Ultraman vs. Gomora - Round 2.
The Ultra Series worships this trope, to the point where every time a horned kaiju shows up, audiences can be counting down on how long it'd take for the Ultra to snap the monster's horns in the penultimate battle. It's practically Once an Episode (or Once A Season) for the franchise overall, a tradition proudly embraced since 1966...
- It dates all the way back in the original Ultraman with its most iconic kaiju foe, Gomora the horned juggernaut, who is delivering a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on Ultraman until the Ultra lands a knee into Gomora's right horn, snapping it and causing great agony on Gomora. Followed by Specium Ray into the broken part. Several episodes later, Ultraman fought another horned monster called Zaragas and broke its horn via upward chop. This doubles as a suit example of a Casting Gag - both Gomora and Zaragas are made from the same suit.
- This trope made its appearance in the series way before Gomora's debut and as early as Episode 3; Neronga, the Monster of the Week, had a nasal horn that could shoot electricity, which Ultraman snapped off before killing it with a Specium Ray.
- The equally iconic Ultraseven monster, Eleking, has rotating horns in place of its eyes serving as sensory organs. Ultraseven severs both horns using his Emerium Ray, leaving Eleking a sitting duck to the Eye Slugger. Off with His Head! quickly follows.
- In Return of Ultraman the first monster who requires Jack to come up with out-of-the-box strategies to defeat is Kingsaurus III, its uranium-powered horns capable of deflecting Jack's energy attacks. Jack learns a new move, the Meteor Drop Kick, at the end of the episode, leaping above the kaiju's defenses and breaking both its horns, depriving it of force-field abilities.
- A later episode have Jack facing two weather-controlling monsters, Seamons and Seagoras, with Seagoras — the more powerful of the two — using its horn as a lightning rod. Jack fares badly in the final battle until the MAT Defense Team fires a powerful laser severing Seagoras' horn, allowing Jack to defeat the monsters.
- And there's the monster Paragon, whose tusks on its chin gets stomped by Jack in the penultimate battle until they broke. Bonus points for the prop department painting the broken tips' interior red.
- Ultraman Ace has an Oni kaiju called Onidevil, whose horn can emit powerful flashes that blinds targets. Ultraman Ace got around it by somersaulting over Onidevil and snapping its horn with a stomp, causing enough damage to kill Onidevil a minute later.
- Eleking actually makes a comeback in Ultraman Taro, reviving in the very same lake Ultraseven killed it years ago, thanks to its horns absorbing moonbeams. Ultraman Taro ends the battle by creating a chain with Ultra-energy and pulling off both of Eleking's horns, causing Eleking's unstable body to dissolve. This time, Taro took the horns he ripped off away from Earth to prevent the monster's return.
- Ultraman Leo does this quite a few times, to devastating effect, due to Leo's nature as a Bare-Fisted Monk.
- As Alien Karly turns to kaiju form and blast Leo with its electrified tusks while trying to skewer the Ultra, a missed stab results in Karly stuck to a building. Leo then breaks both of Karly's tusks, depriving the alien of his best weapon, and for added insult stabs the alien in his eyes with his own tusks.
- Alien Giro has horn-like appendages which can release a powerful foam that Leo chops off. Turns out Giro's horns are more than just a weapon — they're also part of the alien's life-force, and with the horns broken Giro then dies in a few seconds.
- Another monster, the Cephalothorax Alien Akumania, has distinctive horns on either side beside its body (which is a giant eyeball). So of course Ultraman Leo does the most obvious and breaks off one of Akumania's horns, before throwing it into its pupil.
- Black End, the last monster of the series, has horns all over its body and four major ones — two front, two back — as means of balance. Leo turns the battle around by ripping off both back horns (both at once) and using those to skewer its mouth, before causing Black End to trip forward, snapping the two front ones as well.
- The Ultraman 80 monster, Zarudon, is a Reality Warper whose powers lies in its central horn, which Ultraman Eighty severs with a series of energy beams in the final battle.
- Surprisingly averted with the two-episode Arc Villain monster Gymaira. Its nasal horn can emit powerful energy blasts, but despite being a very obvious weak spot, Ultraman Eighty never targets said horn. The battle ends with Ultraman Eighty performing a Diving Kick seemingly aimed for Gymaira's horn — but instead hits the monster's throat, killing it without any damage to the horn.
- Ultraman Tiga have two of these instances:
- Gakuma (type Beta) has its horns being its source of powers, which can fire electrifying energy blasts until Tiga chops them off.
- Another horned monster, Gagi, has a single horn that can create an impenetrable force-field and rapid-fire energy bolts. Until Tiga breaks it off, of course.
- Flipped around in Heisei Ultraseven, when Masaki tries holding off the monster Zabangi with two kaiju allies, Miclas and Windam. Both of them died brutally, the former from having his horns ripped off by Zabangi.
- The Ultraman Gaia monster Antimatter is a monster resembling two bodies fused together, both its heads resembling horns. Both end up being blasted off by Ultraman Gaia, one at a time.
- Subverted in the final episode's battle against Zogu, the series' Big Bad, who transforms herself into a kaiju larger than the city itself. Ultraman Gaia and Ultraman Agul managed to break two of her horns, but she has six.
- Lafreshion from Ultraman Neos has a golden horn which allows it to fire electrical beams, before it gets severed by Ultraman Neos via kicking. The final episode's villain, Mensch Heit, has a coral-like horn as well which gets blasted off by Ultraman Neos' and Ultraseven-21's combined energy bolts.
- Ultraman Cosmos has a Tragic Monster called Neldorand, who used to be a Gentle Giant until it's converted by the vile Alien Nowar into a weapon via implants in its horn. Ultraman Cosmos managed to reverse Nowar's modifications by destroying the horn-like appendages where the controlling beacon is located, but this ends up killing Neldorand instead.
- Ultraman Max brings back another Eleking in the second episode, and for the third time in the franchise, again Max goes for the horn. There's also a monster called Eraga who has a nasal horn, but that gets severed by Max too.
- The first Kelbeam from Ultraman Mebius has its horns blasted to bits when GUYS tests their combined phaser beams for the first time, giving the Ultra some much-needed assistance. There's also the monster Daigarugu whose lava-spewing horns gets hacked off by Ultraman Mebius' Mebium Blade.
- Ultraman X has X being double-teamed by Alien Nackle and his horned kaiju henchman, Black King, and the battle seems hopeless until the sudden arrival of Ultraman Zero, pulling off a Big Damn Heroes moment by landing a Diving Kick into Black King's head and snapping the horn, forcing Nackle to collect his minion and leave. In a later scene, Black King's severed horn has been replaced with a mechanized drill.
- Ultraman Orb has a returning monster from the series, Bemular, being granted a new modification — horns capable of absorbing energy. It's predictably no match for Ultraman Orb's Orb Calibur, which severs those horns with one swing turning it back to a regular Bemular.
- Ultraman Taiga have the titular Ultra battling Skull Gomora (a variant of the aforementioned Gomora from the very first series) and deciding to tamper with energy from the kaiju rings. This only makes Ultraman Taiga lose control of all actions and becoming insanely savage, demonstrated when Taiga breaks Skull Gomora's horn with a chop. (A neat Mythology Gag to the original series over 50 years ago, Skull Gomora's severed horn is the same side as the original's).
- Ultraman Z has another returning kaiju, Neronga, whose horns can generate electricity like the original until Ultraman Z breaks it off. As a Chekhov's Gun, Neronga's severed horn was later recovered by STORAGE to be used as a power source.
- Ultraman Trigger: New Generation Tiga
- Deathdrago, a monster that appears prior to the series' events, shows up in a flashback scene where its initial rampage is stopped when Shizuma managed to pilot a GUTS Fighter and blow up one of its horns. Said monster then retreats into hibernation before showing up in the episode, sans one horn but still as powerful as ever.
- Metsu-Orochi, an extremely powerful monster showing up halfway into the series, has a silver horn capable of absorbing and reflecting energy attacks, until Ultraman Trigger and Trigger Dark decides to team up and chop it off.
- In a promotional video
uploaded on Tsuburaya's official YouTube channel, the titular hero of Andro Melos defeats Jackal by slicing off his horn. - Ultraman Decker
- The first episode has Spheresaurus, who has a large red horn that it can use as a weapon; Decker snaps it off before defeating it with a Solgent Ray.
- The second episode has Deathdrago return and this time it has both horns sliced off, the first one by the manned GUTS Falcon and the second by Decker.
