History BigDamnHeroes / LiveActionFilms

* ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}'':
** The Mutos seem unstoppable until Godzilla pimps into town to show them who's boss. The big reveal in the Honolulu airport suggests this trope, but really it's the final showdown in the San Francisco Bay that best captures it, [[spoiler:after Ford blows up the Female Muto's egg, she attempts to kill him. Cue atomic breath, allowing Ford to escape]].
** Ford to Godzilla, ironically enough. When both Mutos were pummeling the snot out of Godzilla, [[spoiler:the explosion that Ford caused to destroy all the Muto eggs]] drew their attention, freeing Godzilla.
* In the climax of ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'', Big G is backed into a corner and is seconds away from being killed by [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla, when Kong jumps on the metal beast's back to save his life]].

** ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'': Aquaman and Wonder Woman are buried by debris, Batman is too busy fighting Parademons outside and Flash can't stop running as he has to charge himself to help Cyborg get into the Mother Boxes. Cyborg is at the mercy of Steppenwolf, who prepares to deliver a blow to him with his electro-axe... then a loud "CLANG!!!" is heard... It's the Man of Steel, the last son of Krypton, Superman [[NoSell bodyblocking the axe strike like it's nothing]]! Cue a glorious and simply badass {{Fanfare}} medley version of his ''Film/ManOfSteel'' themes. Then Superman freezes Steppenwolf's axe and starts delivering a one-sided beatdown to the New God.

** ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'': Aquaman and Wonder Woman are buried by debris, Batman is too busy fighting Parademons outside and Flash can't stop running as he has to charge himself to help Cyborg get into the Mother Boxes. Cyborg is at the mercy of Steppenwolf, who prepares to deliver a blow to him with his electro-axe... then a CLANG! is heard... It's Superman [[NoSell bodyblocking the axe strike like it's nothing]]! Cue a glorious {{Fanfare}} medley version of his ''Film/ManOfSteel'' themes. Then Superman freezes Steppenwolf's axe and starts delivering a one-sided beatdown to the New God.

* In ''Film/SpiderMan3'' ol' Web Head is getting the [[CurbStompBattle living shit kicked out of him]] by Venom and Sandman. Literal seconds before he's finished off, cue one of the Goblin's grenades blasting a hole in Sandman's neck and Harry rushing in to even the odds.

* ''Film/XXXReturnOfXanderCage'' has [[spoiler:Darius Stone coming out of nowhere and blowing up mooks with a grenade launcher in the final battle]].

* ''Film/XXxReturnOfXanderCage'' has [[spoiler:Darius Stone coming out of nowhere and blowing up mooks with a grenade launcher in the final battle]].

* ''Film/XXXReturnOfXanderCage'' has [[spoiler:Darius Stone coming out of nowhere and blowing up mooks with a grenade launcher in the final battle]].

* ''Film/XxXReturnOfXanderCage'' has [[spoiler:Darius Stone coming out of nowhere and blowing up mooks with a grenade launcher in the final battle]].

''(Superman then punches Steppenwolf and the Creator/JohnWilliams [[ThemeMusicPowerUpSuperman music cuts in]].)''

** In ''Film/{{Justice League|2017}}'', Parademons are swarming the civilians, the Earth is being [[HostileTerraforming terraformed]], ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} and ComicBook/WonderWoman are being crushed by falling debris, ComicBook/{{Cyborg}} had his leg torn off by [[BigBad Steppenwolf]] before he could finish separating the [[MacGuffin Mother Boxes]], the Flash can't save all the civilians by himself and ComicBook/{{Batman}} has run out of ammo. How will our Justice League [[DarkestHour survive this?]]

''(Superman then punches Steppenwolf and the [[ThemeMusicPowerUp John Williams Superman]] music cuts in.)''
** ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'': Aquaman and Wonder Woman are buried by debris, Batman is too busy fighting Parademons outside and Flash can't stop running as he has to charge himself to help Cyborg get into the Mother Boxes. Cyborg is at the mercy of Steppenwolf, who prepares to deliver a blow to him with his electro-axe... then a CLANG! is heard... It's Superman [[NoSell bodyblocking the axe strike like it's nothing!]] Cue a glorious {{Fanfare}} medley version of his ''Film/ManOfSteel'' themes. Then Superman freezes Steppenwolf's axe and starts delivering a one-sided beatdown to the New God.

* As is the norm, Superman gets several moments in ''Film/ManOfSteel''.

* The SignatureScene of ''Film/{{The Birth of a Nation|1915}} has ''The Ku Klux Klan'' riding to the rescue of the Cameron family when they're attacked by Black Union Soldiers (mostly played by white actors in {{blackface}}).

** Used in the film itself. After Doug has rescued his father, he's faced with the prospect of having to take on a pair of MiGs with only 80 rounds left in his chaingun. Cue a squad of F15's showing up and scaring off the enemy fighters.

* In ''Film/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'', Ned Land as played by Creator/KirkDouglas pulls a truly impressive one- we see him break out of a flooding holding cell as the ''[[CoolShip Nautilus]]'' is taking on water, break through a glass window with his feet to unlock the door from outside, makes it to the bridge to find the ship under attack by a giant squid- a creature he's ''never seen before in his life''- grabs a harpoon, throws the harpoon right in the monster's eye, then dives into the water to save [[BigBad Captain Nemo]], a man he hates. It turns into a funny moment with this dialogue afterwards;

* The first ''Film/{{Superman}}'' movie has one for Superman when he flies to rescue Lois Lane from the helicopter which got caught on the roof.
* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** A classic example occurs during the trench run scene in ''Film/ANewHope''. Just when Darth Vader has Luke's fighter in his crosshairs, the ''Millennium Falcon'' comes flying out of the sun, piloted by Han Solo, blasting one of Vader's two wingmen, surprising the last one who bumps into Vader, crashing and sending Vader spinning out of control, giving Luke a clear shot at the target needed to destroy the Death Star.
** Yoda plays the part to a T in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'', despite [[PintSizedPowerhouse not being very big at all]].
** ''Film/TheForceAwakens'': Happens quite a bit, but the Biggest Damn Heroes moment is [[spoiler:when Han, Chewie, and Finn are taken prisoner by the Stormtrooper unit on Takodana, only to have an opportunity to escape when Poe Dameron and a squadron of Resistance X-wings blast onto the scene with dramatic fanfare]].
** Rey, Chewbacca, and eventually [[spoiler:Luke Skywalker]] all show up on Crait just in time to come through in the clutch for the dying Resistance in ''Film/TheLastJedi''.
** Two big ones in ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'', both during the climax. First there’s Ben Solo arriving after his HeelFaceTurn to save Rey, and soon after, Lando and Chewie bringing the cavalry in time to save the Resistance from certain defeat. Cue ThemeMusicPowerUp.
* ''Film/StepsTroddenBlack'': Right when the creature is closing in on Fletcher and Sam, Jack and Oliver burst out of the forest with laser guns.
* Subversion: In ''Film/ElMariachi'', the prequel to ''Desperado'', the titular character (played by Carlos Gallardo instead of Antonio Banderas) arrives too late to prevent bad guy Moco from gunning down Domino, his love interest, in a fit of jealousy.
* In ''Film/BigGame'', just as Hazar is about to take the president away for seven days of torture and death, Oskari runs, jumps on the refrigator Moore's in and manages to save him yet again.

* From the perspective of Starfleet Command, Kirk does this in ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome''.
** ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry''. When they beam down to the Khitomer Conference. Kirk [[spoiler:shoves the blind president out of the assassin's line of fire]]. [=McCoy=] [[spoiler:grabs the Romulan ambassador at gunpoint]]. Spock [[spoiler:shouts down Admiral Cartwright after showing Valeris was found out]]. Scotty [[spoiler: sneaks in behind the sniper and [[DestinationDefenestration defenestrates]] him with lethal phaser fire]]. And Sulu and his crew [[spoiler: beam into the exits just as Cartwright's about to book it]].
** ''Excelsior'' just showing up take the heat off the beleaguered ''Enterprise'' also qualifies:
--->'''Captain Sulu''': Alright, now we've given them something else to shoot at.
** In ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'', the Borg are back and are slaughtering the Federation starships standing between it and Earth, including the Defiant, being commanded by [[TheWorfEffect Worf]]. The Borg lock on and begin crippling the ship...
--->'''Worf:''' Report!\\
'''Helmsman:''' [[OhCrap Main power is offline, we've lost shields, our weapons are gone...]]\\
'''Worf:''' Perhaps today IS [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy a good day to die!]] Prepare for [[RammingAlwaysWorks ramming speed]]!\\
'''Helsman:''' Sir, there's another starship coming in...'''it's the Enterprise!'''
*** Cue two torpedoes destroying the Borg cutting beam as the massive Enterprise swoops between the two ships ([[ThemeMusicPowerUp while the TNG theme pounds away in the background]]), drawing the cube's fire and suffering no damage! Picard then tops this by taking command of the fleet and ordering them to concentrate their fire on a single, non-vital spot, which opens up its secondary power relay to a direct assault from the Enterprise's quantum torpedoes. The formerly "invincible" Borg cube is destroyed within ''seconds''.
** In ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'', two Romulan Warbirds unexpectedly de-cloak and join ''Enterprise'' in a battle that they were losing badly. They were taken out of the fight embarrassingly quickly but like with the ''Excelsior'', they at least managed to take some of the heat off the ''Enterprise''.
** The ''Film/StarTrek2009'' has a great moment near the end, after Nero orders a "FIRE EVERYTHING!" at Spock's ship... and the ''Enterprise'' drops out of warp with [[BeamSpam all guns blazing furiously]], picking off ''all'' of the Romulan torpedoes.
** ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'':
*** [[spoiler:''Scotty'', of all people, saves the ''Enterprise'' from being finished off by rebooting all the ''Vengeance'''s systems.]]
*** [[spoiler: And when it looked like Khan was about to kill Spock, Uhura beams in and distracts him with a stunner long enough for Spock to knock him out.]]
*** [[spoiler:Chekov saves Kirk and Scotty from falling to certain death when the ''Enterprise'' is falling, and they end up hanging onto a rail for dear life.]]
** ''Film/StarTrekBeyond'':
*** Kirk [[spoiler:creates a diversion on a motorcycle using holographic versions of himself to distract Krall's minions so Spock and Bones can get the rest of the crew to safety. Jaylah also gets her moment by defeating Manas, who killed her father]].
*** Bones and Spock [[spoiler:save Kirk in one of Krall's swarm ships before he gets sucked into space]].
* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'':
** The [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl first movie]] had one of these at the very end where [[spoiler:Jack is about to be hanged and Will saves him just in the nick of time]].
** The [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd third]] also has one at the very end when [[spoiler:Will, now the new captain of the Flying Dutchman]], erupts from the sea to help the Black Pearl drive off the East India Trading Co.'s fleet.

* In ''Film/{{Rambo|IV}}'', the Burmese soldiers have captured both the missionaries and their mercenary rescuers, and are lining them up for execution. They ready their weapons, prepare to fire...and then John Rambo rises up into view behind the soldier manning the Burmese troops' .50 caliber machinegun.
* ''Film/IpMan'': TrainingThePeacefulVillagers has been subverted, the factory workers are still getting their asses handed to them by the bandits - until Ip Man shows up and gives them the old what-for. (However, the factory workers were able to keep the bandits separated so he wouldn't have to take on all of them at once.)
* ''Film/XMenFilmSeries''
** [[spoiler:Magneto]], of all people - when the Blackbird is about to crash into the forest in ''Film/X2XMenUnited''.
** [[spoiler:Gambit and Sabretooth both save Wolverine at different points]] in ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine''.
** In ''Film/XMenFirstClass'': The boat just has a few meters left to go before total war between USA and USSR, and then the X-Men jet appears.
* In ''Film/{{Armageddon}}'', right when everything seems lost, seeing as though the first giant drilling machine was lost, AJ shows up with the (previously thought lost) second giant drilling machine to save the day.
* Lampshaded in ''Film/RoadToRio'', where Jerry Colonna leads a cavalry charge to save the day, to be still riding there long after everything is settled. "Exciting though, wasn't it?"
* DoubleSubversion in ''Film/IndependenceDay'': Russel Casse gives the line "Sorry I'm late, Mr. President!" ...and then his missile jams. ...and then he makes a HeroicSacrifice to destroy the alien ship anyway.
* In the ''Film/TransformersFilmSeries'', these are somewhat plentiful and frequently awesome. Film 1 has Bumblebee saving Sam from a pack of [[AngryGuardDog angry guard dogs]], Bumblebee saving Sam & Mikaela from Barricade, Optimus saving Sam & Mikaela from corrupt government officials (though this one doesn't work out so well), and Bumblebee & Mikaela saving the soldiers from Brawl. Film 2 has Bumblebee saving Sam & his parents from the kitchen appliances brought to life by the Allspark shard, Optimus & Bumblebee saving Sam & Mikaela from [[spoiler:the revived Megatron]], Jetfire showing up in the final battle to kill Mixmaster [[spoiler:and Scorponok]], and Bumblebee saving Sam & co. from [[spoiler:Rampage & Ravage]]. Bumblebee gets to do a lot of these, doesn't he?
** The warehouse one is the best, especially if you don't see it coming. Sam is pinned down, the last several minutes have been very dark, culminating in a sadistic little bot centimeters away from cutting Sam's head open, with no apparent hope...and CRASH! Optimus busts through the ceiling, the heroic music instantly starting at full swing, immediately followed by Bumblebee making an entryway through a wall, and what was 15 seconds ago a quiet and disturbing scene is now a scene full of roaring weapons fire, shots flying everywhere, and hectic action. Oh, and Optimus kicking ass.
** This is Optimus's job at NEST. While the human soldiers and smaller Autobots hit the field first, Optimus hangs out in the main NEST cargo plane. If the ground troops aren't cutting it, he's airdropped directly into the thick of things to start kicking ass.
* ''Film/PlunkettAndMacleane'': The former of the two protagonists saves the latter from the gallows after Chance lures him into a trap and tries to make Rebecca watch him die. Plunkett [[ShootTheRope blows right through the hangman's rope]], using a smoke screen and liberal use of his flintlocks in order to clean house.
* Subverted in the short film ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYDquzEPLsw Pyrates]]''. Just as a pirate is about to be hanged, his captain and crew arrive to effect a daring rescue, [[spoiler:only to find out at the end of the film that they just wanted his part of the treasure map]].
* In ''Film/District9'' it looks like Wikus, in his PowerArmor, is going to run off and abandon Christopher to certain death. Just as Chris is about to be shot, Wikus has a [[ChangedMyMindKid change of heart]] and charges back in, using the alien weapons to kill the soldiers in a shower of LudicrousGibs.
* Gizmo may be a little guy, but he played the Trope to a T in ''Film/Gremlins2TheNewBatch''. Near the conclusion, Kate and Marla were cornered - with Marla partially webbed up - by the Spider-Gremlin, when all of a sudden, Gizmo, who had gotten sick of being bullied by the gremlins all through the entire film, appeared from out of an air duct dressed up like Franchise/{{Rambo}}, and killed the thing with an makeshift bow and arrow tipped with an ignited bottle of white-out.

* ''Film/AFistfulOfDynamite'''s John Mallory shows up at [[JustInTime the last minute]] to save his friend Juan Miranda, from a firing squad, in typical explosive fashion.
* Subverted in ''Film/LandOfTheDead'' [[spoiler:as the heroes rush to join the final battle against the zombie horde, it appears this will be played straight and they will arrive just in time to save the terrified people trapped between the electric fence and the zombies. They actually arrive just in time to watch as the zombies feast on the people and all they can do is give those still alive a somewhat quicker death]].
* Tom Cruise's return to the scene of the final aerial battle in ''Film/TopGun''.
* ''Film/IronEagle'' is entirely about a kid pilot and his CoolOldGuy mentor playing this trope to rescue the kid's shot down father from an [[{{Qurac}} anonymous Middle Eastern dictatorship]].
** Used in the film itself. After Doug has rescued his father, he's faced with the prospect of having to take on a pair of MiGs with only 80 rounds left in his chaingun. Cue a squad of F15's showing up and scaring off the enemy fighters.
* In ''Film/TheGoonies'', [[DumbMuscle Sloth's]] ShoutOut/Entrance at the climax: "[[Series/TheElectricCompany1971 Hey, you guys!]]" Cue [[ThemeMusicPowerUp heroic theme music]] and happy ending ahoy!

* ''Film/GoldenEye'': Three words: [[ChaseScene Big Damn]] '''[[TankGoodness TANK.]]'''
* ''Film/{{Dogma}}'' serves up a good one. The heroine, Bethany, is about to be beaten to death by some wicked teenage hockey-playing demons. Just as they're about to strike, [[Film/TheViewAskewniverse Jay and Silent Bob]] leap into action to save the day by beating the crap out of them. "Snooch to the muthafuckin' Noooooooch!"
* Played with in ''Film/AnchormanTheLegendOfRonBurgundy''. Ron tries this, utterly failing ("I immediately regret this decision!"), the rest of the news team does pretty well, but it's [[spoiler:Baxter]] who saves the day.
* In ''Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines'', after crashing a helicopter into a hanger, the T-X advances on John Connor and Kate Brewster, who are powerless to stop it. Then, an '''even bigger''' helicopter slams into the hanger, grinding the T-X into dust, and setting the hanger on fire. Guess who pops out?
-->'''Terminator''': I'm back..
* ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'' has The Terminator make no less than five Big Damn Heroic entrances:
** With the T-1000 chasing after John and drawing a gun, everything looks bleak... until a door busts open and in walks the Terminator, pulling a shotgun from a box of roses.
-->"Get down!"
** On a pithy 50cc bike and being chased down by the T-1000 in a truck, John has no idea that help is coming, until the Terminator jumps his bike off a 30-foot ledge and into the aqueduct they're driving in.
** The abusive staff of the Pescadero Mental Institute thought it'd be easy doping up Sarah for the millionth time. They didn't bank on the massive shotgun-toting biker cyborg.
** Sarah's trapped in a dead-end room surrounded by riot police who are shooting to kill. There's no way out of there, until the Terminator simply bashes the wall in and pulls her out.
-->"Get down!"
** John and Sarah are unarmed and cornered by the T-1000 with the Terminator nowhere in sight, until he appears over a steel processing conveyor with his trusty [[CoolGuns M79 grenade launcher]].
* In ''Film/LethalWeapon'', Murtaugh is about to be killed by the BigBad, who pauses to give his EvilGloating, ending with the line "There are no more heroes." At that exact moment, Riggs bursts in and dispatches him and his minions.
--> "Get down!"
* In ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'', Eddie Valiant and Jessica Rabbit see the Toon Patrol in their black truck barreling at them when they're in Toontown. Jessica grabs Eddie's arm and tries to drag him off in one direction to flee, while Eddie tries to drag her in the other, jerking his thumb in that direction in the process. Suddenly, Benny the Cab races up and they climb in and they escape being mowed down by the truck in the nick of time.
--> '''Benny the Cab:''' So, Valiant, you called a cab or what?
** Later, in the Acme Factory, as Doom tells Eddie and Jessica [[spoiler:his plans to wipe out Toontown and replace it with a freeway]], Roger blasts into the warehouse through a drainage grate and tries to hold Doom and the Toon Patrol at gunpoint. In this case, this trope is subverted in that one of the Toon Patrol weasels also gets blasted up onto a Ton-of-Bricks hanging from the ceiling that he uses to bury the rabbit, giving Doom the upper hand.
* ''Film/TheSmurfs'', where the entire Smurf village comes to rescue Papa from Gargamel. [[spoiler:They brought forks,gold balls, and other things.]] [[spoiler:Too bad this doesn't last long until Gargamel uses his dragon wand to trap the entire Smurf village.]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FNGgFQGJ8k The soundtrack for that scene starts out like an old tribe about to fight. But later gets fun and exciting.]]
* ''Circus'' has a subversion; Leo is being threatened by a pair of {{Loan Shark}}s, when Leo's buddy Moose intervenes and beats up the sharks... because he blames Leo for the death of his mistress and [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou wants to kill Leo himself]].
* ''Film/TrickyPeople'''s [[BigBad Reginald Charming]] [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty has Lyric right where he wants her]] up until Yello Dyno busts into his office and rescues Lyric from Charming's dastardly photo shoot.
* ''Film/HomeAlone'': In the first movie, Old Man Marley saves Kevin by knocking out Marv and Harry with a shovel, leaving them for the police. In the second movie, just when the two are about to ''shoot'' Kevin, the Pigeon Lady distracts them so Kevin can run to safety, then throws birdseed all over Marv and Harry so the pigeons will attack them; again, the police arrive to arrest them shortly after.
* Happens more than once in ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra''.

* Used in the finale of ''Film/{{Daybreakers}}'', when Willem Dafoe's character shows up to save the day.
* Done during the final battle of ''Film/SpiderMan3'', when [[spoiler:Harry]] comes in and saves Peter from being crushed by the Sandman.
* As is the norm, Superman gets several moments in ''Film/ManOfSteel''.

* ''Film/TheNewGuy'' has Gil Harris unmasked by his enemies at Homecoming. Certain social destruction is imminent - and then [[EccentricMentor Luther]] and the prison guards show up to save the day.
* ''Franchise/StreetFighter'': Zangief, the HuskyRusskie who's so damned stupid he's been duped into working for M. Bison ''without even being paid'', has a HeelRealization just in time to use his [[MotherRussiaMakesYouStrong massive Russian muscles]] to hold a blast door open long enough for everyone else to escape.

* ''Film/OOODenOAllRidersLetsGoKamenRiders'' has Kamen Rider V3 rescue OOO, the Den-O team and the Double Riders with the aid of the other main Riders. Soon after, Kamen Rider Birth arrives, leading the Secondary and Extra Riders to help with the final atack.
* In the horror anthology film ''Film/BodyBags'' at the end of "The Gas Station" segment, an early customer named Pete suddenly returns to help Anne beat the killer when he remembered he left his credit card behind.
* ''Film/OperationDumboDrop'': H.A. gets a moment when the crew finally gets the elephant to the village, but are caught by V.C.s, except him, since he caught his parachute in a tree. He drops down and rushes in.
* ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}'':
** The Mutos seem unstoppable until Godzilla pimps into town to show them who's boss. The big reveal in the Honolulu airport suggests this trope, but really it's the final showdown in the San Francisco Bay that best captures it, [[spoiler:after Ford blows up the Female Muto's egg, she attempts to kill him. Cue atomic breath, allowing Ford to escape]].
** Ford to Godzilla, ironically enough. When both Mutos were pummeling the snot out of Godzilla, [[spoiler:the explosion that Ford caused to destroy all the Muto eggs]] drew their attention, freeing Godzilla.
* In the climax of ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'', Big G is backed into a corner and is seconds away from being killed by [[spoiler:Mechagodzilla, when Kong jumps on the metal beast's back to save his life]].
* ''Film/{{Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1}}'':
** Dobby arrives to save Harry and co from Malfoy Manor minutes before Voldemort is due to arrive.
* ''Film/{{Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2}}'':
** Aberforth Dumbledore shows up just as things are getting dicey.
** [[spoiler:Neville of all people ends up saving Ron and Hermione from Nagini.]]

* This exchange from ''Film/{{Dredd}}'', as Dredd lies badly wounded:
-->'''Dredd''': Wait...
-->[[spoiler:'''Judge Lex''']]: 'Wait'? Are you kidding me? Did you say 'wait'? Judge Dredd... ''the'' Judge Dredd, finally gets on the wrong end of a gun, and what he says... is 'wait'. You know what? I expected more of you. I mean, wait for what? Wait for me to change my mind? Wait for another two or three seconds of life because you're so fucking weak you just can't stand to see it end?
-->'''Dredd''': No.
-->''(Anderson blasts [[spoiler:Lex]] multiple times from behind.)''
-->'''Dredd:''' Wait for her to shoot you.
* In ''Film/HeiseiRiderVsShowaRiderKamenRiderWarsFeaturingSuperSentai'', Daigo of the ''Series/ZyudenSentaiKyoryuger'' and the ''Series/ResshaSentaiToQger'' race in to save the day when the Generalissimo of Badan finally rises.
* In ''Film/DasFinstereTal'', Greider is this for Luzi (and, by extension, the entire village).
* In ''Film/DumbAndDumber'' Harry pulls this twice. First, he smashes through a gas station bathroom stall to [[ItMakesSenseInContext put out the fire on his foot]], which happened to be the same bathroom stall [[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext Lloyd was about to get raped by Sea-Bass in]]. The second time was a subversion when [[spoiler:Harry [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy fails to shoot the BigBad]], but distracts him long enough for [[TheCavalry the FBI to come in]]]].
* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
** ''Film/IronMan1'': Just as the head thug is about to execute an innocent villager in Afghanistan as his wife and children scream for them to stop, Iron Man falls out the sky and proceeds to lay the smackdown on all the terrorists in short order.
** ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'':
*** Cap dives in at the last minute to save a defiant old German man from being vaporized by a blast from Loki's staff.
*** Film/IronMan intervenes to aid ComicBook/CaptainAmerica against Loki in Stuttgart, Germany. He even hacks the Quinjet's PA system to blast out some [=AC/DC=] as he makes his rescue.
---> '''Iron Man:''' Make your move, Reindeer Games.
*** In the third act of the film, Bruce Banner arrives to bring muscle to the fight. On a scooter.
** ''Film/IronMan3'':
*** When [[spoiler:the "House Party Protocol" is invoked, an entire legion of Iron Man armors come in for the assist against the Extremis soldiers]].
*** Pepper gets her spot by [[spoiler:punching a remote controlled armor in the chest and throwing a missile straight into Killian's face]].
** ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'':
*** Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch come to aid Captain America against Ultron after their HeelFaceTurn.
*** When the Avengers can't evacuate the city [[spoiler:that has been turned into a FloatingContinent by Ultron, Nick Fury arrives with the old helicarrier to help]].
** ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'': An Iron Man drone piloted by Tony saves Spider-Man from drowning when a parachute malfunctions. Later Spider-Man webs up the ferry to keep it together, and Iron Man arrives to give Peter the support he needs. Even Ned gets his moment when he uses Peter's web shooters to save him from being killed by The Shocker.
** ''Film/ThorRagnarok'': When the Asgardians are about to be overwhelmed on the Rainbow Bridge, [[spoiler:Loki arrives with Korg, Miek and the rest of the rebel gladiators to save the day]].
** ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'': In the climax of the film, [[spoiler:M'Baku arrives with troops to help T'Challa in his hour of need]].
** ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'':
*** When Vision and Scarlet Witch come under attack by Thanos's forces, [[spoiler:Captain America and his team of Secret Avengers eventually show up to help them]].
*** When Thor [[spoiler:arrives in Wakanda wielding Stormbreaker. Bruce Banner even yells out, "You guys are screwed!" at the invading army the second he sees his fellow Avenger...and he's not wrong]].
*** When Black Widow and Okoye are about to be shredded by one of the Black Order’s giant death wheels, Scarlet Witch joins the fight just in time to save them, tearing the machine a part and crushing a bunch of enemy monsters.
** ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' has possibly the most epic one ever: [[spoiler:Captain America stands alone against Thanos' forces, and then Doctor Strange's portals open and EVERY living hero from the past decade of MCU movies (along with thousands of extras) show up. Captain America utters the words that we have been waiting 12 years to hear: "Avengers, assemble" and an [[BigBadassBattleSequence epic final battle]] ensues.]]
*** [[spoiler: Thanos is about to catch up to Black Panther and take the Infinity Stones, when Scarlet Witch intervenes. She proceeds to deliver a truly epic CurbStompBattle on the purple meanie, only halted when he orders a missile strike on the Battlefield.]]
*** [[spoiler: Carol Danvers]] does this pretty well, too. Thanos' flagship is raining hell down on the heroes when suddenly, they all realize that the guns have stopped. Cut to [[spoiler:''every single one of Thanos's big guns'' [[GodzillaThreshold turning away from the battle and firing on]] something huge and terrible descending rapidly from the sky. Captain Marvel shrugs off the energy blasts, before punching through the ship without breaking stride, sinking it into the lake with one shot]].
* ''Franchise/JurassicPark'':
** In ''Film/JurassicPark'', the ''UsefulNotes/TyrannosaurusRex'' of all creatures gets one when she [[spoiler: shows up to attack the raptors that have the human characters surrounded]].
** That same ''T. rex'' gets ''another'', even ''bigger'' damn hero moment in ''Film/JurassicWorld,'' when [[spoiler: Claire [[SummonBiggerFish lets her out of her paddock]] and leads her to the rampaging new dinosaur ''Indominus rex'', allowing "Rexy" to ultimately save yet another cast of characters]].
*** In the latter incident, [[spoiler: the Raptor pack-leader "Blue" gets one when she comes to the aid of the downed Rexy, stopping the ''Indominus'' from finishing her off, letting the old girl [[HeroicSecondWind get back on her feet]] and work with Blue to double-team the monster. Then the ''Mosasaurus'' outdoes them both when she lunges out of her tank to chomp down on the ''Indominus'' before the latter can resume the fight, dragging her to a watery death]].
** In ''Film/JurassicWorldFallenKingdom'', [[spoiler: a ''Carnotaurus'' has cornered our three human heroes who are trying to save the dinosaurs from the volcanic destruction of Isla Nublar. With Claire and Franklin stuck in the gyrosphere, the beast closes in on Owen -- and Rexy promptly lunges in from the side and knocks it flat with a single bite, then poses triumphantly and lets out her iconic roar as the volcano explodes behind her]].
* In ''Film/TheJungleBook2016'', Shere Khan pounces at Mowgli while hiding in the tall grass. However, Bagheera the panther tackles the tiger out of the way, and they fight while Mowgli tries to get away.
** Not long after that, Kaa has Mowgli in [[GenderFlip her]] coils, ready to eat him. But just then, [[spoiler: Baloo]] arrives and fights off the snake, chasing her away.
** During the final battle against Shere Khan, Bagheera once again fights Shere Khan to protect Mowgli. He gets wounded, and Shere Khan is ready to bite his throat when Raksha and her wolf pack arrive, Raksha shouting a BigNo while tackling the tiger to save Bagheera.
* ''Film/JasonBourne'': When [[BigBad Dewey]] has Bourne at his mercy following a BreakingSpeech, [[spoiler:Heather arrives and quickly shoots Dewey down, saving Bourne]].
* Lampshaded in ''Film/ABridgeTooFar'' when Creator/MichaelCaine's character quips that it would be bad form for TheCavalry to arrive ahead of schedule. "In the nick of time would do nicely." However the trope is averted when, just as it looks as though XXX Corps is going to break through to relieve the besieged paratroopers and make the plan a success, the Allied offensive runs out of steam just a mile short of Arnhem.
* ''Film/ThePurgeElectionYear'' has three of them.
** Joe and Marcos [[spoiler:shooting a gang of Russian Purgers dead and saving Barnes and Roan]].
** Laney and Dawn [[spoiler:running down Kimmy's friends, then Laney shooting Kimmy in the head]].
** Marcos [[spoiler:shooting Warrens in the head, then LaResistance killing the rest of the NFFA members]].

* In ''Film/SpiderMan3'' ol' Web Head is getting the [[CurbStompBattle living shit kicked out of him]] by Venom and Sandman. Literal seconds before he's finished off, cue one of the Goblin's grenades blasting a hole in Sandman's neck and Harry rushing in to even the odds.
* ''Film/ThePromise2016'': The French navy at Musa Dagh rescues thousands of Armenians trapped by many Turkish soldiers, covering their escape to the ships with artillery fire and marines before spiriting them away.
* ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan'': Harrowingly subverted in an infamous scene where [[spoiler:Mellish is losing a tense tussle with a German soldier, who takes the knife out of his hands and pins him down on the floor. [[NaiveNewcomer Upham]] is outside on the stairs, sobbing and clearly afraid. In a more idealistic war movie, Upham would have went upstairs and saved his comrade in arms. Instead what happens is Upham's fear gets the best of him and Mellish has a slow and painful NightmareFuel death from the bayonet sinking down into his chest]].
* At the end of ''Film/HannieCaulder'', when it seems that Hannie will meet the same fate as Price, the Preacher appears to [[BlastingItOutOfTheirHands shoot the knife out from Emmett's hand]], allowing Hannie to kill him.
* ''Film/BillAndTedsExcellentAdventure'': Bill and Ted are about to be executed in medieval times. The axes swing and hit the blocks instead of their necks. Turns out Billy the Kid and Socrates, who Bill and Ted had picked up on an earlier trip through time, switched places with the executioners to rescue our heroes.

** In ''Film/JurassicPark'', the ''TyrannosaurusRex'' of all creatures gets one when she [[spoiler: shows up to attack the raptors that have the human characters surrounded]].

--->'''[[BackFromTheDead Superman]]:''' I like Truth... but I'm also a fan of Justice.]]\\

--->'''[[BackFromTheDead Superman]]:''' I like [[CatchPhrase Truth... but I'm also a fan of Justice.]]\\
''[[BigDamnHeroes Superman punches Steppenwolf]] and the [[ThemeMusicPowerUp John Williams Superman]] music cuts in.''

** ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'': Aquaman and Wonder Woman are buried by debris, Batman is too busy fighting Parademons outside and Flash can't stop running as he has to charge himself to help Cyborg get into the Mother Boxes. Cyborg is at the mercy of Steppenwolf, who prepares to deliver a blow to him with his electro-axe... then a CLANG! is heard... It's Superman [[NoSell bodyblocking the axe strike!]] Cue a glorious {{Fanfare}} medley version of his ''Film/ManOfSteel'' themes. Then Superman freezes Steppenwolf's axe and starts delivering a one-sided beatdown to the New God.

** In ''Film/{{Justice League|2017}}'', Parademons are swarming the civilians, the Earth is being [[HostileTerraforming terraformed]], ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} and ComicBook/WonderWoman are being crushed by falling debris, ComicBook/{{Cyborg}} had his leg torn off by [[BigBad Steppenwolf]] before he could finish separating the [[MacGuffin Mother Boxes]], the Flash can't save all the civilians by himself and ComicBook/{{Batman}} has run out of ammo. How will our Justice League [[DarkestHour survive this?]]]]

''[[spoiler:[[BigDamnHeroes Superman punches Steppenwolf]] and the [[ThemeMusicPowerUp John Williams Superman]] music cuts in.]]''

* In ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'', Doomsday uses his EyeBeams to crash the Batplane, then attempts to blast the downed Comicbook/{{Batman}}... and then Comicbook/WonderWoman jumps in JustInTime and blocks the monster's heat vision with her Amazonian bracelets, saving his life. As her [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic badass]] theme plays.
* In ''Film/SuicideSquad2016'', Captain Boomerang is pinned and helpless, about to be killed by TheDragon, when he's saved by Katana jumping in and chopping off the villain's hand with her [[KatanasAreJustBetter Soultaker Sword]].
* In ''Film/JusticeLeague2017'', [[spoiler:[[AlienInvasion Parademons]] are swarming the civilians, the Earth is being [[HostileTerraforming terraformed]], ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} and ComicBook/WonderWoman are being crushed by falling debris, Cyborg had his leg torn off by [[BigBad Steppenwolf]] before he could finish separating the [[MacGuffin Mother Boxes]], the Flash can't save all the civilians by himself and ComicBook/{{Batman}} has [[BatmanGrabsAGun run out of ammo]]. How will our Justice League [[DarkestHour survive this?]]]]
---->'''[[spoiler: [[BackFromTheDead Superman]]]]:'''[[spoiler: I like [[CatchPhrase Truth... but I'm also a fan of Justice.]]]]\\
''[[spoiler:[[BigDamnHeroes Superman punches Steppenwolf]] and the [[ThemeMusicPowerUp classic Superman]] music cuts in.]]''

* In ''Film/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'', Ned Land as played by Creator/KirkDouglas pulls a truly impressive one- we see him break out of a flooding holding cell as the ''[[CoolShip Nautilus]]'' is taking on water, break through a glass window with his feet to unlock the door from outside, makes it to the bridge to find the ship under attack by a giant squid- a creature he's ''never seen before in his life''- grabs a harpoon, kills it in [[ImprobableAimingSkills one shot]], then dives into the water to save [[BigBad Captain Nemo]], a man he hates. It turns into a funny moment with this dialogue afterwards;

'''[[BoisterousBruiser Ned Land]]:''' [[VillainHasAPoint That's a good question]]. Well there's only one thing a fella can do when he's made a mistake as big as this... [[INeedAFreakingDrink get drunk!]]

** ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' has possibly the most epic one ever: [[spoiler:Captain America stands alone against Thanos' forces, and then Doctor Strange's portals open and EVERY living hero from the past decade of MCU movies (along with thousands of extras) show up and an [[BigBadassBattleSequence epic final battle]] ensues.]]

** Rey, Chewbacca, and eventually [[spoiler:Luke Skywalker]] all show up on Crait just in time to come through in the clutch for the dying Resistance.
** Two big ones in ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker, both during the climax. First there’s Ben Solo arriving after his HeelFaceTurn to save Rey, and soon after, Lando and Chewie bringing the cavalry in time to save the Resistance from certain defeat. Cue ThemeMusicPowerUp.

* In ''Film/HeiseiRiderVsShowaRiderKamenRiderWarsFeaturingSuperSentai'', Daigo of the ''Series/ZyudenSentaiKyoryuger'' and the ''Series/ResshaSentaiTokkyuger'' race in to save the day when the Generalissimo of Badan finally rises.