View source for Category:Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?

{{IndexTrope}}
[[File:JustShoot.jpg|link=The Joker|frame]]

{{quote|'''Scott Evil:''' What? [[No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine|Are you feeding him?]] [[Stating the Simple Solution|Why don't you just kill him?]]
'''Dr. Evil:''' I have an even better idea. [[Contractual Genre Blindness|I'm going to place him in an easily escapable situation involving an overly elaborate and exotic death.]]
|''[[Austin Powers]]: International Man of Mystery''}}

Villains (and occasionally darker [[Anti-Hero]]es) frequently find themselves in conundrums that could easily be solved by [[Mundane Solution|finding the right person and shooting them]]. But rare is the villain who actually takes this direct approach.

There may or may not be some in-story justification for this failure to take the direct approach. However, the [[Doylist]] explanations generally boils down to the fact, if he ''did'' just shoot him, then the story would be much shorter and would end with the bad guys winning.

Flavors include:
* [[Bond Villain Stupidity]]: The villain has the opportunity to kill the good guy, but leaves them alive anyway, sometimes for no adequately explained reason.
* [[Complexity Addiction]]: The villain ''does'' try to kill the hero, but employs some ridiculously elaborate (and thus easily-foiled) method, rather than just shooting them.
* [[Evil Gloating]]: Even when the villain intends to kill the hero in a straightforward fashion, they still feel the need to gloat about it immediately beforehand, thus giving the hero time to escape or fight back.
* [[Stating the Simple Solution]]: Someone in the story [[Lampshade Hanging|points out]] that the above three options are stupid and that a simpler, more direct solution exists (usually by using this line verbatim). The villain may or may not actually take their advice.

Compare [[Third-Act Stupidity]], [[Contractual Genre Blindness]]. Contrast [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]], [[Combat Pragmatist]], and [[No-Nonsense Nemesis]].

If you, the viewer, are wondering why someone won't just shoot someone else, [[Headscratchers]] is the place to ask.

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[[Category:Death Tropes]]
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