History TheWorfEffect / ComicBooks

** When ComicBook/GreenArrow and Franchise/GreenLantern came back from the dead -the latter of them in ''ComicBook/GreenLanternRebirth''-, they both established that they were the real deal in short order by socking Batman square in the jaw. [[note]]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 book.[[/note]]

** The 1997 "Hobgoblin Lives" miniseries was created to give original Hobgoblin Roderick Kingsley a large dose of this to re-establish his villain cred after years and years of VillainDecay (and Kingsley largely at this point being a weasel who relied on dupes and stand-ins to do his dirty work). For about a decade, the Hobgoblin identity had been owned by Jason Macendale (aka the Hobgoblin most non-comic readers are familiar with thanks to his excellent adaptational counterpart in ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries''), and despite a long string of failures in the comics Macendale ''had'' steadily been amassing power for himself. So along comes Kingsley during one of Macendale's stints in jail to walk in, manhandle him (somehow, despite Macendale being leagues stronger than Kingsley) and unceremoniously kill him after pronouncing him an InadequateInheritor. It worked, too, as Kingsley was instantly re-establish as '''the''' Hobgoblin and to this day remains the most popular Hobgoblin among readers. He was even given JokerImmunity after being killed off by the Phil Urich Hobgoblin.

** In ''ComicBook/BatmanRebirth'', Captain Atom (capable of accessing a theoretically infinite amount of energy, thanks to his link to the Quantum Field, first entry on StoryBreakerPower) gets his ass kicked by Gotham Girl [[CastFromHitPoints (whose powers kill her as she uses them).]] Later, 65-year-old Thomas Wayne (Flashpoint!Batman) manages to take down every member of the Batfamily at the same time. This is used to establish both villains as a major threat.

* 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 ''ComicBook/{{Siege}}'', where he was [[CurbStompBattle ineffective]] against ComicBook/TheSentry 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. Interestingly, this record is pretty accurate to the actual mythological Ares, who was regularly humiliated in battle despite being the god of war (his sister Athena is historically the god of ''strategic'' warfare, while Ares is historically the god of AttackAttackAttack-style warfare).

* In fact Deadpool, like Wolverine, is something of a go-to if you really want to show that somebody is super-tough or really dangerous. He's a highly skilled ProfessionalKiller and JerkassWithAHeartOfGold, so the character will not look like a bad guy for fighting him, but his fighting skills, while top-notch, have human limitations; it's his healing factor that sets him apart. Nothing can kill him permanently though, so if you want to show the new guy is a snazzy martial artist, a deadly-weapons user, or a ruthless killer, go worf Deadpool, because the more you worf him, the stronger he becomes.

--->'''[[CameBackWrong Black Lantern]] Martian Manhunter''': ''[while thrashing ComicBook/TheFlash and ComicBook/GreenLantern]'' I'm as powerful as Superman. Why does everyone ''forget'' that?

* ComicBook/{{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 first story arc of Mark Millar's run, newly introduced characters accidentally cause a super-powered robot to get loose with the goal of destroying all weapons in the world (that includes soldiers, police officers, etc). Sue, Johnny, and Ben (Reed being AWOL at the time) are summoned to the Arctic where the robot-makers were based, asking where their backup from SHIELD is. It's reported said backup, composed of 40 of SHIELD's 'heaviest hitters', arrived eight minutes ago. Cue a following two page spread of a pile of beaten superheroes, all Worfed for the sake of the book's focus team.[[note]]Though to be fair, 'The Fantastic Three' can't dent the super-robot either, the fallen heroes swiftly get a second wind and join in, and no one beats the robot: it ends up teleporting away. Reed has to exploit a flaw in the robot's programming to defeat it.[[/note]]

** Similar to Gladiator is Exodus, an immortal psychic mutant who at one point was described on-panel as the most powerful mutant on Earth. Originally intended to be the heir of Magneto, StatusQuoIsGod doomed him to spending the past decade mostly jobbing to various X-Men to make them look better at his expense. He suffered it ''twice'' during Messiah Complex and later had it inflicted on him by Creator/BrianBendis in the name of pumping up his GenericDoomsdayVillain Matthew Malloy. Bendis swore that last one ''killed'' Exodus, but since we're talking about a guy who was up and on his feet a few minutes after having ''[[GoodThingYouCanHeal all his organs shredded]]'', the general consensus was that a simple NeckSnap wouldn't keep him down long. The whole affair ended up being made moot when Malloy was {{RetGon|e}}ned out of existence, but just two years later Exodus was back to jobbing in the pages of Bunn's ''ComicBook/UncannyXMen2015''. ''Sigh''...

* ComicBook/{{Apocalypse}} is perhaps the BigBad most frequently hit by this. He has the power and reputation to stand in the same category as Marvel's biggest bads but is the "youngest" among them (in terms of creation, not in-story age) and thus 9 out of 10 times is the character Marvel looks to when they need to have a truly ''big'' villain take a dive for some reason. ComicBook/BlackBolt, ComicBook/{{Onslaught}}, Kang the Conquerer and an evil alternate Professor X have all made a whipping boy of the Eternal One to greater or lesser degrees, but the crowning example for Apocalypse and this trope is the 1992 ''X-Cutioner's Song'' crossover, which features upstart villain Stryfe effortlessly flinging around Big Blue with his telekinesis in a ''total'' CurbStompBattle.

* ''ComicBook/MightyMorphinPowerRangersShatteredGrid'' happily applies the Worf Effect onto just about any Ranger team it can get its mitts on. By the end of ''ComicBook/MightyMorphinPowerRangersBoomStudios'' #26, the Time Force and Samurai teams are down to single members, promotional material reveals that the Zeo team all fall and the cover to ''MMPR'' #29 seems to imply that the only whole teams surviving at that point are the RPM and SPD teams as only Kira, Kendall, Andross and TJ are the only ones shown from their respective teams (Dino Thunder, Dino Charge and In Space).
* ''ComicBook/RomVsTransformersShiningArmor'': Lampshaded after Astrotrain blows up Auxin; Stardrive remarks that she's ''never'' seen a Space Knight die before.

* ComicBook/{{X 23}} and [[Characters/XMenOtherTeams Rockslide]] in ''[[ComicBook/NewXMenAcademyX 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]].

** In the ''[[ComicBook/BatmanRebirth Rebirth]]'' run, Captain Atom (capable of accessing a theoretically infinite amount of energy, thanks to his link to the Quantum Field, first entry on StoryBreakerPower) gets his ass kicked by Gotham Girl [[CastFromHitPoints (whose powers kill her as she uses them).]] Later, 65-year-old Thomas Wayne (Flashpoint!Batman) manages to take down every member of the Batfamily at the same time. This is used to establish both villains as a major threat.
*** Once James Tynion [=IV=] took over, his first arc involved a new villain called the Designer, [[RememberTheNewGuy who apparently met with Catwoman, Joker, Riddler and Penguin when they first started out,]] talked them through the process he used to come up with his own masterplans, and gave each of them a scheme more dangerous than any they'd attempted even in the present day. It's a non-physical variant, but the existing villains are used to show us what a schemer and mastermind the Designer is. [[spoiler:And then it gets subverted. Turns out the Joker going through the process worked a little too well, and [[HijackedByGanon he killed the Designer off-screen and came up with his own plan.]]]]

* Omega Red is one of the most recognizable members of Franchise/{{Wolverine}}'s rogue's gallery and one of the most badass villains produced by the 90s, but even he is not immune to this trope. The first time he fell prey to it was in the pages of ''ComicBook/{{Cable}}'', where he was used as a BaitAndSwitchBoss by the [[Characters/XMenAcolytes Acolytes]], defeated by them off-panel, and shown as their unconscious captive. Fair enough, the Acolytes were being groomed as the EvilCounterpart team to the X-Men at the time... now fast forward twenty years or so to 2016's ''ComicBook/XMen92''. Though technically an alternate reality counterpart, this Omega Red is absolutely ''dominated'' by the book's StarterVillain, Alpha Red, and X-Man Rogue even says "Anyone who can do that to Omega Red ain't someone I wanna face without the whole team!", making it clear Red's sole purpose for being included in that book was for the purposes of this trope.

* To an end, despite (or perhaps because of) his badassery, a good half of the numerous, [[WolverinePublicity seemingly omnipresent cameos]] Franchise/{{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 ''ComicBook/{{Exiles}}'' vaporized a Wolverine, and Thanos' goons in ''ComicBook/NewAvengers'' #24 killed the entire X-Men (including Wolverine) off-panel. The most outrageous 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!"

* 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 Franchise/{{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.

** Name a fight that Gladiator, SupermanSubstitute 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? 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.]]

** When ComicBook/GreenArrow and Franchise/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. [[note]]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 book.[[/note]]

** As shown in the main page image, Superman himself is sometimes tossed around just to show how powerful the new baddie is.[[note]]In case you're wondering of the context, this was essentially the first version of lesser villain The Kryptonite Man, here known as Dr. Kryptonite. Hence, he's beating him with his finger: note the one exposed glowing green finger on his hand. Why is he dressed as a mummy and fighting Superman in a boxing/wrestling ring? The Silver Age.[[/note]] In ''ComicBook/TheGreatDarknessSaga'', ComicBook/{{Superboy}} Clark Kent is the first Legionnaire to be punched across the place by the first Servant of Darkness the ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes come upon. His teammates get the "This thing is dangerous" message right away.

** As shown in the main page image, Superman himself is sometimes tossed around just to show how powerful the new baddie is. In ''ComicBook/TheGreatDarknessSaga'', ComicBook/{{Superboy}} Clark Kent is the first Legionnaire to be punched across the place by the first Servant of Darkness the ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes come upon. His teammates get the "This thing is dangerous" message right away.

* Comicbook/{{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.

* 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 ''Comicbook/{{Siege}}'', where he was [[CurbStompBattle ineffective]] against ComicBook/TheSentry 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. Interestingly, this record is pretty accurate to the actual mythological Ares, who was regularly humiliated in battle despite being the god of war (his sister Athena is historically the god of ''strategic'' warfare, while Ares is historically the god of AttackAttackAttack-style warfare).

* 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.

* There is also a ''group'' that serves this effect: ComicBook/TheIlluminati (a secret society composed by ComicBook/IronMan, [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]], [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]], [[ComicBook/ProfessorX Charles Xavier]], ComicBook/BlackBolt 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'', ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'', ''Comicbook/AvengersVsXMen''), the Illuminati have a secret meeting where they decide that there is nothing they can do.

* 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.

** In the very short span of time that [[HeelFaceTurn Danger served]] as a member of the Comicbook/XMen she was busted open by Ms. Marvel (Moonstone) and Emplate to establish how powerful they are. And knocked out by Selene's T-O virus. It was almost a mercy when she resigned from the team, as it forced the writers to find new and more creative ways to express the menace of their villains.

** If writers want to show that a telepath, EldritchAbomination, or CosmicEntity has REALLY powerful mental abilities, they have the character [[CurbStompBattle curbstomp]] [[Comicbook/ProfessorX 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.

** Incidentally, during ''New X-Men'', [[AdultsAreUseless 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.

*** 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 AxCrazy 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.

* Franchise/{{Batman}}

** Same goes for Comicbook/{{Cyborg}} of the ComicBook/TeenTitans.

* ''ComicBook/HaloEscalation'': While [[spoiler:the Didact]] was already established as a huge threat in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'', the comic ups the ante by having him single-handedly and brutally killing the entirety of [[spoiler:Black Team]], four Spartan-II soldiers in the same class as the Master Chief. [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome It doesn't even bother showing the actual fight.]]

* ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'':

* ''ComicBook/DoomsdayClock'': When the superhero forces of the DC universe manage to pin down [[ComicBook/{{Watchmen}} Doctor Manhattan,]] Manhattan gets a series of these moments in succession. The greatest mages of DC, including Constantine, Zatanna and Etrigan, can't touch him, and once he figures out what magic is he knocks them out with it. He outspeeds the Flash, takes down Martian Manhunter, two Green Lanterns and the rest of the Justice League in one hit, and [[NoSell takes a point-blank blast from Captain Atom (who can theoretically channel infinite energy) without even having to reassemble himself.]] Of course, the others are superheroes, [[StoryBreakerPower whereas Manhattan is omnipotent.]]
** ''ComicBook/DarkNightsDeathMetal'' puts him on the other side of this trope, though: a Bruce Wayne who gains all the powers of Doctor Manhattan is lobotomized by the Batman Who Laughs [[BadassNormal (who has none).]] The BWL [[LampshadeHanging lampshades this,]] noting that "Batmanhattan" had only just gained his new powers, and that if he'd ambushed him a few seconds later, he would have been killed instantly.

** In the ''[[ComicBook/BatmanRebirth Rebirth]]'' run, Captain Atom (capable of accessing a theoretically infinite amount of energy, thanks to his link to the Quantum Field, first entry on StoryBreakerPower) gets his ass kicked by Gotham Girl [[CastFromHitPoints (whose powers kill her as she uses them).]] Later, 65-year-old Thomas Wayne (Flashpoint!Batman) manages to take down every member of the Batfamily at the same time.

* ''ComicBook/DoomsdayClock'': When the superhero forces of the DC universe manage to pin down [[ComicBook/{{Watchmen}} Doctor Manhattan,]] Manhattan gets a series of these moments in succession. The greatest mages of DC, including Constantine, Zatanna and Etrigan, can't touch him, and once he figures out what magic is he knocks them out with it. He outspeeds the Flash, takes down Martian Manhunter, two Green Lanterns and the rest of the Justice League in one hit, and [[NoSell takes a point-blank nuclear blast from Captain Atom without even having to reassemble himself.]] Of course, the others are superheroes, [[StoryBreakerPower whereas Manhattan is omnipotent.]]

** ''ComicBook/DarkKnightsDeathMetal'' puts him on the other side of this trope, though: a Bruce Wayne who gains all the powers of Doctor Manhattan is lobotomized by the Batman Who Laughs [[BadassNormal (who has none).]] The BWL [[LampshadeHanging lampshades this,]] noting that "Batmanhattan" had only just gained his new powers, and that if he'd ambushed him a few seconds later, he would have been killed instantly.

** Killer Moth 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 ComicBook/{{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 a rookie 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. Of course, his notoriously goofy outfit didn't really harm the latter interpretation.

* 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.
* Likewise, ComicBook/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?
** Speaking of Fantastic Four and Mark Millar, in the first story arc of his run on the comic, newly introduced characters accidentally cause a super-powered robot to get loose with the goal of destroying all weapons in the world (that includes soldiers, police officers, etc). Sue, Johnny, and Ben (Reed being AWOL at the time) are summoned to the Arctic where the robot-makers were based, asking where their backup from SHIELD is. It's reported said backup, composed of 40 of SHIELD's 'heaviest hitters', arrived eight minutes ago. Cue a following two page spread of a pile of beaten superheroes, all Worfed for the sake of the book's focus team.[[note]]Though to be fair, 'The Fantastic Three' can't dent the super-robot either, the fallen heroes swiftly get a second wind and join in, and no one beats the robot: it ends up teleporting away. Reed has to exploit a flaw in the robot's programming to defeat it.[[/note]]

** Kyle Rayner has this going for him at times. During the ''Green Lantern: Rebirth'' story, he spent most of having the tar beaten out of him by 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 ''ComicBook/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.

* ''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/{{Supergirl}}'': When the Girl of Steel fights ComicBook/{{Bizarrogirl}}, her counterpart is definitely a match for her. Later, both girls happen upon a [[PlanetEater godship]]'s spawn which Bizarrogirl attacks right away. Her punch does nothing, and the critter merely tail-whips Bizarrogirl across Bizarro Metropolis.

** As shown in the main page image, Superman himself is sometimes tossed around just to show how powerful the new baddie is.
** 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.

* In general this tends to happen a lot to whoever the primary [[SuperStrength Super-Strong]], {{Nigh Invulnerab|ility}}le guy on a hero team is, such as the Thing, ComicBook/{{Colossus}}, etc.

* Ultimate Thor from ''ComicBook/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.

** Batman has been used this way at least twice. When ComicBook/GreenArrow and Franchise/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 book.

* The ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'' 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 [[UnwillingRoboticisation roboticized]] Sonic), then she's getting her robotic limbs taken over and used against her.

** 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.

* Years ago, Eric Larsen had the Franchise/SpiderMan villain [[ComicBook/DoctorOctopus Dr. Octopus]] deliver a severe smackdown to the [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk Hulk]] 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 fact Deadpool, like Wolverine, is something of a go-to if you really want to show that somebody is super-tough or really dangerous. He's a highly skilled HiredKiller and JerkassWithAHeartOfGold, so the character will not look like a bad guy for fighting him, but his fighting skills, while top-notch, have human limitations; it's his healing factor that sets him apart. Nothing can kill him permanently though, so if you want to show the new guy is a snazzy martial artist, a deadly-weapons user, or a ruthless killer, go worf Deadpool, because the more you worf him, the stronger he becomes.