Villain-Beating Artifact: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|''Welcome to my cave, young adventurous Hero. Here, pick one of these three artifacts, because at your current level you can't defeat [[Big Bad|the villain]] or [[Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?|punch out Cthulhu]]. He, his [[Mook]]s, scientific experiment pet, and his three-year-old niece will [[Curb Stomp Battle|defeat you in less than a minute]] if you do not use this item.

''The first was forged of [[Made of Good|purest minerals]] and one of its special ingredients is [[Nature Adores a Virgin|virgin tears of joy]]. This artifact is able to take on and even kill [[Made of Evil|Evil Incarnate]] itself.

{{examples}}

== Comic Books ==

* [[DC Comics]] has the Spear of Destiny, which is the most powerful weapon ever. It holds supernatural powers that allows its owner to [[Mind Control| control the minds]] of those with superpowers.

** For many years, Kryptonite was this for Superman. Despite being a radioactive mineral, it had no real use outside of hurting the Man of Steel, and non-Kryptonians could swallow hunks of the stuff without ill effect. This permanently changed [[Post-Crisis]], when the common-sense notion that radiation was radiation and deadly no matter what the source took over. (It was starting to change even as early as the 1970s, as witnessed by the "Kryptonite No More!" storyline which started out with an attempt by someone to build a Kryptonite ''reactor''.)

* [[Marvel Comics]] has the Ultimate Nullifier, a devastating weapon the size of a smartphone. It scares Galactus and prevents him from devouring planets. [[Fantastic Four|Johnny Storm]] found it in Galactus's homeworld and uses it to save the Earth. [[The Other Wiki]] [[w:Ultimate Nullifier|says]] that it can nullify or re-create anything, up to an entire parallel universe.

== Film ==

* ''[[Once Upon a Time (TV series)|Once Upon a Time]]'' twisted this trope. The only way to defeat the [[Big Bad]] is to steal his dagger, {{spoiler|but you'll replace the Big Bad if [[You Kill It, You Bought It|you somehow manage to kill him.]]}} The Duke chose to ''control'' the Dark One with this dagger; Rumplestiltskin did not.

* In ''[[Madan Senki Ryukendo]]'', it's stated in the Kanon of Light that {{spoiler|to defeat DaiMaOh, they need three Ultimate Keys.}}

== Video Games ==

** In ''[[Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem]]'', the Falchion, Starlight, and the Binding Shield (aka the Fire Emblem itself), these artifacts together are used to seal away the Earth Dragons when all the Spheres are returned. The Lightsphere is one of these in its own right (a villain beating artifact), since it's the only thing that can nullify the protection of Hardin's Darksphere.

* Both invoked and averted at various times in the late, lamented ''[[City of Heroes]]''/''[[City of Villains]]''. During some plot arcs you would be given special weapons to use on the enemy at hand -- but you didn't ''have'' to use them, and they would remain in your inventory of powers until you used up their charges (which could be months or even ''years'' later). A good example would be the anti-ghost weapons you could get in several different arcs, including a villain arc that sent you up against [[The Dragon|Ghost Widow]]. In other arcs, though, you would find, receive or craft weapons or items that would immediately vanish with the end of your need for them -- this included things like the grenades from the Lambda trial or the wand which cures the Lost that you would make at the end of the Midnighter Club membership arc.

== Western Animation ==

* In ''[[Adventure Time]]'', the gauntlet that Billy owns has the power to seal the Lich. {{spoiler|Unfortunately, the bad guy destroyed it before Finn can make good use of it. Finn has to resort to using the [[Power of Love|Power of Liking Someone A Lot]], just to destroy its physical form.}}

* In ''[[Scooby Doo Mystery Inc]]'', Scoob and his friends found out that they need to find and use the Heart of the Jaguar to destroy {{spoiler|the Crystal Sarcophagus, because Annuaki was sealed in it.}} During the final episode, {{spoiler|the real "Heart of the Jaguar" wasn't the crystal spearhead (which was destroyed earlier), it's [[The Power of Friendship]] which binds the gang together. This and teamwork were used and Scooby use the spearshaft to shatter the sarcophagus.}}

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