History Main / NonviolentInitialConfrontation

Mostly an espionage trope, but may crop up in crime fiction and other thrillers. The hero and an antagonist meet in public--a society function, a casino, a coffee shop or some other venue with lots of witnesses ([[DePowerZone or]] [[TruceZone other]] [[YourMagicsNoGoodHere limitations]], if that might not be enough). Other times even a few witnesses of the [[ThinkOfTheChildren wrong type]] will prevent combat from breaking out. The hero may know who the bad guy is, and the bad guy may know what the hero is doing, but under the circumstances [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim just shooting each other is out of the question]]. Instead, they duel verbally, with an implied -- or even explicitly stated -- "[[WeWillMeetAgain the next time we meet things will be different]]" vibe.

* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': In "[[Recap/FireflyE13HeartOfGold Heart of Gold]]", Malcolm Reynolds attends a theater to meet Rance Burgess and size him up as an adversary. Mal is so shaken up by Rance's convictions that he decides to run instead of fight, although he changes his mind later.

Mostly an espionage trope, but may crop up in crime fiction and other thrillers. The hero and an antagonist meet in public--a society function, a casino, a coffee shop or some other venue with lots of witnesses, (or other limitations, if that might not be enough). Other times even a few witnesses of the [[ThinkOfTheChildren wrong type]] will prevent combat from breaking out. The hero may know who the bad guy is, and the bad guy may know what the hero is doing, but under the circumstances [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim just shooting each other is out of the question]]. Instead, they duel verbally, with an implied -- or even explicitly stated -- "[[WeWillMeetAgain the next time we meet things will be different]]" vibe.

Mostly an espionage trope, but may crop up in crime fiction and other thrillers. The hero and an antagonist meet in public--a society function, a casino, a coffee shop or some other venue with lots of witnesses, (or other limitations, if that might not be enough -- see the ''Film/{{Highlander}}'' example in the Film folder below). Other times even a few witnesses of the [[ThinkOfTheChildren wrong type]] will prevent combat from breaking out. The hero may know who the bad guy is, and the bad guy may know what the hero is doing, but under the circumstances [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim just shooting each other is out of the question]]. Instead, they duel verbally, with an implied -- or even explicitly stated -- "[[WeWillMeetAgain the next time we meet things will be different]]" vibe.

* ''Film/{{Highlander}}'': due to the rules about not fighting on sacred ground, the Highlander and the Kurgan have one of these in an NYC church.

* In ''Film/BatmanReturns'' Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle are dancing at the Max-squerade Ball when each figures out who the other is.
* ''Film/{{Heat}}'': the cop (Al Pacino) and the thief (Robert De Niro) meet at a coffee shop for a private conversation.
* ''Film/{{Highlander}}'': due to the rules about not fighting on sacred ground, the Highlander and the Kurgan have one of these in an NYC church.

** ''Film/NoTimeToDie'': Technically, Lyutsifer Safin's first encounter ''was'' violent as he tried to kill her in her childhood. As for her adult life, he comes back into it pretending to be one of her new patients as she's a psychiatrist. He reveals himself to her at her office, and simply has a conversation with her, tasking her to (unknowingly) infect herself with Heracles, which will kill Blofeld when she comes back at the latter in his prison cell.

** ''Film/{{Octopussy}}'': Auction scene and a backgammon game between Bond and Khan.

** The fencing match (where the sparring is more literal) between Bond and Gustav Graves in ''Film/DieAnotherDay''.

Mostly an espionage trope, but may crop up in crime fiction and other thrillers. The hero and an antagonist meet in public--a society function, a casino, a coffee shop or some other venue with lots of witnesses, (or other limitations, if that might not be enough -- see the ''Film/{{Highlander}}'' example below). Other times even a few witnesses of the [[ThinkOfTheChildren wrong type]] will prevent combat from breaking out. The hero may know who the bad guy is, and the bad guy may know what the hero is doing, but under the circumstances [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim just shooting each other is out of the question]]. Instead, they duel verbally, with an implied -- or even explicitly stated -- "[[WeWillMeetAgain the next time we meet things will be different]]" vibe.

* In a chapter of ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'', Negi and Fate agree to meet in a public coffee shop to attempt a diplomatic solution. This almost ends up failing, however, when they begin arguing over whether tea or coffee are better and the proper way to make tea and almost come to blows because of it. Then it ends up failing anyways because Fate's attempt to manipulate Negi is outed.

* In ''Film/ThePunisher2004'', the Punisher is visited by an assassin while drinking coffee in a small diner. The assassin opens the large guitar case he brought with him, but it actually contains a normal guitar rather than a weapon. He sings a song with lyrics that just barely veil why he has come here. Afterwards, the assassin and Frank Castle talk, and both go their ways (until a later scene, when they actually fight to the death).

* ''Series/Daredevil2015'': Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk have two conversational interactions before they finally have their first physical fight: first, a conversation over a police radio as Matt is trying to get information on Fisk out of a wounded Vladimir, and later face-to-face when Matt happens to run into Fisk while at Vanessa's art gallery.