History Main / KickingMyOwnButt

* ''Series/Smallville'': in "Precipice", Helen's psycho ex-boyfriend Paul smashes his own face into a mirror, which leaves deep gashes in his forehead and blackens both eyes. Then he admits himself to Helen's hospital and claims her new boyfriend Lex paid some thugs to beat him up.

Sometimes this is used to set up a WoundedGazelleGambit, PoliceBrutalityGambit, or for PlayingTheVictimCard, while other times it's a literal form of FightingFromTheInside. In cartoons, this can result from a BigBallOfViolence in which all but one character escapes.

The "Voluntarily" part is important. If the self-hitting is involuntary, it's StopHittingYourself.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'' Episode III ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' has [[BigBad Palpatine]] effectively do this when, disarmed by Mace Windu, he blasts [[ShockAndAwe Force Lightning]] directly into Mace Windu’s lightsaber to reflect it back onto himself and make it appear that Mace Windu brutally attacked him while he was defenseless. He claims that “the attempt on (his) life (from the Jedi) has left (him) scarred and deformed” [[WoundedGazelleGambit as a ploy to get both the Galactic Republic and]] [[TheChosenOne Anakin Skywalker]] [[WoundedGazelleGambit to feel sympathy and side with him over the Jedi.]] The Republic was not there to witness it, giving them no reason to doubt the claim. [[WhatAnIdiot As for Anakin, who saw the whole scene play out right in front of him...]]

--->'''Palpatine:''' Help me, Anakin! The Jedi are taking over!
--->'''Anakin: ''' Why are you shocking yourself?

->''"Man, man, we should start putting those Homestar Vs. Homestar fights on pay-per-view. Instant classics!"''
-->-- '''Strong Bad''', ''WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail'' #165 [[Recap/StrongBadEmailE165StrongBadathlon "strong badathlon"]]

-->-- '''Strong Bad''', ''[[WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail Strong Bad E-Mail, strong badathlon]]''

* ''Franchise/StarWars'' Episode III ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' has [[BigBad Palpatine]] effectively do this when, disarmed by Mace Windu, he blasts [[ShockAndAwe Force Lightning]] directly into Mace Windu’s lightsaber to reflect it back onto himself and make it appear that Mace Windu brutally attacked him while he was defenseless. He claims that “the attempt on (his) life (from the Jedi) has left (him) scarred and deformed” as a ploy to get both the Galactic Republic and [[TheChosenOne Anakin Skywalker]] to feel sympathy and side with him over the Jedi. The Republic was not there to witness it, giving them no reason to doubt the claim. [[WhatAnIdiot As for Anakin, who saw the whole scene play out right in front of him...]]

* In Jonbro's Franchise/SuperMario parody ''WebAnimation/PowerStar'' ''4.5'', Mario is shown constantly dealing more damage to himself than to his brother, Luigi. While this mostly only happens during the first few seconds, the remainder of the battle still shows him not putting much effort into actually hurting Luigi

* In the ''WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail'' "strong badathlon", one of the events is "Greco-Roman Homestar Crud-Out-Of-Beating." The reigning champion is none other than Homestar, who is shown beating the crud out of himself.
-->'''Homestar Runner:''' C'mon, you little so-and-so! (''SLAP! PUNCH!'') Is that all you got? (''PUNCH! PUNCH!'') Oh yeah? Oh yeah? You think you got it like that?

Not to be confused with SelfAbuse, which doesn't have a motive beyond causing pain to yourself.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': It's said in ''Discworld/AHatFullOfSky'' that [[PintSizedPowerhouse Nac Mac Feegle]] are [[BloodKnight so belligerent]], one left on his own for long enough will try to kick himself in the nose to alleviate the boredom.

* On the WesternAnimation/{{Classic Disney Short|s}} ''Disney/LonesomeGhosts'', Goofy tries to ambush one of the ghosts hiding in a dresser, but he ends up trying to strangle himself. He then sees his own butt and, thinking it's the ghost's, stabs it with a thumbtack.

* ''Literature/Discworld'': It's said that [[PintSizedPowerhouse Nac Mac Feegle]] are [[BloodKnight so belligerent]], one left on his own for long enough will try to kick himself in the nose to alleviate the boredom.

* In a sketch from a ''Series/MontyPython'' live stage show, Graham Chapman plays Colin "Bomber" Harris, a wrestler who goes up against...Colin "Bomber" Harris.

* ''Film/LiarLiar'': Fletcher Reede desperately needs an excuse to get out of a court case since he's stuck with a curse so that he CanNotTellALie. After hurting himself in the bathroom (by knocking his head against the wall), he comes up with the idea of beating himself up to get out of the case.

** In ''The Watch'', Marvin refuses to give the back family heirloom Darwin gave away, so Gumball uses Marvin's cane to beat himself [[WoundedGazelleGambit for the sake of accusing Marvin of having done it when the cops come]]. After hitting himself once [[GoneHorriblyRight he becomes too disoriented to remember what he was even doing.]]

* ''Series/TheOffice'': As Dwight is giving a martial arts demonstration, Jim states that "the only one who can defeat you is yourself", which leads to Dwight trying moves on himself.

-> '''Strong Bad:''' Man, man, we should start putting those Homestar Vs. Homestar fights on pay-per-view. Instant classics!
-->--''[[WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail Strong Bad E-Mail, strong badathlon]]''

Not to be confused with SelfAbuse, which is an entirely...different form of .

** Also - [[spoiler:at the beginning of the film, the narrator and Tyler Durden have fighting sessions in the parking lot of a restaurant. At the end, when it's revealed that Tyler was a figment of the narrator's imagination, it's shown that the narrator was actually alone and beating himself up.]]

Sometimes this is used to set up a WoundedGazelleGambit, PoliceBrutalityGambit, or for PlayingTheVictimCard. In cartoons, this can result from a BigBallOfViolence in which all but one character escapes.

Not to be confused with SelfAbuse.