Cover-Blowing Superpower: Difference between revisions

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== Anime & Manga ==

* ''[[Trigun]]'''s Vash in episode 10. "Oops. Oh, no, I hit them all." He doesn't want to reveal himself as the legendary superhuman outlaw, but is so plastered he screws up at screwing up. Doesn't help that Wolfwood signed him up by the name "Vash the Stampede" without telling him.

* Done unsuccessfully by the protagonist of ''[[Darker ~~Than~~ Black]]''. He's undercover working at a restaurant, and attracts the anger of a thug who was a customer, who then lunges at him. In an attempt to hide his [[Badass Abnormal|fighting skills]], he puts on a show of being clumsy, but dodges every attack so well ([[Deadly Dodging|causing a certain amount of pain for his attacker in the process]]) that a character who observes this comments that "it's true that [[All Chinese People Know Kung Fu|all Chinese people are martial arts masters]]".

* Done unsuccessfully by the protagonist of ''[[Darker than Black]]''. He's undercover working at a restaurant, and attracts the anger of a thug who was a customer, who then lunges at him. In an attempt to hide his [[Badass Abnormal|fighting skills]], he puts on a show of being clumsy, but dodges every attack so well ([[Deadly Dodging|causing a certain amount of pain for his attacker in the process]]) that a character who observes this comments that "it's true that [[All Chinese People Know Kung Fu|all Chinese people are martial arts masters]]".

** And another one was caught staring at an [[Invisible to Normals]] observer apparition while playing a "normal" recruit in the team likely to include other Contractors. Who turned out to be present and able to put two and two together very quickly.

* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' treats Negi's magic abilities like this in the early volumes, the most common form being him causing things to float (like stopping an eraser from falling on his head, or momentarily levitating Nodoka so he can catch her when she falls off a staircase). In one extreme instant, he saves a cat from being hit by a car by ''flipping the car into the air''. It lands unharmed.

* In ''[[Detective Conan]]''/''[[Case Closed]]'', Conan seldom actually gets in danger, but is constantly confronting the problem that he really shouldn't be able to solve all the cases.

* Kira Sakuya from ''[[Angel Sanctuary]]'' gets killed on a near regular basis. "Uh... yeah. [[Unexplained Recovery|I got better.]]"

* Touma from ''[[To Aru Majutsu no Index]]'' really doesn't like advertising the [[Anti-Magic]] ability of his right hand, guessing (probably correctly) that doing so will only lead to more misfortunes somewhere down the line.

* ''[[Dragonball Z]]''

** Happens when Gohan picks a fight with a group of gang members; however he sees Videl coming towards them so he let them punch him in the face. Videl is surprised to see that Gohan hasn't a scratch on him, let alone a black eye.

{{quote|"Shoot, it's that skinny kid that has me confused. I think I busted my hand on his face. No joke! I felt like I was hitting a [[Made of Iron|wall of solid steel!]]"}}

** A similar incident happened when he is playing baseball during school. The local [[Jerk Jock]] decided to try to brush Gohan away from the plate but he didn't even bother to move. Everyone cringed in pain as his helmet flew off but Gohan merely double-checked with the umpire that getting hit gave him a free base. During that game, he also caught a pop fly by jumping dozens of feet into the air [[Moment of Awesome|and doubling a guy off third who was standing there with a one foot lead off the base.]] In each case, he thinks he's successfully blending in, which is what happens when the only [[Muggle]] you've ever met is something of a [[Gadgeteer Genius]] [[Adventurer Archaeologist]] who has been hanging around ridiculously superhuman warriors longer than you've been alive.

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* Zuko of ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' has dealt with this several times, since [[Playing with Fire|firebenders]] aren't exactly popular in the Earth Kingdom. In "Zuko Alone", he just wants to preserve the good opinion of the kid he is trying to protect, {{spoiler|but the earthbender he's fighting is a bit too tough to beat while holding back, and the villagers decide to shun him}}. In "City of Walls and Secrets", when he could have been arrested and [[Brainwashed|worse]] if revealed, he fares rather better against [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Jet]].

** Aang gets a [[Played for Laughs]] version of this in "City of Walls and Secrets", too, albeit briefly. He accidentally makes a woman spill her drink on herself while undercover at a party, and tries to use his airbending to dry her off. This reveals his identity to the whole party.

* In ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]'', Peter Parker successfully dodges many water balloons thrown by Flash Thompson. He notices a crowd is gathering, admiring his skills, so he has to stop dodging and let himself get soaked.

* During one unlucky occasion in ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'', Bruce Wayne and a reporter are [[Bruce Wayne Held Hostage|held captive by a ninja]]. Bruce is put in the unenviable position of having to fight his captor at about half-strength to keep his companion (who knew of his ninja training, but not his identity) from putting two and two together. He probably would have lost had Robin not rushed her out of sight before he got too beaten up.<br />Not to mention the fear Bruce almost certainly felt when facing the ninja, who according to Alfred was the only guy who could beat him at the Japanese dojo where Bruce learned the martial arts. It's worth noting that Robin didn't seem to have any trouble fighting the ninja, and it's just as likely that knowing Robin had his back was what allowed Bruce to fight back and win. A later episode reveals that the ninja himself was not fooled by the ruse in the long run. Having fought both Batman and Bruce Wayne (even holding back), he could tell that they were the same man.

* ''[[Batman Beyond]]'': Based on a hunch, Terry throws a glass of water right at [[Took a Level In Badass|Willy Watt's]] head. Yup, Willy has Telekinesis and halts the glass mere inches from his face. And since it was caught on a security camera, Terry doesn't have to worry about blowing his own cover.