History Main / BruceWayneHeldHostage

* In one ''Comicbook/{{Shazam}}'' storyline in ''World's Finest Comics'', a gangster kidnaps Billy Batson in order to extort Captain Marvel into killing a rival. And keeps Billy in a soundproof (and booby-trapped) box to prevent him calling for help, unaware this also prevents him calling down the lightning. Billy's friends fake Captain Marvel's appearance, with Magnificus Sivana providing the appearance and Captain Marvel Jr providing the powers, until they can free Billy.

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': PlayedWith in ''Spectacular Spider-Man'' #19, where a mastermind-type villain, Lightmaster, has deduced from a previous encounter that Spider-Man ''must'' be a student at Empire State University. He has the Enforcers take a bunch of hostages to call out Spider-Man, who easily defeats them. One student, Hector Aayla, himself the super hero the White Tiger, remains behind when the hostages flee in case Spider-Man needs help. So when Hector leaves the diner, alone, and no one saw Spider-Man enter, Lightmaster assumes this trope is in play and in the next issue kidnaps Hector to reveal his identity to the world.

** "ComicBook/SupermanAndSpiderMan": Invoked. Parasite finds out that Superman's friend, Clark Kent has come to New York, and suggests to kidnap him and use him to bait Superman into a trap. However, Doom dismisses Parasite's plan, arguing Clark Kent is an obvious bait to trap them.

* ''Fanfic/CheshireMiraculousLadybug'': Adrien have a tendency for this:

** Lampshaded in "Dark Waters" when Oliver Queen has to surrender to Damien Darhk after his friends and Thea are taken hostage, and it's noted that it will look pretty suspicious if the Green Arrow doesn't try to rescue him. Fortunately Thea is the daughter of supervillain Malcolm Merlyn, who has no problem doing [[IdentityImpersonator donning the green hood]] to [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes save her life]].

* Almost happens in ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'' when the Rhino breaks into the the Daily Bugle to kidnap Peter Parker, having theorized that someone who can get pictures of Spider-Man will likely know how to find Spider-Man, who he wants to kill. Averted when Jameson manages to keep the Rhino's attention so Peter can run (and turn into Spider-Man). Once Spider-Man shows up, Rhino forgets about Parker and turns all of his attention on Spidey.

* The eighth episode of ''Anime/BubblegumCrisis'' had Nene's job (AD Police Headquarters) get attacked by a villain trying to draw the Knight Sabers out.

** In "Legacy", a gang leader wants to prove himself by taking down the Green Arrow, so he decides to draw him out by kidnapping mayor Oliver Queen... who is secretly the Green Arrow. Fortunately Oliver's half-sister Thea is willing to (briefly) come out of retirement to rescue him as the vigilante Speedy.

* A story in the ''[[ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures Batman and Robin Adventures]]'' comic inverts this and then subverts it. Riddler takes all the occupants of a prestige Gotham City club hostage on Christmas Eve, similar to the ''Moldiver'' example, because he's apparently put two and two together and realized that Batman has to be pretty wealthy and connected so it's all but guaranteed he and Robin are at the club that night. They aren't. Then it turns out that the hostages are actually one giant distraction for the Riddler to secretly steal a pair of priceless gold statues in the club.

* ''[[ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures PK2]]'', issue #3: Donald Duck, now working as a mall security guard, is taken hostage along with a bunch of others inside of a clothing store by a mind-controlled hobo with a shotgun demanding to talk to Paperinik. Interestingly, Donald uses some makeup to draw a PK mask on his face and grabs a long, blue piece of cloth to wrap around himself as a cape so he can "pretend to be PK so the others can escape". [[YourCostumeNeedsWork His coworkers even remarks that he only barely resembles PK]]! He then runs a negotiation with the guy for quite a while... until the hobo notices the price tag on his "cape". Oops.
* PlayedWith in ''[[ComicBook/SpiderMan Spectacular Spider-Man]]'' #19, where a mastermind-type villain, Lightmaster, has deduced from a previous encounter that Spider-Man ''must'' be a student at Empire State University. He has the Enforcers take a bunch of hostages to call out Spider-Man, who easily defeats them. One student, Hector Aayla, himself the super hero the White Tiger, remains behind when the hostages flee in case Spider-Man needs help. So when Hector leaves the diner, alone, and no one saw Spider-Man enter, Lightmaster assumes this trope is in play and in the next issue kidnaps Hector to reveal his identity to the world.
* A variation occurred in "The Make-Believe Superman", a [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' story. During an attempted heist at a bank, some goons take a bystander hostage and force Superman to help them. Only the "Superman" they have is a lookalike in a Superman costume on his way to his son's school, and the "hostage" is Clark Kent, who they grabbed before he could change clothes. The ''real'' Superman ends up having to use his powers to covertly make his kidnappers believe the fake one is the real deal until he can get him safely away.
* The picture comes from an issue of ''ComicBook/TheSupermanAdventures'', where the Mad Hatter takes Bruce hostage and demands Batman's cowl in exchange.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold,'' Batman does it ''to himself.'' A TapOnTheHead has him thinking he's ''actually'' the gangster he's [[BecomingTheMask posing as]], and he puts the ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey in a DeathTrap, demanding that Batman come and fight him, or else. Surprisingly Batman does show up, but it turns out to be Two Face in disguise, seeking to kill this new villain on the scene.

* ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse'':

* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold,'' Batman does it ''to himself.'' A TapOnTheHead has him thinking he's ''actually'' the gangster he's [[BecomingTheMask posing as]], and he puts the ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey in a DeathTrap, demanding that Batman come and fight him, or else. Surprisingly Batman does how up, but it turns out to be Two Face in disguise, seeking to kill this new villain on the scene.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold,'' Batman does it ''to himself.'' A TapOnTheHead has him thinking he's ''actually'' the gangster he's [[BecomingTheMask posing as]], and he puts the ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey in a DeathTrap, demanding that Batman come and fight him, or else.

* A variation occurred in "The Make-Believe Superman", a [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] Franchise/{{Superman}} story. During an attempted heist at a bank, some goons take a bystander hostage and force Superman to help them. Only the "Superman" they have is a lookalike in a Superman costume on his way to his son's school, and the "hostage" is Clark Kent, who they grabbed before he could change clothes. The ''real'' Superman ends up having to use his powers to covertly make his kidnappers believe the fake one is the real deal until he can get him safely away.

* In one of the ''Night of the Podcast/{{Red Panda|Adventures}}'' comics, Professor Zombie takes a group of socialites hostage to lure out the Red Panda--including the Red Panda's alter ego, August Fenwick.
* PlayedWith in ''Spectacular Spider-Man'' #19, where a mastermind-type villain, Lightmaster, has deduced from a previous encounter that Spider-Man ''must'' be a student at Empire State University. He has the Enforcers take a bunch of hostages to call out Spider-Man, who easily defeats them. One student, Hector Aayla, himself the super hero the White Tiger, remains behind when the hostages flee in case Spider-Man needs help. So when Hector leaves the diner, alone, and no one saw Spider-Man enter, Lightmaster assumes this trope is in play and in the next issue kidnaps Hector to reveal his identity to the world.
* Referenced in an issue of ''ComicBook/{{Incorruptible}}'', Alana Patel tells Max Damage that [[BewareTheSuperman the Plutonian's]] secret identity was [[ClarkKenting Dan Hartigan]]. After a moment's StunnedSilence, Max begins smashing a nearby car in a rage, screaming that he kidnapped Dan Hartigan dozens of times.

[[folder:Films]]

* ''Film/BatmanForever'' - when Two-Face threatens to detonate a bomb at a circus, killing everyone there unless Batman shows up. Two-Face actually points out that he wouldn't be surprised if Batman ''is'' in the wealthy and well-to-do audience. It turns out Bruce Wayne is in the audience ''and'' willing to reveal himself. He stands up and yells "I'm Batman", but no one can hear him because everyone is screaming in panic. He then tries to push his way down and either stop the bomb or give himself up ''in his civilian identity''.

* Literature/SuperheroesAnonymous: Supervillains crash a party being held by Jessie Davenport, demanding that The Raptor face them. Jessie Davenport is The Raptor. This forces the protagonist, Gail Godwin, currently interning for Jessie, to don the armor.

* In ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'', [[spoiler:Thomas Elliot]] takes Lucius Fox hostage and demands Bruce Wayne to be brought to him by Batman. [[spoiler:Batman just decides to unmask himself on the spot, prompting a ThisCannotBe reaction from Elliot, as it completely negates his "[[RichIdiotWithNoDayJob Bruce Wayne never had to fight for anything"]] argument.]]

* ''Series/LoisAndClark'' had an episode in which Clark Kent, Lux Luthor and Lois Lane among others are taken hostage. At one point, Luthor gets hurt and Clark treats his injury, surreptitiously cauterizing the wound with his heat vision while Luthor looks the other way.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheNewAnimatedSeries'' (2003), Peter Parker finds himself among a group of hostages in a TV studio held by ex-KGB terrorists and volunteers to be cameraman so they can put forth their demand. The catch, of course, is that they want Spider-Man in person.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012'', a villain kidnaps Peter Parker and forces him to become the host of the Carnage symbiote so that he can send Carnage out to attack Spider-Man.

* ''Series/LoisAndClarkTheNewAdventuresOfSuperman'' had an episode in which Clark Kent, Lux Luthor and Lois Lane among others are taken hostage. At one point, Luthor gets hurt and Clark treats his injury, surreptitiously cauterizing the wound with his heat vision while Luthor looks the other way.

* In ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'', a villain takes Lucius Fox hostage and demands Bruce Wayne to be brought to him by Batman. [[spoiler:Batman just decides to unmask himself on the spot, prompting a ThisCannotBe reaction from Hush, as it completely negates his "[[RichIdiotWithNoDayJob Bruce Wayne never had to fight for anything"]] argument.]]