Implied Death Threat / Western Animation

Implied Death Threats in Western Animation.

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• Avatar: The Last Airbender:
  • Iroh delivers one to Zhao when the latter attempts to kill the Moon Spirit.
    Iroh: The Fire Nation needs the Moon too. We all depend on the balance. Whatever you do to that Spirit, I'll unleash on you TENFOLD! LET IT GO, NOW!
  • Katara is rather skeptical of Zuko's Heel–Face Turn and makes it very explicit:
    Katara: Let me tell you something right now. You take one step backwards... one slip up... give me one reason to think you might hurt Aang- and you won't have to worry about your destiny anymore. Because I'll make sure your destiny ends right then and there. Permanently.
  • Azula gets a pretty good one in against her brother Zuko:
    Zuko: What are you doing here?
    Azula: You mean it's not obvious yet? I'm about to celebrate becoming an only child!
• In the Ben 10: Ultimate Alien episode "The Purge", Ben gives one to Driscoll and the Forever Knights after defeating the former in a fight.
  Ben: Maybe you've forgotten something… I'm Ben Tennyson, wielder of the most powerful weapon in the universe. I stopped the Highbreed invasion, I defeated Vilgax in hand-to-hand combat and I've beaten the Forever Knights more times that I can count. Here's what's going to happen; you're going to release these prisoners, you're going to crawl back to wherever you came from and you're going to stop hunting down aliens. Because if you don't, I promise, you'll regret it for the rest of your very. Short. Lives.
• In the Bob's Burgers episode "Sleeping With the Frenemy", Tammy ends up staying with the Belchers for a week. During this time, Tammy openly scoffs at Bob's home cooking and tries to order out. Louise, who otherwise mocks her father's food on a daily basis, is less than amused at Tammy's poor attitude, leading to this exchange:
  Tammy: Do places deliver here, or is the neighborhood too dangerous?
  Louise: Oh, it's super safe, except for that huge unsolved murder that's gonna happen.
• Captain Planet and the Planeteers:
  • In "The Conqueror", as Gaia is talking to her rogue Planeteers, Zarm calls her a meddler and mutters that he'll show her what mortality means, right before attempting to kill her with an earthquake.
  • In "Don't Drink the Water", the Eco-villains contaminate a European town's water so they can sell clean water to them - at their price. During the mission, Wheeler gets captured. When Captain Planet confronts the Eco-villains at the reservoir, Plunder tells him to calm down if he wants Wheeler to stay safe. Captain Planet warns them that they'd better not hurt him, and Skumm answers that they won't as long as the Captain doesn't try to intervene in their plans.
• Darkwing Duck: A more lighthearted example (as it's clearly meant as an exaggeration) in the episode "Getting Antsy", where Gosalyn is hitting golf balls in the house and has set one on her apparently-sleeping father's bill. As she pulls back to take the swing...
  Drake: (not opening his eyes) Have I ever told you the story of the little girl, the golf club and the firing squad?
• Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines: In "Sappy Birthday" after Muttley physically humiliates Dastardly in a test run:
  Dastardly: One more goof-up like that and this may be your last birthday, you dumbhead!
• Jackie Chan Adventures can throw these in quite a bit. Valmont doesn't waste time with one when he finally meets Jackie Chan face to face.
  Valmont: Jackie Chan! Finally we meet. [holds up the Dragon Talisman] It was nice knowing you.
  • Subverted in "Shell Game" with Carl Nivor.
  Jade: Release Aesop, you tortoise-eating creep!
  Nivor: Such a delightful child. She'll go well with a nice Bearnaise sauce, wouldn't you say, Borris?
  Jade: WHAT?!
  Nivor: Only joking, princess. Children are much too common for my sophisticated palate.
• Looney Tunes:
  • A non-lethal but still malevolent variant occurs in the Porky Pig and Daffy Duck cartoon "The Ducksters" when Porky tried to bail on another of emcee Daffy's contests (afterwards Porky takes severe umbrage):
    Daffy: Look, bud... you've got thirty-two teeth. Would ya like to try for sixteen?
  • In the Sylvester and Tweety short, "Tweet And Sour", Sylvester has tried to eat Tweety one too many times that Granny warns him if she catches him doing so again, she will send him to the violin string factory, punctuating the threat by humming Chopin's "Funeral March" while pretending to play the violin. Tweety also reminds him of this threat shortly after Granny leaves.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, of all shows, contains an instance of this at the end of "A Canterlot Wedding, Part 1:"
  Twilight: I'm sorry.
  Imposter Cadance: You will be.
  • Early on in "The Return of Harmony, Part 1", it's implied via a stained glass window depicting Discord dangling three ponies over a fire that the Mad God in question may well have a body count under his belt. This renders his line in the next episode, "And these are only my first changes!" far more unsettling.
    • Upon his return in "Keep Calm and Flutter On", Discord quickly forms a rivalry with Angel Bunny. Such antics seem nothing short of pleasant compared to the full-blown Sugar Apocalypse he attempted last time around... until you notice he's made the point of donning a pair of bunny slippers that look like they're made out of actual dead rabbits.
  • Angel Bunny seems prone to receiving these, for some reason: In "Just For Sidekicks," Twilight's owl assistant Owlowiscious delivers a non-verbal one to the rabbit, advancing and looming menacingly over Angel after the latter promises to make trouble for Spike. Makes sense, considering bunnies often end up as meals for owls and Owlowiscious and Spike are friends.
  • Some fans have interpreted the somewhat memetic "biting into an apple" scene from "Green Isn't Your Color" as one.
  • Grogar made a couple of these to keep the Legion of Doom in line. Who knew Discord still had it in him? One when Sombra, who he resurrected from the dead, tries to refuse his offer:
    King Sombra: And if I refuse this deal?
    Grogar: Then I shall return you to the darkness from which you were summoned.
  • One at the end when Sombra fails and is Killed Off for Real by the Main Six:
    Grogar: I'd say he gambled and lost! But at least he can serve as a warning to those who doubt continuing with my plans. Unless any of you have doubts?
    Lord Tirek: Uh, not I.
    Queen Chrysalis: Nope!
    Cozy Glow: I'm good!
• The Real Ghostbusters: Played for Laughs in "Who're You Calling Two-Dimensional?" episode. When Peter mocks Egon for one of his experiments going awry, Egon asks whether Peter knows how to set his proton pack on "explosive overload".
  Peter: "Incalculable value to science", eh, Egon?
  Egon: Peter, do you know how to set your proton pack on "explosive overload"?
  Peter: No.
  Egon: I do.
  Peter: ...Now that I think about it, it was a good effort, Egon! A really, really good effort! Heh, science would be proud!
• Healthy Morty gives a subtle one to Healthy Rick in Rick and Morty, when the latter has discovered the toxins removed from them are alive and sentient and is pressuring for the two of them to re-merge. The Scare Chord and Healthy Rick's nervous expression that follows really hammers it home:
  Healthy Morty: You know, the only problem here is a big fat brain that misses eating all them big fat problems. Focus on the good thing. Trust me, things are good. Taking that away from me? That wouldn't be healthy.
  • Evil Morty is having a haircut when all the dissenting members of his council are shot to death by his guards.
    Barber: (nervously) Is that enough off the top?
    Evil Morty: I don't know. (turns to surviving council members) Is it?
    (The surviving councilors hastily agree)
• Samurai Jack gives one of these when he confronts the Daughters of Aku in season 5.
  Jack: Leave here now, and live... or stay, and face your destiny.
  Ashi: Our destiny is YOUR DEATH!!!
  Jack: Very well.
• The Spectacular Spider-Man: In the episode "Gangland", Tombstone is betrayed by his right-hand man, Hammerhead, which leads to a brawl between himself, two other crime lords, and Spider-Man, and ends with him being publicly revealed as a crime lord and arrested. As he's being led off in handcuffs, he passes by a very nervous Hammerhead (whose plan had hinged on the crime lords killing each other) watching from the crowd, and briefly addresses him:
  Tombstone: You're fired. Expect your severance package soon.
• Star Wars Rebels:
  • "The Protector of Concord Dawn": Kanan gives one to Fenn Rau that doesn't go unnoticed:
    Kanan: (referring to a battle in the Clone Wars) You gave me a chance to live that day. Now I'd like to return the favour.
  • "The Holocrons of Fate": Ezra, glaring, tells Maul that he wants to know how to destroy the Sith. Maul, who no longer considers himself a Sith, congratulates Ezra on his ambition. A line earlier in the episode, however, showed that Ezra definitely thinks of Maul as one.
  • "The Last Battle":
    Zeb: Might as well surrender now.
    Kalani: I am not programmed to comprehend your humor.
    Zeb: I'm not joking.
    Kalani: Ha. Ha. Ha.
  • "Zero Hour": While the Bendu doesn't say he's the one who will kill Thrawn, he sees into the future and foretells that someone will defeat him (and presumably kill him).
    Thrawn: What manner of creature are you?
    The Bendu: One beyond your power to destroy.
    Thrawn: It would not seem so.
    The Bendu: You cannot see... but I can.
    Thrawn: What? What do you see?
    The Bendu: I see your defeat...like many arms surrounding you in a cold embrace.
    [Thrawn, visibly unnerved, shoots him, only for the Bendu to disappear, laughing]
• Red Death gives a downright chilling one to The Monarch on one episode of The Venture Brothers. Monarch goes to the park to kill Red Death and Death, who's clearly been on to him from the absolute get-go, praises Monarch's work and then rests a hand on the man's shoulder to give him some eerily polite advice that basically makes it very clear he will murder Monarch in devastatingly brutal fashion if Monarch ever makes an attempt on his life while they're "off-the-clock." It's enough to make Monarch outright sweat and tremble in terror.
  Monarch: Wow. The Red Death knows my work!
  Red Death: That's my business. But we're not at the office right now, you see. And that's the secret: you gotta separate your work from your life. It's a slippery slope once you start living as your character. The obsession starts. The darkness. A man can do terrible things when he's lost his way. Terrible things...
• X-Men '97: In "Mutant Liberation Begins", Magneto has just hauled the X-Cutioner, Dr. Val Cooper and the UN judges up to the upper atmosphere after the X-Cutioner hits Storm with an energy beam that depowers her, a shot meant for Magneto, and tells that he could have killed them all, but he won't because Xavier has challenged him to follow in his footsteps following his apparent assassination. He ends his impassioned speech with "Please, do not make me let you down."
• Woody Woodpecker: In "Convict Concerto", Mugsy forces Woody to play the piano while he hides inside it, and explains the penalty for disobedience by playing part of Chopin's Funeral March on the piano.
• WordGirl physically folds a large bar of steel into a small, crude ball live on broadcast to represent what would happen if the villains were doing any crime. In other words, she literally broadcasts the fact that she allows the villains to live. The best part is that she did this to ensure that she wouldn't get interrupted while watching her favorite TV show again, because she missed the finale the last time she was busy fighting crime.

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