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Anime & Manga
- In One Piece: The Attack of Bartholomew Kuma at Sabaody Archipelago scatters the Straw Hat crew to the four winds. The crew meets up again after the two year timeskip. See Party Scattering
- Happens in the sixth movie Baron Omatsuri And The Secret Island. As the games progress, the Straw Hats' friendly and tight-knit relationship becomes strained and they start to fight amongst each other more and more. It got bad enough that at one point, they all split off to find their missing crew mates. This was intentionally done by the Baron who wishes to break any pirate crew's spirit before feeding them to Lily.
- When Jinbe became a Warlord of the Sea, Arlong detested the idea of becoming a dog of the World Government so he and the original Arlong Pirates left, followed by Macro and his gang.
- Following the defeat of Etemon in Digimon Adventure, the Digidestined separated and scattered throughout the Digital World. When Tai returns, he has to spend a whole arc finding them and getting them back together.
- They actually went through this a couple of times. The first was when they first encountered Devimon, who split them up. Then there's the aforementioned Etemon example. While searching for the eighth child back at home, some of Myotismon's forces kept them divided for a short time. Finally, in the Dark Masters arc Matt went off on his own, Joe and Mimi went off another way, and the group doesn't properly reunite until just before the very of end of the series.
- In Slayers Try, the group is divided for a few episodes when Valgaav's plan to summon the Dark Lord Darkstar goes awry.
- In Mahou Sensei Negima!, Ala Alba was split up for a while soon after entering the Magic World.
- In 20th Century Boys most of the main characters are split up after the first major Wham Episode, which ends with a 15 year Time Skip that sees the main character dead, another in prison, two presumed dead and the rest scattered.A lot of the series sees them trying to reunite.
- In Ronin Warriors, this happens to the Five-Man Band after their first confrontation with the villain, who scatters them across the countryside and places them in prisons based on their Powered Armor's elements. It's up to The Chick and the Bratty Half-Pint to find and reunite the team.
- In Zoids: Chaotic Century, after Prozen and the Death Saurer are defeated, Van and his friends go their separate ways. Van joins the Republic military for formal Zoid pilot training, Fiona accompanies Dr. D in pursuit of the Zoid Eve, and Irvine and Moonbay return to their mercenary and trading ways, respectively. They all reunite 2 years later in Guardian Force, however.
- Villains they may be (at least they want to be), Pokémon's Team Rocket is also a very good example of True Companions. However, there are still times that they couldn't tolerate each other, resulting in a breakup (temporary, anyway, they barely last an episode). "The Ole' Berate and Switch" and "Noodles: Roamin' Off" are notable examples.
- In Fullmetal Alchemist, Colonel Mustang has a very close-knit group of five hand-selected subordinates, who are unquestionably loyal to him and to each other, and are working feverishly to help him with his long-term goals. To disrupt his plans, the villains break up his team and send them to where they can't help him. Three of the men are sent to distant outposts; one, recently paralyzed in the line of duty, is discharged from the hospital and sent back to his family's home; and the fifth, the lone female, is forced to become the personal assistant of one of the villains in order to hold her hostage for Mustang's good behavior. Of course, it doesn't really stick.
- In Saint Beast, the formerly inseparable Saint Beasts are drawn apart after four of them betray the other two as a result of being Brainwashed and Crazy and Judas and Luca get sent to hell. Then, after shaking off the brainwashing and plotting to save their friends the other four are are betrayed in turn by the goddess, separated and Taken for Granite.
- Berserk: After Guts defeats Griffith and earns his freedom from the Band of the Hawk, everything begins to take a turn for the worse. Griffith suffers from an emotional breakdown and gets his ass landed in the Tower of Rebirth for a year after an indiscretion with Princess Charlotte. The King then declares the rest of the Hawks outlaw, to be hunted down without mercy. During this time, many of the Hawks are either killed or just abandon the group, leaving only a small amount of dedicated followers. A year later, Guts returns, bringing back a small glimmer of hope when the Hawks, under the leadership of Casca, reveal to Guts that they are about to execute Operation: Rescue Griffith with the hopes of restoring Griffith to his former glory and bringing the Hawks back together. Unfortunately, a year of horrible torture has taken its toll on Griffith, effectively quashing everybody's hopes. And then things go From Bad to Worse as Griffith himself loses all hope and a certain Artifact of Doom returns to him just in time for the Eclipse...
- In Hunter × Hunter, the main characters have parted ways for very long periods of time, with Gon and Killua continuing to travel together while Leorio and Kurapica go off on their own individually. The first time this happened was after the Zoldyck Family arc, and the true companions eventually met up again in the York Shin Arc. The second time, it takes much longer for Gon and Killua to meet up with Leorio, and even then, Gon and Killua go their seperate ways and Leorio meets up with Kurapica some time later.
- This also happens to whatever group of allies Gon and Killua join up with during a given arc (Biscuit, Goreinu, Tsezgerra's team and Hisoka in the Greed Island Arc, and Morel's team during the Chimera Ants Arc). The group itself usually stays together while Gon and Killua leave to go on their next adventure.
- Happens three times in Rurouni Kenshin:
- First, Kenshin decides to leave for Kyoto himself, triggering a Heroic B.S.O.D. in Love Interest Kaoru.
- Then, Kenshin gets a Heroic B.S.O.D. when Kaoru is apparently murdered.
- Finally, by the end of the series, Sano is a fugitive, Megumi has gone back to her hometown, Aoshi and Misao returned to Kyoto, and it's implied that one day Yahiko will set out to blaze his own path. They still do meet up for reunions, though.
- In Naruto, Sasuke's betrayal of Konoha caused a seemingly permanent example of this for the original Team 7. Partially subverted in that the remaining members (Naruto, Sakura, and their sensei Kakashi) reunite after the Time Skip, and Sasuke is replaced with Sai.
- Tokyo Ravens: Harutora leaves his high school friends after he regains his memories as Yakou Tsuchimikado.
- After the battle with Tartarus in Fairy Tail, Natsu leaves to go train and Makarov disbands the guild, causing everyone to go their separate ways, with Lucy becoming a reporter and Wendy and Carla joining Lamia Scale.
- In the sequel to Brave10, just before the Battle of Ueda, Jinpachi leaves out of anger over Ana's treatment* and Kamanosuke disappears after some very cutting remarks from Saizo. With the Braves short-handed, they go into a battle where Seikai dies, Isanami chooses to leave and become Izanami to protect the rest of the Braves from Susanoo, Ana gets so badly hurt protecting Ueda she's in a coma, and in the aftermath Yukimura, Rokuro and Benmaru are forced to live in exile, and Sasuke, Kakei, Hanzo and Saizo all wander searching for their lost members.
- In Negation, after months eluding the Negation forces and having many of their number die, Kaine still wants to lead the band of fugitives back to their home universe, but the others decide to hide out on a world and make the best of it there, since they're tired of running and fighting. Only Zaida, Memi and Lizard Lady stick with Kaine.
- In DC Comics' Infinite Crisis, it is the deep divisions that have grown between Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman that create the power vacuum the villains seek to exploit.
- This is what happened to The Avengers due to the Scarlet Witch going insane and blowing up the mansion and killing several long term members. Brian Michael Bendis used the opportunity to get rid of characters he didn't want to write and bring in his own team as the New Avengers.
- It also happens to specific teams whenever there's a change in the roster.
- The Sonic the Hedgehog series has had the Freedom Fighters break up a number of times during its Dork Age. The first two times they were broken up, it was King Max Acorn-mandated - he preferred Geoffery St. John's Secret Service over them. Despite the fact that Robotnik was still around in some form. The most recent time was because Sally was turned into a robot, Bunnie was Brought Down to Normal and Antoine was nearly killed.
- The Changelings do this to the Mane Six in issue #2 of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (IDW), and Queen Chrysalis even Lampshades this in issue #3 but by the end of issue #3, though, they're back together. Chrysalis claims that this helps her in the long run.
- The "Breakdowns" arc of Justice League International was this for the League, despite Max Lord's efforts to avert it right at the end. Rather bizarrely, however, DC decided to let the readers vote on who would be in the new version of the Justice League that was planned for after "Breakdowns." The problem, of course, was that the readers who voted were the ones who were reading the comics, so, unsurprisingly, the new League had almost the exact same membership as the old League. The only exceptions were the addition of Superman to the JLA and Green Lanternnote and Aquaman to the JLE, and the removal of Captain Atomnote from the JLE.
- A Growing Affection: Not the main fellowship, but Team Hizashi (Anko, Iruka, and Yugao) split up after Hizashi's death, with extremely hurt feelings. They make up and partially reunite thirteen some years later.
- The Powers Of Harmony: After Cetus and Eclipse defeat the Mane Six and their allies, the only way Luna is able to save them is to teleport them to different places around the world. While they survive, they're scattered, with no means of communication, while the villains are still in a power position.
- The Conversion Bureau: Conquer the Stars: Between the events of the prequel Not Alone and the start of this, Fluttershy has stopped seeing Equestria's ideals eye to eye anymore. To prevent against any retaliation, she has abandoned her Ponyville residence and gone into hiding along with her animal friends. Considering she wields one of the Elements of Harmony and Equestria has just been effectively banished to an alien Death World to escape total annihilation, it goes without saying that this is downright catastrophic for the ponies.
- In the Littlest Pet Shop (2012) Dark Fic The Times They Are A-Changin', Penny Ling is forced to leave the group when her owners move away, causing the remaining pets' relationships with each other and their human friend Blythe to deteriorate.
- In the Scooby-Doo fanfic The Mystery Machine, Mystery Inc has disbanded due to internal strife and other reasons. Years later, Fred comes across the aged and rusting Mystery Machine, and one by one, the gang minus Scooby, who died gravitates to the old car. Unfortunately, they don't get back together.
Films — Animation
- On The Land Before Time, Cera and Littlefoot fight over which is the right way to the Great Valley. The others end up following Cera, because her route seems easier, leaving Littlefoot alone. Cera's way, however, leads them into danger, and Littlefoot has to rescue them.
- For a change, Fujiko's antics in The Mystery of Mamo get Lupin to swear off her — until she's found abandoned in the wilderness and The Dulcinea Effect kicks in. This is the last straw for both Goemon and Jigen, and the trio only barely avoids coming to blows before turning their backs on each other. (And, naturally, Fujiko's running the Wounded Gazelle Gambit for Mamo.) The gang regathers at Mamo's Caribbean island, but after Fujiko getting kidnapped and Goemon suffering a Heroic B.S.O.D., Lupin is eventually forced to Storm the Castle alone, despite Jigen's attempts to talk him out of it (with bullets).
- In The Rugrats Movie, Tommy's devotion to protecting his baby brother Dil angers Phil and Lil enough that they opt to abandon them in the forest. Chuckie follows suit when he admits he feels betrayed that his best friend wasn't trying to protect him instead of his brother. This proves to be a problem when the trio gets lost in a rainstorm and Phil's nearly crushed by a falling tree. It's enough to send the babies running back to save Tommy and Dil the next morning.
Films — Live-Action
- Marvel Cinematic Universe:
- In The Avengers, this is part of Loki's Evil Plan early in the film to cause Bruce Banner to Hulk out and help break the Avengers apart so they will be out of his way when he summons the Chitauri to Earth. It nearly works.
- The sequel Avengers: Age of Ultron ends with the Hulk lost, and Iron Man, Thor and Hawkeye leaving the team. Captain America and Black Widow end up forming a new Avengers line-up consisting of War Machine, Scarlet Witch, The Falcon and The Vision. Kevin Feige has stated that the company plans to alter the Avengers line-up in each movie they appear in.
- In Captain America: Civil War the Avengers are pitted against one another over a registration act (one side in favor of it, the other against it), and the question of what do with Bucky Barnes. It tears the group apart, and by the end of the film, Steve Rogers and his anti-registration team are fugitives, Rhodey is paralyzed, Tony and Steve are not on good terms with each other, Thor and the Hulk are still missing, and now so is Black Widow.
- Lord of the Rings is the Trope Namer here. They never do all meet again, since one of them dies and one is irrevocably transformed in the interim. They manage 8 of the original 9.
- David Eddings' Belgariad: Towards the end of the novel the main party splits off to protect the ones they love, so to speak. Happens again in the Mallorean too.
- The protagonist Stark family (including the illegitimate son, Jon Snow) of A Song of Ice and Fire is separated early on in the first novel, and further separates from there. As of the fifth book, two of them are almost certainly dead, one is ambiguously dead, one is lost north of the Wall and presumed dead, one is undead, one is a glorified captive of a sociopathic manipulator with a creepy sexual interest in her, one is learning to abandon her entire identity, and one is living on an island of cannibals. The outlook of a happy reunion seems bleak.
- The Circle of Magic series by Tamora Pierce has three arcs. In the first four books, four misunderstood children are brought together by their alienating special powers, X-Men style. In the second four books, titled "The Circle Opens," we follow the main cast as adults, when they have all split up and taken an apprentice of their own. There is minimal contact between them, and each of books 5-8 is effectively independent of the others. The 9th book serves as a literary equivalent of The Movie, getting them all back together for a reunion, although their travels and the horrors that they've seen (or even participated in) have made them grow apart.
- In Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Dragonlance Chronicles, the main party is forced to separate early in the second book when the city of Tarsis is under attack. The groups mostly reassemble before the end, except that two died and another seemingly switched sides.
- In Dune Thufir Hawat and Gurney Halleck are separated from Paul and Jessica in the wake of the Harkonnens' attack, and Duncan Idaho is killed. They're finally able to get together again at the end of the book.
- In Warrior Cats, the chosen cats from The New Prophecy have to split back to their Clans after the Great Journey.
- In Septimus Heap, whenever this happens...things start getting wrong. For example, in Darke, between Septimus and Jenna splitting up at the Palace gates and meetign again in the Dragon Field the Castle is overrun by a Darke Domaine and their mother Sarah Heap is trapped inside of it.
- In The Hereward Trilogy, the breakup of Wild Edric's Wish Hounds foreshadows the eventual fate of Hereward's own gang. There's a failed attempt to regroup the former, and the latter do regroup (those of them still alive) - but not for long.
- In Zeroes, the Zeroes began training as a superhero team, but they had an argument which resulted in the group dissolving and each member going their separate way. The story begins several years later with them Putting the Band Back Together.
- The first book of The Witchlands ends with Merik staying in Nubrevna to help his kingdom, Safi going to Marstok on Vaness' ship and Iseult leaving Nubrevna for the Contested Lands to try and find out what happened to Safi.
Live Action TV
- A famous example comes from Blake's 7 which saw most of the cast being split up after the loss of their Cool Ship and the main title character departing the series (only to return and get killed in the last episode.
- One season of CSI saw the usual ensemble split up between night and swing shifts.
- The Farscape gang went their separate ways at one point, only to find that the bounties on their heads made splitting up too dangerous.
- Happened to House, twice. Once at the end of Season 3, and again in season 4. It wasn't until midway through season 6 that he got most of both teams back, but given his personality it is probably only a matter of time before it happens again.
- Lost. The last time "the whole gang" (minus everyone who's died along the way) is gathered has to be 4.01, "The Beginning of the End". A very fundamental split in ideology occurs in that episode, and the majority of the core group aren't united in one place again until two seasons later where 3 years have passed in the show.]]
- The initial disagreement, despite causing the separation, eventually became less important, but various new events and threats kept the group from being as one for the remainder of the time afterwards.
- Merlin; The Four-Temperament Ensemble composed of Merlin, Arthur, Morgana and Guinevere slowly falls apart throughout the course of season two due to Morgana's increasing isolation, and sundered forever at the end of the season when she's taken away by her half-sister. In the wake of her absence, the remaining three become a tight Power Trio, and at the end of season three there's a brand new Fellowship in the form of the Knights of the Round Table.
- NCIS splits up Gibbs' team after Leon Vance takes over. They all eventually come back together.
- In the Tenth season finale, the team resigns in a show of support for Gibbs when a congressional witch hunt threatens his career.
- Robin Hood: At the end of the second season, Will Scarlett and Djaq opt to stay in the Holy Land instead of returning to England with their comrades. A sad example, considering the writers completely forget about their existence, and they're never seen or heard from again.
- The latter half of the fourth season of Babylon 5 had the human crewmembers split up between Babylon 5, Mars, and in between fighting in the Earth Alliance civil war. A number of the alien characters also got involved in this plotline when they weren't tied up in the problems of their home worlds.
- In the fifth season finale of Bones, Brennan and Daisy join an excavation in Maluku, Booth becomes a military adviser in Afghanistan and newlyweds Angela and Hodgins go to Paris for an extended honeymoon. During the following season premiere when Cam's position as director of the Jeffersonian is in jeopardy, Judge Caroline sends word to the others, Putting the Band Back Together
- Leverage has this at the first season finale in which all of the various characters disappear on their own. They get back together in the first episode of season 2.
- In third Season Finale of Brooklyn Nine-Nine Jake and Holt are sent to Florida on witness protection, the first three episodes of season 4 deal with them getting back, an example with lower stakes was at the start previous season where Holt and Gina where Kicked Upstairs by Madeline Wuntch.
- In How I Met Your Mother, in the final episode after Barney and Robin's divorce, the gang slowly drifted apart due to work and family reasons. Especially Robin who intentionally kept her distance because it was difficult for her to be close to her ex-husband and Ted, who she believed she should have married. A sad truth in real life.
- Person of Interest. At the end of Season 3, Team Machine has to abandon their secret headquarters in the library and escape separately under false identities the moment Samaritan comes on line.
- Gorillaz did this twice, all detailed in their autobiography.
- Mass Effect:
- In Mass Effect 2, the team from the first game has scattered after Shepard's death. You get a couple of them back, but the others refuse to come back for various reasons (can't leave their work, won't work with Cerberus even for you). In Mass Effect 3, all of the surviving squad members from the first game (with the exception of Wrex, who remains an important ally) end up back with you.
- And if you secured the team's loyalty in Mass Effect 2, then this is in full effect for them as well in Mass Effect 3, bordering on The Fellowship Has Ended. You can bring a few minor crewmembers back onto your team permanently, but most of the others are either tied up in their own quests, if not outright back with their own people trying to fight the Reapers. It doesn't help that most of them are considered outlaws in Alliance space, and Shepard is back with the Alliance Navy.
- Final Fantasy VI: The entire second half revolves around tracking down each member of your old party and rallying back into the fight. The final dungeon is available very early on, but until you've glued your fellowship back together you won't stand much of a chance where Marathon Level and Boss Rush join forces to beat you up.
- Final Fantasy XIII-2: A rather sad example from Hope's perspective. During the first game the five other party members became his True Companions, going to Pulse and back to Screw Destiny. When you meet a 24-year-old Hope in 10 -AF-, he describes how all of the former party members from the previous game (plus Serah) disappeared from his life; after Fang, Vanille (and Lightning, from his perspective) pulled a joint Heroic Sacrifice, the others slowly faded out of his life altogether (first because of the physical distance between them, then because they all went time-travelling), and Serah is the first one he's seen in the last 7 years. He is understandably quite put out when Serah and Noel inform him that he cannot join their quest because of the way time travel works.
- Vandal Hearts
- In Vandal Hearts the party is split at the end of Chapter II. This is because The Magic Stone sends Ash, Grog and Sara into a pocket dimension that exists outside of time. The rest of the party is variously arrested, off joining the rebellion or in Kira's case, going back to the Big Bad after having betrayed the team.
- In Vandal Hearts II at the end of the prologue, the five main characters split up and never join up again. Joshua becomes a noble brigand who goes on to play a vital part in the founding of Central Natra and then become its top Knight, one childhood friend joins the priesthood, one goes to a big city to protect Joshua's step-sister who works as a prostitute, one carries on her life as a noblewoman and becomes a political tool and the last succeeds in forging an army to try to seize the crown, but becomes a drunken washout. The player's actions within the game affects the final fates of these characters.
- In Baldur's Gate II, two of your canonical party members from the first game are killed offscreen, and you lose another one at the end of the prologue dungeon. The first two are Deader Than Dead, but you can get the third one back much later.
- Dragon Age II ends like this, with all surviving party members going their separate ways after Hawke disappears (except for Hawke's Love Interest, who went with him/her).
- In MS Saga: A New Dawn, your team is separated after one leaves due to feeling inadequate and the rest are separated from you after the bad guy's base is destroyed, killing one of your allies in the process. They get back together soon after and the guy who leaves comes back after Taking a Level in Badass.
- In Shin Megami Tensei I, Chaos Hero will leave the party after fusing himself with a demon and killing Ozawa, stating that the other characters will only slow him down or get themselves killed.
- Happens to an extent in the beginning of the final volume of Dot Hack GU. Despite building up a team of 7 of the 8 Avatar users and a bunch of others, Yata is promptly fired by CC Corp, forcing him to abandon the team in despair. Pi leaves as well to try to talk sense into him, while Endrance seemingly betrays you and Sakubo (who never liked Haseo anyway) going with him. With the non Avatar users still locked out of the loop, that leaves only Atoli and Kuhn as the only people Haseo can rely on to stop Sakaki. Endrance was pulling a Fake Defector though and Yata eventually comes to his senses and returns.
- Golden Sun: Dark Dawn: We see only two of the previous games' eight protagonists (Isaac and Garet, who live in a cabin near what's left of Mt. Aleph), although the others are occasionally mentioned (Jenna and Ivan live in Kalay, Piers is out at sea, Mia might be in Imil, and Felix hasn't been heard from since, no word on Sheba though). Particularly aggravating as the game features many a Point of No Return and Broken Bridgge that prevent you from going to see them, and ends on a Cliffhanger to boot.
- In Drowtales, this happens to Alpha Bitch(Chrys'tel)'s Five-Man Band; later Ariel's group splits over an internal disagreement, only to find each other via Big Damn Heroes. They later split up again on much more amicable terms to pursue different goals.
- Happened in The Order of the Stick following the battle of Azure City. Eventually they got back together, but with all party members having gone through a lot of Character Development. The arc was even titled "Don't Split The Party".
- Also happened in the backstory to the "Order of the Scribble," the Order of the Stick's predecessors in confronting the dangers of the Snarl. They never reunited and, at least in the case of Girard Draketooth, hated
the othersSoon Kim beyond rational thought.
- Also happened in the backstory to the "Order of the Scribble," the Order of the Stick's predecessors in confronting the dangers of the Snarl. They never reunited and, at least in the case of Girard Draketooth, hated
- In Juathuur, Faevv's group splits relatively fast. When they reunite, they act slightly hostile. "A lot happened after you left" is a sentence that gets used a lot.
- Gunnerkrigg Court had the group formerly containing Surma, Anthony, Eglamore, Anja, Donald and (presumably) Brinnie. By the time the comic starts, the group has been broken — Anja, Donald and James remained in the Court as teachers, Brinnie's whereabouts are unknown (appeared only in flashback) and Surma and Anthony in Good Hope Hospital, with Surma as a patient and Anthony as the doctor. Surma ended up with Carver instead of Eglamore and the Court's three lost contact with Brinnie and didn't know where Surma and Anthony were (Anja apparently discovered that Surma died only when Annie was transferred to the Court). Why they broke up on such bad terms is yet unknown. The only plausible apple of discord revealed so far was Reynardine possession incident.
- Vampire Cheerleaders: The Paranormal Mystery Squad was a privately run organization of cryptid hunters, which was lead by Stephanie Kane. But their group was disbanded by order of PETM, after Stephanie was abducted by the mothmen at the beginning of vol.4.
- Suburban Knights starts off on the adventure by splitting the group in two. It makes sense here, though; the map they're using has two distinct paths and there's still nine people in each group.
- Done throughout Seasons 2 & 3 of We're Alive. First Lizzy gets kicked out of the Tower in Chapter 20, then Saul, Victor, Burt and Lizzy get left behind in Chapter 24, finally Pegs, Kelly, Datu, and Hope get sent to Boulder in Chapter 29. The group finally comes back together in Chapter 36.
- In RWBY it's eventually revealed that the team of Hunters and Huntresses that Ruby and Yang's parents belonged to, Team STRQ, wound up falling apart. Yang's mom Raven ran out on her shortly after she was born, Ruby's mom Summer went MIA during a mission and is presumed dead, while their father Taiyang and their uncle Qrow settled down (somewhat) to teach the next generation of Huntresses but aren't on great terms with each other. Qrow still has a battered old team photo, with a glass stain and tear drops over the missing women's images.
- By the end of Season Three, this has happened to Team RWBY as well. After the Battle of Beacon, Weiss has been taken home by her father, Blake has ditched her friends so they won't be targeted by her enemies, Yang has fallen into an apathetic depression after losing her arm (and Blake), and Ruby is adventuring with the surviving members of Team JNPR.
- The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes!:
- In "Who Can You Trust?", news of a Skrull among the Avengers causes everyone to lose trust in one another, and three Avengers quit because of this distrust. Iron Man even renounces his leadership position, which gets taken by the Skrull, Captain America.
- The Skrull uses his position beforehand as well, and sows discord in the group. The Hulk gets locked up because of a doppelganger, and Thor went off world an hour or two before the Skrull arrived, so eventually at one point the team shot in the beginning of the theme is just three members, while the song blares triumphantly "Forever fight as one..!"
- Kim Possible: In "A Sitch in Time", part of Shego's plan is splitting up Kim and Ron by having Ron's mother transferred to Scandinavia.
- Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: The first season finale ends with Fred leaving to find his real parents, Daphne leaving because Fred called off their engagement, Shaggy being sent to military school, Scooby being sent to a farm, and Velma left as the only one to investigate the mystery of Crystal Cove.
- This was Discord's plan for the Mane Six in the season two premiere of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic so they would be unable to use the Elements of Harmony against him. Fortunately, he underestimated just how powerful The Power of Friendship was.
- In Equestria Girls, Sunset Shimmer did this to the Humane Five before Twilight arrived in their world and reunited them.
- In The Legend of Korra, this happens to New Team Avatar in Book 4, after the three-year Time Skip from the end of Book 3. Mako and Asami are pursuing their own lives in Republic City, Bolin is signed up with Knight Templar Kuvira (not knowing just how bad she is) and Korra is still recovering from the Red Lotus poisoning her with what should have been a fatal dose of mercury. This changes later, after Korra manages to recover mentally, physically and spiritually and Bolin realises that Kuvira is nuts and bails. Mako and Asami welcome the other two back with open arms in Republic City.