History Main / SuicidalGotcha

* In ''Manga/PokemonSpecial'', Silver is dangling off a broken rope bridge while simultaneously holding onto Eusine. Petrel [[EvilGloating pretty much spills the beans on what Team Rocket is planning]] since he figures Silver's about to die anyway. Silver then willingly lets go...only to rise up again on his Gyarados.

* In ''BackToTheFuture'' Part Two, in the Bad Timeline Marty is trapped on the roof with Biff, who has a gun. Marty checks the edge but there's no way out. Biff challenges him to jump, because a "A suicide will be nice and neat". Marty has little choice but to jump, leaving Biff grinning... but then the flying Delorean rises up with Marty on the roof, having arrived just in time.

* In the Literature/{{Discworld}} novel ''Discworld/WitchesAbroad'', Granny Weatherwax confronts her sister Lily atop a high tower. When Lily threatens Granny's fellow witches, Granny grabs her old broom and jumps off the tower. Said broom will only fly properly if given a running start, but as it happens, Granny correctly judges that terminal velocity is more than fast enough to get the broom flying.

* ''Film/{{Batman}}''. On top of the cathedral Batman and Vicki Vale peer over the edge to see if the Joker has truly fallen, only to be pulled over themselves by the Joker who had been hanging from the ledge.

* ''Franchise/MetalGear''

* The climax of ''Disney/TheGreatMouseDetective''. [[spoiler: Basil and Ratigan fall from Big Ben. There is much woe and weeping amongst Basil's friends, and then... a faint squeaking sound rises from the mist, and Basil appears, madly pedaling for his life. The smile he gives the others is a CrowningMomentofHeartwarming.]]

* One inversion in ''VideoGame/DyingLight'': the only to get into the [[TutorialLevel "rite of passage"]] to be a runner is to JUMP OF A FUCKING [[StealthPun CRANE]] onto bags of garbage below. The teacher Rahim demonstrates...then complains about he leg after landing. His and Crane's dialogue afterwards makes it a CrowningMomentOfFunny.

* ''Manga/DeathNote'': A variant occurs; the villain doesn't see [[spoiler: Matsuda]] survive the fall and [[OutOfSightOutOfMind assumes he's dead]]. Surviving in that [[spoiler: his allies were one room below and had created a makeshift ramp]]. Helps that really messed-up deaths are 'natural' and expected in the Death Note world.
** To be fair, he does see a body lying on the street. And it was dark.
** Also played with, in that this is pretty much planned out.
** And they don't so much assume he's dead, as assume either he's dead now or he will be when Kira writes his name in the Death Note. It was a fake name. Also, all of them but Kira probably assumed that Kira already did write his name down, and that's just how he died.

* Used by the Literature/{{Animorphs}} to get the Yeerks to stop searching for the escaped Hork Bajir. The Yeerks see the Hork Bajir jump into a crevice, then see their bodies lying at the bottom of the pit. What the Yeerks don't know is that morphed Animorphs jumped into the hole and were caught by Marco in gorilla morph while the real Hork Bajir lay at the bottom of the pit pretending to be eaten by wolves (also Animorphs.)

* Dante pulls one on Miguel in ''Disney/{{Coco}}''.

* A villainous (and epic) version occurs in an episode of WhereOnEarthIsCarmenSandiego, as Carmen, in an unpowered boat, goes over the edge of a waterfall, her face utterly calm and serene. Then her henchmen follow her off in a speedboat that is also tricked out to double as an airfoil and catch her mid fall.

One of the most effective attempts at TryAndFollow. A subtrope of NoEscapeButDown. Compare HighDiveEscape.

* ''WesternAnimation/SherlockGnomes'': When Gnomeo is cornnered by Moriarty atop Tower Bridge, he takes a single srep backwards and plummets out of sight towards the river. [[spoiler:Where he is caught by Juliet who hovering just below on the drone.]]

* Taichi tries to throw his life away to protect Zeromaru from the first ultimate/mega level opponent they have to fight in ''Manga/DigimonVTamer01''. The enemy monster's tamer is shocked at the fact he was indirectly responsible for Taichi's death but that Zero also dove to his death in response and decides there is nothing left to do but kill Taichi's remaining ally only for Zero to rise back up with Taichi on his shoulders, having gotten over his subconscious aversion to {{evolution|arypowerup}} and [[PowerGivesYouWings gained a pair of wings]] in the process.

* It's rather subtle, but in ''Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines'', after it becomes clear [[spoiler: they have failed to avert Judgment Day]] and having rigged the Crystal Peak mountain to explode, Kate Brewster suggests "we could just let it blow" which Connor seems to acquiesce to, only for them to change their minds (making this a Gotcha) [[spoiler: when the radio starts receiving calls from defense forces, turning Connor into the effective leader of the resistance]].

* SelfDemonstrating/{{Bowser}} tends to do this often.

* One inversion in ''VideoGame/DyingLight'': the only to get into the [[TutorialLevel "rite of passage"]] to be a runner is to JUMP OF A FUCKING [[StealthPun CRANE]] onto bags of garbage below. The teacher Rahim demonstrates...then complains about he leg after landing. His and Crane's dialogue afterwards makes it a CrowningMomentofFunny.

* One inversion in ''VideoGame/DyingLight'': the only to get into the [[TutorialLevel "rite of passage"]] to be a runner is to JUMP OF A FUCKING [[StealthPun CRANE]] onto bags of garbage below. The teacher Rahim demonstrates...then complains about he leg after landing. His and Crane's dialogue afterwards makes it a [[CrowningMomentofFunny]].

* River Song has done this at least twice in ''Series/DoctorWho.'' More elaborate then most examples. She leaves a message at some point in time, telling the Doctor her exact coordinates and that she needs help. When she jumps [[UpToEleven (out of a spaceship airlock and into the utter vacuum of interstellar space!)]], the TARDIS is right there waiting for her.

* Sorta used in Film/TheBoyWhoCouldFly, when [[spoiler: Eric and Milly throw themselves off a rooftop to escape the people who want Eric back to the hospital. What marks the difference is that this moment is what confirms how Eric ''actually'' can fly, something that the movie itself had not showed him do.]]

* River Song has done this at least twice in ''Series/DoctorWho.'' More elaborate then most examples. She leaves a message at some point in time, telling the Doctor her exact coordinates and that she needs help. When she jumps, the TARDIS is right there waiting for her.

* Extra-subverted (if there is such a thing) in that it's left very nebulous for several episodes (to say nothing of an entire between-season hiatus) whether or not he actually survived the fall, [[spoiler: and TheReveal is that he didn't actually survive, and his return comes at a steep cost.]]