History ThouShaltNotKill / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/Daredevil2015'' makes it a hard rule not to kill, and is one of the only heroes in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse to do so (The Hulk is a special case as Bruce Banner tries hard not to kill anyone but ultimately has no control over the Hulk's actions; the MCU version of Spider-Man has yet to be seen using deadly force and his views on the subject are as yet unknown). This mostly comes from the fact that he's a devout Catholic and knows he's toeing the line of morality already by administering brutal beatings to criminals. This rule is challenged in the second season when he's contrasted with remorseless killers ComicBook/{{Elektra}} and ComicBook/ThePunisher; Daredevil's appalled at how they kill their enemies, but at the same time his insistence at keeping everyone alive sometimes puts him and his allies at risk.

** Lady Liberty let Baryon live, [[spoiler:even though he killed Ghost Beam. But she was so [[HeroicBSoD distraught over it]] that she nearly broke the Code herself, instead she gave him a hell of a beating]].

* ''Series/JupitersLegacy'': Sheldon's WithGreatPowerComesGreatResponsibility lesson to his daughter Chloe in her childhood includes "not killing bad guys" and showing mercy. He's later upset when Brandon kills to save him from (fake) Blackstar, insisting that there were other options. Brandon disagrees, and finds this [[UngratefulBastard ungrateful]] regardless.

* Played completely straight with the title character of ''Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}'', due to a childhood incident in which [[spoiler:he accidentally caused the death of one of his friends with a handgun they'd stolen to play with]]. Occasionally comes across a strong temptation to use one, but always [[TakeAThirdOption finds another way]]. In one of the TV movies, the terrorist group he's trying to infiltrate orders him to [[IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten execute one of their defeated members]]: he reacts by [[spoiler:emptying the clip right over the terrorist leader's head for effect, shouting that only a stupid leader would waste his men's lives like that, and pretending to walk out by saying he was looking for "professionals, not suicidal punks."]] [[RefugeInAudacity It works]]. Furthermore, it's so deeply ingrained in him that even on the couple occasions he loses his memory and finds himself pointing a gun at somebody, he can't make himself pull the trigger.

%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order.

** Since then, he mostly keeps to the rule, only killing when absolutely necessary. What causes him to actually backslide is [[MyGreatestFailure Laurel's]] [[LivingEmotionalCrutch death]] in Season Four. Not only does he kill her murderer Damien Darkh, he almost discards the rule entirely, only going back to his previous provision of killing when necessary after a talk with Thea and the TraumaCongaLine that is the latter half of Season Five.
* Less cut and dried with the main characters of ''Series/TheATeam''. They never kill anybody onscreen, but it's not clear how much of this is due to their own methods, and how much of it is just the television show trying to remain family-friendly (especially since they get into gunfights on a regular basis and we often see people surviving things that would clearly be fatal in real life). No one in the A-Team has a strongly voiced opinion against killing and even less against guns - as Vietnam veterans and a former Special Forces unit, it's a foregone conclusion that they ''have'' killed people before. At the same time, they routinely pass up opportunities to kill enemies that they have at gunpoint, and much prefer to simply beat the tar out of the villains and leave them tied up for Colonel Decker to put in jail.

** In an oft-cited case of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, the pilot episode does feature Mac picking up a machine gun and returning fire against Soviet troops. This might not be an aversion, though - he only fires once or twice and we don't see anyone being hit, so it's easy to write off as simple covering fire to give himself time to escape.

* ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'' starts off with John and Sarah like this. Derek and Cameron, not so much. Sarah frequently orders either or both of them not to kill (they tend to take it under advisement). The first season features Sarah's reluctance to kill a man she believes will one day create Skynet, and is shown dwelling on it. A common theme throughout the series is the importance of human life. However, Sarah ends up being forced to kill a man midway through season two and John even earlier.

* In the pilot episode of ''Series/TheIncredibleHulk'', David Banner's research partner assures him that the Hulk will not kill, "because David Banner wouldn't kill." Nevertheless, David spends the series worrying that the Hulk will one day cross the line. (He doesn't, but only because so many of the bad guys are MadeOfIron.)

* ''Series/BuckRogersInThe25thCentury'': Buck gets into a lot of fights but never kills anyone directly. He never shoots anyone to death; this is easy to pull off since the rayguns are usually set on stun. The only time that a villan died due to Buck shooting him was ''Happy Birthday Buck''. However, it was still a stun beam and the villain died due to falling on his hand and turning himself to stone with his own RightHandOfDoom. {{Space Battle}}s are a different story, however. It can be assumed that pilots are killed when their ship is destroyed. But in ''The Plot to Kill a City'', this was shown to not always be the case. Also, ship to ship battle is often considered an impersonal form of killing since the two combatants don't see each other face to face, although in ''Planet of the Slave Girls'', Galen, TheDragon to Jack Palance's villan charcter clearly did not survive his space duel with Buck. Buck directly arranged for the Vorvon to be destroyed in ''Space Vampire'', but being a vampire, the Vorvon probably does not count.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Slayers are definitely not ''supposed'' to kill humans (even villainous humans). Vampires and other assorted demons are fair game. Although there were a number of {{Karmic Death}}s for the human enemies. There was also that time she had to kill about ten of the [[WellIntentionedExtremist Knights of Byzantium]] to defend herself and her sister, one by ''throwing an axe into his chest at pointblank range''.

* The [[EldritchAbomination Leviathans]] of ''Series/DarkShadows'' have this as a rule. Not due to any sort of morality, but rather because anyone they kill will become a super-powered ghost, capable of hindering their plans even further. At least that's how it's supposed to work, but due to RealLifeWritesThePlot issues the matter was rather derailed.

** Heavily subverted in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E2DinosaursOnASpaceship "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship"]]. Sure, that guy had committed [[ThrownOutTheAirlock genocide]] on an entire [[TheArk shipload]] of refugees and tried to [[MadeASlave enslave]] Queen Nefertiti of Egypt. Being used as [[MisguidedMissile a missile decoy]] was the least he deserved, but coming from the Doctor that was cold.

* In ''Series/TheFlash2014'', Leonard Snart/Captain Cold is a petty thief turned supervillain who doesn't kill if he can help it, but will if forced to or crossed. This is mostly out of [[PragmaticVillainy pragmatism]] rather than any kind of morality, as he finds the consequences of murder more trouble than they're usually worth. After Flash challenges him to continue his supervillain career without killing anyone, he accepts, seeing it as a true test of his skills.

* The Shaolin philosophy from ''Series/KungFu'' has this as one of it's core tenets. "Avoid rather than check. Check rather than hurt. Hurt rather than maim. Maim rather than kill. For all life is precious nor can any be replaced."

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': Hunters are supposed to kill evil monsters and protect humans, but at least in Season 1, Sam and Dean refused to kill humans (though Dean followed this rule mostly to appease Sam). However, when up against truly [[HumansAreBastards monstrous]] humans, Sam and Dean have had to kill. As Dean said "Demons I get, humans is just plain sick." This rule pretty much ceases to exist after the first season, but they still insist on trying to save as many people as they can at all times. Strangely, this doesn't apply to people who are possessed; while initially they would only kill demons (and their vessels by extension) if they really had to, they gradually become more OK with it and even sometimes force a demon into a vessel in order to kill both. By Season 10 (if not earlier), both of them have given up on avoiding killing at all, even of innocents, and are solely concerned with saving each other. They've returned to their Season 1 attitude in Season 11 due to a HeelRealization.

* ''Series/{{Tracker}}'' Cole does not kill; he just incapicates the human long enough to withdraw the life force from the body. Justified, because Cirronians are a peaceful species by nature, and abhor violence (yes, even the criminals-most are in prison for nonviolent crimes).

* ''Series/WonderWoman'': Wonder Woman declares in the pilot, "The New Original Wonder Woman", "Where I'm from we try never to hurt people". Aside from a couple of war related incidents and [[TooPowerfulToLive an encounter with Hitler]] in "Anschluss 77", Wonder Woman's opponents generally let off very lightly especially considering [[StrongerThanTheyLook what she is capable of]]. She'd often let the [[{{Mooks}} hired thugs]] simply go since they're no threat.

* ''Series/WonderWoman'': Wonder Woman declares in the pilot, "The New Original Wonder Woman", "Where I'm from we try never to hurt people". Aside from a couple of war related incidents and [[TooPowerfulToLive an encounter with Hitler]] in "Anschluss 77", Wonder Woman's opponents generally let off very lightly especially considering [[StrongerThanTheyLook what she is capable of]]. She'd often let the [[{{Mooks}} hired thugs]] simply go since [[GenreSavvy they're no threat]].

** After five or so years of semi-righteous [[TheStraightAndArrowPath murder]] left and right, [[AntiHero Oliver]] [[TheCowl Queen]] attempts to do his vigilante work with [[HeroicVow less collateral damage]] (barring that of [[HeroInsurance property]], of course) after [[HeroicBsod Tommy's death]]. However, this trope is danced around, as he [[UnstoppableRage instinctively]] [[NoKillLikeOverkill puts three arrows]] in [[EvilIsHammy Count Vertigo]] when the latter [[ForTheEvulz grinningly]] [[AndYourLittleDogToo threatens]] [[TheHeart Felicity]]. And all this mere weeks after the vow is made, too. His resolve is nowhere near as strong as that of [[Franchise/{{Superman}} his]] [[Franchise/{{Batman}} counterparts]].
-->'''Oliver (on choosing to kill the Count):''' Felicity... he had you and he was gonna hurt you. [[IDidWhatIHadToDo There was no choice to make]].

* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'': Matt Parkman had ample justification to kill Emil Danko, who is heading a program started by Nathan Petrelli to round up persons with special abilities. First, Danko's operatives [[spoiler: shoot Matt's girlfriend Daphne.]] Then when Danko takes control of the operation [[spoiler: he removes the still-living Daphne from the medical facility. Consequently, Daphne develops sepsis, leading to her death.]] Parkman seeks to get even by taking away the most important person in Danko's life, a call girl named Elena who knows Danko as "Jakob Pradasa". He [[spoiler: telepathically forces Danko to divulge his true identity, to admit what he does (hunting and abducting people), and to confess that he let Daphne die.]] Parkman then [[spoiler:points his gun at Elena, but cannot bring himself to shoot her.]]
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': Hunters are supposed to kill evil monsters and protect humans, but at least in Season 1, Sam and Dean refused to kill humans (though Dean followed this rule mostly to appease Sam). However, when up against truly [[HumansAreBastards monstrous]] humans, Sam and Dean have had to kill. As Dean said "Demons I get, humans is just plain sick." This rule pretty much ceases to exist after the first season, but they still insist on trying to save as many people as they can at all times. Strangely, this doesn't apply to people who are possessed; while initially they would only kill demons (and their vessels by extension) if they really had to, they gradually become more OK with it and even sometimes force a demon into a vessel in order to kill both. By Season 10 (if not earlier), both of them have given up on avoiding killing at all, even of innocents, and are solely concerned with saving each other. They've returned to their Season 1 attitude in Season 11 due to a HeelRealization.
* ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'' starts off with John and Sarah like this. Derek and Cameron, not so much. Sarah frequently orders either or both of them not to kill (they tend to take it under advisement). The first season features Sarah's reluctance to kill a man she believes will one day create Skynet, and is shown dwelling on it. A common theme throughout the series is the importance of human life. However, Sarah ends up being forced to kill a man midway through season two and John even earlier.

** Heavily subverted in the seventh season episode "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship". Sure, that guy had committed [[ThrownOutTheAirlock genocide]] on an entire [[TheArk shipload]] of refugees and tried to [[MadeASlave enslave]] queen Nefertiti of Egypt. Being used as [[MisguidedMissile a missile decoy]] was the least he deserved, but coming from the Doctor that was cold.

* In ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', Clark Kent refuses to kill enemies, but he does not consider KarmicDeath or accidental death to be murder. The one time he attacked an opponent ([[WorthyOpponent Titan]]) with the intent to kill, he was haunted after he did the deed. Chloe also stresses this often, sometimes to meteor freaks who aren't bad at heart. [[AntiHero Oliver]] [[IDidWhatIHadToDo on the other hand]]... It leads to clashes between him and both Clark and Chloe. He often tries to get them to do what he does.
--->'''[[TheHeart Chloe]]''': This is ''murder''.
--->'''Oliver''': This is ''justice''.
** Clark also doesn't hesitate to [[spoiler:kill Brainiac]], justifying it with the lame technicality that [[spoiler:Brainiac [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman is a robot]]]].
** In another episode, Chloe admonishes Clark that he should not hesitate to let her die if that's what it takes to save the world.
* In the 1998 miniseries ''{{Series/Merlin|1998}}'' (the one with Sam Neil), this is the limitation of the magic of TheFairFolk, that it cannot be used to kill, [[AllThereInTheManual according to the novelization]].
* The [[EldritchAbomination Leviathans]] of ''Series/DarkShadows'' have this as a rule. Not due to any sort of morality, but rather because anyone they kill will become a super-powered ghost, capable of hindering their plans even further. At least that's how it's supposed to work, but due to RealLifeWritesThePlot issues the matter was rather derailed.
* Michael from ''Series/PrisonBreak'' fluctuates between this and TechnicalPacifist.

* ''Series/{{Tracker}}'' Cole does not kill; he just incapicates the human long enough to withdraw the life force from the body. Justified, because Cirronians are a peaceful species by nature, and abhor violence (yes, even the criminals-most are in prison for nonviolent crimes).
* Gabrielle, of ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess''.

* Shepherd Derrial Book from ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' follows the Ten Commandments to the letter, including the TropeNamer. However, he rather dryly notes in "War Stories" that the Bible is "somewhat fuzzier on the subject of kneecaps." In ''Film/{{Serenity}}'', after shooting down [[spoiler:the Alliance gunship that just mortally wounded him and burned his town to the ground]], he comments that it was "not very Christian of me." This is explained somewhat in the comic books: [[spoiler:He spent the GreatOffscreenWar doing black ops, including assassinations, and is now TheAtoner.]]

* Played completely straight with the title character of ''Series/MacGyver'', due to a childhood incident in which [[spoiler:he accidentally caused the death of one of his friends with a handgun they'd stolen to play with]]. Occasionally comes across a strong temptation to use one, but always [[TakeAThirdOption finds another way]]. In one of the TV movies, the terrorist group he's trying to infiltrate orders him to [[IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten execute one of their defeated members]]: he reacts by [[spoiler:emptying the clip right over the terrorist leader's head for effect, shouting that only a stupid leader would waste his men's lives like that, and pretending to walk out by saying he was looking for "professionals, not suicidal punks."]] [[RefugeInAudacity It works]]. Furthermore, it's so deeply ingrained in him that even on the couple occasions he loses his memory and finds himself pointing a gun at somebody, he can't make himself pull the trigger.

* Less cut and dried with the main characters of ''Series/TheATeam.'' They never kill anybody onscreen, but it's not clear how much of this is due to their own methods, and how much of it is just the television show trying to remain family friendly (especially since they get into gunfights on a regular basis and we often see people surviving things that would clearly be fatal in real life). No one in the A-Team has a strongly voiced opinion against killing and even less against guns - as Vietnam veterans and a former Special Forces unit, it's a foregone conclusion that they ''have'' killed people before. At the same time, they routinely pass up opportunities to kill enemies that they have at gunpoint, and much prefer to simply beat the tar out of the villains and leave them tied up for Colonel Decker to put in jail.
* In ''Series/TheFlash2014'', Leonard Snart/Captain Cold is a petty thief turned supervillain who doesn't kill if he can help it, but will if forced to or crossed. This is mostly out of [[PragmaticVillainy pragmatism]] rather than any kind of morality, as he finds the consequences of murder more trouble than they're usually worth. After Flash challenges him to continue his supervillain career without killing anyone, he accepts, seeing it as a true test of his skills.

* ''Series/{{Daredevil 2015}}'' makes it a hard rule not to kill, and is one of the only heroes in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse to do so (The Hulk is a special case as Bruce Banner tries hard not to kill anyone but ultimately has no control over the Hulk's actions; the MCU version of Spider-Man has yet to be seen using deadly force and his views on the subject are as yet unknown). This mostly comes from the fact that he's a devout Catholic and knows he's toeing the line of morality already by administering brutal beatings to criminals. This rule is challenged in the second season when he's contrasted with remorseless killers ComicBook/{{Elektra}} and ComicBook/ThePunisher; Daredevil's appalled at how they kill their enemies, but at the same time his insistence at keeping everyone alive sometimes puts him and his allies at risk.
* ''Series/{{Supergirl}}'': Supergirl follows the same general "Thou Shalt Not Kill" policy as her cousin, which has led to a few baddies escaping. That does not mean she has not had to destroy a few alien baddies from time to time, and she also destroys the Red Tornado in a fit of anger, not realizing that he'd become sentient a few moments before. The rule is decidedly ''not'' followed by her DEO colleagues, including her sister, Alex, who is a trained killer and uses such skills on more than one occasion. The Guardian, although he delivers Daredevil-style beatdowns on bad guys, also adheres to Supergirl's no-killing rule.
* ''Series/IronFist2017'': Claire believes this, though Colleen disagrees, and they argue about it.

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': In "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1995S2E15Afterlife Aftelife]]", Stiles declines to kill the commandos sent after him even to defend his own life.
* ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'': downplayed with both leads. Hercules and Iolaus will kill in self-defense or to save others, but only as a last resort. Iolaus makes a point of saying in "Stranger In A Strange World" that killing in combat is a lot different than simply knifing a villain in the back (though this particular villain is the Sovereign, Herc's MirrorUniverse EvilTwin, so Iolaus ultimately feels he has no choice but to try). "Doomsday" also explores this trope when an old enemy of Herc's (Nikolos) returns to wreak havoc. It's pointed out to Hercules that he could've killed Nikolos at the Battle of Plataea and prevented the current threat, but Herc counters that Nikolos had been completely defeated at the time and that he is not an executioner.

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': After five or so years of semi-righteous [[TheStraightAndArrowPath murder]] left and right, [[AntiHero Oliver]] [[TheCowl Queen]] attempts to do his vigilante work with [[HeroicVow less collateral damage]] (barring that of [[HeroInsurance property]], of course) after [[spoiler: [[HeroicBsod Tommy's death]]]]. However, this trope is danced around, as he [[spoiler: [[UnstoppableRage instinctively]] [[NoKillLikeOverkill puts three arrows]] in [[EvilIsHammy Count Vertigo]] when the latter [[ForTheEvulz grinningly]] [[AndYourLittleDogToo threatens]] [[TheHeart Felicity]]. And all this mere weeks after the vow is made, too]]. His resolve is nowhere near as strong as that of [[Franchise/{{Superman}} his]] [[Franchise/{{Batman}} counterparts]].
-->'''Oliver (on choosing to [[spoiler: kill the Count]]):''' [[spoiler: Felicity... he had you and he was gonna hurt you. [[IDidWhatIHadToDo There was no choice to make]].]]

* ''Series/BuckRogersInThe25thCentury'': Buck gets into a lot of fights but never kills anyone directly. He never shoots anyone to death; this is easy to pull off since the rayguns are usually set on stun. The only time that a villan died due to Buck shooting him was ''Happy Birthday Buck''. However, it was still a stun beam and the villain died due to falling on his hand and turning himself to stone with his own RightHandOfDoom. SpaceBattles are a different story, however. It can be assumed that pilots are killed when their ship is destroyed. But in ''The Plot to Kill a City'', this was shown to not always be the case. Also, ship to ship battle is often considered an impersonal form of killing since the two combatants don't see each other face to face, although in ''Planet of the Slave Girls'', Galen, TheDragon to Jack Palance's villan charcter clearly did not survive his space duel with Buck. Buck directly arranged for the Vorvon to be destroyed in ''Space Vampire'', but being a vampire, the Vorvon probably does not count.

* ''Series/BuckRogersInThe25thCentury'': Buck gets into a lot of fights but never kills anyone directly. He never shoots anyone to death; this is easy to pull off since the rayguns are usually set on stun. The only time that a villan died due to Buck shooting him was ''Happy Birthday Buck''. However, it was still a stun beam and the villain died due to falling on his hand and turning himself to stone with his own RightHandOfDoom. SpaceBattles are a different story, however. It can be assumed that pilots are killed when their ship is destroyed. But in ''The Plot to Kill a City'', this was shown to not always be the case. Also, ship to ship battle is often considered an impersonal form of killing since the two combatants don't see each other face to face. Buck directly arranged for the Vorvon to be destroyed in ''Space Vampire'', but being a vampire, the Vorvon probably does not count.

** Reese actually lampshades this in episode S1E3 ''Mission Creep'': though soldiers in general specifically trained to kill in combat, significantly fewer are ''capable'' of killing in cold blood, let alone up-close and personal.

* ''Series/{{Chuck}}'': Chuck could never bring himself to kill an enemy no matter how much they deserve it, which is the reason why he {{Doesn't Like Guns}} and would rather use tranqguns instead. The closest he came to actually killing anyone was shooting [[spoiler: Shaw]] and dropping him into the river to save Sarah (though he survived) and grabbing him by the throat in their final confrontation.

* ''Series/{{Chuck}}'': Chuck could never bring himself to kill an enemy no matter how much they deserve it, which is the reason why he {{Hates Guns}} and would rather use tranqguns instead. The closest he came to actually killing anyone was shooting [[spoiler: Shaw]] and dropping him into the river to save Sarah (though he survived) and grabbing him by the throat in their final confrontation.

* ''Series/IronFist2017'': Claire believes this, although Coleen disagrees, and they argue about it.

** [[TheAtoner Ex-CIA assassin John Reese]] tries to avoid killing people (his fondness for KneeCapping is a RunningGag) though he has done so on occasion, often as a KarmicDeath. When his DistaffCounterpart Sameen Shaw joins Team Machine in Season 3, she visibly chafes at this restriction, feeling no embarrassment whatsover about being a sociopathic BloodKnight. She does still follow it, though.