History Main / VillainExitStageLeft

* ''Fanfic/APrizeForThreeEmpires'': When a joint force of heroes storms a KRee hideout, determined to retrieve ComicBook/CarolDanvers, the Kree Supreme Intelligence is given two options: surrender... or else. It opts for teleporting away.

* At the end of the third ''Literature/{{Spaceforce}}'' book, the BigBad Minty Mazata attacks Jay with her [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire fangs]] and escapes the planet in her ship before the alarm is raised.

* ''Literature/{{Edgedancer}}'' (a novella of ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive''): Nale leaves the story by flying away into the storm, with no commeuppance for his actions save for [[spoiler:his own guilt]].

** Literature/BabaYaga {{Expy}} Mother Ostankya gets lifted into the air by a giant etherial crow.

* {{Creepypasta}}s often have this happen. For example, WebOriginal/JeffTheKiller, after his attempt to murder a young boy in the beginning of his first story goes sour, smashes a window, jumps out of it, and escapes into the night. The cops who were called on him don't bother going after him.

** Subverted in the case of the trope image, from ''ComicBook/ActsOfVengeance''. In context, the Red Skull was confronted by Magneto, a Holocaust survivor, and attempts to flee, snapping a Nazi salute as he does to piss Magneto off. However, the Skull is relying on a hidden train (on metal tracks) and army of robot guards (made of metal) to provide cover as he flees from [[MagnetismManipulation the Master of Magnetism]]. Magneto easily smashes through the Skull's defenses and traps him.

** "ComicBook/SupermanAndSpiderMan": When Parasite destroys Doctor Doom's nuclear weapon's control planet, Doom tries to flee towards a rocket to escape from Earth, but he discovers Spider-Man has disabled the controls. Seconds later, when he realizes the heroes have prevented the world's destruction, he rushes towards the nearest Latverian embassy before he believes his sovereign status will protect him.

*** See the Comic Books folder for another Franchise/MonsterVerse example.

** ''Film/ANewHope'': Darth Vader does the same after the Death Star is destroyed. (Not that he had much choice, since his TIE Advanced was damaged and he had to land on a nearby planet for repairs.)

** ''Film/TransformersAgeOfExtinction'' ends with him simply leaving before Optimus Prime or anyone else sees him.

* Recurring antagonist Velma Sledkins from ''WesternAnimation/DragonsTheNineRealms'' [[goes on the run after her actions are revealed to everyone at Project I.C.A.R.U.S. in the 5th episode of season 6. Tom wants to pursuit her but his mother Olivia hold him back]].

** "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E14Crush}} Crush]]" is possibly the most JustForFun/{{egregious}}; Drusilla returns to Sunnydale and Spike attempts to stake her to prove his love for Buffy. Buffy is disgusted, Spike gets distracted by Harmony, and Drusilla tries to kill Buffy. She fails, naturally, with Spike even helping Buffy out. Drusilla then mourns the fact that Spike is lost to the evil side, and... wanders offscreen while both Spike and Buffy just stand there. Sure, Spike might not have wanted to kill his ex-girlfriend now that he had nothing to gain from it, but Buffy sure as hell had reason to kill Drusilla -- especially since Drusilla had recently murdered several people in an incident known to the Scoobies! Instead, Drusilla just leaves so she can be on ''Series/{{Angel}}'' again.

* In the ''Literature/ProseEdda'', after Utgard-Loki explains to Thor how he and his companions were bested by forces far more powerful than they appeared, he uses his magical powers once more to make himself and the halls of Utgard to disappear before Thor can DropTheHammer to smash them.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': Ut's traditional for the BigBad wizard to have at least one teleportation spell prepared for when he drops under a certain number of hit points or his plan is spoiled. In 3rd Edition, it's usually Dimension Door, but that only gives a head start of a few hundred feet to whatever serves as an escape pod. However, a magic item, the Corrupted Unicorn Horn, takes this a step further and returns the possessor to wherever the horn was obtained. Ever since this item was published, more and more villains have been getting away easier. Other core spells that provide similar functions include Plane Shift, Word of Recall, and, at really low levels, Invisibility (which even comes in potion form for non-spellcasting cowards).

* ''Very'' frequently done on ''WesternAnimation/SonicBoom'', usually after FiveManBand Team Sonic[[note]][[TheLeader Sonic]], [[TheLancer Tails]], [[TheBigGuy Knuckles]], [[TheChick Amy]] and [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Sticks]][[/note]] put BigBad Dr. Eggman's evil plan for the day to a halt. He's reacted a variety of times to this happening, such as giving the classic WeWillMeetAgain speech to the heroes, or just calling it a day because he knows he'll no doubt be defeated again should another evil plan come to mind.

* ''Very'' frequently done on ''WesternAnimation/SonicBoom'', usually after FiveManBand Team Sonic[[note]][[TheLeader Sonic]], [[TheLancer Tails]], [[TheBigGuy Knuckles]], Amy and [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Sticks]][[/note]] put BigBad Dr. Eggman's evil plan for the day to a halt. He's reacted a variety of times to this happening, such as giving the classic WeWillMeetAgain speech to the heroes, or just calling it a day because he knows he'll no doubt be defeated again should another evil plan come to mind.

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/RedSkull https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/539f4be8c3fb7.png]]]]

* ComicBook/RedSkull prepares his escape routes with care with obstacles that justifiably discourage the heroes from pursuing him.
** For instance, his first [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] appearance has him escaping through a hidden wall panel door. Bucky is all for smashing through it to begin the chase, but ComicBook/CaptainAmerica realizes that panel is a disguised steel door and by the time they get it open to the escape tunnel, the Skull would be long gone. As Cap says in the story "Whoever this Red Skull is, he's no amateur!"
** In a modern version, Cap pursues the Skull in one of his buildings and loses him just long enough to find a veritable maze of multiple possible escape routes the Skull prepared for this situation and decides trying to guess correctly which one he took would be unlikely and a waste of time to try.
** Subverted at the climax of ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica: Reborn''. Here, the Red Skull's consciousness is forced back into his robot body after being forced out of Rogers' by Rogers himself. Unplugging himself, the Red Skull tries to make a break for it hoping the big fight around would cover his tracks. Sharon Carter stops that in a brilliantly counter-intuitive way by using Dr. Hank Pym's size-changing technology to make him a giant before he got away. Yes, that means that there now is a giant Red Skull trying to stomp the superheroes, but it also means that there is no way he can sneak away now and fighting with ColossusClimb tactics is old hat for Captain America and his friends, not to mention Sharon gets the Vision to access the Skull's ship's weapons systems to hit a now ''really big'' target.
** Subverted in the case of the trope image. In context, the Red Skull was confronted by Magneto, a Holocaust survivor, and attempts to flee, snapping a Nazi salute as he does to piss Magneto off. However, the Skull is relying on a hidden train (on metal tracks) and army of robot guards (made of metal) to provide cover as he flees from the Master of Magnetism. Magneto easily smashes through the Skull's defenses and traps him.

** It happens twice in ''ComicBook/WhateverHappenedToTheManOfTomorrow''. The [[ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes Legion of Supervillains]] retreat to the 30th century when they realize that Superman is prepared to kill them for murdering ComicBook/LanaLang. Later, when Superman aims the PhantomZone projector at Mxyzptlk, the fifth dimensional being attempts to escape by saying his name backwards, only to be torn in two from being sent to the Phantom Zone and the fifth dimension at the same time.

** At the end of ''ComicBook/TheGreatDarknessSaga'', ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} teleports himself away after acknowledging his defeat when his army of brainwashed Daxamites gets turned against him.

->''"If so powerful you are... why leave?"''
-->-- '''[[Characters/StarWarsYoda Yoda]]''' to [[Characters/StarWarsEmperorPalpatine Darth Sidious]], ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith''

-->-- [[Characters/StarWarsYoda Yoda]] to [[Characters/StarWarsEmperorPalpatine Darth Sidious]], Film/RevengeOfTheSith

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'':

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/JimmyNeutron'', VillainOfTheWeek The Junkman has been tied to a chair on his own ship. He tricks Jimmy into freeing him, then heads over to an escape pod, and escapes, while everyone just stands there.

** Subverted in the case of the trope image. In context, the Red Skull was confronted by Magneto, a Holocaust victim, and attempts to flee, snapping a Nazi salute as he does to piss Magneto off. However, the Skull is relying on a hidden train (on metal tracks) and army of robot guards (made of metal) to provide cover as he flees from the Master of Magnetism. Magneto easily smashes through the Skull's defenses and traps him.

* Quartz Christie runs away at the end of the ''LightNovel/BodaciousSpacePirates'' series after the Grand Cross was curbstomped due to mostly her overconfidence. To make matters worse, she promised Kato Marika that she would not "run and hide" but a minute later heads to her escape craft and activates the self-destruct mechanism. She is later shown in her escape craft, pleased to save the battle strategy data that may have led to her easily being defeated, and that she destroyed the last Grand Cross ship to eliminate any evidence of her humiliation... but points out what a humiliating defeat it still was, though she still hopes to face Marika once again.

* ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDxD'' usually averts this as the villains are usually dealt with by the end of the volume. Only the major arc villains have so far played this straight, but not always cleanly:

* ''Manga/TransformersZone'': Unexpectedly averted in the OVA. In the past animated series, the Autobots usually let the Decepticons retreat alive so as to set up a grand finale in the series' last few episodes. In this OVA which was supposed to be the very first episode of the new series, Dai Atlas and Sonic Bomber killed an attacking Devastator, Trypticon, and King Poseidon. The sole survivor Predaking tried to retreat but was intercepted and ended up getting bisected by Dai Atlas!

* ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'': Subverted. Near the end of the game's first half, [[DiscOneFinalBoss Rasputin]] has shown his true colors and launched a full-scale attack on Petrograd. The party catches up to him on the roof of the Winter Palace, but he jumps off and begins to fly away on his [[CoolAirship giant evil blimp]]. At this point, however, Yuri remembers that he's an incredibly powerful shapeshifter, transforms into [[OneWingedAngel Amon]], and beats down both Rasputin and the zeppelin itself with his bare hands.

* Giygas in ''{{VideoGame/Mother 1}}'', after your party sings the eight melodies to him. Pokey in ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'' does this twice, once after you confront Mr. Monotoli and again after you vanquish Giygas outright. The latter is what ultimately leads him to the time in which ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'' takes place.

*** He attempts it again in [[spoiler:the final stage if you manage to encounter and defeat him as a BonusBoss]]. This time, though, his smoke bomb malfunctions and he explodes like any other Robot Master.

* ''Very'' frequently done on ''WesternAnimation/SonicBoom'', usually after FiveManBand Team Sonic[[note]][[TheLeader Sonic]], [[TheLancer Tails]], [[TheBigGuy Knuckles]], [[TheChick Amy]] and [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Sticks]][[/note]] put BigBad Dr. Eggman's evil plan for the day to a halt. He's reacted a variety of times to this happening, such as giving the classic WeWillMeetAgain speech to the heroes, or just calling it a day because he knows he'll no doubt be defeated again should another evil plan come to mind.

* ''Manga/ThatTimeIGotReincarnatedAsASlime'': When the forces of Tempest are counterattacking the [[KnightTemplar invading army]], Geld II and Hakurou are forced to let [[spoiler: [[TheArchMage Razen]] escape with [[ArrogantKungFuGuy Taguchi]], mostly due to the DeadMansSwitch Razen has set up to set off a FantasticNuke.]]