History Main / LuredIntoATrap

** "ComicBook/ThoseEmeraldEyesAreShining": After being attacked by a security patrol -allegedly- gone awry, the Legion of Super-Heroes are invited by newly-appointed Science Police commander Ontiir to return to Weber's World with him so he can reassure them that it was all a mistake. The team accepts his invite and heads towards the artificial planetoid, unaware that it has been taken over by their old enemy, the Emerald Empress, who Ontiir is working for.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: ComicBook/{{Etta|Candy}} tries to from a plan with ComicBook/SteveTrevor and a group of USAAF men outside a cave they know some Nazis are in for about a minute, before telling him and the rest of the men that she's bringing the Nazis to them so they ought to hide. She then runs into the cave, screams, and runs out with the Nazis following her right into an ambush.

A character is given a seemingly innocent reason to go to a location, but it turns out to be a trick; rather than the meeting or item they were expecting, they find their [[InescapableAmbush ememies lying in wait to capture or kill them]]. There are many ways this could be played out: they could be a detective looking for a vital clue or meeting an informant; someone trying to [[BigDamnHeroes heroically rescue]] one of their comrades (expect the BoundAndGagged party to have their mouth uncovered only to immediately yell " it's a trap!"); or even just someone delivering a message or package. But whatever they expected to find there, it was just a ruse; in fact, they've been lured into a trap.

A character is given a seemingly innocent reason to go to a specific location, but it turns out to be a trick; rather than what they were expecting, they find their enemy lying in wait to capture or kill them. There are many different ways this could be played out: they could be a detective looking for a vital clue or meeting an informant; someone trying to [[BigDamnHeroes heroically rescue]] one of their comrades (expect the BoundAndGagged party to have their mouth uncovered only to immediately yell that it's a trap); or even just someone delivering a message or package. But whatever they expected to find there, it was just a ruse; in fact, they've been lured into a trap.

If the trap is blatantly obvious, this becomes SchmuckBait. If it's so obvious the character recognizes it for what it is, but then elects to walk into it anyway, it's TrapIsTheOnlyOption. If the person springing the trap isn't even trying to hide his intentions, he may tell the target to ComeAlone.

* Basically the plot of the first ''WesternAnimation/IceAge'' movie. Diego pretends to help Manny and Sid to bring the human baby back to its father, but actually he's leading them straight into an ambush to his pack. [[spoiler:In the nick of time he has a [[HeelFaceTurn change of heart]], though.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': In "Adventures in the Elements", Luz gets the slitherbeast to chase her, leading it onto an ice glyph she set up in advance so she can launch it into the air with an ice pillar.

* In ''Anime/OjamajoDoremi'', Oyajide uses his magic to lure the [[CuteWitch Ojamajos]] into his grasp so he may kidnap Hana. The girls return the favor later on, but aren't as successful.

* ''Anime/CodeGeass'': It happens in the second season, when Kallen is sent by the Black Knights to take Lelouch to a warehouse as part of [[EtTuBrute their betrayal]].
* Used twice in ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer''.

* In ''ComicBook/Supergirl1984'', [[EvilSorcerer Selena]] abducts Ethan and then summons a massive rocky spire to lure ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} into her trap. When Kara heads into the witch's lair to look for Ethan, she is too shocked when she finds him chained to a wall to notice Selena banishing her into another dimension.

* In ''FanFic/AgeOfDragons'', Hawke is lured into a clearly obvious trap by someone pointing out that the trap is probably more interesting than what he's doing at the moment.
* In ''[[FanFic/EquestriaAHistoryRevealed Equestria: A History Revealed]]'', the main characters talk about how re-taking Canterlot might have been a little too easy. [[spoiler:It turns out they were all lured into a DefensiveFeintTrap to tire them out, with the enemy returning with forces three times in number.]]
* In one story of the ''FanFic/FacingTheFutureSeries'', the Fentons are called in to clear out a haunting, only to find out too late [[spoiler:it was all set up by Vlad]].

* ''Film/Batman1989'': Boss Grissom sends [[ComicBook/TheJoker Jack Napier]] to retrieve the incriminating information from the Axis Chemical plant (which in reality he has already made sure they were removed) [[UriahGambit so Lieutenant Eckhardt and the team of corrupt cops on Grissom's payroll can kill him]].

-->-- '''Admiral Ackbar''', ''Franchise/StarWars Episode VI: Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''

* ''ComicBook/TheAvengers:'' During ''ComicBook/OperationGalacticStorm'', the Supreme Intelligence does this to his own crew. He sends the Starforce to intercept a team of Avengers, then traps them both in a bubble so they're unable to stop Deathbird killing the two generals ruling the Kree... just as the Intelligence planned. He then uses this assassination to send the Starforce after Lilandra, Deathbird's sister and ruler of the Shi'ar.

* ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'' has a scene where a great number of soldiers of the Queens' Justice, led by Princess Ren, go after a mill where they know some of the enemy are hiding. Aware that it could be a trap, Eldest and Corelle Whistler go out ahead of them. The enemy turned out to have ''cannons'', and with the soldiers filling the street...

* The original ''{{VideoGame/Diablo}}'' had Archbishop Lazarus leading a group of people from Tristram into the Cathedral to rescue Prince Albrecht, the little boy who he himself made a vessel for the title archdemon. He lured them into the second level, where he left them to die at the hands of the demonic Butcher. Griswold and Farnham were the only survivors of the attack, which left Griswold with a crippled leg and Farnham with a shattered mind and a broken spirit.

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect1:''
** A side mission has Shepard sent to retrieve an old probe which has turned up over twenty years after it was sent out, far from where it should be. Just before going into the conveniently abandoned mine where the signal's coming from, the party members will note how it's obviously a trap.
** The Eletania mission has Shepard going to retrieve another probe from a mine. Once they get it, several geth pop up and try to kill them.
* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'':
** Picking up Subject Zero from Purgatory turns into a trap laid by Warden Kuril to imprison Shepard and sell him/her to the highest bidder.
** Investigating the derelict Collector Cruiser or the [[EldritchLocation dead Reaper.]] [[RunningGag Or activating]] the [[spoiler: Reaper IFF.]] Or the franchise's grand-daddy of all such traps, [[spoiler: establishing the center of galactic civilization on the Citadel.]]
** When the three mercenary organizations of Omega team up to bring down the Archangel team, they open their attack by luring team leader Garrus into a trap with their mole, Sidonis. However, its purpose is unconventional -- there are Eclipse troopers at the trap site, but the real purpose was to [[NeverSplitTheParty split up the Archangel team]]; without their leader and master sniper, the other vigilantes are overrun by the main thrust of the mercenary assault. Garrus realizes it's a trap when he reaches the rendezvous and Sidonis isn't there (having quite sensibly taken his blood money and run for it), but he isn't fast enough to return before the team is killed.
* ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda:''
** The mission "High Noon" has [[WretchedHive Kadara]] overlord Sloane Kelly called out to a remote cave in the wastelands to meet the Charlatan. [[spoiler:Once she gets there, he challenges her to a fight, which he has no intention of playing fairly, having a sniper waiting to shoot her.]]
** An earlier mission on Kadara has Ryder travel with [[LovableRogue Reyes Vidal]] to a meeting spot out in the wastelands. It's actually an attempt by a rival (and [[WomanScorned ex-lover]]) of Reyes's to kill him.
** A side-location on Voeld has Ryder follow a Remnant signal. Once they get to it, it turns out there's nothing there, and an angaran sniper calls in to say they've actually walked into her field of landmines.

** Averted in mods for the game, where it can be used as a shortcut in certain missions (no mission in the actual game can make use of this.).

[[folder:WebComics]]

* This happens to Dante in the first, third, and fourth ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' games. In the [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry1 first]], it's because the BigBad has a serious grudge against Dante's father Sparda. In the [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry3DantesAwakening third]] and [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry4 fourth]], it's because Dante's blood connection to Sparda makes him a vital component in unsealing whatever power the villains hope to unleash.

* ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'': The Chitauri infiltrated the Triskelion and, with false information from the Psi division, they sent all the Ultimates to Micronesia, where they would be blown up with an atomic bomb.

* In one story of the ''FanFic/FacingTheFutureSeries'', the Fentons are called in to clear out a haunting, only to find out too later [[spoiler:it was all set up by Vlad]].

* ''Webcomic/{{TREVOR}}'': Dr. Maddison declares Trevor dead, and excuses himself from the upcoming autopsy on the grounds that he has already done his part in declaring Trevor dead, and that it will be too crowded with the rest of the medical team in the room. [[spoiler: In reality, he faked Trevor’s death]], so that the medical team will come to the facility, and be killed by [[spoiler: Trevor]] when the [[spoiler: sedatives wear off.]]

* Happens in season 2 of ''Anime/CodeGeass'', when Kallen is sent by the Black Knights to take Lelouch to a warehouse as part of [[EtTuBrute their betrayal]].

* Attempted several times in ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' such as when Gosunkugi has tried to trick Ranma.
* Used in ''Anime/ScienceNinjaTeamGatchaman'' on [[TheHero Ken]]. He wants to find his father, who's been presumed dead for years, so Galactor sends an old friend saying he's seen him.

* ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'': Tim is able to trick Dodge's group into walking straight into an ambush by the ComicBook/TeenTitans by making the criminals believe a fellow walking through the park at night is himself out of costume, when it's really [[ComicBook/{{Zatanna}} Zachary Zatara]].

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: ComicBook/{{Etta|Candy}} tries to from a plan with ComicBook/SteveTrevor and a group of USAAF men outside a cave they know some Nazis are in for about a minute, before telling him and the rest of the men that she's bringing the Nazis to them so they ought to hide. She then runs into the cave, screams, and runs out with the Nazis following her right into an ambush.