Invincible Hero: Difference between revisions

* One of the biggest problems many Gundam fans had with the ending of ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]]'' was that at the end [[Hostile Show Takeover|the new heroes]] had won the final fight without losing a single named character. The new main characters' mecha didn't get a single scratch, and they even went so far as to strike a victory pose at the end to ''show'' that they hadn't been scratched. Compare this to every final fight in other Gundam series, ''including the original [[Gundam Seed]]'', in which [[Anyone Can Die|every character can die]] and the main character often only gains a narrow victory, trashing his machine in the process.

* ''[[Oban Star-Racers]]'' averts this quite nicely. The main characters are frequently shown to be only keeping through the tournament by the skin of their teeth. The best example of this is the Grand Finals, in which they are actually in last place for... pretty much the whole time.

** Further, when Akagi loses a round, it's typically because his opponent either got the better of him ("cheating" doesn't really count because Akagi abuses his opponents like a red-headed stepchild when he cheats, which is often) or because Akagi is purposely laying a trap {{spoiler|(RE: The third game, vs. Urabe)}}.

* ''[[Captain Tsubasa]]'' simply never lose. You wonder why people in the anime even think he can. At the very worst, it will be a draw.

** If we count the anime, Ryoma lost in an unofficial match against {{spoiler|Genichirou Sanada}} so ''badly'' that he went into an [[Heroic BSOD]]. {{spoiler|Akutsu}} has to force him play against him [[Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!|to snap Ryoma out of it]].

** Early on, he actually reveals that he gets trashed in tennis every day. But he's playing his dad, who is like the strongest player in the world (unofficially).

{{quote| '''Panik''': Why aren't you dead?<br />

'''Yugi''': As I explained earlier, I'm the main character. You, however, can just go right ahead and die. }}

** To take it a bit further, Yami!Yugi ({{spoiler|AKA Atem}}) only lost one legit game in the manga, and that was to {{spoiler|Normal!Yugi}}.

** In the manga, he wins virtually every duel, but lost against Koyo Hibiki before coming to the academy (although Koyo was the World Champion, and this was before Judai got Terra Firma and Winged Kuriboh).

*** {{spoiler|The manga also has Judai losing to [[The Rival|Manjoume]] at the final match of the tournament. In fact, just as ''Manjoume'' was getting dangerously close this status himself, Kaiser Ryo defeats him when he has all three of his most powerful monsters on the field.}}

*** {{spoiler|Having Manjyome almost play this trope straight in the manga is even funnier if you compare him to his Anime version, where he never ever manages to beat [[The Hero|Judai]].}}

*** Also inverted in a very cruel way with Fubuki Tenjyoin, who {{spoiler|never wins a single duel in the Anime but is a champ in the manga.}}

** Played painfully straight with Crow, who has a better deck then anyone else on the show by far, and only has two losses and a draw (not counting a duel he lost on purpose), a fantastic record for him considering he's not the main character and how often he duels, and even than those are only show that Yuusei could come in as Team 5Ds' last wheeler.

** Yusei's "victory" over Team Unicorn through the sheer power of his super-charisma also has this trope written all over it.

* Kenshiro in ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'' is nearly unstoppable. There are very few opponents that ever won a fight against him, or demonstrated superior skill, and he defeats all of them on second attempts, in one case without even having time to recover from the initial mauling. This trope is very prominent in the anime version, as it adds lots and lots of filler [[Curb Stomp Battle|Curb Stomp Battles]] against [[Monsters of the Week|Punks of the Week]], but much less so in the manga.

** When Kenshiro loses, he loses ''badly''. Both Souther and Kaioh really did a number on him, his first battle with Raoh was a close call, and his loss to Shin is the moment that sets the entire series in motion.

** Actually, he simply cannot die, losing is fine. If he dies without fulfilling his duty to his master, he will simply become a useless dragon with no power who will take up unnecessary space in another Flame Wielder's arm. And considering most of his enemies are [[Ax Crazy]], it's probably best to not lose at all.

** Similarly, in ''[[MAR]]'' (done by the same author) Ginta never loses in the tournament, since if he loses, it's game over. His team mates on the other hand, can and have lost. Some of the rounds come down to a 3-2 win/loss ratios (with Ginta being last fighter to boot).

** Once she does {{spoiler|lose to a superior opponent, she does not know how to handle it ''at all'', having never lost before}}. Unfortunately, the anime at least ends before it properly tackles the consequences of this, but we're given a fair impression that it is an issue that will be dealt with.

* ''[[Hades Project Zeorymer]]'' takes this about as far as it can go. The machine itself is ridiculously fast and can teleport, plus it's armored enough that it can shrug off ''nuclear weapons without even being at half power.'' And the few times it's seriously damaged in the manga, it just teleports in replacement parts from a parallel dimension. It doesn't help that the pilot is a [[Complete Monster]] with an [[Omniscient Morality License]] and never gets any real comeuppance for all the crap he pulls.

*** Want to see [[Up to Eleven|something even MORE insane?]] In [[Super Robot Wars Judgment]], Zeorymer can be '''UPGRADED''' into the Great Zeorymer. Feel free to let out an [[Evil Laugh]] as you see the enemy throw everything but the kitchen sink at it and die as the Great Zeorymer retaliates with all the Hakkeshu attacks.

* From [[Hareluya II Boy]], we have Hibino Hareluya, who has yet to even be pushed into being serious during a fight. Manages to not be boring because he's ''[[Rule of Funny|hilarious.]]''

* Suzaku Kururugi of ''[[Code Geass]]'' is a [[Perspective Flip|perspective flipped]] version of this trope. He's always able to take down the "bad guys" with his [[Super Prototype]] [[Mini-Mecha|Knightmare Frame]], and always foils [[Magnificent Bastard|Lelouch's]] plans--but Lelouch is the ''protagonist''. Invoked by the Camelot research team, who name the afore-mentioned [[Super Prototype]] '''[[Fridge Brilliance|the "Lancelot"]]'''. Played ''very'' straight toward the end when {{spoiler|he and Lelouch end up on the same side and he effortlessly defeats the most powerful knight in the series, even after he reveals his future-reading superpower}}.

* ''[[Vampire Hunter D]]'' cannot be stopped, only slowed down. Despite of being early on mentioned to have half of vampire's strength and half of the weaknesses, he has since become such a [[Marty Stu]] that literally nothing that the most powerful entities in his world can dish out at him can even [[The Stoic|can even make him change his expression.]] The only one who could even remotely threaten him is his [[Dracula|daddy dearest.]]

** Similar to the Golgo 13 example, and the Alucard example, he has reached the level of plot device. The story hinges on the growth and changes of the people surrounding him, and whether it will be a [[Bittersweet Ending]], or a [[Downer Ending]], or a [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog]].

* In ''[[Sonic X]]'', [[Sonic the Hedgehog]] leans into this territory on occasion. He is often presented with a cocky, unphasable [[Bugs Bunny]]-esque attitude, treating his often effortless victories against [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain|Dr.]] [[Affably Evil|Eggman]] as little more than a game.

* [[Subverted Trope]] in ''[[Mushishi]]''. On the one hand, the protagonist, Ginko, always seems to identify the ''mushi'' at work in a particular episode with astonishing speed and accuracy, which would fit this trope; however, [[Bittersweet Ending|this doesn't always guarantee a completely happy ending]], as other factors, such as his arriving too late, the patients not following his instructions or there simply being nothing to be done in the first place, frequently get in the way of this.

** The trope is also somewhat [[Justified Trope]] in that Ginko is shown to do ''a lot'' of research into ''mushi'' in his time, probably more than most others in his trade; however, his young age might count against him in this (particularly in the manga, where he seems barely out his teens; the anime places him more in his late twenties or thirties).

** Notice that while Yang ''does'' win almost any battle as long as he's involved, it's often mentioned and hinted that he'll still lose in some areas. For example, while he nearly kills Reinhard during Battle of Vermillion, {{spoiler|Mittermeyer captures Alliance's capital, forcing Yang's fleet to ceasefire}}. In two other battles he wins over the Empire, capturing back Iserlohn Fortress, but {{spoiler|he lost Bucock and Fischer, one being his father figure, and another the "heart" of his fleet}}. It's even notified that {{spoiler|Yang won't stand a chance if Reinhard attacks again after Fischer is killed}}.

** Reinhard, on the other hand, is also considered as Invincible from the beginning of the story to the point that {{spoiler|he effectively ends the whole war and unifies the universe ''half way through the story''}}, but interestingly he'll always feel that his victory isn't complete when Yang is there to disrupt him from getting a total victory. The only real time he gets a crushing defeat is the time Battle for the Corridor {{spoiler|where he lost two top admirals to Yang's ragtag fleet}}.

'''Superman:''' "'''NEVER!'''" }}

** Speaking of supporting characters, one of the reasons (non-[[Silver Age]]) Superman usually ''isn't'' described as a [[Canon Sue]] is from the focus of the tension being more on danger to other people rather than danger to Superman. While Superman himself is near-invulnerable, saving loads of people at once is usually made extremely difficult, making the readers concerned about the people Superman can't save and its emotional effect on him.

* [[Batman]] likewise has no trouble catching crooks; it's the justice system's fault for [[Cardboard Prison|not being able to keep them behind bars]]. Also, while he suffers several personal losses, he rarely loses battles. What? He's [[Crazy Prepared]] and a master of the [[Batman Gambit]]!

** Note that Batman is only invincible ''half'' the time. His [[Crazy Prepared]] skills obviously only work in situations he's planned for, so if he meets a new rogue or an old one with a new trick, he will typically '''lose''' the initial encounter: the villain will get away scot-free and Batman will get his ass soundly beaten. After escaping and researching the new foe, however, he will pretty much always win round two.

** Batman is invincible, not always victorious. He often loses, or fails to catch the villain. {{spoiler|War Games, Under the Red Hood, Death in the Family}} are costly losses, {{spoiler|the Killing Joke}} is a Pyrrhic unresolved

** Somewhat averted in ''[[The Dark Knight Returns]]''. The first time Batman fights the leader of the mutants, he gets whomped by the guy. As the series progresses, he gets more and more injured. {{spoiler|By the end, he even dies...temporarily}}.

*** ''[[The Dark Knight Strikes Again]],'' on the other hand, plays this trope obnoxiously straight. Batman is always right, always in control, and [[Curb Stomp Battle|effortlessly defeats everyone he fights,]] while [["The Reason You Suck" Speech|lecturing them on how lame they are.]]

** His other character, Fatoma the Jungle Queen, was pretty much Stardust's [[Distaff Counterpart]].

** DC's ''[[The Spectre]]'' is a bit like this, being nigh-omnipotent (sometimes), a lot of his older comics focused on the [[Fate Worse Than Death|Fates Worse Than Death]] he'd inflict on his enemies.

*** And you always know he isn't going to win against Magneto, who nearly killed him at least once.

* Lampshaded in Robert Kirkman's "Brit" comics. The hero's one power is that he's invincible. What makes him not-boring is his personality and the stuff happening around him. That, and the fact that everyone ELSE isn't invincible.

* Monica from Brazilian comic ''[[Monica's Gang]]'' falls into this sometimes. Sure, a [[Pint-Sized Powerhouse|7-year old superstrong girl]] is funny. But [[Improbable Weapon User|beating up people with a plush bunny]] is [[Violence Is the Only Option|the only way to defeat every villain in existence]]? Especially when she's not the protagonist of the story?!

* In ''[[Lucky Luke]]'', this is very much how Luke evolved in the series... An example of [[Tropes Are Not Bad]]: Morris and [[Rene Goscinny]] used this to their advantages, by making the villains (especially the Dalton Cousins) the driving force of many stories. The fun is not watching how Luke will win, but how the villains will lose (and, in the Dalton's case. how will Averell and Joe's interaction doom Joe's plans).

 

== [[Fan Fiction]] ==

* This trope is one of the many reasons why [[Mary Sue|Mary Sues]] are hated. When the character is so awesome, losing is not an option.

* An amazing subversion comes in the plot of a ''[[Touhou Project]]'' doujin Koamakyou by [http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/Tohonifun Tohonifun]. The protagonist for the games is shown fighting through the bosses of one of the games brutally; violently impaling the first to the ground, angrily mocking the second's attempts to fight, simply ignoring the third, and fighting the fourth and fifth at the same time. {{spoiler|At the end of the battle with the fourth and fifth, the fifth stabs her in the back, ignoring the rules of the games... and the protagonist turns around completely unharmed. Turns out, she's pissed off because she completely personifies this trope: as the lead of the series, she can't lose. Ever. In anything. In a world where the best way to pass time is the joy of fighting, and you can never conceivably lose a battle...}}

* The writers of ''[[An Entry With a Bang (Fanfic)|An Entry With a Bang]]!'' are trying to avert this, but the discussion to this end can and has [[Flame War|gotten inflammatory]] at times.

 

 

== [[Film]] ==

* ''[[Equilibrium]]:'' [[Word of God]] is that he made Preston a "god of death" because he always imagined his heroes that way.

* Any character played by [[Steven Seagal]], who destroys all his enemies with insulting and sadistic ease. Enemies spend a good deal of their time talking about how much of a badass Seagal's characters are. This is all a result of Seagal's <s>creative</s> input. He says his characters are "born perfect," making them basically [[God Mode Sue|God Mode Sues]]. One partial exception comes in ''Executive Decision'', when Seagal pulls a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] himself after a boarding action goes bad ("partial," because Seagal spent so much time crying in his dressing room about it, that they had to change the scene to make his death "less certain--" despite that he's sucked out of a moving jet at 30,000 feet... without a parachute). Another exception comes from the film ''Machete'', where he dies, but still manages to no-sell a machete in the gut for a couple of minutes before finishing himself off.

* The title character of ''[[Ip Man]]'' [[Curb Stomp Battle|Curb Stomps]] all his enemies, but the choreography is tight enough to <s> minimise</s> eliminate boredom. More likely a [[Showy Invincible Hero]]. Brutally subverted in the sequel, where {{spoiler|the Twister actually knocks him down several times and the final victory is very much hard-won.}}

* ''[[The Adventures of Captain Marvel]]'' has the [[Shazam|title character]] being the only person with superpowers in the serial, and being [[Nigh Invulnerable]] to boot. Surprisingly however, this trope is averted, despite Captain Marvel being immune to bullets, blades and other common types of attacks. Throughout the serial, sufficiently advanced technology is shown to be able to harm him enough to knock him out, and he's placed in situations where its stated that even his invulnerability might not be enough to protect him, such as a death trap involving ''molten lava''.

* Captain Amazing in ''[[Mystery Men]]'' is introduced with a long history of this due to his perfect win record. World-class super powers, a wealthy [[Secret Identity]], photogenic charisma, and the connections to arrange release of his nemesis in order to keep merchandise interest up. Unfortunately he's [[Wrong Genre Savvy]], and is not the protagonist of this story.

* This was one of the criticisms of ''[[The Chronicles of Riddick]]''. In ''[[Pitch Black]]'', Riddick was a lot more human but in the sequel, Riddick is suddenly turned into the smartest, strongest, and most skilled person in the movie. Not a single opponent lands a clean hit on him until his climactic fight with the [[Big Bad]].

 

 

** Although he only ever actually got into two actual direct fights (and did win both) Physically he's not really that tough. Mentally however, you give him an army, you WILL win every battle.

{{quote| "It doesn't matter how bad they stack the odds, if you're on the other side no fight will ever be fair."}}

** Ultimately the original storyline was to [[Heroic Sacrifice|kill]] Honor in 'At All Costs' to fulfill her role as Horatio Nelson [[Recycled in Space|In SPACE!]], which would have resulted in the second trope.

** Subverted in the later books. It's true that Pendergast never loses when he's on the offensive, but cracks and fails badly when he himself, and those he loves and protects, are the ones attacked. The price of Pendergast's intensive training and discipline to obtain his [[Badass]] abilities is also [[Deconstruction|explored in depth]], making him rather similar to the Batman example earlier.

* Peekay, the main character of ''[[The Power of One]]'', doesn't lose a single boxing match in the entire book. He does [[Hand Wave|Handwaved]] this at one point by noting that with such a wide range of opponents in South Africa, it wasn't unusual for someone to go 40-0 at the Junior level, but he's also something of a [[Determinator]] anyway.

* Also, many books by [[Piers Anthony]], in particular the ''[[Apprentice Adept]]'' series. The books revolve around contests in a wide variety of games, styles, and arenas, and the protagonist Stile ''always'' wins ''every single one'' of them. Except one that is simply a dice roll of pure luck with no skill involved, which is so briefly described and swept under the rug that it's easy to miss.

** Well, its a double-elimination tournament, so there's no way the story can have him end as champion ''except'' by having him win every single round but one. You are correct in that his one loss in the Games was deliberately scripted to be in no way his fault, ever, it was just pure random chance.

** This is [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] to a degree once he becomes a noble. The other nobles have noticed that he never loses anything and start taking bets on who can make him lose first. The winner's victory, however, is short lived, as Stile only lost the bet because he bet another noble (a much larger amount) that somebody would tamper with the last bet to force him to lose.

** Not to mention that a metric tonne of implied (and sometimes more than implied) behind the scenes [[The Chessmaster|Chessmastering]] by {{spoiler|the Game computer, the other Self-Aware Robots, and the original Blue Adept}}, among others, are also involved, matching Stile deliberately with opponents he was likeliest to beat, putting him in fields where he excelled, etc.

* This seems present in ''[[Harry Potter]]'', but only so far as Quidditch goes. The Gryffindor team is the "good" team which never loses so long as Harry is playing -- the only losses he experiences are ones where he's knocked out or isn't playing at all, because Harry's quidditch skill is so good that no one else can ever rightfully win against him. It's also played straight in that the Slytherins, in Harry's view at least (and most other characters as well, it seems, like Luna, Lee, etc.) seem to cheat gratuitously in every match against Gryffindor, because there is no possible way that any team (including Slytherin) could win against Harry's Gryffindor if they played fairly. While this trope doesn't extend to the rest of the ''Harry Potter'' series, this is one example where it seems to hold true every time.

* The heroes of any given chivalric romance. ''Amadis of Gaul'' and Sir Tristram are particular offenders. Somewhat inverted with ''Orlando furioso'', though, as Orlando eventually turns into [[The Incredible Hulk]] because [[Love Makes You Evil|Angelica does not love him]], and slaughters hundreds of innocents.

** {{spoiler|Arguably, becoming this is an integral part of Leto's [[The Plan|plan]] to rid humanity of its desire for messianic figures and leaders, by becoming the most insanely powerful dictator ever. Being invincible means the resistance will have to push so much harder and will be forced to evolve far beyond what they would've otherwise achieved.}}

* Some book reviewer once commented that the protagonists of [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s later novels never have problems, "only transient difficulties."

(b) [[Curb Stomp Battle|the Service had been ready]].<ref>With three times as many ships as the enemy armada, perfectly positioned to enfilade it as soon as it broke from cover.</ref><br />

By now, it was commonplace that the Service was always ready. It had not had a defect or a failure in well over two centuries. }}

* [[Discussed Trope]] in the [[Isaac Asimov|Black Widowers story]] "[[Batman|Northwestward]]"

* Pick a pulp novel hero. Any pulp novel hero from the 1930s whether it be [[Conan the Barbarian|Conan]], [[Kull]], [[Solomon Kane]], [[John Carter of Mars]], or [[Tarzan]]. They will be far superior to any other human even those of their own group, irresistible attractive to females, and the best warrior that ever lived requiring dozens of other warriors to even stand a chance, and usually a brilliant intellectual. Some writers knew this might be boring so they toned down one of these aspects or got rid of it all together. Other times they were able to make the rest of the story interesting enough that it didn't matter.

** John Carter, at least, is occasionally shown as having some doubts about his ability to get out of his latest scrap... though to return to the "invincible" them, often he's not actually worried about losing, he's just concerned that he may not be able to win fast enough. If it's less than 90% of the way through the book, he probably ''won't'' win fast enough.

** Although also a [[Subverted Trope|subversion]] since he's [[Anti-Hero|far from a 'hero']], and creates almost as many problems for Xuanzang and the other monks as he solves, either directly or indirectly. He fits this trope better in the early chapters where he's the central protagonist, but it's so much fun to read that he's more of a [[Showy Invincible Hero]]; and it's again subverted in that he does eventually lose, twice: once to [[Knight in Shining Armour|Erlang Shen]] and the other gods, then again to [[Curb Stomp Battle|the Buddha]].

* The City Watch of the ''[[Discworld]]'' books has been threating to turn into a collective version of this for some time: the Watch is now so large, powerful and influential - many of its personnel are serious [[Badass|Badasses]] in their own right that very few plausible threats are much of a threat to it anymore. Noticably since ''Jingo'' most storylines have involved either actual wars or seperating Sam Vimes and the other main characters from their vast resources via distance (''Snuff'') or time (''Night Watch'') with the bulk of the Watch functioning as [[The Cavalry]].

** Subverted in "The Two Live Crew Job", where it's heavily implied that his ex-Mossad opponent is clearly his superior. {{spoiler|[[Foe Yay|Cue]] [[Slap Slap Kiss]].}}

* Horatio Caine from ''[[CSI: Miami]]'', to such an extent that it has become a worldwide [[Snark Bait]].

* Has come close to killing ''[[Survivor]]'' a few times. Often, one tribe comes into the merge so down on numbers that the members only have a shot at winning if the other tribe breaks. More recent seasons have added extra means of immunity to counteract this.

** Boston Rob Mariano. By now has overtaken Russell Hantz as the [[Creator's Pet]], and even getting his own Survivor season to himself with the dumbest cast since ''Samoa''. And given that the players in ''Samoa'' made [[Too Dumb to Live|stupid move after stupid move]], that's saying a lot!

* Patrick Jane from [[The Mentalist]] fits this archetype very well. It doesn't matter what manner of outlandish or dickish moves or claims he pulls, he will ''always'' be justified in doing them, even if if there would be no reason to do so beforehand. He always wins. A fine example of this is the fourth season premiere, where he manages to drum up a million dollars by himself for bail, while in jail, and manages to get away with ''murdering a man'' who had never been investigated prior, by convincing the jury that the man was his arch nemesis, when in reality he wasn't.

* Souji Tendou, the titular ''[[Kamen Rider Kabuto]]''. He effortlessly defeats every single challenge that comes his way, and any exceptions are either [[Played for Laughs]] (such as his obsession with winning a scratchcard game) or because [[I Let You Win|he let the other person win]]. It got so bad that the show had to introduce an [[Evil Twin]] just to give him an adequate challenge, and even with ''that'' it only took a few episodes for him to overcome it.

** Smarks have started joking that [[John Cena]] "runs on odds" -- the higher the odds (in other words, the less likely it is for Cena to win on paper), the more certain his victory becomes, and generally when he loses it's against an evenly-matched or lesser foe.

** The attitude outside of his matches has also earned him this reputation...he's been known to 'no sell' various things. He's taken a beatdown and come back smiling and running to the ring the very next week...or even day in some cases, without so much as tape on his ribs. The only time he showed any sign of lingering injury was when [[The Big Show]] chokeslammed him through a spotlight...an action that probably would have put anyone else out for months.

**** Not even that much, Sheamus never even lifted him, he pushed him from a top rope into a table, and the announcers spun it to make it seem like Cena fell on his own.

**** And then Sheamus ''continued'' to beat him. Granted he has yet to beat Cena cleanly, but outside of non-televised house shows, Sheamus is the one heel Cena has yet to beat.

** And [[Redshirt Army|the Imperial Guard]]... well you know...

** The Ork logic goes something along these lines: "Orkz are never beaten in combat, if we win we win, if we die, we die fighting so that doesn't count and if we run away it's ok because we're always back for <s>another</s> [[Funetik Aksent|anuvver]] go".

* This is criticism that is very often leveled against ''[[Exalted]]'', as the eponymous Exalted themselves are always portrayed by the system as completely indestructible übermensch that can outplan Batman, outdrink [[Iron Man|Tony Stark]], outfight Everyone and survive any attack.

** Until you grind down their Essence supplies. Most of the main-book Perfect Defenses can also be defeated by manipulating them into a position that exploits the virtue flaw you have to choose.

** Except if one has a [[Hopeless Boss Fight]] in it in which the trope won't be played. This happens a lot in [[RPG]].

** Toward the end of [[Persona 3]], the characters discuss how they've never lost. Of course, since the game is [[Nintendo Hard]], it's pretty much a guarantee that they ''aren't'' this trope to the player.

** Although this doesn't apply to all Hopeless Boss Fights; some will simply proceed as if you lost, but some will give you a new ending if you beat them.

* ''[[Disgaea]]'' spoofs this as characters are [[Genre Savvy|well aware]] that this trope is one of the privileges of the Main Character/[[The Hero|Hero]] and will [[Hostile Show Takeover|try to steal the spot]] when they can. However, in the actual storylines, the main character usually has his ass completely handed to him by character a thousand levels higher at least once.

** Now, since the option to winning a battle is losing a battle, and losing generally means death, it's natural that every soldier alive has won every battle they've been through. Unless they've retreated or been captured, but this never was an option for Ike. Note that other strategy games DO make games with a condition being 'survive until X amount of time, or 'retreat successfully', making the hero seem less invincible.

*** Of course, when it's possible to eliminate all of the enemies before the time runs out on a survival mission, it sort of defeats the purpose.

* Refer to the [[Game Breaker]] list. Some heroes that aren't invincible on their own can be made that way with some creativity.

* ''Grotesque Tactics'' - both the first and second game - is generally an RPG parody, and plays with tropes all the time, but nothing as much as Holy Avatar - he is the proverbial knight in shining armor, with cool shades and three maidens all fawning over him, and he has been everywhere, done everything. Adding to this trope is one of his special attacks, which is a one-hit-kill for weaker enemies, actually stating so in the description of the skill!

* Some in the [[Touhou]] fandom depict Reimu Hakurei as this, an unstoppable force not unlike a Determinator but with much less motivation required. It's at least implied that Reimu should not die lest some nasty things happen; the main purpose of the spellcard system is to let anyone have a fair go at Reimu while ruling out the possibility of accidentally killing her. It doesn't help that her stated power - Fantasy Heaven - is specifically worded thus that she "becomes invincible" while using it, making her effectively unbeatable if the spell timeout phase were to be lifted.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

** An alternative view is that Bun-Bun works as a way to establish an enemy as 'top tier', and the rarity of beating him is so it keeps its credibility and doesn't suffer from [[The Worf Effect]].

** Fans are stil bored to death of him, though.

*** Or ''revert'' to it. Some of the very first early Bugs cartoons show him causing trouble for Elmer for no reason other than he feels like it. "Elmer's Candid Camera" is a classic example -- Elmer isn't even "hunting wabbits", but Bugs still teases him mercilessly.

*** And when it turned out that Sam ended up being portrayed not that much more intelligent than Elmer, the soft-spoken, but incredibly technologically advanced and dangerous Marvin the Martian was created, who, more likely than not, fought Bugs to a tie (such as both being left hanging on a crescent of moon, a gag repeated in Marvin's better known Duck Dodgers' appearance.)

** It should be noted that writers were often careful to balance Bugs' victories with the odd [[Butt Monkey]] role (eg. ''Falling Hare'', ''Rabbit Rampage'', the ''Tortoise Beats Hare'' trilogy of shorts). It was made all the more apparent due to Bugs' inexperience to being on the losing end of an [[Escalating War]] and thus [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing|his carefree attitude tended to fade the moment he was on the receiving end of a gag rather than making one]], Bugs could dish it out, but he sure couldn't take it.

** Incidentally, one of Bugs' greatest defeats happened off-screen, in a cartoon he only cameoed in. In "Porky Pig's Feat", Daffy and Porky are trapped in a hotel room because they can't pay the bill. [[Hilarity Ensues]]. Finally, Porky suggests they call Bugs for advice. It turns out Bugs is locked in the next room over (he tried all the stuff they did).

*** Somewhat justified in that Tweety and Speedy were more or less fighting for their lives all the time, whereas the occasions where Bugs lost were either him being a [[Jerkass]] or a situation that he had no control over. Tweety and Speedy never fought minor battles, so they never had minor losses.

*** The odd occasion Speedy lost was usually when he took his gloating a little too far, and an already defeated and harmless villain [[Who's Laughing Now?|got a final laugh]] (eg. "Panchos Hideaway"). The one alternate is in "Mucho Locos" when Daffy (who for once isn't antagonising Speedy) hears him mocking him behind his back and mallets him on the head. Tweety's appearances however never went outside evading a hungry cat, thus he became the only protagonist to never lose (outside possibly [[Hero Antagonist|the Road Runner]]).

** Made slightly more interesting whenever he is forced to fight his evil twin, and gets his ass handed to him.

* ''[[Oban Star-Racers]]'' averts this so much it can be considered an inversion: the Earth team seems to get by winning as few races as possible. At least one time their continuation verged on a match ''they weren't even in''.

* Lampshaded and mocked in ''[[Futurama]]'' when Fry [[Stylistic Suck|writes a superhero comic]];

{{quote| '''Leela:''' If I could offer a little constructive criticism - there was never any real peril. [[Something Person|Delivery Man]] has like [[Superpower Lottery|30 superpowers!]]<br />

* [[Captain Ersatz|The Silver Skeeter]] in ''[[Doug]]'''s comic book episodes: He's made of liquid metal (thus [[Nigh Invulnerable]]) and can fly through space on his skateboard, which is extremely overpowered compared with Quail Man's intellectual "powers of the Quail." Doug, frustrated that Skeeter's [[God Mode Sue]] is taking over his story, calls Skeeter out with this trope.

* The 1967 [[Hanna-Barbera]] series ''[[Shazzan]]'' featured an all-powerful Genie as its title character; the writers professed difficulty with the series, because Shazzan was so powerful that they couldn't think up any difficulties for him to face.

** In one episode, Nancy was trapped in The Underworld and Shazzan couldn't just teleport her back. In another, the kids were trapped behind a forcefield that Shazzan couldn't affect. That was about it.

** [[Wonder Twin Powers|Chuck and Nancy need to put their rings together and say 'Shazzan' for him to appear]] so most of the conflicts involved them being separated or the rings being stolen.

** A bit rich [[Joker Immunity|coming from him]]

** Your sympathy is ''supposed'' to lie with Wile E. Coyote. The thing of it is, he could stop the pain at any time by not chasing the Roadrunner.

** Tom occasionally got a victory over Jerry (especially in later shorts), often when the mouse started their [[Escalating War]] without provocation. Add to that as often as Jerry won, he was still vulnerable to [[Amusing Injuries]], albeit not nearly as often as Tom.

* A sort of in-universe example happens in one episode of ''[[The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron]],'' when Jimmy is actually banned from the school Science Fair because everyone is sick of him winning year after year.

* Played for laughs in ''[[The Venture Brothers]]''.

** After 21 took a level in Badass, Brock was given a run for his money.

** One episode played with this trope, as a villain used Brock's sheer invincibility in a [[Evil Plan]]

** That, and [[Weaksauce Weakness|the common cold]], apparently.

*** This actually makes him more of a [[Showy Invincible Hero]].