History Main / SuicidalGotcha

* Setsuna does this in ''Manga/AngelSanctuary''. [[spoiler:Sevoth-Tart is threatening him while he's holding onto the edge of a roof, then he suddenly jumps, Sevy thinks he's committed suicide, and he has actually landed on a flying whale]]. I kid you not.

* River Song has done this at least twice in ''Series/DoctorWho''. More elaborate than 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 (out of a spaceship airlock and into the utter vacuum of interstellar space!), the TARDIS is right there waiting for her.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'': After Jasmine rejects Aladdin- currently disguised as Prince Ali- and tells him to "Go jump off a balcony!", he does. At her shriek of "No!", he pops his head back up, [[IsThatWhatTheyreCallingItNow and shows her his flying carpet]].

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* Gertrude in ''[[Webcomic/TheKAMics The KAMics]]'' pulls it off in [[http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/The_KAMics/5366280/ this comic.]]
[[/folder]]

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

** Aoi does this in ''Anime/MyOtome'' when confronted by an angry mob of displaced Windbloom refugees, [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled deciding to sacrifice herself rather than reveal the whereabouts of Princess Mashiro]] ([[spoiler:who is hiding among them]]). [[spoiler:She just barely survives.]]

* In ''Film/TheGoodSon'', Susan has discovered evidence that Henry had killed his little brother Richard, after telling him that he needs to get professional help he runs away, it appears that he has jumped off a cliff when he jumps out from some bushes and pushes her off saying "I guess you don't know me very well, do you?".

* River Song has done this at least twice in ''Series/DoctorWho''. More elaborate than 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.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'': After Jasmine rejects Aladdin and tells him to "Go jump off a balcony!", he does. At her shriek of "No!", he pops his head back up, [[IsThatWhatTheyreCallingItNow and shows her his flying carpet]].

* The climax of ''WesternAnimation/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. He gives a smile to the others.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/SherlockGnomes'': When Gnomeo is cornered by Moriarty atop Tower Bridge, he takes a single step backwards and plummets out of sight towards the river. [[spoiler:Where he is caught by Juliet who hovering just below on the drone.]]

* Gandalf does this in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing'', landing on Gwaihir, Lord of Eagles.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'', Elisa Maza found herself in a perilous situation, stuck on a building's gargoyle outcrop with a gangster who is sure to kill her when he learns the treasure she was sent out to retrieve is worthless. In response, she jumps off to her apparent death to the gangsters, unaware that the gargoyle Broadway is just below and poised to catch her as she fell.

!Examples:

* Setsuna does this in ''Manga/AngelSanctuary''. [[spoiler: Sevoth-Tart is threatening him while he's holding onto the edge of a roof, then he suddenly jumps, Sevy thinks he's committed suicide, and he has actually landed on a flying whale]]. I kid you not.

* In the second season of ''Anime/MagicKnightRayearth'', Ferio has just saved Fuu from Princess Aska's forces (or, rather, she was playing along with his heroic rescue, as she was quite capable of escaping on her own) and they reach the open maw of the dragon-shaped Fahren ship. Ferio takes her in his arms, jumps! ...and lands on the back of a gigantic winged beast, which takes them away from the dragon.
* ''Manga/SaintSeiya'': Seiya and Saori Kido use one to escape from Shaina and Silver Saint Jamian, jumping off a cliff together rather than either fighting when in ''huge'' disadvantage or giving Saori to them. [[spoiler: While Seiya gets badly injured, they both live, and a while later their TrueCompanions come to help them.]]
* In the ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration'' [=OVA=], ''The Inspector'', Gilliam decides to dive off a balcony rather than let Archibald Grims' forces capture him -- falling straight into the hand of the Gespenst that Grims had no idea was ever there.
-->'''Archibald:''' "We're sneaking around trying to hide bombs, and he hides a [[RealRobot Personal Trooper!?]]"
* In the ''[=HeartGold/SoulSilver=]'' arc of ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'', 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.
* 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|powerup}} and [[PowerGivesYouWings gained a pair of wings]] in the process.
* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'': Overshadowed by others' badassery, heroes team boasty member Kuwabara has his second fight with Byakko the White Tiger (to get the latter out of the way to ArtifactOfDoom infesting human world with demon insects) end with both fighters thrown off a small elevated stone plateau down into lava. It's soon revealed that Kuwabara's sash got stuck on a sharp rock protrusion and the guy is hanging there scared shitless, flailing and crying for help as the thing is about to tear.

* Comedic example in ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}''. Jesse and his vampire friend Cassidy are on the top of the Empire State Building, chatting. Spontaneously, Cassidy starts yelling that he's going to end it all, and jumps over the side. Rushing over, Jesse sees that Cassidy has dug his fingers into the side of the building, and then says a sing-song "Fooled you!". Jesse is not amused.

* ''FanFic/TheVigilanteBossAndHisFailedRetirementPlan'' starts with Izuku trying to make [[TheBully Bakugou]] think he actually went through with the latter's SuicideDare. Unfortunately, it turns into a DeadlyPrank when the fence on the roof of the school gives way...

* The climax of ''WesternAnimation/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. He gives a smile to the others.]]
* In a variant of the trope, the audience is the one fooled in ''WesternAnimation/TheTaleOfDespereaux'' [[spoiler: where the titular mouse apparently falls off a tower window ledge to his death while the Narrator notes he didn't live HappilyEverAfter. However, while out of sight for a split-second, he stretches his enormous ears to go into Dumbo mode, and he reappears for the final image of the film, confidentially gliding away to his next adventure; the narrator meant that the mouse is too busy to have a pat ending like that.]]

* In the climax of ''WesternAnimation/ShrekForeverAfter'' Rumpelstilskin is cornered by the ogre warriors and jumps backward off the balcony, causing them all to gasp. He then appears riding Fifi, his giant pet goose and says "So long!"

* ''Film/DieAnotherDay'' has Jynx diving backwards off a cliff into the ocean, where she is promptly picked up by a boat

* Gandalf does this in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing'', landing on Gwaihir, Lord of Eagles.

** It is also played with in ''Film/TheRageInPlacidLake''. Placid is cornered on a rooftop by a group of thugs. The scene then cuts to him recovering in a hospital bed, leaving the audience to assume they assaulted him. The end of the movie reveals that he jumped.
* In the Leslie Nielsen film ''Film/SpyHard'', the main character escapes by jumping off a roof, only to appear again in a Harrier jump-jet, scaring off the pursuers. It is then revealed to be a prop being lifted by a helicopter for a billboard.

* Used in ''Film/{{Dracula 1931}}''. Cornered on a cliff edge, [[{{Dracula}} the vampire]] escapes by jumping backwards and turning into a bat halfway down.
* In ''Film/TheGoodSon'', Susan has discovered evidence that Henry had killed his little brother Richard, after telling him that he needs to get professional help he runs away, it appears that he has jumped off a cliff when he jumps out from some bushes and pushes her off saying "I guess you don't know me very well, do you?".

* 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.]]
* ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises''. Selina grabs Daggett as a HumanShield and does a SuperWindowJump, only to land on a window washing platform. When more mooks turn up, she jumps off the edge of a building with Batman, onto a lower rooftop where his VTOL flying craft is waiting.
* ''Film/Batman1989''. 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.
* ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness''. [[NotSoStoic Even Spock looks surprised]] when [[SuperSoldier Harrison]] jumps off the FlyingCar [[TraintopBattle they're fighting on top of]], only to see he's jumped onto a similar craft moving in the other direction. Earlier there's a scene where the audience sees Harrison do a 30-ft leap out of a crashed starship, only to slide down the glass side of a toppled skyscraper.

* In the Literature/{{Discworld}} novel ''Literature/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. Her broom is a rickety old model and will only fly 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.

** 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.]]

* River Song has done this at least twice in ''Series/DoctorWho.'' More elaborate than 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.
* ''Series/HawaiiFive0''. In "I Helu Pu," [=McGarrett=] goes over the side of a building trying to save a drunken suicidal man. Danny rushes to the ledge only to see they have both fallen onto a balcony.
* In ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSherlockHolmesAndDoctorWatson'', that's how the duel between Holmes and Moriarty goes. They both seem to fall off a cliff and into a waterfall, but Holmes had checked around before Moriarty arrived, and knew of a ledge wide enough to hold a single person.

* ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'', with the heroes escaping on an airship.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', with an airship again serving as the means of escape.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'': Yuna jumps off a tall tower head-first, and comes back up on the back of Valefor, a bird-like Aeon.
** Notable in that she summons Valefor in mid-air, AFTER she's actually jumped.
*** In addition to the insane height of the tower, [[PimpedOutDress all those feathers sewn into her wedding dress]] slowed her descent considerably--[[FridgeBrilliance she was falling incredibly slowly, even for artistic license]].
* In ''VideoGame/MegaManLegends'', Rock pulls one of these at the end of the prologue stage, duplicating ''Back to the Future'' so closely it's hard to think it's not an {{homage}}.
* ''VideoGame/Jak3Wastelander'': [[spoiler:Jak pushes Cyber-Errol off a ledge. Errol, being a robot, is capable of enough flight (despite not being aerodynamic in the least) to get back up and escape. Jak's Light Flight ability takes considerably longer to gain altitude, leaving the audience and Daxter to believe he died. Luckily, Errol is gone when he returns, several seconds later.]]
* Variation: the first boss battle in ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime 3: Corruption'' involves Samus and the boss falling down a shaft. If the boss is defeated before they hit the ground, Samus gets saved by a fellow Hunter who can use his ice powers to surf on ice he manifests below himself out of thin air.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGear''
** Played straight for the villain in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' - Snake knocks Solidus off one of the Big Shell's bridges with a grenade, only to have Solidus rise back up on top of a Harrier jet. Shortly afterwards, Raiden shoots down the Harrier with a Stinger missile (because it's badass, I guess), which then spirals towards the water far below...only to be saved by being ''eaten'' by Metal Gear Ray. Worst injury suffered? Solidus loses an eye.
** Played straight but also subverted in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' - Naked Snake, aka Big Boss does in fact splash down in a pool below after after the usual scene expected for the trope, but then [[spoiler: Snake has a near death experience featuring a Boss "fight" with The Sorrow. Near Death being included is not typical for this trope, let alone what happens in it.]] And it also appears that young Revolver Ocelot, who corners Snake and witnesses him jump, knows Snake would survive and had escaped his grasp, also subverting the latter end of the trope.
* An {{inver|tedTrope}}sion occurs within the story mode of ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Brawl''. In a confrontation, Mario/Link chases Bowser to a ledge, down which Bowser falls. After a tense pause of about a second, Bowser taunts Mario/Link from the safety of his flying clown copter, which was apparently waiting below the whole time. In a later scene, most of the heroes are aboard Meta Knight's battleship, the Halberd, on their way to stop the giant Subspace Cannon which has just appeared out of a warp portal. The ship flies at max speed straight for the cannon, even as it takes heavy laser fire and starts to break apart. Then the main cannon fires, and the Halberd is spit-roasted from stem to bow, breaks in half and explodes. Cut to a closeup on Ganondorf and Bowser, smirking triumphantly while standing on the bridge of the Subspace ship... only to have several heroes' smaller ships [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome fly out of the explosion, dodge all the incoming laser fire and set up a distraction for Kirby to finish the cannon off]]. Ganondorf and Bowser, apparently quite humbled, silently retreat into the portal as their ship collapses.
* [[Characters/SuperMarioBrosBowser Bowser]] tends to do this often.
** The second half of the final boss battle of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2''.
** In ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam'', he pulls this off [[spoiler: by putting himself in a near-death situation, thereby causing his Rump Command to activate and [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever grow large enough to jump back up the cliff]].]]

* ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts: Covenant'' sees Rasputin doing this with the Sapientes Gladio airship. Yuri responds by becoming Amon and blowing the ship to pieces.
* After you kill the final boss of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'', Ada pulls one of these off: she jumps off a cliff only for a helicopter to rise up over the edge with her standing in it. [[FridgeLogic Um…]] [[ArtisticLicensePhysics …maybe it was one of those …convertible helicopters?]] She ''does'' have a grappling gun, you know.
* Inverted in ''VideoGame/AgeOfMythology'', in which Kamos escapes Arkantos once by leaping off a cliff only to land on one of his sea monsters and swim away. Subverted in a later scenario when Kamos jumps off a cliff again under the same circumstances and we're treated to a shot of his brains dashed out on the rocks below.
* In ''[[VideoGame/TraumaCenter Trauma Team]]'', Gabriel Cunningham pulls this when confronted by Ian Holden late in the game, by stepping back off the roof of the hospital and grabbing onto a helicopter's ladder. How he wasn't sliced to ribbons by the propeller is anyone's guess.

-->'''Rahim''': Ahhh... My leg!!
-->'''Crane''': Oh, shit! Hold on, I'll get someone to help!
-->'''Rahim''': Haha, I'm just fucking with you! Now come on and jump, you big baby!
-->'''Crane''': Christ on a crutch...

* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'': In "[[Recap/SupermanTheAnimatedSeriesS2E16To18WorldsFinest World's Finest]]", the Joker and his thugs cause Bruce Wayne to topple from the terrace of a penthouse nightclub. "See that he's street pizza," the Joker orders, whereupon the {{mooks}} find Wayne alive and intact on a window washers' gantry. Intersects with DeusExMachina that such a gantry would be deployed there, at night, with no workers in sight.

* In a ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' episode, Robin and Starfire do this over a pit of acid so that an alien creature could follow them into it. Starfire then flies them back to safety. They repeat the maneuver again with [[MadeOfIron the same creature]] later on in the episode, this time over a deep chasm.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'' gives us a straight example - Hank jumps out of the window after Sirena rejects him, then is revealed to be atop his (uncle's) flying car. Later, it subverts it, when Doc tries the same trick - he jumps out of his boardroom window after stockholders tell him he needs a new product, then comes back up in his (father's) hoverboots. However, jumping out of the window *is* dangerous enough that he gets enough bruises and wounds to make him pass out...
* In the Season 1 finale of ''WesternAnimation/{{Harley Quinn 2019}}'', the Joker cooks up a vat of chemicals that will undo Harley's personality and make her just another boring civilian. He's about to push Harley in when she decides to jump in. Joker takes it as a job well done and prepares to leave, but stops and asks if any of his henchmen heard a splash. [[spoiler: As it turns out, Harley spotted a resurrected Poison Ivy below, who caught Harley with her plants before carrying her back up to defeat Joker]].

** Aoi does this in ''Anime/MaiOtome'' when confronted by an angry mob of displaced Windbloom refugees, [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled deciding to sacrifice herself rather than reveal the whereabouts of Princess Mashiro]] ([[spoiler:who is hiding among them]]). [[spoiler:She just barely survives.]]

* Xykon in ''The [[Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick Order of the Stick]]'' pulls this off with customary style. He doesn't ever make it look suicidal, but the point is that just because he's on a flying dragon doesn't mean he needs a dragon to fly. But Roy ''does''.
-->'''Xykon:''' Point three: [[OhCrap Meteor Swarm.]]

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': Diana Prince has fallen out of airplanes and at least once been trapped in a fire and presumed dead only for Wonder Woman to show up at the scene, and claim she saved Diana and got her to safety. On at least one occasion her timing was off, as she needed to get the plane she'd jumped to from ComicBook/SteveTrevor's plane back to Paradise Island before revealing herself, and she got to interrupt Gen. Darnell and Steve planning her own funeral. Darnell was shocked to see his secretary come back, but Steve seemed more amused.

* ''Anime/MaiHiME'': After main characters have started dying, Mai performs this trope to punctuate her attempt to tell Yuuichi to stay away from her. [[spoiler:Shortly afterward, she summons Kagutsuchi and flies away.]]

* Comedic example in ''Comicbook/{{Preacher}}''. Jesse and his vampire friend Cassidy are on the top of the Empire State Building, chatting. Spontaneously, Cassidy starts yelling that he's going to end it all, and jumps over the side. Rushing over, Jesse sees that Cassidy has dug his fingers into the side of the building, and then says a sing-song "Fooled you!". Jesse is not amused.

* ''Franchise/StarWars''
** In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''. Luke is made to WalkThePlank into the Sarlacc pit, but reverses himself a moment after stepping off and pops back up, and thanks to coordination with R2-D2 now has a lightsaber in his hand.

** SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker also [[spoiler: almost]] escaped from the Batman this way in the MadLove episode.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBatmanSupermanMovie'' has the Joker and his thugs cause Bruce Wayne to topple from the terrace of a penthouse nightclub. "See that he's street pizza," the Joker orders, whereupon the {{mooks}} find Wayne alive and intact on a window washers' gantry. Intersects with DeusExMachina that such a gantry would be deployed there, at night, with no workers in sight.

** [[WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries The Animated Series]] played with this a couple times but once subverted it by having Clark Kent fall off a ledge in plain view of Lois Lane so he couldn't pull this trick. To Clark's great surprise (and Lois's casual indifference, because it happens to her all the time), Clark Kent is rescued by Superman, which later turns out to be an imperfect clone that degenerates into Bizarro.

* ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'': After Jasmine rejects Aladdin and tells him to "Go jump off a balcony!", he does. At her shriek of "No!", he pops his head back up, [[IsThatWhatTheyreCallingItNow and shows her his flying carpet]].
* 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. He gives a smile to the others.]]

* 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. Her broom is a rickety old model and will only fly 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.

* Gandalf does this in the first ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' movie, landing on Gwaihir, Lord of Eagles.

* An {{inver|tedTrope}}sion occurs within the story mode of ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Brawl''. In a confrontation, Mario chases Bowser to a ledge, down which Bowser falls. After a tense pause of about a second, Bowser taunts Mario from the safety of his flying clown copter, which was apparently waiting below the whole time. In a later scene, most of the heroes are aboard Meta Knight's battleship, the Halberd, on their way to stop the giant Subspace Cannon which has just appeared out of a warp portal. The ship flies at max speed straight for the cannon, even as it takes heavy laser fire and starts to break apart. Then the main cannon fires, and the Halberd is spit-roasted from stem to bow, breaks in half and explodes. Cut to a closeup on Ganondorf and Bowser, smirking triumphantly while standing on the bridge of the Subspace ship... only to have several heroes' smaller ships [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome fly out of the explosion, dodge all the incoming laser fire and set up a distraction for Kirby to finish the cannon off]]. Ganondorf and Bowser, apparently quite humbled, silently retreat into the portal as their ship collapses.

* ''Film/DieAnotherDay'' has Jynx diving backwards off a cliff into the ocean, where she is promptly picked up by a boat, which for some reason her pursuers are reluctant to shoot