Intangible Man



""Did you expect me to dodge? How quaint.""

- Olka, mistmeadow witch, Magic: The Gathering flavor text for Turn to Mist

Cousin to Invisibility, the Intangible Man is unable to physically interact with normal objects.

For a hero, being an intangible man is a crisis. He has to save the day despite being intangible, before he starves to death or dehydrates. Asphyxiation is generally not an issue, and neither is movement. Don't ask why. If they're invisible as well as intangible, don't expect anyone to know that they shouldn't be able to see (if the light passes straight through them, it can't form an image on their retinas).

For a mentor, intangibility is an opportunity. Being a Spirit Advisor or Virtual Ghost lets them accompany the hero into dangerous places without ever being at personal risk.

The ability to render oneself intangible at will occasionally turns up as a superpower. These questions you have? Don't ask them. A truly Intangible Man would sink through the ground and yo-yo around the Earth's core forever. Although the Intangible Man will pass right through walls, chairs, tables and such, he rarely has any problem properly interacting with floors, stairs or any other structures people are meant to walk upon. He may even be able to ride vehicles, with the odds of success rapidly increasing with the size of the vehicle. Anything big enough to walk inside is quite likely, a ship or spaceship is more or less guaranteed.

It's sometimes explained that intangible characters walk on a thin layer of air, even though this should make them as frictionless as a puck in air-hockey. Potential breathing problems are typically ignored outright.

Note that once we've seen someone walk through the character, to establish the parameters of their intangibility, people will go out of their way not to walk through them too often, as this is an expensive special effect. This is usually justified as the experience being intensely creepy.

It is frequently a given that while no one else can touch them, two characters separately subjected to the same process will have no problem interacting with each other.

Sometimes the power can work selectively on the user's body (allowing him to voluntarily interact with objects while intangible) or extend further from the user's body (allowing him to make other objects and people intangible) Heroes use this ability to save their teammates from danger. Anti-heroes and villains use it to put their hands through people's chests and squeeze their hearts.

See also Projected Man, Astral Projection and Super Smoke.

Anime and Manga

 * Nancy Makuhari and her son Junior from Read or Die have this ability. It's explicitly stated that they can't breathe while phasing.
 * Kurau from Phantom Memory Kurau has this power as well - it's one of her more rarely used powers, as it tends to get her noticed more than superstrength or even flight.
 * In Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS Sein has this ability, allowing her to swim through inorganic material as though they were water.
 * Hanyuu from Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
 * Intangibility is the main ability of Noah clan member Tyki Mikk from D.Gray-man. He uses it to pull your organs out.
 * In Naruto is able to become intangible by using the same space/time manipulation he uses to teleport. The primary weaknesses are that he cannot attack while intangible,  He found a novel way to get over the first one: by attaching a chain to arm manacles he runs toward people, phases through them when his body would touch them, and then turns solid again just in time for the chain to hit the target.
 * Ryoko of Tenchi Muyo! has been shown to walk through barriers and walls unless they are specifically shielded to prevent her from doing this.
 * Sasami even comments on this at one point in an episode with a little ghost girl, who asks if her phasing-through things disturbs Sasami at all.
 * A manga series called Toukyou ESP by Hajime Segawa (who created Ga-Rei) features a protagonist, Rinka, who gains this power after a freaky incident involving otherworldly fish and arctic mammals.
 * Perrier La Mer of Amuri in Star Ocean has this power (called Infiltration in the show) but cannot fully control it, so she's always passing through other people and solid objects. Her parents took advantage of this by making her the victim of dangerous stage performances like knife-throwing acts and passing giant buzz-saws through her body. None of it caused any physical harm, but she was still deeply traumatized.
 * Alucard from Hellsing has this as one of his many, many powers.
 * Users of Logia Devil Fruit in One Piece can do this by transforming into their particular power's element (smoke, sand, lightning, etc), becoming immune to most attack. The only way around this is to attack them with an element-specific weakness (such as wetting the sand), or be able to use a form of Haki called the "Color of Armaments", which allows its user to bypass Devil Fruit based defenses.

Comic Books

 * X-Men: This is Shadowcat's mutant ability. Her ability to not fall through the floor, while not explained well, has nothing to do with the actual, physical floor (which she can pass through if she chooses) and, as such, can be used without a floor. She often walks on air by visualizing an invisible staircase. Later works have treated it as slow flight. This tends not to show up in adaptations.
 * Referenced in X-Men: Evolution when a mutant with Your Worst Nightmare power is brought into the mansion and Shadowcat keeps on seeing herself falling into the Earth's Core.
 * Joss Whedon created a similar situation, when Cassandra Nova mindscrewed with Shadowcat, causing her to phase deep into the Earth. Judging from the artwork, her phased form was immune to intense heat even when phasing through lava!
 * Not that unusual. She has always been immune to heat while phasing.
 * She has, however, always been unable to breathe while phased, meaning the limit of her power was basically however long she could hold her breath.
 * Also from X-Men, the villain Shinobi Shaw has the same power. Being a villain, he uses the 'heart squeezing' as his trademark killing move. He also openly admits it can be used for peeping on girls (not that he needs it with his cash)
 * Negative Man from the Doom Patrol can leave his body as an energy-form that can control its tangibility.
 * In The DCU, all natives of the planet Bgztl have voluntary intangibility powers. This is the home planet of Phantom Girl, from the Legion of Super-Heroes.
 * Well, in the Threeboot version it's explained as Bgztl being a planet in another dimension which exists in the same space as Earth and her shifting her mass between our dimension and that one as a unique power. She's visible in both worlds (which gets awkward in the one she's not paying attention to) and is solid and can sense in only one at a time. This solves the floor problem (and causes a new one when someone has to go to the core of a planet) when you realize that she can't avoid the planet by shifting to a dimension with an identical planet in the same place.
 * Iron Man enemy and Thunderbolts member The Ghost is a technological industrial terrorist.
 * Also Iron Man has an industrial spy fellow with this as a secondary ability.
 * In Dark Horse Comics' Ghost, the titular character could make herself intangible (and fly, thus avoiding the floor problem). She had a particularly nasty attack where she would reach into an opponent's chest while intangible, grab his heart, and then become corporeal again. (Why her hand wasn't hurt in the process is not explained.)
 * The Martian Manhunter has this power, also having flight powers so he doesn't have to worry about falling through the floor.
 * Marvel Comics' Doctor Strange can split into an 'ectoplasmic' self and his physical body. The former is intangible, and even could go right through the core of the planet Earth as a shortcut around the surface.
 * Marvel Comics' The Vision was a flying android who could shift his molecular density, from intangible to denser-than-diamond. He made frequent use of this power to reach into other beings and dodge attacks.
 * The Flash can do this for about a few seconds, by "rapidly vibrating his molecules".
 * Moonstone (later the Dark Avengers version of Ms. Marvel) can turn intangible. She has outright flight to deal with the falling-through-the-ground aspect.
 * Hero Hotline featured Fred, the invisible, intangible man. The problem being that he can't interact with his surroundings at all. It's speculated that Fred isn't real and is just a ploy by super-ventriloquist Voice-Over to pick up two paychecks, but V/O talks to Fred when nobody else is around, so maybe not.
 * The Daredevil villain Death-Stalker was trapped in a dimension partially connected to Earth's dimension, and while naturally invisible and immaterial, could become visible and intangible, invisible and tangible, or visible and tangible for a few hours at a time. He also wore gloves that used microwaves to give him a "death grip". He died when he shifted to full tangibility to grasp Daredevil with the gloves, but was halfway through a tombstone; the trauma and shock killed him instantly.
 * Blue Fire, from Wham Comics, can become intangible and is covered in blue flames. It was explained that his intangibility was related to force he or another used, the gentler he touched something it could be solid, but a punch would pass through.
 * The villain Hood, from Amazing Man Comics, has the powers of intangibility and teleportation. The Amazing Man himself could become intangible when he turned into the Green Mist.
 * The Duke of Darkness, from Triple Threat Comics, uses this power to battle villains such as Mr. Slumber.
 * Sergeant Spook, from Blue Bolt, has this power as well as invisibility.
 * Guardians of the Galaxy has minor villain Brahl, who can turn intangible at will to keep from being hurt. Subverted when he's decked anyway by a hero who's also intangible.
 * This is the power of the Fantastic Four villain Red Ghost.

Film

 * The monster in 4DMan was a scientist who acquired this ability. Using this power consumed his life force at an accelerated rate and he had to replenish it by phasing through other living human beings.
 * The movie Ghost goes out of its way to show how much effort it takes newly dead Patrick Swayze to move a penny, but he never has the floor problem, nor does he have a problem riding in elevators.
 * The Bill Cosby movie Ghost Dad has Bill as a ghost who can only interact with the real world if he "concentrates". This results in a scene where his concentration lasts enough for him to pour himself a drink, but when he tries drinking it it goes right though.
 * The Twins in The Matrix: Reloaded can turn this on and off at will, and use it selectively in fights to dodge attacks. It has the added bonus of healing wounds - several gunshots to the arm can be undone simply by turning intangible and then reverting.
 * In Labyrinth, Jareth phases through Sarah during "Within You".

Literature

 * In the Night Watch universe, descending through enough layers of Twilight will turn the Other intangible. The "falling through the floor" problem, however, is not ignored at all - in fact, the very trick is used to climb a tower through the floors in the third book.
 * In the Wild Cards universe, Modular Man turns intangible by shifting his mass partly out of this dimension. He also defies gravity by the same method. Both powers are lost when and Mod Man can no longer be repaired.
 * The Astronomer also had this as one of his powers. It backfired when he tried to use another one of his powers, a mental shield, to protect from another character's literal Death Glare... and since he could only use one power at a time, and was halfway through a wall...
 * Wraith is another character with intangibility who decides to make a living as a Classy Cat Burglar. However, as she's got maybe a ten pound limit to objects she can carry while phased, she performs her heists in a mask and bikini and focuses on paper goods (such as high-currency bills, bonds, etc.).
 * Mackie Messer, aka "Mack the Knife," could vibrate himself at such frequencies as to walk through walls. He didn't seem to have problems with floors.
 * In Chris Wooding's novel Storm Thief, there are creatures called revenants, that are totally intangible, and if they touch you you die. They are also invisible, and there are basically only three ways to kill them. The first is to use a specialized weapon called an Aether Cannon, the second is to have a unique golem touch them, and absorb them into himself, and the third involves total destruction of the Chaos Engine, an ancient artifact, and a massive one at that that is next to impossible to destroy.
 * This condition was inflicted on an unwitting thief by a cursed amulet in a short story from Tales of Ravenloft. Floors weren't a problem, but eventually the poor guy became so intangible that he completely faded out of the world.
 * In Everlost by Neal Shusterman, the Afterlights(ghosts) are like this. They can only stand on ground that has "moved on". The requirement to move on is being loved and cherished by many people. If they stand on 'living' ground too long, they will sink into the center of the earth.
 * There's a German SF short story out there in which a scientist invents a machine that can turn people intangible for a time and gets blackmailed by a thief who wants to help himself to that power. The thief hasn't thought things through, though, and so when the scientist does grant his wish, he promptly falls through the ground (and presumably his death once the effect wears off again), a fate the scientist only averted during an earlier self-test by keeping his own feet unchanged and solid. In the end he decides that his device is actually rather useless, save possibly as a novel method of execution.
 * In Leven Thumps, this is one of the twelve gifts you can recieve when you arrive in Foo.
 * Death from Discworld is more than capable of walking through walls. Rather than becoming intangible, he's simply so real that the rest of the universe may as well be made of cobwebs.
 * In Hard Magic, Fades are Magicals with the power of intangibility.
 * Dutilleul in Marcel Aymé's Le Passe-Muraille, though this seems limited to walls apparently.
 * Klaus from The Milkweed Triptych.
 * The Saga of the Noble Dead has the undead wraith Sau'ilahk. He is a powerful sorcerer and can turn solid for brief periods to move physical objects, but is most dangerous in his intangible state: any living thing that passes through him is rapidly drained of life.

Live Action TV
"Howard: What are you doing?
 * Star Trek the Next Generation: In "The Next Phase", Geordi and Ro Laren were thus afflicted by an experimental Romulan cloaking device.
 * Later it is revealed that the UFP also experimented with such a cloak. It can render the ship intangible.
 * It is heavilly implied that  work this way to get past defenses.
 * Holodoc from Star Trek Voyager can have such effect as he is actually an Astral Projection.
 * Stargate SG 1 did this at least three times: A race of highly advanced humans had developed this technology; Daniel was once thus afflicted by a mysterious alien crystal skull; and SG-1 itself was placed in an intangible state by a security device belonging to Merlin (secretly an advanced alien).
 * They also hung a lampshade on it, when an actress in the Show Within a Show about the Stargate asked why they didn't fall through the floor, and no one had an answer.
 * There was also an episode where Carter, trapped in an Asgard research facility, used the holographic comm system to help O'Neill and Teal'c rescue Thor from a Ha'Tak in orbit. Since the Asgard lack Hard Light technology she was able to distract guards and scout ahead, but proved less useful when they needed someone to rewire doors.
 * Angel: Afflicted Spike after he was brought Back From the Dead. He, however, was a ghost or some other sort of psychic projection, and didn't have to worry about falling through the floor because he was essentially imagining himself wherever he liked.
 * Also Sahjhan from Season 3..
 * Buffy the Vampire Slayer: "Halloween" -- Willow the Friendly Ghost, with the same lack of floor issues.
 * And, of course, the First Evil, whatever it manifests as. It's a plot point in the middle of the last season that Giles may be the First because he doesn't actually manipulate anything.
 * One episode of The X-Files had an escaped convict who had this as a power, as well as the ability to reduce anything he passed through to ash. It's demonstrated with some Techno Babble that it's electricity-based and doesn't work against insulating materials, and he's eventually done in when he tries to phase through a speeding car and gets fatally smacked by the windshield.
 * D. L. Hawkins, from Heroes, has this as his special power. He can use it selectively, allowing him to touch one object while phasing through another, thus providing a handy rationale for the "floor problem". He can also use it in a lethal fashion, such as.
 * But he never uses the power correctly, like if his life was depending on it
 * Justified (a lot more than most cases on this show, anyways) in that he was in a public place, with a large number of people around him. If he turned intangible, he would be sacrificing someone else, which he couldn't do since his story arc was about him becoming a hero.
 * In the short-lived B Sci Fi show Cleopatra 2525, the 'falling through the floor' problem was averted; the Big Bad revealed it had taken years of research to solve.
 * Rimmer the hologram on Red Dwarf, until he gets a Hard Light upgrade in season 6.
 * Harlan Band of Space Cases had this problem in one episode.
 * Subverted in a first season episode of The Mighty Boosh. After Howard is killed (temporarily) he returns to visit Vince as a ghost. Vince is impressed and moves his hand to bash into Howard's chest:

Vince: I thought like, I would pass right through you

Howard: No, I told you, we spent all the budget for effects on your hair.

Vince: (turning to look at camera) It is looking good."


 * Lampshaded in Blood Ties, where a ghost complains to the main character (and only person that can see him) that how come he can't touch stuff, but he can still sit on a couch.
 * Mutant X had Jesse. Unlike most examples of this trope, he could also reverse the process to the point where he was Made of Diamond.
 * This was Jack's unmorphed ability in Power Rangers SPD.
 * Many gods in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess will be some combination of invisible and intangible when they appear.
 * The mentally-projected hologram of Al on Quantum Leap appeared to have this power, but he wasn't really "there." He was able to give the impression of intangibility to a man who was able to see him in the episode A Little Miracle.
 * A natural ability of Dessarians in Tracker was the ability to phase and walk through solid objects.
 * The Eureka episode Phased and Confused had this as the intersection of its A and B plots. The mysteriously solid floors became very noticeable when a phased character noisily runs down a short staircase, immediately after not being able to touch things was an obstacle.

Tabletop Games

 * In Mortasheen, the Xenogog has this power, though it can solidify the tips of its needlelike arms to perform "a surgically perfect lobotomy with a single touch"
 * In the collectible card game Magic: The Gathering, there are entire races of intangible people (the Dauthi, Soltari, and Thalakos).
 * In all fairness, the shadow mechanic (which the races share) is more of an Another Dimension-thing. They can still interact with each other just fine.
 * It's like a Squished Dimension-thing. IIRC, their homeplane got caught between Dominaria and Rath and ripped to shreds, leaving the inhabitants as Intangible Men who can pop in and out of reality at will.
 * Necron Wraiths do this at will in Warhammer 40000. The same technology may play a role in the effectiveness of Necron melee weapons against power armor.
 * As do the C'tan, the masters of the Necrons.
 * In Deadlands: Reloaded, Harrowed get intangibility as an Edge; a power they can turn on an off at will.
 * Dungeons & Dragons has the "incorporeal" subtype, which cleared up a LOT of confusion about intangible beings such as ghosts or 2E Wraithform spellcasters when 3E introduced it to the game.
 * 4th Edition splits this in two, with the Insubstantial resistance ability (half damage from all attacks) and Phasing movement ability (the ability to move through solid objects and difficult terrain without penalty, though you still have to occupy an open square when your movement is finished). Some creatures can be Insubstantial without having Phasing and vice versa, though most creatures with one also have the other.
 * The "Insubstantial" advantage in GURPS
 * Also the Desolidification power in the Hero System. Which works a bit asymmetrically -- characters with it can't affect the physical world at all while it's in use unless they buy their relevant powers (such as strength) with a rather expensive advantage, but need to define some reasonably common way(s) in which the physical world can still affect them. They also can walk on solid ground with no problems, but don't automatically get to fly unless they buy that power separately, and may in fact fall through the floor if they don't stop themselves at the price of taking the usual damage from the 'impact'.
 * The fourth level of the Insubstantial power in 2E Mutants and Masterminds grants this power and handwaves the breathing and being able to stand on the floor, although you still face a breathing problem when within solid objects. It's also required that some reasonably common material or effect counters your insubstantiality for game balance purposes.

Toys

 * Tuyet, a Toa of Water from the Bionicle universe, wore a Mask of Intangibility.
 * Similarly, one of the powers potentially available for a Rahkshi to be created with is Density Control. This can be used not only for phasing through walls and attacks, but for floating into the air and then dropping with the force of a meteor.

Video Games

 * Akuma's float-on-one-knee trick from Street Fighter also turns him intangible so he can zoom around untouchable. If you ever see him doing this trick while tangible though, hit him or get out of the way because you're a second away from the Raging Demon attack.
 * Bow's "Out of Sight" ability in Paper Mario turns the player intangible and invisible, but you can't move while using it.
 * Boos can turn intangible in Super Mario 64. Mario can do this himself with the Invisible Cap. (should have been called intangible cap.)
 * Suika Ibuki has the ability to manipulate her own density at will. An ability she puts to good use as the boss of the franchise's first fighting game. During which, you cannot see either of your life bars. Yep.
 * Also subverted with Reimu Hakurei as her power is to float. This actually means to float away from reality itself. Making her nothing short of invincible and no one would beat her with any method. It if weren't for the time limit...
 * Ten Desires introduces Seiga Kaku, whose power is exactly this.
 * Ingeniously employed in the Legend Entertainment game Death Gate. At one point during the climactic final battle, Sang-Drax becomes smoke. If you don't figure out how to beat him, the next turn he will surround you, cutting off access to air, which is way more justifiable than the standard "physical hit from an unphysical person" that you see all too often. To beat him in this form, you have to use the air storm from the Air Seal, quite literally blowing him away.
 * Final Fantasy VI famously has Intangirs, a kind of untouchable bonus mook, in addition to regular intangibility spells.
 * The DS-exclusive Violet Wisp from Sonic Colors turns Sonic into an intangible hedgehog, able to pass through walls.
 * Lusternia has Zenos, a particularly creepy example: basically, he's an omnivorous sentient fog. Tales abound of him enveloping whole forests and cities, devouring the inhabitants and leaving only charred wasteland in his wake.
 * In Dragon Age II, Fenris has the ability to become partly intangible as a result of having his body forcibly laced with lyrium. Exactly how intangible he can become is unclear; in gameplay terms, his "Lyrium Ghost" mode makes him more resistant (but not immune) to damage, and aside from that he mostly uses the ability to crush people's hearts in their chests.
 * Tales of Monkey Island:
 * Devil May Cry 3 has The Fallen, angels with the faces of demons who fly through walls, floors and ceilings as easily as they do empty air.

Web Comics

 * Ulkurz from Earthsong
 * Geist from the webcomic Heist is a rare case of simultaneous Intangibility and Invisibility. While he doesn't have to worry about falling through floors, there is a two-minute time limit and he can't phase individual body parts.
 * One of the standard abilities for Siracs (psionic raccoons) in The Cyantian Chronicles.

Web Original

 * In the Whateley Universe Phase (Ayla Goodkind) has the ability to turn intangible, nearly-intangible, or super-dense so she's Nigh Invulnerable. This is supposed to be an extra-dimensional warping ability. While intangible (or close to it) she can warp gravity and fly also. But when she first manifested as a mutant and got her powers, she couldn't control them and had trouble NOT sinking through the floor, or going super-dense and smashing her bathroom to shards. Or, for that matter, not going intangible and leaving parts of her clothing behind.
 * She also has a fun/hilarious Required Secondary Power: if she becomes solid while phased through something, the other object disappears. Forever. This results in lasting Clothing Damage (and, y'know, other damage) if she phases in and out quickly, but turns a scary situation into lots of awesome when she has an I-beam stuck through her and her powers disrupted as part of her Test To Destruction experimentation by her family's anti-mutant science labs.
 * Fine Structure has Mitchell Calrus, "The Four-Dimensional Man", who is able to turn intangible at will.
 * The Wraith is a mercenary thief from the Global Guardians PBEM Universe. He specializes in getting into places that others cannot get into by way of this power.
 * Phantom Panther is a Chinese martial artist who can not only turn intangible but can become invisible as well.
 * Breeze, as part of her control over wind and air can transform into a humanoid cloud of mist.
 * Several of the speedsters in the setting can vibrate through solid material.
 * A-GENT 66 can become Intangible at will and pass through various materials. Except lead, for a yet unexplained reason.

Western Animation

 * Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: Voluntary intangibility is an inherent ability of the Tangean people, including ranger Mira Nova. It's more often used to walk through walls and even phase through floors (in-universe it's called "ghosting"), but on a handful of occasions, it's been shown to allow projectiles to pass right through Mira without harming her.
 * Mind-reading is another, lesser-used, Tangean ability, in which Mira ghosts her hand into the subject's head.
 * One villain from Batman Beyond, an unscrupulous reporter who stole a device that gave him this power, did suffer the Karmic Death of being unable to turn it off, and falling through the Earth's crust, presumably all the way to the core. Depending on whether or not heat/gravity has effect on him, and how long he can survive permanently intangible, it may be a horrific And I Must Scream ending, the kind Beyond loved to spring on the audience.
 * Danny Phantom has this as part of his ghost powers, as well as flight (solving some problems) and invisibility (introducing new ones).
 * Ghostfreak in Ben 10. At one point, someone manages to turn the intangibility off, leaving Ghostfreak stuck in solid form temporarily.
 * As well as Big Chill from Ben 10 Alien Force.
 * The Venture Brothers has the villain the Intangible Fancy, whose henchmen are all equally intangible.
 * In Teen Titans, this is just one of Raven's superpowers.
 * Xiaolin Showdown: SERPENT'S TAIL!! It even becomes a plot point when
 * Legion of Super-Heroes Phantom Girl has this ability, as apparently does the rest of her planet.