History Main / PlotHole

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', the whole story set-up is based around the Superheroes all being forced into retirement, because society has had enough of their actions causing them problems. What this doesn't take into account is that Supervillains are still a thing. Many Supervillains would obviously not go along with the rules to go into retirement like the Superheroes, which would lead to the world being a much worse place since the Superheroes would no longer be there to protect the people. Yet the story somehow continues on as if getting rid of Superheroes solved everything and the world is perfectly calm. Almost as if ''all'' the opposing Supervillains either chose to retire as well, or are just laying low for whatever reason.

** The worst of them mostly result from the bonus case in the first game being written well after the rest of the original trilogy. Almost every statement about Edgeworth in ''Justice for All'' becomes inaccurate when you insert another case between the Gourd Lake incident and the start of the second game. That same case introduces a law that says evidence can only be submitted to the court if it has proven relevance to the case, though ''every case in the series'' outside Rise from the Ashes allows this with no consequence.
** Many small plot holes are also introduced when the games are translated, probably the most prominent being in case 3 of ''Dual Destines'' when the translators removed the model of Professor Means without his staff in order to shrink the ROM for the US's download-only distribution. It was only used in one scene, when you first meet the professor, because at that point his staff should be [[spoiler:stabbed through Professor Courte's body in the courtyard]].
** There's at least one documented case of a plot hole being accounted for by the writers but having said fix left out of the final draft ([[spoiler:the police didn't believe Machi was able to fire a revolver capable of breaking a grown man's shoulder, Daryan was using his job as a detective to manipulate the investigation]]) which forces one to wonder how many other holes might be the result of similar mistakes or cuts.
** An especially baffling example is present in the first case of ''Apollo Justice''. A huge amount of the case focuses on [[spoiler: the victim, Shadi Smith, attempting to ruin Phoenix's career in a rigged poker game]]. This becomes head-tilting when [[spoiler: it's revealed near the end of the game that Shadi is actually Zak Grammyae, the defendant of Phoenix's last case and the biological father of Phoenix's adopted daughter Trucy]]. ''Why'' [[spoiler: Zak was willing to ruin the career of his daughter's legal guardian, when Phoenix being in hospital for a few days is enough to sap the Wrights' funds,]] is never explained, even in the flashback showing the two meeting just prior to the first case.

There seems to an attempt at LampshadeHanging when the creature's DNA report comes back - it has the DNA of all its victims and even rat DNA, which [[AlliterativeName Detective Dick Durkin]] mentions as being 'Multiple Restriction Polymorphic DNA strands'. This might indicate that the creature is supposed to be a ShapeShifter of some sort and that it only changes back to its natural form when about to kill. Of course, this still doesn't explain ''anything'' else in the film, like why it kills based on the lunar cycle; why it behaves like a human serial killer; its obsession with [[AwesomeMcCoolName Harley Stone]] and the psychic connection between them; what the creature is or where it came from; why it stopped killing prior to the film; why it bothers to steal a shotgun from the back of Stone's police 4x4 and use it on Stone and Durkin when it is, as established, a nine-foot tall walking nightmare of claws and teeth; why it doesn't bother to fight back when Stone [[spoiler:rips its heart out and finally kills it]], and a myriad of other gaping holes in the plot.

* In the ''Pegasus Prime'' version of ''VideoGame/TheJourneymanProject'', the BigBad alters the past and if you screw around instead of going to the TSA to advance the plot, the distortion wave [[NonStandardGameOver uncreates Gage]]. After avoiding the distortion wave by traveling to the ancient past and then jumping back to the altered present, Gage's boss in the new timeline recognizes him, even though Gage shouldn't techincally exist in the new timeline.

* ''Webcomic/DangerouslyChloe'' hasn't been online very long, but it seems to specialise in these, not least that Teddy and his sister Abbie apparently don't recognise Chloe, despite having met her three years before

* ''Webcomic/OkashinaOkashi'' uses plot holes as a PlotDevice, they are portals to other realities, each with it's own dominant JapaneseMediaTropes.
* ''Webcomic/APTComic'' uses these in a very literal way, you can access them by defying currently-existing canon (like the other plot hole definition) and pull stuff out at the cost of "Plothole Fairy Points."

** Near the end of the Wano Arc, it is revealed that [[spoiler:Luffy's Devil Fruit, thought the entire series to be the Gum-Gum Fruit, is actually the Human-Human Fruit: Model Nika, an extremely powerful Zoan fruit which's true identity had been kept hidden by the World Government.]] Besides [[DeusExMachina coming out of nowhere]], the twist contradicts multiple events from across the series:

*** [[spoiler:If the fruit was valuable that Who's Who, the [=CP9=] member assigned to guard it while it was being transported, was thrown in ''prison'' just for failing to prevent its theft, why was Luffy's capture not a higher priority, especially considering Luffy is both a D, and the son of the worlds most wanted criminal? Despite the fact that he spent weeks sailing East Blue and fought the Marines shortly after he set sail, Luffy never even had a bounty until he took out Arlong, and even then only become a major target after he showed the Marines up in Alabasta by defeating Crocodile. Considering the World Government committed a full-scale genocide of Robin's home just because of their research into the Void Century, and then gave an 80 Million bounty to an 8-year-old just because she was capable of reading Ponyglyphs, the lack of any kind of urgency regarding such a major secret is baffling.]]

* In ''VideoGame/UntilDawn'':
** In Chapter 10, when Sam and Mike are investigating the mines to find Josh, they come across a room implied to be [[spoiler: Wendigo!Hannah's lair]] where they find the bodies of every important character who has died thus far. Regardless of who they find in the room, Sam and Mike refer to "bodies ... lots of them" and start completely freaking out, even if the only body found is [[spoiler: the Stranger, who the group has met for a very brief time and barely know him.]]
** After [[spoiler: retrieving Josh]], Sam offers to climb back up the mines and go back to the lodge to meet up with "the others" - even if there are no others to meet up with, if only her, [[spoiler: Mike]] and [[spoiler: Josh]] are the last ones left.

** In ''Anime/DragonBallSuper''[='=]s retelling of ''Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF'', [[spoiler:Captain Ginyu makes his return, stealing [[SparedByTheAdaptation Tagoma's body]] and rejoining Frieza]]. He tells him how he survived the destruction of Namek, but it never explains how he survived Kid Buu destroying Earth, especially since Vegeta specified that only the "good people" be resurrected. The only possible idea is that Ginyu kept his nose clean for the in-universe 14 years since arriving on Earth. However, Ginyu is still a ''frog'' and not technically a ''person.'' So it kinda is a loophole that Ginyu unwittingly exploited. But it must be noted that a quite a few people were brought back to life with that wish during the Majin Boo arc, that had not right to brough back to life. Android 8, Fangs The Vampire, Giran, etc.

** Irene Belserion is revealed to be [[spoiler:the creator of Dragon Slayer magic]], yet Acnologia, who can [[spoiler:smell Dragon Slayers all over the ''continent'' , and was trying to kill them all]], had no interest in her until she goaded him into a fight. The next time they meet [[spoiler:(though "meet" might be inappropriate as Irene had just committed suicide)]], Acnologia suddenly knows this despite not even knowing her name before the end of their first confrontation.

** In the manga and the original Japanese dub of ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', there is a plot hole with regards to how Cell was able to survive and regenerate after he blew him self up, [[spoiler: killing Goku, King Kai and Bubbles and destroying King Kai's planet in the process]]. According to Cell, an organ inside his head allows him to regenerate, so long as that organ is not destroyed. Goku had previously destroyed Cell's entire upper body, head included, which should have prevented the evil Android from regenerating. This plot hole is averted in Creator/FUNimation's original English dub of the anime, where Cell states that "every cell in his body has a life of its own", and that one survived, which allowed him to regenerate.

* ''ComicBook/DCVsVampires'': The series has plenty of incidents of dubiously in-canon or in-characterization moments. But the biggest is [[ComicBook/GreenLantern Vampire!Hal Jordan]] using his ring at all, let alone using it to murder [[ComicBook/WonderTwins Zan]] and [[ComicBook/TheFlash Barry Allen]]. For one, the ring should've left Hal the moment he turned, due to being (un)dead.[[note]]There is precident for a zombie GL, but that was explictly a special case[[/note]]. For another, GL rings are hard-wired against the use of lethal force. The ring should've straight up refused Vampire!Hal's commands. And yet still, the rings have been shown to report any use of lethal force (intentional or accidental) directly to the Guardians, so Vampire!Hal should've had a squad of Green Lanterns showing up within minutes of his murder of Zan. We have yet to see an explanation as to how Vampire!Hal could overcome any of this.

* A rather glaring one crops up in ''Film/TwentyEightWeeksLater''. In the previous film, ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater'', it was a rather important plot point that [[TechnicallyLivingZombie the infected]] only came out at night and remained inside dark areas during the day: Jim only survives since he happens to wake up in a sun-filled hospital and wanders about during the day, all hell breaks loose when he wanders into a church near sunset, and Serena makes it ''very'' clear that you never, ''never'', go out at night unless it's absolutely necessary. ''Film/TwentyEightWeeksLater'' opens with the infected running around with impugnity during broad daylight with no explanation or justification whatsoever.

* ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'' has a couple major inconsistencies regarding character knowledge:
** Dr. Strange says that the malfunctioning spell is pulling people who know that Peter Parker is Spider-Man from other universes into the prime MCU universe. However, Max Dillion never learned Spider-Man's identity in [[Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan2 his own movie]]. [[{{Film/Venom2018}} Eddie Brock]] has never ''met'' Spider-Man or Peter Parker, and it's not clear if one even exists in his native universe.
** Both Otto Octavius and Flint Marko immediately recognize Norman Osborne as the Green Goblin, even though the only people to ever learn his identity in the original films were Peter Parker, Harry Osborne, and the Osborne butler. Marko might could be hand waved by saying that sometime offscreen after the events of the third film the Goblin's identity became public knowledge, but there's no way Octavius could have known, since he died years before that could have happened.

*** Why would Galactus give him that power in the first place? Particularly as he is forcing the Surfer to work for him under duress.
*** Why didn't the Silver Surfer do this millions of years ago? It does require a HeroicSacrifice, [[spoiler: or so he thinks. We find out in TheStinger that he survived.]] but just arguing that "he was too wimpy to do it until now" makes him look a million times worse, as, if that's the truth, countless planets would have survived if he hadn't been such a selfish coward.

** Dr. Strange says that the malfunctioning spell is pulling people who know that Peter Parker is Spider-Man from other universes into the prime MCU universe. However, Max Dillion never learned Spider-Man's identity in [[Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan2 his own movie]].

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' has a few massive ones at the end of the series:
** [[spoiler:Eren somehow used the Founding Titan's power to give Mikasa memories of an AlternateTimeline where she confessed her true feelings to him back in Marley, leading to them eloping and spending 4 years together in peace until the Curse of Ymir claimed Eren's life. This completely contradicts the established fact that members of the Ackerman bloodline were immune to memory manipulation which was why they were hunted and killed by the Royal Family]].
** [[spoiler:In the final chapter, Eren reveals that his true plan was to wipe out 80% of Humanity and be killed by the Alliance in order to set them up as heroes and establish peace between Paradis and the surviving 20%. This revelation creates several ''massive'' problems with a lot of things Eren has stated throughout the series up until this point:]]
*** [[spoiler:After the Alliance is dragged into the Paths dimension and make one last attempt to talk Eren out of continuing the Rumbling, he flat out declared that he would not leave Paradis Island's fate to chance and would not stop]].
*** [[spoiler:During the battle of Trost, Dot Pixis told Eren a legend where a powerful non-human enemy appeared and all of Humanity would set aside their differences and unite forces to stop it. Eren scoffed at such a story and called it far too rosy to actually happen. So why did he decide to carry out the exact same type of plan?]]
*** [[spoiler:As the additional pages of the final chapter showed, after the Outside World recovered from Eren's rampage roughly 100 years later, Paradis Island was bombed into oblivion, rendering Eren's plan completely ludicrous in context]].
** [[spoiler:Mikasa somehow traversing '''thousands''' of miles across the obliterated continent of Marley and crossing the ocean back to Paradis to bury Eren's head '''on foot''' with no food or water is never explained]].

** Dr. Strange says that the malfunctioning spell is pulling people who know that Peter Parker is Spider-Man from other universes into the prime MCU universe. However, Max Dillion never learned Spider-Man's identity in [[Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan2 his own movie]]. Dialogue also suggests that Otto Octavius was taken from a point in the timeline before he learned that Spider-Man was Peter (despite referring to Holland's Peter by name in his first scene in this movie) though in his case he did at least learn it eventually.

** Dr. Strange says that the malfunctioning spell is pulling people who know that Peter Parker is Spider-Man from other universes into the prime MCU universe. However, Max Dillion never learned Spider-Man's identity in [[Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan2 his own movie]]. Dialogue also suggests that Otto Octavius was taken from a point in thee timeline before he learned that Spider-Man was Peter (despite referring to Holland's Peter by name in his first scene in this movie) though in his case he did at least learn it eventually.

** At the end of the first film, Hagrid reminds Harry that the Dursleys don't know underage magic is forbidden. The second film cuts the letter informing the Dursleys of that fact after Dobby levitates the cake. Yet Vernon suddenly loses his fear of Harry and barricades him in, despite having no reason to believe Harry wouldn't turn him into a frog or blast the bars off the windows (especially since he leaves Harry his wand and trunk).

*** The entire subplot of Crookshanks and Scabbers is all but cut from the film, making Ron and Hermione's quarrel over their pets seem to come out of nowhere and never get resolved.
*** The start of the film has Harry practicing the Lumos Maxima spell during his summer break at the Dursleys, which doesn't make any sense whatsoever when it's made clear by the time of ''[[Film/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix Order of the Phoenix]]'' that students performing magic outside of school is illegal.

*** Speaking of ''Goblet'', thanks to [[spoiler: the whole Crouch subplot being cut]] and Dumbledore's questioning of the culprit who put Harry's name in the Goblet are all totally cut, the reveal that [[spoiler: Barty Crouch Jr. did it]] makes absolutely no sense. Especially because Harry is told that [[spoiler: Crouch died]]. The movie could have given the culprit a totally different name and the film would make exactly the same amount of sense.
*** Another Crouch Jr. related plot hole is that there is no mention of him getting the Dementor's kiss. The movie states he will be sent to Azkaban. In later movies, Voldemort frees all the Death Eaters, but Crouch Jr. never appears alongside them despite playing a major part in Voldemort's return. He likely should be CoDragons with Bellatrix Lestrange.
*** Also in ''[[Film/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire Goblet of Fire]]'', the Quidditch World Cup is disrupted by an attack of Death Eaters that causes the thousands of attendees to flee in terror, even though the evil group is outnumbered hundreds to one. The group is then apparently responsible for the Dark Mark. Yet, a later major plot point is all about how no one believes Harry that Voldemort is back. This is an AdaptationInducedPlotHole, because in the original novel, what happened instead was that a group of ''former'' death eaters got rowdy and drunk at the World Cup, and Barty Crouch Jr. got enraged by their lack of loyalty to Voldemort and cast the Dark Mark as a warning to ''them''.

** The scene explaining the taboo on Voldemort's name in DH is deleted, so it just looks like the trio either have incredibly bad luck, or the Death Eaters are fantastic trackers who don't tell Voldemort where to find Harry and inexplicably go after him themselves, and Xenophilius Lovegood is insane, but happens to have incredible timing.

* ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc''
** The Abominable Snowman tells Sulley the village is a three day hike from where they are on the mountain. Three days of hiking does not become thirty seconds just because you are on a sled.
** Also during the final chase sequence through the door storage room of the scream factory, Boo's laugh ends up activating thousands of doors that stay on for many minutes. Meaning that many active doors were connecting the monster world to the human world all at once. Given the amount of doors that were active at the time, some humans would have surely stumbled upon the monster world at this time.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'', the Abominable Snowman tells Sulley the village is a three day hike from where they are on the mountain. Three days of hiking does not become thirty seconds just because you are on a sled.
** Also during the final chase sequence through the door storage room of the factory, Boo's laugh ends up activating thousands of doors that stay on for many minutes. Humans would have surely stumbled upon the monster world at this time.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', the whole story set-up is based around the Superheroes all being forced into retirement, because society has had enough of their actions causing them problems. What this doesn't take into account is that Supervillains are still a thing. Many Supervillains would obviously not go along with the rules to go into retirement like the Superheroes, which would lead to the world being a much worse place since the Superheroes would no longer be there to protect the people. Yet the story somehow continues on as if ''all'' the Supervillains either chose to retire as well, or are just laying low for whatever reason.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', the whole story set-up is based around the Superheroes all being forced into retirement, because society has had enough of their actions causing them problems. What this doesn't take into account is that Supervillains are still a thing. Many Supervillains would obviously not go along with the rules to go into retirement like the Superheroes, which would lead to the world being much worser place since the Superheroes would no longer be there to protect people. Yet the story somehow continues on as if ''all'' the Supervillains either chose to retire as well, or are just laying low.

** ''[[Anime/PokemonGenesectAndTheLegendAwakened Genesect and the Legend Awakened]]'' features a character whose ''whole existence'' is one -- Mewtwo. The first movie and its prologue ([[NoExportForYou which wasn't included in the American version]]) clearly establishes its Mewtwo as a unique specimen -- it was cloned from the DNA of a very rare (and near extinct) Pokémon, said DNA was altered in a specific way to make it even more powerful, the final result was lucky to have not died some time after being created (unlike its fellow clones), and it finally blew up the lab with all personnel and research inside, ensuring there were [[NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup no plans, prototype or backup]]. And for good measure, ''Mewtwo Returns'' had it [[LaserGuidedAmnesia wipe the minds of the organisation that commissioned his creation]], ensuring no effort could be made to recreate him. Despite this, the Mewtwo seen in ''Gensect and the Legend Awakened'' is physically identical to the original, with no backstory or explanation for why or how this is the case despite the aforementioned factors beyond "scientists made it with Mew's DNA". Who these scientists are, how ''they'' got Mew DNA or why they made Mewtwo to begin with isn't explained either.