History Main / BoomerangComeback

* ''VideoGame/{{Tamagotchi}}'': In one ''Sorette, Kuchipatchi.'' short, Kuchipatchi throws a bag into the air. It circles Tamagotchi Planet and hits Kuchipatchi right on the back.

[[folder:Asian Animation]]

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': At the end of ''Literature/InterestingTimes'', when Rincewind ends up on Fourecks, he runs into some natives who offer him a boomerang. Thinking it's yet another Call to Adventure, Rincewind throws it away in disgust and starts complaining that he's not going to do anymore heroics ever again, only for the book to end in mid-sentence with Rincewind apparently being clonked on the head by the returning boomerang.

* One episode of ''Series/{{Blackadder}} II'' has Edmund giving a boomerang to the Queen as a present from his expedition around the world. She's unimpressed by it, and tells Percy to throw it away. He does, and a few seconds later it comes back and smacks him in the head, which amuses the Queen immensely. It's also exaggerated for comedy, since Percy lightly lobbed the boomerang out the door and yet it returned with enough force to knock him down.

* In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency'', Joseph's Hamon-charged clackers appear to be a JokeWeapon until it turns out they're capable of sticking to walls and flying back to him after a delay. Even Wamuu, the impossibly agile Pillar Man who effortlessly dodged all of Joseph's attacks beforehand, was taken by surprise and injured by this technique.

* In chapter 16 of ''Fanfic/CodeGeassAwesomeOfTheRebellion'', Suzaku uses his skill [[EverythingsBetterWithSpinning Spinzaku Boomerang]], where he fires off his legs, that turned into a sword earlier. Sometime later, he activates [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's Spinzaku]], making the sword come back and impale Putin, leaving him too injured and tired to fight Rasputin.

* ''Series/OddSquad'': In "End of the Road", Orana throws her [[BattleBoomerang Boomerang-inator]] at the Sand Queen, only for it to miss and fail to come back. Much later, when Orana, her partner and the Big O are buried in a pile of sand, the boomerang returns and buries itself next to Orana's head. She grips it in her teeth and starts using it to did herself out.

* Subverted in episode 3 of ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann''. Kamina throws Simon as a FastballSpecial while fighting Viral. Viral dodges; Kamina expects to win the fight when Simon comes back again from behind, but Viral dodges the second attack as well. Mind you, the previous episode played it straight.
* In the first season of ''Anime/{{Digimon|Adventure}}'', Ikkakumon launches his Harpoon Torpedo attack at the MonsterOfTheWeek. His horn fires at the monster, immediately replaced by another that does the same, until four horns zip at the enemy... and miss. Then, when the enemy isn't looking, the horns open up revealing guided missiles that immediately turn around and tag the enemy.

* In ''Anime/{{Basquash}}'', Dan uses his Lightning Ball technique this way to get out of a pit fight in the underground city of [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Underground]]. Actually, all signs point to Dan being able to actually control the ricochet of his shots in real time, so...
* Done in the Saiyan Saga of ''Anime/DragonBallZ''. Goku gives Krillin the energy for the [[CombinedEnergyAttack Spirit Bomb]] to use against Vegeta. Krillin throws it, Vegeta dodges and the bomb flies at Gohan, who then repels the attack back towards Vegeta. He thinks he's in the clear, but then Vegeta gets broad-sided by the attack.
* ''Anime/SailorMoon'': Sailor Moon pulls this to bind the MonsterOfTheWeek during Sailor Mars' debut episode.
* In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency'', Joseph's Hamon-charged clackers appear to be a JokeWeapon until it turns out they're capable of sticking to walls and flying back to him after a delay. Even Wamuu, the impossibly agile Pillar Man who effortlessly dodged all of Joseph's attacks beforehand, was taken by surprise and injured by this technique.
* ''Manga/NagasareteAirantou'':
** The girls nervously let Shinobu throw some shurikens to cut some rope across the river who believes that her skills isn't that rusty to miss. They somehow ''[[EpicFail return]]'' [[EpicFail to the girls instead]], who point out this should be impossible.
** Later at a festival, Ikuto shows that he mastered this technique while training with Shinobu. It results in shurikens flying in random patterns but still precisely hits the target. Even Mikoto, who's confident with shurikens, has no idea how to dodge them.

* There's also the ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'' comic where Cap is fighting Hydra agents, stands on a pile of them, takes off a glove and licks a finger to hold up, throws his shield up into the air, and looks at his watch. "Two... one..." The last standing Hydra agent shows up with a hostage and goes into a standard Hydra rant about the organization's plans. He stops when he realizes that Cap is without his shield, Cap tells him that "It'll come if I whistle for it", the agent pulls a gun, Cap whistles... and his shield arcs down to hit the Hydra agent, leaving the hostage standing. That issue is full of him doing things like that; naturally, it's also the issue where it is lost.

* In both film and comic version, ComicBook/GreenGoblin tries something like this against Franchise/SpiderMan using his glider and attempting to hold/distract Spidey in place long enough for the glider to hit him. It doesn't work and Goblin gets impaled on his own glider for his trouble.
* Subverted in ''ComicBook/JLAAvengers'', where Hawkeye fires a boomerang arrow at Flash, who easily catches it on the return and remarks that he's had a little experience with these things before -- the aforementioned Captain Boomerang is one of Flash's RoguesGallery.
* ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'': Played with when Thor threatens to do this to Loki -- he hurls away his hammer, then grabs Loki by the neck, and reminds him that NOTHING can prevent his hammer from returning to his hand. Oh, and would he be so kind as to remove the curse he placed before the hammer returns? Gee, look, it's starting to arc back already...

* ''ComicBook/KidColt'': Almost without fail, the Fat Man would throw a boomerang past someone, who would laugh at his obvious miss. They would continue to laugh until the boomerang came whizzing up behind them and either knocked them our, or knocked their guns out of their hands.

* Occurs in ''Film/CaptainAmericaIIDeathTooSoon'', where the Captain foils a mugging attempt by tossing his trademark shield at a perpetrator, missing him at point-blank range, and the thug gives his shield enough time to curve back and knock himself out.
* In ''Film/TheBrothersGrimm'' movie, there is the magic handaxe seized from the lycanthrope woodsman, that can come back to the thrower. Toward the end, Jakob Grimm uses it to fight the French general's aide-de-camp, and miss -- but the soldier is struck in the back by the axe returning before he can kill the hero.

* In ''Film/BlackDynamite'', The main character Black Dynamite is being threatened at gunpoint. Suddenly, a boomerang crashes through the window and cuts off the villain's arm! Black Dynamite then states that he "threw that shit before [he] walked in the room".
* Thor pulls a similar trick to the example in the above section in ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' while Loki is currently disguised as Odin, who enchanted the hammer to begin with. As he's not Odin, Loki can't stop it from coming back and has to drop the charade.
* In ''Film/{{Pan}}'', Tiger Lily is threatened by a fat pirate. She throws her hatchet nowhere close to him; the pirate sneers that she missed, before the hatchet finishes making a wide circle around a large tree and hits him.

* Variation in the infamous scene in ''Series/TheGoodies'', where Bill is proving "Ecky Thump" is superior to other martial arts. Graeme misses with a boomerang, but later when Tim has disarmed Bill with some bagpipes, it comes back and clouts Tim from behind.

* The boomerang in ''Igor Objective Uikokahonia'' is used solely in a cutscene for this purpose.
* One of your new tricks in ''Videogame/BatmanArkhamCity'' is to do this with Batarangs. The first example is in a hostage situation in a cutscene; following that, you can do it to thugs at will. It comes in handy with Predator battles because mooks will tend to focus their search in the direction the ''hit'' came from rather than where you actually are.
* This is a very common phenomenon in ''VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh''. If you throw your disc at an enemy and miss, there is a pretty good chance it will hit the enemy on the return pass. The effect is even better with the sequencer subroutine.
* In ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3'', proficient players of Captain America make use of this factor with his shield throw to set up combos; usually knowing their opponent will either try to block it or dodge it. Arthur's Scythe Toss behaves similarly to it, as does Trish and Vergil's Round Trip, although theirs are slower.
* In ''Videogame/PlantsVsZombies2ItsAboutTime'', Bloomerang's projectiles can hit enemies on the first go and the return for double damage.
* In ''VideoGame/{{MUGEN}}'', the Dancing Banana throws Bananarangs that damage and bounce away should they score an unblocked hit. If they're blocked or miss, they stay a short while at the screen's edge before flying back in the opposite direction for a second chance to hit the opponent.
* In ''VideoGame/BloonsTowerDefense 6'', the Boomerang Monkey has the Kylie Boomerang upgrade; while the default boomerang flies in an arc and can only hit a target once, the kylie is thrown in a straight line and can hit twice, once on the way out and again on the return.

* In the BatmanColdOpen of an episode of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited'', Batman pulls this off against [=KGBeast=].
* Yumi of ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'' sometimes uses this trick when she misses with her tessen fans, usually helped by [[MindOverMatter telekinesis]]. She vanquishes William twice this way: once by kicking him into the fan's return trajectory, and another time nailing him in the back [[MutualKill just as he is devirtualizing her]].
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' ("Duel Personality"), Jerry tosses a bent rapier at Tom; Tom dodges, but the rapier comes around and hits him.
* In an episode of the 1994 ''WesternAnimation/MegaMan'' TV series, Megaman fires a buster shot at Protoman which misses and enters a steam pipe. The steam pipe loops again behind Megaman, who ducks just as the shot comes out the end of the pipe, hitting Protoman.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'': Attempted by Yugo with his wakfu shield in season 2 episode 25, but [[spoiler:Qilby]] manages to parry it on the return.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/DuckDodgers'' episode "Hooray for Hollywood Planet", Dodgers is attacked by a female assassin wielding energy nunchucks while all he has to defend himself is a banjo. After the instrument is cut in two, he throws the head part, but she just jumps above it and mocks him.
-->'''Nina:''' Ah! Did you think you could disarm me with a broken banjo?\\
'''Dodgers:''' That wasn't just any broken banjo. It was a Kookaburra Special Limited Resonance from Australia!
:: And indeed, for [[TechnoBabble some reason involving vibrations]], the flying banjo head turns around and snatches Nina's nunchucks to deliver them to Dodgers.

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}} and ComicBook/{{Robin}}'' #10 (Jun 2012) has a subplot where a villain assembles a bunch of {{Mook}}s who have been permanently given [[CrossesTheLineTwice Hideously]] AmusingInjuries in their encounters with Batman. One of them tried to throw a Batarang back at Batman, missed -- and now has it ''embedded in his skull.''

* ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'': A trio of labcoated scientists, all suffering from head injuries, futily attempt to figure out how to get rid of a boomerang.

* ''Literature/TheHungerGames:'' This is how [[spoiler:Haymitch]] won his game. [[spoiler:He made it to the edge of the arena, where he discovered there was a force field that reflected back everything that was thrown at it. The other remaining competitor caught up with him, threw an axe, Haymitch ducked, the axe bounced back, and killed the thrower.]]

* ''Series/{{Sherlock}}:'' A side case in "A Scandal in Belgravia" involves a man found dead from a blow to the head by the bank of a stream. He had been seen standing there, all alone, with no-one anywhere near him, seconds before he was seen dead. [[spoiler:He had received a boomerang as a gift, and had been experimenting with it. He had just thrown it, when he was distracted by a car backfiring, turned to look, and was hit in the back of the head. The boomerang landed in the stream, and floated away.]]
* ''Series/HorribleHistories'' has a bit where an Egyptian, trying to show off his cat that can fetch like a dog, throws a boomerang... the cat doesn't fetch it, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDeGDpKal9k but the boomerang fetches itself.]]

* In ''Webcomic/KnightsOfTheOldCoding'', when Kuros finds the Axe of Agor, he discards the Knife of Throwing, forgetting that it always returns until it stabs him in the back.
* In ''Webcomic/TheDarkIntruder'', strip [[http://interrobangstudios.com/comics-display.php?strip_id=9 "Drak-o-rang"]], Dark Intruder is the one throwing the boomerang, but not the one hit. Instead, it lands in the face of his sidekick, Smart Girl -- but as she points out, that still mean he's in trouble.

* ''WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner'':
** Double-Subverted in a cartoon: Wile E. buys "One Genuine Boomerang (Guaranteed to Return)" to use against the Road Runner, but when he hurls it, it seems to come and smack him from the other side of the screen (and change color from yellow to red before it is seen)... until the camera pans over to show the Road Runner standing next to a box for "Another Genuine Boomerang (Guaranteed to Return)". Wile E. starts to give chase... then his original boomerang comes back and hits him.
** In another cartoon, a boomerang Wile E. throws comes back with one of the dynamite darts he released earlier.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': In ''Bender's Game'', during the parody of ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'', Pr. Fansworth (as the stereotypical fantasy wizard) turns his staff into a giant boomerang, but it hits him in the back when thrown -- or even when slightly going past the screen border.
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'' has this as a RunningGag. Rabbit and Tigger use a boomerang to try to knock down a beehive, but it misses and they have to duck to avoid getting hit. The boomerang stays up in the air for the remainder of the episode, occasionally almost hitting Rabbit. At the end, the boomerang flies into Rabbit's house with a loud crash.
* ''WesternAnimation/CampLakebottom'': Buttsquat hits himself in the back of the head with his own boomerang, which knocks him off his boat, in "Slimey Come".
* When the Eds come across a cursed boomerang in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'', they eventually manage to throw it into the distance. It comes right back with enough force to pin them all to a tree branch. Interestingly, it is the first point in the episode where the boomerang actually returns to the thrower at all.

* In [[https://www.deviantart.com/slifofinadragon/art/The-Battle-of-Aki-Pt-9-FINAL-763170629 part 9]] of [[https://www.deviantart.com/slifofinadragon/ SilfofinaDragon]]'s latest VideoGame/SengokuBasara fanfic ''Finally Home'', as UsefulNotes/DateMasamune and [[UsefulNotes/SanadaYukimura Sanada]] [[MisterSeahorse Yukimura]]'s son goes through a simulated void of squaring off against [[PosthumousCharacter]]s, he faces off against Matsunaga Hisahide and sends one of his (Masa's) black hands, equipped with a katana, towards Matsunaga yet seemingly misses. As Matsunaga gloats, he gets sliced from behind by said hand.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' had Timmy [[ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks throwing Excalibur]]. It magically returns to his hand afterward.

* Not exactly a boomerang, but in ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', in a last ditch effort to beat Hiei, Yusuke goad him into the path of a point blank [[KiAttacks Reigun]] shot. It would have hit any other opponent, but Hiei manages to use his extreme speed to get out of the way. He then takes the time to gloat about how Yusuke was almost good enough, only to be hit in the back by the return shot a few seconds later; as it turns out, Yusuke figured Hiei would dodge, so he positioned himself so the shot would hit the Mirror of Darkness behind him and ricochet back when Hiei wasn't paying attention. Good thing it worked, too. Because if his shots ''didn't'' work that way, he had no other plans left.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanAssaultOnArkham'': How Captain Boomerang takes out one of the guards on the tower: sending the boomerang past him to hit him on its return. This show-off stunt immediately bites the Suicide Squad in the butt; the boomerang alerted the guard, who had time to raise an alarm before it actually hit him.

A comedic variant is for the character hit to be also the one throwing the weapon away, believing to get rid of it. Of course, it is extremely unlikely for a boomerang thrown by someone not knowing what it is to actually come back, but this takes a backseat to the {{Rule of Funny}}.

* In part 2 of ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'', Joseph's Hamon-charged clackers appear to be a JokeWeapon until it turns out they're capable of this.

** In "[[Recap/DeathBattleS02E24DarthVaderVsDoctorDoom Darth Vader vs. Doctor Doom]]", toward the end of the fight, Darth Vader throws his lightsaber at Doctor Doom, who easily sidestep it. Later, though, guided by the Force, the lightsaber hits Doctor Doom in the back mid-gloating.

* ''DC vs. Marvel'' shows a fight between ComicBook/{{Bane}} and ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, with Cap missing a shield toss, and Bane closing in and grabbing him, only to get struck by the returning shield before he can break Cap's back.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'', Captain Boomerang sends a swarm of boomerangs flying at Franchise/TheFlash, who catches them and throws them back. They turn around and fly back at him (suggesting that these boomerangs are ''so'' good that it doesn't take any skill to use them, they return whether you want them to or not). Upon seeing them going back towards him, Flash's response is a "DUH!"

* In the BatmanColdOpen of an episode of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'', Batman pulls this off against [=KGBeast=].

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': At the end of ''Discworld/InterestingTimes'', when Rincewind ends up on Fourecks, he runs into some natives who offer him a boomerang. Thinking it's yet another Call to Adventure, Rincewind throws it away in disgust and starts complaining that he's not going to do anymore heroics ever again, only for the book to end in mid-sentence with Rincewind apparently being clonked on the head by the returning boomerang.

* ''Manga/NagasareteAirantou'': The girls nervously let Shinobu throw some shurikens to cut some rope across the river who believes that her skills isn't that rusty to miss. They somehow ''[[EpicFail return]]'' [[EpicFail to the girls instead]], who point out this should be impossible.
** Later at a festival Ikuto shows that he mastered this technique while training with Shinobu. It results in shurikens flying in random patterns but still precisely hits the target. Even Mikoto, who's confident with shurikens, has no idea how to dodge them.

* In Comicbook/TheMightyThor's introductory episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'', "Thor the Mighty". Thor manages to hit three of the Wrecking Crew's four members by throwing his hammer. Then, he magically summons it to fly in the opposite direction, pummeling the fourth.

** One time Gaston's boomerang shatters a window. An angry neighbor brings back the boomerang to Fantasio thinking he's the one who threw it Fantasio, then throw it at Gaston's head while saying, "Gaston! It always comes back to the one who throws it!"
** Prunelle once threw through a window a wooden coat hanger which lost its hook (and happens to be shaped exactly like a boomerang) and it came back in his face, to Gaston's hilarity.

--->'''Prunelle (to a bandaged Gaston):''' Now you know why shoud never launch a boomerang with a crossbow.

* ''ComicBook/GastonLagaffe'' have several jokes about it:
** One time Gaston's boomerang shatters a window. An angry neighbor brings back the boomerang to Fantasio thinking he's the one who threw it Fantasio, then throw it at Gaston's head while saying, "Gaston! It always comes back to the one who throws it!"
** Prunelle once threw through a window a wooden coat hanger which lost its hook (and happens to be shaped exactly like a boomerang) and it came back in his face, to Gaston's hilarity.
--->'''Gaston:''' You just reinvented one of the oldest jokes in the world!
** On another occasion, Gaston attempted to launch a boomerang from a crossbow, with predictable results.
--->'''Prunelle (to a bandaged Gaston):''' Now you know why shoud never launch a boomerang with a crossbow.

* ''ComicBook/GastonLagaffe''
** Parodied in volume R5, page 14: Gaston's boomerang shatters a window. An angry neighbor brings back the boomerang and throws it directly at Gaston's head while Fantasio says, "Gaston ! Ça revient toujours à celui qui l'envoie !" ("Gaston! It always comes back to the one who throws it!").
** Also in volume 14, page 24: Prunelle throws through a window a wooden coat hanger which lost its hook (and happens to be shaped exactly like a boomerang) and it comes back in his face, to Gaston's hilarity.