Line #90 Main/HappyEndingOverride


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2	%% Cross-media examples are sorted by the media which overrides the happy ending.
3	%% In particular, this means Danganronpa ping-pongs between folders like crazy.
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18
19	->''"You can't have happy endings in sitcoms, not really, because if everyone's happy, the show would be over, and above all else, the show...has to keep going."''
20	-->-- '''[=BoJack=]''', ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'', "[[Recap/BojackHorsemanS5E06FreeChurro Free Churro]]"
21
22	The BigBad has been brought to a crushing end at the hands of TheHero, his RagtagBunchOfMisfits and his trademark {{BFS}}. The NegativeSpaceWedgie that was threatening all of creation has been un-wedgied, the SealedEvilInACan has been safely disposed of, all the plot threads that were left hanging have been wrapped up nice and neat and everybody lives HappilyEverAfter.
23
24	'''And then the sequel happens.'''
25
26	It's inevitable: you can't have a story without conflict and chaos, and therefore you can't have a sequel set in a world that we last saw happy and peaceful without dropping a [[Anime/{{Voltron}} new horrible menace]] in the thick of things and letting him/her/it run amok. This, however, is taking things far beyond simple StatusQuoIsGod. We leave an idyllic paradise and come back to a CrapsackWorld: [[CataclysmBackstory the Golden Age has rusted over,]] [[BlackAndGrayMorality chivalry has been stabbed in the back,]] [[TheGoodKingdom the peaceful kingdom]] has transformed into [[TheEmpire an evil empire]] (or invaded by it, or both) and everything that our protagonists fought so hard to save has been pillaged and murdered by time and writers. [[ShootTheShaggyDog The shaggy dog was shot]] while we weren't looking. The world is not only substantially worse off than it was when we last saw it, but much of the time it's even worse off than it was ''when the story first began.''
27
28	This is the part where our heroes (assuming they're not [[SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome dead]], incapacitated or [[SuddenSequelHeelSyndrome turned evil]]) fall to their knees and deliver their best [[VideoGame/MegaManX4 Zero]] impression: "What were we fighting for?" The Guardian newspaper pointed out how depressingly ''common'' this trope has been through the 2010's, and gave such sequels the moniker of "[[https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jan/21/picard-amazon-skywalker-star-wars-woverine-logan bleakquel]]".
29
30	FullCircleRevolution and the CartwrightCurse are typical means to this effect. For inversions, see BelatedHappyEnding. Contrast WasItReallyWorthIt, where the characters are made to feel the cost (usually personal) of their victory before the story ends, but the good which results is usually lasting. Compare DoomedByCanon, where the "sequel" story undoing the happy ending was written first. When this happens repeatedly over the course of a work or series, this may become a YoyoPlotPoint.
31
32	If this is done especially badly, many fans may well declare the sequel to have [[FanonDiscontinuity never happened]].
33
34	See also SuddenDownerEnding, where the override happens ''before'' the sequel.
35
36	Not to be confused with YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle, where not only is the ending unhappy, but it isn't actually an ending at all.
37
38	Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease
39
40	!!As this is an {{Ending Trope\|s}}, [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff unmarked spoilers abound]]. [[Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned Beware]].
41	[[noreallife]]
42	----
43	!!Example subpages:
44	[[index]]
45	* HappyEndingOverride/AnimeAndManga
46	* HappyEndingOverride/ComicBooks
47	* [[HappyEndingOverride/LiveActionFilms Films — Live-Action]]
48	* HappyEndingOverride/{{Literature}}
49	* HappyEndingOverride/LiveActionTV
50	* HappyEndingOverride/VideoGames
51	* HappyEndingOverride/WesternAnimation
52	[[/index]]
53
54	!!Other examples:
55	[[foldercontrol]]
56
57	[[folder:Fan Works]]
58	* ''Blog/AskTheNewHopesPeak'' does this for ''Anime/Danganronpa3'', showing plenty of AscendedFridgeHorror about the world after an apocalypse.
59	* ''Fanfic/AvengerGoddess'' has a brief example of this when Natasha tells Tony how she and Diana once helped a neighbour realise that she had cancer in time to get treatment; a year after they moved away Natasha checked on that neighbour and found that she was run over by a bus, which she's never been able to bring herself to tell Diana about.
60	* Downplayed example in ''Fanfic/DanganronpaTheImmersiveLearningProgram'', where the ending of the first part involved the simulation the students were trapped in collapsing, with a HopeSpot involving Shuichi reaching out to save Kaede. However, the sequel ''Academy of Discontent'' goes into Shuichi's point-of-view of that ending, and reveals that Kaede and Shuichi, plus another student, didn't make it out alive.
61	* ''Fanfic/DigimonAdventureSideOrder'': Gatomon bitterly notes that a lot of what the Digidestined fought for was ultimately rendered meaningless by the apocalypse that wiped out humanity and almost completely destroyed the Digital World in the process, though Eight assures her that Inklings and Octolings are still able to carry the torch left behind by humankind.
62	* ''Fanfic/FlaihhsamSSpahkh'' has a throwaway mention that Ael t'Rllaillieu from the ''Literature/{{Rihannsu}}'' novels was assassinated at some point after becoming Empress of the Romulan Star Empire in the last book, which probably explains why her friendship with Kirk and the ''Enterprise'' crew hadn't led to a long-term thaw in relations with the Federation by ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''.
63	* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'' fanfic ''Happily Ever After'' does this with the DistantFinale of ''WesternAnimation/ChannelChasers'', albeit [[HowWeGotHere at the end of the story]]. Shortly after Timmy says goodbye to his children before going to work, a new magical threat emerges, Timmy and Trixie are reminded of fairies, and they join their children with setting out to stop this threat, the story ending on a {{Cliffhanger}} where Cupid says the bonds of love have been broken.
64	* The end of ''Fanfic/HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality'' had Harry obliviating Voldemort of all his memories, hoping to raise him again in love and warmth one day. Yet in its [[RecursiveFanfiction fan sequel]] ''Significant Digits'', Voldemort got all his memories back.
65	* ''Fanfic/LiesOfAttrition'' has an odd, self-inflicted variant of this. As the story begins with Adrien being given a MetaphoricallyTrue account of the final battle in "Re-Creation", and he is told that Monarque succeeded in making the Wish at the cost of Gabriel Agreste's life. Adrien has little desire for his [[ControlFreak controlling]] and [[AbusiveParents abusive father]] to return, but views his sacrifice as wrong, and so he resolves to undo the Wish and bring him back, despite knowing that it will likely cost him his newfound freedom.
66	* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14213158/1/Mobile-Suit-Gundam-SEED-Paradox Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Paradox]]'' overrides the happy ending of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'' given the presence of the story's BadFuture. Five years after the second war between the Earth Alliance and ZAFT, both the Atlantic Federation and the [=PLANTs=] are both embroiled in a civil war -- the Atlantic Federation's reformed government against remnants of Blue Cosmos, and a three-way power struggle between the Clyne faction, Patrick Zala's, and Gilbert Durandal's respective remnant factions. The artificial intelligence JUNO was created in order to pacify these conflicts. However, because of its [[AIIsACrapshoot self-awareness]] and [[GrowBeyondTheirProgramming growing beyond its programming]], it began to execute [[KillAllHumans Protocol 37564]], resulting in one of the deadliest cyberattacks in the Cosmic Era and JUNO [[TheBadGuyWins ultimately succeeded]] in conquering the Earth and became its tyrannical ruler. JUNO would then set its sights on the [=PLANTs=], by having one of its androids murder Kira Yamato and take on his physical appearance and allowing JUNO to hack into several ZAFT mobile suits, [[spoiler:and among those hacked is the Destiny Gundam, Shinn Asuka's mobile suit, which is then rigged to self-destruct. Unfortunately, Shinn got trapped inside his Destiny, killing him when his MS exploded]], resulting in a chain reaction that devastated all of the PLANT colonies. 70 years after the cyberattack, most of the main cast are already dead, [[spoiler:with Lunamaria being the only known survivor]], and three other stragglers travel back into the past to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong.
67	* ''Fanfic/OldLightStillSlantsThrough'' overrides the light-hearted and comical tone of ''[[Manga/Reborn2004 Reborn's]]'' ending, which left off with Tsuna having to endure the shenanigans of Reborn's tutoring once more with all of his new friends. After becoming the boss of the Vongola, he attempts to return the organization to its vigilante roots, only for the rise of [[Manga/MyHeroAcademia Quirks]] to throw the world into chaos as the Vongola desperately tried to maintain order. The Vongola ultimately lose and it's heavily implied that Tsuna had seen the deaths of all of his loved ones, family members, and Guardians, including the death of his younger brother, who was only 19 at the time. With nothing left to live for, Tsuna becomes a DeathSeeker and goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge, indiscriminately slaughtering everyone he held responsible before finally dying himself and reincarnating as Izuku Midoriya. Filled with guilt and regret, Tsuna now acts as a SpiritAdvisor to Izuku, coaching him on how to use his Dying Will Flames to become a Hero and prevent Izuku from going down the same path he did.
68	* ''Fanfic/TheQueensAdmiral'' does this for ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'', as whatever peace and happiness the characters managed to achieve were undercut by the French Revolution, during which Adam (the Beast) lost his kingdom, his son, and almost all of his servants aside from Chip. The former prince Adam had since become a senile old man who eventually dies of heart attack when he got involved in the conflict that the main characters were involved in.
69	* In the ''Fanfic/RubyAndNora'' story ''Attacks'', the titular duo save the town of Muzukasi from robotic Grimm attacks after finding out that Harold White was behind them. In the very next story, ''Bloodsucker'', Muzukasi was destroyed by the Aswang with Penwood the only survivor.
70	* In the second story of Raven Child's ''Fanfic/TheSmurfetteVillage'' series, the Smurfettes escape the volcanic destruction of their village with the help of the Smurfs and end up moving in with them in the Smurf Village, setting itself up for a HappilyEverAfter ending. By the time the third story's HowWeGotHere sequence starts, however, only ten of the Smurfs and Smurfettes survive the destruction of the Smurf Village due to a SyntheticPlague being unleashed upon all but those ten Smurfs who escaped.
71	* ''Fanfic/StormOnTheHorizon'' takes the already BittersweetEnding of ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange'' and presents it as a pure downer. When Max went back in time to let Chloe die and save Arcadia Bay, Chloe promised Max that, even though she may be dead, Max would still have the memories of the amazing week they spent together. [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor Chloe was right]], and Max came to regard those memories as a curse, spending the rest of her life knowing that that moment of happiness was [[YankTheDogsChain cruelly yanked away by Chloe's fate]]. The agony caused her to start meddling with time again to find a way to save both Chloe and Arcadia Bay, with the only solution turning out to be her killing herself before she ever met Chloe. The act renders Max an immortal, [[TheAgeless ageless]] 18-year-old who can never meet Chloe again lest she cause an apocalyptic disaster, [[spoiler:which is why Max highly suspects that meeting Chloe's daughter Elisabet Sobeck caused [[RobotWar the Faro Plague]]]].
72	* The 6th installment of the ''Fanfic/TalesOfTheUndiscoveredSwords'' ends with [[BrokenBird Sasanoyuki]] on kiwame seemingly able to move on from his past. However, in the 8th fic which features him after the kiwame training, it's revealed that his self-hatred problem has gotten ''worse'' from being exposed to the past events again. He gets better in the end though.
73	* ''[[https://www.deviantart.com/shinyblueberryj50/art/A-Tarnished-Alliance-867183959 A Tarnished Alliance]]'' is set a few weeks after the events of ''WesternAnimation/SodorsLegendOfTheLostTreasure''. Thomas and Ryan are now friends, the Harwick branchline has opened, Sailor John has been defeated, and Sir Topham Hatt has forgiven Thomas...only to show that Gordon shows zero remorse for the accident with the express coaches early in the film, and rejects both Thomas's apology and the alliance they once had.
74	* The ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11847576/1/Teen-Titans-Beware-the-Grey-Ghost Beware the Grey Ghost]]'' does this to the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' [[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE18BewareTheGrayGhost episode of the same name]]. At the conclusion of the episode, the actor who played the titular Grey Ghost found his acting career revitalized thanks to helping Batman thwart the MadBomber recreating an episode of his show. In the opening chapter, however, Robin tells the rest of the Titans that said MadBomber escaped during a mass breakout of Arkham, then planted a bomb in the actor's car, killing him.
75	* ''[[https://m.fanfiction.net/s/11161847/12/ The Vicious God's Wrath]]'', a FixFic to ''Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF'', does this to the OVA ''Anime/DragonBallYoSonGokuAndHisFriendsReturn''. In the short, Abo and Kado [[DefeatMeansFriendship befriended the Z-Fighters, Tarbles, and Gure after their battle with Goten and Trunks]], implying they returned to Gure's homeworld on good terms. Chapter 12 shows that while this happened and Abo and Kado have become productive citizens of Tech-Tech, the planet is quickly conquered by [[AdaptationalBadass a cyborg Shishimi]] and its alien protectors defeated. Abo and Kado are [[ReforgedIntoAMinion brainwashed and transformed into Freeza's Cyborg subordinates]], believing that [[FakeMemories the Z-Fighters have manipulated them to their defeat]]. Abo and Kado's final fate in the invasion of Earth [[spoiler:is that Android 17 and 18 are forced to kill them while they're fused as Aka to protect their planet, with 18 [[ApologeticAttacker giving a somber sorry]] as she blasts him to death]].
76	* The fan comic ''We'll Meet Again'', taking place after ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'', shows Link getting mortally wounded in a skirmish. All Zelda can do is sing to him in his last moments, while Link is left with the thought [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime that some version of him will find his way back to her]].
77	[[/folder]]
78
79	[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
80	* ''{{WesternAnimation/Aladdin}}'' ends with [[BigBad Jafar]] being tricked into becoming a genie and then being trapped inside a lamp, but ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheReturnofJafar'' reveals that Jafar escaped from his lamp and now wants revenge.
81	* ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon2010'' and its [[WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon2 sequel]] revolved around humanity learning to live in harmony with dragons. However, the [[WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragonTheHiddenWorld trilogy]] ended with [[EndOfAnAge Hiccup sending the dragons away]] for their own good after deciding that peaceful coexistence was impossible ([[TheFilmOfTheBook in an attempt to be in line with the ending to the book series]]), and this ends up being a BrokenAesop in the DistantFinale ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragonHomecoming'' as it's shown that in their absence humans grew fearful of dragons once more and Hiccup almost sent his people right back to square one.
82	* At the end of ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles1'', it looks like the Parr family can finally come out of hiding after saving the city from Syndrome's Omidroid, and can now fight crime in public as a superhero family, but in [[WesternAnimation/Incredibles2 the sequel]], which picks up right where the previous film left off, it's revealed that superheroes are still illegal and one of the main goals of the film is to try and get the law changed. Even Violet getting a date with her crush, Tony, gets undone when Dicker erases his memory after he accidentally discovers her secret identity, making him forget all about her. Thankfully both of these are resolved by the end, restoring the happy ending for the saga.
83	* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyANewGeneration'' is this to ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', implied as being set many thousands of years later to the point that the events of the latter has faded into myth and legend and is considered ancient. Twilight Sparkle's GoldenAge of friendship didn't last, the pony tribes are more divided than ever and magic is ''gone''. Even though TheMagicComesBack at the end and the world is beginning to heal, the fact that Twilight and the Mane Six's struggles [[AllForNothing were so easily undone and made pointless]] ([[HistoryRepeats in an eerily similar way to the Hearth's Warming story, itself an ancient tale in their time]]) [[BrokenBase wasn't well received by some fans]].
84	* A partial example in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory4.'' The BittersweetEnding of ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'' saw the teenage Andy passing on his toys to little Bonnie, who seemed like she would play with them and love them as much as Andy had. In the sequel, this is true for most of the toys, but Bonnie has lost interest in Woody and ignores him. In the end, he accepts that she doesn't need him anymore and starts a new life as an ownerless toy with Bo Peep.
85	* ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' ends with Vanellope [[EarnYourHappyEnding finally earning her place]] in ''Sugar Rush'' and becoming a popular player, while Ralph cherishes having a new friend who makes his job as a video game villain more bearable. The sequel, ''WesternAnimation/RalphBreaksTheInternet'', takes place six years later - Vanellope is now tired of ''Sugar Rush'' and finds it boring, accidentally gets it unplugged, and eventually abandons it for another game, while Ralph is forced to learn to give up his own happiness to allow for hers.
86	[[/folder]]
87
88	[[folder:Folklore]]
89	* In the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index (ATU), some "complete" tale types may cross with others as their continuation. That is, after the happy ending with the hero or heroine marrying the princess or prince, respectively, the story continues with an antagonist trying to destroy their happiness. For example:
90	** ''Cinderella'' (which is tale type ATU 510A, "Cinderella", a subtype of ATU 510, "The Persecuted Heroine"): its variants usually end after the shoe-fitting test and the heroine's marriage. However:
91	*** When it continues as tale type ATU 403, "The Black and the White Bride", the heroine is replaced by her stepsister and ''killed'', depending on the variant. Fortunately, the heroine goes through a cycle of metamorphoses until she gains human form again and unmasks the impostor. Examples: ''Literature/TamCam'' (Vietnam), ''Beauty and Pock Face'' (China).
92	*** When it continues as tale type ATU 707, "The Three Golden Children", the heroine gives birth to children of marvellous aspect, but either her stepsisters, her stepmother, or even her mother-in-law, take the children and throw them in the sea, replacing them for puppies and other animals, and her husband, ashamed, orders his wife to be imprisoned. Meanwhile, the children survive and, after a series of adventures, restore their mother.
93	** In North African/Berber variants of tale type [=AaTh=] 451A, "The Sister Seeking her Nine Brothers" (after 2004, it was subsumed under type ATU 451, "The Maiden who Seeks her Brothers"), the heroine is the sister of seven brothers, goes on a journey to visit them, but a black servant trades places (and [[RacialTransformation skintone/race]]) with her. At the end of the tale, the impostor is unmasked and punished, and the girl is reunited with her brothers. However:
94	*** If the tale segues into tale type ATU 709A, "The Sister of Nine Brothers", the girl searches for coal with a ghoul or other creature, who goes after her to devour her, but is defeated by the brothers. However, a body part of the ghoul (such as a nail) remains lodged in the girl's skin and she falls into a death-like sleep. She is eventually saved when her bier or coffin tumbles to the ground and dislodges the ghoul's nail, reviving her. Example: ''[[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/207.htm Udea and her Seven Brothers]]''.
95	*** If the tale continues as type ATU 285B*, "Snake Enticed out of Man's Stomach", the heroine's sisters-in-law, jealous of the attention she is getting from her brothers, tricks the girl into eating a dish of snake eggs which [[ArtisticLicenseBiology hatch inside her]].
96	[[/folder]]
97
98	[[folder:Music]]
99	* In Music/{{aha}}'s music video to "The Sun Always Shines on T.V.", the video starts with the character from their "Take on Me" video turning back into a drawing and disappearing while the girl watches helplessly.
100	* Greg Champion's "I Made a Hundred in the Backyard at Mum's" ends on a triumphant note with the narrator making a hundred. The POVSequel, "I Hit that Wicket" by Ian Macnamara immediately reveals that he was bowled out by his brother, who seemingly got all the glory for breaking his streak.
101	* The music video for Music/PanicAtTheDisco's "This is Gospel" has Brandon Urie's character--who might be dead, given that people are trying to stuff him in a coffin--escape and disappear into a white light, which many interpret as Heaven. The sequel video, "Emperor's New Clothes," reveals that it ''is'' Heaven...but then a trapdoor to Hell opens and he turns into a demon. Then again, [[SlasherSmile he seems okay with it]], and we later get "Say Amen" as a {{Prequel}} implying that he was EvilAllAlong...
102	[[/folder]]
103
104	[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
105	* The happy ending of ''Opus'', in which Opus finally finds happiness in the pages of ''Literature/GoodnightMoon'' is overriden by the reboot comic revealing that the entire comic and the previous comic ''Outland'' were AllJustADream.
106	[[/folder]]
107
108	[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
109	* The result of the "First Blood End of an Era" match between reigning WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin and challenger Wrestling/TheUndertaker with babyface Austin's main event career and heel Wrestling/VinceMcMahon's grip on the organization on the line. Austin triumphed and per the stipulation, Vine was ousted as chairman, ending one of the most gripping wrestling feuds of all time and allowing Austin to move on from the [=McMahon=] rivalry. Two and a half months later, having lost the WWF championship, Austin used his controlling influence to reinstate Vince so he could be granted another main event title shot against Triple H. While initially a babyface feuding with Triple H, Vince eventually turned heel again in 2000, costing The Rock the WWF championship in the main event of ''Wrestlemania 2000'' and reconciled with Triple H, while Austin spent the duration of that year out with a severe neck injury. When he returned from injury and finally reclaimed the title, Austin turned his back on the fans and actually ''aligned'' himself with [=McMahon=] ''and'' Triple H during the spring of 2001.
110	* The 2001 ''Wrestling/SurvivorSeries'' event saw the World Wrestling Federation defeat World Championship Wrestling in a 'winner take all' main event where the losing organization would be dissolved. The next night on RAW, with the famous Monday Night Wars now firmly behind them, WWF World Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin turned babyface once again, The Rock had control of the World Heavyweight Championship, and Ric Flair was made a partial co-owner of the organization, but Vince [=McMahon=] and The Undertaker both turned heel the same night too. While Flair intended for Austin and Rock to meet at the December ''Vengeance'' event where both would fight to unify the championships, Vince persuaded Flair to make it a tournament and inserted heel challengers Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle into the mix. Vince ultimately got not just the literal last laugh on WCW, but on Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock as well, as both men would lose their world titles to Chris Jericho on the same night, ending two of his Attitude Era rivalries in one fell swoop and in triumph. You don't cross the boss!
111	* The final Pay Per View under the World Wrestling Federation name, ''Backlash'' 2002, saw Hulkamania run wild once more with Hulk Hogan defeating Triple H to claim the Undisputed WWF Championship, fittingly ending the WWF on a high note with arguably the champion that put the organization on the map. The same night, The Undertaker defeated Steve Austin to become the number one contender, and the following month at the first Pay Per View under the World Wrestling Entertainment brand name, Undertaker would defeat Hogan for the title with a little assistance from Vince [=McMahon=]. This would be Hogan's last ever world title reign in any organization.
112	* The 2014 ''Wrestling/SurvivorSeries'' event saw Wrestling/TheAuthority forced to disband after losing the main event- only for Wrestling/SethRollins to reinstate the faction literally five weeks later, allowing them to cause even more misery for another two years. Their final disbanding was more of an AntiClimax.
113	* The 2023 Two-Night spectacular ''Wrestlemania 39'' concluded its first evening with Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens toppling their arch-rivals The Usos and winning the Unified World Tag Team championships, putting an end to over two years of dominance by the heel tag team, and teasing the inevitable collapse of their dominant faction The Bloodline to fans. However, by the end of night two, despite last minute intervention by Sami and Kevin, the Usos are able to repel them and help Roman Reigns defeat Cody Rhodes to retain the Undisputed Universal Heavyweight Championship, ensuring the Bloodline remained at the top of the mountain. It wouldn’t be until five months later that the Usos finally quit the Bloodline- but Roman still has their brother Solo under his wing. And even then, that only lasted for three months before Jimmy rejoined them anyway.
114	[[/folder]]
115
116	[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
117	* ShowWithinAShow example in the ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}'' episode, "[[Recap/DinosaursLostE05WorkingGirl Working Girl]]"; in the trailer for ''Exploding Cop II'', the titular character puts his life back together by replacing all of his loved ones who were killed in the first movie, only for those people to get killed, too. He was all right about it, though, until he found out that the supermarket didn't have any peanut butter.
118	[[/folder]]
119
120	[[folder:Radio]]
121	* ''Radio/BleakExpectations'' actually pulls this off as a running gag. Every season ends with Pip victorious over his archnemesis, Mr. Gently Benevolent, but wouldn'tcha know, the evil old Gently just won't stay defeated. Or dead. This is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] with the titles of the season openers and enders: 1) "A Childhood Cruelly Kippered"/"A Life Smashed, Then Happily Restored a Bit"; 2) "A Happy Life Cruelly Re-Kippered"/"A Happy Life Broken Then Mended a Bit"; 3) "[[RuleOfThree A Lovely Life Re-Kippered]] [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Again Once More]]"/"Lives Lost, Wrecked, Ruined and Redeemed"; 4) "A Tolerable Life De-Happified"/"A Life Destroyed Then Repaired and [[PerfectlyCromulentWord Rehappied]]" 5) "A Pleasant Yet Dull Life Re-Evilled"/"A Loved-Up Life Potentially Totally Annihilated"
122	* The second series of ''Radio/{{Undone}}'' actually uses the promise of this as a SequelHook, telling us that despite the apparent happy ending to S2, within a year one character in the episode would be dead and Undone would be destroyed. Series 3 follows through with it.
123	[[/folder]]
124
125	[[folder:Theatre]]
126	* ''Annie Warbucks'', the rarely-performed sequel to ''Theatre/{{Annie}}'', opens [[ImmediateSequel exactly where the original show ended]], with Annie HappilyAdopted by Daddy Warbucks on Christmas morning. But then it's revealed that Warbucks can't legally adopt Annie without a wife, which leads to a complicated adventure plot that involves Warbucks searching for a bride and facing financial difficulties, villains plotting to trick him into a marriage and then murder him, and Annie [[TheRunaway running away from home.]] Eventually, though, a new happy ending arrives, with Warbucks and Grace Farrell finally having a RelationshipUpgrade and deciding to adopt all of Annie's friends from the orphanage too.
127	* Beaumarchais's ''Figaro'' trilogy (most famous for its first two parts being put to music by [[Theatre/TheMarriageOfFigaro Mozart]] and [[Theatre/TheBarberOfSeville Rossini]]) does it in both the second and the third installments.
128	** ''The Barber of Seville'' ends with Count Almaviva marrying his beloved Rosina and everyone rejoicing. Flash forward several years, and Count Almaviva is an arrogant, oppressive husband who is madly jealous of his wife but sleeps with servant girls himself, and his new target is Susanna, the bride of his loyal valet Figaro. But by the end of ''The Marriage of Figaro'' the Count has been taught a lesson, his and Rosina’s marriage is saved, and now everyone gets a happy ending, ''right''?
129	** Well, flash forward twenty more years to ''The Guilty Mother'': the Count and Rosina's only son (as in, the only child they really had together) has been killed in a duel, Cherubino, the adorable KidAnova, has likewise been killed, in battle, but not before having a one-night stand with the Countess and getting her pregnant, and now his son Leon is being passed off as the Count's, but the Count has [[MamasBabyPapasMaybe serious doubts]] about the paternity and is disdainful of Leon. And the Count himself has [[AesopAmnesia also forgotten]] what he learned in the previous play and has in the meanwhile fathered an illegitimate daughter and now passes her off as his ward.
130	* In ''Theatre/HenryV'', TheHero "gets the girl" at the end--a princess, no less!--the play ends with a wedding ''and'' [[AltarDiplomacy a peace treaty]], the long war seems to be over, the two kingdoms of England and France will be united into one realm--"That English may as French, French Englishmen, Receive each other". Then the Chorus reminds us of what [[UsefulNotes/TheHundredYearsWar happened]] [[UsefulNotes/WarsOfTheRoses next]]:
131	-->This star of England: Fortune made his sword;\
132	By which the world's best garden be achieved,\
133	And of it left his son imperial lord.\
134	Henry the Sixth, in infant bands crown'd King\
135	Of France and England, did this king succeed;\
136	Whose state so many had the managing,\
137	That they lost France and made his England bleed:\
138	Which oft [[Theatre/HenryVI our stage hath shown]]; and, for their sake,\
139	In your fair minds let this acceptance take.
140	[[/folder]]
141
142	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
143	* ''Anime/Danganronpa3'' ended with Ryota Mitarai's plan to brainwash what's left of the world stopped thanks to the Future Foundation and the former Remnants of Despair, and Makoto Naegi founds a new Hope's Peak Academy as the world starts to rebuild. ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' initially seems to have no relation to that timeline, leaving its happy ending intact while its own universe deals with the extinction of humanity by a disease-carrying meteor shower. However, it then proceeds to subvert and then has a double subversion: it's initially "revealed" that the extinction of humanity occurred during the time of Naegi's rebuilt Hope's Peak Academy, wiping away his and his friends' efforts for good...only for it to be established that both the universe of the earlier games and the universe of ''V3'' are [[ShowWithinAShow in-universe fictional stories]], and that they originally ''were'' going to be separate universes before the mastermind had to quickly {{retcon}} them to be related. In the end, whether you believe the ending to be overridden depends on your own personal interpretation of whether Tsumugi Shirogane's hasty modifications to the in-universe Hope's Peak canon count as canon to the Hope's Peak media released in real life.
144	* ''VisualNovel/KajiriKamuiKagura'' is this to the ending of the Marie route of ''VisualNovel/DiesIrae''. Several thousand years after in the ending Marie aka Tasogare took the Throne and became the fifth Heaven, watching over reality with Ren aka Yato until she and the other Gods were killed by Hajun usurping the Throne. Hajun starts to destroy all of reality until Yato, the only one to survive due to having the series strongest defense power and Hajun almost not noticing him barely managed to stop the complete manifestation of Hajuns Law with his time stop. This continues for eight thousand years until the arrival of the Eastern Expedition, who start their journey to oppose Yato and Hajun.
145	* ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'' might have ended on a bittersweet note (what with Maya's long lost mother dying and Godot going to jail for it, all because of Morgan and Dahlia's actions), but it ultimately wraps up the original trilogy quite nicely, with all main characters being given a proper closure...that is until ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'' came, revealing that Phoenix had been disbarred a few weeks after the events of ''Trials and Tribulations'' (also having a rather strong case of SameCharacterButDifferent). To make matters worse, the only other returning character from the original trilogy is Ema Skye (there's also the Judge, if you want to count THAT), who was originally not in Phoenix's arc until the DS remake and the English localization, and TookALevelInJerkass from her previous appearance. It's pretty telling that the following entries in the franchise, ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies Dual Destinies]]'' and ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice Spirit of Justice]]'', reversed the disbarment plotline and went out of their way to reference the original trilogy and bring back its characters.
146	* ''VisualNovel/RagingLoop'' has a BittersweetEnding Override on the ''Wit'' route. This route's Feast of the Yomi-Purging has left eight people dead in Yasumizu... but Haruaki and Rikako are an OfficialCouple, Meiko is on her way back to her parents (or, failing that, foster parents that will take care of her), and everyone else is able to live the rest of their days in peace. And then Haruaki returns to Yasumizu after a few days away and finds that in that time, [[EverybodyDiesEnding Rikako committed suicide and everybody else killed each other]], with Haruaki himself dying not long after.
147	* Winged Cloud's ''Sakura Beach'' ends with Seiji realizing how Ayumi and Momoko feel about him and he shares a kiss with both of them, implying he begins a relationship with them both. ''Sakura Beach 2'', however, reverts Seiji back to his old self with him as dense as ever, with him even saying he never kissed them before.
148	[[/folder]]
149
150	[[folder:Web Animation]]
151	* The final episode of ''WebAnimation/BattleForDreamIsland'' has Leafy and Firey fly off into the sunset. When the second season begins, Leafy is running away from the other contestants. The fourth season explains that the two crashed and then Leafy ran away.
152	* The ''WebAnimation/MadnessCombat'' series seemed to end on a happy note at the end of ''Madness Combat 10: Abrogation'' with the Auditor being seemingly destroyed until [[SequelGap seven years later]] when ''Madness Combat 11: Expurgation'' was released and Hank and Sanford have to fight a revived Tricky. Things seem to be going well up until the end when Hank and Sanford seemingly die and the Auditor comes BackFromTheDead, now with apparently no one to oppose him.
153	* ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'' inverted this with a DownerEnding Override: season 16 seemed to end in a way that TheBadGuyWins, as the Reds and Blues managed to create the TimeCrash that would allow him to take over the universe...and then the season 17 opener reveals [[NearVillainVictory the villain could not free himself to fulfill those plans]], as a timely strike by a magic hammer trapped him in a forcefield-like prison.
154	* ''WebAnimation/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers'': The Genesis Arc ends with Zero being seemingly destroyed before he can end the [=SMG4=] universe, albeit Axol was sadly killed in the process. Come the Revelations Arc, and it turns out Zero isn't dead after all, as he split into the two beings he was originally, with the evil one, Niles, becoming a SpiritAdvisor to Melony who gets her to unlock her Fierce Deity powers and takes control of her in order to open the [[ArtifactOfDoom God Box]] and reenact his plan. Fortunately, things turn out all right in the end, with the God Box destroyed and Niles dying- though it sadly comes at the cost of the death of the good half of Zero going with him.
155	[[/folder]]
156
157	[[folder:Webcomics]]
158	* [=CaptainHoers=]' webcomic ''Ask Firestarter Spitfire'' was a slice of life comic about the titular character working through grief, and ended with her becoming a healthier woman and even having a kid. A perfectly nice ending... made tragic by his seemingly unrelated comic, ''Webcomic/TheSunjackers'', set in a world where the sun vanishes and life on the planet is teetering on extinction. While focusing on different characters, we eventually see the distant future of Spitfire and her child, where she spends years believing them dead and their dreams of space travel are crushed by the planetary crisis.
159	* This happens in the ''Webcomic/ItsWalky'' paid subscription strips, as heavily {{lampshade\|Hanging}}d by Willis in TheRant to the rerun strips:
160	-->Yeah, that’s right! You thought Sal and Jason were happy at the end of ''It's Walky!'' Yeah, well, but then you paid me to draw more story, and so whoops they broke up! That’ll show you to help me pay my bills!!!!!
161	* ''Webcomic/SurvivingRomance'': A literal in-universe example is what kickstarts the main plot. Instead of the original ending of the novel with love confession and happily ever after Chaerin receives a zombie apocalypse by virus outbreak.
162	[[/folder]]
163
164	[[folder:Web Original]]
165	* ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall''. After Linkara defeats his evil robot counterpart (actually Pollo from another universe), it's revealed that Mechakara wasn't the only one who escaped into Linkara's universe. And the other person who did? Lord Vyce, an all-powerful MultiversalConqueror who makes Mechakara look weak by comparison. But at least Linkara is able to defeat Vyce. Except he learns that the reason Vyce was out conquering universes was to protect them from The Entity, an EldritchAbomination bent on consuming universes and make everyone in them disappear forever. Lewis stated in an interview that he wanted to keep invoking this trope with bigger and bigger threats, but couldn't come up with anything stronger than a god, so he switched to character-driven story arcs instead.
166	* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' ended with the main characters able to create a new, utopia world with the troll and human races revived, living with carapaces and consorts as well. Most of the villains are definitely dead, and it seems like the BigBad's fate is sealed. ''Literature/TheHomestuckEpilogues'' expands on this, and reveals that it's not the closed and happy ending it seems: The Prologue and both timelines imply that Alternate Calliope's black hole wiped out almost all of Paradox Space, apart from Earth C in the "Candy" timeline. One timeline deconstructs the idea of the characters growing old and starting families, most notably by having Jane turn in to a fascist dictator, forcing Jake in to a relationship with her, and starting a war. The other timeline has John, the protagonist, getting killed from Lord English's poison while Dirk takes up the mantle as the next major antagonist.
167	* ''Website/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scpwiki.com/scp-2519 SCP-2519]] does this to two sapient machine [=SCPs=], SCP-2412 and SCP-629. When the composition is played for them, they become inefficient and broken. 629 becomes outright murderous and even though the page states the effects only last for as long as the song is played, it also states the symptoms can recur. These two [=SCPs=] will never be the same.
168	* The ''WebVideo/SuperMarioLogan'' episode, "Jeffy's Parents!" ends with Jeffy promising Mario he'll be good if Mario adopts him so he doesn't have to live with Nancy, his biological mother who is an unattractive alcoholic prostitute who purposely abandoned him on Mario's doorstep, and Mario officially adopting him. Come Jeffy's next appearance, "[[WesternAnimation/InsideOut Inside Jeffy!]]", Jeffy's back to his usual selfish, temperamental, misbehaved self who continues to makes Mario's life miserable.
169	[[/folder]]

Context Main / HappyEndingOverride