Supreme Power Can Be a Weakness



"You're mortal! How?!"

- Ronan the Accuser (blinded by his lust for power), before being destroyed by the Guardians of the Galaxy via the power of one of the Infinity Gems he sought to control.

Sometimes, obtaining supreme power can be someone's undoing. In other words, in any story, the villain is defeated by the power that he or she sought. This is one of the most unpredictable moments in a film, book, or play - usually during the climax.

When the evildoer is defeated by the power he or she sought, this occurs in these circumstances:


 * The villain initially plans on using a powerful object, henchmen, or a monster to use for his or her own gains, but this backfires, defeating the antagonist.
 * The villain gets the power he or she wants, but it destroys or imprisons him or her.
 * The villain outright wins, but his or her victory leads to his or her undoing.

Examples

 * Sugarplum turned back into a doll by the machine that gave her life as punishment for her crimes.
 * The Storm King gets turned into obsidian from one of his orbs when Tempest blocked it covers him with a cloud of the orb.
 * Ruber plotted to obtain Excalibur's power, but Kayley and Garrett tricks him into plunging it into the stone, disintegrating him to his death.
 * Archibald Snatcher finally achieves his dream of eating cheese in the Tasting Room, but his allergic reaction sets off, killing him.
 * Scar initially planned on employing hyenas to help him usurp Mufasa and take over the Pride Lands, but when he blames them for causing Simba's woes, they turn against him.
 * Commander Vic Hoskins initially planned on cloning dinosaurs and using them as weapons, but when he tried convincing Delta (one of Owen Grady's velociraptors) that he was on her side, the velociraptor turned against him and mauled him to death.
 * Ronan the Accuser plotted to use the Power Stone, an Infinity Stone to cleanse Xandar, but its power destroyed him once Star Lord/Peter Quill with the help of the Guardians of the Galaxy who withstood it used it against him.
 * Gale plotted to achieve supreme power by obtaining the Golden Egg, but a fighting with Stella for it ends up to turn herself into solid gold statue, but Stella revive her with the Golden Egg.
 * Rene Belloq, Toht, and Colonel Dietrich were intent on harvesting the Ark of the Covenant's power, but it causes their downfall.
 * Jafar finally obtains the power of the lamp when Aladdin tricks him into becoming a genie, but is bottled up in a lamp.
 * Chick Hicks wins the Dinoco race, but is booed by the crowd and even his own fans for cheating and pushing The King off the track.
 * Joe initially plotted to gain unlimited power and intelligence by drinking the antidote to the fish potion, but it turns him into a human. He realizes that a human can't breathe underwater and eventually drowns.
 * Doc Ock plotted to harness the sun's power, but sacrificed himself to save the city, and this power leads to his downfall.
 * Muska was intent on using the aetherium crystal to control the world, but Pazu and Sheeta use its power against him.
 * Judge Doom plotted to wipe out all toons with the Dip, despite being a toon himself. Eventually, he gets splashed with it himself and melts like the Wicked Witch of the West.
 * Morgana plotted to harness the power of King Triton's trident to take over the ocean, but when Melody gives it to her grandfather, Triton imprisons the sea witch with the powerful weapon.
 * Vector plotted to steal the moon in order to be the the world's #1 supervillain, but the shrink ray's effect is temporary and ends up to trapped on the moon.
 * Sa'Luk plotted to achieve supreme power by obtaining the Hand of Midas, but makes the mistake of touching the gold part, causing him to turn into a statue and leading him to be literally trapped by his own greed.
 * Mandrake was defeated by being trapped by his own tar.
 * Mother Gothel was intent on using the Flower of the Golden Sun's power in Rapunzel's hair to remain young and beautiful forever, but this ends up reducing her to dust when Flynn sacrificed himself to save Rapunzel by cutting her hair and the healing power within.
 * Tortoise John plotted to use Rattlesnake Jake in his plan to rule over Dirt, but Jake turned against him for his treachery.
 * Bradley Uppercrust III plotted to use his team, the Gammas, to cheat in order to win the X-Games. But after he crossed the line by deliberately leaving Tank behind in a blazing fire, Tank turned against him.
 * Red Skull/Johann Schmidt was seemingly vaporized (actually banished to Vormir) by the Tesseract after misusing its power once he touched it with his bare hands.
 * The Horned King plotted to use the Black Cauldron's power, but after Gurgi jumped in, that power destroyed him.
 * Krudsky initially planned on using the Goblin Scepter to control the powers of Halloween and bribe the Goblin King for his own selfish gains, but Shaggy and Scooby-Doo defeated him with the scepter and the king imprisoned him for his treachery.
 * Walter Donovan plotted to use the Holy Grail's magic water to obtain immortality, but drinking out of a false grail takes away his life and his greed.
 * Kai meets his end as Po's overloads him with so much Chi that he explodes, being destroyed by the very power he sought to obtain.
 * The Toad initially planned to freeze the rodents in a block of ice by using liquid nitrogen, but this power leads to his downfall when he's tricked by Rita into stomping his foot on a leaking pipe filled with it himself.
 * Ernesto de la Cruz was consumed by his greed and desire for fame, but when he was exposed as the scoundrel who murdered Héctor and stole his songs, this led to his downfall.
 * Claire Wyden was intent on using a serum to enhance George, Lizzy and Ralph's monstrous powers, but this led to her downfall when George devoured her and the potion.
 * Evelyn Deavor, who is consumed by her own hatred towards supers due to the death of her parents, planned on brainwashing superheroes and world leaders in hopes of ruining the reputation of supers and preventing them from becoming legal again. However, her hatred led to her downfall when Violet, Dash, and Jack-Jack interfered and saved their parents from her hypnotic control, which allowed them to foil her plan.
 * Max Mordon: While it appears he has succeeded his goal of snatching the idol of immortality. However, it turns out the statue grants those who hold it immortal--by turning them into mummies. Thus, Mordon is transformed into a mummy to his horror and is taken into the mummy prison for all eternity.
 * Hody Jones, his officers and Hyouzou got very old and fragile after taking so many Energy Steroids.
 * Rourke plotted to harness the Heart of Atlantis and sell the crystal for a high price by stealing it, but this power leads to his downfall when Milo pulls up the chains to hoist him into the blimp's propeller blades and shatter him into a million pieces after he uses a shard of glass embedded with its essence to wound him in the arm, turning him into a crystallized blue monster in the process.
 * Sōsuke Aizen implanted the Hōgyoku within himself which granted him at least four transformations every time he was about to be defeated or killed (part of which granted him regeneration) but once he weakened after falling victim to Ichigo Kurosaki's Mugetsu his Zanpakutō corrodes and the Hōgyoku no longer recognizes Aizen as its master. However it's later revealed that it also granted him immortality.
 * Megatron from Robots in Disguise couldn't withstand the force of the Stigma Orb as he screamed in pain once he touched it and weakened before draining energy from the Predacon Brothers to become Galvatron.
 * Unicron didn't notice that the Autobot Matrix of Leadership's power was the only weapon and key to destroy him.
 * King Sombra's only weakness for him to be defeated and killed (even though he's immortal) is by using the magic of the Crystal Heart.
 * After Turbo fused with an Cy-Big, he had a lot of strength and calls himself the most powerful virus in the arcade. After Ralph lights up the beacon, Turbo’s Cy-Bug programming, which made him powerful, lead him to the lava which results on his demise.

Quotes
"(Davis: GEORGE!) (Kate lunges at Claire, snatching her arm and knocking the gun out of her hands.) GET IT AWAY FROM ME! (George lets out a mighty roar.) What the hell are you doing?! (Kate puts the serum in Claire's purse; the villain's eyes grow wide with surprise.) (Kate, with fire in her eyes: Feeding the monster to the gorilla!) (With a mighty blow, Kate knocks down Claire with a solid punch in the nose. Slowly, George's enormous hand closes around the evil woman and lifts her screaming into the air. Then, opening his mouth, he releases his grip, dropping Claire and the serum into his gaping maw.) Oh, S-T!!!! (With a bellow of rage and triumph, he smashes the antenna used to lure the monsters into the city.)"

- Claire Wyden defeated by the power she sought.

"What's wrong with everybody?! Ow! Huh? Hey, What this thing thrown at me? Where's the happiness?! Hey, this is the start of the Chick-era!"

- Chick booed by the media and his fans for cheating, though he won.

"(Archibald Snatcher, now swollen up by his allergy, is about to eat the tasty cheese in front of Eggs, Winnie, Fish, and Lord Portley-Rind.) (Eggs, firmly: Don't do this. It won't change who you are. Cheese, hats, boxes, they don't make you. YOU make you.) (Snatcher hears this, but his cruel eyes narrow.) I have made me, boy. Thish ish my deshtiny. (Extending his fleshy tongue, he pops the cheese into his mouth, chews, and swallows it. Our heroes, Fish, and Portley-Rind hold each other tightly as Snatcher savors the delicacy.) Hmm... Aromatic, oaky, with an undertone of a mother's... (Suddenly, Santcher's allergic reaction sets off and he explodes in a horrible yellow mess, putting an end to his his evil reign once and for all.)"

- Archibald Snatcher finally achieving his power by eating cheese in the Tasting Room, but soon becomes destroyed by his greed and allergy.

"(Joe has finally claimed the bottle of fish antidote and is taking it with him down the pipe when a voice rings out.) (Fly: Wait! Wait, come-come back here, you-you stupid fish!) I'm sufficiently intelligent to kill you if you don't stop bothering me. (Fly: So what? Any brute could do that, but can you tell me what the square root of.. 6,561 is?) Uh, 300, divided by 40, minus 3 is... (Joe slurps down some of the potion, and his head swells to five times its normal size!) Ha! 81! (Fly: Yeah! But do you know what happens if an object travels at the speed of light?) (Joe guzzles down some more antidote, and this time, spines, legs and arms sprout from his body. He pulls off his pelvic fins, tearing flesh off his face.) Ah! It turns into pure energy! (Fly? What came first, the-the chicken or the egg?) (Joe sucks down a huge dose of potion and this time, grows to a massive size, growing hair, ears, and longer limbs, turning into a hideous human monster.) It depends on the relative amount of molecules in the UNIVERSE! (Fly: What happens to a fish if he drinks too much antidote?) It becomes...(Joe gasps for breath.) ...HUMAN! (A smile spreads across Fly's face.) (Fly, slyly: Can a human breathe underwater?) OF COURSE NOT! (Joe realizes what is happening and wheezes for breath, but drowns and is sucked away down the dark pipe.)"

- Joe being tricked by Fly into drinking too much of the fish antidote and defeated by the power he sought.

"The universe is mine to command, TO CONTROL! (Aladdin: Not so fast, Jafar! Aren't you forgetting something?) Huh? (Aladdin: You wanted to be a genie? You got it! (Suddenly, gold cuffs clamp down on Jafar's wrists.) WHAT?! (Aladdin, holding up the black lamp: And everything that goes with it!) NO! NO! (Jafar is sucked into the lamp, taking Iago with him.) (Aladdin: Phenomenal cosmic powers...itty bitty living space.)"

- Jafar imprisoned by his greed and a lamp after finally achieving the power he always wanted.

"(Vic Hoskins tries to coax Delta to him.) We're...we're on the same side, right? Right? (He holds out his hand to the dinosaur as Delta growls softly.) Easy. Easy... (Owen, Claire, and the boys stand back as they notice the scene.) I'm on your side. (It seems like Hoskins' plan is about to work, but suddenly, Delta's sharp-toothed mouth shoots forward and clamps down on his beefy arm! Hoskins lets out a bloodcurdling scream and the friends run away as Delta overpowers him, spilling blood onto the glass walls.)"

- Vic Hoskins defeated by Delta when he initially planned to clone dinosaurs for his own evil plans.

"(After the treasure chamber turns to gold, water begins to pour into it.) (Cassim: Time to go, Aladdin!) (Suddenly, Sa'Luk jumps out of hiding and knocks Aladdin down!) No one's going anywhere. Give the Hand of Midas to me, Cassim, or your son dies! (Cassim, firmly: Sa'Luk, your battle is with me!) (Aladdin: Don't worry, Dad. I can take him alone.) (Cassim: But you're not alone. Not anymore. (calls out to Sa'Luk) You want the Hand of Midas, Sa'Luk? Take it!) (Cassim tosses the Hand of Midas to Sa'Luk, who pushes Aladdin out of the way and grabs it.) The Hand of Midas is mine! (Sa'Luk laughs with evil glee.) And also, the life of your brat. (Cassim gives him a fierce stare.) What are YOU staring at? (Aladdin notices this and Sa'Luk does too - the greedy thief has touched the golden part of the Hand, which begins to glow. Suddenly, without warning, a golden light travels up Sa'Luk's arm!) No! No! (Sa'Luk gives out a yell of monumental proportions as he is turned into a golden statue. Then, he tumbles into the water and sinks like a stone.)"

- Sa'Luk literally trapped by his own greed as he obtains the Hand of Midas.

"(Morgana has finally achieved the power of the trident and is gloating with evil triumph. She laughs.) It's over, Triton. I sentence you to OBLIVION! (Suddenly, Melody leaps out of hiding and grabs the trident!) You! Just what do you think you're going to do with THAT? (Melody points the base of the trident at Morgana.) (Melody: Stay back!) (Morgana, with a laugh: Wrong end, sweetheart.) (Suddenly, the wicked witch grabs Melody by the leg, but the fearless heroine brings down the point of the trident, stabbing Morgana in the tentacle. The villain howls in pain.) (Melody: Grandfather? I think this belongs to you!) (Melody tosses the trident to King Triton.) NOOOOOO! (Morgana's arm pushes Melody, who tumbles over the edge of the ice pedestal, but Dash jumps underneath the girl, causing her to land on him like a pillow. The trident lands in Triton's hand, and he raises it above his head.) (King Triton: Never again will you or yours threaten my family!) (Morgana tries to shield herself with her tentacles, but it's too late.) (King Triton, firing a ray at Morgana: There will be no escape for you...EVER!) (Morgana gives out a horrible cry as the trident's power imprisons her in a huge iceberg. The pedestal crumbles into pieces and falls into the ocean. Morgana, held prisoner in the ice, sinks to the bottom of the sea.) Mommy!"

- Morgana defeated by the power of the trident.

"(Po inserts his Chi into Kai's chest) YES!!! The power.... is MINE!! (discs break from Kai's belt) Wait! No! It's too much! It's TOO MUCH!! NO! UGH!!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! (A beaming light engulfs Kai, ending his terror.)"

- Kai as Po's chi overwhelms him and destroys him.

"I'm too big. I'm too big. I'M TOO BIG! I CAN'T RIDE! WAIT A MINUTE, I CAN'T RIDE! I CAN'T WEAR MY CLOTHES! I'M TOO... I'M TOO BIG! I'M TOO BIG! HEAR ME, I'M TOO BIG! I'M TOO BIG! I CAN'T RIDE! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE MAKE ME SMALL! PLEASE! I'LL NEVER ASK FOR ANYTHING AGAIN! PLEASE MAKE ME SMALL"

- Grady horrified that he is too big to do anything, even riding a horse, wrecks his place in horror and desperately pleads his alter ego to make him small in the The Twilight Zone episode, The Last Night of a Jockey.

"NO! (the rest of Rapunzel's hair turns from blonde to brown) Oh, no... NO! What have you done?! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?! (sees her reflection in the broken mirror and tries to conceal her face) No, no, no!!!!!! NOOOO! (Pascal pulls a length of the cut hair and sends her falling off the tower's window) (Mother Gothel screams in terror as she falls to the ground and only her cloak remains, ending her terror once and for all)"

- Mother Gothel dying of rapid age acceleration and being disintegrated into nothingness as Flynn cuts off Rapunzel's long magic hair (and the power she sought from within) with a shard of the broken mirror.