History Main / YouAreTooLate

* Ranger was two hours too late to catch the wolves in ComicFuryWerewolf. He had his whole plan thought out, victory was assured for the villagers...[[spoiler: And then he un-voted]...]

* In Avatar the Last Airbender, a lot of emphasis is put on the Aang beating Ozai before Sozin's Comet arrives and super-charges the villains for a period of time. It soon gets demonstrated that they have no way of getting Ozai to fight them before then, and there won't be a world to save if they wait till after. However, it ultimately doesn't matter, as Aang is still able to steamroll Ozai once he goes into [[SuperMode Avatar mode]].

* Happened in the CaptainPlanet episode "Whoo Gives a Hoot". The Planeteers attempt to stop Looten Plunder with a court injunction against clear-cutting an old growth forest. Despite their success in finding what they need to stop the cutting, Looten's clumsy, stupid minions actually managed to succeed in stealing the evidence, leaving Plunder free to continue. The Planeteers and judge eventually discover Looten's deception, only to discover that Looten had already cut down all the trees. The episode end son that note, with him laughing in their faces about it and daring them to try and stop him again.

-->--From ''{{Watchmen}}''

* ''[[TeamAmericaWorldPolice Team America: World Police]]'': Seemingly invokes but also parodies this trope: Before the Big Bad sets off his doomsday device, he says "You see? No knight came riding in on a white starrion[sic] to save the day. Your world is now over...[[spoiler: in five minutes.]]"

* ''{{Watchmen}}'' gives us one of the most magnificent and memorable examples of this trope, as outlined in the quote above.

->''"Do it?" Dan, [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall I'm not a Republic serial villain.]] Do you seriously think I'd [[JustBetweenYouAndMe explain]] [[EvilPlan my masterstroke]] if there remained the slightest chance of you affecting its outcome? [[DangerouslyGenreSavvy I did it thirty-five minutes ago]].''
-->-- '''The Real Villain''', ''{{Watchmen}}''

* In RobertEHoward's ConanTheBarbarian story "Shadows in the Moonlight", when the [[HalfHumanHybrid son]] calls on his father, his torturers cut his throat and kill him before his PhysicalGod father appears. Of course, it's ''not'' too late to invoke TakenForGranite.

# The villain's plan is his own undoing; [[PyrrhicVillainy he succeeds thoroughly but loses anyway]].

* This is basically how ''[[FlashForward2009 FlashForward]]'' ended; the characters failed to prevent the second blackout and all the disastrous effects of the first one can be considered to have been repeated. Since the show was cancelled and the writers didn't have time to resolve the story it probably would've ultimately turned into an example of 2, 3, or 4, but as it stands we have no idea what was supposed to happen.

* In ''Players of {{Gor}}'' (book 20) Cabot learns of a plot by Cos, Tyros, Brundisium and [[SixthColumn certain factions in Ar]] to attack Ar. He gets the evidence, then learns that it's actually happening right now. The evidence is now worthless so he burns it.

** In ''FinalFantasyIV'', you arrive too late to prevent [[spoiler:Anna's death]]. And [[spoiler: Golbez from collecting the crystals]]. And [[spoiler: the summoning of the Giant of Bab-il]]. FF4 is quite full of fail on the part of the heroes.

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** In ''FinalFantasyIV'', you arrive too late to prevent [[spoiler:Anna's death]].

->"Do it?" Dan, [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall I'm not a Republic serial villain.]] Do you seriously think I'd [[JustBetweenYouAndMe explain]] [[EvilPlan my masterstroke]] if there remained the slightest chance of you affecting its outcome? [[DangerouslyGenreSavvy I did it thirty-five minutes ago]].
-->-- '''[[CaptainObvious The Real Villain]]''', ''{{Watchmen}}''

* So far in ''AdventureQuestWorlds'', the hero always arrives too late to stop the Chaos Lords from summoning their respective [[SealedEvilInACan Chaos Beasts]] (in one case, he/she actually gave the item sought by the first lord of chaos, Escherion, to him so he could use it to free the Lake Hydra, and in another, Discordia was actually a fake Chaos Lord so he didn't have his own Chaos Beast - the real Chaos Lord, Kimberly, on the other hand, used her power of rock to send him/her back in time where her Pony Gary Yellow was enlarged and brought to life). He/she defeats the Chaos Beasts anyway, though.

** By the time you get the Amulet and Martin back to the capital, BigBad Mehrunes Dagon has already crossed over. Martin is forced to make a HeroicSacrifice to banish the Daedra Prince of Destruction to save all of Tamriel. Presumably, this will have even bigger repercussions down the road as there are no longer any Septims to stop the events from repeating. (Actually, since the amulet was destroyed, this some how stops the cycle. This can possibly be deduced because the dragon fires weren't lit, yet Oblivion is sealed. The reason why is very well explained but buried deep in the game's lore so unfortunately the average player will never come across it and the entire ended seems very GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere.)

* ''TheDarkKnight'': The citizens of Gotham elect ''not'' to blow each other up, and Batman thinks the battle for Gotham's soul is won...until the Joker tells him about how Harvey "The White Knight" Dent is ''already'' corrupted and all about the terrible things he's done.

->-- '''[[CaptainObvious The Real Villain]]''', ''{{Watchmen}}''

** By the time you get the Amulet and Martin back to the capital, BigBad Mehrunes Dagon has already crossed over. Martin is forced to make a HeroicSacrifice to banish the Daedra Prince of Destruction to save all of Tamriel. Presumably, this will have even bigger repercussions down the road as there are no longer any Septims to stop the events from repeating. (Actually, since the amulet was destroyed, this some how stops the cycle. This can possibly be deduced because the dragon fires weren't lit, yet Oblivion is sealed.)