History Main / SerendipitousSurvival

->'''Film/JamesBond:''' ''(cheerfully observing the mess in Kerim Bey's office)'' Well. Who won?\\

* The concept of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Designated_survivor designated survivor]] in the [[UsefulNotes/AmericanPoliticalSystem American government]] is an attempt to {{invoke|dTrope}} this [[CrazyPrepared just in case]]: for big events like the State of the Union speech where the whole of Congress is gathered in one place, one person is designated to stay behind in an undisclosed location, so that if a mass-casualty event wipes out the entire rest of the government, a SoleSurvivor will remain to take the reins. This practice began during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar for fear of nuclear attack, and is the centerpiece of Creator/{{ABC}}'s ''Series/DesignatedSurvivor''. It's never panned out like this before, but you never know...

* When the planet Vegeta was destroyed in ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', only four of its native Saiyans survived the destruction. Of the four, Prince Vegeta is noted to have been deliberately spared by Freeza and a later-released side chapter shows Goku's father deliberately sending him away to protect him a la Kal El, so they wouldn't count. Raditz and Nappa, however, were just lucky enough to be off planet and, in Raditz's case, on a mission ''with'' Vegeta, and thus survived.
** Assuming ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly'' is 100% canon, it would seem at least a few more Saiyans also happened to be offworld. Other than Broly, Paragus and Tarble, it's highly likely they died before Z.

* Several ComicBook/ChickTracts, including "[[https://www.chick.com/products/tract?stk=1014 Busted!]]" and "[[https://www.chick.com/products/tract?stk=1171 Limited Time Offer]]", feature a character who narrowly escapes death, realizes they could have ended up in Hell if they had died, and accepts Jesus on the spot.
* ''ComicBook/OneHundredBullets'': [[AscendedExtra Joan D'Arcy]] survives being killed by a hitman raiding her office because she'd gone out to hire a mercenary to protect her from that hitman and his boss.

* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': The people of Argo City survive the destruction of Krypton because an energy shield installed around the city to keep out germs is coincidentally enough to protect them from being killed in the planet's explosion or suffocating in the vacuum of space afterwards. [[note]] On Earth-One anyway. In some parallel worlds, the force field was made specifically to protect the city from the disaster due to Jor-El not being an IgnoredExpert in ''everyone's'' eyes.[[/note]]
* In ''ComicBook/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', TheHero Zayne Carrick is a Jedi Padawan who's summoned by his masters to attend a "Knighting Ceremony" that ends up being a trap. He arrives late due to finally succeeding in his mission to capture a crime boss, only to find that [[SoleSurvivor his fellow Padawans are all dead]].
* ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'': Jughead claims in one story that due to his great-grandfather's habit of oversleeping (which Jughead eventually inherited), he missed his chance to sail aboard the UsefulNotes/RMSTitanic.

* A downplayed version in ''Fanfic/FacingTheFutureSeries'' story "Royal Occupation" where Danny and Sam go into the Ghost Zone to search for Prince Aragon at the request of Dora Mattingly. This ends up saving them when Aragon transforms Amity Park into his new Dark Age kingdom.

* In ''Film/CharliesAngelsFullThrottle'' the Angels are trying to figure out US Marshal Ray Carter's cryptic message while on their way to stop the BigBad. Natalie has a "aha!" moment that, [[TheDitz being Natalie]], has her start randomly dancing as she says "a stair", causing Dylan and Alex to stop and try to figure out what she's doing until she explains that he was talking about star names on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (Fred Astaire). Had they not stopped, they would have been in or near their car when it exploded via a hidden time bomb, instead of being enough feet away to only get knocked backward off their feet.

* ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'': It's a subtle RewatchBonus, but there are two (unsuccessful) attempts by the same character to {{Invoke|dTrope}} this trope on others. In the opening, Emma's reassurances to Madison that Mark is safe where he is appear on the first watching to just be a mother reassuring her daughter that he's far enough away from harm due to his isolated whereabouts ''if'' the worst comes to pass, but when re-watching the scene with knowledge of the EvilAllAlong twist, it becomes apparent that Emma is ''actually'' assuring her co-conspirator that he'll be safe '''when''' the worst comes to pass. Shortly before Jonah and his goons are due to slaughter everyone standing between them and Mothra (an attack which [[TheMole Emma is secretly in on]]), Emma attempts to persuade Dr. Mancini to take a sleep break so he won't become a casualty – it doesn't work and he gets a bullet to the head.
* A rare villainous example occurred in ''Film/{{Gremlins}}''. While the hoard was in the movie theater watching ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'', the heroes snuck under the building, opened a gas line and lit a piece of cloth to cause it to explode and destroy all the gremlins. Unfortunately, [[BigBad Stripe]] had left the theater to break into a nearby department store to steal some snacks, coming back out just in time to see the explosion. Despite surviving, he wasn't happy about losing his army.

* Film/JamesBond series:

** In ''Film/{{GoldenEye}}'', two technicians survive the massacre at the Severnaya facility because they step out of the operations room for a cigarette and a cup of coffee respectively just before Xenia and General Ourumov arrive: Boris Grishenko and Natalya Simonova. It eventually turns out that only Natalya's cup of coffee is a true example, as Boris was in league with Janus the whole time, so his cigarette break was deliberately planned to keep him out of the way.

* ''Film/JasonX'' is rare for the franchise in that it has multiple minor characters survive or avoid being attacked by Jason at least temporarily this way.
** An automatic door closes between Jason and Kinsa right after he kills her boyfriend and as Jason is stalking Crutch the engineer of the ship he gets distracted by the arrival of TheCavalry.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': When R2-D2 runs off in ''Film/ANewHope'', Luke Skywalker has to chase after him and hopefully get him back before anybody notices so he won't get in trouble. This, and the subsequent meeting with Obi-Wan Kenobi, delay Luke enough that he doesn't get home until long after Stormtroopers looking for R2 and [=C-3PO=] have already raided it, burning the farm and killing his aunt and uncle.

* ''Film/ThreeDaysOfTheCondor''. The protagonist Joe Turner, a UsefulNotes/{{CIA}} analyst, misses an assassination attempt after he leaves his workplace to pick up lunch for everybody. He goes out the back entrance because it happens to be raining, so the hit squad waiting outside doesn't see him leave and assume their targets are all on site when they break in and start killing everyone.

* ''Literature/TheAvenger'': In the first book of the series, Benson is on an commercial airplane flight with his wife and daughter when he gets up to use the bathroom. When he returns his wife and daughter have disappeared and everyone on the plane swears he was alone when he boarded. Everyone else on the plane was involved in a smuggling ring. The plane had slowed down to drop its illegal cargo over a lake, and the crew had murdered his family and threw them into the lake at the same time. If Benson had been in his seat they would have done the same to him.
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': In ''Literature/GuardsGuards'', when the [[OurDragonsareDifferent dragon]] learns to summon itself and [[EvilIsNotAToy destroys the cult for daring to command it]], the only survivor apart from the leader is Brother Fingers, because they'd sent him out to [[FiveFingerDiscount steal]] some eats. When the Watch responds to the attack, they find him just staring in shock at the melted ruin, still holding a stack of pizza boxes.

* ''Literature/{{Jaws}}'': Ben Gardner's mate isn't with him when the shark kills Ben and destroys his boat due to "something about a dentist appointment."
* ''Literature/TortallUniverse'': In ''Literature/TheImmortals'', the story of Daine's DarkAndTroubledPast begins with her family's farm being attacked by bandits and burned to the ground while Daine happens to be in the next hamlet over helping with a difficult lambing.
* [[ExaggeratedTrope Exaggerated]] in the ''Literature/AlcatrazSeries'' with Alcatraz's grandfather, whose CursedWithAwesome ability is to always arrive late, which includes ''to his own death''. Bullets always miss him because he's too "late" to end up in their path.
* ''Literature/TheAscendantKingdomsSaga'': There are twelve bloodlines of the Lords of the Blood, who [[WildMagic tame magic for use by humans]] by their mere continued existence. All of them[[note]]Okay, five or so had actually died out from [[HeirClubForMen lacking an heir]] decades or centuries earlier.[[/note]] are wiped out in the Great Fire, a FantasticNuke attack during a war between Donderath and Meroven... except for Blaine [=McFadden=], heir to a bloodline who was banished to a PenalColony for murdering his father at the start of the first book, and therefore not killed when the Great Fire struck his family's manor.
* ''Literature/StarCraftGhostNova'': Nova survives the massacre of her own noble family and several others because she bailed on a class trip at the last second and was halfway home when the assassins struck both her home and the shuttle. She arrived right afterwards and psychically killed the attackers pretty much by accident.
* ''Literature/AlexisCarew'': Queen Annalise of New London ascended the throne at age fifteen when her parents and older brother died in an avalanche during a skiing vacation. She survived it because she was cooped up in their cabin with a nasty cold (the cabin was buried, too, but stayed standing long enough for rescuers to reach her).
* Most of the main characters in the ''Slayer'' duology from the ''Franchise/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' [=EU=] were Watchers Council kids and other non-combatants who went on a vacation to tour the castle and discuss its proud Watcher heritage on the same day that Caleb blew up the Watchers Council HQ and most if not all of the Watchers present there.

* ''Literature/{{Noninterference}}'': Magda only survives an attempt to kill her with a sabotaged starship because she decides not to board it at the last minute in order to avoid a stalker.
* ''Literature/{{Rihannsu}}: The Romulan Way'': In a flashback, Terise [=Haleakala-LoBrutto=] wonders if she should transfer back to the USS ''Excalibur'' rather than become an agent on ch'Rihan (Romulus), reflecting that while the war games it has scheduled don't sound fun, they also sound a lot less dangerous than deep-cover work. Possibly unbeknownst to her, the entire crew of the ''Excalibur'' perished in "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E24TheUltimateComputer The Ultimate Computer]]"; Terise would have died if she hadn't stuck with the supposedly more perilous assignment.
* In the {{backstory}} of the ''Literature/{{RCN}}'' series, {{deuteragonist}} Adele Mundy's entire family was [[ThePurge purged]] for their involvement in the Three Circles Conspiracy to overthrow the Republic of Cinnabar's government. Adele escaped execution because she had left Cinnabar for university a few days earlier.
* ''Literature/TheDarkElfTrilogy'': Drizzt, as Matron Do'Urden's third son, is slated to be [[HumanSacrifice sacrificed at birth to the drow goddess Lolth]] as payment for House Do'Urden's victory in its war with another house. However, the middle Do'Urden brother [[UnfriendlyFire murders his elder brother during the battle]] in a {{Starscream}}-style gambit, and the Do'Urden women spare the infant since he's technically no longer the third son. He later ends up one of the few survivors of the entire family after House Baenre storms the family estate on orders from Lolth when their last attempt to kill Drizzt for heresy fails.

* Inverted with ''Literature/{{Mattimeo}}''. When Slagar and his slaver gang drug the assembled abbeydwellers during the feast, two mice and one vole happen to be in the kitchens. When they return, they catch them in the act of kidnapping the abbey children, and the slavers promptly kill two of them, gravely injure the third one.

* ''Series/TheBookOfBobaFett'': In "[[Recap/TheBookOfBobaFettS1E3TheStreetsOfMosEspa The Streets of Mos Espa]]", Boba Fett is in Mos Eisley negotiating a ProtectionRacket on behalf of the Sand People with the head of the Pyke Syndicate. He returns to the camp to discover the [[AllBikersAreHellsAngels Kintan Striders swoop gang]] has burned down the camp and killed everyone. Actually, the Pykes did it to get out of the ProtectionRacket and framed the Striders.
* ''Series/{{Bosch}}'': In the first episode of season 5, father and son pharmacists Jose Esquivela Sr. and Jr. have a tense argument over Sr.'s plans to report to the police a pill mill they've been supplying oxycodone to. It ends with Jose Jr. leaving the store to go for a walk to clear his head and buy coffee. While he's out, two gunmen from the pill mill walk into the pharmacy and execute Jose Sr., then make a narrow getaway. Jose Jr. doesn't return until well after the police arrive and lock down the scene, and realizing what happened, he hastily seeks out his cousin for help. While Bosch and Edgar go after the pill mill operatives, Pierce and Vega are tasked with finding Jose Jr. before the killers do, narrowly finding him just as one of the gunmen from the shooting shows up at the house he's hiding at in Bakersfield. (This is a significant deviation from the book that season 5 is adapted from, ''Literature/TwoKindsOfTruth'', where Jose Jr. is executed in the pharmacy alongside his father)
* ''Series/BreakingBad'':
** In "Caballo Sin Nombre", Mike sneaks onto the Whites' family residence to plant bugs around the house while everyone's out. Right as he's finishing up, Walt himself arrives, trying to break into the house after being kicked out. Mike manages to leave without being seen, but as he's in his car preparing to drive away, he notices two cartel hitman entering the house intending to kill Walt. Walt only just barely avoids being murdered because Mike happened to be there, quickly sent a message to Gus, who in turn sent a warning text to the hitmen signifying Walt was off-limits to them, as well as the fact Walt was in the bathroom taking a shower and the two hitmen sat in the bedroom waiting him for him to finish rather than just killing him as he was washing himself. Walt never finds out just how close he was to being killed, although he ''does'' notice an object in the bedroom is in a different place than where he last left it...
** In "Negro y Azul", during a meetup with a cartel DEA informant, Hank and the other DEA agents arrive only to find their informant had been uncovered, killed, and his decapitated head mounted on a live tortoise as a message from the cartel to the DEA. Hank has a panic attack at the gruesome sight and retreats back to his SUV to catch his breath, while the other DEA agents find it morbidly hilarious and make fun of Hank's squeamishness. However, Hank going back to the SUV saves his life when they go to remove the head, which sets off a bomb that was hidden inside it, maiming and killing several of the agents.
* The main antagonist in the ''Series/{{Flashpoint}}'' episode "Behind the Blue Line" was a former soldier suffering an extreme case of SurvivorsGuilt because of this trope, especially because one of the men killed was someone he convinced to sign up.

* Exploited in ''Series/TheGoodPlace''. In their original timelines, the four humans did die, but Michael's interference saved them. Chidi's survival is the best example of this because he was the only one "indirectly" saved (had Michael not cycled by when he did, Chidi would have been crushed by the AC). Michael physically pulled Eleanor and Tahani out of harms way, and unlocked the safe Jason was in.

* ''Series/{{Grimm}}'': In the episode "[[Recap/GrimmS1E6TheThreeBadWolves The Three Bad Wolves]]", Hap Lasser survives an attempt on his life in the opening because he accidentally threw his shake weight out a window and his house was bombed in the minute he took to retrive it.
* An episode of ''Series/LawAndOrder'' featured a woman who survived having a hit put out on her because she didn't show up where she was supposed to be. It takes the police some time to realize this because a woman who looked like the intended victim who ''was'' there [[MurderByMistake was murdered instead]].

* On ''Series/TheMentalist'' a former football star is presumed dead when a bomb explodes in his car. However, the agents then discover that the man is still alive. The man is a notorious womanizer and he kept a apartment within walking distance of the bar he owned. On the night of the bombing he hooked up with a female fan and they snuck out to have sex in the apartment. His assistant was tasked with moving the car and was killed by the bomb.

* ''Series/{{Monk}}'': In "Mr. Monk and the Rapper", renowned rapper Extra Large is killed in a car bombing and it is believed his longtime rival [[Music/SnoopDogg Murderuss]] was responsible. It's eventually discovered that Extra Large's death was not intentional, and he was killed mistakenly by the head of Fresh Rhymes Records, his recording label, who was trying to kill his business partner with the bomb (said partner had been the limo driver's last passenger before Extra Large), but missed his mark by an hour because when setting the timer (using an old pocket watch), he forgot that Daylight Savings Time took effect that night.

* In ''Series/ThePretender'' episode "Crash", Jarod befriends a student while waiting for a plane and offers his ticket to him so he won't miss registration. When the plane crashes, Jarod's motivated to find out why in part because he feels responsible for the young man's death.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In "The Best Of Both Worlds: Part I", Riker declines promotion to captain of the USS ''Melbourne'', a choice which Picard criticizes. However, in "Part II", we see that the ''Melbourne'' was among the ships annihilated by the Borg at the Battle of Wolf 359. When Shelby spots the ''Melbourne'' among the wreckage, Riker lowers his head, both to mourn the lives lost and also to think about how lucky he was to have escaped certain death.

* In ''Series/TexasRising'' the Wykoff family is massacred by a Comanche raiding party. Nate, their slave, survived because he was working away from the farmstead and did not get back till the Comanches had already left.

* In the prologue of ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'', one of the few survivors of the [[RobotWar geth attack]] on the Eden Prime colony was a dockworker who had a bad habit of sneaking off for naps during his shift. As a result, he had the perfect hiding place when the shooting started and was an eyewitness to [[BigBad Saren]]'s betrayal. Him living to tell the tale to [[TheHero Shepard]] meant [[SmallRoleBigImpact his laziness indirectly saved the galaxy]].
** Later on, after Wrex joins the party he confesses that as a mercenary he worked for Saren on a job once, but took one look at him and left without even getting paid due to a GutFeeling. Everyone else who stayed mysteriously turned up dead within a week.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', Stan is trying to catch a cab, but decides to give it to a young newlywed couple and catches another. There is then an accident where a sign is knocked off a building and crushes the cab, killing the couple[[note]]Then the driver of Stan's car has a fatal heart attack before he can start driving[[/note]]. The brush with near death shakes Stan up.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS15E18CatchEmIfYouCan Catch 'Em If You Can]]", Homer and Marge ditch an out-of-town family visit at the last second to take a vacation elsewhere without telling their kids. The hotel they were supposed to be staying at gets completely destroyed by a tornado. Marge calls the kids, who are relieved that she's alive, but immediately catch on when she still claims to be staying at the hotel.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': In [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS1E06EmpireDay "Empire Day"]], Zeb at one point has [[ArchEnemy Agent Kallus]] in his gun sights, but is told by Kanan to shoot the Inquisitor, a much larger threat who arrived on the scene at the same time, instead. [[ItBeganWithATwistOfFate Kallus' survival ends up having some interesting consequences]].
* A variation in ''[[WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand Buzz Lightyear: The Adventure Begins]]''. Due to Mira taking a shuttle, Buzz going after her, and Booster and XL being on 42 at the time, the four of them weren't on Star Command when Zurg blasted it with his [[MindControlDevice Mind Control Ray]], meaning they were the only ones left who could stop Zurg's plan.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'', the Manhattan Clan go through this in the FiveEpisodePilot. Goliath and Hudson are led on a WildGooseChase by Hakon and his men, while Brooklyn, Lexington, Broadway, and Bronx [[SavedByThePunishment have been]] [[GoToYourRoom sent down to the rookery]] due to [[GuiltByAssociationGag Brooklyn and Lexington fighting with humans]]. As a result, when Hakon [[LiterallyShatteredLives slaughters the rest of their clan]], they are the only survivors alongside Demona, whose own survival is revealed later on to be due to going down to the shore below the castle just before sunrise.
* This is the trigger for Aang's backstory in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''. After hearing how the Elders intended to take him away from his mentor Gyatsu, compounded by feeling alienated from the other airbenders for being the Avatar, Aang ran away from the air temple, only to end up caught in a storm, resulting in him and Appa being in an iceberg for 100 years. Because of this, Aang ended up [[GenocideSurvivor escaping the Fire Nation's genocide of the Air Nomads]], leaving him the LastOfHisKind.

* During World War II, Creator/JonPertwee was a crewman aboard HMS ''Hood''. He transferred off to undergo officer training right before the ship departed to intercept the German battleship ''Bismarck''. The ''Bismarck'' sank the ''Hood'', only three crewmembers survived.

* Both Len and Erin have lucky near-death experiences throughout ''Series/ThePromise2011'':
** After ordering two of his men to wash the unit's halftracks after having a chamberpot dumped on their heads, Len departs in his jeep, narrowly missing an Irgun ambush that kills the men washing the halftrack.
** Len is caught in the [[BeenThereShapedHistory 1946 King David Hotel bombing]] and only survives because his superior ordered him to warn people in the other rooms to step away from the windows following the diversionary blast.
** Erin leaves a Haifa cafe mere moments before a suicide bomber's vest goes off inside, and sustains only superficial shrapnel wounds.

* Exploited in ''Series/TheGoodPlace''. In their original timelines, the four humans did die, but Michael's interference saved them. Chidi's survival is the best example of this because he was the only one "indirectly" saved (had Michael not cycled by when he did, Chidi would have been crushed by the AC). Michael physically pulled Eleanor and Tahani out of harms way, and unlocked the safe Jason was in.
** After Eleanor escaped her would-be demise, she tells her friends about this. They both give examples that are played for laughs. One of them was in New York two weeks before 9/11, while the other one had a warehouse near their old dentists place burn down.
* ''Series/{{Bosch}}'': In the first episode of season 5, father and son pharmacists Jose Esquivela Sr. and Jr. have a tense argument over Sr.'s plans to report to the police a pill mill they've been supplying oxycodone to. It ends with Jose Jr. leaving the store to go for a walk to clear his head and buy coffee. While he's out, two gunmen from the pill mill walk into the pharmacy and execute Jose Sr., then make a narrow getaway. Jose Jr. doesn't return until well after the police arrive and lock down the scene, and realizing what happened, he hastily seeks out his cousin for help. While Bosch and Edgar go after the pill mill operatives, Pierce and Vega are tasked with finding Jose Jr. before the killers do, narrowly finding him just as one of the gunmen from the shooting shows up at the house he's hiding at in Bakersfield. (This is a significant deviation from the book that season 5 is adapted from, ''Literature/TwoKindsOfTruth'', where Jose Jr. is executed in the pharmacy alongside his father)
* ''Series/{{Monk}}'': In "Mr. Monk and the Rapper", renowned rapper Extra Large is killed in a car bombing and it is believed his longtime rival [[Music/SnoopDogg Murderuss]] was responsible. It's eventually discovered that Extra Large's death was not intentional, and he was killed mistakenly by the head of Fresh Rhymes Records, his recording label, who was trying to kill his business partner with the bomb (said partner had been the limo driver's last passenger before Extra Large), but missed his mark by an hour because when setting the timer (using an old pocket watch), he forgot that Daylight Savings Time took effect that night.
* ''Series/TheBookOfBobaFett'': In "[[Recap/TheBookOfBobaFettS1E3TheStreetsOfMosEspa The Streets of Mos Espa]]", Boba Fett is in Mos Eisley negotiating a ProtectionRacket on behalf of the Sand People with the head of the Pyke Syndicate. He returns to the camp to discover the [[AllBikersAreHellsAngels Kintan Striders swoop gang]] has burned down the camp and killed everyone. Actually, the Pykes did it to get out of the ProtectionRacket and framed the Striders.
* ''Series/BreakingBad'':
** In "Caballo Sin Nombre", Mike sneaks onto the Whites' family residence to plant bugs around the house while everyone's out. Right as he's finishing up, Walt himself arrives, trying to break into the house after being kicked out. Mike manages to leave without being seen, but as he's in his car preparing to drive away, he notices two cartel hitman entering the house intending to kill Walt. Walt only just barely avoids being murdered because Mike happened to be there, quickly sent a message to Gus, who in turn sent a warning text to the hitmen signifying Walt was off-limits to them, as well as the fact Walt was in the bathroom taking a shower and the two hitmen sat in the bedroom waiting him for him to finish rather than just killing him as he was washing himself. Walt never finds out just how close he was to being killed, although he ''does'' notice an object in the bedroom is in a different place than where he last left it...
** In "Negro y Azul", during a meetup with a cartel DEA informant, Hank and the other DEA agents arrive only to find their informant had been uncovered, killed, and his decapitated head mounted on a live tortoise as a message from the cartel to the DEA. Hank has a panic attack at the gruesome sight and retreats back to his SUV to catch his breath, while the other DEA agents find it morbidly hilarious and make fun of Hank's squeamishness. However, Hank going back to the SUV saves his life when they go to remove the head, which sets off a bomb that was hidden inside it, maiming and killing several of the agents.

** In "Negro y Azul", during a meetup with a cartel DEA informant, Hank and the other DEA agents arrive only to find their informant had been uncovered, killed, and his decapitated head mounted on a live tortoise as a message from the cartel to the DEA. Hank has a panic attack at the gruesome sight and retreats back to his truck to catch his breath, while the other DEA agents find it morbidly hilarious and make fun of Hank's squeamishness. However, Hank going back to the vehicle saves his life when they go to remove the head, which sets off a bomb that was hidden inside it, maiming and killing several of the agents.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': In [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS1E06EmpireDay "Empire Day"]], Zeb at one point has [[ArchEnemy Agent Kallus]] in his gun sights, but is told by Kanan to shoot the Inquisitor. A much larger threat who arrived on the scene at the same time, instead. [[ForWantOfANail Kallus' survival ends up having some interesting consequences]].

* In the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse2002'', when the Sorceress senses Skeletor's forces breaking the Mystic Wall confiding them to the Dark Continent, she mentally contacts Man-At-Arms to have him bring Adam to Castle Grayskull so that he may take up his destiny as He-Man, requiring them to slip out during Adam's birthday celebration. This ends up saving Adam when Skeletor's forces attack the royal castle and capture his father (while also convincing the dubious Adam that Sorceress and Man-At-Arms were telling him the truth about Skeletor's threat).

* Exaggerated in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "[[Recap/FuturamaS2E9ABicyclopsBuiltForTwo A Bicyclops Built for Two]]" in which Alcazar claims he survived the depopulation of the Cyclopian planet because he was cleaning a pool at the time and [[ConvectionSchmonvection the massive fireball passed over him safely]]. Subverted after Alcazar is revealed to be a shapeshifting con artist who built fake ruins to scam women of several species into marrying him.

* A downplayed version in ''Fanfic/FacingTheFutureSeries'' story "Royal Occupation" where Danny and Sam go into the Ghost Zone to search for Prince Aragon at the request of Dora Mattingly. This ends up saving them when Aragon [[spoiler:transforms Amity Park into his new Dark Age kingdom]].

** How Snag wins his Games. The Gamemakers stuff the Cornucopia with only [[spoiler:grenades]] as weapons. Snag, being stuck in a wheelchair due to his cystic fibrosis, is the only one not to head in the direction of the Cornucopia since he figures he's dead either way, and heads towards the forest at the foot of the steep hill the tributes were launched to for his pride's sake, so he won't be the first one killed. [[spoiler:This allows him to avoid the massive explosion that outright kills sixteen of the tributes and severely injures the rest after Honda, the female tribute of District Six, who is suffering from severe withdrawal, accidentally drops the grenade she was going to use on the boy from District One onto the ground near the rest of pile.]]

* In ''Film/BulletTrain'', this happens several times, with The Wolf's backstory involving him being the SoleSurvivor of [[WeddingSmashers his own wedding]] because Ladybug posing as a waiter there for a different reason accidentally bumped into him and caused Wolf to spill wine on his suit, having him go clean up and miss the cake cutting ceremony, only to watch in horror as it turns out the cake was poisoned. The biggest example happens to [[spoiler:Carver; the hitman Ladybug was sent to replace on his contract since he got a stomach bug prior. He was actually The White Death's true target since Carver killed his wife in an accidental assassination because the White Death was out of the country trying to fix the mess in his Bolivia operation. He is ''[[VillainousBreakdown not]]'' happy after learning one of the men who ruined his life got away scot-free due to dumb luck and he's just been dealing with a very unlucky snatch-and-grab crook.]]

* ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'': It's a subtle RewatchBonus, but there are two (unsuccessful) attempts [[spoiler:by the same character]] to [[InvokedTrope invoke]] this trope on others. [[spoiler:In the opening, Emma's reassurances to Madison that Mark is safe where he is appear on the first watching to just be a mother reassuring her daughter that he's far enough away from harm due to his isolated whereabouts ''if'' the worst comes to pass, but when re-watching the scene with knowledge of the EvilAllAlong twist, it becomes apparent that Emma is ''actually'' assuring her co-conspirator that he'll be safe '''when''' the worst comes to pass. Shortly before Jonah and his goons are due to slaughter everyone standing between them and Mothra (an attack which [[TheMole Emma is secretly in on]]), Emma attempts to persuade Dr. Mancini to take a sleep break so he won't become a casualty – it doesn't work and he gets a bullet to the head]].

* ''Literature/TheAvenger'': In the first book of the series, Benson is on an commercial airplane flight with his wife and daughter when he gets up to use the bathroom. When he returns his wife and daughter have disappeared and everyone on the plane swears he was alone when he boarded. [[spoiler: Everyone else on the plane was involved in a smuggling ring. The plane had slowed down to drop its illegal cargo over a lake, and the crew had murdered his family and threw them into the lake at the same time. If Benson had been in his seat they would have done the same to him.]]
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': In ''Literature/GuardsGuards'', when the [[OurDragonsareDifferent dragon]] learns to summon itself and [[EvilIsNotAToy destroys the cult for daring to command it]], the only survivor [[spoiler:apart from the leader]] is Brother Fingers, because they'd sent him out to [[FiveFingerDiscount steal]] some eats. When the Watch responds to the attack, they find him just staring in shock at the melted ruin, still holding a stack of pizza boxes.

* ''Literature/TheDarkElfTrilogy'': Drizzt, as Matron Do'Urden's third son, is slated to be [[HumanSacrifice sacrificed at birth to the drow goddess Lolth]] as payment for House Do'Urden's victory in its war with another house. However, the middle Do'Urden brother [[UnfriendlyFire murders his elder brother during the battle]] in a {{Starscream}}-style gambit, and the Do'Urden women spare the infant since he's technically no longer the third son. [[spoiler:He later ends up one of the few survivors of the entire family after House Baenre storms the family estate on orders from Lolth when their last attempt to kill Drizzt for heresy fails.]]

** Len is caught in the [[spoiler:[[BeenThereShapedHistory 1946 King David Hotel bombing]]]] and only survives because his superior ordered him to warn people in the other rooms to step away from the windows following the diversionary blast.

* In ''Series/MikeAndMolly'', Mike and Carl step out of their squad car during a traffic jam to deal with a rude motorist. Moments later, a girder falls on the car, crushing it. This close call gets Carl thinking about how he lives his life and leads to him [[spoiler:proposing to Molly's sister Victoria but then changing his mind]].

* ''Series/TheBookOfBobaFett'': In "[[Recap/TheBookOfBobaFettS1E3TheStreetsOfMosEspa The Streets of Mos Espa]]", Boba Fett is in Mos Eisley negotiating a ProtectionRacket on behalf of the Sand People with the head of the Pyke Syndicate. He returns to the camp to discover the [[AllBikersAreHellsAngels Kintan Striders swoop gang]] has burned down the camp and killed everyone. [[spoiler:Actually, the Pykes did it to get out of the ProtectionRacket and framed the Striders.]]

* In the beginning of ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia'', Toltus gets destroyed by Mars looking for a pendant belonging to Cress, who just happened to be out hunting with his friend Chester. Not that this does Cress any good, since Mars catches up to him later in Euclid.

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind'': Yagrum Bagarn is the last of the [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Dwemer]], who all mysteriously disappeared from Tamriel thousands of years ago, seemingly as part of an attempt to ascend to godhood GoneHorriblyWrong. While even Bagarn himself is uncertain as to what happened, he speculates that he survived it because he wasn’t in Tamriel when it happened; he left to [[ButWhatAboutTheAstronauts explore another realm]] shortly beforehand, only learning what happened when he returned home to find the city he lived in completely empty.

* At the start of ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberiumWars'', the Philadelphia space station gets destroyed by a Nod warhead after the defensive measures protecting it are sabotaged. Secretary of the Treasury Redmond Boyle isn't onboard the station at the time, thus the chain of command ends up with him as acting director of GDI. ''Kane's Wrath'' reveals that this was an intentional outcome on Kane's part, allowing Redmond Boyle's brash, impulsive decision making to fire the Ion Cannon on Nod's Sarajevo temple which was holding a liquid Tibeirum bomb at the time, sparking the Scrin invasion. One mission involves Nod forces sabotaging Boyle's journey to the energy summit on the Philadelphia in order to ensure his survival and hasty promotion.
* ''VideoGame/MafiaII'': [[spoiler:After setting off a bomb at the Clemente Family meeting, Vito and Joe survey the damage... and spot [[TheDon Clemente himself]], their target, emerging from the bathroom. Cue dramatic and violent chase to take him out.]]

* The end of the intro in ''VideoGame/{{LISA}}'' shows [[PlayerCharacter Brad]] going OffTheWagon and going off on a bender, later getting sidetracked by helping out [[ExpositionFairy Terry Hintz]]. Upon finally returning to his home, he finds that it’s been ransacked by a horde of people after [[LastOfHisKind Buddy]], killing Cheeks and leaving a trail of bodies.

* Exaggerated in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "[[Recap/FuturamaS2E9ABicyclopsBuiltForTwo A Bicyclops Built for Two]]" in which Alcazar claims he survived the depopulation of the Cyclopian planet because he was cleaning a pool at the time and [[ConvectionSchmonvection the massive fireball passed over him safely]]. [[spoiler:Subverted after Alcazar is revealed to be a shapeshifting con artist who built fake ruins to scam women of several species into marrying him]].

[[folder: Literature]]

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]

-> Whoa, [[JustForFun/TVTropesWillRuinYourLife I spent so much time browsing TV Tropes that I missed the bus to work]]! ...oh. [[SugarWiki/TVTropesWillEnhanceYourLife Turns out that bus ended up in a fiery accident that killed everyone on board...]]

** Later on, after Wrex joins the party he confesses that as a mercenary he worked for Saren on a job once, but took one look at him and left without even getting paid due to a GutFeeling. Everyone else who stayed was dead within a week.

* The end of the intro in ''VideoGame:{{LISA}}'' shows [[PlayerCharacter Brad]] going OffTheWagon and going off on a bender, later getting sidetracked by helping out [[ExpositionFairy Terry Hintz]]. Upon finally returning to his home, he finds that it’s been ransacked by a horde of people after [[LastOfHisKind Buddy]], killing Cheeks and leaving a trail of bodies.

* On August 9, 1945, the Japanese city of Kokura was the intended target for the second atomic bomb "Fat Man." However, thick cloud cover prevented the plane's bombardier from getting a fix on the aiming point. After making multiple passes, they decided to proceed to their secondary target: Nagasaki, which was destroyed only thanks to a last-minute break in the cloud cover.

* ''Film/TheTerminator'': After being stood up by her Friday night date, Sarah decides to leave her apartment and go to a movie. This ends up preventing the Terminator from killing her when it inevitably turns up. Unfortunately, it also results in the death of Sarah's roommate/best friend Ginger Ventura and her boyfriend Matt Buchanan when the Terminator [[MistakenIdentity mistakes Ginger for Sarah]].