History Main / DidYouJustScamCthulhu

** Subverted in "[[Recap/SupernaturalS06E11AppointmentInSamarra Apointment In Samarra]]" when Dean tries to blackmail Death into helping him by using Death's ring (which Death previously loaned to Dean) as leverage. Death notes that Dean's gamble assumes that he doesn't already know the location of his own weapon, but he remains open to an equal exchange and asks Dean to [[GodJob become him for a single day]].

* ''ComicBook/JusticeLeague'': In a 90s story, an alien arrives on Earth claiming he is the legal owner of Earth and demanding it’s evacuation so he can terraform it. After proving unable to defeat him physically, Superman instead offers to buy the Earth back and has Guy Gardner fill the alien’s cargo bay with enough (fake) currency to pay for it. The alien agrees to the terms and returns to his own galaxy, thankfully returning to suspended animation for the trip back before Guy’s fake money evaporates. The League lampshades that this is the first time they ever defeated a foe by scamming them.

* At the end of the second season of ''Manga/BlackButler'', Ciel manages to pull this on Sebastian, with some help from Hannah and Aloise. Contracted to have his soul eaten once their deal was complete, Ciel is turned into a demon himself; Sebastian can't eat the soul of another demon, meaning that he's trapped in a loophole and bound to serve his master for all eternity.

--> [[spoiler: Lelouch: "I don't intend to defeat God. This is a request."]]

Contrast EvilIsNotAToy when someone attempts to either invoke this trope or make a DealWithTheDevil, but fails.

See also {{Wishplosion}}, which is specifically for outfoxing wish-granting entities.

* In the ShortFilm ''The Happiness Salesman'', a Salesman, [[spoiler:who is later implied to be a demonic servant of the devil]], offers Karen a great destiny, giving her a laptop with a DVD that will show her any point in her life if she accepts his offer. Rather than use it to see how great her life will be years from now if she accepts, she uses it to [[spoiler:discover what will happen five minutes after she accepts]], allowing to her to discover what the "payment" is when she sees [[spoiler:a demonic version of the Salesman preparing to consume her child]]. She promptly refuses his offer.

* StingyJack of the Jack O'Lantern tale in Irish folklore also scammed the Devil. He got the Devil to agree not to take his soul after scamming him twice. When he died, though, he was too wicked for Heaven and the Devil upheld his bargain not to claim his soul. The Devil gave him a glowing coal and wished him the best roaming the Earth. Jack later put the coal in a turnip he carved out and created his lantern. Like many Anglo-Irish folktales, stories about Jack were carried into America's Appalachian region, where they underwent MemeticMutation. True to form, scamming {{Death}}, {{Satan}}, or TheLegionsOfHell is a recurring motif, such as the time [[UsefulNotes/AmericanAccents Jack caught Death in a poke]]. A GoodOlBoy defeating cosmic powers through guile may well have resonated with the socioeconomically depressed area.

* ''Webcomic/{{Chicanery}}'' begins with [[VideoGame/EarthBound Pokey]] having just embezzled [[EldritchAbomination Giygas']] $44,000,000 retirement fund.

* [[ProfessionalGambler Stan Pines]] in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13259895/1/A-Strange-Engagement A Strange Engagement]]'' managed to come out on top in a game of [[AbsurdlyHighStakesGame High Stakes Poker]] involving [[WesternAnimation/GravityFalls Bill Cipher]], [[Franchise/ThePowerpuffGirls HIM]], [[WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack Aku]], WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom, [[VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}} Morrigan]], [[WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy Grim]], and [[LightNovel/HighSchoolDxd Sirzechs Lucifer]]. It probably helps that he was new to the game and all of the other players were too busy trying to screw each other over to notice him.

* Izaya Orihara of ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'' fame, who screws with everyone every chance he gets. [[HeadlessHorseman Celty]] and [[EvilWeapon Saika]] included.

* In a side story of ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', the Amakusa Church prevents R'leyh from rising by making it seem like Cthulhu had already defeated them; [[MagicAIsMagicA because of the way magic works in the setting]], the spell became nonfunctional once no humans remained to terrorize.

** [[MagnificentBastard Doctor Stephen Strange]] who as the Sorcerer Supreme, does this sort of thing both professionally and for fun. For instance, the main plot of the series is essentially the foreground of a time-travel based GambitRoulette set in motion by him involving, amongst others, Loki, a MagnificentBastard in his own right, Odin, who's even better than Loki (after all, he taught him), [[EldritchAbomination Chthon]], the various higher-ups of SHIELD, [=MI13=], HYDRA, and the Red Room (who are {{Manipulative Bastard}}s of necessity), ComicBook/DoctorDoom, and at least four of the Endless. Including Destruction, who is here perhaps better known as The Phoenix Force. He's played them all, and many more besides, without lying even once. Not for nothing is he an accredited member of ''the'' WMG/OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness.

* In the ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' fic ''[[https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Creed#The_Game The Game]]'', FourStarBadass Ursarkar E. Creed outplays Tzeentch - Chaos God of Hope, who has also played GambitRoulette for his entire existence - at chess, in a deal that stops Tzeentch from ever interfering with humanity ever again. This stems from a plausibly exploitable rule in the 40K game where Creed can hide heavy equipment in ridiculously implausible locations due to his Tactical Genius, like building-sized [[TankGoodness Baneblade]] tanks [[BehindAStick behind a]] ''[[BehindAStick lamppost]]!'', or an entire regiment of Kasrkin in the enemy general's bathroom, or a [[HumongousMecha Titan]] in a spent firearm shell. '''''[[SkywardScream CREEEED!]]'''''

* "Literature/TheDevilAndDanielWebster".
* ''The Devil and Simon Flagg'': A mathematician makes a bet that the devil can't answer one question within 24 hours. The devil tells him that paradox and LogicBomb questions are forbidden and that the question asked must have an answer. He asks him whether Fermat's Last Theorem is correct. The devil spends most of the allotted time learning a few Ph.D.s worth of mathematics without making substantial progress toward the question. And, of course, this is 40 years before Wiles published his proof so there's no easy way out.

* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': At the end of ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'', Nunnal is revealed to have [[ThePowersThatBe Order himself]] into not only wasting resources and freeing elves, [[spoiler: but also preventing him from ever invading her village again. It was basically a high stakes bet; she allows him into Dnnac Ledo to thwart the Mana Mutation Summit and prevent its agreements going forward, in exchange for several conditions. The catch was that if he failed, he couldn't try again later. Little did he know that Nunnal's adoptive daughter and houseguest prepared a plan to destroy his vessel and repel him.]]

** The series' [[Literature/TheElderScrollsInUniverseBooks in-game book]] ''Azura and the Box'' features an example. An old [[OurDwarvesAreDifferent Dwemer]] (a notably {{Naytheist}}ic race) philosopher manages to prove Azura, a [[OurGodsAreDifferent Daedric Prince]], wrong in front of live audience. [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu This doesn't end well for him or any of the surrounding witnesses]]. The book notes that the ending differs based on which race is telling the tale: in the [[OurElvesAreDifferent Dunmer]] version, for example, [[SubvertedTrope Azura easily saw through his attempted legerdemain]] and [[DoNotTauntCthulhu squashed him like a bug]]. (The Dunmer notably see Azura as one of their patron deities.)

*** As for Perospero, following the fiasco of the wedding, Big Mom undergoes another of her [[TheBerserker hunger pangs]], this time craving the wedding cake that she didn't get to eat. Problem is, the cake was destroyed by the Straw Hat Pirates while trying to rescue Sanji, and then the castle exploded. [[FromBadToWorse Oh, and Streusen, the chef who baked the first cake, has been knocked out cold and won't wake up for a few days]]. Because Big Mom ''will not calm down'' unless she's given the exact kind of food she's hungry for, this means that unless someone can magically conjure another cake, Totto Land and the Big Mom Pirates are effectively doomed. In order to stall for time, Perospero desperately lies out of his own ass and [[IndyPloy convinces a barely cognizant Big Mom that there was a second cake, but that the Straw Hat Pirates have stolen it]]. Against all odds, Big Mom believes Perospero, but roars that [[OffingTheOffspring she will kill him]] if she finds that he's lying. Judging from Perospero's expression, it is likely that he crapped his pants then and there.

'''Brook:''' Well, I am! But it happened a long time ago.

** [[MadScientist Caesar Clown]] embezzled research funds from Big Mom, one of the [[TheDreaded Four Emperors]], confident that he would be safe from her as long as he had the protection of Doflamingo (who in turn was a business partner of Big Mom's fellow Emperor, Kaido). Following his capture in the Punk Hazard arc and Doflamingo's arrest in the Dressrosa arc, however, [[KarmaHoudiniWarranty that protection is reduced to dust]], and Big Mom's subordinates seize the opportunity to retrieve Caesar so that he can deliver Big Mom the research he promised. ''In two weeks, or else.''

** [[MadScientist Caesar Clown]] embezzled research funds from Big Mom, one of the [[TheDreaded Four Emperors]], confident that he would be safe from her as long as he had the protection of Doflamingo (who in turn was a business partner of Big Mom's fellow Emperor, Kaido). Following his capture in the Punk Hazard arc and Doflamingo's arrest in the Dressrosa arc, however, that protection is reduced to dust, and Big Mom's subordinates seize the opportunity to retrieve Caesar so that he can deliver Big Mom the research he promised. ''In two weeks, or else.''

* Despite her immense, top-tier power and influence, Charlotte Linlin from ''Manga/OnePiece'' is fairly susceptible to this. Her mental instability and somewhat simpleminded nature occasionally leads to her falling for the tricks of much weaker foes, or even the tricks of her own child in the case of Charlotte Perospero's ruse during the last third of Whole Cake Island Arc.

[-[[caption-width-right:360:[[TimeAbyss I have existed before the stars]], and I will exist long after they have died! No mere mortal could possibly--[[SurpriseCheckmate what is that pawn doing there]]?]]-]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'', form a covenant with The End of the Cycle is generally considered to be the only true instance of SchmuckBait in the game, as after the time limit for all the benefits it confers you is up, [[spoiler:it destroys your empire down to a single planet (and sometimes not even that) before using the life-force of your slain peoples to wage war on all living things, [[MeaningfulName so that it may end the cycle of life]]]]. This is one of the only times where you cannot [[LovecraftLite defeat or outmaneuver an]] EldritchAbomination in-game, and the game explicitly tells you this in regards to forming a Covenant with the end of the cycle: '''Do not do this.''' However, players who have the ''Nemesis'' DLC installed and have acquired enough Menace to become an Endgame Crisis usually end up taking the Cycle up on its offer. Why? [[spoiler:Because their end-game plan entails ''destroying the galaxy yourself''. '''''[[EvilerThanThou And then invading and conquering the Shroud]]''''']].

** One adventure from ''Dungeon'' magazine involved the PCs searching the stronghold of a powerful evil wizard who'd died very recently. Their mission is complicated by the arrival of three different Lower Planar beings, ''all'' of whom had contracts for sole possession of the dead wizard's soul and are outraged to find out about the other two fiends' claim upon it.

* In a side story of ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', the Amakusa Church prevents R'leyh from rising by making it seem like Cthulhu had already defeated them; [[MagicAIsMagicA because of the way magic works in the setting]], the spell became nonfunctional once no humans remained to terrorize.

* Izaya Orihara of ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'' fame, who screws with everyone every chance he gets. [[HeadlessHorseman Celty]] and [[EvilWeapon Saika]] included.
* In the ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' novels, Kyon forces [[spoiler:the near-godlike Data Overmind]] to back down by threatening to [[spoiler:provoke the [[PhysicalGod even more godlike]] Haruhi into recreating the universe with him, to a place where the Overmind would not exist.]] Did You Just Blackmail Cthulhu?

* ''LightNovel/TheUnexploredSummonBloodSign'':

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'':

* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' has [[MagnificentBastard Doctor Stephen Strange]] who as the Sorcerer Supreme, does this sort of thing both professionally and for fun. For instance, the main plot of the series is essentially the foreground of a time-travel based GambitRoulette set in motion by him involving, amongst others, Loki, a MagnificentBastard in his own right, Odin, who's even better than Loki (after all, he taught him), [[EldritchAbomination Chthon]], the various higher-ups of SHIELD, [=MI13=], HYDRA, and the Red Room (who are {{Manipulative Bastard}}s of necessity), ComicBook/DoctorDoom, and at least four of the Endless. Including Destruction, who is here perhaps better known as The Phoenix Force. He's played them all, and many more besides, without lying even once. Not for nothing is he an accredited member of ''the'' WMG/OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness. John Constantine also appears a couple of times, though he doesn't manipulate anyone while onscreen. Mention is, however, made of the "tricking three arch-demons to cure his lung cancer" incident, as well as an incident involving the Zataras.

** In [[https://imgur.com/s2WBqK3 this story]], a party of adventurers suffer a near-TotalPartyKill. The dead characters each get to challenge Death to a [[ChessWithDeath game of their choosing]], and will be brought back to life if they win. [[CurbStompBattle They don't win]].[[note]]Well, the cleric technically did, but Death was one step ahead of him.[[/note]] Then the SoleSurvivor, a binder, challenges Death to a game of hide-and-seek. If he wins, Death has to bring ''everyone'' back, but if he loses, he dies too. Death can hide anywhere across the planes and the binder has a week to find him. Death accepts the challenge and goes off to hide. The binder... just turns around and purposely gets himself killed fighting the same enemies that wiped out the rest of his party, which of course summons Death right to him to reap his soul. "Found you." Death [[ActuallyPrettyFunny thought this was hilarious]] and brought everyone including the binder back as requested.

** In [[https://imgur.com/s2WBqK3 this story]], a party of adventurers get to each challenge Death to a [[ChessWithDeath game of their choosing.]] After his three party members try and fail to beat Death (the Cleric technically wins his challenge, but Death was one step ahead), the Binder picks a game of hide and seek. Death will hide anywhere across the planes, and the Binder has a week to find him. If he does, Death will allow the entire party to go. Death scoots of to hide, and the Binder turns around... And immediately gets himself killed fighting a horde of enemies. When death comes to claim his soul, the Binder simply says "Found you." Death [[ActuallyPrettyFunny took it in good humor]] and brought everyone back.