History Main / InescapableNet

[[AC:{{Comic Books}}]]

** Don't know if that's a good example of this trope or not, since they actually get out of the net on their own pretty quickly, but it did give the Ewoks enough time to surround them.

-->'''Master Betty''': Yes, a tiny net is a death sentence, it's a net and it's tiny!

* In the ''Aasman Ko Chukar'' sequence in ''TheReturnOfHanuman'', Hanuman used a net to capture figures with a bad name such as terrorists and GeorgeWBush.

* Parodied in ''OrderOfTheStick'', [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0556.html where the party gets trapped in a net]] on an island with an orc tribe hunting after them. They quickly figure out a way to get out of the net, but Elan warns them that the presence of the net is proof that they were ''supposed'' to be caught, and that trying to escape from the net is ultimately futile because the narrative structure is working against them. They're then beat up while still removing the net.

<<|AnimatedTrope|>>

* Spoofed in ''KungPowEnterTheFist'': the hero is trapped in a net that isn't even big enough to cover his head.

* The nets in the ''{{Predator}}'' film series are quite effective, but that's also because they automatically contract on the target and are apparently made out of something like piano wire, so targets are less incapacitated and more cubed.

* Many {{Hanna-Barbera}} cartoons, but done most blatantly in ''{{Superfriends}}''. These are characters with the ability to vibrate through walls, move entire planets, turn into lightning bolts- but put them under a net and they have no idea what to do. If you're lucky, it'll be a kryptonite net, but that still doesn't explain that no one else can escape.

* In ''TheFairlyOddParents'', fairies are literally incapable of escaping if trapped in a butterfly net. Not a special, fancy net--an ordinary butterfly net. Talk about WeaksauceWeakness!
** [[AWizardDidIt Rules of magic.]]

* In the ''LooneyTunes'' short "Elmer's Candid Camera", Elmer puts a net over BugsBunny (or his prototype at any rate). Bugs then begins gasping for air and [[FakingTheDead pretends to die]], causing Elmer to [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone sob and call himself a murderer]].

To some extent this is TruthInTelevision. Animals surprised by nets usually don't have enough time to figure out a way to get out of it before the hunter is able to incapacitate them permanently. Of course, anything that is substantially stronger, smarter or with more escape time than your typical hunted animal doesn't have this excuse.

[[AC:{{Game Books}}]]
* In ''Lone Wolf'' #8, your traveling companion Paido is snagged by the bad guys in a net that is also studded with fish hooks, making it practically impossible to quickly free him before they drag him off. You see him again a couple of books later, alive but covered in scars from where the hooks were pulled out.

* Averted in a very early {{Spider-Man}} comic featuring Kraven the Hunter's debut. Kraven catches Spidey in a net, but Spidey reasons that, just as a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, the net must have a weak joint in it, and he then tests netting till he finds a part he can make big enough to escape through. All at super-spidey-speed, of course.

* The [[{{Pokemon}} Pokémon]] caught inside Team Rocket's nets will only rarely manage to free themselves, despite them usually being pretty powerful in battle. Usually handwaved as being electric/whatever proof nets.

* The {{Star Wars}} Extended Universe features 'Connor Nets', which are capable of doing this to ''starships''.

-->Mayor: That tiny net was sure-fire master!
-->Master Betty: Yes, a tiny net is a death sentence, it's a net and it's tiny!

** Justified in that the trap was sprung a split second after they entered the area and the net had caught them in such a way that they couldn't reach their weapons. It was the kind of net that came from below and suspended everyone in the air.

** As well as Stokhli Spray Sticks, which basically fire [[StaticStunGun electrified riot goop]].

** As well as Stokhli Spray Sticks, which basically fire electrified riot goop.

* the {{Star Wars}} Extended Universe features 'Connor Nets', which are capable of doing this to ''starships''.

-->? ''Bat Thumb''