History Main / PlayingPossum

** ''Manga/StardustCrusaders'': Jotaro plays dead in order to draw his opponent, Dio Brando, within attacking range. As Jotaro currently has a bunch of knives in his body, he can't afford to take any more hits from Dio, so he waits until Dio is practically inches from him, having to stay silent while holding his breath and temporarily ''stopping his heart'' to make Dio come closer to deliver the blow to his head.

Subtrope of FakingTheDead. BuriedInAPileOfCorpses is a specific sub-trope. See also ISurrenderSuckers. Compare DefensiveFeintTrap and SickCaptiveScam, in which a captive pretends to be hurt or ill rather than dead to get the drop on his captor. Contrast FingerTwitchingRevival and OfCorpseHesAlive. Not to be confused with DeadPersonImpersonation.

** In the first major battle, Norman, the resident NewMeat, is instructed to use one of the tank's machine guns on a pile of German bodies. When Norman protests shooting ht ebodies, the tank's driver Gordo points out that any one of those "bodies" could be somebody pretending to be dead while concealing an anti-tank weapon, then shoot them InTheBack as they roll by.

In RealLife, this is a ''war crime'' and has been since at least 1948. UsefulNotes/TheLawsAndCustomsOfWar state that those soldiers that are ''hors de combat'' ("out of the fight") a category that includes prisoners, the severely wounded, sailors abandoning ship, the dead and ejecting aircrew -- although not [[ItsRainingMen paratroopers]] -- [[WouldNotShootACivilian are not]] [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown to be]] [[SinkTheLifeboats attacked]]. Feigning that status is perfidy and highly illegal, since it would lead to the other side [[CoupDeGrace killing the genuinely wounded]] [[LeaveNoSurvivors on the spot]] (which is a war crime too) to make sure.[[note]]Modern weapons can make survivors look dead, so examination of the apparently dead is mandatory where practicable[[/note]] Of course, fictionally (and [[RealLife non-fictionally]]), you're often up against people who aren't signatories to the Geneva Conventions, or the instigator themselves is not protected under them due to [[TheSpook not belonging to any 'official' government]]. That said, provided that you don't initiate attack, playing dead until your enemy goes away is not a war crime.

* In ''VideoGame/ArmyOfTwo'', Rios and Salem can "Feign Death" after taking a certain amount of damage. They will collapse to the ground as if they had been killed, allowing them to recuperate while the enemies fire at the player's partner. This only works once per battle, since the enemies will see through the ruse and continue shooting them on subsequent attempts.
* Can be done in ''VideoGame/{{Unreal}}'' and ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament''. In the earlier editions of the game, it caused the player to rather obviously fall over very slowly without bending any joints, leading to a "hinges in the feet" type of effect. Later games corrected this with the use of a ragdoll engine, though it returns in ''VideoGame/UnrealTournamentIII''.
* Hunters' Feign Death move in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''. Like similar moves in other [=MMOs=], it causes monsters to stop attacking the Hunter, thinking him dead, although it can fail.

* Similarly, you can do this in ''Tenchu: The Wrath Of Heaven/Return From Darkness'' (same game, different consoles).
* This was one of the powers of the Spy in the original ''VideoGame/{{Team Fortress|Classic}}'', either dropping silently pretending to be a corpse that's been there for a while or with a loud death cry. BeatingADeadPlayer ensues.
** Due to an oversight by the developers (the feigning Spy was "solid" while a dead body wasn't), anyone can instantly recognize feigning Spy just by walking over him. What happens then is known as "Crowbar".
** It returns in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' with the Dead Ringer, which drops a fake corpse when the Spy is damaged, and makes the Spy invisible. Can be very useful to get behind and backstab an enemy, if they don't hear the Dead Ringer's very loud decloaking noise.
* Used in the ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' series.

** In ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyWorldAtWar'', the Japanese sometimes do this ''without'' being wounded first; at one point in the first mission, the player and his squad happen upon what appears to be a group of corpses. Within seconds, a flare shoots up, blinding everyone while the soldiers get up and surprise attack the unprepared Marines.
* Done in ''VideoGame/TombRaiderAnniversary'' with the final boss. She goes down and Lara slowly approaches with her guns drawn. The boss turns her head and then quickly leaps to Lara, grabbing her by the neck, and tossing her aside while taunting her with "I cannot die, you fool. Sooner or later, you'll run out of bullets!"
** This may be a lampshading of the fact that Lara ''never'' runs out of bullets (at least for her basic guns).

* Near the end of ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'', Alex pulls this off to get close to Gentek director [=McMullen=].
* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'', Snake is equipped with a fake death pill in case he gets outnumbered, which drops his vital functions down to almost nothing. When the coast is clear, he can bite down on the Revival Pill embedded in his tooth to get back into action.
* The zombies in several of the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' games have a tendency to do this, falling to the ground after you've damaged them enough, but getting back up a short while later (or gnawing on your legs if you get too close). The key is that they're not really dead until you see the spreading pool of blood beneath them. You can also encounter some zombie bodies lying on the ground that fools many first-time players into thinking they're already dead, only to immediately get bitten at the ankles and find out that the body was a zombie lying in wait.
** Jim Chapman of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilOutbreak'' can do it right back to them, plummeting to the ground to make zombies ignore him for a while. It's balanced by the virus gauge climbing at a much faster rate, so you can't just lay there forever.

* In the ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' series there's the monster Gypceros, who will feign death once he receives enough damage. If you fall for it and start carving him, he will flail around wildly, dealing huge damage if you're too close. You can tell if he's just pretending by checking your quest info or by throwing a paintball at it: if the dot in the map is pink, he's still alive, if it's grey he is really dead. You can also tell if he's the only monster to fight and the "quest complete" notice hasn't shown up yet. Players on capture quests can use this time to set up a trap for when he wakes back up, as he's low on health enough to be captured when he does this trick.
* In ''Franchise/DragonAge'', the rogues have an ability called "feign death," which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', there are numerous old battlefields where the decayed husks of [[MechaMooks Guardians]] can be found and looted. Some of these Decayed Guardians are still alive and can still shoot at Link with their laser turrets. Even worse, sometimes fully intact Guardian Stalkers (distinguished by still having their legs) will be sitting among the Decayed Guardians waiting for Link to pass by before chasing him.

* WesternAnimation/YogiBear plays possum in an effort to avoid getting hit by oncoming traffic (a new superhighway was built around the tree in which he was hibernating). It appears to work, up until he gets flattened by a steamroller. From the cartoon "Baffled Bear."

* [[spoiler:[[DualWielding Deed]]]] attempts this during the finale of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers'' so she can perform one last sneak attack on [[spoiler:[[TheGunslinger Teana]]]] ([[spoiler:it fails thanks to [[ImprobableAimingSkills Vice]]]]), though since she was struck by [[StunGuns stun rounds]], it's more accurate to say that she was playing unconscious instead of playing dead.

* ''Film/ComingHomeInTheDark'': After Mandrake thinks he's killed [[TheProtsgonist Hoaggie]], he approaches Hoaggie's unmoving body, whereupon Hoaggie strikes him in the face with a rock, and proceeds to beat him with it.

** Akira undertakes a TrainingThePeacefulVillagers task to turn Sheryl’s slum gang into a hunter gang with VR training, where Alpha provides her MissionControl assistance to Akira's opponents in mock battle. She orders them to play possum, making Akira move up to them and head shot them with simulated rounds to counter this.

* ''WesternAnimation/IceAge2TheMeltdown'': The opossum brothers Crash and Eddie, as well as their adopted mammoth sister Ellie, do this every time they notice a predator. Unfortunately for them, they're rarely wise about it; the first time they demonstrate it, it's against a vulture who is neither fooled nor picky about eating dead things. Another time, Ellie tries playing dead while [[PrehistoricMonster Cretaceous and Maelstrom]] are destroying the ice float she's standing on, to which Crash and Eddie have to get her to move because she'll drown if the two sea monsters don't decide to eat her anyway.

* Jotaro Kujo from ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'' plays dead in order to draw his opponent, Dio Brando, within attacking range. As Jotaro currently has a bunch of knives in his body, he can't afford to take any more hits from Dio, so he waits until Dio is practically inches from him, having to stay silent while holding his breath and temporarily ''stopping his heart'' to make Dio come closer to deliver the blow to his head.

** In the second and third games, any attempt by the necromorphs to do this falls flat, since when a necromorph dies, it drops an item. Did it just "die" without dropping anything? It's still alive, stomp it to death.

* Karol from ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'' can do this with one of his skills in order to regain HP/TP and escape enemy notice after he's been knocked down. He's a bit cowardly, so it fits.

* In the Future level of ''VideoGame/TimeCommando'', there are spacesuited ... monkey ... things that will try to do this. Remember, [[EverythingFades it ain't dead if it don't fade!]]

* In "WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar in "Smotherly Love" there is [[spoiler: a possum, who, well, plays the possum to beat Hans and free the penguins.]]

** The Bugs Bunny cartoon "The Fair-Haired Hare" and the [[WesternAnimation/SylvesterTheCatAndTweetyBird Sylvester and Tweety]] cartoon "Muzzle Tough" both share a joke where a character "wears" a bearskin rug and another character shoots it repeatedly thinking that it was playing possum for twenty years straight.

* The WesternAnimation/DuckDodgers episode "Duck Deception" at one point has Dodgers being beat up by an [[KillerSpaceMonkey alien gorillia]] which he plays dead to avoid. The gorilla, looking concerned, puts him down gently... then beats him up some more.
* WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls play possum in "Aliver," a reality show where they've been competing against Princess Morbucks who cheats her way through the contests. Princess is so heartbrokenly contrite that her last trick had killed the girls that she confesses she cheated. [[NotQuiteDead Then the girls wake up.]]