History Main / EpicFlail

* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda''. In "The Secret Museum of Kung Fu", the Furious Five get thrashed in their first encounter with the Lin Kuei, wolf assassins wielding huge iron weights on the end of chains.

* ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing'': The Witch-King used a truly huge flail to fight Éowyn at the Pelennor Fields. The special features point out how difficult it was to lift; in the scene where the Witch-King first lifts the weapon, there was actually a person lying on the ground underneath and pushing it up from below. It started off as a relatively normal-sized flail, but Creator/PeterJackson kept telling WETA Workshop to "make it bigger." They finally made one that they were positive was going to be "too big". That's the one that made it on screen. Jackson himself thinks that it still could have been [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill bigger]].
** Although Peter Jackson kept calling it a "mace": the Witch King's weapon in the original trilogy is in fact a flail. It's flanged head is almost as big as Merry (roughly 3' tall): so it definitely qualifies as "epic". The Witch King manages to throw Theoden and his horse several feet in the air with it: paralleling the death of Gilgalad shown in the introduction (which was accomplished by Sauron using his actual mace of equally epic proportions). Justified in that the Witch King's body is magical and doesn't need to obey the laws of physics. Even the hollow prop was so heavy and unwieldy that it took two of the stuntmen to lift. There's a great video of Jackson himself trying and failing to lift the final prop.

* Fallon from ''Film/JackTheGiantSlayer'' wields a truly enormous specimen.

* The titular character in the martial arts movie, ''Film/TheBareFootedKid'' uses a flail as his standard weapon, in an extended final battle when he uses the flail to defeat an entire horde of sword-wielding mooks.

* In ''Film/TheCourtJester'', our hero faces off against a knight who selects a mace and chain as his weapon.
* One of the gladiators already in the arena during the first fight in ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'' wields one. He swings it over his head in front of the closed door to frighten the new gladiators. He gets the first kill when the doors open, smashing the first in line in the face.
* The BigBad of the ''wuxia'' ''Film/TheGoldenLion'' uses a flail as his primary weapon to rough up the titular hero, and later kills a few redshirts using this weapon as well. It's notable that instead of the usual ball and chain, the flail's tip ends with a set of bronze claws that doubles as a grappling hook.

* TheDragon in ''Film/HellboyIITheGoldenArmy'' has a [[RocketPunch flail fist]].
* He Wan-yan, the main villain of ''Film/HeroesOfSung'' uses a flail whose tip is a deadly bronze claw as his preferred weapon, using it to either claw through the flesh of his opponents or to grab and snatch objects from a distance.
* In ''Film/{{Ivanhoe}}'', Bois Guilbert (George Sanders) chooses to wield a flail in the climax duel against the eponymous hero, [[spoiler: who manages to turn it to his advantage]].

* Go-Go Yubari in ''Film/KillBill'' wields a mean ball-and-chain meteor hammer in her battle against the Bride.
* Balian defends against a "normal" one of these in ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven'' in an homage to ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly''. He wraps it around his sword, then stabs the guy [[EyeScream in the face]].
* The Witch-King in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing'' used a truly huge flail to fight Éowyn at the Pelennor Fields. The special features point out how difficult it was to lift; in the scene where the Witch-King first lifts the weapon, there was actually a person lying on the ground underneath and pushing it up from below. It started off as a relatively normal-sized flail, but Creator/PeterJackson kept telling WETA Workshop to "make it bigger." They finally made one that they were positive was going to be "too big". That's the one that made it on screen. Jackson himself thinks that it still could have been [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill bigger]].
** ''Film/TheHobbitTheBattleOfTheFiveArmies'': this is Azog the Defiler's weapon in his final showdown with Thorin. It looks more like a huge chunk of stone attached to a chain than a "regular" weapon. He learns the [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome hard way]] that its a terrible weapon to use on a frozen river.

** The Abomination wields a huge fence chain as a meteor hammer against ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk2008'', with concrete pillars being the weights. It proves to be effective in knocking Hulk around, but backfires when Hulk makes Abomination lose control and hit himself with it, then strangles him to near death with the same chain.
** In ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'', the Hulkbuster does this with an empty elevator against the Hulk. Hulk lost a tooth, but it didn't stop him.
* ''Film/PacificRimUprising'' features two examples, the first is Titan Redeemer and its enormous "Morning Star" and later [[spoiler:Bracer Phoenix has the weapon and Redeemer's arm attached over its own destroyed one after the Drones attack and kill Redeemer's crew]].
* Clanker, one of Davy Jones' crewmen from ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'', dual-wields pieces of chain shot.
* In ''Film/TheRipper1997'', Prince Albert attempts to kill Inspector Hansen by attacking him with a morningstar.
* In ''Film/ShanghaiNoon'', Chon Wang (Jackie Chan) improvises one with a horseshoe and rope against a bunch of bounty hunters, though he wields it like a wushu rope dart.
* Megatron in ''Film/Transformers2007'' briefly uses one to smash apart his prison chamber in Hoover Dam, and later the rooftop pillar Sam Witwicky is clinging to. Barricade also appears to wield one in his fight against Bumblebee, one with ''spinning blades''.
* In ''Film/XMenFirstClass'', Erik tries to sink Shaw's ship with its own anchor.

* ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}} III features the flail-wielding Medieval Infantry, which can be built when the player has access to iron and the technology Feudalism. He has an impressive 4 attack from how hard he hits with the spiked metal ball of his flail, but despite holding a shield in his other hand he’s only got 2 defense and needs to be escorted by pikemen or knights for protection. The Maceman unit from ''IV'' is pretty much the same, including his weapon which is actually a spiked flail rather than a mace.

* The Maceman unit from ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}} IV'' carries one of these.

-->-- ''WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017''

For the one specific type of flail: For just the chain, see ChainPain. SockItToThem is the {{improvised|Weapon}} version.

Compare SpectacularSpinning, KillerYoYo. Stereotypical flails almost always have a spike covered ball at the end, and it's popularity with brutal and/or crazed characters also makes it one of the most common (and popular) examples of SavageSpikedWeapons. If the spiky part is not a part of a weapon, then these are SpikeBallsOfDoom.

** While possessing the same stats as its rival the Bastard Sword, and more accuracy than its more damaging axe and hammer counterparts. The Triple-Headed Flail suffers from lack of support in terms of feats and magic item options, which relegates it to those who want to [[DropTheHammer stand out]] from the [[HeroesPreferSwords crowd]].

* ''VideoGame/BaldursGate II'' features a magical flail you can reassemble. It's got three heads, with different elemental powers. It's very handy against trolls. Which is lucky, because the place you find it in is ''swarming'' with them. The weapon's name is the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Flail of Ages]]. Its Head-Hunting subquest continues into the ExpansionPack, adding even more elemental powers.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MegaManFullyCharged'', Lord Obsidian is able to transform his right hand into a spiked ball attached to his arm by an energy wire, which lets him use it either as a hand-mounted mace or a flail with an extendable chain.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MegaManFullyCharged'', Lord Obsidian is able to transform his right hand into a spiked flail attached to his arm by an energy wire, which he uses to devastating effect in combat.

* In ''WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017'' during season 2 when Trevor and his crew return to the ruined Belmont estate, he discovers hidden away the Morning Star flail, an stronger version to his normal leather whip. The tip tends to make vampires explode upon contact. Even Dracula remembers the weapon when it is used against him.

* ''VideoGame/WildArms1'': [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Belselk/Berserk]] wields a massive flail that can one shot your characters or at least leave them with very low health, especially in ''[[VideoGameRemake Alter Code F]]''.

* The X-Hunter [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Violen]] in ''VideoGame/MegaManX2'' uses this as his primary attack. In the rematch, there are disappearing blocks which can sometimes help block his attack, although the chain doesn't obey the same game physics and can pass through, so you need to exercise cautious judgement. Hilariously, [[WeaksauceWeakness his weakness]] in the rematch is [[KillItWithWater Charged Bubble Splash]] (Not the [[GameBreaker Shoryuken]], which can only be obtained two stages later.) Knight Man in ''VideoGame/MegaMan6'' also uses a mace, although to far less effectiveness in range and power.

* ''VideoGame/{{Cadash}} has the Priest character capable of buying one that gives her tremendous range.