Carbon Skin - TV Tropes
- ️Fri Sep 16 2022
Carbon is a very versatile element; it's one of the building blocks of organic life, but it's also the same element that composes diamonds, coal, and graphene. Carbon is thus used as a visual shorthand for a highly durable, but still organic, shield of sorts.
"Carbon Coating" takes the appearance of a dense impenetrable layer over a character's skin, greatly enhancing their strength and durability. A lot of these characters can do so through some kind of superpower, but it can also be the product of magic or science.
To apply for this trope, the character need not literally be coated in carbon specifically, but the appearance and application should still evoke the image of the substance. This often means they look dark and shiny in appearance. It can also invoke diamond, another carbon-based material.
The main application is to No-Sell enemy attacks.
Related to Chrome Champion, where the character is encased in a metallic skin, and Sculpted Physique, where their skin appears to be made of an inorganic material.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Boruto: Deepa has the power of carbon control, which allows him to turn his skin into carbon or form cubes of carbon to fire at his opponents. He can also transform his carbon skin into diamond.
- Fullmetal Alchemist: The homunculus Greed's signature power is his "Ultimate Shield"; he can cover himself in a malleable but nigh-impenetrable suit of graphene. Bullets and explosions can't do squat to him, and he's especially dangerous in a one-on-one fight. Conversely, after Father reabsorbs him, Greed performs an Assimilation Backfire by using the same power to convert Father's flesh into brittle graphite, severely weakening him.
- Girls und Panzer: The tanks have a layer of carbon armor that prevents crew injuries, thus explaining why 12-year-olds are trusted with high explosives.
- Kagurabachi: Kugara is able to make his limbs hard as rock and also sharpen them to form deadly points.
- Kongoh Bancho: Akira Kongoh can make the muscles in his body swell to make their skin look like lead and become as hard as steel. This is an ability all the Kongoh family have.
- One Piece:
- "Armament Haki" is a technique that lets a user manipulate their spirit energy to harden their bodies; this is conveyed visually as their bodies turn into a black, shiny substance that resembles graphene. Melee attacks with Armament Haki become way stronger. Devil Fruit users like Luffy who have malleable bodies benefit greatly, as the Haki lets them gain strength and durability without losing the flexibility of their powers (in Luffy's case, he's made of rubber).
- Jozu ate a devil fruit that lets him turn his body into diamond, layering over his skin like a sheet. It makes him one of the toughest sons-of-bitches to hurt, but he can still be harmed by Haki like other devil fruit users.
- Tiger & Bunny: The fourth episode features a villain with the power to turn his body into diamond (a form for carbon, naturally), which makes him nigh-impenetrable.
Comic Books
- Thunderbolts: Charcoal can transform into a being seemingly composed of charcoal. He can reshape himself into any carbon form, including flaming incendiary or rock-hard diamond.
- X-Men: Emma Frost can transform her skin into organic diamond. In addition to the logical advantages of having a diamond body (such as being able to cut most things with her fingernails), she also gains increased strength and durability. Her mind also becomes impenetrable to psychic probes, but that also means she cannot use her own telepathy in that state.
Fan Works
- Ambition of the Red Princess:
- Anne hardens her Titan body's skin into a glass-type material to increase her durability and attack damage to better combat Zeke in their fight.
- To have a defense against the attackers of the Three Heroes Church, Bed-Chan hardens her bark to bounce back the weapons being thrown at her body in chapter 127.
- My Hero Pen-Pal: Carbonado has an unnamed carbon-manipulation quirk that, amongst other things, allows him to coat her skin with carbon blocks.
Films — Animation
- Transformers:
- The accompanying comic of Destron Leader Megatron Black Ver. (a reissue of the original Generation 1 Megatron toy using an alternative colour scheme that was considered and rejected prior to Transformers being released) has Optimus and Megatron fighting when a blow from Optimus accidentally unleashed a surge of quantum surge energy that had been hidden in his body for some time.note The resulting power boost turns Megatron's body black, allowing him incredible healing abilities and greatly enhanced strength.
- The Black Body technology is introduced during the events of Robotmasters (a toy line and story that involved the G1 Transformers encountering their descendants from Beast Wars). Both sides fight over it, as it coats a Transformer's body in a black shell that not only grants them greater strength and endurance, it also absorbs energy from all around them.
- When Galvatron II (an alternate version of Galvatron from The Transformers (Marvel)) seizes leadership of the Decepticons from Megatron, Optimus Prime goes to face him. However, to give himself an edge Optimus adopts a version of his original body fully coated in Black Body. He does this because he arms himself with twin launchers so energy-intensive, Black Body is the only way he can keep them powered for a reasonable length of time.
Films — Live-Action
- Fantastic Four (2005): The cosmic storm that mutated the Fantastic Four also affected Victor Von Doom, changing his skin into a black metallic material which his doctor describes as stronger than titanium or carbon steel and harder than diamonds. According to Victor, this is just like the metal that was supposed to shield the ship from the storm.
- X-Men Film Series: Liker her comic book counterpart, Emma can transform her skin into diamond. She is also immune to telepathy in this form.
Literature
- Diamond Dogs: The eponymous Diamond Dogs, who are surgically changed into Full Conversion Cyborgs covered in diamond skin to protect themselves against the booby-trapped alien tower they're trying to explore.
- The Perfect Run: Adam the Ogre can turn his skin into a highly resistant carbon alloy, granting him enhanced strength and tank-like resilience.
Live-Action TV
- The Boys (2019): In "The Name of the Game", Hughie sees Translucent on television talking about his carbon skin. This enables him to work out Translucent's vulnerability to electricity when the invisible superhero attacks them later.
- Danger 5: In "The Diamond Girls", Hitler's female bodyguards inhale the fumes from a small glass and suddenly their skin gains a black coloration. This is the effect of the carbonado, making the female guards invincible to normal bullets, but they can be downed by diamond ones.
Video Games
- Deus Ex: Mankind Divided: The TITAN augmentation coats its user in a High Tech Triangles cover. Absorbing nearly any kind of damage the user might take as long as they have the biochemical energy necessary to keep it up. It even covers their clothes and hair, leaving them completely encased.
- Halo: The MJOLNIR armor worn by Spartans has a black nanocomposite bodysuit in its inner layer. Despite being skintight, it's still thick and heat-resistant material that can deflect enemy weapons, albeit not to the same extent as the thicker outer shell that makes up the green parts of Master Chief's armor.
- Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance: Armstrong's nanomachines allow him to harden his body into a nigh-indestructible substance that not even Raiden's sword can cut.
- Street Fighter V: Urien's V-Skill, Metallic Aura, creates a hard, blackened layer over his skin that can absorb the next attack that hits him. This gives his special attacks super armor, allowing him to overwhelm opponents with his versatile approach tools.