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Not the Fall That Kills You: Difference between revisions
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** Not surprisingly, most [[Superhero|superheroes]] with [[Flight]] will do the same at one time or another. Realistically, they would have the additional concern of taking injury ''themselves'' from colliding with a falling object, which at least [[Flying Brick|the invulnerable]] Superman has no concerns about.
** In Superman's case, this was one of the main justifications for the [[Post-Crisis]] "unconscious telekinesis" theory. Later made explicit in the case of [[Superboy]], who learned to control it consciously. One ''[[Action Comics]]'' issue has a very ill Superman convey to villains they better stand down as he, Superman, no longer has the ability to -pull- his punches and their heads might just go explodey.
* Same goes for ''[[The Flash]]'', who would certainly be giving high G-load injuries to the people he picks up and rushes off with at super-speed, as his acceleration is depicted as nearly instantaneous. Indeed, the [[Meta Origin|Speed Force]] was invented largely to "[[Magic
** In one issue of the [[Justice League of America]], he saves the population of an entire North Korean town from a nuclear meltdown in about 12 seconds. The speeds he would have needed to achieve this should have turned everyone he touched, carried, or simply ''ran past'' into chunky red jello.
** Subverted in the Marvel Comics Eternals, where their Speeder, even when trying his hardest not to kill terrorists while disarming them, and moving at half the speed of light, still breaks their arms.
*** [[Ultimate Universe]] Quicksilver did something similar, killing a lesser speedster by grabbing hold of her and accelerating so fast that her body was completely shredded.
* Originally subverted with ''[[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]''. He attempted to catch Gwen Stacy with his webbing after the Green Goblin tossed her off a bridge, but the sudden stop snapped her neck. [[Marvel Comics]] later tried to [[Retcon|reverse course]] on this, saying that it, indeed, ''was'' the fall that killed her; that the shock caused her to have a heart attack and die. They've even gone so far as to edit the prominent [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e3/Spider-Man_Death-of-Gwen-Stacy.jpg "SNAP!"] sound effect out of the panel where Spidey catches Gwen in reprints.
** After the "shock of the fall" line (originated by [[Stan Lee]]) was discredited, the current line of [[Word of God]] thinking is that since [[Soft Water]] doesn't really exist, ''nothing'' Spidey could reasonably have done at the time could have saved her. Catch her, she snaps. Don't catch her, she splats. In universe, Spidey's [[Defied Trope|learned from his mistakes]]. In a scenario years later where Mary Jane is sent plummeting, he knows to fire his webbing at multiple points, stopping Mary-Jane from getting lethal whiplash. And in ''[[New Avengers]]'' (vol. 2) #21, he catches falling teammates in a soft net of web instead of snaring them with a single line. There's also a ''[[What If]]'' issue where Spidey manages to save Gwen in this manner, and in a time travel storyline in ''[[
* Averted in ''[[Batman]]: Hush'', where Batman, after his [[Grappling Hook Gun]] line is mysteriously broken, attempts to grab onto a ledge, and immediately breaks several bones in his arms, falls further, and breaks the rest of his bones (there was even a bone chip in his skull). Ouch. Thank goodness a friendly brain surgeon was nearby.
* Averted in ''[[Batgirl]]: Year One'', when Barbara Gordon's jumpline, made of normal rope, is cut by Batman before she can hurt herself with the sudden deceleration. She is later given some of the special 'batrope' to use with the explanation that it is elastic and extends/contracts in order to prevent the shock of an instant stop.
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* In ''[[Runaways]]'', Victor stops Gert from falling using a steel fire escape, and references this trope, specifically the "matching speeds" angle.
* In ''Astonishing [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'', Hisako catches a plummeting classmate with her mutant armour up. He lives, but he's a mess.
* In a ''[[Captain America]]'' issue, Cap is flung off a building. He doesn't catch a flagpole, he slams shield first into the cold, hard cement. His [[Handwavium|Vibranium-steel alloy]] shield absorbs ninety-five percent of the impact but it's the five percent that bothers the hell out of him. The same shield Shield can disperse enough force that a punch from the [[
* There's a scene in the ''[[Elf Quest]]: Shards'' storyline (''link pending'') where Strongbow the archer is falling to his certain death - until the human Shuna reaches out an arm so that he can use her ''hand'' as a target for an arrow with a rope attached. The other elves then grab the rope to break his fall before his weight can rip her arm off. Now in order to pull this off both Strongbow and Shuna would need to have incredibly fast reflexes, and one suspects his momentum would drag everyone else over the edge anyway.
* In one issue of ''[[Doom Patrol]]'', the writer carefully averts this trope. Elasti-Girl grows to giant size to catch a plane coming in for a crash landing, by running alongside it and taking hold of the fuselage. Robotman specifically notes that simply standing still and catching it by the wings would have ripped the plane apart.
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