History Main / LosingYourHead

** [[ComicBook/UltimateXMen Ultimate Wolverine]] at one point gets decapitated, yet remains alive to converse with Nick Fury. Fury theorizes it's because his HealingFactor is actually a "survival factor" and his body is [[AdaptiveAbility adapting to continue surviving]] instead of merely healing, with the skin of his head taking in oxygen to keep his brain alive.

** After being decapitated at the end of Morrison's run, Niles Caulder spent Rachel Pollack's run as a disembodied head somehow managing to survive without a body. He has since appeared whole again.

* Gary from ''Advertising/NintendoWeek'' begins hosting one [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxiUAQk3yM4 episode]] as a disembodied head, with his body stumbling into walls in the background. He promptly explains this is a nod to ''VideoGame/FaceRaiders'' for the [[UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS 3DS]].

* Schezo Wegey is infamously beheaded by protagonist Arle Nadja in the UsefulNotes/PC98 version of ''VideoGame/MadouMonogatari Madou Monogatari 1-2-3''. Just when Arle thought he was through, his head somehow springs to life and sticks around to continue fighting by casting spells for a while before he goes down for real. He later appears in other installments of ''Madou'', and [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment his decapitation is never mentioned again.]]

* In the ''Series/JourneyToTheWest1996'' two-parter, Tang Sanzang and disciples faces off against the Tiger, Deer and Goat Demons, with their second challenge being ''surviving'' decapitation. Wukong answers the Deer Demon's challenge, and as magical beings both of them can survive losing their heads and continue moving around unscathed... until Wukong sneakily turns one of his clones into a dog and steal the Deer Demon's head. With the head out of range, the demon quickly dies.

* An [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1cKN3xZMug&feature=emb_title aspirin commercial]] features a headless couple relaxing in bed, with the woman saying she has a headache. [[Main/MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext Despite being headless.]][[/folder]]

* The first ''Manga/{{Appleseed}}'' movie had a pair of gynoids with cutting whips that did quite a number on Hitomi's car and later on Briareos' HandCannon as well. Then when a gynoid thinks it will be taken prisoner, it twirls the wire around its own head to slice up its cranial section. However the lower jaw section apparently has enough functional circuitry to say the cryptic words: "The Appleseed seal must not be unlocked" before it's destroyed by a BoomHeadshot (implied to have been fired to [[YouKnowTooMuch stop anything further from being said]]).
* In the manga ''Manga/AstroBoy'''s head is apparently not that well attached, judging by the frequency of which it detaches. Though it's stated that his electronic brain is in his chest and not his head, which is just for talking, hearing, and sight.

* In ''Manga/{{Claymore}}'' normally [[DecapitationRequired cutting the head is the surest way]] to kill a Claymore or an Awakened being, except when it isn't. Two or three Awakened Being defied this norm.

** Sergeant Metallic in the original ''Manga/DragonBall'' has his head blown up by Goku's {{Kamehameha|doken}}, but survives as he's a robot. Surely, it scares and surprises him. Shortly after, however, Metallic runs out of battery.
** After Vegeta decapitates Guldo, Guldo's head survives long enough to yell at Vegeta before getting vaporized altogether.
** Similarly, Doctor Gero (a cyborg) is still able to rant after Android 17 decapitates him. 17 fixes this by ''stomping'' on Gero's head.

** Happens to Android 16 (who, unlike other "androids", is 100% mechanical) after he gets blown to bits in the Cell arc. [[spoiler:After his FinalSpeech, Cell steps on the head and destroys it. Which makes [[BewareTheNiceOnes Gohan]] [[UnstoppableRage go BATSHIT on Cell]].]]
** When Majin Buu punches Babidi's head to mush, his body continues to move until Buu vaporizes it.
** Majin Buu has his head blasted off during [[spoiler:the fight against Kid Buu (having been removed from Kid Buu's system).]] It's easily reformed from his body, however, since he can regenerate from almost every wound.
* ''Literature/{{Durarara}}'': Quite literally. Her head wasn't [[HeadlessHorseman attached to begin with]], but losing it is what sent Celty to search for it in Ikebukuro.

* In [[WhamEpisode episode 18]] of ''Anime/KillLaKill'', [[spoiler:Satsuki]] decapitates [[spoiler:[[BigBad Ragyo]]]] during their epic confrontation. However, since [[spoiler:Ragyo is a Life Fiber hybrid]], she has no trouble at all putting herself back together - or [[spoiler:[[CurbstompBattle beating the crap out of Satsuki afterward]]]].

* ''Anime/MazingerZ'': [[TheDragon Count Brocken]] was a Nazi ex-officer that got mortally wounded. [[MadScientist Dr.]] [[BigBad Hell]] found him when he was dying, cut his head from his body [[ReforgedIntoAMinion and turned him into a cyborg]]. His head always follows him around, either floating on its own or resting on one of his hands.
** This was carried to MemeticMutation levels in ''Anime/ShinMazinger''.
-->"Brocken BALL! The game where everyone wins. Except Brocken".

* Hidan from ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' is immortal, but one time it was cut off he couldn't move until Kakuzu used his threads to sew it back on. Later [[spoiler:Kakuzu isn't around to reattach it, and Shikamaru cuts his head off, but decides to be more thorough and blows up his body while [[AndIMustScream throwing his head into a deep pit in the private land of the Nara clan and then buries it in an avalanche. While the head is screaming curses at him]]]].

* Invoked in class 3-A's Haunted House in the Mahora Festival of ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'', where Akira, the guide in the school themed haunted house, appeared to get decapitated and her head told Negi to run away. She's actually just lying on the ground with a cover that matches the floor tiles camouflaging the rest of her body, but Negi was too freaked out to notice.
** In the backstory, [[spoiler:Tertium did this to Secundum after Secundum "rewrote" Shiori's older sister, effectively erasing the poor girl out of existence.]]
* Chronologically, this is how Genma gets introduced in ''Anime/NinjaScroll'', his head gets chopped off. [[spoiler:It's later shown he can regenerate any wound ever, and someone put his head back on his neck and he sports a visible scar.]]
* Buggy the Clown from ''Manga/OnePiece'' can separate any body part, but his move "Chop Chop Quick Escape" involves him popping his head off to stop people from punching his face.

** After the {{Timeskip}}, [[DemBones Brook]] gets his head taken off by a Fish Man Pirate, but then reveals he's perfectly fine. Since learning to master the power of his [[BackFromTheDead Revive-Revive Fruit]], Brook learned that it was the power of his soul keeping his body moving. Since he has no vital organs to risk, it's a simple matter to pop his head back on.
* ''Anime/PrincessMononoke'': "[[ChekhovsGun Cut off a wolf's head and it still has the power to bite]]."
* ''Manga/ReikoTheZombieShop's'' protagonist zombifies [[spoiler:her own]] head after an unfortunate run-in with a serial killer. [[spoiler:She gets a new body in the second volume.]]

* Subverted in ''Manga/SazanEyes'' during the combat between [[TheHero Yakumo]] and [[TheDragon Benares]] on the moon: true, Wu such as themselves can survive anything, even decapitation (which happened to Yakumo himself earlier on in the manga) but, as Benares pointed out, the sheer pain of having your head [[FamilyUnfriendlyViolence graphically torn from your neck]] is enough to reduce the victim in a comatose state.
* [[{{Cyborg}} Kikuchiyo's]] introduction in ''Anime/SamuraiSeven'' has him get decapitated by Kambei as part of a ploy act to distract a guy holding a baby hostage, with his head later berating him for stealing his rescue attempt. Later on, in an infiltration plan in which some of the samurai let themselves get captured, his head is delivered as a trophy, while his body enters enemy territory hidden within a pile of hay.

* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'':
** ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMarvel'': In one issus, Optimus Prime's head was held captive and his body under the Decepticons' remote control.
** In ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMegaseries'', Scorponok has been reduced to a badly damaged but still-living head as a result of the injuries inflicted upon him by Ultra Magnus. Sunstreaker suffers the same fate, courtesy of Scorponok’s human minions the Machination. In the ''Devastation'' arc, Runamuck survives being decapitated by one of the Reapers, only for another Reaper to kill him by crushing his head with a boulder.
** ''[[ComicBook/TheTransformersRobotsInDisguise Optimus Prime]]'': Wreck-Gar winds up losing his body when the positron core he stores inside explodes. He spent the rest of the series as a disembodied head being carried around by his consort, Rum-Maj. This resulted in many, ''many'' head-related puns.
* ''ComicBook/{{Wildguard}}'' has a character named Segmented Man who can segment his body parts. He demonstrates with his head.
* M.F. Enterprises' CaptainMarvel (unrelated to the [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Fawcett]] and [[ComicBook/CaptainMarvelMarvelComics Marvel]] characters who used that name) who could detach all of his body parts.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'', vampire sidekick Cassidy is beheaded, leading to his asking "Can ye sew?" He is fine afterwards. By Cassidy's standards, anyway.
** Healing was difficult. Scarves were employed.
* ''ComicBook/XMen'' villain Cameron Hodge survived beheading after a DealWithTheDevil that had made him immortal. Most of his appearances since have said head attached to an enormous SpiderTank.
* ''Bloodpool'' had Rubble (who is indeed made of rubble), who liked to take off his head and throw it. After his head is blown to bits during this attack, he still retains consciousness and channels his dialogue through a telepathic teammate.
* The villain Cyberface from ''ComicBook/SavageDragon'' survived as a disembodied head. Justified, in one aspect, that his power was interact with machinery.
* Mr. Gone of ''ComicBook/TheMaxx'' was somehow beheaded by an out-of-shape woman wielding a knife-length tooth of one of his henchmonsters, but that didn't stop him from continuing to play mind games with the heroes. He eventually finds a chiropractor to reattach his head.

* The Mayor was able to possess dead bodies after his own death and eventually settled in a "patchwork" monster built by the Initiative with such an ability in the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' tie-in comic.

* Mysterio projects an illusion of himself performing such an ability in various ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' comics.
* ''ComicBook/GreenLantern''. Abin Sur, the man who gave Hal Jordan his ring, has an evil son. Sur Jr. gets his head chopped off. It's later revealed that his race (he's an alien) doesn't quite need their heads and he regrows it (slowly) and returns. Only to get shredded after killing some kids. No luck there.
* Dimitri from the ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'' is a cyborg head in a floating fishbowl.
* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'':
** The Puzzler.
** In the 1990s, this became Metallo's power -- his head couldn't just operate without a body, it could seize control of any machinery and turn it into a body. In the absence of convenient machines, it scuttled around on spider-legs.
** In the [[https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Superboy_Vol_2_25 cover]] of ''New Adventures of ComicBook/{{Superboy}}'' #25.
* In the early 1990s ''ComicBook/{{Sleepwalker}}'' comics, Rick Sheridan [[FreakyFridayFlip ends up trapped in Sleepwalker's body]] and becomes trapped in the [[DreamLand Mindscape]], where he faces several different demons, including one that knocked his/Sleepwalker's head off. [[BigBad Cobweb]] points out that since Rick is in the Mindscape, the normal laws of nature don't apply, and it's also implied that [[spoiler:the whole thing was just an illusion dreamed up by Cobweb to convince Rick that Sleepwalker's race actually planned to invade Earth]].
* ''ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}'': The short story "Heads" is based on this trope. These heads reappear in Hellboy's AnimatedAdaptation "Sword of the Storms".
** Also in the story "King Vold", the King in question carries his severed head at arms length.
* A Variant cover for ''ComicBook/MarvelZombies'' features the Undead X-Men with Cyclops carrying his head in his hands continuing to fire optic blasts at Magneto.
** Also in ''Marvel Zombies'', Zombie Hawkeye is a disembodied head who talks. He's given a gynoid body at one point.
** In the crossover sequel with ''Marvel Apes'', the zombie Reed Richards gets beheaded and still moves around by using his stretching powers to extend pieces of his neck stump into rudimentary legs.
* Brick of the ''Doom's IV''.
** [[http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/linkara/at4w/3024-dooms-iv-2 "Clumsy Me."]]
* The Scarecrow demonstrates in the cover of the ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'' [[http://skottieyoung.deviantart.com/art/Wonderful-Wizard-of-Oz-7-Cover-116965645 #7]]
* ''ComicBook/DoomPatrol'':
** Creator/GrantMorrison's run features a trio of bizarre government agents called the [=SeX=]-Men. One of them gets decapitated and is shown to still be able to survive without a body.
** After being decapitated at the end of Morrison's run, Niles Caulder spent Rachel Pollack's run as a disembodied head somehow managing to survive without a body. He has since appeared whole again.
** Being a human brain in a robot body, Cliff Steele has occasionally survived having his head removed from his body and recovering by simply having his head attached to a new body (if reattaching to his old body isn't possible). [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness This is in spite of the original 1960s series making it clear several times that Robotman can't survive having his head being separated from his body]].
* ''Strange Adventures'' #136 has a robot having to get a new head after losing his old one.

* Brazilian comic [[ComicBook/MonicasGang Penadinho/Bug-a-booo's]] StockMonsters include Cranicola/Skully, a disembodied skull who lies atop a stone (though he jumps from time to time) and sometimes misses his body.
* Dick Grayson in ''ComicBook/TheDarkKnightStrikesAgain'', believe it or not.
* Invoked by the Monkey King in ''ComicBook/AmericanBornChinese'', who continues speaking uninterrupted even after being beheaded.
* In one ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'' comic, Wolverine cuts his head off, and comments that even with regeneration he may still die from it, unless his head get reattached soon afterwards. It does, and Deadpool himself comments that his mouth is dry and that he hadn't spoken for awhile. And later [[ComicBook/MarvelZombies Zombie-Deadpool]] a.k.a. "[[PunnyName Headpool]]", reduced to nothing but a hungry head. Like other zombies, he's compelled to eat but doesn't need to (not like it matters).
* ''ComicBook/DeathsHeadMarvelComics'': In their first encounter, ComicBook/IronMan 2020 decapitates Death's Head in battle. Annoyed, Death's Head used his headless body to beat up Iron Man and work off his aggression.
* The titular protagonist of ''ComicBook/MortTheDeadTeenager'' has the ability to remove his head, though on most occasions it’s involuntary.
* In the ''ComicBook/{{RoboHunter}}'' reboot, Sam has been reduced to this, forcing his granddaughter to take over running the business.
* ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'':
** Thanks to magical precautions, Loki can survive decapitation, and his body can pick up his head and reattach it. At the climax of one arc, an empowered Thor inflicts this on Loki by ripping his head off and magically keeping him alive, forced to watch the conclusion of Ragnarok.
** Later, [[spoiler:the Enchantress does this to Donald Blake after he is separated from Thor, Thor eventually leaving Blake's head where it can remain in a 'dream' of the life he would have lived if he had been real]].
* In ''ComicBook/TheWickedAndTheDivine'', Baphomet decapitates [[spoiler:The Morrigan]]. She was still able to talk and sing his praises. [[spoiler:And it was a fake anyway, so ultimately averted.]]
** [[spoiler:#33 reveals three of the dead gods live on as disembodied heads.]]
* In ''ComicBook/TheMultiversity'' #2, [[spoiler:Captain Carrot gets decapitated by the corrupted Nix Uotan. Being a {{Toon}}, however, this does not stop him from continuing to fight, although he is unable to eat his PowerUpFood in order to replenish his superpowers until his head is reattached with Red Racer's help]].
* ''ComicBook/{{Arawn}}'': Arawn cut off Owen's head many years ago, but he's still alive and talking to him. This is because Arawn, as the Lord of the Dead, can render any part of a person immortal.

* At the end of the ''[[Characters/GLOrangeLanternCorps Larfleeze]]'' ongoing, the robot L-Frank appears to get killed from having his head blasted off, but later appears still functioning while holding his detached head.
* ''ComicBook/LoriLovecraft'': Horatio is a zombie who also a fanatical basketball fan. When his team wins the playoffs in ''Back to the Garden'', the feedback of magical energy from Lori's battle with Elston Gunn is enough to knock his head off. Horatio doesn't notice and his head continues to cheer at the television while his body stumbles blindly around the workshop.

** ''[[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Wonder Woman 600]]'': In the Ivan Reis, Oclair Albert and Rod Reis collaboration Diana defeats Medusa by cutting off her head, and while this seems to do in the snake woman's body her head and hair is still snarling and furious.
* One arc of ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'' had the hero break up a human trafficking ring with the twist that the lynchpin was a new villain named Coyote who had replicated [[ThinkingUpPortals the Spot's powers]]. Coyote used special collars with his portal abilities to indefinitely separate peoples' bodies from their heads, keeping them on shelves in a room, the disorientation and horror of the situation making them compliant laborers for various illicit operations.
* ''ComicBook/TalesOfTheJedi'': In The Golden Age of the Sith, the Sith council has a Sith Lord who is a head in a container, kept alive with his Sith powers.
* ''R.E.B.E.L.S.'' volume two had Despero survive decapitation and subsequently grow a new body.

--> And since I am dead, I can take off my head/To recite Shakespearean quotations!

* ''[[Creator/RLStine R.L. Stine's Mostly Ghostly: Who Let the Ghosts Out?]]'': The live action movie version of "Mostly Ghostly" has this happen to the ghost boy called Nicky when listening to a [[HellGate portal in the wall to an evil dimension]]. A hand comes out of the wall and grabs him by the hair. His sister grabs his ankles and pulls to stop him from getting dragged in. The hand tugs hard enough that his head comes off and his headless body aimlessly wanders away until his sister stops him. She tries to pull his head free from the hand with no avail, so she tells his body to help her pull him free from the hand. The hand lets go and his head falls on the floor. His sister [[PullingThemselvesTogether reattaches his head to his body]], [[HeadTurnedBackwards only she apparently put his head on backwards]], so [[AbnormalLimbRotationRange he rotates his head back to normal]].

* According to ''[[Literature/TenSixtySixAndAllThat 1066 and All That]]'', Charles I was so little affected by his beheading that he continued to walk and talk for half an hour afterwards. This angered Cromwell.
* In ''Literature/AgainstADarkBackground'', [[spoiler:Feril]] ends up decapitated. The severed head is still able to talk and even [[spoiler:move his also-severed arm, since Feril is an android.]]

** [[ComicBook/UltimateXMen Ultimate Wolverine]] at one point gets decapitated, yet remains alive to converse with Nick Fury. Fury theorizes it's because his HealingFactor is actually a "survival factor" and his body is [[AdaptiveAbility adapting to continue surviving]] instead of merely healing, with the skin of his head taking in oxygen to keep his brain alive

* Played with regarding the creatures known as the Headless from the ''VideoGame/{{Ultima}}'' series. They are indeed quite headless and uninhibited by being such, but they are not some undead creature that originally suffered decapitation; they also have no place on their torso where a head would normally ''go'', with only an empty patch of skin between their shoulders. It's a mystery even in-universe as to how they get around and make such dangerous enemies without any evident sensory organs.

** Dio Brando decapitates himself in ''Manga/PhantomBlood'' [[AmputationStopsSpread to avoid being killed by Jonathan's Hamon]]. He later [[spoiler:steals Jonathan Joestar's body to replace his own]].
** ''Manga/BattleTendency'': Wamuu briefly survives getting his head blown off, but Hamon already spread to it, so he dies not too long afterward.
** In ''Manga/StardustCrusaders'', Vanilla Ice decapitates himself using his own Stand so he can offer his blood to Dio. Dio then uses his own blood to revive Ice, claiming "you don't need to die." [[spoiler:Since Dio used his blood, Vanilla Ice becomes a vampire, making him unkillable until Polnareff exposes him to sunlight. Unfortunately for Ice, although he knew about the weakness, he didn't realize ''he'' was a vampire.]]
** In ''Manga/GoldenWind'', Bruno Buccellati uses his zipper-ability to unzip rival gangster Zucchero's head clean off, which the other team members then hang from a fish hook in an attempt to interrogate him. When Zucchero refuses to comply, they resort to [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AQx_KMoCgJU the Torture Dance]], while Zucchero's head dangles helplessly by his eyelid and is ForcedToWatch.

* One rather disturbing scene in the anime of ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'' features [[spoiler:Maria]]'s head on a platter. [[EvilLaugh Laughing psychotically]] and daring [[spoiler:Rosa]] [[LetsMeetTheMeat to eat her]].

* In ''VideoGame/{{Headlander}}'' you wake up in the future with no body and must make do with a space helmet that comes equipped with rockets and the ability to attach to various robot bodies.

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* In ''VisualNovel/AnimamundiDarkAlchemist'': The hero's little sister was beheaded, but still survived. Granted, by the game's universe rules, it was part of a [[BurnTheWitch "Test"]] - only witches can survive beheading.
* In one of ''VisualNovel/SpiritHunterNG's'' Bad Ends, [[spoiler:Kaoru]] is decapitated. Not only do they remain alive for a minute, but they're even capable of holding a conversation over a phone, something that they recognize should be impossible.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* Commander Bem from the ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeriesS2E2Bem Bem]]".

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'': Dean in "Escape to the House of Mummies".

* ''Series/InLivingColor'''s segment "The Head Detective"

* The ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure Jojo's Bizarre Adventure]]'' AlternateUniverseFic ''FanWorks/SapphireHeartverse'' has this trope apply to Jonathan Joestar's head, as like in canon his body was taken by Dio who opted to magically keep Jonathan's head alive in a jar. As of the time the AU takes place, Jonathan has since learned how to move by bouncing and [[HandyMouth operating things using his mouth]], and any food he eats goes to Dio's stomach, which is often PlayedForLaughs. In later entries of the AU, the cast has since been joined by the living severed heads of other, deceased characters that were magically resurrected, with the same rules applying as with Jonathan's head.

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'': Titans can generally survive the removal of their heads (which they'll quickly [[HealingFactor regenerate]]), often being able to keep walking without it. Even on the occasions where decapitation kills them, it's not actually the loss of the head, but when the process of its removal also happens to cut away the nape of the [[AchillesHeel neck]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'': Dean in "Escape to the House of Mummies".

* In Terry Gilliam's ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBaronMunchausen'', the Sultan cuts off the Treasurer's head, which flies through the air, lands in one of the harem baths, and winks at one of the Sultan's wives. And then there are the King and Queen of the Moon, who have detachable heads, but that's not quite the same thing.

* ''Film/AlitaBattleAngel'': in the climax, Hugo is fatally wounded by Zapan and Alita carries him away in a nearby church. Thanks to Chiren's surgery skills, she separates Hugo's head from his body, maintaining it alive with her URM tech [[LiteralChangeOfHeart artificial heart]], passing him off as dead to the Centurions. Hugo's head is then grafted onto a robotic body.

* [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Beetlejuice-Poster.jpg The film poster of]] ''Film/{{Beetlejuice}}''.
** In the movie Barbara decapitates Adam to scare the living folks out of their house - unfortunately the two of them are InvisibleToNormals [[spoiler:except [[ISeeDeadPeople Lydia]]]].

* Happens in ''Film/TheBoxersOmen'' during a black magic ritual gone wrong; a witch doctor's head, upon being possessed, ends up detaaching itself and floats around, with its intestines a-dangling underneath lashing out like a series of whips. Yes, it's a weird movie.
* The Mayor's Daughter from ''Film/CemeteryMan''.

* In ''[[Film/Cyborg1989 Cyborg 2]]'', Angelina Jolie's character has her head removed when being interrogated.
* At the end of ''Film/DeathBecomesHer'', [[spoiler:which flashed forward to the funeral of Ernest, Helen and Madeline trip and fall on the front steps as they leave. Because the serum not only prevented them from aging, but ''dying'' as well, and they were so badly disintegrated by this time, they end up breaking apart when they hit the bottom, their heads still functioning.]]
--> [[spoiler:'''Helen''': Do you remember where you ''parked the car''?]]

* [[EvilTwin "Evil"]] Ash in ''[[Franchise/EvilDead Army of Darkness]]''
** A beheaded demon-possessed woman also does a rather memorable dance while headless in ''Evil Dead 2''.
* The villain in the 1959 supernatural thriller ''Film/TheFourSkullsOfJonathanDrake'' is revealed to be the patchwork undead creation of a Jivaro witch doctor, who'd sought vengeance for the massacre of his tribe. He'd reanimated the body of a decapitated Jivaro after attaching the head of one of their Caucasian enemies, so the result could track down and murder the descendants of the massacre's instigator in the guise of a white scholar.
* The ending of ''Film/FreddyVsJason''. Where Jason comes out of Crystal lake with Freddy's head, and he smiles and winks at the camera.
* ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'': Godzilla reduces King Ghidorah to just his middle head. The head continues roaring and trying to bite Godzilla until he vaporises it.
* ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'': [[spoiler:The company APEX acquired King Ghidorah's severed left head. Although the head rotted away until nothing was left but a skull, it turns out it is ''still conscious'' when it absorbs enough energy to awaken and take control of [=MechaGodzilla=].]]
* ''Film/GhostbustersII'' discussed this trope when detailing the [[RasputinianDeath fate of]] [[BigBad Vigo]] [[AxeCrazy the Carpathian.]] Just before his ''head'' died, he uttered a [[AlmostDeadGuy prophetic statement that he would return]].

* In the horror-comedy movie ''Film/IdleHands'', Elden Henson's character Pnub is decapitated by a thrown circular saw blade, and as his head bounces down a flight of stairs, he looks up at the killer and says "Whoa, cool."

* ''Film/LittleMonsters'' has this happen to a [[TheFairFolk monster]] kid named [[MultiArmedAndDangerous Arnold]] due to [[TheDragon Snik]] tearing his head off for not giving "[[BigBad Boy]] what he wants" and then promptly [[LEGOBodyParts replacing his head with]] [[NonHumanHead what appears to be a ball with a face]].

* ''The Magic Serpent'' has the protagonist get decapitated when one of the ninjas throws a boomerang at him to which not only did he survive but he could also controls his headless body, be able to talk as a severed head, and levitate his head around from one place to another.
* ''Film/MarsAttacks''. Donald and Natalie's heads are severed, but survive on hanging wires and attached to her pet chihuahua respectively. For bonus points, Natalie's body is now inhabited by the chihuahua's head.
* ''Film/MonsterHighTheMovie'' has both the Headless Headmistress and [[spoiler:Clawdeen]] (when Draculaura uses a spell to make her resemble the former) briefly have their heads separated from their body.
* Creator/GeorgesMelies takes off his head a surprising number of times. An identical one almost always reappears on his shoulders immediately, however, allowing him to pull off all sorts of multi-head stunts: just take a look at his films ''The Four Troublesome Heads'' and ''The Melomaniac''.
* The film adaptation of ''Film/MyFavoriteMartian'' has Martin literally fall apart during "Martian depression".
* The two friends in ''Nothing'' eventually [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor wish away everything around each other]] in an argument until they're both down to just their heads... [[ThePowerOfFriendship which they find they can't bring themselves to wish away because they still like each other after all]]. Awwwwww.

-->"Follow my voice! Follow my voice! To the left. No, the other left. ''(body rams into a tree)'' ...No, that's a tree."
* ''Film/PrinceOfDarkness''. The woman who becomes TheChosenOne of Satan has her head cut off. She picks up her head and puts it back on her neck, where it re-attaches itself.
* ''Film/ReAnimator'' has his rival's head in a pan and tells him, "You're a no-body!"
** Many viewers have quipped about ''that'' scene where "the head gave head!"
* Mombi and her Hall of Heads plus Gump in ''Film/ReturnToOz''
** Which was adapted from Langwidere - see the literature section below.
* ''[[Creator/RLStine R.L. Stine's Mostly Ghostly: Who Let the Ghosts Out?]]''. The live action movie version of "Mostly Ghostly" has this happen to the ghost boy called Nicky when listening to a [[HellGate portal in the wall to an evil dimension]]. A hand comes out of the wall and grabs him by the hair. His sister grabs his ankles and pulls to stop him from getting dragged in. The hand tugs hard enough that his head comes off and his headless body aimlessly wanders away until his sister stops him. She tries to pull his head free from the hand with no avail, so she tells his body to help her pull him free from the hand. The hand lets go and his head falls on the floor. His sister [[PullingThemselvesTogether reattaches his head to his body]], [[HeadTurnedBackwards only she apparently put his head on backwards]] [[AbnormalLimbRotationRange so he rotates his head back to normal]].
* In the short film ''Robot Bastard'', the TinCanRobot hero escapes the BigBad by shoving his head in the {{space station}}'s waste disposal unit and pulling the lever, severing his head and sending it down a chute into outer space. The body then self-destructs, destroying the station.

* The movie version of ''Film/SinCity'' has one of the protagonists imagining that a dead body is talking to him. At one point, the dead body loses a head. The main character later imagines the severed head trying to talk with him briefly.

* B4 from ''Film/StarTrekNemesis''
* ''Franchise/StarWars''

* ''Film/TheySavedHitlersBrain'' - Hitler's head in a jar pretty much ''has'' to have inspired the folks at ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''.
* Decapitating the monster in ''Film/TheThing1982'' doesn't work -- in one instance the head ''pulls itself off'' to avoid being burned with the rest of the body, grows legs, and walks away.
* ''Film/TheThingThatCouldntDie'' (a movie that [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S08E05TheThingThatCouldntDie later appeared]] on ''[[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 MST3K]]'') featured the disembodied head of an evil hypnotist, cursed to a FateWorseThanDeath back in the 1500's. It was dug up centuries later by a bunch of dim-witted ranchers and was able to manipulate anyone it made eye contact with. Only after it had been reattached to its body could it be destroyed. Tom Servo showed during the host segment of this film that he too possessed such a talent.
** [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S05E13TheBrainThatWouldntDie Also on MST3K]]: ''Film/TheBrainThatWouldntDie'', where a scientist keeps his fiancée's head alive in a pan until he can retrieve a new body for her.
** And in [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S04E14Tormented yet another episode]], ''Film/Tormented1960'': although the deceased girlfriend was not beheaded or otherwise dismembered, she can send selected bits of herself to vex her unfaithful beau. Her detached head is quite sarcastic.

* In the live-action ''Film/{{Transformers}}'', when Frenzy's head is severed with a sawzall, the head is capable of scuttling around on its trailing components, and also turning into Mikaela's cell phone.

* An example near the end of ''Film/{{Wolfen}}'' has a character's throat torn out by a wolf, resulting in his head ending up separate from his body. When it's obvious from the attempted mouthing of words and blinking that the head is still functional, [[ShootTheFuelTank a colleague shoots the car he's next to,]] [[MercyKill putting him out of his misery]].
* Several people are quite headless by the end of ''Film/TheWolfman2010''.

* ''Film/{{Dollman}}'': Sprug's entire body has been destroyed during various fights with Brick. His head now sits on a hoverboard that acts as a life support system and mobility device.
* The third Martian in ''Film/WarGod'' have his head hacked off by Guan Yu's Green Dragon Saber, but instead of killing him the Martian's head just floats around while it's headless owner runs behind him.

* In the 1982 film ''Film/Android1982'', [[spoiler:the MadScientist who built the androids Max and Cassandra]] is graphically revealed to be an android too after his head is ripped off in a struggle and [[CranialProcessingUnit it keeps speaking until it is thrown down a trash chute.]] He keeps repeating "[[TomatoInTheMirror I'm not an android]]" the entire time.

* ''Film/ChildsPlay'':
** Near the end of the first movie, Chucky gets his head, arm and leg blown off by Karen. Santos, against Norris' caution, brings the head into the living room... [[spoiler:But then the rest of Chucky's body busts out of a duct to strangle Santos as the head commands it on.]]

* ''Manga/TimeStopBrave'': Vampires cannot be killed by decapitation or dismemberment. Their heads can still talk and they can eventually pull themselves back together. The only way to kill them is to expose them to sunlight or holy light, which will turn them to dust.

* In their first encounter, ComicBook/IronMan 2020 decapitates ComicBook/DeathsHead in battle. Annoyed, Death's Head used his headless body to beat up Iron Man and work off his aggression.

* ''WebOriginal/{{Athyrmagaia}}'' has the Athyrmatherians, alien creatures which resemble familiar Earth animals like lions, gazelles and wildebeest: except that the head, thorax, abdomen and rump of each Athyrmatherian is a ''separate animal'' of its own, having metamorphosed from four separate sibling larvae that then proceeded to unite at adulthood. As such, heads can detach from the bodies and survive for a while separated: which becomes a tactic of a predator group called [[MeaningfulName headhunters]] that finish their prey by detaching the head zooid and devouring the still-living head, before moving onto the incapacitated body.

* In the [[WidgetSeries extremely bizarre]] ''VideoGame/SamuraiZombieNation'', you control the detached (and giant) head of the samurai [[BilingualBonus Namakubi]] as you use {{Eye Beam}}s and acid spit on [[OurZombiesAreDifferent zombies]]. Really.

** Dio Brando decapitates himself in ''Phantom Blood'' [[AmputationStopsSpread to avoid being killed by the Ripple]]. He later [[spoiler:steals Jonathan Joestar's body to replace his own]].
** ''Battle Tendency'': Wamuu briefly survives getting his head blown off, but the Ripple is already destroying it, so he dies not too long afterward.
** In ''Stardust Crusaders'', Vanilla Ice decapitates himself using his own Stand so he can offer his blood to Dio. Dio then uses his own blood to revive Ice, claiming "you don't need to die." [[spoiler:Since Dio used his blood, Vanilla Ice becomes a vampire, making him unkillable until Polnareff exposes him to sunlight. Unfortunately for Ice, although he knew about the weakness, he didn't realize ''he'' was a vampire.]]
** In ''Vento Aureo'', Bruno Buccellati uses his zipper-ability to unzip rival gangster Zucchero's head clean off, which the other team members then hang from a fish hook in an attempt to interrogate him. When Zucchero refuses to comply, they resort to [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AQx_KMoCgJU the Torture Dance]], while Zucchero's head dangles helplessly by his eyelid and is ForcedToWatch.

* ''VideoGame/Tekken6'' has Alisa Boskonovitch who can remove her head and have it explode in front of her opponent. Of course, a new one emerges shortly after.

* Page image Victor Manchas of ''ComicBook/RunawaysRainbowRowell'' is a cyborg who does just fine as a head: after he is seemingly killed by Vision and his wife, his head is sent to his friends in a box by Tony Stark, where his friend Chase eventually manages to reawaken him. Having been created as a weapon by Ultron, Victor notably ''wants'' to remain a disembodied head: as he believes he can no longer hurt people in his state and is visibly traumatized when Doombot installs him onto a weaponized robot body. He instead prefers roombas and quadcopters as transportation.