History Main / DisneyVillainDeath

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/ChickenRun'', where Mrs. Tweedy is defeated by falling off an airplane. She survives the fall itself, but is (possibly) killed by the effects of it; the fall triggers a massive explosion, which destroys a barn, which causes the door of said barn to fall on top of her- and it looks as if her husband may have pushed the door on top of her.

* Ineptly used for the villain of ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfTheAmericanRabbit''… who's a bird. They do show that he's gotten very tired and his wings are covered with snow, but he falls/glides ''very slowly'' about twenty feet, lands in snow, and the sound effect when he hits is a gentle "puff".

* Played with in ''WesternAnimation/ChickenRun'', where Mrs. Tweedy is defeated by falling off an airplane. She survives the fall itself, but is (possibly) killed by the effects of it; the fall triggers a massive explosion, which destroys a barn, which causes the door of said barn to fall on top of her- and it looks as if her husband may have pushed the door on top of her.

* In the Calvert cut of ''WesternAnimation/TheThiefAndTheCobbler'', Mighty One-Eye dies falling to his death from atop the cliff overlooking his warmachine.

* ''Literature/SwordOfTheRightfulKing'': Morgause's henchman [[OldRetainer Hwyll]] is tackled by Gawen, causing him to topple ove ra rampart to his death.

* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', {{Mook|s}} Crown gets this death by plummeting into Earth's gravity while piloting his Zaku. Ramba Ral also suffers this fate as he falls with a grenade in his hand onto the Gundam's hand.
* In ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'', Kacricon Cacooler's Marasai's ballute opens automatically, then Kamille gets a shot in, and Kacricon falls screaming into the atmosphere.
* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'' featured an awesome variant in an early episode when Lady Une [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrahCm7UIa4 dumps the last surviving Alliance general from the bottom of an airborne transport plane]], then ''[[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill shoots him while he's falling]].'' Septem had just broadcast his condemnation of the Gundam pilots' assassination of the rest of the Alliance leadership which had decided to sue for peace and total disarmament, but since OZ was simultaneously staging [[TheCoup a coup]] of the Alliance, Septem had [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness outlived his usefulness]].

* In the early Batman comics, the Joker did this at least four times, but always survived.
** In "Mad Love", he even says, [[LampshadeHanging "Not agaaaaaain--!"]] as he falls in a smokestack [[CallBack (a reference to his origin story falling in a vat of chemicals after a fight with Bats)]].

* In ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' story ''ComicBook/TheKMetalFromKrypton'', when Superman finally confronts Daryl Bronson, the man who made a pact with a gangster to take over a gold mine and then tried to murder them all, the villain fearfully steps back, forgetting he is standing on the edge of a cliff, and falls off, landing on a pile of rocks and dying.

** ''ComicBook/TransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'' had [[spoiler:Pharma]] meet this fate in issue 5. It's played with, though, as one of the heroes purposefully causes it to happen, something this trope was implicitly designed to avoid.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}} and the Cauldron'', Whosemoralsareelastix is defeated this way -- he disarms Asterix in a sword fight, is about to go in for the killing blow, and the cliff edge collapses under him along with all of his money. [[SaveTheVillain Asterix decides to help him up, though,]] [[CruelMercy saying the loss of his money was enough of a punishment.]]

->He could be [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid skewered by a sailing ship]]

** In ''Clone Wars'', the clones of the cubs are killed when Clone Nala finally accepts that [[CloningBlues she's not real]], crosses the DespairEventHorizon, and tackles the other clones off of a cliff.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Narbonic}}'', Helen Narbon ([[CloningBlues the original]]) winds up falling off a ledge into a thousand-foot waterfall. [[spoiler:She's not really dead -- the other cast members [[NeverFoundTheBody never saw the body.]] ]]
** The author admits to just liking the trope for its symbolic invocation of hubris (which works ''great'' for {{Mad Scientist}}s); near the end of the strip, Helen Narbon the second is knocked off a floating island. [[spoiler:She's not dead either, but in an alternate timeline she would have been injured and wound up as a BrainInAJar.]]

* Played with in ''WesternAnimation/ChickenRun'', where the villainess is defeated by falling off an airplane. She survives the fall itself, but is (possibly) killed by the effects of it; the fall triggers a massive explosion, which destroys a barn, which causes the door of said barn to fall on top of her.

* A tragic non-villain example happened to Wrestling/OwenHart, who during his entrance when he rappelled in from the rafters, fell 78 feet to his death. It was only by luck that this didn't happen on national television, who saw only a backstage promo instead.

!!As this is a DeathTrope, all spoilers will be unmarked ahead in the examples below. Beware!

* In ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'''s action movie parody ''Dangeresque'', the title character entertains this idea but fails to follow through on it. What happens to Perducci is actually kind of [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse unclear]], but he survives to menace Dangeresque again in ''Dangeresque 3: The Criminal Projective''.
-->'''Dangeresque:''' Once we get to the top of this high-scraper, we'll hopefully be able to throw some people off. Maybe even Perducci.

* ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'': In the ''Alicization'' anime, when Yanai has Higa at gunpoint, Rinko Kojiro drops a wrench near them, spooking Yanai and making step back and fall backwards to his death (in the light novel, [[DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation the wrench fell on top of his head killing him directly]]).

* In ''Literature/CallForTheDead'', the first George Smiley novel, Smiley's physical struggle with his former agent Dieter Frey ends with Frey falling from a bridge into the river Thames. Smiley had been aiming to capture, not kill, and a combination of MyGodWhatHaveIDone and HeroicBSOD ensues.

* In Creator/JohnLeCarre's first novel, ''A Call for the Dead'', George Smiley kills [[spoiler:Dieter]] by knocking [[spoiler:him]] off a bridge. A combination of MyGodWhatHaveIDone and HeroicBSOD ensues.

* ''[[VideoGame/{{SiN}} SiN: the Movie]]'' has [=SinTek=] owner Elexis Sinclaire falling to her death in a way ambiguous enough to set up a return for a {{sequel|Hook}}.

* In the [[Manga/TheLegendOfZeldaAkiraHimekawa manga adaptation]] of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'', Gordon Link wrangles Goht and throws the monster off the mountainside.

** TheDragon from the second DBZ movie subverts this trope, as he falls from a great height but explodes on the way down.
** Several subversions appear through ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'''s "Universal Survival" saga, as the warriors participating in the Tournament of Power are eliminated only by getting thrown off the stage (which is a floating arena in a void), to which they are teleported to spectator stands.

* Averted in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' when Wrath is defeated in Episode 58 of Brotherhood. He manages to swim to safety, although he remains weak enough for Scar to quickly kill him a little while afterwards.

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure''

** Interesting variant with Part 2's BigBad, Kars. Instead of falling to his demise, he's blasted upward into space after Joseph accidentally sets off a volcano. And now that Kars is immortal, and his body completely frozen, he's forever trapped in a FateWorseThanDeath.

* ''Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa''