History Main / IAmNotLeftHanded

* Occurs twice in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, when Thor is fighting Loki. Thor is initially holding back, not wanting to hurt his little brother, but then Loki pushes him too far. Both times Thor stops holding back and promptly defeats Loki.
** In ''Film/{{Thor}}'', Loki actually does this on purpose wanting Thor to fight at full force. He makes a comment about "[[AndYourLittleDogToo paying]] [[LoveInterests Jane]] a visit" to enrage Thor, which didn't work out for him.
** In ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' Thor is desperately trying to talk Loki down. He seems to consider it, [[spoiler:and then stabs Thor sneering at the "sentiment". Thor promptly grabs Loki, lifts him into the air, before slamming him onto the ground]]. Director Creator/JossWhedon even described this point as Thor "finally having enough of Loki's shit."
** Thor pretty much {{lampshade|Hanging}}s it in ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'', telling Loki that all the previous times they'd fought, Thor held the hope that the brother he loved remained somewhere, and that hope no longer exists to protect Loki from Thor's wrath.
** This is discussed in ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming''. Spidey is trying to convince Iron Man he's ready to join the Avengers and points out how well [[Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar he fought against Captain America in Berlin]] as an example. Iron Man points out that Cap was holding back because he didn't want to harm him. If Cap went all out, Spidey would've been beaten badly.
** ''Civil War'' also features War Machine, who mostly sticks to melee and repulsors (which have variable impact). Right up until [[spoiler:Ant-Man goes huge and tries to swing a jet bridge at WM. So War Machine - who was already a tad frustrated - unloads ''all his other guns''. The jet bridge basically ''evaporates''. There's a reason it's called the ''Variable'' Threat Response Battle Suit]].

* In ''Film/{{Serenity}}'', Captain Malcolm Reynolds is down-and-out, lying on the ground after having his butt handed to him by The Operative. The Operative employs a paralyzing technique that he had used earlier in the film, punching Mal in a nerve cluster in the lower back. [[spoiler:It is revealed that Mal had been injured in a battle, had that nerve cluster moved, and his weakness becomes his strength as he gets up and catches the Operative by surprise, overpowering him and winning.]]

* In ''WebComic/TowerOfGod'', during the Workshop Battle, Rak goes around being shrunk to a small size until he meets someone in need of real beating up and returns to his normal three metres. (Only then is it even explained how he got shrunk again -- it's something people who are too tall to fit indoors can get a permission to magically do.)

** Spidey, Marvel's flagship character, does something similar to Superman, too, albeit at a much lower level; after all, Spidey collars ordinary crooks almost as often as he clashes with super-villains (and several of them still have only human-level toughness), and using his full strength to punch out a non-superpowered bank robber would end up rather messy. Often, he avoids this simply by webbing up normal guys rather than fighting them directly. A rare example of his actually taking the kid gloves off occurred in ''[[ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderManJMichaelStraczynski Back in Black]]'' when he was goaded by [[Characters/MarvelComicsTheKingpin The Kingpin]], someone who had always been considered a worthy match for him before -- but not now. With nothing left to lose, [[CurbStompBattle Spidey wiped the floor with him]], letting every witness (and there were ''plenty'') know he could have done that ''any'' time he had wanted. ''ComicBook/SpiderManSpidersShadow'' showed he was ''still'' holding back: had he really wanted to, he could have [[OneHitKill punched a hole straight through Kingpin's chest without much effort]].
** This is also further hit on by [[Characters/MarvelComicsOttoOctavius Doctor Octopus]] when [[ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan his mind took over Spider-Man's body]], as he noted in shock that he was surprised how much Parker had been holding back and pulling his punches all those years that they fought. This revelation came after Otto accidentally punched the Scorpion's jaw clean off.

** In ''ComicBook/AstonishingXMen'', the team are confronted by a Sentinel. They line up and talk tactics but Cyclops is in no mood for such things -- he removes his glasses, and utterly ''eradicates'' the Sentinel from existence -- as well as about a mile of forest around. Later in the same run, he had his powers psychically de-activated by [[Characters/EmmaFrostWhiteQueen Emma Frost]] and had been captured and tortured by an alien warlord. When he finally tells the warlord that the X-Men's secret weapon "Leviathan", was completely fictional (thus throwing out any reason to keep him alive), he starts laughing. The warlord attacks him, demanding to know what else he's been lying about. [[spoiler:Then [[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Gd8NBIma-zo/RzSgt3KLuhI/AAAAAAAABm8/hjnXT6PbLlA/s1600-h/scottLies1.jpg with the villain right up in his face,]] [[http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Gd8NBIma-zo/RzSguHKLuiI/AAAAAAAABnE/VsI5SKYySOM/s1600-h/scottLies2.jpg Cyclops reactivates his eyebeams and blasts the villain, leaving a massive hole in the building.]]]]

** During ''ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse'', Characters/{{Wolverine|JamesLoganHowlett}}, here called Weapon X, lost his left hand to Cyclops and it seemed that he had also lost his claws on that hand, too. However, during the final confrontation with Donald Pierce, Weapon X revealed that he had actually ''retracted'' his claws before he lost his hand, and promptly gutted Pierce with them.

* The South Korean film ''Film/TheDivineMove'' is about professional Go hustlers. Tae-seok uses this trope to lure one of Sal-soo's gangsters into both a Go game and a physical fight, posing as a weak player who is desperate to not lose what's left his money and raising the stakes of the game to "ten flicks of the fingers". He then easily wins the Go game by [[SelfImposedChallenge exactly one point]] and [[FingerPokeOfDoom uses those finger flicks to take out the gangster's eyes]].

* The South Korean film ''Film/TheDivineMove'' is about professional Go hustlers. Tae-seok uses this trope to lure one of Sal-soo's gangsters into both a Go game and a physical fight, posing as a weak player who is desperate to not lose all his money and raising the stakes of the game to "ten flicks of the fingers". He then easily wins the Go game and [[FingerPokeOfDoom uses those finger flicks to take out the gangster's eyes]].

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': In the final fight against All For One, All Might is on the last dregs of his power, and seemingly uses the last of it to deflect All For One's attack. When All For One unleashes another attack, All Might reveals he still had some power left—but that was just a feint to get past All For One's defenses with the ''real'' final attack.

* ''Manga/SaintSeiya'': Happens multiple times during the Twelve Temples Arc and the lead-up. Most of the times is the Gold Saints that, for a reason or the other, are holding back, but the final (and most magnificent) it's [[spoiler:''Shun'' who reveals he had been on the level of the Gold Saints since the start of the series (and indeed, the moment he goes all-out he ''kills'' one after all his previous blows having caused little damage out of an attempt of simply force his surrender), [[MartialPacifist he just didn't want to kill his opponents unless he had to]]—Shun actually uses his Andromeda Cloth as a voluntary PowerLimiter—but break that and force him to go bare-handed, and you learn he can literally BlowYouAway]].

* ''Fanfic/TheKeysStandAlone'': Applies to all of the four, really, but especially to Paul (who, ironically, is left-handed in [[Music/PaulMcCartney Real Life]]) and George, both of whom have many more abilities than anyone could possibly guess—even themselves!—and who are entirely unwilling to tell outsiders about them until it becomes necessary to actually use them.

[[folder:Films - Animated]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/IceAgeDawnOfTheDinosaurs'', both Scrat and Scratte fall off a cliff, and Scrat heroically dives after her in a rescue attempt...only to reveal that this was in fact a trick, as she is actually a ''flying squirrel'' who then steals his acorn and glides to safety while Scrat falls.

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]

* ''Film/IRobot'' features a fight between Creator/WillSmith's character, Del Spooner, and an NS-5 robot that's actually trying to kill him (as opposed to the fight with Sonny, earlier in the movie). Spooner hits the robot with a metal pipe once or twice, which the robot shrugs off, and it acquires possession of the weapon. After successfully dodging the robot's first swing, the robot's second and third swings are blocked by Spooner's left arm -- and on the second impact, [[spoiler:we see part of the inside of the arm exposed, revealing that Spooner's left arm is, in fact, mechanical. (Which -- when the robot looks surprised, or as surprised as a robot can be -- he acknowledges with an almost-apologetic "Yeah.") He connects with a hard punch and a leg sweep using that arm, and tries to punch the robot while it's on the ground -- only to miss, and have his fist go ''through'' the asphalt]].

* WesternAnimation/{{The Powerpuff Girls|1998}} individually compete in a series of tests in order to join a league of male superheroes (episode "Members Only"). Bubbles competes in a speed race against E-Male. As she keeps pace with him:

'''Bubbles:''' Oh, okay. 'Bye! (''turns on the afterburners and zooms way ahead, eventually winning'')

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars''[[note]]the 2003 series, not the 2008 one[[/note]]: General Grievous at the end. You thought he was tough with two arms? Well, turns out he has ''four''.
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueVsTeenTitans'': A darker version occurs. Damian Wayne and Blue Beetle get into a fight and Damian asks who's fighting, him or the Scarab. Beetle replies that he hopes it's him. This wasn't a boast, though -- it's a warning as he's restraining the Scarab from taking any kill-shots. Indeed, the moment control was lost, the Scarab takes over and flash-fries part of Damian's face.

** When the ''real'' Thor comes back after ''Civil War'', he confronts Tony Stark over what he did - with his hammer. When the lightning bolts start flying, Tony blasts him - to no effect. He tries the "old school" approach, and Thor sends him flying and near-cripples his armor with one hit. He says that Thor must have been working out, in shock at how hard he was hit. Thor replies that the only difference this time is that he isn't holding back.

When someone fights dirty by holding back, but now decides it's time to take it up a notch.

The situation varies from example to example. A common example is for a character to fight with their non-dominant hand, as in the [[Film/ThePrincessBride trope-naming example]], only to switch back to their dominant hand to gain an edge. Similar to this is pretending that they have a serious handicap, then deciding to stop the charade. It can also go so far as a character revealing that they have always had a superpower [[EleventhHourSuperpower which they now decide to exploit]], or a DangerousForbiddenTechnique which they now [[GodzillaThreshold have no option but to utilize]]. They also may reveal they've been partaking in some ImposedHandicapTraining and are ready to throw off their handicap. The most common subversions are for the other character to also be not left-handed, or for the character to remark, "Yes I am," after he switches hands. (Or if the writer is [[NoManOfWomanBorn being subtle]] about [[DoubleSubversion doubling up]] on this trope, that the character is later revealed as ambidextrous a.k.a '''"both-handed"'''.)

* DC Comics icon Characters/{{Superman|TheCharacter}} is prominently known for holding back all the time to avoid one-shotting his opponents' heads off as well as general collateral damage. When the gloves are off, however, fights tend to end quickly. Issue 669 explores this in depth (a flashback to his rookie years, when he had to be extra careful because humans are squishy). For what happens when Superman stops holding back, see NoMoreHoldingBackSpeech.
** When he first encountered [[ComicBook/WhatsSoFunnyAboutTruthJusticeAndTheAmericanWay Manchester Black and The Elite]] (a group of "heroes" that believe supers should be JudgeJuryAndExecutioner), he pulled off a BatmanGambit to show them (and the world) [[BewareTheSuperman just how scary he'd be if he ever really cut loose]]. But despite unleashing enough power to deliver them a CurbStompBattle, he's still holding back, making sure not to kill them and to avoid excessive collateral damage.
* ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis:'' Mr. Tawky Tawny fights the New God Kalibak, presently reborn as a tigerman. Kalibak learns the hard way that while he may look like a wimp in his tweed business suit and bowtie, he is still a mighty ''tiger!''
* ''Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}'':
** When DC brought Kara Zor-El back after her death in ''Comicbook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', it was rumoured that she was more powerful than Superman. Then Superman proved that his cousin was not more powerful. She ''seemed'' more powerful because she hadn't learned yet how to hold back, unlike him, who is always holding back.
** In ''Comicbook/RedDaughterOfKrypton'', it takes a dozen Green and Red Lanterns to restrain a mad Supergirl. Afterwards, Kara reveals that she was holding back because she was scared of killing them all if she let loose. Guy believes her.
* Franchise/SpiderMan:
** Spidey, competitor Marvel's flagship character, does something similar to Superman, too, albeit at a much lower level; after all, Spidey collars ordinary crooks almost as often as he clashes with super-villains (and several of them still have only human-level toughness), and using his full strength to punch out a non-superpowered bank robber would end up rather messy. Often, he avoids this simply by webbing up normal guys rather than fighting them directly. A rare example of his actually taking the kid-gloves off occurred In ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay'' when he was goaded by [[Characters/MarvelComicsTheKingpin The Kingpin]], someone who had always been considered a worthy match for him before -- but not now. With nothing left to lose, [[CurbStompBattle Spidey wiped the floor with him]], letting every witness (and there were ''plenty'') know he could have done that ''any'' time he had wanted. A ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' story showed he was ''still'' holding back: had he really wanted to, he could have [[OneHitKill punched a hole straight through Kingpin's chest without much effort]].
** This is also further hit on by [[Characters/MarvelComicsOttoOctavius Doctor Octopus]] when [[ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan his mind took over Spider-Man's body]], as he noted in shock that he was surprised how much Parker had been holding back and pulling his punches all those years that they fought. This revelation came after Otto accidentally punched the Scorpion's jaw clean off.
* ComicBook/IronMan's fight with the Black Knight in ''ComicBook/MarvelAdventures: ComicBook/TheAvengers'' is cut short when the latter reveals his lance [[SwissArmyWeapon doubles as a]] WaveMotionGun.
* In the "What If?" ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' special, Henry Gyrich creates an army of Thor clones to enforce registration. Reed Richards notes that Thor once told him that no matter how powerful a mortal is, he will only ever use a third of his strength for fear of killing them. The clones, of course, have no such restraint.
* When the ''real'' Thor comes back after Civil War, he confronts Tony Stark over what he did - with his hammer. When the lightning bolts start flying, Tony blasts him - to no effect. He tries the "old school" approach, and Thor sends him flying and near-cripples his armor with one hit. He says that Thor must have been working out, in shock at how hard he was hit. Thor replies that the only difference this time is that he isn't holding back.

* Near the end run of ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey, the team moves their headquarters from Metropolis to Platinum Flats, which just happens to be the next town over from where former member Characters/BlackCanary is now living. Of course, it ultimately results in a LetsYouAndHimFight between Black Canary and current Bird of Prey member ComicBook/{{Manhunter|DCComics}}. As they battle Manhunter prattles about her recent fights against other superheroes, explaining the successes she has had in sparring matches against the likes of Characters/{{Wonder Woman|TheCharacter}} and is happy to finally have a chance to see how she compares against such a famed martial artist as the Canary. Eventually, she asks why Canary [[FightsLikeANormal has not used her signature Canary Cry sonic attack]]. Canary says she "is trying really hard not to put [the Manhunter] in the hospital." Canary wins the fight.
* In the ''[[ComicBook/TheFlash Flash: Rebirth]]'' series (pictured), Superman is chasing after [[Characters/TheFlashBarryAllen Barry Allen]], when Superman begins talking about the races they've done in the past. Barry responds with "Those were for charity, Clark," and immediately speeds off, leaving Superman dumbfounded and far, far behind. [[note]] Superman's speed used to be a match for Barry's but it had been retconned to be slower in the 25 years since their last race. [[/note]]
* ''ComicBook/XMen'': [[Characters/MarvelComicsCyclops Cyclops]]'s glasses / goggles don't just let him control his powers, they also [[PowerLimiter limit]] them. If he's willing to take his visor off for even a few seconds, you're in trouble.
** In ''ComicBook/AstonishingXMen'', the team are confronted by a Sentinel. They line up and talk tactics but Cyclops is in no mood for such things -- he removes his glasses, and utterly ''eradicates'' the Sentinel from existence -- as well as about a mile of forest around. Later in the same run, he had his powers psychically de-activated by [[Characters/EmmaFrostWhiteQueen Emma Frost]] and had been captured and tortured by an alien warlord. When he finally tells the warlord that the X-Men's secret weapon "Leviathan", was completely fictional (thus throwing out any reason to keep him alive), he starts laughing. The warlord attacks him, demanding to know what else he's been lying about. [[spoiler:Then [[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Gd8NBIma-zo/RzSgt3KLuhI/AAAAAAAABm8/hjnXT6PbLlA/s1600-h/scottLies1.jpg with the villain right up in his face,]] [[http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Gd8NBIma-zo/RzSguHKLuiI/AAAAAAAABnE/VsI5SKYySOM/s1600-h/scottLies2.jpg Cyclops reactivates his eyebeams and blasts the villain, leaving a massive hole in the building.]]]]
** Another instance of this is in the first volume of ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen''. Cyclops is being restrained by a Sentinel because it has figured out that he operates his optic blasts by pressing a button on the side of his visor. Scott then reveals that he can also do it by snapping his fingers.
** In the finale of ''ComicBook/XOfSwords'', Cyclops warns the X-Men gathered to save those in Otherworld to not hold back, that dying there means being KilledOffForReal.
* One issue of ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'' had [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules Hercules]] telling a pompous tale about a fight with Thor. He was just getting to the point in his story of beating the daylights out of the thunder god when he learned that one of the young listeners was a ''serious'' Thor fan. So Hercules abruptly changed the ending to reveal that Thor had been holding back all along, and punched Hercules across the sky. "I landed in a place the gods forgot: New Jersey!"
* The last fight in ''ComicBook/DoctorStrange: The Oath'' is a fistfight between Strange and Nicodemus West, who also knows magic but has deployed some anti-magic [[AppliedPhlebotinum phlebotinum]], expecting he can take Strange in a fair fight. Doc lets West pummel him for a minute or two (and waste his energy) before breaking out the KungFuWizard skills.
* Played with in issue four of ''[[ComicBook/LokiAgentOfAsgard Loki: Agent of Asgard]]''.

* During ''ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse'', Characters/{{Wolverine|JamesLoganHowlett}}, here called Weapon X, lost his left hand to Cyclops and it seemed that he had also lost his claws on that hand, too. However, during the final confrontation with Donald Pierce, Weapon X revealed that he had actually ''retracted'' his claws before he lost his hand, and promptly gutted Pierce with them.
* During one ComicBook/MickeyMouseComicUniverse story set in the middle ages Mickey and Pete are having a sword fight, and seeing himself on the verge of losing Pete actually quotes the {{Trope Namer|s}} and switches hands, saying he had been fighting left-handed for years because otherwise, it would have been too easy. Then Mickey ''completes the quote'' and switches hand too, before winning the duel.
* In ''ComicBook/DetectiveComicsRebirth'', Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}} confronts [[Characters/BatmanLadyShiva Lady Shiva]] and points out that he's beaten her before (due to her status as an AdaptationalWimp post-''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}})''. She responds that she had been simply playing a role, and no longer has a reason to pretend to be weak. She then proceeds to wipe the floor with him.
* The climax of ''ComicBook/NewAvengers2015'' sees [[Characters/MarvelComicsSunspot Sunspot]] up against the Maker, an evil alternate version of [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]]. Sunspot has kept himself out of the action up until that point due to a disease that got rid of his mutant power to convert sunlight into strength. Except, as he reveals to the Maker, he ''didn't'' lose his power; on the contrary, it got a DeadlyUpgrade, and he's been keeping it close to his chest just in case. He then effortlessly pummels the Maker.
* Quite infamously in ''ComicBook/{{Fatal Attractions|MarvelComics}}'' by [[Characters/MarvelComicsMagneto Magneto]]. After Wolverine badly wounds him, Magneto had reached his breaking point and decided to stop pussyfooting around, casually ripping the adamantium out of Wolverine's body through his pores.

** In combat, Lind wields a massive Lochaber axe against opponents. One such opponent, believing it to be her only method of attack due to not utilizing any other power, shattered it in an attempt to cripple her. A bystander snidely commented that the axe was Lind's way of being polite; commence massive kicking of bad guy butt.

[[caption-width-right:350:Characters/{{Superman|TheCharacter}} had always figured that he and ComicBook/TheFlash had the same level of SuperSpeed -- until the Flash decided to stop powerwalking.]]

* Literature/JohnCarter, the "Greatest Swordsman of Two Worlds", deliberately sandbags a couple of times over the course of the series, usually because he has a secret plan and he's stalling for time while it comes to fruition. He fights just barely well enough to keep from getting killed and takes the offensive just enough to keep his opponent from getting suspicious until he finally sees whatever it is he's been waiting for, at which point the fight is generally over within seconds.

* An unspoken example occurs in ''WesternAnimation/WordGirl'' when Becky wants to bond with her father, she hijacks a TV station and broadcasts a message to the entire city. In the message she calmly picks up a metal girder and then begins [[SuperStrength twisting and crushing it together.]] Capping it off by saying that if any villains want to cause trouble today, '''don't.''' Presumably no one really knows how powerful she is, so Word Girl just decided to make it clear to her rogues gallery that she can destroy them any time she wants.

* Bohun pulls this literally in the first installment of Literature/SienkiewiczTrilogy, by throwing his saber from one hand to another (movie version makes it look ''very'' epic). It's useless against Volodyjowski, who [[CurbStompBattle takes him down right after that]]. Although this was a one-off surprise attack (described as a trick only the best duelists could pull off), good against an average opponent but not so useful against the professional knowing all tricks of the trade.

** A specific example is Wrestling/MarkHenry: when in the ring, others are capable of holding their own with him and even overpowering him. However, one time someone forgot to use a gimmicked chain and used a real one instead. Instead of breaking character or telling someone, Henry just tore it in half with his bare hands. Several people who have beaten Henry in the ring have made it clear they'd never have a chance against him if he was actually ''trying''.

** This is also further hit on by [[Characters/MarvelComicsOttoOctavius Doctor Octopus]] when [[ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan his mind took over Spider-Man's body]], as he noted in shock that he was surprised how much Parker had been holding back and pulling his punches all those years that they fought.

* A sort of meta example in ''Film/JurassicWorld''; after a panicked ''[[PteroSoarer Pteranodon]]'' grabs Creator/{{Katie McGrath}}'s character and flies off with her, she manages to escape her captor by falling into the lagoon at the center of the park. The film seems to take a brief [[HopeSpot sigh of relief]] for her, leaving the audience to assume that all she has to worry about now is the ''[[SeaMonster Mosasaurus]]''...and then three ''Pteranodons'' promptly torpedo gannet-style into the water after her, showing that they're just as competent at swimming as they are at flying (which is believed to have been TruthInTelevision).

* [[DreamTeam Larry Bird]] loved to hit his first ten points using his left hand, scoring easily. Then, [[https://youtu.be/KNpoT_O_yPw?t=270 he would start using his right hand]].

* ''LightNovel/BakaAndTestSummonTheBeasts'': Parodied when Akihisa goes up against Miho Satou, an A class student, Akihisa declares himself to be left-handed, but winds up losing anyway, because it's a fight determined by ''test scores''.

* ''LightNovel/FateZero'': Lancer fights using a long and short spear. During his first duel with Saber, his Master orders him to get serious, so he puts the short spear on the ground, giving the impression that it is an ordinary weapon. Eventually, Saber gets overconfident, parries his long spear, and lunges. At this point, Lancer suddenly kicks his short spear into his hand and stabs her. Turns out it was special after all, as it gives a WoundThatWillNotHeal.

* ''LightNovel/{{Katanagatari}}'':

* ''LightNovel/{{Konosuba}}'': Megumin reveals she secretly learned how to cast her Explosion spell non-verbally, but does the chant anyway to make people think she is still dependent on it.