Normally in fiction, catching a projectile (like an arrow or even a bullet) with one's bare hands is a display of impressive skill or inhuman power. But there are times when this trope proves hazardous for the catcher.
Catching Your Doom is what happens when a character attempts to catch something shot or thrown at them, causing harmful or even fatal results for the catcher. Sometimes this can be a Surprisingly Realistic Outcome but it is often due to the character's lack of required power/skill to catch the object or a property of the object that makes catching it inadvisable (e.g. a Trick Arrow rigged to explode upon contact).
Not to be confused with the TV series Deadliest Catch. Compare Hey, Catch!, where throwing an object at a character is done to distract them, but the projectile itself doesn't necessarily do any harm.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Hunter × Hunter: The main characters are challenged to a game of dodgeball by Razor and his goons to earn the Patch of Shore on Greed Island. Throughout much of the game, everyone tries to avoid catching Razor's balls because he uses Nen to make them so strong that catching them unprotected will kill the recipient. However, Gon eventually tries to use Nen to protect his head and arms so he can catch it anyway, only for his legs to give way and lead to him being blown through the room, greviously injuring him.
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
- Diamond is Unbreakable: In the fight against Bug-Eaten Rat, Jotaro uses his Star Platinum to catch a needle shot at him only to find out that it's Harmful to Touch and causes his hand to melt.
- JoJolion: As Josuke and Yasuho chase after Satoru Akefu, Josuke notices a lit cigarette getting thrown towards him. His attempt at catching it results in his hand getting burned.
Comic Books
- The Dark Knight Returns: Green Arrow shoots an arrow at Superman, which the latter catches easily. Unfortunately, the arrow releases powdered kryptonite, weakening Superman.
- Dark Reign: Elektra: Bullseye shoots an arrow at Nico. Elektra catches it, only to find that it's covered in barbs laced with drugs.
- Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man: In issue #1, Peter takes on the villain Tracer, whose bullets can lock on a target and follow them until they hit. Using training from Steve Rogers, Spider-Man manages to catch both bullets. However, one goes through his hand, causing him to pass out from shock.
- The Ultimates 3: Quicksilver tries to stop the bullet shot at the Scarlet Witch. Unfortunately, the bullet is keyed to her DNA and designed to keep moving until it hits its target. It punches a hole through Quicksilver's hand and kills Scarlet Witch.
- Watchmen: Ozymandias catches the bullet shot at him by Laurie. However, the bullet still injures his hand and there's enough blood to make it look like it was fatal before he gets back up and kicks her. The 2009 film adaptation has him wear a padded gauntlet but the bullet still breaks his skin.
Fan Works
- With Strings Attached: The story kicks off when a man throws a strange object at John that explodes, releasing a powder that knocks him out.
Films — Animation
- Aladdin and the King of Thieves: When Sa'luk takes Aladdin hostage and demands the Hand of Midas in exchange, Cassim throws it to him. Sa'luk, catches it by the magical hand end instead of the safe-to-touch handle, resulting in him being transformed into a gold statue.
- Batman: The Dark Knight Returns: Green Arrow shoots an arrow at Superman, which the latter catches easily. Unfortunately, the arrow releases powdered kryptonite, which weakens Superman.
- Hercules (1997): After taking away Hercules' Super-Strength, Hades demonstrates how weak the demigod is by throwing a barbell at him. Hercules catches it and is pinned to the ground under its weight.
- Kung Fu Panda 2: A downplayed example occurs in the climactic battle against Lord Shen. Po catches Shen's cannonballs and throws them back at his warships with ease. However, his paw is briefly set ablaze and he has to put out the flames.
- Lilo & Stitch (2002): During the fight between Stitch and Jumbaa, Stitch manages to catch a plasma ball. However, the ball is too hot for him to hold and he throws it back at Jumbaa.
Films — Live-Action
- Daredevil (2003): Elektra throws one of her sai at Bullseye, who simply catches it and throws it back at her. Elektra tries to catch it but gets her palm impaled.
- DC Extended Universe:
- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: During their fight, Batman shoots a grenade at Superman which the latter easily catches. Unknown to Superman, the grenade contains Kryptonite gas, weakening him when it explodes.
- Black Adam (2022): Black Adam can ignore bullets easily. However, he actually gets hurt when he catches a rocket with an Eternium warhead.
- Hot Shots!: When Topper attacks the nuclear plant at the climax, he manages to drop a bomb directly on top of Saddam Hussein while the dictator is lounging in a sun chair. Saddam catches the bomb in his arms, but that doesn't keep it from detonating seconds later.
- Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior: The Feral Kid's razor-edged boomerang can only be caught safely by the Kid himself, who has a special glove designed to protect his hand. When the Toadie, one of Lord Humongous's men, tries to catch it, he loses several fingers to it.
- Marvel Cinematic Universe:
- The Avengers: Loki catches an arrow shot at him by Hawkeye. This being Hawkeye, the arrow explodes, knocking Loki off the aircraft he is on and into the path of the Hulk.
- Avengers: Age of Ultron: During the fight in Klaue's hideout, Thor throws his hammer Mjölnir at Pietro, who catches it and gets dragged across the room because he is unable to wield it.
- Captain America: Civil War: Subverted in the airport fight when Black Panther catches two of Hawkeye's arrows and the heads explode in his hands. Black Panther suffers no damage thanks to his vibranium suit.
- The Meteor Man: The titular hero is able to catch bullets with his Super-Speed. Unfortunately for him, he does this when his powers are weakening, meaning he is not invulnerable when he does it.
- Mr. Right: Steve is given an "Elmer Fudd shotgun" that is so weak that Francis can block the pellets with his palm. It is very painful and some of the pellets go past his hand and hit him in the face, but all this does is make his hand and face bleed a little. Steve then complains about how lame the weapon he had been given is.
- The Prestige: One of Borden's starting tricks is faking a Bullet Catch using a fake ramrod to remove the bullet before it is fired. The act gets butchered by Angier who deliberately uses a real bullet to blow two of Borden's fingers off. That someone could do that easily is mentioned early on as to why most magicians don't do the bullet catch trick.
- Problem Child: When the warden shows up to mock him, Martin Beck throws a dumbbell at him. The warden catches the dumbbell, causing him to lose his balance and fall off the railing he's standing on. He survives but is seen in an arm sling later on.
- The Returner: In the final act of the film, Miyamoto shoots Mizoguchi and the latter catches the bullet. But while his reflexes are fast enough to put his hand in the path of the bullet, he is neither bulletproof nor holding anything to stop the bullet with. As a result, it goes right through his hand and into his forehead.
- Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi: Han throws a grenade at an Imperial Officer, who foolishly catches it and is knocked off the catwalk when it goes off.
Literature
- Fate/Zero: During their fight, Kotomine uses his magically-enhanced reflexes to block a bullet from Kiritsugu's Mage Killer gun. While he prevents it from hitting his face, the bullet still enters Kotomine's hand, travels down his forearm, and explodes out his elbow, rendering his arm useless. Evidently, having the speed to catch a bullet doesn't mean your body is tough enough to withstand it.
- The Fifth Elephant: Vimes throws a lit firework at his werewolf opponent Wolfgang. Due to his canine instincts, Wolfgang is unable to resist catching it in his mouth and is killed when it explodes.
- Mother of Learning: Upon being cornered by a thousand-year-old skeletal lich who announces that he needs to die, Zorian audaciously asks, "I don't suppose you'd accept a bribe to pretend you couldn't catch me?" and throws him a silver coin. The lich catches it out of the air — and collapses in a heap, as the spell contained in the coin attacks his soul, triggering his failsafes to yank him back to his Soul Jar.
- Rise of the Living Forge: Erik catches the bone dagger that Arwin throws to him, but scratches his hand in the process. Seconds later, a sliver of magical bone that entered through Erik's injury reaches his heart and kills him.
Live-Action TV
- Arrow: In the season 1 finale, Malcolm Merilyn catches an arrow Oliver shoots at him, just like he did during their fight in the penultimate episode. Unfortunately for Malcolm, this arrow explodes.
- Blackadder: "Sense and Senility" sees Prince George the target of an assassination at the theatre. Having only just wrapped his head around the fact that the events he's witnessing onstage are fictional, he fails to realize that the bomb thrown at him by an anarchist is in fact real, catching it and chatting excitedly about the dramatic turn the play has taken. Thankfully, he survives.
- Buffyverse:
- Angel: Angel tries to catch an arrow shot at him in "War Zone" and gets an Impaled Palm for his efforts.
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer: In the season 5 finale, Buffy throws an orb at Glory which is designed to weaken her. As Glory isn't all that bright, she catches the orb instead of dodging it.
- Once Upon a Time (2011): In "Nasty Habits", Neal shoots an arrow coated with squid ink (which can paralyze magical beings) at his father Pan. Pan catches the arrow and realizes too late that the ink was on the arrow's shaft, not its head.
Manhua
- Old Master Q: A humorous, non-lethal example occurs in the strip where Master Q and his rival Chiu are throwing stuff at each other, starting with balls and sticks and later moving on to knives. Master Q sneaks in a lit dynamite stick, resulting in a comical Ash Face for Chui.
Podcasts
- Norfolk Wizard Game: Samson's introductory episode has him playing a game of basketball where he's forced to pass the ball to a rival player he deeply dislikes, causing him to throw it with some force. Unfortunately, this is also when Samson's Awakening as a Mage occurs, specifically his Affinity to Matter, accidentally turning the basketball to solid granite while maintaining the prior momentum. The result is said rival's body being shattered upon impact, leaving it wrapped around the stone sphere. A later episode reveals they actually survived this, but the incident had left them crippled due to a shattered spine.
Video Games
- Doom Eternal: The Cacodemon and Pain Elemental demons can catch the Doom Slayer's grenades by eating them. This, of course, proves fatal for them.
- God of War Ragnarök: During the boss fight with Heimdall, he can catch the Draupnir Spear if Kratos throws it at him. Which proves hazardous, since Kratos can rig it to explode.
- Grand Theft Auto IV: One of the performers at the cabaret is the Incredible Kleinman, who tries to catch a bullet with his teeth. He does the trick with a real loaded gun; when it fires, he immediately collapses, seemingly having been shot in the head for real and causing his assistant to panic.
- Mario Party 8: Drawing a 5 in the Cardiators minigame results in a Bob-omb being tossed toward the opponent, who catches it. The result is a Boom in the Hand.
Web Animation
- Crispy Toast: In "Donkey Kong - The BLU Heist", Donkey Kong faces off against a pair of Demomen. After DK takes out one of them, the other fires sticky bombs and Donkey Kong catches one. However, as they are remotely detonated, the demo blows DK up while the bomb is in his hand.
- The Demented Cartoon Movie!: Juliet throws an explosive at Romeo, which he catches.
- Red vs. Blue: Played with a bit while Tucker has organized a training exercise to catch Felix. At one point, Tucker throws a grenade, telling him to "Catch!" Felix does so.
Felix: One mississippi, two mississippi, three mississippi...
Tucker: Oh no, NONONONONO!
Felix: FOUR mississippi! [Felix throws the grenade back to Tucker, and it explodes right as it touches him] - RWBY: In "Gravity", Tyrian takes on Qrow, Robyn, and Clover. Tyrian is beaten when he catches a bolt from Robyn's crossbow and it explodes in his face, knocking him out.
Webcomics
- Girl Genius: Agatha tosses her Castle Heterodyne dingbot at a Geisterdame and shouts "Catch". The dingbot electrocutes the Geisterdame when she reflexively catches it.
- Goblins: In Tempts Fate, a goblin defeats an adversary whose god forbade him to wield any weapon by tossing him one.
- The Order of the Stick: The villainous Tarquin can catch arrows. Haley outmaneuvers him by shooting arrows at Tarquin while the latter is hanging off an airship, causing him to let go of the airship and fall to the ground.
Western Animation
- Justice League: In one episode, the Joker tosses a doll at Wonder Woman. She catches it and it explodes in her face.
- Samurai Jack: "Jack and the Hunters" has Jack dealing with a quartet of hunters from the Imakandi alien race. At one point, an Imakandi shoots an arrow at Jack, who catches it. However, the arrow transforms into a robotic snake that injects a paralyzing venom into Jack.
- Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner: This trope is just one of the many ways the Coyote fails, usually catching explosives he throws at the Road Runner after they are launched back at him by things like electric wires or cacti.
- Young Justice (2010): In "Secrets", Artemis and Zatanna take on Harm, who displays the skill to easily catch Artemis's arrows. When the fight is taken to a kitchen, Artemis tricks him into catching an arrow while he's standing next to a gas stove. The arrow bursts into flames and Harm is caught in a massive explosion. However, this only slows him down for a bit.
Real Life
- There are several accounts of soldiers on a battlefield trying to catch or stop a rolling cannonball. Invariably they greatly underestimate the built-up momentum of the object in question and end up injuring themselves, to the point of losing limbs.
- According to a witness account in the book The Phantom Major, David Stirling, founder of the SAS, used this as a Bond One-Liner during a raid in North Africa. He opened a door in an administration building, found a German officer sitting behind a desk, and said, "Here — catch!". The German indeed caught the object he was thrown, and cried a horrified "Nein!" when he recognized it as a grenade; Stirling replied "Ja!", slammed the poor fellow's office door closed again, and was several strides down the corridor when the grenade detonated.
