History Main / Intangibility

** One of the powers potentially available for a Rahkshi (their creators, the Makuta have it by default) is Density Control. This can be used not only for phasing through walls and attacks, but for [[NotQuiteFlight floating into the air]] and then [[ColonyDrop dropping with the force of a meteor]]. Makuta can also ignore several of the SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome moments this power would bring due to the fact they're TheNeedless and don't require air or sustenance to survive thanks to being {{Energy Being}}s inside AnimatedArmor. Makuta Krika frequently made use of this power after a mutation caused him to lose most of his other abilities. [[spoiler: It also lead to his death. When forced out of control, his power turned him so intangible that he simply ceased to exist.]]

* The "Become Ethereal" [[MakeMeWannaShout Shout]] from ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' ostensibly gives the player this ability for a period of time. For programming reasons, or else to avoid the endless array of glitches and exploits that would result from letting the player turn intangible, it actually just makes you immune to damage for a bit (or until you cast a spell/use a weapon). It's still quite useful both in combat and for [[MundaneUtility jumping off mountains to get around faster]].

* ''Series/{{Tracker}}'': Dessarians can phase and walk through solid objects.

* In ''The Legion of Nothing'', Ghost has this power along with {{Flight}} and {{Invisibility}}.

* ''Literature/FineStructure'' has Mitchell Calrus, "The Four-Dimensional Man", who is able to turn intangible and invisible at will. The mechanism and RequiredSecondaryPowers are dealt with in a fairly tidy way - his powers function by selectively moving slightly in a fourth spatial dimension in a 3D universe. Since there's no matter elsewhere on the 4D axis in our universe, Mitch effectively can pass through solid objects by moving around them in 4D, but is not able to breathe while phased and makes use of SCUBA equipment. He keeps his feet in 3D when touching the ground to avoid falling through the Earth.
* ''Roleplay/{{AGENTS}}'': A-GENT 66 can become intangible at will and pass through various materials except lead, for a yet unexplained reason.

* A dark power in ''Literature/{{Phaeton}}'', intangibility allows for full transvection when partially inside something, preventing the user from passing through the ground but means that if they don't see something coming it will not pass through them, alternatively it is achieved through tiny short range wormhole generation.

* Some ''Franchise/MegaMan'' games feature the Shadow Dash ability, which allows the characters to phase through enemies and obstacles while dashing. [[VideoGame/MegaManX X]] can do it in ''VideoGame/MegaManX8'' when he equips the Hermes Armor Foot Parts, Zero can do it in ''VideoGame/MegaManZero3'' with the Shadow Dash Foot Chip, and in ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'' Model PX/P also has it as a default ability of its [[SuperMode Overcharge]].

* Some ''Franchise/MegaMan'' games feature the Shadow Dash ability, which allows the characters to phase through enemies and obstacles. [[VideoGame/MegaManX X]] can do it in ''VideoGame/MegaManX8'' when he equips the Hermes Armor Foot Parts, Zero can do it in ''VideoGame/MegaManZero3'' with the Shadow Dash Foot Chip, and in ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'' Model PX/P also has it as a default ability.

* In Stan Ridgway's "Camouflage", the [[{{Foreshadowing}} first indication]] that [[spoiler: [[DeadAllAlong 'Camouflage' was actually a ghost]]]] was that the bullets "seem to go right through him, just as if he wasn't there".

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' has the Intangible Fancy, a recurring minor supervillain who looks and talks like a stereotypical ghost to match his intangible body. He seems to be something of a {{Troll}}, breaking [[WeirdTradeUnion Guild of Calamitous Intent]] regulations and messing with people because he knows they can't do anything to hurt him. When [[TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness the Council of Thirteen]] discusses his latest violation, one member questions if they even have a means to carry out his beheading sentence.

* All player characters in ''TabletopGame/{{Anathema}}'' can become intangible whenever they want, instantly and at no cost.

** Susuki later demonstrates that you can actually touch a phasing vampire by phasing yourself. She compares this phenomenon to magnetism: two vampires in similar phasing states will repel each other, while those in different states will harmlessly phase through. Susuki is also clever enough to weaponize this ability by letting someone physically attack her while she's intangible, allowing her enemy's body to phase through her own, before becoming tangible again and leaving them [[AnArmAndALeg one limb short]] while Susuki only gets [[TorsoWithAView a hole in her body]] ([[HealingFactor which she can easily heal by drinking a few drops of blood]]).

** Susuki later demonstrates that you can actually touch a phasing vampire by phasing yourself. She compares this phenomenon to magnetism: two vampires in similar phasing states will repel each other, while those in different states will harmlessly phase through. Susuki is also clever enough to weaponize this ability by letting someone physically attack her while she's intangible, allowing her enemy's body to phase through her own, before becoming tangible again and leaving them [[AnArmAndALeg one limb short]] while Susuki only gets a hole in her body ([[HealingFactor which she can easily heal by drinking a few drops fo blood]]).

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' features Mirio Togata, a character with this power that more or less addresses all the FridgeLogic brought up in this page's entry. Whenever he activates his ability, he becomes unable to see, hear, or breathe, being able to only sense his fall to the Earth's core (because he somehow keeps his mass). The only reasons this power is not considered outright BlessedWithSuck is because a) he can turn individual body parts intangible instead of just his entire body and b) he has a specific {{Required Secondary Power|s}} that causes him to instantly eject back up to the surface when he deactivates his intangibility while phasing through a large mass of something (thus averting TeleFrag). He has also managed to manipulate this ejection mechanism to be able to essentially move around as if he were teleporting, making his fighting style reminiscent of reverse whack-a-mole. The only sketchy part is that he's still visible while using his ability (which shouldn't be possible due to light not hitting him), although it's unknown if that's only because of artistic choice from the author's part. Oh, and there's one more minor (though [[{{Fanservice}} appreciated by the readers]]) drawback to these powers — with the exception of his supersuit, [[NakedPeopleAreFunny his clothes can't phase with him.]] In combat, he can manipulate parts of his body to bypass any attempts at blocking his punches such as through a shield or arm block and hit the target behind it, and averts a ShootTheHostage situation where he kicks towards said hostage and phases his leg through them, and then resolidifies it to knock the hostage holder down.

A sub-trope is TragicIntangibility, where this ability is used to say something about how lonely or miserable a character is. See also ProjectedMan, AstralProjection and SuperSmoke.

* ''Website/SCPFoundation''
** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-106 SCP-106]] ("The Old Man") can pass through solid matter, but corrodes the material when it does.
** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1111 SCP-1111 ("The White Dog").]] SCP-1111-1 (the title dog) is incorporeal, which is why it is ImmuneToBullets.
** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2332 SCP-2332 ("Thought Messenger").]] Because SCP-2332 is made of light, it can pass through solid objects as long as they're made of a substance permeable to light (i.e. not opaque) such as glass and Plexiglas.

* In the The Legion of Nothing Ghost has this power along with Flight and invisiblity.
* In the ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'' Phase (Ayla Goodkind) has the ability to become a number of variants of intangible, most notably fully intangible, nearly-intangible, or super-dense, so he's NighInvulnerable. This is supposed to be an extra-dimensional density-changing ability (though according to the school testing wonks, it's not, but the ensuing scientific babble is hard to understand). While intangible (or close to it), he can fly, and at his most dense, he is almost impervious to damage. But when he first manifested as a mutant and got his powers, he couldn't control them and had trouble NOT sinking through the floor, or going super-dense and smashing his bathroom to shards. Or, for that matter, not going intangible and leaving parts of his clothing behind.
** He also has a fun/hilarious [[RequiredSecondaryPowers Required Secondary Power]]: if he becomes solid while phased through something, ''the other object disappears.'' Forever. This results in lasting ClothingDamage (and, y'know, other damage) if he phases in and out quickly, but turns a scary situation into lots of awesome when he has an I-beam stuck through his chest as part of his Test To Destruction experimentation by his family's anti-mutant science labs.

--> How are we going to get those twenty foot sections through a door that’s only six feet wide?”
--> “We’ll get Wraith to make them intangible and just bring them in through the wall,” he snapped.
--> “You trust Wraith to not mess this up?”
* ''Literature/FineStructure'' has Mitchell Calrus, "The Four-Dimensional Man", who is able to turn intangible and invisible at will.
** The mechanism and RequiredSecondaryPowers are dealt with in a fairly tidy way - his powers function by selectively moving slightly in a fourth spatial dimension in a 3D universe. Since there's no matter elsewhere on the 4D axis in our universe, Mitch effectively can pass through solid objects by moving around them in 4D, but is not able to breathe while phased and makes use of SCUBA equipment. He keeps his feet in 3D when touching the ground to avoid falling through the Earth.
* [[Roleplay/{{AGENTS}} A-GENT]] 66 can become Intangible at will and pass through various materials. Except lead, for a yet unexplained reason.
* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', Shadow Stalker's shadow form can pass through ordinary obstacles.

* In ''Website/{{Mortasheen}}'', the [[http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/xenogog.htm Xenogog]] has this power, though it can solidify the tips of its needlelike arms to perform "''a surgically perfect lobotomy with a single touch''".

* In ''WebOriginal/{{Mortasheen}}'', the [[http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/xenogog.htm Xenogog]] has this power, though it can solidify the tips of its needlelike arms to perform "''a surgically perfect lobotomy with a single touch''".

* ''Webcomic/TheGreenhouse'': The demon 'Red' certainly is, though it's currently unknown whether that's normal for demons or a result of her [[spoiler:being starved and fragmented]].

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'': An unscrupulous reporter named Ian Peek stole a device that gave him this power so he could spy on anyone he pleased and make a fortune as a celebrity gossip columnist. In the end, he subverted the trend and ''did'' suffer the KarmicDeath (he not only stole the device, but killed the inventor with a fire he set to cover his tracks) of becoming permanently intangible and falling first through each individual floor of the building he's in, then falling through the ''basement'' into the ground, and then, presumably, the Earth's crust all the way to the core, a horrific AndIMustScream ending of the kind ''Beyond'' loved to spring on the audience.

* In ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperHeroes'': Phantom Girl has this ability, as apparently does the rest of her planet.

* Minor character Gypsy from ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' can phase through solid objects. This is drastically different from her comic counterpart, who could turn invisible and cast illusions.