History Main / TheCavalryArrivesLate

-->'''Ice:''' We.. we didn't make it in time...

* This trope is frequently used in the futuristic ''Manga/GDefend''. Being that the main cast are government security agents, they're frequently told to not interfere in many investigations and to leave it to the civilian police. Alas, the agents end up cleaning up the messes most of the time before the police even arrive.
* In ''Manga/{{Holyland}}'', after [[spoiler:Yuu beats Shougo, the other thugs beat Yuu up and the police only arrive while the beatdown is already in progress.]]
* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': If Officer Jenny shows up, it's always after the villain (usually Team Rocket) has been defeated by Ash and his friends.

* ''Franchise/DragonBall''
** Goku's friends find out that Goku is about to attack the headquarters of the Red Ribbon Army, the world's most powerful terrorists. By the time they actually arrive to help, Goku has pretty much wiped the army out.
** Happens again in the Piccolo Saga. Only Tien was around to witness Piccolo's defeat.

* Justified in ''Manga/ThouShaltNotDie'' the U.S military shows up after the remaining gifted kids take out an ambush and their friend who turned into TheBerserker was too weak to be a problem [[spoiler: because they wanted to, one of the student pieces out that with the equipment they carried, the two assist attack helicopters meeting up with their pick up and the video recorder means that they helped the enemy forces create an ambush so they could observe the psychic soldiers and if Japan had them under control.]]
* In ''Manga/{{Shy}}'', after the battle at Yurii Orphanage is over, Stardust and Lady Black arrive at the scene. Realising that the enemies have already left and the situation is under control, Stadust soon leaves again to report to Uni-Lord while Lady Black tends to the civilians who were caught in the attack.

* Often happens in ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'', as a subversion of the trope found in classic Westerns of the cavalry always arriving on time. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in "Western Circus" in which the cavalry arrives late, and the commanding officer has a nervous breakdown because of the breach of tradition.
* In ''ComicBook/SinCity: A Dame To Kill For'', the cops arrive to clean up the mess after the climax. This is a rare case in that the heroes also have to flee the scene.

* In a 2-part ''ComicBook/DarkwingDuck'' comic that was published in ''Magazine/DisneyAdventures'', Gizmoduck shows up with the police to help Darkwing nab Megavolt, only to see that he's already managed to capture the villain.

* ComicBook/UltimateMarvel

* In ''FanFic/CapeAndCowl'', the Night Guard arrives at Bolt Buck's house after Mare Do Well/Snow Storm gives him some bruises, twists his pastern, and breaks his jaw.

* ''Fanfic/TheDevilsInTheDetails'': In "[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/23717884 Meet and Greet]]", it isn't until Spider-Man, the Defenders and Frank Castle beat the alien killing machine (a type of enemy way above the level of back-alley criminals and supervillains they are accustomed to) do the Avengers show up to deal with the problem.
* Justifed in ''Fanfic/SonOfTheSannin''. After Jiraiya requests help from her and Rasa to retake Takigakure from Akatsuki in a week's time, Mei comments that she probably wouldn't be able to get her forces there until after the fighting is over (Kiri is significantly further away from Taki than Konoha and Suna are). To make up for it, she makes sure to have things like food, medicine, and other vital supplies delivered for once the battle is over.
* In the ''{{Series/Bones}}'' fic ''[[https://m.fanfiction.net/s/4572193/1/Deprivation Deprevation]]'', a special ops team arrives to rescue a captured Booth and Brennan moments after Booth snaps the guy’s neck and frees Brennan himself. He even tells them they’re late.

* Happens at the end of virtually every ''WesternAnimation/TotallySpies'' episode, though considering how useless the other WOOHP operatives have proven on the few occasions where they've had to fight the girls, it makes sense that they'd usually hold back until the job is taken care of.
* Done in the ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries'' episode "The Secret of Dagger Rock''. Iago and Abu, armed to the teeth (or beak, in Iago's case) show up up to help... only to to find the action ended hours ago.
-->'''Iago''': Dagger Rock — twelve o'clock high. IT'S SHOWTIME!! (''Even more weapons burst from the belt he's wearing. Abu follows and does the same thing. But there's nobody in sight.'') Where is everybody? I think those shambling, half-dead Mamluk guys gave us bad directions. (''They both collapse against the Crystal, [[spoiler: with Mozenrath and Xerxes trapped inside of it]].'') Maybe we're supposed to go to Danger Rock, or Dagger Reef...eh, I don't know, like more of a nautical thing...
* ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo''. "And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it wasn't for YouMeddlingKids!", just before the cops snap on the handcuffs. This is eventually lampshaded in ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated.''
* ''WesternAnimation/SWATKats'': "Looks like the Enforcers are here - late as usual."
* ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest'' episode "The Quetong Missile Mystery". After the Quests have destroyed the missile and escaped from General Fong's forces, Commissioner Wa and a boatload of Quetong police show up (and presumably take the remaining {{mooks}} into custody). Possibly {{lampshade|Hanging}}d when Dr. Quest says "Too bad they missed the party."

* During the first season (65 episodes) of ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget'', Chief Quimby and a bunch of other police would invariably be called by Penny after she and Brain broke the case, or Gadget at best bumbled into breaking it himself. They would then arrive to arrest the MAD Agents and the Villain of the Episode and Quimby would congratulate Gadget. Also happened in the second season, [[JumpTheShark except the Villain]] [[VillainExitStageLeft would escape]].

* The few times we see police in ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'', there's nothing left for them to do but take the captured villains off to jail.
* ''WesternAnimation/AllHailKingJulien'': At the very end of ''Exiled'', Hans arrives with a zombie lemur army, only to be informed that he missed the entire battle by at least a month.
-->'''Mort''': Sorry, Hans, you missed the big war. But there's always next year!
* ''WesternAnimation/Invincible2021'': Allen the Alien learns that there is a [[spoiler:[[GalacticConqueror Viltrumite]] agent (i.e., Omni-Man)]] on Earth undermining its defenses for an imminent AlienInvasion. He rushes back to Earth to warn its superheroes of the danger... and gets there mere ''days'' after [[spoiler:Omni-Man's cover was already blown, leading to a brutal fight that left thousands of innocent people dead.]]

Contrast BigDamnHeroes and JustInTime for when reinforcements arrive before the villain is defeated, and YouAreTooLate for when the ''good guys'' are defeated before reinforcements arrive. For moments when it's the ''hero'' coming to someone's aid, only to find ''they've'' got it taken care of, see NonProtagonistResolver.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', Shanks and the Red-Hair Pirates show up at Marinford at the end of the Paramount War [[spoiler: after Ace and Whitebeard died.]] In their defense, they first had to drive back the Emperor Kaido who was trying to conquer some of Whitebeard's territory while he was distracted with the war.

** In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsFriendshipGames'', Sunset Shimmer repeatedly sends Princess Twilight Sparkle messages asking for help, but eventually solves the crisis herself. In the final scene, Princess Twilight shows up, apologizing for not getting to her messages sooner. In Twilight's defense, she [[SimultaneousArcs was busy trying to save Equestria from the crisis]] in "The Cutie Re-Mark".

* This occurs in ''Film/ABridgeTooFar.'' [[RealityEnsues Sadly, because of this fact, the poorly equipped paratroopers are defeated horribly]].

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', Shanks and the Red-Hair Pirates show up at Marinford at the end of the Paramount War [[spoiler: after Ace and Whitebeard died.]]

Contrast BigDamnHeroes and JustInTime for when reinforcements arrive before the villain is defeated, and YouAreTooLate for when it's the ''good guys'' are defeated before reinforcements arrive. For moments when it's the ''hero'' coming to someone's aid, only to find ''they've'' got it taken care of, see NonProtagonistResolver.

* Chapter 4 of the Website/{{Questden}} series ''Moot Point'' shows a trio of Spirit Guardians appear moments after the Spirit Guide protagonists have solved the issue peacefully. Justified as, as Kol notices, the authorities went out of their way to get ''real powerhouses'' on the case, since they may have to fight a lich.

** Lord Walder Frey showed up at the climactic battle of Robert's Rebellion only after it was over - assuring the victors that, of course, he had been riding to their aid. Ever since he's been mocked as the "Late Lord Frey" as a dual reference to his tardiness and refusal to just die already (He's over ninety and has over 100 descendants.)

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Walder Frey has been called "the late Lord Frey" ever since his army arrived conveniently late to the decisive battle of Robert's Rebellion, prompting suspicions he deliberately missed the battle so he could join the winning side.

When the police / military / other supporting group arrive at the scene only after the hero has defeated the monster, killer, or BigBad.

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

Sometimes this is played for humor, or to play up their [[PoliceAreUseless uselessness]] compared to TheHero. Often, though, it serves the same purpose as NoOntologicalInertia -- while the hero has to defeat the BigBad alone for the purposes of the story, TheCavalry is necessary to sweep up loose ends and ensure a happy ending, especially in real-world settings where the hero is on the side of law and order. Thus, they'll arrive just too late to interfere in the big fight, but just in time to handcuff the crooks... and to ensure that the hero isn't anticlimactically killed by a stray remaining mook or some other logical but narratively unimportant danger that wouldn't necessarily have gone away with the Big Bad's death. It also makes PostVictoryCollapse less hazardous for the hero, or allows the AfterActionPatchuplays to go on without worrying about clean-up.

(Note that this is really about cases where the cavalry arrives, as it were, just after the nick of time. If the hero defeats the killer, then phones the police to come mop up, and they turn up 15 minutes later in response to the phone call, that doesn't count.)

* This trope is frequently used in the futuristic ''Manga/GDefend''. Being that the main cast are government security agents, they're frequently told to not interfere in many investigations and to leave it to the civilian police. Alas, the agents end up cleaning up the messes most of the time before the police even arrives.

* Justified in ''Manga/ThouShaltNotDie'' the U.S military shows up after the remaining gifted kids take out an ambush and there friend who turned into TheBerserker was too weak to be a problem [[spoiler: because they wanted to, one of the student pieces out that with the equipment they carried, the two assist attack helicopters meeting up with their pick up and the video recorder means that they helped the enemy forces create an ambush so they could observes the psychic soldiers and if Japan had them under control.]]

* In ''FanFic/BloodIsThickerThanBone'' Naruto rushes to save Sakura after finding out the truth and how she had been framed only for when he got there to find out that she had already killed the man who did it and was planning on making it look like she committed suicide.
* ''FanFic/CircusDays'': Celestia and her guards arive well after The Mane Six and Spike have [[spoiler: defeated the dragon poachers]] and all that's left to do is take them in.
* In ''Fanfic/CosmicWarriors'' Naru calls the police before calling Usagi to tell her about the man that has broken in. But the police don't arrive until after Usagi has fought him and he escapes.

* In FanFic/EquestriaAHistoryRevealed, this is luckily averted for Celestia in [[spoiler: the final battle of the war, the Battle of the Everfree Plains]]. But the LemonyNarrator notes that it would've been funny if this did occur.

** Steven sends Lion to go get Connie, who is away at Space Camp, and bring her back to help with the situation. Once the two arrive back, Connie declares she's ready to fight, but by that point Steven had already managed to convince Spinel to help stop her injector without need for a fight (at least for the moment anyway).

* ''Film/AdvanceToTheRear'': When General Willoughby finds out about the gold shipment, he's terrified at the idea of Brackenbury being responsible for this and heads out to ensure its safety personally, arriving right after an attempt to stream it has been thwarted, with he and his escort being mistaken for members of the outlaw gang themselves.

* ''Film/EnterTheDragon'': The Big Boss is defeated. The two battered, exhausted heroes spot each other and exchange thumbs ups. Then a bunch of helicopters arrive with backup. Bruce Lee regards them with a "now they get here" expression.

* ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom'': It's not until after BigBad Mola Ram is killed that a company of British-led Indian troops arrive to capture the remaining Thugee. Though they do arrive in time to prevent the main trio possibly being shot full of arrows by the Thugee. Semi-lampshaded by Willie's exasperated line "Well it's about time!" when they arrive.

* Subverted in ''Film/LethalWeapon3''; upon arriving a building with a car bomb in the garage, Riggs insists that he and Murtaugh have a look under the justification that "[[LampshadeHanging the bomb squad never gets here on time]]!" They go to the bomb, Riggs messes around with it, screws up the timer, and it goes off -- and seconds after it does, the bomb squad shows up, having arrived in plenty of time to deal with the bomb had Riggs and Murtaugh not interfered.

* ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'': The police arrive right after the weasels die laughing and Judge Doom is liquidated.

* The police usually shows up at the end of a ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'' film to clean up the trail of bodies that Jason has left behind. Just as well, as when they ''do'' show up, their no more effective than Jason's other victims.

* It's a reoccuring theme in ''Literature/KrisLongknife'' where the backup will show up just after the protagonists have finished the fight, though usually they are very helpful with cleanup and securing the area.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* This occurs in ''Series/BarneyMiller'' in a New Year episode. A Hispanic lady is going into labor in the squadroom. The paramedics are called, but the baby isn't going to wait. Wojo delivers the kid himself (he had field experience in Vietnam) long before the paramedics finally show up.

** During Hogan's match against [[Wrestling/DonMuraco The Magnificent Muraco]] and Hogan was beating Muraco too easily, Bundy ran in and, with Muraco's help, brutally crushed Hogan into unconsciousness. Only after Bundy and Muraco mocked the champion and were beginning to walk out of the ring did the British Bulldogs, Pedro Morales, Dan Spivey and Mike Rotundo come to Hogan's rescue.
** When "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff betrayed Hogan by clotheslining him to the mat and then piledriving him. Just as he called in new allies Bundy and Big John Studd and into the ring to initiate a horrifically brutal 3-on-1 beatdown, a host of face wrestlers ran in to get Hogan.
** When Hogan was sneak-attacked by Wrestling/AndreTheGiant after Hogan's match vs. Bundy on ''Saturday Night's Main Event'', the British Bulldogs tried to rescue Hogan, but when Andre easily crashed their heads together and threw them from the ring, an army of other faces stormed the ring to try to pull Andre away, succeeding only when Hacksaw Jim Duggan broke a 2-by-4 piece of wood over his back. As Andre had already effectively choked Hogan to the brink of near unconsciousness, their mission was merely to stop Andre before he broke Hogan's neck.

* If you place units in reserve in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' there is a chance, albeit a small one, that they will never turn up. Although they automatically pass the reserves roll on the fifth turn, if they hit something when coming down there's a chance of being put back in reserves for the next turn. This can keep happening indefinitely. The game can also end before the fifth turn, for example if all your/the enemy forces are wiped out before you get there. Any unit who fails to turn up counts as dead. There's an oft-repeated story about a time a massive fleet was organized to fight a Xeno menace threatening an Imperial planet, only to find that the planet had been razed centuries ago. The distress call took that long to penetrate the Imperium's immense bureaucracy.
* Happens on occasion in ''TabletopGame/BattleTech''. One notable incident was during the Twilight of the Clans event, the Inner Sphere sent a secret army called Task Force Serpent to launch a sneak attack on Clan Smoke Jaguar's distant capital world of Huntress in order to destroy the Clan's warmaking abilities. However, the Smoke Jaguars ended up retreating out of the Inner Sphere during the fight with the Inner Sphere's primary offensive forces, meaning that they were also heading to Huntress so Task Force Serpent found itself facing nearly the entire remaining might of the Jaguars. Victor Steiner-Davion led a relief force to pursue the Jaguars back to Huntress but by the time he got there, Task Force Serpent was down to a mere 20% of its initial strenght.

* The Spartan relief force arrived at Marathon just in time to take a curious look at the [[ATopAMountainOfCorpses Athenians' work]]. However, they did arrive in the vicinity of Athens in time to have possibly contributed to the Persian fleet's decision to withdraw.

Sometimes this is played for humor, or to play up their [[PoliceAreUseless uselessness]] compared to TheHero. Often, though, it serves the same purpose as NoOntologicalInertia -- while the hero has to defeat the BigBad alone for the purposes of the story, TheCavalry is necessary to sweep up loose ends and ensure a happy ending, especially in real-world settings where the hero is on the side of law and order. Thus, they'll arrive just too late to interfere in the big fight, but just in time to handcuff the crooks... and to ensure that the hero isn't anticlimactically killed by a stray remaining mook or some other logical but narratively unimportant danger that wouldn't necessarily have gone away with the Big Bad's death. It also makes PostVictoryCollapse less hazardous for the hero, or allows the AfterActionPatchup to go on without worrying about clean-up.

* A more tragic example in ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'', Justice League members, such as Bloodwynd and Ice, arrive to Metropolis just as Doomsday is defeated and Superman lays dying in Lois' arms.