History Main / SignatureMove

* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'': Pretty much almost every Pokémon has a signature move. Examples:
** Pikachu's core movset has consisted of Thunderbolt, Quick Attack, and Iron Tail ever since Hoenn; his fourth move varies by region.
** Charmander and as a Charmeleon and Charizard (and for that matter all of Ash's fire types [[note]]except Talonflame[[/note]]) has Flamethrower. And in nearly every battle, specifically the ones in which he is listening to Ash, Charizard uses [[FinishingMove Seismic Toss]].
** Ash's Squirtle has Skull Bash, Bulbasaur has Solar Beam, Treecko has Bullet Seed then Leaf Blade after evolving, Corphish has Crabhammer, Snivy has Attract and Leaf Storm, Oshawott has Razor Shell, Leavanny has String Shot, and Talonflame has Flame Charge.
** [[KamehameHadoken Aura Sphere]] is this for Lucario. The two were introduced [[Anime/PokemonLucarioAndTheMysteryOfMew at the same time]] and every Lucario since bar one has used this attack.
** Alain's Mega Charizard X tends to finish foes off with Blast Burn.

* ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} has his [[EyeBeams Omega Beams]] which can function as a SwissArmySuperpower.

* Franchise/{{Superman}} has the iconic single or double-fisted flying punch that gets referenced a lot in other comics and movies (like ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' and one of the Jacky Chan ''Film/ArmourOfGod'' films). It's actually called the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman_punch Superman punch]] in real life. He famously used against Darkseid in the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' [[Recap/JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS3E13Destroyer finale]].

*** Sephiroth has the Supernova attack, infamous especially in the North American release for having an OverlyLongFightingAnimation that depicts the solar system being wiped out by a meteor and a supernova...all to [[PercentDamageAttack take off 15/16 of each target's HP]]. As the years have gone by, [[HPTo1 Heartless Angel]] has also found its way into becoming one of his signature moves.

* Fittingly enough, given its sources of inspiration, some effort was made to give each of the [[HumongousMecha Jaegers]] in ''Film/PacificRim'' a signature move or weapon, such as Gipsy Danger's {{plasma cannon}], or Striker Eureka's [[MacrossMissileMassacre chest-mounted missile launchers]].

** [[SpinAttack Mach]] [[TornadoMove Tornado]] seems to be this for Meta Knight, making a number of appearances after its debut in ''Kirby Super Star'', including Meta Knight's neutral B special in ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' and a LimitBreak variant in Meta Knightmare Ultra from ''Kirby Super Star Ultra''. In the ''[[Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa anime]] [[AlternativeContinuity continuity]]'' his signature move was SwordBeam, which Kirby also often uses as Sword Kirby.

* ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'': Thor's [[DropTheHammer Mjölnir]] [[ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks throw]] is his most common attack ([[https://imgur.com/gallery/RQabb sometimes tricking his opponent into getting hit by it when he summons it back to his hand]]), followed by [[WeatherManipulation summoning lighting]] or just a [[https://dorisvsutherland.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/thorb2.jpg?w=574&h=523 overhead]] [[https://oyster.ignimgs.com/wordpress/stg.ign.com/2017/04/IMG_0436-720x960.png?fit=bounds&width=1280&height=720 strike]]. There's also his "[[https://i.imgur.com/FVsRUix.jpeg God Blast]]" attack which sadly [[WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes rarely]] shows up in adaptations.

** King Dedede has the Super Dedede Jump as well as the ability to mimic Kirby's Inhale (though he can't copy abilities). He's also got a signature weapon in the form of his [[DropTheHammer hammer]].

* In ''Manga/FairyTail'' According to WordOfGod, Fire Dragon's Iron Fist (Karyu no Tekken) is Natsu's signature move. (Insert Element) Dragon's Roar seems to be a signature move for all Dragon slayers though.

* [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Falcon PUNCH!]] To the point that it's mentioned the Story Mode credits song of ''VideoGame/{{FZero}} GX'' and [[AscendedMeme was actually used by Falcon]] in the GrandFinale of ''[[AnimeOfTheGame Falcon Densetsu]]''.

* WebVideo/TheOddOne has a knack for nicknaming an otherwise almost mundane moves after several pro wrestling’s famous signature move like:

** Mordekaiser's [[YourSoulIsMine Children Of The Grave]].

** Nasus' Siphoning Strike.

* ComicBook/{{Thanos}} typically uses a HandBlast or EyeBeams but when using the Infinity Gaunlet he likes to turn his foes [[https://static0.cbrimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/ribbons-and-blocks.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=740&h=370 into cubes or wraps]], he's also a [[BubbleGun fan of bubbles]], [[https://i.imgur.com/TvCMuHo.gif?w=240 no]] [[https://data.whicdn.com/images/311643824/original.gif joke]].

[[folder: Fan Works]]
* A little in ''Fanfic/WithStringsAttached'', but moreso in ''Fanfic/TheKeysStandAlone'', John's two signature moves are coating people in warm ice and dehydrating them into unconsciousness. He can also blast them with water, but he only uses that on nonliving things.

* In ''Fanfic/AshesOfThePast'', Ash's Pikachu has this in the form of Volt Crash, the Electric-type variant of [[WaveMotionGun Hyper Beam]]. He later [[SubvertedTrope teaches this to Raikou, and Volkner is able to replicate the move.]]
* Having one InUniverse is {{Deconstructed|Trope}} in [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/29812680/chapters/73347783 The Chains of Youth]]. The Ino-Shika-Cho combo was highly effective for 10 generations but it became so well known that every village came up with counters. It had become so predictable that Chouza suffered permanent arm damage against a single missing-nin.

* Kay’la from ''Fanfic/VowOfNudity'' has used the spell ''thunderous smite'' in a truly staggering amount of different situations, barely any of them the intended use of the spell (dealing damage and knocking the victim 10 feet away). So far, she’s:

* Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse: