Run the Gauntlet: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

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 it—the [[Big Bad]] has manipulated them into doing it. That way, the hero and villains can weaken each other for the [[Big Bad]] to step in and win ([[Let's You and Him Fight]]).

 

Compare [[Rogues Gallery Showcase]]. [[I Thought It Meant|For when a character runs a physical gauntlet]], see [[Death Course]].

 

* A heroic version occurs in the ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' animé when Ash is facing Drake, the Orange Islands champion. Through most of their match, Ash has knocked out five of Drake's pokemon, while Drake has taken out only two of his. Drake sends out his trump card, a very powerful Dragonite, but Ash eventually manages to beat it by rotating his remaining pokemon and forcing Dragonite to take them down one by one. Dragonite defeats Charizard, Squirtle and Tauros one after another, but they all do enough damage that the Dragonite is exhausted by the time Pikachu is sent out.

* In an anime where [[Magic Music|singing]] is the (pretty much) only method of battle, [[Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch]] had a gauntlet run. And it was [[Played for Laughs]]. Why? In the first level of the tower the bad guys made as part of some ridiculous plan or other, the first 'boss', [[Kawaiiko|Alala]], was merely bypassed and ignored. In the second level was [[Dragon Lady|Lanhua]], who was [[Bowled Over]] by a bowling ball (don't ask how it go there, they don't know either). The third was [[Villainous Crossdresser|Lady Bat]] was 'repelled' when his [[Viewer Gender Confusion|(yes, his)]] breath [[It Makes Sense in Context|reeked of curry]]. The fourth level had [[Monster of the Week|the 'planner' Napoleon]], who let them by after the heroines threatened them with a beating (he was rather short). It was at the fifth and final level where the singing ensued. But not before a [[Crowning Moment of Funny|Crowning Music of Funny]] [[It Makes Sense in Context|from the hostage the heroines were trying to rescue]].

* 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.

 

* Issue #50 of ''[[Ultimate Sleepwalker|Ultimate Sleepwalker: The New Dreams]]'' forces Sleepwalker to take on all six of the Nasty Boys by himself. A few issues later, he goes through this trope ''again'' when {{spoiler|the Green Goblin puts a $1 million prize on his head.}} He's forced to fight several villains trying to claim the prize one after another, and they each do a number on him. By the time he fights the last villain, Sleepwalker is so exhausted that {{spoiler|he would have been killed without the help of a [[Heroic Bystander]]}}.

 

* [[Godzilla: Final Wars]]: [[Godzilla]] gets to fight most of his known and lesser known opponents from the previous movies.

 

* [[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 in Badass|Taking A Level In Badass]], as Pumpkin Rapper put up a good fight a more powerful Megazord by himself when he'd previously been destroyed by an older one.

 

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

 

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