Basic Trope: A (supposedly) powerful fighter is defeated, for the narrative purpose of showing how strong the (usually new) opponent is.
- Straight: Bob, a mighty warrior, is easily defeated by Charlie in order to show off his new Artifact of Doom.
- Exaggerated:
- Charlie defeats Bob, known far and wide as the best warrior of all known ages, and his entire legion of True Companions in a Curbstomp Battle, all while his Artifact of Doom is less than a tenth of its power.
- Sacrificial Lion
- Downplayed:
- Bob loses against the Big Bad in said villain's introductory chapter in order to demonstrate this but still fares well against the run-of-the-mill Mooks that pop up later and even defeats a member of the Quirky Miniboss Squad.
- Bob is pushed to his limit by the new Big Bad to show how dangerous the villain is, but ultimately fights the villain to a draw or manages to escape rather than lose outright.
- Justified:
- Worf Had the Flu
- He's tough, but they're tougher. The fight demonstrates this.
- Bob is pretty strong, but overconfident and fights people stronger than him. His defeat serves the double purpose of showing Alice how dangerous those people are, and also not to be overconfident.
- Because Bob is so mighty, he is sent to fight the most powerful enemies and determine how they fight.
- The Villain knows Bob is the biggest threat, so he takes him out first.
- Bob may be an excellent hand-to-hand fighter, but Charlie's Artifact of Doom uses magic attacks that Bob has no defense against.
- Charlie brought several mooks as backup. However tough Bob is, there's only so much he can do when he's outnumbered.
- This is a new enemy that the heroes are unfamiliar with. Thus, Bob doesn't know what Charlie's weaknesses are.
- Inverted:
- Bob is portrayed as a wimp. He beats up the new opponent himself, showing how pathetic this guy is.
- Lord Evulz is defeated by a villain much more competent and evil than him.
- Subverted:
- Worf Had the Flu. During the Heroic Rematch, Bob dominates.
- Charlie floors Bob in a single hit... Then Bob gets back up and curb stomps Charlie.
- Double Subverted: In the rematch, Charlie says I Am Not Left-Handed and demonstrates his true level by flooring Bob again.
- Parodied:
- Bob, supposedly The Big Guy, gets his ass kicked by anyone who enters the room. He can't even win arguments against newer people.
- A teddy bear easily kills Bob and is hailed as the mightiest foe the heroes have ever faced.
- Charlie beats Bob in a video game and is instantly declared an all mighty badass.
- Zig Zagged: Bob defeats a powerful opponent, who turns out to be Only Mostly Dead. After this, Bob unveils an 11th-Hour Superpower, in which he defeats the opponent again, only for them to get back up...
- Averted: Bob isn't a jobber and instead has a variable win-loss record.
- Enforced: "Hey, we need to show off how powerful this new opponent is! I know, put him up against Bob!"
- Lampshaded: "Why do I always lose against the new villain?"
- Invoked:
- Charlie decides to intimidate Alice with his new powers and chooses the strongest member of her team, Bob, to destroy first.
- Bob has a mighty Healing Factor but no other powers, and so always charges in first to allow his teammates to gain vital combat data whenever he explodes hilariously.
- Bob knows that he and his teammates have no chance against their enemies, so he fights them to his death to hold them off while his friends escape.
- Exploited: Bob is a Guile Hero and in the cases where engaging in battle would be a terrible idea and talking, cease fighting or pulling a Tactical Withdrawal would be a much better idea, Bob throws the fight. After all, an enemy who can defeat Bob that easily must be too powerful for them to fight head-on.
- Defied: Bob, fighting a critical battle, reaches into Heroic Resolve and wins a fight he was about to lose.
- Discussed: "So, you just throw Bob at the new villains to see how strong they are?"
- Conversed: Bob and Alice are doctors, and while sitting in the lounge, the topic turns to Bob's impressive musculature, at which point Alice comments, "But, then again, it means you're the first one to get knocked out if a supervillain shows up".
- Deconstructed:
- Bob realizes that he's ultimately a jobber, and this starts to take a mental and emotional toll on him, leading him to quit.
- Without enough victories or moments of awesome to balance out his defeats, no one would take his later defeats as seriously as before in the long term. Upon another of Bob's later defeats, his companions stop taking the threat imposed by the enemy seriously, resulting in their defeat as well.
- Reconstructed:
- Bob decides that his purpose is to lose so his teammates can learn the fighting styles of his opponents, and rejoins.
- Bob chooses to learn from Charlie about his strength and weakness.
- Bob accepts that he is Overshadowed by Awesome and deliberately fights using a highly defensive style to tire his opponents rather than defeat them. When the time is right, he wisely retreats so The Hero can do his job.
- Because Bob can only job to establish the stakes, any new enemy that defeats him is in actuality a Big Bad Wannabe and/or Paper Tiger because all they beat up was just the residential in-universe Butt-Monkey. Bob's companions beat the new threat with equal or less effort.
Back to The Worf Effect
