When you gotta go, you gotta go. Here are some tropes about daring escapes— from fleeing the scene of a crime, to masterminding a prison break.
Many of these stem from, or lead to, a Chase Scene.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have some very unpleasant people on my tail. Just need... some place to hide...
See also Distraction Tropes and Insecurity System.
Tropes:
- Alone-with-Prisoner Ploy
- Always Close
- Air-Vent Passageway
- Balcony Escape
- Bathroom Break-Out
- Beast in the Maze
- Bedsheet Ladder: Someone gets out of a building they're imprisoned in by climbing out of the window with a ladder made of bed sheets.
- Bench Breaker
- Big Damn Fire Exit
- Big Heroic Run
- Bodybag Trick
- Bring the Anchor Along
- Broken Heel
- Cacophony Cover Up
- Casual High Drop
- Chopper on Standby
- Come with Me If You Want to Live
- Convenient Cranny
- Convenient Decoy Cat
- Convenient Escape Boat
- Conveniently Timed Distraction
- Conveniently Timed Guard
- Covering for the Noise
- Crisis Catch And Carry
- Cult Defector
- Curtain Camouflage
- Cutlery Escape Aid
- Defector from Paradise
- Disposable Vehicle Section
- Ejection Seat
- Elevator Escape
- Elopement
- Escape Artist: A performer whose acts involve managing to escape the most secure of death traps.
- Escaped from Hell
- Escape from the Crazy Place
- Escape Pod
- Escape Sequence
- Exit, Pursued by a Bear: The story ends with the villain fleeing from a creature that will most likely harm them.
- Fakeout Escape
- Fake-Out Make-Out
- Getaway Driver
- Giving Them the Strip: Someone escapes by removing an article of clothing that's confined or grabbed hold of.
- Great Escape
- High-Dive Escape
- Hooking the Keys
- Hyperspeed Escape
- Imminent Danger Clue
- Indy Escape
- Infraction Distraction
- Isle of Giant Horrors
- It's Probably Nothing
- Land in the Saddle
- Locking MacGyver in the Store Cupboard
- Losing a Shoe in the Struggle
- Lost in a Crowd
- Make It Look Like a Struggle
- Mercy Lead
- Must Let Them Get Away
- No Escape but Down
- Not So Great Escape
- The Outside World
- The Patient Has Left the Building
- The Precarious Ledge
- Protector Behind Bars
- Reed Snorkel
- Right Under Their Noses
- Run for the Border
- Short-Lived Aerial Escape
- Sick Captive Scam
- So Long, Suckers!
- So Much for Stealth
- Terrifying Rescuer
- Throwing the Distraction
- Thwarted Escape
- Time Travel Escape: Someone gets away through the use of time travel.
- Train Escape
- Tricked Into Escaping
- Try and Follow
- Tunnel King
- Underground Railroad
- Underside Ride
- Vehicle Vanish
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: After the villain is defeated, the fiend escapes before the hero and/or the authorities can capture them.
- Vulnerable Convoy
- A Way Out of a Cave-In
- We Will Meet Again: The villain promises that they will return to fight the hero another time as they make their escape, though this can also happen if the villain has been successfully captured.
