History Main / LockedOutOfTheFight

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
** This happens twice near the end of the ''Reign of the Supermen'' part of ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'' storyline. The first instance traps Superman and ComicBook/{{Steel}} separated from the Matrix ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} and forced to face Mongul alone. The second, Superman purposely seals himself, Eradicator and the Cyborg Superman in the Engine Room of Engine City to protect Supergirl, ComicBook/{{Superboy}}, Steel and Franchise/GreenLantern Hal Jordan from Kryptonite Poisoning.

* At the climax of the ComicBook/Inferno1988 storyline in ''Franchise/XMen'', the mansion blows up, leaving only Longshot conscious to face Sinister and Polaris. A bit of an aversion though, as Longshot was not the main focus of the story arc; though it was a natural extension of his luck-based powers he would be standing after an explosion. The other X-Men wake up one by one during the battle and join in, leading to a ThisIsSomethingHesGotToDoHimself showdown between Cyclops and Sinister.

* In the finale of the first ''Anime/RecordOfLodossWar'' OVA, Parn's allies are forced to hold off monsters one by one, leaving him to fight the BigBad one-on-one.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=oqurbw5g2prltbnql0agax6q
%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.

->''"Meyer's big pal was Benny Siegel. Benny loved a good fight. Even a bad fight. But they wouldn’t let him in on this one."''

* During one battle of the Dark Tournament in ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', some finagling by those in charge locked Hiei and Genkai out of one round, leaving Team Urameshi with three people (one critically wounded). They still won, in part due to Kuwabara.

* In ''[[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion End of Evangelion]]'', Asuka fights the Mass Production Evangelions alone, as [[spoiler: Shinji is kept from participating as Unit 01 is covered in the cement-like substance bakelite]]. This does not end well for Asuka, and when [[spoiler: Unit 01 finally goes into berserk mode, Shinji arrives just in time to see Asuka being eaten, causing him to snap and trigger TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.]] Of course FanDumb has [[spoiler: Shinji just moping around during the battle.]]
** Interestingly, the manga adaptation tweaks this in a way that allows Shinji to [[BigDamnHeroes succeed instead.]] [[spoiler: [[YouCannotFightFate It doesn't help much,]] but combined with a number of other changes in the manga's series of events, this does pave the way for Shinji to make his final decision far more firmly than in the movie.]]
* In the finale of the first ''Anime/RecordOfLodossWar'' OVA, Parn's allies are forced to hold off monsters one by one, leaving him to fight the BigBad one-on-one.
* In ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02,'' the season one gang has been back in action for a while, but ThePowersThatBe wanted the new kids to fight their own battle in the GrandFinale. This is achieved by having the dimension gate everyone is charging to close after the season two kids are through but the season one kids aren't. The old guard must watch from the sidelines.
* Villainous example in ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer'': Miho's final plan negates Kuromorimine's numerical superiority by having a heavy tank block the entrance to a closed courtyard after she and Maho's flag-tank have entered (knocking out the opposing flag-tank is an InstantWinCondition). It buys her enough time to decide the match [[DuelsDecideEverything one-on-one]] rather than being overwhelmed by multiple opponents and knocked out.
* ''Manga/SnowWhiteWithTheRedHair'': Mitsuhide finds himself locked up after being framed listening to the attack on Sereg as his friends fight and die. The perpetrator, who framed him, is ultimately unable to kill his true target because [[spoiler:Hisame]] went against orders after being injured and freed Mitsuhide to join the fight, which the perpetrator was not expecting. The trauma of being stuck in a cell listening to the attack and unable to help sticks with him long after and messes up his ability to sleep without being in the same room as friends.

* At the climax of the ComicBook/Inferno1988 storyline in ''Franchise/XMen'', the mansion blows up, leaving only Longshot conscious to face Sinister and Polaris. A bit of an aversion though, as Longshot was not the main focus of the story arc; though it was a natural extension of his luck-based powers he would be standing after an explosion. The other X-Men wake up one by one during the battle and join in, leading to a ThisIsSomethingHesGotToDoHimself showdown between Cyclops and Sinister.

* This happens repeatedly to Varric in ''Fanfic/BeyondHeroes: Of Sunshine and Red Lyrium'', in ways that players of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' will recognize from the game's plot. As hard as he tries to remain at the Inquisitor's side (owing to his DeclarationOfProtection), sometimes things happen which prevent him from being with her, and the plot waits for no one.

* Clint Eastwood movie ''Film/GranTorino''.
* In the ''Film/DungeonsAndDragons2000'' movie, after Ridley and Snails enter the castle to fight Damodar, Marrina tries to enter but a force field stops her. Norda tells her "[[ThisIsSomethingHesGotToDoHimself This task they must complete alone]]."
* In ''Film/ConanTheDestroyer'', the heroes infiltrate an evil wizard's tower to steal a PlotCoupon. When Conan enters a room with full-length mirrors covering each segment of the wall, a pane of one-way glass slams down behind him (naturally, it appears identical to the other mirrors when viewed from inside the room), allowing the wizard to summon a monstrous brute which Conan must defeat alone (fortunately, Conan is able to figure out that the mirrors are the monster's AchillesHeel).
* In ''Film/TheKarateKidPartII'', Daniel is trapped on a platform with the villain, separated from Mr. Miyagi and the rest of the village by a moat that's only a few feet deep (seriously). Because of this, he has to fight the enemy himself rather than [[spoiler:letting Mr. Miyagi do it like he does in every other fight in the movie]].
* In ''Film/{{Labyrinth}},'' Sarah turns down help from her friends when she goes to face the Goblin King. She insists that she has to face him alone because "that is the way it is done." They accept this rationale.

* For a stretch at the end of Creator/JimButcher's ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' novel ''Literature/FoolMoon''.

* In the War of the Scars in the second half of ''Literature/TheSagaOfDarrenShan'', the only vampires who are allowed to kill the Lord of the Vampaneze (the other sort of vampires) are the three chosen Lord Hunters, and only the Lord can kill any of them. Why [[BecauseDestinySaysSo Because Mr. Des Tiny said]] that if it goes any other way, whoever breaks these rules will lose the war. Really he just wanted to make [[spoiler: his two sons, Steve and]] Darren fight [[spoiler: as leaders of opposite sides]].
* The Companions of the Hall get a convenient window into [[spoiler: the crystal tower that Drizzt's and Entreri's DuelToTheDeath]] takes place in, in ''Literature/PathsOfDarkness''. This means they get to see the awesome duel, but it also means they can only stand by and watch [[spoiler: Entreri punch a fist-sized hole in their friends's chest]].

* In "The Prodigal" episode of ''Series/{{Angel}}'' (series 1, ep 15) the titular character arrives to warn a friend's father that the people in his apartment are vampires. He begs the father to let him in, but he refuses. The vampires attack the man, leaving Angel vainly banging against the force-field which prevents vampires from entering a private residence uninvited. He watches as the man is murdered, only gaining entry upon his death.
** In ''Origins'' [[spoiler: Cyvus Vail erects a magical barrier to keep Angel from intervening while Connor fights Sahjhan.]]

* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' frequently does this to set up a DuelBoss:
** In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'': When Sora is rushing up the stairs to fight Riku/Ansem in Hollow Bastion, he passes the top of the stairs safely but Goofy (and shortly afterwards, Donald) are blocked out from the arena by an invisible wall. The same thing happens when he fights some of the end-game bosses.
** In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', the fight with Roxas starts with Donald and Goofy getting blocked by Samurai Nobodies - and ''then'' Sora gets transported to a dreamscape inside his own heart. Luxord teleports ''all'' of Sora's friends away to fight him one-on-one. Xemnas teleports Sora directly to ''him'' for their first fight.
** In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'', [[spoiler: Sora, Donald, Goofy and Aqua head to Land of Departure to rescue Ven. Vanitas then shows up to take him. Despite Sora's concern for her as she was only recently freed from the Realm of Darkness, Aqua feels she's been seen as weak too often and decides to face Vanitas herself, erecting a barrier around her and Vanitas. This trope backfires on her, as not only does it stop Sora from interfering with the fight, but it also stops him from saving Aqua when Vanitas knocks her down with a cheap shot. Sora helps Ven wake up in time for Ven to shatter the barrier and save her.]]
* [[spoiler: The final boss battle]] in ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}} 2''.

* ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' does this a couple of times, too. Although most of the time you can [[GameBreaker circumvent]] the rule somewhat by buffing the protagonist up before the encounter in question begins.
* An interesting variant is exemplified by the quicksand scene in ''Time Crisis 4'', where the players are sucked into the pit and have to fight [[HordeOfAlienLocusts terror bites]] while NPC Captain Rush is bothered by more traditional foes at the top.
* Used in ''VideoGame/SaGaFrontier ''when you fight Rouge as Blue: It's supposed to be a 1 on 1 magician battle.
* Repeatedly abused in ''Franchise/StarWars: VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic''. Not only with doors and things, but even a special CutScenePowerToTheMax force power that some bosses use to literally paralyze everyone in the party other than you.
* ''VideoGame/ShadowHeartsCovenant'' and ''[[VideoGame/ShadowHeartsFromTheNewWorld From the New World]]'' do this during the Man Tower and He-Man Sushi sidequests respectively. During the last segment, each member of the party holds off one of the challengers, leaving Joachim/Hilda (depending on the game) to go on ahead.
* The final battle in ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'' begins this way with the Nameless One being separated from his entire party upon entering the Fortress of Regrets and eventually arriving to find the BigBad [[spoiler: standing over the bodies of the party members that he had slain in the meantime.]] You can choose to face him alone or trick him into leaving for just long enough for you to [[spoiler: resurrect the entire party!]]. Or just talk him down.
* If you chose to play with both Sonic and Tails, the latter will not join you for the Death Egg stage of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2'', or the final battle of ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog3 3]]''. The only way to have Tails at either of these points is to, well, be playing only with him. The Doomsday zone of ''VideoGame/SonicAndKnuckles'' (Accessible only with ''Sonic the Hedgehog 3'' attached as it requires the combined games' Super Emeralds) is playable only as Super Sonic regardless of having Tails along, whose game ends at the Death Egg zone right before it.
* In ''[[VideoGame/GoldenSun Golden Sun: The Lost Age]]'', Agatio and Karst make use of one of Jupiter Lighthouse's traps to separate Mia (who they believed would be their most dangerous opponent, due to her [[ShootTheMedicFirst healing magic]] and [[ElementalRockPaperScissors Mercury Psynergy]]) from the rest of the group. Garet ends up falling in as well, leaving Isaac and Ivan to fight Agatio and Karst two-on-two.
** They try to pull it again immediately after by having the group send Felix alone to the top of the tower to meet them and light the lighthouse. Piers decides to accompany Felix anyway, again leading to a two-on-two situation when Agatio and Karst predictably try to backstab Felix. Ends up getting subverted as the battle drags on, with additional party members joining in after every turn until all eight protagonists get to the roof and scare the duo away.

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'', one of the last missions separates your party's leader and the enemy's party's leader from their armies via a magical barrier for a one on one duel. On the other side of the barrier, the rest of the characters still fight, but both sides are incapable of interfering with the duel.
** This is also done on Chapter 23 in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening''. Chrom and Robin fight Validar while the rest of the party is fighting a bunch of mooks, with a barrier in between them. [[spoiler: For half the fight, anyway. After "defeating" Validar, the barrier goes away and anyone can fight him.]]

* This is stock fare in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', barriers generally go up once a raid boss is engaged, sealing players in so they can't run, and sealing people out if they weren't ready.
* In ''VideoGame/MegaManX2'' and ''VideoGame/MegaManX3'' notably, Zero will arrive in the last level, declare he is 'Going ahead to destroy the core.' and will 'catch up to you later.' Also mentioned in the ''VideoGame/MegaManX5'' intro stage and after the final battle.
** Arguably, ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' does this as well when the three Guardians only show up after Zero has beaten the three forms of Omega.
* In ''VideoGame/CaveStory'', on two separate occasions, Curly Brace gets knocked out just before a boss fight. (On the second occasion, after a short while, she does get up and help you.)
* ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' the Arbiter's Stasis ability (and the Mothership's Vortex in the sequel) will disable a group of enemies for a time, preventing them from attacking or being attacked. This lets you lock half the enemies out of the fight while you kill the other half.

* Major game mechanics in a lot of multiplayer team-based titles revolve around [[InvokedTrope invoking]] this.
** ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' has different types of crowd-control abilities, designed to disable certain members of the enemy team to stop them fighting back. Veigar has one move that drops a ring near him, stunning anyone who walks into the sides. [[DefiedTrope This doesn't stop ranged attacks.]]
** Having your Spies disable enemy teleporters can invoke this in VideoGame/TeamFortress2. The extra 20-30 seconds it takes to walk to the frontline rather than teleport there can guarantee the opposition control over a contested point.
* Locke gets separated from the rest of Fireteam Osiris when confronting the Master Chief in ''VideoGame/Halo5Guardians''. [[spoiler:This ultimately allows Chief to escape]]. FridgeLogic seems to indicate that the rest of Osiris could have made the jump between the platforms to get to Chief and Locke using their thruster packs.
* ''VideoGame/SlyCooper''

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'': The third phase of the final boss fight has Link and Zelda on horseback chasing after Ganondorf. Once he falls, barriers pop up separating Link from Zelda, and he has to fight him alone.
* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'':
** The Hero is the only allowed to enter the dungeon called the Gaia's Navel.
** Erdrick and his comrades are blocked from interfering with Ortega and King Hydra's fight in the final dungeon.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'': One optional boss has the spell Telega, which sends one of your party members to the X-Zone and works as if they'd been KO'd or [[TakenForGranite Petrified]]. Unlike KO or Stone, it cannot be reversed by an ability, spell or item -- the only way to get the party member back is leaving the room.

* Done in several different ways in "Boston Brawl" in the Literature/WhateleyUniverse. Phase is the only one who ends up in the sewers (not by choice, either) and so has to face the zombie army by herself. At the same time, Bladedancer insists on facing Vamp alone, locking Carmilla out of the fight... but this get subverted when Bladedancer gets her ass kicked and Carmilla has to step in anyway.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{ReBoot}}'' episode, "Game Over", [=AndrAIa=] and Frisket trapped behind stained-glass while Enzo fights against the user in a ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' parody.

* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'': during your fight with Mettaton, Dr. Alphys is locked out of the room.

* ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'' does this during the Man Tower and He-Man Sushi sidequests in ''Covenant'' and ''From The New World'', respectively. During the last segment, each member of the party holds off one of the challengers, leaving Joachim/Hilde (depending on the game) to go on ahead.

* ''Manga/SnowWhiteWithTheRedHair'': Mitsuhide finds himself locked up after being framed listening to the attack on Sereg as his friends fight and die. The perpetrator, who framed him, is ultimately unable to kill his true target because [[spoiler:Hisame]] went against orders after being injured and freed Mitsuhide to join the fight, which the perpetrator was not expecting. The trauma of being stuck in a cell listening to the attack and unable to help makes it so he can't sleep alone for months, with Zen ordering him to sleep in Obi's room to try and get some rest.

* ''Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series}}'' (TOS) episode "Arena".

[[folder:Film]]

* In ''[[Film/TheKarateKid The Karate Kid Part II]]'', Daniel is trapped on a platform with the villain, separated from Mr. Miyagi and the rest of the village by a moat that's only a few feet deep (seriously). Because of this, he has to fight the enemy himself rather than [[spoiler:letting Mr. Miyagi do it like he does in every other fight in the movie]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'': during your fight with Mettaton, Dr. alphys is locked out of the room.

* ''VideoGame/Undertale'': during your fight with Mettaton, Dr. alphys is locked out of the room.
%I have been unable get this to display correctly%

* ''VideoGame/Undertale'': during your fight with Mettaton, Dr. alphys is locked out of the room

* ''Undertale'': during your fight with Mettaton, Dr. alphys is locked out of the room

* ''VideoGame/Undertale'': during your fight with Mettaton, Dr. alphys is locked out of the room

''VideoGame/Undertale'' during your fight with Mettaton, Dr. alphys is locked out of the room