History Main / OutrunTheFireBall

** At the end of ''Film/StarTrek'', the ''Enterprise'' is caught in the artificial black hole that was once the ''Narada''. Despite Kirk telling Sulu to punch it, the gravitational pull is way too strong for the ship's warp drive and its threatening to crush the ship and pull it in. Scotty ends up launching some of the ship's warp core into the black hole, its detonation giving it enough push to free them. Like with the ''Millennium Falcon'', it also pulls an OutOfTheInferno moment doing this.

* Averted in the MadeForTVMovie ''Film/SuperVolcano'', where a scientist is trying to outrun the fireball, but it catches up and kills her. The film is known for ''actually'' doing their research, but allowing for some exaggeration for the RuleOfCool.

** Jasmine the stripper with a heart of gold, her cute son and her dog are running from the fireball in Los Angeles. While she has a good lead on it, the dog barely jumps out of the way of the fireball which fills the tunnel, just in time. Conveniently enough, the fire also fails to consume all the oxygen available in the confined space they take shelter in. And the explosion big enough to destroy most of Los Angeles fails to blast through the door behind which our characters are hiding. In the novelization, Jasmine, the kid, and the dog are saved by the presence of a metal grate leading down into the city's subway system. The air rushing out of the grate into the fire saves them by both cooling them and giving them oxygen to breathe. The author specifically writes that Jasmine needs to cling to the grate to avoid being blown back out into the fire. Not that that's much more realistic.

** Subverted in ''Film/DieHardWithAVengeance'': After being told that a bomb was in a garbage can by the phone booth, both Samuel L. Jackson and John [=McClane=] try to push people aside and then dive to the ground; when no one responds and no explosion happens, the terrorist's laughing reveals the joke.
** Played straight with the bomb on the ship. After they get out of the handcuffs strapping themselves to it, they run as fast as they can for the water. The bomb explodes just as they jump off the boat.

* If fire isn't bad enough, the trope is inverted in ''Film/TheDayAfterTomorrow'', when some characters out-run a "wave of cold", which then ''ices over'' the door they escape behind. It's particularly ludicrous given that the original scene had them running from digital wolves, which were scrapped. The end result means they're running away from something they should be able to see chasing them (and acted as such) but instead it is a "Run! It's the weather!" moment.

* DoubleSubversion 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/DoubleTeam'' does this no fewer than three times. The first time subverts the trope, and the protagonist ends up bedridden for 6 months from his injuries.

* The "run, nothing happens, relax, explosion" subversion occurs in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Discworld/{{Hogfather}}'', when the wizards react with horror to adding [[GargleBlaster Wow-Wow Sauce]] to a magical hangover cure.

* Aversion: In the ''Series/{{Jake 20}}'' 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.

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' episode [[Recap/TheAmazingWorldOfGumballS3E21TheBurden "The Burden"]]; after the demented six-year-old school hamster Chris Morris [[MacGyvering turns a lamp and Bunsen burner into an explosive trap]], Gumball and Darwin are forced to outrun the explosion. [[SubvertedTrope They dramatically jump too soon, then the wall of flames engulfs them.]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''

* One THX trailer featuring Creator/{{PIXAR}}[=-designed=] mascot Tex has him doing it in a car's exhaust pipe as the usual Deep Note starts playing.

** The climax of ''Film/TheWorldsEnd'' has the protagonists ''driving' away from an explosion. [[CrowningMomentOfFunny In reverse.]] [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse We never find out if]] [[spoiler:Basil and the creepy twins]] managed to outrun it on foot, though.

* Averted/Subverted in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' when Deidara is trying to escape from Team Guy, he sets off a suicide clone. Team Guy can't outrun the explosion and Team 7 is too close to avoid it. So Kakashi zaps the blast into another dimension.

* [[AvertedTrope Amazingly averted]] in the opening of ''Anime/LupinIIIDeadOrAlive'', when the Warden of the prison drives the car into a cave where the missile explodes in front of him. He keeps driving ''through'' the explosion, which destroys the latex disguise, revealing that the Warden is really Lupin!

* Subverted in the first issue of ''ComicBook/XMen Unlimited''. Things go boom and the group of X-Men outfly it all...helped by the fact Comicbook/{{Storm}} is controlling the wind.

%%* [[{{Film/TwoThousandTwelve}} 2012]]. Where do we start...

** Subverted at the very end. Steve and David desperately fly away from the Mother Ship trying to put some distance between them and the nuke. Once the nuke does detonate, the explosion overtakes them in seconds. We later see the explosion caused their ship to crash, but they survived.

* 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]] [[{{Pun}} Logic]]?

** Also subverted in that Mitchell is blown across the room by the explosion, and is badly injured by it.
** He's not just blown across the room. He only takes half a step before his leg gives out, probably from the brutal beat-down [[spoiler:Replicator-Marrick]] just gave him.

** 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]].

* Averted in the first scene of ''Film/TheHurtLocker'', when Sergeant Thompson attempts to run away from an active bomb. He gets clear of the visible explosion, but is killed by the shockwave.

* Inverted in ''Film/TearsOfTheSun''. When the [[GunshipRescue F-18s]] are coming in for a [[KillItWithFire bombing run]] the survivors have to scream for Red to hurry and make it out of the blast zone, as he ''won't'' be able to outrun the fireball.

* ''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.
* ''Film/GIJoeRetaliation'': Storm Shadow, Firefly, and Cobra Commander do it when the prison explodes. Subverted, in that Storm Shadow fails to fully outrun it and is very badly burned on his back.

** Also averted in the season 3 finale, where Abby and [=McGee=] are computer-modeling an explosion that Gibbs was almost killed in. Their conclusion is that the bomb was not actually placed where everybody assumed it had been, as there is no way Gibbs could have survived the blast even remotely intact unless he were able to outrun flying shrapnel in mid-air. Armed with this knowledge, they work out where the bomb had ''actually'' been placed and solve the mystery.
** Played straight in the season 2 finale, in which Tony, Kate and [=McGee=] must outrun a car bomb [=McGee tripped=]. Well, Kate and [=McGee=] started running before the bomb went off, Tony is implied to have run and taken cover it detonated.

* 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]].

* Averted in ''VideoGame/TheDarkness''; fairly early on, Jackie encounters a time bomb about to go off. The player's first instinct will likely be to try to outrun the fireball; this doesn't work. A cutscene shows the blast flinging Jackie through a wall to the ground far below, and it's likely the only reason he survived is that The Darkness was beginning to awaken in him.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/{{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.

* 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 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.

* Once again in ''Literature/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.]]

* 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.

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/RadiantSilvergun'', in which Buster and Reana are shown attempting to escape the Stone-Like's cataclysmic explosion, but are eventually swallowed by the blast.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Onimusha}} 3'', there is a cutscene where the protagonists manage to (barely) outrun a fireball caused by [[spoiler:an [[MonumentalDamage exploding Mont Saint-Michel]] ]] by car.

On a rare occasion, the characters will be made to look like fools by there being no explosion after diving into the dust (toward the camera). This will be followed by a four-count beat, to share an embarrassed moment, which will be punctuated by an explosion.

* ''Freanchise/StarWars''

* ''Plan 7 of 9 from Outer Space''. [[Main/TheAdventuresOfCaptainProton Captain Proton]] and Buster Kincaid use {{Jet Pack}}s to escape a ChekhovsVolcano destroying the SupervillainLair.

* ''Plan 7 of 9 from Outer Space''. Captain Proton and Buster Kincaid use {{Jet Pack}}s to escape a ChekhovsVolcano destroying the SupervillainLair.

* Silk Spectre in ''Film/{{Watchmen}}'' during the burning building rescue in SlowMotion.
* Parodied in ''Film/HotFuzz'', where Nick and Danny find a sea mine in some oldtimer's arsenal. He bangs it to prove it's harmless, and it starts ticking. Nick and Danny do the textbook running towards the camera and leaping over a hedge, followed by... nothing. Of course, the mine [[ChekhovsGun DOES blow up later]] in the film, but nobody got to run away from it that time.
** [[spoiler:Fortunately, no one was hurt.]]

* [[ComicBook/RobinSeries Robin]] (Tim Drake) saves Officer Harper from an explosion and the two of them just manage to avoid the ensuing fireball as he swings away. In a more realistic take than normal Tim still ends up burned on the back of his head and neck and it is very much not a [[NonFatalExplosions Non Fatal Explosion]] as two kids Tim didn't realize were in a car right next to the bomb were killed.

* The escape from the Juda Central System in ''[[RaySeries Raystorm]]'' after you defeat the last boss.

* 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 [[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.

* In the second part of ''[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1532382/ Hooked]]''. The main hero jumps of the boat a moment before the bomb explodes, however it turns out that the perfect timing wasn't his -it was's the bomb's one. Or rather the bad guys' who were secretly watching him and detonated the bomb at the precise moment, so that he'd believe in his miraculous save and went on with his part of their BatmanGambit.

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]].

Examined exhaustively at the website [[http://web.archive.org/web/20080206055757/http://www.cc.gatech.edu/people/home/idris/Movie_Reviews/Reality_of_Running_Away.html The Reality of Running Away from Stuff]].

* ''Manga/MiraiNikki'': 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.

Though all are related to NonFatalExplosions, there are also two more directly related {{trope}}s. One is the RocketJump: an extremely hard-ass character may exploit the power of the blast as it propels them through the air to reach places they wouldn't normally have been able to. The second is combining this with OutOfTheInferno: for a second it seems that the characters won't make it as the flames from the explosion reach and engulf them...Then a few second later they come out bursting through the flames, slightly parched but unharmed.

On rare occasion, the characters will be made to look like fools by there being no explosion after diving into the dust (toward the camera). This will be followed by a four-count beat, to share an embarrassed moment, which will be punctuated by an explosion.

* ''Manga/MiraiNikki'': 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.

* In ''Fanfic/CoOpMode'', [[spoiler: Lisa]] ends up doing this, to comedic effect, when [[spoiler: she]] first uses a [[PowerGlows Skillbook]] to learn a [[SuperEmpowering Skill.]] Taylor and James end up laughing the moment [[spoiler: she]] gets out behind the dumpster [[spoiler: she]] jumped to, leading [[spoiler: her]] to say this gem:
-->[[spoiler: ''Lisa'': *after learning Capoeira, with a [[DumpsterDive burger wrapper]] in her hair* "You ''do'' know I just learned how to kick your asses, right?"]]

** The climax of ''Film/TheWorldsEnd'' has the protagonists ''driving' away from an explosion. [[CrowningMomentOfFunny In reverse.]] [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse We never find out if]] [[spoiler: Basil and the creepy twins]] managed to outrun it on foot, though.

* 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]] [[{{Pun}} 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]].

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

* 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 ''Film/{{Suffragette}}'' the protagonists run away from a explosion [[spoiler: caused by a bomb one of them built herself. It is not explained why she didn't build the bomb in a way that gives them more time to run away.]]

* At the end of ''Film/LondonHasFallen'', [[spoiler: Banning and President Asher manage to escape one after jumping into an elevator shaft during the incineration of the terrorist's hideout.]]

* Though there's no actual fireball, the spirit of this trope is made evident in ''[[Literature/KushielsLegacy Kushiel's Scion]]''. On a hunt in the Royal Forest, Imriel and Sidonie are alone together, having gotten separated from the group, when something starts charging through the underbrush. Imriel thinks it's a boar and knocks Sidonie to the ground to protect her. [[spoiler: It's a deer.]]

* In ''[[Literature/TalesOfKolmar Song in the Silence]]'', Lanen is in a cave while [[spoiler: Akhor is dying painfully, heating up and smoking at the edges]], and realizes that an explosion is imminent. She makes it just out of the entrance and trips, and the fireball gouts out above her head.

* 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]].

* 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]].

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

* ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' has this as one of the endings. The last you see of JC Denton is him running away after he blew up [[spoiler: Area 51's bunker]] while still deep inside.

* In the ending of ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'', [[spoiler: Alex dumps a nuclear bomb into the ocean and flies away in a helicopter, but isn't fast enough to get out of range of the explosion]]. Earlier in the game, [[spoiler:Elizabeth Greene's OneWingedAngel form has the ability to shoot out a huge blast of fire from the base. The screen will go grayscale, time will slow down, and you'll run your ass off hoping to make it to high ground before it fries your health to critical no matter how much you have]].

** 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.

* During a cutscene in the last mission of ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'', CJ does this to escape an explosion in [[spoiler: [[FaceHeelTurn Big Smoke]]'s "Crack Palace"]], complete with SlowMotion.

* In the first ''VideoGame/FarCry'' game, Jack Carver and Valerie Constantine detonate a nuclear bomb and must fight their way out of the bunker to avoid being caught in the blast or mutated. [[spoiler: They outrun the explosion, but are rendered unconscious. It is revealed the anti-mutagens they had taken were fake and the bomb had mutated them.]]

* ''VideoGame/PonyIsland'': [[spoiler: It's technically a full system dump you have to stay ahead of, but the trope still applies in the finale of the game.]]