History Main / ChanceMeetingBetweenAntagonists

* ''WesternAnimation/MyAdventuresWithSuperman'': In "[[Recap/MyAdventuresWithSupermanS1E09HeartsOfTheFathers Hearts of the Father]]", Clark has a shocking reaction to seeing Lois' father and realizing that he's The General that's been trying to kill him, the latter having no idea that Clark Kent is also Superman.

*** In "[[Recap/Daredevil2015S3E3NoGoodDeed No Good Deed]]", Matt's first face-off with Benjamin "Dex" Poindexter is while he's trying to infiltrate the hotel where Fisk is on house arrest. He gets stopped by Dex (who is screening those coming to and from the elevator) while trying to follow Fisk's lawyer Donovan to the parking garage. This is three episodes before they meet again, this time with Dex sporting a Daredevil suit procured by Fisk.
** ''Series/LukeCage2016'': In season 2, Luke is being forced to headline at a party being thrown by Piranha Jones to raise money to repay Cockroach, who is suing him for assault. By chance, Shades is also at the party because he doesn't trust Piranha to keep his mouth shut about the shady stock deal he just helped Mariah make. This results in a hilariously awkward moment when they cross paths at the party.
--->'''Hernan "Shades" Alvarez:''' You do parties now? 'Cause my cousin's quinceañera is next week.

* In ''Film/TheTown'', the {{Villain Protagonist}}s have just pulled off a daring robbery and managed to escape pursuit... only to run smack into a police officer while they switch cars. [[spoiler:The officer chooses to pretend he didn't see them.]]

%% Image removed per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1626037292089960700
%% Please start a new thread if you'd like to discuss a new image.

A subtrope of ContrivedCoincidence. Also compare VillainsOutShopping, which is one of many possible setups for such an encounter.

* This is a staple in the various ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' series, with the heroes typically meeting their enemies by accident while out of their respective mechas and uniforms.
** Late in the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', Amuro and Char meet on a road in the neutral colony of Side 6 and Char even helps the young soldier get his car out of a ditch. While Char is quite famous in-universe, Char does not learn the name of the Gundam pilot he's been fighting for the whole series until after this encounter. Earlier, Amuro ran into Zeon officer Ramba Ral in a tavern after (temporarily) deserting from ''White Base''.
** In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'', Kira and Cagalli accidentally meet the enemy commander Andrew Waltfeld and his lover/partner while scouting an enemy town for supplies. That meeting ends rather amicably: even though Waltfeld immediately realizes he is dealing with enemy aces, he likes them well enough to let them go on that occasion.

* ''Manga/TokyoRevengers'': In Chapter 5, just as young Takemichi considers the possibility of an event that could have changed Mikey, he passes by a young Kisaki. Though he doesn't recognize Kisaki, only noting that he seems familiar.

** ''Manga/MobilePolicePatlabor'': Noa and Asuma go to an arcade center on their day off and end up running into [[AffablyEvil Richard Wong]] and [[TheDragon Bado]], who would later prove to be the series main antagonists during [[WhamEpisode the Griffon arc]].
** ''Anime/PatlaborTheTVSeries'': Asuma and Noa go to an arcade center on their day off and end up running into [[AffablyEvil Richard Wong]] and [[TheDragon Bado]], who would later become the [=SVU's=] main antagonists during [[WhamEpisode the Griffon arc.]]
* In ''Anime/HeatGuyJ'', Daisuke is going to lay sunflowers on his father's grave, and meets up with Clair, who has just visited (and stomped on) his own father's grave. The two look at each other for several minutes, before walking past one another.
* In one of the ''Anime/{{K}}'' prequel novels, this is how Mikoto and Reisi first met. Mikoto, the Red King and King of destruction, is smoking in a non-smoking area, and Reisi, the newly awakened Blue King and King of order, tells him not to. They bicker about it, but don't fight.
* ''Anime/LagrangeTheFlowerOfRinne'': In the first season, when the trio of De Metrio pilots go looking for Madoka Kyono, the pilot of Vox Aura. Kirius actually runs into her wandering around town, they chat a bit, and then she runs off to do something else. As she leaves, Kirius thinks to himself, "Oh, I should have asked her where Madoka Kyono is."

* ''Fanfic/VenusFlash'' (A ''Anime/SailorMoon''/''Anime/CuteyHoney'' crossover):

** After a battle, Minako returns home... And [[spoiler: finds that the tentacle youma Electricus is servicing her mother]]. Wisely, the youma leaves.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' fanfiction ''Fanfic/DontEvenBother'', Steven [[TheRunaway runs away]] from Beach City and the Crystal Gems by hitching a ride on a freight train. On the way, he stops by the Kindergarten, where earlier chapters revealed Peridot was staying after she tried to destroy the Crystal Gems and they ended up stranding her on Earth. As would have it, they eventually run into each other, and while they are at first adamant to each other’s presence, they both begin to draw parallels to their respective situations, and eventually decide to hide from the Crystal Gems together when they come searching for Steven. This leads them to developing a strong friendship that would serve as the main focus of the story.

* ''Film/PulpFiction'': A boxer named Butch, on the run for ''not'' throwing a fight for Marcellus Wallace (a local crime boss), shows up at his apartment to retrieve his gold watch. He decides to have a quick snack...and notices a submachine gun lying on the counter and picks it up to examine it. Cue toilet flush, and Vince Vega (who works as muscle for Wallace) walks into the kitchen, finding Butch with his gun. Then, Butch is driving back to the hotel he and his girlfriend are hiding out. He stops at a light, and who should cross the street at that exact moment but Marcellus Wallace, the man who put the hit out on him, who was out getting coffee.
* In ''Film/TheTown'', the {{Villain Protagonist}}s have just pulled off a daring robbery and managed to escape pursuit... only to run smack into a police officer while they switch cars. [[spoiler: The officer chooses to pretend he didn't see them.]]
* In ''Film/SupermanReturns'', Lois sneaks onto Lex's yacht (not knowing it's his) and runs into the man himself, while he is brushing his teeth and utterly surprised to see her there.

* In ''Film/BatmanReturns'', Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle are at the same party when they realize that they are enemies (i.e., Selina figures out that Bruce is Batman, and he that she is Catwoman) while they dance together.
* In ''Film/Ariel1988'', Kasurinen runs into a man who robbed him earlier.

** In ''Literature/AGameOfThrones]]'' two characters ([[spoiler:Catelyn Stark and Tyrion]]) travelling in opposite directions, going about their own business, recognise each other in an inn, causing the intrigues of other characters to spiral out of control into an all-out civil war.

* In ''Literature/SoonIWillBeInvincible'', Dr Impossible is having a cup of coffee and reading the paper when several members of the New Champions run across him and a battle ensues.
%%* Happens all the time with [[BigBad Monsieur Thenardier]] and InspectorJavert in ''Literature/LesMiserables''.
* A frequent occurrence in ''Literature/TheAffix'', because the Affix is a probability warper and it's drawn a lot of antagonists into one city at the same time, each with different reasons for trying to acquire it. Later in the series this still happens a lot, for similar reasons.

* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': The episode "Trash" has Mal run into [[TheVamp Saffron]] his ex-wife, who tried to get him and his crew killed on some backwater moon. As soon as they see each other they draw guns on each other.
* ''Series/BreakingBad'': Walt happens to meet Jane's father Donald Margolis [[spoiler:the night she dies.]] He later talks with Jesse about the "astronomical" odds of the meeting after he realizes what happened.
* ''Series/{{The 100}}'': When Clarke checks out the forbidden areas of Mount Weather, she discovers Anya, last seen trying to kill Clarke and all her friends, locked up in a cage.

** In "The Children" the two character duos wandering the Riverlands and the Mountains of the Moon bump into one another by chance.
* ''Series/{{Hannibal}}'': During season 3's "Red Dragon" arc, the first significant divergence from the novel's plot happens when [[spoiler:the killer Francis Dolarhyde, who has conned his way into the Brooklyn Museum to destroy the William Blake painting, is interrupted by Will Graham, the man in charge of catching him, who was tipped off to the painting's importance by Hannibal.]]
* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': Galadriel spends several thousand years looking for Sauron, and [[spoiler: she happens upon him by chance, in the middle of the ocean, in his fair form.]]
* ''Series/Daredevil2015'':
** In "Speak of the Devil," Matt Murdock visits the art gallery run by Wilson Fisk's girlfriend Vanessa Marianna, hoping to tease some information out of Vanessa. While Matt is talking with her, Fisk shows up and Matt has to make some awkward small talk with him about the tenancy dispute Fisk is having with one of Nelson & Murdock's clients to avoid blowing his cover.
** In "No Good Deed", Matt's first face-off with Benjamin "Dex" Poindexter is while he's trying to infiltrate the hotel where Fisk is on house arrest. He gets stopped by Dex (who is screening those coming to and from the elevator) while trying to follow Fisk's lawyer Donovan to the parking garage. This is three episodes before they meet again, this time with Dex sporting a Daredevil suit procured by Fisk.
* ''Series/LukeCage2016'': In season 2, Luke is being forced to headline at a party being thrown by Piranha Jones to raise money to repay Cockroach, who is suing him for assault. By chance, Shades is also at the party because he doesn't trust Piranha to keep his mouth shut about the shady stock deal he just helped Mariah make. This results in a hilariously awkward moment when they cross paths at the party.
-->'''Hernan "Shades" Alvarez:''' You do parties now? 'Cause my cousin's quinceañera is next week.

* One ''[[TabletopGame/MutantChronicles War Zone]]'' battle scenario works like this, pitting two scout teams (the [[AmazonBrigade Bauhaus]] and [[HighlyVisibleNinja Mishima]]) against each other. The scenario starts with the sergeants of both sides already dead; both scout teams have been crawling through tall grass and somehow FailedASpotCheck until the leaders nearly bumped into each other.

* ''VideoGame/ANNOMutationem'': While Ann is on her way to [[ShipLevel The Walter Raleigh]], K, a passenger on the boat and actually a member of The Consortium, decides to tell her [[LetMeTellYouAStory a story]] about a past incident. Later, Ann notices that he somehow vanished off the boat before she could ask more questions.

* ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork2'': Before boarding the airplane back home, Lan encounters a boy who gives him a silent DeathGlare. [[spoiler:In the final fight, Lord Gospel is [[TheManBehindTheCurtain revealed]] to be the same boy, Sean Obihiro]].
* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'', there is a scene where the protagonists are going to visit a scholar who have knowledge pertinent to their quest. When they arrive, the BigBad is already there, reading up about the same subject. The two of them have a bit of a row, but out of respect for the scholar (an old friend of his), the Big Bad leaves without anything coming of it.

* In ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonorFrontline'', Agent Patterson gets a sneak peak at the BigBad Sturmgeist during an infiltration mission of a German seaport while the latter is inspecting said seaport. Sturmgeist becomes Patterson's target of pursuit in the later campaigns. Said early encounter occurs during the mission named "A Chance Meeting".
* ''VideoGame/LastScenario'' has a scene where Hilbert returns to his hometown to fend off invading bandits and finds that [[DragonWithAnAgenda Castor]] had also come to put down the bandits. Castor tells Hilbert [[NotSoDifferentRemark that they're not so different]], and leaves because he realizes fighting at that point would be pointless.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''WesternAnimation/MyAdventuresWithSuperman'': In "Hearts of the Father", Clark has a shocking reaction to seeing Lois' father and realizing that he's The General that's been trying to kill him, the latter having no idea that Clark Kent is also Superman.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', the ultimate antagonist Blackbeard is first mentioned when he attacked Drum Kingdom, though we never seen him in person until in Jaya, where Luffy and Blackbeard get into an argument over cherry pie.

** ''Manga/MobilePolicePatlabor'': [[http://www.mangahere.com/manga/patlabor/c006/17.html Noa]] and [[http://www.mangahere.com/manga/patlabor/c006/10.html Asuma]] go to an arcade center on their day off and end up running into [[AffablyEvil Richard Wong]] and [[TheDragon Bado]], who would later prove to be the series main antagonists during [[WhamEpisode the Griffon arc]].

* ''Fanfic/VenusFlash'' (A ''Manga/SailorMoon''/''Anime/CuteyHoney'' crossover):

* ''Film/PulpFiction'': A boxer named Butch, on the run for ''not'' throwing a fight for Marcellus Wallace (a local crime boss), shows up at his apartment to retrieve his gold watch. He decides to have a quick snack...and notices a submachine gun lying on the counter and picks it up to examine it. Cue toilet flush, and Vince Vega (who works as muscle for Wallace) walks into the kitchen, finding Butch with his gun. Exit Vega.
** The next scene: Butch is driving back to the hotel he and his girlfriend are hiding out. He stops at a light, and who should cross the street at that exact moment but Marcellus Wallace, the man who put the hit out on him, who was out getting coffee.

* ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'': While searching for Bucky, Cap happens to spot [[MadScientist Dr. Zola]] fleeing his lab, but abandons pursuing him in favor of finding Bucky. A few minutes later, however, the two encounter Schimdt and Zola as they all head for the elevator, and Zola ends up cutting them off so that the heroes can't reach them.

* In Fate system games like ''TabletopGame/SpiritOfTheCentury'', if you take an Aspect representing a nemesis, you are begging your GM for this to happen. But at least you get bonus fate points out of it. Other games with Nemesis disadvantages (or advantages!) also ask for this, though the degree to which such nemeses are part of the rules versus "just" a story hook varies depending on system.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

** In "The [=SVU's=] Longest Day pt.2", Asuma waits for Noa at a ramen noodle stall and ends up meeting Kai. It isn't until hours later, when he sees Kai's picture during a news broadcast, that he realizes he'd seen the leader of the rebel army that was currently laying siege to Tokyo.
** While, in the ''Mobile Police'' continuity, [[http://www.mangahere.com/manga/patlabor/c006/17.html Noa]] and [[http://www.mangahere.com/manga/patlabor/c006/10.html Asuma]] go to an arcade center on their day off and end up running into [[AffablyEvil Richard Wong]] and [[TheDragon Bado]], who would later prove to be the series main antagonists during [[WhamEpisode the Griffon arc]].

* ''Anime/{{Patlabor}}''
** In ''"The [=SVU's=] Longest Day pt.2"'' Asuma waits for Noa at a ramen noodle stall and ends up meeting Kai. It isn't until hours later, when he sees Kai's picture during a news broadcast, that he realizes he'd seen the leader of the rebel army that was currently laying siege to Tokyo.
** While, in the ''Mobile Police'' continuity, [[http://www.mangahere.com/manga/patlabor/c006/17.html Noa]] and [[http://www.mangahere.com/manga/patlabor/c006/10.html Asuma]] go to an arcade center on their day off and end up running into [[AffablyEvil Richard]] [[ChessMaster Wong]] and [[TheDragon Bado]], who would later prove to be the series main antagonists during [[WhamEpisode the Griffon arc.]]

* In ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonorFrontline'', Agent Patterson gets a sneak peak at the BigBad Sturmgeist during an infiltration mission of a german seaport while the latter is inspecting said seaport. Sturmgeist becomes Patterson's target of pursuit in the later campaigns. Said early encounter occurs during the mission named "A Chance Meeting".

** In ''Literature/AGameOfThrones]] two characters travelling in opposite directions, going on about their own business ([[spoiler:Catelyn Stark and Tyrion]]), recognise each other in an inn, causing the intrigues of other characters to spiral out of control into an all-out civil war.
** In ''Literature/ADanceWithDragons'', [[spoiler:Tyrion]] is on the lam and has travelled to an entirely different continent, where he convinces his travel buddies to let him stop off at a brothel. While there, he happens to bump into Jorah Mormont, the dismissed-but-still-loyal knight of Daenerys's court, who are enemies to the Lannisters. Jorah was only there for the same reason as [[spoiler:Tyrion himself]]: he was going through depression and needed a quick lay.]]

[[folder:Film]]

* In ''Film/{{Ariel}}'', Kasurinen runs into a man who robbed him earlier.

** Minako and Honey's secret identity are in a jewel shop because of a discount sale at the same time [[MonsterOfTheWeek the youma Morga]] is in waiting for the right moment to kidnap and replace the owner. [[UpToEleven Then Jadeite and a platoon of low level youma barge in]], as [[EvenEvilHasStandards they have just found out what the owner is up to and were disgusted by it]]. ''Then'' the owner is revealed being a member of Panther Claw...

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[[folder: Comic Books]]

[[folder: Fan Works ]]

[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Live Action Television ]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* ''Anime/RinneNoLagrange'': In the first season, when the trio of De Metrio pilots go looking for Madoka Kyono, the pilot of Vox Aura. Kirius actually runs into her wandering around town, they chat a bit, and then she runs off to do something else. As she leaves, Kirius thinks to himself, "Oh, I should have asked her where Madoka Kyono is."

* In the ''Manga/SailorMoon''/''Anime/CuteyHoney'' crossover ''Venus Flash'', Minako and Honey's secret identity are in a jewel shop because of a discount sale at the same time [[MonsterOfTheWeek the youma Morga]] is in waiting for the right moment to kidnap and replace the owner. [[UpToEleven Then Jadeite and a platoon of low level youma barge in]], as [[EvenEvilHasStandards they have just found out what the owner is up to and were disgusted by it]]. ''Then'' the owner is revealed being a member of Panther Claw...

* In the ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' fanfiction ''Don’t Even Bother'', Steven [[TheRunaway runs away]] from Beach City and the Crystal Gems by hitching a ride on a freight train. On the way, he stops by the Kindergarten, where earlier chapters revealed Peridot was staying after she tried to destroy the Crystal Gems and they ended up stranding her on Earth. As would have it, they eventually run into each other, and while they are at first adamant to each other’s presence, they both begin to draw parallels to their respective situations, and eventually decide to hide from the Crystal Gems together when they come searching for Steven. This leads them to developing a strong friendship that would serve as the main focus of the story.

* In ''Film/TheTown'', the [[VillainProtagonist Villain Protagonists]] have just pulled off a daring robbery and managed to escape pursuit... only to run smack into a police officer while they switch cars. [[spoiler: The officer chooses to pretend he didn't see them.]]

* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', two characters travelling in opposite directions, going on about their own business ([[spoiler:Catelyn Stark and Tyrion]]), recognise each other in an inn, causing the intrigues of other characters to spiral out of control into an all-out civil war.
** [[spoiler:Several books later, Tyrion is on the lam and has travelled to an entirely different continent, where he convinces his travel buddies to let him stop off at a brothel. While there, he happens to bump into Jorah Mormont, the dismissed-but-still-loyal knight of Daenerys's court, who are enemies to the Lannisters. Jorah was only there for the same reason as Tyrion himself: he was going through depression and needed a quick lay.]]

* Happens all the time with [[BigBad Monsieur Thenardier]] and InspectorJavert in ''Literature/LesMiserables''.