History Main / RetroactiveIdiotBall

** Back when Naruto first interacted with the Nine-Tailed Fox within him, the latter gave the him his Chakra despite his clear resentment at being imprisoned because it was originally stated that if Naruto dies, then the Fox dies as well. However late in Part II, it is later revealed that the Tailed Beasts will revive some time after being killed as shown what happened with Rin & the Three-Tails and the Fox himself knows it. By the time the revelation is known, Kurama is already on the verge of genuinely caring about his host but given that he initially wants to be free and away from humans after being trapped for so long, it begs the question of why he even protect Naruto at all when simply letting him die would have allowed him to accomplish said goals.

** Back when Naruto first interacted with the Nine-Tailed Fox within him, the latter gave the him his Chakra despite his clear resentment at being imprisoned because it was originally stated that if Naruto dies, then the Fox dies as well. Then late in Part II, it is later revealed that the Tailed Beasts will revive some time after being killed as shown what happened with Rin & the Three-Tails and the Fox himself knows it. By the time the revelation is known, Kurama is already on the verge of genuinely caring about his host but given that he initially wants to be free and away from humans after being trapped for so long, it begs the question of why he even protect Naruto at all when simply letting him die would have allowed him to accomplish said goals.

** Back when Naruto first interacted with the Nine-Tailed Fox within him, the latter gave the him his Chakra despite his clear resentment at being imprisoned because it was originally stated that if Naruto dies, then the Fox dies as well. Then late in Part II, it is later revealed that the Tailed Beasts will revive some time after being killed as shown what happened with Rin & the Three-Tails and the Fox himself knows it. By the time the revelation is known, Kurama is already on the verge of genuinely caring about his host but given that he initially wants to be free and away from humans, it begs the question of why he even protect Naruto at all when simply letting him die would have allowed him to accomplish said goals.

* ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'', Zeus asking Kratos to find the Pandora Box in order to defeat Ares gets hit with this twice in the sequels. First, the Pandora Box was initially said to be the only weapon able to kill a god but then ''VideoGame/GodOfWar2'' has Zeus' sword [[UniquenessDecay being able to do it as well]] therefore he could have just give it to Kratos and spares the champion a long and perilous quest. ''VideoGame/GodOFWarIII'' exacerbates the issue by revealing that [[spoiler:Zeus created the box to contain the primordial evils and after Kratos opened it for the first time, they were released and started to infect the gods. Why Zeus asked Kratos to open the box just to kill one god who only threatened one city is never addressed and only makes him a bigger idiot.]]

** Initially, Itachi said he killed the Uchiha clan to test how strong he could become, and spared Sasuke because he was curious to see if Sasuke would follow in his footsteps, setting up Sasuke's desire for revenge and power. Years later after his death following an intense fight with Sasuke, it's revealed Itachi actually did all that because he learned his clan was going to stage a coup to overthrow the village, and being loyal to the village, killed all but Sasuke, who was spared as part of the arrangement, and lied to convince Sasuke to one day kill him to be seen as a hero by the village. The problem is that Itachi went out of his way to push Sasuke to want more power, which lead Sasuke to defect from the village and join Orochimaru, who Itachi knows wants an Uchiha's body for BodySurf reasons. If his goal was to convince Sasuke to stay in the village and become a hero, it backfired because Sasuke learning the truth made him hate the village enough to want to destroy it in response. Even if he assumed Sasuke would never learn the truth, he directly encouraged and caused Sasuke to become a fugitive even before his death, making the supposedly genius Itachi who was trying to protect his brother and the village look dumb for not doing either right.

** In ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', Qui-Gon is fatally injured from his battle with Darth Maul, and as Obi-Wan cradles him he painfully tells him it's too late to save him and that he'll have to train Anakin in his stead. Anakin's very motivation throughout the Prequel Trilogy and especially ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' is to obtain the power to prevent Padmé from dying. ''Series/TheMandalorian'' and ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' establish that [[HealingHands Force Healing]] is very much a thing and can not only heal fatal injuries of others, but can even ''bring back the recently deceased'', albeit [[EquivalentExchange at a cost]]. Even worse, while Rey has a HandWave in that she learned it studying sacred Jedi texts that weren't made available to most, Kylo Ren picks it up easily after watching her do it to him, saving him from the same sort of stab wound that did in Qui-Gon. There's little practical reason to why this skill wasn't widespread taught amongst the Jedi Order at its height. Notably, the [[Franchise/StarWarsLegends Legends continuity]] did have the ability, but it was typically given a necessary balance in that it couldn't outright save people from death, and required meditation and a lot of time to learn to use on the fly, meaning it wouldn't be able to outright save people from dying.

** Both times that the heroes were given advanced warning of a dangerous new foe coming to fight them (the Saiyans and Androids), they used the chance to train and get as strong as they could within the time limit they had. After being defeated by Android's 17 and 18, and Cell is introduced, Goku reveals the existence of Hyperbolic Time Chamber on Kami's Lookout, which allows the people inside to get [[YearInsideHourOutside a whole year's worth of training in a day]]. This makes the years of intense training in prior arcs look dumb in retrospect, since they could have just gone into the Time Chamber, trained for a bit inside, and emerge more powerful, especially considering the whole YearInsideHourOutside aspect means they can still train the same outside of it, meaning they effectively get an additional year with no downsides. The only somewhat justified reason they couldn't use it (the limit on the amount of time you can spend in it, and the atmospheric conditions) aren't presented as serious enough in the original manga to justify why the Humans don't use it nor why it wasn't used sooner, especially when Goku also states its where he trained with Kami during the timeskip near the end of the original ''Dragon Ball' story, which means that Goku as a kid could go in, but the human characters somehow can't, despite being more powerful at the start of Z then Goku is when he would have gone in as a kid.

** Both times that the heroes were given advanced warning of a dangerous new foe coming to fight them (the Saiyans and Androids), they used the chance to train and get as strong as they could within the time limit they had. After being defeated by Android's 17 and 18, and Cell is introduced, Goku reveals the existence of Hyperbolic Time Chamber on Kami's Lookout, which allows the people inside to get [[YearInsideHourOutside a whole year's worth of training in a day]]. This makes the years of intense training in prior arcs look dumb in retrospect, since they could have just gone into the Time Chamber, trained for a bit inside, and emerge more powerful, especially considering the whole YearInsideHourOutside aspect means they can still train the same outside of it, meaning they effectively get an additional year with no downsides. The only somewhat justified reason they couldn't use it (the limit on the amount of time you can spend in it, and the atmospheric conditions) aren't presented as serious enough in the original manga to justify why the Humans don't use it nor why it wasn't used sooner, especially when Goku also states its where he trained with Kami, which means that Goku as a kid can go in, but the human characters somehow can't, despite being more powerful at the start of Z then Goku is when he would have gone in as a kid.

** An {{Interquel}} comic released after ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' revealed that Darth Vader knew about Exegol and the Emperor's plan for resurection. This obviously raises the question about why he didn't warn Luke about it during his last moments... or even ''after'' when he came back as a force ghost.

** A major plot point in ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' is the characters finding parts of a map that leads to Luke's location. By the end, they manage the piece all the parts together and find out what planet Luke is on, and the movie ends with Rey about to give him his lightsaber and talk to him. Early in ''Film/TheLastJedi'' it's made clear Luke has no desire to train more Jedi and just came to the island to die and be forgotten about. This raises the obvious question of why the hell he would leave a map in the first place if he didn't want to be found.

** In ''Film/ANewHope'', we see that Obi-Wan's standard outfit while hanging out on Tatooine is a brown cloak worn over a set of beige robes. If you go strictly by the film, and compare his outfit to the one worn by (for instance) Owen Lars, the assumption would probably be that Obi-Wan is dressing like one of the locals and wearing a cloak to protect himself from the harsh environment, which makes sense, as he's supposed to be in hiding. Later films in the series (particularly the prequels) reveal that Obi-Wan's outfit was pretty much standard Jedi attire, raising the question of how Obi-Wan has managed to stay in hiding when he isn't disguising himself at all and hasn't changed his surname from that of a famous Jedi commander. The prequels also raise the question of why Obi-Wan thought it was safe to raise Luke on Vader's homeworld in the care of Vader's only known relative, his step-brother, and have Luke keep his last name. ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' lessened it somewhat by explaining that Vader did not know Padmé had given birth before dying (and so wouldn't know to look for children of his), and the ''Series/ObiWanKenobi'' series lessens the idiocy further by explaining that Obi-Wan didn't know Vader survived the events on Mustafar until a decade later.

* In the early parts of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'', the main ArcVillain is Keicho Nijimura, a guy whose father has been rendered horribly disfigured and in constant pain, but also rendered basically immortal. He wants to find someone with the power to MercyKill his dad, and he's obtained a supernatural arrow that allows him to grant anyone a random power--however, the arrow is extremely likely to kill a person if they aren't strong enough to develop one. To accomplish this, he shoots the arrow at random people throughout the town, in the hopes that one of them will win the SuperpowerRussianRoulette, killing a number of people and turning a number of others into early MonsterOfTheWeek threats. This isn't a good plan by any means, and it ultimately leads to his death, but it makes sense from the perspective of an increasingly desperate guy with lacking moral fiber. However, later on, a different villain named Yoshihiro Kira reveals that someone using the arrow can sense when a person has the potential to survive and develop powers. So either Keicho ''really'' didn't bother to experiment with the arrow, despite having it for years, or he was dumb enough to shoot people despite knowing there was no chance they'd develop powers.

** In the original [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 movie]], the scene where Simba sees Mufasa's ghost was meant to be a hallucination on Simba's part representing his realization that he can’t run away from his past and that he needs to set things right, which explains why he didn't just tell him the truth about what happened. The sequels made it so it was ''the actual ghost'' of Mufasa, which raises the obvious question of why Mufasa didn't tell Simba that it wasn't his fault that he died and that Scar was the one who really killed him, instead of just vaguely telling him to "Remember who you are."

** When Rafiki appears to tell Simba's friends that he's gone back to the Pride Lands, a confused Timon asks "Who's the monkey?". But in ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKingOneAndAHalf'', a POVSequel, Timon actually met Rafiki much earlier in the narrative (as in ''before the original's narrative even started'') and that in fact, Rafiki was the one who taught him the "Hakuna Matata" motto and that Timon's whole journey that led to him ending up in the place he's introduced in the original movie was based on him being LiteralMinded and misinterpreting Rafiki's advice, meaning that he should have known who the monkey was.

** In the original [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 movie]], the scene where Simba sees Mufasa's ghost was meant to be a hallucination on Simba's part representing his realization that he can’t run away from his past and that he needs to set things right, which explains why he didn't just tell him the truth about what happened. The sequels made it so it was ''the actual ghost'' of Mufasa, which raises the obvious question of why Mufasa didn't tell Simba it wasn't his fault that he died and that Scar was the one who really killed him, instead of just vaguely telling him to "Remember who you are."

** In the original [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 movie]], the scene where Simba sees Mufasa's ghost was meant to be a hallucination on Simba's part representing his realization that he can’t run away from his past and that he needs to set things right, which explains why he didn't just tell him the truth about what happened. The sequels made it so it was ''the actual ghost'' of Mufasa, which raises the obvious question of why Mufasa didn't tell Simba it wasn't his fault that and that Scar was the one who really killed him, instead of just vaguely telling him to "Remember who you are."

** At the beginning of ''Film/ANewHope'' when Vader captures the Tantive IV Leia tells him she's just on a diplomatic mission. While he doesn't believe it, it's still not all that improbable in the context of just this movie. Then, ''Film/RogueOne'' (which ends ''right'' before A New Hope begins), we find out that Vader followed Leia directly from the Battle Of Scarif (in which she participated), making her claim BlatantLies, and making her seem really dumb for thinking Vader would fall for it.

** In the original [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 movie]], the scene where Simba sees Mufasa's ghost was meant to be a hallucination on Simba's part, which explains why he didn't just tell him the truth about what happened. The sequels made it so it was ''the actual ghost'' of Mufasa, which raises the obvious question of why Mufasa didn't tell Simba it wasn't his fault that and that Scar was the one who really killed him, instead of just vaguely telling him to "Remember who you are."

** Leia kisses Luke on the mouth in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack''. ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' has her tell Luke that she's always known they were siblings.

* In the original ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl'' the crew of the Black Pearl had been [[DemBones cursed into undeath]] upon stealing the treasure of Cortés. They were actually informed that some sort of curse existed but dismissed it on the basis that, as Barbossa concurs with Elizabeth when she hears about it and doesn't believe it, they "hardly believe in ghost stories." Likewise, their former captain Jack Sparrow, whom they mutinied against and so avoided being cursed, upon seeing the cursed crew, comments "So there ''is'' a curse...", suggesting that he didn't believe it either. Nothing in the original movie suggests this is an unusual train of thought. The sequels go on to explain that by this point Jack had already met Davy Jones and both Jack and Barbossa are Pirate Lords who know the goddess Calypso was bound in human form by their predecessors, amongst other things that seem to be common knowledge amongst pirates. So it's a little weird that the crew would [[ArbitrarySkepticism suddenly decide the curse isn't real]] and commit mutiny against Jack Sparrow to get the treasure.

* In the original ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl'' the crew of the Black Pearl had been [[DemBones cursed into undeath]] upon stealing the treasure of Cortés. They were actually informed that some sort of curse existed but dismissed it on the basis that, as Barbossa concurs with Elizabeth when she hears about it and doesn't believe it, they "hardly believe in ghost stories." Likewise, their former captain Jack Sparrow, whom they mutinied against and so avoided being cursed, upon seeing the cursed crew, comments "So there ''is'' a curse...", suggesting that he didn't believe it either. Nothing in the original movie suggests this is an unusual train of thought. The sequels go on to explain that by this point Jack had already met Davy Jones and both Jack and Barbossa are Pirate Lords who know the goddess Calypso was bound in human form by their predecessors, amongst other things. So it's a little weird that the crew would [[ArbitrarySkepticism suddenly decide the curse isn't real]] and commit mutiny against Jack Sparrow to get the treasure.

** At the beginning of ''Film/ANewHope'' when Vader captures the Tantive IV Leia tells him she's just on a diplomatic mission. While he doesn't believe it, it's still not all that improbable in the context of just this movie. Then, ''Film/RogueOne'' (which ends ''right'' before A New Hope begins), we find out that Vader followed Leia directly from the Battle Of Scarif (in which she participated), making her claim BlatantLies, and making her seem really dumb for thinking Vader would fall for it.

* At the beginning of ''Film/ANewHope'' when Vader captures the Tantive IV Leia tells him she's just on a diplomatic mission. While he doesn't believe it, it's still not all that improbable in the context of just this movie. Then, ''Film/RogueOne'' (which ends ''right'' before A New Hope begins), we find out that Vader followed Leia directly from the Battle Of Scarif (in which she participated), making her claim BlatantLies, and making her seem really dumb for thinking Vader would fall for it.

* In the original ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl'' the crew of the Black Pearl had been [[DemBones cursed into undeath]] upon stealing the treasure of Cortez. They were actually informed that some sort of curse existed but dismissed it on the basis that, as Barbossa concurs with Elizabeth when she hears about it and doesn't believe it, they "hardly believe in ghost stories." Likewise, their former captain Jack Sparrow, whom they mutinied against and so avoided being cursed, upon seeing the cursed crew, comments "So there ''is'' a curse...", suggesting that he didn't believe it either. Nothing in the original movie suggests this is an unusual train of thought. The sequels go on to explain that by this point Jack had already met Davy Jones and both Jack and Barbossa are Pirate Lords who know the goddess Calypso was bound in human form by their predecessors, amongst other things. So it's a little weird that the crew would [[ArbitrarySkepticism suddenly decide the curse isn't real]] and commit mutiny against Jack Sparrow to get the treasure.

** There ''was'' a retcon that explained all that: A Kryptonian mad scientist released a toxin that permanently rewrote the entire population's genetics so that [[DepartureMeansDeath leaving the planet for any length of time was lethal]]. That was seemingly abandoned in favor of the "repentant ex-conquerors" explanation, post-New 52.

** ''Film/ANewHope'' has a number of characters being rather doubtful as to whether the Force even exists--Han calls it a "hokey religion" and claims he's never seen anything that would make him believe in it, and Motti is willing to mock Vader ''to his face''. In ''A New Hope'', this makes relative sense, because the manifestations we see of it in the film consist of mental influencing, enhanced reflexes, and being able to detect other Force-users (Vader's famous choke is the only outlier and could easily be seen as simply a mental command to stop breathing), all of which could plausibly be dismissed as luck or magic tricks. Indeed, in early drafts, it really ''was'' seen as mostly just a religion and a form of zen rather than a superpower. After ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' showed off Jedi explicitly moving objects with their minds and performing genuine superhuman feats, this became a lot harder to imagine, especially since the Prequels established that the Clone Wars had Jedi fighting on the frontlines of every other planet and using their powers openly less only a couple decades prior.

** In ''Film/ANewHope'', we see that Obi-Wan's standard outfit while hanging out on Tatooine is a brown cloak worn over a set of beige robes. If you go strictly by the film, and compare his outfit to the one worn by (for instance) Owen Lars, the assumption would probably be that Obi-Wan is dressing like one of the locals and wearing a cloak to protect himself from the harsh environment, which makes sense, as he's supposed to be in hiding. Later films in the series (particularly the prequels) reveal that Obi-Wan's outfit was pretty much standard Jedi attire, raising the question of how Obi-Wan has managed to stay in hiding when he isn't disguising himself at all and hasn't changed his surname from that of a famous Jedi commander. The prequels also raise the question of why Obi-Wan thought it was safe to raise Luke on Vader's homeworld in the care of Vader's only known relative, his step-brother. ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' lessened it somewhat by explaining that Vader did not know Padmé had given birth before dying (and so wouldn't know to look for children of his), and the ''Series/ObiWanKenobi'' series lessens the idiocy further by explaining that Obi-Wan didn't know Vader survived the events on Mustafar until a decade later.