History Main / DeusExitMachina

** Akechi and Sumire are removed from the Phantom Thieves' lineup for part of ''Patchwork Hearts'' because they aren't with them when Zenkichi first appears and Akira wants to keep the two Thieves the police don't know about in his back pocket as a trump card. Subverted with the Jail they take down seperately with the help of Minato and Ryoji, and their later rejoining of the team in Kyoto.

* Master Oogway in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'', who had previously defeated Tai Lung, [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence ascends to a higher plane of existence]] to keep him from doing so again. The in-universe explanation is that he needed Shifu to take over and help Po become the Dragon Warrior, which he wouldn't have done if he kept relying on Oogway. It also strongly implies that it is simply Oogway's time to die, having lived for over a thousand years.

HoldingBackThePhlebotinum is a SisterTrope which is about powers/weapons/{{MacGuffin}}s instead of the characters themselves. SupermanStaysOutOfGotham is a preemptive {{Crossover}} variant (when a BatFamilyCrossover would be a StoryBreakerTeamUp). Ways to accomplish this include AchillesInHisTent, PutOnABus, TrappedByMountainLions, and WackyWaysideTribe.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'':
** In the second ''Franchise/{{Naruto}}'' movie, Gaara develops a sudden case of never-there-on-time and thus is constantly busy being late while everyone else fights their last, easily squishable battles.
** During the Sasuke Retrieval Arc, Shino, who has the best tracking abilities out of all the Konoha 12, is out on a mission with his father, preventing anyone from being able to find Sasuke after his narrow victory over Naruto.
** It's also done in the main series as well. Team Guy was conveniently out of town when Pain invaded Konoha. [[spoiler:Given that Might Guy is able to put Ten-tails jinchuuriki Madara Uchiha against the ropes very late in the story, he would've easily taken down the less powerful Pain.]]

** The "Secret Revealed!" special does this to Hank and Barb, keeping [[SupermanSubstitute Thunderman]] and [[ShockAndAwe Electress]] from defeating the villains in seconds. Max [[DePower strips them of their powers]] before the villains arrive, and when they're restored, they end up getting the wrong ones. Hank ends up with Barb's powers, and Barb with Billy's, leaving them struggling against minions they'd normally have no problems against. Meanwhile, Hank's powers go to Chloe, who immediately leaves the battle to go on a joyride. It's telling that the moment Chloe rejoins the fight is the same moment [[OneHitKO the fight ends]].

** This happens to the ''entire crew'' so that Luffy can go and try to save his older brother from his execution.

* When Creator/CSLewis decided [[UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} "Aslan, the great Lion, the son of the Emperor-over-Sea, the King above all High Kings in Narnia"]] would be a physically present character in ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'', he then had to deal with this in every installment of the series. In ''Literature/PrinceCaspian'', he is prevented from stopping the Telmarines from almost wiping out the Narnians, and thousands of years later, [[spoiler: doesn't arrive to save them until the [[DeusExMachina last minute]]]], because he can only show up once somebody's faith has been tested. Aslan also gets this in the earlier ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'', only this time he has a good reason [[spoiler: he's dead, having sacrificed himself to save Edmund from the White Witch]], leaving the heroes to rally the good army without him, and prove their worth. [[spoiler: Aslan, meanwhile, recovers and pulls off an [[Awesome/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe awesome]] BigDamnHeroes]] moment. Well, [[ArcWords he's not a tame lion]]...

* In ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'' Alien X is basically a god. They write him out by making him unable to use his powers without a quorum from Ben and two very opposed personalities. And Ben can't just agree with whichever of the personalities (the pacifist or the violent one) is more in line with whatever needs doing at the moment, because they have ''thousands of years'' worth of decisions that they demand be addressed first before they'll move on to the current crisis. It's only in exceptionally rare situations that Ben can convince them to deal with the current situation first, and he has difficulty even convincing them to let him leave! As a result, Ben and Kevin hacked the Omnitrix to lock it from ever transforming into Alien X again, a lock that's only to be removed when the GodzillaThreshold is crossed, as shown with the Aggregor conflict in ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'' (which still fails due to Professor Paradox interrupting the conversation and angering the other personalities). As a result, fans started calling that season "Ben 9 Alien Force". Other media would zigzag or subvert this depending on the situation. The video game ''Ben 10: Alien Force - Vilgax Attacks'', for example, sees Ben discouraged from using Alien X at the start of the game, only to be finally told by Paradox at a critical moment in the final battle with Vilgax to use him, successfully banishing him to the Null Void once he convinced the personalities. ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'' would then put Ben into situations that were fit for using Alien X, like remaking the universe or fighting another member of Alien X's species, with him coming out on top in the end, but thanks to a declaration that resulted from the latter case, Ben was now able to use him even in less urgent situations (like fighting the Rooters). On the other hand, however, [[WesternAnimation/Ben102016 the reboot's]] appearances from Alien X, due to this iteration of Ben not having the transformation, [[spoiler:featured him as a ''villain'' due to being used in two separate instances by major antagonists late into the series, the first instance being "Alien V" aka [[BigBad Vilgax]] merged with Alien X in the movie ''Ben 10 vs. the Universe'', and the second instance being an alternate rogue Ben in the final special]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'' Alien X is basically a god. They write him out by [[spoiler:making him unable to use his powers without a quorum from Ben and two very opposed personalities. And Ben can't just agree with whichever of the personalities (the pacifist or the violent one) is more in line with whatever needs doing at the moment, because they have ''thousands of years'' worth of decisions that they demand be addressed first before they'll move on to the current crisis. It's only in exceptionally rare situations that Ben can convince them to deal with the current situation first, and he has difficulty even convincing them to let him leave! As a result, Ben and Kevin hacked the Omnitrix to lock it from ever transforming into Alien X again, a lock that's only to be removed when the GodzillaThreshold is crossed]]. As a result, fans started calling that season "Ben 9 Alien Force".

** Possibly invoked when [[spoiler: Sasuke announces his plans to take over the world. He's savvy enough to wait until after the resurrected Hokage are returned to the afterlife, so that they can't all team up and fight him. By that point, Kakashi has also lost the power of his Mangekyo Sharingan and the Six Paths Chakra, meaning that he and Sakura are helpless against Sasuke and only Naruto would be able to fight him as the final battle of the series.]]

** The third ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'' movie does this as well, since Unit 01 had essentially become a god at the end of the second film. [[spoiler: The Eva is used to provide perpetual power for Misato's CoolAirship, the Wunder, and Shinji ends up piloting Eva Unit 13 instead]].

* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'': One hero absent from ''ComicBook/{{Civil War|2006}}'' was [[Characters/IncredibleHulkBruceBanner The Hulk]]. The writers knew well that whichever team had a powerhouse like him in their ranks would [[GameBreaker pretty much decide the war]], and thus they chose to get rid of him for the time being. After taking some advice from Maria Hill, [[Characters/MarvelComicsTheIlluminati The Illuminati]] decided that The Hulk was too dangerous to be controlled and that he needed to be dealt with accordingly. They put him as an unconscious Bruce inside a spaceship that [[HopeSpot was meant to send him to a peaceful planet where he would be happy]], [[ComicBook/PlanetHulk but instead sent him to Sakaar]], a violent planet ruled by a tyrant with an iron fist and a penchant for gladiatorial games. The fans were quick to note that once The Hulk would return, the Illuminati [[WhatTheHellHero would be very sorry for what they did]]. And [[ComicBook/WorldWarHulk they WERE...]][[StatusQuoIsGod for a while, at least]].

** [[Characters/SpiderManPeterParker Spider-Man]] has noted that 99 times out of 100, when he goes to ask another hero for help, they will ''never'' be there. ComicBook/DoctorStrange's servant, Wong, replied that this was true, but so far, Spidey was good enough to not really need that help.

** "ComicBook/TheUnknownLegionnaire": Subverted. As usual, the story starts by finding vague excuses to write off all Kryptonian-level characters minus ComicBook/{{Superboy}} (ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} cannot take part in the mission because she must return to her own time NOW -and nobody points out she is that not in a hurry because she is a time-traveller-, Mon-El is away on a never-revealed mission, and Ultra Boy is away on space for some unspecified reason). Later, when the mysterious Unknwon Boy shows up, Saturn Girl's telepathy cannot read their mind to discover their identity because it is a blank slate. However, [[spoiler:Mon-El eventually shows up, and it is revealed that their unknown ally is an amnesiac Supergirl]].

** Happened to the original Characters/{{Cable|NathanSummers}}, too. He got rid of the technovirus, ''levitated an entire island while battling the Characters/SilverSurfer at the same time,'' burned himself out doing so, and was left with limited powers. Now the technovirus is NotQuiteDead and even ''those'' powers are reduced by the need to once again play SealedEvilInADuel.

** Averted in ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague''. Superman does show up and turns the tables, but he initially doesn't prevent Steppenwolf from completing the Mother Boxes' Unity [[spoiler: and it kills everyone and destroys everything on Earth. It's Flash who saves the day, by travelling back in time beyond the speed of light to give the Justice League another chance of stopping Steppenwolf.]]

*** In ''Film/IronMan3'', Tony spends a good deal of time in hiding with many people believing he was dead. Meanwhile, he was tracking down terrorists who had also been hiding so if anyone was coming to look for him, he would be impossible to find. Additionally, ComicBook/WarMachine spends much of the time on missions in the Middle East [[spoiler: or has his armor stolen]], so he couldn't help much, either.

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' has [[spoiler:[[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent Joker's]] mini-mission]]. The Normandy's engines are shut off for a few hours while the new IFF is installed, so Shepard and all the party members take the shuttle to get to the next mission. WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong? [[spoiler: a virus hidden in the code knocks out the Normandy's weapons, shields, and communications, then sends out its location]].

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': Ahsoka Tano is taken off the board of the members of the Spectres crew after a fierce fight with Darth Vader in the finale of Season Two. As Season Three stops focusing on the threat of the Inquisitors and Vader, it's obviously to allow the Spectres to face greater pressure when Thrawn shows up as an enemy, with Maul only having a few screen time, as while Thrawn ''is'' extremely dangerous due to his tactical skills and is very effective at commanding the powerful forces of the Empire, one can argue that Ahsoka would have been able to still counter him more effectively than the Spectres could have due to having her fair share of experience in strategies and leadership during the Clone Wars, thus taking her out of the picture was necessary to paint Thrawn as the unstoppable villain of the season who wins and delivers as much of a devastating blow on the Phoenix Squadron. Leaving aside her tactical experiences, in terms of combat, Ahsoka would have probably been able to take down dozens of the Empire's forces sent at them if she had been there at the final battle on Atollon and probably repelled the assault without having to escape from the planet. She later returns in the finale season near the end when she's saved by Ezra from Vader for the sole reason of her being the only one who is alligned with the Spectres that has even a snowball's chance in hell to stop Palpatine, which she does with some help from Ezra only for it to yet again force her away from the heroes, obviously to again keep her out of the final battle, Lothal's liberation, and make sure Ezra is pressured enough by the overwhelming military strength of the Empire to perform the tactic of taking himself and Thrawn into hyperspace with an army of purrgil to sacrifice himself briefly.

* The main plots in the show ''WesternAnimation/WolverineAndTheXMen2009'' relied almost entirely on covert operations and intelligence gathering, and having the wool pulled over the X-Men's eyes more than once. So Jean Grey and Professor X were put into comas (to remove their reducing these plot elements to mere annoyances for the team) and replaced by Characters/{{Emma Frost|WhiteQueen}} (who is weaker than Jean and Charles in powerset and skill, not as trustworthy so the others would be hesitant to come to her about their problems [[spoiler:and who was responsible for putting Jean and the professor in their comas to aid her plot with the Inner Circle]].

** ''Literature/{{Unfinished Tales|of Numenor and Middleearth}}'' contains ''The Quest for Erebor'', which is essentially Gandalf explaining all the things he was doing while he was absent for parts of ''Literature/TheHobbit'', and how important they were.
** In the First Age, the Valar don't help Middle-Earth for over 500 years when [[GodOfEvil Morgoth]] flees there from Valinor. This is partially due to the Noldor being cursed due to the actions of their King [[BrokenAce Feanor]], who led the first killing of Elf by Elf. However this was also because attacking Morgoth in full force would damage Middle-Earth. Sure enough, when Morgoth is finally defeated in the War of Wrath, Beleriand, the North-West of Middle-Earth, is [[PyrrhicVictory ruined and sunk]].

** This happens a lot to Luffy. While his TrueCompanions are busy fighting the underlings of the BigBad, he's usually trapped in a block of concrete or wandering secret passages looking for the BigBad. A quick rundown: Stuck in a cage, running off in the wrong direction and later hit with a sleeping spell, defending a restaurant (actually a major event), trapped in said block of concrete and underwater, well-fed and sleeping, trapped under a mountain, NotQuiteDead and buried, eaten by a snake, it wasn't his turn yet, trapped between buildings (twice), on a different train, [[LeeroyJenkins charging in alone]], wandering secret passages, lost in a forest, on an adventure with the mermaid princess, trapped in a trash heap at the bottom of a hole, locked in another cage, lured into a colosseum and trapped, getting lost in the woods ''again'', getting lost in a whirlpool before he can be rescued.

* ''The Call Of Cthulhu'' sees the briefly awakened eponymous EldritchAbomination go back to "sleep" instead of destroying the world, in one of the rare villainous versions. There's a good reason for this, made clear in the story itself.

* ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'': In the ''Mighty Nein Reunited'' special, Taliesin chose to play [[spoiler:Kingsley]] instead of Caduceus. This is explained in-universe as Caduceus being far too busy restoring the Blooming Grove after [[spoiler:Trent Ikithon's attack]] to help, specifically since it involves a Temple of the Gods ritual that takes a full year to complete.

* ''ComicBook/AvengersArena'' had ''a lot'' of this. In particular Mettle, Juston, and Darkhawk are incapacitated [[spoiler: or killed]] within the first three issues. This is pretty much the only way the plot could function; all of them (especially Darkhawk) are powerful or skilled enough that if they actually took part in Arcade's "game" they could just effortlessly [[CuttingTheKnot charge up to Arcade and smash him to paste]] and derail his whole plan.
* Another hero absent from ''ComicBook/{{Civil War|2006}}'' was [[Characters/IncredibleHulkBruceBanner The Incredible Hulk]]. The writers knew well that whichever team had a powerhouse like him in their ranks would [[GameBreaker pretty much decide the war]], and thus they choose to get rid of him for the time being. After taking some advice from Maria Hill, [[Characters/MarvelComicsTheIlluminati The Illuminati]] decided that The Hulk was too dangerous to be controlled and that he needed to be dealt with accordingly. They put him as an unconscious Bruce inside a spaceship that [[HopeSpot was meant to send him to a peaceful planet where he would be happy]], [[DiabolusExMachina but instead sent him to Sakaar]], a violent planet ruled by a tyrant with an iron fist and a penchant for gladiatorial games. The fans were quick to note that once The Hulk would return, the Illuminati [[WhatTheHellHero would be very sorry for what they did]]. And [[ComicBook/WorldWarHulk they WERE...]][[StatusQuoIsGod for a while, at least]].
* ''ComicBook/{{Civil War|2006}}'' itself counts as this for virtually every Marvel superhero, when we learn that whilst the many heroes of Earth were bickering over legislation, [[ComicBook/{{Annihilation}} the rest of the Galaxy]] [[ComicBook/WarOfKings was falling into]] [[ComicBook/TheThanosImperative several apocalyptic wars]]. The cosmic heroes get pretty annoyed at the real reason the normally-reliable Earth heroes didn't help out.
* From DC Comics: So there were American superheroes in the 1940s, right? But having superheroes involved in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII would be a GameBreaker that would disrupt the idea of the DC universe's similarity to the real world. So the Justice Society and their fellow patriotic heroes took a major Deus Exit Machina during World War II. The later retconned explanation is Hitler using TheSpearOfDestiny to mind-control any superhero who got too close to Europe, and Hideki Tojo using the HolyGrail to do the same thing with Japan; an Elseworlds tale instead had the heroes at the mercy of a PowerNullifier named Parsifal.

* [[Characters/SpiderManPeterParker Spider-Man]] has noted that 99 times out of 100, when he goes to ask another hero for help, they will ''never'' be there. ComicBook/DoctorStrange's servant, Wong, replied that this was true, but so far, Spidey was good enough to not really need that help.

* In the ''ComicBook/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'' prequel comic, Captain Atom and Martian Manhunter are members of LaResistance led by Batman against Superman's Regime and they are among the few superheroes capable of taking him on equal ground. They don't make out alive of Year One, rendering the Insurgency struggle even more difficult since they are reduced to {{badass normal}}s and street-level superheroes.
* In the ''ComicBook/JohanAndPeewit'' adventure "La Guerre des sept fontaines" the entire motivation of the heroes is to liberate a ghost who has been forced by his forefathers to haunt his old castle every single night until some specific requirements has been met. At one point, the characters actually need his help, but it turns out that the forefathers has unfortunately decided to give him a few nights of respite from his haunting right then.
* ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'' has [[Myth/NorseMythology Odin]], [[TopGod King of Asgard]], and stated at times to be as powerful as all of the thousands or more of other gods in Asgard -- including Thor -- combined. At his lowest he is casually manhandling Thor and at his peak he is remaking galaxies. So of course whenever Asgard is threatened Odin is conveniently in the Odinsleep replenishing his powers, weakened, or missing. The few times he does fight are when it is against a threat that can match him in power...making the rest of Asgard virtually useless. A good example of this is in ''ComicBook/TheInfinityGauntlet'', where Odin gathers gods from other faiths and they all agree that [[Characters/MarvelComicsThanos Thanos]] ''must'' be stopped. But, just as they march out to save the day, a massive galaxy-wide quake shatters the Rainbow Bridge, trapping Odin and the other gods on Asgard.
* In the first arc of ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW'' Princess Celestia is unavailable because she is preparing for the comet, because if she weren’t the plot would be resolved in five minutes.
* ''ComicBook/DCTheNewFrontier'' gets Superman (and Wonder Woman) out of the way with a handy application of TheWorfEffect instead... but this trope is played straight for the magic-themed heroes (the Spectre, Dr. Fate, Zatanna, Captain Marvel, and the Phantom Stranger); the latter three ''deliberately convince'' the former two to stay out of the battle with the Centre to "help humanity grow" or somesuch.
* This is practically the ''raison d'etre'' for Creator/MarvelComics superhero Characters/TheSentry. He's a throwback to heroes (well, okay, mostly just Superman) from the Silver Age, with all that entails; he has "the power of a million exploding suns" and is recognized as pretty much hands-down the strongest super in the world. And he could handle pretty much any threat that emerged with one hand tied behind his back... if it weren't for the agoraphobia and super-evil split personality that incapacitates him whenever he'd be most useful.
* ComicBook/TheSpectre, being the actual embodiment of God's wrath, is generally an unstoppable force that could solve nearly any crisis with a thought. Thus, whenever a CrisisCrossover pops up, The Spectre tends to be [[ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis insane]], [[ComicBook/FinalCrisis powerless]], [[ComicBook/BlackestNight possessed]] [[ComicBook/DarkCrisis by the current threat]], or just plain not around.
* In ''ComicBook/SuperDinosaur'' Tricerachops is laid up and The Exile is preoccupied during Maximus' Project X.
* ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan'' has this in spades as Doc Ock knows that one smart person or a powerful telepath is enough to blow his cover.
* ''ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen'': [[Characters/XMen80sMembers Rachel Summers]] is absent because, as the only Phoenix Force host still alive with actual experience, her presence could have easily prevented the event from getting as bad as it did.

** In ''ComicBook/JLA1997'' story arc "The Tenth Circle", Superman is brainwashed in the very first issue, and stays that way pretty much throughout the arc.

* Partway through ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'', [[spoiler:Ozymandias gives a bunch of people cancer and tricks nigh-omnipotent Dr. Manhattan into thinking he caused it, prompting him to take a vacation on Mars. Doc comes back for the finale, but doesn't arrive until after the villain's plan has been carried out]].

* Characters/{{Zatanna}} is one of the most powerful sorceresses in the DC universe who can alter reality with her voice. She also, however, has one of the most obvious and exploitable weaknesses in comics. She is useless in combat if she cannot chant her spells aloud. When her enemies place [[https://i.imgur.com/vICBe1v.jpeg a gag over her mouth]], as they always do, Zatanna is reduced to the damsel in distress.

* Happens all the time in all the story arcs of ''Manga/SaintSeiya'' with Ikki. The Phoenix has the "Strength of an army" but is always elsewhere. Mildly applied to Shiryu as well, but...well, he's not as strong.