Cover-Blowing Superpower: Difference between revisions
m
clean up
m (update links) |
m (clean up) |
||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
It goes without saying that a [[Superhero]], member of a [[Masquerade]] or [[Witch Species]] shouldn't use their powers when in their [[Secret Identity]]
Except for one problem: It will reveal who and what they truly are behind all that [[Clark Kenting]], with all the awkward consequences that such a reveal might entail. Maybe a [[Love Interest]] is watching and this isn't the time they want to reveal their powers to them yet. Or maybe an enemy is watching, and revealing their powers might cause said enemy to attack their [[Secret Identity]] directly.
Line 6:
But for whatever reason, the character will try to get out of this situation "normally", without revealing themselves in the process. Whether or not they succeed, and the particular consequences for failure, vary by situation.
This is almost guaranteed to occur if the enemies have [[Bruce Wayne Held Hostage]]
Compare [[Clark Kenting]], [[Obfuscating Stupidity]], [[Revealing Skill]], and [[Do Well, But Not Perfect]]. See also [[Masquerade]], an overarching reason to not use one's powers in front of ''any'' [[Muggles|normal people]].
Line 26:
** 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.
*** This particular one is a bit ridiculous anyway, since while deciding where to throw the ball, he's effectively ''hanging in midair.'' That's not suspicious at all...
** When most of the fighters are signing up for the world martial arts tournament, most of them have to hold back when punching a strength-testing machine in order to produce believable results. Sadly, they're so obviously holding back that the officials still think it's poorly calibrated or that they're just
* Used a bit in ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler]]''. He's really reluctant to use his [[Finishing Move]] because it creates a large gust of wind in an upwardly direction, and he's always surrounded by girls wearing skirts. When he uses it, he's likely to be beaten up by the [[Damsel in Distress]] even worse than he would be by the opponent.
* ''[[Bleach]]''
** Ikkaku Madarame has a Bankai, but he doesn't like to use it for no other reason than because they would like him to be a captain if they found out, and he wants to keep serving under Kenpachi.
** In the same vein, Yumichika
* ''[[Sumomomo Momomo]]''
** Sanae is wearing a corset which is overly sexy and revealing, however this mystical piece of clothing increases the power of her kicks well beyond reason. When she's forced to save Koshi {{spoiler|from her fiancé set up by her grandmother}} who is in front of the entire school being attacked, she puts on the outift and runs out to save him. The only way to match her opponent however is to make the outfit even more revealing than it already is and risk exposing her mostly nude body to her school. She manages to defeat her opponent and keep her identity secret, but a massive number of pictures are now circulating in her school.
Line 73:
* A recurring theme in the ur-superhero novel ''Gladiator'', where Hugo Danner tries to keep his powers secret. When a man is trapped in an unopenable time-release bank vault, he tries to open it while not revealing his strength. He succeeds in both saving the man and preserving his secret, but {{spoiler|the president of the bank decides he doesn't want a man with a secret way of opening bank vaults walking around.}}
* ''[[Sword of Truth|Wizard's First Rule]]'' includes a scene where Khalan hesitates to user her power in a fight so as not to expose her nature to Richard. {{spoiler|Then she gets stabbed, and uses it anyway. Luckily Richard's back was turned at that moment. And then he starts catching on that ''something'' is up anyway.}}
* An unsuccessful example in ''[[Discworld/The Fifth Elephant|The Fifth Elephant]]''. Inigo Skimmer, an assassin, pretends to be a normal clerk. Vimes throws a piece of fruit at him, and he lets it hit him and bounce off. Instead of making him seem harmless, this actually shows Vimes that Skimmer is more than he pretend to
* Somewhat like the ''[[Star Trek]]'' example below, Corwin in book 2 of the ''[[Chronicles of Amber]]'' is lugging huge stones around rather easily, despite not being at full
* In [[Margaret Weis]]'s ''[[The Death Gate Cycle]]'', this is basically the story of Alfred Montbank. He is one of the last of the "Sartan", a race with godlike magical power, and is always nervous about doing magic in public for fear of being taken advantage of. The fact that he has a spine like a wet noodle doesn't help.
* In the series ''Replica'', all of the Amys are essentially instant Olympic athletes, being clones with extensive genetic modification. To hide herself from the MIB out to get her, the Amy who is the protagonist must purposefully mess up when playing sports at school.
| |||