History Main / GambitPileup

* The ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures''/''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'' crossover ''Fanfic/GuardiansWizardsAndKungFuFighters'' has one of these rapidly developing: As per W.I.T.C.H. canon, [[TheChessmaster Nerissa]] is manipulating the war between Phobos and the Rebellion to her own ends, but at the same time, [[KnowledgeBroker Charles Ludmoore]] and his two brothers are doing the same thing, with even more efficiency than Nerissa. Meanwhile, [[TokenGoodTeammate Viscount Servantis]] is trying to steer Phobos in a lighter-handed, less oppressive rule (and when he's [[spoiler: captured by the rebels]], his allies in the nobility essentially go rouge, planning to crush the Rebellion themselves without Phobos' oversight), [[EvilSorcerer Daolon Wong]] becomes TheStarscream to Phobos, [[SealedEvilInACan Tarakudo]] has woken up and taken an interest in events, [[spoiler: [[MysteriousWatcher Nimue]]]] is keeping an eye on things, and on the Earth side of things, [[DiabolicalMastermind Chang's]] Dark Hand is flexing its muscle [[spoiler: and is actually [[RunningBothSides manipulating Section 13]] as part of its [[WellIntentionedExtremist larger plan]]]], with Jackie [[ReverseMole infiltrating them]] to bring them down. And then there's also the [[EldritchAbomination Cavalcade of Horrors]] and [[UltimateEvil their master]], who are implied to be using all of the above as pawns in a larger plot.
** Even the arc dedicated solely to dealing with the Dark Hand has one of these. There's whatever Chang's been working towards, the Section 13-backed Chan Clan and Guardians working to take Chang down, Will plotting a secretive side mission with only Jade and Caleb's knowledge, [[KnightTemplar Quentin Ross]] going rogue out of disgust at Section 13 not going far enough to eliminate the Dark Hand, and newcomer [[WildCard Nyx]] running her own agenda against the Dark Hand. And there's the Oni watching from the sidelines via Hak Foo's mask, while Nimue eventually steps in to manipulate the Chans and Guardians as part of her own agenda.

** Alison Carter, the much younger sister of Peggy [[spoiler: (actually, daughter of Peggy and Steve)]], is nominally retired, but practically speaking playing spy games. As of ''Ghosts of the Past'', she's come out of retirement in earnest and reclaimed her rank as Deputy Director of SHIELD (this time jointly with Maria Hill).

** In ''Ghosts of the Past'', Gambit crops up, working for [[spoiler: Sinister and the Red Room]] against his will, though with apparent grudging loyalty. In reality, he's [[spoiler: trying to free the Red Room's prisoners, and coax Sinister's right hand 'hound' Maddie Pryor into a HeelFaceTurn, working with Natasha as her mole in the Red Room.]] He ultimately succeeds.

** Voldemort [[spoiler: takes over Wormtail's body and, now that he has a physical body once more, goes off to learn from Selene.]] Both of them are interested in the ''Word of Kemmler,'' and planning to betray the other. And, of course, Voldemort is trying to kill Harry, but knows better than to try and face him flat-out.

** And then there's Doctor Strange, who's manipulating the hell out of ''everyone'' and is unequivocally 'up to something', but no one has even the faintest idea what that something is, until Chapter 80 of ''Child of the Storm'' reveals that he's preparing Earth to go up against Thanos. After that, several characters in the know note that they know ''what'' his goal is, but have absolute no idea how he's going to get there. [[spoiler: As of chapter 34 of ''Ghosts'', it appears that he's faked his death, passed his mantle of Sorcerer Supreme to Wanda, and is now working quietly to continue his plans in what limited time he has left.]] Confused yet?

* The standard state of affairs in ''Series/{{Gotham}}'', with numerous criminals, conspirators, and maniacs constantly fighting for control of the city and/or for revenge on someone within. To take down whichever one is currently the most immediate problem, James Gordon frequently finds himself [[LesserOfTwoEvils allied with another villain]], only to have to worry about ''that'' one climbing to the top once the opposition is gone... or about a [[HiddenAgendaVillain third group who was quietly planning something in the background the entire time]].

* [[http://cracked.com/video_18425_the-biggest-problem-with-high-school-according-to-movies.html Cracked has a skit]] that parodies movies centering around high school gambits. During a class, two students suddenly arrest a girl and a guy in a jersey who were passing money, and reveal themselves to be [[Series/TwentyOneJumpStreet undercover cops]]. The girl reveals she's [[Movie/NeverBeenKissed a reporter pretending to be a student]] who was getting help from the jock for her story about steroid use. The jock reveals he's actually a college football player posing as a student to play one more year of football. He apologizes to another jock who then says ''he'' was only in the class so he could pass and join the family business. The teacher asks if anyone there is really a student. [[Movie/ShesTheMan A boy takes off his wig to reveal he's a girl]] just trying to get close to the boy she likes, another guy says he's an undercover black man posing as a white man posing as a black man... and he's lost track. There's also a girl who [[Movie/FreakyFriday switched bodies with her daughter]], a boy in a fat suit, and a girl who's just a highly intelligent dog. And one naked guy who thinks he's just having a nightmare.

[[caption-width-right:308:[[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1582 And these are only the first four panels.]]]]

* [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1582#comic This]] ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal''.

** Dracula shows up in the sequel, looking to [[spoiler: drain Carol's blood so as to make himself, and therefore every new vampire he sires from then on, immune to sunlight.]] Harry, the Avengers, and a few other friends and allies put a stop to that.
** And then there's Doctor Strange, who's manipulating the hell out of ''everyone'' and is unequivocally 'up to something', but no one has even the faintest idea what that something is, until Chapter 80 of ''Child of the Storm'' reveals that he's preparing Earth to go up against Thanos. Confused yet?

* The plot of ''[[Fanfic/GameTheoryFanFic Power Games]]'' arises from the colliding agendas of six different factions.

* In ''ComicBook/RedRobin'' Tim takes the assassin Scarab out of prison in order to interrogate her on the source of her advanced tech since the authorities haven't even been able to uncover her name, in turn she agrees to go with him in order to lead him to a trap so that an organization she belongs to can enter an assassination tournament to find the best assassin of the age in which he's been set as a target, the attack gives him an excuse to look into the long running tournament and her a chance to escape even though the other members are caught. Then he's abducted by the Daughters of Acheron when trying to interfere in their entry into the tournament as they want to use him in their own long planned ceremony while simultaneously winning the tournament, though they're possibly being manipulated by ComicBook/RasAlGhul to his own ends, and the tournament itself was set up by a mysterious ancient figure who wants to kill the most dangerous assassin of each generation rather than reward them and who is also looking for an heir for some of the duties they've created for themselves. Then ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}} happened and most of these gambits and the ways they ultimately played off each other were never able to be fully fleshed out as the characters either ceased to exist or were left unrecognizable in the New 52.

* The French comic ''LargoWinch'' has an album devoted to this. First we have a young woman named Saidee join a friend of Largo's and get invited to her art exhibition. Meanwhile an old flame of Largo's secretary shows up, while his daughter says she's Largo's NumberTwo's new SexySecretary. Then it turns out Saidee is part of an Islamist terror cell, sent to make friends with the artist so as to get close to Largo and kill him and his NumberTwo. Then it turns out the imam running the cell is OnlyInItForTheMoney (being both blackmailed by, and promised 40 million dollars from, the CIA), with no intention of sacrificing himself for the cause (but the rest are apparently true believers). ''Then'' it turns out Saidee is actually working for the same CIA agent, who're holding her brother hostage in Guantanamo. The father and daughter team mentioned above were actually industrial spies. And ''then'' it's revealed the CIA agent is actually working for another industrialist (the actual CIA is not involved), with the money the imam's supposed to collect actually intended for him. The album's name? Chassé-croisé, which is close enough to GambitPileup.

* The ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures''/''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'' crossover ''Fanfic/GuardiansWizardsAndKungFuFighters'' has one of these rapidly developing: As per W.I.T.C.H. canon, [[TheChessmaster Nerissa]] is manipulating the war between Phobos and the Rebellion to her own ends, but at the same time, [[KnowledgeBroker Charles Ludmoore]] and his two brothers are doing the same thing, with even more efficiency than Nerissa. Meanwhile, [[TokenGoodTeammate Viscount Servantis]] is trying to steer Phobos in a lighter-handed, less oppressive rule (and when he's [[spoiler: captured by the rebels]], his allies in the nobility essentially go rouge, planning to crush the Rebellion themselves without Phobos' oversight), [[EvilSorcerer Daolon Wong]] becomes TheStarscream to Phobos, [[SealedEvilInACan Tarakudo]] has woken up and taken an interest in events, [[spoiler: [[MysteriousWatcher Nimue]]]] is keeping an eye on things, and on the Earth side of things, [[DiabolicalMastermind Chang's]] Dark Hand is flexing its muscle [[spoiler: and is actually [[RunningBothSides manipulating Section 13]] as part of its [[WellIntentionedExtremist larger plan]], with Jackie [[ReverseMole infiltrating them]] to bring them down. And then there's also the [[EldritchAbomination Cavalcade of Horrors]] and [[UltimateEvil their master]], who are implied to be using all of the above as pawns in a larger plot.

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' gave 4 good guy [[TheChessmaster Chessmasters]] 6 months to plan against the BBEG's culmination of a GambitRoulette that began by founding an entire nation. The number of smart and powerful pieces and tools each side has boggles the mind. And throughout all of this the various parties are all trying to maintain good PR on themselves, leading one set of protagonists to claim they support TheDragon in an attempt to protect themselves.

* The ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures''/''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'' crossover ''[[Fanfic/GuardiansWizardsAndKungFuFighters Guardians, Wizards, and Kung-Fu Fighters]]'' has one of these rapidly developing: As per W.I.T.C.H. canon, [[TheChessmaster Nerissa]] is manipulating the war between Phobos and the Rebellion to her own ends, but at the same time, [[KnowledgeBroker Charles Ludmoore]] and his two brothers are doing the same thing, with even more efficiency than Nerissa. Meanwhile, [[TokenGoodTeammate Viscount Servantis]] is trying to steer Phobos in a lighter-handed rule, [[EvilSorcerer Daolon Wong]] becomes TheStarscream to Phobos, [[SealedEvilInACan Tarakudo]] has woken up and taken an interest in events, [[spoiler: [[MysteriousWatcher Nimue]]]] is keeping an eye on things, and on the Earth side of things, [[DiabolicalMastermind Chang's]] Dark Hand is flexing its muscle, with Jackie [[ReverseMole infiltrating them]] to bring them down. And then there's also the [[EldritchAbomination Cavalcade of Horrors]] and [[UltimateEvil their master]], who are implied to be using all of the above as pawns in a larger plot.

* ''FanFic/GrimTalesFromDownBelow'' has several being pulled at the same time - in the past [[WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy Mandy]] pulled several to cause major disasters and later exploit her immortality. Even if Grim killed her, she had plans to take over hell. Then [[WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas Oogie Boogie]] tried to get Junior to come to his lair so he could steal his reaper powers. After a bunch of crap happens, [[SuperpoweredEvilSide the Nergal]] [[TheVirus parasite]] [[BodyHorror demons]] take over Junior's body, leading to [[WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom Clockwerk]] pulling several Gambits at a time (seeing as how he's Clockwerk, this isn't surprising). Even later than that, [[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls Him]] pulls one of the [[BrotherSisterIncest most]] [[{{Squick}} disturbing]] [[GirlWithPsychoWeapon Gambits]] [[IfICantHaveYou ever pulled]]. And those are just the major ones - pretty much the only people who don't pull a gambit of some kind throughout the webcomic are the citizens of Halloween Town, [[WesternAnimation/HeyArnold Helga (on account of her never actually appearing)]], the people shown under Mandy's regime, the Raven narrator, Comicbook/{{Spawn}}, the demons Spawn faces, and [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Fred Fredburger.]] [[ParanoiaFuel But they just might be planning something...]]

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' has slowly fallen into this: from Orochimaru, to Tobi and Danzo, to the villages it seems that backroom scheming is the only [[HighlyVisibleNinja ninja activity]] that the characters are good at. In short, Sasuke was being manipulated by Orochimaru who was being manipulated by Itachi (who himself manipulated Naruto) who used by Danzo who was being manipulated by Tobi, who calls himself Madara. At the same time, Pain, the head of Akatsuki, had different goals to Akatsuki itself, and was in turn taking orders from Tobi without realising his intentions (while making it appear that Tobi was one of his subordinates and too dumb to plan anything). Then Kabuto comes out of nowhere and shows Tobi, [[spoiler:that he has found the body of the real Madara, this means that Tobi only was pretending Madara and actually he [[FallenHero Obito Uchiha]]. Then, it turns out Obito's [[AssimilationPlot "Moon's Eye Plan"]] was actually the real Madara's plan, and Obito was also supposed to bring Madara back to life to he become the jinchuuriki of the Ten Tails. But later we learn that Obito never had any intention of reviving Madara and himself using him in order to become the jinchuuriki of the Ten Tails. Nevertheless when Madara become the jinchuuriki of the Ten Tails and executes the Moon's Eye Plan, Black Zetsu reveals he was manipulating Madara and what exactly he was the one who led Kabuto to the location of Madara’s corpse as part of his plan to bring back [[PhysicalGod Kaguya Ootsutsuki]]. So, to recap, Pain ostensibly leader the Akatsuki, but was actually his used by Obito and Madara, who was using each other to their advantage, and all of them was used by Black Zetsu.]] Oh, and any number of these characters might be taking advantage of plans made by the Sage of the Six Paths hundreds of years ago. Yikes.

** And, as of Chapter 60, [[spoiler: the Winter Soldier has shaken off his brainwashing, performed a HeelFaceTurn and is now acting as a secret mole inside HYDRA for the good guys]]. Then in chapter 74, he [[spoiler: is caught out and brainwashed again.]] Finally, he makes a full and permanent HeelFaceTurn in chapter 77.

** "The Curse of Fenric" has ArcWelding which reveals events from the past two seasons were orchestrated by [[EldritchAbomination Fenric]], who caused the time storm to transport Ace to Iceworld in the future so she could start travelling with the Doctor and eventually help his plan to defeat the Doctor. Fenric is also trying to perform a StableTimeLoop which will create an alternate timeline. However the 7th Doctor claims he took Ace with him as he recognised Fenric's influence. Ace claims it's like a game where only he knows the rules. Though with 7 it is debatable how much he is TheChessmaster or whether he is good at XanatosSpeedChess.

* The standard state of affairs in ''Series/{{Gotham}}'', with numerous criminals, conspirators, and maniacs constantly fighting for control of the city and/or for revenge on someone within. To take down whichever one is currently the most immediate problem, James Gordon frequently finds himself [[LesserOfTwoEvils allied with another criminal]], only to have to worry about ''that'' one being (momentarily) on top down the road.

* ''Film/TheDamned'' has each member of a German steel family scheming to take over the company and curry favor with the Nazis. Murder, blackmail, backstabbing and other shenanigans ensue with increasingly convoluted results.

** One faction has the special ability to guess the eventual winner and the turn of their victory before the game starts. If they are correct then right before the game ends they reveal their prediction and win *instead* of (not in addition too) the original winner. So do you accept their help? The game is full of stuff like this.

* ''Theatre/TheLionInWinter''. King Henry wants John to be the next King. Queen Eleanor wants it to be Richard. Geoffrey wants it for himself, and plots with John to betray Henry to King Phillip of France while simultaneously plotting against them with Richard. Phillip, meanwhile, wants to hurt Henry for disrespecting his own father for so many years and so plots with and against the rest of them simultaneously. And so on and so forth.

* The second ''Fanfic/UltimateVideoRumble'' kicks off with no less than four villain groups -- [[Franchise/StreetFighter Shadaloo]], [[Franchise/MortalKombat the Outworld]], [[VideoGame/KillerInstinct Ultratech]] (temporarily) allied with [[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters Rugal Bernstein]], and [[VideoGame/SamuraiShodown Mizuki Rashojin]] (for the moment) allied with [[VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}} Pyron]] -- actively trying to capture Haohmaru's soul, each hiring and/or forcing still more competitors into assisting. The heroes spend several chapters just trying to work out who's working with who, and [[spoiler:it turns out this entire part of the pileup is itself a BatmanGambit of Demitri, who tipped everyone off and counts on them to wear down Haohmaru, the good guys, and each other while he slips in]]. Meanwhile, the Lin Kuei are gunning for Sub-Zero, Saishuu Kusanagi is trying to corrupt his son as always, [[VideoGame/MarvelSuperHeroes Doctor Doom]] [[spoiler:gets inconveniently stuck in Jago's body]], and [[ToBeAMaster some competitors don't give a crap about any of this and just want to win the tournament]].
** The third Rumble is even more chaotic, with [[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters the Orochi power]], [[VideoGame/MarvelSuperHeroes the Infinity Gauntlet]], [[VideoGame/SoulSeries the Soul Edge]], and [[VideoGame/MaceTheDarkAge the Mace of Tanis]] all being targeted for capture/exploitation by one or more villain groups. ...also a lot of people are ''extremely'' annoyed at Demitri. Several of these pursuits independently continue straight through to the finale.

* The second ''Fanfic/UltimateVideoRumble'' kicks off with no less than four villain groups -- [[Franchise/StreetFighter Shadaloo]], [[Franchise/MortalKombat the Outworld]], [[VideoGame/KillerInstinct Ultratech]] (temporarily) allied with [[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters Rugal Bernstein]], and [[VideoGame/SamuraiShodown Mizuki Rashojin]] (for the moment) allied with [[VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}} Pyron]] -- actively trying to capture Haohmaru's soul, each hiring and/or forcing still more competitors into assisting. The heroes spend several chapters just trying to work out who's working with who. Also, the Lin Kuei are gunning for Sub-Zero, Saisyu Kusanagi is trying to corrupt his son as always, and [[ToBeAMaster some competitors don't give a crap about any of this and just want to win the tournament]].

* In ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', several of the villains don't even know about each other. For example, Amata Kihara and Vento of the Front attack Academy City on two fronts, and end up getting in each others' way when they meet. A great example is Volume 15 of the light novels, in which all five of Academy City's secret enforcement groups (GROUP, ITEM, SCHOOL, MEMBER, and BLOCK) stumble into each other's plans and it turns into a city-wide battle royale that involves no fewer than ''three'' [[PersonOfMassDestruction Level 5 Espers]] and several sorcerers. Everyone's acting at cross-purposes, and keeping track of what's going on and what everyone's objectives are can get ''very'' confusing. [[spoiler:At the end of the day, only GROUP remains intact and functional.]]

* For that matter, how about ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'' itself? The King of Shadows, Garius, Zeeaire, Ammon Jerro, Sydney Natale, Lord Nasher, Captain Brelaina and Axle all execute their own plans that clash with those of the others surprisingly often. Almost the entirety of the first two acts is spent on figuring out who's behind what.

** His protégé, Agent (later Director) Wisdom [[spoiler: a.k.a. Regulus Black]], is masterminding the defence of Britain and, seemingly, the creation of a British Avengers team in the form of Excalibur, occasionally black mailing Wanda Maximoff into helping out. He's also trying to ensure that [=MI13=] supplants the Ministry as the prime handler of matters supernatural and superhuman, poaching staff members and seeking to bring it to heel. On top of that, he's implied to be after the Department of Mysteries.

** [[spoiler: Doctor Nathaniel Essex a.k.a. Sinister]] has been stated to be the mysterious force that kept Harry at Privet Drive, messing with Mrs Figg's head, heading off investigations and the like, having developed an interest in Harry because of his mother being related to Jean Grey. In ''Ghosts of the Past'', he makes his move [[spoiler: kidnapping Harry and, as an afterthought, Carol, using Maddie Pryor - Jean's twin sister who he stole at birth, faking her death, and raised as a LivingWeapon - to subdue them, as part of a scheme with the Red Room.]] The latter group, led by General Lukin, are scheming to regain their lost power and Russia's lost empire, forcibly recruiting assets old and new. The [[spoiler: Dark Phoenix]] puts a stop to that.