View source for Why Won't You Die?

{{trope}}
[[File:oots 4450.jpg|link=The Order of the Stick|frame]]

{{quote|'''Creedy:''' Die! ''(bang)'' Die! ''(bang bang)'' WHY WON'T YOU DIE? ''(bang bang bang click click) [more quietly]'' [[Oh Crap|Why won't you die?]]
'''V:''' Beneath this mask is more than flesh; beneath this mask there is an ''idea'', Mister Creedy -- and [[Can't Stop the Signal|ideas.]] [[Punctuated! For! Emphasis!|Are.]] ''[[Badass Boast|Bulletproof]]''!
|''[[V for Vendetta]]''}}

An old and well-used [[Stock Phrases]], most frequently used by villains who have seen a [[Made of Iron]] hero calmly walk through [[Death Trap]]s, fought their way out of a [[Inescapable Ambush|carefully laid ambush]], [[Outrun the Fireball]] from an explosion, or pull a [[Scope Snipe]] on their [[Professional Killer|highly paid killers]]. And really, at that point, [[Villainous Breakdown|can you blame them?]]

Variations: "What does it take to kill you?", "How Many Times Must I Kill You?", and "Why won't you STAY dead?!!", which are generally reserved for when the hero comes [[Back from the Dead]], or returns after a [[No One Could Survive That]] and/or [[Never Found the Body]] scenario.

Although it's far more common for the villains to say it, it's not exclusive to them. If it's a good guy saying it, it will most commonly come from a [[Muggles]] type of hero or character about some supernatural or [[Implacable Man]] villain, or by someone who is closer to the [[Anti-Hero]] side of the [[Character Calculus|Morality Axis]] than to [[Ideal Hero]] and is getting frustrated with their enemy seeming to have [[Joker Immunity]]. Subtrope of [[Staying Alive]]. Contrast [[Dead to Begin With]].

See also [[Healing Factor]] and [[Pulling Themselves Together]] for reasons that these people/things will not stay dead. Also [[Prepare to Die]] and [[You Have No Chance to Survive]] for what this trope defies. For [[Video Game]] [[Boss Battle]] equivalents that can provoke this reaction in players, see [[Marathon Boss]], [[Sequential Boss]] and [[Damage Sponge Boss]].

'''NOTE:''' This trope is about when the phrase (or something similar) is said ''in the story''. For dead characters whose deaths never seem to "stick," see [[Death Is Cheap]].

{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* Polnareff says this to Vanilla Ice in ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]'' after stabbing him all the way in the mouth. Vanilla Ice tells him that he [[The Determinator|"doesn't have time for dying"]], but Polnareff later realizes that  {{spoiler|he had been made into a vampire by [[Big Bad|Dio]] and can't be killed by such means.}}
* Fans of ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' have certainly said this enough times while watching some of the fights, But two times of characters saying it comes to mind: when Frieza is fighting Vegeta, Krillin and Gohan, he begins to wonder if they're immortal because they keep coming back. (Then he notices [[Healing Hands|Dende healing them]]). Later he says a variant when Goku reveals he's [[Not Quite Dead]]. There are probably plenty more.
** Vegeta utters this line word-for-word while blasting at a regenerating Meta Cooler.
*** Even the [[Team Four Star|DBZ Abridged]] Vegeta isn't an exception during his fight on Earth.
{{quote|'''Vegeta''': ''[While punching a transforming Gohan]'' No, no! Stop it! Stop, damn you! '''WHY?! WHY WON'T YOU PEOPLE JUST ''DIIIE?!'''''}}
* ''[[One Piece]]'': Crocodile asked this question of Luffy after impaling him and dehydrating him, in that order.
* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'', when Asuka's trying to stab an angel that's been so strengthened by hatching in an active volcano, her knife can't pierce it: "Die, damn you!"
** There is also Asuka fighting the 14th angel. "Why won't you collapse damn you!?"
** A much, much nastier example can be found in [[End of Evangelion]]. This happens three times, maybe. The first is when the JSSDF decide to try and destroy Unit 02 with a battleship, a couple of artillery and tank battalions and a small army. Needless to say, they fail. Then Asuka fights the nine Mass Production Evas. She kills them all. And then they regenerate, despite being cut in half, missing the head, missing an arm etc. Asuka probably was thinking this, except for the fact she had been {{spoiler|[[Impaled with Extreme Prejudice|stabbed in the eye with a lance.]]}} Then, Unit 02 and Asuka are {{spoiler|still alive after having been eviscerated, eaten and stabbed}}. And she tries to [[Grasp the Sun|reach up and attack them]]. So they {{spoiler|split her arm and impale her again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And then they run out of spears, but by that time, Unit 02 and Asuka are both already dead}}.
*** And then, just to be sure, they take some of the remains and eat on-the-fly, and drop them as soon as EVA-01 shows up.
** In the original [[Gainax Ending]], Rei asks "Why am I still alive?"
** In the original version of EVA-01 versus Zeruel, Zeruel still has the stamina to moan, even as it is being eaten. Don't ask how, it just won't die.
*** In the Rebuild Version of this battle, Zeruel kept getting beaten up for about 20 minutes, before EVA-01 and Shinji initiate Third Impact and cause Zeruel to explode in a huge explosion of blood (not as much as Sahaquiel, though. It flooded Tokyo-3 completely by dying).
* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'': "How many times do I have to kill you before you die?"
** [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Though in this case it's treated more as an annoyance.]]
* ''[[Gantz]]'' manga: The Nurarihyon fight went on and on and on, suffering quite a few explosive "deaths," just to show up in yet ANOTHER form. It gets to the point where one of the team members bemoans how this fight just never ends.
* Koichiro Kase has this reaction towards the end of an episode of ''[[Weiss Kreuz]]'' after Ken returns unscathed from Kase's second attempt at killing him. Ken replies solemnly, "[[Like a Badass Out of Hell|I don't like hell.]]"
* Done in ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'', although the circumstances are a little different than normal. When Kurama faces off with {{spoiler|the elder Toguro}}, he tricks {{spoiler|Toguro}} into being caught by a cursed tree that inescapably binds its victims, then fills their heads with hallucinations while it drains the life energy out of them. Thus, although he is simply bound to the tree, {{spoiler|Toguro}} lives in an eternal hallucination of delivering fatal blow after fatal blow to Kurama, only for Kurama to shrug it off.
{{quote|Why won't he die? Why won't he die?!}}
* In ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]'', Sousuke has a variant of this towards Gauron, most notably in TSR where  {{spoiler|Sousuke pretty much cries out, "But you're supposed to be--" with Gauron finishing, "dead?"}}.
* This happens in ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]'' before the final battle. Complete with a freakin' [[Power Walk]].
{{quote|'''{{spoiler|Nakago}}:''' (to {{spoiler|Tamahome}}) Damn you... I thought you were dead.}}
* ''[[Hellsing]]'': At some point in the series, almost every recurring character receives this line or similar for their astounding survivability. One noteworthy instance of Alucard's insane durability has him flying a stealth plane at breakneck speed into a {{spoiler|vampire Nazi-controlled}} battleship, wading into a hail of bullets and grenades from its crew, then taking over a dozen gut shots from an enchanted bullet the size of his noggin.
* In ''[[Bleach]]'', Szayel Aporro says this to Mayuri during their fight. "Why?! I destroyed all of your organs and tendons! So why won't you die?!"
* Spoken [http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ljq68iDVKT1qfjvnio1_500.jpg word-for-word] in ''[[Nabari no Ou]]'' by Kannuki-sensei after {{spoiler|Kouichi}} was shot in the heart and came back to life.
* Anti-hero [[The Determinator|Guts]] and [[The Juggernaut|the monsters]] that he fights say this back and forth to each other in ''[[Berserk]]''.


== Comic Books ==
* Deathstroke [https://web.archive.org/web/20130119190839/http://imagenes.levelup.com/uploads/members/blogs/blogs_photo_1245782065.jpg asks this] of an [[Alternate Universe|alternate]] version of himself that [[Suspiciously Specific Denial|really doesn't at all look like]] [[Deadpool]].
* [[Doctor Doom]] is flabbergasted by Reed Richards' perseverance to the point of expressing this trope word-for-word in [[Large Ham|ALL CAPS ON MANY DIFFERENT OCCASIONS.]] Special props to ''[[Fantastic Four]] #200'', after Reed [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|escapes from a sealed incinerator by squeezing through the tiny pipeline leading from a jet blasting poisonous chlorine gas into his face.]]
* In an issue of Adam Warren's ''[[Dirty Pair]]'', Kei, fighting an artificially created "warbeast", starts unloading into its head at zero range with a gun capable of stopping a [[Power Suit]] with one shot.
{{quote|"*BANG* DIE! *BANG* DIE! *BANG* WILL YOU @&$(# DIE!?"}}
* In the ''Seed of Destruction'' storyline, [[Hellboy]] shoots [[Big Bad|Rasputin]] in the head...
{{quote|'''Hellboy''': Hey, fall down, man! }}
* [[Scud the Disposable Assassin]] shouts this or something similar at a [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|zombified Tyrannosaurus Rex]], after emptying a combat shotgun into its face. [[Removing the Head or Destroying the Brain|Destroying the brain]] is a lot harder when said brain is the size of a ''pea''.
* During the ''[[Acts of Vengeance]]'' crossover, Titania shouts at [[Spider-Man]], "Damn it, bug, how many times do I gotta smash you?? Why won't you die??" Ironically, however, even Spidey himself doesn't know what [[Captain Universe|the reason]] is for his enhanced powers and wishes he did.

== Fan Works ==
* In ''[[An Entry With a Bang]]'', one shipman has this reaction after a Dropship eats enough SM-2 missiles to supposedly take out a large chunk of the old Soviet air force and still isn't greatly damaged.
* In ''[[Latias' Journey]]'', this phrase is applied to most of the undead horrors that keep regenerating—some after multiple actual deaths, and one  {{spoiler|having been utterly vaporized}}.
* In ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho Abridged]]'', Kuwabara has apparently already killed Byakko twice when Byakko comes back again, albeit horribly wounded. Kuwabara asks how many times he has to kill Byakko, only for Yusuke to snarkily reply "Well, ''once'' would probably suffice."
* Vegeta in ''[[Dragonball Z Abridged]]'' does the same, hilariously, whilst trying to punch Gohan into oblivion as he turns into an Oozaru.
* [[Watchmen (comics)|Rorschach]] does this towards [[Deadpool]] in ''[[I'm a Marvel And I'm a DC]]''.
* Kikami, when she takes control of Sarah's body in the [[Soul Eater]] fanfiction [http://b.fanfiction.net/s/6419093/31/Witches_Man_Witches Witches Man, Witches]{{Dead link}} while swinging her scythe at the vampire Nikolai. "WHY...WON'T….YOU….DIIIIIEEEEE?"


== Films -- Animation ==
* Disney's ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]''. Jafar says this almost verbatim to Aladdin.
{{quote|"How many times must I kill you, boy?!"}}
* Slight variant in ''[[Transformers: The Movie]]'' (the animated one) where Megatron screams "Fall! FALL!" as he shoots Optimus Prime until he finally does fall down.
** Averted later by Galvatron, who laments, "It's a shame you Autobots die so easily."
* Said by Nekron in ''[[Fire and Ice (animation)|Fire and Ice]]'' in a rather [[narm]]y fashion.
* In ''[[Kung Fu Panda 2]]'', Shen asks "How many times do I have to kill the same stinking panda?" when he sees and realizes that Po has recovered from the blow delivered to him by his anti-Kung Fu cannon.
** Which is just the start of Shen's own [[Villainous Breakdown]].


== Films -- Live-Action ==
* One of the oldest examples in film can be found at the end of Alexander Dovzhenko's ''Arsenal'' (1928): [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OZG8w4iI_g "Fall, damn you, FALL! Are you wearing armor or something?"] (go to about 1.20, is where it starts)
* Ivan Drago has one in ''[[Rocky IV]]''. "He is not a man. He is a piece of iron."
* Frequently said by foes of ''[[Die Hard]]'''s John McClane.
* In the movie ''[[Me Myself and Irene]]'', in one scene a cow refuses to die after having a gun fired until it's empty on it, and was wrestled to death, and beaten with the gun, and left there to die. It apparently was injured, though.
* ''[[Austin Powers]]'' says this in his second movie to Robin Swallows, who inexplicably survives being [[Rasputinian Death|shot, stabbed, falling from a building, being blown up]], and quite a few other things. Of course, what happens to Robin is a direct parody of Fiona Volpe from ''[[Thunderball]]'', who died when 007 used her as an impromptu shield.  
** Mustafa is another of Dr. Evil's henchmen who is very hard to kill, surviving being shot at least three times, falling from a gra height twice, and being dumped into his boss' fire pit. In both his and Robin's cases, both seem to have been killed offscreen. 
* In ''[[Freddy vs. Jason]]'', a frustrated [[A Nightmare on Elm Street|Freddy Krueger]] asks [[Friday the 13th (film)|Jason]] "Why won't you DIE?!" [[Joker Immunity|Irony that thick could only have been intentional.]]
* ''[[Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow]]'' (2004). Sky Captain says "Why won't you die?" {{spoiler|to the [[Robot Girl]] just before he finishes her off for good}}.
* The ''[[V for Vendetta]]'' movie has a terrified Creedy asking V "Why won't you die! Why won't you die!" after V massacres his men despite having been shot dozens of times.
{{quote|'''V:''' [[Moment of Awesome|Because beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy,]] and [[Can't Stop the Signal|ideas.]] [[Punctuated! For! Emphasis!|Are. Bulletproof.]]}}
* Used in the movie version of ''[[The Crow]]'' where Funboy shoots the hero several times, only to watch in horror as the hero's [[Healing Factor]] kicks in and closes the wounds right before his eyes, leading him to cry "[[Funny Aneurysm Moment|Don't you ever fuckin' die?]]"
* ''[[James Bond]]''
** Done in the film ''[[GoldenEye (film)|GoldenEye]]'', complete with [[Bond One-Liner]] response:
{{quote|'''Janus:''' Why can't you just be a good boy and die?
'''Bond:''' You first. ''(gestures to Xenia)'' You, second. }}
** Also done in more [[Wicked Cultured|erudite fashion]] by ''[[Moonraker]]'''s Hugo Drax, with a side of How Many Times Must I Kill You:
{{quote|'''Hugo Drax:''' Mr. Bond, you persist in defying my efforts to provide an amusing death for you.}}
* Two-Face and The Riddler say this to [[Batman]] in ''[[Batman Forever]]''. Ironically, the attack the former unleashes on Batman immediately after saying this comes perhaps the closest either of them comes to actually killing him.
{{quote|'''Two-Face:''' Why can't you just DIE?!}}
** And then:
{{quote|'''The Riddler:''' Why? Why can't I kill you?}}
* In the original live-action ''[[Transformers (film)|Transformers]]'' movie, while trying to take down a particularly well-armoured Decepticon with a tank for a vehicle mode, one whose name is either "Brawl" or "Devastator" depending on who you ask, Captain William Lennox watches the robot shrug off a severed limb, several disabled weapons systems, and constant fire from Lennox and his marines, and says in disbelief, "These things just ''don't die!''"
* In ''[[X-Men 1]]'' movie, a frustrated Toad shouts "Don't you people ever die?" Which is more of a shout-out to the fact that the answer to that question, considering the comics that originate them, is a resounding "[[Death Is Cheap|NO]]."
* One of the many things that gangster Bullet Tooth Tony from ''[[Snatch]]'' is infamous for is surviving being shot 6 times by an enemy. A [[Flash Back]] to that event shows the guy shooting Tony screaming "Why won't you fucking die?!!" just before he runs out of bullets.
** Tony himself has this moment later with Boris "The Bullet Dodger", who takes an entire <s>clip</s> magazine from Tony's Desert Eagle before he finally dies.
* Averted in ''[[The Princess Bride (film)|The Princess Bride]]'' where rather than raging at Westley's [[Only Mostly Dead|unexpected return from the dead]], Humperdinck calmly says "I killed you too quickly last time, a mistake I won't duplicate tonight".
* Mrs. Lovett of ''[[Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (film)|Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street]]'' shouts this {{spoiler|at Judge Turpin, still partially alive and clinging to her dress after Sweeney Todd did him in}}.
* In the 2000 movie ''[[Gladiator (film)|Gladiator]]'', Emperor Commodus says a variant of this to Maximus, after the latter has just won a match that was blatantly rigged against him.
{{quote|'''Commodus:''' What am I going to do with you? You simply won't... die.}}
* In ''[[The 6th Day]]'', [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]]'s character gets annoyed that the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]] keeps [[Cloning Blues]] themselves.
* In ''[[Big Trouble in Little China]]'', the villainous, and now exasperated, Lo Pan expresses a similar sentiment to his underling when he finds that Jack Burton has cheated death yet again...
{{quote|'''Lo Pan:''' Is it too much to ask, Thunder?!? ''Kill'' him! For me!}}
* In ''[[The Sea Hawk]]'' (1940), the evil Lord Wolfingham (Henry Daniell) greets the hero, Geoffrey Thorpe ([[Errol Flynn]]) who has escaped from numerous perils, with the words, "Have you nine lives, Captain Thorpe? Surely most of them must be used up by now." Cue [[Flynning]].
* Parodied in ''[[Monty Python and the Holy Grail]]'', where King Arthur maims the Black Knight, who continues to try fighting even after losing his arm... and his other arm... and his legs. He decides to call it a draw at this point, until Arthur starts to leave, and which points the Black Knight declares he'll bite his legs off.
* In ''[[Heroic Trio]]'', the main characters have a brief discussion about this concerning [[The Dragon]] who doesn't even seem to feel pain. After that, the fight the [[Big Bad]] who goes through about three fake-out deaths before finally going down.
* At the end of ''[[White Heat]]'', a police marksman repeatedly nails [[Villain Protagonist|Cody Jarrett]] with a sniper rifle, eventually muttering between reloads, "What's keeping him ''up''?!"
* In ''[[The Producers]]'' Franz says "This is not good. You, eh. I am not killing you.  Don't you understand, you must die.  Will you cooperate!?" The fact he hadn't successfully killed them before this has more to do with his bad aim as the protagonist's ability to try to not be easy targets.

== Literature ==
* In ''[[Animorphs]]'', Visser Four yells "Why don't you die?!" after the characters survive yet another should-have-been-fatal blow (see, their trip through time to follow him was part of a [[Deal with the Devil]] - an evil [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien]] said [[Someone Has to Die|one dying was the price]]. The alien's rival and sometime ally of our heroes added the stipulation that ''only'' one could die on that trip, so the team discovers that they're suddenly [[Nigh Invulnerable]], regenerating even fatal wounds instantly.)
* [[Ciaphas Cain]] says two variants in a single fight in the novel ''For the Emperor''.
* In ''[[Neverwhere]]'', {{spoiler|the Marquis can return from the dead}}. Thus:
{{quote|'''Mr. Croup:''' I already killed you once today. What does it take to teach some people?}}
* George Orwell's essay ''Shooting an Elephant''. By the end of the essay the reader is wishing the poor damn thing would die, too.
* From ''[[Mistborn]]'', another of the "How many times must I kill you?" variety:
{{quote|'''[[Big Bad|Lord Ruler]]:''' I killed you, once.
'''Kelsier:''' You tried. But you can't kill me, Lord Tyrant. I represent the thing you've ''never'' been able to kill, no matter how hard you try. I am Hope. }}
** Kelsier seemingly {{spoiler|goes down in a [[One-Hit Kill]]}} immediately after making this statement; and, well, that's where it gets ''complicated''...
* In [[Dead Reckoning]] of the [[The Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries]] Sandra pelt has a moment of this where she screams psychotically at the titular character over this as she has by this point taken countless attempts at Sookies life with the heroin surviving all of them mostly unscathed.
* [[Redwall]] book "Mossflower" Martin beats the Big Bad with some help from a  {{spoiler|Badger Warrior Spirit}} by simply standing up and fighting after... five fatal wounds? (Someone get a count please)


== Live-Action TV ==
* Super powers and super power-related phlebotenum allowed several characters from ''[[Heroes]]'' to cheat death. Claire (and Adam Monroe, later Sylar and Arthur Petrelli, and sometimes Peter) ''can't'' die; Claire's father Noah can survive being [[Moe Greene Special|Moe Greened]] by Suresh thanks to Claire's blood; Peter bounces back from a shotgun blast thanks to a boy's power of healing; characters have also died in timelines that were subsequently kyboshed.
* A slight variation: the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "Dalek" has the Doctor yelling, "Why don't you just ''die''!" to the title monster in a death machine. Counts, though, because he went to a lot of effort to wipe out their race at the cost of his own, and isn't happy this one slipped through the cracks.
** "[[Chewing the Scenery|I CANNOT DIE!!!]] '''''[[Punctuated! For! Emphasis!|I!!! AM!!! DAVROS!!!]]'''''"
** Averted by the Master after shooting the unkillable Jack with his laser screwdriver: "And the best part is, he's not dead for long! I GET TO KILL HIM AGAIN!"
* Speaking of Jack, on ''[[Torchwood]]'', his enemies (particuarly John Hart when they're first reunited) are "a little bit annoyed that they can't permanently get rid of him.
* ''[[Psych]]'' episode "American Duos" Zapato Dulce: "You ruined everything! Why won't you die?"
* The main characters of ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' do this in speaking about archenemy Apophis.
{{quote|'''Teal'c:''' Apophis must have transported off of Sokar's ship before it exploded.
'''Col. O'Neill:''' Somebody's got to teach that guy how to die. }}
** Also implied about Dr. Daniel Jackson more than once... But then he DID come back from deadly situations more than once.
* ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]:'' The evil [[Mirror Universe]] version of Dr. Phlox said "Would you kindly die?" to an alien prisoner who was proving frustratingly hard to kill with the (not so) good doctor's pressure chamber.
* Used ironically on ''[[The Colbert Report]]'', during a period where Colbert was taking any excuse, however flimsy, to repeatedly show a clip of controversial pastor Jeremiah Wright:
{{quote|'''Colbert:''' ''(grinning)'' Why won't that story die?}}
* Parodied in an episode of ''[[Bottom]]'': On getting a whiff of the lethal alcoholic mixture Eddie carries around in his hip flask, Richie inquires 'How are you alive?'. Eddie grins, taps the side of his nose, and cheerfully replies 'I may very well not be.'
* In the 8th season of ''[[Scrubs]]'', there is briefly a new Chief of Medicine, Dr Taylor Maddox. Despite her very friendly and personable attitude toward her co-workers, she has a very cold-blooded and by the book approach to taking care of patients, which leads [[Cloudcuckoolander]] J.D. to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaFozStRFBU imagine her trying to smother a patient with a pillow while shouting "Why won't you die?!!"] because the patient's insurance coverage has run out.
* In the first season finale of ''[[Leverage]]'', there is a mundane example. An opponent growls at a badly-beaten Eliot Spencer: "Why won't you go down?" Eliot [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|laughs.]]
* Variation in ''[[Angel]]'', where Angel is fighting a demon and decapitates it. The demon's body stirs.
{{quote|'''Angel:''' Come ''on!'' I'm holding your ''head!''}}
** {{spoiler|The demon needed to be killed a certain number of times before it died.}}
** There's a more typical one on the [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]] end, with Buffy going "WHY...WON'T...YOU...DIE?" as she's pounding.
* Tina Greer asks this in the ''[[Smallville]]'' episode "Visage", as her [[Super Strength]] is not nearly enough to defeat Clark Kent.
* Brad Willis from ''[[Neighbours]]'': He was shot by Bob Landers, attacked by a shark, saved Beth and Hannah from a burning cottage... and none of it killed him.
** Not to mention the various attempts on Paul Robinson's life. He has been pushed off a cliff (twice), sent poisoned letters, almost strangled to death, shot in the chest by [[Evil Twin|his own son]], kidnapped and mind-tortured, suffered from a life-threatening brain tumor, and pushed off the mezzanine of a building. Even ''he'' has expressed surprise over not being dead yet.
* The [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] gives us [[Eldritch Abomination|Abeloth]], who even when her body is burned, survives.
* ''[[Top Gear]]'' once tried to destroy a Toyota Hilux by having it suffering a series of increasingly terrible accidents. Driving down stairs, driving into a tree, leaving it at the beach at low-tide, driving through a hut, dropping a caravan on it, and bashing it with a wrecking ball didn't kill it. So they set it on fire. That's didn't work either. So they tried again in a later episode and cranked it [[Up to Eleven]].
** {{spoiler|It didn't work either.}}
* Scorpius in [[Farscape]] is really bad at staying dead through a combination of [[Made of Iron]], really excellent planning, and some impressive body armor.
{{quote|'''Crichton''': Damn, what's it take to kill you? Explosions? Silver bullets? ...[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer|Buffy?]]}}


== Music ==
* Morriseys song "Margaret on the Guillotine"; asks this question in regards to [[Margaret Thatcher]].
* the [[Eminem]] song ''Go to Sleep'' features a variation. Namely, "why are you still alive!?"


== Professional Wrestling ==
* During [[Triple H]] and The Undertaker's match at Wrestlemania 27, everything Hunter hit Taker with wouldn't keep him down. Pedigree? Nope, ''Three'' Pedigree's? Not even close, Steel chairshot to the head ''and The Undertaker's very own Tombstone Piledriver?'' gets a two and a half count...Triple H fucking ''loses it''
{{quote|'''Triple H: Stay Down! JUST DIE!'''}}


== Tabletop Games ==
* The reaction of many a [[Killer DM]] upon facing down a player Barbarian in ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]''. Dropped to 0 HP? Activates a death-ignoring ability, keeps fighting, is healed to above 0, ending the power effect. Dropped to 0 HP again? Activates the second ability, keeps fighting, is healed to above 0, ending the power effect. Dropped to 0 HP ''again''? Activates ''another'' ability, keeps fighting. Built in such a way, a Barbarian can and, frequently, will keep fighting until he [[Died Standing Up|dies on his feet]] or kills the entire enemy group.
* In ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'', New Phyrexia will continue whenever a drop of Phyrexian oil remains. Also, Squee, Goblin Nabob returns to your hand when he would otherwise go to the graveyard. There's also Platinum Angel, which makes it so you can't lose.
* What many ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' player say when facing a Necron army. Their rule "[[Terminator|We'll be back]]!" effectively gives almost every unit killed a 50/50 chance of getting back up(doesn't affect all unit types, and if said unit was killed by certain weapons, this rule doesn't apply) Furthermore, the Necron player can give his units an even greater chance to get back up.


== Video Games ==
* ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]: Portable Ops''. Null: "Why won't you die, Snake?"
* {{spoiler|Master Li}} says something along these lines when you succeed on breaking free of the cage he wove for you from your own doubts at the end of ''[[Jade Empire]]''.
* Vladimir Zakarov says this to Tequila at one point during the Penthouse stage in the John Woo game ''[[Stranglehold]]''.
{{quote|'''Vlad:''' Dammit! What do I have to do to make you ''die?!''}}
* [[Little Miss Badass|Mission Vao]] in ''[[Knights of the Old Republic (video game)|Knights of the Old Republic]]'' has an exasperated "Just Die Already!" as a [[Battle Cry]]. Other than that, this trope is conspicuously absent, while people will constantly comment on characters surviving situations where [[No One Could Survive That]], they rarely seem to be angry or frustrated about this. They seem pretty willing to chalk it up to the Force... and {{spoiler|who you were in a past life}}.
* In ''[[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion]]'', hostile [[NPC]]s will sometimes shout "[[Punctuated! For! Emphasis!|Why! Won't! You! Die!?]]" as a battle drags on.
** Interestingly, in one of the expansion packs, the enemies won't die, prompting one soldier to loudly scream "Why! Won't! You! Stay! DEAD?!"
* ''[[Max Payne (series)|Max Payne]]''
** Nicole Horne issues this message to her men:
{{quote|'''Horne:''' What do you mean, "he's unstoppable?" You are superior to him in every way that counts. You are better trained, better equipped. You outnumber him at least twenty to one. Do... your... job!}}
** A similar message is issued to a group of [[Mooks]] earlier on in the game, with the inclusion of the phrase "He's just one lousy cop!"
{{quote|'''Goon:''' Boss... Gognitti... it's Max Payne... he came and... started cappin' us... He killed... ugh...
'''Gognitti:''' Are you ''freakin' kidding me?'' He's just one lousy cop! You'd ''better'' be freakin' kiddin' me! '''Whack him!''' ''What's the freakin' problem?!'' Hello? Answer me! '''Hello?!''' }}
** {{spoiler|Vlad}} gives a much more explicit version of this near the end of ''Max Payne 2''.
{{quote|'''{{spoiler|Vlad}}:''' What the ''fuck'' is ''wrong'' with you Max? Why don't you ''just '''die?''' ''You hate life, you're miserable ''all the time'', afraid to enjoy yourself even a little. Face it, you might as well be dead already. Do yourself a favor, give up!}}
* At a certain point in ''[[Half-Life 2]]'', a frustrated Dr. Breen has this to say to the soldiers that Gordon Freeman's been killing for a while now:
{{quote|'''Dr. Breen:''' How could one man have slipped through your force's fingers time and time again? How is it possible? This is not some agent provocateur or highly trained assassin we are discussing. Gordon Freeman is a theoretical physicist who had hardly earned the distinction of his Ph.D. at the time of the Black Mesa Incident. I have good reason to believe that in the intervening years, he was in a state that precluded further development of covert skills. The man you have consistently failed to slow, let alone capture, is by all standards simply that -- an ordinary man. How can you have failed to apprehend him?}}
* The trailer for [[LucasArts]]' canceled sequel to ''[[The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police|Sam and Max Hit the Road]]'' has Max yelling "Why! Won't! You! Just! Die!" at a foiled carjacker while jumping up and down on his stomach. Later given a [[Mythology Gag]] in the [[Telltale Games]] series, made by the same people who were on the Lucas project.
* In ''[[Tales of Monkey Island]]'',  {{spoiler|1=while LeChuck [[Immortal Life Is Cheap|continuously]] [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown|beats up Guybrush]] near the end of Chapter 5, the villain at one time says, "How I can't WAIT for you to give up and just... GO AWAY!"}}
* ''[[Final Fantasy V]]''
** This exchange:
{{quote|'''Necrophobe:''' Enough of this. Die!
'''{{spoiler|[[Braggart Boss|Gilgamesh]]}}:''' ''(snort)'' I believe [[Hey, That's My Line!|that's MY line]]!!! }}
** When Galuf battles Exdeath alone to save his friends, gets hit with ''everything'' the villain has got, gets his Hit Points down to zero, yet the fight doesn't end; Exdeath even asks Galuf why he won't die, and Galuf retorts, [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|"Because they are]] [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|my Friends!!"]]. Sadly  {{spoiler|he dies after the battle}}.
* In ''[[BioShock (series)]]'', Andrew Ryan delivers a more [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness|Sesquipedalian]] version: "Why are you so resistant to the traditional methods of separating a man from his soul?"
* ''[[Iji]]''
** Both the Tasen and Komato ask this about Iji, whether you play a [[Pacifist Run]] or [[Kill'Em All]].
{{quote|'''Various logbooks:''' She's just ONE HUMAN!}}
** A variant of this is also used directly if you use a checkpoint before dying in a certain boss battle.
{{quote|'''Asha:''' No! You can't still be alive! I KILLED YOU! Oh well... I should be grateful. This means I get to ''KILL YOU TWICE!''}}
** In fact, it's possible to use ''both'' checkpoints in the level and still make it back to Asha. The player has to know the game inside and out and go well out of his way to pull it off, and [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything|Asha is absolutely infuriated at the implausibility of it all]].
{{quote|'''Asha:''' How many times do I have to kill you!? [[No Kill Like Overkill|I'LL TEAR YOU TO PIECES AND FIRE EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM INTO A BLACK HOLE! TEN TIMES OVER!!!]]}}
** And whenever you're fighting Asha, he will occasionally scream out in frustration
{{quote|'''Asha:''' Just '''DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!'''}}
** Iji herself will sometimes shout this at her enemies if you're playing as a [[One-Man Army|One Woman Army]].
* [[The Dragon|Wild Dog]] from ''[[Time Crisis]]''. He will ''ALWAYS'' return for the next game, [[The Determinator|no matter how much damage he takes]] or [[No One Could Survive That|how unlikely his survival is]]. In ''3'', the heroes [[Lampshade Hanging|actually ask him,]] right before he "self-destructs", "Don't you ''ever'' die?"
* In the official comics for ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'', Blutarch Mann, CEO of Builders League United (BLU) has this to say about his twin brother, Redmond:
{{quote|'''Blutarch:''' ''I have mounted an '''epic campaign of leisure''' against the ravages of time. Waiting for nature to do to my brother what my men could '''not'''. And yet here we are at the end. And he...won't...'''DIE.'''''}}
* Lampshaded in ''''[[First Encounter Assault Recon]]: Project Origin'' by Colonel Vanek, who demands to know why his five hundred-strong army of special forces commandos haven't been able to kill Becket.
* Eldar Guardians in ''[[Dawn of War]]'' say this when locked in close combat, and inflect the words with a typically Eldar amount of venemous contempt.
* In ''[[Portal 2]]'', at the end of the game, when {{spoiler|Wheatley}} finds out that Chell is still alive after [[Xanatos Gambit|part five]] of the four-part plan:
{{quote|'''{{spoiler|Wheatley}}''': What, are you still alive? You are joking. [[You Have Got to Be Kidding Me!]]!}}
* [[Evil Sorcerer|Lord Nergal]] says this word-for-word in ''[[Fire Emblem]]: Blazing Sword'' after {{spoiler|Eliwood's father pulls a [[Taking You with Me]] and fatally stabs him before dying.}}
* In ''[[BlazBlue]]'', one of Ragna's battle cries is "Die! Die already!" In Jin's Story Mode in ''Calamity Trigger'', he says this in one path after  {{spoiler|Nu refuses to stay down.}}
** Hazama also does this a lot.
* ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' hangs a lampshade on this after [[Player Character|Commander]] [[Badass|Shepard]] is brought back to life.
{{quote|'''Garrus:''' ''Honestly? The Collectors managed to kill you once, and all that did is piss you off. I can't imagine they'll stop you this time.''}}
** [[Eldritch Abomination|The Reapers]] are definitely getting tired of Shepard.
{{quote|'''Harbinger''': [[Worthy Opponent|Shepard, you have become an annoyance.]]}}
** At one point the mercenary boss during Grunt's recruitment mission screams "There are three of them! '''Three''! Anything can be killed if you'd just do your damn jobs!" as [[Curb Stomp Battle|Shepard's squad smashes through her army.]]
* Nathan Drake says this to [[Big Bad]] Lazarevic in the final battle of ''[[Uncharted]] 2''. Something along the lines of "My god... why won't you die?!". Lazarevic may sometimes say it to Nate as well.
* In ''[[Saints Row]] 2'', after defeating Mr. Sunshine, the Sons of Samedi's resident voodoo practitioner, he keeps getting up after being shot repeatedly. Quite annoyed by all this, the protagonist shoots him a few more times shouting "For fuck's sake, die already!"
* Minor example in ''[[Persona 4]]'' is when Kanji attacks a shadow, but fails to finish it, he sometimes shouts, "Lay down and die already!"
* In ''[[Tower of Heaven]]'', the deity winds up shouting, "How dare you... How dare you continue to live?"
* Reversed in ''[[Emperor: Battle for Dune|Emperor: Battle For Dune]]''. During the intro, the ruling body of House Ordos encourages you by showing the former supreme commander's... head. Connected to a machine so that [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n60N8EJ6rIw/ it stays completely conscious and contemplates its failure for all eternity]. It only has one line: "Let me die."
** If you lose twice during the campaign, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnXOiWHub3c/ your head gets hooked up to the same machine], and you face that commander once again. "Why won't they just let us die?"
** Fear is an efficient tool of management. Failure is not an option.
* ''[[Fable III]]'' has a humorous version during an undead assault of a base, where wisps are possessing dead bodies, including those of recently-deceased soldiers:
{{quote|'''Swift:''' ''LIEUTENANT SIMMONS!'' I specifically ''instructed'' you to ''stay buried!''
'''Finn:''' Oh why do nobody follow orders anymore? }}
* In ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]: All 4 One'', Commander Spog will at one point, while pursuing you, say "How are you STILL ALIVE?!"
* In [[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]], Eva-Beatrice says this so often that it's practically her [[Catch Phrase]].
* ''[[World of Warcraft]]''; the ''player'' says this in the Dragon Soul raid, after it becomes clear that, for the second time in the instance, Deathwing has survived something that could have killed ''ten'' dragons, something he has done repeatedly throughout the whole ''Cataclysm'' expansion. Fortunately, in the ensuing [[Final Battle]], he is finally [[Killed Off for Real]].
** Hopefully! He has yet to reappear in the four expansions after ''Cataclysm'', but [[Joker Immunity| with this guy, nothing is certain.]]
* In ''Path of Exile'', [[Master Swordsman|Daresso]]'s [[Boss Banter]] is replaced with "Just bloody die!" when he gets close to defeat.

== Web Comics ==
* ''[[Bob and George]]'' has at least two variants [http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/index.php?date=010531 here] and [http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/index.php?date=070701 here].
* When suffering deeply from [[Cerebus Syndrome]], ''[[Exploitation Now]]'' has this line being said to the villain: "Please die this time, OK?"
* ''[[The Order of the Stick]]''
** [[Big Bad]] Xykon combines the two phrasings, albeit for non-main characters in [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0459.html this strip] (source for the page pic).
** In [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0061.html this strip], Nale tells Elan, "I'm reasonably certain [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0056.html I've already killed you once today]. I'd hate for things to get repetitive."
* In ''[[Goblins]]'', when Goblinslayer's [[The Dragon|Dragon]] tries to kill Big Ears with an axe that Ears is immune to, he winds up asking "How many times do I have to kill you before you'll die!?" after seeing Ears survive several killing blows unharmed.
* Of course, this is one of the complaints [[Problem Sleuth]] [[Blatant Lies|politely draws attention to]] with his special [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001733 POISON PEN LETTER] attack.
{{quote|"what's with all these heads and where do you get off being so impossible anyways. [[Lampshade Hanging|we spent more than half the game fighting you.]]"}}
* In [[Dubious Company]], though never said directly, [[Blood Knight|Tiren]] definitely thinks this of [[The Ditz|Mary]] after the latter [[Humble Pie|embarrassingly]] [[Curb Stomp Battle|curb-stomps]] the former. In turn, Mary thinks this of [[Sky Pirate|Walter]] after he [[Talk to the Fist|interrupts]] her [[In the Name of the Moon]] speech. Naturally, both jump at the chance to attack their subject of loathing and have yet to succeed after numerous attempts.


== Web Original ==
* While not a video game per se, ''[[Zero Punctuation]]'' has used a panel of an imp desperately calling this out against the hero a few times now...
* In his Halloween special, one of the toys says this to [[The Nostalgia Critic]] when they're punishing him for giving [[Teddy Ruxpin]] a bad review.
* ''[[SCP Foundation]]'': SCP-682, the Hard-to-Destroy Reptile. The name is actually a misnomer, as it implies that it ''can'' be killed. The only thing they haven't tried yet is a 300 megaton nuke, and that's because the thought of a giant regenerating adapts-to-whatever-you're-using-on-it lizard that can resist nukes is too horrible to bear.
* ''[[Chapel]]'': Yvonne says this to Chapel in the first-season episode "Inked." Also counts as [[Punctuated! For! Emphasis!]].
{{quote|'''Yvonne:''' WHY...WON'T...YOU...DIE?!?
'''Chapel:''' Offhand, I'd say it's because YOU SUCK AT KILLING ME!!! }}


== Western Animation ==
* Dr. Orpheus from ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'' fights a vampire at one point, but is unacquainted with the proper vampire killing technique. He gets increasingly frustrated when the vampire he keeps blasting just gets back up. "Oh, for heaven's...Why won't he just die?"
* Megatron must have been asking himself this in ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' after he kills Starscream, who comes back from the dead for revenge... and gets killed by Megatron again... and again and again (he was immortal at the time).
* ''[[Samurai Jack]]''. "Samurai, samurai... why won't '''[[Large Ham|YOU DIIIIIE!?]]'''"
* In the first season finale of ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures]]'', Shendu responds to Jackie interrupting his endgame plan with "How many lives do you possess?!"  {{spoiler|This is after he blew Jackie out the window of a skyscraper from the tallest floor with dragon fire.}}
* In the Valentine's Day episode of ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', the skywriter with whom Homer has been struggling finally succumbs to the urge to vent:
{{quote|"Doggone it, why won't you DIE?!"}}
** In the episode Homer Scissorhands, driven mad by all the constant chatter by the women he styles, drives him to commit barbercide. Where he causally walks over and drinks a glass of blue cleaning liquid for his tools, only for nothing to happen.
{{quote|"Awww why doesn't anything kill me?"}}
** In the Halloween episode where Homer kills Death, the Springfield mafia pick a bad time to deal with [[The Stool Pigeon|Frankie the Squealer]].
{{quote|"Frankie the Squealer, why won't you DIE?"
"If I knew, I'd tell you, I swear!" (they keep shooting) "Better call my wife, tell her I'll be late." (takes out mobile while still being shot).  }}
* ''[[Gargoyles]]''
** In the four-part episode "City of Stone", a man in a mask who [[Anti-Villain|Demona]] identifies as "[[The Hunter]]" shows up to stop her. She says somewhat incredulously, "How many times must I destroy you?!" Subverted twofold: Demona ''has'' killed previous Hunters before, but [[Legacy Character|their descendants always take up the mantle]]; and in this case the man in the mask was actually [[Death Seeker|Macbeth]], the one person she wants very much ''never'' to kill (since she would magically die along with him).
** Before this, Demona gets such a line in "The Mirror". Towards the beginning of the episode, she orders Puck to rid her of "the human Elisa Maza." Puck [[Literal Genie|playfully misconstrues this]] and, rather than use deadly force, turns Elisa into a gargoyle. When Gargoyle-Elisa shows up to [[Took a Level in Badass|kick ass and take names]], Demona does a [[Double Take]] before raging, "What does it take to DESTROY you?!" Which is [[Hilarious in Hindsight|somewhat hilarious]] as she should have realized Elisa was still alive after she made Puck "do the same to every human in the city."
* [[The Joker]] says this to Batman in ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'' in the episode "Joker's Wild".
* In ''[[Futurama]]'' episode "ReBirth", after Bender survives being eaten by the Cyclops Eater and exploding from the doom's day bomb that was powering him up, he walks out asking "What does it take to kill me?".
* In ''[[The Problem Solverz]]'' episode "Videogamez", Horace says this exact line when attacking the final boss in ''Tomb of Nefertiti'', who seems invincible.
* The Ice King of ''[[Adventure Time]]'' says this while using a magnifying glass to fry an ant... an ant that's ''bigger than he is.''
* Inverted in the ''[[South Park]]'' episode "Coon vs. Coon & Friends", where Kenny {{spoiler|as his superhero alter-ego Mysterion}} asks {{spoiler|Cthulu}} "Why. Can't. I. ''[[Punctuated! For! Emphasis!|Die?!]]''" in reference to all his [[Negative Continuity]] [[They Killed Kenny|deaths]].

{{reflist}}
[[Category:Death Tropes]]
[[Category:Character Reaction Index]]
[[Category:This Index Is Unstoppable]]
[[Category:Stock Phrases]]
[[Category:Surprise Tropes]]
[[Category:Anger Tropes]]
[[Category:Why Won't You Die?]]
[[Category:This Index Asked You a Question]]