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Run the Gauntlet: Difference between revisions
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A [[Superhero]] has to face their entire [[Rogues Gallery]] one by one in rapid succession, leaving no time to rest. Race to stop this villain from blowing up the bridge, then dash to the other side of town to free the mayor from another villain...and the villains are almost always fought in order by the [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]]—weakest first, strongest last. In the climax, the hero has to face the toughest villain, who is quite refreshed, while the hero is exhausted.
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]]).
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]]—the guy who almost killed you last time is taken out with a flick of your wrist while you move on to the next one.
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== [[Anime and Manga]] ==
* 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]].
* 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]].
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** 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 the Party]] to go with it.
* Pretty much every arc [[Batman]] has been in lately, from ''[[Knightfall]]'' to ''Hush''—and also pretty much every non-canon miniseries he's ''ever'' been in, from ''Child of Dreams'' to ''The Long Halloween'' to ''Dark Victory.'' ''Child of Dreams'' is an interesting case - none of the villains he faces are the real deal. They're crazies who ''think'' they're his iconic arch enemies.
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** 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.
== [[Fanfic Tropes|Fanfic]] ==
* In the [[Fairly Oddparents]] fanfic [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2973937/1/Discovery Discovery], Timmy Turner Run the Gauntlet of all his magical enemies and his [[Imaginary Friend]].
* 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]]}}.
== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==
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== Live Action TV ==
* [[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
== Literature ==
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[[Category:Superhero Tropes]]
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