History Main / TimeLoopTrap

* ''Webcomic/TalesOfGreed'': "1 Minute" is about a watch that can rewind time by one minute up to three times per day. Going over that limit causes the watch to loop the minute over and over, as Sucheol Jang finds out. Sucheol repeatedly gets beat up by his bully until he dodges the attack and eventually defeats the bully, but he can't stop the loop until he takes off the watch, at which point he becomes a TimeMaster. [[spoiler:At the end of the story, Sucheol is kidnapped and bound by the watch's previous owner, who glitches out his watch and kills him, [[AndIMustScream forcing him to experience being killed again and again]]]].

* This is how {{Hell}} works in ''Series/{{Lucifer|2016}}''. When someone enters Hell, they are placed in a torturous scenario (usually related to how they died), and once the scenario runs through, the loop starts over again, with a lot of the inhabitants not even consciously remembering the loop. This is also one of the rare examples of this trope where escape is possible, with the prisoner only having to forgive themselves for what they've done in their life. Though, according to [[{{Satan}} Lucifer]], no one has ever done this during his tenure. [[spoiler:Lee Garner, better known as "Mister Said Out Bitch", escapes his loop with Lucifer's assistance, proving that it is possible. In the finale, Lucifer turns this into therapy, with the goal of eventually rehabilitating everyone in Hell]].

* In ''Series/{{Loki}}'', Mobius puts Loki into one -- endlessly looping him through repeatedly getting beaten up by an angry Lady Sif -- when he thinks Loki is messing with him. Well, more than is usual for a Loki, at any rate. Loki has RippleEffectProofMemory, possibly deliberately imposed on him by Mobius, so that he's aware of the loop -- but nothing he can try can break him out of the pattern.

** In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'', Bites the Dust works this way, looping time to undo a mistake Kira wants to avoid. It binds a target to a secret that cannot be revealed to anyone, under the penalty of blowing up that person and resetting time again. Even once time is reset any deaths caused by Bites the Dust will occur at the same time they did in the previous loop, increasing as more people discover it.

--> "My power can undo this... '''over and again!'''" ''[[AndIMustScream Please...someone help...me...]]''

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': The Federation starships USS ''Enterprise'' and USS ''Bozeman'' get stuck in a time loop trap where they collide with each other over and over, and then restart the time loop. The ''Enterprise'' crew figure out what's going on and discover a way to send a message to the next loop, enabling them to break out of the loop for both ships during the next go around. [[spoiler:Contacting the local time base beacon the ''Enterprise'' finds its [[ClockDiscrepancy clocks off by 17 days]]. However they find the USS ''Bozenman'' has been stuck in the loop for almost a century.]]

* In ''Anime/PokemonGiratinaAndTheSkyWarrior'', [[TimeMaster Dialga]] traps Giratina in a time loop to escape after the latter tries to drag Dialga into its dimension to punish it for its actions in the previous movie.

* In ''Film/{{Doctor Strange|2016}}'', the main villain is ultimately defeated this way. As an EldritchAbomination from [[PlaceBeyondTime beyond time itself]], Dormammu has no concept of time, which works against him when the film's title protagonist traps him in a StableTimeLoop. Doctor Strange offers to bargain with Dormammu but is easily killed by the MultiversalConqueror. Each time he's killed, the timeline resets and Strange offers to bargain again, and again, and again. Because Dormammu exists outside of time, he has a RippleEffectProofMemory '''''and''''' no idea how to counter the spell, meaning he sees each and every loop like it's a continuous thing, with Strange resurrecting each time he kills him, but he has no idea how to stop Strange from resurrecting. Ultimately realizing just how futile it is for him to keep killing Strange over and over, he agrees to hear out Strange's bargain; Dormammu and his {{mooks}} will leave the Earth alone and in exchange Strange will release him from the time loop. Faced with the alternative of remaining stuck in the Time Loop Trap, he agrees.

* At the end of the ''Music/EvilliousChronicles'' franchise, most of the major antagonists (or their reincarnations), including Gammon Octo, Adam, Eve, and Irina CLockworker, are subjected to the Court ending. Here, they're all socked back into the past 1000 years of Evillious' history, made to play out the events of the series on loop forever.

'''Doctor Strange:''' No... but I can lose. Again, and again, and again, and again forever... And that makes you my prisoner.

* In ''Series/{{Loki}}'', Mobius puts Loki into one - endlessly looping him through repeatedly getting beaten up by an angry Lady Sif - when he thinks Loki is messing with him. Well, more than is usual for a Loki, at any rate. Loki has RippleEffectProofMemory, possibly deliberately imposed on him by Mobius, so that he's aware of the loop - but nothing he can try can break him out of the pattern.
* This is how {{Hell}} works in ''Series/{{Lucifer|2016}}''. When someone enters Hell, they are placed in a torturous scenario (usually related to how they died), and once the scenario runs through, the loop starts over again, with a lot of the inhabitants not even consciously remembering the loop. This is also one of the rare examples of this trope where escape is possible, with the prisoner only having to forgive themselves for what they've done in their life. Though, according to [[{{Satan}} Lucifer]], no one has ever done this during his tenure. [[spoiler: Lee Garner, better known as "Mister Said Out Bitch", escapes his loop with Lucifer's assistance, proving that it is possible. In the finale, Lucifer turns this into therapy, with the goal of eventually rehabilitating everyone in Hell]].

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': The Federation starships USS ''Enterprise'' and USS ''Bozeman'' get stuck in a time loop trap where they collide with each other over and over, and then restart the time loop. The ''Enterprise'' crew figure out what's going on and discover a way to send a message to the next loop, enabling them to break out of the loop for both ships during the next go around. [[spoiler: Contacting the local time base beacon the ''Enterprise'' finds its [[ClockDiscrepancy clocks off by 17 days]]. However they find the USS ''Bozenman'' has been stuck in the loop for almost a century.]]

* In ''Manga/RangerReject'', the Invader Executive Magatia uses his powers to trap himself and several kidnapped civilians in a 7 day time loop so they can live out a peaceful high-school life. If anyone is seen breaking school rules, the time loop resets with everything undone [[spoiler:except that dead people, like suicide or murders, stay dead forever]]. Worse, every time Sakurama and his friends trigger the loop they get [[MoreThanMindControl just a little bit more brainwashed into wanting to stay]].

* In ''Series/{{Loki}}'', Mobius puts Loki into one - endlessly looping him through repeatedly getting beaten up by an angry Lady Sif - when he thinks Loki is messing with him. Well, more than is usual for a Loki, at any rate. Loki has RippleEffectProofMemory, possibly deliberately imposed on him by Mobius, so that he's aware of the loop - but nothing he can tries can break him out of the pattern.

* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', this is the power of Grey Boy, one of the original members of the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Slaughterhouse 9]]. He could trap anyone near him, and interact with anyone he'd trapped to give them wounds that would appear, disappear, and reappear over and over, so that they never become used to the pain. But the worst is that loop only applies to their bodies, while their minds experience captivity as one unbroken eternal torture.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', this is Gray Boy's power. Not only can he trap his opponents in a loop running over a few seconds each time -- loops which will last, according to WordOfGod, for 'just' a few thousand years -- but any torture he chooses to inflict on the victims will build up from loop to loop. This makes him easily the most feared member of [[spoiler:the Slaughterhouse Nine, to the point where Jack Slash is only willing to clone one of Gray Boy out of fear of losing control of him.]]
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* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': The Federation starships USS ''Enterprise'' and USS ''Bozeman'' get stuck in a time loop trap where they collide with each other over and over, and then restart the time loop. The ''Enterprise'' crew figure out what's going on and discover a way to send a message to the next loop, enabling them to break out of the loop for both ships during the next go around. [[spoiler: Contacting the local time base beacon the ''Enterprise'' finds its [[ClockDiscrepancy clocks off by 17 days]]. However they find the USS ''Bozenman'' has been stuck in the loop for almost a century.

* In Literature/{{Worm}}, this is the power of Grey Boy, one of the original members of the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Slaughterhouse 9]]. He could trap anyone near him, and interact with anyone he'd trapped to give them wounds that would appear, disappear, and reappear over and over, so that they never become used to the pain. But the worst is that loop only applies to their bodies, while their minds experience captivity as one unbroken eternal torture.