[[EightBitTheater http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/8BT.jpg]]
[[caption-width:200:Dammit, we're out of misogyny! Pass the [[ProductPlacement Sunny D]] instead, will ya?]]

[[RuleOfDrama Bad Things happen to heroes and their supporting cast.]] Superhero comics are no different. Characters get hurt, traumatized, maimed, and killed all the time, for a variety of reasons.

For supporting characters, those reasons can range from [[MoralEventHorizon illustrating villains' evil]], to [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge motivating the heroes]], or to giving those characters themselves a chance to overcome their victimization (if they're still alive, and ''that'' [[DeathIsCheap might not be a problem either]] in superhero stories).

However, there's one obvious distinction that seems to affect how this sort of drama plays out in comics: whether the supporting character is [[DoubleStandard male or female]]. When Bad Things happen, especially in [[DorkAge the last decade or two]], they happen disproportionately -- and in a disproportionately ''ugly'' way, including brutal rapes and murders -- to women. Worse, female characters often seem to suffer these slings and arrows simply to upset male superheroes and give them motivation to defeat the villain -- i.e., to do their jobs.

Even among the superheroic supporting cast of a story, a female character is more likely to suffer permanent consequences due to villains' machinations or from a fight -- and in settings where concerns like paralyzation, depowering, or death can often be disposed of by the end of an issue, these problems more often ''stick'' to a female character.

Main characters aren't immune to this DoubleStandard, either. For example, {{Superman}} has been depowered, power-shifted, and dosed with a spectrum of colored kryptonite throughout his history. However, he never gave up his powers for an extended period of time, continued trying to fight evil as a secret agent, and had to be frequently rescued by Lois Lane, complete with a [[DistressedDamsel scantily-dressed and bound Clark]] on covers; DC left ''that'' to WonderWoman, years back.

Now, few people suggest that [[MostWritersAreMale comics writers in general]] have it in for women. Supporting characters are ''supporting'' characters, after all -- being imperiled or suffering so as to affect the main character is part of their job description. Many CListFodder heroes are female, making them handy [[TonightSomeoneDies when cheap deaths are called for]], particularly in [[CrisisCrossover big events]]. Most heroes are male, so certain roles in their personal supporting casts, particularly love interests, tend to be women. Further, Bad Things happening to women strikes many people as [[MenAreTheExpendableGender more dramatically powerful]].

However, putting aside all the sexist aspects of those very causes, they unavoidably add up to women tending to suffer and die much more cheaply -- and worse, ''less heroically'' -- than men in superhero comics.

Trope named for the [[http://www.unheardtaunts.com/wir/ website]] and a jarring example of the trope from GreenLantern.

'''Note:''' Examples for this trope should ''not'' include every major misfortune of a female character in a story, and especially not tragedies among a mostly-female cast. In some cases the narrative in question actually benefits from the maiming or death, as in the case of [[SpiderMan Gwen Stacy's death]] or [[{{Batman}} Barbara Gordon's rebirth as Oracle]]. This trope comes into play when the woman in question is not just killed, but ''devalued'' in some fundamental way (note how many of these characters [[StayInTheKitchen die in the kitchen]] after attempting to stand side by side with their male counterparts). In other words a cheap, gruesome, often sexually humiliating death which serves no purpose other than to motivate a male character and is just as quickly [[DisposableWoman forgotten]] in future story arcs. Also note that the character need not ''die'' to qualify; many female superheroes end up raped, traumatized, mutilated, brainwashed or psychologically scarred in ways rarely visited upon male superheroes.

----

!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: {{Anime}}/{{Manga}}]]
* Inverted somewhat in {{Gundam 00}}, where [[spoiler: Louise's ''entire family'' is killed off to catalyze her transformation into a DarkActionGirl after the TimeSkip.]]
** But then she herself and [[spoiler: Kinue]] were used this way to make [[spoiler: Saji]] undergo CharacterDevelopment. Then there's also [[spoiler: Anew Returner]].
** In the original ''MobileSuitGundam'', Lalah Sun's death serves to motivate ''both'' Amuro and Char, with each blaming the other for her death. From then on, ItsPersonal between them.
* The ''SamuraiGun'' exist to avenge the evils of the Shogunate, but somehow always ends up avenging the deaths of large-breasted prostitutes.
* Averted in the ''StreetFighterII'' animated [[TheMovie movie]]; yes, ActionGirl Chun-Li ends up battered into unconsciousness by Vega - but right before she passes out ''she puts him through a'' '''''wall''''' and kills him. [[spoiler: And she actually ''lives'' to tell this, too.]]
** They threw every disadvantage at her as they could too; she was ambushed (the guys have prep time for their fight), Vega is the only villian with a weapon (Sagat and Bison are pure fist; yes, even Bison), her fight was in an enclosed space (the final was outside, on a mountain with no collateral damage)
** There's a reason the Chun-Li/Vega fight is considered the most popular StreetFighter fight ever animated.
*** Yes, it's called ''ClothingDamage.''
**** And [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome 'Ultra'.]]
***** Well yes, but also because ''it's an incredible fight scene.''

[[/folder]]

[[folder:{{Comic Books}}]]
* {{DC Comics}} luuurves this trope and uses it whenever they need some Drama to happen. Some of the more {{egregious}} examples:
** The Trope Namer was GreenLantern Kyle Rayner's first girlfriend, found literally StuffedIntoTheFridge, murdered in sickening fashion by minor villain Major Force.
*** This is the incident that led to the name of the aforementioned site. And the straw fanning the justified anger.
** First Batgirl, Barbara Gordon. The Joker shot her in the spine (leaving her paraplegic), took naked pictures of her and showed them to her father, CommissionerGordon, as the crux of his attempt to give Gordon his "one bad day" in the Batman story, "The Killing Joke." Nowadays she makes an excellent name for herself as super-hacker Oracle.
*** Fun Fact: Oracle gained much of her current popularity due to authors Chuck Dixon and then Gail Simone, who in turn wrote the Oracle-led team ''Birds of Prey''. Gail Simone was also founder of the "Women in Refrigerators" website.
** Sue Dibny, wife of the Elongated Man, stamped in the brain and then burned with a flamethrower by suddenly-gone-completely-bonkers Jean Loring, ex-girlfriend of the Atom. And, of course, Sue Dibny was pregnant. Also, after her death, it is revealed that she had been raped years before and had her memory wiped.
*** Sue Dibny's fate is particularly {{egregious}} because of the ExecutiveMeddling behind it. According to former DC assistant editor Valerie D'Orazio, the entire ''IdentityCrisis'' miniseries grew out of DC's desire to depict a rape.
*** Jean Loring would count as well. She was seriously [[OutOfCharacter maligned]] to have the whole plot come together in the first place, with absolutely no buildup to her going psycho, making her reveal as the BigBad come from far left field.
** Matrix {{Supergirl}}'s tale is one of mind-controlling, depowering, repowering, retconning, and finally losing her husband and child before vanishing from the comics forever.
** Donna Troy's actual backstory is that she has to live hundreds of lives and suffer great horrors in all of them.
*** It may be worth noting that the Donna Troy character never actually ''had'' a coherent backstory for the first couple decades of her existence. Rather, DC gave her a new 'origin story' every few years, with each new 'origin' containing a number of details that contradicted various aspects of one or more of the past 'origins'. Writer/artist John Byrne, attempting to make sense out of this intractable morass of Gordian continuity knot, came up with the tortured-and-raped-thru-various-lifetimes schtick as an attempt to (a) "make a silk purse out of a sow's ear", while also (b) ''not'' just throwing yet another 'origin' onto the pile. While said schtick does have the benefit of accepting all the past 'origins' as valid continuity, the 'squick factor' suggests that perhaps Mr. Byrne might have been better advised to leave well enough alone.
*** Her retconned story isn't terrible (horrible to her yes, but at least it makes sense), the problem comes come her death (every time) always having to be a direct [[StuffedInAFridge influence on the other (male) characters around her]].
** Power Girl gave parthenogenical birth to a boy who aged super-fast, then [[{{Squick}} romanced her]]. Seriously.
*** Marvel Comics upped the ante by doing this story (first) with the added feature of having Avengers member Ms. Marvel be "subtly influenced" by her son/lover's machines, yet still running off with him to another dimension after learning the truth. Thankfully, another writer realized how idiotic this was and, upon her return, had her deliver a rather justified speech against what boneheads the Avengers were for not attempting to stop an incestuous rapist ''with MindControl'' from running off with her.
** ''{{Batman}}'''s Stephanie Brown, a.k.a. The Spoiler: so quickly disposed of after becoming Robin (this was ''after'' being gratuitously tortured and made to screw up majorly, mind you) that there is no memorial to her in the Batcave, and [[FanNickname Bats]] and Tim Drake barely take the time to mourn her passing after the first plot arc.
***Chuck Dixon then did a AuthorsSavingThrow revealing that Steph was actually off recovering in Africa the whole time and now she's back to her full ActionGirl glory. The lack of memorial was because Batman ''suspected'' this, though, not knew - [[http://www.shortpacked.com/d/20080620.html so he's still a dick.]]
** Big Barda's death wasn't quite this -- after all, it was part of ''Death Of The New Gods'', she was going to die ''some'' time -- but it set off enough red flags to leave a bitter taste in some fans' mouths (let's see, dead in a kitchen? Check. No signs of struggle, despite the fact that she's a goddess of war? Check. Husband finds her, and her death serves to motivate him? Check).
*** Written by Jim Starlin? Big ol' check. So, Yeah.
** The female Dr. Light was beaten and depowered by the villainous male Dr. Light in Green Arrow's book, so that GA and Black Lightning could play the heroes. It's made abundantly clear that the writer DidNotDoTheResearch, as he downplays her intelligence (she is a physicist and a medical doctor, and knows her powers), and her status as a hero (she came out of retirement in a solo story, and appeared in an issue of Wonder Woman during the period of inactivity he claims), all for the sole purpose of [[{{Chickification}} painting her as inferior]]. And, as mentioned in the DisposableWomanDiscussion, after Arrow and Lightning find her and are properly motivated, she is [[http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5022/1374/1600/ga55%2001.0.jpg left sprawled on the hospital floor]], [[DisposableWoman her situation never to be addressed again in the story]]. Also, this being the same villain who raped Sue Dibny in the previous example, he later compares this depowering to rape. AND, if ALL THAT weren't bad enough, [[KarmaHoudini the villain gets away scot-free at the end of the story]]. Did I mention that the female Dr. Light is Japanese, and the writer has ''said'' that he's concerned about the lack of powerful Asian females in comics?? You better believe this is a case of actions speaking louder than words. [[http://marionetteblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/incandescent-losing-light.html It's all spelled out in this blog.]]
** The [[strike:[[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontLike mostly stupid]]]] [[YourMileageMayVary totally hilarious]] ''Ambush Bug: Year None'' has at least one good joke in it about this - it deals with the murder and fridge-stuffing of a little cartoon girl with the DC Comics logo for a body who used to appear on DC covers. In the beginning, Ambush Bug is shopping for refrigerators, and each model's selling point is how many female supporting characters it can hold.
* Gehenna's death in [[CrisisCrossover Blackest Night]] is definitely this. We're introduced to her and her boyfriend Jason Rusch (the current Firestorm) talking about how they love each other and want a life together. By the end of the isse, she spends three pages being tortured while her boyfriend helplessly looks on, merged with the zombified body of the previous Firestorm, before she's turned into salt and has her heart ripped out. All to both provide another death to get over how horrifying the Black Lanterns are and to most likely set up Jason's eventual kicking of ass and/or taking of names. But damn was it terrifying...
** Blackest Night also provided a twisted lampshading/inversion of the trope by having Kyle Rayner's reanimated murdered girlfriends show up and try to stuff ''him'' in a fridge ([[BigDamnHeroes he was rescued in the nick of time, of course]]).
* MarvelComics is quite fond of the trope as well.
** [[TheGwenStacy Gwen Stacy]] is the ur-example. Just as Gwen and Spider-Man were [[OfficialCouple getting their act together as a couple]], the Green Goblin dropped her off a bridge ([[DroppedABridgeOnHim partly so the writers wouldn't have to marry them off]]). In 1972 it was pretty much [[AnyoneCanDie unthinkable]] for a [[ContractualImmortality long-running]] comic book superhero's [[LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt love interest]] to [[KilledOffForReal die]], so it was a bit of a surprise. On top of that, it has been heavily implied that Spider-Man's attempt to save her may have been what killed her in the first place by pulling her so quickly with his web, so the emotional impact is more over his guilt at possibly being responsible.
** Comicbook/{{Spider-Man}}'s aunt May Parker is pretty much the punching bag of the comic. She's been killed, discovered ''not'' to be dead, implanted with a bomb, sniped, attacked... everything but made pregnant, probably only because she's way past menopause by this point. And if they hadn't chosen to RetCon ''Trouble'' out of the timeline, she would have had ''that'' covered, too. And ''despite'' all that, Aunt May is [[InvertedTrope total opposite]] of this trope. Despite her numerous deaths, the writers (and [[RunningTheAsylum editors]]) can't seem to keep the old bitty in the ground and actually ''let'' her death have any significance. Uncle Ben on the other hand...
*** Note that not only was ''Trouble'' never canon, it could '''never''' have been canon -- the May of that series has a teenage pregnancy, and Spidey's Aunt May is canonically more than fifty years his senior. Of course, that didn't stop them from wanting it to be. There's interviews out there where the editor at the time said he hoped the fans would be happy to accept this as the true origin of Spiderman. This was during a period where Jemas and Quesada said anything to get media attention, hype etc.
** In a recent comic, a young superheroine named Gadget, who had an interesting premise -- she found herself inspired by Tony Stark and built a suit of PoweredArmor ''[[strike:IN A CAVE]] in her garage'' -- was on her very first adventure, encountered a bad guy with gravity powers, and was crushed into a ball the size of a melon (this was not shown, but was described as the result by another character) -- but not fast enough to stop her from shrieking "[[BigNo Noooooo]]!" off-panel.
*** Her whole place in the story was to lay a guilt trip down on Iron Man, being such a low-totem character that (in-universe) he couldn't even remember her the time he did meet her, but he still went through three issues to avenge her death.
** Psylocke is the {{X-Men}}'s resident whipping girl. She's had her eyes removed, been brainwashed, died, brought back to life, brainwashed again, severely injured, died again, and then resurrected. Her powers have gone through so many variations that some comic book fans don't know what the hell she can do anymore. (Though [[{{PsychicPowers}} psychically powered]] ActionGirl sums it up pretty nicely.)
*** Just Psylocke? You speak as if the X-Men has ''non'' whipping girls. Or boys. They must have one ''hell'' of a fridge. And a deep freeze.
*** Look at Jean. The excuse of correcting her coming back doesn't fly when the writers are forced to kill her off in continuities where DPS never happened. The only one they are allowed to keep her is Ultimate, where [[{{Squick}} she has the same hair and costume as Rachel]].
** A rare subversion was Storm's tenure without her abilities, after one of Forge's inventions stripped them from her? This actually went down very well with the fans, and remained for an extended stint, during which she gathered many survival skills that enabled her to continue leading the X-Men, instead of ceding the leadership to Wolverine. Anyone who's been reading before Gambit showed up already knows where she learned her burglary. Even as a child...''after'' being an adult...being depowered didn't make her a weaker person or have terrible things (well, extra-terrible; she IS an X-Man, after all) suddenly start befalling her. She even managed to win a fight against a fully-powered Psylocke through cunning and skill during this period, just proving that Storm, powered or no, is a force to be reckoned with.
** The Wasp, in all of her incarnations (except as Giant-Girl in the LighterAndSofter ''Marvel Adventures''), is honestly the most put upon female in comics. It's like humiliating her--to death, even--is every writer's entire [=MO=].
*** Probably to match her ButtMonkey ex. Whether it was sarcastic or not ''GailSimone'' twittered after the last issue of ''Secret Invasion'' to say how glad she was the character had been fridged after Jan [[{{DroppedABridgeOnHim}} was offed]]. It doesn't ''get'' more put-upon than that.
** Tigra is a strong, confidant, brash woman who doesn't so much fail to defend herself when a lone thug breaks into her home as fail to even ''try'' to defend herself. Not only does she do nothing but scream while he brutalizes her and tapes the whole thing, but she gets shot in the back because she was trying to ''run away''. Keep in mind that this is a woman who once threw herself headfirst into a platoon of fully-armed guards and proceeded to hand them their collective asses. Made all the worse by the author straight-up admitting that he just doesn't like the character.
*** Whether as a throwaway joke, or because he really didn't like the scene in question, the current writer of ''The Initiative'' has explicitly referred to her upcoming rematch with The Hood as [[http://asylums.insanejournal.com/scans_daily/234629.html "coming out of the refrigerator, scratching, clawing, biting"]].
** ''All'' love interests presented in ''{{Daredevil}}''. Three girlfriends dead so far (one suicide, one killed in a pointless way after they weren't together anymore, two killed by the same man with one of them revived but the shock of her death had great effects of Daredevil's psyche). One of them (his wife) is currently on a mental institution after being driven crazy by villain Mr. Fear (to the point of brutally beating her own nurse). His latest love interest was shot at and attacked by The Owl, though it seems the relationship won't be more developed for the time being.
** Considering how many ComicBookTropes are subverted in ''{{Invincible}}'', [[spoiler:Atom Eve's]] death is played surprisingly straight - she rushes to her boyfriend's defense against a one-off villain and is promptly killed so that we can get an ItsPersonal moment from him.
***[[spoiler: She survives and saves his ass in the latest issue. Consider this subverted.]]
** ''Runaways'', [[spoiler:Gert is murdered by Geoffrey Wilder when she goes to save her boyfriend, whom she was just fighting with and pretty much dumped in a fit of anger.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:{{Film}}]]
* Many fans consider ''TheDarkKnight'' the most spot-on depiction of Batman yet, and it certainly doesn't falter in this area, despite his back story ''already'' invoking a more genuine version of tragedy in regards to his parents. It's also possible that in doing this, ''TheDarkKnight'' is intentionally subverting other tropes: how many other superhero ''movies'' have [[spoiler:the love interest]] ''dying''? Dark Knight's example seems more legitimately horrifying than played-just-to-shock, especially considering the Joker's overall level of brutality in the movie (Remember Lau? He never got ''off'' that pile of money.)
[[/folder]]

[[folder:{{Literature}}]]
* In the StarWarsExpandedUniverse, this was arguably done with Mara Jade Skywalker in the ''Legacy of the Force series to prove [[VillainSue just how evil and badass her nephew Jacen Solo]] had become. Some points:
** Jedi die like dogs all the time, Jedi, maybe, [[SortingAlgorithmOfMortality but not]] Jedi main characters. Compare [[DethroningMomentOfSuck Mara's death]] with comparable male main character deaths in ''NewJediOrder'': [[spoiler:Anakin and Chewie each got HeroicSacrifices which at least accomplished ''something'']], as well as Kyle Katarn in the ''LegacyOfTheForce'', who was stabbed ''through the heart by a lightsaber'' and survived. Mara got to give the villain an EvilPowerUpgrade, and, following this trope to the letter, provoked her husband to go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge which [[spoiler:[[CharacterDerailment led him to murder Lumiya]]]]. Even [[spoiler:Darth [[strike:Idiot]] Caedus]] got a better death than ''that''. StuffedInTheFridge? [[WallBanger Absolutely]].
*** Then there's the fact that if the writers had just allowed her methods to play out logically, [[PlotArmor Caedus would have died in that first pass with the StealthX]]. Then she takes it to her own territory, fighting ''dirty'' like an assassin and not a Jedi, and it's ''Caedus's'' stupid cheap shot that wins.
** So in the end, Mara joins the shameful history of all of Luke's other love interests over the years: Jem, Gaeriel, Teneniel, [[MindRape Ta'a Chume]]...and Luke himself sends Shira to join them. About the only one known to be still kicking is Leia, [[{{Squick}} which is really disturbing when you think about it]]. Are Callista and Akanah still alive?
* Elizabeth, the LoveInterest in MaryShelley's ''{{Frankenstein}}'', making this trope OlderThanRadio.
** The monster only kills Elizabeth because [[RevengeByProxy Victor destroys his mate]]. At this point he had already murdered Victor's friend Henry and his 5 year old brother William.
* Subverted in the novel ''Fools Die'' by Mario Puzo (yes, he wrote ''TheGodfather''). The protagonist is a writer and his mistress makes a comment to him that he isn't to have her die like the women always do in the stories. Later in the novel, [[spoiler:she dies from a cerebral hemorrhage]].
* The most recent [[ForgottenRealms Drizzt]] novel, ''The Ghost King'', did this. The signs were unfortunately there in the previous book, ''The Pirate King'', but in no way was this expected, given Salvatore's history with the character: probably the second-most important character in the novels is reduced to a mobile plot device, mentally tortured into catatonia, is used to motivate male characters, speaks three lucid lines total, [[spoiler:has sex with her husband, and then dies]]. There's even a scene where Drizzt convinces himself that only by [[spoiler:killing the Ghost King will Catti-brie be healed, even though he consciously knows it's probably not true]]. And to top it all off, the [[spoiler:[[FridgeLogic the text implies]] [[DownerEnding her husband will not get to go to the same heaven she does when he dies]]]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]
* Played sort of straight in ''{{Supernatural}}'': The deaths of Jess and Mary served to spur Sam's and John's respective revenge hunting. However, [[spoiler:Jess's death was part of a four seasons long BatmanGambit.]] ''{{Supernatural}}'' later adds to the list characters Pamela Barnes and Ellen and Jo Harvelle to further progress the plot and motivate the boys [[spoiler: all of whom eventually die painful deaths for the sake of the boys]]. The de-posessed Meg Masters may also be considered to die a refrigerator death at the end of season one as she dies to show the boys how terrible the demons truly are. Bela Talbot is revealed to have been raped by her father as a child before being killed, and although her death does not motivate the lead characters it is intended to compel the audience.
* [[spoiler:Tara]] on ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. She acts as a valued member of the team and a LipstickLesbian love interest for Willow--then [[spoiler: Glory drives her insane]] and Willow goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge. The following season, it happens again: [[spoiler: Warren shoots and kills her, and Willow's RoaringRampageOfRevenge is so severe it causes a FaceHeelTurn]].
** Earlier in the second season [[spoiler: Jenny Calendar is killed by Angelus and left in her lover Rupert Giles' bedroom, along with a number of things to make the latter initially believe that she has arrived in his home for a romantic rendezvous]]. It is debatable whether this is a case of schlock or effective writing in line with Whedon's usual tropes, as her planned death had been merely delayed due to fan popularity.
** Another contentious example are the large number of Potential Slayers killed off in season 7, which seem to fit many characteristics. Young Females? Check. Killed off by the BigBad in particularly brutal ways to show how evil they are and to sustain drama? Check. Serves the main purpose of giving the hero something to {{wangst}} over and make sure ItsPersonal? Oh yeah, Check.
*** Of course, as mentioned, Buffy has always been an AnyoneCanDie show, it was made clear long before their arrival that all potential slayers are young females, and indeed may better be viewed as the similarly short-lived characters of soldiers in a war movie.
* In the first season of Angel, Gunn's sister Alonna is kidnapped by a gang of vampires to lure him to their lair. They turn her into a vampire to torment him. He ends up having to stake her himself. It's not entirely WomenInRefrigerators, as she is brought up at least twice more during the series--once during his initial appearance in the second season, and once when he meets up with his old crew--but aside from those the plotline might as well have not existed other than to get him into Angel's group.
* ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': Poor K'Eylehr. A semi-prominent recurring character and excellent foil/love interest for Worf, perfectly capable of handling herself in a fight, plus an Ambassador--brutally and easily murdered by [[strike:a total loser]] ''a very powerful and influential blood enemy of Worf's who happens to be one of the claimants to the position of Chancellor, thank you'', to give Worf a reason to angst, kill him, and confront the reality of his and K'Eylehr's young son, Alexander. Even worse is that K'Eylehr ''and Alexander'' are promptly forgotten for quite a few episodes. StatusQuoIsGod.
**This one's even admitted by the writers:
-->'''Ronald D. Moore:''' "I am happy to pass the buck on this one to Michael Piller. It was his idea to kill K'Ehleyr during the story break because it would be a great dramatic turn and would provide Worf with ample reason to go stick a bat'leth into Duras' guts."
* In the BBC version of ''Series/RobinHood'' [[spoiler: Maid Marian ''herself'']] was killed off for what was (by the writers' admission) nothing more than shock value. Needless to say, this creative decision backfired spectacularly, and the combined forces of fan outrage and a crummy time slot meant that ratings for Season 3 plummeted through the floor. Despite attempts to set up for a forth season, the show was canned by the BBC.
* Happens literally, yet subverts the trope, in ''{{Dollhouse}}''. A kidnapped girl is stored in a refrigerator, but she's still alive, and gets rescued.
** Later on [[spoiler:[=DeWitt=] sends Hearn to kill Mellie. Then she remotely activates Mellie's active programming, whereupon she gets up, fights Hearn off, and ''breaks his neck'' on a coffee table.]]
* ''{{NCIS}}:'' Invoked. Ari kills [[spoiler:Kate]], and goes after [[spoiler:Jenny]] and [[spoiler:Abby]], just because he knows it'll hurt Gibbs more. (Gibbs' first wife and daughter were murdered while he was deployed in Desert Storm.)
** Less deliberately, or at least without apparently considering the UnfortunateImplications, most of the recurring characters killed off on ''NCIS'' have been female: Kate, as mentioned above, [[spoiler: Jenny, Paula Cassidy, and Michelle Lee]]. Compare male recurring characters: Gerald (shot but not dead), Ari, and [[spoiler: La Grenouille]], and consider the latter two were villains.
*** [[spoiler:Agent Brett Langer]], killed by [[spoiler:Lee]], might count, as a male. He was [[spoiler: brought in under Gibbs' recommendation, set up as a protege, then killed off as a supposed mole.]] It haunts Gibbs for several episodes, and he is spurred to clear his name.
* ''{{LOST}}'': A repeat offender. [[spoiler:Shannon]] ''and'' [[spoiler:Nadia]] for [[spoiler:Sayid]], [[spoiler:Libby]] for [[spoiler:Hurley]], [[spoiler:Charlotte]] for [[spoiler:Faraday]], and possibly [[spoiler: Juliet]] for [[spoiler:Sawyer]]. Fans of the couple hope that Penny won't be killed to bring Desmond to the island for revenge.
* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' gives us Eden, Simone, Elle, and most egregiously, Maya. Maya suffered the particular indignity of being duped by Sylar, shot by Sylar, resurrected, and then kidnapped and nearly killed by power-crazed Mohinder. Early in S1, Claire was sexually assaulted and killed by a classmate, which served primarily to illustrate her father's ruthless protectiveness afterwards.
**However, it was Claire herself who found out he'd made a habit of this and had raped another classmate, and so got him into a car and then crashed it at full speed. She healed, of course. [[FridgeLogic Lucky, very lucky, that she wasn't trapped inside]] for paramedics to discover her HealingFactor...
* In the second season opener of {{Sanctuary}}, [[spoiler: Will's ShallowLoveInterest Clara is killed off for no clear purpose beyond causing him angst. This is especially [[TVTropesDrinkingGame egregious]] because she had only been introduced in the season one finale]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:VideoGames]]
* Subverted by ''StarCraft''. Kerrigan is betrayed by Mengsk and left for dead. It initially appears that she has been StuffedIntoTheFridge to motivate Jim Raynor, but after briefly addressing Raynor the bulk of the game (and its expansion) shift focus almost entirely to Kerrigan. And oh, is she pissed.
** And its sequel. She is now, in fact, the BigBad. And oh, is she ''still'' pissed.
*** That's "Queen Bitch of the Universe," thank you.
* Both used and inverted in ''BaldursGate II'': Just before the game starts, [[spoiler:Minsc]] was forced to watch as Irenicus murdered [[spoiler:Dynaheir]]. This kind of backfires, as his rage at the act, stoked by main character's words, allows him to escape. Meanwhile, the party discovers [[spoiler:Khalid]], who was mutilated after being killed. [[spoiler:Jaheira, his wife]], naturally gets a little...''intense''.
* Two party members get rather [[DroppedABridgeOnHim arbitrarily killed]] in ''NeverwinterNights2''. No points for guessing their genders.
** Only one female (note: Female) party member has to die, and she's already clearly the least capable member of your team AND is left alone in potentially the single most dangerous area in the world. Granted, yes, it is indeed possible for all female cast members to die (you have to kill 2 yourself if your influence is too low, the other one just flat out leaves).
*** It's two if you count Amie.
**** Of course, in these cases it is not done to motivate the character, but in fact motivates the big bad to actually join you, so consider it a subversion. Averted when the fan favorite Neeshka survives when ''RocksFallEverybodyDies''.
* Otacon, from the ''MetalGearSolid'' series, is best described as a walking refrigerator. Any female character that has ''anything'' to do with him ''will'' get killed off in a cruel and horribly unnecessary way just so [[TheWoobie he can suffer beautifully]].
** Even his [[HeterosexualLifePartners Heterosexual Life Partner]]/Partner in HoYay Solid Snake isn't immune to this, as he's slowly dying from [[strike:the FOXDIE virus]] accelerated aging due to intentional shortening of the telemeres on his DNA.
* GrandTheftAuto Chinatown Wars had Ling as the unfortunate girl to die, leaving the game to be a psuedo BlueBishonenGhetto.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: {{Web Original}}]]
*Pick a {{New Vindicators}} character who happens to be a woman, the odds are that she died or was horribly emotionally scarred as a result of this trope.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:{{Webcomics}}]]
* ''Super Stupor'': [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] heavily (as well as {{lampshade}}d) in [[http://www.superstupor.com/sust12272007.shtml this strip]].
* Jovia in ''Starslip Crisis'', who was 'killed' when an accident involving {{FTL}} permanently sent the cast into an AlternateHistory where she was dead and everything else was otherwise the same. Ouch.
** However, in this case, she is NOT quickly forgotten.
* The mother of one of the two leads from AbstractGender is killed in an implausible way in order to make the reconciliation of the leads '''more dramatic'''.
** If you like to know how a purse snacher attacks her, she doesn't let it go, so he ''pulls out a gun and kills her'' lets not forget that this happens in a subaru what really what idoit would risk going to jail for murder over a purse?
* In ''[[http://www.brokenvoice.co.uk/shades%20surround.html Shades]]'' we have [[spoiler: Rebecca]]: Female, check. Looked like she was going to be a major character, check. Death is used as characterization for a male character, check. Defeated implausibly, well no. She was defeated while running distraction against a supervillain way out of her league. [[spoiler: as of the latest update she might just be a prisoner]]
* Parodied in ''EightBitTheater'' (see the page image). Supporting character Ranger pisses off Sarda, the [[AWizardDidIt Wizard Who Did It]]; in revenge Sarda kills his wife in a brutally pointless way and literally [[StuffedIntoTheFridge stuffs her into a fridge]], shortly before doing the same to Ranger.
* ''SluggyFreelance:'' [[spoiler:Zoe (Torg's love interest)]] got burnt to death while stuck in a malfunctioning robot by [[spoiler: Oasis (Crazy stalker who kills with her mind and WaifFu)]].
** [[spoiler: [[OrIsIt Or did she?]] Time will tell.]]
** Even if [[spoiler: she didn't die, horrific burns and dissapearance]] still qualifies as a Refrigerator moment.
* [[OrderOfTheStick Miko Miyazaki.]] Depowered AND KilledOffForReal with no possible way to come back, plus she wasn't allowed to [[CharacterDevelopment "learn her lesson"]] so that even the gods wouldn't take mercy on her. Granted, she was a [[KnightTemplar bit]] [[JerkAss overzealous]], but it seemed like a bit much. On the flip side, [[TheHero Roy]] also died, but came back with full power.
** This probably doesn't count as Miko's death is not used as a cheap plot point in order to motivate some other character.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: {{WebAnimation}}]]
* [[spoiler: Sandra Telfer]] from ''BrokenSaints'' meets a grisly end just to push [[spoiler: Raimi]] into near-HeroicBSOD territory for a couple acts, and to establish that AnyoneCanDie. However, her death plays an important and logical enough role in the story to just avoid this.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: {{Mythology}}]]
* In one Hindu tradition, the goddess [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakshayani Sati]], wife of Shiva, throws herself on a fire and burns to death. The grief-stricken Shiva abandons his duties and wanders the world with her corpse over his shoulder. He's too distraught to notice when Vishnu sneaks up behind him and starts cutting off bits of Sati's body; only when she's completely dismembered does Shiva realize that she's gone and return to sanity. Meanwhile, the places where the parts of Sati fell become sacred sites. Dates are sketchy, but this is probably OlderThanDirt.
** Note that Sati [[IGotBetter gets better]] via reincarnation.
[[/folder]]
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