Know When To Fold Em / Comic Books

Knowing when to fold 'em in Comic Books.

---

• Asterix:
  • Both Romans and Pirates give up fighting at some point. The pirates are infamous for sinking their own ship once they realise there are Gauls on the other vessel and they can't run away fast enough.
  • Even more noteworthy is Julius Caesar's use of this trope, because he isn't acting like a snivelling coward and it isn't played for laughs. Au contraire, he often appears at the end of a story, granting amnesty to Asterix and Obelix and even doing a few favours... because they have already fought through tooth and nail and the only way to save face and avoid a humiliating defeat, is acting in acceptance. Asterix usually plays along because it would complicate matters a little otherwise.
• Blue Beetle: The Dragon from the third Blue Beetle series advocated just up and leaving when it became clear they weren't in control of the situation. The Big Bad always shot down his suggestion that they quit while they were ahead.
• Daredevil: Part of the reason Bullseye has lived so long as a Psycho for Hire is because he's perfectly willing to abandon any job that seems to be getting too hot for him.
• In Convergence: The Flash #2, the Tangent Superman willingly chooses to surrender to the Earth-One era Barry Allen after he sees through Barry's future and the impact he has on the Multiverse such as the Crisis on Infinite Earths. He realizes that if he eliminates Barry, he will doom the Multiverse and all of continuity.
  Tangent Superman: "One city for another? A grim moral choice. One city for ALL creation? For the Multiverse? It is only a matter of scale, but the scale matters."
• DCeased: In the final issue, the infected Superman finds himself confronting the Green Lantern Corps. He sizes up his opponents and realizes he can't beat them all and decides to dive into the heart of the sun and absorb all the energy he can to kill as many lives as possible. Similarly, when Ganthet sees this, he realizes not even a Green Lantern Ring can withstand the heart of a star and decides to let Sector 2814 perish and let the infection sleep so they can get what survivors they had to a new world and rebuild.
• The Eagles of Rome: Segestes is a Germanic chieftain who is very pro-Roman. However, when it becomes clear that he has been Out-Gambitted by Ermanamer and his Roman allies ignore his intelligence about Ermanamer's plans (believing his words to merely be the slander of an aggrieved father who is mad that his daughter eloped with a man he did not choose for her), he reluctantly joins with Ermanamer's uprising. Ermanamer, for his part, is glad that his father-in-law is now an ally.
• Fantastic Four:
  • Reed Richards once contacted an alien invasion fleet right before they were about to attack Earth. In the middle of introducing himself, the aliens realized who he was (the supergenius leader of the group that has foiled other alien invasions and Galactus himself) and wisely got the hell away from Earth.
  • This is a part of what has always made Doctor Doom such a capable antagonist. Unlike most supervillains, Doom can recognise when the plan has gone south and it's time to leave. Yeah, Reed Richards is still alive, and you don't have what you came here for. It doesn't matter. It's time to go. Long before he had his diplomatic immunity, Doom regularly got away by having planned his escape in advance, and leaving the minute he was in danger of being surrounded. In one instance, he fights the Fantastic Four tooth and nail trying to get to Mjolnir and claim it, eventually beating them, grasping the handle and, predictably, being unable to budge it. Rather than rage at his failure or try to take it out on anyone nearby, he simply shrugs and goes home.
  • In another notable example, Doom and the Avengers just concluded an Enemy Mine against Attuma, but Doom being Doom steals the machine Attuma had been using in preparation for one of his plots. The Avengers pursue and fight him, but the Vision chooses to sneak in and destroy the machine rather than risk it being used by anyone. Doom immediately realises what has happened and curses the Vision, but then simply flies away rather than continue a pointless battle. The Avengers briefly debate continuing the pursuit, but also decide that continued conflict is pointless.
• Figment: In issue 3 of the first series, when the sound sprites realize that they are chasing an escaped Blair, Figment, Fye, and Chimera towards the Nightmare Nation, they opt to give up to avoid getting trapped in that region.
• Generation X: The butler of Gayle Edgerton opens the manor door to find Emplate asking to speak with Ms. Edgerton. The butler, visibly and rightfully terrified, tries to claim she isn't home and that he'll let her know Emplate stopped by. In response, Emplate decides to speak frankly:
  Emplate: Look, Niles... I know she's here. You know she's here. And you know that I know she's here. I am going to see her - whether you're dead or alive. Gentleman's choice. Which is it going to be?
  (long, uncomfortable pause)
  Niles: Right this way, sir.
• Guardians of the Galaxy: After the death of Starhawk and Aleta's children, the team walk out of the Arcturan base. One Arcturan starts raising a fuss about this, only for his superior to point out the team's already busted into their base without breaking a sweat. If they suddenly want to leave without a fight, he's more than happy to let them go.
• In a JLA/Wild C.A.T.s (WildStorm) crossover written by Grant Morrison, Grifter pulls a gun on Batman only for Batman to snatch it out of his hand immediately.
  Grifter: Whoa. Okay, I think I get the picture, man. There's more to you people than meets the eye, right? So I'm...ah...I'm gonna just sit right here until this thing gets straightened out. I'm off your case.
  Batman: Reasonable man. (tosses Grifter his gun) Here. Don't use them myself.
• Lucifer: God gives the title character an epic put down in the last issue of the series, using the Journey to the West tale of Buddha and the Monkey King to illustrate the foolishness of fighting someone that you could never conceivably defeat. Lucifer counters that he lost with pride at least, the validity of which is up to the readers to decide.
• At least twice Marvel Comics has used the schtick that an alien force is intent on invading Earth only for one person doing the research to realize they are trying to invade a planet that has defended itself successfully, multiple times, against other invading aliens, multiple galactic empires (at the same time), cosmic entities no one else in the universe has ever managed to even slow down, and is home to entities capable of eating stars, assorted deities, and a Watcher who thinks the planet rocks so much he's actually done stuff instead of merely observing. One time the fleet commander listens and does a u-turn. Another, not so much. The invasion is defeated by three X-Men (one of them drunk).
  • Made literal in the latter case when one group of the invaders backs off when faced with a lethal bet in a card game against Wolverine.
• In Marvel Adventures Bullseye demonstrates that he knows not to punch above his weight class.
  Hulk: Pay taxes.
  Bullseye: Okay, I will.
  Moments later, Bullseye is letting himself be handcuffed.
  Cop: Huh, the fight sure went out of you quick!
  Bullseye: Hulk says pay taxes. I pay taxes.
• Nova: In Nova (2007), Rich finds himself facing Blastaar, who is trying to lay siege to his rival Ravenous's castle, while Rich wants to take Ravenous into custody, along with a handful of others working for the Shi'ar Empire he's picked up while he was there. Rich goes into quiet parlay with Blastaar and tells him either he can let Rich take the prisoners and claim I Meant to Do That or Rich can do to him what he did to the last guy from the Negative Zone (rip him inside out). Blastaar lets them go.
• Paperinik New Adventures:
  • A couple of criminal droids realize it's not worth trying to defend their boss from the hero. Subverted since Paperinik still stops them.
    Gottfresh: Stop him! Do something!
    Mantis!: You made him angry! See you!
  • Also Colonel Neopard — in his words "The mercenary that knows when to quit is good for another mission!" Subverted again, as he planted a bomb to destroy his target anyway. He had a contract and a reputation, after all...
  • As soon as they realized her power, whenever the Evronians encounter Xadhoom (a Physical Goddess bent on killing them) they would try and run away unless they had a trap for her. Always subverted because she's not only too powerful to fight, but also faster than them.
  • Also the Raider knows when it's a good time to retreat. This and his Time Machine is what makes him really dangerous: as powerful as he is he can be defeated, but the moment the tide turns against him he'll run and, if possible, alter some event before the fight to gain the advantage.
  • Duckburg's normal criminals know better than to fight or run when Paperinik catches them. This is a hold-over from the "classic" Paperinik stories, where Paperinik has crushed and humiliated enough of them that they'll just grab the evidence and give themselves up to the police when he shows up.
• The Red Ten: After several members of the Alliance die, Orion declares that he's leaving, comparing the situation to staying in a losing card game and invoking this trope word for word.
• Robin: While Tim Drake is unquestionably tenacious, he knows when to pull back from a situation to approach it from another angle, or give up on a case permanently, as he did when a gun runner he was following had the bad luck of being chosen by an Eldritch Abomination as its newest anchor for a human form.
• As their name suggests, the Runaways frequently follow this principle.
• Serenity: Leaves on the Wind: In Serenity the Operative was an extremely powerful fighter: both times he went up against Mal directly, Mal only won by luck. So you know it's bad when the Operative, post-Heel–Face Turn, sees his fellow operative Kalista and immediately surrenders. Turned on its head a page later when Serenity arrives with a cargo bay full of browncoats. Kalista apparently decides the rebels will win by sheer numbers even against her and promptly high-tails it.
• Shadows of the Empire: Evolution: As soon as the Pike Sisters learn that their bounty hunt is pitting them against the Heroes of Yavin, they quit their job. Their boss tries to enforce Resignations Not Accepted with his blaster, but he's the one who ends up dead while the heroes let the Pike Sisters leave peacefully.
• Sonic the Hedgehog/Mega Man: Worlds Collide: After they've been beaten by Super Sonic and Super Armor Mega Man, Dr. Wily accepts defeat and patiently waits for the heroes to use Chaos Control to undo the Super Genesis Wave. Eggman, however, is not so restrained and opts for a Last Villain Stand against Sonic.
• Spider-Man: When he first encounters the Juggernaut in The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #229, Spidey launches repeated attacks in futile attempt to slow the villain down. In the follow-up issue, Spidey becomes so desperate he starts using attacks that would cripple or kill even the hardiest of his usual enemies, culminating in him ramming a fully-loaded fuel truck right into Juggernaut and being shocked the guy was still standing. In a later encounter, Juggernaut bluntly tells Spider-Man he's just going into the city to secure an item for his employer, and warns Spidey that if he tries to stop him, then Juggernaut fully intends to do as much damage to the city as he can. Spider-Man agrees to step aside and let him proceed, and when called out on it replies that he isn't anywhere near strong enough to fight someone like Juggernaut, and he isn't willing to risk the lives of innocent people out of pride.
• Superman:
  • In The Death of Superman, Lois begs Superman to do this as he's badly wounded in his fight with Doomsday, but he refuses as the League is down and nothing will stop it in its rampage, thus opts for a Last Stand.
  • All-Star Superman: This is Superman's answer to the riddle of the Ultra-Sphinx (which doesn't solve the paradox at all.)
    Ultra-Sphinx: Question: What happens when the Unstoppable Force meets the Immovable Object?
    Superman: Ha. How about this? They surrender.
  • In "The Girl of No Tomorrow", the sorceress Selena joins the Fatal Five to take Supergirl down. She and Magog raid a government building where the Girl of Steel is resting, but they're curbstomped by an ally of Supergirl's. Selena judges it's time to cut her losses and teleports away.
    Selena: Well. This fight is certainly going in a direction. I think I will, too.
    Magog: Selena! You can't just desert me! We're in this, coward!
    Selena: Read the fine print, Magog. I didn't sign up for werewolves. Have fun.
  • Starfire's Revenge: When Starfire decides to run away while Supergirl is beating her mooks down, her minion Dr. Kangle agrees a retreat is the smart strategy:
    Starfire: And speaking of go— Let's! Come on, Professor!
    Dr. Kangle: Right, Starfire— Supergirl is too much for us right now! It's better to run and fight another day!
  • In The Supergirl from Krypton (2004), Darkseid decides his scheme to kidnap and brainwash Kara Zor-El into becoming his slave is not worth the trouble after Wonder Woman has defeated his Furies, Superman has knocked Kara out and Batman has reprogrammed his Hellspore bombs to blow Apokolips up. Darkseid calmly snorts and tells the heroes to take Kara and get out of his planet.
  • The Leper from Krypton: A criminal gang is raiding a gold shipment when they spot Superman flying overhead. Aware that Superman is out of their league, and that he has just gotten infected with a dangerous and contagious alien disease, they surrender immediately out of fear of being both beaten and infected.
  • Supergirl Adventures Girl Of Steel: Darkseid gets annoyed when Supergirl destroys his latest super-weapon, but he quickly calms himself down, decides that continuing the battle is pointless, and goes back to Apokolips to devise his next scheme.
• Thunderbolts:
  • When trying to talk the team into going along with her choice, and ignoring Zemo's plan, Moonstone notes Fixer doesn't agree, but quietly points out to him that everyone else in the room is for her suggestion. He decides to go along.
  • If Moonstone can't run and she can't fight, and provided she's in full possession of her faculties, then she will surrender. At the end of the first arc, faced with the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, she and the rest of the team do just that.
• Transformers:
  • The Transformers Megaseries: In Infiltration, the Earth Based Infiltration team renege against Megaton, with Starscream discovering Ore-13 which can empower them greatly. After Megatron curbstomps Skywarp and Blitzwing, Starscream tests the formula and sends an empowered Thundercracker, Astrotrain, Runabout and Runamuck against Megatron. Megatron calmly tells them to stand down, or he will kill all of them. The four immediately lower their weapons. The threat was not hollow, as even the empowered Starscream can't stand up to Megatron.
  • The Transformers (Marvel): Simply having the presence of mind to recognize when to back down is considered a strength among many Micromasters; Swindler of the Race Car patrol knows when he's beat. Detour of the Sports Car patrol is a bit of a coward, but can tell when the other shoe's about to drop, too.
• Wonder Woman Vol 1: When Diana slams through the wall of the Saturnian throne room, and the Emperor has no hostages to use against her, he has his guards and soldiers stand down and agrees to work out a peaceable treaty with the US, stop abducting people and return all human slaves to earth.

---