History Main / SuperFlyReflexes

* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanGothamKnight'', Deadshot skewers a wasp with a thrown cocktail pick as part of his EstablishingCharacterMoment.[[/folder]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BackAtTheBarnyard'': PlayedForLaughs. In "The Sun Cow", one of Otis' trials according to the internet is to be able to catch a fly with chopsticks. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome With hooves, he can't even hold chopsticks]], so Pig's friend Marty the Fly volunteers to just land on his chopsticks. Then played straight when Freddy kills it with a newspaper in one strike. [[CrossesTheLineTwice Which leads to Marty's funeral, where he does the same thing to Marty's brother.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BackAtTheBarnyard'': PlayedForLaughs. In "The Sun Cow", one of Otis' trials according to the internet is to be able to catch a fly with chopsticks. [[SuprisinglyRealisticOutcome With hooves, he can't even hold chopsticks]], so Pig's friend Marty the Fly volunteers to just land on his chopsticks. Then played straight when Freddy kills it with a newspaper in one strike. [[CrossesTheLineTwice Which leads to Marty's funeral, where he does the same thing to Marty's brother.]]

* In the issue of ''ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel'' where the first Star-Viper is introduced, he demonstrates his boosted reflexes by quickly grabbing three flies out of the air with one hand. A possible homage to The Magnificent Seven (see below)

* In the issue of ''ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel'' where the first Star-Viper is introduced, he demonstrates his boosted reflexes by quickly grabbing three flies out of the air with one hand.

-->'''Lee:''' [sighs] One... [[GloryDays Time was]] when I would have got all three.

* A variation is used in ''Anime/OnePiece'' to demonstrate that Trebol isn't just strong, but [[StrongAndSkilled lethally accurate]]: a single [[StickySituation blob of his mucus]] thrown at a fly not only embeds it in solid concrete, but according to Rob was accurate enough to hit the fly ''between the eyes''.

[[/folder]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BackAtTheBarnyard'': PlayedForLaughs. In "The Sun Cow", one of Otis' trials according to the internet is to be able to catch a fly with chopsticks. [[SuprisinglyRealisticOutcom With hooves, he can't even hold chopsticks]], so Pig's friend Marty the Fly volunteers to just land on his chopsticks. Then played straight when Freddy kills it with a newspaper in one strike. [[CrossesTheLineTwice Which leads to Marty's funeral, where he does the same thing to Marty's brother.]]

* ''Film/TheKarateKidPartII'' on Amiga and Atari ST has a BonusStage where the player controls Mr. Miyagi as he attempts to do this.

* In the ''Film/TheKarateKidPartII'' game for Amiga and Atari ST has a BonusStage where the player controls Mr. Miyagi as he attempts to do this.

[[folder:Film -- Animated]]

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

* In ''Film/Daredevil2003'' at the end after being defeated and hospitalized by Daredevil, Bullseye kills a fly with a thrown syringe to show he still has his deadly aiming skills.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/TheKarateKid1984''. Daniel stumbles on Mr. Miyagi attempting to catch flies [[ImprobableChopsticksSkill with a pair of chopsticks]] ("Man who catch fly with chopstick -- accomplish ANYTHING.") While Mr. Miyagi tries and fails throughout the scene, Daniel manages it within seconds of attempting it, prompting a disgruntled "You beginner luck," from Miyagi.
* In a scene in ''[[Film/TheMagnificentSeven1960 The Magnificent Seven]]'' Lee's sitting at a table wrestling with his personal demons. Three flies appear by his cup, his hand flashes out and...

* In ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', Qui-Gon Jinn shows off his Jedi reflexes by catching Jar-Jar Binks' ''tongue'' with his fingers, as Jar-Jar tries to steal the Skywalkers' last apple [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Projectile_use_by_living_systems#Tethered_projectiles frog-style.]]
* ''Film/TerminatorDarkFate''. When someone expresses skepticism that she is a SuperSoldier from the future, Grace proceeds to [[BulletTime cut a fly lengthways in mid-air with her knife]].

[[folder:Theater]]
* Depending on the production, this is often done by TheRenfield in ''{{Dracula}}'' films and plays. He catches flies and eats them, or else he feeds them to spiders -- then eats the spiders.

* {{Parodied}} in ''WebComic/OnePunchMan'', in a scene where Saitama finds it inexplicably difficult to swat a mosquito despite being so fast that the movement of his arms creates {{Kung Fu Sonic Boom}}s.

* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'': When Harry sees Snape's memory of his father James when he was at school, he sees James playing with a Golden Snitch, letting it fly a short distance, then catching it. Lily is not impressed, and accuses him of "showing off with that stupid Snitch".

%% Image replaced per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1489164391078507000
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.

[[quoteright:350:[[Manga/HaventYouHeardImSakamoto https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sakamoto1bee_resize.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:This kind of dueling takes un-bee-lievable skill.]]

%% Caption selected per above IP thread. Please do not replace or remove without discussion here:
%% https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1404492079030138900

* ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'': Whis at one point demonstrates his precision and speed by calmly grabbing a bee by its wings mid-flight, without causing any harm to the bee itself.

* In the issue of Marvel's ''[[ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel G.I. Joe]]'' comic where the first Star-Viper is introduced, he demonstrates his boosted reflexes by quickly grabbing three flies out of the air with one hand.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/TheKarateKid1984''. Daniel stumbles on Mr. Miyagi attempting to catch flies [[ImprobableChopsticksSkill with a pair of chopsticks]] ("Man who catch fly with chopstick -- accomplish ANYTHING.") While Mr. Miyagi tries and fails throughout the scene, Daniel manages it within seconds of attempting it, prompting a disgruntled "You beginner luck," from Miyagi.
* In ''Film/TheWholeNineYards'', Jimmy "the Tulip" Tudeski does this as a first sign of his former job as a contract killer. He even puts the fly in his mouth, too.

* Also parodied in ''Film/TheyCallMeBruce'' when Bruce slices at a fly with a samurai sword, only to miss (because he's not the martial arts expert he's pretending to be). Bruce then claims that the fly "[[GroinAttack will make love no longer]]".

* In ''Film/GetSmart'', Agent 23 makes his BigEntrance by smashing a fly and flicking it into the trash. It turns out to have been a LiteralSurveillanceBug, much to the annoyance of its makers.
* The [[ImprobableChopsticksSkill chopstick example]] from ''Film/TheKarateKid'' is parodied in ''Film/BallsOfFury'', where the protagonist's OldMaster opens his cricket box, and the guy grabs the cricket. The master rebukes him and tells him that wasn't the intention. Unfortunately, the master's lucky cricket is now crushed.

* A variant appears in the ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' novelization. One of the tests the Flanagan Institute puts Lalah through is using her PsychicPowers to telepathically control a set of robotic arms and catch flies with them. She has no problem catching the flies, but doing it with enough finesse to avoid crushing them takes longer.
* ''Literature/{{Spenser}} has two examples. In one book, a fly in Spenser's office goes past Hawk, and he catches it and kills it with his hand. In another, Spenser is musing about how fast Vinnie Morris is, thinking that while he and Hawk can catch flies with their hands, Vinnie can catch them with his thumb and forefinger.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': The Yuyan Archers are boasted to have such ImprobableAimingSkills that they can pin a fly to a tree from a hundred yards without killing it.
* In the AnimatedAdaptation of ''ComicBook/TrollsDeTroy'', as in the inspiring comics, flies are a troll's precious companions and source of pride. Getting their first flies is treated as a ComingOfAge moment. Waha, being an adopted human, is fly-less and envious of the other trolls for theirs. So, it's rather common for her (sometimes with the help of her friend Pröfy) to try and catch the flies of another troll. When she's successful, a furious chase usually ensues.

One reason why this trope is so impressive is because real flies perceive the flow of time more slowly than humans do, so they can dodge attempts to swat them eaily.

%%Note that Film/TheKarateKid1984 belongs under ImprobableChopsticksSkill