Deadly Dodging: Difference between revisions

* a container or device connected to their [[Achilles Heel]];

* a [[Booby Trap|physical trap]];

* a big ol' wall;

* [[Innocent Bystanders]] are a good choice for cooler villains, combining [[Kick the Dog|casual suffering]] and [[My God, What Have I Done?|heroic guilt]];

While this is usually punches, it can be used on projectiles. Used frequently in kids cartoons to avoid having the heroes actually [[Just Hit Him|hit]] their opponents. In [[Video Games]], this is a fairly common way to defeat the [[Puzzle Boss]], often stretching credulity to the point of [[Boss Arena Idiocy]]. Even without Puzzle Bosses, this is also a favorite way of dealing with large numbers of [[Mook|Mooks]]. Some (usually older) games even allow enemies to begin infighting with each other when you do this properly.

 

{{examples}}

 

** Possibly subverted early on in the manga; Kenshin deliberately doesn't dodge a bottle that was thrown at him, because it would have hit Kaoru.

* In the Asgard arc of the ''[[Saint Seiya]]'' anime, Shiryu uses it on Fenrir, causing an avalanche to fall on his foe.

* When he witnesses the death of {{spoiler|his father}}, [[Mirai Nikki|Yukiteru]] snaps and uses his Future Diary to deadly effect, making sure that there is someone between him and the next person to fire.

* Gin uses the [[Innocent Bystander]] variety of this in ''[[Bleach]]''.

* ''[[Darker Than Black]]'' gives a [[Crowning Moment of Funny|lovely demonstration]] of why, if you're going to try to attack a waiter in a restaurant, it'd be a good idea ''not'' to [[Mugging the Monster|go after the one who's an undercover hitman for an international crime syndicate]]. Because he ''is'' undercover, Hei [[Cover-Blowing Superpower|tries to act like he doesn't know what he's doing]], but after the guy attacking him crashes into several pieces of furniture and a few people in a vain attempt to hit him, an onlooker comes to the conclusion that "It's true [[All Chinese Know Kung Fu|all Chinese people are martial arts masters.]]"

* The epilogue of the third season of [[Sailor Moon]] includes this in a fight between Sailor Moon and Uranus and Neptune. Usagi refuses to fight them, so she causes them to colide with eachother, defeating themselves for her.

** Subverted in that it didn't actually work that way; she wasn't even remotely slowed down.

* In ''[[Pokémon Special]]'', Cynthia's Garchomp tried to hit Cyrus's Magnezone with its Hyper Beam but ended up blasting a hole in the Celestic Ruins instead, allowing Cyrus to go inside.

 

== Card Games ==

** It's not alone; several other [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=205362 creatures] and [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=107310 spells] have this effect. (Ravnicans, in particular, are good at it...)

** The Planeswalkers get in on the action too, with spells like [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=24554 Mirror Strike].

** Magic again: "[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=89087 Reroute]" from Ravnica block, in flavor text, image, and ability.

 

 

* In ''[[Spider-Man]]'', both the film and the comics, Green Goblin remotely launches his hovercraft at Spider-Man, who gets out of its way in time for it to hit Green Goblin himself.

** This is also his common technique for taking down stronger opponents such as Scorpion or the Rhino.

** Also, used in ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]''. Spider-Man does this while [[Brief Accent Imitation|mocking]] Shocker, goading him into unwittingly blasting a building's supports, causing it to collapse. Spidey also uses this in a sewer system, making the Rhino punch so many holes in the pipes that the steam overheats him, and leaves him exhausted and delirious.

*** Referred to and subverted in one of the later ''Spectacular Spider-Man'' episodes, where Rhino attacks Spider-Man. Spidey believes that he was able to dodge each and make Rhino look foolish. However, it turns out that Rhino wasn't expecting to hit anyone; His attacks were mainly aimed at the supports of the carpark they were fighting in, with having someone to aim at a distraction and a bonus. When Rhino points out his plan to bring the building crashing down on top of them, Spider-Man laments that he fell for a variation of the above trick he used to defeat Shocker. When the dust settles, [[Nigh Invulnerable|Rhino]] tosses off the rubble on top of him with ease, Spider-Man has a bit more trouble.

* One of the favourite tricks of [[The Flash]]. Makes sense, with his speed.

* In one ''[[Transformers]]'' comic, a rhino-shaped decepticon (Stranglehold) charged against an autobot, who very politely introduced him to the wall.

 

== Films -- Animation ==

* ''[[The Incredibles]]'' has Dash cause about half the fatalities in the movie by getting mooks to blow themselves up on scenery during a chase sequence.

 

 

== Films -- Live Action ==

* ''[[First Blood]]'' features the variant with friendly fire.

** And then later inverted/subverted, as Doom dodges a punch from a boxing-glove mallet wielded by Valiant... only to have that glove [[Exactly What I Aimed At|punch open the spigot for the deadly Dip]] to kill its creator.

* Mr. Miyagi pulls this trick in the opening "fight" of ''[[The Karate Kid]] II'', tricking his opponent into punching car windows and injuring himself.

** The ''[[Karate Kid]]'' remake also features quite a bit of it in the initial fight between Mr. Han and the six boys who'd beaten up Dre. Han barely shows any actual offense at all, mostly maneuvering the boys into hitting each other. When Dre remarks on this in the next scene, Mr. Han replies, "when fighting against angry blind men, best to just stay out of the way".

* Used by Kitty Pryde against Juggernaut in ''[[X-Men]]: The Last Stand'', as she tricks him into crashing into a wall behind her; due to their powers being temporarily nullified by Leech, he's promptly knocked out.

** And again in the ''Wolverine'' movie, with Wade Wilson dodging and slicing bullets to take out foes on either side of him with their own bullets.

* In ''[[Kung Fu Hustle]]'', the Landlord defeats the pair of kung fu villains who double as [[Musical Assassin|Musical Assassins]] by throwing his arms over their necks in the way friends often do. Then he moves his hips, causing their punches to strike the other one.

* Pulled off in the movie adaptation of ''[[The Hunt for Red October]]''. [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|By a]] ''[[Hot Sub-On-Sub Action|submarine]]''.

* [[Willow]], beginning of the escape from the inn. "Gentlemen? Meet Llug."

* In ''[[Tremors]]'', Kevin Bacon outwits a giant worm by luring it <s>off of</s> out of a cliff.

* Early in ''[[Machete]]'', the title character is lured into a streetfight. He wins it by dodging several attacks, then stepping aside just at the right time for his opponent to shatter his arm on a concrete post.

* In ''[[Dragon Ball Evolution]]'', when Goku is forbidden to fight, he defeats some bullies by tricking them into hitting each other and hard surfaces.

* Jet Li's character invokes this by accident in the final battle of ''[[Lethal Weapon]] 4'' when he reflexively dodges a bullet which hits and kills his brother.

** {{spoiler|Make sure the missiles are all fired at the same time}}

** There's also the A-Wing Slash, wherein a group of X-Wings head for any enemy ship, only to peel away at the last minute and reveal the A-Wings that were hiding in the glow from their engines. The Deadly Dodge part comes when an Imperial commander duplicates it with Preybird starfighters in place of X-Wings and proton torpedoes in place of the A-Wings.

{{quote| '''Marvin:''' What a depressingly stupid machine.}}

{{quote| ...when six are against one in a melee in the shadows, and especially if those six aren't used to a target that is harder to hit than a wasp, and even more so if they got all their ideas of knife fighting from other amateurs, then there's six chances in seven that they'll stab a crony and about one chance in twelve that they'll knick their own earlobe.}}

* In the first ''[[Kingdom Keepers]]'' book, Finn managed to defeat a [[Dem Bones|skeletal T-Rex]] by making it hit the tracks of ''[[Disney Theme Parks|Big Thunder Mountain Railroad]]'' which causes the weak frame to splinter apart.

* In [[Percy Jackson and The Olympians|The Titan's Curse]], Percy takes the sky from Artemis, and Artemis pushed Atlas into Percy, who moved, and allowed the sky to fall on Atlas.

* [[Ciaphas Cain]] uses this in ''Cain's Last Stand'' when fighting three combat servitors. The one hit by the other's plasma bolt isn't taken down by it, but misidentfies its fellow as another attacker as a result of the hit.

 

 

* In ''[[Smallville]]'', this is how young Clark frequently winds up accidentally disposing of villains, allowing the writers to have the threat dealt with without Clark ever breaking [[Thou Shalt Not Kill]]. Take him on, and you ''will'' find yourself stuck like a cocktail weenie on a pointy object that [[Made of Plasticine|should rightfully only bruise you.]]

* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "The Age of Steel", Mickey also defeats a Cyberman by getting it to punch an electrical generator.

** Played with in the third season episode "The Five Daughters Affair, Part II". Solo and Kuryakin, creeping down a corridor of a THRUSH complex, are menaced by one THRUSH mook ahead of them and two behind them. The mook in front of them sprints towards them, then leaps at Solo as if to tackle him. Solo quickly hits the floor, and the leaping mook takes out the two mooks following the heroes.

* In an episode of ''[[Murder Most Horrid]]'', the fiancée of a murder victim announces that she no longer wishes to live and asks his killers to all shoot her in the head at the end of a song. She takes a bow.

* In ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'' episode "The Vault of Secrets", Clyde gets two robots to fire at him, and jumps out at the last second, causing them to shoot each other.

* In one episode of [[The Adventures of Brisco County Jr]], the protagonist is about to be shot by four bandits who form a perfect cross around him. He decides to duck at the last moment and the bandits kill each other simultaneously.

 

== Video Games ==

* Players can destroy Mycon Podships in ''[[Star Control]]'' by guiding their plasmoids back into them.

** Also in ''Galaxy'', this technique can be used to turn Bullet Bills into [[Helpful Mook|Helpful Mooks]] by tricking them into colliding with something you want blown up (including a certain boss's [[Attack Its Weak Point|weakpoint]]).

* The old Sega Genesis/Megadrive game ''Taz in Escape from Mars'' requires this tactic against one boss, a bull that one must trick into running into a wall.

** Also used against those 2 gators; you get the stupid to put his net over the smart one.

* Luring enemies into firing at each other and then fighting is an essential combat tactic in ''[[Doom]]''.

* Simultaneously played straight and inverted in ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]''. When fighting, both your dwarves and whoever they're fighting can sidestep to an adjacent free tile in order to dodge an attack. Free tiles include open spaces, so battles on top of bridges often result in one or more combatants dodging off the bridge and falling into the water or magma below.

** When dealing with the Alatreon, there are two ledges at the edge of the arena. This is the only reliable way to get at these horns while it's still standing - the other ways are knocking it off its feet and putting it to sleep.

* One of the quicker ways to defeat the Garradors in ''[[Resident Evil]] 4'' is to stand with your back to a wall, get them to charge you, and run for it (conveniently, they usually don't swerve after you), causing them to get their claws stuck in said wall and allowing you a free strike to the weak point on their backs.

* In ''[[Super Smash Bros|Super Smash Bros Brawl]]'' story mode, you can do significant damage to [[That One Boss|Duon]] by {{spoiler|getting his homing missiles to slam into him}}

** A similar sequence occurs in ''Clive Barker's Undying''. When fighting Aaron, he will stand in the middle of the room when sufficiently injured and keeps attacking with his chain hook. The trick is to let him attack then sidestep when you are in from of the door. If done right, the hook gets stuck in the door and Aaron can be "killed" by decapitating him with the scythe.

* In ''[[Metroid]] Prime 2'', Samus defeats the Grapple Guardian by dodging just as its beam hit an electrified pillar that stuns it for a few moments.

* Played straight in ''Super [[Double Dragon]]''. You can get your enemies to throw knives and boomerangs at each other, although it might take you a while to perfect this fine craft.

* In ''[[I Wanna Be the Guy]]'', during his third attack pattern, The Guy is [[Immune to Bullets|immune to your puny bullets]], and you have to dodge his shots so that they bounce off the walls into him. It's harder than it sounds, because the bullets don't follow usual angles: they always bounce so that they're flying directly at ''you''.

** The Goat Chimera roars when it's about to charge you; unlike the previous examples, you ''have'' to use the lamppost to disable it, as it skids to a halt if you dodge and it runs you over if you try to block. Thankfully it can still be killed the old-fashioned way.

* This is the basic mechanic of the flash game ''Dodge'': your spaceship is unarmed, and you have to maneuver so that the enemies destroy themselves and/or each other with their missiles.

* ''[[The Haunted Mansion]]'' has a segment where Zeke is [[Incredible Shrinking Man|shrunken down]] onto a billards table and has to get the ghostly player to hit all the balls into the pockets. In the kitchen, you have to get the plates aimed at you to break every bottle of alcohol.

* The first form of the [[Final Boss]] in ''[[An Untitled Story]]'' is defeated by having his charge shot bounce right back at him.

== Web Comics ==

* Bun-bun pulls this twice during the "Oceans Unmoving" arc of ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]''. The [http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=050203 first time] Bun-bun dodges Calix's throwing axe so that it cuts part of the ship's rigging instead, allowing him to do a dramatic rope swing attack. The [http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=060112 second time], Bun-bun dodges ''another'' axe throw, this time positioning himself so that the axe will hit his enemy, Blacksoul, instead. Unfortunately, Calix has been persuaded to leave by a third party and does not hear the insult that's [[Batman Gambit|supposed to incite his attack]], leaving Bun-bun looking pretty silly in front of his archnemesis.

** Played straight in [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0808.html this strip], where Roy tricks his [[Dumb Muscle]] [[Evil Counterpart]] Thog into crashing into a series of columns in order to bring part of the roof down on him. "''That's'' how I use my Intelligence score in combat, ''dumbass''!"

* [[Bob and George]] [http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/040225c Teleport out of the way, and he hits the wall]

 

== Western Animation ==

** Also occurs unintentionally during an episode where Aang is training with Katara and Toph, where he ducks a boulder from Toph by burrowing into the ground, which proceeds to hit Katara, who was standing behind.

** And again in "The Headband", wherein Aang is attacked by the school bully. He manages to defeat the bully with his hands held behind his back and an innocent smile on his face, by dodging in such a way that causes his opponent to throw himself to the ground.

*** Put simply, [[Deadly Dodging]] is a big part of Airbender martial arts.

* [[Bugs Bunny/Characters|Bugs Bunny]] pulls this [[Karmic Trickster|trick]] a couple of times while fighting the bull in the classic short ''Bully for Bugs''.

* The Road Runner also makes Wile E. Coyote run off a cliff in almost every episode ''several'' times.

* [[Osmosis Jones]] did this by {{spoiler|doing some sort of micro-division as Thrax delivers his coup-de-grace, forcing Thrax to become jammed in a false eyelash.}}

** Lampshaded by Brooklyn

{{quote| '''Brooklyn''' "It's incredible how often that move works."}}