History Main / TheWorfBarrage

* As a tribute to ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', ''WebAnimation/SuperMarioBrosZ'' hasn't shied away from this trope. The Bowser battle featured a full-on KamehameHadoken-worthy Fireball attack from Mario that didn't even make a scratch on Metal Bowser. And during the early stages of the Mecha Sonic battle on Yoshi's Island, Axem Red decides to try out his "secret weapon," a {{BFG}} that unleashes a WaveMotionGun-worthy blast that turns out not to have worked on him, just before the BigBad lays into him with an Akuma-style Raging Demon and a KamehameHadoken of his own to finish him.

* The Satellite Orbital Weapon in ''Manga/{{Akira}}'', while working pretty well on any non-psychics, becomes this when used on Tetsuo. It destroys his arm on its first hit, but succeeds only at making him angry thereafter. In the manga, ''keeping'' it from being fired again and pissing him off further is a bit of a plot point and [[spoiler:eventually it does manages to piss him off enough that he goes and knocks it out of the sky before going OneWingedAngel again.]]
* ''Anime/TheBigO's'' title mecha has an ultimate beam cannon mode that was used against Big Fau. After the dust settles, Big Fau is still standing with only a piece of his gut missing. With the cannon's one shot depleted, Big O is in for a world of hurt until [[spoiler:DeusExMachina Big Venus shows up to reboot the universe.]]

** The [[KamehameHadoken Kamehameha]], initially hyped up as one of the most powerful KiAttacks in the series, gets hit with this over time. Tien Shinhan is able to deflect it with a {{kiai}}, Mercenary Tao suffers nothing but ClothingDamage from a direct hit, and King Piccolo doesn't even suffer that much after taking it head-on.

** The Etherion cannon, which [[spoiler:is actually used to help the villain's plans, as it powers the magic used to revive a dark god thanks to the tower it was fired at being designed to ''absorb'' magical energy. In fact, the villain's entire plan hedged on the Etherion cannon being fired at him, since it was the fastest way he could collect the necessary magic energy.]]

** [[spoiler:[[WorldsStrongestMan Acnologia]]]] pulls this off on ''the entire main cast'' when he first shows up. A CombinedEnergyAttack from most of Fairy Tail's best followed up by a triple Dragon Roar from Natsu, Gajeel and Wendy (an attack that the previous ArcVillain King Faust in his HumongousMecha decided to outright dodge rather than tank) only knocks him into the ocean. Then Gildarts drops the bombshell that [[spoiler:Acnologia]] isn't even using ''half'' the power he unleashed on himself during their [[CurbStompBattle brief clash]] and that he's JustToyingWithThem. Almost immediately after that declaration, [[spoiler:Acnologia]] emerges without a scratch, powers up his own Dragon Roar, and blasts the ''entire island'' off the map [[spoiler:that the heroes only survive thanks to a special defensive magic spell.]]

-->'''Packard''': Well, that ''looked'' impressive...

** To remind us both of the receiver's [[NighInvulnerable apparent invulnerability]] and the fact Luffy is still far from being the strongest thing in the Grand Line, we get Luffy's encounter with [[spoiler:Kaido]]. The former unleashes a gigantic barrage of Gear Fourth punches that would've given grief to almost anything and anyone Luffy has fought, straight at the head of his completely sloshed opponent, with every hit striking true. The latter just sobers up, annoyed, without even a scratch. [[spoiler:And takes out his headache on Luffy, [[CurbstompBattle utterly wrecking him in one swing of his mace]]]].

** Earlier in the series Genos (who most often subjected to WorfEffect), after launching unsuccessfull attack at [[UltimateLifeform Carnage Kabuto]], tries to blast him with enormous beam of fire. In response, Kabuto just [[CherryTapping exhales]], blowing the fire back.

** Aoshi's ''Kaiten Kenbu Rokuren''. Supposedly the [[LimitBreak Ougi]] of his fighting style, and practically unblockable, it only connects with three things in the series: [[spoiler:Okina, ''a bookshelf, and a tree''. Kenshin counters it, Shishio counters it, ''Wu Heishin's EliteMook'', of all people, counters it, and Okina... well, I got nothing.]] Kenshin's own ''Kuzu Ryu Sen'' may count as well, since nearly all his opponents are either fast enough to dodge or block it (Both of which are supposed to be nearly impossible) or tough enough to NoSell it.

** In the first movie this happens when Guame, Adiane, and Viral [[spoiler:combine their mecha to form the Perfect Fortress Do-Ten-Kai-Zan, launching a barrage on the hero team of seemingly nuclear proportions, to no effect.]]

* Blackbolt from ''ComicBook/TheInhumans'' has two [[FinishingMove special moves]]. The first is [[MakeMeWannaShout his voice]] which is normally treated with a great deal of respect which has allowed him to take down foes like the [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]] and even killed an alternate reality version of ComicBook/{{Apocalypse}}. His second is the Master Blow, which consists of all of his energy channeled into a single punch. For some reason, this Master Blow seems about as powerful as his normal punches (he has SuperStrength), which makes it redundant. On top of that, it leaves him drained and weak. This is probably why most writers ignore that particular ability.

** In ''ComicBook/GoDownSwinging'', a coalition of Spidey's allies team up to battle the Red Goblin -- ComicBook/NormanOsborn armed with the ComicBook/{{Carnage}} symbiote -- when the web-slinger is taken out of action by him. Both the Human Torch and Clash, armed with a symbiote's typical weakness to fire and sound, are unable to faze him and ComicBook/MilesMorales' infamous Venom blasts, infamous for taking down even the toughest opponents (up to and including the demon Blackheart), barely do anything to him. The only one to even harm him is Agent Anti-Venom's touch and he's forced to break off to use that touch to save everyone from dying at Osborn's hands.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
** ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'': At one point the entire Justice League hits Doomsday with their combined powers (Superman with his heat vision, ComicBook/BoosterGold with his hand blasts, Fire with her flame, Bloodwynd with his eye-beam, Guy Gardner with his yellow power ring, etc.), and when they're all finally drained and stop and the smoke clears, we see that the total amount of damage Doomsday endured was distributed entirely throughout his restrictive suit, which was now unrestricting him. He hadn't even been knocked down.
** ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} blasted Doomsday with a "full power" Omega Beam, which is capable of outright ''obliterating'' all but the most powerful of beings. It knocked him back and caused a mountain to fall on him. Doomsday simply pushed it off of him, stood up, and KO'd Darkseid with a single punch.

* Happens to [[VisualNovel/FateStayNight Lancer]], [[RunningGag of course]], in ''Fanfic/FateGenesis'' when he gets so pissed fighting VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog that he uses [[OneHitKill Gae Bolg]] on him, only for him, Saber and Rin to stare flabbergasted as instead of a hedgehog shish-kebab, [[RingOfPower Sonic's Power Rings save him]] and they get scattered like he hit [[SpikesOfDoom the usually one-hit-kill spikes]] from his series. Notably, Sonic still feels the ''pain'' of being hit, which clues Lancer in that [[AttackAttackAttack repeated uses]] will probably do the job, but Sonic yanks Gae Bolg out of his hands to stop the second try, and their later confrontations have Sonic doing everything he can to keep Lancer from trying that strategy out.

* Humorously done in ''Film/IronMan2'', where Comicbook/WarMachine fires a bunker-buster warhead at [[BigBad Whiplash]], which Hammer has previously claimed was his ultimate weapon. The warhead harmlessly bounces off Whiplash's armor, prompting Stark to immediately guess that it was developed by the inept Hammer. It may seem that he conveniently ignores that every other Hammer weapon in War Machine's arsenal works just fine but to be fair, every other weapon that Hammer offered up to modify the Mark II armor into War Machine was a pre-existing design; the "Ex-Wife" bunker buster was the only weapon explicitly stated to be of Hammer Industries origin.
** In a deleted, alternate ending where Vanko did not become yet another armored up version of one of Tony's villains, the Ex-Wife worked fine serving as a literal [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's Gun]] to [[DefeatEqualsExplosion end with a bang]].
* In ''Film/TheKarateKid Part II'' Daniel's ultimate attack, The Crane Kick, [[spoiler:is quickly and easily reversed about halfway through the film]], requiring Daniel to learn an entirely new super unbeatable technique. The third film breaks the trend by not introducing any new super-moves.

* At the climax of ''Film/StarWarsTheLastJedi'', Kylo Ren orders the entire army with him to fire everything they have at [[spoiler:Luke Skywalker, who is the last thing standing between them and the bunker holding the last of the Resistance]]. When the smoke clears and he is still standing, reacting to the attack by simply [[Awesome/TheLastJedi brushing some dirt off his shoulder]], Kylo gets out to fight him mano-a-mano, and finds out why his attack didn't work: [[spoiler:because Luke wasn't actually there, just projecting himself across the galaxy using the Force. Unfortunately, the effort required of him to do that ''does'' actually kill him.]]

* Happens in the first novel of Creator/MikhailAkhmanov's ''Literature/ArrivalsFromTheDark'' series, when a huge [[HumanAlien Faata]] starship engages a fleet of 12 Earth cruisers, who proceed to unleash a [[MacrossMissileMassacre barrage of nuclear missiles]] with the combined force of 140 ''gigaton''. The protagonist is currently aboard the mothership and triumphantly prepares to die, knowing that nothing can resist such firepower. He barely feels a bump, as the starship's DeflectorShields easily absorb the blast. Turns out 140 gigaton is nothing when your shields are rated for {{Antimatter}}.

* In ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'', we are told that Zeus' Master Bolt makes hydrogen bombs look like firecrackers. However, [[spoiler:the only time we see it in action is against [[EldritchAbomination Typhon]], who just shrugs it off]]

* In ''Series/TheFlash2014'', Barry's supersonic punches were previously able to defeat [[ExtraOreDinary Girder]]. They have no effect on [[KillerGorilla Grodd]] (partly because Grodd is surprisingly fast for his size and partly because he can [[PsychicPowers read Barry's mind]], so he knows what's coming). Barry does finally manage to land a successful supersonic punch on him, but only because Grodd is too busy [[spoiler:being sucked into a breach to Earth 2]]. Later, Jay teaches Barry to [[ShockAndAwe throw lightning bolts]] (from the electricity he builds up while running). It works against one metahuman. Then Barry faces off against [[BigBad Zoom]]... who easily catches the lightning bolt and throws it right back at Barry. It still works against other opponents, though, such as Hawkman and King Shark.

* Applies to the Superstars, when another superstar puts their "unbeatable" finishing move (which always ended the match on ALL prior occasions), on the ''top'' superstar (i.e. Wrestling/TheUndertaker, Wrestling/HulkHogan or Wrestling/UltimateWarrior, etc.). The audience is led to expect that the top superstar is finished -- only for the Undertaker to sit up after [[Wrestling/JakeRoberts the DDT]], the Hulkster to fight his way out of [[Wrestling/TheIronSheik the Camel Clutch]], or The Ultimate Warrior to come back after Hulk's "unbeatable" leg-drop (all of these were actual scenarios).

* Many wrestlers outside of WWE slip and let their finisher become The Worf Barrage. Some notable examples include Takeshi Morishima's Backdrop Driver, which is less a finisher than a move he wins with just by doggedly using it over and over; Naruki Doi's Doi 555 to Bakutare Sliding Kick combo, which started as a finisher but was eventually survived so often that some fans joke that he no longer ''has'' a finishing move; and Wrestling/NigelMcGuinness's Tower of London, a rather nasty move that went from instant match-ender to a move that he could use three times in the ring and once on the apron without ending the match (at least until he went to Wrestling/{{TNA}} and became Desmond Wolfe). The Wrestling/DragonGate promotion is particularly notorious for finishers quickly going from DeaderThanDead to The Worf Barrage.

** In 3.5, a lot of evocation spells like ''Fireball'' and ''Lightning Bolt'' can be like this. They are flashy, but really only good for taking out {{Mook}}s. It is probably better to use a different spell on the BigBad you are fighting because a lot of the time they simply can not do enough damage. One of the main reasons for this is because the damage they do has been unchanged since AD&D 1st Edition. 10d6 may have been a lot when the dragon only had 66 hit points, but when it has 300+ and the average damage is only in the mid-30s, it can lead to a scene of a player firing off an impressive spell, only for the enemy to be relatively unharmed. This is because you're supposed to hit large single targets with spells that target single foes, like Scorching Ray or Lightning Orb. Spells that target a single foe always have a damage advantage over spells of the same level that hit entire areas.

* ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'' has the titular character [[SummonBiggerFish summoning demons]] to perform [[NoKillLikeOverkill incredibly brutal]] [[FinishingMove finishing moves]] on all of the bosses. TheDragon? [[spoiler:Kills the demons she summons. ''[[OhCrap All of them]]'']].

** [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor's]] God Blast only [[AttackBackfire supercharged]] [[Franchise/MortalKombat Raiden]].

** The [[Franchise/DragonBall Goku]] vs. Franchise/{{Superman}} fight. You'd think that after absorbing the energy of a Spirit Bomb to power his [[KamehameHadoken Kamehameha]], Goku would defeat Superman quite handily, but Superman just powers through the beam of Ki like it's nothing. It helps that Superman took that time bathing in the sun itself to get his own power-up, however.

** During the [[Franchise/StreetFighter M. Bison]] vs. [[Franchise/MortalKombat Shao Kahn]] battle, Bison performs the Nightmare Booster, his most powerful attack which the hosts note can kill a normal man with one strike. He engulfs himself in [[SoulPower Psycho Power]], flies at his opponent, and carries him into the air, before [[MeteorMove slamming Shao Kahn into the ground]]. Kahn is quite amused, nonchalantly getting up and quipping:

** The [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]] unleashes his signature [[ShockwaveClap Thunderclap]] move nearly point-blank in [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Doomsday's]] face, but at best all it does is disorient Doomsday before he grabs Hulk's hands and breaks one of them.

* WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged:

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': Given his powerset, Steven has a defensive example. In its introductory episode, Steven's bubble forcefield is practically indestructible ([[PowerIncontinence the plot of the episode was him trying to get rid of it]]). On its very next appearance, it was destroyed by a single energy blast. Its main purpose now is to get punched to bits by the villains... until he starts to grow into his power, in which case it goes back to being NighInvulnerable to the point of being able to tank [[spoiler:attacks from ''Blue Diamond''.]]
** The same can be said for Steven's shield. At first, outside of cases of PowerIncontinence making it difficult for him to mantain, his his shield is nearly indestructable, able to tank laser fire from space ships and shrug off any and all physical attacks with the only means of tharting it being to somehow get around it and knock it out of Steven's hands. As the series goes on however, we see cases of characters being able to break it [[spoiler: with Bismuth being able to shatter it by striking at it while her hand is morphed into an axe, Yellow Diamond stomping on both it and Steven with enough force to destroy it and later on in the movie, Spinel is able to easily slice it in half with the Regenerator.]] While it does remain an overall effective weapon, it stops being completely infallible once Steven masters it.

** Lugnut of has "[[RocketPunch The Punch of Kill Everything]]", which is an effective weapon, but frequently (and often comically) backfires on him.

** [[MadeOfIron Let's not forget that before the building demolition, that same truck had survived being rammed into other buildings/walls/trees,]] [[SuperNotDrowningSkills submerged, then buried by the tide,]] [[NighInvulnerability bashed around by a wrecking ball,]] and ''[[KillItWithFire set on fire.]]''

** The Genki Dama, or [[CombinedEnergyAttack Spirit Bomb]], is supposedly an all-powerful last-minute countermeasure. And it works correctly a grand total of ''once'' in the entire mainline series. Most of the time, the villains just manage to survive it, but in one case it was even deflected back at the user. The only time it ''did'' work was against Kid Buu, and by then it had already picked up a reputation as this kind of attack; Goku's reaction to Vegeta's suggestion that he use the Spirit Bomb is one of incredulity and reluctance to use it. Outside the mainline series in the [[NonSerialMovie Non-Serial Movies]], it's quite a bit more effective as a means of finishing off the villains.

** Most characters, usually [[TheRival Vegeta]], employ a BeamSpam at least once per battle, and it usually doesn't do anything more than [[SmokeShield create a lot of dust]]. The only time a Beam Spam can really be said to have accomplished something important was in the sixth movie, when Vegeta interrupts Metal Cooler's regeneration with one -- and that one [[ActuallyADoombot turned out to be an avatar of the real Cooler]], who promptly spawned several hundred more.

* ''Manga/InuYasha'':

* In Part 3 of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', Kakyoin's "Emerald Splash" attack takes this role. It is supposedly an extremely powerful attack, but Kakyoin never manages to use it to simply successfully attack an opponent. In his fight against Jotaro, Star Platinum is strong enough to block it with his arms. Tower of Gray is fast enough to dodge it (although Kakyoin does use this to bait his opponent into a trap). And DIO can [[spoiler:stop time to dodge the attack before killing Kakyoin]]. There are only two times where the attack successfully hits its target, and neither of them are an enemy: one is when he fires it at his friend Polnareff to knock him out of the way of an enemy's attack, and the other is when [[spoiler:he shoots a clock tower as a DyingClue which allows his allies to deduce that DIO's power is to stop time]].

* Played for laughes in ''Manga/OutlawStar''. Occasionally Gene would use various increasingly powerful weapons, culminating in Gene whipping out a ''bazooka''. Of course, the blast doesn't work, leaving Gene (and sometimes Jim), with their [[JawDrop jaws dropped]].

[[folder:Film]]

* ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' movies, whenever you see the regular army set up a bunch of tanks, artillery, and lasers, the most they ever do to the giant monster, usually Godzilla, is make it angry. There was one case in ''Film/{{Godzilla 2000}}'' where a special armor-piercing missile actually appeared to damage Godzilla, but he just instantly healed from it.

** Also happens in its cinematic ancestor, the George Pal ''Film/TheWarOfTheWorlds''. Late in the movie, the USAF drops an atom bomb on the invaders (from a [[RuleOfCool B-49 Flying Wing]]!), but they turn out to be protected by a ForceField.
** In 2005's ''Film/WarOfTheWorlds'', when the character of Creator/TomCruise and his two kids are walking along several hundred other refugees, they stumble into a battle raging between the U.S. Military and a couple of tripods. A commander is seen telling his subordinate that despite everything they are doing has no effect, they have to keep firing to give the refugees time to get to safety. Shortly, we see a soldier firing an [=RPG=], and then a squadron of Apache attack helicopter unleash their missiles. When the commander gives the order to march forward, numerous giant fireballs light up the night sky as dozens of [[TanksForNothing Tanks, AFVs']] and other vehicles are incinerated by the tripods' [[WaveMotionGun ray blasters.]] The scene the pans out to reveal a fighter plane launching another missile, and exploding harmlessly on a tripod's [[ForceField protective shield.]]
*** Earlier in the movie, when Tom Cruise's character finds a TV reporter rummaging through a crashed airliner, she mentions that she and her production crew were barely able to escape after a National Guard unit tried to flank a tripod, but were instead vaporized.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheIronGiant'', a squad of jet fighters seemingly [[spoiler:destroyed [[HumongousMecha the robot]]]], only for the U.S. Army to find out that [[spoiler:he's still alive and mourning over the seemingly-dead Hogarth]]. Of course, the paranoid Mansley still orders them to attack, but [[YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry do you really think that's a good idea?]]
--> '''Soldier:''' He's still alive!
--> '''Kent Mansley:''' Then SHOOT AT HIM!!
--> Oops...

* Pepper spray is often treated as a Worf Barrage. It is used by otherwise defenseless (usually female) characters, and it invariably fails to make the TheDragon even blink. Such is the case in ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' and ''Film/UnderSiege2DarkTerritory'', where TheDragon hilariously takes the pepper spray (NOT mace, as he points out) and uses it as a breath mint.

Much like TheWorfEffect, The Worf Barrage is that attack that's supposedly [[FinishingMove all-powerful, ultra-destructive, and super-awesome]], but in reality only serves as the "that" in NoOneCouldSurviveThat because they just ''did''.

* In ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' Ronan is completely unfazed by the Hadron Enforcer (a badass energy missile which can "destroy moons", or at the very least, a spaceship). He completely absorbs the attack despite a direct hit to the chest.

* ''Manga/OnePunchMan'': Lord Boros shows two of these during his fight with Saitama: His Meteoric Burst and his Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon. The Meteoric Burst is a [[SuperEmpowering Self-Empowering]] DangerousForbiddenTechnique much like Goku's Kaioken, while the [[KamehameHadoken Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon]] is a planet-busting beam fired while in the previous form. Of course, this being [[ComicallyInvincibleHero Saitama]], neither manages to do any harm to him (even when he uses the power of the Meteoric Burst to knock Saitama to '''the moon'''), and in fact he splits the CSRC with a [[CallingYourAttack "Serious Series" Punch]], which Boros claims wasn't even a fraction of his true strength.

* ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'': In the early battles, the Sword, Spear and Bow Heroes would often spam the Meteor Skills of their weapons, which are allegedly their strongest attacks. If they all fire it at a single target at once, chances are the enemy will NoSell it to prove how powerful it is.

* The supposedly almighty Dragon Slave spell in ''{{LightNovel/Slayers}}'' often works like this, often being used only to show that the new villain is just badass enough to withstand it.

* Occasionally in the ''Franchise/UltraSeries'', a particularly powerful {{Kaiju}} [[MonsterOfTheWeek of the Week]] or a BigBad will get hit by an Ultraman's FinishingMove and survive (or even worse, [[EnergyAbsorption absorb the attack]] and maybe [[AttackReflector fire it back at them]], which as shown in [[Series/Ultraman the first series]] is potentially ''fatal''). Sometimes, using the FinishingMove a second time works, but other times, it means the humans need to step in and tip the scales, or the Ultras are gonna have to come up with a different way to kill the monster.

* Occasionally in the ''Franchise/UltraSeries'', a particularly powerful {{Kaiju}} [[MonsterOfTheWeek of the Week]] or a BigBad will get hit by an Ultraman's FinishingMove and survive (or even worse, [[EnergyAbsorption absorb the attack]] and maybe [[AttackReflector fire it back at them]]). Sometimes, using the FinishingMove a second time works, but other times, it means the humans need to step in and tip the scales, or the Ultras are gonna have to come up with a different way to kill the monster.

** The [[KamehameHadoken Kamehameha]], initially hyped up as one of the most powerful KiAttacks in the series, gets hit with this over time. Tien Shihan is able to deflect it with a {{kiai}}, Mercenary Tao suffers nothing but ClothingDamage from a direct hit, and King Piccolo doesn't even suffer that much after taking it head-on.
** Mercenary Tao's Super Dodon Wave, a stronger WaveMotionGun version of the Dodon Ray, ''never once successfully deals damage to anyone''. Granted, it was used only once in manga, but even then was blocked by a simple kiai.

** The Genki Dama, or [[CombinedEnergyAttack Spirit Bomb]], is supposedly an all-powerful last-minute countermeasure. And it works correctly a grand total of ''once'' in the entire mainline series. Most of the time, the villains just manage to survive it, but in one case it was even deflected back at the user. The only time it ''did'' work was against Buu, and by then it had already picked up a reputation as this kind of attack; Goku's reaction to Vegeta's suggestion that he use the Spirit Bomb is one of incredulity and reluctance to use it. Outside the mainline series in the [[NonSerialMovie Non-Serial Movies]], it's quite a bit more effective as a means of finishing off the villains.
** Most characters employ a BeamSpam at least once per battle, and it usually doesn't do anything more than [[SmokeShield create a lot of dust]]. The only time a Beam Spam can really be said to have accomplished something important was in the sixth movie, when Vegeta interrupts Metal Cooler's regeneration with one -- and that one [[ActuallyADoombot turned out to be an avatar of the real Cooler]], who promptly spawned several hundred more.

** The Kaio-Ken was introduced as a DangerousForbiddenTechnique, but it stopped being effective over time, especially once the top fighters achieved [[SuperMode Super Saiyanhood]]. That is, until they learned how to combine the upper Super Saiyan levels with the Kaio-Ken.

** Vegeta decides to debut his brand new finishing move, the Final Shine. Unfortunately, he tried it against Super 17, who can absorb energy.

* ''Film/IndependenceDay'' uses this trope when they decide to deploy a [[NuclearOption nuclear missile]] on one of the invading ships. It levels the city in the process and produces a huge amount of smoke, leading to the war room celebrating victory for a short period of time before enough smoke clears to reveal the ship is still there. Earlier on, the first (and horribly unsuccessful) attack on one of the alien craft; every missile fired by the numerous fighter jets hits the ship's shields, doing absolutely nothing.

* ''Film/IndependenceDay'' uses this trope when they decide to deploy a [[NuclearOption nuclear missile]] on one of the invading ships. It levels the city in the process and produces a huge amount of smoke, leading to the war room celebrating victory for a short period of time before enough smoke clears to reveal the ship is still there.

* In ''Flinx Transcendent'', the GrandFinale of Creator/AlanDeanFoster's ''Literature/HumanxCommonwealth'' series, Flinx locates the [[{{Precursors}} Tar-Aiym]] [[LostSuperweapon weapons platform]] that he's been chasing for the last four novels and attempts to use it against the oncoming [[UltimateEvil Great Evil]]. Despite the fact that its WaveMotionGun is capable of destroying entire star systems, it barely scratches the [[EldritchAbomination galaxy-devouring horror]], forcing Flinx to go look for an even more powerful weapon.

** Seto Kaiba's Deck Destruction Virus of Death/Crush Card Virus, an incredibly strong card (for point of reference, [[DeFictionalization the real-life version of the card]], despite being [[{{Nerf}} severely weakened]], is one of the few to be outright errataed specifically to weaken it further). Its effect (when a weak Dark monster is destroyed, your opponent loses all cards from their hand, field, and Deck with more than 1500 ATK and can't Summon them back) should be enough to win him any Duel... but with depressing regularity, that isn't what happens. He's attempted to use it seven times, but Amelda, Noah, Daimon, and Pegasus were able to destroy or negate it before he could use it (Pegasus even managed to take it for himself), Ishizu countered it by using Exchange of the Spirit to put her Monsters back in her Deck, and Yugi and Jounouchi were able to play around the handicap and both nearly won (Yugi would have, but Kaiba cheated). This means that, out of seven attempted uses, only one of them was a case where activating Crush Card Virus assisted Kaiba in winning a Duel.
*** It also saw usage in the scripted Duel played by Yugi and Kaiba's voice actors at the 2019 World Championship, and though it was probably the closest that Kaiba ever came to defeating his rival, Yugi won thanks to a variant of Exodia.

** Mirror Force is a powerful Trap Card that wipes out every Attack Position monster the opponent controls when any monster of theirs declares an attack. It's a card that can singlehandedly turn the tide of battle, but after its initial appearance against Weevil, it usually gets destroyed before its user can activate it, negated, or the attacking monster [[NoSell has a protection effect against it]]. A particularly memorable instance of this is when Kaiba summons his Egyptian God Card, Obelisk the Tormentor, and activates its OneHitKill effect. One of the Rare Hunters activates Mirror Force, only for him to smugly declare, "I'm afraid your weak Trap Card won't work." Incidentally, this trope also applies to Mirror Force's real-life usage in the TCG, even before PowerCreep. While it could be devastating to newer players, expert players would anticipate it and thus, in most situations, not attack with a bunch of Attack Position monsters on the field without some sort of countermeasure.

* ''Machinima/TeamServiceAnnouncement'': ''Pop It, Don't Drop It''. No matter how much firepower one can throw at a medic, if he's Ubered, it won't matter. How to illustrate it? By aiming about three teams' worth of ordnance in the victim's direction, of course.

* Blackbolt from ''ComicBook/TheInhumans'' has two [[FinishingMove special moves]]. The first is [[MakeMeWannaShout his voice]] which is normally treated with a great deal of respect which has allowed him to take down foes like the [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk Hulk]] and even killed an alternate reality version of ComicBook/{{Apocalypse}}. His second is the Master Blow, which consists of all of his energy channeled into a single punch. For some reason, this Master Blow seems about as powerful as his normal punches (he has SuperStrength), which makes it redundant. On top of that, it leaves him drained and weak. This is probably why most writers ignore that particular ability.

** ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk unleashes his signature [[ShockwaveClap Thunderclap]] move nearly point-blank in [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Doomsday's]] face, but at best all it does is disorient Doomsday before he grabs Hulk's hands and breaks one of them.

*** The rematch has Goku (at Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan, his most powerful form at the time) hit Superman with a ''massive'' [[KamehemaHadoken Kamehameha Wave]]. Supes strolls through like it were a strong breeze.

*** The rematch has Goku (at Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan, his most powerful form at the time) hit Superman with a ''massive'' [[KamhemaHadoken Kamehameha Wave]]. Supes strolls through like it were a strong breeze.

** Taken UpToEleven in the Undertaker/Wrestling/{{Kane}} match at Wrestlemania 14, where Taker got up from Kane's finisher, then needed three iterations of his own finishing move to get Kane to stay down for the three-count. After the match was officially over, Kane got up ''again'' and proceeded to pummel Undertaker, culminating in a headfirst drop on a steel chair. Taker got up as Kane was on his way out.

* You know the 80 cm [[UsefulNotes/NazisWithGnarlyWeapons Schwerer Gustav]], the [[{{BFG}} biggest gun ever built]]? Only one of these guns was [[AwesomeButImpractical built-in position]] (how else would you describe an artillery crew of 2500 personnel and a purpose-built railway branch?) in time for a military operation -- the [[TheSiege Second Siege of Sevastopol]]. It then expended 48 rounds before completely wearing out its barrel. The Soviets failed to notice the tank-sized bunker-busters being lobbed at them. [[SubvertedTrope Except for that one time]] when the Severnaya Bay ammo dump went up. The thing is, it was [[ElaborateUndergroundBase protected by ten meters of ferro-concrete]] -- and [[UpToEleven located under 30 meters of water]].

** Seto Kaiba's Deck Destruction Virus of Death/Crush Card Virus, an incredibly strong card (for point of reference, [[DeFictionalization the real-life version of the card]], despite being [[{{Nerf}} severely weakened]], is one of the few to be outright errataed specifically to weaken it further). Its effect (when a weak Dark monster is destroyed, your opponent loses all cards from their hand, field, and Deck with more than 1500 ATK and can't Summon them back) should be enough to win him any Duel... but with depressing regularity, that isn't what happens. He's attempted to use it seven times, but Amelda, Noah, Daimon, and Pegasus were able to destroy or negate it before he could use it (Pegasus even managed to take it for himself), Ishizu countered it by using Exchange of the Spirit to put her Monsters back in her Deck, and Yugi and Jounouchi were able to play around the handicap and both nearly won (Yugi would have, but Kaiba cheated). This means that, out of seven attempted uses, only one of them was a case where activating Crush Card Virus assisted Kaiba in winning a Duel (two, if you count fusing it with Critias).

** Mirror Force is a powerful Trap Card which wipes out every Attack Position monster the opponent controls when any monster of theirs declares an attack. It's a card that can singlehandedly turn the tide of battle, but after its initial appearance against Weevil, it usually gets destroyed before its user can activate it, negated, or the attacking monster [[NoSell has a protection effect against it]]. A particularly memorable instance of this is when Kaiba summons his Egyptian God Card, Obelisk the Tormentor, and activates its OneHitKill effect. One of the Rare Hunters activates Mirror Force, only for him to smugly declare, "I'm afraid your weak Trap Card won't work." Incidentally, this trope also applies to Mirror Force's real-life usage in the TCG, even before PowerCreep. While it could be devastating to newer players, expert players would anticipate it and thus, in most situations, not attack with a bunch of Attack Position monsters on the field without some sort of countermeasure.

* ''Film/MortalKombat'' and ''Film/MortalKombatAnnihilation'': Johnny Cage's "[[SpeedEchoes Shadow Kick]]" fail to land a hit both times he uses it in the movies. The second failure results in his death.

* ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'': In the fourth Lostbelt, the Chaldea's first encounter with Arjuna Over Gods goes as such: Rama uses Brahmastra, which is specialized in killing immortal Hindu demons, and it just bounces off of Arjuna as if it were a twig. The protagonists then prepare to use Karna's god-killing [[FantasticNuke Vasavi Shakti]], only to be told that it will fail to damage Arjuna as well. True enough, Karna uses it on Aśvatthāman shortly afterward, and it doesn't manage to kill him.

*** It isn't clear since Berserker could as way be killed during this attack. The problem is, he instantly revives after being killed.

** When Shinji opens fire on Shamshel (with an assault rifle in the series and a ''[[GatlingGood chaingun]]'' in Rebuild) and fails to scratch 'er. Or when, in Rebuild, Ramiel takes a direct hit from a gun powered by the entire power grid of Japan, bleeds profusely, then turns around and ''burns through a mountain'' to get at Shinji. Or when...

* ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'': The heroes in ''Frontier'' use a combined attack to try to take out Duskmon. It doesn't even scratch him. Later, they attack [[spoiler:[[OneWingedAngel Lucemon Satan Mode]]]] with several different attacks, but it fails for [[HealingFactor a different reason]].

** [[Characters/TheFlashEobardThawne]] and [[Franchise/DragonBall Goku Black]] had one where both parties due this to each other. Reverse Flash goes back and time to kill past Goku Black before the fight begins, only for Goku Black to do the same to Reverse Flash. Since both are a ParadoxPerson, killing their past selves does not erase the other's present/future self. Que a montage of both of them repeatedly killing their past selves to little effect.