Face Death With Dignity / Western Animation

---

• American Dragon: Jake Long: After being captured by the Huntsclan and threatened with execution, Andam merely says that the rest of the Dragon Order will avenge his death and glares at his captors. Fortunately, Jake saves him.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender:
  • Admiral Zhao chose to die with dignity rather try to let Zuko save him as the Ocean Spirit dragged him down to his watery grave. Subverted in that being killed by the partner of the spirit he failed to kill is a pretty undignified death, but Zhao's pride makes him incapable of realizing that to the bitter end.
    • To make matters worse, he didn't die. He was instead thrown into the Fog of Lost Souls, where he will wander forever, driven to insanity hunting an Avatar he cannot find.
  • A variation on this in The Legend of Korra: Lin Beifong defies Amon to the very end and suffers what is, for many benders, A Fate Worse Than Death. Unlike every other victim of Amon's, she doesn't beg or plead, she just calmly closes her eyes and accepts it.
• Dinobot in Beast Wars, by virtue of a Heel–Face Turn from the Predacons, is in no danger from their meddling time travel ways and didn't need to fight them all in single combat with no support and damaged beyond repair systems. In fact, a good deal of his troubles would be dealt with if he did nothing about it. But then there's what he could have done, and what he did. He dies saying he's got nothing to regret.
  • Ravage also does this in "The Agenda (Part III)", moments before he's destroyed in an explosion caused by Rattrap's fusion grenades.
    "DECEPTICONS FOREVER!"
• Big City Greens:
  • The Greens face this in the climax of "Blood Moon", holding hands as they prepare to face the inevitable from the zombie-turned farm animals on the rooftop next door as they close in on them. It fortunately does not last long, as the blood moon ends, sparing them last-minute and returning the animals to normal.
  • In the climax of "Chipocalypse Now", the Greens, barring Cricket, can be seen crouching and wincing in fear as they prepare to face death in the hands of Chip's helicopter. Like before, it doesn't last long, as Cricket immediately sees the helicopter get caught on some power lines, stopping just mere inches from his face, which in turn sends Chip flying out of Big City.
• In Bojack Horseman after BoJack realises that he can't escape his death in The View From Halfway Down, he finishes his Dying Dream calmly asking Dream!Diane how her day was while he's consumed by the black goo representing death. Averted in that he actually survives.
• Codename: Kids Next Door: When Maurice turns 13, he accepts his decommissioning and the loss of his memories. Note that Maurice is the only KND agent shown in the series who accepts his decommissioning, where others betray the Kids Next Door when they turn or before they turn 13 years old. Because Maurice accepts his decommissioning, he is rewarded with his reputation and legacy being left intact, with all of his former teammates and fellow operatives sending him off with honor. Note that even Numbuh 86, a boy hater and Head of Decommissioning, treats him with respect and is sad to see him go. It is implied that because he loyally accepts his fate, he is allowed to keep his memories and become part of a secret sect of teenagers who are still loyal to the KND and do undercover work to help them from behind the scenes.
• Defenders of the Earth: The first episode has Ming attempt to electrocute Flash, Mandrake, the Phantom and Lothar at an abandoned prison, having captured Rick and LJ as bait to lure their elders into a trap. When Ming gives the order to "throw the switch", the four men exchange glances, then stoically face forwards, bracing themselves for the current they believe is about to kill them. Fortunately, Rick and LJ manage to escape from their cell and sabotage the prison generator, so Flash and the others are saved.
• In the most badass instance ever in his animated filmography, Donald Duck does this with great patriotism and pride in the Wartime Cartoon "Commando Duck".
• DuckTales (2017): In the series finale, Black Heron gets unexpectedly shoved into the Solego Vortex by Bradford. Rather than freak out, she admires how villainous of a move that was of him and accepts her fate with a satisfied grin on her face.
• The Family Guy episode "Road To Las Vegas" revolves around Stewie using an experimental teleporter to take himself and Brian to Las Vegas for a Céline Dion concert. Unbeknownst to them, the teleporter actually creates a set of copies which are sent to Vegas, while the originals remain behind and are forced to use air travel to Vegas, thinking that the teleporter didn't work. The original Stewie and Brian have an increasingly miserable time until they find themselves in debt to a loan shark with no means of paying him back and decide to face death on their own terms and commit suicide. However, Stewie wusses out at the last moment, leading to only Brian dying. Meanwhile, the copies have a very successful Vegas trip, until Stewie is murdered by the loan shark the originals hired, with only Brian surviving. He ends up reuniting with Stewie at a bus terminal where they figure out what actually happened.
• Final Space:
  • In Chapter 8 of Season 1, John Goodspeed learns from his son - who went back in time - that he will not be returning from the mission he is currently on. John is unfazed by this, opts to sacrifice himself anyways, and instructs Gary on how to find the anti-matter bomb to fix the breach in his timeline, while also giving him some final words of encouragement.
  • The Cold Opens of Season 1 all show Gary floating in space with no apparent way to escape, with his only company being HUE in his helmet. Despite a couple of irritated outbursts, he is generally calm and accepts his impending death. His last words are him thanking HUE for staying with him to the bitter end.
  • In Season 3, "Hyper-Transdimensional Bridge Rising" sees Clarence get fatally shot by Todd Watson as he attempts to activate the titular portal, while Todd himself is skewered by Evil KVN. Todd simply remarks that he didn't see that coming and dies smiling, believing that he succeeded in preventing Gary from escaping Final Space. Meanwhile, Clarence sits down and silently chuckles while watching a video of him with his adopted children, as he bleeds out.
  • The next episode sees Kevin Van Newton stay behind on Earth to activate the KVN Net. Despite being cornered by a hoard of zombified Gary's, he shows no sign of terror and stands in place as the door gives way and he blows up.
• Futurama: In "The Late Philip J. Fry", Professor Farnsworth, Fry, and Bender fail to procure a Backwards Time Machine that would have been able to take them home. When they arrive in a time period where the Earth is a dry and empty husk, the group opts to use their Forward Time Machine to continue traveling in time and watch the universe die while drinking beer. Subverted when another, identical universe is created and the group decide to continue going further in hopes of reaching their time period. Unfortunately, they have to do the whole trip again when the Professor loses control and takes them further in time again, and in the process, accidentally crush their doppelgangers, since that universe was about ten feet lower than their old one.
• Kind of averted, but in the series finale of Gravity Falls, the reporter Shandra Jimenez broke into Bill Cipher's lair, and when she was being turned into stone by an eyebat, she just accepts it, probably knowing that it would happen eventually. This is later averted again with Bill who freaks out when he is being erased from inside Stan's mind.
• Hercules: The Animated Series: In "Hercules and the Prince of Thrace," Adonis disturbs Gaia, so Gaia places a curse on him to die which can only be removed by the Golden Apples in the garden of the Hesperides, and only a god can take the apples. After Hercules fails to get one, they have Atlas get it instead while Hercules holds up the sky. When Atlas suggests just leaving Hercules, instead Adonis tricks Atlas into holding up the sky again, who in turn injures Pegasus so he can't fly. Seeing that there is no way for Pegasus to fly again, Adonis accepts his fate. When Hercules tries to think of a way to help, Adonis calmly tells him that he did all he could and lays down on the grass to die. Fortunately, the pair are able to summon Gaia in the garden and appease her wrath, lifting the curse from Adonis.
• Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.: When it looks like the Hulk is about to smash Ronan the Accuser with his own Universal Weapon, Ronan calmly accepts it, his only comment being the hope Hulk's "justice" will be swift.
• In the Looney Tunes short "The Rebel Without Claws", set during The American Civil War, Sylvester, allied with the Union, stalks Tweety, allied with the Confederacy, throughout the cartoon. Ultimately, the cat catches the bird and takes him to be executed by firing squad. As Tweety stands blindfolded before the squad, he says that his only regret is that he has only one life to give to his country, to which Sylvester, standing off to the side, gloats, "Too bad you don't have nine lives like me!" The firing squad all fire their guns, but Tweety is left standing, the squad having shot Sylvester instead. He lies there as if dead, but comes to.
  Sylvester: It's a good thing I have got nine lives, too! With this kind of an army, I'll need 'em!
• Canard Thunderbeak from Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series, when it looked like the team was going to be eaten alive by a giant energy absorbing monster. He decided to give the thing something else to eat, himself.
• Happens twice with Mike Chilton in the Motorcity finale. First when he's falling from a building after Kane tosses him, we see him shut his eyes calmly before he's rescued by the Duke of Detroit. The second is a subversion though as he appears to self-destruct Mutt with himself inside to blow up Kane's machine, although he manages to escape with Chopper-Mutt as planned.
  Mike: *to his dog bobble-head* "Sorry girl, we had a real good ride though, didn't we?"
• In Monkie Kid after the defeat of the Lady bone demon, Mk briefly talks to her in a white void about her view on destiny. She is completely calm through the entire interaction.
  LBD: Save your hero speech child. I've existed long enough to know when it's over.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • Sheriff Silverstar experiences this in "Over a Barrel". When out of ammunition (pies) and faced with a charging Buffalo chief, he just takes off his hat and closes his eyes. He is saved by a fellow townspony, but still counts.
  • The Mane Six (and Spike) almost fall victim to this trope in Part 2 of "The Ending of the End". Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow are ready to blast them to utter dust, and they huddle together and close their eyes as they fire the ray. If not for every other character showing up to help, they would've fallen, and the villains would've won.
• Pinky and the Brain's The Brain's left defeated, picking garbage out for his meals, after outright losing—not just failing to take over the world, but losing it — to an Evil Counterpart. He's then greeted by a pack of alley cats. His intended last words, from inside a cat's mouth: "Go on, end it now!" The cats decline, and when he finds he's alive, he finally gets into the third act to save his world.
• Samurai Jack: In the series finale, Aku finally captures Jack and plans to execute him in front of the entire world. Every single ally and friend Jack has made over the course of the series goes out to save him, knowing full well they are signing their collective death warrants by opposing Aku. Many of them die in the battle but they give Jack enough time to finally return to the past and destroy Aku, preventing his dark future from existing in the first place.
  • His closest friend The Scotsman gets this a few episodes earlier when, in his late 80's-early 90's, he and his many daughters joint an assault on Aku's house, this being Aku he CurbStomp's the rest of the army and then sets his sights on his daughters, so The Scotsman rolls right up to him in his wheelchair and calls him out on how he's hiding out in his home because he's scared of Jack and knows he will inevitably come and kill him. The Scotsman is of course blown to bits by Aku's Eye Beams but he dose it looking absolutely miserable, then in the finale his ghost leads his daughters into the final battle.
• Solar Opposites: When Stephen returns to the farm to save Molly the mouse, he tragically learns that Molly can't fit and must stay behind so everyone else can survive. Molly appears to accept this by moving away from the hatch and leaving her bow for Stephen to remember her. She swims over to see him one last time before kissing the glass reassuringly and drowning peacefully.
• In Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode "Shades of Reason", Pre Vizsla is challenged by Maul to combat for Vizsla's position as leader of Mandalore, and when he loses, merely has this to say:
  "Like you said. Only the strongest shall rule."
• Star Wars Rebels has Governor Pryce in the series finale, who refuses to evacuate the command center (which the rebels have just set to self-destruct), choosing instead to simply stand there calmly and defiantly with a look of hate on her face as everything explodes around her.
• The Simpsons:
  • In "Barth The Daredevil", Bart gets obsessed with daredevil stunts after seeing a stunt performance, and decides to jump across Springfield Gorge on a skateboard. After failing over and over to get Bart to change his mind, Homer Simpson decides to do the stunt himself to show Bart "what it's like to witness a family member stupidly risking his life for no good reason". Homer's dialogue as he prepares for the jump shows that doesn't expect to survive, yet he remains calm and collected.
    Bart: [looks down the ramp towards the gorge, and then back at Homer] But- Dad, you'll never make it!
    Homer: Don't you think I know that? [gets on the skateboard, then kneels down and places his hands on Bart's shoulders] Goodbye, son.
    • In "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish", Homer eats some improperly prepared fugu and is informed by a doctor that he only has 22 hours left to live. After some temporary but appropriate angst, he spends what he believes will be the last day of his life making a bucket list of things to do before dying, such as telling off his boss and spending quality time with his friends and family, and as night falls, Homer falls asleep listening to the Bible on tape.
  • In "Bart's Comet," as the comet comes closer to crashing into Springfield, Ned Flanders walks up onto a hill, faces the comet in the sky, and starts singing "Que Será Será." The rest of the citizens, realizing they have no way out of the town and thus no way to escape the comet, accept their fate and join him on the hill in singing. The comet breaks up in the atmosphere, and by the time it reaches the ground, it's become too small to harm anybody.
• The Tom and Jerry short "The Duck Doctor" has it happening to Tom. Having no hope to escape a falling anvil, Tom dug himself a grave, blindfolded himself and had a last smoke. Then the anvil hit him on the head, making him fall inside his grave, which made the dug Earth jump onto him, completing the burial and then the anvil fell in a position to serve as a tombstone.
• In the Season 6 premiere episode of The Venture Bros., Jonas Venture Jr., already dying of cancer, and General Treister go out in a blaze of glory, moving the reactor core of Gargantua-2 to a safe distance before meltdown. Jonas says one last goodbye to his brother Rusty (making the trademark "Go Team Venture" gesture) and calmly shuts his eyes as the end draws near. Treister rides the space station into the wild yonder, exulting in the fact that cancer isn't what's going to kill him.
• The Wild Thornberrys: "Forget Me Not": Rebecca the elephant reassures a worried and visibly distraught Eliza that she has lived a long, fulfilling life, and she is ready to meet her fate; after a final embrace with her new human friend, she quietly passes away.
• Young Justice (2010): Wally and Robin do this in "Failsafe". Played far more seriously in "Endgame" when Wally becomes a mortal target for the Magnetic Field Disruptor's energy output: only Wally can go out while making a quip on how, "Artemis is going to kill me". Not to mention that calm look on his face when he tells Barry to tell Artemis and his parents that he loves them before he fades out of existence.

---