Sam Wilson: Man, shut the hell up.
So you're finally facing the villain. He's being all smug and trying to break you with his words, deconstructing your motives for fighting him and reminding you of how similar you are to him, unleashing a blistering spiel of how your flaws make you pathetic, making you uncomfortable with his too-close-to-truths, offering you the opportunity to join him, et cetera et cetera… and what should your response be? Tell him the error of his ways, and offer him a chance to join the good guys? A measured, reasonable response, indicating your disagreement? Let the villainous argument throw you and make you wonder if you and he are similar?
No.
Shut up, Hannibal!
He's a villain. A bad guy. He has tried to kill you and your friends a dozen times over. He dangled your Sidekick and your Love Interest over a cliff, taunting you to pick one of them. He treats other people, including his own underlings, like dirt. He doesn't care about people, order, or whatever he's using to justify his actions—he just wants power. Dude's been through hard times? Shallow excuses to do bad things; we've been through hard times too and we never murdered anyone because of it! And he ran over your daughter's puppy. You're nothing like him. He's wrong. So you tell it to him, spell, it, out, if necessary, then beat the crap out of him in a manner most righteous (or, if you are a common human against a superpowered villain, or the work is not action-oriented, a slap may be an appropriate outcome, as well).
This happens a lot. Heroes usually use the "fist to face" variant of this, though a hero giving a villain a verbal beatdown is not unheard of (though if the verbal beatdown goes on long enough, it becomes a Kirk Summation). Often done by the more practical Anti-Hero, who doesn't really care about philosophy, and just prefers to beat up anyone who has messed with them or their stuff.
More heroes will often at least listen before coming up with a counterargument. When the villain rationalizes their villainy with something truly depraved, the hero will often roar to the bad guy, "You're Insane!" before delivering the smackdown. They may, however, skip to this in subsequent encounters, when they already know that attempting to reason with this particular foe would be a waste of breath.
Doing this to another villain is even dumber, as they're likely to either not be big on listening, or have an outright conflicting ideology. But it still happens every now and then.
Sometimes, The Hero needs to be told "You Are Not Alone" to come up with this reply.
Combining it with the "No More Holding Back" Speech will just make it that much more badass.
Usually goes hand-in-hand with the villain having a breakdown, either before or after this reply is delivered.
Conversely, when the hero is on the ropes, he may interrupt the villain by saying Get It Over With. It tends to shock the villain that anyone would prefer death to listening to him.
As these generally occur at the conclusion of most stories, feel free to use spoiler marks if you think it gives away too much. For readers, spoiler-caution is advised.
The name is a reference to this being a response to a Hannibal Lecture, but it can apply to any example of Hannibal Lecture's supertrope, Break Them by Talking.
Contrast Kirk Summation which is where the hero rebuts the villain's speech with their own. Here, the hero doesn't bother.
Compare Shut Up, Kirk!, You Keep Telling Yourself That, [Verb] This!, Armor-Piercing Response, Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse, Screw You, Elves!, and whichever variations of I Will Show You X! are said specifically to a villain. For the more… forceful version, see Talk to the Fist.
Examples with subpages:
- Anime & Manga
- Comic Books
- Fan Works
- Film — Animated
- Film — Live-Action
- Literature
- Live-Action TV
- Music
- Podcasts
- Professional Wrestling
- Theatre
- Video Games
- Visual Novels
- Webcomics
- Web Original
- Western Animation
Other examples:
- Ivan's reactions to Temozarela's fallen angels' mindraping speech in Priest are basically this with extreme prejudice.
- BIONICLE:
- When Toa Vakama refers to Teridax as a monster in Time Trap, the Makuta gives a Never My Fault speech in order to distract the Toa. Vakama shoots down every point he makes.
Makuta: I, a monster? For knowing my spirit brother, Mata Nui, required a good, long rest after his many labors? For offering my benevolent leadership to the Matoran in his absence? For saving Metru Nui from the threat of Nidhiki and Krekka?
Vakama: Yes, Makuta. The Dark Hunters you brought here, and then murdered... just like you murdered Turaga Lhikan... and sentenced an entire city to a sleeping doom. Yes, I call you monster — and worse. - Matoro tells Makuta Teridax to shut up in the 'Into the Darkness'' podcast story. He doesn't.
Makuta: Why so quiet? We have seen death and destruction today with the promise of much more to come. We have seen heroes behaving like villains. You yourself have done things even I would be reluctant to do. It is a time for celebration.
Matoro: Shut up! I'm doing only what I have to do to save the life of Mata Nui, a life you put in jeopardy.
Makuta: Think what you like, little Toa, and try to avoid admitting to yourself that you are one bad day, one moment of cruelty, one fit of rage away from being me. - Hydraxon was a member of the Order of Mata Nui who was killed during the Great Cataclysm that also released his prisoners, the Barraki, into the Pit. When he seems to have miraculously recovered millennia later, the Barraki leader Pridak discovers that Hydraxon really is dead, and that the person who hunts him now is a Matoran who was transformed into Hydraxon, with all his powers, skills and memories. When he reveals this to the new Hydraxon in an attempt to Break Them by Talking during Hydraxon's Tale, the jailer responds with this.
Hydraxon: You don't get it. It doesn't matter who I was before. All that counts is who I am now - Hydraxon. Your enemy, your jailer, your nightmare for 90 millennia, and for every day that's left to you.
- When Toa Vakama refers to Teridax as a monster in Time Trap, the Makuta gives a Never My Fault speech in order to distract the Toa. Vakama shoots down every point he makes.
- In the Helluva Boss episode "Ozzie's", there's a song version. Moxxie has taken Millie for a one-year-anniversary date at Ozzie's — ie. the House of Asmodeus, the archdemon of lust (it's still a club, though), and takes to the stage to sing a love song. He's interrupted (still in the form of a song) by Asmodeus himself, accompanied by the robot-clown Fizzarolli, who mock him and insist that he should sing about lust instead. After this has been going on for a while, Millie crashes down on top of Fizzarolli and hands Moxxie back his guitar. "I think you were trying to sing something for me, Mox." He finishes his love song, and the audience cheers and applauds.
