Finishing Stomp

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

One good way to show that something is over is one person stomping on someone or something.

Sub-Trope of Coup De Grace, although it isn't necessarily the actual killing blow - it can be more for dramatic effect than necessity. Sister Trope to Kick Them While They Are Down, as it's specifically about stomping, and about the dramatic impact of that movement. The finishing move to a definitive Curb Stomp Battle.

See also Weapon Stomp, that can also end a fight, and Giant Foot of Stomping.

Examples of Finishing Stomp include:

Anime and Manga

  • This is how Cell finishes off what's left of Android 16 in Dragon Ball Z, which proves to be the final straw that sends Gohan into Super Saiyan 2.
  • In Soul Eater, this is how Death the Kid finishes his second match with Black Star. This being Kid his stomp leaves the would-be assassin in a crater.

Film - Animation

Film - Live Action

  • In Enter the Dragon, Lee (Bruce Lee) finishes off O'Hara (Robert Wall) with a leaping, two foot stomp.
  • In American History X, Derek's murderous finis to a scuffle with two car thieves ends in a nauseating curb stomp.
  • Kung Fu Hustle: when Sing stomps on the soccer ball and destroys it. This is actually directed at himself, as he was played by the director, Stephen Chow, who's other famous film was Shaolin Soccer.

Sing: NO MORE SOCCER!

  • Parodied in Undercover Brother. After taking out some Mooks, UB viciously stomps down on the head of one of them (off camera) with a "crunching" sound. We then see that UB actually squashed a bag of potato chips that were lying next to the guy's head.

Mook: I just bought those!
UB: Sorry.

Magazines

  • In the 1956 Mad Magazine article on the fictional sport of Dog Kicking, the climax of the Kick is the la Stompa, the Hour of Truth for the Brave Dogs. The Schlobbero leaps into the air and lands on the Brave Dog in the la Stompa Natural (in which the feet impact the dog) or la Stompa Ayudado (in which the hips impact the dog). It does cost honor points, however, for a Schlobbero to execute a la Stompa on a sitting Dog, and if a Schlobbero fails to execute one within the time limit of four hours he himself is subjected to one.

Professional Wrestling

  • WWE wrestler Kaval uses a finishing move called the Warrior's Way which is a double stomp from the top rope.

Tabletop Games

  • Warhammer Fantasy Battle has a stomp mechanic used by monsters at the end of each combat round. It usually doesn't end the combat and even less often the whole battle but one could see it as an end marker of the combat round.
  • This is what you do to downed players in Blood Bowl if you want to make (more) sure they'll stay down. Note that doing this may incur the wrath of the referee however.

Video Games

  • Silent Hill was one of the first games to make this mandatory, and it found its way into most of the sequels. Creatures that are downed-but-not-out might get back up, and you don't want to take the chance.
  • Killer7: Dan Smith's down attack.
  • In the Resident Evil series, this is usually how the male characters will deal with a knocked-over, but still mobile, zombie that latches onto their legs. In earlier installments, this totally crushed their skulls. The women of the series got by with a kick, which typically knocked the head across the room. One of Chris' moves in Resident Evil 5 revisits this.
  • One of Isaac Clarke's signature moves in Dead Space. Quite cathartic.
  • The game over screen of the oldie Jet Set Willy
  • You can stomp on downed enemies in Gears of War to finish them off.
    • To clarify, you don't just stomp on downed enemies; you crush their skull with your boot.
  • In Umineko no Naku Koro ni, Gaap does this to George while wearing stiletto heels. Let's just say the result was similar to a gunshot wound.
  • Alex Mercer of Prototype does this as one of his consume animations, knocking the target down and stomping their face. This is one of the least gruesome consume animations he has in the game.
  • In the second Sly Cooper game, Carmelita Fox destroys the Big Bad once and for all (who had already been literally smashed to pieces) by crushing the mechanical owl's main processor chip under her boot.
  • The Grand Theft Auto games love this trope. It's very common for a player, after bringing down an opponent in hand to hand, to stomp the crap out of him to finish him off.
  • The opening of Half-Life Episode Two has Alyx Vance receiving a nasty one of these at the hands of a Hunter after a Game Breaking Stabbing, putting her into a near-fatal coma.
  • Warhammer 40000 Space Marine: Finishing Moves are the only way to regain lost health in this game, and several of them include this. Given how brutal and Gorn filled this game is, this is actually one of the least brutal ways to kill enemies.
  • God Hand has stomping as an Action Commands and "God Stomp" as a Limit Break move.
  • Assassin's Creed Brotherhood: One of Ezio's assassination moves involves throwing a mook and stomping his face.
  • Modern Warfare 2: General Shepherd does this to Soap. Fortunately it doesn't take.
  • Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe gives this to The Joker, not as a Fatality, but for additional effect whenever he finishes off an enemy and doesn't perform a Fatality. Also overlaps with Groin Attack.
  • In Mass Effect 3 multiplayer the player characters will still be alive for some time after having their health drained, during which an ally can revive them. However, an enemy can get near and stomp on the downed character to kill them before the timer runs down.
  • Eternal Darkness gave you a secondary benefit to performing a Finishing Stomp: it would refill some of your Sanity Meter.
  • Darkstalkers has the pursuit attack (Down, Down + Any attack), which can end up this way if it's the final blow of the round.
  • Power Rangers Fighting Edition (a rare Aversion to The Problem with Licensed Games) has this, though obviously it only applies to characters who stomp; the Ninja Megazord, for example, throws a fireball instead.
  • Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Hitting Down twice + Heavy as Super-Skrull uses "Worm Squash" and he stomps the opponent. It does little damage, can't be cancelled into any other attacks, and only hits grounded opponents, but it's a fun way to end a combo that you know will knock out the other character.
  • Asura's Wrath: The title character Asura does a spectacular and cathartic one of these to Sergei while he's in an extremerage, crushing the latter's head into a fine paste.

Web Comics

  • In El Goonish Shive, after the giant slime is defeated, the remaining 'core' part gets stepped on by Ellen.
  • In Sluggy Freelance, this is how the War of the Bug Squishers got its name.
  • Both times someone has attempted this in Spacetrawler, the would-be stomper gets attacked by someone else before they can actually kill their intended victim.

Western Animation

Real Life

  • This is an effective means of making sure a target is incapacitated (lethally or otherwise) in any scenario involving one man on the ground, and another standing. The head is the best target for maximal damage, but in the heat of battle, it'll work on practically any body part due to the sheer force behind such a blow. Its a favorite of the more brutally pragmatic martial arts (typically coupled with a technique to throw one's opponent to the ground), but is rarely taught in an organized fashion due to the sheer simplicity of execution.
  • Believe it or not, this was quite legal during the PRIDE Fighting Championship's heyday. Shogun Rua and Wanderlei Silva in particular had some really impressive (and brutal) ones.
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