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* ''[[Madlax]]'' has a war-tired general who realizes that the war plaguing his country is orchestrated by [[The Syndicate]] (and he is but their pawn, too) and hires the eponymous [[Action Girl]] to assassinate him in broad daylight as his final act of defiance. The episode also serves to introduce [[The Rival]] to the girl, [[Dark Action Girl]] Limelda, who was assigned to protect the general.
* ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' has a variation in ''Black Dog Serenade'' which is suicide by ex-cop. Jet's old partner threatens to shoot him: the gun is empty and [[Redemption Equals Death|he just wants Jet to kill him]].
* Carris tries this in ''[[After War Gundam X
* ''[[Magic Knight Rayearth]]'', which turns out to be from the POV of the "cops". The girls have been summoned to "save" Princess Emeraude by killing her, so she can be released from her duty as [[Fisher King|Pillar of Cephiro]], in which role she has been gravely compromised since she fell for her Guardian, Zagato, and Cephiro itself started to die since she couldn't fully dedicate herself to it.
* [[Monster (
* [[MW|Michio]] can provoke anyone to kill him, including Garai.
* An [[Gambit Pileup|extremely convoluted]] plot in ''[[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]]'' involves Ashura-ou setting things up to force Fai (or is it Yuui?) to kill him. This makes Fai <s> even more</s> [[Driven to Suicide|suicidal]], too, [[Deus Angst Machina|just for good measure]].
* [[Failure Knight]] Zest Grangaitz, or more accurately, the [[Clone Degeneration|degenerated clone of his]] in ''[[
* Rukia from ''[[Bleach]]'' viewed the possibility of being executed as this, since she was a [[Failure Knight]] who [[Shoot the Dog|had to kill]] her [[Big Brother Mentor]] and first love when he was taken over by a Hollow.
* Judai from ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'', after his whole takeover of the Dark World thing. Though he was trying to commit suicide by former underling, technically. He did believe that was the only way to make up for his sins at the time. He learned differently, but he still tried.
* One episode of ''[[Harukanaru Toki no Naka
* This is more or less what Soichiro Yagami ultimately does in ''[[
* Done in ''[[Gantz]]'' by Izumi, who guns down hundreds of civilians in a crowded Tokyo train station so that he'll be killed and sent to the Gantz.
* Pretty much the MO of the person who brings Layton into the case in ''[[Professor Layton and The Eternal Diva]]''.
* [[Death Seeker]] Grisel Gegenhuber (aka Hube) got a [[Yojimbo]] gig for a total asshole in hopes of this, after being sequentially 1) exiled in disgrace on a [[Snipe Hunt]] for being a reckless commander, although the person who started the war for dumb reasons got off scot-free; 2) almost died a lot and suffered from racism; and 3) met his true love (in what was destined to be a [[Mayfly-December Romance]]) and was separated from her for what he believed to be forever.
** Unfortunately, as soon as he saw [[The Ace|Conrad]] in town his goal became to get his homeland's famous swordsman to kill him, and to that end he attacked the guy [[The Ace]] was protecting...then found out that that was the new king of his country, and he was now a traitor as well as an exile.
* In the anime version of ''[[Trigun]]'', this is an interpretation for Vash's complete failure to say a word or make a move in his own defense while being [[What the Hell, Townspeople?|lynched]] by the town that recognizes him as the Stampede, in the episode after {{spoiler|he shoots Legato in the head}}. He wasn't actually catatonic, but he kept acting as though he was while they tied him to the back of a truck and dragged him around on his face.
** Of course, Vash "disapproves of suicide more than anything," so if he is doing this it's probably subconscious.
* Greed in [[Fullmetal Alchemist (
== Comic Books ==
* Subverted in a ''[[Judge Dredd]]'' strip in which a man hires a hitman to kill him, then changes his mind and goes to the Judges for help. Dredd stops the assassin, and also arrests the man himself for hiring a hitman...
** Sounds like this plot was "borrowed" from ''The Odd Job'', originally a half-hour comedy playlet starring [[Ronnie Barker]] and later remade as a movie starring [[
** Sound like ''that'' Plot was "borrowed" from the [[Jules Verne]] book ''Tribulations of a Chinaman y China'' where an aristocrat who loses his fortunes buys a life insurance and asks his butler to kill him, but then recovers it and changes his mind. In his story, however, in the end everything is well and the character learns a valuable lesson. Can we say "[[Older Than They Think]]"?
* In the newest ''[[X-Factor (Comic Book)|X-Factor]]'' series, a dupe of Jamie Madrox does this by shooting a corrupt police chief in broad daylight with a horde of other cops standing around him.
** Similarly, previously suicidal Rictor goes up against a horde of cops, armed with only a paintball gun. Later, Guido calls him on it.
* In ''[[
* In an issue of ''[[Spider
** Tarantula tried to duplicate Spider-man's powers through genetic engineering but instead became a giant spider. Saddened, he jumped in front of a volley of police bullets to kill himself.
** In a ''[[Spider
** Spider-Man accuses Green Goblin of trying this during the "A Death in the Family" storyline, when Green Goblin puts Flash Thompson in a coma and then goes public with claims that Gwen Stacy died due to Spider-Man failing to safely catching her body when it fell off the bridge, and making claims of having sex with Gwen. We never find out from Norman if Spider-Man was right or not, though the ending implies that Norman could have murdered Spider-Man with a gun in his desk drawer during his [[Hannibal Lecture]] leaves it vague.
* In ''[[The Ultimates]] volume 3'', Hawkeye nearly goads Wolverine into killing him by shooting him from a short distance.
* There is a strong case to be made for Rorschach trying this in ''[[Watchmen]]''. [[Word of God|Alan Moore]] himself has stated that Rorschach had a king sized death wish, and he knew that Dr. Manhattan would try to stop Rorschach from revealing the truth. Rorschach may not have engineered the scenario, but he willingly embraced death.
* Subverted in an issue of ''[[The Punisher]]'', as after chasing the [[Big Bad]] all over the city, Frank finally cornered him, only to have probably the only thing close to an honest cop catch up and point a gun to HIS head. Frank ends the Mexican standoff by tossing [[Big Bad]] his own gun. [[Big Bad]] makes to shoot Frank, causing the cop to kill him instead.
* The Cavalier (Hudson Pyle) does this in the ''[[
* In ''[[V for Vendetta]]'', V corners Finch in a subway but allows the cop to shoot him a few times. But they both knew that if both sides actually tried to kill the other, [[Badass|V would have won]] with his throwing [[Knife Nut|knives]].
* Karolina attepted this in an early issue of ''[[Runaways]]'', but it backfired. {{spoiler|It turns out that [[Human Aliens|Majesdanian]] blood is poisonous to vampires.}}
* [[The Joker]] attempts this in "The Last Laugh". However, he called it "Suicide by Super-Hero" since it was Nightwing.
* In ''[[Ultimate Spider
* In the first ''[[Sin City]]'' story, it's implied that Marv tries this after his [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] is over, figuring that the Roarke family will kill him anyway. Cops do come and shoot him but he lives, only to face a [[Kangaroo Court]].
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== Film ==
* The main character in ''[[Falling Down]]'' draws a water pistol during a stand off, and is shot by a cop because other methods of suicide would result in loss of his life insurance policy. While falling backwards, he notes that he would have won - he squirted the cop before getting shot.
** As noted on the film's page, [[Suicide
* An example of the aforementioned "megalomaniacal general" is given in ''[[Terminator]] 2'', in the form of an artificial intelligence. The T-800, describing Judgement Day to John Connor, mentions that Skynet attacked Russia because it knew that the Russian counter-strike would eliminate its enemies in the United States.
* In ''The Chase'' the main character, after having run from the police for most of the movie, finally realizes it's not going to work, and that he's putting his hostage-turned-love-interest through a lot of danger. Consequently, he releases the (reluctant) girl and gets out of the car. A deep, slow-motion, underwater-sound scene follows, in which he looks around at the massive police force surrounding him and smokes a last cigarette. Then, suddenly, he makes a gun shape with his hands and rapidly points it at the cops. He is shot countless times and falls down, dead... and then he blinks and shakes his head: it was just an [[Indulgent Fantasy Segue]], and he's still in the car.
* In ''[[Dogma]]'', the rogue angels Bartleby and Loki planned to become human, then absolve their sins through plenary indulgence, and die, thus getting back into heaven. Suicide would be a strict no-no, so Bartleby killed a bunch of people, planning to be cut down by the police as he exited the church (the murder coming before the absolution of their sins). On a larger scale, the villain Azrael plotted to [[Chessmaster|trick God]] into being forced to ''destroy the entire universe'', just so that he would no longer suffer in Hell.
* In ''[[Minority Report]]'', Anderton is trying to prevent a future in which he kills a man, and nearly succeeds... only for the man to commit Suicide By Pre-Cop.
* The otherwise rubbish movie ''[[Jimmy Hollywood]]'' has a good subversion of this trope at the end - surrounded by cops after his vigilante spree and with things looking bleak, Jimmy - determined to make a big exit - decides to go out fighting; loading his guns with blanks, he aims to pull a [[Suicide
* In ''[[Se7en]]'', the killer murders the wife of one of his investigators, angering him into shooting the killer, which completes the set of seven sins (wrath).
* In ''[[Bulworth]]'', the title character purchases a 10 million dollar life insurance policy, then places a hit on himself to be performed within the next two days. He then tries to ruin his image by being completely unrestrained in his political opinions to give plausibility to his assassination. Ironically enough, this [[Springtime for Hitler|ends up working in his favor]] and when he tries to call off the hit, he finds that his contact to the mafia suffered a heart attack.
* In ''[[
* The police in ''[[Phone Booth (
* At the end of ''[[Odd Man Out]]'', Cathleen kills both herself and her lover this way. Although, to be fair, he was already bleeding to death and wanted by the police, so it's really an act of mercy.
* In ''[[Fallen]]'', the hero John Hobbes (a cop) is forced to shoot someone who he ''thinks'' is attempting [[Suicide
* In the movie ''[[Reign Over Me]]'', Charlie Fineman attempts suicide through this method. However instead of being shot by the cops, he is instead tackled and arrested.
* Bruce Lee in ''[[Fist Of Fury]]''.
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* In ''[[The Dark Knight]]'', the Joker wants Batman to kill him, and thus prove that there is no difference between the two of them.
* The French noir classic ''[[The Samurai]]'', starring Alain Delon, is a textbook example.
* ''[[
* ''Takers'' had an inversion and then played it straight in another case. When one of the bank robbers is cornered by a detective he aims his gun at the cop but the cop just lets the robber shoot him. The cop has been caught taking a bribe and if he dies in the line of duty now his family will get his pension and life insurance money rather than see him go to jail. Later on two of the robbers decide to walk straight at the SWAT team guns blazing rather than try to escape. They do not want to run and can't live with the deaths they caused.
* ''Textbook'' case at the end of ''Violent City'': After having killed the woman he loved and who betrayed him, Charles Bronson's character just...waits for the cops to get there. Once they do, he tells them to go ahead and shoot him. They naturally hesitate. He picks up his (unloaded) gun and points it at them. They promptly fill him full of holes.
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* Suicide by [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akzGOd4rP9c ''COPS''].
* In the remake of ''[[The Crazies]]'', Deputy Russell faces the army soldiers with an unloaded gun so he wouldn't have to succumb to the infection and to provide a distraction for the other survivors.
* Near the end of ''[[
* In [[The Recruit]] [[Al Pacino]]'s character does this after his true motivations are revealed.
== Literature ==
* When he thinks Bella has died, Edward goes to Italy to die by sparkling at the Insane Ruling Triumvirate in ''[[Twilight (
* ''[[The Outsiders]]'': a result of (and contrasted with) a previous "hero's" death, where the "hero" was the only person who respected the suicidal one.
* Near the end of [[Stephen King]]'s now out-of-print novel ''Rage'', the school-shooter protagonist grabs for a non-existent gun, prompting a policeman to shoot him several times. He survives and is committed to an insane asylum.
* At the end of ''[[The Spy Who Came in
* Inverted in ''[[A Touch of Frost]]'' when a drunk and depressed DI Frost tackles an armed criminal. He fails to get himself killed but does get the George Cross.
* Subverted in ''The Silent Blade:'' after losing the fight with Drizzt, Artemis Entreri shouts and charges him in order to be killed. Drizzt does reflexively counterattack--at which point Entreri's allies grant him the ability to absorb and return Drizzt's blow, to the very unpleasant surprise of both.
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* A suicidal cop in ''[[Third Watch]]'' takes main character Bosco hostage, holds Bosco's own gun on him, then walks into broad daylight and deliberately opens himself up to a clear shot from a SWAT sniper.
* There are at least three instances of this occurring in ''[[The Bill]]''.
* Referred to by name in ''[[
** And averted spectacularly in another episode, "Murder 2.0", where the protagonists run into a hostage situation that looks to be the hostage-taker trying to commit suicide by cop... until Gibbs realizes that she's being forced by the "hostage" to "threaten" him with an unloaded weapon, and what's really going on is that the "hostage-taker" was being set up for a ''Homicide'' By Cop. Fortunately, it didn't work.
** Subverted in another episode, where a drugged up guy pulls a gun on the team after being chased, only for Gibbs to come up behind him and pin him to a railing. From the other side.
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* ''[[Sanctuary]]'': John Druitt, overwhelmed by the guilt that goes with being Jack the Ripper attempts to goad Magnus into killing him by beating the crap out of her. It almost works--she stops his heart with two stun blasts to the chest, but then [[Magical Defibrillator|revives him]].
* In ''[[Airwolf]]'', the Evil Dr. Moffett may have committed suicide by attack helicopter. He had pointed out the one place that the helicopter was vulnerable to a [[Murphy's Bullet|Golden BB]], and in another scene they had shown that he had the necessary skill with a pistol to make the shot.
* An episode of ''[[Millennium (TV series)|Millennium]]'' features a woman doing this at the end of an episode by pulling not a gun out of her pocket, but a tiny piece of metal that has a shape resembling the [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|Virgin Mary's face]] on it. The fact that the woman who does this is a stereotypically butch lesbian (flannel and all) makes it a bit awkward to think about.
* In ''[[Kamen Rider Ryuki]]'', Asakura Takeshi (Kamen Rider Ouja) is [[Antagonist in Mourning|outraged after failing to kill his long-time rival]], so he charges a bunch of armed policemen without using his powers in what proves to be the last of [[Sanity Has Advantages|his several fits of suicidal behaviour]].
** In ''[[Kamen Rider Decade]]'''s [[Grand Finale]] [[The Movie|Movie]], Tsukasa (Decade), after having [[There Can Be Only One|wiped out every other Kamen Rider]], provokes his friend/possible [[Love Interest]] Natsumi (Kamen Rider Kivala) into attacking him, then throws away his weapon at the last second and allows her to run him through. He gets better, though.
* In the Colombian TV adaptation of the novel ''Sin Tetas No Hay Paraiso'', Catalina, the main character and]] a trafficker's girlfriend, convinced a former lover to hire a hitman to kill the friend who helped her to enter into that [[Crapsack World]]. And then she [[Taking the Bullet|takes her friend's place and gets the bullets]].
* ''[[Hill Street Blues]]'': A man is holding someone hostage with a gun on them, and informs the cop that he is going to kill them unless the cop kills him first. He announces he's going to pull the trigger on one, and starts counting down. The cop tries to talk him out of it, but has no alternative but to shoot him at 'two'.
* ''[[
* Done on ''[[The X
* Jared attempts this in the season four finale episode "The End in the Beginning" of ''[[Bones]]'', but is talked out of it by Brennan.
* ''[[This Is Wonderland]]'': A Filipino man was arrested as a suspected terrorist, but cop-turned-lawyer Anthony Davis figured out that he was trying to get himself killed so that his adulterous wife would have to live with her guilt.
* In ''[[Andromeda]]'', the characters encounter a ship which murdered her crew along with an entire planet, and spent three centuries mad. She ends up shooting at them, and then shutting her defenses so that the retaliation kills instead of disables her.
* Various episodes of ''[[
* Urza Jaddo challenged Londo Mollari to a [[Duel to
** On Capt. Sherdian's first day on the job, the whole crew of a rogue Minbari ship tries to do this to spark a new Earth-Minbari war. Fortunately, Sheridan figures out what they are attempting and refuses to cooperate. Ultimately, they all commit suicide when they are cornered by a Minbari ship sent to capture them.
* ''[[Dexter]]'', at the end of the third season, makes it look like this is how the Skinner dies.
* Interesting example from ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' when Matt Parkman [[Batman Gambit|engineers]] [[Thanatos Gambit|his own]] {{spoiler|unsuccessful}} [[Psychic-Assisted Suicide|Psychic Assisted]] [[Suicide
* Given the subject matter, it was almost inevitable this would occur on ''[[Flashpoint (TV series)|Flashpoint]]''. A couple attempt it "Last Dance", and it finally happens in "Behind The Blue Line".
* Subverted in at least one episode of ''[[
* In ''[[Rome]]'' a defeated and despaired Brutus chooses not to flee a lost battle and instead marches unarmored against approaching enemy cohorts of heavy infantry, he is rapidly surrounded and killed in a fashion resembling the killing of [[Julius Caesar]], a deed he committed with other senators.
* Subverted in the opening scene of ''[[Breaking Bad]]'' pilot; what do you do when you, the protagonist, until that moment a law abiding citizen, a trusted and respected member of your community, a loving husband and father, end up in underwear in the middle of the desert, driving a mobile meth-lab chased by police cars that get closer and closer? You leave a videotaped farewell message to the loved ones then proceed to confront the police with a gun in your hand ready to shoot.
* In ''[[
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* Angeal from ''Crisis Core: [[Final Fantasy VII]]'' does this - by turning into a [[One-Winged Angel]] and attacking Zack.
** This Suicide By Student allows him to become [[The Obi-Wan]]; he did it because he was convinced (despite Zach's [[But Your Wings Are Beautiful]] moment) that his messed-up genetic disorder was going to eventually make him go as [[Nietzsche Wannabe]] as his best friend Genesis.
*** He even has a couple of possibly-hallucinatory [[Talking to
** Before resorting to turning into a spectacularly ugly chimaera he tried to get Zach to kill him as part of their oath to "destroy anything that threatens the world." Zach had attacked him a while back when he believed he'd murdered his own mother, but since that and his going AWOL were really the only things to make Zach think he'd gotten himself an [[Evil Mentor]] and he'd just been disabused of the mistake, it didn't go well. Afterward they have a heartfelt [[Take Up My Sword]]--the iconic buster blade Zach passes on to Cloud at the end of the game.
* Asgard in ''[[
* The entire plot of the ''[[.hack GU Games|.hack//G.U.]]'' games basically revolves around this. [[The Chessmaster]] Ovan effectively manipulates Haseo into killing him, because only if Ovan's (extremely high-level) PC is killed by Haseo's special PC, his special ability will be activated, resetting the entire internet and cleansing it of the corruption that has been sending gamers (including [[Ill Girl|Ovan's own sister]]) into coma.
* Andrew Ryan in ''[[
* In ''[[Suikoden]] 2'', there is a difficult-to-do subplot involving a couple of gunners from Harmonia. If you are able to follow it all the way through to the end, it ends in a quick-draw duel between the two. As the loser lies on the ground dying, she laughingly reveals her gun wasn't loaded...
* In ''[[Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New World]]'', Emil Castagnier {{spoiler|(that is, [[Tomato in
* It's not explicitly stated, but it's fairly clear this is what Caster did in Heavens Feel route of ''[[Fate/stay
** Her master pulls the same trick in the Unlimited Blade Works route when Caster is killed. Even though the heroes are willing to let him go (he's completely harmless to them), he still picks a fight he cannot win with Archer to "finish what he started", and is killed instantly.
* In, ''[[
* Sol in ''[[Final Fantasy Legend]] 3'', who was merged with Xagor and said, "I'll hold Xagor's soul for you, kill me!" to the party. Knowing that Xagor attempted to conquer Sol so the entity flooding the world would never stop, Sol also knew that he could get himself killed, and take Xagor down with him and stop the entity in its last stage.
* In ''[[Mass Effect]]'' Matriarch Benezia chooses this path (by Protagonist, who is ''sort of'' a cop) after briefly breaking [[Eldritch Abomination|Sove]][[Sapient Ship|reign's]] indoctrination. She knew Sovereign's indoctrination was permanent and her respite would only be temporary and chose death over continuing its evil.
* ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' does this at the climax of {{spoiler|''[[Kingdom Hearts: 358 Days Over 2
* Sniper Wolf in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' really just waits for a soldier who is able to kill her. But as a world class sniper who doesn't hold back with her skills in combat, she's not making it particularly easy for her enemies.
* One sidequest in the ''[[Morrowind]]'' expansion ''Bloodmoon'' involves an old man who feels like he has nothing left to contribute, and is only a burden on his family, so he tries to do this. The player character can either kill him, or endure his attacks and talk some sense into him when he wears himself out.
* In ''[[Dawn of War]] 2: Retribution'' it is implied by The Ancient {{spoiler|also known as Tarkus}} that {{spoiler|Avitus}} does this in Chaos Rising.
* The Arishok in ''[[Dragon Age II]]'' pulls this off by staging an all-out attack with the Qunari on Kirkwall. The demands of the Qun mean he can cannot return to Par Vollen without the Tome of Koslun {{spoiler|and the thief who stole it}}, but he's become so disgusted with Kirkwall society that he can't make himself stay there any longer. He sees his death as the only way out of fulfilling his obligations.
* In ''[[Vampire Bloodlines]]'' a particularly cruel [[Power Born of Madness|Malkavian]] player can make an unfortunate [[Muggle]] do this to himself [[Killed to Uphold
* Done in ''[[The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim|Skyrim]]'' during the {{spoiler|Dark Brotherhood}} questline. {{spoiler|After selling the player out to [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|Commander Maro]] and being literally burned for it, Astrid uses her own body as a Black Sacrament and put a contract on herself.}}
* In ''[[
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* In the ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' cartoon "The Cheese Chasers", two mice, having eating so much cheese they feel they can't eat any again, decide that there's [["Seen It All" Suicide|nothing left to live for]] and try to get a cat to eat them. The cat, suspicious that it's all a trick, grows paranoid and eventually decides to end it all as well. So he goes to a dog and asks him to kill him. The dog, in trying to figure out the whole situation, goes mad as well, and chases down the dog catcher.
** ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' seemed to like this one, as there was also a [[Just for Pun|hen-pecked bird]] who wanted Sylvester to eat him, rather than put up with his wife for another day. [[Hilarity Ensues]].
* ''[[
* There was some evidence in ''[[
{{quote| '''Blackarachnia''': You'll regret this!<br />
'''Rampage, softly''': I regret ''everything'', my dear. }}
|