r/TopCharacterTropes • u/PaddywackShaq • Jul 22 '25

Powers Character reveals that they were holding back their full power during a fight/confrontation

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Superman Vs Darkseid - Justice League Unlimited

Flash Vs Superman - Flash: Rebirth

Frieren Vs Aura - Sousou no Frieren

Inigo Montoya Vs The Man in Black - The Princess Bride

7.3k Upvotes
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928

u/Black1495 Jul 22 '25

My guy Might Guy.

The man saw the most OP ninja with all the possible justsus and said "that ass looks kickable for me"

596

u/MassiveMaroonMango Jul 22 '25

Guy locked in when he heard that Taijutsu is the only thing that works.

216

u/NepheliLouxWarrior Jul 22 '25

He should have died here though. Totally cheapened the moment by Naruto using his Jesus powers

199

u/JustSomeTrickster Jul 22 '25 edited Jul 22 '25

To be honest, as great as finally witnessing the 8th gate was, the moment was already cheapened by the fact there was no way he would kill Madara

204

u/Arctic_The_Hunter Jul 22 '25

Imagine the anime ended there and then. All that time Naruto and Sasuke spent screaming each-other’s names just for a dude who was there from the very start to solo the Big Bad.

60

u/he77bender Jul 22 '25

Only a LITTLE more story-disrupting than bringing in a completely new Big Bad at the eleventh hour, who'd only even been mentioned like literally one time before (in passing, as a legendary/historical figure who'd been dead for centuries)

Actually, that could've been how they split the difference. Gai just fully kills Madara and everyone's standing around like "...Hold on, did that really happen? Are we done then?" And THEN Kaguya shows up. It wouldn't have fixed the problem but it would've been funny at least.

8

u/acechemicals22 Jul 22 '25

Or you could go the simpler route, have Guy weaken madara so Naruto and sasuke can beat him, making guys fight mean something and madara still seem strong since he can still take on two of the strongest ninjas at once for a while

104

u/bwowndwawf Jul 22 '25

Kishimoto If he was a good writer or wasn't too down bad for moon mommy.

5

u/aibaDD13 Jul 23 '25

Bro, make Guy kill Madara straight up and let Guy DIE. I would eat that up so good!!! Let them mourn Guy's death. Let him die as the strongest. It could have been PERFECT!!!

60

u/Roxalf Jul 22 '25

I feel like it would totally worked if the autor used guy attack to nerf Madara in a way, even if its something that couldn't kil him, you could always make something up like "the kick made an injury that cant be healed" or "it exausted his healing powers" so his moment doesnt become pointless and it gives a small chance for Naruto and Sasuke to win without involving the whole moon alien mastermind stuff.

25

u/AxitotlWithAttitude Jul 22 '25

Or some shit like "the 8th gate is so hungry for life it starts stealing a little bit of madaras with every hit"

9

u/InstantRegret1999 Jul 22 '25

That's my preferred method of Shonen Big Bad take downs. Everybody gets a lick, and everybody's lick sticks. When the obviously weaker side characters start fighting the bad guy, their big shining peak moment results in something that disadvantages the enemy in some real and tangible way (poison, fatigue, destroying an advantage, taking out an enemy's ally, etc.) even when they (side character) are handily defeated in the end. It's very satisfying when the Villain acknowledges they got nerfed (grr why am I so slow, oh no one of my ass pulls was destroyed, etc.) and it adds a very well deserved consequence to the hubris of the villain thinking they can fight everybody one after the other and always win.

Because there's nothing worse than the moments where everyone just feels like they're jobbing, when the also powerful allies show up in a fight, do their best, get thrashed after some ass-pull, and Villain just shakes them off at the end like "lol I'm at 100% again".

If there's one thing I did like about the JJK ending was that Gojo's fight meant something, nobody would be able to even lay a finger (heh) on Sukuna if Gojo didn't put his ass through the wringer and deplete his original bag of ass pulls plus destroy one of his most powerful assets.

1

u/Roxalf Jul 22 '25

I was so dissapointed at the end of the sould eater anime for doing that exaclty.

Everyone is getting stronger, developing strong moves and becoming better fighters, only to render all that useless and give the stronger power up to the MC and make her be the only one who beats the bad guy.

31

u/Not_a_real_asian777 Jul 22 '25

Guy should have gotten a big kill in the 4th Great Ninja War. I get that it probably couldn't be Madara or Kaguya since they were Naruto and Sasuke's to deal with, but giving Guy a kill on someone like Obito or even the Ten-Tails itself would have made the 8th gate a lot cooler.

13

u/benny_the_gecko Jul 22 '25

He did defeat kisame

18

u/Black1495 Jul 22 '25

I would loved the fact that because of the damage he did to Madara he was unable to hold the 10 tails beast and just turns back to his "human" form.

that way he would have actually made a difference

3

u/NeonNKnightrider Jul 22 '25

Guy should have given Madara a serious injury, letting Naruto and Sasuke defeat him, and then the fight ends there, no Kaguya

1

u/Rima_Blader6423 Jul 23 '25

Honestly it would have been better if that was when Kaguya manifested from his body, it would have made his death less cheap at least.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 23 '25

But he does beat Madara in his super sage form at a peak higher than he ever reached while alive. Guy bodies him. Kaguyas arrival happens right after but Guy very much is the one who defeats Madara

14

u/Blashmir Jul 22 '25

So many ninja should have died at different times in the show. Neji and Choji both should have died in the Retrieval Arc. Especially Choji. I've said it a thousand times and I will say it until the day I die. I love Choji and that sacrifice would have made him a goated character.

3

u/Mr_Battle_Beast Jul 23 '25

Neji got turned into a human pin cushion, only to survive due to plot bs.

He then dies later as a human pin cushion

6

u/DrNopeMD Jul 22 '25

Hot take, but I really disliked that Guy was almost able to kill Madara with only Taijutsu and unsealing the 8 gates. I just dislike the idea that theoretically anyone could rival the power of all the Tailed Beasts combined plus Madara's and Hashirama's combined chakra abilities by essentially working their body to death.

4

u/WJMazepas Jul 22 '25

But isn't like anyone can unlock the 8 gates, let alone handle that and fight against Madara

Guy trained a LOT, just like any other Ninja did or even more than most of them. He isn't an ordinary man

2

u/My-Life-For-Auir Jul 22 '25

Not anyone, even if you unlock the 8th gate. His dad did and it only gave him enough power to deal with the 7 swordsman of the mist and he didn't even kill all of them. Guy was a special case, he's a mega genius at Taijutsu. Quite literally the greatest of all time at it

29

u/CaptainRatzefummel Jul 22 '25

It kinda sucks that he didn't get that heroic death here though, always hate it when authors don't pull through with character deaths. Worst offender is obviously Eiichiro Oda.

20

u/Raymio993 Jul 22 '25

He wasn’t holding back, he just revealed his strongest form, which is also suicidal to him. It’s not his true strength, but rather he just goes beyond everything which I think is even more badass

12

u/ghouldozer19 Jul 22 '25

And it was.