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* TheJuggernaut plays this role from time to time. The forgettable X-Men villain Post was introduced when he punched Jugs so hard he landed in the ''next state.'' In fact, one of Marvel's biggest storylines got started just because Scott Lobdell decided it would be cool to have Juggernaut mysteriously tossed through the sky, [[AlmostDeadGuy able to speak just one word]]: "{{Onslaught}}". (Lobdell [[http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2007/08/16/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-116/ hadn't even decided who Onslaught would be yet!]])
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* TheJuggernaut plays this role from time to time. The forgettable X-Men villain Post was introduced when he punched Jugs so hard he landed in the ''next state.'' In fact, one of Marvel's biggest storylines got started just because Scott Lobdell decided it would be cool to have Juggernaut mysteriously tossed through the sky, [[AlmostDeadGuy able to speak just one word]]: "{{Onslaught}}"."ComicBook/{{Onslaught}}". (Lobdell [[http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2007/08/16/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-116/ hadn't even decided who Onslaught would be yet!]])
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* The ComicBook/SilverSurfer is one of the most powerful beings alive. He has thrown energy blasts that have staggered {{Galactus}}, a man in a crazy hat who ''eats planets''. He has taken hits from said man in crazy hat ''and lived''. He's taken hits that would liquefy Earth and given them right back. This is why whenever a new cosmic menace is introduced, generally the very first thing that happens is someone pitches Silver Surfer in through a window.
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* The ComicBook/SilverSurfer is one of the most powerful beings alive. He has thrown energy blasts that have staggered {{Galactus}}, ComicBook/{{Galactus}}, a man in a crazy hat who ''eats planets''. He has taken hits from said man in crazy hat ''and lived''. He's taken hits that would liquefy Earth and given them right back. This is why whenever a new cosmic menace is introduced, generally the very first thing that happens is someone pitches Silver Surfer in through a window.
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* {{Galactus}} sometimes gets this when the writers want to show how tough a new cosmic menace is. He got smacked down by the Beyonder ''and'' SelfDemonstrating/DoctorDoom in ComicBook/SecretWars, and Krona in ComicBook/JLAAvengers killed him and ''constructed a fortress out of his corpse''. Tenebrous and Aegis take him out in ''Annihilation'' for ComicBook/{{Thanos}}. Part of this probably comes from having such an easy WorfHadTheFlu excuse -- his power, unlike that of, say, the Celestials, diminishes when he's hungry, so if anyone is skeptical about one of his defeats they can just say he hadn't fed in a while.
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* {{Galactus}} ComicBook/{{Galactus}} sometimes gets this when the writers want to show how tough a new cosmic menace is. He got smacked down by the Beyonder ''and'' SelfDemonstrating/DoctorDoom in ComicBook/SecretWars, and Krona in ComicBook/JLAAvengers killed him and ''constructed a fortress out of his corpse''. Tenebrous and Aegis take him out in ''Annihilation'' for ComicBook/{{Thanos}}. Part of this probably comes from having such an easy WorfHadTheFlu excuse -- his power, unlike that of, say, the Celestials, diminishes when he's hungry, so if anyone is skeptical about one of his defeats they can just say he hadn't fed in a while.
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* Years ago, Eric Larsen had the ComicBook/SpiderMan villain [[DoctorOctopus Dr. Octopus]] deliver the [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]] a severe smackdown during the "Revenge of the Sinister Six" storyarc. In the story, "Doc Ock" was given [[AppliedPhlebotinum extremely powerful adamantium limbs]] which made him far more dangerous. Hulk writer Creator/PeterDavid accused Larsen of a making a personal attack when he wrote that story and responded with a story written for the sole purpose of mocking Dr. Octopus. Larsen explained that it made sense to use the Hulk for the purpose of this very trope.
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* Years ago, Eric Larsen had the ComicBook/SpiderMan villain [[DoctorOctopus [[ComicBook/DoctorOctopus Dr. Octopus]] deliver the [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]] a severe smackdown during the "Revenge of the Sinister Six" storyarc. In the story, "Doc Ock" was given [[AppliedPhlebotinum extremely powerful adamantium limbs]] which made him far more dangerous. Hulk writer Creator/PeterDavid accused Larsen of a making a personal attack when he wrote that story and responded with a story written for the sole purpose of mocking Dr. Octopus. Larsen explained that it made sense to use the Hulk for the purpose of this very trope.
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* This frequently happens to the MartianManhunter who is regularly rendered comatose by scanning the mind of any BigBad. You'd think that after seeing "the greatest evil in the universe" some dozen times he would at least learn to stop looking into people's minds.
** In the cartoon, the MartianManhunter is almost REGULARLY shocked by an electric stick when he tries to sneak in. Needless to say, people no longer saw it as a big deal.
** In the cartoon, the MartianManhunter is almost REGULARLY shocked by an electric stick when he tries to sneak in. Needless to say, people no longer saw it as a big deal.
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* This frequently happens to the MartianManhunter ComicBook/MartianManhunter who is regularly rendered comatose by scanning the mind of any BigBad. You'd think that after seeing "the greatest evil in the universe" some dozen times he would at least learn to stop looking into people's minds.
** In the cartoon, theMartianManhunter ComicBook/MartianManhunter is almost REGULARLY shocked by an electric stick when he tries to sneak in. Needless to say, people no longer saw it as a big deal.
** In the cartoon, the
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** One of the first things Prometheus (an EvilCounterpart to Batman) did was defeat him in a fight, to show off how awesome his ability to [[PowerCopying download the skills of other heroes]] was. Uniquely, this particular event seemingly stuck; the only times Batman has been able to defeat Prometheus is when he messed with his powers somehow.
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* Killer Moth from ''{{Franchise/Batman}}'' is a rare example of this trope where being Worfed has [[{{Flanderization}} painted the character's entire depiction]]. In his original appearances he was a KnightOfCerebus EvilCounterpart in running for the title of Batman's archenemy. He wielded all sorts of deadly gadgets, had just as many combat skills as Batman, and even had his own private army that he used in his Moriarty-esque schemes. Than one day the comics introduced Batgirl. The writers wanted to establish her as a badass and worthy member of the Batfamily so they decided to do so by showing her beating the deadly Killer Moth in a fight. This backfired as getting beaten by an untrained fighter on her first night out as a superhero caused reader opinion of Moth to sink like a stone. Nobody could take him seriously anymore, in-universe or out. Thus Moth's characterization was changed forever; he was no longer the terrifying opposite of Batman, but instead the pitiable ButtMonkey of Batman's RoguesGallery.
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* Killer Moth from ''{{Franchise/Batman}}'' is a rare example of this trope where being Worfed has [[{{Flanderization}} painted the character's entire depiction]]. In his original appearances he was a KnightOfCerebus EvilCounterpart in running for the title of Batman's archenemy. He wielded all sorts of deadly gadgets, had just as many combat skills as Batman, and even had his own private army that he used in his Moriarty-esque schemes. Than one day the comics introduced Batgirl. The writers wanted to establish her as a badass and worthy member of the Batfamily so they decided to do so by showing her beating the deadly Killer Moth in a fight. This backfired as getting beaten by an untrained fighter on her first night out as a superhero caused reader opinion of Moth to sink like a stone. Nobody could take him seriously anymore, in-universe or out. Thus Moth's characterization was changed forever; he was no longer the terrifying opposite of Batman, but instead the pitiable ButtMonkey of Batman's RoguesGallery.RoguesGallery.
** Of course, his notoriously goofy outfit didn't really harm the latter interpretation.
** Of course, his notoriously goofy outfit didn't really harm the latter interpretation.
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*** [[TheRival Shadow the Hedgehog]] of all people is mostly this with [[FriendlyRival Knuckles]] a close second, Shadow one of the most ultimate badasses in the franchise and Sonic's equal, gets his ass handed to him and beat up the most in a battle by himself, and he is usually saved by others like Sonic and other team mates often requiring help to win. Knuckles used to have chaos powers and was the [[AGodAmI avatar]] of god in Mobius. Then he got his powers taken away from him, and like Shadow needs help to beat even weak fighters like Fang and Snively. He lost to Snively in a battle with Sonic and Tails.
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** A non-villainous example applies to Tails after he loses a Tournament Round to the newly introduced Honey the Cat. Although Honey is not evil, her interactions with Tails is noticeably more bossy and condescending, at least in comparison to her time with Amy and Sonic. Tails's loss to her also noticeably hurts his self-esteem, to the point where Sonic tries to cheer him up.
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-->'''Maria Hill:''' I've had the same car since I was sixteen. The same car, and never had a problem with it. This thing seems to fall out of the sky ''every other Thursday!''
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-->'''Maria Hill:''' I've had the same car since I was sixteen. The same car, and never had a problem with it. This thing seems to fall out of the sky ''every other Thursday!''Thursday!''
* Killer Moth from ''{{Franchise/Batman}}'' is a rare example of this trope where being Worfed has [[{{Flanderization}} painted the character's entire depiction]]. In his original appearances he was a KnightOfCerebus EvilCounterpart in running for the title of Batman's archenemy. He wielded all sorts of deadly gadgets, had just as many combat skills as Batman, and even had his own private army that he used in his Moriarty-esque schemes. Than one day the comics introduced Batgirl. The writers wanted to establish her as a badass and worthy member of the Batfamily so they decided to do so by showing her beating the deadly Killer Moth in a fight. This backfired as getting beaten by an untrained fighter on her first night out as a superhero caused reader opinion of Moth to sink like a stone. Nobody could take him seriously anymore, in-universe or out. Thus Moth's characterization was changed forever; he was no longer the terrifying opposite of Batman, but instead the pitiable ButtMonkey of Batman's RoguesGallery.
* Killer Moth from ''{{Franchise/Batman}}'' is a rare example of this trope where being Worfed has [[{{Flanderization}} painted the character's entire depiction]]. In his original appearances he was a KnightOfCerebus EvilCounterpart in running for the title of Batman's archenemy. He wielded all sorts of deadly gadgets, had just as many combat skills as Batman, and even had his own private army that he used in his Moriarty-esque schemes. Than one day the comics introduced Batgirl. The writers wanted to establish her as a badass and worthy member of the Batfamily so they decided to do so by showing her beating the deadly Killer Moth in a fight. This backfired as getting beaten by an untrained fighter on her first night out as a superhero caused reader opinion of Moth to sink like a stone. Nobody could take him seriously anymore, in-universe or out. Thus Moth's characterization was changed forever; he was no longer the terrifying opposite of Batman, but instead the pitiable ButtMonkey of Batman's RoguesGallery.
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** In IDW's ''[[ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW Transformers Ongoing]]'' book, Black Shadow does this in record time. He's introduced as a "phase sixer," basically a planet destroyer in bot form. Then his notable battles are listed and (one panel per battle) shown, along with kill counts (one battle numbering in the billions). [[spoiler: This is done to get him established as a supreme badass so that the Decepticon Justice Division's effortless takedown of him more impressive.]]
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** In IDW's ''[[ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW Transformers Ongoing]]'' book, ''ComicBook/TransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'', Black Shadow does this in record time. He's introduced as a "phase sixer," basically a planet destroyer in bot form. Then his notable battles are listed and (one panel per battle) shown, along with kill counts (one battle numbering in the billions). [[spoiler: This is done to get him established as a supreme badass so that the Decepticon Justice Division's effortless takedown of him more impressive.]]
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* Pretty much any superhuman who manages to piss off Batman gets kicked around by the writers. The sole exception being Wonder Woman.
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* Pretty much any superhuman who manages to piss off Batman gets kicked around by the writers. The sole exception being Wonder Woman.Woman.
* In Marvel, the biggest Worf sign are the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarriers, which seem to get knocked out of the sky on an impressive basis. Eventually an angry Maria Hill [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded it]].
-->'''Maria Hill:''' I've had the same car since I was sixteen. The same car, and never had a problem with it. This thing seems to fall out of the sky ''every other Thursday!''
* In Marvel, the biggest Worf sign are the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarriers, which seem to get knocked out of the sky on an impressive basis. Eventually an angry Maria Hill [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded it]].
-->'''Maria Hill:''' I've had the same car since I was sixteen. The same car, and never had a problem with it. This thing seems to fall out of the sky ''every other Thursday!''
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** Taken to a ridiculous point in ''DarkAvengers'' - during first 10 issues. [[spoiler: Sentry was killed THREE TIMES. Once by Morgana le Fay, once by his wife with his teammate gun, and once by Molecule Man. He keeps getting better.]]
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** Taken to a ridiculous point in ''DarkAvengers'' ''ComicBook/DarkAvengers'' - during first 10 issues. [[spoiler: Sentry was killed THREE TIMES. Once by Morgana le Fay, once by his wife with his teammate gun, and once by Molecule Man. He keeps getting better.]]
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* To an end, despite (or perhaps because of) his {{Badass}}ery, a good half of the numerous, [[WolverinePublicity seemingly omnipresent cameos]] ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} makes in various issues involve him being beaten within an inch of his life and thrown through something. [[GoodThingYouCanHeal Fortunately]], his HealingFactor fixes him up in a split, allowing him to move to the next. A really hardcore {{Badass}} ''{{kill|edOffForReal}}s'' an alternate reality Wolverine - whom no-one will ever miss - without blinking, thereby proving his badassness without causing complications.Hyperion in Exiles vaporized a Wolverine, and Thanos' goons in New Avegers 24 killed the entire X-Men (including Wolveirne) off-panel. The most outragous example happened in ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan'' #33, in which Karn, one of [[Characters/SpiderManTheInheritors the Inheritors]] (re: Morlun and his family), who flash-fries Wolverine down to his adamantium skeleton. Spider-Man remarked "I don't know who he is, but he just killed Logan which I didn't think was possible!"
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* To an end, despite (or perhaps because of) his {{Badass}}ery, a good half of the numerous, [[WolverinePublicity seemingly omnipresent cameos]] ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} makes in various issues involve him being beaten within an inch of his life and thrown through something. [[GoodThingYouCanHeal Fortunately]], his HealingFactor fixes him up in a split, allowing him to move to the next. A really hardcore {{Badass}} ''{{kill|edOffForReal}}s'' an alternate reality Wolverine - whom no-one will ever miss - without blinking, thereby proving his badassness without causing complications. Hyperion in Exiles vaporized a Wolverine, and Thanos' goons in New Avegers 24 killed the entire X-Men (including Wolveirne) Wolverine) off-panel. The most outragous example happened in ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan'' #33, in which Karn, one of [[Characters/SpiderManTheInheritors the Inheritors]] (re: Morlun and his family), who flash-fries Wolverine down to his adamantium skeleton. Spider-Man remarked "I don't know who he is, but he just killed Logan which I didn't think was possible!"
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*** She gets it ''again'' in ''Comicbook/TheBlackVortex'' crossover: After [[spoiler: Beast]] uses the Black Vortex, Laura tries to destroy it to prevent anyone else from succumbing. [[spoiler: Beast]] effortlessly swats her aside to demonstrate just how much more powerful ([[spoiler:Hank]] ordinarily not being a real threat to her) and AxeCrazy the Vortex makes its hosts. She's then put down in an attack by J'Son which didn't even knock the rest of the team unconscious, yet Laura is in a coma and her healing factor isn't working properly in the next chapter.
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* In IDW's ''[[ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW Transformers Ongoing]]'' book, Black Shadow does this in record time. He's introduced as a "phase sixer," basically a planet destroyer in bot form. Then his notable battles are listed and (one panel per battle) shown, along with kill counts (one battle numbering in the billions). [[spoiler: This is done to get him established as a supreme badass so that the Decepticon Justice Division's effortless takedown of him more impressive.]]
** In the first few pages of ''LastStandOfTheWreckers'', Overlord was depicted killing Skyquake (a character established [[AllThereInTheManual in bios]] as a powerful general with mostly 9s and 10s in his stats) in a single shot and beating Fortress Maximus (appearing in prior comics as a superb badass and having led the Autobots in some continuities) within an inch of his life. [[DeconstructedTrope The experience left the latter traumatized and uncertain of his ability to protect others, blaming himself for the resulting slaughter]].
** In the first few pages of ''LastStandOfTheWreckers'', Overlord was depicted killing Skyquake (a character established [[AllThereInTheManual in bios]] as a powerful general with mostly 9s and 10s in his stats) in a single shot and beating Fortress Maximus (appearing in prior comics as a superb badass and having led the Autobots in some continuities) within an inch of his life. [[DeconstructedTrope The experience left the latter traumatized and uncertain of his ability to protect others, blaming himself for the resulting slaughter]].
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* ''Franchise{{Transformers}}'':
** In IDW's ''[[ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW Transformers Ongoing]]'' book, Black Shadow does this in record time. He's introduced as a "phase sixer," basically a planet destroyer in bot form. Then his notable battles are listed and (one panel per battle) shown, along with kill counts (one battle numbering in the billions). [[spoiler: This is done to get him established as a supreme badass so that the Decepticon Justice Division's effortless takedown of him more impressive.]]
** In the first few pages of''LastStandOfTheWreckers'', ''ComicBook/TransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers'', Overlord was depicted killing Skyquake (a character established [[AllThereInTheManual in bios]] as a powerful general with mostly 9s and 10s in his stats) in a single shot and beating Fortress Maximus (appearing in prior comics as a superb badass and having led the Autobots in some continuities) within an inch of his life. [[DeconstructedTrope The experience left the latter traumatized and uncertain of his ability to protect others, blaming himself for the resulting slaughter]].
** In IDW's ''[[ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW Transformers Ongoing]]'' book, Black Shadow does this in record time. He's introduced as a "phase sixer," basically a planet destroyer in bot form. Then his notable battles are listed and (one panel per battle) shown, along with kill counts (one battle numbering in the billions). [[spoiler: This is done to get him established as a supreme badass so that the Decepticon Justice Division's effortless takedown of him more impressive.]]
** In the first few pages of
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* ''ComicBook/SpiderVerse'' has been pretty bad with this, having the Inheritors essentially wipe out anyone and anything that gets in their way. They've romped the Fantastic Five, ComicBook/TheNewWarriors, [[WesternAnimation/SpiderManAndHisAmazingFriends the Spider-Friends]], [[WesternAnimation/SpiderManUnlimited a city's worth of Beastmen]], [[PhysicalGod a Spider-Man with the Enigma Force]], even friggin' [[Series/SpiderManJapan Leo]][[HumongousMecha pardon]]!
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* ''ComicBook/SpiderVerse'' has been pretty bad with this, having the Inheritors essentially wipe out anyone and anything that gets in their way. They've romped the Fantastic Five, ComicBook/TheNewWarriors, [[WesternAnimation/SpiderManAndHisAmazingFriends the Spider-Friends]], [[WesternAnimation/SpiderManUnlimited a city's worth of Beastmen]], [[PhysicalGod a Spider-Man with the Enigma Force]], even friggin' [[Series/SpiderManJapan Leo]][[HumongousMecha pardon]]!pardon]]!
* Pretty much any superhuman who manages to piss off Batman gets kicked around by the writers. The sole exception being Wonder Woman.
* Pretty much any superhuman who manages to piss off Batman gets kicked around by the writers. The sole exception being Wonder Woman.
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I should correct that...
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* ''ComicBook/SpiderVerse'' has been pretty bad with this, having the Inheritors essentially wipe out anyone and anything that gets in their way. They've romped the Fantastic Four, [[WesternAnimation/SpiderManAndHisAmazingFriends the Spider-Friends]], [[WesternAnimation/SpiderManUnlimited a city's worth of Beastmen]], [[PhysicalGod a Spider-Man with the Enigma Force]], even friggin' [[Series/SpiderManJapan Leo]][[HumongousMecha pardon]]!
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* ''ComicBook/SpiderVerse'' has been pretty bad with this, having the Inheritors essentially wipe out anyone and anything that gets in their way. They've romped the Fantastic Four, Five, ComicBook/TheNewWarriors, [[WesternAnimation/SpiderManAndHisAmazingFriends the Spider-Friends]], [[WesternAnimation/SpiderManUnlimited a city's worth of Beastmen]], [[PhysicalGod a Spider-Man with the Enigma Force]], even friggin' [[Series/SpiderManJapan Leo]][[HumongousMecha pardon]]!
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* In ''ComicBook/UnderworldUnleashed'', new BigBad on the block Neron displayed his badass credentials by effortlessly inflicting a NeckSnap on Mongul, a guy who had previously held his own in personal combat with the likes of Superman and Wonder Woman.
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* In ''ComicBook/UnderworldUnleashed'', new BigBad on the block Neron displayed his badass credentials by effortlessly inflicting a NeckSnap on Mongul, a guy who had previously held his own in personal combat with the likes of Superman and Wonder Woman.Woman.
* ''ComicBook/SpiderVerse'' has been pretty bad with this, having the Inheritors essentially wipe out anyone and anything that gets in their way. They've romped the Fantastic Four, [[WesternAnimation/SpiderManAndHisAmazingFriends the Spider-Friends]], [[WesternAnimation/SpiderManUnlimited a city's worth of Beastmen]], [[PhysicalGod a Spider-Man with the Enigma Force]], even friggin' [[Series/SpiderManJapan Leo]][[HumongousMecha pardon]]!
* ''ComicBook/SpiderVerse'' has been pretty bad with this, having the Inheritors essentially wipe out anyone and anything that gets in their way. They've romped the Fantastic Four, [[WesternAnimation/SpiderManAndHisAmazingFriends the Spider-Friends]], [[WesternAnimation/SpiderManUnlimited a city's worth of Beastmen]], [[PhysicalGod a Spider-Man with the Enigma Force]], even friggin' [[Series/SpiderManJapan Leo]][[HumongousMecha pardon]]!
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** In the first few pages of ''LastStandOfTheWreckers'', Overlord was depicted killing Skyquake (a character established [[AllThereInTheManual in bios]] as a powerful general with mostly 9s and 10s in his stats) in a single shot and beating Fortress Maximus (appearing in prior comics as a superb badass and having led the Autobots in some continuities) within an inch of his life. [[DeconstructedTrope The experience left the latter traumatized and uncertain of his ability to protect others, blaming himself for the resulting slaughter]].
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* To an end, despite (or perhaps because of) his {{Badass}}ery, a good half of the numerous, [[WolverinePublicity seemingly omnipresent cameos]] ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} makes in various issues involve him being beaten within an inch of his life and thrown through something. [[GoodThingYouCanHeal Fortunately]], his HealingFactor fixes him up in a split, allowing him to move to the next. A really hardcore {{Badass}} ''{{kill|edOffForReal}}s'' an alternate reality Wolverine - whom no-one will ever miss - without blinking, thereby proving his badassness without causing complications.Hyperion in Exiles vaporized a Wolverine, and Thanos' goons in New Avegers 24 killed the entire X-Men (including Wolveirne) off-panel. The most outrageous example is the new Spider-Man enemy in Superior Spider-Man 24, who fries the meat off Wolverine's adamantium skeleton WHILE WEARING A TUXEDO AND AN OLDSCHOOL DIVING SUIT HELMET. Spider-Man remarked "I don't know who he is, but he just killed Logan which I didn't think was possible!"
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* To an end, despite (or perhaps because of) his {{Badass}}ery, a good half of the numerous, [[WolverinePublicity seemingly omnipresent cameos]] ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} makes in various issues involve him being beaten within an inch of his life and thrown through something. [[GoodThingYouCanHeal Fortunately]], his HealingFactor fixes him up in a split, allowing him to move to the next. A really hardcore {{Badass}} ''{{kill|edOffForReal}}s'' an alternate reality Wolverine - whom no-one will ever miss - without blinking, thereby proving his badassness without causing complications.Hyperion in Exiles vaporized a Wolverine, and Thanos' goons in New Avegers 24 killed the entire X-Men (including Wolveirne) off-panel. The most outrageous outragous example is happened in ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan'' #33, in which Karn, one of [[Characters/SpiderManTheInheritors the new Spider-Man enemy in Superior Spider-Man 24, Inheritors]] (re: Morlun and his family), who fries the meat off Wolverine's flash-fries Wolverine down to his adamantium skeleton WHILE WEARING A TUXEDO AND AN OLDSCHOOL DIVING SUIT HELMET.skeleton. Spider-Man remarked "I don't know who he is, but he just killed Logan which I didn't think was possible!"
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* {{Galactus}} sometimes gets this when the writers want to show how tough a new cosmic menace is. He got smacked down by the Beyonder ''and'' SelfDemonstrating/DoctorDoom in ComicBook/SecretWars, and Krona in ComicBook/JLAAvengers killed him and ''constructed a fortress out of his corpse''. Tenebrous and Aegis take him out in ''Annihilation'' for ComicBook/{{Thanos}}.
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* {{Galactus}} sometimes gets this when the writers want to show how tough a new cosmic menace is. He got smacked down by the Beyonder ''and'' SelfDemonstrating/DoctorDoom in ComicBook/SecretWars, and Krona in ComicBook/JLAAvengers killed him and ''constructed a fortress out of his corpse''. Tenebrous and Aegis take him out in ''Annihilation'' for ComicBook/{{Thanos}}. Part of this probably comes from having such an easy WorfHadTheFlu excuse -- his power, unlike that of, say, the Celestials, diminishes when he's hungry, so if anyone is skeptical about one of his defeats they can just say he hadn't fed in a while.
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* {{X-23}} and [[Characters/XMenOtherTeams Rockslide]] in ''[[ComicBook/NewMutants New X-Men]]'' (and other appearances after the series end) they get stuck with this as they are the strongest and scariest team members...who are practically immortal. Rockslide has been blown up twice BEFORE his power became not dying to physical harm. And X-23 is [[DistaffCounterpart just like Wolverine]].
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* {{X-23}} ComicBook/{{X 23}} and [[Characters/XMenOtherTeams Rockslide]] in ''[[ComicBook/NewMutants New X-Men]]'' (and other appearances after the series end) they get stuck with this as they are the strongest and scariest team members...who are practically immortal. Rockslide has been blown up twice BEFORE his power became not dying to physical harm. And X-23 is [[DistaffCounterpart just like Wolverine]].
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* There is also a ''group'' that serves this effect: the Illuminati (a secret society composed by ComicBook/IronMan, [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]], [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]], Charles Xavier, [[ComicBook/TheInhumans Black Bolt]] and Comicbook/DoctorStrange). They are supposed to exchange information so they can coordinate their respective teams and prevent the great crisis. Still, when each new crisis begins (ComicBook/CivilWar, SecretInvasion, Comicbook/AvengersVsXMen), the Illuminati have a secret meeting where they decide that there is nothing they can do.
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* There is also a ''group'' that serves this effect: the Illuminati ComicBook/TheIlluminati (a secret society composed by ComicBook/IronMan, [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]], [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]], Charles Xavier, [[ComicBook/TheInhumans Black Bolt]] and Comicbook/DoctorStrange). They are supposed to exchange information so they can coordinate their respective teams and prevent the great crisis. Still, when each new crisis begins (ComicBook/CivilWar, SecretInvasion, Comicbook/AvengersVsXMen), the Illuminati have a secret meeting where they decide that there is nothing they can do.
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* To an end, despite (or perhaps because of) his {{Badass}}ery, a good half of the numerous, [[WolverinePublicity seemingly omnipresent cameos]] ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} makes in various issues involve him being beaten within an inch of his life and thrown through something. [[GoodThingYouCanHeal Fortunately]], his HealingFactor fixes him up in a split, allowing him to move to the next. They're being ''serious'' when the {{Badass}} in question ''{{kill|edOffForReal}}s'' Wolverine, but given how much he's come back from, that will probably never happen.
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* To an end, despite (or perhaps because of) his {{Badass}}ery, a good half of the numerous, [[WolverinePublicity seemingly omnipresent cameos]] ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} makes in various issues involve him being beaten within an inch of his life and thrown through something. [[GoodThingYouCanHeal Fortunately]], his HealingFactor fixes him up in a split, allowing him to move to the next. They're being ''serious'' when the A really hardcore {{Badass}} in question ''{{kill|edOffForReal}}s'' an alternate reality Wolverine - whom no-one will ever miss - without blinking, thereby proving his badassness without causing complications.Hyperion in Exiles vaporized a Wolverine, and Thanos' goons in New Avegers 24 killed the entire X-Men (including Wolveirne) off-panel. The most outrageous example is the new Spider-Man enemy in Superior Spider-Man 24, who fries the meat off Wolverine's adamantium skeleton WHILE WEARING A TUXEDO AND AN OLDSCHOOL DIVING SUIT HELMET. Spider-Man remarked "I don't know who he is, but given how much he's come back from, that will probably never happen.he just killed Logan which I didn't think was possible!"
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* As shown in the main page image, Superman is sometimes tossed around just to show how powerful the new baddie is.
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** ComicBook/{{Ares}} was supposed to combine the viciousness of Wolverine, power level approaching Thor or Hercules with being a military genius all the while being praised and feared as a massive threat. Instead he tended to serve as either someone to show how powerful a new villain was so Sentry could take care of it or was needed for a fight scene that Sentry was too powerful for. He would then lose said fight scene. This culminated in SIEGE where he was [[CurbStompBattle ineffective]] against the Sentry to show how dark the character had become. Trying to remember any victories he might have had against any meaningful opponents is much more difficult than all the losses he has had. He gets his ass kicked in his own mini and needs his daddy Zeus to bail him out.
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** ComicBook/{{Ares}} was supposed to combine the viciousness of Wolverine, power level approaching Thor or Hercules with being a military genius all the while being praised and feared as a massive threat. Instead he tended to serve as either someone to show how powerful a new villain was so Sentry could take care of it or was needed for a fight scene that Sentry was too powerful for. He would then lose said fight scene. This culminated in SIEGE where he was [[CurbStompBattle ineffective]] against the Sentry to show how dark the character had become. Trying to remember any victories he might have had against any meaningful opponents is much more difficult than all the losses he has had. He gets his ass kicked in his own mini and needs his daddy Zeus to bail him out. This is actually pretty accurate to the mythological Ares, who was regularly humiliated in battle despite being the god of war.
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** Name a fight that Gladiator, Superman Expy (sorta) and leader of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, has actually won. Now for each of those, name five other fights he's lost. Seriously, Cannonball?
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** Name a fight that Gladiator, Superman Expy (sorta) and leader of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, has actually won. Now for each of those, name five other fights he's lost. Seriously, Cannonball?Cannonball? Justified to some degree in that Gladiator's power is fueled by his ego, which means [[WorfHadTheFlu his strength can vary a lot from day to day.]]
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Editing this since that run of Thunderbolts is no longer the latest.
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* In the latest ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}'' series, Headsman's tendency to get beaten up or otherwise neutralized even though he's the largest and most intimidating member of the team is, rather refreshingly, ''noticed by the rest of the team''. He's constantly razzed by teammates Paladin and ComicBook/AntMan, employer NormanOsborn regards him only with barely repressed disdain...once he suggested he get on his flying disc to deal with an airborne threat, only to be shot down with "Please, I've never seen you on that thing for more than 30 seconds."
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* In the latest run of ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}'' series, started by Andy Diggle, Headsman's tendency to get beaten up or otherwise neutralized even though he's the largest and most intimidating member of the team is, rather refreshingly, ''noticed by the rest of the team''. He's constantly razzed by teammates Paladin and ComicBook/AntMan, employer NormanOsborn regards him only with barely repressed disdain...once he suggested he get on his flying disc to deal with an airborne threat, only to be shot down with "Please, I've never seen you on that thing for more than 30 seconds."
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** ComicBook/{{Ares}} was supposed to combine the viciousness of Wolverine, power level approaching Thor or Hercules with being a military genius all the while being praised and feared as a massive threat. Instead he tended to serve as either someone to show how powerful a new villain was so Sentry could take care of it or was needed for a fight scene that Sentry was too powerful for. He would then lose said fight scene. This culminated in SIEGE where he was [[CurbStompBattle ineffective]] against the Sentry to show how dark the character had become. Trying to remember any victories he might have had against any meaningful opponents is much more difficult than all the loses he has had. He gets his ass kicked in his own mini and needs his daddy Zeus to bail him out.
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** ComicBook/{{Ares}} was supposed to combine the viciousness of Wolverine, power level approaching Thor or Hercules with being a military genius all the while being praised and feared as a massive threat. Instead he tended to serve as either someone to show how powerful a new villain was so Sentry could take care of it or was needed for a fight scene that Sentry was too powerful for. He would then lose said fight scene. This culminated in SIEGE where he was [[CurbStompBattle ineffective]] against the Sentry to show how dark the character had become. Trying to remember any victories he might have had against any meaningful opponents is much more difficult than all the loses losses he has had. He gets his ass kicked in his own mini and needs his daddy Zeus to bail him out.
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*** Lampshaded in-univere. Cyborg eventually builds Reddy a new body made of self-replicating nanites, explicitly stating that he wanted to find a way to stop him from constantly being destroyed.
** Subverted in one instance; An enemy tears apart Red Tornado, only for it to turn out that the writer for once remembered Reddy's robot body is a shell containing his real self- an wind elemental. The elemental, now freed, beats the crap out of his surprised enemy.
** Subverted in one instance; An enemy tears apart Red Tornado, only for it to turn out that the writer for once remembered Reddy's robot body is a shell containing his real self- an wind elemental. The elemental, now freed, beats the crap out of his surprised enemy.
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*** Lampshaded in-univere.in-universe. Cyborg eventually builds Reddy a new body made of self-replicating nanites, explicitly stating that he wanted to find a way to stop him from constantly being destroyed.
** Subverted in one instance; An enemy tears apart Red Tornado, only for it to turn out that the writer for once remembered Reddy's robot body is a shell containing his realself- an self--a wind elemental. The elemental, now freed, beats the crap out of his surprised enemy.
** Subverted in one instance; An enemy tears apart Red Tornado, only for it to turn out that the writer for once remembered Reddy's robot body is a shell containing his real
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* {{X-23}} and [[Characters/{{X-MenOtherTeams}} Rockslide]] in ''[[ComicBook/NewMutants New X-Men]]'' (and other appearances after the series end) they get stuck with this as they are the strongest and scariest team members...who are practically immortal. Rockslide has been blown up twice BEFORE his power became not dying to physical harm. And X-23 is [[DistaffCounterpart just like Wolverine]].
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* {{X-23}} and [[Characters/{{X-MenOtherTeams}} [[Characters/XMenOtherTeams Rockslide]] in ''[[ComicBook/NewMutants New X-Men]]'' (and other appearances after the series end) they get stuck with this as they are the strongest and scariest team members...who are practically immortal. Rockslide has been blown up twice BEFORE his power became not dying to physical harm. And X-23 is [[DistaffCounterpart just like Wolverine]].
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* The ComicBook/SilverSurfer is one of the most powerful beings alive. He has thrown energy blasts that have staggered {{Galactus}}, a man in a crazy hat who ''eats planets''. He has taken hits from said man in crazy hat ''and lived''. He's taken hits that would liquefy Earth and given them right back. This is why whenever a new cosmic menace is introduced, generally the very first thing that happens is someone pitches Silver Surfer in through a window.
* To an end, despite (or perhaps because of) his {{Badass}}ery, a good half of the numerous, [[WolverinePublicity seemingly omnipresent cameos]] ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} makes in various issues involve him being beaten within an inch of his life and thrown through something. [[GoodThingYouCanHeal Fortunately]], his HealingFactor fixes him up in a split, allowing him to move to the next. They're being ''serious'' when the {{Badass}} in question ''{{kill|edOffForReal}}s'' Wolverine, but given how much he's come back from, that will probably never happen.
** The most notable examples for Wolverine is ComicBook/{{Gambit}}. Short after he joined the team, he got a chance at fighting (and winning) against Wolverine in the Danger Room in order to show "how badass the new guy is".
** [[FlyingBrick Rogue]] often fills this role, ''especially'' in [[WesternAnimation/XMen the animated series]].
** Name a fight that Gladiator, Superman Expy (sorta) and leader of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, has actually won. Now for each of those, name five other fights he's lost. Seriously, Cannonball?
** Parodied on Newgrounds [[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/257930 here]]. "Ow! ...[[CatchPhrase Bub]]." (Made even sillier by his stereotypical Canadian accent.)
* Comicbook/CaptainAmerica was another popular go-to guy to get the beat-down in a new or relaunched title; to a lesser extent the rest of his fellow Avengers, too.
** This sometimes happened to his [[FanNickname Mighty Shield]]. Since it was established as [[MadeOfIndestructium practically indestructible]] ([[RetCon with the times it had been destroyed before that being established as steel copies while Tony Stark tried to understand how to replicate it]]), damaging or destroying it means that whoever did it has immense power. Thankfully, these instances are quite rare, as it was damaged or destroyed only by the absolute control over molecule bonds of the Molecule Man, the near omnipotence of the Beyonder of whoever wields the Infinity Gauntlet, the enormous power of the Odinforce and [[spoiler: the Serpent shattering it ''barehanded'']].
*** The shield is also destroyed by Loki in ''WesternAnimation/AvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes''. However, this is treated with a fair amount of realism, as Cap is unable to repair it and is thus forced to go without it for a number of episodes before the ComicBook/BlackPanther ends up fixing it with some super science.
** This trope might as well be called the [[ComicBook/TheVision Vision]] Effect, since this ''always'' happens to Comicbook/TheAvengers' Vision.
* Whenever he's in the Franchise/{{Justice League|OfAmerica}}, [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots Ridiculously Human Android]] ComicBook/RedTornado is ''notorious'' for always getting demolished to show off a villain's power. The main reason for this is that the badguy can tear Red apart and the team can just repair him later.
** Same goes for Comicbook/{{Cyborg}} of the ComicBook/TeenTitans.
*** Lampshaded in-univere. Cyborg eventually builds Reddy a new body made of self-replicating nanites, explicitly stating that he wanted to find a way to stop him from constantly being destroyed.
** Subverted in one instance; An enemy tears apart Red Tornado, only for it to turn out that the writer for once remembered Reddy's robot body is a shell containing his real self- an wind elemental. The elemental, now freed, beats the crap out of his surprised enemy.
* This frequently happens to the MartianManhunter who is regularly rendered comatose by scanning the mind of any BigBad. You'd think that after seeing "the greatest evil in the universe" some dozen times he would at least learn to stop looking into people's minds.
** In the cartoon, the MartianManhunter is almost REGULARLY shocked by an electric stick when he tries to sneak in. Needless to say, people no longer saw it as a big deal.
* TheSentry of Creator/MarvelComics. He was based on the ''Silver-Age'' Superman, more powerful than anyone, so mighty that he made the comics universe and the real world forget he had ever existed because he was so almighty that the mere memory of him would risk destroying the world. Now he's getting lunched by everybody. Including the Golden-Age Human Torch.
** Taken to a ridiculous point in ''DarkAvengers'' - during first 10 issues. [[spoiler: Sentry was killed THREE TIMES. Once by Morgana le Fay, once by his wife with his teammate gun, and once by Molecule Man. He keeps getting better.]]
** ComicBook/{{Ares}} was supposed to combine the viciousness of Wolverine, power level approaching Thor or Hercules with being a military genius all the while being praised and feared as a massive threat. Instead he tended to serve as either someone to show how powerful a new villain was so Sentry could take care of it or was needed for a fight scene that Sentry was too powerful for. He would then lose said fight scene. This culminated in SIEGE where he was [[CurbStompBattle ineffective]] against the Sentry to show how dark the character had become. Trying to remember any victories he might have had against any meaningful opponents is much more difficult than all the loses he has had. He gets his ass kicked in his own mini and needs his daddy Zeus to bail him out.
* Comicbook/TheAvengers have had several characters serve this role over the years. WonderMan is often joked to be this. Despite supposedly being as tough as Thor or Sentry he has a very poor record at winning fights, often only serving to make someone else look good. [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]], arguably the most powerful Avenger and one of the most powerful heroes, sometimes suffers from this to establish a new threat as being a real danger. Ares also served this to a point whenever Sentry wasn't around.
** Thor get this treatment by most of the Phoenix Five in ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen
* [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor In Thor's own series]] Odin is frequently the victim of this trope. Being the God among Gods, whenever Asgard is under threat by the villain of the week either Odin has to be incapacitated prior (in which case he usually gets better and wipes the villain out with a wave of his hand at the last minute) or get his ass handed to him to show just how powerful the villain is before Thor wipes the floor with them.
* SelfDemonstrating/DoctorDoom occasionally suffers this, whether from ComicBook/{{Dazzler}} and other new heroes, or to show how tough a new villain is (e.g. Millar's promise of a "Master of Doom"). Thank Kirby for [[ActuallyADoombot Doombots]], eh?
* {{X-23}} and [[Characters/{{X-MenOtherTeams}} Rockslide]] in ''[[ComicBook/NewMutants New X-Men]]'' (and other appearances after the series end) they get stuck with this as they are the strongest and scariest team members...who are practically immortal. Rockslide has been blown up twice BEFORE his power became not dying to physical harm. And X-23 is [[DistaffCounterpart just like Wolverine]].
** Incidentally, during ''New X-Men'', the original X-Men cast ALL SUCK. If the students are around every move and strategy and power of the older cast is instantly wrong. In "Quest for Magik" the X-Men are all captured and held in an energy field unable to help and during "Messiah Complex" the X-Men have to hand over the fight to the students due to it being something Sinister's mooks didn't plan on.
** Laura gets this ''particularly'' hard in ''ComicBook/AvengersArena''. Between her HealingFactor and its secondary effects (heightened senses, reflexes, etc) and TrainingFromHell by the Facility, she's easily the most dangerous and best-prepared to survive of the teens kidnapped by Arcade for his Murder World. And yet it ''still'' doesn't prevent her from having her [[CurbStompBattle ass completely handed to her]] by [[spoiler: [[CreatorsPet Apex]] during the group's first attempt to bring her down after her FaceHeelTurn]]. Especially egregious considering it's established (in the ''same series'', no less) that Laura [[SherlockScan automatically sizes up everyone in a room]] [[AwesomenessByAnalysis and formulates the best plan for killing everyone in it]] the second she steps inside, and in this case, her "best plan" would make LeeroyJenkins proud. The audience outcry was ''so'' heated that [[WordOfGod Hopeless himself attempted to rationalize it in the following issue's letter columns]], but rather than WorfHadTheFlu, his reasoning just made it a ''bigger'' case of IdiotBall.
* This was the reason ''ComicBooks/SquirrelGirl'' became so [[MemeticMutation popular]]; she defeated DrDoom with a ZergRush of squirrels in her (obscure) first appearance and [[LethalJokeCharacter defeating insanely powerful characters became her shtick]]. This no longer applies in more recent canon, since WordOfGod holds that she's a MasterOfAll.
* In ''Franchise/StarTrek: Countdown'', the prequel comic to the [[Film/StarTrek 2009 movie]], we see Worf again, 10 years after ''Nemesis'' and now a Klingon general. He gets ''impaled through the chest'' by Nero, but fortunately he was OnlyMostlyDead.
* In the latest ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}'' series, Headsman's tendency to get beaten up or otherwise neutralized even though he's the largest and most intimidating member of the team is, rather refreshingly, ''noticed by the rest of the team''. He's constantly razzed by teammates Paladin and ComicBook/AntMan, employer NormanOsborn regards him only with barely repressed disdain...once he suggested he get on his flying disc to deal with an airborne threat, only to be shot down with "Please, I've never seen you on that thing for more than 30 seconds."
* {{Galactus}} sometimes gets this when the writers want to show how tough a new cosmic menace is. He got smacked down by the Beyonder ''and'' SelfDemonstrating/DoctorDoom in ComicBook/SecretWars, and Krona in ComicBook/JLAAvengers killed him and ''constructed a fortress out of his corpse''. Tenebrous and Aegis take him out in ''Annihilation'' for ComicBook/{{Thanos}}.
* General purpose Franchise/MarvelUniverse villains The Wrecking Crew now exist entirely for this purpose. They have an ounce of credibility from being old [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] villains with incredible strength and mystically powered construction weapons, but adamantly yelling that you've fought Thor doesn't mean much when you can be taken down by low-power heroes like Comicbook/SpiderWoman. Franchise/SpiderMan once joked that everyone seems to beat them up sooner or later; subsequent encounters with the Comicbook/{{Runaways}} and ComicBook/ThePunisher of all people have showed he's probably right.
** Some writers have played with this, however... The team shares energy from a single pool. If the leader simply kept all the power for himself he would be a serious threat, but if nothing else the rest of the crew are TrueCompanions, and he's not willing to leave even one of them depowered even if the power boost would make everyone else an actual threat.
* If ''ComicBook/TheAuthority'' was better known than ''Star Trek'', this trope would be called "The Midnighter Effect". Midnighter is essentially a CaptainErsatz of Franchise/{{Batman}} with ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'s personality, and canonically the scariest and most dangerous {{Badass}} in the Creator/{{Wildstorm}} universe, yet he gets jobbed out in ''every single'' story arc just to demonstrate how much of a threat that arc's villain is.
** In ''[[ComicBook/CaptainAtom Captain Atom: Armageddon]]'', it isn't Midnighter who is used this way to show how utterly ''outclassed'' everyone in the Wildstorm universe is when compared to ComicBook/CaptainAtom, it's ''Apollo'', Wildstorm's Franchise/{{Superman}} {{expy}}. Midnighter doesn't even count as a threat to Atom, and is casually (and entertainingly) dismissed offhand.
** In the rebooted ''ComicBook/{{Stormwatch}}'', Apollo seems to have taken this role from Midnighter in a big way. In issue 7 he gets taken out twice, once at the beginning, then just as the issue is ending, as the bad guy they had (with difficulty) managed to capture escapes, taking Apollo with it. This is not new territory for him, however. In the Authority, he kind of has a habit of rushing into battle, and if he either has to expend all his stored energy and he passes out as a result, or is knocked across the room, you know the bad guy is tough.
* Nightcrawler of the ''Comicbook/XMen'' and Franchise/TheFlash of the Franchise/{{Justice League|OfAmerica}} begin at least half of the team fights they're in by getting backhanded into unconsciousness (they do much better when fighting [[ConservationOfNinjutsu solo]]). The reason for this is (1) due to their powers (teleportation and SuperSpeed, respectively) they're usually the first one to reach the villain, (2) the sooner they get taken out, the less time the reader has to [[FridgeLogic think about]] how each could kill almost anyone before their opponent even knew they were in a fight, and (3) it demonstrates that the villain has reflexes akin to precognition just to be able to lay a glove on them...in theory. You see it enough times, it starts to look like they just 'port/run right into villains' outstretched fists.
* In the very short span of time since [[HeelFaceTurn Danger joined]] the Comicbook/XMen, she's already been busted open by Ms. Marvel (Moonstone) and Emplate to establish how powerful they are. And knocked out by Selene's T-O virus.
* In big DC events, ComicBook/TheSpectre tends to stay out of the "mortal affairs" but when he does interfere, he tends to get taken out pretty quickly. Seeing as how if he ''could'' affect the BigBad, he could turn them to dust just by looking at them, it's kind of necessary.
* In the comic ''ComicBook/GoldDigger'' Stripe Gia, despite being one of the stronger good guys post-upgrade, has this happen to him all the time. Ironically back when he was a BadassNormal he did a lot better.
* From Comicbook/GreenLantern, Kyle Rayner has this going for him at times, both during stories written by Creator/GeoffJohns. During the [[ResetButton Green Lantern Rebirth]] story, he spent most of having the tar beaten out of him by SelfDemonstrating/{{Sinestro}}, until he's rescued by ComicBook/GreenArrow and later Hal Jordan. He does eventually land the finishing blow on Sinestro, but only while aiding Hal during their duel. In the ''SinestroCorpsWar'' miniseries, Kyle has a chance to fight Sinestro again and prove himself, now with an enormous power boost courtesy of Ion, but his attacks just bounce and shatter harmlessly off Sinestro and he's easily curb-stomped and has the Ion entity ripped out of him. Both times he's used only to establish Sinestro as a major threat.
** It plays off a trait that allows Kyle his moments of awesomeness. Kyle is the first Green Lantern to know fear and thus the first to discover the true nature of Parallax (saving Jordan from damnation.) He's also the Lightbearer for having restored what a possessed Hal Jordan destroyed, so Jordan's image needed some rehabilitating.
** It's starting to become the norm. When Kyle meets Sinestro or they have a confrontation Sinestro always comes out better. When Kyle needed get Sinestro's help to save his girlfriend, Sinestro's daughter Soranik Natu the agreed to fight no rings to keep a truce GLC had with Sinsetro's Corps, Sinestro beat Kyle fairly easily. It's a bit jarring considering Kyle was trained in hand to hand combat by Batman. You would think Kyle could put up more of fight at least.
** The Green Lanterns that aren't the main characters tend to get beaten by the score rather easily most of the time just to show off how incredibly powerful a villain is, this being especially bad with ones that don't have names. It's rather odd that these people possess what is repeatedly stated to be the most powerful weapon in the universe and yet still get mowed down by the dozens or even hundreds as easily as garden variety mooks.
* [[ComicBook/{{Superboy}} Kon-El]], God damn it the poor kid gets the crap kicked out of him when he's not a main character in book, and at times even if he is.
** In ''Superman Ending Battle'' he gets the crap kicked out of him by the Atomic Skull, whose powers seem to be being a moderately strong robot, some atomic fire shooting powers, and having his head on fire. Strangely enough however, it's not to show off how strong Superman is, it's to show how badass his father is; who shoots the Atomic Skull in the back of his head hurting him badly enough to be distracted until Superman could show up and toss him into space or something. That's right, Kon-El, Superboy was taken out by a villain who was defeated by a badass farmer with a simple shotgun.
* Comicbook/{{Superman}} villain Doomsday. Following his impressive feat of killing Superman, the poor thing has had nowhere to go but down. Now he's brought out whenever a new Kryptonian shows up to point out how two Supermen are better ([[BewareTheSuperman or scarier]]) than one.
** They avoided this at first. In their first rematch, Superman's powers had increased and he was still out of his element needing help to win and facing near paralysis from fear (the story starts with Superman having nightmares about Doomsday, one of the very few times that he has actually been visibly scared of a villain for what they could do to ''him'' as opposed to what they could do to others), using a time travel device to chuck Doomsday to the end of time.
** The second time required the entire League (and this time it was the A-list big seven) and all they could do is contain Doomsday in a transporter loop, being continually dematerialized between three transporters to keep him from cohering. It was only 10 years later, after the team that created Doomsday had left, that he started to suffer VillainDecay. Even they at first used Doomsday respectfully, making him the ultimate weapon against a new threat. It was only after he developed intelligence (because people were beating him through smarts) that he became vulnerable to being intimidated.
* Manute from ''ComicBook/SinCity'' is normally an unstoppable villain, unless Creator/FrankMiller decides to make one of the heroes (Marv, Wallace, or Miho) look badass.
* A curious case is Magog, a CanonImmigrant from ''ComicBook/KingdomCome''. He's ''supposed'' to be a meta with power on par with Comicbook/{{Superman}}, [[ComicBook/GreenLantern Alan Scott]], and ComicBook/PowerGirl. In practice? He usually ends up either jobbing to whoever the villain of the day is or falling prey to someone with mind control. He's already been whammied by Gorilla Grodd, Miasma, and the Brain Trust - all in a ''single year''. And then Max Lord made the fourth time the charm [[spoiler:and killed him to boot.]]
* Franchise/{{Batman}} has been used this way at least twice. When ComicBook/GreenArrow and Comicbook/GreenLantern came back from the dead, they both established that they were the real deal in short order by socking the ''Goddamn Batman'' square in the jaw.
** In GA's case, it was implied to be both a gimme for Bats' shoddy treatment and another way of testing whether it was Ollie or an impersonator. The GL case, though, was actually a ShoutOut to Bats dropping Guy Gardner like a sack of potatoes in the JLI books on a regular basis.
* Ultimate Thor from ''TheUltimates'' has over the years often played this role. Several sentences or an issue would be built up to establish how badass he is only for him to get taken out in about two panels. For every high showing he has there are three or more low ones.
* TheJuggernaut plays this role from time to time. The forgettable X-Men villain Post was introduced when he punched Jugs so hard he landed in the ''next state.'' In fact, one of Marvel's biggest storylines got started just because Scott Lobdell decided it would be cool to have Juggernaut mysteriously tossed through the sky, [[AlmostDeadGuy able to speak just one word]]: "{{Onslaught}}". (Lobdell [[http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2007/08/16/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-116/ hadn't even decided who Onslaught would be yet!]])
* Years ago, Eric Larsen had the ComicBook/SpiderMan villain [[DoctorOctopus Dr. Octopus]] deliver the [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]] a severe smackdown during the "Revenge of the Sinister Six" storyarc. In the story, "Doc Ock" was given [[AppliedPhlebotinum extremely powerful adamantium limbs]] which made him far more dangerous. Hulk writer Creator/PeterDavid accused Larsen of a making a personal attack when he wrote that story and responded with a story written for the sole purpose of mocking Dr. Octopus. Larsen explained that it made sense to use the Hulk for the purpose of this very trope.
* In IDW's ''[[ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW Transformers Ongoing]]'' book, Black Shadow does this in record time. He's introduced as a "phase sixer," basically a planet destroyer in bot form. Then his notable battles are listed and (one panel per battle) shown, along with kill counts (one battle numbering in the billions). [[spoiler: This is done to get him established as a supreme badass so that the Decepticon Justice Division's effortless takedown of him more impressive.]]
* ComicBook/LadyShiva from Creator/DCComics. Supposedly the top-tier martial artist in the entire DCU, but after her run in ''TheQuestion'' and as Batman's trainer in Knightfall, anytime she shows up is to prove how powerful someone else is.
* The ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehog'' series did this a lot to Bunnie Rabbot, the strongest member of the Freedom Fighters. If she wasn't beaten to a pulp by the villain of the storyline (for example, Mecha Sonic, the [[UnwillingRoboticization roboticized]] Sonic), then she's getting her robotic limbs taken over and used against her.
** If you ''really'' wanna know how bad things'll get, apply The Worf Effect on ''Sonic''. Issue 175 is the best example of this as Eggman beats the hedgehog to a pulp, then gladly goes on to turn Knothole into a massive crater.
*** [[TheRival Shadow the Hedgehog]] of all people is mostly this with [[FriendlyRival Knuckles]] a close second, Shadow one of the most ultimate badasses in the franchise and Sonic's equal, gets his ass handed to him and beat up the most in a battle by himself, and he is usually saved by others like Sonic and other team mates often requiring help to win. Knuckles used to have chaos powers and was the [[AGodAmI avatar]] of god in Mobius. Then he got his powers taken away from him, and like Shadow needs help to beat even weak fighters like Fang and Snively. He lost to Snively in a battle with Sonic and Tails.
* There is also a ''group'' that serves this effect: the Illuminati (a secret society composed by ComicBook/IronMan, [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]], [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]], Charles Xavier, [[ComicBook/TheInhumans Black Bolt]] and Comicbook/DoctorStrange). They are supposed to exchange information so they can coordinate their respective teams and prevent the great crisis. Still, when each new crisis begins (ComicBook/CivilWar, SecretInvasion, Comicbook/AvengersVsXMen), the Illuminati have a secret meeting where they decide that there is nothing they can do.
* In the pages of ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'', the Thing is often at the receiving end of a beatdown anytime a new bad guy shows up. Thing is often the measuring stick for the most elite strongmen in the Marvel universe as well. If you're stronger than him, you're considered at the top of the strongman food chain.
* If writers want to show that a telepath, EldritchAbomination, or CosmicEntity has REALLY powerful mental abilities, they have the character [[CurbStompBattle curbstomp]] [[Comicbook/XMen Charles Xavier]] in a mental battle. Since most every telepath in the Marvel universe has gone up against him at some point, this happens a lot, to the point where Xavier's status as one of/the most powerful telepath on Earth becomes more of an InformedAbility.
* More generally, this trope is often combined with CListFodder when introducing new superheroes. One way of immediately establishing some 'street cred' for the rookie hero is to have him or her defeat a couple of obscure C- and D-list villains.
* In ''ComicBook/UnderworldUnleashed'', new BigBad on the block Neron displayed his badass credentials by effortlessly inflicting a NeckSnap on Mongul, a guy who had previously held his own in personal combat with the likes of Superman and Wonder Woman.
* To an end, despite (or perhaps because of) his {{Badass}}ery, a good half of the numerous, [[WolverinePublicity seemingly omnipresent cameos]] ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} makes in various issues involve him being beaten within an inch of his life and thrown through something. [[GoodThingYouCanHeal Fortunately]], his HealingFactor fixes him up in a split, allowing him to move to the next. They're being ''serious'' when the {{Badass}} in question ''{{kill|edOffForReal}}s'' Wolverine, but given how much he's come back from, that will probably never happen.
** The most notable examples for Wolverine is ComicBook/{{Gambit}}. Short after he joined the team, he got a chance at fighting (and winning) against Wolverine in the Danger Room in order to show "how badass the new guy is".
** [[FlyingBrick Rogue]] often fills this role, ''especially'' in [[WesternAnimation/XMen the animated series]].
** Name a fight that Gladiator, Superman Expy (sorta) and leader of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, has actually won. Now for each of those, name five other fights he's lost. Seriously, Cannonball?
** Parodied on Newgrounds [[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/257930 here]]. "Ow! ...[[CatchPhrase Bub]]." (Made even sillier by his stereotypical Canadian accent.)
* Comicbook/CaptainAmerica was another popular go-to guy to get the beat-down in a new or relaunched title; to a lesser extent the rest of his fellow Avengers, too.
** This sometimes happened to his [[FanNickname Mighty Shield]]. Since it was established as [[MadeOfIndestructium practically indestructible]] ([[RetCon with the times it had been destroyed before that being established as steel copies while Tony Stark tried to understand how to replicate it]]), damaging or destroying it means that whoever did it has immense power. Thankfully, these instances are quite rare, as it was damaged or destroyed only by the absolute control over molecule bonds of the Molecule Man, the near omnipotence of the Beyonder of whoever wields the Infinity Gauntlet, the enormous power of the Odinforce and [[spoiler: the Serpent shattering it ''barehanded'']].
*** The shield is also destroyed by Loki in ''WesternAnimation/AvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes''. However, this is treated with a fair amount of realism, as Cap is unable to repair it and is thus forced to go without it for a number of episodes before the ComicBook/BlackPanther ends up fixing it with some super science.
** This trope might as well be called the [[ComicBook/TheVision Vision]] Effect, since this ''always'' happens to Comicbook/TheAvengers' Vision.
* Whenever he's in the Franchise/{{Justice League|OfAmerica}}, [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots Ridiculously Human Android]] ComicBook/RedTornado is ''notorious'' for always getting demolished to show off a villain's power. The main reason for this is that the badguy can tear Red apart and the team can just repair him later.
** Same goes for Comicbook/{{Cyborg}} of the ComicBook/TeenTitans.
*** Lampshaded in-univere. Cyborg eventually builds Reddy a new body made of self-replicating nanites, explicitly stating that he wanted to find a way to stop him from constantly being destroyed.
** Subverted in one instance; An enemy tears apart Red Tornado, only for it to turn out that the writer for once remembered Reddy's robot body is a shell containing his real self- an wind elemental. The elemental, now freed, beats the crap out of his surprised enemy.
* This frequently happens to the MartianManhunter who is regularly rendered comatose by scanning the mind of any BigBad. You'd think that after seeing "the greatest evil in the universe" some dozen times he would at least learn to stop looking into people's minds.
** In the cartoon, the MartianManhunter is almost REGULARLY shocked by an electric stick when he tries to sneak in. Needless to say, people no longer saw it as a big deal.
* TheSentry of Creator/MarvelComics. He was based on the ''Silver-Age'' Superman, more powerful than anyone, so mighty that he made the comics universe and the real world forget he had ever existed because he was so almighty that the mere memory of him would risk destroying the world. Now he's getting lunched by everybody. Including the Golden-Age Human Torch.
** Taken to a ridiculous point in ''DarkAvengers'' - during first 10 issues. [[spoiler: Sentry was killed THREE TIMES. Once by Morgana le Fay, once by his wife with his teammate gun, and once by Molecule Man. He keeps getting better.]]
** ComicBook/{{Ares}} was supposed to combine the viciousness of Wolverine, power level approaching Thor or Hercules with being a military genius all the while being praised and feared as a massive threat. Instead he tended to serve as either someone to show how powerful a new villain was so Sentry could take care of it or was needed for a fight scene that Sentry was too powerful for. He would then lose said fight scene. This culminated in SIEGE where he was [[CurbStompBattle ineffective]] against the Sentry to show how dark the character had become. Trying to remember any victories he might have had against any meaningful opponents is much more difficult than all the loses he has had. He gets his ass kicked in his own mini and needs his daddy Zeus to bail him out.
* Comicbook/TheAvengers have had several characters serve this role over the years. WonderMan is often joked to be this. Despite supposedly being as tough as Thor or Sentry he has a very poor record at winning fights, often only serving to make someone else look good. [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]], arguably the most powerful Avenger and one of the most powerful heroes, sometimes suffers from this to establish a new threat as being a real danger. Ares also served this to a point whenever Sentry wasn't around.
** Thor get this treatment by most of the Phoenix Five in ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen
* [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor In Thor's own series]] Odin is frequently the victim of this trope. Being the God among Gods, whenever Asgard is under threat by the villain of the week either Odin has to be incapacitated prior (in which case he usually gets better and wipes the villain out with a wave of his hand at the last minute) or get his ass handed to him to show just how powerful the villain is before Thor wipes the floor with them.
* SelfDemonstrating/DoctorDoom occasionally suffers this, whether from ComicBook/{{Dazzler}} and other new heroes, or to show how tough a new villain is (e.g. Millar's promise of a "Master of Doom"). Thank Kirby for [[ActuallyADoombot Doombots]], eh?
* {{X-23}} and [[Characters/{{X-MenOtherTeams}} Rockslide]] in ''[[ComicBook/NewMutants New X-Men]]'' (and other appearances after the series end) they get stuck with this as they are the strongest and scariest team members...who are practically immortal. Rockslide has been blown up twice BEFORE his power became not dying to physical harm. And X-23 is [[DistaffCounterpart just like Wolverine]].
** Incidentally, during ''New X-Men'', the original X-Men cast ALL SUCK. If the students are around every move and strategy and power of the older cast is instantly wrong. In "Quest for Magik" the X-Men are all captured and held in an energy field unable to help and during "Messiah Complex" the X-Men have to hand over the fight to the students due to it being something Sinister's mooks didn't plan on.
** Laura gets this ''particularly'' hard in ''ComicBook/AvengersArena''. Between her HealingFactor and its secondary effects (heightened senses, reflexes, etc) and TrainingFromHell by the Facility, she's easily the most dangerous and best-prepared to survive of the teens kidnapped by Arcade for his Murder World. And yet it ''still'' doesn't prevent her from having her [[CurbStompBattle ass completely handed to her]] by [[spoiler: [[CreatorsPet Apex]] during the group's first attempt to bring her down after her FaceHeelTurn]]. Especially egregious considering it's established (in the ''same series'', no less) that Laura [[SherlockScan automatically sizes up everyone in a room]] [[AwesomenessByAnalysis and formulates the best plan for killing everyone in it]] the second she steps inside, and in this case, her "best plan" would make LeeroyJenkins proud. The audience outcry was ''so'' heated that [[WordOfGod Hopeless himself attempted to rationalize it in the following issue's letter columns]], but rather than WorfHadTheFlu, his reasoning just made it a ''bigger'' case of IdiotBall.
* This was the reason ''ComicBooks/SquirrelGirl'' became so [[MemeticMutation popular]]; she defeated DrDoom with a ZergRush of squirrels in her (obscure) first appearance and [[LethalJokeCharacter defeating insanely powerful characters became her shtick]]. This no longer applies in more recent canon, since WordOfGod holds that she's a MasterOfAll.
* In ''Franchise/StarTrek: Countdown'', the prequel comic to the [[Film/StarTrek 2009 movie]], we see Worf again, 10 years after ''Nemesis'' and now a Klingon general. He gets ''impaled through the chest'' by Nero, but fortunately he was OnlyMostlyDead.
* In the latest ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}'' series, Headsman's tendency to get beaten up or otherwise neutralized even though he's the largest and most intimidating member of the team is, rather refreshingly, ''noticed by the rest of the team''. He's constantly razzed by teammates Paladin and ComicBook/AntMan, employer NormanOsborn regards him only with barely repressed disdain...once he suggested he get on his flying disc to deal with an airborne threat, only to be shot down with "Please, I've never seen you on that thing for more than 30 seconds."
* {{Galactus}} sometimes gets this when the writers want to show how tough a new cosmic menace is. He got smacked down by the Beyonder ''and'' SelfDemonstrating/DoctorDoom in ComicBook/SecretWars, and Krona in ComicBook/JLAAvengers killed him and ''constructed a fortress out of his corpse''. Tenebrous and Aegis take him out in ''Annihilation'' for ComicBook/{{Thanos}}.
* General purpose Franchise/MarvelUniverse villains The Wrecking Crew now exist entirely for this purpose. They have an ounce of credibility from being old [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] villains with incredible strength and mystically powered construction weapons, but adamantly yelling that you've fought Thor doesn't mean much when you can be taken down by low-power heroes like Comicbook/SpiderWoman. Franchise/SpiderMan once joked that everyone seems to beat them up sooner or later; subsequent encounters with the Comicbook/{{Runaways}} and ComicBook/ThePunisher of all people have showed he's probably right.
** Some writers have played with this, however... The team shares energy from a single pool. If the leader simply kept all the power for himself he would be a serious threat, but if nothing else the rest of the crew are TrueCompanions, and he's not willing to leave even one of them depowered even if the power boost would make everyone else an actual threat.
* If ''ComicBook/TheAuthority'' was better known than ''Star Trek'', this trope would be called "The Midnighter Effect". Midnighter is essentially a CaptainErsatz of Franchise/{{Batman}} with ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'s personality, and canonically the scariest and most dangerous {{Badass}} in the Creator/{{Wildstorm}} universe, yet he gets jobbed out in ''every single'' story arc just to demonstrate how much of a threat that arc's villain is.
** In ''[[ComicBook/CaptainAtom Captain Atom: Armageddon]]'', it isn't Midnighter who is used this way to show how utterly ''outclassed'' everyone in the Wildstorm universe is when compared to ComicBook/CaptainAtom, it's ''Apollo'', Wildstorm's Franchise/{{Superman}} {{expy}}. Midnighter doesn't even count as a threat to Atom, and is casually (and entertainingly) dismissed offhand.
** In the rebooted ''ComicBook/{{Stormwatch}}'', Apollo seems to have taken this role from Midnighter in a big way. In issue 7 he gets taken out twice, once at the beginning, then just as the issue is ending, as the bad guy they had (with difficulty) managed to capture escapes, taking Apollo with it. This is not new territory for him, however. In the Authority, he kind of has a habit of rushing into battle, and if he either has to expend all his stored energy and he passes out as a result, or is knocked across the room, you know the bad guy is tough.
* Nightcrawler of the ''Comicbook/XMen'' and Franchise/TheFlash of the Franchise/{{Justice League|OfAmerica}} begin at least half of the team fights they're in by getting backhanded into unconsciousness (they do much better when fighting [[ConservationOfNinjutsu solo]]). The reason for this is (1) due to their powers (teleportation and SuperSpeed, respectively) they're usually the first one to reach the villain, (2) the sooner they get taken out, the less time the reader has to [[FridgeLogic think about]] how each could kill almost anyone before their opponent even knew they were in a fight, and (3) it demonstrates that the villain has reflexes akin to precognition just to be able to lay a glove on them...in theory. You see it enough times, it starts to look like they just 'port/run right into villains' outstretched fists.
* In the very short span of time since [[HeelFaceTurn Danger joined]] the Comicbook/XMen, she's already been busted open by Ms. Marvel (Moonstone) and Emplate to establish how powerful they are. And knocked out by Selene's T-O virus.
* In big DC events, ComicBook/TheSpectre tends to stay out of the "mortal affairs" but when he does interfere, he tends to get taken out pretty quickly. Seeing as how if he ''could'' affect the BigBad, he could turn them to dust just by looking at them, it's kind of necessary.
* In the comic ''ComicBook/GoldDigger'' Stripe Gia, despite being one of the stronger good guys post-upgrade, has this happen to him all the time. Ironically back when he was a BadassNormal he did a lot better.
* From Comicbook/GreenLantern, Kyle Rayner has this going for him at times, both during stories written by Creator/GeoffJohns. During the [[ResetButton Green Lantern Rebirth]] story, he spent most of having the tar beaten out of him by SelfDemonstrating/{{Sinestro}}, until he's rescued by ComicBook/GreenArrow and later Hal Jordan. He does eventually land the finishing blow on Sinestro, but only while aiding Hal during their duel. In the ''SinestroCorpsWar'' miniseries, Kyle has a chance to fight Sinestro again and prove himself, now with an enormous power boost courtesy of Ion, but his attacks just bounce and shatter harmlessly off Sinestro and he's easily curb-stomped and has the Ion entity ripped out of him. Both times he's used only to establish Sinestro as a major threat.
** It plays off a trait that allows Kyle his moments of awesomeness. Kyle is the first Green Lantern to know fear and thus the first to discover the true nature of Parallax (saving Jordan from damnation.) He's also the Lightbearer for having restored what a possessed Hal Jordan destroyed, so Jordan's image needed some rehabilitating.
** It's starting to become the norm. When Kyle meets Sinestro or they have a confrontation Sinestro always comes out better. When Kyle needed get Sinestro's help to save his girlfriend, Sinestro's daughter Soranik Natu the agreed to fight no rings to keep a truce GLC had with Sinsetro's Corps, Sinestro beat Kyle fairly easily. It's a bit jarring considering Kyle was trained in hand to hand combat by Batman. You would think Kyle could put up more of fight at least.
** The Green Lanterns that aren't the main characters tend to get beaten by the score rather easily most of the time just to show off how incredibly powerful a villain is, this being especially bad with ones that don't have names. It's rather odd that these people possess what is repeatedly stated to be the most powerful weapon in the universe and yet still get mowed down by the dozens or even hundreds as easily as garden variety mooks.
* [[ComicBook/{{Superboy}} Kon-El]], God damn it the poor kid gets the crap kicked out of him when he's not a main character in book, and at times even if he is.
** In ''Superman Ending Battle'' he gets the crap kicked out of him by the Atomic Skull, whose powers seem to be being a moderately strong robot, some atomic fire shooting powers, and having his head on fire. Strangely enough however, it's not to show off how strong Superman is, it's to show how badass his father is; who shoots the Atomic Skull in the back of his head hurting him badly enough to be distracted until Superman could show up and toss him into space or something. That's right, Kon-El, Superboy was taken out by a villain who was defeated by a badass farmer with a simple shotgun.
* Comicbook/{{Superman}} villain Doomsday. Following his impressive feat of killing Superman, the poor thing has had nowhere to go but down. Now he's brought out whenever a new Kryptonian shows up to point out how two Supermen are better ([[BewareTheSuperman or scarier]]) than one.
** They avoided this at first. In their first rematch, Superman's powers had increased and he was still out of his element needing help to win and facing near paralysis from fear (the story starts with Superman having nightmares about Doomsday, one of the very few times that he has actually been visibly scared of a villain for what they could do to ''him'' as opposed to what they could do to others), using a time travel device to chuck Doomsday to the end of time.
** The second time required the entire League (and this time it was the A-list big seven) and all they could do is contain Doomsday in a transporter loop, being continually dematerialized between three transporters to keep him from cohering. It was only 10 years later, after the team that created Doomsday had left, that he started to suffer VillainDecay. Even they at first used Doomsday respectfully, making him the ultimate weapon against a new threat. It was only after he developed intelligence (because people were beating him through smarts) that he became vulnerable to being intimidated.
* Manute from ''ComicBook/SinCity'' is normally an unstoppable villain, unless Creator/FrankMiller decides to make one of the heroes (Marv, Wallace, or Miho) look badass.
* A curious case is Magog, a CanonImmigrant from ''ComicBook/KingdomCome''. He's ''supposed'' to be a meta with power on par with Comicbook/{{Superman}}, [[ComicBook/GreenLantern Alan Scott]], and ComicBook/PowerGirl. In practice? He usually ends up either jobbing to whoever the villain of the day is or falling prey to someone with mind control. He's already been whammied by Gorilla Grodd, Miasma, and the Brain Trust - all in a ''single year''. And then Max Lord made the fourth time the charm [[spoiler:and killed him to boot.]]
* Franchise/{{Batman}} has been used this way at least twice. When ComicBook/GreenArrow and Comicbook/GreenLantern came back from the dead, they both established that they were the real deal in short order by socking the ''Goddamn Batman'' square in the jaw.
** In GA's case, it was implied to be both a gimme for Bats' shoddy treatment and another way of testing whether it was Ollie or an impersonator. The GL case, though, was actually a ShoutOut to Bats dropping Guy Gardner like a sack of potatoes in the JLI books on a regular basis.
* Ultimate Thor from ''TheUltimates'' has over the years often played this role. Several sentences or an issue would be built up to establish how badass he is only for him to get taken out in about two panels. For every high showing he has there are three or more low ones.
* TheJuggernaut plays this role from time to time. The forgettable X-Men villain Post was introduced when he punched Jugs so hard he landed in the ''next state.'' In fact, one of Marvel's biggest storylines got started just because Scott Lobdell decided it would be cool to have Juggernaut mysteriously tossed through the sky, [[AlmostDeadGuy able to speak just one word]]: "{{Onslaught}}". (Lobdell [[http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2007/08/16/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-116/ hadn't even decided who Onslaught would be yet!]])
* Years ago, Eric Larsen had the ComicBook/SpiderMan villain [[DoctorOctopus Dr. Octopus]] deliver the [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]] a severe smackdown during the "Revenge of the Sinister Six" storyarc. In the story, "Doc Ock" was given [[AppliedPhlebotinum extremely powerful adamantium limbs]] which made him far more dangerous. Hulk writer Creator/PeterDavid accused Larsen of a making a personal attack when he wrote that story and responded with a story written for the sole purpose of mocking Dr. Octopus. Larsen explained that it made sense to use the Hulk for the purpose of this very trope.
* In IDW's ''[[ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW Transformers Ongoing]]'' book, Black Shadow does this in record time. He's introduced as a "phase sixer," basically a planet destroyer in bot form. Then his notable battles are listed and (one panel per battle) shown, along with kill counts (one battle numbering in the billions). [[spoiler: This is done to get him established as a supreme badass so that the Decepticon Justice Division's effortless takedown of him more impressive.]]
* ComicBook/LadyShiva from Creator/DCComics. Supposedly the top-tier martial artist in the entire DCU, but after her run in ''TheQuestion'' and as Batman's trainer in Knightfall, anytime she shows up is to prove how powerful someone else is.
* The ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehog'' series did this a lot to Bunnie Rabbot, the strongest member of the Freedom Fighters. If she wasn't beaten to a pulp by the villain of the storyline (for example, Mecha Sonic, the [[UnwillingRoboticization roboticized]] Sonic), then she's getting her robotic limbs taken over and used against her.
** If you ''really'' wanna know how bad things'll get, apply The Worf Effect on ''Sonic''. Issue 175 is the best example of this as Eggman beats the hedgehog to a pulp, then gladly goes on to turn Knothole into a massive crater.
*** [[TheRival Shadow the Hedgehog]] of all people is mostly this with [[FriendlyRival Knuckles]] a close second, Shadow one of the most ultimate badasses in the franchise and Sonic's equal, gets his ass handed to him and beat up the most in a battle by himself, and he is usually saved by others like Sonic and other team mates often requiring help to win. Knuckles used to have chaos powers and was the [[AGodAmI avatar]] of god in Mobius. Then he got his powers taken away from him, and like Shadow needs help to beat even weak fighters like Fang and Snively. He lost to Snively in a battle with Sonic and Tails.
* There is also a ''group'' that serves this effect: the Illuminati (a secret society composed by ComicBook/IronMan, [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]], [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]], Charles Xavier, [[ComicBook/TheInhumans Black Bolt]] and Comicbook/DoctorStrange). They are supposed to exchange information so they can coordinate their respective teams and prevent the great crisis. Still, when each new crisis begins (ComicBook/CivilWar, SecretInvasion, Comicbook/AvengersVsXMen), the Illuminati have a secret meeting where they decide that there is nothing they can do.
* In the pages of ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'', the Thing is often at the receiving end of a beatdown anytime a new bad guy shows up. Thing is often the measuring stick for the most elite strongmen in the Marvel universe as well. If you're stronger than him, you're considered at the top of the strongman food chain.
* If writers want to show that a telepath, EldritchAbomination, or CosmicEntity has REALLY powerful mental abilities, they have the character [[CurbStompBattle curbstomp]] [[Comicbook/XMen Charles Xavier]] in a mental battle. Since most every telepath in the Marvel universe has gone up against him at some point, this happens a lot, to the point where Xavier's status as one of/the most powerful telepath on Earth becomes more of an InformedAbility.
* More generally, this trope is often combined with CListFodder when introducing new superheroes. One way of immediately establishing some 'street cred' for the rookie hero is to have him or her defeat a couple of obscure C- and D-list villains.
* In ''ComicBook/UnderworldUnleashed'', new BigBad on the block Neron displayed his badass credentials by effortlessly inflicting a NeckSnap on Mongul, a guy who had previously held his own in personal combat with the likes of Superman and Wonder Woman.
