Line #97 DeadStarWalking/LiveActionFilms


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2	%% NOTE TO EDITORS: The entries on this page are alphabetized by the title of the film to make them easier to find and reduce the probability of duplicate entries being added. Please add new entries to the appropriate place alphabetically rather than automatically adding them to the end of the list.
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5	* Even though Creator/RobertDeNiro is billed as the main character in the 2001 police drama ''15 Minutes'', he is kidnapped and brutally killed less than halfway through the film, forcing another detective (played by Edward Burns) to avenge his death.
6	* Creator/EwanMcGregor receives top billing in ''Literature/AlexRider: Stormbreaker''. His sole appearance in the film is in the first few minutes, where he is quickly killed off, and not even given a chance to interact with any of the other characters. However, it should be noted that the actors were billed alphabetically (with the exception of Creator/MickeyRourke, who was billed last for additional emphasis to his name).
7	* The ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' series:
8	** ''Film/{{Alien}}''. Tom Skerritt is top-billed during a period in his career where audiences would naturally assume he was the main character. The Xenomorph (and the scriptwriters) disagreed. The cast dies in reverse order of their credit billing; at the time, Creator/JohnHurt, Creator/HarryDeanStanton and Tom Skerritt were all relatively well-known actors, while Creator/SigourneyWeaver was a complete unknown.
9	** In ''Film/Alien3'', Dr. Clemens (played by Creator/CharlesDance) is set up to be the main male character, but gets killed about an hour in, and Dillon takes over the role for the rest of the film.
10	** ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'' subverts this. The audience is told that Peter Weyland (Creator/GuyPearce) died sometime during the crew's trip to the Engineer planet, with his only scene in the film (not counting the ViralMarketing TED Talk) being a [[PosthumousCharacter posthumous briefing]] on what they should expect to find. Then it's revealed two-thirds of the way through the movie that he's NotQuiteDead, and has been in hypersleep aboard the titular ship for the entire trip. He gets a few more minutes of screentime before being unceremoniously offed by the Engineer.
11	** ''Film/AlienCovenant'': Creator/JamesFranco plays TheCaptain of the ''Covenant'' in the prologue and since he's also husband to the female lead Daniels it looks like he'll play a prominent role. In truth, he dies while in hypersleep in the opening by getting burned alive.
12	* There's an old 1967 romantic-drama titled ''Auntie Lan'', revolving around the love affair between the titular character and her fiancé, played by Creator/JimmyWangYu, then a major star and kung-fu icon thanks to the then-recent ''Film/OneArmedSwordsman''. Roughly thirty minutes into the film, Lan's family had finally accepted her relationship with her lover after she discovers herself to be pregnant with his child, just as he's in the United States and about to return, at which point Lan intends to break out the good news upon seeing him... only to learn a scene later that he died in a plane crash en route from New York to Hong Kong.
13	* ''Film/BatmanBegins'': Creator/KenWatanabe was cast (with much publicity) as Comicbook/RasAlGhul. Turns out he's an imposter who dies very early in the movie - an intentional deception to set up the twist to the mystery of exactly who the BigBad was toward the end.
14	* Creator/AlexanderSkarsgard is billed as one of the main characters in the ''Film/{{Battleship}}'' film. He is killed by the aliens' opening volley. Surprisingly, Creator/LiamNeeson, who also gets top billing, survives until the end, but only because he remains outside of the action and doesn't even get a chance to be in danger.
15	* Creator/MichaelRooker lasts about a half-hour into ''Film/TheBelkoExperiment'' before being killed with a wrench to the head.
16	* Traci Lords was given poster billing in ''Film/{{Blade}}''. She dies in the first battle scene, less than ten minutes in.
17	* In ''Film/ChildrenOfMen'', Creator/JulianneMoore is the second-billed actress after the star Creator/CliveOwen (possibly misleading some viewers into thinking she is the last pregnant woman whom Theo has to escort to safety). She gets introduced early on, and being Theo's ex-wife, starts setting up a sub-plot about the two of them reconnecting their lost love. Then they try to drive a young girl out of the country and Julianne gets shot through the throat. All this happens in the first half-hour, and the rest of the film is centered around Theo helping said young girl after discovering she is pregnant.
18	* Creator/DannyTrejo is top-billed for the low-budget chiller ''The Cloth''. He doesn't make it beyond the first scene.
19	* In ''Film/{{Congo}}'', Creator/BruceCampbell plays a researcher who is brutally killed by an ape in the first few minutes of the film. The main group of characters later stumble upon his body.
20	* Creator/GwynethPaltrow in ''Film/Contagion2011'', who is first introduced sneezing and coughing at an airport in Chicago, and, when she arrives home minutes into the film, she is rushed to a hospital, where she convulses and dies. The only footage seen of her afterwards is an autopsy scene (where doctors [[GoryDiscretionShot cut her skull open]]) and a flashback at the end of the film to how the virus was transmitted to her. Likewise, Creator/KateWinslet appears for a few minutes as a CDC researcher working to investigate the cure, but she gets infected and is rushed to a quarantine zone, and is only seen sometime later when she tries to give a patient a blanket before dying.
21	* Almost a staple of Creator/AgathaChristie adaptations:
22	** The 1972 film adaptation of ''Literature/EndlessNight'' stars Creator/HayleyMills as the [[spoiler:first]] victim.
23	** ''Film/MurderOnTheOrientExpress2017'' has Creator/JohnnyDepp as the murder victim, who had been played by Richard Widmark in the [[Film/MurderOnTheOrientExpress1974 1974 adaptation]].
24	** ''Film/DeathOnTheNile1978'''s victims included Creator/LoisChiles and Creator/Angela Lansbury. The [[Film/DeathOnTheNile2022 2022 remake]] killed off Creator/GalGadot and Creator/TomBateman.
25	** ''Film/EvilUnderTheSun'' from 1982 cast Creator/DianaRigg as the victim.
26	** ''Film/OrdealByInnocence'' from 1984 stars Creator/FayeDunaway as the victim of a murder that took place before the story begins.
27	** ''Film/AHauntingInVenice'', a 2023 ''loose'' adaptation of ''Literature/HalloweenParty'', killed off Creator/MichelleYeoh, among others.
28	* In the Canadian horror flick ''Film/{{Cube}}'', a character named Alderson (played by Creator/JulianRichings) is billed to be the major character of the film, had his visage pinned to all the promotional posters, and is killed brutally in the first five minutes of the movie by a wire trap before the focus shifts to the ''real'' group of protagonists.
29	* ''Film/DeepBlueSea'':
30	** Creator/SamuelLJackson is killed by a rampaging shark that leaps out of a submarine bay to get him. His death is arguably [[SacrificialLion the biggest shock in the entire film]], possibly because it's so sudden.
31	** Even earlier than that, there's Creator/StellanSkarsgard's character, who is set up to be one of the leads. He's gravely injured by a shark, sent away via helicopter for medical treatment ... and then the gurney he's being airlifted away in gets snatched by a shark, shoved into the main viewing port of the facility, and he dies due to a combination of his injuries, shock, and blood loss.
32	* ''Film/DemonsNeverDie'' has Music/{{Tulisa}} from N-Dubz as one of the top-billed stars of the film...it's a shame that she is killed off within the first ten minutes.
33	* Creator/AngieDickinson in Creator/BrianDePalma's ''Film/DressedToKill''. She's top-billed in the credits alongside Creator/MichaelCaine, but gets brutally murdered less than halfway into the movie. It's appropriate since ''Dressed To Kill'' is an overt homage to Hitchcock.
34	* Creator/ChristinaHendricks in ''Film/Drive2011''. Immediately after her character Blanche appears, the Driver's friend Standard (played by Creator/OscarIsaac) is gunned down. With (movie star) blood already spilled, The Driver interrogates her and demands her cooperation to escape the killers. Her agreement implies that Blanche is taking Standard's place as The Driver's partner and they will be working together through the rest of the plot. They do not, because she does not make it past the next scene. In a brutal aversion of PrettyLittleHeadshots, her life and their promised cooperation come to a sudden gruesome end.
35	* Creator/SeanBean in ''Film/{{Equilibrium}}''. [[ChronicallyKilledActor Sean Bean in anything, really.]]
36	* Creator/SalmaHayek in ''Film/{{Eternals}}''. Her character Ajak is TheLeader, and being such a big name, Hayek earns prominent billing in both the poster and the credits. In the present day events, when the characters go after Ajak they discover she is dead, meaning all her scenes, before and after, are flashbacks. [[spoiler:Aside from one where shapeshifter Sprite disguises herself as Ajak as a deception.]]
37	* Creator/StevenSeagal in ''Film/ExecutiveDecision''. He only shows up for a few minutes to give combat advice to the main characters before being sucked out of a connecting port after the team's attempt to board the hijacked airliner goes awry.
38	* Creator/LiamHemsworth dies early on in ''Film/TheExpendables2'', which sets in motion the film's plot.
39	* Creator/TomHanks in the film adaptation of ''Literature/ExtremelyLoudAndIncrediblyClose''. His character (Thomas Schell) mostly appears in flashbacks, and it's revealed that he died (offscreen) because he was inside the World Trade Center during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
40	* Creator/MichelleRodriguez gets 3rd billing in ''Film/FastAndFurious'', only for it to be revealed that she was murdered offscreen after the opening scene, with her only appearing in a few flashbacks after. The fifth and sixth films would later retcon this, revealing she survived but suffered amnesia as a result.
41	* ''Film/FearStreet'': Creator/MayaHawke plays the opening victim Heather, in an homage to ''{{Film/Scream\|1996}}''.
42	* ''Film/FeedingFrenzy'': Z-movie scream queen Tina Krause is the only actor with any name recognition in this no-budget horror-comedy, but she's killed in the opening scene.
43	* ''Film/FreaksOfNature'': Creator/PattonOswalt plays a CrazySurvivalist that gets killed in the very same scene he is introduced. Also, Music/VanessaHudgens dies halfway through the movie, but she is turned into a vampire instead and only appears again at the end.
44	* The ''Film/{{Fright Night\|2011}}'' remake has Creator/ChristopherMintzPlasse as "Evil" Ed, who's in it about 20 minutes before getting bitten by a vampire. He returns nearly an hour later, now having been turned, only to be killed in roughly five minutes.
45	* Creator/BruceCampbell in ''Film/FromDuskTillDawn2TexasBloodMoney''. He received top billing, but not only does he die very quickly, but his "death" is also part of an in-film movie that a character is watching.
46	* Creator/LiamNeeson shows up long enough in ''Film/GangsOfNewYork'' to deliver a RousingSpeech and rally his men before his killed during the Battle of Five Points by Bill the Butcher. It's completely justified because the character has to make a big impression as his shadow looms over the rest of the film.
47	* ''Film/GIJoeRetaliation'' has Duke (played by Creator/ChanningTatum) who appears long enough to get some expository scenes with the Joes and go on a mission with them before he's shot by a gunship during a double-cross.
48	* ''Film/Godzilla2014'':
49	** Creator/JulietteBinoche (Sandra Brody) only appears in a prologue sequence at the beginning of the film and dies after being locked inside a chamber as it floods with radiation due to a failsafe mechanism. Notably, when Binoche was asked about her experience making the film, [[https://www.cinemablend.com/new/Read-Juliette-Binoche-Blunt-Harsh-Assessment-Shooting-Godzilla-67844.html she said]] "I don't know how much fun you can have when you have to die in two seconds, and you're the one real woman character and you're dead in three minutes and 45 seconds".
50	** Creator/BryanCranston (Joe Brody) is one of the most notorious examples of this trope in action. Originally set up to be the main character and the focus of all of the marketing and trailers, Cranston barely appears in a third of the film before he's gravely injured during an attack by the creature, and his final scene is him laying comatose in a helicopter before passing away. Like Binoche, he's been [[http://www.cinemablend.com/new/What-Godzilla-Did-Wrong-According-Bryan-Cranston-76627.html vocal]] about his dislike of how the filmmakers treated the character.
51	* In ''Film/AGoodDayToDieHard'', Creator/ColeHauser appears in one scene as a CIA handler who briefs Jack and John on the current situation in the area, just before he gets shot in the head by an enemy sniper.
52	* In ''Film/{{Gravity}}'', Creator/GeorgeClooney's character, Matt Kowalski, voluntarily lets go of a tether and floats away to certain death while Ryan (Creator/SandraBullock) watches helplessly.
53	* Both Creator/GuyPearce and Creator/RalphFiennes in ''Film/TheHurtLocker''. Pearce dies at the end of the opening scene (after attempting to defuse a bomb), while Fiennes only shows up for a few minutes midway through the film before dying in an anticlimactic way.
54	* Creator/LaurenceFishburne is billed second in ''The Ice Road'', and dies before forty minutes sinking in said ice road.
55	* Music/JenniferLopez in ''Film/JerseyGirl''; not only does Lopez get second billing in promotional material, but upon first glance, she appears to be the title character of the movie. Ten minutes in, she dies during childbirth -- and we find out that her ''daughter'' is arguably the title character. After the "Bennifer" craze sprung up, the studio made Creator/KevinSmith film more scenes so that they could push J-Lo's death to halfway through the film, which would have totally undone the whole point of the story. Fortunately, the failure of ''Film/{{Gigli}}'' combined with Creator/BenAffleck and Lopez ending their relationship let Smith go back to his original idea. It also meant they had to spoil the death in the advertising to make it seem less like ''Film/{{Gigli}}''.
56	* ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven'':
57	** Creator/LiamNeeson dies about a quarter of the way through the film.
58	** One of the most infamous instances of this is Creator/EdwardNorton, who plays King Baldwin IV -- a character who wears a metal mask the entire time he's on-screen, only appears in a handful of scenes and dies offscreen due to his ongoing leprosy. Even today, most people aren't aware that Norton was even involved in the film.
59	* ''Film/TheLostCity'' eventually revealed in a trailer the presence of Creator/BradPitt, even if the rest of the promotion continued to focus only on the other two leads. Come the movie, turns out Pitt's character gets a bullet to the head. TheStinger [[TisOnlyABulletInTheBrain shows he's still alive, though]].
60	* In ''Film/{{Life\|2017}}'', Creator/RyanReynolds is the first to be killed by the alien, which also invokes ShooOutTheClowns, as his character had already been established as the comic relief.
61	* ''Film/MarsAttacks'' takes great pleasure in killing off its AllStarCast while the survivors among the main characters are mostly played by relative unknowns. Only Creator/AnnetteBening, Music/TomJones ([[AsHimself playing himself]]), and Jim Brown survive among the big-name stars, and the latter two are comparatively small parts. (Ironically, [[RetroactiveRecognition one of those unknowns]] was a 15-year-old Creator/NataliePortman, then still known mainly as a child actor.) It's especially so with Creator/JackNicholson; when Creator/TimBurton was told he couldn't kill off Nicholson's character, he [[ActingForTwo cast Nicholson in two separate parts]] and killed off ''[[ExactWords both of them]]!''
62	* ''Film/MeetJoeBlack'' manages to subvert this trope with Creator/BradPitt. Though his character dies graphically moments into the film, Death then chooses to take his form.
63	* Creator/ValKilmer and Creator/ChristianSlater get gory deaths very early on in ''Film/{{Mindhunters}}''.
64	* A hallmark of the ''Film/MissionImpossible'' series:
65	** In the original film, Ethan Hunt's backup team includes characters played by Creator/KristinScottThomas, Creator/EmilioEstevez, Creator/EmmanuelleBeart and Creator/JonVoight. Scott-Thomas' character is stabbed in the back and Estevez's hacker character is impaled through the eye in an elevator shaft, while the latter two turn out to be not dead after all, and are instead pulling ThePlan. Estevez isn't even ''credited''.
66	** In ''Film/MissionImpossibleII'', Creator/RadeSerbedzija (a notable European character actor) gets killed off in the first scene after "Ethan Hunt" (Sean Ambrose in disguise) knocks him out and crashes the plane he is traveling on.
67	** ''Film/MissionImpossibleIII'' introduces Creator/KeriRussell as a protege of Ethan's, and then kills her off immediately after one scene when a micro-explosive in her head detonates.
68	** ''Film/MissionImpossibleGhostProtocol'' has Creator/JoshHolloway show up and get killed less than a minute into the film (although he gets more screen time in flashbacks later on), while Creator/TomWilkinson (who like Estevez above isn't credited) appears as an IMF handler who gets killed at the end of his single scene.
69	* ''Film/NurseBetty'': Creator/AaronEckhart plays the redneck boyfriend of the title character...for all of 20 minutes until he gets half his scalp ripped off and is shot as he pitifully tries to crawl away from the contract killers played by Creator/ChrisRock and Creator/MorganFreeman.
70	* ''Film/OlympusHasFallen'':
71	** Creator/AshleyJudd plays Margaret Asher, the wife of President Benjamin Asher (Creator/AaronEckhart). At the end of the opening sequence, she dies when the limousine she's in crashes down into an icy river just after Mike Banning (Creator/GerardButler) rescues the President.
72	** Creator/ColeHauser plays Roma, a Secret Service agent who manages to make a TitleDrop to other agents in the nearby area just before getting killed by a terrorist.
73	* Creator/SophiaLoren got top billing for ''Operation Crossbow''. She appeared for about 15 minutes and then was murdered by [[LaResistance the Resistance]] because she could compromise the mission.
74	* Creator/SamuelLJackson and [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson]] are killed off early in ''Film/TheOtherGuys''. The film's [[TheGenericGuy Generic Guy]] premise suggests it's coming, but the death scene itself is abrupt and senseless enough (they jump off a building expecting to somehow survive; they don't) to be a surprise.
75	* ''Film/PitchBlack'': Creator/ColeHauser plays Johns, a bounty hunter who is escorting Riddick (Creator/VinDiesel), and seems to be the main character alongside Carolyn (Radha Mitchell). Then, less than halfway through the film, Riddick fakes out Johns and lets him get eaten by some of the local predators, who messily chomp down on him while Riddick watches. Amusingly, this is the ''[[ChronicallyKilledActor third]]'' time this has happened to Hauser on this very page alone.
76	* Creator/RyanGosling in ''Film/ThePlaceBeyondThePines'', who dies a third of the way through the film due to a botched robbery and subsequent investigation by a police officer.
77	* In ''Film/{{Polaroid}}'', the opening victim Sarah is played by Creator/MadelainePetsch, who had just gotten her big break with ''Series/{{Riverdale}}'' at the time of filming.[[note]]The film sat on TheShelfOfMovieLanguishment for two years after Creator/TheWeinsteinCompany collapsed.[[/note]]
78	* Creator/DannyTrejo and Creator/LaurenceFishburne in ''Film/{{Predators}}''. Trejo's character is the first of the group to die and bites it long before any of the others, while Fishburne only shows up in the middle of the movie to provide the group some exposition, and he betrays them and is immediately killed not long after that.
79	* Creator/JanetLeigh in ''Film/{{Psycho}}'' (although she didn't go as quickly as Creator/DrewBarrymore below). This is one of the oldest examples.
80	* Zig-zagged in ''Film/Red2010''. Creator/MorganFreeman's character is killed off very early on. Then it turns out he's still alive. But he dies again about halfway through the film, this time for real.
81	* ''Film/RiseOfTheDead'' was a zombie movie that heavily advertised Creator/DannyTrejo starring in the film only for his character to turn into a zombie by the first act and almost immediately get killed off.
82	* Creator/NancyAllen in ''Film/Robocop3''. She only agreed to appear in the film if the production team killed off her character, Sgt. Lewis. She appears long enough to have some expository scenes before she's gutshot by the villain and bleeds out while Robo is unable to provide medical assistance.
83	* Creator/FrancoNero in ''Sacra Corona'' gets killed off in the first two minutes, after maybe two lines. Then he gets a second appearance as a ghost, with barely a few lines. He also happens to be one of the four characters on the cover, next to TheHero, TheLancer and the BigBad, despite there being countless other characters who had a much greater impact on the plot.
84	* Creator/RobertPatrick in ''Film/SafeHouse''. His character shows up just long enough to brief the younger field agent[=/=]main character before he and his squad are killed, forcing the agent to go on the run with the target.
85	* The ''Film/{{Scream}}'' films are famous for doing this.
86	** In [[Film/Scream1996 the first film]], Creator/DrewBarrymore is killed off within the first ten minutes. [[ThrowItIn She came up with the idea]], having been initially cast as [[FinalGirl Sidney]]. Notably, absolutely none of the advertising even suggested that Barrymore would be killed so soon -- it was a legitimate shock at the time.
87	** In [[Film/Scream2 the second film]], it's ''three'' dead stars walking -- Creator/OmarEpps and Creator/{{Jada Pinkett\|Smith}} are killed in the opening scene, and later, Creator/SarahMichelleGellar becomes Ghostface's first victim after the title card.
88	** In [[Film/Scream3 the third film]], it's Creator/LievSchreiber, whose character from the first two films [[SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome gets elevated to Opening Victim]].
89	** [[Film/{{Scream 4}} The fourth film]] kills off five characters -- Creator/LucyHale, Creator/{{Shenae Grimes\|Beech}}, Creator/AnnaPaquin, Creator/AimeeTeegarden, and Creator/BrittRobertson -- before the title card. (Though Paquin was not killed in the movie, but rather in the [[ShowWithinAShow movie within a movie]]... and Hale and Grimes bought it in the movie within a movie ''within a movie''.)
90	** [[Film/Scream2022 The fifth film]] subverts this and plays this straight. Despite promo material implying that this would be the route Creator/JennaOrtega takes in the film, her character survives the opening attack and the rest of the movie. However, Creator/DylanMinnette plays this straight by being the first of the main group to die.
91	** [[Film/ScreamVI The sixth film]] plays it straight by casting Creator/SamaraWeaving as the opening victim, but then pulls a MetaTwist by having the killer unmask right then and there, revealing him to be Creator/TonyRevolori's character and explaining his motive... and ''then'' killing him off at the hands of the ''real'' Ghostface.
92	* Despite being played by Adrien Brody, Leo Köpernick is murdered very early on in ''Film/SeeHowTheyRun'' (though he is featured in several flashbacks).
93	* Creator/BenAffleck in ''Film/SmokinAces''. In the first act, he's implied to be a main character, the leader of one of the groups and the main one explaining what's going on, only to be killed off in the very beginning of the second act.
94	* In ''Film/{{Solo}}'', Val is portrayed by Creator/ThandiweNewton and was fairly prominent in advertising leading up to the film's release; however in the film itself she's killed off less than half-way through, partly to show that AnyoneCanDie in her line of work. Writer Jonathan Kasdan actually stated he regretted not giving Val more screentime, feeling that Newton's casting gave viewers an unfair expectation of the character's prominence.
95	* Creator/RachelMcAdams in ''Film/{{Southpaw}}'', who is killed near the beginning of the film when a rival boxer pulls out a gun and tries to shoot Billy Hope (Creator/JakeGyllenhaal), only to hit her in the crossfire instead. Notably, this spoiler was played up in the film's marketing, though not to the extent that the film itself shows.
96	* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
97	** ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' subverts this. With rumors flying that Spock would be killed off, the writers had him "die" a few minutes into the film in what was quickly revealed to be a mere training exercise. Audiences were therefore still surprised when Spock died for real at the end of the film.
98	** ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'' has [[Series/DoctorWho Noel Clarke]] blow himself up in the beginning.
99	* ''[[Film/TheForceAwakens Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens]]'' made a big deal about casting Creator/MaxVonSydow, who ends up getting killed by Kylo Ren in the opening scene.
100	* In the 2005 action film ''Film/{{Stealth}}'', Creator/JamieFoxx's character, Henry, is killed off suddenly while trying to pilot his aircraft through a canyon, less than halfway through the film. Although ''Stealth'' was made before ''Film/{{Ray}}'' (which was one of Foxx's breakout roles), the film was released afterwards, and shocked audiences who expected Foxx's character to survive.
101	* In ''Film/{{Stuber}}'', Creator/KarenGillan gets a bullet to the stomach 5 minutes in.
102	* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
103	** Perhaps the most impressive occurrence is in the [[Film/SupermanTheMovie 1978 movie]]; Creator/MarlonBrando received top billing, and what was at the time the highest salary ever paid to a motion picture actor, to play a character with 8 minutes of screen time who dies before the end of the first act. (The press coverage [as opposed to the studio publicity] at the time of the initial release talked extensively about Brando's big paycheck for so little screen time, so the audience wasn't completely unprepared. This may have also tipped off late-70s movie-goers not to expect too much from his appearance in ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' a few years later.) Furthermore, Christopher Reeve was relegated to ''third'' billing even though he plays the lead character of the film. Fortunately, people caught on quickly to how much he was responsible for making the film so good.
104	** ''Film/ManOfSteel'' does the same thing with Creator/RussellCrowe as Jor-El, who appears for a few minutes at the beginning of the film before being stabbed to death by General Zod. However, he makes posthumous appearances (as a hologram) later in the film.
105	* PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/SpyKids3DGameOver''. After the team begins doubting Juni's claim of being [[TheChosenOne "The Guy"]], ''Creator/ElijahWood'' pops out of nowhere, claiming to be "The ''Real'' Guy". After about 15 seconds of acting badass, he is electrocuted to [[OneHitKO an immediate death]]. [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment This is never brought up again]].
106	* Creator/PiperLaurie was billed third in Creator/DarioArgento's ''Film/{{Trauma}}''. She dies in the first twenty minutes. [[spoiler: Turns out not only is she NotQuiteDead, but she is also the ''killer''.]]
107	* Creator/JohnCMcGinley plays a drug dealer in ''Film/TruthOrConsequencesNM''. For three minutes. Then Creator/KieferSutherland's character shoots him in the forehead. [[PlotTriggeringDeath His death did have a huge impact on the story though]].
108	* In ''Film/{{U571}}'', a number of American submariners, including Creator/BillPaxton (who's set up to be one of the main characters), are killed a quarter of the way through the film during a disastrous escape from a German U-boat.
109	* In ''Film/{{Valentine}}'', Creator/KatherineHeigl gets her throat cut by the killer in the first 12 minutes.
110	* In ''Film/VampiresVsTheBronx'', blockbuster star Creator/ZoeSaldana shows up in the first 3 minutes, and bites it during then. Or rather, gets bitten by the titular vampires.
111	* ''Film/{{Vlad}}'' featured Creator/BillyZane in the poster as if he was the main protagonist. Not only does he basically amount to a side character, but he also gets killed off by {{Dracula}} halfway through the movie.
112	* In ''Film/XMenDarkPhoenix'', Mystique (Creator/JenniferLawrence) dies less than half an hour into the film after Jean Grey (Creator/SophieTurner) throws into a pile of spiked wooden debris in a rage during a fight near the latter's childhood home.
113	* ''Film/YoungGuns'':
114	** Creator/CharlieSheen in the original film. His character (Richard Brewer) dies soon after the group is formed, as a bounty hunter hides in an outhouse and shoots him when he gets close. Even worse, he dies before the titular group becomes famous.
115	** Doc (Creator/KieferSutherland) dies midway through the [[Film/YoungGunsII second film]], in a HeroicSacrifice to allow his friends to escape. Notably, Sutherland's character (Doc) was supposed to survive the shootout and leave the country with his bride in the screenplay (and survived the real-life version of the Battle of Stinking Springs), but he insisted that he would only return if they killed off his character.
116	* ''Film/{{Widows}}'': Creator/LiamNeeson, Creator/JonBernthal, and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo all die in the opening heist when police surround their getaway and blow it to smithereens. Unlike most examples, though, their abrupt deaths were part of the film's advertising, and Neeson's character turns out to have faked his death halfway through.

Context DeadStarWalking / LiveActionFilms