History XanatosGambit / WesternAnimation

* In the Season 4 finale of ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'':
** In "The Rock", Valmont's PoisonAndCureGambit is this; either Jackie will relinquish all the Talismans in exchange for the antidote, or he'll be [[TakenForGranite turned to stone]] and won't trouble the Dark Hand and Shendu anymore. While trying to convince Jackie to hand over the Talismans, Jade notes that even if he doesn't do that, the Dark Hand will be able to claim them anyway if he's gone.
** [[BigBad Tarakudo]] reveals that he's been running a gambit for the entire season. If his minions get ahold of the [[PlotCoupon Oni masks]] and gain control of their respective Shadowkhan armies, that's great. If the heroes get them all instead, that's fine too, seeing as [[spoiler: having all nine masks in the same place causes them to shatter and release the demons inside anyway]]. It can be a downplayed example since [[spoiler: all the heroes had to do was keep one of the masks separate from the rest, which could have been avoided if Tohru [[HeroBall had bothered searching the tablet further and finding the part with that detail.]]]]

* In the Season 4 finale of ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'', [[BigBad Tarakudo]] reveals that he's been running a gambit for the entire season. If his minions get ahold of the [[PlotCoupon Oni masks]] and gain control of their respective Shadowkhan armies, that's great. If the heroes get them all instead, that's fine too, seeing as [[spoiler: having all nine masks in the same place causes them to shatter and release the demons inside anyway]].
** It can be a downplayed example since [[spoiler: all the heroes had to do was keep one of the masks separate from the rest, which could have been avoided if Tohru [[HeroBall had bothered searching the tablet further and finding the part with that detail.]]]]

* The Joker managed to pull this off in the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode "Wild Cards". He sets up a series of hidden bombs all around the Las Vegas strip, daring the League to defuse them all within 25 minutes. In addition, he's seized control of several TV feeds ''and'' sent his own superpowered team against the League (the Royal Flush Gang) to make their job harder. The League defuses all the bombs, but then the Joker reveals that his real plan was to get enough people watching his show so that they would all be turned insane by the Gang's most powerful member, Ace (a {{Tykebomb}} who can alter perception by looking at someone).
* ComicBook/LexLuthor also pulls one off in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited'' when he hacks the Justice League's KillSat: Cadmus could be completely wiped out, removing a threat to himself. Heavy hitters in the Justice League could turn themselves in to the government, removing a threat to himself. Justice League and Cadmus could go into all-out war, destroying one side and almost certainly weakening the other, and removing a threat to himself. If all that is somehow avoided, he '''still''' buys time to complete his Amazo clone and become a god. {{Batman|Gambit}} [[SpannerInTheWorks unfortunately ruins it.]]
** All of this definitely crosses the line to a GambitRoulette, but given the [[TheChessmaster skill]] of the people involved (Brainiac and Luthor), it doesn't quite break the WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief.
** Luthor pulls off another gambit in the episode "Clash": he built a beautiful low-income housing project/neighborhood for families in need, inviting Superman to the charity fundraiser marking the opening. Understandably suspicious, Superman uses his X-ray vision to discover a device deep in the sub-basements, assumes it's a bomb, and prepares to destroy it. Luthor claims that the device is an experimental fusion generator to provide free power to the community. Superman doesn't believe Luthor and has to be restrained by Captain Marvel, leading to a brutal fight between the two heroes that destroys not only the device, but the entire community that Luthor had constructed. Afterwords, the League determines that the device was exactly what Luthor had claimed. Luthor's plan was doubly brilliant because everything he had said was true: if Superman had done nothing, Luthor would have improved his tarnished public image. If Superman simply destroyed the generator, he would make himself look bad and improve Luthor's image even more. By fighting Marvel and wrecking the new community, (which Luthor ''hadn't'' been expecting, saying it turned out better than he could have hoped) Superman made the League look so bad that Captain Marvel quits in disgust, and Luthor comes off looking far better than Superman does along with creating a schism among the superheroes.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperheroes'', Imperiex carries out a preemptive strike against the Legion to pave the way for the bigger invasion to come. With his friends on the ropes, Brainiac 5 gives in to his EnemyWithin and uses his hidden powers to single-handedly defeat Imperiex's forces, forcing them to retreat. However, Imperiex then informs his [[TheDragon Dragon]] that this was the outcome that he preferred all along, as it further molded Brainiac 5 into being an ideal ally.

* Vlad -- a.k.a. Plasmius -- of ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' is satisfied even when Danny defeats him because a) he sees the boy as his apprentice, and b) it further proves how they're not so different.

-->'''Plasmius:''' Using your opponent's weaknesses against him... I ''am'' [[NotSoDifferentRemark teaching you something after all]].\\

-->'''Vlad:''' Oh, Jack Fenton, even in success, you fail!

-->'''Danny (about to pass out)''': I -- I don't… understand…
-->'''Vlad''': What? That [[TheChessmaster I used two fourteen-year-old pawns to turn a knight and topple a king? It's chess, Daniel, of course you don't understand!]] But then… you never really did.