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|'''Jamie Hyneman'''}}
At a moment of extreme stress, a superpower pops out that the character never knew was there. They might have continued to lead a normal existence, doomed to be—at best—a character in a romance, if it had not been for that car wreck, or fall from a great height, or evil-doer... Evidently, life-threatening situations bring out our hidden powers. Do not try this at home, though. The threat seems to have to come from Fate for it to work out.▼
▲At a moment of extreme stress, a superpower pops out that the character never knew was there. They might have continued to lead a normal existence, doomed to be—at best—a character in a romance, if it had not been for that car wreck, or fall from a great height, or evil-doer...
A preferred training method of the [[Sink or Swim Mentor]]. Contrast with [[New Powers as the Plot Demands]], which is about powers manifesting as an easy way out of danger. This trope is about danger being used as a not-so-easy way for powers to manifest. This trope is a common way of introducing [[Powers in the First Episode]]. If the power can only ''ever'' be used in life-threatening situations, it's a [[Defence Mechanism Superpower]].
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* An odd varient in the ''[[Knight and Rogue Series]]''. When Michael is tossed off a cliff his magic activates on his own and saves him. Despite not wanting to die, he stops it the moment he realizes what's going on. (Fortunately, he's only a few feet from the ground at this point)
** Actually, is powers work this way in general, since they're driven entirely by need rather than want. The only time they don't manifest when his life depends on it is when he's desperately trying to put out a fire.
* ''[[Monster Hunter International]]'' primarily recruits people who have already survived monster attacks, since it screens for people with the "Flexible Minds" needed to remain rational when facing the supernatural.
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
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* ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]: The Two Towers'' throws you right into the fray after the lengthy unskippable intro.
* ''[[EVO Search for Eden]]'' does this in the age of dinosaurs, and quite literally at that. After climbing to the top of Mt. Brave, you are given a choice to jump off or leave. Jumping off results in an evolution... you become a pterodactyl.
* In the original ''[[X-COM (Video Game)|X-Com]]'', the player initially has no way to screen soldiers for Psionics Strength (determining their resistance to Psionics) until they're reverse-engineered and the player gains a time-intensive option to test soldiers for it. A popular workaround to this is to force your soldiers to fight [[Mind Control]]-using aliens. Since [[The AI Is a Cheating Bastard]], they will show you which of your soldiers has low resistance and, by exclusion, those with high resistance. Since such [[Weak-Willed]] soldiers are a liability in the endgame and their Psionic Strength can't be improved by any means, [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|the rejects won't be a huge loss]] - if they survive, they can be repurposed as unarmed medics who can draw aggro from otherwise-deadly psionic enemies.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
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** This is pretty much how Fluttershy's ability to fly at high speeds works. She ''can'' match Rainbow Dash's flying speed, at least for brief moments, but only when it's absolutely necessary, and seems to be a fairly poor flyer at other times.
* In ''[[Winx Club]]'', Bloom discovers her powers in the pilot episode only after being threatened by [[Our Ogres Are Hungrier|an ogre]] and some [[Our Ghouls Are Creepier|ghouls]]. She also only unlocks her [[Our Fairies Are Different|fairy form]] after almost being finished off by [[Big Bad|The Trix]].
== [[Real Life]] ==
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