History Main / IronicEcho

->'''Judge:''' ...That's the same line you gave yesterday.\\
'''Phoenix:''' But... I think there's a little more meaning behind it this time.
-->-- ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations''

** Phoenix Wright's DreamIntro from the first case of ''Justice For All'' comes back in the second trial for the fourth case, after Phoenix learns that [[spoiler: he has to defend a guilty person in court.]]
** ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'' had:

* In ''VisualNovel/SilverCrisis'', when Lucas and Lucario first introduce themselves, Lucas says “Just Lucario?” in response to Lucario basically saying that [[ADogNamedDog he just wants to be called the name of his species.]] Later in the story, we see that Lucario repeated this same line [[spoiler: when he and his former Master first met each other, in response to Medicham also choosing to go by the name of his species]]. He then proceeds to state the importance of having a proper name, and how it makes the connections you have with others mean something. However, in the present day, he’s completely reversed those beliefs he'd had at that point in time, hence why he also has [[spoiler: forsaken the original name his trainer gave him]].

** In "Painting the Town," Yang returns to Junior's club, only to be greeted with several guns, since she was so violent the last time. A volume later, in "Fall," Yang is surrounded by guns because she was being violent.

** Halfway through Volume 3, Yang Xiao Long is framed by the villains and publicly disgraced. No one outside of her close friends believes her side of the story -- Even her uncle Qrow thinks she's being crazy. He then tells her to get over it, as "Sometimes bad things just happen." [[spoiler: At the end of the volume, after Beacon is overrun by Grimm, several friends are dead, Yang's arm has been cut off by Adam Taurus of the White Fang, and her partner Blake has run off, she repeats her uncle's words to Ruby as a clear sign that she's hit the HeroicBSOD.]]

** In Volume 5's "Dread in the Air," Adam justified not telling Hazel about his plan to [[spoiler:murder Sienna Khan and [[KlingonPromotion take over the White Fang]]]] on the grounds that White Fang matters are his business, not Hazel's. In "Downfall," Adam [[EntitledBastard demands]] that Hazel help him fight off the Menagerie Faunus and Mistral police force, Hazel refuses, throwing Adam's words back in his face.
--->'''Hazel:''' This is ''your'' business, not ''mine''.
** Speaking of Adam, in one episode of Volume 6, we are treated to flashbacks of his rise in status in the White Fang, starting with him helping a bunch of Faunus break into Dust Processing, saying, "It's time we got what we deserved." Towards the end of the flashback sequence, we see Adam promoted to High Leader of the White Fang, preparing his attack on Haven, saying, "It's time I got what I deserved."
** In Volume 8, Watts [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech snaps at]] Cinder, telling her that if she truly desires power, it isn't enough for her to be "deserving", but worthy. Later, when Cinder leaves Watts in Atlas's command center, her last words to him are, "You deserve this, Arthur. We'll be back." [[spoiler:Cinder does come back...to carry out her plan to dispose of Watts.]]

Compare FlashbackToCatchphrase, ExactWords, BookEnds, ExcuseBoomerang, AlternateCatchphraseInflection, and DialogueReversal. Subtrope of MeaningfulEcho. IronicEchoCut is when the echo comes immediately and the second speaker has ''not'' heard the first. Can be a form of HypocriticalHumor or a BrickJoke. Doing this [[RecycledInSPACE as a SONG]] is often a DarkReprise. May often result from a PerspectiveReversal. If the original use was innocent and amusing but the echo is bitter or shocking, this may result in it being HarsherInHindsight. A critic sardonically using a work's own words to characterize its flaws is a ReviewIronicEcho.

** [[https://foxtrot.com/2022/05/01/may-fools/ May 1st 2022]]'s strip has Jason deliver an AprilFools joke a month late, and when his father points out the date, Jason uses the exact same words (with AirQuotes) that Roger used regarding fixing the driveway... in January.

* In Sakeru Gummy's ''Advertising/LongLongMan'' ads, Chi's first direct interaction with the Long Long Man has her [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything look at his Long Sakeru Gummy candy and ask "Can I touch it?"]]. In the final commercial, [[spoiler:the Long Long Man reveals that he wasn't going after Chi, but rather her boyfriend Tooru. Tooru then asks if he can touch his Sakeru Gummy, with the same wording]].

** In the second ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth'' game, Justine Courtney, a judge who is opposed to Edgeworth for much of the game, has "OVERRULED!" as her CatchPhrase, her counterpart to the signature yell of "OBJECTION!". At one point, Edgeworth throws her catchphrase back in her face when issuinga rebuttal to her.

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* "Possession implies intent" is the phrase that heralds the downfall of Becca at the start of ''ComicBook/AllGhoulsSchool'', and [[spoiler:Elle]] at the end, although the circumstances (and even the meaning of the word 'possession') are radically different.
* A truly dark version appears in the narrative of a story from ''[[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Tales of the Slayers]]''. In a small village during the {{Dark Age|Europe}}s, a young, devoutly Christian girl discovers she is this generation's Slayer. Reluctant at first, she fulfills her duties as the Slayer, saying, "God is good, and God is kind." After the town's priest, jealous of her heroism, declares her a witch and rallies the town against her, leading to her being [[BurnTheWitch burned alive]], her Watcher took his revenge by opening the city gates, allowing a horde of vampires to enter and massacre the entire town. His last words were, "For God is good and God is kind, but God's not welcome here!"
* One ''Cthulhu Tales'' comic had this with two shots of the same people in the same positions. Image 1: they're arranged around a living room holding an intervention for the protagonist's drinking. Image 2: they're wearing cult robes and waiting for the {{demon|icPossession}} that was being kept {{sealed|EvilInACan}} ''in'' the protagonist by said drinking.
* ''ComicBook/TheDarkPhoenixSaga'': Upon her transformation into Dark Phoenix at the end of ''ComicBook/XMen #134'', ComicBook/JeanGrey repeats the same words she stated when first becoming the Phoenix in ''#101'':
-->'''Jean Grey:''' HEAR ME, X-MEN! NO LONGER AM I THE WOMAN YOU KNEW! I AM FIRE! AND LIFE INCARNATE! NOW AND FOREVER-- ''I AM PHOENIX!''
* ''Comicbook/FinalCrisis'':
** Kind of an extended one for Human Flame. When he asked Libra to kill the ComicBook/MartianManhunter, he didn't do anything except take a picture of the deed on his mobile phone. Later, when the heroes caught up with him and trapped him in a CardboardPrison forged from his own stupidity, Franchise/GreenLantern's final act before shutting the door is to create a mobile phone using his GreenLanternRing specifically to take a picture.
** Similarly, while the first issue of ''Final Crisis'' has said character (a horrible degenerate) saying "This is what happens to anyone who ***s with the Human Flame" while Martian Manhunter (a straight-up hero) burns, it ends with Nix Uotan (the 'Judge of All Evil' and a straight-up hero) saying "No-one ***s with the Judge of All Evil" while Mandrakk (a horrible degenerate) burns.
* ''ComicBook/FuryMyWarGoneBy'': Nick chews out [[ComicBook/ThePunisherMAX Barracuda]] for being a [[SociopathicSoldier corrupt soldier]] running a drug operation, telling him to have more respect for the uniform he wears. 'Cuda's response is "Fuck the uniform. Feel me?" When next they meet, Fury [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown beats him to an inch of his life]], [[CallForward knocks a lot of his front teeth off]], and then, while Barracuda is lying on the ground, he tells him: "Sometimes, [[KarmaHoudiniWarranty the uniform fucks back]]".
* In the fourth chapter of ''ComicBook/GothamCityGarage'', [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} Kara Gordon]] and [[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} Dick Grayson]] are running from a killer robot. Dick tells her "And whatever you do-- Don't slow down!" to which Kara replies "Wasn't planning on it?!". Dick tries to use Kara as bait to escape, but the robot chases him down. Dick is being cornered when Kara reappears to save him shouting "Don't slow down!". Dick replies "Wasn't planning on it."
* In ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'', Alexander Luthor dismisses Lex Luthor as an idiot, proclaiming himself as the smarter Luthor. In the end of the series, Alex is begging for mercy before [[BoomHeadshot getting his head ventilated]] by ComicBook/TheJoker. Lex, watching it all, tells him one last thing: "Now who's stupid?"
* An immediate example in ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' ("Necropolis"), when a Judge tries to protect Chief Silver from the evil Dark Judges when they beam into the Hall of Justice to usurp him.
-->'''Judge:''' Like hell!\\
'''Judge Fire:''' '''''Like hell.''''' [fires trident]
* In ''ComicBook/KickAss'', Johnny G refers to Hit-Girl as "just a girl in a Halloween costume." When Hit-Girl [[BadassBoast alludes to their horrible deaths in the very near future]] over the intercom, Johnny asks her to identify herself. Her reply: "Just a girl in a Halloween costume."
* ''ComicBook/TheLongHalloween'':
** The phrase "I believe in Harvey Dent" is repeated several times over the course of this ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' graphic novel. First, to display genuine trust in the man and his ability to clean up the city. Then, to assure his innocence in the case of the Holiday murders. Then, to emphasize the point that there's still good in the villainous ComicBook/TwoFace. And finally, by his wife Gilda as part of a dramatic plot twist on the very last page.
** From the same mini-series, after the murder of Johnny Viti by the Holiday Killer, Harvey Dent crassly says, "Two shots to the head. You ask me, it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy." [[spoiler:After his transformation into Two-Face, he kills Viti's uncle, Carmine Falcone and repeats the statement.]]
* Happens [[RunningGag a lot]] in ''ComicBook/MortadeloYFilemon''. Many times one of either (X) will restrain the other (Y) when he tries to do something violent in retaliation against a person (Z) with a small quip. The next moment Z will piss X and Y will have to restrain him while repeating the same quip (often with a vengeful CheshireCatGrin).
* In ''ComicBook/NewMutants'', an opponent forces ActionGirl Dani Moonstar to look at her before breaking her arm. Later on, said ActionGirl ambushes her tormentor and echoes her words. [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome "Look at me. Good girl."]] Cue OhCrap.
* ''ComicBook/RedSonja'' and Dark Annisia were once slaves forced into GladiatorGames. Todo, the trainer, constantly sexually harassed them while saying stuff like, "Tell Todo you love him!" Years later, Sonja runs into Todo again and kills him while quipping, "Tell Sonja you love her!"
* One villain in ''ComicBook/{{Revival}}'' encourages his prey to run on grounds that "it's more fun that way." Prey flips the script and echoes when she starts hunting him.
* When Molly Hayes of ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'' says to "[[BuffySpeak put the thing in the thing]]" to find out what it does, it's just her childness. Not much later, the Runaways really need overdrive, and ''Victor'' tells Chase to "Put the thing in the thing." And yes, this was after [[Creator/JossWhedon the master of Buffy Speak]] started writing.
* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' Dream has a flashback of his last meeting with Destruction, during which he gave somebody DisproportionateRetribution. Destruction [[WhatTheHellHero asked if that was absolutely necessary]] to which Dream responded by asking if he tells Destruction how to do his job. Later, Dream asks Delirium if the DisproportionateRetribution she gave a policeman was necessary and gets the same answer.
* In the "That Yellow Bastard" story in ''ComicBook/SinCity'', there are two instances of this:
** When Hartigan punches out his partner Bob, he thinks "Hell of a way to end a partnership... Hell of a way to start my retirement." When Bob double-crosses him, he thinks "Hell of a way to start my retirement... Hell of a way to end a partnership."
** After being shot in his efforts to protect Nancy, Hartigan thinks "An old man dies, a young girl lives. Fair trade." Before blowing his brains out, he thinks "An old man dies, a young woman lives. Fair trade."
* In ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' ''[[ComicBook/SupergirlRebirth Rebirth]]'', Cat Grant and Selena's sarcasm war starts off with Cat saying "Already bored" and ends up with Selena saying mockingly "Already bored" before mind-reading her.
* Rung of ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'' fame is well known in-universe for having an alt-mode with no discernible purpose, to the point where he ended up getting a classification all for himself: "Ornament". In [[spoiler: the Functionist Universe]], this gets him imprisoned by the Council and branded as "The Useless One". Just before he escapes Vector Sigma with the crew, Rung takes the time to stick it to the Council (whose collective alt-mode is the key to Vector Sigma) oh so satisfyingly.
-->"Vector Sigma is unlocked, and your worst suspicions are confirmed...The key is unnecessary. It's a piece of religious paraphernalia. A '''decoration'''. You turn—you all turn—into an '''ornament'''. Or to put it another way...All hail the useless ones."
* In "A Little Pain Never Hurt Anybody" in ''Uncanny Tales from the Grave'' #5[[note]]Which originally appeared in ''Marvel Tales'' #117.[[/note]] Simon Tulliver does all of his dental work [[DepravedDentist without anesthesia]] as a money-saving measure because "A little pain never hurt anybody!" When he finds his nurse/wife talking to a romantic rival he confronts them before having a dizzy spell and fainting. When he wakes up he's strapped to an operating table and the rival, a promising brain surgeon, tells him that his fainting spells are due to a brain clot which it'll only take a few minutes to remove. Simon asks for ether, only to be told it's too expensive.
-->'''John Bainbridge:''' And beside, don't you know... A '''little pain never hurt anybody'''!
* Creator/AlanMoore uses this one a lot, but never more than in ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}''. A good example: advertisements for Ozymandias' training system promise "bodies beyond your wildest imaginings". [[spoiler: When Ozymandias commits his attack on New York, the advertisements are liberally scattered around amidst the piles of corpses.]]
* ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' had an issue where ComicBook/{{Professor X}}avier gained the powers of TheJuggernaut, which warp his mind and turn him into a mutant-supremacist villain. He's eventually defeated by [[ThrownOutTheAirlock being hurled into space]]; as the image of Xavier vanishes into the distance, the narration repeats Juggernaut's CatchPhrase: "Nothing can stop the Juggernaut. [[AndIMustScream And nothing ever will.]]"
* Used by Comicbook/DoctorStrange in ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk''. Doc confronts Hulk and makes a little speech, then goes SuperMode and says "Strange Smash", a nod to Hulk's famous line "Hulk Smash".
* ComicBook/{{X 23}} gives Zander Rice an epic one in ''ComicBook/InnocenceLost''. Throughout the miniseries, Rice constantly berates and abuses Laura as RevengeByProxy against ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} for killing his father while escaping the Weapon X project. His go-to insult is treating Laura as if she isn't even human, calling her an animal right to her face. When her mother finally has enough and sets her loose ''against'' the Facility, rather than killing Rice cleanly she puts up her claws and ''[[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown beats the shit out of him]]''. As she walks out of the room where Rice lies dying, she looks over her shoulder and tells him off with one word: "Animal." Laura wasn't just carrying out her final mission, she came for ''payback''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* Music/TheWho song "The Kids Are Alright" from ''Music/{{Quadrophenia}}'' -- the two sentences in the bridge completely change the meaning of the (otherwise identical) first and second verses.
* There's a Music/BarenakedLadies song called "The Night I Fell Asleep at the Wheel". The line "you're the last thing on my mind" goes from meaning "I'm not thinking about you" at the beginning of the song to meaning "I die thinking about you" when it's repeated at the end.
* In the Music/TimMcGraw song "Don't Take The Girl", the line "Please, don't take the girl" that ends each verse changes meaning over the course of the song.
* "Major Tom (Coming Home.)" The part you know [[IsntItIronic from that]] [[RepurposedPopSong car commercial]]: "4, 3, 2, 1, Earth below us, drifting, falling, floating weightless, calling, coming home..." Well, [[spoiler:it means one thing on the way up when everything's fine. It means something a little different on the way ''down'' when the thrusters aren't working]].
* "According to You" by Orianthi. The first few stanzas begin with "according to you", before changing to "according to him" in the chorus. And nearing the end of the story, it changes to "according to me".
* In a very twisted way in Music/{{Eminem}}'s "Stan". On the Slim Shady LP's song "My Name Is" one of the most famous lines is "I just drank a fifth of Vodka you dare me to drive" so in Stan, Stan quotes this when he drives on a rainy night with his pregnant girlfriend in the trunk on a tape to Eminem "Hey Slim I just drank a fifth of Vodka you dare me to drive"
* Music/HarryChapin's "Cat's in the Cradle". The chorus includes "[[WhenYouComingHomeDad When ya comin' home, Dad]] / I don't know when, but we'll get together then," but the son nevertheless desires to be like his father. At the end, while reflecting that his now-grown son is too busy to spend time with him, the narrator muses "he'd grown up just like me" -- the last two repetitions replace "dad" with "son".
* ''Still healing'' by Uprise uses this. The first half of the song is lamenting the fact that the singer is "still healing" from some childhood trauma. The second half uses the same line -- with the context changed to highlight that he is, in fact, healing, while the offender will always be miserable.
* The chorus of the Mark Wills song "Wish You Were Here" describes a postcard which has the word "Heaven" on the front. The postcard's message has a completely different tone when sung after the first verse (where the postcard's writer is boarding a plane) and after the second (where he [[spoiler:dies when the plane crashes]]):
-->Wish you were here, wish you could see this place\\
Wish you were near, I wish I could touch your face\\
The weather's nice, it's paradise\\
It's summertime all year and there's some folks we know\\
They say, "Hello." I miss you so, wish you were here.
* Act 1 of Music/GreenDay's ''Music/TwentyFirstCenturyBreakdown'' opens with "Know Your Enemy," in which the protagonist rails against the establishment and encourages others to do likewise; Act 2 ends with Gloria realizing that her life's been ruined:
-->You're a victim of your symptom\\
You are your own worst enemy\\
'''[[WhamLine Know your enemy.]]'''
* The chorus of Material Issue's [[MurderBallad "Trouble"]] is built around the plea "I ain't lookin' for trouble" and the reply "Trouble's come lookin' for you". After the first verse, the exchange of words is between a shopkeeper and the young thug who robs and/or murders him. After the second, it's between the thug and the vigilante who hunts him down and murders him (and who's also the song's narrator). After the final verse, [[spoiler:it's between the vigilante/narrator and [[{{Deconstruction}} the executioner.]]]]
* ''Ghosts and Spirits'', a CD of songs based on Creator/CSLewis' ''Literature/TheGreatDivorce'', has a song ("Bleeding Charity") that's an ironic echo. First, a ghost protests, "Can't you see that I'm only human?" and can't be expected to be perfect (as he thinks is necessary to enter Heaven), and refuses to accept any "bleeding charity"; in the second verse, a spirit explains he is not perfect either -- "Can't you see that I'm only human?" and begs him to accept the [[Literature/TheBible Bleeding Charity]].
* At the beginning of "A Complete History of the Soviet Union, Arranged To The Melody From ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}''" by Pig With The Face Of A Boy, the "man who arranges the blocks" enviously muses that "The Tsar puts gold on his bread" when noting the unfairness of the old regime. At the end, having gone through [[UsefulNotes/RedOctober revolution]], UsefulNotes/JosefStalin, UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, the [[UsefulNotes/ColdWar Space Race]] and the fall of the Berlin Wall, the same worker bitterly notes that while he has more than enough gold, he's reduced to standing in line for the chance to get a loaf of bread.
* Music/{{Tool}}'s song "Prison Sex" changes "I'm breathing so I guess I'm still alive" to "You're breathing so I guess you're still alive" when the song's subject, a rape victim himself, commits rape.
* Music/{{Sublime}}'s ''Date Rape'' is a story about a woman being bought a couple of drinks, before being offered a ride and raped in a car. [[spoiler: She then proceeds to take him to court, he gets a 25 year sentence and raped by an inmate.]]
* In the song "Rocky" (most famously recorded by Dickey Lee), the subject's wife expresses uncertainty on her ability to do certain things (fall in love, have a child, then die). "Rocky, I've never ____ before, don't know if I can do it..." In the final verse, now that she's dead, he swears that he sometimes he can hear her saying "Rocky, you know you've been alone before / You know that you can do it..."
* Music/ImagineDragons' "Pantomime" makes four usages of the phrase, "It's just a matter of, 'Oh, don't touch me. Don't you, don't you touch me no more.'", the last of which replaces the second "don't you" with, "dare". The singer uses it twice during the first verse, when hesitating to take an ex-girlfriend back in, especially as her friends try to help him rebound. It appears two more times in the second verse, which details how the singer and the ex broke up (she left him for a rich and handsome man), and why she started pursuing him again (the rich and handsome man keeps brushing her aside in favor of making more money).
* The Music/BlueOysterCult and Music/PattiSmith's ''Revenge of Vera Gemini'' is built around the ironic echo; Patti Smith's lines, coming in slightly behind Eric Bloom's, are sardonic echos that subtly twist the meaning.
* In Music/TheSmashingPumpkins' ''1979,'' from ''Music/MellonCollieAndTheInfiniteSadness'' the chorus changes to imply that the narrator realizes they aren't alone, not wanting to grow up.
-->''And I don't even care, to shake these zipper blues.\\
...\\
And we don't even care, to shake these zipper blues.''
* French singer Jacques Brel's song ''Les Bourgeois''. The first two verses is about how he and his friends used to mock the establishment when they were young, singing a song about how they were ''chochons'' (pigs) and ''cons'' (idiots), the last verse is about how they now when they are old and wealthy themselves are trying to get the police to arrest some young people who has been singing the exact same song about ''them''.
* Early in the Danish rap epic ''Østkyst Hustlers -- Verdens Længste Rap'' the protagonists, Jazzy and Bossy, are talking about their schooldays together. Bossy grumbles about a time where he got beaten up by five angry guys and Jazzy didn't help him, but Jazzy points out that "...it was better it was only your balls that got busted." Much later, when Jazzy is getting monkey-stomped after insulting a local crime boss, Bossy wonders if he should help him, but decides that Jazzy would probably say that "..it was better it was only his balls that got busted."
* Music/BillyJoel's song "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant" tells the story of Brenda and Eddie, a popular teenage couple who the narrator went to high school with. At first, he mentions how everyone looked up to them, saying "Surely Brenda and Eddie would always know how to survive". He goes on to tell how they graduated, got married, ran out of money, started fighting, and eventually divorced, not having any plans in place for the rest of their lives. He ends this by saying "We always knew they would both find a way to get by", which is similar to the previous line, but seems much less believable now.
* ''Hero of War'' by Music/RiseAgainst tells a story of a man, who joins the military in hopes of gaining glory, but also out of a sense of patriotism. The song repeats a phrase "It's a flag that I love" thrice. Two times it presumably refers to a flag of his country, but the third instance refers to [[spoiler:a white flag, belonging to a woman he killed during his service]].
-->And I brought home that flag\\
Now it gathers dust\\
But it's a flag that I love\\
The only flag I had trust
* Music/TheMegas use this several times.
** Mega Man's song about wanting to be a hero on the album ''Get Equipped'' is "I Want To Be The One", about his desire to fight for justice. Dr Light gets a similarly named song on the album ''History Repeating''...except that it's called "I Want To Be The One...To Watch You Die".
** "I Want To Be The One" gets another reference in the song "History Repeating":
--->''Now I can say when you want to be the One / What you start to realize is / You’re the only one''
** [[OmnicidalManiac Air Man's]] song, "The Annihilation of Monsteropolis", has the line "Up in the sky, ten miles high, a man stands above the city he will destroy". In "The Haystack Principle", Needle Man, who's fighting the same apocalyptic rage that Air Man has succumbed to, uses the line "Deep underground, ten miles down, a man stands below the city he will destroy...STOP!"
** In "I'm Not the Breakman", Proto Man uses the phrase "we walk the program" as part of his belief that he and Mega Man are both JustAMachine. In "I Refuse (To Believe)", Mega Man works the same phrase into his rebuttal and statement of personhood:
--->''Brother, if we walk the program, then what system do you serve?\\
[[ArmorPiercingQuestion Is your song just lines of code, or something that you heard?]]''
** "Make Your Choice" has this happen within the song. In the first chorus, Proto Man calls Mega Man "a machine who calls himself a man". In the second, Mega Man throws the same phrase right back at him, pointing out his brother's [[{{Hypocrite}} hypocrisy]] in ''also'' calling himself a man.
** In "Stalker", which is about an unnamed HunterOfMonsters (presumably a Belmont) fighting Queen Medusa, the first verse is about how screwed they are...and the second is about how screwed ''Medusa'' is, because now she's up against someone she doesn't massively outclass. The ends of each verse make use of this:
-->'''Verse one:''' You made the choice to fight; that door closed long ago, you cannot run away. You feel the stalker's eyes...\\
'''Verse two:''' [[PrideBeforeAFall So certain she will win, but she's never seen the way you move.]] She can't run away. You have the stalker's eyes...
* "Crusade" by ''Music/{{Voltaire}}'':
** The last line of each verse repeats the same thing differently. In the first verse, the narrator is eager about setting out on the crusade and is apparently encouraged by his father's words. "Son, know your enemy, as I know my son." In the second one, he has a HeelRealization after having killed a dragon [[MonsterIsAMommy "who only fought to protect his young."]] Now, he recalls those words again, and they have a different meaning for him. (Just ''what'' the sentence is literally taken to mean in each case is far from clear, but it's clear it gets a different tone.) In the third verse, it's the narrator's son who's going on a crusade, and the narrator wants him to hear a different version of the same words: "Son, know your enemy, as I would have them know... my son."
** The entire first and third verses are the same thing, with much of the same wording, from different perspectives -- from the eager crusader's, and the disillusioned veteran's who sees that this crusade is probably not a good thing. Besides context, this is signified by a change of tone of voice and the changing of numerous small details, such as "my blessed sword" being replaced with "his brazen sword."
* The chorus of "no body, no crime," a MurderBallad by Music/TaylorSwift.
** First, Este, narrator's friend, voices her suspicions: she thinks her husband is cheating on her, but she can't prove it -- "No body, no crime / But I ain't letting up until the day I die".
** Next verse says Este disappeared, and her husband's mistress took her place. Apparently, she let up because she did die, but "No body, no crime." The narrator figures this out but can't prove it, so she wows, "But I ain't letting up until the day I die."
** Next verse has the narrator killing Este's husband and disposing of the body, and the chorus goes, "No body, no crime" again: his mistress thinks the narrator did it, but she just can't prove it. The narrator gloats, "I wasn't letting up until the day he / Died."
* During the song "My Ordinary Life" by Music/TheLivingTombstone has a repeated line "I feel fear for the very last time". At the beginning it's an expression of defiance by an artist who refuses to be held back from their goals. Over the course of the song, the artist falls into a life of excess and disconnection, until at the end they throw themselves off a ledge, half expecting to fly instead of fall, and "I feel fear for the very last time" becomes an expression of doubt and depression.

[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
* In the West African folk tale "Literature/AnsigeKarambaTheGlutton", when his long-suffering wife Paama finds him in trouble, Ansige crossly tells her not to act as though she didn't know him. At the end, she refuses to return with the words, "Don't act as though I didn't know you."
* From the epic ''Waltharius'', retelling Germanic heroic legend: When Hagen suggests to king Gunther/Gunnar to accept Walther's gift of 100 golden rings (instead of taking all his treasure), Gunther mocks him: "You are truly a son of your father Aldrian. He would talk a lot so he wouldn't have to fight." After Walther has killed the other eleven knights of the king, Gunther tries to make Hagen fight again. But Hagen says: "I am truly a son of my father Aldrian. He would talk a lot so he wouldn't have to fight."
[[/folder]]

!!Examples

Compare FlashbackToCatchphrase, ExactWords, BookEnds, ExcuseBoomerang, AlternateCatchphraseInflection, and DialogueReversal. Subtrope of MeaningfulEcho. IronicEchoCut is when the echo comes immediately and the second speaker has ''not'' heard the first. Can be a form of HypocriticalHumor or a BrickJoke. Doing this [[RecycledInSPACE as a SONG]] is often a DarkReprise. May often result from a PerspectiveReversal. If the original use was innocent and amusing but the echo is bitter or shocking, this may result in a FunnyAneurysmMoment. A critic sardonically using a work's own words to characterize its flaws is a ReviewIronicEcho.

* Tim Smith, frontman of the band Cardiacs (originally Cardiac Arrest), was effectively paralysed via dystonia by a cardiac arrest and later passed away after a second.

* Creator/AlanMoore uses this one a lot, but never more than in ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}''. A good example: advertisements for Ozymandias' training system promise "bodies beyond your wildest imaginings". [[spoiler: When Ozymandias commits his attack on New York, the advertisements are liberally scattered around amidst the piles of corpses.]]
* ''ComicBook/TheLongHalloween'':
** The phrase "I believe in Harvey Dent" is repeated several times over the course of this ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' graphic novel. First, to display genuine trust in the man and his ability to clean up the city. Then, to assure his innocence in the case of the Holiday murders. Then, to emphasize the point that there's still good in the villainous ComicBook/TwoFace. And finally, by his wife Gilda as part of a dramatic plot twist on the very last page.
** From the same mini-series, after the murder of Johnny Viti by the Holiday Killer, Harvey Dent crassly says, "Two shots to the head. You ask me, it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy." [[spoiler:After his transformation into Two-Face, he kills Viti's uncle, Carmine Falcone and repeats the statement.]]

* ''Comicbook/FinalCrisis'':
** Kind of an extended one for Human Flame. When he asked Libra to kill the ComicBook/MartianManhunter, he didn't do anything except take a picture of the deed on his mobile phone. Later, when the heroes caught up with him and trapped him in a CardboardPrison forged from his own stupidity, Franchise/GreenLantern's final act before shutting the door is to create a mobile phone using his GreenLanternRing specifically to take a picture.
** Similarly, while the first issue of ''Final Crisis'' has said character (a horrible degenerate) saying "This is what happens to anyone who ***s with the Human Flame" while Martian Manhunter (a straight-up hero) burns, it ends with Nix Uotan (the 'Judge of All Evil' and a straight-up hero) saying "No-one ***s with the Judge of All Evil" while Mandrakk (a horrible degenerate) burns.
* ''ComicBook/TheDarkPhoenixSaga'': Upon her transformation into Dark Phoenix at the end of ''ComicBook/XMen #134'', ComicBook/JeanGrey repeats the same words she stated when first becoming the Phoenix in ''#101'':
-->'''Jean Grey:''' HEAR ME, X-MEN! NO LONGER AM I THE WOMAN YOU KNEW! I AM FIRE! AND LIFE INCARNATE! NOW AND FOREVER-- ''I AM PHOENIX!''
* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' Dream has a flashback of his last meeting with Destruction, during which he gave somebody DisproportionateRetribution. Destruction [[WhatTheHellHero asked if that was absolutely necessary]] to which Dream responded by asking if he tells Destruction how to do his job. Later, Dream asks Delirium if the DisproportionateRetribution she gave a policeman was necessary and gets the same answer.
* In ''ComicBook/NewMutants'', an opponent forces ActionGirl Dani Moonstar to look at her before breaking her arm. Later on, said ActionGirl ambushes her tormentor and echoes her words. [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome "Look at me. Good girl."]] Cue OhCrap.
* One ''Cthulhu Tales'' comic had this with two shots of the same people in the same positions. Image 1: they're arranged around a living room holding an intervention for the protagonist's drinking. Image 2: they're wearing cult robes and waiting for the {{demon|icPossession}} that was being kept {{sealed|EvilInACan}} ''in'' the protagonist by said drinking.
* A truly dark version appears in the narrative of a story from ''[[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Tales of the Slayers]]''. In a small village during the {{Dark Age|Europe}}s, a young, devoutly Christian girl discovers she is this generation's Slayer. Reluctant at first, she fulfills her duties as the Slayer, saying, "God is good, and God is kind." After the town's priest, jealous of her heroism, declares her a witch and rallies the town against her, leading to her being [[BurnTheWitch burned alive]], her Watcher took his revenge by opening the city gates, allowing a horde of vampires to enter and massacre the entire town. His last words were, "For God is good and God is kind, but God's not welcome here!"
* In ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'', Alexander Luthor dismisses Lex Luthor as an idiot, proclaiming himself as the smarter Luthor. In the end of the series, Alex is begging for mercy before [[BoomHeadshot getting his head ventilated]] by ComicBook/TheJoker. Lex, watching it all, tells him one last thing: "Now who's stupid?"
* "Possession implies intent" is the phrase that heralds the downfall of Becca at the start of ''ComicBook/AllGhoulsSchool'', and [[spoiler:Elle]] at the end, although the circumstances (and even the meaning of the word 'possession') are radically different.

* ''ComicBook/RedSonja'' and Dark Annisia were once slaves forced into GladiatorGames. Todo, the trainer, constantly sexually harassed them while saying stuff like, "Tell Todo you love him!" Years later, Sonja runs into Todo again and kills him while quipping, "Tell Sonja you love her!"
* In ''ComicBook/KickAss'', Johnny G refers to Hit-Girl as "just a girl in a Halloween costume." When Hit-Girl [[BadassBoast alludes to their horrible deaths in the very near future]] over the intercom, Johnny asks her to identify herself. Her reply: "Just a girl in a Halloween costume."
* ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' had an issue where ComicBook/{{Professor X}}avier gained the powers of TheJuggernaut, which warp his mind and turn him into a mutant-supremacist villain. He's eventually defeated by [[ThrownOutTheAirlock being hurled into space]]; as the image of Xavier vanishes into the distance, the narration repeats Juggernaut's CatchPhrase: "Nothing can stop the Juggernaut. [[AndIMustScream And nothing ever will.]]"
* One villain in ''ComicBook/{{Revival}}'' encourages his prey to run on grounds that "it's more fun that way." Prey flips the script and echoes when she starts hunting him.
* Happens [[RunningGag a lot]] in ''ComicBook/MortadeloYFilemon''. Many times one of either (X) will restrain the other (Y) when he tries to do something violent in retaliation against a person (Z) with a small quip. The next moment Z will piss X and Y will have to restrain him while repeating the same quip (often with a vengeful CheshireCatGrin).
* In "A Little Pain Never Hurt Anybody" in ''Uncanny Tales from the Grave'' #5[[note]]Which originally appeared in ''Marvel Tales'' #117.[[/note]] Simon Tulliver does all of his dental work [[DepravedDentist without anesthesia]] as a money-saving measure because "A little pain never hurt anybody!" When he finds his nurse/wife talking to a romantic rival he confronts them before having a dizzy spell and fainting. When he wakes up he's strapped to an operating table and the rival, a promising brain surgeon, tells him that his fainting spells are due to a brain clot which it'll only take a few minutes to remove. Simon asks for ether, only to be told it's too expensive.
-->'''John Bainbridge:''' And beside, don't you know... A '''little pain never hurt anybody'''!
* In ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' ''[[ComicBook/SupergirlRebirth Rebirth]]'', Cat Grant and Selena's sarcasm war starts off with Cat saying "Already bored" and ends up with Selena saying mockingly "Already bored" before mind-reading her.
* In the fourth chapter of ''ComicBook/GothamCityGarage'', [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} Kara Gordon]] and [[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} Dick Grayson]] are running from a killer robot. Dick tells her "And whatever you do-- Don't slow down!" to which Kara replies "Wasn't planning on it?!". Dick tries to use Kara as bait to escape, but the robot chases him down. Dick is being cornered when Kara reappears to save him shouting "Don't slow down!". Dick replies "Wasn't planning on it."
* An immediate example in ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' ("Necropolis"), when a Judge tries to protect Chief Silver from the evil Dark Judges when they beam into the Hall of Justice to usurp him.
-->'''Judge:''' Like hell!\\
'''Judge Fire:''' '''''Like hell.''''' [fires trident]
* Rung of ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'' fame is well known in-universe for having an alt-mode with no discernible purpose, to the point where he ended up getting a classification all for himself: "Ornament". In [[spoiler: the Functionist Universe]], this gets him imprisoned by the Council and branded as "The Useless One". Just before he escapes Vector Sigma with the crew, Rung takes the time to stick it to the Council (whose collective alt-mode is the key to Vector Sigma) oh so satisfyingly.
-->"Vector Sigma is unlocked, and your worst suspicions are confirmed...The key is unnecessary. It's a piece of religious paraphernalia. A '''decoration'''. You turn—you all turn—into an '''ornament'''. Or to put it another way...All hail the useless ones."

* Used in ''so'' many ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'' comics by Bill Amend, it isn't funny... and yet it is.

* One ''ComicStrip/PearlsBeforeSwine'' strip has the embodiment of Pig's small, fragile ego get stepped upon by Rat's giant-sized ego, who replies "I think I stepped on a doody." In the following strip, Farina tells Rat she's dumping him for ComicStrip/{{Ziggy}}, causing Rat's ego to shrink down to the size Pig's previously was, upon which the actual Pig steps on him, saying "I think I stepped on a doody."

* Music/HarryChapin's "Cat's in the Cradle". The chorus includes "[[WhenYouComingHomeDad When ya comin' home, Dad]] / I don't know when, but we'll get together then," but the son nevertheless desires to be like his father. At the end, while reflecting that his now-grown son is too busy to spend time with him, the narrator muses "he'd grown up just like me" - the last two repetitions replace "dad" with "son".
* ''Still healing'' by Uprise uses this. The first half of the song is lamenting the fact that the singer is "still healing" from some childhood trauma. The second half uses the same line - with the context changed to highlight that he is, in fact, healing, while the offender will always be miserable.

* ''Ghosts and Spirits'', a CD of songs based on Creator/CSLewis' ''Literature/TheGreatDivorce'', has a song ("Bleeding Charity") that's an ironic echo. First, a ghost protests, "Can't you see that I'm only human?" and can't be expected to be perfect (as he thinks is necessary to enter Heaven), and refuses to accept any "bleeding charity"; in the second verse, a spirit explains he is not perfect either - "Can't you see that I'm only human?" and begs him to accept the [[Literature/TheBible Bleeding Charity]].

* Early in the Danish rap epic ''Østkyst Hustlers - Verdens Længste Rap'' the protagonists, Jazzy and Bossy, are talking about their schooldays together. Bossy grumbles about a time where he got beaten up by five angry guys and Jazzy didn't help him, but Jazzy points out that "...it was better it was only your balls that got busted." Much later, when Jazzy is getting monkey-stomped after insulting a local crime boss, Bossy wonders if he should help him, but decides that Jazzy would probably say that "..it was better it was only his balls that got busted."

** First, Este, narrator's friend, voices her suspicions: she thinks her husband is cheating on her, but she can't prove it - "No body, no crime / But I ain't letting up until the day I die".

** "Pryce and Carter six fourteen: When in doubt, whip it out - 'it' being hydrochloric acid!" is first said by Hilbert after he dissolves the door to the comms room, ending [[ItMakesSenseInContext the toothpaste hostage-situation]]. It is again said by Minchowski after she [[spoiler: dissolves the door to the bridge and captures Hilbert after his FaceHeelTurn]].
** From [[spoiler:Pryce]] to Hera after [[spoiler:installing clinical depression in her personality core]], and later from Hera to [[spoiler:Pryce]] after [[spoiler:erasing her mind]]: "I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just going to--hm. ''Clip your wings'' a little."

* ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' features an extremely well-deserved one in the prologue to the Followers of Set clanbook. At the start of this particular story, Maria Kenyon is a meth-addicted SexSlave working for [[SmugSnake "Doc" Hayes]], who provides her with her daily fix in exchange for an increasingly disgusting series of sex acts, and always begins each session with "Want your medicine, [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch bitch]]?" However, by the end of the story, Maria has been Embraced into the Followers of Set, and as a graduation present, she's been given her own ghoul - none other than Doc Hayes himself; finding herself with full authority over her former boss, and [[HourglassPlot knowing that Hayes is now just as hopelessly addicted to vampire blood as she was to meth]], Maria has only one thing to say to her terrified slave: ''"[[KickTheSonOfABitch Want your medicine?]]"''

* Machinima/TeamServiceAnnouncement:
** In ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cm2iFmASBc Class Balance]]'', all the BLU Snipers mutter "It's like Christmas morning"... as does the RED Spy, because a team of nothing but Snipers [[CripplingOverspecialization is his dream come true]].
** The [=BLUs=] in ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bmK9K5wPyQ Unlockable Weapons]]'' express joy in their new weapons... even as just before they turn out to be a bad choice.
--->'''Soldier:''': (''is cornered, out of rockets, and [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter his shotgun]] was replaced with [[StatusBuff a bugle]]'') I've got a good feeling about this!

** Halfway through Volume 3, Yang Xiao Long is framed by the villains and publicly disgraced. No one outside of her close friends believes her side of the story- Even her uncle Qrow thinks she's being crazy. He then tells her to get over it, as "Sometimes bad things just happen." [[spoiler: At the end of the volume, after Beacon is overrun by Grimm, several friends are dead, Yang's arm has been cut off by Adam Taurus of the White Fang, and her partner Blake has run off, she repeats her uncle's words to Ruby as a clear sign that she's hit the HeroicBSOD.]]

* At the beginning of "A Complete History of the Soviet Union, Arranged To The Melody From ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}''" by Pig With The Face Of A Boy, the "man who arranges the blocks" enviously muses that "The Tsar puts gold on his bread" when noting the unfairness of the old regime. At the end, having gone through [[UsefulNotes/RedOctober revolution]], UsefulNotes/JosefStalin, UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, the [[UsefulNotes/ColdWar Space Race]] and [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp the fall of the Berlin Wall]], the same worker bitterly notes that while he has more than enough gold, he's reduced to standing in line for the chance to get a loaf of bread.

-->'''Hazel:''' This is ''your'' business, not ''mine''.

-->-- ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney: Trials and Tribulations''

* Film:
** [[IronicEcho/AnimatedFilms Films — Animation]]
** [[IronicEcho/LiveActionFilms Films — Live Action]]

-->'''Garfield''': (points to his own heart) Gets you right here.

* For years, fans of opposing teams (especially the New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils) could and would taunt the New York Rangers and their fans with chants of "19-40!", referring to the last time the Rangers had won the Stanley Cup. Soon after the Rangers finally broke the Curse of 1940 in 1994 (the 53 season drought still stands as a record in hockey), one Ranger player does a mocking "19-40!" chant at a television camera as the team celebrated on the ice.
** Similar chants of "19-18!" broke out when the Yankees wished to taunt the Red Sox. After the World Series victory in 2004, Sox fans began to chant back with "2000!", which lasted until the Yankees next World Series win in 2009.

* In the leadup to a 2020 playoff game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns, Steelers receiver [=JuJu=] Smith-Schuster shrugged off the idea that the Browns team he was facing (the most successful Browns team in decades) was different or something to be concerned about, saying, "They're still the same Browns teams I play every year...at the end of the day, I don't know, the Browns is the Browns." After the Browns [[DarkHorseVictory shocked the Steelers with a 48-37 victory]], quarterback Baker Mayfield came through the tunnel saying, "The Browns is the Browns!" as he high-fived someone.

* In one strip of ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'', Calvin remarks that whatever his mom is making, he won't eat it. In order to convince Calvin to eat it, she claims that it's "boiled monkey brains", when it was actually stuffed peppers. However, she forgot to let the dad in on the trick, which led to it backfiring by causing the dad to react with disgust when he heard Calvin remarking that they were "boiled monkey brains" and state that whatever the dish was, he wasn't going to eat it, to the mom's exasperation.