Discussion Main / InvincibleVillain

Previous Trope Repair Shop thread: Description Needs Help, started by Lunacorva on Oct 9th 2014 at 5:09:40 PM

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

Previous Trope Repair Shop thread: Complaining, started by Iaculus on Feb 8th 2020 at 4:46:49 PM

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

I think this page could use some pruning, since I've seen a number of cases on this page where the villain isn't at all invincible; they're just very powerful. Even cases where they fight the heroes once and lose that fight, just because they manage an impressive showing in the meantime. I think this trope could use some deeper qualifications before it turns into "villains that are powerful." Something like...

- Is significantly more powerful and more able than the heroes.

- Has multiple impressive victories, and when the protagonists lose to them, it is grievous.

- Defeats and setbacks they suffer, if they exist at all, tend to be insignificant, pyrrhic victories, or something they still manage to turn into an advantage.

- When (if) they are defeated, it requires very special effort (all the protagonists working together, a Deus ex Machina or Story-Breaker Power being applied).

Edited by MBG159

So has Invincible Villain become the new go-to term to talk about Villain Sues since that has become Flame Bait? It's starting to seem like it.

A cruel, sick joke is still a joke, and sometimes all you can do is laugh.

So... This trope is presented as being a Bad Thing, yet several villains in it (a minority, mind you) are either presented in terms that don't make them seem all that bad in context, and/or that are generally not considered that annoying by the fans (the D-Reaper and Apocalypse, for example). Shouldn't something mentioning Tropes Are Not Bad be included?

Edited by 184.161.254.60 I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. Hide / Show Replies

682 isn't really an example-most fights between him and other SC Ps end in a stalemate, and despite breaking out a few times, the Foundation always finds a way to contain him again. The whole reason we assume he's immortal is that he constantly suffers serious injuries (getting shot, dipped in hydrochloric acid, decapitated, reduced to 1% of its body mass, thrown into the sun, etc.), yet always bounces right back. Never dying isn't the same as always winning.

Edited by ading I'm a Troper!!!

Wouldn't this be a YMMV?

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Now, I'm starting to wonder who is the more invincible out of the two when you start to think about it, Amon or Azula:

While both of them don't really "lose" definitely until each series respective finales, Amon is basically untouchable for the majority of Legend of Korra, he never suffers any kind of drawbacks and succeeds at every goal he sets out to achieve. De-bending Lin, Tarrlok, Korra herself, and many other benders. Destroying the Pro-bending Arena, defeating the United Forces army and pretty much taking over Republic City before Korra unmasked him.

While Azula does win by the end of Book 2: Earth and yes, her victory can be partly attributed to contrived coincidences, she does suffer her fair share of defeats before that. In her first speaking appearance she dominates Zuko before Iroh defeats her in like 5 seconds and they manage to escape. In Return to Omashu she fails to catch Aang even with the help of her friends. In The Chase, part of the reason why she disappears at the end is because she knew she couldn't take them all on and that's why she takes that cheap shot at Iroh in order to distract them and retreats. Then in The Drill she and Ty Lee are defeated (quite humiliatingly I might say) by Team Avatar and they destroy the siege unit that the Fire Nation probably spend months creating. Mai even points out their failure at the end. And finally, you can tell in The Crossroads of Destiny that she couldn't have won without help. Watch that episode again, if Zuko hadn't made his Face Heel Turn and hadn't showed up to aid her, Katara alone would have defeated her.

So yeah, as effective as Azula is, Amon beats her in the Villain Invincibility department.

Edited by 216.99.32.45

So... the title has changed from Boring Invincible Villain to just Invincible Villain, but the page still contains the full phrase and talks about the reasons why it's boring, with no indication of how to make a non-boring one work.