History Main / PyrrhicVictory

** Reversed with the same effect in "The End, part 1". Due to crossing the GodzillaThreshold, [[spoiler:Doc brings Sparklelord back from banishment to stop King Radical from destroying the world. It works, but Sparklelord's vengeful ghost uses his new powers to simultaneously piss off most of Doc's RoguesGallery and pin the blame on Doc, giving his (former) enemies renewed reason to hate him. Oh, and King Radical is still president of the U.S]].

** Sarv'swati Vel'Sharen works together with her sisters, Snadhya'rune and Zala'ess, to [[spoiler:launch TheCoup against their mother and kill her]]. This makes Sarv'swati the defacto leader of the Sharen clan, but destabilizes their empire and eventually provokes half of the clans into rebellion. By the time it's over, most of her children are dead and the throne room itself is under siege, with Sarv'swati breaking down in tears and begging [[spoiler:the very mother she killed to come back]].

** For extra irony, Chapter 46 is a more serious case of pyrrhic victory for the Sharen colony of Felde: [[spoiler:the Nidraa'chal push back the Owl faction (allies of Du'vantir from a neighboring city all wearing wingsuits) effortlessly, proving to the rest of the Drow that Felde can stand on its own, but in the process Snadhya'rune and Kalki both separately and very publicly lose their tempers, go on a rampage, and end up alienating their allies by showing their true colors, thereby breaking their true currency of power - fake trust, and in the process causing Snadhya to [[OffingTheOffspring kill Kalki]] when she gets fed up with her antics]].
** The Sarghress manage to conquer ''all'' of Chel[[note]]whatever hasn't been ransacked bows to their dominion[[/note]], but without any critical infrastructure, they lose the food supply lines, and all of Chel is plagued by mass starvation. Snadya'Rune quickly bribes the remaining factions with table scraps from her farming colonies to buy ironclad loyalty from millions of potential soldiers, and the Sarghress break into civil war once Quain reluctantly makes an alliance with one of the Sharen.
** [[spoiler:Snadhya'rune finally obtains the title of Empress, dispersed a plague only she could cure, and forced all of Chel to accept demonkind as the new normal]], but she's pissed off too many people in the process, [[spoiler:the plague is now incurable, and many of those high-level demons want her dead]]. The frequently warring clans hate her so badly that they form a coalition so large it floods the streets; they storm the palace, destroy her life's work in mad science, and convince her few remaining loyal allies to defect or go to ground. She's left staring in visible despair at her inability to obtain what she really wanted, [[TakingYouWithMe and sets off the self destruct to take the rest of the Empire down with her]].

* In ''Film/ThePrestige'', [[spoiler: the surviving Borden twin]] ultimately "wins" in their rivalry with [[spoiler: Angier]] but at the cost of [[spoiler: the loss of his wife and brother]] and the ruination of their magic career.

* ''WebVideo/InternetHistorian'' describes the Kony 2012 campaign as this, where Jason Russel set out to make Ugandan war criminal and cult leader Joseph Kony a household name. Where he ''did'' at least succeed at that and make the whole planet aware of Kony, it came at ''great'' personal cost to Russel where he suffered a complete mental breakdown from the stress and a devastating blow to his PR, it pissed off Uganda who's prime minister declared "We do not need a slick video on Youtube for us to take notice!"[sic], the actual turnout for the event was underwhelming, many folks used it as an excuse to vandalize, as of 2022 Kony is still at large and reported to be hiding in Darfur, and absolutely nothing came of the event ''except'' a bunch of people are now aware Kony exists.

** When Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}} faces [[Characters/BatmanJasonTodd Jason Todd]], who forces him to [[SadisticChoice choose]] between letting Joker die or killing Jason, Batman [[TakeAThirdOption makes Jason drop his weapon and sends him into shock]] by [[ImprobableAimingSkills throwing a batarang at a pipe so it rebounds and cuts the side of Jason's neck]].

** In the ''{{Elseworlds}}'' ''ComicBook/BatmanVampire'' trilogy, Batman defeats Dracula's forces at the cost of his identity as Bruce Wayne as he becomes a vampire himself, [[spoiler:with the final book in the trilogy seeing Batman killing all of his original enemies as he succumbs to his vampire instincts, forcing Commissioner Gordon and Alfred Pennyworth to sacrifice themselves to restore Batman's sanity long enough for him to destroy himself]].
* Played with in ''ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures''[='=]s final issue with "''Fear Itself''": Joe Chill ended up in jail on an unrelated charge after shooting Thomas and Martha Wayne, meaning that the police[[note]]and Batman[[/note]] overlooked him. By the time he finds out just who he shot -- and just who the boy that he'd spared that night was -- said boy's become an "''untouchable millionaire''" long out of Chill's reach, and Chill is depicted as seeming to be living relatively scot-free[[note]]and in fact, he ''would'' have been[[/note]]... except for his ''constantly'' hallucinating the adult Bruce Wayne's face wherever he goes, spending every day day in mortal fear that someday Bruce Wayne ''will'' remember his face and finally finger him to the cops. [[spoiler:Not only do Batman and a GCPD detective both not recognize his face, Batman actually mistakenly believing Chill to be a henchman of Killer Croc's[[note]]ironically, Chill has no idea who Croc is[[/note]], but [[UnknownRival finding out his real name and his alias doesn't ring a bell either]], meaning that Joe Chill was in a hell ''entirely'' of his own making.]]

* ''ComicBook/TheBoys'' ends with [[EvilInc Vought]] still up and running under a new name, but at the cost of [[spoiler: their main source of income, superheroes, being out of the picture after most of them were killed in their coup attempt against the U.S. government, Butcher leaking everything they had on them to ruin the ones that weren't, and Hughie threatening to go through with Butcher's FinalSolution should they ever overstep their bounds again. [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Stillwell]], who spent the entire course of the series being an unfeeling [[TheSociopath sociopath]] willing to do anything to improve Vought's bottom line, has a VillainousBreakdown after realizing his years of scheming led to nothing.]]
* After ''ComicBook/{{Civil War|2006}}'' ends in the death of [[Characters/MarvelComicsSteveRogers Captain America]], ComicBook/IronMan actually [[InvokedTrope mentions Pyrrhus]] in ''The Confession''. Overwhelmed with guilt and grief, he ultimately concludes that the victory [[WasItReallyWorthIt was worthless]].

* ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'': Creator/MarkWaid's first run ends with Matt Murdock exposing the Sons of the Serpent and saving a many [[ClearMyName Wrongly Accused]], but, because he revealed his identity as Daredevil, he is disbarred from practicing law in New York for perjury, which threatens his friend "Foggy" Nelson, as he's getting treatment for cancer. [[TakeAThirdOption Thankfully, he realizes he can practice law again in a state he previously did and moves to California.]]

* [[Characters/MarvelComicsDoctorDoom Doctor Doom]]:
** In ''ComicBook/EmperorDoom'', Doom succeeds in conquering the world by brainwashing everyone. By and large, he's a fairly benevolent monarch and does much to solve many of the world's problems. Unfortunately, [[VictoryIsBoring he's so bored out of his mind]] that when the one unaffected hero manages to break the spell on a few others, he lets the rebellion win. He'd rather be a conqueror than a DeskJockey.
** This is a running theme with Dr. Doom; every time he manages to take control of a nation/planet, he'll spruce the place up very nicely and run it better than most governments ever manage, but will ultimately get bored of running it. Doom enjoys the challenge of taking over a nation and solving problems, not the mundane managerial work of keeping national status quo. The exception is in ''Doom 2099.'' He conquers the United States, and actually intends to keep power, so he can fix the ''entire world.'' It doesn't end well for him, the country, or most of the heroes.
* Occurs in ''ComicBook/DoomsdayClock'' when Ozymandias [[spoiler:manages to pull off another massive plan to make Doctor Manhattan save both worlds by making Superman persuade the former to reset both worlds and convince that there is hope again. He succeeds in doing so, but was forced to serve a lifetime in prison in his own HQ back in the ''Watchmen'' world after being saved by Rorschach II when he got shot by The Comedian, instead of dying as a hero like he intended]].

* In ''ComicBook/Injustice2'' (the comic book prequel to the [[VideoGame/Injustice2 video game of the same name]]), [[Characters/BatmanRasAlGhul Ra's Al-Ghul]] manages to get rid of the corporate executives polluting the world as well as [[spoiler:successfully assassinating the President of the United States for his anti-environmental policies]] with none of the heroes being able to stop him. However, in the process [[spoiler:his animal reserve with several endangered species being devotedly guarded by Ra's gets destroyed during a battle with the superheroes, leading to their species being practically extinguished]]. He lets his enemies go because there is no more point in fighting, and makes sure to tell them whatever victory he made that day is meaningless due to the price paid before swearing to carry on the fight even more ferociously.
* ''ComicBook/TheLongHalloween'' ends on this. Batman, Jim Gordon, and Harvey Dent form an alliance to take down Carmine Falcone just as Batman's familiar RoguesGallery start to appear like [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker The Joker]], [[Characters/BatmanTheScarecrow The Scarecrow]], [[Characters/BatmanPoisonIvy Poison Ivy]], and [[Characters/BatmanTheRiddler The Riddler]]. Falcone's empire is brought down--but the series ends with the RoguesGallery in control, Harvey Dent has been transformed into [[Characters/BatmanTwoFace Two-Face]], one of Harvey's first acts as Two-Face is killing Falcone himself, and both Batman and Gordon wondering "WasItReallyWorthIt"
* In Marvel's [[ComicBook/WhatIf "What if Juggernaut killed the X-Men"]], [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the Juggernaut successfully kills Xavier and the X-Men]], but he doesn't get to enjoy it because [[EvilOnlyHasToWinOnce without the X-Men to stop them, the Sentinels release a poison gas into the atmosphere]] that kills everyone but Juggernaut due to his powers, and he finds that he can't interact with people hiding in shelters because breaking in exposes them to the gas. So he's all alone in the world, forever.

* ''The ComicBook/{{Onslaught}}'' crossover invoked this trope by name in the last trade paperback that collected the series. [[spoiler:Virtually every major hero within the main Franchise/MarvelUniverse is forced to sacrifice themselves in order to stop the main villain, Onslaught, by giving him a physical body. The mutants present at the fight, who were unable to sacrifice themselves in the above fashion, are forced to slaughter the heroes in order to destroy Onslaught once and for all, though much of the world ended up believing that they had simply killed off a huge crowd of beloved heroes.]]
* The two Battles of New Xerba in ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures'':

* At the end of the "Kindly Ones" arc of ''ComicBook/{{The Sandman|1989}}'', Lyta Hall, aided by the Kindly Ones, succeeds in killing Dream and avenging her son's apparent death. There's just one problem: Daniel wasn't actually dead, and for her crimes against the Dreaming, he is forced to become the new Dream, so she will never, ever get him back. And on top of that, her actions have pissed off a lot of people, leaving her with a lot of enemies.

* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics''

* In ''ComicBook/SubMarinerTheDepths'', Stein successfully covers up Atlantis' existence and kills all the witnesses, allowing to continue living in his materialistic lifestyle. It brings him none of the joy or peace he was clearly seeking, instead just adding unending guilt onto his trauma and misery.
* In the ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' storyline ''ComicBook/LastDaughterOfKrypton'', Characters/{{Supergirl|TheCharacter}} defeated [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Simon Tycho]]'s private army, beat him up, got her stolen [[DataCrystal Sunstone]] back and blew his space base up. As for Simon Tycho himself, he lost the lower half of his body because of the explosion. Still, because he got a sample of Supergirl's blood completely by accident, he thinks he came out on top.
* In ''ComicBook/SupermanSpaceAge'', Lex cements his victory over Batman, Wayne Enterprises, and the world the day the world ends. To add insult to injury, the fact that he refused Superman's DNA extraction means nothing of him remains on the new Earth.
* ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' ended with [[spoiler:Ozymandias]] stopping World War III by creating a fake extraterrestrial monster and siccing it on New York, killing millions and forcing the US and Russia into a [[TeethClenchedTeamwork tenuous alliance]]. [[spoiler:Ozymandias]] however will be haunted forever by the lives he took to ensure peace. However, a clue [[spoiler:Rorschach left before he died]] might unravel the whole thing in any moment so [[spoiler:Ozymandias']] scheme might come to nothing.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': Diana wins her duel against Medusa but everyone Medusa killed is still dead and Diana is blinded. Highlighted by how Di sinks to her knees holding her badly wounded side immediately after killing the gorgon and says a simple unenthusiastic ''"I win."''
* ''The Adventures of the ComicBook/XMen'' manages to give both the heroes ''and'' villains a Pyrrhic Victory. On the heroes' side, they were unable to stop the destruction of the multiverse, but [[Characters/MarvelComicsJeanGrey Jean Grey]] managed to use her psychic powers to foil the Dweller in Darkness' plan to use this opportunity to feed on the fear of all lifeforms in the multiverse by telepathically encouraging them to FaceDeathWithDignity. Likewise, the Dweller succeeded in destabilizing the multiverse, but did not benefit from it as he had planned due to Jean's aforementioned actions. The only one who got a clear victory out of that was [[SycophanticServant D'Spayre]], who seized the opportunity to [[spoiler: feed on his master's despair over his failed plan and gave the Dweller a much-deserved KarmicDeath]].
* ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMegaseries'' has the end of the Great War. By ''The Death of Optimus Prime'', the Decepticons had lost, and badly: their infrastructure broken, [[TheRemnant their remaining forces scattered through the cosmos]], most of their leaders under watch or simply gone, and the Autobots firmly in control of Cybertron. But the Autobots themselves had also lost almost all their outlying territories, and millennia of war had made them pariahs among the rest of the galaxy and even much of the non-aligned population. Much of the series deals with the fact that, while they did manage to take Cybertron, they don't have the manpower to hold it, and they end up handing control of it to a civilian government while moving operations to Earth.

* [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]] ended up being screwjobbed out of winning the WWE Championship at [=SummerSlam=] 2013 when special guest referee Wrestling/TripleH put the Pedigree on Bryan (after the match had ended), and Wrestling/RandyOrton cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to win the WWE Championship. After having his Night of Champions victory against Orton stripped away by Triple H, Bryan demanded a rematch at [=WrestleMania=] 30, with the winner of Bryan vs. Triple H going on to face Randy Orton and Wrestling/{{Batista}} in a triple threat match for the WWE Championship. After beating Triple H, Bryan went on to face off against Orton and Batista and win the WWE Championship belt. After successfully defending his championship against Wrestling/{{Kane}} at Extreme Rules 2014, Bryan lost all strength in his right arm and would have to undergo neck surgery, it was revealed that Bryan was physically unable to compete at Wrestling/MoneyInTheBank, which resulted in Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon stripping Bryan of his championship on the June 9th Raw episode, ending his reign at 64 days. Bryan would return in November 2014, and go on to face Intercontinental champion [[Wrestling/WadeBarrett Bad News Barrett]] and win the belt at [=WrestleMania=] 31, only to hit his head on the [=SmackDown=] announcers' table a week later, splitting his forehead open and requiring surgery. After undergoing an MRI, Bryan voluntarily relinquished the Intercontinental belt, and announced his retirement in February 2016. (Though he would return to the ring in 2018; he's since moved on to Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling, now performing again under his real name of Bryan Danielson.)
* At Wrestling/SurvivorSeries 2014, Team Cena (Wrestling/JohnCena, Wrestling/ErickRowan, Wrestling/{{Ryback}}, Wrestling/BigShow, and Wrestling/DolphZiggler) faced Team [[Wrestling/TheAuthority Authority]] (Wrestling/{{Kane}}, Wrestling/LukeHarper, Wrestling/MarkHenry, Wrestling/{{Rusev|andLana}}, and Wrestling/SethRollins) with the stipulation that if Team Cena was victorious, Triple H and Stephanie [=McMahon=] would step down from power, but with a caveat: only Cena could bring back the Authority. In the end, after Big Show punched out Cena and walked away from the ring, Ziggler was the only remaining member of Team Cena, who would successively pin Kane, Harper and Rollins, giving Team Cena the win. On the December 29 Raw, Seth Rollins threatened to curbstomp special guest Wrestling/{{Edge|Wrestler}}, who had retired from multiple neck injuries, demanding that Cena bring back the Authority after little more than a month of exile. Cena had no other choice but to grant Rollins' demand, and as a result, Ziggler, Rowan, and Ryback were temporarily fired, and [[YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame Cena was applauded by Triple H and Stephanie]] for bringing them back into power.
* After the breakup of Special K, The Lovely Lacey [[YouHaveFailedMe dumped]] Izzy and Deranged in favor of managing Wrestling/JimmyJacobs and BJ Whitmer. However they ended up being a less effective TagTeam as Lacey's Angels, mostly due to Lacey's attempts to "improve" Jacobs, which caused Whitmer to turn on him when Jacobs's concern for Lacey led to them losing an Wrestling/{{R|ingOfHonor}}oH Title match to [[Wrestling/AustinAries Generation]] [[Wrestling/RoderickStrong Next]]. Lacey didn't care about Jacobs but felt Whitmer had betrayed her personally and ordered Jacobs to put him out of wrestling. This led to a one-sided feud where Whitmer almost killed Jacobs with power bombs on two separate occasions. And when Jacobs finally did manage to give Whitmer an injury Jacobs was so injured himself he required crutches.
* [[Wrestling/{{Paige}} Britani Knight]] wrestled five matches in twenty eight hours, leading up to her defeating [[Wrestling/NikkiCross Nikki Storm]] in the tournament finals to become the first champion of Pro Wrestling Eve. Then she came down with glandular fever.

* Any gruesomely tiring or injurious match can be turned into one of these for the WWE Champion thanks to the introduction of the Money in the Bank briefcase. The briefcase can be cashed it at any time for a WWE Championship match, even if the champion is too worn out to properly defend their title. Notably, this is how the first cash-in went, with Wrestling/{{Edge|Wrestler}} defeating Wrestling/JohnCena in a short match after a bruised and bloody Cena had just defended the title in an Elimination Chamber match at New Year's Revolution 2006. Other examples include Wrestling/CMPunk beating Wrestling/JeffHardy after winning the title from Edge in a Ladder Match at Extreme Rules 2009, Wrestling/{{Kane}} squashing Wrestling/{{Rey Mysterio|Jr}} after he just retained the title in a grueling match with Wrestling/JackSwagger at Money in the Bank 2010, and Wrestling/{{Sheamus}} beating Wrestling/RomanReigns after he just won a tournament for the vacant title at Survivor Series 2015.

* ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'': The GrandFinale to the New Eighth Doctor Adventures, "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWhoNEDAS4E9LucieMiller Lucie Miller]]"/"[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWhoNEDAS4E10ToTheDeath To the Death]]" has a massive one. Though the Dalek plan to turn Earth into a plague planet is defeated and the Daleks destroyed, [[spoiler:the Doctor's great-grandson Alex and companion Lucie die in the process. The Doctor is left utterly [[BreakTheCutie broken]] and departs, deciding he needs to stop being so [[StartOfDarkness merciful]]]].