History Main / DoNotTauntCthulhu

** In Enies Lobby, [[spoiler:Usopp]] starts taunting Lucci, whom he knows won't even take five seconds to kill him, by calling him a "worthless little kitten". Of all things, it's this insult that [[BerserkButton irks Lucci enough]] that he decides to ignore Luffy, who can't even move at this point, and murder the offender for his audacity. Thankfully {{subverted|Trope}} when Luffy [[HeroicSecondWind gets back on his feet to finish the fight]]. ''Just as [[spoiler:Usopp]] intended.''

** In Enies Lobby, [[spoiler:Usopp]] starts taunting Lucci, whom he knows won't even take five seconds to kill him, by calling him a "worthless little kitten". Thankfully {{subverted|Trope}} when Luffy gets back on his feet to finish the fight. ''Just as [[spoiler:Usopp]] intended.''

** In said movie, Bulma walks up to Beerus, yells at him for ruining her birthday party, and slaps him. His response? He just [[WouldHitAGirl slaps her back]]. Bulma is ''really'' lucky he held back or else he would have obliterated her!

* In an MMORPG, it's never a good idea to mock the RandomNumberGod, because it may mess up your day or deny you gear drops. Don't shower it with praise either, that only pulls its attention on you. Or casually mention it in chat. Or ignore it. Who knows what really sets it off to begin with?

* Throughout ''Manga/DeathNote'', Ryuk has provided little more than goofy antics. Then, at the end, [[spoiler:Light, desperate to save himself, demands that Ryuk kill the Kira investigation team. Ryuk responds by writing ''Light's'' name down and showing it to him, letting Light spend the last forty seconds of his life horrified that he's about to die.]] Ryuk, for all his silliness, is ''not'' human, doesn't ''think'' like a human, and [[spoiler:will ''not'' be ordered around by a human]].

** ComicBook/DoctorStrange foe Dormammu once greatly increased his already immense power by tapping into the power of the physical embodiment of the universe, to the point of literally pushing the [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]] around. Unfazed, the green goliath threatened Dormammu, but the dark lord merely mocked him and warned that insulting him would be unwise. When the Hulk asked why, Dormammu responded that he had enough power to defeat him without lifting a finger, but Hulk's only response was "''[[TemptingFate That I'd like t'see]]''". In the next panel, Hulk was [[TakenForGranite turned into glass]].

** ComicBook/{{Jubilee|MarvelComics}} of the ''ComicBook/XMen'' once thought it was a good idea to taunt a pack of hungry dinosaurs from the safety of the far side of a forcefield wall. Then the flying dinosaur riders turned up...

*** Gwenpool mocks ComicBook/{{MODOK}} since she sees him as a C-List villain. He responds by vaporizing her friend Cecil on the spot and then forcibly recruiting her into his organization on the pain of being killed as well.
*** She also mocks a seemingly defeated ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} claiming to be invincible in her own comic book... let's just say that gloating about your own FourthWallObserver skills is just giving him ideas.
** In ''ComicBook/ThePunisherMAX'', some thugs thought it'd be a good idea to PrisonRape ComicBook/TheKingpin [[FromNobodyToNightmare in the days before he became]] TheDon. Even though he was just a small-time thug like them at the time, it didn't end well for one of them [[RevengeByProxy or his wife]].
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' foe Mongul (the first one) met his end this way. During ''ComicBook/UnderworldUnleashed'', the demon lord Neron appeared before a gathering of villains and [[DealWithTheDevil offered them power in exchange for their souls]]. Neron allowed any villain that didn't want to participate to simply leave. However, Mongul refused by ''attacking'' Neron; Neron brutally killed him, and ''[[YourSoulIsMine consumed his soul]]''.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}'', The Leader Samuel Sterns once negotiated a contract with ComicBook/{{Mephisto}} with favorable terms for him and the Thunderbolts. The Leader left rather satisfied that he beat the devil at his own game, while Mephisto stewed in frustration. At the end of this run of the series, [[spoiler:The Leader is doomed to suffer the ComicBook/GhostRider's Penance Stare for the rest of his life as punishment for all the crap he's done throughout the series. Cue Mephisto waltzing in with a new contract in hand. The Leader immediately signs the new contract to escape the Penance Stare. Mephisto sends the Ghost Rider back to Johnny Blaze (much to Blaze's displeasure) and escorts Sterns to Hell while describing all of the tortures he has in mind for Sterns]].

* ''Fanfic/BoldoresAndBoomsticks'': They're called Legendary Pokémon for a ''reason'', Yang... [[spoiler:And they very much don't like it when your only fighting strategy is AttackAttackAttack]].

* In ''ComicBook/PowerGirl'' fanfic ''Fanfic/AForceOfFour'', Fury doesn't know when to shut up, not even when finding herself in the presence of the God of War. Franchise/WonderWoman has to restrain her:

-->Tommy: "So, do you spit or swallow?"
-->S.H.G.A.: "Swallow." (Grabs Tommy)
--> Tommy: "Hey, what are you doing?! Woaaaah!" (Gets devoured)

** In "[[Recap/AngelS05E17Underneath Underneath]]", HeartbrokenBadass Wesley gets drunk and insults [[EldritchAbomination Illyria]], who has [[spoiler:[[SealedInAPersonShapedCan stolen the life and body]] of his former {{Love Interest|s}} 'Fred' Burkle.]] Illyria is indifferent to the insults, being more saddened by the fact that Wesley doesn't fear and worship her [[AGodAmI like all humans used to]].

* In ''VideoGame/CthulhuSavesTheWorld'', this happens with the TropeNamer himself. When he and his party sleep in the Innsmouth tavern, [[InnOfNoReturn villagers attack him]], only to get [[CurbStompBattle thoroughly thwacked]]. Once it turns out [[spoiler:[[TheStarscream Dagon]]]] took over his cult and sent the villagers after him, Cthulhu then goes right into his lair and proceeds to vanquish him.

* In ''VideoGame/StarCraft'', on a certain [[BaselessMission installation mission]], a pair of marines are shooting at some zerglings in a pen. One complacently states "Hehe, [[TemptingFate they're not so tough]], they bleed too." The base is subsequently overrun by zerg.

** It is played straight in [[http://www.diablo3.nl/starcraft/scdemo.shtml the demo]] (which is set before the events of the retail game), where after a marine says the same thing, the zerg units escape through a door that opens right then and there.

* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' has a [[BreakingTheFourthWall very]], [[HumansAreCthulhu very meta example of this]]. If you go for the No Mercy route, the FinalBoss there is going to give you a very bad time. Halfway into the fight, the boss will call out to the good person inside of you and offer a chance to reconcile. Accept, and he [[ISurrenderSuckers hits you with an undodgeable, unblockable attack that instantly kills you,]] and tells you that if you are truly sorry, you should never come back. Alright, pulling off an ISurrenderSuckers followed by RedemptionEqualsDeath is legit. Problem is, he had the gall to mock you for it; even the usual game over music is replaced by a sped-up in-game trolling song. That mockery has been known to enrage enough players to redouble their effort to take the boss down.

* A fairly literal example occurs with Yogg-Saron in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', although the taunter doesn't know he is taunting an [[EldritchAbomination Old God]]. Brann Bronzebeard breaks down the door to Ulduar violently, waking up the slumbering supernatural evil. When you assault the fortress to free the Titan Keepers and put the Old God back inside his prison, you first have to fight the remnants of Bronzebeard's expedition: now gone completely insane.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Jumanji}}'' [[RecycledTheSeries The Series]], any player who tries to cheat, insult, or damage the malignant game [[ForcedTransformation gets randomly transformed]] into an animal, or gets attacked by its inhabitants. Of course, it mostly happens to Peter, whether it's his fault or not.

* In the season 2 finale of ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'', [[spoiler:Belos taunts the Collector openly when he makes it clear he has no plan on following through on his promise to free them since he can't afford to have the magic they gave him in exchange for said freedom fall into his enemies' hands. When King finds and frees the Collector anyway, they casually insist to Belos that they're not angry, then initiate a game of tag and [[LudicrousGibs slam Belos against a wall so hard his entire body is reduced to necrotic green paste]].]]

* ''DO NOT'', under any circumstances, taunt Brock Sampson of '' WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' Seriously, don't.

** After Loona insults Beelzebub (the [[SevenDeadlySins Sin of Gluttony]]) when the latter tells her to check on Blitzo, Beelzebub briefly goes OneWingedAngel and warns Loona not to provoke her.

* Film/DudeWheresMyCar: Upon seeing the [[GiantWoman Super Hot Giant]] [[HumanAlien Alien]], JerkJock Tommy decides that the best thing to do is sexually harass and cat-call her while he's with easy grabbing distance. So of course she immediately grabs him and eats him alive.

* ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'' has Tucker and Sister, high off antifreeze, mistaking the all-powerful King Atlus Arcadium Rex for a hallucination and jeering him. He proceeds to zap them with lightning, which would have killed both had they not discovered Atlus' creator imbued them with special protection.
* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': [[TimeOfMyths Long ago]], a woman offended the gods by trying to trick them into resurrecting her dead love; they cursed her with CompleteImmortality [[BarredFromTheAfterlife so she would never be able to reunite with her love until she repented]]. Instead, she realized that the gods ''could'' be tricked, and thus were not perfect and infallible. She used her immortality to [[RageAgainstTheHeavens raise an army against the gods]]. They responded by [[spoiler:''wiping out the entire human race'', leaving only the woman alive to suffer]].
* In episode 11 of ''WebAnimation/PokemonGenerations'', titled “The New World”, like in ''Pokémon Platinum'', Giratina arrives to stop Cyrus. In an effort to prevent Giratina from ruining his plans, he has Dialga and Palkia attack it, and Giratina retaliates by breaking the two Red Chains that Cyrus had created right in front of him, thus stripping him of Dialga and Palkia completely (as the two escape back to their own dimensions as a result of Giratina freeing them), and then proceeding to drag Cyrus off to the Distortion World.

* ''WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss'': When prince of hell Stolas visits Loo Loo Land (in the episode of the same name) with his daughter, gangs of random imps keep trying to kidnap him. They're usually killed by the Immediate Murder Professionals -- whom Stolas hired to be his bodyguards probably because he has the hots for their leader -- but the last one, who pulls a knife on him [[PapaWolf while he's having a moment with his daughter Octavia]], he finally bothers to deal with himself. [[DeadlyGaze By looking at it.]]

** In one story, he uses a bear pelt to turn himself into a bear and brutally kills and eats the hunter who killed him twice before.

* ''WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss'': When prince of hell Stolas visits Loo Loo Land (in the episode of the same name) with his daughter, gangs of random imps keep trying to kidnap him. They're usually killed by the Immediate Murder Professionals -- whom Stolas hired to be his bodyguards probably because he has the hots for their leader -- but the last one, who pulls a knife on him, he finally bothers to deal with himself. [[DeadlyGaze By looking at it.]]

* Subverted in the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E22SpaceSeed Space Seed]]", wherein [=McCoy=] taunts Khan who is holding a scalpel to his throat, [[SubvertedTrope but]] Khan indicates afterward that the taunting is what saved [=McCoy=]'s life.

* Film/DudeWheresMyCar: Upon seeing the [[GiantWoman Super Hot Giant]] [[HumanAlien Alien]] JerkJock Tommy decides that the best thing to do is sexually harass and cat-call her while he's with easy grabbing distance. So of course she immediately grabs him and eats him alive.

* Occurs in the ''ComicBook/AstroCity'' story "Where the Action Is." After publisher Manny Monkton pisses off a super-villain with his sensationalist stories, he becomes inspired to create a new line of comics dealing with {{Cosmic Entit|y}}ies, beings who [[BeneathNotice "won't give a gnat's fart" about whatever he says about them]]. When the first issue of their new series hits the stands, their entire publishing office vanished the very next day; onlookers claimed they smelled something at the scene that may have been a gnat's fart.

* ''Literature/Overlord2012'': A recurring element in the Light Novel. Many a criminal, corrupt noble or the occasional Slane Theocracy elite warrior would believe that Ainz (or one of his lackeys) are jokes when our {{Villain Protagonist}}s blatantly attack them head-on even if they're virtually unopposed in their native ecosystem. Unfortunately, Ainz and his lackeys are really non-native to the New World, and the people who underestimate them die almost instantly right after. Justified, considering the New World natives really have no idea what they're facing since YGGDRASIL players like Ainz only show up once every one hundred years.

* ''Literature/Overlord2012'': A recurring element in the Light Novel. Many a criminal, corrupt noble or the occasional Slane Theocracy elite warrior would believe that Ainz (or one of his lackeys) are jokes when our {{Villain Protagonist}}s blatantly attack them head-on even if they're virtually unopposed in their native ecosystem. Unfortunately, Ainz and his lackeys are really non-native to the New World, and the people who underestimate them die almost instantly right after. Justified, considering the New World natives really have no idea what they're facing even when similar entities show up once every one hundred years.