History Main / InTheBack

* [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] machine-guns a couple of fleeing, unarmed bandits in the 1941 FilmSerial ''Film/TheAdventuresOfCaptainMarvel''. It was the first superhero film so the 'rules' hadn't been established, with the character borrowing freely from the pulp adventure genre and therefore is not afraid to kill his opponents. ''Film/JMenForever'' parodied this scene by turning "The Caped Madman" into a HeroicComedicSociopath.

-->'''Queen:''' Hello, [[LesYay pretty-pretty]]... ''[dual knife twirling]''

* [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] machine-guns a couple of fleeing, unarmed bandits in ''Film/TheAdventuresOfCaptainMarvel'', which is odd behaviour for a superhero of any time, let alone that time. Unlike his comic counterpart, this version of Captain Marvel is equal parts pulp adventurer and superhero, and as a result, is not afraid to kill his opponents. ''Film/JMenForever'' parodied this scene by turning "The Caped Madman" into a HeroicComedicSociopath.

* ''Manga/{{Strider}}'': The MegaCorp [[CorruptCorporateExecutive secretary Yuri]] sells out his boss to Hiryu, and as soon as Hiryu turns his back on Yuri to go after the man, he pulls up a gun ready to shoot him from behind. Noticing this, Hiryu simply swings his [[AbsurdlySharpBlade Cypher]] while not turning around, slicing the cowardly man across the face.

** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': ComicBook/{{Ares|DC}} kills Hades by pretending to ally with the elder generation of gods and then stabbing him in the back while he is distracted trying to kill Wonder Woman.

** When Squad 6 come to arrest Rukia in Season 1, Ichigo tries to intervene and fights the Squad 6 lieutenant Renji Abarai. Just as Ichigo is winning, captain Kuchiki Byakuya {{Flash Step}}s in from behind and breaks Ichigo's sword. As Ichigo turns to face him, Byakuya {{Flash Step}}s again behind Ichigo, stabbing him in the back right through his heart, ending the fight and leaving Ichigo to die. In a show where most fights last several episodes, [[CurbStompBattle this one]] is [[OneHitKill over in seconds]]. In fact, it all happenes so fast that Ichigo is on the ground before he even knows that he's been attacked. (Renji reveals that this is Byakuya's favorite attack for minor opponents. In their HeroicRematch it doesn't work so well.)

* In ''Film/WhisperingSmith'', [spoiler:Smith's EvilFormerFriend Murray Sinclair attempts to put a LastBreathBullet into Smith's back but expires before he can do so.]]

* In ''Film/WhipseringSmith'', [spoiler:Smith's EvilFormerFriend Murray Sinclair attempts to put a LastBreathBullet into Smith's back but expires before he can do so.]]

* ''Film/TheQuickAndTheDead'': Having given Ratsy a MercyLead of twenty seconds to get out of town, Herod takes a rifle from one of his bodyguards and calmly shoots Ratsy in the back as he is still running.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E152MrGarrityAndTheGraves Mr. Garrity and the Graves]]", Sheriff Gilchrist shot the notorious outlaw "Lightning" Peterson in the back in the presence of six deputies. As such, he does not want him to come back from the dead and pays Jed Garrity $1,200 to prevent this from happening. [[spoiler:It turns out that Garrity's ceremony was successful in resurrecting Peterson and the other 127 people buried in Boot Hill Cemetery, and Peterson plans to have his revenge on Gilchrist.]]

* ''[[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion End of Evangelion]]'':

** ''Manga/PhantomBlood'': Dio Brando stabs Jonathan's father George in the back, [[TakingTheBullet though it was actually Jonathan himself Dio was aiming for]].
** ''Manga/BattleTendency'': Kars quickly proves what a dishonorable cheat he is when he distracts Lisa-Lisa with a body double and stabs her in the back after he had just agreed to a fair duel with her for the Red Stone of Aja.
** ''Manga/StardustCrusaders'': J. Geil's [[FightingSpirit Stand]], Hanged Man, stabs Avdol in the back, with the coup-de-grace being a bullet in the head, courtesy of Hol Horse. [[spoiler: It's revealed that Avdol survived the headshot by dodging in a way that the bullet only grazed him, but how he survived the stabbing is left unclear.]]
** ''Manga/GoldenWind'': [[spoiler: Bucciaratti and Abbacchio]] are brutally impaled from behind by King Crimson's fist. [[spoiler: It's fatal in both cases, but thanks to [[CreatingLife Giorno]], Bucciaratti is at least able to make it to Rome before he expires for good.]]
** ''Manga/StoneOcean'': After Pucci [[spoiler: fully evolves his Stand into Made In Heaven]], the first of his victims is [[spoiler: Narciso Anasui]], who is slain from behind.

* Doc Brown was supposed to be shot in the back by Buford Tannen over a matter of eighty dollars in ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII''.

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* ''VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors'' has examples in the "Submarine", "Knife", and "Safe" endings:
** In the "Submarine" ending, [[spoiler:after discovering that everyone around you is dead, you leave them all behind and try to escape in the yellow sub... and just as you're reaching the hatch, you get stabbed by an unrevealed person. It's heavily implied that the one who killed them all is Ace.]]
** In the "Knife" ending, [[spoiler:you go down to E Deck and discover that Lotus is dead. Stabbed. [[GenreBlindness Thanks to your great intelligence]], you get knifed as well while examining her body. Again, it's widely accepted that the one who killed both of you is Ace.]]
** In the "Safe" ending, [[spoiler:Clover is stabbed by Ace because she knows about Musashidou and the fact that he's got the 9th Man's bracelet]].
* ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice'': [[spoiler:Inga Karkhuul Khura'in, the DirtyCoward who killed the Defiant Dragons' leader Dhurke Sahdmadhi, ends up getting knifed in the back by his traitorous wife Ga'ran doing a DeadPersonImpersonation.]]
* This is how the Nanaya clan in ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'' operates. As they're almost entirely normal humans going up against demons and vampires, the only way to win is to get close to them before they notice you and cut them to bits. Kiri, Shiki's father, actually used a mace to crush skulls, throats and internal organs. Shiki can mostly avoid this one because his eyes [[GameBreaker cheat]], though he does take out at least one DAA like this in supplementary material.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]

** In "[[Recap/IlEtaitUneFoisManE10TheAgeOfVikings The Age of Vikings]]", Viking!Teigneux, a chief-turned-outlaw, [[spoiler:stabs Viking!Pierre in the back with his sword, only to get killed by Viking!Pierrot]].

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': In "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS3E3SameOldWorld Same Old World]]", it's revealed that the poofing that began [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Lapis Lazuli's]] TraumaCongaLine came via her getting punched in the back. [[spoiler:This is a key factor in why she and the attacker responsible, Bismuth, [[ForgottenFirstMeeting don't recognize each other]] when they meet each other properly later.]]

** ''Manga/GoldenWind'': [[spoiler: Bucciaratti and Abbacchio]] are both impaled from behind by King Crimson's fist. [[spoiler: It's fatal in both cases, but thanks to [[CreatingLife Giorno]], Bucciaratti is at least able to make it to Rome before he expires for good.]]

* Bugg's mission in ''VideoGame/{{Kindergarten}}'' requires the player to kill Ms. Applegate by getting her to turn her back before stabbing her with a knife. However, the game's GroundhogDayLoop mechanic means that it doesn't stick. [[spoiler:You repeat the deed in the OmegaEnding of ''VideoGame/Kindergarten2'' to save Buggs from being strangled by her.]]

* ''Franchise/TheKingOfFighters'': At the end of ''2001'', K9999 attempted to [[TeamKiller murder his own teammate Foxy]] via stabbing her in the back. Needless to say, [[spoiler:when the two meet again in one of ''XV'''s endings, Foxy is visibly not happy to see K9999 (or Krohnen, as he now goes by) and only Kula's intervention prevents a brawl breaking out]].

** Used all the time by the [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Numbers]] [[HollywoodCyborg Cyborg]] {{D|ualWielding}}eed in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers''. [[spoiler:This leads to her downfall in the end, as Teana predicts her doing this [[BadassBack and counters accordingly]].]]

* This is how [[spoiler:Mercutio]] kills [[spoiler:Laertes Montague]] in ''Anime/RomeoXJuliet''.

* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'':

* [[Anime/SailorMoon Sailor Uranus]] does this to [[Manga/RanmaOneHalf Ryouga]] in ''[[Fanfic/TheDarkLordsOfNerima The Dark Lords Ascendant]]'' when he turns his back on her after [[PleasePutSomeClothesOn seeing her naked]] during her transformation. To her surprise, [[MadeOfIron it only makes him mad]].
* In ''Fanfic/GoldenThreadsTieUs'', [[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Severa]] has mastered the art of blindsiding and backstabbing the enemy. She has lost count of how many mindless zombies she has slain via driving her sword into their backs.

* In ''Fanfic/ThePrayerWarriors'', in the [[RetCon retconned]] version of the scene in which [[Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians Zeus]] is [[KillTheGod killed]], [[SelfMadeOrphan Thalia]], who wasn't there in the original version, stabs Zeus in the back while Percy stabs him in the heart.

* This trope is dealt with in the ''[[Literature/TheHungerGames Hunger Games]]'' fanfic ''Fanfic/SomeSemblanceOfMeaning''. When [[spoiler:[[{{Deuteragonist}} Obsidian]] is leaving the pack]], he ends up stabbing [[spoiler:Ford, the guy from District Four,]] in the back. This comes back to haunt him, and later on, in his fight with Achilles, the latter mocks him for being a backstabber. Then, [[spoiler:when Obsidian has him prostrate on the ground and is preparing to kill him, Achilles asks him to just let him turn over first, so he won't stab him in the back, and lets him stab him in the chest instead.]]

* In ''Film/RoguesOfSherwoodForest'', King John summons four of the barons to his castle where he [[NastyParty has his archers shoot them in the back]].

%%* Happens in ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame''.

* ''Literature/{{Mahabharata}}'': During the final duel between Karna and Arjuna, Karna's chariot got stuck in the mud. Despite calling for a break while he tried to get it unstuck, Arjuna shot him in the back of the head with an arrow.

* In the ''Literature/{{Nibelungenlied}}'', Hagen spears Siegfried in the back while Siegfried is drinking water from a spring during a hunt. This also happens in most other versions of the Siegfried story. Of course, [[FridgeLogic if you think about it]], since Siegfried's one vulnerable spot happens to be on his back, it's not so much cowardly as it is reasonable, unless you think your enemies ought to be obligated to attack you only in ways that cannot possibly harm you.