near the beginning, where an extremist tries to set off a grenade in a police station only to have it fizzle out. As the main characters are walking away from the building minutes later, an explosion comes from said station.

* The Linear Bomb version is ubiquitous in anime, one of the most famous examples is God Warior firing in ''Manga/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind''.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* Jackie Chan's ''Film/NewPoliceStory'' has an extreme example of a Staggered Delay.

* The Death Star in ''Franchise/StarWars''.
** In Attack Of The Clones, there's an example of the "Realistic" delay (i.e. light before sound) - But it's not realistic anyway since there's no sound in space so it's a moot (or is it mute?) point...

* ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' has a particularly macabre example of a Gag Delay. When the Joker pushes the button, a few minor explosions happen, but not nearly enough to take down the whole building. The Joker has time to abuse his detonator before the real blast occurs. This is because in real life the explosions were set in separate parts of the building intentionally so that it'd have a domino effect, [[ThrowItIn but Heath Ledger didn't know that was supposed to happen.]] Whacking the control during the WheresTheKaboom moment was ad-libbed, and running like hell when the explosions began in earnest was ''[[EnforcedMethodActing the actor running for his life]].''

* ''Film/{{Elf}}'': Buddy is sent to test toys, including a particularly annoying set of "Jack-in-the-Box"s. The last one takes a little extra to pop up, just long enough for Buddy to drop his guard.
* In the movie ''Film/TheFury'', Gillian - who has telekinesis - realizes Childers is the BigBad, and when he tries to comfort her after her friend dies (because he had her friend killed), she tells him to "Go to Hell!" and we watch as she uses her telekinetic powers to blow his head off. We see him holding his head in pain as the pressure builds, until he gives a graphic demonstration of the ChunkySalsaRule from eight different places in the room.
* ''Film/JingleAllTheWay'' has the postal worker claim that there's a bomb in the package he's carrying in a desperate attempt to ward off police. After he flees the building (leaving said package behind), [[AccidentalTruth it actually goes off]].
* ''Film/LegendOfTheFistTheReturnOfChenZhen'' has this happening after the night raid on the Japanese barracks. One of the resistance leaders asks another, where he hid his explosives, which his comrade replies, "Up there." The leader is about to ask what did he mean by "up there" when he's interrupted by five Japanese guard towers exploding, all at the same time, which takes out around half the enemy camp in a few seconds.
* ''Film/ABridgeTooFar''. American paratroopers are running towards a seemingly undefended bridge when the Germans blow it up in their faces. Everyone dives for cover, but afterwards their officer advances cautiously to see if there's anything left. Two more charges go off, [[HumiliationConga soaking him in river water]]. His response is an understandably bitter "Shit!"

* When Gamora's pod gets blown up in ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014'', we see the scene [[RepeatCut twice in short succession]]: first from Nebula's POV and then again in close-up.

* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' has an episode where there's a bomb in a cabin. Everybody dashes out the door, jumps over the car and hunkers down behind it... and they wait there for what would seem to have been about half an hour or more before it finally blows. Hilarious.

* Averted in the MadeForTV film ''Film/SpecialBulletin'' when [[spoiler: a news crew accidentally catches a nuclear explosion. The audience sees the mushroom cloud and immediate blast wave following it]].
* ''Series/ZoneFighter'' often has the monsters suffer this after the title hero shoots them with his Meteor Missile Might.
* Pick an ''Franchise/UltraSeries'', ''Franchise/SuperSentai'', ''Franchise/KamenRider'' or ''any'' {{Toku}} show on the whole. This trope is in full force. StuffBlowingUp is everywhere, and it all obeys only the RuleOfCool.
* Several times on ''Series/HogansHeroes'', Carter counts down an explosion, "5, 4, 3, 2, 1" and nothing happens. Once, he will then say, "I said 'one'." BOOM!

* ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'': The first few times Piper tried to blow up demons, there was usually a small delay before it actually happened. As she got better at using it, it became almost instantaneous.

* A RunningGag in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' is Mario destroying the castle he clears by stepping on a dynamite switch and blowing up the castle, with seemingly random success. At one point,[[note]]specifically, after Roy's castle[[/note]] as depicted in the page image above, Mario steps on the plunger and the fuse seems to break right before it hits the castle. Mario goes to inspect it... and ''then'' the castle blows up, resulting in an AshFace for Mario.
* ''VideoGame/TimeCrisis3'' has enemy guards raiding the boat of the two protagonists, only to see a bomb tick down to zero followed with "Bye!" displayed on the timer.

* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'' is one of the many [[EasternRPG JRPGs]] to feature cool delayed explosions. Lampshaded in [[http://youtu.be/ZVtK9X9liXE?t=9m45s this moment]] of WebVideo/MondayMorningMooks

* ''VideoGame/CounterStrike: Global Offensive'': the bomb explodes a few seconds after the timer runs out, during which it blinks white and makes a different kind of beep. Any defusal attempt in progress, even if the progress bar is within milliseconds of completion, fails.
* ''VideoGame/TheMatrixPathOfNeo'' has a expository delay with the Det. packs in the sewer, except you don't see Neo press the button unless the camera is in the right place.
* While it isn't explosion-based, ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac'' has the Brimstone and [[DelayedReaction Anti Gravity]] combination.
* Similar to ''Invader Zim'' below, ''VideoGame/SunlessSkies'' has an extremely egregious delay in the form of a hugely slowed down explosion in the narrative, specifically when you decide to bomb the Hour refinery in Lustrum. Since Hours are raw time and you hid the bomb in a barrel full of them, the explosion takes a damned long time to happen, and even the people that were right next to the blast simply walk away, avoiding all casualties. But since no one can ''stop'' the explosion the refinery is completely ruined, and everyone in Lustrum who hates the Windward Company (which is almost everyone not working there) spends the afternoon watching the fireball sloooowly wreck everything.
* ''VideoGame/BlackMesa'' features a realistically delayed explosion during a setpiece where two Harrier jets perform a bombing run on a distant bunker. The explosion isn't audible until several seconds after it actually occurs.

* When Gamora's pod gets blown up in ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'', we see the scene [[RepeatCut twice in short succession]]: first from Nebula's POV and then again in close-up.

* Similar to ''Invader Zim'' below, ''Videogame/SunlessSkies'' has an extremely egregious delay in the form of a hugely slowed down explosion in the narrative, specifically when you decide to bomb the Hour refinery in Lustrum. Since Hours are raw time and you hid the bomb in a barrel full of them, the explosion takes a damned long time to happen, and even the people that were right next to the blast simply walk away, avoiding all casualties. But since no one can ''stop'' the explosion the refinery is completely ruined, and everyone in Lustrum who hates the Windward Company (which is almost everyone not working there) spends the afternoon watching the fireball sloooowly wreck everything.

* The Delayed Blast Fireball spell in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''. Although technically a time bomb, Delayed Blast Fireball can equally well be used to generate a Shoe-Drop Delay. Its implementation in ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' was such that it is most often used just as a regular fireball, but the "delayed" part turns it into an Expository Delay. Aside from having the ability to delay it, DBF is also ''more powerful'' than regular Fireball, as it has a higher level {{cap}}. For a sufficiently high-level caster, DBF's maximum damage is twice as high as a regular Fireball.

** When [[spoiler:Kycilia]] dies in the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' via [[NoKillLikeOverkill rocket launcher direct hit]], there's a bizarre form of Shoe-Drop Delay where the projectile managed to [[OffWithTheirHead obliterate the target's head]] and keep sailing ''past'' them before exploding (whether from a timer or hitting a wall).

* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}.'' ''The entire franchise'' (and many RealRobot shows thereafter). [[HumongousMecha Mobile suits]] are MadeOfExplodium, so you just ''know'' they're going to blow up when they're critically damaged, but very often there's a Shoe-Drop Delay so the victim can display an OhCrap face before his mobile suit explodes. Of course, if the fatally damaged mecha contains a major character, there may well be a full on Egregious Delay to let the character give his dying speech.
** But not always. Quickly killing off a MauveShirt with barely an OhCrap is a good way to show that WarIsHell.

** An inverted variant is the Linear Bomb: when the ground is traced by some WaveMotionGun, the explosion happens on the entire line simultaneously after a short delay, instead of following the ray. This does not help anyone to OutrunTheFireball, and is only for the RuleOfCool. See SweepingLaserExplosion for specific examples.

** An inverted variant is the Linear Bomb: when the ground is traced by some WaveMotionGun, the explosion happens on the entire line simultaneously after a short delay, instead of following the ray. This does not help anyone to OutrunTheFireball, and is only for the RuleOfCool.

* ''Jackie Chan's ''Film/NewPoliceStory'' has an extreme example of a Staggered Delay

* The Fleija device in ''Anime/CodeGeass''.