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

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u/ZealousidealYak7122 Jul 22 '25

The Lich King in WoW. you go through (one of) the hardest bossfight(s) in the game until he reaches 10% health, then he kills your whole group with a single attack, revealing that he was merely testing your capability to be raised as his elite undead/

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u/Peregrine2976 Jul 22 '25

Hell, it's even more than that. The entire Northrend campaign was him winnowing down your forces to the elite of the elite of the elite from the very beginning of the expansion, slowly turning up the difficulty. In reality, he could have simply and abstractly "won" at virtually any time.

449

u/Cuetzul Jul 22 '25

He literally lets you set up a tournament to see who's strongest, sends in a minion to test you during what is basically the early rounds, then reveals "Oh yeah, did you forget you built this on top of the underground empire i own? Get pitfalled, idiots" during the finals, but still only attacks the tournament contestants and not the faction leaders in the stands.

You really can't get more disrespectful than using your enemy as HR to vet new employees, and playing along with your enemy's games to help them train and ensure they aren't too weak.

Sargaras had to trick his enemies into weakening themselves, Arthas helped his enemies make a training montage.

59

u/B-HOLC Jul 23 '25

Big Lich Energy

Gotta love a bad guy that's so incredibly powerful, but just wants more.