History Main / TerminatorTwosome

[[TropeNamers Named]], of course, for the ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' movies, wherein a [[KillerRobot robotic superassassin]] that [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots looks like a real human]] is sent back in time to pre-emptively kill the future leader of the human resistance in a RobotWar. [[TemporalParadox Paradox schmaradox!]] Compare ScryVsScry, where it's oracles doing this with clairvoyance.

* Being the FantasyKitchenSink that it is, ''Series/BigWolfOnCampus'' naturally features these in one episode. An android resembling Merton, nicknamed "The Mertonator", is sent back to the past to kill Tommy, who seemingly became famous enough of a hero in the future for this to occur. The Mertonator is soon followed by an android resembling Tommy, who was sent to protect him. [[BlackComedy Hilariously]], when it looks like the two androids are about to have an epic beatdown, the Mertonator [[CurbStompBattle just reduces the Tommy android into]] ''[[CurbStompBattle slag]]'', forcing the heroes to defeat it themselves.

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** [[Characters/MarvelComicsTonyStark Iron Man]] and [[Characters/MarvelComicsDoctorDoom Doctor Doom]] for some reason do this often. They wound up in Camelot once in ''Doomquest'', and another time they inverted the trope by traveling to the future (after Merlin has awaken and King Arthur has reincarnated). Often, though they end up [[TakeAThirdOption taking a third option]] and working together to get back. And again in Bendis' ComicBook/MightyAvengers. It helps that both Doom and Stark have ''nothing'' to gain from changing anything in the specific past periods they enter, and both would rather keep the present they have. Seeing as it's dangerous to fuck with reality and all that.

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Can also be thought of as EvilCounterpart [[RecycledINSPACE IN TIME!]] If it does not overlap with SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong, it will instead overlap with MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight: In this case, the historical event in question goes as it originally did in the "good" timeline, and is averted in the "bad" timeline.

* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' has a complex version of this: A WellIntentionedExtremist from the future goes back to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong, bringing her to the storyline's present. Unfortunately, her goals would cause major trouble for the main characters ([[BadEnding turning into an ermine can put a crimp in anyone's plans]]), and she sends them a week forward in time to a future in which she's already won. Good thing Negi can go back in time too...

* In ''Literature/StrikeTheBlood'', [[KidFromTheFuture Reina]] arrives in the present to stop a dragon from the future.

* ''ComicBook/XMen'':
** [[Characters/MarvelComicsCable Cable]] came back in time to prevent the future he grew up in. Stryfe, his [[EvilTwin evil clone]], then came back in time to stop him -- not so much because he was hugely enamoured of their home era, but rather because he lived to screw with Cable's life. Oh, and then Cable's evil adopted son came back as well... Later X-Men storylines have Cable jumping into the future to protect [[ComicBook/HopeSummers a girl]] he believes will become the [[MessianicArchetype saviour]], while Bishop wants to kill her because in ''his'' original timeline she becomes TheAntiChrist.

** And then there was the ''Legionquest'' story, which culminated in Professor X's evil son (yes, this is something of a recurring theme for the X-Men) traveling back to the 1950s in order to kill [[Characters/MarvelComicsMagneto Magneto]] before he becomes powerful. An entire ''team'' of X-Men go after him. [[ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse Between them, they screw things up even worse.]]
* [[Characters/MarvelComicsTonyStark Iron Man]] and [[Characters/MarvelComicsDoctorDoom Doctor Doom]] for some reason do this often. They wound up in Camelot once in ''Doomquest'', and another time they inverted the trope by traveling to the future (after Merlin has awaken and King Arthur has reincarnated). Often, though they end up [[TakeAThirdOption taking a third option]] and working together to get back. And again in Bendis' ComicBook/MightyAvengers. It helps that both Doom and Stark have ''nothing'' to gain from changing anything in the specific past periods they enter, and both would rather keep the present they have. Seeing as it's dangerous to fuck with reality and all that.
* [[Characters/MarvelComicsLogan Wolverine]] goes back in time to kill [[ComicBook/AntMan Hank Pym]] in order to stop the titular robot in ''ComicBook/AgeOfUltron'', while [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Sue Storm]] goes back in time to stop him. [[spoiler: He does kill him, but discovers the alternative is far worse.]]
* Hilariously, after enough of these stories and BadFuture stories have come and gone, Creator/{{Marvel|Comics}} officially threw their hands up and rendered all of them ultimately pointless by establishing that time travel ''never actually changes anything'' in the time traveler's original timeline, instead creating a whole new alternate timeline running parallel to the original.
* ''ComicBook/RoboCopVersusTheTerminator'' written by Creator/FrankMiller had a human sent back to kill the former Alex Murphy before he could grant Skynet sentience, and a Terminator sent back to protect [=RoboCop=] by any means necessary -- whether he wanted it or not.
* ''ComicBook/TheNew52FuturesEnd'' is about [[WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond Terry McGinnis]] going back in time to prevent [[AIIsACrapshoot Brother Eye]] from taking over the world. Naturally he's followed (some 12 issues later) by a cyborg [[spoiler:who's Bruce Wayne and the Joker stitched together]].

* During one [[BonusMaterial Omake]] in ''Fanfic/WhiteDevilOfTheMoon'', Chibi-Usa attempts to prevent Nanoha and Fate from meeting, with Vivio trying to stop her.

* ''Fanfic/QueenOfAllOni'' has an interesting, all-evil version of this pop up in one chapter -- Drago comes back in time to kill [[VillainProtagonist Queen Jade]] for no other reason than to secure his own chance at ruling the world in the future. Karasu, meanwhile, is sent back by the Matriarch (Jade's future self) in order to preserve the timeline. Ultimately, [[spoiler: Drago is banished back to the future and imprisoned by the Matriarch, while Karasu is trapped in the past and imprisoned by Section 13]].
* The ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' fanfic ''[[https://m.fanfiction.net/s/2570231/1/Fusion_of_Destinies Fusion of Destinies]]'' features a spell that can pull a deadly weapon from the future, but in a form of EquivalentExchange, also brings a person with the knowledge or ability to defeat it. A long time ago, a Goblin rebellion used the spell and got a nuclear bomb along with a technician who gave his life to disarm it. When Voldemort casts it, it brings back [[VideoGame/MetroidFusion the X Parasite and Samus Aran]].

* In ''Fanfic/HogyokuExMachina'', Ichigo and Aizen are both sent back in time [[PeggySue Peggy Sue-style]] after a MutualKill; Aizen aims to put his EvilPlan into action again, while Ichigo tries to stop it.
* ''Fanfic/DownTheKarmicHole'' has one between [[WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug Bunnyx]], who's gone back to the past of the ''Fanfic/TheKarmaOfLies'' timeline to ensure the events don't happen as they did, and [[spoiler:the mysterious time traveling Butterfly user, who instead intends for the timeline to stay ''exactly'' as it is.]]

* ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'', [[TropeNamers obviously]]. Basically, the entire franchise is a conflict between [[BigBad Skynet]] and the adult [[BigGood John Connor]] repeatedly sending their agents back in time to subvert each other.
** In ''Film/TheTerminator'', a robot is sent back to kill Sarah Connor before she even gives birth to John Connor, and a BadassNormal human is sent back to protect her.
** In ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'', a [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshifting]] robot is sent back to kill John Connor as a child. A reprogrammed robot like the evil one in the first movie is sent back to protect him.
** In ''Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines'', because John Connor cannot be located, the T-X is instead sent after who will become John Connor's top lieutenants [[spoiler:and wife]]. Finding John Connor was just a bonus.
** In ''Film/TerminatorGenisys'', things get thrown out of whack. First two terminators are sent after Sarah Connor as a child, one to protect and the other to kill her. Then, the T-800 is sent as planned by Skynet to kill Sarah Connor ala the first movie, with Kyle Reese sent back to stop it, and the T-1000 sent back to stop ''him'', who is in turn foiled by Sarah Connor and the first T-800 sent back to protect her. After which the three go ''forward'' in time to Skynet's creation to destroy ''it'' before it can cause judgement day in the first place, with the T-3000 in turn sent to protect Skynet. Confused, yet?
** If ''that'' wasn't confusing enough, ''Film/TerminatorDarkFate'' disregards all movies after the second as AlternateTimeline and takes its place as the [[UnReboot new third movie]], where a new liquid metal Terminator is sent to terminate the new leader of the Resistance, with a cyborg member of the Resistance sent back to protect her, aided in the present by Sarah Connor and the [[TheAtoner reformed T-800]] [[spoiler:who successfully killed John Connor]].
* ''Film/DemolitionMan'' inverts the trope, sending two people from the present into the future. One is a psychotic criminal "mistakenly" unfrozen from [[HumanPopsicle Cryogenic Sleep]], the other is a present-day cop also in cryogenic sleep for a crime he was framed for by said psychotic criminal, unfrozen to deal with someone simply too evil and dangerous for the wimpified future cops to handle.

* ''Film/TimeAfterTime'' has Creator/HGWells traveling into the future in pursuit of Jack the Ripper.
* ''Film/{{Timecop}}'' features Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme as, well, a Timecop who travels to the past to apprehend criminals who threaten to change the timeline.
* ''Film/{{Trancers}}'': When an evil psychic goes back in time to present day Los Angeles, Jack Deth is sent back to stop him.

* ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'': A Terminator ''Threesome'' happens when Marty and Doc travel back to 1955 to undo Old Biff's tampering with the timeline. To make this more confusing, it's set at the same time as [[Film/BackToTheFuture1 the first movie]]. So Marty and Doc have to avoid that film's younger Marty who's unaware of other time travellers in order not to mess the timeline up further.
* At the end of ''Film/TwoThousandAndNineLostMemories'', Saigo and Sakamoto end up in the past struggling to avoid or ensure the assassination of Ito Hirobumi.
* ''Film/MenInBlack3''. Boris the Animal goes back in time to 1969 to kill Agent K. Agent J goes back to stop him. J deliberately arrives a day earlier than Boris in order to give himself time to stop Boris.

* Alisa follows space pirates in the ''Series/GuestFromTheFuture'', who in their turn chase Kolya Gerasimov escaping via the time machine in order to save Mielofon from them.
* ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'' mixes up this trope by having the twosome be ''ships''. A [[AssimilationPlot Borg Sphere]] and the ''[[CoolShip Enterprise-E]]'' travel from the 24th century to a post-WorldWarIII mid-21st century Earth. The former to prevent mankind's first contact with the Vulcan race (which will result in the Federation being formed that would stop the Borg repeatedly from conquering the Alpha Quadrant) and the latter to ensure that first contact proceeds as it's meant to.
* A variant in the 2009 ''Film/{{Star Trek|2009}}'' movie, Nero and Spock are both accidentally sent back in time due to an UnrealisticBlackHole. Nero takes advantage of this by using futuristic mining technology to destroy Federation planets while Spock recruits past Kirk to stop him. In this case, the whole event creates a separate branched timeline which does not affect the original, so they're not trying to protect the future, but the plot still follows much the same formula.
* ''Franchise/BillAndTed'':
** In ''Film/BillAndTedsBogusJourney'', Rufus follows the robot duplicates of Bill and Ted into the past to try and stop them killing the originals.
** In ''Film/BillAndTedFaceTheMusic'' the Great Leader sends another robot to assassinate Bill and Ted while she and Rufus' daughter, Kelly goes back to try and save them.
* The PostCreditsScene from ''Film/{{Idiocracy}}'' reveals that Rita's pimp, Upgrayedd has also been frozen for 500 years, implying this scenario.
* A non-time travel example in ''Film/{{Legion}}'' with the Archangels Michael and Gabriel. It follows the same notes because the two of them know the future thanks to their supernatural powers. They are seeking, respectively, to allow or prevent the birth of TheChosenOne who will save humanity after God starts the Apocalypse.
* ''Film/TheSmurfs'' has a group of Smurfs transported to modern day New York alongside their nemesis, Gargamel and his cat.

* Early scripts and the ComicBookAdaptation for ''Film/MastersOfTheUniverse'' revealed that Eternia was an Earth colony in the future meaning that He-Man's gang and Skeletor's mooks were traveling back in time when they came to Earth.
* ''Film/TheSantaClause 3: The Escape Clause'' has Scott/Santa and Jack Frost travelling back to the first movie to fight over the previous Santa's coat to see who gets to be the new Santa. It creates a BadFuture where Jack Frost/Santa has monetized Christmas. The second time they go back, Scott manages to hold Jack back, letting his past self get the coat like he did originally.

* An unintentional example in a Russian novel, where two Russian cosmonauts somehow end up in the past during the decline of the Roman Empire. One of them gets captured by barbarians, while the other one ends up becoming a Roman legionnaire. Eventually, the latter becomes the primus pilus (senior centurion) of a Roman Legion and is determined not to let the Empire fall, while the other manages to become the chieftain of the Germanic barbarians who captured him. You can see where this is heading.
* Used with a ridiculously complex plot in ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}[[ColonCancer : Megamorphs 3: Elfangor's Secret]]''. In brief, a human (John Berryman) who is mind-controlled by an {{Alien Inva|sion}}der (Visser 4) gets a time machine, and the heroes (4 human teenagers, a human-brained hawk, and an alien, each of whom can change into animals) follow him through time. As part of some elaborate treaty involving [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien god-like beings]], the heroes become [[IWillFightSomeMoreForever immortal]] after [[spoiler: Jake is shot with a musket while Washington is crossing the Delaware. Washington dies as well, thanks to Berryman/Visser 4 tipping off the British]]. Because of Visser 4's influence on time, the course of history is changed, to the point that in World War II, [[spoiler:Nazis are the good guys and the British still hold slaves. The heroes were not aware of this while at Normandy, and neither was Visser 4. The protagonists' fighting for the British at Normandy brings a British victory, dooming the world to slavery]]. After much debate about the ethics of changing the course of time once more, the heroes decide to [[spoiler:go back in time and prevent John Berryman's birth, stopping the entire sorry situation in the first place and saving Jake]].
* In ''Literature/TheApocalypseTroll'' by Creator/DavidWeber (of ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' fame), an alien-created [[OmnicidalManiac cyborg-modified human]] is sent back in time to destroy humanity before they develop FTL space travel. A human space-naval officer also goes back in time to stop it. Unusually for the trope, it started as two entire StandardSciFiFleet battle groups fighting both before and after the actual time travel, but each side only had a single survivor left after all the nukes finished flying, so this trope still applies.
* In the ''Literature/BelisariusSeries'' by Eric Flint and Creator/DavidDrake, two artificial intelligences from opposite sides of a far-future war get sent back to the early middle ages, one to try and alter the timeline so the evil side wins the future war, the other to try and stop the first one, via recruiting local BadassNormal allies. A semi-subversion, since both sides are attempting to change the timeline. Indeed, both ''rely'' on massively altering the cultural and technological evolution of the world; they just each want history to evolve in a different direction. This is because, after the changes already made by the "bad" AI, the timeline has already been irrevocably changed, so the "good" AI needs to insure that the right culture comes out on top.
* ''Dies Irae'' - Heljanita wants to change the past, and Darkscar wants to unchange it.
* The ''{{Literature/Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/{{Night Watch|Discworld}}'' features Sam Vimes and a criminal both [[LightningCanDoAnything accidentally going back in time]], and Sam Vimes has to stop him from changing history for the worse - while wondering whether he can morally allow history to run its course when it means innocent people dying that could be saved if he used his knowledge from the future to make a few changes of his own. [[spoiler: He finally decides to make the changes, though these turn out to be entirely necessary to counteract those of his nemesis and arrive at broadly the same present they left.]]
* In ''[[Literature/TheDraka Drakon]]'' by Creator/SMStirling, a [[StrawNihilist genetically engineered superhuman]] [[DarkActionGirl woman]] accidentally travels through a wormhole from an alternate future back to a world resembling our own present time, and promptly begins trying to find a way to re-open the wormhole and bring through a conquering army of more genetic supermen. A lone {{Cyborg}} human is also sent back through a similar wormhole to stop her.
* ''For King And Country'', by Robert Asprin and Linda Evans, features [[spoiler: what seems to be]] an example of an IRA agent traveling back to Arthurian times to change history in Ireland's favor or simply punish England, and a British soldier trying to stop it. They go all the way back to around 500 AD or so and share the bodies of people close to King Arthur. It seems like a StableTimeLoop and/or TrickedOutTime, but the ending is a little ambiguous. MeanwhileInTheFuture their bodies remain in a comatose state while they are in the past.
* ''Rebel in Time'' by Harry Harrison. A racist colonel steals the design of the Sten submachine gun and travels back in time to change the course of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar. He is pursued by another officer, whose task isn't made easier by the fact that he's black.

** In the novel ''Imzadi'' has an aging Riker trying to change the past [[spoiler:back to what it was]], with Data trying to keep it as it was [[spoiler:not knowing that it was changed in the first place]]. When the characters realize this at the end and ask the Guardian of Forever why it didn't say so sooner (potentially saving them all a lot of trouble and/or {{Angst}}), it replies (literally) "YouDidntAsk."
** In the ''Strange New Worlds'' story "God, Fate or Fractals" it's Wesley Crusher versus a pair of Temporal Investigations agents.

* ''The Last Day of Creation'' by Wolfgang Jeschke. The US government invents time travel and sends an expedition millions of years into the past to steal oil from Saudi Arabia, pipe it across the Mediterranean (then a dry lake bed) and ship it to what will become the United States. Only on arrival they find themselves attacked by a better armed and organised force sent by the Arab states (yes, this novel was the inspiration for ''VideoGame/OriginalWar''). As there's been a temporal arms race triggered by all this, the future changes so much that both sides are stranded in the past as the governments that sent them no longer exist and therefore won't develop the technology to bring them back.

* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'': Season 7's StoryArc is all about the Chronicoms going back in time and trying to alter history to eliminate ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} and create a world that is less defended against their [[AlienInvasion impending invasion]], and the S.H.I.E.L.D. team chasing after them to try and stop it. Ultimately, the changes that the Chronicoms make build up too much for the heroes to stop, but fortunately it turns out that the MCU's time travel rules (as established in ''Film/AvengersEndgame'') apply here too, creating an AlternateTimeline separate from the main one rather than overwriting it. [[spoiler: Which turns out to all be part of [[TheChessmaster Fitz's]] master plan to create a scenario that the team can use to defeat the Chronicoms in ''both'' timelines.]]

* ''Series/{{Castle|2009}}'' of all things features an example. [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane While it could have a mundane explanation]], said explanation makes less sense than this. While TheStinger of the episode leaves it as an open question, the behavior of the killer makes no sense if he isn't a time traveler, as it would require that he work backwards in an extremely convoluted fashion.
* ''Series/Charmed1998'': In "All Halliwell's Eve", the sisters are sent back in time to save one of their ancestors; at the same time, team evil is sending back their main agent to prevent their birth.

* Xavier in ''Series/Galactica1980'' went back to World War [=II=] to [[GivingRadioToTheRomans give rocket technology to the Nazis]], hoping it would make Earth advanced enough to repel Cylons in 1980 but Troy and Dillon go back to stop him. Them chasing him to different time periods was originally going to be the entire show.
* ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'' has a complicated case in the two-part episode "Armageddon Now". Callisto is sent back in time by Hope to kill Hercules' mother to prevent his being born. Iolaus is sent back in time by Ares to prevent this. While killing Hercules's mother is clearly an example of MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight, Callisto agrees to commit the heinous act in exchange for the chance to [[spoiler: [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong prevent her parents from being killed by Xena's army]]. That doesn't go well for her, when it turns out to be a StableTimeLoop with her killing her own family by accident]].
** Subverted with '[[Recap/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneysS2E13TheEnforcer The Enforcer]]', where a terminator-like woman is sent by Hera to kill Hercules but with no time-traveling involved. It's sequel even takes after ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'', where a fire-elemental enforcer appears as a stand-in for T-1000 while the original enforcer is sent by Hades to protect Hercules (again with no time-traveling involved).

* A major plot in the first seasons of ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' was the Temporal Cold War, in which various future factions used agents (some of them sent from other eras, others natives of the 22nd) to try to manipulate "historical" events in their favor.
* The plot of the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E06TrialsAndTribbleations Trials and Tribble-ations]]". The villain of the ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries TOS]]'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E15TheTroubleWithTribbles The Trouble with Tribbles]]" attempts to assassinate Captain Kirk in order to alter the outcome of that episode, and our heroes need to stop him.
* The ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episode "[[Recap/SupernaturalS05E13TheSongRemainsTheSame The Song Remains the Same]]" ultimately turns out to be a Terminator Threesome. First, Anna goes back in time with the intention of averting the apocalypse by killing John and Mary Winchester before Dean and Sam can be born. Sam and Dean, with Castiel's help, follow her in order to save their parents from Anna ''and'' [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong from their fates in the original timeline]]. Finally, [[spoiler: ArchangelMichael]] goes back to ensure that history takes its established course.

* ''Series/{{Timeless}}'' is built around this. A terrorist and his henchmen steal an experimental time ship and set out to [[MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight completely alter American history]] [[spoiler: [[WellIntentionedExtremist in order to root out]] the AncientConspiracy controlling the country]]. To stop him, the government and the private company that built the time ship gather a group of experts to go back on a prototype of the ship and prevent him from making any changes. Another twist is that [[spoiler:Flynn, the main "terrorist", is being guided by a diary that one of the protagonists is supposed to write a few years later]]. In Season 2, [[spoiler:Flynn has been imprisoned, and his time machine is now under the control of [[AncientConspiracy Rittenhouse]], the very organization Flynn wanted to destroy]].

* This was the central idea of ''Series/TruCalling'', though by the time it was revealed that this was the case and the conflict between Tru (change the past to save people) and her counterpart (keep this past the same and let people die) properly introduced the show was on the verge of being cancelled, so the idea was never fully developed.

[[folder:Radio]]
* The AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho episode [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho046FlipFlop "Flip-Flop"]] had two storylines, each taking place before the other -- with the same characters from each reality crossing over into the other one at the halfway point after going back in time, then going back in time to try and undo what they've done, causing the events in the other reality in the process.
[[/folder]]

* In ''[[Theatre/AVeryPotterMusical A Very Potter Sequel]]'', Lucius Malfoy travels back in time to kill Harry and prevent Voldemort's defeat. [[spoiler:Draco]] hitches a ride in order to stop him.
* The above became AscendedFanon with the official play, ''Theatre/HarryPotterAndTheCursedChild'' having the Augurey go back in time to prevent Voldemort's first defeat and Harry and co having to stop her.

* In ''VideoGame/DCUniverseOnline'', hero and villain players do this as they try to mess with or prevent the opposing faction from messing with the origins of iconic characters.

* In ''VideoGame/TimeShift'', the BigBad is a disgruntled scientist who uses a time-traveling suit to travel to the past and use his [[OmnidisciplinaryScientist vast scientific knowledge]] to TakeOverTheWorld and establish a fascist dystopia. The player is a second scientist, also equipped with a time-traveling suit, who follows the first scientist through time in order to stop him.
* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'': [[spoiler:The Black Beast and Hakumen are both pulled into the past by the same incident, setting up the GroundhogDayLoop that plays out repeatedly in the game]].
* ''VideoGame/RescueRaiders'' does this with whole armies: one fighting to [[StupidJetpackHitler change the outcome of World War II]], the other to stop them.
* Inverted like ''crazy'' by ''VideoGame/BrutalLegend''. [[spoiler: The evil "Emperor" (actually Empress, but demons don't differentiate apparently) Succoria is sent forwards in time, along with humanity's greatest warrior Riggnarok, who has sworn to slay her and is effectively her time-travel stowaway. When she reaches the future, she suffers a VillainousBSOD when she realises that humanity wins. Instead of slaying her, Riggnarok begins to feel the inklings of pity, and, well, the road gets lonely...]]

* ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages]]'' has Veran, Nayru, Link, and Ralph, in a bizarre time-traveling quadrangle of BigBad, LivingMacGuffin, the hero, and TheScrappy.
** Also happens in towards the very end of [[spoiler:''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword Skyward Sword]]'']], where [[spoiler:Link and Groose follow Ghirahim back in time in order to both save Zelda and prevent the resurrection of the Demon King Demise]].

* In the InteractiveFiction game ''VideoGame/{{Jigsaw}}'' by Creator/GrahamNelson, the player character (known as "White") is attempting to stop "Black" from changing the past, although neither side is really in the wrong.

* ''VideoGame/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAsPortable: The Gears of Destiny'' has WellIntentionedExtremist Kyrie Florian jumping back in time to retrieve an artifact that could help her scientist father save their dying planet. IdiotHero Amitie Florian then jumps back in time to stop her, since as said father mentioned, interfering with the time stream could lead to even worse consequences than the destruction of their evacuatable planet. [[spoiler:In addition, the both of them are also RidiculouslyHumanRobots]].
* ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeonExplorers'' has [[spoiler: Dusknoir and Grovyle. One is there to stop the other from [[BadFuture plunging the world into a dark, frozen hellscape]]. However, the established course of the timeline ''is'' that hellscape, thus the game plays with the trope with a VillainWithGoodPublicity trying to stop the HeroWithBadPublicity from changing anything]].
* An ongoing, [[TheChessmaster chessmaster-y]] form of this is half the plot of ''VideoGame/RadiantHistoria'', with the BigBad making [[ForWantOfANail minor changes]] to MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight and Stocke making similar changes to counteract them.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' features "Marth" [[spoiler:or Lucina, as she's actually named, as well as any other child characters]], sent back to prevent the BadFuture, and [[spoiler:the ''actual PlayerCharacter'', or at least an alternate thereof [[DemonicPossession possessed by]] the [[BigBad evil dragon Grima]]]] sent to enforce it.
* In ''VideoGame/DragonBallXenoverse'', Towa and Mira are out to MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight. Time Patrol Trunks, along with [[PlayerCharacter you]], are out to stop them and fix history. [[spoiler:Then after you defeat Mira, [[DiscOneFinalBoss Towa retreats]] and [[SealedEvilInACan Demon God Demigra]] takes their place.]]
* The final cutscene in ''VideoGame/StarTrekArmada'' has the timeship USS ''Premonition'' from the BadFuture follow a Borg sphere into the past to save the USS ''Enterprise''-D. Luckily, the sphere is damaged and is blown up by a single torpedo volley. The ''Premonition'' then jumps into its own time, with Past!Picard simply noting the strange battle in the log and moving on.

* ''VisualNovel/TimeHollow'' plays a variation of this. Upon learning that the past has changed, the protagonist tries to undo the antagonist's interferences in time through time portals. The biggest conflict is [[spoiler: trying to save the antagonist's mother, who sent herself a letter in time to commit a form of suicide]].

* ''Webcomic/{{SSDD}}'' has this with two factions, the Anarchists who are trying to orchestrate the past to result in an economic collapse leading to their rise in power, and Dr. Cook's people who are trying to avert that. Cook's group has one cybernetically-enhanced SuperSoldier (Tessa), while the Anarchists send a series of robots and clones.
* ''Webcomic/BadMachinery'''s "Case of the Forked Road" has two different {{Power Trio}}s taking these roles. It's made slightly more complicated by the fact that Calvin Goater has been time-travelling before them for as-yet-unspecified reasons.

* Replace individual with faction and this was the plot of the third season of ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'', when it turns out Megatron's plan to go back in time to destroy Optimus Prime didn't go as completely OffTheRails as initially thought.
* A ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode, '[[Recap/FamilyGuyS19E13PeTerminator PeTerminator]]' has a terminator (who takes the form of Peter) sent from the future to kill Stewie, due to the future war between the latter and Brian that stemmed from a comment on an Instagram post. Not to mention the terminator Lois, who appears to be a stand-in for T-1000. The title sequence for the episode even has all the characters as flaming skeletons as if Judgement Day occurred, as dramatic music plays and the camera pans across the devastation.

* ''Franchise/MastersOfTheUniverse'';
** In "The Time Corridor" episode of ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983'', He-Man, Man-At-Arms, Orko and Battle Cat have to travel back to Preternia to stop Skeletor destroying Castle Grayskull with the Wheel Of Infinity.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfHeMan'' had He-Man being summoned to the future to save the planet, Primus. Needless to say, Skeletor follows him and joins the bad guys.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In the fifth season finale, "The Cutie Re-Mark", Starlight Glimmer travels back in time to prevent Rainbow Dash from performing a Sonic Rainboom as a child, which would alter the fates of the main characters and prevent them from stopping various dangers in the future. Twilight and Spike follow her into the past to make sure that the Rainboom goes off like it was supposed to.

* ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'': In "Return of the Phantoms", three Kryptonian criminals travel back in time to kill ComicBook/{{Superboy}} so his older self Characters/{{Superman|TheCharacter}} will not exist and he would have never trapped them in the PhantomZone. Superman and ComicBook/GreenLantern travel back to stop them.
* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' has a crossover with the ''Comicbook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' where Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and Chameleon Boy protect a young Clark Kent from a time-travelling [[Characters/SupermanBrainiacCharacter Brainiac]]. Clark winds up [[HurlItIntoTheSun teleporting Brainiac into the sun.]]
* In a variant on ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'', Warp from the far future is followed through a time-gate by [[Characters/TeenTitansStarfire Starfire]] from the present, and she winds up hunting for him {{Twenty Minutes into the|Future}} BadFuture.
* From ''WesternAnimation/XMenTheAnimatedSeries'':
** A two-episode arc involved Bishop traveling from the BadFuture to the present day, attempting to prevent the outbreak of a mutant plague. He succeeds. But his actions backfire, however, and result in the deaths of the X-Men and the complete extinction (rather than just decimation) of mutants. Specifically, the vaccine that was created to counter the plague was also needed by future mutants to survive and due to Bishop's actions, it was never created--so Cable comes from an ''even further'' future to stop Bishop. Cause the mutant plague or stop the mutant plague? [[spoiler:Nah, Cable [[TakeAThirdOption takes a third option]]: Infect Wolverine with the plague, letting his healing factor develop the vaccine, ''then'' destroy the plague.]]
** You've also got the more basic variety in most TimeTravel episodes. First it's Bishop and Nimrod, then it's the Cable and Bishop thing, then it's Bishop and Fitzroy, then it's Shard and the various agents of Apocalypse (though they're from the present, Apocalypse is the version from Cable's future). [[spoiler:In the end, the BadFuture is NOT prevented, but at least they always managed to stop those who'd make it any worse.]]

** Characters/{{Cable|NathanSummers}} came back in time to prevent the future he grew up in. Stryfe, his [[EvilTwin evil clone]], then came back in time to stop him -- not so much because he was hugely enamoured of their home era, but rather because he lived to screw with Cable's life. Oh, and then Cable's evil adopted son came back as well... Later X-Men storylines have Cable jumping into the future to protect [[ComicBook/HopeSummers a girl]] he believes will become the [[MessianicArchetype saviour]], while Bishop wants to kill her because in ''his'' original timeline she becomes TheAntiChrist.

* ComicBook/IronMan and [[Characters/MarvelComicsDoctorDoom Doctor Doom]] for some reason do this often. They wound up in Camelot once, and another time they inverted the trope by traveling to the future (after Merlin has awaken and King Arthur has reincarnated). Often, though they end up [[TakeAThirdOption taking a third option]] and working together to get back. And again in Bendis' ComicBook/MightyAvengers. It helps that both Doom and Stark have ''nothing'' to gain from changing anything in the specific past periods they enter, and both would rather keep the present they have. Seeing as it's dangerous to fuck with reality and all that.
* Characters/{{Wolverine|JamesLoganHowlett}} goes back in time to kill [[ComicBook/AntMan Hank Pym]] in order to stop the titular robot in ''ComicBook/AgeOfUltron'', while [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Sue Storm]] goes back in time to stop him. [[spoiler: He does kill him, but discovers the alternative is far worse.]]

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'' of all things features an example. [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane While it could have a mundane explanation]], said explanation makes less sense than this. While TheStinger of the episode leaves it as an open question, the behavior of the killer makes no sense if he isn't a time travel, as it would require that he work backwards in an extremely convoluted fashion.

** In the ''Strange New Worlds'' story "God, Fate or Fractals"'' it's Wesley Crusher versus a pair of Temporal Investigations agents.

** You've also got the more basic variety in most TimeTravel episodes. First it's Bishop and Nimrod, then it's the Cable and Bishop thing, then it's Bishop and Fitzroy, then it's Shard and the various agents of Apocalypse (though they're from the present, Apocalypse is the version from Cable's future.) [[spoiler: In the end, the BadFuture is NOT prevented, but at least they always managed to stop those who'd make it any worse.]]

* A ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode, '[[Recap/FamilyGuyS19E13PeTerminator PeTerminator]]' has a terminator (who takes the form of Peter) sent from the future to kill Stewie, due to the future war between the latter and Brian that stemmed from a a comment on an Instagram post. Not to mention the terminator Lois, who appears to be a stand-in for T-1000. The title sequence for the episode even has all the characters as flaming skeletons as if Judgement Day occurred, as dramatic music plays and the camera pans across the devastation.

* Replace individual with faction and this was the plot of the third season of ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'', when it turns out Megatron's plan to go back in time to destroy Optimus Prime didn't go as completely off the rails as initially thought.

* A Terminator ''Threesome'' happens in ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'', when Marty and Doc travel back to 1955 to undo Old Biff's tampering with the timeline. To make this more confusing, it's set at the same time as [[Film/BackToTheFuture1 the first movie]]. So Marty and Doc have to avoid that film's younger Marty who's unaware of other time travellers in order not to mess the timeline up further.

* A Terminator ''Threesome'' happens in ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'', when Marty and Doc travel back to 1955 to undo Old Biff's tampering with the timeline. To make this more confusing, it's set at the same time as [[Film/BackToTheFuture the first movie]]. So Marty and Doc have to avoid that film's younger Marty who's unaware of other time travellers in order not to mess the timeline up further.

* ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' displays this right at the beginning of the game. [[NoNonsenseNemesis Giygas chose to stop Ness while he was still weak by sending a Starman Jr. back in time to kill him directly]]. Luckily for Ness, a time-travelling alien named Buzz Buzz found him first to protect him. Unfortunately, Buzz Buzz dies shortly afterward. In true Terminator fashion, it is this time-travel attack that kicks off the plot and sets Ness on the path to defeat Giygas. Happens in the endgame too: Giygas is launching his main assault in the past, so the heroes have to go there to fight him.

** Subverted with '[[Recap/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneysS2E13TheEnforcer The Enforcer]]', where a terminator-like woman is sent by Hera to kill Hercules but with no time-traveling involved. It's sequel even takes after ''[[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay]]'', where a fire-elemental enforcer appears as a stand-in for T-1000 while the original enforcer is sent by Hades to protect Hercules (again with no time-traveling involved).

* A ''WesternAnimation/Family Guy'' episode, '[[Recap/FamilyGuyS19E13PeTerminator PeTerminator]]' has a terminator (who takes the form of Peter) sent from the future to kill Stewie, due to the future war between the latter and Brian that stemmed from a a comment on an Instagram post. Not to mention the terminator Lois, who appears to be a stand-in for T-1000. The title sequence for the episode even has all the characters as flaming skeletons as if Judgement Day occurred, as dramatic music plays and the camera pans across the devastation.

* In ''LightNovel/StrikeTheBlood'', [[KidFromTheFuture Reina]] arrives in the present to stop a dragon from the future.
* Taken [[ExaggeratedTrope Up to Eleven]] in ''Anime/BatmanNinja'' where several villains fighting for control of feudal Japan and Batman and his sidekicks want to bring them back to the present and restore the timeline.

* ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'', [[TropeNamers obviously.]] Basically, the entire franchise is a conflict between [[BigBad Skynet]] and the adult [[BigGood John Connor]] repeatedly sending their agents back in time to subvert each other.

* In season 5 of ''Series/{{The Flash|2014}}'', Barry and Iris's daughter Nora comes back from the future in order to [[spoiler:save Barry, so she doesn't grow up without a father]]. Later on, though, it's revealed that [[spoiler:Cicada's niece Grace has come back from another future in order to prevent her uncle from being de-powered]].

* Creator/HarlanEllison's ''Series/TheOuterLimits1963'' episodes "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1963S2E1Soldier Soldier]]" and "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1963S2E5DemonWithAGlassHand Demon with a Glass Hand]]" may have created this trope. In fact, the producers of the first ''{{Franchise/Terminator}}'' movie had to pay a settlement to him following a lawsuit.

* The plot of the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "Trials and Tribble-ations". The villain of the [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries TOS]] episode "The Trouble With Tribbles" attempts to assassinate Captain Kirk in order to alter the outcome of that episode, and our heroes need to stop him.
* The ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episode "The Song Remains The Same" ultimately turns out to be a Terminator Threesome. First, Anna goes back in time with the intention of averting the apocalypse by killing John and Mary Winchester before Dean and Sam can be born. Sam and Dean, with Castiel's help, follow her in order to save their parents from Anna ''and'' [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong from their fates in the original timeline]]. Finally, [[spoiler: ArchangelMichael]] goes back to ensure that history takes its established course.

* ''Series/QuantumLeap'', in later seasons, features an [[EvilCounterpart Evil Leaper]] who tries to undo the positive changes in the past wrought by Sam Beckett.

** And then there was the [[Characters/MarvelComicsLegion Legionquest]] story, which culminated in Professor X's evil son (yes, this is something of a recurring theme for the X-Men) traveling back to the 1950s in order to kill [[Characters/MarvelComicsMagneto Magneto]] before he becomes powerful. An entire ''team'' of X-Men go after him. [[ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse Between them, they screw things up even worse.]]