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{{trope}}
[[File:Intangible.jpg|link=Superman|
{{quote|''"Did you expect me to dodge? How quaint."''|Olka, mistmeadow witch, ''[[
Cousin to [[Invisibility]], the
For a hero, being an intangible man is a crisis. He has to save the day despite being intangible, before he starves to death or dehydrates. Asphyxiation is generally not an issue, and neither is movement. [[Required Secondary Powers|Don't ask why]]. If they're invisible as well as intangible, don't expect anyone to know that they shouldn't be able to see (if the light passes straight through them, it can't form an image on their retinas).
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For a mentor, intangibility is an opportunity. Being a [[Spirit Advisor]] or [[Virtual Ghost]] lets them accompany the hero into dangerous places without ever being at [[Mentor Occupational Hazard|personal risk]].
The ability to render oneself intangible at will occasionally turns up as a superpower. These questions you have? [[
It's sometimes explained that intangible characters walk on a thin layer of air, even though this should make them as frictionless as a puck in air-hockey. Potential breathing problems are typically ignored outright.
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It is frequently a given that while no one else can touch them, two characters separately subjected to the same process will have no problem interacting with each other.
Sometimes the power can work selectively on the user's body (allowing him to voluntarily interact with objects while intangible) or extend further from the user's body (allowing him to make other objects and people intangible) Heroes use this ability to save their teammates from danger. Anti-heroes and villains use it to [[Tele Frag|put their hands through people's chests and squeeze their hearts]].
See also [[Projected Man]], [[Astral Projection]] and [[Super Smoke]].
{{examples
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Nancy Makuhari and her son Junior from ''[[
* Kurau from ''[[Phantom Memory Kurau]]'' has this power as well - it's one of her more rarely used powers, as it tends to get her noticed more than superstrength or even flight.
* In ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
* Hanyuu from ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro
* Intangibility is the main ability of [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|Noah]] clan member Tyki Mikk from ''[[D
* In ''[[Naruto]]'' {{spoiler|Tobi}} is able to become intangible by using the same space/time manipulation he uses to [[Villain Teleportation|teleport]]. The primary weaknesses are that he cannot attack while intangible, {{spoiler|he cannot be intangible while teleporting himself or others (and the more he tries to teleport the longer it takes), and he can only stay intangible for five minutes in a row.}} He found a novel way to get over the first one: by attaching a chain to arm manacles he runs toward people, phases through them when his body would touch them, and then turns solid again just in time for the chain to hit the target.
* Ryoko of ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]'' has been shown to walk through barriers and walls unless they are specifically shielded to prevent her from doing this.
** Sasami even comments on this at one point in an episode with a [[Cute Ghost Girl|little ghost girl]], who asks if her phasing-through things disturbs Sasami at all.
* A manga series called ''Toukyou ESP'' by Hajime Segawa ([[He Also Did|who created]] ''Ga-Rei'') features a protagonist, Rinka, who gains this power after a freaky incident involving otherworldly fish and arctic mammals.
* Perrier La Mer of ''[[Amuri in Star Ocean]]'' has this power (called Infiltration in the show) but cannot fully control it, so she's always passing through other people and solid objects. Her parents took advantage of this by making her the victim of dangerous stage performances like knife-throwing acts and passing giant buzz-saws through her body. None of it caused any physical harm, but she was still deeply traumatized.
* Alucard from ''[[Hellsing]]'' has this as one of his [[Superpower Lottery|many, many powers]].
* Users of Logia Devil Fruit in ''[[
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'': This is Shadowcat's mutant ability. Her ability to not fall through the floor, while not explained well, has nothing to do with the actual, physical floor (which she can pass through if she chooses) and, as such, can be used ''without'' a floor. She often walks on air by visualizing an invisible staircase. Later works have treated it as slow flight. This tends not to show up in adaptations.
** Referenced in ''[[X-Men: Evolution]]'' when a mutant with [[Your Worst Nightmare]] power is brought into the mansion and Shadowcat keeps on seeing herself falling into the Earth's Core.
*** [[Joss Whedon]] created a similar situation, when Cassandra Nova [[Mind Screw|mindscrewed]] with Shadowcat, causing her to phase deep into the Earth. Judging from the artwork, her phased form was immune to intense heat [[Convection, Schmonvection|even when phasing through lava!]]
**** Not that unusual. She has always been immune to heat while phasing.
** She has, however, always been unable to breathe while phased, meaning the limit of her power was basically however long she could hold her breath.
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* In [[The DCU]], all natives of the planet Bgztl have voluntary intangibility powers. This is the home planet of Phantom Girl, from the [[Legion of Super-Heroes]].
** Well, in the Threeboot version it's explained as Bgztl being a planet in another dimension which exists in the same space as Earth and her shifting her mass between our dimension and that one as a unique power. She's visible in both worlds (which gets awkward in the one she's not paying attention to) and is solid and can sense in only one at a time. This solves the floor problem (and causes a new one when someone has to go to the core of a planet) when you realize that she can't avoid the planet by shifting to a dimension with an identical planet in the same place.
* [[Iron Man]] enemy and Thunderbolts member [[Exactly What It Says
** Also Iron Man has an industrial spy fellow with this as a secondary ability.
* In Dark Horse Comics' ''Ghost'', the titular character could make herself intangible (and fly, thus avoiding the floor problem). She had a particularly nasty attack where she would reach into an opponent's chest while intangible, grab his heart, and then become corporeal again. (Why [[Required Secondary Powers|her hand wasn't hurt in the process]] is not explained.)
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* Blue Fire, from ''Wham Comics'', can become intangible and is [[Wreathed in Flames|covered in blue flames]]. It was explained that his intangibility was related to force he or another used, the gentler he touched something it could be solid, but a punch would pass through.
* The villain Hood, from ''Amazing Man Comics'', has the powers of intangibility and teleportation. The Amazing Man himself could become intangible when he turned into the Green Mist.
* The Duke of Darkness, from ''Triple Threat Comics'', uses this power to battle villains such as Mr. Slumber.
* Sergeant Spook, from ''Blue Bolt'', has this power as well as invisibility.
* ''[[Guardians of the Galaxy]]'' has minor villain Brahl, who can turn intangible at will to keep from being hurt. Subverted when he's decked anyway by a hero who's ''also'' intangible.
* This is the power of the ''[[Fantastic Four]]'' villain Red Ghost.
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== [[Film]] ==
* The monster in ''4DMan'' was a scientist who acquired this ability. Using this power consumed his [[Life Energy|life force]] at an accelerated rate and he had to replenish it by phasing through other living human beings.
* The movie ''[[Ghost (
* The [[Bill Cosby]] movie ''[[Ghost Dad]]'' has Bill as a ghost who can only interact with the real world if he "concentrates". This results in a scene where his concentration lasts enough for him to pour himself a drink, but when he tries drinking it it goes right though.
* The Twins in ''[[The Matrix
* In ''[[
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* In the ''[[Night Watch]]'' universe, descending through enough layers of Twilight will turn the Other intangible. The "falling through the floor" problem, however, is not ignored at all - in fact, the very trick is used to climb a tower through the floors in the third book.
* In the ''[[Wild Cards]]'' universe, Modular Man turns intangible by shifting his mass partly out of this dimension. He also defies gravity by the same method. Both powers are lost when {{spoiler|his inventor turns Joker}} and Mod Man can no longer be repaired.
** The Astronomer also had this as one of his powers. It backfired when he tried to use another one of his powers, a mental shield, to protect from another character's literal [[Death Glare]]... and since he could only use one power at a time, and was halfway through a wall...
** Wraith is another character with intangibility who decides to make a living as a [[Classy Cat Burglar]]. However, as she's got maybe a ten pound limit to objects she can carry while phased, she performs her heists in a mask and bikini and focuses on paper goods (such as high-currency bills, bonds, etc.).
** Mackie Messer, aka "Mack the Knife," could vibrate himself at such frequencies as to walk through walls. He didn't seem to have problems with floors.
* In Chris Wooding's novel ''Storm Thief'', there are creatures called revenants, that are totally intangible, and if they touch you you die. They are also invisible, and there are basically only three ways to kill them. The first is to use a specialized weapon called an Aether Cannon, the second is to have a unique golem touch them, and absorb them into himself, and the third involves total destruction of the Chaos Engine, an ancient artifact, and a massive one at that that is next to impossible to destroy.
* This condition was inflicted on an unwitting thief by a cursed amulet in a short story from ''Tales of Ravenloft''. Floors weren't a problem, but eventually the poor guy became ''so'' intangible that he completely faded out of the world.
* In ''Everlost'' by Neal Shusterman, the Afterlights(ghosts) are like this. They can only stand on ground that has "moved on". The requirement to move on is being loved and cherished by many people. If they stand on 'living' ground too long, they will sink into the center of the earth.
* There's a German SF short story out there in which a scientist invents a machine that can turn people intangible for a time and gets blackmailed by a thief who wants to help himself to that power. The thief hasn't thought things through, though, and so when the scientist does grant his wish, he promptly falls through the ground (and presumably his death once the effect wears off again), a fate the scientist only averted during an earlier self-test by keeping his own ''feet'' unchanged and solid. In the end he decides that his device is actually rather useless, save ''possibly'' as a novel method of execution.
* In ''[[Leven Thumps]]'', this is one of the twelve gifts you can recieve when you arrive in Foo.
* [[Grim Reaper|Death]] from ''[[Discworld]]'' is more than capable of walking through walls. Rather than becoming intangible, he's simply so ''real'' that the rest of the universe may as well be made of cobwebs.
* In ''[[The Grimnoir Chronicles|Hard Magic]]'', Fades are [[Differently
* Dutilleul in Marcel Aymé's ''Le Passe-Muraille'', though this seems limited to walls apparently.
* Klaus from ''[[The Milkweed Triptych]]''.
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== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* ''[[Star Trek:
** Later it is revealed that the UFP also experimented with such a cloak. It can render the ship intangible. {{spoiler|but a treaty forbade it and the system was [[Gone Horribly Wrong]].}}
** It is heavilly implied that {{spoiler|transphase torpedoes}} work this way to get past defenses.
** Holodoc from ''[[Star Trek
* ''[[Stargate SG
** They also [[Lampshade Hanging|hung a lampshade]] on it, when an actress in the [[Show Within a Show]] about the Stargate asked why they didn't fall through the floor, and no one had an answer.
** There was also an episode where Carter, trapped in an Asgard research facility, used the [[Projected Man|holographic comm system]] to help O'Neill and Teal'c rescue Thor from a Ha'Tak in orbit. Since the Asgard lack [[Hard Light]] technology she was able to distract guards and scout ahead, but proved less useful when they needed someone to rewire doors.
* ''[[
** Also Sahjhan from Season 3. {{spoiler|For most of his appearances, anyway}}.
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'': "Halloween"
** And, of course, the First Evil, whatever it manifests as. It's a plot point in the middle of the last season that Giles may be the First because he doesn't actually manipulate anything.
* One episode of ''[[The X
* D. L. Hawkins, from ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', has this as his special power. He can use it selectively, allowing him to touch one object while phasing through another, thus providing a handy rationale for the "floor problem". He can also use it in a lethal fashion, such as {{spoiler|when he ''literally'' rips Linderman's brains out}}.
** [[Too Dumb to Live|But he never uses the power correctly, like if his life was depending on it]]
*** Justified (a lot more than most cases on this show, anyways) in that he was in a public place, with a large number of people around him. If he turned intangible, he would be sacrificing someone else, which he couldn't do since his story arc was about him becoming a hero.
* In the short-lived B [[Sci Fi]] show ''Cleopatra 2525'', the 'falling through the floor' problem was averted; the [[Big Bad]] revealed it had taken years of research to solve.
* Rimmer the [[Virtual Ghost|hologram]] on ''[[
* Harlan Band of ''[[Space Cases]]'' had this problem in one episode.
* Subverted in a first season episode of ''[[The Mighty Boosh]]''. After Howard is killed (temporarily) he returns to visit Vince as a ghost. Vince is impressed and moves his hand to bash into Howard's chest:
{{quote|
'''Vince:''' I thought like, I would pass right through you
'''Howard:''' No, I told you, [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|we spent all the budget for effects on your hair.]]
'''Vince:''' ''(turning to look at camera)'' It ''is'' looking good. }}
* [[Lampshaded]] in ''[[
* ''[[Mutant X]]'' had Jesse. Unlike most examples of this trope, he could also reverse the process to the point where he was [[Made of Diamond]].
* This was Jack's unmorphed ability in ''[[Power Rangers SPD]]''.
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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* In [[Mortasheen]], the [http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/xenogog.htm Xenogog] has this power, though it can solidify the tips of its needlelike arms to perform "''a surgically perfect lobotomy with a single touch''"
* In the collectible card game [[
** In all fairness, the shadow mechanic (which the races share) is more of an [[Another Dimension]]-thing. They can still interact with each other just fine.
*** It's like a [[Another Dimension|Squished Dimension]]-thing. IIRC, their homeplane got caught between Dominaria and Rath and ripped to shreds, leaving the inhabitants as [[Intangible Men]] who can pop in and out of reality at will.
* Necron Wraiths do this at will in [[Warhammer
** As do the C'tan, the masters of the Necrons.
* ''In Deadlands: Reloaded'', Harrowed get intangibility as an Edge; a power they can turn on an off at will.
* ''Dungeons & Dragons'' has the "incorporeal" subtype, which cleared up a LOT of confusion about intangible beings such as ghosts or 2E ''Wraithform'' spellcasters when 3E introduced it to the game.
** 4th Edition splits this in two, with the Insubstantial resistance ability (half damage from all attacks) and Phasing movement ability (the ability to move through solid objects and difficult terrain without penalty, though you still have to occupy an open square when your movement is finished). Some creatures can be Insubstantial without having Phasing and vice versa, though most creatures with one also have the other.
* The "Insubstantial" advantage in ''[[GURPS]]''
* Also the Desolidification power in the ''[[Hero System]]''. Which works a bit
* The fourth level of the Insubstantial power in 2E ''[[Mutants and Masterminds]]'' grants this power and handwaves the breathing and being able to stand on the floor, although you still face a breathing problem when within solid objects. It's also required that some reasonably common material or effect counters your insubstantiality for game balance purposes.
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== [[Video Games]] ==
* Akuma's float-on-one-knee trick from ''[[Street Fighter]]'' also turns him intangible so he can zoom around untouchable. If you ever see him doing this trick while tangible though, hit him or get out of the way because you're a second away from the [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique|Raging Demon]] attack.
* Bow's "Out of Sight" ability in ''[[Paper Mario (
** Boos can turn intangible in ''[[
* [[Touhou Project|Suika Ibuki]] has the ability to manipulate her own density at will. [[SNK Boss|An ability she puts to good use as the boss of the franchise's first fighting game]]. [[Interface Screw|During which, you cannot see either of your life bars]]. Yep.
** Also subverted with Reimu Hakurei as her power is to float. This actually means to float away from reality itself. Making her nothing short of invincible and [[Word of God|no one would beat her with any method.]] [[Curb Stomp Battle|It if weren't for the time limit...]]
** ''Ten Desires'' introduces Seiga Kaku, whose power is exactly this.
* Ingeniously employed in the Legend Entertainment game ''Death Gate.'' At one point during the climactic final battle, Sang-Drax ''becomes smoke.'' If you don't figure out how to beat him, the next turn he will surround you, cutting off access to air, which is way more justifiable than the standard "physical hit from an unphysical person" that you see all too often. To beat him in this form, you have to use the air storm from the Air Seal, quite literally blowing him away. {{spoiler|This is merely a way to delay the inevitable though: eventually, he WILL reappear in his dragon form, and if by that time you don't figure out the final puzzle, you're dead meat.}}
* ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' famously has Intangirs, a kind of untouchable bonus mook, in addition to regular intangibility spells.
* The DS-exclusive Violet Wisp from ''[[
* ''[[Lusternia]]'' has [[Cosmic Horror|Zenos]], a particularly [[Nightmare Fuel|creepy]] example: basically, he's an [[Omnicidal Maniac|omnivorous]] sentient fog. Tales abound of him enveloping whole forests and cities, devouring the inhabitants and leaving only charred wasteland in his wake.
* In ''[[Dragon Age II]]'', Fenris has the ability to become partly intangible as a result of having his body forcibly laced with [[Applied Phlebotinum|lyrium]]. Exactly ''how'' intangible he can become is unclear; in gameplay terms, his "Lyrium Ghost" mode makes him more resistant (but not immune) to damage, and aside from that he mostly uses the ability to crush people's hearts in their chests.
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== [[Web Comics]] ==
* Ulkurz from ''[[Earthsong]]''
* Geist from the webcomic ''[[Heist]]'' is a rare case of simultaneous
* One of the standard abilities for Siracs (psionic raccoons) in ''[[The Cyantian Chronicles]]''.
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* In the [[Whateley Universe]] Phase (Ayla Goodkind) has the ability to turn intangible, nearly-intangible, or super-dense so she's [[Nigh Invulnerable]]. This is supposed to be an extra-dimensional warping ability. While intangible (or close to it) she can warp gravity and fly also. But when she first manifested as a mutant and got her powers, she couldn't control them and had trouble NOT sinking through the floor, or going super-dense and smashing her bathroom to shards. Or, for that matter, not going intangible and leaving parts of her clothing behind.
** She also has a fun/hilarious [[Required Secondary Powers|Required Secondary Power]]: if she becomes solid while phased through something, ''the other object disappears.'' Forever. This results in lasting [[Clothing Damage]] (and, y'know, other damage) if she phases in and out quickly, but turns a scary situation into lots of awesome when she has an I-beam stuck through her and her powers disrupted as part of her Test To Destruction experimentation by her family's anti-mutant science labs.
* ''[[
* The Wraith is a mercenary thief from the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]''. He specializes in getting into places that others cannot get into by way of this power.
** Phantom Panther is a Chinese martial artist who can not only turn intangible but can become invisible as well.
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* One villain from ''[[Batman Beyond]]'', an unscrupulous reporter who stole a device that gave him this power, ''did'' suffer the [[Karmic Death]] of being unable to turn it off, and falling through the Earth's crust, presumably all the way to the core. Depending on whether or not heat/gravity has effect on him, and how long he can survive permanently intangible, it may be a horrific [[And I Must Scream]] ending, the kind ''Beyond'' loved to spring on the audience.
* [[Danny Phantom]] has this as part of his ghost powers, as well as flight (solving some problems) and invisibility (introducing new ones).
* Ghostfreak in ''[[
** As well as Big Chill from ''[[Ben 10: Alien Force
* ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'' has the villain the Intangible Fancy, whose henchmen are all equally intangible.
* In ''[[Teen Titans (
* ''[[
* [[Legion of Super-Heroes]] Phantom Girl has this ability, as apparently does the rest of her planet.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]
[[Category:Stock Super Powers]]
[[Category:Magic and Powers]]
[[Category:Intangible Man]]
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