[[quoteright:349:[[ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Deadpool_000_p06_4551.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:349:[[Characters/MarvelComicsDeadpool Deadpool]] loves his C-List fodder.]]

->''"Her name is... Veronica Crabtree, bus driver for the elementary school. She was considered an ancillary character, one the fans wouldn't miss much."''
-->-- '''Police Detective''', ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', "[[Recap/SouthParkS8E13CartmansIncredibleGift Cartman's Incredible Gift]]"

This trope involves the cold realization that {{Shared Universe}}s enjoy [[CrisisCrossover events,]] but not necessarily [[StatusQuoIsGod changing the status quo]]. Whenever a purported big shake-up occurs, you can bet it's your so-called "C-list" characters and below who will be brought out of the woodwork. Alternatively, if a given series is becoming less popular, given that they are less prominent, have less appeal, or aren't as easy to write for, these characters can be prime candidates for [[CharacterDeath getting the axe]], via the single-character subtype of TheFireflyEffect.

An optimist will say this is because "minor" characters (and the authors writing for them) are allowed leeway to change more than big shots, and if they're lucky they can become newly popular due to this.

A cynic will say the main use of bringing in C-listers is so you can kill them off, creating a sense of "change" without really affecting the universe in any way, ruining the attempt to make an AnyoneCanDie and TonightSomeoneDies atmosphere when the only real deaths are these characters. Same with a SacrificialLamb.

This is a double-edged sword. It certainly can be shocking and emotional to fans of the character, but remember... the main people who ''recognize'' these characters are the same people who will be most angry if you kill them off, whereas those who do not recognize them will not care [[note]] or worse, will think that the character was a new character created specifically to be killed off, which, if the trope is overused, may lead them to conclude that ''any'' new character is destined to be fodder, and refuse to get attached to them in the first place[[/note]]. Thus, you toy with the emotions of those who are likely to be your most dedicated fans.

Since newer characters tend to be more C-list than older characters, and also tend to include more females and minorities, this may lead to BuryYourGays and BlackDudeDiesFirst. (Although, on the other hand, outright {{Red Shirt}}s tend to be straight {{men|AreTheExpendableGender}}.) Another disturbing tendency in the comic book industry is to use ''teenage'' super-team characters as this. It works dramatically because of [[DeathOfAChild the impact of a child (or young adult) dying]], but is over-used to the point where the ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' actually [[LampshadeHanging hang a lampshade on this]] frequently. Similar young teams, the ''ComicBook/NewMutants'' and ''Comicbook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'', also fall victim to this with regularity.

And anyway, it's not as though the character is being used anyway. Being brought BackForTheDead is better than [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome not being brought back at all]], [[RunningTheAsylum right]]?

When the character has the shortest, smallest, most stereotypical background possible (especially ended by a HesDeadJim to show he's really dead), we're probably dealing with a RedShirt instead. If one of these "major" characters were created so they can be killed then it might be a MauveShirt.

Often leads to cases of ForgottenFallenFriend. Compare LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt.

!!As this is a {{Death Trope|s}}, [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff unmarked spoilers abound]]. [[Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned Beware]].
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!!Examples:
[[index]]
* CListFodder/ComicBooks
[[/index]]
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[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': The BigBad All For One sees ''everyone'' who isn't [[BigGood All Might]] or [[TheHero Izuku Midoriya]] as this, having decided to theme his life's philosophy around the Demon Lord in his favourite comic book and believes that everyone else just exists for him to kill and slaughter in order to showcase his unstoppable power. This always comes back to bite him especially after the heroes realise he's vulnerable to [[VillainBall stock villain cliches]], where even secondary characters he wouldn't even acknowledge as a threat manage to overwhelm him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''Fanfic/UltimateSleepwalker'': The whole point of ''Ultimate Sleepwalker: The New Dreams'' and ''Fanfic/UltimateSpiderWoman Ultimate Spider-Woman: Change With the Light'' is to focus the spotlight on underrated C-list characters and mess with the traditional A/B/C-list pecking order of the Franchise/MarvelUniverse. Mainstays like ComicBook/CaptainAmerica and ComicBook/SpiderMan do show up, but they are typically guest stars. Heroes like ComicBook/IronMan, [[Characters/MarvelComicsThorOdinson Thor]], Comicbook/TheAvengers and Comicbook/DoctorStrange don't even live in New York, with New York's hero population instead being rounded out by the likes of ComicBook/MoonKnight and Characters/{{Darkhawk}}. An excellent subversion of this trope occurs when Bullseye goes up against 8-Ball. The former is a long-standing PsychoForHire who made the list of [[Characters/MarvelComicsNormanOsborn Norman Osborn]]'s ComicBook/DarkAvengers during ComicBook/DarkReign. The other is a supposedly C-list supervillain who only appeared in the ''ComicBook/{{Sleepwalker}}'' comics and was summarily killed off afterwards in ''Heroes For Hire''. Guess who wins?
* Roleplay/DCNation lampshades the ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' example above big time, and inverted it. Arsenal gets angry enough to challenge ''Hades'' for Donna Troy and convinces the other Titans to go in on it by arguing to the effect "The ComicBook/{{Justice League|OfAmerica}} die and come back. Titans die and stay dead. Why are we putting up with it when we can have a chance of fighting back?!" As an indirect result, the Nation-verse Titans have thrown a few more challenges and are now the largest hero team in the storyline. This bit them in the ass when Nationverse launched their take on ComicBook/BlackestNight. It's not just the Titans. Nation is notorious for making use of obscure, underwritten, and c-list characters. The Dibneys, for example, are major players. The ComicBook/DoomPatrol is getting re-launched, the Metal Men and the [=JSA=] are starting to get more plots... Conversely, it has been very difficult to get a [=JLA=] plot done.
* It's common for fanfics for ''Literature/LesMiserables'' to partake in this trope, being a work where the majority of the main cast dies. Fics that spare a major character will often, in exchange, kill off a more minor one who either survived or had an ambiguous fate in the original; Azelma Thenardier (Eponine's younger sister who is usually AdaptedOut) seems to be the most common "victim."
* {{Parodied|Trope}} in [[http://waitingforthet.tumblr.com/post/145348086536/i-know-jackson-might-be-bi-or-pan-all-they-said#note-container this]] ''ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}'' fancomic.
-->'''Jackson Hyde:''' I'm a ''[[BuryYourGays gay]] [[BlackGuyDiesFirst black]] [[LegacyCharacter legacy]] [[DeadSidekick sidekick]].'' That pretty much makes me the ''definition'' of C-List Fodder. My life depends on building a major fan following before the next big event!
** The same artist made a ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' [[https://waitingforthet.tumblr.com/day/2018/02/26 fan comic]] with a similar joke. Living Lightning (being a Latino character who came out as gay as part of a joke in a comedy book, who hasn't been a major part of any notable storylines, and who doesn't have a power set that's unique or tied to any major lore) considers "sudden importance" a mark of death for him and tries to leave the Avengers and go back to being a background character.
* ''Fanfic/CListers'' focuses on Gotham City's C-list villain population, and frequently highlights a lot of obscure Batman rogues. Of course, the audience is frequently reminded that [[NotSoHarmlessVillain they're just as dangerous as the A-listers]], and thus far only one C-list character (Sewer King) has been killed off.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/MastersOfTheUniverse'': In the 1987 film, Saurod was killed because the producer wanted one of Skeletor's generals to be killed off in the film, and they wanted to make sure it was one who did not appear in the cartoon.
* ''Film/SuicideSquad2016'' has three fatalities within the titular squad: Lieutenant Edwards, Slipknot, and El Diablo (plus Enchantress, but she was the BigBad at that point). The first is a movie-only MauveShirt. Of the other two, neither of them are prominent characters in the comic books. Though El Diablo did have a fairly large role and went out in a HeroicSacrifice, as did Edwards, Slipknot wasn't so lucky, as he was the SacrificialLamb bumped off in a few minutes to show the nano bombs were real.
* ''Film/TheSuicideSquad'' plays with this trope. On one hand, the films opening scene liberally kills off several obscure squad members, including Savant (who briefly served as a [[DecoyProtagonist decoy protagonist]]), Mongal, Javelin and Blackguard while leaving TDK [[UncertainDoom to bleed out on the beach]]. In addition, a film-exclusive incarnation of the Thinker and C-list Batman villain/[[JokeCharacter joke character]] Polka Dot Man both die by the end, and the popular Characters/{{Harley Quinn|TheCharacter}}, Amanda Waller and King Shark obviously survive. On the other hand, among the dead are Suicide Squad mainstays Captain Boomerang and Rick Flag, both returning from the prior film. C-listers Bloodsport and Ratcatcher II (specifically, a [[CanonForeigner film-original]] {{legacy character}}) also notably survive the events of the film, while Peacemaker and Weasel are granted [[NotQuiteDead fakeout deaths]] as revealed during post-credits scenes.
* ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'' only had one death in the entire movie: Jackson Brice, known in the comics as Montana and in the movie as the first Shocker. He's so minor he didn't even get to keep his canon identity here.
* In ''Film/Deadpool2'', Wade's X-Force consists of Domino, Shatterstar, Bedlam, Vanisher, Zeitgeist and some guy named Peter. All but [[BornLucky Domino]] (the most famous of the bunch after Deadpool) end up parachuting to horrible deaths in their first mission. Wade only explicitly saves Peter via TimeTravel, while the fates of the others are ambiguous.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/WildCards'' has had a lot of these--contributing authors were encouraged to come up with "RedShirt Aces" for the second and third books, just to show that the villains meant business. Then again, AnyoneCanDie in that setting.
* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'':
** In the ''Literature/NewJediOrder'', guess how many movie characters named on screen of ''any'' level of importance die. Two. And one of them is from old age.
** Even more were killed off in ''Literature/LegacyOfTheForce''. [[WriterOnBoard Usually either due to one person's dislike or to make Daala and the Mandalorians look good.]]
** Many characters introduced in the Bantam Publishing era of ''Legends'' were reduced to this when Del Rey took the reins, such as Borsk Feyl'ya, Prince Isolder, and several of Luke Skywalker's Jedi students. This remains a [[BrokenBase point of contention]] among fans.
* In ''Literature/TheVampireChronicles'': ''Literature/QueenOfTheDamned'', once unleashed, Akasha kills off most of the vampire race except, conveniently, for every single major character in the series, and plots to exterminate all men on earth.
* ''Literature/WarriorCats'': Every time the series needs some more angst, a minor character gets killed. This doubles as thinning of the herd, since there are many characters. In ''Twilight'', the TonightSomeoneDies book, there's a supposedly "devastating" attack on [=ThunderClan=] which results in them needing plenty of help from the other clans in the next book... but then you realize that only three cats died. And ''two'' of them were minor characters. The other ends up getting reincarnated, anyway.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* {{Game Show}}s that have celebrity players sometimes are accused of using these, especially when A- and B-list celebrities are unavailable or don't wish to do a specific show.
** ''Series/WhatsMyLine'': Gil Fates, executive producer of the iconic panel game show that aired from 1950-1975, wrote in his 1978 retrospective of the series that some "mystery guests" during the syndicated years were rather obscure to most viewers. These included second-tier Broadway performers, local New York-New Jersey personalities, and lesser-known soap opera actors/actresses of shows produced in New York[[note]], where most soaps were still being produced at the time[[/note]]. This, he reasoned, was because of having to stretch to find mystery guests for a five-day-a-week program (or, 195 per television season) once the better-known stars had their turn, whereas it was much simpler to find just one prominent star a week for the original CBS series (or, just 35 or so during a September-through-May season). It led to many panelists and viewers scratching their heads, wondering, "Who is that person?"
* In the early days of ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', they used the BodyOfTheWeek more, but slowly more C-list fodder is killed off. Not counting one-episode characters, or we'll be here all day.
** Season one: [[spoiler:Lewis & Laura Lang (appeared in flashbacks), Principal Kwan]].
** Season two: [[spoiler:Roger Nixon, Steven Hamilton, Ryan James, Tina Greer, Dr. Walden]].
** Season three: [[spoiler:Morgan Edge, Ian Randall, Pete Dinsmore, Frank Loder]].
** Season four: [[spoiler:Alicia Baker, Bridgette Crosby, Genevieve and Jason Teaque]].
** Season five: [[spoiler:Sheriff Nancy Adams]].
** Season six: [[spoiler:Raya, Dr. Langston]].
** Season seven: [[spoiler:[[BackForTheDead Sasha Woodman]], Agent Carter, clone Lara and Zor-El, Patricia Swann, Gina, Edward Teague]].
** Season eight: [[spoiler:Regan Matthews, Linda Lake]]. While this season has the highest body count thanks to Doomsday being around, tons of it are one-episode appearances or even unnamed.
** Season nine: [[spoiler:Alia (twice, ItMakesSenseInContext), clone Jor-El, Basqat, Doctor Fate, Faora, Zod may have killed more of the C-List [[GovernmentConspiracy Checkmate]] agents offscreen]].
** Season ten: [[spoiler:Hawkman, Earth-2 Lionel Luthor]].
* In ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'', with the exception of Kara Thrace and Laura Roslin, every character who died was either a C- or B-list character, or has turned out to be a Cylon. Or both, in the case of named Cylons who have died since the Resurrection Hub went up. (This changed in the finale.)
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' eventually ended up with the same cast that they started the series with, and a few extras. The only major deaths in the GrandFinale were Spike (who [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail got better]] on ''Series/{{Angel}}'') and Anya who, while popular, never played a role desperately needed on the show. Imagine the outrage from fans if Xander or Willow died in the GrandFinale. Also, throughout Season 7, the group of potentials often seemed to take the role of "people who get killed so as to show the situation is serious." In the commentary track to the final episode Creator/JossWhedon tacitly acknowledges this trope, saying that he couldn't kill off any of the major four (Buffy, Giles, Willow or Xander) or it wouldn't seem like a victorious ending. It also bears mention that Whedon had to kill someone important and Creator/EmmaCaulfield said explicitly at the beginning of the season that she would not renew her contract, whether Buffy continued or not. So, as Whedon said, she was the logical choice.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'', rather unsurprisingly, had a tendency to pop off secondary characters every so often, between the inevitable {{Red Shirt}}s. Most obvious with Dr. Frasier, the medical officer who spent 78 episodes on the show, and 1 as a corpse standing in for O'Neill (who the writers tried to fake out as being the actual casualty). Later, she made one more appearance as an AlternateUniverse version.
** You can figure out which seasons they thought they were being canceled on, due to how many C-Listers get killed. The only C-Lister to escape this was EnsembleDarkHorse Bratac, who was mentioned as dead once. Turns out it was a lie to break Teal'c spirit. A few times he has been dragged off to his doom, left for dead, poisoned, stabbed, shot, and all sorts of lethal thrown at him. [[UnexplainedRecovery They didn't take]].
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' is infamous for this.
** Any character who isn't Sam, Dean or Castiel will die permanently while those three will keep coming back to life. Many recurring characters, villains and heroes alike, get killed simply to either cause angst or show how badass the boys are just as they are getting character development or interesting story lines (a cause of frustration to fans due to the sheer amount of {{Ensemble Darkhorse}}s that suffer this fate).
** A good example of this are the Harvelles. Originally intended as support, {{Love Interest|s}} and {{Distaff Counterpart}}s to the Winchesters, they were quickly hated by the fanbase for various reasons. Writers wrote them out but brought them back with Jo [[TookALevelInBadass taking a level in badass]] and becoming much more mature and grown up, making her much more of a hit with fans. Unfortunately, this potential was wasted [[spoiler: as they were blown up in the mid season episode in an utterly useless sacrifice solely to cause angst and show how deadly that season's BigBad was]].
* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' was originally intended to have a new group of heroes each season. Due to the popularity of the characters, this didn't happen. So later seasons have a tendency to bring in lots of new characters only to kill them off or drop their story line. For some examples Daphne dies, Elle dies, Usutu is killed almost immediately, Maya loses her abilities, West is introduced and then quickly forgotten, Alejandro is around for only a few episodes before he dies, Bob dies, Candace dies, Monica's plot is dropped, and we could really go on forever here. There was even Bridgette, who seemed like she had potential, [[RedShirt only to be eaten by Sylar seconds later]]. Sue Landers? Never stood a chance.
* ''Series/TheWalkingDead2010'' has done this a handful of times. The first was during the attack on the group's camp in episode four, where, although three named characters end up dead, there are [[https://walkingdead.fandom.com/wiki/Background_Survivors_(TV_Series) over a dozen (many unnamed) extras]] that are also killed and only seemed to be there to increase the attack's body count. Even later, the attack on Herschel's farm in the season 2 finale only claims the lives of two characters, Jimmy and Patricia, both of whom are effectively worthless to the entire story.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* Stephan Pastis kills off minor characters regularly in ''ComicStrip/PearlsBeforeSwine'' - then frequently brings them back with no explanation or the cheap explanation that they "un-died." Examples include the killer whale that lived next door to the seals, Chucky the Non-Anthropomorphic Sheep and Leonard, aka "Tattuli the Self-Esteem Building Bear" (Leonard has yet to be brought back). The crocodiles have clearly been promoted to A-list, and they keep dying also. Of course, there are quite a few of them and they're pretty much interchangeable, so the net effect of killing one off for a cheap joke is nil anyway.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
* Wrestling/{{WWE}}: Several wrestlers, no matter how talented they are, are unfortunately relegated to competing on Wrestling/WWESuperstars or Wrestling/{{WWE NXT}}. Examples include Wrestling/TysonKidd, Wrestling/JustinGabriel, Alex Riley, JTG, and [[Wrestling/CurtisAxel Michael McGillicutty]] as well as several Divas. In fact, being [[DemotedToExtra demoted to the undercard]] is sometimes considered a punishment. Wrestling/TripleH became the fall guy for the "Curtain Call" incident and was stuck jobbing in opening matches before they finally pushed him again (in fact, rumor has it that he was supposed to win the King of the Ring tournament around this time - a tournament which was then won by Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin). A similar case happened with Alex Riley, who was in line for a push, but then an incident with Wrestling/JohnCena got him demoted to jobber. Riley then appeared on [[Wrestling/WWESuperstars WWE Superstars]] and Wrestling/{{WWE NXT}} as an announcer for the rest of his tenure with the company. The phrase "future endeavored" has become synonymous with the WWE for their habit of annually letting go a dozen or so of their C-List wrestlers in order to make room for new hires and promotions from developmental. The dismissal is usually accompanied by a wwe.com announcement "wishing him/her luck in his/her future endeavors."
* Concerning Wrestling/RingOfHonor, those who primarily compete for the "Top Of The Class" trophy, on Pro Wrestling Respect Shows or on the Future Of Honor showcase are most likely to be fodder anywhere else.
* Same goes for several wrestlers from [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]]
* A similar if not exact term in wrestling is known as the "jobber to the stars." While jobbers are usually completely unknown local talent brought up solely to get squashed, a jobber to the stars is a more high-profile contracted wrestler who is in the mid-card and seen as more of a threat, who are brought up solely to get squashed. Wrestling/{{Ryback}}'s winning streak originally started against complete unknowns, but he slowly moved up to lower- and mid-card C-List Fodder such as Curt Hawkins, [[Wrestling/{{Fandango}} Johnny Curtis]], and Darren Young. Historically, this has happened to former main event wrestlers who are now toward the end of their careers, and are jobbing on the way out, often as a way to put over younger stars. Examples include Dominic [=DeNucci=], Tony Garea, [[Wrestling/JohnnyRodz "The Unpredictable" Johnny Rodz]], "Baron" Mikel Scicluna, Rene Goulet and others. Yet, one-time stars may be one of the headliners of a C-Show card and may even be given a title match against a current champion.
* A promotion will sometimes run a house show with C-List wrestlers in smaller (or new) markets, often as a test ground and/or to give the lower-tier wrestlers work; these will sometimes take place the same night that the promotion is running two (or more) shows, including the A Show, in other towns. While a BShow wrestler or two will often be on the card (frequently as part of the main event, or to help anchor the card and guide the younger/local talent), and a secondary championship will frequently be defended (usually against wrestlers who would never be given the opportunity at an A-Show), these shows also are put on to allow promoters to evaluate new and potential talent. Often, matches against local wrestlers will also be on the card, with the promotion's main wrestlers being the headliners. As such, being on a C-Show isn't always a bad thing.
* For an inanimate example, the SpanishAnnouncersTable. Guaranteed to be destroyed at least once in any given show.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* AnyoneCanDie in ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'', but the Word of Blake Jihad period was infamous for how much of the C-List was wiped out during that time period. A major reason for this was because the ''Mechwarrior: Dark Age'' game (released several years earlier) had revealed in its associated promotional material and fiction that the majority of the A-list characters from the Clan Invasion and [=FedCom=] Civil War eras had survived the Jihad, and since the Jihad was characterized by how destructive it was, that meant that the C-list had to get a really big pruning. One major instance of this was on Arc-Royal, when a Blakist suicide bomber exploded during a conference of anti-Blake coalition forces, killing only C-list characters who'd been in one or two novels or sourcebooks prior to that point while harming none of the really major characters of the setting.
* Game Masters frequently do this with [=RPGs=]. You want to shock your characters out of apathy? Kill a named NPC that the party knows and may even sort of like. But if things go as they normally do, only half of your party will even remember the NPC, making them firmly C-List. Further, if the party starts developing resources, such as subordinate [[NonPlayerCharacter NPCs]], you can get their attention by killing off some of those resources… again assuming that the party even remembers them aside from a bullet point on an inventory sheet. This can be subverted if the DM decides to kill off a prominent setting-specific NPC that is often criticized as too powerful. When a supposedly '''A'''-list character like [[TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms Elminster]] is killed off, you know that the villain means business.
* Invoked and defied. The creators of ''TabletopGame/SentinelsOfTheMultiverse'' originally intended the character of Sky-Scraper to be an example of this; within the metafictional world of their fictional publishing company, Sky-Scraper was meant to be a character who'd be killed off in the [=OblivAeon=] event, covered by the game's final expansion, to show how serious the situation was. But, as they worked on her deck and art, they decided she was just too lovable to kill, and she ended up surviving instead.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/GodOfWarPS4'': Magni and Modi are two minor Aesir with only two myths to their name (Magni lifts a giant's body off of his father and they both survive Ragnarok) whose only real mythological character trait is that they're Thor's sons. They join the hunt for Kratos mainly to provide mid-game obstacles and prove that Kratos hasn't ''quite'' lost his touch when it comes to killing gods. ''Ragnarok'', however, deconstructs this as a manifestation of Odin's sociopathy, since the only reason they were sent on that mission in the first place despite being clearly in over their heads is because Odin thinks this trope applies to all Aesir, even his own family members. Thor and Sif, on the other hand, are both utterly ''devastated'' about losing two of their three children in one day, [[spoiler: and Sif eventually turns against Odin because he sent her sons to their deaths.]]
* ''VideoGame/MarvelAvengersAlliance'': An ongoing subplot in Season 2 was the Circle of 8 making systematic killings of some of the more obscure Marvel villains.
* ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX'': A general rule is that characters from Mortal Kombat games after 4 are typically killed, if not already dead, both to show how different this new timeline is and because nobody liked them. Exceptions are Kenshi, Tremor, Li Mei, and Frost.
* In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'' almost every single survivor and BSAA officer you encounter throughout the game will inevitably die no matter what.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/HolidayWars'': Superbowl Sunday is nothing but cannon fodder and killed off at almost the very start of the story.
* ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' has been known to kill so many characters during certain story arcs as to inspire an "secondary characters killed weekly" ad banner for the site, an official killcount site which ran several years (no longer functioning), as well as a contest with the reward of [[http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=070301 appearing in the official comic to die a horrible death with a horribler pun]]. Then there was the [[http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=010819 entire C-list universe that blew up]] while the main characters were distracted by "space porn". During the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' parody, they subverted it by having Torg and Riff look in mortal danger whenever the emergency lights flashed red, because it made them look like {{Red Shirt}}s. Then a Kirk-lookalike gets eaten by the aliens because he's too used to the {{Red Shirt}}s dying first. [[WordOfGod Pete]] flat out ''admitted'' that the whole point of the Kitten arcs was to kill off characters he no longer wanted around.
* ''Webcomic/{{Shortpacked}}'': {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d when Galasso, owner of the titular toy store, decides to lay off one of the staff. It isn't one of the established cast, it isn't one of the new cast he hired for Christmas, it's some [[RedShirt random girl]] the audience -- and the rest of the cast -- have never seen before. However, in a subversion this was really a SequelHook. Sydney Yus ([[MeaningfulName get it?]]) came back years later as the BigBad of a later arc.
* ''Webcomic/IrregularWebcomic'' killed off the entire cast, background characters were visible in the crowd scene on the Infinite Featureless Plain.
* Parodied by ''Webcomic/BasicInstructions'': [[http://basicinstructions.net/basic-instructions/2010/1/6/how-to-kill-off-a-fictional-character.html How to Kill Off a Fictional Character]], along with DeathIsCheap.
-->'''Scott:''' Poor, poor Rodney. We hardly knew ye.\\
'''Ric:''' Too true.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:WebOriginal]]
* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': In the massive Halloween invasion of SuperheroSchool Whateley Academy, not one protagonist or important side character was killed. The only deaths were some mooks, a couple unimportant members of Whateley Security, and Erik Mahren's girlfriend.
* ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall'' actually discusses this following Event Comic Week III, which reviewed ''ComicBook/ZeroHourCrisisInTime'', ''ComicBook/HouseOfM'', ''ComicBook/SecretEmpire'' and ''ComicBook/HeroesInCrisis'', all events where heroes turn evil or are killed off. When asked as to why he complains when characters are killed off, he listed off a number of characters who have been killed, including Danny Chase, who is one of his favorite characters, and have not come back. He, then, mentions [[ComicBook/Batgirl2000 Cassandra Cain]], who was turned evil, then back to good after vocal backlash. Many of the characters who have a fanbase, thus can be revived or restored at will, but not every B- or C-Lister does, thus it could be years or decades before they come back. Ultimately, he cares for when DC or Marvel kills someone because, otherwise, who will?
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars'' introduces General Grievous -- and [[EstablishingCharacterMoment establishes him as a threat]] -- by having him defeat a team of seven Jedi: Daakman Barrek, K'Kruhk, Tarr Seirr, Sha'a Gi, Shaak Ti, Aayla Secura, and Ki-Adi-Mundi (all but the last three are killed). Who? Exactly.
** Shaak Ti, however, went on to [[AscendedExtra play a major role]] in Season 2.
** Other material establishes that K'Kruhk lived, and in fact is ''still'' alive in ''Star Wars: Legacy'', nearly 160 years after this attack. Thanks to his hat. [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/K%27Kruhk%27s_hat No, seriously.]] Since then K'Kruhk's ability to [[UnexplainedRecovery re-appear unarmed after a supposed "death"]] has become something of a RunningGag.
** Also, Sha'a Gi doesn't even qualify as a C-lister as much as he's a ShoutOut to [[Franchise/ScoobyDoo a character as far removed from Star Wars as you could imagine]].
** ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' prefers to use simple redshirts and mauveshirts over this trope in most situations but they managed to kill off one of their better known clone trooper protagonists and one Jedi who survived the Clone Wars in the EU. In "Grievous' Intrigue" however this was averted. Eeth Koth was brought back after an artwork stated him as one of the dead Jedi from ''Attack of the Clones'' and originally died in the script but this idea was scrapped in favour of him being too interesting to be simply killed off.
* ''WesternAnimation/GreenLanternTheAnimatedSeries'': Most of the new Green Lanterns [[CanonForeigner created exclusively for the series]] have a habit of ending up dead by the end of the episode they debuted in.
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': almost nothing changes over 100+ episodes, except Cleveland and Loretta (supporting character and minor character, respectively) separate, Mr. Weed chokes to death, Paddy Tanniger the caddy manager is run over by a tank, and the vaudeville guys (joke characters) are killed by Stewie (though they do show up in the afterlife). Also all the victims in the hour-long special "And Then There Were Fewer" count, though as there was a bunch of other C-Listers hanging around, this actually served to make it more suspenseful: you really didn't know which minor characters would be dead by the end of the episode. Of all the characters who died in the murder mystery episode, two of them were introduced in that episode (Priscilla and Stephanie), another one only appeared in one episode, and wasn't too popular nor interesting (Derek Wilcox) and another one was an extra (Muriel Goldman). Although they did try to make her into a recurring character by having her hang out with Lois and Bonnie during season 6, without any success. The only important death was Dianne Simmons. Muriel's death was actually lampshaded in "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS13E1TheSimpsonsGuy The Simpsons Guy]]". During the fight between Peter Griffin and Homer Simpson, Homer attempts a PreMortemOneLiner by saying "Say hello to Maude Flanders!" Peter pulls a NoYou by saying "No, you say hello to Muriel Goldman!", prompting Homer to reply "Who?"
* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' used this in episode that opens with a promise to kill 100 characters during the course of the story. Several A-Listers are teased as possibilities throughout the episode (including a few TemptingFate moments). Ultimately though, the death toll comes when a literal busload of C-Listers all go off a cliff together. The next episode opens with their mass funeral as a ContinuityNod, then quickly forgets about them to focus on the earlier episode's change to the status quo involving Haley and Jeff instead.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': one of the most StatusQuoIsGod series ever. Bleedin' Gums Murphy, Mrs. Glick and Maude Flanders died, as did Marvin Monroe (and [[UnexplainedRecovery he]] [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail got better]]). Frank Grimes died in the episode he was introduced. Dr. Nick apparently died in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie'', but [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail got better]]. Mona Simpson (Homer's mother) did die but the number of episodes she had a major role in can be counted on one hand. The same can be said for the victim of the TonightSomeoneDies episode of Season 26, Rabbi Krustofsky. And numerous other characters have died, but only in non-canon WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror episodes. Jokingly pointed out in one episode involving a mock trivia question.
-->Which popular ''Simpsons'' characters have died in the past year?\\
If you said 'Bleeding Gums' Murphy and Doctor Marvin Monroe, you are wrong! They were never popular.
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' and ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'': Professor Milo, a minor [[RoguesGallery Batman villain]]. Normally, being part of Batman's rogue gallery grants you JokerImmunity, but not for Professor Milo, who has the dubious distinction of having been KilledOffForReal not once, but ''twice'' in truly gruesome deaths in two different animated series:
** In the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited'' episode "The Doomsday Sanction", Professor Milo is killed [[EvilIsNotAToy after awakening Doomsday]]. He thought he could convince Doomsday to kill Amanda Waller, whom he wanted revenge on, but he was gravely mistaken.
** In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' episode "Gorillas in Our Midst!" Comicbook/TheSpectre converts him into cheese [[DeathByIrony and lets some of Milo's mutant rats feed on him]].
** If we consider that in the novel ''ComicBook/ArkhamAsylumASeriousHouseOnSeriousEarth'', Milo is [[FateWorseThanDeath secluded in Arkham]] [[GuiltByAssociationGag while he insists]] [[GoAmongMadPeople he is perfectly sane]], that makes him the ButtMonkey of the [[RoguesGallery Batman villains]].
** Also from ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'', B'wana Beast could be considered an example or an inversion. On one hand he's certainly a more obscure character who they could get away with killing off for real. On the other, his final scenes were both heart-rending and extremely heroic, giving it far more weight then is usual for the trope.
* Other examples from ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited'':
** This is a major plot point in the episode "The Patriot Act" where, due to most of the League being occupied/off-world [[BadassNormal several]] [[ClothesMakeTheSuperman heroes]] fill in for Superman at a parade. Said parade is attacked by a villain who stole a SuperSerum to match [[FlyingBrick Superman]]. The civilians wanted to see an A-Lister, but when the chips were down, the Heroes did their damnedest outmatched or not.
** A massive EnemyCivilWar breaks out in the penultimate episode "Alive!" and while there are a few major deaths, most of the casualties are villains who've had few-to-no lines in the series: people like Monocle, Neutron, Merlyn, Major Disaster, Lady Lunar, Fastball, Goldface, Hellgrammite, Electrocutioner, Doctor Cyber, Crowbar, Bloodsport, Angle Man… The more relevant villains in the list include Silver Banshee, ComicBook/{{The Shade|DCComics}}, Copperhead, and Parasite. The last one was still a relatively prominent bad guy in ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries''.
* The Wreckers in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' seem to be heading towards this. One of the toys created for ''VideoGame/TransformersFallOfCybertron'', a prequel to the show, is a PaletteSwap of [[CombiningMecha Bruticus]] that's made out of several Wreckers including Impactor and Roadbuster. The only time those two are mentioned in the show is in a rant from Wheeljack about the Great War killing almost all of the Wreckers. Though the Wreckers have low life expectancy in pretty much every continuity, so this is to be expected.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanAssaultOnArkham'' has three confirmed fatalities: [=KGBeast=], King Shark, and Black Spider. The former is a D-lister used to show the bombs were real; King Shark would become a BreakoutCharacter [[WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn much]] [[Film/TheSuicideSquad later on]], but very much ''was'' C-list at the time; and Black Spider was, and still is, a rather obscure character. The latter two did, at least, make it late into the movie. Killer Frost, who is more of a B-lister, [[NeverFoundTheBody likely died]] when she was in a car that exploded after being thrown by Characters/{{Ba|tmanBane}}ne.
* ''WesternAnimation/SuicideSquadHellToPay'' has several major deaths (namely [[Characters/DCComicsVandalSavage Vandal Savage]] and Zoom, likely [[Characters/SuicideSquadSupportStaff Amanda Waller]]), but many of the deaths are far lesser-known characters, such as Punch, Jewlee, Count Vertigo, Tobias Whale, Professor Pyg, Silver Banshee, Blockbuster, Copperhead, Killer Frost[[note]]specifically the Crystal Frost version, rather than the more well-known Louise Lincoln[[/note]], and Bronze Tiger. Knockout, another C-lister, subverts this in that she ''was'' gunned down but ultimately revealed in the follow-up comic to have survived.
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