History IdiotBall / Comicbooks

* Actually, the ordinary citizens and government officials in both the Marvel and DC universes, despite knowing they coexist with very powerful individuals who are capable of inflicting a ''tremendous'' amount of damage if you piss them off or make them defend themselves, just can't seem to resist picking up the Idiot Ball. The short, quiet little guy with the weird haircut and the mutton-chop whiskers, sitting all by himself in the bar and quietly drinking a beer? Maybe you and your buddies trying to pick a fight with him ''just isn't a good idea.'' Instead of sending a entire armored division with both air and infantry support after the Hulk, as well as spending a large chunk of your annual budget, maybe you should do what the Hulk's been telling you to do for years and just ''leave him alone.'' The cute little girl in pigtails, sitting all by herself at a bus stop in the middle of the night, with just a little puppy for company? Maybe she's a 1,000 year old sorceress traveling incognito, and the little puppy is actually her familiar, who will transform himself into a eight foot tall whirlwind of fangs and claws to protect her. Therefore, trying to sweet-talk her into getting into your car ''might be the last thing you ever do.'' The man walking out all by himself in the middle of the night, who shows absolutely no trace of fear when you and your gang try to mug him? He might be a vigilante carrying enough firepower under his BadAssLongCoat to both start and end a war. The unshaven, filthy homeless man riding a subway in the middle of the night? Trying to douse him in lighter fluid and set him on fire might not work out the way you think, especially if he's bonded to a murderous symbiote that gives him all the powers of certain arachnid-based superhero but none of the self-restraint. There are hundreds if not thousands of examples of people who just won't learn.

* The ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay'' storyline in ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' sees Peter Parker doing the [[AtlasPose Atlas gig]] with an Idiot Ball of truly gargantuan proportions. Making a [[DealWithTheDevil deal with the closest analogue to a devil Marvel possesses]] to save the life of his already elderly aunt, at the expense of not only his current marriage, but the entire history ''of'' that marriage? Quite possibly the first example of [[StuffedInTheFridge stuffing someone in the fridge]] but leaving them alive to taunt the audience. This is even worse when you consider the number of readily available contacts the man had with spells, technology, and/or mutant powers that would put her together as good as or even '''better''' than new with minimal effort.
** Parker supposedly went to those contacts, but it was shown that all of those people couldn't help him. That means guys who could take a left arm, brain, and half a heart and ''[[FromASingleCell rebuild a person from those pieces]]'' couldn't heal a gunshot wound. [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]], a man without any real medical knowledge, managed to build a super pacemaker [[MemeticMutation IN A CAVE! WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!]], but there was no one who could take care of a simple gunshot wound. This wasn't an idiot ball, this was a galactic-scale IdiotPlot. It was stated (exactly once, probably in an attempt at an AuthorsSavingThrow) that by the time Peter started making the rounds looking for help, May was already brain dead. There was, for all intents and purposes, no one left to save. Still doesn't explain why none of Spidey's allies stepped up to offer assistance when word got out, especially when you consider that Reed Richards of the Comicbook/FantasticFour once ''[[CrowningMomentOfAwesome built a portal to heaven and accosted God-Mode Jack Kirby]]'' to get Benjamin Grimm back from the dead. Most of them, especially Comicbook/DoctorStrange, spouted some vague ObstructiveCodeOfConduct stuff to refuse helping (never mind how each is perfectly willing to spank reality whenever convenient). At least they offered the good advice that Peter should let his worries go and just enjoy his last day with his aunt. Sadly, despite the entire universe telling him this is a bad idea, [[Creator/JoeQuesada Joe-- err, Peter]] couldn't stand to see his mother figure die because of his enemies. The guy's also best friends with most of the X-Men, who have on their team an Omega-class mutant (Elixir) who was able to bring Shadowcat, Colossus, and several other mutants back from total death. What keeps him from bringing May back? This is a ''reeeeally'' glaring plothole, because apparently there is '''ABSOLUTELY NO-ONE IN THE ENTIRE MARVEL UNIVERSE''' that can help her. Hell, Doctor Doom of all people was completely unable to do anything!
** And really when you think about it, the true idiot ball goes to the writers. Because they chose to go with a complicated, crazy, and ultimately laughably bad search plan (having Spider-Man literally be in a dozen places at once asking for help from the above people who SHOULD be able to help but for no reason can't), instead of going for a simpler, more believable route (Spider-Man simply didn't have the time to get help, or something prevents him from asking). There's a huge difference between Doctor Strange bending reality around Spider-Man and failing to heal a gunshot wound and just, you know... not being home at the time, both lead to the same result.
*** Depending on how you interpret JMS' willingness to write the story, this might be a rare case of IdiotPlot and IdiotBall being {{Enforced}}.
** Arguably even MORE idiotic is Spidey's actions in ''ComicBook/CivilWar''. Yes, Spider-Man. Reveal your secret identity to the public. [[ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied Sure, last time one of your enemies had it, you underwent a tragedy that took you years to cope with, cost an innocent life, and you still angst about to this day]], but it's not like you didn't learn from that! Hell, Spidey's most frequent partner is Daredevil! Did we all just forget "Born Again"?! It was hinted, though, that Tony forced him into that - if Peter wouldn't unmask, Tony would walk out and broadcast it.

*** Depending on how you interpret JMS' willingness to write the story, this might be a rare case of IdiotPlot being {{Enforced}}.

* All-Star [[ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica JSA]] Cyclone. Little Maxine Hunkel seems to have no idea that she should use her powers in combat these days. All she ever does in a fight is freeze up and scream for help. And this is not against extradimensional horrors or powerful supervillains but against petty mooks the rest of the JSA are clobbering without breaking a sweat. She should be standing in the middle of a screaming tornado with mooks being flung through the air, but instead hunches up and whimpers as they move in for the kill.

* ''ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen'' is one long game of Idiot Ball Hot Potato. The entire plot, from the Avengers ignoring the X-Men (who have decades of first-hand experience with the Phoenix Force), to Captain America showing up at Utopia ''demanding'' Hope be turned over, to Tony Stark trying to blow up the Phoenix Force, to attacking the Phoenix Five after they've turned Earth into a paradise, is dependent on pretty much everyone grabbing hold of the Idiot Ball and running with it for all they're worth.

* There was a villain who blamed [[TheFlash Max Mercury]] for the death of his family, gained access to a time machine, and used it to try and destroy Max Mercury. He was temporarily incapacitated with horror when asked why he hadn't used it ''to save his family''.

* ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'': ComicBook/{{Raven}} makes constant dives for the Idiot Ball. The first time, chronologically, was when she saved [[TheFlash Kid Flash]] from committing suicide via freezing to death in the Himalayas (points for creativity, Wally). She thought the best way to save his life was to make him fall in love with her using magic and then using the same magic to make him forget she did it. He went on with his life thinking she made him fall in love with her to get him on the team, ''not'' to save his life. Smooth move, Raven.

** Parker supposedly went to those contacts, but it was shown that all of those people couldn't help him. That means guys who could take a left arm, brain, and half a heart and ''[[FromASingleCell rebuild a person from those pieces]]'' couldn't heal a gunshot wound. [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]], a man without any real medical knowledge, managed to build a super pacemaker [[MemeticMutation IN A CAVE! WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!]], but there was no one who could take care of a simple gunshot wound. This wasn't an idiot ball, this was a galactic-scale IdiotPlot. It was stated (exactly once, probably in an attempt at an AuthorsSavingThrow) that by the time Peter started making the rounds looking for help, May was already brain dead. There was, for all intents and purposes, no one left to save. Still doesn't explain why none of Spidey's allies stepped up to offer assistance when word got out, especially when you consider that Reed Richards of the Comicbook/FantasticFour once ''[[CrowningMomentOfAwesome built a portal to heaven and accosted God-Mode Jack Kirby]]'' to get Benjamin Grimm back from the dead. Most of them, especially Comicbook/DoctorStrange, spouted some vague ObstructiveCodeOfConduct stuff to refuse helping (never mind how each is perfectly willing to spank reality whenever convenient). At least they offered the good advice that Peter should let his worries go and just enjoy his last day with his aunt. Sadly, despite the entire universe telling him this is a bad idea, [[JoeQuesada Joe-- err, Peter]] couldn't stand to see his mother figure die because of his enemies. The guy's also best friends with most of the X-Men, who have on their team an Omega-class mutant (Elixir) who was able to bring Shadowcat, Colossus, and several other mutants back from total death. What keeps him from bringing May back? This is a ''reeeeally'' glaring plothole, because apparently there is '''ABSOLUTELY NO-ONE IN THE ENTIRE MARVEL UNIVERSE''' that can help her. Hell, Doctor Doom of all people was completely unable to do anything!

* In ''ComicBook/TransformersTotalWar'', Megatron ''finally'' admits that [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/File:Megatrong2idiot.jpg this is the sole reason]] he has trusted Starscream for so long, and while Optimus is tempted to record and exploit this confession, [[EnemyMine it really isn't the time.]]

* Actually, the ordinary citizens and government officials in both the Marvel and DC universes, despite knowing they coexist with very powerful individuals who are capable of inflicting a ''tremendous'' amount of damage if you piss them off or make them defend themselves, just can't seem to resist picking up the Idiot Ball. The short, quiet little guy with the weird haircut and the mutton-chop whiskers, sitting all by himself in the bar and quietly drinking a beer? Maybe you and your buddies trying to pick a fight with him ''just isn't a good idea.'' Instead of sending a entire armored division with both air and infantry support after the Hulk, as well as spending a large chunk of your annual budget, maybe you should do what the Hulk's been telling you to do for years and just ''leave him alone.'' The cute little girl in pigtails, sitting all by herself in a bus station in the middle of the night, with just a little puppy for company? Maybe she's a 1,000 year old sorceress traveling incognito, and the little puppy is actually her familiar, who will transform himself into a eight foot tall whirlwind of fangs and teeth to protect her. Therefore, trying to sweet-talk her into getting into your car ''might be the last thing you ever do.'' The man walking out all by himself in the middle of the night, who shows absolutely no trace of fear when you and your gang try to mug him? He might be a vigilante carrying enough firepower under his BadAssLongCoat to both start and end a war. The unshaven, filthy homeless man riding a subway in the middle of the night? Trying to douse him in lighter fluid and set him on fire might not work out the way you think, especially if he's bonded to a murderous symbiote that gives him all the powers of certain arachnid-based superhero but none of the self-restraint. There are hundreds if not thousands of examples of people who just won't learn.

* Actually, the ordinary citizens and government officials in both the Marvel and DC universes, despite knowing they coexist with very powerful individuals who are capable of inflicting a ''tremendous'' amount of damage if you piss them off or make them defend themselves, just can't seem to resist picking up the Idiot Ball. The short, quiet little guy with the weird haircut and the mutton-chop whiskers, sitting all by himself in the bar and quietly drinking a beer? Maybe you and your buddies trying to pick a fight with him ''just isn't a good idea.'' Instead of sending a entire armored division with both air and infantry support after the Hulk, as well as spending a large chunk of your annual budget, maybe you should do what the Hulk's been telling you to do for years and just ''leave him alone." The cute little girl in pigtails, sitting all by herself in a bus station in the middle of the night, with just a little puppy for company? Maybe she's a 1,000 year old sorceress traveling incognito, and the little puppy is actually her familiar, who will transform himself into a eight foot tall whirlwind of fangs and teeth to protect her. Therefore, trying to sweet-talk her into getting into your car ''might be the last thing you ever do.'' The man walking out all by himself in the middle of the night, who shows absolutely no trace of fear when you and your gang try to mug him? He might be a vigilante carrying enough firepower under his BadAssLongCoat to both start and end a war. The unshaven, filthy homeless man riding a subway in the middle of the night? Trying to douse him in lighter fluid and set him on fire might not work out the way you think, especially if he's bonded to a murderous symbiote that gives him all the powers of certain arachnid-based superhero but none of the self-restraint. There are hundreds if not thousands of examples of people who just won't learn.

* ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan'' was essentially the same thing as ''[=AvX=]'', with everyone close to Peter not realizing his humongous TookALevelInJerkass was because Dr. Octopus took over his body and those who ''could'' being stopped or being incapacitated in some way.

* The three baddies from ''[[ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW Friends Forever Issue #25]]'' have a plan that involves stealing the wings from a pegasus to brew into a potion that will give the three of them wings, thus making them Alicorns. That's fine and dandy, except it overlooks one simple thing: if one pegasus can make enough potion for the three of them, then with two willing pegasi they could make two potions: one for the three unicorns and one for the ''two donor pegasi''. This obvious oversight instead led them to craft an evil scheme and get themselves promptly foiled by Twilight Sparkle.

* The three baddies from ''[[ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW Friends Forever Issue #25]]'' have a plan that involves stealing the wings from a pegasus to brew into a potion that will give the three of them wings, thus making them Alicorns. That's fine and dandy, except it overlooks one simple thing: if one pegasus can make enough potion for the three of them, then with two willing pegasi they could make two potions: one for the three unicorns and one for the ''two donor pegasi''. This obvious oversight instead led them to craft an evil scheme and get themselves promptly foiled by Twilight Sparkle.

** [[OurElvesAreDifferent King Aspen]] [[CharacterShilling was billed as wise, respectable leader]] in ''The Root Of The Problem'', how does he show it? When a CorruptCorporateExecutive illegally cuts down there forest, he uses the forest to forcibly seize replacement land from the ponies instead of of attacking those who were still cutting it down. Worse, Celestia and Luna, who would have been on his side, are too busy containing the damage he's causing to help. ''Worse'', the villains are easily stopped and their damage undone once the heroes bother to deal with them, meaning this conflict would have ended before becoming a story if not for Aspen's MisplacedRetribution.

** The first StoryArc had the changelings impersonate the Mane Six and prey upon their insecurities to trick them into a PlotMandatedFriendshipFailure, it take them till next issue to realize this and make amends. Given that the Mane Six knew they were up against changelings, who's abilities for impersonation and deceit were well established to them, why it took this long to suspect anything...

* Dark Avenger in ''ComicBook/{{Noob}}'' comic 9. His student Précieux gets randomly chosen as commander in a battleground subject to DecapitatedArmy and it quickly get established the Dark Avenger in the one truely calling the shots for the Coalition army. But what's this? Sparadrap, the Empire player that Dark Avenger has MistakenForBadass got killed early in the battle? Dark Avenger decides he must be planning something and goes to ambush him at the Empire's RespawnPoint. As he arrives at the RespawnPoint in question, DarkAvenger's guild master Roxana, who has been guarding it, is needed elsewhere and puts Dark Avenger in charge preventing the resurrection on Empire players. Realizing Dark Avenger took Roxana's place, Sparadrap gets taken over by his dismal player's much more competent brother who kills Dark Avenger and hence enables resurrection for the dead Empire players. Meanwhile, Précieux has lost control of the situation and is currently surrounded by a big fire.

** Parker supposedly went to those contacts, but it was shown that all of those people couldn't help him. That means guys who could take a left arm, brain, and half a heart and ''[[FromASingleCell rebuild a person from those pieces]]'' couldn't heal a gunshot wound. [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]], a man without any real medical knowledge, managed to build a super pacemaker [[MemeticMutation IN A CAVE! WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!]], but there was no one who could take care of a simple gunshot wound. This wasn't an idiot ball, this was a galactic-scale IdiotPlot. It was stated (exactly once, probably in an attempt at an AuthorsSavingThrow) that by the time Peter started making the rounds looking for help, May was already brain dead. There was, for all intents and purposes, no one left to save. Still doesn't explain why none of Spidey's allies stepped up to offer assistance when word got out, especially when you consider that Reed Richards of the Comicbook/FantasticFour once ''[[CrowningMomentOfAwesome built a portal to heaven and accosted God-Mode Jack Kirby]]'' to get Benjamin Grimm back from the dead. Most of them, especially Comicbook/DoctorStrange, spouted some vague ObstructiveCodeOfConduct stuff to refuse helping (never mind how each is perfectly willing to spank reality whenever convenient). At least they offered the good advice that Peter should let his worries go and just enjoy his last day with his aunt. Sadly, despite the entire universe telling him this is a bad idea, [[JoeQuesada Joe-- err, Peter]] couldn't stand to see his mother figure die because of his enemies. The guy's also best friends with most of the X-Men, who have on their team an Omega-class mutant (Elixir) who was able to bring Shadowcat, Colossus, and several other mutants back from total death. What keeps him from bringing May back? This is a ''reeeeally'' glaring plothole, because apparently there is '''ABSOLUTELY NO-ONE IN THE ENTIRE MARVEL UNIVERSE''' that can help her. Hell, {{Doctor Doom}} of all people was completely unable to do anything!

* Much of the interpersonal conflict that fractured the ''{{Runaways}}'' during the "Home Schooling" arc (which in turn resulted in the series' cancellation and condemned the team to CListFodder status) probably could have been avoided if someone had thought to keep the obviously-pissed Chase and the apparently-dead Old Lace as far away from Klara as possible until she'd calmed down enough to retract all the vines that were trapping them in their home. Instead, Chase is given a front-row seat, from which he actively makes the situation worse by tormenting Klara, ultimately causing Nico to defuse the situation in the some of the worst ways imaginable - by using a spell to magically tranquilize Klara and making Old Lace's body disappear. As if to highlight the presence of the idiot ball within that story, the collected edition contains a "What If?" story in which the Runaways became the Young Avengers and Iron Lad took over the team. Molly gets critically injured, and one of the first things they do is keep everyone away from her while she's convalescing...

* All-Star [[JusticeSocietyOfAmerica JSA]] Cyclone. Little Maxine Hunkel seems to have no idea that she should use her powers in combat these days. All she ever does in a fight is freeze up and scream for help. And this is not against extradimensional horrors or powerful supervillains but against petty mooks the rest of the JSA are clobbering without breaking a sweat. She should be standing in the middle of a screaming tornado with mooks being flung through the air, but instead hunches up and whimpers as they move in for the kill.
* [[TheMightyThor Thor]], ever since Odin died, has made some very stupid decisions. He became king and every decision he has made has led Asgard from bad to worse. First, there was the Reigning and trusting Loki, but this can be excused by having part of him split off. Since his return he placed the Asgardians on Earth without giving them guidance on how to interact with it, flew off to have adventures avoiding his kingly duties, did not point out his killing of his grand-father Bor was self-defense and he had no way to recognize him since Bor had been thought dead for thousands of years, using up the last of the omnipotent Odinpower to revive Sif instead of restoring said power leaving Asgard vulnerable, acting surprised when Osborn attacked during SIEGE, and now somehow moving the city of Asgard to Earth is the equivalent to moving the dimension so the entire cosmos is out of whack letting in interdimensional invaders. Balder has had his fair share too by not getting informed about what Doom was all about, not expecting retaliation for SIEGE, and exiling Thor in the first place. Oh, both also decided it was a good idea to once again trust Loki despite suspecting him being up to something and with the whole trying to kill them both and rule Asgard for the past thousand years. To be fair Balder has realized he has been an idiot and called himself out on it.

* The original ''{{Elfquest}}'', while done very well, has a handful of obvious mistakes. In Issue#15, a ten thousand year old elf, Lord Voll, is shot by a crossbow bolt. He's assumed to be dead. However, they have a healer with the group, and given what Leetah has done in the past with battle wounds, she could easily heal Voll. It's apparently never thought of by the elves despite it being normally the first thing Leetah would do to someone who is severely injured. Instead, he's allowed to die. A couple of minutes later, the chief is stabbed by a spear and is dying. After he collapses, Leetah heals him.

* Dark Avenger in ''ComicBook/{{Noob}}'' comic 9. His student Précieux gets randomly chosen as commander in a battleground subject to DecapitatedArmy and it quickly get established the Dark Avenger in the one truely calling the shots for the Coalition army. But what's this? Sparadrap, the Empire player that Dark Avenger has MistakenForBadass got killed early in the battle? Dark Avenger decides he must be planning something and goes to ambush him at the Empire's RespawnPoint. As he arrives at the RespawnPoint in question, DarkAvenger's guild master Roxana, who has been guarding it, is needed elsewhere and puts Dark Avenger in charge preventing the resurrection on Empire players. Realizing Dark Avenger took Roxana's place, Sparadrap gets taken over by his dismal player's much more competent brother who kills Dark Avenger and hence enable resurrection for the dead Empire players.

* The ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay'' storyline in ''{{Spider-Man}}'' sees Peter Parker doing the [[AtlasPose Atlas gig]] with an Idiot Ball of truly gargantuan proportions. Making a [[DealWithTheDevil deal with the closest analogue to a devil Marvel possesses]] to save the life of his already elderly aunt, at the expense of not only his current marriage, but the entire history ''of'' that marriage? Quite possibly the first example of [[StuffedInTheFridge stuffing someone in the fridge]] but leaving them alive to taunt the audience. This is even worse when you consider the number of readily available contacts the man had with spells, technology, and/or mutant powers that would put her together as good as or even '''better''' than new with minimal effort.

* The kids of ''AvengersArena'' have been playing hot potato with the IdiotBall since issue #1.

* The IDW ''[[ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]'' comic has this happen to all the six protagonists: when the changelings prey on their insecurities by mimicking their friends' appearances and voices and insulting them, they instantly fall for the charade and begin hating each other... not once stopping to consider that they're up against ''changelings'', who are deceptive, manipulative creatures known for their ability to perfectly mimic voices and appearances. Not to mention that the protagonists have at least once in the past faced [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E1TheReturnOfHarmonyPart1 a foe who deliberately sowed dissent among them]], so they shouldn't fall for it so easily a second time.
** [[OurElvesAreDifferent King Aspen]] sticks the IdiotBall to his antlers and charges the end zone with it in ''The Root Of The Problem''. The setup is that his kingdom is being destroyed to build [[GreenAesop a parking lot]] and his subjects are even being [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything forcibly relocated]]. Rather that attack the construction workers directly (which he's more than powerful enough to do) or appeal to Princess Celestia (who he claims he knows ''personally'') for help, he decides to just send vines and monsters to invade and destroy the cities near the Everfree Forest. He scores his touchdown when Twilight decides to do the sensible thing and call Celestia to come settle the issue, but by this time she and Princess Luna have been subdued by Aspen's vines and can no longer help. [[SarcasmMode Nice job, king.]]