Jaw Breaker
Monster trying to get its teeth into you? Here's an unusual solution; force the creature's jaws apart until they break.
Oddly, this is almost always portrayed as causing instantaneous death (in which case it's usually taken to be a "cooler" version of a Neck Snap), when it should leave them alive but in crotch-stompingly horrible pain.
For some reason, Reptilian monsters are especially prone to this.
A nastier variant is to simply tear the jaw off altogether.
Examples of Jaw Breaker include:
Comic Books
- In 52, after Sobek's true colors are revealed, Black Adam finishes him off this way.
- Pictured above: in an issue of The Walking Dead, upon being tackled by a zombie, Martinez sticks his hand in its mouth and breaks its jaw before it can bite his fingers. Okay he had gloves on, but still.
- In Secret Six, Jeanette breaks King Shark's jaw this way. Somewhat subverted, as this doesn't kill him, but it obviously leaves him in excruciating pain.
- Thragg does this to Dinosaurus in an issue of Invincible, but he lives.
Film
- King Kong's signature move. He does it to dinosaurs and giant snakes in the 30s version, the 70s version, the 00s version and the video game based on it.
- Mecha-Godzilla does this to Anguirus in Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla. He lives, though.
- Derek kills a man in a disturbing scene in American History X with a curb stomp.
- One of the deaths in Mirrors.
- Yoko in The Grudge suffers this, as does Kanna in Ju-On. The third The Grudge film shows that Gretchen also suffers this fate.
- The "reverse beartrap" in Saw.
Literature
- In His Dark Materials, Iorek tears his rival's jaw off. Symbolic, because the other was a liar.
- Samson does this to a lion in The Bible.
Video Games
- This is one possible execution animation for Ork Nobz in Warhammer 40000 Space Marine; pin their foot with your Power Axe and then break that jaw for the Emperor.
- In God of War, Kratos finishes Cerberus this way, in order to steal the artifact held within its mouth.
Web Comics
- The Adventures of Dr. McNinja: Doc does it to a zombie. Since it was undead, it doesn't really kill the thing, but it does prevent it from biting him.
- He doesn't stop with just removing the jaw, though. He proceeds to punch through it's spinal column, which is the part that kills it.
- Part 4 of The Sacrifice has one of Bill's surgeons turn just as he's getting anesthetics.[context?] The ensuing struggle between her and the doctor has him tear her jaw off before she kills him and moves on to Bill.