History Main / OffingTheAnnoyance

The "cathartic" side of this trope is usually used in more lighthearted shows, where the victim will have been bad enough to almost make you think they deserved it. They may even be a reflection of a common real-life annoyance, such as someone loudly talking on their cell phone during a movie or screaming at a waiter. The most extreme examples of this type overlap heavily with BullyingADragon - in other words, the victim was intentionally harassing his killer to the point where almost any sane person would've wanted to KickTheSonOfABitch too.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', Eustass Kidd and his first mate Killer do not like being argued against and will immediately use lethal force against anyone who disagrees with them. Demalo Black attempts to kill the bartender with his flintlock for not serving drinks fast enough and then at Nami when she refuses to sit next to him. The most extreme case are the Celestial Dragons. These guys not only aim their guns at anyone who doesn't bow down and do everything that they're told to do quickly (and often unreasonably so), but will shoot immediately, up to and including firing a cannon and sinking [[spoiler: a little boy whose boat happens to cross the path of one of their ships.]] At least Demalo just hovers his gun without shooting to give the victim another chance.

* In the last episode of the original ''Anime/DiGiCharat'', Dejiko puts together a bomb disguised as a Christmas cake in order to off her annoying co-worker Hikaru Usada. [[spoiler: She repents after Usada expresses gratitude for the cake and heads home with it, but it ends up blowing up anyway right after she returns to share it with everyone, decimating the store but failing to actually kill anyone.]]

* The climax of ''Film/TheRocketeer'' features a Gestapo officer who shows up with a bunch of Nazi soldiers in a Zeppelin and seems to spend pretty much all of his screen-time screaming furiously at Nazi turncoat [[spoiler: Neville Sinclair]] about how he's screwed up all their plans to acquire the rocket pack. Guess how long it takes said turncoat to get fed up of this annoying nonsense and shoot him out of the Zeppelin.

* One of the most infamous scenes in ''Series/BreakingBad'' is when Tuco Salamanca beats one of his most trusted right-hand men to death with his bare hands for talking out of turn. It turns out to have been an accident - what was supposed to be a nonlethal beating sent him into a fatal seizure - but Tuco doesn't show any remorse either way.

* On ''Series/SixFeetUnder'', the BodyOfTheWeek was an old woman from the nursing home where Vanessa (Federico's wife) worked. At the beginning of the episode, the woman was constantly talking about whatever was ailing her. Later, when her body arrived at Fisher & Sons, they find [[spoiler: her roommate had shoved a hot dog down her throat to make her shut up]].

* Averted in the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E3TheHarshLightOfDay The Harsh Light of Day]]". Spike stakes [[spoiler: Harmony]] after becoming annoyed with her babbling but [[spoiler:she happens to be wearing a ring that makes vampires indestructible at the time]].

* ''Series/IClaudius'': 10 (or so) year old Gemellus dies of an IncurableCoughOfDeath - which is to say, Caligula has him killed because he won't stop coughing.

* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedSyndicate'': Crawford Starrick is busy [[spoiler:mourning Pearl]] when one of his men tells him there's a call - at which point Crawford shoots him dead, then yells that he is not to be disturbed.
* In the bad ending of ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow]]'', this is [[spoiler: [[RogueProtagonist Dark Lord Soma]]'s]] rationale for killing off the BigBad:

--> '''Pronyma:''' [[spoiler:Mithos]], save me--
--> '''Yggdrassil:''' *Fireball* '''Never call me by that name.'''

* In [[WebVideo/{{Jerma985}} Jerma Rumble 3]], Demon Lord Zeraxos is pissed off by the Slim Jim Guy being in the Royal Rumble, whom he's supposedly had a feud with for over 2000 years, and proceeds to enter the ring to choke-slam him into Hell. [[spoiler: He then goes on a frenzy, killing The Mime, [[VideoGame/{{LethalLeague}} Candyman]] and Count Chocula before he is eliminated and incapacitated by Mr. Sneak Man]]. He returns in the Live-Action Rumble pissed off that he wasn't invited and proceeds to shoot a poorly-animated fireball at Jerma, leaving him with a few broken bones.

* ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' showed [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Vader doing this to Jar-Jar Binks]] by having him ThrownOutTheAirlock - unfortunately for Vader, Jar-Jar came back as a Force ghost.

* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' Cain kills Abel for annoying him [[spoiler: over and over again, since they're immortal]].
* In ''ComicBook/HeroSquared'' supervillainess Caliginous has one, very obsequious, henchbeing. Whenever he annoys her too much she kills him and activates another clone.
* In the comic version of ''ComicBook/{{Wanted}}'', the protagonist (once he's found out about his new powers) kills (among others) his neighbor, who annoyed him by always repeating the same mindlessly optimistic message every morning. His first step to becoming a {{supervillain}} is to go down the list of everyone who annoyed him in some way during his life and murder, rape, or torture all of them.
* In ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'', ComicBook/VandalSavage [[DisproportionateRetribution kills Lex Luthor's secretary]] with a NeckSnap for the following concerning his coffee:
-->'''Vandal Savage:''' I said ''two'' sugars.
* ComicBook/TheJoker does this ''constantly''. It's probably his second most common reason for murder when it isn't just ForTheEvulz. If he doesn't kill you for a laugh, he kills you for asking a stupid question, saying Batman's name, existing in the same room when he's in a bad mood, calling him "Puddin", giving him bad drive-through service or whatever else sets him off that day.

* ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'': When Tim goes to deal with a hostage situation only to find the hostage takers have already murdered one of the hostages he sort of loses himself in the fight in his anger as the lead criminal says they killed the man in front of his little daughter because "he wouldn't shut up".
* In ''ComicBook/SecretWars1984'', Ultron found himself on the receiving end of this trope when he kept pestering ComicBook/{{Galactus}} for an alliance to kill all the organic beings. Galactus told him to scram, but Ultron wouldn't leave him alone until finally [[EyeBeams Galactus tired of his presence]].

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Utawarerumono}}'', Nuwangi's soldiers try to kill Aruruw simply for throwing a stone at their leader, and the elderly village leader Tuskur gets in the way and takes the blow for her. In a twist, Nuwangi is clearly aware this is neither appropriate nor something he can get away with, and quickly flees the village for fear of his life despite being the son of that village's lord. In fact, the village is so furious at this that this event ends up being the spark that triggers a rebellion that overthrows the Emperor and winds up taking over the entire landmass.
* A trailer for ''VideoGame/TotalWarWARHAMMER'', this one depicting the Greenskins has a very talkative goblin petitioning [[LargeAndInCharge Warboss]] [[BloodKnight Grimgor]] [[TheDreaded Ironhide]] on where to go for their next fight. He gets a bit too enthusiastic about it, so Grimgor picks up him by the neck and then squeezes.

* In the bad ending of ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow]]'', this is [[spoiler: [[RogueProtagonist Dark Lord Soma]]'s]] rationale for killing off the BigBad:
--> Shut up. You annoy me. That's all the reason I need.
* ''VideoGame/AITheSomniumFiles'': The New Cyclops Killer ends up with one unplanned victim in the Annihilation Route. If he successfully kills [[spoiler:Iris Sagan]], then he also kills [[spoiler:her most avid supporter, Ota Matsushita,]] out of sheer annoyance for his constant meddling.

* In the book ''Literature/PeterPan'', Hook kills his men frequently. It's almost like GeorgeJetsonJobSecurity {{Up to Eleven}}

* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'': Frieza fatally wounds Vegeta out of annoyance when the latter gloats over Goku beating up the former.

It also says a lot about the perpetrator. It's usually used to show that a character's JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope, or is suffering a VillainousBreakdown. If a ruler does it, he just might be TheCaligula. In [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism more cynical works]], it's often viewed as a MoralEventHorizon because of how [[EvilIsPetty petty]] it is and because the perpetrator feels righteous in their actions.

* In ''Series/BoardwalkEmpire'' season 3, [[AxCrazy mob boss Gyp Rosetti]] has a habit of doing this. The real problem is that his definition of "annoyance" can include virtually ''anything''. His EstablishingCharacterMoment comes when a GoodSamaritan helps him fix his car, but (completely unintentionally) appears to be patronizing Rosetti for his lack of education. Rosetti lets him finish helping and then beats him to death with a tire iron.

* In July 2010, a 14-year-old boy was shot and killed by his neighbour for constantly blowing a vuvuzela during that year's World Cup, which was hosted in South Africa that year. While an important part of South African culture, vuvuzelas are ''extremely'' infamous internationally for their loud, monotonous drone that can cause permanent hearing loss to unprotected ears; but that does not make the boy's murder any less tragic.

It also says a lot about the perpetrator. It's usually used to show that a character's JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope, or is suffering a VillainousBreakdown. If a ruler does it, he just might be TheCaligula.

'''John Bigboote:''' [screaming] [[ItIsPronouncedTroPay BIG-BOO-]]''[[ItIsPronouncedTroPay TAY!]]'' [[ItIsPronouncedTroPay TAY! TAY!]]

* In ''{{Film/Daredevil}}'': While on his flight to New York, psychopath hit-man Bullseye is sitting next to an elderly lady who ''won't stop talking''. So he chokes her to death by ''ricocheting an airplane peanut off the back of the seat in front of him into the woman's throat'', choking her to death, but making it look like she fell asleep.

* ''Series/{{Daredevil}}'': Kingpin kills the leader of a rival gang by brutally bashing the man's head in via slamming a car door into it repeatedly. The reason? The other gang leader had interrupted Kingpin while he was on a date... to say that he wanted to accept the offer Kingpin had made him.

* In ''Film/Gremlins2TheNewBatch'', while the Brain Gremlin is being interviewed by TV host Uncle Fred, he is interrupted by one of less intelligent brethren who goofs off in front of the camera, so the Brain Gremlin casually pulls out a pistol and shoots him in the head.

--> '''Pronyma:''' [[spoiler:Mithos]], save me-

* The ''Literature/HarryPotter'' parody fic ''FanFic/HarryPotterAndTheSomethingSomething'' has Voldermont kill a series of {{Mary Sue}}s that knock on his door for getting on his nerves. But coming up with a list of ways to annoy the Dark Lord (and then reading it to him) was probably asking for it...

Killing people for being annoying is an interesting way to KickTheDog: for the audience, it can be either horrifying or cathartic, depending largely on how much of [[AssholeVictim an asshole the victim was being]]. Though the two can overlap

* ''Anime/DragonballZ'': Frieza fatally wounds Vegeta out of annoyance when the latter gloats over Goku beating up the former.

* In the comic version of ''ComicBook/{{Wanted}}'', the hero (once he's found out about his new powers) kills (among others) his neighbor, who annoyed him by always repeating the same mindlessly optimistic message every morning. His first step to becoming a {{supervillain}} is to go down the list of everyone who annoyed him in some way during his life and murder, rape, or torture all of them.

* Averted in the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "[[Recap/BufyTheVampireSalyerS4E3TheHarshLightOfDay The Harsh Light of Day]]". Spike stakes [[spoiler: Harmony]] after becoming annoyed with her babbling but [[spoiler:she happens to be wearing a ring that makes vampires indestructible at the time]].

* Averted in the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "The Harsh Light of Day". Spike stakes [[spoiler: Harmony]] after becoming annoyed with her babbling but [[spoiler:she happens to be wearing a ring that makes vampires indestructible at the time]].

* ''Theatre/WesterosAnAmericanMusical'': The InteractiveNarrator tries to cut the Sand Sankes' AdaptationalEarlyAppearance short and make them leave the stage. They don't feel like doing what is asked of them, so they respond by killing the narrator.

* In Disney's ''Disney/PeterPan'', Captain Hook shoots one of his own pirates for his loud, annoying singing.

* ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay:'' The T-1000, disguised as John's foster mother, is talking to John on the phone and his foster father keep interrupting, so not even looking in his direction, it morphs an arm-blade and skewers him through the head. (Taking out an innocent carton of milk as well.)

* In ''Film/Gremlins2TheNewBatch'', while the Brain Gremlin is being interviewed by TV host Uncle Fred, he is repeatedly interrupted by one of the gremlins who keeps goofing off in front of the camera, so the Brain Gremlin pulls out a gun and shoots him.