History Main / VengeanceDenied

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'', Lyn's parents and her clan was massacred by the Taliver Bandits and wanted to avenge them. However, it is revealed through support conversation with Wallace that he destroyed the Bandits himself, which angered her. Wallace explained that he did her a favor of destroying the Taliver Bandits so that she doesn't become consumed with hatred and disgracing her grandfather's and her parent's names.

* ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperheroes'': One of the major sub-plots of the second season is Superman-X's obsession with finding and destroying Vilgax, a ConquerorFromTheFuture [[LaserGuidedTykeBomb Superman was designed to destroy]]. In the final two episodes of the season, [[HijackedByGanon Brainiac]] takes over Brainiac-5 and kills Vilgax within ten seconds of doing so, establishing himself as the true BigBad. Superman-X is understandably not happy that his mission [[AllForNothing came to naught]].

* One ''Webcomic/CyanideAndHappiness'' strip [[https://explosm.net/comics/rob-lastmeal shows a Warden giving a death row inmate his last meal, one peanut butter and jelly sandwich.]] The Warden chastises the prisoner on the monstrosity of his crime, and how the Warden will ''enjoy'' executing him. The prisoner says that it's not gonna happen, as he reveals his peanut allergy, [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled goes into shock, and dies.]] The Warden can only rage as he could not carry the execution out.

* One ''Webcomic/CyanideAndHappiness'' strip [[https://explosm.net/comics/rob-lastmeal shows a Warden giving a death row inmate his last meal, one peanut butter and jelly sandwich.]] The Warden chastises the prisoner on the monstrosity of his crime, and how the Warden will ''enjoy'' executing him. The prisoner says that it's gonna happen, as he reveals his peanut allergy, [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled goes into shock, and dies.]] The Warden can only rage as he could not carry the execution out.

** When Yes Man reveals that he's the one that orchestrated the theft of the Platinum Chip, you can reveal to him that you're the Courier that Benny shot in the head. While he does feel bad about it and [[PleaseKillMeIfItSatisfiesYou offers to let you destroy his body]] he states that as an AI he'll simply upload himself to another Securitron and apologizes for how it'll be impossible to truly enact proper vengeance.

* ''Fanfic/TheScorpionAndTheFrog'': Sasuke is robbed of the chance to make Danzo pay for how he orchestrated the Uchiha Massacre after his target gest assassinated by [[spoiler:Tatsuma]] instead.

* During the ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' episode, "The Impossible Summit of Mt. Neverrest!", Scrooge has an unexplained hatred of explorer George Mallardy. It is later revealed that the reason for this is that [[spoiler: Scrooge was abandoned on a prior trek up the mountain by Mallardy, who cut the rope holding them together after Scrooge refused to lighten his load.]] However, due to the magical nature of the mountain, Mallardy got lost on the way up and died on the mountain. Huey even points out that the mountain saved Scrooge the effort of trying to get revenge on Mallardy.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfVoxMachina'', Percy had a personal grudge against Lord Sylas Briarwood over the latter murdering his family. Unfortunately, when Keyleth ends up being the one to kill Briarwood, Percy is left furious. [[spoiler:Not helping it is the fact that he had made a DemonicPosession [[DealWithADevil vengenance pact]] with Orthax that would now be left unfulilled]].

* ''Fanfic/GuardiansWizardsAndKungFuFighters'': Jade wants to kill Phobos for [[spoiler: killing Uncle]], but is prevented from doing so by the {{realpolitik}} of the Rebellion's post-victory plans. [[spoiler: And then he dies of his injuries before she can get at him, which only fuels her grief and rage further.]]

* In ''Fanfic/TheSevenMisfortunesOfLadyFortune'' Adrien is desperate to have his revenge upon the people who tried to kill Marinette. His father commits suicide before he can learns about his part, [[spoiler:while the other two men involved fall victim to a MutualKill right in front of him.]]

Maybe someone else who had the same beef [[WhoMurderedTheAsshole killed the offender instead]]. Or maybe someone else [[KickTheSonOfABitch killed them for completely unrelated reasons]]. Maybe a ConflictKiller arrived so that the revenge has to be put to the back burner. Or maybe the avenger is foiled ''again'' by the avengee or their associates. Maybe the plans for revenge have been foiled by a SpannerInTheWorks. Or maybe the avenger planned a device for them, only to end up [[HoistByHisOwnPetard trapped themselves by their own device]]. Or maybe LaserGuidedKarma or DivineIntervention got them first. Or worst of all, the well-deserving target of revenge may even have [[KarmaHoudini managed to escape any retribution or justice for their actions]]. In any case, the avenger will either feel [[VengeanceFeelsEmpty emptiness]], disappointment, [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou further rage]], or relief because of this.

* ''Manga/HunterXHunter'': [[BloodKnight Uvogin]] from the [[BadassCrew Phantom Troupe]] explicitly admits that he enjoys it when people the Spiders have wronged come looking for revenge, [[CurbStompBattle only for him to crush them like insects.]] [[DefiedTrope Defied]] by Kurapika, [[CripplingOverspecialization who specifically developed his Nen abilities with the express purpose of killing the Phantom Troupe to the last man]] in retribution for their slaughter of the Kurta Clan, and goes out of his way to test them on Uvogin first before moving on to the rest. Uvogin is rendered utterly helpless before long as Kurapika denies his denial of his vengeance.

** In ''VideoGame/GodOfWarII'', Kratos is betrayed and killed by Zeus at the start of the game. Kratos then [[EscapedFromHell climbs his way out of the Underworld]] [[VideoGame/GodOfWarI (again)]] and spends the rest of the game traversing the Island of Creation in order to [[TimeTravel use the Threads of Time to travel back to the moment where Zeus betrayed him]] (since only at this time will both Zeus and the [[SwordOfPlotAdvancement Blade of Olympus]] be within the reach of Kratos) [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong and have his revenge.]] Just when Kratos has Zeus on the ropes, Athena stops him from killing Zeus by [[TakingTheBullet taking the blow for him]], before explaining to a confused Kratos with her dying breath that [[spoiler:[[LukeIAmYourFather Zeus is his father]]]]. Kratos, unmoved by this revelation, doubles down on his quest for revenge by [[TheUnfettered deciding to kill both Zeus and anyone who gets in his way]], [[VideoGame/GodOfWarIII even if he has to carve a bloody path through Olympus itself to do it.]]

** Kratos finds himself in the giving end at the climax of ''VideoGame/GodOfWarPS4'', when he stops Baldur from killing [[spoiler:his mother, Freya,]] for [[spoiler:[[NighInvulnerable making him immortal]] [[SenseLossSadness and robbing him of all sensation in the process]]]]. Having been consumed by revenge in the past and [[VengeanceFeelsEmpty having found no satisfaction in the end]], he tries to stop Baldur before he goes through the same experience. Unfortunately, Baldur is a hundred years past the point of forgiveness and can no longer be reasoned with, forcing Kratos to [[spoiler:kill him in an attempt to break the CycleOfRevenge]].

* ''Series/StargateSG1'': Teal'c was after the Goauld Chronos for most of the first seasons, until his revenge was denied by a robotic copy of himself who killed him instead. Unsurprisingly for the character, he was perfectly satisfied with the result.

* ''Manga/ChainsawMan'': Throughout the series, Aki is one of many devil hunters out to slay the [[PersonOfMassDestruction the Gun Devil]] for killing his family. After Public Safety collect enough of its pieces to find its location, Aki asks to join the mission to hunt it. [[spoiler:Then they let him know the AwfulTruth: the Gun Devil was incapacitated by an unknown force after its major attack and the worlds' governments took as much of its body as possible. The mission was never to ''kill'' the Gun Devil, but claim its power for Japan.]] Then things go FromBadToWorse, as Aki is [[spoiler:coerced and then mind controlled into fighting the Gun Devil anyway, killed by it, and has his corpse taken over and used for a killing spree until Denji puts him down]].
* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'': Vegeta had spent the majority of his life wishing to obtain revenge on the tyrant Frieza for murdering his father and enslaving him. Instead Goku defeats Frieza [[spoiler: and Frieza is killed by Vegeta's son Trunks]]. This prevents him from getting the proper revenge he'd wanted, Vegeta remains bitter about it for several years. He does, however, get some major catharsis after Frieza returns in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', where Vegeta uses his newest SuperMode to thoroughly curbstomp Frieza.

* Enforced in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'': Roy gets ''[[ToThePain very]]'' into avenging Hughes by slowly burning Envy to death — so much so his allies [[IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim insist]] someone ''else'' kill Envy so it will be done for the sake of [[ConspiracyRedemption the mission]], not just revenge. Riza in particular holds a gun to his head, threatening to [[MurderSuicide kill Roy and then herself]]. He eventually concedes their point, and that a human could overcome their own hatred drives [[BetaTestBaddie Envy]] so up the wall, they kill themself on the spot.

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'': After Kira is defeated by [[spoiler:[[DeathByAmbulance getting run over by an ambulance]]]], Hayato, who [[spoiler:lost his father at Kira's hands]], is upset that the man was not properly punished instead. What he doesn't know is [[spoiler:after dying, Kira's ghost is DraggedOffToHell by the being in the alley]].

* In the Fishman Island arc of ''Anime/OnePiece'', King Neptune reluctantly refrains from avenging the murder of Queen Otohime because it would perpetuate the CycleOfRevenge she dedicated her life to ending.
* ''{{Anime/Pokemon}}'': There are actually multiple occasions where Team Rocket are harassed or cheated by a {{Jerkass}} Pokemon with little to no provocation. Of course, since their choice of retaliation is always to try and capture them and hand them over to Giovanni, Ash's team are obligated to stop them and blast them off.

* In the ''Franchise/JamesBond'' film, ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'': When Auric Goldfinger has one of his minions, Jill Masterson, get painted-gold-to death (for the 'crime' of having sex with James Bond), her sister, Tilly Masterson, vows revenge and goes on a mission to kill Goldfinger. However; Tilly's in over her head and gets herself killed.
* ''Franchise/StarWars'': In ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'', Mace Windu kills Boba Fett's (for lack of a better word) father, Jango Fett. Before the young Boba can get his revenge, Windu is killed by Palpatine.

* In the ''Franchise/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' LightNovel, ''Literature/PurpleHazeFeedback'', we find out that the character Sheila E. infiltrated the Passione gang in order to get revenge on Illuso, who killed her sister. During the events of part 5, Pannacotta Fugo kills Illuso before Sheila can do it. Sheila takes this quite well: considering how Fugo's Stand, Purple Haze, inflicts [[CruelAndUnusualDeath an extremely gruesome and painful death to its victims via being eaten alive by a virus]], she finds it to be a fitting end for such an evil man.

* The ''{{WesternAnimation/Gargoyles}}'' pilot episode had Goliath and the remaining survivors of his mostly-massacred clan seek revenge on the men they believe to be responsible, only for them to fall off a cliff and die, thus denying Goliath his opportunity to personally kill them himself (see the page quote).

* In the ''Franchise/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' LightNovel, ''LightNovel/PurpleHazeFeedback'', we find out that the character Sheila E. infiltrated the Passione gang in order to get revenge on Illuso, who killed her sister. During the events of part 5, Pannacotta Fugo kills Illuso before Sheila can do it. Sheila takes this quite well: considering how Fugo's Stand, Purple Haze, inflicts [[CruelAndUnusualDeath an extremely gruesome and painful death to its victims via being eaten alive by a virus]], she finds it to be a fitting end for such an evil man.

** Kratos finds himself in the giving end at the climax of ''VideoGame/GodOfWarPS4'', when he stops Baldur from killing [[spoiler:his mother, Freya]]. Having been consumed by revenge in the past and [[VengeanceFeelsEmpty having found no satisfaction in the end]], he tries to stop Baldur before he goes through the same experience. Unfortunately, Baldur is a hundred years past the point of forgiveness and can no longer be reasoned with, forcing Kratos to [[spoiler:kill him in an attempt to break the CycleOfRevenge]].

--->'''Kratos:''' If all on Olympus will deny me my vengeance, [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge then all on Olympus will DIE!]]

* In ''VideoGame/GodOfWarII'', Kratos is betrayed and killed by Zeus at the start of the game. Kratos then [[EscapedFromHell climbs his way out of the Underworld]] [[VideoGame/GodOfWarI (again)]] and spends the rest of the game traversing the Island of Creation in order to [[TimeTravel use the Threads of Time to travel back to the moment where Zeus betrayed him]] (since only at this time will both Zeus and the [[SwordOfPlotAdvancement Blade of Olympus]] be within the reach of Kratos) [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong and have his revenge.]] Just when Kratos has Zeus on the ropes, Athena stops him from killing Zeus by [[TakingTheBullet taking the blow for him]], before explaining to a confused Kratos with her dying breath that [[spoiler:[[LukeIAmYourFather Zeus is his father]]]]. Kratos, unmoved by this revelation, doubles down on his quest for revenge by [[TheUnfettered deciding to kill both Zeus and anyone who gets in his way]], [[VideoGame/GodOfWarIII even if he has to carve a bloody path through Olympus itself to do it.]]
-->'''Kratos:''' If all on Olympus will deny me my vengeance, [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge then all on Olympus will DIE!]]

* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'': Vegeta had spent the majority of his life wishing to obtain revenge on the tyrant Frieza for murdering his father and enslaving him. Instead Goku defeats Freiza [[spoiler: and Freiza is killed by Vegeta's son Trunks]]. This prevents him from getting the proper revenge he'd wanted, Vegeta remains bitter about it for several years.

* In ''Literature/DownAndOutInPurgatory'' by Creator/TimPowers, the protagonist spends years plotting the death of the man who murdered the love of his life, only for the man to die of natural causes. This is where the story ''begins''; the protagonist refuses to let this stop him, and pursues his quarry into the afterlife.