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Intangible Man: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''"Did you expect me to dodge? How quaint."''|Olka, mistmeadow witch, ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' flavor text for [http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=turn%20to%20mist Turn to Mist]}}
Cousin to [[Invisibility]], the '''Intangible Man''' is unable to physically interact with normal objects.
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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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]].
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== [[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.
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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 on the Tin|The Ghost]] is a technological industrial terrorist.
** 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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* 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-Powered Individual|Magicals]] with the power of intangibility.
* Dutilleul in Marcel Aymé's ''Le Passe-Muraille'', though this seems limited to walls apparently.
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== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* ''[[Star Trek: The
** 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-1|Stargate SG 1]]'' did this at least three times: A race of highly advanced humans had developed this technology; Daniel was once thus afflicted by a mysterious alien crystal skull; and SG-1 itself was placed in an intangible state by a security device belonging to Merlin (secretly [[Beethoven Was an Alien Spy|an advanced alien]]).
** 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.
* ''[[Angel]]'': Afflicted Spike after he was brought [[Back
** Also Sahjhan from Season 3. {{spoiler|For most of his appearances, anyway}}.
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'': "Halloween"—Willow the Friendly Ghost, with the same lack of floor issues.
** 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-Files]]'' had an escaped convict who had this as a power, as well as the ability to reduce anything he passed through to ash. It's demonstrated with some [[Techno Babble]] that it's electricity-based and doesn't work against insulating materials, and he's eventually done in when he tries to phase through a speeding car and gets fatally smacked by the windshield.
* 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.
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{{quote|'''Howard:''' What are you doing?
'''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 ''[[Blood Ties]]'', where a ghost complains to the main character (and only person that can see him) that how come he can't touch stuff, but he can still sit on a couch.
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* In the collectible card game [[Magic: The Gathering]], there are entire races of intangible people (the Dauthi, Soltari, and Thalakos).
** 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.
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** ''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 ''[[Sonic Colors]]'' turns Sonic into an intangible ''hedgehog'', able to pass through walls.
* ''[[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.
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