History Main / BetrayalByInaction

* ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'': In the series finale, Jades convinces Jackie not to interfere with their current ally Shendu from confronting his son Drago alone as the latter is being dragged into the demon netherworld, causing both of them to be banished from Earth. However, since Shendu has a long history of [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder turning on]] everyone he meets when they are no longer useful to him, this is actually a ''good'' thing.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

** In season 2, Long Feng and Azula form an alliance to capture Aang and gain control of the Earth Kingdom, with neither of them having any intention to share the prize. But when Long Feng orders his followers, the Dai Li, to take Azula into custody, they don't move a muscle. Azula explains that the Dai Li aren't sure who would prevail between the two of them and are waiting to see which of them is more worthy to have their loyalty. She quickly browbeats Long Feng into submission.
** In the third season, [[PredecessorVillain Fire Lord Sozin]] and [[SpiritAdvisor Avatar Roku]] were lifelong friends until they grew apart when Sozin revealed that [[EvilColonialist he wanted to conquer the rest of the world in order to forcibly "share" the Fire Nation's prosperity and technological advances]]. After being forbidden from doing this by Roku, the two didn't talk for many years until the volcano on Roku's home island had a sudden, titanic eruption, and Sozin, who flew there on his dragon, came to help the evacuation. When Roku was poisoned and weakened by the volcanic gas, Sozin realized that if Roku died he could move ahead with his conquest plans after all, and promptly left his friend to die.
* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Over the Edge", after getting doused by Scarecrow's fear gas, Barbara envisions a nightmare where she was killed and Commissioner Gordon, discovering her identity as Batgirl moments before she died, furiously launches a vendetta against Batman for never being told about this.

* In the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', [[IgnoredExpert Jor-El's]] warnings of Krypton's impending doom are ignored by his people because ComicBook/{{Brainiac}}, acting as [[DeusEstMachina the planet's supercomputer]], presents his own findings and assures them that there is nothing wrong. Jor-El later discovers that Brainiac doctored his findings and intentionally misled the Kryptonians to buy time and save himself at their expense. In other words, an ''entire race'' had to die because of this one betrayal, and Jor-El only had enough time left to ensure that his [[Franchise/{{Superman}} infant son]] survived [[EarthShatteringKaboom Krypton's destruction]]. This made Brainiac one of Superman's three [[ArchEnemy arch-enemies]]: the other two being Comicbook/LexLuthor and ComicBook/{{Darkseid}}.

* ''Fanfic/{{Couturiere}}'': Marinette gets akumatized when Adrien sees her breaking down in the face of another of Lila's falsehoods and ''still'' refuses to act, which she [[WhatTheHellHero calls him out on]] when he tries to talk her down as Couturiere:

* ''Fanfic/AbsoluteTrust'': [[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderThePuppetMaster Hama]] is shown to be more despicable than in the show; having used her [[ThePowerOfBlood Bloodbending abilities]] to escape from [[TailorMadePrison Water's Wail]]; but didn't care to also release the other Waterbenders from the Southern Water Tribe kept there, or even make an attempt to come back and release them in the following ''three decades'' while she spent that time performing inhuman Bloodbending acts against innocent Fire Nation civilians.

* ''Fanfic/{{What Goes Around Comes Around|MiraculousLadybug}}'': Adrien runs into this in both identities: along with refusing to help deal with Lila, he fails to show up when Hawk Moth [[TheVillainKnowsWhereYouLive attacks the Dupain-Cheng Bakery]]. A crucial part of his character arc is grappling with the fact that not all trespasses are EasilyForgiven, and coming to terms with how [[spoiler:the majority of his classmates consider him a FalseFriend after learning how he let Lila dupe them]].

** Adrien also skips what turns out to be the FinalBattle with Hawkmoth due to his SkewedPriorities; Lila prevented him from sneaking away, and he decided Ladybug could ''surely'' handle herself, despite knowing she was [[RunTheGauntlet dealing with several akuma in rapid succession]]. This [[HoistByHisOwnPetard comes back to haunt him]], as his absence does ''not'' go unnoticed, and the public begins to suspect Chat Noir may have ''intentionally'' betrayed her.

--->'''Shikaku:''' No wonder I haven't seen Shika lately. He's been trapped down there and I... I had the gall to think he was ''hiding'' the fact he was Orochimaru from me, when in reality he was being made into that monster.

* ''Fanfic/{{Space to Breathe|Naruto}}'': Kakashi proves to be an ApatheticTeacher for Sakura and Sakura ''alone'', but what truly drives her away from Team Seven is how he makes no move to address how poorly the boys treat her. As she tells Ibiki, "My teammates are so self-centred, and Kakashi-sensei does nothing to even ''try'' and fix it." This spurs her to [[ForWantOfANail take an apprenticeship]] under Ibiki while continuing to resent her former teacher for his neglect.

* Zira accuses Kovu of this when Nuka dies in the attack on Simba in ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing2SimbasPride.'' Kovu was supposed to kill Simba but refused and Nuka ran up the hill after Simba and got crushed by falling logs.

* ''Fanfic/DannyPhantomStranded'': In ''Staged'', Star explains to Danny that she [[WeUsedToBeFriends used to be closer]] to her cousin Christopher before she [[ToxicFriendInfluence joined the A-Listers]]. When Dash pulled an incredibly cruel prank on Poil High's football team, along with their mascot, Christopher stepped up to confront and call them out... but this just turned him into a target for Dash and the other jocks, while Star pretended not to know him. Star now [[PostSupportRegret deeply regrets choosing the A-Listers]] over her cousin, but isn't sure how to repair their relationship.