History Main / FingerPokeOfDoom

* During the Four Pillars World Championship match at Wrestling/{{AEW}}'s ''Double or Nothing 2023'' champion Wrestling/{{MJF}}, realising the odds were severely stacked against him, appealed to Wrestling/SammyGuevara to take the offer he'd made earlier for Sammy to lie down for him in exchange for a big payoff, playing off Sammy's pre-match revelation that he and his wife Tay Melo were expecting their first child to try and convince him to do it for his family. A conflicted Sammy reluctantly agreed to take the money and lay down, only to surprise cradle MJF when he went for the pin, with the champion only barely kicking out.

** Mewtwo. At the beginning of ''Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie'', he opens his eyes, shattering the containment unit he was in, after listening to the scientists. He becomes enraged as he is [[CloningBlues just an experiment]], so he clenches his fists and thus destroys the entire laboratory he and the scientists are in. He then finishes the job by turning his head three times. Other examples: Nonchalantly waving his hand to create a deadly storm, blasting a Gyarados and its Trainer to the opposite wall by raising his arm, and releasing Nurse Joy by snapping his fingers.

* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanUnbound'': ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} dispatches one of the terrorists holding ComicBook/LoisLane hostage by flicking him away.

* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'':
** The Wuxi Finger Hold. [[TheUnreveal We never actually see]] what happens when you flex the pinky, but judging from the devastation in the finale, [[DistantReactionShot it must have been really something.]]
--->"You know what the hardest part is? The hardest part is cleaning up afterwards."

** In ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda3'', [[spoiler: the effect of the Wuxi Finger Hold is revealed. When Po tries using the Wuxi Finger Hold on Kai, it doesn't work because it only works on mortals. So Po decides to restrain him [[HeroicSacrifice and use it on himself]] to send himself and Kai into the spirit realm. Given that Po used it on Tai Lung, as well as the fact that the latter makes a cameo on Kai's collected chi of other masters, it means that he was sent there as well.]]

* While spontaneous magic in ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'' requires nothing but willpower, rote spells have special hand symbols called ''mudras'' that are required when cast. A casual tap on the nose might be the mudra for setting you on fire.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Scion}}'', this effect is created by the Epic Strength knack "Making It Look Easy."

[[folder:Web Comics]]

** In ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' he did it to Grodd at the end of "Secret Society", knocking him across a football stadium. The "Secret Society" flick also adds a little Crap Under the Radar since Superman [[FlippingTheBird uses his middle finger]] to do it.
** He did the same thing to Ten in "Wild Cards".
* In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Day of the Samurai", Batman travels to Japan to prevent Kyoudai Ken from learning a secret martial art capable of killing a person with one blow. Said technique is called the O-nemuri Touch, where the practitioner jabs someone in a specific area of the chest and kills them instantly. Batman only survives the encounter by studying Kyoudai's practice dummy, finding the spot that had been poked repeatedly, and adding an armor plate beneath his suit.

The best way to show the amazing power of a character? Simple, have them do something incredible without any effort at all. Give them the power to move mountains, even planets, and thus have them show this power by doing what the heroes (and the audience) would find amazing without even lifting a finger. Or better yet, ''just'' a finger.

* ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'': Myotismon doesn't even need to poke. He can, among other things, block a head-on charge from a Digimon the same level as him and about five times his size by ''pointing at him''. Similarly, there is an instance where he repels multiple projectile-based attacks (which were launched from several Digimon simultaneously) just by ''blowing'' at them.

* In ''LightNovel/IveBeenKillingSlimesFor300YearsAndMaxedOutMyLevel'', after accidentally overleveling, even Azusa's lightest forms of "attacking" are capable of utterly brutalizing most enemies, which she showed off to Laika as a demonstration of her power by performing a variant of RapidFireFisticuffs involving ''one-handedly finger-flicking an entire herd of [[CuteSlimeMook slimes]] to death faster than Laika could see''.

* ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'':

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':

* Once he gets a bit of a rein on his anger, ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'''s Shizuo Heiwajima starts responding to mildly annoying people by merely flicking them in the forehead (as opposed to his previous method of sending them flying over a city block). Of course, with Shizuo being [[WorldsStrongestMan Shizuo]], this still feels to the victims like someone smacked them in the face with a baseball bat.
* ''LightNovel/FateZero'''s Iskander casually flicks Waver on the forehead whenever he wishes to dismiss him, knocking him back several feet.
* [[PsychoForHire Gauron]] of ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'' pulls this off in one of his most infamous scenes, telekinetically ripping apart a HumongousMecha by "firing" a FingerGun at it.

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'': Accelerator's ability to control vectors lets him pulverize objects as hard as concrete or metal by lightly touching it. The same can be applied to humans...

* Franchise/{{Superman}}:

** In ''ComicBook/{{Justice}} #12'', Superman does this to [[spoiler:ComicBook/LexLuthor]] when the Justice League manages to catch him.

* ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} does this several times in ''[[ComicBook/Supergirl2005 her fifth solo book]]'': to ComicBook/HarleyQuinn in ''Supergirl #0'', a pirate mook in ''Supergirl #11'' and ''ComicBook/{{Bizarrogirl}}'' in [[http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/3/36257/1352064-supergirl_v5_055017_018.jpg issue #55]].
* Subverted nastily in ''ComicBook/RisingStars'' when a bunch of the Specials are being apprehended by the ATF. One of specials points his finger ''meaning to do absolutely nothing'', except say "You can't do this!". Unfortunately, the ATF guys have been working themselves into a lather of panic on the way to the Specials' hideaway, so with a terrified scream of "[[ShootHimHeHasAWallet He's POINTING! HE'S GONNA DO SOMETHING!]]", they [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything open fire and slaughter a bunch of the Specials.]] The deaths of so many Specials powers up the rest of them higher than they had been before and a massacre commences. [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything Afterwords, the ATF tells news reporters that the flashes of gunfire are really sunspots.]]

** The Vulcan nerve pinch. To be fair, it looks easy when Spock does it, but Vulcans are ~3x as strong as humans.

* ''WesternAnimation/ConstantineTheHouseOfMystery''. Spectre uses this to consign John Constantine to the House of Mystery. All John can do in response is give a LameComeback.
-->'''Constantine:''' YOU OUTFIT SUCKS!

** There's also the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIU32JznXQY Punching Machine]] in the [[KillEmAll Majin Buu Saga]], where the heroes show world-record-breaking strength, by ''casually jabbing'' the punch machine. Vegeta, who does not bother with this the first time around, shows ''why'' they had to do that. (Hint: You're trying ''not'' to break the machine.)

** Kenshiro, the big-eyebrowed hero, is in the habit of [[YourHeadASplode making bad guys' heads explode]] by poking them with his finger. He often heightens the effect by ceremonially cracking his knuckles first. In this case, it's all a matter of ''[[PressurePoint where]]'' you poke them.
** Shin's favorite execution method is effortlessly pushing a single finger directly through a man's chest. This is how Kenshiro got his scars.
** Rei doesn't poke people to death, but he does nearly the same thing by slashing men in half with his fingertips. He is (somehow) able to create a cutting force at his finger's edges. His style happens to be related to Shin's, which is why they both have bare hands able to cut stuff they normally wouldn't.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanSoulOfTheDragon''. To show Lady Shiva has what it takes to guard the Soul Taker, O-Sensei lets Rip Jagger duel her for the right, but tells Shiva she may only use a single finger to defend herself. She wins. In the present, she kills a man by punching his throat with her finger.

* ''ComicBook/IncredibleHulk'':

** In one issue, a near death Dr. Octopus was contemplating all the injuries he'd received over the years, most of which involved getting decked by Spider-Man, but one seen of the flashback montage showed [[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk Mr. Fixit]] casually flicking Dr Octopus with one finger. Doc Ock's comment during that panel suggested it was one of the worst injuries he'd ever received.

* WCW's fiasco overshadows pro wrestling's ''original'' "Finger Poke of Doom" match when Wrestling/ShawnMichaels lost the European title to Wrestling/TripleH in December 1997. In detail: After several ''minutes'' of theatrical stalling, Hunter gently pushes Shawn over, runs the ropes back and forth across the ring for an [[OverlyLongGag absurdly long time]], then drops the weakest splash in wrestling history on an immobile Shawn and covers him for the 3 count. This match gets a pass for a few reasons: they had something that at the very least "resembled" a match, it was for a tertiary title instead of a world title, didn't make months worth of storylines completely moot, and [[StylisticSuck got played up like the joke that it was]]. In {{Kayfabe}}, Wrestling/SgtSlaughter had put [=HHH=] and [=HBK=] in a match to try and create tension between them. However, Helmsley and Michaels figured out what Slaughter was planning, and mocked him by having an intentionally silly match, even cutting [[LargeHam incredibly hammy]] promos when Hunter won. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kT_9P5TQ9MI The result]] was ''screamingly'' hilarious, and played as such.

* WCW's fiasco overshadows pro wrestling's ''original'' "Finger Poke of Doom" match when Wrestling/ShawnMichaels lost the European title to Wrestling/TripleH in December 1997. It gets a pass for a few reasons: they had something that at ''the very least'' "resembled" a match[[labelnote:In Detail]]After several ''minutes'' of theatrical stalling, Hunter gently pushes Shawn over, runs the ropes back and forth across the ring for an [[OverlyLongGag absurdly long time]], then drops the weakest splash in wrestling history on an immobile Shawn and covers him for the 3 count.[[/labelnote]], it was for a tertiary title instead of a world title, didn't make ''months'' worth of storylines completely moot, and got played up like the joke that it was. In {{Kayfabe}}, Wrestling/SgtSlaughter had put [=HHH=] and [=HBK=] in a match to try and create tension between them. However, they figured out what Slaughter was planning, and mocked him by having an intentionally silly match, even cutting [[LargeHam incredibly hammy]] promos when Hunter won. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kT_9P5TQ9MI The result]] was ''screamingly'' hilarious.

** Before that, he manages to take this trope UpToEleven and possibly BeyondTheImpossible by snapping off the tip of a sword that had been hooked under his eyelid by ''blinking.''

* In ''VideoGame/SonicBattle'', there are certain [[PowersAsPrograms combo programs]], one for each character, that are essentially [[OneHitKill One Hit KOs]]. While it usually looks like CherryTapping taken UpToEleven, Cream's actually looks like a literal (repeated) Fingerpoke Of Doom.

* In ''LightNovel/IveBeenKillingSlimesForThreeHundredYearsAndMaxedOutMyLevel'', after accidentally overleveling, even Azusa's lightest forms of "attacking" are capable of utterly brutalizing most enemies, which she showed off to Laika as a demonstration of her power by performing a variant of RapidFireFisticuffs involving ''one-handedly finger-flicking an entire herd of [[CuteSlimeMook slimes]] to death faster than Laika could see''.

** It also happens in ''ComicBook/SupermanSmashesTheKlan'': a Klansman has just punched Superman in the face as hard as he could, naturally only hurting his own hand while Superman doesn't even flinch. The Klansman begs that Superman not punch him back, and he doesn't--he knows it would kill him, so he finger-flicks him across the room instead.
* ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} does this several times in ''[[ComicBook/Supergirl2005 her fifth solo book]]'': to Comicbook/HarleyQuinn in ''Supergirl #0'', a pirate mook in ''Supergirl #11'' and ''ComicBook/{{Bizarrogirl}}'' in [[http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/3/36257/1352064-supergirl_v5_055017_018.jpg issue #55]].

* In one MarvelUniverse fight between [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] and ComicBook/IronMan, it took five pages and about 20 seconds of in-universe time for the fight to be over. However, the Spit You to Death, similar to this trope, came when Iron Man flew straight at him with great speed, and Thor simply stuck out his hammer, not even flinching as Tony was deflected into some power lines.

* When ComicBook/{{Thanos}} is in possession of ComicBook/TheInfinityGauntlet, he is able to [[spoiler:erase half the sentient life in the universe]] by snapping his fingers... which isn't all that easy in the first place, you try snapping your fingers with gloves on! He also does this in effect to each of the individual heroes (and Dr. Doom) sent to [[spoiler:distract and occupy]] him in the main battle, shrinking the Hulk, turning Wolverine's adamantium skeleton to "spongy rubber", smashing Thor into glass, etc. Perrenial [[ButtMonkey Butt Monkey]] Quasar doesn't even get an attack in before his patented Quantum Bands are exploded while making an unfulfilled BadassBoast. To their credit though, each of the heroes' attacks would have been a Killing Blow on anyone else... and is said so in the comic (when else have you actually ''seen'' Wolverine graphically stab someone through the chest in full view of the camera?). Thanos finally casually flicks Captain America, the last man standing in ''The Infinity Gauntlet'', with his wrist after destroying his shield, saying: "What have I been doing? Must have been out of my mind..."

* ''ComicBook/DungeonTheEarlyYears'': Herbert de Vaucanson [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower learn to do it through training]]. In his case, fingerpoking with one of his feathers (Herbert is a duck) ''flay the target's skin''.
** Due to becoming the bearer of the [[CursedWithAwesome Sword of Destiny]] but being unfit at first to wield it, Herbert was unable to use any weapon. Thus, his master trained him to use ordinary objects that were beneath the Sword's notice, such as sticks and feathers. The feather [[AwesomeButImpractical took a long time to figure out,]] but once he [[ChunkySalsa mastered it,]] one of the other characters pointed out that Herbert - as a duck - was ''covered'' with feathers. Unfortunately (or fortunately from the point of view of the writers), he soon discovered that his super-powerful attack had [[WeaksauceWeakness certain limitations.]] Come ''ComicBook/DungeonTwilight'' the limitations are removed, thanks to Herbert hosting a demon in him, and not only does the finger poke works on everyone, it can be turned into a KiBlast.

** In ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda3'', [[spoiler: the effect of the Wuxi Finger Hold is revealed. When Po tried using the Wuxi Finger Hold on Kai, it didn't work because it only works on mortals. So Po decided to restrain him [[HeroicSacrifice and use it on himself]] to send himself and Kai into the spirit realm. Given that Po used it on Tai Lung, as well as the fact that the latter makes a cameo on Kai's collected chi of other masters, it means that he was sent there as well.]]

** The Finger of Death spell, where [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin you point at someone and they die]]. Somewhat hilariously animated in ''VideoGame/DungeonsAndDragonsOnline'', where a black hand appears above the target and pokes downward.

** And then there is V and his/her ''Bugsby's flicking finger'' spell. (Followed up by ''[[FlippingTheBird Bugsby's expressive single digit]]''.)

* Anvil from ''Webcomic/GrrlPower'' gives a villain a [[http://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1271 nose boop]] -- and since her main power is EnergyAbsorption, it goes about the same way as the page image.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In ''Roleplay/BattleActionHaremHighschoolSideCharacterQuest'' Anna manages to [[spoiler:break Koujirou's sword and deflect his Desperation Attack]] with a thumbs up gesture.

** In a more parodic example, when WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic's team was reunited with [[spoiler: WebVideo/ThatDudeInTheSuede, Suede]] effectively let Critic do this so they could move on and catch up.
-->[[spoiler: '''Suede:''']] Oh, but first you must defeat me in mortal combat.\\

* In the animated adaption of ''WesternAnimation/{{Dilbert}}'', Dilbert attended a security guard training class, and was about to learn how to harm someone with only a thumb. He find this hard to believe, but then his teacher convinces that it is possible, when he accidentally hurt himself with his thumb.

** In "Return of the Fearsome Fangs!" the transformed totem characters fling each other across the horizon with casual pokes. Hell, Batman (Man-Bat?) disintegrates a huge mystic boat with a lazy tap.

* ''WesternAnimation/CelebrityDeathmatch'' had 'The Man Who Puts Pinkies Through Skulls' who did just that.

* Creator/BruceLee gave many demonstrations of a One Inch Punch, which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. He would have a volunteer stand near him, fully extend his arm to place his fist one inch away from the volunteer's chest, and knock the volunteer completely off his feet with a simple turn of his body.
** It's worth noting however that it's not just a punch thrown willy-nilly at an inch's distance, it's a ''whole body motion'' as noted at the end there. Throwing a one-inch punch whilst lying down for example, won't do much good as you have zero leverage and no capacity to draw upon the considerable muscles in your legs and upper body (something ''Series/{{Mythbusters}}'' had experimented with and failed). Observing any of the rare videos of Bruce himself doing this make it all the more visible; the power comes from his legs and he carries it through his fist.