History Main / ConflictKiller

* In ''Film/BadTimesAtTheElRoyale'', any other conflicts between the guests at the titular hotel go flying out the window the moment Billy Lee and his cult arrive.

* The majority of ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddysBigPictureShow'' deals with the Eds trying to escape the wrath of the Cul de Sac kids, who are looking to tear the trio a new one after their latest failed scam wrought havoc on the neighborhood. The Eds are trying to track down Eddy's Brother, whom they believe is the only one who can help them escape the neighborhood kids' wrath...and then we finally meet Eddy's Brother and ''[[CerebusRetcon hoo boy.]]'' As it turns out, he is ''nothing'' like what Eddy made him out to be, and his abuse of Eddy is so '''brutal''' that it causes the neighborhood kids to completely forget their ire against the Eds, likely because '''nothing''' they would do to Eddy could hold a candle to what this asshole had done '''''to his own little brother,''''' who is completely broken by the encounter to the point that he outright admits he made everything he said about his brother up [[IJustWantToHaveFriends just so he could have friends]] Needless to say, everyone is on Eddy's side with the neighborhood kids forgiving him after that, Eddy's Brother gets some LaserGuidedKarma from Ed and the Kankers, and the kids finally accepting the Eds as their friends, which is highlighted by Jonny arriving too late and beating up the Eds, only for the kids to turn on him.

* ''Literature/{{Reds}}'': Nazi Germany ends up being this to pretty much all the major powers, to an even greater extent than real life because it headed off what could have become a three-way cold war between Soviet Russia, the newly-formed Union of American Socialist Republics and the remaining capitalist bloc led by the British and French empires. The outbreak of war forces the American and Russian socialist movements to set aside their growing doctrinal disagreements in the face of a common enemy, and the nascent Franco-British Union is forced to admit that the Nazis (who they'd been tolerating with increasing reluctance as a buffer state) were a bigger threat than the Communists ever were. Even [[TheRemnant "Americuba"]], a tiny rump state with delusions of being the GovernmentInExile of the "real" United States, makes something more than a token effort to mend fences with the UASR. It doesn't last, of course, but postwar tensions between the communist and capitalist spheres are never ''quite'' as high as they were in real life.

* ''Film/TheWash'': In the film's final act, the main characters Sean and Dee Loc free their boss, Mr. Washington, from the kidnappers who have been harassing him throughout the movie. This all gets forgotten about when the vengeful former manager Chris (who has also been harassing Mr. Washington) shows up with an AK-47 to exact vengeance upon Mr. Washington for firing him. He quickly takes over as the villain for the last few minutes of the movie by offing the lead kidnapper and scaring off the other ones.

* ''VideoGame/FreedomForce'': Throughout the game, Mentor repeatedly foreshadows that the Domain will invade; building up to the Alien Invasion that is to come ... and then Time Master comes in with his goal of stopping time itself (which would wipe out all life in the univers; possibly even Multiverse). Suffice to say that besides two relatively small spats, the Alien Invaders are quick to assist the heroes in stopping him.

* ''VideoGame/Freespace'' is based on this. The game starts off in the middle of a war between the Galactic Terran Alliance and the Parliamentary Vasudan Empire, until the [[InscrutableAliens Shivans]] suddenly show up and start slaughtering both sides indiscriminately. The Terrans and Vasudans have to put their differences aside and work together in order to stand a chance of survival.

* After the events of the ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' DLC "Arrival", the Batarian Hegemony is likely going to go to war with the Systems Alliance over [[spoiler:the destruction of the Alpha Relay and deaths of 300,000 batarian civilians in the star system]] by Shepard or a group of Alliance Marines, until the [[BigBad Reapers]] arrive, enter the Hegemony and destroy it with ease, and then storm Earth and Arcturus Station. If you play your cards right, you can even pull an EnemyMine with the remaining batarians and enlist their surviving fleet as a War Asset.

* ''Film/IndependenceDay'': The alien invasion and near-extinction of the human race pulls this off on a [[UpToEleven global scale]]. The entire world sets aside centuries worth of bad blood and disagreements for the sake of survival. Even better, [[Film/IndependenceDayResurgence the sequel]] reveals that it stuck.

* ''ComicBook/{{Annihilation}}:'' Discussed by Peter Quill and Nova during the DarkestHour, when they wonder what would happen if the Annihilation Wave reaches Earth, whose heroes are busy fighting each other over government policy. Quill, normally the far more cynical of the two, thinks the heroes would get their act together and try to fight it off. Nova disagrees. Later on, an issue of ''What If...?'' shows Quill actually would've been right.

* In the ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' series:
** Arkham from ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry3DantesAwakening'', even though the [[RivalsTeamUp brothers teaming up]] was one of the series' (many) awesome moments. Vergil later [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded it]] before the duo get back to dueling each other:

* The majority of ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddysBigPictureShow'' deals with the Eds trying to escape the wrath of the Cul de Sac kids, who are looking to tear the trio a new one after their latest failed scam wrought havoc on the neighborhood. The Eds are trying to track down Eddy's Brother, whom they believe is the only one who can help them escape the neighborhood kids' wrath...and then we finally meet Eddy's Brother and ''[[CerebusRetcon hoo boy.]]'' As it turns out, he is ''nothing'' like what Eddy made him out to be, and his abuse of Eddy is so '''brutal''' that it causes the neighborhood kids to completely forget their ire against the Eds, likely because '''nothing''' they would do to Eddy could hold a candle to what this asshole had done '''''to his own little brother,''''' who is completely broken by the encounter to the point that he outright admits he made everything he said about his brother up [[IJustWantToHaveFriends just so he could have friends]] Needless to say, everyone is on Eddy's side with the neighborhood kids forgiving him after that and Eddy's Brother gets some LaserGuidedKarma from Ed and the Kankers.

** Happens yet again in Season 3, with Mr. Trick, a clever vampire crimelord who gave Buffy a great deal of trouble early on in the year, getting abruptly staked by Faith, just in time for her and The Mayor to step in as the real villains of the season.

** In Season 1, Matt's conflict against the organized criminals of Hell's Kitchen is initially fixated on the Russians for their human trafficking operations. He also finds that the Ranskahovs have a partnership with Wilson Fisk after Fisk hires Nelson & Murdock via James Wesley to defend an assassin of his who killed a rival of the Ranskahovs'. As the conflict between Matt and the Ranskahovs goes on, the brothers struggle to meet their quotas, and Fisk has Wesley reach out to them with an offer of support in taking out Matt. Anatoly botches the acceptance offer by crashing Fisk's dinner date with Vanessa, prompting Fisk to decapitate him with a car door. Fisk then has the Ranskahovs' bases blown up to get rid of the remaining parts of the organization, including Vladimir. Vladimir ends up resolving his differences with Matt long enough to give him crucial information about Fisk's operaiton, and then goes out guns blazing by holding off a corrupt ESU team while Matt escapes.

* The main conflict of the first season of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' revolved around [[AntiVillain Prince Zuko]] following the Gaang around the world trying to capture Avatar Aang so that he could return from his exile, accompanied by his uncle Iroh. However, Admiral Zhao steps in halfway through the season and proves to be the bigger threat. This is then followed by the second season opening with Zuko's sister [[MagnificentBastard Azula]] (who had previously only been mentioned in passing and seen in a flashback) attempting to arrest the two of them for their actions in the previous season's finale, turning Zuko and Iroh's part of the plot into a FugitiveArc for the reminder of the season while Azula takes up the role of Aang's pursuer. Only one episode has Zuko still actively trying to capture Aang, and he still has to compete with Azula to do it. A bit more palatable than usual, as the first season had clearly ended on the fact that Zuko and Iroh had become vilified by the Fire Nation, as well as having lost the resources which would let them follow the Gaang.

* The British to the Muslims and Hindus in India.

* The Water Seven storyline of ''Manga/OnePiece'' seems to set up Franky as that arc's BigBad by having him and his goons beat Usopp to a bloody pulp. The Strawhats vow revenge and tear Franky's henchmen a new one, causing HIM to swear vengeance in turn...it all seems to be leading up to a big showdown between Franky and Luffy, until the WhamEpisode which turns the plot on its head leaves our heroes with much, much bigger problems to worry about. Franky does a HeelFaceTurn and proves to be far more interesting as a good guy, anyway. And ultimately ends up joining the crew.

* ''ComicBook/DarthMaulSonOfDathomir'': Dooku agrees to put aside his [[EvilVersusEvil previous differences]] with Darth Maul when Republic forces arrive to capture both of them, and they jointly engage Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu, Aayla Secura and Tiplee in lightsaber combat as part of a [[spoiler:short-lived]] alliance of convenience.

* The third ''ComicBook/XForce'' run started out as Wolverine's team of black ops killers taking out the evil Purifiers, but they got sidetracked not once but twice - first, the villain of the ''Cable'' series shows up and the team goes on a merry chase through the timestream after him, and second, a minor character from the first story arc goes to work for a [[AGodAmI would-be goddess]] previously unseen in the series. Both times the Purifiers plot is put on hold, and as a result the threat they pose builds into the next BatFamilyCrossover.

** Happens yet again in season three, with Mr. Trick, a clever vampire crimelord who gave Buffy a great deal of trouble early on in the year, getting abruptly staked by Faith, just in time for her and The Mayor to step in as the real villains of the season.

* Happens in ''Series/StargateSG1'' when the Replicators start destroying the Goa'uld, suddenly fixing the problem the heroes have been dealing with for the past 8 seasons. This also forces them to work with Ba'al to destroy the Replicators, but they go back to being enemies shortly thereafter.

* This happened a few times in ''Series/{{Lost}}''. Ben Linus's nemesis Charles Widmore brought about an EnemyMine situation with the 815 survivors and the Others. Widmore became the [[spoiler:off island]] BigBad in season 5, which also revisited in detail another faction in conflict with The Others that had only made a few scattered appearances beforehand. A handful of 815 survivors became this faction's enemies in the final stretch of that season while the Linus/Widmore conflict was put on hold until near the end of the sixth and final season. The season 5 finale introduced two characters who had been alluded to for some time, but who had never been portrayed by actors until then, and their conflict became the focus of the final season.
* Season 4 of ''Series/PrisonBreak'' has almost everyone team up against [[OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness The Company]]. Michael [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] the situation by saying "there's a lot of history in this room".
* Scorpius of ''Series/{{Farscape}}'': he shows up near the end of the first season, usurps [[BigBad Captain Crais]] and forces him to run off to the heroes to save his life. Doesn't completely end the conflict, given that Crais and the crew of Moya are still at odds for most of the second season- just for different reasons. Then after a few seasons of Scorpius tormenting Crichton, the Scarrans show up and suddenly Scorpius winds up with a bunk on Moya.
* In the first season of ''Series/HikoninSentaiAkibaranger'', the Akibarangers and Malshina work together to resist [[spoiler:ExecutiveMeddling]].
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Zig-zagged. The [[HumanoidAbomination White Walkers]] represent a threat to all of the Seven Kingdoms, forcing some factions to resolve their differences to face the threat. Other factions stubbornly continue their conflicts regardless of their mutual enemy.
* ''Series/IronFist2017'': In season 2, once Davos [[spoiler: steals the Iron Fist from Danny]], he starts killing Triads left and right, which forces the two rival factions to put aside their differences in order to protect themselves from Davos. [[spoiler: With Colleen's urging, this ultimately results in a permanent truce even after Davos has been stopped]].
* ''Series/Daredevil2015'':
** In season 1, Matt's conflict against the organized criminals of Hell's Kitchen is initially fixated on the Russians for their human trafficking operations. He also finds that the Ranskahovs have a partnership with Wilson Fisk after Fisk hires Nelson & Murdock via James Wesley to defend an assassin of his who killed a rival of the Ranskahovs'. As the conflict between Matt and the Ranskahovs goes on, the brothers struggle to meet their quotas, and Fisk has Wesley reach out to them with an offer of support in taking out Matt. Anatoly botches the acceptance offer by crashing Fisk's dinner date with Vanessa, prompting Fisk to decapitate him with a car door. Fisk then has the Ranskahovs' bases blown up to get rid of the remaining parts of the organization, including Vladimir. Vladimir ends up resolving his differences with Matt long enough to give him crucial information about Fisk's operaiton, and then goes out guns blazing by holding off a corrupt ESU team while Matt escapes.
** In season 3, Ray Nadeem spends the first half of the season thinking that he's doing a good thing turning Fisk as an FBI informant, which puts him at odds with Matt, Karen and Foggy, who know that Fisk is using his house arrest to continue engaging in criminal activity. They even warn him a few times that Fisk is using him, but Nadeem blows off their warnings out of a sense of {{pride}}. That is, until Fisk turns Nadeem's colleague Dex into an assassin, and has Dex attack the ''New York Bulletin'' to get rid of Jasper Evans. Evans' death, combined with Matt finding out from Melvin Potter that the imposter is an FBI agent, finally force Nadeem to realize Fisk has played him. He teams up with Matt to investigate Dex, though gets wounded trying to escape when Dex catches them in his apartment. And after being forced to serve as a getaway driver for Dex while Dex tries to kill Karen to avenge James Wesley's death, he finally decides enough is enough, and agrees to testify in front of a grand jury with Matt and Foggy serving as his lawyers.
* ''Series/LukeCage2016'': Zigzagged in season 2. The season begins with Luke's existing conflict with Mariah Dillard. But the stakes change pretty quickly once Bushmaster starts muscling his way into Harlem by brute force seeking to settle a score with Mariah over past family ties (his father was a partner with her grandparents, and they killed him rather than sell out to the Italian mafia). After Bushmaster bankrupts Mariah, burns down her brownstone and seizes her nightclub, Mariah and Luke form a temporary EnemyMine to deal with him, but it ends after Bushmaster is arrested and subsequently escapes, and Mariah decides to massacre a restaurant owned by Bushmaster's aunt and uncle to smoke him out. Resulting now in a bit of an EnemyMine between Luke and Bushmaster to take out a drug lab where the Triads are producing heroin that they've been allowed by Mariah to sell in Harlem.
* ''Series/{{Bonanza}}'' had an episode where a former Confederate Major was living peacefully with his family, only to be tracked down by a former Union Colonel and his men who were out for revenge. At first it's clear the Major is the good guy, being a loving family man, but soon it becomes clear that the Colonel and his men are [[HeroAntagonist also good guys]], going out of their way to not kill, asking to parlay and attempting to capture the Major as peacefully as possible, and even having the valid motive of wanting the Major to face justice for mistreating the Colonel and his men in a Confederate prison by not providing enough food or medicine which caused some of them to die. [[spoiler:It ends with the two negotiating at a table and learning the Colonel's second-in-command was to blame: the Colonel had indeed provided what little food, water, and medicine he could, but the man in charge of giving it to the prisoners was selling it outside the camp to profit from the famine that was happening at the time. The Colonel and Major make peace and the second-in-command is shot as he attempts to escape.]]
* ''Series/CobraKai'' the return of [[spoiler: EvilMentor John Kreese]] slowly but inevitably leads to [[spoiler: the end of Daniel and Johnny's conflict by taking over Cobra Kai and turning it back into the ThugDojo it was in the original film.]]

* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' at first it was the Inner Sphere against each other, then the Clans come in between them. Then years later the Word of Blake becomes the main opponent for everyone.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{AT 43}}'' the arrival of the Therians in Ava prompt the UNA and the Red Blok to temporarily join forces against them.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfDragoon'' [[spoiler:the apparent villain is [[PrecursorHero Zieg]] [[DisappearedDad Feld]], [[TheHero Dart]]'s father, thus giving the characters a great, morally conflicted enemy. Then it turns out Zieg was being [[DemonicPossession possessed and controlled]] by Melbu Frahma, the GreaterScopeVillain.]]
** [[spoiler:Double duty. That sealed evil, upon revealing himself, hijacks the body of the Virage Embryo in Shana's place, saving Dart and Rose from having to mercy kill her themselves.]]

* Martinez in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCityStories'' is an annoying example, where he interrupts the plot near the end, thinking that the player is the same nobody he pushed around in the beginning, despite the player at this point having taken out Martinez' boss' boss' bosses, and can buy and sell his entire racket millions of times over.

* ''VideoGame/StarOcean'':
** Jie Revorse in ''VideoGame/StarOcean1'' for SNES/SFC. In the PSP remake, this is much better handled and explained and he no longer comes out of nowhere.
** ''VideoGame/StarOceanTillTheEndOfTime''. Fayt is stranded on a backwater fantasy planet with no way off, and the main conflict is a fairly standard fantasy world war between religious matriarchy Aquaria and hostile, warlike Airyglyph, until [[spoiler:the plot from the beginning catches up to him, and the space fleet that attacked the planet he was previously on comes to the backwater fantasy planet to attack it. The two countries realize they have to join forces, and Airyglyph as a country is revealed to be not that bad (it helps that the warmonger who'd been driving the conflict got killed in the attack).]]
* In ''VideoGame/JakIIRenegade'', the main villain at the start is set up as Baron Praxis, who Jak has sworn to get revenge on. They fight twice, but the Baron is never really defeated. Near the end, he is killed by the real BigBad, the Metal Head Leader, who we had only seen fleetingly until this point [[spoiler: in his true form at least]].
* Subverted in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII''. The Arishok seems to be this for the mage-Templar conflict in Kirkwall. He's the military leader of the most alien faction in Thedas (physically and philosophically), and it takes both sides working together to stop him once he's been provoked. However, that's just the second of the game's three acts - afterwards, the prior conflict resumes. [[spoiler: He indirectly '''worsens''' tensions by killing the Viscount, leaving a power vacuum for the Templar leader to fill.]]

* ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia''. One word: "Adephagos." Turned a perfectly good ethical conflict into a "stop the KnightTemplar and the big bad monster thing" race with a final dungeon that came out of nowhere.
* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'', Part 3 is a war embroiling most of the known world, stopped short by the awakening of a god. It had been foreshadowed since the previous game that such a war would cause this to happen, and comes right in time since the player controls both sides of the old conflict.
* The beginning of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'', where instead of a normal "Mario defeats Bowser" story, the two rivals join forces to defeat a giant sword.
** The three first ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'' games begin with Mario battling Bowser in Peach's Castle to stop him from kidnapping her, just before they find out about the true villains.

* Early in ''VideoGame/ClashAtDemonhead'', you have an [[FinalBossPreview inconclusive fight]] with Tom Guycot, the [[BigBad apparent boss of the terrorist organization you're trying to defeat]]. About halfway through the game during a seemingly-unimportant sidequest, the player character is [[NiceJobBreakingItHero tricked into releasing a demon]]. Said demon promptly [[HopelessBossFight clobbers him]] and kills Guycot, forcing the player to go on a quest for a [[SwordOfPlotAdvancement magic sword]] to kill the demon. You'd think the demon would then take over the plot, but in a weird subversion, you just kill it with the sword, [[spoiler: destroy its eggs,]] then go right back to fighting terrorists. The FinalBoss is [[TheManBehindTheMan the guy who was giving Guycot orders]].

* A common phenomenon in many strategy games (particularly of the Four X type) which involve multiple competing sides and a Tech Tree. What happens is that while the more active players expand and compete with each other militarily, a less aggressive faction is able to sit back in their corner of the map and climb the Tech Tree undisturbed. This eventually gives them an unstoppable advantage over the apparently superior competitors when they do join in the fray. Occurs less often in multiplayer games, as humans know to team up and gank the techer early on.
* In ''VideoGame/AnarchyReigns'', [[spoiler:Nikolai]] serves this purpose as the real {{Final Boss}}.
* In ''VideoGame/GodzillaUnleashed'', ''you'' become this in the Tyrant ending, by becoming so powerful and insane through crystal use that everyone else's agenda has become irrelevant; either everyone takes you down or the world is doomed.
* In the majority of the ''Franchise/DeadSpace'' series, conflict has been with [[GovernmentConspiracy elements of]] [[TheGovernment EarthGov]] primarily, in terms of human antagonists. Come ''VideoGame/DeadSpace3'', the [[ReligionOfEvil Church of Unitology]], which has generally served as a loosely organized collection of secondary antagonists at worst and never really come together in a united front in any significant way, band together under [[{{Cult}} the Circle]] led by [[EvilBrit Jacob Danik]], who had never been mentioned before that game. This new group has its own military and [[MilitaryCoup seemingly overthrows EarthGov]] in the opening of the game, which [[PlayerCharacter Isaac Clarke]] doesn't seem to even be aware of happening, let alone that TheGovernment is on its last legs, until he is told up front.
* ''VideoGame/Injustice2'' is about a three-way conflict between [[BigGood Batman]] and his allies, [[FallenHero Superman]] and [[KnightTemplar the Regime's]] remnants, and [[DiabolicalMastermind Gorilla Grodd's]] LegionOfDoom. The fight comes to a halt the moment Brainiac shows up with the intention of destroying Earth, believing it to be compromised after the Regime's downfall. As such he is a threat not only to the heroes, but to everyone else including villains that have their own agendas and nothing to gain from their world being destroyed. [[spoiler:It doesn't stick, with the conflict returning almost ''immediately'' after Brainiac is defeated, albeit not without a rather somber scene where Batman and Superman share fond memories of better times and admit to missing the way things were and [[WeUsedToBeFriends their former friendship]]]].

* In ''VideoGame/SpacePiratesAndZombies'', every system has two factions: the [[SpacePolice UTA]] and the "[[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized Civilians]]", who are almost invariably trying to kill each other, while the player can [[PrivateMilitaryContractors profit from the conflict]]. The ZombieApocalypse eventually puts a stop to that. When it gets powerful enough, the UTA and Civilians become permanent allies of one another and the player in a desperate GuiltFreeExterminationWar to save humanity.
* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'': This can happen in the first DLC, ''Dead Money''. [[spoiler: Side with Elijah, and you unleash the Cloud and the holograms on the Mojave, thus destroying New Vegas and making Hoover Dam inaccessible to the warring factions, while you wait for the world to [[ArcWords begin again]].]] There ''was'' going to be an option for this in ''Old World Blues'', where you joined the Think Tank and reshaped the Mojave with its mad science, but that was cut.
* ''VideoGame/{{Shantae}}'': At the end of ''VideoGame/ShantaeRiskysRevenge'', Risky succeeds in [[spoiler: stealing Shantae's magic and then forcing her to destroy it]]. She has a perfect chance to attack and defeat her old foe in the next game, ''VideoGame/ShantaeAndThePiratesCurse'', but as soon as she realizes that [[spoiler: Shantae's former magic]] is now powering up [[spoiler:the Pirate Master]], her old master, and might cause him to return from the grave, she forgoes any chance to finish Shantae off and instead teams up with her to prevent his return.

* In ''[[http://www.drunkduck.com/STICKFODDER/ STICKFODDER]]'', Morgan takes over Troy's role as the BigBad when the characters' masks start to come off. Because he is hideously disfigured (chemical splash at college), he refuses to allow people to be different and forces people to wear masks like he does.

* ''Literature/{{Reds}}'': Nazi Germany ends up being this to pretty much all the major powers, to an even greater extent than real life because it headed off what could have become a three-way cold war between Soviet Russia, the newly-formed Union of American Socialist Republics and the remaining capitalist bloc led by the British and French empires. The outbreak of war forces the American and Russian socialist movements to set aside their growing doctrinal disagreements in the face of a common enemy, and the nascent Franco-British Union is forced to admit that the Nazis (who they'd been tolerating with increasing reluctance as a buffer state) were a bigger threat than the Communists ever were. Even [[TheRemnant "Americuba"]], a tiny rump state with delusions of being the GovernmentInExile of the "real" United States, makes something more than a token effort to mend fences with the UASR. It doesn't last, of course, but postwar tensions between the communist and capitalist spheres are never ''quite'' as high as they were in real life.

* The main conflict of the first season of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' revolved around [[AntiVillain Prince Zuko]] following the Gaang around the world trying to capture Avatar Aang so that he could return from his exile, accompanied by his uncle Iroh. However, Admiral Zhao steps in halfway through the season and proves to be the bigger threat. This is then followed by the second season opening with Zuko's sister [[MagnificentBastard Azula]] (who had previously only been mentioned in passing and seen in a flashback) attempting to arrest the two of them for their actions in the previous season's finale, turning Zuko and Iroh's part of the plot into a FugitiveArc for the reminder of the season while Azula takes up the role of Aang's pursuer. Only one episode has Zuko still actively trying to capture Aang, and he still has to compete with Azula to do it. A bit more palatable than usual, as the first season had clearly ended on the fact that Zuko and Iroh had become vilified by the Fire Nation, as well as having lost the resources which would let them follow the Gaang.
* In ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', when Obi-Wan and Anakin are sent to retrieve the detained Count Dooku after Hondo Ohnaka's pirates agree to hand him over to the Republic in exchange for a hefty sum, they end up being captured and used as hostages as well, and are forced to make a tenuous alliance with Dooku to escape the pirates. Ironically, when Dooku sends General Grievous to exact his revenge against Ohnaka for his earlier capture several seasons later, Hondo and his pirates then team up with Ahsoka and the Jedi younglings whom he had just stolen lightsaber crystals from to escape Grievous' forces.
* ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'' subverted this. When the Web invades Mainframe, Bob and Megabyte are forced to team up. Instead of ending their conflict, Megabyte takes advantage of the situation to get rid of Bob ''before'' the Web invasion is over.
** However, Megabyte's betrayal and imprisonment of Hexadecimal right after this ended her conflict with the heroes, and after being healed from damage by Bob she becomes the heroes' ally from then on. It helped that Hexadecimal was more outright insane than malicious.

* In the third season of ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'', the J team has to go through [[GottaCatchThemAll the talisman hunt]] [[HereWeGoAgain again]] in order to keep the powers from Dalong Wong. The finale, however, ends up having the FinalBattle [[HijackedByGanon being with a resurrected Shendu]] while Dalong is one-shotted in a brief scene.
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' has one of its season one plotlines, uncovering the mystery behind [[MissingMom Della Duck]]'s disappearance, result in the main cast blaming and hating Uncle Scrooge for the role he played in it once he agrees to tell truth about the event. The season finale has the ''other'' major plotline of the season, the return of Magica [=DeSpell=], force the family to put aside their issues in order to save Scrooge and the world from the mad sorceress. Scrooge {{lampshades}} this, ''thanking'' Magica for her attack [[NiceJobFixingItVillain actually saving his family]].

* The majority of ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddysBigPictureShow'' deals with the Eds trying to escape the wrath of the Cul de Sac kids, who are looking to tear the trio a new one after their latest failed scam wrought havoc on the neighborhood. The Eds are trying to track down Eddy's Brother, whom they believe is the only one who can help them escape the neighborhood kids' wrath...and then we finally meet Eddy's Brother and ''[[CerebusRetcon hoo boy.]]'' As it turns out, he is ''nothing'' like what Eddy made him out to be, and his abuse of Eddy is so '''brutal''' that it causes the neighborhood kids to completely forget their ire against the Eds, likely because '''nothing''' they would do to Eddy could hold a candle to what this asshole had done '''''to his own little brother,''''' who is completely broken by the encounter to the point that he outright admits he made everything he said about his brother up [[IJustWantToHaveFriends just so he could have friends]] Needless to say, everyone is on Eddy's side with the neighborhood kids forgiving him after that and Eddy's Brother gets some LaserGuidedKarma from Ed and the Kankers.
* PlayedForLaughs in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'', where there was an all-out melee between the KND and their RoguesGallery (the episode takes place in a convenience store [[VillainsOutShopping for supervillains]]) for a box of Rainbow Munchies cereal, only for Knightbrace to buy the box in the end. Obsessed with dental hygiene, he doesn't intend to eat the contents, he's going to destroy it instead. In the end, everyone agrees to a temporary ceasefire to gang up on Knightbrace, and even enjoy the cereal together in the end.

* The Persian Empire forced the bickering Greek city-states have to work together to fight back an invasion.
* The Roman and Persian empires fought each other off an on for centuries, from the time of Julius Caesar well past the fall of the Western Empire and the transition from the Parthian to Sassanid Empires in Persia. From 602 to 628, the two sides fought their longest and bloodiest single conflict, leaving both sides utterly exhausted militarily, financially, and psychologically. Then the formerly passive and easily-controlled tribes of Arabia suddenly emerged from the desert as a united force under the new religion of Islam, taking advantage of their vulnerable state to conquer the most lucrative provinces of the Eastern Roman Empire and eliminate the ancient Persian Empire entirely.

* The Islamic State terrorist group for [[UsefulNotes/TheArabSpring the sectarian conflicts in Iraq and Syria]] and possibly [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror beyond]]. The former has been locked in civil war between Sunnis and Shias since UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein's overthrow in 2003, while the latter escalated into fighting between the Ba'athist regime and several rebels discontent with the government in 2011. While everyone else was too distracted to deal with them, IS managed to quickly gain territory, threatening to collapse the local governments and commit several atrocities including genocide, cultural destruction, sexual enslavement and many more that shocked the world community and [[EveryoneHasStandards even other terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda]]. As such, they have not only fought against literally everyone else not on their side, but also pushed countries that usually don't get along with each other like the USA, Russia, Iran and etc. to supply their opponents specifically to fight against them.

* PlayedForLaughs in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'', where there was an all-out melee between the KND, their RoguesGallery (the episode takes place in a convenience store [[VillainsOutShopping for supervillains]]) for a box of Rainbow Munchies cereal, only for Knightbrace to buy the box in the end. Obsessed with dental hygiene, he doesn't intend to eat the contents, he's going to destroy it instead. In the end, everyone agrees to a temporary ceasefire to gang up on Knightbrace, and even enjoy the cereal together in the end.

* The majority of ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddysBigPictureShow'' deals with the Eds trying to escape the wrath of the Cul de Sac kids, who are looking to tear the trio a new one after their latest failed scam wrought havoc on the neighborhood. The Eds are trying to track down Eddy's Brother, whom they believe is the only one who can help them escape the neighborhood kids' wrath...and then we finally meet Eddy's Brother and ''[[CerebusRetcon hoo boy.]]'' As it turns out, he is ''nothing'' like what Eddy made him out to be, and his abuse of Eddy is so '''brutal''' that it causes the neighborhood kids to completely forget their ire against the Eds, likely because '''nothing''' they would do to Eddy could hold a candle to what this asshole had done '''''to his own little brother,''''' who is completely broken by the encounter to the point that he outright admits he made everything he said about his brother up [[IJustWantToHaveFriends just so he could have friends.]] Needless to say, everyone is on Eddy's side with the neighborhood kids forgiving him after that and Eddy's Brother gets some LaserGuidedKarma from Ed and the Kankers.

* ''VideoGame/ShantaeRiskysRevenge'': At the end, Risky succeeds in [[spoiler: stealing Shantae's magic and then forcing her to destroy it]]. She has a perfect chase to attack and defeat her old foe in the next game, ''Pirate's Curse'', but as soon as she realizes that [[spoiler: Shantae's former magic]] is now powering up [[spoiler: The Pirate Master]], her old master and might cause him to return from the grave, she forgoes any chance to finish Shantae off and instead teams up with her to prevent his return.

* In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', this can happen in the first DLC, ''Dead Money''. [[spoiler: Side with Elijah, and you unleash the Cloud and the holograms on the Mojave, thus destroying New Vegas and making Hoover Dam inaccessible to the warring factions, while you wait for the world to [[ArcWords begin again]].]] There ''was'' going to be an option for this in ''Old World Blues'', where you joined the Think Tank and reshaped the Mojave with its mad science, but that was cut.
* At the end of the second ''VideoGame/{{Shantae}}'' game, ''Risky's Revenge'', Risky succeeds in [[spoiler: stealing Shantae's magic and then forcing her to destroy it]]. She has a perfect chase to attack and defeat her old foe in the next game, ''Pirate's Curse'', but as soon as she realizes that [[spoiler: Shantae's former magic]] is now powering up [[spoiler: The Pirate Master]], her old master and might cause him to return from the grave, she forgoes any chance to finish Shantae off and instead teams up with her to prevent his return.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfDragoon'' [[spoiler:the apparent villain is your father, thus giving the characters a great, morally conflicted enemy. Then it turns out your father was being possessed and controlled by the SealedEvilInACan.]]

* ''WebOriginal/{{Reds}}'': Nazi Germany ends up being this to pretty much all the major powers, to an even greater extent than real life because it headed off what could have become a three-way cold war between Soviet Russia, the newly-formed Union of American Socialist Republics and the remaining capitalist bloc led by the British and French empires. The outbreak of war forces the American and Russian socialist movements to set aside their growing doctrinal disagreements in the face of a common enemy, and the nascent Franco-British Union is forced to admit that the Nazis (who they'd been tolerating with increasing reluctance as a buffer state) were a bigger threat than the Communists ever were. Even [[TheRemnant "Americuba"]], a tiny rump state with delusions of being the GovernmentInExile of the "real" United States, makes something more than a token effort to mend fences with the UASR. It doesn't last, of course, but postwar tensions between the communist and capitalist spheres are never ''quite'' as high as they were in real life.

* ''WebOriginal/{{Reds!}}'': Nazi Germany ends up being this to pretty much all the major powers, to an even greater extent than real life because it headed off what could have become a three-way cold war between Soviet Russia, the newly-formed Union of American Socialist Republics and the remaining capitalist bloc led by the British and French empires. The outbreak of war forces the American and Russian socialist movements to set aside their growing doctrinal disagreements in the face of a common enemy, and the nascent Franco-British Union is forced to admit that the Nazis (who they'd been tolerating with increasing reluctance as a buffer state) were a bigger threat than the Communists ever were. Even [[TheRemnant "Americuba"]], a tiny rump state with delusions of being the GovernmentInExile of the "real" United States, makes something more than a token effort to mend fences with the UASR. It doesn't last, of course, but postwar tensions between the communist and capitalist spheres are never ''quite'' as high as they were in real life.

* Kyoji Mujo from ''Anime/{{S cry ed}}'' managed to take over the story entirely, burying the whole Kazuma vs. Ryuho rivalry ''until the final episode.''
* Same with the Overdevil from ''Anime/OvermanKingGainer''. The final scene of the series is practically a LampshadeHanging: "er, guys, weren't we supposed to be headed to Yapan instead of dealing with {{Eldritch Abomination}}s?"
* ''Franchise/DragonBall'':
** Piccolo and Son Goku's rivalry was left unresolved at the end of the original ''Manga/DragonBall''. It effectively ends in ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' when the arrival of Raditz, Nappa, and Vegeta force Piccolo into a HeelFaceTurn. Vegeta himself shortly afterwards teams up with the heroes to take on Frieza and the Ginyu Force.
** Cell, who was introduced shortly after the androids, ends up becoming the BigBad of the arc. His case is more unique in that he establishes himself by absorbing the androids to get them out of the way and power himself up, rather than the androids making a HeelFaceTurn to fight him with the heroes (although that does briefly happen when 17 hears what Cell has in store for him).
* The Water Seven storyline of ''Manga/OnePiece'' seems to set up Franky as that arc's BigBad by having him and his goons beat Usopp to a bloody pulp. The Strawhats vow revenge and tear Franky's henchmen a new one, causing HIM to swear vengeance in turn...it all seems to be leading up to a big showdown between Franky and Luffy, until the WhamEpisode which turns the plot on its head leaves our heroes with much, much bigger problems to worry about. Franky does a HeelFaceTurn and proves to be far more interesting as a good guy, anyway. And ultimately ends up joining the crew.
* In ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'', this is how Tertium treats the [[spoiler:other Fates, tell them that upstarts who show up out of nowhere to [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou steal his prey]] is grating on his nerves]]. An unusual villainous example since to the heroes, this doesn't make a lick of difference, they're still fighting for their lives against impossible odds.
* In ''Manga/AliveTheFinalEvolution'', the three way conflict between the American government, the alien Mitama and her followers, and the protagonists over possession of the [[AncientArtifact "Heart of Akuro"]] gets derailed near the end by [[RivalTurnedEvil Hirose]], who was given the Heart on the assumption that he could be easily manipulated. With the Heart making him the strongest thing on the planet, Hirose [[TheUnmasquedWorld ignores the secrecy]] all the other factions were fighting under in favor of single-handedly launching a war against everyone else on the planet. The previous conflict between everyone is put aside in order to stop his attempt to [[OmnicidalManiac commit genocide on all of humanity]].
* A unique variation in the second season of ''Anime/YuGiOh'', where Yugi had to deal with the mind-controlling Marik and his Rare Hunters, with it seemingly leading up to a final showdown between the two. Shortly after the two finally meet face to face, however, Marik's body ends up getting overtaken by Yami Marik, who is much more malevolent and dangerous, and takes the place as main threat for the rest of the season.

* In ''Manga/MoriartyThePatriot'', Milverton inserts himself between William and Sherlock's conflict, hoping to neatly remove them both from his life as problems and score a win, and winds up the target of both. It doesn't go well for him.

* In ''ComicBook/TransformersGeneration2'', it seems like the coming of the Swarm (hinted by visions Optimus Prime had) will end the conflict between the Autobot-Decepticon Alliance and the Cybertronian Empire, but the trope is averted when Optimus tries to reason with Jhiaxus to work together against the Swarm, since Jhiaxus responds trying to kill Optimus. Besides, after Jhiaxus dies and the menace of the Swarm is over, the Cybertronian Empire still exists at the far reaches of the universe, led by [[ManBehindTheMan The Liege Maximo]].

* ''ComicBook/{{Annihilation}}:'' Discussed by Peter Quill and Nova during the DarkestHour, when they wonder what would happen if the Annihilation Wave reaches Earth, whose heroes are busy fighting each other over government policy. Quill, normally the far more cynical of the two, thinks the heroes would get their act together and try to fight it off. Nova disagrees. Later on, an issue of ''What If...?'' shows Quill actually would've been right.

* ''Film/TheHobbitTheBattleOfTheFiveArmies'': The armies of elves and dwarves, gathered at the lonely mountain after the death of Smaug, are ready to tear each other to pieces (in the Extended Edition on DVD, they do, for a few minutes) for the treasures in the mountain... until nearby mountains starts collapsing apart, caused by were-worms, revealing legions and legions of orcs. At which point the elves and dwarves ends up forging a quick alliance to fight a common enemy.

* ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'': After the events of ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', the Avengers are largely split up over the Sokovia Accords, but Thanos's arrival forces them to set aside their differences and join Earth's other protectors in fighting Thanos. [[spoiler:Subverted in that the old conflict isn't quite dead yet. Though a majority of the Avengers fight with Captain America on Wakanda, Iron Man still hasn't forgiven Captain America for what he did in ''Civil War'', so he can't bring himself to ask for Cap's help and instead runs off to handle things on his own. Since the Avengers can't form a united front, they lose. It's only after Cap and Iron Man put aside their differences in ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' that they're able to defeat Thanos.]]
* In ''Film/BadTimesAtTheElRoyale'', any other conflicts between the guests at the titular hotel go flying out the window the moment Billy Lee and his cult arrive.
* ''Film/GangsOfNewYork'': The main plot of the build-up to the FinalBattle between Amsterdam Vallon and Bill "The Butcher" Cutting gets abruptly [[ThePlotReaper and bloodily]] interrupted by the New York Draft Riots (which were building up as the film's B-Plot) and the Union Army's decision to end them by [[TakeNoPrisoners blowing away all rioters]]. [[spoiler:The battleground gets peppered with artillery fire, Bill ends up fatally wounded by shrapnel, and Amsterdam gives him a MercyKill, [[VengeanceDenied making him feel bitter that all his efforts were for naught]].]]

* In the ''Literature/CodexAlera'' series, the [[spoiler:Vord]] serve as this, allowing a lot of EnemyMine opportunities in the later books due to the cleverness of one of the characters.

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