History Main / TheCaper

* The core gameplay loop of ''TabletopGame/BladesInTheDark'' (as well as most games under the UsefulNotes/ForgedInTheDark umbrella) is centered on a caper (dubbed "Score" in the game) of some sort: the [[PlayerParty Crew]] looks for a criminal opportunity to advance their goals (even if it's just to earn some coin), chooses their approach (guns-blazing, stealthy, [[BlackTieInfiltration black-tie]], etc.), rolls for the initial position, and then uses the {{flashback}} mechanic to [[UnspokenPlanGuarantee retroactively prepare for whatever complications arise]]. After completing (or abandoning) the score, the crew enters a downtime where they lay low and enjoy some R&R before going right back to looking for the next opportunity.

* In ''Film/Heist2015'', a desperate father teams with some local thugs tok over [[RobbingTheMobBank a casino that is laundering money for the mob]]. However, more screen time is devoted to the botched getaway which turns into a mobile HostageSituation than to the actual heist.

The members of a CaperCrew fall into standard roles. For targets, see BankRobbery, ArmedBlag, TheCasino, TrainJob. See also ImpossibleMission, TheInfiltration and DoubleCaper. Not to be confused with TheCape. Can contain an ATeamMontage or AvengersAssemble sequence. HeistEpisode is for when works that are normally not about thievery pay homage to the Caper genre for an installment, usually by having the characters steal something. Contrast CaughtUpInARobbery.

** In Volume 6, Team RWBY and JNPR pull off a caper to try and steal an airship so they can get into Atlas. The plan goes completely lopsided when Adam Taurus uses that moment to get his revenge on Blake, preventing her from doing her part.

* ''Literature/TheGreatGreeneHeist'': HighSchoolHustler Jackson and his allies set out to bolster Gaby's student council campaign while undermining Keith's after determining that Keith will use his AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil authority to cut the budgets for all of their clubs if he wins. This ultimately leads to a plan to rig the voting machines. [[[spoiler:Only that's just a bluff, and the real plan is to make Keith paranoid enough to tamper with the ballots himself and get caught in the process.]]

[[caption-width-right:350: "Remember: [[Film/TheItalianJob1969 You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!]]"]]

* The plot of ''WebAnimation/{{Lackadaisy}}'' revolves around a CaperCrew of {{Venturous Smuggler}}s executing a whiskey run for Lackadaisy [[LegitimateBusinessmensSocialClub Speakeasy]], with several complications presenting themselves. Firstly, their funeral home supplier operates via CoffinContraband which they must dig up on the outskirts of a cemetary after decoding an obituary's CypherLanguage. Secondly, they're operating in the territory of rival Marigold Gang and ''[[HeistClash poaching]]'' that supplier, necessitating stealth and discretion to avoid getting caught on enemy turf. Thirdly, they fail rather spectacularly at that last part, and find themselves on the wrong end of a CarChaseShootout with Marigold's top three HiredGuns.

* ''Film/BankShot''. Crooks plot literally steal a bank, i.e. [[MonumentalTheft to steal the entire building]].

* ''Film/DayOfTheWolves'': A gang of six professional thieves [[TakingOverTheTown isolate a small town]] and systematically loot every target of value. However, they encounter resistance from the recently sacked chief of police, [[DieHardOnAnX who stages a one-man fight back on the streets]]. Interesting as it devotes as much time the bad guys' planning of the heist as it does to the hero's retaliation.

* ''ComicBook/SuperiorFoesOfSpiderMan'' revolves around one complicated caper, which gets increasingly convoluted as everyone involved tries to screw everyone else involved over.
* The Creator/MarvelComics miniseries ''Super-Villain Team-Up: MODOK's 11'' features a destitute ComicBook/{{MODOK}} recruiting a group of equally-destitute C-list supervillains to help him steal a powerful energy source, for which he will pay them. Predictably, most of the villains are either working for someone else or trying to screw each other over.

* The Creator/MarvelComics miniseries ''Super-Villain Team-Up: MODOK's 11'' features a destitute M.O.D.O.K. recruiting a group of equally-destitute C-list supervillains to help him steal a powerful energy source, for which he will pay them. Predictably, most of the villains are either working for someone else or trying to screw each other over.

The Caper is more action-oriented than TheCon. It often revolves around a [[TheChessmaster brilliant]] GentlemanThief who JustGotOutOfJail hoping to do OneLastJob, usually by PuttingTheBandBackTogether (in comedies, a RagtagBunchOfMisfits). However, [[HeistEpisode almost any type of protagonist]] can be found planning a caper, often [[PowerfulAndHelpless out of necessity]] when their usual methods [[KungFuProofMook won't work]] or [[YourMagicsNoGoodHere aren't available]]. If one or more of the crew works for the target, it's an InsideJob. Can lead to JustLikeRobinHood as a way of CaperRationalization. The crew's leader will inevitably present the job as ASimplePlan that is [[UnspokenPlanGuarantee certain to go off the rails]] due to unexpected variables. Optionally, the leader may have a [[TimeForPlanB Plan B]], but it can ''only'' used as a last resort, as it involves going loud, or doing something ''very'' dangerous, and that would otherwise defeat the whole purpose of an elaborate heist.

* In March 1990, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston was robbed by two men pretending to be police officers. They stole thirteen pieces, with the two most important being Creator/JohannesVermeer’s painting ''The Concert'' and Creator/RembrandtVanRijn’s only seascape ''Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee''. Only about three dozen of Vermeer’s paintings have survived to this today and therefore that specific one is currently the world’s most valuable missing object with an estimated value of $250 million. No arrests have ever been made in the case but the FBI believes that none of the loot has ever left the US. The FBI also believes the theft was carried out as part of the Mafia but has only ever been able to find circumstantial evidence that makes it hard to prosecute. The federal government is known to be reticent to bring charges without a strong chance of conviction and has not been able to put all the pieces together.