History Main / Prequel

* The entire 2004-'05 saga of ''Toys/{{BIONICLE}}'', including the ''Adventures'' novel series, comics, online videos and the films ''Legends of Metru Nui'' and ''Web of Shadows'' take place 1,000 years before the 2001-'03 saga, detailing the struggles of the Toa Metru/Hordika before they became the Turaga of Mata Nui and how the Matoran of Metru Nui ended up on the island of Mata Nui in the first place. Technically, the 2005 story was an {{interquel}} set just before the ending of the 2004 plot, but it contained yet more flashbacks in comics and short stories. The original plan was to have even more prequel arcs, the ''Legends of Metru Nui'' film was actually set up as the finale of a whole series of prequel movies revealing the origin and FaceHeelTurn of [[BigBad Makuta]], but those plans were scrapped after Franchise/{{LEGO}} executives realized the new timeline confused children. Thus, later prequel materials were sprinkled into the novels, short stories and one graphic novel.

* ''Film/FuriosaAMadMaxSaga'' details Furiosa's story before the events of ''''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad''.

* ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'' is a distant prequel to ''Series/GameOfThrones'', taking place 200 years before it and chronicling the events that will eventually culminate in the downfall of House Targaryen.

* ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'' is a distant prequel to ''Series/GameOfThrones'', taking place 200 years before it and chronicling the downfall of House Targaryen.

* ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'': Good friends Mike and Sulley met each other at ''WesternAnimation/MonstersUniversity''. This is the first, and currently ''only'' prequel that Pixar has ever produced.

* On its seventh volume, ''Manga/{{Arachnid}}'' introduces an assassin named Imomushi who has her own goal in the story's battle royale. Shortly after, however, she's [[DroppedABridgeOnHim anti-climatically knocked off the plot]] and [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse isn't seen again]]. A spinoff named ''Manga/{{Caterpillar}}'' was then published alongside the main story, showing Imomushi on an adventure of her own a year earlier. After 93 chapters, the story catches up to ''Arachnid'' and becomes a POVSequel.

* ''Manga/FistOfTheBlueSky'' is a distant prequel to ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'', set in pre-World War II Asia. It doesn't have much to do with ''North Star'', but stars Ryuken's elder brother and predecessor Kasumi Kenshiro, whom the Kenshiro from ''North Star'' was named after. The more recent spinoffs of ''Fist of the North Star'' are standard prequels and side-stories though, centering around characters from the original series (the 25th anniversary movie ''Hokuto no Ken Zero'' is a prequel set a year before the events of the original manga).

* Due to the ''Franchise/LupinIII'' franchise's NegativeContinuity, the only way to determine if a story is a {{Sequel}} or {{Prequel}} is if it is also an OriginsEpisode. A given episode or chapter cannot even promise if it happened before or after the last episode or chapter.

* ''Art/TheLastSupper'': Leonardo da Vinci was tasked with painting something opposite to a depiction of ''Art/TheCrucifixion''. Knowing that, it's no surprise Leonardo painted ''The Last Supper'', where Christ announced his sacrifice through bread and wine.

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': ''ComicBook/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' is an interesting example. Pitched and sold as a prequel to the ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' video game, the series avoids many typical prequel pitfalls such as ForegoneConclusion, SavedByCanon and having to feature heroes prior to their CharacterDevelopment by focusing on an entirely different cast with an original plot instead. The game characters that do appear are relegated to supporting roles, and some too-on-the-nose {{Foreshadowing}} turned out to be RedHerring to keep the readers on their toes. In the end, the comics share the same setting and hit the required important plot points, but end standing completely on their own, with only a passing knowledge of the game required.
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':

** The whole ''ComicBook/{{Superboy}}'' 1949 series was a prequel to the mainline series, telling the history of Clark Kent before becoming Superman.

** [[ComicBook/TheTransformersMarvel The Marvel Comics continuity]] received a prequel in a 2019 one-shot titled ''ComicBook/Transformers84'', which had a FramingDevice of Punch narrating the events that led to Optimus Prime and several other Autobots leaving Cybertron in the Ark. The unexpected success of the one-shot led to it being followed the next year by a miniseries titled ''Secrets & Lies'', where Punch continued to explain the events that unfolded on Earth and Cybertron after the Ark took flight and before the Autobots and Decepticons aboard the spacecraft were reactivated in the 1980's.

* The events of the ''ComicBook/{{Ewoks}}'' comic book chronologically took place before the events of [[WesternAnimation/{{Ewoks}} the cartoon]].

* ''Fanfic/FromBajorToTheBlack'' and "Fanfic/TheUniverseDoesntCheat", for Tropers/StarSword's series of ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' fics starring Captain Kanril Eleya. ''Fanfic/FromBajorToTheBlack'' explains how and why Eleya first joined the military and eventually became a Starfleet commanding officer, while "Fanfic/TheUniverseDoesntCheat" has her take the ''KobayashiMaru''.
* ''Fanfic/SoulEaterZeta'' is a prequel to ''FanFic/SoulEaterTroubledSouls''.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKingOneAndAHalf'' is partially a prequel, as it tells a bit of backstory about Timon and Pumbaa, as well as how they met.

* Good friends and ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'' employees Mike and Sulley met each other at ''WesternAnimation/MonstersUniversity''. This is the first, and currently ''only'' prequel that Pixar has ever produced.

* Creator/UweBoll's ''Film/HouseOfTheDead'' is actually a prequel to the video games. Its [[CanonDiscontinuity canonicity is disputable]].

* ''[[Film/{{Insidious}} Insidious: Chapter 3]]'' is set before the events of the first film, showing what Elise, Specs, and Tucker were up to before they become involved with the Lamberts.

* ''VideoGame/SeventhDragon III [=UE72=] Mikan no Yuuma'' by Carlo Zen of ''Literature/TheSagaOfTanyaTheEvil'' fame is set before ''7th Dragon III Code: VFD''.

* David & Leigh Eddings wrote prequels of their ''Literature/TheBelgariad'' and ''Literature/TheMalloreon'' decalogy, in which all "hidden" details, {{Noodle Incident}}s, and [[UnspokenPlanGuarantee Unspoken Plans]] are explained. Interestingly, the FramingDevice was a sequel, where the main characters are asked to write their memories.
* ''La Belle Sauvage'', the first volume of Creator/PhilipPullman's ''Literature/TheBookOfDust'', is set ten years before ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials''. The remainder of the trilogy is set ten years ''afterwards''. Pullman calls the whole thing an "equel".
* ''Literature/BruceCovillesBookOf Magic'': ''Wizard's Boy'' is actually one to Coville's earlier story ''[[Literature/MagicShop Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher]]'' -- that book tells, briefly, of how the wizard Bellenmore was the one who helped send the dragons to their new world, and his apprentice Aaron, the title character of this story, is the one who figured out how to save the species by bringing their eggs back to Earth so they could be hatched and then sent to the other world again once they were old enough. This story takes place before those events.
* Several books in ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' series are prequels or interquels to books written before.
** This is further complicated by the fact that the prequels assume that the reader is reading the books in the ''published'' order. ''The Magician's Nephew'', for example, is the first novel (chronologically speaking, but the 6th in the publishing order), but unless one has read ''The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe'' (the 2nd novel chronologically speaking), one can miss a lot of the subtext and the deeper meanings worked into the novel.
** While the author and most experts agree that you should read them in order of release rather than chronology, the publisher continues to insist on numbering them in chronological order, further confusing new readers.
** Complicating matters is the fact that the events of Book 5 are in fact taking place during the final chapter of Book 1.

* ''Literature/TheEvolutionofClaire'': A novel that takes place eleven years prior to the events of ''Film/JurassicWorld'' which follows the character of Claire Dearing in her first year of internship for Masrani Global.

%%* ''[[Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs Hannibal Rising]]'' is a full indication of just how badly these can go.

* Before ''Narnia'' there were James Fenimore Cooper's ''Leatherstocking Tales'', published in this order: 4, 2, 5, 3, 1.

* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' and ''Series/{{Gotham}}'' are prequels of the Superman and Batman mythos respectively.

** Many comic book prequels explain how things are different after a retcon. For example, ''ComicBook/ActionComics'' #158 shows young Clark Kent's life in a different way than ''ComicBook/SupermanNumber1'' had. This version was reconned out by ''ComicBook/ManOfSteel'', which in turn was displaced by ''ComicBook/SupermanBirthright'', ''ComicBook/SupermanSecretOrigin'' and ''ComicBook/ActionComicsNew52''.

* ''Series/WalkerIndependence'', set in the 1800s is a prequel to ''Series/{{Walker}}'' focused on Cordell Walker's ancestor, Abby Walker.