Line #72 Main/CatchingTheSpeedster


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5	[[quoteright:349:[[ComicBook/SpiderMan https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/speedstervsspidey_mirroredit.png]]]]
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7	A combat trope in which a fast character fights a slower opponent who manages to react to their speed and get a good hit in. If they're fighting a MightyGlacier, expect the ensuing counterattack to be [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown brutal]]. This trope can be used as a kind of [[TheWorfEffect Worf Effect]] where even the fastest member of any team proves useless against the new threat. A FragileSpeedster will usually be put out of commission by this maneuver. May happen because the enemy has SuperReflexes or CombatClairvoyance. If they don't, this can run into heavy FridgeLogic since from the speedster's perspective their opponent ought to be effectively not moving. One common method used to achieve this is a ShockwaveStomp.
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9	Compare UntouchableUntilTagged, SeeTheInvisible, and TouchTheIntangible. Contrast SpeedBlitz for when a speedster gets off scot-free. See also NotTheFallThatKillsYou for the vertical variant.
10	----
11	!!Examples:
12
13	[[foldercontrol]]
14
15	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
16	* ''Manga/BootyRoyaleNeverGoDownWithoutAFight'': The round of 16 match for E-bracket in the TournamentArc pits bantamweight boxer Laila Mendez against heavyweight judoka Alevtina Guseva--a size difference of 23 centimeters and 42 kilos. Alevtina soaks a barrage of punches from Laila as the boxer dances around her, then Laila comes in too close, and Alevtina grabs her and slams her headfirst into the mat. Match over.
17	* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'':
18	** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Stone Ocean]]'': In the last battle, [[spoiler:Pucci's acquired Made In Heaven allows to not only accelerate time but lets him SpeedBlitz instantaneous to kill the heroes. When Emporio is backed into a corner, he gets Pucci into empowering him with Weather Report, and then uses the confined space to flood the room with oxygen, which Pucci accidentally accelerates fast enough to instantly begin poisoning him to death]].
19	** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]]'': When fighting against Blackmore, whose speed is amplified when traveling in the rain, Gyro lands a finishing shot when tossing a steel ball towards the frozen droplets in air while Blackmore is besides them as the friction breaks through the water and strikes Blackmore down.
20	* Negi Springfield, the protagonist of ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' trains and trains and eventually gains a form that allows him to essentially become lightning, along with all the speed that comes with it. In his fight against Rakan at the end of the TournamentArc, Negi uses this form against him and seems to have the upper hand... Rakan realizes that because he's lightning, he's subtly foreshadowing where he's going to be (much like real lightning) and simply moves himself into position to counterattack, stunning Negi in the process. [[spoiler:Later on, when Negi is fighting [[ArcVillain Fate]] using the same form, Fate counters in the exact same fashion, showing that Fate was watching the fight between Negi and Rakan]].
21	* PlayedForLaughs in ''Webcomic/OnePunchMan'' during one of Saitama's clashes with Speed-of-Sound Sonic. As Sonic {{Flash Step}}s all around him, Saitama positions himself just so, and Sonic ends up running into his fist. [[GroinAttack Crotch-first]].
22	* ''Literature/Overlord2012'': FragileSpeedster and all-around psychopath Lady Clementine uses her speed-enhancing techniques to perform strike and run hits on Momonga (Ainz's Adventurer Guild alter ego). Unfortunately, once Ainz has decided he's learned all he needs about her techniques, he catches Clementine with an arm against his chest and pins her with the second. What comes next is several minutes of Ainz [[KillerBearHug slowly crushing the life out of his opponent]] as she struggles and slashes ineffectively against him.
23	* In ''Anime/PokemonTheOriginalSeries'' episode "Fighting Flyer With Fire", Ash's Charizard defeats Falkner's much faster Pidgeot by aiming a Fire Spin where Pidgeot is about to maneuver.
24	[[/folder]]
25
26	[[folder:Comic Books]]
27	* ''ComicBook/CountdownToFinalCrisis'': When the [[PhysicalGod Monitor]] Solomon finally tracks down [[ComicBook/TheAtom Ray Palmer]] on Earth 51, that Earth's [[ComicBook/TheFlash Barry Allen]] charges him. Solomon easily clotheslines Barry, incinerating his body at the same time.
28	* ''ComicBook/SinCity'': Marv is soundly beaten by [[FragileSpeedster Kevin]] in their first fight, but in the second he comes prepared with a set of handcuffs and after letting Kevin get a few hits in to make him overconfident and get closer, Marv snaps the handcuffs onto himself and Kevin.
29	-->'''Marv:''' I got you now, ya little bastard. Let's see you hop around now.
30	* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'': Non-lethal example, but the climactic final battle of the "End Game" saga sees Sonic and Dr. Robotnik go one on one in the Annihilator's control room. The small size of the room and Robotnik's girth negate the advantage of Sonic's speed, and the Doctor can deliver quite a few hits by simply grabbing Sonic and slamming him into the wall.
31	* ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} has often bested [[Characters/MarvelComicsQuicksilver Quicksilver]] by simply holding out his fist for Quicksilver to run into.
32	-->'''Wolverine:''' That ''never'' gets old.
33	[[/folder]]
34
35	[[folder:Fan Works]]
36	* ''Fanfic/WithThisRing'': Roscoe Dillon, "The Top", can more than keep up with Paul's ring-based acceleration, managing to slam Paul into a wall by [[GrievousHarmWithABody throwing a bystander at him]], send Superboy crashing into the floor and then into Tuppence Terror, and deflect Paul's constructs with super-speed air currents -- until Donna takes out his legs, causing him to spin seven times around his own axis and land on his back on the floor. The heroes are all over him before he can get back up.
37	[[/folder]]
38
39	[[folder:Film -- Animated]]
40	* ''WesternAnimation/TheDeathOfSuperman'':
41	** After ComicBook/{{Hawkman}} gets taken out by Doomsday, ComicBook/TheFlash takes up his mace and begins whacking away at Doomsday with it, moving too fast for Doomsday to retaliate. Eventually, Doomsday stops attacking and merely defends, as his eyes watch Barry's movements. Finally, the beast predicts where Barry will go next and Barry runs headfirst into a well-time punch, resulting in a OneHitKO.
42	** As ComicBook/{{Superman}} faces Doomsday alone, he attempts to fight the creature in the air, using his [[FlyingBrick speed and flight]] to knock Doomsday around and carry him out of Metropolis. However, as he goes in for a hit, Doomsday [[SuperReflexes reacts quickly enough]] to clothesline Superman, catches his cape, and starts headbutting Superman repeatedly as the two fall back into the city.
43	[[/folder]]
44
45	[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
46	* A TeleportSpam variant occurs in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' with Spider-Man and Doctor Strange fighting in tandem against Thanos. Strange opens portals while Spider-Man appears and disappears through them to sneak some hits in. This works for only three attacks before Thanos chokes him out mid-leap.
47	* In ''Film/XMenApocalypse'', Peter punches Apocalypse a few times using his super speed. Apocalypse catches Peter by the arm and breaks his right leg.
48	[[/folder]]
49
50	[[folder:Literature]]
51	* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'': In ''The Weakness'', the team runs into a Controller with an as-yet-unknown alien host with a strong resemblance to Andalites and SuperSpeed. It's only taken out at the end after Marco's rattlesnake morph manages to bite him.
52	-->Marco had struck the Garatron while he was moving at full speed. Like snatching a bullet out of the air.\
53	<You're fast, Yeerk,> Marco said. <I'm faster.>
54	* ''Literature/SuperPowereds'': Zig-zagged twice in that both times the other person is countering an attack by a speedster. The first time, Sasha speeds up to knock out Stella, but Stella [[ChromeChampion turns her skin to steel]] after Sasha is already committed, resulting in Sasha breaking every bone in her arm. The second time, [[spoiler:the speedster terrorist tries to punch Vince, only for Vince to absorb his kinetic energy, resulting in the speedster stopping cold. Vince then grabs him and starts absorbing the kinetic energy of his blood, stopping its flow and nearly causing the guy to die from his cells not getting enough oxygen]].
55	[[/folder]]
56
57	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
58	* ''Series/{{The Flash\|2014}}'':
59	** Flash attempts to attack Gorilla Grodd by punching him while running at super-speed. Being telepathic, Grodd was able to put Flash down with a well-timed punch.
60	** The same thing happens during Barry's first fight with Despero. Barry even creates several speed mirages to trick him, only for Despero to use his psychic powers to figure out which one is the real Barry and punch him out in mid-leap.
61	** During the fight between the Flash and Arrow, Oliver manages to land a good hit on Barry. This gets Barry even angrier, and he proceeds to punch Oliver about [[RapidFireFisticuffs fifty times in five seconds]]. Justified because Oliver specifically points out in the episode that Barry tends to rely on his speed too much, thus allowing others to outmaneuver him. This gets rectified in later seasons when Barry is shown as a much more competent fighter (like when he takes out two ARGUS guards without his speed).
62	* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
63	** {{Discussed}} in "[[Recap/GameOfThronesS4E7Mockingbird Mockingbird]]". Bronn declines to be Tyrion's champion in the TrialByCombat once he finds out Cersei has appointed [[MightyGlacier Ser Gregor "The Mountain That Rides" Clegane]] as her champion. He notes that he ''could'' just dance around the Mountain until he tires out as he did to Ser Vardis Egan back in "[[Recap/GameOfThronesS1E6AGoldenCrown A Golden Crown]]", but if he makes a single mistake it's game over. Too much risk.
64	** Put into practice when Prince Oberyn Martell steps into the role in "[[Recap/GameOfThronesS4E8TheMountainAndTheViper The Mountain and the Viper]]". Oberyn acrobatically leaps around the Mountain while repeatedly stabbing him with a spear, and eventually the Mountain goes down. That's when Oberyn makes his mistake: he gets annoyed that the Mountain might die without confessing to the rape and murder of Oberyn's sister Elia and gets too close to him, and the Mountain backhands him in the face and then crushes his skull barehanded. [[spoiler:What nobody knows yet is that it was a MutualKill: Oberyn's spear was poisoned.]]
65	[[/folder]]
66
67	[[folder:Video Games]]
68	* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', the Magna Runner boss of Castrum Abania is a high-speed magitek weapon that cannot be harmed while it's zooming around the arena. To defeat it, the party must take command of the cannons at the edges of the arena to bombard it and disable its engines while it preps its next SpeedBlitz attack.
69	* ''VideoGame/LEGODimensions'': The level "Element of Surprises" begins with a battle against [[WesternAnimation/{{Ninjago}} Griffin Turner, Elemental Master of Speed]]. The player must defeat him by waiting for a button prompt to trip him when he tries to attack, and then building a treadmill for him to run into and tire himself out.
70	* ''VideoGame/MetalGear2SolidSnake'': The second Zanzibar mercenary Snake battles is called Running Man, who challenges Snake to defeat his speed before DeadlyGas fills the room. Snake defeats him by planting mines in front of his path.
71	* In ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'', Doomfist's cinematic has him up against Tracer, Genji, and Winston; when the former starts zipping around him, he opts to [[GeniusBruiser wait, observe her movements, then]] suddenly grab at her, ripping the chronal accelerator off her back to incapacitate her.
72	[[/folder]]
73
74	[[folder:Web Comics]]
75	* ''Webcomic/{{Eatatau}}'': In the Druchii gladiatorial arena, Sergeant Johnson faced off against a Druchii who injured him fifteen times before he was able to hit her once. [[LudicrousGibs He only NEEDED to hit her once.]]
76	[[/folder]]
77
78	[[folder:Western Animation]]
79	* In ''WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017'', Alucard duels Dracula in Season 2, opting for HitAndRunTactics by sneaking in punches with his superior agility. Once his father has had enough, he seizes Alucard ''by the face'' and starts bashing his head into the floor.
80	* In ''WesternAnimation/Invincible2021'', the local Flash {{Expy}} Red Rush falls victim to [[spoiler:Omni-Man]] after pressing the offensive one time too many. [[spoiler:It leads directly to his death.]]
81	* This sometimes happens in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' with one particularly dull example being a fight with the Manhunter Robots resulting in the Flash getting tripped by one of the Manhunters holding out its staff.
82	* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': Downplayed. During their fight, Hunter repeatedly teleports around Amity while trying to get through her defense. However, she turns this against him by jabbing her staff right where he's about to appear, forcing Hunter to halt his attack and opening him up to a nasty punch.
83	* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'': A literal example happens in "Lightspeed" when [[RubberWoman Madame Rouge]] manages to stretch her arm fast enough to catch Kid Flash while he was trying to use his SuperSpeed to run away from her.
84	* ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'': Cyclops once deals with Quicksilver by having Jean Grey use her telekinesis to slow him down. Quicksilver has just enough time to complain about Cyclops "cheating" before the latter blasts him with his EyeBeams.
85	[[/folder]]

Context Main / CatchingTheSpeedster