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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"I get these chills up and down my spine, and all of the sudden, it's as clear as day. That if I stay put, I'm dead."''
|'''Kabuto''', ''[[Psyren]]''}}
A character has the [[Psychic Powers|psychic ability]] to know when something is about to happen, and react accordingly to prevent some kind of harm. Named after [[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]'s iconic super-power.
To prevent it from becoming a [[Story
This power is similar and often a part of [[Combat Clairvoyance]], but it does not really help evading specific attacks on purpose. When the character knows that something ''has just''
In comics, this is often denoted as squiggly lines around the character's head. See the [[Trope Namer]] and Professor Xavier of the X-Men for two prominent examples. Compare [[The Force Is Strong
Compare and contrast with [[Super Reflexes]], the non-psychic version of this power.
{{examples|Examples:}}▼
== Anime and Manga ==
* The Newtypes in ''[[Gundam]]'' have the ability to sense (amongst other things) hostility directed at them, which allows them to dodge attacks much faster than any normal humans can. Whenever it happens, you see a [[Beam of Enlightenment]] around the character with a distinctive sound effect, widely referred to now as the "Newtype Flash."
** In the ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' series, it's an actual ability (called "Flash" in the original Japanese, and "Alert" in the English versions), and not limited to just Newtypes. The activation of the ability is even the Gundam Newtype Flash sound effect.
* ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'': The trope turns up a lot; Kyon refers to his "danger sense tingling". You develop this pretty quick around Haruhi. It's a survival trait.
* The martial artists in ''[[Ranma
* A character in ''[[
* In ''[[Naruto]]'', several characters, most notably Hinata's father, have demonstrated the ability to detect the intent to kill. Probably all ninjas have this
** Actually, it would seem that the ability to "sense" chakra is implied to be quite exclusive. Generally, all ninja can sense chakra, but there are types classified as sensors. Sensors are usually much more proficient than ordinary ninja at sensing chakra. The Hyuugas fall into this type of ninjas for their Byakugan, the Inuzuka and Aburame also falls into this type.
* ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' makes good use of this. When some characters ''aren't'' using scanners or scouters, they rely on their own instincts to sense one's ki/[[Power Level|power levels]] (no matter the amount) from afar.
** Slightly subverted as some can hide their power to become undetectable.
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* ''[[Psyren]]'' has the psychic abilities from the "Sense" category (a sub-category of the body-strengthenig "Rise") which improve the users basic senses, allow them to feel psychic pressure and can basically act as lesser spider-senses. A perfect example is Kabuto's main power "Menace" (see quote above), which allows him to clearly feel incoming danger and also [[Combat Clairvoyance|see the menace of dead and thus predict all of the enemies attacks]].
* Amusingly parodied in [[Martian Successor Nadesico]] with [[Mr. Exposition|Inez Fressange]], who can sense when other characters attempt to deliver explanations.
* Sousuke from ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]'' has an uncanny, sixth sense-like ability to sense "killing intent." He could actually feel other people's malice and intentions to kill him, which allowed him to determine that assassins were nearby. This, of course, helps to allow him to set traps for them ahead of time.
** This was also used to torment him. {{spoiler|One of Mithrils agents would observe him via the scope of a rifle, and find that Sousuke actually got visually agitated when he did this. It's implied that much of Sousuke's misbehavior in school is caused by the agent remotely triggering Sousuke's danger sense, causing to lash out against people near him.}}
* The [[Comic Book Adaptation|supplementary manga]] of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (anime)|Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]] [[The Movie]] First'' reveal that Nanoha gained this as a side-effect of her magical powers slowly awakening. Even though she never saw it coming, she immediately reacted and caught a speeding baseball that was headed for [[Those Two Guys|Alisa]]. The fact that she also did all of that with her bare hand without receiving any injuries just added to her general bewilderment on what she had just managed to do.
* Haruo Niijima from ''[[Kenichi:
* In ''[[One Piece]]'' a specific form of Haki can be used to predict an opponent's movements.
* The second ''[[Lupin III]]'' TV series will occasionally have Goemon's sword, Zantetsuken, acquire a "shadow of death", warning substantial danger lurks ahead for the gang.
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* Machi from [[Hunter X Hunter]] denies she has this, passing it off as intuition and trying to downplay it when put on the spot about her predictions. It would be much more convincing if her "intuition" was ever ''wrong.''
* This is a default, albeit low-key ability of any worthwhile martial artist in ''[[Lone Wolf and Cub]]''. Although not working as true precognition, it allows them to sense harmful intent in another person, no matter how well hidden by body language. Many times that is enough to warn of an imminent threat. Extremely skilled individuals however can thwart it by learning to mask their own Qi.
* In ''[[
* [[Action Girl|Lieutenant Alice Malvin]], of ''[[Pumpkin Scissors]]'', gets tingles on the back of her neck when something important is going to happen, whether good or bad. It's low-key, but it's never been wrong yet.
* [[Rurouni Kenshin]] is vague on whether or not ki actually exists, but all of the high level fighters can at least read body language, if not outright killing intent. In fact, the only battle Kenshin has significant trouble fighting against someone of a (slightly) lower skill level is Soujirou, whose combination of being a [[Stepford Smiler]] and super speed made him both difficult to read and difficult to react to.
== Comic Books ==
* Naturally, the ''[[
** [[Mundane Utility|It apparently also comes in useful when he's being bluffed in poker,]] to the point where Iron Fist recently mentions that other heroes have stopped inviting him to their games.
▲* Naturally, the ''[[Spider Man|Spider-Man]]'' comic books feature this all the time, and also have villains trying to find ways of stopping / evading it. Green Goblin will occasionally use a gas that deadens it, which is how he learned Peter's secret identity, while Venom's symbiote is immune to it due to the time it spent bonded with Peter. During the 'Back in Black' storyline, Sandman questions the wisdom of Spidey always talking out loud about his ace-in-the-hole sixth sense.
▲** [[Mundane Utility|It apparently also comes in useful when he's being bluffed in poker,]] to the point where Iron Fist recently mentions that other heroes have stopped inviting him to their games.
** One of its most important uses in the early days was the ability to detect, essentially, if it was safe to take his mask off or not. It's the reason why his secret identity became one of the best kept secrets of the [[Marvel Universe]]. In general, it's also very sensitive, to the point that it'll gently guide him out of the way of any other pedestrians he might accidentally crash into. In that sense, he could essentially bury his nose in a book while walking with no fears or worries of collision.
* Mayday Parker, [[
* There's a mutant called Ricochet who has a similar set of powers to Spider-Man, including a "Danger Sense" which is functionally identical to the
* The ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' had to deal with Destiny, a mutant [[Blind Seer]] who can foretell the future.
** Psylocke can do this from time to time as well. That's not some [[Ass Pull]] like her powers tend to be, she's had this ability since day one but it only happens when she or someone close to her is in mortal danger.
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* When [[Grant Morrison]] was writing the ''X-Men'', he created a [[Goth]] mutant girl who was living in Genosha and dreamed about {{spoiler|its destruction}}. If she was only smart enough to tell someone about this ''earlier'', not five seconds before the first strike...
* Parodied in ''Sam & Twitch'' by Sam.
{{quote|
''Sam:'' "Yeah, me too. My spider-sense's tingling." }}
* Also parodied by [[Deadpool]].
{{quote|
* In ''[[Bone]]'', Grandma Ben had her "gitchy feeling" that served as a portent that something ''really'' bad was going to happen.
* Rose Wilson aka Ravager, a former member of the [[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans]] and Deathstroke's daughter, has the power of minor precognition that lets her predict a person's actions a few seconds before they happen. She is able to match Cassandra Cain in hand-to-hand combat since this power helps her to counter Cassandra's ability to read a person's body language to predict movements. The new Clock King is crazy about Rose because her natural abilities can counter ''his'' near identical powers.
* ''[[The Flash]]'' villain Brother Grim can sense the Speed Force, allowing him to anticipate and hit or block Flash no matter how fast he attacks. To bypass this, Flash has to fight him at normal speed.
== Fan
* Douglas Sangnoir of ''[[Drunkard's Walk]]'' possesses a rudimentary "danger sense". He claims that everyone in the Warriors (the superhero team of which he is a part in his home timeline) develops a "danger sense" sooner or later, and notes that scientists call it "class 1 post-natal acquired precognition". This is a translation of a ''[[Villains and Vigilantes]]'' game mechanic (he was originally from a roleplaying campaign) which gives a danger sense to ''all'' characters, with its effectiveness determined by the character's Intelligence score.
== Film ==
* The 2002 ''[[Spider-Man (
** There are still visual cues in the sequels, like when Peter senses the tram he's on is soon going to run out of track in Spiderman 2.
** More subtle cues can be seen in Spiderman 3. Peter face becomes visibly shocked a split second before {{spoiler|Harry tackles him off his scooter}}.
*** Later, when Peter and Harry are fighting at Harry's pad, a strange whistling sound can be heard whenever Harry's arm-mounted blades gets in close range of Peter. At first the noise seems to be caused by wind resistance, since Harry is swinging the blades around, but the noise lingers while Harry attempts to push the blades into Peters face, hence it's the spider sense.
** In ''[[Avengers: Infinity War]]'', Peter's spider sense is visualized as all the hairs on his arm standing up when a spacecraft appears over Manhattan. Judging by his reaction to this, it may be the first time he's had his spider sense go off outside of combat (and outside of his costume), and he's never seen that part of it.
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' had this as a featured power of the title character, but it was modified for the television series (see below.)
* In the ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' episode ''[[Puma Man]]'', the main character of the film "get[s] this way when [he] sense[s] danger." Tom Servo mocks him: "A Post-It note senses danger better than this guy!"
* Earl has it on ''[[Cloudy
{{quote|
* ''[[The Incredibles
== Literature ==
* [[Robert Heinlein]]'s novel ''[[The Number of the Beast]]''. Zebadiah Carter has a danger sense that alerts him to trouble just before it occurs, allowing him just enough time to react to it.
* The [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] novel ''Death Star'' had Nova Stihl and 'blinking', a spider-sense of his own that allowed him to excel as a martial artist and stormtrooper. {{spoiler|But it's actually the Force.}}
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** This is noted later as a trait of Tavi's father's bloodline. Those close to Tavi's father eventually made it a habit to write down anything unusual he said because there was a legitimate chance it would end up being prophetic eventually, if not always right away.
* [[The Dresden Files|Harry Dresden]] and other wizards sense the build up of magic to figure out when something bad is about to happen.
* Because she was "shadow-kissed" (brought back from the dead by a spirit-using Moroi vampire), Rose of the [[Vampire Academy]] series has the ability to sense when Strigoi (murderous, soulless undead vampires) are nearby. [[Blessed
* In ''[[The
* [[Dexter]]'s Dark Passenger acts like this, or at least gives him impulses.
* Vimes displays a few moments in [[
* In the ''[[Ciaphas Cain]]'' novels, Cain always feels a strange tingling in the palms of his hands just before whatever harmless adventure he is on turns out to be pure unadulterated nightmare fuel. The tingling is usually just in time to let him anticipate the first strike, but never in time for him to avoid the situation altogether.
== Live
* The live TV version of ''[[Spider
▲* The live TV version of ''[[Spider Man]]'' redefined the [[Spider Sense]] completely. Instead of just the sense that something bad was about to happen, Peter would get the full-on Phoebe Halliwell/Cordy Chase flash (only conventionally shot with a red filter). This would be accompanied by a shot of Parker (played by Nicholas Hammond) standing still while his eyes flashed.
* Curiously, while this was the ''only'' superpower she possessed in the film, the titular character of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' did not possess this ability in the TV series. One early episode played with it and featured Giles chastising Buffy about her lack of the intuition and the fact that she instead (correctly) deduces vampires based on their outdated wardrobe.
** Although, it did carry over her premonition dreams, which was more of [[A Storm Is Coming]] type of thing. It featured prominently in the movie and the first season, then continued to feature, if not heavily then recurrently throughout the whole series. To name but a few examples, she mind links with Faith and has prophetic dreams while Faith is in a coma, She has a prophetic dream of the Gentlemen in ''Hush'' which actually helps her defeat them, and she sees the army of the First Evil's [[Our Vampires Are Different|Uber Vamps]].
** Strangely Faith did claim she'd know if there was a vampire anywhere near, so maybe Buffy just never bothered to practice it, relying instead on...fashion sense. Given how many times she's been surprised by vampires, she probably could have worked on developing her magical senses a bit more.
*** Whether Buffy possessed it or not, she was not above joking about it. In the episode "I Robot, You Jane", she even called the trope by name:
{{quote|
'''Giles''': Your spider sense?
'''Buffy''': Pop culture reference... sorry. }}
** There ''are'' indications that she has some ability, including "Family" when Buffy senses the presence of invisible demons who are creeping up on her.
** And on ''[[Angel]]'', Doyle, and later Cordelia, got precognitive visions from [[The Powers That Be]] about demonic events of note in the L.A. area.
* Phoebe Figalilly in ''[[Nanny and
* According to ''[[
** During the [[Tom Baker]] era, the Doctor made a similar claim when he realized the Master's plan in "The Deadly Assassin":
{{quote|
** In "The Five Doctors," K-9 senses danger. Just ... danger. And the Doctor is involved.
* The British series ''[[No Heroics]]'' has a hero named Timebomb who can see sixty seconds into the future. "Oh, you might want to watch out for the anti-tank missile." "What anti-tank missile?" * BOOM*
* The Immortals in ''[[Highlander (TV series)|Highlander]]'' could sense each other's presence, usually leading to their finding a private place to try and lop each others' heads off.
** Occasionally played with by giving unique proximity-sense visualizations or sound effects to specific immortals, hinting that perhaps with extra skill or perceptiveness, it might be possible to tell exactly who the Immortal that set it off was before seeing them. Or it could have just been for the audience's benefit.
* On ''[[Warehouse 13]]'', Pete has 'vibes', gut feelings that usually are correct, and judging by the setting it's implied that he is a latent psychic.
** While usually correct, they don't do him much good since he can't tell when the thing is going to happen. {{spoiler|All through the season finale he was getting senses that Arty was going to die, but it didn't actually happen until the end.}}
* In ''[[Tower Prep]]'' this appears to be Ian's power, which he calls preflex.
* In an episode of ''[[Yes, Dear]]'', Jimmy states that he feels a chill when, unbeknown to him, his wife realizes he had given advice she doesn't approve of to their eldest son. When his in-laws claim they feel nothing after he asks them, he thinks that he got nervous for nothing... until his wife walks in a second later to confront him.
* In ''[[Power Rangers Wild Force]]'', with the help of the wind, [[Sixth Ranger|Merrick]] is able to sense the presence of nearby Orgs. This proves especially useful while fighting Onikage, who tries to hide from sight during some attacks.
* ''[[Kamen Rider Ryuki]]'' and ''[[Kamen Rider Dragon Knight|Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight]]'' had the titular character and his fellow Riders be able to sense when something had come through the mirrors to Earth from Ventara. This was displayed by the use of an odd keening noise that only those with Advent Decks or who had been in contact with a deck or abducted by the Mirror Monsters could hear.
* In ''[[MacGyver]]'', Frank Colton's eye twitches when something isn't right about a situation.
* River Tam from ''[[Firefly (TV series)|Firefly]]'' might possess such an ability, as in "Out Of Gas,"she predicts an explosion on Serenity several seconds before it happens. However, the show ended up being cancelled before this was explored in detail.
* On ''[[M*A*S*H (television)|M*A*S*H]]'', Radar could sense incoming choppers full of wounded before anyone else could see or hear them.
== Myths ==
* Yagy Munenori, also known as Tajima no Kami, was a samurai renowned both for swordsmanship and (later) for philosophy. He made a reputation of a man seeing the trouble coming. One story about him tells how he once sensed "incoming danger" but failed to see any. It turned out that his assistant merely looked at him and ''mused about whether it would be possible'' to attack him from behind.
== Tabletop Games ==
* The Hair Trigger Neck Hairs gun shtick from ''[[
* Several [[Superhero]] [[Tabletop RPG|role-playing games]] have Danger Sense as an allowable power.
** In the ''[[Champions]]'' system, "Danger Sense" is marked with a stop sign, indicating it's a potential [[Story
** ''[[Villains and Vigilantes]]'' (as noted in a ''Fan Works'' example above) gives ''every'' character a Danger Sense; its effectiveness is directly linked to the character's Intelligence score, and for normals it might as well not be there.<ref>This editor was in a campaign with a character who, thanks to various multipliers and bonuses, had a Danger Sense ''so'' high that she would, it was joked, look up from lunch and declare, "We're going to be attacked. Tuesday after next, just past three. From the northwest." Then go back to eating.</ref>
* In the ''[[
* In ''[[Dungeons
* An example in the ''[[Amber Diceless]]'' system of the Warfare skill is an invisible Player Character trying to attack Benedict (the Universe's greatest warrior) from behind and still being blocked, merely because Benedict's skill told him that it was an ideal time for an invisible attacker to attack him from behind.
== Video Games ==
* In ''[[Tsukihime]]'', the protagonist Tohno Shiki has a sixth sense that tells him when he's about to be killed. According to one character, his danger sense is so good that it borders on precognition. Depending on the level of threat, his body may automatically react to it by moving in a way to avoid that death as much as humanly possible, whether or not he actually recognizes the danger.
* In ''[[Zork: Grand Inquisitor]]'', your lantern gives you advice about danger, and your Elvish Sword [[The Lord of the Rings|glows blue]] when you're near something dangerous.
{{quote|
* In ''[[Metroid Prime]]'', the HUD has a small bar which warns the player of the presence and distance of environmental hazards (lava, poisonous gas/water, etc), as well as beeping if you get a bit too close.
* Psycho Mantis, a powerful psychic/mind reader from ''[[Metal Gear]]'' and ''[[The Last Days of Foxhound]]'', used his mind reading abilities to tell what his opponents were going to do next, up to and including dodging bullets.
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* Grey Wardens in ''[[Dragon Age]]'' can sense the presence of nearby Darkspawn since they carry a weaker version of the Taint. Unfortunately, it goes both ways.
** Mages of the same series have the innate ability to sense disruptions in the Veil. With practice, they can learn to detect spirits, powerful spells, and even other mages if they're close enough.
* Larry Holland's ''[[Star Wars: X-Wing]]'' series (including ''[[TIE Fighter]]'') would actually encourage ''players'' to develop sense of [[The Force]], thanks to nimble fighters mounted with blasters and turbolasers significantly slower than bullets, one had to be able to predict how her target would jink to hit it.<ref>...or just get lucky.</ref>
* In Fire Emblem (Blazing Sword), Nils and Ninian can sense danger.
== Web Comics ==
* Played with and parodied in ''Spinnerette'' - Spinny's "spider sense" tends to produce flashes of the obvious. Room-mate Sahira states on several occasions that she doesn't believe in it at all.
* ''[[DMFA]]'' has a shout out to this trope, with [http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_222.php Mab sensing when Merliz is in danger].
** Then [http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_260.php subverts it]
* In ''[[
* In ''[[
== Web Original ==
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*** Of course, this may simply be that he's had a lot of experience dealing with a lot of very weird things, and has been in the job long enough to subconsciously recognize when something's not right.
* In the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'', there are too many characters who can sense dangerous situations before they happen, ranging from a quick adrenaline rush that warns them that they, personally, are about to be in trouble to vague clairvoyant flashes that tell them [[A Storm Is Coming]]. Second Sight, a precognitive hero, uses this ability to "read" the intentions of those she is fighting, and thus is often able to counter their maneuvers before they make them. Agniputra, on the other hand, has senses that are so heightened her "danger sense" is less her actually sensing danger and more her simply being able to react to it faster than anyone else.
* Utterly averted by second Prince Gideon of the Soleil Empire in the [[Reincarnation Fantasy]] Isekai web novel ''[[Tori Transmigrated]]'' by "Aila Aurie". He is so blind to potential personal danger that he actually walked willingly into the villain's grasp, setting off the climax of the story. During the denouement, after his rescue, the title character berates him for being unable to perceive obvious jeopardy.
== Western Animation ==
* The '60s ''[[Spider-Man]]'' cartoon had his "spider senses tingling" accompanied (in the first episode)by animated red wavy lines around his head, but for the rest of the series, ol' Webhead
** The
** The '90s version had the air around his head suddenly flash his suit pattern, plus the screen went photo-negative.
*** Sometimes, even though he knew something painful was about to happen to him, he couldn't do anything about it because there were a few instances in which his Spider-Sense went off so strongly it ''caused him pain and slowed down his reaction time''.
** Spider-Sense in ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]'' is accompanied by smoky, wavy lines surrounding Peter's head.
*** Occasionally, especially while at school, the lines are omitted and the only clue to the spider-sense going off is a sudden look of surprise on Peter's face, followed by a nonchalant dodge of whatever random object Flash just threw at him.
* ''[[The Fairly
{{quote|
* This is also apparent in Hartman's other, [[Superhero]]-based show, ''[[Danny Phantom]]''. Whenever a ghost is near, a wisp of blue mist comes out of the main character's mouth, and he shivers. This is often called his "Ghost Sense." At one point he used it to borrow one of Spidey's most cherished lines:
{{quote|
* One episode of ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy
{{quote|
'''Mandy:''' Grim, you don't ''have'' Spidey Senses.
'''Grim:''' ...Now that complicates matters. }}
* Pinkie Pie's appropriately named Pinkie Sense from ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
** In the second season {{spoiler|she uses it for actual super-heroics, saving ponies from a collapsing building while using her sense to avoid the falling rubble.}}
== Real Life (Truth in Television) ==
* ''[http://www.skepdic.com/bluesens.html Blue Sense]'' is the term used within law-enforcement for the intuition, sometimes bordering on psychic awareness,
** There is also a ''Red Sense'' that some firefighters possess and may even develop<ref>though not necessarily called ''Red Sense'' within fire departments, nor related to [
▲* ''[http://www.skepdic.com/bluesens.html Blue Sense]'' is the term used within law-enforcement for the intuition, sometimes bordering on psychic awareness, that possessed by some officers and cultivated within police precincts and other law-enforcement and peacekeeping agencies. ''Blue Sense'' can detect the guilt (or intentions) of a suspect, the nature of bystanders, and even warn of impending hostility or danger.
▲** There is also a ''Red Sense'' that some firefighters possess and may even develop<ref>though not necessarily called ''Red Sense'' within fire departments, nor related to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Sense the movie].</ref> that guides them to fire-victims in unnavigable smoke-filled rooms, or warns them of impending explosions.
** It should be noted that these senses are notoriously difficult to monitor or quantize and as such are treated with skepticism by many. The amount of stories, legends, and attributed cases would seem to indicate that there ''is'' something there, but blue sense is more of a catch-all than the definitive case of this trope reflected in real life.
** These are likely to be the officer picking up on non-verbal cues from the people around him or her... when they aren't used as "justification" to attack a suspect who isn't attacking the officer.
* ''[
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Alliterative Trope Titles]]▼
[[Category:Sensory Tropes]]
[[Category:Stock Super Powers]]
▲[[Category:Spider Sense]]
▲[[Category:Trope]]
|