History Main / KryptoniteIsEverywhere

* ''ComicBook/CaptainCarrotAndHisAmazingZooCrew'': Alley-Kat-Abra has [[SwissArmySuperpower versatile magic]], but it doesn't usually work especially well, if at all, on aliens or other science-fiction menaces. Thus, of course the team fights a lot of those types of foes, which leads Abra to feel somewhat useless. It might also be a deliberate inversion of how noted alien and guest star Superman, as below, was specifically weak to magic.

* However, Martian Manhunter still gets hit by this trope hard in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague''. To keep him from defusing every plot with his telepathy, just about every villain has found [[PsychicBlockDefense some kind of way to make his or her mind unreadable]]. It seems like every other sentence to come out of J'onn's mouth is "I can't read his mind." The later seasons actually justify this when the GovernmentConspiracy develops anti-telepathy nanites.

* In ''WesternAnimation/XMenTheAnimatedSeries'', the X-Men and several other characters with powers had to fight an alien creature in the subway tunnels under New York. Things were [[CurbStompBattle going pretty badly]] until the thing [[LightningCanDoAnything hit the third rail]]... of course, [[ComicBook/MarvelComicsStorm Storm]] was nowhere to be found in that episode. A rather egregious omission since the creature went after the Morlocks first and Storm was their honorary leader. Well she is claustrophobic.

* In ''WesternAnimation/XMenTheAnimatedSeries'', the X-Men and several other characters with powers had to fight an alien creature in the subway tunnels under New York. Things were [[CurbStompBattle going pretty badly]] until the thing [[LightningCanDoAnything hit the third rail]]... of course, ComicBook/{{Storm}} was nowhere to be found in that episode. A rather egregious omission since the creature went after the Morlocks first and Storm was their honorary leader. Well she is claustrophobic.

** This is a plot point regarding mobile suit designs in ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam''. Everyone using Beam weapons at this point in the Universal Century timeline have made [[ArmorIsUseless conventional armor almost completely useless]]. Instead, manufacturing switch to the idea of a "movable frame" which is using freely moving armor plates over a lightweight internal frame "skeleton", putting the focus instead on being FragileSpeedster mechs. This paves the way to transforming mech allowing for better flight and high mobility and speed modes. The only exceptions to this, are mechs with special features, such as the Hyaku-Shiki (That gold paint scheme isn't just gaudy showoff, it's a reflective Anti-Beam Coating), the titular Zeta Gundam, which has a Biosensor seemingly built to enhance a New Type's psychic like powers, and advancements on defense learnt from the Hyaku-Shiki, and The O, an AceCustom built to be extremely advanced for it's pilot, Paptimus Scirocco.

** ''Superman #226'' has Superman exposed to some kryptonite from Jimmy Olsen's ''[[FreePrizeAtTheBottom box of Cracker Jacks]]''. Although in that instance, it was ''red'' kryptonite, so instead of weakening or killing Supes, it turned him into King Kong.

** Plus, there's the fact that water itself is a kryptonite for [[GenderBender Ranma]] and other [[ForcedTransformation Jusenkyō-cursed]] characters, who turn from powerful martial artist into small and (relatively) helpless animals. Ranma isn't as affected as some of the other cursed characters: his female form is shorter than his male form, so early on it tripped him up due to having to adjust for shorter reach, but this "weakness" is quickly overcome as he becomes more used to it. And inverted in the cases of Genma and Pantyhose Taro, both of whom are ''stronger'' in their cursed forms than normal.

* Appears quite often in the ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' franchise, particularly any that has more than 1 season:

* An awful lot of the BigBad villains whom [[Literature/{{Nightside}} John Taylor]] goes up against just happen to have the ability to shut down his Gift and/or block him from seeing anything useful with it.
* In Creator/LarryNiven's "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex", he speculates on ''why'' so much darned Kryptonite has made its way to earth:
-->"For our purposes, all forms of kryptonite are available in unlimited quantities. It has been estimated, from the startling tonnage of kryptonite fallen to Earth since the explosion of Krypton, that the planet must have outweighed our entire solar system. Doubtless the "planet" Krypton was a cooling black dwarf star, one of a binary pair, the other member being a red giant."
-->(The surface gravity on such a world would be on the order of 100,000 G's, which would go a long way to explaining why Superman is so strong. Unfortunately black dwarf stars do not actually exist, as the universe is too young for a white dwarf to cool to that point.)

* In ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'', once Miroku joins the gang, his Wind Tunnel - effectively a black hole in the palm of his hand - proves nearly impossible to use effectively thanks to the scores of poisonous insects which Naraku keeps handy and lends out freely to his flunkies and pawns for just such a purpose. This and the Wind Tunnel's other drawbacks (its broad and indiscriminately destructive range, and the fact that every use brings it closer to collapsing in on itself and killing him- it ''is'' [[CursedWithAwesome supposed to be]] a ''curse'') mean that Miroku rarely gets much opportunity to use his best weapon effectively, although there are several instances in which he demonstrates his willingness to open it up in spite of the danger... including one epic {{Determinator}} moment in which he ignored the massive amounts of poison he was taking in to try to get rid of the BigBad for good, even after he began bleeding heavily from the eyes and mouth.

* ''WesternAnimation/KryptoTheSuperdog'' falls into the same trap that ''Superman: The Animated Series'' did. Not only are there huge supplies of kryptonite randomly lying around on Earth, but [[BigBad Mechanikat]] apparently shops at the local Kryptonite Mart, given that every single invention he creates apparently contains enough of the stuff to affect Krypto as well. It gets to the point where the HandWave line "There's even a little kryptonite in it, so it will work on Superdog!" is practically Mechanikat's CatchPhrase.

** In ''ComicBook/SupermanDoomed'' the US Government detonates a Kryptonite bomb which poisons the Earth atmosphere with Green-K dust. ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}--who is fighting for her life in ''Comicbook/RedDaughterOfKrypton'' when it happens--wonders where humans found so much Kryptonite.

** Bad players often force their way into the situation as well, if a character is completely invincible but dies instantly to silver or can move so quickly the entire plot resolves but can't run on ice, it makes sense that nobody would willingly get within a hundred miles of them without access to those things. A good DM will usually let a player with a gimmick make that gimmick feel useful at least a few times, but specializing to the point that you just have nothing against somebody immune to your one-note schtick is [[ThisLooksLikeaJobforAquaman asking for a different trope to apply.]]

* Many role-playing games, particularly super-hero related, provide bonuses (feats) if penalties are taken elsewhere (flaws), leading to min/maxers to take tremendous powers in exchange for crippling weakness... to something so mind-boggingly rare that it should never, ever show up under normal circumstances; like Super-Deadly-Ultra-Sensitivity to the pollen of a rare flower that blooms once every 20 years at the top of Mount Kilamanjaro... so what does the GM do? He makes the primary villain THE KILAMANJARO PLANT-MAN, an international crime lord ''capable of creating blooms of any plant that grows, has grown or will grow on Mt. Kilamanjaro''... [[ThisLooksLikeaJobforAquaman indeed...]]

* In ''[[VideoGame/{{Touhou}} Fairy Wars]]'' Cirno's schtick is freezing bullets. She can't freeze fire bullets or lasers. While lasers remain thankfully rare, once you hit Stage 2, fire bullets are all over the place.

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'': Accelerator can [[AttackReflector reflect almost any attack]]. He does receive a brain injury early on that limits the time he can use his power, but even then he should be invincible to most foes. The first time he's defeated, it's by someone who has the unique ability to negate any other supernatural powers. After that, there's a normal human who helped create Accelerator's power and has developed a unique method of punching to get around it. This same method is later employed by a few other characters. Additionally, Accelerator has trouble reflecting magical attacks as he doesn't understand how magic works (and some kinds of magic are impossible for him to reflect).

* In ''Franchise/StarWars: VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', every damn metal sword's description says it's enhanced with [[{{Unobtanium}} cortosis]]. This is presumably so that the game doesn't have to deal with the fact that lightsabers would cut through anything else when the swordfighting animations clearly show the characters blocking and locking blades regardless of what they are made of. (Mind you, the problem isn't wholly solved by the appeal to cortosis, because even the gaffi sticks of the primitive Sand People can block lightsabers in the animations, at which point you just have to appeal to GameplayAndStorySegregation.) This does make a little sense in an era where lightsabers are fairly common, but there's still too much cortosis around. One has to assume this applies to all the metal doors or locks that your lightsaber [[InsurmountableWaistHeightFence inexplicably can't just cut right through.]] [[FridgeBrilliance That would explain]] why you almost never see the stuff around the time of the movies -- they used it all up thousands of years ago by injecting it into freaking ''everything''.

** In ''ComicBook/SupermanDoomed'' the US Government detonates a Kryptonite bomb which poisons the Earth atmosphere with Green-K dust. Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}--who is fighting for her life in ''Comicbook/RedDaughterOfKrypton'' when it happens--wonders where humans found so much Kryptonite.

This trope is the exact opposite of ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman, where circumstances conspire to make a low-powered hero more useful. Compare DeusExitMachina, UniquenessDecay, WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes; see also EasilyThwartedAlienInvasion and ContractualBossImmunity. Countered by a KryptoniteProofSuit. If it's embodied in a specific person, it's ManOfKryptonite.

->'''Creator/GeneHackman:''' My library of just a couple hundred books just happened to contain a full-page illustration of a meteorite that landed on Earth at some time or other. And since it's a rock from space obviously it MUST be from Krypton, and since it’s a part of [[ComicBook/{{Superman}} Super]]-[[Creator/ChristopherReeve Chris]]'s home planet I ASSUME that to him it’d be lethally radioactive!\\

Circumstances always seem to work out so the hero faces [[KungFuProofMook just the right sorts of opponents]] to still give him a challenge. If he has psychic powers, then his enemies will have [[PsychicBlockDefense psychic shields]], or computer brains, or be TooSpicyForYogSothoth. If his powers are [[Franchise/GreenLantern useless against a particular color]], then guess what color the incoming dangerous meteor happens to be. If his weakness is ColdIron, which has to be both pure ''and'' forged with a special technique unknown to the majority of the metal-working community, his foes will naturally make millions upon millions of dollars worth of weapons, tools, and death robots out of that specific metal without even realizing... Basically, the KryptoniteFactor shows up far more often than one would expect. Otherwise [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools the episode would be over too quickly]].

* In ''WebVideo/ImAMarvelAndImADC'', Green Lantern and Deadpool are acting opposite each other over Creator/RyanReynolds' role in ''Film/GreenLantern''. Deadpool, naturally, [[BreakingTheFourthWall can't resist.]]
-->'''Green Lantern''': My ring's only weakness is a type of yellow energy.\\
'''Deadpool''': Oh yeah? Looks like you just met your match then, pal. [[SuddenlyShouting HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW!?]]\\
'''Deadpool's Caption''': [[gold:BOOYAH!]]\\
'''Deadpool''': Bet you never met anyone with a yellow inner monologue before, huh? BAM! ([[gold: CAN'T TOUCH THIS!]]) I got subtiiiitles, and you ain't goooot none, I got subtiiiitles, and you ain't goooot none...

** After the TimeSkip, all Sasuke has to do is make eye contact with someone to trap them inside an illusion. With this he can render his opponents immobile, make them think he's dead when he's actually about to attack them from behind, or just flat-out MindRape them. You'd think this would make him nearly unbeatable, but in every major fight he's had since getting these powers, his opponents have all either had years of training on how to resist this exact technique, had illusionary powers of their own that cancel out Sasuke's, or had {{Superpowered Evil Side}}s that can dispel illusions for them. The fact that overuse of these powers ultimately leads him to blindness and probably loss of said powers -- and he by now already has a pretty bad eyesight -- doesn't help him either. [[spoiler:The weakness is eliminated when Tobi replaces his eyes with Itachi's, turning them into the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, which does NOT have any limitations in its power use, and also gave Sasuke his brother's [[MindRape Tsukuyomi]] power]]

* Franchise/{{Pokemon}}
** Almost every Pokémon has weaknesses as part of the series' famous ElementalRockPaperScissors gameplay. However, while most will have 3, maybe 4 weaknesses, three Pokémon in particular have so many vulnerabilities that trying to use them in battle is extremely difficult. Exeggcute, its non-Alolan evolution [[WhenTreesAttack Exeggutor]], and the mythical Pokémon Celebi, all have a whooping seven weaknesses! This makes it far more likely that an enemy trainer will have your these Pokémon's kryptonite than other mons.
** Shedinja has an ability rendering it immune to any direct attack against it that isn't Super Effective. Unfortunately, that includes ''five'' different types: Rock, Dark, Ghost, Flying and Fire. All of these are reasonably common attack types. Further, the poor little bastard only has one HP, meaning any attack that hits it ''will'' kill it. It also isn't immune to indirect attacks such as Toxic, Sandstorm or Stealth Rock, rendering it almost entirely useless.

* ''Anime/OnePiece'' has the Akuma no mi, or Devil Fruits, which all have the common weakness of rendering the user immobile when submerged in water. Doesn't seem too bad, right? The catch is that nearly the entire world is covered in ocean, and most known users are pirates, so they're under constant threat of drowning.

** Almost every Pokémon has weaknesses as part of the series' famous ElementalRockPaperScissors gameplay. However, while most will have 3, maybe 4 weaknesses, three Pokémon in particular have so many vulnerabilities that trying to use them in battle is extremely difficult. Exeggcute, its non-Alolan evolution [[WhenTreesAttack Exeggutor]], and the mythic Pokémon Celebi, all have a whooping seven weaknesses! This makes it far more likely that an enemy trainer will have your these Pokémon's kryptonite than other mons.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

** Almost every pokemon has weaknesses as part of the series' famous {{Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors}} gameplay. However, while most will have 3, maybe 4 weaknesses, three pokemon in particular have so many vulnerabilities that trying to use them in battle is extremely difficult. Exeggcute, it's non-Alolan evolution [[WhenTreesAttack Exeggutor]], and the mythic pokemon Celebi, all have a whooping seven weaknesses! This makes it far more likely that an enemy trainer will have your these pokemon's kryptonite than other mons.

** This also applies to Suigetsu's Hydration Technique. You'd think [[BlobMonster being able to avoid attacks by turning into water]] and thus practical immunity to physical attacks would give him a significant advantage, but so far his major fights have him facing opponents that either paralyze him via electrocution (Killer Bee and Darui) or could just overwhelm him a ridiculously strong energy attack ([[spoiler:transformed Killer Bee]]).