History Main / AlreadyMetEveryone

** In ''ComicBook/AdventureComics'' #275, ComicBook/{{Superboy}} met young Buce Wayne, long before he becomes ComicBook/{{Batman}}''. In other issues, Sueprboy also met ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} (called Aqua''boy''), and [[ComicBook/GreenArrow Oliver Queen]] back when they were all teenagers.

* Back in UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}}, the ''ComicBook/{{Superboy}}'' series pioneered this, with everything from ComicBook/{{Superman}} showing up "first" in Superboy, including ComicBook/LexLuthor being a former childhood frenemy.
** It also provided at least one serviceable subversion, creating Lana Lang to stand in for ComicBook/LoisLane rather than importing Lois into his childhood. She even became fleshed out into her own character. Pete Ross arguably was a stand in for ComicBook/JimmyOlsen and he took on a life of his own (being Superboy's first SecretKeeper aside from his parents, both from an in-continuity and real world perspective). Although in the end, Superboy met both Teenage Lois and Infant Jimmy anyway.
** He also met ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} (called Aqua''boy''), [[ComicBook/{{Batman}} Bruce Wayne]] and [[ComicBook/GreenArrow Oliver Queen]] back when they were all teenagers.
** He even met his cousin Kara, the future ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}, during an incident where he accidentally ended up on Argo. The fact that he didn't recognize her when she arrived on Earth years later was explained to be the result of LaserGuidedAmnesia.
** It reaches really ridiculous levels in the standalone graphic novel ''Superman: Blood of My Ancestors'', where we learn that that Kal-El wasn't even the first person in his family to become a super-powered crusader. Apparently, in Krypton's distant past, Kal-El's ancestor "El" developed suspiciously Superman-like powers after dying and being resurrected by the god Rao, [[CrystalDragonJesus going on to become a revered messiah]] (complete with a rudimentary "S" symbol painted on his chest) and fight [[IdenticalStranger an evil bald warlord named "Utor"]] before being brought down by his weakness to Kryptonite. So...even though Superman's powers are supposed to come from exposure to Earth's sun, they really just run in the family.
** This sort of [[ContrivedCoincidence silliness]] isn't confined to the Silver Age, either. One Modern Age story in World's Finest shows Jor-El scouting out possible planets to rocket baby Kal off to with a sort of ultra-3D SubspaceAnsible. Which lucky Earthling does he chat with to see if the human race might be up to the task of raising [[TheLastOfHisKind the Last Son of Krypton]]? Why, [[ComicBook/{{Batman}} Thomas Wayne]].

* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' has had appearances (sometimes even as regulars) of Lex Luthor, Brainiac, General Zod, Bizarro, Toyman, an InNameOnly version of Mxyzptlk, Doomsday, Darkseid, ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}, ComicBook/LoisLane, ComicBook/JimmyOlsen, the Daily Planet, the Fortress of Solitude, the Phantom Zone, ComicBook/GreenArrow, ComicBook/BlackCanary, ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}, ComicBook/{{Cyborg}}, [[ComicBook/TheFlash Impulse]], and everything else associated with ComicBook/{{Superman}} even though the premise of the series is about Clark's life ''before'' being ComicBook/{{Superman}}. Suffice to say, the pretense of being a {{prequel}} to the ''Superman'' mythos was dropped some time ago.

** Ditto for the Ferengi. The name itself is uttered early in the first season, but even T'Pol hasn't heard of them at that point. Later, a group of them hijack the ''Enterprise''... but they never once name their species, and no one thinks to ask. All of this is seemingly designed to maintain the continuity.

* As a child, [[ComicBook/MarvelComicsStorm Storm]] stole [[ComicBook/MarvelComicsProfessorX Charles Xavier]]'s wallet while he was in Egypt to confront the Shadow King. She also met and spent some time with [[ComicBook/BlackPanther T'Challa]] back when the two were teenagers.

** It also provided at least one serviceable subversion, creating Lana Lang to stand in for ComicBook/LoisLane rather than importing Lois into his childhood. She even became fleshed out into her own character. Pete Ross arguably was a stand in for ComicBook/JimmyOlsen and he took on his own life (being Superboy's first SecretKeeper aside from his parents, both from an in-continuity and real world perspective.) Although in the end, Superboy met both Teenage Lois and Infant Jimmy anyway.

* ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} was later retconned to have meet loads of different characters in the past, including ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, [[ComicBook/SpiderMan Peter Parker's parents]], ComicBook/CarolDanvers, ComicBook/BlackWidow, ComicBook/{{Mystique}}, ComicBook/NickFury, ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules, ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} enemy Nuke and Charles Xavier and ComicBook/{{Magneto}} back when they were young men. And everybody ever tied to Weapon X. In fact, the revelation about Weapon Plus does this to Weapon X, revealing its ties to Nuke and Project: Rebirth, that created Captain America.

* Jason Aaron's ''[[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avengers]]'' run revealed that as a young man, Thor's father Odin was part of a team of proto-Avengers that included Agamotto (the first [[ComicBook/DoctorStrange Sorcerer Supreme]]), and prehistoric versions of ComicBook/BlackPanther, ComicBook/GhostRider, [[ComicBook/JeanGrey Phoenix]], ComicBook/IronFist and ComicBook/StarBrand. Upon meeting T'Challa in the present for the first time, Odin claimed to have met many different Black Panthers throughout history.
* During the ''Citizen Kang'' storyline, Captain America is accidentally transported to ancient Mesopotamia, where he encounters his future teammate Gilgamesh. Later in the story, he is befriended by a little girl who turns out to be a young Sersi, who would also go on to become one of his fellow Avengers millennia later.

* Back in UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}}, the ''ComicBook/{{Superboy}}'' series pioneered this, with everything from Franchise/{{Superman}} showing up "first" in Superboy, including ComicBook/LexLuthor being a former childhood frenemy.

** He also met ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} (called Aqua''boy''), [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Bruce Wayne]] and [[ComicBook/GreenArrow Oliver Queen]] back when they were all teenagers.

** This sort of [[ContrivedCoincidence silliness]] isn't confined to the Silver Age, either. One Modern Age story in World's Finest shows Jor-El scouting out possible planets to rocket baby Kal off to with a sort of ultra-3D SubspaceAnsible. Which lucky Earthling does he chat with to see if the human race might be up to the task of raising [[TheLastOfHisKind the Last Son of Krypton]]? Why, [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Thomas Wayne]].

* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' has had appearances (sometimes even as regulars) of Lex Luthor, Brainiac, General Zod, Bizarro, Toyman, an InNameOnly version of Mxyzptlk, Doomsday, Darkseid, ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}, ComicBook/LoisLane, ComicBook/JimmyOlsen, the Daily Planet, the Fortress of Solitude, the Phantom Zone, ComicBook/GreenArrow, ComicBook/BlackCanary, ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}, ComicBook/{{Cyborg}}, [[Franchise/TheFlash Impulse]], and everything else associated with Franchise/{{Superman}} even though the premise of the series is about Clark's life ''before'' being Franchise/{{Superman}}. Suffice to say, the pretense of being a {{prequel}} to the ''Superman'' mythos was dropped some time ago.

* According to the ''Anime/Pokemon4Ever'' movie, [[spoiler: Professor Oak]] first met [[AllLovingHero Ash]], [[{{Shorttank}} Misty]], [[TheLancer Brock]] AND [[GoldfishPoopGang Team Rocket]] 40 years previously when [[spoiler: Oak]] was brought forward in time by Celebi. Of course, none of the main cast make the connection due to age differences. But you'd think he would have mentioned it at some point.

* As a child, Comicbook/{{Storm|MarvelComics}} stole [[Comicbook/ProfessorX Charles Xavier]]'s wallet while he was in Egypt to confront the Shadow King. She also met and spent some time with [[Comicbook/BlackPanther T'Challa]] back when the two were teenagers.

** He even met his cousin Kara, the future Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}, during an incident where he accidentally ended up on Argo. The fact that he didn't recognize her when she arrived on Earth years later was explained to be the result of LaserGuidedAmnesia.

* ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} was later retconned to have meet loads of different characters in the past, including ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, [[ComicBook/SpiderMan Peter Parker's parents]], Comicbook/CarolDanvers, ComicBook/BlackWidow, Comicbook/{{Mystique}}, ComicBook/NickFury, ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules, Comicbook/{{Daredevil}} enemy Nuke and Charles Xavier and Comicbook/{{Magneto}} back when they were young men. And everybody ever tied to Weapon X. In fact, the revelation about Weapon Plus does this to Weapon X, revealing its ties to Nuke and Project: Rebirth, that created Captain America.
* Comicbook/{{Apocalypse}} from ''ComicBook/XMen'' was later revealed to have encountered, over the course of his long life, the following characters from different corners of the Franchise/MarvelUniverse: Mister Sinister, the [[ComicBook/XForce Externals]], [[Comicbook/TheMightyThor Thor]], Comicbook/TheEternals, Comicbook/KangTheConqueror, the Brood, [[Comicbook/MoonKnight an ancient avatar of Khonshu]], Abraham van Helsing, Jonathan Harker and {{Dracula}}.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In the Characters/TenthDoctor's final episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime The End of Time]]", he checks in on each of his companions before regenerating, ending with Rose Tyler. He visits her on New Year's Day 2005, the year she first meets him in his [[Characters/NinthDoctor ninth]]([[Characters/DoctorWhoWarDoctor ish]]) incarnation. When she later (from her perspective) sees the Doctor turn into the random drunk she met in a London alley on New Year's, she makes no mention of it.

* Happened a lot on ''Series/{{Friends}}'', thanks to the various flashback episodes the show featured during its ten year run. Noticeably Chandler was originally just Monica's neighbour but early on the writers expanded on this so he was Ross's college roommate, met Monica and Rachel while they were in high school and spent frequent Thanksgivings with the Gellers, to the extent that he was the cause of [[{{FormerlyFat}} Monica's]] weight loss and she contributed to his hatred of Thanksgiving. The writers stated that he became Monica's neighbour because, now as close friends, she tipped him off about the available apartment across from her.

* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' has had appearances (sometimes even as regulars) of Lex Luthor, Brainiac, General Zod, Bizarro, Toyman, an InNameOnly version of Mxyzptlk, Doomsday, Darkseid, ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}, ComicBook/LoisLane, ComicBook/JimmyOlsen, the Daily Planet, the Fortress of Solitude, the Phantom Zone, ComicBook/GreenArrow, ComicBook/BlackCanary, ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}, Comicbook/{{Cyborg}}, [[Franchise/TheFlash Impulse]], and everything else associated with Franchise/{{Superman}} even though the premise of the series is about Clark's life ''before'' being Franchise/{{Superman}}. Suffice to say, the pretense of being a {{prequel}} to the ''Superman'' mythos was dropped some time ago.

** That's just the start. Characters know each other from other crossovers, such as [[VideoGame/CapcomVs Marvel Vs Capcom 3 or Street Fighter X Tekken]]. Several also recognize each other by reputation if they have a good reason to, such as people with knowledge of demons, like [[VideoGame/GhostsNGoblins Arthur]] or [[VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}} Morrigan]] knowing of [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Sparda]] and figuring out Dante is his son.

* In the second season of Telltale's ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice'' games, it's revealed that Sam built Bluster Blaster, an arcade game he met earlier in the series and showed no signs of recognising, when he was a preteen.[[note]]Given the nature of the games, this is almost certainly a parody of ''Franchise/StarWars''[[/note]] Sam and Max [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] this:

---> '''Burns''': Smithers, who is this man?\\
'''Smithers''': Homer Simpson, sir; one of your drones from Sector 7G.\\
'''Burns''': ''Simpson'', eh?

* ''LightNovel/GoblinSlayer'': Year One has Goblin Slayer meeting both [[TheChosenOne Chosen Heroine]] and Priestess. Of course since he always wears his helmet and they've grown a lot since then, it's understandable why they wouldn't recognize each other the first time they meet in the main series.

* Back in UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}}, the ''ComicBook/{{Superboy}}'' series pioneered this, with just about everything from Franchise/{{Superman}} showing up "first" in Superboy, including ComicBook/LexLuthor being a former childhood frenemy.
** It also provided at least one serviceable subversion, creating Lana Lang to stand in for ComicBook/LoisLane rather than importing Lois into his childhood. She even became fleshed out into her own character. Pete Ross arguably was a stand in for ComicBook/JimmyOlsen and even he took on his own life (being Superboy's first SecretKeeper aside from his parents, both from an in-continuity and real world perspective.) Although in the end, Superboy met both Teenage Lois and Infant Jimmy anyway.
** He also met ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} (called Aqua''boy''), [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Bruce Wayne]] and [[ComicBook/GreenArrow Oliver Queen]] back when they were all teenagers.
** He even met his cousin Kara, the future Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}, during an incident where he accidentally ended up on Argo. The fact that he didn't recognize her when she arrived on Earth years later was explained to be the result of LaserGuidedAmnesia.
** It reaches really ridiculous levels in the standalone graphic novel ''Superman: Blood of My Ancestors'', where we learn that that Kal-El wasn't even the first person in his family to become a super-powered crusader. Apparently, in Krypton's distant past, Kal-El's ancestor "El" developed suspiciously Superman-like powers after dying and being resurrected by the god Rao, [[CrystalDragonJesus going on to become a revered messiah]] (complete with a rudimentary "S" symbol painted on his chest) and fight [[IdenticalStranger an evil bald warlord named "Utor"]] before being brought down by his weakness to Kryptonite. So...even though Superman's powers are supposed to come from exposure to Earth's sun, they really just run in the family.
** This sort of [[ContrivedCoincidence silliness]] isn't confined to the Silver Age, either. One Modern Age story in World's Finest shows Jor-El scouting out possible planets to rocket baby Kal off to with a sort of ultra-3D SubspaceAnsible. Which lucky Earthling does he chat with to see if the human race might be up to the task of raising [[TheLastOfHisKind the Last Son of Krypton]]? Why, [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Thomas Wayne]], of course.

* According to ''ComicBook/{{The Invaders|MarvelComics}}'', [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] once fought against ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]] and the rest of the team during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII after having been summoned to Earth by UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler. A young [[ComicBook/DoctorDoom Victor Von Doom]] was also present during this storyline, but never directly interacted with the heroes.[[note]]As a way of getting around the problems this would cause for ComicBookTime, a later retcon established that this was actually a future version of Doom who'd traveled back to the 1940s to study the Nazis just before their downfall.[[/note]] After realizing he'd been manipulated by the Nazis, Thor decided he was not yet meant to walk among humans, and returned to Asgard. A throwaway line hinting at LaserGuidedAmnesia explained why Cap and Namor never mentioned knowing Thor when they served together on the Avengers decades later.
* Jason Aaron's ''[[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avengers]]'' run revealed that as a young man, Thor's father Odin was part of a team of proto-Avengers that included Agamotto (the first [[ComicBook/DoctorStrange Sorcerer Supreme]]), and prehistoric versions of ComicBook/BlackPanther, ComicBook/GhostRider, [[ComicBook/JeanGrey Phoenix]], ComicBook/IronFist and ComicBook/StarBrand. Upon meeting T'Challa in the present for the first time, Odin claimed to have met many different Black Panthers throughout history.
* During the ''Citizen Kang'' storyline, Captain America is accidentally transported to ancient Mesopotamia, where he encounters his future teammate Gilgamesh. Later in the story, he is befriended by a little girl who turns out to be a young Sersi, who would also go on to become one of his fellow Avengers millennia later.
* ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} was later retconned to have meet loads of different characters in the past, including ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, [[ComicBook/SpiderMan Peter Parker's parents]], Comicbook/CarolDanvers, ComicBook/BlackWidow, Comicbook/{{Mystique}}, ComicBook/NickFury, ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules, Comicbook/{{Daredevil}} enemy Nuke and even Charles Xavier and Comicbook/{{Magneto}} back when they were young men. And that's not to mention basically everybody ever tied to Weapon X. In fact, the revelation about Weapon Plus does this to Weapon X, revealing its ties to Nuke and Project: Rebirth, that created Captain America.
* ''ComicBook/MegaManArchieComics'' does this with a lot of Robot Masters; before the plot of ''VideoGame/MegaMan3'', Pharaoh Man, Bright Man, Plant Man, Concrete Man, and Splash Woman had all made significant appearances, and a number of others had made cameos. And due to placing the events of ''VideoGame/SuperAdventureRockman'' between ''2'' and ''3'', the Robot Masters from the latter were all well-established characters by then as well. That said, these were all preexisting Robot Masters in the games that Wily simply reprogrammed and repurposed, so it makes sense that they were at least ''around'' for a while prior to their games (hell, Mega Man recognized the crew from ''9'' on sight as Doctor Light's creations, and they're noted to be very old). One case where this notably wasn't done was with the cast of ''5'', ''7'', and ''8'', which were all explicitly created by Doctor Wily for the events of those games and therefore would have no reason to exist beforehand.

* ''Fanfic/RiseOfPaonneAndRenardRouge'': [[spoiler:Gabriel is a founding member of the Quantic Team, a superhero group that Master Fu is in association with.]]

* In the movie ''Film/YoungSherlockHolmes'', not only do Holmes and Watson know each other in boarding school as young teens rather than meeting as adults as happens in the books, but in a short post-credits scene it's revealed that Moriarty's enmity towards Sherlock Holmes goes much further back than the books indicate: he was a junior master [[EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether at the school that both Holmes and Watson went to]], and the mastermind of the first case Holmes ever solved. Lestrade also plays a part.
** The writer also interestingly makes Holmes and Watson the same age. From internal evidence in other stories in the Holmes canon, Holmes in ''Literature/AStudyInScarlet'' is 27 and Watson 31, so not likely to be bunkmates.
** Lampshaded during the credits, where the fimmakers admit the whole thing was a "what if?" scenario

* ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'' did the TimeTravel version in ''The Time Paradox''. [[spoiler:Artemis and Holly go back in time and meet a past Artemis and Butler. The past versions eventually have their memories wiped, but it's implied that Artemis' residual memories of the meeting spark his interest in fairies, leading to the events of the first book.]]

** The worst offender is Martin the Warrior, an entire book is devoted to Martin's adventures before he came to Mossflower, despite the fact it had already been firmly established what his [[MysteriousPast backstory]] was. The Legend of Luke {{exaggerated|Trope}} this as a single one paragraph story of what happened to Martin's father became an entire ShootTheShaggyDogStory.

* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' has had appearances (sometimes even as regulars) of Lex Luthor, Brainiac, General Zod, Bizarro, Toyman, an InNameOnly version of Mxyzptlk, Doomsday, Darkseid, ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}, ComicBook/LoisLane, ComicBook/JimmyOlsen, the Daily Planet, the Fortress of Solitude, the Phantom Zone, ComicBook/GreenArrow, ComicBook/BlackCanary, ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}, Comicbook/{{Cyborg}}, [[Franchise/TheFlash Impulse]], and pretty much everything else associated with Franchise/{{Superman}} even though the entire premise of the series is about Clark's life ''before'' being Franchise/{{Superman}}. Suffice to say, the pretense of being a {{prequel}} to the ''Superman'' mythos was dropped some time ago.
* Similarly, ''Series/{{Gotham}}'' features the Penguin, the Riddler, the Joker, the Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, Firefly, Bane, Mad Hatter, Clayface, Ra's al Ghul, Hugo Strange, Professor Pyg, Azrael, Solomon Grundy and even obscure characters like Electrocutioner and Magpie all operating as active supervillains a decade before Bruce Wayne becomes Batman.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': James Kirk was the "first person" to do lots of stuff. But it turns out Jonathan Archer (captain of ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'') did them all first'''er'''.
** Archer also encountered the Borg nearly two centuries before ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. The writers had to take great pains try to show why none of this knowledge would survive into the TNG era when it would have been extremely useful.
** Although that being said, it does lay to rest a minor FridgeLogic issue how Lieutenant Commander Shelby from "The Best of Both Worlds" could have been Starfleet's "foremost expert on the Borg" (implying that they had more than one Borg expert) when Starfleet had only encountered them once, and when Shelby hadn't even been on the ''Enterprise-D'' when it happened.
** Ditto for the Ferengi. The name itself is uttered early in the first season, but even T'Pol hasn't heard of them at that point. Later, a group of them hijack the ''Enterprise''... but they never once name their species, and no one thinks to ask. All of this is seemingly designed to maintain the continuity.

* Happened a lot on ''Series/{{Friends}}'', thanks to the various flashback episodes the show featured during its ten year run. Notiecably Chandler was originally just Monica's neighbour but early on the writers expanded on this so he was Ross's college roomate, met Monica and Rachel while they were in high school and spent frequent Thanksgivings with the Gellers, to the extent that he was the cause of [[{{FormerlyFat}} Monica's]] weight loss and she contributed to his hatred of Thanksgiving. The writers stated that he became Monica's neighbour because, now as close friends, she tipped him off about the avaliable apartment across from her.
** As did Felix and Oscar of ''Series/TheOddCouple1970''. In one episode they met when they were kids, but in another they met when they were in the Army and in a third episode they met when they were both on the same jury!
* Possibly tripped over in ''Series/SledgeHammer.'' depending on your interpretation of where the second season is placed. Since the first season ended with everyone dying in a nuclear fireball, the second season started with a disclaimer explaining that these episodes were set five years earlier. It's possible it was intended to convey that there was a five year gap between the second last and last episode of season one, therefore having a place for season two. Alternatively, if the second season is a prequel this creates a problem given the fact that the main characters ''met'' in the first episode, and weren't partners before.

* ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' did an episode of this in "The Rashomon Job." Though none of the characters meet directly.
* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' used this as a clue in the episode "A Human Reaction". The aliens could only create people from John's memories so after a while John realised that everyone around him was someone he had met, generally in some obscure way, before.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheLastSpecter''. It's the fourth game in the series, but set first in the timeline. However, it still features appearances by Granny Riddleton, Inspector Chelmy and Barton, who chronologically first meet the Professor later. To avoid plotholes, the Professor and Luke never cross paths with them, only Emmy does (she never appeared in the earlier games). In fact, Granny Riddleton quickly goes on vacation and leaves her cat behind to perform her usual job, so the Professor never sees her. In ''Miracle Mask'', Granny appears, and even meets the Professor, but she disguises herself and uses a pseudonym for no apparent reason, and in all other occasions when she appears she pretends not to know the heroes, so canon is preserved nonetheless.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' managed to ''retroactively'' pull this. The prequel ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' almost completely averted it, with Ocelot and Big Boss as the only characters from later in the timeline to show up. ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'', however, retconned it so everyone of importance from all the games (including ''3'') turned out to be deeply involved in the GambitPileup. [[spoiler: SIGINT and Para-Medic were actually DARPA Chief Donald Anderson and Dr. Clarke, respectively, and both of them were founding members of the Patriots alongside Big Boss.]] [[note]]''Guns of the Patriots'' was intended to be a GrandFinale, tying up every single loose end that could conceivably be found.[[/note]]
** Though most of the ''characters'' in ''Snake Eater'' avert this, the game did manage to incorporate the titular nuclear-armed {{mecha}} into the story, even though [[{{Retcon}} it takes place about three decades before it was supposedly invented]]. [[VideoGame/MetalGear1 The first game]] told us that Metal Gear was invented by Drago Pettrovich Madnar in the 1990s, but apparently the concept was actually developed--''in full''-- by Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin in 1964.[[note]]Granin even has models of [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid Metal Gear REX]] and [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty Metal Gear RAY]]--which were supposedly developed by the US military in the 2000s--on his office desk, implying that he designed those too.[[/note]] We just never heard about Metal Gear for thirty years because the Soviet Union refused to fund Granin's design, so he sent the blueprints to a friend in the United States... [[ContrivedCoincidence who happened to be Otacon's father]]. Why Otacon never thought to mention this in the original ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' is anyone's guess.
* Characters who appeared in ''VideoGame/NamcoXCapcom'' and ''VideoGame/EndlessFrontier'' already know each other by ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone''.
** That's just the start. Characters know each other from other crossovers, such as [[VideoGame/CapcomVs Marvel Vs Capcom 3 or Street Fighter X Tekken]]. Several also recognize each other by reputation if they have a good reason to, such as people with knowledge of demons, like [[VideoGame/GhostsNGoblins Arthur]] or [[VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}} Morrigan]] knowing of [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Sparda]] and figuring out Dante is his son.

* Notably averted by ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', despite being a continuity-heavy series that actually has fairly important prequels.
** The prequel ''Start of Darkness'' (the story is the trope namer for [[StartOfDarkness eponymous trope]]) almost exclusively follows BigBad Xykon and his [[TheDragon Dragon]] Redcloak, during which time they do not interact with any characters who weren't, at best, {{Posthumous Character}}s in the main comic. Mostly it shows characters who never appeared and will likely never appear in the online comic that influenced the lives of Xykon and Redcloak. The closest anyone gets to interacting with any members of the main or supporting cast is when Eugene Greenhilt (father of the comic's main character) walks in on Xykon dueling and killing his mentor, (which had been mentioned in the comic) and Redcloak's brother Right-Eye trying to help Eugene kill Xykon so that Right-Eye can escape being TrappedInVillainy.
** The other prequel, ''On the Origin of [=PCs=]'', focusing on the heroes, doesn't have characters meeting before what was established in the main plotline as their first meetings: Roy and Durkon were friends before the Order formed, but the others only met them and each other right before the main events of the comic.

* ''WesternAnimation/HerculesTheAnimatedSeries'' has Herc being quite the hero, even though much later, in the movie, he admits he's never done anything heroic to the disenchanted citizens of Thebes. He spent far more time [[DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength causing accidents]], and never went to Thebes in the series (usually in UsefulNotes/{{Athens}}, but went almost everywhere else in or near Greece ''besides'' Thebes). A more blatant continuity error is how Hades knows of and plots against teen Hercules in the series, even though in the movie he thought Hercules had been killed as a baby, which was excused by the writers to have him causing trouble. At the very least though, in the one episode Megara appeared, they hurriedly had both she and Hercules lose memory of each other so that they could meet again in the movie.

** As with ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', spoofed in the early years with Mr. Burns. In his very first appearance, he tells Homer, "Ah, Simpson, at last we meet." Was true at the time, but a couple of later flashback episodes showed that he had already ''met'' Homer twice before at least. Of course, this was all part of a then-RunningGag that Burns could never remember who Homer was and had to be corrected.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' episode "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS1E49JailBreak Jail Break]]", Steven meets Ruby and Sapphire (the Gems that [[FusionDance make up Garnet]]) for the first time. However, four seasons later, "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS4E9ThreeGemsAndABaby Three Gems And A Baby]]" showed that Garnet unfused when Steven was an infant, but this left a bad impression on him.

* ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'': Bojack and Diane seem to meet for the first time in the first episode when she becomes his biographer and he realises that she's dating Mr Peanutbutter, but a later episode reveals they actually met earlier at one of Mr Peanutbutter's halloween parties when she approached him to gush over what a big Horsin' Around fan she was. He paid her no attention at the time, though, and completely forgot the event, and Diane presumably never reminded him either out of embarrassment at her fangirlness or because she was focused on charming him into opening up so she could write her book.
* A flashback in the ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' TV special ''Snoopy's Reunion'' not only retcons the backstory of how Charlie Brown obtained Snoopy seen in both the strip and ''WesternAnimation/SnoopyComeHome'', but shows that Sally and Linus were already a part of Charlie Brown's life at that point, with Linus accompanying him to the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm to pick out Snoopy. In the comic strip Snoopy was around long before Linus (then an infant) was introduced, and Sally wasn't even born yet.
* ''WesternAnimation/APupNamedScoobyDoo.'' It's presumably canon to ''WesternAnimation/WhatsNewScoobyDoo'' thanks to a MythologyGag featuring an ArtShift to the former show's style in a flashback, but from there most incarnations that explore the gang's backstory have them meeting in their teens (until ''WesternAnimation/{{Scoob}},'' that is).

* ''Fanfic/TropePantheons'': An odd example. Many gods have met each other or at least heard of each other's reputation. See CompositeCharacter for more.

* The original ''VideoGame/TombRaider'' features Lara Croft meeting Larson and Pierre Dupond for the first time. ''VideoGame/TombRaiderChronicles'' has the two appear as a pair of antagonists for a flashback level, and the dialogue makes it clear that both have crossed paths with Lara before.

* Jason Aaron's ''[[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avengers]]'' run revealed that as a young man, Thor's father Odin was part of a team of proto-Avengers that included Agamotto (the first [[ComicBook/DoctorStrange Sorcerer Supreme]]), and prehistoric versions of ComicBook/BlackPanther, ComicBook/GhostRider, [[ComicBook/JeanGrey Phoenix]], ComicBook/IronFist and [[ComicBook/TheNewUniverse Starbrand]]. Upon meeting T'Challa in the present for the first time, Odin claimed to have met many different Black Panthers throughout history.

** That's just the start. Characters know each other from other crossovers, such as [[VideoGame/CapcomVs Marvel Vs Capcom 3 or Street Fighter X Tekken]]. Several also recognize each other by reputation if they have a good reason to, such as people with knowledge of demons, like [[VideoGame/GhostsNGoblins Arthur]] or [[VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}} Morrigan]] knowing of [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry1 Sparda]] and figuring out Dante is his son.

** That's just the start. Characters know each other from other crossovers, such as [[VideoGame/CapcomVs Marvel Vs Capcom 3 or Street Fighter X Tekken]]. Several also recognize each other by reputation if they have a good reason to, such as people with knowledge of demons, like [[VideoGame/GhostsNGoblins Arthur]] or [[VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}} Morrigan]] knowing of [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Sparda]] and figuring out Dante is his son.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' managed to ''retroactively'' pull this. The prequel ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' almost completely averted it, with Ocelot and Big Boss as the only characters from later in the timeline to show up. ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'', however, retconned it so everyone of importance from all the games (including ''3'') turned out to be deeply involved in the GambitPileup. [[spoiler: SIGINT and Para-Medic were actually DARPA Chief Donald Anderson and Dr. Clarke, respectively, and both of them were founding members of the Patriots alongside Big Boss.]] [[note]]VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4 was intended to be a GrandFinale, tying up every single loose end that could conceivably be found.[[/note]]
** Though most of the ''characters'' in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'' avert this, the game did manage to incorporate the titular nuclear-armed {{mecha}} into the story, even though [[{{Retcon}} it takes place about three decades before it was supposedly invented]]. [[VideoGame/MetalGear The first game]] told us that Metal Gear was invented by Drago Pettrovich Madnar in the 1990s, but apparently the concept was actually developed--''in full''-- by Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin in 1964.[[note]]Granin even has models of [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid Metal Gear REX]] and [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2 Metal Gear RAY]]--which were supposedly developed by the US military in the 2000s--on his office desk, implying that he designed those too.[[/note]] We just never heard about Metal Gear for thirty years because the Soviet Union refused to fund Granin's design, so he sent the blueprints to a friend in the United States...[[ContrivedCoincidence who happened to be Otacon's father]]. Why Otacon never thought to mention this in the original ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' is anyone's guess.

* One ''Manga/KenganAshura'' Omake reveals that The Four Idiots have met each other before any of them got involve with the Kengan Association, with Okubo [[PassThePopcorn deliberately egging on]] Lihito and Sawada fighting, weirding out Himuro and Kaneda, who were walking by.

* The 2002 television special ''Anime/LupinIIIEpisode0FirstContact'' tells the story of how all the main characters met, all at the same time. This contradicts previous origin stories that showed Lupin and Jigen being old friends, then meeting Fujiko, and then meeting Goemon much later. However, the whole thing is told through the FramingDevice of Jigen being interviewed by a news reporter, and it's never confirmed that the events of the movie really happened. [[spoiler:Especially as a second Jigen shows up to reveal that the first Jigen is actually Lupin in disguise, and probably lying about everything.]]
** Apart from Lupin producing the MacGuffin of the movie during the epilogue/(credits roll).
** ''Anime/LupinIIITheWomanCalledFujikoMine'' basically does the same thing, showing how Fujiko met each member of Lupin's gang long before they actually came together.
* ''LightNovel/GoblinSlayer'': Year One has Goblin Slayer meeting both [[TheChosenOne Chosen Heroine]] and Priestess. Of course since he always wears his helmet and they've grown a lot since then, it's understandable why they wouldn't recognize each other the first time they meet in the main series.

* As a child, Comicbook/{{Storm}} stole [[Comicbook/ProfessorX Charles Xavier]]'s wallet while he was in Egypt to confront the Shadow King. She also met and spent some time with [[Comicbook/BlackPanther T'Challa]] back when the two were teenagers.

* According to ''ComicBook/TheInvaders'', [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] once fought against ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]] and the rest of the team during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII after having been summoned to Earth by UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler. A young [[ComicBook/DoctorDoom Victor Von Doom]] was also present during this storyline, but never directly interacted with the heroes.[[note]]As a way of getting around the problems this would cause for ComicBookTime, a later retcon established that this was actually a future version of Doom who'd traveled back to the 1940s to study the Nazis just before their downfall.[[/note]] After realizing he'd been manipulated by the Nazis, Thor decided he was not yet meant to walk among humans, and returned to Asgard. A throwaway line hinting at LaserGuidedAmnesia explained why Cap and Namor never mentioned knowing Thor when they served together on the Avengers decades later.

** The worst offender is Martin the Warrior, an entire book is devoted to Martin's adventures before he came to Mossflower, despite the fact it had already been firmly established what his [[MysteriousPast backstory]] was. The Legend of Luke turned this UpToEleven as a single one paragraph story of what happened to Martin's father became an entire ShootTheShaggyDogStory.

* Comicbook/{{Apocalypse}} from ''ComicBook/XMen'' was later revealed to have encountered, over the course of his long life, the following characters from different corners of the Franchise/MarvelUniverse: [[Characters/XMenMarauders Mister Sinister]], the [[ComicBook/XForce Externals]], [[Comicbook/TheMightyThor Thor]], Comicbook/TheEternals, Comicbook/KangTheConqueror, the Brood, [[Comicbook/MoonKnight an ancient avatar of Khonshu]], Abraham van Helsing, Jonathan Harker and {{Dracula}}.

* Comicbook/{{Apocalypse}} from ''ComicBook/XMen'' was later revealed to have encountered, over the course of his long life, the following characters from different corners of the Franchise/MarvelUniverse: Comicbook/MisterSinister, the [[ComicBook/XForce Externals]], [[Comicbook/TheMightyThor Thor]], Comicbook/TheEternals, Comicbook/KangTheConqueror, the Brood, [[Comicbook/MoonKnight an ancient avatar of Khonshu]], Abraham van Helsing, Jonathan Harker and {{Dracula}}.

* During the ''Citizen Kang'' storyline, Captain America is accidentally transported to ancient Mesopotamia, where he encounters his future teammate Gilgamesh. Later in the story, he is befriended by a little girl who turns out to be a young Sersi, who would also later go on to become one of his fellow Avengers millennia later.

* ''ComicBook/MegaMan'' does this with a lot of Robot Masters; before the plot of ''VideoGame/MegaMan3'', Pharaoh Man, Bright Man, Plant Man, Concrete Man, and Splash Woman had all made significant appearances, and a number of others had made cameos. And due to placing the events of ''VideoGame/SuperAdventureRockman'' between ''2'' and ''3'', the Robot Masters from the latter were all well-established characters by then as well. That said, these were all preexisting Robot Masters in the games that Wily simply reprogrammed and repurposed, so it makes sense that they were at least ''around'' for a while prior to their games (hell, Mega Man recognized the crew from ''9'' on sight as Doctor Light's creations, and they're noted to be very old). One case where this notably wasn't done was with the cast of ''5'', ''7'', and ''8'', which were all explicitly created by Doctor Wily for the events of those games and therefore would have no reason to exist beforehand.

* ''WesternAnimation/HerculesTheAnimatedSeries'' has Herc being quite the hero, even though much later, in the movie, he admits he's never done anything heroic to the disenchanted citizens of Thebes. He spent far more time [[DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength causing accidents]], and never went to Thebes in the series (usually in Athens, but went almost everywhere else in or near Greece ''besides'' Thebes). A more blatant continuity error is how Hades knows of and plots against teen Hercules in the series, even though in the movie he thought Hercules had been killed as a baby, which was excused by the writers to have him causing trouble. At the very least though, in the one episode Megara appeared, they hurriedly had both she and Hercules lose memory of each other so that they could meet again in the movie.

* According to ''ComicBook/TheInvaders'' [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] once fought against ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]] and the rest of the team during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII after having been summoned to Earth by UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler. A young [[ComicBook/DoctorDoom Victor Von Doom]] was also present during this storyline, but never directly interacted with the heroes.[[note]]As a way of getting around the problems this would cause for ComicBookTime, a later retcon established that this was actually a future version of Doom who'd traveled back to the 1940s to study the Nazis just before their downfall.[[/note]] After realizing he'd been manipulated by the Nazis, Thor decided he was not yet meant to walk among humans, and returned to Asgard. A throwaway line hinting at LaserGuidedAmnesia explained why Cap and Namor never mentioned knowing Thor when they served together on the Avengers decades later.

* According to ''ComicBook/TheInvadersMarvel'' [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] once fought against ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]] and the rest of the team during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII after having been summoned to Earth by UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler. A young [[ComicBook/DoctorDoom Victor Von Doom]] was also present during this storyline, but never directly interacted with the heroes.[[note]]As a way of getting around the problems this would cause for ComicBookTime, a later retcon established that this was actually a future version of Doom who'd traveled back to the 1940s to study the Nazis just before their downfall.[[/note]] After realizing he'd been manipulated by the Nazis, Thor realized he was not yet meant to walk among humans, and returned to Asgard. A throwaway line hinting at LaserGuidedAmnesia explained why Cap and Namor never mentioned knowing Thor when they served together on the Avengers decades later.