History Main / ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman

* Each episode of the 1970s live-action Saturday-morning show ''Series/ElectraWomanAndDynaGirl'' would begin with the [[YouKeepUsingThatWord titular]] heroines being given a newly developed module for their wrist "Electro-comps," giving them a new (and sometimes seemingly useless) power. Later in the episode, the duo would inevitably encounter a villain whose evil plot can only be thwarted by an imaginative use of the new power...which would then never be mentioned again in subsequent episodes.

** In the first generation's competitive scene, Porygon. Porygon is completely terrible at first glance: its highest stat is a middling 75 Special, it's slow as hell, and its offense is pathetic. However, it happens to be one of the only Pokémon that can counter Snorlax, one of the most powerful choices in the game. This is because while its defenses aren't great, they're good enough to take multiple hits from Snorlax's Body Slam, it's Normal-type, meaning it can't be paralyzed by Body Slam, it's just fast enough to outspeed Snorlax, and it has access to Recover, which allows it to heal itself and has pretty high PP. This allows Porygon to stall Snorlax out for long enough to run out of PP for its main attacking move, at which point it becomes easy pickings. For the most common Snorlax sets, its only way to kill Porygon is to either get very lucky with crits or [[TakingYouWithMe use Self-Destruct]].

* On ''Series/{{Psych}}'', Gus's expertise in prescription drugs from his ''actual'' job as a pharmaceutical salesman comes up a lot more than you'd expect during his investigations. Gus also uses his [[TheNoseKnows "Super Sniffer"]] to uncover crucial evidence and can open safes.

* The anti-hero ComicBook/MoonKnight is at full power during the full moon, due to his powers having come from a moon god. Usually, DependingOnTheWriter it makes him slightly below, the same level, or slightly above [[Characters/MarvelComicsSteveRogers Captain America]]. During his stint as a ComicBook/{{West Coast Avenger|s}}, they entered a pocket dimension to fight a villain, but he easily repelled both ComicBook/IronMan and [[Characters/Avengers70sMembers Wonder Man]] together. Then the night fell, revealing '''''several thousand full moons'''''. Cue Moon Knight going OneWingedAngel and beating the tar out of the villain.

* "And There Shall Come... A Champion!", the issue of ''Marvel Two-In-One'' that introduced the Champion of the Universe, does this for Characters/TheThing. His SuperStrength and rocky skin are by no means underpowered, but in the pantheon of Marvel's heavyweights, he's always been quite a distance from the top. But in his quest to face the WorldsStrongestMan, the Champion refuses to fight anyone who cannot match him in the ring as a boxer. As it turns out, all the other really strong characters out there lack the discipline to make decent boxers ([[Characters/IncredibleHulkBruceBanner The Incredible Hulk]], [[Characters/Avengers70sMembers Wonder Man]], Doc Samson, ComicBook/SubMariner), don't have the raw durability or determination to slug it out ([[Characters/XMen70sMembers Colossus]], Sasquatch), or have weaknesses preventing them from boxing fairly ([[Characters/TheMightyThorThorOdinson Thor]]). This leaves Ben Grimm, who has long been established as [[StrongAndSkilled an experienced boxer]] who [[HeroicWillpower refuses to give up]], as the only character in his weight class capable of fighting the Champion and going the distance long enough to convince the guy to back off.

* ''VideoGame/{{Arknights}}'' has enough examples of this trope to warrant [[ThisLooksLikeAJobFoAquaman/{{Arknights}} its own page]].

** In the first generation's competitive scene, Porygon. Porygon is completely terrible at first glance: its highest stat is a middling 75 Special, it's slow as hell, and its offense is pathetic. However, it happens to be one of the only Pokémon that can counter Snorlax, one of the most powerful choices in the game. This is because while its defenses aren't great, they're good enough to take multiple hits from Snorlax's Body Slam, it's Normal-type, meaning it can't be paralyzed by Body Slam, it's just fast enough to outspeed Snorlax, and it has access to Recover, which allows it to heal itself and has pretty high PP. This allows Porygon to stall Snorlax out for long enough to run out of PP for its main attacking move, at which point it becomes easy pickings. Snorlax's only way to kill Porygon is to either get very lucky with crits or [[TakingYouWithMe use Self-Destruct]].

* The comic ''ComicBook/XMen Legacy'' was a particularly egregious abuser of this trope for a stretch of issues: It seemed like every single crisis could only be solved by two peoples' powers at once, or one person's power with another person's knowledge. Good thing [[Characters/XMen80sMembers Rogue]]'s power is to absorb the powers, skills, and attributes of anyone she touches. It got to seem like less of a team than a bank of power donors and one person who ever actually does anything, blurring the line between this trope and PlotTailoredToTheParty... This Looks Like a Job For Aquaman Tailored to the Party?

* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'': Ben's aquatic alien Ripjaws, due to being slow on land and always needing water but being a LightningBruiser while submerged. Due to the sometimes random nature of the Omnitrix, Ben occasionally has to use Ripjaws on land even though he isn't the best alien for the job (and the threat of fatal dehydration). Luckily, Ripjaws' razor-sharp teeth come in handy anywhere.

* Possibly due to being the daughter of fishermen, Dame Lien from ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' is a paladin with a shark mount, a harpoon, and a magic ring that lets her breathe water. So, during the battle of Azure City she gets tasked with guarding the docks. Becomes much more important when the battle worsens and the Azurites have to evacuate by boat, and she is a major combatant for the chapters while they are at sea. (Though it's worth noting that, later, despite being miles from the ocean, she still finds a way to [[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1250.html put her mount to good use]]).

* Possibly due to being the daughter of fishermen, Dame Lien from ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' is a paladin with a shark mount, a harpoon, and a magic ring that lets her breathe water. So, during the battle of Azure City she gets tasked with guarding the docks. Becomes much more important when the battle worsens and the Azurites have to evacuate by boat, and she is a major combatant for the chapters while they are at sea. (And even later, despite being miles from the ocean, she finds a way to [[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1250.html put her mount to good use]]

* Possibly due to being the daughter of fishermen, Dame Lien from ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' is a paladin with a shark mount, a harpoon, and a magic ring that lets her breathe water. So, during the battle of Azure City she gets tasked with guarding the docks. Becomes much more important when the battle worsens and the Azurites have to evacuate by boat, and she is a major combatant for the chapters while they are at sea.

* The TropeNamer is ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}, whose older stories were notorious for featuring obstacles that were specifically designed to make his less than impressive abilities look useful. Future writers have had to substantially upgrade or play up Aquaman's powers just to try to avert this (generally by playing up his SuperStrength), but his old ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'' appearances seemed to have a random giant octopus or artifact buried in the ocean or water planet every issue just so that he could have something to do.

** In the original ''Teen Titans'' books, Bob Haney clearly had a hard time figuring out how to make Aqualad seem useful, so he'd often throw in contrived water-based set pieces to give him something to do (such as a swimming pool in issue #4, a high dive tank in #6, and sewers in #8). He was PutOnABus and replaced by Speedy in issue #19, and after eventually rejoining the team, he ended up resigning in issue #51 precisely because he'd developed an inferiority complex over his perceived uselessness.

* The anti-hero ComicBook/MoonKnight is at full power during the full moon, due to his powers having come from a moon god. Usually, DependingOnTheWriter it makes him slightly below, the same level, or slightly above ComicBook/CaptainAmerica. During his stint as a ComicBook/{{West Coast Avenger|s}}, they entered a pocket dimension to fight a villain, but he easily repelled both ComicBook/IronMan and [[Characters/Avengers70sMembers Wonder Man]] together. Then the night fell, revealing '''''several thousand full moons'''''. Cue Moon Knight going OneWingedAngel and beating the tar out of the villain.

* "And There Shall Come... A Champion!", the issue of ''Marvel Two-In-One'' that introduced the Champion of the Universe, does this for [[ComicBook/FantasticFour The Thing]]. His SuperStrength and rocky skin are by no means underpowered, but in the pantheon of Marvel's heavyweights, he's always been quite a distance from the top. But in his quest to face the WorldsStrongestMan, the Champion refuses to fight anyone who cannot match him in the ring as a boxer. As it turns out, all the other really strong characters out there lack the discipline to make decent boxers (ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk, [[Characters/Avengers70sMembers Wonder Man]], Doc Samson, ComicBook/SubMariner), don't have the raw durability or determination to slug it out ([[Characters/XMen70sMembers Colossus]], Sasquatch), or have weaknesses preventing them from boxing fairly ([[Characters/TheMightyThorThorOdinson Thor]]). This leaves Ben Grimm, who has long been established as [[StrongAndSkilled an experienced boxer]] who [[HeroicWillpower refuses to give up]], as the only character in his weight class capable of fighting the Champion and going the distance long enough to convince the guy to back off.

** ''Film/{{Aquaman|2018}}'': While all Atlanteans have most of Arthur's powers, he is the only one who can [[SpeaksFluentAnimal speak to fish]]. He first uses this to hide himself and [[Characters/{{Aquaman}} Mera]] inside a whale's mouth, and later [[spoiler:is able to talk down the [[RentAZilla gigantic sea monster]] guarding Atlan's trident. Speaking of Atlan, he was the original king of Atlantis, and he had this power as well. His trident amplifies it so that its wielder can control all the creatures of the ocean at once]].

* ''WebOriginal/TwitchPlaysPokemonRed'': All Terrain Venemoth was the lowest-level of Red's endgame team, but it proved vital to one defeat of Lance after all the other party members had fainted. The Dragonite it was facing was far above its level, but the gen 1 AI has a quirk wherein AI pokemon will always use moves that are super-effective against your pokemon... even if these moves are harmless status buffs that just happen to have the right type. Lance's Dragonite knew Agility and Barrier, which are Psychic (super effective against Venemoth's Poison type) but deal no damage. Venemoth's moves did very little damage, but since the Dragonite wasn't attacking, it had all the time it needed to inflict DeathByAThousandCuts.

* ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperHeroes'':

** The series' version of [[Characters/{{Aquaman}} Black Manta]] has the same problem, with his character and ability set being reduced to "he owns a boat". In several episodes of the Legion of Doom era he and Aquaman have no purpose on their respective teams except to counter each other.

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'':

** Picture this; Zacian-Crowned, the strongest pokemon introduces in ''Sword and Shield'' thus far. So powerful was this monster that until it was banned the unholy realm of Anything Goes (Mega Rayquaza's domain of all places). It has a grand total of ''one'' reliable counter, and that total has not increased with the National Dex version of Anything Goes. That Pokémon? Unaware Quagsire. Berserker Blade is ''at best'' a five-hit-KO and Play Rough is three or four. Both these moves have low PP, and Quagsire can easily outlast them with Recover. It also gets STAB on Earthquake, and thanks to Unaware, Zacian cannot even power up to break through. Quagsire currently resides in PU, but during Zacian's time in Ubers, Quagsire was solidly Underused, three tiers above where it is, solely through the usage it got for being the only thing to stop the monster that was Zacian-Crowned.

** Delcatty is a Pokémon that has ''very'' poor stats despite its diverse movepool. However, when it comes to Contests in ''Ruby & Sapphire'' and Super Contests in ''Diamond & Pearl'', it does very well.

* Junpei in ''VideoGame/Persona3'' is usually considered a TierInducedScrappy due to his MasterOfNone tendencies. There is, however, one later boss that he is actually useful for as it is immune to everything except physical attacks. Of course, Akihiko, Ken, and Aigis is still a better combination; but it brings him from totally useless to at least somewhat useful.

* Comically {{subverted|Trope}} in the pilot episode of ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment.'' Buster's EstablishingCharacterMoment tells us that he has graduate degrees in a number of apparently useless subjects, including cartography, so when his family attempts to escape the police by boat, they look to him to decipher the map. [[WhatAnIdiot Unfortunately, he thinks the blue parts are land]].

* Before he was given his signature "all the powers of Superman but only one at a time" deal, Ultra Boy of the ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes only had the power of "Penetra-Vision" ([[AccidentalInnuendo hee]]), which worked the same as Superman's "vision" powers (EyeBeams, XRayVision, telescopic/microscopic vision, etc), except that unlike Superman, his vision could penetrate lead. Cue Ultra Boy being confronted by people firing lead bullets, falling lead-lined boulders, and killer robots made of lead. Even after, this is how he dodges the Legion's "[[CastSpeciation no two people with the same power]]" clause; technically, his only unique power is being able to see through lead.

** In the DS rerelease, Wario is one of the new playable characters. For the most part, he's useless compared to the other characters, but he is the only one able to break the black bricks.
** To a lesser extent, Yoshi. He's really not required for much, beyond being your starting character. The only thing he can really do that no one else can is melt ice, which is used even less than black bricks. He can't even break the normal bricks, and so is outclassed by both Mario Brothers. The only gimmick Yoshi has going for him otherwise is that, once you've freed a Mario brother, you can automatically select their hat when starting a level, but the human characters can't turn into Yoshi, so Yoshi's the only character of the four who can access all four movesets and power-up sets in every level (apart from Bowser in the Sky and some of the secret bonus areas in Peach's Castle.

** The infamous [[ThatOneBoss Nerofest First Hassan Exhibition Battle]], particularly in its bugged American incarnation, is often seen as the hardest challenge the game ever produced, due to being a MarathonBoss with lots of damage and tons of instant-death attacks that bypassed defense and evasion. This resulted in Irisviel, at the time the only character capable of giving the whole party Guts (a skill that lets an ally survive an attack that would kill them with reduced health) on a regular basis, and who also boasted class advantage over Hassan, abruptly becoming very desirable as the only way to make sure your team survived when Hassan was almost guaranteed to kill at least one every two turns.

* The TropeNamer is ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}, whose older stories were notorious for featuring obstacles that were specifically designed to make his less than impressive abilities look useful.

** Picture this; Zacian-Crowned, the strongest pokemon introduces in Sword and Shield thus far. So powerful was this monster that until it was banned the unholy realm of Anything Goes (Mega Rayquaza's domain of all places) It has a grand total of '''''One''''' reliable counters, and that total has not increased with the national dex version of Anything Goes. That pokemon? Unaware Quagsire. Berserker blade is ''at best'' a 5 hit-KO and Play Rough is 3-4. Both these moves have low PP, and Quagsire can easily outlast them with Recover. It also gets stab on Earthquake and thanks to Unaware, Zacian cannot even power up to break through. Quagsire currently resides in PU, but during Zacian's time in ubers, Quagsire was solidly Underused, three tiers above where it is, solely through the usage it got for being the only thing to stop the monster that was Zacian-Crowned.

** Subverted in the episode "Night of the Batmen!" Aquaman, filling in for an injured Batman, fights The Penguin. Penguin makes a daring escape on his submarine, but then quickly steers the sub onto land and cuts through the city streets.[[note]]How does Batman do this alone?[[/note]]

** ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'':
*** Averted by its version of [[AdaptationalBadass Aquaman]]. He straight up tells the League to shove off, and only later, after making nice, does he say he'll help out...when he can. He doesn't really care about the surface world and their problems. It is used properly in one episode, though: Aquaman, while helping the league, has just beaten a {{Shapeshift|ing}}er. He is next challenged by that character's brother. Considering these two characters are based on the Wonder Twins, [[KillItWithWater his power isn't exactly useful against the King of the Seas...]]
---->'''Aquaman:''' ''(After the hydrokinetic twin tries to [[ShootingSuperman blast him with a tidal wave)]]'' King of the ''Sea'', remember?
** ComicBook/TheAtom, even though he only has one power, the ability to [[IncredibleShrinkingMan shrink]] averts this trope. We only see him use his powers twice on the show (once to take down the heart of a [[GreyGoo world eating nano machines]] and to run from [[PhysicalGod Amazo]] [[[spoiler:which didn't work]]]) he still is a genius physicist and the League on occasion has called on him for his unique expert opinion. Still is rarely seen on the show.
** Played straight with ComicBook/GreenArrow in his first mission with the League. The enemy is a giant unstoppable robot and the only way to deactivate it is to insert a carbon rod in a small opening in its chest cavity. However, none of the team members can get close enough because the robot is on fire. This was resolved of course, by Green Arrow turning the rod into an arrow.

** Averted in one episode where he and Black Vulcan (who has ''electricity powers'') go to save a nuclear submarine, and Aquaman utterly fails at being a help at all, mostly making things worse.

* Zigzagged by ''WesternAnimation/{{Teen Titans|2003}}''. While Aqualad does only show up when the ocean is in trouble for the most part, he's proven that he's perfectly capable of fighting on dry land. (Most people tend to forget he's also got super strength - AND [[MakingASplash Hydrokinesis]].)

** Averted in that the Aqualad of this continuity can harden his water into solid objects like swords, have durability that can withstand Superboy's bounding, and electric eel tattoos on his body that can electrify the water. He was also the team's leader during the first season.
** However, Lagoon Boy in season 2 plays this trope straight. He lacks Aqualad's weapons and electrical abilities and so usually only gets used in missions near bodies of water. The HeroesUnlimited nature of the second season makes this far less obvious, though. This does get a lampshade when Lagoon Boy whines about being "stereotyped as the water guy" but it's at least as much because he's obnoxious and annoying and no one really likes working with him unless the situation absolutely requires it.

* ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}, of course, was notorious for such convenient obstacles, both as a PlotTailoredToTheParty as part of a team, and alone in his {{Creator/Filmation}} cartoon (down to Aquaman actually becoming an astronaut because they needed to explore a water planet). Modern authors usually subvert this however, pointing out that he's at least a BadassNormal on dry land, having him use his additional minor powers or a skillful application of his RequiredSecondaryPowers.
** Specifically, they've taken his super-tough "ability to survive crushing ocean depths" and super-strong "ability to swim really fast" and used them a lot more; as someone noted in his "HeartIsAnAwesomePower" entry, punching people in the face at five hundred atmospheres or more puts him in the same tier as ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' - we're talking being able to move as freely as you do on land at ocean depths where the water would crush a submarine like a soda can. Needless to say, if that guy were to punch you in the face while ''not'' under the weight of tons of water, it would leave you wondering how you ended up on the moon so fast. Throw in a changing roster of magical abilities and a MadeOfIndestructium trident that even ''[[Characters/NewGodsDarkseid Darkseid]]'' will feel the stab of for good measure. Also, the 'talk to fish' bit includes {{Kaiju}} that live in water but are perfectly capable of fighting on land, so basically... imagine Franchise/{{Godzilla}} and Franchise/{{Cthulhu|Mythos}} were each part of a whole species, and he's on first-name basis with every last one of both. Also, as the king of Atlantis, if he needed backup, he could call on the whole Atlantean army. Fans of the comics don't consider him a joke at all. However, there's still a RunningGag in the comics of him being ''seen'' as a joke.

** His telepathy is also shown to have some limited degree of usefulness with non-marine species, DependingOnTheWriter. Some writers go to extremes by combining "can summon and control sea creatures" with "every living thing on Earth has evolved from sea life" to giving him power over more or less everything. Usually this was presented as near-total control over sea life and the ability to stun or confuse humans or other animals; Aquaman was able to induce a seizure in the Martian speedster Züm in an early issue of Morrison's JLA by attacking the parts of his Martian brain that had evolved from sea creatures.
** In another issue of JLA, as part of the WorldWarIII storyline kickoff, [[EldritchAbomination Mageddon]] initiated a riot at a super villain lockdown and the Justice League were sent in to contain it since the warden and all guards had gone cuckoo as well. While the rest of the team was handling things elsewhere in the building, Aquaman all by his lonesome busted into a room filled with about fifty bad guys with light-based abilities. [[PreAssKickingOneLiner He just stared them down and said,]] "Most of your powers are dependent on light. My eyes are adapted to see at six thousand fathoms. ''Think about it.''"
** Aquaman's friendship with sea creatures helps him with his battle with [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]]. You could say he [[AnvilOnHead Dropped A Whale On Him]].
--->'''Aquaman:''' That's your weakness, Namor. You're too noble to cheat.
** In the ''ComicBook/JLAAvengers'' crossover, Aquaman is able to shut down a whole group of Marvel Atlanteans with his telepathy; he comments that their minds are more complex than what he usually uses it on, and Namor (himself half-Atlantean) says that the telepathy gave him a pounding headache. Earlier in the series, Aquaman is being beaten up by ComicBook/SheHulk... then realizes he doesn't need to beat her and succeeds in gaining one of the {{MacGuffin}}s which is underwater. Later that issue he scatters a group of the strongest Avengers who are beating up Superman (including She-Hulk) by summoning a giant sea-monster while in the Savage Land.
** Perhaps Aquaman's most impressive showing is in the ''Earth 2'' graphic novel. When evil counterparts of the Justice League from a parallel universe invade Washington DC, Aquaman shows up to stop them -- with the entire Atlantean navy backing him up.
** On the other hand, the original Aqualad knew his limits at times in ''ComicBook/TeenTitans''. When ComicBook/{{Robin}} wanted him to join the team on an intergalactic mission, Aqualad declined, saying that his abilities were of little use in outer space.
** However, in the original ''Teen Titans'' books, this was played straight. Bob Haney clearly had a hard time figuring out how to make Aqualad seem useful, so he'd often throw in contrived water-based set pieces to give him something to do (such as a swimming pool in issue #4, a high dive tank in #6, and sewers in #8). He was PutOnABus and replaced by Speedy in issue #19, and after eventually rejoining the team, he ended up resigning in issue #51 precisely because he'd developed an inferiority complex over his perceived uselessness.

** Vent/Aile's human form in the first game is completely useless outside of two situations: When they need to talk to civilians (since they're too freaked out by the Biometal forms and just tell them to go away,) and when they need to climb through holes (since none of the Biometal forms can crouch.) Rescuing civilians from a burning building is an objective in Area G (civilians who are conveniently TooDumbToLive and ''still'' refuse to cooperate unless they return to your unpowered form,) and there are plenty of crawlspaces connecting certain areas and acting as one-way passageways. Model LX is also the least practical form outside of its Item Scanner ability (it has a powerful melee weapon, but no ranged options that don't consume Weapon Energy and it can't attack while moving), but gains god-like maneuverability in water, which comes in handy in Area J, a place almost completely underwater and loaded with SpikesOfDoom, and conveniently can only be accessed after gaining Model LX.
** In ''Advent'', Chronoforce is essentially a more armored Model L (which you get again) who's even ''more'' crippled outside of water (Model L can at least fight and move on land, Chronoforce [[FishOutOfWater is dead weight unable to move]]). ''[[LethalJokeCharacter However]]'', Chronoforce's armored shell can still protect from attacks coming down from above, making it a useful impromptu shield, and its [[TimeStandsStill Time Bomb]] can still be used. Most importantly, it's completely possible to use Time Bomb, then switch to another form to take advantage of the slowed time.