History Main / HappyEndingOverride

[[https://www.deviantart.com/shinyblueberryj50/art/A-Tarnished-Alliance-867183959 A Tarnished Alliance]] is set a few weeks after the events of WesternAnimation/SodorsLegendOfTheLostTreasure. Thomas and Ryan are now friends, the Harwick branchline has opened, Sailor John has been defeated, and Sir Topham Hatt has forgiven Thomas...only to show that Gordon shows zero remorse for the account with the express coaches early in the film, and rejects both Thomas's apology and the alliance they once had.

* Downplayed example in ''Fanfic/DanganronpaTheImmersiveLearningProgram'', where the ending of the first part involved the simulation the students were trapped in collapsing, with a HopeSpot involving Shuichi reaching out to save Kaede. However, the sequel ''Academy of Discontent'', goes into Shuichi's point-of-view of that ending, and reveals that Kaede and Shuichi, plus another student, didn't make it out alive.

* ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney: Trials and Tribulations'' might have ended on a bittersweet note (what with Maya's long lost mother dying and Godot going to jail for it, all because of Morgan and Dahlia's actions), but it ultimately wraps up the original trilogy quite nicely, with all main characters being given a proper closure...that is until ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'' came, revealing that Phoenix had been disbarred shortly after the events of ''Trials and Tribulations'' (also having a rather strong case of SameCharacterButDifferent). To make matters worse, the only other returning character from the original trilogy is Ema Skye, which was originally not in Phoenix's arc until the DS remake and the English localization (there's also the Judge, if you want to count THAT), while the whereabouts every other main character remained unknown until ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies Dual Destinies]]'' and ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice Spirit of Justice]]''.

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines'':
** ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' ended with the Maximals successfully capturing [[BigBad Megatron]] and taking him back to Cybertron, with him tied to the roof of their spaceship. However, in this series, it's revealed that Megatron has been able to successfully take over Cybertron, in large part ''because'' he was left outside the spaceship. [[note]]It let him jump off and out of the timestream and return to Cybertron much earlier than the Maximals.[[/note]]
** On a lesser note, another happy ending is undone as well, albeit of a [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain villain]]. The previous series ended with [[ButtMonkey Waspinator]] remaining on Earth, being worshipped by a tribe of primitive humans. ''Beast Machines'' undoes this with Waspinator being ousted by the tribe almost immediately after the end of the first series. He ends up back on Cybertron and ends up a villain again, a Vehicon general named Thrust. The sequel series ends with Thrust/Waspinator shrunken down and given the body (and size) of a wasp, being able to do nothing but complain about his worsened situation.
* Combined with ChronicVillainy when it comes to the Vreedle Brothers in [[Franchise/{{Ben10}} the Ben 10 franchise]]. At the end of their final appearance in ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'', they had reformed and become students at the Plumber Academy. Come ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'', we learn that since then, they blew up the Plumber Academy and went back to being thugs.
* ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'' manages to do this halfway through it's 6th and final season. Bojack, sober for almost a year and being on good terms with everyone from his social circle (for once), has just started to rebuild himself as a well-liked acting professor, and has finally begun to forgive himself and triumph over his depression. Then an IntrepidReporter digs up details about some of his most serious misdeeds from the past several seasons, his public image is destroyed in a disasterous second interview (he aced the first), most of his close friends cut ties with him (including his half-sister Hollyhock), and he relapses into alcoholism.
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckDodgers'' was originally intended to run for two seasons and two seasons only, the finale having Earth sign a peace treaty with Mars and the Martian Queen Tyr'ahnee preparing to get married to Commander X-2 after learning that he loved her. When the show was renewed for a third season because of good ratings, the premiere had Tyr'ahnee leave X-2 because she decided she still had feelings for Duck Dodgers and she also revoked Mars' truce with Earth when Dodgers continued refusing to reciprocate her feelings towards him.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'':
** At the end of the episode "Fairy Fairy Quite Contrary", Timmy wins the magical duel and gets to keep his fairies while Remy Buxaplenty loses his fairy and memory. But Timmy feels sorry for Remy and wishes that Remy and his parents were stranded on an island so they can spend more time together. When Remy returns in the episode "Remy Rides Again", he reveals that he remembers everything from the previous episode and while trapped on the island, his parents struck oil and became richer and more neglectful of their son.
** At the end of TV Movie ''WesternAnimation/ChannelChasers'', Timmy learns that he will have to one day grow up and part ways with Cosmo and Wanda, but that he can still cherish the time he has with them. We're treated to a DistantFinale that shows an adult Timmy and his two children Tommy and Tammy, who are shown to have Cosmo and Wanda as fairy godparents. In 2011's ''Film/AFairlyOddMovieGrowUpTimmyTurner'', however, it turns out that this CharacterDevelopment for Timmy was thrown out the window in favor of having him live his life [[StatusQuoIsGod exactly the same way he did as a kid]], including still having Cosmo and Wanda, even though he should've parted ways with them upon becoming an adult. In a more meta sense of the trope, the events of the live-action movies also overrode the ending to ''Channel Chasers'', [[{{Retcon}} retconning]] the ending out of existence in favor of this future. Even then, though, the canonicity of the live-action films is frequently questioned.
* In the lead-up to Creator/{{Toonami}}'s ''WesternAnimation/TheIntruderII'' event, a comic was released that depicted WesternAnimation/TheIntruder being fended off by TOM 4. Week 5 of the event proper has the Intruder gloating about killing TOM 4.
* Downplayed in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' regarding the original Team Avatar. They defeated the Fire Nation, are revered as heroes well into the new age, and went on to have very eventful lives. However, their kids still have issues from having parents with such huge legacies and responsibilities. Tenzin's siblings feel he got the bulk of Aang's attention due to being an airbender, and Lin has more than a few choice words for Toph when they finally meet again. In this case, it's not so much "the characters didn't get to live happy lives" as much as "the characters went on to live realistic lives with ups and downs", coming off the heels of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'''s HappilyEverAfter finale.
* The ending of ''Film/OsmosisJones'' has Frank turn his life around and adopt a healthier lifestyle, and we see him spending time outdoors with his daughter. In ''WesternAnimation/OzzyAndDrix'', on the other hand, Frank is once again an obese slob, suggesting that either he has relapsed back into unhealthy habits, or ''O&D'' is an AlternateContinuity, and if the latter, then Frank will be killed by Thrax.
* ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'''s third season ended with a pretty happy ending (including ''restoring dead people back to life''). Then came season four with "Daemon Rising" and "My Two Bobs" which ended on a giant cliffhanger which left [[BigBad Megabyte]] in control of the principal office, and this was ''never'' resolved.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'';
** PlayedForLaughs with Homer's half-brother Herb Powell, an auto manufacturer who was ruined and reduced to abject poverty in one of the earliest seasons after he allowed Homer to design the new car for that year...but made his fortune back by inventing a "baby translator" to help mothers understand their babies. Many years later, the Simpsons pay him another call... and get a message on his answering machine announcing that he's broke again.
** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E12MargeVsTheMonorail Marge vs. the Monorail]]" ended with the runaway monorail successfully stopped before anything serious can happen. Years later, "The Old Blue Mayor She Ain't What She Used To Be" opens with the abandoned monorail reactivating and causing devastation in Springfield.
** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E1KampKrusty Kamp Krusty]]" has Bart and Lisa going to the titular summer camp, only to suffer from horrific treatment and living conditions, until all the campers start a rebellion. Krusty saves the campers (despite their suffering coming from his own negligence), and when he takes them to Tijuana, all is forgiven and forgotten...until the Season 28 episode "Kamp Krustier". In this episode, the kids are finally returned, but they are scarred and shaken, as if the trip to Tijuana never happened.
* [[WhatCouldHaveBeen Had there been a fourth season]] of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'', their version of Megatron would have escaped from prison (he is arrested at the end of the show's final episode), possibly with help from Team Chaar, and been reformatted into a Triple Changer.
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'''s fifth season has Steven and company convince the Diamonds that he's his own identity separate from Pink Diamond and gets them to rework their regime, saving the galaxy and improving the lives of countless gems. And while we do see some lingering problems in [[WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseTheMovie The Movie]] dealt with, it doesn't totally infringe on the happier ending established. The same can't be said for epilogue series ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseFuture'', however. With everything now fine, Steven has trouble adjusting to a life where he isn't constantly needed to solve problems, which leaves him open to dwell on how messed-up his life has actually been. As a result, the latter half of the miniseries follows him undergoing a mental breakdown as the mental repercussions of the events of the series finally catch up to him, and his slow descent into copying Pink's self-destructive habits nearly costing him his family, his new life, and even causes him to corrupt.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'' ends with Rapunzel finally being free from Gothel's confinement, reunited with her actual parents and is now engaged with Eugene. ''WesternAnimation/TangledTheSeries'' however opens with her wedding being postponed due to Rapunzel not feeling ready and, as a result of having her hair grown back, her father confining her within the kingdom walls, resulting in her falling into the same position as she once did back in the Tower as well as causing their relationship to be strained in the process.
[[/folder]]

* [[HappyEndingOverride/LiveActionFilms Films — Live-Action]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* In Season 4 of ''Series/{{Baywatch}}'', Cort was diagnosed with a degenerative eye disease that was slowly causing him to go blind. The Season 5 episode "Baja Run" ended with Cort realizing the inevitability of his condition and seemingly coming to terms with it. This was completely abandoned for his final episode, "Deep Trouble," which revealed that Cort had become a drunken, homeless wreck, and that the knowledge of what was going to happen to him had given him severe depression.
* ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'' ended with [[BigBad XANA]] defeated and the Lyoko-Warriors shutting down the Supercomputer before moving on with their life. The very first episode of the live-action sequel ''Series/CodeLyokoEvolution'' reveals XANA [[NotQuiteDead survived]] by turning the Lyoko-Warriors into his [[SoulJar Soul Jars]], forcing them to reactivate Lyoko and get back to fighting him.
* Mixed together with SequelReboot with the season five premiere of ''Series/{{Community}}'': the fourth season ended optimistically with Jeff and Pierce graduating in the Fall semester, Shirley's business getting off the ground, Annie picking a major in criminology, and Chang [[BecomingTheMask deciding to stay friends with the group]] as "Kevin". Fast-forward to the next Fall, where Jeff's newly found scruples [[BeingGoodSucks lead his career as an attorney to ruins]], Shirley's family left her because she lost their savings on her failed business, Annie has gotten as job as a sales rep [[YouAreWhatYouHate for the same prescription drugs that lead to her breakdown,]] none of the rest of the group are having any more success, and Chang is on work release for ''arson''. The group decides they still need to learn more, but Greendale is the only place they can go to, while Jeff takes a job as a teacher to get by while he tries to get it in some form of working order.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** Between Series 6 and Series 7 of ''Series/DoctorWho'', Amy and Rory go from HappilyMarried with Amy completely in awe of Rory's strength and nobility, to divorced and antagonistic. The reason given is that Amy was made infertile as a result of her abuse in the finale of Series 6 and she knew Rory wanted kids so she "gave him up." By the end of the season 7 premiere, they're back together since Rory (predictably) wants Amy more than biological kids.
** In ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E6TheKeeperOfTraken The Keeper of Traken]]'', the Doctor foils the Master's plan to gain a new body for himself in a way that could have destroyed the titular planet, although the Master gets away with a stolen Trakenite body. In the next story, ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E7Logopolis Logopolis]]'', the Master's plan accidentally unleashes an entropy field that destroys a large number of planets. One of the planets destroyed is Traken.
** At the climax of the 2013 anniversary special ''[[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor The Day of the Doctor]]'', all thirteen then-known Doctors combine their forces to save Gallifrey and its inhabitants from destruction at the hands of the Daleks -- the culmination of a lifetime's work. Come 2020 and ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E1E2Spyfall Spyfall]]'', the planet is wrecked and its inhabitants murdered by the Master.
* ''Series/{{Frasier}}:''
** ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' had ended with Frasier and Lilith reuniting, their marriage rocky but apparently recovering. By the beginning of ''Frasier'', the marriage had turned sour again (with Frasier's only explanation being that it was "excruciating"), eventually resulting in their separating and Frasier moving to Seattle.
** PlayedForLaughs regarding [[ButtMonkey Rebecca Howe]] in the episode "The One Where Sam Shows Up." Sam describes how everyone at Cheers has been getting along since Frasier moved to Seattle. Rebecca, who was last seen happily married to a plumber at the end of Cheers, had been divorced when her husband struck rich.
--> '''Sam:''' She's back at the bar.\\
'''Frasier:''' Working at Cheers again?\\
'''Sam:''' No...Just back at the bar.
* The end of ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'' has Zeus, Hera, and Hercules in the middle of patching up their differences, as Hercules and Iolaus [[AndTheAdventureContinues continue to have adventures]]. Come the Twilight of the Gods arc of ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'', which comes after the end of its parent show, Zeus kills Hera, and Hercules in turn is forced to kill Zeus, destroying any reconciliation the three may have had.
* Between the first and second season of ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', Matt Parkman's forgiveness of his wife and the happy reunion of Niki with DL were both undone. So was Sylar's death, but this had been heavily implied to begin with.
* ''Series/InTheDark'':
** A variation. While the first season finale still had Murphy being threatened by Nia, Dean was arrested after Murphy got a confession for his murdering Tyson. The second season has Dean using LoopholeAbuse to avoid being arrested ''and'' gets his murder covered up by the police while Murphy and her friends are forced to work for Nia or face death.
** It also happens to Darnell who's freed from jail for Tyson's murder only to find Jules dead in a faked suicide.
* ''Franchise/KamenRider'':
** Defied when it comes to ''Series/KamenRiderKuuga''. ''Series/KamenRiderAgito'' was originally supposed to be a sequel series, but Kuuga's writers vetoed it on the grounds [[AllForNothing it'd have made Kuuga's battles meaningless]]. As a result, while there's some suggestion it's a sequel, it's primarily intended as an alternate universe.
** ''Series/KamenRiderRyuki'' ends with the resident TheChessmaster realising the whole Rider War is pointless and hitting the ResetButton, allowing everyone to live at the cost of his sister’s life. ''Series/KamenRiderZiO''’s spin-off has a new Rider Battle being [[StartXToStopX started to stop a murder spree]] implied to be perpetrated by [[AesopAmnesia the chessmaster]]. And this time, [[SoleSurvivor only two of the Riders make it out alive]] and one of them is a nigh-unkillable EvilDoppelganger to the other.
* The ending of the ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' episode "Manhattan Vigil" has about as happy an ending as you can get in a case where there was a murder: the perp is caught and makes a full confession, the primary VictimOfTheWeek is rescued unharmed and returned to his parents (the murder was in an older case that was part of the same serial pattern), and said parents (who are divorced) seem to be on the road to reconciliation, or at least a more amicable relationship. Three seasons later, the follow-up episode "Depravity Standard" has the perp recanting his confession and claiming it was coerced, the perp's trial ends with a hung jury, and just to top the whole thing off, the victim's mother indicates that she and her ex are back at each other's throats. Although this episode ''also'' ends on a hopeful note, with Barba potentially getting what he needs to get a conviction in the retrial.
* The season 1 finale of ''Series/TheMandalorian'' shows that Moff Gideon has possession of the Darksaber. This seems to imply that after [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels Sabine]] [[RayOfHopeEnding handed the Darksaber and leadership of the Mandalorian rebels to Bo-Katan]], the rebels were [[ShootTheShaggyDog defeated by the Empire]], who then proceeded to [[ThePurge purge]] the Mandalorians.
* Played with in the season 3 finale of ''Series/{{MASH}}''. The episode starts with Radar coming into the OR with news that Henry is going home. Everyone is thrilled; parties, gifts, the whole 9 yards. Henry's last day in camp is sad because of all the goodbye's, but it's still happy since he is GOING HOME. But later, back in the OR, Radar comes in with a new report: Henry's plane was shot down...[[McLeaned there were no survivors]].
* ''Series/NirvanaInFire2'': [[Series/NirvanaInFire The original series]] had a BittersweetEnding as Mei Changsu cleared his family's name, defeated his enemies and put Jingyan on the throne before he died. The plot of this series starts with, once again, an army getting caught up in political intrigue -- the very thing that led to Lin Shu becoming Mei Changsu and set off the original series' plot.
* Season 6 of ''Series/OnceUponATime'' ended with the characters ''finally'' [[EarnYourHappyEnding earning their happy endings]], especially the reformed villains. Season 7 is a soft reboot set in another town with Dark Curse versions of characters from a ''different'' fairy tale universe...except Henry, Regina, Killian and Rumplestiltskin have got caught up in it too. And it looks like Rumple's taken yet another spin through the HeelFaceRevolvingDoor.
** Turns out to be averted in the case of Killian Jones- the one in Hyperion Heights is not the one from previous seasons, but his doppelganger from the alternate Enchanted Forest created by Regina's wish. The 'real' Hook, as far as we know, is still living happily with Emma.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'': In the ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Original Series]]'' episode "Mirror, Mirror", Kirk convinces the Spock of an alternate universe (in which the Federation is TheEmpire) to work for peace. In ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'', that world is revisited, and it turns out that Spock took Kirk's advice, and succeeded...leading to the destruction of the Empire by its enemies. Humans, and presumably Vulcans, are now slaves. WordOfGod is that the episode was specifically intended to mock Kirk by changing Kirk's triumph in "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E4MirrorMirror Mirror, Mirror]]" into a bitter failure, thereby vilifying Kirk as the man singularly responsible for ruining the lives of all humanity in another universe. Later episodes in the mirror universe de-emphasized (or ignored altogether) this motive, making it more of a standard rebellion-against-alien-oppressors situation. And the ExpandedUniverse ''Literature/StarTrekMirrorUniverse'' novels subverted it, revealing Mirror!Spock was playing a ''really'' long game which finally succeeded over a century later, so Kirk's advice ''did'' work after all.
* Zordon's sacrifice in the finale of ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'' goes from destroying all evil in the universe to merely Dark Specter and his forces (Rita, Lord Zedd, the Machine Empire, Divatox, and Astronema). Otherwise ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy'' (and all subsequent series) couldn't happen. And if Series/PowerRangersDinoFury is any indication, Lord Zedd's purification didn't stick either.
* ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' does this with ''Film/StarTrekNemesis''. ''Nemesis'' had Data perish in a HeroicSacrifice, but the ending provided a glimmer of hope by implying that Data may have [[BrainUploading transferred his memories to his "brother" B4]]. ''Picard'' then reveals that while Data had ''tried'' to do this, the process ultimately failed because B4's brain wasn't advanced enough to copy Data's mind. As far as anyone knows, Data truly is dead, a fact that weighs very heavily on Picard. As it turns out, Data has been "alive" after all, as is his active mind is contained inside a simulation in the laboratory of Dr. Soong's son.
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': Kes leaves ''Voyager'' as she AscendsToAHigherPlaneOfExistence. Which inexplicably doesn't mean she stops aging, as we see when she returns nearly three years later. On top of that, she's bitter and delusional, thinking her friends abandoned her when she chose to leave. In the end, she decides to return to her home planet, a broken-down old woman.
* ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'', which is an AlternateTimeline to ''Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines'', similarly revealed that Sarah's hopes that ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'' had averted Skynet were false. The overall tone of the series, however, was more positive than the third film, with the revelation that there is a second Machine faction opposing Skynet who might ally with humanity and the overall implication that it might be possible to somehow alter the future to avert war between humans and AIs without preventing the creation of the latter.
* ''Series/TwentyFour'':
** The series did this for Tony Almeida. During the third season, Tony was forced into some tough choices that saw him lose everything: he was stripped of his job, his wife Michelle left him, and wound up briefly being jailed. Season four went about giving him personal redemption, helping Jack Bauer stop a terrorist threat that ultimately saw a nuclear missile nearly hit L.A., and by the time it was over he'd managed to get his life back in order and get back together with Michelle. So what does season 5 proceed to do? Within the first 15 minutes of the premiere she's killed by a car bomb as part of the antagonists of that Day's plot, leading him to lose it for the rest of the series and eventually sink so low that in a RoaringRampageOfRevenge to avenge her death winds up working with terrorists. Yeah. Definitely made the fourth season's happy ending a moot point there.
** The show revealed more than once that Jack had been living happily in the time between seasons and then ripped that apart. Between seasons 3 and 4 he's been working for the Department of Defense and dating his boss's daughter Audrey, but at the end he's forced to fake his death because of a bungled invasion of the Chinese Embassy. Redemption disrupts his quiet life as an aid worker in the African nation of Sangala. Season 8 reveals that he fully recovered from his near death at the end of the previous season, has reconciled with Kim and plans to move from New York to LA to be close to her and her daughter and husband, but he ends up a fugitive wanted by both the American and Russian Governments.
* In ''Series/WitchesOfEastEnd'', the Season 2 finale is bittersweet, due to one of the characters sacrificing themselves for someone they love, but otherwise the protagonists defeat almost all obstacles and come out on top. Then, the last 5 minutes of the last episode set out the complications for Season 3, which never happened - thus defeating or negating almost everything the protagonists have just achieved.
* The Hong Kong TVB drama, ''Witness to a Prosecution'', takes this trope to the absolute extreme -- in the final episode, the protagonist, Sung-Chi, ends up HappilyMarried with ''both'' his wives, as well as being granted a promotion with a leading position of authority as the city's lead forensics judge and head physician. In the pilot episode of the sequel (within the first five minutes!), ''Witness to a Prosecution 2'', an enemy of Sung-Chi, due to a case of MisplacedRetribution, poisoned his wives -- ''both'' which are pregnant with his babies -- and sets the inn Sung's family is staying at on fire, effectively taking four lives in one fell swoop. The disgraced Sung-Chi, having lost his entire family, is forced to resign his new position in authority and flee the city, where he ends up nearly drowning in a storm before ending up in the outskirts of a rural town where nobody knows him, effectively flushing the previous season's happy ending down the drain.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Scorpia Rising'', which was intended to be the final ''Literature/AlexRider'' book at the time it was written, ends with Alex finally escaping [=MI6=] and starting a new life in America with the Pleasure family. A few years down the line, however, author Creator/AnthonyHorowitz decided to revive the series, and ''Never Say Die'' opens with Alex miserable and unable to accustomise to his new life, still traumatised by the events of the previous book.
* ''Literature/CarryOn'': Ends on a bittersweet but hopeful note, with Simon having saved the world, being in a happy relationship with Baz, and seeing a therapist. ''Wayward Son'', however, starts one year later, Simon is stuck to the couch in a deep bout of depression, blowing off school and therapy, and gearing himself up to break up with Baz so he won't drag his boyfriend down with him.
* ''Enna Burning,'' the second of the ''Literature/BooksOfBayern'', does this to the happy ending of ''Literature/TheGooseGirl.'' Just two years later the kingdom is plunged into war, the king is killed in battle, and Isi (the princess) has trouble controlling her wind-communication powers, resulting in the wind's nonstop "voice" nearly driving her insane. And this is just backdrop for the trauma that protagonist Enna goes through over the course of the book. Fortunately, they all eventually reach a new, [[EarnYourHappyEnding hard-earned]] happy ending.
* Literature/TheCampHalfBloodSeries:
** The first sequel series, ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'' scales Percy and Annabeth's happy ending back as Percy is magically teleported by Hera to the San Francisco Bay Area sometime after the Second Titanomachy. Since they don't know where he goes to, Annabeth and Sally are left to grieve in the cold, while Percy spends more than six months cut off from his friends and family.
** The second sequel series, ''Literature/TheTrialsOfApollo'' completely destroys Jason and Piper's happy ending from the previous series because of several factors. First, Jason and Piper broke up, albeit amicably. Second, Piper is moving to Oklahoma because of her father's financial troubles, making reconciliation with Jason difficult since she isn't going to meet him as often. Third, Jason ''dies'', leaving any kind of reconciliation impossible.
* In ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'', the heroes leave Narnia restored and happy in the first book, and come back in the second to a later Narnia where everything's even worse than it was before; the winter may be gone, but many Talking Animals have ceased to talk and much of the magic has begun to go away under the reign of the Telmarines. That's because [[NarniaTime time in Narnia flows as quickly relative to time on Earth as it needs to]], and [[CrystalDragonJesus Aslan]] calls the children from England only at a point when Narnia needs them, and when [[AnAesop it would be most beneficial to their personal development]].
* Happens in the second ''Literature/ChroniclesOfThomasCovenant'' series, though at least it is made fairly clear in the first one the BigBad cannot be technically killed. Even so it was a kick in the gut, though not a surprise given the nature of the series.
* In ''Starchild'' trilogy by Creator/FrederikPohl and Creator/JackWilliamson the humanity controlled by a totalitarian Plan of Man which is ruled by a supercomputer called [[MasterComputer the Machine]]. It's implied however that this is the only way to survive for an enormous population whose expansion is restricted by limitations of ion engines. At the end of the first book the protagonist invents "reactionless drives" and the Machine declares that harsh control is no longer required. However in the second book this decision of the Machine is completely forgotten...May be justified because the events of the first book showed that high-ranking officials of the Plan can influence on the decisions of the Machine and may not be interested in the change.
* At the end of ''Literature/TheGreatBrain'', Tom appears to have reformed from his ways swindling all the kids in the neighborhood, [[GoodIsBoring although his brother, John secretly complained about things being too dull]]. The sequel, ''More Adventures of the Great Brain'', however, it's revealed that he was only behaving to try and get a bicycle for Christmas, and once the holidays are over, he reverts back to his old ways.
* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'' ends with Harry feeling well after defeating evil, and being hopeful his powers will lead to fear and less bullying at home. [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets The next book]] opens by showing his guardians are still as unpleasant to him as ever, if not more. Harry Potter is actually one of the most justifiable examples of this. Not only is the Dark Lord not destroyed and therefore the war not over, but also new problems arise, which are often impossible to foresee. Take the above mentioned example about the Dursleys: they learn that he is not allowed to perform magic outside of school thanks to Dobby and by the next book he has to rely on his godfather's reputation to keep them in check.
** The [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows final book]] shows, after a TimeSkip, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Draco sending their kids to Hogwarts on a hopeful note. The follow-up play ''Theatre/HarryPotterAndTheCursedChild'' reveals that Albus Potter's time at Hogwarts is hardly pleasant. He's an IneptMage, who can't fly on a broom and has only one friend, Scorpius Malfoy. Even that friendship is threatened by Harry, who distrusts Scorpius.
* While it was more of a BittersweetEnding due to many characters, including some of Bilbo's allies, dying in the Battle of Five Armies, ''Literature/TheHobbit'' ends with Bilbo having [[TookALevelInBadAss taken a level in badass]], with a newfound love of adventure and a magic ring as a keepsake of his long and eventful journey with Gandalf and the Dwarves. Then it's revealed early on in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' that Bilbo's magic ring is really an ArtifactOfDoom forged by Sauron himself, and that it's corrupting Bilbo in a manner not unlike its corruption of its previous owner: Gollum. This, and the revelation that Bilbo is only the latest in a string of victims seduced by its power, and that it's unnaturally stretched out his lifespan since ''The Hobbit'', casts the events of the previous book in a new and darker light.
** Tolkien briefly attempted to write a sequel to ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' with the WorkingTitle of ''[[http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/The_New_Shadow The New Shadow]]'', but he found it too sinister and depressing to complete, and ultimately abandoned it about 13 pages in.
* The book ''{{Literature/Holes}}'' ends with the juvenile detention facility Camp Green Lake being closed, and turned into a Girl Scout camp. In the companion book ''Literature/StanleyYelnatsSurvivalGuideToCampGreenLake'', the detention has been reopened, because several state officials read ''Holes'' and thought "[[ComicallyMissingThePoint What a]] [[MisaimedFandom great idea]]!" Even the original staff gets put back in charge, despite being under investigation, and one even arrested.
* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': The first book ends with Katniss and Peeta winning the Hunger Games and returning to District 12 as heroes. Both are traumatized from their experiences, but at least they can rebuild themselves. The second book, ''Catching Fire'', reveals that Katniss is reeling from her past experiences as the life of a Victor turns out to be no better than a Tribute. Then she and Peeta get reaped again, just as they are beginning to move on. By the end of the book, Katniss is rescued by rebels who secretly sabotage the Games, but finds out that Peeta has been captured by the Capitol, who responds to the sabotage by bombing District 12 to shreds, killing off more than 90% of the population, including many of Katniss' friends and all of Peeta's family.
* At the end of ''Literature/LabyrinthOfReflections'', the protagonist develops [[Film/TheMatrix Neo]]-like powers both inside the Deep and in the real world (able to tap into the Deep without a modem) and meets his LoveInterest at the train station, who turns out to look exactly like her in-Deep avatar. The second novel reveals that most of that was a result of Deep psychosis, although other characters confirm that his powers in the Deep weren't a figment of his imagination. His wife's appearance also matches her avatar, but he never actually met her at the train station, and their marriage is now on the rocks. Furthermore, he lost his powers sometime between the novels and doesn't know how.
* ''Literature/TheMoonMaid'' by Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs ends with the astronauts repairing their ship and returning triumphantly to Earth, taking with them the moon princess their leader, Julian, has fallen in love with and leaving behind the saboteur who stranded them on the Moon to begin with. In the sequel, the saboteur returns to Earth at the head of a lunarian invasion fleet, takes over the world and kills Julian -- all in the first chapter, after which the story skips ahead a century to show life under the invader's yoke. (Burroughs had actually written the atypically grim tale of Earth under alien overlords first, but couldn't find a buyer for it, so wrote ''The Moon Maid'' as a more usual Burroughs adventure tale to create demand for the sequel.) If you take into account all the CanonWelding Burroughs did in later years, the lunarian invasion also counts as a happy ending override for the characters of the ''Literature/{{Tarzan}}'' and ''Literature/{{Pellucidar}}'' series, along with several other lesser-known works, or at least for their descendants.
* One of the earliest example: ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' ends with Odysseus happily reunited with his wife Penelope and their son Telemachus after a long and perilous journey. In ''The Telegony'', the lost sequel and last installment of the ''Literature/TheTrojanCycle'', Odysseus is forced to leave for the killing of Penelope's suitors, forgets about Penelope and marries the Queen of Thesprotia Callidice. After the later dies during a battle, Odysseus returns to Ithaca only to be killed by Telegonus the son he had with Circe ([[RememberTheNewGuy absent in the Odyssey]]) contradicting Tiresias' prophecy that he would die a gentle death in sleek old age.
* In Creator/OscarWilde's short story, "The Star-Child", the titular WonderChild finally passed his SecretTestOfCharacter, regains his beauty and discovers his roots as an heir to the kingdom. All would have been well if the story ended with him reigning as a good and merciful king. Instead, the very last line of the text mentions that the new king would die young, and would be replaced by a despot.
* ''The Paw Thing'' by Creator/PaulJennings ends with Singenpoo the cat chasing over a hundred mice out of her owner's chicken shop. The owner is so grateful he vows to stop treating her so badly. In the sequel ''Singenpoo Strikes Again'', we find out that this change stuck for about a week or two and the owner is just as cruel as he was before, to the point of denying that Singenpoo had anything to do with saving his business.
* The novel version of ''Literature/ThePrincessBride'' overrides its ''own'' happy ending. As the heroes ride off on the white horses, Inigo's wound re-opens, they can hear the prince's hounds getting closer, and the resurrection pill begins to wear off. That part was left out of the "just the good parts" abridgement, and by Peter Falk in the movie.
* The original version of Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/TheStand'', published in 1978, had a BittersweetEnding. Flagg's plans to destroy the Boulder Free Zone have been thwarted, Flagg himself has seemingly been eliminated in the annihilation of Las Vegas, and the remaining residents of the Free Zone are left to reconstruct the world and society as best they can....all at a great cost. Then in 1990 came the "Complete and Uncut Edition," which added a brief coda: Flagg's body may have been destroyed, but his essence survived, and he reappears to a tribe of natives to "teach them to be civilized." And HereWeGoAgain.
* In the old pre-Disney-takeover ''[[Franchise/StarWarsLegends Star Wars]]'' expanded universe, following the defeat of the Emperor, over the course of several decades we get repeated Imperial counterattacks, [[ComicBook/DarkEmpire Palpatine returning]] and ''converting Luke to the Dark Side'', a race of [[Literature/NewJediOrder freaky humanoids invading and ravaging the Galaxy]] (and killing Chewbacca), and most of Han and Leia's children dying or [[VillainousLineage going to the Dark Side]]. This all comes to a head with the ''ComicBook/{{Legacy}}'' comics, which have (a somewhat more [[TheFederation Federation-like]]) Empire back on top 130 years after the films. Even the Sith are still a lurking threat.
** On a smaller scale, the Del Rey novels can be considered this for the previous books published by Bantam. The Bantam novels [[Literature/HandOfThrawn ended]] with peace actually being made between the Republic and Empire, and the sane Admiral Pellaeon taking control of the latter after a long succession of evil kooks. When Del Rey got the rights, however, they promptly revealed the Yuuzhan Vong, an OutsideContextProblem arguably even worse than the Empire, and had a number of Bantam-era characters (and some movie characters) [[CListFodder reduced to cannon fodder]] or [[FaceHeelTurn turned evil]]. Timothy Zahn, the best-regarded Bantam writer, has criticized Del Rey for doing this.
* ''Troubling A Star'' by Creator/MadeleineLEngle brings back the fictional country of Vespugia from ''Literature/ASwiftlyTiltingPlanet'' and reveals that the events of the latter book only delayed the country's dictatorial government from coming to power by about 10 or 15 years, rather than averting it entirely.
* The first ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' book has the Seeker fight to defeat the evil tyrant Darken Rahl. When he finally succeeds, a new crisis even worse than Rahl's tyranny takes place in the second book. Eventually, Richard discovers that TheEmpire he fought against in the first book is nothing compared to the Imperial Order, a massive empire that has somehow remained unknown to everyone within the New World, despite it being ''right next door''.
* Though the first book of the ''Never Again'' series has only a BittersweetEnding, it still qualifies for this trope, because it ends with the heroes succeeding in democratizing the world, albeit [[TheHeroDies at the cost of their lives]]. The DistantFinale clearly implies that they succeeded. However, all of that is ignored in the second book, in which it is revealed that somehow one dictatorship still survived John and Joy's changes to history, and was able to [[AppealToForce start a nuclear war]], TakeOverTheWorld, and [[ShootTheShaggyDog cause more deaths than all the wars, democides, and dictatorships of the Real-Life twentieth century combined]]. And all this just to set up a ContinuityReboot.
* In ''Literature/WarriorCats'', the first arc ends on a pure happy ending. The [[Literature/WarriorCatsTheNewProphecy sequel]] has humans tear down the forest which the story is set in and reveals that the villain is still hanging around from beyond the grave.
* ''Franchise/TheWitcher'': ''Literature/TheLastWish's'' section "A Question of Price" ends on a high note, with Queen Calanthe of Cintra marrying Eist Tuiseach, king of Skellige, and her daughter Princess Pavetta marrying her true love Duny, while already pregnant with Duny's child. In the several-year interval between ''Literature/TheLastWish'' and ''Literature/BloodOfElves'', Pavetta and Duny are lost at sea, and Cintra is [[RapePillageAndBurn brutally conquered]] by the invading Nilfgaardians and Calanthe and Eist Tuiseach are killed. However, Pavetta and Duny's daughter Cirella survives and escapes, and is eventually picked up by [[TheHero Geralt]].
* In the ''Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures'' novel literally called ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoNewAdventuresHappyEndings Happy Endings]]'', the Doctor's companion Benny gets married to Jason Kane. Eight books later, the publishers learn their ''Doctor Who'' licence is not going to be renewed, and quickly split Benny and Jason up so that Benny can [[Franchise/BerniceSummerfield star in solo stories]].
* ''Literature/ReadyPlayerOne'' ends with Wade becoming filthy rich, achieving worldwide fame, absolute power in the OASIS, and the girl of his dreams. Then comes ''Literature/ReadyPlayerTwo'', and the girl dumps him in a matter of weeks, growing to hate him over the years due to philosophical differences (although Wade speculated that she was already looking for an excuse to end the relationship due to [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome the reality of real-world relationships]] once the initial passion wore off). Wade's realization about the real world being important takes a backslide and he goes back to being an OASIS addict. His immaturity turns his fame into infamy. And he goes back to obsessing over another puzzle.
* In Creator/WalterMoers’s Zamonia books, there is an InUniverse [[ShowWithinAShow series]] of Prince Coldblood adventure novels. It’s mentioned that in every novel, the prince rescues a beautiful princess from a monster, but the same monster kidnaps her all over again at the start of the next instalment, leading to Prince Coldblood setting off to save her again – ad nauseam.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' graphic novels quickly establish that saving the world involves more than just beating the Fire Lord, with a lot of messes and problems to deal with in the aftermath of a large-scale global war. This includes everything from how to deal with the various colonies, handling any groups within the Fire Nation that are still loyal to the previous Fire Lord, and preventing new wars from breaking out. Not even the character's personal relationships are safe, with Mai and Zuko breaking up almost immediately, despite their heartwarming reunion in the show's finale.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' graphic novels continue this trend, though it's somewhat downplayed by show's finale making it clear that Korra and Asami going on a date in the Spirit World is simply a short vacation before devoting themselves to rebuilding Republic City. When they return, they immediately have to deal with a refugee crisis and a new BigBad swiftly going from a BadassNormal gangster to HumanoidAbomination that can command spirits like [[EvilUncle Unalaq]] all over again.
* ''ComicBook/BatmanYearOne'' saw Jim Gordon's son and him trying to working things out with Barbara after his affair with Sarah Essen. Later stories saw that Gordon's marriage with Barbara fall apart, his second marriage end when the Joker did a CoupDeGrace on [[RemarriedToTheMistress Sarah]] in the penultimate issue of ''ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand'', and Jim Jr. become [[AntagonisticOffspring a sociopath]].
* Creator/{{Christopher Priest}}'s ''Comicbook/BlackPanther'' run ended with Kasper Cole becoming the new Comicbook/WhiteTiger and choosing to stay with Gwen so they could raise their baby together. When Kasper appeared in ''World of Wakanda'' years later, it was revealed that Gwen had dumped him and taken the baby with her. Worse still, work commitments and financial difficulties had killed his career as White Tiger before it ever really took off.
* ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' ended with a BittersweetEnding for Golden Age Superman, Lois Lane, Earth-3's Alex Luthor and Superboy Prime, who after their Earths are destroyed go to an interdimensional heaven where they could spend the rest of his days. Come ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'', it turns out Lois is dying, sending Kal-L over the DespairEventHorizon, and Alex and Superboy have gone mad from watching the last twenty years of DC history, and made a FaceHeelTurn.
* At the end of ''Film/TheDarkCrystal'', the Crystal was restored, the Skeksis were defeated, harmony returned to the world of Thra, and Kira and Jen lived HappilyEverAfter, right? Not according to ''Power of the Dark Crystal''! A hundred trine later, Thra is a wasteland, Kira and Jen are figurehead leaders to a religion that keeps this knowledge from them, and also oppresses the Podlings and other Gelflings, and then a visitor from beneath the planet's surface, seeking help, causes the Crystal to shatter, bringing back the Skeksis.
* The final issue of Creator/WarrenEllis' run on ''[[ComicBook/Marvel2099 Doom 2099]]'' saw Doom about to realize his goal of creating a utopia by releasing thought-controlled {{Nanomachines}} that would give people whatever they wanted for free. The first three words in the next issue are "it didn't work".
* ''The Fly: Outbreak'': While ''Film/TheFlyII'' ended on a relatively upbeat tone with Martin restoring his human body and inflicting a karmic punishment upon the CorruptCorporateExecutive who has controlled him all his life, the comicbook sequel throws a wrench into this with the reveal that Martin's genes are still not stable and more people get infected and turned into Fly-hybrids because of him.
* ''ComicBook/{{Fray}}'' overrides the ending of the seventh season of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', which saw the [[TheChosenMany mass empowerment of Slayers]] across the world; by Mel's time, it's back to one per generation.
* The ''ComicBook/{{Grendel}}'' "War Child" arc ended with Jupiter Assante becoming Khan and seemingly likely to rule relatively justly, even if authoritarianly and in a world with a MightMakesRight attitude. The next work in the sequence, the prose novel ''Past Prime'', reveals that Jupiter was murdered by his own wife on his wedding night and that his empire has collapsed into a feudal quasi-anarchy plagued by self-servingly violent Grendel clans and wandering psychos.
* The original ''ComicBook/HackSlash'' series ended with protagonist Cassie Hack moving on with her life, putting an end to her SerialKillerKiller activities and getting together with her LoveInterest Georgia to build a new life as a "normal" person. Comes the sequel ''Son of Samhain'', she ends up breaking up with Georgia because "normal" life just wasn't interesting enough for her, and gets back to hunting monsters.
* ''ComicBook/StarTrekUntoldVoyages'': In "Past Imperfect", the ''Enterprise'' learns that the vaccine that Dr. [=McCoy=] created for the virus that was killing the Onlies in "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E8Miri Miri]]" mutated into a new, more virulent strain. Miri was among the many Onlies to die as a result. Enraged and distraught by her death, Jahn seeks revenge on [=McCoy=] and kidnaps his daughter Joanna. He brings her back to his planet so that she will die from the virus and [=McCoy=] will learn what it is like to lose someone. However, [=McCoy=] is able to develop a new and more effective vaccine that permanently eliminates the virus.
* The ''ComicBook/{{Toxin}}'' mini-series ended with Patrick Mulligan finally coming to terms with being a symbiote-wearing superhero, coming back to his wife after [[ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies leaving her behind to protect her for the entire series]] and telling her the truth about him. Then the writers had Patrick killed offscreen by Blackheart so they could give his symbiote to [[ComicBook/{{Venom}} Eddie Brock]] and make a new opponent for Flash Thompson as Agent Venom.
* In the waning days of the ComicBook/New52 ''ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}'' series, writer Dan Abnett was brought in to write the final four issues, which ends on an optimistic note, with Aquaman seemingly finally managing to balance his responsibilities as a superhero and king, establishing formal diplomatic relations with the surface world, and with him and Mera as the undisputed and beloved King and Queen of Atlantis. Then he was allowed to continue the series in ComicBook/DCRebirth (intended to be LighterAndSofter), where the very first story arc ends with the embassy destroyed by Black Manta, Arthur more feared by surface authorities than ever and with dissident groups resurgent in Atlantis.
* The original Creator/MarvelComics run of ''ComicBook/TheTransformers'' ended on a happy note where Cybertron was restored by the power of the Matrix and the Last Autobot, the Autobots were finally able to live peacefully now that their eons-long war with the Decepticons had ended and the surviving Decepticons were forced into exile. Creator/IDWPublishing's ''Regeneration One'', a continuation of the Marvel Comics continuity which disregards the stories exclusive to the UK version of the Marvel comic as well as the Generation 2 comics, started with Cybertron's fate endangered again by the destruction of the Last Autobot, Megatron laying waste to Earth after being accidentally revived by humans and the Autobots' human ally Spike Witwicky now hating the Autobots for their failure to prevent Megatron from ruining the Earth and killing his family.
* The first half of [[ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW IDW's 2005 Transformers comic continuity]] ended with a DistantFinale issue where the war against the Decepticons has long since ended and the Autobots rule a peace filled Cybertron. When the comic spun off into two [[ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye new]] [[ComicBook/TheTransformersRobotsInDisguise books]] set during the post war, the previous ending was completely ignored as the Autobots became hated and Cybertron was destroyed by Unicron. The original finale was retconned into being just a vision had by Ironhide and Alpha Trion about their ideal future and both characters would end up dying near the series' end.
* ''ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse''. Inverted then played straight. The original event ended with most of the characters dead or about to be destroyed by a nuclear strike against the US, having sacrificed their own reality in the hope of restoring the main Marvel universe. Then a sequel came out in which people pick up the rubble and try to rebuild the world and their lives. Later in 2012, ''[[ComicBook/XForce Uncanny X-Force]]'' had an arc in which they went to visit that same world and it was more horrifying than ever, with Apocalypse being replaced by something far worse and most of the dimension's X-Men being killed.
* At the end of ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'', Adrian "Ozymandias" Veidt successfully saves the world from the brink of WorldWarIII via an elaborate alien invasion hoax, and the protagonists agree that no one must never know the truth. But Rorschach is a pre-emptive SpannerInTheWorks, as he had already sent evidence of Veidt's plan to a newspaper he trusts, and it was only a matter of time before the truth became public knowledge. Sure enough, by the time ''ComicBook/DoomsdayClock'' begins, Veidt had been exposed, and everything is back to square one.
* Even ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'' becomes guilty with this. The hypothetical ''Archie Marries Betty/Veronica'' storylines give a HappilyEverAfter (and BabiesEverAfter to the focal couple) to all the characters in both timelines. ''ComicBook/LifeWithArchieTheMarriedLife'' expands their first few years as newlywed couples and turns the stories into full-blown soap opera (complete with {{Drama Bomb}}s) before finally ending with TheHeroDies.
* ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' acted as an override to the happy marriages of both versions of Franchise/WonderWoman and ComicBook/SteveTrevor who starred in ''ComicBook/{{Wonder Woman|1942}} (vol 1)'', with their Earth-Two daughter who survived the worlds being erased/merged into "New Earth" going mad from her memories of her parents who have been erased from history and existence. This override was enforced in ''ComicBook/{{Wonder Woman|1987}} (vol 2)'' by the fact the Steve Trevor of "New Earth" is much older than Diana, never has a romance with her and gets married to the new version of Etta Candy instead thereby ensuring their happy ending will not carry over into the new universe made up of the ones in which they had long standing happy romantic relationships.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Manga/BattleAngelAlita'': The [[BloodSport Motorball]] arc ended on one of the happiest tones of the series, promptly undone at the start of the next arc.
* Perhaps better called a BittersweetEnding Override, but the ''Anime/CodeGeass'' recap movies are capped off with ''[[Anime/CodeGeassLelouchOfTheResurrection Lelouch of the Re;surrection]]'', a follow up to the events after the Zero Requiem. In the movie, the world remains at peace for one year; however, several nations such as the Zilkstan Kingdom still suffer the aftereffects of the Zero Requiem. This eventually leads to the Zilkstan Kingdom kidnapping Nunually and Suzaku at the beginning of the movie.
* The ending to ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'' shows the surviving cast of [[VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc the first game]] deleting Alter Ego Junko Enoshima and reverting the surviving Remnants of Despair back to their old selves. The worst they think will happen is filing a bunch of paperwork, right? ''Wrong''. ''Anime/Danganronpa3'' begins one day later, when [[TheHero Makoto Naegi]] gets court-martialed by the leaders of the [[LaResistance Future Foundation]] for harboring war criminals. Then [[BackFromTheDead Monokuma returns]] and forces everyone into another DeadlyGame, [[TenLittleMurderVictims revealing a traitor amongst them will be doing the killing]].
* While ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' doesn't do this as a whole to ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', as it's a {{midquel}} that takes place before the last three episodes of that series, it does do this to Future Trunks' story. The last time he was seen in the original series, thanks to training in the Z Warriors' timeline he'd managed to become strong enough to take down the Artificial Humans of his world (as well as Imperfect Cell), as well as rebuild all the damage they caused. In ''Super'', new villain Goku Black (a.k.a. Zamasu) decimates his world ''even more so'' than the Artificial Humans did, murders his mother right in front of his eyes, and forces Future Trunks to flee back to the main timeline. Even worse, after Zamasu's defeat, he attempts to become reality itself, prompting Goku to have no other choice but to summon the timeline's Omni-King, who completely destroys the timeline to take Zamasu out for good (though the heroes manage to escape), [[ShootTheShaggyDog rendering the struggles of its inhabitants between both apocalypses null and void]].
** By extension, this also happened to the Future Trunks from Cell's timeline. After saving Goku's life and helping them deactivate the androids, he traveled back to his time to do the same. With the world saved, he decided to make one last trip to the past to celebrate with his friends. However, [[DownerEnding Cell got to him first]].
* ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'': Part of the reason the titular hero became TheAtoner was that he could no longer ignore the fact that he was killing people regardless of how good the motives were. Being indirectly responsible for the death of the woman he loved was the metaphorical last straw. Each major fight afterward, Kenshin speechifies about what he was fighting for, and it takes a HeroicBSOD for him to realize that he can only fight for his own personal peace of mind. The ''Seisouhen'' OVA goes on to erase all of that CharacterDevelopment and have Kenshin still so wracked by guilt that he ''abandons his family'' to go WalkingTheEarth again; it's not until the very end that he returns, only to die in Kaoru's arms, and she dies moments later because he's infected her too. Yahiko has taken up Kenshin's mantle, and his son Kenji eventually comes around to the same point of view, but there's a reason most fans and Creator/NobuhiroWatsuki himself, who didn't write it, [[DisownedAdaptation deny Seisouhen's existence]].
* ''Anime/EurekaSevenAO'' shows that [[Anime/EurekaSeven Eureka and Renton's]] child is abandoned in another dimension. It's later revealed that [[HalfHumanHybrid Corralian/Human babies]] can't survive in their home dimension because of high levels of Trapar.
* In ''Anime/FinalFantasyLegendOfTheCrystals'', though [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyV Exdeath]] is defeated, Mid dies shortly after. Due to taking place centuries later, the heroes have all died by now. And there is a new Big Bad, Deathgyunos.
* ''Manga/FrankenFran'': An early chapter in the {{sequel series}} ''Frantic'' features a young boy dying from a rare disease that even Fran can't cure. So he can die happily, the child's wealthy businessman father and Fran work to create a fantasy world on a private island, where actors and Fran's monsters will help sell the idea that the child has become the ChosenOne in another realm. Bittersweet, but still one of the rare happy endings in the series, with everyone involved happily doing their best to make sure this kid has a pleasant remaining years. Now fast-forward twenty chapters, and Fran comes back with a procedure can cure him. Everyone is overjoyed, until the cured boy -- now in the throes of puberty and realizing that since this isn't "the real world", [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential he can do whatever he wants]] -- uses his newfound strength to [[MoodWhiplash start raping as many women and torturing as many men and monsters as he can]]. All the actors start quitting in droves out of horror, anger, and disgust, and the businessman (only caring that his son is finally healthy) commissions Fran to create hundreds of clones for his son to freely rape, enslave, and torture in their stead.
-->'''Fran''': [[LampshadeHanging If Roito died, it would have ended nicely]]. Just a tragic tearjerker, right? But if he doesn't die and things continue like this...
* ''Anime/GallForce Earth Chapter'' ends with the heroes stopping [[RobotWar GORN]], the world saved and mankind, while in for a long time to rebuild, has a bright future ahead. ''Gall Force New Era'' revealed GORN survived in data form, managed to infect the network of All of Mankind's territory, and proceeded kill off the human race, save for six women who managed to get lead to safety and launched into space.
* ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer'': the Ooarai High School is shutting down, but it will remain open if its tankery team manages to win the national tournament. After many trials and hardships, the tournament is won. ''Girls Und Panzer Der Film'' opens with an announcement that the school's closing down anyway, as apparently the administration's promise to keep the school open was hollow. Anzu manages to negotiate a promise to have the school remain open if the tankery team wins a match against a University-level team...and this time she gets the agreement in writing so they can't back out of it.
* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'':
** Defied in ''Manga/MobileSuitCrossboneGundam The Steel Seven''. Kincade (aka Seabook) retired from war after the original manga, and he and Cecily settled down in peace. When another threat to Earth is revealed, Tobia initially considers going to him to get his help as a pilot...but decides against it seeing how happy Seabook is, and Tobia can't bring himself to interrupt that.
** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamMSIGLOO'' ends with the main cast surviving the horrific war and Oliver May leaving the military...Then ''Manga/MobileSuitGundam0083Rebellion'' reveals that the IGLOO cast ''joined Axis Zeon''. Considering that throughout the course of ''IGLOO'', the main characters saw many horrors of war, including horrors committed by Zeon, it really feels like a slap in the face for them to just rejoin a group of Zeon remnants and go back for round two.
** ''Anime/TurnAGundam'' ends up being this. Because the Black History consists of all previous Gundam series up to that point, almost every single Gundam work is doomed to end in conflict and destruction of the world over the course of millennia. For one Gundam work to exist, the previous must have ended in failure for the protagonists. Ironically, one could argue that ''Turn A'' (and the works made between this and ''[[Anime/GundamReconguistaInG Reconquista in G]]'') itself succumbs to this as it must end in setting up the Reguild Century.
** Season 2 of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans'' slowly falls into this for the protagonists. Season 1 ended with a positive tone where no one in Tekkadan and their allies, the Turbines (except Biscuit) were killed off. Initially, Season 1 was supposed to have darker storylines such as higher casualties and the public distrusting Tekkadan but the director wanted a lighter and happier tone. As a result, Season 2 picks up these remaining storylines where Tekkadan started losing their friends and were vilified in public by Gjallarhorn's black propaganda. [[TheBadGuyWins In the end, Tekkadan lost their leader and their Gundam pilots including Mikazuki and Rustal successfully reforms Gjallarhorn without receiving any punishment for his atrocities]].
* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' had a definite ending in which the eponymous hero, [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer after living many years as a lonely outcast]], [[EarnYourHappyEnding gained acceptance and recognition from his village]], [[ToBeAMaster achieved his lifelong dream]], [[MessianicArchetype managed to bring peace to the ninja world]], [[ThePowerOfFriendship redeemed his best friend]], [[HappilyMarried found love]] [[BabiesEverAfter and fathered two children]]. But the sequel manga, ''[[Manga/{{Boruto}} Boruto: Naruto Next Generation]]'' kicks off by showing [[DoomedHometown the Village of Konoha destroyed]] and a now more grown-up Naruto's son, Boruto Uzumaki, fighting a powerful enemy who is implied to have ''[[HeroKiller killed his father]]''. Ultimately a DownplayedTrope, since after that FlashForward we go back and see that there was indeed a long period of peace and prosperity before things went bad due to an unforeseen new conflict.
* A very odd example in ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion''. Kyubey has turned Homura into a witch and trapped the others in her labyrinth, so that he can try to undo Madoka's wish. He fails, only for someone else to undo Madoka's wish: [[FaceHeelTurn HOMURA]], who absorbs/suppresses Madoka's goddess powers and becomes [[SatanicArchetype Lucifer]], [[LaserGuidedAmnesia erases the other girls' memories]], and proceeds to remake reality in her own image. To be fair, the ending she puts in place has all five girls [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg (and newcomer Nagisa)]] [[EveryoneLives alive]], with only her and Kyubey really getting the short end of the stick: Homura because she feels unworthy of Madoka's friendship after betraying her, and [[LaserGuidedKarma Kyubey due to being stuffed with all of the curses he had laid on Magical Girls throughout history]]. So she overrode a happy ending to put a seemingly ''happier'' ending in place]]; it's very contentious among fans, as [[BrokenBase some see the new ending as happier, others less so]].
** The root of the divergence seems to be whether you believe whether being alive but mortal and trapped in an illusionary labyrinth is better than being in magical girl heaven with full agency and immortality, but technically "dead."
** The [[https://wiki.puella-magi.net/Puella_Magi_Madoka_Magica_Concept_Movie Concept Movie's]] promise of a sequel to the film's events promise another one of these is in store.
* ''Anime/QueensBlade'' sees this happen in the ''Rebellion'' series, where the victorious Leina hands the mantle of Queen to her sister, Claudette, who goes on to make many reforms as Leina happily retires. The key sticking point is that [[BigBad the Swamp Witch]] is still free at the end of the first series, and she continues to expand her poisoned domain, starts cursing all of the old heroines to put them out of commission or limit their fighting ability, and corrupts Claudette into a WellIntentionedExtremist KnightTemplar who rules with an iron fist, making the "Rebellion" necessary.
* ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'': At the end of the second movie, Shinji succeeds in rescuing Rei from an Angel that had devoured her, inadvertently starting [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Third Impact]] in the process, not that he's concerned. TheStinger, however, has Kaworu stop Third Impact, and by the time the third movie begins, nearly all of humanity is shown to have perished when Shinji nearly started Third Impact, and everyone Shinji knew and loved (except Kaworu) is either dead or flat-out hate him, some (like Asuka and Misato) rather irrationally. The Rei that he meets in this movie, to make things worse, is a clone: the Rei he thought he rescued is gone.
* ''LightNovel/WorldEndWhatDoYouDoAtTheEndOfTheWorldAreYouBusyWillYouSaveUs'' has a very bittersweet ending that takes place after a ten year time skip, with it being implied that everyone lived happily ever after during those ten years. Then the sequel, which takes place five years into the time skip, came out and revealed just how horrible things really were. Two days after the main conflict was seemingly resolved, Regul Aire was once again attacked by the 17 Beasts. Although the Warehouse inevitably managed to survive this, it’s not clear if all of its members could say the same.
* Both the ''Manga/YuGiOh'' manga and [[Anime/YuGiOh anime]] ended with a conclusively happy ending, but six months later in ''Anime/YuGiOhTheDarkSideOfDimensions'', trouble is afoot again. Seto Kaiba refuses to let go of the Pharaoh and causes most of the movie's plot by his obsessive desire to duel him again, while he, Yugi, and his friends are menaced by Aigami, who's determined to kill Kaiba and Yugi if needed to stop the Puzzle from being completed. Of course, this movie has to lead into ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'', so [[ForegoneConclusion we all know going in things can't get that bad]].
* The first season of ''Anime/YukiYunaIsAHero'' ends with the girls [[spoiler:being healed of their disabilities and seemingly]] retiring as Heroes so that they may enjoy their lives once more. Then the second half of season 2 kicks in, where [[spoiler:Togo is used as a sacrifice for the evil Gods before Yuki takes her place, eventually leading to her having to be assimilated to the Sacred Tree]]... However, [[spoiler:[[EarnYourHappyEnding the Heroes managed to destroy the evil Gods once and for all and ''finally'' can retire in peace]].
* The first season of ''Anime/ZombieLandSaga'' ends on a high note, with Franchouchou having a successful show at Arpino and setting forth on the path to become wildly successful idols. Then the first episode of ''Zombie Land Saga Revenge'' starts with the girls recovering from a slump [[EpicFail after their last show only attracted 500 fans to a venue that seated 30,000]], which send Kotaro into an [[DrowningMySorrows alcohol-fueled]] HeroicBSOD and forced the girls to get part-time jobs.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''
** PlayedForLaughs with Homer's half-brother Herb Powell, an auto manufacturer who was ruined and reduced to abject poverty in one of the earliest seasons after he allowed Homer to design the new car for that year...but made his fortune back by inventing a "baby translator" to help mothers understand their babies. Many years later, the Simpsons pay him another call...and get a message on his answering machine announcing that he's broke again.

* HappyEndingOverride/MarvelCinematicUniverse

* Downplayed in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' regarding the original Team Avatar. They defeated the Fire Nation, are revered as heroes well into the new age, and went on to have very eventful lives. However, their kids still have issues from having parents with such huge legacies and responsibilities. Tenzin's siblings feel he got the bulk of Aang's attention due to being an airbender, and Lin has more than a few choice words for Toph when they finally meet again. In this case, it's not so much "the characters didn't get to live happy lives" as much as " the characters went on to live realistic lives with ups and downs", coming off the heels of ''The Last Airbender'''s HappilyEverAfter finale.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater'': Jim, Selena, and Hannah all survive the zombie apocalypse and move to a safe area while the Infected from Britain starve to death and it becomes safe again. They are eventually spotted by a plane and rescued. Then, ''Film/TwentyEightWeeksLater'' causes ''another'' infection outbreak due to an IdiotPlot, this time [[FromBadToWorse reaching mainland Europe]] with no natural barriers to stop the zombies from overrunning Eurasia. Meanwhile, a comic series starring one of the survivors from the first movie reveals that Jim has been sentenced to death for his RoaringRampageOfRevenge on the soldiers who were trying to repopulate the earth by [[SexSlave using his friends]].
* ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' franchise:
** Ripley had destroyed the monster and escaped in a pod in ''Film/{{Alien}}'', but in ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' she discovered that her ship wandered without a destination and she stayed in hypersleep for several decades. Doesn't seem such a downer until Ripley learns that she outlived her own daughter while she was in stasis.
** The transition from ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' to ''Film/{{Alien 3}}'', in which Hicks, Bishop, and Newt, the three that Ripley fought tooth and nail to save in the previous movie, are [[DroppedABridgeOnHim killed off-screen]] [[SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome before the opening credits]]. Bishop ''technically'' survives, but he's damaged beyond repair and permanently turned off by Ripley. Creator/JamesCameron was horrified that the survivors from his film died horribly instead of being able to start a family (with the exception of Ripley), and [[Creator/AlanDeanFoster the author]] hired to write novelizations for the series went so far as to call this twist "obscene".
** ''Film/AlienResurrection'' completely negates Ripley's HeroicSacrifice at the end of ''Alien 3'' by putting alien DNA into the hands of another Corrupt Corporation.
** While ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'' certainly didn't end ''happily'', [[KillEmAll by any means]], it did end hopefully with the lone survivors--Elizabeth and David--headed towards the Engineers' homeworld for answers. In ''Film/AlienCovenant'', it turns out David took a flying leap off the slippery slope, murdered Elizabeth, and horrifically mutilated her remains to help create the ultimate lifeform: the Xenomorphs. Shaw is long dead and David is now the BigBad of the series.
* This happened (albeit with more subtlety than usual) in the course of Creator/TimBurton's two ''Film/{{Batman|1989}}'' films. True, the 1989 original didn't exactly end with the cast singing "[[Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit Smile, Darn Ya, Smile]]"...but things wrapped up about as well as they possibly could in such a dark franchise: Gotham City was saved and Batman got his revenge. But ''Film/BatmanReturns'' shows us early on that Batman may have won as a hero but Bruce Wayne has lost as a man, as he is still unhappy, his revenge didn't satisfy him, his relationship with someone who understood him didn't work out, and if anything, the experience had left him even ''more'' brutal and bloodthirsty And ''then'' he's framed for the murder of an innocent, [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer causing everyone to hate him again]], [[FridgeHorror and we never do see Batman being officially exonerated, despite the actual killer being punished by Batman himself]]. ''Film/BatmanForever'' (with which Burton was only peripherally involved) managed to [[AuthorsSavingThrow un-undo everything]], having Batman finally overcome his anger at seeing his parents murdered ''and'' being respected by the people of Gotham once again. Almost everyone agreed that the follow-up to ''that'', ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'', was a little ''[[TastesLikeDiabetes too]]'' happy. Additionally, the first three films’ respective love interests are absent by the following sequels.
* ''Film/TheBluesBrothers'' ended with Elwood and Jake barely managing to save the orphanage before being arrested. At the beginning of ''Film/BluesBrothers2000'', Elwood discovers that the orphanage has been demolished and Jake died offscreen before the movie begins, in a case of TheCharacterDiedWithHim.
* ''Film/BoratSubsequentMoviefilm'': Borat ends [[Film/{{Borat}} the first film]] happily remarried and (poorly) shares what he has learned in America to improve the lives of the people of Kazakhstan. By the opening of this film, Kazakhstan is a laughingstock to the rest of the world, Borat's family hates him, and he's doing a life sentence in TheGulag.
* ''Film/{{Candyman}}'' (1992) ended with infant Anthony being saved from the titular killer by Helen, who instead sacrifices herself to spare his life. The [[Film/{{Candyman 2021}} 2021 sequel]] follows Anthony in adulthood, but this time he ultimately falls victim to Candyman and becomes part of the hive.
* ''Film/ChildsPlay''. The first three movies play the trope straight, as both the first and second movies end with protagonist Andy successfully killing Chucky and moving on, only for the Killer Doll to come back from the dead by the next opus, where it's always revealed Andy's life only got worse in the mid-time. Andy is PutOnABus for the next two movies, but brought back in the sixth one, where the trope gets spectacularly subverted: Andy's situation [[EarnYourHappyEnding finally got better]] (he reunited with his mother and lives a normal life), and when Chucky does find him again, Andy [[CrazyPrepared welcomes him with a shotgun]]. Ultimately played straight again in the following movie, Cult of Chucky: Andy is miserable and obsessed with Chucky at the onset, and by the end of the movie, Chucky has a human form and his latest murders will probably be attributed to Andy.
* ''Film/FinalDestination'': It's a splatter film series where every movie ends with a DownerEnding in which Death gruesomely murders the protagonists, usually after a fake-out happy ending. The two leads of ''Film/FinalDestination2'' are the only ones to get an unambiguous happy ending, as being killed and then revived in time seems to get them off of Death's list. And yet deleted scenes from [[Film/FinalDestination3 the third movie]] show newspaper clippings revealing that they died in a freak accident sometime in between movies.
* ''Film/FlyingGuillotine'' ends with the hero, Ma, killing the last of the elite Guillotine assasination squad and escaping with his wife and baby, where he can live a quiet, happy life in the countryside. In the sequel, a new league of assassins catches up with Ma, and in their attempt to kill him they end up killing Ma's wife and son.
* ''Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}}'' ends with the titular team defeating an ancient Sumerian deity, sending it back where it came from, and being hailed as heroes by a grateful city. ''Film/GhostbustersII'' opens up five years later with their reputation inexplicably in shambles, the partnership dissolved, a court order preventing them from offering their services, and some of them even being so desperate that they have taken to performing at birthday parties. Peter and Dana broke up too. Fortunately, the happy ending of ''that'' movie seems to stick, as the video game (which is considered canon) shows them still active a few years later, and the current mayoral administration having very Ghostbuster-friendly policies.
* At the end of ''Film/GingerSnaps'', while Brigitte did have to kill her sister Ginger, she managed to stop her own werewolf infection by using monkshood to cure herself. ''Film/GingerSnaps2Unleashed'' reveals that the cure was only temporary, and Brigitte must keep injecting monkshood to stave off her transformation -- and her body has built up a tolerance to it, necessitating ever greater doses in a manner that [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything calls to mind drug addiction]], complete with her spending the first half of the film in a rehab clinic, in addition to being stalked by a new male werewolf. There's no such happy ending for her this time, the film ending with her transformation complete and [[CreepyChild Ghost]] keeping her as a "pet" to eat her enemies.
* ''Film/Godzilla2014'' ends with Godzilla returning to the sea after defeating the MUTOS, and ''Film/KongSkullIsland'' ends with Kong still the king of his home, both triumphant notes. The opening moments of ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' then reveal that the Titans are being awakened at a dramatic rate, forcing Godzilla back into the conflict and [[Film/GodzillaVSKong setting the stage for a fight with Kong]], as Skull Island is caught in the crossfire. The Monarch Corporation is also [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome facing major scrutiny and public backlash for their role in the previous films]]. Then ''Film/GodzillaVSKong'' overrides things further by the opening moments showing the public having largely turned against Godzilla, and Kong having grown so much that Skull Island can no longer sustain him. Most of the natives he protected have also died off, and a CorruptCorporateExecutive is trying to harvest resources by using one of Ghidorah's heads.
* ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}'': Like ''A Nightmare on Elm Street'' below, any time it looks as though Michael Myers has been killed, the next installment brings him back. The most obvious example is after Michael is ''decapitated'' at the end of ''Film/HalloweenH20TwentyYearsLater'', ''Film/HalloweenResurrection'' instead reveals that he's still alive because the one who was decapitated was [[AssPull another person he dressed up as himself]]. ''Film/Halloween4TheReturnOfMichaelMyers'' is another notable example, since Michael was last seen burning to a cinder after getting his eyes shot out in ''Film/HalloweenII1981'', but apparently he survived with only superficial injuries.
* ''The Love Bug'' series:
** ''Herbie Goes Bananas'', the fourth installment in the series, reveals that Herbie’s girlfriend Giselle from the previous movie ''Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo'' [[KilledOffscreen did not survive a race accident taking place between the films]]. Perhaps out of guilt, Herbie’s friend and driver Jim Douglas ‘gives’ Herbie to his nephew - and also a race car driver - Pete Stancheck.
* ''Film/TheInbetweeners'' begins with Carli dumping Simon - overriding the RelationshipUpgrade that had been hinted at at the end of [[Series/TheInbetweeners the TV series]]. The movie ends on a rare positive for all four of the boys as [[EarnYourHappyEnding they are in relationships]] - only for ''Film/TheInbetweeners2'' to begin with them [[StatusQuoIsGod firmly back in their]] CrapsackWorld, all single except for Simon, and alas for him, Lucy has [[TookALevelInJerkass become]] [[{{Yandere}} the girlfriend]] [[ClingyJealousGirl from Hell]]. It's even implied that Will never managed to lose his virginity to Alison, although whether this is a joke or a statement of fact is [[GodNeverSaidThat open to interpretation]].
* Well, more like a BittersweetEnding Override for ''Film/IndependenceDay'', given the death toll and the destruction, despite the defeat of the alien armada. But humanity survives and gets tons of alien tech to study. Twenty years later, ''Film/IndependenceDayResurgence'' comes and reveals that an even larger alien fleet is on the way, and humanity's advances and efforts to integrate alien tech with Earth tech may not be enough to stop them. Also, Creator/WillSmith's character [[DroppedABridgeOnHim was killed in-between the films]], while testing a hybrid fighter jet.
* The classic Soviet film ''Film/TheIronyOfFate'' ends with the two protagonists seemingly ending up together, with both of them ditching their {{Romantic False Lead}}s. Skip to the sequel 30 years later (both in RealLife and in the film), and it turns out that the male protagonist simply went back to his fiancee, forcing the female protagonist to go back to the guy she dumped, who still haven't forgiven her for leaving him, even after 30 years of marriage. The previous film's leads haven't spoken or seen one another in three decades and have told different accounts of the story to their children. The sequel rehashes the first film's story, but in a [[UsefulNotes/TheNewRussia modern setting]], and the now-elderly former leads end up together, just like their children.
* ''Franchise/JurassicPark'':
** ''Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark'' ends with [=InGen's=] plans to restart Jurassic Park thwarted and the dinosaurs are allowed to live out their days in peace on the islands. ''Film/JurassicWorld'' reveals that [=InGen=] tried to restart the park ''again'' and were more successful this time, rendering that ending basically meaningless. Supplementary material also states that Isla Sorna suffered a catastrophic ecological collapse offscreen due to Masrani Global's secret continued dinosaur engineering.
** ''Jurassic World'' ends with the park abandoned once more and dinosaurs given free reign over the island (again), but in ''Film/JurassicWorldFallenKingdom'' it turns out the island's volcano is going to erupt and render them all extinct for good. Also, they were able to make ''another'' weaponized hybrid dinosaur by recovering the ''Indominus'' skeleton's DNA. The film also ends with the dinosaurs now running loose on the mainland, which was explicitly stated to be a worst-case scenario nightmare in prior movies.
* ''Film/TheKarateKid'': Daniel-san wins the tournament and gets the girl. Come the sequel, she's wrecked his car and dumped him for a college guy.
* The ending of the original ''Film/KickBoxer'' has the hero avenge his brother's death by beating the bully Tong Po and the film ends on a happy note. The beginning of ''Kick Boxer 2'' has Tong Po murder the hero in cold blood, setting up the revenge story for the next younger brother. This wasn't the original script, but they changed it because the first film's star, Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme, refused to return for the sequel.
* Played with in ''Film/KingsmanTheGoldenCircle''. In ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService'', while Eggsy's mentor Harry dies, the film ends with Eggsy, Roxie, and Merlin saving the day from Valentine's plan. Even his dog lives! ''Golden Circle'' opens with a missile strike that kills Roxie, Eggsy's dog, and most of the Kingsman organization. However, we do find out later that [[NotQuiteDead Harry didn't actually die]] in the last movie.
* ''Film/KickAss'' ends with Dave having a loving girlfriend and Mindy starting a bright future going to school. During ''Film/KickAss2'', Katie dumps Dave and reveals that she had been cheating on him, and Mindy is an outcast at school and is unable to settle down and have a normal childhood.
* ''Film/MenInBlack'': Agent K passes the torch to Agent J and moves on to a well-earned retirement with the wife he hasn't seen in decades, J forms a new partnership with L, and everybody wins! Then ''Film/MenInBlackII'' comes along and decides to completely rehash the original, so L breaks up with J and gets a transfer to the morgue, leading J to a series of unsuitable partners, before being forced to reactivate K, which is only made slightly better because K's miserable and can't remember that it's because he used to be a galactic sheriff for all of Earth, and has become so uncertain and wistful about the things he can't remember that the woman he longed for his whole life and finally got to marry left him. Yay?
* ''Film/MortalKombatAnnihilation'' not only completely invalidates our heroes' victory at the end of the first movie by having Shao Kahn invade Earth anyway despite the tournament being won (a result of Shinnok, the true BigBad, manipulating things from behind the scenes), it also robs Raiden of his godly powers and brutally murders Johnny Cage in the first three minutes of the film.
* In ''Film/MuppetsMostWanted'', all those millions of Muppet fans that appeared at the end of ''Film/TheMuppets'' to lend their support to the gang in their time of need?
--> '''Rowlf:''' Actually, those were extras.\\
'''Fozzie:''' I saw a few tapping their toes.\\
'''Scooter:''' Yeah, those were paid dancers.\\
'''Fozzie:''' ...Oh.
* ''Film/NationalTreasure'': The first film ends with Ben helping The FBI arrest Ian and his men, getting the credit for finding the treasure along with his dad, Riley, and Abigail, starting a relationship with Abigail and not going to prison. But in the sequel Ben and Abigail are estranged and she has a new boyfriend named Connor.
* ''Film/{{Neighbors}}'': The first film ends with Teddy, realizing he needs to grow up and be an adult, getting a day job at Abercrombie & Fitch while taking night classes to boost his GPA. He also makes up with Mac when he runs into him outside the store. But then the sequel reveals that, thanks to the big party at the end of the first film, Teddy has a criminal record. So even though he's gotten his grades up and graduated, he's still stuck at his minimum wage A&F job while his college friends have gone on to bigger success because no one else will hire him. His resulting bitterness at his situation has caused him to develop some resentment towards Mac.
* ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet'': As a VillainBasedFranchise, it's a given that Freddy will return to menace the heroes again in a new entry, which makes the protagonist's efforts in previous entries largely worthless. However, the meanest example is without a doubt the SeriesFauxnale ''Film/FreddysDeadTheFinalNightmare'', which is set after a ten-year TimeSkip after Alice's last encounter with him. By now, Freddy has slaughtered every living child in Springwood and turned it into a GhostTown populated only by a few residents who have been driven to insanity by their grief, while planning to use the last surviving teenager to spread his influence to the rest of the world.
* ''Film/NoTimeToDie'': The previous film, ''Film/{{Spectre}}'', ended with Film/JamesBond and his SecondLove Madeleine Swann driving off into his retirement. Not long after, they're attacked in Italy by Spectre agents and Bond abandons her as a result of Blofeld's framing it to look like Madeleine set Bond up to be killed by Spectre, while she had nothing to do with it.
* ''Film/PaulBlartMallCop''. The first movie ended with Paul a hero and getting married to his LoveInterest, Amy. The sequel opens with the reveal that Amy filed for a divorce less than a week later for unexplained reasons, and to make matters worse, a short time after that his mother [[DroppedABridgeOnHim gets hit by a milk truck one morning]] while getting the paper. At least Paul finds someone else (who's also a security guard) and Maya gets to go to her dream college at the end.
* The film ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl'' ends in the best possible and most uplifting scenario with the villains dead, Will and Elizabeth getting officially together and Norrington generously giving Jack a head start all of which is done with the approval of the Governor, who is the highest authority figure in Port Royal leaving nothing in doubt about the whole matter. Until ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest'' that is, where a higher authority figure named Cutler Beckett (Lord actually) does appear, who shares a history with both Governor Swann and Jack and proceeds to use this seemingly innocuous development to his advantage by taking over and sentencing all those involved to death by hanging for aiding a branded pirate - this also means that Will is ''forced to miss his own wedding''. And all this in order to blackmail Turner into fetching him Jack's magic compass. Oh and an old debt of Jack's comes back to haunt him. This leads to a far less happy ending and a lot of things that need to be fixed by the next film. In fact the second film manages to offer an alternate happy ending overriding case that doesn't lead to anywhere, since it shows Jack coming close to facing yet another mutiny from the same crew that seemingly accepted him as captain at the end of the previous film. Even Norrington is reduced to a drunken shadow of his former self.
* At the end of ''Film/ThePurgeElectionYear'', Roan had won the election against [[SinisterMinister Owens]], and her first move as president was to abolish the Purge. However, in ''Film/TheForeverPurge'', not only were the NFFA reelected and the Purge reinstated, we now have those continuing the Purge long after the holiday finished.
* ''Film/RamboIV'' ended on an optimistic note, with Rambo moving past his bitterness and cynicism to rejoin his family and society as a whole. In ''Film/RamboLastBlood'', while he did find peace and happiness, it was only temporary as his new life is completely destroyed by the Cartel and he's resigned himself to WalkingTheEarth as an outcast once more.
* The ''Franchise/{{Rocky}}'' movies love their Overrides.
** ''Film/{{Rocky}}'' ends with the title hero [[VictoriousLoser going the distance]] against the champion Apollo Creed, which is all he really wanted. They agree there won't be a rematch, and Rocky quits the boxing biz. ''Film/RockyII'' sees Balboa's endorsements and money from the fight run dry. Creed, his pride now wounded by skeptical fans, demands a rematch. Rocky, desperate to feed his family, has no choice but to take it.
** After beating Ivan Drago at the end of ''Film/RockyIV'', Rocky returns to the states in ''Film/RockyV'', only to learn that he has lost all of his money and that he also has serious brain damage which could lead to his death if he ever fights again.
** ''Film/{{Creed}}'': Last time we saw Rocky, he had finally made peace with both losing Adrian and not being able to box anymore, having one last fight that he manages to go the distance for which earns him both the respect of the crowd and his opponent, and he's also got his son, Paulie, and Marie as part of his life. By the time this film rolls around, Paulie has died, his son has moved to Vancouver, Marie's been PutOnABus, ''and'' he's dying of Non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
* ''Film/ShanghaiNoon'' ended with the heroes each getting the girl, becoming rich and both getting respected jobs as sheriffs. By the second film, the girls were gone, the money had been lost in a poor investment and while Roy had already left his job and become a waiter, Chon had to leave it in order to follow the plot of the next film.
* ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'' ends on a high (if bittersweet) note, with our heroes, including Captain Kirk, heading towards retirement after saving the Federation and the galaxy yet again. Then ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'' happens, and Kirk first gets chucked out of the ''Enterprise''-B's hull into the Nexus, ''and then'' proceeds to be the trope namer for DroppedABridgeOnHim when he comes out to stop the MadScientist Soran from blowing up a sun in order to get into the Nexus.
** Similarly, ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'' ends on the hope that the Romulan Empire and the Federation will be able to put the past behind them and band together for the common good, even after the time they spent fighting. It never happens because Romulus of this universe was canonically destroyed by a supernova in the ContinuityReboot ''Film/StarTrek2009'', giving Nero the impetus to screw around with the AlternateContinuity of the Abrams films.
* ''Franchise/StarWars:''
** ''Film/ANewHope'' ends on a triumphant note with the Rebels destroying the Death Star and receiving medals for it. Come ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' and we learn that the celebrations were short-lived as the Empire's counterattack was swift and drove them out from their base, starting the [[DarkestHour darkest episode]] of the original trilogy.
** Happens also in the ''Film/StarWarsEwokAdventures'' of all movies. ''Caravan of Courage'' had a teenage boy and his younger sister team up with some teddy bears to rescue their parents from a giant. Within the first few ''minutes'' of ''Battle for Endor'' all the humans except the little girl are killed by SpacePirates, who go on to slaughter or enslave all but one of the Ewoks.
** ''Film/TheForceAwakens'':
*** TheEmpire has fallen, dealt a final blow shortly after ''Return of the Jedi'', but [[TheRemnant sympathizers]] have worked behind the scenes to create a replacement for thirty years. The New Republic leadership doesn't take them seriously, so Princess Leia forms LaResistance with surreptitious support from old political allies to fight them as best they can. Until the New Republic is at best utterly devastated and at worst annihilated during the events of the film.
*** Luke's attempt at resurrecting the Jedi Order ended in total disaster when his nephew turned to the Dark Side and killed or corrupted all the other apprentices. After several decades he is ''still'' [[LastOfHisKind the last Jedi]], and has [[AchillesInHisTent retreated into unknown space]].
*** Han and Leia's ending. Not only do they lose their son to the Dark Side, devastating their relationship and sending them back to what is comfortable: Leia leading the resistance against the Empire-influenced First Order and Han back to smuggling, but it is overridden further when their son completes his fall by killing Han.
** ''Film/TheLastJedi'' continues this, having the First Order reigning the Galaxy with their losses at Starkiller Base in ''The Force Awakens'' barely slowing them down, the remaining Resistance members being picked off, Leia's call for help ignored out of fear, Finn and Rose's unsanctioned mission making things worse, and Luke Skywalker himself dying to help the last remnants of the Resistance escape.
** ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' continues the trend: Both Leia and her son die, but Kylo effectively ended up retreading Anakin's own redemption arc by sacrificing himself to save a loved one - and for that matter, Emperor Palpatine never ''truly'' died to begin with (and has been controlling the galaxy via a PuppetKing in the interim), meaning Anakin's own DyingMomentOfAwesome was rendered meaningless beyond saving Luke's life at that time (and as stated above, Luke had his own personal happy ending overriden). In fact, not only did Palpatine not ''lose'' in the original trilogy, rendering the whole Rebellion and all its struggles moot, he actually became explicitly far more powerful: by the Sequel Trilogy he controls both his former Imperial domain (via the First Order) ''and'' a huge never before mentioned Sith Fleet that's explicitly far larger than the Imperial Navy at its height. Oh, and every single ship in that fleet has a planet-destroying laser, so he basically has ten thousand Death Stars, rendering the conflicts of the previous films (to destroy a mere ''two'' Death Stars) totally meaningless.
* A cross-media example: ''Film/SupermanReturns'' ends with Superman accepting that he has a biological son with Lois Lane, and swearing he will be there for him, successfully rekindling his relationship with all of the supporting cast after being away for five years, and saving the day from another scheme made by Lex Luthor. The ''Series/{{Arrowverse}}'' CrisisCrossover event ''Series/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths2019'' reveals to the audience that at some point in between ''Returns'' and 2019 ComicBook/TheJoker [[AttentionWhore got pissed off]] that the ''Daily Planet'' wasn't talking enough about him in their stories and massacred everybody in the building [[EvilIsPetty in revenge for this slight]], with Supes himself confirming the deaths of Perry White, Jimmy Olsen, and Lois Lane. While Supes remains TheCape after this and still helps people (instead of exiling himself like he did in ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'', which this character arc homages), it's made very obvious that [[TheLostLenore he's still hurting]].
* In ''Film/{{Ted}}'', the film ends with John and Lori getting married and Ted becoming store manager. By the beginning of the [[Film/Ted2 sequel]], it's confirmed that John and Lori have been divorced for six months, Ted is a cashier again and loses his job due to his lack of legal rights.
* Happens to James Cameron again in the ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' series.
** After our heroes ScrewDestiny and avert Judgment Day in ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'', ''Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines'' insists that YouCantFightFate and Judgment Day has to happen after all to fix those {{Stable Time Loop}}s and {{Temporal Paradox}}es.
** James Cameron, while working on ''Film/TerminatorDarkFate'' to serve as a direct sequel to ''Judgment Day'', has dismissed all films past the second (which he wasn't involved in) to have all happened in {{alternate timeline}}s. And then ''Dark Fate'' ''[[YankTheDogsChain still]]'' manages to override ''T2'' by killing off John Connor courtesy of one last T-800 and revealing that [[HereWeGoAgain Judgement Day will eventually happen anyways]], just under a new AI called "Legion" instead of "Skynet". Artificial intelligence is still fated to be developed, and it will still turn against humanity; only the names change.
* At the end of the first ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' film, Megatron is killed; gets resurrected in the next one. Part of Sam's character arc in the second film is his refusal to tell Mikaela he loves her, but he finally does at the end. She dumps him between films. ''Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon'' has the Autobots emerge triumphant as seemingly all the Decepticons (including [[BigBad Megatron]], [[TheStarscream Starscream]] and [[BackForTheDead the long-absent Barricade]]) are [[KilledOffForReal killed]]. ''Film/TransformersAgeOfExtinction'' begins four years later, during which time humanity has turned on the Autobots and are now hunting them down to kill them. And their remains are used to create new Transformers controlled by humans. Including Megatron, who, as it turns out, [[NotQuiteDead is still alive]].
* ''Film/{{Tron}}'': Yay! [[AIIsACrapshoot Master Control]] was destroyed, [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Dillinger]] was busted, [[InformationWantsToBeFree the Programs are free again]], and [[ExposeTheVillainGetHisJob Flynn's not only got his job back, he's the guy in charge!]] He wraps his arms around [[PowerTrio Lora and Alan]] and off they go into the sunset...''Film/TronLegacy'' opens, and Encom's back to being [[CorruptCorporateExecutive run by crooks]], with [[HonestCorporateExecutive Alan]] as the OnlySaneMan in the room. Lora's [[SequelNonEntity nowhere to be seen]] (ExpandedUniverse material says she was PutOnABus, which is actually ''nicer'' than her fate in the [[VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh other sequel]]; [[http://yori-lives.blogspot.com/ the actress is trying to fix this]]). Meanwhile, Flynn's trapped by his own creation, has been fighting a HopelessWar for the equivalent of ''centuries,'' and has had to watch the genocide of a species. And just to frost the cake? Tron himself made an attempt at HeroicSacrifice that turned into a FateWorseThanDeath. Suddenly, the first film doesn't seem like such cheery Creator/{{Disney}} fare. Worse, ''Film/TronLegacy'' veers incredibly close to a full-blown DownerEnding since over 2/3 of the characters are dead and most of the other 1/3 have dim survival odds at best. The only bright spot at the end of ''Legacy'' is that [[SpinOffspring Sam]] and [[LastOfHisKind Quorra]] manage to escape ''alive.''
** The [[CanonDiscontinuity video game sequel]] ''VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh'' is LighterAndSofter, but not by much; the comic establishes that Flynn apparently went nuts and vanished, Lora was killed by an accident in the laser lab with the part of her remaining in the system compiled into [=Ma3a=], Alan has been exiled to a lab in the basement instead of a token position in the boardroom, Encom is on such shaky ground that a shady fly-by-night like F-Con can swoop in and buy them out, and Tron's fate is explicitly stated to be "unknown."
* ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'':
** ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'': The cautious optimism that Professor X carried at the end of ''Film/XMenFirstClass'' turned out to be short-lived. After just one semester, conscription for the UsefulNotes/VietnamWar forces Charles Xavier to close his school, which serves as the [[DespairEventHorizon last straw that broke the camel's back]]. Losing his sense of purpose exacerbates the traumas he has experienced during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and he soon becomes a drug-addled recluse.
** ''Film/{{Logan}}'' itself overrides the ending Wolverine fought for in ''Days of Future Past'', as it adapts elements of ''ComicBook/OldManLogan'', including mutants dying out, Logan as a tired old man, and seven of the X-Men being killed by an unknowing member of their own ranks (in the film's case, Professor Xavier during a telepathic seizure) leading to the dissolution of the team, the cure against the mutants succeed, and [[TheHeroDies Logan and Charles]] die by the end of the movie.
* ''Film/{{Zoolander}}'' ended with Mugatu in jail, Derek and Matilda getting married and having a son, and the Derek Zoolander Center For Kids Who Can't Read Good finally being opened. [[Film/Zoolander2 The sequel]] reveals that Mugatu orchestrated the collapse of the center while imprisoned, which scarred Hansel's face and killed Matilda. Derek subsequently lost custody of his son, and retreated from the public eye to live as a recluse.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film -- Animated]]

* ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' ends with Vanellope [[EarnYourHappyEnding finally earning her place]] in ''Sugar Rush'' and becoming a popular player, while Ralph cherishes having a new friend who makes his job as a villain more bearable. The sequel, ''WesternAnimation/RalphBreaksTheInternet'', takes place six years later - Vanellope is now tired of ''Sugar Rush'' and finds it boring, accidentally gets it unplugged, and eventually abandons it for another game, while Ralph is forced to learn to give up his own happiness to allow for hers.

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

'''This is an EndingTrope, so expect UNMARKED spoilers.'''

!!Examples:

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* The 2014 ''Wrestling/SurvivorSeries'' event saw Wrestling/TheAuthority forced to disband after losing the main event- only for Wrestling/SethRollins to reinstate the faction literally two weeks later, allowing them to cause even more misery for another two years. Their final disbanding was more of an AntiClimax.

* ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' ended with the Maximals successfully capturing [[BigBad Megatron]] and taking him back to Cybertron, with him tied to the roof of their spaceship. However, in ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines'', it's revealed that Megatron has been able to successfully take over Cybertron, in large part ''because'' he was left outside the spaceship. [[note]]It let him jump off and out of the timestream and return to Cybertron much earlier than the Maximals.[[/note]]
** On a lesser note, another happy ending is undone as well, albeit of a [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain villain]]. ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' ends with [[ButtMonkey Waspinator]] remaining on Earth, being worshipped by a tribe of primitive humans. ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines'' undoes this with Waspinator being ousted by the tribe almost immediately after the end of the first series. He ends up back on Cybertron and ends up a villain again, a Vehicon general named Thrust. The latter series ends with Thrust/Waspinator shrunken down and given the body of a wasp (albeit a very strange-looking wasp), being able to do nothing but complain about his worsened situation.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' had a definite ending in which the eponymous hero, [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer after living many years as a lonely outcast]], [[EarnYourHappyEnding gained acceptance and recognition from his village]], [[ToBeAMaster achieved his lifelong dream]], [[MessianicArchetype managed to bring peace to the ninja world]], [[ThePowerOfFriendship redeemed his best friend]], [[HappilyMarried found love]] [[BabiesEverAfter and fathered two children]]. The sequel manga, ''[[Manga/{{Boruto}} Boruto: Naruto Next Generation]]'' kicks off by showing [[DoomedHometown the Village of Konoha destroyed]] and a now more grown-up Naruto's son, Boruto Uzumaki, fighting a powerful enemy who is implied to have ''[[HeroKiller killed his father]]''. Ultimately a DownplayedTrope, since after that FlashForward we go back and see that there was indeed a long period of peace and prosperity before things went bad due to an unforeseen new conflict.

** On a lesser note, another happy ending is undone as well, albeit of a [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain villain]]. ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' ends with [[ButtMonkey Waspinator]] remaining on Earth, being worshipped by a tribe of primitive humans. ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines'' undoes this with Waspinator being kicked out by the tribe almost immediately after the end of the first series. He ends up back on Cybertron and ends up a villain again, a Vehicon general named Thrust. The latter series ends with Thrust/Waspinator shrunken down and given the body of a wasp (albeit a very strange-looking wasp), being able to do nothing but complain about his worsened situation.

* ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'' manages to do this halfway through it's 6th and final season. Bojack, sober for almost a year and being on good terms with everyone from his social circle (for once), has just started to rebuild himself as a well-liked acting professor, and has finally begun to forgive himself and triumph over his depression. Then an IntrepidReporter digs up details about some of his most serious misdeeds from the past several seasons, his public image is destroyed in a disasterous second interview (he aced the first), most of his close friends cut ties with him (including his half-sister Hollyhock), and he relapses into alcoholism.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'':

* The ending of ''Film/OsmosisJones'' has Frank turn his life around and adopt a healthier lifestyle, and we see him spending time outdoors with his daughter. In ''WesternAnimation/OzzyAndDrix'', on the other hand, Frank is once again an obese slob, suggesting that either he has relapsed back into unhealthy habits, or ''Ozzy and Drix'' is an AlternateContinuity, and if the latter, then Frank will be killed by Thrax.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scpwiki.com/scp-2519 SCP-2519]] does this to two sapient machine [=SCPs=], SCP-2412 and SCP-629. When the composition is played for them, they become inefficient and broken. 629 becomes outright murderous]and even though the page states the effects only last for as long as the song is played, it also states the symptons can recur. These two [=SCPs=] will never be the same.

* Though the first book of the ''Never Again'' series has only a BittersweetEnding, it still qualifies for this trope, because it ends with the heroes succeeding in democratizing the world, albeit [[TheHeroDies at the cost of their lives. The DistantFinale clearly implies that they succeeded. However, all of that is ignored in the second book, in which it is revealed that somehow one dictatorship still survived John and Joy's changes to history, and was able to [[AppealToForce start a nuclear war]], TakeOverTheWorld, and [[ShootTheShaggyDog cause more deaths than all the wars, democides, and dictatorships of the Real-Life twentieth century combined]]. And all this just to set up a ContinuityReboot.

* ''Literature/ReadyPlayerOne'' ends with Wade becoming filthy rich, achieving worldwide fame, absolute power in the OASIS, and the girl of his dreams. Then comes ''Literature/ReadyPlayerTwo'', and the girl dumps him in a matter of weeks, growing to hate him over the years due to philosophical differences (although Wade speculated that she was already looking for an excuse to end the relationship due to [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome the reality of real-world relationships]] once the initial passion wore off. Wade's realization about the real world being important takes a backslide and he goes back to being an OASIS addict. His immaturity turns his fame into infamy. And he goes back to obsessing over another puzzle.

** The transition from ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' to ''Film/{{Alien 3}}'', in which Hicks, Bishop, and Newt, the three that Ripley fought tooth and nail to save in the previous movie, are [[DroppedABridgeOnHim killed off-screen]] [[SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome before the opening credits]]. Bishop ''technically'' survives, but he's damaged beyond repair and permanently turned off by Ripley. Creator/JamesCameron was horrified that the survivors from his film died horribly instead of being able to start a family (with the exception of Ripley), and [[Creator/AlanDeanFoster the author]] hired to write novelizations for the series went so far as to call this twist "obscene". Notably, the Dark Horse comic series ignores the twist, keeping Newt and Hicks alive. ''Only for things to get worse.''

*** Luke's attempt at resurrecting the Jedi Order ended in total disaster when his nephew turned to the Dark Side and killed most of the other apprentices. After several decades he is ''still'' [[LastOfHisKind the last Jedi]], and has [[AchillesInHisTent retreated into unknown space]].

* At the end of ''Film/GingerSnaps'', while Brigitte did have to kill her sister Ginger, she managed to stop her own werewolf infection by using monkshood to cure herself. ''Film/GingerSnaps2Unleashed'' reveals that the cure was only temporary, and Brigitte must keep injecting monkshood to stave off her transformation -- and her body has built up a tolerance to it, necessitating ever greater doses in a manner that [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything calls to mind drug addiction]], complete with her spending the first half of the film in a rehab clinic. There's no such happy ending for her this time, the film ending with her transformation complete and [[CreepyChild Ghost]] keeping her as a "pet" to eat her enemies.

* ''Film/Godzilla2014'' ends with Godzilla returning to the sea after defeating the MUTOS, and ''Film/KongSkullIsland'' ends with Kong still the king of his home, both triumphant notes. The opening moments of ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' then reveal that the Titans are being awakened at a dramatic rate, forcing Godzilla back into the conflict and [[Film/GodzillaVSKong setting the stage for a fight with Kong]], as Skull Island is caught in the crossfire. The Monarch Corporation is also [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome facing major scrutiny and public backlash for their role in the previous films]]. Then ''Film/GodzillaVSKong'' overrides things further by the opening moments showing the public having largely turned against Godzilla, and Kong having grown so much that Skull Island can no longer sustain him. Most of the natives he protected have also died off, and a CorruptCorporativeExecutive is trying to harvest resources by using one of Ghidorah's heads.
* ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}'': Like ''A Nightmare on Elm Street'' below, any time it looks as though Michael Myers has been killed, the next installment brings him back. The most obvious example is after Michael is ''decapitated'' at the end of ''Film/HalloweenH20TwentyYearsLater'', ''Film/HalloweenResurrection'' instead reveals that he's still alive because the one who was decapitated was [[AssPull another person he dressed up as himself]].

->''"You can't have happy endings in sitcoms, not really, because if everyone's happy, the show would be over, and above all else, the show... has to keep going."''

This is the part where our heroes (assuming they're not [[SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome dead]], incapacitated or [[SuddenSequelHeelSyndrome turned evil]]) fall to their knees and deliver their best [[VideoGame/MegaManX4 Zero]] impression: "What were we fighting for?" The Guardian newspaper pointed out how depressingly ''common'' this trope has been through the 2010's, and [[https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jan/21/picard-amazon-skywalker-star-wars-woverine-logan gave such sequels the moniker of "bleakquel."]]

'''This is an EndingTrope, so expect spoilers.'''

* The ending to ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'' shows the surviving cast of [[VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc the first game]] [[spoiler:deleting Alter Ego Junko Enoshima and reverting the surviving Remnants of Despair back to their old selves]]. The worst they think will happen is filing a bunch of paperwork, right? ''Wrong''. ''Anime/Danganronpa3'' begins one day later, when [[TheHero Makoto Naegi]] gets court-martialed by the leaders of [[spoiler:the [[LaResistance Future Foundation]]]] for harboring war criminals. Then [[BackFromTheDead Monokuma returns]] and forces everyone into another DeadlyGame, [[TenLittleMurderVictims revealing a traitor amongst them will be doing the killing]].
* While ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' doesn't do this as a whole to ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', as it's a {{midquel}} that takes place before the last three episodes of that series, it does do this to Future Trunks' story. The last time he was seen in the original series, thanks to training in the Z Warriors' timeline he'd managed to become strong enough to take down the Artificial Humans of his world (as well as Imperfect Cell), as well as rebuild all the damage they caused. In ''Super'', new villain Goku Black [[spoiler:(a.k.a. Zamasu)]] decimates his world ''even more so'' than the Artificial Humans did, murders his mother right in front of his eyes, and forces Future Trunks to flee back to the main timeline. Even worse, [[spoiler:after Zamasu's defeat, he attempts to become reality itself, prompting Goku to have no other choice but to summon the timeline's Omni-King, who completely destroys the timeline to take Zamasu out for good (though the heroes manage to escape), [[ShootTheShaggyDog rendering the struggles of its inhabitants between both apocalypses null and void]]]].

* ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'': Part of the reason the titular hero became TheAtoner was that he could no longer ignore the fact that he was killing people regardless of how good the motives were. [[spoiler: Being indirectly responsible for the death of the woman he loved was the metaphorical last straw.]] Each major fight afterward, Kenshin speechifies about what he was fighting for, and it takes a HeroicBSOD for him to realize that he can only fight for his own personal peace of mind. The ''Seisouhen'' OVA goes on to erase all of that CharacterDevelopment and have Kenshin still so wracked by guilt that he [[spoiler: ''abandons his family'' to go WalkingTheEarth again]]; it's not until the very end that he [[spoiler: returns, only to die in Kaoru's arms, and she dies moments later because he's infected her too. Yahiko has taken up Kenshin's mantle, and his son Kenji eventually comes around to the same point of view]], but there's a reason most fans and Creator/NobuhiroWatsuki himself, who didn't write it, [[DisownedAdaptation deny Seisouhen's existence]].
* ''Anime/EurekaSevenAO'' shows that [[Anime/EurekaSeven Eureka and Renton's]] child is abandoned in another dimension. [[spoiler:It's later revealed that [[HalfHumanHybrid Corralian/Human babies]] can't survive in their home dimension because of high levels of Trapar.]]

* ''Manga/FrankenFran'': An early chapter in the {{sequel series}} ''Frantic'' features a young boy dying from a rare disease that even Fran can't cure. So he can die happily, the child's wealthy businessman father and Fran work to create a fantasy world on a private island, where actors and Fran's monsters will help sell the idea that the child has become the ChosenOne in another realm. Bittersweet, but still one of the rare happy endings in the series, with everyone involved happily doing their best to make sure this kid has a pleasant remaining years. Now fast-forward twenty chapters, and Fran comes back with a procedure can cure him. Everyone is overjoyed, until the cured boy -- now in the throes of puberty and realizing that since this isn't "the real world", [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential he can do whatever he wants]] -- uses his newfound strength to [[spoiler:[[MoodWhiplash start raping as many women and torturing as many men and monsters as he can]]. All the actors start quitting in droves out of horror, anger, and disgust, and the businessman (only caring that his son is finally healthy) commissions Fran to create hundreds of clones for his son to freely rape, enslave, and torture in their stead]].
-->'''Fran''': [[LampshadeHanging If Roito died, it would have ended nicely.]] Just a tragic tearjerker, right? But if he doesn't die and things continue like this...

* ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer'': the Ooarai High School is shutting down, but it will remain open if its tankery team manages to win the national tournament. After many trials and hardships, the tournament is won. ''Girls Und Panzer Der Film'' opens with an announcement that the school's closing down anyway, as apparently the administration's promise to keep the school open was hollow. [[spoiler:Anzu manages to negotiate a promise to have the school remain open if the tankery team wins a match against a University-level team... and this time she gets the agreement in writing so they can't back out of it.]]

** Defied in ''Manga/MobileSuitCrossboneGundam The Steel Seven''. Kincade (aka Seabook) retired from war after the original manga, and he and Cecily settled down in peace. When another threat to Earth is revealed, Tobia initially considers going to him to get his help as a pilot... but decides against it seeing how happy Seabook is, and Tobia can't bring himself to interrupt that.
** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamMSIGLOO'' ends with the main cast surviving the horrific war and Oliver May leaving the military... Then ''Manga/MobileSuitGundam0083Rebellion'' reveals that the IGLOO cast ''joined Axis Zeon''. Considering that throughout the course of ''IGLOO'', the main characters saw many horrors of war, including horrors committed by Zeon, it really feels like a slap in the face for them to just rejoin a group of Zeon remnants and go back for round two.
** ''Anime/TurnAGundam'' ends up being this. [[spoiler:Because the Black History consists of all previous Gundam series up to that point, almost every single Gundam work is doomed to end in conflict and destruction of the world over the course of millennia. For one Gundam work to exist, the previous must have ended in failure for the protagonists. Ironically, one could argue that ''Turn A'' (and the works made between this and ''[[Anime/GundamReconguistaInG Reconquista in G]]'') itself succumbs to this as it must end in setting up the Reguild Century.]]

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' had a definite ending in which the eponymous hero, [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer after living many years as a lonely outcast]], [[EarnYourHappyEnding gained acceptance and recognition from his village]], [[ToBeAMaster achieved his lifelong dream]], [[MessianicArchetype managed to bring peace to the ninja world]], [[ThePowerOfFriendship redeemed his best friend]], [[HappilyMarried found love]] [[BabiesEverAfter and fathered two children]]. The sequel manga, ''[[Manga/{{Boruto}} Boruto: Naruto Next Generation]]'' kicks off by showing [[spoiler:[[DoomedHometown the Village of Konoha destroyed]] and a now more grown-up Naruto's son, Boruto Uzumaki, fighting a powerful enemy who is implied to have ''[[HeroKiller killed his father]]'']]. Ultimately a DownplayedTrope, since after that FlashForward we go back and see that there was indeed a long period of peace and prosperity before things went bad due to an unforeseen new conflict.
* A very... odd example in ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion''. [[spoiler:Kyubey has turned Homura into a witch and trapped the others in her labyrinth, so that he can try to undo Madoka's wish. He fails, only for someone else to undo Madoka's wish: [[FaceHeelTurn HOMURA]], who absorbs/suppresses Madoka's goddess powers and becomes [[SatanicArchetype Lucifer]], [[LaserGuidedAmnesia erases the other girls' memories]], and proceeds to remake reality in her own image. To be fair, the ending she puts in place has all five girls [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg (and newcomer Nagisa)]] [[EveryoneLives alive]], with only her and Kyubey really getting the short end of the stick: Homura because she feels unworthy of Madoka's friendship after betraying her, and [[LaserGuidedKarma Kyubey due to being stuffed with all of the curses he had laid on Magical Girls throughout history]]. So she overrode a happy ending to put a seemingly ''happier'' ending in place]]; it's very contentious among fans, as [[BrokenBase some see the new ending as happier, others less so.]]
** The root of the divergence seems to be whether you believe [[spoiler:whether being alive but mortal and trapped in an illusionary labyrinth is better than being in magical girl heaven with full agency and immortality, but technically "dead."]]

* ''Anime/QueensBlade'' sees this happen in the ''Rebellion'' series, where [[spoiler:the victorious Leina hands the mantle of Queen to her sister, Claudette, who goes on to make many reforms as Leina happily retires. The key sticking point is that [[BigBad the Swamp Witch]] is still free at the end of the first series, and she continues to expand her poisoned domain, starts cursing all of the old heroines to put them out of commission or limit their fighting ability, and corrupts Claudette into a WellIntentionedExtremist KnightTemplar who rules with an iron fist, making the "Rebellion" necessary.]]
* ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'': At the end of the second movie, Shinji succeeds in rescuing Rei from an Angel that had devoured her, inadvertently starting [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Third Impact]] in the process, not that he's concerned. [[spoiler:TheStinger, however, has Kaworu stop Third Impact, and by the time the third movie begins, nearly all of humanity is shown to have perished when Shinji nearly started Third Impact, and everyone Shinji knew and loved (except Kaworu) is either dead or flat-out hate him, some (like Asuka and Misato) rather irrationally. The Rei that he meets in this movie, to make things worse, is a clone: the Rei he thought he rescued is gone.]]
* ''LightNovel/WorldEndWhatDoYouDoAtTheEndOfTheWorldAreYouBusyWillYouSaveUs'' has a very bittersweet ending [[spoiler:that takes place after a ten year time skip, with it being implied that everyone lived happily ever after during those ten years. Then the sequel, which takes place five years into the time skip, came out and revealed just how horrible things really were. Two days after the main conflict was seemingly resolved, Regul Aire was once again attacked by the 17 Beasts. Although the Warehouse inevitably managed to survive this, it’s not clear if all of its members could say the same.]]

* The ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' graphic novels quickly establish that saving the world involves more than just beating the Fire Lord, with a lot of messes and problems to deal with in the aftermath of a large-scale global war. This includes everything from how to deal with the various colonies, handling any groups within the Fire Nation that are still loyal to the previous Fire Lord, and preventing new wars from breaking out. Not even the character's personal relationships are safe, with [[spoiler: Mai and Zuko breaking up]] almost immediately, despite their heartwarming reunion in the show's finale.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' graphic novels continue this trend, though it's somewhat downplayed by show's finale making it clear that Korra and [[spoiler:Asami]] going on a date in the Spirit World is simply a short vacation before devoting themselves to rebuilding Republic City. When they return, they immediately have to deal with a refugee crisis and [[spoiler: a new BigBad swiftly going from a BadassNormal gangster to HumanoidAbomination that can command spirits like [[EvilUncle Unalaq]] all over again]].

* The first half of [[ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW IDW's 2005 Transformers comic continuity]] ended with a DistantFinale issue where the war against the Decepticons has long since ended and the Autobots rule a peace filled Cybertron. When the comic spun off into two [[ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye new]] [[ComicBook/TheTransformersRobotsInDisguise books]] set during the post war, the previous ending was completely ignored as the Autobots became hated and [[spoiler:Cybertron was destroyed by Unicron]]. The original finale was retconned into being just a vision had by Ironhide and Alpha Trion about their ideal future and [[spoiler:both characters would end up dying near the series' end.]]

* Even ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'' becomes guilty with this. The hypothetical ''Archie Marries Betty/Veronica'' storylines give a HappilyEverAfter (and BabiesEverAfter to the focal couple) to all the characters in both timelines. ''ComicBook/LifeWithArchieTheMarriedLife'' expands their first few years as newlywed couples and turns the stories into full-blown soap opera (complete with {{Drama Bomb}}s) before finally ending [[spoiler:with TheHeroDies.]]

* The end of ''Fanfic/HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality'' had [[spoiler: Harry obliviating Voldemort of all his memories, hoping to raise him again in love and warmth one day.]] Yet in its [[RecursiveFanfiction fan sequel]] ''Significant Digits'', [[spoiler: Voldemort got all his memories back]].

* ''Fanfic/TheQueensAdmiral'' does this for ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'', as whatever peace and happiness the characters managed to achieve were undercut by the French Revolution, [[spoiler:during which Adam (the Beast) lost his kingdom, his son, and almost all of his servants aside from Chip. The former prince Adam had since become a senile old man who eventually dies of heart attack when he got involved in the conflict that the main characters were involved in]].
* "Fanfic/FlaihhsamSSpahkh" has a throwaway mention that Ael t'Rllaillieu from the ''Literature/{{Rihannsu}}'' novels was assassinated at some point after becoming [[spoiler:Empress of the Romulan Star Empire]] in the last book, which probably explains why her friendship with Kirk and the ''Enterprise'' crew hadn't led to a long-term thaw in relations with the Federation by ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''.
* In the ''Fanfic/RubyAndNora'' story ''Attacks'', the titular duo save the town of Muzukasi from [[spoiler: robotic]] Grimm attacks [[spoiler: after finding out that Harold White was behind them]]. In the very next story, ''Bloodsucker'', Muzukasi was destroyed by the Aswang with Penwood the only survivor.

* Downplayed example in ''Fanfic/DanganronpaTheImmersiveLearningProgram'', where the ending of the first part [[spoiler:involved the simulation the students were trapped in collapsing, with a HopeSpot involving Shuichi reaching out to save Kaede]]. However, the sequel ''Academy of Discontent'', goes into [[spoiler:Shuichi's]] point-of-view of that ending, and reveals [[spoiler:that Kaede and Shuichi, plus another student, didn't make it out alive]].

* A partial example in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory4.'' The BittersweetEnding of ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'' saw the teenage Andy passing on his toys to little Bonnie, who seemed like she would play with them and love them as much as Andy had. In the sequel, this is true for most of the toys, but Bonnie has lost interest in Woody and ignores him. [[spoiler: In the end, he accepts that she doesn't need him anymore and starts a new life as an ownerless toy with Bo Peep.]]

* ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater'': [[spoiler:Jim, Selena, and Hannah]] all survive the zombie apocalypse and move to a safe area while the Infected from Britain starve to death and it becomes safe again. They are eventually spotted by a plane and rescued. Then, ''Film/TwentyEightWeeksLater'' causes ''another'' infection outbreak due to an IdiotPlot, [[spoiler:this time [[FromBadToWorse reaching mainland Europe]] with no natural barriers to stop the zombies from overrunning Eurasia]]. Meanwhile, a comic series starring one of the survivors from the first movie reveals that Jim has been sentenced to death for his RoaringRampageOfRevenge on the soldiers who were trying to repopulate the earth by [[SexSlave using his friends]].

** The transition from ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' to ''Film/{{Alien 3}}'', in which [[spoiler: Hicks, Bishop, and Newt, the three that Ripley fought tooth and nail to save in the previous movie, are [[DroppedABridgeOnHim killed off-screen]] [[SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome before the opening credits]]. Bishop ''technically'' survives, but he's damaged beyond repair and permanently turned off by Ripley.]] Creator/JamesCameron was horrified that [[spoiler:the survivors from his film died horribly instead of being able to start a family (with the exception of Ripley)]], and [[Creator/AlanDeanFoster the author hired to write novelizations for the series]] went so far as to call this twist "obscene". Notably, the Dark Horse comic series ignores the twist, [[spoiler:keeping Newt and Hicks alive]]. ''Only for things to get worse.''
** ''Film/AlienResurrection'' completely negates [[spoiler:Ripley's HeroicSacrifice]] at the end of ''Alien 3'' by [[spoiler:putting alien DNA into the hands of another Corrupt Corporation.]]
** While ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'' certainly didn't end ''happily'', [[KillEmAll by any means]], it did end hopefully with the lone survivors--Elizabeth and David--headed towards the Engineers' homeworld for answers. In ''Film/AlienCovenant'', it turns out [[spoiler:David took a flying leap off the slippery slope, murdered Elizabeth, and horrifically mutilated her remains to help create the ultimate lifeform: the Xenomorphs. Shaw is long dead and David is now the BigBad of the series.]]
* This happened (albeit with more subtlety than usual) in the course of Creator/TimBurton's two ''Film/{{Batman|1989}}'' films. True, the 1989 original didn't exactly end with the cast singing [[Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit "Smile, Darn Ya, Smile"]]... but things wrapped up about as well as they possibly could in such a dark franchise: Gotham City was saved and Batman got his revenge. But ''Film/BatmanReturns'' shows us early on that Batman may have won as a hero but Bruce Wayne has lost as a man, as he is still unhappy, his revenge didn't satisfy him, his relationship with someone who understood him didn't work out, and if anything, the experience had left him even ''more'' brutal and bloodthirsty And ''then'' he's framed for the murder of an innocent, [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer causing everyone to hate him again]] [[FridgeHorror (and we never do see Batman being officially exonerated, despite the actual killer being punished by Batman himself)]]. ''Film/BatmanForever'' (with which Burton was only peripherally involved) managed to [[AuthorsSavingThrow un-undo everything]], having Batman finally overcome his anger at seeing his parents murdered ''and'' being respected by the people of Gotham once again. Almost everyone agreed that the follow-up to ''that'', ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'', was [[TastesLikeDiabetes a little]] ''[[TastesLikeDiabetes too]]'' [[TastesLikeDiabetes happy]]. Additionally, the first three films’ respective love interests are absent by the following sequels.
* ''Film/TheBluesBrothers'' ended with Elwood and Jake barely managing to save the orphanage before being arrested. At the beginning of ''Film/BluesBrothers2000'', Elwood discovers that the orphanage has been demolished [[spoiler: and Jake died offscreen before the movie begins, in a case of TheCharacterDiedWithHim]].

* ''Film/ChildsPlay''. The first three movies play the trope straight, as both the first and second movies end with protagonist Andy successfully killing Chucky and moving on, only for the Killer Doll to come back from the dead by the next opus, where it's always revealed Andy's life only got worse in the mid-time. Andy is PutOnABus for the next two movies, but brought back in the sixth one, where the trope gets spectacularly subverted: [[spoiler: Andy's situation [[EarnYourHappyEnding finally got better (he reunited with his mother and lives a normal life)]], and when Chucky does find him again, Andy [[CrazyPrepared welcomes him with a shotgun]]]]. Ultimately played straight again in the following movie, Cult of Chucky: [[spoiler: Andy is miserable and obsessed with Chucky at the onset, and by the end of the movie, Chucky has a human form and his latest murders will probably be attributed to Andy]].

* At the end of ''Film/GingerSnaps'', while Brigitte did have to kill her sister Ginger, she managed to stop her own werewolf infection by using monkshood to cure herself. ''Film/GingerSnaps2Unleashed'' reveals that the cure was only temporary, and Brigitte must keep injecting monkshood to stave off her transformation -- and her body has built up a tolerance to it, necessitating ever greater doses in a manner that [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything calls to mind drug addiction]], complete with her spending the first half of the film in a rehab clinic. [[spoiler:There's no such happy ending for her this time, the film ending with her transformation complete and [[CreepyChild Ghost]] keeping her as a "pet" to eat her enemies.]]
* ''Film/Godzilla2014'' ends with Godzilla returning to the sea after defeating the MUTOS, and ''Film/KongSkullIsland'' ends with Kong still the king of his home, both triumphant notes. The opening moments of ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' then reveal that the Titans are being awakened at a dramatic rate, forcing Godzilla back into the conflict and [[Film/GodzillaVSKong setting the stage for a fight with Kong]], as Skull Island is caught in the crossfire. The Monarch Corporation is also [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome facing major scrutiny and public backlash for their role in the previous films.]] [[spoiler: Then ''Film/GodzillaVSKong'' overrides things further by the opening moments showing the public having largely turned against Godzilla, and Kong having grown so much that Skull Island can no longer sustain him. Most of the natives he protected have also died off, and a CorruptCorporativeExecutive is trying to harvest resources by using one of Ghidorah's heads.]]

** ''Herbie Goes Bananas'', the fourth installment in the series, reveals that [[spoiler: Herbie’s girlfriend Giselle from the previous movie ''Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo'']] [[KilledOffscreen did not survive an accident in a race both characters were in which took place between the two movies]]. Perhaps out of guilt, Herbie’s friend and driver Jim Douglas ‘gives’ Herbie to his nephew - and also a race car driver - Pete Stancheck.
* ''[[Film/TheInbetweeners The Inbetweeners Movie]]'' begins with Carli dumping Simon - overriding the RelationshipUpgrade that had been hinted at at the end of [[Series/TheInbetweeners the TV series]]. The movie ends on a rare positive for all four of the boys as [[EarnYourHappyEnding they are in relationships]] - only for ''Film/TheInbetweeners2'' to begin with them [[StatusQuoIsGod firmly back in their]] CrapsackWorld, all single except for Simon, and alas for him, Lucy has [[TookALevelInJerkass become]] [[{{Yandere}} the girlfriend]] [[ClingyJealousGirl from Hell]]. It's even implied that Will never managed to lose his virginity to Alison, although whether this is a joke or a statement of fact is [[GodNeverSaidThat open to interpretation]].

* ''Film/PaulBlartMallCop''. The first movie ended with Paul a hero and getting married to his LoveInterest, Amy. The sequel opens with the reveal that Amy filed for a divorce less than a week later for unexplained reasons, and to make matters worse, a short time after that his mother [[DroppedABridgeOnHim gets hit by a milk truck one morning]] while getting the paper. [[spoiler: At least Paul finds someone else (who's also a security guard) and Maya gets to go to her dream college at the end.]]

* ''Film/RamboIV'' ended on an optimistic note, with Rambo moving past his bitterness and cynicism to rejoin his family and society as a whole. In ''Film/RamboLastBlood'', [[spoiler: while he did find peace and happiness, it was only temporary as his new life is completely destroyed by the Cartel and he's resigned himself to WalkingTheEarth as an outcast once more.]]

** ''Film/{{Creed}}'': Last time we saw Rocky, he had finally made peace with both losing Adrian and not being able to box anymore, having one last fight that he manages to go the distance for which earns him both the respect of the crowd and his opponent, and he's also got his son, Paulie, and Marie as part of his life. By the time this film rolls around, [[spoiler:Paulie has died, his son has moved to Vancouver, Marie's been PutOnABus, ''and'' he's dying of Non-Hodgkins lymphoma.]]

** Similarly, ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'' ends on the hope that the Romulan Empire and the Federation will be able to put the past behind them and band together for the common good, even after the time they spent fighting. [[spoiler: It never happens because Romulus of this universe was canonically destroyed by a supernova in the ContinuityReboot ''Film/StarTrek2009'', giving Nero the impetus to screw around with the AlternateContinuity of the Abrams films.]]

*** TheEmpire has fallen, dealt a final blow shortly after ''Return of the Jedi'', but [[TheRemnant sympathizers]] have worked behind the scenes to create a replacement for thirty years. The New Republic leadership doesn't take them seriously, so Princess Leia forms LaResistance with surreptitious support from old political allies to fight them as best they can. [[spoiler:Until the New Republic is at best utterly devastated and at worst annihilated during the events of the film.]]
*** Luke's attempt at resurrecting the Jedi Order ended in total disaster [[spoiler: when his nephew turned to the Dark Side and killed most of the other apprentices]]. After several decades he is ''still'' [[LastOfHisKind the last Jedi]], and has [[AchillesInHisTent retreated into unknown space]].
*** Han and Leia's ending. Not only do [[spoiler: they lose their son to the Dark Side]], devastating their relationship and sending them back to what is comfortable: Leia leading the resistance against the Empire-influenced First Order and Han back to smuggling, but it is overridden further when [[spoiler: their son completes his fall by killing Han.]]
** ''Film/TheLastJedi'' continues this, having [[spoiler:the First Order reigning the Galaxy with their losses at Starkiller Base in ''The Force Awakens'' barely slowing them down, the remaining Resistance members being picked off, Leia's call for help ignored out of fear, Finn and Rose's unsanctioned mission making things worse, and Luke Skywalker himself dying to help the last remnants of the Resistance escape]].
** ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' continues the trend: [[spoiler:Both Leia and her son die, but Kylo effectively ended up retreading Anakin's own redemption arc by sacrificing himself to save a loved one - and for that matter, Emperor Palpatine never ''truly'' died to begin with (and has been controlling the galaxy via a PuppetKing in the interim), meaning Anakin's own DyingMomentOfAwesome was rendered meaningless beyond saving Luke's life at that time (and as stated above, Luke had his own personal happy ending overriden). In fact, not only did Palpatine not ''lose'' in the original trilogy, rendering the whole Rebellion and all its struggles moot, he actually became explicitly far more powerful: by the Sequel Trilogy he controls both his former Imperial domain (via the First Order) ''and'' a huge never before mentioned Sith Fleet that's explicitly far larger than the Imperial Navy at its height. Oh, and every single ship in that fleet has a planet-destroying laser, so he basically has ten thousand Death Stars, rendering the conflicts of the previous films (to destroy a mere ''two'' Death Stars) totally meaningless.]]
* A cross-media example: ''Film/SupermanReturns'' ends with Superman accepting that [[spoiler:he has a biological son with Lois Lane, and swearing he will be there for him]], successfully rekindling his relationship with all of the supporting cast after being away for five (InUniverse) years, and saving the day from another scheme made by Lex Luthor. The ''Series/{{Arrowverse}}'' CrisisCrossover event ''Series/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths2019'' reveals to the audience that at some point in between ''Returns'' and 2019 [[spoiler:ComicBook/TheJoker [[AttentionWhore got pissed off]] that the ''Daily Planet'' wasn't talking enough about him in their stories and massacred everybody in the building [[EvilIsPetty in revenge for this slight]], with Supes himself confirming the deaths of Perry White, Jimmy Olsen, and Lois Lane.]] While Supes remains TheCape after this and still helps people (instead of exiling himself like he did in ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'', which this character arc homages), it's made very obvious that [[TheLostLenore he's still hurting]].

** James Cameron, while working on ''Film/TerminatorDarkFate'' to serve as a direct sequel to ''Judgment Day'', has dismissed all films past the second (which he wasn't involved in) to have all happened in {{alternate timeline}}s. And then ''Dark Fate'' ''[[YankTheDogsChain still]]'' manages to override ''T2'' by [[spoiler:killing off John Connor]] courtesy of one last T-800 and revealing that [[HereWeGoAgain Judgement Day will eventually happen anyways, just under a new AI called "Legion" instead of "Skynet"]]. Artificial intelligence is still fated to be developed, and it will still turn against humanity; only the names change.
* At the end of the first ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' film, Megatron is killed; gets resurrected in the next one. Part of Sam's character arc in the second film is his refusal to tell Mikaela he loves her, but he finally does at the end. She dumps him between films. ''Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon'' has the Autobots emerge triumphant as seemingly all the Decepticons (including [[BigBad Megatron]], [[TheStarscream Starscream]] and [[BackForTheDead the long-absent Barricade]]) are [[KilledOffForReal killed]]. ''Film/TransformersAgeOfExtinction'' begins four years later, during which time humanity has turned on the Autobots and are now hunting them down to kill them. [[spoiler:And their remains are used to create new Transformers controlled by humans. Including Megatron, who, as it turns out, [[NotQuiteDead is still alive]].]]
* ''Film/{{Tron}}'': Yay! [[AIIsACrapshoot Master Control]] was destroyed, [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Dillinger]] was busted, [[InformationWantsToBeFree the Programs are free again]], and [[ExposeTheVillainGetHisJob Flynn's not only got his job back, he's the guy in charge!]] He wraps his arms around [[PowerTrio Lora and Alan]] and off they go into the sunset... ''Film/TronLegacy'' opens, and Encom's back to being [[CorruptCorporateExecutive run by crooks]], with [[HonestCorporateExecutive Alan]] as the OnlySaneMan in the room. Lora's [[SequelNonEntity nowhere to be seen]] (ExpandedUniverse material says she was PutOnABus, which is actually ''nicer'' than her fate in the [[VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh other sequel]]; [[http://yori-lives.blogspot.com/ the actress is trying to fix this]]). Meanwhile, Flynn's trapped by his own creation, has been fighting a HopelessWar for the equivalent of ''centuries,'' and has had to watch the genocide of a species. And just to frost the cake? [[spoiler: The title character]] made an attempt at HeroicSacrifice that turned into a FateWorseThanDeath. Suddenly, the first film doesn't seem like such cheery Creator/{{Disney}} fare. Worse, ''Film/TronLegacy'' veers incredibly close to a full-blown DownerEnding since over 2/3 of the characters are dead and most of the other 1/3 have dim survival odds at best. [[spoiler: The only bright spot at the end of ''Legacy'' is that [[SpinOffspring Sam]] and [[LastOfHisKind Quorra]] manage to escape ''alive.'']]
** The [[CanonDiscontinuity video game sequel]] ''VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh'' is LighterAndSofter, but not by much; the comic establishes that Flynn apparently went nuts and vanished, Lora was killed by an accident in the laser lab [[spoiler: with the part of her remaining in the system compiled into [=Ma3a=]]], Alan has been exiled to a lab in the basement instead of a token position in the boardroom, Encom is on such shaky ground that a shady fly-by-night like F-Con can swoop in and buy them out, and Tron's fate is explicitly stated to be "unknown."

** ''Film/{{Logan}}'' itself overrides the ending Wolverine fought for in ''Days of Future Past'', as it adapts elements of ''ComicBook/OldManLogan'', including mutants dying out, Logan as a tired old man, and [[spoiler:seven of the X-Men being killed by an unknowing member of their own ranks (in the film's case, Professor Xavier during a telepathic seizure) leading to the dissolution of the team, the cure against the mutants succeed, and [[TheHeroDies Logan and Charles]] die by the end of the movie]].

* In ''Starchild'' trilogy by Creator/FrederikPohl and Creator/JackWilliamson the humanity controlled by a totalitarian Plan of Man which is ruled by a supercomputer called [[MasterComputer the Machine]]. It's implied however that this is the only way to survive for an enormous population whose expansion is restricted by limitations of ion engines. At the end of the first book the protagonist invents "reactionless drives" and the Machine declares that harsh control is no longer required. However in the second book this decision of the Machine is completely forgotten... May be justified because the events of the first book showed that high-ranking officials of the Plan can influence on the decisions of the Machine and may not be interested in the change.
* At the end of ''Literature/TheGreatBrain'', Tom appears to have reformed from his ways swindling all the kids in the neighborhood, [[GoodIsBoring although his brother, John secretly complained about things being too dull.]] The sequel, ''More Adventures of the Great Brain'', however, it's revealed that he was only behaving to try and get a bicycle for Christmas, and once the holidays are over, he reverts back to his old ways.

* At the end of ''Literature/LabyrinthOfReflections'', [[spoiler:the protagonist develops [[Film/TheMatrix Neo]]-like powers both inside the Deep and in the real world (able to tap into the Deep without a modem) and meets his LoveInterest at the train station, who turns out to look exactly like her in-Deep avatar]]. The second novel reveals that [[spoiler:most of that was a result of Deep psychosis, although other characters confirm that his powers in the Deep weren't a figment of his imagination. His wife's appearance also matches her avatar, but he never actually met her at the train station, and their marriage is now on the rocks. Furthermore, he lost his powers sometime between the novels and doesn't know how]].

* The novel version of ''Literature/ThePrincessBride'' overrides its ''own'' happy ending. As the heroes ride off on the white horses, [[spoiler:Inigo's wound re-opens, they can hear the prince's hounds getting closer, and the resurrection pill begins to wear off.]] That part was left out of the "just the good parts" abridgement, and by Peter Falk in the movie.

* In the old pre-Disney-takeover ''[[Franchise/StarWarsLegends Star Wars]]'' expanded universe, following the defeat of the Emperor, over the course of several decades we get repeated Imperial counterattacks, [[ComicBook/DarkEmpire Palpatine returning]] and ''converting Luke to the Dark Side'', a race of [[Literature/NewJediOrder freaky humanoids invading and ravaging the Galaxy]] ([[spoiler:and killing Chewbacca]]), and most of Han and Leia's children dying or [[VillainousLineage going to the Dark Side.]] This all comes to a head with the ''ComicBook/{{Legacy}}'' comics, which have (a somewhat more [[TheFederation Federation-like]]) Empire back on top 130 years after the films. Even the Sith are still a lurking threat.

* Though the first book of the ''Never Again'' series has only a BittersweetEnding, it still qualifies for this trope, because it ends with the heroes succeeding in democratizing the world, albeit [[TheHeroDies at the cost of their lives]]. The DistantFinale clearly implies that they succeeded. However, all of that is ignored in the second book, in which it is revealed that [[spoiler: somehow one dictatorship still survived John and Joy's changes to history, and was able to [[AppealToForce start a nuclear war]], TakeOverTheWorld, and [[ShootTheShaggyDog cause more deaths than all the wars, democides, and dictatorships of the Real-Life twentieth century combined]].]] And all this just to set up a ContinuityReboot.

* Mixed together with SequelReboot with the season five premiere of ''Series/{{Community}}'': the fourth season ended optimistically with Jeff and Pierce graduating in the Fall semester, Shirley's business getting off the ground, Annie picking a major in criminology, and Chang [[BecomingTheMask deciding to stay friends with the group as "Kevin".]] Fast-forward to the next Fall, where Jeff's newly found scruples [[BeingGoodSucks lead his career as an attorney to ruins]], Shirley's family left her because she lost their savings on her failed business, Annie has gotten as job as a sales rep [[YouAreWhatYouHate for the same prescription drugs that lead to her breakdown,]] none of the rest of the group are having any more success, and Chang is on work release for ''arson''. The group decides they still need to learn more, but Greendale is the only place they can go to, while Jeff takes a job as a teacher to get by while he tries to get it in some form of working order.

'''Sam:''' No... Just back at the bar.
* The end of ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'' has Zeus, Hera, and Hercules in the middle of patching up their differences, as Hercules and Iolaus [[AndTheAdventureContinues continue to have adventures.]] Come the Twilight of the Gods arc of ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'', which comes after the end of its parent show, Zeus kills Hera, and Hercules in turn is forced to kill Zeus, destroying any reconciliation the three may have had.

** A variation. While the first season finale still had [[spoiler: Murphy being threatened by Nia, Dean was arrested after Murphy got a confession for his murdering Tyson. The second season has Dean using LoopholeAbuse to avoid being arrested ''and'' gets his murder covered up by the police while Murphy and her friends are forced to work for Nia or face death.]]
** It also happens to [[spoiler: Darnell who's freed from jail for Tyson's murder only to find Jules dead in a faked suicide.]]

** ''Series/KamenRiderRyuki'' ends with the resident TheChessmaster realising the whole Rider War is pointless and hitting the ResetButton, allowing everyone to live at the cost of his sister’s life. ''Series/KamenRiderZiO''’s spin-off has a new Rider Battle being [[StartXToStopX started to stop a murder spree]] implied to be perpetrated by [[AesopAmnesia the chessmaster.]] And this time, [[SoleSurvivor only two of the Riders make it out alive]] and one of them is a nigh-unkillable EvilDoppelganger to the other.

* Played with in the season 3 finale of ''Series/{{MASH}}''. The episode starts with Radar coming into the OR with news that Henry is going home. Everyone is thrilled; parties, gifts, the whole 9 yards. Henry's last day in camp is sad because of all the goodbye's, but it's still happy since he is GOING HOME. But later, back in the OR, Radar comes in with a new report: Henry's plane was shot down...[[McLeaned there were no survivors.]]

* Season 6 of ''Series/OnceUponATime'' ended with the characters ''finally'' [[EarnYourHappyEnding earning their happy endings]], especially the reformed villains. Season 7 [[spoiler: is a soft reboot set in another town with Dark Curse versions of characters from a ''different'' fairy tale universe ... except Henry, Regina, Killian and Rumplestiltskin have got caught up in it too. And it looks like Rumple's taken yet another spin through the HeelFaceRevolvingDoor.]]
** Turns out to be averted in the case of [[spoiler:Killian Jones- the one in Hyperion Heights is not the one from previous seasons, but his doppelganger from the alternate Enchanted Forest created by Regina's wish. The 'real' Hook, as far as we know, is still living happily with Emma]]
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'': In the ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Original Series]]'' episode "Mirror, Mirror", Kirk convinces the Spock of an alternate universe (in which the Federation is TheEmpire) to work for peace. In ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'', that world is revisited, and it turns out that Spock took Kirk's advice, and succeeded... leading to the destruction of the Empire by its enemies. Humans, and presumably Vulcans, are now slaves. WordOfGod is that the episode was specifically intended to mock Kirk by changing Kirk's triumph in "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E4MirrorMirror Mirror, Mirror]]" into a bitter failure, thereby vilifying Kirk as the man singularly responsible for ruining the lives of all humanity in another universe. Later episodes in the mirror universe de-emphasized (or ignored altogether) this motive, making it more of a standard rebellion-against-alien-oppressors situation. And the ExpandedUniverse ''Literature/StarTrekMirrorUniverse'' novels [[spoiler: subverted it, revealing Mirror!Spock was playing a ''really'' long game which finally succeeded over a century later, so Kirk's advice ''did'' work after all]].
* Zordon's sacrifice in the finale of ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'' goes from destroying all evil in the universe to merely Dark Specter and his forces (Rita, Lord Zedd, the Machine Empire, Divatox, and Astronema). Otherwise ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy'' (and all subsequent series) couldn't happen. And if Series/PowerRangersDinoFury is any indication,[[spoiler: Lord Zedd's purification didn't stick either]]
* ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' does this with ''Film/StarTrekNemesis''. ''Nemesis'' had Data perish in a HeroicSacrifice, but the ending provided a glimmer of hope by implying that Data may have [[BrainUploading transferred his memories to his "brother" B4]]. ''Picard'' then reveals that while Data had ''tried'' to do this, the process ultimately failed because B4's brain wasn't advanced enough to copy Data's mind. As far as anyone knows, Data truly is dead, a fact that weighs very heavily on Picard. [[spoiler:As it turns out, Data has been "alive" after all, as is his active mind is contained inside a simulation in the laboratory of Dr. Soong's son.]]

* ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'', which is an AlternateTimeline to ''Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines'', similarly revealed that Sarah's hopes that ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'' had averted Skynet were false. The overall tone of the series, however, was more positive than the third film, with the revelation that [[spoiler:there is a second Machine faction opposing Skynet who might ally with humanity]] and the overall implication that it might be possible to somehow alter the future to avert war between humans and AIs without preventing the creation of the latter.

** The series did this for Tony Almeida. During the third season, Tony was forced into some tough choices that saw him lose everything: he was stripped of his job, his wife Michelle left him, and wound up briefly being jailed. Season four went about giving him personal redemption, helping Jack Bauer stop a terrorist threat that ultimately saw a nuclear missile nearly hit L.A., and by the time it was over he'd managed to get his life back in order and get back together with Michelle. So what does season 5 proceed to do? Within the first 15 minutes of the premiere she's killed by a car bomb as part of the antagonists of that Day's plot, leading him to lose it for the rest of the series [[spoiler: and eventually sink so low that in a RoaringRampageOfRevenge to avenge her death winds up working with terrorists]]. Yeah. Definitely made the fourth season's happy ending a moot point there.

* ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney: Trials and Tribulations'' might have ended on a bittersweet note (what with [[spoiler:Maya's long lost mother dying and Godot going to jail for it, all because of Morgan and Dahlia's actions]]), but it ultimately wraps up the original trilogy quite nicely, with all main characters being given a proper closure... that is until ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'' came, revealing that Phoenix had been disbarred shortly after the events of ''Trials and Tribulations'' (also having a rather strong case of SameCharacterButDifferent). To make matters worse, the only other returning character from the original trilogy is Ema Skye, which was originally not in Phoenix's arc until the DS remake and the English localization (there's also the Judge, if you want to count THAT), while the whereabouts every other main character remained unknown until ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies Dual Destinies]]'' and ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice Spirit of Justice]]''.

* ''Anime/Danganronpa3'' ended with [[spoiler:Ryota Mitarai's plan to brainwash what's left of the world stopped thanks to the Future Foundation and the former Remnants of Despair, and Makoto Naegi founds a new Hope's Peak Academy as the world starts to rebuild]]. ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' initially seems to have no relation to that timeline, leaving its happy ending intact while its own universe deals with the extinction of humanity by a disease-carrying meteor shower. However, it then proceeds to subvert and then [[DoubleSubverted double subvert]] it: [[spoiler:it's initially "revealed" that the extinction of humanity occurred during the time of Naegi's rebuilt Hope's Peak Academy, wiping away his and his friends' efforts for good...only for it to be established that both the universe of the earlier games and the universe of ''V3'' are [[ShowWithinAShow in-universe fictional stories]], and that they originally ''were'' going to be separate universes before the mastermind had to quickly {{retcon}} them to be related]]. In the end, whether you believe the ending to be overriden depends on your own personal interpretation of [[spoiler:whether Tsumugi Shirogane's hasty modifications to the in-universe Hope's Peak canon count as canon to the Hope's Peak media released in real life]].

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': In-universe. As Jinn tells the story of "The Girl in the Tower", she notes that the part where [[spoiler:Ozma rescues Salem, they fall in love, and they vow to travel the world together]] is only the ''beginning'' of what really happened and that it would have been a happy ending if it weren't for [[DisasterDominoes what happened next]].
* The ''WebAnimation/MadnessCombat'' series seemed to end on a happy note at the end of ''Madness Combat 10: Abrogation'' with the Auditor being seemingly destroyed until [[SequelGap seven years later]] when ''Madness Combat 11: Expurgation'' was released and Hank and Sanford have to fight [[spoiler:a revived Tricky]]. Things seem to be going well up until the end when [[spoiler:Hank and Sanford seemingly die and the Auditor comes BackFromTheDead, now with apparently no one to oppose him]].
* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' inverted this with a DownerEnding Override: [[spoiler:season 16 seemed to end in a way that TheBadGuyWins, as the Reds and Blues managed to create the TimeCrash that would allow him to take over the universe... and then the season 17 opener reveals [[NearVillainVictory the villain could not free himself to fulfill those plans]], as a timely strike by a magic hammer trapped him in a forcefield-like prison.]]
* The final episode of WebAnimation/BattleForDreamIsland, has Leafy and Firey fly off into the sunset. When the second season begins, Leafy is running away from the other contestants. [[spoiler:The fourth season explains that the two crashed and then Leafy ran away]]

* ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall''. After Linkara defeats his evil robot counterpart (actually [[spoiler:Pollo from another universe]]), it's revealed that Mechakara wasn't the only one who [[spoiler:escaped into Linkara's universe]]. And the other person who did? Lord Vyce, an all-powerful MultiversalConqueror who makes Mechakara look weak by comparison. But at least Linkara is able to defeat Vyce. Except he learns that the reason Vyce was out conquering universes was to protect them from The Entity, an EldritchAbomination bent on consuming universes and make everyone in them disappear forever. Lewis stated in an interview that he wanted to keep invoking this trope with bigger and bigger threats, but couldn't come up with anything stronger than a god, so he switched to character-driven story arcs instead.
* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' ended with the main characters able to create a new, utopia world with the troll and human races revived, living with carapaces and consorts as well. Most of the villains are definitely dead, and it seems like the BigBad's fate is sealed. ''Literature/TheHomestuckEpilogues'' expands on this, and reveals that it's not the closed and happy ending it seems: [[spoiler:The Prologue and both timelines imply that Alternate Calliope's black hole wiped out almost all of Paradox Space, apart from Earth C in the "Candy" timeline. One timeline deconstructs the idea of the characters growing old and starting families, most notably by having Jane turn in to a fascist dictator, forcing Jake in to a relationship with her, and starting a war. The other timeline has John, the protagonist, getting killed from Lord English's poison while Dirk takes up the mantle as the next major antagonist.]]
* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scpwiki.com/scp-2519 SCP-2519]] does this to two sapient machine [=SCPs=], SCP-2412 and SCP-629. When the composition is played for them, they become inefficient and broken. [[spoiler: 629 becomes outright murderous]] and even though the page states the effects only last for as long as the song is played, it also states the symptons can recur. These two [=SCPs=] will never be the same.

* In the lead-up to Creator/{{Toonami}}'s ''WesternAnimation/TheIntruderII'' event, a comic was released that depicted WesternAnimation/TheIntruder [[spoiler: being fended off by TOM 4. Week 5 of the event proper has the Intruder gloating about killing TOM 4.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'''s third season ended with a pretty happy ending (including ''restoring dead people back to life''). [[spoiler: Then came season four with "Daemon Rising" and "My Two Bobs" which ended on a giant cliffhanger which left [[BigBad Megabyte]] in control of the principal office, and this was ''never'' resolved.]]

** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E1KampKrusty Kamp Krusty]]" has Bart and Lisa going to the titular summer camp, only to suffer from horrific treatment and living conditions, until all the campers start a rebellion. Krusty saves the campers (despite their suffering coming from his own negligence), and when he takes them to Tijuana, all is forgiven and forgotten... until the Season 28 episode "Kamp Krustier". In this episode, the kids are finally returned, but they are scarred and shaken, as if the trip to Tijuana never happened.

* Zordon's sacrifice in the finale of ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'' goes from destroying all evil in the universe to merely Dark Specter and his forces (Rita, Lord Zedd, the Machine Empire, Divatox, and Astronema). Otherwise ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy'' (and all subsequent series) couldn't happen. [[spoiler: And if Series/PowerRangersDinoFury is any indication, then Lord Zedd's purification didn't stick either]]