History Main / RefuseToRescueTheDisliked

** In "Shirley the Medium", Courage grabs Eustace and tries to carry him away from [[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext a demonic entity that was trying to drag Eustace into a money box]]. When Eustace starts throwing some more verbal abuse, Courage gets fed up and ''throws'' Eustace at the monster, not wanting to die for him.

* On the cover of an issue of ''[[ComicBook/BatmanAndTheOutsiders The Outsiders]]'', we see ComicBook/TheJoker menacing ComicBook/LexLuthor as two heroes watch.[[note]][[CoversAlwaysLie This scene does not appear in the actual comic.]][[/note]] The dialogue between the heroes reads:

->'''Piccolo:''' Alright, better go save Gohan.\\
'''Kami:''' What about the others?\\
'''Piccolo:''' What '''about''' the others?
-->-- ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'', ''Cooler 2: The Return of Cooler's Revenge: The Reckoning''

* ''Fanfic/CommonSense'': When Hutber Port is swarmed by attacking Tentacool and Tentacruel, Ash and several of his Pokémon help with the evacuation efforts. He also risks serious injury trying to convince the furious water pokémon to stop their attack. However, when [[MeaningfulName Nastina]] turns up and opens fire on Tentacruel, he refuses to do anything to save her, expressing disgust at her not [[KnowWhenToFoldEm knowing when to give up]].

->'''Piccolo:''' Alright, better save Gohan.\\

->'''Piccolo:''' OK, time to go save Gohan.\\

'''Piccolo:''' What ''about'' the others?

When this trope is applied specifically to a hostage situation, it's YouCanKeepHer. May lead to MurderByInaction. If they refuse to save someone because it's not their problem, it's BystanderSyndrome. If they react to the disliked's predicament with glee, especially if the disliked is beyond rescuing, that's AndThereWasMuchRejoicing. Contrast SaveTheJerk (a hero saves a jerkass), SaveTheVillain (a hero saves a villain), VillainousRescue (a villain saves a hero), ComplainingAboutRescuesTheyDontLike and UnwantedRescue, and compare MistreatmentInducedBetrayal and CallousnessTowardsEmergency (where a Jerkass refuse to save someone from danger).

* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'': At the end of "[[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS4E02IHaveNoBonesYetIMustFlee I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee]]", it comes to light that two humans that Mariner, Ransom, and [[NewMeat Jack]] were assigned to rescue from a menagerie that accidentally displayed them let a [[KillerRabbit moopsy]] in order to murder menagerie proprietor Narj so they could take the lucrative station for themselves. Their actions put the away team in danger of having their skeletons slurped up same as Narj, and the moopsy caused a reentry crisis by trampling on the station's main controls. The away team is naturally furious, and as a result decide to abandon them at the menagerie for someone else to pick up.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'': At the end of "[[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS4E02IHaveNoBonesYetIMustFlee I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee]]", it comes to light that two humans that Mariner, Ransom, and [[NewMeat Jack]] were assigned to rescue from a menagerie that accidentally displayed them let a moopsy out of its cage knowing full well it's a bone-drinking KillerRabbit in order to murder menagerie proprietor Narj so they could take the lucrative station for themselves. Their actions put the away team in danger of having their skeletons slurped up same as Narj, and the moopsy caused a reentry crisis by trampling on the station's main controls. The away team is naturally furious, and as a result decide to abandon them at the menagerie for someone else to pick up.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'': At the end of "[[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS4E02IHaveNoBonesYetIMustFlee I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee]]", two humans that Mariner, Ransom, and [[NewMeat Jack]] were assigned to rescue from a menagerie that accidentally displayed them let a moopsy out of its cage knowing full well it's a bone-drinking KillerRabbit in order to murder menagerie proprietor Narj so they can take the lucrative station for themselves. Their actions put the away team in danger of having their skeletons slurped up same as Narj, and the moopsy ends up causing a reentry crisis by trampling on the station's controls. The away team is naturally furious when they discover what the displayed humans did, and as a result decide to abandon them at the menagerie for someone else to pick up.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'': At the end of "[[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS4E02IHaveNoBonesYetIMustFlee I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee]]", two humans that Mariner, Ransom, and [[NewMeat Jack]] were assigned to rescue from a menagerie that accidentally displayed them let a moopsy out of its cage knowing full well it's a bone-drinking KillerRabbit in order to murder menagerie proprietor Narj so they can take the lucrative station for themselves. Their actions put the away team in danger of having their skeletons slurped up same as Narj, and the moopsy ends up causing the station's orbit to decay, which the away team barely manages to fix through Ransom having Mariner punch his teeth out to lure the moopsy back into its enclosure. The away team is naturally furious when they discover what the displayed humans did, and as a result decide to abandon them at the menagerie for someone else to pick up.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'': At the end of "[[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS4E02IHaveNoBonesYetIMustFlee I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee]]", two humans that Mariner, Ransom, and [[NewMeat Jack]] were assigned to rescue from a menagerie that accidentally displayed them let a moopsy out of its cage knowing full well it's a bone-drinking KillerRabbit in order to murder menagerie proprietor Narj so they can take the lucrative station for themselves. Aside from Narj being slurped up, their actions briefly worsen the bickering between Mariner and Ransom and result in the moopsy nearly knocking the station out of orbit. The away team is naturally furious when they discover what the displayed humans did, and as a result decide to abandon them at the menagerie for someone else to pick up.

* In the third episode of ''WesternAnimation/XMenTheAnimatedSeries'', Sabertooth attacks the courtroom at Beast's bail hearing and is immediately shot by the guards. Cyclops orders Wolverine to help stop the guards from killing Sabertooth, but Wolverine flat-out refuses. [[spoiler:Wolverine was, of course, correct. The only reason Sabertooth was there was to make a scene in the hopes of getting invited back to the Xavier Mansion and try to hurt them because they didn't yet know him and thus didn't know how evil he was.]]

-->'''Joker:''' BATMAN! YOU WOULDN'T LET ME FRY, WOULD YOU?!\\

-->'''Bulkhead:''' Location scan was incomplete. Oh, well.
-->'''Jack:''' [[WhatTheHellHero Uh, "Oh, well?" Seriously?]]
-->'''Bulkhead:''' Fowler's a jerk!

-->'''Vlad:''' You wouldn't turn your back on an old friend, would you?\\
'''Jack:''' An old friend? No. You? Yes.

* A strange example occurs in ''[[VideoGame/SonicStorybookSeries Sonic and the Secret Rings]]'', with Sonic being openly hostile towards King Shahryar, on the grounds that he is portrayed by Dr. Eggman. Despite this, after Erazor Djinn kidnaps him and Shahra informing him that the king is the creator and thus, the most vital character of the Arabian Nights storybook, Sonic manages to save Shahryar from falling to his death after Erazor's attempt to kill him. While "disliked" is a strong word since Shahryar and Shahra are on formal terms, the king does show some resentment towards Sonic for his hostility towards him (in Shahryar's defense, Sonic treated him with nothing but distrust even before being introduced to one another.)

** PlayedForLaughs in "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE4TheLastLaugh The Last Laugh]]". As Joker is hanging onto a cable over a incinerator, we get this scene:
-->'''Joker''': BATMAN! YOU WOULDN'T LET ME FRY! WOULD YOU?!\\
'''Batman''': ''(Leaning on the railing with a "I'm thinking about it" smile on his face)''\\
'''Joker''': ''(Desperately)'' BATMAN!\\
'''Batman''': ''(Pulls him up)''

** PlayedForLaughs in "The Last Laugh". As Joker is hanging onto a cable over a incinerator, we get this scene:

** PlayedWith in the episode "Heart of Ice". Batman does save Ferris Boyle from being killed by an understandably vengeful Mr. Freeze, but not before Mr. Freeze froze Boyle from the waist down and because Boyle was incredibly heartless in trying to pull the plug on then-Victor Fries's cryogenic experiment despite the latter's protests that his wife was in that chamber and she couldn't be brought out at that point and in the process, [[spoiler:nearly killed Nora]] and ruined Mr. Freeze's life, Batman didn’t even bother to unfreeze Boyle when he was willing to do so for one of Mr. Freeze's mooks!
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'': In "Final Cut", the assassin Mutro Botha asks for Batman's help because fellow assassin Curaré is coming for him. Given he has killed many people, Batman refuses to help, but Botha forces him to by revealing he's planted a bomb in Gotham City with a DeadMansSwitch.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' episode "Magica's Shadow War", Magica's raven Poe turns up and begs Scrooge to save her after her LivingShadow locks her in a closet. Given that Magica is one of the most persistent members of his RoguesGallery, Scrooge refuses, until the nephews tell him they probably need her help catching the shadow. That, and remind him to think of [[ShockinglyExpensiveBill the size of the electric bill]] for the large amounts of lights they turned on to keep the shadow away.
* {{Discussed}} in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back," after [[TokenEvilTeammate Bender]] has his personality removed.

* Ultimately defied in ''WesternAnimation/InfinityTrain'''s third book, but the implication that it was considered even briefly carries major consequences. [[spoiler:In "The New Apex", Simon, who has become the major antagonistic force of the season, is nearly made to fall from the train when his magnetic boot finally gives out, but Grace ultimately saves him, pulling him back up. When they've caught their breath, he asks her why she did it; she thoughtlessly replies that she doesn't know. This is all the motivation he needed to turn into a murderer of a fellow human, and he kicks her down towards the wheels in a fit of rage.]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' episode "A Room with a Moose" at one point has Dib question whether his classmates, who have belittled him and ignored all his warnings about Zim's true colors, deserve to be rescued from the titular nut-eating moose.

** In the episode "Twilight", {{Franchise/Superman}} is against helping ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} when he comes to the League to ask for their assistance with defeating ComicBook/{{Brainiac}} before he destroys [[EvilOverlord Darkseid]]'s planet [[CrapsackWorld Apokolips]]. The others call him out and they go anyway. [[spoiler:Predictably, it soon turns out to be a trap that was conspired by both Darkseid and Brainiac, as both of them are [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder unsurprisingly very treacherous]].]]
** In "The Enemy Below", at the climax of a doomsday plot by [[CainAndAbel his treacherous brother Orm]], [[ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} Arthur]] [[spoiler:had the opportunity to [[SaveTheVillain save him as he was slipping over an icy ledge]], [[DefiedTrope but he doesn't]]]]. Given that Orm [[spoiler:tried to kill both [[CainAndAbel his own brother]] and ''his own [[WouldHurtAChild infant]] [[EvilUncle nephew]]'' (Arthur's baby son), all as part of a bloody coup attempt before destroying the surface world]], it's hard to blame him.

* Discussed in the ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' episode "Silencer". Chat Noir notices how much of a scumbag [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Bob Roth]] is and wonders if they should let the titular akuma force him to confess to plagiarizing Kitty Section, but Ladybug points out that not only would the confession be useless, but Silencer's methods make it revenge, not justice. That said, after he's de-akumatized, they willingly choose to get an EngineeredPublicConfession out of Roth.

** In "Paste Makes Waste", Blossom and Bubbles refuse to help Buttercup fight Elmer, one of their classmates who had suddenly transformed into a chemical waste and paste monster, telling her that [[PayEvilUntoEvil she and the other kids deserved it for bullying him]]. They soon intervene after Elmer [[MisplacedRetribution attacks Ms Keane]].
** In "Getting Twiggy With It", after class hamster Twiggy goes through a similar transformation after being mistreated by Mitch, not only do the Girls refuse to save Mitch from Twiggy, they actually ''catch Mitch'' as he's fleeing and deliver him to Twiggy.

* Exaggerated in the ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Million Dollar Abie". After costing Springfield a football team by assaulting the football commissioner, Grandpa Abe Simpson is hated so much, that while he was walking by a burning building, a group of firefighters grabbed him and placed him in the burning building after they have rescued a little girl from the same building.

* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'': In "Total Drama Drama Drama Drama Island", [[AlphaBitch Heather]] gets her head stuck in a beaver dam, with some none too pleased beavers expressing how they feel about that to her. Gwen, Trent, and Leshawna come across her, and wonder if they should help... they laugh hysterically and leave Heather to resume getting beaten up by beavers.

* PlayedForLaughs in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' called "The Last Laugh". As Joker is hanging onto a cable over a incinerator, we get this scene:

'''Joker''': ''(Outraged)'' BATMAN!\\

-->'''Courage:''' The things I do for love!

* In ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'''s [[GrandFinale finale movie]], Vlad finally reveals his ghost powers to the world with the intent of being written a blank check by every major country in exchange for turning [[ColonyDrop an asteroid]] intangible before it hits Earth. Jack, who up until this point has considered Vlad one of his best friends, flies up to space with him while attempting to apologize for causing the accident that gave Vlad his powers in the first place. Vlad callously rebukes him, going so far as to brazenly claim that once he's back on Earth he plans to steal Maddie away from Jack. When Vlad finds that he can't touch the asteroid due to it being made of an anti-ghost material, he awkwardly attempts to regains Jack's loyalty, only for Jack to leave him stranded in space.

* ''Fanfic/WithPearlAndRubyGlowing'': When Mew attempts to stop [[AbusiveParents their father]] from assaulting Mewtwo, he turns upon her. Mewtwo refuses to intervene because she'd never tried to help him ''before''.

** [=JARVIS=] gets his own moment, when [[spoiler: he decides against sending one of the Iron Legionnaires to help Quicksilver. He justifies it for three reasons; Quicksilver is on his Threat Assessment List and is a former [=HYDRA=] volunteer, the Iron Legionnaire able to help him was set to evacuate a civilian family, and, afterward, it wouldn't have reached him in time anyway. All of that combines into Quicksilver's death.]]

* ''Webcomic/ScarletLady'': This happens twice during Prime Queen's reign of terror. Scarlet Lady initially refuses to help rescue Lila, only leaping into action after Marigold bluntly reminds her that the akuma is broadcasting everything live. She then forgets that little detail and blows off Alya being stuck in a DeathTrap, casually declaring that [[spoiler:it doesn't ''matter'' if Alya drowns since she'll just be revived by her Miraculous Cure]]. Cut to various random Parisians watching and witnessing this in horror.

** Played with in the episode “Heart of Ice”. Batman does save Ferris Boyle from being killed by an understandably vengeful Mr. Freeze, but not before Mr. Freeze froze Boyle from the waist down and because Boyle was incredibly heartless in trying to pull the plug on then-Victor Fries’s cryogenic experiment despite the latter’s protests that his wife was in that chamber and she couldn’t be brought out at that point and in the process, [[spoiler: nearly killed Nora]] and ruined Mr. Freeze’s life, Batman didn’t even bother to unfreeze Boyle when he was willing to do so for one of Mr. Freeze’s mooks!

* In ''LightNovel/{{Konosuba}}'', Aqua wants to save the Axis Church from being killed off by Hans, who was poisoning the water supply, which is their source of income, seeing as Alcanretia is a resort town. Since they worship her, and their prayers give her strength, this makes sense. However, Kazuma and Megumin don't share the same sentiment. Ever since arriving in Alcanretia, pretty much all members of the Axis Church, as in the whole town, have only harassed them (plus [[TooKinkyToTorture Darkness]]) in order to coerce them into joining their religion, with increasingly ludicrous haggling and acting as if the Iris Church are nothing but deviants. Understandably, Kazuma and Megumin don't see any problem with letting the crazy cultists die of poison and their town business being ruined, despite Aqua's protests. Kazuma even questions why she would still want to save them, especially after they called her a blasphemer/impostor, and tried to [[BurnTheWitch lynch her]]. They eventually decide to help save the Axis Church, knowing Aqua would likely get herself killed trying to save her precious followers.

* Ash's team usually subvert this in the ''{{Anime/Pokemon}}'' anime. There are a couple of times however when Team Rocket push their generosity a bit too far:

* In the manga adaptation of ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'', Motoyasu requests Naofumi's aid against the Three Heroes Church after learning he's been set up. Naofumi is understandably annoyed considering how Motoyasu tried to kill him earlier, but his annoyance turns into outright rage when [[{{Hypocrite}} Motoyasu tries to justify the team-up by saying, "You don't want to die with a crime you didn't commit tarnishing your name, do you!?", when he stupidly believed every false accusation against Naofumi and did nothing but unfairly persecute him and stubbornly refuse to listen to his side of the story]]. This, as well as Ren and Itsuki's apparent deaths, convinces Naofumi that Motoyasu isn't even worth saving on account of his LethallyStupid behavior and is fully prepared to leave him to die.

* In Film/SonicTheHedgehog22022, Sonic [[SaveTheVillain saves Knuckles]], his enemy at the time, because it's the right thing to do. However, when Dr. Robotnik is falling to his [[NeverFoundTheBody apparent death]] at the end, Sonic stands there and glares.
* In ''[[Film/TransformersAgeOfExtinction Transformers: Age Of Extinction]]'', Optimus Prime claims he refuses to keep defending the humans like he did for the first three movies. He's started to become fed up with them, claiming he won't forgive them for KSI, Cemetery Wind, siding with Lockdown at killing his friends, and building Galvatron. Ratchet and Leadfoot's deaths were what caused him to lead the Autobots to fight for themselves and not anyone else. Cade Yeager then pleads humans don't deserve to go extinct and that they make mistakes. By the end of the film, Optimus seems to have regained enough faith that he wants any future threats to leave Earth alone.