History Main / ExplosionPropulsion

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Films — Animated]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'', as Shan-Yu is carried by a huge rocket to the tower full of firework supplies, Mulan runs in the opposite direction repeating to herself "Get off the roof..." and still gets a bit caught by the blast as she slides down the wire.

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]

* In ''Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings'', Xu Wenwu (aka The Mandarin) has this trick among his other [[AdaptationalSuperpowerChange reworked superpowers made for the adaptation]]. His telekinetically-controlled [[RingsOfDeath Ten Rings]] are able to do a lot of stuff, and one move he uses frequently is to propel himself with a double quasi-HandBlast, [[InASingleBound launching him massive distances.]]

* Creator/GregBear's ''Anvil of Stars'' has a desperate and heartbreaking example. The characters' ship, heavily damaged in a skirmish, needs to flee but by itself can't get up enough thrust. A major reason for the damage is that the enemy's sufficiently advanced technology had surreptitiously converted several of its scout ships into antimatter just prior to one of them attempting to dock. The pilot of one of those scout ships volunteers to park her vessel just behind the main ship so that when the latter's engines lit up the resulting matter/antimatter explosion would provide an extra boost.

* In ''VideoGame/HalfLife2 Episode 2'' a side area gives Gordon infinite grenades to attempt this himself for a supply cache. Fortunately, there's a heavy iron hatch between him and the explosion so he gets some of the force and none of the shrapnel.

* Ironhide does this in Creator/MichaelBay's 2007 film version of ''Film/{{Transformers}}'', its angle pivoting over a random screaming civilian he launches himself over, and in gratuitous slow-mo!

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/DynamiteThor https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dynamite.png]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:So, if his super power is explosions, [[FridgeHorror what happens when he lands]]?]]

* [[http://www.againwiththecomics.com/2010/01/asgardian-dynamite.html Dynamite Thor]], a GoldenAge comic character who used to fly by propelling himself through the air with small, controlled detonations of dynamite. Check out the link because mere words cannot describe the brilliant lunacy of this character.

[[folder:Fan Fic]]

* Toward the end of ''[[WesternAnimation/PixarShorts Tokyo Mater]]'', [[WesternAnimation/{{Cars}} Mater]] is forced to get to TokyoTower as part of a drift race before the villain does (because if he loses, then he will lose his modifications), and in the process, he is launched into the air by a construction site fire caused by Dragon [=McQueen=].

* In ''WebVideo/StampysLovelyWorld'', the minigame "Whale of a Time" {{exploited|Trope}} this mechanic, using TNT to launch players up into the air (while negating explosion damage using water), allowing them to land in various designated colourful hoops [[SoftWater in the lake the minigame was built on]]. This became {{defied|Trope}} when an update nerfed the power an explosion propulsion could have, rendering the minigame non-functional and "broken".

* The ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' series features the Morph Ball Bombs, and ExplosionPropulsion is arguably their primary function. Most of them that you'll ever use will be to send Samus airborne while she's in Morph Ball form.

* In ''VideoGame/HalfLife2 Episode 2'' a side area gives Gordon infinite grenades to attempt this himself for a supply cache. Fortunately there's a heavy iron hatch between him and the explosion so he gets some of the force and none of the shrapnel.

* In ''VideoGame/HalfLife2Episode2'' a side area gives Gordon infinite grenades to attempt this himself for a supply cache. Fortunately there's a heavy iron hatch between him and the explosion so he gets some of the force and none of the shrapnel.

** Also the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse_detonation_engine pulse detonation engine]], a pulsejet taken UpToEleven.

* Not voluntary example: In ''Film/MissionImpossible'', [[spoiler:Ethan Hunt jumps off a helicopter in the climax just as he put explosive gum on it. The blast practically pins Ethan on the train he was jumping onto.]]
** Far less voluntary than the one in the [[Film/MissionImpossibleIII third movie]], which launches him ''sideways''.

* In the original ''Manga/DragonBall'' TV series, Goku launches himself sky-high at Piccolo using an explosive kamehameha right at the ground below him. Goku is moving so fast after the propulsion that he literally flies ''through'' Piccolo, like a human bullet.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operación_Ogro Operación Ogro]], the plot to assassinate Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, the confidant, prime minister, and presumed successor to [[UsefulNotes/TheFrancoRegime General Francisco Franco]]. Four ETA members posing as student sculptors rented a room on the street Blanco used to go to church, dug a tunnel under the road, and packed it with 80 kilograms of explosives. When a second set of "electricians" detonated the bomb as Blanco's car passed over it, the vehicle that weighted almost two tons ''sailed over 60 feet into the air'' before landing on a second-floor balcony of a building the next street over.

* In the ''Manga/CaseClosed'' film "Countdown to Heaven", in order to escape the bomb-loaded [[spoiler:Twin Tower Building A]], Conan must [[spoiler:accelerate the prize sports car through the building's window at just the right time so that the bomb explosion will propel them to the swimming pool atop the adjacent building.]]