Big Damn Heroes / Comic Books

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• Asterix: In Asterix and the Magic Carpet, Princess Orinjade is due to be executed if the monsoon does not begin by a certain time, as part of a power grab by the Evil Vizier, Hoodunnit. The Rajah has sent his faithful fakir to fetch Cacophanix, whose signing makes it rain, to solve the problem, and Asterix and Obelix come along as well. But on the trip from Gaul, Cacophanix has lost his voice. He's taken to an elephant work camp deep in the jungle to undergo a cure of bathing overnight in various pachyderm secretions. It doesn't restore his voice, though, so the Gauls decide to return to the palace and prevent the execution. They only hope they're in time, as the deadline is less than an hour away. Cut to the palace, where Orinjade is on the executioner's block, and the Evil Vizier is counting down.
  Hoodunnit: Three ... Two ... One ...
  Asterix: Zero! [Uppercut sends executioner out of frame]
• In the Astro City story "Hot Time In the Old Town", Dr. Aegyptus's Eldritch Abomination summoning seance goes a little awry when all of the local heroes of 1920s Romayn Falls — Jazzbaby, the Cloak of the Night, the Blasphemy Boys, and the Five Fists — get in on the action.
• The Avengers:
  • In Ultron Unlimited: "Ultron. We would have words with thee."
  • "And yet, through the smoke, Xavier sensed a coming... of hope... of heroes... of Marvels."
• Batman:
  • Batman: Year One: When James Gordon's baby is thrown off a bridge, (costumeless) Bruce jumps after him, saving him in the nick of time.
  • In The Attack of the Annihilator, the Big Bad has paralyzed Batgirl telekinetically and is about to shoot her when Supergirl swoops in and shields Batgirl with her body.
• At the end of Copperhead's second arc the prisoner manages to break out and hold one of his captors hostage against the others. The standoff is resolved when the posse breaks in and outguns the gang.
• In Captain Electron, the title character smashes his way into the Big Bad, Dr. Zongor's lab at the very instant he decides to kill his hostage — a fortuitous bit of timing given that a Poor Communication Kills moment caused the hostage to destroy the fake map that Captain Electron intended to dupe Dr. Zongor with, nearly getting the hostage shot by Zongor.
• Darkwing Duck:
  • Subverted in Issue 14. Darkwing battles a new, seemingly indestructible tank of a supervillain called Cat-tankerous, and is not having any luck — all of a sudden, out of absolutely nowhere, Launchpad flies to the rescue and rams the plane straight into Cattankerous. It doesn't actually work.
  • Just when Darkwing, Scrooge, and the gang get all caught up in Negaduck's trap, Scrooge calls for help from an "Agent 44", alias Donald Duck. He goes through the corrupted Duckburg and cries out to the entire town to let out their 'inner Donald Duck' and makes everyone get so infuriated that Negaduck loses his focus.
• Deadpool has pulled off quite a few of these, usually when he finds out innocent people are being threatened, or if he just wants to make a big entrance. Once, he stowed away on a freighter to get back to America after a job in Europe. While he was initially content to just remain in hiding until the ship got back, on the second day he heard a noise from a cargo container. Opening it, he found a group of young women who'd been kidnapped and were being taken to America to be sold into sexual slavery. Quietly telling them that everything was going to be okay, he asked them to wait in the container until he got back. Then he proceeded to kill every crew member on the ship, except for a couple that he needed to sail the ship until it got to port. Once in port, he arranged for their safe passage back home, paid for everything himself, and thoroughly enjoyed the women hugging him in joy. Then he went back to the ship, interrogated the surviving crew members to find out all they knew about the people who kidnapped the women and the people who were going to buy them when they arrived, then proceeded to hunt down everyone involved.
  Deadpool: Tough guy, you're not dealing with a frightened girl now. Deadpool's in the house.
• In Death Vigil, this is part of Bernie's job. She and Hugin show up in the first issue to rescue the protagonist from a banshee.
• ElfQuest:
  • In Part 15 of the original series, just as the Wolfriders and Leetah are about to be slaughtered by Guttlekraw's trolls, they are rescued by the Go-Backs and (big spoiler): Rayek. All except One-Eye, who's killed before they arrive. Here's the scene, if all the spoiler tags haven't put you off.
  • In the climactic battle at the end of the book, Rayek and the Holt Trolls charge in just as the Wolfriders and the Go-Backs were about to be beaten. It is lampshaded with Rayek complaining to Cutter that if he had sent Petalwing the Preserver back to guide them, they could have arrived much sooner.
• In Fantastic Four #245, Galactus is about to feast upon Earth, the FF held helpless in energy bubbles as the planet-destroying machine is set up. Galactus reaches for the lever to activate it...I SAY THEE NAY! A blast of lightning rocks him away as Thor and the Avengers arrive on the scene to help the FF.
• This◊ absolutely awesome moment from The Flash: Rebirth #4.
• In Gotham City Garage, Big Barda, Silver Banshee, Harley Quinn and Catwoman come to Kara's aid when half dozen of android enforcers are about to gun her down.
• Green Lantern: The Lost Army: When Stewart's group is about to be attacked by "cleaners" right after finding the bodies of three other Lantern Corps members Guy comes out of nowhere and crushes the cleaners as they surround the others having followed his ring to their location.
• In Infinite Crisis, The Battle of Metropolis is raging on and it seems that the villains are winning, especially when the Syndicate's flag bearer, Doomsday, charges forward and into the path of Arsenal and Green Arrow. Cue the arrival of Superman and Kal-L, who pummel Doomsday to the ground, followed by the other heroes who had been in the Antarctic with the two Kryptonians.
• When Jessica Jones has been kidnapped by a group of Hydra agents in The Pulse, a S.H.I.E.L.D. strike team led by Jessica's ex-boyfriend Clay Quartermain rescues her.
• JLA/Avengers:
  • During the final battle to stop Krona, Batman, after having beaten Batroc, faces Crossbones, Titania, Zaran, Razorfist, Libra and some other villains who want to give him some trouble. Normally even the Dark Knight would have real trouble with such an entourage of villains. But then...
    Black Panther: Good day, Batman. I was wondering if you'd need a hand?
    Huntress: (showing up along with Black Widow) Or maybe six?
    Batman: If you people have nothing better to do...
    (bad guy smackdown ensues)
  • During the battle with Krona, Krona eventually ends up killing all of the heroes, Superman included, with one energy blast. Save The Flash and Hawkeye (whom everyone had presumed dead earlier), Barry then proceeded to distract Krona to give Hawkeye a good shot.
• John Wick: Charon is cornered by a dozen of assassins with no exit in sight until John bursts through the window with nothing but a cushion and takes them all out in a matter of seconds. However, it was revealed that this was all a ploy so that John could find one of the Three Bills and take him out.
• Justice has a scene where Superman has been dog-piled by four supervillains. Blindsided and beaten on by Bizarro and Solomon Grundy, weakened by Metallo's Kryptonite heart, his powers drained by the Parasite, Superman is helpless. The whole while, he's left wondering why none of the JLA are responding to his distress call, and finally, in a rather chilling scene, Superman cries out for help. Cue Big Damn Hero moment as a lightning bolt flashes across the sky, all of the villains get an Oh, Crap! look on their faces as a red and gold blur comes down and proceeds to take them apart. Bizarro? Punched into orbit. Metallo? Kryptonite yanked out of his chest. Parasite? Had said Kryptonite jammed in his chest, and since he had stolen Superman's powers and weaknesses, was instantly defeated by it. Solomon Grundy? Beaten unconscious into a crater. In the space of a page, these four powerful villains are handily and decisively dealt with. The blur finally slows down enough to reveal who it is, offering a hand to help Superman up.
  Captain Marvel: "It's okay Superman. I got your signal. It's going to be okay."
• In Justice League: Generation Lost #8, the League has been caught breaking into Checkmate headquarters, and are on the verge of being overwhelmed by Checkmate forces. Then the wall blows in, with Captain Atom coming to the rescue:
  Ice: Thank God.
  Fire: He's not God. He's just our ride.
• In Kick-Ass, Hit Girl pulls this after she disappears by being shot and falling into the water. The mobsters assume that No One Could Survive That!, and figure she's dead. This allows her to sneak up on them just in time to save Kick-Ass from getting killed.
• Grant Morrison is particularly fond of this trope:
  • In JLA (1997) run, when the Big Bad renegade angel Asmodel is wiping the floor with the Martian Manhunter, Superman appears and tells J'onn, "Stand down old friend, I'll take it from here". Superman proceeds to fight Asmodel to a standstill during which Asmodel tells Superman to "Yield!" with Superman epically shouting "Never!".
  • Also subverted in that run when The Key devises a plan that actually depends on the Justice League's last minute heroic victory.
  • Played straight moments later when Green Arrow Jr. shuts him down with a boxing glove arrow to the face.
  • He begins his obsession in Zenith (see this article).
  • He takes it to its logical conclusion in Seven Soldiers, which is just a bunch (conspicuously more than seven) of those moments strung together, from the badass ("Gloriana! There is one!") to the farcical (Bulleteer accidentally running over the Queen of Darkness in a cartoony art style to boot) encompassing romantic, metafictional and slightly creepy along the way even finding room for an ambiguous aversion, with Klarion merrily fulfilling his own personal character arc at the expense of the rest of the "team"
  • The Multiversity:
    • Ultra escapes the time loop established at the beginning of Ultra Comics #1 with a promise that everything's going to be okay now, and manages to be the first hero in the Multiverse to successfully fight back against the Gentry... not that it ultimately does any good for more than a few seconds.
    • Played considerably straighter in The Multiversity #2 when the greatest heroes of 50 worlds charge as one to defeat the Gentry.
• In Paperinik New Adventures this was practically Xadhoom's job,so much that both she and Paperinik start lampshading it.
  • It was subverted the first time, however: she bursts through a wall and saves Paperinik from the Evronians... and then tries to kill him because she mistakes him for a Evronian.
• Subverted in Preacher, with the truly epic failure of Cassidy's attempt at rescuing Jesse and Tulip from the Saint of Killers via pick-up truck. To be specific, the truck hits the Saint of Killers, who basically has more invulnerability than the Silver-Age Superman. The truck is completely wrecked, Cassidy goes flying through the windshield and ends up a crumpled heap on the road, and the Saint of Killers barely notices the distraction.
  Cassidy: Cheer up, Preacher-man. You're rescued.
  Jesse: Asshole.
• Red Robin: Tim Drake pulls off an awesome save during Anarky II's rampage. He himself is often saved by Cassandra Cain or Dick Grayson, though in Cass's case it's revealed later to have been somewhat planned ahead of time by the two of them even if things did start spiraling out of Tim's control with the Daughters of Acheron.
• The Trope Namers get a nice one in Serenity: Leaves on the Wind. Zoe is sent to prison when she has to be hospitalized for hemorrhaging while giving birth to Emma. Zoe is sent to prison on a desert world and since most escapees die in the desert, the guards only give chase when they see the Mule and the crew. Despite being shot at, they get her to Serenity and lift off.
• The Simpsons Futurama Crossover Crisis: The Simpsons, Fry, Leela, Bender, and Nibbler are inside the Simpsons' car when it's falling from the sky. Fortunately, the car is caught by a big magnet tied to Professor Frink's flying motorcycle (with Farnsworth as Frink's passenger).
• The final part of Sonic the Hedgehog/Mega Man: Worlds Collide has the original eight Robot Masters jumping in to save Dr. Light, Proto Man, and Sonic's friends from the other Robot Masters. In turn, Proto Man, Knuckles and Dr. Light race in to save Sonic and Mega Man.
• Spider-Man: During Spider-Verse, the Inheritors have invaded the thought-to-be-safe Earth-13 with the Inheritors' patriarch, Solus, absorbing the powers of that world's Spider-Man, granting him the powers of Captain Universe. When the Earth-616 Spidey returns with Arana and Spider-Gwen, he comes back with another Spidey — the Japanese live-action Spidey complete with his Humongous Mecha Leopardon.
• Superman:
  • During the invasion of planet Grax in the Red Daughter of Krypton arc, a Diasporan is about to kill a little girl. All of sudden Supergirl shows up and punches him across the city.
  • In Bizarrogirl, a kid is about to get crushed by a car when Jimmy Olsen rescues him just in time.
  • In War World Mongul is about to crush Superman's friends when Martian Manhunter turns up and frees them.
  • Several examples in Superman: Brainiac:
    • Brainiac's android troops are invading an alien city when Superman arrives and begins beating them up.
    • Brainiac's robots are overwhelming Kara when Lois Lane shows up, armed with a fire extinguisher, and bludgeons one of them.
  • In The Third Kryptonian, Superman is weakened and cornered by Amalak's pirates when Supergirl, Power Girl and Krypto crash into the place. Shortly afterwards, Superman and his family gang up on Amalak, but they're unable to overwhelm him due to their own injuries and exhaustion... until Karsta Wor-Ul comes along and powers them back up with solar grenades.
  • In Crucible, Korstus has dragged a depowered Supergirl to his lab with the intent of gloating before killing her off. Suddenly, Tsavo and Comet burst into the place, driving Kara's attackers back and breaking Korstus' power-blocking device.
  • Action Comics #1: When Supes gets word of a domestic abuse case going on, he immediately springs to action and comes to the rescue of a housewife, who is still being beaten by her husband at that moment. Superman wastes absolutely no time dealing with him — he flings the jerk so hard against a wall, it cracks.
  • Two for the Death of One: Satanis has possessed one Superman's body (Supes had previously been split into two "twins") and killed his rival Syrene — or so he believes — and is about to declare victory when Superman's remainder half makes it to battlefield despite having been stuck in another time period.
  • The Coming of Atlas: When Superman is being beaten up by Atlas, Supergirl, Steel and finally Krypto the Superdog join in the fray to help him.
  • The Phantom Zone: Wonder Woman has just destroyed a barrage of nuclear warheads when she spots another batch heading towards her way. Diana is despairing that not even she can stop so many flying threats alone when Supergirl comes along to help.
    Wonder Woman: "A barrage of them! Even I can't hope to stop them alone—!"
    Supergirl: "So who says you're alone?"
    Wonder Woman: "Supergirl! Thank Hera—!"
  • Superman/Supergirl: Maelstrom: The titular villain has knocked Supergirl out and is about to crush her head when she is blasted away by twin heat beams. Superman has just arrived, and as hovering in the air, he calmly states she is not killing anybody.
  • Let My People Grow!: Brainiac is about to blast Superman into oblivion when Supergirl shows up and warns against attacking her cousin.
    Brainiac: "I have no idea what you hoped to accomplish with that ridiculous maneuver, Superman— and, regrettably, you're not going to be here long enough for me to find out! That first shot shrunk you to the size of a mosquito— But the blast you're about to receive will reduce you to absolute nothingness!"
    Supergirl: "I wouldn't touch that button if I were you, Brainiac!"
  • The Earthwar Saga: When Superboy and Chameleon Boy are being overwhelmed by an endless swarm of Raiders, Sun Boy, Phantom Girl, Element Lad, Shrinking Violet and Brainiac 5 show up to help them.
  • The Condemned Legionnaires: Satan Girl has landed on the Quarantine World, fried the circuits of the robo-nurses and is using red radiation to kill the Legion girls when Supergirl comes along and engages her.
• Pariodied by Comic Book/Superman'sPalJimmyOlsen(2019): as the guys that show up to join Jimmy in his fight against a horde of robots consist of various random background characters and gags that had appeared across the run, many of whom didn't even any reason or business to be there in the first place. Including: Three Jokers (read: three random guys dressed as the Joker), a gorilla flying a biplane, Jimmy Olsen's Fan Club, Jimmy's landlord/lawyer, Arm Fall Off Boy and his family, Metamorpho, Comet the Super-Horse, Swamp Thing and Doctor Fate (both of whom had only appeared in one panel prior to this) and the Scrubb (whom you might better know as the aliens that made Superman fight Muhammad Ali).
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Mirage): Subverted. During the Foot's attack at April's building; despite Casey Jones' Big Damn Heroes entrance, the Shredder's forces still manage to overrun the heroes, and they are eventually forced to retreat. The scene is eventually adapted into the first movie and the second cartoon.
• In the rebooted Teen Titans #1, Deathstroke points the muzzle of his rifle right in Robin's face and pulls the trigger. Cue Kid Flash appearing out of nowhere, plucking the bullet right out of the air, and quipping, "Bit of overkill, isn't it, using an elephant gun on a helpless teenager?" What follows is a truly epic curbstomping by a superfast yellow and red blur against a one-eyed assassin.
• In The Thanos Imperative: Devastation one-shot (a Poorly Disguised Pilot for the next cosmic Marvel mini-series, Annihilators) features one of these when Blastaar pulled a Face–Heel Turn:
  Quasar: Shall we take this outside?
  Blastaar: Oh shi--
• In Transformers: Timelines "The Stunticon Job", when Sideswipe and Cheetor are cornered by the Stunticons, Optimus Prime disguised as Toxitron comes in, and causes a ramp to crash on the cons.
• In The Transformers: All Hail Megatron, the Autobots were trapped on Cybertron with an army of Insecticons that was busy overruning them. Right up to the point that Omega Supreme arrives and turns the tide singlehandedly. When he was first introduced in one of the Spotlight books prior to that, Optimus said that Omega Supreme existed more or less for that purpose.
• Ultimate Marvel
  • Ultimate Galactus Trilogy: When the clone army attacked, Xavier summoned the X-Men to contain them.
  • All-New Ultimates: The first fight between the Ultimates, the Serpent Skulls and O'Reilly's unit ended when a full SWAT Team shows up to cease the conflict.
  • The Ultimates: The Ultimates, when they return from Micronesia, ready to kick Chitauri's asses.
    • Also in Ultimates - the Hulk is on a rampage and the team scrambles to stop him, the attempt going about as well as the usual attempts to contain an angry Hulk goes. Captain America is captured by the Hulk and about to literally get eaten. The other Avengers are out of commission. Fury is shouting for the SHIELD agents and military present to protect Captain America, but even if the normal humans had a chance, they won't get there in time... And then Thor swoops in for the rescue.
  • Ultimate X Men: Colossus left the team and returned to Mother Russia, but changed his mind and returned to the team, just in time to save them from Proteus.
• Happens three times in quick succession at the end of The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. First, Loki shows up, and summons every villain Squirrel Girl's befriended and redeemed. Then the Avengers come to save her. And finally, Galactus steps in and puts a definite end to the fight. You do not get a bigger damn hero than that.
• Watchmen
  • In the climax, this is subverted. The big bad saw the Big Damn Heroes coming and activated his plan as he did. Consequently, they arrive thirty-five minutes too late.
  • Also subverted with Dr. Manhattan's arrival. Adrian almost destroys him, but he comes back again, crushes his base, and gives an impressive Badass Boast, Adrian merely has to turn on his television to prove he's won, and Jon stands down.
• Wonder Woman:
  • Wonder Woman (1987): While their need of a rescue is questionable Wonder Girl (Cassie) and Robin (Tim) swoop in to help out Artemis and Huntress when the two bow users are surrounded in the graveyard by Maxie Zeus' "converts".
  • Wonder Woman: Dead Earth: Cheetah shows up with Pegasus on Themyscira just in time to save Diana and her companion from Hippolyta and Nubia.
• X-Wing Rogue Squadron: In Requiem for a Rogue, Wedge is captured by a Sithling who wants to use him as bait for the other Rogues. The other Rogues come on foot to rescue him, and he slips away while the Sithling is directing his forces. Just as three Rogues are about to get killed, Wedge appears with two stolen blasters, shouting "Everybody down!◊"
  "Wedge! You're alive!"
  "Yeah, and you can keep me that way by moving your behinds!"
• Y: The Last Man. Natalya and Ciba arrive just in time to stop one of Alter's mooks from kidnapping Beth Junior. Genre Savvy Hero even quips: "Natalya; always with the last minute Han Solo."

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