Line #55 Main/BruceWayneHeldHostage


1	%%
2	%%
3	%%
4	%%
5	%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
6	%%
7	%%
8	%%
9	%%
10	%%
11	[[quoteright:347:[[ComicBook/TheSupermanAdventures https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bruce_wayne_held_hostage.jpg]]]]
12	[[caption-width-right:347:Franchise/{{Batman}} would love to help, but [[{{Pun}} he's a little tied up]] at the moment...]]
13
14	->'''Miss Kitka:''' I think we are merely bait for Batman. Once he's in their trap, we'll be released.\
15	'''Bruce Wayne:''' A slender hope, Miss Kitka. More slender than you can know.
16	-->-- ''Film/BatmanTheMovie''
17
18	A plot in {{Superhero}} stories where villains take innocent hostages and use them as bait to draw out a specific superhero. There's just one difference from the standard HostageSituation -- the superhero's [[SecretIdentity civilian identity is one of the victims.]] Now the hero must find a way to rescue the hostages, bring the bad guys down, and prevent anyone present, good and bad, from [[CoverBlowingSuperpower putting 2 and 2 together]] and figuring out that he and his alter ego are the same person. Obviously, he will, but the question is, ''how?''
19
20	Note that the hostages being bait to draw out the superhero ''must'' be part of the villain's plot to qualify as this trope. If the villains don't ''specifically'' intend to draw out the superhero or known associates thereof, then the hero is merely the RightManInTheWrongPlace or they've unwittingly picked the [[MuggingTheMonster wrong bystander to victimize]].
21
22	Subtrope of RestrictedRescueOperation. Compare LockingMacGyverInTheStoreCupboard. Contrast SafetyInMuggles. In some variations, the villain may specifically target the hero's "civilian" identity for kidnapping based on their apparent personal connection to the hero; see FriendOfMaskedSelf. Also contrast IHaveYourWife, where the purpose of the kidnapping is to force the hero to cooperate with the villain. May overlap with CaughtUpInARobbery and DieHardOnAnX.
23
24	----
25	!!Examples:
26
27	[[foldercontrol]]
28
29	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
30	* The eighth episode of ''Anime/BubblegumCrisis'' had Nene's job (AD Police Headquarters) get attacked by a villain trying to draw the Knight Sabers out. Fortunately, the rest of the Knight Sabers engage the enemy while Mackie takes his own PoweredArmor in to bring Nene her own [[MidSeasonUpgrade upgraded]] suit.
31	* A curious inversion happens in ''Anime/{{Moldiver}}'', during the episode with the space shuttle. Machinegal tries to steal the shuttle and takes the crowd hostage, and dares Moldiver to stop him. This is because he thinks Moldiver is in the crowd -- specifically looking at an old student of his and a close friend of Hiroshi who looks just like you'd think Moldiver would look without a suit. Except he's not Moldiver, Hiroshi just modeled its physique after him because he wanted to look buff. So the villain, the poor guy's date, and the crowd want him to transform and try to save the day, while he tries to convince everyone he's ''not'' the superhero.
32	[[/folder]]
33
34	[[folder:Comic Books]]
35	* ''ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures'': A story inverts this and then subverts it. Riddler takes all the occupants of a prestige Gotham City club hostage on Christmas Eve, similar to the ''Moldiver'' example, because he's apparently put two and two together and realized that Batman has to be pretty wealthy and connected so it's all but guaranteed he and Robin are at the club that night. They aren't. Then it turns out that the hostages are actually one giant distraction for the Riddler to secretly steal a pair of priceless gold statues in the club.
36	* Referenced in an issue of ''ComicBook/{{Incorruptible}}'', Alana Patel tells Max Damage that [[BewareTheSuperman the Plutonian's]] secret identity was [[ClarkKenting Dan Hartigan]]. After a moment's StunnedSilence, Max begins smashing a nearby car in a rage, screaming that he kidnapped Dan Hartigan dozens of times.
37	* In one of the ''Night of the Podcast/{{Red Panda\|Adventures}}'' comics, Professor Zombie takes a group of socialites hostage to lure out the Red Panda--including the Red Panda's alter ego, August Fenwick.
38	* ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures 2'', issue #3: Donald Duck, now working as a mall security guard, is taken hostage along with a bunch of others inside of a clothing store by a mind-controlled hobo with a shotgun demanding to talk to Paperinik. Interestingly, Donald uses some makeup to draw a PK mask on his face and grabs a long, blue piece of cloth to wrap around himself as a cape so he can "pretend to be PK so the others can escape". [[YourCostumeNeedsWork His coworkers even remarks that he only barely resembles PK]]! He then runs a negotiation with the guy for quite a while... until the hobo notices the price tag on his "cape". Oops.
39	* In one ''Comicbook/{{Shazam}}'' storyline in ''World's Finest Comics'', a gangster kidnaps Billy Batson in order to extort Captain Marvel into killing a rival. And keeps Billy in a soundproof (and booby-trapped) box to prevent him calling for help, unaware this also prevents him calling down the lightning. Billy's friends fake Captain Marvel's appearance, with Magnificus Sivana providing the appearance and Captain Marvel Jr providing the powers, until they can free Billy.
40	* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': PlayedWith in ''Spectacular Spider-Man'' #19, where a mastermind-type villain, Lightmaster, has deduced from a previous encounter that Spider-Man ''must'' be a student at Empire State University. He has the Enforcers take a bunch of hostages to call out Spider-Man, who easily defeats them. One student, Hector Ayala, himself the superhero the White Tiger, remains behind when the hostages flee in case Spider-Man needs help. So when Hector leaves the diner, alone, and no one saw Spider-Man enter, Lightmaster assumes this trope is in play and in the next issue kidnaps Hector to reveal his identity to the world.
41	* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'':
42	** A variation occurred in ''ComicBook/Superman1939 #127: "The Make-Believe Superman"''. During an attempted heist at a bank, some goons take a bystander hostage and force Superman to help them. Only the "Superman" they have is a lookalike in a Superman costume on his way to his son's school, and the "hostage" is Clark Kent, who they grabbed before he could change clothes. The ''real'' Superman ends up having to use his powers to covertly make his kidnappers believe the fake one is the real deal until he can get him safely away.
43	** ''ComicBook/TheSupermanAdventures'': In an issue, the Mad Hatter takes Bruce hostage and demands Batman's cowl in exchange.
44	** "ComicBook/SupermanAndSpiderMan": Invoked. Parasite finds out that Superman's friend, Clark Kent has come to New York, and suggests kidnapping him and using him to bait Superman into a trap. However, Doom dismisses Parasite's plan, arguing Clark Kent is an obvious bait to trap them.
45	[[/folder]]
46
47	[[folder:Fan Works]]
48	* ''Fanfic/CheshireMiraculousLadybug'': Adrien has a tendency for this:
49	** First time, during the Bubbler fight, Chloe prevented Adrien's escape to transform, leaving the fight to Cheshire.
50	** Second time, in the Horrificator incident, it was Cheshire and Trixx that stopped Adrien from getting away from the group.
51	** [[RuleOfThree Third time]], in King Monkey's debut, he was held back by his bodyguard.
52	* In ''Fanfic/NymphAndTheCorruptedMiraculous'', a ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' fic in which Marinette gets the Butterfly Miraculous instead of the Ladybug Miraculous and becomes a superhero called Nymph, the supervillain Catastrophe takes a number of hostages including Marinette and demands that Nymph face him to secure their release. She gets out of it by faking having her period in order to have a moment alone in the ladies' room.
53	* ''Fanfic/RecommencerMiraculousLadybug'': Ringmaster traps Marinette and Principal Achthoven in the latter's office, blocking off all avenues of escape. Fortunately, Marinette is able to send Tikki out, along with the Earrings and several notes in order to carry out a plan with the help of those she trusts most.
54	* ''Webcomic/ScarletLady'':
55	** Volpina holds Adrien hostage, unaware that he's Chat Noir. Fortunately for everyone involved, it was just an illusion that the ''real'' Chat Noir quickly breaks.
56	** Happens several times to Chloé, because many of the akumas she causes are still after her blood, and the fact that she's now Paris's Ladybug hero doesn't stop it. She's been dangled over soup by Kung Food and [[spoiler:vanished (placed into a parallel world where she can see, hear, but not interact with the real one) by Vanisher]].
57	* ''Fanfic/TheSpectacularSpiderManLostInGotham'': Peter learns after a few weeks in Gotham that this trope happens to the family semi-regularly, which is why it's nice to have an entire family of vigilantes to come and bail you out.
58	* In ''Blog/AStudentOutOfTime'', Hajime Hinata- who has gone back in time to prevent The Tragedy- assumes the identity of the vigilante "Kasugano", allowing him to work behind the scenes while appearing like a normal guy. Unfortunately, he ends up in a hostage situation in ''The Puppetmaster'' arc by a villain demanding Kasugano unmask himself.
59	* In ''[[Fanfic/UltimateSleepwalker Ultimate Sleepwalker: The New Dreams]]'', [[HardLight Lightmaster]] captures a group of Empire State University students in order to force Sleepwalker to fight him. Rick Sheridan, [[SealedInsideAPersonShapedCan Sleepwalker's human host]], provokes Lightmaster into knocking him and the other students out with light bursts, allowing him to release Sleepwalker while also covering Sleepy's emergence into the physical world.
60	* ''Fanfic/WhiteSheepRWBY'': Inverted. Whenever the humanoid Grimm "Hentacle" appears, Jaune is nowhere to be found, so his friends fight Hentacle to try to save Jaune from whatever the monster has done to him. Of course, Jaune is Hentacle, but can't shift back to human form without having to answer some ''very'' difficult questions.
61	[[/folder]]
62
63	[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
64	* ''Film/BatmanForever'' - when Two-Face threatens to detonate a bomb at a circus, killing everyone there unless Batman shows up. Two-Face actually points out that he wouldn't be surprised if Batman ''is'' in the wealthy and well-to-do audience. It turns out Bruce Wayne is in the audience ''and'' willing to reveal himself. He stands up and yells "I'm Batman", but no one can hear him because everyone is screaming in panic. He then tries to push his way down and either stop the bomb or give himself up ''in his civilian identity''.
65	* In ''Film/BatmanTheMovie'', Catwoman lures Bruce Wayne into a trap designed to force Batman to save him. [[spoiler:Wayne escapes by telling the snooping villains a "fish story about a radio."]]
66	* In ''Film/SpiderMan2'', Peter Parker is targeted by Doctor Octopus who wants to pass on a message to Spider-Man.
67	[[/folder]]
68
69	[[folder:Literature]]
70	* ''Literature/SuperheroesAnonymous'': Supervillains crash a party being held by Jessie Davenport, demanding that The Raptor face them. Jessie Davenport is The Raptor. This forces the protagonist, Gail Godwin, currently interning for Jessie, to don the armor.
71	[[/folder]]
72
73	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
74	* ''Series/{{Arrow}}''
75	** In "Legacy", a gang leader wants to prove himself by taking down the Green Arrow, so he decides to draw him out by kidnapping Mayor Oliver Queen... who is secretly the Green Arrow. Fortunately Oliver's half-sister Thea is willing to (briefly) come out of retirement to rescue him as the vigilante Speedy.
76	--->'''Oliver:''' Listen, the Green Arrow is not coming... I have it on pretty good authority that [[ObligatoryJoke he's tied up]] right now.
77	** Lampshaded in "Dark Waters" when Oliver Queen has to surrender to Damien Darhk after his friends and Thea are taken hostage, and it's noted that it will look pretty suspicious if the Green Arrow doesn't try to rescue him. Fortunately Thea is the daughter of supervillain Malcolm Merlyn, who has no problem [[IdentityImpersonator donning the green hood]] to [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes save her life]].
78	* A variant of this happens on ''Series/BlackLightning''. Gambi is being tortured into revealing Black Lightning's true identity, but he won't budge. His captors bring in Jefferson and tell Gambi to reveal Black Lightning's true identity, or else Jefferson gets shot. Luckily, Jefferson uses his powers to cause a power outage so they can escape. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, this clues the GovernmentConspiracy into his secret identity.]]
79	* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In "[[Recap/DoctorWho2016CSTheReturnOfDoctorMysterio The Return of Doctor Mysterio]]", the villains attempt to draw out the Ghost by capturing IntrepidReporter Lucy Fletcher, and, since he's there when they come for her, also take her friend Grant Gordon. Grant is the secret identity of the Ghost.
80	* ''Series/LoisAndClark'' had an episode in which Clark Kent, Lex Luthor, and Lois Lane among others are taken hostage. At one point, Luthor gets hurt and Clark treats his injury, surreptitiously cauterizing the wound with his heat vision while Luthor looks the other way.
81	[[/folder]]
82
83	[[folder:Video Games]]
84	* In ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'', Hugo Strange abducts Bruce Wayne from a press conference and has him thrown in Arkham City. Counts as an invoked trope, as Strange was able to figure out Batman's secret identity beforehand through psychological profiling, and (in Strange's words) "capturing Bruce Wayne is so much easier than Batman."
85	* In ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'', [[spoiler:Thomas Elliot]] takes Lucius Fox hostage and demands Bruce Wayne to be brought to him by Batman. [[spoiler:Batman just decides to unmask himself on the spot, prompting a ThisCannotBe reaction from Elliot, as it completely negates his "Bruce Wayne never had to fight for anything" argument.]]
86	* Invoked in one story branch of ''VideoGame/BatmanTheTelltaleSeries''. Batman needs a way to get close to the Penguin, and notes, "Penguin wants hostages to bait Batman. Bruce Wayne will be the perfect hostage."
87	[[/folder]]
88
89	[[folder:Web Comics]]
90	* ''WebComic/BatmanWayneFamilyAdventures'': Because Bruce Wayne is one of the richest men in America, his kids regularly get targeted by kidnappers, sometimes even to lure Batman out (which can lead to this situation). Luckily, the family is full of vigilantes, so there's always someone to come and save whichever one of their wards/siblings was abducted.
91	[[/folder]]
92
93	[[folder:Web Original]]
94	* ''Blog/HowToHero'' discusses this concept in their post about kidnappings. The guide advises heroes who end up in this situation to roll their eyes repeatedly until one of their allies comes to rescue them.
95	[[/folder]]
96
97	[[folder:Western Animation]]
98	* An ''WesternAnimation/AlvinAndTheChipmunks'' episode parodying ''Batman'' even had this. The Jokester (Alvin) kidnaps Brice Wayne (Simon) and Nicki Nale (Brittany) and threatens to kill them unless Batmunk brings him the toy he's been trying to steal. Fortunately, loyal butler Happy (Theodore) takes on the role himself for this.
99	* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold,'' Batman does it ''to himself.'' A TapOnTheHead has him thinking he's ''actually'' the gangster he's [[BecomingTheMask posing as]], and he puts the ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey in a DeathTrap, demanding that Batman come and fight him, or else. Surprisingly, Batman does show up, but it turns out to be Two-Face in disguise, seeking to kill this new villain on the scene.
100	* Happened to Drake Mallard in ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'''s episode "Adopt-a-Con". He managed to pull it off by moving very quickly from the bank he was held hostage into where he had a spare costume. Then the villain, Tuskerninni, and the law started arguing over whether hostage Drake had to be let go before hero Darkwing surrendered or vice versa...
101	* ''Franchise/MastersOfTheUniverse'':
102	** In [[WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse2002 the 2002 version]], Prince Adam is kidnapped by Skeletor to serve as bait for He-Man. (Even worse, Skeletor sends Adam's sword with the ransom note to prove he's not bluffing, meaning Adam can't use it to ''become'' He-Man.) Obviously, it's a long wait, until a robotic stand-in for He-Man cobbled together by Man-At-Arms shows up to complete the ruse.
103	** A similar plot occurred in an episode of [[WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983 the 1983 cartoon]], in which Prince Adam was frozen in {{phlebotinum}} along with other hostages by someone who wanted He-Man's ''help'' to save his daughter from Skeletor. Orko, the comic bundle of rags, was the only one available to float in with a sword and declare in a magically altered voice that he was He-Man and would only help if one hostage was freed as a show of faith. (''Amazingly'', this worked. The guy had no idea what He-Man looked like, and Orko managed to convince him, mostly because he was able to prove it by defeating the trained beast that the guy had, mostly out of dumb luck.)
104	** In "Revenge is Never Sweet", the evil wizard Kothos captures Prince Adam, Teela, Orko, and Cringer, then puts them on a raft with no paddles and pushes it out to sea, gambling that He-Man would eventually show up to save them. He doesn't even monitor the raft, and when it drifts too far away to see, Adam simply swims away and transforms.
105	** Another episode has an interesting twist where Cringer is kidnapped in the hopes that Prince Adam will come after him so Skeletor can also capture him so Adam can be used to draw out He-Man. Adam instead turns into He-Man right away and goes to rescue him. When Skeletor finds out he's surprised He-Man would go through the trouble of rescuing Prince Adam's pet personally, but simply assumes Adam must have asked him to and doesn't make the connection between their identities. Instead Skeletor is perfectly happy his plan was working even faster than he expected.
106	* In one episode of the animated TV series ''WesternAnimation/TheMask'', the villains take several people at the mall hostage, including Stanley. Stanley is forced to read out the threat on TV. He overemphasizes the fact that they need the help of the Mask, to give his dog the hint that it needs to bring him the mask.
107	* ''WesternAnimation/IronManArmoredAdventures'', episode "Secrets and Lies": Maggia enforcers Killer Shrike and Unicorn kidnap Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, and Gene Khan in an attempt to ransom Gene's father The Mandarin. What they don't realize is Gene is actually the current Mandarin they're trying to blackmail and they obviously get no response when trying to contact him.
108	* In ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheNewAnimatedSeries'', Peter Parker finds himself among a group of hostages in a TV studio held by ex-KGB terrorists and volunteers to be cameraman so they can put forth their demand. The catch, of course, is that they want Spider-Man in person.
109	* A variant in ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock'', in which the main villains start suspecting Virgil of being Static partly because the two of them look really similar, but also because they've noticed that Virgil hangs around Richie and Richie hangs around Static (in a previous episode, they kidnapped Richie to draw Static out). They kidnap Virgil and lock him in a room that Static would easily be able to bust out of in an attempt to prove their theory. Thankfully Virgil realizes this beforehand and manages to place a distress call to Richie, who hacks into the camera of Virgil's cell and alters the tapes so that Virgil can break out but still appear to be in the cell.
110	* Almost happens in ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'' when the Rhino breaks into the Daily Bugle to kidnap Peter Parker, having theorized that someone who can get pictures of Spider-Man will likely know how to find Spider-Man, who he wants to kill. Averted when Jameson manages to keep the Rhino's attention so Peter can run (and turn into Spider-Man). Once Spider-Man shows up, Rhino forgets about Parker and turns all of his attention on Spidey.
111	* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'', ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'': In "Fallen Comrades", Megatron threatens to shoot two tigers unless the Maximals hand over the stasis pod with the protoform inside. What Megatron didn't realize was that one of the tigers ''was'' the protoform he was looking for, namely Tigatron.
112	* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Ultimate Spider\|Man2012}}-Man'', a villain kidnaps Peter Parker and forces him to become the host of the Carnage symbiote so that he can send Carnage out to attack Spider-Man.
113	* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': In general, Hawk Moth's main goal is to lure out Ladybug and Chat Noir so that he can steal their miraculouses, so any time Marinette or Adrien get trapped by an Akuma victim before transforming qualifies.
114	** Adrien: In "Gorizilla", Hawk Moth specifically targets Adrien because he's come to suspect that Adrien is Chat Noir. If Chat Noir doesn't come to the rescue, he's confirmed his suspicions. If Chat Noir ''does'' come, then he's eliminated a suspect and gets to go about the usual business of trying to steal his Miraculous. But even when Adrien isn't specifically targeted, he seems to be among the first victims ("Riposte" and "Style Queen" jump to mind).
115	** Marinette is a less frequent target, but "Befana" and "Weredad" do single her out. The biggest example is in "Sentibubbler" where she is trapped in a bubble and can't escape without giving away her identity until [[spoiler:Rena Rouge creates a Mirage to make it look like she's still there]].
116	** One special case is "Ladybug," where the akuma victim is [[spoiler:Marinette herself]]. Hawk Moth is forced to recall the akuma before the situation plays out.
117	** Happens to both Marinette and Adrien in "Optigami" where they're both stuck in an elevator and holding out hope that the other will come not knowing they're actually trapped with their fellow hero. They both nearly reveal to each other who they are but fortunately [[spoiler:Alya, who at this point is in the loop as far as Marinette is concerned manages to come to their rescue and takes Adrien away, so Marinette can transform safely. And unknown to the two of them, so can Adrien once Alya leaves him in a safe place]]
118	[[/folder]]

Context Main / BruceWayneHeldHostage