Basic Trope: A powerful character entrusts someone they trust with their weakness in case they ever become a threat. Alternately, someone makes the weakness on their own for one of their allies.
- Straight: Amazing Man worries that he might make a Face–Heel Turn, so he entrusts his sidekick Wonder Girl with a vial of poison that will negate his powers.
- Exaggerated:
- Every hero in the Just League of Justice has kryptonite factors against several of their compatriots and vice-versa, in order to keep them in line.
- Amazing man lets Wonder Girl place him under a curse: at any time, Wonder Girl can just will him to die, and he will.
- Downplayed: Amazing Man tells his Wonder Girl how to make poison, but the ingredients are difficult to make.
- Justified: Amazing Man would rather die than be corrupted by Mind Control or temptation, and trusts Wonder Girl more than himself.
- Inverted:
- Awful Man has decided to make a Heel–Face Turn, so he makes sure that the fellow villains who have access to his weakness are removed.
- Wonder girl has preparations in case some of her enemies reform.
- Subverted: It turns out that the poison can't actually kill him, and he only gave it to Wonder Girl to keep her from finding his real weakness.
- Double Subverted:
- The poison can't kill him, but it De-power or otherwise subdues him non-lethally.
- Wonder girl figured this out a long time ago, and put his actual weakness in the flask as well.
- Parodied: Amazing Man's weakness is something silly, like eggs.
- Zig Zagged: Wonder Girl doesn't have any specific countermeasures for specific heroes, but she still has fire extinguishers for fire guys, flamethrowers for ice guys, etc.
- Averted: Amazing Man keeps his weakness secret from everyone, including Wonder Girl.
- Enforced: The writer plans to have a story where Amazing Man is out of action or dead for a while. The villain mind controls him, forcing Wonder Girl to use the poison.
- Lampshaded: "Keep your friends close, and your one weakness closer."
- Invoked: Wonder Girl suggests it, knowing that Amazing Man himself is not reliable.
- Exploited:
- Wonder Girl betrays Amazing Man, and uses the poison against him before going on to try to take over the world.
- Wonder girl uses the poison against an Evil Knockoff of Amazing Man.
- Emperor Evulz gives fake poisons to his "allies" and uses it to weed out the disloyal by who attempt to kill him with it.
- Defied: Wonder Girl refuses the poison, feeling that she is less reliable than Amazing Man or that a villain might be able to steal it.
- Discussed: "Is this the part where you give me some of the only substance that can kill you as a show of trust?"
- Conversed: "You think Amazing man would stand further away from wonder girl, what with the poison she has and all".
- Implied: Someone asks Amazing Man if he is worried about mind control, and he says no.
- Deconstructed:
- Wonder Girl is secretly evil, and Amazing Man trusting her with his weakness leads to her leaving it by his bed while he sleeps, killing him.
- The Big Bad manages to steal the poison from Wonder Girl and uses it to kill Amazing Man. Wonder Girl then blames herself for causing his death.
- Reconstructed:
- Being trusted by Amazing Man flatters Wonder Girl so much that she turns good and genuinely fulfills the promise.
- The poison can't be brewed without Wonder Girl's powers, so the Big Bad isn't able to use it.
- Played For Laughs:
- Amazing man says something out of character and is immediately poisoned. It turns out wonder girl was mistaken, and the real captain really does enjoy musical theater.
- While painful, the effect is non-lethal, and so wonder girl uses it whenever amazing man is annoying. Or when she's bored.
- Played For Drama: Amazing Man is Mistaken for an Imposter and killed needlessly
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