History Main / SupernaturalMartialArts

* ''Film/KungFuHustle'' is a {{Troperiffic}} AffectionateParody of all the over-the-top supernatural martial arts films to ever come out of Hong Kong. For example, there are two {{Musical Assassin}}s, a woman with a [[MakeMeWannaShout weaponized voice]], and a main villain who uses toad style kung.

** The ''Tome of Battle''. Some Diamond Mind maneuvers allow you to [[TimeStandsStill slow time down]] by being really focused and good at hitting people with swords. The Desert Wind maneuver group, which creates fire (usually). The Shadow Hand maneuver group, which allows you to turn invisible, teleport, walk through walls, and create illusions by being really focused.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/user/nesmario123 NESMario123's]] online web series ''[[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFUQLkEA4RYKnTFYfXUve0w/videos BunchOfPseudoIntellectuals Z Kai]]'' Or ''B.O.P. Kai'' for short, it depicts many commentators of the [[https://www.youtube.com/user/BunchofPseudo Bunch of Pseudo-Intellectuals]] commentary group fighting with martial arts and in most episodes blasting enemies with Ki, with the most famous example being [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2xsdjpgtWc Episode 3.]]

* ''Film/Hero2002'' is a {{Wuxia}} film focusing on magical martial arts. Fighters are shown deflecting a RainOfArrows with swords and dress sleeves, hacking through hundreds of armored soldiers, and jumping off the surface of water to swordfight in midair.

* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'': Films featuring Doctor Strange showcase a lot of the sorcerers using martial art moves in spellcasting, with many of their training sessions involving them practicing their posing. Many also use magic to generate swords, shields, javelins, and whips. While not ''everyone'' can perform magic, a great deal of the populace have the potential for it and were once ordinary folk who stepped into the Sanctum. In ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'' Ned accidentally discovers he too is able to perform magic by picking up a sling ring and mimicking the poses that Strange did.

* ''Series/IronFist2017'' features Danny Rand AKA The Immortal Iron Fist performing Kung Fu while demonstrating increased speed and agility... and of course the [[EnhancedPunch Iron Fist.]]
* ''Series/MarcoPolo'' has the character of Hundred Eyes doing some kung fu of...questionable plausibility. The in-universe explanation is that he has access to all of the original works of Lao Tzu, the founder of Taoism (including secret ones, that were only accessible at his original monastery). The real explanation is probably that the directors just really like Wuxia movies (and likely know that their audience does too: so they're putting it in to make all the "boring" history go down easier). The moves are all real, but their power level is just a smidge too high. Nothing is so far out of the ordinary as to be ridiculous to the uninitiated, but far enough to raise the eyebrows of any dancer or actual martial artist. The series also has Jia Sidao, the Chinese prime minister, know some of these moves. The "Grasshopper" Technique that they both use was indeed a real thing (as was the practice of keeping grasshoppers and getting them to fight by tickling them). However, it did not actually let you defy the laws of physics. It is also not biologically possible to reset a dislocated joint on your own body, which Hundred Eyes does several times. Slightly justified in that Marco Polo is not a completely reliable narrator, and people at the time actually believed that martial artists manipulated the energy of the universe (chi or ki) to do things that people (wrongly) assumed were impossible. This belief is kind of the reason why this trope exists in the first place, so [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools its presence in the series is not ridiculous]]. Especially since removing the physics-defying moves would not affect the story's continuity.

** The Tome of Battle. Some Diamond Mind maneuvers allow you to [[TimeStandsStill slow time down]] by being really focused and good at hitting people with swords. The Desert Wind maneuver group, which creates fire (usually). The Shadow Hand maneuver group, which allows you to turn invisible, teleport, walk through walls, and create illusions by being really focused.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' has numerous "Style Feats" that involve a character using a particular, usually unarmed, fighting style. While most of them are fairly mundane (such as Snake Style's focus on quick movements and opportunistic strikes or Crane Style's emphasis on deflecting and countering an opponent's attacks), some of them have supernatural qualities:
** The four "genie" styles (Djinni, Efreeti, Marid, and Shaitan) enhance the character's use of a particular element (electricity, fire, cold, and acid, respectively) with the Elemental Fist feat.
** Illusive Gnome Style draws on the natural affinity gnomes have for illusion magic to enhance their ability to feint in combat.
** Similar to D&D's Tome of Battle, the Path of War supplement for ''Pathfinder'' adds martial maneuvers, several of which are explicitly labeled as supernatural. For example, followers of the Solar Wind discipline can add fire damage to ranged attacks, while Silver Crane disciples can heal allies when attacking enemies.

* ''[[VideoGame/ExtrapowerAttackOfDarkforce EXTRAPOWER Attack of Darkforce]]'': Fei is a martial artist who augments his attacks with magic reminiscent of Taoist exorcism.

** [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI Sabin Rene Figaro and Duncan Harcourt]] can punch hundreds of times per second, smash foes with beams of BattleAura, release fiery clones of themselves, EnergyDonation to heal others, fling RazorWind with their hands, and split themselves into many copies to pummel an enemy from all directions. And suplex runaway trains.
** [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Tifa Lockhart (and probably her master Zangan)]] can lift and toss HumongousMecha, and unleash gigantic explosions of BattleAura with a single punch. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And summon dolphins!]]
** [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII Zell Dincht]] can crack open yawning chasms with a punch, turn himself into an energy missile that can go through enemies, somersault-kick enemies high up into the stratosphere, and run around the world in less than five seconds as a wind-up for an explosive punch. He can also do the now-famous "lift and toss mountain-sized enemies."
** [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics Monks in Ivalice]] can resuscitate fallen comrades with a shout, punch people without coming into physical contact, rend the earth, heal injuries or status effects with their BattleAura, or kill with a touch.
** [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII Basch]] is shown as being capable of punching ''reality'' with his {{Limit Break}}s. Makes one wonder how he managed to get captured so easily... Of course [[BigBad Vayne]] can do the same thing with a similar attack. Fran also has two {{Limit Break}}s but hers cause [[StuffBlowingUp explosions]] and a RazorWind.
** [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII Snow]] doesn't even ''know'' any martial arts, but he can [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu beat]] ''gods'' to death by ''kicking and punching them''. And this is ''before'' he gets his phlebotinum powers.
** [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV The Pugilists of Eorzea]] can easily take on monsters with their bare hands. The Monks of Ala Mhigo, however, are on another level, capable of [[FlashStep dashing across vast distances in the blink of an eye]], [[KiAttacks concentrating and weaponizing aether to attack at range]], and shattering the bones of dragons or the armor of Garlean magitek machines with a single punch.
** [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyType0 Eight]] eschews weapons in favor of magically-enhanced martial arts. As Class Zero's resident KungFuWizard, he can go toe-to-toe with Magitek Armors that tower over him with fisticuffs and magic skills.

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* Chaka and Bladedancer both are all over this trope in the Literature/WhateleyUniverse. Chaka can ''see'' how ki moves, so she can pull a Taskmaster just by watching you use your ki for an attack. In one of the first Whateley stories, she learned a secret paralyzing nerve attack just by watching a mutant ninja attempt it ''on her''.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' are something between this and FullContactMagic, as bending is basically regular, real-world martial arts moves used by people who can cause [[ElementalPowers movement of a certain element]] to utilize the element more efficiently. All four bending styles are based on real-world Chinese martial arts: Waterbending is Tai chi, airbending Baguazhang, firebending Northern Shaolin kung fu, and earthbending Hung Gar. Also as with real-world martial arts, they [[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra evolve and change]] over long periods of time, with new schools spinning off of the ancient traditions.
-->'''Katara:''' [[InsistentTerminology It's not magic]], it's ''waterbending''.

** In another common feature with martial arts, many of the bending styles are inspired by natural phenomena and the movements of creatures. Waterbenders learned it from the tides, airbenders from flying bison, earthbenders from badgermoles, and firebenders from dragons. ''The Legend of Korra'' clarifies that the actual ''ability'' to bend was granted by lion turtles before every spirit departed the world when the Spirit World and human world were cut off from each other. Spirits called such temporarily-empowered humans pejorative terms like "fire-tossers", using the powers in clumsy manners, until observing and mimicking the natural elemental creatures to use the abilities in more refined manners.
* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'''s Ron Stoppable and his Mystical Monkey Powers.
* Woo Foo from ''WesternAnimation/YinYangYo''
* April O'Neil from ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'' possesses psychic abilities [[spoiler:due to the traces of mutated DNA in her body]]. With her [[{{Ninja}} ninjitsu training]] by Master Splinter and mental exercises by Professor Honeycut, April has learned how to use both in combat, usually using her CombatHandFan as a remote-controlled edge weapon.

* A DiscussedTrope in the ''Literature/RiversOfLondon'' novel ''Broken Homes'', when Peter reflects that if all magical ''formae'' do is create the right shape in your mind, it might be possible to get the same results by creating shapes with your body, and maybe that's where these stories come from. In later books, it appears that this is what Legendary Swordsman Michael Cheung [[spoiler: and Constable Gulheed when she becomes his apprentice]] does.
* ''Literature/AMartialOdyssey'' The entire human race possesses and manipulates Juva, a naturally occurring energy in all life and manipulates it to enhance the martial arts techniques they already have, or skilled fighters can create powers all on their own from Juva.

** In another common feature with martial arts, many of the bending styles are inspired by natural phenomena and the movements of creatures. Waterbenders learned it from the tides, airbenders from flying bison, earthbenders from badgermoles, and firebenders from dragons. ''The Legend of Korra'' clarifies that the actual ''ability'' to bend was granted by lion turtles before every spirit departed the world when the Spirit World and human world were cut off from each other.