History SelfDemonstrating / InMediasRes

* ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'' opens with Max on the rooftop of a building, having landed a successful sniper shot. The entire rest of the game reveals [[HowWeGotHere How He Got There]] via FlashBack.

* ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDuty Call of Duty: Big Red One]]'' begins in September or October of 1944 as the player, a sergeant in command of TheSquad, helps attack a small town during the tutorial. After being wounded in the end, [[HowWeGotHere the story flashes back]] to November 1942 when the player character was a lowly private. After playing the mission which ends with your squad leader being wounded and you taking over, the game essentially skips the events of the tutorial and continues from October or November 1944 until crossing the Sigfried Line in 1945 at the end of the game.
** ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty: VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' begins with a team of [[UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships SAS]] operatives discussing an ongoing civil war in Russia and the [[CrapsackWorld badly destabilizing effects]] it is having on the rest of the world. As of yet, the causes of the civil war have never been revealed in-game, with the war being used as a springboard for the [[FromBadToWorse primary plot of the series]].
** ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty: [[VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps Black Ops]]'' starts with Mason being interrogated, flashing back to events leading to it.
* In ''VideoGame/DarkCloud2'', immediately after starting a new game you're thrown into the middle of an invasion of King Raybrandt's castle by Emperor Griffon's forces, the latest coup in a long-running war between the future world and the timeline-erasing BigBad. You only have a very brief explanation of how the controls work before you, as [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething Princess]] [[ActionGirl Monica Raybrandt]], [[YouShallNotPass have to fend off the attackers]] with [[MagicKnight sword and magic]]. It's only after [[YouKilledMyFather the final fate of the combatants is decided]] that the narrative calms down and introduces you to the main protagonist, Max, in the present time.

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'' is in love with this trope and does it frequently. How well it does it tends to vary from episode to episode.

[[folder: Real Life]]
* Almost anytime you meet someone, you will be entering their life long after their story has begun.
* When your mother gave birth to you, she had gone through probably two or more decades of her life already.
* Your own life story - try remembering your first couple of years! Chances are, ''you only know early information about yourself because you learned about it after the fact''. Your memories begin ''in medias res''.
[[/folder]]

* The insane WidgetSeries ''Ippatsu Kikimusume'' uses this to amusing effect. The protagonist Kunyan always starts off each episode in some insane predicament (such as TrappedInTheSauna, or wedged between two buildings several stories up), and part of the humor comes from going back and seeing exactly how she got there in the first place.

* Franchise/{{Superman}} storyline ''ComicBook/KryptonNoMore'' starts out with Superman trying to demolish a factory. In the next page the story jumps back in time and tells what happened previously and explains his actions.

** ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' itself also qualifies. Aside from Superman, who had an origin story built into ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', and the ComicBook/MartianManhunter, whose origin is worked into the plot of the first episode, the cast is introduced without backstory and they already know each other (except Franchise/WonderWoman).

** Comicbook/CaptainAmerica's introductory episode begins after he became an American icon. However, it does open with a newsreel recounting his origin story, for the convenience of viewers who did not know it.

* ''Film/{{Underworld}}'' begins with a bunch of seemingly random people shooting each other up on the subway. A well-known movie critic actually criticized the use of this trope in his review of the film, remarking that since we don't know who these people are or what their motives are, the action is disconnected and meaningless.

* The first ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' game introduces the characters Solid Snake and Big Boss, and later games explore their backstories and incorporate it into an epic MythArc that has been in play for decades.
* ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar1'' opens with Marcus Fenix busting out of prison, with no explanation given as to what's happening or who or what the strange Orc people shooting at you are. The game actually does have an intro movie that briefly explains the whole COG vs Locust war, but it oddly DOESN'T play when you start a new game, only if you idle on the main menu for a couple minutes.
** Well the first game did have a rather elaborate marketing campaign explaining the history of the Pendulum Wars and what happened on E-Day.

* ''[[http://danbooru.donmai.us/pools/3715 Mami x Touma + Charlotte]]'' begins with [[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica Mami Tomoe]] and [[LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex Touma Kamijou]] fighting. The fic never actually explains why they were fighting in the first place.

* ''Anime/RecordOfLodossWar'' does this with the first episode, and introduces the characters and plot in the second episode. With the exception of the narrated opening sequence on the War of the Gods, the plot of the episode takes place between episodes 5 and 6.

-->-- '''Creator/HarlanEllison''', ''"Repent, Harlequin!" said the Ticktockman''

** The [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist 2003 anime version]] also begins in the middle of their journey, with the actual introduction happening in the third episode and several more episodes of flashback until it catches up to where they were at the end of the first two episodes.

* The first three parts of the Music/{{Rush}} saga "Fear", which was split across four albums, were released in reverse order (i.e. Part 3 first).

* ''Franchise/TombRaiderUnderworld'' does this - the player makes their way through [[spoiler:a burning Croft Manor]] until Lara is shot at by [[spoiler:Zip]]. We then go back to one week earlier, and then play through a few levels until we are made to play through the intro sequence again, only this time we are shown why [[spoiler:Zip]] was firing at Lara...

* ''[[Franchise/TombRaider Tomb Raider: Underworld]]'' does this - the player makes their way through [[spoiler:a burning Croft Manor]] until Lara is shot at by [[spoiler:Zip]]. We then go back to one week earlier, and then play through a few levels until we are made to play through the intro sequence again, only this time we are shown why [[spoiler:Zip]] was firing at Lara...

* The intro movie to ''VideoGame/ThePunisher'' ends with Frank Castle being arrested, and subsequent pre-level cinematics show him being interrogated by two cops; most of the game's levels take place prior to this questioning.
* ''VideoGame/SlyCooper3'' begins with a level where Sly infiltrates the island fortress of one [[BigBad Dr. M.]] He communicates with various allies via videophone, though their faces are blacked out. When you reach a certain point in the level, Sly has to fight a giant boss, [[spoiler: which knocks his staff away and captures him, slowly crushing him to death.]] He takes this time to recall HowWeGotHere, and the subsequent chapters deal with him recruiting the allies who'll help with the final level's grand heist.

* In ''VideoGame/DarkCloud 2'', immediately after starting a new game you're thrown into the middle of an invasion of King Raybrandt's castle by Emperor Griffon's forces, the latest coup in a long-running war between the future world and the timeline-erasing BigBad. You only have a very brief explanation of how the controls work before you, as [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething Princess]] [[ActionGirl Monica Raybrandt]], [[YouShallNotPass have to fend off the attackers]] with [[MagicKnight sword and magic]]. It's only after [[YouKilledMyFather the final fate of the combatants is decided]] that the narrative calms down and introduces you to the main protagonist, Max, in the present time.

* ''VideoGame/BrothersInArms'': Hill 30 begins with the player and his squad about to get overrun. The player character is knocked off his feet by a scripted shell and loses conciousness. The screen then goes black and it takes you back eight days to D-Day where the narrative begins.

* An interesting DoubleSubversion (or played straight, depending on how you look at it) in Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica. [[spoiler:Episode 10 explains the alternate timelines, but every timeline has technically the same start, due to being parallels of each other. However, the StartOfDarkness for the anime actually is explained in Episode 10, which explains Homura's intentions that were not explained in the first two episodes. In other words, the anime starts at the ''how many times is it now'' parallel timeline, but we learn of the beginning in episode 10.]]

** Then there are the issues that open with Batman fighting the Demon's Head. Which are [[spoiler: [[IncrediblyLamePun In Medias Ra's.]] ]]

* Franchise/{{Superman}} storyline ''Comicbook/KryptonNoMore'' starts out with Superman trying to demolish a factory. In the next page the story jumps back in time and tells what happened previously and explains his actions.
* After the One Year Jump in DC, ''everything'' started in medias res. The next year was spent catching the reader up with the weekly comic ''Comicbook/FiftyTwo''.

* ''Fanfic/KyonBigDamnHero'''s prologue . It's called, appropriately enough, ''In Media Res Prologue''.

* Fanfic/{{Composure}} starts with [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Princess Celestia]] preparing for Twilight Sparkle's arrival at Canterlot, then jumps to Princess Celestia waking up in a hospital bed, unable to remember what had happened, unable to use magic, and with severe lightning burns on her side. The rest of the story jumps between following the events after the hospitalization and showing what caused it.

* In ''FanFic/SophisticationAndBetrayal'', the story begins with the protagonist having already been in Equestria for over a year, with a series of flashbacks filling in the details that led up that point over the course of the chapters.

** ''Film/BatmanBegins'' start the story proper [[IncrediblyLamePun in medias Ra's]] with Bruce Wayne in prison in Bhutan, before flashbacking to explain how he got there.

-->Ershon: I think the best way to tell this story is by starting at the end, briefly, then going back to the beginning; then periodically returning to the end, maybe giving different characters' perspectives throughout. Just to, you know, give it a bit of dynamism . Otherwise it's just sort of a linear story (makes yawning gesture)

* The 2013 Creator/{{CBC}} movie ''[[Film/{{Jack2013}} Jack]]'' starts with Jack Layton in his old age at close to the time of the 2011 election, then alternates between the 2011 election campaign and various moments from Jack's past.

* ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents''

* ''Literature/CatchTwentyTwo''.

** Even one of the Series/StargateAtlantis ExpandedUniverse novels was told this way.

* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}''
* ''Series/MadAboutYou''
* ''Series/WithoutATrace''

* ''Series/{{Better Off Ted}}'''s episode "Jabberwocky". Starts with the main character about to do a presentation on [[spoiler:a product that doesn't exists]], literally says "So how did I get here?" and then jumps to explaining precisely that.

* ''Don't Panic'', Creator/NeilGaiman's biography of Creator/DouglasAdams starts out with the inception of Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy, then jumps back to Adams' birth.

* ''Warriors Orochi'' starts in medias res, with Orochi having already devastated the various factions and forced them into the positions from which they will begin their counter-attack. HowWeGotHere is only briefly glossed over; it isn't explored in depth until the ''sequel''.

* The intro movie to ''The Punisher'' ends with Frank Castle being arrested, and subsequent pre-level cinematics show him being interrogated by two cops; most of the game's levels take place prior to this questioning.
* ''Sly Cooper 3'' begins with a level where Sly infiltrates the island fortress of one [[BigBad Dr. M.]] He communicates with various allies via videophone, though their faces are blacked out. When you reach a certain point in the level, Sly has to fight a giant boss, [[spoiler: which knocks his staff away and captures him, slowly crushing him to death.]] He takes this time to recall HowWeGotHere, and the subsequent chapters deal with him recruiting the allies who'll help with the final level's grand heist.

* VideoGame/ZenoClash begins with [[PlayerCharacter Ghat]] running from his hometown after killing Father-Mother. As he flees his angered brothers and sisters, he explains to [[TheWatson Deadra]] the first half of the plot through flashbacks.

* VideoGame/BrothersInArms Hell's Highway starts with the protagonist, Baker and his friend, Hartsock, navigating through an abandoned hospital in the midst of a German attack. Baker gets knocked on the ground by a falling bomb, and Hartsock watches as Baker is seemingly executed in front of him. Cut to the beginning, when they first landed. [[spoiler: Turns out that the gunshots of Baker's "execution" were actually him shooting at hallucinations.]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Played with in ''Dinosaur Comics'' "[[http://www.qwantz.com/archive/001279.html Literary Technique Comics: In Medias Res]]", where T-Rex explains the trope, but we only see the very end of the explanation.
* Of the currently existent ''Anges Quill'' stories, all but ''one'' use this, starting in the middle of the action late in one case, before wrapping it up and segueing to the one that will be the primary focus of the story. And the overall story ''also'' starts [[OneWePreparedEarlier in medias res]], with Agnes already fairly well-established in her new career -- the most important points of how she got there were covered in the Cast page, and further expanded on in [[AllThereInTheManual supplemental materials included in the book collection]].
* In ''Erfworld'', we join the story only after the Plaid have lost 10 out of their 11 cites, and there is a slight subversion [[spoiler:the very first panel of the very first page shows Erfworld ''being created''.]] You really can't start a story much earlier then that.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'', although the short that creator Craig [=McCracken=] initially submitted to Creator/CartoonNetwork was an origin story that wasn't used due to an inappropriate title ("The Whoop-Ass Girls") and was pretty much the same as the opening. While the opening sequence does introduce the characters quickly, a real origin story doesn't occur until TheMovie.

** This trope is averted for ComicBook/BlackPanther and Comicbook/MsMarvel, whose origin stories occur during the first season instead of before it, and ComicBook/TheVision, whose birth occurs during season two.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' began with Batman having already been active for years, which makes sense since by now, you'd have to be living under a rock to not know his origin story. This was especially helpful in introducing the younger, more diverse crop of [[AffirmativeActionLegacy legacy heroes]], since this meant the writers could start with Jaime Reyes as the ComicBook/BlueBeetle and Ryan Choi as ComicBook/TheAtom without having to worry too much about their predecessors (though the prior Blue Beetle and Atom were eventually explained via [[{{Flashback}} Flashbacks]]).

* ''Anime/GaReiZero'': OK, so supernatural monsters are rampaging through Tokyo. They're immune to bullets. So, this uber-cool elite team of anti-supernatural soldiers jump into the action and finish the monsters. And that's the end of episode 1. [[spoiler: It's not. Right at the end of the first episode, [[KillEmAll they all got killed by a katana-wielding schoolgirl]]. Who is one of the two real protagonists of this series]].... [[HowWeGotHere What the heck is going on here?]]

* ''All You Need Is Kill'' by Hiroshi Sakurazaka has an interesting example of it. The book starts off [[WarIsHell in the middle of a battlefield]] where some of the would-be supporting cast [[KillEmAll are killed off]]. At the end of the first chapter, the main character dies. He then wakes up in his bed, believing it to all be a dream, but many of the events throughout the dream happening before the battle start happening in real life (such as his platoon receiving punishment for taking alcohol from storage) while other events are slightly different (a woman soldier who he met in the dream on the battlefield before he died takes part in the punishment in real life, while she simply watched in the dream). In reality, [[spoiler: the main character is stuck in a time loop due to accidental exposure to alien technology.]]

** The show begins by skipping over the origin stories of ComicBook/IronMan, [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk The Incredible Hulk]], ComicBook/AntMan, and ComicBook/TheWasp, as well as the stories of how ComicBook/TheMightyThor and ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} became crimefighters. WordOfGod says the writers assumed that viewers would already know Iron Man's and the Hulk's origins from their respective movies, that Thor's heroic training didn't seem as important to depict as his arrogance and leave from Asgard did, and that detailing how Ant-Man and Wasp got their powers so early on in the series would leave the two of them with less time to impress viewers who never read their comics.

* In ''Webcomic/RustyAndCo'' [[http://rustyandco.com/comic/level3/level-3-title/ level 3]] and [[http://rustyandco.com/comic/level-5-title/ level 5]] begin in medias res -- already in TheLostWoods and with Prestige fleeing the illithids (before her name is known, even), respectively.

* In Creator/AndreNorton's Literature/{{Warlock}} series: