Brought Down to Normal: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|''"Later on there's gonna be a part of the game where you lose all your extreme power and you have to do all these [[Escort Mission|escort missions]]. But don't play that part of the game, though, cause it sucks."''|'''Johnny Xtreme''', ''[[X-Play]]''}}

 

== Anime and Manga ==

** In the anime, Ranma had to go through special training to learn a move that would let him defeat Happosai without using any strength, but collecting energy from the surroundings and then releasing it. He learns it, but it takes him lots more to grab the scroll containing the cure for his condition, which Happosai himself had among his clothes.

* Towards the end of the first arc in ''[[The Twelve Kingdoms]]'', Youko fights her [[The Rival|rival]] without the Hinman that gives her her martial art skills in order to prove her who was the real Chosen One.

* Done awesomely in ''[[Infinite Crisis]]'', during the final battle against [[Superboy|Superboy-Prime]]. Up to that point, Prime had defeated the [[Justice League]], the [[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans]], and the ''entire [[Green Lantern|Green Lantern Corps]]'' and seemed utterly unstoppable. Then both Superman of Earth-One and Earth-Two show up with a plan. Moving at max speed, they fly Superboy-Prime through Krypton's red sun Rao and the kryptonite asteroid field that use to be Krypton before crash landing on [[Genius Loci|Mogo]]. Afterwards, all three Supermen lose their powers and the fight for the fate of the universe is settled in a normal, human-level brawl.

* After ''[[Infinite Crisis]]'', Superman loses his powers for an entire ''year''. ''[[52]]'', the series that covers this one-year gap, has him lying low, focusing on his job as a reporter with the Daily Planet. It turns out that, despite how he views Clark as his "real" personality, he really is bad at his life without Superman's powers. He is more timid and unsure of himself as a reporter, and Perry White actually moves to ''fire'' him after he lets the ''Planet'' get scooped on the large story of a new superhero. However, this revelation that he is letting his new status change how he lives his life, which he never thought would happen, galvanizes him to take dramatic action (i.e. ''jumping out the window'') in order to attract the attention of the new hero and get the story. The writers explained that they included that scene because they wanted to make it clear that even without his powers he is still Superman, and his willingness to take extreme personal risks did not go away just because he can no longer take a bullet.

** Superman also loses his powers permanently in ''World's Finest'' #178, and decides to try his hand as a [[Badass Normal]] hero - turns out he ''sucks'' at it (for one thing, he instinctively pulls his punches), but fortunately by the end of the follow-up story, [[Batman]] has promised to train him.

** He also permanently lost his powers back in ''[[Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?]]'', though this one was intentional, as he had broken his [[Thou Shall Not Kill]] code. As such, he also gave up on all superheroism and resigned himself to [[Cursed with Awesome|a normal life married to Lois Lane]]. {{spoiler|Their son has the full powers, of course.}}

* In another story, Superman discovered that he lost all of his powers every time he changed into his Clark Kent identity. He was faced with a choice of whether he wanted to live out his life as Superman or Clark. It was eventually revealed that an alien enemy had treated all of Clark Kent's clothes so they blocked the yellow sun radiation that gave Superman his powers.

* In the [[Elseworlds]] series ''[[JLA: Act of God]]'' a strange wave of energy hits Earth causing heroes and villains alike to lose their superpowers. Some disappear into the woodwork while others reinvent themselves as [[Badass Normal|Badass Normals]] in the [[Batman]] mould. However, if you watched [[Atop the Fourth Wall|one man's review]] of it, you'd learn the writers fucked up this execution royally.

<!-- %%** [[YourMileageMayVary A mostly great plot]]. It would have been more consistent with their characters to have Wally be losing it and Kyle be okay. [[FridgeLogic How did Kyle deal with his need for a creative outlet a scant couple of years ago when he didn't have a ring?]] Answer: He drew (unless his Green Lantern half picked up all of his technical skill.) One guesses he just really got used to having the ring around in intervening years, it's hard to go back. -->

<!-- %%*** That was basically it, yes. After years with a GreenLanternRing, a pencil and paper seemed like a pale imitation. -->

* In ''[[Spider-Man (film)|Spider-Man]] 2'' Peter Parker loses his abilities due to a psychosomatic response to stress and burnout. While he enjoys the freedom from responsibility and the improvements upon his life, he realizes he should, and wants to, use his powers to help people. Once he's at peace with that decision, his powers return and he's back to saving the world. It was based on a famous storyline from the comic books.

* In ''[[Superman II]]'', the titular Last Son of Krypton gives up his super powers so that he can become romantically involved with Lois Lane. The holographic image of his dead mother explains the need for this vaguely as "If you wish to be with a mortal, you must become mortal", but those of us who've read Niven's ''[http://www.rawbw.com/~svw/superman.html Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex]'' know the ''real'' reason.

** In the sequel, Imhotep (again resurrected) loses his powers when entering the pyramid in Am Sher, as Anubis wants him to fight the Scorpion King as a mortal.

* The plot of ''[[X-Men: The Last Stand|X Men the Last Stand]]'' revolves around a serum created from a mutant that imposes this trope on any other mutant around him. Throughout the movie, several characters take the serum, either forcefully or willingly. Major characters include: {{spoiler|Mystique, Rogue, and Magneto. In the latter's case, it may not be permanent.}}

** There is an alternate scene where {{spoiler|Rogue doesn't take the serum}}.

* ''[[Hancock]]'' and {{spoiler|other immortals like him}} suffers from this when {{spoiler|they come into contact with their immortal mate. The loss of their powers allows them to decide to live a normal, mortal life and eventually die. All but Hancock and Mary have chosen this fate and died before the start of the film}}.

 

 

* Happens to {{spoiler|Richard}} during the last two books of the ''[[Sword of Truth]]'' series

* This almost happens twice in David Eddings' ''[[Belgariad]]'' and does happen a third time in the followup, ''[[The Malloreon]]''.

** In ''[[The Malloreon]]'', the titular Seeress of Kell of the last book {{spoiler|is stripped of her power to read the 'book of the heavens' (see into the future) in order to make the final decision between the two prophecies. She is, however, rewarded by the prophecy of light by eventually marrying Emperor Zakath.}}

** Also done at the end of the Tamuli when {{spoiler|Sparhawk renounces the title of Anakha and becomes a normal human as opposed to a god-killing being who exists outside of destiny.}}

* In the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]], ysalamiri are creatures that "[[Power Nullifier|push back]]'' the Force for a space of a few meters each. Their planet of origin has so many that on that world, the Force is inaccessible, which makes Luke Skywalker have some difficulties when he's [[The Thrawn Trilogy|imprisoned on it]] and later has to go through a forest crowded with beasts that hunt Force-Sensitives.

{{quote|"Welcome back to the world of mere mortals. Don't like it, do you? It's not easy to suddenly lose everything that once made you special, is it?"}}

* In ''The Waterless Sea'' by Kate Constable, second book in the ''[[Chanters of Tremaris]]'' series, {{spoiler|the heroine Calwyn loses her powers of chantment after she tries to mend the "wounded land" of Merithuros.}} She doesn't like that very much. Actually, she says she'd have rather had her hands cut off. {{spoiler|But she gets it back after she has a swim in a magic pool so she can then go on and becomes the Singer Of All Songs like she's supposed to.}}

* In [[Anne Rice]]'s ''[[Tale Of The Body Thief]]'', Lestat (her favorite vampire) longs to be human again and make a deal with the con man to switch bodies. The rest of the book is {{spoiler|how Lestat gets his real body back}}.

 

== Live Action TV ==

** While he's still a Time Lord in "The Lodger", he can't get to the TARDIS and is forced to live life normally (and in the right order.) Watching the Doctor cook and work in an office is adorably jarring.

* "Helpless" from ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''--a "test" called the Cruciamentum (induced by Buffy's mentor) at the command of the [[Ancient Tradition|Watcher's Council]]. One she was never informed of or prepared for.

** On ''[[Angel]]'', Angel becomes human for one episode by touching the blood of a particular demon. He feels his heartbeat for the first time in centuries and actually needs to eat. Buffy comes to town and they share a day as "normal" lovers. Except she is still a slayer who has to fight evil, and he can't help her. So Angel undoes it all by the end of the episode, and he is the only one to remember the entire thing.

* The episode of ''[[Lois and Clark]]'' that introduced kryptonite.

* The same kryptonite thematic episode of ''[[Smallville]]''.

** Plus the one where a kid steals Clark's power with [[Green Rocks|Kryptonite]] and [[Lightning Can Do Anything|thunder]]; when that same kid steals them again with [[Kryptonite Is Everywhere|more Kryptonite]] and a power generator; when he and Lex are trapped in a series of tunnels with just enough Kryptonite to make Clark normal; the episode with Perry White and the solar flare thingies ([[Power Incontinence|half the time]]); when Jor-El takes his powers at the start of the ''Zod'' arc; when Jor-El takes his powers at the end of the ''Veritas'' arc; when the clone of Zor-El tricks the clone of his mom into tricking him into taking the [[Power Limiter|Blue Kryptonite ring]]; when Jor-El takes '''Kara's''' powers (and memories) for the vaguely plot-centric reason that [[Sibling Rivalry|her dad was evil]]; when they followed Brainiac into [[Time Travel|Krypton in the past]]; cloned Zod's [[Bad Future]] with the artificial red sun (and cloned Zod and his army of cloned Kryptonians have artificial powers, of course); and all the cloned Kryptonians count, too, though as clones they've technically never had poweres; and... all in all, ''[[Smallville]]'' writers just '''love''' to [[True Art Is Angsty|take their character's powers away]].

{{quote|'''Eric Summers''': Welcome back to being normal, Clark. Kinda sucks, doesn't it?}}

* Barney Miller, the "backup bionic guy" in ''[[The Six Million Dollar Man]]'', had his bionics "throttled back" to normal human level after his initial appearance.

* ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek the Next Generation]]'' in the unimaginatively named episode "The Loss," in which Counselor Troi lost her empathic abilities. Also "Deja Q", with the [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien]] Q, much to Picard's [[Face Palm|great annoyance]].

* In an episode of ''[[Red Dwarf]]'', Kryten is temporally brought down to normal when he is turned into a human being.

* In the 1998 ''[[Merlin (TV miniseries)|Merlin]]'' series, this happens to {{spoiler|the gnome Frik}}, who loses his magic and becomes basically a strange-looking human. However, this might have worked to his advantage, as {{spoiler|he shortly thereafter becomes a [[Badass Normal]] working for the heroes, and because he is no longer magical, he survives the end of magic instead of fading away as Mab does.}}

** Tommy Oliver lost his powers as the [[Sixth Ranger|Green Ranger]], ''twice''.

** The whole team loses its powers three [[It Makes Sense in Context|and a half times]] in the first 6 seasons.

** The last thee Saban seasons (''[[Power Rangers Lost Galaxy|Lost Galaxy]]'', ''[[Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue|Lightspeed Rescue]]'', and ''[[Power Rangers Time Force|Time Force]]'') have the rangers willingly give up the call.

** The Disney era has it happen to every single team except [[Power Rangers SPD|one]] (7 in all) are forced to give up the call.

* The fate of every [[Super Sentai]] team, and at the beginning of the first episode of ''[[Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger]]'', after sacrificing their powers to defeat the invading Zangyack forces.

* Bosses in ''[[Undercover Boss]]'' go deep undercover, work in the front lines working minimum wage jobs and sleep in cheap hotels.

* Captain Jack Harkness discovers in ''[[Torchwood: Miracle Day]]'' that the healing factor and immortality he previously had is gone.

** Most recently, he's without it in Season 5. As with before, this doesn't stop Chuck from showing that[[Brought Down to Badass|he's]] far more than just a bunch of government secrets stored in his head.

* On ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', Sylar spent all of Volume Two depowered after being infected with the [[Applied Phlebotinum|Shanti virus]]. In Volume Three, the ''entire cast'' experiences this for a couple of episodes during a solar eclipse.

 

 

* ''[[Prototype (video game)|Prototype]]'': Well, ''almost'' normal, anyway. About halfway through, you get infected with a parasite that robs you of all your powers, save disguises and your baseline abilities. On the plus side, the upgrades you get for removing the parasite are worth the wait.

* At the beginning of ''[[God of War (series)|God of War]] 2'' & ''3'', you start off with some of the magic attacks from the previous game but are soon relieved of them.

* [[The King of Fighters|Iori Yagami]] as of ''KOF XII'' & ''XIII''. He can still tear you a new asshole with his bare hands.

* ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'': Hordes of the Underdark has an optional bonus dungeon in chapter 2 that is under the effect of an ancient artifact that blocks all magic. Without your bags of holding, magic weapons, potions, spells, and Rings of Protection your character will have trouble dealing even with the normal monstrous spiders around the entrance, let alone the Belibith further in. And good luck if you're playing an archer and neglected to buy ammunition since you've got that [[Bottomless Magazines|cool unlimited-electricity-damage-arrows shortbow]]...

* In ''[[Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten|Disgaea 4]]'', the main character had this happen to him because {{spoiler|he refuses to break a promise he made not to drink human blood}}. Slightly subverted in that, thanks to [[It Makes Sense in Context|The Power Of Sardines]], he is still stronger than most of the enemies thrown his way. "Normal", in Hades, is still pretty [[Badass Normal|badass]].

* ''[[Breath of Fire]] 3'':

'''Gropey_the_clown''': He snapped. He would stalk and attempt to tear pilots out of their suits, but would be rejected every time.

'''Gropey_the_clown''': My party managed to beat him, and instead of some fierce enemy, in the end, there was only a broken man torn away from the one thing he was raised and trained for.

}}

 

* ''[[Lloyd in Space]]'', "Francine's Power Trip": Telekinetic Francine has a cold and has lost use of her powers, usually used to annoy Lloyd.

* ''[[Monster Allergy]]'' had Zick losing his powers to [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Magnacat]] after being trapped in a container that absorbs his powers ("The Devourer"). Later, he gets them back after he sees his father in danger ("The Last Tamer").

** ''[[Winx Club]]'' also did a variation on this as [[Story Arc]] later in season 1, with Bloom losing her "Dragon Fire" powers to villain witches ("Senior Witches Go To Earth"). Several episodes later ("The Great Witch Invasion"), she is under a lake with her sister/secret guardian Daphne, and it's revealed that Bloom's powers never left her (even though all signs pointed otherwise, starting with the fact that she was stuck in her regular form all these episodes), but her [[Heroic BSOD]] blocked her from summoning them. Once she stops moping, she gets her powers back.

** There was also an episode were Mandy lost her nerve (as in a little [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of her attitude living her head) and it moves to Billy's head. This downgrades her from [[Heroic Sociopath]] to meek little girl and Billy up to a bully (though he's still stupid). She later decides she doesn't need the nerve and returns to her usual state while making the nerve vacate Billy's brain.

* In "Gwen 10", the [[What If]] episode of ''[[Ben 10]]'', Ben wakes up without the Omnitrix, but remembering the series so far. Upon realizing that it's the day he got the Omnitrix, he tries to get it back... And fails. He kinda mopes for the rest of the episode, but nothing else is shown of how it would have gone from there; it's a one-shot "What if?" style episode, complete with [[Shout-Out]] at the end.

* In ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', for the better part of a season {{spoiler|Aang lost the ability to go into the [[Super Mode|Avatar State]]}}.

* The ''[[Darkwing Duck (animation)|Darkwing Duck]]'' episode "Duck Blind" has Darkwing lose his sight after exposure to Megavolt's new magnetic superweapon. After a period of self-pity, he manages to overcome the initial loss by shutting down all lights in Megavolt's lair, bringing the fight to his advantage thanks to his now enhanced hearing. [[Status Quo Is God]] is followed by a second exposure to the superweapon restoring his sight.

{{quote|'''Baby Shredder''': Regular people!

'''Nega-Chin, Bull-E, & Dr. Crocktopus''': Without powers!