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Shut Up, Kirk!

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"You're always sorry, Charles. And there's always a speech. But nobody cares anymore."
Magneto, Dark Phoenix

So The Hero has finally penetrated the Big Bad's fortress, defeated his Mooks, made his Dynamic Entry into the inner sanctum, and the final confrontation is about to begin. Of course, being The Hero, he sums up all that is wrong about what the villain is doing and offers him one last chance to cease his evil-doing and repent. The villain, of course, will have none of it, and rather than wasting time with We Can Rule Together and the like, gives a resounding "Shut Up, Kirk!" and the battle is joined.

The Kirk Summation equivalent of Shut Up, Hannibal!, Shut Up, Kirk! is when the villain or antagonist on the receiving end of The Summation (Kirk or otherwise), Patrick Stewart Speech, some other goody-goody life-affirming lecture, or even a blistering critique of all their flaws rejects what the hero has said and reaffirms his motives and actions. When the hero spells out how his plan to destroy all life on the planet is wrong, the villain usually will respond with this trope with something like "They don't deserve to live!" or "Silence! How dare you question my judgment?" or "What gives you the moral authority to condemn me? You're just as evil!" or "Fool, only those with strength such as mine are fit to survive!", or simply "Yep. I know, and I don't care, because screw you, that's why."

There are even some cases where the villain will deny the charges against him and will instead take this opportunity to reveal completely different (but equally villainous) motives:

The Kirk: Spreading The Virus across the planet to kill 90% of humanity won't help save the planet from ecological disaster! Humans are part of nature, too! And if we all work together, we can still stop the pollution, and...
The Villain: What are you talking about? I was just going to spread the virus so that my Evil Incorporate would be able to sell the vaccine — and name our own price! That whole "save the planet" line was just something I fed those silly eco-terrorists so they'd work for me for free.
The Kirk: Oh... well... well, that's bad too!

Then again, the villain may reject the last chance offered him and order The Hero to kill him, especially if the hero's a Worthy Opponent.

Of course, the Shut Up, Kirk! need not be verbal; the No-Nonsense Nemesis can just as well respond by shooting The Hero point blank to shut him up, or some variation thereof.

Pretty much a staple when it comes to final showdowns, and can often double as a Pre-Asskicking One-Liner. Compare Sedgwick Speech, Talk to the Fist.


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Comic Strips 
  • Peanuts: Lampshaded in this strip, when Charlie Brown is being attacked by Violet, and he begins to explain to her how violence is never the answer to anything. Violet just slugs him and says "I had to hit him quick— he was starting to make sense!"

    Film — Animated 
  • In The Boxtrolls, Eggs tries to convince Snatcher that he doesn't need a fancy hat or fancy cheese to be somebody important and that he is what makes himself. Snatcher retorts "I have made me, boy... this is my destiny!", and Death by Gluttony ensues.
  • In the first half of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Frollo holds enough fear of God and respect for the sanctity of the Church to spare and raise the baby Quasimodo and not drag Esmeralda forcibly out of the sanctuary of Notre Dame when he's disputed by the Archdeacon. When the climax occurs, however, Frollo is driven so mad by his lust and hatred that he assaults Notre-Dame to get back at both Quasimodo and Esmeralda. On the way, the Archdeacon tries to stop him by rekindling his fear of God, but Frollo merely tosses the clergyman down the stairs and locks him downstairs to keep him out of the final fight.
    Archdeacon: Frollo, have you gone MAD?! I will not tolerate this assault on the house of God!
    Frollo: Silence, you old fool! (Tosses the Archdeacon down the stairs) The hunchback and I have unfinished business to attend to! And this time, you will not interfere.
  • Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths: Owlman gets one off on Batman.
    Batman: If we're really alike, you know this is wrong. You must have been a good man once.
    Owlman: No. Not good. Never good. After all, I'm only human.
  • Megamind: When Roxanne tries to appeal to Hal/Titan's better nature, insisting there's still good in him, Titan simply retorts that he has no better nature and she tries to see good in everyone even when there's none to see. He proves it shortly after.
    Titan: You're so naive, Roxy. You see the good in everybody even when it's not there. You're living in a fantasy world!
  • In The Mitchells vs. the Machines, Katie delivers a heart-warming (and, for her, very personal) speech in defence of humans and their families. PAL responds by feigning sleep and dropping Katie from a great height.
  • Steven Universe: The Movie: At the climax of the movie, Steven sings a song to try and convince Spinel it's not too late to make amends for her Misplaced Retribution, and she tells him to stop singing, right before literally pounding Steven back to Earth:
    Spinel: Just can it, won't ya?! You can't just make everything better by singing SOME STUPID SONG!
  • In Trolls, Poppy convinces the Bergen race that they don't need to eat the Trolls to become happy, as they've had the ability to be happy all along and they didn't even know it. Her message gets to everyone except Chef, who still wants to taste happiness and completely ignores her message and tries to kill the Trolls before she is sent away.

    Mythology and Religion 
  • In The Bible, John 9, the Pharisees excommunicate a man healed of blindness by Jesus for daring to question them.

    Professional Wrestling 
  • At SummerSlam 2021, Becky Lynch defeated Bianca Belair for the WWE Smackdown Women's Championship by sneak attacking her. Furious, Belair would spend weeks challenging Lynch to a rematch, but Lynch kept refusing. One time, Belair pointed out Roman Reigns was defending his WWE Universal Championship that night and dared Lynch to prove she is just as brave and tough as him. Lynch replied, "I don't give a damn about Roman Reigns. No." Eventually, the officials force Lynch to face Belair at Extreme Rules 2021.

    Theatre 
  • 1776: One of the central drama sources of the play is getting everyone to agree on a draft of the Declaration. Governor Edward Rutledge will only agree to it if the passage that decries slavery is removed. Protagonists John Adams and Thomas Jefferson are both adamant about the passage being left in, until...
    Rutledge: Oh, really. Mr. Adams is now calling our black slaves "Americans!" Are they, now?
    Adams: Yes, they are. They are people, and they are here. If there's any other requirement, I haven't heard it.
    Rutledge: They are here, yes, but they are not people, sir. They are property.
    Jefferson: No sir, they are people who are being treated as property! I tell you, the rights of human nature are deeply wounded by this infamous practice!
    Rutledge: Then see to your own wounds, Mr. Jefferson, for you are a practitioner, are you not?
    • He goes on to decry the Northern States (which Adams and several of his allies hail from) for being slave carriers while acting like they're people. This serves as a segue into one of the most famous What the Hell, Hero? moments in theatre history, "Molasses to Rum."
  • Assassins: "Another National Anthem" is half a collective Motive Rant and Villainous Breakdown for the assassins, and half a Rousing Speech from the Balladeer, as he tries to convince them that things aren't awful and hopeless as they think, and there's a lot of good in the world—and that killing people certainly won't fix their problems. It fails to go through, and, depending on the production, the assassins either chase the Balladeer offstage and go to push Lee Harvey Oswald into assassinating John F. Kennedy, or turn the Balladeer into Oswald.
  • Lay of Leithian: During the duel between Finrod and Sauron, Sauron mentioning Alqualondë and the Helcaraxë is what defeats Finrod's invocation of Valinor.

    Visual Novels 

    Web Animation 
  • RWBY:
    • When Ruby and Roman have their final battle in Volume 3, Ruby states that, despite the odds, she and her friends will keep fighting. Roman knocks her to the ground and starts beating her, telling her that her Heroic Spirit means nothing to a cold, uncaring world like Remnant and tells her that her desire to be a hero will only get her killed.
    • When Blake and Ilia meet alone in Volume 5, Blake desperately tries to reason with her over the path she's taken with the White Fang, stating that the choices Ilia's making aren't the person she really is. Ilia retorts that Blake doesn't know her as well as she thinks she does, and her actions are exactly the kind of person she really is. She gives Blake an example of what she means by saying that Blake was so busy falling for Adam that she never noticed Ilia was falling for her. Blake is shocked into silence by this confession.
    • In Volume 7, Ruby stands up to Salem, declaring they know everything about her thanks to the Relic of Knowledge and she may have Complete Immortality, but she's still fallible and can be stopped. Salem calmly responds that Ruby's Missing Mom said the exact same thing and was also wrong, leaving Ruby sobbing on the ground in front of her.

    Webcomics 
  • In God's World, the Creator responds to Cartesia's speech about his love for his creation by attacking the party.
  • The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob! After Bob has deconstructed all Fructose Riboflavin's reasons for his crimes, Riboflavin responds, "YOU GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"
  • Kill Six Billion Demons: The conversation between Allison and the Time Abyss God-Emperor Nadia Om zig-zags between this and Shut Up, Hannibal! since Nadia feels Trapped in Villainy because You Can't Fight Fate and Allison doesn't buy her excuses at all. That said...
    Allison: Nobody's making you do anything. You're one of the most powerful people in existence! You say I'm putting on false bravery, but at least I'm trying! You're just a — a fucking coward!
    Nadia: I never claimed otherwise!
    Allison: How can you just accept that?
    Nadia: A thousand lifetimes of pain.
  • The Order of the Stick
    • The newly lichified Xykon in the Prequel Start of Darkness delivers a most glorious Shut Up, Kirk! to the elven druid Lirian at the climax of their battle:
      Lirian: You may defeat me, you may even kill me, but you will never succeed in releasing the Snarl.
      Xykon: Blah blah blah evil will never win blah blah.
    • He also flirts with doing this with Roy in the main comic.
      Xykon: Well now, hold on. Is this about beating me because I'm evil and dangerous and yadda yadda yadda... or is it about beating me because Daddy will be proud of you if you do?
    • Xykon ends his fight with Roy, who has just eloquently explained why he's not going to allow Xykon to get away with this, with the following counter-speech:
      Xykon: Well, OK then. If that's the way you want to be, no skin off my nasal cavity. I should point out three factors that I think you failed to consider fully, though. Factor 1: I can fly under my own power, thanks to the Overland Flight spell I cast this morning. Factor 2: a zombie dragon that lacks a biting attack isn't particularly valuable to me. Factor 3: Meteor Swarm. *the spell obliterates the undead dragon Roy is standing on... several hundred feet up in the air*
  • At the end of the Sluggy Freelance Story Arc "Dangerous Days Ahead", Cloney responds with one of these when Torg tries to talk her out of her plans for world domination. It helps that Torg really sucks at doing Kirk Summations.
    Torg: You've lost sight of the fact that it is our weenieness that makes us human!
    Cloney (nonhuman): The defense rests!
    Torg: OK, I totally didn't think that one through.

    Web Original 
  • Dragon Ball Z Abridged:
    • A failed version happened when Goku, now a Super Saiyan, gives a Badass Boast about who he is. Freeza, already cheesed off that he realized that Vegeta was right all along about a Super Saiyan, blasts Goku in the head with a finger-fired blast. Goku takes it, leans back, and finishes his boast.
    • In "The History of Trunks Abridged", at the start of his rematch against the Androids, Trunks starts to declare that he will avenge Gohan's murder at their hands, only for Android 18 to interrupt him.
      Future Android 18: Wait, hold on. I don't care. (She attacks Trunks)
  • While the person being shut up is not exactly a hero, it may count in an episode of Happy Hour where the Joker electrocuted the Green Goblin when the latter is lecturing him on why his plan on turning every superhero Darker and Edgier is not a good thing.
  • An alien in Humans Don't Make Good Pets tries to comment on humanity's savagery compared to the utopian society every other planet has achieved, only to be cut off by the human protagonist choking him and saying that he's only met three groups of aliens and while among them, he's faced pirates, biological superweapons, and war. Meanwhile, this alien's race abducts pre-contact species so they can experiment on them all they want without legal repercussionsnote .
  • During Internet Historian's video about KONY 2012, when discussing Uganda's response to the video, he dryly answers the Ugandan Prime Minister's comments about it with one of these after noting that Uganda didn't seem to be doing much, if anything, about Joseph Kony until the video brought mainstream attention and scrutiny onto them.
    Amama Mbabazi: We do not need a slick video on Youtube for us to take notice!
    Internet Historian Maybe you do.


"Does any villain have a weapon more powerful than shouting 'ENOUGH!' when he's about to lose against the heroes?"

Alternative Title(s): Shut Up Picard, Shut Up Patrick Stewart

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