History Main / PopularityPower

** Sister site Gamespot did [[http://uk.gamespot.com/greatest-video-game-hero/standings/index.html the same]]. Though it has become a subversion of itself with heavy interference, first from 4chan who managed to have the ''VideoGame/BubbleBobble'' beat [[Franchise/{{Halo}} Master Chief]] and VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog before bowing down to Samus, and later from '''Valve themselves''', who pushed a massive rally call for [[VideoGame/HalfLife Gordon Freeman]], which went to... well, it allowed Valve to proclaim [[http://store.steamgames.com/news/2959/ this]]: "[[Music/KanyeWest There are other great game heroes, and we're gonna let you play with them, but Gordon Freeman is THE BEST GAME HERO OF ALL TIME"]]

* The only reason why most people remembered ''VideoGame/MortalKombatSpecialForces'' was for the boss Tremor, an EnsembleDarkhorse since his debut and was a character most players requested to be added to a full game. ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'' included the earth elemental as an exclusive UsefulNotes/PlaystationVita battle as an non-playable UnexpectedCharacter, before being added to ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX'' as DownloadableContent with his own unique moveset and ending.

** This is the reason the "Pikaclone" archetype exists -- Pikachu is the series mascot and one of the most recognizable Pokémon around, so naturally it spawned an entire subspecies of similar adorable Electric-type rodents to cash in on its popularity. Pikachu has also been in every regional Pokédex except Unova's.

** More concretely, he made contingency plans in one arc to take each member of the ComicBook/{{Justice League|OfAmerica}} down should they go crazy. [[GoneHorriblyWrong Of course]], they [[ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmericaTowerOfBabel fall into the wrong hands]], and work remarkably well on all the heroes.

* ''ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'': For [[Characters/MarvelComicsLogan Wolverine]], take for example ''ComicBook/MarvelVersusDC'', which was literally one big popularity contest. One issue had a scene in which Wolverine is able to make short work of [[Characters/DCComicsLobo Lobo]], an alien being that gave Superman a run for his money and destroyed an entire planet, in less than four panels, simply because polls showed that his stats were higher that week. Moreover, both of them have regenerative healing, but Lobo is able to regenerate his entire body FromASingleCell if his entire body is destroyed. The best part? The final blow of the fight [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome took place off-panel]], because, apparently, ''even the writers'' couldn't figure out how Wolverine could possibly win.

* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'': [[Characters/MarvelComicsBruceBanner The Hulk]] has been accused of this for years, but it became most apparent in ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'' where he easily defeats people he has no business defeating, like Doctor Strange. Though whether it is due strictly to popularity and PlotInducedStupidity or the Hulk actually should be able to defeat such characters is often debated.

ComicBooks tend to fall to this a lot, much like an EnsembleDarkHorse but canonized in media. The super hero in question is usually the kind that stars in WolverinePublicity or is a BadassNormal in a team of supers. Authors then give them PowerCreepPowerSeep until they can take on anyone and win [[NoSell without flinching]], or at least won't lose, to someone who should easily beat them. The means to this are usually liberal applications of PlotInducedStupidity or ForgotAboutHisPowers to the opponent, a few {{Contrived Coincidence}}s to help the hero (a fire extinguisher near a fire villain), or JokerImmunity to make a popular villain's outright defeat impossible.

* ''Fanfic/OnceUponAStudioVersionTwoPointOh'': As in [[WesternAnimation/OnceUponAStudio the existing version]] of Creator/{{Disney}}'s centennial short, the popularity of [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast Belle and the Beast]], [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid Ariel]], [[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs Snow White]] and [[WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook Baloo and Mowgli]], along with [[WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}} Jiminy Cricket's]] status for being the first to sing "When You Wish Upon a Star" easily win them solo lines. However, the popularity among of Disney's other [[OfficialCouple official couples]] such as [[WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}} Cinderella and Charming]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}} Tarzan and Jane]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} Aladdin and Jasmine]], and ''especially'' [[WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}} Rapunzel and Eugene]] seems to easily win them their own solos and duets, particularly as Cinderella was Walt's personal favourite character and is often portrayed as the Princesses' 'leader'.

** Devastation was designed to be have as much StoryBreakerPower from [[AntagonistAbilities an antagonistic angle]] that Wonder Woman had as a protagonist. This was bungled from the start when Devastation defeated Wonder Woman with a MundaneSolution ''too'' mundane [[WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief to be believable]]. Vocal fans ignored the new character to complain to DC about Wonder Woman being driven off with a low caliber handgun firing regular bullets, Devastation's debut was {{retcon}}ned to appease them, and the character was reduced to a subservient member of super villain teams as Devastation's VoluntaryShapeShifting and {{false memor|ies}}y powers were all but ignored in favor of having more popular villains like Circe, Maxwell Lord, The Morrigan, [[JerkassGods The Olympians]] and [[Comicbook/{{Watchmen}} Doctor Manhattan]] drive such plots.

** Devastation was designed to be have as much StoryBreakerPower from [[AntagonistAbilities an antagonistic angle]] that Wonder Woman had as a protagonist. This was bungled from the start when Devastation defeated Wonder Woman with a MundaneSolution ''too'' mundane [[WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief to be believable]]. Vocal fans ignored the new character to complain to DC about Wonder Woman being driven off with a low caliber handgun firing regular bullets, Devastation's debut was {{retcon}}ned to appease them, and the character was reduced to a subservient member of super villain teams as Devastation's VoluntaryShapeShifting and {{fales memor|ies}}y powers were all but ignored in favor of having more popular villains like Circe, Maxwell Lord, The Morrigan, [[JerkassGods The Olympians]] and [[Comicbook/{{Watchmen}} Doctor Manhattan]] drive such plots.

** In The Bronze Age Doctor Cyber was upgraded with PoweredArmor to be able to last for quite awhile in a direct fight with Wonder Woman, and proved to be a clever enough schemer to capture and torture Wonder Woman's sister, Comicbook/WonderGirl, to get Wonder Woman to give up without a fight until Wonder Woman had to act to save the rest of the Comicbook/TeenTitans who also arrived to save Wonder Girl but proved incapable of handling Doctor Cyber. In spite of her impressive showings though, Doctor Cyber did not click with fans. This lead to the Post Crisis Doctor Cyber being given upgrades that should have made her even more formiddable before being casually cut up by Donna Troy, the Wonder Girl she had victimized in the previous continuity and proving to not even be much of a threat to an even less experienced Wonder Girl in Cassie Sandsmark, much less Wonder Woman herself. Doctor Cyber was relegated to being a bit player in team books like ''The Power Company'' and ''World's Finest'', at one point even being assimilated into new villain Enginehead.
** Maxwell Lord is a literary redundancy in Wonder Woman's RoguesGallery with powers inferior in nature to those of Hypnota, Doctor Psycho, Devastation and The Children of Ares. Wonder Woman could already ward off his superiors with ease and the entire point of the then shocking reveal the backer of Justice League International was secretly an evil manipulator was that Maxwell Lord's powers flat out did not work on Wonder Woman. Evil Maxwell Lord proved quite popular, however, and became strongly associated with Wonder Woman since she was the one to stop him. So he was brought back from the dead and hooked up to a machine kept him from bleeding to death when he used his PsychicPowers. This apparently let Lord mind wipe his existence from the entire planet, including Wonder Woman, even though she just got her own upgrade that made her flat out immune to the afformentioned superior mind manipulators.

*** Cheetah in general seems to be something of an inverse recipient of this. Due to being a relatively less popular and iconic villain relative to other "main nemesis" characters, as well as a design that makes her look like a typical AnimalThemedSuperbeing, writers have an alarming habit of forgetting that she gets into fistfights with Wonder Woman on the regular. At worst, she should be a skosh below Superman's level, but she's packed in a lot of losses against people she really shouldn't even be annoyed by, such as Catwoman.

This isn't the RagtagBunchOfMisfits beating an [[TheEmpire Evil Empire]], they don't have TheAce leading them to a last second win by [[FlawExploitation exploiting]] a WeaksauceWeakness or using a DramaPreservingHandicap, they're normal and otherwise mundane, or even notably horrible. They are however far more popular and sell merchandise far better than your team. And somehow, much like ThePowerOfFriendship, their Popularity Power gives them that added boost to take on teams far, far, ''far'' above [[SuperWeight their league]] that should logically crush them like so many naive hopes and dreams under tax returns.

* The first 5 Star characters in ''VideoGame/MarvelPuzzleQuest'' was the cosmic-level Silver Surfer, followed by a poster boy for this trope, Wolverine (in his Old Man Logan incarnation). The next one again had huge SuperWeight, Jean Grey as Phoenix... and then came the "leaders" of the two sides in ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', Cap and Iron Man - a BadassNormal and a man in PoweredArmor. Thus became the benchmark for the 5* tier, unbelievably strong characters (Doctor Strange, Thanos, Black Bolt, [[ComicBook/SecretWars2015 God Emperor Doom]], [[ComicBook/AbsoluteCarnage Prophet of Knull Carnage]]), strong characters whose comic book history boosts them (Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Storm, Iceman, ''two'' versions of Spider-Man), and tie-ins to new Marvel adaptations (usually the MCU movies, along with the Netflix versions of Daredevil and Jessica Jones, and [[WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderverse Spiderverse]] Kingpin; a few ''were'' powerhouses in the media, such as Captain Marvel, Loki, Thor, Hela, and [[Series/AgentsOfShield TV's]] Ghost Rider).

** It's reached the point where other people are starting to recognize her tendency to beat nearly godlike beings, with Characters/{{Deadpool|WadeWilson}} gaining extra recognition for being powerful enough to be defeated by Squirrel Girl. Twice.

* The Marvel comic series ''ComicBook/XStatix Presents: Dead Girl'' outright has Comicbook/DoctorStrange stating that if people are missed enough, if they are popular enough, the laws of physics break and they can come back. Of course...Doctor Strange is suffering from a mental illness in this story so take this revelation with a grain of salt.

* The Characters/{{Incredible Hulk|BruceBanner}} has been accused of this for years, but it became most apparent in ''ComicBook/WorldWarHulk'' where he easily defeats people he has no business defeating, like Doctor Strange. Though whether it is due strictly to popularity and PlotInducedStupidity or the Hulk actually should be able to defeat such characters is often debated.
* Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}} has become a walking DeusExMachina in comic books and "versus debates" thanks to the words [[CrazyPrepared "with prep time"]]. Given enough prep time, [[MemeticBadass he is speculated to be able to defeat]]: Characters/{{Superman|TheCharacter}}, [[Characters/MarvelComicsGalactus Galactus]], [[Characters/NewGodsDarkseid Darkseid]], [[ComicBook/TheSandman1989 Death]], Taxes, Tofu, and Jelly Beans. The sheer amount of times he's faced Superman and lived would qualify him here even if nothing else would.

* Batman's other villains Characters/{{Ba|tmanBane}}ne and Characters/{{Deathstroke}} have benefited from this as well, like the time Bane onepunched the aforementioned Cheetah without being on Venom.
* Despite allegedly being barely superhuman,[[note]]He's supposedly at the absolute peak of what normal humans can be capable of, i.e. as if he trained to that level like an Olympic athlete[[/note]] some of [[Characters/MarvelComicsSteveRogers Captain America]]'s feats have gone seemingly far beyond what he "should" be able to do. Any average human superhero or villain who goes up against him is sure to lose. Even superpowered denizens like [[Characters/SpiderManPeterParker Spider-Man]] and Wolverine fold before the Cap. And if that weren't enough, Captain America has actually gone rounds against [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]], Hulk, and the other Franchise/MarvelUniverse super heavyweights and STILL come out on top (or at the very least, fought these beings to a draw). Why? Because he's popular. Because he wears the red, white, and blue. And to top it all off, Marvel loves him so much that they'll almost never have the guy lose, just like DC is almost never going to have Batman lose.

** This is made especially ridiculous in the animated movie, ''WesternAnimation/UltimateAvengers'', which has the team fight The Hulk in the finale and has Cap last better than any others who engage him in a direct fight. Notably, The Hulk takes down [[Characters/TheMightyThorThorOdinson Thor]] (an ACTUAL GOD) in two blows. Cap gets thrown all over the place and manages to endure around/over FOUR. Sure, he's bleeding and disoriented afterwards, but logically he shouldn't even be conscious.

*** It must be also noted that how much force Cap's shield can protect him also is very much DependingOnTheWriter. In one story, Characters/{{Daredevil|MattMurdock}} punching on the shield is forcing Cap back, while in another story it can take hits from Iron Man no problem. Cyclops blasts him a mile away in one story, while in another story the shield protects him from a blast from Galactus herald Airwalker, which [=KOs=] both Iron Man and Thor who were standing right next to him. On another occasion, Cap protects himself from a blast using his shield which knocks out Wolverine and Carol Danvers, both bonafide superhumans, while in another story landing shield first from a building hurts him. In one story, he is sent rocketing from a punch from Namor UNDERWATER (where he is at his strongest) but is unharmed and in another story, landing on water from a great height shield first knocks him out. In one story She-Hulk (someone who is several times stronger than Cap) has trouble blocking a [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Mjölnir]] throw with the shield and an ordinary human dies protecting Cap from a blow from Thunder Ball in another story, but Cap has no problem blocking attacks from characters far stronger and powerful than Thor or Thunderball. Even when he has shields that do not have absorbing capabilities, he has no problem. He once, using a pure adamantium shield, blocked a steel beam swung by Mister Hyde, a class 50 Thor villain with no problem, which by all means should have shattered every bone in Cap's arm. Even worse, in another story, he is shown blocking hits from the Destroyer Armor with a (his original) steel shield, and the armor punching Thor in the same comic was shown to be shaking the entire city.

** Characters/{{Deadpool|WadeWilson}} has been shown as possibly being Cap's superior. In their first meeting, Deadpool takes out the (mind-controlled) Captain with [[http://www.4thletter.net/gavok/deadpool/9.jpg a solid hit to the junk]]. In a recent team-up, an enraged Deadpool got into a heated battle with Steve Rogers, now Super Soldier. In that battle, Deadpool managed to put a really good hurting on the former Captain America. Just when it seemed that Deadpool was finally overpowering Rogers, he was shot in the back with several tranquilizer darts to end the battle and even then Deadpool was the one still standing while Cap was the one on his knees who looked worse for wear. Considering how Captain America usually shows up other superheroes like Wolverine and Spider-Man in their own comic books, it's quite amazing that Deadpool managed to come off looking really strong against Captain America with the implication that he might have won their interrupted battle if he were to continue going all-out.
* Heroes aren't the only ones with Popularity Power. [[Characters/MarvelComicsDoctorDoom Doctor Doom]] has become a villainous equivalent of Batman who can defeat anyone given enough "prep time" (admittedly a FAR more stable claim than Batman, but still quite ridiculous). Despite being the villain of the story, the good doctor has gained [[DracoInLeatherPants an immense following of fans]] who believe he's capable of defeating anyone and anything, including the most powerful beings in the comic books multiverse. Given enough time to study opponents, it is said that Doom could defeat [[Characters/MarvelComicsThanos Thanos]], [[Characters/MarvelComicsGalactus Galactus]], [[Characters/MarvelComicsMagneto Magneto]], [[Characters/IncredibleHulkBruceBanner Hulk]], [[Characters/TheMightyThorThorOdinson Thor]], [[Characters/NewGodsDarkseid Darkseid]], Characters/{{Superman|TheCharacter}}, Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}}, Characters/SilverSurfer, UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}, and even the almighty Rubik's Cube. It really is an almost endless list. Unlike many examples there is ''mildly'' more justification for this in the sense that Doom is, canonically, one the worlds best scientists ''and'' one of the worlds' best sorcerers, so using various unconventional combinations of magic and technology (as well as an entire ''nations'' worth of resources) makes the idea that Doom can properly prepare for most foes a bit more feasible than with, say, Batman. Even so, there exist really ridiculous examples of Doom being a {{God Mode Sue}}. During an arc where he teamed up with Dr. Voodoo and they battled their way across hordes of demons, Dr. Voodoo got taken down by ComicBook/GhostRider but before Ghost Rider could finish Voodoo, Doom came in and took Ghost Rider out with one punch. This is a highly dubious feat considering Ghost Rider has been shown to be able to fight toe to toe with Dr. Strange before, take some of his best attacks, and even defeat the Sorcerer Supreme after a brutal mystical fight. And of course, Doom's powers are only second best compared to Strange. Apparently, the message that the writers want to drive home is that one punch from Doom is greater than the sum of two Sorcerer Supremes put together.
* Characters/{{The Punisher|FrankCastle}} is a normal guy (albeit an ex-Marine) with a burning desire to kill criminals and somewhat dubious sanity. Despite this, he is often depicted as effortlessly outwitting, humiliating or beating up other super-powered characters who should logically be far more than he can handle. That said, it's zigzagged in that some stories have shown him being beaten up or humiliated in turn.

** In a Creator/GarthEnnis crossover with Characters/{{Wolverine|JamesLoganHowlett}}, Punisher treats Wolverine with disdain, blasting off his face with a shotgun, then shooting him [[GroinAttack in the balls]] with the shotgun for complaining about it, then running over him with a steamroller. In some fairness, Logan was drunk.

* That time Spidey took down Firelord, a former Herald of Galactus. We're talking Characters/SilverSurfer-level power. Granted, Firelord swore he would fight Spider-Man in [[CombatByChampion single combat]] (and not just, you know, OBLITERATE NEW YORK STATE WITH A THOUGHT). Spidey beat him after throwing him in the East River, tricking him into a building in the process of being demolished, and exploding a gas station on him, but come on. This guy flies through stars!
** To further explain how batshit insane this is: Heralds of Galactus are high order {{Reality Warper}}s capable of exceeding the speed of light several thousand times over and demolishing planets without trying. The average Herald treats an enraged Hulk as a moderate ''annoyance''; indeed, the Silver Surfer (who at this point in his continuity was only mildly more powerful than Firelord) once defeated the Hulk by the strategy of "let him keep punching me, without any effect, until he finally gets bored and leaves".
** This moment is so infamous within the comic fandom that "Spider-Man versus Firelord" has actually become a colloquialism used for this trope, StrongAsTheyNeedToBe, and PowerCreepPowerSeep within comic stories in general.
** They did attempt a justification for this that is equally flimsy -- supposedly, Spider-Man was able to outfight Firelord by adopting a hit-and-run approach that fully utilizes his agility and speed to dodge his attacks and go in-and-out, which proved to be an effective counter against Firelord using raw power. This still doesn't make much sense considering the cosmically-empowered being can go faster than the speed of light ''at will''. While Spidey is certainly fast, capable of appearing as a blur to normal humans at peak, he's still below the level of your average speedster. But this is the closest they could get to justifying why Spidey could pull this off.
** And in the storyline immediately ''after'' the Firelord/Spidey fight -- and we mean immediately after, as in the very same day -- Firelord got smacked by the full power of the Sanctuary II battlestation, which had just finished spanking ''the entire Skrull Armada''. Firelord was blasted all the way across the solar system and headfirst into a moon at relativistic velocities... and ''got up out of the smoking crater, staggered a short way, and only then collapsed unconscious''. So, Spidey's fist > Death Star level firepower and near-lightspeed collisions with celestial bodies.
** It gets worse. Literally ''every single appearance'' by Firelord in comics prior to this story had Firelord repeatedly both no-selling and dishing out Thor-level hits without straining himself. From Thor, Hercules, Ego the Living Planet, and the original Phoenix. Firelord had a 100% consistent pattern of needing Hulk-class strength to so much as bruise him throughout his entire publication history... until "Spider-Man vs. Firelord". This one was a TropeCodifier.
** Said incident was even mocked by Spidey himself in ''VideoGame/MarvelUltimateAlliance2'', assuming you play as him during the endgame.

* In an issue of ''ComicBook/TheInfinityCrusade'', it is shown that Spidey's popularity power can even evolve into GodModeSue, with him defeating the combined forces of Thor, Moondragon, Invisible Woman, Sasquatch, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Moon Knight, Multiple Man, Gamora and Archangel while being under a magical illusion that makes it seem to Spidey that he is fighting his ''human'' friends. That's right, Spiderman defeated them all while holding back like how he would against ordinary humans.
* For Characters/{{Wolverine|JamesLoganHowlett}}, take for example ''ComicBook/MarvelVersusDC'', which was literally one big popularity contest. One issue had a scene in which Wolverine is able to make short work of [[Characters/DCComicsLobo Lobo]], an alien being that gave Superman a run for his money and destroyed an entire planet, in less than four panels, simply because polls showed that his stats were higher that week. Moreover, both of them have regenerative healing, but Lobo is able to regenerate his entire body FromASingleCell if his entire body is destroyed. The best part? The final blow of the fight [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome took place off-panel]], because, apparently, ''even the writers'' couldn't figure out how Wolverine could possibly win.

*** A "[[{{Elseworld}} What If...?]]" of this storyline saw Wolverine practically ''wipe out the entire Franchise/MarvelUniverse''. This was especially headachey because it had Characters/{{Ma|rvelComicsMagneto}}gneto, who [[ComicBook/FatalAttractionsMarvelComics canonically pulled the metal from Wolvy's bones and left him for dead in the original]], shanked. It did, however, have Kitty prove why phasing is awesome.
* Parodied by the Marvel character [[Characters/TheUnbeatableSquirrelGirl Squirrel Girl]], who manages to hand some of the most powerful, godlike villains in the Marvel Universe a humiliating defeat despite having not particularly impressive superpowers.
** It's reached the point where other people are starting to recognize her tendency to beat nearly godlike beings, with Characters/{{Deadpool|WadeWilson}} gaining extra recognition for being powerful enough to be defeated by Squirrel Girl. Twice.
** This is helped along by those writers who dislike the idea of a joke character winning against people who outclass her. Those writers invent {{Ret Con}}s or HandWave the victory away... and the rest of the writers have her beat up someone bigger instead.
** As her squirrel companion Tippy-Toe once pointed out in a BreakingTheFourthWall address to fans who reacted more humorlessly to her tendency to defeat Dr. Doom:
---> "Yeah, that's right. Squirrel Girl totally pwns Doc Doom. Know why? '[[ArmedWithCanon Cause of somethin' that happened in a story by]] '''Steve-freakin'-Ditko'''! That's ''so'' in continuity. [[TakeThatAudience So just deal with it, fanboy]]."
* A notable aversion came in one of the DC/Marvel crossovers, when the JLA went up against the X-Men. Batman, the most popularity-powered character of them all, sprang a surprise attack on [[Characters/MarvelComicsCyclops Cyclops]] who, while he has plenty of fans, also attracts more hate than probably any other X-Man (with the possible exception of Gambit). Guess which one got taken down.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}'' this is one speculated source of the eponymous Fables' powers. The more popular the story about a Fable is, the more powerful they are. For example, Snow White recovered from a sniper's bullet to the skull--her sister Rose Red might not have survived since most people have forgotten her part of the fairytale-- Frau Totenkinder is one of the most powerful Fables in existence because she is every anonymous witch in folklore, and Goldilocks raises this to a level bordering on BlessedWithSuck when she discovers she can't heal any faster than the fish are eating her.
** Jack Horner, who is every Jack in fairy tales (except Jack Sprat), exploited this by going to Hollywood and making a trilogy of movies about him. He's now effectively immortal, but [[GoodThingYouCanHeal not invincible]].
** The series has actually avoided directly answering the question on whether Popularity Power is actually in effect. Frau Totenkinder for her part actually expresses doubt on whether it is or not.
* Characters/{{Deadpool|WadeWilson}} once realized that this was the reason that he can never die, so [[DeathSeeker in order to die]] he decided to [[spoiler: go out and [[TakeThat kill]] [[NoFourthWall all of his fans]]]]. He does the same in ''ComicBook/DeadpoolKillsTheMarvelUniverse''. He also gives an interesting speech to Wolverine about his healing factor. He states that it's incredibly fitting: the popular character has a power that makes him immune to death. Deadpool berates Wolverine because according to him, Logan doesn't live because of his skills, but because the fans love him. This may come off as hypocritical, because in that alternate universe, Deadpool managed to kill people that he should logically never be able to kill (like The Avengers, Spider-Man, Galactus, etc...). Why? Because he's just as popular as Wolverine.
-->'''Deadpool:''' Your tendency to come back from the brink of death has nothing to do with your healing factor. Your mutant power isn't regeneration. It's ''popularity''.
* Back in 2000, Creator/KurtBusiek and Stuart Immonen wrote a short graphic novel, ''Superstar'', about a hero who was powered by popularity. Kind of. The hero of the story gained superpowers as long as he had the energy to spare, but it was limited and did run out. His father ended up merchandising him to hell and back (even against his express wishes sometimes) with toy lines, live shows, televising his battles, etc. Part of the cost to watch the shows or buying the merch? A small energy donation, not even enough to make you wheeze from tiredness. Of course, being really popular and taking energy donations from millions of fans, he was actually rather powerful.
* The Marvel villain Arcade has to date, been 100% unsuccessful at killing any superheroes or villains that feature in his appearances. It's assumed that all of his success with Murderworld assassinations occur offscreen. Killing overweight and out of shape businessmen is one thing. But he is clearly out of his league with superpowered characters. But his offbeat characterization (not too unlike [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker The Joker]]) is probably why he gets to stay around for the occasional guest appearance, and trying to [[TookALevelInBadass Take a Level in Badass]] in the pages of the cheap ''Film/BattleRoyale''/''Literature/TheHungerGames'' ripoff known as ''ComicBook/AvengersArena.''
* Characters/{{Deathstroke}} is an incredibly popular villain. So of course, writers have to amp up his badassery from reasonable to absurd. The man has enhanced reflexes, speed, strength and intelligence, but only several times above peak human as opposed to, oh, Kryptonian level. In ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis2004'' #3, ''he single-handedly took out an entire Justice League roster''. He stops Characters/BlackCanary from using her Canary Cry via a bag over her head. (Her scream can rip through steel). He beats ComicBook/TheAtom senseless with the light from an ordinary laser pointer because 'the Atom has no mass when he shrinks'. (This directly contradicted how the Atom's power has worked since his very first appearance in comics.) ComicBook/GreenLantern Kyle Rayner can't use his ring because Deathstroke grabs his hand, and uses his own willpower to overpower Kyle's. (Not only do GL rings ''not work that way'', at that time Kyle's ring had a failsafe put in to refuse commands from anyone not having Kyle's brainwave pattern... and that's before you factor in the pure unleaded stupidity of Kyle actually being caught within arms' reach of Deathstroke at all, seeing as how '''he can fly and Deathstroke can't'''.) Oh, but at least in those cases, he put a ''minimal'' degree of effort in. Deathstroke detonates a series of explosives and immediately sticks out his katana; [[Characters/TheFlashWallyWest Wally West]] runs through the only safe path and impales himself. (Wally West can move at the speed of light -- on a ''slow'' day. To be able to move too fast for Wally to be able to react in time, Deathstroke's sword would have needed a built-in hyperdrive.) He was eventually defeated by ComicBook/GreenArrow poking his bad eye with an arrow in frustration.
* Discussed in ''ComicBook/TheUnbelievableGwenpool''. Being an avid comic book reader that somehow found her way into the mainstream Marvel universe, Gwen is perfectly aware that she is in a book and that she has nothing to fear but cancellation. When going up against Deadpool, she is sure she will win because he's just a guest star in her book. Deadpool points out that he has an enormous fanbase and there is no way a D-lister like her could kill him which he demonstrates by easily overpowering her and her team. The only way she survives is by pointing out that the low-tier villain that trapped them and forced them to fight (the aforementioned Arcade) is the actual antagonist of the crossover which makes Deadpool realize they should team up to go after him instead.
** Invoked again by [[spoiler: Future Gwenpool]] in the fourth arc. She kills a future version of [[Characters/UltimateSpiderManMilesMorales Miles Morales]] explaining to a shocked Gwen that it's not a problem because she knows she's not allowed to do it. Indeed Miles wakes up in his bed thinking his death was just a dream.
** Also discussed and played with: [[spoiler: Future Gwenpool]] says that if Gwen becomes evil, she will have a long, successful comic series and could do whatever she wants. This is because the fans loved her as a villain, and her no matter how much she abuses the universe and its people, StatusQuoIsGod will be invoked and fix any damage. Our Gwen, however, rejects this future and refuses to turn evil, because she can't bare to harm all the characters she's grown to love and care about. But she's fully aware that taking away her rise to fame would prevent her from becoming a hit and keeping her book from being cancelled, likely dooming herself one day.
* ''ComicBook/XMen'': [[Characters/MarvelComicsStorm Storm]] and [[Characters/MarvelComicsMagneto Magneto]] were originally classified as Alpha-Level mutants within the X-Men's RandomPowerRanking system, putting them both on par with [[Characters/MarvelComicsCyclops Cyclops]] and [[Characters/MarvelComicsProfessorX Professor X]] but below the Omega-Level mutants like [[Characters/MarvelComicsJeanGrey Jean Grey]] and [[Characters/GenerationHope Hope Summers]]. Come ''ComicBook/XMen2019'', however, those two very popular characters were very pointedly included on the list of surviving Omega Level mutants, apparently {{Retcon}}ning their previous classification - though this could have just as much to do with a recognition of the fact that they've repeatedly demonstrated Omega-Level scale power in the past.
* An issue of ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}'' subverts this. Bullseye, the group's main BadassNormal and a very popular character best-known for serving as Characters/{{Daredevil|MattMurdock}}'s archnemesis, goes up against American Eagle, a CaptainEthnic Navajo superhero who hadn't made a real appearance in decades. The resulting fight is a CurbStompBattle... in Eagle's favor, with the hero overwhelming Bullseye with his SuperStrength and breaking his neck. As Eagle [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech puts it]], Bullseye may be notorious, but [[NormalFishInATinyPond he got that infamy from tussles with relatively weak heroes and murdering nonpowered civilians]]. When he tries picking on someone stronger, he crumples like a paper cup.
* ''ComicBook/DarkNightsDeathMetal'' features a tie-in where Owlman commits a HeroicSacrifice (well, minus the "heroic" part) to take out a number of evil alternate Batmen. When one of them is horribly confused as to why he's doing this, Owlman states simply that he's always been Batman's EvilCounterpart (having debuted in the sixties and kept up a steady presence since), and [[ComicBookDeath he'll be back before long]]. Conversely, the characters he's fighting are lame throwaway concepts in an event flooded with interchangeable evil Batmen, and when the dust clears, ''nobody'' is going to want to bring back [[CListFodder Bat-Baby and the Rainbow Batman Corps]].

* With the retirement of Wrestling/DanielBryan, [[Wrestling/JonMoxley Dean Ambrose]] became the most popular wrestler on the main roster. While he isn't as popular as Bryan (no one is), the fans made it blatantly clear that they wanted him in the main event of ''Wrestling/WrestleMania 32''. Hence, the disappointment when the company gave that spot to Wrestling/RomanReigns (again) to, according to rumors, crown him as the next top babyface and Cena's successor for several years. They were ''so'' unhappy that it took the return of [[spoiler:Wrestling/ShaneMcMahon]] and Ambrose getting the Wrestling/BrockLesnar match (making him one of the sub-main events) to stop the majority from boycotting the PPV all together. Then the match happened, and it being a standard Lesnar squash (albeit a no holds barred extended one) caused fans to turn against everyone involved ''except'' Dean (because of this trope and because Dean was more-or-less the MVP of ''Wrestling/WrestleMania'' season, putting in so much work that it would be a disservice to everyone if they ''didn't'' reward him in some fashion). The pop when he finally won the WWE Championship at the 2016 ''Wrestling/MoneyInTheBank'' PPV was easily one of the loudest heard all year.
:: Ambrose was so popular that when he teased his long-awaited FaceHeelTurn after his return from injury in late 2018, the fans ''cheered'' for him. Ambrose was only able to effectively turn heel by doing so the ''one'' night the fans couldn't and wouldn't accept it: the night Reigns was forced to relinquish the Universal Championship and go on hiatus from wrestling to battle his leukemia. The vulnerable atmosphere combined with the implosion of the Shield (by having Ambrose turn on Rollins, his last remaining Shield brother), the very stable that Reigns was so closely tied to that he still used the same ring gear and music of it even after their initial breakup, was enough for the fans to finally turn on Ambrose and accept his new role as a heel.

::
Ambrose was so popular that when he teased his long-awaited FaceHeelTurn after his return from injury in late 2018, the fans ''cheered'' for him. Ambrose was only able to effectively turn heel by doing so the ''one'' night the fans couldn't and wouldn't accept it: the night Reigns was forced to relinquish the Universal Championship and go on hiatus from wrestling to battle his leukemia. The vulnerable atmosphere combined with the implosion of the Shield (by having Ambrose turn on Rollins, his last remaining Shield brother), the very stable that Reigns was so closely tied to that he still used the same ring gear and music of it even after their initial breakup, was enough for the fans to finally turn on Ambrose and accept his new role as a heel.

** This is the reason the "Pikaclone" archetype exists -- Pikachu is the series mascot and one of the most recognizable Pokémon around, so naturally it spawned an entire subspecies of similar adorable Electric-type rodents to cash in on its popularity.

* Characters/{{Deathstroke}} is an incredibly popular villain. So of course, writers have to amp up his badassery from reasonable to absurd. The man has enhanced reflexes, speed, strength and intelligence, but only several times above peak human as opposed to, oh, Kryptonian level. In ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'' #3, ''he single-handedly took out an entire Justice League roster''. He stops Characters/BlackCanary from using her Canary Cry via a bag over her head. (Her scream can rip through steel). He beats ComicBook/TheAtom senseless with the light from an ordinary laser pointer because 'the Atom has no mass when he shrinks'. (This directly contradicted how the Atom's power has worked since his very first appearance in comics.) ComicBook/GreenLantern Kyle Rayner can't use his ring because Deathstroke grabs his hand, and uses his own willpower to overpower Kyle's. (Not only do GL rings ''not work that way'', at that time Kyle's ring had a failsafe put in to refuse commands from anyone not having Kyle's brainwave pattern... and that's before you factor in the pure unleaded stupidity of Kyle actually being caught within arms' reach of Deathstroke at all, seeing as how '''he can fly and Deathstroke can't'''.) Oh, but at least in those cases, he put a ''minimal'' degree of effort in. Deathstroke detonates a series of explosives and immediately sticks out his katana; [[Characters/TheFlashWallyWest Wally West]] runs through the only safe path and impales himself. (Wally West can move at the speed of light -- on a ''slow'' day. To be able to move too fast for Wally to be able to react in time, Deathstroke's sword would have needed a built-in hyperdrive.) He was eventually defeated by ComicBook/GreenArrow poking his bad eye with an arrow in frustration.

* ''ComicBook/DarkNightsDeathMetal'' features a tie-in where Owlman commits a HeroicSacrifice (well, minus the "heroic" part) to take out a number of evil alternate Batmen. When one of them is horribly confused as to why he's doing this, Owlman states simply that he's always been Batman's EvilCounterpart, and [[ComicBookDeath he'll be back before long]]. Conversely, the characters he's fighting are lame throwaway concepts in an event flooded with interchangeable evil Batmen, and when the dust clears, ''nobody'' is going to want to bring back [[CListFodder Bat-Baby and the Rainbow Batman Corps]].

** During the 90s, Cap had an encounter with a few of the X-Men in a scuffle which saw him getting frozen from the waist down by [[Characters/XMenTheOriginalTeam Iceman]]. The move did ''not'' stop Captain America on his tracks. He then somersaulted across the air and knocked Iceman out ''while his entire lower body was frozen'', meaning that he shouldn't even have the kind of momentum to pull off such a move. Not only that, he effortlessly beat the crap out of [[Characters/MarvelComicsBeast Beast]]. To make things clear, Hank [=McCoy=] is no Hulk or Thor, but he's still a highly dangerous mutant who possesses strength, speed, and agility far better than the best of Olympic athletes AND he can lift well over thirty tons. That didn't stop the Cap from making short work of him. [[FromBadToWorse It got worse]] in the ''ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen'' storyline when Cap went up against [[Characters/MarvelComicsGambit Gambit]]. During the fight, Gambit used his kinetic powers to charge up Cap's suit and levelled him with an explosion that should have reduced any human or peak human fighter to a charred skeleton. Immediately after the explosion, Cap emerged from the blast with no injuries and proceeded to punch Gambit out like nothing happened to him.

** During the 90s, Cap had an encounter with a few of the X-Men in a scuffle which saw him getting frozen from the waist down by [[Characters/XMenTheOriginalTeam Iceman]]. The move did ''not'' stop Captain America on his tracks. He then somersaulted across the air and knocked Iceman out ''while his entire lower body was frozen'', meaning that he shouldn't even have the kind of momentum to pull off such a move. Not only that, he effortlessly beat the crap out of [[Characters/XMenTheOriginalTeam Beast]]. To make things clear, Hank [=McCoy=] is no Hulk or Thor, but he's still a highly dangerous mutant who possesses strength, speed, and agility far better than the best of Olympic athletes AND he can lift well over thirty tons. That didn't stop the Cap from making short work of him. [[FromBadToWorse It got worse]] in the ''ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen'' storyline when Cap went up against [[Characters/MarvelComicsGambit Gambit]]. During the fight, Gambit used his kinetic powers to charge up Cap's suit and levelled him with an explosion that should have reduced any human or peak human fighter to a charred skeleton. Immediately after the explosion, Cap emerged from the blast with no injuries and proceeded to punch Gambit out like nothing happened to him.

* ''ComicBook/DarkKnightsDeathMetal'' features a tie-in where Owlman commits a HeroicSacrifice (well, minus the "heroic" part) to take out a number of evil alternate Batmen. When one of them is horribly confused as to why he's doing this, Owlman states simply that he's always been Batman's EvilCounterpart, and [[ComicBookDeath he'll be back before long]]. Conversely, the characters he's fighting are lame throwaway concepts in an event flooded with interchangeable evil Batmen, and when the dust clears, ''nobody'' is going to want to bring back [[CListFodder Bat-Baby and the Rainbow Batman Corps]].