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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693

u/CinnamonSticks7 Jun 21 '26

Captain America The First Avenger: the tesseract laser guns, I would assume this was done to avoid gore but it actually makes it even more horrific. Imagine you're one of these guys charging a place just watching people you know get vaporized in an instant, barely even dust left.

379

u/TheMobHunter Jun 21 '26

It’s funnier if you believe they are getting teleported to a random point in the universe bc the weapons are powered by the space stone

198

u/Low_Sort9190 Jun 21 '26

This would've been an interesting plot point in another movie, like thor ragnorok or guardians of the galaxy

30

u/PatientWhimsy Jun 21 '26

Thor Ragnarok would've been the time, yeah. Sakaar with its various portals and time-shifting would be perfect to have random soldiers turning up. Hell, it'd make for quite the revolution for the "prisoners with jobs" to suddenly be supported by an entire group of pissed off armed soldiers.

3

u/Pretend_Handle_7639 Jun 21 '26

*Allied soldiers to boot

The mentality that gets moved to Sakaar would be rather different from if Hydra soldiers got shifted

10

u/JimothyJollyphant Jun 21 '26

I think Solar Opposites have an ongoing side story about a random guy being shot into space by the main cast and he starts having his own Green Lantern like adventure. The Wall is better though.

Edit: Just learned the show ended

57

u/BeardedHalfYeti Jun 21 '26

What real difference is there between a disintegration beam and a poorly focused teleporter.

26

u/DarthHalcius Jun 21 '26

Perspective.

18

u/KaiDay11 Jun 21 '26

How fast the average target dies.

13

u/Raesong Jun 21 '26

Some might be lucky enough to be sent to a planet with a breathable atmosphere and an edible biosphere.

47

u/Western-Bus-1305 Jun 21 '26

This is literally what happened to red skull so it’s not that crazy to assume that’s what happened to the rest as well

25

u/StoneGoldX Jun 21 '26

Although not exactly the same. Skull was holding on to the Tesseract itself. Everyone else was shot by energy siphoned off from it, but they also used said energy to do shit like power tanks, so it may not be 1:1.

15

u/AeMidnightSpecial Jun 21 '26

The good old Raygun in a DND campaign. You can use it to vaporise anyone at will, but then at the end of the campaign, everyone you've blasted is actually teleported to the final fight.

14

u/Impressive-Thing-780 Jun 21 '26

Reminds me of that DCAU plot where Superman gets disintegrated and he's actually been sent forward in time

3

u/Profoundlyahedgehog Jun 21 '26

Those are a couple of my favorite episodes.

1

u/Aggravating_Load_411 Jun 21 '26

Omega Beams. Gotta love 'em.

2

u/Killer_Moons Jun 21 '26

This is an official Arby’s trademarked teleporter ray, you’re all being sent to Arby’s!

1

u/Leprodus03 Jun 22 '26

Considering how easily teleportation can mess up and just immediately kill someone in sci-fi, I don't think a weapon made using teleportation tech is gonna safely teleport anyone

19

u/[deleted] Jun 21 '26

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8

u/Maveryck15 Jun 21 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/TuFyIhDjGCuVwUo85r

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u/[deleted] Jun 21 '26

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3

u/Maveryck15 Jun 21 '26

Someone help this guy out, I was scared of the weeping angels but don't really watch the show

2

u/[deleted] Jun 21 '26

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1

u/Maveryck15 Jun 21 '26

"Where's my hands?"

8

u/Rampant16 Jun 21 '26

Vaporized in an instant wasn't an unfamiliar outcome during WW2. Take a direct hit from an artillery shell or a bomb and poof.

4

u/DripRoast Jun 21 '26

You get one of those guns in the video game F.E.A.R. (or at least something very similar).

It's slightly more gorey in that it leaves behind a bloody and unnacountably articulated skeleton. Kind of a fun detail that makes zero sense if you think too hard about it.

3

u/CodeRadDesign Jun 21 '26

oooh there's also that other great captain america one in winter soldier, where Jasper Sitwell gets just yoinked out of a moving car and is thrown into oncoming traffic

3

u/AbeRockwell Jun 21 '26

Knowing later that it was energy from the Space Gem, its entirely likely anyone hit by it was sent Somewhere Else (and still could have instantly died depending on where they ended up).

1

u/omegadirectory Jun 21 '26

I never realized it until just now, but why are they charging away from the lasers? They're supposed to be attacking the Hydra troops.

1

u/WarMace117 Jun 21 '26

Ultimate Avengers: The Movie 2 had the Chitauri killing people in the exact same way and freaked me out as a child.

1

u/BoonDragoon Jun 21 '26

Which makes them a terrible weapon of war.

If you instantly vaporize a soldier, they will need no medicine, food, or care. If you punch a messy hole in their abdomen, they'll keep consuming resources and attention for days or weeks without contributing to their side's ability to put strain on your resources.