History Main / InTheBack

* This is how [[spoiler:Brainiac 5]] kills Imperiex in the ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' cartoon.

* ''Series/{{Degrassi}}'':

* In ''Film/RoguesOfSherwood'', King John summons four of the barons to his castle where he [[NastyParty has his archers shoot them in the back]].

* In the Creator/JohnWoo movie ''Film/TheKiller'', when Inspector Li confronts the title character at the beach house, he demands that he turn around, as he won't shoot people in the back. The title character, a HitmanWithAHeart, notes that this is another way that they're the same. One of the mooks during the final shootout gets in a bullet to Ah Jong's back. It doesn't kill him, of course, but it's one of the rare moments that gets the slow-mo treatment.

* ''[[Literature/JoesWorld Forward The Mage:]]'' Artist and swordsman Benvenuti Sfondrati-Piccolomini is rigorously trained by his uncles to be a cold-blooded CombatPragmatist, and so when he comes to the aid of his future lover Gwendolyn Grayboar against a swarm of attackers, he backstabs three of them at once with the spike-equipped legs of his easel. And when the enraged survivors face him, he switches straight to the [[GroinAttack Low Blow]].

* Creator/GeorgeMacDonaldFraser, in his autobiography ''Quartered Safe Out Here'', recounts being in the climactic battles of May-June 1945, that saw the reconquest of Burma and the destruction in detail of an entire Japanese army. He relates a major battle where the Japanese broke and tried to retreat; [=McDonald Fraser=] relates that this part of the battle was in open country, the Japs were forced to retreat uphill, and from the point of view of vengeful and angry British soldiers, from that point on it became a firing-range exercise in killing as many Japs as possible, firing into their fleeing backs.

* In ''Film/TheGunfightAtDodgeCity'', Bat's brother Ed is shot in the back by one of Regan's deputies.

* Creator/GeorgeMcDonaldFraser, in his autobiography ''Quartered Safe Out Here'', recounts being in the climactic battles of May-June 1945, that saw the reconquest of Burma and the destruction in detail of an entire Japanese army. He relates a major battle where the Japanese broke and tried to retreat; [=McDonald Fraser=] relates that this part of the battle was in open country, the Japs were forced to retreat uphill, and from the point of view of vengeful and angry British soldiers, from that point on it became a firing-range exercise in killing as many Japs as possible, firing into their fleeing backs.

* ''Series/AlteredCarbon'': The warden reads in Kovacs's file that he shot his own partner in the back of the neck (destroying her [[BrainUploading stack]] and so killing her for real), and tries to goad Kovacs by saying this makes him a coward. Kovacs, however, knows that she was shot while unconscious by one of the soldiers who captured him [[KickTheDog as an act of spite]].

** Played straight when George Cowley [[KickTheSonOfABitch shoots a fleeing traitor]] in the back as he's running away. He could have send Bodie and Doyle to recapture him, but decides on a "shot while trying to escape" instead.

* In ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', one teleport esper, Kill-Point, can only teleport directly behind people, and ''only'' people in his line of sight. As such, this is his preferred attack style. Accelerator quickly figures him out and puts several bullets through his limbs.

* In ''Fanfic/TheMoonsFlashPrincess'', [[LightNovel/SwordArtOnline Kirito]], being a CombatPragmatist, kills [[Anime/SailorMoon Kunzite]] by running him through while he's fighting someone else, and later does the same to [[spoiler:Jadeite]]. Differently from most uses he's ''praised'' for this, as he makes the fight (and the victory) that much quicker (plus, nobody doubts his bravery).

* ''Series/TheWheelOfTime'': Egwene stabs Valda in the back with a knife during her escape after she frees herself from her bonds by channeling and he's distracted seeing Perrin's transformation.

* ''Fanfic/ShadowsOverMeridian'': During the Battle of Cavigor, a Razor Khan uses its clawed hands to impale the Warden of Cavigor from behind when the [[KnightTemplar latter]] is busy arguing with Vathek about executing the prisoners so that they can't be freed by the attackers.