Line #69 Main/HighDiveEscape


1	%%
2	%%
3	%%
4	%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
5	%%
6	%%
7	%%
8	%%
9	%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1602608469034009600
10	%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.
11	%%
12	[[quoteright:200:[[ComicBook/CatwomanWhenInRome https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/catwoman_high_dive_escape.jpg]]]]
13	[[caption-width-right:200:"[[WebAnimation/HomestarRunner Looks like we're gonna have to jump]]!"]]
14	%%
15	->"Gentlemen, I trust you will remember this as the day that you ''almost'' caught--" ''(falls into ocean)''
16	-->-- '''Captain Jack Sparrow''', ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl''
17
18	It's a classic scene: after a prolonged battle the hero finally has the stylish villain cornered atop a high tower. The hero's reinforcements are at last arriving and the villain knows that even if he defeats the hero, his schemes are thwarted. Rather than surrender, the villain salutes the hero, says "You win this round, but WeWillMeetAgain" and then [[NoEscapeButDown leaps out of a window]] into a convenient body of SoftWater and swims away, as the hero considers going after him but decides against it.
19
20	To qualify as a High Dive Escape, a WorthyOpponent (usually a stylish villain or rogueish hero) should be facing certain capture or death but instead escape by leaping from a high place into water, thus living to fight another day.
21
22	When a villain goes out with guns blazing rather than be apprehended, it's BetterToDieThanBeKilled.
23
24	A subtrope of NoEscapeButDown and sister trope of SuicidalGotcha. See also SuperWindowJump.
25
26	----
27	!!Examples:
28
29	[[foldercontrol]]
30
31	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
32	* AntiVillain example doing this against Villains in ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003''. Greed is cornered by Envy and Sloth, and declaring that he wouldn't be stupid enough to fight two homonculi at once, jumps to a convenient boat below carrying his minions.
33	* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'': When Jotaro and co. sniff an ambush in the room in which DIO supposedly sleeps, they all jump through the window to escape.
34	* [[spoiler:Zelda]] jumps out the cathedral window to parts unknown just as Ange and the others find her at the end of ''Anime/PrincessPrincipal''.
35	* ''Anime/SamuraiChamploo'':
36	** An early episode has an assassin dueling with Jin. After Mugen kills his employer, he tells Jin that there's now no need for him to kill, and gives a WeWillMeetAgain before calmly walking away.
37	** Mugen possibly qualifies for this as well, in a flashback scene where he escaped a justifiable execution by leaping backward off the cliff to fall into the ocean below, complete with manic wide-eyed grin all the way down. However, this might have been more of an attempted suicide than escape - it ''was'' a high cliff - given the speech just before when he claimed he didn't accept help from anyone, least of all into his grave. That he survived was apparently just a lucky coincidence.
38	* ''[[VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}} Shingetsutan Tsukihime]]'': After knocking about most of the cast with ease, the BigBad inexplicably declares "WeWillMeetAgain" and falls backwards off a bridge while laughing madly.
39	* Sync in the ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' anime after his mask breaks.
40	[[/folder]]
41
42	[[folder:Comic Books]]
43	* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' foe Michael Baffle (who was intended to be a recurring character but was never brought back) escapes Batman this way after a fencing duel in ''Detective Comics #63''. He leaps off the roof a castle (transported stone by stone from Europe and reassembled in Gotham City) into a nearby lake.
44	* In ''ComicBook/DangerGirl: Renegade'' #1, Abbey is cornered by Anastasia and her headhunter allies atop a cliff in the jungle. She escapes by diving off the cliff into the river below. However, [[OutOfTheFryingPan the stretch of river she jumps into is infested with crocodiles]].
45	* ''ComicBook/TheFurtherAdventuresOfIndianaJones'':
46	** In #15, Captain Katanga escapes from the RuthlessModernPirates who have taken his ship by kicking his guard and then diving off the side of the ''Bantu Wind'' under a fusillade of gunfire.
47	** In #17, Indy and Marion and trapped in the middle of a bridge as {{Cult}} members close in from either end. Indy and Marion escape by jumping off the bridge into the river.
48	* In IDW's ''[[ComicBook/GIJoeIDW G.I. Joe]]'', Major Bludd does this this to escape the Baroness after his attempted coup is uncovered; plunging off a cliff into the ocean. The pursuing Cobra troops search for him but cannot find him.
49	* Jon Sable does it ''ComicBook/JonSableFreelance'' #49 in a story that was an {{homage}} to ''Literature/ThePrisonerOfZenda''. Jon claims the opportunity to make this kind of exit is irresistible, and chooses to leap from a tower window into the moat rather than stick around and explain to the authorities what was going on.
50	* In ''ComicBook/RobynHood: I Love NY'' # 11, a wounded Robyn escapes from Alina Rose by [[SuperWindowJump jumping through the closed window]] of a warehouse into the river.
51	* Armando does it to escape from Trebaldi's castle in ''ComicBook/TheScorpion''. He dives from Trebaldi's clifftop castle into the river at the base of the cliff with an unconscious Mejai slung over his back.
52	* One of [[PirateGirl the crew of the Alexandria]] does this in ''{{Steampunk}} Halloween 2012'', escaping from the Doge's palace in Venice by leaping in a canal in the remains of her costume, [[ClothingDamage which mostly consists of lingerie by this point]].
53	* ''ComicBook/SuperMarioAdventures'': When the Koopalings have her cornered, the Princess uses a cape ''Super Mario World'' style and soars harmlessly across the moat.
54	[[/folder]]
55
56	[[folder:Fan Works]]
57	* In ''Fanfic/TheWitchOfTheEverfree'', Sunset Shimmer pulls one to get away from the guards who have her cornered on the train to Ponyville, teleporting off the train as it crosses a high bridge.
58	[[/folder]]
59
60	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
61	* Finn [=McMissile=] jumps off an offshore oil rig in ''WesternAnimation/Cars2''.
62	* Syndrome ''attempts'' a variation of this at the end of ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles1''. It doesn't work, mostly because the hero isn't in the mood to just let him get away.
63	* {{WesternAnimation/Pinocchio}} and Jiminy Cricket escape Pleasure Island by jumping off a cliff into the sea below.
64	* In ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood1973'', Robin leaps from the roof of the burning castle into the moat.
65	[[/folder]]
66
67	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
68	* At the end of ''Film/TwelveRounds'', Danny and Molly jump from the damaged helicopter into a rooftop swimming pool: [[spoiler:leaving Miles behind with the bomb he had just activated. BOOM!]]
69	* In ''Film/TheAssignment1997'', Carlos dives from a balcony into the Spree River to escape the KGB. Annibal dives right after him.
70	* ''Film/TheBanditOfSherwoodForest'': After their escape plan is exposed, Little John, Friar Tuck and the young king escape by jumping off the battlements and into the moat, but are forced to leave Robert, Catherine and Allan behind.
71	* ''Film/BetYourLife'': When trapped on the disabled lift bridge with Joseph, Sonny and Carmen escape by leaping off the bridge into the river.
72	* ''Film/BlackWidow2021'': When attacked in Norway, Natasha uses the impetus of Taskmaster's punch to carry her (and the antidote) off the bridge and into the river.
73	* In ''Film/ButchCassidyAndTheSundanceKid'', Butch and Sundance leap off a cliff into a river to escape a posse. Sundance is reluctant because he cannot swim. Butch famously replies, “Hell. The fall’ll probably kill ya.”
74	* In ''Film/CutthroatIsland'', Morgan and Shaw escape from Dawg's men by diving off a cliff into the ocean.
75	* In ''Film/DieAnotherDay'', Jinx is cornered by the police at a cliff. She first strips to her bikini, [[DistractedByTheSexy stunning them]], then jumps into the water near a waiting motorboat.
76	%%* Used in ''Film/DonTheChaseBeginsAgain''.
77	* In ''Film/TheFugitive'', Dr. Richard Kimble jumps off a dam to escape Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard.
78	-->'''Cosmo Renfro''': What happened? Where'd he go?\
79	'''Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard''': The guy did a Peter Pan right off of this dam, right here.
80	* Parodied in the film ''Film/TheGreatRace'', as part of an extended, almost scene-by-scene parody of ''The Prisoner of Zenda''. The Great Leslie is dueling with Baron von Stuppe. When the Baron realizes that Leslie is the superior swordsman, he breaks off the fight and quips "He who fights and runs away may live to fight another day", adds a WeWillMeetAgain, mentions he has a boat waiting for him, and jumps out the window. Unfortunately the boat is right under the window, and the Baron smashes through the boat and sinks it.
81	* Becomes a FailedAttemptAtDrama in ''Film/JohnnyEnglishStrikesAgain'' when instead of diving off the boat, our hero fails to notice he's [[SavedByThePlatformBelow diving onto a lower deck]].
82	* ''Film/JumanjiWelcomeToTheJungle'': At 'The Mighty Roar', the quartet escape from the bikers by jumping off the cliff into the pool below the waterfall.
83	* In ''Film/LesMiserables2012'', Valjean escapes from Javert at the hospital by leaping from a window into the river.
84	* Parodied in ''Film/TheManFromUNCLE2015''. To escape the mooks charging towards them, Kuryakin jumps out of a three-story window, expecting to land in the water. Solo only hears a thud and a scream. He then does the same a few seconds later...and finds too late that the window was right above a wooden boat dock.
85	* In ''Film/{{Okja}}'', the ALF jump off a bridge into the water below to escape during Okja's recapture.
86	* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean''
87	** Jack Sparrow's escape from his execution when he trips and falls from the fort into the ocean in ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl The Curse of the Black Pearl]]''. However, he was almost certainly planning to dive before he fell. Norrington even decides to give him a day's headstart before chasing him.
88	** Subverted in ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest Dead Man's Chest]]'' when he is hit by a tidal wave, interrupting his dramatic exit. And inverted in that case, because he was climbing ''out'' of the water, onto his ship.
89	** Also done by Mercer in ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd At World's End]]'', while the pirates retake the ''Black Pearl.''
90	* Justine de Winter in the film ''[[Film/TheThreeMusketeers1973 The Return of the Musketeers]]''. She dives out of the castle window into a lake and is last seen swimming away. Raoul starts to follow her but is stopped by D'Artagnan.
91	-->'''D'Artagnan:''' Do you really want to go after her, boy? Because - by God - I don't!
92	* ''Film/RunawayTrain'': The conductor of the eastbound 12 train jumps clear of his caboose scarce moments before the runaway collides into it.
93	* In ''Film/SolomonKane'', Kane escapes from the Devil's Reaper by diving through a stained glass window into the ocean below.
94	* Although not at the climax of the film, Prince Septimus escapes from Captain Shakespeare's ship this way in ''Film/{{Stardust}}''. The window isn't open at the time, which just screams of a missed chance to awesomely subvert the trope by having the guy bleeding horribly after - but no, SuperWindowJump was in full effect.
95	* Milady does this in ''Film/TheThreeMusketeers2011''; preferring to leap from the airship into the English Channel rather than be shot.
96	[[/folder]]
97
98	[[folder:Literature]]
99	* Baldanders does it after the battle at Lake Diaturna in ''Literature/BookOfTheNewSun''.
100	* ''Literature/ConfessionsOfADListSupervillain'': One of Cal's preferred methods for evading pursuit after a crime is to seal up his suit and dive into a river to swim away unseen.
101	* ''Literature/ElementalAssassin'': In ''Spider's Bite'', Gin is attempting to escape from the Ashland Opera House when she is cornered by Donovan Caine on the roof. She escapes by jumping off the roof into the Aneirin River.
102	* Played straight in one of Creator/GeorgeMacDonaldFraser ''{{Literature/Flashman}}'' novels where Flashman catches his wife naked from the waist up with Lord Cardigan, who is naked from the waist down. Cardigan still manages a dignified exit by doing this, making Flashman think the latter at least deserves some credit for panache.
103	* The originator was Rupert of Hentzau in the novel ''Literature/ThePrisonerOfZenda'' by Anthony Hope, and its various film versions; Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. being the most stylish.
104	** The original novel actually [[UnbuiltTrope didn't play it quite straight]]: Rupert of Hentzau has his glorious 'this was the day you almost caught me' on the bridge, before diving into the moat, but the hero chases him, and thus his actual exit from the novel is with a cheek wound from the hero, having stolen a horse from a peasant girl, still dashing, but hardly the stylish exit of the nobleman. He rides off laughing like a maniac though, so props for that.
105	** The [[Literature/TimeWars revisit with time travellers]] version ''The Zenda Vendetta'' grants Rupert the chance to make this kind of exit at the end.
106	* Parodied in another of Creator/GeorgeMacDonaldFraser's novel ''Literature/ThePyrates'', where the AntiHero tries to escape from a husband he was cuckolding and that guys goons (he has also cheated them at cards) and he ends up tripping when trying to do this and gets beaten to a pulp by them.
107	* ''Literature/WorldsOfPower'''s novelization of ''VideoGame/BionicCommando'' had Rad Spencer do this to escape an assassination attempt by Nazi ninjas ([[ItMakesSenseInContext it was the 90s]]). He leaps out of a hotel room window and managed to land in the hotel's pool, where he was rescued. The cost is high, though--[[SurprisinglYRealisticOutcome his arm, already badly injured by shurikens, is further traumatized by his rough landing in the pool from ten stories up, forcing doctors to amputate]] and give him a [[ArtificialLimbs gadget-laden bionic arm]] as a replacement.
108	* BigBad Caiboche does this in the ''Literature/YoungBond'' short story "A Hard Man to Kill", leaping from the smoking deck of the ocean liner ''Colombie'' into the Atlantic Ocean. Everyone thinks he has leapt to his death but [[spoiler: there was a submarine waiting to pick him up.]]
109	[[/folder]]
110
111	[[folder:Live Action TV]]
112	* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'': In "[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS1E3TheAsset The Asset]]", Skye escapes from Quinn's mansion by leaping off the balcony into the swimming pool.
113	* ''Series/{{Alias}}'': In "A Missing Link", Sydney is at the top of a hotel, working undercover, when the police start banging on the door of the room she's in. She escapes by taking off her maid uniform and diving down from the balcony into the hotel pool and then casually [[SexySurfacingShot comes out of the pool in her underwear]] where a waiter helpfully hands her a towel, apparently completely missing her diving feat.
114	* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
115	** A darker variation at the end of "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E21GraduationDayPart1 Graduation Day, Part 1]]", where a brutal fight between Buffy and Faith ends with Faith stabbed in the stomach and on the edge of a rooftop. Faith knows Buffy needs her blood to heal Angel and convinced her stab wound is fatal, she gets revenge by falling backwards off of the roof onto the back of a passing truck, which carries her now comatose body away before Buffy can catch up to it. When she's in the hospital later, the doctor explains that her stab wound to the stomach wasn't actually serious, but the head injury from the fall has put her in a coma with possible brain damage.
116	* ''Series/{{Chuck}}'': Daniel Shaw has a particularly stylish one in "Chuck Versus the Ring, Part II", grabbing onto a large American flag as he jumps out the window and using it to spin around and re-enter the building on a lower floor, from which he escapes before anyone can arrive.
117	* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
118	** Count Grendel in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E4TheAndroidsOfTara The Androids of Tara]]" (a Zenda homage), leaping from the castle wall into the moat.
119	--->'''Grendel:''' Next time, I shall not be so lenient!
120	** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E3RobotOfSherwood Robot of Sherwood]]", Myth/RobinHood escapes from the robot knights by grabbing Clara and leaping out of a window into the moat of Nottingham Castle.[[note]]Historically Nottingham Castle has never had a moat (its location on top of a sandstone cliff makes it impossible), but when has that ever stopped ''Series/DoctorWho''? Or Hollywood, for that matter[[/note]]
121	** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E11HeavenSent Heaven Sent]]", the Doctor smashes the bedroom window with a table and leaps out, plunging down into the ocean. Of course, he doesn't know what his escape plan is until after he has leapt out the window.
122	* Fraser does one of these on ''Series/DueSouth'' “Mountie on the Bounty” to escape a ship.
123	* In ''Series/NewBlood'', Stefan and Arrash make one of these after the hotel attack as they are unsure if they are being pursued.
124	* In the ''Series/QueenOfSwords'' episode "Death to the Queen", the injured and cornered Queen escapes from Captain Grisham by diving off a cliff into the ocean.
125	* ''Series/TheShannaraChronicles'': In "[[Recap/TheShannaraChroniclesS02E02Wraith Wraith]]", Wil and Mareth escape the Mord Wraiths by jumping off a cliff into a lake.
126	* ''Series/TheXFiles''. Agent Mulder is knocked off the Queen Anne [[NowOrNeverKiss after kissing a Scully look-alike]] (who promptly socks him in the jaw) in "[[Recap/TheXFilesS06E03Triangle Triangle]]", a TwoFistedTales pastiche.
127	[[/folder]]
128
129	[[folder:Video Games]]
130	* ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'': The Assassins' trademark leap of faith off of a tall building into a convenient pile of hay can easily be used as this. Altaïr does a particularly flashy version in ''Bloodlines'' (one of the spinoff handheld games) wherein he turns around toward his attackers, spreads out his arms, and just leans back over the edge.
131	* Genesis after your first fight against him proper in ''VideoGame/CrisisCore''.
132	* Subverted in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' when Yuna throws herself off a balcony to escape [[spoiler:her arranged marriage to Seymour]], but there's no convenient body of water for her to land in. [[spoiler:Then immediately double-subverted; as a [[SummonMagic Summoner]], she can summon a flying Aeon to [[CatchAFallingStar catch her in midair]].]]
133	* Subverted in ''VideoGame/{{Nehrim}}'': Barateon, the BigBad of the first section of the story, is chased by the hero up a tower and jumps after waving the player so long and taunting them [[spoiler:only hit to hit a spike on the way down]].
134	* The resident BigBad in the first ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts1'' attempts this, to hilarious effect.
135	-->"Well, there's no sense in my lingering around here. I believe I shall return to London and have myself a spot of tea. Well then, ta-ta, everyone! If you survive, I hope you'll come and pay me a visit there someday! Bwahahahaha--(gets konked on the head with a piece of stray debris) ''D'oh!''
136	* ''VideoGame/TombRaiderI'': Lara dives down a canyon to escape Natla and her henchmen.
137	* Nate and Sully do this in ''VideoGame/Uncharted2AmongThieves'' while they are running from [[spoiler:Flynn]] and his men.
138	-->Sully: "See you in hell, kid. Woo hooooo!"
139	* In ''VideoGame/WonderProjectJ'', Lynx and Pino elude Messala in the prison by leaping from a ledge. Rob and Ber catch them with their plane.
140	[[/folder]]
141
142	[[folder:Web Animation]]
143	* ''WebAnimation/DeadFantasy'': When Ayane performs her "Art of the Raging Mountain God" to make the tower explode, Team Final Fantasy have no choice but to run to the edge of their platform and jump down to escape the blast, still pursued by Team Dead or Alive.
144	[[/folder]]
145
146	[[folder:Webcomics]]
147	* ''Webcomic/ImTheGrimReaper'': To escape from Brook, Scarlet tosses herself out of a window during their first fight.
148	[[/folder]]
149
150	[[folder:Western Animation]]
151	* A variant is used in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE25TheClockKing The Clock King]]". The first time Batman confronts the titular villain on a rooftop, Batman attempts to corner him only for Clock King to leap off the roof and land on the top of a train that he knew would be passing by due to his superhuman sense of timing.
152	* In the ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'' episode "[[Recap/BigCityGreensS2E21 Chipocalypse Now]]", Cricket Green pulls one to escape a FamilyUnfriendlyDeath from Chip Whistler's helicopter.
153	-->'''Cricket:''' Oh, boy... This had better '''''WORRRRRRRRRK!!!!!!!!!'''''
154	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Fillmore}}'': Done literally in "[[Recap/FillmoreTheNineteenthHoleisaShallowGrave The Nineteenth Hole is a Shallow Grave]]". Fillmore and Ingrid are cornered by a pair of thugs on top on a high diving board. They look at each other, and then turn and jump off the board into the pool.
155	%%* The Great and Powerful Trixie left with a bang in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''.
156	%%** More a subversion; she definitely was going for this.
157	* Played straight (as straight as ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' play any trope) in the action-packed spinoff "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E24TheSimpsonsSpinOffShowcase Wiggum, P.I.]]", when Big Daddy jumps out the window of the (stolen) Governor's Mansion into the bayou, and starts inexpertly thrashing through the water about 10 feet from where the protagonists are standing:
158	-->'''Skinner:''' He's [[LowSpeedChase gradually getting away]], Chief!\
159	'''Wiggum:''' Ah, let him go. I have the feeling we'll meet again, each and every week. Always in more sexy and exciting ways.
160	* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': Of the many attractions Cartman talks about in "[[Recap/SouthParkS7E11CasaBonita Casa Bonita]]", the cliff diver waterfall becomes of [[ChekhovsGun particular significance]]. When he finally makes it to Casa Bonita, Sheila Broflovski reports him to the police after discovering that he had manipulated Kyle into bringing him by hiding Butters inside a bomb shelter. The police chase him throughout Casa Bonita as he hurriedly samples every attraction in his path, finally being cornered at the top of the cliff diver waterfall. You can probably guess what happens next.
161	* On ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'', [[StudentAndMasterTeam Kanan and Ezra]] pull this kind of escape from a pair of [[TheDreaded Inquisitors]]. It helps that Ezra has already used the Force to summon some flying creatures to aid their escape.
162	* Carmen Sandiego, OnceAnEpisode in ''WesternAnimation/WhereOnEarthIsCarmenSandiego.'' Sometimes more than once. In the theme song, she jumps off the Statue of Liberty to escape Zack and Ivy... then flies away using a jetpack.
163	* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'': Red Arrow does it to get away from Chesire and Sportsmaster while escaping from the League of Shadows headquarters in "[[Recap/YoungJusticeS1E10Targets Targets]]".
164	[[/folder]]

Context Main / HighDiveEscape