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| 3 | %% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. |
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| 7 | |
| 8 | [[noreallife]] |
| 9 | |
| 10 | [[quoteright:333:[[ComicBook/{{Squee}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blacky.PNG]]]] |
| 11 | [[caption-width-right:333:''[[TheyKilledKennyAgain You bastard!]]'' Wait, [[WesternAnimation/SouthPark wrong show!]]]] |
| 12 | |
| 13 | ->'''Ira:''' Cool! Snag one.\ |
| 14 | '''Harry:''' "Snag one"?\ |
| 15 | '''Ira:''' Yeah, snag one and put him in the bucket.\ |
| 16 | '''Harry:''' I've seen this movie, the black dude dies first. ''You'' snag it! |
| 17 | -->-- ''Film/{{Evolution|2001}}'' |
| 18 | |
| 19 | In a film which involves a lot of character deaths, it seems like the TokenMinority will inevitably be the first person to go and kick the bucket. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | In the past, this perception was because black leads were kept away from any big-budget films outside of those that focused specifically on race or used it to make a point. Historically, movie-makers were generally writing to white audiences, so it was natural (in their opinion) for whites to get more screen time. And if the writers throw in a TokenMinority to give the cast a more believable real-world racial balance, who do you think is going to die first, the TokenMinority, or the people who have a bigger role in the script? |
| 22 | |
| 23 | As minority actors became more common in significant roles, this trope found new ways to stay relevant. Instead of the TokenMinority being unimportant CannonFodder, they instead became the most important supporting character so their deaths would have most dramatic impact on the plot. Films would take a ScaryBlackMan, turn him into TheBigGuy, and kill him off to [[TheWorfEffect show how strong the monster is]]. In action or horror films, TheHero (typically a WhiteMaleLead) might have a TokenBlackFriend [[TheLancer Lancer]] that gets killed off or does a HeroicSacrifice to show that [[ShooOutTheClowns this is no laughing matter]]. '80s horror shows were good at this, and filmmakers had growing backlash against all the exploitation films. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | Over time and due to social push, access to higher-paying jobs and relative economical stability began to open up for black people, with more and more prominent black characters in films and other media, with more big-name black actors emerging to show off their talents. Studios had also ''finally'' accepted that white audiences are generally not as racist as was once assumed, and certainly do not need to have a white protagonist all the time in their favourite media. |
| 26 | |
| 27 | In TheNewTens, this began to approach DiscreditedTrope territory, as [[UsefulNotes/BlackLivesMatterMovement Black Lives Matter]] became a prominent sociopolitical movement and increasingly GenreSavvy audiences developed a tendency to groan when the TokenMinority was first on the chopping block. Horror movies especially are much more likely to [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] or parody the trope than play it straight these days. However, action films or video games still somewhat tend to struggle to move away from the trope, having the black character go down second or third. |
| 28 | |
| 29 | In other words, if you're gonna go after the black man nowadays, you might want to check the credits to see who's playing him. If it's no one you've actually heard of, they're probably fair game. Creator/TonyTodd? Go for it. Creator/SamuelLJackson? You can take your chances, but don't say we didn't warn you. Creator/RosarioDawson? Yeah, good luck on that. Creator/DenzelWashington? Bad idea. Creator/MorganFreeman? You should give up. Creator/WillSmith? Run away and hide. |
| 30 | |
| 31 | The character doesn't have to be male, human, or even black for that matter. As long as they're the only minority present, their chances of seeing the end of the movie are rather slim. Don't bother putting in 'averted' examples. If a black guy doesn't die first (or remarkably early on), then he doesn't die first, [[Administrivia/PeopleSitOnChairs end of story]]. |
| 32 | |
| 33 | Compare GayGuyDiesFirst, VasquezAlwaysDies, DisposableWoman, BuryYourGays, BuryYourDisabled, SlashersPreferBlondes, and RedShirt. Contrast FinalGirl, an archetype guaranteed to make it to the end. |
| 34 | |
| 35 | |
| 36 | !!'''As a {{Death Trope|s}}, all spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.''' |
| 37 | ---- |
| 38 | !!Examples: |
| 39 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 40 | |
| 41 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 42 | * Inverted in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan''. Onyankopon, who were introduced to the main cast after the timeskip, is one of the ''[[AnyoneCanDie few]]'' characters in the series who managed to survive to the very end of the story. |
| 43 | * [[BoisterousBruiser Brawler]], the only dark skinned character from ''Anime/AkudamaDrive'' is the first of the [[VillainProtagonist Akudamas]] to die via grudge match against [[HeroAntagonist Master]]. |
| 44 | * ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'': |
| 45 | ** Pippin is the first named member of the Hawks to die during the Eclipse, going out in a epic YouShallNotPass moment to buy Casca time to get to safety. |
| 46 | ** Much earlier, there was Donovan, the pedophile among Gambino's mercenary band who bought and raped the young Guts. Guts killed him a little later. |
| 47 | * In ''Anime/BloodTheLastVampire'', the script seemingly goes out of its way to find a black character to kill first (some monsters had died, but he was the first human to have a graphic onscreen death.) We have an old white woman, running from demons when she runs into a giant black American military man on base. She explains to him that said demons are chasing her, and he starts laughing stereotypically, complete with giant nostrils and lips. Needless to say, he ends up standing under that one creepy tree, and the demon grabs him by the head. Disemboweled instantly. |
| 48 | * Out of the 11 students who died during the attack on the Mars base in the first episode of ''Anime/BlueCometSPTLayzner'', Judo is the both only one who was named and the only one who was black. |
| 49 | * Slightly downplayed in ''Anime/Danganronpa3TheEndOfHopesPeakHighSchool'', in which the dark-skinned Daisaku Bandai is the second casualty of ''Side:Future'', dying shortly after the pale-skinned Chisa Yukizome. However, while Chisa becomes a relatively important PosthumousCharacter in ''Side:Despair'', Bandai on the other hand [[ForgottenFallenFriend is treated as an afterthought]]. |
| 50 | * In one arc of ''Literature/FullMetalPanic'', Sousuke is sent on a mission with five other soldiers to kill [[AxCrazy Gauron]]. Out of the group the first to die is the black team captain. |
| 51 | * In the ''Manga/GunsmithCats'' OVA, the sole black character, Jody, is the only good guy to die, and he dies because he's TooDumbToLive. |
| 52 | * ''Anime/HaloLegends'': |
| 53 | ** ''The Babysitter'' follows a four-man ODST squad and one Spartan. The one AmbiguouslyBrown member doesn't even get a name or dialogue before he dies. |
| 54 | ** The one black Spartan in ''The Package'' is the first of the bunch to die. |
| 55 | * The native Egyptian Mohammed Avdol in Part 3 of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure''. [[BackForTheDead Twice.]] |
| 56 | * Gorobei is the first to die in ''Anime/SamuraiSeven''. This is despite the fact that, in the original ''Film/SevenSamurai'' film, the first to die was Heihachi. Gorobei was the only black man among the samurai. |
| 57 | [[/folder]] |
| 58 | |
| 59 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 60 | * ComicBook/BlackPanther is the first hero to be killed on-panel in ''ComicBook/AgeOfUltron'' (though [[Characters/MarvelComicsThorOdinson Thor]], [[Characters/MarvelComicsCyclops Cyclops]], and [[Characters/MarvelComicsBruceBanner the Hulk]] [[GreatOffscreenWar were all stated to have been killed prior to the start of the story]]). |
| 61 | * Mettle, the first victim of ''ComicBook/AvengersArena'' is half-black, half-white Jewish. This is made a bit more egregious as in an earlier issue of ''ComicBook/AvengersAcademy'' his friend lamented [[HarsherInHindsight feeling like the black guy in a slasher movie.]] |
| 62 | * In the What-If version of ''ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen'', Wolverine accidentally kills [[Characters/MarvelComicsStorm Storm]] getting into an argument with [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]]. [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone He is understandably horrified at what he did.]] |
| 63 | * Variation in ''[[ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen Avengers: X-Sanction]]''. The first [[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avenger]] to be taken out by [[Characters/MarvelComicsCable Cable]] is [[Characters/CaptainAmericaHeroes The Falcon]], who is knocked out without a fight and used as bait to lure his teammates into a trap. |
| 64 | * The major inciting event behind ''ComicBook/CivilWarII'' is the death of [[Characters/IronManHeroes War Machine]] at the hands of [[Characters/MarvelComicsThanos Thanos]]. |
| 65 | * Played with in Creator/IDWPublishing's ''ComicBook/{{Clue|2017}}'' comic. The first person found dead is Mr. Boddy, the African-American host of the dinner. In actuality, [[spoiler:he faked his death as part of his XanatosGambit]], and the first person who is actually killed is [[spoiler:Mrs. Peacock]]. |
| 66 | * In ''ComicBook/FrankMillersRoboCop'', an adaptation of Creator/FrankMiller's original script for ''Film/RoboCop2'', the Rehabs started their massacre of the Metro West cops by having a sniper shoot Sgt. Reed. This is also a cause of SparedByTheCut, as one: the Rehabs were saved for ''Film/RoboCop3'' and two: it was Lewis who was killed and Reed survived the events of that film. |
| 67 | * The ''ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel'' comics kill off their black [[ShootTheMedicFirst doctor first.]] |
| 68 | * In the ''Creator/{{Elseworlds}}'' comic series, ''ComicBook/JLAActOfGod'', ComicBook/{{Steel}}, a.k.a. John Henry Irons ends up being first hero who bites the dust as he gets stomped to death by a giant robot. It also overlaps with TheWorfEffect, since Steel, being a techology-based hero, was described as being the strongest hero left, after all the superpowered heroes were depowered. |
| 69 | * Who is the first character to die in ''ComicBook/MidnightNation''? That would be the black guy who tries to clue in heroic detective David Gray about what is ''really'' going on. |
| 70 | * Ambrose Chase from ''ComicBook/{{Planetary}}'' is normally [[NighInvulnerability Nigh-Invulberable]], but had the misfortune of entering an AlternateUniverse that was governed by HorrorTropes, including this one. He managed to preserve his body before he died, and gets revived in the final issue. |
| 71 | * ''ComicBook/RedRobin'': The first of the League assassins accompanying Tim to die is "Z", the only black member of the group. |
| 72 | * ''ComicBook/Robin1993'': African American Clyde Rawlins is the first and only member of the main cast of the story to die. |
| 73 | * ''ComicBook/ThinBlueLine'': While it's been established that a number of people have already died during the riots happening, Police Sergeant Mack is the first on-screen death, being pulled out of a police car by a bunch of anti-cop protestors, who stomp him to death. |
| 74 | * ''ComicBook/{{Tribe}}'', by African American Larry Stroman, was a short-lived series about the adventures of a predominantly African-American superhero group. Issue 1, page 2, panel 4 features the first death: a black dude getting his neck snapped. |
| 75 | * ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': The first named character to die is [[Characters/WonderWomanAllies Steve Trevor]]'s overly serious black co-pilot Slade, who gets possessed and burnt out to a skeleton by Ares. |
| 76 | [[/folder]] |
| 77 | |
| 78 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 79 | * The first character to die in ''Fanfic/ParagonKimPossible'' is Monique. Her death is off-screen, but Ron gets MistakenForMurderer and arrested. |
| 80 | [[/folder]] |
| 81 | |
| 82 | [[folder:Film — Animated]] |
| 83 | * In ''WesternAnimation/Epic2013'', Queen Tara (voiced by Music/{{Beyonce}}) is shot by an arrow from a Boggan soldier, and is the first important character to die on screen. |
| 84 | * ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' uses this trope; the rhinoceros character is played by Creator/MichaelClarkeDuncan, and he dies first. |
| 85 | * In ''WesternAnimation/WonderWoman2009'' the black-skinned woman pilot is the first human to die outside the flashback opening, in the dogfight above the island. |
| 86 | [[/folder]] |
| 87 | |
| 88 | [[folder:Film — Live-Action]] |
| 89 | !!!'''Creators:''' |
| 90 | * Paul Winfield has had this happen to him in his SF films: |
| 91 | ** Twice in the Franchise/StarTrek universe (as Capt. Terrell in ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' and as Dathon in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''). |
| 92 | ** He's also the first person to die in ''Film/MarsAttacks''. |
| 93 | ** He's not the first character to die in ''Film/DamnationAlley'', but he doesn't come close to surviving the film, either. |
| 94 | !!!'''Movies:''' |
| 95 | * In ''Film/ThreeHundred'', Leonidas kicks the black messenger down a well. |
| 96 | * ''Film/ThreeThousandMilesToGraceland'' has five Elvis impersonators setting out to rob a casino. The black one dies first. |
| 97 | * The first person to die in ''Film/AlienNation'' is Sykes' original partner, who is shot and killed by a shotgun-wielding crook while he's wearing a BulletProofVest ''and'' crouched behind a car. It turns out the shotgun slugs were armor-piercing. |
| 98 | * In ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', Frost is the first major character to go, and Apone isn't far behind him. It's notable in that it's the ''only'' entry in the entire series, including ''Film/AlienVsPredator'', to play this trope straight. The other films have a tradition where the black dude is the last to die in a (attempted) HeroicSacrifice. |
| 99 | * In ''Film/AliensVsPredatorRequiem'', a group of five high school students (including one black student) is ambushed by an Alien inside the high school. Guess which one the Alien kills first. |
| 100 | * ''Film/AloneInTheDark1982'': The first victim of the escaped lunatics is black orderly Ray Curtis. |
| 101 | * In ''Film/AmericanPsycho'', The first victim the films shows Patrick Bateman killing is a homeless black man. Of course, it's debatable whether he really did the killing, or if it was just a figment of his imagination - like the other killings in the film. |
| 102 | * In ''Film/ApocalypseNow'', the first member of the boat crew to die is one of the black guys. |
| 103 | * In ''Assignment Outer Space'', this is why TheCaptain gets the HeroicSacrifice. (TheMillstone saves the day). |
| 104 | * ''Film/TheBabysitter2017'': Of the cultists threatening Cole, John is the only black character and is the first of them to die. |
| 105 | * In ''Film/BigGame'', Otis, seemingly the only black Secret Service agent aboard Air Force One, is the first one to die. |
| 106 | * ''Film/{{Bloodthirsty}}'': [[spoiler:Charlie]] is the first main character to die in the film. She's the only person of color in the film, with East Asian ancestry. |
| 107 | * In ''Film/BruceLeeFightsBackFromTheGrave'', the drug smuggling ring that acts as Wong Han's main opponent for the film consists of two white men, a Japanese samurai, a Mexican wrestler, and a black man. The black man is both the first member of the ring to die, and the first on-screen death overall in the film. |
| 108 | * ''Film/TheBucketList'', which is about two men diagnosed with terminal illnesses, has Creator/MorganFreeman's character die first at the end. |
| 109 | * ''Film/{{Bumblebee}}'': Edwin Hodge's character Danny Bell, the leader of the Sector 7 unit competing with John Cena's battalion in paintball, steps on a trap almost immediately figuratively "dying" in the game. Moments later, when the Decepticons show up, Bell's team is seen getting blown up and the character is never seen again. |
| 110 | * ''Film/{{Bushwick}}'': Lucy's Latino boyfriend Jose is the first person we see die. |
| 111 | * {{Discussed|Trope}} in ''Film/CanadianBacon'', by Boomer and Karbal who is worried it will happen to him. |
| 112 | * ''Film/CharliesAngels2019'': Edgar "Bosley" Dessange, who's black, is the first of the cast to die. |
| 113 | * In ''Film/ChildsPlay2019'', the first character to die is the Vietnamese factory worker who, as [[TakeThisJobAndShoveIt a final middle finger]] to his boss, reprograms a Buddi doll to remove its [[ThreeLawsCompliant safeguards]] and then jumps off the roof of the factory. |
| 114 | * In ''Film/{{Christine}}'', a black assembly-line worker is the first victim of the eponymous killer car. |
| 115 | * ''Film/AChristmasStory'': When Ralphie gets his BB gun and fantasizes about shooting the villains, the black guy gets shot first. |
| 116 | * ''Film/{{Chronicle}}'', which otherwise does a pretty good job of averting or subverting most sci-fi/superhero tropes, plays this straight. The first character to die by [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Andrew]]'s hands was Steve, the only black character with telekinesis. |
| 117 | * When The Kid and his gang of bandits ride into town in ''Film/{{Cimarron}}'' and start shooting the place up, who dies? Not protagonist Yancey Cravat, not his wife Sabra, not their son Cimarron, not the Jewish salesman, not the MissKitty character--none of the white people, in fact. The only character killed by the bandits is Isaiah, Yancey's black servant. |
| 118 | * In ''Film/TheDamBusters'', the first death is of the only black character in the film: Guy Gibson's black dog, whose name in the film and in real-life was [[NWordPrivileges also problematic]]. |
| 119 | * ''Film/DaylightsEnd'': The African-American Mike is the first character to die, when marauders gun him down. His brother Chris [[spoiler:lasts past the half way point, but also dies.]] |
| 120 | * ''Film/DeadAir2009'': The security guard at the radio station, while not technically the first on-screen death, is the first of the named characters to die as the SyntheticPlague spreads through the city. |
| 121 | * In ''Film/Deadpool2'', the first people to die are a bunch of Chinese gangsters. |
| 122 | * Happened in ''Film/DeathWishVTheFaceOfDeath'' when Tommy O'Shea's goons killed a lesser black worker from the fashion department execution-style. |
| 123 | * In ''Film/TheDirtyDozen'' the Latino member of the titular Dozen dies first. |
| 124 | * In ''Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness'' the only black member of the Masters of the Mystic Arts is killed first when Scarlett Witch attacks the Kamar-Taj. |
| 125 | * In the 90s slasher film ''Film/DrGiggles'' this is almost exaggerated as the first two teens to die are both black. The film also has a black cop who has a much more prominent role. He still dies at the end though. |
| 126 | * The heroic party in ''Film/DungeonsAndDragons2000'' consisted of the heroic white thief, the plucky comic relief black thief, the love interest white mage, and the gruff Scottish dwarf, as well as a black female elf. The black thief dies, though the elf survives the film. |
| 127 | * In ''Film/TheEdge'', Harold Perrineau is eaten by the bear first. Creator/RogerEbert, in [[http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-edge-1997 his review of ''The Edge'']], calls this trope the BADF action movie rule ("The Brother Always Dies First"). |
| 128 | * ''Film/EnterTheDragon'' plays it straight. Of the three main protagonists, Williams exists only to show off his fabulous afro and be killed by the villain first. However, this did not happen by design. In the original script, Roper died in Williams's place. ExecutiveMeddling switched their roles around. |
| 129 | * In ''Film/{{Evidence}}'', it's the Asian dude dies first. The one black character manages to survive for most of the movie. |
| 130 | * In ''Film/EvilDead2013'', the first cabin member to die is the ''only'' non-white member, Olivia, played by a mixed-race actress. |
| 131 | * ''Film/FireWithFire'': The store owner and his son who are murdered while Jeremy watches by Neo-Nazi crime boss David Hagan to send a message for the local black gang they pay protection. |
| 132 | * ''Film/FiveFeetApart'': Poe is Latino, and the only character to die. |
| 133 | * In ''Film/ForrestGump'', an unnamed black RedShirt gets sniped at the very beginning of the ambush in which Bubba, Forrest's best friend, dies. However, Forrest manages to save several fellow squad members, one of whom is also a black man. |
| 134 | * Corporal Eightball in ''Film/FullMetalJacket'', sent to do recon, first to be abated. |
| 135 | * In ''Film/{{Gaia}}'', Winston dies first in a suicidal mercy killing to prevent himself from becoming a post-human monster. |
| 136 | * The first person killed by Morlant when he returns from the grave in ''Film/TheGhoul'' is Aga Ben Dragore's Arab servant Mahmoud. |
| 137 | * Played with in ''Film/GlassOnion''. [[spoiler:Although Duke (played by half-Filipino actor Creator/DaveBautista) is the first person to die on-screen, it turns out that Andi (played by Music/JanelleMonae) was the first to die ''chronologically'', having been killed by Miles prior to the events of the film.]] |
| 138 | * In the 70s picture, ''Film/TheGreatSantini'', a black dude does die first, but he manages to kill his killer too. |
| 139 | * ''Film/GreatWhite'' has five main characters: two caucasians, two Asians, and a Pacific Islander. Benny, the Pacific Islander, is the first one to get taken by the shark. |
| 140 | * In ''Film/{{Gremlins}}'', the TokenMinority (a black science teacher) is the creatures' first victim. |
| 141 | * ''Film/GrumpyOldMen'': Chuck the black bait shop owner is the first to die. |
| 142 | * In ''[[Film/TheHangover The Hangover Part III]]'', Black Doug is shot by Marshall and is the first character to die in the film. |
| 143 | * In ''Film/{{Heat}}'' the first member of the criminal gang to get killed during the bank robbery shootout is the getaway driver Donald Breedan, played by Dennis Haybert. |
| 144 | * Not a dude, but the first member of the team killed in ''Film/HollowMan'' is the token minority. |
| 145 | * Website/TheAgonyBooth recap of ''Film/{{Hulk}}'' featured the insight "It's not so much that the black guy dies first, it's that the black guy dies first ''[[DevelopingDoomedCharacters 90 minutes into the movie]]''". |
| 146 | * In ''Film/TheHungerGamesCatchingFire'' the first district they go to on the victory tour (District 11) contains the first and only death on the victory tour. That district is predominantly black people. |
| 147 | * In ''Film/TheHungerGamesMockingjayPart2'', the black and bald Boggs was the first casualty of Katniss' party. |
| 148 | * In ''Film/TheIceRoad'', Goldenrod (Creator/LaurenceFishburne) dies first as a result of an accident caused by a saboteur in a somewhat HeroicSacrifice. |
| 149 | * In ''Film/TheIsland2005'', Starkweather Two Delta provides a major hook to the film in his horrific early death, while the very distinctly African Albert Laurent manages to escape the violent deaths that claim most of his teammates and make a rather significant HeelFaceTurn at the end. As Creator/MichaelBay mentions on the commentary track to the DVD, he actually asked Creator/DjimonHounsou something like "How would you like to be the black guy who ''doesn't'' die?" |
| 150 | * The first person seen killed in ''Film/JacksBack'' is a black DisposableSexWorker. |
| 151 | * Inverted in ''Film/JumanjiWelcomeToTheJungle''. Fridge is the sole black character in the foursome (in real life and in the game), yet he is the last of them to lose his first life (after accidentally eating cake). The first one of the group to die is Bethany... who is played by Jack [[StealthPun Black]]. However, of the four, Fridge is the first to lose his second life. |
| 152 | ** In the sequel ''Film/JumanjiTheNextLevel'', Fridge is the first one to lose a life, although in this case as the Shelly Oberon avatar. |
| 153 | * In the beginning of ''Film/JurassicPark'', the first person killed is an unnamed black worker (by a ''Velociraptor''). His death ends up kickstarting the plot when investors want to be assured the park is safe with a preliminary tour demonstration. Averted with Arnold though; although he dies (offscreen), he's one of the last to die. |
| 154 | * The first death in ''Film/JurassicWorld'' is of an unnamed Latin American-looking man; similarly, when Asset Containment tries to recapture the ''Indominus rex'', the first to die is their Japanese leader Katashi Hamada. In the sequel, ''Film/JurassicWorldFallenKingdom'', the one of the first two deaths in the film (killed at the same time by the mosasaur) is an unnamed black man. |
| 155 | * Played with in ''Film/KillBill'': Vernita Green's death is the first ''shown'', but the second on the Bride's hit list; O-Ren Ishii's name is already crossed out. ''Part 1'' then [[AnachronicOrder jumps back]] to [[HowWeGotHere the Bride hunting down and killing O-Ren]] (and most of her {{mooks}}, and a couple creeps back at the hospital). Before Vernita Green was killed, the bride came to, killed two guys in the hospital, recovered, flew to Okinawa in Japan and got a sword. She then flew to the mainland and killed hundreds of Yakuza and O-Ren Ishi. She then dumped Sophia Fatale at the hospital, after which Fatale was reunited with Bill. However, when The Bride showed up at Green's door, she was taken totally by surprise. She was not the first, but apparently, no one cared to give her a heads up and apparently she never watched TV or read a newspaper. Nevertheless: in terms of ''screen time'', Vernita was the first one killed and thus got less screen time than all the others. |
| 156 | * In BMovie ''Film/TheKillerShrews'', as seen on ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', the white protagonist's black friend/employee/servant/Dixieland jazz musician goes outside to take care of the boat during the storm and gets eaten by the shrews first. When the hero finds out, he seems genuinely angry for a moment. Their next victim is a Mexican, who gets much less mourning. |
| 157 | * ''Film/KillerWorkout'': Rachael, the killer's first victim, is the only black character in the movie. |
| 158 | * The GaiasVengeance flick ''Film/KingdomOfTheSpiders'' plays it straight as well. The one farm in town owned by a black couple is ground zero for the imminent tarantula invasion. The husband is the first human to die after the spiders kill his cattle [[KickTheDog and dog]]. |
| 159 | * Possibly intentionally lampshaded in another deep-sea creature feature, ''Film/Leviathan1989'': Ernie Hudson bravely survives 90 minutes of battling the [[GoneHorriblyRight unholy result of a top-secret Soviet experiment]] on the bottom of the sea... after which, as he, [[TheHero Peter Weller]] and [[LastGirlWins The Girl]] make it to the safety of the surface, the monster returns and offs him 2 minutes before the end credits. Still a good way to go, especially considering [[Franchise/RoboCop who avenges his demise]]. |
| 160 | %%* 2006 ghost movie ''Film/{{La Llorona|2006}}'' a.k.a. ''The Wailer'' is another example. |
| 161 | * In the Dracula spoof ''Film/LoveAtFirstBite'', a black guy is literally the only person to die in the entire movie, and he does it before the film ''[[PosthumousCharacter even starts]]''. |
| 162 | * ''[[Film/MagmaEarthsMoltenCore Magma: Earth's Molten Core]]'' has the {{Jerkass}} mayor die in oncoming lava while screaming "NO!" Or was it him getting buried in hot rocks? It's hard to tell. |
| 163 | * Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse: |
| 164 | ** ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' subverts this: Nick Fury (played by Creator/SamuelLJackson) SEEMS to die, but he's actually FakingTheDead, in fine MCU tradition. (The other major black character, Sam Wilson a.k.a. the Falcon, does perfectly fine.) |
| 165 | ** Also subverted in ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' - thanks to [[NeverTrustATrailer Trailers Always Lie]], Colonel Rhodes aka War Machine is played up at the major casualty of the event. [[GameBreakingInjury Whilst he is crippled thanks to being shot down by Vision, he remains alive.]] |
| 166 | ** In ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', a film in which half of all living beings in the universe is killed by Thanos, the very first hero to die is Heimdall, played by Creator/IdrisElba. And it all goes downhill from there. |
| 167 | * ''Film/TheMask''. The Doctor is the leader of the team of criminals that Dorian Tyrell sends to rob the bank. He is mortally wounded by polic gunfire during the robbery and is the first named character to die in the movie. |
| 168 | * ''Film/MaximumOverdrive'': The first solo death scene belongs to the black customer (played by Creator/GiancarloEsposito) in the arcade room. |
| 169 | * ''Film/{{Midsommar}}'': Josh, the black anthropology student, is the first one to die against his will onscreen. They all observe a ritual sacrifice and all three non-white members of the core group disappear before this happens. Josh's death is the first confirmed murder in the film. |
| 170 | * ''Film/MonsterParty'': Of the three thieves who stage the heist in the mansion, it is Dodge--the black one--who is the first to fall victim to the murderers, and demonstrate to the other two that they are in way over their heads. |
| 171 | * In ''Film/TheMonsterSquad'', the only character with any lines to die in the movie is the black cop who serves as partner to Sean's dad. His consolation prize, at least, is that he'll have one damn good story for St. Peter: {{Dracula}} '''blows him up with a stick of dynamite.''' |
| 172 | * In ''Film/TheMortalInstrumentsCityOfBones'', Madame Dorothea, played by CCH Pounder, is the first named character to kick the bucket courtesy of DemonicPossession. |
| 173 | * This happens in ''Film/MortalKombatTheMovie'': Liu Kang's first (black opponent) ends up having his soul sucked out by Tsung after Liu refuses to finish him. As far as named kombatants go, CanonForeigner Art Lean is the first and only one of the heroes to die. |
| 174 | * ''Film/MrHollandsOpus'': Black drum student Louis Russ (played by Terrence Howard) is the only person to die in this movie. He gets killed in Vietnam and they all attend his funeral. |
| 175 | * ''Film/TheMutantChronicles'': Both black guys who appear in the film [[DroppedABridgeOnHim die by bridge]] within a couple minutes of each other. |
| 176 | * The first victim in ''Film/NewYearsEvil'' is the main character's female TokenBlackFriend. She dies a little over three minutes in, just before the opening credits. |
| 177 | * Famously inverted in ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968'': the black character is the only one of the group to survive the night, only to be unceremoniously shot by a posse in the morning. [[Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1990 The remake]] [[spoiler:has him zombiefied to avoid the unfortunate implications of the original ending]]. |
| 178 | * In ''Film/NoExit'', the kidnappers kill a wouldbe hero who happens to be a black man. |
| 179 | * In ''Film/TheOldGuard'', the first of The Immortals to have stopped regenerating after being mortally wounded is a black man. |
| 180 | * One of the three hit men killed by The Man at the end of the opening sequence of ''Film/OnceUponATimeInTheWest'' is black, the only black character in the entire film. |
| 181 | * ''Film/PlayingWithDolls'': The first on-screen victim of the killer is a black woman. |
| 182 | * ''Film/{{Psychos}}'': If one doesn't count [[YouDirtyRat the rat]] that [=JJ=] [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals sliced with a razor]] as a character, then Michael is the first of the human cast to die when Larry bashes his head in with a baseball bat. |
| 183 | * ''Film/QueenOfTheDamned'' begins with Lestat waking up from his sleep and drinking a black man dry. |
| 184 | * ''Film/AQuietPlacePartII'': Officer Ronnie is the only character with notable dialogue to die in the opening "Day 1" sequence. |
| 185 | * ''Film/RealGenius'' opens with a bunch of military and intelligence bigwigs discussing a [[KillSat space-laser-based assassination system]]. The one black man at the table gets up, announces that he has moral qualms about the project, and asks to be reassigned. After he leaves the room, one of the other bigwigs says "We may have to liberate him." Another says "Liberate? As in 'liquidate?'" |
| 186 | * ''Film/RedDawn1984'' is an extreme example. In the storyline, millions of people die offscreen. Dozens of white people die on screen. Only one black guy is seen to die in the whole movie, but he's dead within the first two minutes! |
| 187 | * In ''Film/ResidentEvilExtinction'', the only black guy was the first to be attacked by a zombie, resulting in an ultimately fatal wound. Of course [[ZombieInfectee he covers it up]] and endangers his fellow zombie apocalypse survivors. Not to mention his black girlfriend managed to sacrifice her own life, and on a bus no less. To top it off, the same character managed to survive all the way through the previous movie, ''Film/ResidentEvilApocalypse'', despite being a minor character. |
| 188 | * In the final fight of ''Film/RoboCop1987'', Joe P. Cox is the first guy in Clarence Boddicker's gang to be shot by [=RoboCop=]. |
| 189 | * ''Film/Scream2'': The first two characters to die, Phil and Maureen (played by Creator/OmarEpps pre-''Series/{{House}}'' and Creator/JadaPinkett, respectively), are both Black, and true to [[PostModernism series form]], they ruthlessly lampshade it early on, with Maureen complaining about what she sees as a lack of representation for Black people in horror. First, Phil is drawn to the wall of a toilet stall through the use of barely audible whispers and gets stabbed through the ear by Ghostface in the neighboring stall. Then, Ghostface kills Maureen in the theater while disguised as Phil. After that opening, however, the rest of the film subverts this trope with Sidney's Black friend Hallie. She makes it far longer, being the last character to die before TheReveal of Ghostface's identity (and the second-to-last overall), and in the original script she was one of the killers. |
| 190 | * In ''{{Film/Serenity}}'', Shepherd Book goes first. |
| 191 | * In ''Film/TheShining'', Dick Halloran ([[Film/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest Scatman Crothers]]) ends up being the ONLY character Jack Torrance (Creator/JackNicholson) kills throughout the entire film. (It's also a case of DeathByAdaptation.) |
| 192 | * Among Sinbad's crew in ''Film/SinbadAndTheEyeOfTheTiger'' is the party-loving Maroof. He is the first (and only) member of the crew to get killed by the bad guys. Guess what skin color he has? Some guards were killed by Zenobia and the Minotaur near the start, and Maroof escapes from a giant walrus while one of his comrades gets stepped on; Maroof dies only a few minutes from the end of the film. |
| 193 | * In ''Film/SlaughterHigh'', black janitor Digby dies first. |
| 194 | * The first person to die in ''Film/SleepyHollowHigh'' is a black jogger. |
| 195 | * {{Discussed|Trope}} in ''Film/SomeoneGreat''. Upon learning that Jenny has been dumped and is spiraling, Erin (who is black) compares it to the opening of a disaster movie: the moment after the black girl dies and the white girl worriedly looks up at the sky. |
| 196 | * ''Film/{{Spartacus}}'': Not how the trope usually plays out, but it happens in something of a HeroicSacrifice that incites the gladiator revolt. Darba, the sole black gladiator, defeats Spartacus but instead of killing him he tries to kill Crassus instead. He gets killed for it. When his body is displayed as a warning to the others, it helps enrage the gladiators so much that they revolt on the next day. |
| 197 | * The only black character in ''Film/SpiderBabyOrTheMaddestStoryEverTold'' is killed in the film's intro. Interestingly, from the same director who would later bring us {{Blaxploitation}} classics ''Film/{{Coffy}}'' and ''Film/FoxyBrown''. |
| 198 | * In ''Film/{{Stargate}}'', the black soldier is not even present during the first alien attack, but is still the first one to die. As it happens, the team had split into two groups, and the group without the black soldier came under attack; however, that group was incapacitated by solely non-lethal means, simply knocked out with hard blows to the head. When the other group (with the black guy) returns, the first thing the aliens do is shoot the black guy, and then proceed to start firing wildly at the rest of the soldiers. |
| 199 | * At the beginning of ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'', the film shows a black father desperate to save his bedridden daughter who is suffering from some fatal sickness. He's approached by John Harrison, who tells the man he can save his daughter if he does something for him first. The black man commits a suicide terrorist bombing that kills hundreds of people and sets the movie's main plot. |
| 200 | * ''Film/StateOfPlay'' begins with a black thief being shot to death. |
| 201 | * ''Film/{{Stealth}}'' has 3 pilots on 3 advanced fighters against the rogue AI one. White romantic interest male and female, and a black dude. So guess who gets killed as a first named-character casualty? |
| 202 | * ''Film/Steam2007'': The only character to die is August, a Black man, due to a heart attack (he's in his seventies at least). |
| 203 | * The black character Luther is the first person to die in 1973 film ''Film/TheSting''. |
| 204 | * The first major character to die in ''Film/TheSubstitute'' is the black teacher friend, Mr. Sherman. The first commando to die is also the black member of the team, Wellman. |
| 205 | * ''Film/{{Super 8}}'' subverts this with Doctor Woodward, the man who derails the train at the start of the movie. It seems like he's died but actually survived, [[AlmostDeadGuy having merely been mistaken for dead]]. |
| 206 | * ''Film/TerminatorSalvation'' has a blink and miss shot of [[Creator/TerryCrews an unnamed black soldier]] among debris towards the beginning who seems to have died recently. |
| 207 | * ''Film/{{Ticker}}'': Not counting the flashback at the beginning, which has very little bearing on the rest of the plot, Fuzzy is the first named character to die. |
| 208 | * Panic in ''Film/{{Ticks}}'' is the only one of the protagonists to die. |
| 209 | * In ''Film/TronLegacy'', once the nightclub fight starts, the scarred resistance leader (Bartik from ''WesternAnimation/TronUprising'') is the first one derezzed. |
| 210 | * In ''Film/UnfriendedDarkWeb''. When the deep web hackers called the Circle start killing off the main cast, the first to go is the token Asian character Lexx as a SacrificialLion to the rest of the cast. |
| 211 | * ''Film/{{United 93}}'': Between the two pilots of the aforementioned plane, one is white while the other is black. The black pilot is the first one killed. |
| 212 | * In ''Film/VantagePoint'', the first named character to die is the TV reporter played by (pre-fame) Creator/ZoeSaldana. |
| 213 | * In ''Film/VarsityBlood'', Linda--the only black cheerleader on the squad--is the first one killed during the massacre at the farmhouse. |
| 214 | * ''Film/TheVoyeurs'': Thomas, the only Black person in the film, is the sole character to (really) die. |
| 215 | * In Baz Luhrmann's ''Film/WilliamShakespearesRomeoAndJuliet'', Mercutio, played by a black guy, dies first (Mercutio dies first in the play as well). |
| 216 | * ''Film/WingCommander'': When Paladin and Knight (the black guy) are making a torpedo run on a battleship, Knight blows up even though he took just as many hits as Paladin did. |
| 217 | [[/folder]] |
| 218 | |
| 219 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 220 | * ''Literature/{{Everland}}'': Pyro is stated to have dark skin and is the first of the named Lost Boys to die. |
| 221 | * {{Discussed|Trope}} in ''Literature/{{Everworld}}'', as a joke from Christopher to Jalil. |
| 222 | * [[Creator/SeananMcGuire Mira Grant]] novella ''Final Girls'' has the unnamed technician, described as having dark skin, become the first victim of one of the killers. But the story is an {{Homage}} to the rules that dictate horror movies so it's a low key {{lampshade|Hanging}} including it. |
| 223 | * The Literature/InDeath series: ''Judgment in Death'' has a black cop named Kohli be the first murder victim. |
| 224 | * The novel ''Morrigan's Cross'' by Creator/NoraRoberts. It's pretty obvious what's going to happen because (a) he is the only black guy, and (b) there's 4 guys and 2 girls and it's a romance novel, so you have to get another girl in the mix somehow. |
| 225 | * In ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'''s fifth book, Beckendorf is the first to die (in a HeroicSacrifice, but still). On the one hand ''The Last Olympian'' [[ADeathInTheLimelight was his debut as a major character]] (he had been more of a background figure before). On the other, given Bianca and Zoe in ''The Titan's Curse'', he's not exactly the first major character to die in the series. |
| 226 | * In Creator/DanAbnett's TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 novel ''[[Literature/{{Ravenor}} Ravenor Returned]]'', dark-skinned Zeph Mathuin is the first of Ravenor's warband to die "on camera." |
| 227 | ** While on the subject of Dan Abnett, in ''[[Literature/GauntsGhosts Salvation's Reach]]'' [[ScaryBlackMan Usain Edur]] the black commissar is the first named character to die. This is strange considering that he survived the previous book. |
| 228 | * Tiberius in ''Literature/{{Robopocalypse}}'', in what appears to be a trap set by the BigBad to kill the rest of Brightboy squad as they march to Alaska. It slightly works. |
| 229 | [[/folder]] |
| 230 | |
| 231 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 232 | !!!'''Series:''' |
| 233 | * In ''Series/The100'', the first primary cast member to die is Wells, the only black character among the Earthen main cast. |
| 234 | * In the New Zealand [=TV3=] docu-series ''Aftershock'', the first person shown to die as a result of the Cook Strait earthquake is a Maori man. |
| 235 | * ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'': |
| 236 | ** DoubleSubversion: the first member of the team to [[DisneyDeath apparently]] die and not be revealed as actually alive before the episode ends is Mack. Towards the end of the next episode, it is revealed to the viewer that he probably survived after all... only for the ''other'' black guy on the team, Trip, to die a rather definitive death. |
| 237 | ** Lampshaded in the season 5 premiere "Orientation (part 1)": when the team suggests [[LetsSplitUpGang splitting up]] in a mysterious base to look for their missing members, Mack shoots down the idea because of this trope. |
| 238 | --->'''Daisy:''' Mack, it's the best way to cover the most ground.\ |
| 239 | '''Mack:''' Okay, you see, you see, that's exactly what they say before they get picked off one by one, and you know who the first one will be. |
| 240 | * Discussed in the ''Series/{{Alphas}}'' episode "Gaslight". Hicks compares the evacuated hospital to the setting of a horror movie and warns Harken to be careful because of what tends to happen to black men in horror movies. Harken is not amused. |
| 241 | * The first person to die in the pilot of ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'' is a young black officer named Thompson. He's named after Cronan Thompson, a young black Internet personality who was involved in many online arguments with the show's creator, Robert Wolfe. Cronan died of cancer at 19, and Wolfe included Thompson in his pilot as a tribute. |
| 242 | * ''Series/BeingHumanUS'': Sally, who's Indian-American, is the first of the trio to die, with the other two white men (she was already a ghost, but had lingered, passing on in a HeroicSacrifice to restore Aidan). |
| 243 | %%* ''Series/BringTheFunny'': This trope is lampshaded by the comedy duo Frangela in their sketch. |
| 244 | * ''Series/{{Community}}'': |
| 245 | ** In the first PaintballEpisode, Troy (played by the black Creator/DonaldGlover) is the first member of the study group to be "killed". This is shockingly unlampshaded. |
| 246 | ** Lampshaded and inverted in the second HalloweenEpisode. After zombies swarm the school, Abed uses himself to buy Troy some time, bidding him to be the "first black guy to make it to the end". Troy not only makes it out, but makes it back ''in'' and saves everybody. |
| 247 | * ''Series/{{Creepshow}}'': In "[[Recap/CreepshowS2E3DeadAndBreakfast Dead And Breakfast]]" Morgue, a young Black woman, is murdered by Pam when she loses it. She's the first person to die. |
| 248 | * ''Series/{{Curfew}}'': |
| 249 | ** The first named character to die is Simon Donahue after he's eviscerated by one of the show's monsters. |
| 250 | ** Episode eight has a shootout at a gas station. Simon's daughter Meg is killed outright while Zane and Lou (who are white) last a bit longer. |
| 251 | * ''Series/DeadOfSummer'': Cricket, a Latina girl, is the first of the main characters to die. |
| 252 | * Angel is the first Big Brother housemate to die in ''Series/DeadSet'' after dying from a zombie bite gained in the first episode. |
| 253 | * Villainous version in ''Series/TheDefenders2017'': The first of the six {{Big Bad}}s to die permanently is Sowande, in episode 5 out of 8. |
| 254 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': |
| 255 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E6TheMoonbase "The Moonbase"]]: The base is staffed with an international group of scientists, all white except for one black man. He is the first to be killed, getting bumped off in Episode 1 although it is later revealed that he was just kidnapped by the Cybermen and made a partially-converted slave. |
| 256 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E5EvolutionOfTheDaleks "Evolution of the Daleks"]]: The first casualty in the Daleks' attack on Hooverville is the black leader, Solomon. The Doctor ''did'' try to persuade him not to try and negotiate with the Daleks, but was unsuccessful. |
| 257 | ** "[[Recap/DoctorWho2007CSVoyageOfTheDamned Voyage of the Damned]]": Morvin Van Hoof, the first to die out of the small group of characters the Doctor attempts to lead to safety, is black. |
| 258 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E6TheVampiresOfVenice "The Vampires of Venice"]]: Black girl Isabella is the first person to die. Her father Guido then [[HeroicSacrifice blows up himself]] and five white women converted into "vampires". |
| 259 | ** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E5TimeHeist Time Heist]]": The Teller's first on-screen victim, Saibra, the only black member of the heist crew and the first to fall by the wayside, appears to be an example until it turns out she survived. However, a black man is the first to be shown having his brains melted by the Teller. |
| 260 | ** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E3UnderTheLake Under the Lake]]": Moran, who is black, dies first. |
| 261 | * In ''Series/EmeraldCity'', the Witch of the East, who is portrayed by a [[RaceLift black woman]], is the first character to be killed off. |
| 262 | * ''{{Series/Extant}}'': Molly's ex-boyfriend Marcus, who died before the show even began. It doesn't stop him from becoming a recurring character, though. |
| 263 | * ''Series/{{Flashpoint}}'': Of the main cast, the first cast member to die is Louis Young, the SRU's sole black officer. |
| 264 | * ''{{Series/Grimm}}'': In season 2 episode 8 of the show, the sole Black male member of a school academic decathlon team decides to walk home alone after a celebratory dinner and is killed. |
| 265 | * In the pilot episode of ''Series/TheGreatestAmericanHero'', the first person to die is Bill Maxwell's black partner. |
| 266 | * In ''{{Series/Jekyll}}'' Benjamin is Hyde's first (human) kill. After Hyde has tortured, mauled and, um... [[FateWorseThanDeath done other things]] to people, the first time he actually takes someone's life is to slice Benjamin's throat for threatening his family. |
| 267 | * In the miniseries adaptation of Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/TheLangoliers'', the sole black man in the group of survivors dies first. (In the original, he wasn't black, though he wore a RedShirt.) |
| 268 | * ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': Inverted, Arondir, who is played by an Afro-Puerto Rican actor, is the only captured Elf the Orcs left alive. All of his comrades were killed, while he was set free at the orders of the Orc chef, Adar. |
| 269 | * ''Series/MastersOfHorror'': |
| 270 | ** In the slasher-esque "Pick Me Up", the black bus driver is the first person to be murdered by one of the killers. |
| 271 | ** In "Pro-Life", the black security guard is the first to die. |
| 272 | * ''Series/MayfairWitches'': Elena, a black woman, is the first person to die in the present. |
| 273 | * In BBC's ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'', they added black knights to Uther's court. The [[MonsterOfTheWeek monsters of the week]] seem to love killing them, and if a knight needs to die to establish the threat, it will be the black dude. Being a black knight in ''Merlin'' appears to be like being a RedShirt in ''Star Trek''. Heaven help you if you're a black knight and wearing a red tunic. The first major character to be killed in the series was Tom, who is also black. |
| 274 | * One [[TieInNovel Tie-In]] ''Series/{{Monk}}'' novel, ''Mr. Monk on the Couch'', has a serial killer case where the first victim is a black thrift shop manager. |
| 275 | * ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': |
| 276 | ** A team (white woman, white man, black man) enters a building in search of a killer. While they are all shot, the black man doesn't survive. |
| 277 | ** In another episode, two Coast Guard officers (white man, black man) scan a ship. Shots ring out and the black officer is killed. |
| 278 | ** Agent Reeves dies after TakingTheBullet for Abby when they're accosted by a mugger. |
| 279 | * ''Series/NewGirl'': Discussed and parodied when Nick writes a zombie novel overnight. It's apparently extremely terrible, featuring a bunch of typos and a black character named William who dies right away. He even apologizes to his black friend Winston for it, but says it's a convention of the horror genre. |
| 280 | * ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': |
| 281 | ** "The Vaccine", the helpful young black man is the first of the group of survivors to die, when feral dogs attack him outside of the quarantine zone and compromise his environmental suit, exposing him to a lethal virus. Ultimately subverted, when he turns up alive at the end; the survivors lived not because they hadn't been exposed to the virus, but because they were immune. |
| 282 | ** In "Abduction" Brianna, who's black, is the student who's killed as Cody votes that she be the one to die so the rest live. {{Subverted}} though as she gets resurrected (or perhaps never actually died, since it was a {{secret test}} of his character). When he's remorseful, the alien sends her back unharmed in either case. |
| 283 | * ''Series/PainkillerJane'': Steve Ford is the first character (and member of the team) to die. |
| 284 | * ''Series/ThePurge'': Jane is the first of the show's main characters to be killed. |
| 285 | * ''Series/ScreamResurrection'' The white {{goth}} girl Beth also lampshades it when she tells Deion and Kym that, in a horror movie, they would have a very short life expectancy. She should know, since she's the killer. |
| 286 | * In ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', although his death is [[NeverFoundTheBody ambiguous]], the first character to leave the main cast is the black Lieutenant Ford. |
| 287 | * ''Franchise/StarTrek'': There are examples of black {{Red Shirt}}s all throughout the ''Star Trek'' universe who die before their similarly-garbed comrades. |
| 288 | ** A ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' example - in "Where Silence Has Lease" an alien face on the viewscreen says that he wants to understand death by way of killing about half the crew and starts by killing the helmsman, the spot normally manned by [[CreatorsPet Wesley Crusher.]] But he's away from the post at the time, for the only time in the whole episode, replaced by a RedShirt black guy. |
| 289 | ** A dark-skinned alien guy is the very first person to die in ''Series/StarTrekPicard''. |
| 290 | * In the ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episode [[Recap/SupernaturalS02E05SimonSaid "Simon Said" (S02, E05)]], Dr. Jennings is the first to die. |
| 291 | * ''Series/SWAT2017'': The only person in the main cast who's died thus far is Erika, a Black woman. |
| 292 | * ''Series/TwoPintsOfLagerAndAPacketOfCrisps'' lampshades and parodies this trope in the [[FormulaBreakingEpisode horror special]], "When Janet Killed Jonny". Louise, who is black (and is indeed the first character to die in the episode), comes out with this when creepy things start happening: |
| 293 | -->Anyway, you know the rules. [[GenreSavvy The black one always dies first]]. ''({{Beat}})'' [[CloudCuckoolander And nobody here's black]]!\ |
| 294 | ''(Everyone stares at her)'' |
| 295 | * ''Series/TheUmbrellaAcademy2019'': In the Netflix series, Season 3 introduces viewers to The Sparrow Academy. Marcus Hargreeves is the leader of the Sparrows and a black man. Marcus is not only the first Sparrow member to die - he dies in the *first* episode. |
| 296 | * ''Series/TheWalkingDead2010'': |
| 297 | ** T-Dog laments and {{lampshade|Hanging}}s this situation frequently (see page quote) to the point where it even becomes a paranoid belief when he's sick with a fever. Though he does eventually die mid-way through Season 3, over two seasons after the character was introduced, he does in fact outlive at least seven of his initial companions, including Amy, Ed, Jim, Dale, Jaqui, Sophia, and Shane. |
| 298 | ** The prequel spin-off ''Series/FearTheWalkingDead'' played this ''very'' straight, to the point where it drew heavy criticism. The first scene of the series shows an already-dead black man being eaten by a walker. After that, the first episode introduces three black, male character; all three of them are dead by the end of the second episode. |
| 299 | * ''Series/TheWestWing'' - In the second ever episode of the show we're introduced to a sweet, funny military doctor who's been specially requested by the President. He gets on really well with him, and has just popped in to give him a check-up before flying to an overseas teaching hospital for a couple of weeks. Not only is he black, he has a wife he adores and a lovely newborn baby girl whose picture he shows everyone. He is of course dead by the end of the episode (terrorists blow up his plane), and his death is used as a plot point to explore how the President deals with a military situation despite not having the experience. First person to die in a series that racked up quite a few corpses over the years. |
| 300 | * ''Series/TheWire'': At the end of [[Recap/TheWireS01E01TheTarget the first episode]] Gant, the project maintenance man who had testified against D'Angelo in the ColdOpen only to see him acquitted because the other witness recants, is found shot dead, the first character we've seen onscreen alive in the series to be killed. |
| 301 | * In an episode of ''Series/WithoutATrace'', two FBI agents and the witness they're transporting are ambushed by gunmen. Although one of the agents is badly wounded and nearly dies himself, it's the witness, an African immigrant, who is killed. |
| 302 | * ''Series/{{Yellowjackets}}'': Lampshaded by Van, who jokingly tells Taissa she will be the first to die, but not because of her race, because she is the biggest skeptic and once she dies, all the rest are going to die horrible deaths. [[spoiler:Subverted, though, in that a) it's confirmed that Taissa survives the wilderness, and b) Laura Lee (who is white) dies before any of the girls of color.]] |
| 303 | !!!'''TV Movies:''' |
| 304 | * Film/{{SyFy Channel Original Movie}}s |
| 305 | ** ''Ice Age 2012'' (not related to ''WesternAnimation/IceAge'' or ''Film/TwoThousandTwelve'') has a giant glacier [[ArtisticLicensePhysics somehow plow its way across Canada propelled by a bunch of volcanoes erupting]], but a black scientist still manages to die first by accidentally flying his helicopter into one of the eruptions. |
| 306 | ** ''Sand Serpents'' has the only two black members of a Marine platoon die first, the first eaten by the serpents, the second killed in a car wreck. |
| 307 | ** ''Scream of the Banshee'', has the black police officer get killed off first. Otto's actor Creator/ToddHaberkorn [[http://twitter.com/#!/ToddHaberkorn/status/51816502881550336 immediately lampshaded this]] during the premiere. |
| 308 | [[/folder]] |
| 309 | |
| 310 | [[folder:Pro Wrestling]] |
| 311 | * WWE's Wrestling/TheNexus faction sort of did this. Barring Daniel Bryan's legit firing, the first two guys officially dumped were black (Darren Young [beaten down and thrown out after losing to Cena] and Michael Tarver [taken out by Cena himself]). Wrestling/DavidOtunga did not leave the Nexus; in fact he was the only original member to still be in the Nexus when it disbanded. Wrestling/WadeBarrett split from the Nexus and formed The Corre which had a black guy named Ezekiel Jackson. He was the first to be ejected. |
| 312 | * There have been several instances such as in Elimination Chamber or Survivor Series matches where the black wrestler is the first one eliminated. |
| 313 | [[/folder]] |
| 314 | |
| 315 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 316 | * ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedRogue:'' The first major target Shay kills after leaving the Assassins is the Afro-French Le Chasseur (if only because he'd tell the Assassins Shay is alive). |
| 317 | * The tutorial level of ''VideoGame/Battlefield1'' has the player as part of the 369th New York Regiment, aka the "Harlem Hellfighters", an African-American National Guard regiment that was "loaned out" to the French Army during the final months of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. The only way to progress through and finish the level is for the first four player characters to be killed. |
| 318 | * The first member of your squad to die in ''Blacksite: Area 51'' is Mitchell Ambrose, the only black man. He's also introduced by showing you pictures of his family and was also going to ask for leave after this mission. |
| 319 | * In ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'', Roland is the only one of the vault hunters from the first game who dies in this one. He also happens to be the only black male among them. |
| 320 | * In ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyGhosts'', Ajax, the first member of the titular team to die, also happens to be [[TokenMinority the only black member of the group]]. |
| 321 | * The very first mission in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsII'' begins with the scene of a black African soldier burning to death. The player then spends the entire mission killing a bunch of black Africans just to get information on where to find and rescue Woods. The fact that you're helping another black African leader who's excited about fighting and killing doesn't discredit the trope. |
| 322 | * In the ''VideoGame/ChzoMythos'' game ''7 Days a Skeptic'', Barry dies first. The assignment also [[{{Retirony}} happens to be the last before his retirement]], so he never really stood a chance. |
| 323 | ** Also in ''Trilby's Notes'', Abed is the first, and only, character to die. Unless you count the prologue and the flashbacks. Not a typical example since this happens near the end of the game. |
| 324 | * Played straight in ''VideoGame/CliveBarkersJericho'', where the Firstborn explodes two party members before the final battle. It actually targets Cole for trying to analyze it, but [[TokenMinority Jones]] stands closest to her and gets [[LudicrousGibs gibbed]] along with her. And true to the trope, Jones is blasted to chunks just one instant before Cole. |
| 325 | * In ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}}'', the two black and one Hispanic teammates get eaten by aliens in the first couple of levels. One of the black teammates gets better, though. |
| 326 | ** Oh, that black guy who got better? His name is Prophet, and he dies first in the sequel. Although he did get better...sort of. ItMakesSenseInContext. |
| 327 | * In ''VideoGame/DeadSpace2'', the ''VideoGame/DeadSpaceIgnition'' protagonist Franco Delille dies within seconds of the game starting. |
| 328 | * In ''VideoGame/Fallout3'': |
| 329 | ** The first character to die is the scientist Jonas who was a friend of your character's father. It's his death in fact, that kicks off the main storyline. |
| 330 | ** Also, the PlayerCharacter's mother, who is seen at the very beginning, dies shortly after giving birth. Her ethnicity is deliberately kept ambiguous in-game, but examining her character in the game files shows her to be African-American. |
| 331 | * In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', the (sometimes depicted as) dark-skinned General Leo is the first party member to die, being murdered by Kefka. |
| 332 | * In ''VideoGame/FrontMissionEvolved'', Captain Hamilton is the first major NPC to die after being ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice. |
| 333 | * In ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'', the first major non-gameplay casualties in the [[VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved first game]] are the black Sgt. Johnson's [[NumerologicalMotif seven]]-man squad. WordOfGod indicates this was originally [[http://forums.bungie.org/halo/archive4.pl?read=82872 intended to stick]], but Johnson's popularity with the fans meant he was retconned into surviving. |
| 334 | * ''VideoGame/InThe1stDegree'' has only one character die. His name is Zachary Barnes, and he is a black guy shot dead by his white business partner James Tobin. Fortunately, the point of the game is to make sure Tobin goes all the way down for Zack's murder. |
| 335 | * The tutorial mission of ''VideoGame/JustCause2'' literally starts with this trope in spades. First the spunk blonde falls out of the helicopter - but is saved at the last minute. Then the black guy gets shot and falls out. For bonus points you get to jump out and skydive to his corpse (with the blonde telling you over the radio "yep, definitely dead, no point in trying to save him"), take the valuable object from his body, then use your parachute and leave the corpse to fall the rest of the way down. |
| 336 | * In the suicide mission at the end of ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', Jacob Taylor, the only black party member, volunteers for the first task. If you select him for this task, he gets shot in the face with a rocket. [[note]] As long as you upgrade the Normandy's weapons, shields, and/or armor. Otherwise, other people will die first.[[/note]] The player can also send ''anyone'' into the shaft (except Miranda) and get any number of non-black crew members killed. They can also get the entire team out alive, thus sparing Jacob. So really, if Jacob dies first, one could argue that the player is the one enacting the trope. |
| 337 | * A non-lethal example in the ''VideoGame/MechCommander'' intro. One of the members of the Inner Sphere patrol Lance is a rather eager-for-battle black dude. Unfortunately for him, he's piloting the Lance's Hunchback - a short-range heavy hitter, making him first priority for the Mad Cat which encounters the Lance. Twenty seconds of continuous fire later, the guy is forced to eject. |
| 338 | * Technically so in ''VideoGame/MegaManZero1''. The first of the Four Guardians to die is Hidden Phantom, the one who wears black armor. |
| 339 | * ''VideoGame/MetalGear'': |
| 340 | ** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'': The first named character to die was the black DARPA Chief, Donald Anderson. Subverted when it turned out that he was [[LatexPerfection an albino disguising himself as Anderson]], and then twisted back around again, because the real Anderson was killed off-screen before Snake's arrival. That said, Master Miller was ''also'' killed off-screen before Snake's arrival (being impersonated through the whole game by the BigBad), and the player is never made privy to which happened first. |
| 341 | ** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' is divided into two chapters. In both chapters, the first named character to die is a black man - Scott Dolph in the Tanker portion and Peter Stillman in the Plant portion. |
| 342 | ** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'', the opening sequence shows an African leader, who was successfully bringing peace to his country after decades of civil war, getting assassinated by the villains of the game who want to keep the conflict going for their own profit. |
| 343 | * ''VideoGame/MysticWarriors'': Brad, a Black American Buddhist monk, can fall into this in a HeroicSacrifice if he is not chosen. |
| 344 | * Of the seven playable characters in ''VideoGame/ObsCure II'', the Asian sisters Mei and Jun Wang are the only ones who are non-white, and also the first to die. Jun gets mauled by a monster in the dormitory building, either outside her dorm room if Mei and Sven don't get to her in time [[MortonsFork or]] in the basement if they do, while Mei gets [[YourHeadASplode her head crushed flat]] by a mutated Kenny while her boyfriend Corey is ForcedToWatch. |
| 345 | * In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney'', Gore, the black leader of the expedition is among the first characters to die, before the first half of the first dungeon. Double subverted when he comes BackFromTheDead; he either gives you his knowledge of the Schwarzwelt before passing on for good (Neutral) or is killed in combat with the Protagonist (Law and Chaos), and in neither case does he outlive you or the other alignment representatives. |
| 346 | * In ''VideoGame/SilentHill4'', Cynthia, a [[TokenMinority Hispanic/Latina]] and the sole minority character, is the first to die in-game but also the first to be turned into a ghost. |
| 347 | * In ''VideoGame/SirenBloodCurse'', the black camera man Sol Jackson is the first of the protagonists to be killed, before you even get a chance to play as him. Then everyone goes back in time because Crazy Cult Lady's plan got screwed over. Sol is alive again! ...Until he dies first a ''second'' time. Even worse is that another character is shown to be in the exact same predicament that presumably kills Sol the second time around, yet he's shown to be perfectly fine later on. |
| 348 | * In the ''VideoGame/SoldierOfFortune'' series, Hawk is the first named sympathetic (player's side) character to die. |
| 349 | * While ''VideoGame/UntilDawn'' is a game that can end with everybody either [[EveryoneDiesEnding dead]] or [[EverybodyLives alive]] depending on [[MultipleEndings how one plays it]], the lone black character Matt is one of the first characters who one can potentially get killed. What's more, it's likely that many first-time players ''will'' get him killed, due to the fact that, unlike [[SlashersPreferBlondes Jessica]], the one character who can die before him and whose fate hinges on the player successfully passing [[PressXToNotDie quick-time events]], the decisions that lead to an inescapable death for Matt -- choosing to head to the fire tower, using the flare gun to signal for help, trying to save Emily at the fire tower -- may [[ViolationOfCommonSense seem logical at first]]. |
| 350 | * In ''VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward'', Alice is the only black character and she's the first to die on most routes of the game, except for her own, Sigma's, and the GoldenEnding. Even in her and Sigma's routes, she dies along with everyone else when Dio's bomb goes off. |
| 351 | * ''VideoGame/WatchDogs2'' plays this one pretty hard; not only is Horatio the group's only black member before the arrival of the player-character, he's also the only member of the group to die in the course of the plot. |
| 352 | * In ''VideoGame/WinBack'' for the Platform/Nintendo64, the main story involves tracking down your fellow squad members from whom you were separated. One of the first to be encountered is Matt, the black squad member, who instantly receives a sniper bullet to the face from [[DragonInChief Cecile]]. |
| 353 | * In ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'', Vandham is the only major black character and is the first major character to die. |
| 354 | [[/folder]] |
| 355 | |
| 356 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 357 | * Played straight in ''WebAnimation/PinkiePiesExcitingAdventure'', where the first character to die is a Demoman in Part 3. |
| 358 | [[/folder]] |
| 359 | |
| 360 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 361 | * In ''Webcomic/{{Erfworld}}'', Lord Manpower the Temporary is killed on page 2, and is black at the time. (Later, he's green, like the rest of the uncroaked.) Technically, though, he was the last of Stanley's warlords to die. Just the first dead character in the story proper. |
| 362 | * Inverted in ''Webcomic/TheNonAdventuresOfWonderella'': in a world where superheros die and come back to life (often enough that they throw a party every time someone does), the black Queen Beetle is literally the only one ''not'' to have died. (Well, and Rita, but Rita's just a sidekick.) |
| 363 | ** Compare that to her father, Black Beetle, the only one of the first generation superheroes to be missing, presumed dead. Uncle Slam was still kicking at least until 2016 (and Wonderella says he'll come back to life) and Titania (the first Wonderella) is still alive and retired (and she was among those that wore grey jeans, signifying that they've died and come back to life before, so...). |
| 364 | * Afrostar in ''Webcomic/{{Sidekicks}}'' gets featured on the chapter title along with his sidekick and is one of the superheroes that is actually genuinely a NiceGuy. Come the fight against the villains, he's the first (and only) superhero to get a confirmed onscreen death. |
| 365 | [[/folder]] |
| 366 | |
| 367 | [[folder:Web Video]] |
| 368 | * ''WebVideo/FortniteTheMovie'': After somehow surviving being shot in Fortnite the Movie, Mime is shot and seemingly killed first in Fortnite the Movie 2. [[spoiler:Completely subverted in Fortnite the Movie 8: Enemy of the Clown when it turns out that Mime survived the attack.]] [[spoiler:Mime even survives Fortnite the Movie 9: Day of the Clown, the movie where majority of the main cast is killed off, only to finally be killed in Fortnite the Movie: The Reign of The Oni, the third last film in the whole series.]] |
| 369 | [[/folder]] |
| 370 | |
| 371 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 372 | * In ''WesternAnimation/JurassicWorldCampCretaceous'', the first deaths are two park workers who try to warn the kids. One is black and the other is white. When the ''Indominus rex'' sneaks up on the two men and gets them, the black guy is the one she goes for. |
| 373 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited'' episode "Dark Heart", Billy the rock climber gets eaten by the alien first. |
| 374 | * In ''WesternAnimation/SpacedOut'' a black Krach Industries suit got dissolved by acidic pulp, which security aimed at an escaped experimental organism that had to be taken out at all cost. |
| 375 | * ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', episode "The Hand of Fate". First demon to spring from the giant hole goes straight for the black dude. |
| 376 | * In at least two episodes of ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' Cyborg is the first to die. |
| 377 | * ''WesternAnimation/WolverineAndTheXMen2009'': Swat team flees from faceless terror in the middle of a blizzard. Black guy gets dragged off. |
| 378 | [[/folder]] |
| 379 | |
| 380 | !!Lampshaded/Parodied |
| 381 | |
| 382 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 383 | * ''ComicBook/AvengersTheInitiative'': Gorilla Girl sums it up perfectly during ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion2008'' (which she surives and is noted in the epilogue as having retired from heroing to become a judge on a successful reality show): |
| 384 | -->'''Gorilla Girl:''' I'm black, I'm female, and nobody's ever heard of me. I might as well have "[[CListFodder Cannon Fodder]]" stamped on my forehead. |
| 385 | * [[DiscussedTrope Set up]] in ''Film/TheExpendables''' parody, where there is a character known only as (even by that character himself) "Muscly Black Dude Who Dies a Gruesome Death", and whose purpose is only to say "You're totally mad, bro!" and "You said it, dude!" He frequently {{lampshade|Hanging}}s this behavior, and even explains how a [[FatalFamilyPhoto family photo]] is the way they chose to give depth to his character. |
| 386 | * When Ambrose Chase dies in ''ComicBook/{{Planetary}}'', the GenreSavvy villain comments that "this is science fiction movie. The black guy always dies in the science fiction movie." (They were in a reality-warping field that made reality follow movie cliches, so this was, literally, the reason he died.) |
| 387 | * In Kyle Baker's[[note]]himself an Af-Am comics creator[[/note]] war comedy ''Special Forces'' the opening splash page of the very first issue is the black squad member's head exploding and the main character actually lampshading this quote in her narration. |
| 388 | * Parodied in a comic by Creator/JhonenVasquez describing the worst movie ever made. |
| 389 | -->"In classic tradition, ethnicity means a deathmark, and a reason to motivate that noble white guy."\ |
| 390 | '''White guy:''' AAARGH!! YOU KILLED BLACKY!! |
| 391 | * A strip at the back of an issue of ''ComicBook/{{Squee}}'' parodies Hollywood action movie cliches, including this one. |
| 392 | [[/folder]] |
| 393 | |
| 394 | [[folder:Comic Strips]] |
| 395 | * ''ComicStrip/TheBoondocks'': |
| 396 | ** In a 1999 strip, Huey writes an e-mail to Creator/GeorgeLucas saying how excited he is that Creator/SamuelLJackson will be playing a Jedi Master (Mace Windu, for the uninitiated) in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' (and very formally so). He then pauses, and with a grim expression, writes "...but he had '''BETTER''' not be the first one to die." |
| 397 | ** Another strip has Huey writing a review of ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded''. He comments that moviegoers haven't been too kind to the film, calling it "confusing", something he agrees with. Then he adds: "With so many black people in the movie, it was impossible to predict who would die first". |
| 398 | [[/folder]] |
| 399 | |
| 400 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 401 | * A non-lethal variation in the [[WesternAnimation/PixarShorts Pixar short film]] ''WesternAnimation/MrIncredibleAndPals'' (a companion piece to ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles1''), which is a [[StylisticSuck highly corny]] InUniverse cartoon starring Mr. Incredible (who's white) and Frozone (who's black -- or lightly tanned in the cartoon's style). When they confront the villain Lady Lightbug, Frozone is restrained by her "radioactive silk" and taken out of the action immediately. It's {{lampshade|Hanging}}d by Frozone in the commentary that he and Mr. Incredible do on the cartoon. He's quite annoyed by the poor showing his fictional self makes. |
| 402 | * Defied in ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut'', where Chef has joined the military, and is in an all-black battalion - the only one there, in fact. The General wants to use them as "Operation: Human Shield" in conjunction with everyone else in "Operation: Get Behind The Darkies". Chef seems to be the only one to notice how much of a raw deal they're getting, and gets the rest of his group to abort the mission, leaving the soldiers behind to get blown up, though. |
| 403 | --> '''Chef:''' Operation Human Shield, my ass! |
| 404 | [[/folder]] |
| 405 | |
| 406 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 407 | * In the hip-hop drama ''Film/EightMile'', one of B Rabbit's opponents, Lotto, raps during their freestyle battle: |
| 408 | -->"I'll spit a racial slur honkey, sue me/This shit is a horror flick [[AvertedTrope but the black guy doesn't die in this movie]]." |
| 409 | * ''Film/TheBlackening'', a horror movie with an all-black cast, lampshades this trope repeatedly in the trailer -- the killer forces the group to sacrifice the one they deem "the blackest" at one point, and the TagLine is "We can't all die first". |
| 410 | * ''Film/CanadianBacon'' features a scene in which this theory is discussed, and various examples are given. It ends with the one black guy looking really nervous. He not only survives, though, he goes on to prove that black athletic superiority extends to hockey, too. |
| 411 | * Discussed in ''Film/{{Circle}}'', where one African-American man sarcastically suggests that the group vote out and kill all of the black people. [[DontShootTheMessage This earns him scorn from his fellow African-Americans]], but he is vindicated when the presence of a racist cop is made apparent. |
| 412 | * Preacher of ''Film/DeepBlueSea'' is well aware of this trope--"I'm toast! Brothers never make it out of situations like this! Not ever!" and records his legacy - the perfect omelet recipe - in anticipation of his death. [[SubvertedTrope He lives all the way to the end]], although the other black character does die mid-way through the film. It is remarkable that Preacher was indeed supposed to die according to the original script, just near the end rather than at the beginning. However, [[EnsembleDarkhorse test audiences hated that]], so it was changed. |
| 413 | * ''Film/{{Evolution|2001}}'' comically [[TropeNamers named]] this trope, but actually avoids it with a verbal DefiedTrope. Since it's a rather light-hearted comedy, almost EverybodyLives. The guy who said it (Creator/OrlandoJones) had even originally used the line in a ''Series/MadTV1995'' sketch. |
| 414 | -->'''Ira:''' Snag it and put it in the bucket.\ |
| 415 | '''Harry:''' [[GenreSavvy I've seen this movie]]; the [[TropeNamers black dude dies first]]. [[DefiedTrope You snag it!]] |
| 416 | * The trope -- alongside GayGuyDiesFirst -- is lampshaded in ''Film/{{Freaky}}'' by Josh when he and Nyla are running from the Butcher (actually [[FreakyFridayFlip their friend Millie inhabiting his body]]). |
| 417 | -->"You're black! I'm gay! We are ''so'' dead!" |
| 418 | * In ''Film/HalloweenResurrection'', Music/BustaRhymes' character, the web show producer Freddie, not only survives to the end but manages to [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu take down Michael Myers]] ''twice'' -- once by giving him a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech (albeit without knowing who he was, and which [[NiceJobBreakingItHero may have gotten Nora killed]]), and again at the end when he gets a BigDamnHeroes moment and saves the FinalGirl Sara. |
| 419 | -->"Trick or treat, [[PrecisionFStrike motherfucker]]!" |
| 420 | * ''Film/ScaryMovie'': |
| 421 | ** Parodied in the first movie. After the ''Film/{{Scream 1996}}'' parody that opens it, a line of reporters discuss the story in front of the school. The last one is from BET (Black Entertainment Television), and the reporter declares "white folks are dead, [[GenreSavvy we're gettin' the fuck outta here!]]" - at which point he and his crew jump into their van and speed off. |
| 422 | ** Also, it's discussed fully in another scene, with text to this effect: |
| 423 | --->"The worst thing a brother can do is to party with white people, 'cause you know you're gonna die first. You should all get out of here."\ |
| 424 | "W-what about me?"\ |
| 425 | "Mulattos, too!" |
| 426 | ** Lampshaded ''again'' in ''Scary Movie 2'', when it's suggested [[LetsSplitUpGang they split up]]. Dwight decides to invoke it. |
| 427 | --->'''Brenda:''' Uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh UH! Now wait a minute, hold up! How come when anytime this scary shit happens, and we should stick together, you white people always say "let's split up"?\ |
| 428 | '''Theo:''' She's right, we should stick together.\ |
| 429 | '''Dwight:''' She's right. Okay.\ |
| 430 | ''[points to the white people in the group]''\ |
| 431 | '''Dwight:''' You three, follow me!\ |
| 432 | ''[the three black people are left alone]''\ |
| 433 | '''Shorty:''' Ain't that a bitch.\ |
| 434 | ''[the three of them begin to cry]''\ |
| 435 | '''Brenda:''' We gonna die, y'all. |
| 436 | ** Ultimately defied in all the movies, though: The only main characters to survive the original movie, besides Cindy, are the three black characters [[NotQuiteDead despite seemingly being killed earlier]] and Ray was actually the last to (apparently) die. They also survive the second movie, though all of the characters do that time. The third movie is an interesting case: Brenda is apparently killed early in the movie by the Samara expy, complete with a funeral and everything, only to return alive and well, with no explanation, in the next movie. |
| 437 | --->'''Cindy:''' Brenda? I thought you were dead! |
| 438 | --->'''Brenda:''' Oh, I thought you were dead, too. |
| 439 | * In ''Film/Scream2'' (which ironically, offers a classic, lampshaded example of this trope, described above), Gale's black cameraman Joel notes that "brothers don't last long in situations like this." To that end, [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere he quickly leaves town]] -- and survives. |
| 440 | * In the commentary track for ''Film/{{Snatch}}'', the actor who plays Vincent notes this trope's tendencies and appreciates that this film averted it. Despite its two-digit body count, its black main characters all survive ([[ComedicSociopathy though they get nicked for a murder they technically didn't commit]]). |
| 441 | * ''Film/UndercoverBrother'''s Conspiracy Brother complains about this trope. |
| 442 | -->"Hey black man, [[Franchise/JurassicPark turn on the power there's dinosaurs running around]]. Hey black man, look out he's got a gun!" |
| 443 | [[/folder]] |
| 444 | |
| 445 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 446 | * Mentioned by Liz Lemon in ''Series/ThirtyRock''. |
| 447 | --> "Word of advice: If the will says you have to spend the night in a haunted house you better hope that everybody else there is black guys and [[SexSignalsDeath sluts]].” |
| 448 | * In the ''Series/{{Alphas}}'' episode "Gaslight", the main cast finds themselves in a classic horror movie scenario inside a mental hospital, which prompts Hicks and Harken to discuss horror movie tropes. Harken notes that this one probably won't be happening to him, given his SuperStrength and FBI training. |
| 449 | * In an episode of ''Series/AreYouThereChelsea'', Dee Dee and Olivia are watching horror movies. Olivia says "There are no black people in this movie, so I don't know who dies first!" |
| 450 | * In ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' season 7, the following exchange occurs after some of the potential slayers (including Rona, who is black) are "killed" in a training exercise: |
| 451 | -->'''Spike:''' OK, these two are dead. Why?\ |
| 452 | '''Rona:''' 'Cause the black chick always gets it first? |
| 453 | * During ''Series/{{Community}}'''s {{Zombie Apocalyp|se}}tic Halloween special "[[Recap/CommunityS2E06Epidemiology Epidemiology]]" this trope is lampshaded with [[DefiedTrope an attempted defiance]]. Abed sacrifices himself to make sure that Troy escapes. |
| 454 | -->'''Abed:''' "Troy, make me proud. Be the first black man to get to the end." |
| 455 | ** "[[Recap/CommunityS2E06Epidemiology Epidemiology]]" also has a deleted line from Troy saying he was going to run alongside Shirley in order to [[LampshadeHanging double his chances.]] |
| 456 | * A skit on ''Series/{{Fridays}}'' called "The Moral Majority Variety Hour" included a magician who made the only black man in the audience disappear. |
| 457 | * Wayne Brady also lampshaded it on a ninth season episode of ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'', although the death is not...death. He sacrifices himself by talking to the old people so Barney and Robin can sneak away and not have to talk to them. |
| 458 | * An episode of ''Series/TheHughleys'' which had the gang staying the night in a haunted house and Darryl flipping out when the Caucasian Dave and Sally apparently fell victim to the killer: |
| 459 | --> "What kind of movie is this when the white people get killed before the black people?!" |
| 460 | * ''Series/InLivingColor'' had a couple of comedy skits starring Creator/JimCarrey and Creator/DavidAlanGrier called Sidekicks and Sidekicks In Nam. The skits would parody the war movies and how they make the black character look silly and incompetent, before he's the first one to die, leaving the white best friend to go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge. |
| 461 | * Inverted in the ''Series/KeyAndPeele'' sketch "Suburban Zombies". The ''white'' guy (Creator/KevinSorbo) is [[DeathByCameo killed and eaten first]], and it later turns out that the zombies intentionally spared the black protagonists because they're afraid of black people. |
| 462 | * In reference to what happened to his character Rhodey in ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', Creator/DonCheadle commented in an appearance on the 11/08/16 episode of ''Series/TheLateShowWithStephenColbert'' that he wouldn't want to be the first black man on Mars [[GenreSavvy "because then I'd be the first to go."]] |
| 463 | * ''[[Series/MacGyver2016 MacGuyver]]'' and his friends arrive at an isolated log cabin, owned by a big scary mountain man sitting on a bench. |
| 464 | -->'''Bozer''': He's got a banjo! [[Film/{{Deliverance}} I've seen that movie]] - I die first! |
| 465 | * In an episode of ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'', Al, Jefferson, and Griff join the National Guard and have to quell a garbageman strike. They've holed up inside a truck during a riot and Jefferson orders Griff to get out and do something. |
| 466 | -->'''Griff:''' Haven't you ever seen a war movie? The black man ''always'' gets it first! ...Jim Brown in ''Film/TheDirtyDozen'', Creator/LaurenceFishburne in ''Film/ApocalypseNow'', Bubba in ''Film/ForrestGump''! ''Any'' [[RedShirt black man in]] ''Franchise/StarTrek''! We go in, test the waters, get killed, and you white guys go home to your families. |
| 467 | -->'''Al:''' See? We ''both'' lose. |
| 468 | * Referenced on ''Series/MockTheWeek'', for the category "Unlikely Things to Read on a Health Insurance Form": |
| 469 | --> "Are you the only black guy in a horror film?" |
| 470 | * Michael Wilbon once alluded to this trope on ''Series/PardonTheInterruption'' in explaining why he never watches horror movies. |
| 471 | * Parodied in ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy'': |
| 472 | -->'''Damon:''' Why am I always the decoy? |
| 473 | * ''Series/{{Psych}}'': |
| 474 | ** In an episode parodying slasher films, Gus refuses to leave the house because "I've seen enough slasher movies to know that when the brother goes off to the woods, he doesn't even sorta come back!" Ironically he not only survives, but is the ONLY person to best the killer in a one-on-one fight. |
| 475 | ** In another episode, this one set during Halloween, Gus has a list of rules for entering the old insane asylum. He doesn't enter the room first, he doesn't enter the room last, and he leaves if anything spooky happens. Naturally, his foot gets stuck in a hole in the floor, and Shawn leaves him there. [[{{Troll}} And then shows back up with the villain's voice modulator.]] |
| 476 | * Discussed by Turk in the ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' episode "My Long Goodbye". |
| 477 | --> "If this were a horror flick, I'd be so scared that I was next. They always kill the black folks off first. Now I'm not really worried about it, 'cause there's still Snoop Dogg Resident and Leonard the security guard... y'know, when you think about it, this is a white-ass hospital." (beat) "I'm gonna miss you. You take care, okay?" |
| 478 | * Nicole Beharie, who played Lt. Abigail Mills in ''Series/SleepyHollow'' is well aware of this trope, and has said one of the major reason the show appealed to her was because unlike most other horror or fantasy narratives, the black woman isn't just the white heroine's TokenBlackFriend who ends up getting murdered. Sadly, this became much HarsherInHindsight when her character became increasingly sidelined by her white male co-star's plotlines after the first season and was KilledOffForReal at the end of the third season after she decided to leave the show. |
| 479 | * In one rather funny moment on ''Series/SmartGuy'' Moe and Marcus are sitting down to watch ''{{Film/Scream 2}}''. Marcus' girlfriend objects to the violence, Moe says he's only watching it for Jada Pinkett. Marcus and his girlfriend get into an argument about something else, and are suddenly cut off by loud screaming. Moe, oblivious to the argument, moans "Oh no, Jada's in the beginning. Black folks ''always'' get killed early in these things!" Seconds later, a woman's scream is heard in the movie and Moe says flatly "There goes Jada." |
| 480 | * Wayne Brady on an episode of ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'' during a game of Questions Only set at the [[Film/{{Psycho}} Bates Motel]], and also during a game of Themed Restaurant, with the theme being horror. |
| 481 | -->'''Wayne''': "Am I going to be the first one to die, like I always am?" |
| 482 | ** Wayne nearly always lampshades this trope in any game that involves horror movies. |
| 483 | * ''Series/{{Yellowjackets}}'': Lampshaded. After weeks of being stranded in the wilderness, Taissa and others split from the rest of the group and head south. Van jokingly tells Taissa that she will be the first to die. Not because Taissa is black, but because she is the biggest skeptic and once she dies, all the rest are going to die horrible deaths. |
| 484 | [[/folder]] |
| 485 | |
| 486 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 487 | * Busdriver references this trope in "Unemployed Black Astronaut": |
| 488 | -->Oh my / sorry I / left my acceptance speech / in the back of the private car / and I rewrote the Hollywood ending / fluxed the motion picture screen / made it so the black guy doesn't die by the opening scene |
| 489 | [[/folder]] |
| 490 | |
| 491 | [[folder:Pro Wrestling]] |
| 492 | * When Leah Von Dutch to go ghost hunting on "LVD TV" following a dream wave event, Moose protests on the grounds of being black but later volunteers to accept his fate when she comes across an unlit room and refuses to go farther.[[/folder]] |
| 493 | |
| 494 | [[folder:Roleplay]] |
| 495 | * Obliquely lampshaded in [[https://clips.twitch.tv/PeppyBelovedAniseKappaRoss-7MlercjJQRrE_rw- this]] ''Roleplay/NoPixel'' clip, when Mike Block meets [[Film/{{Scream}} Ghostface]]. |
| 496 | -->'''Ghostface:''' Now listen. There's rules to horror movies. Who knows the rules?\ |
| 497 | '''Mike:''' ''[realizing]'' Uh...oh, fuck. C'mon, man. Why you gotta break the news to me like that?\ |
| 498 | '''Ghostface:''' Sorry, Mike. ''[pulls out knife]''\ |
| 499 | '''Mike:''' That's fucked up, yo! ''[gets stabbed]'' |
| 500 | [[/folder]] |
| 501 | |
| 502 | [[folder:VisualNovels]] |
| 503 | * ''VisualNovel/MonsterProm'''s sequel Monster Camp features Jerry, who discusses this trope and its unfortunate implications in one event. [[AvertedTrope Needless to say]], he doesn't pull it off considering he never kills anybody important or any minorities, [[FridgeLogic although technically every character is a token since most of them are different monster species.]] |
| 504 | [[/folder]] |
| 505 | |
| 506 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 507 | * In ''WebAnimation/ADayInTheLifeOfACommissar'', two Guardsmen see Commissar Steve get gassed. One trooper, horrorstruck, wonders who's going to be the first to die. His buddy says "we should go by the movie rule that states the black guy always dies first." They're relived that none of their troops are black. But then one trooper says, "wait, I'm half-black!" and is promptly blown to pieces. |
| 508 | * In ''[[WebAnimation/FlashGitzAnimation The TRANS-Formers]]'', Offendatron (Megatron with boobs) press-gangs a random black guy into the Offendacons, all the while berating him for not feeling oppressed enough. Prowl vaporizes him seconds after he's introduced. |
| 509 | [[/folder]] |
| 510 | |
| 511 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 512 | * Discussed in ''Webcomic/AnsemRetort'', where Zexion notes that as long as the black dude is alive, the rest of them are safe. Then Namine points out that racism aside, they don't ''have'' a black dude. |
| 513 | -->"Ooh, right. Yeah, we're gonna die. Painfully, too." |
| 514 | * In ''Webcomic/BadGuyHigh'' a corrupted Super Dan killed Jacob, the black member of the team, and it's lampshaded. |
| 515 | * Sort of referenced in [[http://www.captainsnes.com/2008/10/24/guest-halloween-special-7/ this]] ''Webcomic/CaptainSNES'' Halloween special, despite several people having died already. |
| 516 | * One of many horror movie cliches parodied in the "KITTEN" arc of ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance''. |
| 517 | [[/folder]] |
| 518 | |
| 519 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 520 | * [[http://graphjam.com/2009/07/22/song-chart-memes-life-horror/ This chart on GraphJam]] detailing the life expectancies of horror film characters. |
| 521 | * And [[http://d.facdn.net/art/drakefenwick/1208912065.drakefenwick_screwed.jpg this]] shows even polar bears are subject to this trope. |
| 522 | * [[http://weknowmemes.com/2012/01/if-theyre-all-black-then-how-are-we-supposed-to-guess-who-dies-first/ This]] poster of ''Film/RedTails''. |
| 523 | * From the [[http://letterstomrpotter.tumblr.com/post/20504874220 "Letters to Mr. Potter" tumblr]]: |
| 524 | -->''Dear [[Characters/HarryPotterGryffindor Dean,]]\ |
| 525 | Thank you for not being the first one to die.\ |
| 526 | Sincerely, Black People Everywhere'' |
| 527 | * The ''WebAnimation/{{Dorkly|Originals}}'' article, "[[http://joyreactor.com/post/1241562 These Eight Characters are Definitely Going to Die]]", includes in the list, "The Black Guy". |
| 528 | -->'''How They're Going to Die:''' First.\ |
| 529 | '''Why:''' Because the screenwriter knew that they should [[TokenMinority include a black character]], but after 20 pages they realized [[WriteWhatYouKnow they had no clue how to write them]]. |
| 530 | [[/folder]] |
| 531 | |
| 532 | [[folder:Web Videos]] |
| 533 | * Parodied in the ''WebVideo/FiftyPercentOff'' Halloween special, in which Makoto suggests Nagisa would be the first to die in a horror movie. Keep in mind that this is an AbridgedSeries of an anime, so Nagisa still looks like a {{Keet}}, he just ''[[VocalDissonance sounds]]'' like a ScaryBlackMan. |
| 534 | * Creator/AchievementHunter: |
| 535 | ** Parodied in one LetsPlay when Creator/RayNarvaezJr is the first to be downed in an FPS game, he, as a Puerto Rican, gripes that it's the "brown guy who dies first". |
| 536 | ** Newer AH member Alfredo Diaz is also aware of this trope. In one Things to Do in ''Halo 5'', he's the second one downed and gripes, "Shit like this never works out for the fucking ethnic guy!" |
| 537 | ** In a "Let's Watch" of ''VideoGame/LayersOfFear 2'', newest member Fiona Nova is startled by Matt Bragg making a sudden movement. She immediately yells, "Matt, don't pull that white people shit!" |
| 538 | * In a Halloween special of ''LetsPlay/AnalogControl'' involving ''VideoGame/{{Slender}}: The Eight Pages'', MJTR confided in his current, mixed-race cohost Trey that at least one of them would survive. If Slenderman started pursuing them, he'd be too busy killing Trey to get MJTR. |
| 539 | * ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall'': |
| 540 | ** Linkara created several X-COM squad members based on [[Website/ChannelAwesome That Guy With the Glasses]] contributors. The one based on WebVideo/TheRapCritic was the first to die. [[https://twitter.com/Phanto/status/358783403899895809 Read about it here]]. |
| 541 | ** Speaking of Linkara, during the storyline segment of his review of ''A Nightmare on Elm Street: Paranoid'' #2, when Viga is told of the current supernatural situation in their house, [[ScrewThisImOutOfHere she immediately grabs a suitcase]] and says "Nope!" precisely due to this trope. |
| 542 | * In ''WebVideo/EscapeTheNight'' Jesse and [=DeStorm=] discuss this trope. When the group is in danger, Jesse turns to [=DeStorm=] and says that he's probably dying first. Judging by the annoyed reaction [=DeStorm=] has afterwards, he's familiar with the trope. |
| 543 | ** Then hilariously subverted when [=DeStorm=] IS voted into the first challenge, but makes it out alive. By the time of the second challenge, Gabbie needs to choose between Jesse and [=DeStorm=], [[spoiler: she chooses to save [=DeStorm=] and Jesse is left to die]]. |
| 544 | ** This trope is subverted in every season, since the token black character always ends up dying in the fourth episode(by pure coincidence). |
| 545 | * In the ''VideoGame/GhostReconFutureSoldier'' prequel film ''Ghost Recon Alpha'', the one black member of the squad, Chuck, is the only one to die. Especially apparent in that the film replaces the bald and black leader "Ghost Lead" from the game with some random white guy, despite the rest of the squad being unchanged between the film and game. |
| 546 | * ''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic'': |
| 547 | ** The Critic [[GagSub dubs the thoughts]] of the only black guy in ''Film/Jaws3D'': "All I can say is, I'm worried. We're in a lousy horror movie and I'm the only black person around. Clearly I need to hire more black people." He does, and just as planned, they get eaten by the shark instead. Success! |
| 548 | ** {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d by [[TokenMinority Malcolm]] in ''[[Recap/TheNostalgiaCriticS6E17 The Shining]]'' review. |
| 549 | * The idea is repeatedly and viciously lampshaded in Website/SFDebris's [[http://sfdebris.com/videos/startrek/t128.php review]] of the aforementioned "Where Silence Has Lease". |
| 550 | --> "...And naturally there'd be no shortage of volunteers [from red-shirted black men for bridge positions]. People who've seen Science Fiction know the black dude dies first. And people who've seen the original series know the guy who beams down in a red shirt dies. So, black dude plus red shirt equals get a bridge job as fast as you can and hope an alien doesn't show up on the view screen [[TemptingFate looking to kill people for no reason]]." |
| 551 | ::: Later he does the voices of the various cast members to summarize the scene: |
| 552 | -->'''Negilum:''' Now would be a good time to learn about death by killing one of you.\ |
| 553 | '''Riker:''' Oh, no!\ |
| 554 | '''Picard:''' Oh, no!\ |
| 555 | '''Troi:''' Oh, no!\ |
| 556 | '''Data:''' Oh, no!\ |
| 557 | '''Black Red-Shirt:''' MOTHER FUCKER! *dies*\ |
| 558 | '''Picard:''' Send another red-shirted black fellow to the bridge.\ |
| 559 | '''Geordi:''' *leaves* |
| 560 | * In ''[[Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest SOTF-TV]]'', the first character to die is Anthony Rollins, who is, well, black. He actually [[LampshadeHanging hangs a lampshade]] on this right before he dies. |
| 561 | -->"Really? I'm the black guy that dies first? I knew I could've done more for this fucking show working the camera." |
| 562 | * Creator/{{Tobuscus}} lampshades this in his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2W32cOTgo8 literal trailer]] of ''Film/SharkNight'', when the black man Malik is attacked. |
| 563 | -->"She can't believe that THAT guy died first." |
| 564 | * During the ''WebVideo/TwoBestFriendsPlay'' episode featuring ''VideoGame/DeadSpace2'', Pat wonders out loud if Franco's death is "the fastest black guy death in a video game ever". |
| 565 | [[/folder]] |
| 566 | |
| 567 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 568 | * The animated series ''WesternAnimation/FunnyFace'' has the black watermelon as the first and only character to die. |
| 569 | * The ''[[ShowWithinAShow McBain]]'' movie subplot in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' features [=McBain=]'s black partner talking about him being [[{{Retirony}} two days from retirement]], his daughter is graduating from college, ''and'' he plans to sail around the world with his wife on their boat "[[TemptingFate The Live-4-Ever]]" after they arrest [[BigBad Mendoza]]. Cue him [[TakingTheBullet saving McBain from an assassin]] and [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill getting shot 13 times]]. |
| 570 | * ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': |
| 571 | ** Parodied in "[[Recap/SouthParkS9E2DieHippieDie Die Hippie Die]]," itself a parody of ''Film/TheCore''. In the original, a black scientist dies after engaging a switch deep while in almost direct contact with the Earth's mantle; in the parody, Cartman explicitly picks Chef as "the black man who will sacrifice himself". This is subverted, however, as Chef safely makes his way through the crowd of Hippies, does what was asked, and gets back... only for Cartman to keep going on as though Chef had died. |
| 572 | ** Played straight however in Season 20, where of all the Internet trolls the only one to die was the lone black guy, [[CrossesTheLineTwice MLKKK]], burned alive by a man whose daughter he made fun of. |
| 573 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Stripperella}}'' episode "The Bridesmaid", Molly Lumpkin picks a hostage to murder first, only for said hostage to immediately call her out on trying to play this trope straight. She tries prove to him that she's not bigoted by murdering one of her other hostages, except they're ''all'' minorities (part-Native American, Jewish, gay, and an Eskimo, in that order), frustrating her. |
| 574 | * Discussed and ultimately inverted in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003''. In "Fear Itself", when horror monsters are haunting Titans Tower, Beast Boy gets GenreSavvy and explains that as the group's PluckyComicRelief, he's going to be the first one to go, and sure enough he is. Cyborg is actually the ''last'' hero to go down. |
| 575 | [[/folder]] |
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