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Comically Invincible Hero: Difference between revisions
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Might feature [[The Ace]]. Not to be confused with [[Iron Butt Monkey]].
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* The original ''[[Dragon Ball]]'' was like this, with Goku's absurd invulnerability played for laughs most of the time.
** The [[Dragon Ball Abridged|abridged version]] of ''DBZ'' continues this tradition, even if [[Dragonball Z|the show it's a parody of]] does not.
* ''[[Dragon Half]]'' almost completely ran on this trope.
* [[Superman]] sometimes gets used this way, especially in some of the Silver Age comics.▼
* Othar Tryggvassen, '''[[Gentleman Adventurer|GENTLEMAN ADVENTURER!]]''' from ''[[Girl Genius]]'' is generally treated as so invulnerable that they often don't bother to show or explain how he escapes traps (or only a vague [[Noodle Incident]]-style description of the items he used is listed).▼
* ''[[The Irresponsible Captain Tylor]]'' has a variation on this: Tylor is comically invincible despite the fact that he has no apparent skills that suggest he should be. As a result, his crew is never less incredulous about how they keep surviving encounters that almost certainly should have resulted in all of them being killed.
* Even though it's called [[Hayate the Combat Butler|Combat Butler]] in translation, the battles are few and far between is ironic enough. The battles that don't challenge him aren't even on panel. You see them attacking, then in the next panel Hayate is walking away and the attacker is on the ground with a [[Cranial Eruption]]. The ones who ''do'' challenge him are the (at worst) minor characters, usually the ones on his side.▼
* ''[[The Blues Brothers]]'', where among other things Jake and Elwood have a house dropped on them, but they just dust themselves off and walk away.▼
* [[Mahou Sensei Negima|Jack Rakan]], anyone?▼
* ''[[The Tick (animation)]]'' usually played the eponymous character's nigh-invulnerability for laughs.▼
** For that matter, Nagi Springfield, who's completely invincible because... well, because... because he ''just is!''▼
* Powers Guy in the webcomic ''[http://www.man-man.org/ Man-Man]'' is a [[Superpower Lottery]] winner who can sort out anything, usually off panel.▼
* Oga from ''[[Beelzebub]]''. He is the strongest
* Sunred from ''[[
* Saitama the ''[[One-Punch Man]]''. The series derives a lot of comedy from how he desperately tries to hold back so he can actually have a good fight, only to end up stomping whatever the threat is anyway.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
▲* [[Superman]] sometimes gets used this way, especially in some of the Silver Age comics.
* Fightman, a one-off character [[Deadpool]] has to kill, is like this.
* [[Asterix]] and Obelix frequently play their inhuman strength for laughs.
** And the battles happen off-screen often—one occasion where pain stars and screams drifted into view, while the narration announced something like "[[Relax-O-Vision|It's such a beautiful day today that we'll skip the extreme violence in this scene.]]"
* [[Squirrel Girl]]▼
* [[Plastic Man]] is usually played this way as his powers basically make him a cartoon character on steroids. He was once scattered molecule by molecule across the ocean for 3000 years and it only sobered him up a little, until he got back from vacation.▼
== [[Eastern Animation]] ==
* [[Pucca]]. Despite being a little girl she's the strongest character in the show and she's always pulling out [[New Powers as the Plot Demands]].▼
== [[Film]] ==
▲* ''[[The Blues Brothers]]'', where among other things Jake and Elwood have a house dropped on them, but they just dust themselves off and walk away.
* In the film version of ''[[The Mask (film)|The Mask]]'' and [[The Mask (animation)|its animated spin-off]], the Mask is
* Metro Man of ''[[Megamind]]''.▼
** Is also a Deconstruction of this trope. {{spoiler|Metro Man is so invincible, the people take him completely for granted, never allowing him to have his own life.}}▼
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
* GodMan from ''[[Tom the Dancing Bug]]'', the omniscient superhero with omnipotent powers. He's like the god of the Bible fused with Superman. In fact he is the image of the [[God Mode Sue]] page.▼
== [[Video Games]] ==
* ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' occasionally leans into this, especially in ''[[Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' and ''[[Sonic X]]'', every now and then however Dr Eggman will remind him he is a [[Not-So-Harmless Villain]].▼
== [[Web Comics]] ==
▲* Othar Tryggvassen, '''[[Gentleman Adventurer|GENTLEMAN ADVENTURER!]]''' from ''[[Girl Genius]]'' is generally treated as so invulnerable that they often don't bother to show or explain how he escapes traps (or only a vague [[Noodle Incident]]-style description of the items he used is listed).
▲* Powers Guy in the webcomic ''[
* Bun-Bun from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'', most of the time. While he's faced some serious challengers, the majority of his fights are him utterly dominating someone just off panel.
* ''[[Popeye the Sailor]]'' is probably the [[Ur Example]]. Most of the fun comes from the way Popeye casually uses his strength for mundane tasks. Once he gets the spinach in him though, he becomes even ''more'' comically invincible.▼
** Granted, the build up to him using said spinach usually has him beaten down or humiliated by the foe until eating it becomes a neccessity. Though he can create spinach from nothing (see [[Beyond the Impossible]]) as he does in Fowl Play ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpFluRcPg94 see 6:02]) he is always invincible, he just choses to let his enemies think they can win first before laying the smack down.▼
* Dan in ''[[Bad Guy High]]'', for the most part.
* ''[[The Non-Adventures of Wonderella]]''. There's no question that anyone she fights is going to lose; the problem is convincing her to fight.
* [[Adventure Dennis]] from the webcomic by that name takes visible damage sometimes, but it never affects him and always goes away.▼
▲* Even though it's called [[Hayate the Combat Butler|Combat Butler]] in translation, the battles are few and far between is ironic enough. The battles that don't challenge him aren't even on panel. You see them attacking, then in the next panel Hayate is walking away and the attacker is on the ground with a [[Cranial Eruption]]. The ones who ''do'' challenge him are the (at worst) minor characters, usually the ones on his side.
▲* [[Mahou Sensei Negima|Jack Rakan]], anyone?
== [[Western Animation]] ==
▲** For that matter, Nagi Springfield, who's completely invincible because... well, because... because he ''just is!''
▲* ''[[The Tick (animation)|The Tick]]'' usually played the eponymous character's nigh-invulnerability for laughs.
▲* [[Squirrel Girl]]
▲* ''[[Popeye the Sailor]]'' is probably the [[Ur Example]]. Most of the fun comes from the way Popeye casually uses his strength for mundane tasks. Once he gets the spinach in him though, he becomes even ''more'' comically invincible.
▲* Oga from ''[[Beelzebub]]''. He is the strongest deliquent in his school. The running gag is that other people spend whole episodes trying to find him and challenge him only to get beaten in a few seconds with him paying much attention.
▲** Granted, the build up to him using said spinach usually has him beaten down or humiliated by the foe until eating it becomes a neccessity. Though he can create spinach from nothing (see [[Beyond the Impossible]]) as he does in Fowl Play ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpFluRcPg94 see 6:02]) he is always invincible, he just choses to let his enemies think they can win first before laying the smack down.
▲* [[The Mask]] - except in the original comic, where he was a evil wacko willing to kill anyone who opposed him.
▲* [[Plastic Man]] is usually played this way as his powers basically make him a cartoon character on steroids. He was once scattered molecule by molecule across the ocean for 3000 years and it only sobered him up a little, until he got back from vacation.
▲* GodMan, the superhero with omnipotent powers. He's like the god of the Bible fused with Superman. In fact he is the image of the [[God Mode Sue]] page.
* [[Speedy Gonzales]]' [[Super Speed]] made him completely untouchable in most of his original appearances, all of which was played in a slapstick tone. In the De Patie Freleng shorts, he was made slightly more fallible but still had shades of this.
* To a lesser extent [[Bugs Bunny]] and the rest of the [[Looney Tunes]] hero ensemble. Bugs lost slightly more often even in his earliest appearances but his obvious superior wit over his foes is often a defining trait and a prominant source of humor.
▲* ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' occasionally leans into this, especially in ''[[Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' and ''[[Sonic X]]'', every now and then however Dr Eggman will remind him he is a [[Not-So-Harmless Villain]].
▲* [[Adventure Dennis]] from the webcomic by that name takes visible damage sometimes, but it never affects him and always goes away.
▲* Sunred from ''[[Tentai Senshi Sunred]]''. The entire series is just one long [[Go-Karting with Bowser]] moment between Sunred and his '[[Arch Enemy]]', the [[Harmless Villain|not-so-evil]] organization Florsheim. When the monsters demand to fight him due to [[Contractual Genre Blindness]], the battles are hilariously one-sided and never shown on-screen.
▲* Metro Man of ''[[Megamind]]''.
▲** Is also a Deconstruction of this trope. {{spoiler|Metro Man is so invincible, the people take him completely for granted, never allowing him to have his own life.}}
▲* [[Pucca]]. Despite being a little girl she's the strongest character in the show and she's always pulling out [[New Powers as the Plot Demands]].
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]
[[Category:Comically Invincible Hero]]
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