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(Big explosion)
General: Ground to Hawkeye! Ground to Hawkeye! Do you read me? I repeat — Do you read me, soldier?
Hawkeye: Loud and clear, ground control! Managed to get McQuillian out in time, but the rest of oh-six-hundred didn't make it, sir!
General: Ground to Hawkeye! Ground to Hawkeye! Do you read me? I repeat — Do you read me, soldier?
Hawkeye: Loud and clear, ground control! Managed to get McQuillian out in time, but the rest of oh-six-hundred didn't make it, sir!
Fan Works
"We're the only people who matter. He's never going to get rid of us," Harry, Hermione, and Ron said in chorus.
"Explosions went everywhere and one hit l but he was a ghost and it cant hit him and he save so don't worry cos darks the hero of this story anyway."
Film — Animated
So, yeah, naturally, the guy with the name "Fix-It Felix" is the good guy. He's nice enough as good guys go. Definitely fixes stuff really well. But, uh, if you got a magic hammer from your father, how hard can it be? If he was a regular contractor-carpenter guy, I guarantee you: you will not be able to fix the damage that I do as quickly.
— Ralph, Wreck-It Ralph
Film — Live-Action
Poor George was really shot, but can't die because, let's face it, he's the hero.
— The Lemony Narrator of George of the Jungle
Literature
You [Carrot] mean every word of it, Vimes thought. I know you do. But it always works out for you, doesn't it? It always does. If it had been the other way around, if it had been Gavin that attacked Wolf first, then I know it would have been you who went over the falls with the bastard. But it wasn't you, was it. If you were dice, you'd always roll sixes.
And the dice don't roll themselves. If it wasn't against everything he wanted to be true about the world, Vimes might just then have believed in some huge destiny controlling people. And gods help the other people who were around when a big destiny was alive in the world, bending every poor bugger around itself...
And the dice don't roll themselves. If it wasn't against everything he wanted to be true about the world, Vimes might just then have believed in some huge destiny controlling people. And gods help the other people who were around when a big destiny was alive in the world, bending every poor bugger around itself...
Even if Shen Qingqiu died one hundred times—ah, one hundred times—Luo Binghe, the protagonist with impervious plot armor, would go on living in perfect health.
Wedge was content... but alone. Probably best if he kept it that way. He'd beaten the odds for so many years, years in which literally hundreds of pilots he'd known had died in battle around him, as though they were living shields for his X-Wing. Someday his luck would run out and the deadly statistics would catch up to him.
Live-Action TV
Tenkaichi: No matter what kind of danger, I'm still the main character! I won't be killed.
Fujii: Unlike your usual self, you're pretty manly this time.
Tenkaichi: Exactly! How can the main character die before the solving the mystery? If I die like this it'll be a weird ending.
Fujii: Unlike your usual self, you're pretty manly this time.
Tenkaichi: Exactly! How can the main character die before the solving the mystery? If I die like this it'll be a weird ending.
Fate. It protects fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise.
— Cmdr. William Riker, Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Contagion"
There's something you got to try to understand. Guys like him, they walk between the raindrops, they don't get wet. People like you do.
—Toby Gregson, Elementary
Mythology and Religion
A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
— Psalm 91
Newspapers
The shoot-outs follow the timeless movie rule that the villains can’t aim and the heroes can’t miss. Dozens of extras are killed and countless stuntmen topple forward off buildings, but the stars are treated with the greatest economy, their deaths doled out parsimoniously according to the needs of the formula screenplay.
— Roger Ebert on American Outlaws (2001)
Tabletop Games
Why bother being smart when the Multiverse so conveniently conspired to keep your idiocy alive?
— Nicol Bolas (before proceeding to keep the heroes' idiocy alive), Hour of Devastation
Video Games
Bad Guys never seem to go quietly, so Robo's last shot reduces the Toad's sporty spacecruiser to a flaming jalopy!
Trying hard, but failing miserably to maintain their cool, unflappable image, the Toads crash their bullet ridden banger onto an empty planet!
As the Toads are the heroes in this game, they escape the mangled wreck completely unscathed!
Using the teleporters, that they just happened to have with them, they travel back to base!
Trying hard, but failing miserably to maintain their cool, unflappable image, the Toads crash their bullet ridden banger onto an empty planet!
As the Toads are the heroes in this game, they escape the mangled wreck completely unscathed!
Using the teleporters, that they just happened to have with them, they travel back to base!
Laharl: I've been thinking about why I, Laharl, the most terrifying Overlord around, lost. And I figured out the problem.
Adell: Oh yeah? What's the answer?
Laharl: It's because I'm not the main character! You guys only won because you're the heroes of the story!
Adell: Oh yeah? What's the answer?
Laharl: It's because I'm not the main character! You guys only won because you're the heroes of the story!
"Princess! No need to worry. I hope you haven't forgotten my role in this little story. I'm the leading man. You know what they say about the leading man? He never dies."
— Balthier, Final Fantasy XII
Janaff: As far as I can see and Ulki can hear, it seems we're the only ones left.
Tibarn: Strange. I guess only the strongest of us didn't wind up as statues.
Ike: Anyone who was in the building with us was safe, too. But everyone else was petrified...
Tibarn: Strange. I guess only the strongest of us didn't wind up as statues.
Ike: Anyone who was in the building with us was safe, too. But everyone else was petrified...
— Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn lampshading the trope after every generic soldier and nearly every NPC is Taken for Granite courtesy of Ashera
Webcomics
Goddamn it, are you made out of Plotanium?
— Black Mage to Sarda, 8-Bit Theater Episode 1137
Bob: What is it with you?! Why won't you die?
Mega Man: What do you mean?
Bob: No matter how many times I blast you to smithereens, you just keep coming back!
Mega Man: Oh, that. It's just a perk of being the main character in the comic strip.
Bob: There's just one thing you haven't noticed, Mega Man. My name is in the title of the comic, not yours.
Mega Man: Oh shit.
(BLAM!)
George: Does that mean...?
Bob: No. You still die.
Mega Man: What do you mean?
Bob: No matter how many times I blast you to smithereens, you just keep coming back!
Mega Man: Oh, that. It's just a perk of being the main character in the comic strip.
Bob: There's just one thing you haven't noticed, Mega Man. My name is in the title of the comic, not yours.
Mega Man: Oh shit.
(BLAM!)
George: Does that mean...?
Bob: No. You still die.
Ric Olié: It's blowing up from the inside! We didn't hit it!
Anakin: We need to get out of here. Where's the Orb?
R2-D2: If you wanted the Orb, why did we blow the ship up?
Anakin: You blew the ship up. You find it.
R2-D2: Fine. I do a multispectral scan. Any sign of it?
GM: You read a big power source. It's the Orb. It seems to be unharmed.
R2-D2: I fly over and grab it.
Obi-Wan: Terribly convenient how it survived an explosion that big...
R2-D2: It's the primary quest object of the entire campaign. Of course it's going to be indestructible.
GM: Stop metagaming.
R2-D2: Well how else could it possibly have survived?
GM: ...You fly over and grab it.
Anakin: We need to get out of here. Where's the Orb?
R2-D2: If you wanted the Orb, why did we blow the ship up?
Anakin: You blew the ship up. You find it.
R2-D2: Fine. I do a multispectral scan. Any sign of it?
GM: You read a big power source. It's the Orb. It seems to be unharmed.
R2-D2: I fly over and grab it.
Obi-Wan: Terribly convenient how it survived an explosion that big...
R2-D2: It's the primary quest object of the entire campaign. Of course it's going to be indestructible.
GM: Stop metagaming.
R2-D2: Well how else could it possibly have survived?
GM: ...You fly over and grab it.
Gamzee is supposedly relevant to some stuff that's going to happen in the new universe. He's still got some "plot armor" or some shit. So when Earth is resitu8ted, I'm just going to drop the fridge in the fucking ocean or something, and let him find his own way out.
— Vriska Serket, Homestuck
Web Original
Chris: But for some reason, despite Two-Face shooting Batman in the head (which only knocks him out for a few minutes, because he's Batman), they decide for absolutely no reason not to kill him. This, I want to point out, has been their stated goal for 90 minutes of this movie.
David: Now they want to teach him a lesson! For what reason? Who knows! Maybe the lesson is "you can't die, no matter how hard we try, because it's your movie?"
David: Now they want to teach him a lesson! For what reason? Who knows! Maybe the lesson is "you can't die, no matter how hard we try, because it's your movie?"
— Chris Sims and David Uzumeri on Batman Forever
Batman ForeverThe Koopa Kids are Bowser's chief lieutenants in Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World [...] Each one guards a stronghold in Mario's path, which is, historically, a tremendous mistake.
The Master loses because his narrative logic, in which the Doctor is a house elf and everybody is dead, is fundamentally less fun than Doctor Who is.
Due to the nature of evil, bad guys aren't always aware they're the bad guys. But let's say the very last of your friends are in a helicopter, it's hovering in front of Arnold's final missile, and your body is dangling from that missile. As you rocket towards hilariously impossible circumstances it'll probably hit you that shit like that never happens to the good guy.
Meanwhile, in the B Plot, Geordi is hurt, but will recover, while Hutchinson has a sheet over him, and that's why character shields are the most important part of Starfleet's arsenal.
— SFDebris, on Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Starship Mine"
Pa Kent's heart ain't slowing him down! Look what he did with a bum ticker!
"Onyx" - Shot in the leg by Lex Luthor.
"Spirit" - Thwacked by an axe handle by Chloe and knocked down a flight of stairs.
"Commencement" - House caves in on him.
"Arrival" - Thrown with Kryptonian strength down a hallway into a cart of hospital supplies, slamming against the wall.
"Mortal" - Shot in the chest with a huge bolt of electricity.
"Splinter" - Took a pretty good choking from Clark and decided to run for Senate!
"Fanatic" - Beaten unconscious and hung upside down, presumably for hours.
"Reckoning" - Uh...ah....erm....never mind.
"Onyx" - Shot in the leg by Lex Luthor.
"Spirit" - Thwacked by an axe handle by Chloe and knocked down a flight of stairs.
"Commencement" - House caves in on him.
"Arrival" - Thrown with Kryptonian strength down a hallway into a cart of hospital supplies, slamming against the wall.
"Mortal" - Shot in the chest with a huge bolt of electricity.
"Splinter" - Took a pretty good choking from Clark and decided to run for Senate!
"Fanatic" - Beaten unconscious and hung upside down, presumably for hours.
"Reckoning" - Uh...ah....erm....never mind.
— Neal Bailey, "The Smallville K.O. Count"
After small successes like Above the Law and Hard to Kill and his mega hit Under Siege, Seagal was being called the next Arnold or Stallone. His fighting style was unlike anything anyone had ever seen. He couldn’t be touched. Somehow he could kill ten men with his wuss slaps. He took on a battleship full of crazed mercenaries, Tommy Lee Jones, and Gary Busey and he only received a cut on his eyebrow. Gary Busey did nothing!? The man is crazy! He’s Mr. Joshua for cryin’ out loud!
Picard: Cool, I'm a 60-year-old man and I'm single-handedly wiping out the entire crew of this ship! This is like playing Quake with "God Mode" turned on. Gotta love fanboy writers.
Skinner: I've just filmed my appearance in the feature film. I’m untouchable right now.
— Darren Mooney on The X-Files, "Redux II"
on The X-Files, "Redux II"Yes, even though Spider-Man can catch people all the time without his webbing causing them any impact damage, even though Spider-Man will catch people who fall from similar heights or farther for the next goddamn thirty-five years without causing harm, realistic physics decided to apply the one time Gwen Stacy fell off a goddamned bridge. Why not just have the Green Goblin tell the truth with his response, eh? 'Don’t you see, Spider-Man? From the very beginning—your girlfriend was TOO BORING to survive!'
An Imperial Stormtrooper fired at a Redshirt. He missed, and the Redshirt died anyway
— Old internet joke
Web Video
Every villain in that house has plot armor. Do you know how strong plot armor is? Naruto beat Pain with plot armor! Everything Sasuke does is plot armor. Eren getting bit by the Titan? And turning into a Tit- Plot armor. If I had a gun and I shot you right now, you would die. But if you shot me... It'd miss a vital organ.
Huh? Haru and Makoto? Dead? Let me tell ya somethin', those two are literally impossible ta kill. To prove a theory, I one time tried to straight-up shoot 'em with a real-ass gun. The bullet missed, ricocheted off a frying pan on the wall and broke open a cabinet full of bottles which I then tripped on and fell over. They hurt my pride more than anythang. Except my tailbone. Which I bruised. Did you know that the scientific term for "tailbone" is "coccyx?" Heh, that's funny. Anyway, I don't remember why I was talkin' about this, they're probably fine.
— Nagisa, 50% OFF
God's on my side, not your side, Bowser!
And even though he clearly blew up with the Arbiter, Sergeant Dude is still alive. "Hey, man, you gon' need a bigger halo than 'dat to kill me."
Oh come on, even Bugs Bunny would have to sit down for a minute after a shot like that! ...So, the gun can utterly destroy a police car, but only mildly annoys MacLeod. Oh, and they have jet packs, too; did I mention that? MacLeod jumps on the other guy's hover-board, somehow mastering it in seconds!
Panik: Why aren't you dead?!
Yami: As I explained earlier, I'm the main character. You, however, can just go right ahead and die.
Yami: As I explained earlier, I'm the main character. You, however, can just go right ahead and die.
It's a good thing I'm Seto Kaiba, or that might have actually hurt me.
— A completely unscathed Seto Kaiba after a motorcycle crash, Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series
Western Animation
Dr. Girlfriend: I gotta ask this, is there a reason you always use 21 and 24?
The Monarch: I know it sounds crazy, but they both have that rare blend of "expendable" and "invulnerable" that makes for a perfect henchman.
The Monarch: I know it sounds crazy, but they both have that rare blend of "expendable" and "invulnerable" that makes for a perfect henchman.
Look, we've got four or five of the main characters on this ship. I think we'll be fine.
— Han/Peter, Family Guy
Real Life
I have a large number of important characters who I switch between to tell the entirety of the story, and that limits who I can kill.
— George R. R. Martin, bemoaning the fact that he cannot actually eradicate his cast
