History Main / BadassOnPaper

* ''{{Manga/Trigun}}'': Vash The Stampede, AKA [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Humanoid Typhoon]]. A legendary force of destruction, leaving nothing but rubble in his wake and sporting the world's highest bounty (60 billion double dollars). Then you meet him... a goofy, spiky-haired nitwit, with a great love of donuts. Most of the destruction comes from the many, many, ''many'' people constantly trying to kill him. ''[[BewareTheNiceOnes Most]]'' [[PersonOfMassDestruction of it]]. [[spoiler: That said, much of the act is ObfuscatingStupidity. Piss him off enough, and you learn firsthand where the page picture on GlowingEyesOfDoom came from.]]

* ComicBook/SquirrelGirl. She's an adorable little brunette who can talk to squirrels. Who has a tail. She's also defeated Dr. Doom ''and'' Iron Man. Summed up in a line from one of the examples on her page: Each new issue answers one question: how many overpowered super villains can Squirrel Girl defeat?

* ''Literature/TheKingkillerChronicle'': Kvothe in the ''Literature/TheNameOfTheWind'' is badass and does some very impressive things but the legends are even more insane. By ''Literature/TheWiseMansFear'', however, he's living up to the legends in truth.

** And don't think he doesn't know it, too. In Turn Coat, he is [[spoiler:ordered to be arrested, and is outnumbered by five hardened wardens as well as three members of the Senior Council, i.e. the strongest wizards in the world]]. When they approach extremely carefully, he's initially puzzled by their caution, since any one of them could likely beat him in a fight, especially after the events of the book have whittled down his stamina and resources, until he thinks about how he looks from their perspective and realizes:

* ''LightNovel/ThatTimeIGotReincarnatedASaSlime'': There's Masayuki Honjou. An otherworlder who got the hero's skill series and they work together to manipulate events and perceptions to put him in a great light, so that's he's even thought to be a hero. In reality, partly because his skills causes the defeats of his enemies before he even has to do someting, he's barely able to hold a sword.

* ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'': A villainous example with Jack Spicer. In the span of three seasons he has built countless robotic armies, a time machine, a Shen Gong Wu detector, a shapeshifter, highly impressive AI, is responsible for the release of Wuya thus causing the Wu to start revealing themselves and in the future, without Omi, he would be the ruler of the whole world. Not bad for a guy who lives with his parents. He also had the best track record against the heroes out of anyone who has challenged them, having claimed several victories whereas any other villain is lucky to have one or two. It's worth noting that when Jack got a hold of Chase Young's (legendary evil guy, extremely powerful) army of big cats, Omi tried to return them to Chase, primarily because he thought that was better from a tactical perspective. Jack used them to rob the Xiaolin Warriors of their Shen Gong Wu, whereas Chase felt he was too powerful in his own right to need them. And the BadFuture in the series finale shows Jack Spicer having defeated all of the other villains as well as the Xiaolin Warriors to become ruler of the world. The explanation for all this is alluded to in several episodes: Jack has the ''potential'' to be the UltimateEvil, but he's too lazy and cowardly to make much use of it except in short bursts.

* Comedically applied in ''Manga/CromartieHighSchool'' when the guys were trying to decide who was the most badass. (They don't just duke it out -- they ''never'' just duke it out.) One of the guys had a reputation based entirely on guys being too scared of him to try him out. (Their 'jury' was out as to whether that was impressive or not by the time the plot moved on). On top of that, the person who was dubbed the school district's number one boss was none other than our LawfulGood pacifist protagonist Kamiyama (though, it was mostly because he was the only one who got the question right in a quiz).

-->'''Roger:''' Blegh! That was a bitter section. I don't think I want to lick the road around here anymore!

* Touma Kamijou and Shiage Hamazura from ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'': Both have done extraordinary feats of courage and heroism, faced against [[PersonsOfMassDestruction superpowered foes]] [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu and won]], [[TheDreaded are feared by their enemies]], and are [[TheDeterminator willing to go far and beyond to protect their friends and allies]]. One however, is academically poor and suffers from [[BornUnlucky chronic bad luck and misery]] [[BlessedWithSuck thanks to his power]] (which ''doesn't do much'' in day-to-day life) and one is a powerless high school dropout and all-around delinquent who HasAType for bunny girls (his nose spurts out blood in arousal whenever bunny girla are involved).

* ''LightNovel/ThatTimeIGotReincarnatedASaSlime'': There's Masayuki Honjou. An otherworlder who got the hero's skill series and they work together to manipulate events and perceptions to put in a great light, so that's he's even thought to be a hero. In reality, partly because his skills causes the defeats of his enemies before he even has to do someting, he's barely able to hold a sword.

** And don't think he doesn't know it, too. In Turn Coat, he is [[spoiler:ordered to be arrested, and is outnumbered by five hardened wardens as well as three members of the Senior Council, i.e. the strongest wizards in the world]]. When they approach extremely carefully, he realizes:

* ComicBook/{{Rat-Man}} is a superhero whose achievements include defeating [[HeroKiller an apparently invincible robot designed to kill superheroes]], a [[Anime/DragonballZ Goku]] {{Expy}} and [[EldritchAbomination the Shadow]]. He's also too stupid to operate a car's seatbelt.

%% Image removed per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1403106937046181200
%% Please start a new thread if you'd like to suggest a new pic.

* Comedically applied in ''Manga/CromartieHighSchool'' when the guys were trying to decide who was the most badass. (They don't just duke it out- they ''never'' just duke it out.) One of the guys had a reputation based entirely on guys being too scared of him to try him out. (Their 'jury' was out as to whether that was impressive or not by the time the plot moved on). On top of that, the person who was dubbed the school district's number one boss was none other than our LawfulGood pacifist protagonist Kamiyama (though, it was mostly because he was the only one who got the question right in a quiz).

* The entire main party sans Kazuma in ''LightNovel/KonoSuba''. To most outside onlookers, Aqua, Megumin, and Darkness who all are powerful advanced classes (and Aqua a literal [[PhysicalGod Physical Goddess]]) would constitute an extremely overpowered BattleHarem. With that being said, they all suffer from a horrible case of CripplingOverspecialization and nasty personality quirks that exaggerate their specializations: Aqua is borderline useless against anything that's not undead or demonic, leaving her main use being as a healer (usually to revive Kazuma after he dies), Megumin can only cast her [[StuffBlowingUp Explosion]] magic once a day and collapses immediately after using it (and refuses to learn any other spell because of her explosion obsession), and while Darkness has obscene durability, her accuracy with her attacks is awful, no doubt compounded by the fact that she's a [[TooKinkyToTorture masochist]]. It doesn't exactly help that Aqua has a bad tendency to act as a SpannerInTheWorks for the party's own plans, either due to her awful luck and low intelligence- in fact, many of the problems she's gained a reputation for solving are ones that ''she caused to begin with''- most notably in regards to undead. With that being said, when push comes to shove, when working with [[CombatPragmatist Kazuma]] (who is an inversion of this trope, having a well-deserved reputation for being weak, lazy and perverted, but [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass proves to be extremely competent when the chips are down]]), they can pull off some genuinely amazing feats.
* ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes'': Yang Wenli's enemies fear him for his legendary martial victories despite overwhelming odds against him, his superiors are so terrified that he could take over the country they often actively ''handicap'' him, and a good deal of his subordinates actually would support him as a dictator - but he's actually one of the [[NiceGuy nicest, least intimidating guys]] you could ever wish to meet - a gentle and humble man with a few [[CharacterTics eccentric habits]], poor combat skills, and absolutely zero aspirations besides early retirement.
* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': Shinji Ikari, both in the TV series and in the fandom. It's undeniable he defeated more alien enemies each with the potential to end the world by itself than anyone, risking his life several times in the process. On the other hand, his psychological issues, not to mention the plainly nasty things that happen to him prevent him from getting any respect.
* ''{{Manga/Trigun}}'': Vash The Stampede, AKA [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Humanoid Typhoon]]. A legendary force of destruction, leaving nothing but rubble in his wake and sporting the world's highest bounty (60 billion double dollars). Then you meet him... a goofy, spiky-haired nitwit, with a great love of donuts. Most of the destruction comes from the many, many, ''many'' people constantly trying to kill him. ''[[BewareTheNiceOnes Most]]'' [[PersonOfMassDestruction of it]]. [[spoiler: That said, much of the act is ObfuscatingStupidity. Piss him off enough, and you learn firsthand where the page picture on GlowingEyesOfDoom came from.]]

** Monkey D. Luffy is a world-class pirate with a bounty of 1.5 billion berries. His list of feats include defeating three of the powerful pirates known as the Seven Warlords of the Sea, declaring war on the World Government and, in the process, destroying the government base Enies Lobby, punching out a Celestial Dragon, a nobleman whose response to being offended is to sic a Marine admiral on the offender, becoming the first man to ever break ''into'' [[TheAlcatraz Impel Down]] and causing its first ever mass-breakout when, previously, only one other person had gotten out ''ever'', and then entering the War of the Best at Marine HQ and causing havoc on the battlefield. He's also incredibly friendly, cheerful, and, to be quite honest, [[IdiotHero a dumbass]].

** Buggy the Clown is an early villain who admittedly TookALevelInBadass... but not as much as others in-universe ''think'' he took. A lot of his reputation is from being a member of Gold Roger's crew like Shanks, one of the top pirates in the world... where they were both cabin boys. A lot of his power post time skip comes from the fact that he commands a crew of badasses, not that he is one himself, becoming a noticeable aversion to AsskickingEqualsAuthority for the series.

--->They were dealing with [[FamedInStory something far more dangerous than me]], [[HurtingHero Harry Dresden]], whose battered old Volkswagon was currently in the city impound. They were dealing with the [[TheDarkSide potential dark lord nightmare warlock]] they'd been busy fearing [[ThouShaltNotKill since I turned sixteen]]. They were dealing with the wizard who had faced the [[EvilSorcerer Heirs of Kemmler]] riding a zombie dinosaur, and emerged victorious from a fight that had flattened [[MagicKnight Morgan]] and [[FullContactMagic Captain Luccio]] before they had even reached it. They were dealing with the man who had [[RefugeInAudacity dropped a challenge to the entire Senior Council]], and who had then [[GodzillaThreshold actually showed,]] apparently willing to fight - on the shores of an [[EldritchLocation entirely too creepy island]] in the middle of a freshwater sea.

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': Imagine if you will Sam [[TheMagnificent the Slayer]], sworn brother of the Night's Watch, the only living man to have killed an [[TheFairFolk Other]], one of the legendary ice demons that are proof against all known weapons and have the power to raise the dead and command giant spiders among gods know what other dark sorcery. Chances are you just imagined someone distinctly different from fat, bumbling exiled-lordling Samwell Tarly, who really ''did'' kill an Other through a combination of suicidal desperation and lucking into having one of their only known [[KryptoniteFactor weaknesses]] (which was ''not'' known until he lucked into finding it) close at hand.

* In the [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E01TheHomecoming Season 2 opener]] of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', we meet Li Nalas, who is revered all across Bajor as one of the great heroes of the resistance, especially known for a mission where he snuck in and assassinated a particularly cruel Cardassian leader. As it turns out, two of them just happened to run into each other in the woods as the Cardassian leader was taking a bath in a lake - he just walked out of the water in his underwear and Li Nalas shot him. The story [[UrbanLegends kept getting exaggerated]] as it spread.

* In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'', the Disciple is one of the least explored and developed companions as a result of a TroubledProduction, affecting the playerbase's perception of him especially in comparison to his [[MutuallyExclusivePartyMembers Mutually Exclusive Party Member]] the Handmaiden. Yet in spite of [[NeverLiveItDown this average perception]] of him being a WideEyedIdealist SarcasmBlind "Jedi fanboy", his own list of deeds are fairly impressive. Not only is he a spy for the Republic (on the very short list of people that the notoriously untrusting Carth Onasi personally trusts, no less) that goes ''completely unnoticed'' for the entirety of the game, he made his way into the archives of the ruins of the Jedi Enclave sublevel that are crawling with dangerous laigreks that scare off even the most rough-and-tumble salvagers ''unarmed'' and is calmly reading when the Exile finds him. Finally, he figures out Revan's plans and strategy as well as Kreia's, requiring her to step in and [[LaserGuidedAmnesia suppress that knowledge]] because he figured it out long before the endgame. He's also fairly open-minded and insightful about the failings of the Jedi Order and why the average person doesn't know or care about the differenc between Jedi and Sith.

* Todd in ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman''. This is even {{lampshaded}} early in season five during a job interview, where the boss is astounded at his resume: He's launched a successful ridesharing app, built and managed a theme park and was even briefly ''Governor of California''. In spite of all these accomplishments (most of which he merely stumbled into by luck), he is still homeless and is interviewing for a job as a janitor, mostly due to his carefree and CloudCuckoolander demeanor. For example, the millions of dollars he made off the ridesharing app were lost instantly when he accidentally included them in a tip to his waitress.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' has resident butterfly-themed NotSoHarmlessVillain, the Monarch. For a guy with no superpowers dressed like a butterfly, the Monarch has one ''impressive'' resume. He committed what was essentially an act of terrorism in college and got away with it scott-free; was able to became a full-on super villain before he got his trust-fund and while registered as a lowly henchmen in the [[WeirdTradeUnion Guild of Calamitous Intent]] (including taking on the legitimately superpowered Captain Sunshine); seduced (twice) and eventually married his boss’s girlfriend; built a fully-function floating palace with an army of henchmen so loyal to him that they would give their lives for him; has escaped [[ExtranormalPrison a prison built specifically to house super villains]] with all but one of his cohorts betraying him; has killed every ScienceHero (not named Rusty Venture) he was assigned to by the Guild with frightening ease; has managed to always become Rusty’s arch nemesis [[ObstructiveBureaucrat despite being legally red-taped numerous times]] and - to top it all off - has survived several encounters with ''[[OneManArmy Brock freaking Samson]]''. With this in mind, he probably could have had everyone in the Venture compound killed many times over (or definitely has in the case of Dean and Hank) and simply chooses not to because of his obsession with ''[[EvilIsPetty annoying]]'' Dr. Venture.

** This also extends to how the general public views him. To the public and the DEA, Heisenberg's a diabolical mastermind who methodically wipes out all competition in Albuquerque and builds the largest drug empire in history. In actuality, Walt and Jesse can't run a drug business worth jack shit. For most of the series, their "drug empire" is actually just the two of them cooking meth for other people. Everything from distribution to protection is handled by someone else. The first time they try to form their own gang, it fails miserably and forces them to go back to cooking for hire. Their second attempt fares much better, but that's only because they inherit Gus' former henchman and connections. Even then, Walt's empire is actually just a series of partnered groups that answer directly to their respective leaders, not to Walt. A lot of the famous things that Walt is known for are actually done by his partners, like his distribution network (handled by Mike and later Declan), his expansion to Europe (handled by Lydia), and his killing of the prisoners (orchestrated by Jack's gang). Walt is incapable of doing any of that on his own and has to rely on them. As soon as they turn on him, Walt is left completely helpless because he has no henchman of his own to protect his authority. In short, while Walt's empire is undeniably powerful, Walt himself isn't. His partners obey him at first due to his reputation, but as soon as they realize how powerless he really is, they have no problem betraying him.

[[foler:Film - Live-Action]]

* Mister Satan/[[DubNameChange Hercule]]/[[TakeAThirdOption Hercule Satan]] from ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' really is an incredible martial artist, strong enough to pull four tour buses in his introduction, and perfectly capable of pulling off a FlashStep. He's won the World Martial Arts tournament legitimately several times, and was instrumental in the defeats of Cell and Majin Buu (and he's the ''only'' person to [[ActionSurvivor survive fighting both]]), both of whom are capable of causing an EarthShatteringKaboom. However, he's a completely normal fighter in the world of ''Dragon Ball Z'', where even the mooks can destroy mountains with ki. He never actually won a fight against any of the real villains: with Cell he helped provoke Gohan into going Super Saiyan 2, and with Majin Buu he befriended him as Fat Buu and convinced the people of Earth to lend energy for the final spirit bomb against Kid Buu.
** Heavily downplayed with Android 17 in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper''. He is unambigiously a complete badass who poses a decent fight for even SSB Goku, but [[spoiler: winning the Tournament of Power]] doesn't quite make him the WorldsStrongestMan, as such a feat would imply, although he's still likely in the top 10. He won because [[spoiler: he stayed on the ring while Goku and Frieza [[HeroicSacrifice deliberately ringed themselves out to take down Jiren in the process]].]]

* Over the course of ''Manga/MissKobayashisDragonMaid'', Kobayashi has safely handled a weapon that {{Mind Rape}}s anyone that touches it, made a violent dragon her personal servant who works for no pay, talked down beings infinitely more powerful than her, and aced a high ranking mage exam. Despite this, she is a completely ordinary computer programmer with no special abilities or magical power to speak of.
* The entire main party sans Kazuma in ''LightNovel/KonoSuba''. To most outside onlookers, Aqua, Megumin, and Darkness who all are powerful advanced classes (and Aqua a literal [[PhysicalGod Physical Goddess]]) would constitute an extremely overpowered BattleHarem. With that being said, they all suffer from a horrible case of CripplingOverspecialization and nasty personality quirks that exaggerate their specializations: Aqua is borderline useless against anything that's not undead or demonic, leaving her main use being as a healer (usually to revive Kazuma after he dies), Megumin can only cast her [[StuffBlowingUp Explosion]] magic once a day and collapses immediately after using it (and refuses to learn any other spell because of her explosion obsession), and while Darkness has obscene durability, her accuracy with her attacks is awful, no doubt compounded by the fact that she's a [[TooKinkyToTorture masochist]]. It doesn't exactly help that Aqua has a bad tendency to act as a SpannerInTheWorks for the party's own plans, either due to her awful luck and low intelligence- in fact, many of the problems she's gained a reputation for solving are ones that ''she caused to begin with''- most notably in regards to undead. With that being said, when push comes to shove, when working with [[CombatPragmatist Kazuma]] (who is an inversion of this trope, having a well-deserved reputation for being weak, lazy and perverted, but [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass proves to be extremely competent when the chips are down]]), they can pull off some genuinely amazing feats.

* ComicBook/{{Rat-Man}} is a superhero whose achievements include defeating [[HeroKiller an apparently invincible robot designed to kill superheroes]], a [[Anime/DragonballZ Goku]] {{Expy}} and [[EldritchAbomination the Shadow]]. He's also too stupid to operate a car's seatbelt.

* ''ComicBook/GrooTheWanderer'': Groo is by far the greatest swordsman of his time, and has singlehandedly defeated entire armies, vanquished monsters and even saved the world, with his legend spreading far and wide. He's also a total idiot who can barely dress himself, he's TheDreaded across the world because he usually causes more damage than the threat he's fighting, and far from looking like a legendary hero, Groo is a short, scruffy and rather heavyset guy with stripy hair. The contrast is so severe that Pipil Khan, a cruel dictator who's plans of conquest had been foiled by Groo time and time again, usually by total accident on Groo's part, thought Groo must be a giant warrior with supernatural powers (since he'd never met him in person), and when the two do meet when Khan is on his deathbed, the shock is enough to kill him.

* In ''FanFic/TheSomewhatCrackedMindOfUchihaItachi'', people tend to do a double-take when the Konoha genin mention that they defeated ANBU when they were in the Academy. The challenge wasn't actually combat, it was paint tag, and the ANBU were trainees that Kakashi was so unimpressed with that he told them that he'd seen more dedicated academy students.

[[folder:Film]]

* ''Film/SuicideSquad2016'' assembles a team of criminals for the express purpose of providing a defense against metahumans. Captain Boomerang is chosen for the crew because he's an ordinary man who tangled with a metahuman and lived to tell about it. Impressive? Except, that metahuman was Franchise/TheFlash, who does not kill, and Boomerang was laid flat in about the time it took him to realize he wasn't alone anymore.

* For a lot of the series, Literature/HarryPotter views himself as one of these. The event that made him famous happened when he was a baby and when, in ''Order of the Phoenix,'' he gets asked to teach a Defense Against the Dark Arts club, he argues that all his other achievements have been either through luck or from getting a lot of help. He begins to grow out of this in the seventh book, as he is now the one taking the fight to Voldemort, and his previous experiences fighting against the Dark Arts help him realize what has to be done.
** The page quote is Harry making it clear that his best friend Ron also fits the trope. He's certainly a case of RedheadsAreUncool who manages to be TheUnfavorite of both his family (his older brothers were succesful and\or popular in Hogwarts, and got great jobs afterwards) and the series' PowerTrio (it's hard for Ron to be compared to the FamedInStory Harry and the BrainyBrunette Hermione), but is very accomplished otherwise, helping Harry in many of the misadventures he's gotten himself into, becoming the Keeper of a successful Quidditch team, and being a crucial part of the [[SoulJar Horcrux]] hunt that happens in the seventh book.
* Rincewind is the worst wizard the Literature/{{Discworld}} has ever known. His hat is the only thing about him that says "wizzard," and ''that's'' misspelled. With no magic talent to speak of and a survival instinct heightened by his smartness, his usual response to a situation is to run like hell, and he's gotten ''very'' good at running over the years. He's also [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu thrown down]] with [[EldritchAbomination eldritch horrors,]] challenged a [[EnfantTerrible childlike demigod]] with nothing but [[ImprobableWeaponUser a half-brick in a sock,]] and saved the entire Discworld. ''Several times.'' Arguably, he's gotten being the RightManInTheWrongPlace down to a ''science.''

* In [[Literature/FredtheVampireAccountant Fred the Vampire Accountant]] the main character, is exactly what he says he is, just a normal accountant who happens to be a [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire vampire]]. He really has NO ambition to do things like accumulate power or challenge the social order of the modern parahuman community, but he gets either dragged in chaotic situations by his girlfriend or unwittingly makes connections with powerful people community through just normal social or business related networking (accountants in the parahuman community are rare). After a few books, the rumors have propped him up so much that when other vampires do come around they're looking specifically for this very impressive vampire, one of them even meets him in person and claims that he should aspire to be like him.

--->'''Doctor:''' Poor old Seth.
--->'''Romana:''' Poor old Seth?
--->'''Doctor:''' Yes. Well, just imagine the legends Teka's going to build up around him. He'll have to spend the rest of his life trying to live up to them. It's terrible.

* Series/ElChapulinColorado is lauded InUniverse to be a competent hero that, no matter the issue, he can save the day. Only the second part is true, as most of the time he saves the day by complete chance, or because the enemy sees the error of his ways.
* [[VillainProtagonist Walter White]] in Series/BreakingBad establishes eliminates many powerful rivals, including [[TheChessmaster Gus Fring]], on his way to becoming a drug kingpin. But once he ''gets'' his drug empire, he can't hold onto it, as he doesn't have the influence or loyalty that Gus cultivated amongst his men, and his non-criminal relationships come together to ruin him.

* The Ghost in ''Series/KillingEve'' is a ruthless, although not sadistic, assassin. She is a [[spoiler:highly trained nurse]] who has killed several high-ranking and respected people, if not more. And when Eve and Villanelle meet her, Villanelle breaks her within minutes. It isn't clear [[NothingIsScarier what Villanelle does to her]], but still, it takes all of about five minutes screen time.

* In ''VideoGame/DawnOfTheDragons'', the player character is a relatively ordinary person who accomplishes his/her increasingly long list of heroic deeds with a lot of bravery, luck, and help from his/her TrueCompanions. The general populace starts to see him/her as a LivingLegend on par with the expy of ''Hercules'' while the antagonistic dragons come to ''fear'' him/her. His/her closest companions are more realistic but still place him/her in very high regard. Being elevated like this is a little unnerving for the dragonrider.

* In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'', the Disciple is one of the least explored and developed companions as a result of a TroubledProduction, affecting the playerbase's perception of him especially in comparison to his [[MutuallyExclusivePartyMembers Mutually Exclusive Party Member]] the Handmaiden. Yet in spite of [[NeverLiveItDown this average perception]] of him being a WideEyedIdealist SarcasmBlind "Jedi fanboy", his own list of deeds are fairly impressive. Not only is he a spy for the Republic (on the very short list of people that the notoriously untrusting Carth Onasi personally trusts, no less) that goes ''completely unnoticed'' for the entirety of the game, he made his way into the archives of the ruins of the Jedi Enclave sublevel that are crawling with dangerous laigreks that scare off even the most rough-and-tumble salvagers ''unarmed'' and is calmly reading when the Exile finds him. Finally, he figures out Revan's plans and strategy as well as Kreia's, requiring her to step in and [[LaserGuidedAmnesia suppress that knowledge]] because he figured it out long before the endgame. He's also fairly open-minded and insightful about the failings of the Jedi Order and why the average person doesn't know or care about the differenc between Jedi and Sith.

* ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'': Red Mage is regularly belittled and easily defeated by every villain they face. His plans are laughably bad and he normally ends up inside a monster, facing various horrors. Over the course of the comic, he has [[spoiler: cast every spell in the world simultaneously, killed a dragon from the inside, trapped the Fiend of Fire in a handbag long enough for it to be destroyed, and single-handedly killed the apocalypse-toting Krakenoid after his skeleton was removed. ]]
** Black Mage may also count. He is the universe's chew toy and is the most likely to experience pages of torture with no resistance. It is acknowledged once that he has the apocalyptic power of three wizards, [[spoiler:he took over Hell at one point, vaporized the Fiend of Earth, controlled the Temple of Fiends with his mind, drained the evil from five of the vilest creatures ever to exist (including himself), and had the ability to cast a doomsday-triggering spell right from the beginning of the comic. Regardless, he is rarely played up as a badass.]]

* Taken all too literally in the case of Jaune Arc in ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', whose desire to be a Huntsman so that he can live up to his family's tradition of protecting people leads to him apply for Beacon Academy with ''forged'' credentials. In fact, he's never attended ''any'' of the basic Huntsman prep schools, meaning he has no knowledge of anything about how to be a Huntsman. Zigzagged in that he does have a surprising amount of potential and, with some special training from Pyrrha, manages to start catching up with unusual speed. Even though he is unquestionably the weakest member of [[FunWithAcronyms Team JNPR,]] he manages to be surprisingly badass as the series goes on.

* ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'': A villainous example with Jack Spicer. In the span of three seasons he has built countless robotic armies, a time machine, a Shen Gong Wu detector, a shapeshifter, highly impressive AI, is responsible for the release of Wuya thus causing the Wu to start revealing themselves and in the future, without Omi, he would be the ruler of the whole world. Not bad for a guy who lives with his parents. He also had the best track record against the heroes out of anyone who has challenged them, having claimed several victories whereas any other villain is lucky to have one or two. It's worth noting that when Jack got a hold of Chase Young's (legendary evil guy, extremely powerful) army of big cats, Omi tried to return them to Chase, primarily because he thought that was better from a tactical perspective. Jack used them to rob the Xiaolin Warriors of their Shen Gong Wu, whereas Chase felt he was too powerful in his own right to need them. And the BadFuture in the series finale shows Jack Spicer having defeated all of the other villains as well as the Xiaolin Warriors to become ruler of the world. The explanation for all this is alluded to in several episodes: Jack has the ''potential'' to be the UltimateEvil, but he's too lazy and cowardly to make much use of it except in short bursts.

* Todd in ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman''. This is even {{lampshaded}} early in season five during a job interview, where the boss is astounded at his resume: He's launched a successful ridesharing app, built and managed a theme park and was even briefly ''Governor of California''. In spite of all these accomplishments (most of which he merely stumbled into by luck), he is still homeless and is interviewing for a job as a janitor, mostly due to his carefree and CloudCuckoolander demeanor. For example, the millions of dollars he made off the ridesharing app were lost instantly when he accidentally included them in a tip to his waitress.

* Downplayed in ''Manga/TheRedRangerBecomesAnAdventurerInAnotherWorld'', Idola is a powerful wizard, but she pales before Tougo's over-the-top {{sentai}} firepower. But after shushing Tougo to keep him from complicating the conversation with his frankness and inability to read the room, Princess Teltina comes to the conclusion that Idola was the one who defeated the Seed of Magic monster the first time, which Idola [[SureLetsGoWithThat just rolls with]].

* Much like the Dresden example above, Kvothe in the ''Literature/TheNameOfTheWind'' is badass and does some very impressive things but the legends are even more insane. By the second book, however, he's living up to the legends in truth.

** This also extends to how the general public views him. To the public and the DEA, Heisenberg's a diabolical mastermind who methodically wipes out all competition in Albuquerque and builds the largest drug empire in history. In actuality, Walt and Jesse can't run a drug empire worth jack shit. For most of the series, their "drug empire" is actually just the two of them cooking meth for other people. Everything from distribution to protection is handled by their employers. The first time they try to form their own gang, it fails miserably and forces them to go back to cooking for hire. His second attempt fares much better, but that's only because he inherits Gus' former henchman and connections. Even then, Walt's empire is actually just a series of partnered groups that answer directly to their respective leaders, not to Walt. A lot of the famous things that Walt is known for are actually done by his partners, like his distribution network (handled by Mike and later Declan), his expansion to Europe (handled by Lydia), and his killing of the prisoners (orchestrated by Jack's gang). Walt is incapable of doing any of that on his own and has to rely on them. As soon as they turn on him, Walt is left completely helpless because he has no henchman of his own to protect his authority. In short, while Walt's empire is undeniably powerful, Walt himself isn't. His partners obey him at first due to his reputation, but as soon as they realize how powerless he really is, they have no problem betraying him.

* ''Film/SuicideSquad2016'' assembles a team of criminals for the express purpose of providing a defense against metahumans. Captain Boomerang is chosen for the crew because he's an ordinary man who tangled with a metahuman and lived to tell about it. Impressive? Except, that metahuman was ComicBook/TheFlash, who does not kill, and Boomerang was laid flat in about the time it took him to realize he wasn't alone anymore.

** This also extends to how the general public views him. To the public and the DEA, Heisenberg's a diabolical mastermind who methodically wipes out all competition in Albuquerque and builds the largest drug empire in history. In actuality, Walt and Jesse can't run a drug empire worth jack shit. For most of the series, their "drug empire" is actually just the two of them cooking meth for other people. Everything from distribution to protection is handled by their employers. The first time they try to form their own gang, it fails miserably and forces them to go back to cooking for hire. His second attempt fares much better, but that's only because he inherits Gus' former henchman and connections. Even then, Walt's empire is actually just a series of partnered groups that answer directly to their respective leaders, not to Walt. A lot of the famous things that Walt is known for are actually done by his partners, like his distribution network (handled by Mike and later Declan), his expansion to Europe (handled by Lydia), and his killing of the prisoners (orchestrated by Jack's gang). Walt is incapable of doing any of that on his own and has to rely on them. As soon as they turn on him, Walt is left completely helpless because he has no henchman to protect his authority. In short, while Walt's empire is undeniably powerful, Walt himself isn't. His partners obey him at first due to his reputation, but as soon as they realize how powerless he really is, they have no problem betraying him.

** This also extends to how the general public views him. To the public and the DEA, Heisenberg's a diabolical mastermind who methodically wipes out all competition in Albuquerque and builds the largest drug empire in history. In actuality, Walt and Jesse can't run a drug empire worth jack shit. For most of the series, their "drug empire" is actually just the two of them cooking meth for other people. Everything from distribution to protection is handled by their employers. The first time they try to form their own gang, it fails miserably and forces them to go back to cooking for hire. His second attempt fares much better, but that's only because he inherits Gus' former henchman and connections. Even then, Walt's empire is actually just a series of partnered groups that answer directly to their respective leaders, not to Walt. A lot of the famous things that Walt is known for are actually done by his partners, like his distribution network (handled by Mike and later Declan), his expansion to Europe (handled by Lydia), and his killing of the prisoners (orchestrated by Jack's gang). Walt is incapable of doing any of that on his own and has to rely on them. As soon as they turn on him, Walt is left completely helpless because he has no henchman to enforce his authority. In short, while Walt's empire is undeniably powerful, Walt himself isn't. His partners obey him at first due to his reputation, but as soon as they realize how powerless he really is, they have no problem betraying him.

** This also extends to how the general public views him. To the public and the DEA, Heisenberg's a diabolical mastermind who methodically wipes out all competition in Albuquerque and builds the largest drug empire in history. In actuality, Walt and Jesse can't run a drug empire worth jack shit. For most of the series, their "drug empire" is actually just the two of them cooking meth for other people. Everything from distribution to protection is handled by their employers. The first time they try to form their own gang, it fails miserably and forces them to go back to cooking for hire. His second attempt fares much better, but that's only because he inherits Gus' former henchman and connections. Even then, Walt's empire is actually just a series of partnered groups that answer directly to their respective leaders, not to Walt. A lot of the famous things that Walt is known for are actually done by his partners, like his distribution network (handled by Mike and later Declan), his expansion to Europe (handled by Lydia), and his killing of the prisoners (orchestrated by Jack's gang). Walt is incapable of doing any of that on his own and has to rely on them. As soon as they turn on him, Walt is left completely helpless because he has no henchman of his own to fight back.