History Main / DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu

-->Vir: I want to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike, as a warning to the next ten generations that some favors come with too high a price. I want to look up into your lifeless eyes and wave, like this. * Vir Demonstrates* Can your associates arrange that for me?

GOBBLE GOBBLE!

[[DragonBall http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/YamchaFlipOffCell_2303.png]]
->'''Ifurita''': Demon Gods may be all-powerful, but we still need to watch our backs.\\
'''Ab-Zahal''': Dammit, if only that human hadn't distracted me!\\
'''Ifurita''': They have a marvelous capacity for that, don't they?
-->-- Manga version of '''''ElHazardTheMagnificentWorld'''''

->''"This is for [[{{Satan}} your boss]]."''
-->-- '''John Constantine''', ''{{Constantine}}''

When a minor or comparatively weak character distracts or annoys the BigBad momentarily, giving the other characters time to escape, prepare or attack. May be used comedically to deflate an otherwise impressive villain. (Hard to be menacing when the TeamPet beans you in the head with a rock.) The most direct form of WeNeedADistraction.

Compare DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu, DefiantToTheEnd. If the person providing the distraction tries to make it last as long as possible to help his teammates, it's HoldingTheFloor. Not to be confused with DoNotTauntCthulhu. Sometimes literally involves FlippingTheBird.

See also HeroicSacrifice.
----
!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* Tai from ''DigimonAdventure'' did this with a different purpose: since he had the Courage crest, he thought he could force Greymon to evolve one level more by pulling this... problem is, his plan backfired because it wasn't real courage, [[DeadlyUpgrade and the resulting SkullGreymon]] ''[[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity was evil!]]''
* Pretty much every major fight in ''DragonBallZ'' came to the minor heroes pinging the villains to defeat after the heroes did enough damage, minor characters being the BigDamnHeroes, or at one point, all the minor characters blasting Cell in the back over and over until a regular shot from Vegeta distracted him a moment, which was when Gohan put all of his strength into his one-handed Kamehameha, killing Cell.
** Chibi Trunks even does it literally in the Broly movies.
** When he wasn't mooning or pissing on him.
** Krillin practically lives on this trope. Cutting off part of Frieza's tail is probably the ultimate example.
** Yajirobi even gets in on it against Vegeta.
* Heck there's even a chapter title page where the characters literally flip off Cell, as shown above.
* Opening quote is from the manga version of ''ElHazardTheMagnificentWorld''. Main character Makoto Mizuhara has set off an ancient missile defense system against super android Ab-Zahal. He finds deflecting these missiles funny... until Ifurita appears behind him and blows his head off.
* In ''{{Saiyuki}}'', the TeamPet distracts Kami-sama long enough for Gojyo to grab everyone and make a retreat.
* In ''{{Naruto}}'', [[spoiler:when [[FanOfUnderdog Hinata]] [[ShrinkingViolet farging]] [[FanPreferredCouple Hyuuga]] fights [[TheDragon Pein]] to save Naruto in Chapter 437, declaring "I won't let you lay another finger on Naruto-kun!" And then...[[StuffedInTheFridge STAB]]. She survives.]]
** [[spoiler:Ebisu tries this against Pain's Jigokudo body, in order to buy time for Konohamaru to escape. Konohamaru, however, goes back to help him, and [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome defeats that body with Rasengan]], making his intervention a case of [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu punching out Cthulhu]].]]
*** Also, Naruto himself [[spoiler: likes to greet the Kyuubi by demanding it surrender its chakra to him and calling it a "damn fox." Which is probably a little irritating to a superpowered being who can flatten a mountain by swinging one of its nine tails.]]
* In ''{{Bleach}}'', Ganju (a character who is not terribly important and whose only attacks are throwing fireworks and a sand spell that mostly just helps him run away) tries this against Byakuya, allowing Ichigo enough time to swoop in and save Rukia. Unfortunately, this doesn't quite work out and Ichigo ends up having to be rescued.
** Hanataro is about to do the same thing almost immediately before this scene, but Ganju steps in and tosses him aside.
** And in the Deicide arc, [[spoiler: [[FakeUltimateHero Don Kanonji]] runs into a powered-up [[HeroKiller Aizen]] and [[TheDragon Gin]]. They're about to kill Tatsuki. He quite gladly calls them out, [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome even after realizing how utterly outclassed he is.]]]]
* In ''OnePiece'', after Rob Lucci has Luffy exhausted and badly wounded on the ground, Usopp, the weakest member of the Straw Hats, reveals himself to Luffy and challenges Lucci, despite having easily lost to a [=CP9=] member who was half as powerful. Lucci walks over to kill Usopp, but Luffy, his HeroicResolve restored by Usopp's speech to him, gets up and finally manages to defeat Lucci. Earlier on, Aokiji wonders if Luffy (who is by no means weak, but doesn't yet compare to an Admiral's strength) decided to fight him alone because he thought he could win or because he wanted to prevent him from going after the rest of the crew.
** Subverted when Arlong ignores his rubber band attack (but played straight when he scares Hacchan in place).
** Recently, [[spoiler:Luffy briefly holds off the assault of Hawkeye Mihawk, the world's greatest swordsman, by throwing [[MonsterClown Buggy]], whose powers render him invulnerable to bladed weapons, at him.]]
** Even more recently, [[spoiler:Coby temporarily distracts everyone at Marineford to try and stop any more casualties by begging for everyone to cease fighting. This includes standing up to many incredibly powerful Marines, especially Akainu, the man who killed Ace and burned off half of Whitebeard's face. Fortunately, this distraction was long enough for Shanks to [[BigDamnHeroes appear and successfully end the war.]]]]
* In the 5th ''{{Kara no Kyoukai}}'' movie, Enjou Tomoe, despite being Muggle Weight, tells off the BigBad. Shiki herself passive aggressively says that because he did, she's going kill said BigBad now.
* Ganta does this at the end of his second bout in the Carnival Corpse - ''DeadmanWonderland's'' version of the [[MadMax Thunderdome]]. He basically flipped off the blood-thirsty anonymous audience, the other watching Deadmen, '''and''' the Carnival's Promoter, Tamaki.
** An incident [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome so awesome]], and so unlike him (for most of the series, up to this point, Ganta has been rather passive, fighting only to defend himself, and rarely even raising his voice, except to scream OhCrap about the current situation), he actually questions whether or not he just broke character.
* Manta in the last chapters of ''ShamanKing''. Piko-Piko hammer and all!
[[/folder]]

[[folder:ComicBooks]]
* In the superhero comic ''{{Empowered}}'', the eponymous heroine in her BlessedWithSuck [[ClothesMakeTheSuperman Supersuit]] distracts a far more powerful villain, allowing the villain's previous opponent enough time to recover and animate the landscape.
** To explain further, the guy previously fighting him is named Syndablokk, has a, well, cinder block for a head, and a little-known power which he describes as being like Aquaman... ''[[CrowningMomentOfAwesome but with]] [[GeniusLoci buildings.]]''
*** That... is the most incredibly awesome power EVER. SuperpowerLottery doesn't begin to describe the ''Empowered'' universe.
*** You'd think so, until he explains why nobody knows about it. Buildings cost a hell of a lot of money to build, which puts the collateral damage each time he uses it in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
* This is pretty much SquirrelGirl's raison d'etre, although she does it well enough to outright ''beat'' the villains.
** It turns out, despite usually being CrazyPrepared , Doctor Doom [[RockBeatsLaser didn't build any defenses into his armor to deflect a wave of squirrels]].
*** Nor did he built a defense around Latveria in case she would invade the country.
* John Constantine of {{Hellblazer}} does this during the "Dangerous Habits" story arc, [[FlippingTheBird literally]].
* Several demons and damned souls did this to Death, Despair, and Delirium in [[TheSandman Death: At Death's Door]].
--> (''a demon shoves Delirium to the ground'')
--> '''Despair''': Do not touch her. Leave our sister's home.
--> '''Demon''': What are you going to do? Sit on us, Fatty?
* {{Batman}} will do this on occasion--usually when he's [[{{JusticeLeague}} part of an ensemble,]] [[{{BatmanGambit}} usually for a good reason.]]
* A villainous version can be found in ''All-Star Superman'', where when {{Superman}} visits Lex Luthor in jail and offers him a chance at redemption, Lex chooses to spit in his face and give Supes a DeathGlare.
* TheJoker has mocked numerous beings who could easily kill him, like {{Superman}}, {{Darkseid}}, and demons.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]
* Kia in ''Freddy Versus Jason'', who distracted Freddy from the protagonists by taunting him openly. Unfortunately, [[LookBehindYou it didn't work on Jason]].
** I think it's pretty clear that Freddy was more amused than annoyed as well. He just didn't want to miss the show.
* Happens in ''DeepRising''.
* "We need a diversion. Something fast...and loud." In ''Dog Soldiers'', Private 'Spoon' Witherspoon is without a doubt the loudest character in the film. Spoon's also probably the only character crazy enough to stand around in the woods shouting and waving a flare when the area is crawling with werewolves.
* In ''FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren'', Marlene actually attempts this by chucking a materia at Loz's head. It works a little ''too'' well. (Incidentally, [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Marlene is six and Loz just beat the crap out of Marlene's]] MadeOfIron [[MamaBear surrogate mother]].)
** And don't forget Denzel's response to Bahamhut Sin: "YOU SON OF A BIIIITCH!". Denzel is also about six. Bahamut is a giant dragon that is only defeated when the entire party from VII gets back together.
* Merry and Pippin do it at the end of TheFilmOfTheBook of ''[[LordOfTheRings The Fellowship of the Ring]]'' to allow Frodo to escape from the Uruk-hai.
** And then Aragorn does the same thing in ''[[LordOfTheRings Return of the King]]'' when he cuts off the Mouth of Sauron's head. You only see this in the extended edition, but as soon as that happens Sauron shifts his attention from a weakened Frodo bearing the Ring to the Black Gate and his dead servant.
* Kay and Jay both do it at the end of ''MenInBlack'' to the giant cockroach alien in order to keep him on Earth. Kay taunts him ([[CrowningMomentOfAwesome "Do you know how many of your kind I've swatted with a newspaper? You are nothing but a smear on the sports page to me, you slimy, gut-sucking intestinal parasite! Eat me. EAT ME!"]]) to get him to swallow him; then Jay steps on several normal cockroaches to distract him from getting on the spaceship until Kay can shoot him from the inside.
* John {{Constantine}} literally flips Satan off. KeanuReeves has always been good at acting with his middle finger.
* [[{{Alien}} "Get away from her, you bitch!"]]
** Doesn't this belong on the punched out page? She did, after all, [[{{CrowningMomentofAwesome}} win that fight.]]
* Parodied (but of course!) in ''KungFuHustle'' - after Sing mans up for the first time in his life and attacks the Beast with a stick to the head, he gets beaten into the ground for it. And he's ''just'' able to pick up a smaller stick and weakly bonk him on the head. It does get played straight after this, as the Landlord and Landlady immediately rescue him and flee the scene.
* In ''Film/IronMan 2'', Ivan couches his attack on Tony at Monaco in this manner. Making God bleed and all that.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]

* Inverted in [[JRRTolkien J.R.R. Tolkien's]] ''{{Lord of the Rings}}'', where an army of 7000 soldiers and most of the Fellowship's surviving members are mustered for the sole purpose of Flipping Off Sauron, just so Frodo can get the Ring to Mount Doom.
* In Eric Flint and David Freer's book ''Pyramid Scheme'', our heroes find themselves trapped in the world of Greek mythology and caught up in a war against the gods of Olympus. At one point, Zeus, king of the Olympians, is about to start blasting people with thunderbolts. Henri Lenoir, visiting French botanist, proceeds to deliver a blistering salvo of insults in true Gallic fashion, [[WeNeedADistraction distracting Zeus]] until the others can escape. Also a HeroicSacrifice, because he gets killed.
** Also a CrowningMomentOfAwesome, because he did it while horribly sick [[spoiler:And survived a god level lightning bolt long enough to flirt with a nurse back in the real world and enjoy a glass of fine wine.]]
* In ''[[PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians The Battle of the Labyrinth]]'', Rachel (whose only power is to see through the WeirdnessCensor that fools other [[InvisibleToNormals normals]]) saves [[HalfHumanHybrid demigod]] Percy from Kronos, King of the Titans, an evil creature older than the gods, [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome by hitting Kronos in the eye with a blue plastic hairbrush.]] Percy remarked that this earned her his permanent respect.
* Kit did this in whale form in ''YoungWizards''. Most other minor characters in the series have to do a HeroicSacrifice to provide a distraction. All of the main characters in ''Book Of Night With Moon'' attempt or succeed in a HeroicSacrifice just to delay the BigBad, although most of them do get better later. Pitting preteen humans or housecats against the machinations of [[{{Satan}} the eldest, fairest, and fallen]] means any form of victory is going to fall between this and DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu.
** A more classic and slightly subverted version of this trope appears in ''A Wizard Abroad'', when a bard-kitten pisses off the BigBad by mocking it using ''elaborate verse''. Unfortunately, it just makes the Lone Power angry.
** In the related title ''Book Of Night With Moon'', Urruah strides through a cat's mythological reenactment of Lucifer's fall and sharpens his claws on the impressive scenery about five feet away from [[{{Satan}} the Lone Power]] in the form of a [[ScaledUp giant, godlike snake]] before striding back and remarking he should have sprayed it as well.
* The ''{{Warcraft}}'' novelization trilogy ''{{War of the Ancients}}'' pulls this off, combining it with DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: [[spoiler:Brox actually managing to ''injure'' [[CosmicHorror Sargeras]]. Sounds a lot more impressive when you realize how powerful we ''know'' Sargeras is, not to mention that little trick is what ultimately won the war.]]
** ''WordOfGod'' has stated that Broxigar didn't actually injure Sargeras (not severely, at least) -His attack was basically akin to a small scratch or bruise. Sargeras was more distracted by the fact that Brox actually managed to wound him than he was in pain from it, making it a true example of this trope.
* Harry Dresden in ''TheDresdenFiles'' '''lives''' off this trope in every single book. Notable examples:
--> '''Harry to Lasciel the Temptress:''' And by any chance does all this knowledge and power and good advice come for only three easy installments of nineteen ninety-five plus shipping and handling? Or maybe it comes with a bonus set of knives tough enough to saw through a nail, yet can still cut tomatoes like 'this'.\\
'''Lasciel''': You aren't nearly as funny as you think you are.

--> '''Harry to Cowl:''' Touché, O dark master of evil bathrobes.

--> '''Harry to Cowl (again):''' And again I do answer thee. Bite me.
** And whilst charging into a pitched battle between the rival Faerie courts:
---> I DON'T BELIEVE IN FAIRIES! [[hottip:* :This being a ShoutOut to the line from Peter Pan "...and every time a child says, 'I don't believe in fairies',there is a fairy somewhere that falls down dead."]]
* In TheSalvationWar: [[http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic.php?t=118769&highlight= Armageddon]], happens when Gordon Brown says "Sod off, Baldrick" in reply to [[BrownNote The Message]] and Satan's message that humanity now belongs to him, then revealing that he [[{{BlackAdder}} has a cunning plan]] to deal with the situation.
** And in a hilarious use of the trope, [[spoiler:Michael the archangel ''intentionally'' does this to Yahweh when he delivers a heap of bad new to him. He doesn't insult Him directly, but he does do his bit of snarking... and he KNOWS what Yahweh's reaction would be to the news]]
* [[AC:[[Discworld/FeetOfClay I Don't Call That Much Of An Argument.]]]]
* In the Dragonlance last book, Tasslehoff Burrfoot, a member of the Kender race - which are chronically bored, are impulsive kleptomaniacs and considered little more than a pest by the other people of the world - managed to do this to [[BigBad Chaos]] the father of ALL the Gods, using lots of insults - Kenders are able to come up with insults against anything - to [[WeNeedADistraction distract him]] while the other people in the battle attempt to make him bleed, for his blood is required to vanish him. In the end, he not only distracts Chaos efficiently, but, using his small knife, cuts him, and the blood coming from that cut is the one used to win the battle.
** In the Dark Disciple trilogy, Atta (A dog) bites Chemosh (The god of Death) in the ankle.
* ''{{IT}}'' by StephenKing evokes this when Eddie sprays his asthma inhaler on It. He does it twice, once when he's a kid and again a few decades later; it works because Eddie believes it will hurt It, and what really hurts It is belief. Unfortunately, it doesn't work so well the second time around when [[spoiler: It bites his arm off, killing him.]]
* The most recent MagicTheGathering novel, Test of Metal, has the protagonist, Tezzeret, tells Nicol Bolas, [[AGodAmI the nigh omnipotent 25,000 year old Elder Dragon]], that he's "stupid" and condescendingly tries to explain what the words 'thank you mean'. Bolas is not amused.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: LiveActionTV]]
* [[DoctorWho "Exterminate!"]] [[FacingTheBulletsOneLiner "I kind of figured."]]
* In ''BabylonFive'', while it didn't accomplish anything but make Vir out to be [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome awesome]] (and set the stage for a little karmic justice later on), he does give Mr. Morden (and by extension the Shadows) a 50-story tall middle finger telling him what he wants.
** For those who've never seen the series...
-->Morden: What do you want, Vir?
-->Vir: I want to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike, as a warning to the next ten generations that some favors come with too high a price. I want to look up into your lifeless eyes and wave, like this. * Vir Demonstrates* Can your associates arrange that for me?
** Made more awesome in later the series when Vir's wish actually becomes true and he waves at decapitated Morden
** Also how Ivanova managed to convince the [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens Walkers of Sigma 957]] to [[spoiler: join the fight against the Shadows. They apparently had issues with the Vorlons.]]
-->[[spoiler: '''Ivanova''': The Vorlons said you wouldn't be up for this, in fact the last time the Shadows came, they said they did all the work for you. Come to think of it, we've got the Vorlons. We really don't need much more help, do we? I mean the vorlons are pretty much perfect, aren't they?]]
-->[[spoiler: '''Walkers''': (''Angry sounding talk about the Vorlons.'')]]
-->[[spoiler: '''Ivanova''': We'll let you know when it's over, so you can come out of hiding.]]
-->[[spoiler: '''Walkers''': When it is time, come to this place. Call our name. We will be here.]]

* ''DeadliestCatch'':
-->'''The Bering Sea''': Sends three tons of freezing spray across the deck of one of the ships.
-->'''Deckhand''': Is that all you've got?
-->'''Narrator''': It's never wise to taunt the Bering Sea.
-->'''The Bering Sea''': Waits a few seconds before sending a larger wave to try to wash the entire deck crew off the ship.
* Played fairly straight in the Season 5 finale of ''{{Supernatural}}'', in which Castiel interrupts what would be the final confrontation between [[ArchangelLucifer Lucifer]] and [[ArchangelMichael Michael]] by [[spoiler:yelling out "Hey! Assbutt!" and throwing a molotov cocktail filled with holy oil at Michael, causing him to disintegrate. This doesn't kill Michael and is only meant to give Dean some alone time with the Devil]].
** Depending on your point of view, this could be seen as either a CrowningMomentOfAwesome or a CrowningMomentOfFunny, or perhaps even both. Dean himself even seems to forget the severity of the situation for a moment when the absurdity of Castiel's wording hits him.
** Unfortunately, Lucifer (the actual Cthulhu of this incident) does not have such a lighthearted reaction to this, and even almost quotes the name of this trope before [[spoiler:blowing Castiel up in a bloody mess]]. "Castiel... Did you just [[spoiler:molotov my brother... with holy fire?]]"
** Most of the interactions the Winchesters have with demi-gods, higher ranked demons and archangels comes to this, including Dean telling a room of gods "We can either take on the Devil together, or you lame-ass bitches can eat me. [[TemptingFate Literally.]]"
* Very minor variation: While perfectly happy to show off his old opera training on ''Late Night With Jimmy Kimmel'' [[InglouriousBasterds Christoph "Hans Landa" Waltz]] refused to humor ''[[TheOprahWinfreyShow Oprah freaking Winfrey]]'s'' request for a song the day after the Oscars:
---> '''Oprah''': Just one note?\\
'''Christoph''': I'll give you a note: '''A'''.
** Bravo, Cristoph Waltz, for doing what I have dreamed of for many years.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:VideoGames]]
* In ''{{Tales of Phantasia}}'', Chester holds back the Big Bad so that Cless and Mint escape from the past.
* ''SonicUnleashed'' has this in the form of a Mazuri kid beaning Eggman with a rock when he demands the Temple of Gaia's whereabouts. While the kid couldn't have known about what happened next at the time, it kept Eggman's attention on the people rather than ''Sonic'', who was hurtling in at high velocity to take down the Egg Fighters standing between Eggman and the locals.
* The BigBad of ''WildArmsXF'' was less then impressed when the heroes killed it. After all, AsLongAsThereIsEvil it will still live! ...so they kill it again. It revives, and wonders what the heck they're doing. So they kill it again... and again. And they're just going to keep doing it. It's so in shock at this that the person it's possessing takes control long enough permanently destroy both of them in a HeroicSacrifice.
* This is a rotating job among the party members in any given ''ShadowHearts'' game. Probably the best is when ''Covenent's'' Anastasia interrupts Orobas to ask what he plans to do once he manages to TakeOverTheWorld. [[{{Ptitlem1lh0v8n}} He has no answer.]]
** Another awesome one is from Yuri to Neo Astaroth. What does Yuri say to the EldritchAbomination that regained its full power and is about to destroy Japan?
--> Yuri: I wish you'd shove it. You know where.
--> Neo Astaroth:[[ChirpingCrickets ......]]
* Shadow does this in ''FinalFantasyVI'', when [[spoiler:he starts moving the Warring Triad statues out of their perfect triangle arrangement. Naturally, Kefka is pretty pissed, since this dispels his magic invulnerability and his plans to blast the heroes to hell, so he then fights Shadow, who apparently escapes from the fight unscathed. And if you wait for him on the way out, he'll get on your airship and survive [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu flipping off Kefka.]]]]
* In ''KingdomHeartsII'', Auron does this a couple of times to Hades, despite that he had offered to give him a second chance at life.
--> Hades: Don't you know who you're dealing with?! I am the ''lord'' of the ''dead''!
--> Auron: No wonder no one wants to die.
* Any MMORPG you can name. The Tank serves as the one flipping Cthulhu off, while the DPS goes to town, and the healer makes sure the tank is able to KEEP flipping off the big bad.
** Heck, ''zOMG!'' lets you ''literally'' flip off the monsters to distract them.
*** Koreans did it first. [[RagnarokOnline Provoke!!]]
** WorldOfWarcraft does a variation of this with a quest where you flip off a powerful enemy in order to lure him into an ambush.
*** Not so much as "flipping him off" as "telling a YourMom joke" that resembles "something about his mother and barnyard animals" in his language, if you're referring to that Vrykul elite leader in Howling Fjord.
* ''TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess''. In the final battle with Ganondorf, it is possible to distract him with the fishing lure.
** That's more an example of [[strike:GoodBadBugs]] TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything.
* The entire ''point'' of the move Taunt in the {{Pokemon}} games. ''Almost'' with the right animation, [[TheMoralSubstitute but not quite.]]
* As of ''MassEffect2'', [[PlayerCharacter Commander]] [[{{Badass}} Shepard]] has managed to piss off the entire [[OmnicidalManiac Reaper]] [[EldritchAbomination fleet]] to the point where they're all after him/her ''personally''.
** Shepard got their attention by ''[[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu beating]]'' one. And then surviving their counterattack. And then beating them again, in what could even be a [[NoOneGetsLeftBehind zero-casualty]] CurbStompBattle depending on player choices.
*** [[spoiler: Technically, Shepard didn't survive the counterattack, but s/he was deemed a big enough badass to have billions of credits and two years devoted to his/her resurrection.]]
* One way to tackle the large Undead Ogre in ''DragonAge Origins's Return to Ostagar'' DLC is to have the Warden distract it, while the rest of the team tackles the very squishy Darkspawn necromancer keeping it (un)alive. It doesn't get you a badass killing animation, but it can be done with a massively underpowered party.
* ''DwarfFortress'': It's probably wrong to use [[spoiler:Hell itself, from which the [[LegionsOfHell insatiable demon hordes]] issue forth to ravage the world,]] [[MundaneUtility as a garbage disposal]], but if so, I don't want to be right.
-->[-(Warning: TVTropesWiki takes no responsibility for any [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu fun]] which may ensue from attempts to replicate this. Proceed at [[strike:your own]] your dwarves' risk.)-]
* Done twice in WarCraft III against Archimonde, Jaina give him short insult, and Thrall hits him with lightning before teleporting away.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:WebComics]]
* In the ending of ''Crash & Bass'', Frank (a HarmlessVillain) distracts X with a carrot juice buster, allowing Bass to turn the fight around.
* ''BobAndGeorge'', starting with [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/index.php?date=041111 this strip]]
* In the now-defunct webcomic ''Life of Riley'', Dan manages to shoot Jezebel (yes, THAT Jezebel) with a paintball gun, then challenges her to a paintbrawl for the fate of the world.
* GunnerkriggCourt: Kat punches Muut (a personification of death) when she leans that [[spoiler: Muut forced Annie to escort her own mother to the afterlife.]] This case was almost a DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu, but it's a little more of a WhatTheHellHero seeing as the punch didn't do anything and Muut seems to otherwise be a decent guy.
** A straighter example is the ''SPANKIES!!'' Basically, Annie spanked the trickster god Coyote for looking up her skirt. Coyote actually thought it was pretty hilarious, [[PsychoForHire Ysengrin...not so much.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:WebOriginal]]
* WhateleyUniverse example: Phase, fighting a demon from a hell dimension, has lost. She's beaten to a bloody pulp, dying, and about to suffer a literal FateWorseThanDeath. She stalls by being a DeadpanSnarker and gets the thing monologuing long enough for the cavalry to show up. And the cavalry only show up with the right stuff because Phase ''already figured out what she was facing before she called for help''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* In ''TheSimpsons Movie'', Cletus is enlisted to distract the giant, Big Brother-esque head of the EPA, so the rest of the town can climb to safety. Unfortunately, Homer foils this plan in his usual way.
* In the finale of ''{{Justice League}}'', {{Batman}} repeatedly distracts Darkseid by tackling him and throwing (explosive) batarangs at him. While utterly harmless, he's distracting enough to give {{Superman}} some recovery time.
** Hawkgirl literally flips off Cthulhu in The Terror Beyond (or she would have if Standards and Practices would allow it).
---> '''[[CaptainErsatz Ichthulhu]]:''' Speak to me, child of Thanagar.
---> '''Hawkgirl:''' Nothing to say! I have a ''gesture'' for you, but my hands are tied.
*** She hates this god so much, it leads to the [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu next step]] in god defiling tropes. With help from GRUUUUNNNDYYYY.
*** Grundy crush squidface!
** Earlier, in ''SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', Dan Turpin seems to love taunting Darkseid. [[spoiler: He gets an [[EyeBeams Omega Beam]] for his trouble. No more Dan Turpin.]]
*** Superman, champion of Earth, was held before Turpin and the rest of Metropolis bruised, battered, and bleeding at the time. Turpin's attack on Darkseid and the defiance of the crowd constituted the whole [[HumansAreWarriors human]] [[HumansAreSpecial race's]] CrowningMomentOfAwesome in the series.
* [[TransformersAnimated Bumblebee]] actually manages to use this as a weapon in itself against the Decepticon Blitzwing, who is five times his height and twenty times his firepower--and also has trouble staying in his jet mode when he gets really annoyed. Even if he's very high up at the time.
* PeterPanAndThePirates has an [[PhysicalGod ice god]] appear in the the hideout and berate Peter for tresspassing in his domain. How does Peter respond? "you're trespassing in ''my'' house and getting ''snow'' everywhere."
* ''{{Freakazoid}}'' uses Cosgrove to distract Cthulhu {{Expy}} Vorn the Unspeakable long enough for him to grab a bunch of weights and drop them on Vorn's foot.
* In an episode of ''The Real Ghostbusters'', The Ghostbusters lure Cthulhu towards a rollercoaster where he is struck by lightning and destroyed. That's right, the Ghostbusters beat Cthulhu.
* In the ''TMNT2003'' episode "Fathers and Sons", [[CoolOldGuy Splinter]] tells the tale of how the Turtles got their first masks. It involves them Flipping Off a Bone Demon, who had a magic doodad that made it [[InvisibleToNormals invisible to everyone else]]. Keep in mind, they're like ''6'' at the time, and this guy has been terrifying them for the last couple of days. Their throwing rocks at it let Splinter and [[OldMaster The Ancient One]] win the day. Pity they had to get LaserGuidedAmnesia about it, though.
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* Played fairly straight in the Season 5 finale of Supernatural, in which Castiel interrupts what would be the final confrontation between [[ArchangelLucifer Lucifer]] and [[ArchangelMichael Michael]] by [[spoiler:yelling out "Hey! Assbutt!" and throwing a molotov cocktail filled with holy oil at Michael, causing him to disintegrate. This doesn't kill Michael and is only meant to give Dean some alone time with the Devil]].

* Played fairly straight in the Season 5 finale of Supernatural, in which Castiel interrupts what would be the final confrontation between Lucifer and Michael [[spoiler:by yelling out "Hey! Assbutt!" and throwing a molotov cocktail filled with holy oil at Michael, causing him to disintegrate. This doesn't kill Michael and is only meant to give Dean some alone time with the Devil]].

* ''DwarfFortress'': It's problem wrong to use [[spoiler:Hell itself, from which the [[LegionsOfHell insatiable demon hordes]] issue forth to ravage the world,]] [[MundaneUtility as a garbage disposal]], but if so, I don't want to be right.

** Not so much as "flipping him off" as "telling a YourMom joke" that resembles "something about his mother and barnyard animals" in his language, if you're referring to that Vrykul elite leader in Howling Fjord.

** Earlier, in ''SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', Dan Turpin seems to love taunting Darkseid. He gets an [[EyeBeams Omega Beam]] for his trouble. No more Dan Turpin.

* Bumblebee actually manages to use this as a weapon in itself against the Decepticon Blitzwing, who is five times his height and twenty times his firepower--and also has trouble staying in his jet mode when he gets really annoyed. Even if he's very high up at the time.

** Shephard got their attention by ''[[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu beating]]'' one. And then surviving their counterattack. And then beating them again, in what could even be a [[NoOneGetsLeftBehind zero-casualty]] CurbStompBattle depending on player choices.

* As of ''MassEffect 2'', [[PlayerCharacter Commander]] [[{{Badass}} Shepard]] has managed to piss off the entire [[OmnicidalManiac Reaper]] [[EldritchAbomination fleet]] to the point where they're all after him/her ''personally''.

* As of ''MassEffect 2'', [[BadAss Commander Shepard]] has managed to piss off the entire [[OmnicidalManiac Reaper]] [[EldritchAbomination fleet]] to the point where they're all after him/her ''personally''.

** In the Dark Disciple series, Atta (A dog) bites Chemosh (The god of Death) in the ankle.

** And, though not actually related to this trope, Hawkgirl literally flips off Cthulhu in The Terror Beyond (or she would have if Standards and Practices would allow it).