History Main / DramaPreservingHandicap

* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'': Daisy spends the first few episodes of season 4 without her custom-made gauntlets, which means that every time she uses her powers, she hurts herself. She gets more and more damaged over the course of the season, to the point that even when she does get her gauntlets back, she's warned that it will take her time to recover, and if she overuses her powers she could shatter every bone in her body.

** Zoro is incredibly tough, but almost every one of his significant fights has him either injured from a previous battle, not in possession of all of his weapons, or even handcuffed to a friend. The few times he can fight without a handicap, he can usually make TheDragon of any given arc look like a chump.
** Robin's a brutal CombatPragmatist whose preferred usage of her Hana-Hana-no-mi is to simply sprout arms on the backs or necks of enemies and break their spines, instantly removing them from the fight if not killing them. As a drama handicap, these limbs can still be injured and carry over to her, and if the opponent has a touch-based power, it will affect her. Also many enemies she attempts this on are [[KryptoniteIsEverywhere either Logia who can turn into their element to break out of her holds, have the aforementioned touch-based powers, or just have general biological weirdness that makes this hard to successfully use]], forcing her into more drawn-out engagements.

** The Navy Admirals are feared far and wide for being [[PersonOfMassDestruction people of mass destruction]] and some of the strongest characters in the entire story. However, as part of the World Government, the World Nobles have ultimate authority over them and the Marines are forced to do their bidding. Thus, [[spoiler:when the Revolutionary Army attacked the Holy Land Mary Geoise and both Fujitora and Ryokugyu were mobilized to defeat them, they were unable to fight at full strength against Karasu and Morley respectively with Fujitora being told off for trying to call down a meteorite and Ryokugyu even being threatened with death if so much as one World Noble ended up getting killed. [[WorfHadTheFlu Ultimately, this handicap proved so severe that not only was Sabo able to successfully sneak past them, but that the Revolutionary Army Commanders were ultimately able to successfully accomplish their objectives and escape, much to the frustration of Akainu]]]].

!!!''Series/{{Stargate}}''

* ''Film/SupermanReturns'' had [[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Lex 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 [[LeftForDead 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]].
* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', the plan is to stop the completion of the second Death Star. When it all goes to hell, it's revealed that the Death Star's [[WaveMotionGun superlaser]] is already operational, at which point it starts picking off the Rebel Alliance's capital ships one shot at a time. Lando Calrissian then suggests engaging the Imperial Fleet directly in ship-to-ship combat, correctly guessing that the Death Star would hold its fire to avoid destroying friendly ships.
** While [[WhatAPieceOfJunk the Millennium Falcon usually looks like junk but runs perfectly]], it has constant engine trouble only in the ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' because otherwise Han and Leia would be able to easily evade Vader and the entire B plot and climax of the movie wouldn't happen, and Luke would be able to finish his training without issue. So the hyperdrive constantly fails until the very last scene.
** In ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', [[spoiler:[[TheHeavy Kylo Ren]] gets gutshot by Chewbacca's {{BFG}} of a bowcaster just before his climactic duel with Finn & Rey. Furthermore, Finn further wounding Ren gives Rey the advantage she needs to be able to overwhelm him, despite being far less skilled in lightsaber dueling and the Force than he is]].
* In ''Film/RockyBalboa'' the odds of the fight between the current champ, the youngster Mason Dixon and the pushing ''50'' Italian Stallion is evened when Dixon breaks his dominant hand in the second round. Dixon chooses to put his career at risk and has to go the distance with a star that's [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve powered by a chanting crowd of baby boomers]].
* It's pretty clear in ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'' that Maximus would utterly destroy Commodus in anything resembling a fair fight. So, Commodus invokes this trope with a dagger to Maximus' lung before they go out to duel in the Colosseum. Commodus ''still'' never lands a blow on him, but it at least looks like Maximus is working hard.

*** In ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', Wanda very nearly [[spoiler:kills 2014 Thanos all on her own in her rage without any help from another superhero. It's only her desire to see him suffer that allows him to call in an airstrike that finally gets her to back off a little. ''Series/WandaVision'' has Monica Rambeau even speculate that Wanda could've done it by herself if not for that.]]

* In ''Film/Deadpool2016'', Deadpool has a really bad habit of forgetting his duffel bag of guns and ammo, which constantly prevents him from just shredding the opposition with MoreDakka. In the first battle he participates in, he only has his swords and twelve pistol rounds, which force him to be really careful with his shots even against {{Mooks}}. [[spoiler:And in the FinalBattle, he brings all his guns and three thousand rounds of ammo to take down Francis and his army... only to forget them ''all'' in the taxi he rode there, leaving him with just his swords and a single gun he stored ''somewhere'' in his suit.]]
* The title character of ''Film/BruceAlmighty'' was completely omnipotent, aside from 2 rules. He couldn't tell anyone about his powers, and he couldn't affect free will. Most of the difficulties that Bruce encounters could have been solved had he not had to obey the two rules, as evidenced by his attempts to make Grace love him. Hell, even without willing her to love him, telling her about his powers probably would have helped her to understand why Bruce was doing some of the things he did, and maybe help her to forgive him. It's like God wanted Bruce to struggle...[[AnAesop and He did]]. The point of the exercise was to show Bruce that even omnipotence couldn't solve his problems, which were caused by his failure to appreciate the good things in his life and his refusal to put any effort into becoming a better person. Grace leaving him is the one problem he cannot solve with God's powers, and this realization is the catalyst that gets him to do the hard work of working on himself.
* ''Film/JeepersCreepers3'': The Creeper has a lot of trouble pursuing Addison because of all the damage it has sustained. It gets trapped in its own boobytrap, losing an eye, making it difficult to throw a spear accurately. It tries to fly after her, but since it lost one of its wings in a previous fight it immediately loses balance. Then it also loses one of its feet when it gets hit by a truck, giving her enough time to get away entirely. Frustrated, he has to make do with the truck driver for spare parts.
* In ''Film/SonicTheHedgehog2020'', in his first meeting with Tom, Sonic is hit with a bear tranquillizer, not only causing him to drop his bag of rings through a ring but rendering him unable to run when he wakes up (which is around the same time Robotnik arrives at Tom's house).
* During the climax of the ''Film/TheTerminator'', [[spoiler:Reese sacrifices himself to destroy the T-800 with a pipebomb, which damages it enough so it's only a torso that can slowly crawl]]. At this point, Sarah could just walk away from the cyborg at a normal pace without too much worry. So in order to keep the intensity of the situation intact, her legs are injured due to [[spoiler:the shock from the explosion and a shrapnel wound to the thigh]], forcing her to crawl away from it.
* During the climax of the ''Film/TheNorthman'', Amleth, who has been shown to be a OneManArmy, goes into the final battle severely wounded from a sword slash and multiple stab wounds he suffered in a surprise attack. This makes the results of the battle far more close than they had any business being.

----

* Raistlin Majere from the {{Literature/Dragonlance}} series is one of the most powerful magic users in in-universe history to the point of having several of the ''gods'' so worried about [[GodhoodSeeker his ambitions]] that they actively work to sabotage him in an effort to save their skins. The only thing that really prevents him from being able to pull off his plans sooner is his exceedingly frail constitution and a [[BloodFromTheMouth nagging]] [[IncurableCoughOfDeath cough]]; for much of the Chronicles, he's simply too physically weak to survive the strain of casting the spells necessary to his plans. [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds He]] gets better, though.

* Franchise/StarWarsLegends:

* ''Franchise/StargateVerse''

* Yuna's group in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' has a whole host of different elements to make sure that they're the only ones who can defeat Sin once and for all. First, there's the fact that Sin contains the soul of Jecht, a previous guardian to the High Summoner. Then Tidus, Jecht's son, happens to end up on Spira. Then there's the fact that Jecht liked the Hymn of the Fayth, and the airship that Yuna's party acquires late in the game has the ability to play a recording of the Hymn. If any one of those things didn't happen, Sin stays alive, especially considering the party kills Lady Yunalesca, who had the only alternative available.
* ''VideoGame/GodOfWar2018'': Both of the dwarven Huldra Brothers, Brok and Sindri display an ability to step into the Realm Between Realms as an in-universe explanation for how they are able to move around so easily and provide their exceptional smithing talents to help Kratos and Atreus on their journey. However, as Sindri learns the hard way, this ability is useless against the keen senses of a dragon, resulting in a detour for the duo on their path up the mountain when they have to save him from the dragon Hraezlyr.
* In ''VideoGame/GoldenSun1'', the heroes are able to fight Saturos (previously a HopelessBossFight) in the Mercury Lighthouse, because the lighthouse weakens his Fire-based magic, and strengthens the heroine's Water-based powers (which he is weak against). Notably, his ally [[TheChessmaster Alex]] was impressed that they managed to beat him, noting that he expected Saturos to win.
* In ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'', the final boss has an attack that instantly turns all of the heroes into trophies a little while before the final battle. Right before the battle begins, [[spoiler:Sonic]] appears and attacks the boss's wings, weakening this attack considerably (though it's still almost a OHKO).
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'':
** Otacon deliberately ''designed'' a blatantly obvious weak point for the Metal Gear. He claims it gives the mechs "character" but he may also have been indulging in being able to bring a common Mecha-based anime plot point to "life".
** [[spoiler:Gray Fox]]'s [[RedemptionEqualsDeath last heroic deed]] is to take out Metal Gear REX's exterior vision modes, forcing the pilot to open the cockpit in order to see and giving Snake a legitimate weak point to fire at.
** Solid Snake ends up on the receiving end of [[spoiler:having to open the REX's cockpit]] when it's his turn to use it to fight in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots''.
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' often does this to justify players being able to kill a certain BigBad. Some raid bosses have been weakened by another force, sometimes [=NPC=]'s join the fight on the players' side, and some quests give you an item that will turn an elite mob into a normal one. Many of the hardmodes and achievements require you not to activate the handicap and still win the fight.

* ''[[VideoGame/DefJamSeries Def Jam: Fight For New York]]'' has the BigBad [[Music/SnoopDogg Crow]] stabbing the player character with [[SwordCane a blade hidden inside his cane]]. It's non-lethal but halves your health for the fight.
* In ''Videogame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadow2'', Dracula is basically the most powerful being alive. In his prime. When the game picks up after the ActionPrologue, he's been asleep for centuries without feeding. He can't even fight. Most of the game has Dracula journeying into his MentalWorld of Castlevania to regain his powers.
* Creator/FromSoftware loves this trope:
** In ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'', all of the most powerful figures in the setting's lore have been reduced to shadows of their former glory, yet another sign that the Age of Fire is ending. This is why a lone Undead (albeit a badass one) can potentially defeat them. Even then, they aren't exactly pushovers.
** One example in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'' [[spoiler:which happens long before the events of the game proper due to TimeTravel]] is [[spoiler:Knight Artorias]]. He was [[spoiler:one of Gwyn's Four Knights (the same order that Ornstein was captain of)]], known for being almost unbeatable with his trademark [[{{BFS}} greatsword]] and [[LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe greatshield]]. When you fight him, he's been tainted by [[TheCorruption the Abyss]], his armor is in tatters, his sword has been [[ExcaliburInTheRust wrecked and coated in dark slime]], his greatshield is gone [[spoiler:protecting his wolf companion, Sif]], and his left arm (which is implied to be his sword-arm) is broken and useless, forcing him to fight [[OneHandedZweihander one handed]]. And he ''still'' [[ThatOneBoss puts up a formidable fight]]. One can only wonder how strong he was in his prime...
** The Last Giant from ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'' has been buried underground for ages with a large pillar impaling his torso, which gives you half a chance of defeating this several stories tall rock monster. [[spoiler:Going into one of the Giant Memories lets you fight him in his prime as the Giant Lord, and he puts up a much better fight with a greatsword as long as five of you stacked on top of each other.]]
** A more spoiler-y example in ''2'' comes at the reveal of [[spoiler:King Vendrick's hollowed state]]. This character has been set up as the FinalBoss, but by the time you get to him, he is a barely functional zombie that won't even attack you. [[spoiler:Unless you provoke him, at which point he'll put up quite the fight that will be HarderThanHard unless you have at least four Giant Souls in your inventory. Still better than trying to fight him in his prime, but not by much since he still hits like a freight train.]]
** If you try to go for the Shura Ending in ''VideoGame/{{Sekiro}}'', you're pitted against Isshin Ashina. Though he was wildly regarded as the WorldsBestWarrior in the past, this fight pits you against him as a sickly old man mere hours away from his natural death. He's still the second hardest boss in the entire game though, only beaten by the final boss of all the other endings: [[spoiler: The complete aversion of this trope. Isshin Ashina, The Sword Saint, brought back from the dead at the peak of his prime.]]
** ''VideoGame/EldenRing'': During the GreatOffscreenWar, [[Characters/EldenRingRadahn Starscourge Radahn]], the mightiest among the Demigods, fought Malenia to a standstill which was only broken when Malenia lost control of her [[MysticalPlague Scarlet Rot]]. As a consequence, once you encounter Radahn yourself, he has been outright crippled, [[AgonyOfTheFeet physically]] and [[AlmightyIdiot mentally]], by the encroachment of the Rot... which is probably for the best, seeing as he's still a 27 feet tall MasterOfAll, capable of singlehandedly unleashing an ungodly RainOfArrows with his trusty bow, string together combos with his [[{{BFS}} giant cleavers]] with ease, and is still one of {{The Archmage}}s of the setting, having [[GravityMaster mastered Gravity Sorcery]] to such an extent that, even while mad and crippled, he is still capable of passively halting the movements of the stars themselves.
** For that matter, [[Characters/EldenRingMalenia Malenia, Blade of Miquella]], was [[BlessedWithSuck born with the Scarlet Rot]] and has been stuck in an eternal uphill struggle against it for her entire life. Already before her battle with Radahn, the Rot had already claimed her eyes, her right arm, and both of her legs, forcing her to use prosthetic limbs which have to be made out of solid gold in order to slow the Rot's spread and influence. One shudders to imagine what manner of monster she would've been like had the Rot not crippled her, considering that, even with [[DelicateAndSickly the crippling harm it has already done to her]], she's still regarded as the WorldsBestWarrior and is the game's ultimate SuperBoss...
* In ''VideoGame/MightAndMagicClashOfHeroes'', the game forces you to use Nadia in the final BossFight ([[ThisIsSomethingHesGotToDoHimself for plot reasons]]). At this point in the game, you won't have had time to level up Nadia to max (you don't gain access to her until the endgame and her stage lacks the side missions the others have to gain EXP). And as a bonus handicap, Nadia is the only playable character whose LimitBreak strikes randomly, rather than full-screen or aimed. What would've been an AntiClimaxBoss with Godric or Anwen turns into a LuckBasedMission.
* In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsV'', it's noted by Tetsuya Tsurugi that the only reason why Earth Fleet Tenku stood a chance against [[spoiler:Mazinger Zero was because Koji hasn't been fully assimilated yet and is actively resisting. This slowed down Zero's full awakening enough that its abilities (especially its probability and reality manipulation abilities) hasn't fully come online yet. It's still by far the most powerful enemy that the player would face in the game thus far, and makes both the Angels Bardiel and Zeruel fought in the same map look like jokes in comparison]].
* In the final stage of ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'', [[spoiler:Jeanne retrieves the title character from Jubileus' left eye, allowing the goddess to only use half of her full power]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}''; a handicap in favor of the player is in effect for [[spoiler:Asgore]], the BigBad. As you go through the game it's repeatedly hammered into your head that he is ''the'' strongest Monster, more than capable of putting your character (a small child) into the dirt with little effort, and Undyne says that she's only ever landed one solid blow on him in practice because he's so fast. When it comes time to fight him you find out that at 80 ATK and 80 DEF, he has more statistical power than anything else in the game... and then you actually meet him, it turns out he's a TragicVillain who despises himself for killing children for the sake of his kingdom's hope. He can't bring himself to attack you full-force (and will in fact never kill you until your HP is already at 1), he's swinging wildly with what should be a precision weapon because he can't look you in the eyes, he leaves his guard down so his sky-high defense is irrelevant, and he'll just stand still tanking your attacks until it kills him because [[DeathSeeker there's only one way he wants this fight to end]].
* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'' has you fight Jin, one of the main villains and head of the [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters Torna]] organization, about midway through the game. The issue is, Jin's currently one of the strongest [[LivingWeapon Blades]] in the world, [[spoiler:owing to his forbidden merging of human cells with his own Core to become a Flesh Eater]] and has powers ranging from [[FastAsLightning light-speed movement]] to [[AnIcePerson freezing an area to absolute zero]] to full elementary particle manipulation. Suffice to say, the party, despite having all members by this point, is nowhere near capable of facing him in combat. Fortunately, the party is currently being escorted by Fan La Norne, a Blade acting as envoy to the [[FantasticCatholicism Indoline Praetorium]] with the unique power of restricting Blades by nullifying their powers. The party notes that her power appears to not be working on him, until it is stated that he's just so powerful that the [[BroughtDownToNormal nullification is just barely able to bring him down to the power level of a regular Blade]], which they are able to face in combat.
* ''Monster Girl Quest!'':
** The original trilogy has both Luka and Alice greatly weakened at the start of its third chapter: the former has his [[StatusBuff spirits]] sealed while the latter is herself sealed (and can only escape the seal in a weaker, child-sized form). As a result, the monsters and angels encountered from then on are actually challenging. It's also later revealed that [[spoiler:Tamamo]] has been stuck in a weaker form all along, and is actually one of the [[spoiler:legendary Six Ancestors]].
** ''Monster Girl Quest! Paradox RPG'' has Alice and Ilias both reduced to weaker, child-sized forms right from the start of the game, as well as losing the support of their subordinates. This forces them to find new allies.

* VideoGame/MentalOmega: In the campaigns, the Paradox Engine's built-in Chronosphere cannot teleport enemies, unlike every Chronosphere variant in the vanilla game series. Considering how powerful this version of the Chronosphere is shown to be, regularly teleporting whole invasion forces and even ''buildings'' to the frontlines, it'd be a complete StoryBreakerPower for the Allies if they could Chronoshift enemy forces, since they could kick back and teleport their enemies' armies to death before the fight even starts.
* The Daedric Prince Hircine does this to himself willingly at the end of the ''Bloodmoon'' expansion pack for ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind.'' As a mortal fighting a Daedric Prince at full power would be like an ant fighting a tsunami (which, in his own words, would be "less than sporting"), Hircine takes a form that can offer a fair challenge to the player.

* In ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'':

* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'': The Mastermind enforces this by erasing Kyoko Kirigiri's memories of her talent ([[spoiler:Ultimate Detective]]), because if she had full access to it, [[StoryBreakerPower she could have ended the Killing Game far earlier than planned]]. [[spoiler:She still has her natural instinct as a detective, figures out that her memories have been tampered with, and later deduces what her talent was regardless.]]

* In the final episodes of ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', it's revealed [[spoiler:that Gravity Falls itself has a weirdness barrier around it to keep the weird happenings going on there contained there. This (until then unmentioned) barrier is the ONLY thing that stops the series BigBad Bill Cypher from conquering the world at that point, as he had already conquered Gravity Falls and was nearly omnipotent]].
* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' and ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' weakened Superman severely so he couldn't curb stomp everything and the other members of the league could be useful. This also gave most supervillains a (vague) chance against him, since he felt pain from most attacks (more HeroicWillpower than NighInvulnerability.)
** ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' used {{Kryptonite|Factor}} [[KryptoniteIsEverywhere everywhere]]. They also used the Parasite to sap Supes' strength, and in one episode they removed yellow sunlight so [[GadgeteerGenius Luminus]] could fight [[BroughtDownToNormal Superman]] one-on-one.
** He did receive a major buff at ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' season 2, since so many fans complained [[AdaptationalWimp he became a superwimp]]. He can still be physically exhausted (see "Secret Society") but it takes a LOT more effort. And it was eventually revealed that he was [[WilfullyWeak inhibited the whole time]] out of fear of hurting others.
** ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' occasionally did it for other characters too. A good example is where Characters/{{Wonder Woman|TheCharacter}} was poisoned to give [[Characters/AquamanRoguesGallery Black Manta]] CaptainErsatz Devil Ray, an [[BlatantLies entirely original character not related to Aquaman]], a decent chance against her in hand-to-hand. "The Savage Time" three-parter also saw ComicBook/GreenLantern's ring run out of power in the first installment, [[BroughtDownToBadass forcing him to rely on his military training]] for the remainder of the storyline.
** J'onn J'onzz is a martian who is as powerful as Superman and also an extremely capable psychic and shapeshifter. He is usually taken out very quickly or has his mind scrambled by the villain somehow.
** The Flash falls prey to occasional tripping on objects he should otherwise see far in advance, to explain why he doesn't just beat everyone up before anyone else gets the chance. "The Great Brain Robbery" episode of ''Justice League'' has Green Lantern explain that The Flash has basically been holding back in ''every'' fight because if he wanted to, he could just phase through anything and explode it. J'onn is pretty much the only being who could revive from that. Wally uses it ''twice'', to destroy a robot clone of himself, and to destroy [[spoiler:robot parts of Brainiac fused with Lex Luthor]].
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': At the end of Season Two, Aang undergoes spiritual training that will allow him to enter the Avatar State at will. With that ability, Aang would've been able to take on Fire Lord Ozai then and there and end the war. So naturally, the first time he tries to invoke this power, he's nearly killed when Azula blasts him in the back with a lightning strike. When Aang recovers, he finds his injuries have blocked his chakra, sealing him off the Avatar State. He doesn't get it back until the GrandFinale (the end of Season Three).
** In SequelSeries ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', Korra has a similar problem. She can't go into the Avatar State or communicate with her past lives due to her undeveloped spiritual side until the end of book one. By the beginning of book two, she can use it almost at will, but normal bending has little effect on the spiritual enemies she has to face and near the end of book two, Unalaq [[spoiler:manages to ''tear the Avatar Spirit out of her'' and destroy the connection it had to the previous Avatars. While Korra is able to get the spirit back, losing the connection to the other Avatars means she's back to being on her own advice-wise when it comes to literally Earth-changing decisions.]]
*** Not to mention how she's [[spoiler:weakened in season four]] from being [[spoiler:exposed to mercury]] during the season three finale, [[spoiler: not to mention traumatized by the near-death experience to the point of hampering her performance]].
** Toph and Katara, despite being two of the most powerful benders of their generation and arguably of all time, do not participate in the fighting against the assorted villains because age hasn't been as kind to them as it has to some people. Toph delivers a CurbStompBattle to Kuvira's forces to rescue her family in ''Operation Beifong'', but in the aftermath, says she threw out her back out, and that it's up to the younger generation to deal with its problems.
* In the first and fourth seasons of ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'', the {{Big Bad}}s could have easily killed the Titans but were more interested in [[WeCanRuleTogether convincing one of them to defect to the villains' side]] instead.
* ''WesternAnimation/DCSuperHeroGirls'': They decided to re-imagine Jessica Cruz (ComicBook/GreenLantern) as a GranolaGirl and TechnicalPacifist since she and her Green Lantern Ring would have been able to defeat pretty much any opponent otherwise.

* ''WesternAnimation/MightyDucksTheAnimatedSeries'';
** Mainly for the benefit of the Ducks, as damage inflicted on the Raptor early in the series leaves Dragaunus forced to focus more effort on finding a new source of power for his ship than actually conquering the planet.
** A more distinct example occurred in the episode "The Human Factor" when damage to the Mask forced the Ducks to rely on more conventional detective work to investigate odd events in a small town [[spoiler:when the Mask would have quickly revealed that everyone in that town had been replaced by robots]]; when Wildwing observed at the end that recent events would have been easier with the Mask, Tanya noted that [[BreakingTheFourthWall it would have made for a much shorter episode]].
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'', a burglar breaks into the girls' house. Since he is an ordinary, non-superpowered human, the girls could easily deal with him...if it weren't for the fact that the Professor needs to sleep for a dissertation he's giving the next day, and they don't want to wake him up, thus forcing them to hold back when dealing with the crook.

* By the fourth season of ''WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017'', the three main heroes have slain many powerful monsters, and nothing they face in this season is any more powerful than previous villains ([[spoiler:except for Death]]). To preserve the drama, Trevor and Sypha can't instantly annihilate their enemies because they're exhausted after six weeks of constantly fighting monsters, and Alucard is in poor shape after [[DrowningMySorrows drowning his sorrows]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/WolverineAndTheXMen2009'', Professor X and Jean, the most powerful mutants and psychics of the X-Men, are missing. This causes the X-Men to disband and the goal of the series is to find them.

* In ''WesternAnimation/InfinityTrain'', Alan Dracula is an all-powerful deer, who is capable of practically ''anything'', and comes in very helpful to his companions...when he chooses to cooperate.

* At one point in ''{{Manga/Gokusen}}'', ActionGirl and BadassTeacher Komiko catches a nasty cold. Then she makes it worse by single-handedly beating up a 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.

* Arcueid from ''{{VisualNovel/Tsukihime}}'' suffered from a particularly acute version of this--in the very first scene she appears in, she gets [[spoiler:sliced into 17 pieces]]. [[GoodThingYouCanHeal She did recover]], but she's weakened enough that she needs [[spoiler:her "killer"]]'s help to fight.

* Characters/{{Superman|TheCharacter}} -and [[Characters/SupergirlTheCharacter his]] [[Characters/PowerGirl whole]] [[ComicBook/KryptoTheSuperdog family]], for that matter- 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 that he [[WillfullyWeak holds back to keep from injuring anyone else]]. [[InvincibleHero The]] ''[[InvincibleHero real]]'' [[InvincibleHero 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 real reason becomes especially evident when the villains with Superman's powers, who have no reason to hold back, also face the same problem. Later stories such as those in the ''ComicBook/New52'' implied that he is simply not agile enough to fight at superspeed, comparing him to Usain Bolt while Wonder Woman is Bruce Lee, which still doesn't make much sense because of all the non-combat tasks he does at super speed.
* ComicBook/{{Spawn}} has a suit of Necroplasm that lets him do anything. However, he's only got 9999 units of power, and when they're gone, he's dragged to hell. When the creators stopped keeping track of how much power he had left, it became an InformedFlaw and drama was no longer preserved. He only had 9999 units of power himself, but he was taught how to draw energy from his symbiotic outfit, which had the ability to regenerate it. It took longer to draw from the suit, so he had to use his own built-in energy for fast reactions, and fear of running out is why he cached the huge military weapons in his alley. After being dragged to hell and coming out again, the problem went away.
* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'': the Abomination/Emil Blonsky generally has a default strength level that is greater than the Hulk's, and also retains his human mind where Hulk could be reduced to his familiar DumbMuscle whenever he transforms. However, Blonsky's main weakness in a fight is that his strength level is fixed, with the result that Hulk can easily beat Blonsky if a fight lasts long enough for him to get sufficiently angry and thus strong enough to beat his foe.
* Although he was never more than a C-list character, ComicBook/{{Sleepwalker}} had a major advantage in that he could focus his [[RealityWarper warp]] [[EyeBeams beams]] directly on any human opponent, which would turn them into NoodlePeople and force them to [[NightmareWeaver experience nightmares over and over again]]. The reason Sleepy didn't do this was that 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.
* During his time with the [[ComicBook/TeenTitans New Teen Titans]], Kid Flash contracted a mysterious illness that worsened the more he used his SuperSpeed. This is because Marv Wolfman notoriously found Kid Flash's speed powers difficult to write without making the rest of the team look useless.

* Examples from the ComicBook/DisneyMouseAndDuckComics:
** Super Goof, being basically Goofy with ''Superman's powers'', is saddled with [[HourOfPower his powers having a time limit]] and [[TheDitz being Goofy]]. Even then he's so powerful that he's rarely used in serious stories, that have to give him a reason to not just swallow one of his peanuts and win in a couple pages.
*** The ''ComicBook/{{Ultraheroes}}'' saga showed the problem with him by having him face the mightiest of the villains and his {{Kaiju}}-sized invulnerable trash construct and basically [[{{Pun}} thrash]] it in two pages once he's finished bringing the civilians to safety, right before having Gus wolf down ''all'' his power-granting peanuts just to keep him out of the way until the finale, where they finally brought in someone capable of facing him.
** [[ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures Xadhoom]] is basically a {{Physical God}}dess with enough firepower to [[EarthShatteringKaboom destroy a planet]], [[NighInvulnerability inability to be wounded (she CAN be knocked out, but that takes enormous amounts of kinetic or gravitational energy and she recovers fast)]], and CasualInterstellarTravel among her ''many'' powers, and that's her ''[[WillfullyWeak holding back]]'' [[spoiler:(should she ever use her powers to their full extent it's implied she'd go to full RealityWarper levels for a few seconds [[PhlebotinumBreakdown before being reduced to nothingness from overuse]])]]. To give some drama to her appearances, she must always keep self-control or [[ApocalypseHow explode with the strength of a nova and turn into a black hole]], doesn't actually know the extent of her powers (an entire issue had everyone [[spoiler:believe [[BroughtDownToNormal she had lost her powers and returned to her natural state]] only to find out in the end she had unconsciously acted on her wish that the whole chain of events that gave her her powers had never happened]]) or her self-control (leading her to use far less power than she could actually use. She realizes this in the aforementioned story when the villain finally gets her to ''snap''... And the explosion doesn't even nuke Duckburg) and the Evronians, [[ItsPersonal who she wants to exterminate for destroying her homeworld]], are GadgeteerGenius who actually figured out ''three'' ways to defeat her (in order of appearance, a forcefield that can take everything she can dish except her final attack, a weapon that, if given time, can ''kill'' her by absorbing all her energy, and [[spoiler:[[HostageSituation holding the last survivors of her homeworld hostage]] until the machine that can turn her into a perpetual energy source actually succeeds]]).
* At the start of the 2016 ''ComicBook/{{Thanos}}'' series, the title character learns that he is dying from some unidentifiable ailment. This greatly weakens him, making the character much more vulnerable than usual. At the end of the first arc, Thane uses the Phoenix Force to strip Thanos of his powers, making him even weaker.
* Used InUniverse for ''ComicBook/TheTick'', [[ParodiedTrope whose main superpower is "Drama Power"]]. This means he is exactly as strong and invulnerable as the situation calls for and gets more powerful as the stakes get higher and things get more dramatic. And since a HeroicSecondWind is always more dramatic than just {{No Sell}}ing everything from the get-go, The Tick starts out all battles with this trope on by default.
* The mini-series ''Ultimate War'' revolves around a conflict between ComicBook/TheUltimates and the ComicBook/UltimateXMen. Before the battle begins, ComicBook/NickFury has his men activate neuron dampeners that shut out psychic abilities, which temporarily depowers both [[Characters/MarvelComicsProfessorX Professor X]] and [[Characters/MarvelComicsJeanGrey Jean Grey]] and stops them from immediately ending the fight.
* ''ComicBook/{{Ultimatum}}'': Jean Grey had resurrected [[Characters/MarvelComicsAngel Angel]] a short time ago, after the battle with [[Characters/MarvelComicsApocalypse Apocalypse]]. She can't do this again and bring back anyone, because she has lost the Phoenix powers.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': When she first locates "Princess #1003" the princess semi paralyzes Diana, forcing her to move with her legs together and arms at her side for the ensuing challenges which Di wins anyway.
* In the ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' special ''[[ComicBook/PowerRangersSoulOfTheDragon Soul of the Dragon]]'', Tommy Oliver is searching for his missing son using his Master Morpher, which allows him to morph into any of his five past Ranger identities. However, the Master Morpher suffered damage the last time Tommy used it in a fight, and as a result, while Tommy can still us it to morph, he can only morph in reverse order of his previous powers (Black Dino Thunder Ranger to the original Green Ranger), he can only hold each morph for a short time, and once it demorphs he cannot use that Ranger form again, forcing him to carefully choose when he morphs. At one point, his son's friend Anara explicitly observes that Tommy is saving the Zeo powers for a truly desperate situation given how powerful they'll be by now.

* [[Characters/MarvelComicsCable Cable]], being the son of [[Characters/MarvelComicsMadelynePryor Madelyne Pryor]] - a clone of [[Characters/MarvelComicsJeanGrey Jean Grey]] - and [[Characters/MarvelComicsCyclops Scott Summers]], would probably be one of the most powerful mutants around, and you'd be right. However, because he's infected with a Techno-Organic Virus, a vast amount of his power is used to hold back the virus' spread, thus his NinetiesAntiHero usage of guns. The times he's had the virus removed, he's had god-like power.

* ''Fanfic/{{Atonement}}'': In her initial appearance, Pandora's biggest StoryBreakerPower was her ability to clone herself an unlimited number of times, with the clones possessing her full powerset and forming a HiveMind. Ballistic headshotting the "prime" Pandora near the end of her first appearance crippled that power, leaving the Pandora getsalt limited to a max of eighteen bodies at once (later reduced to sixteen after two of the Pandora personalities were KilledOffForReal).
* "[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/38530060/ Avengers: Darkness in Kingdom Hearts]]" sees Spider-Man and the Scarlet Witch forced to protect a young Sora from the Heartless after ComicBook/TheAvengers' latest battle with Kang the Conqueror created a rift in reality that allowed Sora's future enemies to attack his past. As Peter, Wanda and Sora travel through a range of Disney-themed worlds, despite Peter's generally detailed knowledge of the films, they experience various issues;

* ''Fanfic/AvengersInfiniteWars'';

* ''Fanfic/AvengersOfTheRing'';

* ''Fanfic/ChaosTheoryZ'': A millennial event called the Dragon Moon, which lasts about half a year, causes the Earth Dragon Balls to recharge in only a single day. But once the Dragon Moon ends, they’ll need as many years to recharge as the number of wishes made. The Dragon Moon concludes around the same time as the Saiyan Saga, and over that time, [[spoiler:they were used four times (twice by the good guys, twice by villains)]]. This coupled with the fact that [[spoiler:Kami and Piccolo fused together several years early]] means that the Earth’s Dragon Balls will be unusable for the foreseeable future.
* ''Fanfic/DekiruTheFusionHero'':
** Izuku's Material Fusion allows him to increase his durability and even use the full power of One for All with minimal issue. However, it also diminishes the powers of his blows compared to if he were just flesh and blood.
** Human Fusion is a borderline StoryBreakerPower. Not only do the resulting fusions have more powerful mutations of his and his classmates' Quirks, they also have access to One for All, and since they're not only more durable than normal Izuku but also flesh and blood, they have more control over it. As a result, Human Fusion is given many drawbacks to make it a DangerousForbiddenTechnique: CastFromStamina, memory-sharing, pain-sharing, and unpredictability. Even ''with'' the drawbacks, the technique is powerful enough that Aizawa was genuinely worried Izuku would come to rely on it too much.

* In ''Fanfic/DogBreathAndBirdBrain'' [[spoiler:a fake grimoire]] not only forcibly sends Octavia and Loona to Earth, but strips them of their magic, rendering them unable to use their [[{{Glamour}} human disguises]] to blend in and forcing them to live in the woods away from human eyes. They end up relying on a human named Grace to be their SecretKeeper and give them food and supplies to avoid starving out.
* ''Fanfic/FateHaremAntics'': Saint Martha is summoned as Servant Ruler. Ruler normally has two Command Spells for every other Servant in the Holy Grail War, but since she was summoned improperly, she lacks them. The author admitted this was done to prevent her from being too powerful.

* ''Fanfic/FateStarryNight'': Much like the events of [[VideoGame/FateGrandOrder Shimousa]], something is stopping Chaldea from sending Servant backup to Ritsuka. In this case, it's a wall of grail mud that injures EMIYA for trying to break through it and even obscures Gilgamesh's clairvoyance. But as a wall of curses, a conglomeration of wraiths and hatred like Jack is the only Servant who can be sent through.

* ''Fanfic/HeroesNeverDie'':
** While Izuku can learn to handle One For All better using his GroundhogDayLoop quirk, he can't increase his capacity. That is based on the strength of his body, and it's impossible to increase his physical power through timeloops. Worse, [[spoiler:One For All's power ''does'' increase through the loops, so if Izuku loops too much it will outstrip his training]].
** {{Invoked}} during the Sports Festival. Izuku does such an excellent job organizing his class into a singular fighting force in the first round (every single one of them places in the top twenty), that the teachers realize he'd dominate the planned cavalry battle. They do a King of the Hill type match instead and change the way teams are chosen so that he can't control the outcome too much.
* ''Fanfic/HogyokuExMachina'': Orihime's powers are damaged early on to, in the author's words, "removed the get-out-of-death-free card".

* Some ''Manga/DragonBallZ'' stories such as ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11886818/1/Inheritance Inheritance]]'' remove the dragon balls from the story so as to avert DeathIsCheap. In the aforementioned story, King Cold blows up Namek when they refuse to name his son's killer and Piccolo is forced to fuse with Kami when King Cold attacks Earth.

* ''Fanfic/KimberlyTsGargoyles'' series;
** Although the Xanatos family are now basically on the gargoyles' side, the geas Oberon placed on Puck means that they don't have access to magic to deal with bigger problems. Since Owen can only use magic to teach or protect Alexander, he can only act to protect Alexander under specific circumstances, such as if the castle is attacked during the day, and often he cannot provide more immediate magical assistance as Alexander isn't old enough to understand how to perform such a spell and there's no way Owen can justify performing that spell as Puck.
** Due to a deal with the Illuminati, Xanatos is prohibited from doing more to help the gargoyles than just giving them a place to sleep during the day, when he was contemplating such plans as officially hiring Broadway as a chef to create legal precedent for gargoyles as people. That said, the Illuminati also impose prohibitions against the Quarrymen trying to attack Xanatos in other areas, and affirm that Xanatos can still defend the gargoyles if they’re attacked while at the castle.
* ''Fanfic/LittleHandsBigAttitude'':
** [[spoiler:Shadow]] is probably one of the most powerful characters in a setting where {{Physical God}}s are next-door neighbors; or he ''would'' be if not for the sharpnel in his leg and the resulting infection that makes him incapable of moving around without a cane. The fact that he's incapable of even ''walking'', much less running, puts him into a number of situations he could have easily otherwise fight his way out of or escape.
** The above situation gets even worse when Sonic has to rescue him from [[spoiler:Agent Stone and his mech]], but during the escape [[DramaticDislocation Sonic dislocates his shoulder]] after a rough landing and thus is now incapable of carrying [[spoiler:Shadow]] around. It takes a BigDamnHeroes moment from [[spoiler:Silver]] to save them both.

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13163441/1/The-Not-So-Average-Girl The Not-So-Average Girl]]'' expands on the limitations of [[Series/{{Heroes}} Peter Petrelli]] and his ability to copy the powers of others. More specifically, while he can imitate the power of anyone he meets and copy it by recalling how they made him feel when out of their company, Peter can only exactly copy that power when he is in their presence; when he is away from the source of that power, he can only imitate the copied power at half the strength of its original owner, and he will never be stronger than the other superpowered person on his own.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4813784/55/Once-More-With-Feeling Once More With Feeling]]'', two SOLDIER cadet squads play a game of CaptureTheFlag but one of them is undermanned, the other members having been expelled. As such, that squad gets a trio of SOLDIER Third Classes to help. Since those three could take on both squads at once with ease, they're given direct orders to follow the ExactWords of their squad leader, both to make things more fair and to teach the cadets to be careful with their orders.
* In ''Fanfic/PowerRangersMythos'', the temporally-displaced Rangers initially assume that they’ve been brought to the future to use their morphers after Fae’s own was disabled, but Fae reveals (and Flynn confirms) that the damage to the Grid has disabled their morphers as well and the Mythos Morphers are their only option.
* To keep the Triwizard Tournament from favoring the older students too much in ''Fanfic/PrincessOfTheBlacks'', the junior champions (between 14 and 16 years old) are given a magical item to make things easier, such as a fireproof cloak or a compass pointing towards their hostage.

* ''Fanfic/TheresMoreMagicOutThere'': In the story where many supporting characters from ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' [[AdaptationalBadass are secretly either monsters or magic users]], Juleka Couffaine is a vampire and the strongest monster of the Mystery Gang. During the Incubus arc, she is practically stoned after eating overaged fae food and has to be kept out of fighting while the rest of the group confront [[spoiler:Mireille]] and her brainwashed army. [[PlayingWithATrope That said]], Juleka still plays a major role in the arc, such as advising Chloe on breaking Alix from [[BrainwashedAndCrazy her brainwashing]] through a [[spoiler:TrueLoveKiss]]. And when [[spoiler:Mireille]] desperately tries to use her powers to brainwash Juleka, the vampire [[NoSell No-Sells]] the spell and [[DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength backhands the Incubus with enough force to send her flying]].
* In the ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6852335/1/What-if-Almost-Everybody-was-Shirou-s-Servant What if Almost Everybody was Shirou's Servant]]'', all the Servants save for Berseker are summoned to protect Shirou from Berserker and Illya, with the teen becoming their master. Normally, this would give him a guaranteed victory, but since even a single, ''normally summoned'' Servant costs a lot of mana to maintain, the six Servants are one-sixth as strong so that they won't drain Shirou of his mana.
* In the ''Series/StargateSG1'' fanfic series ''Fanfic/WhatYouAlreadyKnow'', while Daniel Jackson gains powerful psychic abilities, he gets serious headaches that could actually damage his brain if he uses these powers too much, so he only ever uses his abilities when there is no other clear choice, although with training and experience he learns how to use his powers to achieve his goals without inflicting too much pain on himself
** In ''[=WYAK=]: Resolutions'', Daniel initially suggests the use of the Dakara superweapon to stop Anubis’s supersoldiers, but [[spoiler:despite using it against the Replicators as in canon]], Sam determines that they can’t use the weapon against the Kull Warriors as it would have to be programmed to exactly match the frequency of the anti-Kull disruptor, and they don’t have the means to control it that specifically.

* In ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2'', Crane's wing is injured right before the one point in the movie when it would be most useful to have a flying team member.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Storks}}'': Junior is shown very early on to be the best delivery stork in the entire company. So his wing is injured to prevent him from easily delivering the baby.
* The climax of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueDark'' has Felix Faust cast a spell that renders Zatanna unable to speak, thus stopping her from immediately ending the fight with her vocal magic.
* In ''WesternAnimation/SuicideSquadHellToPay'', Professor Zoom would normally be able to take down the Squad before they knew what hit them. However, [[spoiler:Zoom is dying from the headshot he took in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueTheFlashpointParadox'' -- he's using his SuperSpeed powers to defer the moment of death and has little left over for anything else]].
* The plot of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueVsTheFatalFive'' could have been resolved much earlier had Star Boy remembered to take his schizophrenia medication prior to pursing the escaped villains through time. By forgetting to take his medication (which he cannot replenish as it has not been invented in the present day), he ends up being locked into Arkham for a while until the villains he was pursuing resurface, and even then it is not until Miss Martian looks into his mind that the full picture of who the League is up against is assembled.

* ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'': Because Sanosuke would {{Curb Stomp|Battle}} 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 has trouble facing foes weaker than he's been fighting.

* Goku from ''Manga/{{Saiyuki}}'' could beat nearly every enemy they have to fight if he took off his power limiter; however, this also results in him attacking anything that moves. Hakkai too is very powerful without his limiters but can't remove them often thanks to the minus wave, and at least partly not wanting to.* ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'': Because Sanosuke would {{Curb Stomp|Battle}} 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 has trouble facing foes weaker than he's been fighting.

* Yuzu and Serena from ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'' have LivingMacGuffin status but are both skilled enough to hold off most would-be kidnappers on their own. Naturally Serena gets [[spoiler:hit with nerve gas]] rendering her immobile so that several other characters can rush around protecting her for a few episodes. Likewise, Yuzu keeps losing her duel disk throughout the Synchro arc so that other characters can rush to help her (although in one case her rescuer arms her so they can fight together) or so that she'll be more easily kidnapped.* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'':

* Characters/{{Cable|NathanSummers}}, being the son of [[Characters/MarvelComicsMadelynePryor Madelyne Pryor]] - a clone of [[Characters/MarvelComicsJeanGrey Jean Grey]] - and [[Characters/MarvelComicsCyclops Scott Summers]], would probably be one of the most powerful mutants around, and you'd be right. However, because he's infected with a Techno-Organic Virus, a vast amount of his power is used to hold back the virus' spread, thus his NinetiesAntiHero usage of guns. The times he's had the virus removed, he's had god-like power.

%%* ''Fanfic/TheresMoreMagicOutThere'': In the story where many supporting characters from ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' [[AdaptationalBadass are secretly either monsters or magic users]], Juleka Couffaine is a vampire and the strongest monster of the Mystery Gang. During the Incubus arc, she is practically stoned after eating overaged fae food and has to be kept out of fighting while the rest of the group

** Clockwork is a Chronosapien, from an unknown planet. Normally, usage of him would [[StoryBreakerPower end the story quite quickly]] due to being able to use time-manipulation and TimeTravel powers ''unless'' used against a similar antagonist with time-based powers. When Clockwork has been used in this manner, it was normally to demonstrate his abilities to Gwen and Kevin.

** When he was allowed to ''keep'' powerful Pokémon, they would often have personality quirks, flaws, or foibles designed to prevent them from operating at maximum (or even remotely decent) efficiency. Most famously, Ash's Charizard was temperamental and often simply refused to lift a finger to help Ash in his battles. Late in the Orange Islands ([=EP105=]), Charizard is moved by Ash's devotion and finally decides to get its butt in gear. However, in the Johto arc, Ash is told that Charizard is too powerful and that he's been abusing its superiority, and the writers have him leave Charizard in the [[HiddenElfVillage Charicific Valley]] for training ([=EP134=])[[note]]The writers had apparently been planning this for a while, writing scenes to downplay Charizard's actual strength, such as when the Chikorita Ash would eventually catch managed to ''slam it into a mountainside''[[/note]]. Look at those episode numbers again -- Ash gets to enjoy a hard-earned, obedient Charizard for ''less than thirty straight episodes''. This made room for Cyndaquil, a little badger cub with powerful fire attacks hampered by its serious ignition problems.

* Although he was never more than a C-list character, {{ComicBook/Sleepwalker}} had a major advantage in that he could focus his [[RealityWarper warp]] [[EyeBeams beams]] directly on any human opponent, which would turn them into NoodlePeople and force them to [[NightmareWeaver experience nightmares over and over again]]. The reason Sleepy didn't do this was that 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.

* ComicBook/DoctorStrange:

* ''ComicBook/{{Nova}}'': At the start of the fourth series, Nova has the entire Nova Force at his disposal, making him as powerful as the entire (recently destroyed) Nova Corps combined. Then he gets infected by the [[UnwillingRoboticisation transmode virus]] during the tie-in to ''ComicBook/AnnihilationConquest'', which forces him to dedicate most of his power to keeping the virus in remission lest it turn him into a minion of the Phalanx. This leaves Nova much weaker than he'd otherwise be [[spoiler:until Warlock cures him of the virus]].

* Characters/{{Cable|NathanSummers}}, being the son of [[Characters/MarvelComicsMadelynePryor Madelyne Pryor]] - a clone of Jean Grey - and Scott Summers, would probably be one of the most powerful mutants around, and you'd be right. However, because he's infected with a Techno-Organic Virus, a vast amount of his power is used to hold back the virus' spread, thus his NinetiesAntiHero usage of guns. The times he's had the virus removed, he's had god-like power.

* In ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'', many a climax has had the heroes trying to escape from or outrun some kind of messy situation that, if they just used Rick's portal gun--an InterdimensionalTravelDevice--would be easily solved or avoided. Sometimes it's justified when the portal gun is directly shown to have been left behind by mistake or not be working for some reason, but more often, nobody seems to think of it or bring it up, and there's no indication that Rick even has it on him, even though it's one of his most important and well-guarded inventions. It got to the point where Rick just straight-up ''lies'' to Morty in "Get Schwifty" and claims there wasn't enough power to simply teleport to another dimension when Morty brings it up... which makes the situation worse when Rick carelessly uses it to get extra food and Morty calls him out on it before taking it himself. Not that it would help much in that situation, considering they were dealing with omnipotent reality show hosts who were completely impervious to ''nuclear missiles'' and "eliminated" their contestants by ''blowing their planets up with death rays''.

* Characters/{{Superman|TheCharacter}} -and [[Characters/SupergirlTheCharacter his]] [[Characters/PowerGirl whole]] [[ComicBook/KryptoTheSuperdog family]], for that matter- 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 that he [[NoMoreHoldingBackSpeech holds back to keep from injuring anyone else]]. [[InvincibleHero The]] ''[[InvincibleHero real]]'' [[InvincibleHero 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 real reason becomes especially evident when the villains with Superman's powers, who have no reason to hold back, also face the same problem. Later stories such as those in the ''ComicBook/New52'' implied that he is simply not agile enough to fight at superspeed, comparing him to Usain Bolt while Wonder Woman is Bruce Lee, which still doesn't make much sense because of all the non-combat tasks he does at super speed.

** He did receive a major buff at ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' season 2, since so many fans complained [[AdaptationalWimp he became a superwimp]]. He can still be physically exhausted (see "Secret Society") but it takes a LOT more effort. And it was eventually revealed that he was [[NoMoreHoldingBackSpeech inhibited the whole time]] out of fear of hurting others.

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13163441/1/The-Not-So-Average-Girl The Not-So-Average Girl]]'' expands on the limitations of Peter Petrelli (''Series/{{Heroes}}'') and his ability to copy the powers of others. More specifically, while he can imitate the power of anyone he meets and copy it by recalling how they made him feel when out of their company, Peter can only exactly copy that power when he is in their presence; when he is away from the source of that power, he can only imitate the copied power at half the strength of its original owner, and he will never be stronger than the other superpowered person on his own.

** Their visit to Paris (''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameDisney'') nearly goes wrong not only because of the presence of the Heartless, but because Peter forgets about how Frollo found the Court of Miracles.
** When the group arrive in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' universe before the Battle of Coruscant (''Film/RevengeOfTheSith''), even without the dangers of the upcoming events Peter immediately vows to find some way to prevent Anakin falling to the Dark Side even after being warned not to interfere with the events of the worlds they visit.

** The main [[RealLifeWritesThePlot off-screen reason]] for her losing her active powers in Season 6 was the dent the stunts and equipment for her levitation was making on the budget, but getting rid of her premonitions and empathy too certainly is what helped stretch the seasonal arc, basically a magical whodunnit, till the finale.