Phlebotinum Battery

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

This is when a character's powers are charged by some outside source, such as sunlight or electricity or exposure to Phlebotinium. If the hero's powers are ever taken away or are weakened somehow, all the hero needs to do to get them back is regain access to this source of power and they are rejuvenated.

The exact opposite of Kryptonite Factor.

A Sub-Trope of Power Source. Compare Amulet of Concentrated Awesome, and Phlebotinum Muncher for when they feed on the phlebotinum itself.


Examples of Phlebotinum Battery include:

Anime & Manga

  • Mazinger Z runs on an engine powered by Photon Atomic engine. When it runs out of Photon energy, it ceases functioning and it has to be replenished to work again. Its sucessors Great Mazinger and Mazinkaiser also works with a Photon engine. Another of its sucessors, UFO Robo Grendizer works with the same principle but different energy source.
    • In the same vein, the various Getter Robos are powered by Getter Energy, though some canons state that it can actually recharge itself.
  • Daitarn 3 is powered by the sun.
  • While many Gundam-based Mobile Suits are explicably stated that they're ran on some sort of nuclear power, Mobile Suit Gundam 00 takes the cake - most mook- and enemy- units are initially powered by solar energy, but are easily overwhelmed by the Gundams, which run on GN Particles. By the time the second season starts, everyone has the GN Drives - the engines that run on GN Particles. However, the villains use incomplete variations known as GN Drive Tau, which needs to be replenished once emptied, unlike the true GN Drives.

Comic Books

  • Superman's powers come from the yellow sun and he is essentially a solar battery. If he is weakened he can regain strength better in sunlight. This was actually a Retcon that has served to become an important part of his mythos and multiple stories have been told surrounding this.
  • A Green Lantern's ring is charged by a lantern connected to the central battery on Oa. The ring had a limited power life span and they would have to recharge it every so often (the exact time would change based on the continuity).
  • Marvel Comics uses this a lot:
    • X-Men leader Cyclops' red optic blasts are charged by solar power. In a pinch they can be charged by Storm's lightning (which turns them white) but it is not at all pleasant for him if he does it.
    • Cyclops' brother Havok gets his powers charged by the energy of the stars.
    • Moon Knight gets power boosts from the full moon.
    • The Black Panther gets his powers charged by a plant extract of Wakandan origin.
    • Water is Sub-Mariner's power source. He's strong out of it, but if you've exposed him to heat or dehydration, immersing him in water again will restore him to strength.

Film

  • In Superman Returns, Superman was weakened with a Kryptonite shard in his side, so he Fought Off the Kryptonite by rising into the sunlight.
  • In the live action He-Man and the Masters of the Universe film, He-Man had his sword taken from him and used to unlock the secret powers of Grayskull. He was left as a strong but weaponless warrior. Retaking his sword from the lock seemed to renew his strength and even frighten the empowered Skeletor.

Legends and Folklore

  • Sir Gawaine, from Arthurian legend, is solar-powered -- as the sun rises, his strength grows above human normal, until noon, when it starts to fade; at night he is no stronger than any other man.

Live Action TV

  • In Smallville, Clark is fighting against his Bizarro clone who has all of his powers inverted. Kryptonite strengthens him and the sunlight weakens him. It was here that Clark learns that the yellow sun fuels his powers. In an earlier episode, solar flares/sun spots cause his powers to go haywire and he doesn't have the same precision control.
  • In Lois and Clark:
    • A villain has a disintegration weapon that's capable of hurting Superman but they aren't positive they can kill him while using it. To ensure Superman is weakened, they make a catastrophe in an underground missile silo so that while using his powers he doesn't have a backup charge. Superman wins when Lois shorts out the silo door controls, opening them so he could recharge.
    • Lex Luthor is shown using the same weapon against Superman, but simply attacks at night, using Supes' parents as hostages so he won't escape to a part of the word where it's day.

Religion and Mythology

  • The giant Anteus, from Greek Mythology, had undefeatable strength as long as he was touching the earth. The moment he was lifted into the air, he lost his strength, thus making this trope Older Than Feudalism.

Tabletop Games

  • Champions. Powers can be defined as drawing power from an Endurance Battery, which can be recharged through various means (electricity, sunlight, radiation, and so on).
  • This is how Essence in general works in Exalted; it's recharged by "respiring" the local Essence (a process made more efficient by increasing levels of relaxation), with some circumstances (most notably natives of Creation or the Underworld being in the non-native one) making such respiration harder or impossible. Demesnes and manses (and the hearthstones produced by the latter) and prayer also help recharge Essence.
  • Cole from In Famous needs to be in areas with electricity to recharge his powers, batteries and people can also be drained for power.

Video Games

  • Boktai. Django and Aaron are powered by the Sun, Lucian is powered by the Moon, and in a bit of a variation, Sabata is powered by a lack of sunlight.
    • Literally "powered by the Sun", since the game's big gimmick is that letting sunlight hit the game cartridge will power up the player character and make the game easier.
  • In Fallout 3 you can get a perk called "Solar Powered" which gives you massive stat bonuses in the daylight.

Western Animation

  • In Avatar: The Last Airbender, waterbenders are at their peak under a full moon. Firebenders are at their normal peak under the sun. When a comet passes through the atmosphere it supercharges the firebenders' abilities, which is a major plot point throughout the series.
  • Birdman is powered by the sun, as are his sidekicks Birdboy and Birdgirl. Unlike Superman below, his batteries are much, much, shorter in storage capacity, as he runs out within minutes of leaving sunlight.