History Main / HumanShield

* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' use both the psychological human shield and BulletproofHumanShield, depending on who you capture. In ''Portable Ops'' and 3, attempting to shield yourself with a higher-ranking officer gave you a better chance of success, as the enemies would hesitate for a lot longer - and shielding yourself with a scientist does ''nothing'' and they'll still shoot you freely.

** In a cutscene midway through 4, Snake pulls off a decidedly elaborate variation. He chicken-wings a mook by threading a rifle through the guy's arm. Not only that, but he has a knife to the mook's throat using his other hand. He's thus able to compromise his balance ''and'' advance on the other mooks, remaining a deadly threat to everyone concerned.
** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidV'', enemy soldiers will always hesitate to shoot at you while you're using a human shield regardless of who it is, so long as you don't start firing yourself or give them a clear shot at you. They can call you out on your [[DirtyCoward cowardice]] for doing this, though.

* In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' A MerryWeather soldier did this to Michael's daughter Tracey which requires him to get a careful headshot to the soldier.

* A FlashBack in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers'' shows a desperate knife-wielding thug using a little girl as a Human Shield to hold back the police. The police do the smart thing and let the sniper with ImprobableAimingSkills secretly take him out with a [[StunGuns bullet that does Magical Damage]]. [[spoiler: Unfortunately the guy turns at just the wrong moment and the sniper hits the little girl [[EyeScream in the eye]]. Worse, the hostage was the sniper's little sister, causing much emotional trauma.]]

* During the FinalBattle of ''Anime/CodeGeass'' Lelouch uses a large group of world leaders he had kidnapped during a peace meeting (including women and children) as human shields to prevent Schneizel from using his super weapon on him right from the start of the battle. The twist is that while Schneizel couldn't care less about the hostages, his new allies, The Black Knights, do. In the end, The Black Knights get Schneizel to refrain from using his super-weapon in favor of more conventional tactics, while Lelouch is sitting on the bridge of his flagship sneering with glee.

* Subverted in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', [[spoiler:where a weakened Envy tries to take over Yoki's body, but finds that everyone else simply ''does not care'' about his fate, with even the cheerful Al and May Chang cheering his "heroic sacrifice"]].

** An [[InvertedTrope inverted]] example: Mr. Incredible takes Syndrome's right-hand woman Mirage hostage in retribution for the "death" of his family. Syndrome, being a narcissistic and sociopathic villain [[KickTheDog showed his true colours]] and called his bluff, [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness saying she meant nothing to him.]] Of course being a hero Mr. Incredible didn't kill her, and she went on to betray Syndrome for total lack of caring by helping Mr. Incredible and his family escape. When she calls Syndrome out on this his response is basically to shrug and say that he knew Mr. Incredible wouldn't really hurt her, but his callous attitude cements her later decision to [[MistreatmentInducedBetrayal betray him]].

*** Played with when Will Turner takes ''himself'' hostage. Since his blood is needed to break the Aztec curse, if he dies the curse will be permanent.

* In the ''Literature/PilgrennonsChildren'' novel ''Pilgrennon's Beacon'', Jananin aims a rocket launcher at a helicopter that contains Pilgrennon and Dana. Pilgrennon grabs Dana and leans out of the helicopter, holding her in front of him, to show Jananin that there are children on board. Jananin fires anyway, because her desire for revenge is stronger than her concern for human life.

* Once in a while on ''Series/CSIMiami'' the episode's villain or one of their mooks will take a hostage. Unfortunately for them, if it's Horatio Caine the villain/mook is up against, he's a sharp shooter who often shoots the hostage-taker, without the hostage being harmed, before they can even finish threatening him.

* ''Series/PushingDaisies'': In one episode the Killer of the Week tries to use Olive Snook as a shield after his crimes are exposed. Since Olive is played by the 4'11" Creator/KristinChenoweth, and the killer is considerably taller, she isn't much of a shield as Emerson Cod quickly lampshades.

*** There is also a more sympathetic version of just keeping your troops so close to enemy forces (especially while engaging) that the enemy can't risk the use of air strikes or artillery as it'll get just as many friendlies as hostiles. This has led to the occasional subversion of ShootTheHostage where the "hostage", about to be overrun, requests an artillery strike of his own position, knowing that he can take a great deal of attackers down with him.

* In ''VideoGame/ClaDun'', party members serve as human shields for your PlayerCharacter, providing an extra layer (or two, depending on the layout of the Magic Circle) of HP protection. Once they're all defeated, the player takes direct damage, and will lose if he/she is incapacitated.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''WebComic/GrrlPower''. Achilles is completely invulnerable, though that is his only superstrength. Prior to going down a trap-filled corridor, Sydney [[SuperStrength grabs him]] and uses him as a probe to test for traps. He doesn't seem to mind.

* In ''Franchise/RoboCop'', the eponymous hero has a great targeting system to deal with this kind of situation. For instance, in the [[Film/RoboCop1987 first film]] when a male assailant is using a woman as a human shield, Robocop carefully shoots the crook between the hostages' legs in a successful gamble to [[GroinAttack hit his groin]] with just enough clearance with female human anatomy to miss her. The [[Film/RoboCop2 second film]] has him dealing with the similar situation by arranging a ricochet shot to hit the assailant from behind.

!!Examples:

* One of the key combat moves of Anime/AfroSamurai is to grab one enemy, throw him into oncoming attacks, and then charge the now-distracted attacker. In the manga, lacking enemies at hand, [[AntiHero he uses a random boy and, later, his disabled sister]].

* In ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes'' the Imperial flagships ''Ostmark'' and ''Berlin'' and the battleship ''Augsburb'' (serving as a flagship), all belonging to [[UpperClassTwit less-than-sympathetic admirals of noble origins]], are flanked by pairs of shield ships, vessels whose only purpose is to sacrifice themselves in case the enemy manages to flank the fleet and give them the time to turn and bring the heavier main guns to bear.

* In the Kurt Russell movie ''Film/{{Soldier}}'', someone tries to use a woman as a shield, but the titular, emotionless soldier empties his machine gun into both of them, then moves on.
* ''Film/{{Speed}}'': When the main character, Jack, is asked what he would do in a Human Shield situation, he replies, "ShootTheHostage, take her out of the equation." He later faces the human shield situation twice in the movie, and one of those times he actually does shoot the hostage, but only in the leg, which surprises the villain enough to get the drop on him. It's worth noting that by the second human shield scenario, the villain has put explosives on the hostage and is carrying a dead man's switch to stop him from doing this.

* At the end of ''Film/{{Taken}}'', Mills's daughter Kimmy is being held hostage by an evil old rich dude who had her purchased from the Human Traffickers; Mills has a handgun aimed. The old man tries to say "We can negotiate.", but Mills puts a slug in his head mid-sentence.

* In a notable action scene from the original ''Film/TotalRecall1990'' Douglas Quaid (Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger) uses one of these to protect himself against enemy fire.

* In ''[[Literature/TakeshiKovacs Woken Furies]]'', when the villain Anton comes under fire, his first reaction is to grab one of his own allies and use her as a human shield.

* In an episode of ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'', the heir to a planet's throne ends up aboard the titular ship and arrives to his planet, which is currently in the hands of the corrupt aristocrats (who have orchestrated his father's death). Since the planet's SpaceNavy is horribly primitive compared to the ''Andromeda'', he threatens the aristocrat, prompting the aristocrat to order that civilian observers be posted on all of his ships and on all military bases from now on, knowing that Dylan would never fire on innocent civilians. Tyr praises the aristocrat for his choice of tactics.
* ''Series/{{Angel}}''. In "[[Recap/AngelS03E07Offspring Offspring]]", a vampire cult wants to worship Darla's baby, and intend to sacrifice everyone in the room to it, including Darla. [[BewareTheNiceOnes Fred holds a knife to Darla's stomach and threatens to kill the child]] even though it's protected by a spell that prevents harm, as Fred whispers in Darla's ear. It's a good thing those vampires don't know that, eh?
-->'''Darla:''' They do ''now''. Vampires [[SuperHearing have great hearing]].

* Parodied in ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'' where Jake becomes a human shield by an ATF officer...''in a game of paintball.''

* Bulldog, in an episode of ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', used Roz (who was pregnant at the time) as a shield when someone pulls out a gun. It ends up looking like he tried to push her out of the way and is hailed as a hero. Only Frasier knows the truth but is unable to get him to confess. It all comes to a head at the ceremony in Bulldog's honor. Martin, who was just tired of listening to Frasier complain about it, randomly shouts, "HE'S GOT A GUN!" Sure enough, Bulldog does it again, this time using his ''own mother'' as a shield.

* Based on the RealLife point below, ''Series/HogansHeroes'' frequently used the "If it's close to a prison camp the Allies won't bomb it" reasoning to [[JustifiedTrope justify]] putting the target of the week in Hogan's reach, sometimes even inside the camp.
* ''Series/{{JAG}}'': Done several times.
** In "War Cries", one of the Marines throws himself over the Ambassador in the car to shield her during the ambush while they make their escape.
** In "Tribunal", Mac is made a human shield by a suspected Taliban in Afghanistan with a knife aimed at her throat. She manages to get out of his grip and beats him up.
* ''Series/LostInSpace'': Dr. Smith, being a DirtyCoward, frequently uses young Will Robinson as a human shield to cower behind.

%%* The second series of ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' starts with this. It almost works.
* In ''Series/{{Vikings}}'', Ragnar uses himself as one of these to protect [[GoodShepherd Athelstan]] from Horik's hidden archer in "The Choice". He knows that Horik will attempt to kill the priest as soon as he's out of sight, so Ragnar offers to escort Athelstan back to King Ecbert's territory and physically shields him from any kind of attack.

* In ''Roleplay/TheGamersAlliance'', quite a few characters -- heroic, villainous, and anything in-between -- have no problem using people (whether humans or other races) as shields to get out of sticky situations. Sometimes it works, sometimes it...doesn't.

* In early editions of ''Tabletopgame/BattleTech''s Clan Invasion, [[HumongousMecha BattleMechs]] could carry friendly [[PoweredArmor BattleArmor]] into battle, at the cost of being unable to fire their torso-mounted weapons, and the battlearmor were vulnerable to being shot off. Players quickly realized that you could [[NotTheIntendedUse pile battlearmor onto your mech and use them as free torso armor]] because the mech's torso would take not damage until all the battlearmor were shot off. Rectified in an ObviousRulePatch, which placed a limit on battlearmor carrying capacity.
* The Dread Emperor in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' has a version that goes significantly ''beyond'' this trope. That's right, he's taken one of the most contemptible things people can do and ''made it worse''. How so? Not only is he hauling around children chained by the neck to his armor, he ''drains their health when he's injured''.
** Or to ''[[CastFromHP cast spells]]''.
** Oh, and [[FridgeHorror he never appears with the same children twice.]]
* The signature martial arts style of the Infernal ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'', Infernal Monster Style, includes the charm Screaming Meat Shield, redirecting even magical attacks.
* ''TabletopGame/SentinelsOfTheMultiverse'' [[PlayedWith plays with]] this for resident [[EvilOverlord evil alien overlord]] Grand Warlord Voss. For each Minion he controls, Voss takes 2 less damage on his front side (Conquering Alien Warlord) and 1 less on his back side (Super-Thoranian Warrior). However, Voss's minions are capable of attacking the heroes so it's less like Voss is using them as a shield and more like Voss simply standing behind them while still allowing them to soak the hits for him like meat shields until they die and Voss has to fight on his own.

* Now that guns are standard by the time of ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII'', this becomes a tactic to use. Whenever soldiers with muskets line up in a firing line or a commander or Jäger pulls out a pistol, you can run up to a different enemy, grab them, and let them take the bullets. Since this is instant, unavoidable death for the poor sap you grab, this is a great way to kill stronger enemies. And yes, this tactic carries over into ''[[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIVBlackFlag Black Flag]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedRogue Rogue]]''.
* While feeding, Rayne in ''VideoGame/BloodRayne'' can turn her victims around to shield herself from attackers. In Blood Rayne 2, she can do this while refilling her [[AbnormalAmmo blood guns]], can flip over the victim in either direction or even slide underneath the draining body for more defensive coverage.
* Parodied in ''VideoGame/Borderlands2''. A [[ShieldBearingMook Nomad]] variant called the Torturer wields a riot shield with a hole in the center, which their idea of repairing involves tying a [[MiniMook midget]] to the front. It's totally unnecessary-bandits are capable of metalwork-they just have it in for midgets. If you manage to shoot off the chains holding down the midget, they will immediately go after the Nomad, leaving him vulnerable as he's distracted by the angry midgets.

** ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsColdWar'' actually introduces this into Single Player in-game mechanics where you can use nearby enemy as a shield and let the poor bastard soak up the bullets for you.
* In ''VideoGame/ClaDun'', party members serve as human shields for your PlayerCharacter, providing an extra layer (or two, depending on the layout of the Magic Circle) of HP protection. Once they're all defeated, the player takes direct damage, and will lose if he/she is incapacitated.

* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'':
** Taken UpToEleven when it's more like "monster shield" actually. Nero can use a demon as a shield. Although since demon {{mook}}s are mindless, they don't care about the "hostage" and still attempt to attack him. ''The demon shield takes the damage instead.''
** In a cutscene, Agnus hides behind Kyrie to stop Nero from attacking him.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard}} 2'', during one scene, TheHero, Nowe, is about to stab the BigBad, when he pulls Eris, TheHero's UnluckyChildhoodFriend, directly into the path of TheHero's attack, [[PlayerPunch causing him to kill her instead]]. (However, considering her name, and who makes the game, [[Videogame/FinalFantasyVII it was expected that poor little Eris would die...]])
** [[spoiler: Until you learn that [[DisneyDeath she didn't die.]]]]
* A few players have had this happen in ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress''. One story goes that one of their best soldiers GAVE BIRTH, quite literally whilst still fighting, they then promptly held up the child and used it to block an incoming arrow.

* Possible to pull off in ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'' with the meat-shield function. Your enemies don't take kindly to it.
** Amusingly enough, in respawning gametypes you can easily come up against an opponent using ''you'' as a human shield.

* ''VideoGame/TheGetaway'' plays this trope to the letter. Mark Hammond can grab anyone as a hostage if he is close enough, and if you grab a gang member or PC their faction will cease fire and plead for you not to shoot - until you start picking them off like a coward. Once the hostage has outlived their usefulness you can choose to shoot them, snap their neck, or let them go. This is also carried over in ''VideoGame/TheGetawayBlackMonday''.
* Similarly, the Boss of the 2nd Mission of the arcade game ''VideoGame/GHOSTSquad'' requires you to take him out with a single headshot while he's holding the President of the USA as a Human Shield.

* ''VideoGame/HitmanBloodMoney'' lets you use anyone, including {{Innocent Bystander}}s, as human shields. However, the ability to take a human shield is far more useful to the stealthy player as a way to knock someone out when you want to take their clothes without taking their life. That is, it's not very common to use your shield to, you know, actually ''shield'' you.

* In ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies'', [[BigBad Hyness]] will summon his three defeated and unconscious minions to use them as weapons/shields after he gets roughed up, though after placing some manner of protective enchantment on them that makes Kirby's attacks glance off them harmlessly. They mostly block things indirectly while Hyness throws and swings them around, but if the fight drags on long enough, he'll eventually have them form a wall and start hiding behind them, occasionally popping out to lob projectiles. However, applying enough abuse will break the formation and expose the cowardly mage to attacks.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'' Joel can grab hostile survivors and use them as shields, keep in mind though you have to rotate the right analogue stick accordingly to keep them in line otherwise they'll break free and attack you. When Joel grabs someone he can shoot them, shoot other enemies while holding them, or do an instant finishing move when the other enemies are alerted, or silently strangle them, or slit their throat with a shiv when not alerted.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' use both this trope and BulletproofHumanShield, depending on who you capture. In ''Portable Ops'' and 3, attempting to shield yourself with a higher-ranking officer gave you a better chance of success, as the enemies would hesitate for a lot longer - and shielding yourself with a scientist does ''nothing'' and they'll still shoot you freely.

* Laid-back Miis in ''VideoGame/{{Miitopia}}'' tend to hide behind their ''own teammates'' so they receive the blows meant to themselves. Needless to say, [[WhatTheHellHero it is less than appreciated]].

* The [[BodyHorror Wyrm]] [[BadBoss Master]] demon from ''VideoGame/NexusClash'' can order its imp minions to position themselves in the path of incoming attacks, forcing enemies to mow through dozens of {{Mooks}} to attack the demon. Given the setting, most enemies aren't likely to care about the body count, but the Wyrm Master is aiming to ''[[WeHaveReserves exhaust]]'' attackers, not guilt-trip them.

* In the ''VideoGame/ReservoirDogs'' video game (based on the film), you can take human shields and hit or threaten them to disarm cops. An even more notable example is when you are confronted by multiple cops and your [[ManaMeter adrenaline meter]] is full you can perform a special torture (offscreen of course) called a "Signature Move" (which range from PistolWhipping the hostage to cutting off the hostage's ear) that is so brutal that it will cause every cop in the area to [[PutDownYourGunAndStepAway drop their weapons and surrender.]]
* The Umbrella Security Service, in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilOperationRaccoonCity'', are bad enough dudes to use zombies and Army Specialists like this.

* Thuris from ''VideoGame/SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters'' attempts this in both the Normal Path and the alternate Demon Path. [[spoiler:Both fail spectacularly, the former being ruined by an AppliedPhlebotinum and in the latter, the [[VillainProtagonist protagonist]] couldn't give two shits about the hostage.]]

%%* The ''VideoGame/SpiderMan2'' game allow you to use the grapple ability to perform this.
* All of the ''VideoGame/SplinterCell'' games. Though for some reason, guards never hesitate to shoot you when you have one of their own held hostage.
** With one notable exception: the end of ''Pandora Tomorrow'' requires Sam to [[spoiler: sneak into a TV studio and capture the terrorist leader ''while he's recording a speech in front of his own goons''. This audacious act causes all the goons to point their guns, but not fire...unless Sam makes the mistake of turning his back on them to see where he's going.]]

* Megatron does this in ''VideoGame/TransformersPrimeTheGame'', using Starscream to take the full force of an energy blast.

* In the {{FPS}} version of ''VideoGame/{{XIII}}'', the titular character will use human shields without missing a beat.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''WebComic/GrrlPower''. Achilles is completely invulnerable, though that is his only superstrength. Prior to going down a trap-filled corridor, Sydney [[SuperStrength grabs him]] and uses him as a probe to test for traps. He doesn't seem to mind.

* Used in the ''Webcomic/{{Insecticomics}}'' when Thrust protects Dreadmoon from the brunt of the Fallen's blast.
-->'''Starscream:''' You used her as a shield, didn't you?\\
'''Dreadmoon:''' I'm a Decepticon! It was reflex!

* ''Webcomic/MetompsychosisUnion'': Tilo grabs Larry and yanks him in front of him after Killit breaks out and is advancing towards him. Larry is unimpressed and would not have made a very effective shield if Killit had not decided they were friends for breaching the secutiry of his containment pod.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'':
** Similar to ''Film/TheNakedGun'' example, Archer responds to the villain of the pilot episode taking his mother hostage by doing the same to [[ActionGirl Lana.]]
** In season 2, Archer reacts to a firefight by hiding behind Cheryl. She's pissed until he reminds her that the vest she's wearing is bulletproof. [[{{Irony}} She's immediately shot in the shoulder]].
--->'''Archer''': But it is, ya know, a ''vest''.

* A more harmless version on ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', [[DumbBlonde Chester]] uses [[GadgeteerGenius AJ]] for one to guard against a barrage of spitballs.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', [[GeneralFailure Zapp]] does this with [[BeleagueredAssistant Kif]] when some aliens hold them at gunpoint. Kif is so lightweight that Zapp easily picks him up and holds him in the air.

* ''WesternAnimation/MonSuno'': Early in the series, Bren once hid behind [[ActionGirl Jinja]], who stated she always [[SarcasmMode wanted to be a human shield]].
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': [[PrinceCharmless Prince Blueblood]] uses Rarity to shield himself from a falling [[CarryingACake layer cake]]. Rarity, [[RageBreakingPoint her last nerve snapped]], [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech chews him out for it]] and then shakes herself at him so he ends up CoveredInGunge anyway.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsResistance'': In the short [[Recap/StarWarsResistanceS0E2DartAndCover "Dart and Cover"]], Neeku moves to stand behind Torra the instant he sees that [[RobotBuddy Bucket]] is taking the next turn at darts. It ends up that the only person struck by a dart is Kaz, who was standing nowhere near them.
* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'':
** Owen volunteers as one to keep his team safe from a barrage of golf balls in "[[Recap/TotalDramaMastersOfDisasters Masters of Disasters]]".
** Brick and Zoey use Anne-Maria's rock-hard hair in order to cross no man's land to get to the other team in "[[Recap/TotalDramaIceIceBaby Ice Ice Baby]]".
** Courtney uses Sam as one to avoid a barrage of leeches in "[[Recap/TotalDramaSavingPrivateLeechball Saving Private Leechball]]".
** Amy uses Samey as one against tennis balls in "[[Recap/TotalDramaSoUhThisIsMyTeam So, Uh This Is My Team?]]".
** In "[[Recap/TotalDramaILoveYouGreasePig I Love You, Grease Pig!]]", Amy holds Samey in front of her when the pig of the Pimâpotew Kinosewak, made evil by Max's helmet, slings grease at them.
* A three-way battle in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' at one point features Optimus Prime and Megatron fighting as BackToBackBadasses until Megatron grabs Optimus and uses him to absorb a hail of laser fire.

** Doing this with civilians under your control (either physically forcing them or ordering them in a situation where they must obey) in a war situation is a war crime; people have been tried for it before the Yugoslavia war crimes tribunal. Of course, ''so is shooting them from the offending side'', making the whole deal DirtyBusiness for everyone involved.

* Lifeguards and rescue divers who work in choppy waters are ''supposed'' to resort to this trope if they're about to be dashed against rocks or other obstacles while hauling an unconscious person to safety. It makes sense in theory -- if the rescuer gets knocked out also, both of them will surely drown -- but most people in that line of work admit that they doubt they could go through with it.
** Addressed in an episode of ''Series/{{Baywatch}}'', when Mitch reveals that when faced with a situation like this, he couldn't bring himself to let the victim take the hit. Sure enough, he was knocked out, nearly drowned himself, and the victim died. Years later, he still had trouble dealing with it and FridgeBrilliance kicks in as the viewer realizes just why he was so stern a few episodes earlier when lecturing a rookie lifeguard about this, obviously not wanting him to repeat his mistake.
* When advancing on a city, a tactic the Mongols often employed was to force hostages to march ahead of their regular forces. From a distance, they just looked like part of the army, thus confusing the city defenders as to the size of the force advancing on them. And those hostages were pretty handy when it came to [[PragmaticVillainy absorbing the first round of arrows]]...

* Once in a while on ''Series/{{CSIMiami}}'' the episode's villain or one of their mooks will take a hostage. Unfortunately for them, if it's Horatio Caine the villain/mook is up against, he's a sharp shooter who often shoots the hostage-taker, without the hostage being harmed, before they can even finish threatening him.
* In the season six finale/season seven opening of ''Series/{{CSINY}}'', [[spoiler:SerialKiller Shane Casey does this when he breaks into Danny's and Lindsay's apartment, holding their infant daughter Lucy between himself and them. Unfortunately for Casey, Lindsay is a good shot, able to shoot him dead while not harming her daughter at all.]]

* Inverted in ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', where Mr. Incredible takes Syndrome's right-hand woman Mirage hostage in retribution for the "death" of his family. Syndrome, being a narcissistic and sociopathic villain [[KickTheDog showed his true colours]] and called his bluff, [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness saying she meant nothing to him.]] Of course being a hero Mr. Incredible didn't kill her, and she went on to betray Syndrome for total lack of caring by helping Mr. Incredible and his family escape. When she calls Syndrome out on this his response is basically to shrug and say that he knew Mr. Incredible wouldn't really hurt her, but his callous attitude cements her later decision to [[MistreatmentInducedBetrayal betray him]].

* ''Fanfic/CheatingDeathThoseThatLived:'' While fleeing from the Capitol during the Rebellion, [[spoiler:Ron]] ties loyalist victor [[spoiler:Anchor]] to his back as a human shield, with [[spoiler:Anchor]] being hit by dozens of shots that were meant for [[spoiler:Ron]].

* [[SparedByTheAdaptation Tom]] describes himself as one a few times in ''Fanfic/{{Eleutherophobia}}''; the Yeerks used him to get the morphing tech because none of them expected Jake to be willing to [[KillTheHostBody kill his own brother]] (who only survived in [[AlternateUniverseFic this universe]] due to [[ForWantOfANail luck]].)

* Subverted in the beginning of ''Manga/BeetTheVandelBuster'' Beltorze grabs Beet during a battle with the Zenon Knights. They think he's trying to use Beet as a hostage. Beltorze dismisses that notion rather quickly when he mortally wounds Beet right off the bat and uses the distraction to launch a powerful attack against the Knights.
* In the manga of ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' [[AntiHero Guts]] has used kids as a shield and/or hostage in at least two separate occasions, such as the Guardians of Desire arc when he used the Count's daughter Theresia to ward off an attack by her monstered-out father, as well as the Lost Children arc when he used a kid to lure a bunch of Apostle-spawn away from a village so he could kill them. Puck objects quite strongly to both instances.
* Subverted in the manga ''Manga/BlackCat''. Eve ([[TykeBomb a nanomachine bioweapon who also happens to be a 7 year old girl]]) convinces a criminal to let go of an infant and take her hostage instead, quickly saving the day.
* The first episode of ''Manga/BlackLagoon'' has Revy using one of the Extra Order mercs as a shield during the shootout at the Yellow Flag, then killing him as they made their escape. Judging by the fact he was apparently uninjured until that point, the slightly-more-bad guys were probably reluctant to shoot him, or had poor aim.

* An interesting twist in ''Manga/CityHunter''. Ryo Saeba gets the drop on a bad guy in a restaurant with his .357 Magnum. The Mook opens the curtains behind him, pointing out the crowded Tokyo street and taunts Saeba with the fact that if he opens fire, the bullet will cut through the mook and undoubtedly hit a passer by. Ryo proves how badass he is by [[spoiler:shooting THROUGH his own hand, slowing the bullet down just enough to kill the bad guy and still not hurt any bystanders]].

** At the climax of the Great Demon King Piccolo Saga, Piccolo used Tenshinhan as a meat shield and threatened to crush the latter's skull if Goku attacked him. While Tenshinhan also delivered a "Don't mind me speech", Goku considered to attack Piccolo on the basis that Shenlong could revive Tenshinhan. Unfortunately, Great Demon King Piccolo told Goku that he already killed Shenlong, thus preventing him from attacking him. While all of that was happening, Piccolo blew rocks at Goku to injure two of his limbs and making them unusable for the remainder of the fight.

* ''LightNovel/GoblinSlayer'': When the goblin horde are about to invade Cow Girl's village, the goblins use shields with their naked, raped and tortured prisoners attached on them. However, Goblin Slayer already anticipated their strategy and with the help of the guild adventurers, they used sleep magic to make the frontline goblins fall asleep and bring the girls to safety (while they are still attached on the shields) before the battle can begin. This strategy seems to be very common among the goblins, considering that the Goblin Lord's entire plan was completely predicted by Goblin Slayer who has fought so many of them that he knows exactly what they are going to do, even without confirming beforehand that they would use meat shields.

* A FlashBack in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers'' shows a desperate knife-wielding thug using a little girl as a Human Shield to hold back the police. The police do the smart thing and lets the sniper with ImprobableAimingSkills secretly take him out with a [[StunGuns bullet that does Magical Damage]]. [[spoiler: Unfortunately the guy turns at just the wrong moment and the sniper hits the little girl [[EyeScream in the eye]]. Worse, the hostage was the sniper's little sister, causing much emotional trauma.]]

* ''ComicBook/CodeNameGravedigger'': In ''Men of War'' #16, Von King ties Gravedigger to main gun of a panzer as a human shield: forcing his allies to either kill him by firing at the tank, or risk their own lives by holding off.

* In ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'', the Judges' standard sidearm has a special ammunition for this situation, Ricochet, which is specifically designed to do special trick shots to hit a hostage taker by bouncing the rounds off a back wall to hit the assailant. Depending on the writer, they might not even care. Taking down a perp is more important than not hurting a bystander (most judges consider non-judge citizens "potential perps" anyway). And, of course, its usefulness depends on the judge. While Dredd is able to get this trick to work every time he tries it, to a point where it's considered a trademark shot of his in the department, other judges are not guaranteed to pull this off.

* In the IDW ''[[ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW Transformers]]'' graphic novel ''[[ComicBook/TheTransformersAutocracy Autocracy]]'', an almost exact duplicate of the scene from the movie occurs. However in this continuity Hot Rod has SuperSpeed, and ducks out of Megatron's grasp after sticking about a dozen grenades to him. (The author also worked on the movie and felt bad that he'd made Hot Rod look like an idiot.)

** The situation is reversed in ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'', when Cyclops is taken as the Human Shield. This time, he bounces the beam off of [[MadeOfIron Colossus']] face.

* Inverted in ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', where Mr. Incredible takes Syndrome's right hand woman Mirage hostage in retribution for the "death" of his family. Syndrome, being a narcissistic and sociopathic villain [[KickTheDog showed his true colours]] and called his bluff, [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness saying she meant nothing to him.]] Of course being a hero Mr. Incredible didn't kill her, and she went on to betray Syndrome for total lack of caring by helping Mr. Incredible and his family escape. When she calls Syndrome out on this his response is basically to shrug and say that he knew Mr. Incredible wouldn't really hurt her, but his callous attitude cements her later decision to [[MistreatmentInducedBetrayal betray him]].

* At the climax of ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirlsMovie'', Mojo Jojo drags Professor Utonium back to his lair in order to use him for this purpose after realizing that the girls are quickly discovering the full, butt-kicking potential of their powers and there's no way he'll stand a chance against them in his current state. He even refers to the man outloud as a "good Powerproof vest." It ends up working, as the girls are scared enough to not attack, and Mojo buys himself enough time to [[spoiler:inject himself with a ton of additional Chemical X, becoming a gigantic, all-powerful beast that's more than strong enough to fight them. ]]

** At the end of the first film, the AxCrazy Scorpio Killer uses a boy as a human shield. Detective Callahan simply shoots him in the shoulder (given the range and the fact that the boy was too small to provide a lot of protection, Callahan could've put a bullet in Scorpio's chest or his head). Callahan then proceeds to give Scorpio one last chance to surrender, and then puts a bullet through him.

* An interesting variation in ''Film/{{Exam}}'' with the security guard, who is more of a LivingProp whom White drags round with him so he can manipulate the guard's weapon.
* Lampshaded in ''Film/{{Fear is the Key}}'' (1973). The VillainProtagonist is in a parking lot with the woman he's just taken hostage. She gets her hopes up when she sees two policemen checking out the cars. The villain promptly does a FakeoutMakeout, whispering in her ear, "First I'll shoot the fat one. And when the other's trying to figure out how to shoot me without hitting you, I'll shoot him." As a result she doesn't shout for help.

* ''Film/TheFugitive''. While the U.S. Marshals are searching a house for one of the fugitive prisoners, the prisoner grabs one of them and uses him to prevent Gerard from shooting him. Gerard uses basic tactical skills to flank the hostage taker and shoot him from the side not covered by the hostage.

* Subverted in ''Film/IronMan1''; when Tony starts laying into the terrorists attacking Gulmira, a bunch of them grab some nearby unarmed women and children and hold them at gunpoint. Unfortunately for them, Tony designed his armor with such a situation in mind, and promptly uses his targeting system to shoot them all without touching the hostages at all.

* ''Film/MenInBlack''. In the morgue the Bug grabs Laurel (the medical examiner) and uses her as a shield to prevent being shot by Agents J and K.

* Played with in ''Film/TheNakedGun'' movies. In one scene, the villain grabs the hero's girlfriend and places a gun to her head prompting Leslie Nielsen (the hero) to grab a random woman and place a gun to ''her'' head, as if such an act would stop the villain. In another scene, the heroes interrupt a formal banquet and announce their intention to capture the villain. This prompts about a half a dozen suited men in the audience to stand up and grab the women closest to them to use as human shields. When the suited men finally realize the heroes aren't talking about ''them'' they release the women and sheepishly sit back down.

* In ''Franchise/RoboCop'', the eponymous hero has a great targeting system to deal with this kind of situation. For instance in the [[Film/RoboCop1987 first film]] when a male assailant is using a woman as human shield, Robocop carefully shoots the crook between the hostages' legs in a successful gamble to [[GroinAttack hit his groin]] with just enough clearance with female human anatomy to miss her. The [[Film/RoboCop2 second film]] has him dealing with the similar situation by arranging a ricochet shot to hit the assailant from behind.

* ''Film/{{Speed}}'': When the main character, Jack, is asked what he would do in a Human Shield situation, he replies, "ShootTheHostage, take her out of the equation." He later faces the human shield situation twice in the movie, and one of those times he actually does shoot the hostage, but only in the leg, which surprises the villain enough to get the drop on him. It's worth noting that by the second human shield scenario, the villain's put explosives on the hostage and is carrying a dead man's switch to stop him from doing this.

* In Creator/StephenKing's novel ''Literature/TheDeadZone'', the protagonist tries to assassinate an evil politician, Greg Stillson. He fails, because Stillson uses [[ChildrenAreInnocent a child]] as a human shield; however, a photographer takes a picture of this moment and publishes it, ending Stillson's career.

** ''Deryni Checkmate'': While fighting his way out of St. Torin's shrine to rescue Morgan, Duncam grabs Gorony, holds him at swordpoint and demands Warin unlock the door. Warin refuses, so Duncan [[spoiler: uses his Deryni powers on the lock]], and he and Morgan take Gorony with them, leaving Warin and his remaining men locked inside.

* In the climax of ''Literature/{{Gone}}'', Caine realizes he is losing the fight, so he uses his telekinetic powers to move Astrid between himself and Sam. He tells Sam to kill him, but he'll have to kill Astrid, too, because she is in the line of fire. Litterally, the line of fire, considering his powers.

* In the first ''Literature/{{Sandokan}}'' novel, the captain of whatever ship of his fleet Sandokan is using has the standing order to put himself between him and anyone trying to shoot him, as Sandokan knows that all the swordfighting skills in the world are worthless against being gunned down. [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness This doesn't appear again in the following novels]].

* Done in an episode of ''Series/{{Alias}}'' in Mexico, where a criminal grabbed a daughter away from a mother and threatened to shoot her, if Sydney didn't comply. Luckily the CIA was able to hack into the guy's earpiece to make it shriek in order to daze him giving her the chance to shoot the other guys and rescue the girl.

* In an episode of ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'', the heir to a planet's throne ends up aboard the titular ship and arrives to his planet, which is currently in the hands of the corrupt aristocrats (who have orchestrated his father's death). Since the planet's SpaceNavy is horribly primitive compared to the ''Andromeda'', he threatens the aristocrat, prompting the aristocrat to order that civilian observers be posted on all of his ships and on all military bases from now on, knowing that Dylan would never fire on innocent civilians. Tyr praises the aristocrat on his choice of tactics.
* ''Series/{{Angel}}''. In "[[Recap/AngelS03E07Offspring Offspring]]", a vampire cult wants to worship Darla's baby, and intend sacrificing everyone in the room to it, including Darla. [[BewareTheNiceOnes Fred holds a knife to Darla's stomach and threatens to kill the child]] even though it's protected by a spell that prevents harm, as Fred whispers in Darla's ear. It's a good thing those vampires don't know that, eh?

** Done once or twice, and Michael gives a tip on what to do if take hostage in this manner: go limp -- it's hard to both lift and carry a body.

* Once in a while on ''Series/{{CSIMiami}}'' the episode's villain or one of their mooks will take a hostage. Unfortunately for them, if it's Horatio Caine the villain/mook is up against, he's a sharp shooter who often shoots the hostage taker, without the hostage being harmed, before they can even finish threatening him.

* ''Series/{{Chuck}}'': A somewhat comedic example occurs in "[[Recap/ChuckS4E02ChuckVsTheSuitcase Chuck Vs The Suitcase]]". Chuck and Sarah infiltrate [[VillainOfTheWeek Sofia's]] apartment while [[ShowerScene she's showering]] to steal the episode's MacGuffin. Sarah leaves to deal with the bodyguard and while Chuck is trying to open the safe, Sofia suddenly appears behind him [[CantBatheWithoutAWeapon holding a gun]] and [[FullFrontalAssault nothing else]]. When Sarah comes back, Sofia takes Chuck as her Human Shield (doubling as HandOrObjectUnderwear and with a shot of [[ToplessnessFromTheBack her bare back]] to show she's indeed nude) and Sarah seems actually more pissed off that [[ClingyJealousGirl Chuck is wrapped up against a naked woman]] than worried over his safety. The situation is resolved when Sarah shots the shower door behind Sophia and Chuck manages to free himself from her grip and they both escape, but not before Sarah quips that Sofia should "[[PleasePutSomeClothesOn Put Some Clothes On]]".

* Bulldog, in an episode of ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', used Roz (who was pregnant at the time) as a shield when someone pulls out a gun. It ends up looking like he tried to push her out of the way and is hailed as a hero. Only Frasier knows the truth but is unable to get him to confess. It all comes to a head at the ceremony in Bulldog's honor. Martin, who was just tired of listening to Frasier complain about it, randomly shouts, "HE'S GOT A GUN!" Sure enough, Bulldog does it again, this time, using his ''own mother'' as a shield.

** In "Tribunal", Mac is made a human shield by a suspected Taliban in Afghanistan with a knife aimed at her throat. She manages to get of his grip and beats him up.

* ''Series/ThePunisher2017''. In "The Whirlwind", worried that Frank Castle has only a pistol against the MoreDakka she can hear Pilgrim is using, Amy goes to help with her shotgun only to be grabbed as a hostage by Pilgrim. There follows a hallway scene where Frank is trying to ShootTheHostageTaker while Pilgrim is maneuvering to keep her between them, until Pilgrim is able to duck into an elevator with his hostage. [[spoiler:Ironically we later discover Pilgrim's gun was empty by that point.]]
* ''Series/PushingDaisies'': In one episode the Killer of the Week tries to use Olive Snook as a shield after his crimes are exposed. Since Olive played by the 4'11'' Creator/KristinChenoweth, and the killer is considerably taller, she isn't much of a shield as Emerson Cod quickly lampshades.

* ''Series/RizzoliAndIsles'' at the end of Season 1 an un-armed Rizzoli was [[StandardFemaleGrabArea grabbed]] by the bad guy and used to protect him from several dozen cops, including many of her close friends. She is screaming at them to "Shoot him!", apparently believing that if both she and the bad guy were shot, the [=EMT=]s in the group would save her. She and the bad guy were shot, and [[{{Cliffhanger}} the audience had to wait for the Season 2 opener to find out what happens]].

* In ''Roleplay/TheGamersAlliance'', quite a few characters -- heroic, villainous and anything in-between -- have no problem using people (whether humans or other races) as shields to get out of sticky situations. Sometimes it works, sometimes it...doesn't.

* In early editions of ''Tabletopgame/BattleTech''s Clan Invasion, [[HumongousMecha BattleMechs]] could carry friendly [[PoweredArmor BattleArmor]] into battle, at the cost of being unable to fire their torso-mounted weapons, and the battlearmor were vulnerable to being shot off. Players quickly realized that you could [[NotTheIntendedUse pile battlearmor onto your mech and use them as free torso armor]], because the mech's torso would take not damage until all the battlearmor were shot off. Rectified in an ObviousRulePatch, which placed a limit on battlearmor carrying capacity.
* The Dread Emperor in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' has a version which goes significantly ''beyond'' this trope. That's right, he's taken one of the most contemptible things people can do and ''made it worse''. How so? Not only is he hauling around children chained by the neck to his armor, he ''drains their health when he's injured''.

* While feeding, Rayne in ''VideoGame/BloodRayne'' can turn her victims around to shield herself from attackers. In Blood Rayne 2 she can do this while refilling her [[AbnormalAmmo blood guns]], can flip over the victim in either direction or even slide underneath the draining body for more defensive coverage.

* The [[BodyHorror Wyrm]] [[BadBoss Master]] demon from ''VideoGame/NexusClash'' can order its imp minions to position themselves in the path of incoming attacks, forcing enemies to mow through dozens of {{Mooks}} to attack the demon. Given the setting most enemies aren't likely to care about the body count, but the Wyrm Master is aiming to ''[[WeHaveReserves exhaust]]'' attackers, not guilt-trip them.

* In the ''VideoGame/ReservoirDogs'' video game (based on the film), you can take human shields and hit or threaten them to disarm cops. An even more notable example is when you are confronted by multiple cops and your [[ManaMeter adrenaline meter]] is full you can preform a special torture (offscreen of course) called a "Signature Move" (which range from PistolWhipping the hostage to cutting off the hostage's ear) that is so brutal that it will cause every cop in the area to [[PutDownYourGunAndStepAway drop their weapons and surrender.]]

* In ''VideoGame/Uncharted2AmongThieves'', Drake decides to take a {{Mook}} as human shield when cornered by [[BigBad Lazarevic.]] [[spoiler:It doesn't work.]]

* In ''VideoGame/StreetFighterXTekken'' Ibuki and Rolento are both partners but when she defeats him in battle she emphasizes she is not a human shield. Though this isn't shown in game and when one compares the [[HugeGuyTinyGirl size difference]] between them the tactic might not be too effective anyway.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''WebComic/GrrlPower''. Achilles is completely invulnerable, though that is his only superstrength. Prior to going down a trap-filled corridoor, Sydney [[SuperStrength grabs him]] and uses him as a probe to test for traps. He doesn't seem to mind.

* Completely subverted in "Boston Brawl 2" in the ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse''. The heroes (a bunch of teenagers from the SuperHeroSchool Whateley Academy) are fighting a BigBad, his hardened super-criminals, and some mercenaries the BigBad brought along too. One mercenary with flying power armor grabs the weakest-looking heroine (Generator is 14, but looks like a short 11-year-old girl) and threatens her with a knife. Generator's powers are a phenomenal healing rate and the ability to cast a psychokinetic copy of herself into objects. She embeds herself on the knife and casts a copy of herself into Ironhawk's armor, taking it over and using it as a weapon against the other badguys.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'': In "The Last Patrol", the Comicbook/DoomPatrol broke up after the supervillain General Zahl took a woman hostage and threatened to shoot her if the Patrol didn't let him go. The Patrol refused to let him go, and he followed through. The Patrol felt so guilty about letting an innocent person die that they went their separate ways and resigned themselves to languishing in obscurity.
* During ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'' Christmas special "[[Recap/TheBoondocksS1E7AHueyFreemanChristmas A Huey Freeman Christmas]]", a {{mall Santa}} uses a little girl as a human shield against Riley, who went on rampage firing airsoft guns at Santa, in retaliation for years of [[ItMakesSenseInContext Riley not getting what he wanted for Christmas]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', [[GeneralFailure Zapp]] does this with [[BeleagueredAssistant Kif]] when some aliens hold them at gun point. Kif is so lightweight that Zapp easily picks him up and holds him in the air.

* ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuestTheRealAdventures'': In a case of a hero doing this, Jonny once grabbed Jeremiah Surd (who while evil is wheelchair-bound) and used him as a shield to stop Lorenzo from shooting him. Lorzeno backed down rather than risk hitting Surd.

** Presumably why [[TheEmpire Imperial]] troop transports have prisoner holding cells mounted on the outside.

** Brick and Zoey use Anne-Maria's rock hard hair in order to cross no man's land to get to the other team in "[[Recap/TotalDramaIceIceBaby Ice Ice Baby]]".

* Lifeguards and rescue divers who work in choppy waters are ''supposed'' to resort to this trope if they're about to be dashed against rocks or other obstacles, while hauling an unconscious person to safety. It makes sense in theory -- if the rescuer gets knocked out also, both of them will surely drown -- but most people in that line of work admit that they doubt they could go through with it.

* Film/{{Nikita}}''. After waking up NotQuiteDead, Nikita beats up her captor, grabs his pistol and forces him at gunpoint to take her to the entrance, a locked steel door.

-->'''Bob:''' [[IWorksBetterWithBullets It's not loaded.]]

* [[SparedByTheAdaptation Tom]] describes himself as one a few times in ''Fanfic/{{Eleutherophobia}}''; the Yeerks used him to get the morphing tech because none of them expected Jake to be willing to [[KillTheHostBody kill his own brother]].

* [[SparedByTheAdaptation Tom]] describes himself as one a few times in the ''Fanfic/{{Eleutherophobia}}''; the Yeerks used him to get the morphing tech because none of them expected Jake to be willing to [[KillTheHostBody kill his own brother]].

* In ''Fanfic/GettingItRight'' Aizen tries to use Orihime as a shield against Ichigo, it works but his plan still backfires on him when [[spoiler:Orihime grabs Zangetsu and plunges it through her chest into Aizen leaving him seriously wounded. Sadly Orihime's wound is fatal and soon dies afterwards.]]

* Toad serves as one (apparently unwillingly) for Princess Peach in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros''.

* ''Film/{{Speed}}'': The TropeNamer. When the main character, Jack, is asked what he would do in a Human Shield situation, he replies, "ShootTheHostage, take her out of the equation." He later faces the human shield situation twice in the movie, and one of those times he actually does shoot the hostage, but only in the leg, which surprises the villain enough to get the drop on him. It's worth noting that by the second human shield scenario, the villain's put explosives on the hostage and is carrying a dead man's switch to stop him from doing this.