History Main / Intangibility

* ''{{Lusternia}}'' has Zenos, a particularly [[NightmareFuel creepy]] example: basically, he's an [[OmnicidalManiac omnivorous]] sentient fog. Tales abound of him enveloping whole forests and cities, devouring the inhabitants and leaving only charred wasteland in his wake.

* The BillCosby movie ''GhostDad'' has Bill as a ghost who can only interact with the real world if he "concentrates". This results in a scene where his concentration lasts enough for him to pour himself a drink, but when he tries drinking it it goes right though.

* Ingeniously employed in the Legend Entertainment game ''Death Gate.'' At one point during the climactic final battle, Sang-Drax ''becomes smoke.'' If you don't figure out how to beat him, the next turn he will surround you, cutting off access to air, which is way more justifiable than the standard "physical hit from an unphysical person" that you see all too often. To beat him in this form, you have to use the air storm from the Air Seal, quite literally blowing him away. [[spoiler:This is merely a way to delay the inevitable though: eventually, he WILL reappear in his dragon form, and if by that time you don't figure out the final puzzle, you're dead meat.]]

** Reimu Hakurei has the ability to float, [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeart which seems rather redundant since everyone in Gensokyo can fly]]. However, it turns out that this ability includes the ability to [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower float away from reality itself]], where she becomes completely impossible to touch, making her nothing short of invincible. [[WordOfGod If it wasn't just for play (with time limit)]], [[CurbStompBattle no one could beat her with any method]].

** Reimu Hakurei has the ability to float, [[WhatKindOfPowerIsHeart which seems rather redundant since everyone in Gensokyo can fly]]. However, it turns out that this ability includes the ability to [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower float away from reality itself]], where she becomes completely impossible to touch, making her nothing short of invincible. [[WordOfGod If it wasn't just for play (with time limit)]], [[CurbStompBattle no one could beat her with any method]].

* In ''Videogame/{{Touhou}}'', Suika Ibuki has the ability to manipulate her own density at will. [[SNKBoss An ability she puts to good use as the boss of the franchise's first fighting game]]. [[InterfaceScrew During which, you cannot see either of your life bars]]. Yep.
** Also subverted with Reimu Hakurei as her power is to float. This actually means to float away from reality itself. Making her nothing short of invincible and [[WordOfGod no one would beat her with any method.]] [[CurbStompBattle It if weren't for the time limit...]]

* Users of Logia Devil Fruit in ''Manga/OnePiece'' can do this by transforming into their particular power's element (smoke, sand, lightning, etc), becoming immune to most attack. The only way around this is to attack them with an element-specific weakness (such as wetting the sand), or be able to use a form of Haki called the "Color of Armaments", which allows its user to bypass Devil Fruit based defenses.
** In fact, the Devil Fruit power Blackbeard acquired is considered an oddity because it's not only the only Logia power to avert this trope, it actually ''inverts'' it. See, the power made Blackbeard [[GravityMaster the embodiment of gravity,]] so attacks tend to get drawn straight to him, making [[BlessedWithSuck he can't really dodge anything thrown at him, and causes attacks to him harder than they would a normal person.]] Of course, he's a [[StoutStrength pretty]] [[MadeOfIron tough]] guy, so he manages to get by anyway.

** ''Ten Desires'' introduces Seiga Kaku, whose power is exactly this.

Cousin to {{Invisibility}}, the Intangible Man is unable or unwilling to interact with normal physical objects.

Cousin to {{Invisibility}}, the IntangibleMan is unable or unwilling to interact with normal physical objects.

* ''FinalFantasyVI'' famously has Intangirs, a kind of untouchable bonus mook, in addition to regular intangibility spells.

* ''TalesOfMonkeyIsland'': [[spoiler:Subverted at first in Chapter 5, when Guybrush can still touch and pick up the items as a GhostPirate in the Crossroads of the afterlife; but when he returns to the living world, it becomes Double Subverted when he tries touching the Cursed Cutlass of Kaflu, only to find that he can't touch it (or any other item) or even pick it up while in the living world (he needs to get back in his own body in order to do that).]]

A truly IntangibleMan would sink through the ground and yo-yo around the Earth's core at the whim of gravity forever. How they can generate enough friction to move around, let alone grip things if the writer is feeling charitable, is also likely to be ignored. Asphyxiation is generally not an issue, potential breathing problems are typically ignored outright. If they're stuck in an intangible state for a while, starving to death usually isn't brought up either. If they're invisible as well as intangible, don't expect anyone to know that they shouldn't be able to see (if the light passes straight through them, it can't form an image on their retinas). [[RequiredSecondaryPowers Again, don't ask why]].

Although the Intangible Man will pass right through walls, chairs, tables and such, he rarely has any problem properly interacting with floors, stairs or any other structures people are meant to walk upon. He may even be able to ride vehicles, with the odds of success rapidly increasing with the size of the vehicle. Anything big enough to walk around inside is quite likely, a ship or spaceship is more or less guaranteed.

A truly IntangibleMan would sink through the ground and yo-yo around the Earth's core at the whim of gravity forever. How they can generate enough friction to move around, let alone grip things if the writer is feeling charitable, is also likely to be ignored. Although the Intangible Man will pass right through walls, chairs, tables and such, he rarely has any problem properly interacting with floors, stairs or any other structures people are meant to walk upon. He may even be able to ride vehicles, with the odds of success rapidly increasing with the size of the vehicle. Anything big enough to walk inside is quite likely, a ship or spaceship is more or less guaranteed. Note that once we've seen someone walk through the character, to establish the parameters of their intangibility, people will go out of their way not to walk through them too often, as this is an expensive special effect. This is usually justified as the experience being intensely creepy.

Asphyxiation is generally not an issue, potential breathing problems are typically ignored outright. If they're stuck in an intangible state for a while, starving to death usually isn't brought up either. If they're invisible as well as intangible, don't expect anyone to know that they shouldn't be able to see (if the light passes straight through them, it can't form an image on their retinas). [[RequiredSecondaryPowers Again, don't ask why]].

It is frequently a given that while no one else can touch them, two characters separately rendered intangible by the same process will have no problem interacting with each other.

The ability to render oneself intangible at will occasionally turns up as a superpower. Sometimes the power can work selectively on the user's body (allowing him to voluntarily interact with objects while intangible) or extend further from the user's body (allowing him to make other objects and people intangible) Heroes use this ability to save their teammates from danger. Anti-heroes and villains use it to [[TeleFrag put their hands through people's chests and squeeze their hearts]].

* In the ''WildCards'' universe, Modular Man turns intangible by shifting his mass partly out of this dimension. He also defies gravity by the same method. Both powers are lost when [[spoiler:his inventor turns Joker]] and Mod Man can no longer be repaired.

* In Chris Wooding's novel ''StormThief'', there are creatures called revenants, that are totally intangible, and if they touch you you die. They are also invisible, and there are basically only three ways to kill them. The first is to use a specialized weapon called an Aether Cannon, the second is to have a unique golem touch them, and absorb them into himself, and the third involves total destruction of the Chaos Engine, an ancient artifact, and a massive one at that that is next to impossible to destroy.

Cousin to {{Invisibility}}, the IntangibleMan is unable to physically interact with normal objects.

The ability to render oneself intangible at will occasionally turns up as a superpower. Those questions you have? [[BellisariosMaxim Don't ask them]]. A truly IntangibleMan would sink through the ground and yo-yo around the Earth's core at the whim of gravity forever. Although the Intangible Man will pass right through walls, chairs, tables and such, he rarely has any problem properly interacting with floors, stairs or any other structures people are meant to walk upon. He may even be able to ride vehicles, with the odds of success rapidly increasing with the size of the vehicle. Anything big enough to walk inside is quite likely, a ship or spaceship is more or less guaranteed. It's sometimes explained that intangible characters are really walking on a thin layer of air, even though this should make them as frictionless as a puck in an air-hockey game.

Asphyxiation is generally not an issue, potential breathing problems are typically ignored outright. If they're stuck in an intangible state for a while, starving to death usually isn't brought up either. If they're invisible as well as intangible, don't expect anyone to know that they shouldn't be able to see (if the light passes straight through them, it can't form an image on their retinas). [[RequiredSecondaryPowers Again, don't ask why]].

Note that once we've seen someone walk through the character, to establish the parameters of their intangibility, people will go out of their way not to walk through them too often, as this is an expensive special effect. This is usually justified as the experience being intensely creepy.

It is frequently a given that while no one else can touch them, two characters separately rendered intangible by the same process will have no problem interacting with each other.

Sometimes the power can work selectively on the user's body (allowing him to voluntarily interact with objects while intangible) or extend further from the user's body (allowing him to make other objects and people intangible) Heroes use this ability to save their teammates from danger. Anti-heroes and villains use it to [[TeleFrag put their hands through people's chests and squeeze their hearts]].

Asphyxiation is generally not an issue, and neither is movement or, if they're intangible for a while, starving to death. [[RequiredSecondaryPowers Don't ask why]]. If they're invisible as well as intangible, don't expect anyone to know that they shouldn't be able to see (if the light passes straight through them, it can't form an image on their retinas).

The ability to render oneself intangible at will occasionally turns up as a superpower. These questions you have? [[BellisariosMaxim Don't ask them]]. A truly IntangibleMan would sink through the ground and yo-yo around the Earth's core forever. Although the Intangible Man will pass right through walls, chairs, tables and such, he rarely has any problem properly interacting with floors, stairs or any other structures people are meant to walk upon. He may even be able to ride vehicles, with the odds of success rapidly increasing with the size of the vehicle. Anything big enough to walk inside is quite likely, a ship or spaceship is more or less guaranteed.

It's sometimes explained that intangible characters walk on a thin layer of air, even though this should make them as frictionless as a puck in air-hockey. Potential breathing problems are typically ignored outright.

It is frequently a given that while no one else can touch them, two characters separately subjected to the same process will have no problem interacting with each other.

* In ''LevenThumps'', this is one of the twelve gifts you can receive when you arrive in Foo.

* In ''[[TheGrimnoirChronicles Hard Magic]]'', Fades are [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual Magicals]] with the power of intangibility.

For a hero, being an intangible man is a crisis. He has to save the day despite being intangible, before he starves to death or dehydrates. Asphyxiation is generally not an issue, and neither is movement. [[RequiredSecondaryPowers Don't ask why]]. If they're invisible as well as intangible, don't expect anyone to know that they shouldn't be able to see (if the light passes straight through them, it can't form an image on their retinas).

* In ''DragonAgeII'', Fenris has the ability to become partly intangible as a result of having his body forcibly laced with [[AppliedPhlebotinum lyrium]]. Exactly ''how'' intangible he can become is unclear; in gameplay terms, his "Lyrium Ghost" mode makes him more resistant (but not immune) to damage, and aside from that he mostly uses the ability to crush people's hearts in their chests.

* TheFlash can do this for about a few seconds, by "rapidly vibrating his molecules".

* In ''{{Everlost}}'' by Neal Shusterman, the Afterlights(ghosts) are like this. They can only stand on ground that has "moved on". The requirement to move on is being loved and cherished by many people. If they stand on 'living' ground too long, they will sink into the center of the earth.

* ''TheSagaOfTheNobleDead'' has the undead wraith Sau'ilahk. He is a powerful sorcerer and can turn solid for brief periods to move physical objects, but is most dangerous in his intangible state: any living thing that passes through him is rapidly drained of life.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'': An unscrupulous reporter stole a device that gave him this power so he could spy on anyone he pleased and make a fortune as a celebrity gossip columnist. In the end, he subverted the trend and ''did'' suffer the KarmicDeath of becoming permanently intangible and falling through the Earth's crust, presumably all the way to the core. Depending on whether or not heat/gravity has any effect on him, and how long he can survive in an intangible state, it may be a horrific AndIMustScream ending of the kind ''Beyond'' loved to spring on the audience.