Times where the Love Interest decides that Love Cannot Overcome in Live-Action Films.
- Batman Returns:
- Bruce Wayne mentions that Vicki Vale, his love interest from the previous movie, couldn't handle being Batman's girlfriend.
- Bruce's break-up with Selina is more of an inversion; it's not so much because Selina cares about Bruce being Batman and she even states she'd love to live happily ever after with him, but she "just couldn't live with [herself]" as her own life is a mess (not to mention she seriously screwed him over before realizing he was Batman).
- Similarly, in The Dark Knight Trilogy, Rachel doesn't want to deal with the issues of being Bruce's love interest until he's done being Batman.
- Black Panther (2018): Okoye, the General of the paramilitary Dora Milaje, and W'Kabi, the Leader of the Border Tribe and the king's second-in-command. Okoye, who is bound by honor to serve the usurping king Killmonger, turns against him once he demonstrates disregard for Wakandan laws. W'Kabi was supportive of Killmonger from the start and remains loyal to him in leading his tribe in a civil war against anyone that goes against Killmonger. When they come head-to-head in battle, the fight doesn't last long.W'Kabi: Would you kill me, my love?
Okoye: For Wakanda? (arms spear) Without question. - Die Hard: John and Holly clearly care about each other, but their marriage is already strained in the first movie. While Die Hard ends with them back together, ultimately their relationship can't survive John's Chronic Hero Syndrome. They're officially separated by movie three and divorced by movie four, adding to John's Knight in Sour Armor bitterness.
- Inverted in The Fly (1986). When Seth reaches the final humanoid stage of his Slow Transformation into an insect-human hybrid creature, he tells his visiting lover Veronica that because of the accompanying Split-Personality Takeover that is replacing his morals and sanity with those of a ruthless insect, she must never see him again because "I'll hurt you if you stay." Even though her willingness to be there for him has already taken a significant psychic toll on her and she is now dealing with the possibility she's carrying his mutant offspring, she breaks down sobbing as she leaves without revealing the latter point as she intended. Sadly, he finds out anyway shortly afterward, and moreover that she doesn't intend to keep it, setting the stage for an even more tragic Downer Ending than might have otherwise been.
- Gorillas in the Mist: Dian and Bob begin an affair after he gets sent to photograph her research and fall deeply in love, enough for Bob to consider divorcing his wife and marry Dian instead. However, even though she loves him, Dian cannot find it in herself to leave her research and the gorillas she had taken upon to protect behind and rejects his marriage proposal, thus ending their relationship.
- I Shot Jesse James: Despite going through the emotional wringer by killing his best friend, Robert Ford learns that his girlfriend Cynthy doesn't want to be with him anymore. The main reason is that she's scared of Bob, as well as embarrassed about his reputation as Jesse James's killer.
- Played with in Iron Man 2:Pepper Potts: Oh my God, I can't take this anymore! My body literally cannot handle the stress! I never know if you're going to kill yourself or... or wreck the whole company...! That's it, I quit.
- This is a "playing with" because, up to this point, Pepper and Tony have only had Unresolved Sexual Tension and are not in a relationship. In fact, this declaration by Pepper is exactly what starts their relationship at the end of the film. Also, Tony doesn't accept her resignation.
- It's then played straight in Captain America: Civil War when Tony reveals Pepper broke up with him because she couldn't handle his Chronic Hero Syndrome. And then it's subverted in Spider-Man: Homecoming when they seem to be back together with Tony planning on proposing to her, which sticks this time.
- At the end of Ophelia, this is what separates Hamlet and Ophelia. Although they make it clear they love each other, Hamlet insists on carrying out his vengeance against Claudius even if it ends in his death, while Ophelia is unwilling to stay and doom herself along with everyone else and so leaves to keep on living.
- Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, the breakup between Anakin and Padmé comes down to this when the latter turns to the Dark Side:Padmé: I don't believe what I'm hearing! Obi-Wan was right... you've changed! You have turned to the dark side! You're not Anakin anymore!
Anakin: [with a growing angry look and voice] I don't want to hear any more about Obi-Wan. The Jedi turned against me. Don't you turn against me!
Padmé: [crying] Anakin, you're breaking my heart! You're going down a path I cannot follow!
Anakin: Because of Obi-Wan?
Padmé: Because of what you've done... what you plan to do! Stop! Stop now... come back... I love you! - Superman II. At the end of the movie Lois Lane can't handle being Superman's girlfriend and Secret-Keeper, so he uses his Super Amnesia power to remove her knowledge of his secret identity and their relationship.Lois: I didn't close my eyes all night... Do you know how vile it is to hear the first bird of the morning singing when you've been sitting up all night crying? ...It's sort of like being married to a doctor. The doctor gets wakened in the middle of the night and the wife has to cope with the fact that he's gone... I am selfish when it comes to you, and I'm jealous of the whole world... Don't you know that this is killing me? Do you know what it's like to have you come in here every morning and not be able to talk to you, not be able to show I have any feelings toward you, not be able to tell anyone that I know who you are? I don't even know what to call you!
- Twister: Melissa breaks up with Bill before he goes chasing after the final tornado because, in her words, "I can't compete with this."
