Know When to Fold'Em: Difference between revisions

* [[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.

* 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.

* DC's version of the trope, had the Reach, who plan centuries-long infiltrations of their targets, get exposed by the [[Blue Beetle]] to Earth government's. The humans demand the aliens surrender. Knowing they can't even defeat the regular forces of human governments, let alone the superheroes of Earth, they do.

 

{{quote|'''JOSHUA:''' A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.}}

** Of course, at that point the Russians could have won because the United States' missile system was crippled by a computer that wouldn't "play".

* Done with Picard in ''[[Star Trek: First Contact]],'' who became Captain Ahab <small>[[Recycled in Space|IN SPACE!]]</small> when the Borg are around.

* Oddly enough, this trope is included in ''[[The Wizard of Oz (film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'', when the Wizard points out to the Cowardly Lion that he's confusing cowardice with wisdom—running away from a situation that's clearly going to get you harmed or killed is obviously the smart thing to do. This trope is also present in [[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz|Baum's original version]] as a subtext—the Lion is deeply afraid of the Kelidas roaming the forest, and does his best to avoid them... but the fact that they're twice his size and have the heads of tigers and the bodies of bears suggests that avoiding them might be the smart thing to do until you can find a better way of handling it, which the Lion does with the help of Dorothy and her friends.

* One ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' cartoon with Sylvester and Tweety ends with Sylvester deciding to quit chasing the bird and go to a restaurant for spaghetti.

* In the [[Series Finale]] of the [[Netflix]] reboot of ''[[Carmen Sandiego]]'': when Acme finally raids V.I.L.E.'s headquarters, most of their leaders try to fight back or flee, only to be nabbed quickly. Countess Cleo, however, doesn't bother making a fool of herself, waiting in her quarters and lifting her hands in surrender when they break down the door.

 

== [[Real Life]] ==