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| 3 | %% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks! |
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| 6 | |
| 7 | [[quoteright:250: [[Webcomic/TrueMagic https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/True_Magic_wolf_n_skeleton_2041.jpg]]]] |
| 8 | [-[[caption-width-right:250:Who's afraid of the ''bigger, badder'' wolf?]]-] |
| 9 | |
| 10 | ->''"'Monster' is a relative term. To a canary, a cat is a monster. We’re just used to being the cat."'' |
| 11 | -->-- '''Dr. Henry Wu''', ''Film/JurassicWorld'' |
| 12 | |
| 13 | [[VillainousRescue Pursued by a Big Bad Wolf? Wait till' the Bigger Badder Wolf comes in.]] |
| 14 | |
| 15 | Our heroes are cornered or trapped by one scary thing or group, only to be saved by another, bigger, scarier thing or group. Sometimes the "savior" has been introduced earlier in the plot, making this an instance of ChekhovsGunman. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | If the "savior" was previously the main antagonist, this may set up an unusual reaction in the viewer, who notes how his feelings about that antagonist are changed in this scene. The characters may notice the same; they may say, "I never thought I'd be so happy to see you!" |
| 18 | |
| 19 | In this case, the "savior" [[VillainousRescue isn't actively trying to save the protagonists]]. He's just there, and hungry, and the heroes [[OutOfTheFryingPan had best not be there once it finishes its present meal]]. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | May result when the hero asking "WhyIsntItAttacking" has the bigger fish behind him. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | It is commonly used as a DeusExMachina, unless (as noted above) it is set up in advance. See also CollidingCriminalConspiracies when the "Bigger Fish" arrives early and threatens heroes and villains equally. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | Compare to AlwaysSomeoneBetter, FoodChainOfEvil, SaveTheVillain, DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu, ExitPursuedByABear, SelfDisposingVillain, EvilerThanThou, HorrifyingTheHorror, and TheWorfEffect (in which the "big fish" character keeps encountering bigger fish). If {{invoked|Trope}}, see SummonBiggerFish. If it's a videogame, and you have to also fight the bigger fish, it's a BaitAndSwitchBoss. For actual bigger fish (and other things), see SeaMonster. If someone thinks they're scaring off an antagonist and it's really because there's a bigger fish around that they can't see, then that's ScaredOfWhatsBehindYou. (That version is usually PlayedForLaughs.) |
| 26 | See also CubCuesProtectiveParent where the hero is the "middle" fish. |
| 27 | ---- |
| 28 | !!Examples |
| 29 | |
| 30 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 31 | |
| 32 | [[folder:Advertising]] |
| 33 | * There is an Australian advertisement where a tourist asks locals if there are any crocodiles in the water. |
| 34 | -->'''Aussie:''' No. No crocodiles, mate.\ |
| 35 | '''Tourist:''' ''(dives in)''\ |
| 36 | '''Aussie:''' [[ThreateningShark Sharks ate 'em.]] |
| 37 | * A UsefulNotes/McDonalds ad shows a kid using french fries as bait while fishing. Soon a fish bites... and a bigger one... and an even bigger one... which ends with a long chain of fish, ending with a huge sperm whale. |
| 38 | * The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSti50t-W9I HEXBUG Spider XL]] advertisement introduces two Spiders... and then the giants come, and they're scared into [[BowelBreakingBricks pooping batteries]]. |
| 39 | [[/folder]] |
| 40 | |
| 41 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 42 | * In ''Manga/DeliciousInDungeon'', Team Touden are attacked by a group of merfolk who are then driven off by a kraken... [[BadassCrew which is in turn killed and eaten by Team Touden]]. This trope, framed as the food chain, is actually the lesson of the chapter. |
| 43 | * ''Franchise/DragonBall'': |
| 44 | ** In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', Frieza and his even stronger father are coming. This could mean the end of all life on Earth. As soon as they arrive, a person we've never seen before shows up and cuts them both in half with a sword. |
| 45 | ** Done very extensively with the gods of the setting; any given godlike entity established as the top dog is likely to overshadowed in short order by some even more powerful entity, who will then be overshadowed by some even more powerful one, and so on and so forth. In ''Manga/DragonBall'', Kami is God? Actually, he's just the god of Earth. King Kai, the guardian of the whole universe in ''Anime/DragonBallZ''? Actually, he's just one of four guardians of the universe, with the Grand Kai above him. And above the Grand Kai we have the Supreme Kais, the gods of creation (though that reveal comes pretty soon after the Grand Kai is revealed) who in turn are ruled over by the Grand Supreme Kai, the ruler of the universe. And then, in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper,'' we learn that equal to the Supreme Kais are the Gods of Destruction, and above them all is the current TopGod Zeno, the king of the multiverse. |
| 46 | * ''Literature/{{Durarara}}'': |
| 47 | ** Kasane Kujiragi has spent twenty episodes plotting and planning her way around everyone else in the series. She's out-thought the infamous InformationBroker, out-fought an EvilWeapon, and captured the HeadlessHorseman. Just as she's closing a business deal where she sells the HeadlessHorseman and the EvilWeapon to a client, [[WorldsStrongestMan Shizuo Heiwajima]] walks up. He has no idea who she is, he just wants to help his friend the HeadlessHorseman. Kasane briefly tries to talk him into leaving, but when that fails, [[KnowWhenToFoldEm she turns around and walks away without a second glance]]. When her client demands she come back and protect him from Shizuo, Kasane just says [[NotInMyContract she wasn't hired to die for him]]. |
| 48 | ** [[spoiler:Takashi Nasujima]] starts a ZombieApocalypse and almost takes over the city, with plans to take over the entire world. While he does get surprisingly close to succeeding, it's mostly because no one important was paying attention to him at the moment. When people do realize what he's doing, it just becomes a question of who is going to stop him. [[spoiler:Celty Sturleson]] stops him without any real difficulty, only a few minutes before [[spoiler:Anri Sonohara]] was about to step in. |
| 49 | * In ''Literature/{{Gate}}'', the heroes see a dragon in the distance moving towards them, when it is suddenly devoured by a '''much larger''' one, which then attacks them. |
| 50 | * ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'': The basic concept is demonstrated in a flashback showing how Jaken came to be Sesshōmaru's servant. Long ago, he was the leader of a tribe of imps who came under threat by a demon who turned out to be the greatest opponent Jaken and his tribe had faced up to that point. Just as the demon was about to kill Jaken, Sesshōmaru happened to be walking by and, considering the demon to be in his way, [[CurbStompBattle effortlessly destroyed it]] [[OneHitKill with one blow]]. Seeing such a great and powerful demon so nonchalantly save his life put Jaken in awe and he abandoned his tribe to follow Sesshōmaru from then on. |
| 51 | ** In a more general sense, there are plenty of dangerous demons skulking around in feudal Japan, but most of them are small-fries compared to ones like Inuyasha, Naraku, and Sesshōmaru and even to some humans like Inuyasha's companions. Sango even used to make a living by killing demons that were threatening people. |
| 52 | * In ''Manga/KillingBites'''s first battle scene, Leo is boasting about [[TheSocialDarwinist his strength making him better than everyone else]] when Ratel gets back up and curb-stomps him. (The irony is lost on him.) |
| 53 | * In ''Literature/KumaKumaKumaBear'', the protagonist Yuna is escorting a group of young students from a monster academy. What should have been a peaceful, week-long field trip/practical test to a remote village becomes dangerous when goblins suddenly appear in the roads and endanger human lives. Yuna quickly finds out the reason: [[spoiler:they were running from the ''much'' larger and dangerous Black Tigerwolf]]. |
| 54 | * In ''Manga/{{Monster}}'', Nina is saved from Professor Geidlitz by Johan. What makes this better is that they were using her as bait to lure Johan in to convince him to lead their group and make "the master race" dominant once again, seeing him as the next Hitler. Anna tried to warn them that Johan didn't care about their cause or any cause. [[EvilIsNotAToy They discover too late that she's correct.]] |
| 55 | * ''Manga/OnePiece'': |
| 56 | ** Used to great effect during the BatmanColdOpen in ''[[Anime/OnePieceFilmStrongWorld Strong World]]''. Luffy is pursued by a giant alligator, which is defeated by a [[UndergroundMonkey Forest Octopus]], which is in turn defeated by a [[BigCreepyCrawlies giant preying mantis]], which is itself defeated by a [[MixAndMatchCritters gorilla-bear]], only to have that thing finished off by Luffy himself once he gets sick of this. This is inverted with the giant shark from said opening, who is devoured by a group of ravenous ant warriors. |
| 57 | ** This also happens in the manga. One example being after the Fish-Man Island arc, where a fish the crew catches is then eaten by a bigger fish, which is eaten by an even bigger fish, which is then killed by Zoro. However, the fish's corpse is still so big that it drags their whole ship into an underwater whirlpool. |
| 58 | ** Of all people, this happens to [[OmnicidalManiac Donquixote Doflamingo]], who easily takes down Vice-Admiral Smoker at the end of Punk Hazard arc, but opts to leave without a fight when the [[PersonOfMassDestruction former Admiral Aokiji]] arrives. |
| 59 | ** The giant Sea Kings are often referred to as a major threat in the ocean, and make the Grand Line virtually impossible to enter except at two specific points because they swarm on both sides. However, we are sometimes seen people or creatures capable of surpassing a Sea King to show how strong they are. For example, Crocodile's pet Banana Gators are said to prey on Sea Kings, the venomous {{Sea Serpent}}s that draw Boa Hancock's ship are so poisonous that Sea Kings avoid them, and of course Luffy shows his strength in the beginning of the series by one-shotting a Sea King that ruled the waters around his hometown (although it was admittedly a very small Sea King). |
| 60 | * In ''Literature/Overlord2012'', the protagonist himself, Ainz Ooal Gown, ''is'' the bigger fish. As the former leader of one of the most powerful guilds in Yggdrasil before being transported to the New World, he is easily able to brush off even the most powerful of this world's monsters without so much as wasting a breath. |
| 61 | * ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'': In "[[Recap/PokemonS1E46AttackOfThePrehistoricPokemon Attack of the Prehistoric Pokemon]]", Ash, Pikachu, and Team Rocket are stuck underground with some recently-awoken and very grumpy Omanytes, Omastars, Kabuto, and Kabutops. After some back-and-forth battling, the ancient Pokemon have them on the ropes when they suddenly look around in a panic and flee. Ash wonders why they're running. [[GiantFlyer Cue]] [[PrehistoricMonster Aerodactyl]]. |
| 62 | * ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'': |
| 63 | ** In a(n even more) sinister varian, the only way to defeat Walpurgisnacht is [[spoiler:by making Madoka fight her. Doing this promptly turns her into [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the even more devastating]] Kriemhild Gretchen]]. |
| 64 | ** In the finale [[spoiler:Kriemhild Gretchen is defeated ''by Madoka'' via a {{Wishplosion}}]]. |
| 65 | ** ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion'': An even more sinister version occurs with [[spoiler:Homura Akemi]], where they SummonBiggerFish using the forces of two witches and most of the Puella Magi at their best to defeat Kyubey... only for [[spoiler:Homura to turn out to be even more powerful than everyone and promptly seal both Kyubey and Madoka's power]]. |
| 66 | * ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'': A heroic variant in occurs in "Birth of a Child Swordsman": Yahiko is being chased by the gang of thugs he's been dealing with the entire episode. He leads them into an narrow alleyway where he can fight them one-on-one, but the thugs wise up and approach en masse, knives drawn. Then the thugs look up and notice Kenshin and Sanosuke on the wall behind Yahiko (either of whom would've been enough to make the thugs pause). Most of the thugs flee, but the leader [[RevengeBeforeReason wants to settle the score with Yahiko.]] He ends up giving Yahiko his first victory in a real fight. |
| 67 | * ''Literature/TheStrongestSageWithTheWeakestCrest'': An awareness of this is the main reason Gaius reincarnated into Matthias the first place. He might have no equal in combat and defeated the most powerful monster in twenty-seven seconds, but he knows there are probably creatures out there more powerful than he can imagine and knows that his First Crest cannot grow any further. So he reincarnated hoping to get the Fourth Crest which is better suited for combat and increase his strength. |
| 68 | * ''Manga/{{Toriko}}'' is known for having this phenomenon in spades, with high-level predatory monsters being preyed upon by even higher-level ones. Case in point, when the Four Beasts awaken from their centuries of slumber to invade the human world, one of them kills a Regal Mammoth with one attack. In earlier chapters, said Regal Mammoth was probably the largest creature seen in the series so far (being approximately 1.5km in height), and had the ability to inhale hundreds of smaller beasts through one of its two trunks and spitting bones out the other. And this is all before we even get started on the [[DeathWorld Gourmet]] [[CosmicHorrorReveal World...]] |
| 69 | * ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'': After a few arcs proving Younger Toguro to be the strongest, in the arc following his defeat is revealed that, for all his power, he's just considered a B-Class fighter and that there's two more levels above his own. Indeed, compared with the S-Class fighters like Yomi, Mokuro and, especially, Raizen in his prime, Younger Toguro is just a flea. |
| 70 | [[/folder]] |
| 71 | |
| 72 | [[folder:Card Games]] |
| 73 | * ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'': |
| 74 | ** Invoked by the original version of [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=175079 Cruel Ultimatum,]] from the Shards of Alara set. The art depicts a powerful-looking demon, cowering in terror in the shadow of an unseen adversary (which would be revealed in the next set to be the mighty Elder Dragon-turned-planeswalker Nicol Bolas, the BigBad of the Alara block). |
| 75 | --->''There is always a greater power'' |
| 76 | ** This trope is exemplified in the card [[https://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=389652 Reef Worm]], which has a mechanic signifying a succession of animals being eaten by bigger predators. When Reef Worm dies, a fish card is put in play; when the fish dies, a whale is put in play; when the whale dies, a {{kraken|AndLeviathan}} is put in play. |
| 77 | ** The card [[https://scryfall.com/card/m19/185/gigantosaurus Gigantosaurus]] shows a large, predatory theropod standing over the corpse of a freshly slain dragon. |
| 78 | ** [[https://scryfall.com/card/khm/152/squash Squash]] depicts a troll, whom the flavor text describes as having earlier squished a human beneath his fist, getting the same treatment from a giant. |
| 79 | --->''The troll had recently crushed a human in much the same way. Sadly, he expired too quickly to appreciate the irony.'' |
| 80 | [[/folder]] |
| 81 | |
| 82 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 83 | * ''ComicBook/{{Bone}}'': The climax is an interesting double helping of this trope: [[spoiler:the [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragon]]-[[PhysicalGod goddess]] Mim's roaring rampage is set to wipe most of the heroes (most of the planet) off the map. Meanwhile, Thorn and Fone Bone are being pursued by the rest of the dragons, in a blind rage. The dragons pursue Thorn and Fone to the surface, at which point they see Mim, and they break off their pursuit to go [[CooldownHug calm their queen down]]]]. |
| 84 | * ''Franchise/TheDCU'': |
| 85 | ** ''[[Characters/NewGodsDarkseid Darkseid]]'': Even Darkseid has a Bigger Fish -- his own father, Yuga Khan. Thankfully for Darkseid and the universe, all ''he'' cares about is learning the truth about the Source, and was trapped, as everybody else is, attempting to penetrate it. However, when he freed himself, he briefly terrorized Apokolips even worse than his son did, and caused Darkseid to attempt to hide. Having learned nothing from his previous attempt, Yuga Khan once again attempted to invade the Source and ended up once again trapped. |
| 86 | ** ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': A common theme throughout most iterations, especially in the case of Doomsday. Clark Kent is one of the most powerful beings in the world, so the only times he can really face a challenge is when he faces someone from somewhere else with even more power than him. |
| 87 | ** In ''ComicBook/SupermanSupergirlMaelstrom'', Superman and Characters/{{Supergirl|TheCharacter}} are exploring a distant alien world. At one point, they are fending off a group of hominid-like predators who have ambushed them in the middle of a jungle, when a humongous newt-like monster rushes out of the shrubbery and gobbles one of the beasts down, prompting the rest of the pack to flee in terror. |
| 88 | ** ''ComicBook/SupergirlAdventuresGirlOfSteel'': Done accidentally. As fighting General Zod in the Fortress of Solitude, Supergirl pushes him into the pen of the Teerpa, a dangerous alien animal who pounces on Zod. However, Kara did not intend Zod to be eaten, so she gets him out of there. |
| 89 | ** In ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'' storyline ''ComicBook/JudgmentInInfinity'', the incredibly powerful Adjudicator has stomped over Diana and her allies effortlessly. Before he can obliterate the heroines together with their home worlds, though, he is stopped and whisked away by his ''massively'' powerful overseers, who are not happy about being bothered by his annoying antics. |
| 90 | * ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'': In ''The Dead Man'', Yassa Povey is saved from being eaten by feral grunts by a sinister phantom who scares them off and then pursues him. It later turns out to be [[spoiler:the Sisters of Death]] looking for the Dead Man. |
| 91 | * ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'': |
| 92 | ** ''ComicBook/DoctorStrange'': In one story arc, Strange is menaced by the cosmically powerful sorceress Umar. He finds and releases an artificial EldritchAbomination called Zom which is the one thing that scares her. Needless to say this quickly backfires (if Strange couldn't handle Umar, he has no chance of containing something bigger than her), and he has to find a bigger fish yet, going through a ChainOfDeals which ends with the Living Tribunal, ''the'' single biggest fish in the entire Marvel ''Multiverse'' (apart from an unseen, vaguely-defined "[[TheMaker One-Above-All]]"). The Tribunal himself was defeated in the leadup to ''ComicBook/{{Infinity}}''. It seems this was done by the mysterious 'Rabum Alal' -- Sumerian for "Great Destroyer" -- as his herald Black Swan calls him. And now, as of ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015'', the Living Tribunal [[spoiler:is dead at the hands of the Beyonders]]. |
| 93 | ** ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'': The Hulk might be Earth's strongest superhuman, but in most cases he can't match cosmic entities - as Gaea, the Phoenix Force, Dormammu, Galactus, and most prominently Zeus have proven. It does work both ways, though: many super-strong aliens and even gods have arrived on Earth only to find that there's a Bigger Fish right here. |
| 94 | ** In ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvel'', Gah Lak Tus is one of the biggest threats in that universe. When 616 [[Characters/MarvelComicsGalactus Galactus]] arrives through a tear in reality, Gah Lak Tus tries to consume him. Upon realizing that Galactus is both a kindred spirit and far more powerful, Gah Lak Tus immediately chooses to [[FusionDance merge with him]] and serve him as his new Heralds. |
| 95 | ** Over the decades, TheWorfEffect has hit Galactus pretty hard. If you want to show your new cosmic threat is serious business, let him smack Galactus hard enough that he feels it. But the two main Bigger Fish Galactus has encountered over the years are the Beyonder, who ran roughshod over the whole Marvel Universe in ''Secret Wars II,'' and Abraxas, who it turns out is a ''multiversal'' threat held in check by the energies absorbed by the planet-eating of every Galactus in the multiverse. |
| 96 | ** ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'': After escaping Krakoa, Longshot is hunted down in the Savage Land by ComicBook/TheUltimates and confronted by the Scarlet Witch, who has probability manipulating powers like his. How does the encounter end? With Longshot turned into a cat. |
| 97 | * ''ComicBook/TheMultiversity'': Hellmachine is a giant monstrosity, with what appears to be a city on its head, and is apparently the "third angel of despair". After being driven off by the heroes in ''The Multiversity #2'', it's promptly devoured by the [[EldritchAbomination hideous things dwelling inside the Bleed]]. |
| 98 | * ''ComicBook/NthManTheUltimateNinja'': This occurs when RealityWarper Alfie O'Meagan is waiting for a cosmic being called M'Gubgub. He barely avoids being stepped on by a massive alien who dwarfs the planet and proceeds to praise M'Gubgub... only for the alien to run away in a panic, as the ''galaxy-dwarfing'' M'Gubgub arrives. |
| 99 | * ''ComicBook/TheWalkingDead'': Rick and the Survivors are the bigger fish to many other groups who foolishly try to threaten them, but they meet their own in The Saviors. |
| 100 | [[/folder]] |
| 101 | |
| 102 | [[folder:Comic Strips]] |
| 103 | * ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': In an early Sunday strip, Calvin shrinks down suddenly to the size of a bug from the perspective of other bugs. A fly tries to step on him until a frog eats it. |
| 104 | * ''ComicStrip/CulDeSac'': Used and ultimately subverted in [[http://www.gocomics.com/culdesac/2011/11/20 this]] strip, where two kids have a "drawing fight" -- one draws a giant duck, the other draws the Moon which hits the duck, the first draws a rocket to push it away, the rocket is bitten by a dog, which is eaten by the larger dog Big Shirley, which is eaten by Bigger Shirley, which is eaten by Biggest Shirley, which uses up all the paper. |
| 105 | --> "Nothing beats Biggest Shirley." |
| 106 | * ''ComicStrip/ShermansLagoon'': One comic has a progression of Bigger Fish eating each other. When Sherman, a great white shark, shows up to eat the third, another fish protests "You're going out of turn. I eat that guy, then you eat me." |
| 107 | [[/folder]] |
| 108 | |
| 109 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 110 | * ''Fanfic/BetweenMinds'': What's worse than a [[VideoGame/HalfLife2 Combine battalion]] capturing the hero? [[spoiler:A Xenian water monster, of course!]] |
| 111 | * ''Fanfic/TheBridge'': |
| 112 | ** The story has a heroic example when we get to see what happens when a giant from [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic one franchise]] meets an even bigger giant from [[Franchise/{{Godzilla}} another]]. Garble and his gang greed-growth into fully grown, rampaging, 50-70 meter dragons... [[BigDamnHeroes Cue]] the 90 meter tall Anguirus to [[CurbStompBattle show them who's the alpha predator]]. [[StealthPun BIG]] damn heroes indeed. |
| 113 | ** Flashbacks and the universe timeline reveal that the [[Film/PacificRim Anteverse kaiju]] ended up on the receiving end of this -- in addition to the Jaegers, they also had to deal with various other human mecha, in addition to all the heroic kaiju in Godzilla's faction. The couple of examples we're shown reveal that the Anteverse bunch didn't stand a chance. |
| 114 | * ''Fanfic/CrimsonAndNoire'': After she is outed as an Akuma rather than the Fox Miraculous weilder, Volpina becomes a tough challenge against Crimson and Noire. She is soon outmatched [[spoiler:by the true Fox Hero Citrine Húlí, who has far more powerful illusions that put hers to shame]]. |
| 115 | * ''Fanfic/ADiplomaticVisit'': Comes into play in the sequel ''Diplomat at Large''. [[spoiler:The Powers have their own pecking order of sorts; in Chapter 4, Chrysalis claims Celestia overstepped hers by imprisoning Chrysalis in a volcano, and that as the Lady of Self-Centeredness, she outranks Celestia. After Cadance points out that Chrysalis attacked ''two'' other Powers unprovoked, ''another'' Power shows up to put Chrysalis in her place by stripping her of her status -- Discord, since as Lord of Disharmony, Self-Centeredness is one of his sub-Powers.]] |
| 116 | * In ''Fanfic/ADreamOfDawn'', Nightmare Moon has overthrown Celestia, shattered the Elements of Harmony and rules Equestria with an iron hoof. Her reign lasts about five minutes after [[BigBad Discord]] returns. |
| 117 | * ''Fanfic/ForgingABetterFuture'': The U.S. Government to Tempest. Tempest might control most, if not all of Starling through their corruption of the local government, but they are ''nothing'' compared to the sheer might of the federal government. Ultimately, this is how Oliver manages to take them down, by leaning on his own connections to the federal government through A.R.G.U.S., and by working with the local FBI field office, which is one of the few agencies Tempest couldn't corrupt. |
| 118 | * ''Fanfic/GameTheoryLyricalNanoha'': Nanoha and Fate are outmatched by one of the Jewel Seed monsters until [[spoiler:Zest]] makes his appearance by killing it in one blow. |
| 119 | * ''Fanfic/TheInfiniteLoops'': |
| 120 | ** Many of the Loops have beings of godlike power native to the setting. The Admins who are working to repair Yggdrasil are infinitely more powerful than ''all'' of them. It's the difference between a computer program and the programmer: No matter how powerful the program, it can't actually hurt the programmer. |
| 121 | ** Most loopers (especially Anchors, who loop the most) soon reach the point where they can curb-stomp every single villain from their home universe by themselves. When they cross over into other universes, they really get a chance to shine, as they don't have the benefit of foreknowledge but can still curb-stomp everyone. In ''Fanfic/TheMLPLoops'', Twilight finds herself in the ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' loop, where she is possessed by the Other. The Other is an unfathomably intelligent [[BodySurf body-jumper]] that is centuries old at least and has been worshiped as a goddess by an entire species. Twilight kills her in seconds in a process described as plucking the wings off a fly. |
| 122 | ** And then there are the Original Seven, the first Anchors, who are so unfathomably old that they are stronger than ''anyone'' else. Trixie mentions at one point that Lina has a spell that sells her soul to a demon god or equivalent local entity. Lina can use it as much as she wants because she knows there's no demon strong enough to threaten her. In fact, they are so unspeakably powerful that they have to be careful not to get any stronger, or their entire home universe might crash from their mere presence. |
| 123 | * In ''Fanfic/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAvengerS'', what will happen if the TSAB have a diplomatic meeting with Earth? [[spoiler:The Asgardians will join in, obviously!]] |
| 124 | * ''Fanfic/NaturalHistories'': This is a major theme in "The Fountain", where no matter how dangerous and aggressive something is there always something else that can destroy it -- unseen monsters preying on the cockatrices and timberwolves, a colony of giant spiders that overwhelm and consume a mass of voracious, magical slime mold, and in the end [[spoiler:a simple salamander egg, whose fiery hatching incinerates everything else in the glade]]. |
| 125 | * In ''Fanfic/TheNecromancer'', Mr Gold recognises that Sauron and Gandalf command far more powerful magic than he could ever hope to possess; [[spoiler:Gold has to join with Gandalf, Emma and Regina to have enough power to stop Sauron]]. |
| 126 | * An [[AntiHero anti-heroic]] example in ''Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls''. During Chapter 4 of the original, a group of village women are taken to a church by the [[ArmyOfThievesAndWhores Black Dogs]] for an [[RapePillageAndBurn orgy]], only for the Hunter to barge in the debauchery and [[{{Gorn}} rain hell]] upon the mercs responsible with his cleaver and gun. Unsurprisingly, the naked and [[DullEyesOfUnhappiness blank-eyed]] villagers can do nothing but behold the TerrifyingRescuer [[BloodSplatteredWarrior covered in the insides of his foes]] in fear. His [[TheStoic emotionless visage]] and [[DarkIsNotEvil gothic hunter attire that obscures his facial features]] does not help any matters in the slightest. The Hunter himself muses on this situation, internally noting that he looks more like a monster unleashed upon the other monsters than some saviour. Many a MookHorrorShow described in this fanfic only serves to hammer this notion further. |
| 127 | * In ''Fanfic/OppositesDestroy'', after renegade genie Djinn tricks a little girl into wishing that he was a free genie with full powers, [[spoiler:he is ultimately trapped by Fasir and the Mukhtar, who are able to force him to use his powers to undo what he did since freed]]. |
| 128 | * ''Fanfic/PrehistoricParkReturnedFromExtinction'': This is practically a RunningGag. |
| 129 | ** The first chapter has Nigel being caught between a pair of ''[[GiantFlyer Quetzalcoatlus]]'' and ''[[RaptorAttack Dakotaraptor]]'' until a female ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' shows up and convinces the four predators to beat a hasty retreat. |
| 130 | ** A quartet of ''Mei long'' that were harassing one of the camera crew book it through the portal when a pack of ''Sinotyrannus'' show up. Hilariously, the ''Sinnotyrannus'' weren't even after the ''Mei'' -- they were chasing a group of ''Chuanqilong'' who just happened to burst into the same area as Nigel, his team, and their attackers. |
| 131 | * ''Fanfic/RemnantAndRuneterraATaleOfTwoWorlds'': The Creatures of Grimm have always been a blight on the people of Remnant. Imagine their reaction to [[BigRedDevil Aatrox]] or [[spoiler:[[EldritchAbomination Vel'koz]]]], coming to their world. |
| 132 | * ''Fanfic/ServiceWithASmile'': To a small independent coffee shop like Jaune's, the international coffee chain Cafe Prime is an invincible juggernaut with unlimited resources, and there is nothing he can do to stop them from destroying him. Then Cafe Prime accidentally insults the Schnee Dust Company, a world-spanning MegaCorp with power on par with the governments. When Jacques Schnee finds out about the insult, he just muses that utterly destroying them might be fun, and orders it done with as much attention as he might spare for ordering dinner. |
| 133 | * In ''Fanfic/ShadowsOfGiants'', an Oodako stalks a giant squid, only to be caught and eaten by Godzilla. |
| 134 | * ''Fanfic/ThisBites'': PlayedForLaughs in the Post-Enies Lobby arc. Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp chase after Cross and Leo, intent on making Cross pay for his general smartassery and for not warning them about [[{{Squick}} Granny Kokoro's mermaid form]], and in Zoro's case, making Leo pay for holding back during their spars in order to get Zoro to go easier on him than he otherwise would. Cross tries and fails to talk his way out of his impending doom, but he and Leo are saved just in the nick of time by an even more terrifying monster: [[MadDoctor Chopper]], who is incensed by the lot of them not allowing their injuries to heal. |
| 135 | * ''Fanfic/TheUniversiad'': The Forum's Forerunner-derived tech base is still dwarfed by several others, among them Literature/TheCulture. |
| 136 | [[/folder]] |
| 137 | |
| 138 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 139 | * ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife'': At the end of the movie, Flik deals with Hopper by [[spoiler:luring him to the nest of the insect-eating bird that had appeared as a giant, monstrous menace earlier in the film]]. |
| 140 | * ''WesternAnimation/FindingDory'' has a pretty hilarious example. When the truck containing the fish falls into the ocean, a small fish gets eaten by a bigger fish, which gets eaten by an even bigger fish. Suddenly, the even bigger fish sneezes and spits out the slightly smaller fish, which in turn spits out the smallest fish. |
| 141 | * ''WesternAnimation/FunAndFancyFree'': In the "Mickey and the Beanstalk" segment, when Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy arrive at Willie the Giant's castle after their house is carried upwards by a beanstalk, a giant dragonfly swoops down and tries to attack the three, but a giant catfish living in Willie's moat jumps up and eats the dragonfly. |
| 142 | * In ''WesternAnimation/HelpImAFish'', the main characters are collecting ingredients to make a potion to turn them back into humans, but run into trouble getting an octopus to squirt ink, as it is much bigger than they are and thus just grabs them. It does eventually squirt ink and swim away, which Fly attributes to their screaming scaring it off, but was really because of the [[ThreateningShark great white shark approaching]]... |
| 143 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTimeIVJourneyThroughTheMists'' has the kids pursued by a nearly-blind ''Deinosuchus'', Dil, while her [[VitriolicBestBuds partner Ichy]] acts as her eyes. They continually argue about not needing each other, but just when Dil finally gets fed up and sends Ichy flying off, she realizes there is angry ''Hydrotherosaurus'' towering over her. |
| 144 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Minions}}'': |
| 145 | ** The opening credits sequence has a gag where the minions find a boss, that boss is eaten, and the minions want to serve the new creature... until that creature is eaten as well, culminating in the Minions serving a ''Tyrannosaurus rex''. |
| 146 | ** Done in a more subtle way at the end. [[spoiler:Scarlet Overkill makes off with the crown of England... only to be literally frozen in her tracks by a young Felonious Gru, who takes the crown right out of her hands and flies off.]] |
| 147 | --->'''[[spoiler:Scarlet]]''': YouHaveNoIdeaWhoYoureDealingWith! I'm [[spoiler:Scarlet Overkill! The world's greatest super villain]]!\ |
| 148 | '''[[spoiler:Gru]]''': [[spoiler:[[ShutUpHannibal Oh, ''were'' you now?]]]] |
| 149 | * In ''WesternAnimation/{{Moana}}'', a giant eel-like creature tries to eat Moana when she arrives in the Realm of Monsters, but is itself eaten by a giant plant monster in the nick of time. |
| 150 | * ''WesternAnimation/RalphBreaksTheInternet'': When Ralph and Vanellope go to ''Slaughter Race'', they're accosted by a pitbull... and then a great white shark pops out of a manhole and eats it in a single bite. It sets the tone for how ridiculously dangerous the game is supposed to feel. |
| 151 | * WesternAnimation/TheRugratsMovie: * When the babies are confronted by the circus monkeys on the bridge, but something scares the monkeys away. After the babies stop cheering, they comes face to face in horror with an unintentional savior who then attempts to [[FromBadToWorse kill them]]: Scar Snout the V-Wolf. |
| 152 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie'': |
| 153 | ** Played straight early in the film when the frogfish that just ate [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick's car is itself eaten by an ''enormous'' deep-sea eel. [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick's [[http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/g33PYjkPy0s/maxresdefault.jpg shocked expressions]] are priceless, to the point of becoming a {{meme|ticMutation}} -- at least, Patrick's did. |
| 154 | ** PlayedForLaughs later on when Dennis the BountyHunter finally catches up to [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick. [[spoiler:Dennis goes to step on [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick, [[BaitAndSwitchBoss only to be stomped on by the "Cyclops".]]]] Patrick even yells out "Bigger Boot!" |
| 155 | [[/folder]] |
| 156 | |
| 157 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 158 | * ''{{Film/Abominable}}'': Dr. Suessmeyer insists "This is not {{Bigfoot|SasquatchAndYeti}}. This is bigger than Bigfoot. And meaner." |
| 159 | * In ''Film/AlienVsPredator'', a Franchise/{{Predator}} attacks Alexa, but is killed by an Franchise/{{Alien}}. |
| 160 | * ''Film/{{Apocalypto}}'': [[spoiler:The Spaniards in the ending]]. |
| 161 | * In ''Film/AquamanAndTheLostKingdom'', the horde of giant insects attempting to devour Aquaman and Orm are instead devoured by a forest of {{Man Eating Plant}}s. |
| 162 | * In ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', Jake faces down a huge, charging rhino-like titanothere. When it stops and retreats, he thinks he's won, only to have to run from what really scared it off: the bigger and nastier-looking carnivorous thanator that was creeping up behind him. |
| 163 | ** Subverted in ''Film/AvatarTheWayOfWater.'' Lo'ak is about to be devoured by an akula, a massive shark-like predator, when a much larger sea creature slams it into the reef, killing it. It looks like this trope initially... except the creature in question - a [[SpaceWhale whale-like]] tulkun - then saves Lo'ak from drowning and starts communicating with him. Tulkun are in fact sentient beings who see the Na'vi as fellow people, and his rescue of Lo'ak was entirely intentional, rather than motivated by food or territory like most Bigger Fish. |
| 164 | * ''Film/BloodSurf'': Memorably, at one point the crocodile saves one of the main characters from a shark. Then later eats him too. |
| 165 | * ''Film/TheColourOfMagic'': Subverted when a sinking pirate ship is devoured by a sea monster the size of a village... which shortly washes up dead on an island, as the ''smaller'' fish it swallowed along with the ship just happened to be the Luggage. Which kicked it to death from the inside. |
| 166 | * In the 2023 horror film ''Cobweb'', Peter's house is broken into by his school bully Brian, accompanied by Brian's older cousin and a few of the cousin's friends, with the intent of smashing up the house as payback for Peter pushing Brian down the stairs. Unfortunately for them, [[spoiler:Peter has just released his deformed and insane older sister Sarah from captivity after she manipulated him into killing their parents, and Sarah quite literally tears the bullies apart so that she can focus on tormenting her brother for herself]]. |
| 167 | * ''Film/DungeonsAndDragonsHonorAmongThieves'': The party are in the Underdark, cornered by a team of undead Thayan assassins who just keep getting back up when killed, when the ground starts shaking and a ''massive'' red dragon breaks down the wall. Everyone starts running. |
| 168 | * ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'': |
| 169 | ** ''Film/{{Rodan}}'': The miners are attacked by giant insects called the Meganulon...That is, [[FromBadToWorse until the baby Rodan started hatching and began devouring the Meganulon, attacking the miners, and escaping into the city.]] |
| 170 | ** ''Film/WarOfTheGargantuas'' begins with a giant octopus attacking a fishing trawler at sea, but it's fended off by the Green Gargantua, Gaira, [[HopeSpot who then sinks the ship instead]]. |
| 171 | ** The titular ''Film/SonOfGodzilla'' hatches from his egg and is immediately set upon by a trio of giant mantises, Kamacuras. Fortunately for him, Godzilla arrives and delivers a CurbStompBattle on the Kamacuras. The last surviving Kamacuras is later killed and eaten by the GiantSpider, Kumonga. |
| 172 | ** Played straight in ''Film/GodzillaVsMechagodzillaII''. Several members of the JSDF are attacked by Rodan as they try to take an egg from a nest. And, then, Godzilla (who is larger than Rodan) shows up and attacks both the JSDF and Rodan. |
| 173 | ** Averted in ''Film/GodzillaMothraKingGhidorahGiantMonstersAllOutAttack''. Actually Baragon is never attacked by the JDSF, as the Cabinet never actually takes action. In this instance Godzilla is still the Bigger Fish. Baragon goes straight to battle with him. Baragon is the hero, but nowhere near being the bigger fish. |
| 174 | ** ''Film/Godzilla2014'': The main dynamic between Godzilla and the [=MUTO=]s in; Godzilla happens to be the apex predator of eons-old radioactive giants, and is pursuing the [=MUTO=]s like a predator hunts its prey. |
| 175 | * ''Literature/JourneyToTheCenterOfTheEarth'': In the Creator/BrendanFraser version, the heroes are saved from vicious coelacanth-type fish by plesiosaur-like sea monsters. |
| 176 | * ''Franchise/JurassicPark'': |
| 177 | ** The heroes of ''Film/JurassicPark1993'' are about to get eaten by ''Velociraptors'', but the ''T. rex'' shows up, trounces the raptors and saves the day. How it appeared there without anyone noticing, or why the protagonists are now less terrified than they were earlier, remains completely unexplained (there was a barely noticeable hole in the wall it possibly came in through). [[WordOfGod According to the producers]], they were struggling with the ending when they came to the realization that it was really the hero of the movie, and that was when everything fell into place. |
| 178 | ** In ''Film/JurassicParkIII'', the heroes run from a ''Spinosaurus'' straight into the hunting grounds of a ''T. rex''. The ''Spinosaurus'' [[spoiler:"rescues" the heroes [[TheWorfEffect by killing]] the ''T. rex'']], but later begins chasing them again. |
| 179 | ** In ''Film/JurassicWorld'', the protagonists attempt a SummonBiggerFish against the ''Indominus rex'' by opening the ''T. rex'' enclosure, but ''I. rex'' proves too much for everything thrown at her [[spoiler:until the ''T. rex'' knocks her through a fence to the edge of the lagoon and [[SeaMonster the mosasaur]] eats her]]. |
| 180 | ** In ''Film/JurassicWorldFallenKingdom'', a ''Carnotaurus'' sees Owen and is ready to pounce on him for its dinner. That's when Rexy comes to the rescue again and [[CurbStompBattle easily subdues]] the smaller theropod with a MightyRoar. |
| 181 | * ''Film/KingKong2005'': |
| 182 | ** While escaping from Kong's lair Ann runs into a pair of the crocodilian monsters, Foetodon who spot and chase her down. She tries to hide in a hollow log, which prompts one of the Foetodon to tear at the wood to try to get her. The creature's eyes suddenly widen and it screams in horror as something drags it out of the log and kills it scaring off the other one. After Ann runs out of the log to avoid getting attacked by a group of giant centipedes in it, she comes face to face with her unintentional savior who then proceeds to [[FromBadToWorse chase her down]]: Vastatosaurus Rex. |
| 183 | ** In one scene during the extended cut, the film crew is attacked by a swarm of large aquatic centipedes while rafting down a swamp. All the centipedes abruptly retreat at once, and after a moment of discomforting silence, the rafts are now attacked by a [[SeaMonster Piranhadon]] which rams the makeshift boats to splinters. |
| 184 | ** Kong himself is a near constant example of this trope in the first half of the movie, as he repeatedly kills a number of animals that are trying to eat Anne Darrow from the lowly Terapusmordax to the massive aforementioned Vastatosaurus even when they outnumber him 3 to 1. All to show who unambiguously rules Skull Island. |
| 185 | * In ''Film/LakePlacid'', the protagonists are arguing near the lakeside when a bear appears and attacks them. Then the crocodile unexpectedly pops out of the water and drags the bear in by its leg. |
| 186 | * In ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing'', the eponymous gang of nine are in the deeps of Moria surrounded by countless goblins... until the goblins themselves start running for their very lives. Turns out a Balrog, an ancient demon and one of the most powerful entities in all Arda, had woken up and was ''really'' mad. |
| 187 | * ''Film/{{Prey}}''; Naru's attempt at proving herself in a hunt goes awry and she's forced to hide in a beaver dam from the grizzly bear she pissed off. Just before it breaks through the dam and eats her, the Predator that had been stalking the bear attacks and kills it. |
| 188 | * Done twice in ''Film/TheMeg'', first when the deep sea expedition is attacked by a giant squid, which gets eaten by the titular prehistoric shark. And second, [[spoiler:when they kill the ''first'' megalodon only for an even bigger one to eat the corpse and use its blood to breach the thermocline]]. |
| 189 | * ''Film/RimOfTheWorld'': The Purge Mask gang is about to kill the kids to steal and sell their key, and it's clear that the kids have no way to get out of the situation. Then the alien comes along and wipes out the gang in a few minutes. |
| 190 | * In ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan'', the ([[AsTheGoodBookSays very religious]]) sniper finishes off wave after wave of German infantry -- until he stares down the barrel of a [[TankGoodness Marder Self-Propelled Gun]]. From a clocktower, no less. |
| 191 | * ''Film/SharknadoThe4thAwakens'': Taken [[ExaggeratedTrope Up to Eleven]]: Finn gets swallowed by a shark, which is then swallowed by a larger shark, which is swallowed by an even larger shark, which is swallowed by a still larger shark, which is swallowed by... [[ArtisticLicenseBiology a blue whale]]. |
| 192 | * ''Film/{{Sharktopus}}'': In the beginning of the movie, a beach girl is attacked by a shark while swimming off the shoreline, but the Sharktopus saves her by devouring it. |
| 193 | * ''Film/StarTrek2009'' has this happen when Kirk is abandoned on an ice planet. He gets chased by some sort of space polar bear. After a while another massive creature smashes through the ice and kills it -- [[SuperPersistentPredator and then promptly throws the large slab of meat it just caught to chase down Kirk]]. |
| 194 | * ''Franchise/StarWars'': In ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', as Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Jar Jar travel in a sub through the watery core of Naboo, this happens twice in a row: their sub is first attacked by a crablike [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Opee_sea_killer opee sea killer,]] and then later by a serpentine [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Colo_claw_fish colo claw fish]]. On both occasions, a ''massive'' [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sando_aqua_monster sando aqua monster]] comes along and eats the smaller predator. |
| 195 | -->'''Qui-Gon:''' There's [[TropeNamers always a bigger fish]]. |
| 196 | [[/folder]] |
| 197 | |
| 198 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 199 | * ''Literature/TheActsOfCaine'': In ''Heroes Die'', Hari spends much of the book being harassed by Administrator Kollberg. At the end, he is arrested by the Social Police. |
| 200 | * ''Literature/AgathaHAndTheVoiceOfTheCastle'': Threats found in the rafters of Castle Heterodyne include bloodbats, which eat people, spider-roaches, which also eat people, and venomous rafter toads, which eat the bloodbats and spider-roaches. And the occasional person. |
| 201 | * In Creator/PeterBenchley's ''Literature/{{Beast}}'', the titular giant squid is moments from finishing the remaining characters when it is attacked, killed, and presumably eaten by an equally massive sperm whale. |
| 202 | * ''Literature/BeyondReality'' contains more than a few examples of this: |
| 203 | ** In ''Cthulhu's Awakening'', the titular [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Cthulhu]] is noted to be the size of a mountain and capable of destroying stars under his own power, forcing the protagonists to run for their life as Cthulhu follows them between universes. [[spoiler: Once they get to God's universe however, the omnipotent creator easily dispatches Cthulhu's army of Star-Spawn and turns Cthulhu himself into a plushie]]. |
| 204 | ** This also happens in ''When Your Reality Cracks'', where Nyarlathotep frees the Interdimensional Goddess known as Celeste to cause chaos across the multiverse, while believing that she is no threat to him. [[spoiler: Halfway through the novel, Celeste shows him just how wrong that assumption is]]. |
| 205 | * ''Literature/BruceCovillesBookOf'': |
| 206 | ** ''Bruce Coville's Book of Nightmares'': [[spoiler:''The Baby-Sitter'' features "Them", a mysterious force that lurks in the house where the Mitchell family lives, but they have a special protection ritual that, done once a night, keeps "Them" from harming the person who does it. When the titular babysitter is confronted and chased down the hall by a burglar one night, he fails to do the ritual, and "They" attack and eliminate him]]. |
| 207 | ** ''Bruce Coville's Book of Spine Tinglers'': In ''Grendel'', scientists analyze a {{Kaiju}} that has washed up on shore, marveling at its massive size. [[spoiler:The story ends with the monster's much, ''much'' bigger mother showing up to find out what happened to her baby...]] |
| 208 | * ''Literature/TheButterBattleBook'': A LensmanArmsRace between the Yooks and Zooks, where both sides are feuding about [[SillyReasonForWar whether to butter your toast on the top or bottom]], sees them go from whips to slingshots to catapults to guns to bombs to mega-bombs, with the Zooks frequently one-upping the Yooks' weapons until it reaches an AmbiguousEnding with both sides involved in a MexicanStandoff... |
| 209 | * ''Literature/CiaphasCain'': |
| 210 | ** In ''Cain's Last Stand'', the schola and [[RedShirtArmy PDF]] are completely swamped by the forces of [[TheCorruption Chaos]]. They've fallen back to the secret facility containing the [[ArtifactOfDoom Shadowlight]], and are about to be overwhelmed when the [[OmnicidalManiac Necrons]] decide to show up. They butcher the forces of Chaos pretty handily, giving Ciaphas Cain [[note]]HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!!![[/note]] and company an opportunity to evacuate. |
| 211 | ** Earlier in Cain's career in ''Caves of Ice'', some Necrons save his butt again by fending off the Ork attack long enough for them to evacuate, but not before Cain sets the whole facility to explode. |
| 212 | ** In ''The Traitor's Hand'', Cain and co. have to fight through a horde of well-entrenched Chaos cultists before they complete a ritual that will plunge the planet into [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace the Warp]], with no certainty they'll succeed. Cue the sudden appearance of five Chaos Berserkers [[EnemyCivilWar who worship another Chaos God]], and who proceed to slaughter their way through the cultists with abandon, leaving Cain to only follow the trail of destruction to reach their goal. |
| 213 | * ''Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian'': In ''Literature/TheScarletCitadel'', Conan, as DistressedDude, is menaced by a giant snake, which is scared away by a man coming to kill Conan for killing his brother. The snake then comes back and eats that man. Then the snake pops up again... and ''he's'' scared of the wizard Conan has freed and races off again for real this time. |
| 214 | * ''Literature/CradleSeries'': At every plateau of power, a sacred artist is practically undefeatable to anyone below them. Coppers can easily defeat Foundation, Irons can defeat Coppers, Jades can defeat Irons. There is a level above Jade, Gold, but there hasn't been a Gold in Sacred Valley in hundreds of years. And then Lindon finds out that the outside world considers Gold to be the first real level of the sacred arts -- most people reach that level in their teens. |
| 215 | * ''Literature/TheCrusaders'': |
| 216 | ** The first book has the Earth almost destroyed by the first arc's villain, Dr. Anarchy, who was legitimately a big deal. Then the Brutikai warrior, Glorien, walks in and [[VillainTeamUp recruits]] him. |
| 217 | ** Darkstar shows up in volume two, and is powerful enough to annihilate Mind Master and Starbolt in combat without resting between the fights, something even Glorien couldn't pull off. |
| 218 | * ''Literature/{{Devolution}}'': Several days after the eruption of Mt. Rainier, a hungry mountain lion enters Greenloop and nearly kills Palomino, only for Mostar to chase it off with a homemade spear. That night, Kate hears the sounds of the mountain lion running afoul of one of the Sasquatches, which kills and eats the unfortunate feline with little trouble. |
| 219 | * ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' sees this happen a few times. |
| 220 | ** In ''Literature/ProvenGuilty'', Harry has just [[spoiler:escaped from where Madrigal Raith and his lackey have been holding him hostage]] and they've started fighting... only for the bad guys to end up running away as fast as possible when the book's actual BigBad shows up. |
| 221 | ** ''Literature/SmallFavor'' also has a sequence where Harry's trying to get away from a FallenAngel, only for [[spoiler:the fairy assassin Eldest Brother Gruff]] to show up and take out the guy without even trying. |
| 222 | * Creator/AlanDeanFoster loves this trope, especially as an excuse to show off his weird alien ecologies in the ''Literature/HumanxCommonwealth'' series. |
| 223 | ** In ''Drowning World'', characters menaced by a branch-clambering maccaluca are saved when it's snapped up by a vuniwai leaping up from the water. |
| 224 | ** ''Mid-Flinx'' is essentially one long string of Bigger Fish: Flinx's initial human pursuers are killed and supplanted by [=AAnn=] pursuers, and both groups of enemies are gradually picked off by one bizarre jungle predator after another. |
| 225 | ** It's played with in ''For Love Of Mother-Not'' when the penestral (roughly speaking, a pike that's 50 feet long) that attacks the bad guys ''doesn't'' save the heroes from them (it eats their boat, but the real villains has just escaped onto a flyer). The fisherwoman escorting Flinx scoffs at its size, pointing out that it wasn't terribly big for a penestral, and that the penestral is ''only'' a mid-range predator anyway. She offers to take Flinx fishing for oboweir sometime, and when he asks the inevitable "What's an oboweir?", her reply is "A fish that eats penestral." |
| 226 | * In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'', Harry and Hermione are surrounded by an angry mob of centaurs. Just as the situation is looking rather grim, a giant shows up, scattering the herd and chasing them into the forest. Hermione, characteristically, is worried about the centaurs. It's worth noting that these centaurs, in turn, had gotten rid of Dolores Umbridge, the FauxAffablyEvil Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, and the centaurs were angry BECAUSE Hermione had [[SummonBiggerFish manipulated them into getting rid of Umbridge.]] |
| 227 | * ''Franchise/JamesBond'': |
| 228 | ** In ''Literature/CasinoRoyale'' (book and movie), Bond is rescued from [[BigBad Le Chiffre]] when Le Chiffre's own superiors (SMERSH or QUANTUM, depending on the source) assassinate him. |
| 229 | ** Bond himself is the Bigger Fish in ''Literature/TheSpyWhoLovedMe'' (the original novel only[[note]]Ian Fleming was very dissatisfied with this novel and only gave permission for the title to be used when he sold the film rights. Thus, the film has very little similarity to the novel.[[/note]]) when, while checking into a hotel, he walks in on two small-time mobsters who are attempting to rape Viv Michel. |
| 230 | * ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': There are all kinds of monstrous creatures in a Chaotic Zone. Kallen once faced a giant lizard thing when a much bigger monster came out of the Fog and ate it. She ran away to make sure she wasn't next on the menu. |
| 231 | * ''Literature/JustSoStories'': In "The Butterfly That Stamped", King Solomon tries to arrange for all the animals in the world to be fed at once, only for some tremendous monster to rise out of the sea, eat everything in three bites and reveal that it was only the smallest of thirty thousand such titans. |
| 232 | -->''Once he tried to feed all the animals in all the world in one day, but when the food was ready an Animal came out of the deep sea and ate it up in three mouthfuls. Suleiman-bin-Daoud was very surprised and said, "O Animal, who are you?" And the Animal said, "O King, live for ever! I am the smallest of thirty thousand brothers, and our home is at the bottom of the sea. We heard that you were going to feed all the animals in all the world, and my brothers sent me to ask when dinner would be ready."'' |
| 233 | * ''Literature/{{Nightside}}'': Used in ''Nightingale's Lament'' when a limo Taylor is riding in is about to be attacked by a predator camouflaged as another car. Before it can do any damage, the critter is picked up and carried off by something ''huge'' with talons and wings. |
| 234 | * ''Literature/TheOneWhoEatsMonsters'': Ryn is the bigger fish. She mentions early on that there is absolutely nothing in the city that can truly challenge her -- the really dangerous monsters are out in the wilds, and she's killed most of those anyway. When the villains attack her with a weapon forged by their master, that can kill any god weaker than him, Ryn performs a BulletCatch with only minimal difficulty and destroys the weapon. |
| 235 | * Used for the TwistEnding of ''Literature/OutOfTheDark''. Thought you could wipe out humanity, aliens? [[spoiler:Cue the vampires.]] |
| 236 | * In Creator/HollingCHolling's ''Pagoo'', the titular hermit crab is seized by a hungry octopus, but is spared from being eaten when a moray eel bites off the tentacle that captured him. |
| 237 | * ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'': In ''The Titan's Curse'', a quad of undead warriors who was attacking the heroes is chased off by the Erymanthian Boar. |
| 238 | * ''Literature/RealmOfTheElderlings'': In the third book of the ''Liveship Traders'' trilogy, Bingtown is being completely overrun by the Chalcedonians... when the last of the ancient race of [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragons]] wakes from her unexpectedly lengthy slumber, and goes looking in Bingtown for those responsible for her awakening. The Chalcedonians fire arrows at her in terror, and, in response, she effortlessly kills them all. |
| 239 | * ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'': In the 11th book, the Baudelaire orphans are in a submarine which is [[spoiler:being attacked by the main villain]]. However, when a mysterious question mark appears on the radar, everyone is scared, including [[spoiler:the attackers]]. To make matters worse/better, the author never says just what the question mark was. |
| 240 | * ''Literature/ShadowsOfTheEmpire'': The Empire plays this role at the end of the story, just as it looks like the rebels are about to be obliterated by Xizor's forces. |
| 241 | * Creator/ShelSilverstein: [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2a/5d/56/2a5d56384771246863c5016fc10b0347.jpg One short poem]], illustrated with increasingly large fish in the act of eating one another, mentions how in the end only the biggest fish of all gets fat -- and don't you know any people like this? |
| 242 | * ''Literature/{{Steelheart}}'' opens with an Epic named Deathpoint robbing a bank and generally murdering everyone inside. With his [[MeaningfulName ability to kill people by pointing at them]], he seems an extremely formidable guy. Then [[AntagonistTitle Steelheart]] (who is basically an evil SupermanSubstitute) shows up. When Deathpoint tried to kill him, his power is only able to burn away a bit of Steelheart's shirt, where it had instantly vaporized everyone else. |
| 243 | * In ''Literature/SuperMinion'', the sewers under E13 are so infested with monsters (starting with RodentsOfUnusualSize and going up from there) that a veteran monster hunting company was half-destroyed by a single trip into them. Tofu is pretty sure that the reason all those monsters haven't caused more problems is because [[ReluctantMonster Nicole]] lives down there and has been eating so many of them. And even she avoids will-o-wisps like the plague. |
| 244 | * Creator/JonathanSwift [[InvertedTrope flips this on its head]] when remarking on how any given parasite must surely have its own, smaller parasites feeding off of it -- whatever fish may do, there's always a smaller flea. |
| 245 | -->''So nat'ralists observe, a flea\ |
| 246 | Hath smaller fleas that on him prey,\ |
| 247 | And these have smaller fleas that bite 'em,\ |
| 248 | And so proceed ''ad infinitum''.'' |
| 249 | * In Martin Gardner's "Thang" the titular being starts eating the solar system but is interrupted by an even larger being scooping him up and swallowing him. |
| 250 | --> For there are other gods than Thang. |
| 251 | * ''Literature/TufVoyaging'': Subverted. WildCard Rica Dawnstar has Tuf outgunned and at her mercy, and refuses to believe him when he tries to point out the ''T. rex'' creeping up behind her. It looks like this trope will kick in... then it turns out she was toying with Tuf, and had the Phlebotinium to control the ''T. rex'' all along. |
| 252 | * In ''Literature/TwoSerpentsRise'', the Caleb woke the King in Red to curb-stomp high priest Temoc when the fanatic tried to sacrifice his best friend. |
| 253 | * In ''Literature/WatershipDown'', after Hazel and Co. are attacked by General Woundwort, a massive dog is led into General Woundwort's forces, who naturally run. General Woundwort himself stays to beat up the dog. It's worth noting that most of the characters are non-anthropomorphic rabbits, with the exception of Kehaar the seagull. It's not entirely certain who was the Bigger Fish here, as they NeverFoundTheBody afterwards. |
| 254 | * ''{{Literature/Worm}}'' has the Endbringers, unstoppable killing machines that require heroes and villains to team up in order to ward them off, and sometimes not even then. [[spoiler:Scion is even more powerful than all the Endbringers combined, smiting continents out of existence.]] It's sequel, ''{{Literature/Ward}}'', [[PlayingWithATrope plays with it]] as [[spoiler:Titan Fortuna is larger and stronger than the Simurgh, but the Simurgh has had years to rig the game against her. How effective this is remains to be seen]]. |
| 255 | * The ''Literature/XeeleeSequence'' is this to an ''[[ExaggeratedTrope insane degree]]''. The Transcendence for example, would be considered a near-omnipotent god-like entity if it was placed in most Sci-Fi universes like ''Franchise/StarWars'' and ''Franchise/StarTrek'' for example. However, they merely registered as an annoying speedbump to the titular Xeelee, who they themselves are being stomped flat by the Photino Birds, whilst both the Photino Birds and Xeelee being viewed as mere insects compared to the Monads. |
| 256 | [[/folder]] |
| 257 | |
| 258 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 259 | * ''Series/BoredToDeath'': Our protagonist is saved from a scary murderous thug by driving into the back of a police car. While high. |
| 260 | * ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': A scene occurs at least once per season in which some minor vampiric menace (who is convinced he's the MonsterOfTheWeek, or even BigBad) shows up to kill Buffy just in time to get eaten by the true MonsterOfTheWeek. |
| 261 | * ''Series/{{Community}}'': In "Horror Fiction In Seven Spooky Steps", Annie tells a story about a vampire version of Jeff [[spoiler:getting eaten by a werewolf version of herself]]. |
| 262 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': |
| 263 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E12ArmyOfGhosts "Army of Ghosts"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday "Doomsday"]]: An army of several thousand Cybermen has just managed to conquer Earth. Then a spaceship stored in Torchwood's basement opens up, and out come four Daleks. A large part of the next episode has the Daleks effortlessly killing Cybermen. |
| 264 | ** One of the Doctor's names is "the Predator of the Daleks", given to him by the Daleks ''themselves''. |
| 265 | ** The Time Lords are generally considered the most powerful civilization in the universe (though the Daleks are a close second). The critical bit there is the phrase "in the universe" — there are beings from outside our universe like the Guardians, the Eternals, and the Chronovores who aren't impressed with the Time Lords at all. |
| 266 | * ''Series/{{Justified}}'': Boyd Crowder has just been 'arrested' by a mob hitman pretending to be a sheriff's deputy and is about to be taken to his death. US Marshall Raylan Givens wants to talk to Boyd about a related matter and is not amused when the 'deputy' gives him lip. The hitman draws his gun and Raylan shoots him dead. Later in the episode Boyd uses SummonBiggerFish and asks the Detroit mob to help him deal with some corrupt local businessmen who made him AnOfferYouCantRefuse. Later he notes that there are only two fish bigger than the Detroit mob: God and Uncle Sam. If Boyd gets on the bad side of the Detroit Don Theo Tonnin, he is screwed unless Raylan and the Marshalls take out Theo for him. |
| 267 | * ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'': [[EnsembleCast CR riders]] were fighting what was supposed to be the final fight with the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Bugsters]]. Then [[EvilerThanThou Kamen]] [[BigBad Rider]] [[TimeStandsStill Cronus]] comes in, knocks everyone down and appoints himself as the ''true'' final boss. |
| 268 | * In episode 2 of ''Series/LifeOnOurPlanet'', a juvenile ''Dunkleosteus''[='=] jaws can't crack an ammonite's shell... but an adult's can. |
| 269 | * ''Series/{{Lost}}'' Season 4 is all over this trope. One group of Losties hides from the freighties in the Others' Barracks. Later, a group cornered in a house are able to leave because the smoke monster (the series' original antagonist) attacks the bad guys. In the finale, when the Others showed up, fans at [[Website/TelevisionWithoutPity TWoP]] commented that they felt like the cavalry had arrived, quite a sharp contrast to the Others' first appearance in "Exodus Part 2". |
| 270 | * ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'': On episode's animation segues have a section involving people being squashed on the streets by "killer cars", which are destroyed by [[MegaNeko a gigantic building-swallowing Siamese Cat]], which is then killed by a several-hundred-foot-tall disembodied hand... and then transitions into something completely different. |
| 271 | * ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'': ''[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S02E10KingDinosaur King Dinosaur]]'' features two astronauts trapped in a cave by a ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' that is [[{{Slurpasaur}} actually an iguana]]. The arrival of a baby alligator with a fin glued on its back, and the ensuing "dinosaur" battle, allows them to make their getaway. |
| 272 | * For the first three seasons of ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'', Librarian [[TheDreaded "Tammy Two"]] (Ron Swanson's second ex-wife-named-Tammy) is the clear BigBad of the series. Then at the end of Season 3, the cast are informed that "Tammy One" is on the scene. Tammy Two ''immediately flees in terror''. |
| 273 | * In ''Series/PersonOfInterest'', whenever there's a story arc about a villain containing elements of conspiracy, there seems to almost always be a more powerful, more mysterious bad guy behind them. The episode "Matsya Nyaya"[[note]]law of the fishes[[/note]] is all about this concept in which an armored car guard tries to rob his own shipment before running afoul of [[DirtyCop HR]]. |
| 274 | * ''Series/PrehistoricPlanet'': The first sequence of the first episode introduces a father ''Tyrannosaurus'' and his brood of chicks swimming across the Western Interior Seaway, stated by [[Creator/DavidAttenborough the narrator]] to be "the land's top predator". However, they soon attract the attention of the largest predator ''period'', a ''Mosasaurus'', a predator stated to be twice the size of a ''T. rex''. However, the documentary goes for a more realistic approach to the scenario; ''T. rex'' might be much smaller, but it's still a huge and powerful animal that can easily defend itself, so the ''Mosasaurus'' focuses on the much smaller and more vulnerable infants. |
| 275 | * ''Series/{{Primeval}}'': |
| 276 | ** Episode 3 features Nick being attacked by a mosasaur, only to have said mosasaur eaten by an even larger mosasaur right before it's about to chomp down on him. |
| 277 | ** Episode 6 features a scene in which Nick is rescued from a future predator when said predator is attacked by a gorgonopsid. |
| 278 | ** Subverted in the premiere of Season 4. Abby and Connor bait the raptor that has been harassing them into attacking the much larger ''Spinosaurus'' so they can finally escape the Cretaceous. |
| 279 | * ''Franchise/StarTrek'' |
| 280 | ** In the series ''Series/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds'' pilot episode ''[[Recap/StarTrekStrangeNewWorldsS1E01StrangeNewWorlds Strange New Worlds]]'' Pike has the USS ''Enterprise'' descend to graphically demonstrate to the people of Kiley 279 the Federation has a considerbly larger stick than anything the Kiley have. Seeing how small they are in the grand scheme of things gets the two warring factions on that world to at least talk to each other. |
| 281 | ** The Borg are one of the most terrifying and unstoppable alien forces in the franchise. In the [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Battle of Wolf 359]], a single Borg cube annihilated 40 Federation ships without taking a scratch. In ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', we finally meet their bigger fish: [[http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Species_8472 Species 8472]]. Their introduction shows two Borg cubes being effortlessly destroyed, [[KilledMidSentence in the middle of saying]] that ResistanceIsFutile no less. The possibility of this was {{foreshadow|ing}}ed in "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS3E16Unity Unity]]", where the crew encounter a powerless Borg cube. B'Elanna suggests the cube was either damaged by an "[[NegativeSpaceWedgie electro-kinetic storm]]" or someone more powerful than them. Everyone is visibly unnerved by the possibility of that. |
| 282 | * ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': |
| 283 | ** The [[spoiler:rings of the Four HorsemenOfTheApocalypse]] are the key to defeating Lucifer. Three of them have to be taken by force, but [[spoiler:Death voluntarily gives them his because he considers it an insult to be bound by "a bratty child throwing a temper tantrum"]] (Yes, that's actually how he describes {{Satan}}.) |
| 284 | ** There's also the scene in "Hammer of the Gods" where an entire roomful of pagan gods is effortlessly slaughtered by Lucifer. |
| 285 | ** [[spoiler:Amara, a.k.a. The Darkness, is the biggest fish in the series so far. She effortlessly slaps around everyone who goes after her, including Lucifer, and even ''God himself'' acknowledges he can't beat her on his own.]] |
| 286 | ** The mysterious Cosmic Entity may have taken the title, as it has existed before God or Amara. It had no trouble beating around Castiel, though because he was already dead, it couldn't do much else. |
| 287 | * ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S3E28TheLittlePeople The Little People]]", the spaceman Peter Craig discovers a race of ant-size people and uses his size to [[AGodAmI proclaim himself their god]], threatening to kill them all unless they obey, yet he still constantly terrorizes them anyways... until two spacemen who are giants even to ''him'' show up. |
| 288 | * ''Series/WalkingWithDinosaurs'': This occurs several times. The best example occurs in ''Cruel Sea'', where a ''Eustreptospondylus'' is dragged into the water by an ([[AnimalsNotToScale impossibly large]]) ''Liopleurodon''. [[Pantheon/CharacterReveals Said ''Liopleurodon'' is now the god of this trope.]] |
| 289 | [[/folder]] |
| 290 | |
| 291 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 292 | * ''I know an old lady who swallowed a fly''... and an increasing sequence of critters each swallowed to catch the previous one. |
| 293 | * Music/PinkFloyd's "Music/TheWall": ''When we grew up and went to school / There were certain teachers who would / Hurt the children in any way they could ... But in the town, it was well known / When they got home at night, their fat and Psychopathic wives would thrash them / Within inches of their lives.'' |
| 294 | * Marty Robbins' song "Big Iron" describes a duel between the outlaw Texas Red and an unnamed ranger. Texas Red, despite being only twenty-four years old, has already killed twenty men in such gunfights, and the townsfolk fully believe that they're about to watch him put one more notch on his gunbelt. When it comes time for the duel, the ranger draws, fires, and kills Texas Red before his opponent had even fully drawn his own pistol. |
| 295 | * Music/KanyeWest and Music/JayZ has ''No Church in the wild'' and its opening lyrics: |
| 296 | -->''Human beings in a mob\ |
| 297 | What's a mob to a king?\ |
| 298 | What's a king to a god?\ |
| 299 | What's a god to a nonbeliever?'' |
| 300 | * Music/JimCroce had two examples -- "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" and "Don't Mess Around With Jim" -- in which the titular characters were people you did ''not'' want to tangle with... but the rivals within the song managed to trounce them. |
| 301 | [[/folder]] |
| 302 | |
| 303 | [[folder:Myth & Religion]] |
| 304 | * ''Literature/TheBible'': In the Literature/BookOfEcclesiastes, the Preacher (presumably King Solomon) says, "If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent perversion of justice and righteousness in a province, do not marvel at the matter; for high official watches over high official, and higher officials are over them." (Ecclesiastes 5:8) |
| 305 | [[/folder]] |
| 306 | |
| 307 | [[folder:Podcasts]] |
| 308 | * ''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance'': In the finale "Story and Song", [[spoiler:Roswell calls upon the Purple Worm to take down one of the judges. [[CurbStompBattle It does so spectacularly]]]]. |
| 309 | [[/folder]] |
| 310 | |
| 311 | [[folder:Radio]] |
| 312 | * ''Radio/TheMenFromTheMinistry'': Sir Gregory Pitkin is an archetypal BadBoss of General Assistance Department, but his own superior Lord Stilton sometimes plays this role saving (mostly unknowingly) the staff of Department from Sir Gregory's wrath. |
| 313 | * ''Radio/OldHarrysGame'': Thomas was a murderer and rapist in life, and was able to completely get away with it until he went to Hell and was reduced to a punching bag for {{Satan}}. |
| 314 | [[/folder]] |
| 315 | |
| 316 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 317 | * ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'': It is sometimes possible to summon the god Nodens to attack whatever primordial horror is pestering you. It's clear that Nodens doesn't give a fig about ''you,'' but he enjoys going after other primordial entities. |
| 318 | * ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': |
| 319 | ** ''TabletopGame/BaldursGateDescentIntoAvernus'': The archdevil Zariel has chained the holy city of Elturel in the Nine Hells. One of the ways players can free it is by petitioning for the aid of [[DragonsAreDivine Tiamat]]. Zariel may be an archdevil and Elturel may be bound by chains of infernal iron... but Tiamat is a ''god''. |
| 320 | ** ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'': Aoskar, god of portals, doorways and opportunities, got to experience this firsthand when he tried to claim dominion over Sigil, the City of Doors, thereby intruding on the domain of the enigmatic Lady of Pain. His temples were razed and followers slain in a single night, and the day after, his divine servants found his corpse impaled by daggers on his throne. Daggers vaguely reminiscent of those that decorate the Lady's headdress. |
| 321 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Numenera}}'': One of the cerebral husks of Celerillion -- psychic imprint-graves left by the deaths of immense minds from other dimensions -- was an entity of considerable power charged with killing living stars. It roamed its dimension as a sun-killer until it met something even greater than itself, implied to have been a living black hole, that destroyed it. |
| 322 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'': |
| 323 | ** In the BadEnding of ''Rise of the Runelords'', if [[BigBad Karzoug]] returns to the Material Plane and the [=PCs=] don't sabotage the [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos the denizens of Leng's]] plans in time, Karzoug's entrance into the world completes a ritual that allows [[EldritchAbomination Mhar]], a volcanic horror trapped and gestating beneath the mountain Karzoug's fortress city of Xin-Shalast is built on, to be born aeons ahead of schedule. Its cataclysmic birth annihilates Xin-Shalast -- Karzoug himself survives, but all his followers there perish and he is forced to flee. The side-effects of Mhar's birth alone are devastating enough to completely overshadow any threat Karzoug's plans pose, let alone what a newborn Great Old One let loose in the physical world would do, and the scenario explicitly mentions that the [=PCs=] and Karzoug may be forced to [[EnemyMine ally with each other]] to face Mhar. |
| 324 | ** In the fifth part of the ''Extinction Curse'' adventure path, ''Lord of the Black Sands'', the players are teleported to the Black Desert, a vast cavern deep BeneathTheEarth. Soon after they enter the desert proper, they're scripted to be attacked by three purple worms -- a somewhat challenging but not especially dangerous encounter by that point in the adventure. In the third round of combat, however, the legendary vampiric shoggoth Iffdahsil bursts out of the sand like a vision from a nightmare, instantly devouring all surviving worms as it enters the field. Notably, Iffdahsil doesn't attack -- it's more bemused at the auras the players gain earlier in the story -- and serves chiefly as a reminder to the players that they're treading in a realm ruled by beings far beyond their power and comprehension. |
| 325 | * ''TabletopGame/SentinelsOfTheMultiverse'': The Environment deck can lead to various critters finishing off the supervillain you're fighting. For example, if you can get the villain down to 1-2HP, they can be considered the "target with the lowest HP" for the Chupacabra in the Final Wasteland or the Raptor Packs in Insula Primalis. Chomp. |
| 326 | * ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'': "Wormwood", one of the apocalyptic scenarios in the ''Gehenna'' sourcebook, features this realization as a major component in the vampires' fate. Even the greatest of the Kindred -- princes, Methuselahs, Antediluvians, Caine himself -- learn the hard way that even such beings as they, for all their power and cunning and ancient wisdom, are insignificant compared to the might and will of God. If the Creator decides that the vampires' time on Earth is up, then that's the way it's going to be, and even the greatest, darkest and vilest of the Kindred shall be helpless before His judgement. |
| 327 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'': The ''Monstrous Arcanum'' describes an incident where a merwyrm -- a giant, seagoing dragon -- that had been ravaging the coast of Nordland attacks a village close to a necromancer's tower, putting an end to its rampage once it's enthralled by the wizard. |
| 328 | * ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': It's hinted that the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Tyranids]] are not actually invading the Milky Way, but instead fleeing from '''[[UnseenEvil something]]''' in their home galaxy. Given the vastness of the setting, its not uncommon for two factions to be fighting only for a third to stop in and wallop one or both sides in pursuit of its own goals. In one instance, a T'au colony was about to be destroyed by a Tyranid swarm when a [[MechanicalAbomination Necron]] Tomb World activated and destroyed the Tyranids. The grateful T'au [[NaiveNewcomer threw a celebration]] in honor of their rescuers, only for the Necrons to turn around and destroy the T'au without a second thought. |
| 329 | [[/folder]] |
| 330 | |
| 331 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 332 | * ''Theatre/{{DNA}}'': John Tate's introduction shows him bullying his way into a position of power among the group. Richard's entrance a few minutes later disrupts John's efforts, but it's Phil who establishes himself as the one in charge when he arrives on the scene. |
| 333 | [[/folder]] |
| 334 | |
| 335 | [[folder:Theme Parks]] |
| 336 | * ''Ride/SkullIslandReignOfKong'': The climax at [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal's Islands of Adventure]] involves the riders being pursued by a pack of ''Venatosaurus'', who soon flee when one of them gets eaten by the much bigger ''Vastatosaurus rex''. |
| 337 | [[/folder]] |
| 338 | |
| 339 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 340 | * In ''VideoGame/AdventureQuest'' when you do the "Big Trouble in Little Granemor" quest you're attacked by a Giant Hungry Zombie after fighting off some vampires. The zombie makes about one attack before a [[BodyHorror Ribber]] randomly comes up and drags it away (with its mouth). |
| 341 | * ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIII'': |
| 342 | ** The mind flayer nautiloid and the illithids on board have the human city they're attacking at their mercy but the former is utterly outclassed by three red dragons and their githyanki riders and the latter get quickly overwhelmed by the armies of the Hells once the nautiloid is accidentally transported to Avernus. |
| 343 | ** True Souls Minthara and Nere seem like strong, mighty villains in their respective acts. However, If Minthara survives Act 1, she is put on trial by Disciple Z'rell and Ketheric Thorm. And if Nere is aided in the Underdark, he is killed and reanimated as a zombie by Balthazar. |
| 344 | * ''VideoGame/BioShock1'': |
| 345 | ** This trope is used early on to introduce the Little Sister and Big Daddies. After injecting himself with the Electro Bolt plasmid, Jack is left nearly unconscious as two splicers poke his body, searching for Adam. They are scared off by the approaching footsteps of a big daddy. |
| 346 | ** Later on, Jack witnesses a scene where a splicer tries to harvest a Little Sister that's supposedly all alone, only for her scream to alert a Big Daddy that proceeds to beat the ever-loving crud out of the unlucky splicer. |
| 347 | * ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'': |
| 348 | ** In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrow'', when you enter one boss fight room, a large number of smaller bats immediately form into a giant bat… Which then gets crushed by a giant hand belonging to Balore, the boss you actually end up fighting. |
| 349 | ** In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDissonance'' where the Talos (the massive suit of armor that chases you in the beginning of the game) crushes a smaller Living Armor that is set up to be the boss. |
| 350 | * ''VideoGame/DaveTheDiver''; Late in the game, Dave is attacked for a third time by [[EcoTerrorist John Watson]], who's in an armored mini-sub armed with homing torpedoes. Just when it seems John is about to win, a ''Kronosaurus'' appears and destroys his sub, killing him while the marine reptile turns its attention to Dave. |
| 351 | * The Unknown of ''VideoGame/DeadByDaylight'' ran headlong into this. For untold decades, it existed as an unstoppable killing machine, with seemingly no way to stop him. While stalking his latest victim however, The Unknown finally got the attention of [[EldritchAbomination The Entity]]. As described in his lore, the formerly apex predator was dragged literally kicking and screaming into The Entity's realm. |
| 352 | * In ''VideoGame/DinoCrisis2'', the ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' stalking Regina and Dylan is taken down by a ''Giganotosaurus''. |
| 353 | * ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'': |
| 354 | ** You barely avoid a beheading in the opener thanks to a dragon rampage. [[spoiler:Ironically, [[NiceJobFixingItVillain the whole reason he showed up was to kill you]]]]. |
| 355 | ** It can happen in-game, too: dragons can randomly attack while the player is fighting off weaker enemies. |
| 356 | ** The Dragonborn themself is one. According to lore, Akatosh bestowed upon mortals the gift of Dragons-blood so that they may serve as guardians of mankind and as natural predators to Dragonkind. Indeed, part of what makes the Dragonborn so greatly feared is their ability to simply show up in the middle of a Dragon-attack, [[CurbStompBattle tear them apart]], [[YourSoulIsMine devour their very soul]]... and then promptly [[ButForMeItWasTuesday go on their way]]. There's a ''reason'' the Dragonborn is referred to in-universe as "''[[TheDreaded The One They Fear]]''". |
| 357 | * ''Franchise/{{Fallout}}'': |
| 358 | ** In the ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' [=DLC=], ''Lonesome Road'', a Deathclaw can be seen running in a cave. When you follow it you see its corpse and what follows is probably the first encounter with the Tunnelers, reptilian humanoids that hit as hard as Deathclaws, attack in packs, travel underground, and breed like rabbits. |
| 359 | ** In ''VideoGame/Fallout4'', there's a ruined town that you can find remnants of a Raider encampment in. They were wiped out when Super Mutants moved in. By the time you get there, the town is full of dead Super Mutants and live Deathclaws. |
| 360 | * ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'': During the Shinjuku chapter, the protagonists are attacked by a group of thugs and their pet chimera. Said chimera is an even stronger version of the usual chimera mob, represented by being palette swapped to [[PurpleIsPowerful purple]]. When the fight is over, [[SavageWolves Hessian Lobo]] crashes the party and bites the super chimera in half. |
| 361 | * ''VideoGame/{{Fe}}'': In an early quest, one of the Silent Ones who stole the giant bird's eggs gets killed by a bear-like creature, then you can lure it using the bunch of berries in its cave to the main Silent encampment for an achievement. Later on, deer or other large animals may be utilized to take out Silent One patrols. |
| 362 | * ''VideoGame/FeedingFrenzy'': This trope is the major point. Eat small fish, become large fish, and avoid the even larger fish while doing that. Most levels have non-edible fish larger than your maximum size, or something else capable of killing you (mines, birds and clams) but in several levels you get to be top dog of the seas once you eat your way to the top of the food chain. |
| 363 | * ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' provides an hilarious example where a sidequest includes hunting down [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Zenobia]] TheButcher, a huge undead abomination with [[CombatTentacles tendrils for hands]]... and when you encounter it, a hooded little lizard with a lantern and a kitchen knife walks up to Zenobia and rams its knife into the ankle of the thing, killing it instantly. It's absolutely hilarious... unless you've fought a Tonberry in a previous game and know that the little lizard that's currently waddling towards you is more dangerous than any undead abomination could ever even ''hope'' to be... |
| 364 | * In the ''VideoGame/GamesOfTheKiller'' series, each entry has a different antagonist that BB has to deal with. However, once The Killer himself shows up, absolutely no one is safe. |
| 365 | * ''VideoGame/GenericFishingGame'': The fisherman ends up getting saved when a literal bigger fish chases away the one that's trying to eat him. |
| 366 | * In ''VideoGame/GodOfWarChainsOfOlympus'', Kratos fights a Cyclops, which is then eaten by a basilisk. |
| 367 | * ''VideoGame/HalfLife'': |
| 368 | ** While [[BadassBookworm Gordon]] [[OneManArmy Freeman]] doesn't exactly ''need'' the help, there are numerous places in the series where members of different factions fight and kill each other, effectively clearing Freeman's path (Marines and Xen aliens in ''Half-Life'', Combine, Antlions and Headcrab Zombies in ''Half-Life 2'' and its Episodes). Closer to the trope, this leads to at least two instances where a rampaging Antlion Guard slaughters a squad of Combine soldiers. |
| 369 | ** This is essentially what happened between ''Half-Life 1'' and ''2''. At some point after or during the AlienInvasion by Xen forces, a ''different'' alien invasion by the Combine happened. They [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomped]] both Earth and Xen forces easily, and took over the planet - in ''seven whole hours''. |
| 370 | *** In fact, Nihilanth, the supreme leader of Xen, the main antagonist and final boss of Half-Life, was seeking refuge in Earth because the Combine [[TakeOverTheWorld took over its world]] and [[LastOfHisKind wiped out its race]]. [[FridgeHorror It really puts into perspective how dangerous the Combine are when they effortlessly wiped out perhaps thousands of a giant creature that could enslave the Vortigaunts and lead an alien invasion.]] |
| 371 | ** Before that, this also happened in the expansion pack ''Opposing Force'', to both the HECU ''and'' the Xen aliens. The HECU gets hunted down by the Black Ops, another cleanup crew who is tasked with silencing them, in addition to everyone else, and destroying the facility, while Black Mesa gets invaded by ''another'' group of aliens known as the Race X, who are attempting to harvest Earth's minerals, which the Xenians just happen to be in the way of. |
| 372 | * ''VideoGame/HungrySharkEvolution'' is based on this, with the food chain going from tiny fish through various [[ThreateningShark sharks]] all the way up to [[PrehistoricMonster Prehistoric Monsters]]. |
| 373 | * ''VideoGame/HungrySharkWorld'', sequel to ''Evolution'', continues to be based on this trope. |
| 374 | * In ''VideoGame/JurassicParkTheGame'', the ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' reprises its role in eating raptors to the protagonists' benefit. |
| 375 | ** Another scene has it show up and get into a fight with an angry ''Triceratops'' that's trying to kill them, and the protagonists only make it through because, for the most part, the two dinosaurs are more interested in killing each other. |
| 376 | ** The ''Dilophosaurus'' only back off when they hear a strange call. [[HopeSpot It looks for a moment as though Nima is free to escape, and then there is a rustling of leaves and shadowy creatures surround her in the dark.]] Then she gets bitten. |
| 377 | * In ''VideoGame/LikeADragonInfiniteWealth'', the Yamai Syndicate is the first criminal group to be introduced upon Ichiban arriving in Hawaii, being a fairly large organization started by a former Tojo Clan member. And then the Barracudas and the Ganzhe come into the picture, both of which are ''leagues'' ahead of the Yamai Syndicate in terms of manpower and overall threat level... This is then taken a step further when it turns out both of them are in the pockets of [[spoiler:the Palekana, and more specifically Bryce Fairchild]], who has agents embedded in both organizations and much, ''much'' more power in addition to that. |
| 378 | * ''Franchise/MassEffect'': |
| 379 | ** ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' features an example on one uncharted world: you can discover a number of corpses and wrecked vehicles bearing signs of [[MechaMooks geth]] weapons fire. Unfortunately for the geth, this happened in a [[SandWorm thresher maw]] nest. For another layer, you'll likely find this after killing said thresher maw. |
| 380 | ** Another thresher maw example. The first two games make us believe that the krogan are Tuchanka's strongest beings. However, ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' introduces Kalros who, after she easily defeated a Destroyer-Class Reaper, proves to be not only the strongest being in Tuchanka, but also one of the most powerful beings in the whole galaxy, only surpassed by the Sovereign-class Reapers and the Leviathans. |
| 381 | * ''VideoGame/MedievalIITotalWar'': No matter how powerful you think you are, the Mongols and later the Timurids will cream you and all your big Europe-bestriding armies. |
| 382 | * ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'': |
| 383 | ** It's possible for this to happen when multiple monsters are in the same area. Example: Qurupeco [[EnemySummoner summons]] Deviljho. [[HoistByHisOwnPetard Deviljho kills Qurupeco.]] [[InstantWinCondition Objective complete! Returning to village in 1 min.]] |
| 384 | ** On the story side of things, there's also usually a monster that's scaring other monsters off and making them aggressive. The most egregious example would be Fatalis' surprise return in ''Iceborne.'' It's implied that the ecosystem of the New World freaking out, the appearances of Xeno'jiiva and later Safi'jiiva, Shara Ishvalda wreaking havoc on the environment with seismic waves, Alatreon nesting in the Secluded Valley, and even the Elder Crossing phenomenon were all the results of monsters [[OhCrap freaking the fuck out]] upon sensing Fatalis' awakening, and running away as far as they can. |
| 385 | * ''VideoGame/MusashiSamuraiLegend'' had a literal example with the Crimson Gorger. After the fight, it's about to eat Musashi, it then gets eaten by the ''Great'' Crimson Gorger, who then proceeds to continue the chase and therefore the boss fight. |
| 386 | * ''VideoGame/OdellDownUnder'': No matter what fish you are , there is always something that can eat you. Even the largest fish, the great white shark, can still be eaten... by another great white shark. |
| 387 | * ''VideoGame/{{Outlast}}'': Near the end, Chris Walker, who up to that point has been the recurring/main antagonist of the game, as well as being a hulking behemoth of a man, is just about to deliver the finishing blow to the protagonist, [[NonActionGuy Miles Upshur]], before he is grabbed by the [[{{Nanomachines}} Walrider]], which proceeds to throw him around the room like a ragdoll, finally shredding him to bits in a vent grate. |
| 388 | * In ''VideoGame/ParasiteEve2'', ANMC's are running rampant throughout the Shelter, having killed [[spoiler:or converted]] the humans inside and many in a nearby town. It's only after Aya [[spoiler:kills the generators in the Neo Ark]] that the Golems show up. If you thought the ANMC's were bad, [[FromBadToWorse you are going to get a very rude surprise]]. The Golems eventually run into their own bigger fish...[[spoiler:[[SemperFi The United States Marine Corps.]]]]. |
| 389 | * ''VideoGame/{{Pokemon}}'': |
| 390 | ** Gyarados have a well-deserved reputation as terrifying, powerful, and destructive monsters, but even they flee from Wishiwashi's powerful [[TheWormThatWalks School Form]], called the Demon of the Seas... and even then, Wailord have been known to devour entire schools of Wishiwashi whole... and Wailord themselves are preyed on by Dhelmise, who wrap them in seaweed tentacles and drain their life force. |
| 391 | ** Mareanie, a poisonous and spiky starfish-like Pokémon, is a predator of Corsola, but Mareanie themselves are prey for Bruxish, whose skin is too thick to be pierced by Mareanie's spikes. |
| 392 | ** ''VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon'': This comes full circle when a school of Wishiwashi forms and the player expects the Totem battle against a School Forme Wishiwashi from ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' to take place... [[spoiler:[[BaitAndSwitchBoss and then]] a Totem [[GiantSpider Araquanid]] pounces on the forming school and takes its place as the boss battle.]] |
| 393 | * ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankAll4One'' pulls this in one of its enemy introductions; a [[GiantMook Tank Minion]] flies in to confront the heroes at Terawatt Forest, only for [[AwakeningTheSleepingGiant a Guardian to activate]], pull the Minion in with its tractor beam and smash it to pieces with its hands. |
| 394 | * In ''VideoGame/RuneScape'''s "Ritual of the Mahjarrat" quest, [[spoiler:Lucien]] is killed by [[spoiler:[[MacGuffinGuardian the dragonkin]]]]. |
| 395 | * ''VideoGame/{{Spore}}'' features this trope quite prominently, particularly in the Cell Stage. If you happen to be in the middle of being attacked by a large organism, once in a while a larger creature comes along and scares off or eats your attacker. |
| 396 | * ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheForceUnleashed'': In the second game, upon entering the arena on Cato Neimoidia, a cutscene plays out in which a huge gate opens to reveal a [[EliteMooks rancor]]. The rancor only takes a few steps forward before an absolutely enormous arm reaches out from below the arena and grabs the beast, dragging it down below. Then you're introduced to the [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever Gorog]]. |
| 397 | * ''VideoGame/{{Subnautica}}'': The Reaper Leviathan is a fearsome, best avoided beast. But as the game goes on, the once seemingly apex predator is revealed to be both the smallest of the Leviathan class beasts and ''food'' for the other members of the class. [[spoiler:Subverted! The Sea Emperor and the Ghost Leviathan are both filter-feeders. However, the Sea Dragon Leviathan ''does'' apparently eat Reapers, and the Ghost is [[AngryGuardDog territorial and vicious enough]] to kill Reapers anyway.]] |
| 398 | * ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'': In Tourian, Samus runs across a room where several invulnerable to everything but super missile enemies have been reduced to crumbling dust. It turns out this is the result of getting their energy sucked dry by the now grown up Metroid hatchling. |
| 399 | * One ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' DLC trailer pulls this with someone slashing World of Light boss Galeem down the middle before he has the chance to kill everyone. The bad part about it is that the incoming character is ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Sephiroth]]'', [[MassOhCrap and now the cast has to deal with him]]. |
| 400 | * ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'': You play as a badass vampire. You have cool powers, you're resistant to gunfire, and you have incredible strength and speed. {{Muggles}} pose little to no challenge at all. [[ImplacableMan Werewolves]], on the other hand, are an entirely different story. There will be one instance in the game where you have to face one, and all you can do is run away. ''[[HopelessBossFight RUN]]''. [[spoiler:Or lure it up to the observatory and crush it between the doors.]] |
| 401 | * In Chapter 6 of ''VideoGame/XenobladeChroniclesX'', the party have just finished a fairly tough boss fight with a Tainted Sphinx when ''three'' more show up. Then the colossal [[OptionalBoss Telethia]] swoops in and tosses the beasts around like ragdolls before flying away. The characters are left wondering whether it intended to save them or toy with them. |
| 402 | [[/folder]] |
| 403 | |
| 404 | [[folder:Visual Novels]] |
| 405 | * In ''VisualNovel/DoubleHomework'', Dennis is smart enough to manipulate and blackmail just about everyone to get what he wants, [[spoiler:but he bites off more than he can chew by tangling with Dr. Mosely/Zeta]]. |
| 406 | * In ''VisualNovel/TyrionCuthbertAttorneyOfTheArcane'', when it seems The Eyetaker is going to send hitmen after Tyrion for ruining his plans, [[spoiler:Eris disposes of him by brainwashing a mob into thinking their life was ruined by the Eyetaker, which prompts them to lynch him. She then becomes the main antagonist of case 5]]. |
| 407 | [[/folder]] |
| 408 | |
| 409 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 410 | %%* Orbital beam weaponry in ''Webcomic/{{Adventurers}}''. [[http://www.adventurers-comic.com/d/20050709.html Oh, yes.]%%ZCE, word cruft, broken link |
| 411 | * ''Webcomic/BrawlInTheFamily'' closes the circle with this trope in [[http://brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/comic/507-cheepcheep/ strip #507]], where a [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Cheep-Cheep]] is eaten by a Boss Bass, which is eaten by an Unagi, which is eaten by [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Lord Jabu-Jabu]], who is eaten by Franchise/{{Kirby}}, who then transforms into a fish... and is eaten by a Cheep-Cheep. |
| 412 | * ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'': The {{Trope Namer|s}} is parodied when the event [[http://darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0033.html convinces Qui-Gon that he can cast]] SummonBiggerFish. It becomes a running gag that Qui-Gon thinks about casting it numerous times, never actually getting outright overruled due to circumstances steering the decision away from that. There is however [[http://darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0208.html an alternate version]] where he ''does'' cast the spell during a fight scene in Naboo... resulting in him summoning a giant fish in midair, which then falls to earth and crushes Queen Amidala and her guards. |
| 413 | * ''Webcomic/EnnuiGo'': In [[http://ennuigo.thecomicseries.com/comics/1413 "Little Fish,"]] Max learns this trope the hard way on his first day of high school, when he decides to pick a fight against one of the bullies in his school but gets his butt easily handed to him in turn. |
| 414 | --> '''Bully #1''': I can clearly tell you were the biggest fish in whatever pond you came from. But middle school is over. ''Welcome to high school, bitch!'' *punches Max again, knocking him out.* |
| 415 | * In ''Webcomic/{{Evon}}'', the title character is [[http://evoncomics.com/?p=1221 about to be raped]] by MadScientist Legune, when he's chased off by his patron, the mage Maximus. But Maximus only stopped him to keep him from messing up his own plans of [[SuperBreedingProgram using Evon to breed a race of super mages]]. And he planned on starting right then and there... when [[http://evoncomics.com/?p=1235 HE is stopped]] by a fellow [[OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness Cabal]] member, Ferneris, who is rather ticked off that Maximus interfered with his own orders to bring Evon in. [[http://evoncomics.com/?p=1237 Violence ensues.]] |
| 416 | * ''Webcomic/ExterminatusNow'': While infiltrating a secret research facility, the main characters are captured and given to the mercies of genetically engineered monsters. They're saved when accidental press of a button releases a pack of captive hunter daemons, [[http://exterminatusnow.co.uk/2005-10-21/comic/facilitating-your-demise/out-of-the-frying-pan/ which quickly slaughter the other monsters.]] |
| 417 | * ''Webcomic/{{Goblins}}'': Happens twice in succession in [[http://goblinscomic.com/comic/12082008 this]] strip, where one of the Brassmoon guards tells Complains [[TemptingFate "The bigger creatures always kill the smaller creatures, it's just the nature of the world!"]] Then he hears a loud footfall behind him and looks up at the soulspike devourer towering above him... Then they are both killed by an even bigger "fish": a magic effect created by the Shield of Wonder. |
| 418 | * ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'': Seen in [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2014/10/03/ this]] strip about ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS]]'', with Mega Man getting eaten by Yoshi, who is eaten by Kirby, who is eaten by Pac-Man. |
| 419 | * In ''Webcomic/QuentynQuinnSpaceRanger'', [[http://www.rhjunior.com/quentyn-quinn-space-ranger-0013/ a group of pirates]] attempting to capture and board a ship is viciously slaughtered by the gigantic insectoid predator crewing it. |
| 420 | * ''Webcomic/TheRemarkableRabbitBoy'': The powerful villain Bloodarm has gravely injured Foxline, the senior officer of the main character Rabbit Boy, and is about to kill Rabbit Boy. Suddenly Rabbit Boy's body gets taken over by a massive non-corporeal entity. This entity turns out to be the far more powerful villain Goliathan, who then proceeds to launch Bloodarm clear across the city with a single kick. |
| 421 | * ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'': One comic has [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2010-12-15/ Gulpo, the fish who eats concepts]] as a car decal, one-upping both the Christian fish and evolution fish decals. |
| 422 | * ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'': |
| 423 | ** A [[EldritchAbomination Pa'anuri]] serves this role for General Xinchub. At one point his [[MileLongShip Manhattan-sized battleplate]] is compared to the protagonists' ship as analogous to the difference between a [[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2004-02-25 Carcharocles megalodon and a sockeye salmon,]] and then the planet-sized dark matter entity is shown as [[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2004-03-11 a blue whale to the battleplate's krill.]] |
| 424 | ** [[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2012-12-16 Later]], Tagii lures another battleplate into range of a Pa'anuri seconds before it is released. |
| 425 | * ''Webcomic/{{Scurry}}'': Wix makes a run for the forest, because he knows the cats won't follow him in. Titan decides he hates Wix more than he fears the forest and chases him in. [[spoiler:Titan is immediately killed and eaten by the wolves that live in the forest.]] |
| 426 | * ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'': |
| 427 | ** In an early strip, Torg is about to be kissed by the ugliest woman in the world, but she is suddenly eaten by the alien that followed him from another dimension. She (the alien this time) seems about to eat him too, but he's still relieved. |
| 428 | ** In a later strip, the Godhounds attacking the house get taken out in one panel by the Mind Wedgier, a soul-eating EldritchAbomination. |
| 429 | * ''Webcomic/TerminalLance'': In [[http://terminallance.com/2014/10/07/terminal-lance-348-the-bigger-fish/ this]] strip, a bunch of lower-level enlisted personnel get to enjoy seeing their Gunnery Sergeant being chewed out by a more senior NCO[[note]]Non-Commissioned Officer[[/note]] instead of being the one giving the chewing-out to the lower-level enlisted. The title for that page is, to make the point of the strip obvious, "The Bigger Fish". |
| 430 | * ''Webcomic/YokokasQuest'': In Kalliv's flashback dream, a [[MixAndMatchCritters hawk-wolf]] which is [[KidnappingBirdOfPrey carrying him away]] gets attacked by a larger [[MixAndMatchCritters boar-mandrill]], leading to him being dropped. [[note]](the big [[MixAndMatchCritters koi-catfish]] is a [[FiendishFish different trope]])[[/note]] |
| 431 | * Parodied in [[https://www.deviantart.com/roflo-felorez/art/Godzilla-Jurassic-World-PATREON-741399796 this comic,]] where a human is eaten by a raptor, which is eaten by the ''Indominus rex'', which is eaten by a mosasaur, which is eaten by Franchise/{{Godzilla}}, all to an increasingly confused narration. |
| 432 | [[/folder]] |
| 433 | |
| 434 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 435 | * ''WebVideo/AskThatGuyWithTheGlasses'': Ask That Guy is a thoroughly depraved, devil-worshipping murder-rapist who prides himself on answering every question in the most disturbing possible way. In Episode 44, he gives Bennett the Sage the chance to answer some questions for him, which ends with Ask That Guy lying on the floor in the fetal position as [[spoiler:Sage rapes him]]. |
| 436 | * ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall'' feature Lord Vyce, an interdimensional conqueror who has been slowly accumulating [[AlternateUniverse alternate realities]] into his multiversal empire. It later turns out that Vyce was a WellIntentionedExtremist who was conquering realities specifically to protect them from something called [[EldritchAbomination the Entity]]. Which means that since Vyce was the only one who could go toe-to-toe with the Entity in a physical battle, when Linkara takes Vyce out, he attracts the Entity's attention... |
| 437 | * ''WebVideo/BreakingTrail'''s most popular videos are an ever-growing escalation of "What stings harder than the last animal?", which started at fire ant level, and kept going to velvet ants, tarantula hawks, bullet ants, warrior wasps and finally the executioner wasp. Coyote decided he had enough with the last one, gladly crowned it King of the Sting and decided that, if something worse pops up, he wouldn't try it. He would go back on his word a couple years later to try out the sting of the cicada killer wasp, [[SubvertedTrope but it wasn't even close the sting of the executioner wasp; he only made this exception to help dispel public concern that cicada killers were the same kind of "murder wasps" as the dreaded asian giant hornets]]. |
| 438 | * ''Blog/HamstersParadise'' has the oceans during the warm and flooded Temperocene Era become filled with all sorts of diverse and abundant marine food sources that a population explosion of marine megafauna [[ItMakesSenseInContext (all descended from]] ''[[ItMakesSenseInContext hamsters]]'' [[ItMakesSenseInContext by the way)]] evolve, such as manatee-like grazers, whale-like filter feeders, dolphin-like crustacean-eaters and walrus-like bottom-feeders, to name a few. This diversity was followed by an abundance of macropredatory phorcas who hunt the varied wildlife: and they become so plentiful that an ''even'' bigger predator, the ''Dunkleosteus''-like sarchon, evolves specifically to eat ''the predators'' themselves in turn. |
| 439 | * ''WebVideo/KateModern'': |
| 440 | ** In "Answers", Michelle Clore orders her Shadow to carry off Lauren. As he is doing so, [[spoiler:Terrence]] arrives and beats the Shadow in the face repeatedly with a golf club, apparently just for the hell of it. Lauren escapes. |
| 441 | ** In "Love on the 436", [[spoiler:Terrence]] advances on the K-Team, only to get beaten up by the Shadow. |
| 442 | * ''WebAnimation/PaleoARK'': |
| 443 | ** A poor ''Baryonyx'' is driven out from his home by his bigger cousin, the ''Spinosaurus''. |
| 444 | ** Barbatos was originally the king of Ragnarok but a coordinated tribe of humans with mounts (a Rex, a Spino, and a Paracer) and weapons are able to out-maneuver and over-power him. |
| 445 | [[/folder]] |
| 446 | |
| 447 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 448 | * ''WebAnimation/{{Astartes}}'': In Part 5, [[spoiler:the entity within the Orb drags the Astartes into the Warp, only to be attacked and seemingly destroyed by a shadowy being before it can do anything more to them]]. |
| 449 | * ''WebAnimation/DSBTInsaniT'': In 'Untamed and Uncut', an Ice Beast ends up getting squashed by K-Seal before it can really do anything. |
| 450 | * ''WebAnimation/GamingAllStars'': [[spoiler:[[VideoGame/DoshinTheGiant Doshin the Giant]]]] serves as this to [[VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay The Great Mighty Poo]], arriving just in time to dispatch him (With his foot in ''The Ultimate Crossover'', with a boulder in ''Remastered'') before rescuing Donkey Kong and his team. |
| 451 | * ''WebAnimation/MoniRobo'': |
| 452 | ** "[[https://youtu.be/U3WClUtgjec The new recruit is using her family's powers to threaten me!]]": Mr. Tora is one of the higher-ups of a Yakuza group far bigger than the group Ikari's father managed. Turns out her father's group [[spoiler:was in financial trouble and sent her to work for that reason, and thus he punished her when Mr. Tora exposed her abuse of connections to him]]. |
| 453 | ** "[[https://youtu.be/xAahd3dc9fk Bully pushes a girl on wheelchair into the pool]]": [[spoiler:When Akane Saito flaunted her connections at Mai's parents and threatened to ruin them if they insisted on holding her accountable for shoving their daughter Mai into a pool, Kyoko reveals she's the granddaughter of Manjiro Kisaragi, the CEO of the famous gossip tabloid ''Weekly [=MoniRobo=]''. Akane shakes in fear after the reveal; he was the only man who could expose her father to the public.]] |
| 454 | * ''WebAnimation/MyLittlePonyMeets'': [[DreamWalker Princess Luna]] proves herself to be this to ''[[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Krueger]]'', first in his cameo in ''Superman Meets'' where she's shown delivering a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown to him in the dream world and later in his own episode, where she [[spoiler:pulls a BigDamnHeroes moment as he's about to kill Applebloom and Luna [[DraggedOffToHell casually throws him through a portal to Hell]]]]. |
| 455 | * ''WebAnimation/OverlySarcasticProductions'': Cited in the "Atlantis" episode as why Blue can't watch ''Film/Aquaman2018''. |
| 456 | -->'''Blue''': The deeper you go the more nightmares there are! There's always a bigger fish! |
| 457 | [[/folder]] |
| 458 | |
| 459 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 460 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': The episode "[[Recap/TheAmazingWorldOfGumballS3E28TheQuestion The Question]]" has this happen in ''musical form'' after Gumball and Darwin ask a squirrel about the meaning of life, leading to continuously bigger animals eating each other. |
| 461 | -->'''Squirrel:''' The meaning of life has a single rule,\ |
| 462 | I know it makes sense though it may seem cruel.\ |
| 463 | The logic of the rule cannot be beaten,\ |
| 464 | but the meaning of life is to eat or be --\ |
| 465 | '''Snake:''' [Eats squirrel] The truth our friend was trying to sweeten,\ |
| 466 | but the meaning of life is to eat or be --\ |
| 467 | '''Bird:''' [Eats snake] Alas, poor snake! His life was fleeting.\ |
| 468 | For the meaning of life is to eat or be --\ |
| 469 | '''Small creature:''' [Eats bird] Allow me to finish what the bird was tweeting\ |
| 470 | the meaning of life is to eat or be --\ |
| 471 | '''Large creature:''' [Eats creature] I'm sorry our song just keeps repeating,\ |
| 472 | but the meaning of life is to eaaat, or be-- ({{Beat}}) [[LampshadeHanging Well I guess that the biggest remains unhurt]]. |
| 473 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'' |
| 474 | ** A short scene in "[[Recap/AmphibiaS1E03CaneCrazy Cane Crazy]]" has a dragonfly get eaten by a bird on the fly, and said bird immediately gets eaten by an even bigger dragonfly. |
| 475 | ** King Andrias is this to every other threat in the show. Most of them were wild animals who follow their instincts whose threat only encompassed their territories who he proceeded to brainwash into his armies per the Core's order, others were [[MonsterOfTheWeek Villains of the Week]] who didn't make it past their spotlight episode. and Grime and Sasha want to conquer Amphibia but don't show a desire to go beyond; Andrias has higher ambitions and eviler plots than them, planning to conquer the ''[[SerialEscalation multiverse]]''. When Grime's rebellion is thwarted, Andrias immediately sets his own plans into motion, even pacifying the militant toads, proving Sasha and Grime who's the biggest evil around. However, most of the scale of his villainy is actually demanded by The Core. |
| 476 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheAngryBeavers'': Played with in an episode where Norbert is admiring a rare fish in the river where their dam is. The fish is promptly eaten by a larger fish, which is eaten by another. This continues until the largest fish is eaten by a fish that was even smaller than the first one. Then that one is eaten by a orca whale. That episode centered all around the orca/killer whale Daggit brought to their pond after seeing it perform at a water theme park. It eventually started eating everything and everyONE, including the beavers. They are saved by a ''[[DeusExMachina T. rex]]'' that happens to eat it... and this one too was brought home by Daggett, ready to eat them in the whale's place. |
| 477 | * ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': |
| 478 | ** In "[[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheWarriorsOfKyoshi The Warriors of Kyoshi]]", Aang stops at Kyoshi Island to ride the elephant koi, koi-like fish at least fifteen metres long. Later, we meet the Unagi, the sea serpent that eats them. |
| 479 | ** In "[[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheAwakening The Awakening]]", a giant serpent attacks the group's ship and then goes after the enemy ship that was attacking them, after a TemptingFate phrase by Sokka. |
| 480 | * ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'': An example not involving characters being saved from one predator by another, however, "Law of the Jungle" opens with with a dragonfly being eaten by a frog, being eaten by a snake, being captured by an eagle, showing the food chain in action. |
| 481 | * ''WesternAnimation/BlackDynamite'': In one episode the titular hero is on an island lost to time similar to King Kong's when he's attacked by a giant white wolf. He pulls his weapon but waits until the wolf is eaten by a bigger raptor. Then waits for the raptor to be eaten by a giant spider before finally taking said spider down with a single bullet. Now THAT is how you conserve ammo. |
| 482 | * ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': |
| 483 | ** In "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS6E4And5StewieKillsLoisAndLoisKillsStewie Lois Kills Stewie]]", Lois describes via flashback that she took a job at a fat camp. At one point she has to take one of the campers out of another camper's mouth ([[DontExplainTheJoke 'cause he's fat see, so he'd want to eat whatever he could]]), and then she has to pull another camper out of the mouth of the camper she'd just rescued. |
| 484 | ** Apparently {{Satan}} is no exception either, as shown by the introduction of the [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Super Devil]]. |
| 485 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'': In "[[Recap/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandyS2E2 Brown Evil]]" occurs a zombie epidemic that could rightfully be called a butcher's worst nightmare as every piece of meat comes back to life. As a result, Billy is attacked and strangled by a rope of zombie sausages, only to be saved by a dog who eats it. A zombie dog that is. |
| 486 | * ''WesternAnimation/KingSizeCanary'', a Creator/TexAvery classic, has an alley cat, bulldog, mouse, and canary all squaring off against each other, and thanks to a bottle of miracle-growth tonic, they all take turns being the bigger fish and even growing bigger than the Earth itself... |
| 487 | * ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': Discord is generally the most powerful entity in the show, until all of his magic is stolen by Lord Tirek. |
| 488 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': As powerful as [[Characters/TheOwlHouseEmperorBelos Emperor Belos]] is, once [[Characters/TheOwlHouseTheCollector The Collector]] is released, they waste no time reminding Emperor Belos about the pecking order; not only easily catching his scythe with their fingers, but ''completely obliterating him with a finger poke''. As if that wasn't enough, they then ''pulls the moon back with their fingers'' and ''begin reshaping the Boiling Isles itself'', showcasing how they're not only stronger physically, but magically. |
| 489 | * ''WesternAnimation/ThePiratesOfDarkWater'': The intro to the first episode shows a dragon-like creature flying over a stormy ocean, only for a sea serpent to surge out of the water, snatch the dragon in its jaws and dive back into the sea. |
| 490 | * ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': Spoofed in "[[Recap/RickAndMortyS1E3AnatomyPark Anatomy Park]]", where Morty and Annie are rescued from a rampaging Hepatitis A when a larger Hepatitis C snatches it in its jaws; it then gives them both a friendly thumbs-up before going on its way. The pair is somewhat confused as to why it saved them, and Annie theorizes that Hepatitis C is just a really swell virus. |
| 491 | * ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'': Jack has faced a wide variety of warriors, but the only opponent he's never defeated was The Guardian. He protected a portal through time, but refused to let Jack enter [[HonorBeforeReason despite that Jack was the only one who could destroy Aku]] and stated [[BecauseDestinySaysSo only one may use it by defeating him in battle]], with Jack failing to win. [[spoiler:In season 5, it turns out the Guardian failed to protect the portal from Aku, who destroyed it and him. This is keeping in mind that Aku is a powerful demon who cannot be destroyed by Earthly means, with Jack's sword, something the Guardian dismissed, being the only known weapon that could hurt him. Since none of the Guardians appeared magical in origin, with no means to hurt Aku, much less destroy him, Aku ends up the bigger fish of the two.]] |
| 492 | * ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'': In "[[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS4E6NomadDroids Nomad Droids]]", 3PO and R2 are captured by a pirate ship and forced into a robot fighting ring. Shortly before they're destroyed there, the ship runs into a Separatist dreadnought that casually destroys it by using it as target practice. Shortly after the dreadnought captures the two, it's ambushed by a Republic fleet and also brought down. |
| 493 | * ''WesternAnimation/ThreeMisses'': A dwarf racing to save Snow White is plucked into the air by a gigantic child--who is then plucked up in turn by a gigantic and very hungry wolf. |
| 494 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'': "Child's Play" begins InMediasRes as the Decepticons capture a bunch of humans and treat them like toys before the Autobots arrive to save the day. Then, both sides end up on a planet where the inhabitants are so huge that Transformers are like toys to them. |
| 495 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'': One amusing sequence has the girls falling into a swamp and being subjected to this repeatedly. First they run from a huge monster. Then they and the monster start running in the opposite direction from a bigger feline monster. Then all of them start running from an even bigger dinosaur. The dinosaur is puzzled when its prey suddenly run past it...only to get crushed underfoot by a much bigger dinosaur. |
| 496 | * ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'': |
| 497 | ** At the end of "[[Recap/WanderOverYonderS1E1TheGreatestTheEgg The Egg]]", a dragon-like creature tries to eat the newborn bug monster... until its much larger mother scares him off. |
| 498 | ** This back and forth discussion from "[[Recap/WanderOverYonderS1E13TheLonelyPlanetTheBrainstorm The Brainstorm]]": |
| 499 | -->'''Lord Hater''': What if Wander throws a picnic, and invites the watchdogs, and because his pie is so gooooood, they all go? |
| 500 | -->'''Commander Peepers''': We'll bring giant ants. |
| 501 | -->'''Lord Hater''': What if he brings a giant anteater? |
| 502 | -->'''Commander Peepers''': We'll bring a giant anteater-eater. |
| 503 | -->'''Lord Hater''': What if he brings a... |
| 504 | -->'''Commander Peepers''': AND SO ON! |
| 505 | * Creator/WarnerBros: |
| 506 | ** In several classic cartoons, one throwaway gag would be for a fish to eat something, then a bigger fish would eat that fish, then a bigger fish would eat ''that'' fish, [[RuleOfThree then a punch line to the bit]]. Parodied by ''WesternAnimation/FelixTheCat'' in "Neptune Nonsense": when the goldfish Felix is trying to catch has this happen to it, Felix manages to free the goldfish, only for it to turn around and eat all four fish that ate it. Felix quickly decides to find another fish. |
| 507 | ** ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'': There's a classic gag in which Granny picks up the dog and hits it until it spits out Sylvester, only to then pick up Sylvester and hit him until he spits out Tweety. |
| 508 | ** In 1939's ''Kristopher Kolumbus Jr.'' with Porky Pig, a sea serpent scares off Porky and boasts about being the biggest serpent. An even bigger serpent shows up and chases him off. |
| 509 | * ''WesternAnimation/WildKratts'': This happens no fewer than ''two'' times in quick succession in an almost Xanatos-like way. A giant squid and a mama sperm whale are battling it out over the baby sperm whale, when a net comes out of nowhere and takes Mama out of the fight. Enter ''colossal squid''. And then Big Daddy Sperm Whale shows up and promptly makes calamari of the colossal squid. |
| 510 | [[/folder]] |
| 511 | |
| 512 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 513 | * The food chain, or more accurately the food web. However, fictional depictions often [[ArtisticLicenseBiology do it wrong]] by having the bigger fish be not ''that'' much bigger than the one it takes out. In real life, a predator will rarely attack another predator that's close to its own size (aside from pack predators), because even if it's successful, [[AwesomeButImpractical the odds of getting injured are high, and thus, hunting something that can put up a credible fight is high risk for low reward]]. |
| 514 | * There is a [[https://web.archive.org/web/20071110005226/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/11/071108-fossil-foodchain.html Permian fossil]] of a shark that ate an amphibian that had eaten a fish. |
| 515 | * In 2009 off the eastern seaboard of Australia, a three metre (ten feet) great white shark was found entangled in shark nets. The nets hadn't killed the shark, in fact, the shark had been ''bitten clean in half by something twice as large''. Only in Australia, folks. |
| 516 | ** If you're wondering what could have done that: Another Great White, a Saltwater Crocodile, or an Orca. |
| 517 | ** Point of order: [[https://web.archive.org/web/20091027184617/https://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2009/10/26/2009-10-26_10foot_great_white_shark_bitten_nearly_in_half_by_20foot_monster_shark_near_aust.html The shark]] was [[MadeOfIron still alive]] when it was hauled out of the water. Great whites are amazingly tough to survive a wound like that. |
| 518 | * Speaking of orcas, they are almost the perfect example of this trope in real life. Nigh-universally feared by people, the mighty great white shark is little more than prey for the even bigger and stronger orca. In fact, when scientists tagged a group of great whites around the Southern California coastline in 2000, they all vanished very quickly after a local pod of orcas decided to snack on them. One of the great whites was satellite-tracked, and was found to have pretty much immediately high-tailed it to ''Hawaii'', over two thousand miles distant. |
| 519 | ** In an inversion, it's hypothesized that early orcas drove the ''Megalodon'', the infamous monster shark, into extinction. Being half the size of ''Megalodon'' and pack hunters, they would have been competing for the same prey (baleen whales and large fish) and even possibly hunting the sharks themselves. |
| 520 | * Another animal that's often considered to be a terrifying sea monster are Giant Squids, but even they're preyed on by the largest predator alive (possibly ever), the Sperm Whale. The only animals larger then it are the filter feeding baleen whales. |
| 521 | * Proponents of globalization and similar trends point to this as a way to ensure world peace. The bigger fish in this case is economics. If two or more countries are intimately tied together economically, then they can't attack each other because even the victor would be greatly damaged by the economic repercussions. This was one of the driving forces behind the founding of the European Union and is cited as a major (if not predominant) reason why war between China and the United States is almost impossible in the current economic climate -- which is one reason China is working hard to find other markets for its products so it has more options in its foreign policy, especially when it comes to such hot topics as Taiwan. Whether this will work in practice, only time will tell; after all this same theory was applied to Europe between roughly 1870 and 1914. [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI Didn't work out so well.]] |
| 522 | ** War between Canada, the United States, and Mexico was once a likely scenario and became reality in the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War of 1848. Nowadays, war between the three countries is almost unthinkable, mainly because large percentages of their imports and exports circulate among each other-in Canada and Mexico's cases, the overwhelming majority of exports go to the US. Only 21% of the US's exports go to Canada and Mexico, but that's still 5 times more than goes to China. |
| 523 | * In 2016, [[http://www.outdoorhub.com/news/2016/06/22/morel-hunter-escapes-wolf-leading-bear/ a Canadian woman was stalked for hours by a starving wolf.]] She escaped by [[GiveChaseWithAngryNatives leading it]] between a [[MamaBear mother bear and her cub.]] No more wolf! |
| 524 | * Starting in the 1st century and continuing until the 5th, the UsefulNotes/RomanEmpire was almost constantly being invaded by Germanic tribes with names like the Vandals, the Goths, and the Alans. It turned out that all of these barbarians, who inspired fear and loathing in the Roman mind, were in fact [[InvadingRefugees fleeing]] from ''their version'' of big, scary barbarians: the Huns. |
| 525 | * In the 1220s and 1230s, Hungary had a dire problem with a nomad incursion, the Cumans. Turned out the Cumans were themselves [[InvadingRefugees fleeing even bigger fish]]: ''the Mongols''. |
| 526 | * In the 260s BC, a group of mercenaries called the Mamertines holed themselves up in the Sicilian city of Messana, having seriously pissed off Carthage, the closest thing that the Mediterranean had to a superpower at the time. The Mamertines asked an up-and-coming Italian city state called Rome for help. Cue twenty years of the Romans proving they are the bigger fish in that particular pond, and Carthage was forever after relegated to "slightly smaller fish." |
| 527 | * Ultimately averted, as with almost all real-life biological tropes. To the Blue Whale, there is in fact no bigger fish (or any other animal) to be found. There never was, and quite probably never will be... unless humanity decides to artificially create a larger animal for some reason. |
| 528 | * The atolla jellyfish has actually ''weaponized'' this trope. When attacked, the aptly-nicknamed "alarm jelly" will let off pulses of bright blue bioluminescence that attract the attention of every other predator in the area, many of whom will be larger than the thing attacking the jellyfish. Predators are deterred from attacking this thing since doing so means they'll have to deal with a predator attack as well. |
| 529 | [[/folder]] |
| 530 |
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