History Main / NobodyCanDie

* Nobody dies in the ''Manga/ZettaiKarenChildren'' anime (the manga…not so much). There ''is'' a prophecy, shown on-screen, where [[spoiler: Kaoru]] dies, however.

* 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 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]].

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, etc.; the worst thing that can happen to characters, it seems, 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.

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, etc. 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.

* In the MegaCrossover FanWebcomic ''Webcomic/{{Roommates}}'' and it's SpinOff ''Webcomic/GirlsNextDoor'' nobody can die and nobody even [[DeathIsCheap stays dead]], who died in his own story is only "canonically" dead and must go to regular checks and optionally visit the monthly support group meetings. [[DeaderThanDead Except]] (as far as we can see it yet): a) if someone's [[DeathByOriginStory backstory says so]] or b) the [[TheScrappy fandom hates him]].

* ''Anime/LittleWitchAcademia2017'' has its fair share of perilous situations--including a [[TakenForGranite stone-breathing cockatrice]] in the first episode and a magical illness that turns people into moss--but other than the dragon in the original OVA and a [[LovePotion love-inducing bee]] in the TV series, no living creatures ever die in it. This is partially [[HandWave brushed off]] by a comment that witches are [[MadeOfIron notoriously difficult to kill]], but not all of the characters are witches. It does acknowledge that humans can die when the heroes visit a cemetery and accidentally reanimate a corpse, but no one dies during the course of the story.

* While Creator/MarvelComics has never played this ''entirely'' straight, Creator/JimShooter tried very hard to enforce it during his tenure as Editor-In-Chief. This led to a legendary feud with writer/artist Creator/JohnByrne, who made it a point of pride to [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar sneak as many deaths as possible]] into his work on the ''ComicBook/XMen'' comic. After Shooter found out, he forced the writers to [[EnforcedTrope show all the dead characters alive again]].

* The live-action ''Film/GeorgeOfTheJungle'' movie. When a guy falls at least 400 meters from a rope bridge over a cliff, the Narrator reassures the audience: "Don't worry — nobody dies in this story. They just get really big boo-boos." *[[DescriptionCut cut to heavily bandaged and bruised guide]]* "What did I tell you?" Later, when Lyle shoots George in the middle of the movie, the Narrator comes in again saying, "Poor George was really shot, but [[PlotArmor can't die]] because let's face it, he's TheHero."

* The live-action ''Film/GeorgeOfTheJungle'' movie. When a guy falls at least 400 meters from a rope bridge over a cliff, the Narrator reassures the audience: "Don't worry — nobody dies in this story. They just get really big boo-boos." *[[DescriptionCut cut to heavily bandaged and bruised guide]]* "What did I tell you?" Later, when Lyle shoots George in the middle of the movie, the Narrator comes in again saying, "Poor George was really shot, but can't die because let's face it, he's TheHero."

* This is an unspoken law of ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'', and of all {{zany cartoon}}s which follow in it's 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]]).

* For most of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', they could only unambiguously kill a character if the plot was some sort of murder mystery. Joker episodes got around this by suggesting Joker venom was sometimes curable, but seldom curing it on-screen after the first time. This is also why Scarface is always destroyed in the most gruesome way as the writers were allowed to "kill" a puppet. Any time a character was knocked off a building or off an aircraft, it would always show them surviving the fall. Rather than give anyone parachutes however, it would always have the mooks [[SoftWater falling into an ocean or other large body of water]], then surface alive and well. Even if they were falling somewhere in the middle of a crowded city, they'd always be lucky enough to have a ''swimming pool'' right under them, or to bounce off an awning. The end result is that it doesn't seem that Batman could care either way whether a henchman lives or dies, or is just so good that he knew they'd be fine. From ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' onward, the WesternAnimation/DCAnimatedUniverse was allowed to show or imply characters died, [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath sometimes quite brutally]].

* For most of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', they could only unambiguously kill a character if the plot was some sort of murder mystery. Joker episodes got around this by suggesting Joker venom was sometimes curable, but seldom curing it on-screen after the first time. This is also why Scarface is always destroyed in the most gruesome way as the writers were allowed to "kill" a puppet. Any time a character was knocked off a building or off an aircraft, it would always show them surviving the fall. Rather than give anyone parachutes however, it would always have the mooks [[SoftWater falling into an ocean or other large body of water]], then surface alive and well. Even if they were falling somewhere in the middle of a crowded city, they'd always be lucky enough to have a ''swimming pool'' right under them, or to bounce off an awning. The end result is that it doesn't seem that Batman could care either way whether a henchman lives or dies, or is just so good that he knew they'd be fine. Ironically, this is averted in the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' movie "Return of the Joker" (in the same continuity) with [[spoiler:the same character that JokerImmunity was named after.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeARealAmericanHero'' made a painful point of this. Every time a jet exploded, the pilot would ''always'' escape with a parachute, even if it was a faceless mook. Somehow, this happened with destroyed helicopters. In the "Worlds Without End" two-parter, we see the skeletonized remains of the AlternateUniverse versions of Steeler, Clutch, and Grunt -- but that's the closest brush with death the series takes. Writer Buzz Dixon has said that while the studio [[FridgeLogic wouldn't let anyone die in a TV show about soldiers]], he did make sure that in any episode he wrote, somebody ''would'' get seriously injured, to give kids at least some idea that war is not fun and games.\\

* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' has done this for decades, thanks to StockFootage of giant monsters rampaging throughout a cardboard city and smashing buildings. [[SelfParody Occasionally]] the writers will {{lampshade|Hanging}} the trope with things like the monster saying "I hate empty buildings!" before smashing, or the Rangers remarking that he's in the "warehouse district". TheMonsterOfTheWeek died, of course, but even then it woudl often turn back into the components it was made from (such as a still living pig or inanimate objects). This is not the case with all series. As they progressed, it became notably more dark, and major characters did indeed die, good and bad.

* Parodied in a SomethingCompletelyDifferent episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' (which 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:

* ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeARealAmericanHero'' made a painful point of this. Every time a jet exploded, the pilot would ''always'' escape with a parachute, even if it was a faceless mook. Somehow, this happened with destroyed helicopters. In the "Worlds Without End" two-parter, we see the skeletonized remains of the AlternateUniverse versions of Steeler, Clutch, and Grunt -- but that's the closest brush with death the series takes. Writer Buzz Dixon has said that while the studio [[FridgeLogic wouldn't let anyone die in a TV show about soldiers]], he did make sure that in any episode he wrote, somebody ''would'' get seriously injured, to give kids at least some idea that war is not fun and games.
** In one particularly egregious example, Lady Jaye shoots a pair of Cobra pilots to [[MuggedForDisguise steal their uniforms and helmets]]. The scene then cuts to the two pilots BoundAndGagged in their GoofyPrintUnderwear, with absolutely no injuries whatsoever.
** ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' {{lampshade|Hanging}}d this in a sketch which had both the Joes and Cobra have no names on their memorial wall. Commander even goes out of his way to gun down one of his own {{Mooks}} just to add a name to the wall, but he wouldn't die.
** ''Series/{{Community}}'' also {{lampshade|Hanging}}d it in the [[AffectionateParody Affectionate]] 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/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 AnyoneCanDie nature. In fact, [[spoiler:only ''one'' character dies and another character has their fate questioned]].

* 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.

* Parodied in a SomethingCompletelyDifferent episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' (a show which otherwise completely avoided this trope), 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:

* ''Anime/LittleWitchAcademia'' has its fair share of perilous situations--including a [[TakenForGranite stone-breathing cockatrice]] in the first episode and a magical illness that turns people into moss--but other than the dragon in the original OVA and a [[LovePotion love-inducing bee]] in the TV series, no living creatures ever die in it. This is partially [[HandWave brushed off]] by a comment that witches are [[MadeOfIron notoriously difficult to kill]], but not all of the characters are witches. It does acknowledge that humans can die when the heroes visit a cemetery and accidentally reanimate a corpse, but no one dies during the course of the story.

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games]]

[[folder: Video Games]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]

* Most [[MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGame MMOs]] have either this or DeathIsCheap, either in-universe or as GameplayAndStorySegregation.
** In ''VideoGame/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnline'', you get sent to a CardboardPrison with a [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy sleeping guard]], even if your ship sinks while fighting a deadly ghost ship.
** The MMORPG ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes''[=/=]''City of Villains'' uses this to {{justif|iedTrope}}y character respawning. Instead of dying, characters are "defeated" and teleported to the nearest hospital to recover. Likewise, the enemies are teleported to jail before they can be killed... most of the time. In ''City of Heroes'', anyway. Unsurprisingly, the [[WretchedHive Rogue Isles]] are a bit less accommodating towards supervillain victims.
** In ''VideoGame/TheLordOfTheRingsOnline'', you don't even have health, you have "morale." When your Morale reaches zero, you are defeated and can "retreat" to a respawn point. That's a viable retreat from anywhere, whether it's the pinnacle of Orthanc, or the middle of the Battle of Helm's Deep.

%%* Characters also get bonked in ''TabletopGame/TeenagersFromOuterSpace''.

* Creator/AngLee's ''Film/{{Hulk}}'' makes sure to show soldiers emerging unscathed from each military vehicle that Hulk wrecks in order to keep him sympathetic.

* In ''Webcomic/KiwiBlitz'', there've been shootings, stabbings, violent losses of limbs... and no fatalities. Lampshaded [[http://www.kiwiblitz.com/index.php?id=363 here]] (minor spoilers on that page; major spoilers on pages before and after)