History YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness / LiveActionFilms

*** He does this to pretty much everyone in the Republic and the Separatists in ''Revenge of the Sith''. He sends Obi-Wan to kill Grievous, and would have killed Grievous if he had won; slaughters the Jedi once their role in the war and attacking him has been fulfilled; dissolves the Republic itself to create THE FIRST! GALACTIC! EMPIRE!. Count Dooku doesn't realize how expendable he is until Sidious orders his replacement, the future Darth Vader, to execute him. Then, once the Separatist leaders have done their job, Sidious informs them that he is sending Vader to "take care of them." Naturally, this means Vader locks the door and slaughters them. Vader's sweetheart Padmé probably would've also been discarded by Sidious, if Vader hadn't accidentally done that himself.

* At the end of ''Film/BattleRoyale'', [[TheHero Shuya]], [[LoveInterest Noriko]] and [[AloofAlly Shogo]] are the last three standing in the DeadlyGame in which ThereCanOnlyBeOne. Shogo then admits to the other two that he had been lying to their faces the entire time, that they were {{Unwitting Pawn}}s for his chance to win, that his [[TheLostLenore dead girlfriend]] didn't exist, and that he has no need for them anymore before shooting them both dead. [[spoiler:Subverted; Shuya and Noriko agreed to [[FakingTheDead fake their deaths]] as part of Shogo's plan to end the Battle Royale program.]]

*** In the book and in ''Film/NeverSayNeverAgain'', the impersonator is [[LoveInterest Domino's]] brother, and is killed because he was a direct link to the BigBad (his sister being the BigBad's mistress) and the chance he might start blabbing to someone.

* ''Film/JonahHex2010'': Quentin Turnbull does this to Adleman Lusk. Lusk says that he will hang if Turnbull's scheme fails and Turnbull promises him that he will not hang.

* In the movie ''Film/MysteryMen'', Casanova Frankenstein kills his own men for no other reason than to show that [[VillainBall he is so evil]].
** That and he wasn't willing to wait for them to get out of the way before activating the booby trap that would prevent the advancing heroes from reaching him.

** Though in the [[Creator/{{Syfy}} Sci Fi Channel]] sequel it turned out he was cursed and became undead.

'''Warning: Often serves as a DeathTrope, and frequently involves spoilers.'''

* In ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'', Comicbook/LexLuthor has [[TheDragon Anatoli]] kill [[spoiler: the key witness to the Nairomi incident, who Lex had threatened into lying to the Senate to frame Comicbook/{{Superman}} for a massacre in Africa]]. She's smart enough to realise what's happening after seeing Anatoli and some {{Mooks}} waiting at her house for her, and tries to avert this trope by [[spoiler: confessing to June Finch what she's done]], without success. Also, once [[spoiler: Wallace Keefe and the Senate sub-commitee headed by June Finch]] have [[UnwittingPawn done their job]] helping turn public opinion against the Man of Steel, Lex has them all killed in an explosion.

* In ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'', Comicbook/LexLuthor has [[TheDragon Anatoli]] kill [[spoiler: the key witness to the Nairomi incident, who Lex had threatened into lying to the Senate to frame Comicbook/{{Superman}} for a massacre in Africa]]. She's smart enough to realise what's happening after seeing Anatoli and some {{Mooks}} waiting at her house for her, and tries to avert this trope by [[spoiler: confessing to June Finch what she's done]], without success. Also, once [[spoiler: Wallace O'Keefe and the Senate sub-commitee headed by June Finch]] have [[UnwittingPawn done their job]] helping turn public opinion against the Man of Steel, Lex has them all killed in an explosion.

* In ''Film/ThirtyDaysOfNight'', "[[NoNameGiven the Stranger]]" is a [[TheQuisling Quisling]] who sabotages every means of communication and transport in the town to allow the vampires to freely prey on the townsfolk, [[VampireVannabe on the condition that they turn him into one of them]] once they're done. After slaughtering most of the townsfolk (bar the protagonists), the vampires find him locked up in the local sheriff's office. Of course, they refuse to uphold their end of the bargain.
** They also do this in a more sympathetic example to a young girl. They injure her and use her as bait to draw out other people. The plan fails, and they promptly dispose of her afterwards.

* Played in an interesting way in ''Film/AmericanUltra''. [[spoiler:Yates]] is killed in part because he denies [[spoiler:that his ''massively illegal'' operation to kill ''one'' former assassin on US territory, that has repeatedly failed and cost the CIA ''many'' good agents]] was at all, in any way, a bad idea, and that [[TooDumbToLive he intended to continue pushing for more attempts at this particular stupid idea if released]]. One of the few cases of a more or less "Good Guy" pulling this, due to the sheer incompetence, stupidity and malice displayed by the victim.
** [[spoiler: Lasseter]] manages to avoid by pointing out that [[spoiler:she]] ''hasn't'' outlived her usefulness, and is in fact [[CantKillYouStillNeedYou still needed]].

* The [[TheFilmOfTheBook film version]] of ''Film/ClearAndPresentDanger'' has the drug cartel spy Felix Cortez [[NeckSnap snap Moira Wolfe's neck]] after getting from her the information his employer desired.[[note]]This is in contrast to the book, where she's left alive, but made unavailable due to Escobedo using the information that Cortez had collected for an attack on a US delegation visiting Colombia. After the US discovers the source of the leak and gets her cooperation in capturing him, his returning to the US would result in being arrested.[[/note]]

* ''Film/{{Constantine}}''. The BigBad [[spoiler:Gabriel]] disposes of his ally [[spoiler:Balthasar]] after he completes his mission to draw out Angela Dodson.

* In ''Film/{{Scream 4}}'', the killer's accomplice thought that he was a part of a plan to stage a killing spree, frame somebody else for the murders, and pose as the survivors who took down Ghostface, becoming celebrities in the process. [[spoiler:Unfortunately for Charlie, Jill Roberts was planning on being the FinalGirl -- with emphasis on ''Final''. She then stabs Charlie in the heart and tries to make ''him'' look like the mastermind of the murders.]]

* Quentin Turnbull does this to Adleman Lusk in ''Film/JonahHex''. Lusk says that he will hang if Turnbull's scheme fails and Turnbull promises him that he will not hang.

** It sounds strange, but it's part of the Sith doctrine: kill the other if you can form a stronger duo without him. A Sith apprentice is fully aware that their master may replace them someday… Reciprocally, as a master, if your apprentice doesn't plan to kill you, you are not doing your master's job.

* ''Film/JackieBrown'': [[spoiler:Just before killing him, Ordell tells Louis, “The reason, your ass ain’t worth a shit no more.”]]

* ''Film/JackieBrown'': [[Just before killing him, Ordell tells Louis, “The reason, your ass ain’t worth a shit no more.”]]

*** ComicBook/TheJoker does this to the entire mob, who hire him to take out Batman only to wish they hadn't as Joker's machinations ruin and eventually kill them -- the only one who doesn't get killed by Joker is Maroni, who gets Two-Face set on him instead.
*** In the opening bank robbery, nonetheless, the Joker walks away with the entire $68 million haul for himself, tricking his clowns into shooting other, and only needing to kill ''one'' person (the bus driver). This seemingly relies on a degree of stupidity and/or [[GenreBlind Genre Blindness]] from the clowns: all but the one told to deal with the silent alarm (who dies first) has secret orders to kill someone once he's done his part...and don't realize the same will happen to them. One guy ''does'' catch on when he learns another clown (the one he was ordered to kill) was told to do this to the alarm guy (right before shooting him himself for finishing his task of opening the vault), but is wrong in who kills him.
** In ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', Bane does this to Daggett. Earlier, he does this on the two men who capture Gordon and deliver him to Bane. Bane breaks the first guy's neck, then tells the second one he'll kill him as soon as he searches Gordon's pockets. [[UndyingLoyalty The henchman follows orders up to the end]]. After Gordon escapes, Bane shoots the henchman and drops his body in the storm drain outflow.

* Near the end of ''Film/DemolitionMan'', the main villain Simon Phoenix tries to unfreeze all the criminals held in the cry-prison at once to kickstart his new dystopia. He thanks the prison's cryo-stasis technicians for their help, before gunning them all down because he no longer has any use for them.

* In ''Film/TheAccountant'', this is one of two ways for a client of the titular Accountant to prompt him to pass a damning tip off to Director Ray King, his FriendOnTheForce in the [=IRS's=] enforcement division, [=FinCEN=]. The Accountant is quite eager to outlive his usefulness to criminal operations, and also has the martial skills to survive such attempts. The other way is their business being offensive to his autistic BlueAndOrangeMorality. The antagonist of the film, [[spoiler:the Living Robotics CEO]], manages to do both when he orders a hit on both the Accountant and people he considers important to him.

* In ''Film/TheAccountant'', this is one of two ways for a client of the titular Accountant to prompt him to pass a damning tip off to Director Ray King, his FriendOnTheForce in the [=IRS's=] enforcement division, [=FinCEN=]. The Accountant is quite eager to outlive his usefulness to criminal operations, and also has the martial skills to survive such attempts. The other way is their business being offensive to his autistic BlueAndOrangeMorality.

** Surprisingly, BigBad Darth Sidious / Emperor Palpatine only does this twice, and both in ''Revenge of the Sith.'' Count Dooku doesn't realize how expendable he is until Sidious orders his replacement, the future Darth Vader, to execute him. Then, once the Separatist leaders have done their job, Sidious informs them that he is sending Vader to "take care of them." Naturally, this means Vader locks the door and slaughters them. Vader's sweetheart Padmé probably would've also been discarded by Sidious, if Vader hadn't accidentally done that himself.
** He does it a third...or is that first?...time in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', when he urges Luke to finish off Vader and take his place at the Emperor's side.
** Actually he does it to ''everyone'' in ''Revenge of the Sith'': He sends Obi-Wan to kill Grievous, and would have killed Grievous if he had won; slaughters the Jedi once their role in the war and attacking him has been fulfilled; and finally to the Republic itself, dissolving it creating THE FIRST! GALACTIC! EMPIRE!.
** He also does this to the Galactic Senate in ''Film/ANewHope'', dissolving them the moment that the Death Star is fully operational and he no longer needs to pretend he needs them.

** Sidious did this to his master, Darth Plagueis, after his election to the chancellorship was secured. The ExpandedUniverse establishes that this was done with force lightning and a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech.
** He also likely would have arranged to have Darth Maul disposed of at some point during the Clone War, had he not been defeated by Obi-Wan Kenobi's hands earlier.