History DeadStarWalking / LiveActionFilms

* Liam Hemsworth dies early on in ''Film/TheExpendables2'', which sets in motion the film's plot.

* Creator/MichelleRodriguez gets 3rd billing in the fourth ''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious'' installment, only for it to be revealed that she was murdered offscreen after the opening scene, with her only appearing in a few flashbacks after. The fifth and sixth films would later retcon this, revealing she survived but suffered amnesia as a result.

** In the original film, Ethan Hunt's backup team includes characters played by Creator/KristinScottThomas, Emilio Estevez, Emmanuelle Béart and Creator/JonVoight. Scott-Thomas' character is stabbed in the back and Estevez's hacker character is impaled through the eye in an elevator shaft, while the latter two turn out to be not dead after all, and are instead pulling ThePlan. Estevez isn't even ''credited''.

** ''Film/MissionImpossibleIII'' introduces Keri Russell as a protege of Cruise's character, and then kills her off immediately after one scene when a micro-explosive in her head detonates.
** ''Film/MissionImpossibleGhostProtocol'' has Josh Holloway show up and get killed less than a minute into the film (although he gets more screen time in flashbacks later on), while Tom Wilkinson (who like Estevez above isn't credited) appears as an IMF handler who gets killed at the end of his single scene.

* Janet Leigh in ''Film/{{Psycho}}'' (although she didn't go as quickly as Drew Barrymore below). This is one of the oldest examples.

* Robert Patrick in ''Safe House''. His character shows up just long enough to brief the younger field agent[=/=]main character before he and his squad are killed, forcing the agent to go on the run with the target.

** In [[Film/{{Scream 2}} the second film]], it's ''three'' dead stars walking -- Omar Epps and Jada Pinkett are killed in the opening scene, and later, Creator/SarahMichelleGellar becomes Ghostface's first victim after the title card.

* Creator/RachelMcAdams in ''Film/{{Southpaw}}'', who is killed near the beginning of the film when a rival boxer pulls out a gun and tries to shoot Billy Hope (Jake Gyllenhaal), only to hit her in the crossfire instead. Notably, this spoiler was played up in the film's marketing, though not to the extent that the film itself shows.

* In the 2005 action film ''Film/{{Stealth}}'', Jamie Foxx's character, Henry, is killed off suddenly while trying to pilot his aircraft through a canyon, less than halfway through the film. Although Stealth was made before ''Film/{{Ray}}'' (which was one of Foxx's breakout roles), the film was released afterwards, and shocked audiences who expected Foxx's character to survive.

* In ''Film/{{U571}}'', a number of American submariners, including Bill Paxton (who's set up to be one of the main characters), are killed a quarter of the way through the film during a disastrous escape from a German U-boat.

* Elijah Wood's character is hyped up from the very beginning of ''Film/SpyKids 3'' and talked about by all of the major characters. Towards the end he shows up, gives an inspiring speech, and immediately loses as soon as it's time to prove his strength.

* The ''Franchise/{{Scream}}'' films are famous for doing this.

** ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'' subverts this. The audience is told that Peter Weyland (Creator/GuyPearce) died sometime during the crew's trip to the Engineer planet, with his only scene in the film (not counting the ViralMarketing TED Talk) being a [[PosthumousCharacter posthumous briefing]] on what they should expect to find. Then its revealed two-thirds of the way through the movie that he's NotQuiteDead, and has been in hypersleep aboard the titular ship for the entire trip. He gets a few more minutes of screentime before being unceremoniously offered by the Engineer.

* In the Canadian horror flick ''Film/{{Cube}}'', a character named Alderson (played by Julian Richings) is billed to be the major character of the film, had his visage pinned to all the promotional posters, and is killed brutally in the first five minutes of the movie by a wire trap before the focus shifts to the ''real'' group of protagonists.

* ''Film/PitchBlack'': Cole Hauser plays Johns, a bounty hunter who is escorting Riddick (Creator/VinDiesel), and seems to be the main character alongside Carolyn (Radha Mitchell). Then, less than halfway through the film, Riddick fakes out Johns and lets him get eaten by some of the local predators, who messily chomp down on him while Riddick watches.

* Creator/MichelleRodriguez gets 3rd billing in the fourth ''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious'' installment, only for it to be revealed that she was murdered offscreen after the opening scene, with her only appearing in a few flashbacks after. [[spoiler: The fifth and sixth films would later retcon this, revealing she survived but suffered amnesia as a result.]]
* ''Film/FreaksOfNature'': Creator/PattonOswalt plays a CrazySurvivalist that gets killed in the very same scene he is introduced. Also, Creator/VanessaHudgens dies halfway through the movie, but [[spoiler:she is turned into a vampire instead and only appears again at the end]].

* ''Film/FreaksOfNature'': Creator/PattonOswalt plays a CrazySurvivalist that gets killed in the very same scene he is introduced. Same thing apparently happens to Creator/VanessaHudgens who dies halfway through the movie, but [[spoiler:she is turned into a vampire instead and only appears again at the end]].

** ''Film/MissionImpossibleGhostProtocol'' has Josh Holloway show up and get killed less than a minute into the film (although he gets more screentime in flashbacks later on), while Tom Wilkinson (who like Estevez above isn't credited) appears as an IMF handler who gets killed at the end of his single scene.

* In ''Film/{{Life}}'', Creator/RyanReynolds is the first to be killed by the alien, which also invokes ShooOutTheClowns, as his character had already been established as the comic relief.

* ''Film/GIJoeRetaliation'' has Duke (played by Creator//ChanningTatum) who appears long enough to get some expository scenes with the Joes and go on a mission with them before he's shot by a gunship during a double-cross.

* ''Franchise//{{Superman}}'':
** Perhaps the most impressive occurrence is in the [[Film/SupermanTheMovie 1978 movie]]; Creator/MarlonBrando received top billing, and what was at the time the highest salary ever paid to a motion picture actor, to play a character with 8 minutes of screen time who dies before the end of the first act. Furthermore, Christopher Reeve was relegated to ''third'' billing even though he plays the lead character of the film. Fortunately, people caught on quickly to how much he was responsible for making the film so good.
*** The press coverage (as opposed to the studio publicity) at the time of the initial release talked extensively about Brando's big paycheck for so little screen time so the audience wasn't completely unprepared. This may have also tipped off late-70s movie-goers not to expect too much from his appearance in ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' a few years later.

* Creator/PiperLaurie was billed third in Creator/DarioArgento 's ''Film/{{Trauma}}''. She dies in the first twenty minutes. [[spoiler: Turns out not only is she NotQuiteDead, she is the ''killer''.]]

* ''Film/{{Superman}}'':
** Perhaps the most impressive occurrence is in the 1978 movie; Creator/MarlonBrando received top billing, and what was at the time the highest salary ever paid to a motion picture actor, to play a character with 8 minutes of screen time who dies before the end of the first act. Furthermore, Christopher Reeve was relegated to ''third'' billing even though he plays the lead character of the film. Fortunately, people caught on quickly to how much he was responsible for making the film so good.
** The press coverage (as opposed to the studio publicity) at the time of the initial release talked extensively about Brando's big paycheck for so little screen time so the audience wasn't completely unprepared. This may have also tipped off late-70s movie-goers not to expect too much from his appearance in ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' a few years later.

** Doc (Creator/KieferSutherland) dies midway through the second film, in a HeroicSacrifice to allow his friends to escape. Notably, Sutherland's character (Doc) was supposed to survive the shootout and leave the country with his bride in the screenplay, but he insisted that he would only return if they killed off his character.

* ''Film/NurseBetty'': Creator/AaronEckhart plays the redneck boyfriend of the title character ... for all of 20 minutes, until he gets half his scalp ripped off and is shot as he pitifully tries to crawl away from the contract killers played by Creator/ChrisRock and MorganFreeman.

* Even though RobertDeNiro is billed as the main character in the 2001 police drama ''15 Minutes'', he is kidnapped and brutally killed less than halfway through the film, forcing another detective (played by Edward Burns) to avenge his death.

* Angie Dickinson in Creator/BrianDePalma's ''Film/DressedToKill''. She's top-billed in the credits alongside MichaelCaine, but gets brutally murdered less than halfway into the movie. It's appropriate, since ''Dressed To Kill'' is an overt homage to Hitchcock.

** Perhaps the most impressive occurrence is in the 1978 movie; MarlonBrando received top billing, and what was at the time the highest salary ever paid to a motion picture actor, to play a character with 8 minutes of screen time who dies before the end of the first act. Furthermore, Christopher Reeve was relegated to ''third'' billing even though he plays the lead character of the film. Fortunately, people caught on quickly to how much he was responsible for making the film so good.

* ''[[Film/TheForceAwakens Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens]]'' made a fairly big deal about casting Creator/MaxVonSydow. He ends up getting killed by Kylo Ren in the opening scene.

* Creator/SamuelLJackson and Creator/TheRock are killed off early in ''Film/TheOtherGuys''. The film's [[TheZeppo Zeppo]] premise suggests it's coming, but the death scene itself is abrupt and senseless enough to be a surprise.

* ''Film/GIJoeRetaliation'' has Duke (played by Channing Tatum) who appears long enough to get some expository scenes with the Joes and go on a mission with them before he's shot by a gunship during a double-cross.

** Juliette Binoche (Sandra Brody) only appears in a prologue sequence at the beginning of the film, and dies after being locked inside a chamber as it floods with radiation due to a failsafe mechanism. Notably, when Binoche was asked about her experience making the film, [[https://www.cinemablend.com/new/Read-Juliette-Binoche-Blunt-Harsh-Assessment-Shooting-Godzilla-67844.html she said]] "I don't know how much fun you can have when you have to die in two seconds, and you're the one real woman character and you're dead in three minutes and 45 seconds."
** Bryan Cranston (Joe Brody) is one of the most notorious examples of this trope in action. Originally set up to be the main character and the focus of all of the marketing and trailers, Cranston barely appears in a third of the film before he's gravely injured during an attack by the creature, and his final scene is him laying comatose in a helicopter before passing away. Like Binoche, he's been [[http://www.cinemablend.com/new/What-Godzilla-Did-Wrong-According-Bryan-Cranston-76627.html vocal]] about his dislike of how the filmmakers treated the character.

** ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'' subverts this. The audience is told that Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce) died sometime during the crew's trip to the Engineer planet, with his only scene in the film (not counting the ViralMarketing TED Talk) being a [[PosthumousCharacter posthumous briefing]] on what they should expect to find. Then its revealed two-thirds of the way through the movie that he's NotQuiteDead, and has been in hypersleep aboard the titular ship for the entire trip. He gets a few more minutes of screentime before being unceremoniously offered by the Engineer.

* In ''Film/ChildrenOfMen'', Julianne Moore is the second-billed actress after the star Clive Owen (possibly misleading some viewers into thinking she is the last pregnant woman whom Theo has to escort to safety). She gets introduced early on, and being Theo's ex-wife, starts setting up a sub-plot about the two of them reconnecting their lost love. Then they try to drive a young girl out of the country and Julianne gets shot through the throat. All this happens in the first half-hour, and the rest of the film is centered around Theo helping said young girl after discovering she is pregnant.

* Gwyneth Paltrow in ''Film/{{Contagion}}'', who is first introduced sneezing and coughing at an airport in Chicago, and, when she arrives home minutes into the film, she is rushed to a hospital, where she convulses and dies. The only footage seen of her afterwards is an autopsy scene (where doctors [[GoryDiscretionShot cut her skull open]]) and a flashback at the end of the film to how the virus was transmitted to her. Likewise, Kate Winslet appears for a few minutes as a CDC researcher working to investigate the cure, but she gets infected and is rushed to a quarantine zone, and is only seen some time later when she tries to give a patient a blanket before dying.

** Even earlier than that, there's Stellan Skarsgard's character, who is set up to be one of the leads. He's gravely injured by a shark, sent away via helicopter for medical treatment ... and then the gurney he's being airlifted away in gets snatched by a shark, shoved into the main viewing port of the facility, and he dies due to a combination of his injuries, shock and blood loss.

* Creator/EwanMcGregor receives top billing in ''Literature/AlexRider: Stormbreaker''. His sole appearance in the film is in the first few minutes, where he is quickly killed off, and not even given a chance to interact with any of the other characters. However, it should be noted that the actors were billed alphabetically (with the exception of Mickey Rourke, who was billed last for additional emphasis to his name).

* Ewan [=McGregor=] receives top billing in ''Literature/AlexRider: Stormbreaker''. His sole appearance in the film is in the first few minutes, where he is quickly killed off, and not even given a chance to interact with any of the other characters. However, it should be noted that the actors were billed alphabetically (with the exception of Mickey Rourke, who was billed last for additional emphasis to his name).

* Danny Trejo is top-billed for the low-budget chiller ''The Cloth''. He doesn't make it beyond the first scene.

* Both Guy Pearce and Ralph Fiennes in ''Film/TheHurtLocker''. Pearce dies at the end of the opening scene (after attempting to defuse a bomb), while Fiennes only shows up for a few minutes midway through the film before dying in an anticlimactic way.
* Jennifer Lopez in ''Film/JerseyGirl''; not only does Lopez get second billing in promotional material, but upon first glance she appears to be the title character of the movie. Ten minutes in, she dies during childbirth -- and we find out that her ''daughter'' is arguably the title character. After the "Bennifer" craze sprung up, the studio made Creator/KevinSmith film more scenes so that they could push J-Lo's death to halfway through the film, which would have totally undone the whole point of the story. Fortunately the failure of ''Film/{{Gigli}}'' combined with Creator/BenAffleck and Lopez ending their relationship let Smith go back to his original idea. It also meant they had to spoil the death in the advertising to make it seem less like ''Film/{{Gigli}}''.

** In the original film, Ethan Hunt's backup team includes characters played by Kristin Scott-Thomas, Emilio Estevez, Emmanuelle Béart and Jon Voight. Scott-Thomas' character is stabbed in the back and Estevez's hacker character is impaled through the eye in an elevator shaft, while the latter two turn out to be not dead after all, and are instead pulling ThePlan. Estevez isn't even ''credited''.

* Nancy Allen in ''Film/Robocop3''. She only agreed to appear in the film if the production team killed off her character, Sgt. Lewis. She appears long enough to have some expository scenes before she's gutshot by the villain and bleeds out while Robo is unable to provide medical assistance.

* RachelMcAdams in ''Film/{{Southpaw}}'', who is killed near the beginning of the film when a rival boxer pulls out a gun and tries to shoot Billy Hope (Jake Gyllenhaal), only to hit her in the crossfire instead. Notably, this spoiler was played up in the film's marketing, though not to the extent that the film itself shows.

* Piper Laurie was billed third in Creator/DarioArgento 's Film/{{Trauma}}. She dies in the first twenty minutes. [[spoiler: Turns out not only is she NotQuiteDead, she is the ''killer''.]]