History Main / DoomedContrarian

This is a '''DeathTrope''', so beware of spoilers.

* In ''Film/JurassicPark'', Genarro first disagrees with the scientists, then abandons the party.
** Averted in ''Film/JurassicParkIII'': [[spoiler:The CommanderContrarian grad student turns up alive in the last scene.]]

* The [[BlackDudeDiesFirst black lawyer]] neighbor in the 2007 movie ''Film/TheMist'', based on a Creator/StephenKing short novel. As you can [[SortingAlgorithmOfDeadness imagine]], he didn't last long. We get a few minutes of characterization that show he's not a total jerk, but insists on leaving the supermarket against the lead's informed warnings. He and everyone in his group are politely and promptly introduced to ''[[EldritchAbomination things that were not meant to be]].''
** This is later subverted by [[spoiler:the woman who leaves the convenience store and is seen at the end to have been picked up by the military, her and more importantly her children, alive and intact]].

* Senator Robert Kelly of the ''ComicBook/XMen'' books, noteworthy for being the ''only'' anti-mutant character who is not a frothing StrawmanPolitical, has probably been targeted with more assassination attempts than you've had hot dinners. For about a decade and a half he was locked in a predictable cycle of being targeted by some mutant extremist, being saved by the X-Men and being an UngratefulBastard which started the whole cycle up again. [[spoiler:He ''finally'' learned gratitude when Pyro saved him and made a heartfelt plea to him with his dying breath to end human/mutant hostilities, only for the law of averages to finally catch up with him. Ironically, the killer who finally got lucky and iced Kelly wasn't even a mutant]].

* ''Anime/ResidentEvilDegeneration'': Downplayed with Greg Glenn, who doesn't pay attention to Leon's instructions that the only effective way to kill the zombies is to [[BoomHeadshot shoot them in the head]], goes guns ablazing wasting ammo and time, and needs to be saved (and lectured) by Leon. [[spoiler:He later ends up getting bitten anyway while the group escapes, and decides to stay behind and hold the zombies off as long as he can before turning into a zombie himself]].

** This is later subverted by [[spoiler:the woman who leaves the convenience store and is seen at the end to have been picked up by the military, her and more importantly her children, alive and intact.]]

* In ''Film/TheLastOutlaw'', Potts constantly argues against whatever Graff and later Eustis say and challenges their orders. [[JerkassHasAPoint While he actually makes a few good points]] and nearly manages to make it across the border to Mexico, he's fatally wounded by Graff right when he and Eustis are about to cross the Rio Grande and dies seconds later.

* Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/TheMist'' has a group that the protagonist dubs the Flat Earth Society. They refuse to believe that the mist is full of [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]], even in the face of concrete evidence. They eventually walk out into the mist and are never heard from again.

%%* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode "The Old Man in the Cave". Humanity had a nuclear war and the landscape was so badly poisoned that the ground only yields burned or mutated crops. Despite all of this, the setting is a run down little town in which several people have survived for ten years. This is due to the old man in the cave, who though he has never been seen, leaves the people notes about what they can and can't eat of the leftover food. The old Man's unofficial representative is a man named Mister Goldsmith, who ventures to the cave every day with the questions the people have and returns with an answer. One day, a trio of Army Men with rifles arrive and essentially take over the town as well as belittle Mr Goldsmith and chide him for believing in someone he has never seen with his own eyes. The townspeople are quick to buy into what the soldiers say, especially when they suggest eating the leftover food that the Old Man has already deemed contaminated. Mister Goldsmith begs them not to eat the food , telling them that they will die if they do; after all, it is what the old man said. Frustrated, one of the soldiers skewers an onion with a knife and takes a bite. The people watch and are filled with confidence when he remains wholly unaffected, though he pretended to drop dead on the spot to further discredit Goldsmith. As might be expected, the people follow suit and grab loads of the food. That night, they party and eat their fill with the exception of Goldsmith. who keeps talking about the old man and calls the soldiers murderers. The trio decides to put the myth of the old man to death once and for all and the next morning they lead the townspeople up to the cave along with Goldsmith, who is the only one with the power to open it. At first, he refuses, telling them they don't need to see the old man at all, but the soldiers force him to open it and everyone enters. It is discovered that the old man is actually a very odd looking machine, which the people destroy at the command of the soldiers before heading back down to town. Night passes and early in the morning, Goldsmith walks through town which is littered with the dead bodies of the townsfolk, who have died from eating the poisoned food. He finds the Body of one of soldiers and solemnly explain that the danger wasn't the unknown. The dangers that lead to the deaths of everyone was that which comes from faithlessness. Afterwards, he leaves town for good. (It's important to note that we are never told who or what built the machine.)

* The [[BlackDudeDiesFirst black]] [[AcceptableProfessionalTargets lawyer]] neighbor in the 2007 movie ''Film/TheMist'', based on a Creator/StephenKing short novel. As you can [[SortingAlgorithmOfDeadness imagine]], he didn't last long. We get a few minutes of characterization that show he's not a total jerk, but insists on leaving the supermarket against the lead's informed warnings. He and everyone in his group are politely and promptly introduced to ''[[EldritchAbomination things that were not meant to be]].''

** Then again, [[KillEmAll so were Spartacus' merry men]].

** Averted with Rogo in the original film: he disagrees with a lot of Reverend Scott's decisions, yet he's one of the survivors.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode "The Old Man in the Cave". Humanity had a nuclear war and the landscape was so badly poisoned that the ground only yields burned or mutated crops. Despite all of this, the setting is a run down little town in which several people have survived for ten years. This is due to the old man in the cave, who though he has never been seen, leaves the people notes about what they can and can't eat of the leftover food. The old Man's unofficial representative is a man named Mister Goldsmith, who ventures to the cave every day with the questions the people have and returns with an answer. One day, a trio of Army Men with rifles arrive and essentially take over the town as well as belittle Mr Goldsmith and chide him for believing in someone he has never seen with his own eyes. The townspeople are quick to buy into what the soldiers say, especially when they suggest eating the leftover food that the Old Man has already deemed contaminated. Mister Goldsmith begs them not to eat the food , telling them that they will die if they do; after all, it is what the old man said. Frustrated, one of the soldiers skewers an onion with a knife and takes a bite. The people watch and are filled with confidence when he remains wholly unaffected, though he pretended to drop dead on the spot to further discredit Goldsmith. As might be expected, the people follow suit and grab loads of the food. That night, they party and eat their fill with the exception of Goldsmith. who keeps talking about the old man and calls the soldiers murderers. The trio decides to put the myth of the old man to death once and for all and the next morning they lead the townspeople up to the cave along with Goldsmith, who is the only one with the power to open it. At first, he refuses, telling them they don't need to see the old man at all, but the soldiers force him to open it and everyone enters. It is discovered that the old man is actually a very odd looking machine, which the people destroy at the command of the soldiers before heading back down to town. Night passes and early in the morning, Goldsmith walks through town which is littered with the dead bodies of the townsfolk, who have died from eating the poisoned food. He finds the Body of one of soldiers and solemnly explain that the danger wasn't the unknown. The dangers that lead to the deaths of everyone was that which comes from faithlessness. Afterwards, he leaves town for good. (It's important to note that we are never told who or what built the machine.)

* In the [[MadeForTVMovie made-for-TV]] DisasterMovie ''10.5 Apocalypse'', a bunch of people get stranded in a tower after a massive sinkhole swallows Las Vegas, and the geologist tells them to climb towards the roof because the building is going to sink. The other party thinks he's crazy, and you never hear from them again.

In stories where AnyoneCanDie, there is often a protagonist who mysteriously (or [[JustifiedTrope not - so - mysteriously]]) seems to be very knowledgable about how to survive the situation. That character is often paired with this one; a CommanderContrarian who argues or disagrees with nearly every sentence he utters. It's rare that the CommanderContrarian survives the tale. If this character finally leaves the group in disgust, taking others with him, it's common that [[TotalPartyKill not one of the separated group survives]].

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[[folder: Film ]]

* The TropeCodifier (if not the TropeMaker) is very likely the original ''Film/ThePoseidonAdventure'', where CommanderContrarian doesn't believe that the boat has been submerged upside down and won't follow the party in what he believes is a suicide climb towards the hull. They disappear from the plot after that, and they're implied to have [[NeverFoundTheBody never been found]]. The [[Film/{{Poseidon}} 2006 remake]] had them explicitly get drowned, the lounge singer and captain even [[FaceDeathWithDignity embrace tenderly]] as the liquid death rushed at them.
** Averted with Rogo in the original film: he disagrees with a lot of Reverend Scott's decisions, yet he's one of the survivors.

* In ''Franchise/StarWars'', Grand Moff Tarkin refuses to believe that the rebels could take out the Death Star and won't let anyone evacuate. He got to carry one big IdiotBall....
* [[{{Jerkass}} Roy Nord]] in ''Film/{{Daylight}}''. He decides to be a Big Damn Hero and climb out through a ventilation shaft. Then, [[MemeticMutation Rocks Fall, Roy Dies]] (causing a SpecialEffectsFailure, while we're at it).
* Judson and Crimp from ''Film/FiveCameBack'', which is about a plane that crashes into the Amazon jungle. Crimp doesn't want to follow orders from the pilots, tries to leave on his own, and gets killed by the local headhunters, alerting the headhunters to the white people in the jungle. Judson also doesn't want to follow orders, spends his time drinking, tells everyone that they'll never be able to fix the plane, and wants to make an almost certainly futile trek over the Andes. He dies in a GunStruggle at the end.

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* Done with a twist in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story ''The Dalek Invasion of Earth'' when the Doctor, Ian, and another man are locked in a cell on a Dalek spaceship. There's some random objects left lying around inside the cell that the Doctor immediately deduces to be a means of escape. The other man flatly refuses to believe it, and turns out to be right, since the whole thing was an intelligence test by the Daleks to see if they were suitable to be turned into mind-controlled servants.
** A few episodes have had the classic horror-movie "that creature is no threat to us!" character who immediately gets eaten or whatever, but often the Doctor saves the contrarians along with everyone else. The 2007 Christmas special "Voyage of the Damned" subverts it with a plot where nearly every likable character dies, but rude, unhelpful, selfish coward Rickston Slade [[KarmaHoudini not only survives the disaster, but turns out to have financially benefited from it]].

[[folder:Web Originals]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

Though this trope is classically associated with {{Disaster Movie}}s, it can apply to any genre where AnyoneCanDie. In stories with a lower body count, some or all the CommanderContrarian's supporters may survive, but only after being subject to [[BreakTheHaughty such misfortunes]] that they realize that TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong. Compare DoomedDefeatist.

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[[AC: RealLife]]

[[AC: {{Comics}}]]
* The [[{{Superman}} Kryptonian Science Council]] who dismiss [[CassandraTruth Jor-El]]'s warnings about their planets instability as "the unscientific ramblings of a madman".

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode "The Old Man in the Cave" inverts this trope. Humanity had a nuclear war and the landscape was so badly poisoned that the ground only yields burned or mutated crops. Despite all of this, the setting is a run down little town in which several people have survived for ten years. This is due to the old man in the cave, who though he has never been seen, leaves the people notes about what they can and can't eat of the leftover food. The old Man's unofficial representative is a man named Mister Goldsmith, who ventures to the cave every day with the questions the people have and returns with an answer. One day, a trio of Army Men with rifles arrive and essentially take over the town as well as belittle Mr Goldsmith and chide him for believing in someone he has never seen with his own eyes. The townspeople are quick to buy into what the soldiers say, especially when they suggest eating the leftover food that the Old Man has already deemed contaminated. Mister Goldsmith begs them not to eat the food , telling them that they will die if they do; after all, it is what the old man said. Frustrated, one of the soldiers skewers an onion with a knife and takes a bite. The people watch and are filled with confidence when he remains wholly unaffected, though he pretended to drop dead on the spot to further discredit Goldsmith. As might be expected, the people follow suit and grab loads of the food. That night, they party and eat their fill with the exception of Goldsmith. who keeps talking about the old man and calls the soldiers murderers. The trio decides to put the myth of the old man to death once and for all and the next morning they lead the townspeople up to the cave along with Goldsmith, who is the only one with the power to open it. At first, he refuses, telling them they don't need to see the old man at all, but the soldiers force him to open it and everyone enters. It is discovered that the old man is actually a very odd looking machine, which the people destroy at the command of the soldiers before heading back down to town. Night passes and early in the morning, Goldsmith walks through town which is littered with the dead bodies of the townsfolk, who have died from eating the poisoned food. He finds the Body of one of soldiers and solemnly explain that the danger wasn't the unknown. The dangers that lead to the deaths of everyone was that which comes from faithlessness. Afterwards, he leaves town for good. (It's important to note that we are never told who or what built the machine.)

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode "The Old Man in the Cave" invokes this trope. Humanity had a nuclear war and the landscape was so badly poisoned that the ground only yields burned or mutated crops. Despite all of this, the setting is a run down little town in which several people have survived for ten years. This is due to the old man in the cave, who though he has never been seen, leaves the people notes about what they can and can't eat of the leftover food. The old Man's unofficial representative is a man named Mister Goldsmith, who ventures to the cave every day with the questions the people have and returns with an answer. One day, a trio of Army Men with rifles arrive and essentially take over the town as well as belittle Mr Goldsmith and chide him for believing in someone he has never seen with his own eyes. The townspeople are quick to buy into what the soldiers say, especially when they suggest eating the leftover food that the Old Man has already deemed contaminated. Mister Goldsmith begs them not to eat the food , telling them that they will die if they do; after all, it is what the old man said. Frustrated, one of the soldiers skewers an onion with a knife and takes a bite. The people watch and are filled with confidence when he remains wholly unaffected, though he pretended to drop dead on the spot to further discredit Goldsmith. As might be expected, the people follow suit and grab loads of the food. That night, they party and eat their fill with the exception of Goldsmith. who keeps talking about the old man and calls the soldiers murderers. The trio decides to put the myth of the old man to death once and for all and the next morning they lead the townspeople up to the cave along with Goldsmith, who is the only one with the power to open it. At first, he refuses, telling them they don't need to see the old man at all, but the soldiers force him to open it and everyone enters. It is discovered that the old man is actually a very odd looking machine, which the people destroy at the command of the soldiers before heading back down to town. Night passes and early in the morning, Goldsmith walks through town which is littered with the dead bodies of the townsfolk, who have died from eating the poisoned food. He finds the Body of one of soldiers and solemnly explain that the danger wasn't the unknown. The dangers that lead to the deaths of everyone was that which comes from faithlessness. Afterwards, he leaves town for good. (It's important to note that we are never told who or what built the machine.)

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode "The Old Man in the Cave" invokes this trope. Humanity had a nuclear war and the landscape was so badly poisoned that the ground only yields burned or mutated crops. Despite all of this, the setting is a run down little town in which several people have survived for ten years. This is due to the old man in the cave, who though he has never been seen, leaves the people notes about what they can and can't eat of the leftover food. The old Man's unofficial representative is a man named Mister Goldsmith, who ventures to the cave every day with the questions the people have and returns with an answer. One day, a trio of Army Men with rifles arrive and essentially take over the town as well as belittle Mr Goldsmith and chide him for believing in someone he has never seen with his own eyes. The townspeople are quick to buy into what the soldiers say, especially when they suggest eating the leftover food that the Old Man has already deemed contaminated. Mister Goldsmith begs them not to eat the food , telling them that they will die if they do; after all, it is what the old man said. Frustrated, one of the soldiers skewers an onion with a knife and takes a bite. The people watch and are filled with confidence when he remains wholly unaffected, though he pretended to drop dead on the spot to further discredit Goldsmith. As might be expected, the people follow suit and grab loads of the food. That night, they party and eat their fill with the exception of Goldsmith. who keeps talking about the old man and calls the soldiers murderers. The trio decides to put the myth of the old man to death once and for all and the next morning they lead the townspeople up to the cave along with Goldsmith, who is the only one with the power to open it. At first, he refuses, telling them they don't need to see the old man at all, but the soldiers force him to open it and everyone enters. It is discovered that the old man is actually a very odd looking machine, which the people destroy at the command of the soldiers before heading back down to town. Night passes and early in the morning, Goldsmith walks through town which is littered with the dead bodies of the townsfolk, who have died from eating the poisoned food. He finds the Body of one of soldiers and solemnly explain that the danger wasn't the unknown. The dangers that lead to the deaths of everyone was that which comes from faithlessness. Afterwards, he leaves town for good. (It's important to note that we are never told who or what built the machine and that the people had disobeyed it before only to get the very results that it said they would. )

* The [[BlackDudeDiesFirst black]] [[AcceptableProfessionalTargets lawyer]] neighbor in the 2007 movie ''TheMist'', based on a Creator/StephenKing short novel. As you can [[SortingAlgorithmOfDeadness imagine]], he didn't last long. We get a few minutes of characterization that show he's not a total jerk, but insists on leaving the supermarket against the lead's informed warnings. He and everyone in his group are politely and promptly introduced to ''[[EldritchAbomination things that were not meant to be]].''