History BadassNormal / WesternAnimation

* [[Characters/DCAUTerryMcGinnis Terry McGinnis]] in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond''. Yes, he has the suit. But he has taken on explicitly superpowered villains without it, including psychics, shapeshifters, aliens, and mix-and-match creatures, even when he is at a distinct disadvantage. And won. He, armed only with one of his mentor's utility belts, also went up against his own suit when it was taken over by a rogue AI. He won that, too.
** It's been stated in series that Terry is a '''better''' Batman than Bruce.
*** Well, he did beat the Joker. [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome By laughing at him.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'': Harley's crew consists of [[{{Telepathy}} Psycho]], [[VoluntaryShapeshifting Clayface]], [[SharkMan King Shark]] and [[GreenThumb PoisonIvy]] while her only "power" is being really good at gymnastics. [[Characters/HarleyQuinn2019TheCharacter She's]] still the most technically proficient fighter and battlefield tactician of her crew by a long way, and extremely willing to fight dirty.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', we have Batman and The Joker as a heroic and villainous example respectively both of whom have superpowered allies and enemies ''alike'' intimidated by and afraid of them. For good reason, too: they both regularly take down said superpowered individuals with nothing more than cunning, intelligence, and some gadgets. So much so that in one special when Joker shifts his attention from Batman to Superman, he refers to it as "playing on ''[[BadassBoast easy mode for a change]]''."
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' made sure the normals were all badass in their own way. Though it was a sore spot for Wildcat, believing that just with no superpowers besides being an excellent fighter made him obsolete in the League. He even said that while Black Canary FightsLikeANormal, the fact she had the canary cry sonic scream made her much more useful to the team.
** The Question, who is often nearly as many mental steps ahead of everyone as Batman. He's a consistently paranoid conspiracy theorist, but he lives in a world where conspiracies are a lot more likely.
*** ''All'' his theories that were actually put to the test on-screen [[ProperlyParanoid turned out to be right]]. He's 3-for-3 so far, who's to say he's wrong about the rest?
*** He's also right that Baskin Robbins had a secret 32nd flavor. The significance of this isn't quite clear.
*** ...Yet.
** In the episode "Tabula Rasa" of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', the Justice League battle Amazo, an android with [[PowerCopying the ability to copy any superpower]]. He defeats the Justice League one by one. Possessing Superman's powers, he turns to Batman to scan him:
--->'''Amazo:''' You don't have any special powers.\\
'''Batman:''' I have this. ''(pulls out kryptonite)'' It's a package deal. You get our strengths; you get our weaknesses.
*** Another Batman case:
---> '''Doctor Destiny:''' You know, I could let you go. You're a distraction now, and it's the others I have the real problem with. [[MotiveRant We're like insects to them - they step on us, ruin our lives, and they don't even realize it.]] But you're different. You don't have any special powers.
---> '''Batman:''' Oh, I have one, Johnny. [[TheDeterminator I]] ''[[TheDeterminator never]]'' [[TheDeterminator give up.]]
** In the episode "Patriot Act", a tribute to the Seven Soldiers of Victory, and Badass Normals in general.
** "Panic in the Sky", too, where not only do three of the League's badass normals take out at least five clones, including a super-sized Apache Chief wannabe, but the ''Watchtower '''staff''' fights a T. rex''. The jury's out on whether or not they survived that, but the mere fact that they tried is badass incarnate.
** [[Comicbook/SuicideSquad "Taskforce X"]] uses this trope to help make the {{Villain Protagonist}}s of the episode more sympathetic. Even if they are evil, watching four normal people (with a fifth as mission control) infiltrate the Watchtower and make off with a giant magical suit of armour is still sort of cool.
*** Speaking of which: Rick Flag, asskicker extraordinaire. Of the four members, three carry weapons. Flag does not. When questioned about this, the simple explanation is "he doesn't need a weapon." He more than lives up to that hype.
** The head of [[CapeBusters Cadmus]] Amanda Waller. Not only is she able to intimidate ''Batman'', she has absolutely no combat training, and yet still goes up against Brainthor along with the original seven with nothing but a handgun, even pulling a brief BackToBackBadasses with Comicbook/GreenLantern.
** ComicBook/GreenLantern gets this himself in 'A Savage Time'. The League is sent back to WWII, where GL's ring runs out and he meets up with a group of Allied soldiers. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=OwGAgWnUIA0#t=1695s After proving himself by beating down TheBigGuy]], he identifies that he was a member of the U.S. Marine Corps. He spends the rest of the movie kicking ass with no super powers what-so-ever.

* [[DarkActionGirl Silver Sable]] and [[DatingCatwoman Black Cat]] are both examples of this from ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan''. [[BigBad Tombstone]] is possibly an example- he is never explicitly stated to have superstrength, but he is shown to be able to trounce Spider-man effortlessly when taking the latter by surprise, and be a match for him even a straight fight. [[TheDragon Hammerhead]] is a partial example- he mostly relies on his strength and skill at brawling, but uses his steel-plated skull to absorb any punishment a normal man couldn't take. [[QuirkyMinibossSquad The Enforcers]] also qualify in their first appearance, though later they get upgraded with PoweredArmor. [[EgomaniacHunter Kraven]] was one, but has now acquired superpowers.
* Hobgoblin in ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries''. In this universe, he predates the Green Goblin, and while his weapons came from Norman Osborn there was no strength-enhancing formula involved. Unfortunately for him, when the Green Goblin does turn up, he's at least as strong as the comics version.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Superfriends}}'': Whether it's dealing with villain with a time manipulation device or a CriminalAmnesiac Superman, Batman and Robin with their [[TheSmartGuy intelligence and cunning]] are equal to nearly any challenge for the Super Friends.

* Robin from ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'', though it frequently escalates into the CharlesAtlasSuperpower level. Slade is a villainous subversion of BadassNormal, WordOfGod clarifies that he is actually [[EmpoweredBadassNormal enhanced]] just like in the comics, while in the fourth season an intergalactic demon [[BackFromTheDead resurrects him]] grants him fire powers, until his powers are removed again. He returns to EmpoweredBadassNormal status by ''killing a flaming-axe-wielding guardian of the underworld'', but prefers to [[FightsLikeANormal fight like a normal]] using nothing but tactics and martial arts.
** [[CombatPragmatist And explosives.]]
*** There's an episode where he takes down the rest of the team just by being [[CrazyPrepared crazy prepared]]. Batman would've approved.
*** [[ComicallyMissingThePoint No he wouldn't! That's Batman's apprentice he just defeated!]]
** There's also [[TheRealRemingtonSteele Red X]], who utterly curbstomps all of the Titans at once with barely any effort at all, and that was the ''first time'' he faced them. True, he has the stolen suit that Robin created, but the Titans have formidable powers and Robin has all of his own gadgets, and they ''still'' could barely touch him.
** In [[WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo the spinoff]], though he's [[AdaptationalAngstUpgrade more insecure]] in this version, Robin can still prove quite the worthy adversary, most prominently in [[WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGoToTheMovies the movie]].
** Speedy can give Robin a run for his money in the badass normal department with his skill in martial arts and assortment of [[TrickArrow trick arrows]].

* T'Challa in the second episode of ''WesternAnimation/WhatIf2021''. Despite not eating the heart-shaped herb, he has made a name for himself in the galaxy with for his strength, cunning and charisma, acting as the galactic Robin Hood and able to even convince Thanos to give up his mission of genocide.

* In ''WesternAnimation/WolverineAndTheXMen2009'', there is an episode where a team of non-mutant ninjas attack Xavier's mansion and manage to neutralize all the X-men without being noticed. Those guys from Mutant Response Divisions should have hired ninjas to hunt mutants instead of building giant semi-sentient robots.

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'' has many, but a special mention has to go out to Artemis and Robin I/Dick/Nightwing. They turn fight scenes into an art form. When they were fighting together in ''Homefront'', they worked seamlessly together against androids that had taken out their superpowered friends.

** Rook Blonko, Ben's new crime fighting partner in ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'', despite being an alien himself, has new explicitly superhuman abilities on top of being a rookie "[[SpacePolice Plumber]]" and inexperienced with Earth when he's first introduced. But he ''is'' still a very athletic, skilled in combat, and has a high-tech SwissArmyWeapon called a Proto-tool.

* ''Franchise/Ben10'': According to WordOfGod, the Omnitrix turns its user into the badass normal version of whatever alien they've selected. So while your average Vaxasaurian would still have SuperStrength and be able to grow to the size of a skyscraper at will, they likely wouldn't be anywhere near as strong as Humongosaur.

*** Well, he did beat ComicBook/TheJoker. [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome By laughing at him.]]
* A villainous example -- Belphegor, from the animated series of the same name. Aside from using a RingOfPower as his only weapon (and the occasional [[SmokeOut smoke bomb for escape purposes]]), he has no super powers to speak of. And he uses said ring only to tranquilize people. How does he always get away without guns? Well, he's strong, smart and ''always'' has an escape plan or a BatmanGambit ready. Many times he doesn't even make use of his underlings' help, but handles the most dangerous situations himself.

* [[WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor The KND]] are a paramilitary organization entirely of kids, who fight villians who either have superpowers, or use technology that's to be considered a lot more advanced (or at least more sophisticated) when compared to the KND's [[BambooTechnology 2x4 technology]]. While the KND, on the other hand, use strictly military training and the aforementioned 2x4 tech when engaging in combat.
* Definitely Lucas Amato from WesternAnimation/{{Cybersix}} counts. He saves the life of the titular heroine almost as many times as she saves his, despite having no super powers to speak of.
** Also Yashimoto, Meridiana's most renowned detective from the episode "Yashimoto, Private Eye," who effortlessly figures out Cybersix's secret identity after being blackmailed into doing so.