Invincible Hero: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

[[Sub-Trope]] of [[The Good Guys Always Win]].

 

{{examples|Examples: Spoilers Ahoy}}

 

'''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.}}

** In fact, the [[Myth Arc]] of the series concerns Nagi's disappearance ten years prior to the start of the series, and his son's attempts to find out what could possibly have happened to him.

** Jack Rakan is also effectively invincible. To the point the only opponents who have ever given him trouble are Nagi (who's ''more''... invincible... or something) and {{spoiler|the Lifemaker and Fate. And even then it should be noted that Fate had to ''[[Reality Warper|rewrite reality]]'' in order to have a shot, and even then, Jack is still holding his own.}}

** 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.

* Oddly Justified in ''[[Flame of Recca]]''. Recca never loses a fight past a certain (fairly early) point in the series, but then again his powers come from a [[Deal with the Devil|deal he made with the dragons inside him]] so if he ever loses anything he'll die. His teammates lose all the time though, especially since much of the series is a team based tournament where they just barely win enough matches to move on every single time.

** The witch Dorothy plays this trope straight, however, as she also remains undefeated throughout the tournament. Even though she gets beaten down rather badly several times, she is able to pull through with sometimes seemingly impossible feats. {{spoiler|She does die in the anime, but eventually [[Battle Royale With Cheese|revives along everyone else]] for the final battle.,}}

* Lina, the heroine of ''[[Slayers]]'' is less of this trope than it warrants, but it is painfully obvious how fellow mages Zelgadis, Amelia, and Sylphiel are out-classed against her, as she is the only person among them (and probably the entire world) who can both beam-spam the most powerful spell in the verse's [[Black Magic]], and can also draw power from [[Guardian of the Multiverse|the Lord of Nightmares.]] She also shows ridiculous insight and intelligence often in random bursts, whereas normally she is fairly smart, but not inquisitive - the reverse happens with [[The Smart Guy|Zelgadis]], normally book-smart, but fails rather epically with battle strategies. It is her that takes down just about every single demonic being that the group encounters, which makes Xellos' comment of all four main characters being "[[Title Drop|Slayers]]" of demons far less credible - Lina defeated Shabranigdo while the others were taken down in one blow each. Filia, a Golden Dragon, Naga, [[Goldfish Poop Gang|her alleged rival]], and Pokota, a prince, are probably the only people that could rival her, but Filia is a [[Holier Than Thou|stuck-up, prissy, and naive]] priestess who often refuses to take a part of the group's antics, Naga is incredibly flaky, and Pokota is stuck in the body of a [[Ridiculously Cute Critter|stuffed animal]], knocking down his use by a solid margin. This mostly applies to the anime and the novels.

** She lose battles outside of the tournament. And every fight was won after taking a beating first while she figured out her opponent's style and tricks, it was never a [[Curb Stomp Battle]].

* [[Revolutionary Girl Utena|Utena]], Utena, Utena...lost only ''one'' duel, and it was because she froze up. She defeats him in the very next one. While it's more justified in the case of the Black Rose duels, as the fighters are not experienced (and, on a philosophical level, fighting with their emotional rage rather than the well-formed reasons the regular duelists have), seeing her win against [[Defrosting Ice Queen|Juri]] for their first duel is positively infuriating (as Juri is about to strike, Utena's knocked-away sword ''falls straight through the air out of nowhere and rips off Juri's rose'').

* [[Schoolgirl Lesbians|Saki and Nodoka]] from ''[[Saki (manga)|Saki]]'' both lose ONE time, and against the same opponent.

* 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.]]''

* [[Golgo 13]] never fails an assignment, or for that matter misses a shot. If he did, he'd lose his reputation as an assassin and there would be no series. Later chapters solve the problem by focusing more on the people who hire him and how their situations deteriorate to the point that they need to bring in a hitman. (Infamously, he doesn't appear in one story at all; the central character merely uses Golgo 13's reputation as a weapon.) The fact that the stories are standalone and bounce around time help in this regard. For completeness sake, there have been several occasions of him missing, at least once by weapons sabotage creating a misfire, and one complete miss caused by the target's allegedly psychic bodyguard.

* ''[[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.]]

** 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).

* [[Played for Laughs]] in ''[[Tentai Senshi Sunred]]'', in which the [[Harmless Villain|villainous organization Florsheim]] are ''way'' below the league of their mortal enemy [[Sentai|Sunred]], who inevitably defeats whoever they've scrounged up to defeat him in a single hit. Considering the show is a sitcom, adding actual battles and drama wouldn't fit in anyway.

** 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}}.

 

== [[Fan Fiction]] ==

** Rose Potter from ''[[The Girl Who Lived]]'' is this. Who cares about all the truths about love, family, friendship, and sacrifice learned over five years of suffering, when "Harry" now has magical druidess powers that make him ten times more powerful than Voldemort could ever be? Critics have noted that Rose has to be handed an [[Idiot Ball]] not to [[Curb Stomp Battle|just finish off the bad guys outright]].

* 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...}}

* ''[[Ultraviolet (film)|Ultraviolet]]'', by the writer/director of ''Equilibrium'', has a similar hero. Violet, a super-powerful "[[Our Vampires Are Different|hemophage]]," can defeat mere humans without any effort. When she is confronted by a mob of fellow superhuman hemophage bad-asses, she {{spoiler|cuts every single one of their heads off with a single swing.}}

* A prime example: The main hero of the Japanese movie (and ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' episode) ''[[Prince of Space]]'', whose invincibility depends largely on his ability to repel energy weapons (as well as his ability to choose really pathetic enemies.) "Your weapons are useless against me!" becomes something of a [[Catch Phrase]] for the hero, who uses it no less than ''seven times'' during the course of the movie. Interestingly, this line was added by the English dubbing. In the original Japanese film, The Prince is not invulnerable, which is why he occasionally dodges laser fire.

* 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.}}

** While Ip mows through everyone else in the first film the [[Big Bad]], while outclassed by Ip, does manage to hold his own for at least half of the final fight, get in a few licks of his own and comes close to winning by [[Ring Out]] a couple of times.

** 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.

* Feric Jaggar, hero of ''[[The Iron Dream]]'', never loses at anything, ever. The pace of the plot is determined primarily by how fast he can swing the "Steel Commander". This is intentional; it's part of the book's [[Stylistic Suck]].

* 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.

** Roland, from ''[[The Song of Roland]]''. Although he has to die in order to be the [[Doomed Moral Victor]] (and because the actual Roland died in that battle), most his wounds are somewhat self-inflicted things, like when his temples explode because he's blowing so damn hard on that horn in order to warn Charlemagne's army. Also note that he keeps fighting even when his brains are running out his ears and onto his army.

** {{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."

* Richard Rahl from ''[[The Sword of Truth]]'' flirts with this trope. Every book, he spends his time working himself into a more and more impossible situation, only to casually brush it aside at the climax.

* Not a person, but a whole organization: The Service in James Blish's ''The Quincunx of Time''. As the prologue points out:

{{quote|The press was free.... Yet there had been nothing to report but that:

* 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]].

** In the Discworld series as a whole, Vetinari's plans ''never'' fail. '''''Never'''''. If Vetinari is involved with the main character of the book in some way, their schemes will turn out successful (even if not in the way the main character expects).

* ''[[Berserker (Literature)|Berserker's Planet]]'' features a gladiatorial tournament. One of the contestants claims that he 'has never met a man who could stand against him'. Subverted in that, as one of the more intelligent contestants points out, this being the culmination of a series of to-the-death duels that's true for all the survivors; even those that got killed in the previous rounds must have been undefeated up to that point.

*** This is subverted in [[Knights of the Old Republic]]. If you talk to Jolee Bindo, he will tell you about his friend with great Destiny, Andor Vex. He was monumentally strong in the Force, and was prophesied to have a great destiny, which would change the face of the galaxy for centuries. He was captured by a marauding Warlord, and when approached, decided to rely on his reputation and perceived importance to history. This pissed off the warlord, who threw him down a reactor core ventilation shaft. His body hit something sensitive, causing the ship to be destroyed, along with the warlord, freeing the sector from his iron grip. So... yeah, destiny!

*** To make it even better, Jolee Bindo does not relate the story as a piece of somber wisdom but as a hilarious anecdote, laughing the entire time he's telling it. Of course, he already knows what the PC's "great destiny" that everyone keeps alluding to is as well, he just likes openly messing with people.

** The same goes in college sports. A good example is the NCAA basketball tournament. It's hyped for several months in advance, everyone fills out their brackets, people set aside work to watch the games...and the same five or six teams end up dominating. For example, when's the last time you DIDN'T see Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, North Carolina, Michigan State or Syracuse in the Final Four?

** Motor racing can also have this (helped that the richest constructors build the best cars - so much that every ruling body forbids or imposes something for balance). In [[Formula One]], ratings dropped as Michael Schumacher won five years in a row and broke most records.

== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==

* [[Triple H]] gets a lot of this, to the extent that reviewer guidelines for ''Smackdown Vs. RAW '09'' explicitly forbade showing him in a "prone or defenseless position". [[Internet Counterattack|Guess how that one went]].

** 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.

*** Even funnier after facing [[Sheamus]] for the championship at "Tables, Ladders, Chairs". Nobody thought Sheamus stood a chance in hell. Sheamus won. Although, as [[The Spoony Experiment|Spoony]] pointed out, it was tables match and it didn't necessarily mean Sheamus was capable of beating Cena so much as it showed Sheamus was capable of lifting a 240 pound man and putting him through a cheap table.

** Although it should be noted that many, many fans didn't consider the streak boring at all.

** It should also be noted that Goldberg could still get outwitted by other wrestlers. And [[Bret Hart]] beat Goldberg several times after the streak was broken. And Goldberg lost some of his invincibility once he joined the WWF.

 

 

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* In the dozen plus years ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' has been around, there have only been a handful of characters who aren't horribly outclassed when facing [[Killer Rabbit|Bun-Bun]], and only three who have ever actually beaten him in one-on-one combat: {{spoiler|Aylee's [[Evil Twin|evil clone]], Blacksoul (who is actually Bun-Bun [[Never the Selves Shall Meet|from the future]]), and Oasis (who had to [[New Powers as the Plot Demands|suddenly unveil]] [[Playing with Fire|pyrokinetic abilities]] to pull that off).}} Of course, Bun-Bun only ''barely'' qualifies as a hero.

** 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.

* The ''[[Goblins]]'' B-comic Tempts Fate has the hero perform based on the amount of donations the readers send in. Needless to say, Tempts Fate wins every battle with extreme ease, and the readers can feel the accomplishment of having helped along this overwhelming victory.

* Parodied in ''[[Basic Instructions]]'' with Rocket Hat; he dishes out constant effortless beat-downs of the Moon Men and their emperor, but when the reader can actually see him, he never moves or even speaks. Of course, the Emperor's fighting style has been described by his own loyal followers as "cringing" and he seems to be an example of [[Asskicking Equals Authority]] among them...

 

* [[Bugs Bunny/Characters|Bugs Bunny]] may be the biggest manifestation of this trope in western animation. He has spent just about the whole of his career as a [[Karmic Trickster]] effortlessly outwitting and humiliating B-listers and icons alike in the ''Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies'' pantheon, such as Beaky Buzzard and [[Daffy Duck]] respectively. So untouchable is Bugs, that of the many adversaries he faced over the roughly 172 cartoons he originally starred in, the number of characters able to best the trickster rabbit can be counted '''on one hand'''; Elmer Fudd and Cecil Turtle being the most successful examples.

** Yosemite Sam was actually created as a response to this trope; Elmer Fudd is many things, but intelligent is not one of them, and consequently, there were only so many ways Bugs could outsmart him before it got old. Sam was created with the intent of giving Bugs an adversary smart enough to give him trouble. Another explanation is they wanted character [[Jerkass|assholish]] enough to get the audience back on Bugs' side. Fudd was so [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain|hapless]] and [[Affably Evil]] that Bugs was starting to come across as an unheroic bully.

*** 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.)

** Perhaps to balance this, it is often Bugs' most pitiful foes that manage to score a victory over him, both [[Too Dumb to Live|Elmer Fudd]] (''Rabbit Rampage'', ''Hare Brush'') and [[Ensemble Darkhorse|Daffy Duck]] (counting this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RIvO74ZC5c obscure Tang endorsement from ''The Bugs Bunny Show''], ''[[Looney Tunes: Back in Action]]'' and [[Cartoon Network]]'s ''The Big Game'' from 2001) have got the upper hand over Bugs a couple occasions in a rather spectacular fashion.

* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in ''[[Batman: The Animated Series|Batman the Animated Series]]'' when, after Batman returns from yet another seeming demise, the Joker shouts "Why won't he stay dead?"

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

* In ''[[Tom and Jerry]]'' or ''[[Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner|Road Runner]]'' cartoons the [[Designated Villain]] is [[Failure Is the Only Option|always condemned to failure]]. It gets tiresome after a while and makes one want to go [[Rooting for the Empire]].

** 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.

* The ''[[Mucha Lucha]]'' episode "Doomien" has Rikochet and Buena Girl as a tag-team who always seems to win, to the point that no one is actually rooting for them in the tag-team matches.

* The eponymous character of ''[[Kim Possible]]''.

* ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' has Captain Implausible, a superhero on a [[Show Within a Show|show within the show]]. The whole premise of his show is he's impossible to beat.

** That about sums up Phineas and Ferb's whole situation. When you have to build your own super-intelligent AI and program it to trap you repeatedly in order to have a little fun, and then you defeat it effortlessly, well, it's difficult for us to ''ever'' feel afraid for you. (Accordingly, if there's any tension in ''Phineas and Ferb'', it's nearly always emotional tension, such as Phineas being angry at Perry in [[The Movie]].) Candace is in [[Failure Is the Only Option|the opposite situation]].