Defeating the Undefeatable: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

A regular scourge in the ring: a character so powerful, so unstoppable, that not even the greatest of fighters can overcome his wrath. Be it a [[Gentle Giant]], an [[Arrogant Kung Fu Guy]], or the [[The Big Guy]] with a mean streak, this character is an unbeatable scourge that other fighters either dread facing or anticipate fighting in order to gain fame for being the first to beat him. However, they all fail. But nothing lasts forever...

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* The East is burning red! Master Asia's first appearance on screen in ''[[G Gundam]]'' involves destroying 3 giant robots with his bare hands by catching and returning artillery shells, picking up the ground one was standing on, and tearing one to pieces with a headband. He is in fact explicitly titled "The Undefeated of the East"

** Unfortunately, {{spoiler|[[Killed Off for Real|he's been K.I.A]]}}, but {{spoiler|[[Rasputinian Death|he]] [[Made of Iron|did]] '''[[Dying Moment of Awesome|not]]''' [[Died Standing Up|disappoint]]}}.

** Shown example includes when Luffy defeated Eneru, due to being a [[Rubber Man]] which Eneru's lightning powers couldn't directly harm. Up until then, the Skypeians, and some of the Shandians and possibly even Nami believed from seeing what he could do, he was as he said literally [[A God Am I|an invincible god.]]

* In ''[[Hajime no Ippo]]'', we have WBA Featherweight Champion Ricardo Martinez, the "living legend", who is just ''made'' of this trope. Point. by. point. {{spoiler|Eiji Date, the former Japanese champion, local [[Retired Badass]] and the only person to defeat Ippo was defeated ''twice'' by him.}}

** Takamura, one of the ''protagonists'', is this trope to all of his opponents. He ''has'' the reputation of being unbeatable and his opponents do fear and respect his strength.

** Frieza in particular was referred to by every character who knew him as the undisputed strongest being in the universe, such that he has (at least by his claim) never had to use anything close to his maximum power to defeat an opponent before he faces the Z-fighters, and that even the arrogant Vegeta didn't want to fight him without the power of ''immortality'' on his side.

** Don't forget Broly.

** Granted though, {{spoiler|Naruto, left and right, had a TON of help and luck handed out to him directly and indirectly, as well in the end Nagato willingly making a more happy ending as well as taking his own life.}}

** Sort of. When you look at the fight as a whole, [[Fridge Brilliance|you realize that]] it was more a battle of philosophies. Pain put Naruto through the ultimate test...and Naruto ''still'' decided that he believed his way would work. The significance of that from Pain's point of view is HUGE, leading to the {{spoiler|[[Heel Face Turn]]}}.

** Then Touma Kamijou comes along, manages to negate Accelerator's power, and defeat him in combat by punching his lights out. He has a tendency to do this to other people as well, all thanks to his power to nullify anything.

** Shizuri Mugino was ranked the fourth most powerful esper in Academy City, then Shiage Hamazura, a guy with no powers at all, tricks her into blowing herself up.

** The ''[[Nanoha Force|FORCE]]'' played this straight by having [[Lady of War|Signum]], who was never defeated on screen by that point, being utterly crushed by newcomer [[Smug Super|Cypha]] [[Anti-Magic|of]] [[Hero-Killer|Huckebein]] in a fight so one-sided it's only inches of being a full on [[Curb Stomp Battle]].

* In ''[[Special A]]'' Hikari's goal is to beat her rival/LoveInterest, Kei at something. ''Anything''. Unfortunately, Kei's [[The Ace]] and is undefeatable at ''everything''. The only person to ever beat him is [[Big Bad]] Yahiro, who cheated.

 

== Comic Books ==

** Champion of the Universe is considered by many fans to be a subversion (or very bad example) of this as he has pretty much never defeated ''anyone'' with a name.

*** He has defeated Adam Warlock, Beta Ray Bill, Drax the Destroyer, the Silver Surfer and ''Gladiator''. He handily beat She-Hulk as well; however, she then spent a month working her ass off (in human form) and bulked up impressively...and realized the Infinity Gem he was using could be counted as a "weapon" - and was therefore against the rules - and beat the tar out of him. With the Gem, he is ''undefeatable''. Without it, he's tough, but not impossibly so. Gladiator is quick to note that any of them could have beaten him at that point, to which She-Hulk responds by... saying something outrageously sexist.

 

== Literature ==

* As mentioned in the page quote, Varan the Undefeatable from the [[Ciaphas Cain]] novel ''Cain's Last Stand'', whose reputation largely stemmed from {{spoiler|his use of a Warp-derived [[Compelling Voice]] to force his opponents to defect to his cause}}. This being a Ciaphas Cain novel, you get no points for guessing who wins the inevitable confrontation between the two.

** Admittedly, this is one of the few times that the day was not in fact saved by a "Jurgen ex machina" swinging the odds in Cain's favor.

** Though Jurgen he did even the odds by allowing the fight to happen in the first place.

* [[A Song of Ice and Fire|Robb Stark]] never lost a battle in the War of the Five Kings. {{spoiler|He still ended up losing the war (and his life) because treacherous allies turn on him and join his enemies. Together, they hatch a plan that becomes the backbreaking and traumatic Red Wedding.}}

 

* General Staal of the 10th Sontaran Battle Fleet, known as "Staal the Undefeated", from the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' two-parter "The Sontaran Stratagem"/"The Poison Sky". The Doctor addresses the lack of foresight such a name shows.

* T-Minus from ''[[Battlebots]]'' defeated Hazard...in the quarter finals.

** For those of you who don't know, Hazard was previously undefeated for 3 tournaments.

*** Hazard also [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeoJCYz10go obliterated almost everything it fought].

 

== Professional Wrestling and MMA ==

* This is a common storyline in [[Professional Wrestling]], where a fighter is famous for being unbeatable, and is known as the most powerful wrestler of them all until that one Face can eventually defeat them.

** An old and famous example of this type of character is [[Andre the Giant]] (whose final "beaten" storyline closed out his long career), and a few newer characters who got their start this way are [[The Undertaker]], The Boogeyman, and The Great Khali (who is still relatively unstoppable even after being defeated).

*** [[Goldberg]] was also given one of the biggest streaks in WCW history, starting from his introductory match as a Jobber against Hugh Morris, going all the way to defeating [[Hulk Hogan|Hollywood Hogan]] for the title. His ''173 match'' winning streak was finally ended by [[Kevin Nash]], with the aid of a taser by [[Scott Hall]].

*** This trope was particularly noticeable in 80s WWF, where every new big bad heel destroyed everyone in his path until they finally got a shot at [[Hulk Hogan]] who took them down with his Five Moves Of Doom. Hercules Hernandez, King Kong Bundy, and Zeus come to mind, but I'm sure there were others.

** Nearly every Japanese promotion has one such "undefeatable" wrestler, referred to as the "ace." Aces range in [[Kayfabe]] ability from the relatively beatable Hiroshi Tanahashi of NJPW to the staggering, unbeatable might of NOAH's Kenta Kobashi. Mitsuharu Misawa was probably Japan's most consistently unbeatable wrestler - during any given year, Misawa's pinfall losses could be counted on one hand.

** Unfortunately, the other side is that in a rematch the former "undefeatable" may show that the loss or draw was actually a fluke, leading to an unfortunate [[Curb Stomp Battle]]. Cases in point: Matt Serra against Georges St-Pierre, Tsuyoshi Kousaka against Fedor (the cut loss), and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (the accidental headbutt no contest).

** Pretty much Mauricio "Shogun" Rua's claim to fame in the modern UFC: after two poor first performances in the company he showed renewed form in knocking down Chuck Liddell and slugging him out in the fist round, then gave the ''performance of a lifetime'' against legend-in-the-making UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida, only to lose the highly controversial decision that almost everyone except the judges thought was Shogun's. {{spoiler|He then goes on to knock out Machida in the first round in their rematch, winning the Light-Heavyweight title.}}

** It finally happened to aforementioned Fedor Emelianenko, who just recieved his first legitimate loss to Fabricio Werdum. Werdum was suitably exicted.

*** It happened again the fight after that, with Antonio "bigfoot" Silva dominating him and beating him by TKO.

 

== Video Games ==

* In ''[[Street Fighter]]'', this role is filled by Sagat in the first game, The King/God of Muay Thai, who, at the end of the game, is eventually defeated by Ryu, and, afterwards, loses his entire reputation, joins the Big Bad's organization, and, after a little soul searching, does a [[Heel Face Turn]] and focuses on becoming stronger. Storyline wise, he's still one of the most powerful characters in the game, and he's only lost three times, and each time he technically didn't lose giving his all (the first time, Ryu went into an [[Unstoppable Rage]] and sucker punched him, and the other two times he either was too distraught to give his all, or let the opponent win).

** Gameplay wise, he has consistently been top tier in every appearance, to the point that many fans have labeled it either a "tradition" or a "running gag" for Capcom.

* In The ''[[Elder Scrolls]] IV: Oblivion'', in a similar subplot, you can defeat the Gray Prince, the undefeated Grand Champion of Cyrodiil Arena. However, there is also a subquest that allows you to kill him without any fight and claim the title...

** In Skyrim, Alduin is supposed to be unbeatable. The best the old heroes of Skyrim could do is cast him forward in time, and even when the Dragonborn kills him, Alduin's is the one dragonsoul the Dragonborn doesn't absorb upon death.

** Subverted when Godot announces that he's never lost a case...and then reveals that that's because he's never prosecuted a case before.

* ''[[Exalted]]'' is all about doing this to the extremely powerful people you don't like. You can even do this to The Unconquered Sun. Unconquered does not mean Unconquerable.

* Parodied in ''[[Discworld]]'', where an up-and-coming [[Barbarian Hero]] decides to call himself Voltan the Invulnerable, goes into the Mended Drum to announce this, and lasts about twenty seconds.

** In ''Guards, Guards'', it's mentioned that [[Too Dumb to Live|terminal stupidity of this type]] is quasi-officially designated as "suicide" by the Watch, suggesting that this happens ''a lot''.

** The arena champion from Armored Core 3, Ace, reached his position without suffering a single loss.

* [[Mass Effect]] presents [[Eldritch Abomination|the Reapers]] as undefeatable. They've spent countless millions of years wiping out all advanced organic life in the galaxy [[Vicious Cycle|every 50,000 years]]. Finally, {{spoiler|at the end of [[Mass Effect 3]], [[Player Character|Commander Shepard]] ends their reign [[Pyrrhic Victory|at great cost]]. [[Gainax Ending|...we think]].}}

* In ''[[Asura's Wrath]]'', the Seven Deities are repeatedly described as undefeatable gods. Well, Asura puts them to the test on his [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]]....and finds them wanting. Shortly afterward, he goes up against {{spoiler|Ghoma Vlitra}}, which is described as a force so powerful it cannot be killed, only subdued temporarily. No prizes for guessing what Asura does to it. Finally, the game's last, DLC-specific chapters, culminate in Asura fighting {{spoiler|Chakravatin, who is effectively [[God]], and is so powerful that his supreme fortress is literally larger than entire galaxies and he uses stars and planets as projectiles.}} Three guesses what happens to ''that'' theoretically indestructable asshole.

 

== Web Original ==

* Bun-Bun is like this throughout ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]''. The main characters seem confident he can beat just about anyone or anything, including immortal assassins and world-destroying demons. To date, only two people have beaten him in one-on-one combat: {{spoiler|Aylee's evil clone, and his own future self}}.

 

== Real Life ==

* Tiger Woods was 14-0 in golf's four major championships when he held the lead (by himself or with others) after 54 of 72 regulation holes...but that came to a stunning end when he lost the 2009 PGA Championship with a two stroke 54 hole lead to unheralded Y.E. Yang. And then three months later he crashed into a fire hydrant outside his home in Florida, and the rest has been history.

* Mike Tyson was the undisputed heavyweight boxing champion who was mowing down everyone who came into his path, including previously unbeaten champions like Michael Spinks...in 91 seconds. James "Buster" Douglas was supposed to be just another speed bump to the champ (in fact, the February 1990 fight was held in Tokyo because no American venue would have it). No one told Douglas, though, who proceeded to knock out Tyson in the 10th round and become one of the unlikeliest heavyweight champions in boxing history.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Combat Tropes]]