# The black guy dies first? (Potential Spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 1, 2004, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-dies-first-potential-spoilers/277443 "2004-12-01T03:32:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TheOnlySaneOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@TheOnlySaneOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheOnlySaneOne)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-dies-first-potential-spoilers/277443/1 "2004-12-01T03:32:14Z")
You know, I’ve been thinking. Don’t worry, it’s not about to become a habit anytime soon. Anyway, I was thinking about the cliche that states “The black guy always dies first in movies”. Now we’ve all heard it, but the only movie I can think of where it comes close to that is _Jurassic Park_, but I know that’s not right. So in which movies do the black guy actually die first? ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-dies-first-potential-spoilers/277443/2 "2004-12-01T03:34:45Z")
The only one I can think of off the top of my head probably isn’t what you’re looking for. (I know, my English is badly) Blackula. I mean, he’s a black vampire and vampires are dead, so he probably died even before the movie started. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-dies-first-potential-spoilers/277443/3 "2004-12-01T03:41:02Z")
> [@TheOnlySaneOne](#): > > Now we’ve all heard it, but the only movie I can think of where it comes close to that is _Jurassic Park_, but I know that’s not right. Wasn’t Gennero, the lawyer, the first in the main cast to die first? ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-dies-first-potential-spoilers/277443/4 "2004-12-01T03:42:11Z")
Well, it doesn’t hold true in :rolleyes: for using the spoiler: \*Night Of The Living Dead ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-dies-first-potential-spoilers/277443/5 "2004-12-01T03:42:21Z")
In _Aliens_ the first character we see die is Frost (Ricco Ross), who happens to be black. He’s set on fire by Dietrich’s flamethrower, falls down a stairwell and then is blown to pieces when the flames reach the bag of ammunition he was carrying. Yes, that brother sure is dead. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-dies-first-potential-spoilers/277443/6 "2004-12-01T03:43:45Z")
Okay, on reflection, the _first_ character we see die is a female colonist who begs “please kill me”, seconds before a chestburster erupts from her torso. Frost is the first of the Marine squad to buy it. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-dies-first-potential-spoilers/277443/7 "2004-12-01T03:49:41Z")
Kill Bill Vol1. Of course, the guy is a gal ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-dies-first-potential-spoilers/277443/8 "2004-12-01T03:51:04Z")
Actually, the cliche is that the black guy isn’t going to make it out of the movie alive, period, not that he’s going to die first among the cast. But it does happen occassionally that in some films where some rampaging deadly thing is on the loose, the black guys dies first. The characters portrayed by Omar Epps(?) and Jada Pinkett-Smith at the start of _Scream 2_. Also, the black woman train conductor at the start of _Species._ ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-dies-first-potential-spoilers/277443/9 "2004-12-01T06:09:54Z")
Didn’t Samuel L. Jackson die first in _Deep Blue Sea_? ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-dies-first-potential-spoilers/277443/10 "2004-12-01T08:18:51Z")
Actually, I had heard that not about movies, but about Star Trek. IIRC, Eddie Murphy (or maybe Richard Pryor) used to do a routine about how there’s always a black guy that beams down in the landing party and gets killed right away. The aliens turn him into a cube, then Kirk says, “Analysis, Mr. Spock”, and Spock says, “The nigger’s a cube, sir.” Pardon the language - that’s actually how the routine went, not my words. What about _Predator_? I can’t remember the order that the people died, but the black guy didn’t make it to the end, did he? ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-dies-first-potential-spoilers/277443/11 "2004-12-01T08:23:57Z")
Predator I, there were two, and neither made it. In Predator II, Danny Glover was the hero, and lived. ---
**Author:** ![Nurobath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a88e57/32.png) [@Nurobath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nurobath)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-dies-first-potential-spoilers/277443/12 "2004-12-01T08:30:43Z")
In Predator there were two black guys (Carl Weathers and Bill Duke) neither of whom made it to the end. In fact, they pretty much died together. There’s a scene in the movie Evolution in which Orlando Jones’ character refuses to get a sample because he says that the black guy always dies in the movies. Pretty funny scene. Slasher/horror flicks are probably a good place to look for this kind of thing. I can’t remember any off the top of my head where the black guy dies first though. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-dies-first-potential-spoilers/277443/13 "2004-12-01T09:16:53Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > Actually, the cliche is that the black guy isn’t going to make it out of the movie alive, period, not that he’s going to die first among the cast. But it does happen occassionally that in some films where some rampaging deadly thing is on the loose, the black guys dies first. Ah, **Askia’s Law** : [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=5547575&postcount=4](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=5547575&postcount=4) I’ve been racking my brain to come up with exceptions apart from Deep Blue Sea, and so far I’ve got: Michael Clarke Duncan in The Scorpion King Chris Tucker in The Fifth Element The Nubian dude {D’Joumon Hansou? sp?} in Gladiator ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-dies-first-potential-spoilers/277443/14 "2004-12-01T09:18:41Z")
Hey! My link actually WORKED! ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-dies-first-potential-spoilers/277443/15 "2004-12-01T10:13:12Z")
_The Dirty Dozen_. Haven’t seen it in a few years, but wasn’t Jim Brown the first to get killed? ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-dies-first-potential-spoilers/277443/16 "2004-12-01T10:45:04Z")
Actually, from what I’ve seen of slasher movies, the black guy usually doesn’t die first…the _first_ people to die are a couple of throwaway victims who die in the opening of the film, right before the initial title and credits run. They’re usually just stupid teenagers, unless it’s a flashback. The black guy (or gal) is usually among the “group of hero’s buddies who don’t make it.” ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-dies-first-potential-spoilers/277443/17 "2004-12-01T10:59:11Z")
As ashamed as I am to admit that I’ve seen _Anaconda_… …the black guy (Ice Cube) survives, along with Jennifer Lopez. All the white guys die. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-dies-first-potential-spoilers/277443/18 "2004-12-01T11:15:22Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > _The Dirty Dozen_. Haven’t seen it in a few years, but wasn’t Jim Brown the first to get killed? IIRC, he was the next to last casualty (John Cassavates got shot in the back on the way out). The first was either Telly Savalas or Donald Sutherland. ---
**Author:** ![threeorange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@threeorange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threeorange)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-dies-first-potential-spoilers/277443/19 "2004-12-01T11:21:59Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > Actually, I had heard that not about movies, but about Star Trek. IIRC, Eddie Murphy (or maybe Richard Pryor) used to do a routine about how there’s always a black guy that beams down in the landing party and gets killed right away. The aliens turn him into a cube, then Kirk says, “Analysis, Mr. Spock”, and Spock says, “The nigger’s a cube, sir.” > > Pardon the language - that’s actually how the routine went, not my words. > > What about _Predator_? I can’t remember the order that the people died, but the black guy didn’t make it to the end, did he? I’m pretty sure the comedian in question was Franklin Ajaye. And Carl Weathers does go pretty early on in Predator; I don’t remember if he was first, though. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-dies-first-potential-spoilers/277443/20 "2004-12-01T11:37:20Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > IIRC, he was the next to last casualty (John Cassavates got shot in the back on the way out). The first was either Telly Savalas or Donald Sutherland. As I said, it’s been a few years since the last viewing. Time to catch this classic again, I see. Thanks! 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-black-guy-dies-first-potential-spoilers/277443.md?page=2)