History Main / DamselInDistress

* ''Film/IT1990'': Bill's wife Audra is captured by the titular monster and is put in a comatose state, even after the surviving [[TheTeam Losers's Club]] save her she remains motionless and shocked due to seeing It's [[EldritchAbomination true form]]. Bill returns his wife to normal by using the the power of his bike Sliver.

* ''Film/MissMeadows'': Miss Meadows is kidnapped and held captive near the end. Though she does fight back, her fiancee Mike has to rescue her.

** ''Film/{{Thunderball}}''. Bond's fellow agent Paula is kidnapped by a couple of Largo's thugs and taken to be tortured for information. Bond goes to Largo's estate to rescue her but arrives too late. Paula has taken a CyanidePill and killed herself so she can't be made to betray Bond and the operation.

*** If Elizabeth is this in the first movie, then Will must be as well, because he ends up having to be rescued from the ''exact same situation''. She manages to instigate his rescue despite being marooned on a deserted island, and then actively fights alongside him in the final battle.

* Done remarkably effectively in ''Film/SupermanTheMovie'' (1978) - the famous helicopter rescue, but all of the climaxes in the movie involve this trope. Also used in the sequels.
* Played fairly straight in 'Sync' episode 6, where computer prodigy Yoshi appears to have no sense of fighting or quick reasoning skill whatsoever. Ruthlessly exploited by our 'GenreSavvy' main character when he gets her to panic in his favor by suddenly yelling, "Oh god, look at all the bad guys coming to get you, get on the motocrcycle, quick, they're right behind us!'
* ''Film/IT1990'' Bill's wife Audra is captured by the titular monster and is put in a comatose state, even after the surviving [[TheTeam Losers's Club]] save her she remains motionless and shocked due to seeing It's [[EldritchAbomination true form]]. Bill returns his wife to normal by using the the power of his bike Sliver.
** ''Film/IT2017'' [[spoiler:Beverly just after knocking her [[PervertDad awful father]] is captured by Pennywise and is taken to the sewer ensuring the rest of the boys to chase to come to her rescue. Some fans were pissed Beverly is seemly relegated to damsel in distress, when in the books and the original TV Miniseries she never is put in that position. %%But this opinion false as it's revealed to be a subversion in the 2017 version, as Pennywise ''only'' takes Beverly as bait to lure Bill and the others. Plus he can't even eat her since [[ImNotAfraidOfYou she's not afraid of him]] really Bev is far more physically competent than her book and 1990 counterpart since she is the first one to actually damage Pennywise]].
* Aversion: In ''Film/TheProposition'', this role is occupied by the retarded younger brother. Obviously, there is no RescueRomance. At the end, however, [[[[spoiler:Charlie still has to rescue the police captain's wife from being raped and killed, although the captain himself - despite being Ray Winstone - is also being threatened, though not with rape.]]

* Averted in ''Film/IronMan1''. Pepper Potts has to be rescued, but is enough of a threat that the villain feels compelled to shoot her instead of taking her hostage. She's also generally competent and helpful throughout the film.
** Indeed, the one scene that seems obviously headed for her being captured and turned into a distressed damsel has her instead easily evading the villain's clutches, and then immediately alerting the authorities to his evil plans.
** ''Film/IronMan3'' has Pepper taken prisoner again, [[[[spoiler:but ultimately saves Tony using part of one of his armors while under the influence of [[SuperSerum Extremis]].]] Worth noting, the same film also had [[TheLancer Rhodey]] and the President of the United States needing rescue at various points.
* Averted again in the ''Film/IronMan2'', when Happy Hogan insists on accompanying S.H.I.E.L.D Agent Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow on her mission and fights a bad guy when they enter the building. By the time he has won the fight, he sees that she's taken down every other bad guy there is.
*** Exploited by Natasha in the beginning of ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}''. She's held captive by a group of Russian mobsters who are ready to kill her until Agent Coulson calls her, ready to bring her back in. She even notes how she's playing them like a fiddle. When Coulson explains why it's urgent[[note]]Hawkeye has been compromised by Loki[[/note]], she easily frees herself and drops everyone she was dealing with in no time flat. With Coulson listening in on the whole thing, showing all the concern warranted by being put on hold.
* ''Film/XMenFilmSeries''

* ''Film/TankGirl''. Sam (a 10-year-old girl) is captured several times, with Tank Girl spending the movie tracking her down in order to save her. Subverted at one point when Sam cleverly uses a deadly toy to puncture a child molester's hand.

* ''Film/WildWildWest''. Rita Escobar, whose [[spoiler:husband]] was kidnapped by Dr. Loveless and who ends up getting imprisoned and kidnapped by Loveless herself.

* Subverted with [[[[spoiler:Kelly]] in ''Film/MysteryTeam''. Yes, she DOES get kidnapped... [[[[spoiler:but it's not like the Mystery Team were much help in saving her]].
* {{Reconstruction}} in the ''Film/ScoobyDoo'' movie. They point out that while, yes, Daphne did get kidnapped a lot, she never let that discourage her from joining the gang in their latest mystery. She's also [[TookALevelInBadass studied martial arts]] so that she is eventually able to look after herself.
-->'''Daphne:''' (after defeating a henchman who tried to kidnap her) Now who's the damsel in distress?\\

* In ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', Selina Kyle (Creator/AnneHathaway) plays this straight when she is cornered by Bane's henchmen on the rooftop while confronting John Daggett. She also fakes it in the bar shootout, where she guns down two of Bane's henchmen, then [[WoundedGazelleGambit begins screaming hysterically when the SWAT team bursts in, only to sober up as soon as they have chased Bane's men out]].

* Elle Brody’s role in ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}'' is basically to be in danger from the Kaiju and motivate Ford to risk his life to save her.

* In both ''Film/Annie1982'' and ''Film/{{Annie|2014}}'', [[spoiler:Annie is kidnapped by her fake parents and sent on a car chase with them during the climax]].

* Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse:

* ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''. During the attempt to reach the castle of the Wicked Witch of the West, Dorothy is kidnapped by the Witch's flying monkeys and taken to the castle. The Witch decides to kill Dorothy so she can obtain the ruby slippers Dorothy wears. The Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion must infiltrate the castle and save Dorothy from certain death.

* Princess Odette from ''WesternAnimation/TheSwanPrincess'' gets kidnapped by Sir Rothbart in the first movie and Zelda in the second one. In the first film, Odette also turns down Rothbart's marriage proposals without a hint of remorse or fear, even though she knows he's a powerful warlock who ''assassinated'' her father, King William. Also, she doesn't exactly wait for Derek to show up and does everything she can to try and let him know where she is and what he has to do. In the second film, Odette does not get captured by the magician, Sir Clavis, though he does lock her up in Rothbart’s old castle before escaping to help Derek. Instead, it was Prince Derek’s mother, Queen Uberta, who ended up being captured by Clavius. So it’s up to Odette and Derek to rescue her from Clavius and his co conspirator, Sir Knuckles.

** In "A Friend Indeed!", [[Anime/PokemonThePowerOfUs Margo]] is cornered by three young teenage bullies and as part a MythologyGag to Margo's debut ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' movie, ''The Power of Us'', one of the girls throws the lid of the ice cream they were carrying towards Margo, but [[VideoGame/SonicGenerations Classic]] [[VideoGame/SonicMania Sonic]] arrives just in time to prevent the lid from hitting Margo in the face and also manages to chase the girls off after beating their Phanpy!

** Played straight and then subverted as said damsel [[TookALevelInBadass takes a level in badass]] over the course of the movies. It gets [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by Jack when he refers to her as "a certain damsel in distress... Or should I say distressing damsel." after [[[[spoiler:her ShootTheDog moment of leaving Jack to die]]. By the climax of the third film, the same young woman who had previously been kidnapped and held prisoner by Captain Barbossa's crew has become [[[[spoiler:The Pirate King, thanks in no small part to [[BatmanGambit Jack's gaming the system]] of pirate politics.]]

** In "A Friend Indeed!", [[Anime/PokemonThePowerOfUs Margo]] is cornered by three young teenage bullies and as part a MythologyGag to Margo's debut ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' movie, ''The Power of Us'', one of the girls throws the lid of the ice cream they were carrying towards Margo, but [[VideoGame/SonicGenerations Classic]] [[VideoGame/SonicMania Sonic]] arrives just in time to prevent the lid from hitting Margo in the face and also manages to chase the girls off after beating their Phanpy!

* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in ''Film/InTheCut''. [[[[spoiler:Frannie manages to kill the murderer and "rescues" Malloy]].

** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] and averted in the [[WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}} first movie]], especially in a scene where Robin Hood and his Merry Men try to "rescue" Fiona from the ogre they believe has kidnapped her, only to have her rebuff him and beat up all his men in a combination of styles from ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'' and ''Film/TheMatrix''.

* Princess Odette from ''WesternAnimation/TheSwanPrincess'' gets kidnapped by Sir Rothbart in the first movie and Zelda in the second one. In the first film, Odette also turns down Rothbart's marriage proposals without a hint of remorse or fear, even though she knows he's a powerful warlock and ''assassinated'' her father, King William. Also, she doesn't exactly wait for Derek to show up and does everything she can to try and let him know where she is and what he has to do. In the second film, Odette does not get captured by the magician, Sir Clavis, though he does lock her up in Rothbart’s old castle, but she escapes. Instead, it was Prince Derek’s mother, Queen Uberta, who ended up being captured by Clavius. So it’s up to Odette and Derek to save her from Clavius and his co conspirator, Sir Knuckles.

* Princess Odette from ''WesternAnimation/TheSwanPrincess'' gets kidnapped by Sir Rothbart in the first movie and Zelda in the second one. In the first film, Odette also turns down Rothbart's marriage proposals without a hint of remorse or fear, even though she knows he's a powerful warlock and ''killed'' her father, King William. Also, she doesn't exactly wait for Derek to show up and does everything she can to try and let him know where she is and what he has to do. In the second film, Odette does not get captured by the magician, Sir Clavis, though he does lock her up in Rothbart’s old castle, but she escapes. Instead, it was Prince Derek’s mother, Queen Uberta, who ended up being captured by Clavius. So it’s up to Odette and Derek to save her from Clavius and his co conspirator, Sir Knuckles.

* ''Fanfic/YourAlicornIsInAnotherCastle'': Bowser does this throughout TheMultiverse. Because [[spoiler:he's contracted to]]. There are some ways this trope gets played with though: [[spoiler:he often offers his services ''to'' princesses, who see getting kidnapped as a way to let down their hair, [[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask remove their mask]], and just be a ''person'' rather than a ruler for a while. In fact, the whole story started because Celestia had hired him to kidnap her so she can get out of boring treaty negotiations, but forgot to tell him which alicorn was her.]]

** In "Introducing Anata", [[Anime/LoveLiveNijigasakiHighSchoolIdolClub Yuu Takasaki]] is cornered by a new model of [[WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehog SWAT]][[ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics bot]] that [[MadScientist Dr. Eggman]] has created with Eggman daring Yuu to battle the robot with her Pokémon despite Yuu not being a Trainer. Thankfully, her fellow [=NijiGaku=] classmates/friends Hilda White and Shiori Fujisaki accompanied her and made short work of the bot with their Samurott and Mega Charizard X respectively.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'':
** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] and averted in the first movie, especially in a scene where Robin Hood and his Merry Men try to "rescue" Fiona from the ogre they believe has kidnapped her, only to have her rebuff him and beat up all his men in a combination of styles from ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'' and ''Film/TheMatrix''.
** And in ''Shrek Forever After'', where in an alternate universe where Shrek was never born and never came for her, Fiona eventually decided to rescue ''herself''.

* ''Film/EyesOfAStranger: Blind, deaf-mute teen girl Tracy is taken captive in her own apartment by the [[AntagonistTitle titular]] SerialKiller in the movie's climax, leaving it up to her sister to rush back to the apartment in time to save her.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mamma Mia here we go again.]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros She's pretty much used to it at this point.]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Princess Peach just can't catch a break can she?]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Princess Peach]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Princess Peach]]]] just can't catch a break can she?

[[caption-width-right:350:[[SaveThePrincess Just another Wednesday]] for [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Princess Peach.]]]]

* ''Fanfic/YourAlicornIsInAnotherCastle'': Bowser does this throughout TheMultiverse. Because [[spoiler:he's contracted to]]. There are some ways this trope gets played with though: [[spoiler:he often offers his services ''to'' princesses, who see getting kidnapped as a way to let down their hair, [[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask remove their mask]], and just be a ''person'' rather than a queen for a while. In fact, the whole story started because Celestia had hired him to kidnap her so she can get out of boring treaty negotiations, but forgot to tell him which alicorn was her.]]

* Trillian in the film version of ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''.

* ''Fanfic/YourAlicornIsInAnotherCastle'': Bowser does this throughout TheMultiverse. Because [[spoiler:he's contracted to]].

See also TheDulcineaEffect, DistressBall, StandardFemaleGrabArea, DeterminedWidow, IHaveYourWife, SaveThePrincess, HostageMacGuffin. If the girl is actually ''faking'' this for her own benefits, depending on her purposes she's either a DeliberatelyDistressedDamsel or a DecoyDamsel. A damsel who rescues herself is a DamselOutOfDistress who probably used an ImprovisedWeapon. If she has a strong spirit despite captivity, then they are a DefiantCaptive. If the hero leaves the damsel in distress (for the moment), that's DelayingTheRescue. If the hero tries to rescue them even though they don't need rescuing, then TheVictimMustBeConfused. See also TheCaptivityNarrative for a plot based on this.