History Main / OutrunTheFireBall

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', Dash outruns a fireball bursting through a tunnel, and barely escapes. Admittedly, he does have SuperSpeed.

* Rambo has to outrun one in his [[Film/RamboIV fourth movie]] after he blows up the Tallboy Bomb.

** The end of ''Film/{{Predator}}'', which featured an alien countdown, a spooky, ominous laugh, and an explosion with the power of a tactical nuke.
** This becomes even more ridiculous in the sequel, when Gary Busey's character reveals that the self-destruct device is powerful enough to completely level a radius of 300 city blocks. Yet Schwarzenegger got away, despite only starting his run when the timer WAS ALMOST UP. Might be FridgeBrilliance when one realizes that the predator could purposely limit the power of explosion to give Arnold a sporting chance of survival for the last time.
** ''Film/{{Predator 2}}''. Harrigan somehow isn't burnt to a crisp by the fireball backwash of the departing Predator ship.

** When the Twin Towers collapsed, they created a giant dust cloud that flowed through Manhattan. As these clouds roiled down streets, many people misinterpreted them as expanding explosions. There were many home movies of people ducking into buildings to avoid the advancing dust cloud, thinking they had outrun an explosion. Given the respiratory problems people who breathed in the dust have been suffering that was probably a good thing.
** At Ground Zero itself many people were forced to flee for their lives to escape the collapsing buildings. Shown in the documentary ''[[Film/NineEleven 9/11]]''.

* 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. You can see the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvjwt9nnwXY 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.

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. For when a character gets a head-start on the fireball, see DontAskJustRun. 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.

** ''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.

[[folder:Fan Fic]]

* ''Film/MissionImpossible''

* 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.

* This is possible but mostly with high incendiary and low kinetic reactions that may just be borderline explosive. Napalm, thermite, and gasoline explosions come to mind. Rapidly expanding pyroclastic flows can be outrun IF you're in a plane or race car.

* ''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.

** In ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'', the ''Enterprise'' outruns the blast wave of a supernova. Unlike the previous example, though, the issue is not their ability to outrun the supernova (even Warp 1, the lowest possible warp speed, is more than sufficient to outrun a supernova), but whether they can afford to wait around long enough to rescue the crew members currently engaged in a firefight on the nearby space station.

The {{Badass}} often showcases just how cool he is by always [[UnflinchingWalk calmly walking away]] from the building or car, and perhaps casually putting on his CoolShades or lighting up a cigarette just as the explosion goes off. Badass characters don't have to run unless it's ''darned'' important. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqz5dbs5zmo Cool guys don't look at explosions]].

* The two fires that Sydney lights in ''Literature/FatesRoad'' both end with her running away from the fireball very fast.

** 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]].

* ''Film/Gravity''. Happens for a brief moment (yes, yes, InSpace) when an oxygen cylinder explodes during the zero-G fire scene.

* ''Series/PersonOfInterest''. Vigilance rigs a dead drop in a lockup to soak in gasoline, then ignite [[FieryCoverup if anyone finds it]]. There's a brief scene where Reese helps Finch hobble away from the fireball, because he can't run due to his disability. They're already out of the lockup though, so it's just a matter of getting away from the blast area.