History Main / PrecisionGuidedBoomerang

* {{Nightwing}} has even been shown doing this with escrima sticks (which aren't even meant to be thrown to begin with), bouncing them off the heads of two mooks, a wall, the floor, and back to his hand.
* So does Marvel's {{Daredevil}} with his billy club. Most {{egregious}}ly in one of KevinSmith's issues, where Daredevil throws it through a glass window where, instead of shattering the window completely, it just leaves a small hole, approximately 1.5 inches in diameter. Then it bounces around, knocking out the {{mooks}} and returns through the ''exact same hole''.
* Needless to say, [[TheDCU DC]] supervillain Captain Boomerang is pretty good at this. To the point that he was once able to make (specially prepared) boomerangs ''travel through time''.

->''"If you love something, throw it at your enemies. If it cleaves their skull and comes back to you, you know it's yours."''
-->-- ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing''

* The main character of ''DarkSector'' has a glaive which acts like this, going so far as to have a puzzle at one point where you have to throw it over a fence and curve it down to hit a switch. Somewhat {{justified|Trope}} since when he first gets it, it actually seems to be coming out of him, meaning it's organically attached to him or something.

->''"Comic book boomerangs, rather than being just sticks with a vague tendency to curve around, are nearly supernatural items with an ability to return where they started no matter what happens. They can bounce off the [[RubberForeheadAliens interestingly ridged skulls]] of alien conquerors, latch onto weapons or jewelry, or run off to the bar for a quick Jack and Coke, and yet still return to the waiting hand of whatever costumed goon threw it."''
-->-- '''LoreSjoberg''', ''The Book of Ratings'', "Green Arrow's Arrows"

* ''Videogame/SengokuBasara'' has Goto Matabe, who uses a "Fang Blade" that can be tossed like a giant boomerang in order to clear crowds of enemies.

* Sepikmon's boomerang from ''DigimonFrontier''. Also double as a mysteriously conspicuously invisible camera.

In fiction, however, a boomerang is virtually a living creature possessed of the single goal of returning to the thrower's hand, come hell or high water. This results in boomerangs doing things that are flatly impossible, such as continuing to fly after [[PinballProjectile striking multiple targets]] then returning to the user. It becomes humorous in older video games, where boomerangs were crudely programmed to return to TheHero after being thrown, ''even if that means following him all over the screen until he stops to catch it.'' Does it really have to be stated that the RuleOfCool is involved?

In fiction, however, a boomerang is virtually a living creature possessed of the single goal of returning to the thrower's hand, come hell or high water. This results in boomerangs doing things that are flatly impossible, such as continuing to fly after [[PinballProjectile striking multiple targets]] then returning to the user. It becomes humorous in older video games, where boomerangs are crudely programmed to return to TheHero after being thrown, ''even if that means following him all over the map until he stops to catch it.'' Does it really have to be stated that the RuleOfCool is involved?

In fiction, however, a boomerang is virtually a living creature possessed of the single goal of returning to the thrower's hand, come Hell or high water. This results in boomerangs doing things that are flatly impossible, such as continuing to fly after [[PinballProjectile striking multiple targets]] then returning to the user. It becomes humorous in older video games, where boomerangs are crudely programmed to return to TheHero after being thrown, ''even if that means following him all over the map until he stops to catch it.'' Does it really have to be stated that the RuleOfCool is involved?

A real-life {{b|attleBoomerang}}oomerang is simply a stick carved in such a way as to get some rotor lift when thrown turning end-over-end. Thrown properly, the boomerang will curve back on its course and return to its point of origin. It was designed as a hunting tool. If it missed, it would come back for another shot, and if it hit, the hunter would have to retrieve the kill anyway. Some boomerangs allow for more complex trajectories, though these are more for sport than hunting.

* Wulfgar's warhammer in R.A. Salvatore's ''Literature/ForgottenRealms'' [[TheLegendOfDrizzt novels]] always returns to him after he throws it. In this case, it's not a matter of the hammer flying through the air, though -- the hammer, being magical, simply ''rematerializes'' in Wulfgar's hands after it falls to the ground.
** This is based on the ''returning'' enhancement in ''DungeonsAndDragons'', see below.

* The boomerang in ''VideoGame/NetHack'' is a decently powerful missile weapon that moves in a circular pattern when thrown. Among other effects, this means that you can't throw it in narrow passages. And yes, if it actually hits, it doesn't come back.

* The remake of La-Mulana includes a chakram that behaves like one of these; it will make a good effort to return to you, but doesn't always succeed. If it fails (or hits a hard surface) it falls to the ground; either way, successfully catching or retrieving it allows you to avoid wasting ammo.

* In ''BakuryuuSentaiAbaranger'' (adapted into ''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder''), the [[HumongousMecha Abaren-Ou]] can throw the entire body of the Pteranodon mecha as a huge-ass boomerang.

* Some weapons wielded by the main characters in several Franchise/UltraSeries, such as the [[Series/UltraSeven Eye Slugger]] and the [[Series/ReturnOfUltraman Ultra Bracelet]].

* Stiletto Anyways from ''VideoGanme/{{Anachronox}}'' fights with daggers. Depending on which set she's equipped with, they're thrown at the enemy and return every time.

* Some weapons wielded by the main characters in several ''Franchise/UltraSeries'', such as the [[Series/UltraSeven Eye Slugger]] and the [[Series/ReturnOfUltraman Ultra Bracelet]].

* Some weapons wielded by the main characters in several UltraSeries, such as the [[UltraSeven Eye Slugger]] and the [[ReturnOfUltraman Ultra Bracelet]].

* ''{{Terraria}}'' features several types of boomerangs. The first is a normal, slow wooden boomerang found in surface chests. Next is the magical boomerang that emits sparkles to light the way, found in golden chests underground. The third is the thorn chakram that rebounds off of surfaces before returning with the chance to poison enemies, crafted with jungle items. Another is the flamerang that's crafted using hellstone bars and the magical boomerang, it hits harder and can set enemies on fire. Finally, there's the light disks crafted with cobalt and mythril bars, souls of light and souls of might. They act similar to the thorn chakram but can be stacked to have ''five'' flying around at once. It's worth noting that all of these benefit from melee bonuses to give melee focused players some form of ranged attack, they also have the highest KnockBack values in the game, allowing you to keep waves of monsters at bay.

* ''ProjectSuperpowers'': Death Defying 'Devil's weapons of choice.

* One episode of the ''[[WinnieThePooh The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh]]'' has Tigger throw a boomerang at a beehive. Said boomerang hunts him down like a bloodhound for the rest of the episode, even into houses.

A real-life [[BattleBoomerang boomerang]] is simply a stick carved in such a way as to get some rotor lift when thrown turning end-over-end. Thrown properly, the boomerang will curve back on its course and return to its point of origin. It was designed as a hunting tool. If it missed, it would come back for another shot, and if it hit, the hunter would have to retrieve the kill anyway. Some boomerangs allow for more complex trajectories, though these are more for sport than hunting.

* An extreme example from ''FateStayNight'': whenever Archer throws one of his [[DualWielding dual swords]], it will always return to him as long as the other is still in his possession (due to their being "married" swords). Shirou uses this to great effect against [[spoiler:Saber Alter]]: he throws both from the first pair, and Traces a second. The first pair is deflected, but when Shirou attacks with the second set, the first set ''flies back'' to hit from behind at the same time.

* ''RanmaOneHalf''

* [[ColonelBadass The Colonel]] in ''FistOfTheNorthStar'' uses boomerangs as his main weapon. Their ridiculous accuracy is revealed to be due to his PsychicPowers -- it's easy to hit an enemy with a boomerang when you're controlling it with your mind.

* ''SailorMoon''

* Chikuma Koshirou from ''Manga/{{Basilisk}}'' [[DualWielding dual wields]] kama scythes. He once threw them so that both of them cut off half a human head and still returned to his hands. They work solely by RuleOfCool, no magic involved, since when Kisaragi Saemon and Kasumi Gyoubu knocked the weapons off course, they just fell to the ground.

** Marvel's Boomerang, like the GreenArrow / {{Hawkeye}}, also carries an arsenal of different boomerangs for different jobs, including razorangs, gasarangs, etc..

* [[TheMightyThor Thor's]] hammer Mjolnir is enchanted by Odin to always return when thrown, among other things.

* ''ComicBook/{{Spider-Man}}'' villain Tracer has a variation on this; his guns fire bullets that lock onto their target and will avoid any obstacle to get to them. This allowed him a leg up on Spidey in the quipping department; after Spider-Man claims he ''laughs'' at bullets, Tracer notes that his bullets laugh back.

* ''{{Tintin}} in America'' features a Chicago gangster with a literal boomerang doing this.
* In "Comicbook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderThePromise" [[spoiler:we see Sokka has the boomerang he lost in the finale of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' (or a very similar one) again, apparently having recovered it offscreen.]]

* In [[DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney's]] ''Disney/{{Hercules}}'', the title character bends his ''sword'' and throws it like a boomerang during training. It conveniently cuts the heads off all the training dummies before returning to him, and even snaps back into sword shape once caught again, as if it were spring loaded.

* The '''boomerang-[[AxCrazy axe]]''' from ''Film/TheBrothersGrimm''. {{Justified|Trope}} in that it is enchanted.

* Wulfgar's warhammer in R.A. Salvatore's ''ForgottenRealms'' [[TheLegendOfDrizzt novels]] always returns to him after he throws it. In this case, it's not a matter of the hammer flying through the air, though -- the hammer, being magical, simply ''rematerializes'' in Wulfgar's hands after it falls to the ground.

* ''XenaWarriorPrincess'' has a Precision-Guided Chakram which always returns to her after ricocheting off walls, rocks, and enemies, often in really convoluted ways. This culminated in a GroundhogDayLoop episode where Xena, realizing she has no time to fix every problem on her own, spends some time planning ridiculous trajectories and using ''the chakram'' to interrupt every problem. Note the real-life counterpart of a war quoit is ''sharp all the way around'' and definitely not something that would return like a boomerang, not that you'd want a ring of razor-sharp metal hurling back at you in the first place.

* In ''{{Warehouse 13}}'', an artifact football will always return to where it was thrown... a few hours later, after circling the ''entire world''.

* ''TheOuterLimits'' episode "Fun and Games". The alien creature Mike and Laura fight has a boomerang with a serrated edge. It can return to the person who threw it even if it hit something while in flight.

* ''DungeonsAndDragons'':

* Averted in ''Kirby'' both by the main character and various enemies. Most boomerang attacks will go forward before reversing direction but will '''not''' return to the thrower if they've moved.
* Boomerang Bros in [[SuperMarioBros Mario]] games.
** Mario also can do it with an e-reader upgrade in the GBA remake of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' and as a normal power up in ''SuperMario3DLand''
* ''Ratchet And Clank'' in the original game, your wrench can be thrown boomerang style in a straight line and will always come back after hitting a target. in the original only you are unable to move afer releasing your boomering. from the sequel and on you CAN move after throwing your boomerang and it always come back to wherever you are (though you can only move maybe a couple feet in the time the wrench is flying)
* ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' has a number of weapons like this, some boomerangs (Quick Boomerang), some... not (Rolling Cutter, Shadow Blade, Ring Boomerang). Unfortunately, you don't get your weapon energy back if you catch them (a flaw that ''VideoGame/MegaManX'''s Boomerang Cutter corrects). ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' has a Shield Boomerang weapon that also returns when you throw it, though the throwing arc differs between games - in ''Zero 3'', you can trick the Shield Boomerang into indefinitely revolving around Zero.

* In ''{{Pokemon}}'', the bones that Cubone and Marowak wield in battle exhibit this trope when Cubone or Marowak uses the Cubone family's signature move, Bonemerang.
* Jet's boomerang in ''VideoGame/{{Wild ARMs 3}}'' acts the same way, and is necessary to activate some switches.
* In many console RolePlayingGames that have boomerangs or similar weapons, including the ''PhantasyStar'' and ''DragonQuest'' series, their advantage is that they can hit multiple enemies in one attack.
* They do get distinct names in different ''PhantasyStar'' games. In ''PhantasyStarIII'', they're slicers; ''PhantasyStarIV'' calls them slashers.

* In the original ''NinjaGaiden'', the giant shuriken -- the Windmill Star -- would return to you, no matter how doggedly you dodged it. A skilled warrior could use a single star to fight over a long period of time, simply by repeatedly jumping over it. The Xbox remake also features the Windmill Star as a somewhat hidden weapon. It's the single best subweapon in the entire game, being the only one (other than the bow, and that doesn't really count) that can hurt bosses, and also capable of killing sufficiently weakened mooks.
* Just about any ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' game with a boomerang-based weapon allows you to set the thing in robocentric orbit if you launch the weapon and jump in the right way. Quick Man's Quick Boomerangs don't even return to him; they're more like really fast guided missiles that ''look'' like boomerangs.

* In ''KingdomHearts'', Sora has an attack that allows him to throw his keyblade multiple times. Each time he throws it, it travels until it goes offscreen before reappearing in his hand. This is explained in the same way as Wulfgar's hammer above: The keyblade is a magical weapon that [[ClingyMacGuffin will appear in the hand of the wielder whenever they want it to]].

* Some of the ''FireEmblem'' games have throwing axes which can be thrown from a distance. The attack animation has them 'boomerang'. This, however, does not seem to apply in the ninth and tenth games, as the thrower now, instead, takes out new axes from {{Hammerspace}}.
* The Boomerang class of weapons from ''[[WorldOfMana Secret of Mana]]'' can defy all sorts of conventional physics when sufficiently charged up, but will always return to the wielder when thrown.

* The ''{{Kirby}}'' series features a boomerang-like copy ability called Cutter, though it typically doesn't try to follow its thrower. However, in ''VideoGame/Kirby64TheCrystalShards'', the Cutter ability causes Kirby to throw a piece of himself as a boomerang, and given his greatly reduced mobility during this, it's guaranteed that the projectile will return home shortly after rebounding. Also, in ''Kirby's Dream Land 3'', using Cutter while teamed up with Rick causes Rick to throw Kirby as a boomerang, though this time it's possible to avoid catching the projectile and even set up a situation where Rick can just stand still and have Kirby orbit endlessly around him. In the same game, teaming up with Pitch for certain copy abilities turns Pitch into a returning projectile, though for Cutter he becomes a crescent-shaped blade that does not spin like a boomerang.

* Somewhat subverted in ''[[TheSimpsons Bart Simpson's Escape from Camp Deadly]]'', where boomerangs were the main weapon. They could ricochet at 90 degree angles from the ground and hard objects, but if you missed them on the way back, they were gone.

* ''{{Castlevania}}'' has had boomerangs as a secondary weapon since the first game. Some of them are crucifixes, some are X-shaped, and some are actual boomerangs. [[http://castlevania.wikia.com/wiki/Cross_Boomerang#Item_Data see here for more info]]

* ''NetHack'' The boomerang is a decently powerful missile weapon that moves in a circular pattern when thrown. Among other effects, this means that you can't throw it in narrow passages. And yes, if it actually hits, it doesn't come back.

* The [[InfinityPlusOneSword Infinity + 1]] weapon of the first ''BreathOfFire'' game: The Tri-Rang. It split and flew in three directions at once and hit every enemy it it's path at least twice - multiple times if the enemy was big enough. (The game also featured lesser boomerangs of the lesser "hit and return" variety)

* ''StarWars'' games often have "throw lightsaber" powers that let Jedi turn their lightsabers into Precision Guided Boomerangs. This is more due to the Jedi's telekinetic Force abilities than the lightsaber, but to an observer, it looks the same.

* Your frisbees in ''{{Purple}}'' always return to you after throwing. Should they fail to do so, they immaterialize and return as soon as possible passing through everything (or in case of Cluster F., [[SpreadShot split]]).

* ''{{Anachronox}}'': Stiletto Anyways fights with daggers. Depending on which set she's equipped with, they're thrown at the enemy and return every time.
* In ''CrusaderOfCenty'', the first skill the hero learns is ''throwing his sword'', which will indeed spin around and come back like a boomerang.

* ''{{Knights of the Old Coding}}''

* In the ThatGuyWithTheGlasses Anniversary Video, That Aussie Guy whips out "The Stereotype of Doom", throwing a boomerang that knocks down [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]], Handsome Tom, MarzGurl, and Ma-Ti, before he effortlessly reclaims it, spouting a menacing "Oi" at the end.

* ''{{Transformers}}''
** Optimus Prime from ''TransformersAnimated'' somehow manages to have a precision-guided ''axe''.

** And Ulrich's [[KatanasAreJustBetter katana]] veers into this a few times [[ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks when thrown]].