Times where characters realized they "Could Have Avoided This!" in Comic Books.
- Played for Drama in Astonishing X-Men. After the Danger Room becomes a sentient lifeform named Danger and puts the X-Men through all manner of misery, including the forced death of one new student at their academy, it's revealed that Professor X knew about the problem months ago, after Danger called out to him telepathically. Rather than help her, or at the very least inform the other X-Men what was going on, Charles instead kept Danger a secret — which also meant keeping her imprisoned within the room so she could keep running simulations for him. Professor X tries to claim that he was doing what was necessary to keep the X-Men well-trained and safe, but they don't buy his claims, pointing out that his treatment of a non-human life is identical to the extremist views that Magneto espouses and Charles rejects.
- Berrybrook Middle School:
- Peppi says this a lot in Awkward. She tells Mari that if they act as the better person compared to the Science Club, then they have a good chance of getting that School Fair slot. Unsurprisingly, Peppi is frustrated when Mari steals the remote and dumps it on Peppi in a desperate attempt to win the challenge. She tells off Mari though Mari moves away before she sees the full brunt of their actions, and later shames both clubs by pointing out their stupidity and selfishness got them both suspended.
- The principal points out, in a stern tone, that he asked for the clubs to contribute to the community with their projects. If they wanted to get greenlit for the fair, they had to show good sportsmanship. Their failure to do so and causing giant brawls means that they get suspended.
- As Liv puts it at the end of Crush, that Garrett apologized doesn't make up for the fact that he said mean things about her and her friends in an online chatroom in the first place. He had a choice to be a better person from the beginning but made his life all about impressing James. Jorge admits she has a point, and Garrett has to do a lot of work to get into her good graces again.
- Dark Web:
- The plot starts because Madelyne Pryor wants to recover some memories from the Cerebro back-ups that belong to her, going through a complicated plot involving Chasm (a hideously warped Ben Reilly), Venom, and unleashing several demons on New York again, because she thinks they won't give them and doesn't want to "beg" for them. At the end, Jean tells Maddie that if she'd just asked they would've let her have the memories, without a fuss.
- Meanwhile, on Chasm's side, Spider-Man points out he didn't need to go through his whole insane, contradictory plan either. If all he wanted to do was attack Peter, he should've just done that.
- Robin (1993): When Tim encounters the Langstroms and realizes he needs some of the serum that helps them return to human form as they're stuck as Man-bats he contacts Nightwing who has Tim suit up as Robin and join him in traveling to and breaking into the last lab Francine worked at, only for an annoyed Tim to ask him why they had to do things the hard way when they scale the building and Tim realizes it's a new Wayne Enterprises building west of Gotham. Dick responds it's more fun to break in and test the building's security, and then ends up having to send Tim to ask Jason Bard for the serum anyway as Francine's lab doesn't have any.
- Sillage: Heiliig is a member of a race that requires extremely high temperatures, so he is on a mission to find a new planet for them. He finds a jungle planet and starts transforming it by moving it closer to the sun, making it burn. When it is discovered that the planet has an inhabitant, the human Navis, Heiliig's robot assistant Snivel attempts the standard procedure contacting the Sillage fleet so that they can relocate the native, but Heiliig takes him apart and says he wants the planet transformed right away and not to waste time relocating a single native. Navis fights to defend her home and manages to convince his Slave Race, the Migreurs, to express independence. Heiliig is then arrested by the Sillage fleet because it is illegal to terraform a planet without consideration of the natives. At his trial, he is told all the damage like the loss of the Migreurs and his arrest could have been avoided if he had just called them to relocate Navis, since it wouldn't have taken long to do.
- In one issue of The Simpsons, Mayor Quimby passes a law intended to abolish Daylight Saving Time. Thanks to the wording of this law, Springfielders are now free to set their clocks to whatever time they choose. Springfield descends into chaos, and the mayor forgets about his power until Lisa points it out.
- Spider-Man:
- The Amazing Spider-Man (2018): J. Jonah Jameson invites Spider-Man to his inaugural podcast where they discuss their previous conflicts. Jonah points out that a lot of Spidey's problems have been caused by his loner mentality of his early days and that, instead of webbing him up and insulting him every chance he got, Spidey could have stopped Jameson's editorials by talking to him.
- During the "Gauntlet" arc in Brand New Day, The Rhino had retired from villainy to be with his wife. Then a new Rhino shows up, and calls the original out in order to defeat him and claim the title. Rhino is ready to suit up and fight, but Spider-Man urges him not to, and he stands down; then the new Rhino kills his wife in order to goad him into fighting. Rhino suits up and easily kills the new Rhino before he can get off a single attack. And he tells Spider-Man that he'll never forgive him for talking him out of suiting up earlier, which would have saved his wife.
- Spirou & Fantasio: In Le Tombeau des Champignac, after the Zorglumobile crashes, the count works on fixing it while Fantasio has a subplot about trying to get oil for it from a nearby village. He goes through all kinds of trouble for it, and in the end, returns to the vehicle to find that the count found a can of oil in the trunk.
- Supergirl:
- Supergirl (Wednesday Comics): While investigating a spaceship which is dumping radioactive waste into the Sun, Supergirl greets the alien crew to introduce herself, and gets shot into unconsciousness. When Kara comes around, Krypto and Streaky have explained the situation to the aliens, who are really sorry: they were unaware that they were damaging the Earth's environment by destroying their nuclear weaponry, and they'll go somewhere else now. Kara wishes them good luck and advises that they ask questions before shooting the next time.Alien: We are sorry that we mistook your actions as an attack.[...]They have explained your situation and the effects from our disposal of radioactive waste on your planet. We apologize for this.[...]Part of our planetwide treaty was for us to work together and dispose of all the weapons of destruction left on the planet.
Supergirl: I get it...and dump it into our Sun. Well... Thanks for taking it elsewhere. I wish you all good luck with everything...and when you guys are visiting Earth, look me up. But in the future ask questions first, then shoot. - Supergirl Adventures Girl Of Steel: The Justice League tries to recapture villain Girder when he breaks out of prison at Christmas. After taking him down, they find out that he was desperate for paying a visit to his family, and he did not mind if he was taken back in custody afterwards. If he had just told that, the League would have granted him his wish instead of fighting him.
- Supergirl (Wednesday Comics): While investigating a spaceship which is dumping radioactive waste into the Sun, Supergirl greets the alien crew to introduce herself, and gets shot into unconsciousness. When Kara comes around, Krypto and Streaky have explained the situation to the aliens, who are really sorry: they were unaware that they were damaging the Earth's environment by destroying their nuclear weaponry, and they'll go somewhere else now. Kara wishes them good luck and advises that they ask questions before shooting the next time.
- Superman: In "War World", Superman is seeking his missing cousin Supergirl, but The Spectre forbids him from going past the limits of the universe. Superman yells at him, punches him and tries to outrun him but it is useless because The Spectre is too powerful. Then Superman asks him for help in finding Kara, and The Spectre teleports her in his arms, stating that all Superman needed to do was ask.
- The Transformers: Robots in Disguise: After the events of Combiner Wars, Optimus tells Arcee that if she'd told him about what Prowl was up to, they could've avoided at least some of the preceding debacle.
- Ultimate X-Men (2001): Magneto is killed by Xavier in the first arc... or so it seemed. Actually, Xavier staged the whole thing, brainwashed Magneto and tried to rehabilitate him. Things got wrecked when the Brotherhood discovers this and restore his mind. Everything that Magneto does afterward (from Ultimate War to Ultimatum) could have been avoided if Xavier had killed Magneto when he had the chance, and he was frequently called upon it.
- Wonder Woman Vol 1: Wonder Woman and the Holliday Girls end up fighting, and disarming the Space Police force the Golden Women because of a misunderstanding that was perpetuated by one of the policewomen interrupting with accusations every time the earth women tried to explain themselves, and saying things which implied they were the evil oppressors of the Geni, rather than holding the Geni because they were murders on a planetwide scale. Once an understanding has been reached the leader of the police group is rather embarrassed by the misunderstanding and how easily it could have been avoided.
