History Main / BlackmailBackfire

[[folder: Web Original]]

* ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'': Secretary of Defense [[spoiler:and member of HYDRA]] Alexander Pierce figures that Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow's dark past would keep her from releasing all of SHIELD's private information, which included her aforementioned past [[spoiler:and SHIELD's interlaced relationship with HYDRA]], onto the public Internet. She proves him wrong.

* ''Film/RedRockWest:'' Kurt is shot for trying to blackmail a wanted fugitive. Unusually for the trope, he survives his injuries.
* In ''Film/{{Ronin}}'', Gregor meets a Russian gangster and demands more money for his briefcase's contents. He informs the gangster that his girlfriend, Natacha, a gorgeous skater, [[AndYourLittleDogToo has a sniper being trained on her]], ready to kill her in the middle of a performance. Gregor counts down the time until the sniper fires, waiting for the gangster to pay up to save his girlfriend. At "zero," the gangster raises up his own gun and too late Gregor realizes the man has [[TheUnfettered absolutely no qualms about letting his girlfriend die]] rather than pay up more.

* ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable]]'' has Hayato threatening to expose [[SerialKiller Yoshikage Kira]] while the latter is [[DeadPersonImpersonation posing as Hayato's father, Kosaku Kawajiri]]. It first backfires on Hayato when Kira is incensed at the thought of being threatened and kills him. Then it backfires on Kira when he realizes [[DidntThinkThisThrough he has no possible way to hide Hayato's death from his mother]], made even worse when [[DotingParent Kira's]] [[OurGhostsAreDifferent father]] reveals that Rohan Kishibe is onto him and will be coming the next day to investigate him along with Jotaro and everyone else. [[spoiler:Then it backfires on just about everyone else when Kira's determination to say in Morioh and continue his serial killer lifestyle no matter what makes the Stand arrow awaken [[GroundhogDayLoop Bites the Dust]], a new ability for Kira's Stand [[HavingABlast Killer Queen]].]]

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-4645 SCP-4645]], the Blackmailing Computer, is a computer that every day threatens the Foundation to do something horrible (releasing Keter [=SCPs=], executing the O5 council, taking over the world, et cetera) or the computer will carry out some threat. This doesn't work for two reasons: At first, the computer only made ridiculously minor threats like deleting Minecraft accounts and having all staff stub their toes, and after it started escalating to more serious threats (researchers being badly injured, major security breaches, and so on) the Foundation figured out that it was learning what threats they wouldn't take seriously and escalating until they did, [[LogicalWeakness so they started wiping its memory every so often so it would start over at the minor threats]].

* David Letterman was blackmailed by Joe Halderman, a producer on CBS threatening to reveal his sexual relationships with several of his female employees. Letterman stated that someone had left a package in his car with material he said the blackmailer would write into a screenplay and a book if Letterman did not pay him US$2 million. As soon as he saw the information, Letterman said that he contacted the Manhattan District Attorney's office and partook in a sting operation. Letterman then announced the affairs on his show after the producer was arrested.

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-->'''Sunahara:''' Don't underestimate me. [[spoiler:I only ever got close to you to gather evidence on you. All the money I said I stole for you were ''mine''.]]
* ''Manga/GTOTheEarlyYears'': Ryuji and Eikichi try to blackmail Mariko and Ayumi by [[spoiler:threatening to tell the school board they almost had sex with the boys, their students]], demanding that they meet them at a motel to [[spoiler:actually have sex with them. When they show up, instead of the girls they meet a triad enforcer who attempts to sodomize Eikichi (Ryuji decided against going in, and then ran into Ayumi on the way out).]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''Fanfic/EquestriaGirlsAFairlyOddFriendship'': [[spoiler: The Dazzlings]] threaten to expose Timmy's fairies, causing him to lose them forever, if he doesn't grant their every wish. Timmy eventually calls their bluff, pointing out that if he loses Cosmo and Wanda, all the wishes they've already granted will be undone, including the one that [[spoiler: gave the Dazzlings their own magic back]]. Of course, this just results in [[spoiler: the Dazzlings resorting to ColdBloodedTorture to get what they want]].
* In snippet 7 of ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13279982/7/Harry-Potter-and-the-Burning-of-Bridges Harry Potter and the Burning of Bridges]]'', Rita calmly explains why Hermione's attempt to blackmail her won't work. Even ignoring Rita's own contingencies, the fact Draco talked to her while she was in her animagus form means very powerful people already know about it and she's made a point of being useful to such people. Any one of them could easily get her off such a minor charge. All in all, Rita basically says Hermione's blackmail was a rather cute attempt and she won't turn Hermione in for her own reasons.
* In ''Fanfic/JWITCHSeason1'', Valmont tries to force the Guardians as well as Jackie and Tohru to work for him by showing them the photos he has taken of the girls' human and Guardian forms. Yan Lin helps him realize that he's in no position to threaten a group of {{Magical Girl Warrior}}s and {{Badass Normal}}s, so he gives up the photos to them and flees.
* In ''Fanfic/KaraOfRokyn'', rival wrestler Jara's attempt to blackmail [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} the titular character]] into having sex with her backfires when Kara reminds her that such threats may destroy her career.
-->'''Jara:''' I warn you, Kara—\\
'''Kara:''' Warn me? One word of this to the commission and they'll yank your license!
* ''Fanfic/LongRoadToFriendship'': When Trixie finds out that Sunset is living in an abandoned warehouse, she tries to blackmail her into doing her bidding. Sunset, who at this point is 100% out of fucks to give, calls Trixie's bluff, adding that if she goes through with this, she'll be no better than Sunset was. [[spoiler:[[WhatYouAreInTheDark Sure enough, when the moment of truth comes, Trixie backs down.]]]]
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12764610/16/Mending-the-Knots Mending The Knots]]'', [[TheBully Cardin]] [[HateSink Winchester]] tries to blackmail Pyrrha with a video of her and Jaune, taken from an angle that looks like they're kissing, and threatening to release it unless she becomes his "Best Friend", thinking she would accept in order to save her reputation. Pyrrha, being a celebrity, has been through this kind of thing before and outright dares him to do it, planning to go to Ozpin and get him expelled if he does. [[note]]Cardin is already in serious trouble at this point, one more screw up and Ozpin will be justified in expelling him.[[/note]]
* One ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' fanfic has a pair of nobles attempt to extort Tsunade for sex, saying that if she refuses, they'll stop supporting Konoha. Being not only one of the greatest ninja ever, but the leader of an entire army of ninja, Tsunade puts both of them in the ICU and makes the counter offer that either they pretend to have [[CutHimselfShaving fallen down some stairs]] or she'll have them [[KillAndReplace killed and replaced]] by a pair of ninja who will fake their deaths a few months later and leave all of the nobles' money to Konoha in their new wills.
* ''Fanfic/TheNewAdventuresOfInvaderZim'': Early in Season 2, Zim tries to coerce Gaz into becoming his minion by threatening to expose how she betrayed Dib near the end of Season 1 by [[spoiler:giving Zim the location of [[LostSuperweapon Project Domination]]]]. Completely unimpressed, Gaz lays out all the flaws in Zim's threat — to begin with, she doesn't care what Dib thinks about her. Secondly, even if she did, she knows Dib would never believe anything Zim has to say anyway. And finally, she makes it clear she'll respond to any further threats against her with force, briefly beating Zim up, with a promise of worse to come if he pulls this stunt again.
* Subverted in ''Fanfic/NewBeginningsSmallville''. Linda Lake discovers Clark Kent's secret and decides to blackmail him to earn fame and notoriety. Clark refuses to give in, so he goes to Lois Lane and asks her to tell his story to the world. Resentful, Linda Lake sets out to destroy his reputation, and Clark becomes a hunted man.
-->'''Clark Kent:''' "Okay, so a little less than eight years from now I was being blackmailed. Someone was going to use my secret to make themselves more important, to make themselves famous. I refused to be blackmailed by her so I went to a close friend and asked her to tell my story to the world. For about five minutes it was great. I was embraced by everyone. Then the nightmare started. The blackmailer took a different route and managed to make me into public enemy number one such that I was now being hunted by the government and several private parties. I'd made a huge mistake."
* In ''Fanfic/ANewWorldOnHerShoulders'', Ruby tries to convince Weiss to use whatever blackmail material she has on Winter to get the Specialist to let them pass through. Winter hears them and retorts that she has ''far'' more blackmail material on Weiss, so any threats they can make regarding that are null and void.
* ''Fanfic/PrincessOfTheBlacks'': Hermione gets a double dosage when she tries to blackmail Jen over her suspicion the girl murdered the Dursleys (which, to be fair, she did). Jen is quick to sum up everything wrong with her plan. 1) If there was any evidence, Hermione would have already gone to the authorities. 2) The Wizengamot would never listen to Hermione as she's a muggleborn accusing a rich pureblood noble of killing some muggles. 3) If Hermione is right and Jen did murder them, what would stop her from murdering Hermione to keep her quiet? Likewise, Jen has evidence that Hermione previously blackmailed Rita Skeeter, which would land her in prison.
* ''Fanfic/TheRigelBlackChronicles'':
** When Tom Riddle is putting increasing pressure on "Rigel Black" (actually Rigel's cousin Harry undercover) to participate in the Triwizard Tournament as a pureblood poster boy, he tries threatening to reveal that Sirius is an animagus. Harry laughs at him and points out that Sirius worked as an Auror for a time, which meant a full check-up. Sirius' animagus form isn't ''public'' knowledge, but it's registered and aboveboard.
** Riddle then warns "Rigel" that he can ruin ''Harry's'' reputation and career. Harry flatly tells him that they won't be used against each other and that he can do his worst. Riddle is seething afterward, but also [[EvilCannotComprehendGood quite confused]].
---> '''Rigel''': Do whatever you want to us. We won't be leveraged against one another. I know you don't understand. You can't imagine a bond so strong that two people would be willing to do anything for one another. Suffice to say, all your threats are meaningless. Harry would never ''allow'' herself to be used against me. She'd die first.
* In ''Fanfic/TheSevenMisfortunesOfLadyFortune'', the plot kicks off when Marinette learns Hawk Moth's identity and blackmails him out of his Miraculous. However, she plays the part so well that Gabriel, afraid of her blackmailing him again, hires a hitman to silence her.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7685439/1/The-Shadow The Shadow]]'', Boba Fett tries to blackmail Luke (who's become Vader's apprentice) for an unspecified amount of money after Han Solo escapes. If Luke doesn't secure him the money, Fett will inform Vader that Luke is Anakin Skywalker's son. Unfortunately for him, Vader ''is'' Anakin Skywalker and knows full well Luke is his son. Just before killing him, Luke lets Fett in on this little detail.
* ''Fanfic/SOE2LoneHeirOfKrypton'': In chapter 8's omake, Touji tells Asuka he knows she is ''Comicbook/PowerGirl'' and he will tell everyone unless she puts a skimpy bikini on and models while Kensuke takes pictures. Touji thought the next step would be profit, but the only step was him getting beaten.
* ''Fanfic/TriptychContinuum'': Coordinator gets his hooves on Rainbow Dash's memoirs of the Mane Six's adventures and tries to use the listed near-disasters that never made it to the public as blackmail against Twilight Sparkle. However, Twilight has found out that, to her growing horror, ponies are starting to look up to her as divinity, asking her to ''bless'', and would welcome the chance to be humanized, er, ponified and perhaps brought down to earth in the public eye. When Coordinator adds what this information being made public will do to her ''friends'', Twilight quite violently, cathartically, reminds him that as one of the most powerful unicorns, now an alicorn, in Equestria, what exactly she can do to him if he goes near her friends.
* ''Fanfic/TheVictorsProject'': When Evelyn finds out that Gloss is "The Midtown Mincer" (a mysterious figure who drugs and tortures people, mostly within the Capitol, to sate his bloodlust) she starts blackmailing every concession she can out of him. [[BigBrotherInstinct When Cashmere finds out, she calls in every favor she has in connection to District 9 and hands Evelyn a list of 50 people she can have murdered or executed if she doesn't leave Gloss alone.]] Furthermore, when all three of them are reaped for the 3rd Quarter Quell Gloss lets out an EvilLaugh at the idea of getting a shot to go after Evelyn and avenge his blackmail even further.
* ''[[FanFic/WitnessGoodNeighbors Witness]]'' has this as one of the driving forces of its plot: a villain learns about somebody who happens to have a Quirk he's ''very'' interested in, and attempts to blackmail them into working for him. The victim responds by seeking out the help of the 'Good Neighbors', a ''Series/{{Leverage}}''-like group. Suffice to say, this doesn't end well for the would-be blackmailer.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* Creator/LarryNiven's short story "$16,949". [[spoiler:A blackmail victim tries to blackmail his blackmailer, who goes to another one of his victims to resolve the problem permanently.]]
* ''Literature/EightySeventhPrecinct'':
** In the BackStory of ''Ax'', an accountant found out one client was a tax cheat and tried to blackmail him. The client told his Italian-American boss, who attempted to ScareEmStraight by claiming to be mob-connected and saying he'd kill the accountant if he tried anything again. The accountant was scared, but still blackmailed another client. To avoid his boss's wrath, he enlisted an accomplice (the VictimOfTheWeek) to meet the blackmail victim and claim to have found the incriminating papers during a burglary. [[spoiler:This whole subplot is a RedHerring, as the blackmail victim died of natural causes years ago and the accountant isn't the killer either.]]
** In ''Long Time No See'', [[spoiler:the blind and impoverished first victim is killed for trying to blackmail a war buddy over an UnfriendlyFire incident after crossing the DespairEventHorizon.]]
* In ''Alguien debe morir'' by José Luis Martin Vigil, Lucas Paz attempts to blackmail José Reyes, threatening to expose accusations of homosexuality. Instead, Reyes hit Paz with a blunt item found aroung Paz's house. [[spoiler:However, Reyes didn't land the killing blow: it was Evencia, Paz's landlady, who, thinking he was dead, robbed him and, when surprised he was still alive, brained him with a hammer]].
* The plot of ''[[Literature/DifferentSeasons Apt Pupil]]'' involves Todd Bowden discovering that his neighbor Kurt Dussander is an escaped Nazi and the former commander of a concentration camp. Todd is morbidly obsessed with the Holocaust, and he forces Dussander to tell him about the concentration camp by threatening to expose his past. Dussander complies for a few months, but eventually decides he's had enough. He points out that, by not exposing him sooner, Todd is now complicit in hiding Dussander from the authorities -- Todd can't expose Dussander without exposing himself to punishment as well. To further twist the knife, Dussander claims that he left a complete account of Todd's actions in a bank deposit box, to be opened and read if Dussander dies. [[spoiler:He's lying about the safe deposit box. But the psychological strain of being counter-blackmailed is one of several factors that leads to Todd completely snapping at the end of the story.]]
* Several murder victims in [[Literature/TheScarletPimpernel Baroness Ozcry's]] ''Literature/TheOldManInTheCorner'' series are blackmailers, although at other times, blackmailers fake thefts to further their schemes and pull {{Karma Houdini}}s. In another story, the trope is non-fatally played straight when a man tries to blackmail a couple into stealing valuable jewelry that has been entrusted to them and they fake the theft of the jewelry (while having it mysteriously reappear later) in a way that implicates him. This forces the blackmailer to go on the run and ensures that no one will believe him if he ever tries to publicize his blackmail material.
* ''Literature/TheBusinessOfDying'' has two instances of blackmail backfiring on Miriam Fox. Blackmail A backfired, because the person she was blackmailing said they didn't care if she revealed her information, because it would be 'the word of some junkie prostitute' against a rather respectable person. Blackmail B ended up getting her killed.
* One of Creator/AgathaChristie's unspoken rules is that any person who stoops to blackmail will be dead by the end of the story. It's not always because threatening murderers with exposure tends to lead to getting murdered, but this is very common.
** ''Literature/TheMurderOfRogerAckroyd'' has a rather indirect version. Ms. Ferrars is blackmailed and commits suicide, but mails a letter to Roger Ackroyd telling who blackmailed her. Ackroyd is then killed before he can dox the blackmailer (and the letter is burned), but the case draws Hercule Poirot's attention, and he catches the blackmailer turned murderer.
** This was the final resolution of ''Literature/AppointmentWithDeath'', in which an EvilMatriarch is slain while on vacation with her family in Petra. While [[WhoMurderedTheAsshole there are plenty of suspects]], not only among her own terrorized family but among the fellow travelers, she was also a retired prison warden, and was killed by a woman who'd been in her prison but rose to high society after she got out, and was trying to avoid blackmail by the warden after she said "I never forget a face."
** {{Invoked}} and {{Exploited}} in ''Literature/TheMovingFinger'', where Literature/MissMarple enlists someone into acting as TheBait by blackmailing the killer. Sure enough, the killer is caught trying to murder their blackmailer later that night and is arrested on the spot.
* In ''Literature/TheCityWithoutMemory'', [[spoiler:Veri-Meri]] tries to blackmail his way out of arrest and memory-wipe execution by shouting he knows the dirty secrets of his captors and has it all [[spoiler:written down]]. The problem is that [[spoiler:writing]] is forbidden in the land – on pain of memory wipe.
* In the backstory of ''Literature/TheDarkHalf'', the protagonist Thad Beaumont is a not well-known writer, who published several thrillers while using the pen-name of George Stark (said thrillers being a lot more successful than his mainstream work). A man named Fred Clawson discovers the link between Beaumont and Stark, then tries to blackmail Beaumont, threatening to reveal to the media that Beaumont and Stark are the same person. Beaumont was already pondering to stop writing as Stark, and this threat is the final push he needs to do so. He reveals his second identity to the media himself, staging some mock funerals to symbolise Stark's death, and thus prevents Clawson from gaining anything. This was actually a series of events which happened before the novel's beginning. In the proper novel, a being with Stark's mind comes to life and starts a murderous trip to reach Beaumont with the intent of becoming fully human. One of his first victims is the unsuccessful blackmailer, as a revenge because the blackmail attempt was partly responsible for Stark's "death".
* On ''Literature/TheDayOfTheJackal'' and its adaptations, one of the people who provide gadgets for the Jackal (the documents forger in the original novel and the first film, the manufacturer of the radio-controlled SentryGun device on ''Film/TheJackal'') try to blackmail more money out of the Jackal (and respectively [[TooDumbToLive commit the dumb acts]] of not bowing to the Jackal's one request of meeting elsewhere for payment and going to a far-away location with the Jackal ''and the fully-assembled [[{{BFG}} high-caliber machine-gun]] that he built the radio-controlled support for''). [[NeckSnap Nobody]] [[MultipleGunshotDeath laments them]].
* In the [[Literature/DirkPittAdventures Dirk Pitt]] novel ''Vixen 03'', Pitt and lover Congresswoman Loren Smith are secretly photographed during a tryst. Fellow Congressman Daggat tries to use the photos to force Loren to back one of his plans, saying the photos will ruin her and Pitt's Senator father. However, Pitt interrupts a meeting to note that Daggat has no leverage as Pitt's father is considering retiring soon anyway. He then says he's already gotten Daggat's accomplice to spill the beans. As Pitt states, which is a bigger scandal: Two unmarried adults carrying on a relationship or a Congressman blackmailing a colleague to get his own way? Realizing Pitt is right, Daggat is forced to back down.
-->'''Pitt:''' Congressman Daggat is about to retire from the blackmail game. He doesn't have the talent for it. He wouldn't last ten minutes against a tried and true professional.\\
'''Daggat:''' Like yourself?\\
'''Pitt:''' No, like my father.
* In ''Mr. Pottermack's Oversight'', one of the Literature/DrThorndyke novels, Mr. Pottermack has spent years rebuilding his life under a new name after fleeing a conviction for a crime he didn't commit. He is recognized by someone from his old life, who attempts to blackmail him with the threat of revealing his identity to the authorities, but he turns out to be dangerous with his back against the wall and the result is one dead blackmailer.
* Averted in ''Literature/GoingPostal''. [[BigBad Reacher Gilt]] muses you can safely hire Mr. Gryle for assassinations and similar dirty deeds without fear of him turning around to blackmail you, specifically because of this trope: It will inevitably lead to one party killing the other, and if Mr. Gryle wanted that he wouldn't waste time with intermediate steps.
* ''Literature/IHeardThatSongBefore'':
** As a six year old, Kay overheard a woman blackmailing a man for money, and years later wonders if the woman was Susan Althorp (who disappeared that same night) and that was why she was murdered. [[spoiler: It turns out it ''was'' Susan, blackmailing Richard Walker for drug money after she found out he was stealing paintings and replacing them with copies, and he indeed killed her to keep her quiet]].
** [[spoiler: Alexandra Lloyd]] tries to blackmail [[spoiler:Richard about the forgeries she made for him]], prompting him to murder her [[spoiler:as well]].
* In the ''Literature/InDeath'' novel ''Witness in Death'', someone learns the identity of the murderer of [[AssholeVictim actor Richard Draco]] and because this person didn't like Draco, is willing to keep the identity a secret but isn't above trying to get money from the murderer by blackmail. [[TooDumbToLive It backfires horribly, with the murderer tricking him into hanging himself!]]
* ''Literature/JaineAustenMysteries'':
** In ''Death by Pantyhose'', Vic Cleveland blackmailed [[spoiler:Reagan Dixon]] over [[spoiler:her past as a porn actress, both to force her to get him a valuable network deal and to [[AndNowYouMustMarryMe marry him]]]]. Out of all the people Vic was blackmailing, this was the one he shouldn't have, as [[spoiler:she saw him dead]].
** In ''Pampered to Death'', Jaine tries to blackmail Delphine into not revealing Prozac nearly ate one of The Haven's koi fish by threatening to blow the whistle on her snack peddling. Delphine just shoots back that Olga wouldn't fire her because [[spoiler:Delphine knows Olga is the one who killed Mallory... except, as it turns out, she isn't]].
** In ''Death of a Bachelorette'', the victim, Hope Harper, tried blackmailing [[spoiler:Spencer into marrying her by threatening to release photos of him in his dog collar fetish.]] Hoo boy, did '''that''' backfire...
** In ''Death of a Gigolo'' Tommy realized that [[spoiler:"Daisy Kincaid" is actually his aunt Emma Shimmel, who [[KillAndReplace murdered the real Daisy and took her place]]. To keep his mouth shut, he made her but him whatever his black little heart desired, which was to end with him marrying her, getting loaded in a divorce settlement, and likely keep his blackmail train running. Daisy]] got another idea, if you get the drift...
* One plotline in ''Literature/LifesLottery'' features you uncovering evidence of [[MorallyBankruptBanker Sean Rye]]'s white collar crimes and having the opportunity to confront him with it; if you play your cards right, you can use it to claim a promotion and eventually become his successor... but if you try to demand regular fees from him, Sean will resolve the situation by having you quietly bumped off.
* In ''Literature/MakingMoney'', a craftsman making a copy of Lord Vetinari's signet ring for the Lord-V-obsessed Cosmo Lavish bumps up his price considerably to "forget" he made it (the ring is made of a highly illegal material only available to licensed Assassins), and then a bit more because Cosmo's secretary agreed to the first price increase too quickly. The secretary reluctantly lets Cosmo's personal assassin deal with the problem.
** Later on, Cosmo and his newfound criminal friend Cribbins stake their plans on the belief Moist will go along with their planned blackmail. The entire thing collapses when Moist instead confesses to a lifetime of con artistry in public court, derailing his trial until new evidence appears against Cosmo.
* This trope also frequently pops up in the ''Literature/NeroWolfe'' mysteries:
** ''Literature/FerDeLance'', the first novel in the series, starts the pattern with the reveal that Carlo Maffei, the missing man whose disappearance caused Wolfe and Archie Goodwin to get involved in the case, unwittingly designed a tool that was used as a murder weapon and, on realising this, thought that blackmailing the person who hired him was a good idea. Naturally, he was very much mistaken.
** ''Too Many Clients'' also plays it straight, as Maria Perez attempts to blackmail Thomas Yeager's murderer, only to be murdered herself.
** An interesting variant pops up in ''Literature/AndBeAVillain'', in which it's revealed a blackmail syndicate has been targeting people with slander in order to pressure them into paying up to get it to stop. The variant is that the blackmailers in this case actually made up ''false'' stories about their victims that would nevertheless do serious damage to their reputations if it got out, but they ended up approaching someone with what they thought was a lie about them committing murder only to realise too late that they'd accidentally stumbled onto the truth. It ends about the same way you'd expect this trope to end for a blackmailer in a murder mystery. The same syndicate also apparently tried to avert this trope by only putting their victims on the hook for a single year before cutting them loose, with the reasoning being that someone being blackmailed indefinitely will eventually get sick of it and do something that will lead to a Backfire, whereas someone given a good-faith guarantee that the unpleasantness will only be temporary is more likely to simply resign themselves to it.
* In the Literature/SherlockHolmes story "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton", the title character is a blackmailer. Sherlock and Watson are determined to destroy papers that he has that he intends to publish to ruin various powerful men of society. While they're burglarizing his house, a woman shows up ostensibly visiting him to give him more dirt on someone. [[spoiler:She isn't — she is a woman whose life Charles has ruined and she's there to kill him so he can't ruin any more lives.]] Sherlock and Watson, for their part, do absolutely ''nothing'' to [[spoiler:prevent Milverton being murdered]], electing instead to throw as much of the blackmail material as they can into the lit fireplace before fleeing the scene.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* On ''Series/BetterOffTed'', Veronica helps a CEO find a file he secreted back in 1962 packed with secret and damaging information to prevent his board from forcing him out. When they find it, Veronica is confused to read the file's notes on smoking causing cancer and the dangers of various building materials. It turns out the CEO hasn't updated the folder since he hid it and thus all the "secrets" are things that have been public knowledge for years.
* ''Series/TheBoys2019'':
** In the first episode, the mayor of Baltimore is trying to negotiate a contract for the superhero Nubian Prince. Stillwell, a high ranking executive, says the price is $300 million a year, but he tries to lower it to $200 million, when she insists that the $300 million price is not negotiable, he says $200 million, and he won't tell anyone about [[spoiler: [[SuperSerrum Compound-V]], and blow the lid on the lie that super heroes were created by God to protect mankind.]] Stillwell insists on the $300 million price tag, and urges him to reconsider. Later, as the mayor and his son are flying back home, they see [[SupermanSubstitute Homelander]] out the window, he gives them a friendly wave hello, and uses his EyeBeams to bring down the private plane.
** This forms an important part of The Boys {{Backstory}} when they tried to blackmail superhero Lamplighter into becoming TheMole in Vought. Instead Lamplighter tried to murder their boss, CIA chief Mallory in retaliation, killing her grandchildren by accident.
** In the season 2 finale, Mallory tries to do this to get White House Chief of Staff Singer to fight back on the plans to spread Compound V to the general population. Too bad Singer is so sick of this mess, he practically ''begs'' Mallory to give him an excuse to resign.
--->'''Mallory''': Here's what we do have, Bob-\\
'''Singer''': Oh, let me guess. A tape of me fucking my kids' nanny at her daughter's quinceañera? Release it. Please. I'm begging you. A plum gig at Fox and this shithole in my rearview? Sounds dreamy.
* Happens a lot on ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'' either by crooks or the cops themselves.
** Polie union boss O'Sullivan tells Holt that if doesn't help cover up a police issue, "I will put out rumors speculating that you are homosexual." Holt dryly points out that he came out ''thirty years earlier''.
* Blackmail happens once or twice a season on ''Series/{{Columbo}}'', and it almost always ends badly either for the blackmailer or the murderer themselves (who are sometimes the same person). In most cases the motive is money, but once or twice the blackmailer is a lonely woman who is in love with the killer [[MadLove and wants to force them into marriage]] — in one such case, the killer is ''relieved'' to be caught just to [[FateWorseThanDeath avoid this fate]]. Nine times out of ten, the killer either murders the blackmailer, or the blackmailer becomes the murderer after their victim threatens to expose them. The second pilot is perhaps the only time the killer actually agrees to pay the blackmailer off, and even ''that'' doesn't work because the "blackmailer" in question was working with Columbo the whole time.
* In ''Series/{{CSI}}'''s "Pilot", Warrick gave a bad tip on a game to a corrupt judge in exchange for a warrant. A few episodes later, in "Pledging Mr. Johnson", the judge tries to blackmail him into compromising evidence on a rape case, but he confides in Grissom and [[EngineeredPublicConfession talks to the judge while wearing a wire]].
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E3SilverNemesis Silver Nemesis]]", one of the bad guys is a seventeenth century sorceress who makes a big deal of claiming that she knows a deep, dark secret about the Doctor, and threatens to reveal it to everyone present if he doesn't hand over control of a powerful alien super weapon to her. After apparently looking very shifty and worried, the Doctor ends up calling her bluff, and it turns out the other faction there, the Cybermen, don't care about it anyway. [[VillainousBreakdown She doesn't react well.]]
* ''Series/{{Elementary}}'': In the episode "Dead Man's Switch", Charles Augustus Milverton also gets killed by one of blackmail victims, like the original. [[spoiler:It turns as be more complicated as the killer, Anthony Pistone had previously confronted Milverton, but was deterred by being offered into the business, and his real motivation for killing Milverton was to take his place]].
* ''Series/{{Gotham}}'': At the end of season 4, when the new Joker and his cult have placed bombs all over Gotham and are demanding its complete evacuation within six hours, a collection of Gotham's other criminals led by the Penguin decide to blackmail him by stealing the trigger device and convince the Joker to demand an additional fifteen million dollars from the Mayor. When this proves too inconvenient, the Joker instead blows up the guy holding the trigger with a bazooka (since he had a back-up already, albeit one that is slightly more difficult to implement), bumps up his schedule, and orders his goons to kill Penguin and his lackeys.
* Played with on ''Series/TheGuestBook''. The first season has a running plot where Wilfred, the man who rents out Froggy Cottage, pays a visit to the local BikiniBar where the proprietor Vivian takes pictures of him receiving the local service. She threatens to give the pictures to Wilfred's wife Emma if he doesn't allow her to use Froggy Cottage for some nefarious means. After Wilfred gets his doctor neighbor and the doctor's police officer girlfriend involved, they get her to back down. Then Wilfred discovers this trope would have taken effect if he'd just refused to give in to Vivian's offer. Emma tells him she saw his truck parked in front of the bar and knew he'd gone there. Wilfred's dumbfounded look [[CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot says everything.]]
* ''Series/JessicaJones2015'': Season 3, Jessica meets a man named Erik, who has the superhuman power that he can instantly feel if people are "evil" (or at least if they did something morally questionable). He uses this ability to blackmail three of these people into paying him to keep quiet, but neglects to properly research his victims first to learn what exactly it is they did, and more importantly if they are likely to retaliate or not. Sure enough, his third victim, Sallinger, has Erik and Jessica attacked, severly injuring the latter and thus kicking off the plot.
* On ''Series/{{Homeland}}'', Carrie and Saul find out that a Middle Eastern ambassador is gay and try to blackmail him into giving them information. He shrugs it off, saying that his family and his government already know.
* ''Series/TheKingOfQueens'': Subverted big-time in "Wild Cards." After a heated argument, Deacon threatens to tell his and Doug's wives the truth about the guys' recent actions... and follows through on it after Doug claims to not care. Worse, Doug's wife is infamous for being less forgiving than Deacon's.
* In one episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'', a suspect tries to get blackmail material on Logan by recording a conversation in which Logan appears to accept a bribe... only for Logan to pull out his ''own'' recording device and reveal that the whole thing was a sting.
* Subverted in ''Series/LoisAndClark'': A blackmailer finds evidence of Superman's secret identity and blackmails him into robbing a jeweler. Superman would rather have his identity exposed but the blackmailer, anticipating Superman would make this choice, abducted his parents.
* In the ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' episode where Malcolm buys a used computer from a neighbor, he finds evidence of the neighbor's affairs with several neighborhood women in the form of graphic e-mails and pictures. Reese, Malcolm's brother, whom Lois, their mother, forced to provide free manual labor for the neighbor after Reese vandalized his house, reveals he knows about the affairs, the neighbor agrees to do whatever Reese says so long as his wife doesn't find out. A few days later, as the neighbor picks up Reese from school, a teacher asks him if he's Reese's father, and demands to speak with him. When he returns back to the car, Reese chastises him for taking too long and to hurry up and drive him where he wants to go. The neighbor then tells Reese that he had a very interesting chat with his teacher and that they're going to go shopping for the supplies Reese needs to fix the damage he did. When Reese threatens to tell his wife, the neighbor calls his bluff by threatening to tell Lois about the trouble he's been causing in school. In the end, Reese goes back to providing free labor for the neighbor.
* On ''Series/MelrosePlace'', Michael and Peter fire Sydney as the receptionist at their medical practice. The ever-conniving Sydney hits back with a sworn statement citing evidence of their "harassment" of her (backed by her past with Michael) and forces them to hire her back or have a very public lawsuit that will drag the firm down. The next season, Peter (having just been cleared of murder charges) discovers that to pay off his debts, Sydney basically sold his house and belongings behind his back. An irate Peter fires her with Sydney threatening him with the lawsuit.
-->'''Peter''': I was just in jail, Sydney. For ''murder''. A sexual harassment suit will be a day at the beach.
* A minor example in ''Series/TheMiddle'': Sue catches Axl coming home late one night and threatens to expose him if he doesn't drive her and her friends around. He complies for a while but eventually gets fed up, calls their mom to confess, then kicks Sue out of the car (fairly far away from home) and drives off without her. They both wind up grounded.
* The ''Series/{{Monk}}'' episode "[[Recap/MonkS2E9MrMonkAndTheTwelfthMan Mr. Monk and the Twelfth Man]]" involves a man who killed his first wife and hid the corpse. Then a workman fell off his roof and sued him, and the jury on ''that'' case came to his house to examine the scene. One of the jurors, snooping for something to steal, managed to discover incriminating evidence and then blackmailed him. The juror is a gambling addict and as such continuously keeps on asking for money, and eventually the man decides that [[MurderIsTheBestSolution killing the blackmailer is the best solution]]. [[SerialKillingsSpecificTarget Of course, he doesn't know who he is, but he just needs to go through twelve possibilities]]...
* In an episode of ''Series/TheNewsroom'', Jeff Daniels' character faces off against an immoral journalist that tries to blackmail him into becoming a 'silent partner' in a restaurant -- he pretends to go along with it, and then gives her a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech and tells her that if she and her co-conspirators try to come after him, he'll dedicate every moment of his ''very'' influential news program to ruining her life. He then walks out, telling her that a restaurant is a bad investment.
* ''Series/NoOrdinaryFamily'':
** In "No Ordinary Vigilante", Daphne uses her mind-reading powers to find out a store clerk is stealing from the cash register. She tries to blackmail him into providing beer for a WildTeenParty. The clerk quickly points out that she has no hard evidence against him and calls the police on her for underage drinking.
** In "No Ordinary Sidekick", Chiles finds proof that Dr. King has been making a super serum and threatens to tell the government. He's probably planning to blackmail King for money or his job back, but before he can get around to that, King smugly says that Chiles inadvertently contributed to the super serum project and will also be incriminated if he goes to the authorities. Chiles leaves in defeat, [[spoiler:and is later killed by King's enforcer to ensure his silence.]]
* ''Series/OurFlagMeansDeath'': In episode 5, Izzy tries to blackmail [[EthicalSlut Lucius]] into doing chores by threatening to reveal that he's slept with or drawn several other crew members. Lucius then freely announces this to the others gathered nearby, to which Pete laughs and says that he's drawn most of them.
* ''Series/TheOutpost'': Marshal Withers tries to use his discovery that [[spoiler:Gwen is really Princess Rosmund]] in order to gain leverage and further control of the outpost, pointing out that he has letters exposing this secret which will go to the [[TheTheocracy Prime Order]] "in the event of my untimely death." [[spoiler:Rosmund]] simply states that [[ExactWords he'll still be alive]]... and working in the lowest levels of the mines.
* ''Series/PerryMason'': This happens to about 95% of the blackmailers who appear on the show (a few do manage to get away relatively unscathed). Quite a few of them end up murdered over the course of the show, and many others are arrested for their blackmail, perjury, or in at least one case a murder connected to the blackmail. A downplayed example from "The Case of the Capering Camera" had a previous victim of the blackmail racket based on IWasYoungAndNeededTheMoney pictures simply dare them to go ahead (notably the murderer of the episode [[spoiler:wasn't one of the blackmail victims, but rather the blackmailer, with the victim being his GuiltRiddenAccomplice]]).
--> '''Katherine Ames:''' I wrote back publish and go to blazes. I'm proud of my figure.
* In ''Series/PerryMason2020'', Perry (then a private eye) gets photos of a noted movie comic in bed with an up-and-coming star. Rather than a simple payout of $200, Perry demands $600 or he goes to the press. Perry stupidly does this even when he's facing more men besides the studio chief in an empty room ''and'' even ''brought the negatives with him''. He ends up beaten, a hot gun burned onto his chest and paid a single dollar. Perry is forced to admit "I overplayed it."
* ''Series/{{Psych}}'': This has turned out to be the motivation behind quite a few murders on the show.
** In ''Gus' Dad May Have Killed An Old Guy'', the murder victim was a blackmailer who had dirt on several people on his street, and used a telescope in a high window to spy on everyone specifically for this purpose. [[spoiler: When he started going senile from old age, one of his former victims finally decided to kill him to shut him up once and for all.]]
** An ''attempt'' at this is the motivation behind the killer in ''Let's Get Hairy''. [[spoiler: A PsychoPsychologist is carrying on an affair with one of his patients. When he tries to end it, she threatens to tell his wife. He tries to solve this dilemma by having her killed, and pinning it on another patient who thinks he's a werewolf.]]
** In ''If You're So Smart, Then Why Are You Dead?'', the victim of the week was a teacher who tried blackmailing ''two'' of his students at different times, several years apart. Both times, it backfired completely (One attacked him on the spot; while he was expelled, the teacher didn't get the money he wanted. The other one [[spoiler: blew up his house while he was sleeping inside, killing him.]]
* ''Series/ThePunisher2017'': CIA Agent Bill Rawlins [[spoiler:(the architect of "Project Cerberus" and the man who ordered the death of the Castle family) is able to convince his superior, Deputy Director Marion James, to allow him to continue trying to finish off Frank Castle and David "Micro" Lieberman and thus finally silence all witnesses of Cerberus and keep the Agency from being publicly shamed. Director James is utterly disgusted with the atrocities Rawlins has done, however, and so orders him to retire from the Agency once he's done with the loose ends. When Rawlins mentions her complicity with said actions in an attempt to get leverage and thus remain in the Agency, she immediately fires back that he will take the offer she's giving him or she will personally expose him to Homeland Security and to hell with her career.]]
* In the reamke of ''[[Series/Roots2016 Roots]]'', Dr. William Waller calls up his slaves Toby (Kunta Kinte), his wife Belle, and their daughter Kizzy to to his home office to discuss the death of Noah, a slave who was killed while trying to run away. Dr. Waller deduces that Kizzy had become literate and helped Noah forge "freedom papers," and as a punishment, and financial restitution, Dr. Waller sold Kizzy to another plantation owner, Tom Leah. While Kizzy's dragged away by some slave traders and Belle tries to help her, Kunta stays in the office and tells Dr. Waller to cancel the sale of Kizzy, or he'll tell everyone that his niece Missy, is actaully his biological daughter, and Dr. Waller snaps back that he better not say anyhting because no one will believe the words of a slave, and he may even be killed for trying to soil the honor of woman who comes from a good family. After hearing that, Kunta rushes out of the house to try and free Kizzy from the slave traders, but he and Belle are beaten back, and [[TearJerker all they can do is tearfully call out Kizzy's name as she's taken from them]].
* ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'': The whole of the episode "[[Recap/SherlockS03E03HisLastVow His Last Vow]]" is a slow set-up towards this. If Magnussen, the so-called "Napoleon of {{Blackmail}}", had not kept on [[BullyingADragon bullying the Holmeses and the Watsons]] out of [[EvilIsPetty a petty desire to showcase his control over them]], [[spoiler:Sherlock wouldn't have figured out that all of the blackmail information he has was located in his head (and '''only''' his head), and wouldn't have been angry enough to [[BoomHeadshot deal with the threat thusly]].]] Magnussen unknowingly dodges a bullet earlier when his continuous dangling of Mary Watson's (nee Morstan's) past to make John do what he wants [[spoiler:nearly make Mary (who [[AdaptationalBadass in this version]] is [[MysteriousPast apparently]] a [[RetiredBadass retired assassin]], presumably for the CIA) kill him; only to be thwarted because John and Sherlock entered the office while she was talking to Magnussen.]]
* ''Series/SvenssonSvensson'': Gustav is trying to blackmail Max into doing garden work on top of what they had agreed on. Gustav threatens by mentioning the mountain bike that Max wants. However, Max has none of it and explains to Lena about the bribery deal Gustav made with the children.
* The 1989 mini-series ''Twist of Fate'' has SS Colonel Helmut von Schreader hunted for his part in a failed plot against Hitler. He hatches a desperate plan to get plastic surgery and then pose a Jewish prisoner named Ben Grossman. He ends up in the wrong camp and, upon being freed, circumstances soon lead him to become a major fighter for Israeli independence and marrying a Jewish woman. 25 years later, he's a well-regarded colonel in the Israeli army when two former SS buddies come to him and demand he supply them with some uranium or they'll expose his identity. Smirking, Grossman asks which of these two ''wanted Nazi war criminals'' is going to be the one to testify in an ''Israeli'' court (without any actual evidence) that a concentration camp survivor turned war hero was once an SS officer. Realizing Grossman is right, the Nazis go to the back-up plan of threatening Grossman's wife and son. He seems cowed but really goes to his long-time friend who's a high-ranking Mossad agent. Grossman sells the story that he was on vacation when they found him, claiming to recognize the two while in the concentration camp and they're threatening his family to force him along. His friend buys it and soon comes up with a scheme of Grossman pretending to pass the uranium as a sting.
* ''Series/TheUnusuals'':
** Henry Cole is a God-fearing upstanding cop, but he used to be a Texas criminal. His old partner tracks Henry down and blackmails him into pulling some jobs. Henry tires of this and kills his blackmailer.
** Cole may have also been involved in the PlotTriggeringDeath of Walsh's former partner, who might have been blackmailing him too. It is never fully resolved.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Podcasts]]
* In ''Podcast/{{Midst}}'', Moc Weepe kills Atticus for trying to blackmail him. He doesn't care that Atticus found out that the Black Candle Cabaret is a front for hiding refugees--until Atticus realizes that he was planning to betray them to the Trust himself.
[[/folder]]

--> '''Jefferson & Madison''': Hey! [[DamnedByFaintPraise At least he was honest with our money!]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' has several examples:
** ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'':
*** Redd White has a vast blackmail empire that all but guarantees him immunity from legal recourse. [[spoiler:So the ghost of the woman he killed for spending years digging up dirt on said empire ultimately gives him a taste of his own medicine and threatens to publicize said dirt unless he surrenders — which, after an immensely satisfying VillainousBreakdown, he does.]]
*** DoubleSubverted in the third case. [[spoiler:The victim finally snapped from years of life-destroying blackmail and tried to kill his blackmailer... whom instead killed him in self-defense. However, the resulting scrutiny ultimately leads you to nail the killer anyway, thus avenging the victim after all.]]
*** The bonus case. [[spoiler:You ultimately use Damon Gant's own blackmail tool as the critical evidence to defeat him.]]
** The final case of ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyJusticeForAll'' features this. [[spoiler:The defendant of this case, Matt Engarde, actually ''is'' guilty of murder as he hired the assassin who killed the victim and had said hitman hold Maya hostage to ensure you get him acquitted. He also recorded the murder to use as blackmail information in the future. Unfortunately, not only did he consider blackmailing a known assassin--a questionable move ''at best''--but said assassin, Shelly de Killer, has a strict code of honor and considers the trust between him and his client to be sacred. In the best ending, you reveal the contents of the recording to de Killer (you haven't seen the tape, but previous talk with the defendant and other corroborating evidence has already made it clear what it is). The recording proves that the Engarde not only didn't trust de Killer at all but was also about to backstab him, a major BerserkButton for de Killer, and so he breaks the contract, releases Maya and announces his intentions to go after Engarde next. At this point, Engarde is stuck between a rock and a hard place: if he's found guilty, he gets sent to prison and possibly gets the death penalty; and if he's found not guilty, he will be hunted down by de Killer. Engarde ultimately chooses to confess.]]
** ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'': [[spoiler:Luke Atmey killed someone for blackmailing Atmey over his own blackmail of the GentlemanThief that Atmey claims to invoke GreatDetective against.]]
* In ''VisualNovel/DoubleHomework'', Dennis tries to manipulate the protagonist and Dr. Mosely to get what he wants. [[spoiler:Instead, he ends up dead, his belongings destroyed, and his digital accounts wiped clean.]]
* If you have multiple spouses in ''VideoGame/FableII'', you will receive a letter threatening to inform your spouses of your infidelity. The blackmailer doesn't consider that you might just kill him, even if you're [[BullyingTheDragon so evil you have horns]].
* If you've chosen the Earthborn backstory in ''VideoGame/MassEffect'', a member of the gang you used to be a part of tries to blackmail you over this fact, thinking it will ruin Shepherd's career. The nice option is to point out that it's not going to work: Shepard's superiors in the Systems Alliance already know about Shepard's past, the asari and salarians will instantly recognize it as a smear campaign, and the turian officer who's listening in on the conversation will point out that having a reputation as being someone who overcame their past crimes to become a soldier devoted to protecting others is something his species would respect. The middle of the road option is to point out that you can legally execute him where he stands and no one will do anything about it. The not-nice option is to simply shoot him in the face.
* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'', BigBad Coldman was a former CIA chief who was [[ReassignedToAntarctica reassigned to Costa Rica]] after his fall from grace. [[ReassignmentBackfire This worked to Coldman's benefit]], as it allowed him to start the '''very''' illegal [[MutuallyAssuredDestruction Peace Walker project]] with no oversight. To do this, he hired one of America's greatest roboticists, Dr. "Huey" Emmerich, to develop the robot's body. Huey, however, is a staunch anti-nuke advocate, but almost every robot design he "created" was actually plagiarized from the Soviet Union, a fact Coldman uses to keep Huey from whistleblowing the project. However, when Coldman reveals he plans on [[MoralEventHorizon nuking an innocent city]] to test Peace Walker's capabilities, Huey decided that he didn't care about his career being ruined anymore and [[TheDogBitesBack promptly turns on Coldman.]]
* The third ArcVillain of ''VideoGame/Persona5'', Junya Kaneshiro, threatens to release [[NotWhatItLooksLike scandalous photos of you and your team at his nightclub]] unless you pay him 3 million yen[[note]]Roughly equivalent to US$30,000[[/note]]. Seems pretty cut and dry, advantage Kaneshiro...except you're the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, and due to the way [[MentalWorld the Metaverse]] works, Kaneshiro's blackmail has just given you ''a ticket straight to the front door of his Palace''. [[ForegoneConclusion The rest is about as you'd expect.]]
** Even better is the entire scenario is a chain of this. [[spoiler: Principle Kobyakawa, lightly. blackmails Makato into rooting out the phantom theives because of his connection to the conspiracy. She proceeds to blackmail the Phantom Theives not to get what the Principle wants but to take care of the crimal pressure targeting shujin academy students, who are being blackmailed until it's obvious something's wrong. Makoto joins the Phantom Theives, the Principle gets left high and dry on information, and the criminal syndicate that falls apart was sending money to the conspiracy the Principle was a part of. None of this is a major blow to the conspiracy itself but they weren't the blackmailers in this particular scenario.]]
* In the Forensics story in ''[[VideoGame/TraumaCenter Trauma Team]]'', [[spoiler:a bomber is paying a college student to provide voice talent for her bomb threats — the college student tries to blackmail the bomber. The bomber agrees initially, but after having [[DeathByIrony the voice actor describe his own self ("a Caucasian male") she has him killed off for good]]]].
[[/folder]]

--> '''Hope''': Blam, thud, and we're shopping for an extra-large coffin.
--> '''Speedy''': Or a hacksaw.

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', Two-Face's whole origin started with something like this. Mobster [[TheDon Rupert Thorne]] got ahold of Harvey Dent's records, which detailed his anger management issues which at times made him seem like a different person. (Often called "[[SplitPersonality Big Bad Harv]]" by doctors.) Thorne threatened to expose them to the public unless he got a few "favors" from the DA's office. Dent's response however wasn't what he expected:
-->'''Dent''': There's just one problem... ''[[EvilSoundsRaspy (raspy voice)]]'' [[PreAssKickingOneliner You're talkin' to the wrong Harvey.]]
** After that, a violent fight broke out, and despite Batman's attempts to stop it, Dent was caught in an explosion that marred half of his face, causing his SplitPersonality to be given life as Two-Face, and his StartOfDarkness completed. His first criminal acts as the villain were, naturally, aimed at Thorne, who now had far worse problems than ever before.
* In the first season of ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'', a couple of bird paparazzi manage to take a bunch of pictures of [=BoJack=] having sex with his former co-star Sarah Lynn, whom he has known since she was a pre-teen. The paparazzi spend most of the season trying to contact [=BoJack=] to no avail until they finally manage to get in touch with Vanessa Gekko, then momentarily acting as [=BoJack's=] agent. Once they make their demands, Gekko [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome points out that taking unauthorized pictures in private property and extortion are both illegal]] and implicitly threatens to press charges for that as well as [[RuleOfFunny the murder of]] Music/TupacShakur for good measure. The blackmailers leave empty-handed.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'', Doug's sister Judy blackmails Doug into being her personal servant to keep her from telling their mother about the piece of artwork he broke. Eventually, he decides he's had enough of her and comes clean about it to their mother and gets grounded... right when Judy was banking on his help to do something really important that she absolutely begs him to help her with anyway. [[HourglassPlot He agrees in exchange for]] ''[[HourglassPlot her]]'' [[HourglassPlot being]] ''[[HourglassPlot his]]'' [[HourglassPlot personal servant for the entire time he's grounded]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', Bender falls victim to this in an "[[WhatIf Anthology of Interest]]" segment when he tries to practice some "[[BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord extortion]]" on Leela after finding out that she murdered Hermes. She pulls out a meat cleaver.
-->'''Bender:''' Please, honey, I'm made of ''metal.'' Like you're really gonna hurt me with a-- ''[[LastWords Hey! What are you doing with that microwave?!]]''
* ''WesternAnimation/IronManArmoredAdventures'':
** In "Iron Monger Lives", Whitney Stane threatens to reveal Iron Man's identity to S.H.I.E.L.D. if he doesn't let her escape. Iron Man doesn't have to worry because they already know.
** In the GrandFinale, Ghost's plan to use Iron Man's identity as leverage once Tony Stark inherits Stark International is ruined once the identity is exposed to the whole world.
* In ''WesternAnimation/LeagueOfSuperEvil'', Justice Gene finds Voltar at a [[IdolSinger Prima Dina]] concert and records him professing his love for her music. He threatens to upload the video to the internet, and Voltar can't blackmail him either since he's already known as the president of the Prima Dina fanclub. At the end, Voltar accidentally uploads the video to the internet himself, but none of his teammates find this embarrassing since practically everyone loves Prima Dina, including [[RealMenWearPink feared supervillain Skullossus]]. Plus, the singer herself loves the video and gives Voltar and his friends VIP passes to the next concert.
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TimonAndPumbaa'', Simba is being forced to fight in a Roman colosseum against a lion named Claudius. To save Simba, Timon and Pumbaa try to convince Claudius to [[ThrowingTheFight throw the fight]] the night before it. One of their attempts is blackmailing Claudius with [[FrameUp a picture they took of him with a salad they had planted]] to make it look like [[RealMenEatMeat he's a vegetarian]], [[BadassDecay thus ruining his reputation as a vicious fighter]]. Claudius counters with an [[EmbarrassingOldPhoto embarrassing picture]] of ''them'' from [[NoodleIncident a Hakuna Matata convention in Orlando]].
[[/folder]]

## The victim has no problem with the information being made public -- he doesn't really care very much, feels that there is NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity, or [[ThreatBackfire even considers the "blackmail material" something worth boasting about.]]

* ''Fanfic/TheVictorsProject'': When Evelyn finds out that Gloss is "The Midtown Mincer" (a mysterious figure who drugs and tortures people, mostly within the Capitol, to sate his bloodlust) she starts blackmailing every concession she can out of him. [[BigBrotherInstinct When Cashmere finds out, she calls in every favor she has in connection to District 9 and hands Evelyn a list of 50 people she can have mrudered or executed if she doesn't leave Gloss alone.]] Furthermore, when all three of them are reaped for the 3rd Quarter Quell Gloss lets out an EvilLaugh at the idea of getting a shot to go after Evelyn and avenge his blackmail even further.

** ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'''s second case takes this UpToEleven. [[spoiler:Luke Atmey killed someone for blackmailing Atmey over his own blackmail of the GentlemanThief that Atmey claims to invoke GreatDetective against.]]

** ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'''s second case takes this UpToEleven. [[spoiler:Luke Atmey killed a Redd White {{Expy}} for blackmailing Atmey over his own blackmail of the GentlemanThief that Atmey claims to invoke GreatDetective against.]]

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': [[[[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-4645 SCP-4645]] SCP-4645]], the Blackmailing Computer, is a computer that every day threatens the Foundation to do something horrible (releasing Keter [=SCPs=], executing the O5 council, taking over the world, et cetera) or the computer will carry out some threat. This doesn't work for two reasons: At first, the computer only made ridiculously minor threats like deleting Minecraft accounts and having all staff stub their toes, and after it started escalating to more serious threats (researchers being badly injured, major security breaches, and so on) the Foundation figured out that it was learning what threats they wouldn't take seriously and escalating until they did, [[LogicalWeakness so they started wiping its memory every so often so it would start over at the minor threats]].

## The person the blackmailer would have revealed it to dies (or is killed).

## Turns out that EveryoneHasStandards: the blackmailer has enough lack of scruples to look for dirt and then ''threaten'' someone with blackmail, but doesn't has the guts (or lack of heart, in more heartwarming/humanizing examples) [[WhatYouAreInTheDark to actually follow through and ruin someone's life]].

* ''Svensson Svensson'': Gustav is trying to blackmail Max into doing garden work on top of what they had agreed on. Gustav threatens by mentioning the mountain bike that Max wants. However, Max has none of it and explains to Lena about the bribery deal Gustav made with the children.

* In the Forensics story in ''[[VideoGame/TraumaCenter Trauma Team]]'', [[spoiler:a bomber is paying a college student to provide voice talent for her bomb threats — the college student tries to blackmail the bomber. The bomber agrees initially, but after having [[DeathByIrony the voice actor describe his own self ("a Caucasian male") she has him killed off for good]]]].

* In ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', actor Barry Khan is upset that Videl jilted him over an autograph, thus sets up a trap to try to get back at her by trying to ruin her relationship via a HoneyTrap. He even shows "proof" of this via photos he took. However, Videl sees right through this and gives him a stinging TheReasonYouSuckSpeech followed by Gohan telling him to GetOut before he wakes up their daughter.
* ''Manga/YamadaKunAndTheSevenWitches'': Subverted. When Odagiri tries to blackmail Yamada by saying she'll share a photo of him sneaking around the girls' room on the field trip ([[FreakyFridayFlip actually Shiraishi in his body]]), Yamada stands his ground by telling a half-truth that he actually just went to get Shiraishi's books for her, and Odagiri can just ask Shiraishi to confirm it. The subversion comes when Odagiri then shows a photo of "Yamada" holding Shiraishi's panties, and Yamada realizes he has no excuse to get out of that one, after which he's forced to give in to Odagiri's demands.

* In ''ComicBook/SuicideSquad'' corrupt Senator Cray tries to use the Squad to get him re-elected, threatening to reveal the existence of the program. Not knowing Amanda Waller has handled Cray and his aide, Tolliver, Rick Flagg kills Tolliver and, confronting Cray, points out how foolish it is to blackmail a team of super-villans.
-->'''Flagg:''' When you set out to blackmail the Squad, Senator, didn't you realize you were trying to coerce thugs and killers? Ruthless people. Didn't it ever occur to you that the easiest way of dealing with you was to kill you?
* In ''ComicBook/BatmanYearOne'', the corrupt police commissioner tries to bring Gordon under heel by taking compromising photos of him and Sarah Essen, whom he had a brief affair with. However, Gordon simply tells his wife the truth, and when the commissioner goes through with his threat, Mrs. Gordon tells him that she knows about Sarah and to never bother her again. Of course, it only force Loeb to go for a more direct threat.
* In ''ComicBook/SecretSix'' #20, [[Characters/SecretSix Catman's]] infant son gets held hostage, and the hostage-takers threaten to drop him off a building. For every one of his team he kills in the next five minutes, they will allow his son to live for one year. After long deliberation, Catman tells them to go ahead and drop his son, and that he is going to hunt them all down. He then goes on a pre-emptive RoaringRampageOfRevenge.

* ''Fanfic/SOE2LoneHeirOfKrypton'': In chapter 8's omake, Touji tells Asuka he knows she is ''Comicbook/PowerGirl'' and he will tell everyone unless she puts a skimpy bikini on and models while Kensuke takes pictures. Touji thought the next step would be profit, but the only step was him getting beaten.
* ''Fanfic/PrincessOfTheBlacks'': Hermione gets a double dosage when she tries to blackmail Jen over her suspicion the girl murdered the Dursleys (which, to be fair, she did). Jen is quick to sum up everything wrong with her plan. 1) If there was any evidence, Hermione would have already gone to the authorities. 2) The Wizengamot would never listen to Hermione as she's a muggleborn accusing a rich pureblood noble of killing some muggles. 3) If Hermione is right and Jen did murder them, what would stop her from murdering Hermione to keep her quiet? Likewise, Jen has evidence that Hermione previously blackmailed Rita Skeeter, which would land her in prison.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7685439/1/The-Shadow The Shadow]]'', Boba Fett tries to blackmail Luke (who's become Vader's apprentice) for an unspecified amount of money after Han Solo escapes. If Luke doesn't secure him the money, Fett will inform Vader that Luke is Anakin Skywalker's son. Unfortunately for him, Vader ''is'' Anakin Skywalker and knows full well Luke is his son. Just before killing him, Luke lets Fett in on this little detail.

* ''Fanfic/LongRoadToFriendship'': When Trixie finds out that Sunset is living in an abandoned warehouse, she tries to blackmail her into doing her bidding. Sunset, who at this point is 100% out of fucks to give, calls Trixie's bluff, adding that if she goes through with this, she'll be no better than Sunset was. [[spoiler:[[WhatYouAreInTheDark Sure enough, when the moment of truth comes, Trixie backs down.]]]]
* In ''Fanfic/KaraOfRokyn'', rival wrestler Jara's attempt to blackmail [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} the titular character]] into having sex with her backfires when Kara reminds her that such threats may destroy her career.
-->'''Jara:''' I warn you, Kara—\\
'''Kara:''' Warn me? One word of this to the commission and they'll yank your license!

* In ''Fanfic/JWITCHSeason1'', Valmont tries to force the Guardians as well as Jackie and Tohru to work for him by showing them the photos he has taken of the girls' human and Guardian forms. Yan Lin helps him realize that he's in no position to threaten a group of {{Magical Girl Warrior}}s and {{Badass Normal}}s, so he gives up the photos to them and flees.
* In ''Fanfic/ANewWorldOnHerShoulders'', Ruby tries to convince Weiss to use whatever blackmail material she has on Winter to get the Specialist to let them pass through. Winter hears them and retorts that she has ''far'' more blackmail material on Weiss, so any threats they can make regarding that are null and void.
* ''Fanfic/TheVictorsProject'': When Evelyn finds out that Gloss is "The Midtown Mincer" (a mysterious figure who drugs and tortures people, mostly within the Capitol, to sate his bloodlust) she starts blackmailing every concession she can out of him. [[BigBrotherInstinct When Cashmere finds out, she calls in every favor she has in connection to District 9 and hands Evelyn a list of 50 people she can have mrudered or executed if she doesn't leave Gloss alone.]] Furthermore, when all three of them are reaped for the 3rd Quarter Quell Gloss lets out an EvilLaugh at the idea of getting a shot to go after Evelyn and avenge his blackmail even further.
* Subverted in ''Fanfic/NewBeginningsSmallville''. Linda Lake discovers Clark Kent's secret and decides to blackmail him to earn fame and notoriety. Clark refuses to give in, so he goes to Lois Lane and asks her to tell his story to the world. Resentful, Linda Lake sets out to destroy his reputation, and Clark becomes a hunted man.
-->'''Clark Kent:''' "Okay, so a little less than eight years from now I was being blackmailed. Someone was going to use my secret to make themselves more important, to make themselves famous. I refused to be blackmailed by her so I went to a close friend and asked her to tell my story to the world. For about five minutes it was great. I was embraced by everyone. Then the nightmare started. The blackmailer took a different route and managed to make me into public enemy number one such that I was now being hunted by the government and several private parties. I'd made a huge mistake."
* ''Fanfic/TriptychContinuum'': Coordinator gets his hooves on Rainbow Dash's memoirs of the Mane Six's adventures and tries to use the listed near-disasters that never made it to the public as blackmail against Twilight Sparkle. However, Twilight has found out that, to her growing horror, ponies are starting to look up to her as divinity, asking her to ''bless'', and would welcome the chance to be humanized, er, ponified and perhaps brought down to earth in the public eye. When Coordinator adds what this information being made public will do to her ''friends'', Twilight quite violently, cathartically, reminds him that as one of the most powerful unicorns, now an alicorn, in Equestria, what exactly she can do to him if he goes near her friends.
* ''Fanfic/EquestriaGirlsAFairlyOddFriendship'': [[spoiler: The Dazzlings]] threaten to expose Timmy's fairies, causing him to lose them forever, if he doesn't grant their every wish. Timmy eventually calls their bluff, pointing out that if he loses Cosmo and Wanda, all the wishes they've already granted will be undone, including the one that [[spoiler: gave the Dazzlings their own magic back]]. Of course, this just results in [[spoiler: the Dazzlings resorting to ColdBloodedTorture to get what they want]].
* In snippet 7 of ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13279982/7/Harry-Potter-and-the-Burning-of-Bridges Harry Potter and the Burning of Bridges]]'', Rita calmly explains why Hermione's attempt to blackmail her won't work. Even ignoring Rita's own contingencies, the fact Draco talked to her while she was in her animagus form means very powerful people already know about it and she's made a point of being useful to such people. Any one of them could easily get her off such a minor charge. All in all, Rita basically says Hermione's blackmail was a rather cute attempt and she won't turn Hermione in for her own reasons.

* The plot of ''Film/MotherlessBrooklyn'' is kicked off when private detective Frank Minna is killed after trying to blackmail [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Moses Randolph]] with incriminating evidence [[spoiler:about his ChildByRape Laura]] that could jeopardize his rise to power and political career.
* In ''Film/{{Faceless}}'', Mrs. Sherman works out that something illegal is going on at the clinic, and attempts to blackmail Dr. Flamand over it. Flamand does his best to persuade her that her suspicions are groundless, but when she persists, he sends Nathalie to kill her.

* In the Literature/SherlockHolmes story "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton", the title character is a blackmailer. Sherlock and Watson are determined to destroy papers that he has that he intends to publish to ruin various powerful men of society. While they're burglarizing his house, a woman shows up ostensibly visiting him to give him more dirt on someone. [[spoiler:She isn't — she is a woman whose life Charles has ruined and she's there to kill him so he can't ruin any more lives.]] Sherlock and Watson, for their part, do absolutely ''nothing'' to [[spoiler:prevent Milverton being murdered]], electing instead to throw as much of the blackmail material as they can into the lit fireplace before fleeing the scene.

* The plot of ''[[Literature/DifferentSeasons Apt Pupil]]'' involves Todd Bowden discovering that his neighbor Kurt Dussander is an escaped Nazi and the former commander of a concentration camp. Todd is morbidly obsessed with the Holocaust, and he forces Dussander to tell him about the concentration camp by threatening to expose his past. Dussander complies for a few months, but eventually decides he's had enough. He points out that, by not exposing him sooner, Todd is now complicit in hiding Dussander from the authorities -- Todd can't expose Dussander without exposing himself to punishment as well. To further twist the knife, Dussander claims that he left a complete account of Todd's actions in a bank deposit box, to be opened and read if Dussander dies. [[spoiler:He's lying about the safe deposit box. But the psychological strain of being counter-blackmailed is one of several factors that leads to Todd completely snapping at the end of the story.]]
* On ''Literature/TheDayOfTheJackal'' and its adaptations, one of the people who provide gadgets for the Jackal (the documents forger in the original novel and the first film, the manufacturer of the radio-controlled SentryGun device on ''Film/TheJackal'') try to blackmail more money out of the Jackal (and respectively [[TooDumbToLive commit the dumb acts]] of not bowing to the Jackal's one request of meeting elsewhere for payment and going to a far-away location with the Jackal ''and the fully-assembled [[{{BFG}} high-caliber machine-gun]] that he built the radio-controlled support for''). [[NeckSnap Nobody]] [[MultipleGunshotDeath laments them]].
* Creator/LarryNiven's short story "$16,949". [[spoiler:A blackmail victim tries to blackmail his blackmailer, who goes to another one of his victims to resolve the problem permanently.]]
* One of Creator/AgathaChristie's unspoken rules is that any person who stoops to blackmail will be dead by the end of the story. It's not always because threatening murderers with exposure tends to lead to getting murdered, but this is very common.
** This was the final resolution of ''Literature/AppointmentWithDeath'', in which an EvilMatriarch is slain while on vacation with her family in Petra. While [[WhoMurderedTheAsshole there are plenty of suspects]], not only among her own terrorized family but among the fellow travelers, she was also a retired prison warden, and was killed by a woman who'd been in her prison but rose to high society after she got out, and was trying to avoid blackmail by the warden after she said "I never forget a face."
** {{Invoked}} and {{Exploited}} in ''Literature/TheMovingFinger'', where Literature/MissMarple enlists someone into acting as TheBait by blackmailing the killer. Sure enough, the killer is caught trying to murder their blackmailer later that night and is arrested on the spot.
* This trope also frequently pops up in the Literature/NeroWolfe mysteries:
** ''Literature/FerDeLance'', the first novel in the series, starts the pattern with the reveal that Carlo Maffei, the missing man whose disappearance caused Wolfe and Archie Goodwin to get involved in the case, unwittingly designed a tool that was used as a murder weapon and, on realising this, thought that blackmailing the person who hired him was a good idea. Naturally, he was very much mistaken.
** ''Too Many Clients'' also plays it straight, as Maria Perez attempts to blackmail Thomas Yeager's murderer, only to be murdered herself.
** An interesting variant pops up in ''Literature/AndBeAVillain'', in which it's revealed a blackmail syndicate has been targeting people with slander in order to pressure them into paying up to get it to stop. The variant is that the blackmailers in this case actually made up ''false'' stories about their victims that would nevertheless do serious damage to their reputations if it got out, but they ended up approaching someone with what they thought was a lie about them committing murder only to realise too late that they'd accidentally stumbled onto the truth. It ends about the same way you'd expect this trope to end for a blackmailer in a murder mystery. The same syndicate also apparently tried to avert this trope by only putting their victims on the hook for a single year before cutting them loose, with the reasoning being that someone being blackmailed indefinitely will eventually get sick of it and do something that will lead to a Backfire, whereas someone given a good-faith guarantee that the unpleasantness will only be temporary is more likely to simply resign themselves to it.
* In the ''Literature/InDeath'' novel ''Witness in Death'', someone learns the identity of the murderer of [[AssholeVictim actor Richard Draco]] and because this person didn't like Draco, is willing to keep the identity a secret but isn't above trying to get money from the murderer by blackmail. [[TooDumbToLive It backfires horribly, with the murderer tricking him into hanging himself!]]
* In ''Literature/TheCityWithoutMemory'', [[spoiler:Veri-Meri]] tries to blackmail his way out of arrest and memory-wipe execution by shouting he knows the dirty secrets of his captors and has it all [[spoiler:written down]]. The problem is that [[spoiler:writing]] is forbidden in the land – on pain of memory wipe.
* In ''Literature/MakingMoney'', a craftsman making a copy of Lord Vetinari's signet ring for the Lord-V-obsessed Cosmo Lavish bumps up his price considerably to "forget" he made it (the ring is made of a highly illegal material only available to licensed Assassins), and then a bit more because Cosmo's secretary agreed to the first price increase too quickly. The secretary reluctantly lets Cosmo's personal assassin deal with the problem.
** Later on, Cosmo and his newfound criminal friend Cribbins stake their plans on the belief Moist will go along with their planned blackmail. The entire thing collapses when Moist instead confesses to a lifetime of con artistry in public court, derailing his trial until new evidence appears against Cosmo.
* Averted in ''Literature/GoingPostal''. [[BigBad Reacher Gilt]] muses you can safely hire Mr. Gryle for assassinations and similar dirty deeds without fear of him turning around to blackmail you, specifically because of this trope: It will inevitably lead to one party killing the other, and if Mr. Gryle wanted that he wouldn't waste time with intermediate steps.

* In ''Alguien debe morir'' by José Luis Martin Vigil, Lucas Paz attempts to blackmail José Reyes, threatening to expose accusations of homosexuality. Instead, Reyes hit Paz with a blunt item found aroung Paz's house. [[spoiler:However, Reyes didn't land the killing blow: it was Evencia, Paz's landlady, who, thinking he was dead, robbed him and, when surprised he was still alive, brained him with a hammer]].

* In ''Film/{{Quicksand}}'', Mackey attempts to blackmail Dan for $3000 over the theft of the sedan. When Dan can only come up with $1800, Mackey takes the cash and then tries to call the police. It an attempt to stop him, Dan winds up strangling him. And the kicker is Dan later learns that Mackey didn't know dan had stolen the car. He ran the same line all of his employees and Dan was the only who bit.

* In the Literature/SherlockHolmes story "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton", the title character is a blackmailer. Sherlock and Watson are determined to destroy papers that he has that he intends to publish to ruin various powerful men of society. While they're burglarizing his house, a woman shows up ostensibly visiting him to give him more dirt on someone. [[spoiler:She isn't — she is a woman whose life Charles has ruined and she's there to kill him so he can't ruin any more lives.]]