Last Breath Bullet: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"To the last, I grapple with thee; From Hell's heart, I stab at thee; For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee."''|'''Captain Ahab''', ''[[Moby Dick]]''}}

The story's over. The [[Big Bad]] is defeated. The [[EndoftheThe End of the World Asas We Know It|end of the world]] has been prevented. The heroes are victorious.

'''BANG!'''

The above is the most common form of this trope, but a) it does not necessarily have to be a bullet; b) the villain does not have to die immediately afterward; and c) the scenario may just have been added [[Rule of Drama|for the dramatic effect]] and the hero could [[Not Quite Dead|pull through in the end]] ([[Healing Hands|likely]] [[Support Party Member|due]] [[Combat Medic|to]] [[The Red Mage|aid]] [[The Medic|from]] [[White Mage|a]] [[Healing Shiv|team]][[White Mage|mate]]). However, it is usually the last we ever see of the villain. This can also take the villainous form of a [[Taking You Withwith Me]] depending on the circumstances.

A form of the [[Downer Ending]], and a [[Diabolus Ex Machina]], though it is also possible for a dying supporting character to save the hero's life this way, which may make it their [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]]. Occurs most frequently in action films. Can overlap with [[Taking You Withwith Me]], and/or with [[Load-Bearing Boss]]. Compare with [[Last Villain Stand]].

{{examplesdeathtrope}}

* In ''[[DragonballDragon Ball]] Z'' when Cell is seemingly defeated after {{spoiler|Goku instant transmissions him to King Kai's planet before he finishes self destructing}} a laser comes out of nowhere and kills {{spoiler|Future Trunks}} and reveals that Cell regenerated and they continue combat until {{spoiler|Gohan kills him}}

* Subverted in ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]'', where Zaied unexpectedly still had enough life to be able to aim his gun at Sousuke and tell Sousuke that the person who has remaining ammunition is the winner. Sousuke is shown wincing and waiting for the impact, but instead Zaied lifted the gun and shot the remaining ammunition into the sky before dying.

* In ''[[Princess Mononoke]]'', a scene at the end {{spoiler|in which Moro's head bites off Lady Eboshi's arm after she's killed the Forest God}} embodies the spirit of this trope pretty well. It's not a bullet...more of a Last Breath Bite.

* The villain themselves doesn't die but in one episode of ''[[Ghost in Thethe Shell: Stand Alone Complex]]'', Togusa intervenes when a young man is attacking a young woman. Said young man turns out to be a cyborg and switches off his pain sensors, forcing Togusa to shoot out all his limbs. However when he turns around to help the victim up the cyborg shoots her (having been able to level his gun using just his elbow) out of spite.

* In ''[[Puella Magi Oriko Magica]]'', {{spoiler|Oriko}} uses the last of her strength to hurl {{spoiler|a shard of Kirika's witch body through the barrier, which pierces Madoka's chest and kills her, forcing Homura to restart the timeline once again.}}

* Spoofed in ''[[Team America: World Police]]''. {{context}}

* Played with in ''[[The Secret of NIMH]]''. The villain Jenner is defeated by Justin, and gets up to take one last stab at Justin once he throws away his sword - only for a henchman [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|he had stabbed earlier]] to kill him with a throwing knife as he died.

* A villain vs. villain example: In ''[[Atlantis: the Lost Empire (Disney)|Atlantis theThe Lost Empire]]'', [[Big Bad]] Rourke betrays his right hand, Helga, and knocks her off his hot air getaway balloon. Right before she dies, she fires a [[Flare Gun]] at the balloon in revenge igniting it and causing it to fall back to the ground, presumably crushing Helga in the process.

* Khan in ''[[Star Trek II: the Wrath of Khan (Film)|Star Trek II theThe Wrath of Khan]]'', activating the Genesis Device.

* ''[[¡Three Amigos (Film)!|Three Amigos]]!'': After using a creative method to defeat El Guapo, El Guapo tells them it was a good trick, shoots at one of them in the foot, and says that that was a good trick too. (He doesn't actually kill them but does die laughing).

* Subverted in ''[[Die Hard (Film)|Die Hard]]'' when Sergeant Al Powell shoots [[The Dragon|Karl]] before he can shoot John McClane.

* Played straight in Lucio Fulci's ''[[Contraband]]'', where one of the main villains gets a bullet to the throat courtesy of one of the good guys, who was machine-gunned by his henchmen a few moments earlier.

* At the end of ''[[Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children]]'', after Cloud has defeated Kadaj and the others lower the airship to pick him up, he gets suddenly shot right throught the chest in a highly dramatic fashion by Yazoo, who pops up with Loz behind him. Cloud survives, but it gives him a near death experience to get closure with Aerith and Zack.

* Zukovsky does a variant in ''[[The World Is Not Enough (Film)|The World Is Not Enough]]'', albeit without directly killing anyone; instead, he fires his cane-gun at the manacles securing Bond to Elektra's torture chair. Elektra assumes Zukovsky was trying to kill Bond and missed, remarking that "he must have really hated you," but the impact of the bullet enables Bond to break free - almost certainly Zukovsky's intention, given that he realized immediately previous that Elektra had killed his nephew.

* Also subverted a la ''[[Yojimbo]]'' in the 1949 version of ''Whispering Smith''. {{spoiler|Especially shocking in that it's the hero's former best friend gone bad who's trying to [[Taking You Withwith Me|take him with him]].}}

* Last minute subversion in ''~[[The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly~]].'' After being beaten to [[Quick Draw|the draw]] by {{spoiler|Blondie}}, a dying {{spoiler|Angel Eyes}} tries to recover and shoot back. {{spoiler|Blondie}} just calmly shoots him again before he can manage.

* Subverted in ''[[Batman Returns (Film)|Batman Returns]]''. With Batman distracted with the {{spoiler|death of Max Shreck and the disapperancedisappearance of Catwoman}}, the Penguin rises from the sewer water and {{spoiler|tries to shoot Batman.}} Fortunately, he "picked the cute one," {{spoiler|and dies.}}

* A flying dagger through {{spoiler|Empress Wan}} at the end of ''[http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Banquet_%282006_film%29:The Banquet (2006 film)|The Banquet]]''.

* The Balrog does it to Gandalf in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' by dragging him down into the underground.

* {{spoiler|Eddie}} is killed this way in the last book of ''[[The Dark Tower]]''.

* At the end of ''[[Rupert Ofof Hentzau]]'', the sequel to ''[[The Prisoner of Zenda]]'', everything looks set to have Rudolf Rassendyll assume the throne of Ruritania and live happily ever after {{spoiler|when the minor character Bauer, who was Rupert's adoring servant and the only loose end, comes out of nowhere and shoots Rudolf}}.

* A heroic version of this occurs in the shootout with the Masadan terrorists on the Wages of Sin in ''[[Honor Harrington (Literature)|Crown Of Slaves]]'' when Berry and Ruth's bodyguards have all been killed and as the Masadans are gloating one of them regainds consciousness just long enough to nail the leader.

* The mutual death of two minor villains in the [[Redwall]] book ''Pearls of Lutra'' had a water rat named Sagitar stab a traitorous comrade with her trident as she lies dying on the ground from a stab wound.

* First Mate Cox tries this at the end of ''[[Nation]]'', but it's [[Subverted Trope|subverted]] when the [[Everything's Even Worse Withwith Sharks|sharks]] get to him first.

* In the ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' season 1 finale, Sylar appears to be dead, but then gets up to telekinetically throw Hiro at a building, before falling unconscious. Hiro is able to send himself back in time before he smashes against the wall though.

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'': [[The Nth Doctor|The previous Master]] was killed by his assistant, whom he'd fatally wounded and left for dead.{{context}}<!-- Which "previous Master"? There have been so many. -->

** [[Tropes Will Ruin Your Life|Gasp!]] {{spoiler|[[Fridge Horror|It was a ]][[Death Note (Manga)|Death Note!]]}}

* In ''[[The Goodies (TV)|The Goodies]]'' episode "Bunfight at the OK Tearooms" (a parody of just about every [[Western]] trope ever), a dying Bill gets off a final squirt of his sauce bottle just as Graeme's girl flings herself into his arm. The sauce misses Graeme but gets the girl.

* In [[Once Upon a Time (TV series)|''Once Upon a Time'']], Prince Charming kills a warlord to prove himself. While giving a motivational speachspeech, the warlord impales Charming before dying to his wounds.

* [[Playing Withwith a Trope|Related to]] the ending of ''[[Call of Juarez]]'' - {{spoiler|the final boss gets up after being shot to try to stab Young Protagonist, and the player has to fire off the Old Protagonist's Last Breath Bullet to stop it.}}

* This is how ''[[Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume]]'' starts. Wylfred and Ancel have killed some random monsters, but one of them gets back up and attacks Wylfred. He gets better, but only because he makes a [[Deal Withwith the Devil]].

* Enemy mooks in ''[[James Bond]]: [[James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing]]'' will often fire off one last shot before falling dead.

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