A deathtrap is a literary and dramatic plot device in which a villain, who has captured the hero or another sympathetic character, attempts to use an elaborate and usually sadistic method of murdering him/her. Literature is literally an acquaintance with letters as in the first sense given in the Oxford English Dictionary (from the Latin littera meaning an individual written character (letter)). The term has, however, generally come to identify a collection of texts. ... This does not cite any references or sources. ... A plot device is a person or an object introduced to a story to affect or advance the plot. ... “Bad guy” redirects here. ... For other uses, see Hero (disambiguation). ...

It is often used as a means to create dramatic tension in the story and to have the villain reveal important information to the hero, confident that the hero will shortly not be able to use it. It may also be a means to show the hero's resourcefulness in escaping, or the writer's ingenuity at devising a last-minute rescue or deus ex machina. For other uses, see Deus ex machina (disambiguation). ...

History

This plot device is generally believed to have been popularized by movie serials, though it is best known for its use in the James Bond film series and superhero stories, and has precedents in the 19th century theatrical melodramas from which the cliché of the moustache-twirling villain leaving the heroine tied to the railroad tracks is derived. DVD front cover for The Adventures of Captain Marvel, one of the most celebrated serials for both Republic Pictures and of the sound era in general. ... “007” redirects here. ... For the upcoming parody of superhero films, see Superhero!. Batman and Superman, two of the most recognizable and iconic superheroes. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Poster for The Perils of Pauline (1914). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Narrative use

It is a common criticism that it is unbelievable in story plots to have villains try to kill the heroes in such elaborate ways when they could use simple methods like shooting them. Through the decades, comic book writers have responded to these complaints by devising ways in which the deathtraps have served other purposes. A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ...

For instance, one Legion of Super-Heroes story by Jim Shooter had a team of Legionnaires put into a variety of deathtraps and the villains wanted the heroes to successfully escape. This was because the real purpose of the deathtraps was to have the Legionnaires use a great deal of energy doing so, which the villains then harnessed for their own benefit. Other stories have had villains use deathtraps as a means of testing the heroes or to distract them while the villain attends to other matters. The Legion of Super-Heroes is a DC Comics superhero team created by writer Otto Binder and artist Al Plastino. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Another rationalization for a deathtrap is when a particular villain simply enjoys leaving his victims some small chance of survival, just for the sake of sport. Such "sporting" villains include The Riddler, who has an uncontrollable compulsion to create intellectual challenges for his enemies. The Joker, Jigsaw Killer, and Arcade are other villains who simply enjoy the challenge. Detective Comics #140 (October 1948), the first appearance of The Riddler. ... “The Joker” redirects here. ... The Jigsaw Killer is a fictional character from the Saw film series. ... Arcade is a fictional character and supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe. ...

On occasion, the villain may employ a slow deathtrap because they enjoy their victim's suffering prior to death, either due to sadistic tendencies or a desire for painful vengeance.

In a similar vein, the villain, often a megalomaniac, may feel that, as a reflection of his own imagined greatness, it would be "beneath him" to simply murder his enemy like any common criminal, and that his enemy's death should be the worthy spectacle that a successful deathtrap would provide. In contrast, he may feel that his enemy, having provided him with a worthy challenge in their earlier encounters, himself "deserves" such a grandiose death, or that the enmity between the two is so "epic" that it merits no less than such a conclusion. Megalomania currently refers to the following Wikipedia articles: Megalomania (mental illness), a pattern of character traits and behaviors. ...

Finally, the villain may simply be too insane to recognize the impracticality of the situation, although this characterization is rarely seen outside of deliberately parodic characters such as Dr. Evil. Dr. Evil is a fictional supervillain played by Mike Myers in the Austin Powers film series. ...

Famous examples of deathtraps

• Raiders of the Lost Ark: Sealing Indiana Jones and Marion in the Well of Souls
  • Escape method: Seeing a possible tunnel entrance, Jones climbed a statue and toppled it towards the wall to create an entrance to a passageway that led to the outside.
• Goldfinger (novel): James Bond is shackled spreadeagled to a table and a circular saw (a laser in the film) is approaching to cut him in half. Unlike many deathtrap scenarios, Bond remains under constant supervision, and he does not use (or have) a device or outside help to escape.
  • Escape method: Bond bluffs Goldfinger, and persuades him that his replacement "008" also knows about Goldfingers' plans and so Goldfinger elects to not take the chance of another spy coming on the scene to interfere, which he can avoid by holding Bond captive.
• Live and Let Die: Doctor Kananga and a minion tie James Bond and Solitare to a platform to be lowered into a shark infested pool to be eaten alive.
  • Escape method: Without the villains seeing, Bond activates his watch's rotary saw function to cut through his restraints to free himself and attack Kananga.
• The 1960s live action television series Batman usually had two-part episodes which have a cliffhanger involving bizarre deathtraps.
  • Example: The Joker traps the Dynamic Duo without their utility belts in the bottom of an industrial smokestack and begins to gradually fill it with a deadly heavier-than-air gas.
    • Escape method: The pair lock elbows and brace their backs against each other to walk up the smokestack to the top opening and slide down a support cable safely to the ground.
• The Incredible Hulk often has Bruce Banner finding himself in elaborate deathtraps where his only escape is they produce enough emotional stress to trigger his transformation in the Hulk who uses his superhuman strength and endurance to break free and attack his assailants.
• The Perils of Penelope Pitstop always involved improbable deathtraps, usually set by the Hooded Claw.
• X-Men #17-18 - Magneto seizes the X-Men and renders all of them unconscious. He then decides to put them inside a steel gondola lifted by a hot-air balloon, so that it rises extremely high in the sky, into the upper atmosphere until they suffocate.
  • Escape method: Jean Grey uses her telekinesis to stop the balloon from rising, Cyclops uses his optic blasts to pierce it so that it deflates slowly and they fall back on Earth, with Jean controlling the descent.
• Iron Man #118 - Anthony Stark is struck unconscious and thrown out of the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier, several thousand feet up.
  • Escape method: Regaining consciousness and his composure, Stark quickly dons his power armor and barely dons the complete suit to engage the flight function before he hits the ground.
• Fantastic Four #278-279 - Kristoff Vernard,the adopted son of Doctor Doom, launches the Baxter Building into outer space and then explodes it with the Four and an associate inside.
  • Escape method: The Invisible Woman erects a force field bubble (an ability which of which Doom's son was unaware) to protect the occupants from the explosion and they play dead when a probe examines the wreckage. Once alone, the superhero team leaves orbit by Mister Fantastic using his stretching power to shape the force field into an aerodynamic form. Once achieved, he carefully created an air leak to serve as propulsion to make the bubble start re-entry. To survive the resulting heat generation, The Human Torch temporarily absorbs the heat energy to keep the temperature in the bubble at a livable level until it has descended into the lower atmosphere. This has some peril as Johnny has to suppress the involuntary urge to explosively release the excess until he is allow to fall out, release and follow the field from the air. Once achieved, the bubble is steered toward Latveria and to one of Doctor Doom's castles with She-Hulk serving as a battering ram to gain entry on impact.
• Dick Tracy was the first comic strip to use deathtraps extensively ^{[citation needed]}. The most famous was devised by Mrs. Pruneface. Her creation was that of Tracy lying chained to an apartment floor underneath a refrigerator supported by two ice cakes which had a sharpened pole aimed at the detective's heart. The heat was turned up and as the ice cakes melted, the pole would descend until it impaled Tracy.
  • Escape Method: Tracy noticed that the floor was on a slight incline and hit upon the idea of repeatedly striking the floor with his pelvis, thus caused the fridge to be slowly shifted to one side until the pole missed him. Meanwhile, Pat and his police comrades eventually found Tracy and freed him.
• Perhaps the most elaborate deathtrap of all time (and one of the most famous) was the Marvel comics villain Arcade's sadistic amusement park, "Murderworld," an underground complex which contains many elaborate "rides" modeled after various carnival Fun Houses, where Arcade trapped the superheroes, fully intending to kill them but, for the sake of his twisted sense of gamesmanship, willing to spare them if they escape his traps. Arcade and his deadly amusement park have appeared in several different franchises of the Marvel comics universe, and tested several different superhero teams.
  • Escape Method: Since each "ride" in Murderworld is different, escape methods vary. When Arcade, who sometimes acts as a hired assassin rather than simply for his own amusement, traps his clients' enemies in Murderworld, they, being for the most part ordinary men and women, customarily do not escape, although, as with his superhero enemies, Arcade will theoretically allow them to depart unharmed should they manage to survive.
• Disney's The Great Mouse Detective: Ratigan ties up Basil and Dawson in an intricate mousetrap and tells them about his plot to kill the queen. He then leaves to see his scheme unfold, assuming that they will soon be dead.
  • Escape method: Basil uses his scientific intellect to use the different aspects of the trap against each other

Raiders of the Lost Ark, also known as Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, is a 1981 adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by George Lucas and starring Harrison Ford. ... Dr. Henry Indiana Jones, Jr. ... For other uses, see Goldfinger. ... Invented in England in 1780, the circular saw (also known as the buzz saw in the USA) is a metal disc or blade with saw teeth on the edge as well as the machine that causes the disk to spin. ... For other uses, see Laser (disambiguation). ... Live and Let Die is the 8th film in the British James Bond series and the first to star Roger Moore as MI6 agent James Bond. ... A rotary saw or spiral cut saw is a type of mechanically powered saw used for making accurate cuts without the need for a pilot hole in wallboard, plywood, or another thin, solid material. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969, inclusive. ... A television program is the content of television broadcasting. ... Burt Ward as Robin and Adam West as Batman Batman was the title of an exceptionally popular TV series based on the comic-book character Batman that aired on ABC TV for 2 1/2 seasons from 12 January 1966 to 14 March 1968. ... For other uses, see Cliffhanger (disambiguation). ... “The Joker” redirects here. ... Lou Ferrigno in the 1978 episode Married The Incredible Hulk was a American television series that loosely adapted the Hulk comic book character and ran between 1978 and 1982, and starred Bill Bixby as Dr. David Banner and Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk himself. ... The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop was an American animated cartoon television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Studios that premiered on CBS on September 13, 1969. ... The Perils of Penelope Pitstop was an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera (now known as Cartoon Network Studios) that premiered on CBS on September 13, 1969. ... The X-Men are a group of comic book superheroes featured in Marvel Comics. ... Jean Grey-Summers (born Jean Grey) is a fictional superheroine who lives in the Marvel Comics Universe. ... Psychokinesis (literally mind-movement) or PK is the more commonly used term today for what in the past was known as telekinesis (literally distant-movement). It refers to the psi ability to influence the behavior of matter by mental intention (or possibly some other aspect of mental activity) alone. ... For other uses, see Cyclops (disambiguation). ... Iron Man (Anthony Edward Tony Stark) is a fictional comic book superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. ... S.H.I.E.L.D. (originally an acronym for Supreme Headquarters, International Espionage, Law-Enforcement Division, changed in 1991 to Strategic Hazard Intervention, Espionage and Logistics Directorate) is a fictional counterterrorism and intelligence agency in the Marvel Universe that often deals with superhuman threats. ... The Helicarrier, an aircraft carrier specifically designed to be itself capable of independent powered flight in addition to the conventional functions of aircraft carriers, is the signature capital ship of the fictional intelligence/defence agency S.H.I.E.L.D., usually shown in Marvel Comics-published comic book magazines. ... Powered armor (also mechanized, battle, personal armor and suits) is a science fiction concept referring to a type of armored self-powered exoskeleton that is typically intended for use in battle, construction and survival in dangerous enviroments. ... For other uses, see Fantastic Four (disambiguation). ... Kristoff Vernard (formerly known as Kristoff von Doom and Dr. Doom) is a fictional character appearing in the Marvel Comics universe. ... Doctor Doom (Victor von Doom) is a fictional character, a supervillain in the Marvel Universe. ... The Baxter Building is a fictitious Manhattan 35-story office building whose five upper floors house the Fantastic Fours headquarters in the Marvel Universe. ... Layers of Atmosphere - not to scale (NOAA)[1] Outer space, sometimes simply called space, refers to the relatively empty regions of the universe outside the atmospheres of celestial bodies. ... “Invisible Girl” redirects here. ... Mr. ... Atmospheric entry is the transition from the vacuum of space to the atmosphere of any planet or other celestial body. ... This article is on the current Human Torch. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters) is a Marvel Comics superheroine. ... Dick Tracy is a long-running comic strip featuring a popular and familiar character in American pop culture. ... This article is about the comic strip, the sequential art form as published in newspapers and on the Internet. ... This article is about the comic book company. ... Arcade is a fictional character and supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe. ... This article describes the festival season. ... This article is about the album Fun House. For the game show of the same name, see Fun House (game show). ... Arcade is a fictional character and supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe. ... Arcade is a fictional character and supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe. ... This article is about the comic book company. ... For the upcoming parody of superhero films, see Superhero!. Batman and Superman, two of the most recognizable and iconic superheroes. ... The Great Mouse Detective is a 1986 animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, and originally released to movie theaters on July 2, 1986 by Walt Disney Pictures. ...

The villain speech

A simpler variation on the deathtrap is the villain speech, also known as monologuing. The villain, after having captured the hero or another victim, gives a long speech taunting and sneering at his victim, pontificating on how said victim will soon die, and reminiscing over how he tried for so long to get his kill and is now about to reap the reward. Villains may also give away details of their evil plots, on the rationale that the victim will die immediately. This speech, given when the villain could have just killed the victim in a matter of seconds, is invariably used to give another character time to come in and save the victim, or for the victim to escape. In The Incredibles (which popularized the term "monologuing"), Mr. Incredible and Frozone even attacked villains in the middle of their speeches (Mr. Incredible is seen attacking Syndrome and Frozone is mentioned to have attacked Baron von Ruthless off-camera). In a literary sense, the villain speech is also used as a form of exposition. A monologue, pronounced monolog, is a speech made by one person speaking his or her thoughts aloud or directly addressing a reader, audience, or character. ... The Incredibles is a 2004 American Academy Award-winning computer-animated feature film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures, centering around a family of superheroes. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Lucius Best (superhero name Frozone) is a character in the Disney/Pixar motion picture The Incredibles, voiced by Samuel L. Jackson. ... Buddy Pine (supervillain name Syndrome; calls himself Incredi-Boy earlier in the film) is a fictional character, the main supervillain featured in the film The Incredibles, (produced by Pixar and Disney, first released on November 5th, 2004), the short film Jack-Jack Attack, and the Disney on Ice play, Disney... Exposition is a literary technique by which information is conveyed about events that have occurred prior to the beginning of a novel, play, movie or other work of fiction. ...

Even in relatively realistic stories, villains will often take a moment to say something pithy before finishing off the victim.

Spoofs

The concept of the deathtrap/monologue is featured in many satires. For instance, it was spoofed heavily in the Austin Powers movies, including a replication of James Bond's Shark Infested Water deathtrap (which Dr. Evil calls "the unnecessarily slow-moving dipping mechanism"), which is escaped by swinging on a grapple of dental floss. As the intended sharks with laserbeams attached to their heads were unavailable due to the complexities of international law regarding endangered species (much to Dr. Evil's disappointment), ill-tempered mutant seabass are employed instead. As part of the spoof, Scott Evil, Dr. Evil's son, insists that the deathtrap is pointless and a more effective means of killing the heroes would be simply to use a pistol, which he has nearby, and yells at him for the further incompetence of leaving them alone. 1867 edition of the satirical magazine Punch, a British satirical magazine, ground-breaking on popular literature satire. ... The tone or style of this article or section may not be appropriate for Wikipedia. ... “007” redirects here. ... Dr. Evil is a fictional supervillain played by Mike Myers in the Austin Powers film series. ... This article is about biological mutants. ... Sea bass is a name shared by a large number of different species of fish, including: The Black sea bass (Centropristis striata, family Serranidae) is the common name of a species of fish whose range is eastern coast of the United States. ... Spoiler warning: Scott Evils introduction in Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery Scott Evil, played by Seth Green, is a fictional character from the Austin Powers films. ...

James Bond movies have included so many deathtrap/monologue scenes that a card game entitled Before I Kill You, Mr. Bond was developed. Players, to score points, must read "taunt" cards that mimic many of the improbable situations Bond was found in. // For the game on The Price Is Right, see Card Game (pricing game). ... Before I Kill You, Mr. ...

Also, in the webcomic 8-bit Theater, the airship that the Light Warriors use is actually named the Deathtrap. It garners this name from its habit of randomly halting flight and plunging to the earth at high velocities of speed- "twice terminal velocity," as Red Mage states during one such incident. No one has died in the Deathtrap, despite this obvious fault. The lack of deaths is often due to the Light Warriors' ingenuity in surviving their own airship, which always results in methods that are bizarre or completely nonsensical- such as the incident wherein the character Black Mage used a Hadoken to create an explosion that "softened" their fall, despite his quip that "explosions are not known for their life-saving properties". The airship, the fact that no one has ever died from its crashes, and the way the Light Warriors are always saving themselves through strange methods are all probably references to the very phenomenon described in this article. Quite surprisingly, their last landing went smoothly, as Thief notes that there was "a less fire than usual," to which Red Mage adds "and no blood!" Oddly enough, Black Mage, easily the most villainous character on the team, was not present for that flight. 8-Bit Theater (also spelled 8-Bit Theatre) is a popular[1] sprite comic created and launched by Brian Clevinger in March 2001 that won the Web Cartoonists Choice Awards for best fantasy comic in 2002[2]. In its feature on gaming webcomics, 1UP.com described 8-Bit Theater... The Light Warriors, riding blue Chocobos. ... The Light Warriors, riding blue Chocobos. ... The Light Warriors, riding blue Chocobos. ... The Light Warriors, riding blue Chocobos. ...

In the webcomic The Order of the Stick, the villain Nale has a monologue in the bathroom before leaving his room to prevent himself from "Going Bond villain" and forgetting what to do when the time comes. The Order of the Stick, nicknamed OotS, is a comedic fantasy webcomic based on pencil and paper roleplaying games, particularly Dungeons and Dragons, and its accompanying system, D20 . ... The Linear Guild are a fictional team of villains from the webcomic The Order of the Stick, created and written by Rich Burlew. ...

In the webcomic Real Life, evil genius Tony captures a James Bond-like secret agent sneaking into his base. The agent, once strapped to a table, asks about Tony putting him in an elaborate deathtrap and then turning his head while the agent escapes. Tony tells him he has one in mind; he puts a gun in the agent's face, and if the agent moves, he pulls the trigger, and if the agent doesn't move, he pulls the trigger. The agent remarks that it leaves something to be desired.[1] Real Life is a webcomic drawn and authored by Greg Dean. ...

In the sit-com Blackadder, Prince Edmund is captured by his nemesis, The Hawk, who straps him into a chair which, in sixty seconds, will mutilate him in a variety of ways. Edmund's friends, Baldrick and Percy, manage to poison the Hawk and his followers, but while celebrating this unlikely victory, the time runs out, and Edmund suffers a terrible fate. A sitcom or situation comedy is a genre of comedy performance originally devised for radio but today typically found on television. ... For other uses, see Blackadder (disambiguation). ... Prince Edmund, The Black Adder Spoiler warning: Prince Edmund Plantagenet of York (August/ September, 1461 - December, 1498) (Later King Edmund of England - for about 30 seconds) was a fictional character in the first series of the popular BBC sitcom The Black Adder. ... Baldrick is a fictional character featured in the television series Blackadder. ... Lord Percy Percy is the name given to a a pair of related fictional characters, played by Tim McInnerny, in the first two series of the popular British sitcom Blackadder, the Lord Percy of Blackadder II being the descendant of that seen in The Black Adder. ...

Curse of Monkey Island makes fun of this cliché. The villain LeChuck, after capturing Guybrush Threepwood, insists on telling him his plans before executing him. By this dialogue, interesting background story that connect the games together are given to the player. Guybrush does him the favour to listen, but after a while he is so bored that he refuses to listen any more, even if LeChuck pleads to continue. The Secret of Monkey Island, CD version. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Guybrush Threepwood is the main character of the Monkey Island series of computer adventure games by LucasArts. ...

While not a spoof, the famous line from Watchmen—"I did it thirty-five minutes ago"—is a skewering of the monologuing tendencies of supervillains. For other uses, see Watchman. ...

In the Simpsons episode You Only Move Twice, which generally spoofs Bond villain clichés, supervillain/great boss Hank Scorpio has "Mr. Bont" strapped to a table with a laser à la Goldfinger. Bont manages to escape, only to be tackled by Homer. Scorpio's henchmen promptly shoot Bont. A deleted scene from another episode, $pringfield, also pokes fun at this. The scene has James Bond playing poker against one of his many villains. When he loses due to Homer (who had forgotten to take the Joker card out of the deck along with a card entitled 'Rules of Bridge') he is dragged off by the villain's henchman. While leaving, he says, "At least tell me the details of your plan for world domination", to which the villain replied, "Oh no, I'm not falling for that one again." You Only Move Twice is the second episode of The Simpsons eighth season, which originally aired November 3, 1996. ... Hank Scorpio is a one-time fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons, voiced by Albert Brooks. ... $pringfield (full title: $pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)) is the tenth episode of The Simpsons fifth season. ...

In the movie Dogma Azrael makes fun of the Deathtrap by saying, "Oh no, I've seen too many Bond movies to know that you never reveal ALL the elements to your plan, no matter how close you are to winning." (Quote may be paraphrased)

While not a spoof, J.C. Hutchins's trilogy of novels, 7th Son, uses deathtraps in a self-conscious and practical way. The novels feature a villain who sets up a series of deathtraps in remote locations that the team of protagonists must enter and subsequently escape, in order to eventually locate the villain's hideout. However the villain is really using the deathtraps (including an exploding water tower base and ambushing a protagonist on an ice field with dump trucks) to distract and slowly kill off the protagonists while the villain carries out his plans.

In the Kim Possible series,at the en of the chapters when the characters travel in time, Shego wants to kill Kim quickly but Dr. Draken asks her if she is not going to tell how she did evrything because that is the way of the great villians, so Shego does it giving as a result time for the heroes to scape. This article is about the television series. ...

External links

• The Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord, a tip sheet by Peter Anspach for villains who wish to avoid easily-escapable deathtrap situations