History Main / OutrunTheFireBall

** At Ground Zero itself many people were forced to flee for their lives to escape the collapsing buildings. Shown in the documentary ''9/11''.

* A running gag in Creator/CleolindaJones' ''Movies in Fifteen Minutes''. Examples include "[[Film/TheHappening outrun the wind]]", "[[Film/TheDayAfterTomorrow outrun the cold]]", and "[[Film/TwentyTwelve outrun (and outfly) the apocalypse]]".

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Contrast RidingIntoTheSunset. See also AdvancingWallOfDoom.

Contrast RidingIntoTheSunset.

* Shows in in several animated Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon films:

* In Creator/JohnWoo's ''[[Film/BrokenArrow1996 Broken Arrow]]'', Capn. Hale (Christian Slater) actually outruns an underground nuclear explosion. To be fair, though, the explosion didn't happen until he was above-ground and safe from the blast.

* Subverted in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull''. A car full of {{Mooks}} tries to outrun [[spoiler: a nuclear explosion]] and get smoked hard. [[spoiler:Indy, on the other hand, survives [[RefugeInAudacity by hiding in a]] [[ItRunsOnNonsensoleum lead-lined refrigerator]]]]. Maybe Indy had a major case of [[FridgeLogic Fridge]] [[IncrediblyLamePun Logic]]?

** In ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'', this is played straight and subverted. Bond outruns the fireball during the final battle when [[spoiler: he blows Skyfall Lodge [[{{Pun}} sky high]] in order to destroy [[BigBad Silva's]] helicopter and kill most of his men. Though he beats the fireball that took out the house, he doesn't beat the second fireball from the helicopter plowing into it. He instead dives into an alcove which spares him the brunt of the blast.]]

* In ''Film/DeepImpact'', the young man who was the co-discoverer of the asteroid that strikes earth, and is creating a tidal wave ''3000 feet high'' striking near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, basically destroying the Eastern Seaboard of the United States and probably anything within 1,000 miles, and moving across land at ''1100 miles per hour'' is trying to outrun the tidal wave on a ''motorbike!'' Did I mention that his wife is also riding on the bike with him?

* Inspecter Tequila has to outrun an exploding hospital at the end of ''Film/HardBoiled''. Interestingly, there was a [[http://www.cracked.com/article_20363_6-classic-movies-made-possible-by-reckless-endangerment.html 'screw up' with the pyrotechnics]] that caused a bigger explosion than planned, meaning that Chow Yun Fat was really running for his life.

* In ''Animation/TheSnowQueen2012'', Gerda and Kai's father tries to outrun the North Wind's wave of ice. After a while, it catches up to him and kills him and his wife.

** At the climax Ford barely makes out of the way of an enormous gasoline explosion [[spoiler:ignited by him in order to destroy the MUTO eggs.]]

* In ''Film/TheExpendables3'', [[spoiler: after Barney kills Stonebanks, Barney has to escape the exploding building and head for Max's chopper as the batteries stalling the C4 ran out by the time Barney kills Stonebanks.]]

* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles: Literature/WhiteNight'', this is played with. Harry Dresden doesn't so much outrun the fireball as [[spoiler:ride it out in a force field, generated via magic that he is powering with the lust generated by a heated kiss he shares with a succubus. Since he knew he wouldn't be able to actually ''outrun'' it, he effectively turned himself (and said succubus) into a ''cannon ball''.]]

** The fourth-season episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E4TheSontaranStratagem "The Sontaran Stratagem"]] has The Doctor [[spoiler:and a UNIT officer leap out of a car, run, and dive to the ground... only for the car's GPS unit to emit a small burst of sparks and some smoke.]]

* In an episode of ''Series/MythBusters'', when Adam and Jamie were testing some movie myths, Adam had some mats set up and orchestrated things so that he could "dive to safety" as a car blew up for [[strike:a myth they were testing]] fun. (There was no pretense of a myth, somebody donated a car, so they blew it up. Twice.) Though it did serve as an illustration of the difference between Hollywood style gasoline explosions and the real explosives used for military and demolitions purposes(The one Adam "dodged" was the Hollywood style explosion).

* Totally subverted on ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', when even FragileSpeedster Daphne can't outrun a nuclear blast without damage to her back.
** But later played straight when Claire and HRG outrun [[spoiler: [[PlayingWithFire Meredith]]'s SuperPowerMeltdown]].

* ''Series/StargateSG1'' parodied / subverted this in the episode "Point of No Return". Our heroes find themselves in an abandoned building along with an amnesiac (but friendly) alien, and a strange beeping device. The alien tells them that the device is ''counting down to something'', and so they all assume the worst and promptly run out of the building, screaming for everyone nearby to take cover, and dramatically leaping towards the camera at the last second just as... ''absolutely nothing happens''. It turns out [[spoiler:the device ''was'' counting down to an explosion, but it was the self-destruct mechanism of an alien ship, which was hidden in a completely different location.]]
* The penultimate ''{{Series/Dollhouse}}'' episode has Echo outrunning the fireball after [[spoiler: blowing up Rossum's main computer in her unsuccessful attempt to prevent the thoughtpocalypse.]]

* From ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode "[[Recap/CommunityS1E07IntroductionToStatistics Introduction to Statistics]] [[spoiler:Abed (as Batman) dragging Jeff and Pierce out of the library to]] Out Run The Collapsing Fort Made Out Of Desks.

* In ''VideoGame/RenegadeOps'', the renegades open a prison box, hoping to find Genawi. instead they find an [[OhCrap armed LVA warhead]] with 10 seconds on the timer. [[DontAskJustRun time to step on that speeder across a rapidly crumbling bridge.]]

** Sonic tries this again during the finale of ''VideoGame/SonicColors'', [[spoiler:this time up against a ''black hole''. Seeing that nothing--not even light--can escape it once pulled in, Sonic (who can only normally break the sound barrier) actually ''fails''... [[FissionMailed but the]] [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter Wisps]] [[FissionMailed save him]], so it's all good.]]

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4''. The game ends with [[spoiler: Leon and Ashley on a Jet Ski outracing an incredibly large mass of water]]

* The 3rd installment of ''Franchise/TombRaider'' had this for one of the Area 51 levels. Lara has to launch a missile in order to move it out of the way so she can proceed, but by doing so, the flames from the missile's exhaust starts to fill the hallway she is in. You're forced to sprint awkwardly '''towards''' the camera to the very end of the hall so the flames don't touch you. Getting burnt here results in instant death compared to being on fire in the other parts of the game where you live only for a few seconds. Also the FMV scene at the end of 2nd ''Tomb Raider''.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Descent}}'', every level ends with you outrunning the blast from the exploding reactor at the heart of the mine, regardless of how much time there is actually left until said explosion.
** This brings up an interesting question or two when doing multiplayer, where each player will see themselves outrun the blast, even if someone else still has time remaining.

* A regular feature as the final challenge of ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' games. Upon felling the FinalBoss-who is apparently a LoadBearingBoss-with your EleventhHourSuperpower type weapon, the whole place starts coming down around you and you have a running timer to get to your ship before the place explodes and you die.

* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', the ''Normandy'' is forced to outrun the explosion that [[spoiler:takes the Collector Base and kills the Human-Reaper for good.]] Partly averted as there are two choices; take the other and you're outrunning a timed radiation pulse instead.
** Also in the cutscene at the end of Jack's loyalty mission, [[spoiler:when Jack detonates the bomb a bit prematurely.]]
** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', all endings have [[spoiler: the Normandy trying to outrun the space magic wave, complete with the equipment in the cockpit beginning to [[ExplosiveInstrumentation overheat and explode.]]]] The Extended Cut has it escape unscathed if your EMS is high enough.

* Shortly after authorizing the Wave Beam in ''MetroidOtherM'', Samus is forced to outrun an avalanche after activating a lift. Since this happens after you get Speed Booster authorized (and you had to use it multiple times in that very room), you can guess how Samus gets out of the way.

** Spoofed in other episode, in which just after Monty Burn's Casino is demolished Homer and his family get into his car to try to escape of the dust cloud caused by the demolition. However, Homer's car enters in reverse into the dust cloud.

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For when a character doesn't outrun the fireball and [[UnflinchingWalk walks calmly out of and away from the fire anyway]], see OutOfTheInferno. See also ConvectionSchmonvection. In RealLife, the accepted reaction to an approaching fireball is to either jump down a deep hole and pull it in after you, or bend over and kiss your posterior goodbye. See also BombDisposal when this is done intentionally.

* In ''Film/UnderSiege 2: Dark Territory'', Creator/StevenSeagal outruns a fireball by running the length of a railroad car.

* In ''[[Film/TheExpendables The Expendables 3]]'', [[spoiler: after Barney kills Stonebanks, Barney has to escape the exploding building and head for Max's chopper as the batteries stalling the C4 ran out by the time Barney kills Stonebanks.]]
* Rambo has to outrun one in the [[Film/RamboIV fourth movie]] after he blows up the Tallboy Bomb.

* In the German action series ''Series/AlarmFurCobra11'' about 3200 cars have been crushed up to now, most of them in an exploding fashion with the main characters outrunning the fireball, of course.

* A photograph exists of a pyroclastic cloud tumbling down Mount Unzen in Japan. On the road in front of the cloud is a fire engine, in front of THAT is a single man running for his life. National Geographic has the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPRoTQYXwuY the video here]]. The pyroclastic cloud never actually reaches the place where the man was. However, it unfortunately kills a group of people who film volcanoes who were in the valley itself where the cloud was being channelled down. If it had reached the place where that man was he probably wouldn't be alive today.

* A running gag in Creator/CleolindaJones' ''Movies in Fifteen Minutes''. Examples include "[[TheHappening outrun the wind]]", "[[TheDayAfterTomorrow outrun the cold]]", and "[[TwentyTwelve outrun (and outfly) the apocalypse]]".

* ''Film/{{Kopps}}: After [[ItMakesSenseInContext the police officers set fire to the wurst stand]] they remember that several gas cans are stored there. They begin to run away in SlowMotion, Benny leaps himself on the ground while the others keep running, the others hide behind the petrol car and Benny leaps himself over the hood and they wait for the bang, covering their ears. First, nothing happens but a few seconds later the stand explodes with a huge fireball.

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* ''Film/SkyCaptainAndTheWorldOfTomorrow''. A fuse is about to explode tons of dynamite inside a uranium mine. Sky Captain, Polly Perkins and Sky Captain's friend Kaji try to run out of the mine to safety. When the dynamite explodes they're blasted out of the mouth of the mine and wind up flat on their faces in the snow.

* Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Omid Djalili wind up flat on their faces in the snow after an explosion in a uranium mine in ''Film/SkyCaptainAndTheWorldOfTomorrow''.

* ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikerS'' has the ''villains'' doing this. [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Quattro and Dieci]] manage to escape from Fate, only to run right into [[PersonOfMassDestruction Hayate's]] sights. The next few seconds are accompanied by much screaming as they try to outrun a massive SphereOfDestruction.

* In ''Manga/DragonBall Z'' when Frieza traps Goku inside an impact-sensitive energy ball and then spikes him into the ground, most believe that the hero's death is imminent until it is discovered that he outran the explosion and the two were just toying with each other.

* Rather gruesomely subverted in one scene of ''SoukouNoStrain'', where a crewmember tries to outrun the fire chasing him down a hallway but one of the doors that is meant to contain such thing slams right in his face.

* This happens to the [[ScienceNinjaTeamGatchaman KNT]] and their G-Force incarnations every three or four episodes. Either they're delayed after setting their bombs, or the bad guys starts the timer on his.
* ''Manga/{{Mirai Nikki}}'': Yuno, during the second episode; she's being held indoors (where there are several motion-detonated bombs set up), while Yukiteru is outside, about to be killed by [[spoiler: Minene/Ninth]]. Naturally, [[{{Yandere}} Yuno being Yuno]], she sprints down the corridor despite the bombs (and innocents killed as a result), resulting in this.

* Subverted in the first issue of ''ComicBook/{{X-Men}} Unlimited''. Things go boom and the group of X-Men outfly it all...helped by the fact Storm is controlling the wind.
* TheFlash, of course, is fast enough to routinely outrun explosions and make it look easy. One time, he evacuated the population of an entire city in the time it takes a nuclear bomb's radiation to travel less than a meter, that's 13 ''trillion'' times the speed of light.

* In the first ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'', Shrek, Donkey, and Fiona use this trope as they reach the bridge leading away from the dragon's castle, and the dragon takes one last shot at them with her fiery breath.

** ''Disney/{{Fantasia}} 2000'': The Firebird.

* Happens during Finn [=McMissile=]'s introductory scene at the very beginning of ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}} 2'', when he is escaping the Lemons' oil rig.

* At the end of ''Film/DantesPeak'', Harry and the family are outrunning a pyroclastic flow, which moves at 120 miles an hour in real life and would be impossible to escape.
** To be fair, they only escape by driving into an underground mine.
*** Given that the volcano was something like five miles away, that gave them two and a half minutes to drive to cover.

** ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' had an extended "outrun the fireball" scene as Wedge and Lando's crew blew up the Death Star core and had to escape the resulting blast, Wedge at least had plenty of a head start. A TIE Intercepter fails to do so and is destroyed. The Millennium Falcon is also partially engulfed by the explosion, leading to an OutOfTheInferno moment and giving the visual impression of the Falcon being shot out of the Death Star like a bullet.

* In ''Film/ChainReaction'', the main character, Eddie, is in a team that's working on achieving some sort of fusion through sonoluminescence (free clean power). One evening he arrives at the laboratory to find his boss murdered and the equipment rigged to blow up. Unable to stop the chain reaction, he straddles his bike and speeds away from the lab. When the equipment finally overloads, it explodes in a ''very'' large fireball, almost akin to a small nuclear blast. Eddie manages to OutrunTheFireball just barely; the back of his bike is actually lifted by the shockwave (but the forward wheel somehow remains on the ground).

* Subverted in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull''. A car full of {{Mooks}} tries to outrun [[spoiler: a nuclear explosion]] and get smoked hard. [[spoiler:Indy, on the other hand, survives [[RefugeInAudacity by hiding in a]] [[ItRunsOnNonsensoleum lead-lined refrigerator]].]]
** Maybe Indy had a major case of [[FridgeLogic Fridge]] [[IncrediblyLamePun Logic]]?
* John Cena's character outruns at least a half-dozen such explosions in ''Film/TheMarine''.

* In ''Film/StarshipTroopers'' the three main characters outrun the fireball of a tactical nuke which was only detonated a few seconds before they left the room full of enormous locust-like creatures.
** This one's hard: the nukes in the movie aren't ever really described. In the book, the basically identical nuke rockets are described as using subcritical masses that use a lot of advanced tricks to get it to go off, and consequently, are really weak for a nuke.
** The main characters also outrun a fireball when they're launching an escape pod from their ship.

* DoubleSubverted in ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'' as Sam fails to outrun the explosion and is killed... but gets better.
** Though Sam wasn't killed so much by the explosion as by Megatron [[OutOfTheInferno emerging from the explosion and shooting him]].

* ''Film/MissionImpossibleIII'', when Hunt gets a weapon out of a vehicle, then attempts to run clear of the car. When the car explodes, he is blown ''sideways'' by the blast, directly into another car.
* In ''Film/MissionImpossibleGhostProtocol'' when Hunt is running from the explosion of the Kremlin, only to be injured in the explosion and hospitalized.

* {{Lampshaded}} in ''Film/{{Flyboys}}'', a zeppelin bomber is going up, and a German airman previously seen manning an ack-ack emplacement runs across the top, just ahead of the exploding gas cells. This begs the question, "What's he gonna do when he runs out of blimp?"

* ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'': Inverted somewhat -- [[spoiler:Duke runs toward a building to save Rex from an impending airstrike, but is blown backward by the explosion]].
** Played straight during the escape by sub. Yes, underwater fireball.

* At the end of ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', Bishop does this in the drop ship to escape from [[spoiler: the vapor explosion of LV-426.]]

* In ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', Clark does this once to save Lana. Other times he usually [[NighInvulnerable just stands there]].
* In the short-lived ''Series/TheFlash'' television series, one episode had Barry Allen try to outrun a missile homing on himself. The explosion somehow boosted his speed so much that he ended up a few years into the future.
** The missile was supposedly nuclear, although that would mean Pike would be within the blast radius.
* Played with in ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', where Gibbs discovers a bomb in a house the team is investigating and they all dash out and dive for cover behind the car. And nothing happens. After spending 2 hours waiting behind the car, one of them suggests Gibbs might start looking into reading glasses. And the bomb promptly explodes.

* On Day 5 of ''Series/TwentyFour'', Jack blows up a facility and runs from the flames, in one of the coolest looking moments on the show.
** Then he runs right back in.
* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] on ''Series/{{Chuck}}'', almost exactly as stated above: The title character spots an active NSA incinerator in the car, and he and Casey run wildly to a safe distance away. (No diving, though.) Beat, embarrassed looks, then explosion.
** A more typical example is done in a later episode, [[ItMakesSenseInContext with a pig in the Buy More air ducts.]]
* In the {{Pilot}} of ''Series/LoisAndClark'' (and the TitleSequence of the series), Clark outruns a fireball while carrying Lois and Jimmy. Of course, he's Comicbook/{{Superman}}.

* In an episode of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', Janeway and Seven of Nine don't exactly have a fireball to outrun, but they still work in the classic dive-away-from-the-exploding-doors shot at the end.

* When Creator/SamuelLJackson hosted the ''{{MTV}} Movie Awards'', he had a sketch he called an "Acting Decathlon", where this very trope is an event.

* In the ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' episode "Rapture", the Fleet is forced to evacuate its personnel from the Algae Planet and jump before the shockwave of the exploding star reaches them. The bit with the Raptors landing and Galactica jumping just before the shockwave reaches has a classic outrun-the-fireball feel.
** A straighter example occurs in season 1, with Cylon skinjob Anton Doral spotted and confronted on Galactica by Adama and Tighe. Unfortunately, he's wearing a bomb vest, and Tighe just about manages to dive and push both Adama and himself out of the path of the fireball and into a side corridor. Indeed, Adama does pretty much the same thing in the miniseries for Cylon Leoben, pushing him into cover from a shell dropped while loading.

* [[Series/RobinHood Guy of Gisborne]] outruns a fireball in the episode ''A Thing Or Two About Loyalty.''
* ''Series/StargateSG1'' parodied / subverted this in the episode ''Point of No Return''. Our heroes find themselves in an abandoned building along with an amnesiac (but friendly) alien, and a strange beeping device. The alien tells them that the device is ''counting down to something'', and so they all assume the worst and promptly run out of the building, screaming for everyone nearby to take cover, and dramatically leaping towards the camera at the last second just as... ''absolutely nothing happens''. It turns out [[spoiler:the device ''was'' counting down to an explosion, but it was the self-destruct mechanism of an alien ship, which was hidden in a completely different location.]]

** Earlier on in the game, your [[IncrediblyLamePun first encounter]] with Alma plays out like this: she slowly stalks you down a hallway as everything around her starts exploding or spontaneously catching fire. Run towards her or let her catch up to you, and you die. Run away from her and everything explodes anyway, but you get thrown out the window by the shockwave instead.

* In RenegadeOps, the renegades open a prison box, hoping to find Genawi. instead they find an [[OhCrap armed LVA warhead]] with 10 seconds on the timer. [[DontAskJustRun time to step on that speeder across a rapidly crumbling bridge.]]

* Averted in ''{{Freelancer}}''. When the archaeological site in Planet Sprague is blown away, you can see a RedShirt trying to run away from the explosion that slowly approaches in slow-mo... however, he is also running in slow-mo, and thus he gets swallowed by the fireball.

* At the end of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2'', Sonic outruns the fireball caused by Robotnik's exploding mech. This is pretty standard stuff for Sonic, considering he can run at the speed of sound, but if one turns on the game's debug mode, stops the scene and then restarts it, the player can control Sonic and the fireball will follow Sonic wherever he goes.

* A very literal example of this happened in the first ''BaldursGate'' game. The original ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' spell "Fireball" is instantaneous; you can't run away from it once it goes off. The game, however, animated the spell slowly enough that running away from it was plausible. The expansion pack ''Tales of the Sword Coast'' "fixed" this by letting characters run away from Fireball spells and not get damaged.

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4''. Then game ends with [[spoiler: Leon and Ashley on a Jet Ski outracing an incredibly large mass of water]]
* Subverted in the first mission in ''[[Franchise/StarWars Jedi Outcast]]''. You have to blow up a generator blocking your path in order to proceed with the mission, but any attempt to OutrunTheFireball will result in Kyle Katarn becoming a very crispy corpse. Instead, avert OneDimensionalThinking by running into a room and letting the fireball pass you by.

* Again in ''Franchise/StarWars: VideoGame/XWingAlliance'', the final mission has you flying the Millenium Falcon, into and subsequently out of the Death Star. Which is exploding after you're done with it. ''Rogue Leader'' on Gamecube depicts the same battle from the movie and also features OutrunTheFireball.
* Once again in ''ShadowsOfTheEmpire'', which had you trying to escape the Skyhook... Except subverted, in that you, unless you are extremely good or just plain cheat, won't be able to make it out, and the ending goes by normally. [[spoiler:In reality, Dash actually survives thanks to a very precise hyper-space jump, as the medium mode reveals.]]
* The 3rd installment of ''Franchise/TombRaider'' had this for one of the Area 51 levels. Lara has to launch a missile in order to move it out of the way so she can proceed, but by doing so, the flames from the missile's exhaust starts to fill the hallway she is in. You're forced to sprint awkwardly '''towards''' the camera to the very end of the hall so the flames don't touch you. Getting burnt here results in instant death compared to being on fire in the other parts of the game where you live only for a few seconds.
** The FMV scene at the end of 2nd Tomb Raider.

** During one of the special missions, your reconnaisance wing discoveres huge mysterious machines deep within Shivan space. When you destroy them, your commander notes that there are strange energy readings coming from the collapsing wreck and you should get away as fast as you can.

* At the end of the original ''VideoGame/{{Turok}}'' for the Nintendo 64, Turok had to escape from an exploding tower with a pillar of flame only a few inches from his backside. If you take sufficient damage by the end of the preceding boss fight, Turok's right leg is broken in the cutscene - and he still manages to get out safely.
** Pretty sure the leg thing is a glitch.

** Fleeing from quickfire wasn't retired from gameplay until ''Avernum 4''. Before that it was [[OnceAnEpisode featured in every game]], and the ''VideoGame/{{Exile}}'' trilogy before that.
* ''MaxPayne2'' has Max outrunning multiple fireballs in an exploding restaurant. Causing and dodging fireballs is also required in order to progress. Thankfully, bullet time helps.
** Same for Punchinello's restaurant in the first game.

* A regular feature as the final challenge of ''VideoGame/{{Metroid}}'' games. Upon felling the FinalBoss-who is apparently a LoadBearingBoss-with your EleventhHourSuperpower type weapon, the whole place starts coming down around you and you have a running timer to get to your ship before the place explodes and you die.

* In ''{{VideoGame/Contra}} III: The Alien Wars'', [[BigBad Red Falcon's]] base [[LoadBearingBoss blows up]] after its defeat. And in the Hard Mode run, the FinalBoss turns out to be NotQuiteDead. The player, hanging from the bottom of the extraction helicopter, has to shoot the boss down into the inferno. {{Konami}} loves this trope. This also occurs in ''Shattered Soldier'' during the TrueFinalBoss fight and in the opening sequence of ''Neo Contra''.

* In ''SoldierOfFortune'', the protagonist John Mullins can't seem to end a mission without having to run away from an explosion (usually one of his own making).

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid 3'' has most of the bosses exploding after being defeated, making Snake duck and cover, but The Fury's post-boss cinema gets a special mention for this trope: Being a specialist in using a flamethrower, his explosion manifests into a 'giant fiery face' that Snake literally has to outrun. The look on Snake's face is 'priceless'.

* In ''VideoGame/{{R-Type}} 2'' (also known as ''Super R-Type'' on the SNES) the player's R9 Arrowhead destroys the Bydo Core and then escapes the exploding base by flying through a narrow shaft. However, the ship slows down --the shaft led to a dead end! It's then that four allied R9s (previously kept captive by the boss) [[BigDamnHeroes emerge from the fireball, Wave Cannons charged and ready, to blast an opening through the wall]].

* ''Veigues: Tactical Gladiator'' shows this in the ending cutscene, after the battleship's core is destroyed. The TurboGrafx16 version reduces the animation to one still frame.
* You can pull this off in the space rogue-like ''{{VideoGame/Transcendence}}'' if you destroy a station that makes a big enough boom. Firing the last shot while going over top of the station starts the explosion, and if you’re flying away from the station when you do it, it’s entirely possible to stay just ahead of the shockwave if your ship is fast enough. Trying this in a freighter is more likely to turn into an [[OutOfTheInferno Out Of The Inferno]] moment instead (as long as your shields aren’t completely roasted in the process).

* ''VideoGame/SpiderMan'' does this with its finale as you're being chased by both the fireball of an exploding base ''and'' [[spoiler:Carnage-Ock, Doctor Octopus with the Carnage symbiote]].

* Used spoofingly in ''PennyArcade''. [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/1999/01/06 Apparently there were some problems involved in uninstalling Myth II.]]

* Parodied in an episode of ''TheSimpsons'' when Homer is running away from an angry mob at a candy convention he kicks a soda kiosk, catches an ejected soda can, grabs a bag of pop rocks out of his pocket, opens them with his teeth as if they were a grenade, [[UrbanLegends combines them]], shakes them, and after yelling [[PreMortemOneLiner "See you in hell, candy boys!"]] throws it at the angry mob. He leaps towards the camera as the convention center explodes in a huge fireball behind him.
** The producers claimed that scene was based on "every BruceWillis movie ever made".

* An episode of ''XavierRenegadeAngel'' spoofed this in its usual manner; it featured a sentient explosion which actively chased the protagonist as he asked everyone where the lake was, so that he could drown it. It was one of the more believable scenes of the series.

* Don't forget all the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' style "run straight away from the falling tree". But in those, they never do outrun the [[strike:fireball]] falling tree.
* This is also done on ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' on more than a few occasions.
** Not to mention that it's seen in the opening sequence of ''every episode'' of the first season.

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* The "Final Run" level in ''MedalOfHonor: Allied Assault''. You have to run from the encroaching fire and explosions behind you, while quickly taking down constant waves of {{Mooks}} in front of you.

* The ending of ''MetalSlug 4'' has you running for your life in a crate-littered tunnel as explosions chase you. Fail to shoot one of the crates and you end up smacking against it and being burnt to a crisp...

* In ''{{Axelay}}'', after defeating the stationary FinalBoss, the [[OrganicTechnology Organic]] [[EternalEngine Engine]] that makes up the last stage [[LoadBearingBoss explodes]]; the ship must then escape the destruction... and fend off the FinalBoss one more time. Touching the boss or its projectiles is deadly, but backing into the explosion at the left edge of the screen is not.

* In the ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}'' episode "Rapture", the Fleet is forced to evacuate its personnel from the Algae Planet and jump before the shockwave of the exploding star reaches them. The bit with the Raptors landing and Galactica jumping just before the shockwave reaches has a classic outrun-the-fireball feel.

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': Oliver does this after he is trapped in a warehouse with a bomb by the rival archer in "Year's End".

* In ''{{Smallville}}'', Clark does this once to save Lana. Other times he usually [[NighInvulnerable just stands there]].

* Played with in ''{{NCIS}}'', where Gibbs discovers a bomb in a house the team is investigating and they all dash out and dive for cover behind the car. And nothing happens. After spending 2 hours waiting behind the car, one of them suggests Gibbs might start looking into reading glasses. And the bomb promptly explodes.

* In the {{Pilot}} of ''LoisAndClark'' (and the TitleSequence of the series), Clark outruns a fireball while carrying Lois and Jimmy. Of course, he's Comicbook/{{Superman}}.
* Aversion: In the ''{{Jake20}}'' episode "Dead Man Talking", Jake tries to outrun a fireball, but (despite his nanobot enhancements) fails and gets engulfed and badly burned. He spends the most of the rest of the episode in an intensive care bed unable to move or communicate normally.

* In ''Terminator: TheSarahConnorChronicles'', Terminator Catherine Weaver does the UnflinchingWalk from an exploding building, but doesn't even bother to out-pace the explosion, as immolation is hardly even an inconvenience for her.

* In the German action series ''[[AlarmFurCobra11 Alarm für Cobra 11]]'' about 3200 cars have been crushed up to now, most of them in an exploding fashion with the main characters outrunning the fireball, of course.
* While not shown on-screen in ''ThirdRockFromTheSun'', the aliens when trying to understand democratic elections mentioned that leaders on their planet are chosen by who can "outrun the fireball".

* In the ''WalkerTexasRanger'' episode "War Zone", Walker and Trivette must outrun a bomb explosion set off in a house by a dead body.

* In the episode of ''DeadliestWarrior'' "Jesse James vs. Al Capone", when showcasing the Pineapple Bomb, Al Capone calmly lights a cigarette while a Pineapple Bomb thrown by one of his gangsters explodes in the background.

* JusticeLeague and WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries had inversions of this trope. Batman and the Flash each had scenarios where he grabbed a bomb and ran it out of town ''as it detonated, in his hands'' in super-slow motion. The fireball outran the civilians.