History RealityEnsues / ComicBooks

* In the X-Men story ''ComicBook/GodLovesManKills'', the villainous Reverend Stryker is preparing to execute Kitty Pryde in public on national television to make his statement against mutantkind... at which point he gets shot and detained by a nearby cop. Mutant bigotry or not, famous televangelist or not, no non-corrupt police officer would let someone shoot an unarmed teenage girl in cold blood.
* In ''ComicBook/TheGreenLantern'', Hal Jordan lets an alien grow to immense size because he knows that he'll eventually collapse under his own weight because of Square-Cube Law, which he directly namedrops.

* In her New 52 series, ComicBook/HarleyQuinn questions a group of animal rights activists protesting outside a animal shelter if they had considering adoption instead of just protesting. As it turns out, they had and pretty much all of the protesters have adopted several animals each, there are simply ''a lot'' of them at the shelter and they can only provide for so many.
* ''ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}}''
** The very first issue opens with this. Clint falls from a great height and manages to catch himself with a [[TrickArrow grappling arrow]]... but still suffers some pretty severe injuries and ends up in the hospital for six weeks.
*** Similarly, throughout the series Clint is constantly covered in bandages and injuries from his fights, and while a BadassNormal with experience fighting the likes of Ultron and Loki, he often ends up being taken down by mooks when they ZergRush him. Of course, it doesn't really matter how badass you are; being hit ''hurts'' and you can't always rely on MookChivalry.
** Also, while Clint is definitely badass and capable, it's shown there are certain situations where he's simply outclassed at best, or useless at worst. One issue has him knocked out during a fight with A.I.M., and when he wakes up, he discovers that his teammates Spider-Man and Wolverine have already won the battle without him. An issue set during Hurricane Sandy also mentions that the Avengers sent him home during the storm, as being able to shoot an arrow isn't exactly a useful skill in this situation.
** In another issue, Kate [[BoundAndGagged tapes up and gags Madame Masque]] and [[MuggedForDisguise steals her costume]]. It's shown that she needs to use padding and a wig to complete the disguise, since her body type [[MostCommonSuperpower doesn't really resemble Masque's]].
*** The incident with Madame Masque, minor as it was at the time, leads to her becoming Kate's ArchEnemy and devoting all her time and resources to destroying her as slowly and painfully as possible. Most superhero stories would ignore the fallout of such a minor confrontation, but this one goes to great lengths to show why pissing off a deeply disturbed individual like a costumed supervillain is probably not a good idea.
** That same story shows the risk of breaking into a room through the window. All of those glass shards lying around ''hurt''.
** Another issue has Kate having to swim across a flooded street. She dives underwater with her eyes open expecting to be able to see semi-normally like people do in movies. Unfortunately for Kate, movies do that for audience benefit and she quickly realizes her mistake when all she sees is vague blurs and gets bad eye strain. Upon exiting the water she lampshades this trope.
** More Kate Reality Ensues: When Kate moves to the West Coast, she ends up going against Masque's personal mooks, all by herself. Kate is a seasoned Avenger having worked with the Young Avengers and the main Avengers, and trains regularly with Clint. She's also a rather short, slimly built young woman who generally either fights enemies alongside a team or at least with Clint by her side. Just like Clint, she doesn't escape many fights without a lot of bruises and is quick to succumb to ZergRush tactics.
** In an old ''Avengers Spotlight'' story, Clint went up against a local gang. He laughed them off as a threat, but his cop friend informed him that street punks can be just as dangerous as any costumed baddie, since unlike supervillains, gangbangers don't make a habit of announcing their crimes beforehand or taking on opponents one-on-one. Clint finds out this is all too true when the gangbangers lure him into an ambush and riddle him with bullets, which later leads to him adopting an armored costume. This incident provides another RealityEnsues example: BadassNormal or no, all the skills and training in the world won't help you against a hail of gunfire.
** In the first issue of the Kate Bishop SpinOff by Kelly Thompson, Kate arrests a cyber-stalker who has been endlessly harassing a lesbian classmate he's in love with. Kate drops the guy off at the local police precinct in the following issue, only to be told that the cops can't take action since his online comments, while disgusting and creepy, aren't actually threats. When she then says she caught the guy trying to take photos of the girl in real life, the detective informs her that it'd be very hard to actually prove that in court. The detective also says that technically, the ''stalker'' is the one who has the right to press charges, since as a private investigator (and an ''unlicensed'' one at that), Kate had no legal authority to assault or detain him.
* ''ComicBook/{{Hitman}}'':
** An early issue has a memorable scene where a group of supervillains are hired to confront Tommy; Tommy takes advantage of the leader's [[MrExposition dramatic and overly-long]] [[TalkingIsAFreeAction introduction speech]] to pull his gun and [[CombatPragmatist shoot the villains]] before they can get near him.
** A plan that screams "CrazyEnoughToWork" gets {{Deconstructed|Trope}}, {{discussed|Trope}} in issue #24, where Tommy suggests that they "do something completely and totally crazy" to escape the SAS. [[GilliganCut The cover of #25 is Tommy hung upside down and bleeding and Nat unconscious on the floor with the SAS soldiers behind them holding automatic weapons.]] Turns out that, while a full-blown "EnemyMine" may not be applicable, there is such a thing as being so blood-thirstily pissed off that two opposing groups won't bother with trying to fight each other as long as they get their pound of flesh from their mutual enemy (and one side being so badass that the other gets curb-stomped so this kind of diversion doesn't makes a difference). The trope ends up being played (somewhat) straight because of other unforeseen circumstances acting up just in time and saving the protagonists.
--->'''Nat''': We keep hittin' [[TheMafia Louie's]] places 'til we got him so pissed his ass goes nuclear. Then, when the dudes got Sean call us an' arrange a meet, we lead Louie's boys onto 'em an' start the mutha of all firefights. In the confusion we get Sean out an' slip away while [[LetsYouAndHimFight the S.A.S. an' the mob shoot the hell outta each other.]] We go home. That about it? [Well] You know how in movies when some dude says "in the confusion"-- Like, "[[Franchise/StarWars In the confusion we gonna rescue the princess, pop a cap in lord Vader an' do a bunch of stuff to mess up his scary-ass death star]]"-- you know why it always works out just like the dude says? [[ThisIsReality 'Cause it's a movie, Tommy.]] We got two sets of badasses trynna kill us. We bring 'em both together with us in the middle -- what's gonna be so confusin' about that?
* ''ComicBook/Injustice2'':
** Harley Quinn was surprisingly EasilyForgiven by Batman for her actions in the [[ComicBook/InjusticeGodsAmongUs first prequel comic,]] but the US government haven't forgiven her at all, and send soldiers to apprehend her. Living a life of crime and having been party to the nuking of an entire city is not the sort of thing you can just walk away from, no matter how sincere your reformation. For that matter, the relatives of her direct victims won't forgive her either, such as [[spoiler:Pa and Ma Kent for the murders of their daughter-in-law and unborn grandchild, which drove their adopted son to evil]].
** Batman admits to [[Comicbook/BlueBeetle Ted Kord]] that bringing Superman down didn't make all the world's problems go away, and that some people still support him despite everything he's done and want him to return. [[spoiler:This extends to the Amazons, a faction of whom still support Diana and have merely lain in wait for someone like Kara to come along.]] The Regime may have fallen, but it wasn't pure evil and Batman's continued FailureHero routine isn't giving its remaining supporters much reason to change their opinions.
** Without Alfred, Bruce's workplace has become a mess and he himself isn't looking so good. Having lived most of his life with a butler who cleaned up after him and forced him to take care of himself has left him only just functioning without him.
** Ted Kord ends up going down without much of a fight after the bad guys show up at his door. He's been retired from superheroics for a long time, his costume doesn't fit and he doesn't even have most of his assets on hand. He gets a solid punch in on Comicbook/{{Deadshot}}, but one katana to the wrist and it's over. Being a superhero is ''not'' like riding a bike.
** Bringing along a KidHero with some truly destructive potential but not yet experienced for a very important mission to rescue your loved ones turns out to have catastrophic consequences, even when you assigned him to stay on guard. [[spoiler:When Blue Beetle tries to help his teammates after they were trapped inside Ra's compound, he blasts his way through when the two groups are about to resolve their issues without anymore fighting and his actions escalate to a explosion inside the animal reserve, killing countless endangered species, and making said endangered species officially extinct]].
** As Comicbook/{{Wildcat}} found out the hard way, being a BadassNormal doesn't make you immune to firearms and bullets. Bring nothing but your fists against a guy with guns on his back, you're toast. And calling their wielder a DirtyCoward [[DoomedMoralVictor still won't do you jack]].
** Ever since his identity was revealed to the public, Batman can't intimidate anyone with his DeathGlare, in-costume or out of it.
** If you are related to a mass-murdering dictator, there is a great chance [[MisplacedRetribution you will be subjected to mob scrutiny and violence, no matter if you were personally innocent of any wrong doing]]. [[spoiler:Pa and Ma Kent were evicted from Smallville just because they found and raised the alien child that turned into Superman]].
** After Grodd questions Solovar's authority once too often, the king orders his soldiers to take Grodd to the cells. [[spoiler:But instead, they hand Grodd a weapon. As Grodd contemptuously scoffs, ''he's'' their direct leader, and Solovar's contradictory nature of hating humans yet allowing humans to be protected guests in Gorilla City has left them no reason to remain loyal to him.]]
** In Issue #54, Comicbook/{{Sinestro}} tries to pull Soranik's Green Lantern ring off her fingers. It results in her overpowering and knocking him out with a giant punch construct. Turns out trying to take off a GL ring is not as easy as it seems, specially when you are unarmed.
** In Issue #70, [[spoiler:Comicbook/RasAlGhul has a moment of compassion after Killer Croc and Orca's wedding and deactivates the explosives on their bodies before wishing them farewell. However, Orca is less than impressed, chews him out for endangering her, her mate and unborn children by blowing up their heads if they step out of line or [[YouFailedMe failed him]] just before Croc tears out his arm in retaliation. Having one PetTheDog moment when you are a cruel and heartless individual will not let you get off the hook slightly]].

* Just like with Deathstroke above, Creator/ChristopherPriest plans to do this a lot to ''ComicBook/JusticeLeague''. The first issue of his run alone takes this approach to Batman's WolverinePublicity - having multiple solo adventures and leading Justice League, [[ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmericaRebirth JLA]] and [[ComicBook/DetectiveComicsRebirth Gotham Knights]] has left him exhausted and seriously sleep deprived, which results in him making mistakes that put people at risk.
* ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'': In the pre-crisis {{Crossover}} event "Crisis on Earth-A!", Johnny Thunder's criminal Earth-1 counterpart steals the [[BenevolentGenie Thunderbolt]], and uses him to prevent the Justice League from ever existing. When the ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica come to Earth-1 to investigate, Johnny has the Thunderbolt grant the powers and abilities of the Justice League to his underlings. The "Lawless League" does battle with the JSA... and are swiftly defeated, due to having zero experience with their newfound powers. As the Thunderbolt points out, Johnny's plan amounted to "sending rank amateurs against seasoned professionals".
* In general, TrickArrow-using characters like Hawkeye and Comicbook/GreenArrow tend to rely on ArtisticLicensePhysics, since in the real world, many of the trick arrows in comics would have issues with weight, balance and aerodynamics. In the ''[[Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA]]'' arc where Connor Hawke joins the team, he attempts to use some of his father's old trick arrows, only to miss many of his shots while complaining about how no sane archer could actually fire them.
* As a result of his high exposure to radioactive Kryptonite, ComicBook/LexLuthor eventually got cancer. Hey--human or superhuman, a radioactive rock is a radioactive rock. 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. (Pre-Crisis, however, Kryponite had no effect on anyone but Kryptonians. Somewhat justified as it wasn't radioactive, per se.)

* The "World Engine" story arc Creator/WarrenEllis did for ''Comicbook/TheMightyThor'' revolves around a mushroom-addicted college professor named Price, who aims to create a new race of humans by tricking Yggdrasil into thinking that the Earth has been destroyed during [[{{Gotterdammerung}} Ragnarok]]. The new humans are eventually hatched...and immediately die, because Yggdrasil had specifically created them to survive in an environment created from the charred remains of Earth, an environment that for obvious reasons, doesn't actually exist. Enchantress points out that if he weren't high on psychedelic mushrooms, Price probably would've noticed this ''glaring'' flaw in his plan. The resolution was actually foreshadowed and Lampshaded earlier in the issue, with Price telling Enchantress that exciting, dramatic climaxes don't often happen in real life.
* During the first arc of ''Comicbook/MsMarvel2014'', Kamala brags about fighting crime in the classic, "politically incorrect" (her words) costume that [[Comicbook/MsMarvel Carol Danvers]] used to wear before she became ComicBook/{{Captain Marvel|l}}. She quickly finds out that despite looking cool, [[CombatStilettos heels]] are not practical to run or fight in, and that Carol's sexy [[LeotardOfPower leotard]] gives epic wedgies. Carol had RequiredSecondaryPowers like flight that dealt with the impracticality of the costume for her and even then she ended up ditching it after a while. Kamala ''doesn't'' have those. She switches to a new, more practical suit a short time later.
** After recurring villain and Hydra hipster Chuck Worthy gets himself installed as mayor of Jersey by his connections in the City Council despite losing the election, the rightful mayor files an appeal to the Third Circuit Court, which rules in her favor and kicks him out.
** While super-villainy is cathartic, it isn't a very practical use of a young man's time. When Josh's family learns that he's Discord, they freak out and cast him out for their own safety. He finds himself living on the streets, stewing in resentment more and more each day.

* An issue of ''Comicbook/NewAvengers'' showed a realistic downside of super durability. ComicBook/{{Luke Cage|HeroForHire}}'s incredible durability means that he's extremely hard to injure but also means that if something actually ''does'' manage to hurt him, doctors aren't able to operate on him to properly repair internal injuries or even give him a shot; his skin is so strong that scalpels and needles just break when pressed against it. This results in Cage nearly dying from his injuries and spending the next several issues out-of-action as he heals the slow, hard way. Also having a nigh- invulnerable body is meaningless if your foes have knockout gas to take you down.
** In another issue, Spider-Man asks the often fan-asked question of why doesn't Tony Stark provide all the Avengers with PoweredArmor. Tony asks back "You got seven billion dollars?"
* Similarly, in an early issue of ''Comicbook/NewMutants'', Dani Moonstar injures her hand after punching out a pair of Viper's guards. While escaping, she notes that [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall they never show you that part when someone punches a bad guy on TV]].
** This is also used to tragic effect with Cypher's death. During a fight, he tries TakingTheBullet for Rahne, and winds up dying soon after from the resulting gut shot. Rahne, who was in the heat of the moment, didn't even notice what he'd done, actually berated him for getting in the way, and only realized he was dead after the fight was over.

* The aftermath of ''No Man's Land'' sees Lex Luthor elected President of the United States, and it didn't matter how evil he was, he very nearly served out a full four-year term before scandal and bankruptcy forced him out three years in. As easy as it sounds, getting rid of the most nakedly corrupt civil officers is no cakewalk, especially if they have a lot of political capital going for them.

* There are several instances in ''Comicbook/{{Powerless}}'':
** Instead of giving Peter Parker incredible superhuman abilities, the radioactive spider bite simply made him sick and disfigured one of his arms.
** The accident that blinded Matt Murdock didn't leave him with SuperSenses to compensate, and he actually ''stumbles'' when he first shows up, something that would ''never'' happen to the mainline universe version of the character. [[spoiler: During his final confrontation with Comicbook/TheKingpin's goons, Matt is easily overpowered and beaten to a pulp, before Fisk himself steps in and [[DeathByAdaptation finishes him off]].]]

* The final run of ''[[ComicBook/ThePunisherMAX Punisher MAX]]'' 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 faze 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.
** A big emphasis is placed throughout the series on how The Punisher's success rate is at least partly owing to the fact that a majority of those he targets are just low-level hoods and street thugs. Intimidating to the average joe, but completely out of their depth when it comes to actual combat. So in ''The Slavers'', where he attempts to attack what he later realizes are a group of Bosnian war veterans who ''do'' know what they're doing, he quickly realizes he's made a mistake and is forced to retreat.
** In Creator/GarthEnnis' first ''Punisher'' maxi-series, there's a subplot about a trio of vigilantes who are similar to the Punisher, but with a more realistic slant. Elite is a racist (and borderline [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Nazi]]) who primarily kills minority criminals and thinks that people of color are a drain on society. The Holy is a raving lunatic and serial killer who provides a vague justification for his crimes by claiming that he's doing "God's work" and punishing the wicked. Mr. Payback is probably the most likable of the trio, but he's also an idiot without any real military training or combat experience, and as a result, one of his rampages results in an innocent woman getting killed in the crossfire. The message seems to be that real world vigilantes are not as noble or [[ImprobableAimingSkills improbably accurate]] as the Punisher, and that real vigilantism doesn't attract the smartest or most morally upstanding people.
*** In the same story, the previously mentioned "vigilantes" decided to join forces to continue their war on "evil" and get the Punisher to lead them. However, the three all have their own views on who is evil. Elite wants to KillThePoor, Mr. Payback wants to EatTheRich, and the Holy wants to KillThemAll. This leads to Elite and Payback arguing and threatening each other since both are exactly what the other one hates, leaving the Holy as the OnlySaneMan of the group. Another issue is that by themselves, they don't know how to develop a crimefighting group and spend most of the time arguing and getting nothing done. On top of that, they think the Punisher is just going to join their group and lead it, ignoring the possibility [[spoiler: that he wants nothing to do with them and that he would much rather want them dead]].
** Ennis' ''Punisher: War Zone'' mini-series features Tim, the son of the above-mentioned Elite, as the main antagonist. During an attempt to snipe the Punisher from a tree, the boy misses and promptly gets two of his fingers shot off, forcing him to make a hasty retreat. Tim later says that people like Creator/BruceWillis make [[OnlyAFleshWound shrugging off non-fatal gunshot wounds look easy]], when in reality, getting shot often causes debilitating pain that makes it difficult to do much of anything, much less continue fighting.
** Tim's entire arc could be seen as a the more realistic take on the FromNobodyToNightmare trope. Tim is out for vengeance against TheHero and uses his wealth and resources to come up with an elaborate plan to destroy him. However, thanks to his inexperience, he continually makes stupid mistakes, and the Punisher is eventually able to figure out his identity and track him down fairly easily, since a vengeful relative is going to be the prime suspect in a case like this. After all this, the story ends with [[spoiler: the Punisher surprising Tim in his home and casually murdering him without much fanfare. No dramatic final showdown or epic last stand with a grandiose speech. Just Tim having an OhCrap reaction and Punisher shooting him in the face.]]
** The same mini-series has a scene where Lieutenant Molly von Richthofen is trapped in a house full of Mafia goons. She bursts into the room where the goons are gathered and points her gun at them, giving a BadassBoast and saying they're all under arrest. SmashCut to Molly's funeral, where the priest says there wasn't much left of her to bury after she was killed in the ensuing hail of gunfire. Thankfully, this turns out to be a DaydreamSurprise, and Molly decides to hide rather than confront the goons directly.
** A mini-series, ''The Punisher's Arsenal'', although being mostly about the [[TechnologyPorn Technology and]] GunPorn of the many weapons Frank Castle uses during his war on crime, still showcases some small but very important details: in order to maintain his skills sharp, Castle uses a lot of time for training and goes through ''a lot'' of rounds in order to familiarize with said weapons' performance when shooting. Also, DualWielding isn't easy: he trains a lot, tries to use a lesser-powered gun on his off hand whenever he can, and he makes mention that several RealLife guns are designed with right-handed shooters in mind, and wielding them left-handed means that he has to withstand hot brass flying right into his face. Also, a couple of [[CoolGun Cool Guns]] he exhibits he mentions he will ditch afterward, because they are literally TooAwesomeToUse--they had very short production runs or were highly customized right out of the factory, and thus are highly traceable.
** In the first storyline of the 2000 run of ''Marvel Knights'', the Punisher took on Ulik the Rock Troll. Even Frank's most powerful weapons could do little more than annoy Ulik. When you're fighting someone who regularly goes toe-to-toe with Comicbook/TheMightyThor, you've got to do a lot better than some fancy guns. The Punisher only survives the battle due to Daredevil bringing Ulik the magical artifact he had been seeking.
** On that same train of thought, in the 2012 version of ''Punisher: War Zone'', when being hunted by the aforementioned Thor, the Punisher tries to evade him by first blowing him up with a rocket-propelled grenade, and then by leading him into the camp of the Indonesian smugglers that Punisher is currently fighting. The first simply annoys Thor, and the second delays him for all of maybe two seconds. When Punisher defiantly tries to pull an emergency pistol on Thor, the Asgardian PhysicalGod simply lays Punisher out with a single punch.
** During his short-lived stint as the new Comicbook/WarMachine, Frank quickly found himself at odds with the Avengers. It was pointed out that while the Punisher evades capture by flying under the radar and mostly killing (relatively) smalltime criminals like gangsters and drug lords, assassinating a foreign leader while wearing the armor of a well-known Avenger was the sort of thing that the heroes of the Marvel Universe just couldn't ignore any longer. Add to it that the Avenger in question was Comicbook/CarolDanvers' ([[DeathIsCheap at the time]]) deceased boyfriend, and it's no wonder that things went south for Frank ''real'' quick.
** Also, keeping the War Machine armor up and running proves to be a challenge for Frank, who, unlike Tony Stark, is neither a genius nor impossibly rich. When the suit gets damaged, Frank has no idea how to fix it, and ends up having to force a scientist he'd taken hostage to make the necessary repairs. He later has to kidnap an A.I.M. tech in order to remove tracking nanites that had been uploaded into the suit by Hawkeye.

* A major part of ''ComicBook/{{Ruins}}'', a two-issue miniseries serving as a dark parody of ''ComicBook/{{Marvels}}'', is how the Franchise/MarvelUniverse has become a CrapsackWorld because of the real-life consequences of the events that created the mainstream continuity's super-powered beings.
** For instance, exposure to radiation is shown in a more realistic light by having the Kree's attempt at invasion brought to an end by nuclear weapons, with the surviving Kree dying of cancer in a prison camp. Bruce Banner, meanwhile is transformed into a pulsating mass of tumors rather than the Hulk, with Rick Jones having cancer from being so close to Banner when he was exposed to the gamma rays. The protagonist, Phil Sheldon, is also dying of a mutant virus that he's ultimately revealed to have gotten from [[spoiler: Peter Parker, who first contracted the virus after receiving that fateful radioactive spider bite]].
** At one point, Phil comes across a newspaper with a headline about the death of young Matt Murdock, who simply got sick and died after being exposed to the toxic chemicals that gave him his SuperSenses in the mainline continuity.
** Wolverine's adamantium skeleton seems to be poisoning his body, as the skin around his hands is visibly deteriorating.
** Mutants seem to suffer from a higher degree of PowerIncontinence in this timeline, as evidenced by Magneto needing a special device to keep his abilities in check. When the device is accidentally broken, he ends up being crushed to death by an airplane that his body's own magnetic field attracted. Comicbook/{{Mystique}}, meanwhile, suffers a fatal brain injury [[MySkullRunnethOver due to her mind being unable to adequately cope with the myriad of identities she'd assumed in a relatively short span of time]]. It's also revealed that Comicbook/{{Cyclops}}' eyes were removed by the authorities after he accidentally incinerated his family with his [[EyeBeams optic blasts]].
** Despite their superhuman abilities and superior technology, even the Avengers couldn't outfight the U.S. military. Black Panther was arrested, Hawkeye was executed, Scarlet Witch turned on her teammates to get immunity, and Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Wasp and Giant-Man were all killed after the army shot down their Quinjet.
** The cosmic rays that turned the Fantastic Four into heroes in the normal universe simply killed them in grotesque manners here, with each member's fate being a macabre (and arguably more realistic) twist on their traditional powers. Reed Richards was reduced to a stretched out skeleton, Johnny Storm caught fire on a ''cellular level'' and burned from the inside out, and Sue Storm's invisibility rendered her completely blind, since her body reflecting all forms of light also meant her eyes were unable to take in any visual input. Comicbook/DoctorDoom, the fourth member of the space flight (as Ben Grimm [[ForWantOfANail refused to go with them due to the rocket being unsafe]]), had his body changed from organic material into some kind of mineral, with his vital organs apparently left on the ''outside''.
** Sheldon briefly stumbles over the bullet-riddled corpse of the Punisher, showing that his [[OneManArmy one man war on crime]] apparently didn't work out so well in this universe.
* The ComicBook/{{Runaways}} at one point have to fight a supervillain barely a week after they last caught him because they stupidly left him tied to a lamppost with a note for the police after the first battle. The guy easily got away the second the Runaways left. This is why most heroes like ComicBook/SpiderMan directly hand over villains to police or at least make sure they're securely trapped before leaving.
** Their confrontation with ComicBook/ThePunisher has this on both sides. At the end of the day they still are just teenagers and get easy intimidated by [[TheDreaded Frank's reputation]], so they just try to flee. But once he has them cornered, Molly takes him down with a single punch, because at the end of the day he is still only human and she has SuperStrength.
* The saga of the ill-fated [[RingOfPower Freedom Ring]]:
** When he first faces the Abomination, ArchEnemy of [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk the Hulk]], Freedom Ring manages to land a few decent blows, [[OneHitKill before the villain ends the battle with a single punch]]. It's later stated that were it not for his RealityWarper abilities, Freedom Ring would never have been able to walk again.
** According to Robert Kirkman, this was the entire point of the character. Unlike the vast majority of teenage superheroes, who tend to get a handle on their powers relatively quickly, Freedom Ring continually messes up, gets his ass kicked, [[spoiler: and then [[DownerEnding dies]]]].

* The ''ComicBook/AllNewWolverine'' storyline "Old Woman Laura" is a contrast to the ''Wanted'' and ''Old Man Logan'' storylines. In this future, the villains again tried a mass attack... and were easily defeated as it's impossible to get a few thousand greedy, self-serving, power hungry criminal sociopaths to trust one another enough to form a cohesive unit, so the heroes were able to use their superior teamwork and smarts to take them down.

* ''ComicBook/AntMan: 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.

* The plot of ''Comicbook/AvengersArena'' revolves around perennial C-list joke villain Arcade kidnapping a bunch of teen superheroes and forcing them to fight to the death in Murderworld, which he thinks will finally convince people to take him seriously. The followup, ''Comicbook/AvengersUndercover'', reveals that this completely backfired. Not only can Arcade no longer leave Bagalia (since the entire superhero community is now out for his blood), but he's also ''still'' considered a joke by his peers. In the eyes of the supervillain community, Arcade now looks like a pathetic loser who had to murder a bunch of kids because he couldn't cut it against experienced heroes like Spider-Man or the X-Men. Even Comicbook/BaronZemo and the Masters of Evil make it clear they want nothing to do with him, and Zemo flatout tells Arcade that what he accomplished is nothing to brag about.
-->'''Baron Zemo:''' Tell me...which of your impressive deeds am I meant to respect most? Kidnapping? Child abuse? [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Inspired video editing?]]
* The end of ''Comicbook/AvengersDisassembled'' touches on the downside of not having a secret identity when you're a visible public figure. Comicbook/IronMan announces that thanks to a humiliating incident where Comicbook/ScarletWitch made him go on a drunken, racist tirade while speaking at the United Nations, his company's finances have taken a huge hit, meaning he can no longer fund the Avengers. As the head of a publicly-traded corporation, someone like Tony Stark needs to make sure he's keeping his shareholders happy so that stock prices don't plummet.
-->'''Tony Stark''': Realize that when someone like me has a bad day...like ''that'' day...the public humiliation...billions of dollars are lost. Thousands of ''jobs'' are lost.
* In one ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' story by Creator/JonathanHickman a group of supervillains take over a country and then send one of their members to UN to make a case for their new regime to be acknowledged. Because of circumstances he actually had a chance to convince them, when [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica Steve Rogers]] attacked him. Instead of stopping the villain by beating him, the villains got what they wanted - starting BloodOnTheDebateFloor makes your side look unreasonable and politicians more likely to side with your opponent.
** The same group of villains shows up more in his ''ComicBook/NewAvengers'' run. Their leader [[spoiler: [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]]]] gathered them to basically do horrible things for greater good. However, when you have dangerous supervillains and criminals doing things, they tend to go overboard. And the fact that [[spoiler: Namor]] has standards makes them incredibly difficult to control, as the villains aren't afraid of him. Instead it just makes them betray him even quicker than usual.
* 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: [[DeathByDespair 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.
* Another Avengers story had bush-league villain Mr. X crossing over from mainly being a Wolverine character. He's a very fit man who is also a skilled fighter, who possesses limited precognition abilities that gives him a huge advantage in fighting, as he knows what his opponent is going to do next. He's a legitmate threat to Wolverine...but Wolverine is pretty much the upper limit of what he can handle. He tries to take on Quicksilver and rapidly finds out that knowing what your opponent will do next is useless when that opponent is so fast he beats you into a bloody, semi-conscious pulp before you can even clench your fists.
* Comicbook/{{Batman}}:
** During the ''ComicBook/BatmanHush'' storyline, at the start of the story Batman's rope for his grappling gun is cut, causing him to fall toward 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. Then the old, worn-out statue breaks under Batman's added weight and Batman plummets into the alley below. He breaks his fall somewhat but still ends up fracturing or breaking half the bones in his body.
** Batman's darker villains who are ''understandably'' AdaptedOut of the cartoons ([[ButNotTooEvil or are severely toned down]]) are also an aspect of this. Since most of his battles with his enemies are psychological in nature, it was inevitable that he'd eventually go up against some truly disturbed individuals and not just crooks with a quirky gimmick. Mr. Zsasz is a straight-up serial killer, Professor Pyg is a sadistic surgeon whose mooks are mutilated and brainwashed into serving him, Black Mask is a brutal crime boss who delights in ColdBloodedTorture, etc.
** Speaking of Black Mask, this trope also applies to his death at the hands of Comicbook/{{Catwoman}}. She had him at gunpoint, but by this point he had faced off against most of the Bat Family and expected her to follow the same [[ThouShaltNotKill code against killing]] as the rest of them. What Mask didn't realize is that Selina had long been TheLancer of Batman's allies and never fully played by his rules, ''and'' Mask had tortured her brother-in-law to death and traumatized her sister. So while she doesn't ''like'' killing, she had no qualms blowing ''his'' head off.
** Over the years, some of Batman's villains, such as ComicBook/RasAlGhul, ComicBook/{{Bane}}, and ComicBook/TheRiddler, have uncovered his SecretIdentity as Bruce Wayne. The most common method is using the process of elimination to answer the question WhereDoesHeGetAllThoseWonderfulToys and deducing that, since Batman [[CrimefightingWithCash uses so much expensive gadgetry]] (the Batsuit, Batmobile, Batarangs, etc.), it is a given that he would '''''NOT''''' be some working-class guy, but rather a very wealthy citizen of Gotham, and Bruce Wayne just so happens to fit that description. This has been done not only to [[RuleOfDrama add a sense of tension]] between Batman and these villains, but also to demonstrate one of the flaws of the RichIdiotWithNoDayJob trope: One problem with having a famous SecretIdentity ''and'' loads of cash to finance a personal war on crime is that not everyone is going to fall for your ObfuscatingStupidity act, especially if you live in a world filled with superhumanly intelligent people.
** ''ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand'', on the other hand, shows what happens when your "Rich Idiot" act works too well: After a massive earthquake devastates Gotham, Bruce goes to Washington to convince Congress to send aid to the city, but ultimately fails because his reputation as a vapid celebrity prevents any of the politicians from taking him seriously.
** Mister Freeze's ice-gun was the TropeCodifier of HarmlessFreezing in the Silver Age. Post-Crisis however, Freeze has killed plenty of people using it and whenever Batman and company get hit by, the story tends to make a point about how quickly they have to escape; turning somebody into a block of ice is pretty fatal to say the least.
** In ''ComicBook/TheKillingJoke'', the unnamed comedian is hooked into a robbery by two crooks who seem to know what they're doing (though they're not as confident about this as they act to him and plan to make him a fall-guy) when they give him the "Red Hood" popsicle mask. In practice, it's a sense-confusing mess that makes it difficult for him just to walk up the factory's front stairs, and adds to the factors that turn a questionable idea into a disaster.
** In ''ComicBook/BatmanEternal'', Commissioner Gordon is framed for a crime he didn't commit. He ends up being denied bail and placed in a maximum security prison while awaiting trial, as he's a known associate of a vigilante with major resources.
** The ''DC's Beach Blanket Bad Guys Summer Special'' contains a short story about Penguin's youth. In it, young Oswald Cobblepot begins working out with a fitness trainer named Tony so that he can gain enough confidence to ask out Veronica Vreeland, the girl he's obsessed with. After mistakenly believing Tony wants Veronica for himself, [[MurderTheHypotenuse Oswald murders him]] and uses the funeral as an opportunity to finally make his move on her. Veronica promptly slaps him in the face for having the nerve to ask her out ''at a funeral'', and then tells him off for acting like a creepy stalker.
** In ''ComicBook/BatmanWhiteKnight'', Joker is cured of his insanity after Batman force feeds him a random handful of pills, becoming Jack Napier again. This turns out to only be temporary and Napier needs to keep taking a replication of that combination of pills to avoid turning back into the Joker. It also sometimes upsets his stomach.
*** Batgirl only wears a DominoMask instead of a full cowl like most versions of her. Mr. Freeze recognizes her right away since he's met her in Bruce Wayne's lab and a domino mask doesn't really hide one's identity.
*** This series does a good job of detailing the kind of problems a vigilante like Batman can cause. Napier claims that Batman's vigilantism is less about justice and more about control, and adds that it's the Dark Knight's way of salvaging what's left of his soul. Another point brought up is the DisproportionateRetribution scenario of the event that cures the Joker. Joker was briefly returning to his days as an annoying prankster, merely skating around Gotham on a scooter and goading Batman into chasing him. Batman, with his military-grade Batmobile and determination to capture Joker before he does any harm, ends up causing more damage than the Joker is. It's even revealed later on that the city diverts ''three billion dollars'' a year from flood and hurricane prevention [[DestructiveSavior just to repair the damage caused when Batman fights supervillains]]. And once Batman gets his hands on Joker, the beatdown is as violent as ever, if not more. Again, all the Joker did in the story up to this point was screw around being a nuisance. Batman's response to this gives Gotham a wake-up call and everyone begins questioning the Dark Knight's behavior and how the GCPD enables him.
*** The series as a whole also eschews the franchise's typical conceit that mental illness is in some cases untreatable and makes you a criminal mastermind, impossible to predict, or "super-sane"; instead, Joker's worsening state is shown as a slow downward spiral culminating in a desperate cry for help, and Napier publicly alleges that Arkham Asylum was a derelict piece of property renovated by the rich "gatekeepers" as a place to treat the mentally ill as prisoners instead of patients.
** In the sequel series, ''Batman: Curse of the White Knight'', Bruce, deeply affected by the events of ''White Knight'', plans to tell Gotham that he's Batman. Ruth, the creator of the Batman Devastation Fund and the woman who represents the people that profit off of Batman's war on crime, approaches Bruce and spells out to him exactly why that's a bad idea.
--->'''Ruth''': First, the stock in your companies would plummet as the FBI seized your assets and arrested you for terrorism. ''Thousands'' of people would lose their jobs-- Not just your employees, but workers all over the city as you send Gotham's economy into a tailspin, resulting in even more crime and poverty. Then you'd lose your entire fortune as you accumulated hundreds of assault charges from decades of vigilantism. Everyone you ever worked with would be charged with aiding and abetting, including the '''entire GCPD'''. You'd BEG to go to prison-- Because that's the only way you'd be safe from the dozens of super-criminals who will seek revenge.
*** This is ultimately defied, though. When Bruce finally does reveal his identity, the one thing that ''does'' happen is that Bruce goes to jail. He willingly surrenders his money to be distributed to all of Gotham, Wayne Enterprises is restructured under Lucius Fox's leadership, and the GCPD willingly accepts vigilantes into the force. The events of the series show that Bruce ultimately had a point in his crusade, and since Bruce was the only one to step forward and out himself, the rest of Wayne Enterprises gets to avoid culpability via plausible deniability.

* ''Comicbook/BlackPanther'':
** This was the basic creative impetus behind Creator/{{Christopher Priest|Comics}}'s take on the character. Priest argued that past depictions of the wider world's relation to Wakanda made no sense, as the U.S. would ''not'' sit back and let a country that advanced refuse to share its resources and technology, and they ''certainly'' wouldn't just allow a place like that to exist without constantly trying to invade it or get spies inside. Black Panther's very presence on U.S. soil often has the government walking on egg shells, since him being part of the Avengers is an international incident waiting to happen. It's also shown that he's viewed as a divisive figure, with some accusing him of being an "[[CategoryTraitor Uncle Tom]]" for palling around with people like the Avengers while refusing to help out the African-American community.
** Later in Priest's run, the new Black Panther, Kasper Cole, falls from a 62nd floor window after trying to leap onto a helicopter. He attempts to break his fall by clinging to a flagpole, noting that Spider-Man and Daredevil do it all the time, only for the flagpole to snap in half as soon as he grabs it.
** Instances of this also occurred in Don [=MacGregor=]'s previous run on the character. It's shown that many people in Wakanda are not happy with the amount of time T'Challa spends with the Avengers, as they believe it's filling his head with western ideas and causing him to neglect his own people. Also, when W'Kabi is [[TapOnTheHead hit on the head]] with the butt of a gun, the injury is so severe that he ends up in a coma and nearly dies, [[HardHead which is NOT the case for a lot of the head injuries seen in fiction]].
** In the same run, a reporter named Kevin Trueblood tries to help out T'Challa by punching a bad guy in the head. Kevin ends up breaking his hand for his troubles, and remarks that punching people always looked so easy on the TV shows he used to watch as a kid.
-->'''Black Panther''': You should not hit a man in the side of the head with your fist. The man's head is harder. Remember that!

* The first issue of ''[[Comicbook/NickSpencersCaptainAmerica Captain America: Sam Wilson]]'' opens with Sam taking a commercial flight from Arizona to New York, despite being an Avenger. As the issue progresses, it turns out that he ''has'' to fly commercial since the Avengers are currently on hard times, meaning that they have to be smart with their money. The Quinjets are so advanced that they require a prohibitively expensive amount of fuel to run, and Sam has already spent so much money on his own crime fighting operation that he doesn't have any cash left over to buy his own plane.
** In the first issue of ''All-New, All-Different Avengers'', Sam has to buy some Girl Scout cookies, with one seller being black and the other being white. He realizes picking the black kid over the white kid or vice versa would be a PR nightmare, and ends up [[TakeAThirdOption defusing the situation by tricking the girls into doing a photo op with Iron Man instead]]. He later says that everything he does is heavily scrutinized and viewed as a racial issue by the press and social media, something that often happens to high profile people of color in real life.
** The Quinjet issue returns in ''All-New, All-Different Avengers'' #4 when a villain starts causing trouble in nearby Atlantic City. Ms. Marvel instantly suggests that they're going to take the Quinjet, but Tony shoots that idea down, pointing out that they have five flyers (him, Sam, Thor, Vision and Nova) and can easily carry the non-flyers (her and Spider-Man)

* ''Comicbook/{{Daredevil}}'' in his civilian identity as attorney Matt Murdock makes a point of only ever defending those that, thanks to his LivingLieDetector powers, he knows to be innocent. As such his practice is constantly in danger of shutting down from lack of money, since the majority of criminal defendants are guilty.
** ComicBook/SheHulk had that problem as well - as She-Hulk, she would beat up bad guys then, as Jennifer Walters, defend them. She quickly realizes how much trouble that was and changes professions to be a prosecutor.
* The prologue to ''Comicbook/DarkseidWar'' opens on a man named Wilson Morgan, who has recently developed [[ShockAndAwe electrical abilities]] after surviving the Amazo Virus. Using his new powers, he sets out to rescue his neighbor's daughter from a kidnapper. The narration notes that in spite of his incredible new abilities, Wilson is still just an overweight laundromat owner who has no combat training or crime-fighting experience to speak of. He rushes in and tries to zap the kidnapper, and is immediately shot to death.

* ''Comicbook/{{Deathstroke}}''
** Creator/{{Christopher Priest|Comics}}'s ''ComicBook/DeathstrokeRebirth'':
*** There is a more realistic take on the HealingFactor power seen in a lot of comics. Slade is exposed to radiation during a battle near a nuclear submarine reactor, and begins to go blind as a result. When someone says his regenerative abilities should make that impossible, Tanya Spears points out that his healing factor isn't magic. It can heal damaged and diseased body parts, not grow new organs to replace dead ones. He ends up needing a full corneal transplant to be able to see again.
*** The run goes to great lengths to subvert and demolish the idea that Deathstroke is a heroic AntiHero or AntiVillain. Even though he has some PetTheDog moments and it's clear that he deeply loves his children, Slade is still consistently shown to be a horrible, screwed-up person who is incapable of forming healthy human relationships. Wintergreen even lampshades this at one point, saying that while people like to use colorful terms like "anti-hero" to describe him, there's really no way a manipulative killer like Slade could ever be considered a good person.
*** During a drug-fueled rampage, Jericho punches his sister, Rose, in the face while wearing his Ikon Suit. Most superhero stories wouldn't treat this a particularly notable event, but Rose actually ends up in the hospital with a serious skull fracture and is later shown with a number of stitches on her shaved head.
** A much earlier example was the aftermath of ''Comicbook/TheJudasContract'' back during Marv Wolfman's ''New Comicbook/TeenTitans'' run. After being arrested and put on trial for a kidnapping, Slade actually managed to avoid the charges when his lawyer pointed out that due to the face-concealing mask Deathstroke wears, nobody could reasonably be sure it was really Slade Wilson in the suit and not a CostumeCopycat. Ultimately, the only thing the prosecutor was actually able to make stick was a minor charge for illegal gun ownership, which briefly got Slade sent to a white collar prison.

* ''ComicBook/DoomsdayClock'' applies this to ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}''. What happens when [[spoiler:Ozymandias's grand scheme involving the alien destroying New York and bringing about world peace]] gets discovered? People ''flip the fuck out'' and bring the world to the brink of nuclear war. Also, this goes for [[spoiler:Dr. Manhattan leaving that Earth for the DC Universe]]: he's not staying put to see the world go to shit over this "prank".
** [[spoiler: Rorschach II]] tries to explain to Batman what is going on and gives him [[spoiler: first Rorschach's journal]] to read. Upon reading, Batman decided that [[spoiler: Rorschach is insane and locks him in Arkham Asylum]].

* Mark Waid's ''{{ComicBook/Empire}}'' revolves around a Lex Luthor-style supervillain named Golgoth finally managing to unite his fellow supervillains and taking over the world. After he does so, he proceeds to learn the hard way that his supposed allies are far more of a threat to him than the heroes ever were. They all wanted to take over the world too and are all just as amoral as Golgoth, so he's now constantly fighting off rebellions and assassination attempts, all while hopelessly trying to keep his court under control.

* In ''Franchise/TheFlash'' comics set before the Flash gained a full connection with the Speed Force, he struggled with a bunch of [[LogicalWeakness realistic weaknesses]] caused by his superspeed. His upper limit was about the speed of sound as any faster would tear his body apart, he had to eat ''constantly'' (his body now required massive amounts of calories to fuel his enhanced metabolism), and his uniform had to be made of special low friction materials to keep it from being incinerated by his vibrations (and required frequent repairs or replacements). When Flash finally forged a full connection with the Speedforce, he gained all the RequiredSecondaryPowers he needed to make his superspeed completely useful rather than AwesomeButImpractical.
* In ''ComicBook/ForeverEvil'' issue 1, Ultraman pushes the moon into the sun to create a solar eclipse. In Black Manta's Villain's Month issue, Ultraman's act causes tides to go wild; flooding coastal areas. This includes demolishing the graveyard where Black Manta's father is buried, and [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge he's not happy about that]].
* The ComicBook/New52 version of Ocean Master is a NobleDemon with a code of honour, a complicated relationship with ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}, a DarkAndTroubledPast including ParentalAbuse ''and'' [[spoiler:ParentalAbandonment]], a humanising love interest and surrogate son, and is contrasted with far more vile villains like Black Manta and [[spoiler:Atlan]], putting him square in the middle of TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil. Obviously he's going to be a long-running WorthyOpponent of Aquaman, a sometime ally, sometime enemy who may even eventually undergo a HeelFaceTurn, right? Well, no.\\
He lead an invasion of the surface world that killed thousands, and even though he was tricked into it as part of someone else's evil plan, he still bears responsibility for those deaths. He ends up in Blackgate looking at multiple life sentences [[DeathRow if he's lucky]], and while he escapes during the ''ComicBook/ForeverEvil'' event, he can never go back to Atlantis or come out of hiding, since if the superheroes or regular authorities ever get their hands on him, he's going right back. Given how many other sympathetic/morally ambiguous villains are EasilyForgiven or get the DracoInLeatherPants treatment, it's almost shocking to see one face lasting consequences for their actions.
** Despite being historically Aquaman’s arch nemesis and ticking all the boxes for a recurring villain, he straight up disappears from the comics for what amounts to years in RealLife and over a year in universe. It’s eventually revealed that he basically hid at his girlfriend’s place for months, making no plans for revenge or attempts to retake Atlantis, but just trying to stay off everybody’s radars, which is what one of the most wanted fugitive should in the world would realistically do. He returns as an antagonist in Mera’s miniseries, plays a brief role in a CrisisCrossover and hasn’t been seen since.

** For the longest time, there were many factions and individuals that, based on their respective showings, could've defeated Dr. Robotnik/Eggman very easily. In particular, the echidna civilizations would've delivered a CurbStompBattle if they fought him. Instead they allowed him to continue since he wasn't a serious threat to them and he kept the other minor threats under control, even though his schemes have endangered them one way or another and he was aware of them from his time in the royal court of Mobotropolis. Eventually, because they gave him free reign to do whatever he wanted, Robotnik was able to improve his technology to the point that, with some minor help, he could attack them directly and raze their civilizations to the ground.

** The ''DC's Beach Blanket Bad Guys Summer Special'' contains a short story about Penguin's youth. In it, young Oswald Cobblepot begins working out with a fitness trainer named Tony so that he can gain enough confidence to ask out Veronica Vreeland, the girl he's obsessed with. After mistakenly believing Tony wants Veronica for himself, [[MuderTheHypotenuse Oswald murders him]] and uses the funeral as an opportunity to finally make his move on her. Veronica promptly slaps him in the face for having the nerve to ask her out ''at a funeral'', and then tells him off for acting like a creepy stalker.

** PlayedForLaughs (the BlackComedy kind) when Orson accidentally kills the abusive ex-boyfriend of a burlesque dancer he'd befriended by knocking the man off a first story balcony:

-->'''Orson:''' Wow. Who freakin' dies falling one story?

** In the same story, Orson kidnaps Annie's cohort Dr. Blumstein in order to force him to treat her. Blumstein is quick to point out that he's merely a reconstructive surgeon with a specialty in cosmetic procedures; [[OmnidisciplinaryScientist brain injuries are completely outside his wheelhouse]], and he advises Orson to take Annie to a hospital.

** A vast majority of attempts to stop a zombie bite from killing a person via amputating the bitten limb has ended with the person dying anyway due to the resulting blood loss or bacterial infection. One of the only times where it did succeed ([[spoiler: With Dale]]) was only because the infectee was immediately taken to a sterilized environment and had the limb amputated by someone with extensive medical experience.

* Another Avengers story had bush-league villain Mr. X crossing over from mainly being a ComicBook/Wolverine character. He's a very fit man who is also a skilled fighter, who possesses limited precognition abilities that gives him a huge advantage in fighting, as he knows what his opponent is going to do next. He's a legitmate threat to Wolverine...but Wolverine is pretty much the upper limit of what he can handle. He tries to take on ComicBook/Quicksilver and rapidly finds out that knowing what your opponent will do next is useless when that opponent is so fast he beats you into a bloody, semi-conscious pulp before you can even clench your fists.

* Another Avengers story had bush-league villain Mr. X crossing over from mainly being a ''ComicBook/Wolverine'' character. He's a very fit man who is also a skilled fighter, who possesses limited precognition abilities that gives him a huge advantage in fighting, as he knows what his opponent is going to do next. He's a legitmate threat to Wolverine...but Wolverine is pretty much the upper limit of what he can handle. He tries to take on ''ComicBook/Quicksilver'' and rapidly finds out that knowing what your opponent will do next is useless when that opponent is so fast he beats you into a bloody, semi-conscious pulp before you can even clench your fists.

** A lawyer is given the impossible task of defending an obviously guilty mobster. He hits upon the novel defense that in a world of evil twins, shapechangers, and even people coming back from the dead, is there such a thing as "guilty beyond a reasonable doubt?"

* In one of the ''ComicBook/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.]]

** In ''Marvel Team-Up'' #20, Stegron knocks Spider-Man unconscious and hurls him off an airship. Black Panther catches him by swinging from the Quinjet, but notes that had his timing been off by even a fraction of a second, [[CatchAFallingStar Spidey's momentum likely would've killed them both]].

** In ''Marvel Team-Up'' #20, Stegron knocks Spider-Man unconscious and hurls him off an airship. Black Panther catches him by swinging from the Quinjet, but notes that had his timing been off by even a fraction, [[CatchAFallingStar Spidey's momentum likely would've killed them both]].

** Similarly, in an early Comicbook/PostCrisis ''Superman'' issue, Bloodsport shoots Superman with a Kryptonite bullet. Superman's invulnerability makes it difficult to perform surgery on him, and a doctor ends up having to expose him to Kryptonite ''again'' just so his wound can be sutured shut.

** During Comicbook/{{Magneto}}'s second encounter with the team during the classic Creator/ChrisClaremont run, he was slashed in the back by Wolverine and then pummeled by ''Comicbook/{{Colossus}}''. Even though Magneto ultimately fought them off and escaped, he angrily noted that he'd be unable to continue with his current plan for world domination, as his wounds were likely going to take ''months'' to heal. Given the way most superhero comics treat bone-breaking blows and visceral lacerations as minor inconveniences at best, seeing a semi-realistic acknowledgement of just how long it can take for the human body to recuperate after being seriously injured is quite surprising.

** Despite her perpetually optimistic demeanor, the TraumaCongaLine Virginia experiences throughout her childhood (witnessing a murder, dealing with an abusive mother, having her face slashed, losing her father to cancer, having two of her friends die, and getting kidnapped and threatened with sexual assault ''multiple times'') has taken a toll on her and caused a host of mental and emotional issues. The most evident of these is her disturbing propensity to respond to problems (even minor ones) with extreme violence, such as when she almost pulls a knife on Eli's cousin after he insults her. She also displays signs of PTSD, such as [[PrefersRocksToPillows sleeping on the floor instead of in her bed]].

** Despite her perpetually optimistic demeanor, the TraumaCongaLine Virginia experiences throughout her childhood (witnessing a murder, dealing with an abusive mother, having her face slashed, losing her father to cancer, having two of her friends die, and getting kidnapped and threatened with sexual assault ''multiple times'') has taken a toll on her and caused a host of mental and emotional issues. The most evident of these is her disturbing propensity to respond to problems (even minor ones) with extreme violence, such as when she almost pulls a knife on Eli's cousin after he insults her.

** Despite her perpetually optimistic demeanor, the TraumaCongaLine Virginia experiences throughout her childhood (witnessing a murder, dealing with an abusive mother, having her face slashed, losing her father to cancer, having two of her friends die, and getting kidnapped and threatened with sexual assault ''multiple times'') has taken a toll on her and given her a host of mental and emotional issues. The most evident of these is her disturbing propensity to respond to problems (even minor ones) with extreme violence, such as when she almost pulls a knife on Eli's cousin after he insults her.

** In the [[ComicBook/RainbowRowellsRunaways 2017 series]], Nico, Gert, and Chase's efforts to reunite the team cause havoc in the lives of their teammates, as Molly becomes an outcast at school because the team attacked her best friend's house, Karolina's girlfriend dumps her because she keeps blowing off dates to hang out with her teammates, and Victor is so traumatized from his failed career with the Avengers that he voluntarily had his head separated from his body. When the team finally gets around to finding Klara, she refuses to return, as she's finally living in a stable, safe environment and the Runaways are constantly getting attacked by supervillains.

-->'''Ruth''': First, the stock in your companies would plummet as the FBI seized your assets and arrested you for terrorism. ''Thousands'' of people would lose their jobs-- Not just your employees, but workers all over the city as you send Gotham's economy into a tailspin, resulting in even more crime and poverty. Then you'd lose your entire fortune as you accumulated hundreds of assault charges from decades of vigilantism. Everyone you ever worked with would be charged with aiding and abetting, including the '''entire GCPD'''. You'd BEG to go to prison-- Because that's the only way you'd be safe from the dozens of super-criminals who will seek revenge.
** This is ultimately defied, though. When Bruce finally does reveal his identity, the one thing that ''does'' happen is that Bruce goes to jail. He willingly surrenders his money to be distributed to all of Gotham, Wayne Enterprises is restructured under Lucius Fox's leadership, and the GCPD willingly accepts vigilantes into the force. The events of the series show that Bruce ultimately had a point in his crusade, and since Bruce was the only one to step forward and out himself, the rest of Wayne Enterprises gets to avoid culpability via plausible deniability.