History Main / MissedTheCall

* Somehow, ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' plays this straight, lampshades it, then ''subverts'' it in the Wishology Trilogy. [[spoiler: Played straight at the end of Part One, where Turbo Thunder is revealed to have been the one apparently chosen but missed the call because he was asleep when the Darkness returned. This is lampshaded throughout most of Part Two, mostly by Timmy trying to send the bad guys after Turbo Thunder instead. It's subverted near the end of Part Two, when it turns out that Timmy really is the chosen one.]]

* ''Manga/BokuNoHeroAcademia'': [[spoiler:Midoriya wasn't supposed to receive the One For All from All Might. Originally, when All Might started looking for a pupil, Nedzu suggested the third year Mirio Togata, who had an {{Intangibility}} quirk and is considered the closest to succeed All Might as number 1 hero, even among pros. However, before Mirio was even approached by All Might to talk about the subject, he met Midoriya and decided to give his quirk to him.]]

* In ''Fanfic/GameTheoryFanFic'' [[spoiler:Nanoha's mother Momoko has significant magical talent, but because she grew up on Earth, where there's no knowledge of magic, she never got a chance to use it. Although that's changed recently.]]

Either way, their feelings are irrelevant. Destiny may not have planned it this way originally, but it did ultimately choose ''them'', and the Hero who started this adventure will be the Hero to see it through. They'll either be all the more [[{{Wangst}} angsty]] about it, or [[TheUnchosenOne they'll triple their efforts to prove themselves worthy of The Call]].

Caution: there ''will'' be a problem if the "real" chosen one discovers they Missed The Call.

* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in ''FistOfTheNorthStar'': Toki was originally chosen to be the successor of Hokuto Shinken over Kenshiro, but his exposure to radiation sapped his physical might and he was obligated to cede the successorship to Kenshiro. However, Toki does not begrudge Kenshiro for this, and in fact his biggest regret of not being successor is that he could not spare Kenshiro of the immense burden that successorship carries.

* In ''MagiNation'', Tony Jones is originally hailed as the hero and the only one who can stop the Shadow Geysers, until it turns out that maybe it was his presence that caused them to appear in the first place. Oops.

* ''Webcomic/GuildedAge'': Payet fulfills almost all the requirements of a prophecy made by a mad woman in the town and is declared the "Epic Hero". The real Epic Hero (who fulfills the one requirement Payet missed) shows up after a few days, but the mad woman has a heart attack right after, due to the strain of shouting "THE PROPHECY!" over and over.

** Ironically, Kyle Rayner is widely considered the greatest Green Lantern BECAUSE he was chosen at random. Hal and Stewart were both military men (with Gardner a former cop in the new 52 and raised in a rough home prior to), so both were naturally capable of not being afraid, (thus making them unprepared when they are overcome by it). Contrast to Kyle, who as an artist, is subject to he worry and fear of his work coming under scrutiny and criticism. As such, he accepts his fear and understands terror and started the trend of having Green Lanterns overcome their fear rather simply not being afraid.

** The second game subverts this by saying there is no 'The' Keyblade, instead anyone with the right qualifications can have a Keyblade. No fewer than nine Keyblade users have been shown (Sora, Riku, Mickey Mouse, Roxas, Xion, [[spoiler: Kairi, Terra, Ven, and Aqua]]).
*** Well, [[spoiler: Roxas is Sora]], so technically eight.
*** [[spoiler: As is Xion.]] 7. [[LuckySeven Hey wait a minute...]]
*** [[spoiler: There is also Eraqus, Yensid, and Xehanort before he lost his memories as well as well as whole armies of Keyblade wielders in the past. It's also mentioned that there are many more currently active Keyblade users that are scattered throughout the realms as well.]]
*** Not to mention [[spoiler: Lea (Axel's Somebody) reveals that he is able to use a keyblade at the end of Dream Drop Distance.]]

* The premise of the comic book ''MajorBummer'': the ImportedAlienPhlebotinum that gave uber-slacker Lou Martin his powers was intended for uber-samaritan Martin Louis, but the alien who left it on Lou's doorstep didn't realize that the phone book prints last names first. Since the phlebotinum can't be removed without a fatal surgical procedure, Lou's stuck with his powers, but for the entire length of the series, he tries his hardest to maintain his slacker lifestyle. Unfortunately, the [[WeirdnessMagnet plot keeps finding him]].

Either way, their feelings are irrelevant. Destiny may not have planned it this way originally, but it did ultimately choose ''them'', and the Hero who started this adventure will be the Hero to see it through. They'll either be all the more [[{{Wangst}} angsty]] about it, or [[TheUnchosenOne they'll triple their efforts to prove themself worthy of The Call]].

* In ''Anime/JubeiChan'', UsefulNotes/YagyuJubei passed on his power in the form of a [[EyepatchOfPower "Lovely Eyepatch"]], eventually going to a girl hundreds of years in the future because he believed his heir had died in Russia. Actually, she didn't. She was just [[HumanPopsicle frozen in an iceberg]]. By an amazing coincidence, she dethaws in the same time period Jiyu receives the Eyepatch and is furious she didn't get it.

** Hikari also missed the call at the start of ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'' due to being sick. Coincidentially, her partner was in the hands of a BigBad by then, having been lost as an egg and taken in by Myotismon... which raises the question of what would've happened had Hikari not missed the call and gone to the Digital World anyway.

* Nearly happens to Brian in ''Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian'', when the wise men come to the wrong stable. Luckily, they realise the Messiah they were looking for is just down the road. Though they have to get their gifts back.

* In ''Series/{{Kaamelott}}'', King Arthur seems to be TheChosenOne: he is the only one who can pull Excalibur out of the stone, and [[FlamingSword Excalibur]] only glows when Arhur wields it. But it is later revealed that Excalibur glows even brighter when Percival wields it, and [[spoiler:Lancelot]] was the first choice of the Gods. When Arthur puts back Excalibur into the stone so that everybody can try to become the new king, they both don't try. Perceval refuses to try it because he is loyal to Arthur, and Lancelot is hiding in a remote location.

*** [[spoiler: There is also Eraqus, Yensid, and Xehanort before he lost his memories as well as well as whole armies of Keyblade wielders in the past. It's also mentioned that there are many more currently active keyblade users that are scattered throughout the realms as well.]]

* Roger Wilco from ''VideoGame/SpaceQuest'' seems to qualify, according to the ''Companion''. Captain Quirk was intending accomplish every single heroic task that Roger achieved himself since Space Quest 1, and now hates him for it. Near the end of Space Quest 5, he still fails and turns into the game's BigBad

* ''Webcomic/GuildedAge'': Payet fulfills almost all the requirements of a prophecy made by a mad woman in the town and is declared the "Epic Hero". The real Epic Hero (who fulfils the one requirement Payet missed) shows up after a few days, but the mad woman has a heart attack right after, due to the strain of shouting "THE PROPHECY!" over and over.

* In Holly Lisle's ''Minerva Wakes'', Minerva and her husband were sold wedding rings that were supposed to wake their innate magical abilities and turn them into magical guardians who stand against the [[BigBad Unweaver]]. When this is finally explained to her, Minerva is startled but ready to step up and meet her destiny; she's less than thrilled when it is further explained that the people who were ''supposed'' to get the rings showed up half an hour later.

* Comicbook/{{X-Men}} has a villain version: It was revealed that Charles Xavier, not Cain Marko, was actually intended to get the Ruby of Cyttorak and become the Juggernaut, but as luck would have it, Cain was really, really ''good'' at being Juggie in the end, so the demon Cyttorak didn't make a fuss... until Jug's HeelFaceTurn.

* SirAproposOfNothing, of the series of the same name, collects a lot of missed calls. He's not at all happy about it.

* As revealed in ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee'', JesuOtaku missed her chance to be one of the WebVideo/SuburbanKnights because she doesn't check her mail often. (The cast of ''WebVideo/SuburbanKnights'' were all lured into the quest with the promise of a free car, and JesuOtaku is introduced in ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee'' by coming to claim said car.)

* Sissi of ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'' gets a nasty one in "X.A.N.A. Awakens" pre-sequel. In that episode, was Sissi, not Yumi, who found the factory with the others. She even planned on entering the "game" later, but before she did XANA got loose for the first time, and Sissi tattled because this was getting too real. As a result, the whole group was nearly arrested, and the others unsurprisingly agreed to keep her in the dark [[spoiler: after returning to the past. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Sadly, Ulrich decides to be a jerk to Sissi about it even though she doesn't remember what her mistake was]], resulting in her becoming the group's AlphaBitch nemesis for a good long while.]]

* Somehow, ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' plays this straight, lampshades it, then ''subverts'' it in the Wishology Trilogy. [[spoiler: Played straight at the end of Part 1, where Turbo Thunder is revealed to have been the one apparently chosen. This is lampshaded throughout most of part two, mostly by Timmy trying to send the bad guys after Turbo Thunder instead; then subverted near the end, when it turns out that Timmy really is the chosen one.]]

*** It was later revealed that the ring chose Clark Kent first, but the Guardians of Oa ordered it to ignore him. They really, really hate Kryptonians, and now, generally act like {{Jerkass}}es to {{Superman}}.
** Ironically, Kyle Rayner is widely considered the greatest Green Lantern BECAUSE he was chosen at random. Hal and Stewart were both military men (With Gardner a former cop in the new 52 and raised in a rough home prior to), so both were naturally capable of not being afraid, (thus not making them prepared when they are overcome by it.). Contrast to Kyle,who as an artist, is subject to he worry and fear of his work coming under scrutiny and criticism. As such, he accepts his fear and understands terror and started the trend of having Green Lanterns overcome their fear rather simply not being afraid.

* In the future setting of ''{{ComicBook/Fray}}'', the demons that plague the buffyverse were largely evicted years ago, leading to the weakening of the slayer lineage. Cue the return of the vampires, and the calling of Mekala Fray who has the strength, agility and speed of a Slayer but none of the dreams and memories of those who came before her. [[spoiler: Turns out it had all gone to her twin brother, Harth, who was turned and became the BigBad.]]

* In the BW arc of ''PokemonSpecial'', the call wasn't missed; it ''broke''. Bianca and Cheren were chosen to be Dex Holders (which is a pretty big deal in this series), but unfortunately their Pokedexes were dropped into a puddle and short-circuited. Meanwhile, Black (who was also chosen) kind of ran off with the last Dex without seeing what happened to the other two. At least Bianca and Cheren still got their starters...

* A minor one from [[CodeGeass Code Geass]]: right at the beginning of season 1, when the Britannian forces are purging the Shinjuku ghetto, we see everyone's favorite [[EnsembleDarkhorse Ensemble Darkhorse]] Jeremiah Gottwald verbally ignore an order to return to the staging area, where a certain [[SuperPrototype Super Prototype]] knightmare frame, the one and only Lancelot, was waiting for a pilot. Later, with the original choice of pilot a no-show, Suzaku Kururugi gets to [[JumpedAtTheCall answer the call]] instead. Given how everything worked out for the two of them, one has to wonder [[WhatCouldHaveBeen what could've been]].

What? TheHero was actually just an InnocentBystander [[RightManInTheWrongPlace in the "wrong" place at the "wrong" time]]? The ''real'' chosen one Missed The Call? Those who JumpedAtTheCall suddenly feel jealous and cheated, robbed of their right to [[InHarmsWay enjoy the adventure]]. Those who [[IJustWantToBeNormal just want to be normal]] feel even more cheated -- What do you mean I never actually ''had'' to give up [[HomeSweetHome my normal, happy life]] for this?! And those who personally learned that TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive . . . [[BigNo What the hell, Destiny!?]] Gimme back my DoomedHometown!

* In ''ImAMarvelAndImADC'', Lex Luthor attempts to bring a hero to a [[spoiler:post-apocalyptic future in order to prevent it from happening]]. He was aiming for {{Superman}}, but instead, he got [[spoiler: {{Deadpool}} and the Green Goblin]].

* In the 2010 Film/AliceInWonderland movie has Absalom declare Alice to be "not hardly" the Alice they're looking for. [[spoiler: Later, Absalom tells Alice that ''at the time'', she was "not hardly" Alice; by the time they meet again, she's "almost" become Alice.]]