History Main / PowerCreepPowerSeep

* "VideoGame/BlueArchive": Played with in the crossover with "Manga/ACertainScientificRailgun". Both Misaka and Misaki find their powers exhausting and hard to use after arriving in Kivotos, forcing them to use guns like the rest of the students. When they work up the energy to use their powers it's averted however - Misaka blows away a whole horde of automatons with one shot, making the whole railgun-obsessed Engineering Club fangirl over her, while Misaki shuts down an army of Helmet Gangers and Kaiser PMC troops by herself.

*** What some consider a modern example of the above is the fight between [[Characters/MarvelComicsMilesMorales Miles Morales]] and Blackheart. For reference, Blackheart is in the same league as the likes of Firelord, being the son of [[Characters/MarvelComicsDemons Mephisto]] himself (basically {{Satan}} of the Marvel Universe). Earlier in that fight, Blackheart effortlessly beat the Avengers offscreen, including powerhouses like Characters/TheVision, Characters/ScarletWitch, [[Characters/MarvelComicsTonyStark Iron Man]], [[Characters/SheHulkTitleCharacter She-Hulk]] and freaking ''[[Characters/MarvelComicsThorOdinson Thor]]'' (the [[ComicBook/Thor2014 Jane Foster]] version, but still) with only the [[Characters/CaptainAmericaFalcon Sam Wilson]] Captain America left standing (how he managed to outlast such powerhouses against Blackheart could be another example). With only Miles left standing, he uses his Venom Blast to achieve victory, hitting him so hard that Blackheart can no longer fight and falls unconscious. Even in-universe, Miles regards this as a fluke win, as if to [[LampshadeHanging hang a lampshade]] on it. Granted, at least unlike the Spidey vs. Firelord fight, Miles ''did'' take some hits and had to use Cap's invulnerable shield to protect himself, so there's that.

* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}} has appeared for decades simultaneously both in his own series, struggling against fairly normal muggers and crooks, and in ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'', battling cosmic foes like [[Characters/NewGodsDarkseid Darkseid]]. This has been dealt with in various ways over the years, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. The default [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] solution seemed to be using the [[CrazyPrepared/{{Batman}} Bat-Anti-Cosmically-Powered-Villain Spray]], while the default [[UsefulNotes/TheModernAgeOfComicBooks Modern Age]] solution tends toward emphasizing his willpower and intelligence, often in a MissionControl role.

A character who is designed in their own universe basically needs to be written to be effective against other characters featured in that universe. Generally, your main conflict won't be an eternal war between [[PhysicalGod Super Jesus]] and his nemesis [[RidiculouslyAverageGuy Bob]] [[note]] Unless Bob is a very NonIndicativeName, or the series is going hard on the comedy aspect, but that is just a tangent[[/note]].

** One notorious example of this happened in the ''ComicBook/MarvelVersusDC'' crossover, where [[PopularityPower based on a fan poll]], [[Characters/MarvelComicsLogan Wolverine]] beat [[Characters/DCComicsLobo Lobo]]. As Wolverine had bone claws at the time while Lobo is as powerful as Superman, this should have been impossible. The comic sidestepped the problems by [[TakeOurWordForIt not showing the battle]] -- in fact the whole thing was less than a page, from the introduction of Lobo to Wolvie standing and dusting off his hands. And all the fighting happened ''behind a bar''. It was later [[HandWave implied]] in Lobo's own comic that the Main Man was paid under the table to throw the fight.

*** Incidentally though, it also received a boost: unlike other legendary weapons in the series, the Binding Blade has a limited number of uses and it can break, while in ''Smash'', Roy can use it as much as Marth and his descendants do with Falchion, Ike with Ragnell or Corrin with Yato.

* This trope hits Franchise/{{Ben|10}} hard in ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10GeneratorRexHeroesUnited Ben 10/Generator Rex: Heroes United]]''. Due to his alien forms having an incredibly huge amount of abilities[[note]] SuperStrength, SuperSpeed, {{Flight}}, [[MakeMeWannaShout Sonic Screams]], [[PlayingWithFire Fire Manipulation]], ColdFlames, [[ExtremeOmnivore Using eaten objects as makeshift projectiles]], {{Intangibility}}, RollingAttack, [[SuperNotDrowningSkills Underwater Breathing]], MagnetismManipulation, SelfDuplication, [[ShockAndAwe Electricity Manipulation]], TimeTravel, and many ''many'' more[[/note]] compared to [[ShapeShifterWeapon Rex]], he ends up having his Ultimatrix hacked by Alpha and not working properly for most of the final act. Considering [[WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce his]] [[WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien main]] [[WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse series]] also had trouble keeping his abilities in check, it doesn't feel out of place.

** By extension to the above, literally ''any racing game that includes Sonic as a character'' (e.g. ''VideoGame/SonicDrift'', ''VideoGame/SonicR'', ''Sonic Racing'', ''VideoGame/SonicRiders'', ''[[VideoGame/SegaSuperstars Sega & Sonic All-Stars Racing]]'' and so forth). Sonic is usually handicapped by being forced to ride a vehicle, and it's telling that in one racing game, his character-specific power-up was to ''[[JustEatGilligan get out of the car and just run]]''. The manuals for Drift and both All-Star Racing games explain Sonic is driving to keep things fair for the other racers and Transformed has [[WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph Ralph]] questioning why Sonic is driving a car.

** Meanwhile, at the other end of the powerscale, the sequel ''VideoGame/JoJosBizarreAdventureEyesOfHeaven'' adds Robert E. O. Speedwagon, a completely normal human with no special abilities aside from [[BadassNormal some brawling skills]], [[DropTheHammer a sledgehammer]], and [[ImprobableWeaponUser a razor-edged bowler hat.]] He can kill any of the above by simply smacking them with his hammer a few times. A particularly weird one is Stroheim, whose attacks in ''Eyes of Heaven'' are based in part on the use of ultraviolet lamps; effective in ''Battle Tendency'', where his opponents were [[WeakenedByTheLight vampires]], but in game he's more likely than not pitted against normal humans, who wouldn't get worse than a bad sunburn.

A character who is designed in their own universe basically needs to be written to be effective against other characters featured in that universe. Generally, your main conflict won't be an eternal war between [[PhysicalGod Super Jesus]] and his nemesis [[RidiculouslyAverageGuy Bob]].

* Happens in crossover titles in video games as well, as evidenced in [[VideoGame/CapcomVs Capcom crossover games]]. This is something of a necessity; how else could you expect [[Franchise/StreetFighter Dan Hibiki or Sakura]] to fight, say, the [[Characters/IncredibleHulkBruceBanner Hulk]] or [[Characters/MarvelComicsDoctorDoom Doctor Doom]] without having a serious upgrade in strength? (Dan, of course, doesn't have a chance even with the upgrade, but he's a JokeCharacter anyway.) The concept was (lovingly) mocked in a segment on ''Series/XPlay'' where Blair Butler took a look back at the ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom'' series, noting in each game the number of fighters, adding that "none of them would stand a chance against the Hulk"; while not completely true, it gets the point across.

* This tends to lead to major [[FanWank issues]] when crossing the Franchise/MarvelUniverse and Franchise/TheDCU. Both companies have their share of characters ranging from {{Badass Unintentional}}s to {{Physical God}}s, but the Earth-Based Marvel characters who are the most important in terms of both in-universe esteem and recognition and RealLife PopularityPower tend to be low on power levels in-universe compared to their DC counterparts, like Franchise/{{Superman}}. This tends to lead to huge disproportionate power levels between the universes, at least when using the biggest names between the two, which tends to translate to stories that are mostly buildup to a bigger fight that can be used to muddle the individual fighters. One-on-ones are hit/miss; verses need buildup to get the weaker fighter either up to, or bringing the other down. Team-ups need stories where the more powerful will miss something important and therefore need the other to play the savior/[[TheChessMaster tactician]] role. Fans are rarely happy with any outcome, even when they themselves were the ones voting on the outcome.
** Marvel have been countering this by making their heavyweights, such as [[Characters/TheMightyThorThorOdinson Thor]], who was already roughly equal to Superman at the time of ''Comicbook/JLAAvengers'', and [[Characters/MarvelComicsMagneto Magneto]] (who can now do things like pull [[Characters/MarvelComicsKittyPryde Kitty Pryde]] out of planet destroying bullets from light years away and easily fly decommissioned aircraft carriers from San Diego to San Francisco, then drop them on human sized objects with pinpoint accuracy) even stronger. Moreover, they're making them smarter, in the case of the Green Scar personality of [[Characters/IncredibleHulkBruceBanner The Incredible Hulk]]. And they're creating new heavyweights (e.g. Characters/TheSentry, who puts even a souped-up Thor to shame and even while weakened, stalemated Green Scar), and [[Characters/GenerationHope Hope Summers]], who, under the right circumstances, could take the entire JLA at full power.

*** Two crossover battles shown between [[Characters/MarvelComicsQuicksilver Quicksilver]] and ComicBook/TheFlash were played for the jokes that they were. The only times Quicksilver was able to land a punch were when The Flash [[DudleyDoRightStopsToHelp turned his back to help innocents]] (in ''Comicbook/MarvelVersusDC'') and, in the later crossover, when The Flash encountered Quicksilver in the Marvel universe (which apparently has no Speed Force) and a gleeful Quicksilver thrashed him (in ''[=JLA/Avengers=]''). Sadly, if they had just done the first fight a few years sooner or a few years later, it might have been a more even match (Wally's speed was dropped to Quicksilver level in the years immediately following ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', and during ''ComicBook/{{Siege}}'', Quicksilver was outrunning radio signals, meaning that he was going FTL).

** One notorious example of this happened in the ''Comicbook/MarvelVersusDC'' crossover, where [[PopularityPower based on a fan poll]], Characters/{{Wolverine|JamesLoganHowlett}} beat [[Characters/DCComicsLobo Lobo]]. As Wolverine had bone claws at the time while Lobo is as powerful as Superman, this should have been impossible. The comic sidestepped the problems by [[TakeOurWordForIt not showing the battle]] -- in fact the whole thing was less than a page, from the introduction of Lobo to Wolvie standing and dusting off his hands. And all the fighting happened ''behind a bar''. It was later [[HandWave implied]] in Lobo's own comic that the Main Man was paid under the table to throw the fight.

* In an extreme example, minor ''Comicbook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' villain Mano has an origin story in which he uses his disintegrating touch to destroy his entire homeworld and everyone on it simply by placing his hand on the planet's surface. However, he was never even remotely that powerful in any of his actual appearances, where plenty of characters can survive zaps from his hand. He's actually one of the ''weaker'' members of [[LegionOfDoom the Fatal Five]].
* On comic boards this trope is often colloquially referred to as "Spider-Man vs. Firelord", as in ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #270, [[Characters/SpiderManPeterParker Spider-Man]], who's among the strongest street-level characters in canon (lifts fifty tons at his peak), but still not considered one of the big hitters of the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu physically beats]] the ''cosmically'' powerful Firelord in a hand to hand duel, with the cosmic alien not even able to land a blow on Spidey. Sure, Spidey often holds back, but the fact that he's able to ''damage'' Firelord should make him strong enough to crack New York State in half - suffice to say no Spider-Man story has ever portrayed his strength as on that level. Bonus points for Firelord somehow being knocked around by a gas explosion - in general, the story seems to think he's a fire guy who's merely a fair bit stronger than Spidey, rather than a fire guy who can casually fly through stars or conquer and destroy worlds with even the slightest effort.

** Then again, when Spider-Man fights the Characters/SilverSurfer, he tends to smack him around pretty well; he often fights beyond his limits - unless he is ''Cosmic Spider-Man'', in which he had no limits.
** The same can be said for the likes of Characters/{{Wolverine|JamesLoganHowlett}} or Characters/{{Captain America|TitleCharacter}} as well. Sometimes, WolverinePublicity does that with characters who are popular but not very powerful.
* What some consider a modern example of the above is the fight between [[Characters/UltimateSpiderManMilesMorales Miles Morales]] and Blackheart. For reference, Blackheart is in the same league as the likes of Firelord, being the son of [[Characters/MarvelComicsDemons Mephisto]] himself (basically {{Satan}} of the Marvel Universe). Earlier in that fight, Blackheart effortlessly beat the Avengers offscreen, including powerhouses like ComicBook/TheVision, Characters/ScarletWitch, Iron Man, ComicBook/SheHulk and freaking ''Thor'' (the [[ComicBook/Thor2014 Jane Foster]] version, but still) with only the Sam Wilson Captain America left standing (how he managed to outlast such powerhouses against Blackheart could be another example). With only Miles left standing, he uses his Venom Blast to achieve victory, hitting him so hard that Blackheart can no longer fight and falls unconscious. Even in-universe, Miles regards this as a fluke win, as if to [[LampshadeHanging hang a lampshade]] on it. Granted, at least unlike the Spidey vs. Firelord fight, Miles ''did'' take some hits and had to use Cap's invulnerable shield to protect himself, so there's that.
* ''ComicBook/SupermanVsTheAmazingSpiderMan'' had [[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Lex Luthor]] shoot Spidey with a "red-sun energy boost", making Big Blue vulnerable to his touch, i.e., Spidey being able to beat Supes like a beach ball. However once the energy wears off, it’s clear who has the upper hand. The follow up crossover with Superman and Spider-Man is more realistic. Superman brushes off Spider-Man's offers of assistance at first believing that Spidey would just get in the way. Spidey is about to leave, also believing he wouldn't be any help to Superman until he remembers that Superman might be flying into a trap and follows after to warn him.

** This happened again during the Transformers' crossover with the ComicBook/NewAvengers. Heroes like Characters/{{Captain America|TitleCharacter}}, Wolverine, and [[Characters/CaptainAmericaHeroes The Falcon]] were regulated to distractions or rescue work, while ComicBook/IronMan used a HumongousMecha, to just blast Megatron with his normal repulsors after his Mecha got destroyed.
** Another crossover had a Venom/Superman fight in which ComicBook/{{Venom}} was smacking Supes around like a ragdoll. Not only is Superman way above Venom's level, but he also has powers (heat beams and supersonic voice) that are Venom's stated weaknesses. The writer tried to {{justif|iedTrope}}y this by having Venom exclaim, "I've gone toe-to-toe with the Juggernaut!", which is frankly even harder to believe.

* Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}} has appeared for decades simultaneously both in [[ComicBook/{{Batman}} his own series]], struggling against fairly normal muggers and crooks, and in ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'', battling cosmic foes like [[Characters/NewGodsDarkseid Darkseid]]. This has been dealt with in various ways over the years, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. The default [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] solution seemed to be using the [[CrazyPrepared/{{Batman}} Bat-Anti-Cosmically-Powered-Villain Spray]], while the default [[UsefulNotes/TheModernAgeOfComicBooks Modern Age]] solution tends toward emphasizing his willpower and intelligence, often in a MissionControl role.

** In the early days, Batman used to struggle against ''ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}}'', a Teen Titans villain. While Batman might be able to put up a good fight, Deathstroke's superhuman strength, combined with all his other enhanced attributes, were just far too much for Bruce. The only times he was able to defeat Deathstroke were the times he had backup or Slade was distracted/weakened somehow. Nowadays, particularly in the New 52/Rebirth era, Batman has gotten much better at fighting Deathstroke to the point where he's shown outright defeating or getting the upper hand over Slade multiple times despite only being a peak human while Deathstroke is at minimum a low level superhuman.
* This is particularly bad in comics where ComicBook/ThePunisher is the central character, especially as of lately. A ComicBook/WhatIf was even written where Punisher managed to take out people like Magneto and [[Characters/TheMightyThorThorOdinson Thor]].

* Lobo's been mentioned a few times already, but he deserves some special attention. He has a noted knack for being just as powerful as whomever he's fighting. He's gone toe to toe with Superman in the past, but has also lost fights to Batman and other characters. It's to the point that his adaptable nature is actually part of his power set; one of his most notable features is his immune system, making him invulnerable to specific powers after being hurt by them at least once (the most prominent moment is when he's trapped in the body of a 'tweenager version of himself, because after being hit with the spell that de-aged him he immediately became immune to that type of magic, and thus counterspells wouldn't work). And while he is invulnerable and immortal, he can still get drunk (at least in earlier appearances, he gets so sloshed that Superman turns it to his advantage in one early battle).

* An interesting example is [[Characters/MarvelComicsBeast Hank McCoy]], aka The Beast. If you pick up a comic in which he is in the ComicBook/XMen, the writers tend to focus mostly on his intellect while his actual powers are secondary. When he was a member of ComicBook/TheAvengers, his strength and agility were the main focus and his intellect was rarely brought up. This was because the Avengers had plenty of geniuses: [[ComicBook/AntMan Hank Pym]], ComicBook/IronMan, ComicBook/TheVision, ComicBook/BlackPanther, etc. and didn't need another. [=McCoy=] was a LightningBruiser so his abilities were bumped up to the point where he was nearly as strong as ComicBook/IronMan and could move so fast that Captain America had trouble following him. When he went back to the X-Men, there were already a couple strongmen ([[Characters/XMen70sMembers Colossus]] and [[Characters/MarvelComicsRogue Rogue]]) and agile people ([[Characters/MarvelComicsNightcrawler Nightcrawler]], [[Characters/MarvelComicsGambit Gambit]], [[Characters/XMenMojoverse Longshot]], etc.). Even his animalistic nature was covered by Characters/{{Wolverine|JamesLoganHowlett}}. They didn't have any geniuses, though, so Beast became TheSmartGuy nearly on the level of [[Characters/FantasticFourTheFantasticFour Reed Richards]].
* In TheSeventies Comicbook/PhantomLady's power was increased from creating darkness, to invisibility and teleporting herself and the team. The last one fluctuated in the comics and in a lot of subsequent experiences as it was a GameChanger, that let them all get out of jail free. Her appearances out of ''ComicBook/{{Freedom Fighters|DCComics}}'' have rarely brought up teleportation at all.

* This is actually done in-universe in ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}'' - when Frau Totenkinder faces Baba Yaga, the latter seems confident in her victory, because everybody knows her stories, and so her PopularityPower is great. Frau Totenkinder points out to her that PopularityPower is just a theory among fables, and not one that Totenkinder herself sets much store by, and then proceeds to thrash Baba Yaga. WordOfGod is that PopularityPower may be some kind of factor in determining the power of a fable, but that the truth is more complicated than just that.

* Any given CrisisCrossover will be rife with this. The need to use as many characters as possible often leads to some [[CListFodder crowd filler]] being far stronger than the main villain. The original ''Comicbook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', for instance, has the [[SuperpowerLottery theoretically-omnipotent]] elemental transmuter ComicBook/{{Firestorm|DCComics}} being forced to a stalemate by [[Characters/BatmanThePenguin The Penguin]]'s trick umbrella, or the obscure cosmic villain Maaldor the Darklord, who created universes and once held his own against the entire ComicBook/GreenLantern Corps, getting killed in one hit by Krona. The strength of the Anti-Monitor's shadow demons generally hits the exact amount needed to give their opponent a tough fight in swarms, whether it's [[PhysicalGod Alan Scott]] or [[BadassNormal Oliver Queen.]]
* The effectiveness of Characters/{{Wolverine|JamesLoganHowlett}}'s HealingFactor has been subject to this. Originally, severe enough injuries could still put him out of action for a couple days or weeks, but he still healed faster than anyone. Now, he can bounce back from being practically burned down to his skeleton within a matter of hours (if not ''minutes''), and it's been established that his healing factor extends to slowing down his aging, allowing him to live well past the age of 150. Then again, ''ComicBook/DaysOfFuturePast'' (written [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness back in 1980]]) showed him aging realistically, and even being killed in a future WhatIf scenario after taking a laser beam to the face from a Sentinel. His solo book once tried to rectify the inconsistencies by establishing that his rate of healing can be affected by the seriousness of his injuries; if he suffers too many injuries, it slows down accordingly. Part of this was due to a storyline where the toxic adamantium was stripped from his bones, meaning that for a couple years, his healing was now uninhibited and he could regenerate pretty much anything, at the cost of his invincible bones and [[AbsurdlySharpBlade cut-anything claws]]. Then [[StatusQuoIsGod the adamantium was added back in]], but by that point writers had gotten used to writing him healing at that level and didn't adjust it back down.
* The nature of [[Characters/X23LauraKinney X-23]]'s [[BerserkButton trigger scent]] has become subject to this. As a child, Laura was conditioned (read: tortured) into entering a [[UnstoppableRage berserk rage]] whenever she smelled a particular scent, which would make her black out and tear apart whatever was marked with it. It served two purposes: Not only did it allow her creators a measure of control over her in the event she attempted to refuse to kill a target, but her berserk state also made her an even ''more'' deadly fighter. Usually it was reserved for high-value targets or otherwise special (such as the gangster Fade). By the time of ''ComicBook/AvengersArena'', the scent is now driving her into a state in which she'll kill ''everything around her'', whether they're specifically marked or not.
* In the ''ComicBook/XMen/ComicBook/TeenTitans'' crossover ''ComicBook/ApokolipsNow'', this trope is entirely averted; the two teams operate on similar scales and power levels already, and they're not in conflict for most of the story, so no adjustments are needed.
* During the first appearance of the Super-Skrull in the pages of ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'', Reed Richards figured out that the alien villain, who had all of the powers of the Fantastic Four, was having his power beamed to him remotely from the Skrull homeworld, based on the reasoning that no single being could inherently have so much power. This was quickly forgotten, however, as far more powerful beings than the Super-Skrull were introduced, and later on said villain's powers did become inherent, not requiring any kind of external power source.
* Doctor Manhattan in ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' was [[SuperpowerLottery extremely powerful]], but he wasn't truly omnipotent. He was as impressive as he was because he was a PersonOfMassDestruction in a world where the second strongest character is a somewhat impressive BadassNormal, and there were some limitations on what he could and couldn't do. Even his full power wouldn't be enough to stop a lot of airborne nukes (though he'd take out a good percentage of them). In ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'', to facilitate his [[CosmicRetcon involvement]] in the plot, he's shown accomplishing feats more in the range of "universe-busting", and handling people who could have solved the Cold War by simply blinking an eye and turning the Soviet Union into a chinchilla.
* ComicBook/TheSpectre is somewhat notorious for being [[StrongAsTheyNeedToBe Strong As He Needs To Be]], since in his own comics, he lands pretty deep into StoryBreakerPower. In crossovers or JSA stories, he's often given heavy limitations or misdirected to stop him from ending the story in five seconds, or just shown doing stuff about on the level of a standard magic hero (flying in and blasting stuff, when he's a RealityWarper).
* Characters/{{Captain America|TitleCharacter}} subjects his opponents to this trope a lot. Supposedly, he's "barely superhuman". As in, his superhuman abilities are the peak of non-superhuman potential, but all at once. This should make him just an extra-competent BadassNormal in theory, in practice, however, not so much. He's been written as being able go far beyond what any normal person, peak or no, should be able to do, and that includes defeating people who are far above his weight class. Not only have full-on superhumans such as Spider-Man, Wolverine, Beast and Gambit lost to him, but he's even given heavyweights such as [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]], Hulk and even ''Thor'' a run for their money, ''still'' coming out on top in the end. [[PopularityPower Being loved by the writers can do wonders]].
* [[Characters/MarvelComicsMagneto Magneto]] gets hit with this depending on what side of the HeelFaceRevolvingDoor he's on. If he's evil, Magneto will be written as one of the most terrifying villains who ever lived, bordering on outright invincible. [[RedemptionDemotion If he's good, Magneto's abilities get scaled back a lot for the sake of drama]]. However, there is a canonical reason for this, as excessive use of his abilities makes him bipolar - if he's using that much power, it's making him unstable, which he'd otherwise want to avoid. That being said, he's become much more consistent at the high end following his settling on the borderline of AntiVillain and AntiHero (codified in ''Magneto: Not A Hero'' in 2011 with the line "The thing that ''none'' of you will ''ever'' understand is that there are no sides. There's no ''heroes'' or ''villains''. There's just ''what I want'' and ''how I'll get it.''"). He specifically warns against assuming this in ''Not A Hero'':

** This is {{handwave}}d by some heroes: specifically ComicBook/TheFlash and Superman. Flash ''intentionally'' seeps speed in races, as in the comics, because "those were for charity". Superman meanwhile takes hits "so the others don't have to." Basically, ''they aren't trying'', even though failure might mean somebody '''dies'''. The other heroes, *cough* Comicbook/MartianManhunter *cough*, have no such excuse.

* The ''TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness'' suffered dearly from this trope, because each gameline was made on its own without crossovers in mind. ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' establishes that vampires are in deep, deep trouble if they encounter werewolves. And indeed, when ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'' made werewolves playable, they were just that strong against vampires. Vampires were also helpless before mages, because they were not considered as living and so did not cause Paradox, which was the main limiter on a mage's spells. Crossovers were a chore to work at the best of times, as the races were on (sometimes radically) different power levels. This power gap decreased as the franchise went on, with vampires stated to have their own advantages over werewolves and mages and the aforementioned advantages werewolves and mages had against vampires being toned down if not removed entirely. Its reboot TabletopGame/ChroniclesOfDarkness simplifies and streamlines power levels, and puts all the various supernatural creatures on an even playing field (and ordinary humans only a little below).

* The TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness suffered dearly from this trope, because each gameline was made on its own without crossovers in mind. ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' establishes that vampires are in deep, deep trouble if they encounter werewolves. And indeed, when ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'' made werewolves playable, they were just that strong against vampires. Vampires were also helpless before Mages, because they were not considered as living and so did not cause Paradox, which was the main limiter on a Mage's spells. Crossovers were a chore to work at the best of times, as the races were on (sometimes radically) different power levels. This power gap was toned down as the franchise went on, with vampires stated to have their own advantages over Werewolves and Mages. Its reboot TabletopGame/ChroniclesOfDarkness simplifies and streamlines power levels, and puts all the various supernatural creatures on an even playing field (and ordinary humans only a little below).
* Solars in ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'' {{Curb Stomp|Battle}} just about everything in their own setting, given an equal amount of experience points. The {{PlayerCharacter|s}} are meant to be a superhuman heroes, but there are many other playable character types, and the difficulty of having a mixed party without the Solars [[{{Pun}} outshining]] everyone else is a cause of much aggravation among fans.