History Main / PercussivePrevention

See KindRestraints for a softer version of this. Compare PercussiveShutdown when this tactic is used against an object rather than a character. Can result in PercussiveTherapy if the recipient of the hit has been a source of frustration for the person doing the hitting. A common reason for this is that the character punching you out is MoreExpendableThanYou. Compare GetAholdOfYourselfMan, DopeSlap, SavedFromTheirOwnHonor and DontSaySuchStupidThings.

* ''Videogame/MetroidOtherM'' has [[NeverLiveItDown a controversial example]] when Adam shoots Samus in the back to prevent her from entering the Metroid breeding lab. The problem is that he could have easily warned her verbally instead, and stunning her like that allowed a Metroid to get within attacking range before he stopped it.

* In ''Webcomic/EverydayHeroes'', Mr. Mighty [[http://eheroes.smackjeeves.com/comics/1991173/rockin-role-model/ knocks out]] Iron Jane to prevent her from committing murder for revenge.

* In Creator/TeamFourStar's ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'', Goku does this to Jeice while Jeice is giving a monologue. Only Goku wasn't trying to stop his speech, he was trying to get Jeice to fight.

* ''Series/BabylonFive'': In "A Voice in the Wilderness", Babylon 5 is at risk of being destroyed by the planet below [[EarthShatteringKaboom blowing itself to pieces.]] Sinclair asks Garibaldi to make sure that [[TheLancer Ivanova]] makes it onto an escape ship, even if Garibaldi has to knock her out and bodily toss her in. Fortunately this proves unnecessary.

* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'': ''Film/ThePumaman'' has the inscrutable Aztec hero knock out the DesignatedHero so that Aztec can go on a suicide mission alone.
-->'''Crow T. Robot:''' Yes! The Aztec speaks for all of us!

* In the ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode Dimension Jump, [[TheAce Ace Rimmer]] does this to Kryten to stop him going out in heavy rain to fix the ship. (Kryten isn't waterproof and hence would be damaged.)

** In "Obsession", Ensign Garrovick tries to knock out Captain Kirk with a [[TapOnTheHead judo chop]] so he can be the one to lure the vampire cloud to the antimatter bomb.
** "The Empath": [=McCoy=] knocks out Kirk and Spock with InstantSedation drug injections so he will be the one to be taken and tortured by the Vians.
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''
** In the episode "Once More Unto the Breach", when Worf prepares a suicide mission to protect the crew of a Klingon ship from the Dominion, Kor knocks him out and does the HeroicSacrifice.
** In "The Die is Cast" Odo does this to Garak when Garak refuses to leave his (evil) old mentor behind on an exploding ship.

* On ''Series/TheXFiles'', Scully shoots Mulder into his shoulder to keep him from killing Krycek. And as he {{lampshades}}, he's lucky she has ImprobableAimingSkills because he comes out none the worse for wear.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

** Luffy knocks out Mayor Boodle when the old man tries to challenge Buggy the Clown. Later Luffy violently forces Johnny and Yosaku down to stop interfering during Zoro [[CurbStompBattle one-sided duel]] with Mihawk. Much later in the Dressrosa he knocks out Bellamy effectively saving him from Domflamingo.
** Nami does this to boy in her village when he wants avenge his father who Arlong killed, Nami wacks him down with her staff usually Nami wouldn't dream of [[WouldntHurtAChild hurting a child]] but in this case she was protecting him. Even when pretending to be evil she's still a MamaBear. Later she pretends to stab Usopp to fool Arlong and save his life.

** Sanji himself does to Usopp in Skypeia, kicking him out of the way Enel's lighting blast which would've undoubtedly vaporized Usopp. Sanji on the hand decided to [[TakingtheBullet take to blast himself]]. Later in Water 7, Sanji floors Chopper in his Heavy form to restrain him from getting involved in Luffy and Usopp's duel.

Bob is about to do something that Charlie considers stupid — attempting a HeroicSacrifice, becoming TheBait, or otherwise putting himself in danger. Charlie could try to reason with Bob and persuade him not to go, but he takes a much faster and more direct option.

* ''Film/{{Armageddon}}'': A.J. (Creator/BenAffleck) has to be the one to remain on the asteroid and detonate the bomb, after drawing the short straw. Instead, Harry (Creator/BruceWillis) disconnects an oxygen tube from his space suit, forcing him to go back to the shuttle and let Harry do the job.

** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'': Even MissionControl suggests that you knock Emma out and drag her in order to get past some bugs on the floor.
** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'', punching out Eva and dragging her is the best way to keep her from doing something stupid that might attract enemy guards. Also saves on food since her stamina doesn't go down while asleep.

* In ''Series/TheBoys'', [[spoiler:Butcher learns that the PsychoSerum he and Hughie have been using is slowly killing them, and he knocks Hughie out and strands him in a gas station to keep him from taking any more.]]

See KindRestraints for a softer version of this. Compare PercussiveShutdown when this tactic is used against an object rather than a character. Can result in PercussiveTherapy if the recipient of the hit has been a source of frustration for the person doing the hitting. A common reason for this is that the character punching you out is MoreExpendableThanYou. Compare GetAholdOfYourselfMan, DopeSlap and DontSaySuchStupidThings.

* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': Emily hits her husband Jack over the head with an aluminum pan to stop him from killing Mittens in “The Survivor.”

* In the first episode of the ''WesternAnimation/XMen'' cartoon, Cyclops orders a retreat, but Wolverine refuses to abandon Beast and Morph. Because going back would be suicide, Rogue uses her power on him, knocking him out; they carry him out as they retreat.

* ''LightNovel/VampireHunterD''. In the 1985 movie, when danger approaches Doris Lang's house she volunteers to fight alongside D. D uses the talking mouth on his hand to put her to sleep so she can resist Count Magnus Lee's summons.

* In ''VideoGame/DigimonStoryCyberSleuthHackersMemory'', when the DelicateAndSickly [[MissionControl Erika]] insists on leaving the hospital to help the PlayerCharacter to track down the BigBad Arcadiamon, her partner Wormmon headbutts her unconscious [[{{tsundere}} and justifies it by saying she'd do the same for him]].

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1564156850001896200
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.

* Lelldorin in the ''Literature/{{Belgariad}}'' mentions to Garion, while describing his (Lelldorin's) flight from Vo Mimbrae, that he punched out a friend of his "because I didn't want to hurt him". (If the friend had had the chance, honor would have demanded he fight Lelldorin to the death.)

* Near the end of ''Literature/DeadhouseGates'', the second book of the ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'', Icarium is about to [[spoiler: wreak havoc to the Azath and, in consequence, either be trapped by it or let all the beasties it's already trapped run free]], so his friend Mappo just whacks him over the head. Ya know, just in case. [[spoiler:It works.]]
* ''[[Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo 1635: The Papal Stakes]]'': When Cardinal Borja's forces are besieging the Castel Gandolfo, the Pope expresses his intention to stay and be killed in order to prevent a schism in the Catholic Church. Harry Lefferts punches him in the jaw and hauls him bodily out the postern gate.
* ''Literature/MaryRussell'': Holmes knocks Mary out to prevent her from attempting to dive into the river after him in ''A Monstrous Regiment of Women''.
* An instance of this trope can be considered the PointOfDivergence in the ''Literature/ArciaChronicles'', which then has contained a pretty faithful FantasyConflictCounterpart of UsefulNotes/WarsOfTheRoses. Namely, during the Battle of Graza (Bosworth), Alexander Tagere's (UsefulNotes/RichardIII) final SelfDestructiveCharge is cut short by his BestFriend Raphael Kerna knocking him out and hoisting his body over a horse that'd carry him out of the melee. Thus, Alexander survives where Richard died.
* ''Literature/AbleTeam''. In "Army of Devils", Carl Lyons does a mild version, shoving his ActionGirlfriend off a helicopter just before it takes off. He should have knocked her out instead, because she gets pissed-off and commandeers another helicopter, which flies right into an RPG-7 rocket.

* In the finale of ''VideoGame/CaptainRainbow'', [[spoiler:the island is facing destruction, and Hikari tells you to escape on the last wishing star. You can refuse, but Hikari will still insist you go. Since she won't take no for an answer, you knock her out, put her on the star and send her off to safety.]]
* In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIVTheBalladOfGayTony'', Tony is ordered to kill several men with a supply of satchel charges. Knowing that he's drugged up and has no clue how to use them, Luis knocks him out and does the job himself.
* In the early days of ''VideoGame/DungeonsAndDragonsOnline'', the "Threnal" quest chain was infamous for a hold-the-line quest wherein you needed to protect an NPC who liked nothing better than to charge every group of monsters -- and consequently draw too much aggro and get himself killed. Nowadays, he can be knocked unconscious with a dialogue option.
* This happens in ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors 7'' during Shu's story mode. At the battle of Yi Ling, Liu Bei tries to take on the entire Wu army by himself to get revenge for his fallen sworn brothers. Zhao Yun, who had pleaded with him to fall back, finally stops him with an elbow to the stomach, which knocks him out, leaving him to be carried away from the battlefield by some allied troops.

* ''Videogame/MetroidOtherM'' has [[NeverLiveItDown a controversial example]] when Adam shoots Samus in the back to prevent her from entering the Metroid breeding lab. The problem is that he could have easily warned her verbally instead, and stunning her like that allowed a Metroid to get within attacking range before he stopped it.
* At the end of ''VideoGame/DinoCrisis'', Gail is heavily injured, but still insists on finding and capturing Dr. Kirk, even though the whole lab is about to blow. One of the player's options is having Regina punch Gail in the stomach to knock him out and let Rick carry him to the escape boat while Regina can either follow them or she can get Kirk herself.

* In ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja'', Mitzi knocks out Dan when he's suffering from the Knife Eye Attack.

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'': In "The Cat and The Canary", Arrow takes Canary's place in Meta-Brawl when he knows Wildcat won't hesitate to go all-out at her. It drags on so long that Wildcat ''supposedly killed'' Arrow leaving him with MyGodWhatHaveIDone
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' episode "Haunted", the team finds a badly-injured Robin claiming that Slade is alive. Despite the team's clear evidence that Slade is not around, Robin angrily proclaims that Slade still is and rants that if they get in his way he'll fight them, forcing Starfire to hit him with an energy blast.
* Parodied on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', when Homer tries to stop Barney from driving drunk by knocking him out. After getting whaled on with fists, a tire iron, and finally having his head slammed repeatedly in a car door, Barney remains very much conscious and a little bit confused at what Homer is up to.
-->'''Barney:''' Ow! Cut it out. Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! All right, here, take the keys.
* In the UsefulNotes/WorldWarI-set ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' cartoon "WesternAnimation/DumbPatrol", Porky Pig is selected for a dangerous air mission, but WesternAnimation/BugsBunny drops a brick on his head and takes his place.
-->'''Bugs:''' Y'know, I just had to take his place. He's got a wife and six piglets.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'', when [=AndrAIa=] and Mouse are about to enter a game with Enzo, the former pretends that her zipboard is losing power. When Mouse comes to help her, [=AndrAIa=] snatches her zipboard so she won't enter the game, and she later justifies this to Enzo saying that, since their icons are untested, there was no need for both of them to take the risk.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** Luffy knocks out Mayor Boodle when the old man tries to challenge Buggy the Clown. Later Luffy violently forces Johnny and Yosaku down to stop interfering during Zoro [[CurbStompBattle one-sided duel]] with Mihawk. Much later in the Dressrosa he knocks out Bellamy effectively saving him from Domflamingo.
** Nami does this to boy in her village when he wants avenge his father who Arlong killed, Nami wacks him down with her staff usually Nami wouldn't dream of [[WouldntHurtAChild hurting a child]] but in this case she was protecting him. Even when pretending to be evil she's still a MamaBear. Later she pretends to stab Usopp to fool Arlong and save his life.
** Doctor Kureha also uses these methods to keep patients from doing anything that will worsen their condition or even make them incurable. She violently floored Sanji to keep him from further injuring his back and paralyzing himself.
** Sanji himself does to Usopp in Skypeia, kicking him out of the way Enel's lighting blast which would've undoubtedly vaporized Usopp. Sanji on the hand decided to [[TakingtheBullet take to blast himself]]. Later in Water 7, Sanji floors Chopper in his Heavy form to restrain him from getting involved in Luffy and Usopp's duel.
*** Much later in Zou Sanji nearly breaks his [[WouldntHitAgirl chivalry]] when he physically throws Nami, Chopper and Brook to safety out of Bege's body. Though he does tell them to watch their heads as they land.
** In Thriller Bark, Zoro knocks Sanji out to keep Sanji from possibly sacrificing his life to a high-powered government thug in Luffy's place. Before that Zoro is often shown violently shoving Nami out of harm's way like in Alabasta and in Foxy filler.
* In ''Manga/{{Eyeshield 21}}'', Homer punches Panther in the face to prevent him from attacking their racist coach, which would get him kicked off the team and possibly out of the school. In a later episode, Tetsuma smacks Monta around to keep him from going ballistic on the referee and getting his team thrown out of the Fall Tournament.
* ''Franchise/DragonBall'':
** In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', Vegeta knocks Goku, Trunks and Goten out (in that order) to keep them from fighting Buu.
** In the alternate future, {{Future|Badass}} Gohan knocks Trunks out to keep him from fighting the androids. By the time Trunks wakes up, Gohan is already dead.
* Happened to ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' in the second movie.
** In the main series, Hiashi Hyuga's twin brother Hizashi knocks him out with a punch to the solar plexus in order to take his place as a human sacrifice.

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'':
** Kakyoin shoots Polnareff with an Emerald Splash to knock him out of the way of Hol Horse's bullet. It happens again much later on: [[spoiler:when Vanilla Ice is about to ambush the party of Avdol, Polnareff, and Iggy, Avdol smacks the latter two out of the way [[HeroicSacrifice at the cost of his own life.]]]]
** Polnareff knocks Kakyoin out when his [[CassandraTruth attempts at telling]] the others that the Mannish Baby is one of Dio's minions forces him to try and make it expose its true colors. It ends up working in their favor since it allowed Kakyoin to bring his Stand to the dream world.

* ''Manga/GreatTeacherOnizuka'' has Onizuka put bossy, self-righteous Vice-Principal Uchiyamada in a German Suplex for trash-talking some angry delinquents he'd had expelled from school. Which pacifies the delinquents and prevents them from doing anything ''worse'' to Uchiyamada.
* Used occasionally in ''Manga/FairyTail'', usually by Gray and Natsu on each other when one of them is too injured to fight but too stubborn not to. Erza also employs this on Natsu once to save him the pain of crippling motion sickness.
** Natsu inverts this on Erza, knocking her out with a punch to the stomach in order to fight Jellal for her.
* ''Anime/YuGiOh'' has the first duel between The Pharaoh and Dark Bakura. Dark Bakura has just set Man-Eater Bug in defense mode (read, anything that attacks it sets off its ability, which kills any monster on the field, and it's set to go off next turn anyway). Tristan attempts to attack it and take the ability to save his friends. This earns him a sword hilt to the stomach, courtesy of Flame Swordsman!Joey, who proceeds to do it himself.

* In the initial arc of ''Manga/SaintSeiya'', when Shun and Shiryu confront Ikki to retrieve remainder of the Gold Cloth he stole, Shun knocks Shiryu unconscious (in the anime, he simply wraps Shiryu head-to-toe in his chains) to prevent him from interfering with resolving his family affairs (namely, Shun plans to [[HeroicSacrifice let Ikki kill him]]; it's complicated). It fails because Hyoga (with a gaping hole in his chest) and Seiya show up just in time.
* In ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' at one point Masamune gets injured during the fight with [[spoiler: Nobunaga.]] He faints while riding away on his horse (don't ask) and his [[UndyingLoyalty faithful retainer]], Kojuro, gets him to safety. But when some of Masamune's men gets kidnapped, Masamune wakes up at the worst possible time and overhears the news. He insists on rescuing his men despite his weakened state, while Kojuro attempts to stop him. The two battle a bit, then Kojuro takes advantage of Masamune's still sensitive wound and knocks his lord out with a blade hilt to the head. One of the men who had managed to escape the kidnapping (and whom delivered the news) yells at Kojuro, asking him why he did that. [[TheStoic Kojuro]] doesn't respond, but it's clear by the look in his eyes that his actions were done out of a deep love and sense of duty towards Masamune. Kojuro then borrows Masamune's swords, promising to rescue the kidnapped men himself.

* During an arc of ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'', Captain Marvel punches out Superman in order to take his place on a trip to the 5th Dimension, where Captain Marvel's abilities are somewhat better suited to the task.
* In the classic Sun-Eater storyline in ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'', Ferro Lad knocks out Superboy and takes the bomb into the heart of the monster in a HeroicSacrifice, knowing that the red sun radiation from the Sun-Eater would have rendered Superboy vulnerable to the bomb.
* During a Walt Simonson arc of the ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'', Reed Richards refuses to escape from a site targeted for imminent destruction without rescuing Sue and Johnny first, prompting Ben Grimm to knock him out and cart him off to safety. After the place blows up and [[DisneyDeath (apparently)]] kills the Storms, Reed predictably flips out at Ben, who justifies his actions in an unexpected reversal of their usual RedOniBlueOni roles by reminding Reed that while the two of ''them'' would would have gladly died rather than leave Sue and Johnny behind, the entire universe is about to be annihilated and without Reed, the others along for the ride -- Thor, Iron Man, and Ms. Marvel -- would have no chance in hell of saving it.
* In ''ComicBook/GreenArrow'' #24, Shado knocks Green Arrow to prevent him going to fight Count Vertigo while injured, then goes to fight Vertigo herself.
* Comicbook/{{Daredevil}} kicks the new White Tiger off a building so she won't try to fight Bullseye.
* ''ComicBook/{{Hitman}}'': Hacken is too [[HardHead thick-skulled]] for this to work, in every sense of the word.
** "Hey, Tommy, I think somebody hit me in the back of the head! Did you see him?"
* When the sheriff of Laastekist lets Frank out of his cell to fight the criminals infesting his town during ''ComicBook/ThePunisherSuicideRun'' event, Frank knocks him out so he won't be in the line of fire.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', Xavin has on at least two occasions clocked out their teammates to prevent them from getting killed. The first time was during ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'', where they clocked all of the other Runaways in a panic after running into a past acquaintance. The second time was at the end of the "Dead Wrong" arc, where, Xavin clocked Karolina after the latter planned to hand herself over to the Light Brigade in order to convince the Light Brigade to spare the rest of the team.
* [[ComicBook/Batgirl2000 Batgirl]] knocks [[ComicBook/Batgirl2009 Spoiler]] out to keep her from joining a serious fight, she's trying to protect her best friend but Stephanie ends up fed up with the Batfamily's attempts to dissuade her from crimefighting and test her competency, [[spoiler: she ends up punching Batman for this, to her horror as she roofhops away]].
** When Barbara Gordon revealed to Cassandra Cain that she knew about both [[TheAtoner the murder she committed as a child]] and the death duel with ComicBook/LadyShiva which she was [[SuicideByCop fully intending to throw]] planned for that very night she stated that she was going to put a stop to the latter (presumably by calling in backup). Cass promptly apologized, [[PressurePoint shut down Babs' voluntary nervous system]], settled her head as comfortably as possible as she reassured her the effects were temporary, and [[DeathSeeker went to her death]].
* ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}:'' Whenever [[DreadfulMusician Cacofonix]] looks like he's about to sing, there is usually another gaul, almost always Fulliautomatix the blacksmith, ready to spare everyone else the horror by pummeling him into giving up (or unconsciousness, whichever comes first).

* ''Film/SkyCaptainAndTheWorldOfTomorrow'': Joe punches Polly to stop her from helping him destroy an art-deco flying rocket-ship ark. Subverted, as she isn't really knocked out, and ends up saving his ass... right before punching him back.
* ''Film/{{Tremors}}''. Valentine elbows Earl in the stomach to stun him so Valentine can risk his life running to the tractor to save everyone (and risk being killed by the Graboids).
* One of the big scenes in ''Film/{{Shane}}''. Except instead of going down with one punch, Shane and Starrett end up in a knock down drag out fight to see which one of them gets to ride into town and face down TheGunslinger that's been hired to kill Star.
* ''Film/TheyLive'' has a scene similar to this, in which two barely acquainted people proceed to beat the ''crap'' out of each other for a ''[[OverlyLongGag full five minutes]]'' over one getting the other to put on [[SeeThruSpecs a pair of sunglasses]] that let the wearer detect all the hidden brainwashing messages in popular media. This is largely {{Fanservice}}: one of the characters was played by Roddy Piper, and they were doubtless expecting a lot of pro wrestling fans to be watching.
* ''Film/PunisherWarZone'' has Frank doing this to a character before going in a house full of armed crooks.
* ''Film/VanHelsing'' was originally going to punch [[FauxActionGirl Anna Valerious]] in the face to keep her from going out to hunt Dracula. When watching the dailies, director Steve Sommers realized how [[DoubleStandard bad this looked]], and reshot the scene so that Van Helsing used a spray of [[WouldntHitAGirl knockout gas]] instead.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** At the climax of ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'', the Enterprise's warp engines are damaged, and repairing them would require exposing someone to large amounts of radiation. Spock immediately heads to the engine room to try to make the repairs himself. [=McCoy=] attempts to stop him, but Spock nerve-pinches him [[spoiler:and ends up sacrificing his life so the crew can survive]].
** Echoed in the new movie ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'', where [[spoiler:Kirk thumps Scotty and straps him into a chair before going into the core himself.]]

* In ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest'', Elizabeth fights her way through a BarBrawl started by Norrington in order to knock him out before he gets himself killed by the other bar patrons.
* In ''Film/TheThinMan'' ([[OlderThanTelevision from 1934!]]), Nick punches Nora out cold to get himself (and her, and [[AnimalReactionShot Asta]]) out of a sticky situation. She's not too happy when she comes to, but she lets him off the hook when he explains. Then they have a drink together.

* ''[[Film/TheLastJedi Star Wars: The Last Jedi]]'':
** An extreme (and rather contentious) example: As the First Order attempt to break into the rebel stronghold with a gigantic laser, [[spoiler:Finn]] flies a speeder into the beam and towards the emitter, aiming to pull a HeroicSacrifice and destroy it. [[spoiler:Rose Tico]] prevents this by crashing [[spoiler:her]] speeder into his, totalling both speeders and knocking them away from the beam's path, and allowing the First Order to break in.
** Leia knocks Poe out with a non-lethal Blaster shot when the latter attempts to incite a mutiny, based on the assumption that Holdo is taking the coward's way out after finding out she was preparing escape ships. [[spoiler:She's not; she's setting up her and her ship's HeroicSacrifice by first ensuring everyone on board is safely evacuated first.]]

* ''Film/VivaKnievel'': Evel's rival, Jessie, knocks him out to keep him from attempting a jump he (Evel) knows has been sabotaged. Jessie then dons Evel's uniform and [[IdiotBall performs the jump himself.]] [[TooDumbToLive And dies.]]
* ''Film/{{Yamato}}'': When the order is given to abandon ship, Kamio wants to stay and fight to the death. Moriwaki and Uchida have to physically throw him out of the anti-aircraft gun nest in order to get him to go.
* In ''Film/TheWorldsEnd'', when the group is attacked by "robots", Andy knocks Gary out to prevent him from [[SkewedPriorities trying to finish the pub crawl]]. Gary wakes up shortly after though, and manages to continue.
* In ''Film/{{Tamara}}'', Chloe sees that Kisha is on the phone to Tamara and asks her to lean in close so she can explain the plan, and then punches Kisha in the face to prevent her from telling Tamara their location.
* ''Film/TheWarWagon'': When a drunk Billy is about to spill details of the planned heist in front of Pierce in the saloon, Lomax knocks him cold to prevent him talking; claiming that he had insulted a saloon girl as a an excuse.
* In ''Film/{{Sunset}}'', Wyatt Earp knocks punches a drunk Michael Alperin in the face and knocks him out to prevent him from climbing out of the car when they are trying to spirit him away from the crime scene. Later, Tom Mix dives into the marina to save a drowning Arthur. Arthur can't swim and is panicking, so Mix knocks him out with a crank handle so he can tow him to safety.
* In ''Film/MoreDeadThanAlive'', Cain stops Wes from joining the escape attempt, and probably getting killed, by punching him hard in the stomach and knocking him out.

* ''Film/CradleOfFear'': When Inspector Neilson announces that he going to Fenham Asylum to kill Kemper, his boss Chief Inspector Roper says--very sympathetically--that he can't allow him to do that. Neilson replies that he knows, and slugs Roper in the jaw, knocking him out.

* ''ComicBook/{{Hitman}}'': Hacken is too [[HardHead thick-skulled]] for this to work, [[WhatAnIdiot in every sense of the word.]]

* ''[[Film/TheLastJedi Star Wars: The Last Jedi]]'' has an extreme (and rather contentious) example. As the First Order attempt to break into the rebel stronghold with a gigantic laser, [[spoiler:Finn]] flies a speeder into the beam and towards the emitter, aiming to pull a HeroicSacrifice and destroy it. [[spoiler:Rose Tico]] prevents this by crashing [[spoiler:her]] speeder into his, totalling both speeders and knocking them away from the beam's path, and allowing the First Order to break in.

* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'': "''Film/PumaMan''" has the inscrutable Aztec hero knock out the DesignatedHero so that Aztec can go on a suicide mission alone.

** In one of the few times that he hits a woman, Marv from does this to Wendy in order to [[spoiler:spare her from watching him torture her sister's killer to death, something that would "give her nightmares."]]