History Main / InfantImmortality

It seems to be the cardinal rule in shows that thrive on violence: you ''[[SortingAlgorithmOfMortality are not allowed]]'' to kill '''babies or young children.''' Or '''dogs,''' unless it is [[ShootTheDog a heart-breaking moment]] that [[DeathByNewberyMedal symbolizes the end of innocence]].

* In ''FarthingWoodFriends'', after the rodents have babies, the little ones are killed and impaled by a bird of prey in the very next episode, thus simultaneously averting Infant Immortality and WhatMeasureIsANonCute.

** The whole Hulk never killed anyone is a retcon. Dai Thomas, a character from ''Captain Britain'', hates superheroes because his wife was killed by debris caused by a fight between Thor and Hulk.
*** It may not even be true to begin with. The character who claims it is Amadeus Cho, who has the explicitly delusional idea that the Hulk is completely innocent and harmless and wouldn't hurt a fly.

* PlayedForDrama in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa782wOrUVM this UNICEF]] {{Smurfs}} short. The only onscreen survivor is a crying baby.

* This trope is usually averted in ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'', not with the members themselves but by their children. And this usually only happens to the five founding members. Donna Troy's son and stepdaughter were both killed in a car crash, along with their father. Wally West's twin children were aborted in the womb by the second Zoom, although this was undone some issues later and the two are currently alive. Baby Wildebeest also applies, as while he could shift from child to full grown monster, he was still technically a child when Superboy-Prime blew a hole through his torso. Tempest's wife and infant son were both missing since ''InfiniteCrisis'', and it was only recently stated the two had been dead since. Finally, Roy Harper's daughter Lian, the very first Titan child, was crushed to death in ''CryForJustice'' during the destruction of Star City.

** Heavily {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''Treehouse of Horror V'', where the teachers at Springfield Elementary are trying to kill Bart, Lisa, and Milhouse:

* In a more brutal way, sometimes children are killed by other humans.

* During [[UsefulNotes/{{Baseball}} the 2002 National League baseball season]], San Francisco Giants manager Dusty Baker often had his three-year old son Darren serve as batboy. In the bottom of the seventh inning of Game 5 of the World Series between the Giants and the Anaheim Angels, Kenny Lofton hit a triple with two men on. Young Darren obligingly ran out to the batter's box to collect Lofton's bat...just as J.T. Snow (who was on base at the time) was charging home. Snow had the presence of mind to scoop up the tyke and carry him away from the field, which was good because David Bell was behind ''him'' and could have seriously injured the little guy. After the season, Major League Baseball [[ObviousRulesPatch quickly passed a rule requiring all batboys to be at least 14]]. You can see the near-collision and rescue [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzV7x8WcR4g here]].

* In ''{{Fray}}'', Urkonn the demon Watcher kills a young girl Fray regards as her little sister, then [[MotivationalLie blames it on the vampires in order to spur her into defeating the vampires]].

* Averted in a TreehouseOfHorror special, where Film/KingKong Homer eats a little girl intended as a parody of Shirley Temple.
** Heavily {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''TheSimpsons'' Treehouse of Horror V, where the teachers at Springfield Elementary are trying to kill Bart, Lisa, and Milhouse:

* In ClassicalMythology, the goddess Hera tries to subvert this, attempts are made on almost all of Zeus' misbegotten get. Heracles and Dionysus of example just to name a few. Oddly enough she never seems to succeed.

* For ''literal'' Infant Immortality, see [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooke_Greenberg Brooke Greenberg]].
** Subverted as she died last year.

* In MarvelComics ''ComicBook/CaptainMarVell'' series, Genis time-travels to the future and meets his own evil, power-mad son, Ely. To defeat him, Genis [[spoiler:time-travels again and murders his son in the cradle.]]
** [[spoiler:'Cause raising him not to be evil and power-mad would be too much work]]?

* The ''{{Planetary}}'' issue introducing the {{Big Bad}}s has them disposing of the [[AlternateCompanyEquivalent local-reality analogues]] of GreenLantern, {{Superman}}, and WonderWoman before they assume their Super Hero identities. Naturally, the Superman analogue is a baby at the time, and is killed entirely offhandedly.
** And let's NOT go into how Drummer was rescued... Worst. Rescue. Ever. Indeed.

* ''{{Ultimate X-Men}}'' had a Sentinel incinerating a young mutant mother and her infant.

* FanFic/ABriefHistoryOfEquestria: In one chapter, Smart Cookie mentions in a letter to her husband that of the seven fillies she gave birth to, only four managed to survived to adulthood. Naturally, this is going to happen in a pre-industrial society with limited medical knowledge. Then remember Smart Cookie is one of the better off ponies of her day, and what that means for the average pony.
** Also averted later on, when Talonhoof [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Reviled]] makes an "example" of a pony one of his soldiers spared previously.

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* Speaking of TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}, this is actually averted in a number of occasions in the lore. The very first adventure contains an encounter where a goblin tries to eat a small child (though this one is played straight, the kid still has notable bitemarks and would have died if not for his father's last-second rescue) and contained details on the [[MotherOfAThousandYoung corrupt fertility goddess Lamashtu]], whose lore involves gaining power over births by ripping out and eating her uterus, then devouring babies to magically regenerate it, and who frequently has children sacrificed to her. The third adventure involves the party exploring the hut of a group of [[HillbillyHorrors ogrekin]] called the Grauls, where one room contains the bones of all of the incestuous clan matriarch's female offspring, murdered at birth to avoid being "competition" for her. Things just keep going from there.

--> ''Albert: "They've even killed the puppies. How could they kill something so cute?"''
--> ''[[IceQueen Seven]]: "Are you kidding me? Cute? So what? Is cuteness of something a good enough reason not to kill it?"''

* In the [[http://akaichounokoe.deviantart.com/gallery/38542206 M,WDYD?]][[http://akaichounokoe.deviantart.com/gallery/43453866 Series]] seems to be pretty consistant with killing people off in a "Kenny Death", children, especially the titular Madgie, included.
** Actually the reason as to why she has it that is to usually make the story poignant and just to show anyone can die in those stories. Don't worry, they get better when time is reversed.
* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', [[spoiler:the protagonist]] {{Mercy Kill}}s a toddler.
** The Slaughterhouse Nine also attacked a nursery at one point, albeit offscreen.

* Averted in a TreehouseOfHorror special, where Film/KingKong Homer eats a little girl.

--->'''(Milhouse falls backwards into a meat grinder)'''

* Animals. In fact, the vast majority die in juvenile stage.
** Special mentioning goes to reptiles that hunt on eggs and birds that destroy eggs to favour their own children.
* Rather common for humans too, especially in developing countries.
** Common enough to be the norm in developed countries before about 1900. To give an example, a typical 18th century English nobleman could be expected to father ten to fifteen legitimate children, but he'd be lucky to be survived by more than two of them. (High rates of death in childbirth even among the rich also meant that these children would likely be from two or three wives.)
*** What? If being survived by more than two was unusual, with all the food and resources available to noblemen, the poor would have likely had fewer unless they somehow managed to consistently pop out twenty-something babies per woman. The English population would have probably decreased if this were true, which was far from the case as it more than tripled.

* In ''Shadow Hunters'', one of the characters is a young girl. If you're playing her, the only way to win is to survive until the end of the game (there are several ways of ending the game besides killing everyone).
** In a reversal, the oldest looking character of the game, who is smiling and wearing a noose, wins if he dies first.

* In ''ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand'', SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker seems perfectly okay with shooting a baby. Commissioner Gordon's wife Sarah begs him not to, and trades her own life for theirs.
** This is notable in that this is the only time the Joker is ever sad after he kills someone.

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*** Also, the heroes occasionally have their dad's help as well as have powers of their own.

* Black Mage of ''WebComic/EightBitTheater'' consistently fails to kill a single orphan boy, instead destroying everything else around him, dooming him to live in a hell far worse than death could ever be.
** He also destroys a barge full of medicine and food for orphans.
*** And an orphanage.

* Second edition ''DungeonsAndDragons'' actually gave stats and experience point recommendations for depicting infants in several species, up to and including humanoids like orcs.

* In ''Franchise/MassEffect'' Fanfic [[Fanfic/CrucibleMassEffect Crucible]], this trope is averted to hell and back with all the numbers of dead children and babies. Unless you're baby!Gaius, chances are you're gonna die a horrible death. One can even say that you're lucky to simply be killed and not having something terrible done to you before and after your death.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* In ''Series/BreakingBad'' we see two kids get murdered, Thomas Cantillo in Season 3, and Drew Sharpe in Season 5.
* In ''Series/CriminalMinds'', some of the murderers have taken child victims.
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* In ''OffWhite,'' this is averted when Gebo returns home to find that his entire pack has been shot by humans, and the puppies are dead.

* In the current ''BoosterGold'' series, the bad guys will deal with their foes by smothering them in the cradle. This actually befalls Rex Hunter, and requires Rip Hunter to completely conceal his origin, and Booster Gold to keep and reinforce his reputation as FunPersonified, because they know they do not have Infant Immortality.

* {{Filmation}}, of all studios, has been known to avert this trope (see the ''Star Trek'' example above, plus ''WesternAnimation/BraveStarr'' and ''Fat Albert And The Cosby Kids'').

* In the MaximumCarnage storyline Carnage killed several children in his rampage.

* The ''Literature/BraveNewWorldUniverse'' generally follows this, but Tech Adventures uses this a few times. To torment Sasha some more [[spoiler:the Joker (NOT the DC Joker)]] kidnaps a bus full of third graders, blowing up all the boys. He then proceeds to take to the airwaves where he [[spoiler:tortures one girl leaving her paralyzed]], and almost blows up the rest of them.

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