History RealityEnsues / ComicBooks

** In a strange twist, the same issue showed that when one of the deities is away for a week, ''someone'' had to fill in for her so the world doesn't go into chaos. Luna had to instead raise the sun every morning for a week, because according to the reality of their universe the Sun doesn't raise itself. She also finds out that it wasn't as easy as it appeared.

** An issue has the Mane Six get a warning about a giant monster. Eventually, they encounter... the remains of said monster. It turns out, monster or not, if you don't feed a creature for a long time, it tends to die.

* In one of the ''SecretInvasion'' tie-in issues, ComicBook/{{Shanna the She-Devil}} tries to [[MuggedForDisguise mug a female SHIELD agent for her uniform]]. Unfortunately, [[TapOnTheHead the karate chop Shanna uses to knock the woman out]] (often portrayed as non-lethal in most uses of this trope) ends up accidentally ''breaking her neck'' and killing her instantly. [[spoiler:However, it turns out the agent was actually a Skrull, so it's okay. I guess.]]

* ''The Superior Foes of Spider-Man'' shows that if you're TheLoad, the group or organization you work with simply isn't going to keep you around, no matter how much they like you. [[spoiler:Poor Boomerang learns this the hard way from the rest of the Sinister Six when they kick him out of the group despite him being the team founder.]]

* The final run of ''[[ComicBook/ThePunisher PunisherMAX]]'' shows us exactly what kind of a toll a 30+ year war on the criminal underworld can have on your mind and body. It makes you old, slow, arthritic, unable to shrug off injuries that would barely phase you years before, and that much more prone to slipping up. And the more you slip up, the less intimidating you are to the criminal underworld you hunt.
** In an earlier arc, ''The Slavers'', The Punisher decides to attack a group of former Bosnian soldiers turned sex-slavers. A huge deal is made in earlier stories about how Castle's [[CurbStompBattle success rate]] owes mainly to his opponents being street hoods and armed thugs who're only good at intimidating people... but not this time. Castle quickly realizes his mistake when the men he's firing on quickly and methodically get under cover and start firing back, and is quickly forced to flee for his life. Turns out it doesn't matter how much of a badass you are: when you're facing combat-hardened soldiers, twenty to one are really, ''really'' bad odds.

* In the first issue of ''ComicsBook/AllNewGhostRider'', Robbie Reyes tries to stop three gang members from stealing his brother's wheelchair. One of them pulls out a gun. You would expect Robbie to show what a BadassNormal he is, dismantle the thug with the gun and beat them all up. Instead, he stands still and the thugs beat ''him'' up and steal both the wheelchair and his shoes. This shows that, despite growing up in a bad neighborhood, Robbie isn't some sort of impossibly tough delinquent, but just a regular guy.
* Few years ago ComicBook/XMen character Fantomex saved the world from monster brainwashing people into worshipping it as their god by revealing he is programmed to be incapable of conceiving anything greater than himself, therefore he cannot belive in any god. 2014 issue of ''ComicBook/XForce'' reveals that whenever he is outdone at anything, the same ability causes so much cognitive dissonance he ends on the verge of mental breakdown.

* An issue of ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW'' has the Mane Six get a warning about a giant monster. Eventually, they encounter... the remains of said monster. It turns out, monster or not, if you don't feed a creature for a long time, it tends to die.

* In first issue of ''ComicsBook/AllNewGhostRider'', Robbie Reyes tries to stop three gang members from stealing his brother's wheelchair. One of them pulls out a gun. You would expect Robbie to show what a BadassNormal he is, dismantle the thug with a gun and beat them all up. Instead, he stands still and the thugs beat him up and steal both the wheelchair and his shoes. This shows that, despite growing up in a bad neighborhood, Robbie isn't some sort of impossibly tough delinquent, but just a regular guy.

* In first issue of ''All-New ComicsBook/GhostRider'' Robbie Reyes tries to stop three gang members from stealing his brother's wheelchair. One of them pulls out a gun. You would expect Robbie to show what a BadassNormal he is, dismantle thug with a gun and beat them all up. Instead he stands still and thugs beat him up and steal both the wheelchair and his shoes. This shows that, despite growing up in a bad neighborhood, Robbie isn't some sort of impossibly tough deliquent, but just a regular guy.

* This trope could be called "The ''ComicBook/KickAss'' Principle". It subverts almost every and all superhero trends, and replaces it all with how it would work being a hero in real life. It's painful to watch it.

* In first issue of ''All-New ComicsBook/GhostRider'' Robbie Reyes tries to stop three gang members from stealingl his brother's wheelchair. One of them pulls out a gun. You would expect Robbie to show what a BadassNormal he is, dismantle thug with a gun and beat them all up. Instead he stands still and thugs beat him up and steal both the wheelchair and his shoes. This shows that, despite growing up in a bad neighborhood, Robbie isn't some sort of impossibly tough deliquent, but just a regular guy.

** In an earlier arc, ''The Slavers'', The Punisher decides to attack a group of former Bosnian soldiers turned sex-slavers. A huge deal is made in earlier stories about how Castle's [[CurbStompBattle success rate]] owes mainly to his opponents being street hoods and armed thugs who're only good at intimidating people...but not this time. Castle quickly realizes his mistake when the men he's firing on quickly and methodically get under cover and start firing back, and is quickly forced to flee for his life. Turns out it doesn't matter how much of a badass you are: when you're facing combat-hardened soldiers, twenty to one are really, ''really'' bad odds.

* ''ComicBook/TheTransformers'': A "virus" of smaller robots is released on earth, which quickly infect the Autobots and Decepticons stationed there. Several expendable Autobot prisoners are sent to earth by the Decepticons to spray acid on the infected. Instead, a cure is discovered, water. The water causes the small bots, Scraplets, to fall of of the transformers. The Scraplets then merge into a larger creature with a HiveMind. Spraying it with water just makes the creature fall apart, but it easily reassembles itself. So the Autobots just free the Decepticons, who use their ''weapons'' to butcher, blast, and set the creature [[KillItWithFire on fire]]. Miracle cure or not, [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim shooting the damn thing was pretty effective.]] One of the formerly infected Autobots then grabs the acid and douses the creature with it, killing it for good.

* In ''ComicBook/Uber'', the American superhuman Colossus goes up against his Nazi counterpart Sieglinde. Colossus hasn't been fully enhanced yet, but he's brave, clever and determined...and the fully-enhanced Sieglinde rips him to pieces in a matter of seconds.

* Franchise/{{Superman}} by his very nature avoids most of these tropes, but his official authority is often an open question. ''The Man of Steel'' averts this by having the mayor of Metropolis (as fallout from a challenge to his authority by Lex Luthor) commission Superman directly as a 'special deputy', which at least gives Superman jurisdiction within Metropolis city limits.

* Similarly, ''ComicBook/TheBoys'' works on a decidedly more realistic take on Superheroes. They have PR agents and are fighting over defense contracts, among other things. It's shown that The Seven [DC analogues] spend most of their time being faces for the MegaCorp, doing very little, if any, actual hero work, since there are no villains to fight. The one time they actually try to fight evil, The Seven find out very quickly that having superpowers doesn't automatically mean they know how to fight crime. [[spoiler:Cue September 11.]]

* ''Comicbook/BlackOrchid'' doesn't just lampshade this, a mook gives a half-page CharacterFilibuster on the subject. Then he shoots the DecoyProtagonist in the head and sets her corpse on fire to make sure she's really dead.

** Also in Back in Black storyline, once Peter learns that the Kingpin was the one who hired the assassin that shot his aunt, he goes straight to the prision where the Kingpin was, but the Kingpin already expected that and is prepared to challenge Spider-Man in combat. While the Kingpin has faced Spider-Man before and often battled him to a draw, the problem is that Spidey always hold back in fear of killing him, but this time, [[BewaretheNiceOnes he]] [[IAmNotLeftHanded doesn't!]] The result: Kingpin [[CurbStompBattle is quickly]] [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown and badly beaten.]] As it turned out, no matter how [[BadassNormal skilled hand-to-hand combatant]] or [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower how strong Kingpin is]], challenging someone who is superhumanly strong and agile, has experience in fighting ''far [[UptoEleven stronger]]'' opponents and is ''really'' [[UnstoppableRage mad at you]] can't possibly end well.

* In an issue of ''[[Comicbook/TheAvengers Avengers World]]'', [[BruceLeeClone Shang-Chi]] draws strength from the tales of three warriors from Chinese history: A monk who fought off a squad of his emperor's warriors, a lawman who managed to defeat the assassin who poisoned him, and a peasant girl who single-handedly defended her village from a group of bandits. Despite the inspirational nature of the stories, Shang-Chi later notes that they all come with very unfortunate epilogues: [[DiedOfABrokenHeart The monk died of a broken heart after realizing he'd been betrayed by the emperor]], the lawman defeated his attacker but succumbed to the poison while in a hospital bed, and the peasant girl was murdered after the bandits returned and attacked her while she slept.

* As a result of his high exposure to radioactive Kryptonite, SelfDemonstrating/LexLuthor eventually got cancer. The irony is that it was thought to be without any effect on humans, except that Lex was exposed to more Kryptonite than any other human alive. (Franchise/{{Batman}} has the sense to carry his tiny piece of Kryptonite in a concealed lead-lined box. Lex, being an arrogant tool, just ''had'' to flaunt his Kryptonite on a ring.)

* Likewise, it's been shown that her teammate Siryn can be dealt with by using little more than some [[DuctTapeForEverything good ole' fashioned duct tape]]. Turns out a [[MakeMeWannaShout sonic scream]] isn't all that useful [[BoundAndGagged if you can't actually open your mouth]].
* This is the central premise of ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'': what happens to superheroes when Reality Ensues? What becomes of people who dress up in costumes but 1: They have no proper training or resources, 2: They're all at least a little unbalanced, and 3 (most importantly): are taking the law into their own hands in a world just as full of political and social complexities as the real world? They die. They go insane (presuming they weren't [[BlackAndWhiteInsanity insane already]]). [[HeWhoFightsMonsters Or they become monsters.]]

** In the latter's autobiography, he casually mentions that once the "costumed hero" phase hit its peak, most costumed villains simply gave up entirely or became regular criminals because honestly what's the point?
* Similarly, ''ComicBook/TheBoys'' works on a decidedly more realistic take on Superheroes. They have PR agents and are fighting over defense contracts, among other things. It's shown that The Seven (DC analogues) spend most of their time being faces for the MegaCorp, doing very little, if any, actual hero work, since there are no villains to fight. The one time they actually try to fight evil, The Seven find out very quickly that having superpowers doesn't automatically mean they know how to fight crime. [[spoiler: Cue September 11th.]]

* In one of the ''SecretInvasion'' tie-in issues, {{Shanna the She-Devil}} tries to [[MuggedForDisguise mug a female SHIELD agent for her uniform]]. Unfortunately, [[TapOnTheHead the Karate chop Shanna uses to knock the woman out]] (often portrayed as non-lethal in most uses of this trope) ends up accidentally ''breaking her neck'' and killing her instantly. [[spoiler: However it turns out the agent was actually a Skrull, so it's okay. I guess.]]
* ''{{ComicBook/Ant-Man}}: Season One'' tries to portray the realistic dangers behind an untrained person using SizeShifter powers. For instance, on his first outing, Pym is nearly killed and eaten by a spider.

* As a result of his high exposure to radioactive Kryptonite, SelfDemonstrating/LexLuthor eventually got cancer. The irony is that it was thought to be without any effect on humans, except that Lex was exposed to more Kryptonite than any human alive. (Franchise/{{Batman}} has the sense to carry his tiny piece of Kryptonite in a concealed lead-lined box. Lex being an arrogant tool just ''had'' to flaunt his Kryptonite on a ring.)

* ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}} joined a society dedicated to the preservation of an endangered squirrel. The idea was to tranq the last male and mate it with the last female.[[note]]Which wouldn't provide sufficient genetic diversity, but just go with it.[[/note]] They get to work, fire the tranq from the rifle from a few feet away, there's a ReactionShot of their OhCrap faces, and then one of them points out that, perhaps, they should've used a smaller dart.

* During the ''Batman: Hush'' storyline, at the start of the story Batman's rope for his grappling gun is cut causing him to fall towards the ground. He manages to grab onto a nearby statue... except that just causes his arm to snap like a twig due to the inertia of the fall. Than the old, worn-out statue breaks under Batman's added weight and Batman plummets down into the alley below. He breaks his fall somewhat but still ends up fracturing or breaking half the bones in his body. His injuries from a fall that people regularly walk away from in comics result in him nearly ''dying''.

* In an issue of ComicBook/{{Superboy}} from the ''ComicBook/{{New 52}}'', Superboy offers to fly a woman home. Shown from Superboy's perspective, it seems to be a normal trip, but when they arrive, the woman throws up and is extremely upset. Superboy then realizes that he flew at super speed without any thought to the fact that people aren't invulnerable or used to such things.
* A similar scene takes place in ''[[UltimateMarvel Ultimate Comics]]: {{Wolverine}}'' when {{Quicksilver}} grabs onto Jimmy and then runs at [[SuperSpeed superhuman speeds]]. Quicksilver is protected thanks to his mutation, but the wind speeds tear Jimmy's body to shreds, with only his HealingFactor saving his life.

** In an earlier arc, ''The Slavers'', The Punisher decides to attack a group of Former Bosnian soldiers-turned sex-slaver. A huge deal is made in earlier stories about how Castle's [[CurbStompBattle success rate]] owes mainly to his opponents being street hoods and armed thugs who're only good at intimidating people...but not this time. Castle quickly realizes his mistake when the men he's firing on quickly and methodically get under cover and start firing back, and is quickly forced to flee for his life. Turns out it doesn't matter how much of a badass you are: when you're facing combat-hardened soldiers, twenty to one are really, ''really'' bad odds.

* ''The Superior Foes Of Spider-Man'' shows that if you're TheLoad, the group or organization you work with simply isn't going to keep you around, no matter how much they like you. [[spoiler: Poor Boomerang learns this the hard way from the rest of the Sinister Six when they kick him out of the group despite him being the team founder.]]
* Franchise/{{Superman}} by his very nature avoids most of these tropes, but his official authority is often an open question. ''The Man of Steel'' averts this by having the mayor of Metropolis (as fallout from a challenge to his authority by Lex Luthor) commission Superman directly as a 'special deputy' which at least gives Superman jurisdiction within Metropolis city limits.
* In Spider-Man's "Death of Jean DeWolff" story, Spider-Man gives the Sin-Eater a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown. The next time the Sin-Eater appears, he's a stuttering, limping wreck as a result of the severe injuries he received.

* In an issue of {{Superboy}} from the ''ComicBook/{{New 52}}'', Superboy offers to fly a woman home. Shown from Superboy's perspective, it seems to be a normal trip, but when they arrive, the woman throws up and is extremely upset. Superboy then realizes that he flew at super speed without any thought to the fact that people aren't invulnerable or used to such things.

* {{Superman}} by his very nature avoids most of these tropes, but his official authority is often an open question. ''The Man of Steel'' averts this by having the mayor of Metropolis (as fallout from a challenge to his authority by Lex Luthor) commission Superman directly as a 'special deputy' which at least gives Superman jurisdiction within Metropolis city limits.