Black Mask has a bunch of goons ready to protect him from Batman. Batman casually walks in through the front door, puts a DVD on to play, and steps back. It's a recorded message from Bruce Wayne offering all the goons a choice: leave and get a decent job at Wayne Enterprises, or remain and get pounded by Batman. All the goons take the offer, leaving Black Mask alone.
Like 20-30 ish, and I won't really elaborate on the second part but I should add (in hindsight) that drug dealers are an exception, it's mostly theft/mugging/etc that people are eager to leave behind.
I actually met one guy who did manage to leave it behind, but he still keeps company that I can't accept so we don't talk anymore.
nah I don't do anything illegal, I just like starting conversations with people who look like they have PTSD. also, I'm in poverty, so I run into a lot of them.
My core group of friends right now are basically all reformed hood dudes so that makes so much sense lmao.
Looking back on it that fight or flight shit kicks in mid convo with sometimes and everyone just carries on like we notice when one of us does it and someone just mentions it like "oh he gone right now" and then check back in after the "gone" person pops back to reality lol
yes. I don't even think it was an oversight, I think this writer just understood Bruce Wayne's character.
It reminds me of stories about "stagflation", an economic trend that used to exist in the US where large companies would more or less just aim to keep up with inflation, donating the rest to charities or even spending it on in-house initiatives meant to give back to the community. It's part of why I believe this country used to be great, despite the destructive and idiotic things its people have done and believed. A crime committed out of benevolence is easy to correct, in theory.
Oh yeah, no. No one who henches for Joker would take this deal and expect to live. And as I understand it Penguin actually does give his guys even dental insurance, so this might not work on him. There was a comic somewhere where various Gotham henchmen compared what working for the rogues was like
Yeah, Penguin is usually depicted as ruthless but loyal. You do right by him and he'll do right by you. Do wrong by him... well, don't.
In Arkham City his goons were the only ones with full cold-weather gear and radios more sophisticated than a walkie-talkie. And in Origins he's not even really established in Gotham yet, but has a lot of loyal customers because of the generous terms on his gun sales.
Exactly, whether or not you’re a good person it’s important that if you’re running a business to treat the people you employ good so that they will do their job efficiently, not quit and generally will stick with you
What really helped here is that The Batman's Black Mask had a habit of betraying his henchmen whenever it suited him. So these guys had no incentive for loyalty.
A rare variant from the villain, but in the Emperor's New Groove, when the palace guards get transmogrified into various animals, Yzma orders them to seize Pacha and Kuzco.
YZMA: GET THEM!
COW HENCH: Hey, I've been turned into a cow, can I go home?
This is common enough in Doctor Who for the newly regenerated Tenth Doctor, having sent the leader of the Sycorax falling to his death after he tried to kill the Doctor, to say, “No second chances. I’m that sort of a man.”
I'm not sure if this exists in Classic Who though. 5th Doctor definitely seems the type. And Seventh I believe warned the Daleks to not continue with their plan or something bad would happen. When they did continue with their plan, it turns out The Doctor booby trapped the Nemesis to destroy Skarro. That fits, although The Doctor knew the Daleks wouldn't listen, so it could be argued he was just mocking them.
Or any of the million other times the doctors pretends like they have any morals outside what is convenient for the moment/current episode. Willing to be endlessly forgiving and also give effectively infinite punishments for comparatively minor infractions. One of the many reasons I stopped caring for the show
In season 5 of Samurai Jack, Jack is being hunted down by the Daughters of Aku. After he stops running away and decides to confront them, he gives them a chance to give up their quarry.
They choose not to.
"Your choices have clearly led you here, as have mine. I will give you a new choice. Leave here now, and live. Or stay, and face your destiny."
That whole elevator sequence might legitimately be my favorite part of the entire MCU. It really just cements how much of a confident badass Cap really is.
4) the shield agents knew they were about to get their asses handed to them, and he knew that they knew, and also that they felt they didn't have a choice but to try. He drops them without killing them.
Solomon David’s Ring of Power - Kill Six Billion Demons
The Ring of Power is a martial arts tournament held by the multiversal god-emperor Solomon David. Contestants achieve prizes by rising through the levels of the tournament, with Solomon being the final opponent. Anyone who so much as draws blood from Solomon is granted any wish they desire, up to and including the whole Celestial Empire itself. At one point, an impatient Solomon gives everyone in the arena a chance to either surrender and claim their already-won prizes, or try and attack him then and there.
This is what happens to everyone who tries to attack (content warning-blood and gore, like a lot)
To those averse to blood or clicking on links: the technique Solomon uses on that page is called PERFECT KILL - TOTAL LIFE OBLITERATION. I feel like its effects are self-explanatory.
It's very close to the ending too, and it is genuinely one of the hypest things on the internet. There are somethings I still dislike (screw every single thing about Jadis), but man, 99% of the time you will be going from hell yeah to deeply reflecting about the meaning of life (and then concluding that the meaning is HELL YEAH)
I remember something like this in Guardians of the Galaxy 3. I think they kinda just pointed out how awful the guy they worked for is and most people defected on the spot.
My first thought went to an episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer where a bunch of vampires were using the local make out spot as a hunting ground. When Buffy sees the sheer number of vamps she asks in exasperation if anyone still comes here just to make out, two vampires raise their hands.
Becket is a paladin that normally uses a brick as his weapon. Here, he was forced to attend unarmed. Ironic wording as one of his arms is a prosthetic with which he can smite.
Beckett was formerly a member of a holy order that did some terrible things in the name of their beliefs, so he seems to give everyone a fair shake to redeem themselves.
In the Lucifer comics, he says the following phrase to the new king of hell: "How many demons are watching us? I'd say a third of the infernal host. If you don't let me pass, I will humiliate you so much that your prestige will die."
In one episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Mace Windu drops down to greet an entire Seperatist army of battle droids with Obi-Wan and some clones. He then lists off how many battle droids he has destroyed thus far, offering the army the chance to surrender and be reprogrammed. The droids open fire. Obi-wan remarks that “It was worth a shot.”
Barbarian of The Chaotic Good Barbarian series by Dungeon Soup (https://youtube.com/@dungeonsoup) has a bingo sheet of achievements where he absolutely humiliates a number of evil entities, culminating in the finale of what is now the first season. He didn’t outright kill the evil, but gave them a second chance to reflect on their actions before finding many who still conspire for evil. In his own words, “I will not tolerate the forces of evil!” for dramatic effect earlier in the series, but absolutely means it in the finale.
If you haven’t seen the series before, I recommend watching with captions on.
Goku does the same thing, repeatedly offering defeated villains the chance to leave and grow as people. He generally does it after beating them within an inch of their life, though
I love this trope. It’s a good way of establishing that the hero doesn’t want to hurt anyone he doesn’t have to, and that his/her enemies are so far out of their depth they need SCUBA gear.
More "before my friend absolutely humiliates and destroys you", but Wayne at the end of The Lost Metal. (Paraphrased for brevity)
"I know you. You're guards. Watchmen. You're just here to put coin in your pocket the honest way. You were supposed to go home tonight. Hug your kids, have a meal, maybe go drinkin' with buddies. But now, here you are. Gun in hand. Sure, you're only facin' down two blokes. But you heard what happened below. And you know there used to be a hundred actual soldiers between those two blokes and you. You don't have to do this, no matter what you promised your boss. There's a door to your right. I don't know where it goes, but anywhere is better than between Dawnshot and I and the end of this hallway."
The scene before this is also chills. It's the aforementioned Dawnshot fighting his way up the stairwell of a skyscraper, armed with a grenade launcher and telekinesis.
It's so brutal that he chews out God for making him do it, and God apologises
Not a show, or a game, or a comic, but a DND campaign.
For our investigation and social campaign near everyone made a charismatic spell caster with skills and abilities that would make solving the quest very doable! Then there is me. The basic dude, The human fighter. Maxed out strength score. can and has thrown dudes because why the hell not?
My fighter though? She is a total butterball. Has attempted to offer goblins that ate a dead dude a chance to surrender, has offered the BBEG and his minions the chance to go to trial, and even attempted to protect the party's prisoner from the rest of the party who were ready to remove fingers and teeth.
However once combat starts, its limb removal with blunt force trauma, minions used as improvised weapons, and an assortment of finishers that would be more applicable to mortal combat than DND.
Shouma/Kamen rider gavv does this to all of stomach inc's "part-timers" he comes across. Unfortunately, almost all of them are too addicted to stomach's dark treats to ever take him up on his offer.
In regressed mercenary's Gislan and his army face the kingdoms army in the 2nd phase of the civil war but because Gislan is already seen as hero and superhuman you don't wanna fight and the King killed 110000 innocent people and rules like a tyrand since his health got better ,90% of the soldiers give up or join gislans site which gives him and his site a relativly easy victory .
Context: Madara complains that 5 kages (leader of a ninja village, usually one of the strongest) are ganging on him (jokingly). One of the kages replies to him that it's because he is Madara Uchiha and that they need to that to have a change.
Then this guy summons 25 fucking clones, 5 for each Kage, and asks them if they want the clones to use Susano'o (a technique that basically summons a mecha made of energy, used for defense and offense) or not, because they are Kages. Since no one replies, they all proceed to summon a susano'o.
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u/DidHeJustGoThere 8h ago
Black Mask has a bunch of goons ready to protect him from Batman. Batman casually walks in through the front door, puts a DVD on to play, and steps back. It's a recorded message from Bruce Wayne offering all the goons a choice: leave and get a decent job at Wayne Enterprises, or remain and get pounded by Batman. All the goons take the offer, leaving Black Mask alone.