History Main / PowersDoTheFighting

* ''ComicBook/NewGods'': [[Characters/NewGodsDarkseid Darkseid]] is often shown simply walking along, firing off his EyeBeams. He doesn't even have to glance at his enemy, the beams can change direction.

** Kind of the entire point of [[MinionMaster Summoning weapons]].

** Monoma's fighting strategy is basically this [[PowerCopying after he copies his opponent's Quirk]]. When he tries doing this with Tokoyami and Izuku during an inter-class battle session, [[DeconstructedTrope it fails him both times]]; the former case is because [[SentientPhlebotinum his Quirk is sentient]] and the latter case is because [[ForWantOfANail in this universe]], he has [[BadassNormal no Quirk to begin with]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', Discord's first appearance had him using his [[RealityWarper reality warping]] magic to mess with the Mane Six, with it never really coming to blows. The closest he ever comes to an "attack" is a BadassFingerSnap, which he doesn't even need to do.

** Lapis Lazuli, unlike virtually any other Gem in the series who tends to fight directly, barely moves a muscle while moving and controlling [[MakingASplash huge amounts of water]]. And the gestures she ''does'' use simply seem to indicate how little effort it actually takes from her. In "Ocean Gem" she even challenges all three of the senior Crystal Gems plus Steven, Connie, Lion, and Greg without being there personally -- simply standing on top of a massive water tower while [[MirrorMatch creating clones to fight the Crystal Gems]].
** Blue and Yellow Diamond are so powerful compared to most Gems that using their powers while standing in place is all they ''need'' to do in a fight. When they come to Earth [[spoiler: to check on the Cluster]], Blue just stands in place using her EmotionBomb and BeamSpam powers, with even the combined skills of Steven, Lapis, Peridot, [[spoiler: Bismuth]], and the main Crystal Gems only being able to bring her to her knee briefly. Yellow Diamond begins the fight by stomping a (shielded) Steven into the ground, but otherwise uses her OneHitKill [[ShockAndAwe lightning]]. Both of them are also ''[[OurGiantsAreBigger enormous]]'', and Yellow is much FasterThanTheyLook, so it's not like a physical brawl would put the odds against them.

** Gremmy Thoumeaux prefers to not lift a finger while his ImaginationBasedSuperpower does the work, in a similar vein to Yukio. Kenpachi manages an attack that forces him to use his hand to block it. [[spoiler:Which, as it turns out, still doesn't subvert the trope; Gremmy is a literal BrainInAJar, so even his "physical" body still turned out to be his powers doing the work for him.]]

* WesternAnimation/''SamuraiJack'': Demongo The Soul Collector has the power to absorb the [[OurSoulsAreDifferent essence]] of great warriors, trapping them within himself and allowing him to control and summon them out at any time. However, since he has this ability, he does very little actual fighting himself, preferring to simply summon his enslaved warriors out again if they are defeated. This ends up [[HoistByHisOwnPetard biting]] him pretty hard when Jack figures out a way to free the imprisoned warriors, leaving Demongo completely helpless, having no real fighting skills of his own.

* WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack: Demongo The Soul Collector has the power to absorb the [[OurSoulsAreDifferent essence]] of great warriors, trapping them within himself and allowing him to control and summon them out at any time. However, since he has this ability, he does very little actual fighting himself, preferring to simply summon his enslaved warriors out again if they are defeated. This ends up [[HoistByHisOwnPetard biting]] him pretty hard when Jack figures out a way to free the imprisoned warriors, leaving Demongo completely helpless, having no real fighting skills of his own.

** Tokoyami has a Quirk called Dark Shadow, which lets him [[CastingAShadow summon his shadow]] [[GuardianEntity as a bird-like entity]]. Having a mind of its own, Dark Shadow makes Tokoyami a very powerful long-ranged fighter, and he doesn't have to focus on it much. This is slightly deconstructed, as it's acknowledged that, while this makes him an amazing opponent at long range, this also means that if a villain gets close to him, he will be back at disadvantage, meaning he needs to train his body. He eventually comes up with Dark Ankh, where he has Dark Shadow enshroud him like an exoskeleton, mitigating his physical weaknesses.

** Present Mic relies on his SuperScream as his main weapon. It’s powerful enough to level buildings and cause internal organ damage, so it’s rare he has to actually get up close in a fight. However, he shouldn’t be underestimated even if he can’t use his voice for some reason, as he’s shown to have at the very least a killer right hook and likely a few more moves up his sleeve as well.

* In ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' and ''Literature/FateZero'', [[SmugSuper Gilgamesh]] ''can'' fight (even if not quite on the level of Servants who specialize in close combat), but since he thinks it's beneath him to battle [[CatchPhrase mongrels]], he mostly devastates his opponents with his power to summon a StormOfBlades.

* ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'': [[Characters/{{AIM}} MODOK]] doesn't do much except press buttons on his chair or use PsychicPowers. That's good for him, because he's a huge head in a chair with stubby limbs.

* Urizen, of ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry5'', spends his boss fights literally lounging in his throne, doing no more than raising a single hand to direct his magical onslaughts while a floating spiky crystal defends him from all attacks. [[spoiler:Well, at least until Nero manages to break through the shield and land a scratch, [[TurnsRed at which point he stands up, heals the scratch, restores the shield,]] and proceeds to [[HopelessBossFight absolutely wipe the floor with the hapless player]]. He actively fights in all boss fights from this point on.]]

* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'': Haruna Saotome gains a magical artifact that brings anything she draws to life, so she generally draws things capable of combat. Haruna herself has no physical or magical prowess whatsoever.

* Ryuuho from ''Anime/SCryEd'' hangs back and allows his Altar, Zetsuei, to do most of the fighting for him. Ryuuho is one of the most powerful Altars in HOLY, and Zetsuei is more than capable of defending Ryuuho from attack while dominating other Altars simultaneously.

* In ''Anime/TigerAndBunny'' the villain Jake Martinez has an [[SuperpowerLottery extremely versatile]] power of creating barriers, which allows him to be unfazed by even the most powerful attacks, and can be used just as powerfully offensively. He also [[spoiler: has a second power, {{telepathy}}, which allows him predict attacks]]. Because of these abilities, he never has to put any effort into fighting, which means that [[MinorInjuryOverreaction he can't handle it when he receives even the slightest injury]].

* ''ComicBook/NewGods'': [[Characters/NewGodsDarkseid Darkseid]] is often shown simply walking along, firing off his EyeBeams. He doesn't even have to glance at his enemy, the beams can change direction.

* True for Paul in ''Fanfic/TheKeysStandAlone: The Soft World'', since he pretty much just stands his NighInvulnerable self there and lets people break their weapons/tire themselves out trying to hurt him. Given that he's an ActualPacifist and has PowerIncontinence with his SuperStrength, he's not going to do anything aggressive, so if his opposition persists, one of the others has to step in to take care of the person. Though he did take the “Senator” down by absorbing the entire energy construct around the man's body, but he basically just stood there and sucked it all in.

* ''Fanfic/DekuIThinkHesSomePro'':
** The overall leader of the Doraggo cartel has an elasticity Quirk that's so ingrained into her fighting style that she keeps instinctively jumping into the air to start bouncing around even after [[PowerNullifier Aizawa erases it]].
** Monoma's fighting strategy is basically this [[PowerCopying after he copies his opponent's Quirk]]. When he tries doing this with Tokoyami and Izuku during an inter-class battle session, [[DeconstructedTrope it fails him both times]]; the former case is because [[SentientPhlebotinum his Quirk is sentient]] and the latter case is because [[ForWantOfANail in this universe]], he has [[BadassNormal no Quirk to begin with]].
** A large part of Aizawa's teaching is to defy this among his students. When some of the Class 1-A students voice concern over the Quirk assessment test because they feel like it's giving Izuku an unfair disadvantage [[TheTeamNormal since he doesn't have a Quirk]], Aizawa silences their concerns by pointing out that some of ''them'' don't have Quirks that would be helpful for most of the tests involved (such as Hagakure's Invisibility and Mineta's Sticky Balls). He then lectures that while Quirks are helpful and influence one's potential, there are going to be situations where you aren't able to use them and that a major part of being a Pro-Hero is learning how to deal with those situations and get creative in order to get the job done.

* In ''Film/Venom2018'', Eddie's fight against the {{mook|s}} squad that broke into his house to retrieve Venom is mostly Venom doing the fighting while Eddie gets dragged around with absolutely no idea what's going on.

** The Warframe Protea can effectively fight entirely with her powers.. Her Grenade Fan either [[ExactlyWhatItSayOnTheTin fans grenades across the battlefield]] or heavily boosts her shields. Her Blaze Artillery turret will melt anything in an 130 degree arc in front of it. And her Dispensary throws out many health and energy orbs to keep her and squadmates alive and juiced up. For anything below Steel Path levels, actually using an equipped weapon is mostly optional for Protea.

* In ''LightNovel/TheLegendOfTheLegendaryHeroes'', Miran Frouade and Lir Orla use their [[RingOfPower rings]] to conjure magical beasts to fight for them or erect [[BarrierWarrior barriers to defend themselves]]. Miran occasionally supplements this with other magical attacks, while Lir (at least in the anime) relies entirely on his ring.

* WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack: Demongo The Soul Collector has the ability to absorb the [[OurSoulsAreDifferent essence]] of great warriors, trapping them within himself and allowing him to control and summon them out at any time. However, since he has this power, he does very little fighting himself, preferring to simply summon his enslaved warriors out again if they are defeated. This ends up [[HoistByHisOwnPetard biting]] him pretty hard when Jack figures out a way to free the imprisoned warriors, leaving Demongo completely helpless, having no real fighting skill of his own.

** In ''[[ComicBook/Supergirl1982 Supergirl Vol. 2]] #17'', several thugs were trying to get away after committing a kidnapping. She stepped in the way of their car, stood her ground and let the vehicle hit her (it helped that those thugs were ''dumb'' enough to try to run over her).

* Xanna in the ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9920512/1/Reaching-for-a-Dream Reaching for a Dream]]'' series rarely fights but any time she does, she simply stands in one spot and uses her RealityWarper powers to take care of things for her. Contrast her husband Naruto who, even after ascending to godhood with her, mostly uses his powers to augment his physical abilities.

** In the [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist 2003 anime version]], this is essentially the way [[MakingASplash Sloth]] fights, hence [[MeaningfulName the name]]. She just kind of stands there waving watery tentacle arms around.

* ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' has the BonusBoss Baal. All of his attacks consist of creating giant swords and dropping them on the the player, or summoning them out of the ground. At best he makes a slight gesture when doing it.

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'':

* In ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' and ''LightNovel/FateZero'', [[SmugSuper Gilgamesh]] ''can'' fight (even if not quite on the level of Servants who specialize in close combat), but since he thinks it's beneath him to battle [[CatchPhrase mongrels]], he mostly devastates his opponents with his power to summon a StormOfBlades.