History Main / InertiaIsACruelMistress

->''[[AC:"Momentum, a function of mass and velocity, is conserved between portals. In LaymansTerms: speedy thing goes in, speedy thing comes out."]]''
-->-- '''[=GLaDOS=]''', ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}''

* Examples from Creator/MarvelComics, using their signature speedster ComicBook/{{Quicksilver}}.
** Quicksilver was once defeated by Franchise/SpiderMan, against whom Quicksilver was executing a whirlwind vacuum attack. Spidey simply stuck out his arm in Quicksilver's path. And yeah, it was a strain, but ol' Webhead is tougher than Quicksilver.
** Quicksilver defeated a Sentinel which was imitating Quicksilver's speed, by deliberately running into a wall, knowing his pursuer would have no chance to avoid impact. Quicksilver was hurt, but the Sentinel was destroyed.
** Quicksilver's [[OlderThanTheyThink very first appearance]] featured [[ComicBook/XMen Angel]] tricking him into running into a wall.
* In ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'', Ultimate Arcade's debut brought him into conflict with Nightcrawler. He figured out where Kurt was going to 'port to next and was ready with a knife to the gut.
* Canonically, ComicBook/{{Nightcrawler}} is supposed to be subject to this -- he keeps the same inertia when he teleports. On the other hand, he once avoided going splat by inverting the bamf -- so that he came out of it ''falling up''. It is ''mentioned'' in ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'' when Nightcrawler explains why he can't teleport off an airplane in flight. He does this in his debut in the movies, using his momentum to confuse the people he's fighting as well as maintain a full sprint through obstacles. He does however teleport off and back to a flying plane, and doesn't seem to have too much trouble with inertia, despite the sudden deceleration caused by being exceedingly unaerodynamic. He'd be traveling noticeably faster than Rogue when he caught her, and she'd be traveling slower than the plane when she returned. His speed wouldn't change much, but it wouldn't have been static.
* ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} is used to being able to stop speedsters by predicting where they're gonna wind up next, because of his experience with the Squadron Supreme's Whizzer, but when he tried it on Franchise/TheFlash in ''ComicBook/JLAAvengers'', it failed. Pretty much.[[note]]To be fair, Hawkeye had no idea that one of Flash's Rogue's Gallery was a guy who ''specialized'' in boomerangs.[[/note]] It seems to work better on bad guys; Green Arrow II, Connor Hawke, managed to down a HardLight copy of the Flash in Morrison's run by aiming where he was going to be next as opposed to where he's supposed to be. C'est la vie. The difference here is that the hard light copy of the Flash was being controlled by someone who doesn't have super speed and Connor noted that the hard light Flash was moving in repetitive patterns as a result, which made him easier to predict. And the Flash lampshaded it at the time: Hawkeye was using a boomerang arrow, and the Flash has some experience with fighting [[http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Captain_Boomerang boomerang guys]]. Meanwhile, the guy controlling the hardlight copy of the Flash... not so much.
* In [[Creator/DCComics DC's]] ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'', ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}} detonates a series of explosives and immediately sticks out his katana. Just as planned, Franchise/TheFlash runs through the only safe path and impales himself. Given Flash's SuperSpeed is almost always portrayed as coming with SuperReflexes and the ability to stop or go to full speed almost instantly, there is absolutely no way in hell this should have worked, except for the fact that Flash was probably [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Target_fixation fixated on his target]] and took Deathstroke a little too lightly.

* Inverted in ''ComicBook/PS238'', when teleporting villain [[spoiler:Charles Brigman]] uses his own inertia to his advantage to do quite a bit of nasty things. The heroes also employ this trope (and {{lampshade|Hanging}} it).

* A literal example comes from Inertia of the ''ComicBook/SquadronSupreme''. She has the power to mentally transfer momentum from one person to another, which she then uses to bring Franchise/WonderWoman expy Power Princess to her knees. She redirects the force of Hyperion's punches to Power Princess, and all throughout the fight Inertia had her hands bound. Although the cruel aspect is subverted because Inertia is part of Nighthawk's resistance force against the Squadron's repeated abuse of civil liberties, and she's afraid she might have actually killed Power Princess.

* In ''WesternAnimation/XMen'', Wolverine fights Silver Samurai, who has a short-range teleportation device. After taking a beating at first, Wolverine eventually predicts where Silver Samurai will reappear, grabs him, and destroys his teleportation device.

!!Examples

[[folder:Comics]]

[[folder:Films -- Live Action]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* Stargates on ''Series/StargateSG1'' work like this as well (most of the time). Objects such as bullets and the UAV can be fired through an outbound gate (albeit blindly) and emerge with the same speed.
** Subverted in the episode "Enemies".
** In "2001" Carter is on another world, and the hostile aliens have turned the Stargate completly horizontal to drop a bomb through it. She is forced to cut her rappelling line dropping into the gate, and emerges from the one at the [=SGC=] with enough speed to break her arm upon hitting the deck.
** A variant occurs in ''Series/StargateAtlantis'': Sheppard is forced by two Travelers to command an abandoned Ancient warship. When told to start moving the ship, he does so after helpfully informing them that [[YouDidntAsk they shouldn't have ordered that without activating the inertial compensators first]]. Cue the Travelers' OhCrap reaction before getting knocked out cold by the wall behind him.
** Another variant shows up in ''Series/StargateUniverse'': Normally, as noted above, objects travelling thought a gate maintain their entry momentum upon exiting a wormhole. However, in the case of ultra-long-distance wormhole travel with nine chevron addresses, the process of firing one's molecules literally quadrillions of light years across the known universe requires an enormous expense of energy to complete the trip. Some of that energy ends up being transferred to the object in transit, resulting in their exit momentum being significantly higher than their entry momentum. This is seen twice with both the Icarus Base survivors and the Lucian Alliance strike team who ''walk'' into their respective stargates in the Milky Way and then come ''flying'' out of ''Destiny'''s on board stargate. Col. Young takes it to a near-deadly extreme, being pushed into the wormhole by an explosion shockwave and coming out [[DynamicEntry with enough momentum to literally fly across the gateroom]].
** Universe's "too much energy" was seen MUCH earlier in the franchise. The [=SG1=] season 1 episode ''Solitudes'' gives the first glimpse of what happens if extra energy is poured into an active gate. Staff weapon fire super charges it while [=SG1=] is in transit. The extra energy causes the wormhole to jump to Earth's hitherto unknown second gate stranding Jack and Carter in Antarctica, but before the wormhole jumped its tracks Daniel and Teal'c were launched into the [=SGC=].
--> '''Daniel:''' Teal'c and I were flung out of the gate at this end so fast I don't even remember hitting the ramp.

* In ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' there was an episode when Gibbs had the perp in a Med-Evac plane with the perp holding a gun to the pilot's head screaming to get the plane to go. Gibbs orders the pilot to get clearance and slyly wraps his arm around a strap on the side of the hull. The pilot notices, gets clearance and goes from 0 horizontal Gs to a catapult-assisted several, knocking the perp off his feet and throwing him towards Gibbs, who quickly disarms him.

* This pops up in ''Series/TheFlash2014''. Admittedly, this is probably the only way a non-speedster can defeat a speedster. Also, despite his SherlockScan skills in the pilot (which are quickly forgotten by the show), he frequently runs into situations without scouting out the area first, relying on his speed to overcome anything. This changes slightly when [[Series/{{Arrow}} Oliver]] tries to train him to be more observant and use his speed to plan a battle beforehand. The same episode has Oliver land several blows on Barry by predicting his movements and placing his bow where Barry is going to be. King Shark is also able to hit Barry, while the latter is zooming around him.

(The Doctor pulls out a control unit, moves a wire and puts it back. When their pursuers reach the end of the corridor, rather than stopping, they are ''flung out'' and crash into a wall)\\

[[folder:Webcomics]]

[[folder:Web Video]]

* The ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle'' between [[Franchise/{{Naruto}} Jiraiya]] and [[Franchise/DragonBall Roshi]] was resolved with this trope in full effect. [[spoiler:Jiraiya used a Sage Mode-enhanced genjutsu to ensnare Roshi's soul while the latter was mid-flight, preparing to finish him off in the illusion. The problem: while Roshi's soul is trapped, Roshi's ''body'' is not, and is still flying full force at Jiraiya with a fist extended. As Roshi is more durable than Jiraiya, the former's fist acts as a wedge to split the latter in half along the waist. Moral of the story: if you're going to mindfuck someone for the sake of killing them, try to have them confined by at least gravity before you commit.]]
** The Battle Royale between the various members of [[Series/TheBoys2019 The Seven]] (and Billy Butcher), two characters die this way. First up is The Deep, who set the current record for fastest fighter death in the show, dying in the opening seconds of the fight when A-Train splatters him by running into him. [[spoiler:A-Train himself then later suffers this. After being blinded by Starlight, he ends up running right into Queen Maeve's punch, leading to A-Train losing his entire upper body.]]

* Harriet Bree in ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' has a SuperSpeed semblance, but her impatient nature means she occasionally disregards stopping. [[spoiler: Weiss defeats Harriet by summoning a wall of ice for her to run into when she's focused on Ruby.]]
* ''WebAnimation/DeadFantasy'': Yuna fires a gun at Kasumi, who teleports away, but then Yuna predicts where she will reappear and fires again at a different spot. The bullet hits her as she reappears.

** The same thing is invoked when you traverse the Omega-4 Relay in ''Mass Effect 2''. Joker must practically stand the ''Normandy'' on her nose to avoid the truly massive amounts of wreckage piled up at the mass relay's terminus. It's heavily implied that other ships [[AcePilot with lesser pilots]] weren't as lucky. And if you don't improve the armor and kinect barriers, even Joker can't prevent the ''Normandy'' from getting hull breached and killing crew member(s).

* Heinlein's ''Literature/TheNumberOfTheBeast'' featured a teleportation device like this. Each jump went precisely X distance in a single direction, so, of course, an accurate map and compass are necessary to get anywhere that's not exactly X away. Averted by the fact that since the characters were [[MarySue all math wizzes]] it didn't take them long to figure out how to take multiple jumps (that are instantaneous) to get anywhere.

* In ''Manga/RosarioToVampire'', Raika can turn into lightning to travel instantly. Ruby takes advantage of the fact that he moves too quickly to stop or change direction and that he doesn't have the reflexes to respond to changes by predicting where he will arrive and sticking her fist in the way.

* Mentioned as the core weakness of "[[FlashStep instant movement]]" in ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' In the tournament arc, it became a key strategic fact in the battle between Negi and Takamichi, who explained it while tripping his opponent up. It showed up again in the fight between Negi and [[WorldsStrongestMan Rakan]], where Negi fuses himself with a [[FantasticNuke Thousand Bolts]] spell in order to fight with [[RideTheLightning "lightning instant movement"]], only for Rakan to start [[AwesomenessByAnalysis predicting his movements from the streamers that lightning sends out just before the main bolt]]. Negi's solution? [[spoiler:[[SerialEscalation Fuse with two Thousand Bolts spells at the same time]], transforming him into an ElementalEmbodiment who can ''think'' at the speed of lightning and thus change direction freely]].

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}''

* Examples from Creator/MarvelComics, using their signature speedster Comicbook/{{Quicksilver}}.

* Canonically, Comicbook/{{Nightcrawler}} is supposed to be subject to this -- he keeps the same inertia when he teleports. On the other hand, he once avoided going splat by inverting the bamf -- so that he came out of it ''falling up''. It is ''mentioned'' in ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'' when Nightcrawler explains why he can't teleport off an airplane in flight. He does this in his debut in the movies, using his momentum to confuse the people he's fighting as well as maintain a full sprint through obstacles. He does however teleport off and back to a flying plane, and doesn't seem to have too much trouble with inertia, despite the sudden deceleration caused by being exceedingly unaerodynamic. He'd be traveling noticeably faster than Rogue when he caught her, and she'd be traveling slower than the plane when she returned. His speed wouldn't change much, but it wouldn't have been static.
* Comicbook/{{Hawkeye}} is used to being able to stop speedsters by predicting where they're gonna wind up next, because of his experience with the Squadron Supreme's Whizzer, but when he tried it on Franchise/TheFlash in ''Comicbook/JLAAvengers'', it failed. Pretty much.[[note]]To be fair, Hawkeye had no idea that one of Flash's Rogue's Gallery was a guy who ''specialized'' in boomerangs.[[/note]] It seems to work better on bad guys; Green Arrow II, Connor Hawke, managed to down a HardLight copy of the Flash in Morrison's run by aiming where he was going to be next as opposed to where he's supposed to be. C'est la vie. The difference here is that the hard light copy of the Flash was being controlled by someone who doesn't have super speed and Connor noted that the hard light Flash was moving in repetitive patterns as a result, which made him easier to predict. And the Flash lampshaded it at the time: Hawkeye was using a boomerang arrow, and the Flash has some experience with fighting [[http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Captain_Boomerang boomerang guys]]. Meanwhile, the guy controlling the hardlight copy of the Flash... not so much.
* In [[Creator/DCComics DC's]] ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'', Comicbook/{{Deathstroke}} detonates a series of explosives and immediately sticks out his katana. Just as planned, Franchise/TheFlash runs through the only safe path and impales himself. Given Flash's SuperSpeed is almost always portrayed as coming with SuperReflexes and the ability to stop or go to full speed almost instantly, there is absolutely no way in hell this should have worked, except for the fact that Flash was probably [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Target_fixation fixated on his target]] and took Deathstroke a little too lightly.

* Inverted in ''Comicbook/PS238'', when teleporting villain [[spoiler:Charles Brigman]] uses his own inertia to his advantage to do quite a bit of nasty things. The heroes also employ this trope (and {{lampshade|Hanging}} it).

* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm''

* In ''[[FanFic/RainbowDoubleDashsLunaverse Crisis On Two Equestrias]]'', Twilight's teleportation spell conserves speed but not direction. So when the four Elements Of Magic are falling out of the sky, Twilight teleports them into the same spot they were already in, but going the opposite way. Now they're shooting ''up'', and gravity soon brings them to a halt at the apex, whereupon Twilight teleports them down to the ground.

* In ''FanFic/ThisBites'', Ace's attempt to catch a cannonball send him flying back several feet.

* In ''FanFic/FateGenesis'', Rider attempts to use her [[TakenForGranite Mystic Eyes of Petrification]] on Sonic to leave him easy prey and to stop his Spin Dash attack. However, because they took effect as he was already shooting at her, being petrified did nothing to cancel the attack and she gets hit in the stomach by a spiny ball of ''stone'', which sends them tumbling into forest outside the school and breaking her spell on him to let him go back to normal (since he was protected from dying by both his Power Rings and innate Magic Resistance).

* ''Film/XMenFilmSeries''

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* At [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2007/05/31/episode-852-its-just-basic-physics/ one point]] in ''WebComic/EightBitTheater'', the [[VillainProtagonist Light Warriors]] are plummeting to their deaths when [[AWizardDidIt Sarda]] warps them into his cave. They still become smears on the floor.

The most oft-cited weakness given to an enemy with {{Teleportation}} or SuperSpeed if the plot requires a not-so-powered character to beat them. All an underpowered character has to do is figure this out, and then intercept them. Heaven forbid the opponent has the RequiredSecondaryPowers needed to see it coming (ergo, SuperReflexes) ''and'' maneuver out of the way, is a {{Nigh Invulnerab|ility}}le LightningBruiser who can just barrel through the obstacle, has a TeleFrag effect that will just destroy the offending obstacle, or worse, breaks the MagicAIsMagicA by not being subject to this problem...

* In Chapter 60 of ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'', [[spoiler: Baron Zemo controlling Project Ultimatum, HYDRA's Destroyer]] demonstrates this on Jean-Paul, before breaking his ankle.

* ''VideoGame/{{Destiny}}'': This works both for and against Guardians. In PvE, the Cabal love using their jumpjets to get up close to you, which gives you an easy trajectory by which to plot your shot and watch their corpse faceplant. In PvP, the same thing happens to opposing Guardians. Double and triple jumps can't save you from someone drawing a bead on you. The only way to avert this in PvP is maybe with the Warlock's blink jump.

* While the 2D ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' games for UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis don't feature much teleportation, an interesting effect can be found in the debug mode, which allows you to turn into and place objects. If you're moving and turn into an object, you'll still have the same momentum when you turn back.

* In ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' there was an episode when Gibbs had the perp in a Med-Evac plane with the perp holding a gun to the pilot's head screaming to get the plane to go. Gibbs orders the pilot to get clearance and slyly wraps his arm around a strap on the side of the hull. The pilot notices, gets clearance and goes from 0 horizontal Gs to several, knocking the perp off his feet and throwing him towards Gibbs, who quickly disarms him.

A key aspect of DeadlyDodging, WronskiFeint, and defeating most {{Bullfight Boss}}es. A key part of considerations of JumpPhysics in videogames. Compare TooFastToStop. Not to be confused with GravityIsAHarshMistress.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': Mayfly is killed by a combination of this and TooFastToStop after her allies decide she's outlived her usefulness and smuggle her a pill that will supposedly boost and restore her SuperSpeed while she's in prison. She quickly discovers she can't stop nor properly change directions once she takes it and ends up running into a gate and leaving chunks of gore splattered on both sides of it.

* Inertia comes back to bite "Speed of Sound" Sonic in ''Webcomic/OnePunchMan'' when it turns out that with all his bouncing around, he can't slow down quite fast enough to keep from running into Saitama's fist [[GroinAttack groin-first]]. Fortunately, this doesn't kill him, but it still results in WideEyesAndShrunkenIrises on his part. The view has to cut to [[RelaxOVision a serene mountain valley]] until Sonic can comport himself with some small measure of dignity again.

* The ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle'' between Jiraiya and Roshi was resolved with this trope in full effect. [[spoiler:Jiraiya used a Sage Mode-enhanced genjutsu to ensnare Roshi's soul while the latter was mid-flight, preparing to finish him off in the illusion. The problem: while Roshi's soul is trapped, Roshi's ''body'' is not, and is still flying full force at Jiraiya with a fist extended. As Roshi is more durable than Jiraiya, the former's fist acts as a wedge to split the latter in half along the waist. Moral of the story: if you're going to mindfuck someone for the sake of killing them, try to have them confined by at least gravity before you commit.]]

* [[RealityEnsues Needless to say]], this trope tends to be {{enforced|Trope}} pretty hard.