Not sure; maybe he already knew and was taking the fastest route to Asia aboard the same flight Indy was? How would he know to follow Jones in the first place?
Close but no cigar: H. G. Wells’ In the Land of the Blind. Not an innovation, but a capability.
Well, what about Iron Man? Nobody wants him; they just turn their heads. Nobody helps him.
The Ghostbusters saved the world, but got sued by every state, county, and city agency in New York for all the Gozer and Stay-Puft damage, and put under a judicial restraining order forbidding them from paranormal investigation and elimination.
They would have had the full info from the staff head thingy though because they would have just taken it rather than have had to rely on the burn impression on Toht’s hand.
I recall that in the Starjammer D&D setting there’s a planet dominated by mindflayers where humans are raised and educated in giant academic facilities. Unknown to the students this is because an intelligent, well educated brain tastes better to the mind flayers, and academic excellence just makes somebody into a more desirable meal.
This is basically part of the plot of Rambo: First Blood Part II.
John Rambo is sent on a mission to see if there are any POWs left behind in Vietnam but when he actually finds some --the commanding officer refuse to rescue them and explains: Any evidence of POWs would have been ignored, as the discovery would have forced the United States to expend resources, or possibly even start another war to secure their release.
Of course being Rambo he disobeys his orders and frees all the POWs himself bring him back to the base. And Rambo decides to stay in SE Asia-disillusioned with the way the US government treats its veterans.
“She never sleeps!”
:shudder!:
Hot Fuzz, Angel is relocated out of London to a tiny village because he’s making the Metropolitan Police look bad with his incredible achievements…
She wasn’t technically punished, but Dorothy was certainly given the cold shoulder when she succeeded in bringing back the wicked witch’s broomstick.
Can’t believe I didn’t think of that one. I love that film.
That’s because no one expected her to succeed. It was a fool’s errand, the Wizard probably expected her to die, solving his problem.
The Water Engine by David Mamet is a perfect example of this.
It’s my sister’s favorite one in the Cornetto trilogy.
At first, DEATHTRAP seems to be going this way: the aspiring young playwright apparently has a smash hit on his hands, but hasn’t shown it to anyone who’d vouch for him having done so — or left any copies behind for anyone to find — and it becomes increasingly obvious that an opportunist with the right showbiz connections could pass off that masterpiece as their own.
The twist is, yep, that’s what happens.
In Children of Heaven, Ali has lost his sister’s shoes and their family can’t afford new ones, so enters a race with the a pair of sneakers is the third prize. Ali wins the race, and is devastated because he didn’t win the shoes.
Brian De Palma’s rock musical comedy horror film, PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE.
The same thing happened to Little Dog on 2 Stupid Dogs when he appeared on The Price is Right. He kept inadvertently winning fabulous prizes when he just wanted the consolation prize of a box of doggie treats.
Miles Vorkosigan in his first military posting successfully prevented his crazy commander from massacring his own men, but for complicated political/plot reasons it forced him to give up his planned military career (and is why he ended up the the intelligence service instead).
In an earlier near miss he didn’t realize until it was almost too late that by his semi-accidental takeover/creation of the Dendarii Mercenaries he’d violated a law about Vor having private armies that carried the death penalty.
In the Niven story Converging Series the protagonist successfully summons a demon (not really believing it will work) and discovers that by doing so he’s automatically damned himself.
In Mercedes Lackey’s Bardic Voices books one of the protagonists is severely beaten and her instrument destroyed when she wins a music contest and reveals her gender (they don’t like female musicians).
This is probably the opposite of the OP’s stipulation, but thought it worth mentioning anyway…
In the novel of You Only Live Twice, James Bond, hero of the British Secret Service, brainwashed by the Soviets, attempts and fails to assassinate his boss M. Definitely not a success, either from the British or Soviet perspective. But M, somewhelat perversely, promotes him to a more ambassadorial role, above his usual Double-O status, and sends him off on a diplomatic mission to Japan. From Bond’s point of view this is not a promotion however and feels more like a punishment, since he enjoys the thrilling danger and unpredictability of his usual occupation. Little does he know that he is about to be thrust into another adventure though.