History Main / TimeyWimeyball

* Marvel Comics' ''[[ComicBook/{{Warlock}} Adam Warlock]]'', specifically his evil future self The Magus embodies this trope. Adam Warlock met his futureself and immediately The Magus set about trying to ensure Adam would turn into him. This did not work when "Thanos" and the In-Betweener interfered and Adam was given a choice of timelines, wherein he chose the shortest. The Magus appeared again when Adam Warlock attained the Infinity Gauntlet and divested himself of his good self (The Goddess) and his evil self (The Magus). The Magus initiated the Infinity War, but was defeated. Later, to seal the Fault in space caused, in part by the Annihilation Wave, The Phalanx Invasion, and the War of Kings, Adam Warlock [[spoiler:who, as he expanded magical energy slowly started turning into The Magus, used an "unused" timeline to repair the fault. That particular "unused" timeline was the one in which he became The Magus]].

** Say the word "Kang" to a fan and they'll often shudder. His time-travel schemes are so complex that his future self, Immortus, is another major Avengers enemy, and the two can often be seen fighting each other. To give a sense of scale: most Marvel Handbook profiles are one to three pages long except for major characters like Franchise/SpiderMan, ComicBook/IronMan or ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}. Kang's gets ''six pages'', and the bottom half of each page is devoted to Kang's timeline, which is chronological in years but requires jumping around from page to page to get Kang's chronological story.

** Made even ''[[UpToEleven more]]'' confusing with the addition of a fourth iteration of Kang in ''ComicBook/YoungAvengers'': Iron Lad who actually ''kills'' Kang in an attempt to prevent himself from becoming Kang and ultimately realizes the only way to save the future is to become Kang anyway. If you find yourself confused, know at least that you aren't alone:
--->'''ComicBook/JessicaJones:''' Is this a time-travel thing? Because I ''hate'' time-travel things.\\

** You can also thank Kang for raising one of the X-Men's greatest foes, ComicBook/{{Apocalypse}}.

** [[TheFairFolk The Fair]] eventually explain that this is all because of a StableTimeLoop: [[spoiler: Die itself is [[GeniusLoci sentient]] and capable of reaching through time to ensure its own existence. It subconsciously inspired the various writers whose works contributed to Die's world, as well as Sol to create the game, and later as Grandmaster to create the toy soldiers that were sent back to Charlotte and her siblings, while Eternal Prussia is currently using the remains of Glass Town to create the six dice that brought the party to Die. As for Molly and the other Fallen, they've been brought back from a future where Die has [[MergedReality merged with Earth]], which it will do once it has completed the loop by sending the dice back in time.]]
* ''Franchise/TheFlash'':

* [[https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Limbo_(Temporal) Limbo]] in the Marvel Universe (mainly shows up in association with ''ComicBook/XMen'') is an entire ''dimension'' of timey-wimeyness. When the X-Men entered and got separated, both Wolverine and Colossus encountered long-dead versions of each other, and managed to escape just fine in the end. ComicBook/{{Storm}} was stopped at one point by her older self, who had remained in Limbo for decades studying magic. And ComicBook/{{Nightcrawler}} killed his older self.

* Creator/JohnByrne's run on ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1987 Vol 2]] has a classic example of the rules changing within a story. When Diana's mother becomes the new Wonder Woman, [[Franchise/TheFlash Jay Garrick]] recognises her as the mysterious woman who was involved in ''one'' of his adventures in UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks, and who he never really met. When he tells Hippolyta this, she travels to the past in order to maintain the timeline by ensuring everything happens the way Jay remembers. Once she gets there, however, she decides to stick around and become the Golden Age Wonder Woman and a member of the Comicbook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica. History is therefore completely altered after all, but no-one seems to mind.

* [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' which introduces time travel as a way to get what is necessary to reset [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar its predecessor]]'s DownerEnding, and at least twice Banner complains about people thinking time travel works the same way as in the movies. [[spoiler:It's explained that instead of creating paradoxes, altering the past would create {{Alternate Universe}}s with no effect on their own but the Avengers didn't simply want to leave other realities for dead by keeping their stones. Despite this the Avengers inadvertently end up creating at least three alternate timelines; one where instead of Loki and the Tesseract being returned to Asgard after [[Film/TheAvengers2012 the Battle of New York]], Loki uses the Tesseract to escape the Avengers' custody while Cap learns Bucky is alive early and HYDRA now thinks Cap is on their side, one where Thanos and his army died in 2014 around the start of ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'', and during his trip to return the Infinity Stones to their original locations, Captain America manages to live the life that he originally couldn't with an alternate Peggy Carter.]]

** In ''[[Literature/ThursdayNext First Among Sequels]]'', there is a subplot revolving around the fact that the time-travellers have mapped almost the entire future and found that TimeTravel has not yet been invented. By the end of the book, [[spoiler:Thursday and co. have managed to ensure that TimeTravel is ''never'' invented, and thus, could never have been used earlier in the series]]. This means that several events from the previous four books including the plays of Creator/WilliamShakespeare [[spoiler:and the ''beginning of all life on earth'']] logically could not have happened. Since many of these events were the results of {{Stable Time Loop}}s anyway, this is a case of Ascended TimeParadox. Or MindScrew turned UpToEleven. Either way, it's probably best just to apply the MST3KMantra and enjoy the series.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'': "How Long is Forever?" deals with a supervillain named Warp from 100 years in the future who steals a device, which he knows he'll get away with because there's a StableTimeLoop and history books say it gets stolen on the night he returned to. In the fight, Starfire ends up flung 20 years into a BadFuture where the Titans have fallen apart without her. By the end of the episode, she manages to return to the present ''and'' saves the device, proving Warp wrong. If there's no stable time loop, why do the history books already claim Warp steals the device? Also, how can Starfire end up in a future where she disappeared while that same future results in her returning to the present, negating its own existence?

* In ''WesternAnimation/XMen'', Bishop [[RippleEffectProofMemory keeps his memories of the previous chain of events when he returns into the future]]. Later the two parter "One Man's Worth" has the death of Charles Xavier before he founded X-Men resulting into a war-torn present. Wolverine and Storm from this changed reality travel into the past to help to save him. After the successful mission accomplishment they return into the future (present time) and for some reason lose all their memories about the Xavier-less reality.

'''[[AwesomeMcCoolname Commander Badass]]:''' Look, anyone who watches as much ''Doctor Who'' as you do gotta know that technology more 're less runs on bullshit.

Of course, sometimes they aren't. The Timey-Wimey Ball is the result of a series or movie where the writers are a wee bit confused or forgetful about exactly ''which'' kind of time travel can happen, sometimes within the span of one episode! One day YouCantFightFate because YouAlreadyChangedThePast (or at least not without the ButterflyOfDoom coming along), but the next you can ScrewDestiny and SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong by [[HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct killing Hitler]] and changing the past for the better. Especially headachy because there's no TemporalParadox, or if there is it's totally arbitrary.

* ''Film/CloudAtlas'': The film jumps between stories several times in succession. The film's example of TogetherInDeath also only makes sense if reincarnation isn't sequential.

* René Barjavel's novel ''Future Times Three'' is one of the first books to describe the GrandfatherParadox, and contains an appendix describing how the victim of the paradox is constantly oscillating between existence and non-existence. But there is also the case of an old servant who was saved from death by her bosses through time travel, who the hero does not remember having met because he visited the house before they went back in time to save her... and the servant seems to remember somehow that she should have died. Also, characters living during a war where common necessities are scarce are using MentalTimeTravel to go back in time before the war to buy any supply they run out of in the present (which should mean that at one point in the past their cupboards must have been bursting with supplies).

* In the 1980s Marvel ''ComicBook/TheTransformers'' comic, one can alter the past to suit the present. However, there is also the possibility that one travels to a different universe that is simply the same as your own. So thus, any attempt to travel back in time to, say, [[spoiler:build a giant cannon to destroy the dark god who created you when he turns his attention to Earth in order to free yourself from his control as Galvatron tried to]], can potentially end in failure as it is not your own universe. [[spoiler:As it turned out, it WAS Galvatron's own universe.]]

* The ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' fic "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6127133/1/Stalemate Stalemate]]" sees Ambassador Chakotay of the future depicted [[Literature/StarTrekVoyagerRelaunch in the novels]] arrive on ''Voyager'' during the events of “[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS7E23Endgame Endgame]]”. Despite the fact that his presence should essentially negate Admiral Janeway's timeline, the ship is still visited by Admiral Janeway as it was in canon, the two future visitors spending some time together before Chakotay's death.

* In the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse fic "[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/32779612/ live not on evil]]", Wanda Maximoff's attempt to change history to save Vision and Pietro results in Peter Parker being sent after her by Doctor Strange, 'chasing' her through an alternate timeline where a series of out-of-sequence encounters with the Avengers of this timeline result in Peter [[spoiler:bringing Vision back to life with the Soul Stone, blocking Nebula from linking up with her past self while on Morag, and providing Clint and Natasha with the Soul Stone on Vormir without anyone needing to sacrifice themselves, often only possible due to him being told he would do that by someone before he's done it but after his associate has experienced it]].

* ''Anime/DokiDokiPrecure'''s NonSerialMovie handles this trope in what's probably the most dumbest way possible. The BigBad, frustrated at the Pretty Cures escaping their temporal prison as well as reforming one of his minions, decided to travel to the ''future'' and kill everyone there. Apparently, according to this movie, if there is no future to look forward to, the present will cease to exist (despite the fact that going to the future and changing things there affects jack squat in the present).

* ''Film/DejaVu'' starts out well enough, but implies that the detective has already gone back in time and failed. In the original timeline, the love interest dies, and the hero's blood is all over her apartment. So apparently, in the original timeline, he went back and failed. But then in the new timeline, he gets his wounds saving the love interest. He doesn't bleed all over the love interest's place until after he saves her. So how did there end up being blood in the original timeline, but the love interests dies? What's more, [[spoiler:the ending finishes without a StableTimeLoop of any kind, so either the changes made will reset or they've created one alternate timeline where everything is hunky dory and one where everyone's dead]].

* Marvel Comics' ''ComicBook/AdamWarlock'', specifically his evil future self The Magus embodies this trope. Adam Warlock met his futureself and immediately The Magus set about trying to ensure Adam would turn into him. This did not work when "Thanos" and the In-Betweener interfered and Adam was given a choice of timelines, wherein he chose the shortest. The Magus appeared again when Adam Warlock attained the Infinity Gauntlet and divested himself of his good self (The Goddess) and his evil self (The Magus). The Magus initiated the Infinity War, but was defeated. Later, to seal the Fault in space caused, in part by the Annihilation Wave, The Phalanx Invasion, and the War of Kings, Adam Warlock [[spoiler:who, as he expanded magical energy slowly started turning into The Magus, used an "unused" timeline to repair the fault. That particular "unused" timeline was the one in which he became The Magus]].

The standard HandWave (if one is given) is that time is very complicated and the particulars of the situation affect how the rules apply in ways that a layperson wouldn't understand. Which is one of the ''many'' reasons why some fiction fans ''really, really '''HATE''''' time travel.

* ''ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}''. [[ContinuitySnarl There's three of them.]] ''Two'' of their enemies are the {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s of the Timey-Wimey Ball.

* In the ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' fic "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13929309/1/Power-Rangers-Mythos Power Rangers Mythos]]", after the alchemist Avanth destabilises the Morphin Grid of the year 2600 and kills most of the active Rangers, the last surviving Ranger, Fae the Yellow Ranger, must resort to desperate measures and use a time machine to recruit past Rangers to use the only remaining active Morphers to oppose Avanth. As a result, she recruits a new team of Rangers from different time periods, including Tommy Oliver during his time as the Green Ranger (''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers''), Z Delgado (''Series/PowerRangersSPD''), Flynn [=McAllistair=] (''Series/PowerRangersRPM''), Shelby Watkins (''Series/PowerRangersDinoCharge'') and Adam Park (''Mighty Morphin Power Rangers'' in Tommy's relative future).

* ''Film/LostInSpace'' contains a plot where John and Don walk into the future by an energy field just to find future Will and Dr. Smith creating that energy field as a result to build a machine to travel into the past, because the entire family was wiped out as a result of John and Don disappearing by walking into the future. When present Will and Dr. Smith enter the bubble, nothing happens to their future selves. Hell, Future Dr. Smith killed his past self without a second thought.

* ''Film/TimeChasers'', which 99 percent of its viewers know from ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000''. It tells -- or rather, tries to tell -- the story a man who invents a time-traveling airplane who has to repeatedly go back and stop his former boss from stealing and exploiting his invention for his own personal gain.

** Kang's schemes also led to the temporally complex even of ''ComicBook/AvengersForever'', when Kang's attempt to prevent himself becoming Immortus led to a conflict which featured seven Avengers from ''six'' different time periods coming together to help Kang protect Rick Jones from Immortus and prevent humanity's darker possible futures (this team included Captain America from the end of the ''Secret Empire'' storyline, Hawkeye just after the ''ComicBook/KreeSkrullWar'', Yellowjacket during his initial mental breakdown, Giant-Man and the Wasp from Rick's present, and Songbird and Genis-Vell from what appear to have been possible futures).

* In the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' fic "https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/for-want-of-an-outfit-harry-potter.84758/ For Want of an Outfit]]" time turners that aren't in use have a tendency to rewind themselves through time to a point where somebody will find and start using them. As they often travel much further into the past than they should be able to, they end up breaking their StableTimeLoop in the process and can send multiple copies back at once. Hogwarts at one point had twelve time turners produced by only three originals.

* In the ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' fic "[[ Power Rangers Mythos]]", after the alchemist Avanth destabilises the Morphin Grid of the year 2600 and kills most of the active Rangers, the last surviving Ranger, Fae the Yellow Ranger, must resort to desperate measures and use a time machine to recruit past Rangers to use the only remaining active Morphers to oppose Avanth. As a result, she recruits a new team of Rangers from different time periods, including Tommy Oliver during his time as the Green Ranger (''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers''), Z Delgado (''Series/PowerRangersSPD''), Flynn [=McAllistair=] (''Series/PowerRangersRPM''), Shelby Watkins (''Series/PowerRangersDinoCharge'') and Adam Park (''Mighty Morphin Power Rangers'' in Tommy's relative future).

** And then the Professor started in on Barry's history, and that ended with ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}}. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Nice job breaking it, psycho.]]

* ''Literature/DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency'': Significant plot points hinge on characters being able to change the past (the villain [[spoiler: wants to stop life evolving on Earth]], and as part of the attempt to stop him, Dirk [[spoiler: interrupts Coleridge when he's writing "Kublai Khan", the full text of which was previously established as existing in that universe]]). But the pay-off to the background gag of [[spoiler: Richard's sofa]] hinges just as much on YouAlreadyChangedThePast. This is during the ''same'' trip through time.