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"What's the use of shootin'— the bullets will only bounce off 'em!"
— Thug, "Victory by Computer"
Anime and Manga
Heh, heh! Your funny. Your bullets will never hit me. You humans sure like to waste time on things that don't work.
* pause*
* sigh* Bullets don't work, remember.
* pause*
* sigh* Bullets don't work, remember.
— Nui Harime , Kill la Kill
"You'll need more than guns to stop me!"
— Alucard, Hellsing
Comic Books
Oh, you're kidding me. You do not open up your huge war machine to shoot at the bulletproof robot.
— Atomic Robo, Robo and Goliath
That's for wasting ammo!
— Max Damage, Irredeemable
Oh... You shouldn't have tried shooting, either! My name is Superman... and bullets don't bother me a whole lot! But you've noticed that, huh?
Simeon: Move, you mugs! Shoot him!
Superman: You're simple, Simeon! If flames can't hurt me — What good are bullets going to do?
Crook 1: They guy ain't human!
Crook 2: The slugs bounce offa him like popcorn!
Superman: You're simple, Simeon! If flames can't hurt me — What good are bullets going to do?
Crook 1: They guy ain't human!
Crook 2: The slugs bounce offa him like popcorn!
Y'know, I remember watching the old Superman TV series with George Reeves, and the bad guys would always shoot at Superman, when he showed up. I used to ask myself, why? They know it's not going to hurt him, at most, it'll piss him off, so why shoot at him? You know what it comes down to? The bad guys are always stupid. Dirt-stick-stone stupid.
— Pyre, Rising Stars
I hate thinking of the fortune in ammunition thugs like you have wasted on me over the years!
— Supergirl, The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl, issue 12
Bullets bounce off you. But where do they go next?
— Director Chase to Supergirl, Supergirl (Rebirth) #1
Tried to... get her away from everybody... Turns out she's not vulnerable... to bullets...
— Gangbuster, Bizarrogirl
Harry Hokum: Die!
Supergirl: A knife? Really?
Supergirl: A knife? Really?
Officer: If they don't cease their fighting, you'll have to try to shoot them down!!
Pilot: Try is right! Superman shrugs off bullets like they were snowflakes—
Pilot: Try is right! Superman shrugs off bullets like they were snowflakes—
You can stop wasting bullets! I have all of Superman's astonishing powers!
— Supergirl, The Death of Superman (1961)
First Guard: It's Luthor! He shattered that cell to smithereens!
Second Guard: It's no use trying to stop him! Our bullets bounce off him like raindrops!
Lex Luthor: Ha, ha! Shoot, you fools! I'm invulnerable! Those bullets don't even tickle me!
Second Guard: It's no use trying to stop him! Our bullets bounce off him like raindrops!
Lex Luthor: Ha, ha! Shoot, you fools! I'm invulnerable! Those bullets don't even tickle me!
"Drat! The bullets only bounce off!"
— Lex Luthor, The Death of Luthor
Fan Works
Kind of hard to land a hit when you are intangible!
— Ben Tennyson to True Assassin, Fate/Stay Night: Ultimate Master
"Honestly, why do you people do that?" she demanded of the mugger, exasperation coloring her voice. "You must be the tenth loser to try that. Do you really think pistol whipping me is going to do anything when the bullets bounce off?"
— Asuka Langley Sohryu (a. k. a. Supergirl), Superwomen of Eva 2: Lone Heir of Krypton, chapter 8
The lead squad that entered the access tunnels into Central Dogma first must have thought it was their lucky day when they saw a young kid in expensive looking purple and blue clothing and a walking stick just stroll right into their crosshairs. They opened fire without giving it a second thought.
The kid just turned and smirked at them as he failed to die. For a few seconds the firing continued until the soldiers noticed that there was a wall forming in front of him of... of...
Of bullets...
The kid just turned and smirked at them as he failed to die. For a few seconds the firing continued until the soldiers noticed that there was a wall forming in front of him of... of...
Of bullets...
Clark reached for the file he had hidden in his rear waistband ignoring the guard pulling a gun on him. "Relax, it's just a file," Clark said lifting his coat to show him.
"Relax Diggle, I get the feeling shooting him would be a waste of time."
"Thank you, Ollie," said Clark, passing the folder to Oliver.
"Relax Diggle, I get the feeling shooting him would be a waste of time."
"Thank you, Ollie," said Clark, passing the folder to Oliver.
Lennie scrambled for the window, stuck his gun out, and pumped four shots at the chest of the man who stood beside the car.
As he expected, the shots ricocheted off the man's red-clad chest, doing some damage to the vehicles in the lot, but, thankfully, hitting no human flesh. Lennie had figured what had happened would happen, but he had to make sure, dammit. At any rate, it made him feel a little better.
As he expected, the shots ricocheted off the man's red-clad chest, doing some damage to the vehicles in the lot, but, thankfully, hitting no human flesh. Lennie had figured what had happened would happen, but he had to make sure, dammit. At any rate, it made him feel a little better.
Film - Live-Action
It's a Vibranium car, you idiots! The bullets won't penetrate!
—Ulysses Klaue, Black Panther (2018)
Literature
Would lasers or tactical nuclear weapons have any effect? Cthulhu's so damn big he'd make a grizzly bear look like a kitten embryo.
— Chris, Nightmare's Disciple by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.
Live-Action TV
Aida (after being shot by Jemma with a submachine gun): Your weapon can't stop me.
Jemma: I know. I just really wanted to do that.
Jemma: I know. I just really wanted to do that.
—Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., World's End
It's called deductive reasoning. If a rocket launcher couldn't stop me... what's a little peashooter gonna do?
I'm sick of having to buy new clothes.
— Luke Cage (2016), again
Luke: Really, guys?
Mook: We gotta know we tried, man!
Mook: We gotta know we tried, man!
— Luke Cage (2016), again
Look at this. The bad guys shoot Superman a dozen times, see the bullets bounce off, so they throw their guns at him. It's like they can't kill him so they think they'll give him a really bad bruise.
— Al Bundy, Married... with Children, "Sleepless in Chicago"
See, now, if the bullets don't work, right... why the punching? Never understood that.
— Superman, Supergirl, "The Last Children of Krypton"
Listen friend, guns aren't gonna solve your problems.
— The Tick, The Tick (2016)
(Oliver shoots an empowered Darhk, and the arrow vaporizes)
Darhk: Cool! You know, I didn't even mean to do that?
(Spartan shoots at Darhk, to the same effect)
Darhk: Seriously? His steel arrows didn't work, and you thought some lead would do the trick?
Darhk: Cool! You know, I didn't even mean to do that?
(Spartan shoots at Darhk, to the same effect)
Darhk: Seriously? His steel arrows didn't work, and you thought some lead would do the trick?
— Arrow, "Lost in the Flood"
Video Games
"Really? Why don't you just mail me the bullet?"
Web Original
In spite of the fact that tanks have repeatedly been shown to have no more effect on Godzilla than a shampoo and creme rinse, they still get trotted out with every new monster attack, rolling shakily over the canvas landscape and firing their little sparklers. The reason for this, I'm guessing, is political. If the prime minister fails to send the tanks, in the next election his opponent will run ads saying "In the last Godzilla attack, the incumbent failed to send out the fakey-looking plastic tanks to protect us. My opponent is obviously soft on giant monsters!"
Silly bitch, yo' weapons cannot harm me! Don't you know who the fuck I am?! I'M THE JUGGERNAUT!
If you are a policeman, bank guard, or night watchman, and your first shot bounces off of the intruder's chest, try shooting other areas of the intruder's body, like their face, groin, etc. If this also fails, do not waste the rest of your ammo on him/her/it, or risk your neck in hand-to-hand combat; instead, fall back and observe.
So Slater tries to shoot the guy, but apparently bullets are just like Milk Duds being thrown at him.
Superman: Wait... wait, was— was that a regular gun?!
Lois: Yeah...?
Superman: Not even kryptonite bullets or anything, you j— you just pulled a regular gun on me?!
Lois: What? You thought I had kryptonite? How?
Superman: No, no, no, don't try to turn this on me! I— you know I'm bulletproof! Why would you even pull a gun on me?
- — Solid jj, "Superman VS The Impostor"
Player: Die, Kayaba!
(Kayaba opens an admin console and paralyzes him mid-lunge)
Kayaba: Y-ya see, this right here is just a perfect little microcosm of the last two years. This fucking mastermind here, not two minutes ago, saw you try the exact same thing to no effect. Yet, by some Herculean leap in logic that we mere mortals can never hope to comprehend, he figured it'd totally work out if he did it! Now I trust that the rest of you good people have enough pattern recognition not to follow in this man's footsteps - oh, wait, no, that's goldfish! I'm thinking of goldfish.
(Kayaba opens an admin console and paralyzes him mid-lunge)
Kayaba: Y-ya see, this right here is just a perfect little microcosm of the last two years. This fucking mastermind here, not two minutes ago, saw you try the exact same thing to no effect. Yet, by some Herculean leap in logic that we mere mortals can never hope to comprehend, he figured it'd totally work out if he did it! Now I trust that the rest of you good people have enough pattern recognition not to follow in this man's footsteps - oh, wait, no, that's goldfish! I'm thinking of goldfish.
Were they not briefed?
Western Animation
Cop 1: This is hopeless! We might as well be throwing candy corn at them!
Cop 2: So what do you want to do? Give them the city?
Cop 2: So what do you want to do? Give them the city?
— Justice Leaguenote
Downpour: Nobody harms my sister. Nobody!
(blasts Aquaman with a wave of water, to no effect)
Aquaman: King of the Seas, remember?
(blasts Aquaman with a wave of water, to no effect)
Aquaman: King of the Seas, remember?
I should warn you, it's been done.
— Superman to a mook about to shoot him, Superman: The Animated Series, "My Girl"
You're kidding, right?
— Superman to a thug trying to hit him with a metal bar, "Superman's Pal"
Real Life
"Superman!" the criminals would say. This was the signal for Superman to put his hands on his hips so the criminals could shoot their revolvers at his chest, an effort that always caused Superman to adopt a bemused expression because, as a native of Krypton with special powers, he knew that the criminals were shooting blanks.
