Achilles' Heel: Difference between revisions

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* Also parodied in [[Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle]], during a psychedelic dream sequence.

{{quote|'''Officer Palumbo''': Bullets! My only weakness! How did you know?}}

* [[Lampshaded]] and overdone ad nauseum in ''[[~~Mind Hunters~~]]''. The plot of the movie rests on a FBI profiler killer killing other FBI profilers by presenting them in situations where they will have to fall for traps he's devised, because said trap is their weakness. {{spoiler|In the end, he dies by getting shot in the head, causing LL Cool J's character to quip "I guess we found out his weakness. Bullets."}}. However, the killer's true Achilles' Heel is {{spoiler|time. Everything has to happen on his schedule.}}

* [[Lampshaded]] and overdone ad nauseum in ''[[Mindhunters]]''. The plot of the movie rests on a FBI profiler killer killing other FBI profilers by presenting them in situations where they will have to fall for traps he's devised, because said trap is their weakness. {{spoiler|In the end, he dies by getting shot in the head, causing LL Cool J's character to quip "I guess we found out his weakness. Bullets."}}. However, the killer's true Achilles' Heel is {{spoiler|time. Everything has to happen on his schedule.}}

* In ''[[Attack of the Killer Tomatoes]]'', the eponymous tomatoes are defeated by playing the fictional artist Ronny Desmond's new hit song "Puberty Love," which causes them to shrink and become vulnerable to crushing.

* Similarly, in Tim Burton's ''[[Mars Attacks!]]!'', the Martian attackers are defeated by playing Slim Whitman's "Indian Love Call," which causes their heads to explode.

* Talos the Titan in ''Jason and the Argonauts'' has a near-literal version of this [[Trope]].

** That's the way it was in the original.

* In the [[Disney]] film ''[[Hercules (~~Disney~~ film)|Hercules]]'', Phil makes a reference to his old student Achilles and complains about "that stupid heel". He even goes to Achilles' statue, flicks the heel which cause the entire statue to crumble.

* In the [[Disney]] film ''[[Hercules (1997 film)||Hercules]]'', Phil makes a reference to his old student Achilles and complains about "that stupid heel". He even goes to Achilles' statue, flicks the heel which cause the entire statue to crumble.

* The Omnidroid in ''[[The Incredibles]]'' could only be harmed by its own weapons.

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* The Blutbad from the series ''[[Grimm]]'' have a weak spot at the lower right part of their back. If hit there it will stun them for a few seconds.

* Sheriff Lucas Buck's vulnerability in ''[[American Gothic]]'' is his third eye—if stabbed there, he could be killed. What makes this a particularly [[Egregious]] example is that not only is there no indication of this vulnerability until the next to the last episode of the show, but what could have been a very cool mythologically resonant plot point is instead wasted twice over: the person who reveals and exploits this weakness is a throwaway character we'd never met until the previous episode and [[Weaksauce Weakness|the stabbing doesn't even take, since Buck is revealed alive in his grave at the end of the episode]].

* In ''[[Star Trek: ~~Deep Space Nine|Star Trek~~ Deep Space Nine]]'', Founders are almost absolutely immune to physical damage, vulnerable to BIG amounts of radiation or phaser weapons... {{spoiler|and can be killed by specific virus.}}

* In ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'', Founders are almost absolutely immune to physical damage, vulnerable to BIG amounts of radiation or phaser weapons... {{spoiler|and can be killed by specific virus.}}

** They also have to go into liquid form for 8 hours a day, much like humans need to sleep. In one episode, Odo was prevented from doing so, and started physically falling apart as a result.

*** Actually, only Odo suffered from that particular weakness, and only due to his inexperience and general lack of knowledge regarding shapeshifting. It was stated in the series that the Founders that came from the Great Link did not need to revert to their liquid form everyday.

** ''[[Star Trek: The ~~Next Generation|Star Trek the~~ Next Generation]]'' has Data, an incredibly strong, fast, durable, and intelligent android...with an off switch on his side. Flipping it renders him effectively dead until he's turned back on.

** ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' has Data, an incredibly strong, fast, durable, and intelligent android...with an off switch on his side. Flipping it renders him effectively dead until he's turned back on.

** The Borg are near unstoppable forces of nature that assimilate and adapt to everything they come across, but ''[[Star Trek: ~~Voyager|Star Trek~~ Voyager]]'' reasoned that if they can't assimilate it then they can't adapt to it, which is why they were so vulnerable to Species 8472. The Voyager crew, on the other hand, used scientific investigation and creativity, which allowed them to design a weapon to use against 8472.

** The Borg are near unstoppable forces of nature that assimilate and adapt to everything they come across, but ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' reasoned that if they can't assimilate it then they can't adapt to it, which is why they were so vulnerable to Species 8472. The Voyager crew, on the other hand, used scientific investigation and creativity, which allowed them to design a weapon to use against 8472.

*** They are also unable to adapt to blades: Worf killed them plenty with those and they ''never'' adapted.

* Although not one related to the villain itself, the Goa'uld of [[Stargate SG-1]] have force shields that can be bypassed by slower-moving objects. (Bullets won't work, but a thrown knife will). Later, the Replicators can only be destroyed with projectile weapons. Yes, their only weakness is ''getting shot''. [[It Makes Sense in Context|It makes sense in the show.]]

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== Tabletop Games ==

* Many ''[[Dungeons ~~and~~ Dragons]]'' monsters have specific weaknesses that either do more damage than normal, or are necessary to even be able to kill them. The most famous is arguably the troll, which in most editions can't be killed with just standard weapons, but that also needs to be burned with acid or fire for it to permanently die. Unconventional tactics can also exploit certain weaknesses, or at least find other ways to kill them.

* Many ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' monsters have specific weaknesses that either do more damage than normal, or are necessary to even be able to kill them. The most famous is arguably the troll, which in most editions can't be killed with just standard weapons, but that also needs to be burned with acid or fire for it to permanently die. Unconventional tactics can also exploit certain weaknesses, or at least find other ways to kill them.

** Also included are demons/devils vulnerability to certain metals such as cold iron and silver

* Virtually any named enemy in ''[[Deadlands]]'' will be [[Nigh Invulnerable]], except for one weakness somehow obscurely related to {{spoiler|its past}}. The list goes on: Stone, Raven, the Bishop, [[Big Screwed-Up Family|prominent Whateleys]], {{spoiler|Grimme, [[Big Bad|Death, War, Pestilence, Famine]] }}... In fact, it's so common that one of the most coveted abilities of arcane characters is the rare ability to intuit these weaknesses. (That's part of why the [[Badass Normal]] [[Band of Brothers|posse]] keeps the bookworms around.)

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[[Category:~~Achilles' Heel~~]]

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