Times where somebody is punished for not picking a side in Comic Books.
- In Captain Blood Odyssey, Dr. Peter Blood's troubles began when he tried to avoid taking a side in the Monmouth Rebellion. He disliked being ruled by the Catholic King James II as much as any other Englishman, but doubted that James, Duke of Monmouth would prevail. He tried to be neutral, offering medical care to loyalist and nonconformist alike, but was arrested while treating a wounded nonconformist, and exiled to Jamaica as a slave."I am here because I did not make a choice. Given two curs named James to choose from... I chose neither."
- During Marvel's Civil War event, the Runaways elected to remain neutral, as they were not fond of either Captain America or Iron Man. When the war ended with the pro-registration side victorious, the Runaways were driven out of California, with their only remaining allies being the Young Avengers (who were at the time in no position to help them.) This remained their status quo for several years.
- Inverted in the latest Power Man and Iron Fist series. Luke Cage and Danny Rand both intend to remain neutral for Civil War II, since they still remember how badly things went last time when they did take sides. Of course they then run into unrelated trouble because comic books.
- Corto Maltese: Invoked by a Turkish soldier in The Golden House of Samarkanda, after warning the protagonist not to go into an area torn by conflict between different political and ethnic factions:Corto: But I'm neither a Turk, nor a Kurd, nor a Russian.
Soldier: Which means that no-one will mourn your death. - Mouse Guard takes the fable about bats, beasts, and birds as history, and shows the long-term consequences: bats will go berserk if you imply they are untrustworthy. To be fair, the bats claim that they weren't neutral in the old war, but that they were rejected by both sides because of their appearance.
- One of the Phantom Stranger's possible origin stories is this. An angel in Heaven, the Stranger refused to pick a side in the war between God and Lucifer. As a result, he was cast out of Heaven and Hell once the war ended, cursed to walk the Earth as a stranger to everyone.
- The same story sees the present day Stranger observing a young gang member in a similar situation: When the gang he's a part of splits in two, the kid doesn't voice his support for either side, resulting in one side rejecting him and not wanting anything to do with him—while the other ends up violently beating him down.
- A Red Dwarf comic, "The Cantabellis Tales" had the Dwarfers discover an abandoned spaceship with an Apocalyptic Log in the form of a poem based on The Canterbury Tales. They learn that the pilgrims all discovered they were on pilgrimages for different gods and a multi-sided holy war broke out. The log ends like this:Log: "Hoi, look at Chaucer! While we're busy fighting,
He sits in the corner, bleeding writing!
Come, man, and choose a side to stick with,
Speak truly, Chaucer, which boot do you kick with?"
Kryten: At which point the recording breaks off abruptly. - Transformers:
- Not all Cybertronians joined the Autobots or the Decepticons. This rarely worked out well for them.
- The Transformers (Marvel):
- In the backstory, the rival city-states of Vos and Tarn went to war with each other, and the city-state of Iacon (the seat of power of the Autobots) opted to remain neutral. Emirate Xaaron urged his fellow councillors to take action and send peacekeepers to put an end to the war, but the High Councillor Traachon declined and even believed it would be to Iacon's benefit if Vos and Tarn destroyed each other. They actually did destroy each other with photon missile strikes, but the survivors of both cities rallied under a charismatic gladiator of Tarn who pointed out the Autobots could've done something, anything, to stop the war... but chose not to. The gladiator in question? Megatron.
- The neutral town of Yuss in the Stanix region of Cybertron was a frequent target for relieving the boredom of Decepticons stationed in the area.
- The Dead End is basically a massive slum where Neutrals gather. It's shown as a rundown place, with its inhabitants falling apart due to disrepair and lack of fuel. The Decepticons routinely run patrols to pick up Neutrals (living or dead) and dump them into a smelting pools to be melted down into raw materials. The Autobot resistance has little to no patience nor kindness for them either.
- The Neutral scientist Spanner was known to be an expert on interdimensional travel. However, since he was a Neutral, the Autobot resistance never kept a close eye on him, and when the Decepticons came for him they were unaware for some time. By the time the Autobots found him, they learned he'd been kidnapped for his knowledge of Space Bridge technology... which the Decepticons took advantage of by building him into a Space Bridge, leaving him a horribly tortured and mutilated figure. A battle between both sides left him brain-dead. Hopefully.
- The Transformers Generation One:
- During the evacuation of Altihex, twenty to thirty Neutrals took control of a building, arguing for both Autobots and Decepticons to end the war, renounce their allegiances, and unite. Skywarp took a moment to consider whether or not to take advantage of their idealism... then decided to slag them.
- The Transformers (IDW):
- NAILs (Non-Aligned Indigenous Life-forms) are Cybertronians who left the planet during the war, wishing to have nothing to do with it. They've recently returned to Cybertron now that the war is "over" and the planet is inhabitable again. While they haven't been slaughtered outright yet, they've already managed to annoy both the Autobots and the Decepticons who both have the ability to crush them all if they could. The latter are more than willing to kill them when they get the opportunity.
- Dai Atlas was a strong opponent of both the Autobot and Decepticon factions, and led many evacuees to an off-planet refuge where they remained in hiding for most of the war. And it worked, excepting one battle fought in self-defense. Unfortunately shortly after the war ended another non-affiliated Cybertronian force invaded the refuge and slaughtered 90% of the population, including Dai Atlas. Statistically speaking, they might have been better off fighting. Optimus Prime dismissed Dai Atlas as a cultist.
- Cyclonus has become a subversion. He's expressed Decepticon sympathies, but in IDW continuity he's never been on either side of the war and maintains a stern refusal to align with either faction now that it's over. He still catches crap from the Autobots, who either assume he's a Decepticon or blame him for deaths he committed while Brainwashed and Crazy.
- Late in-universe, IDW introduced multiple "lost colonies" of Cybertronians that left long before the war began. Since no one was aware of them during the conflict, and they weren't aware that a war was going on, nobody holds their non-participation against them. A few of them even join either Autobots or Decepticons (despite the war already being over) due to sharing their ideals or simply befriending them (e.g. the character Nickel was rescued from her massacred colony by Decepticons, while Nautica became friends with many Autobots after journeying with them).
- Uatu the Watcher from the Marvel Universe usually inverts the trope. When he maintains his Alien Non-Interference Clause he's generally fine. He's far more likely to come to harm, or run afoul of his people's laws, when he gets involved in Earth affairs. Or stands too close to the Red Hulk.
