History Main / DyingSmirk

* ''Fanfic/SchoolIdolDays S'' has You die while sporting a SlasherSmile, as she's intentionally invoking NothingIsTheSameAnymore by [[DrivenToSuicide killing herself]], knowing that her death will drive Chika and Riko apart.

Beware of '''unmarked spoilers''', since this is a DeathTrope.

* In ''Film/SinCity'', while Kevin is being cut up and fed, he's still smiling. It's ''intensely'' creepy.

* In ''Film/{{Alien}}'', Ash goes out with the infamous line "[[EvilGloating ''I can't lie to you about your chances, but... you have my sympathies'']]" and signs off with a smug smile.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Spike in the final episode of Season 7. Even as his flesh and muscle are being toasted off and the Hellmouth is crumbling around him, Spike still smirks and laughs as he crumbles to dust.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Warriors in the ancient Hispania always carried a vial of poison extracted from the Hairy buttercup, or ''Ranunculus sardous'', in order to commit suicide if they were captured by an enemy. This poison has the particularity of contracting the facial muscles upon dying, giving the corpse a creepy gaping grin. It naturally scared the shit out of the Romans, who believed the dead were laughing at them from the underworld.
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* Kittan smirks as he commits his HeroicSacrifice in ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', where he uses the Spiral Power to destroy ''an entire space ocean''. There's a reason it provides the page image (complete with the caption having Kittan's last words).

%% The list has been alphabetised. Please put new examples accordingly.

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* In ''Fanfic/TheButcherBird'', this is how [[spoiler: Grigori Rasputi, grandfather of [[MadScientist Grigori Vinci]]]] goes out. After poisoning both himself and [[spoiler: Vice Admiral Komei]] in a bid to keep the other man from figuring out what [[spoiler: his grandson's]] up to, he faces the sunset and dies with a victorious snarl on his face.
* ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'': In the side story ''Twenty Gyarados Bill Gaiden'', after being fatally wounded by a [[BeamOWar Hyper Beam collision]], he smiles in triumph along with his Mega Gyarados, as he succeeded in ensuring that nobody will ''ever'' laugh at him again.

* In ''Film/{{Alien}}'', Ash goes out with the infamous line [[EvilGloating ''I can't lie to you about your chances, but... you have my sympathies'']] and signs off with a smug smile.

* ''Film/{{Machete}}'': The racist, conservative US Senator directly responsible for a lot of the plot manages to escape... dressed as a migrant worker. The [[BigotWithABadge equally racist and conservative militia border patrol]] spots him and shoots him on sight, mistaking him for just another Mexican. He realizes the irony in this and dies grinning.

* In ''Literature/TheOutsiders'', Dally dies with a satisfied smile after Johnny dies. He robs a store and pulls out an unloaded gun on the cops so that [[SuicideByCop they would shoot him]]. Ponyboy says he had a look of grim satisfaction as he fell.
* In ''Literature/TheChildrenOfHurin'', Glaurung, mortally wounded by Túrin, dies with a vengeful cackle upon revealing to Niënor that she has married her brother and has his child.
* In ''Extremis'', Japanese powermonger [[BigBad Yamaoto]] smiles when he discovers that Literature/JohnRain is in his hospital room and about to kill him. Unknown to Rain, he's just sent assassins to kill Rain's ex-girlfriend and their son, so he'll get revenge from beyond the grave.

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestXI'': Mordegon, the game's villain, has been beaten by the heroes [[spoiler: for the second time, this time after the Luminary travelled back in time to [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong defeat him before he could set his plans in motion.]] He is in furious disbelief at first, but then sees the Darkling (a.k.a. the depowered version of [[HiddenVillain Calasmos]]) standing next to the Luminary. He realizes that by changing the timeline, the heroes have played right into the hands of a being far stronger and more evil than he.]] He chuckles and gives a cryptic warning as he dies.

--->'''Darkseid:''' Heh. ''Loser''.

* ''Film/{{Machete}}'': The racist, conservative US Senator directly responsible for a lot of the plot manages to escape... dressed as a migrant worker. The [[RightWingMilitiaFanatic equally racist and conservative militia border patrol]] spots him and shoots him on sight, mistaking him for just another Mexican. He realizes the irony in this and dies grinning.

* BigBad Isaac Westcott from ''LightNovel/DateALive'' goes out with a distorted smile in Volume 19 while dying with Ellen, Elliot, and Karen by his side after being reduced to just a head and torso from Mio Takamiya foiling his TakingYouWithMe plan.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': Dr. Bright is smiling when Dr. Clef shoots him in the head during [[http://www.scpwiki.com/incident-239-b-clef-kondraki Incident 239-B Clef-Kondraki]]

* ''ComicBook/TheRedTen'': Oxymoron's corpse still has his trademark grin despite being dead for quite some time. Even when his body is left a charred mess by an explosion, the grin still remains, much to Crimson's discomfort.

* Kittan smirks as he commits his HeroicSacrifice in ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', where he uses the Spiral Power to destroy ''an entire space ocean''.

* ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'': In the side story "Twenty Gyarados", Bill Gaiden, after being fatally wounded by a [[BeamOWar Hyper Beam collision]], he smiles in triumph along with his Mega Gyarados, as he succeeded in ensuring that nobody will ''ever'' laugh at him again.

* ''Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger'': Basco ta Jolokia, after his final duel with Captain Marvelous. At first it seems [[MutualKill the two ended up fatally wounding each other]], until Marvelous pulls out [[PocketProtector a piece of Sally's bomb necklace that he kept in his coat and caught the bullet]], saving his life. Given that Basco had given Sally that necklace as part of his plan to kill Marvelous (which failed because Sally tried to contain the blast at the last second), he can do nothing but smirk at the irony before he dissolves into red dust.

* ''Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger'': Basco ta Jolokia, after his final duel with Captain Marvelous. At first it seems [[MutualKill the two ended up fatally wounding each other]], until Marvelous pulls out a piece of Sally's necklace that he kept in his coat and caught the bullet, saving his life. Given that Basco had given Sally that necklace as part of his plan to kill Marvelous (which failed because Sally tried to contain the blast at the last second), he can do nothing but smirk at the irony before he dissolves into red dust.