History Main / BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu

* ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'':

** In ''ComicBook/TheAvengersJonathanHickman'', the Multiverse Exploration Team. They manage to [[spoiler:permanently kill two Beyonders, a '''huge''' accomplishment given how powerful Beyonders are. But all of the team except Thor and Hyperion die in the process, with Thor losing an arm and Hyperion having his right eye gouged out. And then the rest of the Beyonders come swarming out to finish them off. Thor and Hyperion realize that there's no way in hell they'll win or escape, so they settle for just [[DyingMomentOfAwesome charging into battle and trying to take out as many Beyonders as they can before they're killed]]]].

* One ''ComicBook/{{Exiles}}'' arc features [[Characters/MarvelComicsGalactus Galactus]] attacking earth, and for once he's actually at full strength rather than nearly dying from starvation. Eventually team powerhouse Thunderbird manages to break Galactus' skin and insert a device specifically made by that earth's Reed Richards to hurt the creature. Thunderbird is left brain-dead from the shockwave though he does manage to get Galactus to flee.
* In the finale of ''ComicBook/TheGreatDarknessSaga'', Darkseid grows tired of the ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes' interference, so he takes all Legionnaires out by making their worst nightmares real. ComicBook/{{Superboy}} and Characters/{{Supergirl|TheCharacter}} engage him straight after, but the former gets instantly blasted back to the past, and the latter nearly gets her head crushed.
-->'''Darkseid:''' So... There is more to these mortals than superficial evidence admits. Very well... If they would undo the deeds of gods, they must suffer as do the damned...

* In ''ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}'', this is the only kind of win John Constantine ever pulls off. To get rid of [[MonsterOfTheWeek this issue's monster]], chances are [[AndYourLittleDogToo either someone he loves has to die]], or [[NiceJobBreakingItHero his actions set up an even greater problem to be dealt with at a later date]].
* ''ComicBook/TheAvengersJonathanHickman'': The Multiverse Exploration Team. They manage to [[spoiler:permanently kill two Beyonders, a '''huge''' accomplishment given how powerful Beyonders are. But all of the team except Thor and Hyperion die in the process, with Thor losing an arm and Hyperion having his right eye gouged out. And then the rest of the Beyonders come swarming out to finish them off. Thor and Hyperion realize that there's no way in hell they'll win or escape, so they settle for just [[DyingMomentOfAwesome charging into battle and trying to take out as many Beyonders as they can before they're killed]]]].
%%* In ''ComicBook/TheKorvacSaga'', Korvac fights the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy at once and crushes all of them easily. [And then something happens that makes it count as this trope?]
* Played straight literally in ''ComicBook/LesLegendaires'', where [[MagicalGirl Jadina]] attempts to punch [[GodOfEvil Anathos]]. Anathos stops her attack with ''one finger'', and ''causes her arm to break in the process''. Even worst, he mentioned she is lucky he needed her alive at that point because otherwise he would have let her ''kill herself'' punching him. [[spoiler: Then immediately subverted when Jadina [[OutGambitted Out-Gambits him]].]] And before this, [[TheHero Danael]] already suffered a case of TheVirus against Anathos when coming up with a scheme to prevent him from reincarnating into Shimy, only to serve as the host instead of her.
* ComicBook/TheMightyThor:
** Thor managed to slay the Midgard Serpent -- a giant dragon among giant dragons -- with a massive hammer blow to the head. He was already in constant pain and obliged to wear a full-body armor suit for support due to a curse by [[WhoWantsToLiveForever the goddess of death]], but the death blow ''reduced him to a pulped ([[AndIMustScream yet still living]]) mass of flesh contained within said armor''. Given he was prophesied to die after killing the Midgard Serpent, as per Myth/NorseMythology, this is actually a plus.
** A less graphic example was when he hit an invulnerable Viking named Herald Jaekelson so hard it nearly tore his hands off.
** There are many times in the comics where Thor managed to break his hammer {{Mjolnir}} while fighting some of his most powerful enemies, usually by utilizing the Odinforce. One example is when he tried to fight Exitar, the largest Celestial, in one of his older comics and shatters his Mjolnir into pieces trying to break into its skull.

* In ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyMicroSeries'' Issue #2 [[spoiler:the Sonic Double Rainboom certainly defeats the gremlins, but completely paralyzes Dash's wings for two months]].
* ''[[ComicBook/WhatIf What If... The Punisher Had Killed Spider-Man?]]'' saw ComicBook/ThePunisher [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin successfully kill]] Spider-Man. Not only does he realize he killed an innocent man, but Spider Man's many, many allies among New York's superhero community come after the Punisher to avenge his death, forcing him to go into hiding, admitting that "I was out of my league and out of my weight class." Worse, he finds Spider-Man's enemies throwing a party to thank him. Punisher makes an effort to hunt down and kill all the villains who have been left to run free without Spider-Man to stop them (especially the Jackal, who had tricked him into targeting Spider-Man in the first place), but in the end, his efforts led him to get gunned down by the police.

* During ''ComicBook/UnderworldUnleashed'', Neron allowed any villain to leave if they didn't want to trade their soul for power. Mongul made the mistake of also trying to attack him. Neron promptly snaps his neck.
* In the ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]] storyline ''ComicBook/JudgmentInInfinity'', several soldiers fire at the [[HumanoidAbomination Adjudicator]] when he first appears, and they are immediately blasted into oblivion. When Wonder Woman tries to lasso him, he swats her away, and she only survives his blow because she is extremely tough.

This is what happens when the main character try to fight an EldritchAbomination and [[PyrrhicVictory barely]] [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu manage to win]]. By their own nature, Eldritches cannot be easily defeated, if they were defeated after all. Victory, while certain, doesn't bring with it peace and love. There are corpses to count, cost to calculate, and even if the main characters ''did'' fight and win on their own, there's no guarantee that their physical and/or mental health is going to stay the same. Even the very use of the Phlebotinum needed to defeat the entity may have secondary effects nobody knew about.

This trope is called upon as a way of showing the true futility of trying to stop the physical or literal manifestation of an all-powerful being. {{Eldritch Abomination}}s such as the namer of the trope himself do not feel much pain from being punched out, since all you did was merely [[FightingAShadow destroy his physical manifestation]], and punching him out will only delay your demise. Two scenarios (with many sub-scenarios) take place after the battle:

* '''He'll be back''': In this scenario, [[HesJustHiding the Eldritch is regenerating somewhere else]]. Turns out it's NotQuiteDead and either the main characters' attacks [[NoSell didn't do enough lethal damage]] or they only killed [[ThatBattleDidntCount their weak form]]. When it recovers, [[UnstoppableRage he is going to be pissed]], [[OneWingedAngel and go all-in for the next encounter]]. And the main characters will be in a disadvantageous situation, as the battle exhausted them of resources so hard that it'll take several years (or even ''decades'') to recover for the next fight.