History Main / OutsideGenreFoe

* The classic ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' adventure ''Expedition to the Barrier Peaks'', where the players find themselves in a crashed starship fighting pod people and robots.
** Actially invoked by some fan guides and conversions to ''TabletopGame/RedHandOfDoom'' which suggest putting the adventure in [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Equestria]] of all places, just because it allows DM to play up the Hobgoblins as an utterly alien threat, effectively adding a horror level to the campaign.

* The head writer of ''Anime/DigimonTamers'' decided that the final boss would be neither Digimon nor human, something that neither the heroes or the audience could ever expect. The [[DigitalAbomination D-Reaper]] more than qualified; an [[BlobMonster ever-growing mass of red goo]] that aims to [[OmnicidalManiac delete]] ''[[OmnicidalManiac everything]]''. Originally [[FromNobodyToNightmare a mere data-management program]], it absorbed so much data that it threatens to destroy both the Digital World and the human world. Even the strongest of Digimon can be wounded merely by coming into contact with the thing, and it takes the heroes multiple episodes to figure out how to even fight it. [[MediumBlending The D-Reaper is also rendered in 3D CGI, in contrast to the rest of the series being in 2D animation]], just to further emphasize how ''wrong'' the thing is.

** ''Manga/DragonBall'' was a martial arts/comedy show in a world with some futuristic sci-fi elements and many more magical elements, and Goku and company dealing primarily with armies, powerful martial artists, and the occasional monster. Then came [[KnightOfCerebus "Demon King Piccolo"]] who was a force of pure evil who took the franchise to its darkest point (albeit, even though that was the original show's penultimate arc, that's still quite an early point).

** The hidden BigBad of ''Anime/OnePieceFilmRed'', [[spoiler:Tot Musica]], is an EldritchAbomination literally described as [[MaouTheDemonKing "The Demon King"]] and is said to be a creature born from humanity's negative emotions. It exists simultaneously in two dimensions, and can only be harmed and ultimately defeated if fighters in both dimensions can coordinate their attacks to strike the exact same point at the exact same moment. But even this won't kill it, merely banish it to somewhere else; so long as the musical score that summons it exists, it can be called forth again. This has absolutely ''no'' basis in any of ''One Piece's'' other magical worldbuilding.

[[folder:Film -- Animated]]

* The [[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 MST3K]]-covered ''Film/TheBeastOfHollowMountain'' appears to be a standard Western, with an American rancher trying to deal with disappearing cattle, his love for a local Mexican woman, and his rivalry with another rancher in his Mexican village. Then, later in the film - probably much too late for some - it turns out his cattle are vanishing because [[spoiler:there's a T. rex running around]].

* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
** In ''Film/TheAvengers2012'', Loki is, as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Natasha Romanov (a.k.a. Black Widow) puts it, "nothing we were trained for" -- most of the eponymous SuperTeam are used to terrorists with fancy weapons, not mad {{physical god}}s from {{another dimension}}. Fortunately, Loki's elder brother Thor has dealt with his crap before and joins the human heroes.

* ''Film/{{Predator}}'': It starts off as a war/action movie, with experienced soldiers going on what looks to them and the audience like another jungle skirmish, to fight some local guerillas. Then the hyper-advanced alien comes in, hijacks the plot, and turns the movie into a [[SciFiHorror completely different genre]]. The characters go from seasoned soldiers on a mission to the playthings of something that sees hunting them as an enjoyable hobby, and couldn't be more confused about it.
* ''Film/Predator2'' opens like a late-'80s ''Film/DirtyHarry''-style crime-action film, with rival gangs shooting up the streets of Los Angeles and the LAPD struggling to handle them. Then an alien hunter shows up and becomes a bigger problem. [[spoiler:Even the alien-hunter ''hunters'' aren't fully prepared for what they're up against.]]
* ''Film/Prey2022'' does the same again, in the eighteenth century American Great Plains. The main characters are Comanche warriors and French trappers who, as in the first two movies, find themselves completely caught off-guard by the appearance of an alien hunter.

* The entire KidDetective genre (''Literature/NancyDrew'', ''Literature/TheHardyBoys'', ''Literature/EncyclopediaBrown'', anything by Creator/EnidBlyton) essentially runs on this. The criminals in these novels are prepared for cops, spies, the occasional GreatDetective, and anyone else they might run across in a more ordinary crime thiller. What they're not expecting at all is to be thwarted by a small-group of pre-teenage children, so they usually end up completely blindsided when it inevitably happens.

** In ''Series/TheFlash2014'', a young Barry Allen watches his mother being murdered by what appears to be a fast-moving man shrouded in lightning. Barry's unbelievable story results in his father being imprisoned for the murder. Fourteen years later, a particle accelerator explodes, [[MassSuperEmpoweringEvent creating other "metahumans" with similar powers]]. However, that doesn't explain how a metahuman could exist ''before'' the particle accelerator explosion. As in the comics, the murderer's origin turns out to be even more bizarre: [[spoiler:he's a time-traveller]]. Later on, the show adds alternate dimensions and aliens into the mix. Season 4 adds an honest-to-God vampire to the show.

** The yearly crossover events run on this. The second one, ''Series/Invasion2016'', had an antagonistic race of aliens known as the Dominators invading Earth to eliminate metahumans, causing Team Arrow, Team Flash, the Legends and Series/{{Supergirl|2015}} to team up and take them down. ''Series/CrisisOnEarthX'' has an [[ThoseWackyNazis army of actual Nazis]] (from an alternate Earth, Earth-X, where they won World War II) crashing Barry and Iris' wedding, backed up by evil versions of Arrow and Supergirl and the Reverse-Flash. The third, ''Series/Elseworlds2018'', has the heroes (minus the Legends, but including Superman) against both a rogue android designed to copy superhuman abilities, as well as a mad doctor with access to a reality-altering book. ''Elseworlds'' served as a prelude to the latest event, ''Series/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths2019'', where every hero possible is called in to combat the threat of the Anti-Monitor and his antimatter wave from wiping out the multiverse.

* ''[[Series/Charmed1998 Charmed]]:''

* ''Film/{{Predator}}'' is a great example. It starts off as a war/action movie, with experienced soldiers going on what looks to them and the audience like another jungle skirmish, to fight some local guerillas. Then the hyper-advanced alien comes in, hijacks the plot, and turns the movie into a [[SciFiHorror completely different genre]]. The characters go from seasoned soldiers on a mission to the playthings of something that sees hunting them as an enjoyable hobby, and couldn't be more confused about it.

** The setting of ''Series/OhsamaSentaiKingOhger'' takes place in is more or less a HeroicFantasy with political thriller elements. The second arc reveals that the GreaterScopeVillian that makes himself fully known to the world is a being more akain to something from a CosmicHorrorStory.

* The entire KidDetective genre (''Literature/NancyDrew'', ''Literature/TheHardyBoys'', anything by Creator/EnidBlyton) essentially runs on this. The criminals in these novels are prepared for cops, spies, the occasional GreatDetective, and anyone else they might run across in a more ordinary crime thiller. What they're not expecting at all is to be thwarted by a small-group of pre-teenage children, so they usually end up completely blindsided when it inevitably happens.

* The most memorable ''Manga/OnePiece'' antagonists are the movie-exclusive threats who simply do not confirm to anything considered a "normal" threat on the Grand Line. And considering the usual types of enemies that the Straw Hats face include enemy pirates, marines, fish people, sky people, cyborgs, and the myriad impossibilities that are Devil Fruit users, that's saying something!

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' is a MagicalGirl show where [[spoiler:the adorable, fluffy cat-weasel mentor for the protagonists [[EvilAllAlong is actually a villain]] ripped straight from a CosmicHorrorStory. Kyubey is revealed to be a ManipulativeBastard who follows its own BlueAndOrangeMorality while dooming the protagonists and humanity as a whole to an unimaginable fate]].

* Eclipso in ''ComicBook/AmethystPrincessOfGemworld''. Until his arrival, the entire plot of the series revolved around a political struggle between Mordiel and the rest her family, with most Houses having various positions toward the whole thing. Then this ancient enemy comes back from Earth and proceeds to MindControl two members of the house, essentially becoming the biggest threat and forcing Mordiel into an alliance with her family.

** In ''Series/TheFlash2014'', a young Barry Allen watches his mother being murdered by what appears to be a fast-moving man shrouded in lightning. Barry's unbelievable story results in his father being imprisoned for the murder. Fourteen years later, a particle accelerator explodes, [[MassSuperEmpoweringEvent creating other "metahumans" with similar powers]]. However, that doesn't explain how a metahuman could exist ''before'' the particle accelerator explosion. Fans of the comics know that the murderer's origin is even more bizarre: [[spoiler:He's a time-traveller]]. Later on, the show adds alternate dimensions and aliens into the mix. Season 4 adds an honest-to-God vampire to the show.

* The faction in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' known as "those who slither in the dark" [[spoiler:are the descendants of Agartha, a [[AbusivePrecursors technologically advanced and morally bankrupt ancient civilization]], who]] use LostTechnology to create unusually powerful and portable weapons. [[spoiler:This same technology affords them access to HumongousMecha, electric cannons, and intercontinental ballistic missiles that they use to destroy strategically important locations after losing a battle for them.]] The heroes have no real understanding of what they are, and refer to them as "controlled beasts" or "javelins of light."

* In ''VideoGame/JaggedAlliance2'', while clearing out an evil scientist's bunker, your team comes upon a huge area of even more huge mutant bugs to fight. This leads to some humorous comments from all your mercs who all have funny comments to say when confronted suddenly with a non-human enemy.

* Two ''Manga/OnePiece'' movies, ''Anime/BaronOmatsuriAndTheSecretIsland'' and ''Anime/OnePieceFilmRed'' feature outright demonic creatures in the form of [[spoiler: Lily Carnation and Tot Musica]] as the ultimate antagonists of each film instead of the enemy pirates, marines, fish people, sky people, cyborgs, or any of the usual types of enemies the Straw Hats face.

* ''Fanfic/CodePrime'': A {{Downplayed}} example, in that while the Decepticons are robots in a mecha show, it's their morality that sets them apart. Whereas ''Anime/CodeGeass'' is a [[RealRobotGenre Real Robot show]] with GreyAndGrayMorality, in comes a [[CardCarryingVillain remorselessly evil]] force from the stars that fits a more [[BlackAndWhiteMorality idealistic]] [[SuperRobotGenre Super Robot show]], albeit a slightly darker one. Besides, [[spoiler: what's a human empire that utilizes Earth-made resources that fares well against transforming alien robots]]?

* ''Fanfic/CodePrime'': A {{Downplayed}} example, in that while the Decepticons are robots in a mecha show, it's their morality that sets them apart. Whereas ''Anime/CodeGeass'' is a [[RealRobotGenre Real Robot show]] with GreyAndGrayMorality, in comes an actual evil force from the stars that is remorselessly evil and fits a more idealistic [[SuperRobotGenre Super Robot show]], albeit a slightly darker one. Besides, [[spoiler: what's a human empire that utilizes Earth-made resources that fares well against transforming alien robots]]?

* For an obstensibly science fiction series, ''Franchise/StarTrek'' certainly has a lot of supernatural antagonists.

** For much of his first adventures, James Bond was tasked with defeating world-domination oriented plots of European and/or Asian villains, or at least very high-stakes criminal or spying plots, always with the UsefulNotes/ColdWar as backdrop. In ''Film/LiveAndLetDie'', Bond finds himself facing off against a Caribbean-based drug ring, led by a dictator with HollywoodVoodoo connections, and nothing relating it to the Cold War whatsoever. In the same movie -- though "foe" is something of a stretch in this case -- [[GenreRefugee J.W. Pepper]] is your typical ''Film/SmokeyAndTheBandit''/''Series/TheDukesOfHazzard''-style Southern sheriff who suddenly finds himself caught up in Bond's wake.

* ''Fanfic/CodePrime'': A {{Downplayed}} example, in that while the Decepticons are robots in a mecha show, it's their morality that sets them apart. Whereas ''Anime/CodeGeass'' is a [[RealRobotGenre Real Robot show]] with GreyAndGrayMorality, in comes an actual evil force from the stars that is remorselessly evil and fits a more idealistic SuperRobotShow, albeit a slightly darker one. Besides, [[spoiler: what's a human empire that utilizes Earth-made resources that fares well against transforming alien robots]]?

* ''Fanfic/TheBalefulBureau'': [[Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunsteEvents The Baudelaire Orphans]] are the protagonists of a ConspiracyLiterature series, with most of their opponents being mundane human villains. The arc villain of their visit to the [[VideoGame/{{Control}} Oldest House]], however, is the Foundation Dweller, an InsectoidAbomination out of a NewWeird setting. The Baudelaires have trouble figuring out how such a creature can even ''exist'', unaware that this kind of creature is an average opponent for their CrossoverRelative, Jesse Faden.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}: Diamond and Pearl'': Ash and his friends once encountered an actual ghost. While there are many Ghost type Pokemon, the one they faced was a human ghost that was going to drag them into its realm.

* The adult fanfic ''Fanfic/WanderingPilot'' gives the feminist world of ''Anime/QueensBlade'' the main protagonist of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. Because of how he's from a world different from their own (HumongousMecha with [[DysfunctionJunction psychological horror]] for the best examples) in addition to being a very unusual kind of boy, every badass woman has her eyes toward him. Of course, this is more than just a mere harem fic as he's only interested in helping people, yet his insertion and [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands new unique powers he himself can't comprehend]] causes changes and problems for everyone.

* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
** In ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', ComicBook/{{Loki}} is, as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Natasha Romanov (a.k.a. ComicBook/BlackWidow) puts it, "nothing we were trained for" -- most of the eponymous superteam are used to terrorists with fancy weapons, not mad {{physical god}}s from {{another dimension}}. Fortunately, Loki's elder brother [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] has dealt with his crap before and joins the human heroes.
** ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'': ComicBook/{{Thanos}}, the alien warlord with god-like powers granted by the Infinity Gauntlet is this to many of the heroes he fights in the movie. While Thor and the ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy aren't necessarily strangers to alien threats, ComicBook/DoctorStrange is sworn to fight against magical dangers, Franchise/SpiderMan confronts street-level criminals, ComicBook/CaptainAmerica and ComicBook/IronMan handle dangerous terrorists and ComicBook/BlackPanther guards Wakanda from invaders. Thanos is unlike anything they had to contend with before, and even Thor and the Guardians are shown to not be enough to fight him either.

* ''Film/Predator2'' opens like a late-80s ''Film/DirtyHarry''-style crime-action film, with rival gangs shooting up the streets of Los Angeles and the LAPD struggling to handle them. Then an alien hunter shows up and becomes a bigger problem. [[spoiler:Even the alien-hunter ''hunters'' aren't fully prepared for what they're up against.]]

* The current page picture is for the sadly cancelled team FirstPersonShooter "Dinosaurs Vs. Alamo", which involved [[WeirdWest Wild West Cowboys facing off]] against ''[[EverythingsDeaderWithZombies zombie]]'' dinosaurs.

* In the ''Manga/SoulHunter'' manga and 2018 anime, which has been mostly Chinese fantasy, [[spoiler:it turns out that So Dakki, the supposed villain, was working for the alien [[TheGreys Jyoka]] all along. Jyoka, as the Signpost of History, has long been manipulating all of Earth to her whims]].