History Main / BadassinDistress

* ''Fanfic/TruePotential'': Neji is a pretty badass ninja, to the point of becoming [[spoiler:the heir to the Hyuga Clan]]. However, [[spoiler:he gets kidnapped during the Tetsu no Kuni Arc by Toneri, as part of the latter's plan to have Hinata all to himself]].

* In the ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' fic ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/27853170/chapters/68194306 Pulse and Void]]'' Present Mic is kidnapped by a guy who wants to siphon energy from his screams. Mic isn't lucky enough to have powers besides his SuperScream and that's taken from him save when they want him to scream by use of a muzzle and shock collar. He's kept shackled to a chair and is subjected to brutal ColdBloodedTorture and rape and is powerless to escape until his extremely furious husband Aizawa, plus Midnight, Midoriya and Bakugo, lays a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown on his captors and saves him.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegoMovie2TheSecondPart'': Lucy, Batman, Unikitty, Benny and Metal Beard, who are all badasses in their own way, get kidnapped by General Mayhem and Emmet ends up being the one who has to save them.

* ''Film/IronMan1''. Tony Stark is ambushed by Obidiah Stane, which literally leaves him crawling around with a hole in his chest. Cue [[ColonelBadass Col. Rhodes]] coming to his aid (with a removed assist from Pepper). After he pops in a spare reactor, he promptly leaves to kick Stane's ass.

* From ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', the Boiling Rock rescue is a big example of this. It started off when Sokka wanted to rescue [[spoiler: Hakoda,]] who is indisputably a badass. He rescues not only [[spoiler: Hakoda]] but [[spoiler: Suki]] as well, who is also a badass. It takes the combined badassitude of Sokka, [[spoiler: Zuko, Hakoda, Suki, Chit Sang, and ''Mai and Ty Lee'']] for the rescue to be successful.
** Then there is the entire "The Blue Spirit" episode where Aang is being held hostage. Until he's rescued by [[spoiler: Zuko]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'' has [[spoiler: Captain America]] get captured by Skrulls so they could replace him with a duplicate. [[spoiler: Cap]] refuses to let the Skrulls' treatment of him in prison break his spirit, and he eventually leads the other prisoners in a riot and escape.

** In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock'', Static is sent forty years into the future, where he helps [[WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond Batman's successor]] rescue another superhero [[spoiler: his future self.]]

*** It happens to the entire League in "Secret Society" - apparently - courtesy of Grodd's team of villains. Their escape (leading to the epic battle at the end) was the result of [[spoiler: J'onn J'onzz disguising himself as Clayface during the initial fight; the villains had actually grabbed the ''real'' Clayface, and didn't realize that the one they were dealing with was an imposter until it was too late.]]

** Korra [[spoiler: gets [[PeoplePuppets kidnapped]] by Tarrlok and locked up in a metal box. Long story short, Amon and his minions showed up, Amon [[CurbStompBattle took care]] of Tarrlok, and sent Lieutenant to electrocute the box to knock her out so they could take her with them. What did she do? Used her wrist wraps to hang on to the bars on the top of the box to avoid electrocution, pretended that he knocked her out, and utterly kicked their arses in the moment they opened the box, then escaped Amon himself. This is after she spent roughly a night and a day in that box, without anything to eat or drink.]]

** Princess Celestia is this in both the series pilot and the Season 2 finale. She's generally acknowledged to be the BigGood of the series, but is missing during Nightmare Moon's attack and [[spoiler: defeated by the queen of the changelings]] (shown on screen), respectively, leaving it to Twilight and friends to deal with the threat. (Not counting Discord here as he's less a personal threat and more a global disaster with a sick sense of humor; everypony is ''equally'' helpless against him until the {{plot coupon}}s finally come together at the end of "The Return of Harmony".)
*** Also in the season 2 finale, inverted with Princess Cadance: she needed rescuing first, ''then'' establishes herself as badass.

* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo'':
** Many of the more recent animated ''Scooby Doo'' features have upgraded Daphne from the standard DamselInDistress of the original and earlier works, following the first live-action movie's portrayal by Creator/SarahMichelleGellar of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' fame.

* ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends''. Wonder Woman tended to be kidnapped, brainwashed etc. more frequently than the rest of the Super Friends.

* ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan'': In the season one finale/WhamEpisode, Spider-Man [[spoiler:is kidnapped by Doctor Octopus and Norman Osborn. [[DefiantCaptive Though he does his best to fight back and escape]], Spidey spends a good chunk of the episode as their prisoner.]]
* In the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'', all three of the main heroes at the time (Kid Flash, Aqualad and Robin) get captured by Cadmus; it takes Robin approximately two minutes to break them out, [[{{Determinator}} while getting shocked the entire time]].
--> ''"Luckily Batman isn't here - he'd have my head for taking so long."''

* "WesternAnimation/KimPossible" has Kim Possible that was fonding to be in numerous bondage moments especially her graduation and her missout performances.

* ''Webcomic/PrincessPrincess'': Amira, when she's kidnapped by Claire. Usually she's quite able to handle herself, but is swept away with magic.

* ''VideoGame/Pikmin3'': [[spoiler:He gets kidnapped in ''Pikmin 3'' by the game's final boss, and has to be rescued by the Koppai Crew. However this is only because the [[FinalBoss Plasm Wraith]] could activate his suits forced sleep mode, making him literally unable to fight back.]]

* Franchise/DonkeyKong in ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongJr'', ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry2DiddysKongQuest'', and ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry3DixieKongsDoubleTrouble''. After defeating [[BigBad Kaptain K Rool]] in [=DKC2=], he stands up again, seemingly NighInvulnerable. Donkey Kong decides he's had enough, bursts from his ropes and [[{{Shoryuken}} uppercuts]] K Rool [[MegatonPunch out of the air ship,]] [[HumiliationConga bouncing him off of each stage of Crocodile Isle before getting chomped by a school of sharks.]]

* ''Film/{{Sheroes}}'': Rydar, after beating two previous thugs skillfully, gets in trouble with another behind her strangling her. Daisy saves her though.

* ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} and ComicBook/{{Jubilee|MarvelComics}}'s mentor-sidekick relationship started when ''she'' rescued him from the Reavers (a bunch of heavily armed killer cyborgs) in a [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks late 80s/early 90s]] comic. He'd been tortured to within an inch of his life. (It was clearly BondVillainStupidity on the part of the Reavers, who were keeping him alive just to make him suffer.)

* The main plot of ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9208791/1/Snow-Blind Snow Blind]]'' is that Donatello, a mutant ninja and tech genius, is temporarily blinded and stabbed by the Purple Dragons. The Nightwatcher[[note]] aka [[spoiler:Raphael]][[/note]] saves him from the Dragons and [[TheKindnapper kidnaps the turtle]] so he can take him somewhere safe for medical treatment.