History Main / HarpoonGun

See JavelinThrower for the stone-age equivalent.

* The harpoon gun in the first ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry1''. Entering water with it caused an UnexpectedGenreChange to FPS since it was the only weapon you could use.

* ''Film/TheDeadPool''. A deck harpoon gun is shown being fired for a horror movie. This is a ChekhovsGun for when Dirty Harry (presumably because his .44 Magnum is no longer the most powerful handgun in the world) dismounts it in the finale as a {{BFG}} against the killer (who gets PinnedToTheWall as an aftermath).

* ''Film/TheDeadPool''. A deck harpoon gun is shown being fired for a horror movie. This is a ChekhovsGun for when Dirty Harry (presumably because his .44 Magnum is no longer the most powerful handgun in the world) dismounts it in the finale as a {{BFG}} against the killer.

* The harpoon gun in the first ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry''. Entering water with it caused an UnexpectedGenreChange to FPS since it was the only weapon you could use.

** The climactic battle in ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'' is fought by at least fifty men armed with harpoon guns. The use of a harpoon gun on a {{mook|s}} led to the immortal line, "I think he got the point." And the main villain is killed this way by his girlfriend.
** Bond kills a mook with a harpoon gun in ''Film/LicenceToKill''.

[[quoteright:320:[[Film/{{Thunderball}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Harpwn_4785.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:320:[[TheCasanova And that's how you put Cupid out of his job.]]]]

* ''Film/JamesBond'':
** The climactic battle in ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'' is fought by at least fifty men armed with harpoon guns. The use of a harpoon gun on a {{mook|s}} led to the immortal line, "I think he got the point." [[spoiler: And the main villain is killed this way by his girlfriend.]]
** James Bond kills a mook with a harpoon gun in ''Film/LicenceToKill''.
-->'''Bond:''' Compliments of Sharkey!

* ''Franchise/GIJoe'': diver characters such as Seal typically had a speargun as their main weapon. An odd example is the G.I. Joe member Spirit, the Native American tracker, he carried a fully automatic rifle that [[AbnormalAmmo shot long arrows]].

* ''VideoGame/BioShock2'': the Spear Gun, with uses normal spears, rocket spears, and trap spears.

* ''VideoGame/DeadSpace2'': the Javelin Gun, and its secondary fire electrocutes whatever was punctured by the javelin.

* ''{{VideoGame/Solatorobo}}'': The FishingMinigame involves firing a Mini-Mecha-mounted harpoon at a giant lobster-like FlyingSeafoodSpecial, who use derelict battleships as shells.
* In ''VideoGame/ColdFear'', you can find early on a custom harpoon gun given to you by a survivor: the harpoon includes a tank containing a special gas that attracts [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Exocell-infected]] towards them and keep them there for a while. It's very useful to get them off you if you're overwhelmed, to lure out invisible specimens or even to draw them towards an hazard to deal with them. Unfortunately, it doesn't work on Crawlers (who just ignore the gas) and Brutes (who go berserk and smash the harpoon).
* One of the strongest crossbows in ''VideoGame/{{Bravium}}'' is called "Harpoon Gun" and is a massive crossbow shooting huge harpoons which can possibly stun enemies or even [[OneHitPolykill stab through many of them at once]].
* The Deathslinger in ''VideoGame/DeadByDaylight'' has a self-made gun called the Redeemer, which impales its victim with a spear with a chain attached to reel them in toward him.

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' contains multibarreled versions [[spoiler: intended to capture the Female Titan]].

* In ''ComicBook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'', Captain Nemo has both a typical (but quite oversized) harpoon gun and a model of his own design that is more akin to a [[GatlingGood gatling gun]]. Designing weapons is a bit of a hobby for him.

* ''Film/{{Alien}}'' had one of these used in the ending climax to eject the titular creature out of an escape ship.
* The climactic battle in ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'' is fought by at least fifty men armed with harpoon guns. The use of a harpoon gun on a {{mook|s}} led to the immortal line, "I think he got the point." [[spoiler: And the main villain is killed this way by his girlfriend.]] James Bond also kills a mook with a harpoon gun in ''Film/LicenceToKill''.
-->''':Bond:''' Compliments of Sharkey!

* ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'': At the end of the movie, some whalers shoot a Harpoon Gun at the rescued whales. Their expression is priceless when [[spoiler:it bounces off a cloaked [[CoolStarShip Bird-of-Prey]], which then proceeds to [[GunshipRescue decloak]]]].
* ''Film/JeepersCreepers2'': Jack Sr hunts the Creeper using a homemade harpoon gun.

* ''Film/TheDeadPool''. A deck harpoon gun is shown being fired for a horror movie. This is a ChekhovsGun for when Dirty Harry (presumably because his .44 Magnum is no longer the most powerful handgun in the world) dismounts it in the finale as a {{BFG}} against the killer.

* Frequently used as weapons in ''Into The Blue''.
* ''Porno Holocaust'' ends with the mutant being anticlimactically killed by a shot to the chest with a speargun.
* The scientists in ''Film/CreatureFromTheBlackLagoon'' bring at least two harpoon guns (probably for catching mundane fish specimens) on their expedition into an uncharted region of the Amazon. They're not terribly effective against the Creature.
* In ''Film/SilverStreak'', Gene Wilder's character finds a harpoon gun in the title train's cargo car and shoots a thug with it in a TraintopBattle before getting knocked off the train himself by a signal light.

* Discworld book ''Literature/TheFifthElephant'' features a small concealable weapon consisting of a tube, a spring and a crossbow bolt, which seems to be a sort of miniature harpoon gun.
* Divers in ''[[Literature/GreatShip The Memory of Sky]]'' is ([[HealingFactor temporarily]]) killed after an explosive-tipped harpoon is fired into its gut from an [[ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld airship's]] [[StarfishAlien corona-killing]] harpoon cannon

* Used several times by Mike Nelson in ''Series/SeaHunt'', and in the similar shows ''The Aquanauts'' and ''Malibu Run''.

* The early whaler's harpoon gun (cannon actually) described in ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}: High-Tech'' comes with two caplocks and a brass cover for them due to it being used on ships where the spray was likely to prevent the simple caplock mechanism from working.

* Unsurprisingly, ''TabletopGame/SeventhSea'' has harpoons, harpoons guns, [[GrapplingHookPistol grappling pistols]], and a Swordsman school or two based around using them.
* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' has harpoon-tipped rounds as a special ammunition type for Short Range Missiles. They're completely useless on armored targets but in the RPG can be used to bring down large alien animals without causing massive devastation to the bodies, so they're used for sport hunting dinosaur-analog creatures or for industrialized whaling operations.

* Harpoon Guns are one of your starting weapons in ''VideoGame/XComTerrorFromTheDeep''. They quickly become obsolete.
* The harpoon gun in the first ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry''. Entering water with it caused an UnexpectedGenreChange to FPS since it was the only weapon you could use.

* In ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'', picking up a harpoon with the gravity gun automatically orients it in a "impale whatever I launch this at" position, making it into a makeshift harpoon gun (rather than the usual "large heavy objects" or sawblade gun).
** The harpoons seem to be surprisingly glitchy (it can kill friendly [=NPCs=], for instance). See [[http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?t=127882 this forum thread]] (go to "Appendix 1") for details.
* More than one quest in ''[[VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King]]'' involves shooting down proto-drakes with a harpoon gun. Most notable is the boss Skadi the Ruthless, who has to be shot down before your party can properly fight him on the ground.
* Your first ship in ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'' has one. Mind you, it's a ship-sized centerline-mounted harpoon ''cannon'' capable of impaling a battleship.
* Used in ''VideoGame/GodOfWarIII'' in a puzzle.
* ''VideoGame/TimeSplittersFuturePerfect'' has a harpoon gun with retrievable ammo.

* A few of the early ''Franchise/TombRaider'' games have this as one of the many weapons you can get. Naturally, this was the only weapon you could use while swimming in the water, but it was as weak as the default pistols.
* ''VideoGame/DeadSpace2'': the Javelin Gun, and its secondary fire electrocutes whatever was punctured by the javelin.

* Bubble Man from ''VideoGame/RockmanNoConstancy'' uses a Harpoon ArmCannon.
* ''VideoGame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura'': The insanely powerful, armor class-ignoring Blade Launcher.
* ''VideoGame/{{Commandos}}: Behind Enemy Lines'' and ''Beyond the Call of Duty'' gives one to the Marine. It silently kills enemies at very short range. He can use it as well in ''Commandos 2''. The weapon can only be selected underwater but once it has been used underwater, the Marine can fire it on land using the Ctrl key.
* The old arcade title ''VideoGame/{{Pang}}'', aka ''Bros Buster Bros'', aka ''Pomping World'', and its sequels features characters popping giant balloons with harpoon guns.
* The Helsing of ''VideoGame/Metro2033'' and ''VideoGame/MetroLastLight'' is called a pneumatic crossbow, but in function it's more like one of these. It loads arrows in a pepperbox-like arrangement and uses pressurized air to launch highly lethal metal bolts. They are mostly silent and powerful enough to be a OneHitKill on human enemies, and have recoverable, reusable ammo. Its main downside is cost, with arrows being expensive to purchase or lose.
* ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' has the Harpoon Rifle Kishock, a multiplayer-only (though it can be added to single-player by buying a DLC) sniper rifle which fire harpoon. It's incredibly powerful and transform the [[LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe Cerberus Guardians]] into pushovers.
* One of many weapons that can be added to levels in ''VideoGame/HappyWheels''. Often you will have to dodge a [[RainOfArrows barrage of them]].

* In ''VideoGame/Fallout4'''s ''Far Harbor'' DLC, the Harpoon Gun is a ship-mounted harpoon gun that has been modified to be able to be carried by human hands. It can be modified to fire barbed harpoons to apply bleeding effect or fire an entire FlechetteStorm of harpoons.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Evolve}}'', the trapper character Griffin carries one of these that can link the monster to himself with an energy cable, allowing him to stop it in its tracks or restrict its movement until it breaks the cable. Maggie uses harpoon traps, a combination of his harpoon gun and land mines that can snare the monster from multiple angles at once.
* One of the aquatic weapons in ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'' is the harpoon gun, utilized differently by the four professions that can wield it.
* ''VideoGame/TreasurePlanetBattleAtProcyon'' has a Harpoon Gun as a light weapon, it enables the player to grapple enemy ships, which can be used for manipulating the movement of hostile ships and is a prerequisite to [[{{Boarding Party}} boarding]]. Grappling hooks can even tear ships apart if two ships grapple one and move in the opposite direction.

* In ''VideoGame/Fallout4'''s ''Far Harbor'' DLC, the Harpoon Gun is a ship-mounted harpoon gun what has been modified to be able to be carried by human hands. It can be modified to fire barded harpoons to apply bleeding effect or fire entire FlechetteStorm of harpoons.

* An unintentional improvised version happens in ''Film/TheScavengers''. One of the Confederate bushwhackers is reloading his single shot rifle as Polie is charging down on him. Panicking, he lifts his rifle and fires without removing the ramrod. The ramrod fires like a spear and [[ImapaledWithExtremePrejudice impales Polie through the stomach]].

* Discworld book ''Discworld/TheFifthElephant'' features a small concealable weapon consisting of a tube, a spring and a crossbow bolt, which seems to be a sort of miniature harpoon gun.