History Main / RiggedSpectacleFight

* ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'': The climax sees a rare AntiHero moment of this from the Hulk himself. Hulk returns to the Earth after [[OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness the Illuminati]] trapped him in a rocket and sent him hurtling through space in a misguided effort to prevent more destruction. Understandably furious, Hulk captures four of the Illuminati--Iron Man, Black Bolt, Doctor Strange, and Mister Fantastic--and straps them with "obedience disks" that prevent them from using their powers (the other two members are spared this fate--Namor because he [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe voted against sending Hulk away]] and Professor X because Hulk decides that after the events of M-Day, [[EveryoneHasStandards he's suffered enough]]). He then pits the four in a globally broadcast gladiator-style match against both a giant alien and each other, the latter apparently to the death. Hulk eventually stops the fight, though, and announces that he doesn't want anyone to die--he just wanted to utterly humiliate the Illuminati for their cruelty.

* ''ComicBook/TheDarkPhoenixSaga'': Professor X and Lilandra agree to settle Jean Grey's fate through a formal duel between their respective teams, which they watch aboard the Empire's space ship. As the battle progresses, it becomes clear that it was blatantly rigged against the X-Men:

* ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}: His first solo series' first issue opens with a fight between the leader of a pirate gang and the captain of a plane that the pirates have captured, with the other pirates and the surviving passengers watching. It's immediately obvious that the fight is meant to be bloodsport, as the pirate is wielding a machete while the captain's arms have been tied behind his back. The captain manages to put up enough of a fight to impress some of the other pirates, but he's eventually overpowered and decapitated by the pirate leader, who makes it clear to some of the female captives that this was done as an example of what could happen [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty if they displease him]].
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'':
** ''ComicBook/SensationComics'': New Rome treats public executions as a grand spectacle in which some captives are given a chance to try and fight for survival, though their survival will not be permitted by Empress Fausta.
** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': Queen Clea's gladiatorial arena is a place to watch captives struggle as they are torn apart. She gives them weapons which are not meant to be of any use against her beasts, has them stripped and redressed in only a loincloth and sets archers around the arena walls just in case they manage to surprise her and survive or climb the walls. Steve manages to survive his fight anyway, by using the bodies of the beasts he'd managed to kill with the knife he was given as a shield against the archers and then being rescued by Wondy.
* ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'': The climax sees a rare AntiHero moment of this from the Hulk himself. Hulk returns to the Earth after [[OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness the Illuminati]] trapped him in a rocket and sent him hurtling through space in a misguided effort to prevent more destruction. Understandably furious, Hulk captures four of the Illuminati--Iron Man, Black Bolt, Doctor Strange, and Mister Fantastic--and straps them with "obedience disks" that prevent them from using their powers (the other two members are spared this fate--Namor because he [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe voted against sending Hulk away]] and Professor X because Hulk decides that after the events of M-Day, [[EveryoneHasStandards he's suffered enough]]). He then pits the four in a globally broadcast gladiator-style match against both a giant alien and each other, the latter apparently to the death. Hulk eventually stops the fight, though, and announces that he doesn't want anyone to die--he just wanted to utterly humiliate the Illuminati for their cruelty.

* ''LightNovel/ChivalryOfAFailedKnight'': Hagun Academy's Seven Stars Sword Art Festival Tournament is a major event with thousands of spectators and live television coverage. When F-Rank swordsman Ikki Kurogane makes it to the finals of the tournament, he's abducted by the villains, poisoned, tortured, and sleep-deprived for days. They don't release him from jail until the day of the finals, with just enough time for him to run to the stadium before the match is due to start. While his opponent in the finals wasn't a villain and wasn't part of the scheme, the actual villains did everything in their power short of killing Ikki to ensure he would lose, because they couldn't tolerate an F-Rank swordsman (the lowest rank possible) winning such an important competition, and intended to make a public example of him.

* ''WesternAnimation/XMenTheAnimatedSeries'': [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Mojo's]] debut in sees him teleporting several of the heroes into his own personal dimension, where he traps them in rigged scenarios that they must try to escape, all before a screaming studio audience (in the Mojoverse, everyone is [[NewMediaAreEvil hopelessly addicted to television]]). Although the tests are specifically designed to defeat them, Jean Grey eventually realizes that she can psychically manipulate the broadcast signals Mojo is using and turns the tables on him.

* In ''LightNovel/ChivalryOfAFailedKnight'', Hagun Academy's Seven Stars Sword Art Festival Tournament is a major event with thousands of spectators and live television coverage. When F-Rank swordsman Ikki Kurogane makes it to the finals of the tournament, he's abducted by the villains, poisoned, tortured, and sleep-deprived for days. They don't release him from jail until the day of the finals, with just enough time for him to run to the stadium before the match is due to start. While his opponent in the finals wasn't a villain and wasn't part of the scheme, the actual villains did everything in their power short of killing Ikki to ensure he would lose, because they couldn't tolerate an F-Rank swordsman (the lowest rank possible) winning such an important competition, and intended to make a public example of him.

* In ''Manga/FoodWars'', some of the shokugekis that take place under Central's regime are blatantly rigged. The biggest example is Tetsuji's shokugeki against Etsuya Eizan with the survival of Tetsuji's club at stake. Even though Eizan barely puts any effort into his dish, the judges unanimously declare him the winner without even tasting either man's food, making it obvious Tetsuji had no chance from the start. All the other clubs withdraw their shokugeki challenges as soon as they see the results of this match, which is exactly what Eizan and Central wanted.
* In ''Manga/MoriartyThePatriot'', William Moriarty rigs a final showdown with Sherlock in front of all London during ''The Final Problem'' and even ensures that thousands of people will be watching them. [[spoiler:Of course, he did rig it so ''he'' would lose and ''Sherlock'' would win, as he wasn't trying to win at all. Sherlock managed to undo the rigging and win on his own merits anyway.]]

* The climax of ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'' sees a rare AntiHero moment of this from the Hulk himself. Hulk returns to the Earth after [[OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness the Illuminati]] trapped him in a rocket and send him hurtling through space in a misguided effort to prevent more destruction. Understandably furious, Hulk captures four of the Illuminati--Iron Man, Black Bolt, Doctor Strange, and Mister Fantastic--and straps them with "obedience disks" that prevent them from using their powers (the other two members are spared this fate--Namor because he [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe voted against sending Hulk away]] and Professor X because Hulk decides that after the events of M-Day, [[EveryoneHasStandards he's suffered enough]]). He then pits the four in a globally broadcast gladiator-style match against both a giant alien and each other, the latter apparently to the death. Hulk eventually stops the fight, though, and announces that he doesn't want anyone to die--he just wanted to utterly humiliate the Illuminati for their cruelty.

* The climactic fight of ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'' takes place within the confines of Zinyak's lair, and he's broadcasting the battle to every corner of his empire so that his subjects can see him kill [[PlayerCharacter The Boss]], and destroy the last remnants of humanity, [[MakeAnExampleOfThem as well as any possibility of anyone else wanting to rebel against his rule]]. During the fight, The Boss is wearing PoweredArmor with the capability of emitting the super powers gained in the [[LotusEaterMachine Simulated Steelport]]. Zinyak, however, is riding around in a heavily armed and armored mech suit, and has dozens of Zin Empire foot soldiers and [[KillerRobot Murderbots]] teleport into the battle to fire at The Boss from every direction.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'': In "Heavy Metal War", Megatron cites a Cybertronian law as the basis to challenge Optimus Prime to one-on-one combat, with the loser and his forces abandoning Earth forever. Optimus accepts, but before the fight, Megatron secretly gives himself the abilities of all the other Decepticons, and is thus able to trounce Optimus in front of the other Autobots, with the depowered Decepticons cheering him on. However, his cheating is eventually discovered, and the Autobots turn the tables on the Deceptions and beat them.
* [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Mojo's]] debut in ''WesternAnimation/XMenTheAnimatedSeries'' sees him teleporting several of the heroes into his own personal dimension, where he traps them in rigged scenarios that they must try to escape, all before a screaming studio audience (in the Mojoverse, everyone is [[NewMediaAreEvil hopelessly addicted to television]]). Although the tests are specifically designed to defeat them, Jean Grey eventually realizes that she can psychically manipulate the broadcast signals Mojo is using and turns the tables on him.

Related to EngineeredHeroics, where a fight is scripted to make the "hero" look good. Compare ThrowingTheMatch and {{Kayfabe}}, when ''both'' parties are in on it.

* ''Film/SpaceJam'': Overlapping with ComeToGawk. The villains plan to use Michael Jordan as an attraction where customers will play against him in a one-on-one basketball match [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78GiehoqhrQ as he's chained to an iron ball and there are stairs leading to the basket]], allowing the tiny monster to dunk the ball effortlessly.

Some villains love to make a spectacle of their foes, and there's not many better ways than beating them down in front of an audience. To make the process even faster, and/or to highlight their loathsomeness, these fights are often done with the villain having some advantage over their opponent, their opponent being given some disadvantage, or even both. This (dis)advantage is sometimes very obvious, but more often than not it's done in secret so the villain can look that much better; if it's obvious, it's likely been done to demoralize the opponent or make it clear that the fight is not even remotely fair.

Dramatic tension comes from how the fight actually goes, as the villain's foe may be able to win through a combination of sheer grit, the villain's overconfidence, or outside circumstances. Even if they fail, they may be able to put up enough of a struggle to give the villain pause.

* VideoGame/SonicForces: During his first encounter with [[TheDragon Infinite]], Sonic gets his butt brutally kicked by Infinite and his clones of [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure2 Shadow]], [[VideoGame/SonicLostWorld Zavok]], [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehogCD Metal Sonic]], and [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure Chaos]].