History Main / ShootTheHostage

* In ''FanFic/AeonEntelechyEvangelion'' this is indoctrinated by the ''good guys''. A baddie got your medic hostage? Shoot through him.
* In the MLP / ComicBook/GreenLantern crossover ''FanFic/InBrightestDay'', Rainbow Dash pulls this on Gilda when Black Lantern Mitta attempt's to use her as a meat-shield, but it's immediately {{subverted}} when Rainbow Dash reveals that she blasted her with a Ring Construct to turn her into a Red Lantern.
* Done in [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3031673/1/A_Mission_For_Harper A Mission For Harper]], after Harper gives a rather inspiring speech how he ''did'' always want to shoot the hostage.
* ADMIRAL Awesome does this to signify the beginning of his journey from AntiHero to NominalHero in ''Fanfic/TwilightSparklesAwesomeAdventure''.
* In ''WebComic/ScarletLady'', Scarlet doesn't actively hurt hostages, but she's entirely apathetic about whether or not the [[VillainOfTheWeek Akuma of the Week]] kills them, because her WorldHealingWave can resurrect the dead. Even using her "[[AbhorrentAdmirer love]]" interest Adrien doesn't faze her- if she can save him after the Akuma throws him off the Eiffel Tower, then great, a [[RescueRomance romantic moment]]! If not, oh well, and she's ''sure'' he'll appreciate [[ItsAllAboutMe her sacrifice in allowing him to die for the greater good]].

->'''Jack:''' Shoot the hostage.\\

'''Harry:''' You are deeply nuts, you know that? "Shoot the hostage"... jeez...

* In the second ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' movie we see Ran's father once shot her mother for this reason, although it took Ran and the police officer who told her about it a while to figure out he was anything other than a bad shot. Actually this was made to save them, as the trauma of being shot at makes the hostage dead weight, to where the criminal will often just let the hostage go rather than struggle to carry them.

* In Fanfic/{{HarryPotterAndThePrinceOfSlytherin}}, this is [[spoiler: Bellatrix/Delphini's approach caused by residual influence of Miss Demeanour.]]

* In ''Anime/MazinkaiserSKL'', Flash's Psyco Gear is grabbed by two enemy mechs. When the pilot of one mech jumps onto hers with intent to assault her(yes, right there in the middle of a battle), Fudou simply cleaves through all three mechs with his sword(and [[GiantFootOfStomping steps on the offending pilot]] for good measure).

* In ''Anime/MazinkaizerSKL'', Flash's Psyco Gear is grabbed by two enemy mechs. When the pilot of one mech jumps onto hers with intent to assault her(yes, right there in the middle of a battle), Fudou simply cleaves through all three mechs with his sword(and [[GiantFootOfStomping steps on the offending pilot]] for good measure).

A sufficiently skilled hero will just ShootTheHostageTaker. If the hero is less skilled but relatively nice, they'll just shoot the hostage in the leg, either to stop the bad guy from being able to take them with him or just to get them out of the way so they have a clean shot. If the hero is a particularly dark AntiHero or on a revenge-fueled bender, they might just shoot the bad guy through the hostage (and then possibly [[NiceJobBreakingItHero regret it later]]).

If a hero tries to use a hostage, there's a high chance the BigBad will do this - without bothering to go for a non-lethal shot. If the hostage happens to be a HostageMacGuffin, [[RashEquilibrium shooting them]] is the quickest way for an AntiHero to solve a problem. And if a hero or villain deliberately target the hostage first for the sake of [[ColdBloodedTorture torturing his enemies]], this is RevengeByProxy. If the hostage is shot by someone that's not the one holding the hostage, or the one faced with the choice, see MakingTheChoiceForYou.

* In the RoundRobin story ''Collisions'' (relevant hostage shooting scene [[http://groups.yahoo.com/group/capowstory/message/2338 here]], the RidiculouslyHumanRobot with ImprobableAimingSkills is forced into a MirrorMatch with her TriggerHappy future self, with her LoveInterest stuck in the middle as the hostage. Of [[BoomHeadshot all]] [[BlastingItOutOfTheirHands the]] [[TakeAThirdOption options]] she could have taken, she picks this one (it happens to be the s.o.p. of the organization that she works for)--but it ends up working in her favor because her future self flies into a murderous rage and charges at her guns blazing, the hostage forgotten.
* ''WebAnimation/InfernoCop'''s titular character was confronted with this issue once. It wasn't out of pragmatism; he was just so outraged at his opponents being willing to take a hostage that he openef fire. Keep in mind, his bullets are MadeOfExplodium.

* Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse:

* In ''Anime/HeartCatchPrettyCure'', one Desertarian captures Cure Marine and traps her within her watery body. When Cure Blossom prepares her Pink Forte Wave to revert the monster, Cure Marine freaks as she'll be hit with the attack to. Thankfully, Pretty Cure magic is actually purification magic and all that happens is that Cure Marine feels very calmed and relaxed.

* Early in the ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' story "Diamond is Unbreakable", a man possessed by Angelo's Stand holds a woman at knifepoint and threatens to kill her if anyone tries to attack him. Josuke solves this by ''punching a hole through the woman'' to get to the crook. It helps that Josuke's Crazy Diamond Stand [[GoodThingYouCanHeal can instantly restore anything to its original state]], so the woman is unharmed. He uses the same tactic later to remove the Stand from his mother's body.

Also see HostageSpiritLink, a form of VideoGameCrueltyPunishment where the health and/or fighting ability of the player is diminished if he decides to put a bullet through the hostage's head instead of saving them. KillTheHostBody is a variant of this trope in which the hostage taker is an entity [[DemonicPossession possessing]] the hostage.

Also see HostageSpiritLink, a form of VideoGameCrueltyPunishment where the health and/or fighting ability of the player is diminished if he decides to put a bullet through the hostage's head instead of saving them.

* In ''WebComic/TowerOfGod'', near the end of the Workshop Battle, Reflejo is holding Hwaryun hostage when fighting against Bam, Khun and Rak, and uses her as a human shield. Khun stabs her. {{Subverted}}: he even says killing the hostage would be more his style, but not today (basically because Bam is his MoralityPet), and anyway, he just got a magic knife with the power that stabbing someone in the heart with it causes them to vanish and be contained within the knife.

* In ''WebComic/TowerOfGod'', near the end of the Workshop Battle, Reflejo is holding Hwaryun hostage when fighting against Bam, Khun and Rak, and uses her as a human shield. Khun stabs her. {{Subverted}}: he even says this trope would be more his style, but not today (basically because Bam is his MoralityPet), and anyway, he just got a magic knife with the power that stabbing someone in the heart with it causes them to vanish and be contained within the knife.

As a note, a [[OnlyAFleshWound shot in the leg can be fatal]], especially if the time between the shooting and presumable paramedic arrival on-scene/transport to hospital takes as long as it seems to in most movies, so this usually wouldn't work in reality.

* Darreon in LuckyDawg tries to taunt the 4 Horsemen Of Alliance with a SadisticChoice - he will kill a little girl unless one of them will take her place. However, the 4 Horsemen, being [[DesignatedHero assholes]], just kill his hostage. Too bad for them, Darreon was looking for a hero to fight, not somebody like them, so he slaughters them in a very brutal way.
* In ''WebComic/FlipSide'', when a knight Bernadette humiliated by kicking his ass in front of the knight council gets ahold of the magic crazy-making super-power-giving collar-outfit-thing and goes after her in a bar, and then tries to use her as a human shield when Maytag shows up, Maytag makes it very, very clear that she ''will'' kill Bernadette herself rather than allow Bernadette to be raped and murdered. And, despite the fact one of her main skills is bluffing, Maytag is perfectly serious. Luckily, she wins.

* [[http://www.teamfortress.com/tf05_old_wounds/#f=47 Part Five]] of the ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' comic series has [[PerkyFemaleMinion Miss Pauling]] held hostage by the [[VideoGame/TeamFortressClassic ''TF Classic'']] Demoman at one point. [[ActionGirl Zhanna]] decks the TFC Demo... by clocking Miss Pauling in the face. It's not ''shooting'' the hostage, but it's the same idea.[[note]]Miss Pauling was assumed dead for a short while to boot.[[/note]]

* In ''Webcomic/TheHandbookOfHeroes'' comic [[https://www.handbookofheroes.com/archives/comic/hostage-crisis "Hostage Crisis"]], Witch takes Elf Princess hostage. Inquisitor resolves the situation by simply stabbing through them both. Resurrection magic exists in this world, after all.

* ''WebAnimation/InfernoCop'''s titular character was confronted with this issue once. It wasn't out of pragmatism; he was just so outraged at his opponents being willing to take a hostage that he openef fire. Keep in mind, his bullets are MadeOfExplodium.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' episode "The Boiling Rock- Part 2," Sokka, Zuko, Suki, and Hakoda are breaking out of the eponymous prison, which is located on an island in a boiling lake inside the caldera of a volcano. Prisoners and staff are transported in and out via a tram. Sokka and Hakoda plan to hijack the tram with a hostage and simply ride to freedom. Suki points out that the warden will still cut the line, and Sokka's response is "Not if the warden ''is'' the hostage." Unfortunately for them, the warden lives up to the claim he'd made in the first part[[note]]"No one has ever escaped from this prison, and I'd rather jump into the boiling lake myself then let that reputation be tarnished."[[/note]] and orders his subordinates to cut the line.

* ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'': Alucard shoots a villain ''through'' the hostage, Seras. Then [[EmergencyTransformation turns the dying Seras into a vampire]] with her permission. The amount of permission varies between the first anime, the OVA and the manga.
** In the first anime, Alucard warns Seras ahead of time (using telepathy so the villain can't hear them) and asks for permission to take the shot and vampirize her, and takes the shot when she agrees.
** In the OVA and manga he just asks her if she's a virgin. When she screams "Yes!" he takes the shot (in the ''Hellsing'' universe, vampires can only be made by drinking the blood of a virgin member of the opposite sex), then offers to turn her while she's dying.
** The manga also has a page where Seras is training some of the mortal redshirts in the Hellsing Organization and frustrated at their inability to hit targets just 500 meters away she demonstrates by grabbing a gun and casually nails the targets. Then their commander notes that she hit the simulated hostages too.

* Lina Inverse of ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'' doesn't just shoot the hostage, she launches a [[FantasticNuke Dragon Slave]] at the both of them.
* In ''Manga/{{Akumetsu}}'', when Perfect One fires into the researcher to kill Jinguuji but his aim is so perfect that the bullet does not pierce any of her vital organs, leaving her alive and still kicking while Jinguuji bites the big one.
* Early in the ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' story "Diamond is Unbreakable", a man possessed by Angelo's Stand holds a woman at knifepoint and threatens to kill her if anyone tries to attack him. Josuke solves this by ''punching a hole through the woman'' to get to the crook. It helps that Josuke's Crazy Diamond Stand [[GoodThingYouCanHeal can instantly restore anything to its original state]], so the woman is unharmed. He uses the same tactic later to remove the Stand from his mother's body.
* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', [[spoiler: "revenge-fueled bender" version which cements Sasuke as an AntiVillain. When Danzo takes Karin hostage, Sasuke shoots a Chidori blade through both of them, hitting Danzo in the heart. Sasuke then [[KickTheDog tells her if she's getting taken hostage, that makes her nothing but a burden]]]].
** Earlier during the Chunin exam, Ino takes possession of Kin and claims to her partners Dosu and Zaku that if they kill her, Kin would die with her. Ino has to undo her jutsu and go back to her body when the two make clear they don't care.
* In ''Anime/SwordOfTheStranger'', when the Chinese learn that the daimyo has kidnapped one of their own to find out what they're up to, they kidnap the daimyo. When the daimyo's general and his samurai attack, the Chinese use the daimyo as a hostage, thinking this will dissuade the samurai army. However, the daimyo's general is a DragonAscendant, who surprises the Chinese by ordering an archer to shoot the daimyo before opening battle.
* ''Manga/GunslingerGirl''. [[BigBad Terrorist leader Dante]] is using Rico's handler Jean as a HumanShield, knowing that the cyborgs are brainwashed to protect their handler at all costs. Earlier however Jean made it clear that both their lives were expendable in order to kill Dante (Dante had planted the car bomb that killed Jean's parents, little sister, and fiancee), so Rico fires a 20mm anti-material shell through her handler's chest after Jean orders her to fire regardless.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': The [=CP9=] Agent Rob Lucci's backstory includes him being sent to deal with pirates that had taken 500 of a country's soldiers hostage. As Lucci is a OneManArmy, he could have immediately beaten all the pirates himself, with few of the soldiers dying. Instead, he lets the pirates catch him so he'll be taken to the hostages. Once there, he kills them all himself, reasoning that those soldiers failed to protect their country [[YouHaveFailedMe and thus were worthless]] ([[BlackAndWhiteInsanity even evil]]). After that, he kills all the pirates as well.

* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn'' when the crew of the Nahel Argama learns that one of the refugees they rescued is actually Mineva Lao Zabi, the fugitive princess of Zeon, they try to use her as a hostage against the Neo-Zeons attacking them. Resident CharClone Full Frontal coldly informs them that, princess or not, their current mission is worth far more than the life of one girl and orders his men to open fire anyway. Possibly a TakeThat to a similar incident in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'' where the antagonists did back down from putting their princess' life at stake.
* In ''Manga/{{Isuca}}'', a tree demon uses a girl as a shield. While Sakuya and Shinichiro try to figure out what to do, Suseri emotionlessly launches her RazorWind attack which injures the girl and kills the demon. When the others call her out on it, Suseri says it's her job to slay demons, not save people, and besides, they can simply use a healing spell to fix the girl up.
* ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'' uses this trope to illustrate several points, in an unexpected manner. When an elderly woman gets caught in the middle of a fierce battle between Investigators and a ghoul, they immediately fear her being used as a hostage. [[VanHelsingHateCrimes Hachikawa]] decides to take this approach, shooting at the "old hag" since he considers killing Irimi more important. Irimi surprises everyone -- including herself -- by shielding the old woman and is mortally wounded in the process. Afterwards, Hirako and Kuramoto are deeply shaken by seeing a Ghoul value a human life more than an Investigator tasked with protecting humans.

[[folder:Comics]]
* The trope illustration is from ''ComicBook/QuantumAndWoody'' #4. Afterwards, Woody explains to the stunned girl that he shot her with a harmless blood capsule to distract the hostage-taker, then [[HandsomeLech asks her out for a date.]]
* In the comic book series ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'', during the Saint of Killer's StartOfDarkness miniseries, the man who doomed the Saint's family takes a prostitute hostage. The Saint shoots and kills her to get her out of the way... Expending his last bullet in the process and leaving him incapable of finishing off the villains, who promptly kill the Saint in return. And then there's the little issue about spilling innocent blood, which cements his damnation.

* Seen in the comic book ''ComicBook/GreenArrow'', where it only helps the protagonist. Assassin Constantine Drakon had shown the ability to catch arrows mid-flight, no matter how many were shot at him at once. Then he took not-yet-superheroine Mia Dearden hostage. Green Arrow Connor Hawke just shot him through her shoulder.
* In an early issue of Marvel's [[ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel G.I. Joe]] run, the Joes take Cobra Commander hostage to escape his hideout. Colonel Brekhov of the rival Oktober Guard shoots Cobra Commander to prevent the Joes from escaping. It turns out though [[spoiler: CC was a body-double]] and the heroes get to get away anyway.
* In one issue of ComicBook/ThoseAnnoyingPostBros, the original Caroline is kidnapped, in spite of that fact that Professor Ed made thousands of clones of her to prevent that. Henry tries to rescue her. [[spoiler:When he fails, Ron Post just kills her instead.]]
* In one issue of ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'', Magneto grabs Havok to use as a hostage to force the X-Men to stand down. Cyclops doesn't hesitate for a second to fire an optic blast through Havok to hit Magneto. Of course, as brothers, Cyclops and Havok are naturally immune to each other's powers, so Magneto takes the full force of the hit while Havok is unscathed.
** Another issue inverts the trope by having ''Cyclops'' himself taken hostage. He shoots [[MadeOfIron Colossus]], bounces the beam off of him, and knocks out the gunman.

* The second arc of ''ComicBook/{{Copperhead}}'' climaxes when Sheriff Bronson takes Nestor hostage to confront Nestor's brother Zolo. Outgunned, Zolo shoots Nestor to spare him from the justice system.
* In ''ComicBook/AvengersAcademy'', Marauder attacks the team, then tries to take a hostage once the instructors show up. Unfortunately for him, the hostage he grabbed was Boulder, whose only power is being NighInvulnerable. The instructors have absolutely no problem opening fire- end result, Marauder is taken down and Boulder is completely unscathed.

* ADMIRAL Awesome does this to signify the beginning of his journey from AntiHero to NominalHero in Fanfic/TwilightSparklesAwesomeAdventure.
* In the MLP / ComicBook/GreenLantern crossover ''FanFic/InBrightestDay'', Rainbow Dash pulls this on Gilda when Black Lantern Mitta attempt's to use her as a meat-shield, but it's immediately {{subverted}} when Rainbow Dash reveals that she blasted her with a Ring Construct to turn her into a Red Lantern.

* In Creator/JamesSwallow's ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' novel ''Faith and Fire'', the BackStory tells of Saint Celestine and how a soldier serving her was once taken hostage. He shouted for her to kill the enemy anyway, and she threw her spear. He was mortally wounded -- but didn't die, in the Miracle of the Wound. The religious ceremonies at the beginning of the novel are in honor of this miracle.

** This was likely inspired by a sequence in StarTrekker, a parody manga briefly published in the early '90s by Antarctic Press until Paramount came down like a mountain on them. In that case, the resulting explosion crippled the nearby Klingon cruisers. The (Japanese) captain was ordering a followup strike to take advantage of the Klingons' momentary confusion when Admiral Kirk himself kills the simulation and walks in to dress down the captain. She, in turn, explains succinctly that as Klingons do not take prisoners and saving the vessel was a clear impossibility, priority had to be given to saving her own ship...which Kirk dismissed, but later we see that it was really more a matter of him not wanting anyone else to win the simulation.

* Literature/ArtemisFowl [[spoiler:once had Butler shoot ''his own father'' in order to trick the Russian Mafiya. Of course, it wasn't a real bullet -- it was a fairy capsule designed as a fire extinguisher, filled with his own blood. Unfortunately, the mafiya ended up throwing the man into the Arctic water anyways...]]
* In ''[[Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar Exile's Honor]]'', Alberich is training battle/bodyguards for then-Princess Selenay and knows that she's more likely to be taken hostage than just killed. We don't get to ''see'' that session, but he fully intends to teach the guards to shoot Selenay in the leg if this happens, because it will slow down her captors. (Being an intelligent man, he plans to save that lesson for a time when Selenay is not present.)
* The TieInNovel ''Series/{{Monk}}'' novel ''Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu'' has one. The temperamental detective Mad Jack Wyatt threatens to shoot through Monk after Charlie Herrin tries to use Monk as a human shield. Afterwards, Monk congratulates him on his "bluff", but he wasn't bluffing -- he always shoots the hostage.
* In Creator/DanAbnett's TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} Literature/GauntsGhosts novel ''Blood Pact'', Xomat [[HumanShield takes Elodie hostage against Daur]]. Daur declares his indifference and that he just might shoot Xomat ''through'' Elodie -- which distracts him enough for Daur to get off a headshot. Elodie is muchly upset; Daur tries arguing before resorting to a ShutUpKiss -- their FirstKiss.
* In the first novel of ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'' series, ''Literature/TheGunslinger'', Sheb uses Roland's lover, Allie as a shield and hostage. Roland kills her out of pure instinct; his trained hands react quicker than his mind. [[AdaptationalSelfDefense Changed]] in the revised edition.
* Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse:
** In ''Literature/TheHanSoloTrilogy'', Han attracts the attention of local authorities on Coruscant when trying to access a bank account that had been flagged. He takes a bank manager hostage in order to escape. The Stormtroopers' response? Shoot the bank manager.
** In the first book of the ''Literature/LegacyOfTheForce'' series, a terrorist is holding a room full of people hostage. He wears an explosive belt and has strapped one of the hostages to himself to act as an HumanShield. [[GodModeSue Jacen Solo]] arrives at the scene and pretends to negotiate with the terrorist. He then turns to the unfortunate HumanShield, gently asks what his name is, appears to try calming the frightened man... then he says "I'm sorry" and ''activates the explosives himself.'' When [[WhatTheHellHero called out for it]], Jacen just replies that [[IDidWhatIHadToDo the only way he could save the other hostages and neutralize the terrorist was to let that single man die]].
* In the ''Literature/SagaOfTheNobleDead'' book ''The Dog in the Dark'', Leesil does this to save Captain Bassett. Since it's a high fantasy world, he does it with a thrown stiletto rather than a gun, but the principle is the same.
* ''Literature/{{Eldraeverse}}'': The Empire of the Star's policy concerning hostage situations is to bombard the site from orbit and restore the hostage from [[BodyBackupDrive backup]].
* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': [[spoiler: President Coin orders a bombing attack on children being used as human shields by President Snow -- and makes it appear that the attack was initiated by Snow, in order to destroy any remaining public support for Snow's regime. Sadly, especially for Katniss, Prim is among these.]]
* In Creator/DavidDrake's ''Literature/{{RCN}}'' novel ''What Distant Deeps'', Adele forces a squadron of Alliance warships to surrender by blowing up a ship full of hostages (which had been taken by the Alliance from a newly captured planet to ensure the local government's cooperation). This is to prove that she can and will destroy their ships if they refuse to surrender. [[WhatTheHellHero When called out on this by Lieutenant Vesey]], her sociopathic BattleButler Tovera points out that the ship would have been crewed by the [[SecretPolice Fifth Bureau]], and their standing procedure is to [[ThrownOutTheAirlock space all the hostages themselves]] before surrendering, to ward off rescue attempts.
* In ''Literature/KrisLongknife: Intrepid'', religious extremists try to [[ColonyDrop crash a passenger liner with 5,000 passengers into a planet]] to start a war between the Peterwalds' and Longknifes' blocs of planets. The Peterwalds' SecretPolice suggest shooting out the reactor and destroying the ship, but Kris and her team prefer to attempt a long-shot plan to shoot out some of the liner's engines and cause it to miss. [[spoiler:Due to unforeseen circumstances, destroying the engines causes the ship's fuel water tanks to burst, which destroys the reactor and the ship anyway.]]
* The ultra-violent spy novel series ''COBRA'', by Joseph R. Rosenberger, includes an installment in which the protagonist, Jon Skul, along with an ally, willingly shoot and kill a woman being used as a human shield in order to kill the mook holding her. The book in question somewhat lampshades the scenario by having the mook appear confident that the "good guys" would not shoot an innocent, at which point Skul and his ally exchange a look and then open fire.
* ''Literature/TheExecutioner''. In "Bloodsport", Bolan is up against a terrorist group led by twins Thomas and Tanya Morganslicht. Tanya is the dominant one of the pair, so Bolan takes her hostage to make her brother abandon their EvilPlan. Instead, Thomas shoots her dead on the spot.