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{{quote|'''Ira:''' Snag it and put it in the bucket.
'''Harry:''' I've seen this movie; [[Trope Namer|the black dude dies first]]. [[Defied Trope|You snag it!]]
|''[[Evolution (film)|Evolution]]'' }}
Pretty self-explanatory trope: in a film which involves a lot of character deaths, it seems like the black actor will inevitably be the first to go.
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{{examples}}
== Played Straight ==
=== Anime
* Episode 22 of ''[[Code Geass]] R2'' has the introduction of the only black Knight of the Round, Knight of Four Dorothea Ernst. However, she only gets a few seconds of screentime before Suzaku blows her Knightmare out of the sky, ''seconds after the battle starts''.
* Gorobei is the first to die in ''[[Samurai 7]].'' This despite the fact that, in the original ''[[Seven Samurai]]'' film, the first to die was Heihachi. Gorobei was the only black man among the samurai.
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* In ''[[Bleach]]'', the black captain dies first. Go figure. Subverted, becuase he is resurrected. Then dies again. Yeah. Though, as a villain, it isn't all that surprising that he dies.
* In one arc of ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]'', Sousuke is sent on a mission with five other soldiers to kill [[Axe Crazy|Gauron]]. Out of the group the first to die is the black team captain.
* Averted in ''[[King of Thorn]]''. The black guy (his name is Ron) is one of the toughest members of a group of [[Action Survivor|ActionSurvivors]]. In the manga he lives all the way to the end of of the series. In [[The Movie]] he is the third member of the group to die, being preceded by two white guys.▼
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* In ''[[Gremlins]]'', the black science teacher dies first.
* ''[[Enter the Dragon]]'' plays it straight. Of the three main protagonists, Williams exists only to show off his fabulous afro and be killed by the villain first. However, this did not happen by design. In the original script, Roper died in Williams's place. [[Executive Meddling]] switched their roles around.
* Subverted in ''[[Night of the Demons]]'' in which the [[Uncle Tomfoolery|Comedy Black Man]], apparently a minor character in the beginning, eventually rescues [[Final Girl|The Final Girl]], becomes the hero, and survives the movie.▼
* In ''[[Stargate (film)|Stargate]]'', the black soldier is not even present during the first alien attack, but is still the first one to die. As it happens, the team had split into two groups, and the group without the black soldier came under attack; however, that group was incapacitated by solely non-lethal means, simply knocked out with hard blows to the head. When the other group (With the black guy) returns, the first thing the aliens do is shoot the black guy, and then proceed to start firing wildly at the rest of the soldiers.
* In ''[[United 93]]'', between the two pilots of the aforementioned plane, one is white while the other is black. Give ya three guesses who's the first to get shanked by the hijackers.
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* In ''[[Resident Evil: Extinction|Resident Evil Extinction]]'', the only black guy was the first to be attacked by a zombie, resulting in an ultimately fatal wound. Of course [[Zombie Infectee|he covers it up]] and endangers his fellow zombiepocalypse survivors. Not to mention his black girlfriend managed to sacrifice her own life, and on a bus no less. To top it off, the same character managed to survive all the way through the previous movie, ''Resident Evil: Apocalypse'', despite being a minor character and the [[Ethnic Scrappy]].
* In the 90s slasher film ''[[Dr. Giggles]]'' this is almost exaggerated as the first two teens to die are both black. The film also has a black cop who has a much more prominent role. He still dies at the end though.
* In ''[[Virus]]'', the black crew member appears to die halfway through the movie, but in a surprise twist, comes back at the end armed with a rocket launcher to save the hero and the heroine from the monster. Only to die in the process.▼
* In ''[[The Edge (film)|The Edge]]'', Harold Perrineau is eaten by the bear first.
* Happens twice in the film version of ''[[The Crow]]''. The first of T-Bird's crew who Eric encounters and kills is Tin-Tin, the black knife-wielding guy. Then, near the end of the film when Eric is trying to rescue Sarah, Grange is the first to die when Albrecht guns him down.
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* In ''[[Stealth]]'' not only does the black dude die first, he was the one out to avoid the conflict that lead to it.
* The Nature's-revenge flick ''[[Kingdom of the Spiders]]'' plays it straight as well. The one farm in town owned by a black couple is ground zero for the imminent tarantula invasion. The husband is the first human to die, after the spiders kill his cattle [[Kick the Dog|and dog]].
* Inverted in the direct-to-video monster movie ''[[Frankenfish]]'', where none of the white characters make it to the end.▼
* Inverted in ''[[Night of the Living Dead]]''. The only black guy in the group survives the night, and then gets shot in the morning, after being mistaken for a zombie.▼
* The original ''[[Dawn of the Dead (film)|Dawn of the Dead]]'' also inverts this trope, but takes a somewhat different tack: this time around, the only black guy is one of the two survivors, and he manages to escape with his life. This was changed at the last minute from the original plot ending, where the last two surviving humans in the mall choose to commit suicide. Meanwhile, the 2004 ''Dawn'' [[Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)||remake]] had two major black characters. One goes crazy when his pregnant wife turns into a zombie, and gets shot. The other survives to the [[Bolivian Army Ending]].
* In the British/Irish horror movie ''Wilderness'', the only black inmate was the first one to die.
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* Happened in ''[[Death Wish V the Face of Death]]'' when Tommy O'Shea's goons killed a lesser black worker from the fashion department execution style.
* In ''[[Christine]]'', a black assembly-line worker is the first victim of the titular killer car.
* The first victim in ''[[
* The only black character in ''[[Spider Baby]]'' is killed in the film's intro. Interestingly, from the same director who would later bring us [[Blaxploitation]] classics ''[[Coffy]]'' and ''[[Foxy Brown]]''.
* ''[[The Mutant Chronicles]]'': Both black guys who appear in the film [[Dropped a Bridge on Him|die by bridge]] within a couple minutes of each other.
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* In ''[[Super 8]]'', when Colonel Nelec's bus is attacked, he tells one of his soldiers to shoot the attacker with a tracking dart while having the driver open the door. Both are black, and both evidently have seen this movie before, because they both immediately give him a look which just screams "Oh, hell no." Predictably, both die.
** Earlier, the movie actually subverted the trope. There was Doctor Woodward, the black man in the [[Almost-Dead Guy]] state after a train crash. You'd think he would die by the time the Air Forces reached him. But nope, the doctor survived the train crash and the capture, then died after the deaths of a sheriff, a shop clerk and a cableman (all white, in that order).
* In ''[[X-Men:
** Of course, he may not have been [[Killed Off for Real]], since as Raven says, they "[[Never Found the Body|[couldn't] even bury him]]" and because, well, [[Death Is Cheap|he's a comic book character]].
** It's worth noting that he is ''not'' the first character to die, only the first ''mutant''. We see a friend of the protagonists killed a few minutes before Darwin, and ''dozens'' of CIA agents are killed in one shot by the big bad before Darwin's death.
* In the hip-hop drama ''[[8 Mile]]'', one of B Rabbit's opponents, Lotto, raps during their freestyle battle: "I'll spit a racial slur honkey, sue me/This shit is a horror flick [[Averted Trope|but the black guy doesn't die in this movie]]."
* In ''[[Alien vs. Predator|Alien vs. Predator: Requiem]]'', a group of five high school students (including one black student) is ambushed by an Alien inside the high school. Guess which one the Alien kills first.
* The black character Luther is the first person to die in 1973 film ''[[The Sting]]''.
* In ''[[Apocalypse Now]]'', the two black guys are the first and second members of the boat crew to die.
* Played straight in the beginning of ''[[Jurassic Park]]''. And also in the third movie. Not the first person die, but first on screen.
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* This happens twice in ''[[Mortal Kombat (film)|Mortal Kombat]]'': Liu Kang's first (black opponent) ends up having his soul sucked out by Tsung after Liu refuses to finish him, and Art Lean ends up dead at Goro's hands.
* This never factored into the ''[[Final Destination]]'' movies until the fifth, [[Inverted Trope|in which the very last scene drops a bridge on the sole surviving cast member, a black guy.]]
* [[Will Smith]] isn't even immune to this trope in a movie he's the lead in. Witness ''[[I Am Legend]]''. Sure, 99% of the population has died by the time the show starts, and various Dark Seekers and animals, but Robert Neville is the first immune [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?|human]] to bite it. Admittedly, [[Taking You with Me|on his own terms]], but still
** It is notable however that in the Alternate ending, he actually lives, but with a much bleaker look for mankind as a whole.
* ''[[The Bucket List]]'', which is about two men who both realize that they are going to die, has [[Morgan Freeman]]'s character die first at the end.
* Both ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]'' movies open with this trope; the rhinoceros characters are consistently played by black voice actors, most prominently [[Michael Clarke Duncan]], and they die (in the first movie, in droves) first.
* In ''[[300
* ''[[Real Genius]]'' opens with a bunch of military and intelligence bigwigs discussing a [[Kill Sat|space-laser-based assassination system]]. The one black man at the table gets up, announces that he has moral qualms about the project, and asks to be reassigned. After he leaves the room, one of the other bigwigs says "We may have to liberate him." Another says "Liberate? As in 'liquidate?'"
* ''[[State of Play (film)|State of Play]]'' begins with a black thief being shot to dead.
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* Averted in ''[[Attack the Block]]''... [[Ziz Zagging Trope|sort of]]. The first people to die are a pair of white police officers, but the first ''named'' character to die is black, as is every other casualty. All the white characters survive. However, Moses and Biggz both survive and Moses is the one who ultimately saves the day.
* Inverted in [[Independence Day]]. The hero is black and sidekick/comic relief is white. The white guy is the first named character to die in the movie.
* Averted in ''[[Captain America: The First Avenger]]''. Out of the military group that fights with Steve Rogers, his white best friend ends up dying first, not the black soldier who was equally in danger during the train scene.▼
* Averted in ''[[Battleship (film)|Battleship]]'', surprisingly enough, given that Cora Raikes is not only black, but a [[Vasquez Always Dies|gun toting weapons specialist]] and the only other female lead in this film.▼
* Averted in ''[[The Shining]]'' when the only black character leaves the hotel near the beginning of the story. [[Enforced Trope|Enforced]] when he returns to the hotel near the end of the movie - and is the first to die.▼
=== Literature ===
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** Subverted in [[The Film of the Book]]—while Grover stays in the Underworld so the others can leave, he returns by the end of the movie, and appears to have had quite a good time with Persephone.
* The novel ''Morrigan's Cross'' by Nora Roberts. It's pretty obvious what's going to happen because (a) he is the only black guy, and (b) there's 4 guys and 2 girls and it's a romance novel, so you have to get another girl in the mix somehow.
* In [[Dan Abnett]]'s ''
* While on the Subject of Dan Abenett. In [[Gaunt's Ghosts|BloodPact]] [[Scary Black Man|Usain Edur]] the [[Bald Black Leader Guy|Black Commisar]] is the First named Character to die. This stranged considering that he survived the last book. Averted with the only Black Ghost howve who is also the only Verghast scout a scout how ever he is also a very minor charcater.
* Though not the first death in the series, Ajihad is the first to die in the second book of the ''[[Inheritance Cycle]]''.
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* ''[[In Death]]'': ''Judgment In Death'' has a black cop named Kohli be the first murder victim.
* Tiberius in ''[[Robopocalypse]]'', in what appears to be a trap set by the [[Big Bad]] to kill the rest of Brightboy squad as they march to Alaska. It slightly works.
=== Live-Action TV ===
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** In an alternate timeline of ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' wherein the Xindi are successful in their genocidal bid to eradicate humanity, Travis Mayweather is the first of the main characters to die.
** There are also examples of black [[Red Shirts]] all throughout the ''Star Trek'' universe who die before their similarly-garbed comrades.
** An aversion: Early in the ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' episode “By Any Other Name”, the alien Kelvans reduce two [[Red Shirts]] to blocks: Lieutenant Shea, a black guy, and Yeoman Thompson, a woman. The Kelvan leader crushes one block, killing that crewmember, and restores the other block; Thompson’s the dead one, and Shea is restored to normal.▼
* The first person to die in the pilot of ''[[Andromeda]]'' is a young black officer named Thompson. He's named after Cronan Thompson, a young black internet personality who was involved in many online arguments with the show's creator, Robert Wolfe. Cronan died of cancer at 19, and Wolfe included Thompson in his pilot as a tribute.
* In the New Zealand [[TV 3]] docu-series ''Aftershock'', the first person shown to die as a result of the Cook Strait earthquake is a Maori man.
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* ''[[FlashForward]]'', in a surprise twist, Al is the first character to die by jumping off a roof to prove that what happens in a Flash Forward isn't necessary the future.
* In the pilot episode of ''[[The Greatest American Hero]]'', the first person to die is Bill Maxwell's black partner.
* In ''[[Jekyll]]'' Benjamin is Hyde's first (human) kill. After Hyde has tortured, mauled and, um... [[Fate Worse Than Death|done other things]] to people, the first time he actually takes a someone's life is to slice Benjamin's throat for threatening his family.
* The ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "The Time of Angels" wipes out two black guys first.
** In Rise of the Cybermen, when the eponymous robots attack Jackie's party, the black President dies first.
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===
* WWE's "The Nexus" faction is sort of doing this. Barring Daniel Bryan's legit firing, the first two guys officially dumped were black (Darren Young [beaten down and thrown out after losing to Cena] and Michael Tarver [taken out by Cena himself]). Also David Otunga looks to be the next guy to leave.
** Otunga split from the Nexus and formed The Corre which had another black guy Ezekiel Jackson. They were the first to be ejected, though at least Otunga was against their will.
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* In The [[Chzo Mythos]] game ''7 Days a Skeptic'', Barry dies first. The assignment also [[Retirony|happens to be the last before his retirement]], so he never really stood a chance.
** Also in ''Trilby's Notes'', Abed is the first, and only, character to die. Unless you count the prologue and the flashbacks. Not a typical example since this happens near the end of the game.
* In the suicide mission at the end of ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', Jacob Taylor, the only black party member, volunteers for the first task. If you select him for this task, he gets shot in the face with a rocket. Avertable, if the player is [[Genre Savvy]], or if you didn't upgrade the Normandy's weapons, shields, and/or armor (if any of the three are not upgraded, someone else dies, first). The player can also send
* Inverted in ''[[Metroid: Other M]]''. Anthony Higgs is the only member of the federation crew to survive the bottle ship incident.
* Played straight in ''[[Clive Barker's Jericho]]'', where the Firstborn explodes two party members before the final battle. It actually targets [[Hollywood Nerd|Cole]] for trying to analyze it, but [[Token Minority|Jones]] stands closest to her and gets [[Ludicrous Gibs|gibbed]] along with her. And true to the trope, Jones is blasted to chunks just one instant before Cole.
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=== Web Comics ===
* In ''[[Erfworld]]'', Lord Manpower the Temporary is killed on page 2, and is black at the time. (Later, he's green, like the rest of the uncroaked.) Technically, though, he was the last of Stanley's warlords to die. Just the first dead character in the story proper.
* In ''[[The
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* On ''[[Total Drama Island]],'' neither DJ nor Leshawna gets killed first during the horror movie challenge---but, DJ is the one to get voted off. The same thing happens in TDA.
* In ''Spaced Out'' a black Kratch Industries suit got dissolved by acidic pulp, which security aimed at an escaped experimental organism that had to be taken out at all cost.
* Lampshaded in the DVD extras for ''[[The Incredibles]]''. In the "commentary" for an episode of an in-universe cartoon about Mr. Incredible, Frozone complains when his character is injured... "The black superhero gets it first". When Mr. Incredible reminds him that he had already complained about the show making "him" white, he amends it to "The TAN superhero gets it first!"
* Averted in [[Transformers: The Movie|the animated ''Transformers'' movie]] where Jazz is actually one of the few classic Transformers from the G1 franchise to actually survive the film's events. However, due to the death of his actor Scatman Crothers, Jazz mysteriously disappears by the time the third season premiered.▼
== Aversions, Inversions, and Subversions ==
=== Anime and Manga ===
▲* Averted in ''[[King of Thorn]]''. The black guy (his name is Ron) is one of the toughest members of a group of [[Action Survivor|ActionSurvivors]]. In the manga he lives all the way to the end of of the series. In [[The Movie]] he is the third member of the group to die, being preceded by two white guys.
=== Film ===
▲* Subverted in ''[[Night of the Demons]]'' in which the [[Uncle Tomfoolery|Comedy Black Man]], apparently a minor character in the beginning, eventually rescues [[Final Girl|The Final Girl]], becomes the hero, and survives the movie.
▲* In ''[[Virus]]'', the black crew member appears to die halfway through the movie, but in a surprise twist, comes back at the end armed with a rocket launcher to save the hero and the heroine from the monster. Only to die in the process.
▲* Inverted in the direct-to-video monster movie ''[[Frankenfish]]'', where none of the white characters make it to the end.
▲* Inverted in ''[[Night of the Living Dead]]''. The only black guy in the group survives the night, and then gets shot in the morning, after being mistaken for a zombie.
▲* Averted in ''[[Captain America: The First Avenger]]''. Out of the military group that fights with Steve Rogers, his white best friend ends up dying first, not the black soldier who was equally in danger during the train scene.
▲* Averted in ''[[Battleship (film)|Battleship]]'', surprisingly enough, given that Cora Raikes is not only black, but a [[Vasquez Always Dies|gun toting weapons specialist]] and the only other female lead in this film.
▲* Averted in ''[[The Shining]]'' when the only black character leaves the hotel near the beginning of the story. [[Enforced Trope|Enforced]] when he returns to the hotel near the end of the movie - and is the first to die.
=== Live-Action TV ===
▲
=== Western Animation ===
▲* Averted in [[Transformers: The Movie|the animated ''Transformers'' movie]] where Jazz is actually one of the few classic Transformers from the G1 franchise to actually survive the film's events. However, due to the death of his actor Scatman Crothers, Jazz mysteriously disappears by the time the third season premiered.
== Lampshaded
=== Comic Books ===
* When Ambrose Chase dies in ''[[Planetary]]'', the [[Genre Savvy]] villain comments that "this is science fiction movie. The black guy always dies in the science fiction movie." (They were in a reality-warping field that made reality follow movie cliches, so this was , literally, the reason he died.)
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* In Kyle Barker's war comedy ''Special Forces'' the opening splash page of the very first issue is the black squad member's head exploding and the main character actually lampshading this quote in her narration.
=== Fan Works ===
* Explicitly averted and lampshaded in the ''[[Worm]]/[[Luna Varga]]'' crossover ''[[Taylor Varga]]'': [[Genre Savvy]] mercenary Trevino is black, and for that reason refuses to go first into a dark room from which creepy sounds have emanated:
{{quote|I've ''seen'' this movie, I ''know'' what happens to the black guy. Fuck ''that''. Someone else can take point. ''I'll'' cover ''them''.}}
:* [[Played for Laughs]] when the ''second'' mercenary in line then tries to get out of going in first by virtue of being Irish. It doesn't work.
=== Film ===
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"W-what about me?"
"Mulattos, too!" }}
** Lampshaded ''again'' in ''[[Scary Movie]] 2'', when it's suggested they split up.
{{quote|'''Brenda:''' Uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh UH! Now wait a minute, hold up! How come when anytime this scary shit happens, and we should stick together, you white people always say "let's split up"?
'''Theo:''' She's right, we should stick together.
'''Dwight:''' She's right. Okay.
[points to the white people in the group]
'''Dwight Hartman:''' You three, follow me!
[the three black people are left alone]
'''Shorty:''' Ain't that a bitch.
[the three of them begin to cry]
'''Brenda:''' We gonna die, y'all. }}
* ''[[Undercover Brother]]'''s Conspiracy Brother complains about this trope.
{{quote|"Hey black man, [[Jurassic Park|turn on the power there's dinosaurs running around]]. Hey black man, look out he's got a gun!"}}
* The movie ''[[Canadian Bacon]]'' features a scene in which this theory is discussed, and various examples are given. It ends with the one black guy looking really nervous. He not only survives, though, he goes on to prove that black athletic superiority extends to hockey, too.
* Lampshaded and subverted in ''[[South Park: Bigger, Longer
{{quote|'''Chef:''' Operation Human Shield, my ass!}}
* Preacher of ''[[Deep Blue Sea]]'' is well aware of this trope, and records his legacy - the perfect omelet recipe - in anticipation of his death. He lives all the way to the end, although the other black character does die mid-way through the film.
* Defied in ''[[Get Out!]]'', where Rod is not only black, he's the comic relief, two traits often viewed as death sentences in horror movies. Not only does he survive, he actually saves the day at the end.
* Deconstructed in ''[[The Babysitter]]'' John is indeed the first character killed, but he's one of the bad guys.
* Enforced in the 2022 horror-comedy movie ''[[The Blackening]]'', where the characters are forced to decide which of them is "the blackest" and thus dies first. Lampshaded in the film's promotional poster, which reads "We Can't All Die First".
=== Jokes ===
* Referenced/invoked in a joke making the rounds circa 2017-8, referencing actor [[Sean Bean]] and his [[Chronically-Killed Actor|history of playing characters that quickly get killed well before the story ends]]: If Sean Bean and a black guy are both in a [[Horror Films|horror movie]], which one dies first? Answer: Sean Bean plays the black guy.
=== Live-Action TV ===
* Wayne Brady on an episode of ''[[Whose Line
{{quote|Wayne: "Am I going to be the first one to die, like I always am?"}}
* In an episode of ''[[Psych]]'' parodying slasher films, Gus refuses to leave the house because "I've seen enough slasher movies to know that when the brother goes off to the woods, he doesn't even sorta come back!" Ironically he not only survives, but is the ONLY person to not only survive a one-on-one fight with the killer. And he also WINS.
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* During [[Community]]'s [[Zombie Apocalypse|Zombie Apocalyptic]] Halloween special ''[[Community/Recap/S2/E06 Epidemiology|Epidemiology]]'' this trope is inverted when Abed sacrifices himself to make sure that Troy escapes, though Troy gets infected only a scene or two later.
{{quote|'''Abed:''' "Troy, make me proud. Be the first black man to get to the end."}}
**
* Parodied in ''[[Power Rangers Lost Galaxy|Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy]]'':
{{quote|'''Damon:''' Why am I always the decoy?}}
=== Newspaper Comics ===
* ''[[The Boondocks]]'', naturally, had to mention this one when [https://www.gocomics.com/boondocks/1999/05/09 Huey writes a letter to George Lucas].
=== Web Comics ===
* In ''[[Bad Guy High]]'' a corrupted Super Dan killed jacob the black member of the team and its lamshaded
* Sort of referenced in [http://www.captainsnes.com/2008/10/24/guest-halloween-special-7/ this] ''[[Captain SNES]]'' Halloween special, despite several people having died already.
* One of many horror movie cliches parodied in the "KITTEN" arc of ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]''.
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=== Web Original ===
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100823212951/http://graphjam.com/2009/07/22/song-chart-memes-life-horror/ This chart on GraphJam] detailing the life expectancies of horror film characters.
* In [[Survival of the Fittest|SOTF-TV]], the first character to die is Anthony Rollins, who is, well, black. He actually [[Lampshade Hanging|hangs a lampshade]] on this right before he dies.
{{quote|"Really? I'm the black guy that dies first? I knew I could've done more for this fucking show working the camera."}}
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* [[Tobuscus]] lampshades this in his [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2W32cOTgo8&feature=related literal trailer] of ''[[Shark Night]]'', when the black man Malik is attacked.
** "She can't believe that THAT guy died first."
* The idea is repeatedly and viciously lampshaded in a ''[[SF Debris]]'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20131017002906/http://blip.tv/sf-debris-opinionated-reviews/tng-where-silence-has-lease-review-4923330 review of the episode] of
{{quote|"...And naturally there'd be no shortage of volunteers [From red-shirted black men for bridge positions]. People who've seen Science Fiction know the black dude dies first. And people who've seen the original series know the guy who beams down in a red shirt dies. So, black dude pluse red shirt equals get a bridge job as fast as you can and hope an alien doesn't show up on the view screen [[Tempting Fate|looking to kill people for no reason]]."}}
** and later. He does the voices of the various cast members to summarize the scene:
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'''Picard''': "Send another red-shirted black fellow to the bridge."
'''Geordi''': *leaves*. }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140322054757/http://weknowmemes.com/2012/01/if-theyre-all-black-then-how-are-we-supposed-to-guess-who-dies-first/ This] poster of ''[[Red Tails]]''.
* ''[[Disventure Camp]]'' plays this straight in Allstars when James is the first boot of the season, though he doesn’t actually die. It’s averted pretty hard in the second season, however.
=== Western Animation ===
* Parodied in an episode of ''[[South Park]]'', itself a parody of the movie ''[[The Core]]''. In the original, a black scientist dies after engaging a switch deep while in almost direct contact with the Earth's mantle; in the parody, Cartman explicitly picks Chef as "the black man who will sacrifice himself". This is subverted, however, as Chef safely makes his way through the crowd of Hippies, does what was asked, and gets back... only for Cartman to keep going on as though Chef had died.
* The episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' with the infamous MENDOOOZZAAAAA! scream features McBain's black partner getting killed.
* The animated series ''[[Funny Face]]'' has the black watermelon as the first and only character to die.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Dead Horse Trope]]
[[Category:Death Tropes]]
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[[Category:Race Tropes]]
[[Category:No Real Life Examples, Please]]
[[Category:
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