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1%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
2
3->'''[[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]]:''' It’s good to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your work on anti-electron collissions is unparalleled. And I’m a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into a green rage monster.\
4'''[[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Bruce Banner]]:''' ... Thanks.
5-->-- ''Film/TheAvengers2012''
6
7A type of {{Premiere}} where the cast of characters are collected together one by one. Some of them may already know each other (occasionally all of them) but this is the story of how they get together to be an identifiable unit of people. Hopefully, the episode won't end with someone saying "And I'm sure we'll have many great adventures together!"
8
9Common in reality shows, when new people arrive in a season premiere.
10
11Everyone Meets Everyone episodes can also come later in the series, often told through {{Flashback}} scenes. If EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether, then a Flashback to the characters' adolescence reveals their first meeting. It is also a common FanFic premise.
12
13DebutQueue is Everyone Meets Everyone drawn out over several episodes.
14
15Compare WelcomeEpisode, InMediasRes. YouAllMeetInAnInn is an equivalent trope common (to the point of being a DeadHorseTrope) in {{Tabletop RPG}}s. For a sequel, or where the characters already have a shared {{backstory}}, see PuttingTheBandBackTogether.
16----
17!!Examples
18
19[[foldercontrol]]
20[[folder:Animation]]
21* ''Animation/AgentAli'': In the 2nd episode of Season 2, aptly named "Mission: Orientation", Ali joins MATA Academy, and the senior teacher agents and young student agents introduce themselves to him one by one. Each of them state their name, get a FreezeFrameIntroduction, and demonstrate their special skill or gadget as an agent (except for Zass, who Moon says the name of and that he doesn't talk). Last of all is Rudy... who huffs and coldly says "Just call me Rudy." and walks off.
22[[/folder]]
23
24[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
25* ''Anime/SaberRiderAndTheStarSheriffs'' (at least in the dub version). Saber Rider and April already know each other, professionally. Fireball and Colt know each other by reputation.
26* ''Franchise/LupinIII'' has two examples so far.
27** ''Anime/LupinIIIEpisode0FirstContact'' was the 20th anniversary TV special. It was a {{prequel}} style story, told entirely in {{Flashback}}. The movie explains how... Lupin, Jigen, Fujiko, and Goemon meet; Zenigata's never-ending pursuit of Lupin AND how he gets carte blanche to do so; where Goemon found [[CoolSword Zantetsuken]]; and how Lupin got his hands on a [[ImprobablyCoolCar Mercedes SSK]].
28** ''Anime/LupinIIITheWomanCalledFujikoMine'' was a {{prequel}} ''series'', doing basically the same thing as ''Episode 0'', but with Fujiko as the central character. The only characters that didn't meet were Lupin - Goemon and Zenigata - Goemon.
29* Chapter 116 of ''Manga/{{Wagnaria}}'' not only showed how the main cast members got employed in the restaurant Wagnaria [[note]]the setting of the series[[/note]], but also how their individual quirks actually got them the jobs in the first place!
30[[/folder]]
31
32[[folder:Comic Books]]
33* An unusual case in ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', which opens with the main characters hanging out during what we are told is their parents' ''annual'' meeting. So while it's not the first time that they meet, not only can one assume their original meeting was somewhat similar, it is also when they first become a "team", making it their AvengersAssemble moment.
34* Used frequently in SuperHero comics where a new superhero team in complete. In fact, one of the easiest ways to [[DecompressedComic decompress]] the origin story is to introduce the characters one per issue over a multi issue premiere arc.
35* All of Creator/MarvelComics' heroes met for the first time in Contest of Champions #1. Most of them had already met, but this was the first time that ''every single superhero'' was in the same place at the same time (courtesy of the CosmicEntity The Grandmaster, who needed to choose heroes for the contest). Note that only a handful of heroes participated in the actual contest, including some brand-new ones.
36* In ''ComicBook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'', Mina (the head of the League) is introduced to Nemo, then the two of them are sent to dredge Quatermain out of an opium den. They then go on to apprehend Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde in Paris, then catch [[Literature/TheInvisibleMan Hawley Griffin]] [[spoiler: molesting schoolgirls in a boarding school.]]
37* This is how ComicBook/TransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye begins, with most of the cast gradually making their way on-board ''the Lost Light'' throughout the first issue. The command trio are already on-board, Red Alert is checking newcomers at the front door (meeting [[MadScientist Brainstorm]], [[OnlySaneMan Rung]] and [[{{Motormouth}} Swerve]] while there). Meanwhile, Ratchet, [[OfficialCouple Chromedome and Rewind]] are making their way to the ship on foot (Rewind only being able to turn into a memory stick). They're interrupted by [[AxCrazy Whirl]] and [[NobleDemon Cyclonus]] trying to kill one another, only being interrupted when [[NaiveNewcomer Tailgate]] manages to get free from a hole he'd been in for over four million years, before passing out.
38** According to the writer, there was supposed to be another character ([[MysteriousPast Skids]]) introduced in the first issue, but with no space he gets moved to the second issue instead.
39[[/folder]]
40
41[[folder:Fan Fic]]
42* ScriptFic ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries'' uses a two-person variant in [[PilotEpisode "Birth of a Friendship"]].
43[[/folder]]
44
45[[folder:Film]]
46* Movie examples: the eponymous heroes of ''Film/SevenSamurai'', its western remake ''[[Film/TheMagnificentSeven1960 The Magnificent Seven]]'', and the remade ''Film/{{Oceans 11}}'' are introduced in this manner.
47* Happens early in the film adaptation of ''Film/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen''. M summons Allan Quatermain from Kenya to lead the new generation of the League; Allan meets him in an underground library and is promptly introduced to three of his teammates -- [[Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea Captain Nemo]], [[Literature/{{Dracula}} Mina Harker]], and [[CanonForeigner Rodney Skinner]]. They then have to leave to collect the remaining two, and manage to pick up a TagalongKid in the process.
48* ''Film/TheMuppetMovie'' shows how the Muppet troupe got together. (Well, sort of. As Kermit puts it, "It's kind of approximately how it happened.")
49* The heist in ''Film/FastFive'' requires a BadassCrew...which means bringing together major players from the previous four movies (Brian, Dom, and Mia from [[Film/TheFastAndTheFurious2001 the original film]], Roman and Tej from [[Film/TwoFastTwoFurious the second]], Han Lue from [[Film/TheFastAndTheFuriousTokyoDrift the third]], and Gisele, Leo, and Santos from [[Film/FastAndFurious the fourth]]).
50[[/folder]]
51
52[[folder:Literature]]
53* [[Literature/TheFourGospels The New Testament]] begins this way with Jesus collecting his disciples one by one, making this one at least OlderThanFeudalism.
54* In the first ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' book, the heroes meet at the local mall and decide to walk part of the way home together by taking a shortcut through an abandoned construction site. This is before any of them get involved with aliens or VoluntaryShapeshifting, and though they all already knew each other to some extent, they were not a collective group until this moment. Previous to this meeting their various relationships were one-to-one between the various members; Jake/Marco and Rachel/Cassie were best friends, Jake/Rachel were cousins, Jake/Tobias were minor friends after Jake saved Tobias from bullies at school, and Jake/Cassie had mutual crushes on each other. After this night they became a solitary group of friends committed to the fight against the Yeerks, but they had to maintain the cover that nothing had changed to avoid being discovered, so whenever they were in public they had to make it look like they were not "a group."
55* In the first ''Literature/{{Harry Potter|and the Philosophers Stone}}'' book, Harry meets Ron, most of the Weasleys, Hermione, Neville, Crabbe, Goyle, Dumbledore, [=McGonagall=] etc. for the first time all on the same day. (His only previous contact with wizards was with Malfoy, Hagrid and Ollivander.) Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville and [=McGonagall=] are ''all'' meeting each other for the first time. Completely justified, as it's the first day of school and they're all either students or teachers.
56* ''Literature/{{Otherland}}'' does this for what seems to be most of the main characters by the end of the first book. However, it's subverted--not only do [[TwoLinesNoWaiting they get separated]], a whole slew of new main characters appear.
57* The main cast are all gathered together as old friends at the beginning of ''Dragons Of Autumn Twilight,'' first book in the ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' series.
58* The novel ''Literature/TheAlienist'' gathers the team members for dinner at Delmonico's.
59* The entire first half of ''[[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings The Fellowship of the Ring]]''. Frodo sets out with Sam, then adds Merry and Pippin, Aragorn joins up in Bree, and then the rest of the Fellowship gets assembled in Rivendell.
60* ''Literature/WaterMargin'' has an entire chapter dedicated to this, but because there are 108 main characters - some of whom have noteable back stories - it's not until about seven-tenths into the novel that all the heroes are ''finally'' gathered at Liangshan Marsh.
61[[/folder]]
62
63[[folder:Live-Action Television]]
64* In the pilot of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer,'' Buffy comes to Sunnydale. Giles reveals he is her Watcher. Later, Xander overhears them talking about vampires. Buffy saves Willow from a vampire attack. From this point on, Buffy, Giles, Xander and Willow are a team.
65* ''Series/TheRealWorld'' is a particularly notable RealityShow example.
66%%* ''Series/{{Sliders}}''
67%%* ''Series/TheXFiles''
68* Although two of the characters and part of the premise had been established in the film ''Film/{{Stargate}}'', the premiere of ''Series/StargateSG1'' was largely an EveryoneMeetsEveryone episode. Much the same can be said of the premiere of ''Series/StargateAtlantis''.
69* Aversion: ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' didn't do this till the very last episode of the first season, and even then some characters ended up being left out, simply because the series has a huge cast, with more on the way. An example: Hiro, a main character, did not meet the Haitian (a recurring character from season one) until season three IN THE PRESENT. They meet in the future and Hiro assumes present Haitian is just as bad as future Haitian. This was [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in season 2, when Hiro Nakamura encounters Matt Parkman and Nathan Petrelli. Hiro immediately shouts his (second) catchphrase: "Flying man!". Parkman's reaction is: "And who's this?" This was Lampshaded when a couple of [[AscendedFanboy comic geeks]] start arguing about whether or not Hiro and Claire had ever met.
70--> '''Sam''': Kirby Plaza doesn't count. They never actually even talked.
71* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
72** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' starts with Picard taking command of his new ship, the ''Enterprise'', and him and the crew getting acquainted. It turns out that some of the officers have past connections with each other, but for the most part, they're all strangers to each other.
73** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' starts with the various Starfleet crew members arriving at the station and causing friction with the Bajoran Militia personnel who had been running it. Once again, a few cast members are old friends (or enemies).
74** In ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'''s pilot, about half of the ship's officers and skilled staffers were killed, forcing the captain to accept various Maquis rebels, area aliens, and even computer programs as replacements.
75** ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' starts with the titular ship's command crew being assembled for her launch.
76* As an AffectionateParody of the above ''Star Trek'' franchise, ''Series/TheOrville'' also starts with [[TheCaptain Captain Mercer]] meeting his officers when he takes command of the titular CoolStarship.
77* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' begins on the interns' first day at the hospital, as does ''Series/GreysAnatomy''.
78* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'':
79** The pilot, "Serenity", added a number of characters to the existing crew (Book, Simon and River) with their first meeting as part of the plot. However, because the pilot was [[ExecutiveMeddling not shown]] as the first episode, the characters had to be (re)introduced to the audience without {{retcon}}ning the first episode out of continuity (although the film later {{retcon}}ned a number of aspects of the unaired pilot anyway).
80** There were also echoes of EveryoneMeetsEveryone in a second episode, "Out of Gas", which showed how the original crew met through flashbacks, and Mal's purchase of ''Serenity''.
81* In a precise inversion of the ''Firefly'' example, ''Series/{{Crusade}}'' was intended to start InMediasRes, but ExecutiveMeddling demanded an Everyone Meets Everyone episode, which was severely rushed through production and is very unpopular with fans.
82* Although starting off with a WelcomeEpisode for Gwen Cooper, ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' used flashbacks to show how the rest of the team were recruited in the second season's episode "Fragments".
83* ''Series/{{Lost}}'' goes for realism by [[AvertedTrope averting]] this. While there are many introductions in the pilot, they're mostly done in small separate groups rather than with the entire cast, and not everyone meets everyone else. Multiple episodes in, some characters are still shown to only be vaguely acquainted with others; it takes about half a season before everyone is on a first name basis with everyone else.
84* In ''Series/That70sShow'' episode "Class Picture", the main characters, in search of a quote for their yearbook, start remembering how they first met.
85* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' has "How I Met Everyone Else", where they tell Ted's new girlfriend the story about how Ted & Marshall, Lily & Marshall, Ted & Lily, Ted & Barney, and Ted & Robin (but not Barney & Robin! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Just no.) met.
86* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'':
87** This happens in most seasons - the main cast all meet each other via coincidence, fate, or being gathered by the mentor.
88** Downplayed in the multi-season "Zordon era", which occasionally replaced individual Rangers (or small groups of them) mid-season, leading to more of a gradual shift.
89** Averted in ''Series/PowerRangersNinjaStorm'' where most of the core cast already knew each other through the super-secret-NinjaSchool they attended. The core trio were already good friends, and their MissionControl was the sensei's son.
90* Averted big time in ''Series/{{Solitary}}''. The contestants never see or communicate with each other, save special occasions, and then only through a third party.
91* ''Series/MaidMarianAndHerMerryMen''. The first episode is even called "How The Gang Got Together".
92* ''Series/{{Community}}'''s [[Recap/CommunityS1E01Pilot Pilot Episode]] is one of these involving the formation of a Spanish study group.
93* The first episode of ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' has Nate called in by Victor Dubinich to lead a con with Parker, Hardison, and Eliot. Sophie (an old friend/foe of Nate's) is called in later when the team is double-crossed and they need to take Dubinich down. By the end of the second episode, they decide to stay together as a team and pull more cons on deserving marks.
94* ''Series/MadeInChelsea'' the first episode has many of the main characters meeting for the first time.
95* ''Series/GameOfThrones'' starts out this way: Pretty much all of the principal cast (save the Targaryens, who are in exile) get to meet during a royal visit to Winterfell castle (even though not for the first time), under the guise of at least nominally civil coexistence. Needless to say, from that moment forward, they learn to properly detest each other, and things begin to fall apart almost immediately.
96* The first episode of ''Series/{{Stargirl|2020}}'' has Courtney go to a new school and sit down at the table of losers during lunch. Courtney and the other three students will eventually become the new Justice Society of America (specifically, Stargirl, Wildcat, Doctor Mid-Nite, and Hourman), although it'll take several episodes for them to actually become superheroes. And, of course, she already knows her step-father Pat, although she learns that he has a suit of PoweredArmor in episode 2 and comes up with the name S.T.R.I.P.E. for him (he used to be called Stripesey back when he was the sidekick to the original Starman). In addition, many of the villains will show up in the first two episodes, even though they [[VillainWithGoodPublicity aren't introduced as villains]].
97* ''Series/TheBrittasEmpire'': The first episode ("Laying The Foundations") is about Gordon Brittas' first day on the job. Whilst there, he (and the majority of the rest of the employees) meet each other for the very first time.
98[[/folder]]
99
100[[folder:Pinball]]
101* Done in ''Pinball/{{Avatar}}'' for "Na'vi Multiball", which requires the player to first gather up all six Na'vi.
102[[/folder]]
103
104[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
105* Some tabletop [=RPGs=] encourage the [=GMs=] to make the players stage this, if their characters are to play in extended chronicles. Or maybe it's just to avert the YouAllMeetInAnInn scenario and its "you were drunk enough to risk your life with a bunch of shady strangers" implication. An example of this is ''TabletopGame/TheWorldOfDarkness'' and ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}''
106** Ironically enough, the 4th Edition of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' is one of those [=RPGs=], despite being the poster boy of YouAllMeetInAnInn.
107[[/folder]]
108
109[[folder:Theater]]
110* The second song in ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'', ''Aaron Burr, Sir'' has Alexander Hamilton meet Aaron Burr, Marquis de Lafayette, John Laurens, and Hercules Mulligan on the same day, in the same bar. The preceding song ''Alexander Hamilton'' throws in Thomas Jefferson, Phillip Hamilton, Eliza, Angelica, and Peggy Schuyler, George Washington, and James Madison, although the characters there are acting more as a GreekChorus than actually meeting Hamilton.
111* ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'' can be considered this for ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', as it introduces the Wicked Witches of the West and East, Glinda the Good Witch, [[spoiler:the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man]] as all having gone to college together, even going so far as to make Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West) and G(a)linda college roommates.
112* ''Theatre/{{Bandstand}}'' 's third song, "I Know A Guy," connects all six guys in the Donny Nova Band- Donny meets Jimmy, an old acquaintance of his late army buddy, and then Jimmy introduces him to Davy, and so on.
113[[/folder]]
114
115[[folder:Webcomics]]
116* ''Webcomic/ElectricWonderland'' began with a story in which Trawn meets and hires NJ, Shroomy, and Aerynn for her new independently-published newspaper, ''The Nettropolis Free Press''.
117* A major component of the first storyline of ''Webcomic/TheFuzzyFive''.
118[[/folder]]
119
120[[folder:Web Original]]
121* In the first part of ''WebAnimation/{{Flicker}}'', the cast wakes up in an apartment and gets introduced one after another in the order of Charlie, Veronica, Liza, Annie, Vinny, Trey, Elaina, Kees[[spoiler:, and Chlorine who doesn't show up until the end of the first episode]]. The only two who know each other are Charlie and Annie, as they are siblings.
122* ''Welcome to Poe'', one of the first Literature/WhateleyUniverse stories, where six kids start their freshman year at [[SuperheroSchool Whateley Academy]] and find out they have something unusual in common. It's what makes such a diverse group into a team.
123[[/folder]]
124
125[[folder:Western Animation]]
126* In every season of ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'' that introduces a new cast (''Island (2007)'', ''Revenge of the Island'', ''Pahkitew Island'', and ''Island (2023)''), the first episode has all the campers meeting each other for the first time (with the exceptions of Katie and Sadie & Wayne and Raj who were already best friends before the show, Amy and Samey who are twins, and Emma and Chase who are exes). It takes up about the first 11 minutes of the very first episode of the series for this to get done, seeing how it's 22 contestants.
127* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': Fry gets unfrozen, meets Leela (his career placement officer), runs away from her and meets Bender in a suicide booth. And together they meet the Professor, who is Fry's great-great-great (and so on) nephew, who hires the three of them (including Leela, who turned her back on her own career rather than force Fry into his designated role) as his new delivery crew. The second episode introduces the trio to the rest of the cast already employed at the Professor's delivery company: Hermes Conrad, the company's bureaucrat; Zoidberg, the doctor; and Amy, the college intern. A ''much'' later episode tells how the Professor and Dr. Zoidberg met.
128* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'':
129** Franchise/{{Superman}}, Franchise/{{Batman}}, and Franchise/TheFlash know each other already, and at least know Hawkgirl and Franchise/GreenLantern by reputation. ComicBook/WonderWoman and ComicBook/MartianManhunter are total unknowns, hailing from a mystical island and, well, Mars. The pilot shows all seven of them coming together to stop an AlienInvasion.
130** Recap/JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS2E4TaskForceX shows how Clock King, Plastique, Captain Boomerang, Deathshot and Colonel Flagg met, and also shows them studying Green Lantern, Captain Atom and The Martian Manhunter (that they will meet later) at their ChekhovsClassroom.
131* ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether'', largely because of its premise as a reality show parody.
132* The ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' animated series started off with the whole team already assembled, and the EveryoneMeetsEveryone episode was done as a flashback in season 5.
133* ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'' started with everyone knowing each other and showed a WholeEpisodeFlashback episode, the two-parter "Xana Awakens", in a later season.
134* ''WesternAnimation/MeetTheRobinsons'' is almost all about this. The [[AdaptationDisplacement children's book it is based on]] IS all about this.
135* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' reveals how they met in the original final episode as a flashback.
136* In ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'' Irma, Taranee, Cornelia and Hay Lin were already friends prior to the start of the series. Will moves in and is taken into their circle (mostly because Hay Lin's grandmother is ready to set them up to be a team). Then Caleb shows up (and gets captured soon after) and when Will gets captured, the other girls meet Blunk in the process of saving both Will and Caleb.
137* The first episode of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', in which Twilight Sparkle meets the rest of the mane cast for the first time, and their quest to defeat Nightmare Moon helps them bond as a group of friends. (In subsequent episodes, it's also implied that some of the other ponies ''knew'' each other but are only now becoming proper friends.)
138* Prior to ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'', ComicBook/IronMan had built Ultron robots with ComicBook/AntMan, and partied with Ant-Man's companion, ComicBook/TheWasp, a few times. Since Iron Man owns a suit of Hulkbuster armor, some could assume that he also already met the [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]]. The first episode that aired on Creator/DisneyXD, "Breakout", marks the first time they fight crime together. It also marks the first time any of them meet and team up with ComicBook/TheMightyThor.
139* ''WesternAnimation/AaahhRealMonsters'' made this the series ''finale'', with a HowWeGotHere setup showing Ickis, Oblina and Krumm's arrival at the Academy.
140* The first episode of ''{{WesternAnimation/Dinotrux}}'' features an unusually friendly T-Trux named Ty moving into a new area after his old home was destroyed by a volcano were he makes an unlikely friend and realizes Dinotrux work much better together than alone, and subsequently recruits the group of friends that features in the rest of the series.
141* ''WesternAnimation/DefendersOfTheEarth'': Most of "Escape from Mongo", the first episode in the series, is spent bringing the Defenders together, a process which is helped somewhat by the fact that the team consists of three parent/child duos and one adoptive parent/adopted child duo. In addition, Mandrake and Lothar are HeterosexualLifePartners, so, with the addition of LJ and Kshin, half the team is already assembled at the start of the series, which opens with Flash's spaceship crash-landing in the grounds of Mandrake's mansion. Rick joins when Flash, Mandrake and Lothar rescue him from Mongo; the Phantom and Jedda are recruited shortly after. It's also indicated that Mandrake knew Flash and the Phantom, at least by reputation, prior to his first onscreen meetings with the two characters.
142* ''WesternAnimation/TimeSquad'': The first episode has the two main adult characters, Buck Tuddrussel and Larry 3000, partners in a time police organization from the far future, accidentally zap into the bedroom of an orphaned child named Otto Osworth in the year 2001. Otto convinces Tuddrussel to take him with them, as he knows more about history than they do. Thus, the incompetent duo becomes a successful trio and eventually a makeshift family where they admittedly call Otto's "kidnapping" an "adoption" instead.
143[[/folder]]

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