History Main / WeNeedaDistraction

* In ''ComicBook/GothamCityGarage'', [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} Kara Gordon]] slips in ComicBook/LexLuthor's city-state to get her sister [[ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} Barbara]] out of there. On their way out both girls are being chased by Batman, so Kara's biker gang provides several distractions to force him to give up the chase: Big Barda and Harley Quinn blow up a chunk of the wall surrounding the city and Zatanna and Silver Banshee sneak in the city and wreak havoc.
* ''Notfunny Cartoons'' loves playing around with this one. The characters always end up picking Ernesto, despite his protest ("Why do I always have to be the distraction?!"). [[RefugeInAudacity In all fairness, he's a gigantic octopus in a business suit.]] Yeah, it's a rather strange sort of comic.
* From ''ComicBook/SuicideSquad'':
-->'''Flagg''': Deadshot, distract the guards.\\
'''Deadshot''': Okay. (''shoots the guards.'')
* In issue #4 of ''ComicBook/TheAwesomeSlapstick'', a cup of coffee is used as this for the Neutron Bum (no, ''not'' a typo).
* In the ''ComicBook/SinCity'' story "A Dame To Kill For", Dwight employs Marv specifically to distract the guards while he attacks a crime boss. A 7 foot tall, 300 lbs. grinning psychopath running down the hall, beating people up certainly makes for a good distraction.
* In issue 26 of ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures'', Paperinik, Lyla and the two [[VillainOfTheWeek villains of the week]] are stuck in prehistoric times. The Evronians are also here and capture everybody except the hero, so he needs a way to distract them and rescue the others. So how does he do it? By sending a group of ''Tyrannosaurus Rex'' against their base.
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':
** ''ComicBook/RedRobin'': The villains pull off a devastatingly successful distraction when they attack multiple League of Assassins members out on assignment while Goliath and Sac infiltrate The Cradle and systematically kill every League member present.
** In ''ComicBook/TheAttackOfTheAnnihilator'', ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} hurls a smoke bomb to keep the Annihilator confused and distracted while she picks an unconscious Supergirl and runs away.
* ''ComicBook/TheTransformersDarkCybertron:'' Shockwave manipulates Optimus into finding a Titan and reactivating it so Shockwave can bring it back to Cybertron and turn it into an undead monstrosity just to distract everyone from his ''real'' plan.
* ''ComicBook/TheSimpsons:'' In order [[ItMakesSenseInContext to rescue Mr. Burns from highly aggressive turkeys]], Mr. Smithers has Homer distract the birds... then he reveals the containment suit Homer's wearing is filled with bird feed to ''actually'' draw their attention.
* ''Franchise/GreenLantern'':
** ''ComicBook/LightsOut'': In order to evacuate Oa, John Stewart rounds up a squad of recent recruits to distract Relic. They do it by making the biggest constructs they can to fight him.
** ''ComicBook/HalJordanAndTheGreenLanternCorps'':
*** Hal's single-handed assault on Warworld turns out to be this, buying time for Soranik and the good Yellow Lanterns to evacuate the Fear Engine captives. Once that's done, Hal pulls a Taking You with Me on Sinestro and the entire planet.
*** Also how the Corps manages to get away from Larfleeze. The Greens and the Yellows were being overpowered by his Orange Lanterns, until John gets the idea to start freeing all of his collection. Larfleeze subsequently panics, and leaves the other Lanterns to try and get his "stuff" back.
* ''ComicBook/TheGreatDarknessSaga'': In order to rescue [[spoiler:Child Izaya]] from [[spoiler:Darkseid]], the ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes attack the Master of Darkness and his Servants head-on and keep them distracted while Shadow Lass and Light Lass sneak into their base.
* In ''ComicBook/WonderWomanTheTrueAmazon'' this is played for horror when Diana unleashes monsters to win a chariot race, which leads to several deaths, injuries, and destruction.

* ''Film/HarbingerDown'' (2015). When a student wants to sneak down to the hold to catch a look at the HumanPopsicle they're taken from the ice, she has a crewman distract her JerkAss professor by asking for advice on his psychological issues. The professor explains he's NotThatKindOfDoctor, but being a KnowNothingKnowItAll can't resist giving his opinion anyway. GilliganCut to the crewman [[INeedAFreakingDrink finding the bottom of a bottle of vodka]] as the professor rambles on, until he gets too drunk to keep up the facade.

* ''Film/PsychOut'': When the police come to the pad looking for Jenny, Ben distracts them by starting a brawl.
* In ''Film/TroubleMan'', T visits the record office at the police station and has his girlfriend Cleo call the office, pretending to be a college newspaper journalist researching for an article about government jobs for graduates. While the officer who works there talks to her, T steals his gun from the evidence cabinet. At the end of the movie, he persuades a policewoman to pretend to misunderstand the codes she works with. While the officer is explaining them to her, T places the gun back in the evidence cabinet so no one will suspect anything.
* ''Film/TheSeaWolves'' (1980): To remove most of the crew of three German merchant vessels interned in Goa harbor so they can be boarded and sunk, British Intelligence arrange a reception at the Governor's palace (to which the ship's officers are invited), a carnival with plenty of loud fireworks (to cover any explosions or gunshots), and the services of a local brothel to offer free sex to any sailor for three days.

** Later on, he tosses a [[{{Hologram}} Hologram Grenade]] to trick the surviving Sabers at the I-Expo to attack the decoy while he swims across unseen. They only find out the ruse when they see him [[GuttedLikeAFish disembowel one of the sniper teams]] [[ChainsawGood with a chainsaw.]]

** Later on, he tosses a [[{{Hologram}} Hologram Grenade]] to trick the surviving Sabers to attack the decoy while he swims across unseen. They only find out the ruse when they see him [[GuttedLikeAFish disembowel one of the sniper teams]] [[ChainsawGood with a chainsaw.]]

** Later on, he tosses a [[Hologram Hologram Grenade]] to trick the surviving Sabers to attack the decoy while he swims across unseen. They only find out the ruse when they see him [[GuttedLikeAFish disembowel one of the sniper teams]] [[ChainsawGood with a chainsaw.]]

** In "Chipocalypse Now" to allow Cricket to sneak out of Chip Whistler's office with the proof that the destruction petition is forged, Remy pretends to be a lost kid in need of his dad, to which the Wholesome Squad falls for.

** In Arabasta, Sanji successfully lures Crocodile out of his base, allowing him to sneak in and rescue his captured crewmates (and [[InspectorJavert Smoker]]).

* In the eighth episode of ''Manga/StrawberryMarshmallow'', her LookBehindYou failing, Miu tries this, and fails. Then she recruits Ana to try, and being cuter, Ana succeeds in distracting Nobue with her cuteness, upon which Miu strikes with a plastic sword. In a partial subversion, Nobue doesn't even notice, so distracted she is by Ana's cuteness that all she does is offer Ana suggestions on how to make her pose cuter.

* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'': As things look grim in the fight against Nappa, Piccolo devises a CombinationAttack that involves Krillin charging at Nappa, creating a distraction so that Piccolo can grab his [[AchillesHeel tail]], and then Gohan attacking. Unfortunately, elite Saiyans train themselves so that their tails aren't such an easily exploited weak point, and the whole plan falls apart.
* ''Anime/AngelBeats'':
** One mission requires that certain members of the resistance create a distraction for an entire classroom full of students. After LookBehindYou, [[ShirtlessScene taking off one's shirt]], and a LoveConfession fail, Yuri simply sends Hinata and Takamatsu [[spoiler:flying into the ceiling using rockets on their seats]]. [[spoiler:In fact, this happens so often in the episode that they get resigned to the fact that they WILL be shot into the ceiling, no matter what.]]
** "Girls Dead Monster" is an entire band created for the purpose of distraction.

* ''Manga/KaijuGirlCaramelise'': When Rairi falls in the lake at Okutama and gets her makeup washed off, Kuroe resolves to undergo a PartialTransformation to provide enough of a distraction for Rairi to reapply her makeup. Unfortunately, Kuroe fully transforms into [[{{Kaiju}} Harugon]] and makes things worse.

** In Movie 9, Chopper does a similar thing to Sanji while they're fighting Wapol, Chess, and Kuromarimio, even saying the same dialogue to trick him.

* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': In the New York special, Hawk Moth wants to get his hands on the Eagle Miraculous formerly owned by the Marquis de Lafayette and currently on display in a New York museum. So he akumatizes one of the local supervillains and... has him go steal Lafayette's ''sword'' on display right next to it. Then, while the local superheroes (plus Ladybug and Cat Noir) are busy chasing him around the city, he strolls in, grabs the Miraculous, and leaves, completely unopposed.

* Used OnceAnEpisode in ''Series/HogansHeroes''.

* In the first episode of ''Series/{{Leverage}}'', the mark shows up a few minutes before he's supposed to. Clearly a fan of Weston's teaching, Nathan starts smashing car windows outside the building, intentionally drawing the attention of all the security guards, who go running out the door. Everybody in the lobby, including the mark, becomes curious what's going on and stops what they were doing to look out the window.