Line #4 WhyDontYouJustShootHim/HowItShouldHaveEnded


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/snapewithagun.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Like so.]]
3	This is basically the central premise of the series, so it's frequently subverted:
4	----
5	* Almost the entirety of ''WesternAnimation/{{Beowulf\|2007}}'' is this, i.e. Beowulf gets instantly incinerated by the dragon.
6	* A Munchkin decides to use his gun against the Wicked Witch of the West in ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''.
7	* Film/IronMan1 uses a tank missile against Obadiah Stane.
8	* In ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'', they just use the Rail Gun to kill the Fallen.
9	* In ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', this becomes "Why Don't You Just Run Him Over":
10	--->'''Superman:''' Woah, hold on a second -- you ''hit'' him?\
11	'''Batman:''' Yep.\
12	'''Superman:''' You hit ''the Joker''.\
13	'''Batman:''' Uh-huh.\
14	'''Superman:''' You ''ran over a human being''.\
15	'''Batman:''' Sure did.\
16	'''Superman:''' But... what about [[ThouShaltNotKill your rule]]?!\
17	'''Batman:''' ''[smugly]'' Didn't kill 'im.\
18	''[cut to the Joker, lying in a hospital bed covered in casts, moaning in pain]''\
19	'''The Joker:''' [[CatchPhrase You wanna know how I got these scars?]]\
20	'''Nurse:''' ''[deadpan]'' From Batman?\
21	'''The Joker:''' ''From Batman''.
22	* In ''Film/HarryPotter'', [[spoiler:Snape]] shoots Voldemort, then [[spoiler:uses the Time Turner and Invisibility Cloak to kill young Tom Riddle as well.]]
23	* Played with in ''Film/SawI'', where the gun is fired by accident and the bullet ricochets around the room, hitting the playing-dead Jigsaw, killing him, essentially preventing most of the subsequent franchise.
24	* In ''Film/IronMan3,'' it shows Tony activating the "House Party" protocols early, leading to a ''MacrossMissileMassacre'' of Tank Missiles against the choppers.
25	* In ''Film/ManOfSteel'', after Zod issues his threat against Earth, Superman goes to speak to Jor-El to find out more information about Zod. After learning that he's insane, cue Superman activating the phantom-drive on his ship and ramming it down Zod's throat, sending both him and the other Kryptonians back to the Phantom Zone and wrapping up the entire movie within ''30 minutes''.
26	-->'''Batman:''' Could you imagine if you had to fight those guys on land?\
27	'''Superman:''' Oh my gosh, can you imagine that? Thousands of people might have ''died''!\
28	'''Batman:''' Plus billions of dollars in property damage!\
29	'''Superman:''' I can't pay that kind of debt on a Daily Planet salary!
30	* In ''Film/Godzilla2014'' the general responds to Serizawa stating that Godzilla must be what defeats the [=MUTO=]s with 'why don't we just nuke them'. Serizawa shoots him down and the general assumes that Serizawa just wants to see a monster fight. They are trying to nuke them at that point in the film, only for one of the [=MUTO=]s to take the nuke to the middle of San Francisco.
31	* In ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan2'', Spider-Man ignores the guy in the Rhino armor that's conveniently terrorizing the city for his return. The police can deal with him! As in the movie, the guy opens his armor, to taunt the police... and gets immediately killed.
32	* The ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014'' video presents two scenarios in which the Guardians meet their ends by the prison guards and Ronan realizing this. A Mook also defends himself from Yondu's arrow by shooting Yondu before he can make the arrow strike him.
33	* In ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon2'', Stoick ops to just [[BoomHeadshot throw his ax into Drago Bludvist's skull]] as the latter's about to kill Valka.
34	* In ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'', Iron Man, Thor, and Vision shoot Ultron until he explodes, instead of shooting him and pausing.
35	* In one of the Survival 101 segments of ''Film/JurassicWorld'', "Don't just stand there when you have a perfect shot.", As the I-Rex communicates with the Raptors to turn on the human team, Owen goes, "Who cares?! Just shoot her!" and the group shoots the I-Rex to death.
36	* In ''How Film/RevengeOfTheSith Should Have Ended'', after Obi-Wan takes out Grievous's bodyguards, the latter has the battle droids surrounding Obi-Wan simply overwhelm and shoot him to death.
37	* In ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', the stormtrooper on Takodana just guns down a lightsaber-wielding Finn instead of attacking him with a riot baton. Given how Finn has no apparent Force sensitivity or melee training, this would make a lot of sense if one would think about it.
38	* ''Film/SuicideSquad2016'':
39	** Rick Flag simply shoots Harley Quinn in the head after being reminded by Waller that he has a gun when her nanite has been disabled.
40	** Deadshot just shoots Waller at the end.
41	* In ''Film/DoctorStrange2016'', when preparing to defend the Sanctuary, Wong once again tells the defenders to choose their weapons wisely. As soon as Kaecilius arrives, Wong reveals that he chose a ''gun'' when he simply shoots Kaecilius dead.
42	* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Moana}}'', instead of getting a chosen one to do the task, [[GeniusLoci the ocean]] decides to take Te Fiti's heart and restore the goddess itself. It succeeds, though this has the side effect of leaving Moana and Maui stuck on their islands, complaining about how bored they are.
43	* ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'' has Yondu's OneManArmy scene end with him simply getting shot dead by a Ravager, who originally gave away his position by yelling "DOWN HERE!" Then said Ravager and one of his comrades get shot by Rocket because they kept talking about this trope.
44	* ''Film/TheLastJedi'': Hux ignores Poe's attempts to buy time and simply has his ship shot down.
45	* For ''Film/JusticeLeague2017'', they regularly point out how with the Flash's superspeed, he could easily kill Steppenwolf a million times over by just driving sharp objects into his neck. Earlier from this, the Amazons just shoot Steppenwolf to death with their arrows instead of letting him monologue about getting the Mother Boxes.
46	* In ''Film/JurassicWorldFallenKingdom'', the Indoraptor locks onto its victim once a laser sight from a rifle is placed over the target. One of the people at the auction points out that if someone already has a gun pointed at a person, it's way more practical to just pull the trigger and shoot the target instead of having a dinosaur go through the effort of hunting them down.
47	* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'':
48	** A non-gun variant in the first scenario of this. Kingpin simply beats Miles to death before the latter can get up.
49	** In the second scenario, Jefferson [[BoomHeadshot shoots Kingpin in the head]] just as he’s about to kill Miles.
50	* ''Film/AvengersEndgame'':
51	** Thanos orders another bombing on the Avengers headquarters, leading to all the surviving Avengers being killed.
52	** Thor pins Thanos down with Mjolnir (declaring that the latter's "Not worthy!"), leading to him, Steve, and Tony kicking the Mad Titan while he's down before Thor finally [[OffWithHisHead decapitating him]].
53	** Wong simply traps Thanos’s army in the mirror dimension before beheading the latter with a sling-ring portal.
54	** Scarlet Witch simply crumples up Thanos when he’s about to say that he doesn’t know her.
55	* ''Film/TerminatorDarkFate'': The Rev-9 doesn't bother attacking while the protagonists are trapped underwater and simply waits for them to drown.
56	* ''Film/IronMan2'': Whiplash cuts off Tony's head with his whips when Tony's still donning his suitcase armour.
57	* ''Film/WonderWoman1984'':
58	** Maxwell Lord gets his driver to wish that Wonder Woman would vanish, promptly {{Retgone}}ing her before she punches through the windscreen.
59	** Additionally, Steve Trevor takes advantage of grabbing Maxwell Lord, and Lord asking him what he wishes for, to wish for all the wishes Lord's granted to be undone.
60	* ''Series/WandaVision'': Kate Bishop knocks out Wanda with an electric arrow to the head, just like her mentor Clint did back in ''Age Of Ultron''.
61	* ''Film/SpiderMan1'': Instead of throwing the "new, unpredictable, twirly boomerang blade things" at Spider-Man during the house fire, Green Goblin just used the "pumpkin bomb" that was used on the Oscorp Board of Directors, vaporising Spider-Man.

Context WhyDontYouJustShootHim / HowItShouldHaveEnded