History Main / PoisonAndCureGambit

* The Joker does this in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'', poisoning Batman with the same TITAN-based disease that's slowly killing him and forcing the Dark Knight to find a cure. Batman merely responds that [[TakingYouWithMe he's fine with both of them dying]], but the Joker anticipated that and managed to poison people all over Gotham with it [[SharingTheSickness by sending packets of his infected blood to hospitals]], so now Batman ''really'' has to find a cure. Ultimately, [[spoiler:Batman cures himself, and WordOfGod is that he manages to save Gotham, but [[HoistByHisOwnPetard the Joker's actions lead to him not getting the cure]], and so he dies]].

* The Joker does this in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'', poisoning Batman with the same TITAN-based disease that's slowly killing him and forcing the Dark Knight to find a cure. Batman merely responds that [[TakingYouWithMe he's fine with both of them dying]], but the Joker anticipated that and managed to poison people all over Gotham with it, so now Batman ''really'' has to find a cure. Ultimately, [[spoiler:Batman cures himself, and WordOfGod is that he manages to save Gotham, but [[HoistByHisOwnPetard the Joker's actions lead to him not getting the cure]], and so he dies]].

* ''Series/BurnNotice''

** A later episode has Michael and Sam ''pretending'' to do this to force a middle man to play along with selling Michael's services to the VillainOfTheWeek. They jab a syringe filled with a harmless substance into him and tell him it'll kill him without an (equally fake) antidote, which they will only provide if he cancels the actual guy said villain wanted to hire and sells Michael as the expert he needs.

** VillainOfTheWeek Kivas Fajo pulls this in the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E22TheMostToys The Most Toys]]" when he poisons the water supply of a Federation colony so he can then sell the cure to the ''Enterprise''. However, his real goal is to get his hands on Data so that he can add a Soong-type android to his collection of rare things. One of the things that tips off the ''Enterprise'' crew that Kivas is up to something is when they find out he happens to be transporting ''exactly'' as much of the (very rare) cure as is needed to restore the water supply, no more and no less. Plus, the fact that tricyanate is MUCH more expensive to manufacturer than the cure (hytritium), so he would not make a profit on this venture (quite the opposite, it would cause him a huge loss).
** In the Season 1 episode [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E21Symbiosis Symbiosis]], aliens in a pre-warp civilization believe that they're suffering from a plague, and they need to keep buying medicine from a neighboring planet to treat it. The aliens supplying the medicine know that the plague actually disappered long ago and the "cure" is an addictive drug with withdrawal symptoms that the aliens believe to be plague symptoms. Citing the Prime Directive, Picard refuses to allow the crew of the Enterprise to tell the aliens the truth - and also refuses to assist them when their access to a supply of the "cure" becomes threatened, suggesting that the aliens are soon going to find out the truth about the plague and its "cure" [[GoingColdTurkey the hard way]].

* [[TheTwilightZoneS1E31TheChaser "The Chaser"]], an episode of ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'', was based on the short story (described above) with the same title. The main character buys a LovePotion from a man who hints that he [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor won't like]] [[ExtremeDoormat the results]]. He doesn't, and when he returns to the potion seller, the only "antidote" available is an untraceable and undetectable poison.