History Main / VillainExitStageLeft

-->-- [[Characters/StarWarsYoda Yoda]] to [[Characters/StarWarsEmperorPalpatine Sheev Palpatine / Darth Sidious]], Film/RevengeOfTheSith

->''"If so powerful you are... why leave?'''

->''"We could stop 'em, but I'm sure today's events put a complete end to his megalomaniac tendencies forever."''
-->-- '''Diabetus''', ''WebVideo/{{Retsupurae}}'', "[[{{MST}} Let's Watch]] ''WesternAnimation/MegaManRubySpears''"

** It's averted moments after, when Terry continues to fight Joker and makes sure he dies.

* Parodied in ''ComicBook/TheSimpsons'' comics: Bart and Lisa have just survived a run-in with Sideshow Bob, Kang, and Kodos. Bob sees a helicopter with a rope-ladder hanging from it and assumes his henchmen have prepared his escape. He gives the standard "We shall meet again" speech and flees - only to realise something:

* ''[[Fanfic/TheUltimateEvil The Stronger Evil]]'': In Chapter 13, Drago and the Ice Crew quickly flee from Section 13 [[spoiler: after Tarakudo is defeated (thus ending their EnemyMine with the heroes)]].

* Spoofed by ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode about {{spinoff}}s, where Chief Wiggum and Principal Skinner [[TheyFightCrime fight criminals]]. Said criminal jumps into the water, and Skinner comments on how he's ''very slowly'' getting away (he's a FatBastard type who can barely swim), and they could probably catch him. Wiggum replies that he's certain they'll face him again, each and every week.

-->'''Skeletor:''' [[SoLongSuckers Catch you on the flip, suckers!]]

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':

* In one of the [[MultipleEndings six endings]] (the canon one) of the hundredth episode of ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'', [[spoiler:Red Team lets Blue Team go without trying to kill them because they've had enough for one day.]]

* ''Fanfic/{{Boldores and Boomsticks}}'': After noticing Ruby's Silver Eyes, Grendel immediately disengages from Team RWBY and flies away on a giant Nevermore.

** Likewise Davros, who almost literally performs this trope by sliding backwards out of frame at the moment of his catastrophic defeat in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E1RemembranceOfTheDaleks Remembrance of the Daleks]]". Implied in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E4ResurrectionOfTheDaleks Resurrection of the Daleks]]", where he coyly tests the access to his secret escape pod for the camera before the climax.

* Franchise/MonsterVerse: In ''Godzilla Aftershock'', the [[Characters/MonsterVerseKaiju MUTO Prime]] retreats at the end of two of its battles against Godzilla when the latter gains the upper hand, fleeing whilst Godzilla gives chase after it around the world. It's revealed that the MUTO Prime is deliberately wearing Godzilla down in the long run with its repeated fight-and-flights so it can eventually lure him into a fight that he cannot win.

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: In "The Return From the Dead" Dr. Psycho flees when Di lassos the War-Prevento Machine, being gone in the seconds it takes her and Steve to confirm it really is the machine.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/XMen'' episode "Phalanx Covenant", [[EvilutionaryBiologist Mr. Sinister]] beats a hasty exit at the end of all the shenanigans. The worst part is he's less than a ''block'' away, and just running down an alleyway, and all is said is a nonchalant [[CaptainObvious "Sinister's getting away!"]] He's ''right there''. ''Catch him!''

* ''Series/{{NTSFSDSUV}}'': Invoked by Trent when a minor villainous female spy tries to run away and he keeps insisting that "there's no time" and "we'll never find her anyway" despite her standing around at the other end of the hall waiting for an elevator and his colleague having a clear line of sight to shoot her.

Regardless of the means, the escaped SmugSnake will [[EvilGloating gloat]] about how it [[JustAsPlanned "all went according to plan"]], maybe set off the SelfDestructMechanism in the CollapsingLair, and return "triumphantly" next episode. Less often, you'll see them lick their figurative and literal wounds at having not only been beat, but forced to show the better part of valour and try to come up with a ''new'' Plot Of The Week that will work, throwing in a [[WeWillMeetAgain "Next Time, Tropeworthy!"]] for good measure.

** Thankfully inverted with the Band of Seven. Except for maybe once or twice, they all fight to the death. Inuyasha even tells the leader that he can leave, but he refuses because he wants to avenge his friends. Is it any wonder why a group of specters who got curb-stomped in only a handful of battles are seen as more bad-ass than the BigBad of the entire story?

* ''Manga/MermaidMelodyPichiPichiPitch'': Every time after the heroines perform their [[MagicMusic song]], which end with a "Love Shower Pitch!" (and followed with "How about an encore?"), the villains (most of them) they just beat always teleport away afterwards.

* In ''Anime/SailorMoon'', after the MonsterOfTheWeek is deployed, the member of the QuirkyMinibossSquad who did it virtually always teleports, drives or runs away while the main characters are distracted by the monster. In some cases, they actually watch the battle without participating, and then escape after the monster is defeated. Of course, nobody bothers to stop or chase them; except ''once'' when the Outers try attacking Kaolinite. She summons up incredible power to beat them all...and then runs away anyways.

* In ''Anime/ScienceNinjaTeamGatchaman'', this trope is subverted in "Get Berg Katze" where the episode begins where the stories typically end, with the destruction of the Galactor [[MonsterOfTheWeek mecha of the week]] and Katze escaping in his personal craft. Afterward, Professor Nambu orders the team to actually pursue Katze for once, and the villain is shocked (''Shocked!'') to see the team do so. But he must have thought about it at some point, since he escaped his escape craft via smaller escape craft. Then things got really weird thanks to the exploding bananas. Katse used to be the king of this trope, what with the mooks blocking the heroes, the innocents needing to be rescued, the sliding doors, and the bombs. Small personal and medium bombs, as well as the blow-up-the-base variety.

* Quartz Christie runs away at the end of the ''LightNovel/BodaciousSpacePirates'' series after the Grand Cross was curbstomped due to mostly her overconfidence. To make matters worse, she promised Kato Marika that she would not "run and hide", but a minute later, heads to her escape craft and activates the self-destruct mechanism. She is later shown in her escape craft, pleased to save the battle strategy data that may have led to her easily being defeated, and that she destroyed the last Grand Cross ship to eliminate any evidence of her humiliation... but points out what a humiliating defeat it still was, though she still hopes to face Marika once again.

** ''Anime/DragonBallZ'': Double subverted at the end of the Saiyan Saga, when its main villain Vegeta tries to leave Earth in his spacepod after the proud warrior has been defeated and humiliated by Goku and his allies, and lost his tail in the process. Just as he's about to get away, Krillin tries to off him with Yajirobe's sword, but then Goku telepathically talks Krillin out of it and Vegeta goes on his way to recover for the next arc.

* ''Manga/MissKobayashisDragonMaid'': Subverted. Azad tries to teleport away once it becomes clear that his plans have gone south, but Tohru made it impossible for him to do so by saturating the surrounding area with her mana. The only reason he managed to get away on foot afterwards is because Tohru willingly let him go ([[BroughtDownToNormal after draining all of his magic power]]).

* Subverted in ''ComicBook/CableAndDeadpool #49'', after ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} and Ka-Zar thwart one of Brainchild's latest plans to take over the Savage Land he and his minions try to escape on pterodactyls. Ka-Zar laments that Brainchild has escaped even though he's really not that far away and he could go after him on foot as it's hard to loose a flying lizard with people on it. Deadpool, GenreSavvy as he is, simply shoots the pterodactyl Brainchild is riding sending it tumbling down into the waiting jaws of some very hungry T-rexes. Deadpool then tells Ka-Zar that he should really try using guns.

** ''ComicBook/BatmanInDarkestKnight'' ends with Sinestro, Star Sapphire and Binary Star escaping.

* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'': At the end of "Necropolis", most of the Dark Judges are recaptured by Justice department and placed in high security containment. Judge Death escapes by jumping off a city block and disappearing in city bottom. It's later revealed that he hid himself among the buried corpses for several months to rest and plan for his next assault on the Mega City.
* ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfKorraTurfWars'': Tokuga flees into the spirit world when he plan to gas the area around the portal falls through.
* Franchise/MonsterVerse: In ''Godzilla Aftershock'', the [[Characters/MonsterVerseKaiju MUTO Prime]] retreats at the end of two of its battles against Godzilla when the latter gains the upper-hand, fleeing whilst Godzilla gives chase after it around the world. It's revealed that the MUTO Prime is deliberately wearing Godzilla down in the long run with its repeated fight-and-flights so it can eventually lure him into a fight that he cannot win.

** Subverted at the climax of ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica: Reborn''. Here, the Red Skull's consciousness is forced back into his robot body after being forced out of Rogers' by Rogers himself. Unplugging himself, the Red Skull tries to make a break for it hoping the big fight around would cover his tracks. Sharon Carter stops that in a brilliantly counter-intuitive way by using Dr. Hank Pym's size changing technology to make him a giant before he got away. Yes, that means that there now is a giant Red Skull trying to stomp the superheroes, but it also means that there is no way he can sneak away now and fighting with ColossusClimb tactics is old hat for Captain America and his friends, not to mention Sharon gets the Vision to access the Skull's ship's weapons systems to hit a now ''really big'' target.

* Parodied in ''ComicBook/TheSimpsons'' comics: Bart and Lisa have just survived a run-in with Sideshow Bob, Kang and Kodos. Bob sees a helicopter with a rope-ladder hanging from it and assumes his henchmen have prepared his escape. He gives the standard "We shall meet again" speech and flees - only to realise something:

* Invoked in ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'' issue #8. After beating Robotnik's super hero themed robots, Sonic is about to beat him up but slips on some motor oil. Robotnik then escapes riding ''Crabmeat'', after which, Sonic pulls out the Comics Code handbook and comments that the villain always gets away in the end.

** ''ComicBook/TheKillersOfKrypton'': When his clone army have been defeated by Supergirl and the Omega Men, Harry Hokum orders his men to take him out of there. However, Supergirl storms into his flagship before they can take off. Then Hokum tries to crawl away, but Supergirl grabs him, asking if he is "going somewhere".

** [[spoiler: Unlike canon, Mad Mod escapes his first confrontation with the Titans scott free, leaving only a [[WeWillMeetAgain mocking message]] behind.]]

* Played for laughs in ''Fanfic/TealovesSteamyAdventure''. When the evil cultist's minions are defeated, she flees the scene. On a Segway. She could have gotten away faster by running. Nevertheless, the heroes just remark that they probably haven't seen the last of her, without even trying to pursue.

** Count Dooku in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' does this after the clone army attacks, fleeing to his personal space craft, and though Anakin and Obi-Wan (and then Yoda) pursue him they aren't that effective, leaving him alive for the next film.

* In the earlier books in ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'', Count Olaf would always get away, while Mr. Poe comically and ineffectively attempted to get the police to chase him. The first book, he literally walks off a stage after another villain turns off the lights for his escape.
* Used in ''Literature/ShadowOfTheGiant'' to create a moral dilemma: in order to save a hostage, Bean promises the villain he'll let him escape, and then has to decide whether to keep that promise, knowing that doing so will probably result in many deaths.

** The first is more of a ScrewThisImOuttaHere, after Darren and his friends spring a surprise attack and kill all their friends without even getting their names (and these are supposed to be the heroes...)

* Happens in the end of Sukhinov's ''Emerald City'' series in a most egregious way. After the BigBad loses his army, he starts fighting the good guy's champion, then in the middle of a fight says "Oh, I don't think i can kill you!", and flies off into ''space'' The End!

** Quite a few episodes feature the heroes standing around and letting Spike get away. This didn't seem so bad after his BadassDecay but back when he was a legitimate threat it could really get on your nerves. Perhaps the most JustForFun/{{egregious}} is in "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E6Halloween}} Halloween]]", where Buffy is standing ''right next to him'' as he starts to run away in defeat and clearly could have easily killed him.

** In the MusicalEpisode, the villain pulls this off with grace and style. By the end the Scoobies are united against him, and a threat from Willow seems to give him a moment of SensingYouAreOutmatched. But more importantly, his only goal in coming to Sunnydale was to sow chaos ForTheEvulz. By the time the heroes are ready to face him, he has done everything he wanted and had [[ItAmusedMe fun doing it]]. After a smug reprise of his VillainSong the show's over, so (like the performer he is) he decides to bow out. He applauds them for "winning" this PyrrhicVictory and they [[TheUnfought do not face him again]].
---> '''Demon:''' Congratulations! ''[sarcastically]'' You beat the bad guy!

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E2TheEndOfTheWorld "The End of the World"]]: Lady Cassandra O'Brien.Δ17 attempts exit in a leftward direction via teleportation, only for the Doctor to teleport her back moments later — while she's bragging to her henchmen.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E5EvolutionOfTheDaleks "Evolution of the Daleks"]]: Dalek Caan, last surviving member of the Cult of Skaro, pulls another "EMERGENCY TEMPORAL SHIFT!" when confronted by the Doctor at the end.

** Niska pulls one of these at the end of "[[Recap/FireflyE10WarStories War Stories]]", slipping past an enraged Mal and the remainder of ''Serenity'''s crew while his henchman are [[StormingTheCastle busy dying]].

** Then subverted in the season 7 opening. The other bad guy who outsmarted him knew all along where Crowley went, the only reason he allowed him to leave in one piece at all is because [[CantKillYouStillNeedYou he still has use for him]].

* Subverted in the ''Series/{{V 1983}}'' regular TV series, which begins right at the moment ''V: The Final Battle'' ended where Diana made her escape. Donovan immediately realizes that she's getting away, chases her and catches her right away.

* In the ''Literature/ProseEdda'', after Utgard-Loki explains to Thor how he and his companions were bested by forces far more powerful that they appeared, he uses his magical powers once more to make himself and the halls of Utgard to disappear before Thor can DropTheHammer to smash them.

** If a Necron army is reduced to 25%, they teleport away. (In [[ShoutOut a reference to one of their sources]], this rule is called [[Film/TheTerminator "We'll Be Back!"]]) Problem with that in gameplay is, it means the Necron player loses automatically even if they might be winning. As of 2011 this rule was removed entirely, although its appearances in stories and the background lore remain canon.

*** A couple times he also jokes as he runs. They yell at him to wait and he responds "Wait he says. What do I look like a waiter?"

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyroTheEternalNight'': After being defeated in battle, the pirate Skabb and the parrot masterminds Scratch and Sniff flee by means of the latter two grabbing Skabb by the shoulders, breaking through a window and flying away. Tracking them down to finish off the battle takes up the rest of the level.
* ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'': Subverted. Near the end of the game's first half, [[DiscOneFinalBoss Rasputin]] has shown his true colors and launched a full-scale attack on Petrograd. The party catches up to him on the roof of the Winter Palace, but he jumps off and begins to fly away on his [[CoolAirship giant evil blimp]]. At this point, however,, Yuri remembers that he's an incredibly powerful shapeshifter, transforms into [[OneWingedAngel Amon]], and beats down both Rasputin and the zeppelin itself with his bare hands.
* In ''VideoGame/ReturnToCastleWolfenstein'' and its sequel, ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein2009'', the Nazi MadScientist Wilhelm "Deathshead" Strasse ''always'' gets away. So far it's happened four times: first with an U-Boat from Kugelstadt, then with a ''rocketplane'' from occupied Norway, then from the top of his personal castle after a GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere destroyed his extradimensional battery, and lastly from a parallel dimension, through an ancient portal that led to an ''exploding Zepellin''. The producers don't seem to want to kill him off since, as far as ThoseWackyNazis go, he's actually a rather competent villain. He even gets promoted to General between the two games. However, in ''The New Order'', [[spoiler:this trope is averted and Deathshead is finally KilledOffForReal at the end of the game.]]

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' villains, upon defeat, will always get away from the hero, who at the end of the game might even have a fire breathing dragon. We don't know how they do it, because the game conveniently turns the lights out.

** Averted with Ghetsis in ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'', in which he simply goes insane and unable to function as a person.

* ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' makes an art of this. You fight and several antagonists several times, but they always get away. Sometimes as easily as just getting up and walking away, and none of the heroes feel like chasing after them. That is, until the end when they all either die or join you.
* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'''s has the BigBad Alduin do this [[spoiler: before you can actually kill him if you defeat him on the Throat of the World. He then spends the rest of the game in Sovngarde feasting on souls to make himself strong again. However, this also [[NiceJobFixingItVillain causes a lot of his fellow dragons to desert him]], including his then [[TheDragon second-in-command,Odahviing]] (after you defeat him) who then turns around and helps the player reach the portal to Sovngarde ensuring Aludin's defeat! The reason for the switch in sides?]] [[NoTrueScotsman No true dragon flees from a fight.]]

* In one of the [[MultipleEndings six endings]] (the canon one) of the hundredth episode of ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'', [[spoiler:Red Team lets Blue Team go without trying to kill them, because they've had enough for one day.]]

* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', Tarvek [[ExtremeMeleeRevenge beats the crap out of]] Zola and is about to kill her, when [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110119 Gil suddenly stops him]], allowing her to fly away. It matters little that she was unconscious by that time, and the reason she could escape is that her flying coat was already activated, and it was Tarvek's weight that were pulling her down.

** Played tragically straight [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0462.html here]], where Miko's ill-timed intervention allows the nearly defeated villains to make a last second escape.

* Averted in ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' with Damien as he self destructs. However, according to the "PB Special Features" strips, in the first versions of the script of the ''Painted Black" arc, [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2004-07-14 Damien would always get away]], go into hiding and later return to cause more trouble.
* ''Webcomic/{{Huckleberry}}'': When Mechaworm's first fight against Huck is interrupted by the more powerful Morning Star, he immediatelly calls it quits.

** In "Rub Three Times For Disaster", an Arabian-Nights themed villain gives the classic "he who fights and runs away" line while seated in his escape vehicle, only to be promptly lassoed by Wonder Woman and taken into custody.

* Dr. Drakken of ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' often gets away at the end of the episode (in a hovercar or other escape vehicle he and Shego conveniently had waiting). Sometimes he does go to jail, but [[CardboardPrison he never seems to stay there long]]. It was also subverted once when he tried to get away with a jetpack, but forgot he was inside and collided into the ceiling.

*** In a Geico commercial, Skeletor distracts He-Man, She-Ra and Man-At-Arms with the product plug long enough to make a clean getaway.

* Done by Batman to the Legion of Doom at the end of ''[[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Justice League Unlimited]]''. For helping save the world from Darkseid's invasion, he gave them [[MercyLead "A five minute head start."]] As the last episode of the series, it was more than enough time.

** After defeating the doomsday device of the week, G.I. Joe will often round up lower echelon Cobra troopers to presumably face prison, but the upper echelon villains such as Cobra Commander, Destro and Zartan will always escape. Sometimes, this is due to most of them being slippery masters of disguise, but on a couple of occasions the Joes will literally watch them run or drive away, which is particularly odd when you consider that the Joes usually still have plenty of working vehicles at the end of a mission. Job security, maybe?

** In the second season, recurring MAD agents would appear for three episodes, escaping without being arrested in each episode. No one really seemed to care that the MAD agents were still loose and could strike again at anytime. Penny in particular suffered character decay, as she didn't seem to be bothered in the slightest about the escape of agents who had been trying to kill her uncle, and who would return to do so again.

** A particularly bizarre case features in the debut of Hondo. After Anakin and Obi-Wan finally defeat him and have him at their mercy, Hondo expects to be placed under arrest and thrown in jail. Obi-Wan however, orders Hondo to be let go. He warns Hondo that Count Dooku, whom Hondo had also crossed, will be likely to be far less merciful, implying that Obi-Wan is counting on Dooku killing him...but Hondo shows up in future episodes unharmed, meaning such an event never occurred. So ultimately Hondo escaped and never faced punishment fo his crimes because Obi-Wan...didn't feel like following proper protocol and bringing him in apparently...
* Shredder did this every week on the 80's ''WesternAnimation/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|1987}}'' cartoon. No matter where he happened to be at the time, as soon as his plan went sour a great big drill-car thing (referred to as a Transport Module) would burrow up from the ground, he'd hop in and head back underground to the Technodrome, and at no point did it occur to the turtles to simply go down the hole after him. Mind you, the holes did have a tendency to fill up with lava and cool into rock pretty quickly seeing as the BigBad's [[SuperVillainLair HQ]] was at the center of the Earth. In fact, the turtles once attempted to pursue Shred-Head's escape through the driller in one episode... and were quickly rewarded by literally getting the Hot Foot within moments. In seasons where the Technodrome was in Dimension X, Shredder and company would escape via a portable dimensional portal instead.

** Though Amon, the villain from the first season eventually [[spoiler:dies when his brother blows them both up]], he initially escapes with little to no pursuit. No-one knows about [[spoiler:Amon's death]], yet there is never any indication of an ongoing investigation into his disappearance. In fact, he is rarely mentioned after season one.
** Defied by Asami, The Equalist EvilGenius [[spoiler: Hiroshi]] fights her in a mechsuit, and ends up beaten and disarmed. [[spoiler: After a few family arguments, Asami stays her hand]] he uses this distraction, to shoot up a grappling hook, making her dodge it and lose pace. After that he exits the suit and gets away... so she just shoots an electrified bolo at him and takes him down.

* Happened often in ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}: WesternAnimation/BeastWars''. In many given episodes, the Maximals would manage to often push the Predacon forces back, but would rarely follow through with a full scale attack against them, often because they themselves had sustained heavy damage as well and as such would allow Megatron and his forces to flee back to their base. This is somewhat justified insofar that Maximals are supposed to be peaceful as a rule, and Optimus as a rule wants to protect his crew and return to Cybertron rather than engage in all out warfare.
* [[InternetJerk Henry]] [[LeetLingo Masterson]] and his [[GrandTheftMe Headmaster Unit]] in ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}: [[WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated Animated]]''. His first appearance he manages to escape while the Autobots are busy trying to reset a solar fusion reactor. Second time is nearly [[SubvertedTrope subverted]], but [[JerkAss Porter C. Powell]] arrives on scene at the last moment to play it straight. Finally subverted without interference when he's trying to brawl Optimus with Starscream's abandoned body.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheMagician'', while Ace Cooper would always be able to capture the minor, one shoot villains in each episode, the major baddies such as Black Jack, Sonny Boy and Faceless would always escape. In Black Jack's case, it's not that he ran away, but is that his lawyer Clockwise would always be able to twist the facts around so Black Jack wouldn't be arrested.

* In one particular episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Bravestarr}}'', the hero literally threw the villain away. He threw him about a mile, into a swamp. What makes it particularly egregious was that this was an anvilicious episode about vigilantism. Right after throwing the villain away, Bravestar turns to the strawman vigilante (who has been hunting Villain all episode) and says something like "See, justice prevails!". The really, really sad part is, the vigilante agrees, and promises to mend his wicked ways.
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' that has Batgirl and Catwoman join forces to find who stole a cat-shaped artifact from a museum ends with Catwoman trying to swipe the item for herself, but then being persuaded by Batgirl to turn herself in. However, as the police cart her off, Catwoman somehow forces them out of the squadcar and drives away herself. Robin tries to give chase, but Batgirl ''grabs him by the cape'', reasoning that they'd encounter her again sometime.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': Almost literally in "[[Recap/FuturamaS4E18TheDevilsHandsAreIdlePlaythings The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings]]". In the end the Robot Devil throws a smoke bomb and vanishes (but not really: in the shot of the baffled audience we see the Robot Devil escaping in the background. On the stage right side.)

* Happens with [[spoiler:Sekto]] in 'VideoGame/OddworldStrangersWrath'', who [[spoiler:swims off in the now-un-dammed river]]. It's somewhat justified however, as [[spoiler:1). Stranger wasn't aware of Sekto's [[BroughtDownToNormal 'true form']], and 2). he and the Grubbs were generally rather distracted by TheReveal of Sekto's abandoned host body: the previous guardian Steef]].

** ''VideoGame/RockmanCX'' has [[spoiler:Ultraman (yes, really)]] use a OneHitKO attack if the player takes too long to defeat him. If it's dodged by use of the Floor item, he just walks away, forcing you to fall into the BottomlessPit and try again.

** Also very fond of this are Captain Whisker and his crew, the [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot robot pirates]] from ''VideoGame/{{Sonic Rush|Series}} Adventure''. Since the cutscenes are just character art and text on a background, there was no need to explain ''how'' this was possible, and so the phrase "he got away again!" and variants thereof get used many, many times. This is also repeatedly [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]]:

* [[EvilPoacher The Poacher]] from ''VideoGame/JadeCocoon'', who's only role in the story is to provide a mini-boss battle when it would be a good time for a mini-boss battle. Levant lets the guy run away each time he beats him and makes no attempt whatsoever to stop him. Admittedly, it leads to a damned hilarious line after defeating the poacher for the third time:

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'':

---> '''Sonic:''' Argh! He ran off again!
---> '''Blaze:''' Those guys just will not sit still!

--> '''Poacher (on the brink of tears):''' I can't believe I just lost to a little kid. I guess I'm over the hill. Maybe I should just retire... See ya around, kid.
--> '''Levant:''' *shrugs*

-->-- '''Diabetus''', ''WebVideo/{{Retsupurae}}'', "[[{{MST}} Let's Watch]] ''WesternAnimation/MegaMan''"

* ''Fanfic/JusticeLeagueOfEquestria'': After Rainbow Dash/Supermare destroys his enchanted-to-cut-through-anything sword, Comicbook/{{Deathstroke}} hides from view with a smoke bomb and flees. He comments that [[PsychoForHire he's already been paid]], so there's really no reason for him to have still been there, anyway.

* In ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'', [[VideoGame/StarFox Falco]] lets [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Bowser]] get away after destroying his Dark Cannon.

* Giacomo, the one-man QuirkyMinibossSquad from ''Videogame/BatenKaitosOrigins'' fights you three times, and twice he flees. The third time Sagi leaves his unconscious body where it fell, admitting that he envies him for his determination. Naturally, this becomes a serious case of NiceJobBreakingItHero when you [[BioAugmentation consider what]] [[TookALevelInBadAss he]] [[FromNobodyToNightmare became]] [[BigBad in]] [[VideoGame/BatenKaitos the sequel]].

* Happens with [[spoiler:Sekto]] in 'Videogame/OddworldStrangersWrath'', who [[spoiler:swims off in the now-un-dammed river]]. It's somewhat justified however, as [[spoiler:1). Stranger wasn't aware of Sekto's [[BroughtDownToNormal 'true form']], and 2). he and the Grubbs were generally rather distracted by TheReveal of Sekto's abandoned host body: the previous guardian Steef]].

* Giygas in ''{{VideoGame/Mother 1}}'', after your party sings the eight melodies to him. Pokey in ''Videogame/EarthBound'' does this twice, once after you confront Mr. Monotoli and again after you vanquish Giygas outright. The latter is what ultimately leads him to the time in which ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'' takes place.

* In ''WebComicMinionsAtWork'', the villain not only did [[http://www.minionsatwork.com/2006/05/minions-1-boss-betrayal.html this]], leaving his {{Mooks}} to face the enemy, the severance check bounces.

* [[Main/{{CreepyPasta}} Creepypastas]] often have this happen. For example, WebOriginal/JeffTheKiller, after his attempt to murder a young boy in the beginning of his first story goes sour, smashes a window, jumps out of it, and escapes into the night. The cops who were called on him don't bother going after him.

* The ''Westernanimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' episode "[[{{Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheChase}} The Chase]]" had a three-way fight between Aang, Zuko, and Azula that was joined by the rest of the main cast, minus Mai and Ty Lee. Everyone corners Azula, until she shoots Iroh, the rest of them attack her, she causes an explosion, and presumably runs off somewhere. In the WhoWouldWantToWatchUs episode, we have:

* [[BigBad Slade]] does this in the first season finale of ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'', after his mask gets knocked off and he's decided he's had enough. He ''does'', however, trigger his lair's self-destruct so that the Titans won't be able to follow him. The season four finale has a variation, as Slade is actually [[EnemyMine not really a villain at that point]] and gets flung away by [[{{Satan}} Trigon]] from the final battle, not to be seen again. Later on, though, Robin expresses his belief that Slade survived and returned to his villainous ways.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': Almost literally in "[[{{Recap/FuturamaS4E18TheDevilsHandsAreIdlePlaythings}} The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings]]". In the end the Robot Devil throws a smoke bomb and vanishes (but not really: in the shot of the baffled audience we see the Robot Devil escaping in the background. On the stage right side.)

* In the ''Manga/DeathNote'' CrackFic ''Fanfic/TheGame'' [[spoiler: Light]] makes his escape after [[spoiler: Near]] made everyone lose the Game [[IgnoredEnemy and they forget about him for a moment while they're bickering about it.]]