History Main / CurbStompCushion

** The revised Link. vs Cloud fight is this, [[spoiler: with Link being a GlassCannon who answers to Cloud's brute strength with a massive arsenal of weapons and wits, and almost manages to take Cloud out in moments until Cloud finally gives him a OneHitKill]].

* In ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'', Zenitsu remains mostly on the defensive once Kaigaku gets really mad after he had enough of Zenitsu's newfound bravado, downplaying his "achievements" in becoming a mere substitute Upper-6 since all of that cost their master's life; Kaigaku showers Zenitsu with all remaining five Thunder Breathing forms amplified by his Blood Demon Art making all the thunderous elementals quite real, however, Zenitsu takes all of it without really counter-attacking for a while, revealing that what kept Zenitsu from going all out was that he honestly wanted to still see a way in which Kaigaku was not as a bad as Zenitsu thought he was - which was why Zenitsu tried to ask questions at first - once Zenitsu steels himself and truly gives up on Kaigaku, he unleashes his own creation, 7th Form: Honoikazuchi no Kami, destroying Kaigaku with that one attack, showing Zenitsu could have ended that fight whenever he wanted to.

** An arguable inversion occurs in the battle between [[WesternAnimation/TheTransformers Starscream]] and [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Rainbow Dash]], probably the most curbstompy fight in ''Death Battle'' history, with [[spoiler:the latter]] utterly toying with [[spoiler:the former]] for the entire duration of the fight, even more than their stats might imply. [[spoiler:This seems to be mostly for the purpose of the inherent RuleOfFunny in seeing a small pony annihilating a giant robot, but is also somewhat justified, since due to the potency of his arsenal any good hit by Starscream could have theoretically annihilated Dash, [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy if only he weren't too incompetent to land even one]]. Starscream lands all of '''two''' hits in the entire fight, one with his metal hand and one with the Null Ray, which does not damage organic beings and therefore only stuns and dazes Dash for a second or two. She '''is''' at least visibly worried about his final barrage of missiles, even though she [[HoistByHisOwnPetard winds up using it to her advantage]].]]

* ''Film/ShinGodzilla'' shows Godzilla being NighInvulnerable against every weapon Japan can throw at him, with the closest they can come to claiming victory being that they do a fair job of minimizing casualties. When the US Air Force comes along, though, they actually manage to break his armor with a pair of MOP II Massive Ordinance Penetrators. Unfortunately, this ends up only making him angry enough to use his energy breath, destroying the bombers, most of Tokyo, and the Japanese Cabinet.
* ''Film/GodzillaMinusOne'' sees the cruiser ''Takao'' rescuing the ''Shinsei Maru'' by drawing Godzilla's ire. While it can't penetrate his skin, the crew is actually able to keep its guns trained on him, even as he's pulling it under water, and is able to get a single shot off point blank that actually seems to knock him out, if only briefly. Again, he destroys the ship, but the attack manages to save the small minesweeper from his wrath, and the crew aboard it ends up being directly responsible for his eventual defeat.

** Sanji against Black Maria and her subordinates. He loses because he [[WouldntHurtAGirl can't hurt Maria and her female Gifters]], but he makes things easier for his allies as he easily beats the few male subordinates she has.

** When Eustass Kid tries to attack the allies of the Red-Haired Pirates in Elbaf, Shanks intervenes before he can even ''start'' to fire his [[{{BFG}} Damned Punk]] attack, cutting him down in a SingleStrokeBattle. But it wasn't - from ''our'' point of view - a complete curbstomp, because Shanks only went StraightForTheCommander after seeing that Kid's attack would have [[AFatherToHisMen killed a lot of his allies]] via his [[CombatClairvoyance Observation Haki]], and [[NoNonsenseNemesis immediately targeted Kid before he could launch his attack]].

** Since [[ForWantOfANail All Might has yet to pass on his Quirk]], he's strong enough to handily defeat the Nomu upon arriving, forcing the League into retreat. However, while they failed to achieve their primary goal, they also inflicted far more damage onto Class 1-A than their {{canon}} counterparts managed, with [[spoiler:over half of the class requiring immediate medical treatment for serious injuries]].

* ''Fanfic/AndrogyninjasADropOfPoison'' opens with [[ForWantOfANail Sakura and Sasuke sparring at the Academy]]. While Sakura suspects she has no chance against the 'top rookie' of their class, she manages to land two blows before going down. Unfortunately, Sasuke doesn't take it well and unleashes a blistering BreakingSpeech about how she'll never be worth more than CannonFodder, destroying her crush on him.

* ''Film/Dune2021'': The Harkonnen attack catches House Atreides completely by surprise, destroying all of their spacecraft on the ground and forcing the survivors of the initial bombardment to charge into battle outnumbered and poorly armed. Despite this, Gurney Halleck still manages to lead the survivors in a glorious last charge, holding off the Harkonnens until most are cut down by the Sardaukar.

** ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'': While [[Characters/MonsterVerseKaiju Rodan]] loses fairly quickly to Ghidorah during their aerial battle in Mexico, he still manages to last roughly a full minute or two in a one-on-one confrontation with Godzilla's ArchEnemy.

*** This is later turned around on Freeza when he powers up against Super Saiyan Goku. Though Freeza gets in some good blows (even managing to nearly kill Goku right before the dragon revives everyone), he's still ultimately outdone, as Freeza loses power much too quickly to be a serious threat to Goku for very long.

** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Stone Ocean]]'': Upon [[spoiler:awakening Made In Heaven]], Pucci was able to blitz through most of the heroes, even with Jotaro's TimeStop being useless against him. Jolyne was able to inflict an EyeScream by catching him off guard.

** Franky against Spandam using Funkfeed. Franky manages to stop and even scare the sword, but it still draws a lot of blood from him.

* Simba in ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'' loses to [[IWasBeatenByAGirl his best friend Nala]] during all of their fights, but in their third fight as adults, he does a much better job against her than the first two times. At the beginning of the fight he manages to [[OhCrap startle her for a moment]] when he [[DynamicEntry lunges at her out of nowhere and tackles her hard to the ground]], briefly pinning her before she manages to break free from his hold and fight back. He grapples with her evenly throughout the fight, [[UnskilledButStrong despite her having more experience than him]] and this being the first ''real'' fight of his life. Finally, even though she ends up winning with the same move she used to beat him before, she was clearly taking the fight very seriously, unlike their fights as cubs where she easily beat Simba while laughing at him with little effort, and he managed to save his friends from her.

* ''Manga/OnePunchMan'': The whole joke of the series is that Saitama is completely unbeatable, so when he gets his greatest boss fight yet in the form of Boros -- an alien with godlike powers who comes looking for him because he can find no challenges anywhere else -- what happens is that, get this, Boros ''does not die with one punch''. One casual, not-really-trying punch, that is, since Saitama is never eally trying. He also manages to send Saitama flying to the Moon, but he just jumps back.

* ''Manga/KenganAshura'' likes this trope a lot, especially once the Annihilation Tournament kicks into gear. Even in fights where the outcome clearly isn't in doubt from the start, the loser still almost always gets in some big hits or a period where they force their opponent on the back foot. Okubo versus Agito is one of the biggest: the narration outright notes that Okubo is a JackOfAllStats going up against a MasterOfAll, and the fight's overall back-and-forth suggests that Agito is mostly playing with his food. But Okubo pulls off the first takedown, keeps up with Agito in a grappling match, and even after Agito declares he'll start fighting seriously, Okubo still manages to force him on the back foot via ConfusionFu and throw out moves that would probably kill a normal person.

%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order.

We are witnessing a CurbStompBattle. Maybe the [[Film/ToraToraTora Imperial Japanese Navy has]] [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII caught the American giant sleeping]]. Perhaps [[AIIsACrapShoot Skynet's]] [[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay forces are ripping the]] [[LaResistance TechCom troops]] a [[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 structurally superfluous new behind]]. A [[Series/{{Ultraman}} hero from the stars]] might be having a tough time fighting [[{{Kaiju}} a giant monster]]. Whatever the case, the losing side is getting it ''[[AccidentalInnuendo hard]]''.

** Most Star Wars battles, even curb-stomp ones, tend to follow this pattern. At least one Republic AT-TE Walker is shown exploding during the Battle of Geonosis, for instance, and a number of rebel ships are destroyed even in the closing stages of the Battle of Endor.

See also DoNotGoGentle and PyrrhicVictory, the latter which the surprised curb-stompee is likely to achieve. Also see WorfHadTheFlu.

* Aeon Clock in ''Manga/AirGear'' is a HopelessBossFight for Kazu and after playing around for a while he eventually gets serious and declares Kazu won't be able to lift a finger against him. He seemingly makes good on this boast by knocking Kazu out with a single, lightning-fast punch. As he's leaving the arena, he notices that Kazu ''was'' able to move one finger, flipping him off in the instant before the punch connected. Aeon notes that finger is Kazu's victory.

** Isshin's fight with White (Aizen's [[SuperPrototype experimental Hollow]]) drags on as he slowly loses the edge, ultimately being saved by the intervention of [[spoiler:Masaki]]. To his credit, at this point White had already killed several Shinigami [[SingleStrokebattle before they could react]], and Isshin did manage to [[AnArmAndALeg cut off one of White's arms]]. Though Isshin was a [[RankScalesWithAsskicking Captain]] at the time, [[WorfHadTheFlu he could not fight at full strength]] because Aizen had snuck up on him and injured him in such a way that he could not use his [[SuperMode Bankai]]. Had he been in tip-top condition, it is likely that Isshin would've won with moderate difficulty.

** [[spoiler:Makima]] is the first person to actually do visible damage to the [[spoiler:Darkness Devil]], but is still clearly incredibly outmatched. The moment she tries for a followup attack, it evaporates her arm, impales her, and might very well have killed her if she hadn't escaped.

** It happens again during ''Anime/DragonBallGT'', in the Shadow Dragon Saga. Syn Shenron has just absorbed all the Dragon Balls and [[AllYourPowersCombined acquired the combined powers of all seven Shadow Dragons]], becoming Omega Shenron, against whom Goku is completely outmatched. Then Goku breaks out his [[ShapingYourAttacks Dragon]] [[MegatonPunch Fist]], which not only makes Omega scream in pain, but also managed to blast him to pieces. Though Omega shortly after regenerates FromASingleCell, he nonetheless admits that the Dragon Fist was a very painful attack, even if it wasn't enough to finish him.

*** His fight with Hit similarly has Jiren utterly dominating most of the battle, but Hit still manages to get some painful hits in after he adapts to Jiren's fighting style. The fact Jiren even bothered to take the offensive is already a testament to Hit's prowess, the fact Hit actually ''lasted'' against Jiren's assault is flat-out amazing. Hit actually manages to almost knock him out of bounds and use his time skip to paralyze Jiren, with Jiren having to put serious effort into escaping.
*** Likewise, his fight with Vegeta at first has Jiren dominating the fight at first, but once Vegeta manages to see through his RapidFireFisticuffs, he quickly turns the tables and even manages to land a solid blow on Jiren, something only Goku [[spoiler:in his Ultra Instinct form]] has managed to do. [[note]] Its ambiguous if Jiren was holding back against Vegeta though, as Vegeta comments that he did better when he fight Ultra Instinct Goku. Given Vegeta's personality, it might be a taunt, or factual[[/note]] However, Jiren quickly regains the upper hand and nearly rings Vegeta out with his Power Impact. Vegeta tries to finish Jiren with the Final Flash, but Jiren survives and blasts Vegeta away once again.
*** His final battle against [[SuperMode Mastered Ultra Instinct]] Goku has the situation ''reversed'' for the first time. After breaking even with and overpowering the incomplete Ultra Instinct once his initial surprise wears off, Jiren finds himself completely overwhelmed by the new depths of power Goku has achieved and gets thrashed like never before. It's so bad that [[TraumaButton it triggers his memories of his childhood trauma]], which causes him to unleash his full unrestrained power at long last. Surprisingly, [[HeroicSecondWind it lets him break even with Goku again, even push him back at several points]], but [[UnskilledButStrong his own rage hinders his original efficiency and prevents him from taking down Goku]]. When Jiren finally snaps and attacks Goku's friends and family in the stand after [[BerserkButton learning that Goku draws his newfound resolve and strength from]] ThePowerOfFriendship, Goku finally has enough [[UnstoppableRage and finally beats him down]]. The only thing that spares Jiren from eliminated is the fact that [[HeroicRROD the Mastered Ultra Instinct times out and leaves Goku barely able to move]] and the only thing that spares ''Goku'' from retaliation is when [[BigDamnHeroes Frieza and 17 jump in for the save]].
* The anime version of ''Manga/{{Eyeshield21}}'' hands cushion to every team that got destroyed in the manga. Aside one case of AdaptationalBadass none of them [[ForgotICouldFly make]] [[IdiotBall much]] [[AdaptationInducedPlotHole sense]].
** Zokugaku Chameleon able to stop one offense against [[TheGiant Poseidon]] thanks to their only important player Habashira stopping a bland receiver, in the manga he can't stop anything since the Poseidon has their tall lineman block him.
** The Yuuhi Guts all-star team (aces of different sport's clubs mashed together) score one touchdown against [[TheHero Devilbats]] until Hiruma decides to use combination play to beat a team that don't know enough about football to counter it, in the manga Hiruma goes with this plan right away and the all-stars exchange their place with the regular starter after a forty points gap.

** The Scorpions get some AdaptationalVillainy where they kidnap Hiruma leaving Devilbats without their quarterback and strategist, they even break the replacement quarterback when they realize they are still losing. Suddenly out of nowhere Hiruma shows up and secure the win (really not clear if he shot his way out of the kidnapping or the Scorpion's captain just assume he was gone). In the original game Hiruma is never "kidnapped" so they win without letting the Scorpion score a single touchdown
** Taiyou's Sphinx shows their new line formation during their match with Hakushu's Dinosaurs that make them a great offensive and defensive team before the Dinosaurs have Gaou (strongest highschooler/possibly man in Japan) send them all to the hospital. Again in the manga Gaou crushes the line in the first play because he didn't suddenly stop existing for the first minutes of the match.
** The Masaki Wolves is a joke in the manga while in the anime their captain become an AdaptationalBadass who can become stronger and faster if he hunts the ball, he then lose against Seibu's team when the runningback remembers he is the second fastest character in the series [[spoiler: at the time]] and simply dodges him.

* In ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'', Raoh's fight with Fudou is a battle between the BigBad of the entire first half of the series and the at-the-time WorldsStrongestMan, and a relative MauveShirt introduced only a few arcs previously. Raoh enters the fight in complete confidence to settle an old score after an unfavorable bout with Kenshiro, and even orders his henchmen to shoot him if he takes even a single step back. He inflicts a ton of damage to Fudou, and by the end of the fight, Fudou is so covered in wounds that he can barely stand. However, the fact that Fudou is able to stand up to him and even get in a few hits confuses Raoh at first... and then he looks into Fudou's eyes and realizes the strength of his spirit and determination, and that it's the same spirit of his rival Kenshiro. This shakes Raoh so badly that when Fudou makes his final charge, he actually freezes up and takes a step back, and Fudou's attack is only arrested by one of Raoh's minions shooting him. Though by all rights Raoh was ''destroying'' Fudou, that single moment of weakness, to Raoh and to Fudou, made the fight a loss.

** The final battle in ''Anime/Gundam00AWakeningOfTheTrailblazer'' is shown like this: it's pretty clear the ELS are winning the overall battle, and the human forces are getting overwhelmed. But, there are lots of scenes of individual human forces destroying truckloads of ELS, and not just the Gundam-piloting main characters. The ELS may be winning, but humanity is putting up one hell of a fight.
** The final battle in ''Anime/GundamBuildDiversReRise'' has Alus. Despite being heavily outnumbered by the Third Coalition of Volunteers, he still manages to surprise them by his sheer firepower, attacking GBN's servers directly and hijacking Hiroto Kuga's Earthree armour for himself. That being said, he ends up losing his advantage when ''millions more'' Divers, including the admins, enter the battle, push him back and undo his damage. He manages to execute a LastVillainStand, but only succeeds in taking May and Sarah out of the fight before Riku and Hiroto finish him off.

** In ''Anime/VividStrike'', while Rinne makes short work of [[spoiler:Miura Rinaldi]], her opponent forces her to break her self-imposed rule of not using grappling attacks (which wasn't purely imposed out of overconfidence, but to prepare herself for tournaments in which they aren't allowed).
* The FinalBossPreview in ''Anime/MegaloBox'' has Yuri taunt protagonist Junk Dog that he can beat him [[WithMyHandsTied with only his left arm]]. After being jabbed around the ring for half the round, Junk Dog manages to get in a clean hit that forces Yuri to (instinctively) bring up his right to block it. This [[WorthyOpponent causes Yuri to take Junk Dog seriously as an opponent]] and [[OneHitKill the match is over seconds later]]. A second cushion shows up shortly after when Junk Dog is able to get to his feet and taunt Yuri from the ring as Yuri is leaving.

** In Punk Hazard, upon learning that Vergo is a traitor and a spy for Doflamingo, Smoker puts his name at the top of his list, bolts to his location after guessing that he's heading towards Law in the SAD production room and starts fighting him as soon as he finds him. While he lands several powerful blows, Vergo's endurance, durability and Haki are still superior to Smoker's, who slowly finds himself losing as he fails to deal lasting damage while Vergo whales on him with impunity. By the end of it he admits to himself that he simply can't beat Vergo one-on-one, and [[spoiler:steals [[WorfHadTheFlu Law's heart]] from Vergo so that he can finish the fight in his place]].

** In the Alola League, Lillie is pit against her brother Gladion, a battler masterful enough to defeat Ash and Kiawe on separate occasions. Despite her request that Gladion fight at full power, Lillie does hold on for a fair while with Snowy and uses clever strategies, managing a Hail and Snow Cloak combo to dodge Umbreon's attacks, and landing her Subzero Slammer Z-Move. Umbreon manages to tank it however, and shortly defeats Snowy with one Iron Tail.

** Similarly, the first time Yugi duels Pegasus, the latter's mind-reading powers make him almost invincible, especially when he takes control of Dark Magician. However, Yugi does deduce that the way he did it made another monster vulnerable, and he almost takes it out before the timer reached zero, even though he was reduced to just playing the top card of his deck without looking at it.

** Batman and Dracula's fight. Batman finds himself unable to match Dracula's strength even with his own vampiric powers, but is able to do some damage with his {{silver|Bullet}} Batarangs.

* In ''ComicBook/ContestOfChampions2015'', Maestro's plan is coming to fruition, and he prepares to fight the Grandmaster one-on-one for his piece of the iso-sphere. Cut to four and a half minutes later, where Maestro is victorious, but he's also clutching his chest and barely standing, admitting the Grandmaster might have broke his arm and a couple ribs.

* In ''Fanfic/TheBridge'', the recently transformed Monster X is able to land a few powerful hits that stagger Grand King Ghidorah, thanks to the Xilian military distracting the latter. He still fails to do any lasting damage, loses outright and is overpowered entirely, [[spoiler: until the second phase of the fight when X transforms into Kaizer Ghidorah to even the field.]]
* ''Fanfic/BoldoresAndBoomsticks'' has Yang's fourth fight with Tapu Koko going this way. While ''all'' of the preceeding fights were Koko either crushing her absolutely or spending the entire fight JustToyingWithThem, Yang (after getting it slapped into her head that being UnskilledButStrong ''will not work'' against a PhysicalGod), uses tactics to fight the fourth time - and while she still loses, she actually impresses Koko. Hala sums it up like this after the fight.

** On Hoshi's side, while he's able to fight his foe on equal footing and managing to nearly defeat her, his opponent was able to strike him and put him in a position where she would have been able to kill him were it not for a last minute save.

** Chapter 6 presents us Daria Noharis and the Second Company VS The Good Hunter. Daria managed to kick the Hunter sideways and launch him a few feet away, yet she, and the rest of her company are ultimately no match for his [[SpellBlade Holy]] [[SwordBeam Moonlight]] [[{{BFS}} Sword]].
** Druella, the Fourth Born VS The Good Hunter in Chapter 7. Her {{flight}} means she naturally fares better in dodging the Hunter's deadly strikes, and, like Daria, she at one point succeeds in sending him flying. While it may seem that she took little direct damage, she is eventually overwhelmed by her wounds due to the magic within the [[SpellBlade Holy]] [[SwordBeam Moonlight]] [[{{BFS}} Sword]], and is left severely incapacitated. The fact that she [[NearDeathExperience narrowly avoids death]] is quite a miracle, though she's definitely not in a good shape afterwards.
* In ''Fanfic/IncarnationOfLegends'', Kojiro challenges the Radiance, an adventurer strong enough to take on the Legiones, to a one-on-one duel as soon as they meet. She quickly plows through his skill and speed-based defense with brute force, dislocated his shoulder and bending his sword in the process. But Kojiro does damage her helmet to the point that it cracks and falls to pieces, implying that he would have cut through her head had it not been there.

** Kyril, Sanakan, and Hugh VS Shamuhaza in Chapter 22, original version. It seems like the three hunters are dominating the fight at first, but Shamuhaza [[spoiler:as an EldritchAbomination]] proves to be a rather effective MightyGlacier that can not only endure a lot of punishment from the three, but also release a shockwave that launches all three of them back, even putting Sanakan out of comission. This exceeds Kyril's expectations... [[spoiler:because he thought he didn't have to [[IAmNotLeftHanded let a bit of his power out]].]]

* ''WebAnimation/SuperMarioBrosZ'': [[BigBad Mecha Sonic]] (Metallix in the reboot) ''beats the living shit out'' of [[VideoGame/YoshisIsland Yoshi]] and almost kills him, but Yoshi got several good hits in, protecting himself inside a egg (with Mecha Sonic having a hard time destroying it) and even catching Mecha Sonic in a combo before the latter's significantly superior strength and speed caught up to Yoshi. Even moreso in the reboot, where Yoshi taps into the power of the swallowed Chaos Emerald to give an extreme retaliation in the form of deadly explosive eggs.
* In ''Fanfic/AnimorphsRedux'', when trying to retrieve the morphing cube from David, Marco, Rachel and Cassie end up facing Visser Three, two Hork-Bajir and three armed human-Controllers while they're all in wolf morph. Marco explicitly muses that there's no way they can win such a fight, but he and Cassie manage to cripple the arm and leg of a different Hork-Bajir while Rachel manages to do some damage to Visser Three before Tobias, Ax and Jake (in tiger morph) show up to even the odds.

* At the climax of ''Fanfic/HellsisterTrilogy'''s second series, ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} goes up against ComicBook/{{Darkseid}}. It's clear from the beginning she is severely outmatched, but she gets several good licks in before going down, such like smashing him across the room and hitting him several times with her fists or her heat vision.
* ''Webcomic/WhatIfIKnowTooManyReasonsICanBeStrong'': Akaza and Kokushibo hold their own against Tanjiro and are able both give and put up a decent fight even with him in Yoriichi Type Zero. Considering that his battles against other demons -- including other Upper Ranks like Doma -- have been rather one-sided, this is quite an impressive feat that makes it fitting for their status as the strongest members of the Upper Ranks in the first place.

** Izuku struggles against Shigaraki, but still manages to land some good hits on him, in no small part due to Shigaraki's own arrogance and ignorance. In particular, Shigaraki decides to make a show of disarming him by disintegrating his eskrima rods -- causing them to explode in his hands, severely injuring himself in the process.

** The second Battle of Ponyville looks like one of these, as even though [[PhysicalGod Terra]] takes out Luna and wipes the floor with the Mane Six, they refuse to give up, and get in plenty of hits of their own. [[spoiler: It ends up as a subversion, as they actually manage to ''win'', thanks to reigniting the Elements of Harmony and stripping Terra's power.]]

* Zoro's duel with Mihawk in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5405553/1/The-Boy-with-Haki The Boy With Haki]]'' still ends with Zoro being defeated with ease. Unlike canon however, he's unlocked haki and a result his ultimate attack manages to cut Mihawk's cheek.

* ''Fanfic/{{Hyphen}}'': Astra and May's "battle" against Steven in Petalburg Woods. Steven wipes out both of their zero-badge teams with just his Skarmory, and spends most of the battle standing back and letting Skarmory's natural abilities and experience handle the whole fight. But the two had enough tactical skill to force Steven to actually try against them, if only briefly: right when they think they've gotten the upper hand, Steven orders Skarmory to use Steel Wing, and that ends the battle.
* ''Fanfic/{{Traveler}}'': Ash manages to take out two members of Cynthia's team at the cost of five of his own then almost beats her Garchomp while fighting four on one.

* In the [[SandalPunk Bronze Age]] AlternateUniverse fic ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/7555468?view_full_work=true A Rabbit Clan's Fox]]'', while the bulk of the Hopps clan (including Judy) is battling a skirmish on the outside of the burrow, a small warband sneaks into the burrow in an effort to [[ItMakesSenseInContext kill or take away the kits into thralldom]]. Nick, who is Judy's thrall[[note]]a slighly more respect-worthy kind of slave, usually an enemy defeated in battle[[/note]], is hiding with the children to keep them calm, since they're fond of him. The warband is composed of five for five rabbit warriors and a stoat[[note]]a small mustelid close to the weasel[[/note]] mercenary; Nick is an adult male red fox[[note]]foxes are natural predators to both rabbits and stoats[[/note]] [[NormalFishInATinyPond and as such a VERY strong, tough and frightening enemy to face]]. In a panicked frenzy that involves [[UnskilledButStrong completely ignoring sword slashes and bludgeoning straight through weapons raised in defense (and the foes behind them as well)]], Nick manages to annihilate the entire warband, but due in no small part to catching them by surprise and immediately disabling one warrior[[note]]size differences aside, Nick is [[NonActionGuy a crafter with no combat training whatsoever and poor hunting skills]], and would stand little chance in a regular fight[[/note]], and not without receiving grievous injuries[[labelnote:+]]he ends up with a wide sword cut on his chest and a spear rammed through his abdomen[[/labelnote]].

* Simba in ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'' loses to [[IWasBeatenByAGirl his best friend Nala]] during all of their fights, but in their third fight as adults he does a much better job against her than the first two times. At the beginning of the fight he manages to [[OhCrap startle her for a moment]] when he [[DynamicEntry lunges at her out of nowhere and tackles her hard to the ground]], briefly pinning her before she manages to break free from his hold and fight back. He grapples with her evenly throughout the fight, [[UnskilledButStrong despite her having more experience than him]] and this being the first ''real'' fight of his life. Finally, even though she ends up winning with the same move she used to beat him before, she was clearly taking the fight very seriously, unlike their fights as cubs where she easily beat Simba while laughing at him with little effort, and he managed to save his friends from her.

* After messing with the poor box during the DarkestHour of ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood1973'', the Sheriff of Nottingham seemingly talks himself into a sound beating from the livid Friar Tuck, who shoves and whacks him stupid with a club. Even before Trigger comes to his aid however, the Sheriff recovers and easily slices Tuck's club in half. Though Tuck ''still'' doesn't lose footing until Trigger intervenes, he is clearly [[OhCrap panicking and fighting much more desperately.]]

** Occurs in ''Film/GodzillaMothraKingGhidorahGiantMonstersAllOutAttack''. Baragon managed to catch Godzilla off-guard few times. However, it's all in vain since Godzilla still manages to roast him alive.

* In ''Film/IndependenceDay'', at dawn on July 3rd, Black Knight Squadron launches from MCAS El Toro to strike at the 15 mile wide city destroyer hovering above the ruins of Los Angeles, [[TheWorfBarrage they see their ordnance go off harmlessly]] on the ship's [[DeflectorShield protective shield.]] The two dozen, or so, fighter planes are then engaged by a large swarm of more than a hundred small nimble defender craft [[NoSell that are also protected by their own shields.]] In the span of about one hour, what was supposed to be the opening phase of a counterattack is aborted as [[CurbStompBattle the operation turns into a one-sided slaughter in favor of the invaders.]] To make matters worse, as the main defensive force finishes off Black Knight Squadron, another massive swarm of defender craft is dispatched to El Toro, [[SittingDuck with the intent of destroying the base and anyone on it.]] Seeing what a disaster the operation was, [[SoleSurvivor Cpt. Steven Hiller]] manages to outmaneuver one of the craft that chased him from Los Angeles onto the Nevada desert, and he forces it to crash and captures the enemy pilot.

** The 1 on 1 T. rex vs I. rex battle in ''Film/JurassicWorld''. The T. rex, [[OldMaster well past her prime]], draws first blood, shakes the Indominus around a bit and actually makes her scream in pain, but when the Indominus pins her down, she suffers a savage mauling, and would've been killed if [[BigDamnHeroes Blue the Velociraptor hadn't shown up]].

** Kick-ass versus the Motherfucker makes it clear that Chris has almost no fighting ability, unlike Dave who's been training. Chris gets the upperhand exactly twice in the entire fight: Once when two of his minions hold Dave down and once when he lands a surprise attack on Dave from behind. The rest of the time, he struggles to even hold his own.
* ''Film/LettersFromIwoJima'' has the Japanese garrison on Iwo Jima hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned by a superior American invasion force. However, thanks to the defense-in-depth planned by General Kuribayashi, the Japanese manage to inflict higher casualties than they take for the first time in the war, and make them pay in taking the island.
* In ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheTwoTowers'', after the Ents are awakened and attack Saruman's fortress of Orthanc, they lay waste to his Uruk-Hai army. The Uruk-Hai do, however, manage to capture a couple Ents by pulling them over with hooks and chains. They also set one on fire, but he's saved by a well timed dam break and flood.
** In ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing'', something of a minor criticism of the Theatrical cut is that Mordor's army manages to almost walk over Gondor's defenders at Minas Tirith, even though Gondor is supposed to be the most powerful kingdom still opposing Sauron - more powerful than Rohan. Sort of an unfair comparison, given that Isengard attacked Helm's Deep with 10,000 (well equipped) Uruk-hai, while Mordor sent a mega-horde of something like ''a quarter million'' Orcs to attack Minas Tirith as the ''main'' thrust of the entire war. Thankfully this was fixed a bit in the Extended edition of ROTK, which has more time to show the tide of battle see-sawing back and forth as each side makes successful counter-attacks - thus adding in a Pillow to the otherwise Curb Stomp battle. Case in point, an Extended edition scene shows the Orcs' first attempt to use a regular battering ram against the city gates, which gets stopped cold with heavy losses by companies of Gondorian archers on the walls. The Orcs then have to regroup and bring up the super-battering ram known as Grond later that night.

** ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'': The combined might of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and the Guardians of the Galaxy proves to be no match for Thanos and the power of the Infinity Gauntlet, but they sure as hell won’t go down without giving him one hell of a fight first. [[spoiler:Even if Thanos does succeed in his goal of wiping out half the universe, in the end he has lost everything in his quest due to the heroes’ resistance. His entire army and the elite Black Order is annihilated, his adoptive daughter sacrificed, the Infinity Gauntlet ruined, and the surviving heroes will surely come to avenge their fallen comrades in the near future. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And he got a tiny cut on his cheek from Tony's rocket-assisted punch.]]]]

** ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'', the first encounter between the two kaiju gives all the advantages to Godzilla. The fight is at sea, and Kong is chained to a container ship. Godzilla [[CombatPragmatist takes advantage flipping the ship over]], and Kong is only saved from drowning thanks to him being released from his chains. Despite being underwater he manages to repel Godzilla and turn the ship back on rightside up before taking the fight onto an aircraft carrier. He punches Godzilla in the face, which just serves to annoy him and cause him slap Kong onto his back. As he's about to fire his BreathWeapon however a few jet fighters shoot at Godzilla and give Kong the chance to push him off the carrier. Which does Kong no good as Godzilla simply destroys the carrier and forces Kong into the water and nearly drowns him. Kong is up against a monster who is bigger, stronger, has the HomefieldAdvantage since he swims much faster than Kong and can breathe underwater. Despite that Kong does get a few hits in, even when they are fighting underwater, causing Godzilla to get serious.
*** The rematch between the two. This time Kong has the HomefieldAdvantage because they are fighting in a city where he can manuveur by leaping around the buildings and has an axe [[EnergyAbsorption that absorbs the energy from Godzilla's]] BreathWeapon (something Kong has no defense against otherwise). By the end Kong seems to have Godzilla on the ropes, but Godzilla in the end turns out to have been pulling his punches and reduces the fight to [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown a one sided beating]] that leaves Kong on death's doorstep. Despite that Kong managed to get a number of hits in throughout the fight and even when pinned under Godzilla's foot, he after he's clearly beaten he gets in one last hit on a wound he made with the axe.
* In the prologue of ''Film/TheMummy1999'', Rick's French Foreign Legion don't back down in the face of the Medjai army, and their first several volleys take down several waves of horsemen, but the moment the Medjai start returning fire, the difference in firepower is obvious. The moment they jump the barricades, the battle is all but lost. But even as the rest of legionnaires are getting slaughtered, Rick still takes out several enemies before he's forced to flee.

* Both of the fights between Rocky Balboa and Clubber Lang in ''Film/RockyIII'' have elements of this. In the first bout Rocky starts strong, and at one point seems to have Lang in trouble, but Lang manages to cover up and then comes back to ''crush'' Rocky. In the rematch Rocky outclasses Lang in round 1 by using HitAndRunTactics, and later knocks Lang out in round 3, but during the second round Lang seemed to be on the edge of winning and managed to knock Rocky down twice.
* In ''Film/PokemonDetectivePikachu'', even after regaining the ability to use moves, Detective Pikachu stands little chance of overpowering [[spoiler: Howard-as-Mewtwo]]. However he still manages to fend off [[spoiler: Howard's]] attacks for some time and even stuns him temporarily with Volt Tackle, distracting him long enough for Tim to [[spoiler: break Mewtwo free from Howard's control]].

* In ''Film/{{Stardust}}'', Septimus is out of his depth when he fights the three witches, and is killed fairly easily when they stop playing. In the interim, however, his quick-thinking allows him to throw his sword through one of them, killing her.

*** The fight between Luke and Darth Vader ends very much in Vader's side but Luke does get him on the back foot a couple times. While this is partially because Vader wants to catch Luke but even when the Dark Lord takes off the kids gloves Luke still gets a glancing blow in. It helps illustrate that Luke could beat Darth Vader at his best but that is very much not now.

*** The Terminator vs. Ginger's boyfriend Matt. Matt gets predictably ragdolled, but there is a moment where the guy rugby-tackles the apparent home-invader and ''manages to knock it back a few feet''.

*** After Kyle jams another pipe bomb to the robot's frame, the T-800 loses its legs and left hand in the explosion, but the endoskeleton from the waist up still survived and tried to choke Sarah to death. It takes a hydraulic press to [[SquashedFlat flatten]] the T-800 beyond repair.
*** In an example not directly related to the Terminator itself, the future war scenes show humans being being curb-stumbed, the biggest victory shown for humans being Kyle managing to destroy a single HK Tank. Then you remember that prior to seeing most of these scenes, dialogue established that humanity ''still won'' the war and the Terminator being sent back in time was a last-ditch desperation move on Skynet's part.

* ''Film/UnderSiege2DarkTerritory'' has Siegal's character, Casey Ryback, dominating TheDragon in their fight. But said dragon, does manage to land a solid kick to Ryback's face when the former tried to twist his ankle, knocking him back and allowing the former grab a weapon. And earlier in the fight, he managed to cost Ryback his knife when their tussle lead to them falling down the stairs.

** Though Harry's duel with Bellatrix goes about the way you'd expect it to, he does get in one hit that knocks her down. This seems to amuse her more than anything however.
** In the sixth book, [[Characters/HarryPotterDeathEaters Alecto]] is sent running from Prof. [=McGonagall=], though as Harry witnesses them duelling a few paragraphs earlier she was presumably able to hold her own against the transfiguration master at least for awhile.

* Creator/JRRTolkien's ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' is full of these, as the Elves and their allies are [[YouCantFightFate doomed]] to lose against Morgoth. During the Battle of Sudden Flame the breaking of the Siege of Angband is cushioned by Barahir's rescue of Finrod's host; Fingolfin managing to get a few good strikes on Morgoth (including delivering a permanent injury to his foot) before Morgoth defeated and killed him in their duel; the utter defeat at the Battle of Unnumbered Tears is cushioned by the Men of Hador's LastStand protecting Turgon's escape; the Fall of Gondolin is cushioned by Tuor and Idril escaping with the remnant of its people; and the Kinslayings at Doriath and the Havens of Sirion are cushioned both times by Elwing escaping with the Silmaril. In all cases these cushions come at the hands of Men.

* In the opening scenes of the ''Literature/WorldWar'' series, human troops get annihilated all over the world by the alien invaders. Then a plucky German Panzer squad ambush an alien tank column. In exchange for losing the last 4 tanks the main character is in command of, they kill a single enemy personnel carrier and a single enemy tank by exploiting the aliens poor tactics. [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome This is considered the most successful action against them of any kind, of the entire human-alien war so far.]] Obviously as the story goes on things get better for the humans as they develop innovative tactics such as the Russian dog bombs. Eventually the curb-stomping just plain ends and it becomes a more even war with lots of RockBeatsLaser.

** Likewise in Season 2, every fight against the Kanima ends up like this. Derek is usually the one doing the cushioning, but in the final episode it is attacked by Derek, Scott and Isaac at once, and each of them get in good hits. Derek even briefly outmaneuvers it, despite its speed.

* The Inner Sphere achieved this a few times in ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' during the initial Clan invasion, typically via luring Clan forces into [[LandMineGoesClick minefields]], ambushes, or otherwise using [[CombatPragmatist smart tactics]] to counter the Clans' superior technology. This allowed the Inner Sphere troops to bleed the Clans a bit and insure that defeated forces were able to retreat rather than being wiped completely out. As the Clan invasion carried on and lines got stretched, these tactical cushions eventually became so common that the Clans lost their momentum strategically trying to continually strike deeper into the immensely bigger Inner Sphere, eventually leading to actual turning points such as the Battle of Luthien.
** The Reunification war became this for the Taurian Concordat. A 56-world Periphery State, the Concordat were invaded by the 1000+-world-sized Star League... And lost horribly. The cushion comes in that the Star League expected the Concordat to fall within a year or two. It took them ''20 years'', and the Star League military taking disproportionate casualties, before the Taurians were forced into a surrender.
** The short story "Three Points of Glory" revolves around this trope: The world of Sheliak, facing invasion by Clan Ghost Bear and having no military at all, decided to bid their All-Star (American) Football team [[MakeGamesNotWar in a Trial of Possession for the planet]] in the hope that the Clanners wouldn't know how to play. They quickly discover that not only ''do'' Clanners know how to play American Football, it's a favoured pastime for the SuperSoldier Elementals Clan Ghost Bear use for their team. The story focuses around the Sheliak All-Stars' attempt to score even a single point off their opponents while they're otherwise being flattened. [[spoiler:The match ends 84-3, and Sheliak is handed over peacefully in the postgame]].

* The player themselves serves as one in ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberiumWars'', when humanity meets the Scrin. The first mission introduces them in the process of utterly ''annihilating'' the city of Munich, and the entire defending GDI contingent along with it. Despite the defeat, however, the player does succeed in evacuating the local GDI council, and discovers the aliens' inherent weakness to directed sonic energy in the process.
* Wilhelm's battle with Schreiber in ''VisualNovel/DiesIrae'' was pretty much a one sided beat-down in Schreiber's favor. Despite this he managed to keep getting back up to try and land a hit and eventually managed to pin Schreiber for the briefest of moments despite him losing pretty badly.

** Although Sephiroth still has the upper hand, Genesis going all-out manages to put up a pretty good fight, doing much better than anyone else before him against Sephiroth, being able to actually push him back for a few moment, land solid blasts of fire spells even with Sephiroth blocking it, though it does little damage to Sephiroth, and block Sephiroth's energy blades.

** Them against the invading Xen aliens. In general the HECU are being overwhelmed, but as far as Gordon can see, they tend to win individual battles, suggesting that the aliens are only winning overall due to [[WeHaveReserves their superior numbers]] (an entire alien army vs a single special forces batallion). It's true that the marines are also enemies to the player ([[FieryCoverup and everyone else in Black Mesa]]) but it's still not hard to be rooting for the humans during an alien invasion. Even when on the ropes, the HECU are still quite well-equipped and threatening, which ''VideoGame/BlackMesa'' showcases best.

** Even a few space battles are this, with the Covenant achieving only a PyrrhicVictory instead of delivering their usual curbstomp to humanity. The battle for Reach cost the Covenant dearly, even if they don't like to show it; they concentrated five fleets to take the world in an unprecedentedly massive campaign[[note]]Specifically: the Fleet of Valiant Prudence, the Ministry of Resolution's unnamed fleet, the Fleet of Particular Justice, the Fleet of Righteous Vigilance, and the Fleet of Holy Respite.[[/note]] and, despite eliminating its Orbital Defense Platforms fairly early on, they lost over two thirds of their ships. This is a particularly impressive feat for humanity because not only did they only have 152 warships to defend the planet against several hundred from the Covenant, but about 95% of those 152 warships were frigates and destroyers- which are individually outmassed literally ''a hundred times over'' by mainline Covenant warships like CCS-class battlecruisers. The losses in tonnage were grossly in humanity's favor during that campaign, probably hundreds of times over. [[WeHaveReserves The Covenant just have so many ships that they can sustain even that scale of losses and keep coming.]]
** When the Flood take over High Charity in Halo 2 it's mostly a one sided massacre that the distracted Covenant have no chance against, but we do see the Covenant kill a fair few Flood, just not enough to stop them.

** If you secure a krogan-turian alliance, it goes so far as to include [[spoiler: ''The Miracle of Palaven''. The joint forces manage to smuggle a bunch of [=WMDs=] into the Reaper processing ships. This gets millions of people killed, but they were doomed anyways and at least this way a large number of Reaper ships get to die with them.]]

* ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonorPacificAssault'' has Conlin, as well as several other sailors and Marines aboard the crippled USS ''West Virginia'' taking down at least a squadron of Japanese planes late into the attack. While it doesen't prevent the damage from being done, it does help to minimize said damage, and give the USS ''Nevada'' the chance to at least beach itself.
* ''VideoGame/MegaManStarForce'': Gemini Spark completely outclasses Mega Man in their introductory scenario, even when he seperates them he can't beat them. When they leave, they congratulate him for the one hit he managed to get in on them.

** {{Downplayed|Trope}} in "Omni-Man vs. Homelander". [[spoiler: Homelander can use a sonic attack, which is Omni-Man's weakness. But their power levels are so different this just means he drops Omni-Man out of the sky once, buying himself maybe half a minute more. The same when he gets the drop on Omni-Man once and manhandles him for a moment; Omni-Man just waits it to be over before starting to toy with Homelander again.]]

** U9 Tenshinhan versus U4 Super Buu. Buu decides to be sporting and not attack for a full minute. Tenshinhan breaks out the Mafuba, which he executes perfectly, sealing Buu in a manner that bypasses his insane regeneration. Buu then returns, explaining that he's hidden pieces of himself around the arena that can regenerate into him, and having absorbed Piccolo means he knows how to reverse the Mafuba, but he still compliments the guy for trying. Tenshinhan then decides to just point-blank ''annihilate'' him, combining his four arms and his Kikoho to create a double-strength version of an already disproportionately-powerful attack that turns Buu and the entire ring to vapor. When Buu [[FromASingleCell demonstrates he can return from even that]], Tenshinhan [[KnowWhenToFoldEm throws in the towel.]]

* During newbie Viole's and veteran Urek's fight in ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod'', the weaker Irregular gets a OneHitKO… but while receiving it and protecting a little girl that somehow got into the fray, he actually manages to scratch Urek's cheek. With Urek being one of the most powerful beings in the Tower, that's something like managing to scratch Franchise/{{Superman}}.

** In the Middle East, communist forces from Iran and Syria overrun northern Iraq and northern Israel, but take heavy losses to do so. Plus, the defenders in both countries manage to fall back to heavily-prepared defensive lines, causing the advance of both invasions to grind to a halt.

** The climax of the Entity Saga sees the heroes already exhausted from previous fights when [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Rogal Zaar]] shows up. Despite that they force Rogal Zaar to resort to [[CrazyPrepared use the various traps he prepared]] as his physical strength and gadgets aren't enough. He tanks every attack thrown at him, but is damaged by them, and gives time for the heroes to escape to Earth. [[Manga/DragonBall Kakarot]] [[AdaptationalNameChange Kent]] and Batman stay behind. Batman doesn't have any powers, but he manages to save Kakarot from a fatal blow by hitting Rogal Zaar with Scarecrow's fear toxin and [[spoiler: [[TakingTheBullet takes a hit that would have killed him]], an act which caused Kakarot to turn into a Super Saiyan and demolish Rogal Zaar.]]
** The Doom Saga has Gohan's debut fight against the Parasite. [[HopeSpot Gohan appears to have the upperhand but his attacks to just be feeding the parasite]], who prompty engulfs Gohan and starts to drain him of all his energy. Gohan releasing a massive energy burst that leaves him too exhausted to fight is enough to escape the Parasite. He's clearly lost, but managed to survive long enough for Kakarot to save him.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Pakku's duel with Katara in "[[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheWaterbendingMaster The Waterbending Master]]". Katara is an untrained but very talented teenaged waterbender, while Pakku is an OldMaster with two generations of practicing and teaching Waterbending on his opponent. Katara does not even expect to win, only to make a point to Pakku, which she does by forcing the master to take her seriously as an opponent instead of simply CherryTapping her. [[spoiler:Katara also wins the moral victory, as her necklace reveals to Pakku that she's the granddaughter of the woman he wanted to marry sixty years ago and causes him to re-examine his old views.]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' episode "Clash of the Superheroes", Batman and Krypto face down a Red Kryptonite-infected Superman, who has gone all mad dictator on Metropolis. Batman makes it clear to Krypto that there's no way they can beat him, that they just need to distract him long enough for the Kryptonite to wear off. Despite donning a suit of PoweredArmor based off of the one from ''ComicBook/TheDarkKnightReturns'' and getting in a good few physical blows, Batman's no match for Superman and the Kryptonite wears off just before Superman crushes his head like an egg.

* WesternAnimation/BugsBunny often outsmarted his foes with sheer ease. Every now and again however a brief of wit would bestow the villain and take Bugs by surprise to make things a little more tense (and likely to prevent Bugs from becoming insufferably smug). Allegedly the creative team deliberately made Bugs' foes slightly more challenging so the audience wouldn't start to see him as the bully of the feud. It was a common formula for the villain to always get in one slapstick blow on Bugs to start the feud at the beginning of the short, at which point a riled up Bugs would prepare to do his worst:

* During Wendy's brawl against Cartman in the climax of the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Breast Cancer Show Ever", Cartman manages to get a few good hits in against Wendy, but still ends up with what he deserves. Granted this was likely as much to show [[JerkAss Cartman]] WouldHitAGirl as to add tension to the fight.
* Much like Bugs Bunny, WesternAnimation/SpeedyGonzales could often run rings around adversaries like Sylvester, and at fail of that, his SuperSpeed made him NighInvulnerable anyway. In the De Patie Freleng run of ''Looney Tunes'' shorts however, his foes were often depicted as more persistent or Speedy more prone to error, leading him to take the odd lump back. WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck bizarrely enough was his most formidable opponent, having more moments of overpowering Speedy and [[TeamRocketWins even winning two face offs against him]], even if he still otherwise got comically outdone by the rodent.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' Wheeljack and Ultra Magnus ended up facing the freakishly powerful Predaking in his newly revealed robot form. In Predaking's dragon form, absolutely nothing has proven to even damage him but merely slow him down, and while his robot form was a little easier to knock around he was still NighInvulnerable to their most powerful attacks. Utilizing BashBrothers they gave him one hell of a fight, but in the end they were no match.

* ''ComicBook/TheButton'': ComicBook/EobardThawne[=/=]Professor Zoom breaks into the Batcave to attack Franchise/{{Batman}}. Since Batman has no powers or prep time and Thawne has SuperSpeed on par with Franchise/TheFlash, this goes exactly as you'd expect, with Thawne beating the shit out of Batman. However, Batman manages to stab him in the foot while he is gloating. Thawne recovers and beats him up some more, then he stops to gloat ''again'' and Batman lands a punch. Thawne then really gives him a beating.
* In ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' storyline ''ComicBook/TheComingOfAtlas'', Atlas has just defeated the Super Family when Krypto joins the battle. Ultimately, Krypto is also defeated, but after a long fight which gave Superman time enough to recover and come up with a plan to beat Atlas.

* On one occasion Otto Octavius, as ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan'' faced off against Terrax, a [[PhysicalGod herald of Galactus]]. Now, Otto has the full powers of Spider-Man, his own advanced tech, an a keen strategic mind with a rich amount of experience fighting heavy hitters, so he actually manages to fight off Terrax for a decent while and inconvenience him somewhat, which considering the planet-shattering levels of power Terrax has is very impressive indeed. Ultimately Terrax still beats him savagely without getting seriously winded, forcing Otto to [[spoiler: use the device Doctor Doom once used against the Silver Surfer to steal Terrax' power.]]