History Main / WingPull

* Subverted in ''Film/Tremors'' when the final Graboid is chased off a cliff and plummets to its doom, while Val mockingly yells "Can you ''fly'', you sucker?'' This becomes ironic upon the third film however, when it's revealed that the Graboids indeed do have a flying form as the final stage in their life cycle.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Grandia}}'', the [[{{Precursors}} Icarians]] are a winged race that has entirely died out - except for [[spoiler: Leen and her sister Feena. The latter is revealed when she and Justin fall off an airship]].

* On several occasions, Batman does the equivalent with a jetpack.

* ''Manga/DNAngel''. [[spoiler:Daisuke sprouts a pair of red wings to save Riku when they fall off a cliff and With isn't there.]]

[[folder: LiveActionTV]]
* Done in one of the ''Series/KamenRiderDouble'' movie by [[spoiler:Double himself, in his Cyclone Joker Gold Xtreme mode. It's only for a few minutes, enough time to to stop falling off Fuuto Tower and defeat the villain, but it's CrowningMomentOfAwesome while it lasts.]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

* In one of the ''WallaceAndGromit'' films, Gromit is heading toward a cliff in a runaway motorcycle sidecar, falls off, and...pushes some buttons that suddenly cause it to sprout wings and a propeller.

** It's actually more of a ChekhovsSkill from Sora and company's time in [[PeterPan Neverland]] in the first game and a function of Sora's [[ClothesMakeTheSuperman costume upgrade]] in the second. In the first game Sora only starts flying during the final battle after gaining the resolve to fight in a variation of ThinkHappyThoughts with HeroicWillpower. The example in II could be [[JustifiedTrope justified]] or [[HandWave hand waved]] as space-time being completely distorted in the final battle with Xemnas, as eventually your fighting arena is reduced to a black and white void.

* ''Film/PacificRim'' gives us Otachi.

** Heck [[ComicBook/{{X-Men}} Angel]] has (pun intended) pulled this one off multiple times, when in civilian clothing.

* Eddie suddenly gains the ability to sprout awesome-looking demon wings in ''BrutalLegend.'' Apparently ThePowerOfRock has to be invoked, because the wings disappear whenever he's not in a Stage Battle.

* In ''WorldOfWarcraft'', Baron Sablemane at first gives the player lots of things to help them kill the gronns. At the end of the chain, in Alliance version, he personally help the player to fight Goc, starting with some...questionable words, and shortly after transformed into his true form, he is a black dragon all along. Once finished, he even apologized to the players for his "startling transformation".

* On Several occasions, Batman does the equivalent with a jetpack.

* When Saya falls from a skyscraper in ''Anime/BloodPlus'', Hagi jumps off and sprouts wings to rescue her.

* [[spoiler:Nico Robin]] in ''Manga/OnePiece'' can sprout wings for five seconds. The usefulness of this is drama dependent. [[spoiler: That said, they aren't real wings, but just a lot of arms that she grows from her back and weave together so they look and work like wings. Her body part-cloning ability had been known for a long time, so it isn't an AssPull as much as it is just a very unconventional use of her powers.]]

* Downplayed in TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon of ''VideoGame/LunarTheSilverStar''. How exactly are you supposed to [[spoiler: get up to The Fortress of Althena? Well, it turns out Nall has you covered, since he's actually a baby white dragon. He always had the wings, of course... he just wasn't big enough for the party to ride on until he gains the ability to transform into a much larger dragon at the very end of the game.]]

** Of course, everyone else (like any reasonable person on the face of this Earth) [[FreakyIsCool thinks that the wings are awesome]].

** Of course, everyone else (like any reasonable person on the face of this Earth) [[FreakinessShame thinks that the wings are awesome]].

* The series-ending "Endgame" of ''TransformersAnimated'' is a variation on this: [[spoiler:Megatron has captured the massive Autobot Omega Supreme, and in order to combat him should Megatron try to use him against the other Autobots, Ratchet and Sari build a jetpack with wing stabilizers for Optimus Prime]].

* Downplayed in TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon of ''LunarSilverStarStory''. How exactly are you supposed to [[spoiler: get up to The Fortress of Althena? Well, it turns out Nall has you covered, since he's actually a baby white dragon. He always had the wings, of course... he just wasn't big enough for the party to ride on until he gains the ability to transform into a much larger dragon at the very end of the game.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Grandia}}'', the [[{{Precursors}} Icarians]] are a winged race that has entirely died out - except for [[spoiler: Leena and her sister Feena. The latter is revealed when she and Justin fall off an airship]].

* Downplayed in TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon of ''VideoGame/LunarSilverStarStory''. How exactly are you supposed to [[spoiler: get up to The Fortress of Althena? Well, it turns out Nall has you covered, since he's actually a baby white dragon. He always had the wings, of course... he just wasn't big enough for the party to ride on until he gains the ability to transform into a much larger dragon at the very end of the game.]]

* In a villainous variant, ''JeepersCreepers'' didn't reveal that its demon/monster/alien ''thing'' had wings until it'd been shown on screen several times.

* ''Film/{{Dogma}}'' has the WingPull at the climax by Bartelby and Loki; one wonders why they didn't just fly to Jersey.

* ''TheDarkCrystal'' had a variation. Just as the two protagonists are falling off a cliff, the girl sprouts wings. It turns out only girls of that species have them, but since it's never mentioned before...

* TheIronGiant doesn't find out he has boosters on his feet until he accidentally falls off a cliff and they activate automatically.

* Film/PacificRim gives us Otachi.
* DogMa has the WingPull at the climax by Bartelby and Loki; one wonders why they didn't just fly to Jersey.

* The MusicVideo for Asian Kung Fu Generation's "After Dark" features a man randomly sprouting wings on his back one day, and desperately hiding them until some window-washer is dangerously close to falling off a building. AwesomenessEnsues.

* Happens in about half of Aylee's forms in SluggyFreelance. Apparently her [[InvoluntaryShapeshifting body has decided that it's too useful not to have flight]].