Suicide by Cop: Difference between revisions

* Carris tries this in ''[[After War Gundam X (Anime)|Gundam X]]'' after a bit of a [[Freak-Out]], pointing at Garrod with an empty gun to trick the other into shooting him dead. He gets better, however.

* [[Monster (Anime)|Johan]] loves this trope. He tells both Dr. Tenma and Anna to shoot him in the head pretty much whenever they meet. He wants Tenma to kill him because it would mean making him admit that all life is not equal, and the implication is that he's so far gone into [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsterdom]] that the only way he feels he can die is by making another person have to do it.

* [[Failure Knight]] Zest Grangaitz, or more accurately, the [[Clone Degeneration|degenerated clone of his]] in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Strikers|Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS]]'' after learning that all of his remaining duties have been dealt with. His cop was [[Lady of War|Signum]].

* 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 De|Harukanaru Toki no Naka de - Hachiyou Shou]]'' (and the manga story it was based on) involved [[Samurai|Yorihisa's]] childhood friend/rival, a [[Youkai|Nue]], kidnapping Akane to force Yorihisa to go after him -- it is made clear that he has no interest in Akane herself as he promises to set her free once Yorihisa arrives. The Nue is eventually revealed to have been poisoned by a member of the Oni clan, with the poison gradually driving him mad and causing him to turn into an uncontrollable monster. He guessed (correctly) that Yorihisa will [[Sadistic Choice|choose his current duty over his past connections]] and save Akane at all costs even if it means killing his friend. [[Tear Jerker]] ensues.

* This is more or less what Soichiro Yagami ultimately does in ''[[Death Note (Manga)|Death Note]]''. After his daughter is abducted and used to blackmail him, after he's forced to choose between surrendering the [[Artifact of Doom]] to the Mafia or sacrificing his life and hers, he chooses to take the shinigami eyes and halve his life. {{spoiler|Turns out he didn't have that long to live, regardless}}.

* 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.

* Greed in [[Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime)|the 2003 anime version]] of ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (Manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', who intentionally picks a fight with and enrages Ed on false pretenses so the latter will kill him, as it is preferable to waiting around for Dante to re-seal him.

** 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 [[Graham Chapman (Creator)|Graham Chapman]]. In both versions the man changes his mind and tries to persuade the hitman not to kill him. The man eventually succeeds, but then falls victim to one of the hitman's death traps anyway.

* In ''[[Y the Last Man|Y: The Last Man]]'', Alter does something similar, murdering Agent 355 in order to bait Yorick into avenging her. Yorick sees through her and leaves her alive. The twist is Alter insists her death be at a man's hands - a good deal of the conflict in the series wouldn't have happened if she'd just been alright letting another woman kill her.

* In an issue of ''[[Spider Man]]'' serial killer The Sin-Eater a.k.a. Stanley Carter holds a boy hostage pointing a shotgun at his head prompting the police to shoot him, as it turns out he had done this intentionally as he was depressed and before he dies he reveals the gun was empty.

** In a ''[[Spider Man]] VS [[Wolverine]]'' one-shot, Spider-Man gets embroiled in a case in East Berlin when Charlie, a female ex-KGB agent and longtime friend of Wolverine's, goes on a [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] against her KGB superiors. Not wanting to be tortured by the KGB, she wants Wolverine to kill her. Spider-Man intervenes (he thinks that either Charlie or the KGB had killed Daily Bugle reporter Ned Leeds) and he and Wolverine fight each other furiously. Dazed after the fight, Spider-Man feels a hand on his shoulder. Thinking it's Wolverine, he turns and hits the person, hard. Turns out to be Charlie and the blow is lethal, which is what she wanted. Suicide by superhero.

* The Cavalier (Hudson Pyle) does this in the ''[[Batman (Comic Book)|Batman]]: Legends of the Dark Knight'' arc "Blades", purposely charging the cops and getting gunned down.

* In ''[[Ultimate Spider Man]]'' Norman Osbourne begs S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to kill him after he unthinkingly beats his own son to death as the Green Goblin.

** As noted on the film's page, [[Suicide By Cop]] [[Did Not Do the Research|would also void a life insurance policy]], as no insurer will pay out for a loss caused during the commission of a felony. Makes for a hell of a [[Downer Ending]] when viewed that way.

* 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 By Cop]]. So he bursts out of the building, guns blazing... and nothing happens. Turns out his girlfriend told the cops his guns weren't loaded.

* In ''[[Soylent Green (Film)|Soylent Green]]'', member of the board of directors of the Soylent Corporation William R. Simonson hires someone to kill him after he learns [[It Was His Sled|the secret of Soylent Green]] and no longer wishes to live.

* The police in ''[[Phone Booth (Film)|Phone Booth]]'' suspect the main character of attempting this, and actively seek to defy it. Of course they're [[Wrong Genre Savvy]] as Stu doesn't want to commit suicide, he's being held hostage by a man with a sniper rifle aimed at the booth.

* In ''[[Fallen]]'', the hero John Hobbes (a cop) is forced to shoot someone who he ''thinks'' is attempting [[Suicide By Cop]]. However, it turns out the demon he's hunting possessed the victim, and then possesses the witnesses in order to frame Hobbes for murder.

* ''[[SOB|S.O.B.]]'', :Felix, the director kidnaps a security guard using a water pistol and forces a movie film he wants to take to be brought out of storage. Confronted by the police, he points the pistol at them, and he is shot and killed.

* Near the end of ''[[The Town (Film)|The Town]]'', James, the main character's right hand man and adopted brother, does this when he's wounded after a botched robbery rather than go back to jail.

* When he thinks Bella has died, Edward goes to Italy to die by sparkling at the Insane Ruling Triumvirate in ''[[Twilight (Literature)|Twilight]]'''s sequel, ''New Moon''.

* At the end of ''[[The Spy Who Came in From The Cold]]'' Lemas commits suicide by East German Border Guard when his girlfriend is shot by a treacherous East German.

* Referred to by name in ''[[NCIS (TV)|NCIS]]'', after Kate shoots a despairing man who was waving an (unloaded) handgun in a threatening manner.

* An episode of ''[[Millennium (TV)|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.

* ''[[Cold Case (TV)|Cold Case]]'' had an episode in which a compulsive gambler pays off his life insurance and asks his gambling "coach" to kill him as a last favor to him and to his family.

* Done on ''[[The X Files]]'' where a man with manipulative powers and life threatening (but treatable) brain tumour makes Fox play a game of [[Russian Roulette]] with him.

* Various episodes of ''[[Criminal Minds (TV)|Criminal Minds]]'' feature this trope, and several protagonists refer to it by name.

* Urza Jaddo challenged Londo Mollari to a [[Duel to The Death]] in one episode of ''[[Babylon 5]]'' to save his family from a charge of treason levied against him.

* Interesting example from ''[[Heroes (TV)|Heroes]]'' when Matt Parkman [[Batman Gambit|engineers]] [[Thanatos Gambit|his own]] {{spoiler|unsuccessful}} [[Psychic-Assisted Suicide|Psychic Assisted]] [[Suicide By Cop]] as a last-ditch effort by to stop Sylar who had gained control of his body. [[It Makes Sense in Context]].

* Given the subject matter, it was almost inevitable this would occur on ''[[Flashpoint (TV)|Flashpoint]]''. A couple attempt it "Last Dance", and it finally happens in "Behind The Blue Line".

* Subverted in at least one episode of ''[[Diagnosis Murder (TV)|Diagnosis Murder]]'': the bad guy has a degenerative disease not covered by insurance (pre-existing condition), and spends the entire episode goading Steve into killing him. It is implied that part of Steve's refusal to do so is because the villain went a bit too far. [[Good Is Not Always Nice]], perhaps?

* In ''[[Without a Trace (TV)|Without a Trace]]'', this happened in the {{spoiler|17th}} episode of the {{spoiler|2nd}} season; {{spoiler|an Iraqi war veteran accidentally kills a woman in a bank heist he pulled to get enough money to keep his house from being repossessed and his girlfriend from leaving him. In the end, after taking the girlfriend and an FBI agent hostage in his home, he agrees to come out. He unloads the gun he's holding (out of view of the SWAT officers that surrounded his house) and walks right out the front door, pointing the gun at the officers, who open fire. The final scene is [[Downer Ending|the FBI agent holding the hysterical, sobbing girlfriend back from running after him and into the line of fire, as the agent sheds a few tears himself]]}}.

*** He even has a couple of possibly-hallucinatory [[Talking to The Dead]] moments with Zach later on.

* Asgard in ''[[Wild Arms 3 (Video Game)|Wild Arms 3]]''. Unable to overcome his [[I Cannot Self-Terminate|self-preservation programming]], he provokes the heroes to one last battle so he can follow his dead masters to hell.

* Andrew Ryan in ''[[Bio Shock]]'' pulls a Suicide By Cop, by manipulating Jack into bludgeoning him to death with a trigger phrase.

* In ''[[Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New World]]'', Emil Castagnier {{spoiler|(that is, [[Tomato in The Mirror|Ratatosk]]),}} plans to fake possession by his [[Super-Powered Evil Side]] {{spoiler|and get the party to kill him so that he can become a Core to seal the Ginnungagap}}. It's half wanting to save the world and half guilt from learning that he killed Aster. [[Multiple Endings|It's up to the player to decide if he succeeds]].

* It's not explicitly stated, but it's fairly clear this is what Caster did in Heavens Feel route of ''[[Fate Stay Night]]''. Her Master and reason for living has just been killed and she's standing over his body, covered in blood and horrified when Saber and Shirou show up. When she finally notices them, she doesn't explain and, most tellingly, puts away her contract nullifying dagger and simply attacks. Normally she'd teleport out or something. But why bother?

* In, ''[[Devil Survivor (Video Game)|Devil Survivor]]'' one of the multiple ways, {{spoiler|Haru}} can die if the player doesn't intervene. If you do talk to {{spoiler|her}}, your party discovers that {{spoiler|she feels responsible for the [[The Tokyo Fireball|demons plaguing Tokyo]] although you convince her that this isn't true.}}

* ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' does this at the climax of {{spoiler|''[[Kingdom Hearts: 358 Days Over 2 (Video Game)|Days]]'': Xion goes [[One-Winged Angel]] on Roxas, forcing him to kill her so that the [[Tanks for The Memories|memories she's composed of]] will return to their rightful place.}}

* In ''[[Vampire Bloodlines]]'' a particularly cruel [[Power Born of Madness|Malkavian]] player can make an unfortunate [[Muggle]] do this to himself [[Killed to Uphold The Masquerade|to uphold the Masquerade]] by forcing him to go to the nearest police station and draw a gun.

* In ''[[Deus Ex Human Revolution (Video Game)|Deus Ex: Human Revolution]]'', Ezekiel Sandoval attempts this at a mall. As a veteran Marine, he couldn't bring himself to shoot any civilians. Before the police could show up, however, Humanity Front leader William Taggart talks him out of it.

* ''[[Tom and Jerry (Animation)|Tom and Jerry]]'' had a duckling repeatedly try to get Tom to eat him.

* There was some evidence in ''[[Beast Wars (Animation)|Beast Wars]]'' that Rampage's [[Complete Monster]] behavior and focus on Depth Charge was, in part, an attempt to commit Suicide By Depth Charge to atone for that horrific behavior and all the lives he took when activated.