Line #49 Main/BeatThemAtTheirOwnElement


1	->''"''Me ''gettin' zapped? What's up with that?"''
2	-->-- '''ComicBook/{{Static}}''', ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle''
3
4	Traditionally, the response to ElementalPowers is to [[ElementalRockPaperScissors counter with a different element]]. But sometimes, that's not an option for whatever reason. Maybe the character [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer doesn't have anything else to use]]. Maybe they [[BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame want to prove they're better at it]], or [[ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine wants their opponent to feel what it's like]]. Maybe they [[CherryTapping want to humiliate them by beating them with an inferior tactical option]]. The result is the same: Matching elements clash, and one proves superior.
5
6	Often, this comes across as the elemental version of a CurbStompBattle. One character with a much greater control of the element [[NoSell ignores someone using that same element against them]]. Sometimes it's a WeakButSkilled versus UnskilledButStrong situation, or even just a TechnicianVersusPerformer battle. Can also involve a BeamOWar if the sides are close enough in power to push back and forth.
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8	Almost always involves at least a mention of RequiredSecondaryPowers, either an explanation for why people are not immune to their own element, or on how [[ScissorsCutsRock their immunity got overpowered]]. Sometimes this immunity means neither side is actually ''hurt'', but one side was still clearly superior. See also BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame, NoSell, TakesOneToKillOne, and LikeCannotCutLike. ShapeshifterShowdown is a sister trope.
9
10	----
11	!!Examples:
12
13	[[foldercontrol]]
14
15	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
16	* ''Manga/Bastard1988'': When Dark Schneider is storming Gara's castle to rescue Yoko, he defeats Efreet, the supreme elemental spirit of fire, by absorbing Efreet's fire spell Hellion and using it to fuel an even bigger flame spell, Exodus, which is hot enough to bypass Efreet's immunity.
17	-->'''Efreet:''' "How can you summon a flame hotter than the sun!? HOW!?"
18	-->'''Dark Schnieder:''' "Idiot! I added my power to your Hellion spell!"
19	* ''Manga/FairyTail'':
20	** Natsu gets into a lot of fights like this against other [[PlayingWithFire fire wielders]], and while usually he has an innate advantage courtesy of being a [[TheDragonslayer Fire Dragon Slayer]], allowing him to not just NoSell most fire attacks but [[FeedItWithFire eat them to get stronger]], occasionally he goes up against someone who can counter it.
21	*** Totomaru of Phantom Lord can't beat Natsu in a straight-up power brawl, but he can control ''any'' fire in his vicinity, allowing him to do things like force Natsu to hit himself with his own flaming fist, and he can generate various types of fire with different properties, such as tricking Natsu into eating a fireball that smelled and tasted like ''garbage''. Natsu wins by generating a fire ball too big for Totomaru to effectively control or prevent from hitting his target with splash damage, though even then Natsu needed [[BigDamnHeroes Gray and Elfman to blindside him]] while he was distracted.
22	*** Zancrow of Grimoire Heart is a [[KillTheGod Flame God Slayer]], whose [[SacredFire black flames]] are not only able to bypass Natsu's usual flame immunity, but he can do Natsu's usual fire-devouring trick and has increased resistance to Natsu's flames. Zancrow actually wins the first fight, and in the second Natsu has to resort more indirect methods of combat before finally gambling everything on a risky move to eat Zancrow's black flames and combine them with his own to take him down with a massive explosion after once again having a third party (Makarov in this case) set Zancrow up so that he can't dodge or counter it in time.
23	*** Atlas Flame is the [[{{Hellfire}} Hell Flame Dragon]] with not only a similar basic powerset to Natsu, but he's effectively [[WreathedInFlames a burning dragon skeleton]] with far superior physical and magical strength. Natsu in this case decides to forgo a proper showdown and tries to consume Atlas Flame's entire fire body in order to also get a PowerUp against the current ArcVillain. Atlas Flame [[YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe finds this entire idea ludicrous]] and decides to try and smash Natsu to death on his surroundings [[spoiler:only to stop upon being reminded so much of his old friend and the Fire Dragon King Igneel. Once Atlas Flame learns Natsu is Igneel's adopted son, he decides to aid him in fighting the real villain, being named an HonoraryUncle.]]
24	** Gray gets into almost as many fights against fellow [[AnIcePerson ice magic users]]. Unlike Natsu, who usually relies on [[MyKungFuIsStrongerThanYours innate superiority]] of his brand of fire magic, Gray's Ice-Make prioritizes creativity over raw power.
25	*** Lyon was Gray's fellow student in Ice-Make Magic, but both took to different styles of the magic: Gray prefers Static Ice-Make, which prioritizes inanimate objects such as weapons and affecting the surrounding environment, and Lyon uses Dynamic Ice-Make, which prioritizes animate objects and controlling their movement like ice golems and sculptures. Lyon wins the first fight thanks to taking advantage of Gray's confusion and inner conflict, but Gray gets the upper hand in the second after coming to terms with himself and pointing out Dynamic Ice-Make's biggest flaw: it's faster on average than Static Ice-Make, but the creations are weaker and more brittle.
26	*** [[spoiler:When he fights Ultear, who is his teacher Ur's estranged daughter, she resorts to using her own Ice-Make after he counters her preferred [[TimeMaster Arc of Time]] magic. Ultear's usage is far more focused on raw power thanks to her greater magical potential, but far less creative and honed thanks to her misplaced hatred of her mother souring her opinion of it. Still, they're rather evenly matched until Ultear gets distracted and leaves herself open to Gray freezing her.]]
27	*** Silver from [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Tartaros]] uses [[DemonSlaying Ice Devil Slayer Magic]], which not only has the raw offensive advantage on Gray's Ice-Make, but he has increased resistance to ice and the ability to eat it to restore his strength. Gray has to resort to indirect methods such as creating ice cannons to fire debris at Silver to do any real damage, and then resorts to [[HoistByHisOwnPetard turning his own Devil Slayer Magic on him]], before finally punching a hole through him with a large metal ball hurled with a ice-gauntlet fist. [[spoiler:Even then, he only lasted that long because the whole thing was a SuicideByCop from Silver, who is in fact his reanimated father, and a test to see if Gray could handle accepting his Ice Devil Slayer Magic.]]
28	*** Invel Yura of [[TheEmpire Alvarez]] is one of the [[PraetorianGuard Spriggan 12]], considered the most powerful mages of the empire, and his Ice Magic is honed to the point even Gray's various ice resistances from training in blizzards [[spoiler:and his Ice Devil Slayer Magic]] can't fully block out his chill. In this case, it becomes Zig-Zagged. Invel's Ice Magic beats Gray's Ice-Make in a straight brawl, [[spoiler:Gray's Ice Devil Slayer Magic can overcome the power gap with its innate advantages, Invel resorts to more esoteric means of his power to get around that (such as "freezing" people's thoughts to control them) that Gray only escapes through outside intervention, Gray puts on the hurt in a fury to keep him from using tricks like that anymore, Invel resorts to his trump card: an ElementalArmor that [[MyKungFuIsStrongerThanYours not even ice wielders are resistant to]] and manages to harm Gray even through his Devil Slayer resistances, and finally Gray uses Ice-Make to [[HoistByHisOwnPetard manipulate the armor to attack and defeat Invel]].]]
29	* ''Manga/JujutsuKaisen'': [[spoiler:Sukuna kills [[PlayingWithFire Jogo]] by overpowering the Disaster Curse's fire with flames of his own, [[DidntSeeThatComing something he was not known to be able to use beforehand]] since thus far it was believed that Sukuna's cursed technique consisted solely of [[RazorWind slashes]].]]
30	* ''Manga/OnePiece'': It's stated that Logia type Devil Fruits have a superiority system when it comes to the elemental power granted by each fruit clashing with one another. The best example is during the Maineford Arc when Admiral Akainu manages to defeat Ace in a direct clash of their respective elements, [[MagmaMan Magma for Akainu]] and [[PlayingWithFire Fire for Ace]], with Akainu himself stating that Magma is superior because it can burn even fire. Said superiority is what allows Akainu to deliver a fatal killing blow to Ace moments later.
31	* In ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', Hiei is a fire demon who [[FightsLikeANormal mostly prefers to use his martial arts and swordsmanship]] to win fights. In the first round of [[TournamentArc the Dark Tournament]], he encounters Zeru, another fire demon who is impressively strong, and rather than try to take on Zeru with his usual fighting style, Hiei brings out his own fire abilities for one of the few times in the series. Hiei whips out a DangerousForbiddenTechnique that is the fire equivalent of a FantasticNuke and drops it on Zeru, reducing him to nothing more than a scorched silhouette on a wall.
32	[[/folder]]
33
34	[[folder:Comic Books]]
35	* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'':
36	** During Super-Skrull's first appearance, he manages to produce flame hotter than the Human Torch can create, overwhelming him.
37	** The Human Torch later has a similar experience when he tries to take on Firelord, one of the Heralds of Galactus.
38	** He finally manages to be on the other end of this trope when he defeats Diablo's alchemical fire elemental by creating such powerful flames that they absorb all of the oxygen in the area, snuffing out the elemental's existence since it no longer has anything to fuel it.
39	[[/folder]]
40
41	[[folder:Fan Works]]
42	* ''Fanfic/{{Anyone}}'': Dabi says that using fire quirks against other fire quirks is actually very effective because the strongest flame eats the oxygen supply first, leaving the opponent with nothing to burn.
43	* ''Fanfic/ACertainDrollHivemind'': Yui gets grabbed by someone and immediately [[ShockAndAwe shocks them]]. This does nothing because the one who grabbed her is Misaka Mikoto, who is literally orders of magnitude more powerful than her. Thankfully, Mikoto of course isn't there to hurt her.
44	-->I electrocuted my assailant.\
45	It did nothing. I felt my Electromaster power be totally negated by one vastly superior to mine.\
46	"Don't do that," the original said to me. "What are you doing here?"
47	* ''Fanfic/TheCultist'': Solomon uses magic to override Poison Ivy's control over her man-eating plants and threatens to make them eat her.
48	* ''Fanfic/{{Justice}}'': Outraged at Killer Frost's LackOfEmpathy for killing a large group of people to "audition" to join the Straw Hat Pirates, Brook [[HarmlessFreezing freezes her solid]] with his Song of Scratches: Blizzard Slice. Killer Frost can't believe that cold can harm her in any way, but Brook insists that his cold is the chill of the underworld, something much harsher than her own cryosis.
49	[[/folder]]
50
51	[[folder:Literature]]
52	* ''Literature/CradleSeries'':
53	** During the second round of the Uncrowned King tournament, Lindon faces a black dragon, which of course uses the ''original'' Blackflame Path that he practices. While the dragon is far more powerful, Lindon finds that his ability to weather its attacks and adapt is more useful than raw overwhelming power, and he proves victorious.
54	** In the third round, Lindon faces Naian Blackflame, last member of the old Blackflame royal family. He has been driven insane by his own power, and practices a version of the Path even more overspecialized towards offense than Lindon's version. Lindon overpowers him with skill and talent rather than raw strength, in order to prove to the dragons that humans can win even when using the same weapons. He also goes to great effort to heal Naian, at least temporarily, of his madness. [[spoiler:The gold dragons promptly murder him just because Lindon wanted him to live]].
55	* ''Literature/PrincessesOfThePizzaParlor'': ''Boyfriends and Other Minor Annoyances'': An enemy is scared off by the sudden appearance of help because that help is much stronger in the same type of supernatural power. That is, [[spoiler:PsychicPowers]]:
56	-->experience was telling her this was a fight she could not win.
57	* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': In "The Boston Brawl II - This Time It's Personal!": Phase and Matterhorn are both warpers, but Phase's fine control of warping energy allowed her to take over Matterhorn's whole-body warping field and man-handle the giant Matterhorn, [[GrievousHarmWithABody smashing him around into the ground]] and throwing him at others.
58	-->Ayla tensely timed it as best she could, and sent the energy that she used to "phase" her body or other objects into the displacement field around Matterhorn, synchronizing with it.
59	[[/folder]]
60
61	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
62	* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'': J. T. James is a recurring villain with fire powers. In Season Four, he gets into a fight against [[ComicBook/AllNewGhostRider Ghost Rider]], who easily manages to overpower him thanks to his much stronger Hellfire powers.
63	[[/folder]]
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65	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
66	* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition'': The [[SkillScoresAndPerks feat]] Searing Spell can be applied to Fire spells to make them ignore Fire resistance and partially bypass [[ImmuneToFire Fire immunity]]. It burns so hot it can burn things that can't be burned!
67	* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'': ''GURPS: Magic'' has Burning Death which incinerates the target from the inside out - [[BeyondTheImpossible even if they're magically protected from fire]], which most magical fire users are.
68	* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'': [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=109752 Jaya Ballard]], on fighting fire, that is, you should use fire. As quoted on [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=45358 Sizzle]]:
69	--> Of course you should fight fire with fire. You should fight ''everything'' [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer with fire]].
70	* Many older Psychic Pokemon in the ''TabletopGame/{{Pokemon}}'' Trading Card Game have Psychic as a type weakness. As a result, whichever Active Pokemon gets Knocked Out first essentially boils down to who manages to do more damage with their attacks.
71	[[/folder]]
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73	[[folder:Video Games]]
74	* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXVI'', player character Clive is the Dominant of Ifrit, the Eikon of Fire. Although he gets his hands on other types of elemental magic, fire is his first and most used element. In spite of this, several bosses are against other fire-based opponents in straight tests of whose flames burn hotter, including his EnemyWithin the Infernal Shadow; the Living Flame; and the ''other'' Eikon of Fire, Phoenix. [[spoiler:During the final boss, Ultima attacks Clive with the powers of each Eikon, and Clive counters with the same powers, winning each clash]].
75	* ''VideoGame/Kirby64TheCrystalShards'': Unlike every other boss in the series, [[PenultimateBoss Miracle Matter]] cannot be damaged by anything other than the current element it is using. This puts the player in the position where [[ElementalFusion Power Comboes]] are rendered useless and any Copy Abilities used in the fight will have to be discarded after damaging the boss's current form due to Miracle Matter [[BarrierChangeBoss changing its elemental forms]] every so often.
76	* ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'' has the Beam Troopers, who've managed to reverse-engineer Samus' weaponry. They can only be damaged by the specific Beam they use, which has the same color code as their armor (yellow for the Power Beam, purple for Wave, white for Ice, and red for Plasma).
77	* In ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'', Dragon- and Ghost-type Pokémon are the only Pokémon weak to their own type, meaning that it's a perfectly valid strategy to use a Pokémon that knows those moves against specialists, such as Gym Leaders or Elite 4 members.
78	[[/folder]]
79
80	[[folder:Web Animation]]
81	* ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle'': The show's entire premise is built around taking two fictional characters with similar qualities and having them fight to the death, so [[https://deathbattle.fandom.com/wiki/Category:%27Element%27_themed_Death_Battles a great many of the episodes]] qualify for this trope when both warriors are known for their elemental abilities. Examples include electricity versus electricity ([[Recap/DeathBattleS10E03KilluaVSMisaka Killua VS Misaka]], [[Recap/DeathBattleS07E01MilesMoralesVsStatic Miles Morales VS Static]]), fire versus fire ([[Recap/DeathBattleS04E05NatsuVsAce Natsu VS Ace]], [[Recap/DeathBattleS02E32PokemonVsDigimon Red and Charizard VS Tai and Agumon]]), and ice versus ice ([[Recap/DeathBattleS04E06SubZeroVsGlacius Sub-Zero VS Glacius]], [[Recap/DeathBattleS07E05GrayVsEsdeath Gray VS Esdeath]]).
82	* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPdzsyqZZ0c RarePG: Garbage Guy vs. Justin Bieber]], at one point Garbage Guy's "Multi Garbage Rocket" is "absorbed by even more garbageness".
83	[[/folder]]
84
85	[[folder:Webcomics]]
86	* ''Webcomic/CtrlAltDel'', ''The Campaign: Into the Fire'', involves a trial concerning the [[ElementalShapeshifter Fire Form]] spell. The spell was overpowered by surrounding the form in a dome of fire to choke out air.
87	[[/folder]]
88
89	[[folder:Western Animation]]
90	* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
91	** In "The Waterbending Master", Katara attempts to beat Master Pakku at waterbending to prove that women can be just as good at waterbending beyond healing, in spite of the Northern Water Tribe's sexist customs. ZigZagged -- while Katara manages to impress Pakku with her skills despite her lack of formal training, he still defeats her, since she is still only an untrained 14-year-old.
92	** In "The Blind Bandit", the Gang watches Earth Rumble VI, an underground earthbending tournament, in the style of Pro Wrestling. While the latest challenger, The Boulder, bests most of the opponents through arrogance and extravagant moves, the champion, The Blind Bandit, [[CurbStompBattle bests him in two moves]] because she "waits and listens" to the earth, signaling to Aang that she is the best person to teach him earthbending.
93	** An Agni Kai is a traditional duel waged between two firebenders meant to defend one's honor, where victory is determined by the first person to get burned, showing greater skill at firebending. This occurs a few times in the series:
94	*** In "The Southern Air Temple", Zuko goes up against Zhao, a high-ranked commander with more experience than him, over the right to track down the Avatar. Zuko manages to defeat Zhao not by being more advanced, but by remembering his basics and getting Zhao on the back foot, proving he has the skill to hunt the Avatar but not delivering the burning blow out of mercy.
95	*** In "Sozin's Comet", when Zuko and Katara challenged Azula for the Fire Lord's throne, Azula challenged her brother to an Agni Kai. While Zuko would normally never do this, since Azula has always been stronger and more skilled at firebending, he senses the emotional turmoil throwing her off balance and accepts so that Katara is less likely to get hurt. [[spoiler:Zuko's calm control, learned from the Sun Warriors, nearly manages to beat Azula's unhinged rage-fueled bending, until Azula cheats and aims a lightning bolt at Katara, bringing her into the fight.]]
96	* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': In "Ultimatum", Downpour attacks Aquaman with a [[MakingASplash water blast]]. The [[NoSell only result]] is a disdainful "King of the Seas, remember?" rejoinder.
97	* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': In the first episode, just after arriving in Republic City, Korra confronts the Triple Threat Triad, a street gang made up of a waterbender, an earthbender, and a firebender, and easily curb stomps each member of the gang with their own element.
98	[[/folder]]

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