| 1 | ->''"You may have noticed that I began my story with a quick, snappy scene of danger and tension — but then quickly moved on to a more boring discussion of my childhood. Well, that's because I wanted to prove something to you: ''I am not a nice person.'' Would a nice person begin with such an exciting scene, then make you wait almost the entire book to read about it?"'' |
| 2 | -->-- '''[[LemonyNarrator Alcatraz Smedry]]''', ''[[Literature/AlcatrazSeries Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians]]'' |
| 3 | |
| 4 | Most stories take a while to build up, as they first introduce you to the characters, the world, and the theme, giving them time to develop in your mind before things start to change and become exciting. |
| 5 | |
| 6 | Of course, this means that beginnings are often boring. It's been said that if you miss the first 15 minutes of a movie, you're not missing anything, as the plot doesn't pick up until later anyway. Many writers are aware of this, and their way of dealing with it is sometimes to do an Action Prologue. |
| 7 | |
| 8 | An Action Prologue starts off with something exciting happening immediately. Right at the beginning, the hero is sneaking around an enemy base, being menaced by a threat, or something similarly exciting. In some cases this is {{foreshadowing}}. The event may be a minor one, but [[ChekhovsGun related to a major plot point that we don't discover until much later]]. It could be a dream sequence, where the hero sees something threatening that later shows up for real. It could be the EstablishingCharacterMoment for our badass ActionHero. Or it could be something completely unrelated to the main plot at all, used only to make sure that ''something'' exciting happens right at the start. Creator/DanWells calls this sort of a thing "an ice monster prologue" (after an ice monster in ''Literature/AGameOfThrones'', not the one in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', incidentally). |
| 9 | |
| 10 | In any case, the action quickly falls right after the Action Prologue, and ''then'' those usual first 15 minutes used to flesh out the story and introduce the characters show up. Often overlaps with HowWeGotHere when it shows off an action-packed scene from the end of the story before jumping to an earlier point in time to explain how the characters ended up in that scenario. WarWasBeginning is a specific subtrope. |
| 11 | |
| 12 | Compare BatmanColdOpen, which illustrates a character's skills at the beginning of a story; and DangerRoomColdOpen, which demonstrates the skills of a team. Contrast ProlongedPrologue, which is what happens when you drag it out too much, as well as SlowPacedBeginning where the work slaps you from the start with exposition... and more exposition... and still more exposition... It can happen that the Action Prologue is cut short and revealed not to have been really happening; that's a FakeActionPrologue. |
| 13 | |
| 14 | A form of TheTeaser, often InMediasRes. Also known as a "Bond Opening Sequence", since Film/JamesBond uses it so much. Not to be confused with ActionHoggingOpening, which is where the out-of-plot opening sequence rather than the first part of the plot proper is unusually intense. |
| 15 | ---- |
| 16 | !!Examples: |
| 17 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 18 | |
| 19 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 20 | * ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'' kicks off with the entire class whipping out firearms and opening fire on their teacher, Koro-sensei, who has walked into the room to take attendance. Koro-sensei casually dodges every single bullet as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening. |
| 21 | * ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'': The beginning of Episode 1 shows some Survey Corps soldiers attacking a Titan. A later scene shows that the force was decimated in the battle. |
| 22 | * ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' is a extreme example: it starts with a two and 2/3 volumes of story to establish the setting and then has a ''twelve'' volume flashback before reaching the point of time when it started. The anime follows suit with its first episode (basically a shortened version of the first chapter without Puck), then [[AdaptationInducedPlotHole ends in a way that could not possibly lead to said prologue]]. |
| 23 | * In ''Anime/BladeAndSoul'', Alka is seen running from some Palam soldiers at the beginning. They seemingly trap her and open fire, only for her to effortlessly dodge their bullets, and proceed to slit all of their throats. |
| 24 | * The anime version of ''Manga/ChronoCrusade'' took the manga's BatmanColdOpen and added a hint that [[BigBad Aion]] was behind the attack to turn it into an Action Prologue. |
| 25 | * ''Manga/{{Boruto}}'' starts with a scene from the future where teenage Boruto dueling Kawaki for seemingly killing his father and destroying Konoha. |
| 26 | * The anime of ''Manga/DNAngel'' opens on a fight between Dark and Krad that apparently happened in the past, before cutting to the high school {{shojo}} romance opening of the manga. |
| 27 | * The first episode of ''[[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood]]'' mostly exists to start off the series with something that wasn't seen in [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003 the 2003 anime adaptation]]. However, the events ''are'' integrated into the story of ''Brotherhood'', even though they don't happen in the manga, and some parts serve as ''major'' {{foreshadowing}}. |
| 28 | * ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer'' begins with the first few minutes of a tank battle, the rest of which is seen in Episode 4. |
| 29 | * ''Anime/HappinessChargePrettyCure'''s [[Recap/HCPC01ILoveLove first episode]] starts with Cure Princess and Cure Fortune battling a huge Saiark, establishing how they are and their bad blood. The main plot of Cure Princess/Hime being sent to Japan starts after the opening. |
| 30 | * Not exactly ''action'', but ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'''s anime adaptation opens with watching a half-obscured silhouette beating someone to death with a blunt instrument... And then the OP starts playing... |
| 31 | * ''Anime/HirogaruSkyPrettyCure''[='=]s first episode is extremely dense with action, even though [[Anime/PrettyCure the franchise]] it's an AlternateContinuity for almost always has some amount of action by each episode's end. [[StarterVillain Kabaton]] kidnaps Princess Elle the moment ''before'' the opening sequence plays. Witnessing this, protagonist [[BlueIsHeroic Sora Harewataru]] chases him endlessly through Skyland, Kabaton's ExtradimensionalShortcut, and eventually Sorashido City to rescue her even if it means fighting Kabaton himself and his [[MonsterOfTheWeek Ranborg]]. She ultimately succeeds in said rescue after transforming into [[MagicalGirlWarrior Cure Sky]] and [[GoodOldFisticuffs handily beating]] both of them. Sora's main problem is getting Elle back to her parents in Skyland Castle since [[TrappedInAnotherWorld they have no way to go back there from the city]]. |
| 32 | * ''Literature/InfiniteStratos'''s anime adaptation begins with Ichika and his harem facing off an unidentified IS pilot. [[spoiler:It turns out that it's actually the fight vs Silvario Gospel in the last episode.]] |
| 33 | * ''VisualNovel/KamigamiNoAsobi'' starts with the harem in their [[HotGod god forms]], fighting an unknown opponent, possibly each other. It gets to show Apollon's TransformationSequence, before going back to the actual beginning, and the relatively action-free high school story... until the last episode, which provides a context for the beginning part. |
| 34 | * ''Literature/{{Kampfer}}'''s anime adaptation opens with Natsuru being chased and shot at by Akane before jumping off of a building to her assumed death. Then [[MoodWhiplash the opening credits roll]]. |
| 35 | * The manga adaptation of ''VideoGame/Persona3'' opens with The Hanged Man Operation. That is, an explosive battle on a bridge. |
| 36 | * The first episode of ''Anime/PsychoPass'' shows a wounded Kogami taking on a Mook wearing cybernetic armor before confronting [[BigBad Makishima.]] This doesn't happen until episode 16. |
| 37 | * ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' starts with [[DownerBeginning Homura fighting Walpurgisnacht in a devastated Mitakihara]], witnessed by Madoka. [[spoiler:It's the endgame of the previous GroundhogDayLoop.]] |
| 38 | * ''Anime/RageOfBahamutGenesis'' starts with the titular Bahamut nuking everything in sight, before facing an alliance of demons, gods and humans. The actual story takes place 2000 years after that bout. |
| 39 | * The first two minutes of ''Anime/SakuraWarsTheAnimation'' are spent showing a TraintopBattle in Europe where a white-haired demon pursues Klara M. Ruzhkova and White Cape, only for the demon to be stopped by Seijuro Kamiyama, Elise and Lancelot. |
| 40 | * The second scene in ''Anime/SwordOfTheStranger'' is an elaborate action sequence, with bandits attacking the Ming caravan. |
| 41 | * ''Anime/TekkamanBlade'' starts off with the main character fighting off a bunch of Radam monsters before being blasted off the Orbital Ring onto Earth. |
| 42 | * The prologue of ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' has a battle in space the likes of which don't happen until the final of the four arcs -- [[spoiler:and, in fact, the exact battle shown never actually happens]]. |
| 43 | * ''Anime/TerrorInResonance'' starts with the theft of a plutonium core from a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant. |
| 44 | * ''Manga/VenusVersusVirus'''s [[PragmaticAdaptation anime version]] shows guns, shooting stuff with said gun, [[EyepatchOfPower eyepatch wearing]] [[ElegantGothicLolita Gothic lolita girl]] [[TheGunslinger wielding the gun]], and a creepy girl with [[RedEyesTakeWarning red eyes]]. Then we cut to the catchy opening. In the manga however, the intro is mellow, and shows how Sumire became the way she is. |
| 45 | * The first few minutes of the ''Manga/VinlandSaga'' anime begins in the middle of a pitched sea battle, the last battle Thors would take part in as a member of [[BadassArmy the Jomsvikings]]. After a couple of minutes of intense action, we see Thors decide to desert the Jomsvikings and leave battle behind him. |
| 46 | * ''Anime/WitchHunterRobin'' starts off with a mission by the ultra-tech team of super-powered witch-hunters, and the rest of the first episode is introducing their little circle to the audience. And the title character isn't even fully introduced until the second episode! |
| 47 | * The first few minutes of ''Literature/WorldEndWhatDoYouDoAtTheEndOfTheWorldAreYouBusyWillYouSaveUs'''s anime adaptation flash-forward to a seemingly hopeless battle against the 17 Beasts. The LastStand defense of the airship, coupled with copious amounts of blood and violence, contrasts with the more light hearted scenes later in the episode. It's one of the first signs that the cute exterior of the series won’t last very [[CerebusSyndrome long]]. |
| 48 | [[/folder]] |
| 49 | |
| 50 | [[folder:Audio Plays]] |
| 51 | * ''AudioPlay/TheElysiumProject'' begins with two escaped test subjects fleeing from armed pursuers and fighting a shapeshifter before cutting away to OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent Emma Grayson. |
| 52 | [[/folder]] |
| 53 | |
| 54 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 55 | * ''ComicBook/TheDivine'' begins with a scene of the protagonist's friend flying a chopper over a burning jungle, before a dragon emerges from the smoke and gets shot by him. The next pages focus on the protagonist's boring and depressing life before he agrees to go to the jungle with his friend and interesting things start to happen. |
| 56 | * ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'': The first issue takes place in World War II. Can there be more action than that? |
| 57 | * ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 600]]: "Valedictorian" opens on Wonder Woman leading a coalition of female superheroes including ComicBook/{{Batwoman}}, ComicBook/{{Batgirl|2009}}, ComicBook/{{Stargirl|DCComics}}, ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}, [[ComicBook/SevenSoldiersOfVictory2005 Bulleteer]] and others in defending Washington DC from an attack by Ivo's Cyber-Sirens. The actual story is about Vanessa Kapatelis getting her life back together. |
| 58 | [[/folder]] |
| 59 | |
| 60 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 61 | * ''Fanfic/AhsokaANZREStarWarsStory'' opens with Ahsoka and Elsbeth fighting. |
| 62 | * ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer'' fanfics frequently do this in order to emulate the show's opening, whether they're doing a retelling of canon, or an entirely new fic. How successful they are varies, since some believe it works better in an anime than a fanfic, and that the show needed to show the tanks immediately to draw people's interest. ''Fanfic/BoysUndSenshado'' is one such example. |
| 63 | * ''Fanfic/DaringDoAndTheMysteriousMareDoWellCanterlotCrisis'' The story begins with Mare Do Well infilitrating a rendezvous with the antagonists, which becomes a fight to receieve the mysterious package they exchanged. |
| 64 | * ''[[Fanfic/{{Eleutherophobia}} The Day the Earth Stood Still]]'' begins with Tom morphing to heal his near-fatal injuries, killing Essa, and then falling off the Blade Ship. |
| 65 | * ''Fanfic/TheFirstSaniwa'' combines this with HowWeGotHere. The prologue features the major characters in a massive battle with Higekiri heavily injured, and the story proper leads up to said battle. |
| 66 | * The pilot episode of ''WebAnimation/InvaderZimAVeryTallProblem'' opens with [[TheMothership the Massive]] being attacked and boarded by [[LaResistance the Resisty]], who massacre the Irkens onboard while Red and Purple barely escape with their lives. |
| 67 | * ''Fanfic/KyonBigDamnHero'' combines this with InMediasRes. |
| 68 | * ''Fanfic/MortalKombatVsTheOwlHouse'' begins with a big battle between the forces of Edenia and Outworld, before the Mass Teleportation gets the story started. |
| 69 | * ''Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls'': The first chapter of the remastered version opens up with the Good Hunter wrapping up his hunt for an orc war band, [[OneHitKill killing]] the three remaining ones [[CurbStompBattle with ease]]. |
| 70 | * The first scene of ''Fanfic/PokemonMysteryDungeonReflectingBalance'' has a Pokémon in a gray cloak fleeing from the Sigilyph that stole seven of the eight Axis Tower crystals, trying to keep the last crystal away from the Sigilyph. |
| 71 | * ''Fanfic/PokemonNovaAndAntica'': How does the story catch your attention early on? By having the regional villainous team attack ''in the very first town''. |
| 72 | * In ''Fanfic/PuzzleHuntPrecure'', the first chapter starts out with the fight against the Metamasters that separated Rei from her sister Miu. |
| 73 | * ''Fanfic/TwinklingInTheDark'' has a prologue showing a battle between the Pretty Cure and the Bad End Kingdom, while the full story is about the Bad End Kingdom recovering from the attack. |
| 74 | * ''Fanfic/{{Whispers}}'' begins with a fight between Celestia and Nightmare Moon, before swerving into OriginalCharacter territory. |
| 75 | [[/folder]] |
| 76 | |
| 77 | [[folder:Film -- Animated]] |
| 78 | * The 2004 feature film version of ''Manga/{{Appleseed}}'' opens with Deunan Knute fighting some rogue cyborgs and a pair of tanks in the wastelands outside of Olympus. |
| 79 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Bolt}}'' does this with the ShowWithinAShow's filming. |
| 80 | * ''WesternAnimation/Cars2'' begins with Finn [=McMissile=] infiltrating the Lemons' oil rig to uncover their evil plans after his partner Leland Turbo has been crushed to death while attempting to escape their lair. |
| 81 | * The ''Literature/DirtyPair'' movie ([[TitleConfusion better known as]] ''Project Eden'') takes this all the way into a full {{Pastiche}} of ''Film/JamesBond'' films, starting with an equivalent of the BondGunBarrel and ending with a DesignStudentsOrgasm credits sequence the Bond films could be proud of (not to mention introducing the [[GirlOfTheWeek Guy of the Movie]]). |
| 82 | * ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemistTheConquerorOfShamballa'' opens with a story about the Elric brothers fighting a [[MadScientist Mad Physicist]] who invented a new type of bomb, which turns out to be a story told by Edward to [[spoiler:Alphons Heiderich, Al's [[WelcomeToTheRealWorld alternate world]] [[AlternateSelf counterpart]] about his life before he was sent there]]. [[spoiler:This is later used for an AndTheAdventureContinues ending, as Ed and Al learn that the bomb accidentally ended up in the other world and go to track it down.]] |
| 83 | * ''Anime/GhostInTheShell1995'' begins with Major Kusanagi carrying out a hit on a defecting programmer and a corrupt government minister, establishing her as a consummate ActionGirl (as well as [[TechnologyPorn showing off the coolness]] of [[InvisibilityCloak thermoptic camouflage]]). |
| 84 | * ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeTheMovie'' has an epic one where Cobra attacks the Statue of Liberty during a celebration and ends up getting into a battle with virtually every introduced member of G.I. Joe up to that point. It's easily a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome. |
| 85 | * ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragonTheHiddenWorld'' opens with Hiccup, his friends, and Valka raiding dragon trappers, apparently being a common occurrence for them now. |
| 86 | * The ''Literature/RainbowMagic'' movie opens with Rachel and Kirsty saving Heather the Violet Fairy, then defending the rest of the Rainbow Fairies from Jack Frost. |
| 87 | * ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'' starts with Buzz Lightyear infiltrating Emperor Zurg's secret lair. It is then revealed to be a video game Rex is playing. |
| 88 | * ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'' starts with a FakeActionPrologue where Woody and Jessie try to save a train of orphans. Then the plot starts getting {{anachronis|mStew}}tic and filled with {{Call Back}}s to the previous films, and it turns out to be Andy's playtime from the toys' point of view. |
| 89 | * ''Anime/TheWonderfulWorldOfPussNBoots'': All films begin with the moment that Pero the cat is sentenced to death for the crime of saving a mouse or in later films, refusing to kill mice at all, then him running away from the cat kingdom, and the Cat King sending three cat assassins after him to finish the job. Then the [[TitleDrop title drops]] and it cuts to the assassins chasing him across the countryside before Pero loses them and heads toward whatever person or place needs a hero. |
| 90 | * ''WesternAnimation/WonderWoman2009'': The story starts in the middle of the final battle against Ares when he tries to take over the world for the first time centuries before the start of the main story. |
| 91 | [[/folder]] |
| 92 | |
| 93 | [[folder:Film -- Live-Action]] |
| 94 | [[index]] |
| 95 | * ''ActionPrologue/JamesBond'' films have their own page. |
| 96 | [[/index]] |
| 97 | ---- |
| 98 | * ''Film/TheTwelfthMan'' begins with Jan and his comrades struggling in the ocean after the destruction of their boat and making it ashore while being shot at and captured by Nazis, forcing Jan to swim across a freezing lake to escape. A later flashback shows the build-up to that event. |
| 99 | * ''Film/TheATeam'': Also explains how the A-Team comes together, detailing Hannibal recruiting B.A. and Murdock to rescue Face. |
| 100 | * ''Film/AndroidCop'': Hammond and his first partner busting up an illegal sale in the Zone. |
| 101 | * ''Film/{{Arachnicide}}'': L9 Commando stopping an arms deal. |
| 102 | * ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' begins with the BigBad popping up to steal the MacGuffin, fighting several government agents in the process before leading into a car chase. This is before the title even appears onscreen. |
| 103 | ** ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' opens with the team battling HYDRA and Baron von Strucker, before moving onto the main plot after the opening credits. |
| 104 | ** ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' opens on one of the Winter Soldier's missions back in 1991 before so much as the Marvel logo appears. Then it moves on to a ''second'' prologue of the Avengers in action. |
| 105 | * ''Film/Bandolero1968:'' The film opens with a bank robbery where Maria's husband and one of Dee's men die before Johnson and Roscoe capture the other outlaws. |
| 106 | * ''Film/BlackButler'': Sebastian rescuing Shiori from some HumanTraffickers. |
| 107 | * ''Film/BloodyMallory'': Mallory killing her demon-possessed husband. |
| 108 | * ''Film/BrotherhoodOfBlades'': Shen leading some assassins, including most of our main characters, in capturing one member of the Eunuch Clique. |
| 109 | * ''Film/BrotherhoodOfTheWolf'' begins with a martial arts fight between the two heroes and some local goons. The original script began with an extended chase through Parisian sewers. |
| 110 | * ''Film/BulletInTheHead'': The insanely violent gang fight between Ben and Ringo's gangs. Features people being stabbed, hit with chains and having their heads shoved through car windows in slow motion. |
| 111 | * ''Film/{{Bumblebee}}'': A battle sequence on Cybertron ending with the retreat of the autobots from the planet. Followed by Bumblebee being chased by the human military and attacked by Blitzwing. |
| 112 | * ''Film/TheChase1994'' is pretty much lock, stock and barrel Jack Hammond's kidnapping of Natalie Voss and his attempt to escape to Mexico. Roughly 90 percent of the movie takes place on the freeway or just alongside it, and the director wastes no time whisking us right into the thick of it: from ''the very moment the screen fades in'', we can already hear the wail of police sirens in the distance as Jack enters the convenience store looking for a hostage, and spots Natalie. |
| 113 | * ''Film/CosmosWarOfThePlanets'': Hamilton and his crew evading the refractions of an ancient space explosion. |
| 114 | * ''Film/CruzDiablo'' begins with the titular character fighting and flynning in the dungeons. |
| 115 | * ''Film/CyWarrior'': CB 3 escaping from captivity. |
| 116 | * ''Film/CyborgCop'': The Ryan brothers dealing with a HostageSituation. |
| 117 | * ''Film/CyborgSoldier'': ISAAC escaping from his creators. |
| 118 | * ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'' works like this in the sequels: |
| 119 | ** ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' opens with the Joker and his clowns robbing a bank. |
| 120 | *** This seems to be a reverse of the usual BatmanColdOpen in that, instead of the establishing the hero's skills, the first 15 minutes has several moments designed to instill the fear of The Joker into the viewers. |
| 121 | ** ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' begins with Bane and his henchmen conducting a mid-air skyjacking and faking Dr. Pavel's death. |
| 122 | * ''Film/DeadAndDeader'': Quinn's unit's first encounter with the zombies, and their eventual slaughter. |
| 123 | * ''Film/DiaryOfTheDead'' begins with internet footage of a zombie attack on some TV journalists, then cuts to the protagonists making a horror movie and slowly finding out about the ZombieApocalypse. Justified as the whole movie is meant to have been edited by one of the protagonists after the event anyway. |
| 124 | * The 1985 IMAX film ''The Dream Is Alive'' looks like a subversion at first -- it opens with about a minute of an alligator and some birds going about their business in a Florida swamp -- THEN we hear sonic booms as the space shuttle flies overhead and it cuts to a dramatic touchdown, true to form. |
| 125 | * Before the opening credits of ''Film/EnterTheDragon'' even begins Bruce Lee fights and beats Sammo Hung in a nonlethal kung fu match at a Shaolin Temple in Hong Kong. |
| 126 | * Each of the three films in ''Film/TheExpendables'' franchise opens with one, [[SequelEscalation each more epic than the last]]: |
| 127 | ** The first film opens with a stand-off between the titular team and some RuthlessModernPirates holding a crew hostage. |
| 128 | ** [[Film/TheExpendables2 The second film]] opens with the team [[StormingTheCastle storming a military controlled town]] in their customized AwesomePersonnelCarrier to rescue client, before making a daring escape via zip-lining on some power lines while firing at enemies on the ground, followed by half of them hopping on some stashed jet-skis and getting into a chase on a river while [[TheHero Barney]] and [[TheLancer Christmas]] bring grab their plane, before finally hopping on the plane and blasting through a bridge full of enemies and anti-aircraft guns, and having to try to get airborne before they crash into an oncoming dam. |
| 129 | ** [[Film/TheExpendables3 The third film]] opens with them flying up in a helicopter to storm a heavily armed military-prison train and rescue an old comrade of Barney's, before it reaches prison. Said old comrade, instead of just going with his rescue party, ''high jacks the train'' and its main gun to destroy the the approaching prison before they go. |
| 130 | * ''Film/TheExterminatorsOfTheYear3000'' opens with Alien getting in a scuffle with some water hoarding {{Dirty Cop}}s. |
| 131 | * Creator/FritzLang ''loved'' these kind of openings, and made use of them in films like ''Film/DrMabuseTheGambler'', ''Spies'', ''Film/TheTestamentOfDrMabuse'', and ''Film/{{M}}''. The better ones weave exposition into the action itself. |
| 132 | * ''Film/FutureForce'': Tucker collecting a bounty, and using his power glove on some thugs who try to stop him. |
| 133 | * ''Film/{{Gamer}}'' gets into the action prologue so thoroughly and immediately that one might find it more perplexing than exciting. |
| 134 | * ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'' begins in the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcomannic_Wars Marcomannic Wars]] with a battle between Roman legions and German barbarians. Given how the film plays out, and the fact that the Emperor berates Commodus for missing "the entire war", this may be the final battle near the Tisza river, where the Romans beat the Marcomanni into signing a peace treaty. |
| 135 | * Pretty much universal in Film/JamesBond movies. Sometimes the initial action sequence has [[BatmanColdOpen no relevance at all]] to the main plot, and sometimes they turn out, sometimes only towards the end of the film, to have been important to it. Subverted as early as the second film, ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'', in which the Action Prologue turns out to introduce TheDragon rather than Bond. |
| 136 | * ''Film/{{Hancock}}'' opens up with a gun battle on the L.A. Freeway, with the eponymous hero arriving to "save" the day. |
| 137 | * The Tea Room shootout at the beginning of ''Film/HardBoiled''. |
| 138 | * ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'' opens with Voldemort's Death Eaters kidnapping the wandmaker Ollivander and destroying the Millennium Bridge in London. |
| 139 | * All of the ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' films. |
| 140 | ** ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' has the golden idol retrieval, consisting of Indy being [[ChasedByAngryNatives hunted by the natives]], and the temple scene (which [[TropeMaker created]] the IndyEscape trope, and the first confrontation with [[BigBad Belloq]]. |
| 141 | ** ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom'' has the skirmish in Shanghai with Indy, Willie, and Short Round escaping Chinese gangsters. |
| 142 | ** ''Film/Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'' has [[DistantPrologue Young Indy]] stealing an artifact from a gang of grave robbers, who give chase [[TraintopBattle in and around a moving train.]] |
| 143 | ** The fourth movie, ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'' has the only one connected to the main plot, where the protagonists are kidnapped by [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn Soviet]] agents and are instructed to search a SecretGovernmentWarehouse for a mummified corpse taken from a suspected alien crash. |
| 144 | * The Polish movie ''Klub Włóczykijów'' starts with a scene of one of the main characters breaking into a museum to steal the McGuffin, and coming across the villain who is after the same thing. The scene ultimately has little bearing on the plot (it turns out that the McGuffin was not what they were after), so its main purpose is just to provide a cool opening and introduce the villain. |
| 145 | * ''Film/KimPossible'' opens with Kim and Ron rescuing a KidnappedScientist from Professor Dementor and blowing up his lair to destroy the dissolving-slime weapon the scientist had created. |
| 146 | * ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService'' starts with a group of two agents and two candidates storming a place, quickly killing all but one of the people stationed there. |
| 147 | * The FilmOfTheBook of ''Film/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'' starts in WWII London, where German fighter pilots are conducting an air raid. |
| 148 | ** ''Film/PrinceCaspian'' similarly starts with Caspian escaping Miraz's assassination attempt, followed by the book's original opening of the Pevensie siblings at the train station. |
| 149 | * ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' |
| 150 | ** ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing The Fellowship of the Ring]]'' starts with the Battle of the Last Alliance not only because it was establishing the backstory, but because Creator/PeterJackson felt that the movie needed an epic battle scene with armies at both sides, not just the Fellowship vs. dozens of Orcs. |
| 151 | ** ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheTwoTowers The Two Towers]]'' starts with Gandalf's fight with the Balrog, continuing from their encounter in ''The Fellowship of the Ring''. This not only serves as a way to re-orient audiences back into Middle-earth, but also foreshadows [[spoiler: the return of Gandalf]]. |
| 152 | * ''Film/TheLosers1970'': The Viet Cong attacking the transport the Devil's Advocates are in. Oddly enough for the genre, our heroes don't actually help fend off the attack, due to them not having weapons yet. |
| 153 | * ''Film/MenInBlack'': Agent K sniffing out an alien fugitive amongst some immigrants. |
| 154 | * ''Film/MinorityReport'' opens with a typical Precrime future murder about to happen and shows how the team figures out where it will take place. In this particular case, a man, having suspected his wife of infidelity, catches his wife with her lover [[ADeadlyAffair and attempts to murder them]] both in a rage. |
| 155 | * ''Film/NaziOverlord'': Rogers fighting a single Nazi soldier, eventually strangling him with his bare hands because he ran out of bullets. |
| 156 | * ''Film/PacificRim'' opens with an introduction about the invading {{Kaiju}} and a battle between Gipsy Danger and Knifehead. |
| 157 | * ''Film/Predator2'' starts off with a 'Predator-eye' view of a pitched gun battle between the LAPD and a street gang. This battle is interrupted when the Predator kills and 'cleans' the surviving gangsters. |
| 158 | * It's not strictly an "action-packed" movie, but ''Film/PurpleRain'' gets off to quite a heady start. Director Albert Magnoli literally does not waste even one second plunging us into the story: the Warner Brothers studio logo has not even faded from the screen yet before the strains of a synthesizer played by "Doctor Fink" (a character in the movie) are heard in the distance and the voice of the (yet unseen) master of ceremonies at the First Avenue Nightclub is heard calling out: "Ladies and gentlemen... The Revolution!" |
| 159 | * All the ''Franchise/{{Rocky}}'' sequels except the last one starts with the previous movie's climactic fight. |
| 160 | * ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan''. Good gods. The extended opening sequence makes two firm statements: "This is as close as we can get to D-Day and maintain our rating," and "Please remove your children." |
| 161 | * The live-action ''Film/ScoobyDoo2002'' movie begins with Mystery Inc. catching the Luna Ghost, who has nothing to do with the rest of the movie, but it does catalyze [[Main/BreakingTheFellowship the gang's breakup]]. |
| 162 | * ''Film/TheSeventhCurse'': Dr. Yuen planting a bomb for the police in a HostageSituation, and having to fight his way out when that goes wrong. |
| 163 | * ''Film/SonicTheHedgehog2020'' opens up with Dr. Robotnik in the middle of a mad pursuit of the Blue Blur himself, launching explosive after explosive in several attempts to hit him. Then the scene freezes mid-sequence, and a narrating Sonic [[HowWeGotHere proceeds to rewind all the way back to his childhood to show how things got to this point]]. |
| 164 | * The elevator hostage situation in ''Film/{{Speed}}''. |
| 165 | * The ''Franchise/StarTrek'' films tend to do this. It was especially notable in the first one, where the prologue turns out to be the most action-oriented part of the whole movie. |
| 166 | ** ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' opens up with a squadron of Klingon battlecruisers getting in a ([[CurbStompBattle losing]]) fight with V'Ger, as a Federation listening post eavesdrops some distance away and passes word of it back to Earth. |
| 167 | ** ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' Meanwhile has ''Enterprise'', under the command of Saavik, get into a space battle with three Klingon battlecruisers while attempting to aid a crippled ship in the Neutral Zone. After most of the bridge crew is killed, it is [[ProsceniumReveal revealed]] that this was an UnwinnableTrainingSimulation. |
| 168 | ** ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'' kicks off with a [[EarthShatteringKaboom moon violently exploding]], with the Starship ''Excelsior'' getting briefly caught in the PlanarShockwave. |
| 169 | ** The [[Film/StarTrek2009 2009 film]] opens with the destruction of the USS ''Kelvin''. |
| 170 | ** The opening sequence of ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'' set on Nibiru shows the ''Enterprise'' on an action-packed away mission unrelated to Harrison's attacks. |
| 171 | * Several of the ''Franchise/StarWars'' movies start off in a fight of some sort: |
| 172 | ** ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' has a fight aboard the [[MegaCorp Trade Federation]] battleship after the negotiations never take place. |
| 173 | ** ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' has a huge explosion right after the first line. |
| 174 | ** ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' starts in the middle of the battle for Coruscant. |
| 175 | ** ''Film/ANewHope'' starts with the famous shot of the Star Destroyer chasing the ''Tantive IV''. |
| 176 | ** ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' starts with [[ANaziByAnyOtherName the First Order]] attacking a village on Jakku. |
| 177 | ** ''Film/TheLastJedi'' opens with the Resistance members fleeing the base on D'Qar as the First Order bombards it from above the atmosphere. |
| 178 | ** ''Film/RogueOne'' starts with TheEmpire abducting Galen Erso and killing Lyra, with Jyn barely escaping. |
| 179 | ** ''Film/{{Solo}}'' opens with Han and Qi'ra trying to escape Corellia to start a new life together. |
| 180 | * ''Film/StoneCold'': Huff thwarting a store robbery. |
| 181 | * ''Film/StreetsOfFire'' starts off with a rock concert and the lead singer being kidnapped onstage. From there, there's very little pause in the action. |
| 182 | * ''Film/TalkOfTheTown'' starts out with a mill burning down, then a SpinningNewspaper segue to Creator/CaryGrant escaping from prison. The rest of it is more of a ScrewballComedy. |
| 183 | * ''Film/ThouShaltNotKillExcept'': Stryker and his platoon raiding a Vietnamese camp. Unlike many Action Prologues, it ends very poorly, with most of the platoon dead and Stryker being badly injured. |
| 184 | * ''Film/{{Traxx}}'': Traxx dealing with a Hostage Situation involving a monkey. |
| 185 | * ''Film/TwentyTwentyTexasGladiators'': The Rangers stopping a gang rape. |
| 186 | * ''Film/WerewolvesOfTheThirdReich'': Mad Dog and Billy the Butcher getting into a shootout with some Nazis in a bar. |
| 187 | * ''Film/WereNoAngels'': Within the first six or seven minutes, Bobby shoots his way out of the prison while dragging Ned and Jimmy along for the ride. The rest of the movie is noticeably less action-packed. |
| 188 | * ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'': |
| 189 | ** ''Film/X2XMenUnited'' has [[spoiler: brainwashed!]] Nightcrawler's attack on the White House. |
| 190 | ** ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine''. The pre-credits prologue is a flashback of the main character's childhood, while the credits sequence is a montage of Wolverine and Sabretooth taking part in battles through the ages. |
| 191 | [[/folder]] |
| 192 | |
| 193 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 194 | * ''Literature/AriaTheScarletAmmo'' starts with Kinji trying to not be blown up by the bomb on his bike, and Aria falling out of the sky, shooting guns and all, to try to save him. |
| 195 | * The prologue of ''Literature/CityOfNoEnd'' focuses on some random criminals facing and dying against a Man of Iron who is interested in their stolen technology. It is seemingly unrelated to the main plot of the book, although there are hints that they are involved in a conspiracy that will emerge in future installments. |
| 196 | * Creator/RobertEHoward's ''Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian'': |
| 197 | ** In ''Literature/BlackColossus'', a thief breaks into a tomb, fights a great snake, and screams with horror with what he sees. |
| 198 | ** ''Literature/TheDevilInIron'', a fisherman goes into a ruin, takes up a knife, and dies. |
| 199 | * The first chapter of ''Literature/ConstanceVeritySavesTheWorld'' reintroduces us to Constance Verity's casual badassery by having her fighting an [[NeverSmileAtACrocodile alligator woman]] wearing nothing but a towel. Connie was wearing the towel, the alligator woman was wearing Connie's underwear [[NothingIsFunnier for some reason]]. |
| 200 | * ''Literature/DeadSix'' begins with Valentine in the middle of a job in Mexico. Lorenzo's story begins in the middle of a heist. Lampshaded as the first chapter is Prologue is called Cold Open. |
| 201 | * ''Literature/DraconisMemoria'': The first book, "The Waking Fire", opens with an official recollection of an incident during which a Black drake set to be drained of blood escaped its confines and went on a rampage across town, killing forty-three people and injuring dozens more. The battle against it also serves to showcase several key Blood-blessed powers early on. |
| 202 | * ''Literature/DragonBlood'' starts with [[spoiler: Tisala]] on a torture bench, maybe about to spill some secrets. [[spoiler: She kills the torturer, steals his coat and escapes. Later on, she's found by the main character Ward, in ill-fitting clothes, and after taking out some bandits.]] |
| 203 | * ''Literature/FullMetalPanic'' begins with Sagara saving a woman from her kidnappers and securing a disc with mysterious content. |
| 204 | * The ''Literature/GreyGriffins'' book series does this at least in the first two books (I haven't read the third yet). The very first chapter is of something scary happening and threatening the lead hero, Max, and his brush with death. It is then, in both cases, revealed to be a dream in the immediately following chapter. |
| 205 | * ''Literature/AGrimmQuest'' The prologue follows Keriagon right before he’s taken out of commission. |
| 206 | * ''Literature/HaloContactHarvest'': The book opens with one of Johnson's operations against the Insurrection. |
| 207 | * ''Literature/LaszloHadronAndTheWargodsTomb'' starts with the eponymous SpacePirate sneaking his way into the Durendal's systems... and fighting his way out again after he gets found out. |
| 208 | * ''Literature/TheMachineriesOfEmpire'' opens with Cheris leading her troops into a ground battle against the heretics, demonstrating how the [[FunctionalMagic “calendrical” technology]] that underpins the whole series works. |
| 209 | * ''Literature/TheMysteriousIsland'' begins with a dramatic chapter as the characters' balloon gets caught in a horrific storm and they barely survive. Their names aren't even revealed until the next chapter. |
| 210 | * This is how Creator/SimonRGreen introduces the characters to new readers in most of his books in fact, especially the ''Literature/{{Nightside}}'' series. And sometimes the opening scene contains a ChekhovsGun or foreshadows a future book's plot. His ''Literature/ForestKingdom'' series -- specifically, all of the books in the ''Hawk & Fisher'' spinoff series and main series book 4, ''Beyond the Blue Moon'' -- start with an action usually unrelated to the story most of the book is dealing with. |
| 211 | ** Book 1 has Hawk and Fisher dealing with a vampire in the first chapter, before moving on to the case that will last the rest of the book. |
| 212 | ** Book 2 (''Winner Takes All'') has them breaking up a riot by rival political groups. |
| 213 | ** Book 3 (''The God Killer'') has them dealing with a renegade homunculus that's been killing people. |
| 214 | ** Book 4 (''Wolf in the Fold'') has them hunting a spy, codenamed Fenris. |
| 215 | ** Book 5 (''Guard Against Dishonor'') has them leading a whole army of guards against a drug kingpin's warehouse. |
| 216 | ** Book 6 (''The Bones of Haven'') has them working with a Special Wizards and Tactics squad to quell a prison riot, including a special wing where inhuman monsters are kept prisoner. |
| 217 | ** ''Beyond the Blue Moon'' starts with Hawk and Fisher dealing with a haunted house, and then a strike by dockworkers that turns ugly when the scab zombie force that's replaced them suddenly turns into a violent army. |
| 218 | * ''Literature/RainbowMagic'': Natalie the Christmas Stocking Fairy's book opens with a goblin running amok in Rachel's kitchen and escaping to the Ice Castle. |
| 219 | * The Tom Clancy novel ''Literature/RainbowSix'' begins with an attempted plane hijacking by a group of terrorists. A few key members of Team Rainbow just happen to be on board, and use their extreme ingenuity to foil the attempt. |
| 220 | * ''Literature/SnowCrash'' starts out with a wild racing scene in which Hiro tries to deliver a pizza under threat of death. Hiro isn't even called by name until the end of the scene, when he introduces himself to YT. |
| 221 | * The start of ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', [[JustForFun/{{Egregious}} egregiously]]. The enemy in the prologue doesn't show up until ''three books'' later, and then only in ''another'' Action Prologue. |
| 222 | * ''Literature/{{Spinneret}}'' starts this way, with humans launching their first interstellar craft, encountering aliens (several times), being shot at by aliens, having first contact with aliens, who then broker a deal for the humans to lease an unused planet... all before the first chapter begins. |
| 223 | * ''Literature/StarshipTroopers'' -- an influential work of science-fiction considered responsible for popularizing DeathFromAbove, PoweredArmor, SpaceMarine, and many other tropes the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' games and novels are entirely built on -- starts with a textbook Action Prologue, taken from about the middle of the story. Later in the book the protagonist mentions that the very enemies they were fighting in said prologue have switched to being co-belligerents in the war against the Bugs; the opening engagement may have contributed to this HeelFaceTurn. |
| 224 | * ''Literature/{{Warbreaker}}'' starts with Vasher getting out of jail. Then the focus of the next chapters shifts into another kingdom. |
| 225 | * First book of ''Literature/WarriorCats'' starts with a fight between [=RiverClan=] and [=ThunderClan=]. |
| 226 | * Book one of ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' series starts like this, introducing Lews Therin Telamon after he's murdered his family and just before his death. |
| 227 | * ''Literature/WorldBreakAriaOfCurseForAHolySwordsman'' starts off with an epic battle between the main character, his classmates, and a giant dragon. |
| 228 | [[/folder]] |
| 229 | |
| 230 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 231 | * ''Series/TheArk2023'' begins with the disaster that leads to the loss of the command crew when part of the ship is breached and a frantic race to keep anyone else from dying. |
| 232 | * A few {{cold opening}}s of ''Series/DoctorWho''. |
| 233 | |
| 234 | ** One of the very rare instances of the '63 run: [[Recap/DoctorWhoS24E1TimeAndTheRani "Time and the Rani"]] opens with the TARDIS under attack by the Rani before Six regenerates into Seven. |
| 235 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E1RemembranceOfTheDaleks "Remembrance of the Daleks"]] opened with the Dalek Mothership on approach to earth over a bed of JFK and MLK audio. |
| 236 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E9TheEmptyChild "The Empty Child"]] begins with the TARDIS chasing after a Chula warship through a time track. |
| 237 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E4TheGirlInTheFireplace "The Girl in the Fireplace"]] starts with offscreen screaming and Madame de Pompadour calling for the Doctor's name through a fireplace. |
| 238 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E10LoveAndMonsters "Love & Monsters"]] [[InvokedTrope invokes]] this, the narrator character pointing out the encounter with the Doctor, a Hoix and some buckets isn't the beginning, just a good hook for the audience. |
| 239 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E3Gridlock "Gridlock"]] begins with a couple's flying car on a motorway being attacked by an unseen menace. |
| 240 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E8HumanNature "Human Nature"]] starts with the Doctor and Martha being attacked by some lasers offscreen, with the Doctor mentioning something about a watch... before it turns out to be a dream. |
| 241 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E8SilenceInTheLibrary "Silence in the Library"]] has a little girl apparently experiencing an Action Prologue through her dreams, as the Doctor and Donna board themselves up in some kind of library room. |
| 242 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E15PlanetOfTheDead "Planet of the Dead"]] starts with [[ClassyCatBurglar Lady Christina]] stealing a precious cup from a museum and escaping. |
| 243 | ** The animated serial [[Recap/DoctorWho2009ASDreamland "Dreamland"]] begins with an alien ship being pursued and attacked, crashing into the New Mexico Desert in 1947. |
| 244 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E1TheEleventhHour "The Eleventh Hour"]] starts with the TARDIS on fire and crashing while the brand-new Eleventh Doctor is hanging out the doors, clinging on by his fingernails. |
| 245 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E4TheTimeOfAngels "The Time of Angels"]] starts with River Song being chased through the spaceship ''Byzantium''. |
| 246 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens "The Pandorica Opens"]] revolves around River escaping prison, locating the painting of the same name and warning the Doctor and Amy about it. |
| 247 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWho2010CSAChristmasCarol "A Christmas Carol"]] begins with a crashing spaceship with Amy and Rory on board. |
| 248 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E1TheImpossibleAstronaut "The Impossible Astronaut"]] features the Doctor running through various adventures in history in succession, while Amy and Rory read from a history book about them in 2011. |
| 249 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E2DayOfTheMoon "Day of the Moon"]] has [[spoiler:Amy and Rory running as apparent fugitives, River falling off a building and the Doctor imprisoned in Area 51]] three months after the events of "The Impossible Astronaut". [[spoiler:Agent Canton Delaware apparently executes Amy and Rory, though it turns out to be faked.]] |
| 250 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar "A Good Man Goes to War"]] begins with [[spoiler:a man who's centuries old and the father of Amy's child taking on the Cybermen and handing them a "message" as to the location of his wife]]. |
| 251 | * The PilotMovie of ''Series/{{Emergency}}'' from 1972 starts with firefighters asleep at an L.A. County fire station; it pans the living quarters where the firefighters are sleeping, and shows the firefighters dozing. After several minutes, an alarm rings out for a factory fire, and the firefighters go to work, with all vehicles rolling, lights and sirens, then it is shown that the firefighters are responding from Station 10; the opening credits roll as well. The fire that starts the series is later revealed to be a sort of night drill to test the firefighters' skills. This movie is remembered more of course for how it set up how two of the main characters in it (John Gage and Roy [=DeSoto=]) get certified to become paramedics, and how, for much of the runtime, Dr. Kelly Brackett is doubtful of the paramedic program; Brackett eventually comes around, and assists the paramedics on the last call, a cave rescue (the bill authorizing paramedics also passes and becomes law). |
| 252 | * ''Series/TheFlash2014'': [[Recap/TheFlash2014S3E7KillerFrost "Killer Frost"]] begins with an action scene resolving the [[Recap/TheFlash2014S3E6Shade previous episode's]] {{Cliffhanger}} - Joe defeating Dr. Alchemy's acolytes while Alchemy himself escapes, the Flash's first [[CurbStompBattle "battle"]] with new BigBad Savitar, and finally Cisco and Caitlin's BigDamnHeroes moment saving Barry from Savitar. |
| 253 | * The first episode of ''Series/GameOfThrones'' cold opens with a suspenseful scene that features rangers of the Night's Watch getting ambushed by White Walkers. |
| 254 | * ''Series/HumanTarget'' almost always starts this way, with Christopher doing something awesome (often involving explosions). |
| 255 | * The War of Wrath against Mordor is briefly shown in the prologue of ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower''. |
| 256 | * ''Series/LostInSpace2018'': The first episode opens with the Robinson family crashing on an unknown planet after their ''Jupiter'' landing craft is struck by space debris, then having to deal with the immediate necessities of survival. We're introduced to the setting and characters through {{flashback}}s. |
| 257 | * ''Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}'': Most of the time, as can be expected from a show like this. Self-parodied in "Children Of Light", which opens with the implication that Mac is defusing a bomb that's set to go off in a minute with Pete present... but it turns out he's just fixing Pete's alarm clock radio with the alarm set to go off in a minute, which is why he's rushing Mac. |
| 258 | * ''Series/MyCountryTheNewAge'': In the prologue Hwi's soldiers join forces with Bang-won's to attack Nam Jeon. |
| 259 | * The pilot episodes of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' and ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' each start with an OpeningScroll leading into a SpaceBattle. |
| 260 | * The pilot of ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' starts with a Klingon being chased by two Suliban after crash-landing in Oklahoma. |
| 261 | * The first episode of ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'' opens with Sarah frantically driving to John's school and finding him in the library. They exit... to find an entire police squad waiting for them. They are arrested, and then a Terminator arrives on the scene and proceeds to kill everyone in sight, including John. Then, as a distraught Sarah watches, the nuclear holocaust begins, burning everything around her and revealing the Terminator's terrifying endoskeleton... and she wakes up. This all happens before the title even shows up onscreen. |
| 262 | |
| 263 | * Subverted in the first episode of ''Series/YoungBlades'', which opens in the middle of an intense swordfight, then quickly derails into an argument about who gets to play d'Artagnan, revealing that this is merely a game between siblings. (''Then'' the real action begins.) |
| 264 | [[/folder]] |
| 265 | |
| 266 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 267 | * ''Theatre/TheLionInWinter'' opens with King Henry sparring with his son Prince John, which establishes Henry as an aging conqueror and John as his favorite son. |
| 268 | * ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'', it its operatic adaptation by Giuseppe Verdi and Arrigo Boïto, opens on the ThunderousConfrontation of a battle at sea, in which the title character ultimately proves victorious. The battle takes place offstage, but that doesn't prevent the orchestra and chorus from working themselves into a highly agitated state, or a full panoply of stage effects (some of them rhythmically notated in the score) from being deployed. |
| 269 | [[/folder]] |
| 270 | |
| 271 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 272 | * ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' has a prologue in every case, usually showing the actual murder from a perspective which leaves the player enough in the dark to not get spoilered. |
| 273 | ** In 1-1, we see Frank Sawhit murder Cindy Stone. Bonus points in that in the first few seconds of the franchise, we see a woman on the floor with a massive amount of blood seeping out of her head on screen, and we never see more blood at any point in the series until ''Dual Destinies''. |
| 274 | ** In 1-2, We see Redd White committing the murder. Two cases in a row and we see the true killer's face. |
| 275 | ** In 1-4, we see the [[spoiler: fake murder]] of Robert Hammond. |
| 276 | ** In 1-5, we see [[spoiler:two people]] stabbing a knife into a body. |
| 277 | ** 2-1 shows Phoenix being knocked unconscious with a fire extinguisher. |
| 278 | ** In 2-2, there's a car accident, a fire, and [[spoiler: Maya in the detention center again, telling Phoenix she killed somebody. It also spoils the entire case.]] |
| 279 | ** In 3-2 gives us Mask*[=DeMasque=] stealing something. |
| 280 | ** In 3-3 we see somebody with Phoenix's silhouette poisoning somebody's coffee. |
| 281 | ** In 3-5, we see some awesome animated lightning and the corpse, even though the player meets the victim later and it's obviously the corpse in the prologue. |
| 282 | ** In 5-1, we see a trial disrupted by a bomb going off. |
| 283 | ** In 5-4, we see a rocket launch aborted by an explosion. |
| 284 | ** In 6-3, we see the aftermath of a prison escape, followed by some shady characters getting apprehended by a masked vigilante. |
| 285 | ** In 6-DLC, we see Dumas Gloomsbury attempt to kill Ellen Wyatt, before she [[spoiler:is made to believe she]] travels back in time. |
| 286 | ** In [=AAI1=]-1, we see the murder and victim have a conversation and Edgeworth is held at gunpoint soon after. |
| 287 | ** In [=AAI1=]-2, Edgeworth has the pleasure of discovering the body and promptly getting accused of the murder. |
| 288 | ** In [=AAI1=]-3, we see the continuation of the ending of the last case. Edgeworth is playing ransom delivery boy and manages to get kidnapped. |
| 289 | ** In [=AAI1=]-4, we get CourtroomAntics were the witnesses accuses the prosecutor of being the real murderer. |
| 290 | ** In [=AAI1=]-5, we get to see the embassy burn and various spottings of the Yatagarasu. |
| 291 | ** In [=AAI2=]-1, we get a press-conference being derailed by an assassination attempt. |
| 292 | * Many entries in the ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' series open like this, with the character [[ATasteOfPower having access to weapons, skills and life meter that are lost at the end of the level]] and then laboriously reclaimed over the course of the game. |
| 293 | * An example of Action Prologue involving the main villain and not the hero: Sarevok beating the crap out of an anonymous warrior and then throwing him from the top of a tower in ''VideoGame/BaldursGate''. |
| 294 | * ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIII'' opens with the mind flayers assailing the titular city from their [[LivingShip Nautiloid]], abducting several innocents to swell their ranks, including [[PlayerCharacter you]]. Then the githyanki assault the ship with their red dragons, forcing the mind flayers to make an unexpected detour into [[{{Hell}} Avernus]]. It is at this point that the game opens with you trying to find a way to escape from the Nautiloid and Avernus with your life, and your humanity, intact. |
| 295 | * The prologue to ''VideoGame/Battlefield1'' almost instantly throws you into the control of various [[AnyoneCanDie soldiers in the middle of a brutal German attack who each get gunned down, burned alive and blown up]] before your controls finally switch to the narrating Harlem Hellfighter, who survives the battle and narrates the other War Stories from here on out. |
| 296 | * ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'' begins with our antiheroine and Jeanne in their flashback garb fighting angels on the face of a falling clock. It might be a clever symbol for a compressed backstory narration, but it's hard to tell when the actual game is so trippy. Despite the game's reputation for putting some of the most spectacular fights in cutscenes, it's fully playable, with no control guidance for first-time players, but also no way to lose. Then, there's a whole prologue chapter, filled with control tutorials and some minor exposition. Then there's an expository cutscene and an Indy-style travel montage. ''Then'' the opening tiles play as 'netta struts off the train in Vigrid. |
| 297 | * ''VideoGame/{{Bonfire}}'' starts with a ColdOpen of Hildie fighting her way through waves of enemies to regroup with her allies. |
| 298 | * ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIII'' opens with the hero escaping from a mine in dragon form. The dragon's stats are such that you cannot lose the battles in this sequence. |
| 299 | * The prologue of ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'' starts at ''ending'' of the previous game, ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaRondoOfBlood Rondo of Blood]]'': the player isn't even controlling Alucard at that point, but Richter Belmont. |
| 300 | * ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'' begins with an action/tutorial dream sequence which mimics/foreshadows an extended gameplay sequence from a (much) later dungeon. |
| 301 | * ''VideoGame/CrescentPrism'': The game begins with the party on Count Chroma's ship. Although the scripted battles all have Lunita fight alone, she has the stats and skills to effortlessly defeat Chroma's mooks. After a certain point, the game shifts to ten years in the past, when Lunita wakes up on the day of the Crescent Festival. |
| 302 | * ''VideoGame/DarkChronicle'' opens with [[MagicKnight Monica Raybrandt fighting]] off [[BigBad Emperor Gryphon]]'s soldiers in her home, and charges ahead to see her father having just been assassinated and said assassin leaving. We then transition to [[OnlyOneName Max]], [[MoodWhiplash about to go to the circus]]. |
| 303 | * ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' introduction cutscene has this, featuring Gwyn, Nito and the Witch of Izalith taking on the dragons. |
| 304 | * ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry5'' opens with the heroes Nero, Dante, and V fighting against Urizen and [[DownerBeginning subsequently getting their asses kicked]], with Dante's fate hanging in the balance. The game picks up about a month later with an opening credits sequence where Nero and his new partner, Nico, plow their way through a hoard of demons. |
| 305 | * The DS and [=PS1=] versions of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'' add a prologue chapter in which you play as the hero for a short while as you look around for Eliza. |
| 306 | * The ''Remastered'' [[VideoGameRemake remake]] of ''VideoGame/DuckTales'' adds a prologue stage where Scrooge defends his bank from a heist by the Beagle Boys. |
| 307 | * ''VideoGame/EnslavedOdysseyToTheWest'' starts with Monkey, the main character, imprisoned on a slave ship, then breaking out and fighting his way through the MechaMooks to escape. |
| 308 | * ''Franchise/FarCry'' |
| 309 | ** The original ''VideoGame/FarCry1'''s first level, despite being a tutorial, is surprisingly action-packed and difficult. |
| 310 | ** ''VideoGame/FarCry3'' starts with a feel-good introduction of Jason and his friends while they're enjoying their island vacation, but quickly segues into them being captured by pirates that are not at all friendly. Jason and his brother Grant break out, sneak around the pirates' base looking for an exit, but then Grant gets shot and Jason finds himself running for his life through a dark jungle, chased by guys with guns, dogs, a ''bear'' and a ''helicopter''. Only once this sequence ends does the game take on a less edge-of-your-seat-action stance. |
| 311 | ** ''VideoGame/FarCry3BloodDragon'' has an [[UnexpectedShmupLevel on-rails helicopter mission]] before the title screen and ForcedTutorial. |
| 312 | ** ''VideoGame/FarCryPrimal'' opens with you hunting woolly mammoths with your caveman buddies, then one of the local sabre-tooths attacks you, and your brother/hunting mentor tackles you both off a cliff to save your life. And after burying him, you have to make weapons and start hunting stuff before finding your way to the Oros Valley. |
| 313 | ** ''VideoGame/FarCry5'' opens with the ill-fated arrest of Eden's Gate leader Joseph Seed, which sees the Junior Deputy narrowly survive a helicopter crash, get hunted through the forest, and then attempt to flee from the cult by car. |
| 314 | * ''VideoGame/FinalFantasy'': |
| 315 | ** The very first ''VideoGame/{{Final Fantasy|I}}'' begins with the Heroes of Light tasked with rescuing the Princess of Cornelia from the dreaded Garland. The title screen for the game doesn't appear until after Garland has been laid low. |
| 316 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'' begins with a HopelessBossFight. |
| 317 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' may start with an OpeningScroll and cutscene, but immediately throws you into battle without really knowing who you are fighting against, who you are fighting for, or who you are supposed to be. Which does a pretty fine job of setting up the initial situation of the game's main character before she gets freed. |
| 318 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' starts you off in the middle of a raid to blow up one of the evil corporation's Mako reactors. |
| 319 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' begins with [[DoomedHometown the destruction]] of Zanarkand. |
| 320 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' begins with you, [[GuestStarPartyMember Reks]], on a mission to save the king from assassins. Then you die, and take control of his little brother Vaan [[TimeSkip two years later]]. |
| 321 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' begins with the main characters escaping from the Purge and fighting [[TheEmpire the Sanctum's]] soldiers. |
| 322 | *** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2'' may well top them all: it begins with Lightning engaged in battle with the BigBad. After the epic opening movie, you're thrust into a battle with Chaos Bahamut. As Lighning riding Odin. ''This is the tutorial!!'' |
| 323 | *** ''VideoGame/LightningReturnsFinalFantasyXIII'' continues the trend by starting off with Lightning crashing a party at the Patriarch's Palace in Yusnaan and then chasing Snow through the building. |
| 324 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' kicks off with an older looking Noctis in royal garb alongside his comrades engaging an imposing fiery giant sitting on a throne in a HowWeGotHere situation. The next scene is a younger looking Noctis and his friends pushing their car to the nearest gas station. |
| 325 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' begins with the kidnapping of Princess Ovelia, which kicks off most of the plot proper. At this point, only [[TheHero Ramza]] is under your direct control, sporting the most basic job class and abilities, but it gives you a preview of several more powerful attacks and classes that you won't actually gain control of yourself until much later. |
| 326 | * ''Franchise/FireEmblem'': |
| 327 | ** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' opens with a premonition to Chrom and the PlayerCharacter fighting against Validar. |
| 328 | ** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' opens with a dream in which the PlayerCharacter, alongside their Hoshidan siblings, drive off Nohrian invaders. They wake up just as rivalling elder brothers Ryoma and Xander demand that they join their side... |
| 329 | ** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes'' immediately kicks off with you (yes, you) getting teleported into the World of Heroes and being ordered by Anna to assist her in battle. |
| 330 | * ''VideoGame/ForeverHome'': The prologue starts the player with a [[ATasteOfPower high-leveled party]] that is almost immediately thrown into several battles with soldiers-turned-bandits, ending with the main character in despair over the post-apocalyptic world. Afterwards, the game jumps back to the present and properly introduces the characters and setting. |
| 331 | * ''VideoGame/GhostReconFutureSoldier'''s prologue shows the player the ropes with a Ghost mission in Nicaragua, which quickly [[GoneHorriblyWrong goes balls-up]], resulting in [[TotalPartyKill the death of the whole squad]], including the DecoyProtagonist you initially play as. |
| 332 | * The ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' series typically starts out by, as [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee]] put it, "throwing you into the middle of a pitched battle just in case you thought you might be playing something with a modicum of restraint." |
| 333 | * ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' begins with Michael and Trevor robbing an armored car depot in North Yankton 9 years prior to the story proper. |
| 334 | * ''VideoGame/GuildWars Nightfall'' throws the character into a corsair battle for its first quests and mission, before the "training" sequences more common in other MMO's (and other Guild Wars chapters) |
| 335 | * ''VideoGame/{{Hades}}'' throws you straight into Zagreus' first escape attempt without any real context. Only after you [[NintendoHard inevitably]] die and return to the House of Hades does the game properly introduce the main characters and basic premise. |
| 336 | * ''VideoGame/IndianaJonesAndTheFateOfAtlantis'' begins with Indy sifting through the university's large collection of artifacts. The task is not as benign as it seems. Indy gets hurt. A lot. The game uses the (several) moments when he's out cold to display credits. |
| 337 | * ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel'' starts off with the characters trying to force a group of terrorists out of the Garrelia Fortress before it goes back a few months before the prologue events. Ditto with ''Cold Steel III'' where the players control a group of students who are trying to blow up a robot at the top of the sky before it goes back a few months before said events. The characters are at a high level so players can get familiarized with the controls a bit. |
| 338 | * Done extremely well on the ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' video games, as the prologues are there not just to state how the fight elements are there, but also to tell most of the backstory and certain background elements. |
| 339 | * ''VideoGame/LufiaAndTheFortressOfDoom'' starts the player off as [[ATasteOfPower Maxim, the main character's ancestor]], arriving at Doom Island for their final battle with the Sinistrals. |
| 340 | * ''VideoGame/MaxBlasterAndDorisDeLightningAgainstTheParrotCreaturesOfVenus'': Each protagonist gets an EstablishingCharacterMoment before the game starts properly. You play as [[IntroOnlyPointOfView two different baddies]] who are foiled by Max and Doris in intense ways. |
| 341 | * The first mission of ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonorFrontline'' takes place at Omaha Beach on D-Day, before the events of the original game; the rest of the missions take place between the first game's third and fourth missions. |
| 342 | * This has become a staple of 2D ''Franchise/MegaMan'' games post-8 bit era, opening almost immediately to an action-packed into stage instead of going straight to the stage select as with the 8-bit games. As often as not, you'll have no idea what the hell is even going on plot-wise until it's finished. |
| 343 | * ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'', which could rightfully be called a massive AffectionateParody to 60s and 70s spy movies, pulls an exceptionally well executed one, though it takes up to an hour. You overpower the guards, get the captured scientist, and make it back to the extraction point where Snake gets betrayed, thrown of a bridge, and as he pulls himself out of a river, the enemies detonate a nuke some miles in the distance. And as the explosion fades, you get the extremely bond-like [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CbFAZ2ztlE actual opening]]. |
| 344 | * ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'' has an action prologue aboard the SpacePirate GhostShip Orpheon, which incorporates a tutorial and gives the player ATasteOfPower. |
| 345 | * ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'': |
| 346 | ** The first game's prologue, "Crew Expendable", is a fast close-quarters battle, in contrast to "Blackout", the first plot mission, which is relatively quiet. |
| 347 | ** ''Modern Warfare 2'' has "Team Player", a fast-paced assault on an Afghan town held hostage by the Taliban (''*ahem*''...the "[=OpFor=]"). It has nothing to do with the main plot, but it shows Private Allen's regular grind as an Army Ranger before he's recruited into the CIA for his special mission in Russia. |
| 348 | * ''VideoGame/ParasiteEve'' begins when Aya's date at Carnegie Hall gets rudely interrupted when [[EldritchAbomination Eve]] awakens and begins the mitochondrial uprising by burning alive nearly everyone present. ''VideoGame/ParasiteEve2'' starts with Aya responding to an outbreak of Neo-Mitochondrial Creatures at the Akropolis Tower in downtown Los Angeles. |
| 349 | * ''VideoGame/PerfectDark'' starts with Joanna's very first mission as Carrington Institute agent. Also its prequel started with a mission, but it's revealed it was a FakeActionPrologue being just a simulation. |
| 350 | * ''VideoGame/Persona5'' jumps into the action with the Protagonist trying to escape from a casino, showing off the LeParkour, a bit of the [[StealthBasedGame stealth mechanic]], and a short fight. Then the Protagonist gets captured and arrested, and the majority of the game is spent explaining to the interrogating prosecutor HowWeGotHere, jumping back seven months to when the Protagonist first came to Tokyo. |
| 351 | * ''VideoGame/{{Phantasmat}} 13: Remains of Buried Memories'' opens with the main character trying to escape a shadowy entity. The game menu doesn't appear until after this is accomplished. |
| 352 | * ''VideoGame/PitfallTheLostExpedition'' begins with Pitfall Harry fighting for his life against a demonic fiery jaguar while supercharged with powerful magic. After he exchanges a few blows with the beast, it pins him to the ground, and Harry has a flashback to how he got into this mess in the first place which makes up most of the rest of the game. |
| 353 | * The game ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'' [[InMediasRes begins with New York in ruin and chaos]] as well as giving your character [[ATasteOfPower full ablities]], then after the title appears, [[HowWeGotHere flashes back to "18 days ago"]]. |
| 354 | * ''VideoGame/RainbowSix'' series |
| 355 | ** ''Rainbow Six Vegas 1'', before focusing on the eponymous city, has a prologue in a Mexican border town, in which the team's mission goes FUBAR and Logan Keller's squadmates are captured. |
| 356 | ** ''Rainbow Six Vegas 2'''s first act, which serves as a tutorial, is set on a hostage rescue mission in the Pyrenees five years before the events of the main story in Vegas. |
| 357 | * ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankFutureToolsOfDestruction'' opens with the bad guy showing up from out of nowhere and laying siege on Metropolis as Ratchet and Clank try desperately to escape as buildings collapse around them. |
| 358 | * The prologue of ''Videogame/TheReconstruction'' thrusts you into a dangerous, action-packed mission of boarding and fighting your way through an enemy ship. This is done with only a cursory introduction to the characters, and it's not really clear what's going on until the end of the prologue. |
| 359 | * ''VideoGame/RedFaction'': |
| 360 | ** ''Red Faction II'' starts with Alias, when he was one of Sopot's Elite Guards, infiltrating a military complex to steal the Nanocell. |
| 361 | ** ''Armageddon'' starts with Darius Mason during his time in the Red Faction military, years before the alien outbreak, fighting to prevent Adam Hale and his ApocalypseCult from destroying the Terraformer. |
| 362 | * ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'': |
| 363 | ** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'': The first leg of the game is best described as a mad panic. You're in danger the second you begin playing, as a zombie is standing mere feet away from you, and if you don't start moving immediately, you'll likely get chomped. It doesn't slow down from there; everywhere you go pits you against an overwhelming number of zombies, and all you can do is shoot, run, and stab as best you can to get past them all. It's not until you get into the police station where things slow down and become more methodical. |
| 364 | ** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilContainment:'' While the prologue section starts off as [[NothingIsScarier a quiet jaunt through a seemingly abandoned lab,]] you're swarmed by zombies after restoring power to the facility. Fortunately, you have a sub-machine gun with infinite ammo at your side, so you're allowed to go hog wild against the undead. Unfortunately, come Chapter 1, your ammo is rendered limited and you're forced to be more careful and methodical with your resources. |
| 365 | * ''VideoGame/RetroCityRampage'' starts with the Player, as an employee of [[Franchise/{{Batman}} The Jester]], participating in a botched bank heist in [[UsefulNotes/TheEighties 1985]], before a time machine resembling the [[Series/DoctorWho TARDIS]] drops in and whisks him away to [[NextSundayAD 20XX]]. |
| 366 | * ''VideoGame/RideToHellRetribution'' opens with a ''montage'' of scenes from later in the game, two of which -- a turret section and a fist fight -- are playable. |
| 367 | * ''VideoGame/RiverCityRansomUnderground'''s prologue acts as a flashback to the original ''VideoGame/RiverCityRansom''. Taking place in the original game's final area, River City High, the player is put in the shoes of young Ryan or Alex and then goes through a BossRush of all of the original game's bosses, after which there is a TimeSkip of 25 years and the game's plot begins properly. |
| 368 | * ''VideoGame/RWBYGrimmEclipse'' lets you fight through a couple of waves of Grimm just to get the hang of things before [[MissionControl Professor Port]] explains what you're doing out there in the first place. |
| 369 | * The latter three ''VideoGame/SaintsRow'' games each have one of these. |
| 370 | ** ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'' has the Boss escaping from jail, [[spoiler:having spent the past five years -- from the boat explosion at the end of the first game to the present -- in a coma.]] |
| 371 | ** ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'' has the Boss, Shaundi, Johnny Gat and Josh Birk performing a [[spoiler:botched]] bank robbery. [[spoiler:The bank's opulence compared to other buildings of its type marks it as one owned by the Syndicate, the game's antagonist faction. Surprisingly, Josh -- the only one who ''hadn't'' robbed a bank before at this point -- was the only one concerned by the bank's aesthetic enough to be suspicious.]] |
| 372 | ** ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'' has the Boss in [[spoiler:a military operation to kill Cyrus Temple, the now-disgraced former leader of the STAG military group from the previous game.]] By doing this and making use of their relative "hero" status, the Boss uses it as a stepping stone to obtain the Presidency, setting the scene for the rest of the game. |
| 373 | * ''VideoGame/SakuraWars'': |
| 374 | ** ''VideoGame/SakuraWars1996'' starts off with the famous scene of Sakura Shinguji entering Tokyo and slicing a Wakiji in half with her sword, Arataka. |
| 375 | ** ''VideoGame/SakuraWars4FallInLoveMaidens'' begins with the Flower Division fighting the demons in Tokyo. |
| 376 | ** The DistantPrologue of ''VideoGame/SakuraWars2019'' depicts Sakura Shinguji rescuing a seven-year-old Sakura Amamiya from a demon attack. In the game proper, Seijuro Kamiyama arrives in Central Station via airship and encounters a demon attacking it. Kamiyama gets curb-stomped just before Xiaolong Yang arrives and kills it. |
| 377 | * ''VideoGame/SandsOfDestruction'' opens with you controlling Naja as he and Rajiv fight off Morte in Viteaux. It then cuts to [[ADayInTheLife Kyrie going about his normal business]] in Barni, picking up vegetables and hunting for sandcaps to cook (which naturally turns into fighting a sandwhale). |
| 378 | * ''VideoGame/ShadowComplex'' begins with a man in a city with [[ATasteOfPower about half of the full set of equipment]] for a shootout with some troops and a helicopter. He is then killed, and the action switches to the actual player character, where the real ''{{Metroidvania}}'' part begins. |
| 379 | * The beginning of ''VideoGame/{{Shelter|2013}} 2'' has the player guide Inna the lynx through the winter forest, as she is chased by wolves, to safety. Doing this, the player also learns the game's running and jumping controls. |
| 380 | * ''VideoGame/SilentHill3'' starts with Heather in a spooky amusement park, armed with very little in the way of weapons, and wondering where she is. If you either die or reach the end (which results in her dying in a cutscene), she wakes up and realizes it's just a dream. Much later in the game, you go to that very same amusement park for real. |
| 381 | * ''VideoGame/SoldierOfFortune II'''s prologue mission throws you almost straight into the fray, with Mullins rescuing Dr. Ivanovich from a heavily-guarded hotel in Prague, then escaping with him across the countryside to a train station. |
| 382 | ** The first game also had an action prologue with a hostage situation in a New York subway, giving a sneak peak of one of the main villains at the end. |
| 383 | * ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'': |
| 384 | ** In ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'', the first accessable story campaign, Sonic's, opens with our hero going toe-to-toe with Chaos in the streets of Station Square. |
| 385 | ** Both campaigns in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' pulls this: the Hero story opens with Sonic breaking out of captivity and escaping through the city, while the Dark story opens with Dr. Eggman blasting his way into a military base. |
| 386 | ** ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' starts off with Sonic infiltrating Eggman's flying fortress in space, wrecking havok on his robots and ships in the process with Chaos Emeralds in hand. However, this was all a trap to lure Sonic in and use the emeralds to [[EarthShatteringKaboom open up the earth]] to awaken Dark Gaia, inadvertently turning Sonic into the Werehog in the process and being discarded back onto Earth. |
| 387 | * ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine'' opens with a helicopter gunner section before the scene turns into a short flashback, and beginning of the story proper. [[spoiler: Later when the game turns surreal as a result of Walker's SanitySlippage, you play this helicopter gunner section, and Walker mentions how he feels like he's done this before.]] |
| 388 | * ''VideoGame/SunsetOverdrive'' begins 17 days before the main story with a linear tutorial level with the player performing LeParkour on the rooftops to escape to their apartment as the ZombieApocalypse begins. |
| 389 | * Parodied in the ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' comic "A Fate Worse than Chess" with [[http://www.teamfortress.com/fateworsethanchess/#f=4 Explosition]]. |
| 390 | * ''VideoGame/TombRaiderUnderworld'' begins with Lara escaping her burning mansion, then skips ahead four days. |
| 391 | * Most of the ''VideoGame/{{Uncharted}}'' games open with a very brief, enigmatic cutscene and then some kind of balls-out action sequence. |
| 392 | ** ''VideoGame/UnchartedDrakesFortune'' opens with Nate and Elena unearthing Sir Francis' journal in the middle of the ocean, when suddenly, pirates attack and the player has to defend the boat. |
| 393 | ** ''VideoGame/Uncharted3DrakesDeception'' opens with a bar brawl in an English pub populated by {{Mooks}}, after a deal goes bad. It's a great excuse to teach the player the new unarmed combat system. |
| 394 | ** ''VideoGame/Uncharted4AThiefsEnd'' begins with Nate and his brother Sam running away from mooks in a boat during a heavy storm. Nate then have to defend their exposed position when the boat broke down. |
| 395 | * ''VideoGame/{{Vindictus}}'' begins with a siege on a bell tower against a giant spider. The Oracle, Tieve, wants to talk to the spider and find out why it's so frightened, so a group of soldiers, including you, are assigned to escort her to the top. Everyone is promptly ambushed by Gnolls after the leader of the soldiers finds a Fomorian Emblem, and everyone except you and Tieve are wounded or killed. The game then gives you control of your character and walks you through the combat system as you kill your way through the Gnolls and escort Tieve to the top of the tower, where you have to fight the spider as ballista spears rain down on the roof. |
| 396 | * In ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'', Lee spends about three to four minutes in the back of a police cruiser before a collision with a walker sets him free and lands him in the middle of a ZombieApocalypse. |
| 397 | * ''VideoGame/TheWonderful101'' opens with a train-length school bus being attacked by aliens. The whole Prologue is spent on the high speed bus preventing it from flying off the bridge it is on and crashing in to an elementary school, all while the triumphant theme of the title hero team blares in the background. The first full level is calm relative to that, starting with the Wonderful Ones going through the suburbs, but SerialEscalation kicks in and the settings become more dramatic, surpassing the Prologue not too far in to the game. |
| 398 | * ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles'': |
| 399 | ** ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'' begins in the middle of the war against the Mechon, where you play as Dunban in the battle that would make him a legend among the peoples of Bionis. |
| 400 | ** ''VideoGame/XenobladeChroniclesX'' opens with an interstellar war over Earth that ravages the planet and forces humanity to evacuate in massive ships, one of which is chased by the hostile aliens and forced to crash-land on the planet of Mira. |
| 401 | ** ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'' starts out in the middle of a battle between Keves and Agnus, establishing the ForeverWar between the two nations. |
| 402 | * ''VideoGame/YesYourGrace'': The very beginning of each playthough takes place during a version of the final siege in which the castle hasn't been upgraded with extra defenses and weapons, in which one of the decisions is whether to kill or spare a deserter. This gives the player a glimpse of the kind of decisions they will need to be able to make by the end of the game. By comparison, early game decisions (outside of those forced by the early part of the plot) are easier and matter much less to the bigger picture individually. |
| 403 | [[/folder]] |
| 404 | |
| 405 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 406 | * ''Webcomic/AliceGrove'': The comic opens with a man running along a dirt road, until he sees a woman at the top of a wind turbine. She climbs down, but her rope snaps, and she falls... |
| 407 | * ''Webcomic/{{Aquapunk}}'' starts off in the middle of a small, routine, military operation that goes painfully awry. Not only do unusual numbers of enemy casualties result, but the main character, Coron, winds up realizing that something's up and starts getting ideas that shape the decide the rest of the plot. |
| 408 | * ''Webcomic/CharbyTheVampirate'''s prologue is set in the 1600's wherein Charby escapes from a pirate ship, has his throat torn out by a sadistic vampire, returns as a vampire himself, kills a giant bear and returns to the pirate ship to slaughter his lifelong tormentors. The story then jumps forward over 300 years to 1994 to start the actual tale of the comic. |
| 409 | * ''Webcomic/TheCurseOfGaea'' starts like this, where A and Shikamaru are being chased by monsters. |
| 410 | * ''Webcomic/FurryFightChronicles'' has its first chapter devoted to showing what a furry fight is by showing Fenny and Roora, two Combagals, engage in a match. At the end of the chapter, Muko, the protagonist of the comic, is inspired to become a Combagal after Fenny pulls a comeback victory. |
| 411 | * ''Webcomic/{{Pibgorn}}'''s arcs start this way, but they're so confusing they're pretty much MindScrew prologues. For example, the latest arc began with a long-haired Pibgorn messing around with dewdrops in a meadow, with the panels interrupted by a giant rack-focused number 8 on a plain white background out of nowhere. It then switched to short-haired Pibgorn and Drucilla talking on a glacier (long-haired Pib is a flashback). Pib suddenly fainted then attacked Drucilla who fought back, and then the giant 8 explodes in a shower of Photoshop brushes. |
| 412 | * ''Webcomic/{{Remus}}'' begins with a RightWingMilitiaFanatic [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything flying a plane into the White House]], continues by showing the United States descending into a second Civil War, and then caps off the prologue with [[RRatedOpening a glimpse of said war]] through someone's eyes. It then jumps 17 years forward, where the plot begins. |
| 413 | * In ''Webcomic/RustyAndCo'', [[http://rustyandco.com/comic/level-4-1/ level 4]] and [[http://rustyandco.com/comic/level-6-1/ level 6]] both begin with action -- luring the cave monsters, and fighting bullywogs respectively. The first doesn't reappear until the end of the level. The second is a clue, but the bullywogs don't reappear. |
| 414 | * The ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' story arc "Phoenix Rising" (well, the Oasis half of it, anyway) begins right away with Oasis fighting a group of convenience store robbers. Things then quiet down for a while, giving us time to know the characters, before the action starts up again when [[spoiler:Nash Straw kills Lupae]]. |
| 415 | * ''Webcomic/TheStoryOfAnima'' starts with a few pages introducing characters, [[http://tapastic.com/episode/43375 then the Bloody Flames attack and the action doesn't stop for a long time]]. |
| 416 | * ''Webcomic/TheStrongestSuit'' starts with the murder of Seven of Hearts at the hands of Five of Hearts (the motive of which becomes a central mystery throughout the comic). |
| 417 | [[/folder]] |
| 418 | |
| 419 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 420 | * ''WebAnimation/FlipnoteWarrior'': The story starts in a corpse-filled space battlefield, proceeded with a fight scene with Mizuha Nanashiro, before switching to the protagonist Mome Kugou in another location and time. |
| 421 | [[/folder]] |
| 422 | |
| 423 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 424 | * ''Roleplay/Bay12RWBYRoleplay'' starts with the transport the future students are on being hit with a missile as their initiation. In that manner, it takes after its [[{{WebAnimation/RWBY}} inspiration.]] |
| 425 | * The pilot of WebVideo/DemoReel starts off with a [[StylisticSuck terrible]] parody of ''Film/TheSixthSense'', but then morphs into Donnie and his friends dealing with the awful reaction to it and wanting to do something even bigger. |
| 426 | * ''WebVideo/JourneyQuest'' opens with a Bard sneaking into an Orc camp, then doubles back to a more normal introduction when she asks, "what really happened?". |
| 427 | * ''Ayla and the Birthday Brawl'' of the Literature/WhateleyUniverse starts with the Vindicators fighting their way through a base to confront a supervillain. When they lose, it's revealed to be a holographic simulation that is part of their Team Tactics course. |
| 428 | [[/folder]] |
| 429 | |
| 430 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 431 | * The entire ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' episode "Tearjerker" is a James Bond parody, the beginning specifically that of the opening sequence of ''The Spy Who Loved Me''. |
| 432 | * ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE5PrettyPoison Pretty Poison]]": After the exposition-laden opening, the next sequence is Batman fighting his way through a ton of {{Irony}} that his friend Harvey Dent is unintentionally laying on as he describes Bruce Wayne's IdleRich lifestyle. |
| 433 | * The first episode of ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' features Dipper and Mabel crashing through a billboard in a golf cart as they try to escape from a mysterious, gigantic monster. The rest of the episode is dedicated to [[HowWeGotHere explaining the circumstances that led them into that situation]]. |
| 434 | * The first episode of ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse2002'' begins with a battle between Captain Randor and the Masters vs. Keldor and the Evil Warriors. The aftermath of this battle sets them up in their new roles: Captain Randor becomes the king of Eternia in place of the departed Elders while awaiting the appearance of a prophecized hero, and Keldor becomes the iconic villain Skeletor. |
| 435 | * ''WesternAnimation/GreenEggsAndHam2019'' [[EstablishingSeriesMoment quickly establishes]] its status as a more action-packed version of the source material in the first episode's first scene, as a ninja breaks out the Chickeraffe out of a zoo. It's later revealed in the episode that this is none other than Sam-I-Am, trying to take the Chickeraffe back into the wild. |
| 436 | * The series ''WesternAnimation/{{Slugterra}}'' opens with a slugslinging battle between Will Shane and Dr. Blakk. |
| 437 | * ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': |
| 438 | ** [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS1E01DroidsInDistress "Droids in Distress"]] starts with the ''Ghost'' being chased by a Star Destroyer after a failed heist. |
| 439 | ** [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsTheSiegeOfLothal "The Siege of Lothal"]] starts with the Rebels raiding an Imperial convoy. |
| 440 | ** [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS2E16ShroudOfDarkness "Shroud of Darkness"]] begins with Kanan and Ezra fighting the Inquisitors on a remote planet. |
| 441 | * ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsResistance'': |
| 442 | ** [[Recap/StarWarsResistanceS1E1TheRecruit "The Recruit"]], the series premiere, begins with three New Republic X-Wings in a dogfight against OneManArmy Major Vonreg of the First Order. |
| 443 | ** [[Recap/StarWarsResistanceS2E8RendezvousPoint "Rendezvous Point"]] opens on a skirmish between the forces of the Colossus and the First Order in deep space. |
| 444 | * The pilot episode of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheBadBatch'' starts with the Battle of Kaller, part of the Outer Rim Sieges. |
| 445 | [[/folder]] |
| 446 |
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