History Main / BadassDecay

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'', Phoebus was at least of average intelligence and is reasonable in his attitude towards outcasts once he has some experience with them. In [[WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameII the sequel]], he is easily hoodwinked, displays a worse attitude towards the circus folk than toward Gypsies in the original film, and generally gets in the way more than he helps.

* The Yautja from the ''Franchise/{{Predator}}'', series as a species similar to the Xenomorphs got this overtime. In the first movie the Predator Jungle Hunter alone could effortlessly take down Wrestling/JesseVentura’s Blain, Creator/CarlWeathers and beat the shit out of [[Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger Arnie]]’s Dutch in a fist fight. Hell, Dutch only won through ingenuity and preparation like a musclebound Kevin Mac Allister. In ''Film/Predator2'' however the City Hunter struggles with a few cops, is nearly killed by Creator/GaryBusey and is maimed, flees from and ultimately killed by “I’m too old for this shit” Creator/DannyGlover’s Lieutenant Mike who the Predator with his own weapon. In ''Film/AlienVsPredator'' zigzags this as the “hero” Predator Scar is pretty badass killings multiple humans and Xenomorphs before slaying the Xenomorph Queen herself; the other two Predators however drop like flies. In ''Film/AliensVsPredatorRequiem'' an entire spaceship of Yautja is annihilated by the Predalien, aided by plain o’l stupidity. In both ''Film/{{Predators}}'' and ''Film/ThePredator'' the classic Predator get reduced to chop liver to big up the Super Predators and Upgrade Predator respectively. Finally averted in ''Film/Prey2022'' where the Feral Predator is portrayed as TheJuggernaut and impossible to beat hand to hand forcing the Comanche heroine to have play smart to kill it (not to mention the Predator in this film was nerfed by the removal of the plasma caster). The biggest factor in this decay, which only ''Prey'' amended is that the first film showed humans cannot defeat the Predator in a straight fight necessitating [[BoobyTrap traps]] and pragmatism. Later films however even good ones like ''Predators'' have the human heroes able to kill the Yautja in close quarters with weapons. Significantly dampening their unstoppable menace.

** InUniverse the Jedi Order suffered this, in ancient times they were pretty much gods who could create and shape life with the force and only their rivals the Sith and to lesser extent the Mandalorians could give them any trouble. By the time of the Republic in the Prequel Trilogy however they’ve become ineffectual and pompous wizard cops with laser swords who can be killed in droves by battle droids and as Luke in The Last Jedi points out easy prey for Palpatine’s AssimilationPlot. In fact one of the reasons Qui-Gon banked so much on TheChosenOne Anakin is because he felt Anakin could restore their decaying order. Averted in ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars'' which depicts the Jedi as absolute powerhouses that lay waste to foes and whom only the likes Grevious and Ventress can match.

** The Empire in general, barring Vader the Emperor get this by the end in the original trilogy. In the first film ''Film/ANewHope'', they’re an overwhelming nigh-unstoppable force who always have the heroes on the back foot and only lost to Luke and co by a hair’s breadth due to combination of good luck, timing and the AchillesHeel in the Death Star’s thermal exhaust port. In ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' as the title suggests force they have the Rebels on the run and the film ends with the good guys defeated, Han frozen in Carbonite and Luke getting his hand lopped off. In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' however they unable to take out one fleet of Rebels even with a fully functional (albeit more vulnerable) Death Star and on Endor their forces are embarrassingly defeated by the cute little teddy bears that are the Ewoks. ''Film/RogueOne'' and ''Series/{{Andor}}'' however go to great lengths re-establishing the Empire as almost an metaphorical force of unbeatable galactic evil.

** Tenshinhan PlayedWith this trope before it was PlayedStraight. He was once one of the most powerful characters in the early part of ''Dragon Ball'' and was one of the few humans who could match Goku in combat. While he does lose to Nappa (and is DemotedToExtra after), it's acknowledged if Nappa didn't dodge his Kikoho he could've died, and he still managed to slightly stand his ground against him. Later, while he is rendered largely useless compared to the Super Saiyans and Piccolo, him holding down Semi-Perfect Cell is something of a SignatureScene for his character for how brave and unexpectedly awesome it was, and in the Bojack Movie, while he gets stomped when Trunks goes Super Saiyan, the fight before then is pretty evenly matched, showing Tien is still a badass in his own right. Lastly, while he couldn't do any lasting damage, he still managed to briefly hold his own against Buutenks and save Dende. Given all of these opponents he faced were far more powerful than Tien (and the other humans did far worst against them), it made Tenshinhan come off as ''more'' badass to some despite being lower on the JustForFun/SuperWeight scale than Goku, Vegeta, Gohan or the other villains. However, come ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', Tien gets hit with this ''hard'', having no character focus or awesome moments. Like with Yamcha, Tien does at least get to kick ass again in the Moro arc though.

** [[Characters/BatmanJasonTodd Jason Todd]]'s character progression goes up and down more times than a roller coaster; he had a rough start both in universe and out. Replacing the vastly more popular [[Characters/NightwingDickGrayson Dick Grayson]] in addition to disobeying and antagonizing Batman caused thousands of fans [[TheScrappy to hate Jason's guts]] to the point where fans eventually voted for him [[ComicBook/ADeathInTheFamily to be killed by the Joker]], though the vote was close and some fans were [[AlasPoorScrappy upset]] by Jason's demise. DC brought Jason back as the morally unstable [[GunsAkimbo gun toting]] inconstant AntiHero[=/=]AntiVillain serial killing psychopath Red Hood who won over fans with his troubled backstory and the strain fighting him puts on the Bats. Alas when the DCU [[ContinuityReboot rebooted]] again Todd stopped being a violent Punisher-pastiche and rejoined the [[BadassFamily Bat-family]]. He changed his stance on killing criminals and was accepted with open arms despite maintaining his history as a serial killer who has made multiple attempts on his little brothers' lives.

** [[Characters/SupermanTheCharacter The title character]] is a complicated case. At the very start of [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks the Golden Age]], Superman was a smug, hot-headed vigilante who bullied crooks and corrupt authority constantly. Gradually, though, his attitude mellowed down -he was nicer but was still a paranoid jerkass- as his powers increased steadily until becoming a planet-destroyer before the beginning of [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks the Silver Age]]. Then, the 1986 reboot both nerfed his powers and softened his personality until turning him into Mr. Nice Guy.

** The Empire in general, barring Vader the Emperor get this by the end in the original trilogy. In the first film Film/ANewHope, they’re an overwhelming nigh-unstoppable force who always have the heroes on the back foot and only lost to Luke and co by a hair’s breadth due to combination of good luck, timing and the AchillesHeel in the Death Star’s thermal exhaust port. In ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' as the title suggests force they have the Rebels on the run and the film ends with the good guys defeated, Han frozen in Carbonite and Luke getting his hand lopped off. In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' however they unable to take out one fleet of Rebels even with a fully functional (albeit more vulnerable) Death Star and on Endor their forces are embarrassingly defeated by the cute little teddy bears that are the Ewoks. ''Film/RogueOne'' and ''Series/{{Andor}}'' however go to great lengths re-establishing the Empire as almost an metaphorical force of unbeatable galactic evil.

** Luke Skywalker himself got a fair amount of this in the Sequel Trilogy compared the Original Trilogy (not to mention Legends). By ''Return of the Jedi'' Luke was an awesome Jedi Knight who sweep through numerous foes and when enraged could even overpower his father TheDreaded Vader. In the SequelSeries however Luke suffers from NotAsYouKnewThem as sensing evil within his nephew Ben and in a MomentOfWeakness contemplates killing him leading to Ben attacking him and destroying the new Jedi Order he had built. By the time we see Luke again in ''Film/TheLastJedi'' he’s a bitter old man whom even newbie Force Sensitive Rey can push around. This is ultimately averted by the climax, where Luke saves the Rebellion from being destroyed by Kylo [[spoiler:force projecting his image across the galaxy to face/distract Kylo]]. ''Series/TheMandalorian'' and ''Series/TheBookOfBobaFett'' mitigate this damage to Luke’s character affirming he was in his prime colossally powerful, just age and misfortune caught up with him by the time of the Sequel Trilogy.

** Loki, the Avengers’s first villain probably suffered the biggest decay in the Infinity Saga. In ''Film/{{Thor}}'' he’s TheChessmaster who gains control of Asgard, almost kills his brother Thor and later wielding Gungnir is able to match Thor in a fight. In ''Film/TheAvengers2012'' he’s even more badass wrecking SHIELD, kicking the crap out of Captain America in a fight and injures Thor with a knife. While he does get beat around a fair amount, it’s not until he pisses off the Hulk is Loki beaten outright and the rest of the time he was in control of the situation. In Film/ThorTheDarkWorld he spends most of the movie imprisoned but is still treated as a great threat and he’s able to help Thor defeat Kurse to avenge their mother and the ending of the film reveals Loki has taken Odin’s place on the throne. In Film/ThorRagnarok Loki is more of a SmugSnake ButtMonkey who is constantly getting push around and punished for his sneakiness by the heroes, especially by Thor (Who TookALevelInBadass) with none of Loki’s tricks able to fool his brother anymore. He does get some pretty cool moments in the FinalBattle though and is technically the one who defeats Hela by [[SummonBiggerFish unleashing Surtur]] upon her. In ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', Loki is choked to death by Thanos only a few minutes into the movie just to highlight Titan’s menace show AnyoneCanDie. In ''Series/Loki2021'' Season 1 Loki is humiliated by the TVA, pushed out a window by {{mooks}} and outwitted by his female AlternateSelf Sylvie. Averted greatly in the second series however, where Loki fully develops his magic and becomes a TimeMaster.

* A peculiar example is Joey Abs of the Mean Street Posse. The Posse (Pete Gas and Rodney) were introduced as childhood friends of Wrestling/{{Shane McMahon}}, but quickly became utilized as comedy jobbers - they were somewhat smaller than most of their fellow wrestlers and they wore dorky sweater vests and khakis. After a couple months, Joey Abs was introduced as their [[TheHeavy heavy]]. He was pretty big, actually looked intimidating, and for his first couple appearances was treated like a genuine threat in the ring. For some reason the company soured on Abs quickly, and in short order he became portrayed as as hapless as Pete Gas and Rodney. To this day, WWE often references Joey Abs in self-deprecating, "what were we thinking?" spots.
* In [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]], this is very common:

** While the Turtles were hit with AdaptationalWimp already, in ''Theatre/ComingOutOfTheirShells'' they actually got ''one'' fight scene and were able to save the day. In ''Gettin' Down in Your Town'' is only one fight scene... and it's when they have Casey fight for them.

* One of the reasons why the ''WesternAnimation/SonicPrime'' incarnation of Sonic is divisive is because he makes numerous mistakes with disastrous consequences (the entire premise gets started because he accidentally destroyed the Prism Shard despite his friends' warnings) and [[AdaptationalDumbass is much less smart]], often needing others (namely Shadow) to rign him in. Not helping matters is that the producers of ''Prime'' have stated that the series is canon to the games, the latest that came out during the show's production, ''VideoGame/SonicFrontiers'', had Sonic at arguably his moth empathetic and most competent.

* Starscream of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'', so very, very much. In the pilot, he was a genuinely frightening, comparatively cool-headed bastardly second in command unrivaled by any other Starscream to date [[spoiler:as Cliffjumper found out]]. Later episodes have seen him as a [[DirtyCoward sniveling coward]] whose fighting style is roughly 90% cheap shots and beating up badly weakened opponents, when he's not getting his ass kicked. Also, he's consistently upstaged and humiliated by Airachnid, and ruined in "Rock Bottom". Though to be fair [[spoiler:he does pretty well in the second half of "Partners," the episode detailing his desertion. He plays Arcee so she doesn't consider him a threat before beating the scrap out of her. Too bad for him she got a HeroicSecondWind.]] Cementing his downfall, seasons 2 and 3 rather consistently portray him as bumbling comic relief. Although he does get very brief moments to shine, when RuleOfCool calls for it, these happen rarely and he tends to get outdone quickly. In one episode, even his own men call him out briefly on his cowardly attitude.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', Brock Samson's love interest accuses him of going through this when he displays uncharacteristic interest in taking care of the kids rather than just guarding them. He is, however, still plenty badass.

** [[MemeticMutation Han shot first!]] Han Solo suffers from a rare case of ''retroactive'' Badass Decay, as [[{{Bowdlerise}} the controversial bowdlerisation]] occurred in the 1997 re-release of the original trilogy. To expound in the original ''Film/ANewHope'' Han mercilessly shoots Greedo in their confrontation at the Cabtina, illustrating how the Smuggler is not to be messed with. In the re-release Greedo shoots first (missing) with Han’s own shoot that kills Greedo being retaliation. While Lucas made the change to make Han look more heroic, most fans prefer the original scene with the edit’s sheer wonkiness to make Han’s head dodge Greedo’s shot only aiding this sentiment.

** Barbossa, very much so. In the first film he’s a chilling and formidable villain who only lost due to Will breaking the immortality curse JustInTime. Upon his resurrection in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd'' as an AloofAlly, he’s less sinister and more goofy but still pretty badass. In ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides On Stranger Tides]]'' and ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMenTellNoTales Dead Men Tell No Tales]]'' he’s far more foppish and in the latter pretty much a HarmlessVillain.

** Loki, the Avengers’s first villain probably suffered the biggest decay in the Infinity Saga. In ''Film/{{Thor}}'' he’s TheChessmaster who gains control of Asgard, almost kills his brother Thor and later wielding Gungnir is able to match Thor in a fight. In ''Film/TheAvengers2012'' he’s even more badass wrecking SHIELD, kicking the crap out of Captain America in a fight and injures Thor with a knife. While he does get beat around a fair amount, it’s not until he pisses off the Hulk is Loki beaten outright and the rest of the time he was in control of the situation. In Film/ThorTheDarkWorld he spends most of the movie imprisoned but is still treated as a great threat and he’s able to help Thor defeat Kurse to avenge their mother and the ending of the film reveals Loki has taken Odin’s place on the throne. In Film/ThorRagnarok Loki is more of a SmugSnake ButtMonkey who is constantly getting push around and punished for his sneakiness by the heroes, especially by Thor (Who TookALevelInBadass) with none of Loki’s tricks able to fool his brother anymore. He does get some pretty cool moments in the FinalBattle though and is technically the one who defeats Hela by [[SummoningTheBiggerFish unleashing Surtur]] upon her. In ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', Loki is choked to death by Thanos only a few minutes into the movie just to highlight Titan’s menace show AnyoneCanDie. In ''Series/Loki2021'' Season 1 Loki is humiliated by the TVA, pushed out a window by {{mooks}} and outwitted by his female AlternateSelf Sylvie. Averted greatly in the second series however, where Loki fully develops his magic and becomes a TimeMaster.
** Bucky Barnes the Winter Soldier was hit with this over time. Upon his CameBackStrong in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' he was significantly more badass than he was in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', going from overshadowed sniper to ImplacableMan with a powerful cyborg arm who the likes Natasha, Sam and Fury cannot hope to beat and who only Cap can match in a fight (despite being the least willing due to Bucky being his dearest friend). In ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' Bucky is still formidable but unfortunately for him there’s several characters he fights in the film who are much more superhuman and subsequently Bucky’s unstoppable status from his previous film gets greatly upended at the hands of Black Panther and Spider-Man, the latter of whom is able do a PunchCatch to his cybernetic arm which gave Cap, Widow and Falcon so much trouble in ''The Winter Soldier''. By the end of the movie he’s gotten his robot arm blown off and is almost killed by Tony. In ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' and ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' Bucky is regulated to cover support and MoreDakka with Rocket, he takes down a few Outriders but is completely ineffectual against Thanos (not to mention getting turned to dust in former film). In ''Series/TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier'' Bucky dips far harder as Karli and the Flagsmashers despite being much less strong than what Bucky has faced previously, all capable of knocking Bucky’s ass around and the unstable John Walker can overpower him as well. Granted it is inferred Bucky’s rehabilitation involves him being less aggressive but even then he’s still a far cry from the TheDreaded OneManArmy he once was in ''The Winter Soldier''.

[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable 1999]]: weaker, and on a quest to buy baby items. [[note]]He thankfully does get a bit better though.[[/note]]]]-]

** Gecko Moria, a former Shichibukai/Warlord of the Sea is acknowledged InUniverse example of this. In his prime during his youth (where he was muscly gothic hot shot rather than he gonkishly overweight Halloween monster we see in Thriller Bark) he explicitly rivalled Kaido, one of the top tier strongest beings in the series whom Luffy needed multiple attempts and a NextTierPowerUp to defeat. While Moria did lose that fight in the past, he’s still displayed as a formidable threat when first introduced as he easily immobilises Luffy, Zoro and Sanji and takes their shadows. He’s also one of the few antagonists who comes closest to killing Luffy and co, as it’s only through good luck that Luffy able to make Moria spew up all the shadows which return to their owners before the sun evaporates everyone without one. Come Marineford however and Moria is considered an outright ButtMonkey by the Marines and fellow Shichibukai as he’s unceremoniously beaten up by Jinbei and almost killed by Domflamingo who declares he’s too weak to continue being a Warlord. Moria’s luck only goes further down hill when he goes to Blackbeard’s IslandBase to rescue Absalom, only to discover his crewmate is dead and he’s quickly defeated and imprisoned.

** The prequel trilogy did this to Darth Vader... sort of. He only shows up properly at the very end of ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', once "Anakin Skywalker" is done and over with, but the one time he's there features [[BigNo one of the most infamous]] {{Narm}} [[BigNo moments ever]] that really makes him seem less impressive. However, ''Film/RogueOne'' undoes this, with a MookHorrorShow that reminds the audience just why he's TheDreaded as he slices through a whole corridor of random soldiers.

** [[MemeticMutation Han shot first!]] Han Solo suffers from a rare case of ''retroactive'' Badass Decay, as [[{{Bowdlerise}} the controversial bowdlerisation]] occurred in the 1997 re-release of the original trilogy.

* Pintel and Ragetti from ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean''. While they were always comic relief, they had no problem with murder in [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl the first film]]. In the [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest two]] [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd sequels]] they are just mischievous at worst. This is even given an in-story justification: After losing their immortality at the end of the first film, they are deliberately trying to avoid provoking people into doing things like shooting them. Also, Ragetti has become religious and is worried about his eventual fate.

* ''Film/AvengersEndgame'':
** Thanos, Mad Titan and galactic conqueror, swiftly proves that the ending of ''Infinity War'' has taken its toll. [[spoiler:He goes from an unstoppable HeroKiller who pulled off a TheBadGuyWins to a crippled farmer who gets rolled over by what's left of the Avengers, and is summarily [[AnArmAndALeg disarmed]] and [[OffWithHisHead decapitated]].]]
** After the five-year timeskip, Thor spirals into a bout of depression, alcoholism, junk food, and lack of exercise. By the time the heroes recruit him for their mission, [[FormerlyFit he's developed a giant beer gut]], and Tony doesn't believe he can wield [[spoiler:their new Infinity Gauntlet]] in his current state.

[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable 1999]]: weaker, and on a quest to buy baby items.]]-]

* An interesting case concerning various ''Website/GoAnimate'' "[[YouAreGrounded Grounded]]" videos. The target of the groundings start off as badass, being able to pull off all of their little stunts no matter how harmless or heinous it is, but the second they are caught, the badassness evaporates -- once the red screen filter comes and the "OHOHOHOHOHOHOH!" starts flying, the person is helpless and they immediately run to their room to cry.

** This is actually evident with many reformed villains in [[ShonenDemographic Shōnen]] series. Sticking with ''Manga/DragonBall'', Yamcha was once a feared bandit who rivaled Goku in martial arts prowess. He then spends the rest of the series doing absolutely nothing of importance. Unlike the other heroes below, Yamcha actually up and retires after getting a hole in his chest courtesy of Android #20/Dr. Gero. This is telling that, by ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', he's become a baseball player full-time and is the only Z Fighter not to participate in the Universal Survival arc, replaced by Android #17.

** Tenshinhan PlayedWith this trope before it was PlayedStraight. He was once one of the most powerful characters in the early part of ''Dragon Ball'' and was one of the few humans who could match Goku in combat. While he does lose to Nappa (and is DemotedToExtra after), it's acknowledged if Nappa didn't dodge his Kikoho he could've died, and he still managed to slightly stand his ground against him. Later, while he is rendered largely useless compared to the Super Saiyans and Piccolo, him holding down Semi-Perfect Cell is something of a SignatureScene for his character for how brave and unexpectedly awesome it was, and in the Bojack Movie, while he gets stomped when Trunks goes Super Saiyan, the fight before then is pretty evenly matched, showing Tien is still a badass in his own right. Lastly, while he couldn't do any lasting damage, he still managed to briefly hold his own against Buutenks and save Dende. Given all of these opponents he faced were far more powerful than Tien (and the other humans did far worst against them), it made Tenshinhan come off as ''more'' badass to some despite being lower on the JustForFun/SuperWeight scale than Goku, Vegeta, Gohan or the other villains. However, come ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', Tien gets hit with this ''hard'', having no character focus or awesome moments.
** Even ''Gohan'' suffers this, although not in as direct a path as Vegeta. At the beginning of ''Dragon Ball Z'', he's implied to have great 'hidden power' and this is shown repeatedly throughout the Saiyan and Namek sagas, with him injuring or even fighting evenly with much more powerful opponents for short times. He fades from prominence in the Android and Cell sagas, but all the buildup eventually culminates in him becoming the most powerful character in the series in the Cell Games. By the time the Buu saga rolls around, however, he's a glorified punching bag, and though he eventually makes an attempted return to glory, it lasts about three episodes before he goes back to getting thoroughly destroyed. Kid just could not fill the old man's shoes. Possibly justified in Gohan's case in that he doesn't really ''want'' to be [[IAmNotMyFather like Goku]] and [[IJustWantToBeNormal really just wants to study and be a scholar]] like [[EducationMama Chi-Chi]] [[MommasBoy wanted.]] This is taken to its logical extreme come ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', when he cannot even hold a basic Super Saiyan form due to neglecting his training for so long. [[spoiler:However, after the events of the ''Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF'' adaptation, which had Frieza kill Piccolo because his stagnation forced the Namekian to save his life, Gohan has decided to get back into training, so it seems that this trope might be subverted for him.]] In ''Anime/DragonBallSuperSuperHero'', [[spoiler:this trope has been very much averted where he gains the exclusive "Gohan Beast" transformation]].

** Many Logia users in general are this after the Time Skip, because they tend to rely heavily on their respective elemental defenses. They were once seen as nearly invincible, but now, they come across as [[SquishyWizard Squishy Wizards]] in the face of ''novice'' Haki users. However, Logia users such as [[AnIcePerson Kuzan]] (AKA [[spoiler:former]] Admiral Aokiji), [[MagmaMan Fleet Admiral Akainu]], and [[CastingAShadow Blackbeard]] avert this trope, as they are each viewed as TheDreaded.

** Mokuba. Again, the franchise from before and after the universe revolved around Duel Monsters can be considered two different series with [[InNameOnly curious name similarities]]. The ''old'' Mokuba was an EnfantTerrible and wanted to kill Yugi, being one of the better villains in the series, being a '''KnightOfCerebus''' in the manga. In the''Duel Monsters anime'', he mostly exists as a MoralityPet to Kaiba.

** Surpassing both Juggernaut and Exodus in the Badass Decay awards is [[Characters/MarvelComicsSabretooth Sabretooth]]. Originally TheDreaded to [[Characters/MarvelComicsLogan Wolverine]], Sabretooth first started falling from grace in the mid '90s when Wolvie gave him a forcible lobotomy. He spent some time in the X-Men's care due to this before regaining his original bloodthirsty personality, but the Sabretooth who was AlwaysSomeoneBetter to Logan was effectively gone. His next appearance had him being pitted against Wolverine by [[Characters/MarvelComicsApocalypse Apocalypse]] to see which of them was more fit to be his horseman and being decisively beaten. But then along came (you guessed it) ''Chuck Austen'', who dragged Sabretooth down further into the depths of HarmlessVillain territory. How harmless? Wolverine and the X-Men ''laugh at him'' when he invades the X-Mansion alongside Exodus and Juggernaut above, and a teenage mutant girl with no SuperStrength at all punches him out. For whatever reason, Chuck Austen seemed to be set on dragging as many Badass X-Men villains down into this as he could before leaving the X-books.

* In ''WesternAnimation/PenguinsOfMadagascar'', the North Wind is introduced giving a CurbStompBattle to several mooks that had been giving the penguins trouble. They never do anything equally impressive after that. Though this can be partially attributed to their rivalry with the penguins impeding their effectiveness, even after they decide to cooperate with the penguins, they are quickly taken out of the fight in the final battle.
* Prince Eric from ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}'' goes from so badass that he does almost all of the action scenes in the first movie, to not even bothering to lift a sword in [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIIReturnToTheSea the direct-to-video sequel]] to rescue his infant child. [[TookALevelInBadass Inversely]], Ariel goes from being mostly a DamselInDistress to taking Eric's sword off his belt ''while he's wearing it'' and rescuing said infant daughter while Eric stands back dumb-founded. Apparently it's impossible for both of them to be competent at the same time.

* Diego from ''WesternAnimation/IceAge'' started off as with being a badass being his defining trait to getting his ass kicked repeatedly in the fourth movie.

* While calling her badass might be a bit of a stretch, Belle from ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' was shown to be an assertive young woman who isn't willing to take shit from JerkAss guys like Gaston. In fact, she's the main reason why Beast TookALevelInKindness to begin with. In the [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeastTheEnchantedChristmas direct-to-video]] [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeastBellesMagicalWorld midquels]], however, she's portrayed as an air-headed ExtremeDoormat who has to ''apologize'' for telling Beast that his bad behavior isn't acceptable.
* [[EnfantTerrible Louise]] isn't nearly as courageous in ''WesternAnimation/TheBobsBurgersMovie'' as she is in [[WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers the show]], with an entire arc about needing to face her fears and become braver. When Chloe calls her a baby, Louise's response is to mope about it, when the Louise from the earlier seasons would have likely concocted an elaborate revenge plan (such as in "Ear-sy Rider", where she tried to have a biker gang cut off Logan Bush's ears after the latter stole her hat).

** Robert Baratheon was before the events of ''Game of Thrones'', considered to be one of the finest warriors. By the time the series begins Robert has became a fat pathetic man who eats and drinks too much and is also terrible king. The former led to the latter, as he knew he had to take the throne no matter how much he hated it to keep it away from worse hands, and trying to eat, drink and fuck the [[TheLostLenore various]] [[ShellShockedVeteran pains]] he had away rather than do anything kingly brought him down to a shadow of what he once was.

* ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'': Nicky Cavella's first introduction in ''ComicBook/ThePunisherMAX'' paints him as a suave, AffablyEvil badass who smooth talks his partners and generally acts like a pretty decent guy (until he gets down to business), yet the mobsters of New York are [[BewareTheNiceOnes terrified of him]] and he's done ''something'' to put him in charge of the two most [[AxCrazy dangerously]] {{psycho|ForHire}}tic killers in the mob. When his plans come crashing down around him, he isn't so cocky and smooth anymore and runs away while using the man he conned into helping him as a meat shield. Even so, he still seems like a pretty dangerous and effective villain (not least because he subverted BondVillainStupidity). But in his next (and last) appearance, he is the complete opposite of everything that he was in the first comic. He's whiny, stupid, {{smug snake}}ish and just [[DepravedBisexual creepy]] and [[EnfantTerrible weird]]. Readers do get to see his origin story, and one part of it is horrifyingly [[EvilIsCool cool]], but overall his badass credentials seem to have been left in his other pair of pants.

Compare with MenaceDecay, MotiveDecay, VillainDecay, NotBadassEnoughForFans, and TheWorfEffect. Compare and contrast BaitTheDog and MoralEventHorizon, where a Badass character loses their cool as a result of [[KickTheDog dog kicking]].

* ''VideoGame/DarkSeed'': While Mike Dawson's no ActionHero in the first game, he's still a brave and intelligent man who handles the situation without too much trouble. In the sequel, however, he becomes a whiny, cowardly manchild who uses Dark World gadgets to cheat at carnival games because he can't win them legitimately.

* ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'': The title character started out with about average intelligence, and was a skilled enough martial artist to subdue a crocodile with his bare hands. While he was overconfident, reckless and socially inept, he was far from a complete punching bag. But in later seasons, he degenerated into a stupid, sexist, immature loser meathead who got repeatedly humiliated by six year olds. The final season, however, would make efforts to return him to his earlier characterization, undoing some of the decay he suffered.

* [[Characters/BatmanBane Bane]] went through a lot of this. After ''ComicBook/{{Knightfall}}'', he went from defeating Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}} to losing to everyone from Azrael to Judomaster's SON. Most significantly, his SuperSerum venom quickly shifted to a WeaksauceWeakness where he was almost instantly disabled without a constant supply; beforehand, he was shown to [[BroughtDownToBadass still be very competent and dangerous without it]]. Creator/GailSimone has been reversing most of this in ''ComicBook/SecretSix''.
* [[Characters/BatmanJasonTodd Jason Todd]]'s character progression goes up and down more times than a roller coaster; he had a rough start both in universe and out. Replacing the vastly more popular [[Characters/NightwingDickGrayson Dick Grayson]] in addition to disobeying and antagonizing Batman caused thousands of fans [[TheScrappy to hate Jason's guts]] to the point where fans eventually voted for him [[ComicBook/ADeathInTheFamily to be killed by the Joker]], though the vote was close and some fans were [[AlasPoorScrappy upset]] by Jason's demise. DC brought Jason back as the morally unstable [[GunsAkimbo gun toting]] inconstant AntiHero[=/=]AntiVillain serial killing psychopath Red Hood who won over fans with his troubled backstory and the strain fighting him puts on the Bats. Alas when the DCU [[ContinuityReboot rebooted]] again Todd stopped being a violent Punisher-pastiche and rejoined the [[BadassFamily Bat-family]]. He changed his stance on killing criminals and was accepted with open arms despite maintaining his history as a serial killer who has made multiple attempts on his little brothers' lives.
* Thorn started off as a pretty badass (if gimmicky) feminist vigilante who went around kicking ass and teaming up with the likes of [[Characters/SupermanLoisLane Lois Lane]] and ComicBook/GreenArrow. By the time the year 2000 rolled in, she had become an ineffectual joke who appeared as a recurring thorn in the side (pun intended) to [[ComicBook/GothamCitySirens Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy]]. It became something of a running joke where the duo would be attacked by Thorn while committing a crime, only to easily defeat her and leave her BoundAndGagged. A couple years later Creator/GailSimone revived the character and made her into a cunning antiheroine who fought the ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey.
* Ragamuffin from ''ComicBook/LenoreTheCuteLittleDeadGirl'' is shown to eat a woman ''[[HorrorHunger alive]]'' in the first issue. Due [[SealedEvilInATeddyBear to his transformation in a rag doll]], he dropped from a {{Magnificent|Bastard}} [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Vampire]] to a cuddly toy, used to entertain Lenore. After he reverts back to his vampire form in issue 12, he is devoted to [[TheNotLoveInterest her]] and [[KnightTemplarParent his sole purpose is her protection]].
* A rather insignificant example of this is when it turns out Abe Sapien from ''ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}'' gets seasick in ''Drums of the Dead''. Abe remarks, "Being in the water is different from being on the water" or somesuch.
* Nicky Cavella's first introduction in ''ComicBook/ThePunisherMAX'' paints him as a suave, AffablyEvil badass who smooth talks his partners and generally acts like a pretty decent guy (until he gets down to business), yet the mobsters of New York are [[BewareTheNiceOnes terrified of him]] and he's done ''something'' to put him in charge of the two most [[AxCrazy dangerously]] {{psycho|ForHire}}tic killers in the mob. When his plans come crashing down around him, he isn't so cocky and smooth anymore and runs away while using the man he conned into helping him as a meat shield. Even so, he still seems like a pretty dangerous and effective villain (not least because he subverted BondVillainStupidity). But in his next (and last) appearance, he is the complete opposite of everything that he was in the first comic. He's whiny, stupid, {{smug snake}}ish and just [[DepravedBisexual creepy]] and [[EnfantTerrible weird]]. Readers do get to see his origin story, and one part of it is horrifyingly [[EvilIsCool cool]], but overall his badass credentials seem to have been left in his other pair of pants.
* For the first three decades of publication history, the Characters/{{Juggernaut|MarvelComics}} was a physically unstoppable villain empowered by the deity Cyttorak. Some of the notable feats include withstanding [[Characters/MarvelComicsThorOdinson Thor's]] "godforce" unharmed, an attack that was earlier shown capable of severely injuring [[Characters/MarvelComicsGalactus Galactus]]. Then during ''ComicBook/{{Onslaught}}'' the Juggernaut gets a taste of TheWorfEffect, as he is knocked clean across two states and ends up comatose for several days just to show how badass Onslaught is. [[RedemptionDemotion Things went further downhill]] as Creator/ChuckAusten wrote him as part of the ComicBook/XMen. Juggernaut, who before had been capable of going for weeks if not years without air, food, or water, can suddenly drown in Austen's first story featuring him. There was absolutely no explanation for why the Juggernaut was suddenly very stoppable, and later authors have scrambled for a {{retcon}} to explain that. The latest line comes from ''ComicBook/FearItself: The Worthy'', which says that Juggernaut's power goes "up and down on Cyttorak's whim". [[VoodooShark That is something that has never happened before]], even when the Juggernaut went dimension-hopping with ComicBook/DoctorStrange and tried to kill Cyttorak when coming face to face with him.[[note]]Though in the latter case Cyttorak might've just been [[VillainRespect impressed enough with Juggy having the balls to fight him]] to not punish him with a depower.[[/note]] Or when the Juggernaut screwed up a bet between Cyttorak and other deities in The Eighth Day, he was confirmed to still possess unstoppable strength from Cyttorak's enchantments in the follow-up story The Ninth Day.
* [[Characters/MarvelComicsExodus Exodus]] was originally created to be [[Characters/MarvelComicsMagneto Magneto]]'s successor as the top mutant threat to the X-Men and throughout the first half of the '90s he more than lived up to his lofty claim of being "[[BadassBoast Magneto's heir in spirit and in power]]", flattening all of X-Force in just his second appearance before starring as the BigBad of the ''ComicBook/{{Blood Ties|MarvelComics}}'' crossover in which he effortlessly defeated a fully-armored War Machine, matched and overcame [[ComicBook/TheEternals the Eternal]] Sersi, and in the story's climax fought off virtually the entirety of both the Avengers and X-Men teams singlehandedly while ''also'' crushing the entire island of Genosha beneath the force of his telekinesis. Then he succumbed to OrcusOnHisThrone and spent a few years just sort of sitting around, until the ''ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse'' villain Holocaust was transported over to the regular timeline and the decision was made to have him fight Exodus sans his PoweredArmor to [[TheWorfEffect show how strong he was]] (despite Exodus logically being able to defeat him with his telepathy [[ForgotAboutHisPowers if he'd just bothered to use it]]). Much like Juggernaut above, Exodus would be further dragged downhill by Chuck Austen, who wrote him as a very generic sort of baddie who struggled to match Havok and got told off by one of his own lackies, a teenage elephant boy. Unlike Juggernaut, this bizarre dip in competence has never been addressed, and later appearances only dragged him down further, with ''Messiah Complex'' using him as a victim of TheWorfEffect (again) to build up [[Characters/MarvelComicsNightcrawler Nightcrawler]] and [[Characters/MarvelComicsEmmaFrost Emma Frost]]. He's been handled with more respect since then, but is still written as being below Magneto in power, despite ''Blood Ties'' establishing him as Magneto's equal if not superior.
* Surpassing both Juggernaut and Exodus in the Badass Decay awards is [[Characters/MarvelComicsSabretooth Sabretooth]]. Originally TheDreaded to [[Characters/MarvelComicsLogan Wolverine]], Sabretooth first started falling from grace in the mid '90s when Wolvie gave him a forcible lobotomy. He spent some time in the X-Men's care due to this before regaining his original bloodthirsty personality, but the Sabretooth who was AlwaysSomeoneBetter to Logan was effectively gone. His next appearance had him being pitted against Wolverine by [[Characters/MarvelComicsApocalypse Apocalypse]] to see which of them was more fit to be his horseman and being decisively beaten. But then along came (you guessed it) ''Chuck Austen'', who dragged Sabretooth down further into the depths of HarmlessVillain territory. How harmless? Wolverine and the X-Men ''laugh at him'' when he invades the X-Mansion alongside Exodus and Juggernaut above, and a teenage mutant girl with no SuperStrength at all punches him out. For whatever reason, Chuck Austen seemed to be set on dragging as many Badass X-Men villains down into this as he could before leaving the X-books.
* Happens on the cosmic scale as well, [[Characters/MarvelComicsGalactus Galactus]] and the Celestials have lost A LOT of their aura of invincibility over the decades. Galactus gets trussed up like a turkey and used as fuel for a bomb in ComicBook/{{Annihilation}} and in ''ComicBook/JLAAvengers'' was not only killed by the story's BigBad but ''hollowed out and used as the Big Bad's fortress''. Meanwhile Celestials have died from being eaten from the inside out by Many-Angled Ones during Annihilation and space bugs in the ComicBook/TheAvengers 2018 edition, Celestials have also died from a single chop done by Thor's [[ComicBook/UncannyAvengers cursed axe]] and [[Characters/MarvelComicsApocalypse Apocalypse]] was even allowed to kill one OFFSCREEN. The cosmic hero [[Characters/Warlock1967 Adam Warlock]] has degenerated from the Marvel U's [[MessianicArchetype version of Jesus]] to just another space guy with a SuperpoweredEvilSide, and [[ComicBook/XMen Gladiator]] has fallen from the preeminent SupermanSubstitute of Marvel to one of the patron saints of TheWorfEffect.
* The Creator/MarvelComics version of the MultiversalConqueror [[Characters/DoctorStrangeEnemies Dormammu]] has been subjected to this to a more ridiculous degree than any other Marvel character over the years. In the old days he was able to one-shot the [[ComicBook/XMen Phoenix Force]], absorb many universes into his own realm that he rules as a [[DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans god-tyrant]], defeat the multiversal incarnation of [[CosmicEntity Eternity]] (with help from his sister Umar), and likely killed [[EldritchAbomination The Trinity of Ashes and Slorioth]], who threatened Eternity just by existing. He was also more than a match for several [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils Hell-lords]] combined during a campaign to conquer their realms, and they had to use a specific weakness of his as a cheat in order to prevail. All of this outside of his own realm, wherein he is far more powerful. However from 2007 or so and onwards, he has been treated as a pushover that has been defeated or severely damaged by objectively enormously less powerful characters, such as [[WeakButSkilled Cyclops and the Howling Commandos]].
* In his original appearance, [[Franchise/{{Tintin}} Roberto Rastapopoulos]] was portrayed as an actually threatening villain, being a MagnificentBastard who led a whole drug traffic in the first story arc in the whole series, almost succeeded in killing Tintin at several points. In ''Fly 714 for Sydney'', he is turned into a comical villain who ends up accidentally revealing his whole plan under the effect of a truth serum and get heavily ridiculed, even failing to crush a ''spider''. Might be intentional, however, as Hergé's purpose when writing this book was to {{deconstruct|ion}} the adventure genre.
* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'' had this happen with Metal Sonic. The "Version 3.0" had started out as something of a big threat. However, in the span of about 75 issues, that threat level disappeared quickly, becoming something of a joke. The fans, Sega and ultimately writer Creator/IanFlynn got tired of that, though.
* [[Characters/MarvelComicsDeadpool Deadpool]] in a lot of crossovers or being a RoguesGalleryTransplant partly for publicity but also his villains fell from grace a while ago. Notable during the Daniel Way run where Deadpool took care of almost all of them without healing factor with ridiculous ease (particularly Slayback and T-Ray, the former giving Deadpool a mental breakdown when he saw him and the latter being his nemesis for a long time, being blown up despite healing factors as good as Deadpool's).
* Probably the worst case of this in comics comes from ComicBook/{{Batman}} baddie Killer Moth. When he was created, he was built up to be the "anti-Batman" and he was genuinely a credible threat to the Caped Crusader. However, his threat level fell apart when he became the target for Characters/{{Batgirl}}'s first appearance. After that, he was considered a joke and not even his transformation into Charaxas during ''ComicBook/UnderworldUnleashed'' could help save him. About the closest Killer Moth had been in any media to being a credible threat was during ''WesternAnimation/{{Teen Titans|2003}}'', and even then he got pushed around by his BrattyTeenageDaughter Kitten.
* ''ComicBook/Robin1993'': Johnny Warren starts out as a truly terrifying mob enforcer who first runs into Robin after spending a day torturing a woman out of boredom while hoping the woman's boyfriend, who stole from his boss, shows up so he can torture and kill him too. He loses a hand in an explosion then gains immense magical power and becomes a LifeDrinker after being possessed by a demonic object, and goes on a killing spree where he murders his family, bosses and a bunch of cops. Since he was by this point powerful enough to tank a kryptonian level threat and Robin would have no chance against him he ends up being unable to get over the pain of once losing his hand in a fight with Robin, causing his powers to hurt himself when he fights him rather than Tim. He then flees Gotham and sends minions after Robin before fading into obscurity.

* ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMarvel'' solidified the idea of [[MerchandiseDriven "to sell toys"]] in the fanbase, due to its heavy use of this. In general, when a character with a new toy debuts, they are treated as extremely dangerous and powerful and receive a fair bit of focus. Once their toy is off the shelves, they fall OutOfFocus and their performance becomes a joke. The most famous such instance was Omega Supreme: in his first appearance, he was so big that other characters came up to his knee, and was strong enough that he fought all of Earth's Decepticons and completely curbstomped them. About thirty issues later, he was maybe a head taller than Blaster, and got taken down offhandedly in a single panel by Buzzsaw, who is about a tenth his size and was actually one of the Decepticons that Omega easily crushed in his first outing.

** Wrestling/JayLethal had a stretch where he pinned TNA Champion Wrestling/KurtAngle clean, won the X-Division Title, and saved the aforementioned X-Division from [[Wrestling/TheDudleyBoys Team 3D]]. The latter, he did ALL BY HIMSELF. During all of this, he was getting the attention of [[HeroesWantRedheads So Cal Val]]. Immediately after he got the girl, saved the X-Division, and got his title back, Sonjay Dutt wooed Val away from him. That was the beginning. Val remained undecided on who to shack up with, until she turned on Lethal, killing him for good.

* Thorn started off as a pretty badass (if gimmicky) feminist vigilante who went around kicking ass and teaming up with the likes of [[Characters/SupermanLoisLane Lois Lane]] and ComicBook/GreenArrow. By the time the year 2000 rolled in, she had become an ineffectual joke who appeared as a recurring thorn in the side (pun intended) to [[Comicbook/GothamCitySirens Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy]]. It became something of a running joke where the duo would be attacked by Thorn while committing a crime, only to easily defeat her and leave her BoundAndGagged. A couple years later Creator/GailSimone revived the character and made her into a cunning antiheroine who fought the ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey.

* For the first three decades of publication history, the Characters/{{Juggernaut|MarvelComics}} was a physically unstoppable villain empowered by the deity Cyttorak. Some of the notable feats include withstanding [[Characters/MarvelComicsThorOdinson Thor's]] "godforce" unharmed, an attack that was earlier shown capable of severely injuring [[Characters/MarvelComicsGalactus Galactus]]. Then during ''ComicBook/{{Onslaught}}'' the Juggernaut gets a taste of TheWorfEffect, as he is knocked clean across two states and ends up comatose for several days just to show how badass Onslaught is. [[RedemptionDemotion Things went further downhill]] as Creator/ChuckAusten wrote him as part of the Comicbook/XMen. Juggernaut, who before had been capable of going for weeks if not years without air, food, or water, can suddenly drown in Austen's first story featuring him. There was absolutely no explanation for why the Juggernaut was suddenly very stoppable, and later authors have scrambled for a {{retcon}} to explain that. The latest line comes from ''Comicbook/FearItself: The Worthy'', which says that Juggernaut's power goes "up and down on Cyttorak's whim". [[VoodooShark That is something that has never happened before]], even when the Juggernaut went dimension-hopping with Comicbook/DoctorStrange and tried to kill Cyttorak when coming face to face with him.[[note]]Though in the latter case Cyttorak might've just been [[VillainRespect impressed enough with Juggy having the balls to fight him]] to not punish him with a depower.[[/note]] Or when the Juggernaut screwed up a bet between Cyttorak and other deities in The Eighth Day, he was confirmed to still possess unstoppable strength from Cyttorak's enchantments in the follow-up story The Ninth Day.

* Happens on the cosmic scale as well, [[Characters/MarvelComicsGalactus Galactus]] and the Celestials have lost A LOT of their aura of invincibility over the decades. Galactus gets trussed up like a turkey and used as fuel for a bomb in ComicBook/{{Annihilation}} and in ''ComicBook/JLAAvengers'' was not only killed by the story's BigBad but ''hollowed out and used as the Big Bad's fortress''. Meanwhile Celestials have died from being eaten from the inside out by Many-Angled Ones during Annihilation and space bugs in the ComicBook/TheAvengers 2018 edition, Celestials have also died from a single chop done by Thor's [[ComicBook/UncannyAvengers cursed axe]] and [[Characters/MarvelComicsApocalypse Apocalypse]] was even allowed to kill one OFFSCREEN. The cosmic hero [[Characters/Warlock1967 Adam Warlock]] has degenerated from the Marvel U's [[MessianicArchetype version of Jesus]] to just another space guy with a SuperpoweredEvilSide, and [[Franchise/XMen Gladiator]] has fallen from the preeminent SupermanSubstitute of Marvel to one of the patron saints of TheWorfEffect.

** Tenshinhan PlayedWith this trope before it was PlayedStraight. He was once one of the most powerful characters in the early part of ''Dragon Ball'' and was one of the few humans who could match Goku in combat. While he does lose to Nappa (and is DemotedToExtra after), it's acknowledged if Nappa didn't dodge his Kikoho he could've died, and he still managed to slightly stand his ground against him. Later, while he is rendered largely useless compared to the Super Saiyans and Piccolo, him holding down Semi-Perfect Cell is something of a SignatureScene for his character for how brave and unexpectedly awesome it was, and in the Bojack Movie, while he gets stomped when Trunks goes Super Saiyan, the fight before then is pretty evenly matched, showing Tien is still a badass in his own right. Lastly, while he couldn't do any lasting damage, he still managed to briefly hold his own against Buutenks and save Dende. Given all of these opponents he faced were far more powerful than Tien (and the other humans did far worst against them), it made Tenshinhan come off as ''more'' badass to some despite being lower on the SuperWeight scale than Goku, Vegeta, Gohan or the other villains. However, come ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', Tien gets hit with this ''hard'', having no character focus or awesome moments.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLuckyDimeCaper'' starring WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck, Donald fought off bosses such as a bear and a lion and was armed with weapons such as [[DropTheHammer a hammer]] and [[DeadlyDisc a disc]]. In the sequel, ''VideoGame/DeepDuckTrouble'', Donald has neither of those weapons, so his basic method of attacking his enemies is kicking blocks at them or [[GoombaStomp jumping on them]]. He also flees from bosses such as a gorilla, a shark, and a falcon instead of directly fighting them.

* For the first three decades of publication history, the Characters/{{Juggernaut|MarvelComics}} was a physically unstoppable villain empowered by the deity Cyttorak. Some of the notable feats include withstanding [[Characters/TheMightyThorThorOdinson Thor's]] "godforce" unharmed, an attack that was earlier shown capable of severely injuring [[Characters/MarvelComicsGalactus Galactus]]. Then during ComicBook/{{Onslaught}} the Juggernaut gets a taste of TheWorfEffect, as he is knocked clean across two states and ends up comatose for several days just to show how badass Onslaught is. [[RedemptionDemotion Things went further downhill]] as Creator/ChuckAusten wrote him as part of the Comicbook/XMen. Juggernaut, who before had been capable of going for weeks if not years without air, food, or water, can suddenly drown in Austen's first story featuring him. There was absolutely no explanation for why the Juggernaut was suddenly very stoppable, and later authors have scrambled for a {{retcon}} to explain that. The latest line comes from ''Comicbook/FearItself: The Worthy'', which says that Juggernaut's power goes "up and down on Cyttorak's whim". [[VoodooShark That is something that has never happened before]], even when the Juggernaut went dimension-hopping with Comicbook/DoctorStrange and tried to kill Cyttorak when coming face to face with him.[[note]]Though in the latter case Cyttorak might've just been [[VillainRespect impressed enough with Juggy having the balls to fight him]] to not punish him with a depower.[[/note]] Or when the Juggernaut screwed up a bet between Cyttorak and other deities in The Eighth Day, he was confirmed to still possess unstoppable strength from Cyttorak's enchantments in the follow-up story The Ninth Day.
* [[Characters/MarvelComicsExodus Exodus]] was originally created to be [[Characters/MarvelComicsMagneto Magneto]]'s successor as the top mutant threat to the X-Men and throughout the first half of the '90s he more than lived up to his lofty claim of being "[[BadassBoast Magneto's heir in spirit and in power]]", flattening all of X-Force in just his second appearance before starring as the BigBad of the ''ComicBook/{{Blood Ties|MarvelComics}}'' crossover in which he effortlessly defeated a fully-armored War Machine, matched and overcame [[ComicBook/TheEternals the Eternal]] Sersi, and in the story's climax fought off virtually the entirety of both the Avengers and X-Men teams singlehandedly while ''also'' crushing the entire island of Genosha beneath the force of his telekinesis. Then he succumbed to OrcusOnHisThrone and spent a few years just sort of sitting around, until the ''ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse'' villain Holocaust was transported over to the regular timeline and the decision was made to have him fight Exodus sans his PoweredArmor to [[TheWorfEffect show how strong he was]] (despite Exodus logically being able to defeat him with his telepathy [[ForgotAboutHisPowers if he'd just bothered to use it]]). Much like Juggernaut above, Exodus would be further dragged downhill by Chuck Austen, who wrote him as a very generic sort of baddie who struggled to match Havok and got told off by one of his own lackies, a teenage elephant boy. Unlike Juggernaut, this bizarre dip in competence has never been addressed, and later appearances only dragged him down further, with ''Messiah Complex'' using him as a victim of TheWorfEffect (again) to build up [[Characters/MarvelComicsNightcrawler Nightcrawler]] and Characters/{{Emma Frost|WhiteQueen}}. He's been handled with more respect since then, but is still written as being below Magneto in power, despite ''Blood Ties'' establishing him as Magneto's equal if not superior.
* Surpassing both Juggernaut and Exodus in the Badass Decay awards is [[Characters/MarvelComicsSabretooth Sabretooth]]. Originally TheDreaded to Characters/{{Wolverine|JamesLoganHowlett}}, Sabretooth first started falling from grace in the mid '90s when Wolvie gave him a forcible lobotomy. He spent some time in the X-Men's care due to this before regaining his original bloodthirsty personality, but the Sabretooth who was AlwaysSomeoneBetter to Logan was effectively gone. His next appearance had him being pitted against Wolverine by [[Characters/MarvelComicsApocalypse Apocalypse]] to see which of them was more fit to be his horseman and being decisively beaten. But then along came (you guessed it) ''Chuck Austen'', who dragged Sabretooth down further into the depths of HarmlessVillain territory. How harmless? Wolverine and the X-Men ''laugh at him'' when he invades the X-Mansion alongside Exodus and Juggernaut above, and a teenage mutant girl with no SuperStrength at all punches him out. For whatever reason, Chuck Austen seemed to be set on dragging as many Badass X-Men villains down into this as he could before leaving the X-books.

* Characters/{{Deadpool|WadeWilson}} in a lot of crossovers or being a RoguesGalleryTransplant partly for publicity but also his villains fell from grace a while ago. Notable during the Daniel Way run where Deadpool took care of almost all of them without healing factor with ridiculous ease (particularly Slayback and T-Ray, the former giving Deadpool a mental breakdown when he saw him and the latter being his nemesis for a long time, being blown up despite healing factors as good as Deadpool's).