History Main / AssassinOutclassin

* This is the premise of ''LetsPlay/{{Dream}}'''s Minecraft Manhunt series. Dream only has one life and tries to complete the game by killing the Ender Dragon, while the hunters can respawn indefinitely and have compasses leading to his location. He doesn't always win, but he does it frequently enough for the series to keep going and adding more hunters into the mix.

* ''Webcomic/MenageA3'': When genre-anomalous international spy [[http://www.ma3comic.com/strips-ma3/too-exciting Bianca comes under attack by what seems to be a team of professional assassins,]] she survives and escapes, despite being surprised, dressed only in underwear, and accompanied by a confused and disapproving non-combatant.

* AssassinOutclassin/VideoGames

!!Other examples:

!!Examples:

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* Haru of ''Manga/AkumaNoRiddle'' has survived many attempts on her life thanks to the [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifices of her family]].
* In ''Anime/AldnoahZero'' Asseylum Vers Allusia survived no less than ''four'' attempts to her life. In the order: her motorcade got hit by missiles (turns out the one in the car was a body double), got strangulated (and [[CleanPrettyReliable CPR'd]] back in the land of living by Inaho), shot (saved by being stuck in a [[PeopleJars tube]] filled with medical gel or something), and evaded several teams of special forces sent in ''specifically'' to kill her. It reached the point when the fans seriously doubted her "death" in the first series' finale would stick. [[spoiler: Being the third one mentioned here, it obviously didn't.]]
* The premise of ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'' is this trope plus SerialEscalation PlayedForLaughs, since Sensei's stated goal is training the class of children to be able to kill him, so they aren't in any danger from him (unless they fail to kill him before his deadline, in which case he'll blow up Earth).
* In ''Literature/{{Baccano}}'' 1932 -- Drugs & the Dominoes'', Gustavo hires three assassins in order to kill the Gandor brothers (including the adopted Claire Stanfield). This backfires spectacularly both because the Gandors have CompleteImmortality and because one of the assassins hired [[HiredToHuntYourself is actually Claire Stanfield himself]], who took the job [[ItAmusedMe because he thought it was funny]].
* In ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', a conspiracy of nobles attempt to have Griffith assassinated twice. He [[FakingTheDead fakes his death]] after the second, [[IHaveYourWife blackmails]] one of them into going TurnCoat, and kills the rest, mostly by [[KillItWithFire trapping them in a fire]].
* In ''Manga/Brave10'', Anastasia goes on a mission to assassinate Yukimura and can't believe her luck when she sees him sneaking out to the brothel completely alone. She flies in from above to make the kill, only for him to trip on his own feet just short of where she's landing, giving him the chance to see her. Her real mistake, however, is letting him speak before she kills him because people who talk to Yukimura for too long [[GuileHero usually end up working for him]].
* In ''Manga/CesareIlCreatoreCheHaDistrutto'', Cesare Borgia is 16 years old, but [[UsefulNotes/PopeAlexanderVI his father]] has [[UsefulNotes/PopeJuliusII powerful enemies]] who know Cesare is smarter than his age would imply, and want to do away with him as soon as possible. But he doesn't need a CadreOfForeignBodyguards, one will do -- Miguel da Corella, his most loyal right-hand companion in real life. While many stories have them meeting as adults, it's TruthInTelevision that they were childhood friends, as depicted here. Whenever Cesare doesn't manage to fight off an assassin himself, Miguel is there with a perfectly timed dagger (unless he comes in too soon, and Cesare was still trying to interrogate the poor thug). (A note on "foreign" -- Cesare was foreign (Spanish) as well. His mother was Italian and he grew up in Rome, but to the xenophobic Italians, he was still as foreign as Miguel, who came from Spain to work for the Borgias in Italy when he was 7 or 8 years old).
* Ryo Saeba of ''Manga/CityHunter'''s fame, being a HitmanWithAHeart, has to do this rather often. [[OvershadowedByAwesome As Ryo is the best, they always fail]]. The four most notable instances:
** A serial killer, having learned the famed City Hunter was on his case, broke into his home to kill him, only to shoot a puppet in his bed and get tortured psychologically in return.
** An actress has hired Umibozu to kill her and her agency hired Ryo as her bodyguard, leading to Ryo thwarting his initial attempts before ''bribing him into throwing the job and scare her into wishing to live'' (it helped Umibozu was a fan of hers).
** A CorruptCop capable of shooting a target at one km wanted to kill Ryo and Reika (who had hired him), and Ryo, at the same distance, shot ''the barrel of his rifle ('''twice'''), [[SerialEscalation his belt and the buttons of his shirt]]'', getting him to surrender.
** Umibozu got hired to kill Ryo, and, the two being on the same level, they agree to fight a DuelToTheDeath that ends with Ryo breaking Umibozu's gun with his last bullet.
* ''Franchise/DragonBall'':
** ''Manga/DragonBall'': The Red Ribbon Army hires Mercenary Tao to take Goku out and steal his Dragon Balls. He survives the first fight, and later beats Tao in a rematch.
** Played straight to an extent in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper''. Somebody has hired [[ProfessionalKiller Hit]] to kill [[TheHero Goku]], and yet Goku successfully fends him off (although he does die but then bring himself back to life), fighting Hit to a standstill. However, it's also played for a bit of comedy considering that it is eventually revealled that the person who hired Hit to kill Goku is [[spoiler: in fact, ''Goku himself'', who hired Hit to kill him so that [[BloodKnight he could fight Hit at his best,]] which technically makes this an InvokedTrope.]]
* ''Manga/TheElusiveSamurai'': During the Kyoto arc, the Elusive Warriors manage to lure Takauji away from his retainers before launching a 3 on 1 attempt on his life. Takauji easily counters by grabbing Kojiro's and Fubuki's swords with a single pinkie each and catching Tokiyuki's arrow between his nose and his lip. All at the same time.
* Hilariously, in both ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' and ''Literature/FateZero'', the Assassin class Servants, ''named Assassin'', have a terrible track record. At least in ''Literature/FateZero'', Assassin's Master did this on purpose while the others have no such excuse. It helps that Assassins are explicitly the weakest class in all areas except stealth, so in direct combat against another Servant, an Assassin will ''always'' lose.
** To be perfectly honest, the Assassin in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' is an oddity, and not the actual standard Assassin, [[spoiler:because he is not only a Servant summoned by a Servant, he's a '''fictitious''' hero for which the most compatible wraith was chosen, '''and''' with a ton of limitations on what he can do, such as not being able to leave the Temple gates. As for direct combat prowess, though, in pure swordsmanship, [[MasterSwordsman Saber]] outright acknowledges she is at a disadvantage against him (and she cannot spare Excalibur's [[WaveMotionSword true power]] against him to circumvent that, given that she's preparing to face an even more formidable opponent afterwards).]]
** However, subverted with ''True Assassin'' in the third route, Heaven's Feel, who is wholly another matter, though. This really drives the point that playtime is over. [[spoiler:His track record includes dispatching Lancer and causing Saber to die (though it should be noted he [[CombatPragmatist cheated]] by relying on [[EldritchAbomination The Shadow]] in both cases to help him out), and the protagonist in quite a few bad ends. Also, he only loses against Kirei because he had the worst affinity with the dude, what with already being cursed, thus nullifying his own curse powers.]] Bluntly put, in the two first routes, the heroes are LUCKY they don't have to deal with the ParanoiaFuel of an actual "could be everywhere" spying, backstabbing and invisible Assassin, on top of [[EldritchAbomination everything]] [[ApocalypseHow/Class3A else]] [[BigBad they]] [[TheSocialDarwinist have]] to contend with.
* Reima sends a bunch of assassins after Fuga in ''Manga/GingaNagareboshiGin'' after he runs away from home. Thanks to his own ability and Riki's help, Fuga gets away relatively unscathed.
* ''Literature/HeavyObject'':
** Nyarlathotep is in a Legitimacy Kingdom holding cell when an assassin arrives for him only to be easily killed, allowing Nyarlathotep to fake his own death yet again.
** Frolaytia's assistant is revealed to be a spy sent from another unit to spy on the 37th and assassinate Frolaytia if needed. When the order comes to do the latter, Frolaytia easily dismantles her would-be killer while noting she'd already identified her as the mole.
* Both played straight and played with in ''Manga/HunterXHunter''. When the Mafia hires assassins to take out the Phantom Troupe, their leader, Chrollo easily kills everyone that comes for him... until he meets Killua's father and grandfather, [[ProfessionalKiller Silva and Zeno]]. After a destructive BossBattle, the two receive a call from Killua's brother [[AloofBigBrother Illumi]], who has just completed Chrollo's contract on the Mafia bosses responsible for calling hits on the Phantom Troupe in the first place. Their employers dead, Silva and Zeno figure the job is done and leave peacefully. Not so much a physical example of outclassin' for Chrollo, but he still [[CrazyPrepared out-gambitted]] the Mafia community.
* In ''Anime/KnightHunters'', Farfarello holds the honor of being Weiss' only known target to completely escape death. It reaches KarmaHoudini levels when you sit back and realize he's murdered two teenage girls (both of whom were love interests for main characters), his own mother, tortured countless religious men, and actually has the happiest ending in the series: he settles down with the woman he loves and only ever cameos again.
* Played with in ''Manga/LoneWolfAndCub''. Protagonist Ogami Ittō is a [[ProfessionalKiller master assassin]] who slaughters anyone who stands between him and his targets -- [[ImplacableMan no one in the series manages to prevent him from completing a contract once he's accepted it.]] However, Ittō is also on a quest for revenge against some ''very'' powerful enemies, who pull out all the stops in order to take him out. He outclasses every last attempt they throw at him, [[OneManArmy up to and including entire armies.]] (The last sentence is NotHyperbole in any way.)
* In the ''Franchise/LupinIII'' franchise, this trope comes in two flavours.
** An OriginsEpisode for Goemon or Jigen may have them playing assassin to Lupin, and eventually allowing DefeatMeansFriendship.
** TheRival is introduced for one or more of the characters. Either brand-new or from their past. The rivals clash two or three times before the final confrontation calls for our protagonists to win.
* Bernard Wiseman tries to fell the eponymous Gundam in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam0080WarInThePocket'', and it looked like he'd be successful too before he was impaled by the Gundam in battle. The Gundam didn't get away without losing an arm, its head, and a good chunk of the torso though.
* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', the main characters manage to defeat two pairs of [[MurderInc Baroque Works]] assassins, and eventually defeat their leader, Sir Crocodile, and destroy the whole syndicate.
** Ace used to try to murder Whitebeard whenever he saw the chance. Judging from the flashback examples, Ace never managed to cut even a hair on his head.
** An hilarious scene shows Doflamingo calmly talking to the phone while fending the assassination attempts from one of his own subordinates.
* ''Manga/OutlawStar'':
** The manga (and not-aired-on-TV HotSpringsEpisode of the anime) had a guy who was a specialist in assassinations for the Anten Seven. He was assigned to kill Gene while Gene was staying at a local resort. The guy disguised himself as a tourist in an effort to get close to Gene but kept getting derailed by accidents. Ironically, he looked suspiciously like the Epic Fail Guy.
** This also happened with Suzuka. She spent her introductory episode trying to kill Gene's friend and financier Fred Luo, only to let up and join him until such time as her employer was bankrupted by said friend. Since Gene defeated her in his role as Fred's bodyguard, as a matter of pride she wouldn't be able to make another attempt on Fred's life until she defeats Gene. She then joins Gene's crew [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou one the pretext of making sure nobody else can kill him before their rematch]], so that she won't have to admit [[DefeatMeansFriendship they've become friends]].
* In an episode about Ninjas, ''Anime/SamuraiChamploo'' has Jin perform a typically stylish version of this trope against five attackers at once who tried to ambush him but got quickly discovered.
* In ''Literature/{{Slayers}} Revolution'' and ''Evolution-R'', Lina Inverse becomes the target of an infamous assassin who, as it is revealed later, also has a personal grudge against her. Of course, she is Lina Inverse, and the assassin gets his ass handed to him. Twice.
* ''Manga/TalesOfWeddingRings'': In the Land of Water arc, the fortune-teller's assassins make several attempts on Satou's life. First they try to [[TamperingWithFoodAndDrink poison his food]]. Then they try to sneak into his room while he's asleep. Finally, they try to snipe him with a bow and arrow while he's walking down the street. Thanks to the vigilance of Satou's allies, these attempts all fail.
* ''Manga/VinlandSaga'': Askeladd sends Thorfinn on a mission to assassinate Thorkell during the Siege of London. Thorfinn ends up on the receiving end of a CurbStompBattle ([[CurbStompCushion though he does take two of Thorkell's fingers]]) and only escapes because Thorkell gets temporarily distracted from pummelling him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''Fanfic/AdventuresOfTheMorningStar'': [[CorruptPolitician Silco]] attempts to have the Piltover council assassinated during a gala, unfortunately they are stopped by ''teenaged girls''. Granted, it was Vi and Caitlyn, who are prodigies in combat, but still.
* ''Fanfic/AndrogyninjasADropOfPoison'': During the Finals of the Chuunin Exams, [[spoiler:Sasori]] attempts to assassinate the Kagekaze, revealing that not everyone in Sunagakure agrees with how Rasa has been running things. However, they're completely taken aback to discover that [[spoiler:Orochimaru had already pulled off his KillAndReplace scheme]].
* In ''Fanfic/DejaVuNoJutsu'', a ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' fanfiction, the main character Mesuji Natsumi, an assassin herself, not only stops the assassination of her teacher's wife and son but later on, her own assassination. She's more annoyed by the latter, much to her husband's dismay considering she was ''just off a mission'' and not in good shape BEFORE she ended up fighting for her life.
* In ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' fiction, Sam Vimes' reputation for unkillability continues.
** In fact, Assassins' School teacher Miss Alice Band now has an informal agreement with Sam that she can send him a student in need of correction ''at any time'', and he will obligingly aid in their education by delivering a short sharp lesson in over-confidence and where it leads to. In ''Fanfic/TheCivilianAssistant'', she indulges a Klatchian student with a flying carpet, partly because she wants to trial an aerial approach to the client, and partly because the over-confident student has forgotten to take into account that Vimes now recruits an Air Police. Vimes and his airborne Watch-Feegle tip the hapless girl off the flying carpet and into the inevitable Ramkin Manor cess-pit. Alice will happily bodyguard Vimes against attack -- as if he needs it -- as he is such a valuable teaching assistant to her.
** In ''Fanfic/NatureStudies'', Vimes is in fact ''saved'' from near-certain death by an Assassin. She whips two irritated and hungry lions away from him (thus introducing the circus discipline of lion-taming to the Discworld) when she might have stood back, allowed Nature to be red in tooth and claw, and claimed the bounty money, citing two lionesses as her inhumation weapon. Asked afterwards why she saved him, she cited several reasons, including fear of the wrath of Lady Sybil. Vimes himself maintains he would have stubbed his cigar out on the animal's nose to make it back off. This might have worked...
** Lazier and more inattentive Wizards on the faculty failed to realise how much power they were gifting to Ponder Stibbons by dumping unwanted academic positions on him. Until it belatedly dawned on them that so many Faculty votes had ended up with Professor Ponder Stibbons that he now commands a one-man 51% controlling vote in Unseen University affairs. This 51% controlling vote allowed Faculty to reverse the doctrine that said Wizards cannot marry and must remain bachelors for life. [[note]]The Lore was amended to say yes, Wizards may marry and have children provide they have ''no more than seven''[[/note]]. There ''have'' been attempts to informally remove Vice-Chancellor Stibbons from his position. But these have foundered on the rock which is [[ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend Mrs Stibbons]]. In marrying a Lady Assassin, Ponder got not only a bodyguard for life but somebody who is prepared to do meaningful things like dangle a would-be successor out of an upstairs window at Unseen University by nothing more than a slowly fraying rope attached to one ankle. Just to make the point. Nobody now tries to kill Ponder.
* ''Fanfic/FalloutEquestria'': Littlepip views a memory from the perspective of an assassin zebra about to kill Rarity. The zebra is wearing a stealth cloak and is completely invisible, but is suddenly stunned right before she can strike. Rarity had slipped a stun grenade in her pack with telekinesis and activated it. Rarity's unique magic spell lets her find gemstones, and zebra magic is powered by gemstones, so she was easily able to detect her even with the invisibility.
* In ''Fanfic/FateStayNightUltimateMaster'', Zouken, aware of the threat [[WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien Ben Tennyson]] is as a Master, sends True Assassin after him. The attempt... [[ShootingSuperman doesn't exactly]] [[HilarityEnsues go as planned]].
* Harry Potter in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10485934/1/Inspected-By-No-13 Inspected by No. 13]]'' kills multiple goblin assassins ''without realising it''. The first is accidentally bumped into a bear enclosure at the zoo, while the second attempt involves a squad teleporting to his location -- which turns out to be hundreds of feet in the air where he's having a broomstick race.
* An assassin tries to kill Princess Twilight in ''Fanfic/{{Legionnaire}}''. Unfortunately, she's a tougher mark than anticipated.
* In ''Fanfic/ANinjasGuideToGotham'', the League of Assassins has a somewhat spotty record against the Batfamily, never mind [[{{Manga/Naruto}} superpowered magic ninjas from another world]].
** Kei, as a PersonOfMassDestruction, is only inconvenienced by League operatives because she wants to observe Batman's ThouShaltNotKill rule while in Gotham. The main threat posed by the assassins is less of a chance that she'd lose to them in a fight and more the idea that their TranquillizerDart weapons might contain something dangerous enough to drive her berserk in a populated area.
** After being informed that the League of Assassins might be after Hayate, Jason's narration notes that he's been dealing with stray assassins by dropping them headfirst off buildings.
** [[NinjaBrat Hayate]] is more than capable of fighting off League assassins even three-on-one. It's later clarified that he never attacks them head-on, preferring instead to get the jump on them with an AttackHello.
* While it's an OffscreenMomentOfAwesome, Hizashi Midoriya in ''Fanfic/OneForAllAndEightForTheNinth'' has had several assassins from the Meta Liberation Army sent after him when his accounting firm started investigating them. He has taken all of them down, even beating one without using his Quirk, and gone so far as to [[DoWrongRight criticize their shoddy work]].
* In ''Fanfic/{{Origins}}'', a ''Franchise/MassEffect''[=/=]''Franchise/StarWars''[=/=]''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}''[[spoiler:[=/=]''[=Halo=]'']] MassiveMultiplayerCrossover, the Republic Intelligence Service decides to either capture or kill Sarah the Siren. When capture attempts fail, the attackers switch to gaseous Eridium. Not only does that not kill Sarah, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard it actually powers her back up]] from her HeroicRROD, [[HollywoodAcid disintegrates all organic matter in the vicinity]], and severely damages the ship she was being held on.
* In ''Fanfic/RobbReturns'', a blind drunk Joffrey tries to murder Robb Stark after Jaime and Cersei's incest is discovered, thinking that doing so will somehow get him reinstated as a prince. Being both drunk and, well, Joffrey, he fails epically despite having the advantage of surprise, a Valyrian steel knife and Robb being unarmed on his side. Robb manages to fend him off long enough for help to arrive in the form of the wildling girl Val and Joffrey endures a broken nose and a GroinAttack delivered so hard that he soils himself.
* [[BigGood Jalal Stormbringer]] in the ''Fanfic/ShadowchasersSeries'' franchise is the only member of his organization not under the divine protection of the [[HeroSecretService Knights of Domiel]] that is supposed to prevent this; nonetheless, he doesn't need it. Attempts on his life happen rather frequently, and almost none ever come close to succeeding. As he tells Taramanda in ''[[Fanfic/ShadowchasersPowerPrimordial Power Primordial]]'', with a sarcastic tone, if a week goes by without it happening at least once, he thinks something is wrong. [[spoiler:Ironically, Tarmanda came closer to getting rid of him than anyone else in the franchise to date, lacing her cards with a venom that, while incapable of actually killing him, could have reduced him to a vegetative state. The chapter in question pointed out that Jalal is somewhat prepared for the rare things that are lethal to him, having compiled a list of them after a close call many years ago.]]
* Magic isn't ''supposed'' to be able to save you from vacuum if you're ThrownOutTheAirlock, but Damien from ''Literature/StarshipsMage'' is no ordinary mage. When [[spoiler:he and Grace are cast into deep space by an explosion, he manages to create an impermeable shield to hold their breathable air, while Grace (also a mage) cycles carbon dioxide into oxygen]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/AfterTheRevolution'': Roland's opening chapter is about Roland out-fighting a {{cyborg}} kill squad hired to assassinate him while amnesiac, coming down from an acid high, and naked. Halfway through Roland humiliating them, said employer shows up and turns out to be Roland's old friend Jim, who wants to hire Roland for a job.
* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'': There have been numerous attempts to kill Vissers [[BigBad Three]] and [[EvilGenius One]], including by each other.
** Ax tries to kill Visser Three in book #8, and succeeds in forcing him out of his host body, but can't bring himself to kill Alloran.
** Arbat and his team try to kill the Visser, but are foiled by [[spoiler:the Animorphs, who want to prevent him releasing a SyntheticPlague]].
** In book #30, the Animorphs attempt to manipulate an EnemyMine situation to get both of them to kill each other, but both survive.
* In Lynn Abbey's ''Beneath the Web'', after ''many'' failed attempts, the assassins' guild declares Prince Rinchen [=sorRodion=] too difficult to kill, and refuses to take any more contracts on him.
* In Amanda Downum's ''Literature/TheBonePalace'', Savedra, the Crown Prince's transsexual mistress, repeatedly dispatches assassins sent to kill her, the Prince, or for that matter his wife. Not that either of them is that defenseless either, especially the rather Amazonian warrior Princess.
* Creator/SandyMitchell's Literature/CiaphasCain survives no less than three attacks in ''Duty Calls''. When, later, he speculates that an apparent Friendly Fire incident was a fourth, he admits it sounds paranoid but obviously someone was out to get him.
* ''Literature/TheDarkSideOfTheSun'': Dom Sabalos survives countless assassination attempts, mostly due to "probability maths" that grant him fate-like, epic luck by allowing him to instinctively "navigate" to countless {{Alternate Universe}}s where he survives those attacks.
* In ''Literature/DarthBane: Rule of Two'', Darth Zannah meets a nobleman named Hetton offering all the Sith knowledge he's amassed in exchange for being made her apprentice. She sends him to kill her master Bane as a test. Despite having several deadly Sith assassins from the former Dark Brotherhood with him, Bane kills him.
* Creator/DavidEddings liked to use this trope to demonstrate how badass his heroes (and their friends) are:
** In ''Literature/TheBelgariad'', Garion is by the Murgo version of a ninja, but he and his companions are just too good; the assassin is thwarted several times, and finally killed by Silk. In the sequel series ''The Malloreon'', the BigBad Zandramas makes a habit of trying to kill Garion or one of his companions, because if one of them dies at the wrong time, Zandramas will win the final confrontation by default. Since Garion has a master alchemist/physician, a couple of sorcerers, and not one but two master spies/assassins on his side, not to mention the Prophecy of Light, none of the enemy assassins have much chance of ''surviving'', much less succeeding.
** In ''Literature/TheElenium'', the primary plot of the first trilogy is Sir Sparhawk and his friends working to foil an assassination attempt against Queen Ehlana of Elenia. Along the way, Sparhawk is targeted by assassins more than once, and more than once escapes by the skin of his teeth.
* A number of characters evade assassins in the ''Literature/{{Deryni}}'' works by Creator/KatherineKurtz, with or without help. A partial list:
** Prince Richard Haldane is saved from Mearan assassins by the Earl of Lendour and his son Lord Ahern de Corwyn (the Earl dies, and his son is injured).
** King Donal Haldane is saved from assassins by Sir Kenneth Morgan in ''In the King's Service''. Sir Kenneth takes an arrow in the leg.
** King Brion Haldane is saved from assassin Zachris Pomeroy and his minions by Master Jamyl Arilan, Kenneth Morgan (now Earl of Lendour in right of his wife) Rhydon of Eastmarch, and Sir Sé trelawney in ''Childe Morgan''.
** Kelson Haldane escapes a deadly Stenrect thanks to Alaric Morgan in ''Deryni Rising''.
** Morgan is saved from an assassin by a Haldane squire while sailing aboard his ship ''Rhafallia'' in ''Deryni Checkmate''. Later in the same book, he's rescued from Warin de Grey and his men by his cousin Duncan.
** Duncan learns the increased security in Dhassa in ''High Deryni'' was put in place after a failed assassination attempt against itinerant bishop Wolfram de Blanet. Cardiel and Arilan fear Loris was behind it, so he could appoint a replacement and get the needed twelfth vote in his reduced Curia.
** Duncan fights off an assassin (a youth disguised in his [=Mclain=] livery) in ''The Bishop's Heir''. He is slashed across the palm of one hand, and the dagger is laced with ''merasha''.
** Nigel fights off Torenthi assassins with help from his son Conall, his brother-in-law Saer de Traherne, and Haldane household archers and troops in ''The King's Justice''. Nigel also ensures young Liam of Torenth is safe; there is some evidence Liam's death was intended in the attack as well as Nigel's.
** Kelson and Liam fight off assassins (with help from Brendan Coris and Morgan) while visiting the Hort of Orsal in ''King Kelson's Bride''.
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
** Sam Vimes does this to various assassins many many times. Despite being an enormous headache for the political intrigue of the city, Vimes proved so repeatedly unkillable that he became the second person to be struck from the guild register; the first was Vetinari, either because as a former assassin he too is unkillable, or simply because as the Patrician, and, being Vetinari, [[VetinariJobSecurity killing him would cause too many political hiccoughs]]. (It's also implied that killing Vimes, despite the trouble he causes the Guild (or at least, the kind of people that would ''hire'' the Guild), would cause other repercussions that the Guild doesn't want to deal with either.)
** Not only is he unkillable, but Vimes provides a unique opportunity for the Assassin's Guild. Unlike the Patrician, who tends to make sure [[CessationOfExistence Nothing]] [[UnusualEuphemism happens]] to people who make attempts on his life, Vimes tends towards relatively nonlethal measures of self-defense, provided his [[BerserkButton family is not targeted]]. Thus, the Assassins use him for a training exercise... in ''humility''. Indeed, Vimes seems to take a perverse pleasure in [[ProperlyParanoid booby-trapping his home]].
** Also, in ''Literature/{{Thud}}'', some religiously fanatic dwarf tries to attack his family: One of them gets roasted by ''twenty-six'' of Sybil's dragons after his flamethrower utterly fails to harm his target, one is stabbed by [[BattleButler Willikins]] and one is knocked out and dies from poison he took before. It is possible others are killed when Willikins takes control of the flamethrower and aims it down the tunnel they came through, just in case.
** Rincewind, who survives all manner of ridiculous situations through a combination of [[CosmicPlaything extreme luck]] and [[LovableCoward applied cowardice]]. Assassins fare no better around him than anything else. Worse, usually. Special mention goes to all the wizards trying to kill him in ''Literature/TheLightFantastic''.
** In ''Literature/InterestingTimes'' Lord Hong is [[EstablishingCharacterMoment introduced in such circumstances]]. He is, of course, the outclasser, if such word applies to such a flamboyant display of sheer badassery.
** Archchancellor Mustrum Ridcully, who by virtue of his position is a prime target for KlingonPromotion. Fortunately for him, he's not just a powerful wizard, but a GeniusBruiser who can fend off most would-be assassins with only his staff. He rarely kills attempted assassins, but always at least breaks a limb. (Mention is made of one would-be usurper who [[NoodleIncident went deaf]] during his attempt on Ridcully's life.) Much like Vetinari and Vimes, the other wizards realized it was simply too much trouble to try to kill him and have since largely given up the "Pointy Shoes" tradition.
** Moist von Lipwig in ''Literature/MakingMoney'' discovers another side to the Assassins and might have finessed them into keeping him alive. He is under a suspended Guild contract that will only be activated if he fails to keep the dog Mr Fusspot alive and healthy. If the dog, who has become chairman of the Royal Bank and thus a highly important player of the game, dies of anything but natural causes, so does Moist. Therefore to allow Moist to keep the dog alive and to allow a Guild member a chance to earn the money if he doesn't, Moist -- and dog -- need to be bodyguarded and kept alive by the Guild.... and this dog is politically important, don't forget. Simply put, the guild won't take a second contract on the same person and [[EvenEvilHasStandards no self-respecting member will agree to assassinate a dog]].
** Susan Sto Helit is pretty good at outclassin' assassins -- albeit on other people's behalf, and usually without them knowing at the time. In ''Literature/SoulMusic'' she (ab)used the power of Death to scare the Gresham Ford Close Harmony Singers[[note]]the Musician's Guild enforcers[[/note]] and two members of the Assassin's Guild away from Imp y Celyn; in ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'', her grandfather ([[GrimReaper Death]]) asked her to save the Hogfather, first from mad Assassin Teatime and then from the [[EldritchAbomination Auditors of Reality]]. Finally, in ''Literature/ThiefOfTime'', she teams up with the Sweeper, a rogue Auditor and [[spoiler:half of the AnthropomorphicPersonification of Time]] to save Time (and, by extension the world) from the Auditors.
** It's made clear in works focusing on them that Assassins ''expect'' to be outclassed some of the time, and view this as part of what makes their existence acceptable. In ''Literature/{{Pyramids}}'' Dr Cruces tells his students that they may well find the target has employed some of their fellows as bodyguards, and the Rules in the Guild Diary say that they won't take commissions on anyone who cannot defend themselves. (Anyone who earns over a certain amount is assumed to be capable of defending themselves, one way or another, and it's not the Guild's fault if they don't.)
** On the "Luck" side, the Diary also reveals that there is an open commission on Rincewind, but that every Assassin who has attempted it has either been eaten by the Luggage or died in highly unlikely circumstances. Rincewind has some [[LadyLuck powerful forces]] more-or-less on his side.
* Steven Brust's ''Literature/{{Dragaera}}'' series:
** In ''Literature/{{Yendi}}'', Vlad Taltos survives multiple assassination attempts during a turf war. He finally realizes that he shouldn't have been able to survive them that easily and realizes that there's something deeper going on.
** In ''Literature/FiveHundredYearsAfter'', Khaavren survives no less than four attempts on his life as conspirators try to kill him to destabilize the Imperial court. The latter three attempts are thwarted by friends and allies who [[BigDamnHeroes show up just in time]].
* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', assassins regularly make a pass at the titular wizard for one reason or another.
** In ''Literature/SummerKnight'', after Harry and Will see off a hit squad in the first few pages of the book, Harry complains that normally assassins only take a swing at him ''after'' he's started the investigation.
** Notably averted at the end of ''Literature/{{Changes}}'', [[spoiler:where Harry ''actually gets assassinated''. Like a ''chump''. He was OnlyMostlyDead, of course, but still!]] The lack of outclassin' is twisted when it's revealed who contracted the kill: [[spoiler:Harry, trying to avoid being shackled for life to Queen Mab as her Winter Knight, hired the mercenary Kincaid to kill him then had Molly Carpenter erase his memory of having done so.]]
* Tiphaine d'Ath of the ''Literature/{{Emberverse}}'', being a former assassin herself, has a pretty good idea of the preventative measures she needs to take when she's promoted to the juicy-target position of Grand Constable.
* ''Literature/GuardiansOfTheFlame'': The heroes get assassins sent after them multiple times in the later books, and always win, no matter how skilled they are.
* ''Literature/HaloTheColeProtocol'':
** Thel 'Vadam (the future Arbiter) is engaged by three assassins proceeding his election to kaidon (lordship) over the State of Vadam. He quite quickly and easily dispatches all three, before tricking their employer into revealing himself and subsequently executing him as well.
** In Sangheili culture, this trope is quite common: it's considered a ''right'' to send assassins after a leader whose position or policies one disagrees with. After all, a leader who can't fulfill this trope isn't worthy of being such anyway.
* ''Literature/TheHanSoloTrilogy'': Han and Chewie fatally defeat several bounty hunters who've come after the bounty on Han's head until Boba Fett shows up.
* Happens at least twice in the ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' series
** In ''Winds of Fate'', an assain is able to get within striking distance of Princess Elspeth using magic. Thanks to some lessons in combat pragmatism, she gets the better of him, but she's shaken at the thought that mage-less Valdemar is vulnerable to that sort of attack.
** In ''Storm Breaking'', an assassin tries to take out the current heir to the Eastern Empire, Melles. Unfortunately, Melles is an assassin himself. He defeats his attacker, tortures him to find out who sent him, kills him, sneaks the body into the home of the man who hired him, and leaves it in the nursery with the man's ''infant child''. As a warning.
* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'':
** In ''The Honor of the Queen'', Honor is at dinner with the monarch of Grayson when assassins come after him as part of an attempted [[TheCoup coup d'etat]]. Little do they know that A) Honor is a genetically enhanced {{heavyworlder}} and an expert in the Manticoran martial art ''coup de vitesse'', and B) her "pet" treecat Nimitz is essentially a furry six-legged buzzsaw with [[TheEmpath empathic awareness]].
** In ''Field of Dishonor'', an assassin who acts openly -- he's a professional duelist hired to maneuver his target into making a challenge -- kills Honor's lover and then faces her. Due to a personal grudge, he intends to kill her slowly, with several non-fatal body shots before the kill shot. In the event, he doesn't get off a single round before [[DramaticIrony she does to him exactly what he was planning to do to her]]: four not-quite-lethal rounds to the body and then [[BoomHeadshot a finishing shot right between the eyes]].
* ''Literature/KrisLongknife'':
** Kris escaped her first assassination attempt (disguised as a kidnapping) when she was ''ten''. During the series proper she defeats a disturbingly large number of overt and covert assassination attempts, which gets to the point at the end of book six where she asks her ArtificialIntelligence companion Nelly to [[XDaysSince keep track of the time it takes for the next person to try to kill her]] and Nelly responds that she doesn't think she can count that ''low''. In ''Undaunted'', she actually feels insulted that the latest attempt she survived was actually aimed at someone else she was with.
** Vicky Peterwald's current record is surviving four assassination attempts in ''one day''.
* In ''Literature/OneHundredYearsOfSolitude'', Colonel Aureliano Buendía manages to avoid many assassination attempts due to a combination of luck and his premonitions.
* Eugenides from ''Literature/TheQueensThief'' series is able to take on multiple assassins singlehandedly and win. Turns out that the hook he has instead of a hand is actually razor-sharp. Also, he was trained to be a soldier, though he doesn't look like it. And he's a master of the BareHandedBladeBlock. To top everything off, he has the literal protection of a god.
* ''Literature/TheSagaOfThePeopleOfVatnsdal'': The outlaw Thorir, hired by Ottar of Grimstunga to take revenge on the sons of Thorstein, botches his attempt on Gudbrand's life; he tries to flee but Gudbrand pursues and kills him. The second assassin, Svart, manages to get the job done but also dies in the process.
* ''Literature/TheSilerianTrilogy'': Kiloran sends several assassins to kill Tansen, who easily kills them all as he's gained superior training in swordfighting since leaving Sileria ten years before.
* ''Literature/SixOfCrows'': Inej Ghafa manages to outclass Dunyasha, the assassin sent after her in ''Crooked Kingdom''. Mostly because Inej is a lot tougher and more used to fighting through pain, as well as knowing the terrain better, but she still beat the White Blade, who was a very skilled assassin.
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': Queen Cersei sent a minor lord after Bronn. The lord's wife comes back, lamenting that the former sellsword killed her husband and took over his lands. A bit of a subversion; Cersei dropped hints that she wanted Bronn covertly ''assassinated''; instead, the lord (a presumably once-puissant but currently aged man) quite openly challenged Bronn, a battle-hardened mercenary in his prime, to [[TooDumbToLive single combat]].
* Happens several times in ''Literature/TalesOfTheBranionRealm'' (understandable as it focuses on a royal family). From the first book alone: Demnor survives an attack and doesn't even bother to tell anyone, binding his own wound. His 12-year-old sister Kassandra shoots another assassin through the eye. His other sister Quindara actively dares rebels to try to kill her while on campaign and leaves a string of hanged corpses behind her. Quindara earned her knighthood at fourteen by killing an assassin hiding outside her mother's tent.
* ''Literature/TalesOfTheOtori'': Takeo, {{Justified| Trope}} by him being a trained (and very talented) assassin himself.
* In ''Literature/Timeline191'', George Armstrong Custer is appointed military governor of occupied Canada after WWI. During a pre-retirement farewell tour, the Canadian terrorist Arthur [=McGregor=] throws a bomb into his car. Custer, who had long suspected him of terrorism, [[GrenadeHotPotato throws it back]] just before it explodes.
* In ''Literature/TheToughGuideToFantasyland'', the entry on assassins is all about this trope. It indicates that at some point the protagonist will get attacked by a supposedly dangerously skilled assassin and defeat/kill them, and the assassin will go their death complaining that the protagonist wasn't playing according to the "rules".
* The second book of ''Literature/TheWitchlands'' opens with Merik waking up and realizing there's an assassin in his bedroom, then easily overpowering him. Subverted when it turns out the assassin was of the suicide bomber type.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* A twofer in Season 1 of ''Series/{{Angel}}''. Wolfram & Hart first hire Faith to kill Angel. After she goes through a HeelFaceTurn as a result, they hire a demon to assassinate Faith, [[DarkActionGirl with predictable results]].
-->'''Lee Mercer:''' This is getting ridiculous. The first assassin kills the second assassin, sent to kill the first assassin, who didn't assassinate anyone until we hired the second assassin to assassinate the first assassin!
* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': Near the end of Season 1, after Oliver finds out about the Undertaking, the Hood confronts Malcolm Merlyn and tries to shoot him. Merlyn catches the arrow and proceeds to drive Oliver away despite a total lack of preparation and equipment.
* ''Series/{{Attila}}'': Attila personally foils an attempt on his life by an Eastern Roman assassin who managed to slip past his bodyguards. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, he's not so lucky in foiling Aetius' more complex scheme to have him killed.]]
* ''Series/BabylonFive'':
** See the nameless Narn stalking Vir Cotto's fiancée, weapon drawn? Switch the scene to a bit later, and she's offering the hogtied Narn to Vir as a gift.
** An earlier episode had G'Kar escape a professional assassin with the help of his new diplomatic aide, Na'Toth. He then put the assassin through a form of CruelMercy[[note]]Involving the Guild [[ContractOnTheHitman sending assassins]] to do to ''him'' what he was hired to do to G'Kar[[/note]] in such a way that neither he nor the Assassins' Guild would ever be a threat to G'Kar again.
** The ''Series/{{Crusade}}'' episode "[[Recap/CrusadeS01E07TheRulesOfTheGame The Rules of the Game]]" has a pair of diplomats with whom Gideon and Lochley are negotiating for access to their planet decide that the best way to keep them away is to kill them. This works out about as well as you'd expect two untrained civilians attacking seasoned military officers to go: once their first shots miss, their fates are sealed.
* ''Series/BetterCallSaul'': With some improvised weapons and a hidden tunnel, Lalo Salamanca kills all four assassins sent to ambush him in his home.
* ''Series/TheBrittasEmpire'':
** The plot of "Assassin" revolves around a man named Larry Whittaker trying to kill Brittas because he was having a negative impact on the attendance figures of the local choir. Unfortunately for him, all of his attempts to kill him (including cutting the brakes, trying to trip him down the stairs with wire, and trying to electrocute him over the roof) fail in some way or another and he ends up accidentally being electrocuted and falling off the building.
** There was also the time someone tried to kill Brittas by sending over a poisonous spider. It bit Colin instead. Who survived in the end.
* ''Series/BurnNotice'':
** Early in Season 1, Michael mentions to Jason Bly, an NSA bureaucrat who is harassing him, that he got his trademark sunglasses from an Algerian special ops guy.
--->'''Michael:''' He, ah, didn't need them anymore.
** Late in the season, an assassin tries to strangle Michael in his apartment, promising to MakeItLookLikeAnAccident. Michael manages to break through to where he's hidden a gun and shoot his attacker in the stomach; he flees and bleeds out in a nearby alley.
** When Sam is [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext audited by the IRS]] in a Season 3 episode, he shows off a gun as the only proof of a classified mission he was on that figures into his taxes somehow. (He's not actually trying to intimidate the auditor with the story, it just can't legally be explained in any other way.)
--->'''Sam:''' ''Something happened'', and then the gun... didn't have an owner anymore.
* In one episode of ''Series/CriminalMinds'', for years two men have been kidnapping victims, taking them to the Idaho National Forest, and [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame hunting them down]] with high-tech bows and arrows. Without ever failing. The victim of the week gets herself a knife, bushwhacks one killer and stabs him repeatedly, avoids the second, and stabs him too. The first killer dies of injuries before the end of the episode, and the second is shot and killed by the [=BAU=] team. The female victim-to-be is fine, other than some dirt and bruises.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E4TheRomans "The Romans"]], the First Doctor runs rings around the mute assassin Ascaris sent to kill him, and ultimately ends up shoving him out of a window.
* ''Series/{{Fargo}}'':
** When Numbers and Wrench finally learn Malvo's identity and are ordered to kill him, Malvo escapes their vehicular ambush in a snowstorm [[spoiler:and kills Numbers before heading off]].
** Malvo himself falls victim to this when he tracks down [[spoiler:Lester]], who [[spoiler:sets up a bear trap and]] injures him enough to force him to flee.
* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': While introducing his favorite gun, [[ICallItVera Vera]], Jayne tells Mal, "[[NoodleIncident Six men came to kill me one time]], and the best of them carried ''this''."
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Osha attempts to assassinate Ramsay using the same HoneyTrap ploy she used to lull Theon into a false sense of security and murder one of his guards. Unfortunately, Theon had already told Ramsay about this trick during one of their torture sessions, so when she tries it again, Ramsay is quicker on the draw and kills her.
* ''Series/{{Grimm}}'':
** Reapers are assassins who specifically target Grimms but since Grimms are far from helpless, their success is far from guaranteed. The Reaper who goes after Marie Kessler overpowers her, but he makes the mistake of disregarding her police-trained nephew, Nick, who shoots him dead. The Reapers who later come to kill Nick make the mistake of thinking that two of them will be enough to kill him. [[spoiler:Nick sends a note back to their boss, "Next time send your best." This is accompanied by the heads of the two Reapers.]]
** Later on, an FBI agent (also a Wesen) gets Viktor's blessing to take out Sean Renard (Viktor's cousin). He manages to surprise and seriously wound Renard but then tries to take out a 20-some girl who witnessed it. Unknownst to him, she's a Grimm. Worse still, they're in the house of another Grimm packed with Grimm weapons. She takes his head.
* ''Series/{{Kaamelott}}'':
** Myth/KingArthur is once jumped by an assassin inside the castle in the middle of the night. He blocks the killer's blade with a candlestick while calling for the guards. Since none shows up, in desperation Arthur stabs the assassin with the spike of the candlestick. Then he announces to nobody in particular that the guards are facing some serious drill training in their near future.
** In another case, the council of the Kings of Logres (reuniting every four years) is targeted by a cabal of assassins. They easily go past the (laughable) "security", but the assembled warrior kings prove to be much harder to kill than expected. Notably Léodagan who takes the killers bare-handed, Loth who fries them with lightning magic, or Arthur who deflects swords with his magic ring.
* Done in an episode of ''Series/LoisAndClark'', where an alien assassin is trying to kill Superman. Upon failing, he has an immediate EyeLightsOut death -- failure is unacceptable in his culture.
* In ''Series/Luck2011'', not only does Gus ambush and kill an assassin with his bare hands, but his idle chatter with Ace makes it seem like this isn't the first time.
--> '''Gus''': [[NoodleIncident Remember Chicago?]] I think we've got a situation like that again.
* ''Series/TheManInTheHighCastle'': In Season 3, Trade Minister Tagomi is repeatedly targeted by Nazi assassins for his previous participation in smuggling classified nuclear technology out of the Reich. On one such occasion, the assassin bursts right into his home, but Tagomi overpowers and kills him thanks to his Kendo skills.
* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': LabRat [[PerkyGoth Abby Scuito]] is preparing to testify in court, but the suspect hires a hitman to take her out while she's on her way to the courthouse. By the time Gibbs and his team catch up with her, she pushes her would-be killer out of the taxi while gleefully tasering him.
-->'''Gibbs:''' ABBY!\\
'''Abby:''' Be with you in a second, Gibbs. ''[tasers the guy again]'' And don't look up my skirt!
* ''Series/{{Pennyworth}}'': In the episode "Shirley Bassey", the [[DirtyCommunists No Name League]] hires Dave Boy to assassinate Frances Gaunt, the leader of the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Raven Society]], during a sit down. Unfortunately, Dave Boy hesitates, asking Gaunt to close her eyes first [[EveryoneHasStandards so he doesn't have to look in them as he does it]], which gives her the opportunity to whip out a gun and shoot him instead. Fortunately for Dave Boy, Gaunt is a doctor and [[EvenEvilHasStandards takes her Hippocratic Oath seriously]], so she patches him up afterwards.
* ''Series/ThePeripheral2022'': The team of mercenaries who accept the Research Institute's $9m dark-web bounty to kill Flynne in Episode 1 are [[FromCamouflageToCriminal ex-members of an elite military unit]]. Unfortunately for them, Burton and his buddies [[SuperSoldiers were part of an even more elite unit]] and quickly gun down the goons with the help of their cybernetic implants, despite being outnumbered three to one.
* In ''Series/PersonOfInterest'', the DirtyCop ring H.R. tries to have Detective Carter assassinated when she gets too close in her investigation. She turns out to be quicker on the trigger than her assassin, so the H.R. member on site improvises and pockets the assassin's gun to frame her for shooting an unarmed man. She keeps her job but at the start of the next season has been demoted to beat cop.
* ''Series/PoliceSquad'': A joke in the opening credits shows Abraham Lincoln being targeted by John Wilkes Booth, who only manages to shoot his hat off, and Lincoln furiously returning fire with a revolver he had on his person.
* Shortly before the beginning of ''Series/RobinHood'', Robin saved UsefulNotes/RichardTheLionHeart from a group of Muslim assassins (who attack him first). He himself is wounded in the process and sent back to England to recuperate. [[spoiler:Except the assassins were led by Guy of Gisborne as an early attempt by Prince John's supporters to get rid of the king.]]
* An episode of ''Series/SledgeHammer'' has assassins trying to kill Sledge from the time he wakes until he gets to the office. One, hiding in his closet, meets his end because Sledge shoots him through the closet door. Not because he knew there was an assassin in the closet, but because he always shoots at the target on his closet door.
* In the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "The Nagus", it is implied that Grand Nagus Zek of the Ferengi has survived ''many'' attempts on his life. When he names Quark as his successor, Quark is quickly given an offer of protection [[AnOfferYouCantRefuse (actually a threat)]] from Gral another Ferengi, if he would "consider" giving Gral his pick of the more profitable opportunities in the Gamma Quadrant. When the now-nervous Quark asks Zek for advice, Zek merely says "So Gral was the first? He won't be the last." And he tells Quark that to survive as Nagus, Quark must surround himself with loyal men, but none too loyal, and that he should be ruthless. [[spoiler: It's later revealed that a successful Ferengi doesn't grab power via assassinating a rival, but accumulates it quietly, without anyone noticing; likely the reason Zek survived so long.]]
* One sketch in ''Series/{{Tosh 0}}'' shows Tosh using the bathroom when he is suddenly attacked by ninjas. He fights them off, only to realize there's no toilet paper.
* ''Series/{{Taboo}}'':
** Delaney turns the tables on an assassin sent by the EITC at the end of the second episode, though it is [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] in that he doesn't walk away unscathed.
** And again in the fourth episode, in which Delaney is also injured. This time it's an assassin sent by the Americans, and given his huge size, proves to be far more dangerous than the previous one.
* ''Series/TheUmbrellaAcademy'':
** Five manages to escape Hazel and Cha-Cha multiple times. When the duo decide to break into the Academy, Luther, Diego, and Allison beat them pretty badly, with the only success being that Hazel managed to kidnap Klaus, who was high and not much for fighting.
** In Season 2, Vanya beats a trio of highly skilled assassins ''without even trying''. These same assassins (down one) are later beaten by Allison and her non-combatant, civilian husband. Raymond has never been trained in the slightest. He still managed a good fight against one of the assassins. Allison took the other's eye out with a vaccuum nozzle.

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* The main cast of canon characters for the ''TabletopGame/SeventhSea'' RPG includes TheEvilPrince Villanova, who thrives on this trope. Assassins are casually sent for him, and just as casually are never heard from again. In several instances, he is seen dispatching at least some of them himself. When he publicly broke the rules of the Swordsmen's Guild, they sent specially trained enforcers, who are about as badass fighters as it gets. Being mailed parts of their bodies yearly pretty much stopped said Guild from further action on the matter.
* This is what the board game ''TabletopGame/KillDrLucky'' is all about. Dr. Lucky is as lucky as his name would suggest, and the object of the game is to, well, [[TitleDrop kill Dr. Lucky]] A) yourself and B) without being seen by anyone. The others can play "Failure!" cards, which represent bizarre happenstance that allows the not-so-good Doctor to escape. Another way to keep the Doc alive is [[BuffySpeak to angry so hard at his assassin]] that they can't do it (by paying that player Spite tokens).
* A particularly impressive (and terrifying) example is shown in the ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' Adventure Path ''Curse of the Crimson Throne''. The captain of the Sable Company Marines attempts to assassinate [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Ileosa]] when she declares that the Sable Company disband. He's a pretty good shot too and nails her right in the temple with a crossbow bolt. Unfortunately for him, Ileosa is ''much'' more powerful than he realized, and she simply [[AnnoyingArrows pulls the bolt out of her skull]], [[NeckLift lifts him up by the neck]], and stabs him between the eyes with it.

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations 2'' plays with this trope. The first case features an assassination attempt on a foreign president, which fails. But it turns out to have all been staged. The president was trying to invoke this trope in a desperate attempt to salvage his declining popularity.
* ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'':
** In Sequence 7 of ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood'', Ezio learns that Pietro, his key to the Borgias' safe house, is targeted by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micheletto_Corella Micheletto Corella]] -- [[BigBad Cesare Borgia's]] personal executioner who is considered the best assassin in Italy. Of course, Ezio, being an actual Assassin, takes this as a challenge and counters Micheletto's elaborate plan to MakeItLookLikeAnAccident with an ''even more'' elaborate plan to save Pietro. [[spoiler:He succeeds, despite Micheletto's last-ditch attempt to poison Pietro, and even spares ''his'' life in an act of CruelMercy.]]
** ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedRevelations'' has Turkish Templar killers who ambush Ezio (the hero Assassin of the game). PressXToNotDie ensues, and if successful, Ezio can thwart the attempt. If not, his LifeMeter gets dangerously close to zero.
*** A bunch of assassins (players) set loose on one another is the entire premise of the multiplayer element in ''[[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood Brotherhood]]'' and ''Revelations''. Most of the game modes are set up so that your target is different from your pursuer, meaning you can't kill the person trying to kill you, but you can outclass them by stunning them before they get you, making them fail their contract. It's also common to get killed by your pursuer just before you manage to kill your own target. The new Assassinate mode allows you to kill any opponent, allowing you to outclass potential assassins directly, but only if they haven't yet locked onto you.
** ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIVBlackFlag'': An early story mission has Edward Kenway, impersonating an Assassin who was a traitor (and whom Kenway killed in self-defense), meet with some Templars. During the meeting, they're attacked by Assassins who are after the Templars, but they don't expect Kenway's fighting skills.
** In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedRogue'', the protagonist is an Assassin-turned Templar who has multiple opportunities to do this, either by killing Assassins hiding around and waiting for the right chance to strike at him or killing them while they're attempting to hunt down another target.
* Parodied in ''VideoGame/BahamutLagoon'': when you recruit a pair of ninjas into your army, they also give you a free assassination as a bonus. You can choose the target to be either the RebelliousPrincess, a MightyGlacier, or a RedShirt. No prizes for guessing which target is the only one they actually succeed in killing.
* A major chunk of the plot for ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins'' consists of Batman dealing with the eight assassins Black Mask [[spoiler:(really the Joker)]] hired to kill him. There are actually achievements for getting past two of them -- Shiva and Deathstroke -- without taking damage or missing a counter, which would make them ''really'' outclassed, but just making it to the end of story mode means you've outfought six of the eight (the other two are only fought in optional sidequests).
* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'':
** ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'': The assassins after the new Vault Hunters in the ''Son of Crawmerax'' DLC are all assassinated by various allies.
*** Sergeant Jarter, Axton's old CO after him for desertion, is killed by [[spoiler:Axton's ex-wife using a remote-detonated explosive]].
---->'''Axton:''' Oh, good, I hated that guy. Kinda weird that he just randomly exploded, though. Don't remember that happening in basic.
*** Grill Holloway, the uncle of Marcie Holloway looking to kill Gaige to avenge his niece, is killed by [[spoiler:Gaige's dad, who sabotaged his transport]].
---->'''Gaige:''' Ha! SUCK IT, Holloway family! Even if your hitman hadn't fallen outta the sky for some weirdass reason, I woulda taken him out anyway. I killed Handsome friggin' JACK! You think one little assassin can take me down? BOOYAH. Also, sorry I killed your daughter.
*** Mordo Sophis, brother of the priest who was trying to use Maya as a weapon, is killed by [[spoiler:an "anonymous admirer" who poisoned him. Implied to be Patricia Tannis, based on speech patterns]].
---->'''Maya:''' Consider yourself lucky. That poison must have worked quickly. I wouldn't have.
*** Blendo wants revenge on Salvador for killing his entire bandit clan ("That was a fun weekend") and is killed by [[spoiler:the resort staff after Salvador's grandmother paid them. He's found hanging from a tree]].
---->'''Salvador:''' Aw, man. The last of the Chung clan and he got killed before I even showed up? Worst day ever.
*** Clements was one of the scientists who experimented on Krieg, who wants vengeance for his buddies that Krieg killed while escaping. He is killed by [[spoiler:Doctor Samuels stabbing him with dozens of needles]].
---->'''Krieg:''' HE WAS THERE FOR THE BIRTHING! HE BROUGHT THEM INTO THE METAL FUN PALACE SO SHE COULD START THE PARTY!
*** A mysterious assassin after Zero (maybe?) is killed (probably) by [[spoiler:... someone. The corpse is found impaled on weird spikes. No one except Zero knows what's up with that]].
---->'''Zero:''' I understand it. / A message sent, and received. / Mercy is coming.
** In the Commander Lilith DLC: Captain Flynt considers sending assassins after his brother [[Videogame/Borderlands3 Zane]] a fine way of staying in touch. Zane sends the heads back in a box.
--->'''Captain Flynt:''' Classic Zane. ''[chuckles]''
** ''Videogame/Borderlands3'': In Zane's personal ECHO Log on Sanctuary, he shoots an assassin hired to go after him by his countless enemies.
* In ''VideoGame/CaveStory'', [[AffablyEvil Balrog]] clumsily tries to ambush the hero ''about five times'' and always hilariously fails, until he finally [[DefeatMeansFriendship realizes that fighting him has no use]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Clonk}}'', a player-made scenario called Faffnir is an assassination mission. According to the guards, your character is nowhere near the first person they've had to deal with.
* ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'' allows you to do this in the late-game level "The Flooded District". Having been captured by a group of Assassins working for Daud, the man who killed the Empress, Corvo is stripped of his gear and imprisoned so he can be turned over to the Lord Regent [[spoiler:Farley Havelock]]. Corvo promptly escapes, recovers his gear, and then proceeds into Daud's base to confront him. If he gets there undetected, then Daud will be informed by one of his men that Corvo has escaped, but no one has seen anything or has any idea how he did it, to which Daud merely states that Corvo knows their work better than they do. While it's then possible to engage Daud in an epic swordfight, the nonlethal option involves sneaking up behind Daud and picking his pocket, letting him know that Corvo snuck into the heart of his base, past all of his men, and had Daud right in his sights and ''let him live'' with Daud being none the wiser. It's no surprise that Daud [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere up and leaves Dunwall afterward]].
** An achievement named "Food Chain" requires you to assassinate one of Daud's assassins. However, due to their teleportation and tethering abilities, wristbows, and adeptness at melee combat, they can easily end up assassinating you.
* The Red Prince, in ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSinII'' has survived so many assassination attempts, and killed so many would-be assassins, that he's grown ''bored'' of the constant attempts on his life. Plus, it's not the fact that they're trying to kill him that bothers him, it's their terrible manners.
* ''VideoGame/DoomEternal'' takes it to a logical extreme -- The Doom Hunters were an entire species of demon bred to hunt down and kill [[TerrorHero The Doom Slayer]]. They're extinct now. Granted, they've been brought back as cyborgs to make another attempt, but you'll still be killing several over the course of the game.
* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'':
** Zevran will try to assassinate the PC. Obviously, you have to survive the battle to continue the game. Afterward, you have the choice to recruit or kill him. If you recruit him, you'll face more assassins a little later in the game. If you get his approval high enough, he'll confess that he only went for a head-on assault because he [[DeathSeeker wanted you to kill him]]. Otherwise, he would have tried a sneakier method.
** Later in the game, after you fend off yet another assassination attempt, a Fereldan guard captain will remark, "[[TooDumbToLive And people actually voluntarily attack you?]]"
* Nearly ''the exact same thing'' happens in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening''. When the PC first arrives at Vigil's Keep after the darkspawn invasion, you're told that the guards subdued and captured a man sneaking around the fort attempting to kill him/her. You have the chance to speak to him in the Vigil's Keep dungeon, where you find out that he's Nathaniel Howe, Arl Howe's son, who was after you as revenge for killing his father... and one of your options when speaking to him is to suggest that he become a Grey Warden and join your party. When he asks why the PC isn't worried about him trying to "finish the job," one dialogue response is [[LampshadeHanging "Some of my best friends have attempted to kill me."]] (For extra hilarity, play ''Awakening'' with a Warden who romanced Zevran in the main game.)
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'':
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'':
*** Once you've advanced far enough in the main quest, [[BigBad Dagoth Ur]] will send Ash Zombie assassins to attack you if you sleep in cities under the influence of a nearby [[ReligionOfEvil Sixth House]] base. If you want to stop the attacks (as well as free any [[BrainwashedAndCrazy Sleepers]] in the area), you'll need to locate the base and kill the Dagoth in charge.
*** In the ''Tribunal'' expansion, you are randomly assaulted by [[MurderInc Dark Brotherhood]] assassins whenever you sleep, until you get to the heart of the problem (and the main premise for the expansion's storyline) and stop them. Naturally, if you aren't employing this trope, you die. GameOver.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'':
*** Various people will, at times, send Dark Brotherhood assassins after you for stealing from them, as will [[spoiler:[[CantArgueWithElves Ancano]], near the end of the College of Winterhold questline. [[ScrewYouElves This doesn't work]]]]. This is a bad idea, considering just who the player character is.
*** Delphine is noted to have killed a Thalmor assassination team that was sent to kill her.
* ''VideoGame/ExitFate''. Daniel does it only once[[note]]The assassin comments "You are... stronger than I", but in fact, Daniel just had healing spells[[/note]], but afterwards, he manages to convince the assassin ([[CynicismCatalyst who wanted to avenge his dead sister]]) that he is innocent in the case of aforementioned sister's death, which makes the assassin [[DefeatMeansFriendship join him]].
* ''VideoGame/Fallout3'': Players with "Good Karma" will find themselves occasionally ambushed by a [[PsychoForHire Talon Company]] hit squad while players with "Evil Karma" will be attacked by the [[BountyHunter Regulators]]. Too bad they're dealing with the [[OneManArmy Lone Wanderer]].
* In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', if you piss off the NCR or Caesar's Legion enough, they'll start sending hit squads after you. Given that the fastest way to piss them off is to kill a bunch of their guys, there's no points for guessing how much of a chance the guys in the hit squads have. It doesn't take long before they start becoming little more than self-delivering loot.
* Sissel's first few jobs in ''VideoGame/GhostTrick'' are to protect Lynne and her associates from blue-skinned assassins. In some instances, the assassins actually succeed, but Sissel goes back and changes events to thwart them.
* ''Franchise/{{Hitman}}'':
** ''VideoGame/HitmanAbsolution'' features the appropriately named "Attack of the Saints" mission, in which an AmazonBrigade of assassins known as the Saints attempt to kill Agent 47. He picks them off one by one.
** ''VideoGame/HitmanBloodMoney'' features a mission in which the player character 47 must locate three other assassins before they can kill their target and another where he has to take out two rival assassins trying to kill ''him''.
** A similar scenario occurs in a few missions in ''VideoGame/Hitman2SilentAssassin''. Some of the later missions include one where you have to kill a number of rival assassins who have been tasked with eliminating both you and your contact. The second-to-last mission involved 47 out-gambitting another assassin, [[spoiler:Mr. 17, who is also one of his "brothers" (all of whom he thought were dead at that point)]].
** In ''VideoGame/Hitman2'', the first [[TemporaryOnlineContent Elusive Target]] is Mark Faba, a former MI5 agent turned freelance hitman who's survived so many attempts on his life that he even earned the alias "The Undying". Your mission is to succeed where others have failed.
** ''VideoGame/Hitman3'''s "Apex Predator" pits 47 against a squad of ''ten'' rival assassins, [[spoiler:ICA agents sent to carry out a contract on Olivia Hall and 47 himself]]. Some of them adopt 47's tactics and disguise themselves, forcing 47 to identify them in a crowd. Part of the mission involves taking an earpiece from one of the slain assassins and listening in on their communications, and you can hear the others grow increasingly frustrated as you pick off their teammates one by one until [[spoiler:you've eliminated half of them, at which point the surviving agents [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere call off their mission and flee the scene]]]].
* VideoGame/{{Iji}} is a major target for assassins once the Komato arrive. She survives repeated attempts by [[ArchEnemy Asha]], before finally killing him. If Iji avoids the fight, then he kills himself from shame.
** You can also avert this by letting the assassin kill you, but coming back with a one-time checkpoint service. With a little creativity, you can use this twice, allowing you to die to the same assassin three times. The second time you come fight him Asha is joyful to have the chance to kill you twice, but the third time, [[WhyWontYouDie he's just incensed that you won't stay dead]].
* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'': The Jedi Exile spends much of the early part of the game fending off {{bounty hunter}}s, starting with HK-50 assassin droids. Unusually the bounty hunters don't want you dead: the Exchange (Space Mafia) is paying for Jedi to be captured and brought to them alive. The Exile and her teammates have no such compunctions:
-->'''Atton:''' Anybody here catch that? All I understood was "very".\\
'''Bao-Dur:''' I think he wanted us to give up the General to his poorly-trained collection of bounty hunters.\\
'''Atton:''' Ah. Well, that would explain it. Which one do you want?\\
'''Bao-Dur:''' I'll take the stupid one who decided to threaten us rather than shoot us when he had the chance. ''(BattleDiscretionShot)''
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' lets Link do this with the [[{{Ninja}} Yiga Clan]], servants of Ganon who are constantly disguising themselves so they can ambush him. Except perhaps the earliest of such encounters when players are still trying to build up their arsenals, these fights are generally one-sided in Link's favor.
* ''VideoGame/LoveOfMagic'': The various assassins that attempt to take out MC and/or Emily, only to find that MC has {{Excalibur}} and an awful lot of power. Of particular note is the Cambion who comes to the attention of a [[RealityWarper Blessed by the Voices]]; he falls off the roof on top of Bella, who promptly splatters him.
* In ''VideoGame/MafiaTheCityOfLostHeaven'', you actually play as the assassin sent after the rival mob boss' brother, who proves to be so cautious / lucky / tough to kill that the mission where you go after him, mission 15 (appropriately titled "You Lucky Bastard!"), is the single longest mission in the entire game. First, you try to call the bar he is in, and then just shoot him when he answers the phone. He wasn't there, and you kill a random stranger. Next, you use a car bomb, but he let his girlfriend borrow it, and so once again you kill a stranger. Then, you try to just ambush him with a machine gun, but it jams and you have to run away. Then, you hire some professionals. They take over a train junction; when the target is stopped at some train tracks, one professional will make sure the safety bars don't go down, while the other professionals are in a car behind the target. The idea was to ram the car into the trains. He figures this out and drives off, so [[HoistByHisOwnPetard the professionals drive into the train by accident]]. You immediately chase him to the docks, but he's surrounded by armed men. After killing them all, he hides behind a reinforced door. After blowing it up by ramming a tanker wagon into it, you ''finally'' get to kill him. When you do, your character says "[[TitleDrop You lucky bastard!]]"
* ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'':
** There are two possible versions of this when the Salarian Councillor is attacked by Cerberus assassin Kai Leng. If Kirrahe intervenes, he suffers a fatal wound but the target escapes. If Thane (no slouch in the assassin department himself) intervenes, the target escapes and Thane (though he suffers a fatal wound himself) gets a fantastic line.
--->'''Thane''': That assassin should be embarrassed. A terminally ill drell managed to stop him from reaching his target.
** Shepard him/herself is the target of so many attempts to kill him/her that it leads to a hilarious moment in the "Citadel" DLC when an Alliance officer runs up to Shepard and Joker out having lunch and announcing dramatically that someone is trying to kill Shepard. Shepard and Joker look at her, look at each other, and Joker makes a sarcastic remark that Shepard is aware that people want him/her dead. [[spoiler: Made even funnier in hindsight for the fact said Alliance officer turns out to be a former Cerberus member who tries to kill Shepard... with predictable results.]]
* ''VideoGame/ScarfaceTheWorldIsYours'' begins in the famous mansion shootout from the end of [[Film/Scarface1983 the film]], where Tony fails to notice Skull sneaking up behind him and putting a buckshot load in his back, killing him. [[ForWantOfANail Here,]] Tony turns around and blows the assassin away, and then fights his way out of the mansion to survive. Then the rest of the game begins.
* ''VideoGame/TheShipMurderParty'', what with the objective of the game being to assassinate other players. Killing innocent [=NPCs=] or players whom are not your current target penalizes your score, but (if you can figure out who it is) you are free to kill your own assassin. And take his wallet.
* One of the sidequests in ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'' for Imperial players in Nar Shaddaa is to take out Republic assassins sent after them (the Bounty Hunter can complain about how they're a target despite not actually being Imperial). Lampshaded by all the classes.
-->'''Imperial PC:''' I like assassinating assassins. They always look so surprised.
* When you first meet Sheena in ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'', she's trying to assassinate the Chosen. Luckily, she's terrible at it, and eventually she joins the party.
* A handful of achievements for most classes in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' revolve around getting the upper hand against enemy Spies, such as killing one when he's fully cloaked, or [[ConfrontingYourImposter disguised as yourself]].
** In the Meet the Soldier and Meet the Sniper videos, the respective protagonists effortlessly kill a Spy that's about to backstab them.
* Garrett from the ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'' games does this a few times. Starting in the first game (with a mission appropriately titled ''Assassins''), he narrowly avoids a couple of hitmen sent to kill him. They don't realise what happened and think they're done, so he tails them back to their employer and humiliates everyone involved. In the second game, the mission ''Ambush!'' has Garrett traversing the streets of the City which are stuffed with the City Watch, who were tipped off to his location by a treacherous fence, making his way back to his old home and getting his stuff so that he can go disappear elsewhere.
* Failing to assassinate someone in the ''VideoGame/TotalWar'' games will often lead to the target developing paranoia and becoming even harder to assassinate. Due to ArtificialStupidity, the AI may sometimes try to serially assassinate your most valuable general, who only becomes better and better at outclassing them the more they try. Which can be funny moments on their own, like [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMlu7ZleclI 18 seconds into this clip]] from ''VideoGame/TotalWarShogun2''.
* Kaguya from ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' is always doing this to Mokou and vice-versa. Both are immortals.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Tropico}} 3'' and ''4'', one possible random event is an assassin being sent after El Presidente; the player can choose to hide in their mansion for several months until the assassin gets bored and leaves, bribe the assassin to leave, attempt to arrest the assassin with the SecretPolice or hire an even better assassin to assassinate the assassin before he can assassinate you.
* ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'' features assassination side missions. In some of them, a rival assassin will appear and attempt to take out your target.

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'':
** After exiting an apparently diverted teleporting device Martellus barehandedly takes on six Smoke Knights, killing them and his cousin Leopold, [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20130520 with their own daggers.]]
** The Smoke Knights are also apparently no match for a [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20140606 vigilant Corbettite Monk.]] The ease in which the monks dispose of the assassins is almost casual.
* The Hegemonic Brute of the Alpha session in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' was sent to kill Dirk Strider but ends up getting [[CurbStompBattle slain by his target a few panels after his appearance.]]
* ''Webcomic/MenageA3'': When genre-anomalous international spy [[http://www.ma3comic.com/strips-ma3/too-exciting Bianca comes under attack by what seems to be a team of professional assassins,]] she survives and escapes, despite being surprised, dressed only in underwear, and accompanied by a confused and disapproving non-combatant.
* ''Webcomic/{{Oglaf}}'': The nameless protagonists of [[https://www.oglaf.com/cookiecutters/ this strip]] see off their would-be assassins very competently, given that they're caught completely off-guard. But then, how capable can [[spoiler:Gingerbread Assassins]] be?
* ''Webcomic/{{Silenziosa}}'': A man tries to assassinate King Charles by blow-dart. The Queen dispatches the would-be killer with an axe.
* ''{{Webcomic/Unsounded}}'':
** When Roger returns to Fluirstadt the queen Maharaishala informs him that there were several assassination attempts on him after her sister's assassination, and that she had the perpetrators publicly hanged.
** General Bell sends an assassin after Queen Maharaishala on Tirnasday, her three hidden wright protectors rip him to shreds and core-leach his body before he can throw the explosive he's carrying, and then cushion the explosive's fall. Maha doesn't even flinch, as she was already aware Bell would be trying to kill her during the festival.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:WebOriginal]]
* ''Script/C0DA'', written by former ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series writer/designer Creator/MichaelKirkbride, takes place in the far distant future of ''TES'' universe. Jubal-lun-Sul, the main character, performs this toward the end of the story when he uses his "[[StoryBreakerPower ghost hands]]" to effortlessly defeat a horde of [[MurderInc Morag]] [[ProfessionalKiller Tong]] assassins, as well as [[spoiler:his former friend who hired them, Hlaalu Hir]].
* In ''WebVideo/CriticalRoleExandriaUnlimited: Calamity'', Cerrit, a non-magical investigator in a city of wizards, is able to spot an invisible cultist of Asmodeus by the ''fraction of their pupils'' left visible for them to see by, and cuts them down in a single strike of his tomahawks.
* This is the premise of ''LetsPlay/{{Dream}}'''s Minecraft Manhunt series. Dream only has one life and tries to complete the game by killing the Ender Dragon, while the hunters can respawn indefinitely and have compasses leading to his location. He doesn't always win, but he does it frequently enough for the series to keep going and adding more hunters into the mix.
* King Karn and his wife Starling in ''WebVideo/JourneyQuest'' have a heated argument... [[IgnoredEnemy while taking apart a small army of assassins with little effort.]] [[spoiler: Starling gets wounded by the last assassin, but doesn't die.]]
* In ''Podcast/TheMinisterOfChance,'' Ambassador Durian not only escapes an undercover assassin but even goes on to use her as a political tool against both the political rival who sent her ''and'' the rival state of Jura.
* Volume Five of ''{{WebAnimation/RWBY}}'' has the Albain brothers of the [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters White Fang]] attempt to assassinate [[spoiler:Ghira and Kali Belladonna]]. Clearly aware of the fact that RankScalesWithAsskicking, the brothers not only send in a load of armed mooks but join the assault on [[spoiler:the Belladonna manor]] themselves. ''It's still not enough''. Special mention goes to [[spoiler:Kali]], who bludgeons an assassin into submission with a ''[[ImprovisedWeapon tea tray]]''.
* Carmilla of the ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'' seems to specialize in this. Right after she manifested, she took down a hypnotized armed security office who shot a hole in her. Then she thwarted the killers pursuing her until she got to America. Then, when the Reverend Englund sicced a team of mutants on her, she ''ate'' at least one of them and escaped. Then at Halloween, she faced a mutant assassin, a school-wide invasion of Syndicate troops, and a team of Syndicate killers. Now she has Jobe Wilkins trying to kill her with bio-weapons. It might have something to do with the issue that she's a [[EldritchAbomination baby Great Old One.]]
* In ''Literature/UntilEveryDropOfBloodIsPaid'', Abraham Lincoln helps fight off a group of assassins led by John Wilkes Booth, even bashing Booth's head in with a log.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Zuko from ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' survived six assassination attempts in just his first year as Fire Lord. It’s implied that he killed the first five attempters himself.
* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'', an assassin, Curare, is sent after Commissioner Barbara Gordon's husband, DA Sam Young. When she fails, the society she's a member of begins [[ContractOnTheHitman hunting her down for her failure]]. Thinking proactively, she in turn begins hunting down and eliminating them. [[spoiler: She succeeds, but fails when she attacks her final target on her list: Batman himself, the one she held most responsible. (For some odd reason, she didn't include either Young or Gordon, but that may be for the best.)]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueTheFlashpointParadox'', [[spoiler:Aquaman's wife Mera caught him in bed with Wonder Woman, so she sneaked onto Themyscira and tried to assassinate Diana. Diana managed to overcome Mera and beheaded her, sending the head back to Atlantis, while keeping her crown. This is how the war between Atlantis and Themyscira started]].
* The titular character of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' carves through the myriad of assassins Aku sends after him. Very few pose much of a challenge.
* The episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' "Lisa the Iconoclast" shows that Jebediah Springfield tried to assassinate UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington, only to get his ass handed to him; George was no lightweight.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': In [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS3E15ThroughImperialEyes "Through Imperial Eyes"]], TheMole sets the sentry droids Thrawn uses in sparring on him, after reprogramming the override code. Thrawn manages to defeat the droids, but not until after the purpose of the attack has been served -- [[spoiler:to allow Ezra and Chopper to escape from Thrawn's office]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' Season 3 finale, Brock Samson manages to defeat three assassins sent after him.
* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'':
** Episode "Infiltrator": the Team is assigned to protect Dr. Serling Roquette, who has a hit on her because she's the only one who can neutralize [[GreyGoo the Fog]]. The Team only manages to stop the three assassins when Dr. Roquette completes the virus that stops the Fog; rendering the hit void due to The Light [[PragmaticVillainy preferring to avoid killing anyone who might be useful in the future]].
** In the opening of the episode "Insecurity", Black Spider's assassination of a man is thwarted by ComicBook/{{Green Arrow}} and his sidekick Artemis.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* There were over 40 attempts on UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler's life, mostly by his subordinates. Most of them were caught by his security detail before they could prove an immediate threat, others were foiled merely by random chance. Hitler avoided three separate bomb attacks this way, the first two by simply leaving ahead of schedule, the third (and most famous one) when he was shielded from the worst of the blast by [[ForWantOfANail a wooden table leg]].
* Zog I, Skanderbeg III of the Albanians survived over 55 assassination attempts. He also carried a personal sidearm (a tradition carried on by his son Crown Prince Leka) and is said to have exchanged gunfire with potential assassins on at least one occasion.
* UsefulNotes/FidelCastro survived over 638 assassination attempts from the CIA. These assassinations have ranged from exploding cigars to mafia-style shootings. Castro himself was well aware of the numerous failed attempts on his life and once said, "If surviving assassination attempts were an Olympic event, I would win the gold medal." He also said that when he dies, no one will believe it. [[note]]That said, he passed away on 25th November 2016[[/note]] He once told Putin the only reason he's still alive is because he refused to have his subordinates manage his security and always dealt with it himself. He also hated ''Call of Duty: Black Ops'', which just happens to start with a mission where you shoot him in the head. Of course, this is a double.
* Richard Lawrence tried to assassinate the elderly UsefulNotes/AndrewJackson with a pair of pistols. Unfortunately for him, [[ReliablyUnreliableGuns both of them misfired]], and Jackson subsequently gave him [[CaneFu a serious beating with his cane]] to the point that ''Jackson's'' security had to stop him from beating the guy to death. Talk about BullyingADragon.[[note]]Jackson had survived ''dozens'' of duels, carrying multiple bullets in his body to the end of his life, and openly boasted about having killed many opponents, plus stating his only regrets were not killing some political adversaries. Lawrence was thus probably lucky he didn't have a gun on him at the time.[[/note]]
* A man in Portland, Oregon hired a hitman to kill his estranged wife. After a protracted struggle, the woman was able to disarm the hitman and subsequently [[http://badassoftheweek.com/kuhnhausen.html strangled him to death]].
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Hathcock#Confrontations_with_NVA_snipers Carlos Hathcock]], a Marine sniper in Vietnam, was so infamous amongst the North Vietnamese Army that the NVA offered a $30,000 bounty on him, 15 times more than the highest bounty they had offered before. When enemy counter-snipers tried to earn that bounty, he dispatched them handily. One counter-sniper, given the Code Name "Cobra" by the Marines, had killed several American soldiers and was moments from killing Hathcock when Carlos killed him with a ScopeSnipe. By his own admission, he caught the sniper by sheer ''chance'', having noticed [[SniperScopeGlint something glinting]] in the forest and deciding to take a shot at it, and had he not fired when he did, he'd have been on the receiving end of it.
* Hathcock wasn't the first sniper to draw such ire, as UsefulNotes/SimoHayha managed to piss off the Soviet army so much[[note]] 542 confirmed kills with a non-scoped rifle, ~200 with submachinegun[[/note]] that they sent counter-snipers after him (he was unharmed), bombed the area he was thought to be in (he was unharmed), and one sniper managed to finally place an exploding round in Hayha's face... quickly earning a regular round in his head, and Hayha staggered off to the nearest Finnish unit, getting sent to the hospital. Interestingly, the USSR withdrew 11 days later, the same day that Hayha woke up from a coma. The jokes about the Soviets having heard about this and saying ScrewThisImOuttaHere practically wrote themselves.
* At the end of the Ninth Crusade, UsefulNotes/EdwardTheFirst fought off and killed an assassin sent for him (in one version of the tale, sent by TheHashshashin). He was, however, wounded by the assassin's supposedly poisoned blade and was weakened for several months afterwards.
* A message from UsefulNotes/JosipBrozTito was found in UsefulNotes/JosefStalin's personal papers following the latter's death:
-->Stop sending people to kill me. We've already captured five of them, one of them with a bomb and another with a rifle... If you don't stop sending killers, I'll send a very fast working one to Moscow and [[BadassBoast I certainly won't have to send another]].
* Bulgarian political party leader Ahmed Dogan once escaped a murder plot during a televised speech when an assassin jumped on the stage in front of the audience and shoved a gun in his face. Dogan [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqRZ-_zRFsU smacked the gun away and tackled the assassin to the ground before audience members ran up to help]].
* Bill Clinton failed assassinations:
** One would-be assassin tried to fly a stolen Cessna into the side of the White House but [[EpicFail crashed into the lawn instead]]. The First Family wasn't even there at the time.
** One maniac simply stood on the sidewalk outside the White House grounds and sprayed bullets at a group of men on the distant White House lawn, thinking one of them was the President. None of them were. He was subdued by [[HeroicBystander random passers by]], having failed to even injure anyone, much less kill the president.
* Gangster Mickey Cohen survived numerous attempts on his life, most of them ordered by rival mobster Jack Dragna.
* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithridates_VI_of_Pontus Mithridates VI]] of Pontus (modern-day Anatolia) was a king in the evening years of UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic who regularly ingested poisons in order to make himself immune. It seems to have worked, since he managed to be a constant thorn in Rome's side, and we don't even know how many attempts there were on his life since he survived all of them. When he eventually [[BullyingADragon overreached and Rome came crashing down on him]], he attempted to take his own life with poison but failed due to the aforementioned immunity (a friend killed him with a dagger).
* UsefulNotes/CharlesDeGaulle allegedly survived ''31'' assassination attempts, the most notable being in 1962 when his car was hit by machine gun fire. He had roughly 140 rounds fired at him!
* Cassius Clay (the 19th century politician not the boxer) survived at least two assassination attempts by pro-slavery partisans. He was shot during a speech in 1843 but it deflected off the scabbard of his Bowie knife. He then ran down the assassin and cut off his nose and one eye (possibly an ear too). He then threw him down an embankment. Another time he was attacked by several pro-slavery partisans with Bowie knives, and unfortunately dropped his own. He managed to wrest one from one of his assailants and killed one of them before passing out from blood loss.
* Soviet UsefulNotes/WorldWarII sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko was the most accomplished known female sniper in history and 36 of her 309 kills were German snipers with orders to kill her.
* During a visit to Georgia (the sovereign Ex-Soviet Republic, not the US state) George W Bush and Georgian leader Mikhail Sakashvilli were subject to an assassination attempt with a grenade thrown at the two. It failed. Maybe that is why Bush later displayed surprising dodging skills when an enraged Iraqi journalist threw two shoes at him at a press conference.
* You know Qin Shi Huang, first emperor of China? He once survived an assasination attempt made by the king of Yan during his conquest of China by avoiding the initial attack, running away and around a pillar Benny Hill style until his doctor threw his bag at the assassin to incapacitate him, and then drawing his overly long ceremonial sword to stab him to death. He promptly passed out due to exhuastion. If you've ever watched LetsPlay/{{Technoblade}} comment on the duel with LetsPlay/{{Dream}}, then this is the event he's describing.
[[/folder]]

** See the nameless Narn stalking Vir Cotto's fiancee, weapon drawn? Switch the scene to a bit later, and she's offering the hogtied Narn to Vir as a gift.

* The main cast of canon characters for the ''TabletopGame/SeventhSea'' RPG includes TheEvilPrince Villanova, who thrives on this trope. Assassins are casually sent for him, and just as casually are never heard from again. In several instances, he is seen dispatching at least some of them himself. When he publicly broke the rules of the Swordsmen's Guild, they sent [[strike:a]] specially trained enforcers, who are about as badass fighters as it gets. Being mailed parts of their bodies yearly pretty much stopped said Guild from further action on the matter.

** It's made clear in works focusing on them that Assassins ''expect'' to be outclassed some of the time, and view this as part of what makes their existence acceptable. In ''Literature/{{Pyramids}}'' Dr Cruces tells his students that they may well find the target has employed some of their fellows as bodyguards, and the Rules in the Guild Diary say that they won't take comissions on anyone who cannot defend themselves. (Anyone who earns over a certain amount is assumed to be capable of defending themselves, one way or another, and it's not the Guild's fault if they don't.)

** It's made clear in works focusing on them that Assassins ''expect'' to be outclassed some of the time, and view this as part of what makes their existence acceptable. In ''Literature/{{Pyramids}}'' Mr Downey tells his students that they may well find the target has employed some of their fellows as bodyguards, and the Rules in the Guild Diary say that they won't take comissions on anyone who cannot defend themselves. (Anyone who earns over a certain amount is assumed to be capable of defending themselves, one way or another, and it's not the Guild's fault if they don't.)

* In ''Storm Breaking'' of the ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' series an assassin tries to take out the current heir to the Eastern Empire, Melles. Unfortunately for the assassin, Melles had a great deal of experience as an assassin himself. Melles not only defeats his assassin, but then tortures him to find out who sent him, kills him, sneaks the body of the assassin into the nursery of the man who hired the assassin, takes the man's baby out of the crib therein, places the assassin's corpse in the crib, and gives the baby the (now bladeless) handle of the assassin's knife to play with. As a warning.

* Edward I Longshanks, before becoming king, was attacked by TheHashshashin while participating on the Ninth Crusade. He was injured in the arm by a poisoned dagger but killed the Assassin and survived.

* You know Qin Shi Huang, first emperor of China? He once survived an assasination attempt made by the king of Yan during his conquest of China by avoiding the initial attack, running away and around a pillar Benny Hill style until his doctor threw his bag at the assassin to incapacitate him, and then drawing his overly long ceremonial sword to stab him to death. He promptly passed out due to exhuastion. If you've ever watched Creator/{{Technoblade}} comment on the duel with Creator/{{Dream}}, then this is the event he's describing.

* In ''Fanfic/FateStayNightUltimateMaster'', Zouken, aware of the threat [[WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien Ben Tennyson]] is as a Master, sends True Assassin after him. The attempt... [[ShootingSuperman doesn't exactly]] [[HilarityEnsues go as planned]].

* Harry Potter in [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10485934/1/Inspected-By-No-13 Inspected by No. 13]] kills multiple goblin assassins ''without realising it''. The first is accidentally bumped into a bear enclosure at the zoo, while the second attempt involves a squad teleporting to his location -- which turns out to be hundreds of feet in the air where he's having a broomstick race.

* While it's an OffscreenMomentOfAwesome, Hizashi Midoriya in ''Fanfic/OneForAllAndEightForTheNinth'' has had several assassins from the Meta Liberation Army sent after him when his accounting firm started investigating them. He has taken all of them down, even beating one without using his Quirk, and gone so far as to [[DoWrongRight criticize their shoddy work.]]
* Magic isn't ''supposed'' to be able to save you from vacuum if you're ThrownOutTheAirlock, but Damien from ''Literature/StarshipsMage'' is no ordinary mage. When [[spoiler:he and Grace are cast into deep space by an explosion, he manages to create an impermeable shield to hold their breathable air, while Grace (also a mage) cycles carbon dioxide into oxygen.]]
* [[BigGood Jalal Stormbringer]] in the ''Fanfic/ShadowchasersSeries'' franchise is the only member of his organization not under the divine protection of the [[HeroSecretService Knights of Domiel]] that is supposed to prevent this; nonetheless, he doesn't need it. Attempts on his life happen rather frequently, and almost none ever come close to succeeding. As he tells Taramanda in ''[[Fanfic/ShadowchasersPowerPrimordial Power Primordial]]'', with a sarcastic tone, if a week goes by without it happening at least once, he thinks something is wrong. [[spoiler:Ironically, Tarmanda came closer to getting rid of him than anyone else in the franchise to date, lacing her cards with a venom that, while incapable of actually killing him, could have reduced him to a vegetative state. The chapter in question pointed out that Jalal is somewhat prepared for the rare things that are lethal to him, having compiled a list of them after a close call many years ago.]]

* ''Fanfic/FalloutEquestria'': Littlepip views a memory from the perspective of an assassin zebra about to kill Rarity. The zebra is wearing a stealth cloak and is completely invisible, but is suddenly stunned right before she can strike. Rarity had slipped a stun grenade in her pack with telekinesis and activated it. Rarity's unique magic spell lets her find gemstones, and zebra magic is powered by gemstones, so she was easily able to detect her even with the invisibility.

* In ''{{ComicBook/Hitman}}'', this happens almost constantly, usually but not always to Tommy, Natt, and Ringo. It helps that the three of them are all ''also'' assassins, and Tommy and Ringo specifically are the two deadliest assassins in Gotham-freaking-city. Attempted assassins include but are not limited to: idiot Gotham wannabe assassins, a few dozen ninjas, hundreds of mafia thugs, Johnny Navarone, large chunks of the CIA, super-fast mutant cowboys, a SAS hit-squad (though Tommy and Natt get out of that more because of luck and internal strife in the squad than anything else), a ten-armed demon from Hell, Lobo, Benito Gallo, and Johnny's son Marc Navarone. Among others.

* ''VideoGame/{{Hitman}}'':

!!'''As a DeathTrope, all Spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.'''

* In ''Manga/CesareIlCreatoreCheHaDistrutto'', Cesare Borgia is 16 years old, but [[UsefulNotes/PopeAlexanderVI his father]] has [[UsefulNotes/PopeJuliusII powerful enemies]] who know Cesare is smarter than his age would imply, and want to do away with him as soon as possible. But he doesn't need a CadreOfForeignBodyguards, one will do -- Miguel da Corella, his most loyal right-hand companion in real life. While many stories have them meeting as adults, it's TruthInTelivision that they were childhood friends, as depicted here. Whenever Cesare doesn't manage to fight off an assassin himself, Miguel is there with a perfectly timed dagger (unless he comes in too soon, and Cesare was still trying to interrogate the poor thug). (A note on "foreign" -- Cesare was foreign (Spanish) as well. His mother was Italian and he grew up in Rome, but to the xenophobic Italians, he was still as foreign as Miguel, who came from Spain to work for the Borgias in Italy when he was 7 or 8 years old).

* Tiphaine d'Ath of the ''Literature/NovelsOfTheChange'', being a former assassin herself, has a pretty good idea of the preventative measures she needs to take when she's promoted to the juicy-target position of Grand Constable.

* In the ''Star Wars'' novel ''{{Literature/Darth Bane}}'' Rule of Two, Darth Zannah meets a nobleman named Hetton offering all the Sith knowledge he's amassed in exchange for being made her apprentice. She sends him to kill her master Bane as a test. Despite having several deadly sith assassins from the former Dark Brotherhood with him Bane kills him.

* ''Literature/HaloTheColeProtocol'': Thel 'Vadam (the future Arbiter) is engaged by three assassins proceeding his election to kaidon (lordship) over the State of Vadam. He quite quickly and easily dispatches all three, before tricking their employer into revealing himself and subsequently executing him as well.

* ''Series/TheUmbrellaAcademy'': Five manages to escape Hazel and Cha-Cha multiple times. When the duo decide to break into the Academy, Luther, Diego, and Allison beat them pretty badly, with the only success being that Hazel managed to kidnap Klaus, who was high and not much for fighting.