History Main / FourIsDeath

* Inverted in ''Film/TheMummy1999'': the character Beni encounters Imhotep after it's been established for the audience that Imhotep is quite dangerous and could easily kill im. Beni happens to be very superstitious and has a necklace with about a dozen different religious emblems on it and has memorized prayers for protection in all of their respective languages and pleads for deliverance from Imhotep. When the newly-resurrected mummy isn't fazed by the cross and a prayer to Jesus, he moves on to Islamic and then Chinese pendants, with the same results. When he holds up a Star of David and starts praying in Hebrew, his fourth attempt, Imhotep stops--[[RightForTheWrongReasons he recognizes the language and spares Beni so that he can use him as an interpreter]].

** People were legitimately surprised that Sony released a UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 for this very reason. The more superstitious among them were probably quite surprised when it became their fastest-selling system ever, and became the biggest success of the eighth generation (even in comparison to the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, which was launched halfway within the period in question).

[[folder:Film -- Animated]]

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

* Inverted in ''Film/TheMummy1999'': the character Beni encounters Imhotep for the first time, after it's established for the audience that Imhotep is quite dangerous and could easily kill Beni. Beni happens to be very superstitious and has a necklace with about a dozen different religious emblems on it and has memorized prayers for protection in all of them and pleads with them to save him from Imhotep. When Imhotep isn't fazed by the cross and a prayer to Jesus, he moves onto Islamic and then Chinese pendants, with the same results. When he holds up a Star of David and starts praying in Hebrew, his fourth attempt, Imhotep stops--[[RightForTheWrongReasons he recognizes the language and spares Beni so that he can use him as an interpreter]].

** ''[[Series/KamenRiderAgito Masked Rider Agito]]'': Kino Kaoru/Masked Rider Another Agito is the 4th Rider and is the only one who ends up dying.
** Same goes for Zanki/Masked Rider Zanki in ''[[Series/KamenRiderHibiki Masked Rider Hibiki]]''.
** In ''[[Series/KamenRiderDenO Masked Rider Den-O]]'', Momotaros, who counts his attacks, ends up missing "Part 4" due to some combination of tiredness and feeling unappreciated. When Ryotaro calls him out on this, he claims that not using four is cool and proves it by counting from one to ten... while skipping four.

*** Mallow's Train number was "44" and she ran away as she was unable to comprehend the truth of her mother dying. Her mother died age 44.

*** [[spoiler:Grace's backstory reveals how she befriended three other passengers in the Pirate Car. ''All four of them'' die and become reincarnated as denizens on the train -- Ariana becomes Romsca, Horace becomes Tomas, Mark becomes Ogami and Grace becomes Warler -- with Grace the fourth and final member to kick the bucket.]]

* ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan2'': The clock stops with the minute hand pointing at the number 4 at the very moment [[spoiler:Gwen Stacy dies]]. The actual time shown is 1:21, a subtle reference to Amazing Spider-Man #121, the original comic in which the same event occurs.

In most {{UsefulNotes/Chinese|Language}} languages and languages that borrow words from it, the words for "four" (四) and "death" (死) are written differently but pronounced similarly ("''sì''" and "''sǐ''" resepactively in Mandarin, "''sei3''" and "''sei2''" respectively in UsefulNotes/{{C|hineseDialectsAndAccents}}antonese, "''shi''" for both in Sino-Japanese, "''tứ''" and "''tử''" respectively in Sino-Vietnamese, and "''sa''" for both in Sino-Korean). As a cultural trope, East Asian works of media tend to treat the number in much the way Western writers treat the number [[ThirteenIsUnlucky 13]] (a number that Arabian and European cultures consider Magical, [[TheFairFolk and usually in a bad way]]).

[[spoiler:*gasp* The math! 4 has the same position as D, and D is for Death(d)! IT ALL MAKES SENSE!]]

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** [[spoiler: The bounty hunter wolf has four fingers on each paw, Foreshadowing that he is in fact TheGrimReaper. Puss also encounters Death four times.]]

'''Note''': This is not a repository for every time the number 4 just happens to appear in a work (or for series where the fourth installment was [[{{Sequelitis}} particularly bad]]), nor for when bad things coincidentally happen in the fourth episode, in the fourth installment, to the fourth person to be introduced, and so on; this is for when the trope is consciously addressed by having the number 4 intentionally and unambiguously associated with death or misfortune. Particular examples of common groups of four that are normally unrelated to this trope are the EliteFour, TheFourGods, the FourElementEnsemble, and the FourTemperamentEnsemble. In particular, most groups of four mini-bosses in {{Eastern RPG}}s refer to one of those or to the ''shitennō'' — often localized into the EliteFour or the Four Heavenly Kings — and have no relation to this trope.

* ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'': Grandma Lee makes a passing mention of this trope after Ming tells her the [=SkyDome=] light is from the 4*Town concert occurring at the same time, complaining that “four is the worst number." [[spoiler: She's also unamused when she's forced to break her own talisman and use a piece of 4*Town merchandise as a hasty replacement, specifically a plastic necklace in the shape of the number 4. She blames it for her losing a card game, seemingly rightfully so given that [[FreezeFrameBonus her hand is one that only two other hands can beat]].]]

* ''WebAnimation/BattleForBFDI'': The new host of the season is Four, an extraterrestrial with the body of the number itself, and compared to the Announcer or any of the Speaker Boxes from the original ''WebAnimation/BattleForDreamIsland'', Four is much more AxCrazy and destructive, at least until he's resurrected in BFB 10 and becomes [[TookALevelInKindness somewhat nicer]]. Four's EstablishingCharacterMoment has him grabbing Pin and mutilating her, describing her mangled corpse as "pretty cool".

* ''WebAnimation/BattleForDreamIsland'': The host of Season 4, actually named Four, has ''literally killed people.'' This includes twisting them into shapes, shooting lasers, and "de-spawning" them.

** Even if he's the 3rd Rider, Fukamiya Kento/Kamen Rider Espada is the 4th to appear in ''Main/KamenRiderSaber'', but ends up having a pseudo-death.

** Even if he's the 3rd Rider, Fukamiya Kento/Kamen Rider Espada is the 4th to appear, but ends up having a pseudo-death.

** In ''Series/KamenRiderDenO'', Momotaros, who counts his attacks, ends up missing "Part 4" due to some combination of tiredness and feeling unappreciated. When Ryotaro calls him out on this, he claims that not using four is cool and proves it by counting from one to ten... while skipping four.

** In ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'', the 4th Rider introduced in the series, Lazer, was the first Rider getting killed in the show.

* Four (Ryo Tetsuda) from ''Series/DarkMatter'' is a murderous, brooding ninja. Since he's Japanese [[spoiler:(and the crown prince of a space empire)]], his silent acknowledgement of his new name is pretty telling.

* gasp* The math! 4 has the same position as D, and D is for Death(d)! IT ALL MAKES SENSE!