History Main / WhoShotJfk

* In ''[[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Justice League Unlimited]]'', ConspiracyTheorist super-hero ComicBook/TheQuestion is being tortured for information after he stole computer files from a secret government organization plotting against the superheroes of the world. When the TortureTechnician demands that he "Tell [us] what you know!", he responds thusly:

* The Red Skull was responsible for this in ''ComicBook/TheUltimates''. The sad thing is that this is one of his lesser crimes.

* In the ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'' episode "Profile in Silver", a [[TimeTravel time-travelling]] history professor prevents Kennedy's assassination, but history corrects itself by causing the assassination of UsefulNotes/NikitaKhrushchev, thus creating a timeline where [[ButterflyOfDoom mankind eventually goes extinct]] because of the nuclear war this sparks. When informed of this, Kennedy [[HeroicSacrifice volunteers to go back]], which impresses the professor so much that he sends JFK to the future, goes back in time himself, and dies in Kennedy's place, returning the timeline to normal. The [[AnAesop Aesop]]? [[TemporalParadox Don't mess around with history]]. Extra points for the professor being JFK's very distant descendant (but ''not'' an IdenticalGrandson), and JFK becoming a professor of history himself.

* Nearly the entire second season of ''Series/TheUmbrellaAcademy'' focuses on this trope and Diego's obsession to stop it. Included in the conspiracy theories is the presence of the Majestic 12, [[spoiler:the "Umbrella Man" presumed to be the siblings' father in the Frankel Footage,]] and Mrs. Frankel herself resembling the "Babushka Lady" who films the event.

* On ''Series/{{Witchblade}}'', Sara is investigating the murder of a guy who made off with the UsefulNotes/ZapruderFilm, while being haunted by the ghost of JFK himself.

** [[ComedicHero The First American]] from the ''Tomorrow Stories'' is hinted to have accidentally done this while being Kennedy's chauffeur, the culmination of the RunningGag of FA [[ItMakesSenseInContext firing a blunderbuss to make a vehicle go faster]].

* From Creator/DCComics is the ''Guy Gardner'' series. Long story short, during the ComicBook/ZeroHourCrisisInTime crossover, Guy shoots at the BigBad, Extant. The villain transports the shots through time, hinting these may be the blasts that killed Kennedy.

* ComicBook/RedSkull was responsible for this in ''ComicBook/TheUltimates''. The sad thing is that this is one of his lesser crimes.
* From the regular Franchise/MarvelUniverse, meanwhile, we have the following:
** After ComicBook/BuckyBarnes is outed as the Winter Soldier, ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} incredulously asks if he shot JFK. He's summarily informed it was the CIA, because JFK was a Skrull.
** One Wolverine story has a flashback to 1963 where Logan is being held in a CIA cell in Dallas after performing a mission.
* One issue of ''Spectacular ComicBook/SpiderMan'' Vol. 2 has ComicBook/CaptainAmerica mention to ComicBook/NickFury, in an attempt to convince him not to reveal the existence of the villain's DoomsdayDevice, that JFK was killed by "Cuban nationalists", which was covered up to prevent a war. This is, however, the same storyline that gave us Spider-Man with organic web shooters, insect telepathy, and [[spoiler:Spider [[MisterSeahorse M-Preg]]]], so no one takes it particularly seriously.
* In ''ComicBook/TheManhattanProjects'', fitting the story's BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy style AlternateHistory, Oswald is revealed to be the fall guy for [[spoiler:William Westmoreland, using Leslie Groves' magic bullet, under the orders of Lyndon Johnson, in retaliation Kennedy's attempt to take over the eponymous Projects]].
* In the original comic version of ''ComicBook/{{Wanted}}'', [[BigBad Mr. Rictus]] references this trope when he sarcastically claims Lee Harvey Oswald [[YouKilledMyFather killed Wesley's father]]. [[spoiler:[[FakingTheDead Wesley's father]] later claims to have "killed presidents from grassy knolls"]].

* ''[[Creator/WalterMoers Äch bin schon wieder da]]'' has [[ThoseWackyNazis Adolf Hitler]] being responsible. (He used a time machine, what did you think?)
* There was a ''ComicBook/TwoThousandAD'' short where a future Kennedy travelled back in time to kill 1963 Kennedy to reverse the consequences of a disasterous war.
* ''ComicBook/BlakeAndMortimer'': ''Eight Hours In Berlin'' plays with this trope for most of the story: there really is a conspiracy against Kennedy by rogue elements of the U.S. military and Soviet UsefulNotes/{{GRU}}, but their goal isn't to kill him, but to [[spoiler:replace him with a doppelganger, a plan they intend to repeat with all the major world leaders in order to bring about an end to UsefulNotes/TheColdWar.]] And then they themselves [[spoiler:are [[HijackedByGanon betrayed by their hired thug Olrik,]] who doesn't care about world peace and simply wants to use the doppelganger to start a nuclear war.]] The plot ultimately fails, but the last page ends with the heroes hearing the news of the Kennedy assassination. [[AmbiguousEnding Whether the surviving members of the conspiracy had anything to do with it is left as an exercise to the reader.]]

* Nicholas A. [=DiChario's story=] "The Winterberry" [[spoiler:is told from the point-of-view of a brain-damaged JFK, officially dead and hidden away in order to avert a national crisis]].

The Kennedy assassination is a very fertile ground for this trope, if only because many Americans can't agree on who did it, why they did it, and how they did it. In fact, although longtime consensus from the Warren Commission Report is that [[GunmanWithThreeNames Lee Harvey Oswald]] did it himself (by sniper shot from the sixth-floor window of the nearby Texas Book Depository), you're more likely to see the characters re-enact one of the most common alternative explanations popular among conspiracy theorists. It helps that there were a ''lot'' of different groups angry at Kennedy for one reason or another, including [[DirtyCommunists communists]], [[RedScare anti-communists]], and TheMafia (or an outlandish theory like [[UsefulNotes/AmericanLawEnforcement the FBI]], [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazi sleeper agents]], UsefulNotes/RichardNixon, or even UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson, suggesting a KlingonPromotion), and that Oswald [[SuspectExistenceFailure was himself murdered two days later]], while in police custody, without admitting responsibility, explaining why he did it, or even saying whether Kennedy was the intended victim.

* ''TabletopGame/DarkMatter'' says that it was Lee Harvey Oswald who shot him, then complicates matters by stating Oswald was under the command of Freemasons, who had Kennedy assassinated as a sacrifice, noting his geographical coordinates were numbers important to Freemason rituals.

See TheFateOfThePrincesInTheTower for another unsolved historical mystery, albeit one that is several centuries older.

* Robert Mayer’s novel ''I, JFK'' is told by the ghost of the man himself. JFK is coy about whodunnit, but reveals in the end that [[spoiler: Joseph Kennedy himself ordered the hit]].

* On ''Series/AlmostLive'', a 90's sketch comedy show had a fake game show called "Conspiracy!" where an unknown Bill Nye kept insisting "Tiger got him."

-->"Yes. Magic is real. We've known about it for almost two thousand years."

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E3TheDeadlyAssassin "The Deadly Assassin"]] riffs off this as a WholePlotReference: the Doctor gets framed for assassinating the Lord President of Gallifrey with a sniper shot from a high vantage, and has to prove a second gunman did it.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E1Rose "Rose"]]: A man who's been collecting information about the Ninth Doctor reveals he was present at the assassination, with the tone of his voice suggesting he believes the Doctor had something to do with it. It's never mentioned again, but the implication from the photo (and given what we know about him) is that the Doctor was ''actually'' there to find out for himself what was going on.
** This interesting line in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E8LetsKillHitler "Let's Kill Hitler"]]:

* On ''Series/HawaiiFive0'', a conspiracy theorist friend of Jerry's comes to Hawaii on the trail of new evidence that might reveal a conspiracy behind the assassination, only to be shot dead in public. The cops continue her investigation and in the end find out that she actually discovered evidence of a conspiracy by senior White House officials to assassinate Fidel Castro, something that has been publicly known for decades. She was killed because of a separate investigation she was conducting into a chemical company.

* ''Series/Numb3rs''
** In the fifth season episode 'Conspiracy Theory' a subplot deals with Colby and David arguing about who shot at Kennedy with David bringing up theories and Colby dismissing them. By the end of the episode they try to get Alan to referee but Alan gets them to cut a truce and get over the issue.

** {{Discussed|Trope}} in "Breaking Point": In a conversation about the possibility of changing history, Andrew [=McLaren=] asks his friend and colleague, the physicist Carl van der Meer, what he believes the most likely outcome would be if someone travelled back in time to stop the assassination. Carl believes that JFK would leave Dallas without a scratch, dismissing all of the conspiracy theories about a second shooter on the grassy knoll. However, he notes that the fatalists would argue that someone else would shoot Kennedy and he would [[CloseEnoughTimeline still die in Dallas as history recorded]].
** Also {{discussed|Trope}} in "Something About Harry": When her son Zach is worried that their new boarder Harry Longworth may be a con artist or some other kind of criminal, Nancy Henniger jokes that he was the second shooter on the grassy knoll when he was five years old.

* The ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode [[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIITikkaToRide "Tikka To Ride"]] had the crew causing a BadFuture by travelling back in time to 1963 (by mistake -- they'd originally intended to hit the 23rd century in order to replenish their depleted stock of curry) and accidentally knocking Oswald out of the window before he could fire the fatal shot. Kennedy survives but goes on to get impeached for having an affair with the mistress of a mafia boss, causing a scandal that traumatises America and allows the Soviet Union to win the Space Race, while the mob blackmails the next President into allowing the Russians to install missiles in Cuba, causing a mass evacuation of the southern states. They initially try to restore history by sending Oswald up to the sixth floor of the Depository (Oswald originally fired from the fifth), but this makes his trajectory so steep that Oswald can only wound Kennedy. So they need a ''second'' gunman to shoot Kennedy from the grassy knoll; with none of them willing to do it, Lister suggests that they bring the disgraced Future Kennedy back in time to shoot himself in order to restore the original timeline. It works.

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_bullet_theory "magic bullet,"]] suggesting that a single bullet could only have done the damage it did if it defied physics

* The footage shown on the UsefulNotes/ZapruderFilm
* Oswald's murder by nightclub owner Jack Ruby, while in police custody, just two days after the assassination (suggesting Ruby was connected to whomever ''really'' ordered the assassination, particularly the Mob)
* Oswald's links to UsefulNotes/{{Cuba}} and particularly the [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn Soviet Union]]
* Oswald's connection to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_de_Mohrenschildt George de Mohrenschildt]], [[TheSpook an enigmatic petroleum geologist, film producer and occassional CIA field agent]] of Russian White émigré origin
* The attempted assassination of virulent anti-Communist [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Walker#Assassination_attempt General Edwin Walker]] a few months before Kennedy's death, usually also attributed to Oswald

* Oswald's connection to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_de_Mohrenschildt George de Mohrenschildt]], [[TheSpook an enigmatic petroleum geologist, film producer and occassional CIA field agent]] of Russian White émigré origin.

* Matt Vaughn has said he wants to open a sequel to ''Film/XMenFirstClass'' with Magneto killing Kennedy by controlling the Magic Bullet with his powers.
** ''[[http://www.thebentbullet.com/ The Bent Bullet]]'', part of the ARG campaign for ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'', has Magneto as the man on the grassy knoll, having used his powers to alter the trajectory of Oswald's bullet, which led to Kennedy's death. However, it is implied that Magneto was trying to ''stop'' the shooter... who was actually Mystique and not the real Oswald (Though this would seem out of character with her portrayal in the film, where she is stated to have never tried to kill anyone before Trask).

* As noted in the Comics section above, the film version of ''Film/{{Watchmen}}'' depicts The Comedian as Kennedy's killer, in league with Richard Nixon. The comic, however, only implies this. It further implies that Blake posed as an informant (presumably Deep Throat) and killed Woodward and Bernstein.

* In Neal Stephenson's ''Literature/SnowCrash'', there is a book with the title "How America Was Saved From Communism: Elvis Shot JFK."

*** It was indeed possible to replicate the shot. In fact, the bullets followed virtually an identical trajectory, shattering all of the misconceptions of the "magic bullet" -- including going through one body and hitting the other one. While this doesn't prove conclusively that this ''actually'' happened, it makes a strong case that it did.

* The video for “The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead” by XTC ties the song’s Christlike figure with JFK.

* In 2020 {{Music/BobDylan}} returned to recording after 8 years with “Murder Most Foul,” a nearly 17 minute epic about the assassination. Dylan is less concerned with whodunnit than what it all meant.

** In ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'', it is hinted that the Comedian and UsefulNotes/RichardNixon are somehow connected to the assassination in [[AlternateHistory that story's timeline]] (the Comedian later [[DeadpanSnarker quips]] "just don't ask me where I was when I heard the news"), while [[Film/{{Watchmen}} the movie]] actually shows The Comedian in the act. In ''ComicBook/BeforeWatchmen'', it's revealed that [[spoiler:the Comedian definitely didn't do it]] (although ''Before Watchmen'''s {{canon}}icity is up to the reader).

* The second and third issue of the 90s DC/Vertigo series ''Comicbook/ShadeTheChangingMan'' give us a Sphinx with JFK's head that asks people this question and eats them when they're unable to answer. The JFK-Sphinx's madness is fueled by a Kennedy admirer-turned conspiracy theorist. In the end, he's forced to ask the question, [[spoiler:and says we're all responsible, for letting the President's death overshadow his life]], but the real truth is [[spoiler:confronting the manifestation of his obsession allows him to come to terms with the death of his young daughter, which he can only blame on life's unfairness]].

* There was a 2000AD short where a future Kennedy travelled back in time to kill 1963 Kennedy to reverse the consequences of a disasterous war.

** [=MarrissaTheWriter=] claims, in ''[[FanFic/{{ITSMYLIFE}} HARRY POTTER AN THE KILL OF SNAPE]]'', that [[VideoGame/BioShockInfinite Robert and Rosalind Lutece]] did it, as he was actually [=GLaDOS=] in disguise, sent back in time to prevent Marrissa Roberts from being born.
* In the ''FanFic/ParisBurning'' 'verse, it's strongly implied that [[NationsAsPeople Washington DC]] did it.

* ''Series/MadTV'' had a recurring sketch about a kids' TV show called [[ShowWithinAShow "The Reading Caboose".]] It centered around two conspiracy theorists trying to teach kids about the JFK assassination (and other theories) and avoiding repeated attempts made to silence them.

* ''VideoGame/CrusaderKings II'' parodies this with the FlavorText for one version of the "assassination" plot, which comments that the victim was killed in a barrage of arrows between a "scroll repository" and a grassy knoll. It goes on to say that your co-conspirators are spreading rumors of a "lone bowman" (unless your character was the victim, in which case the button text says "This was no lone bowman!", and the text of the event says that your head was snapped "back and to the left").

* During the brief time in which [[{{Franchise/Transformers}} Ask Vector Prime]] was [[{{Main/HostileShowTakeover}} hijacked by]] [[{{Anime/TransformersArmada}} Sideways]], the bot in question claimed to have been responsible for killing JFK. And [[spoiler:[[{{Main/PhlebotinumKilledTheDinosaurs}} the dinosaurs]]]]. Problem is, he [[{{Main/AxCrazy}} isn't exactly]] [[{{Main/UnreliableNarrator}} known for]] [[{{Main/BlatantLies}} being honest.]] And he's also a [[spoiler:[[Main/OmnicidalManiac Minion of Unicron]]]].
* A popular [[MemeticMutation meme]] on Website/{{Tumblr}} jokingly posits that the real purpose of the conspiracy is cover up the fact that JFK wasn’t actually shot; his head just [[YourHeadAsplode did that on its own]], for no readily apparent reason.