History DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu / Literature

* In gamebook series ''Literature/WayOfTheTiger'', the world's mightiest wizards and warriors, primordial beastgods, giants, ifrit, an EldritchAbomination or two, demigods and demons -- all have died under the fists and feet of your character, the ninja Avenger.

* Creator/HPLovecraft:
** The TropeNamer is a scene from "Literature/TheCallOfCthulhu" where a heroic sailor punches out Cthulhu about as literally as the circumstances allow -- he is (temporarily) thwarted when he is [[RammingAlwaysWorks run down by a steamship]] (he begins regenerating but becomes stuck in R'lyeh). Though [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu the sailor doesn't come out of the encounter in the best of mental health]]...
*** In Creator/AugustDerleth's ''Literature/TheTrailOfCthulhu'', the above sequence is one-upped when Cthulhu is thwarted (again temporarily) by [[NukeEm having a nuclear bomb dropped on him]].
*** In TabletopRPG ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' however, this is dealt with by saying that Cthulhu will simply regenerate and then you'll have to face a ''radioactive'' EldritchAbomination. So it's not recommended.
*** In Derleth's "The Whippoorwills in the Hills", the same thing was achieved with [[spoiler:dynamite]]...okay?
** A non-human example is said to have occurred in ''Literature/AtTheMountainsOfMadness'', with the Elder Things. Unlike many of the creatures in the mythos, the Elder Things were explicitly mundane organisms without any supernatural abilities and human-like moralities (although extremely tough and clearly of a technological level far surpassing humans). Nonetheless, they managed to successfully hold off the invasions of Cthulhu's spawn (as well the Mi-Go race) to Antarctica for millions of years, ultimately outlasting them when R'lyeh sank.
** "Literature/TheDunwichHorror". While the horror may not actually be a god (he's a spawn of one of them), the characters manage to banish him. As all three characters neither die nor become cripplingly insane (they're not so bad off as to be locked up), this is one of the few happy endings in the Cthulhu Mythos as penned by Lovecraft.
** Other more-or-less supernatural threats -- admittedly often of human origin themselves -- likewise ultimately come to bad ends at the hands of suitably motivated and determined humans in such stories as "Literature/TheCaseOfCharlesDexterWard", "Literature/TheDreamsInTheWitchHouse" or "Literature/TheShunnedHouse", [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu if not always without cost.]] Further notable examples include several Mi-Go in ''Literature/TheWhispererInDarkness'' getting killed by a farmer with a hunting rifle, Dagon's Deep Ones in ''Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth'' being foiled by the local police and having their city severely damaged by a single USN submarine, and Rhan-Tegoth in ''The Horror in the Museum'' being forced into a coma by a lack of blood sacrifices.[[note]]As in, it literally needs to eat to survive and without humans bringing it food, it just hibernates.[[/note]] The helplessness of specifically members of the species ''Homo sapiens'' when faced with "Lovecraftian horrors" has been [[{{Flanderization}} generally exaggerated]] by [[RunningTheAsylum later writers]].
* Subverted hilariously in a non-canon short story by Creator/GeorgeRRMartin, where [[MemeticBadass Jaime]] Lannister is due to fight Cthulhu himself. He still wins, but only because [[spoiler: he killed the cultists trying to summon Cthulhu.]] You can read it [[http://grrm.livejournal.com/140797.html here.]]
* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'':
** The Lord of the Nazgûl, one of Sauron's [[TheDragon most powerful servants,]] says that [[NoManOfWomanBorn "no man can defeat me".]] He is stabbed by Merry (a Hobbit, not a Man) and killed by Éowyn (a woman), [[ProphecyTwist bypassing his prophecy]]. It does nearly [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu kill both of them though.]]
** Samwise Gamgee successfully fights off an EldritchAbomination in GiantSpider form with nothing but a couple of swords, an elf-light, and ThePowerOfFriendship. Standing up to her successfully was so impressive that when the orcs discovered the aftermath, they concluded a fierce Elf warrior was on the loose.
* ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'': Luthien hands [[GodOfEvil Morgoth]] in his ass with no punch but a soothing melody that lays him flat on his face along with the rest of the entirety of Angband....just look at this passage from the book. Describing the event is far too inefficient to give one a true grasp of this CMOA.
--> The dark and mighty head was bowed;
--> like mountain-top beneath a cloud
--> the shoulders foundered, the [[EvilIsBigger vast]] form
--> crashed, as in overwhelming storm
--> huge cliffs in ruin slide and fall;
--> and prone lay Morgoth in his hall.
** What makes this feat also particularly amazing is that Fingolfin from before the tale of Beren and Luthien also challenged Morgoth's might (although he issued forth a challenge while Luthien duped him-and approached him under the pretenses of offering her services via a dance) but died in the process while Luthien along with Beren walked away relatively unharmed from the confrontation.

* Creator/MichaelMoorcock's ''Literature/TheElricSaga'' series (and the Eternal Champion, et al.) have great fighters slaying sons of gods, and then eventually the gods themselves, in an [[LensmanArmsRace escalating arms race.]]
** In fact, early on, four such incarnations of the champion fight two true {{Eldritch Abomination}}s from outside the {{Multiverse}} proper.

* [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in the ''Literature/ConanTheBarbarian'' novels. It is explicitly stated that {{Eldritch Abomination}}s and demons lose much of their power when they enter reality. They still tend to be the strongest opponents Conan faces.
* In Creator/CSLewis' ''Literature/{{Perelandra}}'', Dr. Ransom acts as the [[GoodAngelBadAngel Good Angel]] when the Queen of Venus is tempted by a literal demon toward falling from grace. With the salvation of the entire planet hanging in the balance, Ransom realizes the demon's [[DemonicPossession possession of an astronaut]] (which enabled it to enter the planet in the first place) was its AchillesHeel -- he could simply pummel the thing into submission.
** It's also almost {{Lampshaded}} in the actual fight. Ransom realizes that despite knowing, rationally, that the Un-Man was limited to the physical abilities of its host body, up until the moment they actually made contact, he had been subconsciously expecting inhuman strength and power.
* Subverted and played for a good laugh in John Dechancie's ''Red Limit Freeway''. After traveling for lightyears along roads built by SufficientlyAdvancedAliens, the heroes meet a handsome, slightly androgynous man in flashy clothes. One of the heroes, convinced the man is responsible for his alien abduction, hits him with a sucker punch. Cue the protagonist: "I think you may have just punched out God." Other guy: "Nah, God has a beard."
* The ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'' trilogy sets up [[spoiler:God, AKA the Authority,]] as the enemy of free will and human interest, but in the third book he proves to have been so weakened by old age that [[spoiler:he gets turned to dust by a strong breeze.]] A more threatening villain is his [[TheDragon Second,]] [[spoiler:Metatron, who himself can only be defeated when he is hurled into the void between universes, and thus "destroyed" forever.]]
* John Taylor from the ''{{Literature/Nightside}}'' books does this approximately ''every five minutes.'' No sooner does he hype how much of a terrifying unbeatable badass so-and-so is, then half a page later, he beats them.
** Admittedly, it's usually through the InherentGift inherited from his vanished mother [[spoiler:who eventually turns out to be Lilith, who was the ancestor of 95% of the {{Eldritch Abomination}}s in the series in the first place.]] Given that his Gift enables him to find and hit any being's AchillesHeel, it's interesting that the series managed to maintain the necessary dramatic tension to keep going.
* [[Literature/SecretHistories Eddie Drood]] has also done this on a regular basis, both to full-blown abominations as well as lesser higher-dimensional monsters. In his case, possessing PoweredArmor designed by a ''friendly'' EldritchAbomination helps. Pretty much the only thing preventing him from being an InvincibleHero is that his challenge is not beating the bad guys, but finding them before they bring about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.
* ''Creator/StephenKing'''s novel ''Literature/{{IT}}'' features this, in which [[spoiler: seven childhood friends unite to destroy the eponymous entity, an ancient cosmic shapeshifter from another dimension.]]
* Done repeatedly in Creator/RobinJarvis' ''Literature/DeptfordMice'', ''Deptford Histories'', and ''Whitby Witches'' series.

* In ''Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant'', they manage to kill the Grotesquery, a creature partially constructed from the corpse of a [[EldritchAbomination Faceless One,]] albeit with great difficulty and several casualties. [[spoiler:In the third book, Valkyrie kills two Faceless Ones using a weapon designed to do so. Skulduggery manages to force one back through the door to their prison using a strong gust of wind. In the process, the weapon is destroyed, and Skulduggery is dragged along with the Faceless One.]]
* In ''Literature/ParadiseLost'', Abdiel hitting Satan. Although an Angel, in ''Literature/ParadiseLost'' Abdiel is far below in glory the illustrious figures of Lucifer, Michael, Raphael, etc. His only distinction is loyalty, being the one angel to hear ''and'' reject Satan's offer to revolt. In the opening salvo of the War in Heaven, mighty Satan appears bedecked in his warrior-king regalia, ready to smite on all sides. Instead, Abdiel pops out of the fray and clocks him on the head, knocking him cold before he can strike a blow.
* In a ''Literature/NightWatchSeries'' novel ''Face of the Dark Palmira'' by Vladimir Vasilyev, a powerful Other (i.e. wizard) is in a magical stand-off with the agents of the Odessa Day Watch. He is punched out by a half-dazed, naked Dark Other with a regular torchiere over the head. It is explained later that the baddie attempted to maximize his magical potential by entering the Gloom (the magical dimension) half-way, which, ironically, left him vulnerable to physical attacks.
** On a larger scale, a coven of powerful Dark Others gathers together to destroy a horribly powerful evil Other that is [[GeniusLoci 'the spirit of St. Petersburg city itself']], awakened by the aforementioned wizard.
* The ''Literature/{{Percy Jackson and the Olympians}}'' has Rachel Elizabeth Dare, who throws her hairbrush at the bad guy's host, hitting him in the eye. Not only does this give the good guys enough time to get away, it is her [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome crowning moment of awesome]], at least until [[spoiler:she becomes the Oracle of Delphi]].
** As a result of this, blue plastic hairbrushes have become ''the'' inside joke of the Percy Jackson fandom.
*** Except for dams.
*** Are y'all talking about that dam hairbrush again?
* The ''Literature/{{Everworld}}'' series of novels has several instances of humans attacking gods, with varying amounts of success.

* Only one of the gods actually dies in Creator/DanSimmons' ''Literature/{{Illium}}'', but the Greek heroes send several teleporting away with injuries, [[UnfazedEveryman Hockenberry]] tasers Hera with 50,000 volts, and Mahnmut (who is a kind of sentient non-combat android) steals a flying chariot by jumping in kicking out the goddess driving it.
** Achilles can't really kill Zeus, but since the gods are very carefully recreating mythology Achilles is protected by destiny. Specifically, they made sure that he could only be harmed by an arrow fired by Paris at his [[AchillesHeel famous heel.]] By this point, Paris is slightly more dead than he's supposed to be. Things go poorly for Zeus.
* At the end of the first book of ''Literature/MemorySorrowAndThorn'', the protagonist (a 15-year-old scullion with barely any formal training with weapons, noted by several characters as having not stopped growing) kills or at least seriously wounds one of the last remaining dragons in the world, which had already killed two of his much stronger/faster/more skilled/generally-better-at-killing-things comrades.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''
** In ''[[Literature/BloodAngels Deus Sanguinius,]]'' Rafen manages to kill the Lord of Change, Malfallax. However, to do so he had to use the [[AncestralWeapon Spear of Telesto]] to do so and [[spoiler:[[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu Broke His Arm Doing So.]]]]
** Considering one of the major villains of the universe are unstoppable daemons, this tends to turn up in books focusing upon Chaos. One specific series, the Literature/SoulDrinkers, got to the point where this tended to happen in at least once per book.
** Literature/CiaphasCain makes something of a habit of fighting and beating opponents that are way tougher than a normal human should be able to beat. ''The Traitor's Hand'' is probably the best example, he defeats two Chaos {{Space Marine}}s and a daemonhost -- with backup all three times, of course (and the second Space Marine was severely injured before Cain crossed chainswords with him). It's still impressive enough that a soldier who witnessed two of those fights went on to found an official sect of the Imperial Church that worships Cain as a Prophet of the Emperor.
* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering''
** In the ''Literature/{{Kamigawa|Cycle}}'' saga, we have Hidetsugu, an ogre warlord who has every qualification to be categorized as a badass, including serving a [[EldritchAbomination ancient demon-god with the conspicuous moniker of 'All-Consuming Oni of Chaos'.]] Eventually, Hidetsugu [[spoiler:turns on his employer-unspeakable horror for wussying out of an epic fight, and thus proceeds to punch said Oni into submission. In an subversion of [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu breaking his arm while doing so]], he actually merges with the god and takes his place.]]
** In ''Literature/AlaraUnbroken'', Ajani Goldmane faces [[BigBad Nicol Bolas]] after the latter has absorbed most of the Maelstrom's mana restoring most of the power he once possessed as a [[PhysicalGod Pre-Mending Planeswalker.]] Ajani harnesses the last bit of the Maelstrom's mana to summon an avatar of Nicol Bolas himself, forcing Nicol Bolas to flee.
* [[spoiler:The defeat of Typhon the Storm Giant]] from ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'', though this is an interesting case, as it was [[spoiler: the ''gods themselves'']] who defeated him. Though that just goes to show how monstrously strong he was.
** Percy in The Lightning Thief when he [[spoiler:beats the god of war in a sword fight.]]
* The climax of ''[[Literature/TheActsOfCaine Blade of Tyshalle]]'' sees a superhumanly intelligent PhysicalGod [[spoiler:possessed by an even more powerful EldritchAbomination]] come up against a CombatPragmatist with a magic sword.
-->''"[[LargeHam I have always been fortunate in my]] [[TalkToTheFist enemies- * shhhnk* hurk -"]] "Happy Assumption Day, fucker."'' '''* stab* '''
* In ''Literature/WarriorCats'', a series where HumansAreCthulhu, [[spoiler: [=SkyClan=] defeating an abusive Twoleg]] is much like this.

* In the last ''Literature/TheBlackCompany'' book by Creator/GlenCook, Croaker kills the goddess Kina by setting off a giant magical explosion in the chamber where she is sleeping.
* In ''Literature/TheElenium'', Sparhawk manages to kill one god. Then he follows it up in ''Literature/TheTamuli'' by slaying another. Granted, both times he had the help of powers beyond those of a god, [[spoiler:as he is in fact the ChosenOne of TheMaker]].
* The climactic battle of Paul Kidd's ''Queen of the Demonweb Pits'' involves a small band of very angry people laying into Lolth (demon-goddess of the Drow) with everything they have. She tries to escape (bruised, bleeding, and badly burned), and falls into a pit of holy water (which burns demons like acid) a few feet from the portal out of the plane.
* In ''Literature/TheBookOfTheDunCow'', the final battle is between Wyrm, an enormous, ancient serpent as large as a planet who can easily kill angels, and the dog Mundo Cani, whose only weapon is a cow's horn. [[spoiler: Mundo Cani wins by blinding Wyrm's vulnerable eye, but at the cost of his own life.]]
* The ''Literature/YoungWizards'' series is about teenagers fighting an undefeatable being who is basically Satan. Naturally, [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu Punching out Cthulhu]] and [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome crowning moments of awesome]] happen on a regular basis.
* In the ''[[Literature/MonsterHunterInternational Monster Hunter]]'' series by Larry Correia, the protagonists fight against Cthulhu-like aliens and their cult followers and defeat them. In the second book, Monster Hunter Vendetta, the protagonists [[spoiler: not only fight directly against the so-called 'Old Ones' they use a doomsday weapon made by Sir Isaac Newton against the Cthulhu-like Overlord. The weapon not only kills the alien, it seems to unmake its entire reality.]]
* In one of the [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome most awesome scenes]] in ''Literature/TheHorseAndHisBoy'', ten-year-old runaway slave Shasta jumps off a fear-maddened horse to confront an attacking lion. And, being completely unarmed, all he can do is ''yell at it''. And to everyone's surprise, the lion backs down and leaves. That's pretty badass, but not quite this trope...[[spoiler: until it turns out the lion in question was actually [[CrystalDragonJesus Aslan.]] It was almost certainly part of Aslan's plan, but to everyone else, Shasta still basically chased off God Himself by yelling at Him.]]
* In the climax of the Morcyth Saga by Brian S. Pratt,[[spoiler: James sets up a feedback loop to set off the magical equivalent of a nuke using the power of the evil god Dmon-Li. Weaker versions of the same spell have been shown to rip holes in reality, and it is implied that he completely destroyed the reality Dmon-Li was invading from.]]
* ''Literature/ForeverGate'': Invoked. When Hoodwink sees the GrimReaper approaching, his first thought is: "Lightning blast!"
* The ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'' has [[spoiler:Eragon and company killing Galbatorix and his EldritchAbomination dragon Shruikan.]]
* Creator/NeilGaiman's "Literature/AStudyInEmerald" (a crossover between the Franchise/CthulhuMythos and the Franchise/SherlockHolmes stories) has [[spoiler:Sherlock and Watson killing a minor EldritchAbomination/Bohemian noble.]]
* This is what the Five are destined to do with the Old Ones in ''Literature/ThePowerOfFive''. They pulled it off in their previous incarnation by sealing them behind the Gates. Matt, with a little help from Pedro, manages to single-handedly incapacitate them for a little while when they finally break free. Finally, due to a quirk of timing at the climax of ''Oblivion'', the Five banish the Old Ones one last time and - just before the portal closes - the British Navy accidentally ''[[NukeEm nukes Hell]]'', and this seemingly kills or permanently imprisons them for good.
* In ''Literature/ThoseThatWake'', Mike does this [[spoiler:in an illusion.]] Upon breaking free, he does it for real by proving Man in Suit wrong and destroying him through noble self-sacrifice.
** In the sequel, Laura singlehandedly frees the captive minds from the Old Man, reverting him to a feeble old man that Mal destroys with one blow.
* Played with in the original ''[[{{Literature/Doom}} Doom]]'' novels. When Flynn Taggart finds himself confronted with stereotypical demons, but then discovers they're made of flesh and blood and can be killed with a big enough gun, he realizes that whatever they are, they're fakes (because he was raised Catholic, and knows better). He's right. They're aliens who took that form because they knew it would scare us. So he proceeds to blow up lots and lots and lots of them.
* In "Literature/SixthOfTheDusk", seeing someone killing a Nightmaw with a HandCannon has this effect on Dusk.

* Pretty much the point of the Literature/TitusCrow novels by Creator/BrianLumley. Titus Crow, Henri de Laurent, and Hank Silberhutte regularly end up smacking around the Cthulhu Mythos' monsters. They even manage to send [[PhysicalGod Great Old One Ithaqua]] fleeing by using an Elder God death ray.
* Happens in ''Literature/CthulhuArmageddon'' by Creator/CTPhipps a few times. John Booth is a BadassNormal who manages to stab to death a nightgaunt with a Deep One knife, destroy a shoggoth with a pair of Elder God blessed revolvers, and kills Alan Ward (implied to be the reincarnated Joseph Curwen) after he becomes an EldritchAbomination. [[spoiler: This is because John is actually a HalfHumanHybrid and doomed to become one of the Cthulhu Mythos' creatures himself.]]

* The main conflict in ''LightNovel/TheUnexploredSummonBloodSign'' is between Kyousuke and the White Queen, the latter being an EldritchAbomination who is by far the most powerful being in the setting. At the end of each volume (except the fifth), Kyousuke manages to find some way to defeat her, or at least thwart her plans. However, the ''only'' reason he's able to do this is because the White Queen is madly in love with him, and considers it just as enjoyable to let him win.
* ''Literature/MyVampireOlderSisterAndZombieLittleSister'': On several occasions, Satori manages to defeat vastly more powerful [[OurMonstersAreDifferent Archenemies.]] He kills a Valkyrie by stabbing her in the neck with a pen ([[spoiler:though only with the assistance of a powerful AI]]) and knocks out Lilith by electrocuting her.
* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'':
** Touma repeatedly does this, and thanks to his AntiMagic right hand, it's usually literal. In his very first fight, he punches out a regenerating construct made of 3000-degree Celsius flames. He later punches out Accelerator, the strongest esper who can NoSell a nuclear explosion. At the end of the first series, he [[ColonyDrop drops the Star of Bethlehem]] on Archangel Gabriel.
** In one of the side stories, [[BadassAdorable Itsuwa]] disrupts a spell that has summoned [[spoiler:Nyarlhotep]] by driving her spear straight through him.
* ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'':
** Really more of a rule than an exception in this series. A lot of gods go down like absolute chumps once some BadassNormal or another manages to get within arm's reach of their physical forms. What keeps most of them alive is that they hide in their personal Warrens and act as ThePowersThatBe. In ''Literature/DeadhouseGates'', [[WarGod God of War Fener]] is exiled from his realm for complicated metaphysical reasons and spends several books ''fleeing for his life'', because the mortal realm is filled with people who's got both the means and the motive to kill him.
** In ''Literature/TheBonehunters'', Captain Paran incapacitates of [[spoiler:Poliel, the Mistress of Pestilence]], with the help of a shard of [[AntiMagic Otataral]], setting the scene up for [[CanisMajor the Deragoth]] to kill Poliel.
** In ''Literature/DustOfDreams'', man child Ublala Pung literally punches out the [[JerkassGods jerkass God of Fate]] known as [[SpellMyNameWithAThe the Errant]] when the latter is about to [[spoiler:kill Brys Beddict]] in the open street and Ublala runs into them.
** Also in ''Literature/DustOfDreams'', Amby and Jula Bole fight off and heavily injure a flying raptor that just demolished their carriage and killed three people inside it. Apparently, they jumped on its back and punched it into submission.

* Done '''three times''' in the final book of the ''Literature/{{Fablehaven}}'' series, with [[spoiler: Seth killing two super-powerful demons: Graulas and Nagi Luna,]] and [[spoiler: Kendra killing Grogrog, the freaking '''demon king'''.]] And all this with a single [[CoolSword magic sword.]]
* In gamebook series ''Literature/WayOfTheTiger'', the world's mightiest wizards and warriors, primordial beastgods, giants, ifrit, an EldritchAbomination or two, demigods and demons - all have died under the fists and feet of your character, the ninja Avenger.

* ''Literature/{{Deeplight}}'': For {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, the gods of the Myriad don't fare so well against the plucky humans.
** Quest [[spoiler:stole the Hidden Lady's]] [[HeartDrive heart]] and used it to [[spoiler:bait all the other gods to their deaths]]. He was the only one to survive that mission.
** Downplayed in the finale, as [[spoiler:Jelt is a newly transformed, and therefore less powerful god. Selphin]] throws the air tank from a wind gun into it's [[TooManyMouths extra]] [[LampreyMouth mouth]] and pulls out the heart.

* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', The Lord of the Nazgûl, one of Sauron's [[TheDragon most powerful servants,]] says that [[NoManOfWomanBorn "no man can defeat me".]] He is then stabbed by Merry (a Hobbit, and therefore not of the race of Men) and killed by Éowyn (a woman), so his prophecy gets bypassed two different ways. It nearly [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu killed both of them though.]]
** Samwise Gamgee sent the daughter of an EldritchAbomination in GiantSpider form crawling back to its lair with nothing but a couple of swords, an elf-light, and ThePowerOfFriendship. Standing up to her successfully was so impressive that when the orcs discovered the aftermath, they concluded a fierce Elf warrior was on the loose.

* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', part of Harry Dresden's backstory is that, at the age of sixteen, he beat a kind of demonic bounty hunter sicced on him by his EvilMentor. He later discovers to his shock that [[spoiler:the demonic bounty hunter called He Who Walks Behind is an Outsider-- in Dresdenverse terms, an EldritchAbomination. Fully trained wizards spend centuries learning how to defeat Outsiders.]] To avoid accusations of BeginnersLuck, [[spoiler: Harry was born under very specific circumstances which give him the ability to affect Outsiders in ways that normal wizards can't. Any wizard born under similar circumstances would have the same abilities.]]

* In one of the [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome most awesome scenes]] in ''Literature/TheHorseAndHisBoy'', ten-year-old runaway slave Shasta jumps off a fear-maddened horse to confront an attacking lion. And, being completely unarmed, all he can do is ''yell at it''. And to everyone's surprise, the lion backs down and leaves. That's pretty badass, but not quite this trope... [[spoiler: until it turns out the lion in question was actually [[CrystalDragonJesus Aslan]]. It probably helps that Aslan had finished what He was there for, but Shasta still basically chased off God Himself by yelling at Him.]]

* ''Literature/ForeverGate'': Invoked. When Hoodwink sees the GrimReaper approaching, his first thought is "lightning blast!"

* In ''Literature/ThoseThatWake'', Mike does this [[spoiler:in an illusion]]. Upon breaking free, he does it for real by proving Man in Suit wrong and destroying him through noble self-sacrifice.

* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': Eric, a mortal human mage, squares off against a reaper, a PhysicalGod who is not only much more powerful than him physically but has the divine power to kill him with a thought. Eric steals this power and then punches him hard enough to knock him over. [[spoiler: He is strangled for his efforts and has to be saved by another, higher ranking, reaper.]]

* Happens in ''Literature/CthulhuArmageddon'' by Creator/CTPhipps a few times. John Booth is a BadassNormal who manages to stab to death a nightgaunt with a Deep One knife, destroy a shoggoth with a pair of Elder God blessed revolvers, and kills Alan Ward (implied to be the reincarnated Joseph Curwen) after he becomes a EldritchAbomination. [[spoiler: This is because John is actually a HalfHumanHybrid and doomed to become one of the Cthulhu Mythos' creatures himself.]]
* In ''Literature/KushielsLegacy'', this becomes the goal of [[spoiler:Phedre, when her oldest friend is bound by a curse laid by Rahab the Angel of the Deeps. Well over a decade later, she finds the [[IKnowYourTrueName True Name]] of God and breaks the curse by banishing Rahab with a single word.]]
* The main conflict in ''LightNovel/TheUnexploredSummonBloodSign'' is between Kyousuke and the White Queen, the latter being an EldritchAbomination who is by far the most powerful being in the setting. At the end of each volume (except the fifth) Kyousuke manages to find some way to defeat her, or at least thwart her plans. However, the ''only'' reason he's able to do this is because the White Queen is madly in love with him, and considers it just as enjoyable to let him win.
* ''Literature/MyVampireOlderSisterAndZombieLittleSister'': On several occasions, Satori manages to defeat vastly more powerful [[OurMonstersAreDifferent Archenemies]]. He kills a Valkyrie by stabbing her in the neck with a pen ([[spoiler:though only with the assistance of a powerful AI]]) and knocks out Lilith by electrocuting her.

** Touma repeatedly does this, and thanks to his AntiMagic right hand, it's usually literal. In his very first fight, he punches out a regenerating construct made of 3000 degrees Celsius flames. He later punches out Accelerator, the strongest esper who can NoSell a nuclear explosion. At the end of the first series, he [[ColonyDrop drops the Star of Bethlehem]] on Archangel Gabriel.

* Done '''three times''' in the final book of the ''Literature/{{Fablehaven}}'' series, with [[spoiler: Seth killing two super-powerful demons: Graulas and Nagi Luna]], and [[spoiler: Kendra killing Grogrog, the freaking '''demon king'''.]] And all this with a single [[CoolSword magic sword]].

** In the ''Literature/{{Kamigawa|Cycle}}'' saga, we have Hidetsugu, an ogre warlord who has every qualification to be categorized as a badass, including serving a [[EldritchAbomination ancient demon-god with the conspicuous moniker of 'All-Consuming Oni of Chaos']]. Eventually, Hidetsugu [[spoiler:turns on his employer-unspeakable horror for wussying out of an epic fight, and thus proceeds to fist said Oni into submission. In an subversion of [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu breaking his arm while doing so]], he actually merges with the god and takes his place.]]
** In ''Literature/AlaraUnbroken'', Ajani Goldmane faces [[BigBad Nicol Bolas]] after the latter has absorbed most of the Maelstrom's mana restoring most of the power he once possessed as a [[PhysicalGod Pre-Mending Planeswalker]]. Ajani harnesses the last bit of the Maelstrom's mana to summon an avatar of Nicol Bolas himself, forcing Nicol Bolas to flee.

* In ''The Jehovah Contract'' a terminally ill hit man is hired by Satan to kill God. He succeeds.

* At the end of the story ''Interlink'', Trent, the villain, and Lonny, the protagonist, fall from a plane and hit the ground, creating a crater. Lonny gets out, unharmed since Trent broke his fall, and reunites with Maggie, Kay, and Jack. Although Trent seems to be dead, [[spoiler:he gets up and is about to kill the four when Lonny tells him that his cell phone, which gave him his godlike powers and the ability to control the Interlink, shattered after the fall. Trent's eyes scream "OhCrap" as he realizes he is now only human, and is suddenly shot in the back of the head by Evan, who [[BackFromTheDead was believed to have died earlier.]] After shooting him, Evan says "God Mode... deactivated."]]
* Only one of the gods actually die in Creator/DanSimmons' ''Literature/{{Illium}}'', but the Greek heroes send several teleporting away with injuries, [[UnfazedEveryman Hockenberry]] tasers Hera with 50,000 volts, and Mahnmut (who is a kind of sentient non-combat android) steals a flying chariot by jumping in kicking out the goddess driving it.
** Achilles can't really kill Zeus, but since the gods are very carefully recreating mythology Achilles is protected by destiny. Specifically they made sure that he could only be harmed by an arrow fired by Paris at his [[AchillesHeel infamous heel]]. By this point Paris is slightly deader than he's supposed to be. Things go poorly for Zeus.
* At the end of the first book of ''Literature/MemorySorrowAndThorn'', the protagonist (a 15-year-old scullion with barely any formal training with weapons, noted by several characters as having not stopped growing) kills or at least seriously wounds one of the last remaining dragons in the world, which had already killed two of his much stronger/faster/more skilled/generally better at killing things comrades.

** In ''[[Literature/BloodAngels Deus Sanguinius]]'', Rafen manages to kill the Lord of Change Malfallax. However, to do so he had to use the [[AncestralWeapon Spear of Telesto]] to do so and [[spoiler:[[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu Broke His Arm Doing So]].]]

** In ''Summer Knight'' Harry took out an insanely powerful [[TheFairFolk fae]] by having a bunch of pixies he'd made a habit of bribing attack said faerie with box cutters. It was probably around this point that he started attracting the attention of everyone and their grandmother in the supernatural world, since there can't have been more than a handful of times that [[spoiler:someone managed to take out a Faerie Queen]].

** In ''Changes'', Harry and his buddies kill [[spoiler:the Red King and the Lords of Outer Night. They posed as the pantheon of the Mayans, Aztecs, and other Central American gods for thousands of years, and have the power to make a convincing argument of it.]] Mitigated by his backup [[spoiler:of Odin and his Valkyrie, together with Blackstaff's tremendous power]], who together turn the battle into an epic slugfest.
** In ''Battle Ground'', Harry goes up against Ethniu the Last Titan, an ancient deity powerful enough to smack ''[[PhysicalGod Mab]]'' around, not to mention she's armed with a FantasticNuke called the Eye of Balor. In the end, [[spoiler: Harry uses the [[PublicDomainArtifact Spear of Destiny]] to match her magically, then uses ThePowerOfLove to overpower her in a battle of wills and [[SealedEvilInACan seal her away]] on Demonreach]].
* In Glen Cook's series ''The Instrumentalities of the Night'', the main character, "too ignorant to know he can never prevail over such a thing," discovers that even the most powerful gods are vulnerable to a mix of iron and silver hurled -- this is the key point -- by the newly developed gunpowder weapons. After a while, he's got troops trained to do it almost '''routinely'''.
* In ''Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant'', they manage to kill the Grotesquery, a creature partially constructed from the corpse of a [[EldritchAbomination Faceless One]], albeit with great difficulty and several casualties. [[spoiler:In the third book, Valkyrie kills two Faceless Ones using a weapon designed to do so. Skulduggery manages to force one back through the door to their prison using a strong gust of wind. In the process, the weapon is destroyed, and Skulduggery is dragged along with the Faceless One.]]
* In ''Literature/ParadiseLost'', Abdiel hitting Satan. Although an Angel, in ''Literature/ParadiseLost'' Abdiel is far below in glory the illustrious figures of Lucifer, Michael, Raphael, etc. His only distinction is loyalty, being the one angel to hear and reject Satan's offer to revolt. In the opening salvo of the War in Heaven, mighty Satan appears bedecked in his warrior-king regalia, ready to smite on all sides. Instead, Abdiel pops out of the fray and clocks him on the head, knocking him cold before he can strike a blow.

*** In Derleth's "The Whippoorwills in the Hills", the same thing was achieved with [[spoiler:dynamite]]... Okay?

** Other more-or-less supernatural threats -- admittedly often of human origin themselves -- likewise ultimately come to bad ends at the hands of suitably motivated and determined humans in such stories as "Literature/TheCaseOfCharlesDexterWard", "Literature/TheDreamsInTheWitchHouse" or "Literature/TheShunnedHouse", [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu if not always without cost]]. Further notable examples include several Mi-Go in ''Literature/TheWhispererInDarkness'' getting killed by a farmer with a hunting rifle, Dagon's Deep Ones in ''Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth'' being foiled by the local police and having their city severely damaged by a single USN submarine, and Rhan-Tegoth in ''The Horror in the Museum'' being forced into a coma by a lack of blood sacrifices.[[note]]As in, it literally needs to eat to survive and without humans bringing it food it just hibernates.[[/note]] The helplessness of specifically members of the species ''Homo sapiens'' when faced with "Lovecraftian horrors" has been [[{{Flanderization}} generally exaggerated]] by [[RunningTheAsylum later writers]].
* Subverted hilariously in a non-canon short story by Creator/GeorgeRRMartin, where [[MemeticBadass Jaime]] Lannister is due to fight Cthulhu himself. He still wins, but only because [[spoiler: he killed the cultists trying to summon Cthulhu.]] You can read it [[http://grrm.livejournal.com/140797.html here]].
* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', The Lord of the Nazgûl, one of Sauron's [[TheDragon most powerful servants]], says that [[NoManOfWomanBorn "no man can defeat me"]]. He is then stabbed by Merry (a Hobbit, and therefore not of the race of Men) and killed by Éowyn (a woman), so his prophecy gets bypassed two different ways. It nearly [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu killed both of them though]].

* ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'': Luthien hands [[GodOfEvil Morgoth]] in his ass with no punch but a soothing melody that lays him flat on his face along with the rest of the entirety of Angband....Just look at this passage from the book. Describing the event is far too inefficient to give one a true grasp of this CMOA.

** What makes this feat also particularly amazing is that Fingolfin from before the tale of Beren and Luthien also challenged Morgoth's might (although he issued forth a challenge while Luthien duped him-and approached him under the pretenses of offering her services via. a dance) but died in the process while Luthien along with Beren walked away relatively unharmed from the confrontation.

*** In ''Literature/{{Sourcery}}'', he challenges the most powerful magic user on the planet, who himself had just magicked away all the gods. His weapon of choice? [[ImprovisedWeapon A brick in a sock]]. By the time he got to the Dungeon Dimensions all he had was sand. Luckily, socks come in pairs. This is justified in-story because a real object, like a brick, has an edge against a magical thing. So when the Cthulus of the Dungeon Dimensions attack him, being creatures of pure magic, sand in a sock is a deadly thing to them.

** In ''Literature/WitchesAbroad'', one of Discworld's immortal vampires (can even come back from staking, sunlight, etc.) is accidentally thwarted by one witch with a window shutter, accidentally again by another witch with a garlic sausage, and finally deliberately eaten (in bat form) by [[CatsAreMean Greebo]], Nanny Ogg's cat.

*** In the next book of his personal storyline it turns out that while he did drive off it's attempt to possess him, it was so impressed that now it just casually hangs around him and gives him little boosts like being able to see in pitch darkness.
* Creator/MichaelMoorcock's ''Literature/TheElricSaga'' series (and the Eternal Champion, et al.) have great fighters slaying sons of gods, and then eventually the gods themselves, in an [[LensmanArmsRace escalating arms race]].
** In fact, early on four such incarnations of the champion fight two true EldritchAbomination from outside the {{Multiverse}} proper.
* In the ''Literature/{{Dragaera}}'' series, Morrolan kills a PhysicalGod with a [[ArtifactOfDoom Great Weapon]], and a [[EldritchAbomination Jenoine]] goes the same way at the hands of [[spoiler:Vlad and Godslayer]]. Tazendra manages to defeat a Jenoine in single combat ''without'' a Great Weapon, and [[spoiler:Devera, in dragon form]] ''ate'' one.

* In Creator/CSLewis' ''Literature/{{Perelandra}}'', Dr Ransom acts as the [[GoodAngelBadAngel Good Angel]] when the Queen of Venus is tempted by a literal demon towards falling from grace. With the salvation of the entire planet hanging in the balance, Ransom realizes the demon's [[DemonicPossession possession of an astronaut]] (which enabled it to enter the planet in the first place) was its AchillesHeel -- he could simply pummel the thing into submission.
** It's also almost {{Lampshaded}} in the actual fight. Ransom realizes that despite knowing, rationally, that the Un-Man was limited to the physical abilities of its host body, up until the moment they actually made contact he had been subconsciously expecting inhuman strength and power.
* Subverted and played for a good laugh in John Dechancie's ''Red Limit Freeway''. After traveling for lightyears along roads built by SufficientlyAdvancedAliens the heroes meet a handsome, slightly androgynous man in flashy clothes. One of the heroes, convinced the man is responsible for his alien abduction, hits him with a sucker punch. Cue the protagonist: "I think you may have just punched out God." Other guy: "Nah, God has a beard."
* The ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'' trilogy sets up [[spoiler:God, AKA the Authority,]] as the enemy of free will and human interest, but in the third book he proves to have been so weakened by old age that [[spoiler:he gets turned to dust by a strong breeze.]] A more threatening villain is his [[TheDragon Second]], [[spoiler:Metatron, who himself can only be defeated when he is hurled into the void between universes, and thus destroyed forever]].
* John Taylor from the ''{{Literature/Nightside}}'' books does this approximately ''every five minutes.'' No sooner does he hype how much of a terrifying unbeatable badass so-and-so is, then half a page later he beats them.
** Admittedly, it's usually through the InherentGift inherited from his vanished mother [[spoiler:who eventually turns out to be Lilith, who was the ancestor of 95% of the {{Eldritch Abomination}}s in the series in the first place]]. Given that his Gift enables him to find and hit any beings' AchillesHeel, it's interesting that the series managed to maintain the necessary Dramatic Tension to keep going.

* ''Creator/StephenKing'''s novel ''Literature/{{IT}}'' features this, in which [[spoiler: seven childhood friends unite to destroy the eponymous entity, an ancient cosmic shape-shifter from a dimension called the Deadlights]].

* In a rather literal example, Scott does this to Fulcrum in [[Literature/TheInterloperHomeCouldntBeFarther The Interloper: Home Couldn't Be Farther]]. After challenging Scott to a battle to prove that he can't beat him, [[CurbStompBattle Fulcrum is punched in the face and immediately killed.]] For context, Scott is a normal human, while Fulcrum is, in his own words, an "outer-multiveral, nigh-omnipotent, universe-devouring dude".

* In a ''Literature/NightWatch'' series novel ''Face of the Dark Palmira'' by Vladimir Vasilyev, a powerful Other (i.e. wizard) is in a magical stand-off with the agents of the Odessa Day Watch. He is punched out by a half-dazed, naked Dark Other with a regular torchiere over the head. It is explained later that the baddie attempted to maximize his magical potential by entering the Gloom (the magical dimension) half-way, which, ironically, left him vulnerable to physical attacks.

** Other more-or-less supernatural threats -- admittedly often of human origin themselves -- likewise ultimately come to bad ends at the hands of suitably motivated and determined humans in such stories as "Literature/TheCaseOfCharlesDexterWard", "Literature/TheDreamsInTheWitchHouse" or "Literature/TheShunnedHouse", [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu if not always without cost]]. Further notable examples include several Mi-Go in ''Literature/Literature/TheWhispererInDarkness'' getting killed by a farmer with a hunting rifle, Dagon's Deep Ones in ''Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth'' being foiled by the local police and having their city severely damaged by a single USN submarine, and Rhan-Tegoth in ''The Horror in the Museum'' being forced into a coma by a lack of blood sacrifices.[[note]]As in, it literally needs to eat to survive and without humans bringing it food it just hibernates.[[/note]] The helplessness of specifically members of the species ''Homo sapiens'' when faced with "Lovecraftian horrors" has been [[{{Flanderization}} generally exaggerated]] by [[RunningTheAsylum later writers]].

** Other more-or-less supernatural threats -- admittedly often of human origin themselves -- likewise ultimately come to bad ends at the hands of suitably motivated and determined humans in such stories as "Literature/TheCaseOfCharlesDexterWard", "Literature/TheDreamsInTheWitchHouse" or "Literature/TheShunnedHouse", [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu if not always without cost]]. The helplessness of specifically members of the species ''Homo sapiens'' when faced with "Lovecraftian horrors" has been [[{{Flanderization}} generally exaggerated]] by [[RunningTheAsylum later writers]].

* [[Literature/SecretHistories Eddie Drood]] has also done this on a regular basis, both to full-blown abominations as well as lesser higher-dimensional monsters. In his case, possessing PoweredArmor designed by a ''friendly'' EldritchAbomination helps. Pretty much the only thing preventing him from being a BoringInvincibleHero is that his challenge is not beating the bad guys, but finding them before they bring about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.

** Eskarina Smith kicked her way through the Literature/{{Discworld}} Dungeon Dimension creatures in ''Discworld/EqualRites''. Mind you, Literature/{{Discworld}} Dungeon Dimension creatures are described as being very weak against purely physical threats -- they do, however, eat magic that is used against them to become ''much'' stronger.

*** In ''Discworld/TheColourOfMagic'', he accidentally beats Bel-Shamharoth with Twoflower's picturebox's flash.
*** In ''Discworld/TheLightFantastic'', he punches out a dread horror who had taken the form of Trymon, eventually beating it to death while it was trying to retake its original form. He couldn't quite believe it worked, either.
*** In ''Discworld/{{Sourcery}}'', he challenges the most powerful magic user on the planet, who himself had just magicked away all the gods. His weapon of choice? [[ImprovisedWeapon A brick in a sock]]. By the time he got to the Dungeon Dimensions all he had was sand. Luckily, socks come in pairs. This is justified in-story because a real object, like a brick, has an edge against a magical thing. So when the Cthulus of the Dungeon Dimensions attack him, being creatures of pure magic, sand in a sock is a deadly thing to them.

** In ''Discworld/WitchesAbroad'', one of Discworld's immortal vampires (can even come back from staking, sunlight, etc.) is accidentally thwarted by one witch with a window shutter, accidentally again by another witch with a garlic sausage, and finally deliberately eaten (in bat form) by [[CatsAreMean Greebo]], Nanny Ogg's cat.

** In ''Discworld/TheAmazingMauriceAndHisEducatedRodents'' Maurice (a ''talking'' cat, but otherwise just a cat) catches the Death of Rats, AnthropomorphicPersonification of the death of small rodents. [[TheGrimReaper The Death of Rats' superior]] is not amused and orders Maurice to let his associate go.
** In ''Discworld/{{Thud}}'', Vimes' [[TheFettered will to not cross the line]] is so powerful that it manifests as a spectral watchman that proceeds to kick the [[EldritchAbomination Summoning Dark]] out of his mind.

** In ''Discworld/TheAmazingMauriceAndHisEducatedRodents'' Maurice, a talking cat but otherwise just a cat, catches Death of Rats, AnthropomorphicPersonification of Death which looks like a rat with tiny scythe that can pass through walls and takes the souls of dead rats and mice. Death is not amused and orders Maurice to let his associate go.

* Done **three times** in the final book of the ''Literature/Fablehaven'' series, with [[spoiler: Seth killing two super-powerful demons: Graulas and Nagi Luna]], and [[spoiler: Kendra killing Grogrog, the freaking '''demon king'''.]] And all this with a single [[CoolSword magic sword]].

* Done **three times** in the final book of the ''Literature/Fablehaven'' series, with [[spoiler: Seth killing two super-powerful demons: Graulas and Nagi Luna]], and [[spoiler: Kendra killing Grogrog, the freaking **demon king**.]] And all this with a single [[Cool Sword magic sword]].

* The ''Literature/{{Percy Jackson and the Olympians}}'' has Rachel Elizabeth Dare, who throws her hairbrush at the bad guy's host, hitting him in the eye. Not only does this give the good guys enough time to get away, it is her [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome crowning moment of awesome]], at least until [[spoiler:she becomes the Oracle of Delphi]].

* The ''Literature/YoungWizards'' series is about teenagers fighting an undefeatable being who is basically Satan. Naturally, [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu Punching out Cthulhu]] and [[MomentOfAwesome crowning moments of awesome]] happen on a regular basis.

* In one of the [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome most awesome scenes]] in ''Literature/TheHorseAndHisBoy'', ten-year-old runaway slave Shasta jumps off a fear-maddened horse to confront an attacking lion. And, being completely unarmed, all he can do is ''yell at it''. And to everyone's surprise, the lion backs down and leaves. That's pretty badass, but not quite this trope... [[spoiler: until it turns out the lion in question was actually [[CrystalDragonJesus Aslan]]. It probably helps that Aslan had finished what He was there for, but Shasta still basically chased off God Himself by yelling at Him.]]

* In ''TheBookOfTheDunCow'', the final battle is between Wyrm, an enormous, ancient serpent as large as a planet who can easily kill angels, and the dog Mundo Cani, whose only weapon is a cow's horn. [[spoiler: Mundo Cani wins by blinding Wyrm's vulnerable eye, but at the cost of his own life.]]