History Main / NobodyCanDie

* Played with in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7427427/8/Team-Zero Team Zero]]'' where [[Anime/{{Pokemon}} Team Rocket]] are horrified at the idea that [[LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero Miss Longueville/Fouquet]] will be executed for her crimes since the death penalty doesn't exist in the Pokemon world.

!!As this evaluation is often made at the end of a work, then some instances of this trope qualify as an {{Ending Trope|s}}. Thus, [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff unmarked spoilers abound]]. [[Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned Beware]].

!!As this evaluation is often made at the end of a work, then some instances of this trope qualify as an EndingTrope. Thus, unmarked spoilers abound. Beware.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' mentions or implies many deaths from a [[GreatOffscreenWar civil war in the distant past]], [[HostileTerraforming gem colonization]], and Homeworld's brutal regime, and the title character's mother [[DeathOfPersonality effectively died]] [[DeathByChildbirth giving birth to him]]. However, in the timeframe of the show, the only two characters that die ([[spoiler:Lars and Jasper]]) [[DeathIsCheap are resurrected in the same episode]]. Mostly this is because all gems, even the monsters, can [[FromASingleCell regenerate from any injury]] that doesn't damage their HeartDrive, and the few villains that attempted to do so are stopped. The only (semi)-intelligent lifeforms we see permanently die are some of Steven's plant creatures. Unlike most cartoon examples, the show's crew were allowed to show death, but choose not to--the show's creator even twice specified that characters taken away by Homeworld were ''not'' going to be executed.

* The ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' series in general. Every defeated foe is a NonLethalKO unless it's the FinalBoss of an RPG (and even then that's not a certainty). This is a series where characters having "Extra Lives" is ''canon'', after all.

Compare and contrast NonLethalWarfare, where the combatants are deliberately using nonlethal weaponry, rather than the lack of deaths seeming to be a happy coincidence. Also compare EverybodyLives. The difference between that trope and this one is that Everybody Lives generally applies to just one book or season where the others can have high fatality counts, whereas in this trope, people ''never'' die. Not to be confused with DeathTakesAHoliday, which is when death is literally impossible because TheGrimReaper is no longer on the job.

* ''Series/{{Community}}'' parodies the ''G.I. Joe'' in the ParodyEpisode, "[[Recap/CommunityS5E11GIJeff G.I. Jeff]]", where Jeff hallucinates himself and the rest of the cast being members of G.I. Joe. In a unrepresented move for a G.I. Joe character, Jeff actually kills Destro, by shooting his parachute to pieces when he attempts the usual VillainExitStageLeft, a move which greatly shock and upset the other members of G.I. Joe, who court martial him for murder. Trying to defend himself at the trial, Jeff lampshades the original show's use of StatusQuoIsGod by arguing that G.I. Joe's refusal to risk killing the operatives of a major terrorist organisation means that the war with them is just going to [[ForeverWar keep going on forever]], which kind of makes G.I. Joe just as bad as Cobra. Things escalate later in the episode, where Jeff attempts to lie down suppressive fire, but accidentally ends up shooting and killing a whole squad of Cobra operatives as well as inadvertently setting the G.I. Joe medic, Lifeline, [[ManOnFire on fire]], causing him to burn to death. These actions eventually lead Cobra and G.I. Joe to see Jeff as the biggest threat against them both, culminating in them pulling an EnemyMine on him and forming the organisation "Jo-Bra" in attempt to stop him from killing more people.

* ''Anime/DaiGuard'' features a [[HumongousMecha Giant Robot]] fighting {{Kaiju}} all across Japan, with copious amounts of property destruction as a result. But never fear, the effected area is always evacuated beforehand! This culminates in the final episodes where [[UpToEleven the whole of Tokyo]] (which contains about 10% of Japan's ''entire population'') is evacuated to provide a suitable arena.

* ''Film/{{Masterminds}}'' starring Creator/PatrickStewart is a fantastically flagrant example of this. People should be dying left and right but every single time, the film's powers that be go to the outrageous lengths needed to contrive the deadly threats somehow to always have non-lethal consequences. (As opposed to the earlier movie ''Film/ToySoldiers'', which has almost the same plot, but not this constraint.)

* Parodied in a SomethingCompletelyDifferent episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' (which does have a small number of character deaths), when Bat-Mite shows us some of the weirder takes on Batman, including a StylisticSuck badly-dubbed 70s anime, based loosely on the 1960s ''Manga/{{Batman}}'' manga series. At the end of this segment, the villain's plane explodes. We see the villain's mask zoom past the camera as it's torn to shreds. Then:

[[folder: Literature]]
* in the ''Literature/LandOfOz'' books, a spell was casted so no one can age or die. It’s all fun and games until you realize that even [[AndIMustScream if you get your head chopped off, or get transformed into a statue, you’ll be conscious nonetheless.]]
[[/folder]]

* This is an unspoken law of ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'', and of all {{zany cartoon}}s which follow in its footsteps: characters can get shot, squashed, blown up, dropped from great heights and otherwise severely hurt in ways that would otherwise be fatal, but only wind up with AmusingInjuries. The only exception is if and when said death can be done [[RuleOfFunny in a funny way]] (and the character will usually [[SnapBack come back later anyway]]).

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb.'' Anyone who suffers something obviously lethal (car crash, a house falling on them, etc) will remark "I'm alright!" without a trace of pain.[[note]]Unless it's Doofenshmirtz, in which case the pain is present in his voice[[/note]] The creators commented about this in an interview, noting that as far as the network is concerned, anything can happen to a character as long as they throw that in.

* While Creator/MarvelComics has never played this ''entirely'' straight, Creator/JimShooter tried very hard to enforce the company's otherwise semi-elastic "No Killing" rule during his tenure as Editor-In-Chief. This led to a legendary feud with writer/artist Creator/JohnByrne, who [[WriterRevolt made it a point of pride]] to sneak as many kills as possible into his work on the ''ComicBook/XMen'' comic. After Shooter found out, he forced the writers to {{retcon}} this and [[EnforcedTrope show all the dead characters alive again]], though Claremont was creative and brought them back as vengeful Cyborgs who wanted revenge on Wolverine for what he did to them. It's important to note that Shooter was mostly fine with villains killing, like Bullseye killing Elektra, Hobgoblin killing some of his minions, and the Marauders killing countless Morlocks.

Sometimes, nobody can die, even when it seems like they should. Unlike NeverSayDie, they're allowed to use the ''words'' "kill" and "die", but for whatever reason no one ever actually ''does'' any killing or dying. It's not AmusingInjuries — the situations faced by the characters are presented as realistically dangerous and the threat of injury or death is definitely present. Nor is it simply PlotArmor — when Nobody Can Die, even the lowliest mook is seemingly immortal. It simply seems to be a law of physics that no situation can result in the death of a person — gunshots leave people [[AlmostLethalWeapons injured but alive]], explosions cause lots of property damage but never seem to happen with people in the blast radius, and the worst thing that can happen to characters in general is a NonLethalKO. Note that, since ''talking'' about death is allowed, there may be references to characters that have died in the past, but onscreen deaths are still verboten.

* ''ComicBook/MortadeloYFilemon'' The 1994 AnimatedAdaptation tried to replicate the comic-book panels and dialogues, ComicBook/SinCity-like, but avoiding DemographicallyInappropriateHumour: Deaths are explicitly avoided, and hearse are replaced by ambulances.

* in the “Literature/Land of oz” a spell was casted so no one can age or die. It’s all fun and games until you realize that even {{and I Must Scream if you get your head chopped off, or get transferred into a statue, you’ll be conscious none of the less.}}

** Bat-Mite proceeds to all but state that "

* Parodied in a SomethingCompletelyDifferent episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' (which does have a small number of character deaths), when Bat-Mite shows us some of the weirder takes on Batman, including a StylisticSuck badly-dubbed 70s anime, based loosely on the 1960s ''Manga/{{Batman}}'' manga series. At the end of this segment, the villain's plane explodes. We see the villain's mask zoom past the camera as it's torn to shreds. Then Robin quips:
-->'''Robin''': Lord Death Man paid the ultimate price for his evil ... although I'm certain he parachuted to safety.

* While Creator/MarvelComics has never played this ''entirely'' straight, Creator/JimShooter tried very hard to enforce the company's otherwise semi-elastic "No Killing" rule during his tenure as Editor-In-Chief. This led to a legendary feud with writer/artist Creator/JohnByrne, who [[WriterRevolt made it a point of pride]] to sneak as many kills as possible into his work on the ''ComicBook/XMen'' comic. After Shooter found out, he forced the writers to {{retcon}} this and [[EnforcedTrope show all the dead characters alive again]]. It's important to note that Shooter was mostly fine with villains killing, like Bullseye, Kingpin and Magneto.

* While Creator/MarvelComics has never played this ''entirely'' straight, Creator/JimShooter tried very hard to enforce the company's otherwise semi-elastic "No Killing" rule during his tenure as Editor-In-Chief. This led to a legendary feud with writer/artist Creator/JohnByrne, who [[WriterRevolt made it a point of pride]] to sneak as many kills as possible into his work on the ''ComicBook/XMen'' comic. After Shooter found out, he forced the writers to {{retcon}} this and [[EnforcedTrope show all the dead characters alive again]].

Nobody Can Die is a compromise between AnyoneCanDie, which can be upsetting to younger or more sensitive audiences, and NeverSayDie, which can seem childish even to children. It is occasionally ''imposed'' upon writers by ExecutiveMeddling; in these cases, expect them to try GettingCrapPastTheRadar. OnlyEvilCanDie is the next level of compromise, where death only takes characters the audience are meant to think deserve it.

* While Creator/MarvelComics has never played this ''entirely'' straight, Creator/JimShooter tried very hard to enforce the company's otherwise semi-elastic "No Killing" rule during his tenure as Editor-In-Chief. This led to a legendary feud with writer/artist Creator/JohnByrne, who [[WriterRevolt made it a point of pride]] to [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar sneak as many kills as possible]] into his work on the ''ComicBook/XMen'' comic. After Shooter found out, he forced the writers to {{retcon}} this and [[EnforcedTrope show all the dead characters alive again]].

Nobody Can Die is a compromise between AnyoneCanDie, which can be upsetting to younger or more sensitive audiences, and NeverSayDie, which can seem childish even to children. It is occasionally ''imposed'' upon writers by ExecutiveMeddling; in these cases, expect them to try GettingCrapPastTheRadar.

* In ''Film/IronMan2'', despite the Hammer Drones going amok amid the crowded Stark Expo and doing untold fortunes in property damage, not a single bystander is ever shown getting so much as a boo-boo.
** This is something of a common theme of the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, and [[MemeticMutation many jokes have been made]] about [[Film/TheAvengers2012 The Battle of New York]] having a death toll consisting entirely of aliens and parked cars.

* ''Anime/KantaiCollection'', perhaps due to it mashing together SliceOfLife and WarArc themes that [[MoodWhiplash clash against each other]], winds up not killing off anyone despite stresses being made about the situation being a dire nature. In fact, [[spoiler:only ''one'' character dies and another character has their fate questioned]].