History DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu / WesternAnimation

* The Lich in ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' is an OmnicidalManiac and the most powerful entity in the show. The legendary hero Billy pummeled him into a tree and [[SealedEvilInACan sealed him in amber]] to save the world.
** When he gets loose, Finn ultimately beats him once by [[spoiler:using the [[PowerOfLove Power Of...]] [[CannotSpitItOut Liking Someone a Lot]] to tear the top part of his skull off with a sweater. When he returns possessing Princess Bubblegum and goes OneWingedAngel, Finn has an EnemyMine with Ice King and they manage to freeze him solid to beat him.]]

* Azula from ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''. At the end of Book 2, [[spoiler:while Aang is rising into the air in the Avatar State after finally unlocking the final chakra, she shot down Aang with a bolt of lightning straight to the back, which nearly killed him (dying in the Avatar State would break the cycle of reincarnation).]]
** Azula has nothing on Admiral Zhao, who killed the moon. Crosses over with BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu, 'cause the ocean was ''fucking pissed'' about that, and [[spoiler:Zhao died.]] [[note]]Or, well, his body did, at least. ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' Book 2 finale shows that his soul is still alive in a spirit prison, tortured by his own worst fears[[/note]] [[spoiler:What's worse is that Zuko could have saved him, but Zhao refused to grab his hand.]]
** In Book 2 Episode 10, ''The Library'', the gang succeeds in escaping from the Knowledge Spirit not with bending...but with Sokka dropping down with a [[Webcomic/DominicDeegan death from above]] style blow to the head with a ''[[ThrowTheBookAtThem book.]]'' It practically knocks the spirit out cold.
---> "That's called 'Sokka Style.' Learn it!"
** The season finale of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' Book 2 contains the series' most triumphant example -- [[spoiler: Korra takes down Vaatu, the [[GodOfEvil eternal spirit of Darkness himself,]] ''after'' he's [[FusionDance merged with]] [[EvilUncle her uncle,]] killed his counterpart Raava, the [[GodOfGood Avatar Spirit,]] and turned into [[OneWingedAngel a Kaiju-sized squid-man.]] And what a victory it is! Korra uses her uncle's own [[LightEmUp spirit conversion technique]] [[HolyHandGrenade to purify him out of existence...]] but even before that, she completely manhandles him. She turns her own soul into a [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever 50 Foot Korra,]] grabs him by his tentacles, picks him up over her shoulder, chucks him into a mountain, slams his head into the mountainside, and later, with Jinora's help, ''rips Raava right out of his chest.'' She doesn't so much punch out Cthulhu as hand him a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown, proving once and for all that she's not going to get a minor issue like the end of the Avatar line stop her from saving the world.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'': In the episode "Ultimate Weapon", Ben-as-Four Arms and Max (though Ben was the one who did the actual fighting, and had the upper hand the entire fight, while Max knocked him out while he was distracted) were able to successfully defeat Ah Puch, the mayan god of death. WordOfGod confirmed he was the real deal and not some [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy alien in a]] GodGuise
** ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'' had one in The Final Battle, where the lead villain Vilgax [[OneWingedAngel actually becomes a Cthulhu-like being]] when underwater. Sadly, the fight isn't really shown.
** ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'' reveal the existence of an actual EldritchAbomination named Diagon, who [[DimensionLord conquered several universes]] and tried conquering Earth in the Middle Age. He was defeated by [[KnightInShiningArmor Sir George]], the founder of the [[AncientConspiracy Forever Knights]], who tore his heart apart and [[SealedEvilInACan sealed him away]]. The main plot of Season 2 focus around the Flamekeeper's Circle, a ChurchOfHappyology that worship Diagon with the belief he [[ETGaveUsWiFi gave us all our technology]], and the Forever Knights, who attempt to prevent his return.
** In the finale, [[spoiler:Vilgax successfully ''kills'' Diagon by baiting him into attacking a device that absorbs energy. Since Diagon is an EnergyBeing, that allow Vilgax to absorb him, turning in a PhysicalGod in the process]]
** [[spoiler:Ironically, Ben then defeats Vilgax in his Diagon-powered form thanks to George's sword.]]

* ''Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic'' -- At first it seems like Dante broke his arm punching Cthulhu, since he ends up only defeating Lucifer's shadow form which accidentally releases his true monstrous form from his frozen prison in the ninth circle of hell. However, being a fallen angel of god and ruler of hell, Lucifer proves a rather unimpressive villain as the fight between him and Dante was not completely one-sided. But Dante doesn't truly defeat him until (with a little help from God) he reseals Lucifer back into his prison.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "Boys Do Cry", Brian starts shooting a gun in the air and accidentally kills the Super-Devil (a demon more evil than the Devil).

* ''WesternAnimation/GreenLanternTheAnimatedSeries'': [[spoiler: An emotionless Aya]] takes out [[spoiler: the Anti-Monitor]] with a single blow. [[spoiler: Then she [[FaceHeelTurn takes his place as the BigBad]] [[GrandTheftMe by fusing with his corpse.]]]]
* A ''[[WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy Billy and Mandy]]'' episode, "The Prank Call of Cthulhu", ended with Cthulhu [[SealedEvilInACan trapped in interdimensional phone lines]], sucking off his shoes in the process (an episode RunningGag).
** And let's not forget that the whole series centers around two kids bossing around the GrimReaper.
*** Who was subdued and captured by Mandy making a geriatric hamster bite him no less.
*** Ah, but that was merely to cheat at [[ChessWithDeath limbo]].

* Invoked -- ironically, by a ''villain'' -- in ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}''. Hades poses this hypothetical question to his lackeys Pain and Panic: How do you kill a god? Pain and Panic, playing along, remark that this is impossible, since gods are immortal. Hades then explains to them his plan to use his dark magic to turn the baby Hercules into a human just so he can be killed.

** In "The Terror Beyond," [[InWhichATropeIsDescribed in which]] A Cthulhuesque EldritchAbomination tries to invade earth. Given that the beatdown is delivered courtesy of the Justice League, but especially Solomon Grundy and Hawkgirl, the "Punch" part is extremely literal.
-->(Monsters burst out of giant pods and attack.)
-->'''Solomon Grundy''': Grundy crush Pimple-man!
** They had actually set up her [[{{Unobtanium}} Nth Metal]] mace as pretty much designed to kill {{Eldritch Abomination}}s. Aquaman's trident as well, in another badass moment for the [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway (oft parodied)]] King of the Seas has him ''beating back'' a legion of eldritch abominations that are trying to invade Earth.
* ''[[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Justice League Unlimited]]'', "Divided We Fall": The Flash versus the fledgling god that is Braniac-Luthor. Judging by the way the fusion of Luthor and Braniac is implied, shortly after [[spoiler: running around the entire world in seconds for a hypersonic clothesline punch ''four separate times,'' the Flash grabs him before proceeding to hyper-vibrate his arms and ''destroy via vibrations'' every molecule of Brainiac out of Lex Luthor's body before nearly disappearing into the Speed Force.]]
* In the pilot of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', Twilight Sparkle and her TrueCompanions manage to defeat [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Nightmare Moon]], a FallenHero and MadGod who plunged the world into TheNightThatNeverEnds.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters''
** The 'Busters managed to take on Cthulhu himself in "The Collect Call of Cathulhu". Though it was specifically stated that the Ghostbusters could not harm Cthulhu, and [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu had simply driven him away for a time,]] it was still quite an impressive feat on their end. In a follow-up episode, the 'Busters take care of another Old One by sucking it into an artificially created black hole (probably not a bad way to take care of a powerful being).
** In one episode, Peter nets a humongous, ancient water elemental, Nexa, who has been harassing New York and has swallowed the others whole. He blasts Nexa with microwave particles, dehydrating him enough that he agrees to return the others and head for Antarctica to spend his days away from people.
** ''WesternAnimation/ExtremeGhostbusters'' had them dealing with [[Myth/NorseMythology Fenrir]], who was trying to bring about the end of the world but apparently the original crew had already captured his master Surt in an untold tale. In Ragnarok, it's Surt who actually kills the most humans.
* On ''WesternAnimation/{{Reboot}}'', specifically the episode "Showdown" in Season 3, we get a pretty epic example of this trope. Enzo by now is no longer a BrattyHalfPint -- he's become Matrix, [[TookALevelInBadass took a thousand levels in badass]] [[IGotBigger and considerably bulked himself up.]] The first thing Matrix does upon coming face to face with [[BigBad Megabyte]]? He drops his gun, and dents Megabyte's chest with one punch. And then spears him through a wall!
* ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow''. [[OnceAnEpisode An everyday occurrence]], though it's almost always in an outrageous fashion. Examples include defeating a giant floating eye monster in a ''staring contest'' and beating [[TheGrimReaper Death]] in an arm-wrestling competition.
* In ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'', when [[LouisCypher Lucius Needful]] later betrays Summer (AKA "[[PersonAsVerb Zuckerberging]]" her), she and Rick proceed to go through a TrainingMontage that leaves them comically muscle-bound and beat him up during a live presentation. Granted, [[TheDevilIsALoser Needful's not very physically intimidating and relies on trickery]], but they are still literally punching the hell out of Satan.
* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' examples:

* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' has the Gang [[spoiler:destroy the Nibiru Entity, a {{Satan}}-like interdimensional alien with god-like power, [[RetGone erasing him from time in the process]].]] Like ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostBusters'', [[spoiler:they do so by sucking it into a black hole, in this case created by destroying the crystal sarcophagus it was using to draw power from another dimension, causing the connection to implode.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In the "Treehouse of Horror XXIX" intro, the family goes to a New England town for an oyster eating contest before revealed the whole thing is a trap so visitors are fed to Cthulhu. Homer convinces Cthulhu to have said eating contest since he was promised one, with the Big C ''agreeing.'' This leads to Homer not just ''beating'' Cthulhu in said contest, but also getting anything from him. Homer chooses '''''eating Cthulhu''''' as his prize.
* In Disney's ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'', the evil witch Maleficent is imbued with [[InformedAbility "all the powers of Hell."]] The prince defeats her anyway.
** In ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}'', OneWingedAngel Ursula is defeated by being [[RammingAlwaysWorks rammed by a ship]].
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' plays this ''hilariously'' straight: [[spoiler:Mint-Berry Crunch, easily the [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway lamest member of Coon and Friends]] barring Iron Maiden, singlehandedly vanquishes Cthulhu and banishes him back to his dimension.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongebobSquarepantsMovie'', [=SpongeBob=] himself uses the PowerOfRock [[Awesome/SpongebobSquarepants to defeat]] [[PhysicalGod Neptune]] (God of the Sea). [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcsI6eD2CmQ It's especially obvious in the GBA game]] but is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt3z5WEhex0 in the movie as well.]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "The Magicks of Megas-Tu": Kirk 1, Satan 0. Of course, it wasn't really the Infernal One but an alien pretending to be him, but the power disparity still applies. Bonus for the [[DefeatMeansFriendship positive message at the end]].
* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': In the series finale "Cleaved", [[spoiler: Marco defeats the corrupted unicorn in the Realm of Magic by grabbing its horn and throwing it about 20 feet through the air, guaranteeing that Star will have enough time to destroy the magic]].

* ''Westernanimation/TheTwelveTasksOfAsterix'' has Asterix and Obelix going through a "Cave of the Beast", a fearsome creature no one met and returned to tell the tale. We never see it, but in the scene after the Gauls leave the cave...
-->'''Caius Tiddlus:''' Pardon my curiosity, but what was is the Beast like?\\
'''Obelix''': [[EatingTheEnemy Very tasty!]] Waiter! I'd like a drink!
* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'': In "Ghosts of the Sargasso," the necromancer Dr. Orpheus is summoned to deal with a ghost... but before he can finish, Brock simply knocks its head off.

* The ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode "The Terror Beyond," [[InWhichATropeIsDescribed in which]] A Cthulhuesque EldritchAbomination tries to invade earth. Given that the beatdown is delivered courtesy of the Justice League, but especially Solomon Grundy and Hawkgirl, the "Punch" part is extremely literal.

* [[OnceAnEpisode An everyday occurrence]] in ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow''. Though it's almost always in an outrageous fashion. Example; defeating a giant floating eye monster in a ''staring contest!''
** Better example is beating Death in an arm wrestling competition.

** The Scotsman's Wife in the episode she's introduced winds up punching an evil celtic deity in the gut, and subsequently taking him out. He shouldn't have called her fat.
* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' has the Gang [[spoiler:destroy the Nibiru Entity, a {{Satan}}-like interdimensional alien with god-like power, [[RetGone erasing him from time in the process]].]] Like ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostBusters'' above [[spoiler:they do so by sucking it into a black hole, in this case created by destroying the crystal sarcophagus it was using to draw power from another dimension, causing the connection to implode.]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqg16z8ehp0 "Self Service"]] has gnats starring. One sucks out a human and makes a whole Sodom and Gomorrha business out of it. Meaning that God himself is called on the plan: "YOU!" Pointing a finger at the gnat. Well, you know what gnats do with fingers...(The scene zooms out, so no trope guarantee, but it would be against the spirit of the film if Cthulhu wins.)

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'': In "Ghosts of the Sargasso," the necromancer Dr. Orpheus is summoned to deal with a ghost... but before he can finish, Brock simply knocks its head off.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheGhostAndMollyMcGee'': In the Season 1 finale, [[spoiler: Molly manages to destroy [[TheGrimReaper The Chairman]] [[HolyBurnsEvil after touching him and overloading him with her joy, which causes The Chairman to disintegrate, since he is made from misery, joy is pure poison to him]].]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheGhostAndMollyMcGee'': In the Season 1 finale, [[spoiler: Molly manages to destroy [[TheGrimReaper The Chairman]] [[HolyBurnsEvil after touching him and overloading him with her joy, which causes The Chairman to disintegrate, since he is made from misery]].]]

->'''Caius Tiddlus:''' Pardon my curiosity, but what was is the Beast like?\\

** The 'Busters managed to take on Cthulhu himself in one episode. Though it was specifically stated that the Ghostbusters could not harm Cthulhu, and [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu had simply driven him away for a time,]] it was still quite an impressive feat on their end. In a follow-up episode, the 'Busters take care of another Old One by sucking it into an artificially created black hole (probably not a bad way to take care of a powerful being).

--> "That's called 'Sokka Style.' Learn it!"

** When [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils Marceline's Dad]] is about to suck the soul of [[EverythingsBetterWithPenguins Gunter]], the penguin smacks him. Though this particular example isn't quite fair, since [[ChekhovsGag a later episode reveals]] [[spoiler:Gunter is actually [[SealedEvilInATeddyBear an eldritch being known as Orgalorg]], who's capable of destroying ''planets'' at full power.]]