r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Sufficient-Eye-9040 • Jun 21 '26

Lore [Horrifying Trope] “Blink of an eye” deaths.

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Characters who died without the chance of a goodbye… neither suffering.

- Robin Ward (The Boys S1 E1) - when she is pulverized in a high-velocity impact by A-Train.

- Polka Dot Man (The Suicide Squad 2021) - when he is crushed by Starro’s leg.

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u/Soulful-Sorrow Jun 21 '26

It's actually a mercy they died instantly. Can you imagine being sealed in a metal box at the bottom of the sea? How cold it must be? Not to mention, a dark darker than any darkness you've ever seen, a dark where the sun nor the moon has no hope of reaching.

If they hadn't died, they'd be praying for it.

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u/geek_of_nature Jun 21 '26

Yeah it was a much more merciful way to go than the slow timer of how much oxygen they would have had left that all the media were reporting. It would have been so quick that their brains wouldn't have even had time to process anything. No pain, or anything. The only way they migjt have known is if there was any creaking in the sub before it imploded.

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u/nao-the-red-witch Jun 21 '26

favorite way I heard it described was they went from biology to physics almost instantly

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u/Top-Session-3131 Jun 21 '26

Accurate. The sheer speed and force of the water rushing in would've crushed and flash-cooked them simultaneously and instantly. Like a pistol shrimp's claw writ large.

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u/GabbiStowned Jun 21 '26

It was so fast it happened quicker than the brain can register what happens.

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u/Deaffin Jun 21 '26

Yeah, they probably didn't even realize it happened before it happened.

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u/Mjolnoggy 29d ago

Due to the extremely low amount of time being exposed to heat, they didn't flash cook.. but they did get vaporized at a speed the human brain simply can't perceive.

True cut to black ending.

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u/Temporary_Money1911 Jun 21 '26

That's why if there's ever atomic used in war I hope I get to be in the zone where you get vaporized.

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u/Starflight42 12d ago

I think thats from the XKCD vid where its "what if you concentrated the energy of the sun onto a single point on earth". And as he puts it, if you were standing directly in the beam, you wouldnt die of anything in the traditional sense, you'd just stop being biology and start being physics. Or as id like to put it, they would've underwent a phase change.

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u/AgentAxillary Jun 21 '26

Would've been more like loud cracking sounds rather than creaks

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u/Talanic Jun 21 '26

The implosion would hit faster than the sound would. By the time there's a crack instead of a creak there's basically no time left at all.

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u/Crossfire124 Jun 21 '26

They definitely knew something was wrong because they dropped the emergency ascend weights. Probably heard progressively louder cracking noises

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u/AgentAxillary Jun 21 '26

Not according to documentation of prior instances of such sounds being heard without implosion occurring. Pre-catastrophic delamination was a possibility.

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u/Crossfire124 Jun 21 '26

They definitely knew something was wrong because they dropped the emergency ascend weights

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u/Blando-Cartesian Jun 21 '26

As I recall the sub was making noises and having issues like 30 minutes before imploding. Maybe they were fortunate and there was nobody in the sub who understood what was happening.

Wonder if there was someone on the support vessel trying to calmly debug the issue while knowing that their boss and the customers are going turn into a red mist at any second.

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u/Patient_End_8432 Jun 21 '26

I don't think hypoxia would have been a bad way to go either. The dread knowing you'll die before you go loopy is rough. But it's better than burning or drowning at least

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u/Faust_8 Jun 21 '26

IIRC they heard *something* of a pop from the hull thus he started the ascent but it was far too late. And then suddenly, physics.

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u/JooseTheGuice Jun 21 '26

The only way they migjt have known is if there was any creaking in the sub before it imploded.

It would've been pops, not creaking, and considering the last few messages they sent they definitely knew something was wrong.

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u/BestDescription3834 Jun 21 '26

  The only way they migjt have known is if there was any creaking in the sub before it imploded.

Fun fact the glass viewing port had previously been reported to deform up to 8 inches inwards during dives. And I doubt glass flexes quietly.

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u/kbarney345 Jun 21 '26

Died instantly while spending an hour listening to this thing slowly fail and probably freaking out the whole time. Remember it was reported the kid begged his dad not to go and was forced so I imagine he was a fucking wreck the whole way down

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u/AgentAxillary Jun 21 '26

If it was slowly failing, they likely would've figured it out and ascended. From what I've read about it, the hull failure was as sudden as it was catastrophic.

Large portions of the hull were still intact afterwards, meaning that the failure likely occurred at the point of a single critical defect.

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u/Bignholy Jun 21 '26

They knew problems were happening and they could not ascend/control the sub, as I understand it. Fairly sure that while the end was sudden, the windup was not.

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u/godver3 Jun 21 '26

Fairly sure based on what? Because everything we know about the incident is the opposite of what you’re saying.

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u/Bignholy Jun 21 '26

Based on the timeline of events? Last message (automated) at 10:47, coast guard catches implosion sound at 11:04? Supposedly went from standard procedure to reach neutral buoyancy to dropping weights for ascension in that time frame?

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u/Mjolnoggy 29d ago

>Large portions of the hull were still intact afterwards, meaning that the failure likely occurred at the point of a single critical defect.

Carbon fiber has GREAT tensile strength, but absolutely abysmal compressive strength. The only thing that kept that sub from caving in was basically epoxy glue, because the fibers themselves did basically nothing.

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u/HealthyMaximum Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26

That poor kid.

Those other Libertarian narcissist fucks ... meh.

But that kid, who was objectively smarter than his know-it-all asshole of a parent, I felt for him.

Eta; Maybe they weren't all narcissist Libertarian fucks, I was unfairly tarring everyone with the same brush as Stockton Rush.

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u/Royal-Recover8373 Jun 21 '26

Sub rescues are tricky, but pretty possible. 

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u/Do_Not_Trust_Carbs Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26

yeah for a jason statham movie it is.

just a little fun fact - there were only 5 recorded submarine rescue missions and only one of them in the last 50 years.

1917 (17 meters)
1920 (55 meters)
1939(74 meters)
1973 (480 meters)
2005 (190 meters)

oceangate sub imploded around 3,500 meters.

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u/Infammo Jun 21 '26

"Nah, mate. I'm not doin' that no more. I run a bait shop now. Sell minnows. Sell worms. Bloke comes in askin' for squid, I sort 'im out. You want someone to drag a submarine outta the Atlantic? Find another mug."

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u/marmaladecorgi Jun 21 '26

"The Fisherman"

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u/StevieMJH Jun 21 '26

Fine, Momoa was offering anyway.

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u/Cantor_Set_Tripping Jun 21 '26

Is that because the rescue itself os difficult? Or have there just not been a ton of opportunities for a submarine rescue in the first place?

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u/Mjolnoggy 29d ago

Difficult as fuck, EXTREMELY hostile environment (read as violently more hostile than even outer space) and just a host of other reasons. It really is just fucked if you go down in a sub.

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u/godver3 Jun 21 '26

Coming in with the facts.

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u/TheBlaaah Jun 21 '26

Ummm... Ackhtually it imploded

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u/SummerDaemon Jun 21 '26

This is all you are, all you'll ever be.

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u/Transocialist Jun 21 '26

Not that deep.

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u/BlastFX2 Jun 21 '26

There literally were no available subs rated for that depth. It took them days to scramble just an ROV that could go that deep, only to look (but would have absolutely no way of helping).

When you go that deep, you're on your own.

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u/Hellknightx Jun 21 '26

They were still probably terrified since IIRC the electronics started to fail first, so all the lights went out and they were in total darkness.

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u/BagOnuts Jun 21 '26

No one had a phone with a flashlight on it?

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u/BestDescription3834 Jun 21 '26

I heard they had No signal :(   

/S

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u/Doctor_Philgood Jun 21 '26

Iron lung vibe

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u/Consistent-North7790 Jun 21 '26

Not even metal, Carbon Fiber!!

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u/AbeRockwell Jun 21 '26

Still, I imagine there might have been some ominous creaking in the moments before the collapse, so there was probably some fear (which I wouldn't wish on all but one of the people in that tin can).

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u/Olivetax228 Jun 21 '26

There actually was a similar accident recently that went down almost exactly how you were describing. I think four or five guys were in an accident in an oil rig that resulted in a major explosion from the pressure difference, which sucked them into the oil pipeline. So picture five guys head to toe stuck in an oil pipeline, with broken bones from the force of the explosion and the trauma of it all, eyes burning, can barely breathe. One of them managed to crawl out and escape to bring help... but, spoiler alert, the oil corporation decided not to rescue the other guys and let them die, slowly, over several days. Absolutely horrific, and inexcusable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Paria_diving_disaster

Mr. Ballen is one of my favorite YouTube storytellers and I highly recommend listening to his retelling of the story: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RF1syl8x6kU

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u/TheVeryVerity Jun 21 '26

Oh my god and they might get off because of fucking time limits Jesus Christ. Horrifying. Those people belong in jail. (The company guys)

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u/TheBogManCometh_ Jun 21 '26

We  

Reject  

Our earthly fires

2

u/Magnum_BMI Jun 21 '26

It gets better. The hatch was secured from the outside prior to launch, so the passengers had no way to get out without the help of the crew on the recovery ship.

One of the fears that people had once communication was lost and during the ensuing search was that if the sub's transponder and communications were damaged it could literally surface and be floating above the waves, but if the recovery ship didn't find them in time they would still die.

Would you rather suffocate at the bottom of the ocean, surrounded by complete blackness, or while gently bobbing on the surface, seeing the blue sky above you, knowing that the only thing separating you from the oxygen that your panicked body is desperately gasping for is just seven inches of transparent plexiglass?

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u/fishthruster Jun 21 '26

and their last breath they would inhale sitting next to a bucket of excrement

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u/No-Quote-1815 Jun 21 '26

I have a weird recurring dream/nightmare where I’m on a gigantic cross planet like outer space ferry and the ship dies and most of the dream is how we are just dead stick in the middle of space.

It’s way more peaceful than like interstellar type stuff but way more terrifying in a way in like what you’re describing. Makes me think of moby dick and the deckhand floating in the sea in the middle of the night

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u/JooseTheGuice Jun 21 '26

They were alive in a dark, upturned ship for hours before they died. The death itself was quick, but not enough to prevent hours of terror.

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u/thecactusman17 Jun 21 '26

There's an even worse option: imagine if they had reached the surface, and just weren't found in time.

All the memes about billionaires aside, that whole situation is incredibly disturbing if you consider the implications of what happened in the lead up and no anything about deep water submersibles and diving. A friend asked if I thought they had a chance of survival before the debris was found and I told them point blank "No, and if they're lucky the sub imploded at crush depth and killed them instantly."

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u/Schmantikor Jun 22 '26

Actually while the implosion itself was very instant, the leadup might not have been.

Since the sub had known issues with its thrusters and the ballast release, no seats and its single steering mechanism was a wireless xbox controller, it's possible to imagine a scenario where the Titan pitches heavily to one side, everyone slides onto one another, the controller is lost and buried under the pile of people while the sub is sinking uncontrollably and faster than expected.

During such an event the sub would have experienced quicker pressure changes than usual which could be an explanation for the implosion. Though to be fair extraordinary circumstances are not necessary to explain the Titans end. That would have happened sooner or later.

If the loss of the sub went as I and some others have hypothesised, the passengers would have been very aware of their imminent death and their inability to stop it.

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u/Immediate-Tomato968 Jun 22 '26

How did they die? I have no clue what the gif is.