History Main / DePower

* In ''VideoGame/CthulhuSavesTheWorld'', the titular EldritchAbomination gets stripped of his powers by a mysterious wizard, and to get his powers back, he should become a true hero. [[BreakingTheFourthWall Hearing that from narrator of the story]], Cthulhu then [[NominalHero embarks on a quest to become a true hero to reclaim his powers back and destroy the world]]. [[spoiler:He succeeds in the fake-out ending, but then narrator, after learning that the player in not satisfied with the ending, reluctantly rewrites the story so Cthulhu would [[RefusalOfTheCall refuse to get his powers back]] after embracing his heroism.]]

* In the Season Two Finale of ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', [[CanonForeigner "Black Beetle"]] loses his powers when his [[PoweredArmor Reach Scarab]] is destroyed by ComicBook/BlueBeetle.

** After Time Spiral, all Planeswalkers suffered this; most notably [[MagnificentBastard Nicol Bolas]], who went from a PhysicalGod to your average, run of the mill [Dragon Mage with a thousand [[GambitIndex gambits]].

** Yhwach possesses the ability to perform a ritual that de-powers any Quincy that is selected for it. [[spoiler:He used it nine years before the final arc to steal the power of all Quincies he classified as "impure", including Ichigo and Uryuu's mothers (Masaki and Kanae). Masaki was de-powered just as she entered battle with the Grand Fisher, leaving her defenceless against a hollow she should have curbstomped. At the same moment, Kanae collapsed into a coma that lasted three months before she finally died; de-powering her literally destroyed her very life.]]

* In ''ComicBook/{{Batgirl}}'' story arc ''ComicBook/TheAttackOfTheAnnihilator'', the BigBad gets permanently devolved into his non-powered human state when he is encased in ice by Kara and Babs.

* ''Fanfic/ADiplomaticVisit'':
** [[spoiler:In two ways in chapter 4 of the sequel ''Diplomat at Large'' - first, Discord strips Chrysalis of her status as the Lady of Self-Centeredness; second, she's Sealed, robbing her of her changeling powers once and for all.]]
** [[spoiler:Chapter 11 reveals that Adagio Dazzle, leader of the siren trio, is actually the Lady of Hatred. Like Chrysalis, she's stripped of her Power for abusing it, having used her fellows to channel it and spread its effects, which is against the rules.]]
** [[spoiler:In chapter 7 of the second sequel, ''Diplomacy Through Schooling'', Neighsay's captor breaks his horn off, and then burns away the nerve endings to ensure he can never use magic again.]]
* The ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' fic [[https://m.fanfiction.net/s/3010722/1/Just-Folk-Now "Just Folk Now"]] does a crossover where Mal was Caleb from ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', Zoe was Jasmine and Jayne was Adam, both from ''Series/{{Angel}}'' and Inara was Adria from ''Series/StargateSG1''. As the title says, they’re all just normal humans now, living in the ‘verse.
* In Chapter 10 of the ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' fic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12459102/1/Loud-heroes Loud Heroes]]'', Lincoln temporarily loses his fire superpowers for a day upon taking considerably damage from Chandler's water-based attacks during their first fight. The next chapter, which takes place during the aforementioned timespace, has Lincoln struggling in his second fight with Chandler until his sisters come in for a BigDamnHeroes moment, after which he gets his powers back.
* ''Fanfic/JWITCHSeries'': Early on in Season 2, Drago [[SuperEmpowering empowers]] Raythor, Frost, and Hak Foo with portions of his chi. In the midpoint chapter "Return", he reverses this when they're captured along with the rest of the Knights of Vengeance [[spoiler: [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness since he and Nerissa don't need them for their plans anymore]]]], stripping them of the powers that the chi had granted them.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansTheJudasContract'', [[spoiler:Raven uses her dark magic to drain all of Blood's stolen power and his immortality.]]

* In ''Film/SupermanII'', Clark gives up his powers to be with Lois Lane... of course, this turns out to be a spectacularly bad idea. At least, it's spectacularly badly timed, since Zod and his cronies broke out of the PhantomZone soon after.
* In Wim Wenders' movies ''Film/WingsOfDesire'' and ''Faraway, So Close!'', the protagonists are angels who renounce their status as spiritual creatures in order to experience mortal life as human beings. It's hinted that Creator/PeterFalk, of all people, is himself a former angel.

* Season Four of ''Series/{{Angel}}'': [[spoiler:Cordelia, after becoming a minor ThePowersThatBe:]] "Oh god, I'm so bored."
** Season Five as well: hellgod Illyria is brought down several orders of magnitude [[spoiler:when she takes over Fred's physical body.]]
*** And even then she had massive StoryBreakerPower and in all her fights she effortlessly [[CurbStompBattle curb stomped]] everyone else. She had to be depowered ''further'' before any of the other characters could touch her.
** Angel becomes human for a day in Season One.
* Volume 4 of ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' has done this with its two GameBreaker heroes, Peter Petrelli (mass-PowerCopying) and Hiro Nakamura (teleportation, time freeze, and time travel), whose powers were stolen by BigBad Arthur Petrelli in Volume 3. Both have since regained much weaker versions of their original abilities: Peter can only copy one power at a time (losing the previous power whenever he takes on a new one), and he now needs to copy powers by touch; while Hiro was limited to stopping time, but [[spoiler:it turns out that this was actually his powers becoming a bit unpredictable: they're [[CastFromHitPoints killing him]] and he accelerates a brain tumor every time he uses his powers. He has his full range back, but his powers still misfire sometimes]].
** Similarly, [[spoiler:Sylar]] lost all of his powers prior to Volume 2, got his two main ones (telekinesis and understanding how things work) back at the end, and has been expanding his collection ever since.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'''s Daniel Jackson spends a season as an ascended being and a frequent guest star before rejoining the mortal plane and the main cast in the following season.

* ''Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger'' kicked off the plot by having all the Franchise/SuperSentai teams sacrificing their powers for a CombinedEnergyAttack that annihilates the Zangyack fleet invading Earth. [[spoiler:At the end of the series, the Gokaigers, who have inherited that power, returned them to their rightful owners.]]
* In order to keep them in check, one of the choices given to human telepaths in ''Series/BabylonFive'', alongside conscription into the MRA (Metasensory Regulation Authority) or prison, is a weekly sleeper injection to nullify their psychic abilities. It's not without its side effects, however, namely disassociation and depression.
* ''Series/PainkillerJane'' The "chip" the agency tags [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual neuros]] with prevents them from using their ability, letting them be taken in safely.

* ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'' has two examples in quick succession: [[spoiler:Ex-Aid's MidSeasonUpgrade, Mighty Maximum X, has the ability to "hack" the [[TheVirus Bugster Virus]]. He uses this power first to remove Genm's zombie-based ResurrectiveImmortality then, when faced with the SadisticChoice to let the bastard live or betray his Hippocratic Oath and kill him, [[TakeAThirdOption uses the hacking power to strip Genm of his ability to become a Kamen Rider]].]]

* Amaterasu in ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'' has been severely weakened after being SealedGoodInACan for [[ExactlyExtyYearsAgo hundred years.]] This means even lowly imps can pose a challenge, and by the end of the game you're strong enough to challenge [[spoiler:Yami, god of the Void and Darkness.]]
* Jade Curtiss from ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' is a major CrutchCharacter. When you meet him, he's level 45 and awesome enough to wipe the floor with anything your party might encounter, but he soon gets almost all of his powers sealed away and has to spend the majority of the game unsealing them. (ie: Leveling up again)
* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'': [[spoiler:Joshua, the Composer]] seals much of his powers away so he can play the "game" he has going fairly. Several characters try to take advantage of this to kill him... only to discover that even at "baseline human," [[spoiler:he can still deflect bullets with his mind]].

* This is basically the player character in both of the ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' games. They used to be very powerful but lost their memory and/or powers just before the start of the game, and you have to gain it back slowly.

* In ''VideoGame/GodOfWarII'', Kratos is BroughtDownToBadass and slain by Zeus at the start, allowing the player to reacquire his powers as the story progresses.

* In ''VideoGame/CthulhuSavesTheWorld'', the titular EldritchAbomination gets stripped of his powers by a mysterious wizard, and to get his powers back, he should become a true hero. [[BreakingTheFourthWall Hearing that from narrator of the story]], Cthulhu then [[NominalHero embarks on a quest to become a true hero to reclaim his powers back and destroy the world]]. [[spoiler:He succeeds in the fake-out ending, but then narrator, after learning that the player in not satisfied with the ending, reluctantly rewrites the story so Cthulhu would [[RefusalOfTheCall refuse to get his powers back]] after embracing his heroism.]]
* In the very first cutscene in ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'', the Traveler (along with their twin) is shown to be flying, and their in-game dialogues outright show that they could travel between worlds before their encounter with the Unknown God. After the battle with [[spoiler:Childe]], they can choose to muse to themself about how they're gradually regaining their power.
* ''VideoGame/Dishonored2'',
** In the intro, Dahlia removes the Outsider's Mark from Corvo, leaving him without his powers from the last game. When you play as him, he'll meet the Outsider again and is offered the power of the Mark once again, but the player has the choice of [[SelfImposedChallenge rejecting it this time]].
** The non-lethal way of dispatching Delilah's top witch Breanna Ashworth involves tampering with a device so that it ends up draining her of her powers, rendering her useless to Delilah.
* ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'' series:
** Koudelka Iasant of ''VideoGame/{{Koudelka}}'' suffered this shortly before the first ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts1''. She ended her own game with the power of a Druidic God in addition to her own significant PsychicPowers, but when she confronted [[spoiler:Albert Simon]], her opponent ''also'' had access to powers on that level, in the form of [[spoiler:Amon, the God of Destruction]]. The fight ended with Koudelka drained of almost all of her powers and locked in a mental asylum, though she still had enough power to act as [[spoiler:the voice in Yuri's head guiding him through the plot]].
** In the very beginning of ''VideoGame/ShadowHeartsCovenant'' Yuri is is shown to canonically acquire [[spoiler:aforementioned Amon]] as a Fusion, and demonstrates this power to a [[MookHorrorShow frightening effect]]. However, early on he gets stabbed by the Holy Mistletoe, and has ''all'' of his Fusions sealed. He manages to get basic Fusions back very quickly, but said power remains sealed until much later on.

* In ''Webcomic/MysteryBabylon'', J.J. once wielded angelic superpowers in his role as Heaven's Champion. However, once all but one of the demons on Earth were trapped in the Pit, he had fulfilled his duty as champion and accordingly lost his powers. He attempted to fight the last demon, Mystery Babylon, without his powers; and died as a result.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Harbourmaster}}'', [[spoiler:any [[VoluntaryShapeshifting Yogzarthu]] who takes a bite out of Seisha Dree--such as Mormo--will find themselves adopting her HealingFactor in the worst way possible for them. Namely, they get locked into being a clone of her, with no way to shapeshift out--the Healing Factor interprets not-Seisha DNA as "damaged" and in need of "repair".]]
* ''Webcomic/HeroesOfHomeroomC'': At the start of the series, Albert and Nicola are zapped by a weapon wielded by [[{{Supervillain}} The Ruiner]]. While they're recovering, their parents are informed that the weapon took away their powers, meaning they can't be superheroes anymore. [[spoiler:Or so it seems, as Nicole is shown some pages later to be able to fly.]]
* In ''Webcomic/DraconiaChronicles,'' a dragon Priestess can call upon her patron to strip a sinner of her magic until she can prove she's worthy of getting it back with the current reigning dragon Queen deciding when that is. Tigers also have weapons made of a [[PowerNullifier metal that radiates the specific counterwave for magical energy.]]
* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': When ThePaladin Miko Miyazaki's KnightTemplar tendencies escalate to the crime of [[spoiler:summarily executing her liege lord]], the Twelve Gods [[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0407.html manifest in person]] to strip her of her [[OathboundPower powers]].
-->'''Belkar:''' But losing your paladinhood through your own willful actions? Do you have any idea how hard that is to reverse? Goodbye, Miko the Paladin--hello, Miko the Fighter-Without-Bonus-Feats.

* Shining Armor finds himself with [[BodyHorror black crystals embedded in his horn]] which seal off his magic after holding off King Sombra long enough so the others can escape in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''.
** Starlight Glimmer can remove the Cutie Marks from ponies, taking away their special talent. The extent of the de-power depends on the pony: Twilight Sparkle loses all her magic, whereas Rainbow Dash can still fly, but without her usual rocket speed.