Talk to the Fist

"I Surrender..."

Hades: I'm a god. I will live forever.
Perseus: But not here!
- hurls lightning sword at Hades.

—Clash of the Titans

So, you've got a character who thinks fair fights are for suckers, and he's up against some idiot who won't shut up because he's trying to sound intimidating but just comes across as a cheesy actor repeating overused lines. Or perhaps he was smart enough to trick the foe into talking too much. The only thing for our savvy fighter to do in this case is-- *WHAM*

Naturally the opposite to Talking Is a Free Action; many shows where the characters call their attacks have at least one instance where this trope overrides the normal approach. Great way to deliver a Shut UP, Hannibal or show someone is Dangerously Genre Savvy. Beware if you're an Anti-Hero with a love for this who's gathered a bunch of Lawful Goodie-goodies who put Honor Before Reason, though, for they may take offense to your approach.

Compare Killed Mid-Sentence, the much more extreme version.[1] Sister trope of Dodge This. Not to be confused with Talk to the Hand.

Examples of Talk to the Fist include:

Anime and Manga

Takasugi: H-How dare you...
Dragon: Wait, Takasugi. She's good. I'll g--
(Ryoko smashes his face in with her wooden sword, knocking a few of his teeth out in the process)
Ryoko: Gotcha!
Dragon: Awful... I haven't... said...

    • Worth noting that Ryoko isn't a real dirty fighter as she doesn't exactly think it's dirty to hit someone who's acting like an idiot for no reason (she'd already trounced one of Takasugi's other thugs, so as far as she was concerned, the fight had started already).
  • Revy from Black Lagoon is fond of gunning down blowhards in the middle of their speeches, like that giant Nazi with the specially designed Luger that only he could shoot from the Nazi arc in the first season.
    • She also shot Rotton The Wizard mid-introduction (who was luckily wearing Kevlar), and during the Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise, drop-kicks the Yakuza gunman who tries to duel her.
  • Happens in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure part 3 where Jotaro Kujo smacked Dio Brando mid- calling his Stand.
  • In Dragonball Z, this is recalled as a common tactic of Gogeta (the Fusion Dance version of Goku/Vegeta).
    • Pulled off much earlier by Goku when he first faces off with the Ginyu Force: Recoome is doing his "You have no chance" song and dance (the dance is literal), and just before he can finish and attack, Goku one-shots him with an elbow to the gut. He tells him, "I saw an opening that seemed to scream out, 'attack!'. So... I did."

Goku:Sir, I am talking to my son.

    • A little bit later, Recoome's teammate Jeice is talking trash at Goku and ends with "Make your move!" Goku socks him in the nose, and while he's still reeling and screaming in pain, Goku says "You said 'Make your move'. I thought that meant you were ready."
      • Parodied all to hell in the abridged series where Goku cuts Jeice off five times mid sentence and then a sixth in the following episode
    • Chibi Trunks chides Buu for doing this to him while he and Goten are powering up, telling him that a sucker punch is a move that "only INEXPERIENCED fighters do."
  • Happens at least once in Sailor Moon.
  • An unspoken version occurs in the first episode of GaoGaiGar, due to the limitations of the victim. The first Zonder is showing off its regeneration abilities, silently boasting with a flash of its eyes -- and then has to do it again.
    • In the Wham! Episode, the new villains have the appalling tactlessness to attack GaoGaiGar in the middle of calling its defence, underlining the seriousness of the situation. PROTECT SHA--*zap* AUUUGH!
    • This scene played out again in the final episode of GaoGaiGar FINAL, during the battle between Gai and Palparepa. Big Bad picks himself up, pulls his face back together, and WHAM!!
  • Done quite a few times in One Piece most notably in the "Arlong Arc"'. After forcing Fishman Karate expert Kuroobi to the surface, Sanji angrily declares that he will beat the living daylights out of him. Kuroobi laughs the remark off and begins to list why he is a superior fighter but is immediately kicked in the neck by Sanji. And then pummeled everywhere else. And then kicked through a building. (Not into. Through.)
    • Another funny moment is when Crocodile is talking to Luffy, and Luffy suddenly punches him. Crocodile is made of sand, so Luffy punches away part of his face, but his expression remains fixed.
    • Of course, this only makes Croc angrier, resulting in Luffy's first defeat via hook to the stomach.
  • In Fullmetal Alchemist Roy fries Envy's eyes every time the latter attempts to pause and deliver a Hannibal Lecture.
    • The 2003 anime version plays with this, though it is never actually carried out. Ed arrives in Central and is informed that his yearly assessment is coming up. After some Hilarity Ensues involving stray cats and dogs, Ed decides he'll take a fight assessment with Mustang. When asked by Al what his strategy is, he responds abruptly: "I told you - a fist in his face!"
    • It gets reversed on him.

Hughes: Alchemists, get seeeeeet... [takes two steps back, turns around, and runs out of the way] READYANDFIGHT!!
 Ed: Whaaat?!
Roy: Too slow. *KABOOOM!!*

Tasuki: I'll fight you with my bare hands, like a man!
Tamahome: (immediately hits him in the face with a nunchuck; punches; kicks; nunchucks again)

    • Tasuki himself pulls off a Talk to the Fist moment later in the series, by hurling a sword at Nakago when he's mid-evil gloat. He hits Soi instead, but it still has the effect of temporarily getting Nakago to shut up.
    • Hotohori also has his in his character novel Suzaku Hi Den, which is shown in Eikouden. The antagonist of said character novel gloats, sneers and laughs evilly... and then Hotohori stabs him from behind.
  • Late in Death Note, Matt confidently asserts that Takada's bodyguards won't kill him. They rapidly demonstrate otherwise.
  • Sōsuke from Full Metal Panic! does this... how many times? He's as fond of doing this as executing Groin Attacks. They normally come in the form of Crowning Moment of Funny, including the instance where he keeps sucker-shooting the three karate guys in Fumoffu, and the instance where he blows Tsubaki (and Mizuki) away while Tsubaki makes his dramatic speech.
  • Attempted by both the title character and Raikage in Naruto, who both try to attack Tobi while he's trying to talk to Naruto himself/the people in the Kage summit, but the guy just phases through it the second time, after which he calls the Raikage rude for interrupting him.
    • In the battle between Sakura and Sasori, Sakura, after being saved from Sasori's poison gas, angrily declares that she will defeat him and force him to tell her where to find Orochimaru (and thus, Sasuke). Sasori nonchalantly shoots some kunai at her, which Chiyo blocks with her puppets, saying that men should listen to women while they are talking.
    • When Orochimaru appears during Itachi & Sasuke's battle in his Yamata no Orochi form and attempted to deliver a snug lecture to both Itachi & Sasuke,Itachi promptly hits him mid sentence with the Totsuka sword and seals him in an eternal illusion.
  • An amusing double instance of this in Zeta Gundam in the end. During his losing battle against Haman, Char questions her motives as he's more or less defeated. She remarks her answer will be killing him and she moves to do so. However, Char cuts her off when he opens fire with his vulcans on some open wiring in the ship hangar they're in. The resulting explosion blasts Haman's Qubeley away and Char can live to fight another day.
  • Ranma ½: Ranma does this fairly frequently, to the point he occasionally greets Tatewaki with a kick to the face to prevent him from talking.
  • In Mahou Sensei Negima!, mages usually need partners to protect them while chanting spells, as demonstrated here.
    • Of course, that goes entirely out the window when Negi decides he doesn't like relying on other people after that one fight.
  • A slight variant in Beet the Vandel Buster: At one point, Poala sneaks up behind a Vandel by the name of Ventura and points a gun at his head. Ventura attempts to intimidate her with the usual fare, daring her to shoot, stating she'll pay dearly if she does, etc. She ignores him and fires several rounds halfway through his tough talk (not Killed Mid-Sentence though; he survives because Vandels have hard skin, but it still stuns him and knocks him off the tree branch he was standing on).
  • Episode 23 of Star Driver. Head A.K.A. Tokio Tsunashi approaches Takuto, pretending to be a stranger, asking directions. Takuto doesn't even let him finish, and punches him right in the face. Just like he said he would when he found his father.
  • Happens in Turn 13 of Code Geass R2, Cornelia and Bartley run into V.V. Cornelia already knows about Geass, so she knifes V.V in the head as a precaution, cutting him off mid-sentence. Unfortunately, this is the part where Cornelia learns about immortals. And he just keeps talking.
  • In the My-HiME manga, Natsuki shoots her mother's Princess earring while she is in the middle of taunting her over her inferiority.
  • From Fairy Tail

Ultear: "I'm the head of the Seven Kindred of Purgatory. Someone like you is no match for the likes of-" (sucker punch'd!)

    • Natsu does this twice here and here:

Jellal: Pathetic, (Evil Laugh), how utterly foolish. Now, that's called Dying in vain, Simon! The situaion hasn't changed one bit! No one can leave this Tower Alive!
Natsu: (Punches him) SHUT UP!!!!

Comic Books

  • Judge Dredd demonstrates this trope to Judge Fear, a Judge from an Alternate Universe who was calling his "Gaze into the face of Fear!" attack, as shown here.[2]
  • Subverted in one issue of Twisted Toyfare Theater, where Captain America keeps attacking the Red Skull while he's trying to surrender.
  • Franky, from The Goon does this all the time. "Knife to the eyes!"
  • Rorsarch and Nite Owl try to do this to Ozymandias in Watchmen. It doesn't go very well.
  • At the climax of the "Outlaw" Arc in Strontium Dog, a freed Nelson Kreelman starts ranting about how norms are superior to Mutants. Before he can start his second speech bubble, all the bounty hunters shoot him to death.
  • The famous "one punch" scene in Justice League (International) #5.

Guy Gardner: All bark and no bite? Oh, I bite! I--
(Batman knocks him out with one punch)

  • Secret Six: Deadshot loves this trope. It's pretty much a guarantee with him that if you take too long to say something, he'll lose interest and blow a hole in you.
  • In an Ultimate comic, an obnoxious little prick (flanked by two huge thugs, of course) comes up to the Punisher in the Ryker's cafeteria and starts giving him shit about how he's being released that day and his cousin, a new up-and-coming crime boss, is going to give him a good position, while the Punisher is stuck here with the absolute minimum of comforts (they took away all of his silverware because he kept killing people with it). The little prick makes it clear that obviously, he and his kind have won, while the Punisher has only ruined his own life. Frank doesn't say a word. Instead, he flips his table over, uses it as a battering ram to pin all three of them against the wall, and beats the little bastard's head in with a tray.

Fan Works

  • Deconstructed in Battle Fantasia Project. Making Hannibal Shut Up through force doesn't automatically deal with the seeds of doubt planted, and if the Lecturer's main thrust was of you being a trigger-happy belligerent, why that's doing yourself no favours, Nanoha. Also reaffirmed, however, with the Black★Rock Shooter characters who have resolved their mental issues and thus are unaffected.


Films -- Animation

"You sly dog! You got me monologuing!"

    • He does get one in the end as he is making an escape, claiming he'll kidnap Bob's son Jack-Jack someday, only to get a car thrown at him, resulting in him getting sucked into a jet turbine because of his cape.
  • In Antz, Colonel Cutter arrives in Insectopia and starts describing Princess Bala. A stoner bug tries to welcome him, and his flat response is a fist to the face, while he continues describing her.
  • In the opening of Kung Fu Panda, the bull says it, but it's Po that does it.

"I see you like to chew. Maybe you should chew ON MY FIST!"
"Enough talk. Let's fight. SHAKABOOIE!"


Films -- Live-Action

  • In the movie Shoot Em Up, the presidential candidate is giving a final speech to the main character to redeem himself, but the hero shoots him in the head before the candidate can even finish his speech.
  • Anna in the film Van Helsing. She takes advantage of the Large Ham qualities of her vampire opponent to attack.

"I think if you're going to kill somebody, kill them, don't stand around talking about it."

  • Tuco from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly pretty much says it all: "If you gotta shoot, shoot -- don't talk!" This quote came immediately after he put down a one-armed guy who had cornered him in his bath and just would not shut up.
  • This nonverbal version [dead link] appears in Never Back Down. During an underground Mixed Martial Arts bout, a capoeirista won't stop showboating, so his opponent "shuts him up" with a simple punch.
  • Another unspoken version of this occurs in Raiders of The Lost Ark. Right as the enemy swordsman is wrapping up his pre-fight flourish, Indy pulls a gun and just shoots him. The original script called for an extended sword/whip duel, but Harrison Ford was suffering horribly from dysentery, and so the scene was shortened to a joke.
  • Both the verbal and non-verbal kind appear in Batman. The first being when Batman fights a guy with a sword who after his pre-fight flourish,kicks him in the gut.
  • The 2006 James Bond reboot Casino Royale opens with one of these, showing how it's going to be Darker and Edgier: a baddy is taunting Bond over his first kill, and starts to say that killing people gets easier after the first. Bond shoots him mid-sentence, then says nonchalantly: "Yes, considerably."
  • Turbo tries this when he's sparring with Tiger Wong in Dragon Tiger Gate. It works the first time. The second time, Tiger kicks him in the face as he moves in.
  • A scene in True Lies pulls a variation on this, when Harry and Alan confront Simon, a humiliated con-artist that previously attempted to sleep with Harry's wife. They leave him on a dam in his underwear, where he's certain they will kill him.

Simon: You're going to kill me, aren't you?? You're just... I'm gonna get shot aren't I? I know it, I'm gonna get shot!! You're gonna shoot me! Well shoo--
Alan: Get lost, Dipshit. (starts shooting at his feet)

  • In Taken, the bad guy has a knife to Bryan's daughter's throat. He gets halfway through the sentence "We can negoti--" and Bryan shoots him in the face.
  • The Gamers: "All hail the bandit king!"
  • In Romeo Must Die, a thug does the crane stance and claims that he has picked up martial arts, but Jet Li's character kicks him in the knee while he is talking.
  • In Captain America: The First Avenger, as the SSR are invading Hydra's base, one of the Hydra men starts to say Hydra's motto.[3] Colonel Philips blasts him with a shotgun and provides the best counter.

"Let's go find two more!"

Literature

Pharaun Mizzrym: If you hadn't been so busy expounding on my foolishness, you might have heard the words to my spell.

  • In Dan Abnett's Warhammer 40,000: Gaunt's Ghosts novel First & Only, Gaunt surprises Zoren by punching him. This is so Zoren can, as part of a ploy, accurately report to the ship's captain that Gaunt attacked him; the captain has scanners that he uses to try to work out when people are lying to him, and can read the truth of the charge.
  • In a Star Trek: New Frontier novel, Calhoun is confronted by an Orion who's a quicker draw than he is. They size each other up in an Old West-style staredown... then the Orion decides to gloat, since he's obviously going to win... until a grenade Calhoun planted goes off and kills him.
  • A less combative example, but in Diane Duane's Star Trek novel Spock's World, a Hamalki scientist bites a Vulcan professor in the middle of a debate. Aint No Rule that says she can't.

Professor: When one remembers that, on most levels of consideration, one does not exist, such matters as the question before us today assume their proper aaaaaaaiigh!
K's't'lk: Fascinating. For someone whom on most levels of consideration doesn't exist, you scream with great enthusiasm. And I heard you, too. Better have that looked into.

  • In James Swallow's Warhammer 40,000 Horus Heresy novel The Flight of the Eisenstein, Dorn strikes Garro for the news he brought. Then, as Qruze pointed out, Dorn had clearly held the blow, which could have killed Garro, because he wanted to hear it all. He listens to the rest, and accuses him of insanity. When Garro accuses him of blindness, he decides to execute him. Only Keller's intervention saves him.
  • (Punch clock) villainous example in The Grapes of Wrath: Jim Casy attempts to give a strikebreaker a Last Second Chance and promptly gets his skull smashed. Sucks for Casy, but hey, it does fit the religious metaphor!
  • In a cantina on the Death Star, two Alderaanian contractors are trying to make sense of what Tarkin just did to their homeworld. Enter a stormtrooper boasting that "the Rebel scum won't be giving us much trouble after Alderaan, hey?" Mock their grief, will you, motherkriffer! That contractor's fist can give your smug face trouble! And then the bouncer will evict you instead of him!
  • In Uncle Tom's Cabin, Simon Legree has murdered Tom, and George Shelby is furious. Legree reminds him that the law is on his [Legree's] side, and adds, "After all, what a fuss, for a dead n******." Shelby gets really pissed and decks Legree.
  • Occasionally invoked in Discworld, but lampshaded more often. Sam Vimes in particular devotes a little bit of internal monologue in Men at Arms to the notion of monologuing: always hope the guy who has you at his mercy is an evil man, because it means he's going to take some time to gloat about it and enjoy having power over you, while a good man will kill you straightaway (as Carrot does later). In other words, Vimes actually likes people who monologue, because it gives him a chance to use it against them.
  • "Thunder Point" by Jack Higgins. The protagonist, Sean Dillon gets surprised on a boat by the bad guy, and in the middle of the speech about how he's going to be killed, pushes his enemy over the rail and drowns him. "If you're going to kill someone, bloody kill them! Don't stand around talking about it!"

Live-Action TV

  • In Stargate SG-1, minor Goa'uld Toth begins his melodramatic doom monologue, but just when he starts to talk, Carter shoots him.
  • Upheld beautifully in Firefly, where the Alliance agent in the pilot has a gun to River's head and starts threatening to shoot her as Mal walks in—only to get shot in the face by Mal without missing a beat.
    • Subverted, however, in Serenity:

The Operative: Let us discuss this like civilized men. I'm not threatening you, I'm unarmed--
Mal: Good.
(Mal shoots the Operative down, grabs Inara and then turns to get the hell out, but the Operative stops him)
The Operative: I am, of course, wearing full body armor. I am not a moron.

    • There's also Mal punching Atherton Wing just as he is about to say something nasty about Inara. He really likes this trope.
    • Don't forget Mal kicking Crow into Serenity's engine as the latter is making his "There's nowhere you can hide" speech.
      • He let him finish the speech. Barely.
    • There's also this bit of dialogue from the pilot, where Mal decks Simon for hitting his Berserk Button about the Alliance in general:

Mal: You don't want to go down this road with me, boy.
Simon: Oh, you're not afraid of [The Alliance]? I already know you'd sell me out to them for a pat on the head. Hell, you should probably be working for them. You certainly fit the prof... *WHAM!*
Jayne: Saw that comin'.

  • In the beginning of Season 3 of Heroes, Claire nails Sylar in the chest with a butcher knife while the serial killer supervillain is busy monologuing. It doesn't take.
  • Parodied in Blackadder Goes Forth. The Baron von Richthofen has Blackadder and Baldrick held captive. George brings Lord Flashheart to come and save them only to come face to face with the dreaded baron. The following exchange plays out like so:

Baron von Richthofen: Ah, and the Lord Flashheart. This is indeed an honour. Finally, the two greatest gentleman fliers in the world meet. Two men of honour, who have jousted together in the cloud-strewn glory of the skies, face to face at last. How often I have rehearsed this moment of destiny in my dreams. The honour we two encapsulate; the unspoken nobility of our comradeship--
(Flashheart shoots the baron)
Flashheart: What a poof!

  • At the end of the Doctor Who serial "The Reign of Terror", Robespierre is shot in the jaw by one of the men come to arrest him as he tries to turn them to his side with a pretty speech.
    • In the Tenth Doctor episode "The Idiot's Lantern", the Doctor is punched out mid-sentence:

The Doctor: Hooold on a moment, there are three important, brilliant and complicated reasons why you should listen to me. One -- (punch)

    • And in "Day of The Moon" we get this awesome exchange:

Canton: Are you armed?
Silent: THIS WORLD IS OURS. WE HAVE RULED IT SINCE THE WHEEL AND THE FIRE. WE HAVE NO NEED OF WEAPONS.
Canton: [shoots Silent]. Welcome to America.

    • Rory gives the Doctor one in The Big Bang.

SHE IS TO ME!!!

      • Happens twice in "Let's Kill Hitler", both by Rory. First, Rory punches Hitler. Then he hails a Nazi guard and then releases the fist.
  • In the Series Finale of Angel, after Wesley is mortally wounded by Vail, Illyria walks in and they have a touching scene. Vail recovers consciousness from Wesley's last-ditch attack, and sees Wesley die in the arms of Illyria, who has shifted into her human guise. Thinking she's just another human, Vail mocks Wesley's "meaningless death"...only to have Illyria morph back into her God-King form and punch right through his face.
  • In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a demon in the musical episode gets it while singing. Worth a laugh.

"She's not half the girl she used to... OOWWWW!"

  • Ben, Manipulative Bastard of Lost, gets one from Sawyer in season four when he is trying to play on the latter's emotions by talking about how Kate decided to stay with Jack instead of going with him. Probably not the smartest idea since Ben was tied up and being held captive at the time.

Ben: Good thing she has Jack there to comfort h-- (*PUNCH*)

  • Dexter: While Dexter is washing dishes, Paul gives him a long-winded, menacing speech. He warns him that he loves his children, he's their father, and he won't let Rita or anyone else get in his wa--Wham! Upside the head with a frying pan.
  • That fantastic moment in Scrubs when Dr Cox (who'd been worrying about the kind of father he'll be to his unborn son) walks in on Dr Kelso tearing into Elliot. JD tells him that "if she was your daughter, you'd know exactly how to handle it."

Dr Cox: (whispering) My God, you're right. [walks up to Kelso, taps him on the shoulder and then decks him.]

  • In a rare example when the protagonists are the victims of this, on Leverage this happens to resident Badass Eliot when he meets Quinn and his usual tap on the shoulder tactic is greeted with this.


Newspaper Comics


Pro Wrestling

  • This is very common in and out of matches, either to catch a showboating opponent off guard or to end a Heel's promo. For bonus points, this is often done with a Finishing Move. Shawn Michaels tends to shut people up with his Sweet Chin Music.


Tabletop Games

  • Any Dungeons & Dragons game, ever, will sooner or later have someone yell "I roll for initiative" in the middle of the villain's evil speech.
    • The fourth edition sphinx gains combat bonuses if you do this, or can't answer its riddle.
  • The Infernal Exalted have an ability that allows them to regain Willpower when they do this. (In a slight subversion, most Infernals are villains, though they don't have to be.)


Theater

  • In The Birds, a bogus soothsayer comes to Cloudcuckooland, using a fake prophecy to extort some new clothes and a share of the sacrifice meat from Peisthetaerus. Peisthetaerus answers him on his own level; he claims that Apollo told him, basically, "any fake soothsayer who comes to demand goodies from you needs to Talk to the Fist". He then beats the fraud up and sends him packing.
  • In Starship by Team Starkid Taz goads Commander Up into punching her to toughen him up. When he doesn't she punches him instead.


Video Games

  • Used beautifully in one segment of Neverwinter Nights 2. The player can find themselves in a very annoying minigame featuring a lute contest between the player and an arrogant bard. The bard, Cain, insults the player at virtually every opportunity and the minigame is no thrill either. At the very tail end of the contest, win or lose, Cain insults the player one last time. Upon which, the character is given a new interaction choice in the dialogue menu: "Set Cain on fire and steal his lute." Even if you're playing a goody-two-shoes character, you can't resist that.
  • In The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, the player hears Big Bad Mankar Camoran's Hannibal Lecture coming from thin air from the first moment they set foot in his realm. When they finally confront him face to face, Camoran launches into yet another long-winded speech... if they let him. In some other cutscenes, the player's controls are locked down for the duration, but not this time—so many choose to interrupt his monologue with sword or spell.
    • And many choose not to interrupt him, because Mankar Camaron's speeches are a genuine work of art as far as megalomaniacal ranting goes. Then again, they only went and hired Terence Stamp to do the voice, so what else could we expect?
    • Turn the difficulty down to minimum and spell yourself up to 100% Chameleon and you can kill him with one shot, which makes the interruption that much more satisfying.
  • While it wasn't an attack to his person, it's similar and equally satisfying: in Jedi Outcast, Kyle comes up against one of the game's two Big Bads, Admiral Fyyar, at the end of a mission to bring down the ship's shields. Fyyar launches into full Large Ham mode, about how worlds will tremble and all... and Kyle throws his lightsaber at the shield generator, frying it.
  • When gigantic pansy villian who doesn't even fight you Lucien in Fable II goes into his long-winded speech, you have the option of shooting him in the face to permanently shut him up at any time. Take too long and Reaver does it instead.
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Xbox). Mook vampires love to run up to Buffy while saying something creepy/threatening/narmful. Quite possible to stake them in the middle of their speech. "You can't stop us Slayer...there's OOOFFF AAARGH." DUST. Awesome.
  • A lot of this happens in-game in the Kingdom Hearts series when an enemy is calling his/her attacks. For example, the only way to stop Sephiroth's HP to One attack is to bash him over the head while he's trying to invoke "Descend Heartless Angel". Chain of Memories even gives you a way to quickly interrupt any attack, complete with its own tutorial (though your attacks are subject to the same mechanic, as well).
  • In Mega Man X Command Mission, X (the resident Martial Pacifist, mind) unceremoniously shoots Epsilon dead in the middle of his post-battle speech. Granted, Epsilon was swearing to oppose them as for long as he lived.

X: Why? Why create something as dangerous as the Supra-Force Metal missile?!
Epsilon: For power. Without power, our ideas will be ignored.
X: What?! There must be another way...
Epsilon: The Federation has already declared us Maverick. What other choice do we have? As long as I am in operation, I shall--
Zero: Now, X! Shoot!
X: (fires)

  • Entertaining in-game example: This video of the X-Men arcade game.
  • In Resident Evil 4, Ramon Salazar goes off onto another smarmy monologue on how he's going to kill Leon with another clever trap. Leon, who by this point is thoroughly fed up with Salazar's bullshit, shuts him up with a knife to the hand.
  • River City Ransom Ex is one of those games where you can sock the enemy in the head mid-speech and your allies won't stand for it.
  • Happens to the Prism Rangers in Disgaea: Hour of Darkness. After their incredibly corny introduction speech, they prepare a transformation attack. Etna interrupts them mid-sentence with two gunshots, taking out both Yellow and Blue with little trouble and leaving red without the ability to transform.

Prism Red: Curse you! Shooting before we even have a chance to transform... How inconsiderate! Are you demons?!
Etna: Uh-huh.
Prism Red: ... Oh my gosh! I completely forgot about that!

  • You can do this in so many ways to the mooks in Batman: Arkham Asylum that it can be great way to spend time when you're bored. When heading to the final confrontation with The Joker, you walk through a gauntlet of thugs taunting you, but not attacking. You can casually walk up to one and just jack him in the face, erupting the room into an epic brawl.
  • Bushido Blade begins almost every fight with your opponent talking for a short bit before the fight starts proper. It's entirely possible to cut them down before they finish, however this is considered a dishonorable act and will disqualify you from achieving the best possible ending if you ever do it.
  • In the final fight in Bully, when Gary is knocked down to certain levels of HP, he grabs you and starts unloading more of his Hannibal Lecture on you. Mash buttons fast enough, and you can knock him away; otherwise, he'll finish his lecture and hit you.
  • In Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, most attacks and spells have a starting time. Against smaller foes, it's possible to interrupt this, but beware that they don't do it to you, Zack!
  • From Mass Effect, in what can be viewed as both a Crowning Moment of Awesome and Funny, the player has the option to end a news interview with an irritating reporter by outright decking her. In Mass Effect 2, you run into the same character again. If your original choice wasn't to punch her, but you do punch her this time, Shepard will remark, "I should've done that the first time we met." You get one last round against her in Mass Effect 3, only she dodges your swing at the last second, either leaving you to be knocked on your butt, or, if you're quick enough, follow up with a headbutt.

Merc: I have nothing more to say to you; if you shoot me, my team will--
Shepard: (pushes Merc out the window, Death Cry Echo)
Shepard: How about "goodbye?"

    • In Mass Effect 3, there's a renegade interrupt where you gut-punch a quarian admiral and kick him off of your ship as he's trying to justify his actions, because he fired on the geth Dreadnought you and Tali, a fellow admiral, were still on at the time.
  • In one of Iron Tager's Story Mode paths for BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, he punches Bang Shishigami while the latter is calling an attack.
  • During the Sky Pirate arc of the second The Legend of Spyro game, the Big Bad of the arc are a couple annoying parrots named Scratch and Sniff who are the brains behind the "captain" of the pirates, the massive, but extremely stupid, Skabb. Sniff really likes throwing around trash talk and Bullying the Dragon. This gets so annoying that it even annoys Sparx. After Skabb falls to his Disney Villain Death, Sniff continues to insult Spyro. Sparx has enough and in a personal Crowning Moment of Awesome, shuts Sniff up by knocking him out cold with a punch to the face.
  • At the end of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers, Darkrai attempts to pull a We Can Rule Together on the player and their partner. He even seems to convince the partner to do so. But then the player reconizes A Glitch in the Matrix in that their partner would never react this way. They realize they're in a nightmare and attack Darkrai, shattering the illusion.
  • Totally doable in Deus Ex Human Revolution, thanks to it's unnervingly satisfying "you-can-sucker-punch-anyone-you-like" function. This is, in fact, a perfectly viable means of completing certain sidequests, like the one where you're trying to get the blackmail footage from Brian Tindell. You can do his quest, talk him into handing the footage over, or punch him in the face and take the footage off his body.
  • In Asura's Wrath, this is combined with the act of skipping a cutscene where at certain points when bosses start talking, pressing a button would have Asura try to shut them up forcefully.
    • Subverted against Augus where Asura tries this but Augus doesn't budge an inch.
    • Also subverted against Kalrow, who turns out to be just a hologram.
    • Reaches its logical conclusion in the final episode of the DLC. Asura is offered godhood by Chakravartin, who is for all intents and purposes God. His response? "I refuse." (Punches GOD in the face)
  • At the end of X-COM, the alien brain you need to kill in order to stop the invasion attempts to plead its case. A soldier interrupts it by blowing it apart with a plasma gun.
  • In Grotesque Tactics 2, the protagonist and a villain start arguing over who will win if they start to fight. They keep going. It turns into an Overly Long Gag before one of the hero's allies announces "Oh for the..." and the game goes to combat turns with her acting first. She can then teleport past the protagonist to attack the villain in the back.
  • In Dissidia Final Fantasy, after Squall defeats Ultimecia during the Shade Impulse storyline, she tries to deliver a monologue about her Freudian Excuse. Squall responds by finishing her off mid-speech with a slash of his gunblade. He is the only hero in the game to do so; every other villain either manages to gloat or gets a more touching send-off.
    • This moment is also a nod to the final battle of Final Fantasy VIII: Ultimecia begins the same speech in the last stages of the Boss Battle, but is unable to finish it before Squall and the other heroes defeat her.

Web Animation

  • In Red vs. Blue: Reconstruction Agent Washington interrupts South Dakota with a pistol round.

Washington: [To Delta] What are you suggesting?
Delta: That we don't allow her to hamper our progress.
South Dakota: Oh come on, Wash. What're ya gonna do, sho-- (headshot'd)
Washington: [To South] Yes. [To Delta] Good suggestion.
Church: Dude, you guys are some cold motherfuckers.

  • In Egoraptor's "Awesome Chaotix", a bored Sonic starts off the video, "Man, Mobius sure is boring around he--*cue fist to the face from Knuckles*". Knuckles does it to Espio as well.


Web Comics

Dark Pegasus: And for the rest of you, I give this advice: If you're going to destroy someone, do it while you're talking. They always expect you to finish the sentence first.

  • Darth Maul gets one in Darths and Droids when he tries to talk to Qui-Gon, who responds:

Qui-Gon: Talk to the laser sword!

    • Subverted: They really should have listened; he was on their side, and didn't want to fight.
  • Done by Jon in this this Errant Story strip, after he provokes the other man into arguing with him face to face so that he won't notice the revolver suddenly being drawn and aimed at his midsection.
  • Used in the backstory of Darken. Just as Leon is delivering his "Good will always triumph" speech to Gort, he gets a knife in the back courtesy of Casper.
  • In El Goonish Shive, Professor Raven attempts to slice a homicidal wizard's head off in mid-speech as negotiations break down - with him, "final warning" means exactly that.

Abraham: Feigned frailty, no "En garde"... Have you no honor?!
Raven: The lives of my students are more important. Besides which I did warn you...

Enor: "Puns are for girls."

Captain Tagon: I've got a torpedo bay full of points.


Web Original

411. It is bad form to shoot a god while he's monologuing.

  • Played with in Dragon Ball Abridged. Played most straight by Goku against the Ginyu force, where he downs Recoome during his posing, smashes Jeice in the face repeatedly, and downs Burter while he's having a touching discussion of friendship with Jeice.
    • Also played with in two flashbacks. In the first, Zarbon is remembering Frieza ordering him to get to work, only to be blasted in mid-air by Vegeta. In the second, Jeice is trying to recall advice on what to do when being repeatedly smashed in the face, only for another punch to break off the Captain's words.

Jeice: Ah, he cut off the Captain!


Western Animation

  • Happened to Samurai Jack in the episode where he fought in Gladiator Games against his will. As it happens, this was immediately after his opponent rattled off a long train of smack talk that Jack was trying to counter in turn.
  • Used by Zatanna in "This Little Piggy" episode of Justice League Unlimited, against the Sorceress Circe:

Circe: Insolent trickster! You dare to strike-- (gets hit by a chair)... You dare to strike-- (gets hit by a table)... You dare-- (gets smothered by a tablecloth) QUIT IT!... Oh no... (gets hit by a grand piano)

Ten: (beats up on Superman, grabs him by the scruff of his neck) I'm stronger than everybody! I knew I was stronger than you!
Superman: (headbutts him, sending him flying) I heard that before.

Kim: "Boys? Dating? Oh it's hard. But this...is easy!!" *punches him in the face*

  • Winx Club: Watch this scene, then read this opinion [dead link] (under "Posturing").
  • In Family Guy, an infamous Overly Long Gag has Stewie needle Brian at length, twice in one episode, in a voice irritatingly rising in pitch with every sentence, about the novel he's never finished writing. In a later episode, Stewie starts doing this again, but this time Brian punches him out almost immediately.
  • In Batman: The Animated Series, Batman is having "one of those nights" when he hears the police scanner report a man attacking a restaurant wielding a ketchup gun. When he arrives to sort out the situation the Condiment King, as he describes himself, has been gleefully waiting for this confrontation for quite a while.

Condiment King: "What's this? Ah, the Big Bad Bat Guy. I knew you'd ketchup to me sooner or later. How I've relished this meeting. You, the Dynamic Dark Knight, versus me, the Conceptual Condiment King! Come Batman, let's see if you can cut the mustard."
Batman: (Batman delivers a single punch to CK's stomach) "Quiet!"

  • In the "Night Owl" episode of Regular Show, the title character freezes Mordecai, Rigby, Muscle Man, and High-Five Ghost for several hundred years to make himself famious. When the guys manage to make it back to the present and accidentally ruin his plan before he caught them with it, the Night Owl starts chewing them out for it. Muscle Man walks up, grabs him by the shirt and knocks him out cold in the middle of his rant.
  • On Jimmy Two-Shoes, as Jimmy goes on about how he's going to tell Heloise about the Snowrilla, he gets a snowball in the mouth by the said creature.


Real Life

"A horrible little boy came up to me and said, 'You know in your book The Martian Chronicles? ' I said, 'Yes?' He said, 'You know where you talk about Deimos rising in the East?' I said, 'Yes?' He said 'No.' — So I hit him."


Hello, Fist! How are you?

  1. ↑ well, most of the time, anyway
  2. ↑ Can also overlap with Crowning Moment of Awesome. Badass Pre-Mortem One-Liner is optional, but recommended.
  3. ↑ Cut off one head, two more take its place!
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