History Main / BatmanGrabsAGun

*** While he doesn't use a gun in ''[[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity Arkham City]]'', Batman does resort to lethal force against two bosses, and in both cases, it's perfectly justified. The first is Solomon Grundy, who can't be stopped by anything less, and has ResurrectiveImmortality that Batman knew beforehand, so it's not like Batman would have killed him permanently. The second is [[BlobMonster Clayface]], who is immune to all of Batman's conventional tactics, forcing Batman to take up [[spoiler:Talia]]'s schmitar during the latter half of the encounter.

* ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' has the OptionalBoss Lady Maria. Her lore states that she ''hated'' using her Cainhurst BloodMagic, instead choosing to use the DifficultButAwesome Rakuyo. But in her fight, she'll only abstain from using her blood to enhance her slashes in the first phase- and in the third phase, her spilled blood will ''catch fire''. Why it's this trope and not GameplayAndStorySegregation will become obvious to the player when they find the place she's guarding, the Fishing Hamlet. [[spoiler: The Fishing Hamlet is the darkest secret of the Byrgenwerth scholars, and it's home to the Orphan of Kos, ThatOneBoss to end all bosses, and the embodiment of its deceased mother Kos's curse on the hunters that formed the Hunters' Nightmare. Maria was desperate to prevent the player going there and possibly unleashing the Orphan- desperate enough to use the legacy she hated so.]]

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'': In his battle with Wrath near the end of the series, [[spoiler: Scar breaks his code as an Ishvalan and uses Alchemy to reconstruct matter, thus regaining the upper hand. Up until that point, he only used his abilities to destroy things and so remained technically within the bounds of his code against it]].

** Earlier in the story, Amy Dallon/Panacea, who has a strict rule about [[MindOverManners not using her power on people's brains]], ends up forced to do so by Bonesaw, [[spoiler: and subsequently does it impulsively herself on Glory Girl.]]

* In ''Series/TheMentalist'', despite working with law enforcement, Patrick Jane makes it clear he's not a fan of guns. In the entire series, he uses a gun exactly twice: one time is because [[AlwaysSaveTheGirl Lisbon is in danger]], and the other time is when he [[{{Revenge}} confronts the man who killed his family]] [[spoiler:(or so he's led to believe).]]

* Parodied in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1byycwl8qgc this]] ''Website/CollegeHumor'' video where Batman ''does'' use guns but thinks everyone he kills is just sleeping.

* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in the season 7 finale of ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' After delivering a BadassBoast to the [[EliteMooks Guild blackout team]] sent to kill him, Brock, previously known for fighting exclusively with his fists or a Bowie knife, looks for a gun under Sergeant Hatred's desk and is genuinely annoyed when he doesn't find one. Given he's fighting off a team of hitmen as opposed to the Monarch's rank and file henchmen, him wanting more firepower in the situation is perfectly understandable.

* ''Series/MacGyver1985'' makes a point of Mac not liking guns, due to seeing a childhood friend bleed out after an accidental shooting. In "A Lesson In Evil", however, he's cornered and trapped by a psychotic serial killer who wants to force Mac to kill him. When he's offered a chance to grab the bad guy's gun, he takes it. He only doesn't go through with killing the guy because a booby trap goes off in time.

** ''ComicBook/ForeverEvil'' sees Dick Grayson strapped to a bomb that will kill Batman, Lex Luthor and Lex's Injustice League if Dick isn't killed. Lex has Batman restrained and then seemingly kills Dick. Batman goes ''ballistic'' and begins strangling Lex Luthor with clear intent to kill him. However, Lex had performed a technique that only temporarily stopped Dick's heart, so Batman snaps out of it.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

*** In ''Videogame/SuicideSquadKillTheJusticeLeague'', Batman (as well as the other Justice League members) are now BrainwashedAndCrazy, which is shown with Batman willingly grabbing a gun to kill a guard.

* ''VideoGame/SouthParkTheStickOfTruth'' has your character, the New Kid (or Douchebag) trained in mystical magical arts (or rather, [[ToiletHumour magical farts]]) by several different teachers. All of them close their lessons by warning Douchebag to never, ever, fart on a man's balls. However, when [[spoiler: Princess Kenny betrays your side and ingests the Nazi Zombie serum, then withstands all of your allies' most powerful attacks in the final battle]], Cartman says that their one hope is for Douchebag to break the "Gentleman's Oath", and fart on your enemy's balls. Doing so is the only way to defeat this foe.

* ''Film/AfterTheDark'' has a philosophy professor posit a thought experiment to his class on the last day of the year: a nuclear apocalypse is extremely imminent, there's a bunker that can support ten people for a year, and they all have to draw slips of paper with jobs written on them to decide who gets a space. At the end of the class, the students [[spoiler: come to reject the professor's idea that only the people with jobs that would seem like the most useful during the apocalypse, like doctor and engineer, should get the chance to live, and that it's better to live a short life full of art and song and play than a longer life devoid of passion. At the climax of the final iteration, the professor, who's also in the scenario and is completely livid at their rejection of his philosophy, is holding them all at gunpoint to get a slot in the bunker. James, the class pacifist who's so far abstained from using violence in any other iteration, picks up a carbine and points it right back. [[YouWouldntShootMe The professor calls his bluff and says his pacifism won't allow him to shoot;]] James [[DramaticGunCock pulls the charging handle]] and says he'll make an exception]].

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The Doctor is a TechnicalPacifist who has covertly replaced someone's gun with a banana on at least two occasions. Even if they do resort to using weapons in dire situations, they'll try to avoid a gun and go for something explosives-related. This is especially prominent in the new series, for where "never carries a weapon" went from a small exchange between the Fourth Doctor (who actually [[GunNut Does Like Guns]], but doesn't ''carry'' one unless he knows he's going to need one) and Leela to a key part of the Doctor's characterization:

** One character to whom this does ''not'' entirely apply is, in a bit of irony, ''Superman''. Batman is against killing, and of course Superman is his closest ally, but the CrazyPrepared Batman's countermeasure in case Supes ever goes rogue is a lethal amount of Kryptonite. While he may not have broken the rule against Superman yet, he's planning for the occasion.

* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' comics flirt with this a bit. In the early comics, Dredd does nothing but kill. It isn’t until a fair number of issues in that he is seen actually sentencing anybody, because prior to that he just happened to kill all of them in shootouts. When Dredd was marshal of Luna One it was revealed that Luna One and Mega City One do not practice the death sentence. This institutional refrain from killing [[DependingOnTheWriter depends on who’s writing]], with the two movies subverting it. In the Karl Urban Version Dredd hands out almost nothing but death sentences. In the Stallone version, he is called before the Chief Justice to justify his use of so many death sentences.

This trope isn't just a hero doing something they wouldn't normally do. It's a hero doing something they're ''fundamentally against doing'' or have sworn that they would never do. If they've done it before (at least in that continuity), it isn't this trope. Ditto for instances where they '''almost''' break their rule but then don't; Franchise/{{Batman}} and [[Series/DoctorWho the Doctor]] particularly have a habit of almost breaking their rule, or breaking their rule in a hallucination/alternate timeline/dream sequence, or breaking it under some version of brainwashing or mind control… none of which is this trope. For it to truly count as Batman Grabs a Gun, it must be a moment where hero breaks their golden rule, on purpose, in the real world version of their continuity.

When adding examples, please be sure to mention for the sake of clarity what the rule is that's being broken. Also, please don't bother with examples of ''almost'' breaking their rule; characters who have a prominent rule tend to frequently be pushed/tempted/pressured to break it, but it's only this trope if and when they actually do. Otherwise, every fifth [[ComicBook/TheJoker Joker]] story would count, as would about fifty ''Series/DoctorWho'' episodes. This trope is about the ''first'' time the rule is broken (though with alternate continuities and such a character might have more than one "first" time breaking their vow), not subsequent breaks or near misses.

* ''Literature/IDidNotGiveThatSpiderSuperhumanIntelligence'': Palooka Joe has a reputation as TheCape in the middle of a CrapsackWorld (although he refuses to recognize robot sentience and is fine with decapitating them), but Bismuth knowing his secret identity and putting his family in danger causes him to try to headshot the villain in cold blood, and their relationship ship worsens even more after Joe fails.

* ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'': Noboru Gongenzaka is a Steadfast Duelist, meaning he swears to never use Action Cards in a duel. In episode 120, in a duel where losing means being trapped in a card, he resorts to using one to save his friend Yuya Sakaki from being defeated by Battle Beast.
** However it is a bit different from the usual trope. In most cases it's expected that the character involved would be far more effective or powerful by "grabbing the gun" and it's only a moral code holding them back. In this case, Gongenzaka uses the Superheavy Samurai Archetype to truly embody the Steadfast Dueling spirit. The archetype often requires the user to have no Spell Cards in their graveyard in order to activate their effects. Action Cards are Spell Cards. Thus in his usage of an Action Card to save Yuya he can also be seen as performing a HeroicSacrifice by tanking the potential of his deck in order to save his friend.

* In ''Series/TheMentalist'', Patrick Jane makes it clear he's not a fan of guns. In the entire series, he uses a gun exactly twice: once because [[AlwaysSaveTheGirl Lisbon is in danger]], and the other time is when he [[{{Revenge}} confronts the man who killed his family]] [[spoiler:(or so he's led to believe).]]

* In ''Series/TheMentalist'', Patrick Jane makes it clear he's not a fan of guns. In the entire series, he uses a gun exactly twice: once to [[AlwaysSaveTheGirl save Lisbon's life]], and the other time to [[{{Revenge}} kill the man who killed his family]] [[spoiler:(or so he's led to believe).]]

** Back on the heroic side, Batman's loyal butler Alfred not only does use guns on occasion, but, in at least one iteration, [[https://imgur.com/gallery/OYju10d hides them in the Wayne Manor]] for his own use, in the event that someone manages to get past Batman's security measures. He even, in the above example, points out that not everyone is like Batman, in a peak physical condition that doesn't need guns to fight the bad guys, and that he is, by his own standards, a "frail and defenseless old man" who is otherwise helpless if Wayne Manor's traps don't work. To his credit, the above example also mentions he used frangible plastic nonlethal rounds, though his reasoning for this was apparently to [[SkewedPriorities keep bloodstains out of the carpet.]]
*** Granted, Alfred in many continuities is also a ex-SAS operator who already had a kill tally even ''before'' he joined the Wayne family, so there technically is no line for him to cross, though killing in war and killing a burglar are completely different, something Alfred himself has occasionally acknowledged. When this is brought up, it's pointed out that Batman's unwillingness to use a gun mostly comes from his traumatized psyche being unable to cope with his childhood experience, which Alfred will respect, regardless of his own personal firearm policies. Plus, Batman gets away with using tactics, tech, training, and his excellent fitness to take down criminals non-lethally. Batman's nonlethality also serves a pragmatic purpose, since typically in universes where Batman ''does'' kill, Commissioner Gordon is forced to take action against him, since he cannot ignore anyone, even his good friend Batman taking up the executioner's axe. However, in most if not all cases where Alfred goes lethal, it is situations that have gone ''beyond'' the GodzillaThreshold, such as when Batman has been incapacitated (or sometimes outright ''killed'') by an [[OutsideContextProblem Outside-Context Villain]], something which [[PapaWolf Alfred Pennyworth does not abide AT ALL]].

** In ''ComicBook/WhateverHappenedToTheManOfTomorrow'', Mister Mxyzptlk has grown bored with merely being a nuisance to Superman and decides to [[OneWingedAngel reveal his true form]]. Being completely helpless against Mxyzptlk's godlike power, Superman resorts to using the Phantom Zone projector. Mxyzptlk tries to go back to the Fifth Dimension to escape and is torn apart from being pulled between two dimensions. Afterward, Superman is guilt-ridden at violating his no-kill code and [[BroughtDownToNormal permanently gives up his superpowers]] by exposing himself to gold kryptonite.

** ''ComicBook/SupergirlsThreeSuperGirlfriends'': In a flashback, Superman decides Brainiac attempting to shrink the whole Earth is the last straw and warns the Coluan he will be destroyed if he does not stop his attack. Brainiac ignores his warning, so Superman turns his own shrink ray against him, and Brainiac shrinks himself into nothingness.

* At the end of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueCrisisOnTwoEarths'', [[spoiler:Batman kills his EvilDoppelganger Owlman after recognizing that he's essentially himself with [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter better technology]] and [[TheSociopath no morality dial]], and that he's [[OmnicidalManiac hatched a plan to destroy all of existence and would likely refine his plan to be better if thwarted this time]]. Not even Batman would allow him the chance, and ties him to his DoomsdayDevice as he teleports it to an uninhabited Earth. Owlman manages to free himself just in time to potentially stop it, but he's so much of a StrawNihilist that he doesn't bother.]]

* ''Literature/IDidNotGiveThatSpiderSuperhumanIntelligence'': Palooka Joe has a reputation as a TheCape in the middle of a CrapsackWorld (although he refuses to recognize robot sentience and is fine with decapitating them), but Bismuth knowing his secret identity and putting his family in danger causes him to try to headshot the villain in cold blood, and their relationship ship worsens even more after Joe fails.

* Subverted in the season 2 finale of ''Series/Daredevil2015''. Matt is a staunch believer of ThouShaltNotKill, but after [[spoiler:Nobu kills Elektra]], Matt throws him off the roof supposedly to his death. [[spoiler:Nobu]] survives the fall, but [[spoiler:Stick chops his head off shortly afterwards]].
** This scene is an obvious callback to the scene in the first season where a desperate and injured Matt seemingly kills [[spoiler:Nobu, only for him to be revealed to be (kind of) immortal (so Matt didn't really break his no-kill rule)]]. Basically, the series subverts this trope twice, both times with the same characters, but then the second time also subverts the plot twist that was used to subvert this trope the first time.

* In ''Music/UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny'', Batman stole Franchise/IndianaJones's gun, and he shot it, and he missed. Then Creator/JackieChan deflected it with his fist.

* ''VideoGame/SouthParkTheStickOfTruth'' has your character, the New Kid (or Douchebag) trained in mystical magical arts (or rather, [[ToiletHumor magical farts]]) by several different teachers. All of them close their lessons by warning Douchebag to never, ever, fart on a man's balls. However, when [[spoiler: Princess Kenny betrays your side and ingests the Nazi Zombie serum, then withstands all of your allies' most powerful attacks in the final battle]], Cartman says that their one hope is for Douchebag to break the "Gentleman's Oath", and fart on your enemy's balls. Doing so is the only way to defeat this foe.

* ''Series/TheMandalorian'': Din Djarin is from the Children of the Watch, which means he's an ultra-orthodox niqabi-type Mandalorian who ''never'' removes his helmet in front of any living being. But in [[Recap/TheMandalorianS2E7Chapter15TheBeliever "Chapter 15: The Believer"]], in order to get his [[InterspeciesAdoption adopted alien son]] back, he has to go undercover into the Imperial refinery. He first bends the rules by removing ''his'' helmet and wearing a ''different'' one. Then, when faced with an Imperial computer has a face scanner, he straight-up removes the helmet. He's obviously deeply disturbed by this, and circumstances don't allow him to put it back on right away. This is a marker of his CharacterDevelopment. When we first met him, being a Mandalorian was the centerpiece of his identity. Now he's a dad first and a Mandalorian second. He's still a devote Mandalorian, but when the two come into conflict, the dad wins out.

This trope isn't just a hero doing something they wouldn't normally do. It's a hero doing something they're ''fundamentally against doing'' or have sworn that they would never do. If they've done it before (at least in that continuity), it isn't this trope. Ditto for if they '''almost''' break their rule but then don't; Franchise/{{Batman}} and [[Series/DoctorWho the Doctor]] particularly have a habit of almost breaking their rule, or breaking their rule in a hallucination/alternate timeline/dream sequence, or breaking it under some version of brainwashing or mind control… none of which is this trope. For it to truly count as Batman Grabs a Gun, it must be a moment where hero breaks their golden rule, on purpose, in the real world version of their continuity.

This trope isn't just a hero doing something they wouldn't normally do. It's a hero doing something they're ''fundamentally against doing'' or have sworn that they would never do. If they've done it before (at least in that continuity), it isn't this trope. It's also not this trope if they '''almost''' break their rule but then don't; Franchise/{{Batman}} and [[Series/DoctorWho the Doctor]] particularly have a habit of almost breaking their rule, or breaking their rule in a hallucination/alternate timeline/dream sequence, or breaking it under some version of brainwashing or mind control… none of which is this trope. For it to truly count as Batman Grabs a Gun, it must be a moment where hero breaks their golden rule, on purpose, in the real world version of their continuity.