History Main / BoomerangComeback

* Variation in the infamous scene in ''Series/TheGoodies'', where Bill is proving "Ecky Thump" is superior to other martial arts. Graeme misses with a boomerang, but later when Tim has disarmed Bill with some bagpipes, it comes back and clouts Tim from behind.

* DC/Marvel crossovers:
** ''ComicBook/DCVersusMarvel'' shows a fight between ComicBook/{{Bane}} and ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, with Cap missing a shield toss, and Bane closing in and grabbing him, only to get struck by the returning shield before he can break Cap's back.
** Subverted in ''ComicBook/JLAAvengers'', where Hawkeye fires a boomerang arrow at Flash, who easily catches it on the return and remarks that he's had a little experience with these things before -- the above-mentioned Captain Boomerang is one of Flash's RoguesGallery.

* ''ComicBook/KidColt'': Almost without fail, the Fat Man throws a boomerang past someone, who laughs at his obvious miss. They continue to laugh until the boomerang comes whizzing up behind them and either knock them our, or knock their guns out of their hands.
* Franchise/MarvelUniverse:

... only to have the thrown weapon come back and hit him from behind, knocking him out or even killing him. Turns out, the weapon was in fact a PrecisionGuidedBoomerang (sometimes obviously so), or had boomerang-like properties.

* ''ComicBook/KidColt'': Almost without fail, the Fat Man would throw a boomerang past someone, who would laugh at his obvious miss. They would continue to laugh until the boomerang came whizzing up behind them and either knocked them our, or knocked their guns out of their hands.
* ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'':

* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse: Thor pulls a similar trick to the example in the above section in ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' while Loki is currently disguised as Odin, who enchanted the hammer to begin with. As he's not Odin, Loki can't stop it from coming back and has to drop the charade.

* An example from an action movie, although still comedic in nature: in ''Film/Transformers2007'', Frenzy is beheaded by one of his own CD-shuriken ricocheting wildly.
-->'''Frenzy:''' Oh shit! ''(collapses)''

[[folder:Web Video]]

* In Thor's introductory episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'', "Thor the Mighty". Thor manages to hit three of the Wrecking Crew's four members by throwing his hammer. Then, he magically summons it to fly in the opposite direction, pummeling the fourth.

* Occurs in ''Film/CaptainAmericaIIDeathTooSoon'', where the Captain foils a mugging attempt by tossing his trademark shield at a perpetrator, missing him at point-blank range, and the thug gives his shield enough time to curve back and knock himself out.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': In the second episode, Sokka throws his boomerang at Zuko, who dodges it. Sokka then charges with a spear, Zuko blocks it, breaks it, pokes Sokka on the head with it, and ''then'' it comes back and smacks him in the back of the head.
* In ComicBook/TheMightyThor's introductory episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'', "Thor the Mighty". Thor manages to hit three of the Wrecking Crew's four members by throwing his hammer. Then, he magically summons it to fly in the opposite direction, pummeling the fourth.

''[Wrecker looks behind him and gets hit in the face with {{Mjolnir}}]''

:: And indeed, for [[TechnoBabble some reason involving vibrations]], the flying banjo head turns around and snatches Nina's nunchucks to deliver them to Dodgers.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': In ''Bender's Game'', during the parody of ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'', Pr. Fansworth (as the stereotypical fantasy wizard) turns his staff into a giant boomerang, but it hits him in the back when thrown -- or even when slightly going past the screen border.
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'':
** In the BatmanColdOpen of an episode of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'', Batman pulls this off against [=KGBeast=].
** Captain Boomerang sends a swarm of boomerangs flying at Franchise/TheFlash, who catches them and throws them back. They turn around and fly back at him (suggesting that these boomerangs are ''so'' good that it doesn't take any skill to use them, they return whether you want them to or not). Upon seeing them going back towards him, Flash's response is a "DUH!"
* In an episode of the 1994 ''WesternAnimation/MegaManRubySpears'' TV series, Megaman fires a buster shot at Protoman which misses and enters a steam pipe. The steam pipe loops again behind Megaman, who ducks just as the shot comes out the end of the pipe, hitting Protoman.

* {{Parodied|Trope}} in the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Gary Takes a Bath", where [=SpongeBob=] tries to throw a new toy ball for Gary to chase into the bathtub, only for it to suddenly change direction mid-air, with [=SpongeBob=] reading the box and realizing it's a "Boomerang Pet Ball". He chucks the box away in frustration... which itself proceeds to hit the back of his head.

* An example from an action movie, although still comedic in nature: in the first ''Film/{{Transformers|2007}}'' film, Frenzy is beheaded by one of his own CD-shuriken ricocheting wildly.
-->'''Frenzy:''' Oh shit!

* An example from an action movie, although still comedic in nature: in the first ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' film, Frenzy is beheaded by one of his own CD-shuriken ricocheting wildly.

* ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse2013'' episode [[Recap/MickeyMouseS5E11OutbackAtYa "Outback At Ya!"]] takes place in Australia and revolves around Mickey ignoring a [[KangaroosRepresentAustralia joey's]] warning about how "once a boomerang is thrown, it's journey begins and ends in your hands". Mickey throwing it leads to disaster for everyone around him. Mickey fixes it by throwing the boomerang again and having it directly chase after him.

** ''Franchise/{{Batman}} and ComicBook/{{Robin}}'' #10 (Jun 2012) has a subplot where a villain assembles a bunch of {{Mook}}s who have been permanently given [[CrossesTheLineTwice Hideously]] AmusingInjuries in their encounters with Batman. One of them tried to throw a Batarang back at Batman, missed -- and now has it ''embedded in his skull.''

** In both film and comic version, ComicBook/GreenGoblin tries something like this against Franchise/SpiderMan using his glider and attempting to hold/distract Spidey in place long enough for the glider to hit him. It doesn't work and Goblin gets impaled on his own glider for his trouble.

* In [[https://www.deviantart.com/slifofinadragon/art/The-Battle-of-Aki-Pt-9-FINAL-763170629 part 9]] of [[https://www.deviantart.com/slifofinadragon/ SlifofinaDragon]]'s latest ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' fanfic ''The Battle of Aki'', as UsefulNotes/DateMasamune and [[UsefulNotes/SanadaYukimura Sanada]] [[MisterSeahorse Yukimura]]'s son goes through a simulated void of squaring off against [[PosthumousCharacter]]s, he faces off against Matsunaga Hisahide and sends one of his (Masa's) black hands, equipped with a katana, towards Matsunaga yet seemingly misses. As Matsunaga gloats, he gets sliced from behind by said hand.

-->-- Creator/CartoonNetwork's sister network, [[MeaningfulName Boomerang]]

* In [[https://www.deviantart.com/slifofinadragon/art/The-Battle-of-Aki-Pt-9-FINAL-763170629 part 9]] of [[https://www.deviantart.com/slifofinadragon/ SilfofinaDragon]]'s latest ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' fanfic ''The Battle of Aki'', as UsefulNotes/DateMasamune and [[UsefulNotes/SanadaYukimura Sanada]] [[MisterSeahorse Yukimura]]'s son goes through a simulated void of squaring off against [[PosthumousCharacter]]s, he faces off against Matsunaga Hisahide and sends one of his (Masa's) black hands, equipped with a katana, towards Matsunaga yet seemingly misses. As Matsunaga gloats, he gets sliced from behind by said hand.

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteandTheRoadrunner https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/boomerang1.jpg]]]]

* In episode 3 of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'', Kira Yamato's ([[MechaExpansionPack Sword]]) Strike Gundam uses this against an attacking suit whose pilot is vastly more experienced. The inevitable return [[spoiler:takes off the enemy machine's leg, stunning the awesome minor character Miguel Aiman inside it long enough for Kira to slice him clean in half]].

[[folder:Asian Animation]]
* In episode 1 of ''VideoGame/MolesWorld'', Kula asks Mole Man to throw away his hammer. Mole Man throws the hammer up into the sky. The hammer comes back down out of the sky as a boomerang which hits Kula.
[[/folder]]

* There's also the ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'' comic where Cap is fighting Hydra agents, stands on a pile of them, takes off a glove and licks a finger to hold up, throws his shield up into the air, and looks at his watch. "Two... one..." The last standing Hydra agent shows up with a hostage and goes into a standard Hydra rant about the organization's plans. He stops when he realizes that Cap is without his shield, Cap tells him that "It'll come if I whistle for it", the agent pulls a gun, Cap whistles... and his shield arcs down to hit the Hydra agent, leaving the hostage standing. That issue is full of him doing things like that; naturally, it's also the issue where it is lost.
* ''ComicBook/DCVersusMarvel'' shows a fight between ComicBook/{{Bane}} and ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, with Cap missing a shield toss, and Bane closing in and grabbing him, only to get struck by the returning shield before he can break Cap's back.

* Subverted in ''ComicBook/JLAAvengers'', where Hawkeye fires a boomerang arrow at Flash, who easily catches it on the return and remarks that he's had a little experience with these things before -- the below mentioned Captain Boomerang is one of Flash's RoguesGallery.
* ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'': Played with when Thor threatens to do this to Loki -- he hurls away his hammer, then grabs Loki by the neck, and reminds him that NOTHING can prevent his hammer from returning to his hand. Oh, and would he be so kind as to remove the curse he placed before the hammer returns? Gee, look, it's starting to arc back already...
* In both film and comic version, ComicBook/GreenGoblin tries something like this against Franchise/SpiderMan using his glider and attempting to hold/distract Spidey in place long enough for the glider to hit him. It doesn't work and Goblin gets impaled on his own glider for his trouble.
* Meanwhile at the Hall of Just... ahem, Franchise/TheDCU, Captain Boomerang pulled this stunt against a member of the Jihad in the second issue of the original series of ''ComicBook/SuicideSquad''.
* Subverted in ''ComicBook/TheSuperiorFoesOfSpiderMan'', when Boomerang tosses one of his boomerangs at Bullseye. Bullseye performs a NonchalantDodge then proceeds to close the door behind him right before the boomerang comes back at him.
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}} and ComicBook/{{Robin}}'' #10 (Jun 2012) has a subplot where a villain assembles a bunch of {{Mook}}s who have been permanently given [[CrossesTheLineTwice Hideously]] AmusingInjuries in their encounters with Batman. One of them tried to throw a Batarang back at Batman, missed -- and now has it ''embedded in his skull.''
* ''ComicBook/GastonLagaffe'' have several jokes about it.
** One time Gaston's boomerang shatters a window. An angry neighbor brings back the boomerang to Fantasio thinking he's the one who threw it, Fantasio then throw it at Gaston's head while saying, "Gaston! It always comes back to the one who throws it!"
** Prunelle throws through a window a wooden coat hanger which lost its hook (and happens to be shaped exactly like a boomerang) and it comes back in his face, to Gaston's hilarity.
--->'''Gaston:''' You just reinvented one of the oldest jokes in the world!
** On another occasion, Gaston attempted to launch a boomerang from a crossbow, with predictable results.
--->'''Prunelle:''' ''[to a bandaged Gaston]'' Now you know why you should never launch a boomerang with a crossbow.

* In [[https://www.deviantart.com/slifofinadragon/art/The-Battle-of-Aki-Pt-9-FINAL-763170629 part 9]] of [[https://www.deviantart.com/slifofinadragon/ SilfofinaDragon]]'s latest ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' fanfic ''The Battle of Aki'', as UsefulNotes/DateMasamune and [[UsefulNotes/SanadaYukimura Sanada]] [[MisterSeahorse Yukimura]]'s son goes through a simulated void of squaring off against [[PosthumousCharacter]]s, he faces off against Matsunaga Hisahide and sends one of his (Masa's) black hands, equipped with a katana, towards Matsunaga yet seemingly misses. As Matsunaga gloats, he gets sliced from behind by said hand.

* Thor pulls a similar trick to the example in the above section in ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' while Loki is currently disguised as Odin, who enchanted the hammer to begin with. As he's not Odin, Loki can't stop it from coming back and has to drop the charade.

* Parodied (what isn't?) in the movie ''Film/{{Airplane}}'' when Striker throws his jacket off-screen in a Disco, preparatory to a John Travolta Disco routine, only to have it fly right back at him.

* In ''Series/SleepyHollow'', the angel Orion pulls this on the Headless Horseman by throwing his halo-shaped DeadlyDisc. It misses and bursts out of the house's wall, forcing the angel to fight unharmed for a while, until the disc flies back and stabs the Horseman in the back.
* One episode of ''Series/{{Blackadder}} II'' has Edmund giving a boomerang to the Queen as a present from his expedition around the world. She's unimpressed by it, and tells Percy to throw it away. He does, and a few seconds later it comes back and smacks him in the head, which amuses the Queen immensely. It's also exaggerated for comedy, since Percy lightly lobs the boomerang out the door and yet it returns with enough force to knock him down.
* Discussed in ''Series/TheFlash2014'', when Cisco is testing out Bette Sans Souci's superpowers (she can touch anything and turn it into an ActionBomb). One of the items he gives her to throw is a boomerang, but Caitlin Snow wisely takes it away before Bette can try it out, pointing out that Cisco clearly DidntThinkThisThrough.

* ''Series/MassiveMonsterMayhem'': Major Disappointment's intro sequence includes the giant robot pulling out his boomerang-shaped brow and throwing it at a building, only to get hit in the face at the return.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' uses this as the way of defeating an early miniboss: he throws a boomerang from atop a set of columns, and if you roll into the column he's on after he's thrown the boomerang, destabilizing him, it'll knock him down when it returns.
* A very real problem in any ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' game with the green shell. Miss your target and it's just as likely to come back and hit you.

* Double subverted in ''Webcomic/ErrantStory''. When Sarine throws her dagger, her opponent knew Sarine was trying this and blocked it with her sword. Which is why Sarine charged it with lightning beforehand.

* ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'': [[http://www.xkcd.com/1441/ Turnabout]] [[spoiler: referring to reflectors left by Apollo on the Moon; they're still there and they still work!]]
* In ''Webcomic/TheDarkIntruder'', strip [[http://interrobangstudios.com/comics-display.php?strip_id=9 "Drak-o-rang"]], Dark Intruder is the one throwing the boomerang, but not the one hit. Instead, it lands in the face of his sidekick, Smart Girl -- but as she points out, that still mean he's in trouble.
* In ''Webcomic/KnightsOfTheOldCoding'', when Kuros finds the Axe of Agor, he discards the Knife of Throwing, forgetting that it always returns until it stabs him in the back.
* ''Webcomic/{{Swords}}'' features [[https://swordscomic.com/comic/CCXCVIII/ the Swordarang,]] a boomerang with two bladed tips. Money back guarantee! Well, yeah, considering adventurers using it keep getting stabbed on the return, it's guaranteed they'd ask their money back.
* ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' plays with this as a long-term running gag: [[http://www.xkcd.com/445/ 1]] [[http://xkcd.com/475/ 2]] [[http://xkcd.com/939/ 3]]

-->'''Tigerlily''': SPRING-LOADED BOOMERANG CUDGEL!\\
'''Unity''': Ha! Missed!\\
'''Tigerlily''': Nine ... eight ... seven ... six ...\\
'''Unity''': Huh?\\
'''Tigerlily''': You fresh outta no-Boomerang-Having Stupid Town, ain't you.\\
'''Unity''': I don't get--\\
''(WHACK!)''\\
''(Everything goes black.)''

[[folder:Web Original]]

* ''Franchise/{{Tamagotchi}}'': In one ''Sorette, Kuchipatchi.'' short, Kuchipatchi throws a bag into the air. It circles Tamagotchi Planet and hits Kuchipatchi right on the back.

* In the BatmanColdOpen of an episode of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited'', Batman pulls this off against [=KGBeast=].

* ''WesternAnimation/CampLakebottom'': Buttsquat hits himself in the back of the head with his own boomerang, which knocks him off his boat, in "Slimey Come".
* ''WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts'': Mickey Mouse's very first cartoon, ''WesternAnimation/PlaneCrazy'', ends with this happening; with his plane wrecked and Minnie having angrily left him after he deliberately scared her and then forcibly kissed her, Mickey throws away the lucky horseshoe he had been carrying the whole time in disgust. The horseshoe boomerangs around the tree behind Mickey and hooks around his neck, knocking Mickey unconscious and ending the cartoon.
* When the Eds come across a cursed boomerang in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'', they eventually manage to throw it into the distance. It comes right back with enough force to pin them all to a tree branch. Interestingly, it is the first point in the episode where the boomerang actually returns to the thrower at all.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': In ''Bender's Game'', during the parody of ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'', Pr. Fansworth (as the stereotypical fantasy wizard) turns his staff into a giant boomerang, but it hits him in the back when thrown -- or even when slightly going past the screen border.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited'', Captain Boomerang sends a swarm of boomerangs flying at Franchise/TheFlash, who catches them and throws them back. They turn around and fly back at him (suggesting that these boomerangs are ''so'' good that it doesn't take any skill to use them, they return whether you want them to or not). Upon seeing them going back towards him, Flash's response is a "DUH!"
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'' has this as a RunningGag. Rabbit and Tigger use a boomerang to try to knock down a beehive, but it misses and they have to duck to avoid getting hit. The boomerang stays up in the air for the remainder of the episode, occasionally almost hitting Rabbit. At the end, the boomerang flies into Rabbit's house with a loud crash.
* ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' shows us that the hero of ''Film/{{Krull}}'' has had this problem with the Glaive.
* ''WesternAnimation/WeBareBears'': In "Lunch With Tabes", during Grizzly's side of the story he claims he tried to ward off some bugs by throwing a boomerang at them, but it missed. At the end of the episode, [[BrickJoke the boomerang comes back out of nowhere]] and hits Panda in the head.
* ''WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner'':
** Double-Subverted in a cartoon: Wile E. buys "One Genuine Boomerang (Guaranteed to Return)" to use against the Road Runner, but when he hurls it, it seems to come and smack him from the other side of the screen (and change color from yellow to red before it is seen)... until the camera pans over to show the Road Runner standing next to a box for "Another Genuine Boomerang (Guaranteed to Return)". Wile E. starts to give chase... then his original boomerang comes back and hits him.
** In another cartoon, a boomerang Wile E. throws comes back with one of the dynamite darts he released earlier.

* One of your new tricks in ''Videogame/BatmanArkhamCity'' is to do this with Batarangs. The first example is in a hostage situation in a cutscene; following that, you can do it to thugs at will. It comes in handy with Predator battles because mooks will tend to focus their search in the direction the ''hit'' came from rather than where you actually are.

* In ''Videogame/PlantsVsZombies2ItsAboutTime'', Bloomerang's projectiles can hit enemies on the first go and the return for double damage.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In an episode of the 1994 ''WesternAnimation/MegaMan'' TV series, Megaman fires a buster shot at Protoman which misses and enters a steam pipe. The steam pipe loops again behind Megaman, who ducks just as the shot comes out the end of the pipe, hitting Protoman.

* Used in ''Webcomic/SkinHorse' during the [[https://skin-horse.com/comic/todays-comic-860/ epic battle]] between Tigerlily Jones and Unity-in-Dr-Lee's-body.

-->'''Tigerlily'': SPRING-LOADED BOOMERANG CUDGEL!\\

!!!Thrower is hit variant

[[folder:Animation]]
* In Season 2 episode 20 of ''Animation/HappyHeroes'', Doctor H. is frustrated about an incident earlier and gets hit by a bottle (actually a [[GenieInABottle genie]] who ''is'' [[AnimateInanimateObject a bottle]] that was thrown by Big M.). After commenting that even a ''bottle'' won't stop pestering him, Doctor H. tries to throw it out of his sight, but it keeps coming back to hit him every time he does so.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}} and ComicBook/{{Robin}}'' #10 (Jun 2012) has a subplot where a villain assembles a bunch of {{Mook}}s who have been permanently given [[CrossesTheLineTwice Hideously]] AmusingInjuries in their encounters with Batman. One of them tried to throw a Batarang back at Batman, missed -- and now has it ''embedded in his skull.''
* ''ComicBook/GastonLagaffe'' have several jokes about it.
** One time Gaston's boomerang shatters a window. An angry neighbor brings back the boomerang to Fantasio thinking he's the one who threw it, Fantasio then throw it at Gaston's head while saying, "Gaston! It always comes back to the one who throws it!"
** Prunelle throws through a window a wooden coat hanger which lost its hook (and happens to be shaped exactly like a boomerang) and it comes back in his face, to Gaston's hilarity.
--->'''Gaston:''' You just reinvented one of the oldest jokes in the world!
** On another occasion, Gaston attempted to launch a boomerang from a crossbow, with predictable results.
--->'''Prunelle:''' ''[to a bandaged Gaston]'' Now you know why you should never launch a boomerang with a crossbow.
* In ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW'' #13, Rainbow Dash is playing with a boomerang on the beach, but gets distracted by the sight of genuine pirate captain and the boomerang hits her behind the head (but she completely ignores it).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Strips]]
* ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'': A trio of labcoated scientists, all suffering from head injuries, futily attempt to figure out how to get rid of a boomerang.
* ComicStrip/{{Garfield}} once told Odie to fetch a boomerang, only to get knocked over first by the boomerang and then by Odie.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* On the ''WesternAnimation/OverTheHedge'' DVD set, RJ and the kids are shown filming a "documentary" of Hammie finding a boomerang; one had been a running gag through the film itself. Hammie has... issues in getting rid of it. Issues exacerbated by [[spoiler:the kids throwing more boomerangs at him from a box]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* Parodied (what isn't?) in the movie ''Film/{{Airplane}}'' when Striker throws his jacket off-screen in a Disco, preparatory to a John Travolta Disco routine, only to have it fly right back at him.
* PlayedForLaughs in the old Italian movie "Totò cerca Moglie": the protagonist receives a boomerang as a gift from his Australian aunt, and whenever it's toss it will inevitably hit him back upon returning, almost as if it was alive. At one point near the end the boomerang even knocks on the door of the room Totò hid himself in to make him open the door so that it could hit him.
* An example from an action movie, although still comedic in nature: in the first ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' film, Frenzy is beheaded by one of his own CD-shuriken ricocheting wildly.
-->'''Frenzy:''' Oh shit!
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': At the end of ''Literature/InterestingTimes'', when Rincewind ends up on Fourecks, he runs into some natives who offer him a boomerang. Thinking it's yet another Call to Adventure, Rincewind throws it away in disgust and starts complaining that he's not going to do anymore heroics ever again, only for the book to end mid-sentence with Rincewind apparently being clonked on the head by the returning boomerang.
* ''Literature/TheHungerGames:'' This is how [[spoiler:Haymitch]] won his game. [[spoiler:He made it to the edge of the arena, where he discovered there was a force field that reflected back everything that was thrown at it. The other remaining competitor caught up with him, threw an axe, Haymitch ducked, the axe bounced back, and killed the thrower.]]
* ''Literature/{{Lensman}}'': It's stated that this is likely to happen to Lensmen without the Sense of Perception who use energy weapons on the planet Trenco. Because the entire planet is so energistically charged, even sight is unreliable and energy beams have been known to enter the backs of the people who fire them. Perceivers are able to sense and correct for the distortion, knowing where the target really is and how not to shoot themselves.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* One episode of ''Series/{{Blackadder}} II'' has Edmund giving a boomerang to the Queen as a present from his expedition around the world. She's unimpressed by it, and tells Percy to throw it away. He does, and a few seconds later it comes back and smacks him in the head, which amuses the Queen immensely. It's also exaggerated for comedy, since Percy lightly lobs the boomerang out the door and yet it returns with enough force to knock him down.
* Discussed in ''Series/TheFlash2014'', when Cisco is testing out Bette Sans Souci's superpowers (she can touch anything and turn it into an ActionBomb). One of the items he gives her to throw is a boomerang, but Caitlin Snow wisely takes it away before Bette can try it out, pointing out that Cisco clearly DidntThinkThisThrough.
* ''Series/HorribleHistories'' has a bit where an Egyptian, trying to show off his cat that can fetch like a dog, throws a boomerang... the cat doesn't fetch it, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDeGDpKal9k but the boomerang fetches itself.]]
* ''Series/MassiveMonsterMayhem'': Major Disappointment's intro sequence includes the giant robot pulling out his boomerang-shaped brow and throwing it at a building, only to get hit in the face at the return.
* ''Series/OddSquad'': In "End of the Road", Orana throws her [[BattleBoomerang Boomerang-inator]] at the Sand Queen, only for it to miss and fail to come back. Much later, when Orana, her partner and the Big O are buried in a pile of sand, the boomerang returns and buries itself next to Orana's head. She grips it in her teeth and starts using it to did herself out.
* ''Series/{{Sherlock}}:'' A side case in "A Scandal in Belgravia" involves a man found dead from a blow to the head by the bank of a stream. He had been seen standing there, all alone, with no-one anywhere near him, seconds before he was seen dead. [[spoiler:He had received a boomerang as a gift, and had been experimenting with it. He had just thrown it, when he was distracted by a car backfiring, turned to look, and was hit in the back of the head. The boomerang landed in the stream, and floated away.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' uses this as the way of defeating an early miniboss: he throws a boomerang from atop a set of columns, and if you roll into the column he's on after he's thrown the boomerang, destabilizing him, it'll knock him down when it returns.
* A very real problem in any ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' game with the green shell. Miss your target and it's just as likely to come back and hit you.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/TheDarkIntruder'', strip [[http://interrobangstudios.com/comics-display.php?strip_id=9 "Drak-o-rang"]], Dark Intruder is the one throwing the boomerang, but not the one hit. Instead, it lands in the face of his sidekick, Smart Girl -- but as she points out, that still mean he's in trouble.
* In ''Webcomic/KnightsOfTheOldCoding'', when Kuros finds the Axe of Agor, he discards the Knife of Throwing, forgetting that it always returns until it stabs him in the back.
* ''Webcomic/{{Swords}}'' features [[https://swordscomic.com/comic/CCXCVIII/ the Swordarang,]] a boomerang with two bladed tips. Money back guarantee! Well, yeah, considering adventurers using it keep getting stabbed on the return, it's guaranteed they'd ask their money back.
* ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' plays with this as a long-term running gag: [[http://www.xkcd.com/445/ 1]] [[http://xkcd.com/475/ 2]] [[http://xkcd.com/939/ 3]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* The ''[=DungeonVerse=]''-inspired site ''Les Parchemins Anodins'' invented the no-return boomerang: a magical boomerang which always comes back, decapitating the launcher. Ouch.
* ''Franchise/{{Tamagotchi}}'': In one ''Sorette, Kuchipatchi.'' short, Kuchipatchi throws a bag into the air. It circles Tamagotchi Planet and hits Kuchipatchi right on the back.
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[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/CampLakebottom'': Buttsquat hits himself in the back of the head with his own boomerang, which knocks him off his boat, in "Slimey Come".
* ''WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts'': Mickey Mouse's very first cartoon, ''WesternAnimation/PlaneCrazy'', ends with this happening; with his plane wrecked and Minnie having angrily left him after he deliberately scared her and then forcibly kissed her, Mickey throws away the lucky horseshoe he had been carrying the whole time in disgust. The horseshoe boomerangs around the tree behind Mickey and hooks around his neck, knocking Mickey unconscious and ending the cartoon.
* When the Eds come across a cursed boomerang in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'', they eventually manage to throw it into the distance. It comes right back with enough force to pin them all to a tree branch. Interestingly, it is the first point in the episode where the boomerang actually returns to the thrower at all.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': In ''Bender's Game'', during the parody of ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'', Pr. Fansworth (as the stereotypical fantasy wizard) turns his staff into a giant boomerang, but it hits him in the back when thrown -- or even when slightly going past the screen border.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited'', Captain Boomerang sends a swarm of boomerangs flying at Franchise/TheFlash, who catches them and throws them back. They turn around and fly back at him (suggesting that these boomerangs are ''so'' good that it doesn't take any skill to use them, they return whether you want them to or not). Upon seeing them going back towards him, Flash's response is a "DUH!"
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'' has this as a RunningGag. Rabbit and Tigger use a boomerang to try to knock down a beehive, but it misses and they have to duck to avoid getting hit. The boomerang stays up in the air for the remainder of the episode, occasionally almost hitting Rabbit. At the end, the boomerang flies into Rabbit's house with a loud crash.
* ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' shows us that the hero of ''Film/{{Krull}}'' has had this problem with the Glaive.
* ''WesternAnimation/WeBareBears'': In "Lunch With Tabes", during Grizzly's side of the story he claims he tried to ward off some bugs by throwing a boomerang at them, but it missed. At the end of the episode, [[BrickJoke the boomerang comes back out of nowhere]] and hits Panda in the head.
* ''WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner'':
** Double-Subverted in a cartoon: Wile E. buys "One Genuine Boomerang (Guaranteed to Return)" to use against the Road Runner, but when he hurls it, it seems to come and smack him from the other side of the screen (and change color from yellow to red before it is seen)... until the camera pans over to show the Road Runner standing next to a box for "Another Genuine Boomerang (Guaranteed to Return)". Wile E. starts to give chase... then his original boomerang comes back and hits him.
** In another cartoon, a boomerang Wile E. throws comes back with one of the dynamite darts he released earlier.
[[/folder]]