History Main / DramaPreservingHandicap

* ''{{Superman}} Returns'' had Luthor threaten Superman and the lives of everyone in the North Atlantic with a [[ApocalypseHow Type 0-1]] disaster by creating a giant Kryptonite island, stabbing supes with Kryptonite (and lodging a piece of it inside of him), letting his goons beat him up, and finally [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim dumping him into the ocean.]] Yet still, Supes manages to lob the island into space and fly back to a Metropolis ICU. It's [[LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt arguable whether this worked for the viewers]].

* ''RurouniKenshin'': Because Sanosuke would CurbStomp almost any opponent not at Kenshin or Saitou's level with his new technique, it manages to put immense strain on his hand so he can't immediately end a battle with it.

* Zoro of ''OnePiece'' IS this trope. He's incredibly tough, but almost every one of his significant fights has him either injured from a previous battle, or not in possession of all of his weapons.
** Or handcuffed to a friend

It's a standard setup to have heroes race to stop the [[TheJuggernaut nigh unstoppable]] villain ''before'' he becomes all-powerful, unseals his true potential, or [[SealedEvilInACan gets released.]] However; more often than not, the [[YouCantThwartStageOne heroes fail]]. So, how's the average FarmBoy hero supposed to take on [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Excruciant, the Omnipotent!]] without getting turned to a fine red mist within five seconds of opening the door?

Give the baddie a Drama Preserving Handicap.

This is often a more ideal solution than using DeusExitMachina or randomly [[VillainDecay depowering the character]], as it can keep him in the cast with his normal [[PowerLevel power intact]]. Related tactics include AmnesiaDanger, ForgottenPhlebotinum, and HowDoIShotWeb. This is the opposite of EyepatchOfPower and DisabilitySuperpower, where the handicap ''is'' the power. Almost every EnemyCivilWar story is about this, as are a lot of RightHandVersusLeftHand stories where the heroic factions would normally be able to beat the villains if they worked together.

GameBreakingInjury and WorfHadTheFlu are subtypes. See also DePower and HowToStopTheDeusExMachina. Contrast KryptoniteProofSuit.

[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

* In the Ryuuguujou arc of {{Gintama}}, Gintoki and Katsura were turned into old men before they can see any action, by Tamebako G, a device that can turn anyone into old people. The only reliable fighters at the time was Kagura and Kyuubei, and later the rest of the main characters were turned into old people as well. Had the device never exist, the arc could have easily ended in one episode. Of course, the CrowningMomentAwesome and Gintoki's RousingSpeech will never happened as well if that's the case.

* In ''[[RanmaOneHalf Ranma 1/2]]'', Akane [[GameBreakingInjury injures her hand]] before fighting the [[GiantMook Dojo Destroyer]]. What should have been an easy battle for her (given the foe's fighting style) ends up putting her on the defensive, all to allow Ranma (who had run out on her earlier) to come back to help her and defeat the enemy in a single panel.

** Ranmas girl form sometimes counts, as Ranma is physically weaker as a girl. However it's usually also noted that he's faster that way too, and considering Ranmas specialty is speed, this doesn't come up unless he really needs that last extra bit of strength.
*** His biggest problem in the girl form is usually shorter reach, since as a girl his (her?) arms and legs are shorter.

[[AC:{{ComicBooks}}]]

* Although he was never more than a C-list character, {{Sleepwalker}} had a major advantage in that he could focus his [[RealityWarping warp]] [[EyeBeams beams]] directly on any human opponent, which would turn them into NoodlePeople and force them to experience YourWorstNightmare over and over again. The reason Sleepy didn't do this was because all the members of his race swear a very strict oath to never use their warp vision on living beings. The sole exception is when people are being used as PeoplePuppets, at which point hitting them with a Sleepwalker's warp beams actually frees them from the demonic possession.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

[[AC:Literature]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

* Sam, the {{Reaper}}, had had [[spoiler:his hand broken right before he could beat the Devil in a game of coin-tossing and win his soul back. By an angel, no less!]]. Although the drama was preserved just fine, it turned out to no purpose, as it was the last episode before the show got cancelled.

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:{{Webcomics}}]]

[[AC:WebOriginal]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* In ''DannyPhantom'', Danny uses the [[PowerNullifier specter deflector]] on Vlad to weaken him to make it a fair fight. Later episodes show them pummeling each other on equal terms due to Danny's CharacterDevelopment.

** And of course it was eventually revealed that he was [[WorldOfCardboardSpeech inhibited the whole time]] out of [[YourWorstNightmare fear of hurting others]]. And when he finally did cut loose with his full power, it was [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome AWESOME]].

<<|CombatTropes|>>
<<|ExampleAsAThesis|>>

* At one point in ''{{Gakusen}}'', ActionGirl and BadassTeacher Komiko catches a nasty cold. Then she makes it worse by singlehandedly beating up an entire CLASS of delinquents (her own, incidentally). So when a repeat antagonist (whom she has swept the floor with twice already) suddenly pops up, she essentially collapses from the fever halfway through the battle.

* In the Ryuuguujou arc of {{Gintama}}, Gintoki and Katsura were turned into old men before they can see any action, by Tamebako G, a device that can turn anyone into old people. The only reliable fighters at the time was Kagura and Kyuubei, and later the rest of the main characters were turned into old people as well. Had the device never exist, the arc could have easily ended in one episode. Of course, TheCrowningMomentAwesome and Gintoki's RousingSpeech will never happened as well if that's the case.

* Some of the [[SixthRanger sixth rangers]] of PowerRangers get this. For example the first Green Ranger was shown to be able to figh the Red Ranger to a standstill and even take on the entire team and once. Then Rita used the Green Candle to sap his powers, forcing him to stay on the sidelines unless he was really needed. The [[PowerRangerseZeo Gold Ranger]] and [[PowerRangersLightspeedRescue Titanium Ranger]] had similar disabilities.

GameBreakingInjury and WorfHadTheFlu are subtypes. See also DePower and HowToStopTheDeusExMachina.

*** Willow was pretty powerful in Season 7, but the reason she was so powerful at the end of Season 6 was because [[spoiler: she absorbed a metric fuckton of magic and transformed into her SuperpoweredEvilSide]]. Without that, she wasn't much stronger then at the end of Season 5, when she could barely manage to hurt [[PhysicalGod Glory]].

** ''JusticeLeague'' occasionally did it for other characters too. A good example is where Wonder Woman was poisoned to give [[strike:Black Manta]] Devil Ray, [[strike:an Aquaman villain]] an [[BlatantLies entirely original character]], a decent chance against her in hand-to-hand. Or in the final part of "Starcrossed", when [[spoiler:Green Lantern's ring is broken to give Hro Talak a decent chance against him.]]

* {{Superman}} can type a hundred ''pages'' a minute, and do any number of other tasks at super-speed. But he can't fight at super-speed. The in-universe explanation for this is vague. The ''real'' explanation for it is simply that someone with the strength of the Hulk and the speed of the Flash could never even be challenged, let alone defeated.

** The obvious answer is that he doesn't take on advanced technology for the same reason he never kills anyone--the temptation to take it further along, the temptation of power, is osmething he tries to avoid for fear of succumbing to it. Of course, [[http://www.superheronation.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/green-lantern-batman1.jpg we can only dream...]]

* Jun Misugi from CaptainTsubasa is both a brilliant player ''and'' the local [[IllGirl Ill Boy]].