Line #62 Main/SuicidalGotcha


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6	Things are looking bad for our hero. The villain has him cornered against a ledge, with a fatal drop below. As the villain draws closer, the hero does the [[DrivenToSuicide unthinkable]], [[NoEscapeButDown and jumps]]! The villain smirks, assuming victory, and either draws closer to confirm the kill, or turns around to go on about his business.
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8	Either way, he quickly realizes his error, as the hero slowly rises from the ledge... [[SurpriseVehicle standing atop his flying machine]] or [[GiantRobotHandsSaveLives a giant robot hand]] (or having been [[CatchAFallingStar caught by one of the hero's flight-capable buddies]], or simply having [[LiteralCliffhanger caught hold of a tree branch]], or had a bout of DieOrFly and discovered his own powers of flight), which the villain didn't see before (but which the hero obviously could).
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10	Never mind the fact that the rescuing mechanism is quite often ''[[SurpriseVehicle large and noisy]]''.
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12	Extra points if the villain somehow gets clobbered in the process by said flying machine/flying buddy.
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14	One of the most effective attempts at TryAndFollow. A subtrope of NoEscapeButDown. Compare HighDiveEscape. Can overlap with SoftWater. The unintentional version of this trope is SavedByThePlatformBelow.
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17	!!Examples:
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19	[[foldercontrol]]
20
21	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
22	* Setsuna does this in ''Manga/AngelSanctuary''. [[spoiler:Sevoth-Tart is threatening him while he's holding onto the edge of a roof, then he suddenly jumps, Sevy thinks he's committed suicide, and he has actually landed on a flying whale]]. Really.
23	* Taichi tries to throw his life away to protect Zeromaru from the first ultimate/mega level opponent they have to fight in ''Manga/DigimonVTamer01''. The enemy monster's tamer is shocked at the fact he was indirectly responsible for Taichi's death but that Zero also dove to his death in response and decides there is nothing left to do but kill Taichi's remaining ally only for Zero to rise back up with Taichi on his shoulders, having gotten over his subconscious aversion to {{evolution\|powerup}} and [[PowerGivesYouWings gained a pair of wings]] in the process.
24	* ''Manga/FairyTail'': When Lucy is kidnapped by the rival guild Phantom Lord, she jumps out the window in order to escape, having heard Natsu in the distance and trusting he'd be able to catch her.
25	* In the second season of ''Anime/MagicKnightRayearth'', Ferio has just saved Fuu from Princess Aska's forces (or, rather, she was playing along with his heroic rescue, as she was quite capable of escaping on her own) and they reach the open maw of the dragon-shaped Fahren ship. Ferio takes her in his arms, jumps! ...and lands on the back of a gigantic winged beast, which takes them away from the dragon.
26	* ''Anime/MaquiaWhenThePromisedFlowerBlooms'': After finally escaping imprisonment, Leillia climbs to the top of the Mezarte castle, declares herself free, and leaps from the top while declaring she can fly. Maquia, riding the last renato, catches Leillia and flies past the onlookers atop the castle. The trope can also be read as SavedByThePlatformBelow as it's unclear if Leillia knew about the renato or was genuinely suicidal.
27	* ''Anime/MyHime'': After main characters have started dying, Mai performs this trope to punctuate her attempt to tell Yuuichi to stay away from her. [[spoiler:Shortly afterward, she summons Kagutsuchi and flies away.]]
28	** Aoi does this in ''Anime/MyOtome'' when confronted by an angry mob of displaced Windbloom refugees, [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled deciding to sacrifice herself rather than reveal the whereabouts of Princess Mashiro]] [[spoiler:who is hiding among them. She just barely survives]].
29	* In the ''[=HeartGold/SoulSilver=]'' arc of ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'', Silver is dangling off a broken rope bridge while simultaneously holding onto Eusine. Petrel [[EvilGloating pretty much spills the beans on what Team Rocket is planning]] since he figures Silver's about to die anyway. Silver then willingly lets go...only to rise up again on his Gyarados.
30	* ''Manga/SaintSeiya'': Seiya and Saori Kido use one to escape from Shaina and Silver Saint Jamian, jumping off a cliff together rather than either fighting when in ''huge'' disadvantage or giving Saori to them. [[spoiler: While Seiya gets badly injured, they both live, and a while later their TrueCompanions come to help them.]]
31	* In the ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration'' [=OVA=], ''The Inspector'', Gilliam decides to dive off a balcony rather than let Archibald Grims' forces capture him -- falling straight into the hand of the Gespenst that Grims had no idea was ever there.
32	-->'''Archibald:''' "We're sneaking around trying to hide bombs, and he hides a [[RealRobot Personal Trooper!?]]"
33	* In an episode of ''Manga/YuGiOh'', Kaiba jumps out a window in his castle situated on a cliff to the rocky ocean below to escape from Pegasus' goons. The goons look out the window and, not seeing him at all, assume he's dead. How he survives is something of a mystery, but later he's seen climbing back up. (While holding a briefcase). There's a shot of him holding on to a ledge below.
34	* ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'': In order to avoid Masumi getting an Action card and negating the trap card vital for her combo, Yuzu jumps out the bridge to retrieve it, knowing that Bloom Diva the Floral Melodious Saint will catch her up.
35	* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'': Overshadowed by others' badassery, Kuwabara has his second fight with Byakko the White Tiger (to get the latter out of the way to ArtifactOfDoom infesting human world with demon insects) end with both fighters thrown off a small elevated stone plateau down into lava. It's soon revealed that Kuwabara's sash got stuck on a sharp rock protrusion and the guy is hanging there scared shitless, flailing and crying for help as the thing is about to tear.
36	[[/folder]]
37
38	[[folder:Comic Books]]
39	* ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'': A comedic example occurs when Jesse and his vampire friend Cassidy are on the top of the Empire State Building, chatting. Spontaneously, Cassidy starts yelling that he's going to end it all, and jumps over the side. Rushing over, Jesse sees that Cassidy has dug his fingers into the side of the building, and then says a sing-song "Fooled you!". Jesse is not amused.
40	* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': Spider-Man has done this several times. One AntiVillain, the Prowler, was sufficiently shaken up by the apparent demise that he panicked until Spidey let him know that Parker was "saved".
41	* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': This has happened too many times to count in scenes involving Superman. Villains are getting increasingly exasperated by the Man of Steel's tendency to show up just after Clark Kent is tossed off a roof.
42	** [[WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries The Animated Series]] played with this a couple times but once subverted it by having Clark Kent fall off a ledge in plain view of ComicBook/LoisLane so he couldn't pull this trick. To Clark's great surprise (and Lois's casual indifference, because it happens to her all the time), Clark Kent is rescued by Superman, which later turns out to be an imperfect clone that degenerates into Bizarro.
43	* ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'': In the book ''Recap/TintinTheRedSeaSharks'', recurring BigBad Rastapopulous has been caught as the master of the EvilPlan which involved [[MoralEventHorizon literal slave-trading]], and the navy is closing on his superyacht. He goes out in a launch, supposedly to give himself up, but it suddenly sinks. The heroes and the world media think that he is dead, but he has in fact escaped in [[EscapePod a mini-submarine hidden in the launch]].
44	* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: Diana Prince has fallen out of airplanes and at least once been trapped in a fire and presumed dead only for Wonder Woman to show up at the scene, and claim she saved Diana and got her to safety. On at least one occasion her timing was off, as she needed to get the plane she'd jumped to from ComicBook/SteveTrevor's plane back to Paradise Island before revealing herself, and she got to interrupt Gen. Darnell and Steve planning her own funeral. Darnell was shocked to see his secretary come back, but Steve seemed more amused.
45	[[/folder]]
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47	[[folder:Fan Works]]
48	* In ''Fanfic/DigitalPrey'', Renamon does this when cornered on a cliff edge by the BigBad; she had [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled fully expected to die]], but was saved by a smaller cliff just out of sight below the one she had jumped off of.
49	* ''FanFic/TheVigilanteBossAndHisFailedRetirementPlan'' starts with Izuku trying to make [[TheBully Bakugou]] think he actually went through with the latter's SuicideDare. Unfortunately, it turns into a DeadlyPrank when the fence on the roof of the school gives way...
50	* In ''Fanfic/TheWitchOfTheEverfree'', Sunset pulls one to get away from the guards who are following her, [[HighDiveEscape teleporting off of a train as it crosses a bridge]]. Unusually, she has no specific survival mechanism in mind, and ends up only surviving by dumb luck.
51	[[/folder]]
52
53	[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
54	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'': After Jasmine rejects Aladdin- currently disguised as Prince Ali- and tells him to "Go jump off a balcony!", he does. At her shriek of "No!", he pops his head back up and shows her his flying carpet.
55	* Used in ''WesternAnimation/{{Balto}} 2'' when jumping on a platform hidden in the mist.
56	* A villainous example with Henna in ''WesternAnimation/BarbieMariposa''. She leaps off the castle balcony only to rise up on the back of a Skeezite, commanding an army of them.
57	%%* Dante pulls one on Miguel in ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}''.
58	* The climax of ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective''. [[spoiler:Basil and Ratigan fall from Big Ben. There is much woe and weeping amongst Basil's friends, and then... a faint squeaking sound rises from the mist, and Basil appears, madly pedaling for his life through a mini-helicopter Ratigan had been using earlier. He gives a smile to the others.]]
59	* ''WesternAnimation/SherlockGnomes'': When Gnomeo is cornered by Moriarty atop Tower Bridge, he takes a single step backwards and plummets out of sight towards the river. [[spoiler:Where he is caught by Juliet who was hovering just below on a drone she had previously acquired]].
60	* In the climax of ''WesternAnimation/ShrekForeverAfter'' Rumpelstilskin is cornered by the ogre warriors and jumps backward off the balcony, causing them all to gasp. He then appears riding Fifi, his giant pet goose and says "So long!"
61	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSteamEnginesOfOz'': When Victoria is cornered by Lucila and Heflin in the Emerald Forest, she takes a step backwards and drops off the edge of a cliff. The two lions leap after her, only to find her hanging from a tree root a short distance below the rim. Lucila stops her own fall by [[BladeBrake digging her claws into the cliff face]], but Heflin face plants at the base of the cliff.
62	* In a variant of the trope, the audience is the one fooled in ''WesternAnimation/TheTaleOfDespereaux'' [[spoiler: where the titular mouse apparently falls off a tower window ledge to his death while the Narrator notes he didn't live HappilyEverAfter. However, while out of sight for a split-second, he stretches his enormous ears to go into Dumbo mode, and he reappears for the final image of the film, confidentially gliding away to his next adventure; the narrator meant that the mouse is too busy to have a pat ending like that.]]
63	[[/folder]]
64
65	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
66	* In ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'', Biff has Marty cornered on the roof of the hotel and is stunned when Marty calmly steps off the roof. A few seconds later, he floats back into view, standing on top of the flying [=DeLorean=]. Bonus points as Doc Brown proceeds to knock Biff out with one of the [=DeLorean's=] gull-wing doors.
67	* ''Film/Batman1989''. On top of the cathedral Batman and Vicki Vale peer over the edge to see if the Joker has truly fallen, only to be pulled over themselves by the Joker who had been hanging from the ledge.
68	* Sorta used in ''Film/TheBoyWhoCouldFly'', when [[spoiler:Eric and Milly throw themselves off a rooftop to escape the people who want Eric back to the hospital. What marks the difference is that this moment is what confirms how Eric ''actually'' can fly, something that the movie itself had not shown up to this point]].
69	* The Monk in ''Film/BulletproofMonk'' initially evades the BigBad that way… but then, as the title suggests, he ''is'' bulletproof, so a fall off a cliff wouldn't necessarily kill him.
70	* ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises''. Selina grabs Daggett as a HumanShield and does a SuperWindowJump, only to land on a window washing platform. When more mooks turn up, she jumps off the edge of a building with Batman, onto a lower rooftop where his VTOL flying craft is waiting.
71	* ''Film/DieAnotherDay'' has Jynx diving backwards off a cliff into the ocean, where she is promptly picked up by a boat.
72	* Used in ''Film/{{Dracula 1931}}''. Cornered on a cliff edge, [[{{Dracula}} the vampire]] escapes by jumping backwards and turning into a bat halfway down.
73	* In the ''Series/EvenStevens'' [[MadeForTVMovie Movie]], [[spoiler: this stunt was pulled by Louis in order to fool the television producer of the reality show they were on. Louis ended up rising up on a helicopter, that was hosted by a rival television reality show. Funny enough, the name of the rival show was named "Gotcha!"]] What makes this example simply bizarre is that he wound up [[spoiler:on a net hung from the ''bottom'' of a helicopter. There'd be no way he could've landed there without getting chopped by the rotary blades.]]
74	* The famous jump in ''Film/TheFugitive''. Arguably a subversion, in that there was no trick involved; Kimble was simply that desperate to try (and [[SoftWater that fortunate to survive]]).
75	* In ''Film/TheGoodSon'', Susan has discovered evidence that Henry had killed his little brother Richard, after telling him that he needs to get professional help he runs away, it appears that he has jumped off a cliff when he jumps out from some bushes and pushes her off saying "I guess you don't know me very well, do you?"
76	* Gandalf does this in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing'', jumping off the top of Isengard and landing on Gwaihir, Lord of the Eagles, who he had previously requested aid from via a passing moth.
77	* Edmund pulls this with a griffin in the ''Literature/PrinceCaspian'' [[TheMovie movie]] and is very James Bond about it.
78	* PlayedWith in ''Film/TheRageInPlacidLake''. Placid is cornered on a rooftop by a group of thugs. The scene then cuts to him recovering in a hospital bed, leaving the audience to assume they assaulted him. The end of the movie reveals that he jumped.
79	* In the Leslie Nielsen film ''Film/SpyHard'', the main character escapes by jumping off a roof, only to appear again in a Harrier jump-jet, scaring off the pursuers. It is then revealed to be a prop being lifted by a helicopter for a billboard.
80	* ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness''. [[NotSoStoic Even Spock looks surprised]] when [[SuperSoldier Harrison]] jumps off the FlyingCar [[TraintopBattle they're fighting on top of]], only to see he's jumped onto a similar craft moving in the other direction. Earlier there's a scene where the audience sees Harrison do a 30-ft leap out of a crashed starship, only to slide down the glass side of a toppled skyscraper.
81	* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
82	** In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'': Luke is made to WalkThePlank into the Sarlacc pit, but reverses himself a moment after stepping off and pops back up, and thanks to coordination with R2-D2 now has a lightsaber in his hand.
83	** Luke vs. Vader in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack''. Just after the [[LukeIAmYourFather well-known plot point]] is revealed, he throws himself down the shaft. Luckily, Leia's Jedi powers kicked in and she managed to get Lando and Chewie to turn the Falcon around to catch him as he was hanging onto a weather vane.
84	* The title character in ''Film/TonganNinja'' does this to escape from [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Gun Man]]. He jumps over the edge of a rooftop and grabs hold of the ledge. To sell the ruse he even lets out a rapidly-decreasing-in-volume scream, followed by a squishing noise, which Gun Man falls for.
85	* In ''Film/TronLegacy'', the hero is cornered by a security guard on a rooftop. He has NoEscapeButDown. Sure enough, he jumps off, but is saved by his HammerspaceParachute.
86	* ''Film/WomenTalking'': Mejal at one point declares that she doesn't want to live anymore and leaps out the hayloft window. It was a jape, as she had knowingly jumped onto a haystack below.
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89	[[folder:Literature]]
90	* In the short story ''Literature/TheMostDangerousGame'', the main character jumps of a cliff into rocky ocean when cornered. The villain assumes that NoOneCouldSurviveThat, and heads back to his castle only to find the hero waiting to jump him.
91	* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/WitchesAbroad'', Granny Weatherwax confronts her sister Lily atop a high tower. When Lily threatens Granny's fellow witches, Granny grabs her old broom and jumps off the tower. Her broom is a rickety old model and will only fly if given a running start, but as it happens, Granny correctly judges that terminal velocity is more than fast enough to get the broom flying.
92	[[/folder]]
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94	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
95	* In ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSherlockHolmesAndDoctorWatson'', that's how the duel between Holmes and Moriarty goes. They both seem to fall off a cliff and into a waterfall, but Holmes had checked around before Moriarty arrived, and knew of a ledge wide enough to hold a single person.
96	* Subverted in the season three finale of ''Series/BabylonFive'' in which a cornered [[spoiler:Captain Sheridan]] takes a plunge off a cliff and ''dies''. [[spoiler:[[UnexplainedRecovery He gets better]], thanks to the help of a [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien very old alien]], but even then [[YourDaysAreNumbered he has a limit of twenty years before he simply stops living]].]]
97	** Extra-subverted (if there is such a thing) in that it's left very nebulous for several episodes (to say nothing of an entire between-season hiatus) whether or not he actually survived the fall, [[spoiler:and TheReveal is that he didn't actually survive, and his return comes at a steep cost]].
98	* River Song has done this at least twice in ''Series/DoctorWho''. More elaborate than most examples. She leaves a message at some point in time, telling the Doctor her exact coordinates and that she needs help. When she jumps (off the roof of a building or out of a spaceship airlock and into the utter vacuum of interstellar space!), the TARDIS is right there waiting for her.
99	* Played almost exactly as in the description in the first non-pilot episode of ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', with the ''Serenity'' coming up behind our cornered heroes at the edge of a cliff as they come out of a bad-looking barfight. Semi-subverted as the pilot Wash couldn't really save them from the raging mob because his ship didn't have any weapons - he just scared them into thinking he could.
100	* ''Series/HawaiiFive0''. In "I Helu Pu," [=McGarrett=] goes over the side of a building trying to save a drunken suicidal man. Danny rushes to the ledge only to see they have both fallen onto a balcony.
101	* Done a ton of times on ''Series/MissionImpossible'', including a jump off a high cliff using an already-built retractable net and a dummy at the bottom of the cliff.
102	* ''Series/StrangerThings'' has this in the sixth episode: [[spoiler: when [[KidsAreCruel a pair of bullies]] try to force Mike to jump off a cliff, Eleven [[MindOverMatter makes him levitate]] until he's back on the top, safe and sound.]]
103	[[/folder]]
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105	[[folder:Manhua]]
106	* ''Manhua/OldMasterQ'' have the titular character attempting this prank when proposing to his girlfriend, Miss Chan, while near a cliff, threatening to jump if she doesn't say yes. Miss Chan tells him he doesn't have the guts: Old Master Q jumps, to Miss Chan's shock, but it turns out there's a ledge some three meters below. Miss Chan eventually agrees to the proposal and tries pulling Old Master Q up, but she isn't strong enough - leading to Miss Chan calling a rescue helicopter to get Old Master Q out instead.
107	[[/folder]]
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109	[[folder:Music]]
110	* The music video to Music/{{Aerosmith}}'s "Cryin'" shows a girl (Creator/AliciaSilverstone), standing on the ledge of a bridge, feeling jilted by her boyfriend (Creator/StephenDorff) when he shows up, trying to talk her down. However, she then steps off the ledge before it's revealed that she's using a bungee rope which stops her fall, and she looks up and [[FlippingTheBird flips him the bird]].
111	[[/folder]]
112
113	[[folder:Video Games]]
114	* Inverted in ''VideoGame/AgeOfMythology'', in which Kamos escapes Arkantos once by leaping off a cliff only to land on one of his sea monsters and swim away. Subverted in a later scenario when Kamos jumps off a cliff again under the same circumstances and we're treated to a shot of his brains dashed out on the rocks below.
115	* Lampshaded in ''Franchise/TheChroniclesOfRiddick: VideoGame/AssaultOnDarkAthena''. At the end of the game the BigBad and Riddick have an AlasPoorVillain moment, then she lets go of his hand and plummets out of sight down an elevator shaft. Riddick's little girl MoralityPet asks "will she be coming back?" to which Riddick replies "when I say goodbye, it's forever". Since it's very much a KilledOffForReal series, the most obvious conclusion is that she really is dead.
116	* One inversion in ''VideoGame/DyingLight'': the only to get into the [[TutorialLevel "rite of passage"]] to be a runner is to JUMP OF A FUCKING [[StealthPun CRANE]] onto bags of garbage below. The teacher Rahim demonstrates...then complains about he leg after landing. His and Crane's dialogue afterwards:
117	-->'''Rahim''': Ahhh... My leg!!\
118	'''Crane''': Oh, shit! Hold on, I'll get someone to help!\
119	'''Rahim''': Haha, I'm just fucking with you! Now come on and jump, you big baby!\
120	'''Crane''': Christ on a crutch...
121	* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
122	** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'': When Kefka sets Figaro Castle aflame, he and his soldiers seem to have Prince Edgar cornered on a ledge. Then he vaults over the side, landing on the back of one of the chocobos Locke and Terra are riding, and the whole castle starts shaking as its defenses kick in...
123	** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', with an airship serving as the means of escape.
124	** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'': Yuna jumps off a tall tower head-first, and comes back up on the back of Valefor, a bird-like Aeon.
125	*** Notable in that she summons Valefor in mid-air, AFTER she's actually jumped.
126	*** In addition to the insane height of the tower, [[PimpedOutDress all those feathers sewn into her wedding dress]] slowed her descent considerably--[[FridgeBrilliance she was falling incredibly slowly, even for artistic license]].
127	* ''VideoGame/Jak3Wastelander'': [[spoiler:Jak pushes Cyber-Errol off a ledge. Errol, being a robot, is capable of enough flight (despite not being aerodynamic in the least) to get back up and escape. Jak's Light Flight ability takes considerably longer to gain altitude, leaving the audience and Daxter to believe he died. Luckily, Errol is gone when he returns, several seconds later.]]
128	* In ''VideoGame/MegaManLegends'', Rock pulls one of these at the end of the prologue stage, duplicating ''Back to the Future'' so closely it's hard to think it's not an {{homage}}.
129	* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'':
130	** Played straight for the villain in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' - Snake knocks Solidus off one of the Big Shell's bridges with a grenade, only to have Solidus rise back up on top of a Harrier jet. Shortly afterwards, Raiden shoots down the Harrier with a Stinger missile (because it's badass, I guess), which then spirals towards the water far below...only to be saved by being ''eaten'' by Metal Gear Ray. Worst injury suffered? Solidus loses an eye.
131	** Played straight but also subverted in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' - Naked Snake, aka Big Boss does in fact splash down in a pool below after after the usual scene expected for the trope, but then [[spoiler: Snake has a near death experience featuring a Boss "fight" with The Sorrow. Near Death being included is not typical for this trope, let alone what happens in it.]] And it also appears that young Revolver Ocelot, who corners Snake and witnesses him jump, knows Snake would survive and had escaped his grasp, also subverting the latter end of the trope.
132	* Variation: the first boss battle in ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime 3: Corruption'' involves Samus and the boss falling down a shaft. If the boss is defeated before they hit the ground, Samus gets saved by a fellow Hunter who can use his ice powers to surf on ice he manifests below himself out of thin air.
133	* After you kill the final boss of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'', Ada pulls one of these off: she jumps off a cliff only for a helicopter to rise up over the edge with her standing in it. [[FridgeLogic Um…]] [[ArtisticLicensePhysics …maybe it was one of those …convertible helicopters?]] She ''does'' have a grappling gun, you know.
134	* ''VideoGame/ShadowHeartsCovenant'' sees Rasputin dropping from the roof of the Winter Palace and then rising on top of a Sapientes Gladio airship. Yuri responds by becoming Amon and blowing the ship to pieces.
135	* ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'', with the heroes escaping on an airship.
136	* In ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'', you can jump out of bounds while using the [[JetPack Inkjet]] special and then--rather than dissipate as you'd expect--fly back to the nearest edge.[[note]]This is because the Inkjet normally places a beacon where you activated it. That beacon also marks where you land after it explodes and sends you flying.[[/note]] Naturally, [[https://gfycat.com/RecklessVictoriousChicken some players]] have exploited this mechanic to catch opponents off guard.
137	* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'': [[Characters/SuperMarioBrosBowser Bowser]] tends to do this often.
138	** The second half of the final boss battle of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2''.
139	** In ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam'', he pulls this off [[spoiler: by putting himself in a near-death situation, thereby causing his Rump Command to activate and [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever grow large enough to jump back up the cliff]].]]
140	* An {{inver\|tedTrope}}sion occurs within the story mode of ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl''. In a confrontation, Mario/Link chases Bowser to a ledge, down which Bowser falls. After a tense pause of about a second, Bowser taunts Mario/Link from the safety of his flying clown copter, which was apparently waiting below the whole time. In a later scene, most of the heroes are aboard Meta Knight's battleship, the Halberd, on their way to stop the giant Subspace Cannon which has just appeared out of a warp portal. The ship flies at max speed straight for the cannon, even as it takes heavy laser fire and starts to break apart. Then the main cannon fires, and the Halberd is spit-roasted from stem to bow, breaks in half and explodes. Cut to a closeup on Ganondorf and Bowser, smirking triumphantly while standing on the bridge of the Subspace ship... only to have several heroes' smaller ships [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome fly out of the explosion, dodge all the incoming laser fire and set up a distraction for Kirby to finish the cannon off]]. Ganondorf and Bowser, apparently quite humbled, silently retreat into the portal as their ship collapses.
141	* In ''[[VideoGame/TraumaCenter Trauma Team]]'', Gabriel Cunningham pulls this when confronted by Ian Holden late in the game, by stepping back off the roof of the hospital and grabbing onto a helicopter's ladder. How he wasn't sliced to ribbons by the propeller is anyone's guess.
142	[[/folder]]
143
144	[[folder:Web Animation]]
145	* ''WebAnimation/EtraChanSawIt'': [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHfOPqFpEVk Tachibana]] has had enough of Hiiragi mistreating him and his employees and decides to jump out of the window. [[spoiler:It was just a trick to see how he would react. He really just landed on some construction scaffolding underneath the window and made his way back into the office.]]
146	* ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'' features a murder-suicide variant, as Agent Carolina pulls two of her fellow Freelancers over the edge of a platform... only to emerge on the back of a Pelican.
147	[[/folder]]
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149	%%[[folder:Webcomics]]
150	%%* Gertrude in ''[[Webcomic/TheKAMics The KAMics]]'' pulls it off in [[http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/The_KAMics/5366280/ this comic.]]
151	%%[[/folder]]
152
153	[[folder:Western Animation]]
154	* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
155	** In the pre-series {{Pilot}}, Aang jumps off a ledge to use the DieOrFly method to trigger the Avatar State, a move that would be ''a very bad idea'' during the actual series.
156	** A variation of this can be found in the third season. Zuko and Azula are fighting on a blimp when they both fall off. Zuko is then caught mid-air by Katara and the rest of the group on Appa, and he watches as his sister continues to fall without anyone to catch her. [[spoiler:She then uses her exceptional firebending skills to rocket to the safety of a nearby cliff, much to Zuko's disappointment.]]
157	* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' uses this a couple of times.
158	** The best one is probably ClockKing's. Doing one of these onto a train, he prefaces it with the following comment:
159	---> "I don't know what to tell you, Batman, except perhaps that the 9:15 is always 6 minutes early."
160	** ComicBook/TheJoker also [[spoiler:almost]] escaped from the Batman this way in "[[Recap/TheNewBatmanAdventuresE21MadLove Mad Love]]".
161	* In ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'', Ben Tennyson pulled this on his own grandfather ''twice'' -- and only one gotcha involved turning into a flyer with the Omnitrix.
162	* ''WesternAnimation/BlueEyeSamurai''. When the Four Fangs have Mizu backed up against a cliff, she surprises them by apparently leaping to her death. But when they look over the edge they find she's jumped onto a smaller ledge just big enough to hold her, so they can't all attack her at once.
163	* ''WesternAnimation/TheDeep2015'': In "The Dark Orca", Finn has Fontaine and Ant cornered on board a small tugboat in the open ocean. He is amazed when, instead of surrendering, they throw themselves off the side of the boat. However, it is then revealed that they have jumped into their parents' speedboat which has pulled up alongside the tug.
164	* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'', Elisa Maza found herself in a perilous situation, stuck on a building's gargoyle outcrop with a gangster who is sure to kill her when he learns the treasure she was sent out to retrieve is worthless. In response, she jumps off to her apparent death from the perspective of the gangsters, who are unaware that the gargoyle Broadway is just below and poised to catch her as she fell.
165	* In the Season 1 finale of ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'', the Joker cooks up a vat of chemicals that will undo Harley's personality and make her just another boring civilian. He's about to push Harley in when she decides to jump in. Joker takes it as a job well done and prepares to leave, but stops and asks if any of his henchmen heard a splash. [[spoiler:As it turns out, Harley spotted a resurrected Poison Ivy below, who caught Harley with her plants before carrying her back up to defeat Joker.]]
166	* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'':
167	** Charlie Dog pulls this on Porky Pig. When Porky looks down, he finds Charlie lying on a pile of mattresses several stories high.
168	** In "Daffy Doodles", WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck, who is wanted for MustacheVandalism, is on a rooftop chase with Porky. At one point he threatens to jump, and when he does, Porky looks down... and gets a mustache painted on him by Daffy, who is safely standing on a ledge.
169	* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', Kit Fisto escapes a duel with General Grievous by backflipping off a cliff into some fog, only to rise out of it atop his Jedi starfighter.
170	* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/StormHawks'', Aerrow manages to disarm the Dark Ace and corner him on a catwalk. The Dark Ace decides to leap over the railing, landing on a subordinate's ride. [[BadBoss He then throws the mook off to take it for himself.]]
171	* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'': In "[[Recap/SupermanTheAnimatedSeriesS2E16To18WorldsFinest World's Finest]]", the Joker and his thugs cause Bruce Wayne to topple from the terrace of a penthouse nightclub. "See that he's street pizza," the Joker orders, whereupon the {{mooks}} find Wayne alive and intact on a window washers' gantry. Intersects with DeusExMachina that such a gantry would be deployed there, at night, with no workers in sight.
172	* In a ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' episode, Robin and Starfire do this over a pit of acid so that an alien creature could follow them into it. Starfire then flies them back to safety. They repeat the maneuver again with [[MadeOfIron the same creature]] later on in the episode, this time over a deep chasm.
173	* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'' gives us a straight example - Hank jumps out of the window after Sirena rejects him, then is revealed to be atop his (uncle's) flying car. Later, it subverts it, when Doc tries the same trick - he jumps out of his boardroom window after stockholders tell him he needs a new product, then comes back up in his (father's) hoverboots. However, jumping out of the window is dangerous enough that he gets enough bruises and wounds to make him pass out...
174	* A villainous (and epic) version occurs in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/WhereOnEarthIsCarmenSandiego'', as Carmen, in an unpowered boat, goes over the edge of a waterfall, her face utterly calm and serene. Then her henchmen follow her off in a speedboat that is also tricked out to double as an airfoil and catch her mid fall.
175	[[/folder]]

Context Main / SuicidalGotcha