History Main / StepIntoTheBlindingFight

* In the Creator/DavidMorrell thriller ''Literature/TheFraternityOfTheStone'', the assassin is shown in a flashback being trained via a dark room exercise -- the lesson is to not blunder around looking for the enemy but remain perfectly still and wait for him to make a noise. Unfortunately, later in the novel, he's lured into a dark room by someone who had the exact same training that he did -- so who moves first?

** Dr. Mid-Nite of the ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica and Dr. Midnight of ComicBook/InfinityInc are both blind heroes who used blackout bombs to get a drop on their foes.

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* ''Manga/OnePiece'': [[InvisibleJerkass Absalom]] uses this against Sanji while the latter tries to protect an unconscious Nami.
* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', one forbidden ninjutsu that the Second Hokage uses on the Third causes darkness that blinds the target.

* Captain [[BlindWeaponmaster Tousen]] in ''Anime/{{Bleach}}'' uses this. His bankai creates a huge sphere of darkness (in which his blindness doesn't give him a disadvantage). Unfortunately for him, he was fighting [[BloodKnight Ken]][[MadeOfIron pachi]], who just lets himself get stabbed to immobilize Tousen's sword and beat the crap out of him.
* In ''Manga/DragonBallZ'', Babidi teleports everybody to the Planet of Darkness. Being a native of this planet, Yakkon can see in the dark. To Babidi and Yakkon's surprise, Goku still easily beats him up, as trained warriors can sense their opponents, and Goku can [[TheNoseKnows smell Yakkon as well]].
* In ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', Genkai holds a TournamentArc to weed out the multitude of people who want to be her disciple. At one stage, the contestants have to fight each other in a pitch black room.

* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': Often invoked by the titular hero with his use of shadows and smoke pellets to scare criminals. It disorients his enemies and make them easier to pick off one by one. In ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' Bane was a member of the League Of Shadows and knows of their tricks of using darkness to distract enemies in battle, so when Batman tries to use these same tactics on Bane, he mocks him for it and goes into a BadassBoast about how he is made of Shadows.
* Dr. Mid-Nite of the ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica and Dr. Midnight of ComicBook/InfinityInc were both blind heroes who used blackout bombs to get a drop on their foes.
* ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'':
** He invokes this trope despite being [[HandicappedBadass blind]] himself. His [[SuperSenses superb hearing and "radar" senses]] allows him to "see" in the dark much to the disadvantage of the criminals who can actually see. While they're paranoid and distracted he's calm and controlled and kicks their asses.
** Turned on its head though any time his superior senses are overloaded, such as when in the [[Film/{{Daredevil}} movie]] Bullseye causes a raucous of noise and disorients Daredevil thus making him "blind" to any attack Bullseye can impose on him.
* The ''ComicBook/GhostRider'' villain Blackout suppresses all light sources in his presence.
* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'':
** ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfLuthor'': Subverted. Luthor hurls a "grenade darkness", which blankets several city blocks with darkness, to loot a bank and get scot-free, but ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} -whose X-Ray Vision lets her see through the dark- steps between his gang and the getaway car.
** Shadow Lass from the ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes can manipulate darkness and see in the dark, and so often blinds enemies with darkness. Night Girl can also see in the dark, and carries smoke bombs and devices that can shut off lights both to blind enemies and allow her to use her SuperStrength that only works in the dark.

* ''Fanfic/TheBridge'': [[spoiler: Irys]] summons a cloud of shadow to let her [[spoiler: temporarily]] gain an edge over [[spoiler: Ghidorah]], using her [[MakeMeWannaShout echolocation]] and comparatively smaller size to dart around him while he cannot see her.

* ''Franchise/HowToTrainYourDragon'': Two examples, both in the first film:

** [[spoiler: Later in the film, Hiccup and Toothless use this trick against the Red Death, luring her into the clouds and then flying circles around her, striking when her back is turned and then retreating. This backfires when eventually the Red Death anticipates their movements and sets Toothless's prosthetic tail afire.]]

* In the climax of ''Theatre/WaitUntilDark'' a blind woman battles against a killer in her apartment; she destroys all the lamps so he is disoriented but she can react just fine. [[spoiler:Too bad she missed one bulb.]]

* There's a scene in ''Film/TheChroniclesOfRiddick'' where Riddick is accosted by two soldiers, and responds by extinguishing the two candles in the room, plunging it into darkness. Riddick has the ability to see in the dark thanks to his "eye-shine". The soldiers don't, and get completely owned in the fight that follows.
* ''Film/TheGoldenVoyageOfSinbad'': At the end Sinbad must fight Koura while Koura is invisible after being granted a "shield of darkness".
* ''Film/MillionairesExpress'' have a rather hilarious example when two martial artists (played by Jimmy Wang Yu and Shih Kien) who antagonizes each other, while on a train, tries to avoid a fight in the presence of their young sons. When the train passes a tunnel, one of them gets a black eye. When it passes a second tunnel, the other gets a bruised cheek. [[RuleOfThree A third tunnel later]], Jimmy Wang Yu is holding Shih Kien's foot, while their boys look at them in confusion.

* In ''Film/{{Looker}}'', the serial killer uses the L.O.O.K.E.R. gun's invisibility effect on people to knock Dr. Roberts around the Digital Matrix laboratory until he gets a special pair of glasses to shield himself from the effect. Dr. Roberts ends up using the L.O.O.K.E.R. gun on the serial killer to give him a Groin Attack before his escape with Cindy.
* In ''Film/GhostRiderSpiritOfVengeance'', Blackout causes his targets to perceive themselves as being in total darkness, while in reality the lights are on. When he uses his ability on Ghost Rider, the Rider's flames go out, though he manages to reignite them.

* The final warrior in ''Film/GameOfDeath'' is defeated this way. Bruce Lee's character is outmatched until he breaks all the windows -- his opponent is [[BlindedByTheLight sensitive to light]].
* ''Film/OnceUponATimeInMexico'': [[spoiler: Agent Sands]] ends up getting his eyes gouged out by the local drug cartel and set loose to wander the city blindly. With a local boy helping him by playing spotter, he manages to shoot and kill a cartel thug who had been following him (after [[EpicFail entirely failing to hit the guy at all on the first try]] due to a [[YourOtherLeft miscommunication]] with the boy). Later on, [[ShooOutTheClowns without the boy's help]], he takes down two cartel thugs during the film's climactic shoot out, by [[DisabilitySuperpower listening for the sounds of them laughing at him.]]
* ''Franchise/{{Zatoichi}}'' has this as one of its signature tropes, since it stars BlindWeaponmaster TropeCodifier Ichi. While he's more than capable of fighting in the light, Ichi prefers to cut out any light sources, leaving his attackers stumbling around while he has a lifetime's experience fighting blind. He even has a catchphrase: "Darkness is my advantage".

* ''Literature/{{Pendragon}}'': The Blind Master Training occurs in a book of the series. Bobby is blindfolded and asked to ''feel'' his trainers' presences.
* In the Creator/DavidMorrell thriller ''Literature/TheFraternityOfTheStone'', the assassin is shown in a flashback being trained via a dark room exercise -- the lesson is to not blunder around looking for the enemy but remain perfectly still and wait for him to make a noise. Unfortunately later in the novel he's lured into a dark room by someone who had the exact same training that he did. So who moves first?

* An episode of ''Series/{{Grimm}}'' had a [[AnimalMotif fly]] [[MonsterOfTheWeek Wesen]] capable of spewing a certain parasite into his victims' eyes which blinded them (and after a while the parasites would completely [[EyeScream eat out their eyes]]). After he blinds Nick, the Wesen later tries to use this to his advantage in an attack, but Nick's developed [[SuperSenses enhanced hearing]] and ends up winning.
* Justified by the weeping angels in ''Series/DoctorWho''; they become "quantum-locked" and completely incapable of moving when being observed by other living things, so they've developed abilities that let them drain power from light sources when in statue-form, making it easier to approach their prey.
* The ''Series/{{Highlander}}'' episode "The Darkness" involves a Hunter who would lure Immortals to a room in his house with no light. He wears night-vision goggles, so he can see but the Immortal can't. When he tries this on Duncan, Duncan manages to light a match, blinding the man and allowing Duncan to see and kill him.

* The titular detective in an episode of ''Series/{{Monk}}'' fights a killer who strikes during power outages with a pair of night-vision goggles. When the police come in and turn on the lights, he demands they turn the lights back out because he is winning.
* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "[[LowerDeckEpisode Lower Decks]]", Worf offers Ensign Sito the opportunity to advance to a higher level in his martial arts class by completing a blindfolded combat challenge. [[DeconstructedTrope Worf proceeds to knock her on her butt in a series of unbroken victories.]] She calls him out on the unfairness of the challenge, and [[SecretTest is commended for passing it.]]

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': In "No One", Arya Stark defeats the Waif by luring her into a dark room and putting out the candle. Arya had spent part of the season blind, giving her experience navigating in the dark.

* ''VideoGame/JediKnightDarkForcesII'' has a variant: when a Dark Jedi uses the power Force Blind on the player character, the screen goes almost solid white, fading gradually back to normal view as the effect wears off.
* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleOfSeasons'':
*** Agunima is fought in a pitch-black room, where he's invulnerable. To beat him, Link must light the room's torches to restore light to it and remove Agunima's invulnerability.
*** In the final fight against the Poe Sisters, they cause their room to gradually darken unless Link lights the torches scattered around it. If the room ever plunges into full darkness, Link is sent back to the dungeon entrance and must return to and begin the battle anew.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds'': After its weak spot is hit several times, the Gemesaur King roars and snuffs out every torch in the room, plunging the arena into darkness. Link must then relight the torches while dodging the beast's attacks, temporarily stunning it before it snuffs out the light again.
* ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'': [[LivingShadow Nocturne]]'s ultimate "Paranoia" turns the whole map dark blocking the enemy team's sight of their enemies and each other for 4 seconds. During this time Nocturne can choose one of the enemies and launch himself at him/her, [[ParanoiaFuel attacking from the darkness]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'':
** Rumia the youkai of darkness can create spheres of darkness around herself so as to blind enemies. Too bad ''she'' can't see in the dark either...
** Another example is the Night Sparrow {{Youkai}}, Mystia Lorelei, who can [[BrownNote cause night-blindness with her songs]]. In the boss fight against her, this is implemented as [[InterfaceScrew you being unable to see anything except a small area around your character]].
* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', the [[IronicName Illuminator]] Heartless assists Captain Barbossa by shrouding the area in darkness. This not only conceals them, but makes Barbossa invincible because he can only be harmed in the moonlight. The Illuminator has to be killed first to lift the darkness and make Barbossa vulnerable.
* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'': [[spoiler: [[BigEater Big Smoke]] switches out the lights and puts on night vision goggles when up against CJ.]]

--> '''ÓÐR BRÓÐIR BLINDR'''

--> Kill the lights, gonna fight, don't you hassle me\\

* In ''VideoGame/StarWarsBattlefrontII2017'', Lando has a smoke grenade that blinds everyone in his vicinity, but the player can see enemies by turning on Lando's thermal goggles, which spotlight enemy heat signatures in the smoke.

* For Robin in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'' he went on a quest and one of the trials was to fight a blind snake in his own element, a dark cave with zero light. He eventually has to learn to try to stop seeing his enemy and start hearing and ''feeling'' where the master is.
* Cleverly used in the ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' episode "Samurai Vs Ninja": Jack matches an assassin's mastery of the dark by using identical tactics, [[BlindedByTheLight only wearing stark white and hidden in the glare of sunlight.]] Since they're fighting immediately before sunset, the fight quickly becomes a race up the tower they're using as a battleground so Jack can keep up with the shrinking areas of sunlight.
* In ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012'', Spider-Man and White Tiger turned off the lights and used night-vision to get an advantage over Taskmaster. Taskmaster boasted that he could easily navigate the room with his PhotographicMemory, only to find that the two heroes moved everything in the room after turning off the lights.
* [[EstablishingCharacterMoment In her debut episode]], [[LittleMissBadass Toph]] from ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' fought against seven powerful Earthbenders all on her own. She took out several of them by conjuring up a huge cloud of dirt. Because of her DisabilitySuperpower that allows her to see by sensing vibrations in the ground, she could "see" them, but ''they'' couldn't see ''her''.

** Obi-Wan Kenobi has Luke do the same by having him wear a helmet with the blast shield down in ''Film/ANewHope''.