History Main / InvincibleBoogeymen

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'':

* Sadako from the ''Ringu'' movies is even worse: she eventually evolves her curse into a literal disease, an airborne virus that is incurable and subjects it's victims to die the same way that those tho saw the tape did. Even tossing another effectively Invincible Boogeyman at her doesn't works -- the film ''Sadako vs. [[Film/JuOn Kayako]]'' ends with both homicidal ghosts undergoing a FusionDance and spreading a combined version of their respective modus operandi onto the world.

Some monsters are ImmuneToBullets; some are [[NighInvulnerability apparently indestructible]], barring the obvious AchillesHeel; some smother their opponents in [[ZergRush hordes of easily-replaceable drones]]; some [[ImplacableMan just keep coming back no matter how thorough their demise seems]]... and then there's some that simply cannot be fought at all, at least in their circles.

A native of the horror genre and its imitations in other genres, this breed of foe cannot be opposed in any reasonable way, lacking weaknesses, exploitable character flaws, or even opportunities to counterattack. The reasons for this vary: maybe it's because they're simply too powerful to be harmed in any (at least available) way; perhaps they never give their victims a chance to retaliate; maybe its because they're effectively intangible. In some cases, it's because ''you and/or the character'' will probably never level up to be strong enough to do any real damage.

The modern prevalence of this trope can be seen as the antithesis of modern Action Horror games, which are oft considered to be little more than spooky shooting galleries rather than true "horror" games by purists. In these cases, all the enemies are {{Invincible Minor Minion}}s by default, and cannot be harmed in any way; in cases that allow these foes to demonstrate their invincibility should the player be brave enough to stick around and battle, a HopelessBossFight may ensue.

Astute readers may note that this trope has significant overlap with InvincibleVillain. However, where the InvincibleVillain cannot be defeated by anything ''including'' running away and always ends the story victorious, the Invincible Boogeymen are only impossible to defeat in confrontations; the latter can still be escaped or hidden from provided you're fast enough, and may even be defeated through the use of some special loophole in their invulnerability. Said weakness won't be discovered until the very end of the encounter, if not the very end of the story itself. Of course, don't count on this being a guarantee in video games; you're better off just running and never looking back.

* In ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'', Jason Voorhees is practically [[ImplacableMan nigh unstoppable]] and will kill about everything in his path once he sets his eyes on a target. He constantly attacks or prepares to do so and is reasoning with him is roughly impossible. The only defense is slowing him down or running. The lion's share of the movies' end is spent trying to find some way of putting him down for good, with the final blow delivered near the end of each installment. While he ''can'' die, at least before his undeath, and even then be shut down with enough damage thereafter, [[TheyKilledKennyAgain he never stays dead]], as a subsequent film will end up reviving him somehow so he can spread further terror and apparent punishment.

* Freddy Krueger from ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet'' is more or less this trope distilled to its core. He's literally a boogeyman, having transcended the boundaries of life and death to haunt the world of dreams, and in that world he has the ImaginationBasedSuperpower writ large. If he wasn't a {{Sadist}} and a CombatSadomasochist some suspect he'd be completely invincible; as it is his personality disorders inevitably allow the FinalGirl to (temporarily) slay him after he's inevitably killed off the rest of the cast. Since this dream demon form is, effectively, his afterlife spirit, he'll reform as it even if brought into the real world and killed there. So far, nothing potent enough has been found to erase it.

* In ''Film/TheMatrix'', Agents are basically invincible killing machines who have SuperStrength, SuperSpeed and the ability to BodySurf. All Red Pills are advised to RunOrDie as any encounter with them is practically suicide unless you're [[TheChosenOne The One]] like Neo. The kicker is even if somehow you manage to kill an Agent's current body, they'll just jump to another body good as new and continue their pursuit.

* In ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' most Terminators are {{Implacable M|an}}en who can sustain heavy damage and keep on killing, but special mention goes to the liquid metal T-1000 Terminator from ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'' which is virtually indestructible as its BlobMonster construct means almost no damage done to it is permanent and it'll just reseal holes blown in its torso or head.

** The [[{{Mummy}} Foretold]] of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E8MummyOnTheOrientExpress Mummy on the Orient Express]]". Effectively intangible, its touch kills instantly, ''and nobody else can see it except for its victims''. As with most monsters on this show, it's ImmuneToBullets -- but also to all potential technobabble solutions. Once you're targeted, you have exactly sixty-six seconds to live before it catches up with you, amping up the horror and tension significantly. [[spoiler:The only way to stop it is to surrender to it.]]

* ''Series/TheHauntingOfHillHouse'' ultimately reveals that the [[GeniusLoci eponymous house]] is one of these; not only is [[MindRape its power]] just about impossible to resist, but the building is seemingly indestructible. Trying to burn the place down only results in the fire ''instantly extinguishing itself.'' [[spoiler: Only the intervention of Nell's ghost saves her siblings from [[EldritchLocation the Red Room]], and even then she can't do much more than keep them safe until the family's out of the building.]] In the end, the only thing you can do is remain as far away from it as possible, and ''never'' visit after nightfall.

* The Xenomorph in ''VideoGame/AlienIsolation.'' It's almost immune to all weapons, trying to tackle it up close is suicide, and the only item that's of any use against it is a flamethrower -- and that's only because it's afraid of fire...at least until it begins to learn how to react to it. More often than not, the safest option is to hide in a locker or run for your life in as quiet a manner as possible, more so if it is distracted in pursuit of other human targets.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* A not-uncommon feature of nightmares, where the monsters often, at least seemingly, cannot be fought or defeated in any way -- after all, it wouldn't be a nightmare if you actually ''won,'' would it?
[[/folder]]

* The SA-X of ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'' is a copy of Samus at her full strength, and as such can kill her in a few hits, freeze her in place and generally forces the player to run when its [[HellIsThatNoise telltale footsteps show up]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Slender}}'': The Slender Man pursues you for the entire game. You can't fight it, hinder it, or even look at it for much more than a glance (or else it'll kill/take you at an accelerated rate). Your one defense is to run from it while trying to preserve stamina, collecting the 8 pages scattered through the woods, with each page collected making it more aggressive. The kicker is, even when you win and complete the objective of the game, "Slendy" ''still'' catches you and apparently kills you, but [[spoiler: in an updated version, the player character reappears at the time of day opposite when the game is played.]].

* ''VideoGame/DeepRockGalactic'': The "Haunted Cave" mutator makes an Unknown Horror spawn in the level -- a ''completely invulnerable'' ghost version of a [[ActionBomb Bulk Detonator]] which slowly but constantly chases and attempts to blow up any Dwarves within its InstantDeathRadius. Although it cannot take damage, it can still be attacked to turn its attention to the offending Dwarf. The Dwarves otherwise cannot do anything against it other than have [[TheBait a teammate distract it]] and let it slowly chase them, while the others focus on the mission.

* ''VideoGame/DeepRockGalactic'': The "Haunted Cave" mutator makes an Unknown Horror spawn in the level -- a ''completely invulnerable'' ghost version of a [[ActionBomb Bulk Detonator]] which constantly chases and attempts to blow up any Dwarves within its InstantDeathRadius. The Dwarves cannot do anything against it other than have a teammate distract it and let it slowly chase them, while the others focus on the mission.

Some monsters are ImmuneToBullets; some are [[NighInvulnerability indestructible]], barring the obvious AchillesHeel; some smother their opponents in [[ZergRush hordes of easily-replaceable drones]]; some [[ImplacableMan just keep coming back no matter how thorough their demise seems]]... and then there's some that simply cannot be fought at all.

A native of the horror genre and its imitations in other genres, this breed of foe cannot be opposed in any reasonable way, lacking weaknesses, exploitable character flaws, or even opportunities to counterattack. The reasons for this vary: maybe it's because they're simply too powerful to be harmed in any way; perhaps they never give their victims a chance to retaliate; maybe its because they're effectively intangible. In some cases, it's because ''you're'' too weak to fight them and will probably never be strong enough to do any real damage.

The modern prevalence of this trope can be seen as the antithesis of modern Action Horror games, which are oft considered to be little more than spooky shooting galleries rather than true "horror" games by purists. In this case, all the enemies are {{Invincible Minor Minion}}s by default, and cannot be harmed in any way; in cases that allow these foes to demonstrate their invincibility should the player be brave enough to stick around and battle, a HopelessBossFight may ensue.

Not to be confused with ImplacableMan. While being physically invulnerable is one way of achieving this trope, not all examples fall under this. This trope can still be in effect simply due to the helplessness of the victim running from the monster, who possesses no way of fighting back, even though in other contexts the monster might not be so invinvible at all. May overlap with ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight, but not every boogeyman is invincible.

* In ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'', Jason Voorhees is practically [[ImplacableMan nigh unstoppable]] and will kill everything in his path once he sets his eyes on a target. The only defense is slowing him down or running. The lion's share of the movies is spent trying to find some way of putting him down for good, and success is usually only found at the very end of each installment. While he ''can'' die, [[TheyKilledKennyAgain he never stays dead]], as a subsequent film will end up reviving him somehow so he can spread further terror.
* ''Franchise/FinalDestination'' sees [[EnemiesWithDeath Death hunting those who escaped it]] through prophetic visions they experienced. Death is both all-powerful and eternal, meaning it's not really a fair fight so much as a sadistic boy squashing a bunch of helpless ants. This is because [[PrimalFear death itself]] [[CentralTheme is inevitable]].

* Freddy Krueger from ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet'' is more or less this trope distilled to its core. He's literally a boogeyman, having transcended the boundaries of life and death to haunt the world of dreams, and in that world he has the ImaginationBasedSuperpower writ large. If he wasn't a {{Sadist}} and a CombatSadomasochist he'd probably be completely invincible; as it is his personality disorders inevitably allow the FinalGirl to (temporarily) slay him after he's inevitably killed off the rest of the cast.
* Kayako of ''Film/JuOn'' is a ghost with the goal of killing everything that gets her curse and nothing can be done about it -- you can't run, you can't hide, you can't appease her, and you surely can't exorcise her. One film even has her being deliberate summoned by the victim of the film [[GodzillaThreshold in an act of insane desperation]] [[LetsYouAndHimFight in the hopes that she will fight another killer ghost and hopefully they will destroy each other]]. That film is ''Sadako Vs. Kayako'' -- look below on the ''Ringu'' bullet point to see how much it ''[[FromBadToWorse didn't]]'' worked.

* Samara of ''Film/TheRing'' is utterly unstoppable: once you've seen the cursed tape, your death is totally assured. When she finally appears in person to claim a victim, she cannot be fought in any way. [[spoiler: Even finding her mortal remains and putting them to rest doesn't stop her. The only way to escape Samara once and for all is by getting someone else to watch the tape, transferring the curse to them instead.]]
* Sadako from the ''Ringu'' movies is even worse: she eventually evolves her curse into a literal disease, an airborne virus that is incurable and subjects it's victims to die the same way that those tho saw the tape did. Even tossing another Invincible Boogeyman at her doesn't works -- the film ''Sadako vs. [[Film/JuOn Kayako]]'' ends with both homicidal ghosts undergoing a FusionDance and spreading a combined version of their respective modus operandi onto the world.

* The Xenomorph in ''VideoGame/AlienIsolation.'' It's immune to all weapons, trying to tackle it up close is suicide, and the only item that's of any use against it is a flamethrower -- and that's only because it's afraid of fire. More often than not, the safest option is to hide in a locker or run for your life in as quiet a manner as possible.

* ''VideoGame/{{Slender}}'': The Slender Man pursues you for the entire game. You can't fight it, hinder it, or even look at it (or else it'll kill you instantly). Your one defense is to run from it while collecting the 8 pages scattered through the woods, with each page collected making it more aggressive. The kicker is, even when you win and complete the objective of the game, "Slendy" ''still'' catches you and kills you.

* Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos features one of these as the main character: the eponymous monster is not only unkillable, but his sheer power means that few of his victims ever get a chance to ''try'' attacking him. Most of the stories featuring him end with Slendy winning hands-down, and on the rare occasions in which he does have some kind of weakness, it can't actually do any real damage -- it just dissuades him from pursuing his current target.

* A not-uncommon feature of nightmares, where the monsters often cannot be fought or defeated in any way -- after all, it wouldn't be a nightmare if you actually ''won,'' would it?

Not to be confused with ImplacableMan. While being physically invulnerable is one way of achieving this trope, not all examples fall under this. This trope can still be in effect simply due to the helplessness of the victim running from the monster, who possesses no way of fighting back, even though in other contexts the monster might not be so invinvible at all.

* In ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' most Terminators are {{Implacable M|an}}en who can sustain heavy damage and keep on killing, but special mention goes to the liquid metal T-1000 Terminator from ''Film/Terminator2'' which is virtually indestructible as its BlobMonster construct means almost no damage done to it is permanent and it'll just reseal holes blown in its torso or head.
* In ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'', these versions of the Sentinels are truly NighInvulnerable [[TheJuggernaut juggernauts]] who cannot be beaten in a fight ''by any means''. The only way the surviving mutants have managed to stay alive is by running and hiding, then going back in time to warn their past selves to relocate whenever their base gets compromised. The only permanent way to defeat them is to [[RetGone go back decades in time and prevent their existence.]]

A native of the horror genre and its imitations in other genres, this breed of foe cannot be opposed in any reasonable way, lacking weaknesses, exploitable character flaws, or even opportunities to counterattack. The reasons for this vary: maybe it's because they're simply too powerful to be harmed in any way; perhaps they never give their victims a chance to retaliate; maybe its because they're effectively intangible. In some cases, it's because ''you're'' too weak to fight them and probably never will be strong enough to do any real damage.

* ''VideoGame/DeadByDaylight'': The Killers are a rare example of being a ''playable'' version of this trope. Nothing can actually hurt the killers, save for Victor. The best you can hope for is to stun and disorient them with [[LightEmUp blinding light]] or momentarily slow them by throwing something in their path. All of them offer a different variation on the trope through their skills.

* ''Manga/VentoAureo'': Carne's Stand, Notorious B.I.G, is unique in many respects: it only activates [[DeathActivatedSuperpower after Carne's death]] and thus, the standard strategy of "knocking out/killing the Stand user to stop the Stand" is useless. It's a BlobMonster that consumes everything in its path, is nigh-indestructible -- having pieces of it chopped off will just make the pieces sentient -- and it will chase after any sufficiently speedy thing nearby, and it can move really fast. Its only weakness is that it only acts in primal instinct, so it can be fooled in various ways; the protagonists only get rid of it after it hijacks the plane they're flying in (by partly consuming it) and they escape in midair, while the plane's failing engine causes it to fall towards the ocean. Even then, it's still alive, thoroughly confused with the ever-moving ocean currents (which trigger its instinct); it's said that the ocean it fell in becomes a scary place, with multiple ship sinking incidents caused by the still-living Stand.

** Debuting is ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'' is Mr. X, a [[LivingWeapon Tyrant]] and quite possibly the most iconic villain of the franchise. He will relentlessly chase the player through the map and he cannot be deterred. The only defense is to run and hide from him, and even that isn't always a guaranteed safety measure as he can search the rooms for you (unless it's a Safe Room). He can only be fought near the game's end and even then he is one helluva boss fight.
** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis'': The titular Nemesis who is a RecurringBoss throughout the game characterized by being an ImplacableMan who is simply ''unkillable''. While he ''can'' be fought, it only amounts to temporarily ceasing his pursuit. He will otherwise show up again, good as new, and keep coming for you ''over and over and over''. He can only be killed permanently the eleventh time.

*** The main one would be Lady Dimitrescu, the "Tall Vampire Lady", who will endlessly pursue [[PlayerCharacter Ethan]] after he kills her three daughters. Although in a subversion, unlike her predecessors she can be fought and killed very early in the game to make way for the other bosses.

Compare and contrast the AdvancingWallOfDoom, EldritchAbomination, ImplacableMan, InescapableHorror, LordBritishPostulate, PerpetualMotionMonster, and SuperPersistentPredator.

[[quoteright:350:[[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a_nightmare_on_elm_street.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''[[IronicNurseryTune Seven, eight, better stay awake\\
Nine, ten, never sleep again]]'']]

* ''Manga/VentoAureo'': Carne's Stand, Notorious B.I.G, is unique in many respects: it only activates [[DeathActivatedSuperpower after Carne's death]] and thus, the standard strategy of "knocking out/killing the Stand user to stop the Stand" is useless. It's a BlobMonster that consumes everything in its path, is nigh-indestructible -- having pieces of it chopped off will just make the pieces sentient -- and it will chase after sufficiently speedy thing nearby, and it can move really fast. Its only weakness is that it only acts in primal instinct, so it can be fooled in various ways; the protagonists only get rid of it after it hijacks the plane they're flying in (by partly consuming it) and they escape in midair, while the plane's failing engine causes it to fall towards the ocean. Even then, it's still alive, thoroughly confused with the ever-moving ocean currents (which trigger its instinct); it's said that the ocean it fell in becomes a scary place, with multiple ship sinking incidents caused by the still-living Stand.

* The Hairshreaker in ''VideoGame/TheMissingJJMacFieldAndTheIslandOfMemories'' occasionally shows up, and shifts the gameplay from solving puzzles to advance to simply running and clearing obstacles as quickly as possible. [[spoiler: Later inverted; J.J turns into the Hairshrieker herself, and has to slay Emily in a boss battle (representing the fact that it [[MentalMonster represents her own self loathing and suicide ideation]], and how it hurts other people).]]