Double Subversion

A Subverted Trope happens, or seems to happen, and then something negates the subversion.

These let a writer have their cake and eat it too: get the trick of a Subverted Trope, without abandoning the plot-furthering nature of that Trope.

It is possible to triple subvert a trope (and so on); see Zig-Zagging Trope.

See Playing with a Trope for a comparison with many other ways that a trope can be used.

Examples of Double Subversion include:

Anime and Manga

  • Fullmetal Alchemist: During a fight against Wrath, Fu attempts a Heroic Sacrifice, only to get foiled by his opponent. Just when things look hopeless, Buccaneer also sacrifices himself, and their united efforts manage to wound Wrath.
  • Azumanga Daioh: Sakaki types "cats" in a search engine, and everything she gets is a big bunch of random matches (including a page titled "We Love Neko Koneko"), thus subverting It's a Small Net After All. Then she types "Iriomote cat", and it seems like one of the very first matches is a plot relevant news article about how Mayaa's mother got killed, thus playing this same trope straight. (But even then it's vaguely justified, because the Iriomote cat is an extremely endanged species, so a story about a plot-relevant cat isn't as much of a coincidence as it would otherwise be.)
      • Even more justified in that recent news articles on subjects often show up high on a search list, especially for sensitive topics like endangered species (such as the Iriomote cat).
  • Mahou Sensei Negima contains a Double Subversion of The Unwanted Harem. It turns out most of the girls don't have any actual romantic interest in the lead, but enough of them do (Nodoka, Yue, Ako, Anya, Chachamaru...) that it ends up qualifying as a harem after all.
  • Digimon Savers subverted the usual Digimon brand of Disney Death by playing it straight for the first arc, then having the protagonists find out there was a way to permanently kill Digimon. But the Double Subversion comes later: Agumon "dies" in the Disney way by reverting back to an egg that will hatch later, but Masaru is repeatedly told that Agumon won't remember anything about their life together. Agumon the Digimon is alive, but Agumon who was Masaru's 'follower' is gone forever... except he's not. He hatches, and he latches onto Masaru's face like a leech (possibly as an Homage to Digimon Adventure's Pilot Movie) and they lived Happily Ever After. To be fair, this may have been foreshadowed by Piyomon retaining his memories after one death; apparently, exposure to humans and a Digisoul changes the rules.
  • In Princess Tutu, Mytho is a White-Haired Pretty Boy but isn't evil at all. But then the second season comes around...
  • In One Piece, Tashigi fangirling over Zoro's sword skillz for a while, and then finding he was a pirate superficially looks like a subverted example of Even Heroes Have Heroes, except it becomes a double subversion when she grudgingly realizes he's actually a pretty awesome guy anyway.
  • In xxxHolic, it initially seems that there is a Love Triangle between Watanuki, Himawari, and Domeki, with Himawari being the object of desire. However, that trope is erased when it is revealed that Domeki and Himawari aren't romantically interested in each other. But THEN, it's shown that both Himawari and Doumeki are more interested in Watanuki, once again creating a Love Triangle, but with the object of desire being Watanuki.
  • The Oracion Seis arc of Fairy Tail looked like it was subverting Authority Equals Asskicking by having the leader of the villains, Blaine, be defeated easily and the actual strongest member be his son Midnight. Then Midnight went down, and it turned out to be the last key needed to wake up Zero, Blaine's Super-Powered Evil Side....
  • Death Note: Misa Amane initially subverted the wangsty, nihilistic Loner Goth stereotype by turning out to actually be a cheerful, enthusiastic Perky Goth with a successful career as an actress/model. It's only later that we learn what a complete and total nutjob she really is.
  • Bleach has Isshin training Ichigo in the precipice world, letting him learn a Dangerous Forbidden Technique. They could only do this because Aizen destroyed the cleaner that goes through the precipice world. Seems to be Nice Job Fixing It, Villain, but Aizen said that he planned that so that Ichigo could become stronger. Ichigo went even further, ascending to another state of being, making his reiatsu undetectable by normal Shinigami and letting him shrug off attacks that would have decimated Isshin or Urahara. Nice Job Fixing It, Villain indeed.
  • Tekkaman Blade double subverts Laser-Guided Amnesia: D-Boy claims to have amnesia, but it turns out he's faking it. Then, near the end of the series, he starts losing his memory for real.


Comic Books

  • Quantum and Woody double subverts the Scary Black Man trope with Eric Henderson (Quantum). While he is a tall, muscular, and physically intimidating black man, his full-body costume and articulate speaking pattern means he's inevitably assumed to be Caucasian. People don't really freak out until they find out he's black underneath.

"You're black? S-word!"


Fan Fiction

  • In addition to all the other times it plays with a trope, Kyon: Big Damn Hero features a Double Subversion of Did Not Do the Research. Originally, a chapter was written assuming that Sasaki was a character's given name, rather than her family name as it actually is. The writer was doing his research, but the source from which he got the research had not done the research, making it a Double Subversion.


Film

  • In All About Eve, Karen thinks about tricking Margo to help her understand, and justifies it to herself that Margo will like it, and there's no reason not to tell her..."in time."
  • In the 2009 Star Trek film, an obvious Red Shirt has to open his parachute in time to hit a floating platform. At first it seems he won't open his parachute in time and pancake himself onto the planet below, but in fact he does open it just in time... to burn up in the platform's rocket flame trail.
  • Death likes to play these in the Final Destination movies. Think that chain of events will kill our sure victim? Nope, he barely made it. But another trigger kills him anyway.
  • The Live Action Adaptation of Speed Racer had one with Racer X's identity. Those familiar with the original show will remember that he's Rex Racer, Speed's older brother. However, the dramatic unmasking at the end shows that Racer X looks completely different from the Rex seen earlier in the film. But it's later revealed that it really IS Rex after all, and he had cosmetic surgery to hide his identity after faking his death, in order to protect his family.
  • Megamind double subverts a huge slew of Superhero Tropes
  • At one point in Monsters vs. Aliens, the heroes are wearing Paper Thin Disguises. Unfortunately, one of the enemies sees right through them... wait, scratch that. He only saw through one of them. The rest of the disguises seem to be working just fine. He even helps the heroes "arrest" the one he spotted.
  • In Buster Keaton's "One Week" (1920), a couple of newlyweds is given a portable house and a piece of land. Towards the end of the film, they discover that they have built the house on the wrong lot, and have to tow it across railroad tracks; predictably, the house jams on top of the tracks. The couple attempts to make it budge while arguing. Cut to footage of speeding train. Cut to train whistle letting off steam. Cut to couple jumping and looking past the house. Cut to larger plan of the couple making, in vain, a last-minute effort to move the house with the speeding train in the background, before stepping aside. Just as the train is expected to hit the house, the camera pans right, revealing the train passing on the tracks just next to the house. Cut to sighs of relief of the couple, who resume their arguing. Cut to another train running through the house from the other direction.
  • The climax of Big Trouble in Little China double-subverts Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Jack misses his knife-throw at Lo Pan by half a mile. When the villain sends the knife flying at him with magic, though, Jack catches it and throws it right between his eyes. "It's all in the reflexes."
  • Thor does this to The Big Damn Kiss when Thor and Jane lean forward to kiss, only for Thor to hesitantly pull away and kissed Jane's hand. But Jane un-subverts it when she pulls him into the kiss anyways.


Literature

  • The novel The Dragons of Babel subverts the the long-lost heir trope by having a con man successfully pose as the heir to the throne. And then the one completely infallible test proves that he really is the heir to the throne.
  • At first glance, Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash looks like your standard subversion of your typical Randian/Objectivist free market paradise, but if you really think about it, it's not that much more dysfunctional than real life and, despite its problems, everything does work out in the end.
  • Harry Potter seemed to subvert the Chosen One trope by having Harry choose himself. He had plenty of reasons, given Voldemort killed his parents and screwed up his childhood, but later we find that J.K. Rowling was playing it straight. The more Genre Savvy fans had already figured it out, though.
  • In an early The Dresden Files novel, Harry Dresden tells us that a Deal with the Devil is safe enough to skilled wizards. Demons will accept deals that don't give enough influence over the human to have an effect. Indeed, he pulls this off. The demon then offers Harry his heart's desire. He refuses, but iss reduced to a total wreck and does so despite himself. Turns out that Our Hero is just incredibly stupid.
  • Nation double-subverts the Chekhov's Gun - or, in this case, axe. Mau is taking part in a tribal Rite of Passage that involves an axe left in a tree by the last person to do it. He takes the axe, does the ritual, leaves it in the branch for the next guy - and then his island gets hit by a massive storm that kills everyone but him. In the immediate aftermath, the tree drifts by with the axe still stuck in it. He tries to free it again, but fails, and even feels vaguely cheated. Naturally, he finds it again during his showdown with the villain.


Live Action TV

  • One pre-titles segment of House features a young girl diving in a competition. Standard procedure with the claiming of slight illness and shots of insides. She dives in, emerges and finds the judge on the floor, vomiting blood. After the titles, it transpires the entire audience and swimmers are being tested for meningitis. It's at this point the girl turns up again, with bizarre symptoms which aren't meningitis.
  • Golden Palace, pilot: Involving a robbery incident. See The Ditz.
  • Six Feet Under actually got a few of these into the opening sequences involving the deaths each episode revolved around.
  • In the News Radio episode "Stupid Holiday Charity Talent Shot", Jimmy tells the WNYX staff that in order for Matthew to get his job back, someone from the station will have to enter and win the upcoming corporate talent show. Matthew repeatedly tries to tell the group that he has a talent he can use, but everyone ridicules or dismisses him. Finally, when all hope appears lost, Matthew finally informs the group that he has a ventriloquist act and has been competing in ventriloquist competitions for years. A Genre Savvy viewer would expect that at this point, Matthew goes on stage, knocks them dead, and wins his job back, right? But that's not what happens. Matthew sucks... really badly. But... he ends up winning the competition anyway, on a pity vote.
  • Happens twice during the pilot episode of Castle. Mystery writer Richard Castle is informed that, in Real Life police investigations, fingerprint matches can take up to a week to get done, and the most likely suspect usually is the person who did it. Castle than proceeds to sweet talk the mayor into giving their fingerprint search priority, getting it done in under an hour, and proves that the most likely suspect was actually framed.
  • Nick Knight (pilot for later series Forever Knight) double subverts the old pane-of-glass trope: A runaway car, barreling down the hill. Guys carrying pane of glass across the road. Drive yelling and trying to wave them off. Frightened face of car's helpless driver reflected in the glass. Guys make it out of the way in time, saving the glass...except they're so busy watching the car, they walk into a nearby tree, smashing the glass anyway.
  • Comedy double act Lee and Herring used this trope a lot. In the first series of This Morning With Richard Not Judy, Richard Herring would describe some disgusting act (often involving bestiality) he had partaken in. For example in one episode he described going to the sewage works and swimming in the sewage. Stewart Lee would then accuse Rich of being sick, prompting Rich to say "But who is the real sick man in this so-called society. Is it the man who regularly has harmless pleasure swimming in sewage, or is the business man in his suit and tie who goes to the toilet and thus produces the sewage in the first place?" Stu would then point out that in that example it was the first man because the business man hadn't done anything wrong. It was triply subverted in the final episode of series one, a business man who wears a suit and tie turned up to complain, Rich was suitably apologetic, but then the as the business man walked away they saw that the back of his suit was missing and he was wearing bondage gear underneath. Rich was delighted to find out that the business man was the sick one after all.
  • In the first-season Farscape episode "Bone to Be Wild," an odd alien woman named M'Lee asks Moya's crew to protect her from a hideous monster. Subversion #1: the monster is a well-spoken scientist named Br'Nee who wanted to warn Moya's crew about M'Lee, who murders people and eats their bones. Subversion #2: Br'Nee is responsible for starving M'Lee's people to death (and kidnapping one of Crichton's friends), and M'Lee was only motivated by extreme hunger.
  • Each installment of Toei's Super Sentai during its early years has always started with a Five-Man Band of heroes and very rarely deviated from that concept.[1] Choujuu Sentai Liveman, 1988 installment, starts its first episode with five friends who we are led to believe will become the titular Liveman team... But then two of the friends (Mari and Takuji) are killed off by the villains ten minutes into the episode, leaving the surviving friends (Yūsuke, Jō, and Megumi) with the duty to avenge their deaths as a trio. Halfway through the series, we are introduced to the fallen friends' heretofore unseen younger siblings (Tetsuya and Jun-ichi), who join the Liveman team, completing the five-member team.
  • In 30 Rock, Jack has a heart attack and is rushed to a hospital. When the doctor comes out to speak to Liz, Jack's mother, and Jack's fiance, he's covered in blood. He was at a costume party, and he was attacked by the host's dog. So he had to stab it.
  • In Community episode Interpretive Dance Jeff says that as soon as he and Professor Slater kiss, the blinds will open. They don't, but then it shown that blinds across the hall did open revealing his relationship to his friends.


Video Games

  • Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness has Pleinair, originally just the Dark Assembly guide for that game, as a recruitable character, no sidequest needed, as soon as the tutorial is completed, setting up a use of Disc One Nuke. However, she's only recruitable in a New Game+, which is the subversion...until you remember that you can see one of the endings in about half an hour by losing to Mid-Boss at the end of the first chapter (and if you don't level grind at least a little, it's not all that hard to lose on that level). Hence the double subversion.
  • At the start of Secret of Mana the main character pulls a sword out of a stone signaling that he is probably the Chosen One. However, soon after that, he is told by Jema that he is too young to be a hero, and he was only able to remove the sword because the power of Mana is weakening. Much later in the game, it turns out that he was definitely the Chosen One all along. Of course, a Genre Savvy player wouldn't believe Jema's explanation for one second.
  • Portal 2 does this with respect to Boss Arena Idiocy. It's set up earlier that the AI in charge of the mainframe cannot remove the parts of the system that are designed to swap cores in the event of corruption. The Final Boss appears to ignore this in setting up its Evil Plan, and indeed during the fight you do cause a core transfer to be initiated. However, the boss actually did plan for this possibility by placing a Booby Trap designed to kill you when you attempt to press the Stalemate Resolution Button. What brings about its final defeat is that, all along, it's been ignoring the progressive collapse of the Enrichment Center due to an impending reactor meltdown.
  • The Elder Scrolls does this with Chekhov's Volcano. The Elder Scrolls I Arena showed us a giant volcano belching smoke... which kept on belching smoke all throughout the game. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind revisisted the volcano... and ended with the volcano calming down. Then the novels that came out in the run-up to Skyrim revealed that the events of Morrowind had led to a chain of events that caused the volcano to erupt a few years after Oblivion.


Web Comics

Web Original

  • In this short, the viewer is led to believe that Arthur has been using Excalibur to cut up people. Then, it turns out he was cutting lasagna. Then it turns out that yes, he was cutting up a person. And eating them.
  • In Wish I Had a Portal Gun, starting around 1:47.
  • In Running With Scissors (Exactly What It Says on the Tin), it looks like the guy's about to stab himself in the eye with scissors upon falling down. Then, he's safe because they merely fly out of his hands. Flying into and cutting a rope, which drops a piano on his head.


Western Animation

  • House of Mouse: Donald Duck has set up his computer. A viewer would tend to expect that the computer would take all day to start up. Just 15 seconds after he turns it on, however, the screen reads "Startup Done", just long enough for the viewer to think "Huh?" before the word "Almost" is added to the screen, and it ends up taking all day after all.
  • Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker: One of Jokerz mouthed off to the Joker after failing his mission. Joker pulls a gun and pulls the trigger - which produces a flag that says "BANG!" on it - then pulls it again, ejecting the flagpole at high speed and impaling the guy in the chest.
    • Joker Wins. FATALITY!
      • This is based on a scene from the comics, in "Dreadful Birthday, Dear Joker!" (Batman #321).
  • In the animated movie Anastasia, Anya is conned into posing as the long-lost Russian princess... and it turns out she really is the long-lost Russian princess.
  • The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack double subverts the Lost Him in a Card Game trope. K'nuckles bet Flapjack in a card game, but wins and discovers that the person he was playing against also bet his kid sidekick.
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender double-subverts the Heel Face Turn trope. Zuko, after being set up for a Heel Face Turn since the introduction of his character and backstory, fails to complete it in the final episode of the second season. Halfway through the third season, he finishes what he started, in a way that is both awesome and well-earned.
  • Porky Pig double subverts the Precision F-Strike in this clip not meant for general audiences.
  • In American Dad, Steve tells Stan that his English teacher hates him and that's why he has a failing grade. Stan says in a sinister tone that he'll "pay the teacher a little visit." Cut to Stan having a friendly chat with the teacher and his family, implying that he had come over for dinner and had a wonderful time with them all. He then walks to the door, starts to say his goodbyes, then says, "I almost forgot..." (pulls his gun and slams the teacher against a wall) "Why are you failing my son?!?"
    • Later in the same episode, Roger has this:

Roger: You're going to go to jail, and they're going to take your cherry. Jell-O. Away. In the lunch line. After you're raped.

  • Family Guy is fond of double subversions in general, possibly because it's a sneaky way to get two jokes for the price of one, or a way to sneak a joke in an otherwise mundane transition. One example is in "A Hero Sits Next Door" with their double subversion of Eye Scream. Lois mentions that someone "lost an 'eye' (I) during Bingo". We see a Flash Back of a scene of the MC calling out an "I" number, then dropping it on the floor and losing it. Just when we think the gag is over, he bends over to look for it and slams his eye into the corner of the table.
  • In the South Park episode "Here Comes the Neighborhood" where many extremely rich black people were moving into South Park Mr. Garrison exclaims that "their kind" is taking over the place. When one asks what he means, he states because they are "rich". However at the end, when they successfully drove all the rich people out of Town, Mr. Garrison exclaims they can sell the houses and become rich. When it is pointed out to him that doing so will make them the same as the people they just drove out, Mr. Garrison replies, "well at least we got rid of those damn nig...".
    • Keep in mind that Mr. Garrison is bigoted towards just about everyone, including gays, even when he HIMSELF is gay (Which is even weirder when you consider he switches sexual orientations every other season or so)


Other


Real Life

  • The Todd River Race in Alice Springs, Australia, is a tongue-in-cheek subversion of conventional river regattas in which the "rowers" must carry their boats along the dried-up riverbed. Nature sometimes sabotages the event by inconsiderately filling the river with water, subverting the intended subversion.
  1. ↑ other than JAKQ Dengekitai started with four, but added a fifth member mid-series, as well as Taiyou Sentai Sun Vulcan, the first installment in the franchise to have only three member
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