History Main / DeathByMaterialism

* The 'ingot scene' in ''Anime/{{Gankutsuou}}'' is an anthologic case of this. Basically, the Count catches Danglars as he's trying to escape from the Earth with 50 million francs in his private shuttle, forces him to confess his crimes, and leaves him in his shuttle with nothing but pure gold -- no food or drink. It is strongly implied that the Count's henchmen have hacked into the shuttle's program so that it can't land anywhere. In the last scene, Danglars is heard of, [[FanDisservice he's rolling around naked in his gold and probably close to dying.]]

* Gild Tesoro invokes in this in ''Anime/OnePieceFilmGold'', citing that many treasure hunters met their ends against him trying to rob from his stash. What's more, those he doesn't kill are thrown down into a prison [[IronicHell where there is nothing but gold around them but nothing to spend it on, including food and water]].

* In the short Hellboy story "Sullivan's Reward", an alcoholic named Sullivan inherits a house, and discovers that every time he lures someone (usually a vagrant) into a certain room, that person dies and a couple of gold coins are dropped down the stairs. He expects an even bigger reward for luring Hellboy into the room, and gets it – in the form of a solid mass of coins the size of a small car that crashes down the stairs and squashes him into bloody pulp.

* In the backstory of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40 000}}'', Vulkan almost dies when he refuses to let go of a captured salamander while stuck in a LiteralCliffhanger over a pool of lava. If he did so, he could use his second hand to prop himself up. As it was, the Emperor ends up throwing his salamander to form a bridge for Vulkan to stand on. [[spoiler:Ironically, Vulkan was later revealed/retconned to be a [[CompleteImmortality Perpetual]] who can come back from being dissected to the atomic level.]]

This is of course a highly {{Anvilicious}} {{A|nAesop}}esop showing that {{Greed}} is one of the SevenDeadlySins, along with how often {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s bite it in disaster films and ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' [[FollowTheLeader ripoffs]].

In ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet'', most of the pirate crew die when the titular planet blows up to keep thieves from taking the treasure. Those who clung to their treasure eventually fell into the crevices below that opened as part of the booby trap. Those that dropped them and ran for their lives probably survived and can be seen tied up in the brig near the end of the film. Long John Silver escapes, though he does [[FriendOrIdolDecision renounce the treasure at the last minute in favor of rescuing Jim]]. In a similar twist to the ''Atlantis'' example above, Silver gives up the few bits of treasure he managed to save to Jim for his mom to rebuild the inn that he and his pirates destroyed earlier in the movie, allowing them to rebuild it bigger and better than before. The fact that the entire crew aside from Jim and a few characters were pirates (and were either arrested or ended up dead) is another plus.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheRaccoons'': Averted, on numerous occasions, by Cyrl Sneer. Many an episode will feature Cyril going after a treasure or valuable object, wanting to increase his wealth. However, at the moment of truth, he will decide to abandon his quest in order to save his own life, or the life of his son, Cedric.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet'', most of the pirate crew die when the titular planet blows up to keep thieves from taking the treasure. Those who clung to their treasure eventually fell into the crevices below that opened as part of the booby trap. Those that dropped them and ran for their lives probably survived and can be seen tied up in the brig near the end of the film. Long John Silver escapes, though he does [[FriendOrIdolDecision renounce the treasure at the last minute in favor of rescuing Jim]]. In a similar twist to the ''Atlantis'' example above, Silver gives up the few bits of treasure he managed to save to Jim for his mom to rebuild the inn that he and his pirates destroyed earlier in the movie, allowing them to rebuild it bigger and better than before. The fact that the entire crew aside from Jim and a few characters were pirates (and were either arrested or ended up dead) is another plus.

* How Gollum ultimately meets his end in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. His lust for The One Ring drives him to attack Frodo and seize the Ring inside Mount Doom. Overjoyed at having finally reclaimed his "precious," he dances around, loses his balance, and falls into the Cracks of Doom, unintentionally destroying The One Ring.

* In ''Film/ArmyOfTheDead'', [[spoiler:''all'' of the mercenaries who joined the mission into Vegas for the money wind up dead. However Scott's daughter Kate, who was the only one among them who went into the city for altruistic reasons (to save Geeta, a friend who had gone missing in the city) is the only one to make it out alive - [[BittersweetEnding with a small fortune to give to Geeta's kids and without Scott]].]]
* In ''Film/Batman1989'', numerous Gothamites [[TooDumbToLive grab cash offered by a known serial killer]], whose parade balloons contain a DeadlyGas. Many walk away in good shape, thanks to Batman taking the gas balloons away, but at least some disregarded warnings until it was too late.

* In ''Literature/{{Death on the Nile}}'', Hercule Poirot hints to a businessman that he suspects he has been embezzling by telling him of a Pharaoh's servant who was crushed under a fortune of gold for stealing.

* In ''Film/TheDevilsBackbone'', [[spoiler: Jacinto is wounded by the kids after they manage to outsmart him]], but his real death comes when he's [[spoiler: dragged by [[UndeadChild Santi]] into the pool beneath the orphanage and is unable to get out thanks to the weight of the gold bars in his pockets, the ones he spent years searching for]].

** Subverted in "Ducking the Devil" where, as Daffy is counting his reward money for recapturing the Tasmanian Devil, one of the dollar bills falls into its cage. He rushes in, the audience hears the sounds of someone being beaten up... then Daffy emerges from the cage, largely unscathed, with a badly injured Devil behind him, and Daffy proclaims "I may be a coward, but I'm a ''greedy'' coward!"

!!'''As a DeathTrope, Spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.'''

** ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'':
*** Early on, Satipo leaves Dr. Jones to die so he can escape the temple with the solid gold idol. Of course, he runs right into the spear trap they both avoided earlier.
---->'''Indy:''' [[IronicEcho Adios]], [[TooDumbToLive Satipo]].
*** The main villains are all killed when they open the Ark to obtain God's power.

[[quoteright:350:[[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ComicBook/Tomahawk https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tomahawk135.png]]]]

%% Image removed per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1323907665087839500
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[[quoteright:330:[[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/elsadies_5845.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:330:Between [[TakeMyHand Indy's hand]] and the HolyGrail, Fraulein Schneider chose... poorly.]]

Compare DeathBySex, DeathByMocking, GoldFever, SuitWithVestedInterests, and VillainByDefault.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'', Doctor Facilier's entire plan -- kidnapping and [[BalefulPolymorph transforming Prince Naveen]], having a servant seduce and toy with Charlotte, and eventually promising the "wayward" souls of everyone in New Orleans to a group of demons -- stems from his jealousy over Big Daddy Lebouf's vast fortune and his desire to acquire it. This, of course, serves as a foil to Tiana and Naveen, who desperately want money themselves but use legal methods of obtaining it (Tiana works several jobs and Naveen... erm... [[GoldDigger plans to marry Charlotte as well]], but then later decides against this and works for a living in Tiana's restaurant after they are married).

* ''VideoGame/PaperMario'': Narrowly avoided by Professor Kolorado. He's inside an erupting volcano, jumping to grab a treasure chest, and another character has to drag him out to save his life. Even after seeing the volcano erupt and barely escaping crispy doom, he continues to complain about the rescue and the loss of the treasure. Oddly, the treasure is actually blown clear, and you have to give it to him to advance the story, making him a very happy man and simultaneously [[BrokenAesop shooting the Aesop in the foot]]. Even though Kolorado was interested in the treasure for its historical value rather than the money, he was still about to die for it.

* The ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' movies ARE this trope. Indy risking his life for his NiceHat, on the other hand, is [[BrokenAesop another situation]] [[RuleOfCool entirely]].

* Several antagonists met their end this way in the ''Manga/LupinTheThird'' series. For example, one of the episodes in the Red Jacket series had the gang try to rob a mob boss's train car. However, the track is blown out and Lupin is forced to escape (though does save the boss's prized horse) but the boss himself refuses to leave his wealth and Lupin can only pity him as he leaves him to his death. Heck Fujiko herself was nearly killed a few times when trying to steal something valuable and didn't have the common sense to run when it was obvious she wouldn't get it.