Batman Gambit/Comic Books: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

* In ''[[Wolverine]]: Origins'', Wolverine has a plan with Bucky. The first part of the plan requires Bucky to hire a mercenary to attack Wolverine. Bucky hires everyone's favorite fourth-wall destroying, partially insane, [[Deadpool|merc with a mouth]], because Bucky knows how he hates that everyone thinks he's a Wolverine knock-off -- so Deadpool will draw Wolverine into a very noticeable battle. Deadpool is also the only guy who could have a chance against Wolverine. Hence, the battle ensues, and eventually {{spoiler|Deadpool has Wolverine hanging above a secret pool so that he can drown him, which may take a long time. But then, Wolverine's son, Daken, shows up, Bucky shoots Daken with a special bullet that will dull his healing factor, keeping him knocked out for a long time, so Wolverine can un-brainwash him.}} It turns out, that was the entire point of everything. [[The Chew Toy|Deadpool did not get paid.]]

* If you know ''anything'' about [[Doctor Doom|Victor Von Doom]], you can easily see why this trope could just as well be called ''The Doom Gambit''.

* This is the kind of planning that allows [[Lex Luthor]], with no superpowers, to mop the floor with Superman nearly every time the two of them meet. (Until Supes eventually wins, of course.)

* Spider Jerusalem pulls one in the climax of [[Transmetropolitan]]. The first time he meets [[President Evil|Gary Callahan]] he was able to record him with the use of "Source Gas". In their future meetings Callahan is smart enough to nullify such tricks, preventing Spider from getting any dirt on him. But as the story goes on Spider becomes less like a crusading journalist and more like an outright revolutionary, carrying real guns and using lethal force on assailants. After successfully ruining the president's career, he drives the final nail when Callahan meets him one last time to kill him. He has Spider repeatedly scanned for weapons and prepares to have him shot, claiming he nonetheless got a gun past security and it was self defense. Unfortunately for the President, he was relying too much on his belief that Spider had lost it and forgot the first trick he ever played on him. Spider is soaked in Source Gas, and Callahan is exposed.

** It's part of the same gambit, but it's worth pointing out that a substantial part of Warlock's gambit was to script an entire battle involving more than a dozen of the galaxy's strongest warriors sacrificing their lives, to get Thanos to ''raise his hand'' at the right moment.

** Warlock's [[Enemy Without|evil half]] the Magus is not to be outdone in the sequel [[Crisis Crossover|crossover]] ''The Infinity War'', implementing an elaborate scheme geared towards the acquisition of the Infinity Gauntlet. Unfortunately, two [[The Chessmaster|Chessmasters]] (three, if you count Thanos' duplicitous doppelganger) are better than one, and after Warlock and Thanos discern the Magus' end game, they execute a counter-scheme that sabotages the villain's newfound godhood, and ultimately leads to his defeat.

* In [[Marvel Universe|Marvel's]] ''[[Excalibur (Comic Book)|Excalibur]]'', it is revealed that Merlyn arranged the formation of Excalibur and manipulated many subsequent events (including faking his own death), in order to ultimately prevent the collapse of Merlyn's Energy Matrix and destroy Merlyn's former teacher Necrom.

* [[Nick Fury]] in the ''[[Ultimate Marvel]]'' universe performs one of these. In order to eliminate a dangerous assassin and recover the high tech rifle he possesses, Fury anonymously contacts the assassin ''and orders a hit on himself''. He manages to successfully lure the assassin into the open and kill him.

** The best part. The assassin is armed with a gun with X Ray Vision and a [[Bullets Do Not Work That Way|Magic Bullet that will phase through any barriers between him and his target.]] As he's setting up his aim, the last thing he sees is Nick Fury aiming the only other copy of this same rifle ''at him''. He didn't just call a hit on himself, he slipped the assassin just enough information about his own schedule so that he'd know exactly when and where the assassin would attack.

* Done at least twice in ''[[Sin City]]'':

** In "A Dame to Kill For", Ava leaves Dwight McCarthy for millionaire Damien Lord; then, four years later, comes to Dwight pretending to be afraid of Damien and his servant Manute, playing on Dwight's [[The Dulcinea Effect|Lancelot complex]] to get Dwight to investigate and ultimately kill Damien, leaving her Damien's money.

* Interestingly enough, [[The Joker]], in his more serious interpretations, is immune to the Batman Gambit based simply on the fact that he is completely unpredictable.

** And moreover, that if he can be bothered, he's [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]] enough to see through them.

* In ''The Black Knight GLORPS Again!'' by [[Don Rosa]], Arpin Lusene is out to regain his melts-anything-it-touches suit of armor from Scrooge McDuck. At the armor's supposed resting place, he finds that the armor has been replaced with a note stating that it is not there... which Arpin anticipated, and therefore brought a tiny saw along. With it, he saws silhouettes of a knight's armor in the walls, so Scrooge later believes that Arpin has regained his armor and walked through the walls. Worried, Scrooge goes to check out the armor at its true resting place, Arpin tailing him and stealing it.

* [[Superman]] once pulled one of these on [[Darkseid]], ''and himself''. After rescuing [[Supergirl]] from being a Female Fury, Supes inducts her as an official hero and sort of parades her around Earth. Angered about losing his prize, Darkseid comes to Earth and seemingly vaporizes her with his Omega Beams. Superman goes apeshit over losing her and beats Darkseid to a pulp and seals him inside the Source Wall. Superman then meets with Supergirl, who used a device to teleport away at the last second, and reports that the plan was successful. They were able to goad Darkseid into coming to fight them personally, and the mere ''sight'' of Supergirl's seeming death was able to trigger Superman's [[Unstoppable Rage]] so he could curb stomp Darkseid's ass. [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Batman muses that the plan had no input from him, it was all Clark, and it was brilliant]].

* [[Robert Crumb|Mr. Natural]] uses this on just about everyone, which makes them even madder when they realize how easily he's able to manipulate them.

* [[The Mole]] on the team in ''[[Runaways]]'' attributes this to the success of their plan near the end of the first volume - specifically, they let Nico suggest part of it after arranging things so there wouldn't be many other options.

 

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