The final battle should be a fairly straightforward affair. By now, the tide has well and truly turned and any advantage the villain has has been negated, so the fight should be a simple matter of the heroes overwhelming the villain's forces, a few fan-favourite characters dying for extra drama, and the Big Bad being finally slain by The Chosen One in a decisive one-on-one battle.
However, on occasion, a particularly stubborn bad guy somehow manages to stage a last-second counterattack despite being overpowered, outnumbered, outgunned, or even dying. Rest assured, this usually isn't going to result in the bad guy unexpectedly winning: the odds are still clearly stacked against them, but it's clear that they're not going down without a fight... and unsuspecting heroes might just be caught off-guard in the process.
Essentially the villainous counterpart to the Heroic Second Wind, this can be a simple device to add tension and draw out the final battle - or it can add a note of tragedy by resulting in the death of the hero or their allies.
This trope may involve a Desperation Attack or a One-Winged Angel, or be the result of Once is Not Enough - though not always. May sometimes cross over with Last Breath Bullet, though examples of this trope don't always feature the same guaranteed fatality.
Similarly, this doesn't always occur in final battles, and can be found in any significantly dramatic fight. However, as this trope can involve deaths and endings, beware spoilers!
Compare and contrast Hope Spot and Villainous Valor.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Dragon Ball Z: In the final leg of the fight between Frieza and Super Saiyan Goku, Goku determines Frieza is losing too much energy to be a threat and decides the fight is over. Warning the Omnicidal Maniac to remember this beatdown the next time he tries to do evil, Goku leaves. Frieza is having none of this, and forces himself to power up again, launching two killer disks at Goku... only for Goku to dodge both of them, causing them to boomerang back across the battlefield and slice Frieza in half.
- GTO: The Early Years: As Eikichi's battle with Okubo turns into a Curb-Stomp Battle after Eikichi's Heroic Second Wind, Saejima stops 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.
Fan Works
- In the climax of The Land of What Might-Have-Been, the Radiant Empress is struck with a hail of poison darts loaded with the Amorphous League's shapeshifting potion - enough to trigger a Shapeshifter Swan Song-inducing overdose. Unfortunately, the Empress proves to be able to keep herself from losing cohesion through sheer willpower - not only continuing to fight on but growing into a kaiju-sized monster. Following a marathon battle, Elphaba is able to finally shock the Empress into a split-second loss of focus, causing her to melt down into a mass of paralyzed, shapeless goo.
Films — Animated
- The Pebble and the Penguin: Hubie fights Drake to save Marina in the movie's climax, resulting in Drake seemingly falling down a long height to his death. Then, just as Hubie rejoices with his friends, Drake suddenly reappears, lifting a large boulder that Marina is standing on, and throws it at Hubie. However, Drake only succeeds in destabilizing his lair and gets definitively crushed in the falling rocks, while Hubie and co. escape.
Films — Live-Action
- The Big Hit: After Melvin stabs his treacherous friend Cisco with his own knife, Cisco gives a heartrending monologue about just wanting to sail away on his boat, and begs Melvin to comfort him as it grows dark. Melvin leans in... and Cisco grabs and activates a time bomb on Melvin's vest as his last "fuck you."
- Defied in the finale of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves: the heroes are able to finally overcome Sofina by tricking her into believing that Simon was unable to Counterspell her Time Stop, then having Kira invisibly force an Anti-Magic bracelet onto her wrist, allowing Doric to use her Owlbear form to slam the now-defenceless Sofina into the pavement with deadly force. Edgin remarks "I think you got her!" A second later, Sofina looks to be getting up again - whereupon Doric hammers her back into the ground about five or six times, then throws her into a wall so violently that a chunk of it collapses on top of her.
- Hot Fuzz: During the Final Battle in the model village of Sandford, Nicholas Angel manages to pummel Simon Skinner unconscious following a gruelling fist-fight. However, Skinner regains consciousness long enough to pull out a box cutter and charge Angel in one last, desperate attempt to kill him. However, thanks to being groggy from the beatdown and drenched with water from nearby sprinklers, Skinner ends up slipping on a toy truck modeled on the delivery trucks of his own supermarket and gets non-lethally impaled on a model church spire.
- Kung Fu Hustle:
- When the Axe Gang sends in the Harpists to kill the three martial arts masters defending Pigsty Alley, the two assassins are unexpectedly brought up short when the Landlord intervenes, soaking up every single punch they throw at him and hurling them across the courtyard. However, the Harpists recover and restring their guzheng in record time, clearly about to unleash another round of deadly music... only for the Landlady to annihilate the assassins' guzheng with her Lion's Roar technique, sending them scurrying away in terror.
- In the finale, Sing unlocks his true potential and meets the Beast in single combat, his abilities leaving his opponent on the ropes for the first time in the entire movie, to the point of seemingly ending the fight with a knock-down blow. However, the Beast not only recovers from both the impact and the shock but retaliates by unleashing the power of his Toad-style technique on Sing, ramming him through several different walls and putting him on the backfoot for the rest of the battle.
- The climax of Nutty Professor II: The Klumps features Sherman Klump tricking Buddy Love into unwittingly taking a dose of his youth serum so he can be reabsorbed back into Sherman before his intellect completely collapses. Unfortunately, the newly-regressed Buddy is able to wriggle out of captivity and run off before he can be reabsorbed. Ultimately, Buddy melts into blue slime and begins evaporating - opting to die rather than become part of Sherman again. And just when it looks as if the film is going to conclude on a Downer Ending, the last of the slime happens to dissolve in fountain, allowing Sherman to drink from it and recover his mind.
- Defied in the first Scream. After the Big Bad (Billy Loomis) is shot repeatedly with a gun and falls down, Sydney Prescott puts a bullet between his eyes the moment he reveals himself to be Only Mostly Dead.
Randy Meeks:[looking at Billy's supposedly dead body] Careful. This is the moment when the supposedly dead killer comes back to life, for one last scare.[Billy wakes up to try to attack. Gale Weathers screams, but Sidney shoots Billy in the head, killing him instantly.]Sidney Prescott: Not in my movie.
- In the finale of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Sherlock has managed to stop Professor Moriarty's plan to start a world war, successfully frozen his assets, and cornered him on a balcony. Now, all that remains is to defeat him in person, and in Sherlock's prediction of how the fight would go, he initially seems to have the advantage, seemingly knocking him out with a single devastating haymaker... but unfortunately, Moriarty then reveals he has the same analytical abilities as Sherlock, and the fight prediction reveals that he would instantly recover from the punch and attack Sherlock's wounded shoulder, pummelling him into submission before throwing him off the balcony to his death. Realizing that he can't win, Sherlock is forced to try the one move Moriarty wouldn't expect: a Heroic Sacrifice via tackling Moriarty off the balcony.
- Starship Troopers: During the invasion of Klendathu, Johnny Rico guns down one of the attacking Warrior Bugs, killing it... only for the Bug to use the last of its strength to briefly get back up and skewer Rico in the leg, before finally collapsing onto the ground for the last time. Because of this injury, Rico is unable to retreat and seemingly meets his demise. Though he somehow survives, recovers, and takes advantage of mistaken reports of his death to join an off-the-books elite unit.
- Underworld (2003) concludes with a battle between the vampire elder Viktor and werewolf/vampire hybrid Michael Corvin. At first, Michael looks like he has the old bastard on the ropes, dominating his opponent through raw strength and even pinning Viktor against a wall. Unfortunately, the elder hasn't lived this long without learning some serious fighting skills: one minute in, and Viktor begins turning the tide through the martial arts he's learned over the centuries, until he has Michael in a headlock and is ready to kill him. What finally ends Viktor is a sword to the head courtesy of Selene.
- Early in Van Helsing, the eponymous monster-hunter dukes it out with Mr Hyde at Notre Dame Cathedral and appears to achieve a victory by shooting his opponent through the chest with his Grappling-Hook Pistol. With Van Helsing down at street level and the target up on the roof, it looks as if Hyde is going to be dragged to his death, and he appears to be teetering dangerously on the edge of the tower as the monster hunter reels him in... only for Hyde to grab the cable and remark "my turn!" Suddenly, Van Helsing finds himself wrenched into the air as his opponent yanks the grappling hook across the rooftops, and the only thing that saves his life is the fact that Hyde fails to look where he's going over the course of this tug-of-war, tripping over the railing and plunging to his death.
- In the finale of The Witches (1990), the witches are all given a dose of Formula 86 and begin transforming into mice, doomed to be killed by the hotel staff. However, though she's clearly beginning to feel the initial effects of the potion, the Grand High Witch is able to resist the process and begins advancing on Luke's grandma, clearly intent on killing her before the transformation kicks off. However, at the last second, Bruno takes a flying leap at the Grand High Witch, startling her into losing concentration and transforming into a helpless mouse... whereupon she's chopped in half by the manager.
- X2: X-Men United:
- The climactic battle between Wolverine and Lady Deathstryke seemingly ends with the former finally managing to overwhelm the latter's Healing Factor by plunging her into the laboratory water tank where Wolverine was first implanted with adamantium, apparently electrocuting and/or drowning Deathstryke in the process. For a while, Wolverine is left lying on a platform above the tank, exhausted and recovering from his wounds... and then Deathstryke bursts out of the water and begins lancing him with her claws, coming dangerously close to actually killing Wolverine despite his own Healing Factor. Wolverine only manages to survive this encounter by grabbing one of the nearby adamantium syringes and stabbing Deathstryke in the chest with it, implanting her with a dose of adamantium that kills her once and for all.
- Non-combat example: William Stryker is ambushed by Wolverine, stabbed in the side, and chained to the wheel of his getaway helicopter so that he'll be in the path of the flood when the dam breaks. However, once Wolverine leaves to help the others, William is able to use the snow to slip himself out of his chains... but just when it looks like the bigoted scientist can get free so he can enact his next scheme, Jason Stryker (under orders from Magneto) turns the power of Dark Cerebro on humanity, leaving William in a paralyzed, dying heap in the snow. Then Magneto himself catches up with him...
Literature
- How to Train Your Dragon: In the first book, the Green Death is bleeding and on the verge of death, but he decides that if he's going down, so should Hiccup, and he tries to swallow Hiccup. However, Hiccup manages to get out of there by plugging the Green Death's fire holes shut, causing him to burst.
Live-Action TV
- In the season 2 finale of Legion (2017), David and Amahl Farouk finally duke it out in a colossal telepathic battle, pitting their psychic projections against each other as a Shapeshifter Showdown. Eventually, David seems to have the upper hand as a Cthulhumanoid wrapping his tentacles around Farouk's throat, ready to throttle his opponent to death... only for Farouk to turn into Syd. Startled, David reverts to normal, giving Farouk the opportunity to transform into the Devil With The Yellow Eyes and jump him. Cut back to the real world, where Farouk's real body is smirking triumphantly as David's psychic projection is rapidly webbed up by the Shadow King's Giant Spider form.
- The pilot of Misfits features Tony the probation worker being driven homicidally insane by the Storm and attacking the main characters, who only survive thanks to Curtis' Mental Time Travel power and Kelly's use of a paint can as an improvised weapon - knocking Tony to the ground in the process. For a moment, it looks as if Tony's been brained to death... only for him to suddenly spring back to life and go on the attack with a scream of "CHAV!" Unfortunately for him, this happens to be Kelly's Berserk Button, prompting her to brutally stomp Tony to death before he can even get upright.
- The Sandman (2022) episode "24/7" episode ends with Morpheus bringing John Dee into the Dreaming in the hope that a Home Field Advantage will be enough to counter John's use of the Ruby. For a while, it appears to be working, with John being sent into a bewildering procession of dreams that concludes with his own mother trying to throttle him to death. However, just when it looks as if he's going to die right then, John realizes that he's dreaming and uses the Ruby to fight back, sending himself directly to Dream's throne room - where he quickly overwhelms Morpheus.
- In the Squid Game episode "Stick to the Team", the players are forced to compete against each other in games of tug-of-war that will end with the losing team being dragged over the edge of a precipice to their deaths. Gi-hun's team initially appear outmatched, but Il-nam is able to come up with a strategy that leaves the opposing team on the verge of toppling... only for said team to recover and stage a comeback, ending the episode on a cliffhanger when Sang-woo calls for a new plan.
Video Games
- In the finale of the original Call of Juarez, Billy defeats the Big Bad Juan Juarez twice (once in a Showdown at High Noon and once with Good Old Fisticuffs) and is reunited with his love interest Molly. While they are tearfully embracing each other, however, Juarez gets up a third time and tries to stab Billy In the Back... only to be shot in the head by Billy's mortally-wounded uncle Ray.
- In the finale of Devil May Cry, Dante seemingly defeats Mundus after an epic boss battle that goes from deep space to a volcanic crater. However, just before Dante is about to escape the collapsing island, a badly-wounded Mundus reappears for a rematch; though Dante is able to destroy his statuesque facade and uncover his true Blob Monster form, Mundus is able to magically weaken his opponent until he can no longer fight back. In the end, Trish has to use her power to recharge Dante, giving him the strength to banish the Emperor of the Underworld away once more.
- During the final battle with King K. Rool in Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong and Diddy seem to have K. Rool knocked out cold after the seventh hit, after which, the credits start to play. However, these credits appear to have K. Rool and the Kremlings credited as the game's programmers. After the credits end, K. Rool awakens and Donkey Kong and Diddy have to hit him three more times to completely defeat him.
- Henry Stickmin Series: In the Revenged path of Completing the Mission, Henry destroys the Toppat airship's flying mechanisms and ties Reginald, the Toppat leader to the inside of the cockpit, with the intent of leaving him there to die in the crash. However, Reginald pulls out a hidden handgun from his hat and shoots Henry's jetpack, leaving him no escape. The crash ends up fatally wounding Reginald, who asks Henry if it was worth it before dying, but it also fatally wounds Henry, who crawls to the top of the mountain and dies staring at the sky.
- Kid Icarus: Uprising: After defeating the Chaos Kin and retrieving Palutena's soul from it, Pit and Dark Pit get ready to leave - only for the Chaos Kin to recover enough to try and take Dark Pit away, prompting Pit to force Viridi into activating the power of flight in order to save Dark Pit from being killed.
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: In the climactic battle on top of Ganon's Castle, Link manages to mortally wound Ganondorf and free Princess Zelda from her crystal prison. The King of Evil seemingly dies and his castle collapses on top of him for good measure. But just as Link and Zelda are ready to leave the ruins behind, Ganondorf suddenly breaks out of the rubble, completely enraged and uses the Triforce of Power to transform himself into Ganon, the real Final Boss of the game.
- Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time:
- The Final Boss turns out to be Elder Princess Shroob, who is one of the biggest bosses in the game. Once you beat her, or so it seems at first, she turns into her One-Winged Angel form, making her twice as big and much more powerful.
- Once you beat the Final Boss you get her remains. Once you return to Peach's castle, Bowser lays lifeless in the hall. Suddenly, the remains of Elder Princess Shroob jumps into Bowser's mouth and lets him eat it, which heals him and turns him into Shrowser, the Post-Final Boss.
- Overlord I: After you defeat Goldo Golderson's steampunk tank, Goldo himself will stagger out of the wreckage, waving his axe menacingly in the air. Though he's in no fit state for a sustained fight and will go down in one hit, he can still damage you if you get close enough - and if you're not careful, it's entirely possible for him to kill you this way.
- Persona 5 Royal: Maruki. Doesn't. Give. Up. After defeating him and Azathoth, the Thieves make their escape with the treasure only for him to retrieve it and start another fight. Once that battle concludes, Maruki is apparently trapped as the Palace collapses, with Sumire being unable to go after him. However, as the Thieves fly away, with Mona having become a helicopter, Maruki grabs on with a tendril in another last-ditch attempt to stop them and straight up brawls with Joker due to the two having no energy left to summon their Personas.
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- After defeating the Egg Viper at the conclusion of Sonic's story in Sonic Adventure, Eggman's vehicle seemingly spirals out of control as it bursts into flames. Tikal warns the Blue Blur in her orb form that he's not done yet however, and sure enough Eggman will take one final dive at you, destroying the platform you're on and taking you down with him unless you evade quick enough.
- Episode I of Sonic the Hedgehog 4 does a similar thing with the Death Egg Robot, though it is surrounded by electricity, not fire.
- After defeating the Egg Viper at the conclusion of Sonic's story in Sonic Adventure, Eggman's vehicle seemingly spirals out of control as it bursts into flames. Tikal warns the Blue Blur in her orb form that he's not done yet however, and sure enough Eggman will take one final dive at you, destroying the platform you're on and taking you down with him unless you evade quick enough.
- Street Fighter III: Gill's Resurrection ability does this if his super meter is maxed out, potentially bringing him back to full health after he's been KOed. Granted he's more of an Anti-Villain, but as the final boss of the game this can still be problematic if you were only just winning against an already overpowered foe.
- The Wonderful 101: The battle against Planet Destruction Form Jergingha ends with a triumphant series of every Unite Morph used to beat him six ways from Sunday and a headbutt from Platinum Robo that shatters half of his head...but then he swats Platinum Robo away, severely damaging her, before readying his Chi-Q Marble Buster for one last shot at destroying Earth.
- In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, at the end of the bonus case "Rise from the Ashes," Phoenix delivers the decisive evidence- the scrap of cloth with Ema's handprint cut from Neil Marshall's leather vest. He then says that since there's no blood on it, the scrap was removed before the murder and whoever removed it, namely Police Chief Damon Gant, has to be the killer. The culprit starts to go into a Villainous Breakdown, but then recovers by claiming that the evidence is illegal, especially since Phoenix did not present it when asked earlier. Phoenix then refutes this claim by pointing out that he couldn't prove that the evidence was relevant to the case earlier, but he can now, resulting in the culprit being forced to admit defeat.
Western Animation
- In the climax of the My Little Pony 'n Friends serial "The End of Flutter Valley", Hydia and her daughters flee when Rosedust and the other Flutter Ponies return with the Sunstone. After Queen Bumble and her bees are dealt with, the witches make one last attempt to retain control of the valley by summoning a cloud to block out the sun, and the Flutter Ponies quickly blow them and the cloud far away.
