Antagonist Abilities

Antagonist Abilities are "unfair" powers that inherently prevent The Hero from winning easily against a villain, and can force them to resort to an Outside-the-Box Tactic.

Antagonist Abilities are almost always an antithesis to Heroic Spirit. The pattern is simple: where The Protagonist needs to take risks and be brave, the antagonists do not need to do the same and can afford to be cowardly. If the hero worked hard to be powerful, the antagonists made a Deal with the Devil. Where the hero struggles and suffers for his power, there is little to no downside at all for the antagonist. One clear example is when the antagonist's power turns the protagonist's against them, or makes them unable to use it effectively.

Powers of this nature primarily serve as a Foil for the aforementioned Heroic Spirit. It's an effective way of demonstrating that Evil Is Easy in a fight. It also serves as a good way to make the hero an underdog, because the Conflict is rigged from the beginning.

Just to be clear, let's summarize the conditions that create this trope:

1. The hero is strong or skilled, but needs a lot of effort to use their abilities to the fullest.
2. The antagonist's ability does not match the hero with similar strength, skill, or effort. It prevents, detects, avoids, deflects, sabotages, steals, or otherwise compromises the hero's abilities in indirect (and often, greatly unsatisfying) ways.

This is often a case of Protagonist-Centered Morality, because it requires that the audience identify with the hero and know what makes the way they fight heroic, skillful, risky or courageous. Even if the good guys have an ability on this list, it's usually with restrictions or rules that don't apply to the antagonist, a weakness to help antagonists get around it, or it's pitted against another ability listed which specifically counters it. Often, the villain wants to steal those powers for himself, for these very reasons, knowing that they'll be far more deadly than the hero ever was.

This is not to be confused with Bad Powers, Bad People, which is more about powers that are cruel or inherently harmful to others. While it can overlap with this trope, this is more about powers that are considered more "unfair" in a fight. These powers may phase out the longer they're on screen.

When this happens in a Video Game, it leads to an SNK Boss that invokes My Rules Are Not Your Rules. See also Hard Work Hardly Works and Storybreaker Power.

Sub Tropes include:

The Big Ones

• Complete Immortality: Control over one's own death, or major injury.
• Meta Power: Control over an opponent's abilities.
• Mind Control: Control over an opponent's mind.
• People Puppets: Control over an opponent's body.
• Reality Warper: Control over reality itself.
• Space Master: Control over space itself.
• Time Master: Control over time itself.
• Touch of Death: Control over death itself.

Versus Melee

• Detachment Combat
• Intangibility
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous
• Pressure Point
• Rubber Man
• Sizeshifter

Versus Magic, Energy and Projectiles

• Anti-Magic
• Attack Reflector
• Deflector Shield
• Energy Absorption
• Mana Drain
• Resistant to Magic

Versus Stealth

• Aura Vision
• Crystal Ball
• Sinister Surveillance
• Super-Senses

Versus Detection

• Chameleon Camouflage
• Invisibility
• Invisibility Cloak
• Perception Filter
• Stealth Expert
• Voluntary Shapeshifting

Versus Defenses

• Armor-Piercing Attack
• Speed Blitz
• Unblockable Attack

Versus Healing or Endurance

• Acid Attack
• Poisonous Person
• Wound That Will Not Heal

Versus Mobility or Range

• Always Accurate Attack
• Death from Above
• Flight
• Long-Range Fighter
• Villain Teleportation
• Weaponized Teleportation
• You Will Not Evade Me

Versus Single Combat

• Asteroids Monster
• Attack Animal
• Attack Drone
• Flying Weapon
• Hydra Problem
• Self-Duplication
  • Gemini Destruction Law
• Shoot the Medic First
• Storm of Blades
• Summon Magic
• Trap Master

Versus Defeat Itself

• Actually a Doombot
• As Long as There Is Evil
• Fighting a Shadow
• Healing Boss
• Immortality
• Joker Immunity
• No Man of Woman Born (until the prophecy-fulfilling one comes along)
• Organ Autonomy (if either the body or the organ don't need each other to function)

Versus Everything

• Adaptive Ability
• Body Snatcher
• Combat Clairvoyance
• Damage Reduction
• Dispel Magic
• Emotion Control
• Energy Absorption
• From a Single Cell
• Guardian Entity
• Heal It with Blood
• Hyperspace Arsenal
• Instant Armor
• Instant-Win Condition
• Invulnerable Attack
• Keystone Superpower
• Kill One, Others Get Stronger
• Life Drain
• Liquid Assets
• Living Aphrodisiac
• Make Them Rot
• Master of Illusion
• Mobile Menace
• No Saving Throw
• No-Sell
• One-Hit Kill
• The Paralyzer
• Plague Master
• Poisonous Person
• Power Copying
• Power Nullifier
• Power Parasite
• Powers Do the Fighting
• Smoke Out
• The Stormbringer: The character doesn't summon the storm, the storm itself follows them wherever they go.
• Taken for Granite
• Thinking Up Portals
• Time Stands Still
• Voodoo Doll
• Walking Wasteland
• Winds of Destiny, Change!
• World-Wrecking Wave

Please do not put examples on this page. This is such a common trope that any examples should be placed on the appropriate Trope and Work pages.

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