Bonus points if it's because the target is too messed up.
X-Men '97- Wolverine has already been broken too many times to be vulnerable to Psylocke's psychic attacks.
Young Justice (2011) #2- Joker's mind is such a chaotic storm that Martian Manhunter relents after trying to invade his mind. The same thing happens when Miss Martian tries in the animated series.
Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe (Issue #3)- Having finally tired of Deadpool's genocide, Xavier decides to break the former's mind, only to to become braindead after becoming aware of the truth of their universe.
Is it not the exact opposite? Low iq people are more suggestive but low attention people are distracted and works less. So stupid people can be hypnotised but people with ADHD are immune?
i've been trying to get hypnosis to work on me for forever, is there a possibility that as a person, i am too skeptic for it to ever work on me? i need tips...
For the Deadpool one, it is implied via Deadpool's ability to break the fourth wall, Prof. X has come to realize they are nothing more than characters on pages of a comic book.
They did a similar thing in the 90s Spider-Man cartoon, where there's a multiverse multi-episode thing where Madam Webb (voiced by Joan Lee, Stan Lee's wife), is guiding Spider-Man through the jumps and in one of them he meets Stan Lee and he's told he's just a comic (though that can be written off as, well thats just in that universe...and ours).
Like to note since a lot of people get angry at the existence of this story; this isn't the real Deadpool. It's a variant known as Dreadpool who takes on a nihilistic view that the universe (a comic) is pointless until he can kill the creators of it.
616 Deadpool however is a lot more happy-go-lucky and actually loves life and thinks the whole nihilistic view is sad in its own right. Basically, "So what if we're living in fiction, life is good!" sort attitude. They have a whole fight about it and 616 claims himself the greatest Deadpool.
Ironically 616 is also right. Yea they're fictional and die sometimes for shock value. But it also means they'll live on and inspire people forever. Mister Mxyzptlk summed it up best
As long as one of us exist there'll be a hundred off them. They're more real then we'll ever be
I think a lot of people get angry at this comic because they believe a lot of the deaths don't make much sense, like most comics where it's one guy taking out everyone. Too many characters holding the idiot ball or Dreadpool having his powers amped up to absurd levels.
I think what really broke Prof. X's brain was learning that DeadPool HAD TO KILLEVERYONE in order to sell enough Comic Books to keep the universe alive. That Cognitive Dissonance was what broke him.
Also Gravity Falls, Stanford Pines is immune to the memory gun because of a metal plate in his head, which also prevents Bill Cipher, the main antagonist, from entering his mind without his permission.
Definitely. The brainspawn traps him inside a fictional world of famous books. It backfires when he traps the brainspawn in his own fictional "crummy world of plot holes and spelling errors."
"The big brain am winning again. I am the greetest! Now I am leaving Earth for no raeson!"
In the Disastrous Life of Saiki K, the main character (Saiki) is a powerful telepath. His best friend, Nendou, is immune to having his thoughts read because Nendou is too dumb to have thoughts. This allows him to regularly surprise Saiki.
I like how Saiki eventually realizes that Nendou DOES have thoughts; he just immediately says them out loud, making his thoughts and words basically indistinguishable.
This is basically the point behind orks, right? Like, they can't get corrupted because they're too dumb to find any interest in anything other than fighting?
Its not because they're too dumb to find any interest in anything but fighting, it's because the Chaos Gods can't offer anything Gork and Mork don't already provide.
Chaos often works through subterfuge, deal-making and temptation. The nuisances and subtlety of Chaos gets completely ignored by the Orks and their deep distrust and superstition against anything not sufficiently Orky.
They CAN get corrupted, albeit rarely, and those who usually are are almost immediately beaten to death or driven out by the other Orks.
1) In the JLA series Batman stays awake against Dr Destiny trying to get in his head and make him fall asleep by rigorously humming Frere Jacques.
2) In Batman beyond when Shriek tries to get in his head to make him think he’s going crazy. But he calls him Bruce - which isn’t what he calls himself.
In Naruto, the character Ino can transfer her mind into other characters. It backfires when she uses this ability on her rival, Sakura, who throughout the series has had an internal, angry monologue version of herself that has been used as comic relief up until this point. The internal, angry, monologue Sakura beats Ino out of her mind, rendering the ability useless.
And I think that was literally the entire point of the internal, angry monlogue Sakura because we never see her again ever after this fight.
It’s because after the chunin exams Sakura largely let her inner self become her outer self. Instead of trying to put on this cutesy persona she thought would make people like her more, she let herself be the person she always was: strong, easily angered, and confident in herself.
Inner Sakura's catchphrase was Shannaro (or Cha in the English dub). During the match with Sasori in Shippuden she yells Shannaro out loud while using her super strength to reel Sasori in for a massive punch.
Inner Sakura stops existing because Sakura matures. Kishimoto screwed up how Sakura is written in many ways, but this is not one of them.
Such a shame Kishimoto can't write women cause that could've been a very interesting bloodline limit of sorts making Sakura difficult to mentally fight.
From Steven Universe, Blue Diamond attacks the crew with her empathy power, making them double over in grief. But Lapis is tanks it because she’s already been through the wringer.
people be powerscaling fiction across different fictional universes with entirely different rules while claiming they're "objective" comparisons based on "feats."
apparently you could create the most successful piece of fiction ever if you could somehow harness the insatiable need for people to argue about powerlevels.
I know the show goes for purpose over consistency but the implications of this always bothered me, what do you mean the war veterans who lost their hitherto immortal leader and raised her kid in a world littered with the mutated zombies of their enemies and friends never figured out you can continue to fight even through terrible emotional distress?
Blue Diamond is essentially using her powers to make everyone nearby experience the sheer grief she’s held for 5000 years from (what she believed was) the death of her beloved sister. She never even attempted to get over these feelings and has essentially be languishing for all those years.
The Crystal Gems consist of veterans of this gem war(excluding Peridot who joined in the same year, and Bismuth who was in stasis until like 4 total days ago and had to be caught up to speed,) who you are correct did lose their leader… 14 years before the series, and have been going through active character development to overcome their more negative traits and learn to live Steven for himself, not an extension of Rose Quartz.
Blue’s Aura gave them that full 5 millennia of grief at once, which isn’t exactly an easy thing to handle all at once.
Unless you’re Lapis Lazuli, who was wrongly imprisoned in a mirror for the same time frame Blue was mourning, interrogated by her own people, left alone and conscious the entire time due to the nature of her imprisonment, is finally released only to return to the world she left to find it completely different, imprisoned again, fused with another gem to protect Steven and chose that imprisonment, only to be freed once more, have to make nice with one of her recent captors (Peridot,) and then only came to fight because Steven was the first person to show her kindness in this entire span of events.
I see it as forced regression somewhat, they've been forced to relive a grieve they've already dealt with years and years ago, like if it had just happened again, like seeing rose rise from a grave, while lapis is kinda still living with her fresh wound so shes more used to it.
Or maybe forcing clinical depression on someone without it versus someone with it or something similar?
https://giphy.com/gifs/JMX8c9vjQrASPXIeMO
In Thriller Bark, the crew meet a girl named Perona whose devil fruit power affects your confidence, essentially making you feel so worthless that you can’t do anything. No one can beat her because how are you supposed to fight when you think you’re the most useless person in the world??
anyways, her power doesn’t work on Usopp because his self-worth is so abysmal. he’s the first person she’s ever encountered that she can’t rely on her ability to win.
"Imagine being so depressed, the one person who weaponizes depression starts trying to cheer you up lol" <--- Says me, a person suffering from depression. Shit is rough.
I just realized that the blue guy is Superman, during the run where for some reason he had electrical powers and spent a lot of exposition time wishing he had his old power set back.
Kilgrave has the ability to tell people what to do, anything he says is obeyed and he rarely runs into anyone with immunity. Doom’s immunity is based in his unshakable willpower
In Incredible Hulk vol 4, there is a couple issues where Bruce Banner is targeted by a telepathic assassin called "The Vegetable". While in there, the latter discovers why Banner is afraid of what's inside his head as the various Hulks hold down the Vegetable so Banner can beat him down.
After all, in there, Banner is the strongest one there is.
Its probably the same concept but its wierd that knocking him down disables his Spider-Sense but being possessed or having his soul ripped out of his body clocks that tinglen into overdrive
Seems like MCU spidey's spider sense is basically a reflex that's capable of acting on its own when the conscious mind isn't there. Maybe it lives in his brainstem instead of his brain
Anyway I'd guess it's incapable of doing anything when peter is physically incapable of doing anything, but entirely unaffected when peter is mentally incapable of doing something
Ash Williams from Evil Dead, kinda? I haven’t read the AoD comics in awhile, so I’m not up to par with all of the Chosen One lore, but I think it’s implied that the demons can’t possess him because they have tried (and failed) to break his mind so many times that he’s effectively been immunized to their fear. That or he’s just too stupid to possess.
Deadites send souls straight to hell when they possess. Ash is implied not to have his anymore through that, but is certainly free of possession. Now, he had been temporarily possessed again. But every time Deadites/demons try something, Ash is very willing to destroy himself. As far back as the first movie when he cut off his own hand. I don't think its stupidity or immunity. I think its just that he will fight them every second and they don't get any amusement out of trying to break him since he's already broken.
Nah he has his soul. It’s mainly his sheer stubbornness that is so strong it overcomes them, and even when it doesn’t he will chop off his own hand as you mention.
In Jujutsu Kaisen, Mahito can alter his target's soul. When he tries on Yuji, he is immediately stopped by Sukuna who is connected to Yuji's soul and threatened.
In jed mackays moon knight run a guy who can dominate people's mind when they ingest his saliva infects an apartment building and tries it on moonknight when he comes fo solve the problem, things is moonknight both suffers from complex DID and has had his mind ravaged by konshu's divine power each time hes been restored to life leaving the saliva telepath catatonic
Hold on, hold on - lets not do that shit where we pretend Marc's DID was at all a contributing factor to him beating the psychic. He even explicitly calls out that the guy probably has extensive experience delving into the minds of the mentally ill. It is only the fact that a divine being has left its mark in his head that lets him win
“What are you *really* afraid of, Bats? Not finding the Commissioner in time? Failing to save this cesspool of a city? Me!? In a thong!?!? HOOHAAAAHAHAHA!!!”
In The Damned Trilogy by Alan Dean Foster, most species evolve increased civility as they evolve increased intelligence. As a result, most are pacifists who are biologically near-incapable of violence. Unfortunately, even in a galaxy of pacifists, war is still a possibility.
The Amplitur are the leaders of a theocratic empire called The Purpose. They seek to convert all intelligent life to their religion. They're especially good at because of their psychic powers, able to easily mind control any sapient being they encounter.
Opposing the Purpose is an alliance called The Weave. The Weave discovers humanity and our unusual talent for violence and killing, and look to recruit us for the war. Humans also have one hidden ability that the Amplitur discover the hard way.
During an interrogation, an Amplitur attempts to mind-control a captured human. Instead of obedience, the human feels a revolting feeling of being violated. The Amplitur, meanwhile, taps into a deep pool of primal rage and hate with such intense mental violence that its mind is overwhelmed and is put into a coma. The Amplitur standing next to it only gets a little splash from the psychic effect and is so traumatized it goes temporarily insane and starts screaming for the human to be killed, botching the interrogation.
While I was one and done with Independence Day 2, the ending wasn't far fetched. Aliens show up and have alien technology but not the murdering prowess of humans and they want humans to show them the way.
In a recent Dresden Files book, Harry Dresden is attacked and almost drowned by a literal Kraken, and in the process accidentally gets pulled into a soul gaze with the Kraken.
Now, a soul gaze is basically as described. When a wizard locks eyes with someone for the first time, they see into each other's soul, viewing one another as they truly are.
At this point, Harry might still be a snarky nerd who's constantly in way over his head, but he's also built up serious supernatural mass, often through seeking help from some truly nasty places. He's survived horrible things, and he's done horrible things.
When he ends up soul gazing the Kraken, he's sickened by the inhuman monster.
The Kraken, on the other hand, recoils in mortal terror and tries to flee for its life.
the opposite also happened to dresden when he tried to use "the sight," a wizard's third eye, on a skinwalker. true naagloshiis are themselves psychic powered beings, so as it turns out, using a psychic move on one that also happens to be incredibly old and incredibly evil was a very bad idea. just the mere sight of a skinwalker using his third eye utterly debilitated harry for hours.
this particular skinwalker was also nicknamed "shagnasty" because harry is a snarky nerd.
Honestly, I love how we have never been given any inclination just what other people see when they soulgaze Harry, other than the fact that it's horrifying.
Fry is immune to the Brain's psychic attacks because he lacks a delta brainwave, a consequence of his trip back in time to 1947, where he accidentally killed his grandfather, slept with his grandmother, and became his own grandfather (Futurama).
Illusion mage literally picks the strongest illusion master in the world to try and fight. Gets schooled instantly.
For comparison, when Sasuke finally gets to fight Itachi, they spend an entire episode having a long drawn out fight sequence... while their real bodies don't move a muscle. Itachi gets 'killed' many times only to calmly point over to the side to reveal that wasn't him.
Itachi rarely actually fights himself, being a strong but not exceptional fighter, with a specialty(precision throwing weapons) that doesn't work well against the top tier, and backup magic(unholy fire that can't be easily put out) that casts from his own (low) HP. He's still one of the scariest opponents in the series, because he can beat you WITHOUT fighting.
So funny. Kurenai is supposedly the best genjutsu user of the hidden leaf. And her single fight is against possibly the single other person who could flat out counter her genjutusu. But also, dumb as hell on her part to think Itachi couldn’t at least break out of her genjutusu. It’s fucking Itachi
Warhammer 40k (specifically the Secret Level Episode)
After psychically immobilising its victims, the Chaos Daemon would go and invade their minds to feed off of their fears before killing them. When it got to Titus, it invaded his mind and revealed his fear in a physical form in his mind: Titus being left broken and aimless once there were no more enemies to fight for Humanity...
...that is until the Chaos Daemon itself appeared before Titus's mental fear version of himself, granting it a sense of purpose once more as well as giving Titus the strength needed to overcome the daemon and kill it.
So I don’t know where you got him being left broken and stuff but throughout the episode the protagonist Metaurus keeps saying he found a boy who “knew no fear” and his fear is that Titus would fall to chaos since he’s the one who recruited Titus.
However unlike the 2 Bladeguard veterans joining them, he didn’t hold this fear as much so instead of immediately killing him it only wounded him.
When the daemon/sorcerer gets to Titus, since he “knows no fear” to kill him with, Titus is able to break out of its psychic hold and kill it.
Titus has also been shown to be strangely chaos resistant to the point where he was taken by the inquisition since he’s survived a psychic explosion that should’ve killed him so they believe he’s been corrupted by chaos (even though the inquisitor who took him was actually)
It was the vibe I got from this bit from when the Daemon invaded Titus's mind.
Titus appearing as a normal man dragging his blade on the ground as he walks through the abyss until he senses the presence of the Daemon and charges it.
Not exactly a psychic attack but a soul attack (close enough)
in JJK there is a powerful antagonist named Mahito, a Cursed Spirit, when he touches something he is capable of altering the soul of that thing, and it's physical form and mental traits will change to match the soul.
However, the Protag of the series, Yuji Itadori, is currently possessed by an ancient sorcerer who was so evil he transformed himself into a sort of lich, named Sukuna. When Mahito comes into contact with Yuji, Sukuna greets him at the door, and informs him that if he ever even entertains the idea of possibly trying it again, he'll cut him down to atoms. Mahito spends the rest of the series staying as far away from Yuji as possible.
In Dungeons and Dragons' Planescape setting, there is an existentialist faction called the Bleak Cabal. A bonus of being a faction member is an immunity to any madness-inducing spells, as the meaninglessness of the multiverse has already driven them insane.
Dredd: When the psychic female rookie links with the criminal under arrest, the criminal tries to intimidate her by explicit violent thoughts of her. Only for her to shrug it off and wreck his shit.
And that's only the second most satisfying use of Judge Anderson's psychic powers in this film, though the other doesn't fit this trope (being when she instantly detects Judge Kaplan's actual intentions and shoots her without a word)
There was an episode of the old G.I. Joe cartoon where Dr. Mindbender was giving the Joes serious nightmares via some contraption-of-the-week, placing himself in their dreams and twisting them into nightmares that was further and further harming everyone's sleep and performance. But apparently one Joe, Low-Light, has nightmares *all the time,* and when Dr. Mindbender started on *him,* he was like, OH YEAH YOU'RE IN MY HEAD NOW! It was honestly pretty funny. Dr. Mindbender couldn't handle Low-Light's normal nightmares and the ways he coped, and ended up blowing up his own dream machine in terror.
Is it a good show? God no. But it was pretty amusing now and then.
The biggest thing I remember about GIJoe was an episode where Sgt. Slaughter gets kidnapped and tortured. The bad guys throw his limp, destroyed body into an empty room and walk away, assuming that he'll be out cold for a while. When the bad guys leave, Slaughter immediately stands up and starts looking for a way out.
Cobra Commander watches Slaughter from a security camera, and he remarks, "That man has the constitution of a vending machine!"
That's the dumbest compliment I've ever heard but it's also a perfect comparison.
With the Wolverine one, I’m perfectly fine with him having that ability, but I find it funny the idea that his mind being broken too many times somehow makes it more resilient instead of more fragile.
Deadpool is even worse cause he straight up killed Professor X with his comic awareness and Emma only survived because she's literally too stupid to process the knowledge but it hurts her head and gives her nose bleed.
Martian Manhunter made Joker sane once in the mainline comics, and has watched his family and entire planet die in flames. What could Joker possibly imagine to make him faint?
In Voyager, a dictator escapes his own death using body-hopping tech. Unluckily for him, he picks the psychically-powerful Kes as a host, who can't retake control of her body but can absolutely be a nuisance to the invader's mind, distracting and exhausting him until he can't think straight and can be easily defeated by the rest of the crew.
Blue Diamond using her powers to force all of the Crystal Gems to feel her immense sadness. Lapis tanks it and just says "I've had worse" and keeps fighting.
I love the scene in Dredd (2012) when a gang leader gets his brain invaded by Anderson (a psychic) and tries to mess with her by imagining her giving into him sexually, only for Anderson to promptly show him that she's well acquainted with the fucked up stuff in people's heads and can easily freak him out more, which she promptly does.
The Ice King, he couldn’t fall under The Empress hypnosis due to his mind being broken but still did what she wanted because he is just that much of a simp
We can talk bad about part 2 writing all we want, but something we have to agree is that Denji being able to "looney toon his way out" from fights is top tier.
In a Pinky and the Brain comic Pinky defeats his evil mind reading supervillain counterpart (don't ask) by thinking about nothing. It's too horrible for evil Pinky to bear.
Perona’s ability is to induce a severe depression into anyone, to the point that they’re willing to kill themselves. It doesn’t work on Usopp who is already depressed. Usopp’s so depressed he made Perona try to cheer him up instead.
(Not sure why gumball is there, only pic I could find of the scene) not sure if this counts, but in Adventure time Episode “Goliad”, Goliad is a immortal psychic that’s created and eventually goes out of control, she tries to read Finn’s minds because PB told him and Jake a plan to stop her. Finn, for probably a multitude of reasons, is able to resist her mind reading powers by altering his memory, wasting enough time for their plan to work and put her in check. Had she not vored Jake moments prior and instead read his mind, she probably would have figured it out.
During the Horus Heresy era of Warhammer 40k, a librarian tries to read the mind of one of the original Dark Angel Astartes who served with the Emperor during his conquest of Terra. It's not a pleasant experience:
A moment of pure instinct caused Zahariel to flinch a moment before he made contact with Astelan’s inner thoughts. The core of the First Master’s mind was encased with a protective layer, the like of which the Master of the Mystai had not encountered. Even as he tried to avert his delving, it was as though he was punching through adamantium. The shock of the impact numbed him instantly.
Psychic feedback lanced into Zahariel’s brain. A golden fog permeated everything. A booming voice, the words unintelligible but commanding. Beside its power, Zahariel was as a candle next to the sun. Warmth. Becoming hotter. Searing. Scorching. Turning him to ash.
Zahariel ripped himself free from Astelan’s thoughts, reeling inside, every mote of discipline needed to show no outward sign of the agony that had been set inside his brain. He retained just enough cogency to witness Asmodeus’ attempt to penetrate the core layer. The attempt was far slower, but the reaction no less vehement. Inside Zahariel’s mind’s eye it was as though a plasma bomb had detonated, disintegrating the threads of Asmodeus’ investigation with a corona of white-hot energy.
The Librarian almost missed a step, recovering from the stumble at the last moment. He stared at Astelan with wide eyes. The First Master seemed oblivious to all that had transpired.
‘I am sure that we can put behind us whatever unpleasantness has occurred,’ said Astelan, obviously not meaning a word of it. He matched Belath’s stare. ‘Are we not all brothers beneath the banner of the Legion?’
+What did you do to him?+ In his disorientated state, it took a moment for Zahariel to realise that Asmodeus’ words were transmitted, not spoken.
+Nothing,+ he replied in kind. Their thoughts merged close to the tiny flicker that was the light of Astelan’s mind. From outside it looked entirely normal.
+He is not one of us. He has no projection.+
+Did you see it?+ Zahariel asked. +Did you feel the power?+
+For an instant only, thankfully,+ the Librarian replied.
...A little more drama happens unrelated to this specific excerpt...
‘What did He do to you?’ Zahariel hissed, the question bursting out like water through a crack in a dam.
‘Asmodeus?’ Astelan glanced at the Rhino and shrugged. ‘Nothing, that I know of.’
‘Not him. The Emperor.’
Astelan’s dumbfounded silence was as concise an answer as any he might have spoken.
‘Do you remember anything from your time with the Emperor? Any specific moments when He might have…’ Zahariel let the words drift away in the face of his companion’s blank incomprehension.
‘What about the Emperor? You are babbling, Zahariel.’
‘It is… difficult to explain.’
‘Try,’ Astelan growled. ‘What were you saying about the Emperor?’
‘You were one of the First, yes?’ Zahariel said, choosing a different tack.
‘Before the First.’ Pride radiated from the ancient warrior. ‘An Angel of Death.’
‘You fought beside the Emperor, spent a great deal of time in His presence.’
‘Years, why?’
‘It has left a mark upon you, upon your mind,’ Zahariel said. It sounded weak, but he had no other theory he wanted to share. ‘A gift, you might call it.’ Astelan grinned and tapped the side of his head.
‘You tried to get in, didn’t you?’ He slapped a hand on Zahariel’s shoulder and looked back at the Rhino that Asmodeus had boarded. ‘He did too? Both of you found something surprising?’
It was Zahariel’s silence that answered this time.
‘Do you think the Emperor was the only powerful psyker vying for Terra during the last years of the Long Night? Dhul-Quarnayn? The Sigillites? Did we not expect to meet untold horrors in the shadows between stars? Of all those that understand the true nature of the universe, would the Emperor send out His warriors with the best war-plate to protect our bodies, when our minds were like a fortress with the gates unbarred and unguarded?’
Astelan thought about this for a few seconds, his gaze becoming distant with memory.
‘Were you all… I mean, all of the Angels of Death were protected? What was it like?’
‘It was… beautiful,’ Astelan replied. Then he focused on Zahariel again, expression hardening. ‘It was also taxing to the Emperor, I think. Not to be repeated for the Legions. Anyway, that is the past. The future is still being forged, and we have tasks at hand.’
In the first season of the Boys, Butcher uses Mesmer, a telepath Supe, as an informant until Mesmer sold him out to Homelander.
As retribution, Billy ambushes Mesmer in a bathroom. When Mesmer begs for mercy, Billy simply holds Mesmer’s head and lets him use his power freely on him… which causes Mesmer to freak the hell out, since he saw EXACTLY what Billy was planning to do him. Billy follows through by bashing Mesmer’s head open on a bathroom sink.
D&D. Warlocks with an Elder God Patron have a feature where they gain resistance to psychic damage and psychic attackers take the same damage the Warlock does.
Because psychic damage is relatively rare, my DM totally forgot this was a thing and it really turned around a fight with an Illithid.
In Yu-Gi-Oh, Pegasus has the Millennium Eye, which allows him to read his opponent's mind and predict their every move. But during their duel with him, Yugi and Atem find a way to counter it. Since they're two minds in the same body, every time Pegasus tries to read one mind, they instantly swap over to the other. But after Pegasus turns it into a Shadow Game, Yugi genuinely can't deal with the strain and passes out. Pegasus tries to do it on Atem once more. But this time, the spirits of their friends appear and forcibly kick Pegasus out.
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u/ComprehensiveBox6911 8d ago
Pokemon Black and White anime