History Main / ArrowCatch

* ''Literature/WarsOfTheRealm'': A variation—Drew catches a knife which a drug dealer throws at him.

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* Franchise/{{Batman}} once caught a TrickArrow shot by Speedy (Roy) over his shoulder, without looking. It was meant as a joke by Roy, and it made a durable impression on him until long after he [[SidekickGraduationsStick became Arsenal]].

** Happens regularly in the manga. It's pretty much amongst the basic abilities of martial artists, even the less skilled ones. To the point the arrows are rarely even intended at wounding; more often than not, it's an ArrowGram... still aimed straight at the martial artist's head.

* This was a trademark move of villain Constantine Drakon in ''ComicBook/GreenArrow''; much to the Emerald Archer's annoyance.
* In a ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983'' mini-comic, Clamp Champ catches an arrow stealthily fired at him by Ninjor. As Clamp Champ explains, he possesses SuperSenses that make him impossible to take by surprise (though that doesn't explain how he could move quickly enough to catch it in the first place, especially when it was fired from fairly close range)

* ''Film/Daredevil2003''. Bullseye snatches a baton off Daredevil and throws it at Elektra's father. Daredevil uses his SuperSenses to try to catch it in mid-air...except an [[SensoryOverload explosion goes off and disrupts his 'radar' image]], causing his hand to miss and the baton to impale its target.
* In ''Film/Hero2002'', Nameless and Flying Snow are able to effortlessly sweep aside [[RainOfArrows hundreds of arrows]], while Broken Sword catches one without looking for the simple reason of needing a new writing tool after his previous tool was broken by a passing arrow.

* ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad''. Max covers his eyes whenever he has a hallucination of his dead daughter. This instinctive reaction saves his life when a War Boy simultaneously shoots him with a crossbow, giving Max an ImpaledPalm instead of an impaled head.

* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
** In ''Film/TheAvengers2012'', Loki catches one of Hawkeye's arrows a second before it can go through his eye, as Hawkeye has expressed a desire to do. He then turns to look at it with the [[SmugSnake smuggest, most shit-eating smirk imaginable]]. [[spoiler:And [[OutGambitted then the explosive tip detonates in his face]], throwing him through a window into Stark Tower and setting the stage for a truly epic (and hilarious) CurbStompBattle at the hands of the Hulk.]]

** ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'': The Winter Soldier catches Cap's shield, thrown at him edge on, with his metal arm. [[OffhandBackhand From behind]], no less This is Cap's first encounter with the Winter Soldier, so it gives him an OhCrap reaction.

* ''Series/TheWheelOfTime2021'': Lan plucks an arrow loosed by a Seanchan archer at him from midair in the Season 2 finale.

%%* Robin of ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'' does this once.

* In the episode "Secrets" of ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'', the villain, Harm, manages to catch several of Artemis's arrows. Artemis however, wises up and tricks Harm into catching an arrow while he's standing next to a gas stove. The arrow [[ArrowsOnFire bursts into flames]] and and blows up the kitchen Harm's in. [[ImplacableMan It only slowed him down though]].

When the ArcherArchetype fires an arrow and someone has enough hand speed to yank it out of mid-air, that's an arrow catch.

* In ''Series/TeenWolf'' the werewolves are fast enough to do this, with Scott doing it the first time on accident after Stiles [[IJustShotMarvinInTheFace messes around with a crossbow]]. It's reliable enough that [[ArcherArchetype Allison]] has made a habit of drugging the shaft rather than the tip.

* In ''Literature/SonOfTheBlackSword'', Ashok can slap arrows out of the air with sword or bare hands. Of course, if there are ''too many'' arrows, he's still going to get hit. Then things can get...painful.

* In ''Film/{{Hero|2002}}'' Nameless and Flying Snow are able to effortlessly sweep aside [[RainOfArrows hundreds of arrows]], while Broken Sword catches one without looking for the simple reason of needing a new writing tool after his previous tool was broken by a passing arrow.
* ''Film/HaveSwordWillTravel'' have a restaurant confrontation scene where Lu, the expert swordsman, displays his dexterity by catching a dart using ''chopsticks''.

* In Creator/BenBova's ''Orion'' novels, Orion (who's a time-traveling SuperSoldier with superhuman strength and reflexes) discusses this trope but averts it: even with how much stronger and faster he is than a normal human, snatching arrows out of the air is beyond his ability (he can still deflect them easily enough).

* Creator/DavidGemmell's ''Literature/{{Drenai}}'' saga:
** In ''Literature/QuestForLostHeroes'', a character knocks an arrow out of the air with his sword which impresses the would be assassin so much it leads to a DefeatMeansFriendship moment. Subverted because the guy with a sword is a kid who was just practicing his fencing and didn't even know he was being shot at, BeginnersLuck.
** In ''Literature/{{Legend|1984}}'', Druss cuts an arrow out of the air with a huge double bladed axe, and it too leads to DefeatMeansFriendship. Being Druss, he meant to do it.
%%* ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'': Eragon does one near the end of '' Eldest''.

** This popped up when the villain Harm caught an arrow shot by Arrowette and used it to stab her in the shoulder. ComicBook/{{Superboy}} (who was enamored of Arrowette) spent the next issue or two trying and failing to catch her arrows. When an alarm comes, ''ComicBook/{{Robin}}'' is able to catch ''two'' arrows, and get them back on topic.

* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
** In ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', Loki catches one of ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}}'s arrows a second before it can go through his eye, as Hawkeye has expressed a desire to do. He then turns to look at it with the [[SmugSnake smuggest, most shit-eating smirk imaginable.]] [[spoiler:And [[OutGambitted then the explosive tip detonates in his face]], throwing him through a window into Stark Tower and setting the stage for a truly epic (and hilarious) CurbStompBattle at the hands of the Hulk.]]

** ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'': The Winter Soldier catches Cap's shield, thrown at him edge on, with his metal arm. [[OffhandBackhand From behind no less.]] This is Cap's first encounter with the Winter Soldier, so it gives him an OhCrap reaction.
** In ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'', ComicBook/{{Quicksilver}} is fast enough to casually pluck Hawkeye's arrows out of the air. Trying to do the same with Mjölnir, though, proves a very bad idea.
** In ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', ComicBook/BlackPanther catches two of Clint's exploding arrows without missing a beat. The tips explode too, but his vibranium suit allows him to ignore the blast.
** In a similar vein to Winter Soldier, there's Hela's [[https://gfycat.com/ko/mammoththornybettong Hammer Catch]] in ''Film/ThorRagnarok''. Do remember Mjölnir could knock '''The Hulk''' around in ''Avengers'', which explains Thor's ThisCannotBe reaction.

* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'': A time traveling villain tries killing Henry V [[ItMakesSenseInContext (long story)]] with a bow and arrow, which is foiled when Tobias swoops in and catches the arrow in his talons. Because hawks don't go around snatching arrows in midair, this tips off said villain that the "Andalite bandits" are onto him and can follow him through time.

* Lanik, the protagonist of the book ''Literature/{{Treason}}'' by Creator/OrsonScottCard does this in a sense, but ups the badass level to impossible by slowing time (really just speeding himself up so that everyone else appears to be moving in 100x slow motion) right as a squad of archers shoot at his friend. In quicktime, he grabs the arrows and sticks them into the wall behind his friend. The archers, which are an execution squad, are perplexed, but fire again. This time, he goes into quicktime just after they fire, takes the arrows out of midair, and stabs them back through the respective archers' hands.

* Used by the BigBad in the film ''Film/TheHunted''. And it was at point blank range too.

* Rudy pulls one of these off by accident in ''LightNovel/LogHorizon''. He was making a flashy pose and just happened to place his hand where it intercepted an arrow between his fingers. He did not handle the subsequent arrows nearly as gracefully.
* Tigre from ''LightNovel/LordMarksmanAndVanadis'' catches an arrow aimed at his ChildhoodFriend Teita, then [[CatchAndReturn fires said arrow]] back to where it came from. He did this ''one-handed''. But his hand was [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome badly scraped by this]], prompting Titta to immediately [[FromDressToDressing bandage it with a strip of her dress.]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

%%* Robin of ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' does this once.

* In the episode "Secrets" of ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', the villain, Harm, manages to catch several of Artemis's arrows. Artemis however, wises up and tricks Harm into catching an arrow while he's standing next to a gas stove. The arrow [[ArrowsOnFire bursts into flames]] and and blows up the kitchen Harm's in. [[ImplacableMan It only slowed him down though]].

** In ''Literature/{{Legend}}'', Druss cuts an arrow out of the air with a huge double bladed axe, and it too leads to DefeatMeansFriendship. Being Druss, he meant to do it.

* ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'':
** Near the end of Story Mode, Regime-Raven possesses Ollie's body, making him shoot arrow after arrow at Batman. Catching them is a QTE mini game.

* ''Film/Daredevil2003''. Bullseye snatches a baton off Daredevil and throws it at Elektra's father. Daredevil uses his SuperSenses to catch it in mid-air...except an [[SensoryOverload explosion goes off and disrupts his 'radar' image]], causing him to miss and the baton to impale its target.