History Main / MetaTwist

* ''Manga/OnePiece'' did this powerfully in the Marineford Arc. A tradition in One Piece is that no one dies in the present, only in flashbacks. This had been taken to ridiculous extremes on multiple occasions, perhaps most notably when Pell sacrificed himself to carry a massive bomb into the sky where the explosion would only barely not reach the ground. It's not long before he's implied, then later confirmed to have somehow survived. Then in the Marineford Arc, a bunch of powers are all colliding, but Luffy's just there for his brother, Ace. They tease that he may not have enough time to save him, but due to an immense amount of luck, he makes it and rescues his brother (of course, no one dies, right?). However, Luffy has been severely taxed by the events leading up to the Marineford Arc, and collapses at the height of a dangerous battle (partially thanks to only surviving the worst poisons on the planet due to an immense will and extensive outside help, another example of death being avoided against all odds). [[spoiler:His brother rushes to his defense to take the blow from Akainu, a man with lava powers. Ace has fire powers and can turn immaterial, so he'll be fine, right? Well, lava and fire are members of the same elemental family and since lava is much hotter he's able to directly injure even a man made of fire]]. Despite the series tradition, he did ''not'' survive. The Meta Twist made this moment extremely powerful, making it a significant moment for the audience as well as the characters, while also symbolizing a major shift in the tone of the story. The Straw Hats were no longer just having fun adventures on the seas. They had drawn the attention of the biggest and most dangerous names in the world.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'' did this powerfully in the Marineford Arc. A tradition in One Piece is that no one dies in the present. This had been taken to ridiculous extremes on multiple occasions, perhaps most notably when Pell sacrificed himself to carry a massive bomb into the sky where the explosion would only barely not reach the ground. It's not long before he's implied, then later confirmed to have somehow survived. Then in the Marineford Arc, a bunch of powers are all colliding, but Luffy's just there for his brother, Ace. They tease that he may not have enough time to save him, but due to an immense amount of luck, he makes it and rescues his brother (of course, no one dies, right?). However, Luffy has been severely taxed by the events leading up to the Marineford Arc, and collapses at the height of a dangerous battle (partially thanks to only surviving the worst poisons on the planet due to an immense will and extensive outside help, another example of death being avoided against all odds). [[spoiler:His brother rushes to his defense to take the blow from Akainu, a man with lava powers. Ace has fire powers and can turn immaterial, so he'll be fine, right? Well, lava and fire are members of the same elemental family and since lava is much hotter he's able to directly injure even a man made of fire]]. Needless to say, he did ''not'' survive. The Meta Twist made this moment extremely powerful, making it a significant moment for the audience as well as the characters, while also symbolizing a major shift in the tone of the story. The Straw Hats were no longer just having fun adventures on the seas. They had drawn the attention of the biggest and most dangerous names in the world.
** Throughout the series many flashbacks, it became tradition for the subject of the flashbacks to have formed a bond with someone, often a paternal figure, then lose them in an event which informed their later actions. So, in Whole Cake Island, when it's revealed that [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Big Mom]] was raised by Mother Carmel, an orphanage head and holy woman who instilled Big Mom's philosophy of a land of all people and mysteriously disappeared during a birthday party, fans where lead to believe they were in for a similar sequence of events. [[spoiler: Which makes it all the more shocking when the flashback reveals that everything Big Mom said about her couldn't be further from the truth. Mother Carmel was actually a slave trader who used the guise of a holy woman to sell children to the World Government, and everything she told Big Mom was an utter lie. And the reason for her disappearance at the party? Big Mom ''[[IAmAHumanitarian ate her]]'' and the other orphans during an eating frenzy.]]

* ''Anime/DragonQuestYourStory'' is a straightforward adaptation of the plot of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV'' right up until [[BigBad Ladja]] is defeated and the evil Grandmaster Nimzo is sealed away. Just when victory is achieved, however, Nimzo manifests as a computer virus, revealing that everything that had transpired, from the hero's birth to the present, was actually a virtual reality game, that none of it was real.

** In one later arc, Calvin creates a good version clone of himself to go to school and do all his chores. However, the arc starts off after this initial event has happened, so the audience is dropped into it just as suddenly as Calvin's mother, who, just like the viewer would be, is extremely confused why "Calvin" is suddenly polite and well-groomed.

** ''Dread'' also uses Adam Malkovich's reputation as of ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'' to set up the reveal that [[spoiler:Raven Beak's been impersonating ADAM (the MissionControl A.I. installed into Samus's new ship in ''Fusion'', later revealed to ''[[BrainUploading be]]'' Adam himself) the the entire game]]. Fans of the series who didn't like his portrayal in ''Other M'', especially compared to how he was introduced in ''Fusion'', are more likely to write off [[MissionControlIsOffItsMeds ADAM's increasingly weird behaviour]] in the latter half of the game as him just being written closer to his ''Other M'' incarnation, making the reveal that much more of a shock.

*** Unlike literally ''every entry in the series'' save the very first, Samus begins her journey through ZDR at the bottom of the planet rather than her ship at the top. Most of the game is spent getting back to her ship so she can regroup.

** ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' further plays with the expectations set by ''Sun and Moon'': Team Yell isn't even a threat so much as a bunch of {{Loony Fan}}s, the guy you expect to be a villain in their place wasn't actively trying to cause the Mascot Legendary problem, and the few people who are ''truly'' antagonistic appear in the postgame. On top of this, the third main Legendary actually appears during the endgame rather than the postgame and is caught ''before'' the Mascot Legendary.

** [[spoiler:One fact obvious to players of previous titles is that Igor has a completely different voice actor in both English and Japanese. Given the passing of his original Japanese VA and said new VA makes no effort to mimic his work, it's likely to pay respect to him. Turns out ''this'' "Igor" is actually the BigBad posing as the real one, whose no attempt at mimicking the voice wouldn't become suspicious to Joker since this is the first time he's been in the Velvet Room. When the real Igor is released, he sounds much more like his previous appearances, while his Japanese dialogue is archive audio.]]

* ''VideoGame/AITheSomniumFiles'' was written by Creator/KotaroUchikoshi, who also wrote the ''VisualNovel/ZeroEscape'' series, and so many fans would already expect a huge twist. One of the big twists in that franchise was that characters could remember and move between various StoryBranching alternate timelines, and ''Somnium'' seems to be leading towards a similar revelation. Main protagonist Date inexplicably knows information after it gets revealed on other story paths, and one character even declares that parallel worlds are real and factor into the game's mysteries. So there's going to be big multiverse shennanigans, right? Nope! In reality, Date is working through his LaserGuidedAmnesia to remember stuff that he learned years ago, and the person spouting parallel universe theories was actually suffering delusions brought on by a brain tumor. Alternate timelines are implied to ''exist'', but are ultimately irrelevant.

** In addition to the above, ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'' loves toying with player expectation about the traditional structure of ''VideoGame/{{Metroid}}'' games in order to get under their skin:

* ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'':
** In ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', every single major monster the player battles turns out to have [[HiddenDepths hidden positive aspects]] and are either ObliviouslyEvil or have genuinely good intentions yet simply went down the wrong path, and are reasoned with and pull a HeelFaceTurn. In the GoldenEnding, [[spoiler:this even extends to Flowey/Asriel]]. Cue King in the successor/sequel/{{Elseworld}}, who has a similar BossBanter with the party as several of ''Undertale''[='=]s bosses and seems to be setting up a sort of FreudianExcuse for himself... [[spoiler:and it turns out he was just lying, trying to trick Ralsei into healing him back to his full strength so he could finish the team off, having not learned a single thing from the fight no matter what the player does. When he tries to throw Lancer, ''his own son,'' off the roof of his castle, it becomes clear that this guy is just a genuine jerk inside and out. Instead of befriending the player, King is either overthrown by his own people and locked up or he's put to sleep by Ralsei.]] [[spoiler:That said, Chapter 2 ''does'' imply that King genuinely does love Lancer, that his threat to throw Lancer from the roof was a bluff (as Lancer would "just bounce"), and even has him show concern for his son's well-being -- though whether these are just more tricks and lies to manipulate the player or the truth are left ambiguous]].
** ''Undertale'' places a heavy emphasis on the player's choices and deconstructs the effect of killing monsters in an RPG by presenting them as characters all of their own instead of generic mooks. This is to the point where even the random encounters are given personality quirks and dialogue. Players are encouraged to go through ''Deltarune'' after playing through ''Undertale'', so they would likely go in trying to pull a PacifistRun from what they've learned in the latter game. Try to be violent, however, and it becomes apparent that the party '''can't''' kill enemies in the game -- they always run off at low health. This falls in line with ''Deltarune''[='=]s main theme being [[SpiritualAntithesis the exact opposite]] of ''Undertale''[='=]s: a ''lack'' of free will. One of the bosses, K. Round, even ''has'' to be spared/defeated through acting as it has the ability to infinitely heal itself more than the team can damage it, denying a run where every enemy is dealt with by NonLethalKO.[[note]]In ''Undertale'', most of the enemies that can't be killed are exclusive to the pacifist run, and the only enemies that can't be spared are exclusive to the run where you've already killed everyone before them. K. Round, on the other hand, is a "neutral" boss that the player faces (twice) no matter what choices they made.[[/note]]

* In the ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'' series, a lot of weapons are re-purposed everyday items such as hairdryers, washing machines, and giant paintbrushes. In addition, levels in the main campaigns are accessed via tea kettles. So come the [[VideoGame/Splatoon2 the second game]]'s DLC campaign "Octo Expansion", some players may be forgiven for thinking that this could extend to other pieces of machinery and that the "thangs" they're collecting which look suspiciously like [[spoiler:blender parts]] will form a teleporter or something. That is until MissionControl takes a glance at their video feed and realizes that, no, you've all been fooled into [[spoiler:building a giant blender that's going to puree you into fish paste.]]

* In the ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' series, a lot of weapons are re-purposed everyday items such as hairdryers, washing machines, and giant paintbrushes. In addition, levels in the main campaigns are accessed via tea kettles. So come the [[VideoGame/Splatoon2 the sequel]]'s DLC campaign "Octo Expansion", some players may be forgiven for thinking that this could extend to other pieces of machinery and that the "thangs" they're collecting which look suspiciously like [[spoiler: blender parts]] will form a teleporter or something. That is until MissionControl takes a glance at their video feed and realizes that, no, you've all been fooled into [[spoiler: building a giant blender that's going to puree you into fish paste.]]

'''''Note:''''' This is a SpoileredRotten trope, that means that '''EVERY SINGLE EXAMPLE''' on this list is a spoiler by default and most of them will be unmarked. [[Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned This is your last warning]], only proceed if you really believe you can handle this list. In fact, these spoilers are even more dangerous than the usual variety, since it's impossible to not spoil the twist ending usually utilized from the moment the name of the work or creator is stated.

* The Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse: Having {{The Stinger}}s be used to tease future movies and help with WorldBuilding has become a major trademark of the [=MCU=], to the point where ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'' practically parodied this trend by having ''[[UpToEleven five]]'' stingers. However, ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', the GrandFinale of [[MythArc the Infinity Saga]] throws a major curveball by... not having one at all. After all, did you really expect the [=MCU's=] SeriesFauxnale to end with a ToBeContinued?

*** Given the series' track record with villainous doctors, a lot of fans were surprised when they faced Dr. Doppler in ''VideoGame/MegaManX3'' and, rather than unveiling a HumongousMecha, he instead [[TheCoatsAreOff tosses his coat off]] and fights X all by himself[[note]]granted, Doppler does have the excuse of being a robot, whereas all the previous doctors were human[[/note]].

* Speaking of ''Series/Loki2021'', the [=MCU=] is famous for its antagonists typically being [[EvilCounterpart dark copies of its protagonists]] with similar abilities, so one would understandably expect the HiddenVillain of this series to be an evil Loki Variant to combat this series' AntiHero Loki Variant. [[spoiler:The actual villain turns out to be "He Who Remains", a NonActionBigBad completely unrelated to Loki. They never directly fight each other and instead oppose each other [[{{Foil}} on a more philosophical level]]; Loki and his Variants prove that [[ScrewDestiny people can change]] [[RousseauWasRight for the better]], while He Who Remains believes that [[HobbesWasRight his Variants are evil by nature]] and [[YouCantFightFate that it can't be helped]].]]

** Zephiel in ''The Binding Blade'' has a similar thing going on. It's common for the villain to have once been a decent man, who was then corrupted by an evil force (Julius in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'', Hardin in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem''). Zephiel has characters explaining he used to be good but became twisted and malevolent, and he's usually shown alongside Idunn, a creepy woman in a dark cloak that apparently showed up when he changed. Then we learn that Idunn is an demon dragon from the distant past. So she was the one who corrupted him and he's just her pawn, right? Nope! Zephiel became the way he was through a good old-fashioned DespairEventHorizon, and when he did so, he released Idunn from her prison so she could help him. Idunn is the one who's a magically-corrupted pawn, and though she's the FinalBoss, she's pretty much mindless for most of the game and is only carrying out Zephiel's final wish alongside his surviving servants by the time you fight her.

*** By this point in the series, pretty much ''everyone'' in the audience is expecting Junko Enoshima to [[HijackedByGanon be the one behind the new killing game]]; after all, she was the mastermind of the last two killing games, and is effectively responsible for almost every bad thing that has ever happened in the ''Danganronpa'' franchise. So when Chapter 5 has Shuichi and the others regain memories of [[ArcWelding being students at Hope's Peak]], and TheStinger at the end of the chapter shows the silhouette of a familiar girl imitating Monokuma's laugh, that seems to confirm this. But Junko [[NotMeThisTime has absolutely nothing to do with this game]]; the person we saw was actually the ''real'' mastermind, Tsumugi Shirogane, [[CosplayOtakuGirl cosplaying]] as Junko. Also, Junko is a fictional character in the AlternateUniverse. However, this is according to Tsumugi, who is an UnreliableExpositor, which leaves open the possibility that Junko may still be the ultimate villain after all.

** The deaths of [[spoiler: David Palmer and Michelle Dessler]] in season 5 and [[spoiler: Bill Buchanan]] in season 7 served as this, as they wound up happening at the beginning of an episode rather than the end which was usually the case whenever a major character was killed off.
* In ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'', of course the guy played by Brad Dourif is the BigBad, right? Not this time.

*** Given the series' track record with villainous doctors, a lot of fans were surprised when they faced Dr. Doppler in ''VideoGame/MegaManX3'' and, rather than unveiling a HumongousMecha, he instead tosses his coat off and fights X all by himself.

** Every ''Zelda'' game ''ever'' that has featured a boss with a [[GoForTheEye giant glowing eyeball]] has had the exact same weakness: strike the eye and they'll either be stuned and vulnerable or just take damage. Armogohma from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' sets himself up as such, but can NoSell any attacks to his eye just by blinking. You need to remember the clue from Medli, that "a monster is doing horrible things ''to Valoo's tail'', to know that you actually have to swing from said tail with the Grappling Hook to drop the ceiling on Armogohma several times. ''Then'' you are free to attack the now-vulnerable eye once Armogohma's armored shell is smashed off.

* Creator/HarryTurtledove is well known for his LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, to the point where most of his books start out with a filler scene for each one that only serves to remind you of the position each of the many viewpoint characters were in at the end of the last book. Except on the rare occasion that one of them ''dies'' in this section.

** Done InUniverse in one of the many instances of Calvin hiding to [[HatesBath avoid a bath]]. While he normally chooses extremely bizarre places to hide--including up the chimney, on the roof, or inside a vacuum cleaner bag--in this case he selects somewhere he knows his mother will never look: ''inside the empty bathtub.''

** ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E9TheTimeMeddler "The Time Meddler"]]: Up until this point, every story has been either an historical story or a sci-fi story, and the story at first looks like an historical and comes about when an historical would be "due"... and then the first cliffhanger reveals it is a sci-fi story with an historical backdrop (a viewer at the time wouldn't have had the title of the full serial, which would otherwise have spoiled the twist). Of course, this meta twist presaged a shift where soon it would be more shocking if the Doctor visits an historical setting and there ''isn't'' some sort of sci-fi business going on there.

*** Sigma [[HijackedByGanon has always been]] the BigBad and FinalBoss in every game...except for one where he was part of a BigBadDuumvirate with someone else ([[spoiler:''VideoGame/MegaManX5'']]), and that someone else steps forward to claim the FinalBoss role after his death ([[spoiler:''VideoGame/MegaManX8'']]) and a GaidenGame where where he doesn't make an appearance at all ([[spoiler:''VideoGame/MegaManXCommandMission'']]).

** ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddysSecurityBreach'' has Freddy ''actually be an ally'' for the first time in the series thus far, while all the other animatronics are crazed and out for your blood. The game repeatedly teases the prospect that he may actually be evil or may eventually become villainous like the other animatronics, but it never happens. While he ''can'' attack you if he runs out of power or if you flub an upgrade segment, it's made clear this happens against his will like a reflex rather than being deliberate, and while the BigBad ''tries'' to take control of him like the other animatronics, Freddy manages to [[HeroicWillpower fight it off]]. He remains your steadfast ally from start to finish no matter what ending you get.

->''"[...] As you wait for the inevitable Shyamalan TwistEnding... that never comes. The twist is... there is no twist. The trees did it. Then it ends."''

*** By this point in the series, pretty much ''everyone'' in the audience is expecting OverarchingVillain Junko Enoshima to [[HijackedByGanon be the one behind the new killing game]]; after all, she was the mastermind of the last two killing games, and is effectively responsible for almost every bad thing that has ever happened in the ''Danganronpa'' franchise. So when Chapter 5 has Shuichi and the others regain memories of [[ArcWelding being students at Hope's Peak]], and TheStinger at the end of the chapter shows the silhouette of a familiar girl imitating Monokuma's laugh, that seems to confirm this. But Junko [[NotMeThisTime has absolutely nothing to do with this game]]; the person we saw was actually the ''real'' mastermind, Tsumugi Shirogane, [[CosplayOtakuGirl cosplaying]] as Junko. Also, Junko is a fictional character in the AlternateUniverse. However, this is according to Tsumugi, who is an UnreliableExpositor, which leaves open the possibility that Junko may still be the ultimate villain after all.