History Main / KnuckleCracking

* In ''{{Shiniez}}'' Lisa does this at the very start of the series before beginning the memoirs and again later when to help wake herself up she ''cracks her neck.''

* Same thing happened to Bart Simpson of ''TheSimpsons''.

* In one ''BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode there's a crook who is loudly declaring "I'm no squealer" that Batman needs to get information out of. Batman just cracks his knuckles and narrows his eyes threateningly. The guy talks.

* Jill and Wesker do this in ''ResidentEvil5'' at the beginning of your fight with them assuming you don't shoot them first.

* [[Manga/InuYasha Inu-Yasha]] does it with his hand open while showing off his claws.

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It might be useful to know that the sound released has nothing to do with the bones themselves, but rather with the joints between the bones[[hottip:* :The popping sound is thought to be trapped bubbles of gas being released, amongst other theories]], and that you're not actually damaging the joints or bones ''significantly'' by doing this, and does not increase the chance of having arthritis - contrary to an old piece of "advice". What it does is provide increased looseness and flexibility of a joint temporarily following a crack, at the cost of a slight cumulative reduction in the joint's strength - crack your knuckles and you get a weaker grip.

** In "Homer the Whopper" Comic Book Guy cracks his knuckles, neck, ''and ponytail.''

* When WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants tries cracking his knuckles, he ends up breaking them instead.

* The protagonists from ''DragonBallZ'' do this all the time before and during a fight.
** Super Buu did a LOT of neck-cracking. Which is funny when you think about it, as he [[TheBlob didn't have bones.]]

* In TheDarkKnight, when the Joker is captured, and taunting the cop assigned to watch him, he finally gets a rise out of the guard, who tells him "[[TooKinkyToTorture I know you're gonna enjoy this]]. I'm just gonna have to enjoy it even more." The Joker's only response is to stoically crack his neck.

* ''{{Naruto}}'' does it all the time. Repeatedly on the same hand, making the same cracking noise as he does it five times in succession.

* [[InuYasha Inu-Yasha]] does it with his hand open while showing off his claws.

* Dr. Stein from ''SoulEater'' cracks the joints in his neck at one point. This is tension leaving his body as he stops holding back his insanity.

* In the ''{{Film/X-Men}}'' film series, it appears a side effect of mutant healing factors is mutant joint-cracking, with Wolverine and Lady Deathstrike really going at this trope for all it's worth. Of course, they don't have to worry about arthritis.... Justified in Deathstrike's case, since her claws are inside her fingers. They need to be kept loose, and are probably sore quite often. Bonus points for adding a metal clanking noise when they crack their knuckles, hinting at their adamntium skeletons.

* Agent Smith cracks his neck a lot in ''TheMatrix'' films.

* Whenever Kotaro Minami transforms in ''[[KamenRiderBlack Kamen Rider BLACK]]'', his fists make cracking noises.

* In ''BreathOfFire 3'', Bunyan cracks his knuckles after catching your team robbing his house red-handed.

* Jill and Wesker do this in ''ResidentEvil 5'' at the beginning of your fight with them assuming you don't shoot them first.

* ''GuiltyGear'''s Sol Badguy does this in one of his fight intros.

* VideoGame/DukeNukem cracks his knuckles at the beginning of every level in DukeNukem3D.

* When SpongebobSquarepants tries cracking his knuckles, he ends up breaking them instead.

* Mongul in the ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' episode "ForTheManWhoHasEverything".

* MiniFett's TeamFortress2 weirdo, Spyper, normally speaks with a Spy's voice, but he'll randomly twitch and start talking like a Sniper, usually to spout something loud and tactless. Every time it happens his neck cracks audibly.

* While there's not that much obvious noise, when Blue or [[BewareTheNiceOnes Toboe]] from [[WolfsRain Wolf's Rain]] start clenching shaking fists, somebody's in for an asskicking.

* DukeNukem cracks his knuckles at the beginning of every level in DukeNukem3D.

* Rock Callahan, {{Kick Buttowski}}'s favorite action hero, has a habit of cracking his neck while delivering his {{One Liner}}s.
* The first aired (but not "true" first) {{Regular Show}} episode, Mordecai and Rigby vigorously crack their knuckles, spines, and shoulders for a few seconds before engaging in..... Rock, Paper, Scissors

* ''Regular Show'' Mordecai and Rigby vigorously crack their knuckles, spines, and shoulders for a few seconds before engaging in..... Rock, Paper, Scissors

* In ''RealBoutHighSchool'', Midori gets cracking when she gets [[TheCracker cracking]].

* Dr. Stein from ''SoulEater'' cracks the joints in his neck at one point. This is tension leaving his body as he stops holding back his insanity.

* Tai Lung has the habit as well in ''KungFuPanda''.

* In the ''{{Film/X-Men}}'' film series, it appears a side effect of mutant healing factors is mutant joint-cracking, with Wolverine and Lady Deathstrike really going at this trope for all it's worth. Of course, they don't have to worry about arthritis.... Justified in Deathstrike's case, since her claws are inside her fingers. They need to be kept loose, and are probably sore quite often. Bonus points for adding a metal clanking noise when they crack their knuckles, hinting at their adamntium skeletons.

* ChrisBenoit... it's still hard to mention him.

* One of the finest examples of the "crushing" variant comes in ''PhoenixWright: Trials and Tribulations''. As cool, collected, magnificently sardonic Diego Armando comforts Mia over the disastrous end of her first trial, his hand tightens on his omnipresent coffee mug. He doesn't even flinch as it shatters, holding up his bleeding fist as he delivers one of the most profound lines in the series.

* Tokugawa Ieyasu from ''SengokuBasara'' dramatically cracks his knuckles before his Basara attack, appropriate since he's a fist fighter. Kuroda Kanbe also cracks his neck during his taunt, complaining that he "needs a break".

* Of all people, RichieRich's mother had this as a habit.

* And as for neck cracking, Starfire on ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' does one badass neck cracking in "Go", where you really see what an upbringing by a warrior race will do for you when you're scared and in a strange place having just escaped being a war prize, and implied sex slave. Scary.

* Spoofed on an ''{{NCIS}}'' episode. [=McGee=] tries to act tough by doing this, while Tony (falsely) points out that doing so is an warning sign for the early stages of arthritis.
* Spoofed on ''FamilyMatters''. When Urkel uses a machine to turn himself into Bruce Lee, he starts out an fight with an extended series of cracking, the noises of which barely even match up with the motions that are supposed to be making them. Then it goes UpToEleven and OverlyLongGag when Urkel, Richie ''and'' 3J all become literal BruceLeeClone and begin cracking and whining noises.

* In her co-review of ''Honor & Glory'' with ObscurusLupa, TheNostalgiaChick starts doing this when Lupa rejects Todd for about the millionth time.

* In ''{{Goblins}}'', "Mr. Fingers" is doing this kind of sound with every move. [[http://www.goblinscomic.com/04262011/ Every freakin' move.]]

* As seen in the trope image, Shepard invokes this trope in ''MassEffect'' a lot, usually as warm up in order to extract information from a hesitant informant. Unsurprisingly, if you understand anything about [[{{Badass}} Shepard]], it works. One volus was savvy enough that all s\he had to do was crack knuckles to comply.

* In the {{SouthPark}} episode "Tweak vs Craig" right before their fight Craig cracks his neck.

* ''TengenToppaGurrenLagann'': The Arc-Gurren Lagann, a HumongousMecha the size of a small city, can crack its neck.

* Shiron from ''{{Legendz}}'' cracks his neck before some fights.

* Though no fists were involved, this trope probably still applies in ''RidingBean'', where Bean Bandit keeps casually throwing chestnuts in his mouth, until he finally ''bites'', cracking them all at once. He's got some BadAss jaw muscles.

* Cobra Bubbles cracks his neck in ''LiloAndStitch''.

* ''{{Blade}} 2'' starts with Blade storming in a den of mooks, shooting the place up and then jumping several stories down to chase after the fleeing. He then cracks his neck.

* In ''{{Snatch}}'', Brad Pitt's character stretches and cracks up after being sucker punched at the start of a fight early in the movie. Unsurprisingly, he wins. It's worth noting that as he stretches and cracks up his opponent ''continues to pound him'' seven ways 'til Sunday. [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome And then Pitt checks his clock with one punch]].
* The mobster guy in ''DumbAndDumber''. The one with the heart condition.
* Random Task in the first ''AustinPowers'' movie. Largely as a parody of Odd Job from [[JamesBond Goldfinger]], the ultimate [[TheStoic Stoic]].

* Tyler Durden of ''FightClub'' cracked his neck after throwing the main character down a flight of stairs during the finale.
* Used at the end of the catfight sequence in ''Bringing Down the House''. The female lead (Queen Latifa) has just unleashed a serious ass-whoopin' on the AlphaBitch. After all the BondOneLiners are said, all the punches have been thrown, Latifa straightens up, and shouts. "And I NEVER want to have this conversation again." Then cracks her neck. Slightly different, as she does this to show that the Libby did, in fact, put up a good fight.
* ''UndercoverBrother''. Lance does a neck crack after killing the three guards in The Man's island fortress.
* ''Film/MenInBlack''. The Bug does a neck crack after it crawls out of the pit wearing its nice new Edgar suit.
* ''LethalWeapon''. Sergeant Murtaugh needs to crack his neck in order to make a [[IncrediblyLamePun crack shot]].
* ''[[TheTerminator Terminator Salvation]]''. Marcus cracks his neck near the end of his first fight scene. [[spoiler: [[FridgeLogic Despite being a cyborg]].]]
* Hilariously parodied in the French [[TheFilmOfTheBook movie]] ''[[{{Asterix}} Asterix and Obelix: Mission Cleopatra]]'': after cracking his neck, Numérobis cracks one finger, and then his ''eyelids''.
* In the first ''ResidentEvil'' movie, Rain Ocampo does a neck crack right after [[spoiler:turning into a zombie]] in the subway car.
* Jimmy Jones (né Tudeski) spends most of ''TheWholeNineYards'' as a friendly guy with a slight tendency to rant and a history of murder for profit. Always keeps his cool. Then he finds out that [[spoiler:Oz slept with his estranged wife]] and completely loses it. That he cracks his neck is more punctuation than necessary for proof that he's angry.
--> '''Oz:''' He's upset. I've upset a mass murderer.

* Hackman (Terry Crews) in ''Film/{{Gamer}}'' does a lot of neck-cracking.

* [[MightyGlacier Kintaros]] from ''KamenRiderDenO'' has this as his [[CatchPhrase Catch Pose]], cracking his neck by putting a thumb to the side of his chin and pushing.
** Whenever Kotaro Minami transforms in ''[[KamenRiderBlack Kamen Rider BLACK]]'', his fists make cracking noises.

* In ''BreathOfFire 3'', the gargoyle-like prizefighter, Garr, would usually, pull up his belt, and crick his neck in both directions.
** Also earlier in the game, when Bunyan cracks his knuckles after catching your team robbing his house red-handed.
* Paul Phoenix in the ''{{Tekken}}'' games did the neck crack in his little fight intro.

* Cracking his neck side-to-side (especially when he's feeling flustered) is one of Jecht's quirks in ''FinalFantasyX''.

* Mr. Sandman in ''PunchOut Wii'' will start a new round by cracking his shoulders.

* Played for laughs in ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures''. Jackie is split into two by a talisman, and his yang side cracks his neck, pauses, then cracks it again while beating on some mooks.
* Parodied in ''TheSimpsons''. When Hollywood execs come to make his comic book creation into a movie, Comic Book Guy does a long series of cracking different body parts, ending with cracking his pony tail.

* In the ''WesternANimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode " The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well," Rainbow Dash cracks her neck while preparing to [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome open a jar of peanut butter.]] [[spoiler: She can't do it.]]

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