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Offhand Backhand

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He does it so often, he didn't even notice.

"Hold it there! You're doing the old 'Frozen Take' bit, which means that Doug the Dog... *CLONK*... was right behind me. Heh-heh-heh-heh!"
— Slappy Squirrel, Animaniacs

Being a Mook is a hard (and short) life. If you're not constantly getting killed, you're getting knocked out by the Hero.

Some Mooks, instead of following the rules of Mook Chivalry, try getting smart by sneaking up on the hero when they're busy fighting another fellow Mook or while in conversation with someone, and striking them from behind.

Sounds easy, right? They're not even looking your way, throwing punches or talking. All you have to do is be silent... just a little closer...

*POW*

Nope, not only do you still get knocked out (or shot down), the Hero doesn't even give you the courtesy of looking your way first. And of course, you just made them look that much cooler.

Compare Foe-Tossing Charge, only even more humiliating for the poor sap(s) on the receiving end. Also compare Dangerous Backswing, which happens in a combat situation and may or may not be accidental. Very commonly featured in a work that is Rated M for Manly. Users of this move tend to have a Badass Back. There is a certain amount of Truth in Television to this: The reverse kick is a fairly viable move.

See also Excuse Me While I Multitask and Autopilot Artistry. Has nothing to do with Backhanded Apology.

Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Anime & Manga 
  • The eponymous Afro Samurai does this to a guy at least 4 times his size. so hard that he flies through the wall.
  • Ayakashi Triangle: As Matsuri finishes using a Magic Kiss to exorcise Suzu, he briefly continues to make out with her while expels the spirit out through his hand in the direction opposite to where he was facing.
  • Guts from Berserk once cut a bandit’s tongue without looking at him.
  • Dutch does this to a panicking Rock in the first chapter of Black Lagoon. Roberta does the same later during a gun battle, when a thug made the mistake of trying to attack her from behind after she agreed to stop shooting.
  • Bleach:
    • Matsumoto Rangiku does this to both Asano Keigo and Kon when they both attempt to thrust themselves into Marshmallow Hell.
    • Not a punch, but Muguruma Kensei stabs his knife behind him into a skyscraper-height Giant Mook's face to blow it up.
  • In A Certain Magical Index, this is how Touma finishes off Stiyl's fire giant Innocentius after using the fire sprinklers to wash the ink off of the rune cards that were sustaining it.
  • In Claymore, Riful backhands Rachel with four spikes (which mysteriously become five in a later scene).
  • Dragon Ball Z:
  • In the original El Hazard OVA, Ifurita demonstrates her newfound independence by laying out Jinnai with a no-look pimp-slap.
  • In Fist of the North Star, one would-be Hokuto Shinken wielder is stalking Kenshiro through a town. When he pounces, Kenshiro backhands the faceplate of his helmet in. The punk puts his thumbs into the side of Kenshiro's head in Zankai Ken fashion, announces "You are already dead!", and counts down from ten... exploding on the zero. When Kenshiro backhands you, he knows where to hit.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist:
    • Pride manages to do an offhand backhand stab to a subordinate who has outlived his usefulness.
    • Barry the Chopper then manages the same on a foolish guard who chose to investigate, with an axe, which of course it nailed him square in the head. And it was great.
    • Scar uses his destruction on Gluttony, who was sneaking up from behind.
  • Melissa Mao delivers one to Kurz Weber in the opening credits of Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu.
  • In the 13th episode of Granblue Fantasy, Djeeta (who was busy talking to Rosetta) nonchalantly strikes an Imperial soldier in the head without even glancing in his direction.
  • Gundam:
    • In Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Seravee does this with a beam saber to a GN-XII, (so it’s more like Offhand Beam Saber).
    • Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn: During episode three, the Unicorn Gundam is fighting against two Geara Zulus. After using its shield to block a beam rifle attack it uses the beam saber on its right arm to slice off the flanking Geara Zulu's weapon arm, stabs through the left side of its cockpit, and tosses it aside. All within the span of about two seconds.
    • In an early episode of Mobile Fighter G Gundam, Domon butts into the Gundam Fight between France and Cuba's champions. While the French fighter simply chews him out for breaking the Gundam Fight's rules, the Cuban tries to attack him from behind. Domon deals with him by casually activating the Shining Gundam's beam sword while it's still in the hip sheathe, causing the blade to pierce and destroy the Arachno Gundam's head.
  • Saito Hajime does it to a belligerent ronin in the Hakuouki Sekkaroku OVA. When the man gets up from it and comes at him a second time, he does it again.
  • Alucard from Hellsing loves to go Guns Akimbo without looking in one direction. In the finale, Sir Integra shoots Shröedinger without looking (he got better).
  • In High School Exciting Story: Tough, Kichi’s aunt Yumiko casually backhands a yakuza member who tried to attack her.
  • This is how Hime-chan met with Arisaka in Hime-chan's Ribbon.
  • Jotaro's Stand Star Platinum from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure did this to a goddamn shark.
  • In Kill la Kill, during the election, the Elite Four do this to everyone who tries to attack them while they are heading out.
  • Millie from Lost Universe has been known to take out targets that are behind her, with a pistol, while looking in a mirror, while driving at high speed with her other hand.
  • At the beginning of Midori Days, the main character is ambushed from behind by the girlfriend of a gangster he beat up at the story's start... and smacks her down without looking. Or, rather, he wasn't looking - Midori, attached to his right arm, heard her coming and acted defensively.
  • Negima! Magister Negi Magi:
    • Hilariously done in chapter 252, with Setsuna splitting a steel ball that is flying at Konoka and a couple of children (they're a few meters behind her and its trajectory is within her reach) in half with her artifact... without even knowing she does it. She's busy worrying about how she thinks she's getting WEAKER.
    • Also done in the Tournament Arc during one of Evangeline's matches.
  • Kirika in Noir pulls this off in the third episode after using popcorn to help her find the location of the unlucky Mook on the other end.
  • One Piece:
    • In the Ice Hunters arc, Luffy does this to one of the bounty hunters, Hockera. In a subversion, though, Luffy's not even fighting him—he's fighting two other bounty hunters while Hockera attacks Chopper, and Hockera gets nailed when Luffy snaps his arm backwards. Luffy's not even aware of what happened until Hockera whined at him for interfering in someone else's battle (which, for the record, he would never do on purpose).
    • When Luffy fights Zoro on Whiskey Peak, they give each other their full attention—despite Zoro previously having been about to engage Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine. The latter two get pissed that they are being underestimated and proceed to launch attacks at the "distracted" pair, who barely break eye contact or move while fending them off.
    • Sanji invoked this with Jabra by running away and letting Jabra chase and get behind him, then surprising the Wolf Man with a foot to the face. Sanji also defeated Mr 3 without even looking at him.
    • While being attacked by a pack of wolves, when a wolf attacks from behind Inazuma sends it flying with a reversed kick.
  • One-Punch Man: Saitama does this accidentally to Garo, sending him spinning through the air, because he wants to avoid being seen with him after they both left a restaurant without paying. Garo, on the other hand, was trying to kill him. It's the third time Saitama knocks Garo out in passing, but neither can remember the earlier times because Garo has been losing his memory of the events due to the trauma, and Saitama can't remember everyone he punches.
  • PandoraHearts, light novel number three. Jack was challenged to even hit Oswald, fair fight or ambush, any time, any place on the estate. When he tried to attack while Oswald was napping under a tree, this was the result. The thing that made it a Funny Moment? Oswald didn't even wake up!
  • In the Persona 3 manga, Akihiko does this to Junpei when the latter sneaks up on him while they're lost in Tartarus. The look on his face is pretty amusing.
  • In Rurouni Kenshin, Kenshin pulls this off against a mook during one of the Kyoto arc episodes with his sheath.
  • In the Slayers OVA, Jeffrey attempts a pointlessly overdramatic charge at an enemy general and is casually clotheslined by the general and knocked out cold.
  • In Symphogear XV, this gets combined with Curb-Stomp Battle when Carol Malus Deinheim takes on Noble Red. Without even moving from where she was standing, Carol completely obliterated Noble Red, only sparing their lives because she had more important concerns at the moment.
  • Livio the Double Fang from Trigun has two cross-shaped miniature machine guns that allow him to fire in four directions simultaneously.
    • Vash does it to a robot with his gun in episode 9. He even manages to hit its weak spot dead-on.
  • Valkyria Chronicles: In Episode 6, a fistfight breaks out between the members of Squads 1 and 7. During the fight, a soldier (that appears be to be Jung) attempts to sneak up on Isara (who is eating at the time) before she knocks him out with a heretofore-unforeseen wrench.
  • Used by The Stoic Thors to put down The Berserker Bjorn in Vinland Saga.
  • Botan, of all people, pulls it off in YuYu Hakusho. Even if Kuwabara warned her, she still doesn't even look back before thwacking the mook with a metal bat.
  • C.T. Smith, from Zombie Powder, while in the middle of a gunfight, using Guns Akimbo. Flips one of his guns over his shoulder and headshoots a mook threatening another main character, then switches back without missing a beat.

    Comic Books 
  • Asterix the Gladiator has an entire page of Asterix and Obelix walking through the streets of Rome while being constantly assaulted, and disposing of their assailants this way. At the end, Obelix asks Asterix about all the strange people attacking them, and Asterix answers in confusion: "What people?"
  • The Avengers (Mark Waid): When Kang tries to age Hercules to impotence if not death, Herc slaps him away while boasting that he'll be alive to see the sun grow cold, so taking away "centuries" of his life is meaningless.
  • Batman:
    • It's practically a signature of the Dark Knight to leave one mook not a complete heap so he can backhand him when he tries to sneak up.
    • Sometimes even Batman can be bested.◊ By Elmer Fudd of all people.
    • In the first issue of Batgirl (2009), Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown do this in sync◊. In the second-to-last issue, a group of heroines show up to help Batgirl contain a prison riot. During the fight, Slipstream attempts to sneak-attack Supergirl, and she just lets his face crash into her fist while checking the condition of her nails.
    • In Batman (Grant Morrison), Damian slaps a ninja while walking down a hallway.
  • Mister E does this with his cane to a Mook in The Books of Magic. (Did we mention Mister E can fight blind?)
  • Captain America is especially fond of it. In his case, however, he's far more likely to whack you in the face with his shield.
    • One of the funniest times with Captain America was, while in conversation with Ms. Marvel outside Avengers' Mansion on a snowy day, Cap flings his shield to the side, which bounces off a wall, passes behind him — incidentally intercepting the snowball thrown at him by a daring kid who climbed to the top of the outer wall — bounces off the opposite wall, then flies back to Cap's hand. Ms. Marvel remarks on Cap's unexpected show of humor.
    • On the cover of Captain America #65 he did it to his own sidekick Bucky when Bucky tried to warn Cap about his new girlfriend being evil.
  • Meriem does this to a guy who attempts to grope her butt in Cavewoman: Leave My Man Alone.
  • In the third issue of the Firefly comic Better Days, River kicks an Alliance soldier in the teeth when he tries to sneak up on and gut her with a knife. Though in this case, it is justified by her Psychic Powers.
  • Hellboy: Done to a hapless vampire in House of the Living Dead by the titular hero using a blessed sword.
  • Iron Man has done his fair share of this as well. When he hits you with his fist you're going to get a face full of metal.
  • Judge Dredd does this quite often, a lot of the time telling the person attempting to sneak up on him that it's unwise to do so.
  • Ms. Marvel (2014) does this to a bank robber on the cover of Vol.1 No.6 of her own book. With her stretching powers she does this from about fifty feet away and while texting on her phone with her dominant hand.
  • In one issue of Roger Rabbit's Toon Town, Jessica Rabbit does this to a Toon-Wolf who's trying to give her a kiss — with a frying pan for added pain. Judging from her reaction, this sort of thing happens often.
  • Salvation Run: when the villains are left on a prison planet, The Joker does this to Lex Luthor during their fight for leadership.
  • Bunnie Rabbot pulls this on Ixis Naugus once in Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics). Made even worse for Naugus since she used her cyborg fist instead of her normal one.
  • Spider-Man's spider-sense allows him to pinpoint from where his enemies attack if they are close enough, meaning he can pull this off a lot.
  • Superman:
    • In Kryptonite Nevermore, a bunch of goons assault the Man of Steel and knock themselves out when crashing into his invulnerable body. Meanwhile, Superman, who is busy pondering over his suddenly fluctuating powers, doesn't even notice them.
    • In Reign of Doomsday, Doomslayer barely notices he has just backhanded Superman into the floor as he strides towards the Eradicator.
    • Darkseid takes this to a new level with offhand Eye Beams.
  • The Transformers: Robots in Disguise: Arcee, a bot whom many Decepticons are afraid of, goes up against the Constructicons. Bonecrusher backhands her the minute she engages, he was busy beating on Blurr at the time, and only after that did he and the rest of the Constructicons notice and engage her.
  • In Watchmen, Ozymandias does this to Rorschach. Repeatedly. Got to admire Rorschach's tenacity, though.
  • Uncanny X-Men (2018): Cannonball falls victim of this when he targets the Big Bad of X-Men: Disassembled, assuming that, as usual, he's nigh-invulnerable 'cuz he's blasting. Since said Big Bad is Nate Grey a.k.a. X-Man, one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe, the result is Cannonball being swatted like a fly.
  • Zatanna (2010): While Zatanna's talking with Brother Night, a monster attempts to attack her from the back, but she casually disposes of him with a backhand magical blast that turns it into a harmless bunny.

    Comic Strips 

    Fan Works 

    Films — Animation 
  • Asterix movies:
    • During the last of The Twelve Tasks of Asterix, Obelix and Unhygienix start beating dozens of Romans this way, totally unaware of their presence, all while arguing about who should get the fun on this last task.
    • During Asterix Versus Caesar, Obelix asks if he can be nice to the other gladiators, while taking them out with offhanded attacks.
    • In Asterix and the Vikings, after exiting the Viking's club, Obelix casually does this to a bouncer Asterix had earlier knocked out to get in. He takes no notice because he's sad that Justforkix has insulted him.
  • Despicable Me:
    • In Despicable Me, Gru does this to a shark while going to rescue his adopted daughters from Vector.
      Vector: He punched my shark?!
    • In Despicable Me 2, Gru shoots a couple of the mutated Minions this way in order to hit them with the anti-mutagen jelly.
  • The title character in Hercules does this to Hades near the end of the film.
    Hades: Ok, well, I deserved that.
  • Early in The Incredibles, Elastigirl is arguing/flirting with Mr. Incredible over who should get credit for catching a robber. Said robber tries to interrupt and concede defeat to her for punching him out. She punches him out again without taking her eyes off Incredible and goes right back to flirting with him.
  • In Kung Fu Panda 2, Po and the Furious Five are trying to free two of Lord Shen's prisoners from the prison. After most of the guards are beaten up, the last one sneaks up behind Po, only to get hit with a rather impressive offhand backhand. Tigress compliments him on it.
  • The Lion King (1994):
  • The alpha trailer for Zootopia has Judy Hopps do the gun version; after Nick disappears in the dark, she draws a tranq gun and shoots him, never taking her gaze off the camera even as she fires.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • In The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, John Bigbooté does it to one of the hunters.
  • Airplane!. The hero is being constantly hassled at the airport by cultists offering free flowers in exchange for donations. After his love rejects him and flies off in the ill-fated airplane, another cultist leans over his shoulder offering a flower...without changing expression, Stryker slams his fist backward into the man's face.
  • The backfoot variation is parodied as a Running Gag in Austin Powers in Goldmember: every time Foxxy Cleopatra tries to attack Goldmember from behind, he manages to kick her in the face, at one point raising both legs at the same time.
  • Batman (1989):
    • Batman clobbers one of Jack Napier's men like this during the battle at the Axis Chemicals plant.
    • The Joker does this to his ex-boss Grissom although he's already shot him several times.
    • During the fight with the Joker's goons in the alley, Batman does this to one of them and lays him out.
    • In another scene Batman does this to a Mook who's around the corner from him.
  • The Cannonball Run: When Captain Chaos rescues the girls from the bikers in the shack during the big brawl, a final one comes up behind him as he is posing in the doorway, whom he disposes of with an extremely casual offhand backhand.
  • Nice dual example with Sir James and Ransome in Casino Royale (1967), during the climactic fight scene, with no break in their conversation.
  • Congo. The female ex-CIA protagonist is bribing a corrupt army officer when one of his soldiers starts running his hand through her long blonde hair. She promptly elbows him in the groin without looking, much to the amusement of his CO.
  • Despite showing no inclination toward being combat proficient throughout the entire first part of the movie, the main character of Dagon (based on The Shadow Over Innsmouth) somehow manages one of these during a fight when his girlfriend is threatened.
  • A plot-point in Edge of Tomorrow. When Rita sees Cage kill two Mimics without even looking at them, it tips her off that Cage is stuck in a "Groundhog Day" Loop just like she used to be.
  • Elysium. A droid cop casually throws a hand grenade over its shoulder at a car while pointing its rifle in the opposite direction. Justified given that these robots likely have multiple sensors, one of which would have been 'looking' in that direction.
  • Gun Kata practitioners in Equilibrium and works influenced by it do this all the time.
    • In that film, Preston even pulled off one backhand with a sword: as two mooks attempt to off him, he stabs one sword forwards and one sword back, instantly killing both attackers. Prior to that, he began the same fight by unsheathing the sword of the mook standing behind him and slashing the one in front of him in the face.
    • The sword to the back was a sheath that he pulled off one attacker and sharpened into a killing point by blocking an attacker with it such that half the sheath was sliced off.
  • The Fifth Element: Leeloo caps off her fight scene on Fhloston Paradise by smashing one into a Mangalore's jaw.
  • In G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra while infiltrating the Pit, Storm Shadow casually kills a guard standing behind a pillar without looking at him or slowing down.
  • Hudson Hawk does this to Kit-Kat when the latter is inexplicably dressed like him, standing behind him, and mimicking his every move.
  • After being made to concede defeat to General Miura, Zealot Lin from Ip Man attempts an attack In the Back. General Miura successfully catches him fighting dirty. When he still refuses to give in, General Miura proceeds to show him that cheaters don't prosper on his watch.
  • In Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008), Trevor Anderson does this to punch out a giant Venus flytrap that is creeping up behind him.
  • In The Karate Kid Part II, Mr. Miyagi is trying to rescue Daniel from Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy Chozen. He has just finished defeating all of his Mooks. Then one of them makes the mistake of trying it again from behind... and promptly takes another fall.
  • James Bond pulls this off in Licence to Kill, starting a very messy bar brawl.
  • The Lord of the Rings:
    • Legolas does this during the hand-to-hand fight in Edoras. Finishes off one, another's approaching from behind... bam. Of course, we are talking about an elven prince who has the battle experience of a millenia at least, in addition to Super-Senses. The idiot trying to sneak up on him never stood a chance.
    • Aragorn also stabs people without looking at them, the idea being that he's been trained in the elvish martial arts. It also helps that he's 87 with a younger man's body, and has thus been fighting for longer than any of the mooks have been alive. The fact that he can also hear a Nazgûl coming up behind him clearly marks him as Canon Badass.
  • Marvel Cinematic Universe:
    • In Iron Man 2, Black Widow does an offhand pepper spray right after beating up a hallway full of thugs, not even bothering to look at the guy as she does it.
    • In The Avengers (2012), Hawkeye doesn't even turn his head or blink as he fires exploding arrows at a Chitauri squadron.
    • Thor: The Dark World: Thor, while being brutally beaten by Kurse, tries to summon Mjolnir, but the Dark Elf backhands it away without even turning his back from Thor.
    • Avengers: Age of Ultron:
      • Hawkeye pulls it off beautifully when Scarlet Witch tries to Mind Control him. Been there, done that — not a fan.
      • Captain America does this on the broken bridge as he is staring at the ground receding below him and one of Ultron's drones comes up behind him.
    • Thor: Ragnarok: Big Bad Hela finishes off Volstagg and Fandral with her deadly blades without even looking at them.
    • Black Panther (2018): When rescuing the women from human traffickers one goon shoots at T'Challa from behind. The bullets bounce off his Vibranium armor and he strolls over to a humvee, rips its door off and throws it behind him taking the thug out.
    • In the Final Battle of Spider-Man: Far From Home, Spidey, seeing through Mysterio's last illusion, grabs an invisible Mysterio, who was trying to sneak up on him, all while staring at the seemingly beaten Mysterio on the floor.
  • The Matrix:
    • Trinity does this with her FOOT.
    • Neo also pulled one off during the chateau fight in The Matrix Reloaded: when one mook attempts to backstab him, he blocks over his shoulder.
  • Major Grom: Plague Doctor. When he first sees the Plague Doctor in action burning a man alive, Cowboy Cop Grom decides to forgo the heroics and play it safe, imagining a scenario where he throws a rock at the back of the Plague Doctor's head and knocks him out, then walks up and slaps the cuffs on. It's a good idea right up to the moment when the Plague Doctor catches the rock without even looking behind him.
  • Oblivion (2013): The Drones' weapons can turn independently of each other and the general facing of the drone. Several of these ensue whenever the drones fight.
  • At the beginning of The One, Yulaw is walking away from the police station after beating up a heavily armed police escort. He glances back to see one of the cops groggily get up and aim at him. He turns to look forward again and shoots the cop without bothering to aim.
  • For a Few Dollars More:
    • The Man with No Name does this in his opening shootout, after gunning down three men who tried to prevent him from taking in their friend, who had a large bounty on his head. While still looking at the three men he'd just shot down to make certain none of them were getting up, he shot the man behind him and to his left without even turning his head. Said man, the same man he'd come to collect the bounty on, was crawling towards a pistol laying on the floor. The Man with No Name heard him moving and simply shot at the same place where he knew the gun was.
  • Purgatory: Doc Holliday does this with guns, casually shooting the bandit sneaking up behind him as he insults Blackjack.
  • Bruce Lee does it multiple times, with nunchaku and a short staff, in his big Multi-Mook Melee fight scene in Way of the Dragon.
  • Parodied in the Do You Know Praying Mantis? scene from Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
  • RoboCop too shoots without looking, but he pre-targets the bad guys in his computerized head. Given the satirical tone of the series, this is almost certainly done tongue-in-cheek.
    • The 2014 movie plays it straight when Andre Daniels tries to shoot Robocop when the latter turns his head away to look at his partner. Robocop does a Quick Draw and shoots Daniels without even looking at him.
  • In Rollerball, the protagonist does this, then points out that he could hear the other guy.
  • In Roxanne (based loosely on Cyrano de Bergerac), CD (Steve Martin) pulls this off after his Moment of Awesome showing up the bar fly who (poorly) insulted his nose. After the humiliated guy tries to hit him, CD counters and brings his fist up backwards into the guy face. As the guy stands there stunned, CD walks nonchalantly back to his table, not looking back, and asks his companions "Has he fallen yet?" just as the guy drops to raucous cheering.
  • Serenity has River pull this on the captain, just to show how awesome she is. Likewise bounty hunter Jubal Early on Simon Tam. On both occasions no one is shot; it's just a less-than-subtle way of saying "Back off". For bonus awesome points, River's gun remains completely motionless even when she cocks it. How many people can perform that trick?
  • Clumsy in The Smurfs does this a few times by accident.
  • Happens in Scooby-Doo by Shaggy, of all people. After stealing a disguise from one of the henchmen, he dances in an attempt to blend in, inadvertently PUMMELING the poor mook after he got up.
  • Spider-Man 2:
    • Doctor Octopus takes it to another level: When Mary Jane grabs a 2x4 and starts advancing on him, he uses two of his mechanical arms to snatch it out of her hands and knock her to the floor, all without taking his eyes off Peter. Of course, it's possible the independently intelligent tentacles did it all on their own. The film seems to imply that since the tentacles are basically connected to his mind, they can feed him information about his surroundings from their own built-in sensors (and if you watch closely, one of the tentacles was indeed "looking" at MJ before she struck).
    • A similar thing happens during his first battle with Spider-Man. His back is turned completely to the direction Spidey is coming from, yet one of his tentacles seems to spot him coming. Ock then turns around throwing bags of money at Spidey as an attack.
  • Star Wars:
    • Darth Vader does something similar in Revenge of the Sith: when he's on Mustafar slaughtering the Separatist council, a battle droid shoots at him from behind, and without turning around, he just puts his lightsaber behind him, deflecting the blaster bolt back and destroying the droid. This occurs right before he turns to face the camera, showing off the red-rimmed yellow eyes of Dark Side corruption.
    • This is actually a pretty common Jedi ability and forms the basis of their defense against blaster bolts. A better example would be how Yoda disposed of Sidious's Praetorian Guard in the same movie, offhandedly smacking them both against a wall with the Force without even turning around. Not to mention decapitating two clone troopers with one backflip on Kashyyyk.
    • Han Solo proves this isn't just for Force-users in The Force Awakens, casually shooting two Stormtroopers - and then a third one behind him without turning to look. Han himself looks surprised for a moment, suggesting it may have been instinct.
    • Ben Solo, Han's son, does this in The Rise of Skywalker on Exegol. He takes down a Sovereign Protector with a blaster shortly after arriving. He sprints after Rey only for another Protector to come up behind him and shoot at him. Ben keeps running as he shoots behind him and hits the guard with a head shot without even turning to aim.
    • In Rogue One, K-2SO takes out a squad of stormtroopers with a casual over-the-shoulder grenade toss. Later on, when he is searching for the Death Star plans, he blasts a stormtrooper who enters the room behind him.
  • In Tommy Boy, Paul's Establishing Character Moment has him getting off a bus and looking around and seemingly oblivious to a little boy, who's still on the bus, making faces at him. He then swiftly lifts his arm up and punches the window where his face is without looking at him and knocks the kid out.
  • In Troy, Achilles parries several blows on the upswing thanks to a Badass Back. Then he walks away without looking. During the initial battle on the beach of Troy, Achilles even does this defensively. After fighting for some time with his sword and shield, he shifts his shield to his back only for an arrow to impact it less than a second later!
  • Undercover Brother. Sista Girl strikes someone behind her with a fist twice: Undercover Brother (while he's sexually harassing her) and a golf course security guard.
  • Wolverine elbows Gambit in the face in X-Men Origins: Wolverine as he's coming up behind him to deliver an angry speech.
  • Makes an appearance in this short featuring TNA wrestler Kurt Angle. "Less talk, more action"? Pot, kettle, black.
  • Moe Howard of the Three Stooges did it too many times to name, though one of his best was in "Gents in A Jam" where he whacks Larry with a rolling pin for making faces at his back.
  • Dave does this in Anger Management to his insufferable coworker Andrew when he's in the middle of chewing out his boss for giving Andrew the promotion he'd been wanting for years.
    Dave: I've been getting your coffee and doing your work for five years now, and when a good position actually opens up, you give it to the biggest dick in the world?
    Andrew: I dunno about the world, but it's definitely the biggest in this room.
    Dave: [reaches back and punches Andrew out without breaking eye contact] SHUT UP!

    Literature 
  • In Battle Royale, Kiriyama kills Mizuho Inada this way in the novel. The way in which he pulls this off makes him seem almost psychic.
    • At that point, Kiriyama already had Hiroki Sugimura's tracking device, which made it impossible for anyone to sneak up on him.
  • In The Bourne Series, the eponymous character frequently pulls this off during fist fights: while focused on one mook, another will sneak around behind Bourne and attempt a sucker punch. Bourne will (attempt to) retaliate with a rather devastating single back hand that has all the implications of a "wait your turn" punch.
  • In The Dinosaur Lords, when Karyl tries to attack Raguel from behind, the latter smashes him into the ground without looking back, and only turns to finish him off.
  • Discworld:
    • Carrot Ironfoundersson performs a variation of this in Men at Arms, out-maneuvering a slippery crook who tries to escape through a narrow alley and sticking his (very muscular) arm out across the crook's likeliest path. The resultant impact is compared to running into a steel beam at full sprint.
    • The big bad of Interesting Times, another Discworld book, does this on a sneaky assassin. With a sword he just finished making seconds ago. Sizzle indeed.
      • Followed momentarily by a footnote on the precise details of quenching a recently-forged sword in a person. Oddly enough, this is Truth in Television to some extent.
    • During the Wyrmberg sequence of the first book, The Colour of Magic, Liessa Dragonlady attempts to stab a vulnerable Hrun the Barbarian. He instinctively reaches out and grabs her wrist in mid-swing... while fast asleep.
  • In The Dresden Files: Small Favor, Ivy pulls off one of these, vaporizing a Denarian jumping at her back without even looking at it.
  • Starship Troopers: On a leave from training, Rico and two fellow trainees got attacked from behind and by surprise by four sailors of the merchant fleet. Rico executed an Offhand Backhand on the one who attacked him, then realized they were being attacked and turned to help the others but sees that they did the same to their aggressors.
  • Mat Cauthon of The Wheel of Time series does this accidentally in the third book by shouldering his quarterstaff. Justified by Mat's supernatural luck.
    • In a later book, after losing an eye, he randomly tosses a dagger behind him while in the woods and kills a rabbit for supper. The way he figures it, luck works better when you're not looking anyway.

    Live-Action TV 
  • In the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode "Fractured House", Lance Hunter and Bobbi Morse simultaneously shoot Mori, barely pausing the argument they're having.
  • The Amazing Extraordinary Friends: The Wraith does this to Captain X while battling in the cathedral in "Revenge of the Wraith".
  • Angel:
    • A variation in "Deep Down" with a considerably more badass Wesley on the other side of it. Justine picks up a wrench, then when Wesley calmly threatens to take away her toilet bucket she puts it down again. That one could be explained as Wesley seeing her reflection in the glass (he was steering a boat at the time).
    • A classic badass example is when Faith is interrogating a demon in a bar, while Wes watches. The demon starts getting cocky when he sees another demon sneaking up on Wesley... until Wes reaches behind with a shotgun and blows his face off. Which should grow back on that species.
      Wesley: [Dramatic Gun Cock] Eventually.
      Faith: Think yours will?
  • Done repeatedly to Ronmark by The MC Bat Commander (and once by Jimmy The Robot) in the "Night Of The Cactus!" episode of The Aquabats! Super Show!. The Commander's arm was mutated by space goo and he blames most of the slaps on his arm having a mind of its own until:
    Ronmark: Ow!
    Commander: Mind of its own.
    Ronmark: But that was your normal hand!
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
    • Part of Spike's Establishing Character Moment in "School Hard". Step one: swagger into the current villain's lair and make fun of a mook's overly dramatic speech. Step two: reminiscence about Contemplating Your Hands at Woodstock, then knock out the mook without even looking at him. Step three: stop to fawn over ill vampire girlfriend.
    • There was a variation in which Wesley (before he Took a Level in Badass) fenced with Giles and kept ineffectually lunging at him while Giles faced the other way and read a newspaper with his other hand the whole time.
    • Not that Giles isn't on the receiving end; in "Reptile Boy" he's getting on at Buffy for not taking her training seriously. "Are you gonna be prepared if a demon springs up behind you and does this?" Giles then does a karate chop at the back of Buffy's neck; she puts him in an armlock without even bothering to turn round. In fact, Buffy does this trope as a Running Gag from the first time we see her stake a vampire; justified due to her supernaturally enhanced reaction time and awareness.
      • Later in the same "Reptile Boy" episode Giles does that to one of the fratboys, who tries to attack him while he is trying to open the door. Giles himself looks surprised when the attacker just drops unconscious.
  • In the "Forget Me Not" episode of Dead Like Me, Jerkass Ray is choking Daisy when Mason charges to the rescue. Ray casually smashes him to the ground with a single sweep of his arm without turning around. Then, subverted, as Mason bashes Ray's skull in with a metal tray.
  • Doctor Who:
    • "The Christmas Invasion": The Doctor pulls this on the Sycorax leader with a satsuma. Which, to the uninitiated, is a small citrus fruit.
    • "Day of the Moon": River Song pulls one off as she destroys an entire room filled with the Silents and as Rory asks what kind of doctor she is, she kills one more Silent as she nonchalantly answers his question. This is possibly one of the most powerful examples of this trope, as due to the nature of the Silence, you forget all about them the moment you take your eyes off them. As such, River pulled an Offhand Backhand on someone she could not have even known was there.
  • A considerably darker-than-most version in the first episode of Game of Thrones, when Jaime Lannister suddenly but casually shoves ten-year-old Bran out a window without turning around.
  • One particular episode of Glee begins with Finn's abysmal dancing causing him to accidentally do this to Rachel, breaking her nose and kickstarting the plot.
  • Kamen Rider Kabuto:
    • Done with his Rider Kick; any Monster of the Week that tries to attack him from behind gets an energized roundhouse kick to the head for its trouble. This is so far the only time in the whole franchise that the Rider Kick has taken this form.
    • Gatack tries imitating it in the Hyper Battle DVD as part of his attempt to be more like Kabuto; unfortunately, he can't get the timing right and keeps getting smacked, all while Kabuto looks on and winces.
  • Eliot Spencer of Leverage does this to Iranian secret police.
  • The Mandalorian:
    • "Chapter 11: The Heiress": As the Razor Crest is about to leave orbit, a starfish-like creature crawls out and is about to drop itself on the Child, but Mando catches it one-handed and crushes it in his fist. Then he feeds it to the Child.
    • In "Chapter 12: The Siege", Cara Dune gives an elbow jab to one of the Aqualish thieves that tries to stab her in the back.
  • A skit in the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode, Overdrawn at the Memory Bank has Observer attempting to attack Bobo while the latter is sitting down at a table, eating a fast food meal. As Observer rushes forward with a mighty yell, Bobo calmly holds his fist behind him, which Observer promptly smashes his own face into.
  • In an episode of New Tricks, Sandra Pullman enters her car only to find a man in the backseat putting a gun to her head and saying he's going to shoot her in revenge. After half-accidentally softening him up by thinking out loud and coming to new conclusions about the current case, which is personally relevant to him, making him lower the gun and start angsting, she tells him to stop whining and punches him out without turning.
  • Person of Interest
    • In "Lady Killer", Root shoots government assassin Hersh who's sneaking up behind her, while smiling at Dr. Carmichael who's standing in front of her, a psychiatrist who didn't believe her story that she's Hearing Voices from an all-seeing artificial intelligence. An earlier episode had Root asking the Machine to provide her with a variable tone so she would know exactly where to aim her firearm, enabling her to hit people hidden behind doors or walls.
    • John Reese does the same while in God Mode in "YHWH".
      The Machine: SIX O'CLOCK.
      [Reese slams the butt of his rifle into someone sneaking up behind him]
  • The Sheriff in Robin Hood kills Carter this way by running into a building and hiding near the door, flattened against the wall. He shoves his sword into the opening so that Carter runs into it without even looking.
  • Saturday Night Live once did a skit, featuring John Goodman, of a group of ninjas talking about their work. One lamented to the others, "I tried sneaking up behind him, going real, extra careful and quiet, y'know, but he always gives me one of THESE!" while making the Offhand Backhand motion. One of the other ninjas chimes in, "Yeah, how do they do that?"
  • In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World, a villain casually kicks Malone away when he tries a *Click* Hello on him.
  • Stargate SG-1:
    • Similarly to the first Discworld examples above, in one episode Teal'c outmaneuvers a Person of Interest by not following his partner to the back door and instead waiting on the lee side of a Dumpster and sticking his arm out right in the suspect's face as he sprints past.
    • In a later episode, Teal'c while brainwashed by Apophis gives a casual backhand to O'Neill to shut him up.
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:
    • Worf stabs one of the boarding-party Klingons in "Way of the Warrior", his first episode in the series.
    • Fake Martok stabs two Klingon guards at the same time in this way in the episode "Apocalypse Rising".
  • Supergirl (2015): In "Mr. and Mrs. Mxyzptlk", Mxy "helps" Supergirl catch some bank robbers by using his magic to turn their own guns on them. Supergirl rushes in front of them to block or catch all the bullets, and when one of the robbers thanks her she elbows him in the face.

    Music 

    Puppet Shows 
  • In Muppet Treasure Island Polly Lobster is thrown into the side of the ship and loses consciousness. Some minutes later he recovers, and Mr. Arrow (Sam the Eagle) slams him back against it with a wing, without taking his eyes off the duel between the two captains. Minutes later, Sam does it again, while performing a Face Palm.

    Roleplay 
  • In Dino Attack RPG, when Ben Gunn attacked Rex, Greybeard tried to intervene, but Ben Gunn knocked him to the ground without even looking at him.
  • Bobby Jacks of Survival of the Fittest pulls off the firearm based version with Andy McCann. Bobby hears the latter cry out behind him and shoots him in the head with a pistol without even turning around. However, this isn't due to Improbable Aiming Skills - Bobby just made a lucky shot.

    Tabletop Games 
  • One of the many uses of the Hair Trigger Neck Hairs gun schtick in Feng Shui is to allow a seemingly unaware gunman to do this to someone trying to sneak up behind him.
  • Legacy of Sentinels of the Multiverse has the card Back-Fist Strike, the art for it is this trope and it's got the most base damage of any of his attacks.

    Video Games 
  • Assassin's Creed II: In one cutscene pressing the weapon hand button when prompted will have Ezio kill two guards with his hidden blades without so much as a glance.
  • Batman: Arkham Asylum: One of the possible counterattack animations when an enemy is behind him is a variant of this. Unfortunately, it isn't the specific version he's known for in Batman: The Animated Series... He saves that one for cutscenes. Several times, in fact.
  • BioShock: In the first two games, Big Daddies will sometimes slap an obstructing Splicer (or you) across the room without looking.
  • Brütal Legend: In a cutscene, Eddie does this to a Tainted Coil cultist sneaking up on him, and even briefly interrupts a conversation he's having with potential Love Interest Ophelia. "Hold on a sec... *thwack*" She gets one right afterwards. Eddie: "Right shoulder." Ophelia: *stab*
  • Devil May Cry:
    • In every game after the first, Dante can fire one of his twin pistols in a direction he's not facing, a move referred to as "Twosome Time"; notable in that Dante will frequently pick improbable poses for this (i.e. firing forward and left has him point his left gun forward and his right one behind his back). There's also a move that lets him swing his shotgun around like it's a nunchaku, hitting enemies in every direction without specifically having to turn towards them.
    • One recurring trend in cutscenes involves gunslingers like Dante, Nero and Trish shooting demons surrounding them without even looking behind.
    • Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening:
      • Dante does this in many forms in his intro. Some notable ones include kicking a mook that is being dragged with him because said mook's scythe is stuck in him and another blade by cutting down a ceiling fan onto the mooks below using a scythe blade lodged in his chest. All that and he's just walking over to his jukebox.
      • Vergil also pulls an incredibly badass one of these on a Hell Vanguard, delivering an inhumanly fast Diagonal Cut with Yamato.
    • Devil May Cry 4:
      • The introduction of the first Alto Angelo. Dude doesn't even stop walking to kill the two Assaults that rush him.
      • Dante finishes Echidna by shooting at her without even looking.
      • Nero pulls off one with Yamato at the end of the final battle against Sanctus Diabolica.
    • Devil May Cry 5:
      • When the Fury is first introduced, it tries to perform a sneak attack on Dante, only to be pushed back by his finger.
      • In the scene leading up to the final battle, Nero does this to Dante with one of his Devil Bringer wings/arms to stop him and Vergil from trying to kill each other.
      • Dante and Vergil deliver a simultaneous one to Nero when they leave for the Demon World to cut off the Qliphoth's roots and Nero tries to stop them towards the end.
  • Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp: Dirk the Daring does this a few times — a snake tries to attack him from behind, and he gives it a quick bop with his sword in such a way that it looks like it was on accident — but it's a player command, and you die if you don't. Dirk even does this while GRIEVING when he thinks Daphne is dead, his head buried in despair... but when an imp moves in to attack — smack! — and Dirk doesn't even acknowledge it.
  • Dynasty Warriors: Sun Ce does this to a mook in a cutscene in the fifth installment. He does this again to two mooks on either side of him in one of the seventh game's scenes.
  • The Sole Survivor can be seen doing this in The Wanderer trailer for Fallout 4 (about 0:26), casually plugging a Radroach with a rifle shot (one handed) without breaking their stride.
  • Final Fantasy:
    • Final Fantasy VII: In the spinoff Dirge of Cerberus, Vincent is struggling with his Superpowered Evil Side Chaos when a mutated hound-like enemy tries to take advantage of his distraction and ambush him from behind. Vincent sends it flying with a casual backhanded swipe.
    • World of Final Fantasy has a moment at the start of the Eclipsed Region where the Cactuar Conductor gives phasmophobic Reynn a Jump Scare. After Reynn fails several times in succession to punch the conductor out for it, Lann tries to calm her down and gets troped for his trouble.
      Reynn: I've still got it!
      Lann: Well, you don't have to give it to me!
  • God Hand: One type of demon has an attack where it teleports in behind you and tries to slam you. Hitting the Action Command at this point results in Gene doing this (with an over-the-shoulder axe kick) and sending the demon flying about a thousand yards back.
  • Gundam Vs Series: In Gundam vs. Zeta Gundam, the Hyaku Shiki is able to fire its beam rifle over the shoulder this way.
  • Gungrave: Beyond the Grave does this sort of thing too when using his Burst Attack, and in some cutscenes.
  • Heroes of Might and Magic V: Elven War Dancers can harm all the adjacent enemies with one sweep of their swords, including those standing directly behind them.
  • Kid Icarus: Uprising: Dark Pit's Establishing Character Moment has him doing this to Pandora, just as she introduces him as her "new minion".
  • Krut: The Mythic Wings have a Cruel Elephant boss who can Offhand Backkick you with it's hind legs if you try attacking him from the back.
  • The Legend of Zelda:
    • The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: While Link is targeting one enemy and another sneaks up behind, he can strike both with one wide swing if they're close enough.
    • The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess has an even better one: the Mortal Draw skill. Stand still with your sword sheathed, and if you time it right, you can draw the sword and kill the enemy behind you in a single swipe.
    • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: In one flashback, Urbosa casually snaps her fingers without turning to face the Yiga footsoldier plotting to attack her from behind. Given Urbosa's power over lightning, said Yiga eats a thunderbolt that instant.
  • Marvel: Contest of Champions has Deadpool do this as part of his third special attack. First his cell phone rings so he answers it and talks into it while his opponent makes exasperated gestures and looks away. Eventually Deadpool hangs up and shakes his head, only to shoot his opponent with his gun without even looking and then laugh.
  • Mass Effect 3: After the final battle with Kai Leng, a Renegade interrupt allows you to do this, breaking his sword as he sneaks up on you to shank you from behind, just before using your omniblade to end him once and for all. Given the crap that Kai Leng has pulled on you all game, this is a very satisfying way to take him down. Shepard even makes it clear to Kai Leng how satisfying this is to him/her right before he dies.
  • Zero from Mega Man X can pull this off in normal gameplay; most of his Z-Saber slashes arc far enough over his back to hit enemies behind him. His successor, Model Z, can also do this.
  • Metroid: Samus Returns. A particular boss fight has a cutscene afterward in which the enemy tries to get up for a last-ditch sneak attack from the side and behind Samus, but Samus fires a charged shot to finish it while looking away at something else.
  • The Movies: One of the scenes allows a character to do this, in defiance of the scene's standard "bad guy sneaks up and chokes the character to death."
  • Overwatch:
    • In the Reunion short, McCree manages to shoot and kill a Deadlock-affiliated sniper without looking.
    • The cinematic for the "Storm Rising" event shows Genji disabling several vehicles approaching his from behind by throwing shuriken into their hover lifts without looking.
  • Rainbow Six: Raven Shield: Terrorists can shoot you without turning around. It also doesn't help that they spawn right behind you.
  • Shadows of the Damned: When an enemy attacks Garcia from behind a button prompt will appear to make Garcia elbow said mook.
  • Streets of Rage: Pressing B and C together makes the player character attack an enemy behind them. Axel does an actual backhand, Blaze does a reverse leg sweep and Max does a mule kick, to name a few examples.
  • Suikoden V: Dolph's super move during his duel consists of him Flash-Stepping behind his opponent and stabbing them in a vital spot. However, if Lyon's the one dueling him, and the player pulls off a successful guard, she counters the attack by quickly twisting her blade around and stabbing behind her without even looking. It's a small CMOA for her especially since Dolph nearly killed her with that same attack earlier in the game.
  • Super Robot Wars: The weakest attack of Ialdabaoth and Valefor starts out with this... only to continue with spamming kick attacks, finished with a Falcon Punch. Of course, they Flash Step behind the enemy beforehand, so it's less "I know you're behind me" and more "Hey, I'm right behind you".
  • Super Smash Bros. Brawl: It's technically possible to do this from the viewpoint of certain characters. Finishing off the Teleport spamming Tabuu this way is extremely satisfying.
  • Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World: Lloyd does this to the main character, Emil, just about every time they meet. Unusually for this trope, both are using swords.
  • Team Fortress 2:
    • In the trailer for the Soldier, said Soldier manages to backhand a Spy ready to backstab him with a shovel.
    • Soldiers and Demomen tend to do this when explosive jumping.
  • Total War: Warhammer III: A variant. In Elspeth von Draken's gameplay showcase, the initial animation shows her putting down a recumbent skeleton with a casual blow of the butt of her scythe without bothering to look down at it.
  • World of Warcraft:
    • The intro cinematic for The Burning Crusade features a variant on this, with a Forsaken mage obliterating a trio of murlocs coming up on him from behind with a Blast Wave spell, and a more regular example with a draenei paladin and his hammer. One watching might feel that "THAT HAS TO HURT!"
    • When Tyrande arrives to kill Nathanos in the Plaguelands, she slowly stalks towards him. When two of Nathanos's blighthounds run toward her from behind, she obliterates them with Moonfire blasts without breaking stride or looking back.

    Visual Novels 
  • Dies irae ~Interview with Kaziklu Bey~: Wilhelm tries to do this to Schreiber. Schreiber simply dodges and kicks him in the face, sending him flying towards Machina who then proceeds to backhand him, sending him into the nearest wall.

    Web Animation 
  • Animator vs. Animation: In the "Animation Vs. Minecraft" short Lush Caves, while focused on a fight with Red, TSC backhands a creeper that was preparing to explode, killing it.
  • DEATH BATTLE!: In "Deadpool VS Mask", Boomstick punches an offscreen Pinkie Pie without looking back when discussing The Mask's ability to break the 4th wall for the sake of not dealing with three 4th wall breakers.
  • Haloid: Done by Samus to a pair of Elites while dual-wielding energy swords.
  • In the Helluva Boss episode "Spring Broken", Loona does this to an unwanted pervy incubus who grabs her while both are in their human disguises.
  • In volume three of RWBY, Adam Tarus watches as Blake escapes with Yang after their fight. He slowly walks after them, never looking away from Blake even as he cuts down a Creep Grimm that charged at him from off to the side.
  • Strong Bad Email: One of Strong Bad's methods for dealing with the office "dullard" is a variation on this. While listening to Homestar ramble about something or other, Strong Bad throws his fist back and utters a punching sound effect, then returns to his typing. Although Homestar is not physically harmed, the sudden gesture derails his train of thought and gets him to stop talking for a few seconds.
  • Team Service Announcement:
    • In "Scout Combat", the RED Sniper does this with his sniper rifle because the BLU Scout only knows how to run in straight lines, screaming all the way. For further hilarity, Scout just turned a corner when the Sniper rolled his rifle over his shoulder and fired.
    • The bot Pyro in "Fake Players" does this with a rocket. Alas, it's his only stroke of brilliance.

    Webcomics 
  • Thief does this to an elf in this 8-Bit Theater comic.
  • The Adventures of Dr. McNinja:
    • In "Meet the Doctor and His Friendly Staff", the Doctor does this to a guy trying to sneak up on, not himself, but on Judy. You can still see from the angle of his arm that he's not looking that way.
    • Dr. McNinja against a Pterosaur.
    • He also does the gun version. With a shotgun.
  • Svafa, a minor character in The Adventures of Wiglaf and Mordred, does it in this strip
  • A MANTIS agent pulls this on Crossroad in this Antihero for Hire.
  • You should learn this if you want to be on Axe Cop's team.
  • Ritz of Boxer Hockey manages to pull off an offhand CURBSTOMP here.
  • In Boyfriend of the Dead Alex is shocked that a zombie communicated with her and didn't attack. Not so shocked she won't use a golf club to decapitate a zombie coming up behind her. Left-handed. Without looking or so much as changing her expression.
  • City of Dead Sorcerer: In Chapter 74, Prisoner No. 1 offhand backhands Raven so hard that he flies across the courtyard and makes a crater high in the wall.
  • In Digger, the first clue that the protagonist is not to be trifled with is that she pulls off an Offhand Backhand in her sleep.
  • Dominic Deegan:
  • Vaelia of Drowtales is the local Badass Normal and the main human character among the fae, and delivers an offhand Groin Attack to a human man who made the mistake of harassing her.
  • More like "Offhand Your Head A-Splode" , but don't try to sneak up on Errant Story's Ian.
  • Subverted in a somewhat early storyline in Fans!: Shanna Cochran is the Mundane being slowly drawn into a world where truly strange things happen and she is less prepared than her friends, so at one point when she is about to be attacked by government agents, she attempts an Offhand Backhand, not considering that the agent is bigger, stronger, and more skilled than she is. He proceeds to catch her arm and, with the help of his partner, actually lift and carry her bodily away- while she is still in the Offhand Backhand pose.
  • Girl Genius:
  • Grrl Power:
    • The setup of the strip doesn't make it obvious at first, but you can deduce from her final position that Maxima is knocking out a hulking brute without even watching at the beginning of the superhero free-for-all (and the strip's title, Backhands and Commands", spells it out). She's also doing that while giving orders, making it a case of Excuse Me While I Multitask.
    • Shortly after, Math throws a knife at Heavenly Sword (who barely deflects it with her shinai) without looking and while talking to Maxima on the coms.
  • Kevin & Kell:
  • Kill Six Billion Demons: While Allison is shown barely making it past the three first matches in the Ring of Power tournament, White Chain is shown absent-mindedly knocking out an opponent with an Offhand Backhand.
  • Lackadaisy: "Viktor? Is anyone in th—" WHOK
  • The first panel of this LFG strip has Richard do this. Interestingly, it's a literal offhand backhand at the same time as an offhanded cast, since he seems to have lit his hand on fire.
  • The Order of the Stick:
  • In Penny Arcade, Tycho gets an offhand heartrip.
  • Sluggy Freelance: In "The Circle", when Hereti-Corp troops led by Kusari and vampires led by Master Urja end up fighting for the same objective...
    Urja: [dropping the last dead dead HC mook] You're all alone, little chained Harlequin.
    Kusari: [stabs out a vampire jumping from behind her without turning] So are you.
  • Tower of God:
    • Exaggerated during the Workshop Battle. One of the regular contestants tries to challenge the famous Baragav, but he ignores him. When the guy gets angry and tries to attack Baragav from behind, Baragav makes his head explode without making any kind of move.
    • In "Last Station", Khul Nissam Kay attacks Evankhell from behind and above (both are flying) with a big bladed weapon. She blocks it with her arm without turning around; this doesn't surprise him, maybe because he attacked her on the basis that she was the strongest opponent, but when she breaks the blade after a bit of banter, that does. Then he tries some kind of big magic attack, and she deflects it back at him without turning. Then she beats up his minion, still from the same position without turning.

    Web Videos 

    Western Animation 
  • Animaniacs: Slappy Squirrel does this in "Slappy Goes Walnuts", and even lampshades it as she pulls a big club out of her purse and whacks her old rival Doug the Dog without even turning around.
  • Archer does an over-the-shoulder catch with a makeshift lacrosse stick to catch grenades being thrown at him◊ in "Heart of Archness, Part II."
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender:
    • Aang does this with the Big Bad in the finale using the skills he learned from Toph. He also does this to a boulder when he was storming the Earth King's palace.
    • Much earlier, Admiral Zhao does this to a North Water Tribe warrior wannabe who tries to attack him during the Siege of the North. Of course, one would have had to be blind and deaf not to see that idiot coming after he announced that he was attacking.
    • A non-violent version of this trope appears in The Legend of Korra: Korra, Asami and Mako, recently reunited, embrace each other in a group hug. When Prince Wu tries to join in, he runs into Korra's outstretched palm and is kept at arm's length.
    • Earlier in Korra, during her sparring match with Toph, Korra tries to hit Toph with Waterbending and is smacked down before she even finishes lining up for the strike.
      Toph: You're blind compared to me.
  • Batman is very, very good at this.
  • Batman Beyond:
    • In the pilot episode, old man Wayne does this to a Mook with his cane.
    • Lampshaded in the episode "Payback". Terry gets knocked out from behind and later gets a scolding from Bruce:
      Bruce: Why weren't you watching your back?
      Terry: I was too busy watching my front! Am I supposed to have eyes everywhere?
      Bruce: Only if you want to live to a ripe old age.
      Terry: You don't make it sound too inviting.
    • "Out of the past" has this parodied during Batman: The Musical where you could see (an actor playing) Batman doing this to (three actors playing) the Joker, Two-Face and the Penguin.
    • In Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, The Movie for Batman Beyond, Terry manages to pull this off himself, which is part of his claiming/growing into the role.
  • In Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Gentleman Ghost grabs and throws Deadman in this manner. In an earlier episode, Batman does an Offhand Backhand underwater. Yet another episode has Green Arrow doing it between launching arrows fires in a single movement so fluid it almost looks like an accident.
    • In "Mayhem of the Music Meister", this is done by Black Canary to mooks while singing about Batman.
    • In "A Bat Divided", Batman not only does the offhand backhand, but while the victim is standing stunned, he grabs him by the head and throws him forward over his shoulder.
  • Cheetor from Beast Wars does this in the season 3 episode Feral Scream part 2. Waspinator attempts to attack him from behind after he's just acquired his Transmetal 2 form. It did not go as planned.
    Optimus: Cheetor! Watch out for the other bot!
    Cheetor: Which bot? Oh, you mean this one right here?
    *BOOM*
  • In the Chuck Jones short The Dover Boys, kidnapping victim Dora Standpipe does this repeatedly to coward bully cad and thief Dan Backslide, even as she continues to pound a door and call for help.
  • Brian uses a shoving variation at the end of the "Patriot Games" of Family Guy. A neat little subversion, as he sets it up so that Stewie thinks he is going to receive some kind of karmic retribution for constantly and mercilessly beating Brian (until he got the fifty dollars that he bet on a boxing match) and that was going to happen when he least suspected it. Cue the end of the episode: as the Griffins are walking down the street (in London), Brian nonchalantly shoves Stewie directly in front of a moving bus.
  • In Hey Arnold!, Tsundere Helga likes to monologue about her unrequited love for Arnold when she thinks nobody can hear. However, background character Brainy is always hovering over her shoulder, breathing heavily... and is Offhand Backhanded for his trouble. The one time she didn't do it, he punches himself.
  • Jackie Chan Adventures has Uncle establishing himself as an Old Master when he grabs a broom, that Jade just used to trip a mook, and comments to "leave the rough stuff to Jackie" then uses the broom to gut punch said mook after he walks behind Uncle.
    • Uncle does it again in another episode when he's examining ancient text on a wall while a big fight is going on around him. Hak Foo lands behind him after being thrown across the room and is about to jump back into the fight when Uncle casually kicks him out of the way with an exclamation of, "You are blocking my light!"
  • Kaeloo: In the episode "Let's Play Prince Charming", Mr. Cat is just about to attack Quack Quack from behind, but Quack Quack, who is extremely angry at Mr. Cat at that point in the episode, holds up a fist. Mr. Cat then crashes into his fist from behind and is sent flying.
  • Kim Possible:
    • In The Movie, Ron Stoppable accidentally defeats the Sumo Ninja by a weak offhand backhand.
    • Shego also does it to her temporarily evil brother. "He always does that move. It never works."
  • Daffy Duck did this to Foghorn Leghorn at one point during their fight in The Looney Tunes Show episode "The Foghorn Leghorn Story".
  • In the Mighty Max episode "Sirius Trouble" Norman does this to a great white shark.
  • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
    • In "Bats!", Applejack does this to a cardboard cutout of a tree during the song sequence.
    • In "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?", Princess Luna is chasing a creature that causes nightmares, and when she comes to Rainbow Dash's dream where she's fighting against changelings, she thinks Dash is having a nightmare already. Dash corrects her that this is her favorite dream — accentuating the point by knocking one of the changelings out with an offhand backhand◊.
    • A magical variant occurs in "The Beginning of the End", where Discord dispels King Sombra's magical attacks while barely paying any attention to him, turning beams of dark magic into puffs of smoke, clusters of balloons or swarms of butterflies with casual flicks of his wrist while carrying on a conversation with the main characters.
  • Star Wars Rebels: In "Legacy of Mandalore", Sabine at one point does this to an Imperial Supercommando with the repulsor on her left vambrace.
  • In an episode of Static Shock, Future!Static does this to a Mook with a quick bolt of lightning from his finger. Present-day Static is naturally quite impressed.
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003): When the Shredder and the Foot Ninja attack April's antique shop, Master Splinter delivers a classic Batman-style backhand to a Giant Mook. He does this again to another Foot ninja when Karai invades the Lair and maybe once more at one point in between.
  • Thunder Cats 2011:
    • Tygra does this to one of the bulldog-like Trollog's in the episode "Berbils". And he's shamelessly awesome doing it.
    • Kaynar does this to Tygra in "Trials of Lion-o Part I" after he attempts to sneak up on him while invisible.
  • Total Drama:
    • While Gwen is showering in "Hide and Be Sneaky", Heather and Leshawna are doing their makeup. Heather turns on the hot water to leave Gwen in the cold. Leshawna continues with her mascara until Heather drops her defense, at which point she smacks her free arm to the side into Heather's face without taking her eyes off the mirror. Heather goes down, but also gets back and a fight ensues that escalates rapidly.
    • As Lindsay goes around asking people if they are Tyler in "Haute Camp-ture", one she asks is Eva. Eva is eating steaks at the time and in no mood to deal with such a question, so after a beat, she grabs a steak and slaps it backwards into the other girl's face. It temporarily knocks her out.
    • In a segment of previously unaired footage of Harold's time on the show in "Aftermath I: Bridgette Over Troubled Waters", he's being a nuisance to Justin who's busy peeing. Without stopping or looking up, Justin forms a fist and swings to his right to knock Harold out of his personal space.
    • In "Greece's Pieces", Cody is upset when he learns that Duncan, a bully already in a relationship with Courtney, has been cheating with Gwen, the girl Cody's been crushing on since meeting her. Duncan is unaware the cheating has been made public when he comes up from behind to insult Cody over his outfit. Entirely done at this point, Cody doesn't even look at him when he socks him in the jaw.
    • Despite half the team's wish to lose the challenge so they can vote Gwen off for her cheating with Duncan, Cody nets Team Amazon victory in "Greece's Pieces". Gwen softly cheers, prompting Courtney, the victim of the cheating and who's standing right before her, to smack her hand backwards into Gwen's face. Not only does she not turn around for it, she even closes her eyes while she swings her arm.
    • Mike fights his other personalities for control in "Grand Chef Auto". He gets some control when he hears Zoey call out to him and gets up to face all but Vito, the strongest of them who's trying to sneak up on Mike from behind. With a clear goal set, Mike backhands him without taking his eyes of the others.
  • In the Transformers: Prime episode "Stronger, Faster", Ratchet — of all 'bots — gets to do this to a Decepticon Mook after injecting himself with synthetic energon.

    Real Life 
  • This photo◊ of Morihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido. Pretty much epitomizes this trope.
  • Jim Cantore (of The Weather Channel) was delivering a report when some idiot decided to run into the shot screaming, and he knees the attacker and then goes back to reporting without even missing a beat.
  • An Older Than Print example: memories of Lord de Joinville, part III, 283-4:
    One of the other Turks spurred up to him, and tried to catch him with his spear between the shoulders; but my Lord John saw it coming and swerved aside; and as the Saracen passed on, my Lord John gave him a back-handed cut with his sword across the arm, and sent his spear flying.
  • This is why you never stand behind a horse, as they tend to reflexively kick things in their blind spot they think are sneaking up on them.
    • A good example of this can be seen in an infamous Terry Funk hardcore match in WCW. Funk was wrestling in a barn and performed a piledriver behind the horse. The horse decided to kick. Thankfully, however, neither participant received serious injuries. Seen here.
  • This Octopus punched a fish that came too close.

 
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SPARTAN reflexes

Master Chief's able to take out an Elite with his back facing it in the fog.

McCree shoots s...

Genji blows up ...

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Punching Lex Lu...

Shaggy's Offhan...

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SPARTAN reflexes

Master Chief's able to take out an Elite with his back facing it in the fog.

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Example of:

Main / OffhandBackhand

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SPARTAN reflexes

McCree shoots s...

Genji blows up ...

Felix blocks Tu...

Punching Lex Lu...

Shaggy's Offhan...

Thor The Dark W...