History MercyKill / ComicBooks

* ''ComicBook/{{Commando}}'': One of the many pulp comic war stories, "Sunderland Ahoy", turns on an RAF fighter pilot taking pity on a trapped Stuka gunner and acting on the German's signal to shoot him. Since his fellow officers and superiors alike didn't see exactly what happened, they are [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished scandalized by his bloodthirsty conduct]] and he is transferred to the highly unglamorous flying-boat patrols. Eventually, though, a chance meeting with the brother of the man he killed -- who ''did'' hear the whole story, and is grateful -- sees his name cleared.

** In ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'', Wolverine does this for Jesse, a boy whose mutant power is to generate radiation that kills everyone around him. There are other factors at work, including [[spoiler:the fact that the U.S. government had sent Wolverine to do this and]] how bad the truth would be for the mutant community, but it's presented as sparing a boy from a FateWorseThanDeath.

[[caption-width-right:1000:”[[Franchise/SpiderMan You]] were once beautiful. You were once a warrior. And so you deserve a warrior’s exit.”]]

* In ''ComicBook/OneHundredBullets'', Wylie Times does this to Gabe, a diminitive, ugly ButtMonkey, who only has his uncanny talent at playing the trumpet going for him. Gabe's jaw had been destroyed by a bear trap while running away from a gunfight, putting an end to his musical prospects.

* In the first ''Franchise/AlienVsPredator'' miniseries, one of the human survivors suddenly dies to a chest-burster. Another immediately realizes he's in for the same fate because he was cocooned and left unconscious in the hive with the first victim. Machiko Naguchi offers him a mercy kill, and the Predator in the group even offers to do it for her. Machiko insists on doing it herself since she's already promised to, but accepts when the Predator loans her [[MoreDakka a plasma cannon]] to make it quick and painless for the host.

* In ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'', Guy is attacked by his Black Ring-zombified and mind-controlled girlfriend Ice, who asks for a merciful death.
* One of the many ''ComicBook/{{Commando}}'' pulp comic war stories, "Sunderland Ahoy", turns on an RAF fighter pilot taking pity on a trapped Stuka gunner and acting on the German's signal to shoot him. Since his fellow officers and superiors alike didn't see exactly what happened, they are [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished scandalized by his bloodthirsty conduct]] and he is transferred to the highly unglamorous flying-boat patrols. Eventually, though, a chance meeting with the brother of the man he killed -- who ''did'' hear the whole story, and is grateful -- sees his name cleared.

* ComicBook/DoctorStrange was forced to kill his own mentor, the Ancient One, to prevent [[EldritchAbomination Shuma-Gorath]] from using his mind as a conduit to enter their world. Said mentor was dying anyway, and after death he [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence became one with Eternity]], sticking around as a spirit adviser to Strange (who was understandably upset over [[ShootTheDog what he'd had to do]]).
* In a ''ComicBook/DungeonTwilight'' one-shot story, the protagonist Noyeuse saw her friend being raped by one of the Great Khan's officers. Since she can't blow her cover and can't fight every soldier in the room, she decided to kill her friend. The officer barely cared and just kept [[ILoveTheDead going]].
* In ''ComicBook/{{Elfquest}}'', Skywise ends his mortally-wounded wolf's suffering after its throat is torn open by another wolf. After Tyldak was mortally wounded by humans, Kahvi slit his throat to end it at his request.
* ''ComicBook/FuryMyWarGoneBy'' has Nick Fury in a lifeboat with a soldier who’s lost all four of his limbs to a shark attack but is somehow still alive. The man simply asks “Fury?” to which he replies “yeah” and shoots him in the head.
* In ''ComicBook/AHistoryOfViolence'', the protagonist Joey finds his childhood friend Richie in the hands of the mob that they'd attacked and ripped off decades earlier. Richie had been caught early on and tortured the entire time. When Joey finds him, he is barely recognizable as human. Richie pleads for death, and Joey hesitantly grants it.

* In the ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'' tie-in story to the ''ComicBook/LegendsDCComics'' event of 1986, the second Commander Steel, Henry Heywood III, has most of his flesh burned away by an android built by [[MadScientist Professor Ivo]]. His grandfather, the original Commander Steel, puts him on life support but euthanizes him after recognizing that he will never wake up.
* In the first story arc from the anthology series ''Marvel Fanfare'', after being transformed into the Man-Spider, ComicBook/SpiderMan begs ComicBook/KaZar to kill to him [[DyingAsYourself while he still has some of his mind left]]. Ka-Zar complies, but in the end, it's averted, as Karl Lykos absorbs the mutated energy from him and turns him back to normal.
* {{ComicBook/Morbius}} the Living Vampire's ex-fiancée Martine tracks him down with the explicit intent of curing him or killing him if that fails. "One way or another, I'm not going to let him suffer anymore."
* In ''ComicBook/MutantX'', Havok is forced to put down the Earth-1298 version of Captain America after the latter’s powers raged out of control.

* ''ComicBook/{{Providence}}'' set in an AlternateUniverse of LovecraftCountry features Robert Chambers' "Lethal Chambers" built in public parks, where suicides can walk into a park in a relaxing room and self-euthanize themselves.
* ''ComicBook/ThePunisherBorn'': During Frank Castle's [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar last tour in Vietnam]], his squad captures a Vietcong sniper who turns out to be a woman. As the squad is about to gang-rape her, Frank shows up and shoots her in the head, later sneaking up on the SociopathicSoldier who had the idea and drowning him with his boot. After another soldier who witnessed both events asks him about this, Frank justifies the former by saying that if he'd kept the girl alive, she'd have been put on a helicopter and interrogated by intelligence, who'd rape and kill her anyway, and no one in his squad would have trusted him in combat ever again.

* ComicBook/RedSonja lands one on a bear mortally wounded in Kalayah's arena.

* In ''ComicBook/ScoobyApocalypse'', Scrappy-Doo enters a animal shelter intending on taking the food for his gang, only to discover there was still one dog, still alive but starving. Scrappy admires its strength and even muses the idea of trying to save the pup, but he fears that it would mean it would have to become a monster like he is, so he decides to snap his neck, much to his dismay.
* The World War II comic ''ComicBook/SgtRock'' has an interesting variant on this: One of the Easy Company soldiers is trapped in a burning barn after a skirmish, screaming for someone to put him out of his misery. The sergeant and other men hesitate over what to do, before the barn collapses into a ball of flame, along with the man's dying screams, and [[spoiler:his soul is snatched up by the Devil. Seems he'd made a DealWithTheDevil that he'd never die by gunfire...]]
* At the end of ''ComicBook/{{Siege}}'', ComicBook/TheSentry, having been pummeled back to his senses by ComicBook/TheAvengers, begs the heroes to kill him lest his SuperPoweredEvilSide the Void came back. [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]], at first, refuses as he wants Sentry to pay for his crimes against Asgard. However, the Void starts to manifest once more and Thor is forced to strike him down.
* In issue 3 of ''ComicBook/SpiderManLifeStory'' set in 1984, the retelling of ''ComicBook/KravensLastHunt'' has Kraven performing a twisted version of this on [[Franchise/SpiderMan Peter Parker]]. (Peter survives and is saved by [[ComicBook/{{Venom}} the Venom Symbiote]], which finds the grave he’s buried in and breaks him out.) Kraven’s reasoning for this? He had [[VillainousRespect admired Spider-Man]] as a worthy opponent, but Peter is getting older and starting to slow down, so Kraven has decided that Spider-Man must be given a warrior’s death.

* ''ComicBook/StarWarsDarthVader'': Happens after [[spoiler: Morit pushes [[CainAndAbel his own sister]] into a lava pit after Aiolin had just [[UngratefulBastard saved his life]], resulting in an [[Film/RevengeOfTheSith able to relate]] ''Vader'' of all people, pulling her out and killing her quickly instead of leaving her to burn.]]
* Another Vader example in ''ComicBook/StarWarsVaderDarkVisions''. When the StalkerWithACrush nurse intruded on him in his quarters unmasked and confessed her love for him, he fatally ignites his lightsaber through her chest. It's a mercy kill because he did it quickly and painlessly, rather than Force choke her to death like he usually does to underlings who piss him off. Keep in mind that Vader has killed people in horrible and painful ways for less. When two stormtroopers saw him accidentally without the helmet, he telekinetically lifted them and then twisted their heads around backwards and that was just for accidentally seeing him without the helmet. Here, the Nurse intruded on him while in meditation without his helmet and then confessed to loving him. The look on his face when he does it is one of indifference or perhaps melancholy. It's reasonable to assume that the nurse reminded him of things he doesn't like to think about and he could also most likely sense her mind and emotions with the force, realizing that she was both mentally disturbed and being completely honest. He may have felt a rare moment of pity and simply put her down for her own sake.
* Occurs in ''ComicBook/StrikeforceMorituri'' where the heroes find four people who were secretly subjected to the Morituri Effect and were accidentally turned into super-powered deformed monsters. The "mutants" were euthanized at their request.
* ''ComicBook/SuicideSquad'': In #0, Amanda Waller does this to Duren after he is mutated by Regulus's bomb. It was this act that made her determined that any future special ops team she commanded would be composed of disposable operatives.

* Sideswipe does this to captured, tortured, and mutilated human companion, Hunter O'Nion at the end of ''ComicBook/TheTransformersAllHailMegatron''.

* ''ComicBook/VadersQuest'': The Rebel prisoner who kicks off the series by revealing Luke’s name under is despondent about his failure to resist torture and how he has no means of escape from being subjected to further interrogation. He asks BountyHunter Mala Mala, who is running from Vader, to shoot him. She solemnly complies.
* When ComicBook/{{X 23}} was a child, her handlers gave her a puppy to kill. After an hour, she hadn't killed it. They said they would kill it in the most painful way possible and make her watch unless she mercy killed it. Later during X-Force, the team comes across an alternate universe version of her friend [[ComicBook/{{NYX}} Kiden Nixon]], who is being used by the BigBad for her time manipulation powers. Laura is ordered to do this as there's no other way to help her or stop the villain, but notably ''can't bring herself to do it'' and someone else has to do it for her.

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* Another Vader example in ''ComicBook/StarWarsVaderDarkVisions''. When the StalkerWithACrush nurse intruded on him in his quarters unmasked and confessed her love for him, he fatally ignites his lightsaber through her chest. It's a mercy kill because he did it quickly and painlessly, rather than Force choke her to death like he usually does to underlings who piss him off. Keep in mind that Vader has killed people in horrible and painful ways for less. When two stormtroopers saw him accidentally without the helmet, he telekineticaly lifted them and then twisted their heads around backwards and that was just for accidentally seeing him without the helmet. Here, the Nurse intruded on him while in meditation without his helmet and then confessed to loving him. The look on his face when he does it is one of indifference or perhaps melancholy. It's reasonable to assume that the nurse reminded him of things he doesn't like to think about and he could also most likely sense her mind and emotions with the force, realizing that she was both mentally disturbed and being completely honest. He may have felt a rare moment of pity and simply put her down for her own sake.

* Another Vader example in ''ComicBook/StarWarsVaderDarkVisions''. When the StalkerWithACrush nurse intruded on him in his quarters unmasked and confessed her love for him, he fatally ignites his lightsaber through her chest. It's a mercy kill because he did it quickly and and painlessly, rather than Force choke her to death like he usually does to underlings who piss him off. Keep in mind that Vader has killed people in horrible and painful ways for less. When two stormtroopers saw him accidentally without the helmet, he telekineticaly lifted them and then twisted their heads around backwards and that was just for accidentally seeing him without the helmet. Here, the Nurse intruded on him while in meditation without his helmet and then confessed to loving him. The look on his face when he does it is one of indifference or perhaps melancholy. It's reasonable to assume that the nurse reminded him of things he doesn't like to think about and he could also most likely sense her mind and emotions with the force, realizing that she was both mentally disturbed and being completely honest. He may have felt a rare moment of pity and simply put her down for her own sake.

* In issue 3 of ''ComicBook/SpiderManLifeStory'' set in 1984, the retelling of ''ComicBook/KravensLastHunt'' has Kraven performing a twisted version of this on [[Franchise/SpiderMan Peter Parker]]. (Peter survives and is saved by [[ComicBook/{{Venom}} the Venom Symbiote, which finds the grave he’s buried in and breaks him out.) Kraven’s reasoning for this? He had [[VillainousRespect admired Spider-Man]] as a worthy opponent, but Peter is getting older and starting to slow down, so Kraven has decided that Spider-Man must be given a warrior’s death.

* In issue 3 of ''ComicBook/SpiderManLifeStory'' set in 1984, the retelling of ''ComicBook/KravensLastHunt'' has Kraven performing a twisted version of this on [[Franchise/SpiderMan Peter Parker]]. (Peter survives and is saved by [[ComicBook/Venom the Venom Symbiote, which finds the grave he’s buried in and breaks him out.) Kraven’s reasoning for this? He had [[VillainousRespect admired Spider-Man]] as a worthy opponent, but Peter is getting older and starting to slow down, so Kraven has decided that Spider-Man must be given a warrior’s death.

[[[[quoteright:1000:ComicBook/SpiderManLifeStory https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_8941.jpeg]]]]

[[quoteright:1000:ComicBook/SpiderManLifeStory https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_8941.jpeg]]]]

[[quoteright:1000:[[ComicBook/SpiderManLifeStory https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_8941.jpeg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:1000:”[[Franchise/SpiderMan You]] were once beautiful. You were once a warrior. And so you deserve a warrior’s exit.]]

[[quoteright:1000:ComicBook/SpiderManLifeStory https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_8941.jpeg]]]]

[[quoteright:1000:ComicBook/SpiderManLifeStory https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_8941.jpeg]]