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[[folder:Western Animation]]
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** ''ComicBook/Superboy1949'' #201 features Molecular Master, an android programmed to infiltrate and poison the Legion and steal the Miracle Machine. His master's plan fails because of the appearance of Wildfire, a Legionnaire who Molecular Master was totally not expecting because Wildfire had been recently declared dead in action.
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** In the ''Franchise/MastersOfTheUniverse'' crossover "ComicBook/FateIsTheKiller", Skeletor uses a dimensional gate to Earth to retrieve one half of the Power Sword (which he needs to enter Castle Grayskull and take over his world). However, Superman is drawn into the portal, and realizing that he has been drawn to Eternia to deal with Skeletor again, he heads towards Castle Grayskull, wrenches both Swords away from Skeletor and hurls them far away before the villain can perform the proper merging ritual.
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* In the ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}'' spinoff ''The Nearly Great Escape'', Jack figures out that Goldilocks is working for Revise because she wears the same style of glasses that several of his minions wear. This is a complete coincidence, but it turns out that he was right anyway.
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* ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}'': In the ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}'' spinoff ''The Nearly Great Escape'', Jack figures out that Goldilocks is working for Revise because she wears the same style of glasses that several of his minions wear. This is a complete coincidence, but it turns out that he was right anyway.
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** "ComicBook/SupergirlsBigBrother": Biff Rigger's ploy to steal Jan Danvers' inheritance meets an unexpected obstacle when he learns the Danvers have an adoptive daughter that he knew nothing about. When he discovers her secret identity, his original plan is abandoned in favour of tricking Supergirl into giving him powers, which leads to his death.
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** ''Justice League of America (Volume 1)'' #4: The villain Xandor traps the Justice League in an unbreakable diamond, but is thwarted by the arrival of ComicBook/GreenArrow.
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** ''Justice League of America (Volume 1)'' #4: The villain Villain Xandor traps the Justice League in an unbreakable diamond, but is thwarted by the arrival of ComicBook/GreenArrow.
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** "ComicBook/TheSuperSteedOfSteel": Nomed's ploy to overthrow his uncle by paralyzing Endor's pegasus fails when Supergirl suddenly shows up riding her own flying horse which she lends to Endor so that he can lead the royal parade.
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** In the ''ComicBook/BatmanHush'' storyline, the entire plan might have worked except with a major element being [[spoiler: Hush surgically repairing Two-Face's features so he could be a secret weapon. What he never counted on was the surgery also allowing Harvey Dent to reassert control, decide he wasn't going to work for a bad guy and throw the entire plan off-kilter.]]
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** In the ''ComicBook/BatmanHush'' storyline, the ''ComicBook/BatmanHush'': The entire plan might have worked except with a major element being [[spoiler: Hush surgically repairing Two-Face's features so he could be a secret weapon. What he never counted on was the surgery also allowing Harvey Dent to reassert control, decide he wasn't going to work for a bad guy and throw the entire plan off-kilter.]]
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** "ComicBook/SupermanAndSpiderMan": Doctor Doom fails because he did not expect Spider-Man's intervention. So, while Spidey used his webbing to remove the Kryptonite dust coating Superman, his stolen Spider-Sense warned Parasite that he should NOT put on the harness which Doom designed for him.
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* In ''Comicbook/{{Justice}}'', ComicBook/LexLuthor and the other bad guys come up with an ''extremely'' brilliant plan to destroy the heroes. It almost works, but they ignored a few guys like [[Comicbook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]], ComicBook/ThePhantomStranger, and The Comicbook/MetalMen.
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* In ''Comicbook/{{Justice}}'', ComicBook/LexLuthor and the other bad guys ''ComicBook/{{Justice|DC Comics}}'': The Legion of Doom come up with an ''extremely'' extremely brilliant plan to destroy the heroes. Justice League. It almost works, but they ignored a few guys like [[Comicbook/{{Shazam}} [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]], ComicBook/ThePhantomStranger, and The Comicbook/MetalMen.ComicBook/MetalMen.
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** "ComicBook/ThoseEmeraldEyesAreShining": Emerald Empress' ploy to destroy the United Planets and the Legion fails due to the interference of Supergirl, a Legionnaire who she knew nothing about and was not expecting to meet.
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*** Prometheus's debut involved him taking down each member of the League with remarkable ease, having planned out their encounter to the letter. He hadn't planned that ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} would've snuck on board the Watchtower disguised as one of the reporters there for the day, and while he's trying to blackmail ComicBook/{{Superman}} into committing suicide on national television, she foils his entire plan by giving him a bullwhip to the nads.
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*** Prometheus's debut involved him taking down each member of the League with remarkable ease, having planned out their encounter to the letter. He hadn't planned that ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} Catwoman would've snuck on board the Watchtower disguised as one of the reporters there for the day, and while he's trying to blackmail ComicBook/{{Superman}} into committing suicide on national television, she foils his entire plan by giving him a bullwhip to the nads.
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** ''ComicBook/SupergirlsGreatestChallenge'': The Chameleon Men manage to knock the Legionnaires out and banish Supergirl into a dimensional prison, but their plan fails because Supergirl had previously run into her super-powered cat's descendant Whizzy, who decided to follow her around. After being accidentally dumped into the Zone together with Supergirl, Whizzy telepathically influences a robot-maker into building a Chameleon android who infiltrates the invaders' lair, finds the Projector and releases Supergirl.
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** In ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational'' #4, the team is attacked by a powerful android who is specifically equipped to deal with each of them. The android is ultimately defeated by Comicbook/BoosterGold, who had only shown up to join the League earlier that very day.
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** In ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational'' issue #4, the team is attacked by a powerful android who is specifically equipped to deal with each of them. The android is ultimately defeated by Comicbook/BoosterGold, who had only shown up to join the League earlier that very day.
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** ''ComicBook/TheOtherSideOfDoomsday'': Intending to take revenge on the League, T.O. Morrow took advantage that Flash's wife and Atom's fiancé were giving a public speech to kidnap them, hoping to lure their love interests into a parallel world controlled by himself. However, as kidnapping both women he also kidnapped Linda Danvers, unaware that she is ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} and can use her own powers to release his captives.
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** A tragic one in ''ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand''. With Gotham's No Man Land status lifted, ComicBook/TheJoker decides to squash that happy feeling by kidnapping and planning to murder every baby born during NML. In the search for the clown and the children, Sarah Essen-Gordon's radio is smashed, leading to Commissioner Gordon to tell her to head back to GCPD HQ to get a new one. What no one realized until too late was that that's where the Joker was hiding! [[spoiler:By the time they get there, the Joker surrenders... only after shooting Sarah in the head in front of the kids.]]
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** A tragic one in ''ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand''. ''ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand'': With Gotham's No Man Land status lifted, ComicBook/TheJoker decides to squash that happy feeling by kidnapping and planning to murder every baby born during NML. In the search for the clown and the children, Sarah Essen-Gordon's radio is smashed, leading to Commissioner Gordon to tell her to head back to GCPD HQ to get a new one. What no one realized until too late was that that's where the Joker was hiding! [[spoiler:By the time they get there, the Joker surrenders... only after shooting Sarah in the head in front of the kids.]]
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** ''ComicBook/BrainiacsBlitz'': Brainiac sets a death trap to kill Superman, not counting with Supergirl interfering, forcing him to use his trap, and then goading him into destroying it.
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* ''Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'' #4: The villain Xandor traps the Justice League in an unbreakable diamond, but is thwarted by the arrival of ComicBook/GreenArrow.
* In ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational'' #4, the team is attacked by a powerful android who is specifically equipped to deal with each of them. The android is ultimately defeated by Comicbook/BoosterGold, who had only shown up to join the League earlier that very day.
* As an homage to the above-mentioned ''Justice League'' story, Creator/GrantMorrison's ''Comicbook/JLA1997'' run had a two-part story where Connor Hawke (the second Green Arrow) is forced to rescue the team after they are ambushed and incapacitated by the Key.
* In another ''Justice League'' story penned by Morrison, Prometheus's debut involved him taking down each member of the League with remarkable ease, having planned out their encounter to the letter. He hadn't planned that ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} would've snuck on board the Watchtower disguised as one of the reporters there for the day, and while he's trying to blackmail Franchise/{{Superman}} into committing suicide on national television, she foils his entire plan by giving him a bullwhip to the nads.
* The Minute Men in ''ComicBook/OneHundredBullets'' become this in the end. The whole series is a giant game of chess, but nobody ever thought to tell the most powerful pieces on the board. They never get a single answer to any of their questions and end up ruining every single character's master plan simply because they have nothing better to do.
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':
* In ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational'' #4, the team is attacked by a powerful android who is specifically equipped to deal with each of them. The android is ultimately defeated by Comicbook/BoosterGold, who had only shown up to join the League earlier that very day.
* As an homage to the above-mentioned ''Justice League'' story, Creator/GrantMorrison's ''Comicbook/JLA1997'' run had a two-part story where Connor Hawke (the second Green Arrow) is forced to rescue the team after they are ambushed and incapacitated by the Key.
* In another ''Justice League'' story penned by Morrison, Prometheus's debut involved him taking down each member of the League with remarkable ease, having planned out their encounter to the letter. He hadn't planned that ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} would've snuck on board the Watchtower disguised as one of the reporters there for the day, and while he's trying to blackmail Franchise/{{Superman}} into committing suicide on national television, she foils his entire plan by giving him a bullwhip to the nads.
* The Minute Men in ''ComicBook/OneHundredBullets'' become this in the end. The whole series is a giant game of chess, but nobody ever thought to tell the most powerful pieces on the board. They never get a single answer to any of their questions and end up ruining every single character's master plan simply because they have nothing better to do.
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':
to:
* ''Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'' ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'':
** ''Justice League of America (Volume 1)'' #4: The villain Xandor traps the Justice League in an unbreakable diamond, but is thwarted by the arrival of ComicBook/GreenArrow.
* ** In ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational'' #4, the team is attacked by a powerful android who is specifically equipped to deal with each of them. The android is ultimately defeated by Comicbook/BoosterGold, who had only shown up to join the League earlier that very day.
* As an homage to the above-mentioned ''Justice League'' story, Creator/GrantMorrison's ''Comicbook/JLA1997'' run had ** ''ComicBook/JLA1997'':
*** In a two-partstory where story, Connor Hawke (the second Green Arrow) is forced to rescue the team after they are ambushed and incapacitated by the Key.
* In another ''Justice League'' story penned by Morrison, *** Prometheus's debut involved him taking down each member of the League with remarkable ease, having planned out their encounter to the letter. He hadn't planned that ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} would've snuck on board the Watchtower disguised as one of the reporters there for the day, and while he's trying to blackmail Franchise/{{Superman}} ComicBook/{{Superman}} into committing suicide on national television, she foils his entire plan by giving him a bullwhip to the nads.
*The Minute Men in ''ComicBook/OneHundredBullets'' become this in the end. ''ComicBook/OneHundredBullets'': The whole series is a giant game of chess, but nobody ever thought to tell the Minute Men, the most powerful pieces on the board. They never get a single answer to any of their questions and end up ruining every single character's master plan simply because they have nothing better to do.
*''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'':
** ''Justice League of America (Volume 1)'' #4: The villain Xandor traps the Justice League in an unbreakable diamond, but is thwarted by the arrival of ComicBook/GreenArrow.
*** In a two-part
*
*
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* Examples from ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' tales:
** In ''ComicBook/ElseworldsFinestSupergirlAndBatgirl'', Comicbook/{{Batgirl}}'s trap to expose Comicbook/LexLuthor's crimes worked ''ironically'' thanks to The Joker and Emil Hamilton setting their own trap, and ''Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}'' making the sudden decision to fly to Gotham and help whether Batgirl liked or not.
** In ''Comicbook/SupermanVsTheAmazingSpiderMan'', Comicbook/LexLuthor accidentally abducts Mary Jane Watson when he kidnaps Comicbook/LoisLane, an act that got Spider-Man involved in stopping him. If Peter had not been there to stop Luthor and Comicbook/DoctorOctopus, Franchise/{{Superman}} would have got to choose between stopping the tsunami and let Lex escape.
** In Elseworlds story ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman1961'' Comicbook/LexLuthor manages to murder Superman. He thinks he's going to get away with it and no one can stop him now, but an unknown girl wearing Superman's costume breaks into his secret lair, reveals that she is Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}, Superman's cousin and secret emergency-weapon, and she takes him away, bringing him to Kryptonian Bottle City of Kandor where he is put on trial for murder and sent into the PhantomZone.
** In ''ComicBook/ElseworldsFinestSupergirlAndBatgirl'', Comicbook/{{Batgirl}}'s trap to expose Comicbook/LexLuthor's crimes worked ''ironically'' thanks to The Joker and Emil Hamilton setting their own trap, and ''Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}'' making the sudden decision to fly to Gotham and help whether Batgirl liked or not.
** In ''Comicbook/SupermanVsTheAmazingSpiderMan'', Comicbook/LexLuthor accidentally abducts Mary Jane Watson when he kidnaps Comicbook/LoisLane, an act that got Spider-Man involved in stopping him. If Peter had not been there to stop Luthor and Comicbook/DoctorOctopus, Franchise/{{Superman}} would have got to choose between stopping the tsunami and let Lex escape.
** In Elseworlds story ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman1961'' Comicbook/LexLuthor manages to murder Superman. He thinks he's going to get away with it and no one can stop him now, but an unknown girl wearing Superman's costume breaks into his secret lair, reveals that she is Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}, Superman's cousin and secret emergency-weapon, and she takes him away, bringing him to Kryptonian Bottle City of Kandor where he is put on trial for murder and sent into the PhantomZone.
to:
* Examples from ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' tales:
''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'':
** In ''ComicBook/ElseworldsFinestSupergirlAndBatgirl'',Comicbook/{{Batgirl}}'s ComicBook/{{Batgirl}}'s trap to expose Comicbook/LexLuthor's ComicBook/LexLuthor's crimes worked ''ironically'' ironically thanks to The Joker and Emil Hamilton setting their own trap, and ''Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}'' ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} making the sudden decision to fly to Gotham and help whether Batgirl liked or not.
** In''Comicbook/SupermanVsTheAmazingSpiderMan'', ''ComicBook/SupermanVsTheAmazingSpiderMan'', Comicbook/LexLuthor accidentally abducts Mary Jane Watson when he kidnaps Comicbook/LoisLane, Lois Lane, an act that got Spider-Man involved in stopping him. If Peter had not been there to stop Luthor and Comicbook/DoctorOctopus, Franchise/{{Superman}} Doctor Octopus, Superman would have got to choose between stopping the tsunami and let Lex escape.
** In Elseworlds story ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman1961''Comicbook/LexLuthor Lex Luthor manages to murder Superman. He thinks he's going to get away with it and no one can stop him now, but an unknown girl wearing Superman's costume breaks into his secret lair, reveals that she is Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}, ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}, Superman's cousin and secret emergency-weapon, and she takes him away, bringing him to Kryptonian Bottle City of Kandor where he is put on trial for murder and sent into the PhantomZone.
** In ''ComicBook/ElseworldsFinestSupergirlAndBatgirl'',
** In
** In Elseworlds story ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman1961''
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** ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfLightningLad'': Saturn Girl finds out the council of planet Mernl has foretold one member of the ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes will die fighting Zaryan the Conqueror. Quickly, Saturn Girl manipulates events so that she is the only Legionnaire on duty when Zaryan strikes. However, her plan to protect her teammates by sacrificing herself fails because she did not think Mon-El would read the Mernl's warning before she destroyed it, or Mon would warn Lightning Lad.
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!Franchise/TheDCU
A fairly common stock superhero plot consists of bad guys managing to finally defeat or capture the heroes, only to have the entire plan foiled by the appearance of an unexpected [[SixthRanger new recruit]].
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!!Comic Books
* ''Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'' #4: The villain Xandor traps the Justice League in an unbreakable diamond, but is thwarted by the arrival of ComicBook/GreenArrow.
* In ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational'' #4, the team is attacked by a powerful android who is specifically equipped to deal with each of them. The android is ultimately defeated by Comicbook/BoosterGold, who had only shown up to join the League earlier that very day.
* As an homage to the above-mentioned ''Justice League'' story, Creator/GrantMorrison's ''Comicbook/JLA1997'' run had a two-part story where Connor Hawke (the second Green Arrow) is forced to rescue the team after they are ambushed and incapacitated by the Key.
* In another ''Justice League'' story penned by Morrison, Prometheus's debut involved him taking down each member of the League with remarkable ease, having planned out their encounter to the letter. He hadn't planned that ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} would've snuck on board the Watchtower disguised as one of the reporters there for the day, and while he's trying to blackmail Franchise/{{Superman}} into committing suicide on national television, she foils his entire plan by giving him a bullwhip to the nads.
* The Minute Men in ''ComicBook/OneHundredBullets'' become this in the end. The whole series is a giant game of chess, but nobody ever thought to tell the most powerful pieces on the board. They never get a single answer to any of their questions and end up ruining every single character's master plan simply because they have nothing better to do.
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':
** ''ComicBook/NightOfTheOwls'': For centuries the Court of Owls have used entertainment venues like Haley's Circus to recruit youths and brainwash them into their loyal elite Talons. They had planned to do the same to [[spoiler:[[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} Dick Grayson]] (a descendant of one of their most successful Talons), but the deaths of Dick's parents and his immediate adoption by Bruce Wayne afterwards placed him out of their reach.]]
** In the ''ComicBook/BatmanHush'' storyline, the entire plan might have worked except with a major element being [[spoiler: Hush surgically repairing Two-Face's features so he could be a secret weapon. What he never counted on was the surgery also allowing Harvey Dent to reassert control, decide he wasn't going to work for a bad guy and throw the entire plan off-kilter.]]
** A tragic one in ''ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand''. With Gotham's No Man Land status lifted, ComicBook/TheJoker decides to squash that happy feeling by kidnapping and planning to murder every baby born during NML. In the search for the clown and the children, Sarah Essen-Gordon's radio is smashed, leading to Commissioner Gordon to tell her to head back to GCPD HQ to get a new one. What no one realized until too late was that that's where the Joker was hiding! [[spoiler:By the time they get there, the Joker surrenders... only after shooting Sarah in the head in front of the kids.]]
* In Franchise/TheDCU, the ComicBook/ChallengersOfTheUnknown are a team of adventure-seekers who miraculously survived a terrible plane crash, and therefore decided that they would willingly face any danger because, as they always put it, they were living on "borrowed time." It was revealed in ''ComicBook/TheLordsOfLuck'' that this is literally true: because they did not die on their appointed death date, the Challengers are the only people in the world whose fates are not recorded in the [[Comicbook/TheSandman Book of Destiny.]] They can freely disrupt predestined events that would otherwise be literally inevitable, making them the ultimate example of this trope.
* In ''Comicbook/{{Justice}}'', ComicBook/LexLuthor and the other bad guys come up with an ''extremely'' brilliant plan to destroy the heroes. It almost works, but they ignored a few guys like [[Comicbook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]], ComicBook/ThePhantomStranger, and The Comicbook/MetalMen.
* ''ComicBook/TheLifeStoryOfTheFlash'': While recounting the events of [[ComicBook/TheTrialOfTheFlash Barry's murder trial]], Iris recalls that Abra Kadabra tried to manipulate the events of the trial so that Flash would be convicted and disgraced for killing Zoom...but Kadabra hadn't expected that Iris herself, having been saved by her birth parents just before Zoom could kill her, would be inhabiting the body of one of the jurors and thereby standing in the way of Kadabra's scheme.
* In the ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}'' spinoff ''The Nearly Great Escape'', Jack figures out that Goldilocks is working for Revise because she wears the same style of glasses that several of his minions wear. This is a complete coincidence, but it turns out that he was right anyway.
* Examples from ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' tales:
** In ''ComicBook/ElseworldsFinestSupergirlAndBatgirl'', Comicbook/{{Batgirl}}'s trap to expose Comicbook/LexLuthor's crimes worked ''ironically'' thanks to The Joker and Emil Hamilton setting their own trap, and ''Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}'' making the sudden decision to fly to Gotham and help whether Batgirl liked or not.
** In ''Comicbook/SupermanVsTheAmazingSpiderMan'', Comicbook/LexLuthor accidentally abducts Mary Jane Watson when he kidnaps Comicbook/LoisLane, an act that got Spider-Man involved in stopping him. If Peter had not been there to stop Luthor and Comicbook/DoctorOctopus, Franchise/{{Superman}} would have got to choose between stopping the tsunami and let Lex escape.
** In Elseworlds story ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman1961'' Comicbook/LexLuthor manages to murder Superman. He thinks he's going to get away with it and no one can stop him now, but an unknown girl wearing Superman's costume breaks into his secret lair, reveals that she is Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}, Superman's cousin and secret emergency-weapon, and she takes him away, bringing him to Kryptonian Bottle City of Kandor where he is put on trial for murder and sent into the PhantomZone.
** In ''ComicBook/WhoTookTheSuperOutOfSuperman'', villain Xviar gaslights Superman into believing he can't use his powers as Clark Kent, irradiates him with a device which turns him into a ticking bomb and puts him through a BossRush in order to trigger a SuperPowerMeltdown. While Xviar was enacting his scheme, though, Clark captured an Intergang boss who attempted to murder him and was subsequently called as a witness at the trial. Being in a hurry to go to the court, Clark picked up a spare suit from his office, which hadn't been tampered with by Xviar, and realized his powers still worked, ergo someone was manipulating him.
** In ''ComicBook/TheUnknownSupergirl'', Lesla's plan (step one, brainwashing and impersonating Supergirl; step two, helping Luthor kill Superman; step three, disposing of Luthor; step four, taking over the world) could have worked but for Krypto, who figured out she had replaced Kara and forced her to switch places back with the real Supergirl. The next chain of events ensured Lesla had not opportunity to replace Kara again.
** In ''ComicBook/SupermanVsShazam'', [[BigBad Karmang]]'s plan to trick Superman and Captain Marvel into fighting each other while he activates his world-ending engines fails because he did not count on ComicBook/MaryMarvel following her brother and comparing notes with Supergirl, which leads both heroines to the conclusion that their relatives are being manipulated.
** ''ComicBook/TheGirlWithTheXRayMind'', Lesla-Lar heads towards a desert island to break several Kryptonian criminals out of the Phantom Zone and kickstart her world-conquering scheme without the Supers suspecting anyting. However, Lori Lemaris spots Lesla while she is flying over the ocean, and becomes puzzled about that strangely-dressed flying woman. So, Lori secretly spies on Lesla and the Phantom Zoners, and later relays their plans to the heroes.
** In ''ComicBook/TheStrangeRevengeOfLenaLuthor'', a criminal gang kidnap Supergirl, planning to keep her imprisoned by gaslighting her into believing her cell nullifies her powers by duplicating Krypton's environment. Supergirl is trying to figure out how to get out, but she keeps being distracted by a fly buzzing and flitting around her head. Then Kara realizes that insect would be unable to fly if her cell duplicated Krypton's high gravity, and she uses her powers to break out and hunt her kidnappers down.
** In ''ComicBook/ThePhantomZone'', Dru-Zod's ploy to deceive USA and the Soviet Union into nuking each other fails because he had not counted on Supergirl and Wonder Woman intercepting and destroying all missiles.
** ''ComicBook/TheDayTheCheeringStopped'': King Kosmos spens months planning how to take Superman down, and his plan fails because he did not count on a sentient, empathic weapon showing up and strengthening his enemy.
--->'''Superman:''' (thinking) ''"There's one factor Kosmos didn't figure into his little equation when he sent the force of his spirit to meet me here and plotted to rule the Earth! And that factor was-- THIS!"''
* In the ''ComicBook/DCInfiniteFrontier'' relaunch of ''ComicBook/SuicideSquad'', the Squad ends up getting revealed thanks to their failure to capture Blur of the ComicBook/TeenTitansAcademy. During the scuffle, some students took notice that Superboy was part of the group, which really didn't make sense. They told the teachers, leading to them contacting the real Superboy himself to find out what was going. [[spoiler:His investigation not only exposes the Squad, but reveals the Superboy that was part of the team was actually Conner's clone, Match.]]
!!Films
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGoToTheMovies'': [[spoiler:Slade-as-Jade made sure every superhero was distracted by them having their own movie, even ComicBook/TheChallengersOfTheUnknown. What he didn't count on were the Titans, who had no movie and therefore were the only ones who confronted Slade at S.T.A.R. Labs, and he ''really'' [[UnderestimatingBadassery didn't count on them being competent enough]] to grab the MacGuffin away from him, countering his moves. This drives "Jade" to try to distract ''the Titans'' by DivideAndConquer while making the ''Robin'' movie the main vector for his MindControlDevice.]]
* ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'':
** In ''Film/BatmanBegins'', Batman himself is the Spanner towards [[spoiler:Ra's al Ghul]] and the Scarecrow's plan to destroy Gotham.
** By refusing to sacrifice each other, the passengers on the two boats end up being this for The Joker in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', in that his social experiment in proving that anyone could be corrupted ends in failure.
** And in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', [[spoiler:Catwoman]] serves as one when [[spoiler:she saves Batman from Bane]] in the climax.
!!Western Animation
* From the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode "A Better World": An evil (or rather, corrupted KnightTemplar) alternate universe Justice League has captured the "real" League. Their Batman designed inescapable prisons for each Leaguer, [[CrazyPrepared because he's]] Franchise/{{Batman}}. The Flash manages to escape by [[FakingTheDead speeding up his heartbeat so it looked like he flatlined]], and when the other Batman unlocked the cell, Flash beats him up at super speed. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d by our Batman:
-->'''Batman''': He anticipated everything I would have thought of. But who could anticipate you?
** Indeed, Batman is surprised to know Flash could have pulled that trick and Flash admits he's never actually tried it before so it was no wonder the Justice Lord Batman couldn't have seen it coming.
* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'': In "Knight Time", Roxy Rocket, the villain from the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "The Ultimate Thrill", inadvertently ruins Brainiac's plan by informing Superman that Batman went missing. She didn't even know Brainiac was involved.
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A fairly common stock superhero plot consists of bad guys managing to finally defeat or capture the heroes, only to have the entire plan foiled by the appearance of an unexpected [[SixthRanger new recruit]].
----
!!Comic Books
* ''Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'' #4: The villain Xandor traps the Justice League in an unbreakable diamond, but is thwarted by the arrival of ComicBook/GreenArrow.
* In ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational'' #4, the team is attacked by a powerful android who is specifically equipped to deal with each of them. The android is ultimately defeated by Comicbook/BoosterGold, who had only shown up to join the League earlier that very day.
* As an homage to the above-mentioned ''Justice League'' story, Creator/GrantMorrison's ''Comicbook/JLA1997'' run had a two-part story where Connor Hawke (the second Green Arrow) is forced to rescue the team after they are ambushed and incapacitated by the Key.
* In another ''Justice League'' story penned by Morrison, Prometheus's debut involved him taking down each member of the League with remarkable ease, having planned out their encounter to the letter. He hadn't planned that ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} would've snuck on board the Watchtower disguised as one of the reporters there for the day, and while he's trying to blackmail Franchise/{{Superman}} into committing suicide on national television, she foils his entire plan by giving him a bullwhip to the nads.
* The Minute Men in ''ComicBook/OneHundredBullets'' become this in the end. The whole series is a giant game of chess, but nobody ever thought to tell the most powerful pieces on the board. They never get a single answer to any of their questions and end up ruining every single character's master plan simply because they have nothing better to do.
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':
** ''ComicBook/NightOfTheOwls'': For centuries the Court of Owls have used entertainment venues like Haley's Circus to recruit youths and brainwash them into their loyal elite Talons. They had planned to do the same to [[spoiler:[[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} Dick Grayson]] (a descendant of one of their most successful Talons), but the deaths of Dick's parents and his immediate adoption by Bruce Wayne afterwards placed him out of their reach.]]
** In the ''ComicBook/BatmanHush'' storyline, the entire plan might have worked except with a major element being [[spoiler: Hush surgically repairing Two-Face's features so he could be a secret weapon. What he never counted on was the surgery also allowing Harvey Dent to reassert control, decide he wasn't going to work for a bad guy and throw the entire plan off-kilter.]]
** A tragic one in ''ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand''. With Gotham's No Man Land status lifted, ComicBook/TheJoker decides to squash that happy feeling by kidnapping and planning to murder every baby born during NML. In the search for the clown and the children, Sarah Essen-Gordon's radio is smashed, leading to Commissioner Gordon to tell her to head back to GCPD HQ to get a new one. What no one realized until too late was that that's where the Joker was hiding! [[spoiler:By the time they get there, the Joker surrenders... only after shooting Sarah in the head in front of the kids.]]
* In Franchise/TheDCU, the ComicBook/ChallengersOfTheUnknown are a team of adventure-seekers who miraculously survived a terrible plane crash, and therefore decided that they would willingly face any danger because, as they always put it, they were living on "borrowed time." It was revealed in ''ComicBook/TheLordsOfLuck'' that this is literally true: because they did not die on their appointed death date, the Challengers are the only people in the world whose fates are not recorded in the [[Comicbook/TheSandman Book of Destiny.]] They can freely disrupt predestined events that would otherwise be literally inevitable, making them the ultimate example of this trope.
* In ''Comicbook/{{Justice}}'', ComicBook/LexLuthor and the other bad guys come up with an ''extremely'' brilliant plan to destroy the heroes. It almost works, but they ignored a few guys like [[Comicbook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]], ComicBook/ThePhantomStranger, and The Comicbook/MetalMen.
* ''ComicBook/TheLifeStoryOfTheFlash'': While recounting the events of [[ComicBook/TheTrialOfTheFlash Barry's murder trial]], Iris recalls that Abra Kadabra tried to manipulate the events of the trial so that Flash would be convicted and disgraced for killing Zoom...but Kadabra hadn't expected that Iris herself, having been saved by her birth parents just before Zoom could kill her, would be inhabiting the body of one of the jurors and thereby standing in the way of Kadabra's scheme.
* In the ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}'' spinoff ''The Nearly Great Escape'', Jack figures out that Goldilocks is working for Revise because she wears the same style of glasses that several of his minions wear. This is a complete coincidence, but it turns out that he was right anyway.
* Examples from ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' tales:
** In ''ComicBook/ElseworldsFinestSupergirlAndBatgirl'', Comicbook/{{Batgirl}}'s trap to expose Comicbook/LexLuthor's crimes worked ''ironically'' thanks to The Joker and Emil Hamilton setting their own trap, and ''Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}'' making the sudden decision to fly to Gotham and help whether Batgirl liked or not.
** In ''Comicbook/SupermanVsTheAmazingSpiderMan'', Comicbook/LexLuthor accidentally abducts Mary Jane Watson when he kidnaps Comicbook/LoisLane, an act that got Spider-Man involved in stopping him. If Peter had not been there to stop Luthor and Comicbook/DoctorOctopus, Franchise/{{Superman}} would have got to choose between stopping the tsunami and let Lex escape.
** In Elseworlds story ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman1961'' Comicbook/LexLuthor manages to murder Superman. He thinks he's going to get away with it and no one can stop him now, but an unknown girl wearing Superman's costume breaks into his secret lair, reveals that she is Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}, Superman's cousin and secret emergency-weapon, and she takes him away, bringing him to Kryptonian Bottle City of Kandor where he is put on trial for murder and sent into the PhantomZone.
** In ''ComicBook/WhoTookTheSuperOutOfSuperman'', villain Xviar gaslights Superman into believing he can't use his powers as Clark Kent, irradiates him with a device which turns him into a ticking bomb and puts him through a BossRush in order to trigger a SuperPowerMeltdown. While Xviar was enacting his scheme, though, Clark captured an Intergang boss who attempted to murder him and was subsequently called as a witness at the trial. Being in a hurry to go to the court, Clark picked up a spare suit from his office, which hadn't been tampered with by Xviar, and realized his powers still worked, ergo someone was manipulating him.
** In ''ComicBook/TheUnknownSupergirl'', Lesla's plan (step one, brainwashing and impersonating Supergirl; step two, helping Luthor kill Superman; step three, disposing of Luthor; step four, taking over the world) could have worked but for Krypto, who figured out she had replaced Kara and forced her to switch places back with the real Supergirl. The next chain of events ensured Lesla had not opportunity to replace Kara again.
** In ''ComicBook/SupermanVsShazam'', [[BigBad Karmang]]'s plan to trick Superman and Captain Marvel into fighting each other while he activates his world-ending engines fails because he did not count on ComicBook/MaryMarvel following her brother and comparing notes with Supergirl, which leads both heroines to the conclusion that their relatives are being manipulated.
** ''ComicBook/TheGirlWithTheXRayMind'', Lesla-Lar heads towards a desert island to break several Kryptonian criminals out of the Phantom Zone and kickstart her world-conquering scheme without the Supers suspecting anyting. However, Lori Lemaris spots Lesla while she is flying over the ocean, and becomes puzzled about that strangely-dressed flying woman. So, Lori secretly spies on Lesla and the Phantom Zoners, and later relays their plans to the heroes.
** In ''ComicBook/TheStrangeRevengeOfLenaLuthor'', a criminal gang kidnap Supergirl, planning to keep her imprisoned by gaslighting her into believing her cell nullifies her powers by duplicating Krypton's environment. Supergirl is trying to figure out how to get out, but she keeps being distracted by a fly buzzing and flitting around her head. Then Kara realizes that insect would be unable to fly if her cell duplicated Krypton's high gravity, and she uses her powers to break out and hunt her kidnappers down.
** In ''ComicBook/ThePhantomZone'', Dru-Zod's ploy to deceive USA and the Soviet Union into nuking each other fails because he had not counted on Supergirl and Wonder Woman intercepting and destroying all missiles.
** ''ComicBook/TheDayTheCheeringStopped'': King Kosmos spens months planning how to take Superman down, and his plan fails because he did not count on a sentient, empathic weapon showing up and strengthening his enemy.
--->'''Superman:''' (thinking) ''"There's one factor Kosmos didn't figure into his little equation when he sent the force of his spirit to meet me here and plotted to rule the Earth! And that factor was-- THIS!"''
* In the ''ComicBook/DCInfiniteFrontier'' relaunch of ''ComicBook/SuicideSquad'', the Squad ends up getting revealed thanks to their failure to capture Blur of the ComicBook/TeenTitansAcademy. During the scuffle, some students took notice that Superboy was part of the group, which really didn't make sense. They told the teachers, leading to them contacting the real Superboy himself to find out what was going. [[spoiler:His investigation not only exposes the Squad, but reveals the Superboy that was part of the team was actually Conner's clone, Match.]]
!!Films
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGoToTheMovies'': [[spoiler:Slade-as-Jade made sure every superhero was distracted by them having their own movie, even ComicBook/TheChallengersOfTheUnknown. What he didn't count on were the Titans, who had no movie and therefore were the only ones who confronted Slade at S.T.A.R. Labs, and he ''really'' [[UnderestimatingBadassery didn't count on them being competent enough]] to grab the MacGuffin away from him, countering his moves. This drives "Jade" to try to distract ''the Titans'' by DivideAndConquer while making the ''Robin'' movie the main vector for his MindControlDevice.]]
* ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'':
** In ''Film/BatmanBegins'', Batman himself is the Spanner towards [[spoiler:Ra's al Ghul]] and the Scarecrow's plan to destroy Gotham.
** By refusing to sacrifice each other, the passengers on the two boats end up being this for The Joker in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', in that his social experiment in proving that anyone could be corrupted ends in failure.
** And in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', [[spoiler:Catwoman]] serves as one when [[spoiler:she saves Batman from Bane]] in the climax.
!!Western Animation
* From the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode "A Better World": An evil (or rather, corrupted KnightTemplar) alternate universe Justice League has captured the "real" League. Their Batman designed inescapable prisons for each Leaguer, [[CrazyPrepared because he's]] Franchise/{{Batman}}. The Flash manages to escape by [[FakingTheDead speeding up his heartbeat so it looked like he flatlined]], and when the other Batman unlocked the cell, Flash beats him up at super speed. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d by our Batman:
-->'''Batman''': He anticipated everything I would have thought of. But who could anticipate you?
** Indeed, Batman is surprised to know Flash could have pulled that trick and Flash admits he's never actually tried it before so it was no wonder the Justice Lord Batman couldn't have seen it coming.
* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'': In "Knight Time", Roxy Rocket, the villain from the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "The Ultimate Thrill", inadvertently ruins Brainiac's plan by informing Superman that Batman went missing. She didn't even know Brainiac was involved.
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