History Main / ConflictBall

* In the ''ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey'' series, Comicbook/{{Huntress}} is a living Conflict Ball between Franchise/{{Batman}} and ComicBook/{{Oracle}}. Batman is always suspicious of Helena thanks to her past (she killed mobsters in her campaign to avenge her parents -- who were also mobsters), and Oracle is always willing to give her a chance.

* Franchise/{{Batman}} and [[Franchise/GreenLantern Hal Jordan]] were not always at odds. The rationale for Batman disliking Green Lantern was initially because Batman did not trust Hal after he became [[DemonicPossession Parallax]]. But that eventually got {{Retcon}}ned so that they never liked each other from the start, with little convincing justification as to why. John Stewart once claimed that it was because Batman's main schtick is instilling fear, and Hal, having the ability to "overcome great fear", never "bought what he was selling". But that doesn't explain why Batman doesn't dislike Franchise/{{Superman}}, Franchise/WonderWoman, Franchise/TheFlash, or any number of other superheroes who also don't seem to be afraid of him. The New 52 Justice League [[ContinuityReboot rebooted version]] seems to suggest that Batman doesn't like Green Lantern because he's a JerkWithAHeartOfGold.
* ComicBook/MaryJaneWatson went from supporting, loving partner to Franchise/SpiderMan who understood his need to be a hero, to someone who all of a sudden couldn't handle the pressure and questioned his accomplishments, even belittling the "With Great Power..." mantra. She finally left Spider-Man being threatened by an average thug (despite being attacked by villains such as Venom, the Green Goblin and Spider-Slayers) with the argument that she couldn't deal with the notion that her life could be in danger. She's recently realized that she does love Peter, but for some reason has yet to actually tell him this. And when she does, [[Comicbook/SuperiorSpiderMan Peter's not entirely home.]] It gets worse once Peter DOES get back: once Peter explains everything, Mary Jane reveals she kinda figured that and reaffirms that being with him and being in danger is ridiculous and goes off with her boyfriend. Even more, Carlie Cooper decides to wander off as well, deciding that living away from Peter and this sort of crap is a good thing.

* In ''ComicBook/TeenTitansRebirth'', the Titans sans Damian catch this after [[ComicBook/JonathanSamuelKent Jon's]] [[PowerIncontinence powers go haywire]] and level Titans Tower. Raven and Beast Boy support Savior (a BadFuture counterpart of [[ComicBook/{{Robin}} Tim Drake]]) in capturing and neutralizing Jon or his powers. They continue to support Savior even after he admitted to their faces that he plans on killing Jon, a [[WouldHurtAChild very confused and emotionally distraught ten-year-old]], and is fully willing to murder the rest of the Titans if they get in his way. Aqualad, Starfire, and Kid Flash race to find Jon and Damian first before Savior's plans come to fruition.

'''Franchise/GreenLantern:''' You started it.

Rarely a JustifiedTrope, unless in a caustic {{satire}}, {{parody}} or a [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs satirical parody]].

->'''[[Characters/SonicTheHedgehogSonicTheHedgehog Sonic]]''': [''to Shadow''] Hey, buddy! I'm so happy you're still okay, that's great! Say, we were just on our way to Eggman.
->'''[[Characters/SonicTheHedgehogShadowTheHedgehog Shadow]]''': So are we.
->'''Sonic''': Huh... Let's kill each other.
->'''Shadow''': DIE!

* ''VideoGame/NieRAutomata'':

* Deliberately invoked in ''VideoGame/NieRAutomata'' by Adam, who believes that the conflict ball is the ''purpose'' of humanity; it distracts them from fulfilling their natural protocols and makes a huge, artistic mess that forces people to feel rather than do. [[spoiler:So he disables his immortality and provokes 2B by torturing 9S, ensuring that he'll die to her UnstoppableRage and be forced to feel death itself]].
** This is also the motivation of [[spoiler:the masterminds of the Androids; they believe that forcing {{RidiculouslyHumanRobot}}s into a vicious and pointless CycleOfRevenge with Machines will mirror the history of Humanity enough to develop true human sapience]].

For example, why is Alice--TheLancer--[[CommanderContrarian arguing]] with Bob--TheBigGuy--about his plan to [[StormingTheCastle infiltrate the enemy base?]] Alice actually suggested similar plans before. In fact, it's her favorite kind of plan, so why is she disagreeing with Bob ''now''? She never says. Alice's behavior is entirely plot mandated: now she can [[IneffectualLoner go off on her own, screw up]], [[DistressBall get captured and need rescue]], and then [[AnAesop learn a valuable lesson]] [[ThePowerOfFriendship about teamwork]]. For added annoyance, Alice might [[AesopAmnesia forget all about it]] just in time to be handed the Conflict Ball ''again''.

* In a ComicBook/BlackPanther comic, T'Challa is explaining his plan to take out a vampire infested city to Comicbook/{{Luke Cage|HeroForHire}}, Brother Voodoo and Comicbook/{{Blade}}. Blade tells T'Challa that just because he runs a country doesn't mean he can tell him what to do. Cage says Blade is being difficult for no reason since he doesn't have a plan. Blade admits to it and says he just doesn't want to be part of a team. So T'Challa tells Blade to go off on his own and this immediately puts him in a good mood, so good he gives Luke Cage one of his guns before leaving. Blade and John Blaze also traded the conflict ball around in the various Midnight Sons series. One notable example was after Blade had a possession exorcised and returned with information vital to the team but Blaze wouldn't hear any of it and threatened to shoot him.

** ''Mists of Pandaria'' ends when an extremely blatant [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped aesop]] about war being wrong and implying that the factions have finally learned that lesson... only for the next expansion to have Ashran, where most of the factions' military might is tied up competing with each other for an artifact to fight their mutual enemy. It's obviously there more for [=PvP=] gameplay than story, but Alliance [=NPCs=] even {{lampshade|Hanging}} the Horde continually aggressing them after the recent truce. Also, there are orc [=NPCs=] from an alternate past (whose only exposure to the Alliance was when they [[BigDamnHeroes arrived to rescue their people]]) threatening to kill Alliance characters for no apparent reason (other than the person who wrote the dialogue not realizing that the faction conflict isn't racially innate).

** During ''Videogame/SonicLostWorld'', Eggman and Sonic decide to [[EnemyMine work together]] after the hedgehog let loose of the Deadly Six. Sonic brings Eggman along because they need him to shut the machine sucking the life force of the world. Despite this, [[NiceGuy Tails]] gets confrontational with Eggman for [[JerkassBall reason]], throwing shade at Eggman and asking Sonic why doesn't he stop the machine. At the end, Tails does indeed shuts down the machine, making the whole confrontation pointless in hindsight as Eggman wasn't really needed.

** It gets worse. ComicBook/RachelSummers used the Phoenix for years with no ill effects. Franchise/{{Wolverine}} knows this. Wolverine is an Avenger, and, in fact, is the guy who gave Cap his intel... His horribly outdated and bias intel. The conflict requires both sides to ignore the existence of Rachel Summers, her history and basically most Phoenix-related stories outside of ''Comicbook/TheDarkPhoenixSaga''. You may think that the writers merely forgot about Rachel... Except that she is still a prominent character in the X-books, and ''she actually has a role in the story''. She just never speaks up about the Phoenix for no apparent reason.

* Near the end of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'', Josuke Higashikata and Yuga Fungami battle against Terunosuke Miyamoto, the Enigma Boy, in an effort to save Josuke's mom and Koichi Hirose, who were kidnapped by him. They prove successful, and what's Terunosuke's excuse for causing a HostageSituation? ...Because Yoshihiro Kira[[labelnote:*]]The father of the Part's GreaterScopeVillain, Yoshikage Kira[[/labelnote]] gave him his Music/{{Enigma}} [[FightingSpirit Stand]] and told him to kidnap the two, and Terunosuke blindly followed his orders for no reason whatsoever.

* Near the end of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'', Josuke Higashikata and Yuga Fungami battle against Terunosuke Miyamoto, the Enigma Boy, in an effort to save Josuke's mom and Koichi Hirose, who were kidnapped by him. They prove successful, and what's Terunosuke's excuse for causing a HostageSituation? ...Because Yoshihiro Kiro[[labelnote:*]]The father of the Part's GreaterScopeVillain, Yoshikage Kira[[/labelnote]] gave him his Music/{{Enigma}} [[FightingSpirit Stand]] and told him to kidnap the two, and Terunosuke blindly followed his orders for no reason whatsoever.

Rarely a JustifiedTrope, unless in a parody or caustic satire.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'' has this trope in the form of "nigga moments", which are events where a rational male of Black decent is overcome with ignorance and will get into fights over pointless matters, like stepping on shoes or hitting cars.

** Applejack and Rainbow Dash's competitiveness getting out of hand (or [[{{Pun}} hoof]]?) in "Fall-Weather Friends" is this because it starts with them wanting to see who's the most athletic. While they do both have stubbornness as a flaw, it goes a bit far when Rainbow Dash thinks Applejack cheated and actually cheats, causing Applejack to cheat back and on it goes. This is particularly out of character for Applejack, who is honest enough to represent the ''Element'' of Honesty and likely believes in two wrongs not making a right.

%%*** The ''Going Merry'' [[spoiler:fixes itself in the Skypeia Arc and Usopp knows that too]]. It's plain heartless to abandon it, but at the same time still sailing in it is plain brainless (and Luffy is not THAT brainless). Franky [[spoiler:even points out it's better FOR THE SHIP to abandon it, because if the crew it loves sinks with it, the ship will not find peace]]. Usopp's denial is part of his character personality [[FreudianExcuse based on his own side story]]. Eventually Usopp learns that [[spoiler:things like this happen and he has to learn from this, not deny it or lie to himself]] leading to a moment of redemption, yes, this one, at the end of Water Seven Arc [[spoiler:he's still a coward and fights with deception, but now he doesn't make excuses for his coward personality; he now accepts he is a coward. Plain and simple]].

This trope almost always involves a character suddenly gaining a HairTriggerTemper momentarily. This temper comes out of nowhere and more often than not, ''[[OutOfCharacterMoment isn't]]'' [[OutOfCharacterMoment one of the character's personality traits]], so he/she/it comes across as an instigator who wants to start a fight.

** Uryu Ishida [[spoiler:joins the [[PuttingOnTheReich Vandenreich]], a Quincy Empire, during the final arc. It's clear from the start that he's just there to avenge his mother, so the BigBad Yhwach declares him [[KickedUpstairs successor to the throne]] to keep him on a short leash from the harsh scrutiny of his subordinates. Without any real plan to fight Yhwach for most of the arc (he eventually decides on collapsing a castle that wasn't created until well over halfway into the arc, and that was sabotaged before it went anywhere), Uryu picks a fight with his friends twice just to force a subplot over bringing him out of his supposed HeelFaceTurn]].

Compare RuleOfDrama, IdiotBall, AppleOfDiscord, OutOfCharacterMoment, LetsYouAndHimFight.

* ''Series/TheBarrier'': Hugo and Julia work for a minister whose wife has her young nephew Sergio living in his home. Julia sometimes cares for Sergio as part of her job, which at some point lets her take the boy outside of the enclave in which elites live, which leads to [[spoiler:the discovery that Sergio was taken away from his family as a young child]]. After convincing [[spoiler:the boy's real parents and grandfather]] that the less troublesome route involves letting the boy back to the elite's enclave and talking to their employer about the situation, Hugo and Julia change their mind about bringing Sergio back to the enclave and have him spend the night in their appartment, this time ''without'' any sort of permission. All that ends up accomplishing is making Hugo and Julia's relationship with the minister's wife more difficult and getting them fired for just long enough to have trouble getting back into their workplace to talk to the minister.

* In ''LightNovel/HaiyoreNyarkoSan'', the trio of [[UnwantedHarem Nyarko, Cuuko, and Hasta]] are always being clingy and disruptive, to the annoyance of [[OnlySaneMan Mahiro]]. However, they take it even further in episode 11 of the second TV series, when Mahiro is asked by his mother to babysit a young alien girl named Guthatan. While he does his best to look after the child, the other three are acting even worse than normal, with Cuuko constantly harassing Mahiro to make her breakfast while Hasta gets extremely jealous of how much attention Guthatan is getting. Nyarko gets it even worse, acting even more jealous than Hasta and at one point jumping to the conclusion that Mahiro [[{{Squick}} had sex with Guthatan]]. While the conflict ''is'' a plot point, only one small element ([[spoiler:Guthatan getting a cut on her forehead during a battle where Nyarko ''et al.'' went overboard]]) is explained; the rest of it comes off as if the trio just woke up that morning and decided to be as selfish and annoying as possible. And this isn't even mentioning the things they did earlier, like loudly playing video games in Mahiro's room while he was trying to sleep.

* ''Series/TheBarrier'': Hugo and Julia work for a minister whose wife has her young nephew Sergio living in his home. Julia sometimes cares for Sergio as part of her job, which at some point lets her take the boy outside of the enclave in which elites live, which leads to [[spoiler:the discovery that Sergio was taken away from hsi family as a young child]]. After convincing [[spoiler:the boy's real parents and grandfather]] that the less troublesome route involves letting the boy back to the enclave and talking to their employer about the situation, Hugo and Julia change their mind about bringing Sergio back to the enclave and have him spend the night in their appartment, this time ''without'' any sort of permission.

-->'''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica''': AvengersAssemble!