Backstab Backfire

"I warned you... but you didn't listen! I gave you one last chance to walk away, and you BLEW IT! FRIEEZAAAA!"

— Goku, Dragon Ball Z Kai

Alice (The Hero) and Bob (The Big Bad) have had their climactic battle and Alice has won. She chooses to spare Bob's life, perhaps to show her moral superiority or perhaps because she doesn't want to become a killer (the villain is often on his knees at this point, begging for mercy). As Alice turns and walks away, triumphant, the defeated Bob lets out a scream of rage and dives at the hero, attempting to strike her down while her back is turned. Alice decides that one chance was enough. She turns and delivers the finishing blow she had previously withheld, usually (though not always) killing Bob. (An Offhand Backhand is optional but undeniably good form.)

This trope falls under Karmic Death (not counting the variations where the villain is given an Offhand Backhand): even though the hero technically does the killing, the initiative is entirely with the villain. Alice has just given Bob's life back to him, but the villain throws that mercy away in favor of one last strike at Alice. Like all Karmic Deaths, it allows the hero to dispatch the villain without having to do it unprovoked; killing in cold blood usually comes across as unheroic no matter what the circumstances (unless the hero is a Combat Pragmatist who doesn't have a problem with taking the direct route).

A form of Self-Disposing Villain. Not to be confused with Taking You with Me, which differs from this trope in two important ways: first, "Bob" is either dying or expects to die in the process of killing "Alice"; and second, Alice has not previously made an offer to spare Bob's life. See also Assassin Outclassin' for the case of the attacker being backfired by by the supposed victim. Occasionally overlaps with Death Seeker and Suicide by Cop, if Bob goes through it knowing he'll die and welcoming it, and indeed may invoke this trope to get it.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• A weaker variety happens twice in Bleach fairly early in the Soul Society arc, to less-than-honorable Soul Reapers. One tried a textbook grovel-and-backstab; the other's credentials as a bully were repeated surprise attacks against an unthreatening (if valid) target. Both survive, as it's used for an early establishment of heroic character rather than drama. The second, however, is robbed of his abilities permanently.
• A Certain Magical Index: After Accelerator beats Kakine, he is about to shoot Kakine, who is lying on the ground when Yomikawa stops him. Kakine then uses his dark matter to stab Yomikawa; Accelerator promptly snaps and proceeds to rip Kakine's arm off and smash him into nothingness.
• Dragon Ball:
  • The fight with Mercenary Tao in the Red Ribbon Army arc. Tao surrenders and promises that he'll change his ways, but then throws a grenade at Goku as soon as the latter lets his guard down and debates if he's serious or not with Upa. Goku then kicks it right back at him, resulting in it exploding in his face. Unfortunately...
  • In the fight between Frieza and Super Saiyan Goku, Goku spares Frieza twice. The first time, Frieza's been beaten so badly that he's not even a challenge anymore, so Goku tries to leave. Frieza tries to slice Goku open with energy discs, but loses track of them and gets cut in half himself. The second time, Goku gives Frieza some of his energy to help him live and have a shot at redemption, and starts flying away... only for Frieza to try to blast him with that same energy. Goku has no choice but to retaliate, and one counter-blast from him ends the fight.
    Goku: You FOOOOOOOL!!
  • Eis Shenron. After being beaten by Goku, he begs for mercy. Nuova Shenron allows him to live, even though he knows he deserves death, under the condition that he surrender his Dragon Ball. However, he decides to kill Goku in a sneak attack involving Ice blades. It's subverted because he actually DOES succeed in his backstab, blinding Goku from his ice blades. However, it still ultimately backfired due to Goku's other senses still being high enough for him to punch Eis through the gut and finish him with a Dragon Fist.
• Often occurs in Fist of the North Star, several villains, such as Galzus, attempted to feign his defeat and lied to Kenshiro that he had a sister and deliver a backstab, only to be reminded by Kenshiro that he was already dead.
• GTO: The Early Years: In Eikichi's battle with Okubo, Saejima has to stop him from killing Okubo, because he doesn't want his friend to become a killer. Okubo seizes the opportunity to stab Eikichi in the arm but is knocked out cold with a massive uppercut.
• Hoshin Engi: After countering Entenkun's Kanpyojin's ice attacks with his own paope Taikyoku Fuin, the pacifistic Fuugen tries to offer his opponent one last chance to resolve their conflict peacefully through words and even hands down his own paope as a sign of goodwill. After a brief pause, Entenkun calls him a fool and summons more ice to cast another attack... but Fuugen foresaw this eventuality and set up his paope in advance to use the nearby ice to start up a nuclear explosion centered on Entenkun, killing him off.
• Mobile Suit Gundam 00:
  • A somewhat convoluted example happens between Nena Trinity and Ribbons Allmark in Season 2. After Ali Al-Saachez kills her brothers (Johann and Michael), Nena is forced to work for Wang Liu Mei and by extension for Ribbons. The final straw happens when Ribbons turns out to have employed Ali (who was actually in Ribbons' employ the entire time), royally pissing Nena off. Nena promptly turns against them and only Hong Long's Heroic Sacrifice saves Wang's life from Nena's initial retaliation... or not, as Nena catches up to the fleeing Wang and finishes the job with her Gundam. Then Ribbons contacts her and reveals that he expected this kind of betrayal from her. So he retaliates by sending an "executioner" to deal with her. Nena expects it to be Ali, and is overjoyed at the idea of avenging her brothers... but it turns out to be Louise Halevy — the girl whose family Nena killed for absolutely no reason in the first season and who now brought a Regnant Mobile Armor to bear against Nena's outdated Gundam Throne Drei. And naturally, due to Bigger Stick being in play, Nena dies screaming curses at her opponent as Louise avenges her parents by ripping the Throne Drei to pieces and skewering Nena on the Regnant's gigantic claws. Backstab Backfire with the backstabbee never involving himself directly — exactly the kind one would expect from Ribbons.
  • In the penultimate episode, Lyle "Lockon Stratos" Dylandy is in a position to take revenge on Ali for killing his brother Neil, but ultimately decides to give him one last chance. As he lowers his gun, Ali yells "SUCKER!" and grabs his gun... then Lyle proves why he's called Lockon Stratos as he lands a headshot with a lightning-fast quickdraw, following up with a few more torso shots to make sure he's dead.
• Hilariously used in One Piece. After Luffy beats Foxy in their Davy Back Fight boxing match, Foxy offers Luffy a sporting handshake. Just as Luffy takes his hand, Foxy whirls about to perform his 'Overhead throw of vengeance'...Luffy's arm just stretches out, and Foxy ends up hitting his head.
• In an early episode of Rave Master, Haru Glory spares Lance's life, citing Thou Shalt Not Kill. The bad guy tries to attack him from behind, only for Haru to turn around and deal the finishing (but non-fatal) blow.
• In Rurouni Kenshin, Akamatsu panics and grovels for mercy when Kenshin disarms him of his kusarigama with ease... only to try a surprise attack with hidden flails from his armlets: while he doesn't die and lasts for a little while, Kenshin still knock the tar out of him.
• Defied in Trigun: After angering Vash by targeting innocents, Monev the Gale gets brutally beat down. Vash, after a furious inner dilemma, decides to spare him and walks away.
  Monev: Aren't you afraid I'll try to shoot you while your back is turned?
  Vash: [Beat] My finger is still on the trigger.
• This is how Kureo Mado dies in Tokyo Ghoul. After turning an ambush to his advantage, he ends up losing An Arm and a Leg when Hinami is able to use her kagune for the first time. Even though he murdered both her parents, she ultimately decides to spare his life and wants nothing to do with revenge. In response, he declares that a child should "be with their parents" and lunges at her, forcing a wounded Touka to finish him off to save Hinami. Even though she had no other choice, Touka remains haunted by her actions.
• Voltes V: Once Katherine informs Heinel of Zuhl's betrayal, Heinel carefully arranges a Humiliation Conga that ends with him showing his true colours to everybody - that he's a self-serving weakling with no true loyalty to anyone. And Katherine and Heinel are laughing at him through it all, considering it entertainment.

Comic Books

• Spider-Man: After the Green Goblin killed Gwen Stacy in The Night Gwen Stacy Died, Spidey tracked him down and beat him nearly to death. Spidey was so angry that he wanted to kill the Goblin, but at the last minute stopped himself. He thought that Osborn was no longer a threat, but Osborn, who was still able to remotely control his goblin glider, positioned it behind Spider-Man and hit the gas, hoping to impale him. Spidey dodged the glider and it hit Osborn instead, killing him. At least, that's how the story originally went.
• X-Men: In the final issue of the Kitty Pryde & Wolverine limited series, Logan defeated Ogun and brought him to his knees. He spared Ogun's life and began to walk away alongside Kitty. Ogun produced a knife and rushed at the two of them from behind. Wolverine noticed it in time to tell Kitty to use her phasing power, causing the knife to pass harmlessly through her. He then stabbed Ogun with his claws, killing the villain.

Fan Works

• 200 Years, A Long Wait for Friends: Hilma pretends that she's going to shake Albedo's hand, but summons a snake and has it bite the succubus... or attempt to. The snake's fangs can't actually pierc Albedo's skin, breaking off.
• In All For Luz, Riley makes the mistake of trying to murder her cousin Luz with her Bomb Quirk after being paid to do so by Tyler Wittebane. Luz survives with her enhanced Healing Factor and the would-be assassin barely escapes her Unstoppable Rage with her life.
• Bequeathed from Pale Estates: During the Northern-Dornish party's trip to King's Landing, they discover evidence of the Frey family conducting a scheme to sell fake weirwoods. While Oberyn and Ned initially plan to address the matter later, the conspirators learn that they've been made and attempt to catch them off-guard with a sneak attack. This backfires spectacularly; when the dust clears multiple Freys were killed during the brawl, six more are executed, another six sentenced to serve at the Wall, and Fat Walda joins the party.
• A variation occurs during the climax of the The Legend of Zelda fic Blood and Spirit. After her defeat, Veress tries one last sneak attack on Link, but Sheik, being the only one who saw it coming, jumps in the way and subsequently dies Taking the Bullet. Veress, having killed her dearest friend, whom she still cared for despite her Face–Heel Turn, is left in tearful remorse and subsequently banished to the Twilight Realm, where she is Driven to Suicide.
• Court Summons: Lila convinces several Miraculous holders (including Adrien) to hold a Kangaroo Court where they'll accuse Marinette of working with Hawkmoth as Mayura and punish her. She intends to manipulate Ladybug into using Miraculous magic to curse her rival... but as Adrien realizes too late, Marinette is Ladybug, and punishes all of the conspirators in precisely the way they'd intended to hurt her.
• In Darth Vader: Hero of Naboo, Palpatine betrays Plagueis when it seems the latter is replacing him with Darth Vader. Besides Plagueis proving to be his equal, Palpatine eventually realizes that his mentor never intended to replace him. Plagueis agrees but solemnly warns his apprentice that "It's too late to turn off his lightsaber".
• Eclipse (Star Wars): When a dying Tarkin attempts to shoot Luke in the back with a Last Breath Bullet, Luke casually redirects the bolt right back into his throat.
• Evil And Ham: This gets Discussed in regards to Arachne doing this to Sophia's PRT handler, as it's noted that not only could this give her a reputation for backstabbing, discouraging others from working with her, her contact could have reported the stolen files and put the whole PRT and Protectorate on her trail.
• In The God of Destruction comes to Remnant, Gojira orders a thug he'd just beaten up to leave. As he's walking away, the thug pulls a knife and attempts to stab him in the back, only to be hit with an Offhand Backhand that knocks his head clear off its shoulders.
• The Mountain and the Wolf: Brienne agrees to a wrestling match with a Norscan who intends to rape her once he wins. She floors him instantly, walks away, and spins around just as he tries to get her In the Back, flooring him again. This gets the man zero sympathy from his fellow Norscans, and when he tries to complain to the Wolf, he just moves his hand near a very large knife.
• Volpimania: Hawkmoth eventually decides that enough is enough and attempts to stop Volpina, only for his efforts to prove to be too little, too late... and turn her anger against him.

Films — Animation

• Gaston in Beauty and the Beast (although original production materials did indicate that this may not have been a backfire). Beast decides to spare his life during their climactic rooftop battle and tells him to Get Out!. Gaston proceeds to stab him In the Back, but in doing so, Gaston loses his footing and falls to his death.
• The Lion King: Cornered by his enraged nephew, Scar vainly tries to shift the blame to the hyenas. Unfortunately for him, the hyenas overhear and become extremely pissed. Simba then chooses exile on his treacherous uncle, repeating the last words Scar spoke to him as a cub. Scar instead sneak attacks Simba with some hot coal to try and put him off balance. Though it does wing Simba, he's still as combat adept as ever and eventually tosses him off a cliff down to where the enraged and very hungry hyenas await and they attack their traitorous boss and literally tear him apart.
• The Disney version of Peter Pan has Peter, after his climactic duel with Hook on the ship, in which he puts Honor Before Reason, takes Hook's sword and threatens him with it, to which Hook says something to the tune of "Please, I Will Do Anything!" Peter complies, but only if Hook says that he is a codfish. Hook is only too happy to oblige and Peter decides to let him go. But when Peter crows in triumph, Hook raises his hook at Peter to backstab him with it. However, Peter, with his ability to fly, takes to the air in the nick of time, leaving Hook to lose his footing on the mainbrace where they dueled and fall right into the jaws of the waiting crocodile.
• Jenner in The Secret of NIMH, literally stabbed in the back by his minion.

Films — Live-Action

• Aquaman (2018): Arthur Curry/Aquaman battles the criminal father/son team Jesse and David Kane on board a submarine and defeats them. Arthur feels generous and says they can go, then turns to leave. Jesse tries to shoot him in the back with a grenade launcher, but Arthur sidesteps it and the explosion breaches the hull and pins Jesse under debris. Unable to pull the debris off his father, David begs Arthur for help, but Arthur leaves them to drown for trying to kill him after he already showed them mercy.
• In AVP: Alien vs. Predator, after "Scar" allows Weyland to live after discovering he has cancer, Weyland creates a makeshift flamethrower and set Scar ablaze... only for it to be completely useless and makes Scar stab him in the chest.
• Batman & Robin: Poison Ivy finally gets Robin alone in her lair after seducing him and making him fall in love with her. She tells him what she and Freeze have planned as a sign of trust and kisses him, saying it’s for luck. She taunts Robin immediately after the kiss and tells him it’s time to die, but Robin reveals he protected himself with rubber lips just in case she really was trying to kill him. Ivy had not only revealed she was faking her love for Robin, she also revealed her entire plan to him and he managed to steal a kiss from her. She angrily shoves him into her pond to drown him, but her attempted escape is stopped by Batgirl and she is trapped in the plant she had just shoved Robin from.
• Peter Stegman does this to Mr. Norris in Class of 1984. As he is hanging from the rafters of the school, he pleads for Mr. Norris to help him, saying that he's "just a kid". When Mr. Norris extends his hand to help Stegman, Stegman tries to stab it with his switchblade in a final act of malice. It ends up causing him to fall and become hung by electrical wires over the school gymnasium.
• At least one film adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac changes the dueling match in the first act so that the title character wins without killing his opponent. Said opponent instead dies while attempting to stab him in the back after the fight's officially over. (Note that this does not apply to the original.)
• In The Girl Hunters (1963) tough private eye Mike Hammer warns an innocent young woman about her carelessness in leaving a shotgun muzzle down, which allowed it to get clogged with dirt. Later, he reveals, through a door, that he knows she is the big bad while carefully pushing the shotgun muzzle into a potted plant, packing it with dirt. He then walks away, at which point she emerges, lifts the shotgun, and with an evil grin tries to shoot him in the back, with predictable (and off-screen) results. (BTW - the Mythbusters kind of proved this wouldn't work so don't try it.)
• Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Twins Prince Nuada and Princess Nuala are linked; Hellboy defeats Nuada in a duel but spares his life (and thus, Nuala). When Hellboy turns away, Nuada starts to attack, only to be stopped by his sister, who kills herself (and thus, Nuada).
• Captain Hook in Hook. And he would've had Peter Pan, too, if not for Tinkerbell and a not-quite-dead crocodile...
• Inverted in Ip Man, where the Hot Bloodedly-heroic Zealot Lin tries to attack the not-quite-evil General Miura while the latter has his back turned and gets fatally wounded for his trouble.
• Kung Fu Hustle: The Beast pulls an I Surrender, Suckers on Sing and then tries to stab him in the back, but Sing easily blocks it.
• At the conclusion of the film Ladyhawke, Rutger Hauer has exposed the Evil Bishop by foiling his plot to cut him out of the picture so he can have Michelle Pfeiffer for himself. He turns his back on the cleric to leave him in his disgrace, when said cleric screams his frustration and turns to stab Michelle Pfeiffer with his cross of office. At that point, he is pinned to his throne by the thrown sword of Mr. Hauer. Cue big kiss and curtain.
• Maleficent: Stefan becomes this after his betrayal of Maleficent to be king drove him into paranoia, vengeance, cruelty, and eventually death.
• Murder Party has Bill, who up to that point was the least invested of the murderous artists to the events that happened, freak out so badly once he learned that their employer Alexander aka Tim was planning to betray and murder them, that he beat him to death with a baseball bat screaming:
  Bill: Everybody dies, Timmy!!!
• Played comedically in Robin Hood: Men in Tights where Robin Hood spares the Sheriff of Rottingham after beating him and turns his back on him. When the Sheriff goes for the backstab, Robin is sheathing his sword and accidental impalement occurs.
• The original live-action Spider-Man film starring Tobey Maguire recycles the scene described in the Comic Books section above pretty much verbatim, only Peter's motivation is somewhat different because he didn't let Gwen Stacey (or rather Mary-Jane Watson) die this time and the Green Goblin is more of a Tragic Villain in this version. Peter has the Goblin beaten, only for Norman to reveal himself and insist that Gollum Made Me Do It - while lining up his glider by remote. When Peter rebuffs Norman's claim that he's been a father to Peter, Norman launches the glider - only to impale himself as Peter dodges.
  • Spider-Man 3: Harry Osborne follows in his father's footsteps after his defeat at the hands of a symbiote-powered Peter, throwing a pumpkin bomb at Pete, who's walking away from him. Peter dodges, webs the bomb, and slings it right back at Harry.
• The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1968): Even though the gun-toting Devlin allows Mr. Hyde to leave during the climax, Hyde still attempts to attack him. This leads to Devlin mortally wounding him.
• Overlaps with Secret Test of Character in Taken 2; Bryan (after killing the current wave of thugs looking for revenge for the first film) confronts the Non-Action Big Bad, Murad, and confirms that he has other sons who will perpetuate the Cycle of Revenge. While holding Murad at gunpoint, he offers him a chance to call off the blood feud and just go home. Murad accepts, Bryan puts the gun down and turns to leave. Murad immediately picks up the gun and tries to shoot Bryan In the Back, only to discover that it's empty. Murad has time for a brief Oh, Crap! moment before Bryan kills him.

Literature

• Overlaps with Suicide by First Prince in the BattleTech novel Prince of Havoc when Victor Steiner-Davion, having climbed out of his 'Mech to confront Khan Lincoln Osis of Clan Smoke Jaguar face-to-face and declare his refusal to kill him now that the battle is over, turns away and a desperate unarmed Osis tries to make a move on the shorter but katana-equipped Prince from behind.
• At the end of Brotherhood of the Rose, CIA-trained assassin Saul is sneaking up on the hotel where his surrogate father, Diabolical Mastermind Elliot, is staying...only to find Elliot standing out in the open waiting for him, clearly exposed to his fire. Elliot asks for an end to this conflict between him and his 'son', and to be allowed to retire peacefully. Saul nearly shoots him anyway but realises he could have been killed while they were talking. So he agrees to a truce and follows Elliot into his hotel room where he gets jumped by Elliot's bodyguards. After all, as Elliot says, what's to stop Saul from changing his mind later on? This way he can dispose of Saul without alarming the hotel guests. Saul is able to overcome the attack and promptly submachine-guns Elliot to death. No point in making the same mistake twice.
• Played With in the Honor Harrington series concerning the duel with Pavel Young. Young shot her in the back by turning and firing before they'd reached the proper places, and the referee's shooting of him in punishment (which ended up being coincident with Harrington's own return shot, while lying on the ground wounded) meant his attempted backstab would have resulted in his death even if he'd killed or incapacitated her.
• The Legend of Drizzt: Inverted in The Silent Blade. Drizzt Do'Urden and Artemis Entreri have engaged in a duel to the death to determine once and for all who is the better fighter. Entreri ultimately loses (more because of bad luck than any difference of skill between the two fighters), and tells Drizzt to finish him since he cannot live with the knowledge that he was beaten. Drizzt refuses, and begins to walk away. Entreri runs at him from behind and cries out in rage; with the implied goal of alerting Drizzt of his attack so that Drizzt will be forced to kill him. And Drizzt does defend himself by turning around and stabbing Entreri. However, a protective spell cast on Entreri without his knowledge protects him and mortally wounds Drizzt instead... so, while Entreri was not playing this trope straight by trying to kill Drizzt, his attempt to get himself killed backfired. And he was furious.
• Happens occasionally in Redwall, notably in the fight between Logalog and Hogspit in Long Patrol.
• The Stormlight Archive: In the novella Dawnshard, after Nikli betrays Rysn, she states that "betrayal by a friend is painful, but that is never a reason to pretend it can't happen." This ultimately proves pointless: as a Sleepless, Nikli is barely inconvenienced by being tied up.
• Happens with alarming regularity in The Wheel of Time. Mostly by the bad guys.
  • A notable one happens in one of the later books, when Galina (a Black Ajah) teams up with Faile (the wife of one of the three main heroes). Galina needs the Aiel Oath Rod, and promises Faile freedom if she gets the rod for her, all the while intending to betray Faile once she has her hands on it. After Faile does so, Galina collapses a building on top of Faile and leaves her for dead. Just a few chapters later, Galina is caught by the one person that her Restraining Bolt compels her to obey, leaving Galina to live the rest of her life as a slave, with no chance of escape. The cruel (or funny) twist of fate is that if Galina had played things straight, she would have been rescued right alongside Faile, with the Oath Rod, and successfully pulled off a Karma Houdini.
• The Witcher: In Lady of the Lake, after besting her Arch-Enemy, the psychopathic Bounty Hunter Leo Bonhart, a man who's abused her and tortured and killed those she cared about, and has frequently alluded to his desire to rape and kill her, when Ciri has Bonhart at her mercy, he wastes no time in begging for his life, insisting Ciri wouldn't kill an unarmed, defenceless old man. When Ciri turns her back, Bonhart pulls a knife and attacks; Ciri hears him coming, dodges his attack and opens Bonhart's throat with her sword, then watches him bleed to death with a defiant look on her face.

Live-Action TV

• In season 21 of The Amazing Race, two couple teams Abbie and Ryan (who were the favorites before they hit the wall) and Josh and Brent (who had struggled before they hit the wall) got half a day behind all of the other teams due to circumstances outside of their control. They ended up working together through a couple of legs and were both saved after another team got their bags stolen. Once they got to Amsterdam the next leg together, Abbie and Ryan were going to throw the guys under the bus to save themselves at the U-turn (makes a team go back and do another challenge). When they got to the U-turn, they found out they had been outwitted by the teams at the front of the pack. The first team that got there U-turned Abbie and Ryan and then the second team U-turned the first team, denying them the chance to backstab their friends. Josh and Brent were able to overtake them and then went on to win the whole damn thing.
• Doctor Who:
  • In "The Christmas Invasion", the Tenth Doctor did this to his first opponent without looking and using a satsuma. Which is a small fruit, to the uninitiated.
    "No second chances. I'm that sort of a man."
  • Imagine what he could do with a pointed stick.
• Towards the climax of the Horatio Hornblower movie "The Even Chance"^note  Known as "The Duel" in the US, at the second duel Hornblower decides that Simpson is "not worth the powder". Simpson attempts to stab him in the back for humiliating him and is dispatched by Captain Pellew via a several hundred-yard precision snipe with a musket.
  Bowles: Exceptionally fine shot, Sir. If I may say so, sir.
  Captain Pellew: You may, Mister Bowles. You may.
• This happened at the end of a Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode entitled "Criminal". One man has a gun to the head of another, intending to kill him, but is eventually convinced to spare his life and let the police take him into custody for a crime he committed. As he walks away, the guy he wanted to kill picks up the discarded gun and attempts to shoot him in the back—only to be gunned down by a police sniper.
• Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode Cave Dwellers has another variant: The Hero's sidekick, who's been off Behind the Black or some such during the Big Fight, shows up just in time to kill the Villain as he tries to backstab the Hero.
• Sort of Pyrrhic delayed-action one in Supernatural; Jake successfully backstabs Sam to death after being spared. Sam's brother brings him back to life. Sam shoots Jake repeatedly in the face next time he sees him. By this time, Jake has already opened the literal door to Hell - and Dean had to sell his soul to resurrect Sam. While neither Jake nor his Evil Mentor live to see it, their plan still succeeds and several seasons of destruction follow.
• On True Blood, Sam Merlotte gets into a fight with Marcus Bozeman, with both wanting to kill the other. Sam wins and chokes Marcus almost to death, but holds back at the last minute, opting instead to hit him with a "The Reason You Suck" Speech and telling him to live with those truths before turning his back and walking away. Marcus is pissed and goes for a gun lying nearby. He's tackled by Alcide before he can shoot Sam. Alcide accidentally hits him in the throat and kills him.
• A villainous example occurs in the season 2 finale of the 2009 re-imaging of V (2009). The Fifth Column convinces Lisa to kill her mother Anna (the supreme commander of all Vs) so that Anna's deposed mother Diana can re-take her role as Queen. To this end, they fake a kidnapping but leave clues for Anna to follow. When Anna arrives at the warehouse where Lisa is being held, she frees her daughter and turns around. Lisa quietly grabs a gun from a nearby drawer and points it at her mother. Anna sees it in a reflection and starts acting emotional, not letting in that she knows. She convinces Lisa that she has changed, and Lisa does not shoot. This is all a lie, of course. She kills Diana, imprisons Lisa, and forces her to watch as Lisa's sister (who looks like her) sleeps with Lisa's boyfriend and, possibly, kills him.

Video Games

• You can do this yourself in Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura when you receive the Mastery in backstabbing.
• In Batman: Arkham City, this is the last mistake the Joker makes. Batman has the cure for the Joker's blood poisoning but asks why on Earth he should save the life of someone who's caused so much death and destruction. Joker leaps out of the shadows and stabs Batman in the shoulder, presumably intending to steal the cure, but he stabs him in the shoulder of the arm holding the cure, causing him to drop it, and it shatters on the ground. As Joker dies, Batman makes one final observation:
  Batman: Do you wanna know something funny? Even after everything you've done... I would have saved you.
  The Joker: (laughing) That actually is.. pretty funny!
  • Also happens in the DLC Harley Quinn's Revenge. When Batman and Gordon are distraught by Robin's apparent death in the Steel Mill's explosion, Harley - who was just neutralized and dragged outside by Batman - pulls a knife on him. It shows just how the Joker's death affected her judgment.
• In Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!, upon reaching the Meriff's office and getting all the info he wants from him, Jack decides to let the guy go. The Meriff then takes the chance to shoot him when he turns around, but spectacularly misses the very close-range shot and then jams his gun. Jack kills him and comes away from the encounter having learned that showing mercy to your enemies will only come back to bite you in the ass later. Thus begins his rapid descent into becoming Handsome Jack.
• One of the various scenarios in Detroit: Become Human can involve a rare heroic version of this. If Connor resists becoming a Deviant Android and Hank becomes sympathetic to the cause of the Deviants (having come to see them as living beings worthy of empathy), Hank will attempt to stop Connor from assassinating the leader of the Deviants as they attempt to gain civil rights. If Connor prevails in the fight, he can choose whether to spare or kill Hank. If he chooses to spare Hank, then Hank, desperate to try to help the oppressed Androids, will make one last attempt to stop Connor despite being spared. If the player succeeds in a Press X to Not Die event, Connor will dodge the attempt and shove Hank to the side, sending Hank (perhaps accidentally) tumbling off the roof the two were fighting on.
• The Evil Within 2: A dying Stefano attempts 'one last photo' with his Magical Camera as Sebastian walks away. Seb whips around and drills a bullet through said camera and its owner's deranged brains.
• A villainous example in a Jade Empire flashback, where Emperor Sun Hai and his brothers Sun Li and Sun Kin raid the Dirge in order to take the power of the Water Dragon. While Sun Hai is draining her power, his brothers try to kill him while he's distracted. Unfortunately (for them), he's already absorbed so much power that even being impaled doesn't stop him. He proceeds to kill then reanimate Sun Kin, turning him into an unstoppable enforcer, while Sun Li escapes, leaving his family to be slaughtered by the Emperor's assassins.
  • Also, Li's betrayal of the Player Character. While he does kill the protagonist, the latter rediscovers his legacy as a Spirit Monk, comes back to life, and uses his new powers to kill Li.
• Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II has this in the light side ending. Notably, the main character, Kyle Katarn, is smart enough to know that the villain Jerec would attempt this, and for that reason, gives him his weapon back. Predictably, Jerec attempts to strike him down with it, whereupon Kyle cuts him down without mercy.
• A downplayed example in Mass Effect 3: after the final battle with Kai Leng, Shepard & company ignore the fallen foe to investigate the Illusive Man's computers. Kai Leng attempts to sneak up on Shepard and backstab him/her. If the player makes the Renegade interrupt, Shepard smashes Kai Leng's blade with his/her gauntlet, readies his/her own Omni-blade, and stabs Kai Leng in the gut, gaining revenge for a fallen comrade in the process, or mocking him for not having a gunship to protect him this time.
  • Of course, if you don't hit the Renegade interrupt, Shepard just dodges and guts Kai Leng anyway.
• Mega Man Battle Network: Bubbleman.EXE performs a variation with an I Surrender, Suckers beforehand: he claims that he'll make the bubble traps go away after being beaten and claims he is sorry and will never do it again, but when Megaman.EXE spares him, Bubbleman instead accelerates the bubbles' countdown time. but thankfully Protoman.EXE appears and finishes Bubbleman off before he can do any harm and he and his operator give Lan and Megaman a lecture on never lowering their guard against enemies, even ones that are groveling at their feet.
• This is basically the entirety of Mercenaries 2. In the first 10 minutes, a corrupt Venezuelan leader hires you for a job, then screws you out of your pay, tries to backstab you, and ends up shooting you in the ass. The rest of the game is about your character leveling half the country to pay the man back.
• Subverted in Odin Sphere after the boss fight between Oswald and Skuldi the Wise Man. Skuldi tells Oswald where he sent Oswald's wife Gwendolyn to as part of his plan to lure Odin out, and begs for his life. For a moment Oswald turns away, and Skuldi prepares to blast him with magic - but Oswald, furious that Skuldi was willing to use Gwendolyn as a tool, turns back and cuts him down with one blow, and makes it clear he never had any intention of letting Skuldi live.
  Oswald: You must have mistaken me for a better man.
• In Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron, X2 had defeated X1 on Mustafar, X1 declares that X2 should kill him and thus turn to the dark side. However, X2 decides not to, with the DS version that he'd rather "lock his pieces up". This wasn't the answer X1 was looking for, however, so he levitates his discarded lightsaber, ignites it, and then attempts to kill X2. Unfortunately for him, X2 saw it coming, backflipped over the blade, resulting in X1 accidentally impaling himself, and then proceeds to fall off the edge into a flowing lava river.
• A variation occurs in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. After Palpatine was defeated by Galen Marek, Palpatine urges Galen to submit to the dark side and then kill him. Galen, with some help from Kota, ultimately refuses. However, Palpatine doesn't try to backstab Galen—instead, he tries to attack Kota for interfering, resulting in Galen holding back the Emperor's attacks long enough for the rebels to escape safely. It counts as a backfire because although Palpatine ultimately survived, those actions also ultimately robbed him of a proper replacement apprentice of Darth Vader since his holding back the Emperor's powers (as well as bearhugging the Emperor and then proceeding to detonate most of the throne room) killed Galen in the process.
• Navarro, when he tries to kill Drake after their battle at the end of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune.

Web Comics

• In The Order of the Stick, Nale kills the vampire Minister Malack, who hates him for killing his vampire spawn when his guard was down by removing his Protection from Daylight spell. His father Tarquin, who was Malack's best friend, kills him in turn, and one of Malack's other friends disintegrates the corpse to ensure Nale stays dead.

Western Animation

• Avatar: The Last Airbender:
  • "The Southern Air Temple": After losing a firebending duel, Commander Zhao attacks Zuko, only to be stopped by Iroh who proceeds to effortlessly push the disgraced Zhao halfway across the field, showcasing that he's far more competent than his jolly exterior indicates, before scathingly chewing him out for being a dishonorable sore loser.
    Iroh: So this is how the great Commander Zhao acts in defeat? Disgraceful. Even in exile, my nephew is more honorable than you.
  • In the grand finale, Ozai attacks an indecisive Aang, but is effortlessly restrained. Aang still doesn't kill him, instead using a new skill to permanently de-power him.
• In a flashback in the Batman Beyond episode "Ace in the Hole", Bruce Wayne, while making his pilgrimage to the site where his parents were murdered, was ambushed by a Jokerz thug who wanted to mug him. He effortlessly thwarted the attack. However, the mugger then tried to attack him again as he stood at the murder scene. However, Wayne wasn't the one who stopped him this time: Ace stopped him.
• In the pilot of Gargoyles, Hakon tries to stop Goliath from attacking him by blaming the Captain for the Wyvern Massacre. The Captain, enraged by Hakon's attempt to frame him, wrestles him off the cliff.
  Hakon: He's the one you want! He shattered them!
  Captain: Why, you lying scum!
• Towards the end of the first season of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2021), Skeletor's minions try to overthrow him. Unfortunately for them, he'd prepared for this.
  Skeletor: (feigning shock) Oh, Oh no. Are you coup-blocking ME with a coup of your own? Is there no honor among thieves?
• In the Grand Finale of Jackie Chan Adventures, Uncle and Tohru casted a chi spell to banish Drago into Demon Realm. As Drago clung to the edge, he pleaded for help from his father (Shendu), who agreed to help him while reminding Drago Earth was Shendu's world. Drago then took advantage of this to pull Shendu into the abyss and win their Evil Versus Evil fight. It backfired when Shendu grabbed Drago's tail, pulling him down too.
• In the second season finale of The Owl House, Emperor Belos, a perpetual backstabber, reneges on the deal he made with the Collector to set him free in exchange for the Collector teaching him the Draining Spell; he makes it clear that he never intended to honor the bargain because he doesn't want to give him the chance to share his vast magical knowledge with anybody else. Unfortunately for Belos, King ends up setting the Collector free himself in exchange for the latter stopping the Draining Spell (foiling the plan that Belos has been working on for centuries), and the first thing the Collector does upon his release is reduce his former partner/friend to a puddle of goop with a Finger Poke of Doom.
• The villainous Tiger Claw from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) is bested by his sister Alopex in battle. However, after she spares his life and turns to leave, he reaches for his blaster and fires. Unfortunately for him, Alopex has super speed and not only dodges his blast but cuts off his arm. She even reminds him never to forget that she could have easily taken his life.

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