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(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.RunTheGauntlet 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.RunTheGauntlet, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
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{{trope}}
A [[Superhero]] has to face their entire [[Rogues Gallery]] one by one in rapid succession, leaving no time to rest.
While it makes sense in theory, the scheme raises the question of why the villains [[Mook Chivalry|don't just attack all at once]]. The most common reason is that they didn't plan
Heroes with especially awesome [[Rogues Gallery|Rogues Galleries]] will run into this more often; Batman does it all the time. Made possible by [[Villain Decay]]
Incidentally, the "Gauntlet" that appears in the name of this trope doesn't refer to an armored glove, or even to the notion of "throwing down the gauntlet." It comes independently from the archaic word ''gantelope'', meaning a double-file of men facing each other and armed with clubs (or other weapons) with which to strike at an individual who is made to run between them. (It was commonly practiced in the British Army; you can see how speakers with different accents would get those two words confused.) So, yes, it should be spelled "run the ''gantlet''", but [[Incredibly Lame Pun|the pun's]] [[Gauntlet (1985 video game)|too obvious]].
[[Boss Rush]] is the video game equivalent.
Compare [[Rogues Gallery Showcase]]. [[I Thought It Meant|For when a character runs a physical gauntlet]], see [[Death Course]].
{{examples|Examples:}}▼
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* A heroic version occurs in the ''[[Pokémon (
* In an anime where [[Magic Music|singing]] is the (pretty much) only method of battle, [[Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch]] had a
* In ''[[Bleach]]'', after Ichigo defeats Grimmjow, he is immediately pitted against Nnoitra Jilga, who was a full rank above Grimmjow. This trope gets inverted on Nnoitra when {{spoiler|Nel is revealed to be the former third Espada}}, who then proceeds to mercilessly beat the crap out of Nnoitra. However, {{spoiler|Nel's}} release deactivates at the worst possible time. After Nnoitra's [[Kick the Dog]] moment, he sends his Fraccion Tesla to finish off Ichigo, but {{spoiler|Kenpachi}} appears to not only defeat Tesla, but almost immediately goes to fight Nnoitra.
* This has happened to [[Ranma ½]]. Needless to say it [[Loads and Loads of Characters|took a while]].
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* [[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]'s first fight with the Sinister Six.
** This has been [[Hand Wave|explained]] as being so each villain would have a chance to get the 'honor' of killing Spidey himself. Spidey has since called this a "bone-headed method of teaming up" and in all subsequent fights, the Six attack en masse. Gently parodied in [[
** In another instance in ''[[Spider-Girl]]'', the final fight (between the exhausted hero and fresh villain) is thoroughly subverted when Spider-Girl calls in a few favors, and the last villain is confronted by just about every hero in the [[Marvel Comics 2]] 'verse. He wisely surrenders at that point.
** Norman Osborn once claimed that only a gauntlet would work against Spider-Man since the webhead is "good with groups," using the opponents' powers against them and cause infighting.
** After a period where the classic villains were put aside to focus on new faces, there was an arc ''titled'' "The Gauntlet," where the Kravenoff family set up Spidey's classic [[Rogues Gallery]] to fight him one after another and wear him down. The cover for the first collected volume encapsulates the trope almost perfectly - Spider-Man lies battered atop his fallen enemies.
* The [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]] frequently faced this, with a [[Plot Tailored to
* Pretty much every arc [[
** ''[[Batman:
*** In fact, the last level of the video game (which was based on the animated series) is a boss rush, called 'The Gauntlet'.
** Justified in Grant Morrison's ''[[
* [[Alan Moore]]'s [[Superman]] story, "[[Whatever Happened to
* ''[[Teen Titans (
** Then they follow it up with every single hero fighting Dr. Light, which is the inverse of this trope. We don't learn the actual result, but we can safely assume [[Sarcasm Mode|Dr. Light won]].
* It's subverted in ''[[The Flash]]'' because the Rogues are rarely known to pull a caper alone. They firmly believe in strength in numbers.
** Of course, in the case of [[The Flash]], most of his enemies are either underpowered or ridiculously unsuited for facing a guy who can move and react at near light speed. Even all together it's no surprise they get their asses kicked every time.
*** Actually they are very well suited to fighting a Speedster, they just don't want to kill him. When there's someone coming at you at near the speed of light or even the speed of sound the best tactic is to slow him down enough to get away or land a hit that will knock him out.
* Freedom Force has you fight your entire Rogues Gallery before taking on Time Master.
* Typhoid Mary recruits a number of [[Daredevil]]'s enemies to put the horn-headed hero through this trope. It's also a variant in that the villains ''win'', beating Daredevil to within an inch of his life and leaving him for dead.
== [[
* In the ''[[Fairly Oddparents]]'' fanfic ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2973937/1/Discovery Discovery]'', Timmy Turner
* Issue #50 of ''[[Ultimate Sleepwalker
== [[
* [[Godzilla: Final Wars]]: [[Godzilla]] gets to fight most of his known and lesser known opponents from the previous movies.▼
* Among the many types of gimmick matches devised in recent years, there's the "Gauntlet" match, where one wrestler has to fight three or more opponents one after another, without a break. When one opponent is pinned, the next one comes out, and the match ends either when the lone wrestler is pinned or he defeats all his opponents. One notable example was when [[Chris Benoit]] took on and defeated on his fellow Radicalz ([[Dean Malenko]], [[Perry Saturn]], and [[Eddie Guerrero]]).▼
==
* The final book of the ''Spy High'' series, ''Agent Orange'', has this. The heroes fight through virtual recreations of every major villain (and some minor ones) from the previous 11 books in order to finally reach the [[Big Bad]]'s lair.▼
▲* [[Godzilla Final Wars]]: [[Godzilla]] gets to fight most of his known and lesser known opponents from the previous movies.
== [[Live
* [[Power Rangers Lost Galaxy]]: the episode ''Hexuba's Graveyard'', a sorceress named Hexuba brings back several former monsters of the week to fight the rangers before fighting them herself. This example include the [[Villain Decay]], in that a monster that the rangers previously couldn't defeat without their group power-up, Lights of Orion, is taken down by the Red Ranger alone.
** An earlier season featured Lord Zedd doing this with several monsters as well. It also provided a very rare case of a [[Monster of the Week]] [[Took a Level
== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==
▲* Among the many types of gimmick matches devised in recent years, there's the "Gauntlet" match, where one wrestler has to fight three or more opponents one after another, without a break. When one opponent is pinned, the next one comes out, and the match ends either when the lone wrestler is pinned or he defeats all his opponents. One notable example was when [[Chris Benoit]] took on and defeated on his fellow Radicalz ([[Dean Malenko]], [[Perry Saturn]], and [[Eddie Guerrero]]).
▲* The final book of the ''Spy High'' series, ''Agent Orange'', has this. The heroes fight through virtual recreations of every major villain (and some minor ones) from the previous 11 books in order to finally reach the [[Big Bad]]'s lair.
== [[Web Original]] ==
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Superhero Tropes]]
▲[[Category:Trope]]
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