History Main / BetrayalInsurance

->'''Batman:''' What would stop you from doing what the [[MirrorUniverse Lord]] Superman did?\\

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'':

* This specific dynamic, ComicBook/{{Batman}} holding Kryptonite, appears again and again, especially in the Franchise/{{DCAU}}. In most continuities this is with the blessing, if not at the request, of Superman himself.

* At the end of ''StarTrekJudgmentRites'', the Brassica secretly give Kirk a paralense which they claim contains a scan of the entire Klingon empire. They ask Kirk to give it to Starfleet and keep it as Betrayal Insurance against the Klingons, in case they decide to attack the Brassica some day. This is in line with Brassican mentality: having evolved from a vegetable prey species on their world, they are always cautious and suspicious of everybody. When Kirk shows the paralense to Klingon captain Klarr, Klarr reveals that he was given a similar paralense supposedly containing a scan of ''Federation'' space. However the trope is ultimately {{Subverted}}; when both captains exchange and destroy both their paralenses, the Brassica reveal that this was simply another Brassica test of the trustworthiness of the two captains. The paralenses were empty... or so they claim.

* ''ComicBook/IronMan'' is also guilty of this, having "-buster" armors for his fellow heroes should they go rogue, with the Thorbuster and, of course, the much more well-known Hulkbuster ([[NamesTheSame the same name]] as the group that's organized by Thunderbolt Ross for the same purpose).

* ''LightNovel/AscendanceOfABookworm'': This is a common use for name-swearing, as it creates a CantLiveWithoutYou situation in which the name owner's death will also cause the death of the name-sworn. The situation also gives the name's owner some amount of control over the other's movements, which allows them stop less lethal forms of betrayal.

* If you go for the Betrayal ending in ''VideoGame/JojosBizarreAdventureThe7thStandUser'', Jotaro will take some out on ''the protagonist''. Specifically, [[spoiler:he starts coordinating in secret with Vins, the GreaterScopeVillain, to have her tail the party in case you really did end up backstabbing them. Sure enough, you do, and when you get to the final fight against Joseph and Jotaro (and [[FaceHeelTurn potentially]] Kakyoin), Vins also enters the fight on their side.]]

* ''Fanfic/TheKarmaOfLies'': While sweet-talking Adrien, who knows she's a ConArtist who's been scamming all his friends, Lila offers to meet up with the whole class that Friday and confess everything. If she doesn't show, he can expose her -- and Adrien adds that he'll be going straight to the police. [[spoiler:This doesn't work, as she's exploiting his FatalFlaw: Adrien is so convinced that everything is ''meant'' to [[ProtagonistCenteredMorality go his way]] that he fails to consider that he [[CassandraTruth might not be believed]].]]

* In ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', Chase gives Niko a list of LogicBomb questions that will shut their resident robot down if he ever does the FaceHeelTurn that a friendly time traveller warned them about. Given Niko's oft-stated feelings about the possibility of any of her friends betraying the group [[spoiler:again]] no one should be surprised if she has spells thought up for all of her comrades.

* ''ComicBook/IronMan'' is also guilty of this, having "-buster" armors for his fellow heroes should they go rogue, with the Thorbuster and, of course, the much more well-known Hulkbuster ([[NamesTheSame the same name]] as the group that's organized by Thunderbolt Ross for the same purpose).
* In ''ComicBook/PS238'', [[spoiler: the American government create Argos's KryptoniteFactor (Argonite) in case he ever goes evil. Then they tell him it came from the destroyed remains of his homeworld, which is just BlatantLies]]
* In ''ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheSearch'', Zuko has Team Avatar be this against Azula who requested to travel unbound with dignity as she was the only one who would know where to find Ursa, their mother. The reason for the insurance is because Azula's still not mentally stable let alone trustworthy.

* ''Film/TheNatural'': Near the climax, the Judge and bookie Gus Sands are trying to fix the Knights' pennant game so the other team wins, paying off protagonist Roy Hobbs on the one hand, and also {{blackmail}}ing him with compromising crime scene photos from his past (early in the film he ran afoul of a female SerialKiller who {{honey trap}}ped him before shooting him and jumping out a hotel window). [[spoiler:Roy returns the money and dares them to publish the photos, then plays to win despite the old gunshot wound having turned into a bleeding ulcer.]]

* In ''Literature/StarTrekColdEquations'', the leadership of the Breen Confederacy tries to pull this on the Gorn, telling them that the Gorn Hegemony is the weak link in the Typhon Pact alliance because of their previously almost-friendly relationship with the Federation (the Breen, along with the Tholians and Tzenkethi, view the Pact in part as a means of triumphing over the Federation). The Gorn agree to serve as a distraction as part of a Breen plot, by seeking a private summit with the Federation President at which they drag out proceedings pointlessly, but they have misgivings when it becomes clear the Breen see them as expendable. When confronted about it, the Breen tell the Gorn Imperator that they suspected his people would eventually seek to form a relationship with the Federation anyway, but if he ever tries to get close to the Federation again, they'll remember the fiasco that took place this time and reject them. The Breen call it "a preemptive investment in your loyalty". [[spoiler: This backfires when the Gorn privately vow to repay the Breen for their treachery and start channelling intelligence on Breen politics to the Federation, while seeking to strengthen their ties with a fellow moderate Pact member, the Romulans]].
* In Literature/TheLostFleet, Rione mentions that a large part of why she had originally befriended Geary was to be able to kill him if he ever tried to take over the alliance.

* In ''Literature/{{Transitions}}'' Drizzt has a dwarf cleric cast harmless spells on fellow drow Tos'un, but he tells him that the cleric enchanted an arrow of Drizzt's to always hit his heart, if it is fired --thus ensuring that Tos'un won't run or betray them for fear of being killed.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': Harry pulls this on ''himself''. [[spoiler:In ''Literature/{{Changes}}'', after breaking his back, he hires Kincaid to kill him shortly before agreeing to become the Winter Knight, then has Molly erase his memory of having done so. This is to prevent Queen Mab from using his wizard powers for evil. He doesn't find out the real story until the next book, ''Literature/GhostStory''.]]
* ''LightNovel/AscendanceOfABookworm'': This is a common use for name-swearing, as it creates a CantLiveWithoutYou situation in which the name owner's death will also cause the death of the name-sworn. The situation also gives the name's owner some amount of control over the other's movements, which allows them stop less lethal forms of betrayal.

* On ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', Chloe has (or had) caches of Kryptonite stashed around the world, in case Clark goes bad again. Clark didn't know about them for a while.

* ''Series/HogansHeroes'': Colonel Hogan seems to factor this in to all his plans. When blackmailed by a Gestapo agent for a million dollars in diamonds, Hogan deliberately tips off Klink to part of the deal (obviously not telling him that Hogan is secretly running an escape and sabotage unit right under Klink's nose) so that if the Gestapo agent tries to kill them anyway, Klink will (unknowingly) save their lives, and if the agent sticks to the deal, the Heroes will cover for him and let him get away. Even day-to-day operations involve this - Sergeant Schultz "knows nussing" and turns a blind eye to their antics and even helps the crew out on occasion because if he were to report anything of what he's seen, he would immediately be transferred to the Russian front because he's responsible for preventing things like that from happening. Their insurance on him forces him to help keep the status quo.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' regularly depends on Spike's chip to control him in seasons four, five and six. It only limits his betrayal potential, however, it doesn't stop it completely.

* In ''Series/ThirtyRock'', Liz gets in a conflict with Tracy's wife, and Jack tells her they're going to have to fight it out, and immediately launches into a specific discussion about how beat her.
-->'''Liz:''' Wait, you've already thought about fighting her?\\
'''Jack:''' [[CrazyPrepared Every time I meet a new person I figure out how I'm going to fight them.]] You have a gimpy right knee, right?
* ''Series/TheProfessionals''. In "Not A Very Civil Servant", a CorruptCorporateExecutive arranges for TheDragon to kill off an accountant who knows too much. Later the executive goes through the accountant's files and [[OhCrap finds evidence that he had been making photocopies of every document]] as insurance. When TheDragon asks how he knew to look in the first place, the executive reveals that he's been taking exactly the same precautions against his [[TheStarScream smarter Dragon betraying him]].
* A comedic example in ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle''; in the GrandFinale it's shown that Malcolm, Dewey, and Reese had a "nuclear option" for one of them to use as a form of MutuallyAssuredDestruction should the others make it so that they had nothing to lose. Said nuke was evidence of the [[MoralEventHorizon worst thing they ever did]]; a fake x-ray tricking their mother Lois into thinking she had cancer so they could get away with bad report cards. Reese has Dewey burn it to symbolize his PassingTheTorch, to which he responds that he knew that the day would come but thought Reese and Malcolm would be dead.
** To prevent the oldest brother Francis from blackmailing him about The Nuclear Option, Dewey says [[NoodleIncident "Mom's friend Jenny" and Francis immediately lets him off the hook]].

* In ''Series/{{Castle}}'', one episode focuses on an old friend of Castle who is a suspect in a murder, because of how he is suspected of being involved in his father’s murder. Castle believes that he’s innocent in both cases. However, at the end of the episode, while Castle is proven right that his friend was innocent in the case of the episode, he ultimately was involved in his father’s death, because the man who he hired to murder his father had kept the map of his father’s mansion that he gave him to sneak into the place and kill him, after he reveals him as the murderer.
* ''Series/{{Arrowverse}}''
** ''Series/TheFlash2014''
*** Early in Season 1, Cisco created a FreezeRay in case the Flash ever goes rogue, which is eventually stolen by career criminal Leonard Snart, becoming the supervillain Captain Cold. This naturally becomes a sore point for both Barry/the Flash and Dr. Wells [[spoiler:who was also secretly a speedster, the Reverse-Flash]].
*** The Flash's new suit in Season 4 has a "Babel Code" (a MythologyGag to the comic book storyline), that would detonate with the Flash still wearing it. Cisco's justification is the previous season [[spoiler:where a future version of the Flash is the BigBad]], so this time Barry doesn't hold it against Cisco.
*** ''Armageddon'' reveals that the Justice League have set up contingencies called the "Injustice Protocols" in order to incapacitate its members. According to Barry, everyone was actually in on the plan, so no inherent breach of trust was involved, and also because the "insurance" for each hero actually involves a fellow Leaguer. (For example, to counter the Flash, {{Series/Black Lightning|2018}} will {{Depower}} him.)
** PlayedForLaughs in ''Series/CrisisOnEarthX'', when Series/{{Supergirl|2015}} is understandably alarmed to discover that [[Series/{{Arrow}} Oliver]] carries Kryptonite arrows when he fires one at her Nazi counterpart Overgirl.
--->'''Kara:''' Why do you have a Kryptonite arrow?\\
'''Oliver:''' [[AskAStupidQuestion In case an evil you ever shows up!]]

[[folder:TabletopGames]]

[[folder:VideoGames]]

* In ''VideoGame/LANoire'', you find that [[spoiler: [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Leland Monroe]] has a report from [[CorruptCop Roy Earle]] stating that Monroe's co-conspirator [[PsychoPsychologist Dr. Harlan Fontaine]] was behind a morphine-distribution ring, likely insurance in case Fontaine ever tries to betray him.]]
* In ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyJusticeForAll'', you find out at the end that [[spoiler: Matt Engarde recorded Shelly de Killer murdering the victim]] for this reason, in case the latter ever tried to rat him out. This backfires horribly, because [[spoiler: with this information Phoenix convinces de Killer to turn against Engarde, which puts Engarde in a precarious situation of his own doing: either confess to his own guilt and be convicted, or be a free man...with a world-famous assassin ready to hunt you down.]]

* In the Literature/WhateleyUniverse novel "Ayla and the Mad Scientist", Phase has been pulling a Batman on this. As the holographic simulator jockeys run the team through a series of 'Dark Phoenix' scenarios, Phase has lists of methods for taking out all of his teammates. And himself. His team all know about this, and none of them are surprised. After all, this is a fifteen year old who doesn't plan to be a superhero but already has a loaded utility belt.
** [[spoiler: It's shown why in a later simulator scenario, where all the heroes have to fight an 'evil teammate'. Their most POWERFUL teammate is actually easiest, since they planned best. It's the less powerful ones who got a boost that were hard.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'', Dogpound attaches a collar to Baxter Stockman's neck with small canisters of mutagen attached to it, threatening to release the mutagen if Baxter doesn't play nice (he had previously trapped Dogpound and Fishface in a deadly obstacle maze). [[spoiler: And promptly activates it because Baxter wasn't working fast enough. Baxter TookALevelInBadass.]]

* In [[ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheSearch The Search]], Zuko has Team Avatar be this against Azula who requested to travel unbound with dignity as she was the only one who would know where to find Ursa, their mother. The reason for the insurance is because Azula's still not mentally stable let alone trustworthy.

-->-- ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited'', "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS2E3TheDoomsdaySanction The Doomsday Sanction]]"

* Towards the beginning of the ''Franchise/DragonBall'' anime, Bulma slips Oolong a little something that causes him severe digestive distress any time someone shouts "piggy piggy" (or "swee swee" in the manga). This was initially to stop him betraying the group or running off, but she also happily uses it to control him in more petty ways.

* In ''Comicbook/{{Runaways}}'', Chase gives Niko a list of LogicBomb questions that will shut their resident robot down if he ever does the FaceHeelTurn that a friendly time traveller warned them about. Given Niko's oft-stated feelings about the possibility of any of her friends betraying the group [[spoiler:again]] no one should be surprised if she has spells thought up for all of her comrades.
* This specific dynamic, Franchise/{{Batman}} holding Kryptonite, appears again and again, especially in the Franchise/{{DCAU}}. In most continuities this is with the blessing, if not at the request, of Superman himself.
** In ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmericaTowerOfBabel'', it is revealed that Batman has very, very cynical methods set away in case any of the Justice League members go rogue. The plans are stolen and used against them by [[spoiler:Ra's al Ghul]]. The enemy starts by using a sort of third-party Kryptonite Ring against Batman: stealing his parents' bodies from the cemetery. This works to distract the Bat, drives him nearly mad, and leads him to abandon the JLA while searching for the culprit. After it's all said and done, the JLA (who had no idea about the plans) are ''pissed'' with Batman and [[spoiler:ultimately vote 4-3 to expel him from the League - Flash, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter vote in his favor because [[JerkassHasAPoint they put aside their anger and recognize that Batman has a point about the danger of a rogue JLA]], while Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Plastic Man vote to expel him because they can't trust him anymore. However, when they go to tell him the verdict, they discover [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere Batman has already left.]]]] His plans are the following:
*** For Superman, there's an altered version of Kryptonite that shortens its half-life and turns it red. Though less lethal to Superman than the green variety, it turns his skin clear, making his body absorb huge amounts of yellow sunlight. This overpowers him so it takes all his will to keep himself from destroying everything around him.
*** Martian Manhunter gets his skin coated with nanites that convert loose atoms into magnesium. [[ArtisticLicenseChemistry This magnesium spontaneously combusts on contact with air]], trapping Manhunter in a ball of fire.
*** For Wonder Woman, Batman knows that her determination in battle will never die. A device makes her hallucinate so she thinks she's facing unending waves of enemies, with no chance ever to rest. She can't interact with the rest of the world, and eventually, her heart will give out.
*** Green Lantern (Kyle) gets a mental suggestion that makes him block his eyesight with his power ring. Blinded, he can't use his ring for anything else.
*** For the Flash, there is an implant that gives him constant uncontrollable seizures — at light speed. After 20 minutes of seizures, he thinks he's been in them for days, in such pain that he prayed just to die.
*** Aquaman is dosed with an altered version of the Scarecrow's fear toxin. He becomes terrified of water, leaving him dehydrated and due to die in a matter of hours.
*** Plastic Man is frozen solid and smashed to bits.
*** What's also interesting is that most of these use tech from Batman's own RoguesGallery. Plastic Man's comes from Mr Freeze. Aquaman's comes from Scarecrow. Wonder Woman's comes from the Mad Hatter. Manhunter's may come from Killer Moth, and Green Lantern's may come from Hugo Strange. It's possible that Deathstroke's confiscated tech was used against the Flash.
** The ''ComicBook/SupermanBatman'' comic ''combines'' this and KryptoniteRing: After a long-term mission to destroy all the kryptonite on Earth, Superman saves one piece, which he gives to Batman for emergencies. Batman takes it to a lead-lined room in the deepest area of the Batcave... which is ''already'' filled with multiple kinds of kryptonite!
** In ''ComicBook/{{New 52}}'', Batman shows Superman boxes containing contingency plans for dealing with every member of the Justice League. He then shows him Wonder Woman's box [[spoiler:which is empty. Batman couldn't think of anything that would allow him to stop Diana if she went rogue. He tells Superman that ''he'' has to be the "box" since he's one of the only people powerful enough to stop her. He also tells Clark that he is ''Batman's'' "box" too.]]

* ''Literature/{{Dune}}'' includes a "Residual Poison." Once introduced into a person's system, they must take regular doses of an antidote or die. Notably, the antidote doesn't show up on poison scanners, so the victim may have no idea that they have been poisoned until they sicken and (painfully) die. The Baron Harkonnen uses said poison on captured Atreides Mentat Thufir Hawat.

-->'''Liz:''' Wait, you've already thought about fighting her?
-->'''Jack:''' [[CrazyPrepared Every time I meet a new person I figure out how I'm going to fight them.]] You have a gimpy right knee, right?

-->'''Kara:''' Why do you have a Kryptonite arrow?\\

---->'''Batman:''' You're a fool if you ''don't''.

** In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', the League is brain washed and forced to fight the team. Superboy grabs Superman so Robin could expose him to enough sliver of Kryptonite that weakens him until so that they can apply the cure-tech. Superboy comments that Kryptonite ''hurts'', "Which is why Batman keeps it in an overwhelmingly impenetrable vault in the Batcave... well, more like a ''[[RunningGag whelmingly]] penetrable'' vault."

* In ''WesternAnimation/GeneratorRex'', White Knight uses a mechasuit when he is forced to leave his sanctuary in Providence to help Rex with a world wide problem. Rex realizes that the suit was in fact originally designed to take ''him'' out if he ever went rogue on Providence.

*** ''Armageddon'' reveals that the Justice League have set up contingencies called the "Injustice Protocols" in order to incapacitate its members. According to Barry, everyone was actually in on the plan, so no inherent breach of trust was involved, and also because the "insurance" for each hero in question is actually a fellow Leaguer. (In Barry's case, his contingency was Black Lightning.)

*** The Flash's new suit in Season 4 has a "Babel Code" (a MythologyGag to the comic book storyline), that would detonate with the Flash still wearing it. Cisco's justification is the previous season [[spoiler:where a future version of the Flash is the BigBad.]]
*** ''Armageddon'' reveals that the Justice League set up contingencies called the "Injustice Protocols" in order to incapacitate each of its members. According to Barry, all of its members were actually in on the plan, so no inherent breach of trust was involved.

* Towards the beginning of the ''Franchise/DragonBall'' anime, Bulma slips Oolong a little something that causes him severe digestive distress any time someone shouts "piggy piggy" (or "swee swee" in the manga). This was initially to stop him betraying the group or running off, but she also happily uses it to control him in more petty ways.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''Series/CrisisOnEarthX'', when Series/{{Supergirl}} is understandably alarmed to discover that [[Series/{{Arrow}} Oliver]] carries Kryptonite arrows when he fires one at her Nazi counterpart Overgirl.

** In ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmericaTowerOfBabel'', it is revealed that Batman has very, very cynical methods set away in case any of the Justice League members go rogue. The plans are stolen and used against them by [[spoiler:Ra's al Ghul]]. The enemy starts by using a sort of third-party Kryptonite Ring against Batman: stealing his parents' bodies from the cemetery. This works to distract the Bat, drives him nearly mad, and leads him to abandon the JLA while searching for the culprit. After it's all said and done, the JLA (who had no idea about the plans) are ''pissed'' with Batman and [[spoiler: ultimately vote 4-3 to expel him from the League - Flash, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter vote in his favor because [[JerkassHasAPoint they put aside their anger and recognize that Batman has a point about the danger of a rogue JLA]], while Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Plastic Man vote to expel him because they can't trust him anymore. However, when they go to tell him the verdict, they discover [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere Batman has already left.]]]] His plans are the following:

*** Similarly, upon learning that Batman has a "contingency plan" to stop ''every single one of the League'' in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueDoom'', Superman tries to chastise Batman by demanding what he'd think if he found out Superman had a contingency plan to stop him. Batman's reply earns Superman's respect and friendship once more:

** [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] in one episode when he temporarily loses his soul, and Cordelia convinces him she's been routinely having ordinary bottled water blessed once a week while Angel was sleeping away most of the day. The splash doesn't hurt him, but distracts him long enough for Wesley to take him down.

* Towards the beginning of the ''Franchise/DragonBall'' anime, Bulma slips Oolong a little something that causes him severe digestive distress any time someone shouts "piggy piggy." (or "swee swee" in the manga) This was initially to stop him betraying the group or running off, but she also happily uses it to control him in more petty ways.

* In ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyJusticeForAll'', you find out at the end that [[spoiler: Matt Engarde recorded Shelly de Killer murdering the victim]] for this reason, in case the latter ever tried to rat him out. This backfires horribly, because [[spoiler: learning this persuades de Killer to betray Engarde when he actually never planned to, which puts Phoenix in position to expose Engarde to the court.]]

[[folder:WebOriginal]]
* In the Literature/WhateleyUniverse novel "Ayla and the Mad Scientist", Phase has been pulling a Batman on this. As the holographic simulator jockeys run the team through a series of 'Dark Phoenix' scenarios, Phase has lists of methods for taking out all of his teammates. And himself. His team all know about this, and none of them are surprised. After all, this is a fifteen year old who doesn't plan to be a superhero but already has a loaded utility belt.
** [[spoiler: It's shown why in a later simulator scenario, where all the heroes have to fight an 'evil teammate'. Their most POWERFUL teammate is actually easiest, since they planned best. It's the less powerful ones who got a boost that were hard.]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''WebComic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', Belkar kills a guardsman in Azure City, but instead of being locked up, Roy convinces Lord Shojo to let the bloodthirsty halfling accompany the rest of the Order on their quest to safeguard the Rifts because he accurately assumes no jail can hold Belkar. To keep Belkar from running for it, Shojo has a "Mark of Justice" planted on Belkar- it contains a spell that will make Belkar so sick he couldn't hurt anyone, it's designed to activate if he ever kills someone inside a town, goes too far away from Roy's body, or Roy invokes it with a [[TriggerPhrase command word]]. [[spoiler: It goes off when Belkar kills The Oracle, who had deliberately crafted his previously isolated dwelling and invited other kobolds to live nearby... just enough to count as a small town for the purpose of the 'Mark of Justice'.]]

* A comedic example in ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle''; in the GrandFinale it's shown that Malcolm, Dewey, and Reese had a "nuclear option" for one of them to use as a form of MutuallyAssuredDestruction should the others make it so that they had nothing to lose. Said nuke was evidence of the worst thing they ever did; a fake x-ray making it seem like their mother Lois had cancer so they could get away with bad report cards. Reese has Dewey burn it to symbolize his PassingTheTorch, to which he responds that he knew that the day would come but thought Reese and Malcolm would be dead.