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This is a common problem for sequels of works that end with the protagonist unlocking their full power. Once they get [[Super Weight|too much power]] they win the [[Superpower Lottery]] and become [[Physical God|godlike]] or worse, ''[[God Mode Sue|Suelike]]''. On the other hand, a simple or limited power can lead to viewers [[Fridge Logic|asking]] "[[Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?|Why doesn't he just]] use his power of X to do Y and stop the bad guy/get the [[MacGuffin]]?". The second easiest way to tell if this trope is in effect is when the writer resorts to handing the protagonist the [[Idiot Ball]] and [[Forgot About His Powers]] to keep the character from using their powers in a straightforward way. The easiest way of all is when it turns out that the author has resorted to [[Amnesiac God|actual amnesia]] to keep the character from solving everything in five minutes.
In order to challenge the protagonist the writers will have to [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil|ramp up the villain's power]], [[How to Stop the Deus Ex Machina|find a way]] to otherwise [[Deus Exit Machina|remove or sideline]] them, [[De-Power]] them or at least [[Power Limiter|reduce it]] to more reasonable levels, [[Bag of Spilling|take away their weapons]], or give them a [[Drama-Preserving Handicap]] of some sort. Otherwise, the character will be [[Too Powerful to Live]]. On a bit of a tangent, there's a reason why this trope applies mostly to protagonists; we ''expect'' the [[Big Bad]] to have a nigh unbeatable edge and get beaten nonetheless, giving us a [[Underdogs Never Lose|typical underdog story]]. Though this isn't to say it's ''good'' for a villain to have a
The abilities most likely to be Story-Breaker Powers without careful use are:
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* Entering [[Bullet Time]], [[Time Master|manipulating time in general]] or even [[Time Stands Still|stopping it entirely]]
* [[Flying Brick]], at least at higher levels of power
* Any convenient way of bringing people [[Back
* [[Imagination-Based Superpower]]
* Mass [[Mind Control]]
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== Anime and Manga ==
* Fans often describe Yuki from ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'' as the strongest character ever made. Although this is probably an exaggeration, she does demonstrate [[Nigh Invulnerability]], [[Super Strength]], [[Super Speed]], and [[Reality Warper]] powers. Her crowning achievement would be {{spoiler|''hijacking Haruhi's full power'' to retroactively depower everyone and rewrite the universe to her liking}}. Her job is only to observe, however, so her overt actions are limited..
* Giorno Giovanna of ''[[
** Fugo was actually [[Put on a Bus]] for this very reason. His Stand Purple Haze produced a toxin that destroyed every living organism that came in contact with it. Araki eventually decided to bench him because it became too difficult to design fights with Fugo around.
*** It is not that Purple Haze was actually ''overpowered'' by the standard of this story. The entirety of Part 4, except the final fight, was built around the assumption that the protagonists could kick anyone's ass in close combat (Jotaro even {{spoiler|retained his [[Time Stands Still]] power after the final battle of Part 3}}), and they still were severely challenged. The Purple Haze was just boring - either you were in range and you instantly died, or you weren't, and so it was never really useful for solving the situation.
* Alastor from ''[[Shakugan no Shana]]'' is the God of Judgment. Manifesting physically is his "I Win" card. In the novels (and movie), he plays this to incinerate the first villain. The anime saves this for the climax of the first season, in which {{spoiler|he blows up everything, sends the [[Big Bad
** Wasn't the reason given that since [[Physical God|Alastor]] consumes massive amounts of energy, something the [[Big Bad]] had just flooded the city with, he now had another source of it other than his Flame Haze's.
** The Snake of the Festival is the God of ''Creation'', and ''he'' seems to have no problems showing off: infinite power, immunity to flame, [[Prehensile Hair]], and a sword that {{spoiler|causes anyone who tries blocking it to sustain heavy injuries (Blutsager)}}. Plus the whole "Creator" bit.
* The ending of ''[[
* ''[[Lyrical Nanoha|Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' has been suffering from this in recent seasons. During the timeskip between the second and third seasons, the main characters (who were already [[Person of Mass Destruction|People of Mass Destruction]] to start with) became obscenely powerful and had to have their powers nerfed in the third season by the use of [[Power Limiter
** One cannot forget the new protagonist of Force, Tohma. He starts out rather basic, for this series anyway, but then {{spoiler|he becomes fully infected and is turned into a [[Divide by Zero|Zero Divider]], [[Cursed with Awesome|a person who can cause everyone around him to fall unconscious and possibly die, doing so completely subconsciously.]].}}
* Accelerator of ''[[
** Accelerator actually can't count anymore. His ability can be countered as shown by Amata Kihara. His power can even by disconnected and taken away from him. There are also a lot of characters stronger then him currently. His awakening could still count but that's another story.
** There's a list of at least a dozen characters, if not more, in the Toaru-'verse who are explicitly so broken no one can touch them except maybe a few other people on the broken list. There's a character who can make you fall into a coma if you ever think even the slightest negative or confrontational thing about her anywhere in the universe that's undefendable except with a [[Power Nullifier]] or [[Anti-Magic]]. There's a guy who's powerset includes the ability to be +1 in power to whoever he's fighting, can hit you with an instantaneous attack from anywhere that ignores everything but causality and destroys whatever it hits, and defends the same way PASSIVELY. Or the guy who can completely negate and make useless anything he thinks of "as a weapon". To be perfectly blunt, it's an entire UNIVERSE filled with cheating, insufferable assholes, who are all powermad, crazy, genocidal, [[A God Am I]]-types. This is done simply because the author needed people who only the somewhat doofy, nearly powerless main character could beat, catered to his own ability.
* Given that he's literally referred to as a "real-life broken video game character" in canon, Jack Rakan of ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' obviously counts. [[Charles Atlas Superpower|Through skill alone]] he tosses around skyscraper-sized swords with ease, copies physics-defying sword techniques with a glance, and destroys pocket dimensions by ''flexing'', explicitly defying the laws of magic with [[Boisterous Bruiser|sheer]] [[Crazy Awesome|awesomeness]].
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** Applies to the [[Big Bad]] of the story, Sosuke Aizen as well, whose special ability is complete control over the senses of other people, to the point were they cannot escape his illusions even if they know something's wrong. On top of that, the sheer magnitude of his spiritual pressure serves to make him extremely formidable even without using it. It works on anyone who has seen his sword's release, which is ''everyone'' of considerable power in Soul Society, and as a result it's impossible for any of them to beat him and why [[The Hero|Ichigo]] was effectively the only one who stood a chance. {{spoiler|By the time Aizen actually fights Ichigo, [[Idiot Ball|he doesn't even]] [[Forgot About His Powers|use his powers]] anyways, because both of them have several other story-breaker powers.}}
** Yamamoto, with just his primary release, could be able to {{spoiler|kill every single arrancar, shinigami, and vizard present, plus Aizen.}} Inevitably this leads to {{spoiler|his sword getting sealed eventually resulting in his defeat, though even then he just casually goes about beating up the arrancar who sealed his power with his bare hands. Reminder: this particular arrancar was able to not only fight evenly with the likes of Urahara with his abilities sealed, but also overpower Ukitake, one of the other cemented badasses of the series (albeit by surprise)}}.
** And then there's Orihime, whose power basically boils down to "[[Reality Warper|Fuck Reality]]" {{spoiler|since she is able to undo anything from lost limbs to death itself. Which virtually makes fights of any kind (note that there is one thing essential in Bleach: fights) pointless. No matter what happens, Orihime can fix it up anyway.}} Kubo hasn't let her participate in the plot since revealing that, because it would ''destroy any conflict whatsoever.'' Aizen himself called her power ''the''
** Ichigo himself after {{spoiler|his training in Dangai. He was strong enough to easily beat Aizen when Aizen was in his upgraded form thanks to the Hogyoku. No wonder he had to lose his powers or else every other conflict in the story would be Ichigo curbstomping his opponent. It still wasn't enough to kill Aizen who currently has a [[Nigh Invulnerability]] status.}}
* The ''[[Digimon]]'' franchise:
** [[Digimon Adventure|Angemon, and later HolyAngemon]], both seem to be on par with Digimon one level above their own. To recap: Patamon first evolved to Angemon in order to defeat Devimon (the first [[Big Bad]]), then didn't reach Adult-level again until halfway through the Vamdemon saga. When all of the Digimon evolved to their highest-level forms in order to face Vamdemon (Perfect for all 7 others), it was Angemon's attack that destroyed Phantomon, one of Vamdemon's most powerful subordinates at the Perfect level, and his attack had a debilitating effect on Vamdemon himself whereas no-one else could touch him until Angewomon came along. Angemon finally gets to evolve to Perfect just before the end of the show, and does the majority of the work in defeating Piemon, an Ultimate-level digimon that had already beaten the combined might of WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon ''twice''.
** Specifically, HolyAngemon defeated Piemon with the ludicrously broken skill of ''opening a gate to a land of divine punishment, dragging him in and shutting the entrance''. Admittedly, this does suggest that Piemon was himself a story-breaker as he was too powerful to conventionally defeat and could only be stopped by way of an equally broken Digimon.
** It's worth noting that Angemon is supposed to be particularly powerful against thematically evil digimon (such as demons, ghosts, the undead, and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|clowns]]), which makes sense given that he is an angelic Digimon. On the occasions where he fights Digimon who don't fit this criteria, he's no better than the other Adult Digimon.
** In a more extreme version of this trope, in ''[[Digimon V-Tamer 01]]'', Arkadimon is pretty much the most powerful Digimon period. For one thing, it can one-shot a Ultimate-level digimon ''as a freshly-hatched baby.'' Not just any Ultimate, but the above-mentioned Piemon.
** Another example would be the protagonist's very own partner, Zero. Not only does he boast enough raw strength and speed that he can match opponents a level above him (which is [[Drama-Preserving Handicap|all he seems to fight]]), but when he reaches his Ultimate stage, he unlocks the Ulforce, a [[Healing Factor]] so strong that he can recover from [[One Hit KO|instant death attacks!]] Even [[Big Bad|Daemon]] had to negate it before he started whooping ass.
** Taiki Kudo and Shoutmon serve as an in-story example in ''[[Digimon Xros Wars:
*** From the [[Digimon Xros Wars|previous series before the one above]], has Shoutmon X7 Superior Mode. Thought Arkadimon and Zero were powerful? Shoutmon probably [[Up to Eleven|surpasses all the other digimon examples here.]] How? {{[spoiler| He digixrosses with Thousands, if not, ''millions'', of digimon that appeared in the entire digital world, and one shots the big bad with it in one slash.}} Consequently, it has NEVER appeared again since.
* Claire Stanfield from ''[[Baccano!]]'' has a story-breaking [[Charles Atlas Superpower]] - despite being ostensibly a [[Badass Normal|normal human]], he's strong enough to take on anyone in the series (and a few in other series), including the resident demon/[[Eldritch Abomination]] and a ''vampire''. In fact, the author has said that he purposely didn't give Claire his own plotline because there's no one in the series who could possibly challenge him, which generally doesn't make for the most interesting story.
* ''[[One Piece]]'' loves introducing each and every character as though they were the single most powerful being on the planet... and some are:
** Whitebeard {{spoiler|can cause tsunamis with his Earthquake causing devil fruit.}} No wonder he's been in the background so much.
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* ''[[Tenchi Muyo!|Tenchi Muyo Ryo-Ohki]]:'' {{spoiler|Tenchi and Z, whose introduced later, possess powers from something that's even more powerful than ''the Goddesses that made the universe''. Some feats that are probably the bottom of the list of what they can do: Z destroyed half of the Earth and Moon in an instant (literally; the mantle and core of the Earth was visible afterwords) without exerting any visible effort, Tenchi traveled to Saturn from Earth within an instant (a physical impossibility as light is nowhere that fast), Tenchi stopped an ''anti-planet'' weapon single-handedly and Tenchi's powers going out of control as he began becoming the entity that created said goddesses caused a dimensional quake crossing all 11 dimensions and into the realm of the goddesses. Oh, and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|they can breathe and talk in space with no trouble]].}}
** Even ''before'' the feats of the 3rd OVA, the 2nd has Tenchi effortlessly not only escaping from inside the event horizon of a black hole, he did this not by moving faster than light or teleportation, but by ''sheer brute force'', as he ''destroyed the black hole in the process''.
* In ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]'' where [[Time Travel]] is as easy as getting yourself shot by a bazooka, the newest [[Big Bad]] Byakuran's ability to {{spoiler|sync with all his selves in different [[Alternate Universe
** Recently, a potential weakpoint of his has been revealed: none of his alternate selves encountered the Vongola Boxes, leaving him unaware of their powers, and killing him in one timeline kills him in all of them since he is synchronized with all of his alternate versions.
* Shinigami in ''[[Soul Eater]]''. He started Shibusen to have humans fight kishin because he could not. If he had been freed from Death City when Asura was, the main cast would have had nothing to do for the last forty-odd chapters. As it is, he's kept effectively useless (combat-wise at the very least) [[Barrier Maiden|within]] Death City while the students and his beleaguered staff do the dirty work for him. Aside from the one fight when Asura was inside the city, all we get is tantalising hints via flashbacks and his son, of what this grim reaper's capable of.
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** {{spoiler|Itachi's version of Susano'o.}} Much like Giorno's power it can deflect ''any'' attack and permanently seal anyone with a single one of its own, with the only theoretical drawback being how physically taxing it is to use. {{spoiler|Now that he's a zombie, with complete control over his own body and limitless stamina, [[God Mode Sue|this is no longer a problem.]]}}
** {{spoiler|Shisui's eye}} could [[Mind Control]] apparently anyone without them even knowing about it (although other people know when it's in use), albeit with a limit to how often, which was only used one or two times before being destroyed.
** Edo Tensei brings back the dead, even the incredibly powerful,<ref>Specifically {{spoiler|anyone whose soul is in the normal afterlife and whose DNA the user can find.}}</ref>
** And then there's {{spoiler|the real Madara, who as an Edo Tensei zombie, cannot be killed, on top of Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, has the Rinnegan which he uses to [[Energy Absorption|absorb all chakra based attacks]], [[Green Thumb|Mokuton]] which includes the ability to make indistinguishable clones that have all his powers and even regenerate like he does, and can [[Colony Drop|summon giant fucking meteors]].}}
** {{spoiler|Tobi's Six Paths appeared to be this, since they were the Edo Tensei zombies of the dead Jinchuriki that had their tailed beasts resealed in them and a Sharingan, Rinnegan combo to let Tobi combine their attacks and predict any attempts made to attack them, it was subverted when Killer Bee and Naruto managed to kick their asses with a bit of help from Kakashi and Guy.}}
*** All of these characters are outclassed by the Sage of the Six Paths. The original Ninja who created Ninjustu and Chakra, and whom hundreds of years ago saved the world by defeating the original 10-tailed beast and then sealed the beast inside his own body. His powers were vastly extensive, as the original owner of the Rinnegan he had all the powers associated with the Senju and the Uchiha and had full mastery of all those powers, things like warping realities and dropping meteors that would dwarf the size of the ones Pain and Madara made were easy feats for him. Notably on his '''death bed''' the Sage was still so powerful that he was able to accomplish the incredible feat of splitting the 10-tails' power into 9 separate beasts and to create the '''Earth's moon''' as a prison for the demon's dead body so no one could ever reach it and revive it. There is a reason why everyone is seeking the Sage's powers, if they had his power then no one could defeat them.
* Ryougi Shiki from [[
** Fortunately for the sake of the plot, {{spoiler|said personality [[All Powerful Bystander|doesn't really care about anything]] most of the time.}}
* [[Doraemon]] from Doraemon has a whole lot of stuff in his pocket. Until know there has been a count of 500+ different gadgets. Seems like Doraemon and Nobita are already used to have the idiotball with them so that they won't remember the wrong gadget at the wrong time (plotwise).
* In [[Yu Yu Hakusho]] Raizen is stated to have once been the most powerful demon in the entire series. His power was so great that the other Two Kings of Demon World could be easily defeated if he was currently in his prime. What is preventing Raizen from using this power? He's starving. Raizen's power comes from eating human flesh and he gave up the practice hundreds of years ago. Notably on his '''death bed''' Raizen still has S class demon power on par with Yusuke's current powers who as far as S class demons are concerned is a runt in the litter.
** For perspective Kurama talks about how there are some demons that are so powerful that even the S Class ranking (the highest level of demon) doesn't properly describe their power level, these kind of demons are more accurately described as gods rather than demons. Raizen is said by everyone who knew him in his prime as the most powerful demon that had ever lived and that his power was so great that his enemies would "piss their pants" if they saw him in action. Definitely counts as story breaking power.
* In ''[[Dragon Ball]]'' [[Awesome By Analysis|Tienshinhan]] and [[Badass Grandpa|Master Roshi]] have the ability to [[Sealed Evil in a Can|seal anyone with
** Actually, Piccolo Jr. went on to reverse Kami's attempt to do this and [[Sealed Good in a Can|seal
*** Several characters have the ability to use [[Blinded by the Light|Solar Flare]] and [[Deadly Disc|Destructo Disc]], but they never think to use them together. However, after Frieza, it doesn't work because the main villains can [[From a Single Cell|regenerate]].
** The devil Akkuman emits waves that amplify every evil or impure thought, causing even saintly people to ''explode from within''. He was defeated only because Goku has [[Incorruptible Pure Pureness|a totally pure heart]] and could not be affected. Unsurprisingly, he never appeared again after the story arc featuring him.
** As seen in the movies and video games, apparently Goku can absorb the energy of the spirit bomb to supplement his own strength. Though it might be [[Boring but Practical|more practical to throw it]] instead.
* ''[[Inuyasha]]'': Bakusaiga. It was introduced towards the end of the story just before the [[Final Battle]]. It was immediately lampshaded that the [[Big Bad]] didn't stand a chance against it, since it's capable of killing anything that merely comes into contact with anything it's cut and it can kill ''thousands'' with a single swing. As a result, the [[Big Bad]] immediately steals the sword owner's [[Morality Pet]] and traps her inside his body for most of the rest of the story. Characters even point out that this was done solely to prevent Bakusaiga from being used. When Sesshoumaru does finally rescue Rin and use the sword, Naraku's body is instantly destroyed, leaving the only threat left to be solved by Kagome making a wish.
* In a world where everybody is pretty darn broken, in ''[[High School DxD]]'' we have Ophis, a dragon who is also known as [[Red Baron|The Infinite One]]. First off, she's fully capable of wiping out ''anybody'' in this series, and ''[[
* Sebastian Michaelis from ''[[Black Butler]]'' is a [[Genius Bruiser]] with [[Nigh Invulnerability]] who can also use [[Magic and Powers|magic]]. The true extent of his powers is unknown. For example, we don't know if he can [[Teleportation|teleport]] or if [[Super Speed|he's just that fast]], possibly with the aid of [[Time Stands Still|stopping time]] entirely. However it is, we can determine from other evidence that he does have some sort of [[Time Master|time powers]] among his many abilities. He solves numerous seemingly impossible problems with ease. Though, especially later on, the plot does provide him with some challenges, such as opponents who can fight on his level. The true factor that prevents him from solving everything is that he's acting as a tool for [[The Chessmaster|Ciel]], who wants his success to be because of his own efforts, as it won't be valuable otherwise. He doesn't know much more about Sebastian's abilities than we do, so Ciel isn't using Sebastian to his full effectiveness.
== Comic Books ==
* [[Superman]]. Not every writer can make his battles interesting, as he shrugs off pretty much ''anything'' not [[Kryptonite Factor|Kryptonite]] as easily as [[Shooting Superman|those idiot grunts whose bullets he probably doesn't even notice]]. Making something other than Kryptonite, Darkseid, or Doomsday challenge him without [[Nerfing]] Supes severely (see the early seasons of ''[[Justice League (animation)|Justice League]]'') is not a task just any writer can accomplish.
** One fight with the Weaponsmaster had a twist on the situation. Superman was ill and told the bad guys that now he cannot judge the force of his blows, thus they risk death by punching. Yes, making Superman sick just makes him more dangerous.
* One of the classic comic book examples is [[The Flash]], or really any [[Super Speed|super-speedster]]. There's no reason the Flash shouldn't see the villain and have him tied up and in prison before the villain has a chance to react. Instead super-speedsters get treated like normal people with a few arbitrarily chosen speed based abilities.
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** The Flash's game breaking abilities were explored in ''[[Kingdom Come]]'' and ''JLA One Million''. In the former he is made of pure speed and is able to see the narrator in [[Another Dimension]]. In the latter a future Flash is the sole police force on the entire (heavily populated) planet [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Mercury]].
*** Although in ''Kingdom Come'' The Flash can no longer talk with anyone except Superman, because he's too fast (only Superman's supersenses can hear him). In fact, he's so fast he's constantly blurry, even when standing still. The Spectre mentions that Flash is forever alone, unseen by most people in the city he guards "though all feel his presence".
*** Lampshaded a bit in the New 52 where Barry Allen is informed how fast he can process sensory input is the biggest bottleneck to his powers. At one point he gets shot due to over-thinking, and reverts to just processing the super-speed environment on a somewhat instinctual level.
* This is why the [[Martian Manhunter]] rarely gets used to his full potential, both in the comics and on ''[[Justice League (animation)|Justice League]]''. He's [[Superman]] with [[Shapeshifting]], [[Telepathy]], [[Mind Control]], and [[Intangible Man|phasing]], amongst other powers. Okay, so he's [[Weaksauce Weakness|vulnerable to fire]], but he's been shown to get over that. With the above mentioned problems with Superman, they're even worse for J'onn. {{spoiler|Which might be one reason why they killed him off in ''[[Final Crisis]]''.}}
** Lampshaded in a recent ''[[Green Lantern]]'' issue: {{spoiler|When [[Blackest Night|Black Lantern]] J'onn is fighting Hal and Barry, he picks up the fire station they are in and throws it into another building, saying "I'm as powerful as Superman. Why does everyone ''forget'' that?" Indeed, by the end of the issue he's incapacitated them both.}}
* This has been done right at least once, in ''[[Watchmen]]''. Dr. Manhattan is a [[Physical God]] who wins the Vietnam War practically singlehandely and ''should'' easily dissect the problem in the comic and excise it... except [[The Chessmaster]] plays not against his powers but his post-empowering uncertainty to get him to leave the planet.
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** And as of ''[[Final Crisis]]'', Superman has one of these things. That he built himself, meaning he knows how to build them. What do you wanna bet he never uses it again?
** A minor character in the ''Legion'' comics is Duplicate Boy. Despite the name, he doesn't have the same power as [[Me's a Crowd|Duo Damsel]], instead he can duplicate anyone else's superpowers. He's not a story breaker only because he's not in the Legion (he's a hero on some other planet), and a bit of a lunkhead besides.
* Morpheus, the title character of ''[[The Sandman]]'', is more powerful than most gods and only cosmic level beings like Lucifer are a real threat to him. Even if he should die, a new aspect of Dream would arise in his place who may or may not be very happy with the fellow who slew his predecessor.
** Morpheus is an interesting case. As one of The Endless, he's almost omnipotent within his own domain (dreams). On the other hand, he is weighed down with the rules and duties of his office, which renders him more impotent than many of his own dream creations. He is only able to use his full power in directly protecting the Dreaming (which does not necessarily mean protecting himself), and only while in the heart of the dreaming. He is imprisoned by a human wizard, brought to near-death by Dr. Destiny, a witch at one point prevents him from crossing a ritual circle made of chalk and goat's blood, and in many other ways threatened or hindered during the course of the comic. In the end, {{spoiler|The Furies -- minor mythological creatures from Greek Mythology -- kill him because the act of spilling family blood has rendered him a lawful quarry for their wrath.}}
* [[The Spectre]] from DC Comics. The wrath of God personified. Each major DC crossover event includes the obligatory scene explaining just why he can't help out this time.
** He ''did'' actually help out in ''[[Crisis on Infinite Earths]]'' (where, with a bit of magical assistance, he fought the [[Big Bad]], who had already absorbed the titular Infinite Earths, to a standstill) and in ''[[Blackest Night]]'' (pity the [[Big Bad]] didn't have a soul).
* One of the longest-standing examples in [[Marvel Comics]] is Franklin Richards, son of Reed and Sue Richards of the ''[[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Fantastic Four]]''. A [[Reality Warper]] on a cosmic scale, he has been largely [[Comic Book Time|kept as a child for decades]] specifically because it has been demonstrated that his mature power levels would be so far off the scale that he would become virtually unusable as a character.
* His name is [[The Sentry]]. He may be [[The Grim Reaper|the Angel of Death]] (it's implied he was the one who caused [[The Bible|the Plagues of Egypt]]). He was used by [[Spider-Man|Norman Osborn]] on the Dark Avengers team ''because'' he has
* [[X-Men|Professor Charles Xavier]] is the most powerful psychic in the world. By rights, any problems the X-Men face should be dealt with at, literally, the speed of thought. As a result, most of the major plotlines the team faces start with either a [[Deus Exit Machina]] or a lecture on [[Mind Over Manners]]. That or some kind of suitable [[Poke in the Third Eye|anti-telepathy gadget]] has to be brought in to explain why he cannot do anything.
* ''[[Doctor Strange]]''. A long term editorial problem concerns just why Strange can't wave his hands and fix everything. Whenever the good doctor gets involved in any significant way in Marvel's other books, serious [[Nerf
* Loki, from ''[[The Mighty Thor]]'', when you think about it. He's only a [[Squishy Wizard]] by ''Asgardian'' standards (note: in Asgard, the kids are all as strong as Spider-man, for comparison). So, in addition to vast magical power (he is only listed as surpassed by Odin and perhaps Karnilla, another Thor character, so his exact magical abilites are unknown in comparison to someone like Dr. Strange or the [[Scarlet Witch]]), Loki is also super strong, super durable, experienced in combat, a genius (though this aspect is limited by his [[Inferiority Superiority Complex]], [[Unfavorite]]-ness, and need to defeat Thor no matter what), and is so much of [[Consummate Liar]] that he has tricked Mephisto (aka the devil), [[Norman Osborn]], [[Doctor Doom]], Odin, and the heroes of Earth several times over. At least some of these traits need nerfing to keep the story alive.
* [[Black Dude Dies First|Ambrose Chase]] from ''[[Planetary]]'' had concentration-based [[Reality Warper]] powers that allowed him to alter physics at will in a small radius around himself. Barring taking him completely by surprise (like a particular villain did by battling him in a universe that ran on [[Horror Tropes]] and using a bullet of [[Applied Phlebotinum]], hence the past tense), he was practically unkillable. {{spoiler|It turns out it didn't take; Chase used his power to freeze his own injury and trap himself in a pocket dimension until the others could extract and rescue him.}}
** The [[Big Bad]], Randall Dowling. His power allows him to [[Mind Virus|spread his own consciousness to minds around it]], basically screwing around with any parts of their memories at will, making people into [[Manchurian Agent
* In [[Irredeemable]] it turns out {{spoiler|the Plutonian}} is literally this personified and the people who know have (reasonably) decided that the knowledge of the full extent of power must at all costs be kept from them so to stop [[Go Mad
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* In ''[[With Strings Attached]]'', Ringo is able to [[My Significance Sense Is Tingling|mentally see]] anything he's ever seen before, and can work his way into unfamiliar places from a familiar starting point, including people and unique objects. And he can do it effortlessly and indefinitely. And he can see perfectly in the dark. And he can see things as small as atoms. And he never holds the [[Idiot Ball]]. The concept of “information is power” really applies with him. He is a plot ''destroyer''.
** And he's also [[Mind Over Matter|telekinetic]], with an enormous range. Thus, unless you magically hide yourself from him, he will ''fuck you up''—and the plot along with you. As Jeft discovered to his sorrow.
** Notably, {{spoiler|Brox}} figured out how dangerous Ringo could be, and arranged to have the entire [[Ghost City]] of Ehndris covered with a hiding spell that also caused Ringo great pain when he tried to look in there.
* ''[[Light and Dark - The Adventures of Dark Yagami|Light and Dark The Adventures of Dark Yagami]]'' introduces several virtually unlimited powers to the normally [[Magic A Is Magic A|heavily rule-bound]] ''[[Death Note]]'' universe, each one cancelling out the powers of another one:
** First, the Royal Death Note lets the user bypass the rule that they must know their target's face and full name. The whole plot of ''Death Note'' - Light's hunt for L's name - becomes pointless, since Dark can simply write "L" and kill him. Except...
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* Mach from [[Piers Anthony]]'s ''[[Apprentice Adept]]'' series gets access to the [[Great Big Book of Everything|Book of Magic]] in Book 5, and promptly becomes [[God Mode Sue|the most powerful Adept in history]], able to freely break [[Magic A Is Magic A|the rules of magic]] that had been previously established. He's kept in check by [[Honor Before Reason]]; while he could simply blast either side in the plot into ashes by raw power alone, the circumstances under which he became the Robot Adept left him honor-bound to [[Inevitable Tournament|play by the rules that both sides had agreed to]], essentially functioning as a [[Living MacGuffin]].
** The [[Super Weapon|Platinum Flute]] is an even bigger case. Just possessing the flute puts an Adept on par with Mach. In the hands of a master musician (like Stile or Clef), it can invoke magic powerful enough to destroy the planet.
* ''[[The Kingkiller Chronicle]]'' contain a [[Nested Story]] that depicts a hero known as Taborlin the Great. Why was he so great? He knew the true name of everything and could command it accordingly, for example, after being trapped in a tower, he told the stone to break, allowing him to command the wind to carry him to the ground.
* In the ''[[Liavek]]'' books, if you ask Elmutt a question, the answer he subconsciously prefers will come true. This doesn't seem impressive, until you get to questions like "What will become of me?" or "What could possibly go wrong?" He doesn't seem to be able to change the past, but he ''can'' radically alter people's physical conditions, kill people, more or less brainwash them, and on one occasion doomed a man to be killed by a particular person. Once the first story is over- when Elmutt knows how his powers work and has sorted out his issues- it's more or less impossible for a story involving him to have dramatic tension, unless the question is asked by someone who has no idea what they're really doing. He's only had two total appearances in the series- his origin, and an unnamed but plot-relevant cameo two books later.
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== Live-Action TV ==
* Samantha from ''[[Bewitched]]'' and Jeannie from ''[[I Dream of Jeannie]]''. Their powers were pretty much "do anything by wiggling your nose/bobbing your head". If it weren't for the [[Useless Superpowers|random nature]] of their powers and otherworldly relatives, Darren and Major Tony would lead completely idyllic and boring lives.
** That fits into a major theme both shows shared: the destructive nature of conformity. Here we have two talented individuals, clearly intelligent in their own fields, who could have anything they want, and they give it all up, repeatedly, from a slavish devotion to being just like everyone else (including conforming to the sexism and sexual prudishness of their era). A dangerous theme in the 1960s when they
** Another interpretation is that both shows were allegories for [[Stay in the Kitchen]] - a woman is happiest living a normal life with her man, and all that power she has just screws things up.
* A fifth season episode of ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' introduced a character with [[Reality Warper]] powers resulting from implausible circumstances (which also raised all sorts of questions), and who was obviously more powerful than any other character seen up to that point, even making the primary villain ''[[Satan]]'' seem like a joke by comparison. Having probably realized this, the writers quickly [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome|abandoned the character]] by writing him out at the end of his first appearance.
** The fifth and sixths season suffered from this in the form of the angel Castiel. Angels are among the most powerful beings in the ''Supernatural'' universe, even "grunt" angels like Castiel can effortlessly dispatch most demons and monsters, heal fatal wounds, and even resurrect the dead. While this was fine for [[Story Arc
* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' has Peter Petrelli, a perfect example of a character that's too powerful, as he can gain anyone's power ''simply by being near them''. Once he has Hiro's teleportation/time travel power, he can have any power that exists. If he wants Linderman's healing power? He can just go back to when Linderman was alive and get it. Et cetera. In season 2 it was necessary to give him amnesia to overcome this, and in season 3 he actually lost his powers for a handful of episodes. Of course, the fact that he has the [[Idiot Ball]] glued to his hands also serves the plot pretty well.
** Hiro himself is an example of a power that's so powerful the show has to have him constantly not use it like he should. In fact, both Hiro and Peter are fond of [[Deus Exit Machina]] to cover the times their respective [[Idiot Ball]] isn't big enough.
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** Also worth noting on ''Smallville'' is that [[Kryptonite Is Everywhere]], and almost everyone worth fighting has it, sometimes in their very bodies where it can't be conveniently knocked away; thus vastly-powerful-and-constantly-increasing Clark can often be overpowered by relatively wimpy foes.
* Parodied in ''[[That Mitchell and Webb Look]]'', where Angel Summoner and the BMX Bandit form a mismatched duo. Angel Summoner can summon angels, which can accomplish essentially anything; BMX Bandit has... BMX skills, making him feel like a permanent third wheel. On one mission Angel Summoner allows BMX Bandit to fight alone, while secretly summoning invisible angels to help him.
* In ''[[Angel]]'', Illyria started out as very much one of these. That list of powers likely to be story-breakers? She was pretty much all of the above. She specifically dismisses the [[Big Bad
** Earlier in season one, Angel manages to acquire the Gem of Amarra, a mystical ring described as the equivalent to the Holy Grail for vampires, from Spike in a [[Crossover]] episode from [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]. This artifact would grant the vampire wearer increased abilities and complete invulnerability to all their usual weaknesses, as demonstrated by [[Torture Technician|Marcus]] earlier when he shrugs off a bow-to-the-heart from Oz and the ability to walk in direct sunlight without erupting in flames. At the end of the episode Angel, who had remained doubtful about keeping the ring or not, decided to destroy it, understanding that if he kept the ring he would be in danger of forgetting about his mission; while the Gem would allow Angel to help people in daylight, they already had help from the rest of the world, and it was his duty to protect those in the dark who could not ask for help themselves, but in reality there was no good reason to get rid of it besides allowing it to make the show and Angel's fights [[Immortal Hero|a lot less suspenseful]].
* Averted/played with in the fifth season of ''[[Babylon 5]]:'' Although [[Touched by Vorlons|Lyta]] can mind-control several dozens of people at the same time, there is ''one'' person she can ''not'' control. {{spoiler|It's Sheridan, who was also [[Touched by Vorlons]].}}
* [[Kamen Rider Kuuga]]'s [[Super Mode|Ultimate Form]], which despite being a potentially [[Deadly Upgrade]], is also debatably one of '''the''' most powerful Kamen Riders. To wit, one of his previous [[Finishing Move
* While we're on the subject of Kamen Rider, we have [[Kamen Rider Decade|Decade]]. [[Big Bad]] monsters from previous series iterations? [[Curb Stomp Battle|Taken care of in no time flat.]] Still in a tight spot? Turn on your [[Super Mode]] and [[Summon Magic|summon a previous rider clone for a synchronized double attack.]] Baddie still not finished yet? [[Body Horror|Turn that ally into a useful weapon or vehicle]] to blow him away. Going up against giants and spaceships? [[Serial Escalation|Merge with J and turn everyone else into a card to kick them all to death.]] Just another day for a [[Catch Phrase|passing-through Kamen Rider.]]
* [[Kamen Rider Kabuto]]'s [[Up to Eleven|Hyper]] [[Super Speed|Clock Up]] allows him to move faster than light, and travel through time and alternate dimensions. On top of Kabuto being [[The Ace]]. However, [[Power Incontinence|he does not appear to have full control over its more powerful functions]], it will sometimes send him to random places of its own accord, his most powerful attack cannot be used while it is active, and some of his enemies have [[Time Stands Still|powers which can counter it]].
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== Newspaper Comics ==
* One of the things that contributed to ''[[Dick Tracy]]'' 1960s [[Dork Age]] was the introduction of the "Space Coupe" and all its accompanying crime tracking and weaponry. Once you give the heroes a device that can go anywhere and track any kind of crime, the villains don't really have a chance. This led to the plot "Villains Try To Steal The Space Coupe" repeated ''ad nauseum'' for a while.
** The "Villains Try To Steal The Space Coupe" thing was lampshaded in 2010, when the new creative team brought the coupe back, and had Diet Smith admit lied about why he mothballed it to begin with (he lied about the Coupe's energy source being a pollutant: he was just sick of bad guys constantly trying to steal the damn thing.)<ref>Apparently "hire better security" or "give it to the government" [[Voodoo Shark|weren't viable options.]]</ref>
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== Tabletop Games ==
* If you try making a [[Super Speed|super-speedster]] in a tabletop RPG like ''[[Champions]]'', you'll quickly discover that you have to do it by buying the abilities the super-speedster actually uses, not the abilities the comic claims he has, since the latter is just too powerful (and therefore too expensive).
* This is a major problem in ''[[Dungeons
** Worse, repeatedly casting the "Love's Pain" spell (someone the target loves takes damage, cannot be stopped) on a [[Mook]] who you have given [[Fake Memories]] of loving your enemy...
** Hypothetically, a well-prepared [[Dungeon Master]] can counter all of these by having equally hyped-up enemies with appropriate countermeasures in place. Unfortunately, this not only pits the DM's foresight against the collective ingenuity of the players, and is little more than shooting down any possible solution the players come up with other than "big epic battle", it also pits the DM's memory against the collective output of Wizards of the Coast... forgot to give your big bad dragon a countermeasure to ''shivering touch''? Ooops.
*** Pro-Tip for DMs in this instance when you have a villain with high Intelligence (such as a dragon): {{spoiler|1=Cheat. So you didn't have the Intelligence to give your [[Big Bad]] cold resistance? Good thing that your [[Big Bad]] has an Intelligence far greater than your own, and ''did'' remember to prepare such a countermeasure. That's
*** Really, this isn't that hard to do. Any spellcasting big bad you just state that he's always got one of the myriad scry fooling or blocking spells on his lair (heck, theres a standard magical item that makes him not scryable), stick a permanent anticipate teleport on his fortress in case of teleporting in, dump a bunch of magical traps of the "These go off if anyone bar me or my trusted minions is nearby" variety and have a contingent spell immunity up (say from the feat, or spell) that "Makes me immune to any spell effect that would incapacitate me". Plus have a silent Dimension Door or two memorised to jump away if all this fails.
** Make your super powerful mage bad guy [[Genre Savvy]] and you're fine :)
** The ''Wish'' spell, which is pretty much as it sounds. The player wishes for ''anything'' to happen and reality will reshape itself to make it come true. There are some limitations, and some downsides. The spell is difficult to obtain and cast, and drains the life force of the caster (read: XP loss) to empower the events. If the wish is something too insane, the caster may die without yielding enough power to make it happen. Second, and usually even more importantly, you should be ''very'' careful what you wish for. Just wishing for a lot of gold, for example, may result in all the gold in every king's treasury teleported to you. However, how you will explain that to their armies that are sure to follow is not in the scope of the spell. In fact, the GM is specifcially instructed by Gygax on what wishes to give them a chance, in Second Edition, and if the players ask for more, to make SURE they regret it.
** ''Miracle'', the divine flavor of ''Wish'', is even more broken: The spell-replicating function of ''Miracle'' carries no XP burn and can duplicate the effects of ANY 7th level spell or lower and ANY 8th level Domain spell or lower. Only the massively broken reality-warping function of the spell incurs a possible XP burn. Also, ''Miracle'' is not a spell cast so much as a supplication made of a deity, removing the possibility of the spellcaster receiving any magical backlash—of course, if the deity in question (which is to say, the DM) doesn't feel like granting the request, ''Miracle'' may simply fail.
*** Easiest way to deal with this is "Err, ok, that's the eighth time this week you've used Miracle. Your deity tells you to shut the fuck up and stop bothering him, and ignores your petty request"
** The Glibness bard spell had a lot of room for potential abuse in an intrigue-based scenario due to the poor wordings of Bluff and Sense Motive for a time: essentially, a successful Bluff check to tell a lie, no matter how absurd it was, guaranteed it was believed as complete truth. Coupled with Glibness that gives a massive +30 bonus to Bluff checks to tell lies and immunity to lie-detecting magic and the team's bard investing skill points in Bluff, it was possible to make anyone believe anything and destroy a perfectly crafted intrigue campaign. [[Obvious Rule Patch|This was fortunately addressed with a slight rewording:]] instead of making a lie appear to be true, Bluff makes your interlocutor not notice the character is lying, but an absurd statement may not be believed and the character's sanity may be heavily questioned instead.
** ''Kuroth's Quill'' is quite likely the most powerful - and most broken - artifact in the game, at least in 2nd Edition. To be blunt, anything written by this reality warping tool of Chaos will come true. To quote the ''Book of Artifacts" directly, "Kuroth's Quill has the power to alter the course of a campaign - it is the equivalent of giving a character an unlimited number of twisted wishes,. For this reason, the player characters should have limited or no contact with the quill, and should strive to prevent anyone else from using it as well." Meaning that when used as a plot device, the goal should be to prevent a villain from gaining it, or destroy it entirely. The only true limits to the quill is that it is a [[Literal Genie]] and spelling counts when using it (kind of like the joke about the 12-inch pianist, but in this case, it happens if the user makes a spelling or grammar error) and it cannot create out of nothing. This means that say, wishing for a million gold pieces would transport it from somewhere else (like a king's royal vault, or even worse, a dragon's horde), or worse, transport the user ''to'' said vault. In either case, the rightful owners would be very angry.
* The ''[[Hero System]]'' rulebook puts stop-sign icons next to powers that have the potential to be Story Breakers, such as Danger Sense, Intangibility, Time Travel, or Summoning. The [[Game Master]] is urged to consider tightly limiting or outright disallowing them.
* Warp is extremely powerful in ''[[GURPS]]'', so much so that it is explicitly banned for players in the ''[[Dungeon Punk|Dungeon Fantasy]]'' books. The authors did eventually cave and add it in with the requirement that the player take a small Unusual Background named "Ha-''ha''! I Can Teleport!" and isn't able to improve it.
* The Primarchs and the God-Emperor in ''[[Warhammer
** There are rules for the Primarchs, but they can only be used in 5000 point or higher games. Said rules cause them to take up about one third of that total.
* The rulebooks for ''[[The Dresden Files (game)|The Dresden Files]]'' make suggestions on this front in two ways. In the section on building opposition, most of the guidelines are along the lines of taking your villain and giving him powers equal in cost to the [[Player Party]]'s. It suggests you create a group of antagonists instead, since as the party gets more powerful, the villain's powers would make them damn near impossible to fight effectively if the model was followed.<ref>One character having powers equal to three or four low-level characters is doable; one character having powers equal in cost to three or four high-level characters results in someone with huge magic potential, is impossible to hit, damn near impossible to harm even if you do hit'em, and will heal fast even if you somehow manage to harm them.</ref>
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== Video Games ==
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** Kogasa Tatara's power to surprise people would seem to be [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|the exact opposite of this trope]], except that after she managed to {{spoiler|surprise ''the player'' by re-appearing as an Extra Stage midboss, with the required massive power boost}}, she could potentially do anything she wanted if it was simultaneously surprising enough.
** It is telling, that Flandre Scarlet, whose power,[[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|"Destruction of anything and everything",]] allows her to annihilate things with a mere thought is so far down on the list.
** ZUN is very aware however of the stupid levels of power many characters can throw around, and has spent a lot of effort explaining it. Firstly, the Spell Card system ensures that by law everyone is [[Holding Back the Phlebotinum]] during battles, and while they are nowhere near equal the disparity is vastly reduced. Secondly, most of the characters are either [[Blood Knight
* Shiki in ''[[Tsukihime]]'' kills things in one hit. Period. No matter what, if you have a concept of death, he can kill you. The limiter factor he has during the story is A. no one tells him what he needs to know, B. he thinks killing is wrong, C. initially he can't fight properly unless put in Nanaya mode, D. overuse will implode his mind since a human mind can not continously perceive death. Also E. has a nasty scar that likes bleeding and making him pass out. All of these (except for D) are essentially dealt with by the end of the story, so the sequels so far have given him opponents that he ''can't'' [[When All You Have Is a Hammer|simply kill, even if he could beat them.]] Len? Doesn't want to. [[Melty Blood|Wallachia?]] Exists as a unique repeating phenomenon. Since they've done away with them, one has to wonder what kind of opponents he can really have in [[Vaporware|Tsukihime 2.]]
** His power does have some limits, as there are a handful of beings that his eyes can't kill, like Wallachia, who exists as a phenomenon (basically, it'd be like killing the wind. You... can't really do that), [[Our Vampires Are Different|Arcueid]], who literally is incapable of dying at night time (usually), and [[Eldritch Abomination|ORT]], who... doesn't have a Gaian concept of death because it comes from Mercury...
** The direct sequel handles things a little more interestingly. Due to story reasons, Shiki outright forgets his ability, and every time he ends up using it the world literally melts down, sending him back to the first day of the time loop he's in. When he finally remembers his ability though, he instantly kills the [[Big Bad]] of the story with little to no fanfare after a grueling battle detailing how there was no way Shiki could defeat the [[Big Bad]] normally.
** I don't know if it's storybreaking but a full powered Arcueid is one of the most powerful beings in all of the [[Nasuverse]]. In terms of brute force, perhaps only the "Types" themselves and people like the dimension-hopping wizard Zelretch and Ado Edem with his reality-cutting sword Slash Emperor are more powerful.
** A more broken variant is the original Ryougi Shiki's version of this power, where she can "kill" pretty much anything - magic, emotions, ghosts, living people, etc. - and her powers work through projectiles, which just screams for a sniper rifle.
* Saber in ''[[Fate/stay night]]''. When she's actually properly supplied with mana, the first description of her is that she's absolutely invincible. There is no way anyone could possibly beat her. {{spoiler|Naturally, for the rest of that route she has no fights that let her take advantage of this, only a straight swordfight against Assassin. The actual use of all the raw power she has is that she has enough mana left after firing Excalibur to stick around if she chooses.}}
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* This Trope in video games often manifests as [[Gameplay and Story Segregation]]. An example is Safer Sephiroth in ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'', whose 'super nova' spell can apparently destroy every planet in the solar system (multiple times) but [[Slap-On-The-Wrist Nuke|does not simply destroy the Earth.]]
** To be fair, it's entirely possible that the animation of the spell in question is an abstract interpretation of the kind of hurt he's inflicting on your party, or simply an illusion.
*** That's almost certainly the effect. Sephiroth, like his mother Jenova, specializes in Mind Rape techniques and psychological attrition. Supernova is basically a attack in another plane of existence (The character's mind, most likely) designed to break the will of his enemies. It's more or less described as such in Dissidia, though that's not technically canon.
* The title character of ''[[Mega Man Battle Network]]''. Due to his [[Replacement Goldfish|nature]], it is implied that if he were to have access to his full potential, he'd be the most powerful entity on the planet. {{spoiler|Demonstrated very clearly in the fifth game where he briefly ascends to this level and destroys the final boss [[Made of Evil|(the manifestation of humanity's evil)]] with a wave of his hand.}}
** Earlier in the series is [[Mega Man X]], who literally has unlimited potential. In fact the attempted reboot of his series, ''Maverick Hunter X'', has Dr. Light state that X can evolve as he fights, explaining how he retains certain powers and upgrades between games. The only reason he has problems in battle is his kindness causes him to hold back.
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== Web Comics ==
* Richard from ''[[Looking for Group]]''. He is a nigh-invulnerable dark mage with vast, vast powers: half the time he is sidelined in one way or another to let the other characters achieve something, the other half he is jarringly abrupt in his resolving of fights/problems. An [[Crazy Awesome|entertaining character]], but problematic.
** And his behavior is [[Chaotic Evil|so erratic]] that he can't be counted on to help the group, and when he does, sometimes they have to say [[Stop Helping Me!]].
* In ''[[Order of the Stick]]'' {{spoiler|Vaarsuvius becomes ridiculously powerful through a [[Deal with the Devil]]}}. The resulting arrogance results in a serious backfire/subversion later on {{spoiler|when Xykon turns out to be much too well prepared for a simple brute force attack to work}}. The above-described Scry and Die tactic is explicitly mentioned.
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* ''[[Last Res0rt]]'' has a number of characters with these, given some hard limits that make those powers suck.
** Jigsaw the telepath can't control her mind-reading and thus [[A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read|gets blasted half the time with thought overload]].
** Daisy the teleporter can only teleport to places she has a [[Line Of Sight]] on. (She even says in some of the filler art that trying to teleport through walls could kill her.)
** Qin Xu {{spoiler|has a [[Save Scumming]] power, but only once he gains access to Nanotech that he's been deprived of going into the story, and even then it's only for a few moments at a time. Presumably, he's trying to conserve what he has rather than spend it in one go.}}
** Much of Volume Two is focused on {{spoiler|an unknown [[Reality Warper]] that makes taking on Gabriel's ship impossible in the first go. Daisy figured it out first, so she's made it her mission while on the ship to hunt down the source, with the implication that once she finds out who it is, stopping them will be trivial.}}
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== Web Original ==
* Tennyo, in the [[Whateley Universe]], is so powerful that in her battle at Christmas she ''ripped a hole in space and time'' and destroyed an unkillable thirty-foot regenerating monster. Plus, she may be the strongest regenerator on the planet. Other authors have had to come up with reasons why she isn't saving the day in ''their'' stories when she's around. Apparently, the [[Idiot Ball]] is not allowed as an excuse. So far.
** Tennyo is arguably a deconstruction. Yes, she's an unholy terror in a fight (quite literally at times). But her problem is that her powers are potentially ''too''
** In fact, she has SEVERE trouble in the team tactics class, as she has to dial herself down, and in fact now has a Rad-counter bracelet to check herself.
** In "Ayla and the Great Shoulder Angel Conspiracy", the authors figured out how to use her backstory to give her a [[Heroic BSOD]] and totally take her out of the game.
** Speaking of Ayla, his money is actually a
== Western Animation ==
* [[Kim Possible]]'s battle suit was meant to be a one-shot [[Eleventh-Hour Superpower]] in the [[Grand Finale]]; its enhanced strength, speed and other nifty abilities allowing her to put a definitive beatdown on arch foe Shego, and then ride off into the sunset... er... prom. Then the show was [[
* ''[[The Zeta Project]]'' introduces a remote that can control any mechanical device, even Zeta. Eventually, Roe gets her hands on one, but by the end of the episode it is forgotten and for good reason, If the heroes have one they never have to fight again and if the villains have one they don't need to work to stop the heroes.
* ''[[Generator Rex]]'' has Breach, an E.V.O. with the ability to create portals that go ''anywhere'', including at least one [[Pocket Dimension]] where she placed an entire city to be her "dollhouse". The only thing keeping her from completely breaking the story for either the [[Deus Ex Machina|heroes]] or the [[Diabolus Ex Machina|villains]] is that she's too [[Sanity Has Advantages|mentally broken]] to reach her full potential.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]
[[Category:Story-Breaker Power]]▼
[[Category:Power]]
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