History Main / EmpoweredBadassNormal

* In ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'', Natasha Irons, after a fallout with [[ComicBook/{{Steel}} her uncle]], enlists in the [[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Lex Luthor]] Everyman Project and gains actual superpowers, going from a human in PoweredArmor to a human capable of ''crushing'' PoweredArmor. John Henry is infected with a metagene against his will and transforms into a being composed of stainless steel, capable of deflecting bullets and hurling blobs of molten metal.

* Tigra of ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' fame started as The Cat, a lab assistant who used a super suit to make her comparable to Captain America, and give her finger claw grapples. Said suit also played a part into turning teen humor character ComicBook/PatsyWalker into BadassNormal superhero ComicBook/{{Hellcat}}. She later developed some vaguely defined psychic abilities, placing her squarely in this trope.

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': [[Characters/MarvelComicsPeterParker Spider-Man]] love interest the Characters/{{Black Cat|MarvelComics}} started out as a skilled thief, acrobat, and martial artist. Feeling like she was a liability to Peter because of her lack of powers, she underwent a procedure that granted her the ability to [[WindsOfDestinyChange affect probability]]. Unfortunately, these powers also affected Spider-Man negatively (not surprising as it was a scheme by [[Characters/MarvelComicsTheKingpin The Kingpin]] to screw with Spider-Man). ComicBook/DoctorStrange was able to remove these abilities from her and she was left with enhanced strength, speed, agility, reflexes, [[WolverineClaws reitractable claws]] and night vision. She later lost those abilities too thanks to a device created by the Chameleon and ComicBook/BrandNewDay saw her probability-manipulating powers restored.

* Mwu La Flaga of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'', a rare Natural ace pilot on a battlefield dominated by DesignerBabies, is eventually revealed to have "enhanced spatial awareness". Which clearly is the [[AlternateUniverse "Cosmic Era"]] equivalent to [[PsychicPowers Newtypes]]. [[spoiler: In the final battle Cagalli, also a Natural, is shown capable of activating [[SuperMode SEED Mode]] like Kira and Athrun.]]

* In ''Anime/YuGiOh'', Jonouchi was about five seconds away from beating the BigBad of Season 2, with no magical artifacts or one-of-a-kind super cards. Then in Season 4 he gets The Claw of Hermos, a plot device card that lets him face the threat of Orichalcos alongside [[TheHero Yugi]] and [[TheRival Kaiba]].

* There are several ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' fics in which [[TeamNormal Asami Sato]] is granted airbending by Harmonic Convergence. Considering canon!Asami is a GadgeteerGenius [[GeniusBruiser martial artist]] who totes a [[StaticStunGun shock]] [[PowerFist glove]]--and considering the two known {{Badass Normal}}s to be canonically affected--this is approximately akin to giving Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}} a Franchise/GreenLantern ring.

* ''Anime/CodeGeass'': Suzaku Kururugi may count. Already a BadassNormal (he was a skilled Knightmare Frame Pilot and martial arts prodigy) for most of the first season, he slips into this near the end of the first season and into R2. His most obvious upgrade was having the "Live!" Geass cast upon him by Lelouch, allowing him to survive situations that would normally have killed him and allowing him to become much stronger and faster than a normal human being in order to do so. However, it had been hinted throughout the series that Suzaku had some as-of-yet unidentified connection to Geass... [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot that was never explained or elaborated upon]].

** 1Jack started out as a badass who spent his whole life training with other great warriors to prepare himself for Aku. He is so skilled that Aku has to resort to opening a time portal to the future in the pilot. The season 5 pilot reveals that one of the side effects of the time travel is that Jack [[TheAgeless no longer ages]]. Fifty years after being sent to the future, he is ''still'' in his physical youthful prime. With that said, he is not immortal, as he still needs to eat and can be injured and killed in combat like any mortal man would.

* Throughout ''Film/SpaceJam'', UsefulNotes/MichaelJordan keeps up with the Looney Toons and the Monstars by being the BadassNormal basketball legend that he is, until it comes DownToTheLastPlay and he figures out how to use ToonPhysics.

* While Izuku is still [[{{UnSorcerer}} quirkless]] in ''Fanfic/MyMiraculousAcademia'', gaining possession of the Butterfly Miraculous makes this fact irrelevant for his quest to become a hero Vivi]] in ''Manga/OnePiece'' trained to a bounty hunter in order to infiltrate Baroque Works and identify the leader who was responsible for destabilizing her nation. After being forced to leave Alabasta in ''Fanfic/ThisBites'', she continue to refine her skills and acquired two new abilities: [[spoiler:[[CompellingVoice Sovereign Will]], a variant of ''Conqueror's Haki'', and the power of one of Alabasta's treasures: [[BlowYouAway the Gust-Gust Fruit]]]].

** ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': As in the comics, [[Characters/{{Deathstroke}} Slade Wilson]] starts out as an accomplished martial artist, swordsman and tactician. The flashbacks in season 2 focus on him as a human before he is injected with [[PsychoSerum Mirakuru]], granting him enhanced strength, speed, reflexes and durability. Even after he's cured, he can still fight off Oliver and Thea single-handed.
** Roy Harper received archery and martial arts training from Oliver. He later got injected with Mirakuru as well, with all the benefits and drawbacks before it was purged from his system.

* While Izuku is still [[{{UnSorcerer}} quirkless]] in ''Fanfic/MyMiraculousAcademia'', gaining possession of the Butterfly Miraculous makes this fact irrelevant for his quest to become a hero.
* [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething Vivi]] in ''Manga/OnePiece'' trained to a bounty hunter in order to infiltrate Baroque Works and identify the leader who was responsible for destabilizing her nation. After being forced to leave Alabasta in ''Fanfic/ThisBites'', she continue to refine her skills and acquired two new abilities: [[spoiler:[[CompellingVoice Sovereign Will]], a variant of ''Conqueror's Haki'', and the power of one of Alabasta's treasures: [[BlowYouAway the Gust-Gust Fruit]]]].

* ''Franchise/{{Arrowverse'':

* A bit of a meta-example is ComicBook/JonahHex. For much of his comics career, he got by on his wits and his skills, yet no matter where he ended up, he always kicked ass and took names. When TheMovie [[Film/JonahHex was made]], they gave him the power to temporarily resurrect the dead.

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': [[Characters/SpiderManPeterParker Spider-Man]] love interest the Characters/{{Black Cat|MarvelComics}} started out as a skilled thief, acrobat, and martial artist. Feeling like she was a liability to Peter because of her lack of powers, she underwent a procedure that granted her the ability to [[WindsOfDestinyChange affect probability]]. Unfortunately, these powers also affected Spider-Man negatively (not surprising as it was a scheme by [[Characters/MarvelComicsTheKingpin The Kingpin]] to screw with Spider-Man). ComicBook/DoctorStrange was able to remove these abilities from her and she was left with enhanced strength, speed, agility, reflexes, [[WolverineClaws reitractable claws]] and night vision. She later lost those abilities too thanks to a device created by the Chameleon and ComicBook/BrandNewDay saw her probability-manipulating powers restored.

* Comicbook/IronMan, who began as a simple man (not even badass) wearing a PoweredArmor, gave himself technology-based superpowers with the 'extremis' virus after deciding he wasn't fast enough to keep up. In addition to speeding up his ability to control his suits by mental link (even to summon its pieces and assemble into the full suit with his mind), it also allowed him to [[{{Technopath}} mentally link with other pieces of technology]] as well, often leading to 'I hacked it while standing here talking to you' asspulls. The Bleeding Edge suit can do a lot of what the Extremis suit could do and a lot of what it ''can't''.

* ''Comicbook/ThePunisher'':
** In a ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' story, the Comicbook/{{Venom}} symbiote joins with Frank Castle instead of Eddie Brock. Using his new powers, the Punisher's war on crime becomes more brutal than ever and he succeeds in killing several Marvel supervillains before a team of superheroes manages to stun the symbiote, allowing Punisher to tame it by telling it that he'd commit suicide and destroy them both unless the symbiote gives him complete control over it. Punisher then tells the superheroes that he's in control now before escaping.
** The ''[[Comicbook/ThePunisherPurgatory Purgatory]]'' miniseries gave Frank, who was resurrected by an angel after a demon-assisted suicide, divine powers that allowed him to pull [[{{Hammerspace}} any kind of (divine) weapon he wanted]] from his BadassLongcoat.

** Another Joker example: In ''ComicBook/EmporerJoker'' he gets the [[RealityWarper reality-warping powers]] of ComicBook/{{Superman}} villain Mr. Mxyzptlk.

** This even happened to ComicBook/TheJoker in a crossover with ''ComicBook/TheMask'', when he came into the possession of the eponymous artifact endowed with Loki's powers. His lack of inhibitions skirted the usual problem of turning the user into a murderous lunatic, so it mostly just made him nigh-unstoppable.

** This even happened to the Joker in a crossover with ''ComicBook/TheMask'', when he came into the possession of the eponymous artifact endowed with Loki's powers. His lack of inhibitions skirted the usual problem of turning the user into a murderous lunatic, so it mostly just made him nigh-unstoppable.

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': [[Characters/SpiderManPeterParker Spider-Man]] love interest the Characters/{{Black Cat|MarvelComics}} started out as a skilled thief, acrobat, and martial artist. Feeling like she was a liability to Peter because of her lack of powers, she underwent a procedure that granted her the ability to [[WindsOfDestinyChange affect probability]]. Unfortunately, these powers also affected Spider-Man negatively (not surprising as it was a scheme by [[Characters/MarvelComicsTheKingpin The Kingpin]] to screw with Spider-Man). ComicBook/DoctorStrange was able to remove these abilities from her and she was left with enhanced strength, speed, agility, reflexes, [[WolverineClaws retractable claws]] and night vision. She later lost those abilities too thanks to a device created by the Chameleon and ComicBook/BrandNewDay saw her probability-manipulating powers restored.

** Gotham Girl, a FlyingBrick operating out of Gotham City in ''ComicBook/BatmanTomKing'', is BroughtDownToNormal after it turns out that her powers came from a mutated form of Bane's venom serum, only to get them back through Platinum Kryptonite, which restores lost powers.

* In ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'' Natasha Irons, after a fallout with [[ComicBook/{{Steel}} her uncle]], enlists in the [[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Lex Luthor]] Everyman Project and gains actual superpowers, going from a human in PoweredArmor to a human capable of ''crushing'' PoweredArmor. John Henry is infected with a metagene against his will and transforms into a being composed of stainless steel, capable of deflecting bullets and hurling blobs of molten metal.

** While most of the First Family are various forms of HalfHumanHybrids, Julius and Augustus Furst are normal humans augmented by "vitalons" they've absorbed in their adventures.
* An awful lot of FanFiction tends to give Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}} powers, typically so he can "stand up" to Characters/{{Superman|TheCharacter}}. Some comics do this, too, usually as a one-issue gag or an {{Elseworld}}. The Elseworld ''Batman: In Darkest Knight'' gave him a ''[[ImaginationBasedSuperpower Green Lantern Ring]]'' -- leading to this [[FauxtivationalPoster Demotivator]] titled [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/green-lantern-batman.jpg "Overpowered"]]
** He was also offered a Sinestro Corp's ring (yellow, based on fear) in canon during the ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'' saga which admittedly fits him remarkably well. However, he rejected it (whether due to what happened with the Green Ring and/or because it's a Yellow Ring of ''Sinestro'' isn't stated) and it ended up in the hands of Scarecrow briefly before being taken by a deputized [[{{Greed}} Orange Lantern]] ''Lex Luthor.''

** In a different medium, Batman has been offered the ring, or at least comparable to it ''twice'' (see below in WesternAnimation).
** The ComicBook/AmalgamUniverse sees your Green Lantern Batman and raises you [[http://batman.wikia.com/wiki/Dark_Claw Wolverine Batman]].
** He ''always'' [[ResetButton loses such powers at the end of the story]] or has them [[CanonDisContinuity ruled non-canonical]]. The writers know that Batman is known and loved as a BadassNormal, and neither wants nor needs superpowers. That and it gives them an excuse to experiment.
*** There's one story where Batman gained Characters/{{Superman|TheCharacter}}'s powers, and Superman was BroughtDownToNormal. The ramifications were explored- Batman began to go a little bit crazy from [[KnightTemplar righting every possible wrong he could]], and ends up getting weakened- turns out fighting at night all the time doesn't suit a solar-powered hero.
** [[ComicBook/BatmanVampire Vampire Batman]]. The trilogy of stories ended [[spoiler:with everybody dead, including Batman himself]].
** There are occasions where Batman has his own PoweredArmor to beat superpowerful foes. He does have a storage of more exotic technology and even supernatural items that he doesn't use in his normal crimefighting, but tend to be used when working with the ComicBook/{{Justice League|OfAmerica}} or during drastic events.
** Batman was offered a Green Lantern Ring in the mainstream comics once. Surprisingly enough, he's not able to do much with it. Despite having incredible willpower, Batman's drive also came from his inability to let go of the past and only was able to conjure bats and an image of his parents. In fact, this is what ''every Green Lantern faces'' each time they wield the ring. As a result, Batman gained a much greater respect for Hal Jordan.
** While there are some Batman villains that fall under this trope, [[Characters/BatmanBane Bane]] is a very prominent example whenever he's on Venom. Otherwise, he's a BadassNormal super-villain with a lot of [[{{Determinator}} willpower and discipline]] whenever he's not on it.
** Similarly Characters/{{Harley Quinn|TheCharacter}} in mainstream ComicBook/PostCrisis DC comics continuity, although it isn't often stated -- after the first time [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker The Joker]] tried to kill her, [[Characters/BatmanPoisonIvy Poison Ivy]] took her in and gave her a herbal SuperSerum that permanently gave her mildly superhuman strength, agility, and resilience, explaining why a [[WaifFu skinny young woman]] can beat up massive combat-trained guys when before she was just "merely" an Olympic level gymnast. This may or may not still be canon in the New 52 and Rebirth continuities.
** This even happened to The Joker in a crossover with ''ComicBook/TheMask'', when he came into the possession of the eponymous artifact endowed with Loki's powers. His lack of inhibitions skirted the usual problem of turning the user into a murderous lunatic, so it mostly just made him nigh-unstoppable.
** Gotham Girl, a FlyingBrick operating out of Gotham City in more recent comics is BroughtDownToNormal after it turns out her powers came from a mutated form of Bane's venom serum, only to get them back through Platinum Kryptonite, which restores lost powers.

* How to create T'challa, the ''ComicBook/BlackPanther'': start with an African prince, raised since his earliest days to be an all-round expert athlete, brilliant mind, skilled warrior and natural leader. Then have him eat a mystical plant and have all of his physical capabilities boosted to explicitly superhuman levels. Season with all of the miraculous gadgets that a super-advanced {{utopia}} can cook up as personnel-grade gear. ''Then'' let the local Panther deity grant him its blessings.
* [[Characters/DaredevilCentralRoguesGallery Bullseye]] was an AxCrazy assassin with ImprobableAimingSkills. After falling from a building, many of his bones were replaced with strips of adamantium, the metal covering Wolverine's entire skeleton. This has increased his resistance to injury in unarmed combat and allows him to perform acrobatic maneuvers that would fracture ordinary human bones.
* This used to come and go for [[Characters/MarvelComicsSteveRogers Captain America]], with him gaining and losing superhuman levels of strength depending on the writers, before it was finally decided that his iconic status in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse was partly founded on him being a [[SuperStrength slightly-above-pinnacle of human physical ability]] (being the [[CaptainPatriotic Living Symbol of America]] didn't hurt either). SuperSerum wasn't too super, though given what Steve Rogers was [[GeekPhysiques before then]] it's still damn impressive. Steve Rogers' power was eventually set at a hair above normal (non-mutant) human maximum. This is not the case for the ComicBook/UltimateMarvel version, however, who was clearly superhuman from the get go.
* [[Characters/MarvelComicsCarolDanvers Carol Danvers]] was just an Air Force military figure, investigating about this new "ComicBook/{{Captain Marvel|MarvelComics}}" and the Lawson scientist. And there came a day, a day unlike any other, when Marvel Comics wanted to have more female super-heroes, and Carol Danvers was exposed to a Kree machine that turned her into a FlyingBrick with the capabilities of a Kree supersoldier. Though [[spoiler: [[RetCon her new origin reveals]] that she is actually half-Kree with her mother having been a Kree soldier herself. The machine just activated her latent powers]]. This happened to Carol ''again'' during her time as part of the X-Men supporting cast, after a prolonged period of being {{depower}}ed. The Brood captured and experimented on her (even with her FlyingBrick powers drained, her biology was still altered by the Kree machine and this piqued their interest) and accidentally granted her ''even stronger'' powers as [[ThePowerOfTheSun Binary]].
* While he was a BadassNormal when serving as Captain America's sidekick, [[Characters/MarvelComicsBuckyBarnes Bucky Barnes]] now sports an [[ArtificialLimbs artificial arm]] that grants him various nifty abilities such as an {{EMP}} and an electric shock.
* [[ComicBook/{{Checkmate}} Sasha Bordeaux]] was originally a BadassNormal ActionGirl who was considered good enough to serve as the bodyguard and crimefighting partner to ''Batman''. She was later attacked by an ComicBook/{{OMAC}} which converted 10 to 20 percent of her body into cybernetics and granted her enhanced strength, a HealingFactor and StatOVision.

** ComicBook/BlueBeetle -- Inverted this and then played it straight. The first Blue Beetle (Dan Garrett) had super powers from a magic scarab, the second (Ted Kord) couldn't make it work[[note]](Well, sorta. It did offer him its power once, but it turned out to be evil, and Ted chose instead to destroy it. It's back now and doesn't seem evil anymore.)[[/note]], but the third (Jaime Reyes) goes back to using the scarab.
*** The ''original'' original [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] Fox Features ComicBook/BlueBeetle[[http://pdsh.wikia.com/wiki/Blue_Beetle]], before being revived by Creator/CharltonComics and thence moving to Franchise/TheDCU, started as a BadassNormal then got a bulletproof costume and SuperSerum from a scientist ally. The scarab didn't pop up until UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}} at Charlton.
** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': In a 1968 issue [[Characters/WonderWomanAllies Steve Trevor]] took a temporary SuperSerum in the form of pills which gave him FlyingBrick powers, and he took the name of "Patriot". Although the story ended with a hint of possible future adventures, "Patriot" never appeared again, likely due to the all-new mod Characters/{{Wonder Woman|TheCharacter}} just being around the corner.

** ComicBook/{{Rex the Wonder Dog}} drank from the Fountain of Youth, gaining longevity, the ability to talk (to any human or animal), and unspecified magical abilities. Overkill, considering Rex was already a decorated war veteran (for both World War II and the Korean War), a successful newspaper photographer, and had won fights with bears, woolly mammoths, and even Tyrannosaurus Rex ''before'' getting powers.
* Comicbook/IronMan, who began as a simple man (not even badass) wearing a PoweredArmor, gave himself technology based super powers with the 'extremis' virus after deciding he wasn't fast enough to keep up. In addition to speeding up his ability to control his suits by mental link (even to summon its pieces and assemble into the full suit with his mind) it also allowed him to [[{{Technopath}} mentally link with other pieces of technology]] as well, often leading to 'I hacked it while standing here talking to you' asspulls. The Bleeding Edge suit can do a lot of what the Extremis suit could do and a lot of what it ''can't''.

* In Comicbook/NewAvengers, Characters/{{Mockingbird|MarvelComics}} received a mix of [[SuperSerum Super Soldier serum]] and Nick Fury's Infinity Formula to save her life -- an upgrade she has yet to fully exploit.
* Joshua Carver of ''ComicBook/NoHero'' did patrols at night without any super powers. Then, he gets [=FX7=] and he becomes very powerful. [[spoiler: In fact, he was raised by the FBI as a monster fighter and an FBI agent commented that she's very scared of Joshua since he has superpowers.]]
* In ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures'' WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck is a BadassNormal in a world of aliens, cyborgs, robots, etc. However he gains psychic powers in issue 40 of the series only to lose them at the end of the issue.
* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in ''ComicBook/{{PS 238}}''--Tyler, a MuggleBornOfMages with a ComicBook/{{Robin}}-esque identity, never gets powers. [[spoiler:His clone, Toby, who has his memories, becomes a RealityWarper]]. In an interesting study of DivergentCharacterEvolution, Tyler remains effective and ShroudedInMyth among his peers, while the drawbacks of the others' powers makes him much less able.

* ''ComicBook/Robin1993'': Tim was already Robin, a teen detective trained in martial arts, when Dava Sborsc gave him the [[PsychoSerum Aramilla]] which grants the user a level of super-speed and rapid healing. He used it [[SuperpowersForADay very briefly]], as the stuff also makes the user impulsive, violent and cuts down on people's self imposed morals and he actually killed someone--though was able to bring them back by CPR which transferred some Aramilla to them--which cut through the euphoria of the drug and terrified him.

* ComicBook/{{Tigra}} of ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' fame started as The Cat, a lab assistant who used a super suit to make her comparable to Captain America, and give her finger claw grapples. Said suit also played a part into turning teen humor character ComicBook/PatsyWalker into BadassNormal superhero ComicBook/{{Hellcat}}. She later developed some vaguely defined psychic abilities, placing her squarely in this trope.
* ''ComicBook/UltimateOrigins #1'' reveals that, apparently, [[spoiler:Nick Fury's incredible badass-ness comes from having been a successful test subject of the Super Soldier Serum. On the one hand, you'd think just being Creator/SamuelLJackson would be enough; on the other, this kinda makes it easier to swallow things like ''dodging automatic weapons fire in '''close quarters''''', or holding his own against ''Wolverine'' until Captain America dropped the mutant with a taunt and a grenade. And most of his awesome is [[TheChessmaster in his badass planning, anyway]]]].
** This is at least partially true for the normal ComicBook/NickFury, who is badass and... virtually immortal, thanks to an anti-aging formula he took so he wouldn't age out of useful service. That near-immortality applies only to natural causes of death, though; Nick's survival in combat is purely a result of his badassitude. [[spoiler: Though it turns out that it's a lie. Nick Fury is actually pretty old, but still a badass [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]] with robotic duplicates as revealed in ''ComicBook/OriginalSin''.]]
* The various men who have gone by the title of ComicBook/{{Black Knight|MarvelComics}} have tended to be skilled swordsmen and equestrians in their own right even before taking up the Ebony Blade. The sword (sometimes cursed, sometimes just evil) gives the Black Knight various powers, including a HealingFactor, a bit of resurrective immortality, flight, magic armor, and things like that.

* ''VideoGame/DustyRagingFist'' have your main hero, Dusty the rabbit, and his friends Kitsune the fox and Darg the horse, being brawlers and mercenaries who effortlessly beats up plenty of mooks. And then you obtain ElementalPowers from various Elemental guardians for kicking more ass, in order to stop a greater evil. Unfortunately the powers granted to your heroes doesn't last; with the all powerful Great Evil defeated in the final stage, you're then reverted [[BagOfSpiling back to your normal forms]].