Basic Trope: A captor takes off a character's shirt when they take them prisoner.
- Straight: Villain Bettina captures Aaron and removes his shirt.
- Exaggerated: Bettina strips Aaron completely naked.
- Downplayed: Bettina takes his jacket, but leaves his undershirt alone.
- Justified:
- Aaron's shirt is charged with superpowered energy that could wipe out Bettina and all her mooks, so she takes it so it can't be used as a weapon.
- Bettina has lustful intentions towards Aaron, so she has his shirt removed ahead of time for that reason.
- Bettina is a Torture Technician, and the shirt would just get in the way of her methods.
- Aaron had a secret message written on his chest as a Human Notepad method of correspondence. Bettina removes the shirt so she can read it.
- Inverted:
- Bettina takes off her shirt when she captures Aaron.
- Aaron gets dragged in shirtless, and Bettina gives him a shirt.
- Bettina takes every item of Aaron's clothing except his shirt.
- Subverted: The rest of Bettina's captives are shirtless, so when she leans in at Aaron's cell, the audience assumes she's removing his shirt. She takes his utility belt.
- Double Subverted: ...and then proceeds to take his shirt.
- Parodied:
- Bettina takes off Aaron's shirt, then her own shirt, then orders her mooks to take off their shirts, then puts up a disco ball and declares a shirtless party.
- Bettina secures all the exits, confiscates Aaron's belongings, and sets up the death trap before she removes his shirt, ''just to be courteous''.
- Averted:
- Bettina does not take off Aaron's shirt.
- Aaron was captured while sleeping and wasn't wearing a shirt in the first place.
- Enforced: The producers tell the writers to make Bettina take Aaron's shirt off for the sake of Fanservice.
- Lampshaded: "Now that I've caught you, I'm obligated to take your shirt off!"
- Invoked: Aaron is a Drama Queen, and so decides to play up the Distressed Dude role by roughing himself up and taking off his shirt before shackling himself to the wall.
- Exploited:
- Charlotte, Aaron's Action Girlfriend knows Bettina has lustful intentions towards him. While Bettina is removing Aaron's shirt, she uses Bettina's lack of focus to attack and rescue Aaron.
- Eli, an assassin not working for either side, notices that Aaron isn't wearing his bulletproof shirt and promptly shoots him through the open window.
- Defied:
- Aaron preemptively glues his shirt to his body so Bettina can't remove it.
- "No self-respecting villain will take the time to take your shirt off, Aaron. That's only in fanservicey movies"
- Implied: Aaron is wearing a shirt when he gets captured. When Charlotte finds him, he's not wearing a shirt.
- Played for Laughs: Bettina takes off Aaron's shirt and proceeds to admire his abs.
- Played for Drama:
- The shirt Aaron is wearing belonged to his late brother Damien, and it means a lot to him. When Bettina takes it and throws it in the fire, Aaron has a Heroic BSoD.
- Bettina molests Aaron while he is in her captivity, beginning a Start of Darkness for him that leads to a Face–Heel Turn.
- Played for Horror: When Bettina puts on the shirt, because of a side effect in which things made to touch good skin cannot touch evil skin without disastrous consequences, she becomes a terrifying monster.
Now, I'm going to tie you up, bring you back to Shirtless Captives, and take off your shirt!
