3

In Captain America: Civil War and Deadpool 2, characters with metal arms both slide down a building by sticking their arm into the building's facade and letting the resistance from breaking the stone slow them down.

What was the first film to use this particular move?

Improve this question

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
4

This originates from the Blade Brake trope, which is the act of using a blade or other object, dug into the side of a building or wall to reduce your speed or halt your descent with bonus points if you don't stop immediately and leave a "skid mark"/trail of destruction.

Blade Brake as a trope is a variant of Stab the Sail (although this is far less common now, this was the original trope), which is the same thing but stabbing a sail (like on a boat) instead of a wall. The "stab the sail" technique originated in the 1926 silent movie The Black Pirate.

There does not appear to be a variant specifically addressing the use of an augmented limb rather than a blade.

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    Weird that this was the approved answer, because, interesting as this is, it doesn't answer it. Or maybe add that its first appearance - in its 'stab the sail' form - was possibly the 1926 silent film The Black Pirate?
    – Joachim
    Commented May 17, 2019 at 21:47
0

Earliest I can remember is "Sinbad" (1947), where Douglas Fairbanks slides down the mainsail hanging onto a dagger/sword.

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    Using the link from the other answer, it could be the one I mentioned in its comment, which, interestingly, also stars Fairbanks.
    – Joachim
    Commented May 17, 2019 at 21:50

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .