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3%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks!
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7[[quoteright:250:[[ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/supermandoomsdaykill_5987.jpg]]]]
8[[caption-width-right:250:ComicBook/{{Superman}} and his opponent both meet their [[{{Pun}} Doomsday]]... [[DeathIsCheap For a while, anyway.]]]]
9
10->''"Now, I don't know who is more metal. The guy who stabbed a man in the face with a three-foot-long sword. Or the guy who was stabbed in the face kept walking forward, and still managed to stab the other guy in the chest with three feet of steel jutting out his skull."''
11-->-- '''LetsPlay/TheDarkId''''s Let's Play of ''VideoGame/{{Resident Evil|1}}''
12
13Two characters commit fatal damage against each other in the same confrontation.
14
15Particularly heart-tugging when it appears the hero has won, it's over... and then they slowly drop to their knees, blood trickling from the side of their mouth. Expect a BigNo from the NeutralFemale and plenty of protests that "he'll be fine, we can get him to a doctor."
16
17Can happen as a result of the SingleStrokeBattle, where both swordsmen inflict a mortal blow on each other, but, usually, one dies instantly, while the other has a moment to philosophically reflect on their demise. It also happens with some [[ShowdownAtHighNoon Western showdowns]], where two [[TheGunslinger gunslingers]] fatally shoot each other at the same time.
18
19This is sometimes TruthInTelevision, with "ai uchi" (mutual killing – hence the trope name) being a common outcome of samurai duels. Potentially ''any'' duel where [[InertiaIsACruelMistress weapon inertia]] or lag can compensate for attack lag can have "mutual killing" as a normal outcome. It's not unusual either for one party to lethally wound another, only for them to return the favor very quickly before they die (or for both parties to pretty much strike or shoot each other at basically the same time). Quite a few shoot outs and sword duels ended up as blood baths this way. If you're so "lucky" as to be the better combatant, in this case, it may only mean your lethal wound is slighter and you die a slower and more prolonged death. In stories, this is sometimes used for the "winning" character to talk to loved ones or to have a touching character defining moment.
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21Compare DoubleKnockout, where both combatants inflict critical but non-lethal damage on each other. Similar to, though not quite the same as, TakingYouWithMe, where one combatant orchestrates both of the killing blows. This is a common, albeit far from guaranteed, result of DeliberateInjuryGambit. When it happens during a MexicanStandoff, it's a BlastOut. If damage is fatal but does not prevent immediate retaliation, result may be the same (this includes TimeDelayedDeath and IncendiaryExponent). Could also be from a SelfDestructiveCharge or PoisonedWeapons. May involve a LastBreathBullet from one of the combatants.
22
23!!'''As a {{Death Trope|s}},, several if not all spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.'''
24----
25!!Examples:
26
27[[foldercontrol]]
28
29[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
30* ''Manga/{{Basilisk}}'':
31** The anime opens with Kouga Danjo and Ogen of the Iga, the grandparents of the StarCrossedLovers Kouga Gennosuke and Iga-no-Oboro, performing one. Danjo, suspecting that Ogen is not playing fair in the contest between Kouga and Iga, stabs her with a needle in the back of her throat; however, she pulls the needle out and stabs ''him'' fatally, avenging herself. Then she sadly recalls their shared DarkAndTroubledPast [[note]]They were to be married, as Gennosuke and Oboro were. Danjo's clan ambushed the Iga fleeing from their village (which was under attack by someone else) in an attempt to wipe them out, ruining the wedding plans; it's not fully clear if Danjo was on it or not.[[/note]] and sheds tears as she dies next to him.
32** At the end, Gennosuke and Oboro are pit against each other by [[SmugSnake Lady Ofuku]] and Hattori Hanzo the Fourth, as a final resolution of the Kouga-Iga conflict. Gennosuke wants to do this but Oboro [[TakeAThirdOption doesn't want to play by anyone's rules any longer]], so she commits {{seppuku}} by stabbing herself. Gennosuke ''also'' stabs himself to death, however, so the resolution really isn't that far off from an example.
33* ''Anime/CodeGeass'':
34** The final episode has an example with Knightmare Frames. Kallen Kozuki thrusts her Guren S.E.I.T.E.N.'s claw arm at Suzaku Kururugi's Lancelot Albion as it fires its Slash Harkens into the Guren's neck, shutting it down. When Kallen despairingly thinks she failed to take him out, Suzaku confirms in a defeated voice that she indeed got him. The camera then cuts to show the Guren's claw has impaled the Lancelot, the claw jammed firmly in the cockpit. [[PostVictoryCollapse While Kallen faints]] and she and the deactivated Guren summarily fall into the arms of Gino Weinberg and his damaged Tristan Divider, [[DefeatEqualsExplosion the Lancelot violently explodes]], [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat presumably killing Suzaku.]] [[spoiler:It's revealed that [[FakingTheDead Suzaku survived.]]]]
35** In ''[[Anime/CodeGeassAkitoTheExiled Akito the Exiled]]'', [[TheDragon Jean Rowe]] [[RedemptionEqualsDeath allows herself]] to be [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice stabbed]] by [[BigBad Shin Hyuga Shaing]] in order to stop him from killing Akito, [[HeroicSacrifice using the chance to]] [[LastBreathBullet fatally shoot Shin point-blank.]]
36* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'':
37** Spike and Vicious accost each other within lethal striking distance inside a cathedral in "[[Recap/CowboyBebopSession5BalladOfFallenAngels Ballad of Fallen Angels]]" -- [[GunsVsSwords Spike with a Jericho pistol, and Vicious wielding a katana]]. Each strikes the other simultaneously in the shoulder. Using the arm of his other shoulder, Vicious grabs Spike's head and lifts him so that the latter's back faces a window mosaic three stories above the ground. Vicious then [[DestinationDefenestration throws him through the window]]. As he breaks the window, Spike leaves a pinless grenade behind before he falls to the ground below. [[spoiler:[[ShrugOfGod Whether or not the results of these interactions kill the both of them is left to viewer discretion]]: [[AllJustADream the remaining episodes may be Spike's dream in an afterlife]], from a certain perspective.]]
38** Whatever you believe of "Ballad of Fallen Angels", in "[[Recap/CowboyBebopSession26TheRealFolkBluesPart2 The Real Folk Blues (Part 2)]]", Spike struggles with Vicious again, both with their respective weapons, until each has the other's weapon. In the subsequent moment, Spike tells Vicious that [[spoiler:Julia is dead]]. Vicious acknowledges him. [[ExaggeratedTrope Each returns the other's weapon]], and both strike severely. Vicious keels over immediately, dead; while walking away from Vicious, Spike collapses forward as well, [[UncertainDoom his fate unknown]].
39* ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'': [=MetalEtemon=] directs a lethal energy blast at Mimi, but [=SaberLeomon=] takes the hit and is mortally wounded. However, he survives long enough to impale [=MetalEtemon=] with his claw (as a result of Zudomon denting him with his hammer in between the two events), finishing him off for good.
40* Played straight and averted in ''Manga/DragonBall'', with Mutaito sealing away King Piccolo at the cost of his life. Muten Roshi tried the same thing years later, but couldn't pull it off and [[SenselessSacrifice died for nothing]]. King Piccolo and Goku's second fight ''would'' have ended this way, but [[BigDamnHeroes Yajirobe was there]] to save Goku at the last second. Ditto for Goku's third fight with Piccolo/first fight with Piccolo Jr. Both would have died if not for the side characters standing on the sidelines with senzus.
41* How [[spoiler:Yuki and Mononobe]] die at the end of the final ''Anime/EdenOfTheEast'' movie. Protip: if you're going to be running gun-toting maniacs over with your car, you might want to invest in a bulletproof windshield.
42* ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'' starts out with Inuyasha fatally wounding his girlfriend Kikyou, and her [[SealedEvilInACan sealing him]] by shooting and pinning him to a tree with her sacred arrows. It's later revealed that the one who truly injured Kikyou was her StalkerWithACrush Naraku, who intended for her to fully pull the trope on Inuyasha so he would have the Shikon Jewel ''and'' [[IfICantHaveYou tear them apart]].
43* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'':
44** When discussing whether or not to attack Naruto while he is under Jiraya's protection, Itachi discusses this trope with Kisame. According to Itachi, a mutual kill is the ''best'' the two of them could hope for if they were to challenge Jiraya. When they come into confrontation with him anyway, they decide to flee rather than attempt to defeat him.
45** The second Mizukage and Muu, the second Tsuchikage, had a [[ArchEnemy long-standing grudge]] which led to them killing each other in a final battle. [[spoiler:After Kabuto resurrects both of them with the impure world resurrection, Mu reminds the Mizukage of this fact, much to the latter's displeasure.]]
46* In the fourth arc of ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'', Battler proposes a version of this to explain Kumasawa's, Genji's, and Nanjo's first arc murders. Lambda refutes this during her tea party with Bern.
47* In ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', Kyouko sacrifices herself to MercyKill Sayaka after the later falls to TheCorruption. This also apparently happens to [[spoiler:Madoka]] in the [[GroundhogDayLoop previous timelines]], when she's the only magical girl left to fight [[TheDreaded Walpurgisnacht]]. Only the aftermath of the battle is ever shown, with her either dead or [[spoiler:becoming a witch]], and the super-witch [[NoBodyLeftBehind seemingly destroyed]].
48* ''Anime/SailorMoon'':
49** In the first season's GrandFinale, this takes place thrice. Jupiter unleashes all her lightning energy to kill two of the Doom and Gloom Girls, Venus applies her Crescent Beam directly to the forehead of one of them before succumbing to the injuries the other inflicted on her, and Mars uses her last Fire Soul to kill the last D&G girl standing before she can kill Moon. (The Senshi are ultimately revived thanks to Usagi's last wish on the Silver Crystal.)
50** In the third season, the Sailor Guardians trick Cyprine and Ptilol of the Witches 5 into doing this to each other via Sailor Mercury filling the air with fog, which she can see through with her digital visor, and then getting the twins into the perfect positions to blast each other while she evades them.
51* Subverted in the final battle of ''Anime/SamuraiChamploo''. Jin's sword teacher Mariya Enshirou once taught him that there's only one way that he could defeat a far superior swordsman, if it were absolutely necessary and he was willing to die: deliberately let the opponent thrust him through the body, thus trapping their blade, and strike the opponent down with his last breath. Remarkably, Jin uses this to defeat Kariya Kagetoki in the final showdown and survives afterwards. Even more amusingly, the only thing he does after the recovery is leaving the group on friendly terms. Originally, Jin was supposed to die. Then Creator/ShinichiroWatanabe chickened out.
52* ''Manga/{{Semelparous}}'': {{Invoked|Trope}} by the [[HumanAliens mures]] in chapter 14 against Youko: they create a [[HumanoidAbomination human-type kaiju]] out of her own {{Doppelganger}}, meaning that as long as at least one of them is in the VoidBetweenTheWorlds, if one dies, the other dies too. They end up [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice running each other through]]... which sends Youko's girlfriend Yorino on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge.
53* Overlaps with MyNameIsInigoMontoya in the case with Kamina of ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'': Thymilph deals him mortal wounds, but he ''decides not to die'' for long enough to obliterate an army (inventing a new FinishingMove on the spot), spitting out ArcWords like they were tobacco all the while. Then he basically tells his friends, "I have to go now," and finally goes out with a smile.
54* Wolfwood and his former mentor in the ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'' anime. The good guy survives long enough to get to a church and decide to ''not'' light up one last cigarette (honoring a request made earlier by an unrealized love-interest that he stop smoking), instead tearfully telling God that he doesn't want to die, and then dies on his knees.
55* In ''Anime/YuGiOh'', whenever two monsters with the same attack points battle, they destroy each other. The effects can be really spectacular if, say, both monsters are [[PhysicalGod Egyptian God Cards]].
56* In ''Anime/YuYuHakusho'', Hiei deliberately invokes this during his fight with Shigure. Feeling that there's nothing left for him to do, he does a complicated maneuver that, for some reason, requires him to cut off his arm, and he gets a deep slash across the gut and cuts off the top half of Shigure's head. As he collapses, he notes that simultaneous death is the highest honor one warrior can give another. Subverted as, thanks to their demon physiology and medical technology, both survive.
57[[/folder]]
58
59[[folder:Comic Books]]
60* ''ComicBook/BlackMoonChronicles'': [[ThePaladin Lord Parsifal]] and [[TheDragon Baron Greldinard of Moork]] both deliver each other a killing blow during a major battle between the Empire of Lynn and the Black Moon. However, both are later revived by the forces of light and darkness, respectively.
61* ''ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel'' issue 19 has Kwinn and Dr. Venom kill each other. Kwinn comes to Dr. Venom for revenge while threatening to shove a grenade down his throat. After an exchange of words, Kwinn changes his mind and [[GenreBlindness turns his back on Dr. Venom.]] His former target then takes the opportunity to shoot him in the back. After Kwinn dies, he drops the grenade which blows Dr. Venom up.
62* In ''ComicBook/{{Grendel}}'', Argent and Christine Spar. Argent nearly had this with Hunter Rose, earlier, but survived with a broken back.
63* In ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis2004'', this happens with the third ComicBook/{{Robin}}'s father Jack Drake and Captain Boomerang. Boomerang [[ComicBook/BlackestNight would]] [[BackFromTheDead return]] (no pun intended).
64* In ''ComicBook/JudgmentDayMarvelComics'', the mutant Exodus (fighting alongside the ComicBook/XMen) and the [[ComicBook/TheEternals Eternal]] Syne both die in the huge explosion that ends their duel. Each has their own form of ResurrectiveImmortality, so they swiftly come back - Syne remembers the battle, whereas Exodus relies on an older backup of his mind and has no memory of Syne or how he died.
65* In ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast1992'': Roam strikes down Agahnim in his returned appearance in the Dark World, but at the cost of his own life. This also causes Ganon to manifest before Link and Zelda.
66* The ''ComicBook/{{Northlanders}}'' story "[[DuelToTheDeath The Viking Art of Single Combat]]" is a tale where two feuding clans, fresh from one committing yet an other atrocity against the other in an endless CycleOfRevenge, have decided to hold a CombatByChampion because both sides have lost too many men fighting against each other to be able to field more than a ragged raiding band or two. Neither side expects the fight to settle anything, but both hope that it'll at least satisfy honor for awhile and let them both recoup and lick their metaphorical wounds a bit. As dictated by grim irony, it ends in a mutual kill when when Egil manages to mortally wound his opponent Snorri, but then arrogantly drops his guard, which allows Snorri to kill him before dying immediately afterwards.
67* In the ''ComicBook/OldManLogan'' series, Logan decapitates the Maestro (a future corrupt Bruce Banner/Hulk) however Logan's compromised healing factor gives out and he dies from the injuries he suffers a few seconds later. Ultimately subverted as the X-Men are able to find Logan and give him sufficient medical treatment that he recovers this time, but it's made clear that his injuries have become so serious that he ''will'' die for good within a year.
68* ''ComicBook/ThePunisherMAX'' (2012): In #22, both Frank Castle and Wilson Fisk mortally wound each other, though both keep going for a horrifyingly long time[[note]]Fisk making it to his tower before being locked out and finished off, while Castle made it part of the way back to his family's abandoned house/his last hideout before expiring[[/note]].
69* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'':
70** ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'': Superman and Doomsday punch each other to death. They both [[BackFromTheDead got better]].
71** ''ComicBook/WhateverHappenedToTheManOfTomorrow'':
72*** During Lois Lane's exposition opening about what things were like during Superman's final days, she mentions that the Parasite and Terra-Man killed each other in a massive fallout.
73*** Later, Krypto attacks Kryptonite Man, who screams that Krypto will die if he continues to attack him. Krypto doesn't care, however, and rips out Kryptonite Man's throat before finally keeling over from fatal Kryptonite poisoning.
74** ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfLightningLad'': At the same time that Lightning Lad's bolts destroy Zaryan and his flagship, the Legionnaire is hit by a freezing ray shot by the alien conqueror's wrecked ship.
75** Subverted in ''Franchise/MastersOfTheUniverse'' crossover "ComicBook/FateIsTheKiller". When He-Man comes face to face with Skeletor, the former throws his sword as the latter shoots a spell. Both hit each other and appear to die (Skeletor being consumed by the power of the magical sword plunged through his chest and He-Man killed by his enemy's magic). However, the Power Sword's magic revives He-Man, and Skeletor later reappears to wreak havoc through Eternia again.
76* ''ComicBook/{{Ultimatum}}'': Wolverine probably knew Magneto wouldn't let him live after impaling him with his claws. Even after Erik blasts off most of his flesh, Logan still has it in him to thrust his other arm into his chest. Had The Ultimates not shown up when they did and finished the job themselves (and with no Xavier around to try and save him again), Magneto would have likely bled out before he could reach safety.
77* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'':
78** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': When Circe brainwashes Superman into attacking New York Wonder Woman, [[ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} Barbara Gordon]] and ComicBook/WonderGirl all realize Diana and Clark will kill each other in the ensuing fight if they don't find a way to snap Clark out of it. Luckily Diana is able to recover her lasso and snag him in it undoing the brainwashing before they do too much damage to each other.
79** ''ComicBook/WonderWomanWarbringer'': Diana tells Jason of a legend in which a woman and a man fought each other and were evenly matched so even as they grew to respect one another their fight ended in both of their deaths, after which the Olympians placed them in the sky as stars.
80[[/folder]]
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82[[folder:Fan Works]]
83* In ''Fanfic/{{A New World|IcedFairy}}'', this is the result of the fight between [[Franchise/TouhouProject Sakuya and Youmu]].
84* ''Fanfic/CheatingDeathThoseThatLived'':
85** Logger's erstwhile allies and last two opponents, the female Career tributes from Districts 1 and 2, stab each other through the heart as they fight while Logger lies wounded nearby.
86** During the 75th Hunger Games, [[spoiler:[[DoomedByCanon Skinner Alceto]] and the mutt known as "The Beast" kill each other]].
87* ''Fanfic/TheEquestrianWindMage'': During the Battle of the Crystal Empire in Season 3, Onox fatally burns Shining Armor, who [[DyingMomentOfAwesome manages to stab Onox through the heart before succumbing]].
88* In ''Fanfic/AnEmpireOfIceAndFire'', Randyll Tarly goes out during the Battle of Highgarden by charging a giant, who doesn't see him coming until it's too late. Thus, Randyll actually manage to stab the giant through the heart seconds before he smacks Randyll hard enough to rupture all his organs, fatally wounding him.
89* ''Fanfic/TheSevenMisfortunesOfLadyFortune'' has [[spoiler:Alain Dupree mortally wounding Liu Jin, and getting a LastBreathBullet in return]].
90* ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'': The climax of the Twenty Gyarados Bill Gaiden sidestory ends with a [[BeamOwAR Hyper Beam collission]] between the titular villain's Mega Gyarados and the Mega Ampharos belonging to Elite Four member Denki Tekina. The resulting explosion sends them both flying, killing Denki and Ampharos and leaving Bill and his Gyarados fatally wounded, surviving just long enough to give a DyingSmirk.
91* In the ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' fic "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12865317/1/YU-GI-OH-8th-millennium-item YU-GI-OH! 8th millennium item]]", Tea's duel against the Red Eyes Queen- a duellist whose deck focuses on the Red-Eyes Black Dragon card- as part of the Duelist Kingdom ends when Tea and Red Eyes Queen use a card combo in their duel that ends with their respective monsters destroying each other at the same time, depleting their remaining life points.
92* ''Fanfic/EarthsAlienHistory'': In the BadFuture that Katie comes from, [[Literature/TheCosmere Vin]] fatally electrocutes [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Vader]], only for him to use the last of his strength to NeckSnap her.
93* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11711732/1/The-Mad-Scrapper The Mad Scrapper]]'', [[WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends Diesel 10’s]] sister Daniella loses her mind and massacres several other engines, including Sidney, Paxton, Percy, and Diesel. Diesel 10 confronts his now murderous sister on the Sodor Suspension Bridge, and they both use their claws against each other. The fight ends with Daniella [[DisneyVillainDeath being knocked off the bridge to her death]] by her brother, but by then, she had already fatally damaged him.
94* ''Fanfic/ChasingDragons'': Arthur Dayne and Ned Stark do this during the Second Battle of Ghoyan Drohe. Ned forces Arthur into a river during their duel and then forces him under the water to drown him, but as he's doing this, Arthur reaches up to fatally stab him with his last breath.
95* Technically in ''Fanfic/VowOfTheKing''. During their second fight, Ichigo beheads Unohana in the same clash she fatally slices open his chest. As Unohana was in [[HealingFacto bankai]] at the time, she simply grows an entirely new body and heals him.
96[[/folder]]
97
98[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
99* Technically happened in ''Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren'': when Cloud defeats [[BigBad Sephiroth]], and Kadaj and Cloud make amends before he magically dissipates into thin air, Loz and Yazoo reappear to deliver a mortal gunshot to Cloud. The three explode in a cloud of Mako energy.
100* ''WesternAnimation/TheFlightOfDragons'' has Sir Orrin Neville-Smythe being bombarded with fire by Bryagh, with zero protection save for his full plate armor. Throwing his sword, he manages to penetrate Bryagh's bellyscales, forcing him to keel over from the sudden explosion of fire within him, and Sir Orrin himself succumbs immediately afterward.
101* Averted in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTheMovie2017''. The Storm King throws an obsidian orb at the Mane 6 in an attempt to [[TakenForGranite turn them to stone]], but his former servant, Tempest, takes the hit for them, in close enough proximity to the Storm King that he is petrified along with her. While the Storm King [[DisneyVillainDeath falls]] and [[LiterallyShatteredLives shatters]], the Mane 6 save Tempest from the same fate and restore her.
102* The DisneyVillainDeath in ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNIMH''.
103* Optimus Prime and Megatron in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersTheMovie''. Prime died of his wounds, and Megatron was chucked out the airlock in a shockingly {{Genre Blind|ness}} move by [[TheStarscream Starscream]] before he could die of his, which results in [[GodOfEvil Unicron]] [[ReforgedIntoAMinion rebuilding him into Galvatron]] and allowing him to come back to settle the score.
104* ''WesternAnimation/TrollhuntersRiseOfTheTitans'': Nari, once freed of the MindControl the rest of the Arcane Order were using for force her to participate in their plan, drives the Earth Titan she's commanding up against Skrael's Ice Titan, eventually managing to consume him and his titan in plant matter even as her titan and herself are [[LiterallyShatteredLives frozen and shattered by his ice]].
105[[/folder]]
106
107[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
108* In ''Film/The6thDay'', Adam Gibson tricks one of Drucker's mooks into shooting Drucker. A couple of minutes later, Drucker shoots the mook and instructs his remaining mooks not to clone him because he was an idiot.
109* At the end of ''Film/ThreeHundred'' the [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep Spartan captain]] gets [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice speared]] by a [[{{Mooks}} Persian footman]] and a pair of [[EliteMooks Immortals]]. He cuts down the Immortals, then grabs the spear's shaft, ''pulls it further'' in order to draw the spearman closer and plunges his sword into the poor schmuck.
110* In ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'', [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Clark]] and Doomsday kill each other, just like in the comics, although it's more of a deliberate HeroicSacrifice on Clark's part here, charging Doomsday with a Kryptonite spear, [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice impaling]] the monster with it even as Doomsday impales him through the chest with one of its SpikesOfVillainy.
111* In ''Film/BladeRunner2049'' K manages to drown Luv in a fight, but not before Luv mortally wounds him causing him to bleed out and die by the end of the film.
112* ''Film/DeadMan'': Nobody and Cole Wilson.
113* The ''wuxia'' ''Film/DeathValley'' has both a subversion and a straight example.
114** When the hero, Yu-Long, and his supposed rival, Jin-Fu, are engaged in a DuelToTheDeath, they suddenly realized several enemy mooks surrounding them, ready to finish off the survivor, under the villainess Chien-Ying's instructions. So they instead pretend to thrush their swords into each other's guts and keel over, PlayingPossum... and as soon as the mooks come over to investigate, Yu-Long and Jin-Fu quickly leap to their feet and start taking names.
115** A straighter example in the climax: Jin-Fu, confronting Chien-Ying, gets stabbed by her poisonous dagger. He managed to fling a poisoned disc into her arm as she leaves... when Yu-Long arrives, he finds Jin-Fu dead, and quickly heads out to hunt down Chien-Ying... only to find her rotting corpse in a valley.
116* A man fighting alongside Jackie in ''Film/DrunkenMaster II'' manages to dispatch many mooks ''with an axe in his back''.
117* The end of kung fu film ''Film/DuelToTheDeath'', which centers around a sword fighting contest between the best swordsmen of China and Japan, ''strongly'' implies that both men will die of their wounds and nothing good came of them fighting. Japanese fighter Hashimoto has composed himself to essentially FaceDeathWithDignity and without showing weakness to his enemy, and Ching Wan has suffered a number of very serious and horrific wounds, (deep stab in the chest, [[{{Fingore}} most of his fingers on one hand cut off]] from attempting a desperate BarehandedBladeBlock, other arm cut off entirely) so, even though he ends the movie trying to walk away from the scene of their last confrontation, it's almost certainly so [[TheDyingWalk he can go and die in peace away from the site of their conflict]].
118* ''Film/Dune1984'': The outcome of Gurney and Paul's duel, had they been fighting for real:
119-->'''Gurney:''' Good... the slow blade penetrates the shield... [[GroinAttack but look down.]]
120* During the climax of ''Film/ExorcistTheBeginning'' Merrin's native guide manages to shoot an angry tribesman at ''exactly'' the same time the tribesman throws his spear.
121* ''Film/TheFastestGunAlive'': Subverted. The townspeople tell the sheriff's posse that George and Harold killed each other, showing graves that they dug for both men, but it's quickly revealed that George survived the fight and the deception is meant to keep more reputation-hunting gunmen from looking for the man who killed Vinnie Harold.
122* Downplayed at the end of ''Film/{{Fearless 2006}}'', where Jet Li's character could have created a near simultaneous death of himself and his opponent by delivering a fatal blow, but instead only made the motions without delivering lethal force behind the strike.
123* While not a kill, given who the characters are, the spirit of the trope is invoked in ''Film/FreddyVsJason''. After [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Jason]] runs [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Freddy]] through with his own severed arm, Freddy sneers and sinks Jason's machete into his body.
124* Towards the end of the shootout that forms the climax of ''Film/GangsterSquad'', [[spoiler:[[OldMaster Kennard]] takes a fatal gunshot from [[TheDragon Karl Lockwood]]. With Navidad's help, he manages to line up a shot on Karl and take him out before succumbing to his wounds]].
125* Commodus and Maximus in ''Film/{{Gladiator}}''. Commodus stabbed Maximus in the back before their fight to [[YouCanBarelyStand weaken him so he can kill him in the arena]]... but it didn't weaken Maximus enough, as Maximus kills him before keeling over himself.
126* ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}'': After the film's climactic battle, wherein Godzilla has killed the two [=MUTO=]s, he collapses as well, seemingly from both his own wounds and exhaustion. [[spoiler: Then it turns out he's NotQuiteDead.]]
127* At the end of ''Film/TheGrey'', Creator/LiamNeeson's character is the [[FinalGirl last one left]] after the wolves and the Alaskan environment kill off all the other plane crash survivors one by one. He finds himself in the middle of the wolves' den (which he thought he was walking away from all this time). In a BolivianArmyEnding, he grabs a knife, tapes broken bottle shards to his fist, and rushes the alpha wolf, who rushes him. TheStinger reveals that they killed each other.
128* The bar scene from ''Film/InglouriousBasterds'', which is this and a DyingMomentOfAwesome for practically everyone in the room. And of course the mutual kill between Fredrick and Shosanna in the final part of the film. Doubles as a TearJerker, as it's deliberately shot as such and underlined by tear-jerking music.
129* Creator/RobinWilliams and Creator/AlPacino's characters at the end of ''Film/{{Insomnia}}''.
130* This is the EvilPlan behind ''The Internecine Project'' (1974), where the villain arranges to have four associates who [[YouKnowTooMuch know too much about him]] kill each other off (though not at the same time). [[spoiler:everyone dies by the end because one of the victims was suspicious and arranges for the villain to be sent a [[FingerLickingPoison poisoned message]] in the event of his death.]]
131* ''Film/MegaSharkVsGiantOctopus'' and its sequels play with this trope like it's their favorite toy:
132** The first one plays this the straightest and most subdued, Mega Shark and the Giant Octopus battle each other until eventually they just stop moving and sink to the bottom of the sea.
133** ''Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus'' zigzags this as their deaths aren't presented as them succumbing to wounds they've inflicted on each other, but rather the two monsters being so caught up in their fight that they don't notice the undersea volcano erupting beneath them.
134** ''Mega Shark vs. Mecha Shark'' plays with it in that it's closer to TakingYouWithMe and in that the Mecha Shark isn't technically alive, but rather a manned submarine in the shape of a shark with an AI copilot; after The Mega Shark sinks the Mecha Shark, the surviving crew set the Mecha Shark to self destruct, with the explosion going off right as the Mega Shark comes in for the kill.
135** ''Mega Shark vs. Kolossus'' plays this similarly to vs. Mecha Shark, with the primary differences being that instead of a self destruct system the Kolossos' power core is overloading and the Kolossus has its own volition; at the climax the Kolossus pulls the Mega Shark beneath the waves and clamps his arms and legs around it until he explodes.
136* ''Film/TheNorthman'' ends with [[spoiler:Amleth finally managing to kill Fjölnr by decapitation, but not before he stabs Amleth in the chest, also killing him, though more slowly.]]
137* Hanzo and one of the Predators in ''Film/{{Predators}}''. It's pretty awesome. Also Nikolai, though in this case it was more TakingYouWithMe.
138* In ''Film/PrinceOfPersiaTheSandsOfTime'', Seso can throw any blade with surgical precision. He faces off against a Hashanshin firing bolts out of a wrist-mounted automatic crossbow. Seso has one blade left, so he jumps out of the column, runs, aims and throws it, while the Hashanshin is firing bolts at him. The blade flies true and kills the bad guy. Then Seso looks down and sees bolts embedded in his chest. He manages to throw the Dagger of Time off the tower before dying. Luckily, the ResetButton is pushed.
139* ''Film/Ravenous1999'': Boyd and Ives fight to the mutual death in the climax.
140* ''Film/ReservoirDogs'' has a four-man mutual kill at its climax (or three, as one didn't shoot and was already dying).
141* Near the end of ''Film/ResidentEvilRetribution'' Barry, after Jill threatens to kill a prisoner, walks out from cover and is shot by One. His revolver flies into the air and he falls down, seeming dead. A second later, he raises himself up, grabs his revolver before it hits the ground, and kills One. He's smiling as he is shot (again) and (really) killed.
142* In ''Film/SmokinAces'', FBI Agent Carruthers and hitman Pascale Acosta shoot each other to death in an elevator when the agent realizes the hitman's identity. [[spoiler:It's hinted at the end that the hitman survived, though.]]
143* In ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe'', Film/JamesBond stops Stromberg's stolen nuclear submarines from starting WWIII by programming them to fire their missiles at each other.
144* In ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'', the battle between the ''Enterprise'' and a Klingon bird-of-prey results in the destruction of both ships, although the crew of the ''Enterprise'' survives.
145* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
146** In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', Darth Vader, [[HeelFaceTurn turning back from the dark side]], picks up Emperor Palpatine while he's electrocuting Luke, and [[DisneyVillainDeath throws him into the]] [[TechnicolorDeath main reactor of the Death Star]]. [[HeroicSacrifice However, Vader is fatally electrocuted by Palpatine's lightning in the process]].
147** In ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'', Palpatine returns from the dead, but by the end of the movie, he is destroyed by Rey, but the act ends up killing her as well, though Ben revives her shortly after.
148* ''Film/{{Sweetwater}}'': [[spoiler: Josiah and Jackson]] manage to shoot each other dead simultaneously near the end of the film.
149* ''Film/SoulOfTheSword'', a martial arts movie, ends with the hero - having earned the long-coveted title, "The King of Swords" [[LonelyAtTheTop at the cost of sacrificing everything dear to him]] facing his last challenger. They ultimately kill each other in the ensuing duel.
150* ''Film/UniversalSoldier1992'': The beginning of the film sees two American soldiers in Vietnam killing each other over the war crimes of one of them before they're both frozen and later revived as brainwashed supersoldiers.
151* ''Film/VForVendetta'': V manages to kill Creedy before succumbing to bullet wounds.
152-->'''V:''' The only thing you and I have in common is that we are both about to die.
153* ''Film/WarCraft2016'': Draka and the orc trying to kill her son end up killing each other at almost the same second -- Draka dies by a sword to the stomach and the orc by having his throat torn out.
154[[/folder]]
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157* In the backstory of the ''Literature/LoneWolf'' series, this was the issue of the confrontation between King Ulnar I, armed with the Sommerswerd, and Darklord Vashna: neither survived the fight.
158[[/folder]]
159
160[[folder:Literature]]
161* ''Series/BabylonFive'': In ''The Passing of the Techno-Mages'', Galen's parents kill each other. Prior to that, his mother gave a ring to his father as a gift, which was a trap that electrocuted the guy. While he was convulsing, though, he managed to hurl several fireballs at her.
162* ''Literature/BehindTheSandratHoax'': Two [=FDA=] agents sent to enforce the ban on selling Sandrats shoot each other dead, apparently due to a debate about the morality of what they're doing.
163* ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}'': Beowulf and the dragon perish in the act of defeating each other, although Beowulf had Wiglaf's assistance.
164* ''Literature/TheBuilders'' has Brontë and Cinnabar, who shoot each other to death, Elf and the Quaker, who fall to their death, and Bonsoir and Puss, who are [[KilledOffscreen blown up offscreen]] with a stick of dynamite.
165* ''Literature/TheCanterburyTales'': In "The Pardoner's Tale", two guys kill one, then drink the drink he'd poisoned before being killed.
166* Creator/StephenKing has used this more than once:
167** ''Literature/{{Carrie}}'': Margaret stabs Carrie and Carrie strikes back, telekinetically giving her mother cardiac arrest. Carrie survives after this exchange long enough to cause [[AlphaBitch Chris Hargensen]] and [[JerkJock Billy Nolan]] to have a fatal car crash before the combination of shock, blood loss from the knife wound, and overstraining her body finishes her. [[Film/Carrie1976 The movie version]] has Carrie telekinetically crucifying Margaret in a doorway with assorted kitchen implements after Margaret stabs her. Carrie is then finished off by the burning, collapsing house.
168** Several instances in ''Literature/NeedfulThings'', such as Nettie and Wilma's streetcorner knife fight.
169* ''Literature/TheEdgeChronicles'': At the end of ''Vox'', a Shrike and a Goblin kill each other at the same time. A particularly minor example, but an example nonetheless.
170* ''Literature/{{Gor}}'': Mentioned in a {{backstory}} anecdote from ''Priest-Kings of Gor''. Two men from different cities went on TheQuest and were to each other as brothers. After the quest was over they returned to their cities; the cities later went to war with each other and the two men killed each other on the field of battle.
171* ''Literature/GotrekAndFelix'': In ''Daemonslayer'', while exploring Karag Dum, Gotrek and Felix come across the skeletons of two Chaos warriors impaled on each other's blades, having died to simultaneous strikes during battle.
172* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'': During the climax, Harry shoves the Sword of Gryffindor into the Basilisk's mouth as the basilisk sinks one of its venomous fangs into Harry's shoulder. [[spoiler:Thankfully {{subverted|Trope}} for Harry, though, as Fawkes the Phoenix uses healing tears to save Harry.]]
173* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'': In ''War of Honor'', a Manticoran cruiser and an Andermani cruiser open fire on each other during a period of particularly high tension between the two nations. Both ships are destroyed. Later investigation shows that the Manticoran warship actually had the Andermani ship handily outmatched, but suffered a lucky hit that blew her apart.
174* ''Literature/HoratioHornblower'':
175** ''Hornblower During the Crisis'': During a boarding action against a French brig, Hornblower finds Commander Meadows and the French captain both dead. It appears to him that the Frenchman ran Meadows through, but at the same time Meadows delivered a mighty overhand cut that shattered the Frenchman's skull. Hornblower muses that it's an example of what his fencing teacher called a "coup des deux vieves" -- a "reckless attack that makes two widows."
176** At the end of ''Ship of the Line'', Hornblower takes his ship of the line ''Sutherland'' into action against four French ships of the line, and cripples three of them, but the ''Sutherland'' is also crippled and captured by the enemy.
177%%* ''Literature/HorusHeresy'': The end of ''Battle for the Abyss''.
178* ''Literature/IAmMordred'': [[spoiler:Mordred and Arthur]] go out this way.
179* ''Literature/IronDruidChronicles'': Thor manages to smash Leif's head in with his hammer but not before Leif cut him with a magical sword that kills anyone it wounds.
180* ''Literature/{{Jaws}}'': In a ShoutOut to ''Moby Dick'', Quint stabs the shark with a harpoon but gets tangled in rope and yanked overboard, drowning before the shark bleeds out trying to kill Brody.
181* ''Literature/MemorySorrowAndThorn'': The "pulling yourself up the sword that's impaling you to kill its wielder" version is pulled off by the [[TheFairFolk Norns]] defending Naglimund.
182* ''Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy'': In the conclusion, [[spoiler:Vin realizes that the power of Preservation, which she now wields, is perfectly balanced by the power of [[BigBad Ruin]]. Since humans were created with both Ruin and Preservation, Vin is able to destroy something to protect other things, and she fully melds the power of Preservation with that of Ruin, killing both of them]].
183* ''Literature/MobyDick'': In the climax, Ahab spears Moby-Dick, fulfilling his quest of vengeance once and for all, but in its death throes it drags him into the sea, and it rams the ''Pequod'', sinking it.
184%%* ''Literature/NeedfulThings''
185* ''Literature/OldMortality'': After being shot Burley drags the soldier who shot him into the river and they both drown.
186* The backstory of ''Literature/RecordOfLodossWar'' involves this: both broadly with the Gods of light and darkness and specifically with the last two standing: Marfa and Kardis. The effects of their final clash (which neither survived) cracked the continent of Alecrast and gave birth to the island of Lodoss.
187* ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'': The series has quite a few examples of this, both hero-vs-villain and villain-vs-villain:
188** Urthstripe the Strong and Ferahgo the Assassin both die when [[spoiler:Urthstripe leaps from the top of Salamandastron mountain, clutching Ferahgo in a death grip]].
189** Luke the Warrior crashes [[spoiler:Vilu Daskar's pirate ship into a massive rock outcrop]], slaying them both.
190** The mad hare Cuthbert Blanedale Frunk perishes in battle against [[spoiler:the monstrous Slothunog, but not before killing the beast as well]].
191** The mutinous fox Rasconza and the trident-rat captain Sagitar mortally wounded each other in the space of seconds.
192** King Sarengo slays the adder Berussca while dying from the latter's venom [[{{Determinator}} yet still using his teeth and claws]] until the bitter end]].
193* ''Literature/{{Renegades}}'': At the end of the first book, Ingrid and Nova intend to fake this in order to throw the Renegades off the trail. It works... for one of them, at least, as Ingrid tried to actually kill Nova and Nova had to put her down.
194* ''Literature/TheSagaOfGrettirTheStrong'': The morning after Glam has not returned from his job of herding sheep in the haunted valley of Forsaeludal on Christmas Eve, the people of Thorhallsstadir find his dead body at the end of the valley, alongside the traces of a great fight and a {{trail of blood}} left by an unknown creature leading away into the crags. They infer that the creature has killed Glam but that Glam likewise wounded it so severely that it died, as it is never heard of again.
195* ''Literature/TheSagaOfTheFaroeIslanders'':
196** In the ambush laid by Hafgrim for Brestir and Beinir, Hafgrim runs Brestir through with a spear but is himself killed by a sword-blow of the dying Brestir.
197** When Thrand and his party attack Sigmund's farm on Skufoy, Eldjarn Cresthood is the first to reach the top of the cliffs and engage Sigmund's watchman. In fighting, they topple over the cliffside and both fall to their death.
198* ''Literature/TheSagaOfThePeopleOfVatnsdal'': Svart has gained the trust of Gudbrand, but is only waiting for an opportunity to kill him. When Gudbrand's horse gets stuck in a swamp, Svart suddenly pierces him with a spear. Gudbrand manages to draw his sword and hit Svart in the midriff. Both die from their wounds.
199* ''Literature/TheSagaOfTheNobleDead'': The elves Sgaile and Hkuan'duv kill each other in a fight at the end of ''Child of a Dead God''.
200* ''Literature/TheSecondJungleBook'': In "The King's Ankus", several people kill each other to possess the jewelled relic of the title, finishing with a group of men who kill the previous owner, not realizing that he's already poisoned their food.
201* ''Literature/SeekersOfTheSky'': In ''Cold Shores'', the Church of the Sister sends a paladin and several monks to escort Ilmar to Urbis (this world's Vatican). They are intercepted by a party of monks of the Church of the Redeemer, also headed by a paladin. The two parties kill each other, while Ilmar slips away. One paladin manages to crack the other's skull, while the other one was swinging his nunchucks; then the nunchucks connected and mortally wounded the first paladin.
202* ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'': Sherlock and Moriarty, via waterfall. [[FirstLawOfResurrection At least, that was Conan Doyle's idea at first]], before it was revealed that [[ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated Reports of Holmes' Death Were Greatly Exaggerated]].
203* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
204** The duel between [[FragileSpeedster Oberyn Martell]] and [[MightyGlacier Gregor Clegane]] in ''A Storm of Swords''. Oberyn manages to stab Gregor several times with his poisoned spear, bringing him to the ground, but gets too close, allowing [[RedBaron The Mountain that Rides]] to pound him to death with his fist. The poison causes a long, agonising death for Clegane over the next few days [[spoiler: although it is not yet clear ''how truly'' dead he is]].
205** King Robert Baratheon and the boar; he misses with his spear and the boar gores him, but he stabs it with a knife afterwards. He eventually succumbed to his wound. [[spoiler: Though true credit for the kill might belong to Cersei and Lancel; she had him spike Robert's wine to slow his reflexes, him being too badass even in his drunken and overweight state to normally lose to a pig.]]
206** In the backstory, most dragon-on-dragon combat during the Dance of the Dragons ended with both dragons dead or mortally injured. The Battle Above the God's Eye, where both Dragons and Dragonriders involved killed each other in an airborne duel, is particularly notable.
207** Per ''Literature/FireAndBlood'', the Kingsguard twins Ser Arryk and Ser Erryk Cargyll slew each other. The reports differ on the details -- either it was a duel lasting more than an hour, where the bystanders didn't intervene because they couldn't tell which twin was which, or after a single stroke by both sides.
208* Invoked in ''Literature/StarWarsAhsoka'' by Ahsoka and Rex when they create a fake grave for Rex with a headstone claiming that he died killing her.
209* ''Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium'':
210** ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'':
211*** Gandalf perishes from his wounds shortly after slaying the Balrog, though Gandalf comes right BackFromTheDead.
212*** [[TheGoodKing Elendil and Gil-galad]] fought Sauron after he personally joined the battle at the conclusion of the Siege of Barad-dûr and managed to kill his physical body (allowing Isildur to cut the One Ring from his finger afterwards, massively weakening his disembodied spirit and preventing him from being a real threat for the next millennium), but both were killed in the attempt, in Gil-galad's case by the [[EvilIsBurningHot heat of Sauron's hand]].
213** ''Literature/BerenAndLuthien'':
214*** Finrod is wounded to the death by wrestling with a werewolf and slaying it with his bare hands and teeth.
215*** Huan, the wolfhound of Valinor, and Carcharoth, Morgoth's giant guardian wolf, fight to the death and slay each other.
216** ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'': Gothmog gives Ecthelion several wounds, but Ecthelion charges at Gothmog, impaling him with the spike on his helmet and knocking them both into a fountain where they both drown. In fact, this trope seems a common trait in Balrogs, as every time the book describes the death of a Balrog, it's killer also dies along him.
217** ''Literature/TheFallOfGondolin'': Elven warrior Glorfindel slays a Balrog by throwing himself and the demon off a mountainside.
218* ''Literature/WarriorCats'':
219** In ''A Dangerous Path'', [[spoiler:Bluestar hurls herself at a dog to knock it over the edge of the gorge, where it'll drown. She lands safely on the edge, but the dog grabs her leg and pulls her in afterward, where she drowns as well]].
220** An odd example occurs in the climax of ''The Darkest Hour''. [[spoiler:Firestar, the protagonist, is killed by the villainous Scourge. However, Firestar literally has nine lives (one of the perks of being a Clan Leader), and he gets back up to continue fighting. With the warriors of [=StarClan=] (cat heaven) at his side, Firestar realizes that Scourge does not believe in [=StarClan=], and only has to die once. Thus Firestar is able to defeat and kill Scourge. So both combatants die, but one is okay.]]
221** In one of the stories told in ''Code of the Clans'', [=ShadowClan=]'s leader dies before she can name her successor. To solve this problem, two cats called Jumpfoot and Moosfire fought over the Leader position. Unfortunately, they both died of the wounds they received while fighting each other, and the medicine cat had to take action to chose [=ShadowClan=]'s next leader.
222** At the end of ''The Last Hope'', [[spoiler:series protagonist Firestar confronts the vengeful spirit of his archnemesis Tigerstar. Firestar manages to destroy Tigerstar's spirit, ridding the Clans of him once and for all. However, Firestar dies from the wounds Tigerstar inflicted on him during the battle]].
223** In ''The First Battle'', brother and sister, Jackdaw's Cry and Falling Feather, end up fighting and killing each other.
224** At the end of ''Shattered Sky'', [[spoiler:Onestar and his son Darktail fight each other further and further out into the lake until eventually both of them go under and neither one surfaces]].
225* ''Literature/WarOfTheWorlds'' has the battle between HMS Thunder Child and three tripods. After destroying one by ramming and damaging the other two with its guns, it is destroyed by a heat ray, but that causes its boilers to explode, which destroys the second tripod, and possibly the third.[[note]]Smoke ends up obscuring the narrator's view, so they do not see the fate of the third tripod, which is no longer visible after the smoke clears. Either it was also destroyed by Thunder Child, or it was so badly damaged that it fled instead of attacking the civilian ships.[[/note]]
226* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'': {{Invoked|Trope}} and {{Subverted|Trope}} in the swordfight between Lan and Demandred the Forsaken during the FinalBattle, fitting the series' recurring theme that some victories are worth dying for. Realizing he's not going to survive, Lan allows himself to be impaled so he can trap Demandred's sword and cut his head off. However, Lan clings to life long enough to be saved by HealingHands.
227[[/folder]]
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229[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
230* An episode of ''Series/SevenDays1998'' starts with a new US Navy destroyer patrolling international waters in Asia, when they encounter a Chinese sub. We're not shown what happens from the location, but see the diagram on a screen of both vessels launching torpedoes at each other (destroyer first) and blowing up. It's initially assumed that the culprit is the female captain of the destroyer (the first in the US Navy, who also happens to be the ''[[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]'''s Chief Engineer), who cracks under pressure. However, when Parker goes back in time to save the ship, it turns out that [[spoiler:the visiting admiral is an anti-Commie nut who wants to start a war with China in order to crush them before they're a full-fledged superpower. He's only stopped when the President himself calls him up with a WhatTheHellHero attitude and the sailors refuse to follow the admiral's orders]].
231* ''Series/TheFortyFourHundred'': In "The Great Leap Forward", Isabelle uses her [[MindOverMatter telekinesis]] to kill Rebecca Parrish, the Director of National Intelligence and one of the Marked. As she dies, Parrish uses the kill switch installed in Isabelle's system to eliminate her. However, Isabelle survives long enough to free Tom and Jordan Collier. She then dies in their arms.
232* ''Series/BabylonFive'':
233** There is a battle between a Centauri and a Narn warship, resulting in one ship being blown up and the other one receiving critical damage and exploding a few seconds later.
234** In their final confrontation, [[spoiler:Londo and G'Kar]] strangle one another to death.
235* Almost happened in ''Series/BattleBots'' with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYCryx-1gqc Son of Whyachi vs. Biohazard]]: Son of Whyachi's second hit with its spinning hammers against Biohazard rendered it unable to move, but the hammers' recoil immobilized Son of Whyachi too. Both robots were able to get moving again before the referees counted them out, however.
236* Ben and Justin end up doing this to each other at the end of the last season of ''Series/{{Carnivale}}'', however, both survive due to avataric healing powers.
237* This trope is a favorite of ''Series/{{CSI}}'' where a dead guy will lead to another character who was wounded in the altercation and is similarly dying (or else becoming severely harmed/handicapped).
238* ''Series/DoctorWho'': "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E12TheDoctorFalls The Doctor Falls]]" has an interesting example with [[TheNthDoctor two different versions of the same character]]. [[spoiler: Missy stabs the Harold Saxon version of the Master, so that he'll regenerate into her. He's so angered by her doing this because she's siding with the Doctor that he shoots her when she turns around.]]
239-->'''[[spoiler: The Master]]:''' You see, [[spoiler: Missy]], this is where we've always been going. This is our perfect ending. We shoot ourselves in the back.
240* This appears to happen in the Season 1 finale of ''Series/EarthFinalConflict'' with Boone and Ha'Gel, who both fire energy blasts at each other. Ha'Gel is disintegrated, and Boone is heavily wounded. Subverted in that he would have survived if Zo'or had not disintegrated him while in the healing tank. Also, Ha'Gel is an {{Energy Being|s}} and later comes back to talk to his son Liam Kincaid, and Boone turns out to be NotQuiteDead and is brought back in the final season only to be KilledOffscreen.
241* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
242** During the Battle of Winterfell, [[spoiler: Lyanna Mormont]] is being crushed to death by a giant wight, but with the last of her strength, she manages to [[EyeScream stab it in the eye]] with Dragonglass, killing it.
243** In the penultimate episode, Sandor fights his brother Gregor to the death inside the Red Keep but isn't really getting anywhere until he charges him and causes them both to plunge to their deaths.
244* ''Series/{{Hanna}}'': Marissa and Gordon Evans, her father, end up killing each other in the finale.
245* In ''Series/HeroesReborn2015'', [[spoiler: the original Avengador]] is ambushed by several assailants and takes them all out before being shot by a woman, whom he dispatches moments later with a cool knife throw.
246* In ''Series/{{Justified}}'' Raylan almost convinces two criminals to drop their guns and surrender to him when they realize that only one of them will be able to make a deal for immunity and the other will go to prison for a long time. They turn on each other and before Raylan can stop them, they shoot each other. One dies instantly and the other sustains a fatal wound.
247** Towards the end of the series [[spoiler: Catherine]] unloads a revolver into [[spoiler: Mikey]], but he's still able to crush his assailant's windpipe before succumbing to his injuries.
248** Subverted in the final gunfight of the show. [[spoiler: Raylan gets into a quickdraw duel with Boone. At first, it seems like both men manage to get a hit in before dropping. While Raylan got Boone through the chest, Boone's attempt at a headshot resulted in the bullet only grazing Raylan's head. It did destroy [[SignatureHeadgear his signature hat]], though.]]
249* An episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' had an investigation into the murder of a man who was revealed to be HIV-positive. The killer turns out to be [[spoiler:a woman he infected who's now dying from AIDS.]]
250* Happens twice in ''Series/LegendOfTheSeeker''. In Richard's nightmarish vision of a BadFuture, Cara does a FaceHeelTurn, forcing Kahlan to kill her. Before dying, though, she touches her [[AgonyBeam Agiel]] to Kahlan's chest, killing her as well. In the Season 2 finale, Kahlan herself is confessed by Nicci and flies into a "blood rage" when Nicci is wounded. She remotely confesses four Mord-Sith and orders them to kill each other. They do so by touching each other's hearts with the Agiel simultaneously.
251* ''Series/Merlin2008'':
252** Isolde and Helios.
253** As per the legends, Arthur and Mordred in the finale.
254* ''Series/TheMurders'': In "The Long Black Veil", Mike and the suspect end up fatally shooting each other.
255* ''Series/MyCountryTheNewAge'': Tae-ryeong stabs Seon-ho. As Seon-ho's dying he picks up his sword and stabs Tae-ryeong.
256* In ''Series/OrphanBlack'', [[spoiler: Siobhan and Ferdinand]] towards the end of the show. They agree to disarm after some GunpointBanter, but [[spoiler: Ferdinand]] has a second gun hidden and shoots [[spoiler: Siobhan]]. [[spoiler: Siobhan]] manages to get to an armchair with their own second gun hidden in it and shoots [[spoiler: Ferdinand]] before dying.
257* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': The episode "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1995S4E24PhobosRising Phobos Rising]]" involves two Martian bases belonging to the opposite sides of a SpaceColdWar. When Earth appears to be destroyed, both sides assume the other one is responsible. The communication blackout resulting from the planetary explosion prevents a normal conversation and the bases launch missiles at one another. The two commanders finally manage to establish contact, but one is killed before being able to self-destruct the missiles. Both bases end up being destroyed (having no [[PointDefenseless anti-missile defenses]]) with only two survivors (one from each side). The survivors learn that Earth is fine. It was the Moon that was accidentally destroyed, and the debris blocked the view of Earth. A later episode set in the same StoryArc has both sides finally come to nuclear blows on Earth, ending all life on the planet.
258* In the first half of the ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'' finale "[[Recap/PowerRangersInSpaceS1E42CountdownToDestructionPart1 Countdown to Destruction]]", [[TheStarscream Darkonda]] makes his final bid to grab power by blasting Dark Specter with a planet-destroying missile. Unfortunately, Dark Specter then uses the last of his strength [[EatenAlive to devour Darkonda's ship]] just before he exploded, [[TakingYouWithMe taking Darkonda with him]].
259* ''Series/{{Psych}}'' episode "[[Recap/PsychS02E15BlackAndTanACrimeOfFashion Black and Tan: A Crime of Fashion]]" features the death of the founder of a modelling agency. Shawn's first suspect is the victim's wife...[[SuspectExistenceFailure until she dies during her husband's funeral]]. Then, during the climax, Shawn realized that they had killed each other: the husband had slowly been poisoning his wife (due to her being a bulimic) and [[TimeDelayedDeath ended up killing her postmortem]], and as Shawn figured, the wife had been behind the accident that had killed her husband at the beginning of the episode. Unfortunately, [[InspectorLestrade Lassiter]] is not amused that Shawn called him when there was no one alive to arrest.
260* In the ''Series/{{Revolution}}'' episode "The Stand", [[spoiler:Danny]] shoots down a helicopter with a rocket launcher. A second helicopter crashes as a result but peppers him with machine gun fire on the way down.
261* In the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E15ByInfernosLight By Inferno's Light]]", a Jem'Hadar guard and a Breen prisoner vapourise each other simultaneously.
262* In the GrandFinale of ''Series/TheStrainTVSeries'', [[spoiler:Mr. Quinlan]] manages to tear out the throat of The Master in Palmer's body prompting a NoHoldsBarredBeatDown from him. However, this doesn't kill The Master as he just transfers his consciousness to [[spoiler:Ephraim Goodweather]] afterward.
263* ''Series/ToddAndTheBookOfPureEvil'': In the BadFuture episode, "The Toddessy", this happens with [[RebelLeader Rebel!Jenny]] and [[FaceHeelTurn Evil!Hannah]]. Hannah fires a laser at Jenny, who deflects it back at Hannah with [[CoolSword Sand Dragon]], mortally wounding her. However, before she collapses, Hannah manages to shoot the laser again, this time actually hitting Jenny and killing her as well.
264* ''Series/TheXFiles'': Subverted in the teaser sequence of "[[Recap/TheXFilesS01E08Ice Ice]]". Two men in an Alaskan scientific outpost -- who we later find out were infected with a parasite that caused them uncontrollable fits of rage -- are pointing guns at each other. It seems headed for this trope until they wordlessly confer with each other, and then moments later it becomes a mutual suicide instead.
265[[/folder]]
266
267[[folder:Music]]
268* Percy French's ''Abdul Abulbul Amir'' ends with both Abdul and his opponent Ivan Skavinsky Skavar fatally wounding each other.
269* At the end of the epic video for The Decemberists' "O Valencia!", when Colin Meloy's character and the BigBad are talking in the cafe, Meloy reveals that he has poisoned his nemesis's coffee. The man crushes Meloy's windpipe with a karate chop and they die simultaneously.
270* Rubén Blades' song ''Pedro Navaja''[[note]](a cover version of Mack the Knife)[[/note]] is about the titular Pedro, a ''very'' feared criminal, stabbing and killing a StreetWalker. The woman, however, has the last laugh: before perishing, she pulls out her gun[[note]]"a .38 Smith & Wesson, of the Special"[[/note]] and shoots him dead.
271[[/folder]]
272
273[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
274* Myth/ArthurianLegend: Myth/KingArthur and Mordred. Specifically, Arthur, after their lengthy battle, [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice rams his lance through Mordred's body]]. Mordred, running on [[ThePowerOfHate willpower and hatred alone]], manages to [[PullYourselfDownTheSpear drag himself down the shaft]], bring his sword down on Arthur and deliver his own fatal blow before expiring.
275* In Myth/NorseMythology, most of the Norse gods bow out this way at Ragnarok: Loki and Heimdall, Jormungand and Thor, and Garm and Tyr. (Odin fails to kill Fenris, but is avenged by his son Vidarr).
276* Myth/ClassicalMythology: Oedipus's sons, Polyneices and Eteocles, killed each other. King Creon's prohibition of the former's burial due to him turning his back on the kingdom would set up the plot of ''Theatre/{{Antigone}}''.
277* ''Literature/TheBible'': In [[Literature/BooksOfSamuel 2nd Samuel 2:12-16]], David's army (under Joab's command) and Ishbosheth's army (under Abner's command) meet at the pool of Gibeon and have a contest of twelve soldiers each from both armies. As verse 16 states, "Each one grabbed his opponent by the head and thrust his sword in his opponent's side; so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called Helkath Hazzurim, which is at Gibeon."
278[[/folder]]
279
280[[folder:Roleplay]]
281* Happens occasionally in ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'', one particularly notable example being the fight between Cassandra Roivas and Kiyoko Asakawa.
282** Also related are Gail Smith vs. Sera Wingfield and Will Sigurbjornsson vs. Stephanie Evans.
283** And now we can add Holly Chapman and Johnny Marsh of the spinoff ''Evolution''. Before this, this was how Cristo Ruiz and Otis Adelaide died.
284** Alex White and Jimmy Brennan also die this way in v4, after a rather brutal confrontation.
285* [[http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1910071 Played for laughs here.]] "Did you hit brain?" "A little."
286[[/folder]]
287
288[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
289* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'': Possible, as damage is dealt simultaneously, so a mech or tank that's been killed still has the chance to fire back and get a possible kill in return. Especially likely if both units are heavily damaged.
290* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'': Combat actions are determined by ticks. if two characters are due to act in the same tick both their actions happen simultaneously and damage and effect caused by the other character take effect only after that characters turn. that way both characters can kill each other at the same time.
291* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'':
292** [[https://scryfall.com/card/iko/96/mutual-destruction Mutual Destruction]] destroys a creature, but requires you to sacrifice another creature.
293** Given that most creatures with the ''[[TouchOfDeath Deathtouch]]'' keyword will have low power and toughness values, this could very easily happen.
294* ''TabletopGame/InNomine'': In 1008 AD, the ArchangelRaphael and the mad Prince Legion died killing each other.
295* ''TabletopGame/{{Stratego}}'': This is the official rules' result of attacking an enemy piece that turns out to be the same rank as yours. Many players instead go with a house rule of "attacker wins".
296* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'':
297** This can happen if two units with the same Initiative score go toe-to-toe. One battle report ended with an Inquisitor Lord and a 13th Company Rune Priest simultaneously smashing each other flat, for example.
298** During the 8th Edition event "Psychic Awakening", Ragnar Blackmane of the Space Wolves attacked Ghazkghul Thraka's Orks in an effort to kill the Warboss once and for all. Ghazgkhul smashed Ragnar to a pulp, but Ragnar succeeded in cutting off Ghazkghul's head. Thanks to massive amounts of surgery, both of them got better and TookALevelInBadass (Ragnar was rebuilt as a Primaris Marine, while Ghazkghul had his head stapled on to a bigger and stronger body).
299[[/folder]]
300
301[[folder:Theatre]]
302%%* The climax of ''Film/{{Deathtrap}}'', play and movie.
303* Theatre/{{Hamlet}} and Laertes. Hamlet survives just long enough to take final vengeance upon Claudius before dying from being poisoned by Laertes's sword.
304* ''Theatre/NoPlaceToBeSomebody'': At the climax, Maffucci shoots Sweets but not quite soon enough to stop Sweets from stepping forward and sticking a knife in Maffucci's heart.
305[[/folder]]
306
307[[folder:Video Games]]
308* Outside of stories, any competitive multiplayer game that has projectiles that move over time or some kind of damage over time effect can lead to this.
309* Pretty common in multiplayer {{F|irstPersonShooter}}PSs (''VideoGame/WolfTeam'' especially). If there are any [[{{Hitscan}} slower-than-instantaneous]] weapons in the game, mutual kills are bound to happen.
310** In ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'', even the basic [[StandardFPSGuns assault-rifle-equivalent weapons]] have projectiles just slow enough for this to happen with considerable frequency thanks to the series's RocketTagGameplay, with players calling this "trading". You're probably going to trade with another player at least once a match in lower ranks and Turf War, and you absolutely ''will'' trade multiple times in higher-ranked matches. The most amusing occurrence of this tends to be when two Roller users collide head-on.
311* Exploited in ''VideoGame/AHatInTime''. Defeated enemies drop Health Pons that heal Hat Kid, the main character. In the final boss fight, all former enemies hit and kill one another as a HeroicSacrifice, which leaves Hat Kid with infinite Health Pons.
312* In Cernd's epilogue for ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIIThroneOfBhaal'', it turns out this is how he dies. [[spoiler:The killed killer is his son, who went on an anti-druid rampage due to his disgust at being neglected in favor of Cernd's druidic calling his entire life.]]
313* Several games in the ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' series have some variation on "Martyrdom" perk, where you will drop a live grenade at your feet upon death, potentially killing whoever killed you.
314* In the lore of the ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' franchise, history began with a fight between the two creator gods, Anu and Tathamet, which ended with each killing the other. Anu's corpse went on to form Heaven, and Tathamet's, Hell.
315* This happens in ''VideoGame/DigitalDevilSaga'' ''2''. When Gale stops Angel at the airport, it ends with the two of them [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice impaling each other.]]
316* In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind'', a mission in the [[MagicalSociety Mages Guild]] questline tasks you with retrieving an excavation report from a [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Dwemer]] ruin. The native guide to the expedition, Anes Vendu, has the report but disappeared into the lower part of the ruin. You find his body next to disabled two Dwemer [[MechaMooks centurions]], meaning he managed to take two of them down before his death.
317* ''VideoGame/{{Familia}}'': The Conjurer mortally injures Marlene with a Fireball spell, so she uses the last of her strength to kill him with her pugilism and ice magic.
318* In the ''VisualNovel/FateHollowAtaraxia'' game, [[spoiler:[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pFwBq0DDes pairing Fragarach]] (retaliates by altering time to kill the attacker's Noble Phantasm and cancel the attack) [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pFwBq0DDes with Gae Bolg]] (reverse cause-and-effect)]].
319* In ''VideoGame/FTLFasterThanLight'', it is possible for the player to kill the FinalBoss while being destroyed at the same time, or even slightly after the player ship is destroyed. It still counts as a victory, since you [[KeystoneArmy crippled the Rebels' command]] and secured a victory for the Federation.
320* ''VideoGame/{{GoldenEye|1997}}'' has a one-hit kill multiplayer mode, which can often lead to receiving awards called "Double Kill", "Triple Kill", and the extremely rare "Quad Kill [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons (D'oh!)]]".
321* ''VideoGame/GooseGooseDuck'': If the Sheriff kills another Goose instead of a Duck or another role, he'll die along with their victim.
322* In the multiplayer of ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'', Players will often find themselves at the mercy of each other's murder, whether it be a mutual stabbing, shooting, or bombing; and sometimes more creative. Mutual kills occur more than often when two players spawn beside one another, face-to-face, and usually end up killing each other simultaneously. An example: Player A drives towards Player B in a truck. Player B opens fire, killing Player A, but not before the truck flattens Player B.
323* There are all sorts of ways to do this in ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
324** ''VideoGame/Halo3'' has a multiplayer medal for anyone who does this, usually by tossing a grenade right before death.
325** Also common is where two players run at each other guns blazing, depleting their each others' shields, but running out of ammo, then both do a melee attack, causing both to be sent flying back, dead.
326** The Needler is also good at causing these because of the delay between impact and damage.
327** It is also possible for two players to hit ''each other'' with a [[StickyBomb plasma grenade]], causing them to blow themselves up.
328** In an in-story example, Emile in ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' stabs a Zealot in the neck with his big knife after being impaled on the Zealot's sword.
329* ''VideoGame/HellishQuart'' is a fighting game based on a realistic portrayal of [[UsefulNotes/HistoricalEuropeanMartialArts HEMA]]. Fighters are frequently incapacitated by a single strike, so mutual kills are to be regularly expected. By default, this counts as no points for either side, but players may opt to grant a point to both sides or use the "right of way" rule employed by contemporary sport fencing.
330* In ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'' if you follow Cloth's quest line to the end before confronting the Traitor Lord, she joins in the battle on your side. Eventually the boss catches her in one of her leaping smash attacks by spearing her through the chest with his claw- only for Cloth to, with her dying breath, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard use the opportunity of being held up within arm's reach of him]] to fatally crush his skull with her club.
331* ''VideoGame/HowToRaiseADragon'': The "Stalemate" ending involves both the hero and dragon killing each other in battle.
332* In ''VideoGame/KingOfDragonPass'', the clan reluctantly sends off hero Kallyr to fight Warlan Darkbreath. They can't predict what will happen, because Kallyr is [[TheChosenOne clearly marked by destiny]]...but so is Warlan. Turns out, they kill each other simultaneously.
333* ''VideoGame/LikeADragon:''
334** Near the end of ''VideoGame/Yakuza4'', Katsuragi shoots [[spoiler:Yasuko]] in the back, resulting in a fatal wound. However, before her death, she manages to retaliate by popping a headshot right back at Katsuragi.
335** In ''VideoGame/LikeADragonIshin'', the deaths of [[spoiler:Todo and Takeda]] are staged to look as if they killed each other after an argument. In reality, [[spoiler:Takeda killed Todo, and then Ryoma killed Takeda in retribution.]]
336* In ''VideoGame/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAsPortable: The Gears of Destiny'', the [[VirtualGhost Dark Pieces]] of [[ParentalSubstitute Rynith]] and [[EvilMatriarch Precia]] kill each other in the final stage of their Chapter, regardless of who you choose for their duel.
337* In ''VideoGame/MasterOfOrion'', when a ship is destroyed, its warp drive has a high probability of exploding violently, damaging any ship in the vicinity. It is thus possible to destroy an enemy ship and then have your own ship be destroyed by the warp wave. A technology can be obtained a number of ways (but not through research) allowing a ship's drive to be specially rigged to blow up even more spectacularly, dealing triple damage. The same can happen when a ship is ordered to self-destruct.
338* ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'':
339** ''VideoGame/MegaManZero2'': [[JapaneseBeetleBrothers Kuwagust Anchus and Herculius Anchus]] attempt a pincer attack on Zero during their rematch at [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Yggdrasil]] in a LastDitchMove to destroy the crimson reploid. Zero dodges their attack and the following collision destroy them both.
340** ''VideoGame/MegaManZero4'': [[spoiler:Zero personally kills Dr. Weil by detonating [[KillSat Ragnarok's]] core, only to be caught up in the resulting explosion, resulting in [[TheHeroDies his own demise]]]].
341* ''VideoGame/OdinSphere'': Happens a lot in the Book of Armageddon, depending on who you send to fight whom. [[spoiler:Canonically, only Mercedes suffers this fate as she and Onyx destroy each other during their battle. However, in the incorrect pairings, this is a more frequent occurrence, particularly in battles against Darkova or The Cauldron.]]
342* ''VideoGame/{{Onmyoji|2016}}'': Yorimitsu and his {{anthropomorphic|Personification}} sword Onigiri after the latter discovered that he ''[[TomatoInTheMirror isn't]]'' an anthropomorphic sword and that his master had been lying to him about his identity the whole time in order to use him to commit genocide against ''[[HunterOfHisOwnKind his own kind]]''.
343* In ''VideoGame/Persona3'', Takeharu Kirijo and Shuji Ikutsuki shoot at each other after Ikutsuki turns out to be EvilAllAlong. Kirijo dies pretty quickly, but Ikutsuki hangs on long enough to [[DisneyVillainDeath go out on his own terms]].
344* Frequent in ''VideoGame/PlanetSide 2'' due to all weapons having travel time. The Recursion stat tracker will exclaim 'Mutually assured death!' when this occurs.
345* Rocket launchers are especially guilty of this in ''VideoGame/QuakeIIIArena'', ''VideoGame/OpenArena'' and practically any game which has them, as well as mines and grenades in ''Battlefield 1942''.
346* In RealTimeStrategy games, it is always possible to call in [[BigBulkyBomb massive ordnance]] danger close, when expecting that your units won't survive the current engagement. In ''VideoGame/WorldInConflict'', for example, online players often decide to not withdraw the ground units before overwhelming enemy forces, summon an airstrike (which takes some time to arrive), and let the enemy pummel them to death -- only to get hit by the bombs the moment they finish off the last defender. Sometimes, players call in the airstrike too early, killing their remaining units themselves and making it a TakingYouWithMe instead.
347** One campaign mission in ''World in Conflict'' specifically requires the player do this to their force's tank company. Waiting too long and allowing the Soviets to wipe out the Americans before calling in the nuke actually fails the mission, though.
348** The nature of tactical aids in the game makes this tactic borderline essential since it's hard to hit moving opponents and they might even suspect one to be incoming if the enemy gives up too soon.
349* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'':
350** In the Gamecube remake of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil1'', a [[SolveTheSoupCans rather odd puzzle]] involves a painting, which portrays two knights performing this trope. One knight has been stabbed in the face with a long sword, but still managed to walk up to his opponent and stab him in the chest with his knife.
351** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'' features an ''accidental'' example. In the B Game, Leon or Claire can reach the helipad on the roof and see a cop trying to signal a helicopter. While waiting for a rope ladder, the cop is attacked by zombies. He's wrestled to the ground while firing his submachine gun and shoots the helicopter pilot. The helicopter goes into a tailspin and crashes into the cop.
352* In ''VideoGame/ShogunTotalWar'', attempting to kill a geisha with another geisha results in a cutscene that shows them having a tea ceremony before one hits her with a hair stick while the other retaliates with a kodachi. A moment later, both are lying in pools of blood. The strikes themselves are not shown, as the camera is zoomed in to the tea set before pulling back to reveal the bodies.
353* In ''VideoGame/SixAges'', when [[TheDreaded Alkothi]] [[AmbiguouslyHuman demon-men]] attack your clan, one particularly nasty combat mini-event has one of them [[AndShowItToYou cutting out one of your nobles' hearts]] in the battle. Said noble has a choice of what to try to do in their last moment, and one option is to kill their killer.
354* Gamma's story in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' involves him performing a HeelFaceTurn and deciding that he has to "save" the rest of the E-100 Series (that is to say, destroy them, saving the little animals inside). When he defeats the last one, his brother Beta, Beta manages to get off [[LastBreathBullet one last shot]] that ultimately destroys Gamma as well. That said, Gamma was planning on [[DoomedProtagonist offing himself]] once he was done to free the animal inside his body as well, so really all Beta did was spare him the trouble.
355* In the 4X game ''VideoGame/StarbaseOrion'' for [=IPhone=] (a clone of ''VideoGame/MasterOfOrion''), it is possible for two ships to kill each other if they're close in strength, especially with long-range weapons which take time to travel. This is because weapons always hit in this game (unless intercepted by [[PointDefenseless point-defense]] systems).
356* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' has several possibilities:
357** The Pyro can set enemies on fire, which deals an additional six damage per second for ten seconds. This means that it's possible for someone to die from the burning even [[IncendiaryExponent after they killed the Pyro]]. The Pyro update includes two achievements for killing enemies this way.
358** It's also possible to do the same with Bleeding, which a few melee weapons can induce.
359** The WAR update also gave the Soldier an achievement for killing a Sniper with a rocket after he kills you, [[StealthPun aptly named]] Mutually Assured Destruction.
360** In turn, the Sniper can kill an enemy with the [[TheStraightAndArrowPath Huntsman]] after he's already dead. This also rewards the Dead Reckoning achievement.
361** Can happen to classes with splash damage weapons. If you're playing as Soldier, are badly wounded and fire on your attacker point blank, you can expect a shower of both your chunks. Can also happen with Demomen, and Engineers too if they're foolish enough to stand between an enemy and their own turret. [[TakingYouWithMe This ends up with many people simply charging head-first into soldiers when they feel they have no hope of surviving]].
362** Soldiers and Demomen both use high-damage projectiles. It's quite possible for one to kill another, then die right afterward to his last rocket/grenade.
363* In ''VideoGame/TombRaiderAnniversary'', during the fight with Kold and Kid, Kold stabs Kid with a knife [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou so he can kill Lara himself]]. When Kold has Lara at his mercy, Kid shoots him in the back, killing him, before dying himself of the stab wound.
364* In ''VideoGame/Uncharted4AThiefsEnd'', Nathan Drake finds, along with [[PirateBooty Henry Avery's treasure]], [[spoiler:the skeletons of Avery himself and Thomas Tew, who fought over said treasure and ended up [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice skewering each other]] simultaneouly. They were the last two Libertalia founders to fall--doomed, along with the whole colony, by the pirates' own {{Greed}}.]]
365-->'''Nate''': [[spoiler:It's Avery and Tew. They killed each other.\
366'''[[BigBad Rafe Adler]]''': [[DramaticallyMissingThePoint Good for them. What's the point?]]\
367'''[[TheDragon Nadine Ross]]''': [[LampshadeHanging Everyone obsessed with this treasure gets what they deserve.]]]]
368* In ''VideoGame/{{Wandersong}}'', the Moon and the Sun Overseers both collide and destroy each other. Noteably, they are the only two overseers not to be slain by Audrey Redheart.
369* An infantry battle described in the [[AllThereInTheManual manual]] of the third ''VideoGame/WingCommander'' game over a totally worthless planet ended with the last surviving Confederation platoon overrunning the last Kilrathi position, with the survivors lasting just long enough to report their victory before dying themselves.
370* Can happen rather often in ''VideoGame/WorldOfTanks'' due to the fact that A) all shells are projectiles B) tank destroyers often can do almost as much damage as they have hit points, and C) long-range {{Sniper Duel}}s between two tank destroyers are not exactly uncommon, most people just laugh when it happens.
371** Also happens in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarships'', even more than ''[=WoT=]'' due to damage over time elements being more prevalent. It's not uncommon for a ship to take out an enemy, only to go down a short time later due to fire/flood damage, or the volley of torpedoes launched a few seconds earlier. The medal "It's only a flesh wound" is awarded for posthumous kills. And of course, [[RammingAlwaysWorks Ramming is always an option:]] both ships involved in a ram deal damage to each other equal to their own max health. This is actually a valid late-game tactic if there are only a few ships left on each side, and your team is ahead on points, but the score is still relatively close and the clock is running low. Dying in a ramming attack will award the enemy team points for your ship, but it will also award your team points for destroying the enemy ship. If they're the only ship left on the enemy team, or if you're confident that your teammates can finish off whoever remains, it prevents them from staging any last-second comebacks.
372* Can occur in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' regarding Warlocks. Warlocks are able to cast many spells which cause damage over time and remain after the caster's death. A common complaint against warlocks regarding PVP was that, in a duel to the death between you and a Warlock, you'd always die even if the warlock dies first (the fact that he might be able to resurrect himself afterward didn't help).
373** While Warlocks are the most prominent class when it comes to damage over time, pretty much any class (and many mobs) can use damage over time effects and potentially get the same outcome. Shadow Priests, Death Knights, and Balance Druids immediately come to mind.
374** Can also occur in traditional fashion, often due to lag. Also, some boss encounters have special conditions that the group needs to look out for that can last longer than the actual fight. It's not uncommon for people to forget about it while rushing to the boss to check what he drops, and depending on what the respective effect is, they can accidentally blow up half the raid by doing so.
375* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'': Believed to have happened in the ancient battle between the Bionis and Mechonis, with Shulk even referring to their world being on the "Bionis' corpse". Over the course of the game, though, it becomes increasingly clear that neither of the two titans is truly dead, and they've merely been in a deep slumber.
376* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'': Mikhail of Torna, fresh off a HeelFaceTurn, decides to pull a HeroicSacrifice for the heroes ''and'' his Torna comrades by piloting [[HumongousMecha the Marsenes]] directly at the [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Indoline Titan]] to stop [[SinisterMinister Amalthus]], as well as some personal payback for Amalthus' various actions against him including horrible experimentation and killing a lot of his friends and surrogate family. They get into a tussle, he launches his final attack as the Titan tries to fire its BreathWeapon, and both of them are destroyed by a massive explosion. [[spoiler:Ironically, however, his intended target of Amalthus survives and goes on to menace the heroes for a final confrontation, and as revealed in NewGamePlus even Mikhail himself survived his HeroicSacrifice.]]
377[[/folder]]
378
379[[folder:Web Animation]]
380* ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle'':
381** "Mike Haggar vs. Zangief" and the "Ninja Turtles Battle Royale", but subverted when [[spoiler:Zangief stands up and raises his arms in triumph and Leonardo, Raphael's sai having missed his vital organs, realizes he's killed his brothers]].
382** "Goomba vs. Koopa" and "Justin Bieber vs. Rebecca Black" are more straight examples: [[spoiler:The Goomba tries to knock the Koopa into lava, but the pit is too small and the Koopa rebounds off a wall, killing the Goomba and his friends. But the Koopa is unable to stop itself before landing in an even bigger pool of lava, incinerating it and forcing a draw. Rebecca Black attempts to do Bieber by jump on top of a car and having the driver run him over. However, the driver crashes killing them both, along with the driver himself, the Jonas Brothers, and Miley Cyrus]].
383** Also happens in "All Might vs. Might Guy". [[spoiler:Might Guy kills All Might with the Night Guy, but dies almost immediately afterwards, succumbing to the cost of the Eighth Gate]]. Unlike the other straight examples, this one is ''not'' counted as a draw. [[spoiler:As Guy scored the killing blow before the Eighth Gate killed him, it counts as his win]].
384[[/folder]]
385
386[[folder:Webcomics]]
387* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': The Lord High Conservator kills all three of the Smoke Knights who ambush him on the bridge of his ship, but succumbs to the injuries from their poisoned weapons seconds later.
388* K'seliss in ''Webcomic/{{Goblins}}'', having lost both of his arms to an EldritchAbomination that spreads a flesh-rotting curse through touch, kills the abomination with a bite that tears through its neck. This results in the curse spreading to the rest of his body and dissolving him.
389* In ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'', in "That Which Redeems", Torg runs through the demon Bubbamonicus with his magic sword at the same time as the demon hits down at his head with an enormous club. {{Defied|Trope}}: Lady Gwynn of the Book uses her magic to stop the club at the last moment and only the demon dies.
390* ''Webcomic/YetAnotherFantasyGamerComic:'' The Rannite gorgons Celena and Meegs come face to face when tussling in a cave and petrify each other; centuries later their intertwined bodies are seen on display in a museum.
391[[/folder]]
392
393[[folder:Web Original]]
394* Occurs three times in ''WebVideo/{{Mindcrack}} Ultra Hardcore'': once in Season 6, [[spoiler:when Pause and Nebris manage to stab each other at the exact same moment when both were already near death]], then again in Season 7, [[spoiler:when [=BDoubleO=] kills Pause but gets burnt by Pause's Fire Aspect sword]], and finally, once in Season 11, [[spoiler:when Nebris gets killed by Pyro, but Nebris' wolf kills Pyro afterward]].
395[[/folder]]
396
397[[folder:Web Videos]]
398* In the set of [[Series/TheFlash2014 S.T.A.R. Labs]], Creator/TomCavanagh did [[https://www.instagram.com/p/BfPX9OeHIqZ/?taken-by=cavanaghtom a video]] in which he (disguised as Harry Wells) and Creator/GrantGustin shoot each other with imaginary blowpipes and "kill" each other. It was an alleged promo for ''Tom & Grant''.
399* Played for laughs in [[WebVideo/PeanutButterGamer PB & Jeff]]'s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjGRQI-yYPc video playthrough]] of ''VideoGame/{{Cuphead}}'', in which Jeff (as Mugman) delivers a knockout to [[AttentionWhore Sally Stageplay]]... at the moment that she KO'd him a split-second later. After a few seconds, when the Results screen comes up, both players cheer in a sweet taste of victory.
400* ''WebVideo/{{Skallagrim}}'': In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f88E12ldyY The myth of the easy one-hit kill in sword fighting]]", Skall explains exactly how and why this could happen in sword-fighting (also briefly mentioning the "stopping power" of guns for the same reason). According to him, most sparring matches between novices (assuming they avoid simple {{Flynning}}) would have ended this way had they been real.
401[[/folder]]
402
403[[folder:Western Animation]]
404* Depth Charge and Rampage in ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars''. Depth Charge got the last laugh... he was resurrected in the Universe comics.
405** Although it was less that they wounded each other than that Rampage exploded when he got stabbed. Depth Charge, however, almost certainly knew this was coming since he was forcing a wedge of crystallized Energon straight into Rampage's exposed Spark.
406--> '''Depth Charge:''' [[SeeYouInHell Take it...take it straight to The Pit]], [[TakingYouWithMe you sickening piece of slag]].
407** Likewise, Optimus Primal spends most of the last episode of ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines'' getting owned by Megatron, but manages to turn the tables by plunging Megs into the "organic core" of Cybertron while he's holding Optimus, killing both of them. Realizing they ''both'' had to go was Optimus' final revelation, as they essentially represented the two conflicting sides of Cybertron. By going into the core together, Cybertron reformatted into a balanced synthesis of organic and technological.
408* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'':
409** Unusual twist: due to magic, former allies [[BigBad Demona]] and [[AntiVillain Macbeth]] are both immortal until one kills the other, but when that happens, both will die. Demona usually avoids him in order to [[LivingForeverIsAwesome avoid this fate]], while Macbeth, by the time we meet him, is a DeathSeeker hunting her down.
410** Played straight with the Captain and Hakon, who pushed each other off a cliff.
411* In the 1939 MGM animated short ''WesternAnimation/PeaceOnEarth'', this is how the last two human beings on Earth kill each other, leaving the Earth to be populated by sentient {{Ridiculously Cute Critter}}s.
412* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'':
413** During the sparring session at the beginning of "[[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS2E18TheMysteryOfChopperBase The Mystery of Chopper Base]]", Kanan and Ezra wind up doing this ([[SetSwordsToStun non-lethally]], obviously).
414** Ahsoka and Vader's duel was [[WhatCouldHaveBeen originally supposed to end like this]], with the two making lethal slashes at each other. Obviously, Vader would've recovered, whereas it would've implied Ahsoka wouldn't make it. The final version almost had this happen, with Ahsoka destroying the ground beneath him so that he falls while Vader makes one last slash at her before falling. [[spoiler:Ahsoka disappears [[ItMakesSenseInContext into the Force and lives another day]] before he can hit her.]]
415* The two boombox transformers Blaster and Soundwave engage in a duel in the first episode of ''Anime/TransformersHeadmasters'', resulting in Soundwave exploding and Blaster dying from fatal wounds. Both are later rebuilt as Twincast and Soundblast, respectively, with different color schemes.
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418[[folder:Real Life]]
419* A traditional risk of boar-hunting and the reason boar spears are designed with a cross-piece. If not stopped, the boar may run itself up the spear and gore you before it dies.
420* Firearm users refer to a weapon's stopping power, or ability to put a hostile down. It is very easy for a projectile to cause a lethal wound but still allow an individual to act for at least a few seconds, letting them shoot or charge and stab the user. Stopping power is the ability to put a target down, whether or not the wound is lethal.
421** Infamously in [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986_FBI_Miami_shootout a 1986 shootout in Miami, Florida]] a bank robber with a bullet an inch from his heart and his right lung collapsed from it nevertheless fought on for ''four minutes'', killing two FBI agents -- including the one who'd shot him -- before he and his partner[[note]]with ''five'' nonlethally wounded agents between them[[/note]] were finally brought down.
422* This is the theory of MutuallyAssuredDestruction. Second strike capacity is defensive in nature; it ensures that any kill will be a mutual kill and (hopefully) scares the enemy into not attacking. As such, a missile shield of some sort would, in the perverse logic of nuclear arms, actually allow an attack by preventing the kill from being mutual... or at least [[HopeSpot enable the false hope of such]], which is even more dangerous to everyone involved.
423* This can easily happen using most hand weapons. Most weapons, when wielded, inherently create an opening when used to attack. For example, someone using a rapier in a lunge is vulnerable to a counter-attack. The lunging swordsman would defend against this either by having an off-hand parrying implement or assuming their opponent wants to live and will defend rather than simply counter-attack into the lunge. Japanese swordsmanship is perhaps the only style to make a virtue of cutting your enemy down as he does you. Since sword-fighting occurred before modern medicine, there were all kinds of lethal but not-instantly-incapacitating wounds, like punctured lungs or bowels. Then there's head trauma, which can cause sudden death hours after "''recovery''".
424** In fencing and HEMA, there are usually rules to deal with these situations.
425*** Saber and foil, for example, give the person who started the aggressive action priority; if two fencers hit each other, the one who started the action scores. Basically, it's assumed that you want to "live," and so in a real duel, you would prioritize your safety and parry before trying to hit your opponent in return. In epee, which is supposed to be a duel to first blood, simultaneous hits are awarded a point each.
426*** HEMA rules are still evolving, but as a rule, it's meant to emulate a fight that you want to survive. A double hit generally awards no points, and in some scoring systems, too many bad-faith double hits result in both fighters scoring a loss in a tournament.
427* It took a while for the second half to come about but before the British battlecruiser HMS ''Invincible'' got fireballed at Jutland, she was on a roll, doing most of the damage that caused SMS ''Lützow'' to not make it home.
428** Likewise, light cruiser HMAS ''Sydney'' and German [[TechnicallyATransport auxiliary cruiser]] ''Kormoran'', which sank each other 19 November 1941. Notably, on paper ''Sydney'' should have been the clear winner of their fight with superior armor, armaments, and overall capabilities [[CurbStompBattle that would easily destroy her opponent if utilized correctly]], but ''Kormoran'' had the [[CombatPragmatist decisive advantage of surprise]], having managed to lure ''Sydney'' in so close without revealing her true nature most of ''Sydney's'' crew weren't even at battle stations. By the time ''Kormoran'' dropped her disguise as a merchant vessel and opened fire with everything she had, ''Sydney'' was too close for her own initial salvo to actually hit and she was utterly raked by gun and cannon fire cutting through defenseless crewmen, lost her bridge officers in the opening seconds, an exploded spy plane on her deck raining burning fuel down everywhere, and two of her four main turrets were rendered inoperable. A torpedo spread from ''Komoran'' tearing through ''Sydney's'' bow and leaving her all but dead in the water was the final straw that allowed the German vessel to finish her off into a burning wreck with no survivors, but even then the damage ''Sydney's'' remaining two turrets managed to inflict on ''Komoran'' in turn before that point forced the German crew to abandon ship due its severity.
429** The Liberty ship SS ''Stephen Hopkins'' and the German commerce raider ''Stier'' also sank each other.
430** And logically it's also possible for two aircraft carriers to sink each other, like when aircraft from IJN ''Hiryu'' fatally struck[[note]]It's possible the damage would have been repairable, but ''Yorktown'' was torpedoed by a submarine in its weakened state[[/note]] USS ''Yorktown'' followed by aircraft from the ''Yorktown'' fatally damaging ''Hiryu''.
431* Similarly, it isn't unheard of for two opposing aircraft to shoot each other down, particularly if the fight happens far from home for both pilots. Ditto for an aircraft attacking a defending ground target, such as an AntiAir position. The aircraft could lay in a strike on the target, but take severe enough damage not to make it home. It's especially likely with modern aircraft, which would be firing missiles at each other from over the horizon.
432** WWI AcePilot duo Albert Ball (UK) and Lothar von Richthofen (Germany), who shot each other down on 7 May 1917. However, while Richthofen was able to land his damaged plane without injury to himself, Ball crashed to his death.
433** In modern air combat, this is what is theorized will happen if a fight between opposing fighters gets into visual range. With the development of "high off-boresight" missiles, a fighter pilot can just look to the side and fire a missile at an enemy, rather than just at a target directly ahead of him. Two opposing planes armed with these missiles will likely fire them at each other, resulting in a mutual kill.
434* During UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar, the Confederate submarine ''H. L. Hunley'' attacked and sank the USS ''Housatonic'' with a [[RammingAlwaysWorks spar torpedo]]. Shortly after, the ''Hunley'' herself sank before making it back to Charleston, with the most popular theories for her sinking being an unsecured hatch (the ''Hunley'' rode very low in the water even while surfaced), damage from the ''Housatonic'''s crew firing on the ''Hunley'' during her attack, or possibly damage [[HoistByHisOwnPetard caused by her own torpedo.]] Finding a definite answer is difficult, as ''Hunley'' took her entire crew with her. The ''Hunley'' was raised in 2012 and found to be largely intact; the current theory is that the shockwave from the exploding torpedo (only twenty feet away from the hull) killed the crew and/or forced her into the soft seabed where the mud kept her stuck; even if any of the crew had still been alive, they would have been in no state to escape or free the stricken sub from the seabed.
435* According to available evidence, People's Temple members Sharon Amos and Liane Harris (mother and daughter), by mutual consent, on the day of the People's Temple mass murder/suicide. Amos and Harris evidently assisted each other in cutting their throats.
436* The "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighting_Dinosaurs Fighting Dinosaurs]]" fossil of a ''Velociraptor'' and ''Protoceratops'', locked in battle forever after the pair were apparently buried and smothered by a collapsing sand dune or intense sandstorm while in the midst of a fight to the death, shows the trope is OlderThanDirt.
437* [[https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2018/02/king-cobra-reticulated-python-fight-battle-photo-spd/ King Cobra vs Reticulated Python]]. The cobra manages to bite the python, but the latter manages to choke the former to death before succumbing to the poison.
438* This trope is actually much OlderThanDirt: the annihilation of matter and {{antimatter}}, where the only winners are the gamma-ray photons produced in the event, may be its first use in the history of the Universe.
439* A well-known photograph taken in [[https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/tale-gator/ 2005]] shows a snake that burst with an alligator coming out. The exact circumstances are unknown, but the snake [[DeathByGluttony may have burst trying to eat the alligator]], killing them both.
440* The late comedian Creator/NormMacdonald joked about how anyone who died of cancer (which would include himself) actually achieved this. After all, if the person dies, the cancer dies too. No one actually loses the battle with cancer, at worst it ends up being a draw.
441* One June 4th, 1983, law enforcement searched a house in Smithville, Arkansas, looking for Gordon Kahl, a tax evader who had killed two US Marshals in a shootout that February. During the search, Kahl fired off a shot, mortally wounding Lawrence County Sheriff Harold Gene Matthews in the chest, who fired off a shot that struck Kahl in the head, killing him instantly. Matthews was able to stagger out of the house and say "I got him" before succumbing to his wounds.
442* Venomous snakes which have been decapitated (for example, in the preparation of said snakes for cooking) continue to maintain their bite reflexes for up to ''one hour'' afterwards. More than one careless chef has been envenomated and killed attempting to dispose of the head after cooking and being bitten by the dead snake.
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