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'''Vegeta:''' [[Power Levels]] ARE BULL$#!%! |''[[Dragonball Z Abridged]]''}}
Every so often, the villain is just too powerful. They're going to [[The End of the World
Then, suddenly, the hero will decide that he's serious. This time is for reals. He'll [[Ass Pull|whip out some until now unforeseen strength]], and promptly [[Status Quo Is God|show the villain what for]], usually demolishing the bad guy so completely that it prevents them from ever pulling that world threatening crap again, or at least until the writers want them back.
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It goes the other way too. Characters can often be found struggling to defeat a particular foe, when considering their skill and compared to the baddies they faced in the past, it should be a piece of cake. Used to pad out time length with elongated fight sequences as well as to prevent the protagonists from defeating a villain that the writers need for later. This conspicuous decrease in power invariably is a staple of [[Shounen]] filler arcs.
Often a result of the writers letting the [[Rule of Cool]] take over. Compare with [[I Am Not Left-Handed]] and [[New Powers
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Asuka, in the ''[[End of Evangelion]]'', manages to kill (sorta) NINE EVANGELIONS. Each with the ability to fly, and each armed with a massive greatsword {{spoiler|that can turn into a replica Lance of Longinus and ignore any AT Field}}. With only 20 seconds for each, due to her power cord being cut. Armed only with a short knife. After having just wiped out a small army of a battleship, several tank battalions, a couple of artillery brigades and a few more VTOL gunships. {{spoiler|Then subverted, as they were ''faking'' being defeated}}.
* In ''[[
** Goku, although he mostly relies on [[Training From Hell]], is not above doing this when the chips are down.
** No, literally. Goku directly invoked this trope in the Buu Saga, using up the rest of his time on Earth to force himself to a ridiculously high [[Power Level]] and [[You Shall Not Pass|hold off the villain long enough for Trunks to escape]].<ref>Notable in that this is the closest a dead guy can come to a [[Heroic Sacrifice]]</ref>
* ''[[Bleach]]'s'' Ichigo. For a large amount of time during the [[Filler|Bount]] [[Anime|Arc]], Ichigo is unable to use his Bankai, [[Adaptation Decay|for very loose reasons]]. Then once he is able to, he still isn't as strong as the last time, despite being immune to the spirit damping effects of the real world.
* [[Pokémon (
** His Pikachu too, for that matter. At one point, it manages to [[One-Hit Kill|One Turn Kill]] a newly rested Regice with Volt Tackle (only the second time in the series that a [[Olympus Mons|Legendary Pokémon]] lost a one-on-one fight with a non-Legendary, and the previous time was a long, drawn-out fight in which the non-Legendary had a [[Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors|Type advantage]]). A few episodes later, it's having trouble fighting an Elekid.
** By now he's started intentionally handicapping himself by starting with a totally new team for every league save Pikachu. That doesn't explain why Pikachu's performance is spotty at best. All in all, it's actually gotten weaker as the series goes along, perhaps a reaction to the writers realizing Pikachu winning every battle would be boring. On the other hand, it'd be nice if they ''justified'' it in some way at least.
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** While {{spoiler|Maka's weapon form}} was certainly an example, {{spoiler|Kid's Sanzu Lines}} were nothing new if you read the manga-the alternate ending is to blame, here.
* This is an explicit power of Kuwabara from [[Yu Yu Hakusho]] - his [[Ki Attacks|spirit energy]] literally increases when fighting a stronger foe. It's also evident and completely ignored in most of the rest of the cast.
* ''[[D
** Somewhat averted with level 4 akumas, who are still crazy tough and require you being general strength just to beat one. The first one actually had a lot more punishment than the rest of them as it had all the generals, the protagonist and a recently re-empowered [[Action Girl]] against it.
* In ''[[Sailor Moon]]'', Mars and Jupiter seem to have natural abilities that may or may not carry over in their transformed states. Mars uses hers often; Jupiter's implied ridiculous amount of strength, alas, does not really jibe with how fights are choreographed and is much rarer than it should be compared to [[Pretty Cure|some other shows]]. She also tends to [[Worf Effect|get her ass handed to her]] if she ''does'' get to use it.
* [[Kekkaishi|Yoshimori Sumimura]] works two ways: either everyone's praising him for being way stronger than he should be because he took out a tough opponent; or he's getting lambasted for letting a weak opponent walk all over him. The way he fights tends to be ludicrously inefficient against weaker opponents, though, which provides a legitimate flaw for somebody who's [[Weak but Skilled]] to exploit.
* At least in the manga, [[Samurai Deeper Kyo]] was this trope. Period. There are even one or two techniques used by the heroes that they ''had never tried, just imagined'', and after [[New Powers
* ''[[One Piece]]'': This tends to be played for laughs; Luffy defeats Arlong in the previous arc, whose was the most powerful pirate in the East Blue. Yet he's easily restrained by Buggy and his mooks for his "execution" despite showing displays of super-strength and persistence.
* A rare villainous version: In ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'', the {{spoiler|Anti Spiral King}} is shown to only use as much power as the Dai Gurren Brigade uses. This is to specifically invoke [[Hope Spot]] after [[Hope Spot]] -- every time the heroes get stronger, the {{spoiler|Anti Spiral King}} effortlessly powers up to match them, all in the name of maximizing the terror and despair they feel. {{spoiler|It doesn't work.}}
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**** Does that mean we should ignore the fact that in the Superman cartoon Darkseid was undeniably stronger than Superman? Look at their fight in ''Legacy''; all Superman's punches did to Darkseid was make him angry that Superman would hit him.
**** But that could be because Superman was still weak after being exposed to red sunlight for several days.
**** Don't forget, however, that Superman ''did,'' in [[Superman:
** Even with the post-Crisis Superman, some writers (Mark Waid is a good example) like to write him as a being of godlike power, capable of surviving things like {{spoiler|the super-nuke}} in ''[[Kingdom Come]]'' that would kill literally anyone else. [[Websnark|Eric Burns]] [http://www.websnark.com/archives/2006/01/wouldnt_the_bla.html describes this] as Superman having his "no one can kick my ass because I'm Superman" bit set that day.
*** In the defense of [[Kingdom Come]], there ARE hints earlier in the book that this Superman is much more powerful than others. Luthor himself mentions that Supes is so soaked up on sunlight, he's now immune to Kryptonite.
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* The ''[[Infinite Crisis]]'' [[OMAC|OMACs]] are an interesting case. They're villains, which is unusual for this trope, and Strong As They Need To Be is their explicitly stated ability. When they sight a superhero, they'll identify the hero and reconfigure to have the powers and abilities they need to win the fight. Nearly everyone has asked [[Fridge Logic|the obvious question]], which is: Why are the bad guys going out of their way to give the heroes a fair chance? Why don't they just configure themselves with the Superman-killing abilities and lay waste to everyone? No answer has yet been given. Fan theories quite naturally abound; for example, as machine-based creatues, it's been suggested that it would take far more energy for them to hit someone as hard as Superman could ''all the time'' than to reconfigure into more limited forms.
** The fact that the Infinite Crisis Brother Eye was made by Batman would explain a lot.
* [[The Hulk]]'s level of physical might and durability varies tremendously. This one, however, has a built-in explanation: Hulk's physical might--and in [[Hulk (
** Similarly to Darwin below, in one story Hulk developed the ability to breathe in space by getting angry enough.
* [http://www.marvel.com/universe/Darwin Darwin, the Evolving Boy] from the [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]] comics literally has this trope as his superpower. Whenever placed in a situation he is unsuited for, he will gain a new power capable of dealing with it. Place him in total darkness and he gets the power to see in the dark. Stick him in a burning building and he becomes immune to fire. Trap him underwater and he grows gills.
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* The Amazons from ''Amazons Attack!'', when [[Wonder Woman|Wonder Woman's]] people invaded the United States seemed to fluctuate wildly in their power. In one scene they're giving Supergirl and Wonder Girl a hard time, then Superman shows up and trounces them effortlessly, then they're taking down fighter jets with [[Rock Beats Laser|flying horses and spears]], Batman can beat them in a straight up fight, they can invade Washington DC and the army can't do a thing to stop them, then they get shot down by soldiers. They're not [[Immune to Bullets]], and they beat the US army with spears and giant bees!?
** Stygian Killer Hornets, thank you... Bees. My God.
* [[Spider
** The ultimate expression of this was when he was attacked by Firelord. Panicking, dodging, and running for his life, he sees the Herald of Galactus survive everything he can throw at him unharmed, up to and including an exploding gas station. But when two kids nearly get killed by his uncaring foe, Spidey loses his cool - and proceeds to pound Firelord into the pavement, punctuating every barrage of fists with statements on the order of "Hey, you don't attack kids!" It takes the arrival of Captain America and the Avengers to snap him out, by which time Firelord is flat on his back, eyes crossed, and dazed for quite a while. Just to elaborate, this is a being on a power level roughly equal to Thor or the Silver Surfer, and leagues above the power level of Spidey or any of his usual foes.
*** Subverted when [[Spider
* [[Fantastic Four|The Thing]] is another character whose strength has actual limits and there are some foes that he simply cannot overpower. Although we pretty much have to be ''told'' this for this to be true, at one point he was even asked point blank how strong he was and his answer was "STRONG ENOUGH!"
* Peter David pretty much stated this trope when responding to comments of his writing of [[She
* ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes (Comic Book)|Legion of Super-Heroes]]'' has the character Nemesis Kid, whose power is exactly this. He develops abilities strong enough to deal with anyone he's directly fighting. If he fights a martial artist, his skills will be superior, if he fights a cosmic powerhouse, his strength will go through the roof. Naturally the only way to defeat him is to go after him in pairs because he can only adapt to one power at a time. {{spoiler|He dies at the hands of Princess Projectra, not a particularly strong fighter, whose only ability is casting illusions. He can see through them, but this does not stop her from snapping his neck for murdering her husband.}}
* Sentry has this problem, one time being able to fight with Hulk as equal, having his ass handed to him by [[She Hulk]] or [[Incredible Hercules|Hercules]] another and then going into a level where he can {{spoiler|[[Dark Reign (
* Gladiator from the Shi-Ar Imperial Guard and his [[Evil Counterpart|evil]] [[Distaff Counterpart|female version]] Stronian have powers depending on their confidence, so if they fell even smaller fear, doubt or regret, they're getting weaker.
* This is actually part of [[Venom (Comic Book)|Venom]] (Mac Gargan)'s powers; when injured or threatened, the symbiote can increase in mass and strength to meet whatever threat it is fighting with equal force.
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== [[Film]] ==
* [[Wolverine]] pulls this off in ''[[X-Men (
* In ''[[Push]]'', Nick starts out unable even to fix a roll of the dice, and ends up {{spoiler|kicking Victor's well-trained and highly experienced ass, even though Victor was shown earlier literally mopping the floor with Nick... and the ceiling, too. Similarly, during the fight he lost, Nick is shown deflecting a bullet, a trick he had not practiced or even seen until just moments before.}} All this with no training, and with very little practice, apparently only because It Was Time For Him To Win.
** Also, {{spoiler|during the final confrontation, Agent Carver clearly pushes Nick mentally ("WHERE WERE WE?!")... but instead of jumping, as he was presumably pushed to do, Nick turns around and tele-punches Carver.}} How did he do this? No one, before or after that moment, was ever shown as able to {{spoiler|resist a push}}.
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** Guants group ''did'' shoot them in the back from ambush while they were utterly massacring another Imperial unit.
** Orcs get this treatment a lot too. Sometimes they are almost a joke and a minor threat to guardsmen unless they have a huge numbers advantage, and sometimes the same kind will be a difficult fight to Space Marines one-on-one. Same applies to Tyranids.
*** Orcs are a special case. A feral Ork army is almost laughable in terms of strength, while a carefully constructed WAAAGH! is almost unstoppable. Often, you'll see something in between the two. The strength of the Orks depends on the strength of the local WAAAGH! It's a species that runs on [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe]], thus [[Strong
*** This is not strictly correct. The strength of Orks actually depends on the strength of ''their opponent''. Orks are a survivor race, and much like the Darwin Boy example in the Comics section, Orks are actually a ''very'' straight example of this trope. Orks who face a more powerful and able opponent will be just as tough, whereas if the opponent is incompetent they wont be any worse, but they'll not be any better than they would normally be. So it isn't about the whole [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe]], which is not just innaccurate, but overused concerning Orks, but it is that Orks get better through reacting to stimuli. Comparing Orks between stories, or in certain games such as Gorkamorka, where they don't have as much of a dedicated opponent, the contrast is rather striking.
** Possibly justifiable in cases where the story is about different chapters/regiments/hives/etc. as experience plays a big part in war.
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* Not technically super-heroes, but in "All The Weyrs Of Pern", the dragons and their riders were fooled into picking up and transporting spaceship fuel tanks that were far larger and heavier than the dragons should have been capable of dealing with, because (as Aivas says explicitly) "they can handle anything they believe they can handle".
* In the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]], Luke gets new Force powers as needed. So does Jacen.
* Done well, and justified, in a fight scene from ''[[Lord Darcy
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
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* In ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 4'', Snake's barely able to fight after being stabbed in the shoulder, but spends a good five minutes in a microwave corridor intended to vapourise anyone who entered immediately after suffering a heart attack, and is still just about able to kick away Scarabs.
* In ''[[Devil May Cry]] 4'', Nero's [[Red Right Hand|Devil]] [[Power Fist|Bringer]] normally can only pull Nero to a big opponent and not the other way around. However, under certain circumstances it can abruptly become much more powerful, such as being able to punch the massive fire demon Berial a long way.
* ''[[God of War (
** Maybe Kratos has extra powers when attacking statues?
** In God of War 2, his insane strength might be justified that in the beginning Kratos still has all the powers a full-fledged god can brag about, he doesn't brag "Fear the new god of war" while beating the first mooks for nothing, still the trope applies for the rest of the second game and the sequel as well, in God of War 3 Kratos stripped of all his powers he gained on the previous game, can take the pressure of Chronos -- a being who dwarfs the Colossus of Rhodes -- trying to squash him and push him away, after this display of strength it makes one wonder why Kratos needs to face through all the puzzles and locked doors at all.
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* [[Played for Laughs]] in ''[[Order of the Stick]]'' with Crystal. As Haley's personal rival, she is always the same level as Haley. [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0581.html Even if she does nothing to earn these levels.]
* [[Nodwick]]'s muscle strength is just enough to carry [http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/gamespyarchive/index.php?date=2002-06-13 whatever load he is asked to move] but is not suggested to have super strength.
* In ''[[
* In [[Homestuck]], during the Trolls' battle against the [[Big Bad|Black King]] of their session, [[Evil Clown|Gamzee]] suddenly unleashes never before seen power against him, doing almost as much damage as Vriska, a God Tier character with manipulation of luck.
* Butch of ''[[Chopping Block]]'' is overweight and out-of-shape, and was once outrun by an old lady with a walker, but whenever his life is in danger, he becomes absurdly lethal. Chalk it up to the strip's [[Negative Continuity]].
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* In the Green Lantern Animated series, Saint Walker successfully holds his own against a Red Lantern with his bare fists. A guy with a spear bests Kilowog in battle. And Mogo blasts an asteroid that Hal and Kilowog could only slow down, just in time to resolve the episode.
* In ''[[Teen Titans (
** Let's not forget Cyborg's little trick of reassembling himself after Brother Blood literally took him apart in a fight. This was so ridiculous that the writers [[Lampshade Hanging|included a line of dialogue]] stating that this was a one time thing.
** Raven's strength fluctuations are legendary. In some cases she's been beaten by just having her mouth forced shut, but when the plot calls for it she's capable of soloing her [[Physical God]] father. [[Justified Trope|Justified]] because Raven's powers are fueled by her emotions; the more passionate she becomes about defeating an enemy, the stronger her powers become in order to accomplish it.
** Starfire is pretty bad about this trope. She can survive extreme environments when the plot calls for it, and be totally helpless when it doesn't. In one episode, Starfire winds up wandering around frozen tundra, apparently in danger of freezing to death. Yeah, this troper realizes that the normal mistaken response is to say "well if she can survive in space..." However, given her super speed, super strength, and flight abilities, there was nothing in that episode stopping her from flying out of the area, or back to Titans Tower to get proper equipment if things get too hairy. Then too there might be an explanation for both her (and Raven's) powers in that they're emotion based, which means that theoretically, a villain could defeat Starfire by getting her depressed enough.
** Cyborg and Starfire's [[Super Strength]] also varies greatly just compared to each other, as one can be shown at any given moment to be several magnitudes stronger than the other.
* In ''[[He
** In the 2002 version, He-Man's [[Strong
** In the comic book version He-Man's special power is specifically defined as the ability to have exactly the amount of strength he needs to accomplish what he's trying to do at the moment, but no more.
* [[The Powerpuff Girls]] are notorious for this. One episode will have them <s>swatting skyscraper-sized monsters with ease (often with just one of the girls doing the dirty work)</s> proving themselves to adult heroes as the mightiest supers in their entire universe, and another will have all three girls get beaten down by a gang of ordinary thugs.
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* ''[[The Simpsons]]'': Comedic example: Mr. Burns. He's always depicted as frail and weak, but just ''how'' frail and ''how'' weak depends on [[Rule of Funny|whatever makes the joke work]].
** Also, of course, [[Flanderization|how late the season is.]]
* Mesmero from [[X
* As noted above, Gladiator powers are based on his confidence and his appearances during Phoenix Saga in ''[[X-Men (
== [[Real Life]] ==
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