History Main / WeNeedADistraction

** In "ComicBook/{{Bizarrogirl}}", Kara Zor-El and Dr. Light come up with a way to stop Bizarrogirl: ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} will engage and keep her Bizarro counterpart busy as Dr. Light gets ready to shoot a depowering energy blast.

** In "ComicBook/TheKillersOfKrypton", Supergirl needs to escape from a squad of Green Lanterns surrounding her, so she looks up briefly before rocketing downwards, succeeding in catching off guard the Lanterns who expected her to fly off upwards.

** "ComicBook/TheUnknownLegionnaire": Norm Eldor has taken refuge in a maze of caverns and the Legion does not dare to approach openly because he is holding Cosmic Boy hostage. So Unknown Boy uses his super-strength to simulate an earthquake, causing Eldor to panic, ditch his hostage and flee back to the surface, where the Legion is awaiting him as Unknown Boy rescues Cosmic Boy.

** Villain Prankster makes a business of this trope. For money he will distract police and Superman with his pranks so his clients can do their own crimes without any problems.

'''Pooh''': ''laughing softly'' Of course. ''Humming'' Oh, Kanga. Um.... ''whispers'' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Talk to her very hard about ''What?'']]\\
'''Rabbit:''' ''Horrified reaction'' Anything!!!

* ThrowingTheDistraction

* PrivacyByDistraction

* HoldingTheFloor

* GoFetch

* EscortDistraction

* DistractAndDisarm

* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu

* DeliciousDistraction

* ConvenientlyTimedDistraction

* ''Film/TheSeaWolves'' (1980). To remove most of the crew of three German merchant vessels interned in Goa harbor so they can be boarded and sunk, British Intelligence arrange a reception at the Governor's palace (to which the ship's officers are invited), a carnival with plenty of loud fireworks (to cover any explosions or gunshots), and the services of a local brothel to offer free sex to any sailor for three days.

* From ''Anime/SailorMoon'', the is the strategy the Senshi used to defeat Jadeite; Moon and Mercury run around in the open while Mars, concealed in the fog, slips a PaperTalisman on his back that screws up his telekinetic control of an airplane, causing it to almost run over ''him'' instead.

* ''Fanfic/{{Spider-Ninja}}''. In Chapter 8, Mikey (via a PrankCall) gets all of the [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy security people at Avengers Tower to leave their posts]] by promising that there are free doughnuts in the break room.

* In the first chapter of ''Webcomic/GlitterAndGuilt'', [[MentorMascot Lovely]] momentarily taunts the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Vent]] to draw its attention to her, and give Sweetheart enough time to perfom her TransformationSequence and [[SuperheroPackingHeat arm up]].

* ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall'': "I'm distracting you so she can stab you."

* In ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', there's the concept of [[https://1d4chan.org/wiki/DISTRACTION_CARNIFEX DISTRACTION Carnifex.]][[note]]Capitalization is NOT optional[[/note]] To put simply, this is a unit that is ''expendable'', durable, and scary, InThatOrder, designed to spook the enemy into over-committing their firepower to take down the DISTRACTION, allowing the smaller, but destructive units to do their things. It's named after the Tyranids' Carnifex unit, which saw near-universal use for this tactic amongst Tyranid players during 5e.

* In ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', there's the concept of [[https://1d4chan.org/wiki/DISTRACTION_CARNIFEX DISTRACTION Carnifex.]][[note]]Capitalization is NOT optional[[/note]] To put simply, this is a unit that is ''expendable'', durable, and scary, InThatOrder, designed to spook the enemy into over-committing their firepower to take down the DISTRACTION, allowing the smaller, but destructive units to do their things.

** In ''ComicBook/{{Bizarrogirl}}'', Kara Zor-El and Dr. Light come up with a way to stop Bizarrogirl: ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} will engage and keep her Bizarro counterpart busy as Dr. Light gets ready to shoot a depowering energy blast.

** In ''ComicBook/WarWorld'', Superman keeps the eponymous satellite's weapon systems distracted and focused on him while ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} gets ready to attack.
** Occurs in ''ComicBook/PublicEnemies'':

** In ''ComicBook/TheKillersOfKrypton'', Supergirl needs to escape from a squad of Green Lanterns surrounding her, so she looks up briefly before rocketing downwards, succeeding in catching off guard the Lanterns who expected her to fly off upwards.
** In ''ComicBook/SupermanVsShazam'', Supergirl and ComicBook/MaryMarvel are deliberating how to attack Karmang's castle, when Supergirl's X-Ray Vision tells her Karmang has become so engrossed in the furious battle between Superman and Captain Marvel he has overlooked her and Mary as they tracked his agents down and headed towards his lair. Quickly, Mary Marvel asks the Wizard Shazam to tell Billy to prolong his battle with Superman as she and Kara storm Karmang's castle by surprise.

** ''ComicBook/TheDayTheCheeringStopped'': Superman waves his mysterious, mystical sword in front of King Kosmos until it has completely drawn his attention, whereupon he punches the villain.

The user of this trope need a distraction, often in order to infiltrate the enemies' lair, a secret organization, to enable an escape, etc. [[StuffBlowingUp Pyrotechnics]] are not uncommon.