History TheWorfEffect / ComicBooks

** ''ComicBook/SpiderVerse'' has been pretty bad with this, having the Inheritors essentially wipe out anyone and anything that gets in their way. They've romped the Fantastic Five, ComicBook/TheNewWarriors, [[WesternAnimation/SpiderManAndHisAmazingFriends the Spider-Friends]], [[WesternAnimation/SpiderManUnlimited a city's worth of Beastmen]], [[PhysicalGod a Spider-Man with the Enigma Force]], even friggin' [[Series/SpiderManJapan Leo]][[HumongousMecha pardon]]!

** Scorpion is also a frequent victim of this overlapping with BadassDecay. From his debut he was intended to be the AlwaysSomeoneBetter to Spidey as real life scorpions prey on spiders and actually knocked Peter out cold in their first bout. Unfortunately for Gargan afterwards the majority of his fights with Spidey and his superhero allies consist of him getting punked on a regular basis (ComicBook/CarolDanvers kicked his ass in literally her second issue). In ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan2013'' Doc Ock in Spidey's body accidentally punches Scorpion's jaw off, making Scorp's originally billed status as being stronger and tougher than Peter all such empty air. Ironically Scorpion actually suffered this more when he was powered by the Venom symboite, as despite having twice as much strength as the new Venom, all ever he did was get pounded by other characters like Luke Cage and Swordsman III in ''ComicBook/DarkAvengers''.

* DC's WizardsAndWitches have terrible luck outside their own comics. ComicBook/{{Zatanna}}, ComicBook/DoctorFate and [[Characters/HellblazerJohnConstantine John Constantine]] are god-like magicians whose powers and feats, especially in Zatanna's case, often go well into fourth wall breaking Mister Mxyzptlk overpowered absurdity. Yet in the majority of Justice League or other stories ''ComicBook/SupermanUpInTheSky'' for example their magic is rendered completely useless by some new power or villain and Zee, John and Fate all get their butts handed to them. Raven from the ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' is in the same boat as she's easily more powerful than all of the rest of the Titans combined and can even defeat her GodOfEvil father Trigon when she fully lets loose, but she's far more commonly sent flying by or knocked out the regular VillainOfTheWeek just to make them look intimidating.

** Likewise, ComicBook/DoctorDoom occasionally suffers this, whether from ComicBook/{{Dazzler}}, ComicBook/LukeCage or other new heroes, or to show how tough a new villain is (e.g. Millar's promise of a "Master of Doom"). Thank Kirby for [[ActuallyADoombot Doombots]], eh? Though in the case of ComicBook/SquirrelGirl it appears she genuinely did kick his ass, given Doom has a unmistakable TraumaButton when within Doreen and her squirrels’ presence.

* ComicBook/{{Rogue}} often fills this role for ComicBook/XMen, ''especially'' in ''WesternAnimation/XMenTheAnimatedSeries''.

* ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'': Solomon Grundy is a Hulk-esque character but not being a hero like Hulk means he's regularly on the receiving end of the Worf Effect. It's strange considering throughout his early appearances in the Silver and Bronze Age, Grundy was actually the one beating Green Lantern and Superman himself multiple times. In modern comics however whenever Grundy shows up he's just there to be a big zombie punching bag who makes other often far physically weaker characters ([[https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTGCwwYAyAvjbTYhEiZLySMC5qObnMI65X63w&usqp=CAU usually]] [[https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-7ff48144a2ecca6632c6bbe4c2f6eea1-lq Batman]]) look cool. In Tom King's run, Gotham Girl beats Grundy up simply for sake of shilling her. Grundy's strength fluctuates, as while he has bad luck against Gotham City characters against other characters like Superman and JL members he's still portrayed as a serious threat fully capable of throwing the Man of Steel around like a beach ball. The explanation offered by DC is that Grundy's strength and intelligence fluctuates depending on his ResurrectiveImmortality aka he’s StrongAsTheyNeedToBe.

* In fairness to Galactus, plenty of Marvel’s other cosmic beings typically get worfed to establish a new threat or raise the stakes. The Watcher has gotten clocked by Red Hulk (an elderly GeneralRipper DrunkWithPower) and almost killed by the Orb (a man for a giant eye for a head). The Living Tribunal has gotten slain by the Beyonders with their body unceremoniously dropped on Marvel’s moon. The Celestials for the most part have been sparred from jobbing, with Thor only able to achieve ScratchDamage to Exitar. However in later modern comics, the Celestial Gardener in ''ComicBook/UncannyAvengers'' is destroyed by the Apocalypse Twins and in ''ComicBook/JasonAaronsAvengers'' the Celestials get worfed by the Dark Celestial forcing PunyEarthling Avengers to have to help them out. There’s also the Beyonder who has been beaten up and defeated a fair amount, though granted he invokes ILetYouWin often to make things more interesting for him.

* There is also a ''group'' that serves this effect: ComicBook/TheIlluminati (a secret society composed by ComicBook/IronMan, [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]], [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]], [[ComicBook/ProfessorX Charles Xavier]], ComicBook/BlackBolt and Comicbook/DoctorStrange). They are supposed to exchange information so they can coordinate their respective teams and prevent the great crisis. Still, when each new crisis begins (''ComicBook/CivilWar2006'', ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion2008'', ''ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen''), the Illuminati have a secret meeting where they decide that there is nothing they can do.

* ComicBook/Eternals2021 does this to Thanos in a rare non-fighting, just-talking case. After [[spoiler:becoming Prime Eternal]], he pays a visit to his grand-uncle [[OmnicidalManiac Uranos]] in his cell, where he has been for millenia for trying to wipe all non-eternal life from the universe. The first thing Uranos does when meeting his grand-nephew is calling him a disappointment for ONLY [[ComicBook/TheInfinityGauntlet killing half of the universe]] and claiming that he lacked commitment. His genocidal prowess is [[ComicBook/JudgmentDayMarvelComics later]] proved true when [[spoiler: he gets out of his cell just for a single hour and massacres the mutant population on Mars]].

* In fairness to Galactus, plenty of Marvel’s other cosmic beings typically get worfed to establish a new threat or raise the stakes. The Watcher has gotten clocked by Red Hulk (an elderly GeneralRipper DrunkWithPower) and almost killed by the Orb (a man for a giant eye for a head). The Living Tribunal has gotten slain by the Beyonders with their body unceremoniously dropped on Marvel’s moon. The Celestials for the most part have been sparred jobbing with Thor only able to achieve ScratchDamage to Exitar. However in later modern comics, the Celestial Gardener in ''ComicBook/UncannyAvengers'' is destroyed by the Apocalypse Twins and in ''ComicBook/JasonAaronsAvengers'' the Celestials get worfed by the Dark Celestial forcing PunyEarthling Avengers to have to help them out. There’s also the Beyonder who been beaten and defeated up a fair amount, though granted he invokes a ILetYouWin often to make things more interesting for him.

* ''ComicBook/DoctorStrange'': The Sorcerer Supreme himself one of the top tier most powerful characters in Marvel period so in a similar case to Silver Surfer above (just with cosmic space traded out for otherworldly dimensions) he often gets his wizard butt kicked whenever a mystical threat is introduced or other magic users, especially [[Characters/ScarletWitch Wanda]], need to look especially awesome and OP. Like Thor, Strange is also often used to make Ghost Rider look extra cool when the flaming skeleton makes the good doctor quake in fear in a confrontation. At other times it’s case of Strange requiring help from other sorcerers like Kaluu and his ActionGirlfriend Clea after he’s been worfed. Worth noting Strange does have consistently good luck against more comparatively grounded opponents with even World Breaker Hulk getting wrecked by him.

** Gorr the God Butcher from ''ComicBook/ThorGodOfThunder2012'' is one of the more effective examples of this in recent history. Before we even see him in the flesh he’s killed thousands gods across the universe and Thor makes clear in his thought boxes after having fought him once in his youth he absolutely dreads the prospect of fighting Gorr again. Keep in mind Thor is a BoisterousBruiser who’s gone up against beings as mighty as Thanos or the Celestials, Gorr however he hates having to fight because he’s not a warrior just a cosmic SerialKiller. We soon see why Thor’s fear is completely justified with Gorr being able to fight and defeat three versions of Thor and almost kill every god in existence.

** Thor got this treatment by most of the Phoenix Five in ''ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen''.

* There is also a ''group'' that serves this effect: ComicBook/TheIlluminati (a secret society composed by ComicBook/IronMan, [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]], [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]], [[ComicBook/ProfessorX Charles Xavier]], ComicBook/BlackBolt and Comicbook/DoctorStrange). They are supposed to exchange information so they can coordinate their respective teams and prevent the great crisis. Still, when each new crisis begins (''ComicBook/CivilWar2006'', ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'', ''ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen''), the Illuminati have a secret meeting where they decide that there is nothing they can do.

** Scorpion is also a frequent victim of this overlapping with BadassDecay. From his debut he was intended to be the AlwaysSomeoneBetter to Spidey as real life scorpions prey on spiders and actually knocked Peter out cold in their first bout. Unfortunately for Gargan afterwards the majority of his fights with Spidey and his superhero allies consist of him getting punked on a regular basis (ComicBook/CarolDanvers kicked his ass in literally her second issue). In ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan'' Doc Ock in Spidey’s body accidentally punches Scorpion’s jaw off, making Scorp’s originally billed status as being stronger and tougher than Peter all such empty air. Ironically Scorpion actually suffered this more when he was powered by the Venom symboite, as despite having twice as much strength as the new Venom, all ever he did was get pounded by other characters like Luke Cage and Swordsman III in ''ComicBook/DarkAvengers''.

* ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'': It has ''always'' happened to The Vision since about the 80's. Prior to that, he was often shilled as the Avengers' greatest powerhouse, and had a lot of day-saving moments; however, he since got taken advantage of for being an android and thus destructible, so he is far more likely now to be torn apart or have his phasing tricks turn out to be useless.
* ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'': The Wrecking Crew have an ounce of credibility from being old Thor villains with incredible strength and mystically powered construction weapons, but adamantly yelling that you've fought Thor doesn't mean much when you can be taken down by low-power heroes like ComicBook/SpiderWoman. ComicBook/SpiderMan once joked that everyone seems to beat them up sooner or later; subsequent encounters with the ComicBook/{{Runaways}} and ComicBook/ThePunisher of all people have showed he's probably right. Some writers have played with this, however... The team shares energy from a single pool. If the leader simply kept all the power for himself he would be a serious threat, but if nothing else the rest of the crew are TrueCompanions, and he's not willing to leave even one of them depowered even if the power boost would make everyone else an actual threat.
* To an end, despite (or perhaps because of) his badassery, a good half of the numerous, [[WolverinePublicity seemingly omnipresent cameos]] ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} makes in various issues involve him being beaten within an inch of his life and thrown through something. [[GoodThingYouCanHeal Fortunately]], his HealingFactor fixes him up in a split, allowing him to move to the next. A really hardcore badass ''{{kill|edOffForReal}}s'' an alternate reality Wolverine - whom no-one will ever miss - without blinking, thereby proving his badassness without causing complications. Hyperion in ''ComicBook/{{Exiles}}'' vaporized a Wolverine, and Thanos' goons in ''ComicBook/NewAvengers'' #24 killed the entire X-Men (including Wolverine) off-panel. The most outrageous example happened in ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan'' #33, in which Karn, one of [[Characters/SpiderManTheInheritors the Inheritors]] (re: Morlun and his family), who flash-fries Wolverine down to his adamantium skeleton. Spider-Man remarked "I don't know who he is, but he just killed Logan which I didn't think was possible!"

* ComicBook/IronMan tends to get hit by this, for similar reasons to Wolverine (he's well-known, he's powerful enough for it to be impressive but not so powerful for it to be stupid, the fact that [[GoodThingYouCanHeal he can just rebuild his armor]] means that he can suffer massive damage without killing him), but a particular one is [[ManOfKryptonite his "Buster" armors]]. After their unveiling, and the initial hype of "Oh, my god, [[CrazyPrepared Iron Man built an armor]] to defeat Hulk/Thor/Phoenix/Galactus/the Celestials!", their inevitable fate is for the person they were designed to defeat [[ScissorsCutsRock to promptly rip them limb from limb]]. ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' is the only time Hulkbuster has actually lived up to its purpose and defeated the Hulk (who admittedly isn't quite as powerful in the MCU as he in the comics, but still it counts).

* This trope might as well be called the [[ComicBook/TheVision Vision]] Effect, since this has ''always'' happened to ComicBook/TheAvengers' Vision since about the 80's. Prior to that, he was often shilled as the Avengers' greatest powerhouse, and had a lot of day-saving moments; however, he since got taken advantage of for being an android and thus destructible, so he is far more likely now to be torn apart or have his phasing tricks turn out to be useless.
* The Wrecking Crew now exist entirely for this purpose. They have an ounce of credibility from being old [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] villains with incredible strength and mystically powered construction weapons, but adamantly yelling that you've fought Thor doesn't mean much when you can be taken down by low-power heroes like ComicBook/SpiderWoman. ComicBook/SpiderMan once joked that everyone seems to beat them up sooner or later; subsequent encounters with the ComicBook/{{Runaways}} and ComicBook/ThePunisher of all people have showed he's probably right.
** Some writers have played with this, however... The team shares energy from a single pool. If the leader simply kept all the power for himself he would be a serious threat, but if nothing else the rest of the crew are TrueCompanions, and he's not willing to leave even one of them depowered even if the power boost would make everyone else an actual threat.

* In ''ComicBook/SalvationRun'' (which was basically a story where DC Comics' government agencies tried to do away with the issue of [[CardboardPrison cardboard prisons]] by teleporting as many super villains to a distant planet without a way back), the villains organize into two groups. Teen Titans villain Psimon attempts to take control and suggest building their own society, only for the Joker to beat him to death with a rock. To put this in context, Psimon has very powerful telepathic AND telekinetic abilities, while Joker is more or less a normal man, and Joker kills him effortlessly. Made even worse by the fact that Joker doesn't ambush him or anything: he first beans Psimon with a smaller thrown rock (which just seems to hurt a lot, not stun or disable Psimon) and then runs up to him with a bigger rock in his hand before he bashes Psimon across the cranium and then proceeds with his murder. PopularityPower to the max.
** The above is just one example, as ''Salvation Run'' in practice is more or less a 7-issue celebration of this trope. Martian Manhunter suffers yet another of his many worfings here, as the villains promptly ZergRush him after he is exposed and he just stands there and lets them instead of taking to the sky, or breaking out his telekinesis, or doing any of the dozens of things the character could have done in the situation. He's promptly shoved in a flaming cage and kept near-death for the rest of the storyline. Most of the other cases are EvilVersusEvil matchups, but a particular shout-out needs to be made for the very ugly handling of Monsieur Mallah and the Brain, DC's first confirmed gay villains (and among their first confirmed gay characters period). The duo are savagely murdered in a CurbStompBattle by Gorilla Grodd, who expresses a [[UnfortunateImplications suspicious level of disgust]] at the mere suggestion of teaming up with them.

** ''ComicBook/KravensLastHunt'' is a superbly effective example of this with the [[Characters/MarvelComicsKravenTheHunter titular hunter]] proving he is a force to be reckoned with after years of VillainDecay. He attacks Spidey out of nowhere with a tranquilliser dart, easily prevents Peter from escaping and pulls out a gun and shoots Wall Crawler… with a sleeping drug but it ''could'' been a bullet as Kraven notes to Spidey after the latter dug his way out of the grave Kraven had built. If that wasn’t enough he also single handedly defeated another villain Vermin whom Spidey was unable to defeat without Cap’s help. Kraven proved he was more dangerous and superior to Peter which is all he really wanted [[spoiler:committing suicide by in the end of the comic]]. This comic alone shot Kraven to the top tier of Spider-Man and Marvel in general’s greatest villains [[spoiler: though this newfound popularity among readers meant his death (much to his annoyance) was undone.]]

* Generally, this trope is often combined with CListFodder when introducing new superheroes. One way of immediately establishing some 'street cred' for a rookie hero is to have them defeat a couple of obscure C- and D-list villains.

** Killer Croc out of all Batman’s RoguesGallery suffers this the most, despite being explicitly a metahuman. While fellow powerhouses like Clayface and Bane often have circumstantial or technical excuses for their clobberings at the hands of the heroes (Clayface in particular cannot beaten by Batman in a straight fight and requires tools to be defeated), Killer Croc meanwhile just jobs like clockwork to all the assorted Robins, Batgirls, Nightwing, Red Hood and the Dark Knight whenever writers want the Bat-Family to look strong and badass. In one New 52 comic Batman literally bridles Croc like a horse to save a de-powered Superman. Particularly sad considering Croc spent his first appearances being a SmarterThanTheyLook menace who kicked the shit of Batman, almost killing him multiple times before he TookALevelInDumbass and got BadassDecay.
*** Ironically, Croc has better luck outside Batman comics as seen in ''ComicBook/SuicideSquad'' where he’s held his own against the likes of King Shark and even General Zod.

* [[Characters/GreenLantern1941 Solomon Grundy]] might as well be the poster boy for this in the DCU, being Hulk-esque character but not being a hero like Hulk means he’s regularly on the receiving end of the Worf Effect. It’s strange considering throughout his early appearances in the Silver and Bronze Age, Grundy was actually the one Worfing Green Lantern and Superman himself multiple times. In modern comics however whenever Grundy shows up he’s just there to be a big zombie punching bag who makes other often far physically weaker characters ([[https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTGCwwYAyAvjbTYhEiZLySMC5qObnMI65X63w&usqp=CAU usually]] [[https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-7ff48144a2ecca6632c6bbe4c2f6eea1-lq Batman]]) look cool. In Tom King’s run, the aforementioned Gotham Girl beats Grundy up simply for sake of shilling her. Egregiously Grundy’s strength fluctuates, as while he has bad luck against Gotham City characters against other characters like Superman and JL members he’s still portrayed as a serious threat fully capable of throwing the Man of Steel around like a beach ball. The explanation offered by DC is that Grundy’s strength and intelligence fluctuates depending on his ResurrectiveImmortality aka he’s StrongAsTheyNeedToBe.

** When ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} fights ComicBook/{{Bizarrogirl}}, her counterpart is definitely a match for her. Later, both girls happen upon a [[PlanetEater godship]]'s spawn which Bizarrogirl attacks right away. Her punch does nothing, and the critter merely tail-whips Bizarrogirl across Bizarro Metropolis.

* Speaking ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'', similar to Rogue from X-Men Diana suffers from this regularly in both the ''Justice League'' comics and cartoons which is the price to pay for being the main super strong ActionGirl of the team.
** Despite being able to match Superman in strength and being supposedly “the greatest fighter” in DC, writers absolutely love to have Wondy job against numerous villains e.g breaking her hand punching Mongul in the face in “For the Man who Has Everything” to failing to kill Apex Lex even with her Atom Slicing sword before getting whooped in ''ComicBook/JusticeLeague2018''.
** Not helping this is moments like Batman claiming Wondy has no weakness — yet historically powerful magic, powerful weapons, greater strength and regular old bullets can all seriously hurt or outright kill Diana. Although in fairness, it was more Batman saying she doesn’t have a specific KryptoniteFactor like Supes, not that she’s literally invincible overall.
** The most common Worfing technique Diana gets is being wrapped up by her own lasso (something that dates back to her [[ComicBook/WonderWomanCharlesMoulton golden age comics]]), which you would think she’d have ways to prevent from happening by now, but both evil Superman from an AlternateUniverse and Batwoman in the ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'' comic are able to wrap Wondy’s lasso around her throat.

* Generally, this trope is often combined with CListFodder when introducing new superheroes. One way of immediately establishing some 'street cred' for a rookie hero is to have him or her defeat a couple of obscure C- and D-list villains.

* ''ComicBook/HeroesInCrisis'' 2# has a particular egregious example of this with ComicBook/HarleyQuinn delivering the Worf Effect to the Trinity, getting the jump on Wonder Woman and grabbing the lasso off her before wrapping it around Batman’s throat and making him reveal where he keeps Kryptonite on his belt so she can take out Supes and escape. The comic seems forget/wilfully ignore the fact both Wonder Woman and Superman are absolutely fast enough to take Harley out before she has time to think, let alone attack. Though granted the sheer amount of PopularityPower Harley possesses likely has something to do with it.

* ''ComicBook/HeroesInCrisis'' 2# has a particular egregious example of this with ComicBook/HarleyQuinn delivering the Worf Effect to the Trinity, getting the jump on Wonder Woman and grabbing the lasso off her before wrapping it around Batman’s throat and making him reveal where he keeps Kryptonite on his belt so she can take out Supes and escape. The comic seems forget/wilfully ignore the fact both Wonder Woman and Superman are absolutely fast enough to take Harley out before she has time to think, let alone attack. Though granted the sheer amount of PopularityPower Harley possess likely has something to do with it.

* The ComicBook/SilverSurfer is one of the most powerful beings alive. He has thrown energy blasts that have staggered ComicBook/{{Galactus}}, a man in a crazy hat who ''eats planets''. He has taken hits from said man in crazy hat ''and lived''. He's taken hits that would liquefy Earth and given them right back. This is why whenever a new cosmic menace is introduced, generally the very first thing that happens is someone pitches Silver Surfer in through a window. He’s also gotten clobbering from other heroes like Thor and Adam Warlock whenever writers decide the latter two need to be especially cool that week.