History Main / ItBeganWithATwistOfFate

* Jay Garrick, the original [[Franchise/TheFlash Flash]] gets his superpowers when he bumps into a table while smoking, knocks bottles of chemicals to the floor, and inhales the vapors thus released. Barry Allen, the next Flash, originally got his powers from a similar lab accident, though this was later [[{{retcon}} retconned]] so that the origin of his powers is his [[StableTimeLoop time-traveling future self]].
* It varies based on universe and continuity, but Franchise/SpiderMan generally gets bitten by a certain spider and gains his superpowers through a genuine twist of fate--by simply being in the right place at the right time.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* [[TruthInTelevision This is how most adventures start in reality]]. One minute everything is normal, next thing everything goes nuts.
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* Lampshaded in the opening narration of ''LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana''. Yuji wonders how different his life would have been had he not decided to go to the CD store on the fateful afternoon where he met [[TheHero Shana]] and found out that he's a Torch with incredible magical power.

* Lina Inverse from ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'' is hardly an everygirl, being one of the most powerful magic-users of her world. However, her usual ''modus vivendi'' is just being a wandering mercenary and treasure hunter; all that unwanted SavingTheWorld stuff happens to her due to seemingly insignificant choices, such as not agreeing to sell a particular statuette for cheap.

* In ''Webcomics/JupiterMen'', the event that gives Quintin and Jackie their powers starts with Quintin losing his camera after its strap is sliced by a strange creature while he's trying to take pictures of Jupiter-Man. After Quintin is dragged home by his mom, he runs back out to find it while Jackie follows him to bring him back. They trip and slide down a slope of a landfill while trying to rush home, encountering an energy ball that Quintin touches by accident after Jackie is spooked by falling debris. The resulting explosion of energy gives them their superpowers.

* ''Literature/TheScumVillainsSelfSavingSystemRenZhaFanpaiZijiuXitong'' has a truly ridiculous example: If [[{{Otaku}} Shen Yuan]] had not decided to eat that instant noodle cup (or meat bun, in the animation) while cursing out the web novel he was obsessing over, he wouldn't [[Spoiler: have died]], so he wouldn't have transmigrated into the titular Scum Villain's body, and there would have been no story.

* The Time Variance Agency in ''Series/{{Loki}}'' is dedicated to prevent all changes to the Sacred Timeline, which includes hunting for this kind of small divergence. Their InstructionalFilm gives the example of how arriving late for work can be enough to cause a branch in the Sacred Timeline, and mark the person responsible as a Variant to be [[UnusualEuphemism pruned]].

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' ''inverts'' this trope, as a giant SpaceFleaFromNowhere enacts a CosmicHorrorStory on the world, starting in the city the protagonist happens to be in. From there, the protagonist makes a big choice to help the actual heroes save the post-apocalyptic world.

* Jay Garrick, the original [[Franchise/TheFlash Flash]] gets his superpowers when he falls asleep in a lab, accidentally drops a bottle to the floor, and inhales the vapors thus released. Barry Allen, the next Flash, originally got his powers from a similar lab accident, though this was later [[{{retcon}} retconned]] so that the origin of his powers is his [[StableTimeLoop time-traveling future self]].

* This is how most adventures start in reality. One minute everything is normal, next thing everything goes nuts.

* Lampshaded in the opening narration of ''LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana''. Yuiji wonders how different his life would have been had he not decided to go to the CD store on the fateful afternoon where he met [[TheHero Shana]] and found out that he's a Torch with incredible magical power.
* In ''Anime/GuiltyCrown'', had Shu gone straight home instead of to his usual hangout, he wouldn't have encountered Inori and set off the chain of events that would result in gaining the incredibly powerful Void Genome.

* Lina Inverse from ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'' is hardly an everygirl, being one of the most powerful magic-users of her world. However, her usual ''modus vivendi'' is just being a wandering mercenary and treasure hunter; all that unwanted SavingTheWorld stuff happens to her due to seemingly insignificant choices, such as not agreeing to sell a particular statuette for cheap.
* ''Manga/RozenMaiden'' started with Jun answering that yes, he will wind. ''Rozen Maiden Tale'' was initially about what would happen if Jun answered otherwise, before the series became a StealthSequel.

* ''Manga/DeathNote'' happens when a {{Shinigami}} gets bored and drops his [[ArtifactOfDoom eponymous notebook]] in the human world to see what will happen, and it just so happens to get picked up by a genius high school student with a god complex.

* Jay Garrick, the original [[Franchise/TheFlash Flash]] gets his superpowers when he falls asleep in a lab, accidentally drops a bottle to the floor, and inhales the vapors thus released. Barry Allen, the next Flash, originally got his powers from a similar lab accident, though this was later [[{{retcon}} retconned]] so that the origin of his powers is his [[StableTimeLoop time-traveling future self]].

* ''ComicBook/AstroCity'': Sarah Brandeis was a lab technician when she was kidnapped by the sinister Hellsignor during his attack on Earth. To foil his plans, the Point Man stole the Gem of Thebis from him, then tossed it around Sarah's neck. She instantly became the new Cleopatra and banished Hellsignor to another dimension.

* ''Fanfic/SoulEaterTroubledSouls'': Two of the protagonists, [[{{Tomboy}} Rowena]] and [[TheArcher Tsuji]], are brought into the adventure by pure chance after deciding to go on a group mission to Holland with Maka, Soul, and everybody else. In another twist of fate they are among the random students selected to go on a VIP mission to Cobra Island. Lastly, [[{{Deuteragonist}} Caius]] arguably brings the canon protagonists into his ongoing conflict with [[BigBad Cancer]] the minute he joins the group. The chain of events that follow must be read to be believed.
* In ''Fanfic/YuGiOhTheThousandYearDoor'', the Shadow Queen's rise to power and evil unlike the world ever knew - at the time - would have been prevented had a town simply not refused the pleas of three starving and homeless children begging for food. [[note]]The DisasterDominoes were as follows: three siblings, Iris, Seth, and lars, came to the now-forgotten town begging for aid, but were turned away. Desperate, Seth tried to steal from a temple to get money, but was caught. The judge was sympathetic, but to prevent the town from lynching him, he handed down a lenient punishment of one week in jail; but Seth was to sickly and died after one night. When Lars and Iris tried to claim the body, a horse on the carriage carrying it was spooked, and Lars was dragged behind it, horrifically torn apart. Iris was enraged, cursed at the now-repentant townsfolk, and fled into the wilderness. Eventually collapsing from a combination of exhaustion and hunger, she waited to die... Until a voice came to her, offering help. Whether she realized then the dark being the voice came from or whether she just didn't care, she accepted, becoming a loyal servant of Graz'zt and reforged into a villain who would threaten the world.[[/note]]
* In ''Fanfic/NeitherABirdNorAPlaneItsDeku'', Inko and Hisashi Midoriya would have never found their adoptive Kryptonian son if they had decided to camp somewhere other than Mt. Fuji on that fateful night.

* In ''Film/{{Chronicle}}'', three teenagers accidentally get superpowers just because they decide to check out a weird-looking grave. [[spoiler:The source of their superpowers is never even explained.]]
* And then there's the time Luke Skywalker's uncle bought a couple of droids in ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/ANewHope.''
** And what if, years earlier, a couple of Jedi and their companions hadn't crossed paths with a certain pod-racing slave boy?
* ''Last Passenger'' starts with Lewis Shaler boarding a late-night train home with his young son. After some talking with the few remaining passengers, they notice that [[RunawayTrain the train isn't stopping at any stations...]]

* ''Literature/TheSevenRealmsSeries'': Han Alister never would have found himself pulled into a struggle for control over the Fells and the truth behind the Demon King's legend if he hadn't decided to steal Micah Bayar's amulet, an artifact that once belonged to the infamous Demon King.

* ''Literature/CiaphasCain:'' Nearly every important plot event stems from Cain looking for a quiet, routine assignment away from the front line. All it does is allow him to run into the secret cult/the backdoor enrtrance into their base/ the unseen flanking attack which only leads him into greater danger as a result. Pretty much everyone, including his BattleButler who's right there beside him, thinks he's doing this on purpose; this is largely because the excuses he contrives to justify staying away from the front line always end up panning out.

* How did the plot of ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' get kicked off? A group of kids decided to take a short-cut through an abandoned construction site instead of taking the long way home. If they hadn't, they never would have discovered the aliens.
** In ''Megamorphs #4: Back To Before'', [[TheDragon the Drode]] gives Jake the chance to change the past so that they didn't take the shortcut, and thus never became Animorphs. The results? [[spoiler:All the would-have-been Animorphs die, except for Jake and Ax, but the Drode stops the alternate timeline in frustration, since they have just killed Visser Three and Ax is about to use the Visser's Blade ship to destroy the Pool ship and thereby the invasion. The death-blow to Visser Three, though, is only delivered by Cassie after [[ItMakesSenseInContext she self-reincarnates]] due to being a temporal anomaly that has been slowly breaking the alternate timeline, so if they had done this in the real timeline, they might not have won.]]

* In ''LiveActionTV/TheKnowledge'': Chris goes on The Knowledge after he and Janet wander into a cafe, where they overhear Knowledge boys earnestly discussing the subject.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'': Had [[PlayerCharacter Byleth]] not made the split-second decision to [[TakingTheBullet take the axe]] for Edelgard (before they even knew that she was heir to Adrestian Empire) in the prologue, their involvement with the game's plot would have ended right there, as her death would have made Byleth and Jeralt's employment at Garrech Mach very unlikely. More importantly, [[spoiler:without Edelgard, the Flame Emperor's war of conquest against the Church and all of Fodlan, which drives the bulk of the plot, would have never broken out for lack of a leader]].

* ''VideoGame/WhiteKnightChronicles:'' Leonard and co sneak into the palace on a whim. The guards just left the front doors open when they were delivering wine to Princess Cisna's ball. (No, seriously. That's how it happens.) Then he decides to rescue the princess from an assassin as the palace is under attack. Then he decides to take control of the [[HumongousMecha incredibly powerful Wite Knight]] in order to defend his home town.

* ''Literature/CiaphasCain:'' Nearly every important plot event stems from Cain looking for a quiet, routine assignment away from the front line. All it does is allow him to run into the secret cult/the backdoor enrtrance into their base/ the unseen flanking attack which only leads him into greater danger as a result.

* ''VideoGame/WhiteKnightChronicles:'' Leonard and co sneak into the palace on a whim. The guards just left the front doors open when they were delivering wine to Princess Cisna's ball. (No, seriously. That's how it happens.) Then he decides to rescue the princess from an assassin as the palace is under attack. Then he decides to take control of the [[HumongousMecha incredibly powerful Wite Knight]] in order to defend his home town.

** Four out of six protagonists of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' are forced on an adventure by pure chance of being in New Bodhum when the Pulse Fal'cie Anima awakened near the city. What followed was a chain reaction of events that either killed or [[BodyToJewel crystallized]] their loved ones, driving the four into an ill-fated attempt to rescue/avenge them.

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