History Main / IHaveYourWife

A common variant used with lone heroes (in which case 6 on the list is not exactly an option) has the hero reluctantly doing what the villain orders him to do, [[AllForNothing only to be screwed over]] when the villain [[ILied reneges on his promise]] [[YouSaidYouWouldLetThemGo to let the loved one go]], usually before [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness killing the loved one]] in question in a nasty KickTheDog moment. The result, for many action heroes, is often a RoaringRampageOfRevenge that usually culminates in StormingTheCastle and handing the villain the mother of all asskickings for daring to mess with the loved one in the first place. Alternatively, a RoaringRampageOfRescue ending in the rescue of the loved one may also take place.

* Early on in ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'', Norman Osborn threatens Peter to do his bidding in exchange for ''not'' going after Aunt May and Mary Jane Watson. He refuses and persuades May that Norman can't be trusted, but Mary Jane still ends up getting kidnapped.
* Almost subverted in the comic miniseries ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis: Rogues Revenge''. The agents of the BigBad Libra kidnap the father of Rogues leader Captain Cold. They threaten to kill him unless Cold and the Rogues surrender. But the bad guys don't understand that his father's sadistic abuse and terror was the main factor in shaping Cold's personality. So he tells them that he will hunt them down, kill them, and ''kill his father himself''. The Rogues do kill the bad guys, but Cold does not kill his father. Instead he orders his teammate Heatwave to burn him to death.
* ''ComicBook/{{Transmetropolitan}}'' makes use of this with Spider Jerusalem's wife's cryogenically preserved head. Mostly subverted in that Spider does not actually ''care'' about his ''ex''-wife, much to the consternation of those who have her. Spider then completely subverts this by [[spoiler:throwing his wife's cryogenically preserved head into the river. Since she was the one who had angered the kidnappers in the first place, they then calm down and leave.]]
* Bungled by Fink and Mean Machine Angel in ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' when they abduct Dredd's landlady assuming she is his wife.
* ''ComicBook/XMen'' foe Nimrod, a Sentinel from the future, forced an alternate timeline Forge to repair him by holding his daughter hostage. This is after he murdered Forge's wife -- Storm in this timeline -- right in front of the kid.
* In ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW'' Queen Chrysalis kidnaps the Cutie Mark Crusaders to force the cooperation of the Mane 6.
* In ComicBook/{{Morbius}}' ''ComicBook/MarvelNOW'' series, [[TheDragon the Rose]] tells Morbius he has his mother, who is alive "but I wouldn't say well" and is bound to get a lot worse. The Rose gives Morbius his mother's wedding ring as a reminder he works for him now. [[spoiler:Subverted when Morbius reveals his mother died years ago; he even was at her side when she passed away. The Rose's employer, who provided the ring, ''knows'' Morbius would know the threat was empty -- so it was the Rose who was being conned.]]
* The first issue of the ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' continuation comic [[CerebusRetcon reveals]] that this is the reason Prisoner 777 provides Zim with information -- Zim has his children, and will "erase them" from existence if their father doesn't do what he says.

* In ''ComicBook/SecretSix'', Catman receives a phone call letting him know that his infant son has been kidnapped and will receive one year of life for every member of his team Catman kills in the next five minutes. He considers it for a very long moment, but instead tells the kidnappers that they can drop the kid...but he'll find them. [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge Which he does.]]
* In ''ComicBook/BackToBrooklyn'', Paul Saetta kidnaps his brother Bob's family with the implication he will murder Bob's young son Michael if Bob crosses him.
* Protecting her family from this is why ComicBook/{{X 23}} sent her aunt and cousin into hiding at the end of ''Target: X''. Kimura eventually tracks them down anyway, and although she at first considered killing them out of spite, she ultimately plays the trope straight and decides to use them as leverage to force Laura to submit to her in ''ComicBook/AllNewWolverine''. Considering it's [[AxCrazy Kimura]], it's highly unlikely she'll hold up her end no matter what Laura does.
* In ''ComicBook/TheDarkKnightStrikesAgain'', Lex Luthor and Brainiac force Superman to do their bidding by holding the bottle city of Kandor hostage. Batman eventually figures out this is the case and arranges for the city's rescue as part of his plan.
* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'': In [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 the original comics]] and ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfWonderWoman2016'', Baroness Paula von Gunther is only working for the Nazis because they are holding her daughter Gerta hostage. When Wonder Woman rescues Gerta, Paula happily defects to the good guys.
* ''ComicBook/WonderGirl'': Lashina tries to force Cassie to cooperate by kidnapping Cassie's mother.
* ''ComicBook/Robin1993'': When Dodge realizes the fellow villains he's rounded up to humiliate Robin intend to murder the young hero and he decides he wants no part in their plans one of the others quickly informs him that if he leaves or tries to inconvenience them his family will pay the price.
* ''ComicBook/BatmanBlackAndWhite'': In "Heroes", set in 1937, a pioneering inventor is approached by an agent of German military intelligence with a job offer. When he refuses, the German captures his ten-year-old son to force his compliance.

* ''ComicBook/{{Knightfall}}:'' Abattoir gets Clayface to kidnap Graham Etchison by holding Clayface's wife and son hostage.
* ''ComicBook/LukeCageHeroForHire:'' ''Iron Fist'' villain Bushmaster forces Luke to attack Misty Knight by holding Luke's friend Dr. Bernstein and his girlfriend Claire Temple hostage. Afterwards, this proves to be the last straw for Claire, and she breaks up with Luke, not to be seen again for two decades.
* ''ComicBook/HeroesForHire:'' A few years after the previous incident, Bushmaster does this to Dr. Bernstein, this time with his actual wife, having abducted her on their honeymoon.
* ''ComicBook/IronFist1975:'' The Wrecking Crew try attacking the hospital Donald Blake works at, knowing he's connected to Thor [[HenshinHero somehow]], but wind up with Iron Fist and Misty Knight instead. Adapting, they take Misty hostage so Danny will get the Avengers for them. Naturally, they plan on betraying Danny and killing him and Misty anyway, and Danny knows it.
* ''ComicBook/HellblazerRiseAndFall'':
** Mr. Henderson complies with Despondeo's demands because he threatens to mutilate Billy's body while he's still in it.
** Despondeo threatens to torture Aisha's children in various creative ways if she tries interfering with his evil plan.

* In ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'', every chapter, Monokuma provides the students with an artificial "motive" to entice them to kill one another. I Have Your Wife, or at least a variation of it, plays out as the "motive" of chapter 1: Monokuma shows each student videos of something horrible happening to either their friends or loved ones ([[TheHero Makoto Naegi's]] family, [[IdolSinger Sayaka Maizono's]] idol group, [[BadassBiker Mondo Oowada's]] gang, etc.). Monokuma teases the students with the possibility that the situations on the videos might be real, so wouldn't it be a good idea for a student to commit murder, "graduate" from the school, and thus be able to go find out? The student who finally takes Monokuma up on that is [[spoiler: Sayaka, but it doesn't work because when she tries to kill Leon, Leon successfully defends himself, and then kills ''her''.]]
** And he later uses it again [[spoiler: while holding Sakura Oogami's beloved dojo hostage and forcing her to be TheMole. She only gets out of the deal via ''[[DrivenToSuicide killing herself]]''.]]

A common variant used with lone heroes (in which case 6 on the list is not exactly an option) has the hero reluctantly doing what the villain orders him to do, only to be screwed over when the villain [[ILied reneges on his promise]] [[YouSaidYouWouldLetThemGo to let the loved one go]], usually before [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness killing the loved one]] in question in a nasty KickTheDog moment. The result, for many action heroes, is often a RoaringRampageOfRevenge that usually culminates in StormingTheCastle and handing the villain the mother of all asskickings for daring to mess with the loved one in the first place. Alternatively, a RoaringRampageOfRescue ending in the rescue of the loved one may also take place.

Sometimes, a villain will do this as a plot to get a hero to betray his friends, only to have him RewardedAsATraitorDeserves. It's also a great way to turn a member of the good guys into RegretfulTraitor.

A common variant used with lone heroes (in which case 6 on the list is not exactly an option) has the hero reluctantly doing what the villain orders him to do, only to be screwed over when the villain [[ILied reneges on his promise]] [[YouSaidYouWouldLetThemGo to let the loved one go]], usually before killing the loved one in question in a nasty KickTheDog moment. The result, for many action heroes, is often a RoaringRampageOfRevenge that usually culminates in StormingTheCastle and handing the villain the mother of all asskickings for daring to mess with the loved one in the first place. Alternatively, a RoaringRampageOfRescue ending in the rescue of the loved one may also take place.

* Early on in ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'', Norman Osborn threatens Peter to do his bidding in exchange for ''not'' going after Aunt May and ComicBook/MaryJaneWatson. He refuses and persuades May that Norman can't be trusted, but Mary Jane still ends up getting kidnapped.

* In ComicBook/{{Morbius}}' Marvel NOW! series, [[TheDragon the Rose]] tells Morbius he has his mother, who is alive "but I wouldn't say well" and is bound to get a lot worse. The Rose gives Morbius his mother's wedding ring as a reminder he works for him now. [[spoiler:Subverted when Morbius reveals his mother died years ago; he even was at her side when she passed away. The Rose's employer, who provided the ring, ''knows'' Morbius would know the threat was empty -- so it was the Rose who was being conned.]]