History Main / BroughtDownToBadass

* ''ComicBook/JLAActOfGod'', an {{Elseworld}}s story, had the premise that every super-powered person on Earth one day lost their powers. Some members of the Franchise/{{Justice League|OfAmerica}} retrained, re-equipped, and went back into action watched over by their new mentors: the BadassNormal heroes of Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}}, ComicBook/{{Robin}}, [[Characters/BatmanHuntress Huntress]], and Characters/{{Nightwing|DickGrayson}}.

* What is [[VillainProtagonist Walter White]] in ''Series/BreakingBad'' [[spoiler: [[AmoralAttorney without Saul]], [[DrugsAreBad without his meth empire]], [[BitchInSheepsClothing without his cover]], [[FugitiveArc and wanted by every authority in the country]]]]? [[spoiler: Note, at this point, his body is so ravaged by cancer that he can't even wear a ring on his finger.]] Answer: [[spoiler: A ruthless [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]] who '''is''' the danger, securing his family's future by threatening his former friends with just laser pointers, a carjacker who treks all the way to his home without getting detected by anyone, securing multi-dollar arms transactions without any hitch, appearing and disappearing at Skyler's new house in spite of heavy security by the DEA without anyone wiser, poisoning the only loose end who will go after Walt's family using [[ChekhovsGun ricin]] with an elaborate BatmanGambit, [[MacGyvering building a freaking machine gun with nothing more than a car engine and garage key]], using said machine gun to kill ''every last one of his remaining enemies'' with a masterful application of WoundedGazelleGambit, avenging his brother-in-law singlehandedly, and ''then'' executing a DyingMomentOfAwesome. '''He indeed is the one who knocks.''']]

* In ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'', Dlanor gets brought back to normal by a goat whose powers negate her Knox Commandments and finds herself unable to fight back. Will, on the other hand, gets Brought Down To Badass as he proceeds to [[spoiler:HEADBUTT THE GOAT TO DEATH]] because he insulted the mystery genre. [[BerserkButton Do not. Insult. The mystery genre. In front of Will.]]

* In ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' storyline "ComicBook/BrainiacRebirth", Brainiac shoots a torpedo at Superman, who easily destroys it and becomes bathed in concentrated red-solar energy which nullifies his powers.

** It bears mentioning that Superman was [[BoxingLessonsForSuperman personally trained in boxing]] by no other than ''UsefulNotes/MuhammadAli himself''.

* ComicBook/UltimateMarvel:

%%* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': In ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'', when Susan enters the Tooth Fairy's realm (where death does not exist), she loses the abilities she inherited from her grandfather. Being Susan Sto Helit, this makes her ''very angry'', and she isbstill able to take down a base full of Imperial stormtroopers with nothing but a good blaster at his side[[note]]Which, as we all know, trumps both hokey religions ''and'' ancient weapons[[/note]] and a basic knowledge of structural engineering. Mara, thinking that if anyone has reason to be worried it's him, between being stripped of his powers, on a strange planet whose very name is unknown, and with her, the Imperials, and the vornskyr lining up for the privilege of killing him, is grudgingly impressed: he's quick-witted, observant, and [[DissonantSerenity maddeningly serene]]. This is only one of several examples in Zahn's novels of Luke's ''ingenuity'' getting him (and, often, his friends) through a situation, rather than having Luke [[CuttingTheKnot brute-Force]] his way through. Mara herself is similarly depowered by the ysalamiri, but it's even less of an issue for her because she'd already lost her Force powers for years and they were just starting to come back. She expects that to give her an advantage over Luke; she was used to it and he wasn't. As mentioned above, she was mistaken.%%Something appears to have gone very wrong here. Can someone familiar with both works in question separate and restore them?

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': In ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'', when Susan enters the Tooth Fairy's realm (where death does not exist), she loses the abilities she inherited from her grandfather. Being Susan Sto Helit, this makes her ''very angry'', and she isbstill able to take down a base full of Imperial stormtroopers with nothing but a good blaster at his side[[note]]Which, as we all know, trumps both hokey religions ''and'' ancient weapons[[/note]] and a basic knowledge of structural engineering. Mara, thinking that if anyone has reason to be worried it's him, between being stripped of his powers, on a strange planet whose very name is unknown, and with her, the Imperials, and the vornskyr lining up for the privilege of killing him, is grudgingly impressed: he's quick-witted, observant, and [[DissonantSerenity maddeningly serene]]. This is only one of several examples in Zahn's novels of Luke's ''ingenuity'' getting him (and, often, his friends) through a situation, rather than having Luke [[CuttingTheKnot brute-Force]] his way through. Mara herself is similarly depowered by the ysalamiri, but it's even less of an issue for her because she'd already lost her Force powers for years and they were just starting to come back. She expects that to give her an advantage over Luke; she was used to it and he wasn't. As mentioned above, she was mistaken.

** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', this happens to the [[PhysicalGod Tribunal deities]] after [[spoiler:[[PlayerCharacter the Nerevarine]] severs their ties to the Heart of Lorkhan, their divine power source, in order to defeat [[BigBad Dagoth Ur]], who shares that same power source]]. They are, per Vivec, able to exist with a [[SemiDivine trace of their divinity in-tact]] thanks to [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly the faith of their followers]]. Each is still an extremely powerful, [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld extremely old]] MagicKnight, especially proven by [[spoiler:Almalexia]] when she is fought in the ''Tribunal'' expansion.

* ''[[VideoGame/GodOfWarPS4 God of War (PS4):]]'' [[spoiler: At the game’s climax, Baldur gets cut by a mistletoe arrowhead, removing the curses of immortality and invulnerability that his mother Freya had placed on him. He’s still no less dangerous than he was before, retaining his godly strength and even being able to absorb the elements of Kratos’ weapons. Even worse, he’s no less AxCrazy or angry than before, and he still really wants to kill Freya, Kratos, and Atreus.]]

** Slade provides an example of his own. [[spoiler: Season 2 ended with him being killed by Terra. In Season 3, having made a deal with Raven’s father Trigon in hell, Slade is resurrected. As part of the deal, he was given vast demonic powers, including extreme pyrokinesis and command of Trigon’s demon army. In the Season 3 finale, “The End”, Trigon (predictably) reneges on the deal and strips Slade of his new powers. Even so, and even at the end of the world, Slade is still no less dangerous than he was before, being a BadassNormal par excellence. He retains his martial arts skills and saw fit to retrieve his old gadgets after he was resurrected. During the journey to save Raven, Slade keeps up with Robin in facing Trigon’s army and later (single-handedly) destroys one of Trigon’s strongest warriors to restore his own life completely.]]

* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry5'': The game begins with Nero having his "Devil Bringer" arm stolen from him, robbing him of most of his demonic powers and [[spoiler: the sword Yamato.]] Even so, Nero remains a force to be reckoned with, retaining his fighting skills and his first weapons, the supercharged sword Red Queen and the custom pistol Blue Rose. Additionally, his new friend and business partner [[GadgeteerGenius Nico]] builds him deadly prosthetic arms called "Devil Breakers", each model having unique abilities inspired by the demons Nero fights throughout the game. One of them, the "Buster Arm", was actually based off the Devil Bringer itself (doubles as a [[HeartwarmingMoments HeartwarmingMoment]] from Nico). [[spoiler: At the end of the game, after discovering that Dante and Vergil are his biological family, his drive to prevent them from killing one another reignites Nero's powers in full, including granting him a ''complete'' Devil Trigger.]]

* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry5'': The game begins with Nero having his "Devil Bringer" arm stolen from him, robbing him of most of his demonic powers and [[spoiler: the sword Yamato.]] Even so, Nero remains a force to be reckoned with, retaining his fighting skills and his first weapons, the supercharged sword Red Queen and the custom pistol Blue Rose. Additionally, his new friend and business partner [[GadgeteerGenius Nico]] builds him deadly prosthetic arms called "Devil Breakers", each model having unique abilities inspired by the demons Nero fights throughout the game. One of them, the "Buster Arm", was actually based off the Devil Bringer itself (doubles as a [[MomentOfHeartwarming HeartwarmingMoment]] from Nico). [[spoiler: At the end of the game, after discovering that Dante and Vergil are his biological family, his drive to prevent them from killing one another reignites Nero's powers in full, including granting him a ''complete'' Devil Trigger.]]

* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry5'': The game begins with Nero having his "Devil Bringer" arm stolen from him, robbing him of most of his demonic powers and [[spoiler: the sword Yamato.]] Even so, Nero remains a force to be reckoned with, retaining his fighting skills and his first weapons, the supercharged sword Red Queen and the custom pistol Blue Rose. Additionally, his new friend and business partner [[GadgeteerGenius Nico]] builds him deadly prosthetic arms called "Devil Breakers", each model having unique abilities inspired by the demons Nero fights throughout the game. One of them, the "Buster Arm", was actually based off the Devil Bringer itself (doubles as a HeartwarmingMoment from Nico). [[spoiler: At the end of the game, after discovering that Dante and Vergil are his biological family, his drive to prevent them from killing one another reignites Nero's powers in full, including granting him a ''complete'' Devil Trigger.]]

* [[VideoGame/GodOfWarPS4 God of War (PS4):]] [[spoiler: At the game’s climax, Baldur gets cut by a mistletoe arrowhead, removing the curses of immortality and invulnerability that his mother Freya had placed on him. He’s still no less dangerous than he was before, retaining his godly strength and even being able to absorb the elements of Kratos’ weapons. Even worse, he’s no less AxCrazy or angry than before, and he still really wants to kill Freya, Kratos, and Atreus.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Teen Titans|2003}}'': When Starfire and Raven [[FreakyFridayFlip switch bodies]], Raven can't let go of her emotions to fuel Starfire's powers (because Raven's powers require immense control), but she's not helpless. She makes do until she learns how to use them [[EleventhHourSuperpower at the last second]] by using fighting techniques similar to Karate against the puppet versions of the male team members.

** Tony Stark would like to remind you that even without his armor, he's a GadgeteerGenius capable of MacGyvering a solution to any pressing issue. And if push comes to shove, well -- he's also been trained in hand-to-hand combat by [[Characters/MarvelComicsSteveRogers Captain America]].

* In ''Fanfic/{{ByAnyOtherName|2020}}'', even stuck in a weak body with a weak golden core and unable to use his necromantic abilities, Wei Wuxian is still a master of talisman-making and will pacify walking corpses with nothing but a borrowed guqin.

* ''ComicBook/AntMan'': Hank Pym has on various occasions throughout his career gone from Ant-Man to "genius scientist" as his "superpower", making him even more dangerous, especially as he was a "genius scientist with a BagOfHolding." Be very afraid.

* [[Characters/AntManHeroes Cassie Lang]] lost her {{Sizeshifter}} ability after coming back from the dead. She kept the hand-to-hand training she's been through. Having done sparring drills with Captain America, she's a certified teenage badass.

* [[ComicBook/AntMan Hank Pym]] and [[Characters/IncredibleHulkBruceBanner Bruce Banner]] have on various occasions throughout their careers gone from Ant-Man and Hulk (respectively) to "genius scientist" as their "superpower," making them even more dangerous. (In Pym's case, he was a "genius scientist with a BagOfHolding." Be very afraid.)

* [[Characters/MarvelComicsCarolDanvers Carol Danvers]] lost her powers briefly in one of her series, and continued to kick ass thanks to her years of training in the Air Force Special Ops. In fact, she's lost her powers more than once and always remained an effective combatant afterward. After [[Characters/MarvelComicsRogue Rogue]] took her powers, she was a recurring ally of the X-Men while considered permanently depowered. The name "Ms. Marvel" scarcely came up; she was just Major Carol Danvers, ass-kicker extraordinaire, up for supervillain or space adventures alongside anyone in spandex. In an issue of X-Men long after Carol had parted ways with the team, Rogue gets depowered and is left practically catatonic after soldiers sexually assault her. That's when the Carol Danvers personality living inside her head (which Rogue absorbed along with Carol's powers) steps in. She proceeds to escape from prison and rescue the also depowered Wolverine. The two of them do very well throughout the story despite being on their own with no powers.

* After she found out Zee had brainwashed her into becoming a vigilante ([[ComicBook/IdentityCrisis2004 long story]]), Characters/{{Catwoman|SelinaKyle}} duct-taped Characters/{{Zatanna}}'s mouth to prevent her from casting spells, but forgot that all Justice League heroines go to Amazonian fighting training Summer camps. During the ensuing fight, Catwoman also pointed out that as a stage performer, Zee likely followed a pretty intense workout regimen to begin with.
* The ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'' storyline "Suicide Kings" ended up depriving Deadpool of his trademark HealingFactor, but not his mercenary skills. Taskmaster had to retrain him, though, since most of his tactics boiled down to "run in like a complete maniac and let my healing factor do the work."
* ComicBook/DoctorStrange is a master of the mystic ''and martial'' arts. AntiMagic only gets rid of one of those.
* ComicBook/{{Empowered}} is a self-inflicted on-and-off case of this. She gets her powers from her super-suit, but it tears easily, and she loses power the more ClothingDamage she incurs. However, when her suit is intact, she's usually trying to use its powers, which are flaky at best even when it's in perfect condition. Once it's damaged, however, she's usually forced to get creative... and she can be ''stunningly'' clever when she's backed into a corner, which, combined with the fact that nobody takes her seriously, can often leave the perpetually-unlucky superheroine just the opening she needs to pull through in even the worst of situations.

** Guy Gardner ''thinks'' he's this, as was seen in the 1980s ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational'' series. He took off his Green Lantern ring to have a ''mano-a-mano'' showdown with Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}} over leadership of the League. Batman knocked him out with one punch. (Guy's subsequent change of personalities came when he bumped his head while searching for his ring afterwards.) Batman ([[TradeSnark ™]]): so skilled that his punches ''cure'' brain damage. He also once goaded Hal Jordan into a no-rings-allowed fistfight. It didn't go ''quite'' as badly for him as the aforementioned encounter with Batman, but Hal was more than holding his own until the cops broke them up.

* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'': After being temporarily deprived of his ability to transform into the Hulk by the [[Characters/IncredibleHulkCentralRoguesGallery Red Hulk]], Bruce outfitted himself with self-designed "Bannertech", which included a mentally-controlled mobile operating system that he could use to hack sophisticated systems within moments, a gamma and Old Power-fueled force-field, a pocket teleporter and a molecular repulsion field that could be used to simulate levitation. In fact, several characters actually remarked that Banner was infinitely more dangerous ''without'' the Hulk and desperately sought to re-power him in order to decrease the threat he posed.
* ''ComicBook/ImmortalIronFist'': Iron Fist has his link to his chi powers broken at one point, but the fact that he had to train to be a martial arts master and defeat a dragon to get those powers in the first place means he's still pretty damn strong.

* [[Characters/TheMightyThorThorOdinson Thor]] and ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules of the Franchise/MarvelUniverse have both had their godhood stripped away at times. Thor first did this in the late 60s-early 70s. Temporarily stripped of his powers by Odin, he still sought to fight for justice. At one point for some reason he had to go up against Characters/TheThing, who said "Even without yer powers, you ain't no pantywaist!" He replied that he was still himself, powers or no powers. It happened again in the late nineties, where he proved to be just as capable a fighter as Captain America. Hercules burned out all of his godly powers at the end of ''ComicBook/ChaosWar'', leaving him without any SuperStrength at all, but he still fights supervillains and criminals. He has access to some magical weaponry and is highly skilled at using it, but even then can barely keep up. Yet he still kicks butt.
* ''ComicBook/PowerPack'': at least twice during the original series, the kids lose their powers to the Snarks. It doesn't stop them from still fighting off the giant space lizards though, and they actually reclaim their powers in the process.
* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': [[Characters/SpiderManPeterParker Spider-Man]] lost his powers once or twice, notably in the '70s; when tricked to drink a potion that nullified his spider-powers, he manages to burst out of several lengths of rope tying him up on a chair by flexing his muscles and getting pissed off -- looks like playing superhero daily helps build up upper body strength. On top of that, he remains a skilled chemist and physicist, good enough to show up the likes of [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]], [[Characters/MarvelComicsDoctorDoom Doctor Doom]], and Tony Stark. He has, more than once, used his intellect to escape baddies while preserving his secret identity. There was, notably, a time when Spidey had his Spider-Sense burnt out, making him vulnerable to just about anything. He ended up getting help from Characters/ShangChi, who developed a brand new martial art, the Way of the Spider, to compensate.
* [[Characters/TheUnbeatableSquirrelGirl Squirrel Girl]]: On the Marvel Wiki, her power level used to be maxed out in every category. At the moment, it's been brought down to consistently above average across the board (except energy projection), with higher stats in Strength and Fighting Skills.

** At one point in Claremont's run, the X-Men wound up on Characters/{{Ma|rvelComicsMagneto}}gneto's island fortress (with a volcano machine) and all depowered. It took [[Characters/MarvelComicsCyclops Cyclops]] to point out that they are still very well-trained and athletic people with a wide and varied skillset; he is a skilled pilot and tactician, [[Characters/MarvelComicsStorm Storm]] was a thief and still carries lockpicks, [[Characters/MarvelComicsNightcrawler Nightcrawler]] was an acrobat, [[Characters/XMen70sMembers Colossus]] is still very strong, [[Characters/MarvelComicsKittyPryde Shadowcat]] is good with computers, and Characters/{{Wolverine|JamesLoganHowlett}} still has his claws. Together they manage to wreck the doomsday device... [[AvertedTrope and are still subdued in moments]] once Magneto realizes the X-Men are actually there.

** While not all being as badass as Storm, most if not all of the X-Men receive hand-to-hand combat training in preparation just in case they are robbed of their gifts/their gifts are rendered ineffective by their enemies, especially the females. [[Characters/MarvelComicsCyclops Cyclops]] has beyond military-level training over years of conditioning, and [[Characters/MarvelComicsJeanGrey Jean Grey]] has demonstrated kung-fu skills (she aided Beast taking out armed attackers with psi-shielding at a period when her telekinesis was thought either dormant or transferred to [[Characters/MarvelComicsPsylocke Psylocke]], who classifies as a ninja action girl with or without her powers). And every girl who becomes a follower of Characters/{{Wolverine|JamesLoganHowlett}} is soon able to kick ass by default.

** This happened to the gods Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul after their resurrection post-Time of Troubles. While Bane and, to a lesser degree, Bhaal maintained their divine portfolios, Myrkul did not, as his place as god of the dead was usurped by Cyric and later Kelemvor. Still, he's better of than he was when he was dead.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' {{Crossover}} event, ''[[WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerbMissionMarvel Mission Marvel]]'', [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]], ComicBook/IronMan, ComicBook/SpiderMan and [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk the Hulk]] all lose their powers, but they ''still'' manage to kick some ''serious butt'' in the final battle of the episode!