History Main / StopOrIShootMyself

* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'': The villains need Pyra alive since she's the Aegis, the most powerful Blade. So when Malos is about to kill Rex, she threatens to destroy herself with Siren's targeting laser. Malos accepts this and takes Pyra without further trickery. Later, Malos' ally Mikhail asks why he fell for such an obvious bluff--Rex has half of Pyra's core crystal keeping him alive, so if she dies then he does too. Malos explains that unlike a normal Blade, the Aegis can operate without her core crystal for a few minutes. She would have transferred the rest of her crystal to Rex, healing him, and had more than enough time to kill herself. [[spoiler:This becomes a plot point later when she tricks everyone else into escaping so she can perform a HeroicSacrifice. She transfers her core to Rex before running off. Luckily, the Architect's blessing lets her revive from the core after]].

* ''Film/BlazingSaddles'': Bart takes himself hostage to dissuade the townspeople were about to lynch him. Moments later, they are suddenly saying things like "Won't someone help that poor man?".
-->'''Bart:''' (to himself) Ooh baby, you are so talented -- and they are so ''dumb!''
* ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy2005'':

* Will does this in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl''. Initially, however, it only really leaves Barbossa and his men confused as to why they should care, and Will has to explain who he is - [[JustifiedTrope they need the blood from his living body to lift their curse]].

* In the French movie ''Film/RRRrrrr'', the leader of the Cheveux Sales (the Dirty Hairs) takes himself hostage in order to force the Cheveux Propres (the Clean Hairs) to give his tribe the secret of shampoo. When the Cheveux Propres utterly ignore his demands as expected, he actually [[TooDumbToLive follows through with his threat to kill the hostage.]] Yes, it's ''that'' kind of movie. Perfectly summarised in a dialog during his funeral :
-->'''New Chief:''' He said gimme the secret before dusk or I'll kill myself. He said it - he did it : A great man ...\\
'''His daugther:''' Rather more a great nitwit !\\
'''New Chief:''' ''Reluctantly, through tears'' Yeah ...

* In ''Film/SWAT2003'', the team's first assignment after passing the S.W.A.T. test is to deal with a "Polish hostage" (a forty-something mental patient off his meds, specifically).

* ''Film/{{Elysium}}'': Max holds a live grenade to his head and threatens to detonate it to destroy the valuable [[NeuralImplanting implanted information]] in his head, in order to force the Elysium mercenaries to allow him onto their shuttle. They agree...because they have Max's friend and her daughter on board as hostages--if he detonates the grenade, [[MexicanStandoff he'll kill them as well]].

* ''Film/LesMiserables2012'': Marius threatens to torch a barrel of gunpowder, blowing up everybody there including himself, in order to get the police to back off.

-->'''Moist''': Ah. You left the cap on. An amateur mistake.
-->'''Owlswick''': There are people who commit suicide professionally?
** It speaks volumes about Ankh-Morpork and the Disc in general that the answer to the question is yes.

* In the pilot episode of ''Series/Cracked2013'' Detective Aiden Black puts a gun to his own head in order to get the attention of a schizophrenic SerialKiller who was now trying to kill himself. By [[NotSoDifferentRemark drawing attention to the fact that they were similar]] (Aiden suffers from PTSD after a fatal shooting) Aiden is able to convince the killer to put down his knife and seek help.

* In the ''Series/{{Supergirl 2015}}'' episode "Mr. and Mrs. Mxyzptlk", Mxyzptlk tries to force Supergirl to marry him. To stop him, she sets the Fortress of Solitude to self-destruct, pointing out it would be enough to kill her. Since he's not allowed to use his powers to stop someone from killing themselves, he panics and begs her to shut it off. She gives him the deactivation code and he enters it. Since it was in Kryptonian script, he found out too late that it was "KLTPZYXM", his name backwards, banishing him back to the Fifth Dimension.
* ''Series/JessicaJones2015'': Kilgrave takes a police precinct hostage by using his CompellingVoice to order the officers to point their guns at each other, or their own heads.

* An AcceptableTarget walks into a bank, holds a gun to his head: "This is a robbery! I've got a hostage!" The manager: "Let me guess, you want <currency of acceptable target's nation>?"

-->'''Bart:''' Ooh baby, you are so talented -- and they are so ''dumb!''

** Not the last time he threatens himself, either, since for many reasons a lot of people DO want him alive. He later walks around with a bomb strapped to himself and tells his adversaries it's set to go off if he gets upset.

SuperTrope to BreathHoldingBrat. May involve a DeadManSwitch.

* In early ''Manga/OnePiece'', Kaya threatens to cut her own throat with a chakram if [[TheDragon Jango]] doesn't spare the children he's currently pummeling. Since he needs her alive, it works.

* Ouka stops Kyouka from commiting GrandTheftMe on him in ''LightNovel/KyouranKazokuNikki'' using this method.

* In ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'' Wolfwood seems to do this, to provide a visual example on how someone's chosen action will lead to the death of hundreds. It is quickly revealed however, that he never intended to put himself in any danger, and was using an empty clip.

* ''Anime/{{Naruto}}'':

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
** Played with in an issue of the John Byrne's reboot: Superman gets to hear about a vigilante called Batman and goes to Gotham City to capture him. Batman holds him off by revealing that somewhere in the city is a man with a bomb strapped to him, and Batman is wearing a device that will automatically detonate the bomb if Superman comes too close. Superman agrees to keep his distance and watch Batman in action, they wind up working together to bring down the villain of the week, and at the end of the issue Superman admits that Batman's not as lawless as he'd heard, and he'd probably be willing to let Batman continue operating if it weren't for that strapping-bombs-to-innocent-civilians thing. At this, Batman explains (what neither Superman nor the audience had known up to this point) that the man with the bomb strapped to him was actually Batman himself.

* In ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' storyline Titans Tomorrow, [[ComicBook/{{Robin}} Tim Drake]] discovers that in this future, the Titans grow up to be evil, led by his future Franchise/{{Batman}} self. To bargain with his future self, Tim places a gun to his own head.

* ''Film/BlazingSaddles''. Bart takes himself hostage to dissuade the townspeople were about to lynch him. Moments later, they are suddenly saying things like "Won't someone help that poor man?".

* ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy2005''

* The Creator/WhoopiGoldberg movie ''Film/JumpinJackFlash''. It works because the villains can't afford to have her die before she reveals the information they want. However it also backfires because she continues to run around the British Embassy brandishing the gun and is mistaken for a terrorist.

* In ''Film/{{SWAT}}'', the team's first assignment after passing the S.W.A.T. test is to deal with a "Polish hostage" (a forty-something mental patient off his meds, specifically).

* ''Film/{{Elysium}}''. Max holds a live grenade to his head and threatens to detonate it to destroy the valuable [[NeuralImplanting implanted information]] in his head, in order to force the Elysium mercenaries to allow him onto their shuttle. They agree...because they have Max's friend and her daughter on board as hostages--if he detonates the grenade, [[MexicanStandoff he'll kill them as well]].

* In the manga version of ''VideoGame/MegaManX4'', the co-protagonist Maverick Hunter Zero gets into a fight with his old friend Colonel of Repliforce, since he was unwilling to cease the Repliforce coup d'etat against the Maverick Hunters and the government. Iris, Colonel's brother and a friend to them both, threatens to shoot and kill herself unless they stop fighting, as she feared one of them would die. She is successful, Zero puts down his saber, and Colonel uses the opportunity to swing his saber at Zero, but he stops at the last moment. [[spoiler:Sadly, during their second fight, Zero held nothing back and did kill Colonel by slicing him in half]].

* In the French movie ''[=RRRrrrr!!!=]'', the leader of the Cheveux Sales (the Dirty Hairs) takes himself hostage in order to force the Cheveux Propres (the Clean Hairs) to give his tribe the secret of shampoo. When the Cheveux Propres utterly ignore his demands as expected, he actually [[TooDumbToLive follows through with his threat to kill the hostage.]] Yes, it's ''that'' kind of movie. Perfectly summarised in a dialog during his funeral :

* ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'': In order to intimidate the Hardy Boys and get them to tell you what they know about a murder, you can pull out your gun and threaten to shoot, yourself. And depending on how things play out, you my go through with it.

* In ''Film/Pet'', Holly takes Seth's knife and threatens to cut her throat if he doesn't release her from the cage he's been keeping her in.

* In the pilot episode of ''Series/{{Cracked}}'' Detective Aiden Black puts a gun to his own head in order to get the attention of a schizophrenic SerialKiller who was now trying to kill himself. By [[NotSoDifferentRemark drawing attention to the fact that they were similar]] (Aiden suffers from PTSD after a fatal shooting) Aiden is able to convince the killer to put down his knife and seek help.

* In the first ''LightNovel/VampireHunterD'' movie, the female lead threatens to [[TongueSuicide bite out her tongue and bleed to death]] unless the villains leave her brother and the town doctor alone.

* In ''LightNovel/DateALive'', Shido threatens to commit suicide if Kurumi won't release her hostages. She thinks he's bluffing until he throws himself off the school roof. Kurumi immediately rescues Shido, proving that he has value as a hostage. [[spoiler:She needs a lot of power to pull off her plans, and Shido is full of it after he absorbed the powers of other Spirits]]. He promptly threatens to commit suicide again by [[TongueSuicide biting his own tongue]]. Of course, [[spoiler:Shidou knew he could survive those, since he's manifesting regenerative powers (which is later revealed to be Kotori's), but Kurumi doesn't know that]].

* ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In the manga version of ''VideoGame/MegaManX4'', the co-protagonist Maverick Hunter Zero gets into a fight with his old friend Colonel of Repliforce, since he was unwilling to cease the Repliforce coup d'etat against the Maverick Hunters and the government. Iris, Colonel's brother and a friend to them both, threatens to shoot and kill herself unless they stop fighting, as she feared one of them would die. She is successful, Zero puts down his saber, and Colonel uses the opportunity to swing his saber at Zero, but he stops at the last moment. [[spoiler: Sadly, during their second fight, Zero held nothing back and did kill Colonel by slicing him in half]].

* In the [[Recap/BlackMirrorFifteenMillionMerits second episode]] of ''Series/BlackMirror'', [[spoiler: Bing threatens to cut his own throat on live television to prevent anyone from interrupting his speech.]]
* In ''Series/TheSecretCircle'' the ghosts of [[spoiler: a coven of witches]] possess [[spoiler: Adam]] and threaten to kill the "shell" unless they're given [[spoiler: Blackwell's amulet.]]
* In the final episode of ''Series/TorchwoodMiracleDay'', [[spoiler: Jack and Rex (the latter having had a full body transfusion of Jack's blood), pull this on the Three Families and their {{Mooks}} when in the Blessing -- the Families can't shoot them, because if they do, their (well, Jack's) blood will be absorbed by the Blessing and undo the Miracle, restoring death to the world. The Family members present try to create a SadisticChoice to stop them, but they go through with it anyway.]]

* On ''Series/PersonOfInterest'', Shaw's prepared to kill herself to avoid hurting Root when Root tells her if she actually does it, she'll kill herself too, turning the situation into an impromptu SuicidePact until Shaw stands down. [[spoiler: Which, despite running 7,000 simulations of this situation, [[EvilCannotComprehendGood is something that Samaritan oddly never considered]].]]

* Just like in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl'', Will threatens to kill himself in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' unless Barbossa lets Elizabeth (plus Sora, Donald, and Goofy) go free. [[spoiler: [[NotHisSled Unlike in the film]], this backfires [[TeamRocketWins thanks to Pete's presence]], and everyone else is left [[BoundAndGagged tied up]] on the ''Interceptor'']].

* After the emergence of the Omicron COVID outbreak in South Africa that led to widespread travel bans against the country, Tulio de Oliveira -- the director of South Africa's Centre for Epidemic Response & Innovation -- wrote on Twitter that soon South African biotech companies would run out of reagents used to detect and study the disease that was growing rapidly in the country. When others immediately pledged that flights of critical supplies will be continued, he responded, "[[https://twitter.com/Tuliodna/status/1465407098574061571 Nope, I will not accept reagents without releasing the travel ban!]]"

* Done to retrieve SCP-105 in [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/incident-zero-part-1 this]] ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' tale. For context, 105 a.k.a. Iris Thompson can use photos to manipulate whatever object or location the photo is of, literally reaching into the picture to change reality. When she tried to escape and claimed to have lost her abilities, a Foundation agent gave her a photo of the inside mechanics of his gun and shot himself. She deactivated the gun before he fired.

* This happens in the [[AlternateUniverseFic retelling]] of [[Recap/JackieChanAdventuresS1E9TheRock the ninth episode]] of ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'' in ''Fanfic/TheUltimateEvil''. When Tohru is about to destroy the antidote against the stone-turning-poison used on Jackie, Valerie (who knows that the Dark Hand's mysterious employer wants her alive) [[IndyPloy suddenly]] takes some of Jackie's blood into a syringe and threatens to inject it into herself and risk turning herself into stone as well. By her prodding, the Enforcers contact Valmont and explain the situation, but the fight breaks out anyway when Shendu orders Valerie to be stopped.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': In ''Grave Peril'', Harry gets past Leanansidhe by [[spoiler:poisoning himself. His friend has the antidote]], which he'll exchange for Lea's word that she'll leave Harry alone for a year and a day.