Achilles' Heel: Difference between revisions
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Any seemingly [[Nigh Invulnerable]] character (particularly [[The Dragon]]) will inevitably have some key weakness that can and will be [[Flaw Exploitation|exploited.]]
In any show where the main character is superpowered in some way, an
Aliens and monsters that are [[Immune to Bullets]] will usually have a fairly [[Mundane Solution]] Achilles' Heel that only surfaces/gets discovered completely by accident when things look the bleakest. The archetypal example is the Martians from [[H. G. Wells]]' ''[[War of the Worlds]]'', who shrugged off everything the armies of the world could muster, and then [[Weaksauce Weakness|died from the common cold.]]
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** The Pope's one is not as bad as the others, as he's smart enough to do it on targets that are far away from him and without the psychic powers you'd need to counterattack while staying in a well-guarded location. [[Didn't See That Coming|Then Shun revealed his chain would attack without missing if he had even a vague idea of who he had to attack,]] [[Hoist by His Own Petard|and the Astral Projection actually allowed the chain to hit him.]] Then the Pope refrained from attempting it again in case Seiya, Shiryu or Hyouga pulled something like that.
* Probably one of the most gag-inducing Achilles' Heels in modern media, the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Digimon Adventure 02]]'''s only weakness was the Power of Dreams.
* In one of the earliest episodes of ''[[Inuyasha]]'', a human artist gains the power to make his [[Art Initiates Life|art come to life]], and starts creating some of the most horrible creatures imaginable as an army to obliterate his enemies. However, once Inuyasha destroys the artist's
** Inuyasha himself has his own weakness: On the night of a new moon, he becomes fully human and loses all of his demon powers.
* Subverted in Legend of Lemnear. The Big Bad transforms himself into a 50 foot demon cyclops, and the male hero: The warrior of Bronze declares {{spoiler|"You may be tough, but I know your weak spot! Your demon eye!" Then through a crazy set of acrobatics, lands on the demons face to plunge a sword into its eye. Only to have his sword shatter on contact. btw: Don't watch the movie, it's terrible}}
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* The unstoppable Juggernaut from ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' is susceptible to a mental attack once his helmet has been removed.
* [[Martian Manhunter]] (and indeed his species) was, then wasn't, deathly afraid of fire, which did, then didn't, and now does again melt him into a puddle.
* The [[Ultimate Marvel]] version of [[Iron Man]] can't touch anything with his bare skin, even dust, without causing himself excruciating
** So how does he touch the inside of the suit?
*** Beg pardon. Hence all the ''drinking''.
** And Ultimate Professor X has one weakness... [[Memetic Mutation|Stairs.]]
* Traditionally, [[Green Lantern
** One wonders what Rot Lop Fan is vulnerable to.
** It would have been even funnier if he had been vulnerable only to British ''aluminium''.
* The alien symbiotes, from the [[Marvel Universe]], that created such creatures as black-suit [[Spider-Man]], Venom, Carnage, and Toxin, are vulnerable to "sonics"
** Not just extreme heat: there's one time when Venom has been defeated by a lit ''zippo''.
* [[Inverted]] with the supervillain Doomsday. If you kill him, he comes back, ''immune to what killed him last time'' (so, if you tossed him into space, he'd come back probably able to survive sudden changes in pressure; if you did it again, he wouldn't need to breathe the next time; and if you did it a third time, he might--[[Convection, Schmonvection|eventually]]--[[Space Is Cold|freeze]], or burn up, and come back immune to that).
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** More generally, in the third story arc, {{spoiler|it is discovered that the resistance to damage that, by this point, all specials have, does not guard against radiation. Thus, a special who has spent the last 10 years stealing and hiding nuclear weapons gets radiation sickness, and any special can be temporarily weakened by an electromagnetic pulse.}}
* The Gladiator, one of Marvel's many [[Superman]] expys, is exactly as powerful as he thinks he is, so he can be defeated by denting his confidence.
* Norman Osborne, the current [[Big Bad]] of the [[Marvel Universe]], has one rather serious
* General Zod's associate Ursa has all the regular Kryptonian powers and weaknesses, but her eyes can't stand bright light. Knocking off her protective goggles will briefly stun her as she clutches her eyes in pain.
** The Eradicator (or at least when he reappeared after Superman's death) was like that, too - he couldn't take Superman's body and ended up forging a new one with the room around him. It wasn't perfect and he couldn't take in light properly, hence his shades. It's because of this that his battle with Steel turned in Steel's favor - he knocked off his shades fighting back.
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* The mother of all Achilles' Heels is the exhaust port on the Death Star in ''[[Star Wars]]'', through which an invincible planet-destroying space station can [[Earthshattering Kaboom|explode into an enormous fireball]] because of a couple torpedoes from a small one-man fighter spacecraft.
** Admittedly, [[For Massive Damage|knocking out its reactor core]]. Or, given that there was an explosion, instead of the station just going dead, knocking out the reaction ''controls'', started a chain reaction (heh) which destroyed the station.
* Possibly the silliest
** Which is why [[Wild Mass Guessing|some people think]] they were actually doing some kind of ritual hunt or adulthood rite.
** An especially silly weakness given that H<small>2</small>O is the second most common molecule in the universe, after H<small>2</small>.
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* In ''[[War of the Worlds]]'', the aliens are entirely vulnerable to Earth bacteria and viruses. While new beings likely wouldn't be vulnerable to earth's viruses, bacteria would be able to wipe out any species without an adapted (or adequate) immune system. This is because the different ways that bacteria and viruses work. While it's stated to be the common cold in the movie, it could just be a "sinus infection" (bacterial). Any alien species moving to a different planet would be highly vulnerable to any and all new bacteria.
** In ''[[League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]'' Volume 2, the virus was specially tailored by Dr Moreau. Yes ''that'' Dr Moreau.
* A blink-and-you'll-miss-it "
* ''[[The Wizard of Oz (film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'': The Wicked Witch of the West's vulnerability to water.
* Parodied in ''[[Scary Movie]] 3''. The aliens are fighting the group (though just because strangling is how they say hello), when Mahalik decapitates one with a shovel and says:
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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
* 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.
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* In Dan Simmons' ''Illium'' and ''Olympos'' the Trojan war is being deliberately recreated. Part of this involves Achilles being given a sort of quantum invulnerability that ensures he will only every be hurt by an arrow intentionally fired at his heel by Paris, which probably takes the cake for most specific and most inevitable Achilles' Heel.
* Fairy folk in the ''[[Artemis Fowl]]'' series are all susceptible to animal fat. Being exposed to animal fat will suck out all of their magic.
* This becomes an important plot point in the final book in the ''[[Percy Jackson & the Olympians|Percy Jackson and The Olympians]]'' series. A character who bathes in the River Styx gains the "Curse of Achilles," literally making him or her a one-man army. However, since humans aren't meant to be invulnerable, the Styx will burn them away if they don't focus on one point on their body to be their mortal
* The Steel Inquisitors in ''[[Mistborn]]'' are ''very'' dangerous customers, with [[Functional Magic|Allomantic]] powers as well as superhuman strength and speed. {{spoiler|However, the steel spikes that pierce their body are their weakness - if you separate the ones in their heads from the ones in their torsos by either pulling one out of their necks or decapitating them, they die.}}
** So what you're saying is: {{spoiler|[[Scary Movie|I found their weakness. They're powerless without their heads!]]}}
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{{quote|"I mean, look at this guy, hm? Pretty much the only thing that could do damage to that thick, stony hide...is himself. Or, maybe, I don't know, a piece of himself."}}
* ''[[Doctor Who]]'' does this ''a lot''.
** Cybermen were given an
** The Sontaran's 'probic vent'. "Back of the Neck!" Of course {{spoiler|bullets work perfectly well too...}}
** The Slitheen, being composed largely of calcium, can be killed with acetic acid.
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* In ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', Claire Bennet has a Wolverine-class healing factor that can repair her body to brand new after taking the [[Good Thing You Can Heal|unrealistically extreme amount of punishment]] that always comes her way. However, if an object is stabbed into a certain spot in the back of her head, she's rendered [[Not Quite Dead|"dead"]] until it's removed, and the same goes for anyone who [[Powers as Programs|copies her powers.]] It's implied ({{spoiler|and confirmed in an alternate future episode}}) that if this part of her brain was removed or destroyed, she would die permanently.
* 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
* 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.}}
** 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.
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** 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.)
* ''[[Champions]]'' was the first ever Tabletop RPG to feature ''intentionally'' taking weaknesses (called "Disadvantages" in the rules) as a part of the character creation process. The disadvantages "Susceptibility" (which causes a character to take damage from something other characters find harmless, such as Superman's reaction to Kryptonite or a vampire's taking damage from holy water) and "Vulnerability" (which multiplies incoming damage from certain types of attacks, such as a werewolf's vulnerability to silver) were specifically created to mimic an
** ''[[GURPS]]'' [[Follow the Leader|copied the Vulnerability disadvantage]] from ''[[Champions]].
** Most [[Tabletop RPG
* [[Shadowrun]] has the Allergy disadvantage, which comes in three grades, depending on the effect of contact with the substance: mildly annoying, exceptionally discomforting, and physically harmful. Shapeshifters automatically have Severe Allergies, typically to silver, vampires have Severe Allergies to sunlight and Moderate Allergies to garlic, etc. The really silly thing is that the rulebook has some recommendations for allergies, which include seawater and oil.
* Yozis in ''[[Exalted]]'' can be sent through an agonisingly painful and debilitating death-and-rebirth cycle if you take out their [[Demon Lords and Archdevils|fetich soul]]. It is worth noting, however, that this is often ''much'' harder than it sounds.
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== Video Games ==
* Just about any [[Attack Its Weak Point|glowing spot]], on any [[Boss Battle]], in any video game. Sometimes just does [[For Massive Damage|extra damage]] if hit, but is often (in [[Platformer
* In many [[First-Person Shooter]] games, enemies may have strong body armor, but can be killed faster by shooting them in the head (i.e. headshots).
** For example: [[The House of the Dead (series)|House of the Dead]], where not only do headshots take down enemies faster, but each boss has a specific weakpoint, and cannot be damaged (or only take minimal damage) if shot anywhere else. The best one is the one with a huge gaping hole in its chest that opens to reveal its heart every time it beats (How...not easy...).
* The superhero MMO ''[[City of Heroes]]'' balances all classes and powersets by giving them strengths and weakness, but only the Peacebringers and Warshades have a specific crippling weakness, Quantum Energy damage, which only NPCs with Quantum Weapons can deal. The problem was that the developers overdid it and made the weapons available to every enemy group in the game, essentially distributing kryptonite bullets, and it many cases it was powerful enough to kill the player in a single hit. As this was a major gripe about the two classes, eventually the developers responded by reducing the effects of the weapons to make it simply a danger rather than an overwhelmingly crippling threat.
** Furthermore, many defensive sets have
** Ironically the Quantum Energy problem almost exactly mirrors a problem encountered by Superman.
* ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]''. In this case, it's nearly always the eye or another insufferably obvious 'weak point'.
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== Western Animation ==
* You'd think, with the [[Black Box|Omnitrix]] making him able to transform into an alien of his choice at will, that Ben Tennyson of ''[[Ben 10]]'' would be pretty much invincible. He isn't though, for several reasons, including but by no means limited to: the seemingly random time limit (possibly based on some measure of energy expenditure, as the Omnitrix generally needs to 'recharge' for an equally random amount of time afterward), the Omnitrix's glitches turning him into an alien other than the one he chose, his own lack of knowledge of the forms hidden in the Omnitrix and the full extent of each one's powers, and, perhaps most dangerously, having the mindset of a [[Kid Hero|ten-year-old boy]].
* When Alex O'Hirn becomes the [[Super Strength|superstrong]] Rhino in ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]'', he goes on a destructive rampage and appears completely unstoppable. His
* In ''[[Justice League]],'' the forge god Hephaestus says that ''all'' of his creations are given one weakness so no one can become all-powerful. When Wonder Woman asked him what Ares' [[Humongous Mecha]] is vulnerable to, he doesn't tell her, saying she wouldn't want him going around telling the weakness he'd placed in ''her'' items. She does ''not'' look happy the revelation that she has any.
** I think [[Wonder Woman]] was a bit offended by the implied sexual innuendo of "the weakness of your armor". Hephaestus definitely makes the line sound a little lecherous.
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** Tendons in general are strong but have very little blood supply and heal very slowly. They also get stronger in response to exercise very slowly compared to the muscles they connect to. As such, a common and serious source injury of people who have taken up a new sport and don't know their limits to have their muscle strength in the required muscles become sufficient to injure the weaker tendons they connect to.
* Not to mention joints, [[Eye Scream|eyes]], pressure points, the throat, [[Groin Attack|the groin]] and the spine, especially near the base of the head are all weak points that martial artists take advantage of to [[One Hit KO|one shot]] their opponents, it doesn't matter how strong you are if someone hits you in the joy zone.
* While most [[Nintendo]] products<ref>
* The cobra is a [[Badass]] deadly snake from India with only one weakness. It strikes opponents rather slowly. Thus, the agile mongoose is able to defeat the cobra by jumping out of the way when it strikes and leaping up to bite the head when the snake is drawing back from the strike. Believe it or not, the cobra often manages to bite the mongoose ''once'', but since the mongoose has a partial immunity to the snake's venom it takes more than one bite to kill one, and the cobra usually tires out after it manages to bite once. In any given confrontation between an Indian Cobra and an Indian Grey Mongoose, the mongoose tends to prevail three out of five times.
** Mongooses in turn have an
*** Additionally, mongooses have another
*** There was once an attempt made to reduce populations of ''fer de lance'' vipers on an island by introducing a population of mongooses. It was a disaster. The mongooses were all decimated by the snakes and ''[[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass|domestic cats]]'' were used instead.
* Crocodiles and alligators have an
* Sharks have a similar weakness: if you manage to flip one upside down, it will enter a state of "tonic immobility" and become paralyzed. Some orcas managed to figure this out to hunt sharks.
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