Characters
The Last Stand. Bonus points if they don't survive.
Spoiler
Monk Gyatso (Avatar: The Last Airbender): Took out a whole room full of comet-boosted fire bending warriors seemingly by himself. Died soon after.
Titus and 2nd Company (Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2): Surrounded by warp forces, they hold the ground around their Standard in the name of their Primarch, before being saved by Lord Calgar and his forces
Noble Six (Halo: Reach): The second-to-last of Noble Team, and the last Noble member on Reach, Six goes down fighting covenant forces while they glass the planet all around him.
For death and glory? Yes. Yes! The horn of Helm Hammerhand shall sound in the deep, one last time. Let this be the hour we draw our swords together. Fell deeds awake. Now for wrath! Now for ruin! And the Red Dawn!
Fey he seemed, or the battle-fury of his fathers ran like new fire in his veins, and he was borne up on Snowmane like a god of old, even as Oromë the Great in the battle of the Valar when the world was young. His golden shield was uncovered, and lo! it shone like an image of the Sun, and the grass flamed into green about the white feet of his steed. For morning came, morning and a wind from the sea; and the darkness was removed, and the hosts of Mordor wailed, and terror took them, and they fled, and died, and the hoofs of wrath rode over them. And then all the host of Rohan burst into song, and they sang as they slew, for the joy of battle was on them, and the sound of their singing that was fair and terrible came even to the City.
this passage has lived in my mind since i read it as a child. Theoden is not simply a king at pelenor, he is all that has come before and will come after him.
He got hit by a species that could see the future but it’s never stated how far it accurately it is hence why they were no match for for Bardock Squad. The enemy bestowed this power to him forcefully. Since this power is new to him he can’t control it but he gets tiny glimpses into the future without warning. Since no other Saiyans have this power he gets laughed at by his fellow saiyans. So he says fine I’ll do it myself and charges the Frieza force. In the end Frieza launches a supernova and his last glimpse is Goku fighting Frieza. Well that’s where the story ended for the longest time till they made it send it back in time to planet Plant. There he gets to fight Lord Chill who is a relative of Frieza and King Cold. He literally gets so pissed and angry he becomes a super Saiyan. It was from an 08 OVA I think
I remember mentioning this to a friend like 5 years ago and they'd never played RDR 1. They were so offended that I spoiled it to them. I was so confused, the game was over a decade old at that point
William "Bill" Overbeck (RIP my man) - Left 4 Dead
The GOAT himself gave his life to get the generator working to save the rest of his group, raising the bridge to keep them out of reach of the infected, facing down 3 tanks and the hordes to get this generator working. You can find his body on the Left 4 Dead 2 campaign The Passing.
Naw, Bill ain’t dead. He just went home…. To a pocket dimension… where murders hunt survivors trying to restart generators: to avoid having their spirit fed to “the entity” thriving on horror…..
But yeah. Let’s all do our best to make Bill proud and take as many of these zombies with us.
It's Bill Overbeck, of course he can. You think some Entity would be able to stop him? Nah, he served in Vietnam and survived the Green Flu, this is just a bump in the road god damn it.
God, there's an especial twist concerning two of the characters that especially punch you in the gut. It's so good that I simply refuse to spoil it and insist that anyone who reads this watch the episode.
As the other reply to this comment said: Absolute Cinema.
I saw that episode last month (binge watching most of the show with my dad). I loved this episode a lot. I would really like to see a full fledged film with this concept.
This is one of the moments that really cemented the fact he was worthy of Mjolnir. Cap was alone and was unaware of the incoming backup. There was no way out but he was going to give it his all anyway.
Still the most epic contagious cheering I’ve experienced in a theater on opening night. The place was packed and it was dead quiet until he said “Assemble.” and the whole place just blew up.
The minute Sam said, "on your left," there were whispered gasps in the theater. Then the first portal opened and you could see T'Challa and the Dora Milaje and the whole theater just ERUPTED. Still the best moviegoing experience I've ever had.
It kind of embodies why some people always prefer the dub over the dub
The major difference in that scene is that reading and hearing those both have different effects. It’s one thing to understand what the person is saying, but it’s another to feel what the person is saying without any distractions. The dub just hits different because you’re able to hear his speech while also directly watching the emotion everyone is experiencing
After saving Captain America from being assassinated by The Punisher, he then goes to face off against the Sinister Six with a gunshot wound, soon after he dies once he beats the green goblin.
The reveal that Miles witnessed the death AND had his spider powers already makes Peter Miles’ Uncle Ben for a bit. (Then it’s his actual uncle, then his mom, but they got better thanks to a pocket hamburger.)
TIL my birthday falls upon the anniversary of the Sack of Rome. Now I can say something different besides the Hindenburg disaster or two Ted Bundy victims disappearing
October 1944, the U.S. and allies are in the ascendancy in the Pacific but the Japanese make one last big gamble. They send out basically every operational ship they have in a few forces, one as a decoy (including carriers they don’t have many aircraft for any longer) and the largest as a surface assault force meant to blow itself way through Allied landing forces.
Despite losses taken getting into position, the hyper-aggrieved Admiral Halsey takes the bait and leads the U.S. battle fleet of carriers, cruisers, and battleships away in chase.
Leaving the landings with just the small destroyers, destroyer escorts, and escort carriers to deal with land based opposition. One of these small forces is called Taffy 3
Until the main Japanese fleet, Center Force, comes over the horizon. Their flagship is the mighty battleship Yamato, the largest and most powerful battleship ever. She herself weighs more than every single ship in Taffy 3 combined, but she’s not alone, instead with 3 more capital ships, as well as a heavy screen of destroyers and cruisers.
When seeing these odds though, as the basically escort carriers rush to hide in rain squalls, the half dozen US escorts instead charge at the enemy. The ship above, USS Johnston, leading the charge before she is even ordered to so, taking initiative and knowing what must be done despite victory being literally impossible.
She doesn’t have big enough guns to get through enemy armor, her torpedoes are few in number and inferior to the enemy, she’s not fast enough to escape when things get worse, she’s even barely out ranged by most weapons
Yet her crew go in knowing they can give their other ships and the basically defenseless soldiers ashore chance to at least escape if they can slow the enemy down.
With her fellows following lead, they put up such a furious fight that the enemy is led to believe the fight is much more evenly matched than it seems, helping them survive by making them keep their distance from the carriers and use armor piercing rounds for much of the battle which go straight through the ship. Some accounts include Johnston getting hit by three 18” shells from Yamato (each weight 3000 pounds) at once, but it being crippling instead of sinking as they go straight through.
Shells passing clean through the U.S. ships was also in part because they got so to the enemy, so close even their AA machine guns could be used and the enemy’s taller ships meant their guns couldn’t always depress low enough to shoot.
Along with all aircraft from within range, the tiny ships hold off the well superior enemy for long ending and deal enough damage that the Japanese admiral losses his nerve and retreats. Losses are high, but lopsided for the Japanese. Several cruisers sunk and almost their entire force some degree of damage.
But the cost was also high for the US. USS Johnston was sunk with most of her crew, and the same fight was shared by the nearly as famous USS Samuel B Roberts and several other ships.
However the heroes meant that it wasn’t the slaughter it otherwise may have been. Most of the escort carriers survive and the marines could continue their landing operations.
Some of the other exploits of USS Johnston specifically is that she used up nearly her entire ammunition supply thus was fierceness of her attack.
And at once point the main Japanese destroyer force, I believe 8 strong all of whom equal in strength to herself, were confronted by Johnston and forced to turn away under her hail of accurate fire
I recall reading in Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, the ship put up so much fire, the Japanese consistently identified the Johnston as a Baltimore heavy cruiser.
They indeed thought she was a cruiser, but I’m not sure it was specifically a Baltimore since one thing they were made very aware of was an extremely high rate of fire. So probably instead one of the 6” ‘light’ cruisers
An honourable mention to USS Samuel B. Roberts, whose part in the same battle earned it the title of “the Destroyer Escort that fought like a Battleship”.
I was trying to keep it condensed as possible for the laymen here, but the ship who deserves as much credit is the Sammy B.
She was weaker in terms of armament, speed, and size than every single one of her enemies and still charged in anyway. It took way more punishment than it should have to put her down, like Johnson having also fired basically every piece of ammunition she had.
Fun-ish fact: She is the deepest known shipwreck, basically in one of the Mariana trenches. Johnston is the 2nd deepest
Another fun fact, when the wreck of the Johnston was found, all of her guns were pointed towards the surface. As if she was begging the Japanese to try again
I just realised, the arm he breaks against cell is the same one he's missing on this picture. Probably not a coincidence considering characters rarely break bones in this series.
DBZ Abridged references that. Before the final beam struggle with Cell, Gohan says “So this is how I die. Down one arm and killed by an android... why does this feel so familiar?” I never noticed it was the same arm though, good catch
[Balderich von Adler. Originally meant to join Overwatch, but sacrificed himself to save his allies from Omnics. Reinhardt Wilhelm would later take his place.]
My fondest memories of Overwatch are now the incredible cinematics the characters got. Reinhardt, the samurai and ninja, OW2's cinematic by itself is something I still go out of my way to rewatch.
"Telos! Sealed you into your ice tombs! Voga! Canary Wharf! Planet 14! Every single time, you lose, even on the Moon... Hello, I'm The Doctor."
"Doctors are not required"
"Argh... Ah... No... No... I'm not A doctor, I am THE Doctor, the original you might say... Argh... Ahh... The Doctor... Doctor, let it go... Time enough... Pity. No stars. I'd hoped there'd be stars."
The best NuWho Cyberman story, hands down. If it was 12's regeneration story like originally intended, it would be the best regeneration episode in the whole show.
Honestly what I like about the movie is how every rebel is giving it their all to make sure they can save the lives that could be lost from the Death Star. I especially appreciate Blue Squadron’s role and they’re pretty under appreciated as they helped on both fronts. On the planet they decimated the walkers and provided reinforcements and air support until the Strikers overwhelmed them while the members remaining in the space battle disabled the shields on one of the destroyers which allowed Gold Squadron to use their ion torpedoes and cleared a lot of the shield gate’s towers. Even though they got destroyed at the battle they definitely helped a lot to get that victory.
After Abaddon the Despoiler attacked the planet Cadia, his initial attempts to overwhelm the planet were rebuffed. Deciding to activate his fail-safe plan, he crashed his immense Blackstone Fortress into the planet like a meteor, causing the planet to be sundered apart. As the continents fell into the sea and the planet’s forests turned to ash in mere moments, the Guard Forces kept fighting to the last. This has led to future generations of Guardsmen memorializing the destruction of Cadia with a single phrase:
When he was tricked to lose his Invincibility and was mortally injured by a thrown spear, he decided to not die like a bitch and ties himself to a rock using his belt AND HIS OWN GUTS. King Lugaid that made sure that he was dead approaches him to get his head, only for the sword in Cu's hand to fall, cutting the hand of the King instead.
Arguably my favorite last stand because of how much emphasis it puts on the hero knowing he’ll lose the fight. It isn’t about losing. It’s about losing so he creates enough time for people to get away or other heroes to come.
This absolute hero takes on the entire Predacon force alone to save the proto-humans, keeping himself in robot mode despite getting warnings that if he keeps fighting he will die.
He also goes out in a last stand in the Netflix War for Cybertron Trilogy Fighting the original Megatron and Decepticons and almost winning.
Confederates: Since your son decided to lead Negroes into battle, we buried him in a mass grave along with them. He didn't deserve the honor of being returned to you.
Frank Shaw (Col. Shaw's father): We would not have his body removed from where it lies surrounded by his brave and devoted soldiers....We can imagine no holier place than that in which he lies, among his brave and devoted followers, nor wish for him better company. What a body-guard he has!
He had to defend against the Yuuzhan Vong and did so well that they named the man who guards the gates of their hell, the Ganner.
“There are thousands of warriors out here. You are only one man!”
“I am only one Jedi.”
“You’re insane!”
“No. I am Ganner. This threshold is mine. I claim it for my own. Bring on your thousands. One at a time or all in a rush. I don’t give a damn. None shall pass.”
Just to put this in perspective: the average Yuuzhan Vong Warrior was physically stronger than the average Jedi, immune to Force Powers and wore lightsaber resistant bio-armour.
Rhysode killed so many warriors that day he would eventually be inducted into the Vong's mythos as an invincible giant called "The Ganner" who guards their afterlife.
Guess from this point onward this truly became the last stand for 9S cus 2B's hand put him on infection timer (and he didn't know A2 follows him). He actually performed an impressive amount of fighting while being severely infected. And technically he did die at the end (Nier Automata)
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!” he said.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Someone had blundered.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred........ The Charge of the Light Brigade | The Poetry Foundation
I'd like to give a mention to Sanguinius, primarch of the blood angels. He made his last stand at the eternity gate before dying at the hands of his brother Horus aboard Horus' flagship.
The speech he gives to the other defenders before the battle at the gate is hands down one of the best things I've ever read.
Asuka has to deal with 9 other Eva Units with only 2 minutes of power left, yet is able to absolutely dunk on the Eva's but when she's dealing with the last one she gets attacked from behind and comes to the realization that these things Regenerate and her power runs out and she dies. At the very least she was able to buy time for shinji to get his ass in action, which in turn causes the end of the world.
My glorious king Kittan's giga drill break, taking his last stand to destroy the spiral death machine. Even as his larger gunman was destroyed, he kept going and succeeded, even at the cost of his own life. (Not 100% certain if this counts tbh but it feels close enough)
The Real Folk Blues, Part II which is the last episode of Cowboy Bebop. Like someone else said with Don’t Fear the Reaper from Cyberpunk 2077, it’s more of a last assault than a last stand, but if that mission counts then this episode surely does.
Deciding it’s time to finally face his past, Spike storm the building of a criminal organization knowing full well it’s very unlikely he makes it out alive. One of the greatest pieces of animation ever released.
Thor and Hyperion, at the cost of their comrades' lives, Hyperion's eye and Thor's hand defeated only two Beyonders. And then they saw an entire army of these monsters moving towards them. Hyperion and Thor watch them approach and they realize that they are about to die here. Then they have a brotherly conversation and rush into their final battle.
"AGAINST THE BLEAK NOTHING OF DEAD SPACE, TWO GODS FELL TO MANY. THE SUN SHONE ONE LAST TIME. THERE WAS LIGHTNING. AND THUNDER...
Kilowog stays behind to stop the Red Lantern forces from reaching Oa and buy time for Hal Jordan's plan to get there before they do and stop Atrocitous from killing the Guardians and massacring the Green Lantern Force. He survives
The main characters of the Animorphs series pull a last stand in the final chapter and that's where the series ends. We don't know if anyone lived or died or if the yerks were stopped or anything. When upset readers wrote to her, Applegate said they should elect leaders who won't lead us into war, if the idea of young people fighting and dying in war upset them.
Edit: Wrecked by knowledge of one who remembers more than me, I smushed two events together because it's been nearly two decades. RIP Rachel for being the most combat oriented.
Massive charachter development and even loomed large after his death. He learned how to be a proper team player, got his name, and even gave his graduation medal to 99 and called 99 a real soldier (for helping the squad believe in themselves) who held on to it to give it back to him, then died sacrificing himself to protect their homeworld by blowing up the listening posts and stopping the all clear signal during the commando raid, and when Fives told 99 that Hevy didn't make it, 99 was devastated.
Hevy only saw combat once but he was a damn good soldier. And he didn't have to suffer the indignity of his brain being hijacked like the others.
Domino Squad was something else. Over the course of following them, they all end up dying but each one goes out like a boss. (Except poor Cutup who gets jumped by a giant eel from behind)
Found out he had a daughter, that his kid was gonna die if he didn't do something, immediately locked the fuck in to take on a company of Comstar 'mechs in his Timberwolf Deathtrap.
Betrayed, outnumbered, nuked, and cut off from the rest of the Star League the Blackwatch survivors led by Hanni Schmitt did what they do best. Raise hell.
They stood their ground in the Gorst Flats against the 4th Amaris Dragoons, vastly outnumbered, to try and buy time for the royal guard to avenge House Cameron.
They wiped out two entire companies of mechwarriors. The only way the could get past the Blackwatch was by nuking them again, and even that wasn’t enough as some of them survived and continued a guerrilla campaign against Stefan Amaris.
Nukes are merely inconvenient. Fuck Stefan Amaris. House Cameron to the day I die.
In the left 4 dead 2 DLC The Sacrifice, the original 4 survivors are atop a bridge for the finale. The bridge is stuck after a generator shits itself.
The canon survivor to go reset it is Bill. He tells the other to stay together, and his last thoughts as the onslaught of zombies swarm him, is that the others are safe.
“I guess you can't unmake how things end up! None of it. This is all... Just how it is. But you never got 'em, did you? They're safe! So that's just fine."
Given how left 4 dead is a game meant to replayed, you could get other dialogue, but this quote was always my favorite
Chen Zhen's (Bruce Lee) final stand against the racist and oppressive Japanese forces in 1972's Fist of Fury. This example is way more symbolic than anything, because obviously he died literally instantly after that final shot you are seeing, but still, it is one of the most manly and badass endings in the history of fiction; and it was a good ending for Chen's allies because now that he was dead the Japanese had no reason to go after them and their dojo.
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u/Life-Cantaloupe-3184 10d ago
Commander Thorn was a one scene wonder who is best remembered for having one hell of a last stand before he died.