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"Oh, I haven't got the brains for argument, but I don't need them as long as my head is harder than his viscera!"
Cindy Lou, Kiss the Boys Good-Bye

It has been shown time and again, in cartoons, movies, and video games, that the best way to break something is by hitting it with your head. Really hard.

We're not talking ordinary, run-of-the-mill headbutts here. Heck, we're not even talking about headbutts of love. When a character uses his head, they transform from ordinary bloke to full-on Battering Ram. The character may go into full on raging-bull mode, charging blindly ahead at whatever stands in his path. Or his companions may actually pick him up, using the blunt end of his skull to smash down whatever it is that needs smashin'. This can be an effective means of attack for some. For others, it's simply the easiest road to destruction. When somebody breaks out the cranial cannonball, the walls are going to come tumblin' down, 'cuz Ramming Always Works.

Strangely enough, a character who employs this technique never seems to get a concussion, or even a headache. This may be because he's a Big Guy or a Cloudcuckoolander — two character subspecies known for this trope — and for having very thick skulls, or maybe he's wearing Weaponized Headgear. (Genius Bruisers are, of course, an exception.)

Although the Trope Naming phrase doesn't always precede incidences of this trope, if you utter it in the presence of the Big Guy or a Cloudcuckoolander in battle, you know exactly what you're likely to get.

Also see Headdesk, which is Using Your Head out of frustration, or Put Their Heads Together, when two characters get hit with each other's skulls. Compare Ass Kicks You. A signature move of the Violent Glaswegian, where it is called the "Glasgow Kiss". Headbutting Pachy is another related trope, drawing attention to a dinosaur with a reputation for doing this. Characters with a Cranial Plate Ability often have this as one of their newfound abilities.

As Ram-Man himself said in one cartoon, Don't Try This at Home.


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Other examples:

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    Advertising 
  • Irn-Bru, the Scottish national soft drink, often has very unusual and sometimes comical ads. This particular one is definitely on the funny side, and plays to the Violent Glaswegian trope by featuring the iconic headbutt as delivered by a vending machine.
  • One Segata Sanshiro commercial features Segata doing a brick break in this manner to advertise the brainteaser game Solo Crisis. He even drops this trope's title (in Japanese, of course) after doing so.

    Asian Animation 
  • BoBoiBoy: In a giant game of checkers where the heroes and their enemies were used as game pieces, upon getting kinged, the square-headed alien Adu Du gets a taller head, with which he uses to whack away enemy pieces after "eating" them.

    Comic Books 
  • Amulet: Dagno manages to take down Gabilan via helmet-assisted aerial headbutt.
  • Atari Force: In the second series, Martin and Christopher Champion both attack the Dark Destroyer's humanoid form with their heads in separate confrontations. Christoper's attack turns out to be less effective than Martin's, however.
  • The DCU:
    • Batman: In an early comic, Dick Grayson does this to a crook, complete with lampshading: "How's that for using my head?"
    • Earth 2: During a fight with Superman's clone and Val-Zod, the clone face-butts Val and causes his own face to crack, revealing that he was a clone and not the real Superman.
    • JLA: A League of One: Diana's means of defeating Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) is to headbutt him once she is able to remove his ring from his hand.
    • In Supergirl story "Supergirls Super Pet", Streaky the Supercat headbutts an eagle to drive it away from some helpless chicks.
    • Superman: In Kryptonite Nevermore, a corrupt tycoon head-butts Superman on the stomach. Of course, he knocks himself out. Remarkably (and stupidly), he tries this tactic after his goons break their hands by punching Superman, who had previously tanked cannon fire.
    • Wonder Woman Vol 1: In the Wonder Girl Impossible Tale in #111, a large whale knocks out Renno and a sea-centuar by ramming into them with its head, and is defeated by tricking it into ramming its own reflection until it knocks itself for a loop.
  • Disney Ducks Comic Universe:
    • Donald Duck a number of times has resorted to ramming his head straight into the stomachs of bigger-sized enemies who have really enraged him, such as Neighbor Jones. This always works in taking his enemy down. Donald doesn't use this on anyone the same size as him, like Gladstone Gander.
    • His Uncle Scrooge has also done this a few times.
  • El Toxico: El Toxico headbutts a giant bug during a battle with it.
  • Gotlib has a wacky variant (it's Gotlib after all) which could either be shoehorned into this trope or would need a new subtrope with this entry as only element. So here goes nothing: An intellectual gets clobbered by a stone-age brute. He then holds his nose tight and blows until his brain flies out of his ear, hits the brute and scores a clean K.O. "Use your brain" indeed.
  • Invincible once got both his arms broken by an extremely powerful adversary. So he beat him to death with his head. Or so he thought.
  • Judge Dredd:
    • Mean Machine Angel is a berserker cyborg who attacks his opponents by ramming them with his metal plate head.
    • Dredd himself used this to incapacitate a psychotic woman who was in love with him when he was handcuffed by smashing her with his helmet.
  • Lucky Luke: In Going Up the Mississippi, one of the hired trouble-makers Luke has to deal with is called Hardhead Wilson, whom is seen head-butting an alligator unconscious. Captain Barrows mentions even bullets have no effect on his skull.
  • Marvel Universe:
    • Spider-Man: This is the trademark of the villain Hammerhead. Originally, he didn't even have superpowers, just a metal plate in his head that somehow made him tough enough to go up against the wallcrawler, though he's since become a Cyborg.
    • X-Men: The Juggernaut uses this mode of attack as well. In the Capcom vs. series, it's his one and only Hyper Combo.
  • In Nodwick, Yeagar has used Nodwick as a battering ram to beat down doors on more than one occasion.
  • Oz (Caliber): Hektor Hammerhead, one of the Freedom Fighters of Oz, is a member of the race known as the Hammer-Heads. Like all of his race, his big oversized head is flat on top, with a very smooth surface. his neck is incredibly long like elastic, stretching out like an accordion. He can shoot his necks out like the spring of a jack-in-the-box. This allows him to strike out at opponents with his head to knock them down hard.
  • Strontium Dog: For Middenface McNulty, this is practically his signature move. Though, given his reputation, he would probably like to refer to this as a Glasgow Kiss.
  • The Ultimates: Herr Kleiser has secured Captain America, but Cap fights dirty and does not shy away from any trick to regain the upper hand in a fight.

    Fan Works 
  • Abraxas (Hrodvitnon): In Chapter 13, Godzilla rams himself head-first into the Many construct in the sea, which is enough for him to make it lose its grip on Monster X.
  • Ashes of the Past: Played for Laughs when Ash's Charizard headbutts Brandon's Regirock right between the eyes.
    As there were seven of them, this required several headbutts.
  • Doing It Right This Time: Mari, despite being probably the most level-headed and mentally healthy pilot on the team, is still Hot-Blooded enough to try and headbutt Ramiel. (How she was even able to attempt this is a whole other trope.)
  • Empathy: Oh does this to end his fight with Smek during the climax. Afterwards, it hurts him too, and he admits that it's an awful fight move.
  • Escape from the Moon: In the sequel The Mare From the Moon, Spliced Genome’s reaction when Princess Celestia tries to keep her from leaving her bed is to headbutt the other mare and break her snout. (She apologizes later and heals it though.)
  • A Force of Four: U-Ban head-butts Power Girl when they brawl.
  • The Gunslinger Hero: Flintlock:
    • Izumi does this during the USJ Attack, pulling Tomura Shigaraki halfway through one of Kurogiri’s portals before giving him a wound-up headbutt.
    • During the second event of the Sports Festival, a Purge Trooper Robot does this as a counter to Ochako’s attempt to use her quirk, pulling her close by her wrist in order to strike her with a headbutt.
    Then he smashed his forehead against her own, and filled her head with pain.
  • In Hellsister Trilogy, Supergirl used the move as fighting Satan Girl for the first time.
    The purple-suited girl was going for Supergirl's eyes. Desperately, Kara grabbed her foe's wrists, kneed her in the stomach as hard as she could, and head-butted her in the forehead. It felt like banging her head into a steel wall, but she could see Satan Girl wince with the pain for a second.
  • Here There Be Monsters: During one battle, Mary Marvel flies right into Illyria's stomach.
    Angrily, Mary used her flight power and slammed her head into Illyria's stomach. The villainess groaned and doubled.
  • In the My Hero Academia fic Every Step of the Way, Aizawa, left blind after a run in with a villain, is still unsure of his abilities. One of the criminals had escaped earlier and when he tried coming after Aizawa, Aizawa breaks out of the guy’s grasp by whipping his head backward into the guy’s chest.
  • My Hero Academia: Unchained Predator: After Wolfram critically injures Miruko in Chapter 19, the Slayer retaliates by headbutting him into oblivion.
  • The Return-Remixed: After the members of DEAR give Molly Holly a Mohawk as part of a Torture Interrogation. Molly then accompanied the Diva Army in their match against DEAR wearing a military helmet, which she used to headbutt the members of DEAR.
  • Shinji And Warhammer 40 K: It's called "the Ikari". It begins with a headbutt and it ends with the opponent on the ground crying for mercy. The best part of this is it was first used in a scene where EVA-01 loses the function of both its arms and only has its head.
  • In TRON: Legacy story A Survivors Tale, Clu sends a captured Yori to the Games and, just to be a complete dick, puts her up against his champion (her Brainwashed and Crazy husband), figuring that she'll easily be de-rezzed. She's an engineer, not a warrior, after all. What Clu did not expect was Yori figuring out the mechanics of the arena, getting into grappling range with "Rinzler", and using a headbutt to knock both of them out, essentially ending the match in a draw.
  • Thousand Shinji: Asuka head butted a MP-Eva when she fought nine of them.
    A long blade slammed through right shoulder while another one skittered across her torso armour, looking for a gap to plunge in and begin ripping out her Eva’s guts. Asuka held off its other hands while it snapped at her face, drool flying off its shiny, metallic razor sharp teeth to splatter across Unit 02’s helmet.
    Asuka head butted it.
  • The Vampire of Steel: Buffy uses a headbutt to get Zol-Am off her during their fight.
    She felt the strain of pushing Zol-Am away, felt his greater strength drawing her nearer.
    So she stopped resisting him and brought their foreheads together with a bang.
  • In the Star Wars Rebels story A Sword to Pass
    • Done hilariously by Sabine. When she and Tristan are going on separate missions with their parents she yells "Helemt Check" and slams her head down on his. This disorients him and gets Sabine a scolding from their father. Tristan attempts to get her back, but she is ready for it and the impact doesn't have the same effect on her.
    • During his fight with the saboteur, Tristan slams his head into the assailant’s own.

    Film — Animation 
  • In The 3 Little Pigs: The Movie, after his Super-Breath fails to take down Feeno’s house, Big Boss tries to brute force his way into the pig’s home, at one point repeatedly smacking his head into the front door. This doesn’t work.
  • BoBoiBoy: The Movie: After Gopal gains the ability to transform his body into other materials, he bounces around like rubber before turning his head into diamond when he's headed for Gaga Naz's back, serving a solid head-butt from behind.
  • Disney:
    • Hercules: Hercules lands his first attack on the centaur Nessus in this manner after Phil tells him to "use your head!"
      Phil: Not bad, kid! Not exactly what I had in mind, but not bad...
    • Mulan: Shan-Yu does this while fighting Shang. Shang doesn't suffer visible damage, but it takes him out of the fight quite effectively. And in a nice moment of realism, Shan-Yu's own eyes are shown to be momentarily unfocused after the blow.
    • Oliver & Company: The titular gang plots to steal a radio from a Rolls Royce. Dodger calls upon Einstein to produce a fender bender, in a tone that indicates that Einstein has both experience and expertise in this regard. Einstein just broadsides the car with his head.
    • Zootopia: When Nick locks a ram mook in the rear compartment of a train, they repeatedly bash their head into the door leaving it increasingly dented until Nick pulls a Door Judo move on them and their momentum causes them to run out the train window.
  • How to Train Your Dragon: Discussed by one of the Viking kids, though he doesn't get to actually do it. "I will cut off the legs of every dragon I see. With my face." Also discussed by Stoick.
    Stoick: When I was a boy, my dad told me to bang my head against a rock, and I did it! I thought he was crazy, but I didn't question him. And do you know what happened?
    Gobber: You got a headache.
    Stoick: That rock split in two!
  • The Land Before Time: Being a Triceratops, Cera does this a couple of times.
  • Shrek:
    • Fiona has used headbutts to deal with men she finds distasteful, such as Robin Hood or Prince Charming.
    • Princess Fiona's mother does this to walls twice in Shrek the Third. The second time she does it leaves her understandably disorientated. And humming "My Favorite Things".
  • Toy Story 2: When breaking through a vent that's been screwed shut, the fake Buzz tells Rex to "use your head". Cut to a shot of them running down the vent with Rex as a battering ram as he yells "But I don't wanna use my head!". Justified in that Rex is a toy and technically has no biological brain that can be damaged. Also, due to the bottom screws having been taken out, they just push the vent open like a flap. Subverted in the "outtake" of this scene where the grate is on too tight, and all of them just bash against it. "Ow", indeed.
  • In Turning Red, when they're both in panda form, Mei delivers a monstrous headbutt to Ming, knocking her unconscious.

    Film — Live-Action 
  • In Against All Flags, Patma's bodyguard Hassan attacks several of Roc's by ramming them in the stomach with his head. This comes to an end when he accidentally runs headfirst into the mast and knocks himself out.
  • In Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Ace tries this on Lois Einhorn, but she's unaffected while he gets dazed.
  • In Artemis Fowl, a troll gains entry into the Fowl house by being launched head first through the wall from a catapult.
  • Back to the Future: At the climax when the car won't start, Marty headbutts the steering wheel and the engine roars into life.
  • Bad Times at the Battle Royale: When they're unable to exit the institution doors leading to the sports field where the final battle takes place, Hélène, Heng and Carlos use Hatsuka as a human battering ram to bust the doors open.
  • In Blade Runner, Roy Batty enters the bathroom like this. Excusable as (a) he has superhuman strength, (b) he's playing it for shock value and (c) he really needs an adrenaline kick. It's not as silly as it sounds.
  • Boy Eats Girl: When confronted by a zombified member of her Girl Posse, the resident Alpha Bitch surprisingly headbutts her undead friend and escapes.
  • Deadpool: At the mutant facility, Wade gives Angel Dust a headbutt in order to take hold of the match in her mouth.
  • In The Devil's Brigade, this is how two soldiers toss an unruly logger or two out the window of a bar.
  • The Dirty Dozen: Justified. When you're wearing a steel helmet and your opponent isn't, headbutts and blocking punches with your forehead suddenly become beautifully viable.
  • Dragon Strike: In the film, when the rogue is unable to unlock a magically sealed door, the fighter makes a crack about it. In frustration, the rogue pushes the fighter into the door, causing him to do this.
  • In the soft-porn parody Flesh Gordon our Idiot Hero unsuccessfully tries to headbutt his way out of an underground cavern.
  • Godzilla vs. Kong: In Godzilla and Kong's very first clash, within Godzilla's Home Field Advantage he attempts to hold Kong in his grasp. The ape responds by rearing his head back and slamming it into Godzilla's face.
  • The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies: Happens several times. A troll charges at the wall of Dale with some sort of stone edifice on its head and bashes in a hole large enough for the orc army to pour through. Amusingly, the troll falls over after the impact, presumably knocked out cold. Dáin takes Dwarven hard-headedness to a new level, using his head as his preferred weapon even against enemies wearing helmets.
  • The Horror of Party Beach features a whiter-than-white guy getting into a fight with some Hollywood-style biker thugs over a girl. At one point, the lead thug's compatriots pick him up and ram his head into the guy he's fighting.
  • Internal Affairs: Dennis Peck, a Dirty Cop, greets Raymond Avila, the IA officer investigating him, this way when the latter is about to get out of an elevator. The head butt is a prelude to the No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Peck gives Avila both physically and psychologically while they're both in the elevator.
  • Interstellar: Mann uses this to great effect against Cooper, resulting in the latter nearly dying from a Broken Faceplate. He does this even though Cooper points out there's an equal chance of breaking his own faceplate that way.
  • Jack Reacher. After being attacked by two incompetent criminals in a confined space, Reacher knocks down one guy onto another, then smashes the top guy's head into the bottom guy's until both are out.
  • Justice League/Zack Snyder's Cut: After Superman is resurrected and attacks everyone, Wonder Woman slams her head into him, and Superman barely even flinches. He then responds in kind... sending Diana into the pavement.
  • The wuxia movie The Kid with the Golden Arm has Master Copper Head, who fights unarmed but with his primary weapon being his copper helmet. During fights, he tends to bash enemies who got in his way using said helmet, killing at least five opponents by ramming his head into their guts and chests.
  • Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Our heroes find themselves locked in cage, but fortunately there's a Stygimoloch imprisoned in the cell next to him that Owen incites into smashing down first the brick wall between them, then the gate of the cage with its thick bony head.
  • Kild TV: In the film's climax, during a struggle with the killer, one of them breaks it up by headbutting the opponent.
  • In Knockout, Tanya "Terminator" Tessaro illegally headbutts Belle during their championship bout.
  • Lethal Weapon: Riggs headbutts Wah Sing Ku a few times during their fight in the fourth movie.
  • Mad Max: Fury Road: Early in, Nux may be weak and in urgent need of transfusion, but try to steal his steering wheel and he'll headbutt your face in.
  • Marvel Cinematic Universe:
    • The Avengers (2012): Tony tries this on Thor. Thor is hardly dazed, and returns the favor hard enough to knock Tony back several feet and leave a sizeable dent in his helmet.
    • In Thor: Ragnarok, Skurge the Executioner headbutts a zombie so hard its body crumbles apart.
    • Avengers: Infinity War: Tony ends up on the wrong end of this again, courtesy of Thanos.
    • Avengers: Endgame: Thanos tries this again in the final battle, except this time his target is Carol Danvers — who completely tanks it.
  • The Matrix: Neo and Agent Smith both do this to each other. So does Morpheus in his fight with Agent Smith, but Smith butts back harder.
  • Mr. Nanny: In the climax, the Big Bad uses his metal skull-plate to knock Hulk Hogan's character around.
  • In Night at the Museum 3, Laa does this to break out of a room that he and Larry are locked in.
  • Paul Blart: Mall Cop:
    • Deconstructed when Blart tries this on a minion only to hurt himself.
      Blart: Nobody wins in a headbutt.
    • A properly done headbutt (as in using the top of the forehead and targeting vulnerable areas) is probably one of the safest ways to strike. But doing it improperly (like, say, aiming at the other guy's forehead instead of, say, face) means damaging your head and likely your brain.
  • Red Eye: Jackson Rippner hits Lisa Reisert in the face with his head to make her stop evading his questions... and is left legitimately puzzled when not only does it knock her unconscious, which is bad for his plan, but, in particular, when he realizes that his own forehead is bleeding. (In contrast to his apparently-genuine confusion over why holding her father hostage would cause her to act at all agitated, this may have contributed to the part where he gives her an aspirin when she wakes up, but only because he needs her to be able to think clearly.)
  • Sherlock Holmes (2009): Subverted. Holmes is facing Giant Mook Dredger, proven to be pretty much Made of Iron in their last encounter. Suddenly Watson grabs Dredger from behind and shouts at Holmes to "Nut him!" Holmes runs up to Dredger, jumps up into the air and head-butts him, only to stumble backward, a stunned look on his face. Holmes then tries throwing a punch, but is so disoriented he slips and falls on his back.
  • In Star Wars: The Last Jedi, BB-8 tries to fix the circuits in Poe's X-Wing, but each time he bridges one with a tool, another one overloads. Finally, he just headbutts the panel, getting the weapons back online and giving himself a nice shock in the process.
  • In Starter for 10, one character attempts a headbutt on another in a moment of frustration, and knocks himself out. When he wakes up, another character snarkily explains that he has completely failed to understand the basic principle of the headbutt: "You're meant to hit the soft part of their nose with the hard part of your forehead, not the other way round."
  • Suburban Commando: One of the bad guys has the top of his skull replaced with a metal cap for this particular reason. Not to mention he looks patently ridiculous while doing so.
  • The Three Stooges occasionally have a Hard Head stooge (often Curly, but once in a while Shemp) used outright as a battering ram.
  • Tyranno's Claw has a pachycephalosaurus stumbling across a bunch of cavemen and headbutting them in self-defense, much like typical depictions of said dinosaur. One of the cavemen, in a Too Dumb to Live moment, tries headbutting the pachycephalosaurus' head with his own, and breaks his own skull in the process.

    Literature 
  • Animorphs: This is what Jake's rhino and Rachel's elephant morph are often used for.
  • Discworld The Nac Mac Feegles tend to be quick to resort to giving foes a "faceful o' heid" in the heat of battle.
  • Forgotten Realms: In The Cleric Quintet, Danica Maupoissant breaks a big-ass block of stone with a headbutt. Earlier, under the influence of the Chaos Curse potion, she repeatedly slams her face into brick blocks trying to figure out the technique but only succeeds in harming herself. It gets a minor mention in the second book when she uses it to shatter an ogre's chest when he's bear-hugging her.
  • Good Omens: Shadwell, on seeing Satan himself start to materialize on Earth to start the Apocalypse, stands together with Crowley and Aziraphale, tosses away his arquebus, and... removes his cap. The man was entirely ready to headbutt the Adversary himself.
  • Monster Hunter Alpha: Protagonist Earl Harbinger tries this while he's temporarily cured of his lycanthrope, and discovers that headbutting someone isn't nearly as good of an idea when you don't have a werewolf's Healing Factor.
  • The Secret Life of Kitty Granger: Kitty thrashes around while the Russian spies try to pin her to a chair. She manages to headbutt one of them in the face hard enough to make him scream in pain. She does the same thing while fighting with the Nazis at Lowell's estate.
  • A Song of Ice and Fire. In his first battle, dwarf Tyrion Lannister is given a suit of ill-fitting armour, including a bucket helm with a spike on top. After being knocked off his horse by a knight wielding a mace, it appears to be all up for our vertically-challenged protagonist until he headbutts the knight's horse, ripping its guts open. The knight falls off and breaks several bones, forcing him to surrender to Tyrion.
  • The Speed of Sound: In The Sound of Echoes, Skylar snaps her head into her kidnapper's face, breaking his nose, while she's Bound and Gagged.
  • Star Wars Legends: Mace Windu does this to a guard twice his size who blocks his way in Shatterpoint. The guard taunts the "little Jedi" to draw his lightsaber. Mace simply says that his head is all he needs and proceeds to show him exactly what he means, then steps away as the guard falls.
    Guard: What you gonna do, think me to death? (headbutt)
  • Stick Dog: One of the main character, Poo-Poo the poodle, is fond of headbutting things. When Stick Dog finally asks him why he does it, Poo-Poo states it's because he likes how it feels when the pain stops.
  • Sven Hassel grabs an enemy soldier by the ears and rams his helmet into his face, a move he refers to as the "Danish Kiss". As Sven is Danish-German, he adds that he didn't learn it in Denmark, but in the Wehrmacht battle school.
  • Tolkien's Legendarium:
  • Tasakeru: Faun invented the story's equivalent of the Heavy Metal Headbutt by giving a Glasgow Kiss to a drunken, lecherous bar patron. Nicely Lampshaded.
    "Do you knowhow to do the 'headache?'"
  • Warrior Cats: In A Light in the Mist, Redwillow thinks he'll be able to take over Bristlefrost's body by headbutting her after having performed a "ritual". That's not how possession works, so it just results in a very confused Bristlefrost seeing stars.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Andor:
    • In the first episode, when a couple of corporate security goons are shaking protagonist Cassian Andor down, he gets one of them to walk right behind him, and then bashes the corpo in the nose with the back of his head. Played somewhat realistically, since Cassian sways a little after the hit.
    • In a riot scene in the last episode of the first season, one civilian rioter uses a headbutt on a storimtrooper. As ever in the Star Wars universe, stormtrooper Armor Is Useless.
  • Angel
    • In the episode "Dad", vampire hunter Holtz is stalking Justine, a vampire-killing vigilante whom he intends to recruit. He turns a corner and intercepts her fist with a Punch Catch.
      Holtz: Your punch could have been quicker... without so much to drink.
      Justine: It's kind of a trade-off, because without that much to drink [head-butts Holtz] hurts a lot more.
    • In "First Impressions", Angel is interviewing a disoriented witness to a vampire attack when he suddenly headbutts her in the face. The woman snarls and vamps out, revealing herself as a vampire who was trying to sneak out through the police line.
    • Averted when Lorne gets decapitated in "There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb". Fortunately he can survive this but he strongly objects when Cordelia, who's carrying his head around in a metal bucket, wants to use it as an Improvised Weapon.
  • In Big Brother, houseguest Willie Hantz was expelled after headbutting a fellow houseguest Joe, trying to taunt him to hit him, and throwing pork rinds at another houseguest.
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Played with. One of Spike's minions asks him how to get into a locked room; Spike scornfully says "use your head!", grabs him by the scruff of the neck... and smashes his head into the compartment next to the door holding a fire axe.
  • Cheers: Subverted in an episode where Cliff claims to know karate and smashes a stack of boards with his head. Diane ends up having to sneak him off to the hospital.
  • Dexter: In one episode, Doakes gets increasingly close to figuring out Dexter's secret. Once again, he confronts Dex in his office, at which point Dexter headbutts the cop and leaves the office into the main detective area, walking like nothing has happened. Two seconds later, Doakes flies out of the office, pissed off, and tackles Dex. The other cops assume he just snapped, as they didn't see the headbutt and he is well known to have a hatred for Dexter before he had a solid reason to. The whole thing was planned by Dexter to give Doakes even less credibility than usual.
  • Doctor Who:
    • "The Lodger": The Doctor is trying to explain to Craig why he's living in his flat, which is to investigate time disruptions coming from upstairs. Telling Craig would take too long, so the Doctor headbutts him for a very fast mind meld. Painful to both parties.
    • "The Time of the Doctor": Used for a pun by the Doctor to Handles, a Companion Cube in the form of a severed Cyberman head.
      "Use your head, it's not like you've got a lot of alternatives!"
  • Drop the Dead Donkey. Psycho office assistant Joy is infamous for her ferocious headbutts.
  • Game of Thrones: When Jon Snow is at some point pinned to a wall, he uses this to get himself free from his attacker.
  • Happy Days: Subverted in an episode where Arnold's catches fire, trapping Fonzie inside the men's room with Ralph and Potsie. Fonzie tries donning his motorcycle helmet and crashing through a wall.
    Potsie: Hey, look, there's an outside wall! I wonder what it's made of?
    Fonzie: Concrete. [passes out]
  • In Home Improvement, Tim and Al had a Karate expert show how he break boards with his head. Al volunteered to try and Tim waited for him to hurt his head only to succeed. After Al, Tim decided to give it a try and ended up hurting his head. Al revealed that he had training in karate.
  • Jessica Jones (2015): In the opening of "AKA You're a Winner!", Kilgrave uses his powers to blatantly cheat at backroom poker. After winning an entire jackpot by simply commanding the other players to go all-in and then fold, he takes their money and starts to walk out, but one player that had been really annoying to Kilgrave stops him.
    Harvey: I don't know what just happened there. But you're gonna sit down and give us a shot to win our money back.
    Kilgrave: I've got a better idea: let's see how long it takes you to put your head through that post. [As Kilgrave walks out, Harvey turns to a solid wooden column next to him and immediately begins bashing his head against it]
  • Leverage: Sophie, who just the season before was easily felled by an erratic handbag, went on to unleash one hell of a headbutt.
  • Monty Python's Flying Circus:
    • The Bishop uses this in order to break in to Mr. Devious' office, by having his entourage pick up one of their number and using him like a battering ram. They not only break the door down, they almost knocked down the whole set.
    • In the episode "The Golden Age of Ballooning", the fake King of France uses the Glaswegian Kiss as his preferred method of attack.
  • Person of Interest. While posing as a Shell-Shocked Veteran, John Reese is on the receiving end of a Quit Your Whining speech from a Smug Snake banker, who tells Reese to start using his head. Reese takes the advice and headbutts him.
  • Red Dwarf: In "White Hole", Holly powers down to conserve her remaining runtime, thus shutting off the engines and the powered doors. Solution? Bash down the 53 doors between them and the science room using... Kryten! Of course, he's a mechanoid, so it doesn't cause him too much damage...
    Kryten: Fifty-three doors!? You can't be serious.
    [a Gilligan Cut later...]
    Lister: You okay, man?
    Kryten: I'm fine, thank you, Susan...
  • Star Trek:
    • Informed Ability of the Klingons in all series save TOS; the Star Trek Fact Files claim that those much-mocked rubber foreheads are actually solid bone. In Star Trek: The Next Generation, a Klingon once challenged Data to arm-wrestling, and was promptly beaten the moment he said go. Being a Klingon, he's a Sore Loser. His attempt to get even by head-butting Data was no wiser.
      Data: My upper spinal support is a poly-alloy, designed for extreme stress. My skull is composed of cortenide and duranium.
      • This would have worked on anyone else, however. When Worf was a child, he was the captain of his school's soccer team. He and a human opponent tried to head the ball at the same time, their heads collided, and the other boy's neck snapped.
  • Super Sentai:
    • Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger: Kyoryu Gray and his Zyudenryu partner Bunpachy are both based on a Pachycephalosaurus, and use this technique regularly. So do their counterparts in Power Rangers Dino Charge, which the Graphite Ranger refers to as "Pachy Punch" or "a royal headbutt".
    • Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger (and Power Rangers: Dino Thunder): Variant - Bakuryuu Bachyceloknuckles (Cephala Zord in the Power Rangers version) attaches to AbarenOh (Thundersaurus Megazord) as an arm, delivering a series of punches... with his dinosaur head acting as the combination's fist.
  • In The Umbrella Academy (2019), Number One/Luther tries this in a fight against Hazel, but only hurts himself because Hazel was wearing a metal mask.
  • Whose Line Is It Anyway?: In "Party Quirks", Ryan Stiles took this one a little too far. He charged for Drew's desk and destroyed the neon light display. PING!
  • World's Dumbest...: In one episode of World's Dumbest Criminals, a pair of would-be burglars is trying to break through the back door of a house when the team leader decides to employ this technique, complete with a running start. And inevitably, he learns that this doesn't work in real life. Surprisingly, the genius who thought he could break a secure door with his head is the one who didn't get caught.

    Pinball 
  • Foo Fighters (2023):
    • Played for Laughs at the start of Area 51 Multiball, when the band manages to break down the titular location's doors by using Pat Smear as a human Battering Ram, head-first.
    • Pat bashes his head against a glass window to shatter it and escape from the UFO where he's being held captive during the first phase of "The Final Battle."

    Pro Wrestling 
  • The Battering Ram — a finishing move used by several wrestlers, most notably The Bushwhackers, whose Finishing Move was called the Battering Ram. Which was first used by Bobo Brazil (Houston Harris — a former baseball player), and called the Coco Butt, in 1950.
  • The diving head butt is mostly used by Samoan wrestlers, but to the world at large, Bam Bam Bigelow and Chris Benoit are probably the most famous users. The late Chris Benoit used to do this as a tribute to the Dynamite Kid, with much the same tragic results (severe brain trauma). Harley Race has gone on record as saying he wished he'd never invented the move (he'd actually just fallen from the top-rope head-first the first time, but subsequently did it intentionally).
  • The Junkyard Dog would comically get on all fours and repeatedly ram fallen opponents head-first. JYD was known for having a hard head. More than once, an opponent would headbutt him - only to hurt themselves instead!
  • After losing a hair-vs.-hair match to one of the Von Erichs, Buddy Roberts of the Fabulous Freebirds took to wearing a wig with a boxing headgear to hold it on. During matches, Buddy would load a piece of metal into the headgear and headbutt his opponents with it.
  • In the late-1980's in WCW, there was a masked tag team called the Russian Assassins, managed by Paul Jones. Their finisher was for one of them to insert a piece of metal into their mask right at their forehead and headbutt their opponent with it.
  • In the mid/late-1980's, there was a wrestler named Jason The Terrible (a pro wrestling expy of Jason Voorhees) who was active in the Memphis and Calgary territories. He wore a hockey mask in the ring and would headbutt opponents with it.
  • Similarly, Memphis also had a wrestler named Lord Humongous, based the villain from The Road Warrior who wore a hockey mask and put it to good use. He later became better known without the mask as Sid Vicious.
  • Hijo Del Santo is known as "El Rey de Tope" for his willingness to do diving head butts and flying battering rams (ironically, it would be a back injury that would put his career on hold). CMLL World Heavyweight Champion Rayo De Jalisco Jr was known for delivering multiple headbutts in rapid succession, though he had a bad habit of not looking during the last one, so if the opponent wasn't knocked senseless by the first 2-4 they could capitalize.
  • LLF champion Sadika's "cabezazo" is an enforced version, as she sandwiches an object between her and her opponent's head and butts it till it breaks.
  • Paige is another diva that uses headbutts, even incorporating a rather...Les Yay version as her signature move.
  • Drew McIntyre, upon his first release from WWE, began using a headbutt as a signature move. This continued after returning to WWE. As he is Scottish, the commentators will call it a "Glasgow Kiss," despite his being from Ayr.
  • Maki Itoh uses this as a big part of her gimmick: given that her having a big head was part of the reason her Idol Singer career didn't go anywhere, she frequently makes use of it in combat. Her signature move is to deliberately fall over and land onto a prone opponent, head first.

    Sports 
  • The danger of a concussion is why direct, intentional helmet-to-helmet collisions are not allowed in the NFL. Spearing, the practice of diving into another player helmet-first, is also illegal due to the risk of spinal injury. This practice gained a lot of notoriety during the 1990s, largely because safety Chuck Cecil was so fond of using it. Yes, before he was a controversial assistant coach often fined by the NFL for his actions, he was a controversial player who was often fined by the NFL for his actions.
  • Soccer is one of a few where the head can be used to score. On the other hand, headbutts on the adversary also occur:
  • Several martial arts allow and/or teach the use of headbutts.
    • Headbutts are allowed in muay boran—an older form of Muay Thai— adding a ninth contact surface as opposed to the eight of muay thai. The headbutts are still used in Lethwei, a similar fighting style from neighbouring Myanmar.
    • Capoeira employs spearing headbutts as one of the prime ways to show an opponent that they've left their mid-section open, particularly during cartwheels. It also enforces them during short clinches.
    • Krav Maga and other self-defense styles love to use headbutts, they are simple, effective and can be life-saving.
    • Some hybrid/full contact Karate rulesets allow headbutting. Among them it's famous the school of Daido-juku Kudo, whose practitioners are forced to wear a special mask. A similar case is done with combat Sambo.
    • Even Judo used to contain headbutts as part of its forgotten striking part of atemi-waza.

    Tabletop Games 
  • Spelljammer: Giff are large hippo-like humanoids that are available as a player character race in the setting. In 2nd Edition, they had the ability to slam their large, bony heads into enemies as a melee attack for considerable damage, though this is no longer the case when they were brought back for 5E.
  • Games Workshop games:
    • In Warhammer, an 'Eadbutt is one of the randomly generated attacks that a Giant is able to deliver against larger opponents. In battle, such an attack can only cause a single wound but it dazes the target so that they are briefly unable to attack themselves.
    • In Warhammer: Age of Sigmar Aleguzzler Gargants are able to unleash a devastating head-butt against their foes. Although it is their less accurate, when it hits this ‘Eadbutt is capable of doing far more damage than any of its other attacks.
    • Warhammer 40,000:
      • Orks, especially the members of the Goff clan, often resort to headbutts and headlong charges in battle, something enhanced by their tendency to wear horned helmets. Ghazghkull Thraka, the greatest Ork Warlord, had part of his cranium replaced with a bionic skull made from adamantium, with which he's able to deliver a powerful head-butt. Whether this is represented in the game rules changes from edition to edition.
      • In Necromunda, fighters with the "Headbutt" Musclenote /Brawnnote  Skill can choose to deliver a punishing headbutt against an opponent in close combat. How this is worked out depends on the edition with the first two editions requiring the fighter to give up at least two regular hits in combat while the 3rd Edition makes the headbutt attack a Basic action.

    Theatre 
  • In Kiss the Boys Good-bye by Clare Boothe, Cindy Lou says, about her temper: "I do deplore it, but when I'm in a snit I'm prone to butt the object of my wrath plumb in the tummy." She learned this trick from her Mammy, who supposedly learned it from a she-goat. She demonstrates it on Breed when he goes off on a tirade against the Deep South, and the blow to his stomach knocks the wind out of him.

    Toys 

    Web Comics 
  • In 8-Bit Theater, as explained by Black Mage: "The main tactic of the Ram Form of Zodiackenshido is to break your opponent's equipment with your head before he breaks your head with his equipment." Fighter's the only human ever to succeed at this without dying in the process.
  • Dominic Deegan: Rachel uses an interesting version of this. Her favorite pastime is breaking objects (and occasionally people) with her face. This, of course, leads to comedy whenever villains try to punch, or occasionally headbutt, her in the face.
  • Drowtales: Shan'naal resorts to this after Yuh'le breaks both of his wrists using her powers. While he does get subdued it buys them enough time for their allies to show up and knock Yuh'le out.
  • Girl Genius:
    • When Agatha asks that a device of hers be hammered into the ground, Dimo promptly headbutts it in.
      Agatha: I thought you'd use your metal hand!
      Jenka: Dunno, hiz head iz probably harder.
    • During a sparring match between Zeetha and Bangladesh DuPree mixed with plenty battle banter:
      Zeetha: Oh sure, pirates have this whole image thing. People fighting them get nervous! They have these expectations! It lets you use that, you know, that thing— where you mess with people's heads?
      Bang: What— Psychology?
      [Zeetha headbutts Bang by surprise]
      Zeetha: Yeah! Psychology!
  • Kill Six Billion Demons: The Head of John style of Supernatural Martial Arts involves using Enlightenment Superpowers and a mixture of acupuncture and trepanation to render one's head completely impenetrable to harm. Part of learning this style involves learning how to best weaponize your newly indestructible appendage in the appropriate way, which is a fancy way of saying that every technique of the style is an earth-shattering headbutt.
  • Pixie and Brutus: In one Halloween strip, Brutus smashes the television set with his head to prevent Pixie from seeing the carnage after she innocently begins watching A Nightmare on Elm Street.
  • Tag Dream: The Heavenly Sky team are the epitomine of a no strategy team. Any of their fights devolve into the two teams trading blows using their own heads, especially's Tenshi's head.
  • Weak Hero:
    • A tall Mook mocks Gray's height by jabbing him in the head with his jaw. Gray responds by slamming his head up, knocking the dude flat on his back.
    • When Jack taunts Alex for his inability to throw anything besides mindless haymakers, Alex's response is a surprise headbutt.
      Alex: My whole body... is a weapon!
    • Robin tries to get the upper hand against Ben by having a mook knock him off balance and then smashing his face in while he falls. He's in for a nasty surprise when Ben ducks his head down so that Robin punches his cranium instead, fracturing a good amount of his finger bones.

    Web Original 
  • Dreamscape: Liz can use his pterosaur-like pointed head as a useful weapon in battle.
  • DSBT InsaniT: Pink Fish Chargers use the large purple plates on their heads to ram into things. Power Rams obviously fall into this category, being rams and all.
  • Basya from Minecraft For Noobs is occasionally fond of this when mining. There is a non zero chance he will eat what he broke too.
  • In RWBY, Ruby is disarmed by Mercury who mocks her over the last time they fought, when Ruby failed miserably to face him unarmed. Unbeknownst to the assassin, since then Ruby had been training to fight weaponless, and painfully headbutts him in the face.
  • Survival of the Fittest: V4 recently has the death of David Anderson via a well-placed headbutt to the face, breaking his nose and sending bits of bone into his brain.
  • DEATH BATTLE! probably has the most destructive version of this to happen so far. In Hulk vs. Broly, the two of them bash heads multiple times, constantly shattering the confines of reality itself before Broly finally atomises Hulk
  • With Things Mr. Welch Is No Longer Allowed to Do in an RPG, Mr. Welch can only consider the monk as adamantine if he is attacking, not being used as a battering ram.

    Western Animation 
  • In Adventures of the Gummi Bears some of the characters are trapped in a barrel and only Tummi is around to help them. When told to use his head to find a way to free them, he of course rams head first into the barrel without any injury and creates a hole big enough for the rest to enlarge to get out.
  • Amphibia: In "Grime's Pupil", when caught in a bear hug by Beatrix, Sprig musters the strength to rear back enough for a knockout via headbutt.
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender: Toph uses this to illustrate the basic principle of Earthbending to Aang:
    Toph: You've got to face it head-on. And when I say "head-on", I mean like this. HUAH! [jumping headbutt into nearby rock, pulverising it]
  • Bob's Burgers: At the climax of "Dawn of the Peck" the Belchers (along with Mickey, Teddy, and Regular-Sized Rudy) are corned in a supermarket by the horde of crazed birds. Linda has a "Eureka!" Moment regarding the pecking order and starts headbutting everyone else, then headbutts the "alpha turkey" Cyclops so the birds will recognize her as the new alpha and leave her and her family alone.
  • Classic Disney Shorts: In Mickey's Fire Brigade, Donald and Mickey use Goofy as a battering ram to break their way into a burning house.
  • Dan Vs.: In "Dan vs. the Dentist", Dan and Chris catch the Depraved Dentist's hideout and come across the robots, one of whom ties Dan up with dental floss. Dan uses his cranium to knock it down (and becomes dazed in the process) right before finishing it with a drill.
  • Darkwing Duck:
    • This is used a few times. Justified in the pilot as the character who uses it is a ram.
    • Subverted in "Apes of Wrath". When facing a fierce gorilla, Darkwing says, "Well, you know what they say: if at first you don't succeed, use your head!" He charges head-first, but the gorilla is so tough that he stops him flat just by standing there. "And if that doesn't work, use something bigger!"
  • Donald Duck has tried to break through doors with his head on a number of occasions:
    • This elicits snarky commentary from his uncle Scrooge once he does this in DuckTales (1987).
      Scrooge: That's how he exercises his mind!
    • "The Duck in the Iron Mask" also had this, except that the masked guy did get a headache.
  • In Futurama, Bender has been used as a battering ram whenever the situation calls for it. In Bender's Big Score, when ordered to break down a wall, he voluntarily does it with his head.
  • Harley Quinn (2019): In the first episode, Harley fights the Arkham guards while in a straitjacket. During the fight, she headbutts one of the guards in the face, drawing lots of blood, after which she does the same, three times in a row, to a female guard, knocking her out cold. This breaks her nose which Ivy casually realigns.
  • Kaeloo:
  • King of the Hill: A favourite tactic of Cotton Hill's. It's quite effective because he lost his shins during World War II and had his feet reattached to his knees, making him short enough for his head to be approximately at crotch level for most people.
  • Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness: In "The Secret Museum of Kung Fu", the Furious Five are trapped in the museum. On a roll after giving a "We have to work together" speech, Po says they can just get through the massive boulder blocking the door if they just use their heads. Smash Cut to the others using Po as a battering ram.
  • Legion of Super Heroes (2006): Stone Boy was used as a head-first battering ram to ram open a door. Justified in that he can turn himself into stone, and so cannot be injured from this.
  • Lilo & Stitch: The Series: In "Snafu", Angel is so touched by Stitch's declaration of love to her that she busts herself out of her containment capsule by headbutting it. She then busts Stitch out of his capsule with a headbutt and they both proceed to do the same with Lilo and all the other experiments in capsules.
  • Looney Tunes: In an old Arabian Nights-themed short, Porky Pig defends a fortress from Ali Baba and the Dirty Sleeves; four of them tries to ram down the door using a fifth one as the ram, while a sixth throws him something from a jar of "headache pills" after each hit.
  • Masters of the Universe: Ram-Man's power is focused around being a living, spring-loaded battering ram. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2002) has him as simply a big man who can charge through barriers with a good running start. Differently from most other example, he has the decency to wear a helmet... And, under it, an iron plate fixed on the top of his head.
  • Krass in He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2021) always wears a helmet and her preferred solution to any problem is to ram it with said helmet. When transformed by the Power of Grayskull into Ram Ma'am, her helmet is made of powerful crystal and fitted with rocket propultion to make her ramming even stronger.
  • Mike, Lu & Og: Lu actually says "use your head" before coming up with the idea of ramming her head into a money printing press to put her face on the island's cash.
  • In Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu, the other characters attempt to use Zane for this. Justified in that he's a robot who actually has a "Battering Ram" program for some reason. Subverted because the door doesn't even budge.
  • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic once saw resident Cloudcuckoolander Pinkie Pie ring a school bell with her head for five whole minutes. The other ponies wisely decided to hire somepony else for the job afterwards.
  • The Owl House: Being little more than a head attached to a tube, Hooty's main form of attack is to simply headbutt anything that poses a threat, which is a surprisingly effective attack given how quickly he can stretch himself.
  • Popeye: In one episode, while trapped in a cell Olive Oyl tells Popeye to use his head, and being who he is he obviously thinks this is what she meant.
    Popeye: I'd try to, but then it gets rather tender.
  • Spider-Man: The Animated Series uses this when Spidey and Hammerhead are fighting over the Tablet of Time.
    Spider-Man: The tablet's no good to anyone broken! Use your head. Uh, forget I said that- [headbutted]
  • South Park:
    • Kenny can perform the "Spin Blossom Nut Squash", which as the name implies is a spinning headbutt straight into the groin.
    • After Stan's mutated genetic clone wreaks havoc in South Park and is built up as a nigh-unstoppable monster, his sister Shelly knocks it out with a single headbutt. No wonder Stan's terrified of her.
  • Star Trek: Lower Decks: "No Small Parts": Shaxs headbutts a Pakled and, despite a little bleeding, comes out none the worse for wear.
  • Steven Universe:
    • Jasper has a crash helmet as her weapon of choice, which enables her to amplify the power of headbutts.
    • "Change Your Mind": When giant fusion Obsidian grabs onto the front of the Diamond Mecha, White Diamond immediately headbutts the nearest pillar to try and get rid of her. Obsidian does defuse, but the Crystal Gems are able to climb up to the ship's eye and enter.
  • TaleSpin: In "Time Waits For No Bear", Baloo delivers a package to Trader Moe for a $10,000.00 reward, only to find out from him that there's a stolen crown in it. He and Kit hide out in Moe's office, but Moe's goons try to break down the doors, with the Rhino goon using the Gorilla goon as a battering ram.
  • Talkartoons: In "Jack and the Beanstalk", when Bimbo is thinking of a way top reach a giant after his large cigar falls through his house from the sky, his cow tells him to "Use your bean", which gives him the idea to grow a beanstalk.
  • In Teen Titans Go!, Beast Boy takes this statement too literally and uses his head for everything, including typing and as a frying pan to cook eggs.
  • Total Drama:
    • In Action, Justin wonders what Courtney would do in his situation and decides she'd use her head. He then headbutts Chef.
    • In World Tour: when Alejandro tells Tyler to use his head to transport a giant apple, he takes the statement too literally and headbutts it back.
  • Transformers:
    • The Transformers: The Dinobot Slag does this on more than one occasion. One of the best instances would be when he rams Devastator in The Transformers: The Movie. Being a giant robot who transforms into a robot Triceratops is very useful for this. For this guy, Ramming Always Works.
    • The Decepticon Seeker Ramjet has a reinforced nosecone for doing this in vehicle mode. It counts because his nosecone is indeed part of his head. Ramjet actually did fail at this once — then again, he was trying to ram Warpath.
    • There's Rhinox too, and Backstop, both of whom turn into Rhinoceri.
  • Wakfu
    • One of the lessons that Sadlygrove's mentor, Goultard, tries to teach him is that he does actually need to use his head when he's fighting. One such lesson is making him fight Rubilax, a Shushu that gets bigger and stronger every time it's hit, meaning his usual tactic of "hit it 'til it stops moving" won't work. Once he actually starts using his brain, he manages to come up with a winning strategy: Headbutt the Shushu until it's so big that that it starts to sink into the sand and faces a real risk of choking to death. Goultard approves.
    • Goultard himself also favors this tactic. In his special Goultard the Barbarian, he headbutts Katar so hard that a crater forms underneath them. He does the same thing to Rushu in the series proper.
    • Sadlygrove ends up teaching this lesson to his daughter Elely, who takes it to heart in her fights in Season 3, particularly against the Pandawa demigod Poo where she beats him into submission by repeatedly slamming her head into his face..

    Real Life 
  • If you're in a close grapple with someone, it's not a bad idea to use your forehead to smear your opponent's nose across his face. You may end up a little dazed but, if you did it right, he'll be much worse off; out of all possible ways to do it, headbutts are probably the single easiest way to break someone's nose by a long shot. Same goes for opponents with glasses; if you headbutt someone wearing them, they're all but guaranteed to wind up broken beyond repair.
    • It's also effective if you're grabbed from behind, as you can get a lot of momentum by tilting your head all the way forward and swinging it back.
    • The strongest part on the human skull is, in fact, the center of the forehead. This is naturally the best place to headbutt someone else with. Keeping your neck, back and head together in a straight line as you headbutt will also help your brain shake less from the impact.
  • The animal kingdom has its share of bad-ass headbashers:
    • Check out giraffes. Yes, giraffes. Giraffes are basically the living version of Epic Flail. Don't believe me? Just look at this. Yeah, you go and say giraffes aren't badass. We'll be over here where it's safe.
    • Paleontologists believe that the dinosaurs known as pachycephalosaurs (whose name means "thick-headed lizard") used its thick-skulled head this way (in fact, several species show injuries on their skulls that could have only been caused by using their heads as weapons), although how is often debated. Some believe they smashed their heads together in head-on collisions like modern musk oxen or bighorn sheep, other think they engaged in head-shoving contests, and still others think they engaged in flank-butting like giraffes.
    • The carnivorous dinosaurs Carnotaurus and Majungasaurus have been speculated to do this as well by some palaeontologists, due to their unusual thick, horned skulls. In fact, Majungasaurus' was originally mistaken for a species of pachycephalosaur when it was discovered because of the thickness of its skull.
    • Some chalicotheres (an unusual extinct group of mammals related to horses and rhinoceroses), like Tylocephalonyx, may have engaged in head-butting contests, based on their thick-domed skulls.
    • Tapinocephalids like Moschops were bulky therapsids (aka "mammal-like reptiles") that often possessed thick skulls, and occasionally horns. Scientists believed that males used them to engage in head-shoving contests, similar to buffaloes.
    • The extinct giraffe relative Discokeryx had a thick-skulled cranium and thick neck bones with complex head-neck joints, leading scientists to believe it engaged in fierce head-butting contests that probably would have looked like a mix of those between bighorn sheep or musk-oxen and the neck-slamming battles of giraffes.
    • Heck, a plain ordinary ol' bull can headbutt your ribs into splinters, even without horns. And a full-grown male plains bison can easily do the same thing to your car's door.
    • Orcas can headbutt hard enough to cause a whale's internal organs to explode.
    • On a smaller scale, seahorses head-butt one another during territorial disputes.
    • The various members of the pig family have exceptionally thick skulls and powerful neck muscles. These are more commonly used for rooting for buried vegetative matter and some small prey, but all of the various pig species are quite capable of using these features for offense as well. The tusks (for the specimens that have them) are not the only part of what one has to worry about if a pig is angry at someone.
    • Any animal with one or more horns or tusks does this, including but not limited to deer, moose, goats, gazelles, wildebeest, and elephants. Among them, musk-ox and bighorn sheep are best known for this.

Alternative Title(s): Glasgow Kiss

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MASK de Smith

Mask stops a bullet going straight for his head by headbutting it mid-flight.

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