Cartoons are a medium best-associated with children's entertainment. As such, they're often forbidden or discouraged from showing significant injuries or deaths, regardless of how much violence or combat takes place in the cartoon. There are several ways a show can achieve this, including combatants being taken down in a single hit or with non-lethal gadgets. However, a common way to avoid showing violence is to make characters great at defending themselves.
Many cartoons have characters – whether villainous or heroic – who are unnaturally tough, resistant to weaponry, or simply good at defending themselves. These traits allow for action-packed and dramatic fights without too much violence.
10 General Tesler Has A Slow, Methodical Fighting Style (TRON: Uprising)
TRON: Uprising isn't a cartoon with children as its primary audience. Consequently, it has plenty of violent action scenes. That said, the primary villain, General Tesler, is an intimidating presence in combat because of his near-impenetrable defense.
Although he's not the fastest or most aggressive fighter, Tesler is very hard to injure or stop when he gets into his stride, and he'll eventually grind his opponents down. Despite being the same as the average program, Tesler's defense helps him survive battles that many other programs wouldn't.
9 Clayface Is Near-Indestructible, Except For Several Common Weaknesses (Batman: The Animated Series)
Of all the villains in Batman: The Animated Series, Clayface comes close to topping the power scales. Unlike many of the Rogues Gallery, Clayface is far more than an ordinary human (or one aided by technology). Instead, the shapeshifter's default appearance is a mass of material that resembles clay and can shift its form.
Clayface is capable of remaining soft to absorb impacts or hardening to turn blows. Consequently, he's very hard to damage, and even if parts of him are removed, he can simply reabsorb them. However, while he's difficult to put down conventionally, what cripples his defensive ability is electricity. Water is also a threat to him – even in the form of rain.
8 Most Of Steven's Early Abilities Are Defensive (Steven Universe)
One of the themes of Steven Universe is the exploration of pacifism, which looks at finding peaceful means to resolve conflicts. As such, many of the abilities of its protagonist, Steven, are distinctly defensive in nature.
Although Steve does develop more aggressive abilities in later seasons, for at least the first two, he tends to rely on his ability to create shields of various kinds to keep him safe, whilst other gems take a more active approach in combat. Even when Steven does grow offensively, he prefers to take a non-harmful stance.
7 Toph Beifong Becomes An Expert In Armoring Herself (Avatar: The Last Airbender)
Of all the bending styles in the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender, fire is by far the most aggressive (the others lean more towards the defensive). Earthbending is one of the most balanced powers for typical practitioners. They're able to raise walls, absorb attacks, and throw heavy chunks of earth at their enemies.
Toph Beifong is not an ordinary Earthbender. Although highly capable of offense attacks, over the course of the show, she refines her technique and eventually armors herself in earth or metal, which is her go-to ability for laying out her opponents. Whilst doing so, she is often impervious to most damage and still capable of fighting back.
6 Roger Survives A Spaceship Crash (American Dad)
By far the oddest character in American Dad, Roger is an alien from an unknown planet who crashed to Earth in 1947. Prior to arriving at Earth, he'd lived for over fifteen hundred years and proven himself to be largely unkillable in that time.
It's unknown whether Roger's durability is typical for his species, but in the context of American Dad, he's near-invulnerable. In particular, his crash in 1947 was due to him serving as the ship's crash test dummy, which he survived largely unharmed.
5 Obi-Wan Kenobi Is The Master Of A Defensive Style (Star Wars: The Clone Wars)
Of all the Jedi lightsaber forms, Soresu, Type II, is the most defensive. With a limited array of counter-attacks, it instead focuses on deflecting blaster bolts back at a foe or blocking an opponent's lightsaber until they grow tired (or the battle shifts in the wielder's favor). By the time of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Obi-Wan is the unquestioned master of this form.
Although the truest test of his skill – his duel with Anakin Skywalker – is not shown in The Clone Wars, Obi-Wan is still a notably more defensive fighter than most other Jedi, including his close friends Anakin and Ahsoka Tano.
4 Cyborg's Metal Form Is Durable In The Extreme (Teen Titans)
One of the core members of the Teen Titans, Cyborg tends to stay out of the immediate melee of fights. Less maneuverable than many of his allies, he instead prefers to hang back and act as artillery for the team.
Nevertheless, when Cyborg does fight up-close, his extreme durability proves to be one of his greatest boons. Although strong and quick, he benefits from most of his opponents being unable to harm him. However, he's not invulnerable. Sufficiently sharp weapons are able to sever his metal limbs.
3 The Worst's Body Absorbs Most Attacks (Ben 10: Omniverse)
In the various series of Ben 10, the titular shapeshifter has had a number of alien forms with a variety of features. Plenty of them have been defensive, whether they're nearly impossible to hit or physically impervious to harm. However, the most defensive is the form known as "The Worst," which appears in Ben 10: Omniverse.
Despite its unflattering name, The Worst is a physically durable form. Although not entirely immune, it's able to resist physical and energy attacks, heat, and acid. Of all Ben's forms, The Worst is the hardest to kill, although is lacking almost entirely in offensive options.
2 Superman Retains His Indestructibility (DCAU)
Across the various shows of the DC Animated Universe, Superman is a prominent figure. In that continuity, as in others, the Man of Steel is nearly indestructible. Consequently, he's one of the most physically durable characters in existence.
The things that can hurt Superman are rare but include magic, truly powerful physical attacks, and kryptonite. Aside from these things, Superman is largely impervious to damage. In addition, his gentle nature means that, despite his impressive powers, he's reluctant to use his full array of physical attacks. Instead, he prefers to outlast his foes.
1 Yivo Cannot Be Harmed By Any Matter From The Universe (Futurama)
The beginning of Futurama's second movie, The Beast with a Billion Backs, sees a monstrous tentacled creature named Yivo emerge from the rift left by the ending of Bender's Big Score. It proves itself unstoppable by conventional and even unconventional means.
Taking over the Earth before eventually making moves on the rest of the universe, Yivo (although less malevolent than he initially appears) proves to have a key advantage against the main universe. His own universe is made of electro-matter – a substance far stronger than regular matter – meaning only material from his universe can harm him.