# Comic book/movie fight pet peeve. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 6, 2019, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-movie-fight-pet-peeve/836619 "2019-07-06T06:02:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-movie-fight-pet-peeve/836619/21 "2019-07-07T00:33:53Z")
Peeve: people taking savage beatings and then somehow pulling up hidden reservoirs of strength to come back and win the fight. That’s why I loved it in _A Fistful of Dollars_ when the Stranger is beaten nearly to death, he needs days or weeks of convalescence before he’s fit to take on the bad guys again. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-movie-fight-pet-peeve/836619/22 "2019-07-07T03:05:57Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > [Pedant mode] Thanks for the Firefly corrections. I almost put a DVD in to check the dialog before the edit window was done, then I thought "Ok, I’ll just add “paraphrased from five years ago.” But then I got called away. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-movie-fight-pet-peeve/836619/23 "2019-07-07T04:00:21Z")
Two opponents both impervious to blunt force trauma fighting each other with blunt force trauma. What are they supposedly thinking? “Maybe if I hit him reaaaally hard this time something different might happen.” It’s a lot like watching a pillow fight. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-movie-fight-pet-peeve/836619/24 "2019-07-07T04:41:17Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Resolving everything with a fight scene. They are the most boring part of a movie (especially CGI fight scenes) This is why I never read superhero comics. They always just ended up with two costumed people punching each other in the sky. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-movie-fight-pet-peeve/836619/25 "2019-07-07T04:52:07Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > This is why I never read superhero comics. They always just ended up with two costumed people punching each other in the sky. Destroy!! [scottmccloud.com - Destroy!!](http://scottmccloud.com/2-print/older/destroy/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-movie-fight-pet-peeve/836619/26 "2019-07-15T10:15:08Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > While the sliding power levels is one pet peeve, an even bigger one that has been done to death is _beat the big bad and all the little bads stop._ Avengers, Avengers 2 (where it made sense at least), and I’ll avoid naming more for late watchers. Time to create a new trope. Load-bearing villains. It worked for grandpa Tolkien, I don’t see no good reason it shouldn’t work 100 years down the line ! > [@Lumpy](#): > > Peeve: people taking savage beatings and then somehow pulling up hidden reservoirs of strength to come back and win the fight. That’s why I loved it in _A Fistful of Dollars_ when the Stranger is beaten nearly to death, he needs days or weeks of convalescence before he’s fit to take on the bad guys again. I can tolerate heroes taking shots to the face and only getting angry rather than concussed. They’re action heroes, the brain is not a vital organ for them. It’s the high speed tumblecrashes into stuff that take me right out. Like “hero is tossed out of a vehicle/punched into a wall so goddamn hard they bounce a \*couple \*of times, then dust themselves and soldier on with perhaps a minor cosmetic scrape”. Like, no, dude. Your skeleton is more jell-o than calcium at this point. You’ve got shards of pelvis embedded in your upper lungs. Your internal organs are oozing out your ears, eyes and asshole. Your arms ripped out of their sockets when you grabbed than ledge mid-fall. That guy punched through solid concrete three cuts ago, the force of the gutpunch that sent you flying back means you’re \*definitely \*in seven kinds of septic shocks right now from all the liquid shit oozing out of your destroyed lower intestine. And so on. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2019, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-movie-fight-pet-peeve/836619/27 "2019-07-15T10:20:55Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Two opponents both impervious to blunt force trauma fighting each other with blunt force trauma. What are they supposedly thinking? “Maybe if I hit him reaaaally hard this time something different might happen.” > It’s a lot like watching a pillow fight. The first X-man movie was :dubious: about this, and then Origins : Wolverine compounded the idiocy. I mean in X-man you could handwave it by assuming Wolverine and Sabertooth didn’t know each other’s powers when they tussled. But Origins nixes that from the intro : the hero & villain both regenerate to the point of being essentially immortal. They both know this. They have both been taking advantage of this fact to survive the endless wars they participated in together through history (presumably out of boredom ?). They still claw at each other again, and again, and again throughout the flick. I guess it still must hurt some, and it’s probably still cathartic to punch a guy you hate right in the dick, but still… ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2019, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-movie-fight-pet-peeve/836619/28 "2019-07-17T11:58:20Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > They still claw at each other again, and again, and again throughout the flick. I guess it still must hurt some, and it’s probably still cathartic to punch a guy you hate right in the dick, but still… I think both characters are ALL about the cathartic dick-punching ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2019, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-movie-fight-pet-peeve/836619/29 "2019-07-17T15:51:32Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > More of a mook peeve than a hero peeve, but : if you’ve shot the guy/girl and it hasn’t done anything, and they smile and keep advancing (or in the case of Deadpool, start babbling about Bea Arthur and chimmichanga)… how about stop shooting and try something else instead, like high explosives or running the fuck away ? > > But nope. Surely the \*next \*bullet will work ! And when you’re out of bullets, throw the gun! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2019, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-movie-fight-pet-peeve/836619/30 "2019-07-17T16:30:33Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **AHunter3** : > > • Badass Protag faces off with Badass Antag; cue the big battle-scene music. Protag knocks Badass Antag out with one clean shot in the first seven seconds; [You mean like this?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I_Ds2ytz4o) Personally, I’d like to see more asymmetric fights. OK, so you’ve got characters with similar abilities on both teams, but that doesn’t mean that your big musclebound bruiser has to go up against their big musclebound bruiser, and your flying long-range energy blaster has to go up against their flying long-range energy blaster, and your telepath up against their telepath, and your army of mooks against their army of mooks, and so on. Figure out which of your guys are more effective against which of their guys, and try to maneuver into those fights. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2019, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-movie-fight-pet-peeve/836619/31 "2019-07-17T16:31:46Z")
The fight at the end of Ford Fairlane went the way it should have. Ford challenges Smiley to a “mano-a-mano” fight, with no knives or guns or anything. Smiley agrees, puts down his knife and squares up, laughing, getting ready for fists. Ford then shoots him with his concealed forearm gun. And then mocks him for being stupid. Great movie! ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2019, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-movie-fight-pet-peeve/836619/32 "2019-07-17T17:42:47Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > The fight at the end of Ford Fairlane went the way it should have. Ford challenges Smiley to a “mano-a-mano” fight, with no knives or guns or anything. Smiley agrees, puts down his knife and squares up, laughing, getting ready for fists. Ford then shoots him with his concealed forearm gun. And then mocks him for being stupid. > > Great movie! What about\*\*[Butch Cassidy?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9KBOhPXhds)\*\* ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2019, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-movie-fight-pet-peeve/836619/33 "2019-07-17T18:40:17Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > What about\*\*[Butch Cassidy?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9KBOhPXhds)\*\* I guess that too 🙂 I’ve never actually seen BC & TSDK ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2019, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-movie-fight-pet-peeve/836619/34 "2019-07-17T18:51:53Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > The fight at the end of Ford Fairlane went the way it should have. Ford challenges Smiley to a “mano-a-mano” fight, with no knives or guns or anything. Smiley agrees, puts down his knife and squares up, laughing, getting ready for fists. Ford then shoots him with his concealed forearm gun. And then mocks him for being stupid. > > Great movie! Somewhat similar: there’s a scene in _Kiss Kiss Bang Bang_ where Robert Downey Jr’s perennial loser of a character has just seen one of the baddies murder a woman, and has managed to get a hold of the guy’s gun when he’s not looking. The guy sees Downey, and starts in with the standard, “You’re not gonna shoot me. You’re not the kind of guy who just shoots people,” movie cliche. He gets about a sentence into it before Downey empties the gun into his chest. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2019, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-movie-fight-pet-peeve/836619/35 "2019-07-17T19:07:32Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Somewhat similar: there’s a scene in _Kiss Kiss Bang Bang_ where Robert Downey Jr’s perennial loser of a character has just seen one of the baddies murder a woman, and has managed to get a hold of the guy’s gun when he’s not looking. The guy sees Downey, and starts in with the standard, “You’re not gonna shoot me. You’re not the kind of guy who just shoots people,” movie cliche. > > He gets about a sentence into it before Downey empties the gun into his chest. I love scenes like that. Makes the movie more “real” or something. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2019, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-movie-fight-pet-peeve/836619/36 "2019-07-17T22:30:12Z")
There’s a similar scene in the [Franco-Belgian comic XIII](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XIII_(comics)). At one point the hero, battle rifle in hand, kicks open a door only to find himself staring into the barrel of the Big Bad’s handgun. A Mexican stand-off ensues, at which point the hero offers to macho it out instead. The Big Bad agrees and they both drop their guns, then Big Bad smirks and calls XIII a naive idiot as he goes for the second gun he’s got tucked in his back… only to catch a thrown knife in the heart. IOW a rare case of \*both \*parties trying to Indiana Jones the other at the same time 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-movie-fight-pet-peeve/836619/37 "2019-07-20T11:39:10Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > [You mean like this?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I_Ds2ytz4o) > > Personally, I’d like to see more asymmetric fights. OK, so you’ve got characters with similar abilities on both teams, but that doesn’t mean that your big musclebound bruiser has to go up against their big musclebound bruiser, and your flying long-range energy blaster has to go up against their flying long-range energy blaster, and your telepath up against their telepath, and your army of mooks against their army of mooks, and so on. Figure out which of your guys are more effective against which of their guys, and try to maneuver into those fights. Yes, and again yes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-movie-fight-pet-peeve/836619.md?page=1)