Basic Trope: Someone catches a bullet fired from a gun.
- Straight: Superman catches a bullet fired at him.
- Exaggerated:
- The Flash catches every bullet simultaneously fired by hundreds of Mooks.
- An Eldritch Abomination catches a Wave-Motion Gun fired from the Death Star.
- Downplayed: Superman catches a nerf bullet.
- Justified: Superman has super powers which allow him to catch a bullet.
- Inverted: Batman is fired from a cannon and caught by Superman.
- Subverted: Superman realizes the bullet is made of kryptonite and ducks to avoid the bullet.
- Double Subverted: Superman realizes the bullet is made of kryptonite and ducks to avoid it. Then realizes that his powers are still working, so he catches the faux kryptonite bullet after all.
- Parodied: Superman is invited to Major League Spring Training specifically to play catcher for the new fireball throwing phenom because the phenom's pitches are like...well, you know.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: No gun ever appears in the episode of Superman.
- Enforced: After an uproar on the Internet demanding a bullet catching scene, the next Superman movie includes one in a quick flashback scene.
- Implied: A mugger follows Clark Kent into an alley. They disappear from the camera view. We hear a gun fire, a thud, a moan, and Clark walks out of the alley tossing a bullet in his hand.
- Lampshaded: Superman has a wall of framed bullets hanging on a wall of the Fortress of Solitude.
- Invoked: Superman hands a gun to disarmed Mook and apologizes for not letting him shoot at him so he can catch the bullet.
- Exploited: Superman catches several bullets and uses them to plug holes in a dam.
- Defied: Superman heats the Mook's gun with his his heat vision and prevents him from shooting.
- Discussed: "Which do you enjoy more, Superman, catching a bullet or letting it bounce off of you?"
- Conversed: To paraphrase Superman on Supergirl: "See, now, if I can actually catch bullets, right...why the punching? Never understood that."
- Deconstructed: Catching bullets is used to examine the place of guns in society.
- Reconstructed: Attempting to catch a bullet is used as a metaphor for the futility of fighting death. The circle of life and inevitability of death are examined.
- Played For Laughs: Literally everyone in Metropolis shoots at Superman who dutifully catches the bullets. He's sitting in a restaurant eating breakfast...and catching bullets with his other hand. He's walking down the street and has to catch a bullet every five feet. Eventually he recycles all the bullets he caught to scrap metal and donates the the proceeds to an archery club.
- Played For Drama: A young Clark Kent is unaware he can catch bullets and sees a Mook shoot at his parents. Instictively, he tries to leap toward them and discovers he can reach them just before the bullets can kill them.
Now you know everything you need to know about catching bullets, so you can return to the main page.
