History Main / FixedRelativeStrength

This can be distributed a few ways. Usually, much like AuthorityEqualsAsskicking, the leader of the group will be the strongest, and all down the chain of command the Ninjutsu gets smaller and smaller until ground level {{Mooks}} or {{Red Shirt}}s are pushovers. If the group is evil, this is much like an in-season SortingAlgorithmOfEvil and SlidingScaleOfVillainThreat.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'' the Straw Hat Pirates generally all undergo [[TookALevelInBadass badass level-ups]] at around the same time every other arc or so. Despite this, [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking Captain Luffy]] and Zoro are always at the top, followed closely by Sanji, and the three of them (dubbed the "Monster Trio" by Nami) are consistently considered to be leagues above the rest of the crew. WordOfGod states that [[ButtMonkey Usopp]] will always be the weakest member of the crew, since he's meant to be closest to a normal human. To put it in perspective, at the moment the man is able to snipe someone from several miles away, during a windstorm, with a ''slingshot''. And yet compared to anyone else in the crew, he's just [[CantCatchUp not able to catch up]]. The Wano Arc might have shaken this up a bit with Jinbe joining the crew, since he's implied to be very close if not exactly equal to Sanji in strength (thus turning the Monster Trio into a Quartet), and Robin seemingly surpassing Franky as the strongest outside of the Monsters.

* Very prominent in ''Franchise/GreenLantern''. The Green Lantern Corps has thousands of members, most of whom constitute a RedShirtArmy. It is not unusual for them to be killed en masse in battles where the main characters like Hal Jordan not only survive, but win the battle. Even though they all have essentially the [[GreenLanternRing same power]].

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'' the Straw Hat Pirates generally all undergo [[TookALevelInBadass badass level-ups]] at around the same time every other arc or so. Despite this, [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking Captain Luffy]] and Zoro are always at the top, followed closely by Sanji, and the three of them are consistently considered to be leagues above the rest of the crew. WordOfGod states that [[ButtMonkey Usopp]] will always be the weakest member of the crew, since he's meant to be closest to a normal human. To put it in perspective, at the moment the man is able to snipe someone from several miles away, during a windstorm, with a ''slingshot''. And yet compared to anyone else in the crew, he's just [[CantCatchUp not able to catch up]].

* Averted in ''Series/KamenRiderGhost'', which shifts the power dynamic of its main trio a few times. Specter is stronger than Ghost when he first appears as TheRival (though the gap narrows over time), and later Necrom is stronger than either of them. Ghost's [[SuperMode Toucon Boost form]] and Necrom's RedemptionDemotion then result in Ghost becoming the strongest Rider, which is further cemented when Ghost gains [[AllYourPowersCombined Grateful form]]. However, Specter then gains the [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Deep Specter]] and [[LimitBreak Zesshou Specter]] forms, which makes him the strongest again until the debut of Ghost's [[ReadingsAreOffTheScale Mugen form]]. Throughout all this, Necrom gains a number of minor upgrades but [[CantCatchUp remains cemented in third place]].

** The aversion comes in ''Anime/DigimonSavers''. All four main characters reach the same level of power, even if one of them temporarily outpaces the other, said person will quickly close the gap. This is the ''only'' series where the supporting cast is able to keep up with and fight on the same level as TheHero.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'' the Straw Hat Pirates generally all undergo [[TookALevelInBadass badass level-ups]] at around the same time every other arc or so. Despite this, [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking Captain Luffy]] and Zoro are always at the top, followed closely by Sanji, and the three of them are consistently considered to be leagues above the rest of the crew.
** WordOfGod states that Usopp will always be the weakest member of the crew, since he's meant to be closest to a normal human. To put it in perspective, at the moment the man is able to snipe someone from several miles away, during a windstorm, with a ''slingshot''. And yet compared to anyone else in the crew, he's just [[CantCatchUp not able to catch up]].

* In R.A. Salvatore's ''Literature/ForgottenRealms'' novels, his favorite group, the [[Literature/TheLegendOfDrizzt Companions of the Hall]], generally follow the following distribution; [[OurElvesAreBetter Drizzt]] > [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Bruenor]] > [[BarbarianHero Wulfgar]] > [[ActionGirl Catti-brie]] > [[{{Hobbits}} Regis]]. Being that this is based off of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', actual stats do back this up.

* When RidiculouslyAverageGuy Stahl in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' is tested for his strengths, he manages to rank as the exact middle compared to the rest of his companions both times. Miriel explains that while he improved between tests, everyone else improved because they saw him as the milestone and was motivated to train harder. This is strictly GameplayAndStorySegregation; Stahl can lose his status as average if overtrained or undertrained.

** The main characters are always seem to be at the same relative strength in battles. Roy is the power-hitting and intelligent fighter, V is the SquishyWizard who can bring down absurd spells, Haley the sneak attacking Rogue, Durkon the JackOfAllTrades cleric, Belkar who is known in higher circles as Death's little helper, and Elan bringing up the rear as the Bard. While they have all taken assorted levels in badass, the relative competence between them all has remained static throughout. This is really noticeable [[spoiler:after Roy comes BackFromTheDead after over 200 strips. Despite the very act of resurrection taking him back a step and the rest of the party getting into adventures while getting him back he has somehow held onto his part of the party. Partially justified in a Frontline fighter having many inborn traits that aren't replaced by other classes levels. And Belkar having possibly the worst class decisions in the entire comic.]]

** The main characters are always seem to be at the same relative strength in battles. Roy is the power-hitting and intelligent fighter, V is the SquishyWizard who can bring down absurd spells, Haley the sneak attacking Rogue, Durkon the JackOfAllTrades cleric, Belkar who is known in higher circles as Death's little helper, and Elan bringing up the rear as the Bard. While they have all taken assorted levels in badass, the relative competence between them all has remained static throughout. This is really noticeable [[spoiler:after Roy comes BackFromTheDead after over 200 strips. Despite the very act of resurrection taking him back a step and the rest of the party getting into adventures while getting him back he has somehow held onto his part of the party.]]
** It is also noticeable with the villains, most prominently with the PsychoRangers the Linear Guild. Regardless of what they are doing between fights, every face-off is at least a fight. Z spend most of his time in jail and after that laying low while V was constantly fighting, yet in their rematch had V completely shutdown. On the other hand, Thog was thrown in a coliseum fighting whatever the Empire could throw in there, yet Roy was his equal in the rematch despite the handicap of spending most of that time dead. Also parodied, as one of Haley's old acquaintances deliberately became her nemesis in order to get a free level whenever Haley did.
** Lampshaed in one strip about the relationship between Haley and Crystal. Haley notes that Crystal is her nemesis, so she will ALWAYS be Haley's level or higher. Cut to Crystal playing cards at a table noting that Haley must have just gone up a level because she just went up a level while sitting there.

* Franchise/Godzilla: The titular monster often fight on par with or dominate all other monsters, however King Ghidorah is always his superior in term of power and often require teamup with either human or monster to defeat. Even the AdaptationalBadass Godzilla Earth was no match for that version of Ghidorah who was a PlanetEater EnergyBeing.

** Applied with increasing consistency as the series goes on, and even becomes a major plot point. Goku is the strongest, followed by Vegeta, then Gohan, Piccolo and the other half-Saiyan children, and lastly the human fighters, Krillin, Tenshinhan, and finally Yamcha. Vegeta's seemingly eternal role as second fiddle to Goku becomes an increasingly sore point for him as the series goes on; after his moderate HeelFaceTurn, no matter how hard he trains he is never able to catch up to Goku, despite both of them becoming insanely powerful compared to everyone else. This eventually boils over into a temporary FaceHeelTurn after his indignation at still being inferior to Goku after 7 years of TrainingFromHell following the Cell Saga causes him to allow wizard Babidi to reawaken the evil in his heart and bring out his potential, allowing him to fight evenly with Goku.
** DBZ does subvert this trope in the later story arcs. Gohan surpasses Goku and Vegeta in power to challenge Cell and save the world only to fall behind in his training later on. However, an UpgradeArtifact granted by the Elder Kai soon re-establishes him as one of the most powerful fighters. But it doesn't help that Adult Gohan is a fairly consistent {{Jobber}} (even more than Tienshan, originally '''the''' strongest human around), meaning that even when he's the Ultimate Fighter that "''supposedly''" surpasses any Super Saiyan, he becomes weaker then Goku and Vegeta since he doesn't train to maintain his power. In GT and canon movies set after Z, Goku and Vegeta naturally get even better power ups such as Super Saiyan Blue.

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* Season 1 of ''Series/AgentsOfShield'' had a pretty steady set up, with May and Ward being orders of magnitude more badass than anyone else, and May slightly tougher than Ward, the next toughest was Coulson, who was more skilled than Skye but not by a huge degree. Fitz and Simmons were the [[NonActionGuy Non-Action Guys]], though Fitz was slightly more collected and effective in a combat situation than Simmons. This rough distribution was maintained in Season 2. Though several new agents were added who were all roughly as good in a fight as Coulson, but nowhere close to May and Ward. Skye got more skilled as time went on, but was still the rookie among the field agents, and Fitz lost whatever combat effectiveness he had as a result of [[spoiler: Brain Damage]]. [[{{Pun}} Shaken up]] further towards the end of Season 2, where the team begins working with superpowered characters who function as {{Glass Cannon}}s to May's JackOfAllStats.

[[folder: Web Comics ]]

* The main characters in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' are always seem to be at the same relative strength in battles. Roy is the power hitting and intelligent fighter, V is the SquishyWizard who can bring down absurd spells, Haley the sneak attacking Rogue, Durkon the JackOfAllTrades cleric, Belkar who is known in higher circles as Death's little helper, and Elan bringing up the rear as the Bard. While they have all taken assorted levels in badass the relative competence between them all has remained static throughout. This is really noticeable [[spoiler:after Roy comes BackFromTheDead after over 200 strips. Despite the very act of resurrection taking him back a step and the rest of the party getting into adventures while getting him back he has somehow held onto his part of the party.]]
** It is also noticeable with the villains, most prominently with the PsychoRangers the Linear Guild. Regardless of what they are doing between fights every faceoff is atleast a fight. Z spend most of his time in jail and after that laying low while V was constantly fighting yet in their rematch had V completely shutdown. On the other hand Thog was thrown in a colisseum fighting whatever the Empire could throw in there yet Roy was his equal in the rematch despite the handicap of spending most of that time dead. Also parodied, as one of Haley's old acquaintances deliberately became her nemesis in order to get a free level whenever Haley did.

** also parodied, as one of Haley's old acquaintances deliberately became her nemesis in order to get a free level whenever Haley did.

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* ''WesternAnimation/StormHawks'' has a pretty linear breakdown of power, which gets shuffled later on in season 2 by [[spoiler: [[BewareTheNiceOnes Stork]] and Piper]].
* Robin in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' is an example of a leader who is weaker in comparison to his much stronger peers, but can, at the worst, hold his own with any regular {{Muggle}} adult. He's enough of a BadassNormal to keep up with them all when Slade blackmails him into being his apprentice, but one has to wonder how hard they were trying to hurt him.
** Though with the right technology, Robin can actually solo the rest of his team even when they ARE trying to bringing him down. Though admittedly, most of the team had [[StrongAsTheyNeedToBe moments when they overshadow the rest of their team singlehandlely]]. Whoever's ArchEnemy is the VillainOfTheWeek[[note]]Arch enemy being used loosely. One-shot villains like Atlas and Malachor still mostly required Cyborg and Raven respectively to beat[[/note]] takes up the role of TheHero and often has to beat the villain single-handedly after they beat the rest of the team. (Unless it's a epsiode about the power of teamwork or a villain not really related to any of the heroes).

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* Watch any Asian WireFu film, early on there will be a ranking established with who is how powerful. Expect a low level hero to make a SenselessSacrifice by [[OnlyICanKillHim attacking the]] BigBad [[OnlyICanKillHim alone]]. Creator/JackieChan's ''Film/{{Myth}}'' is pretty much like this, with BigBad > Jackie > Everyone else.

Heroes will usually have an analogous ranking to the villains, so each member of the FiveBadBand will be as badass in their own group as their respective opposite in the FiveManBand. However, since the heroes tend to be ''just'' five, and tend to have no mooks, they will concentrate their combined Ninjutsu such that they are usually ''slightly'' stronger than their opposite. This is usually not the case with TheHero and TheLancer when they face the EvilOverlord and TheDragon, as they tend to "hoard" some ninjutsu from their underlings to make them stronger than their analogue.

* The main characters in ''Webcomic/OrderOfTheStick'' are always seem to be at the same relative strength in battles. Roy is the power hitting and intelligent fighter, V is the SquishyWizard who can bring down absurd spells, Haley the sneak attacking Rogue, Durkon the JackOfAllTrades cleric, Belkar who is known in higher circles as Death's little helper, and Elan bringing up the rear as the Bard. While they have all taken assorted levels in badass the relative competence between them all has remained static throughout. This is really noticeable [[spoiler:after Roy comes BackFromTheDead after over 200 strips. Despite the very act of resurrection taking him back a step and the rest of the party getting into adventures while getting him back he has somehow held onto his part of the party.]]

** DBZ does subvert this trope in the later story arcs. Gohan surpasses Goku and Vegeta in power to challenge Cell and save the world only to fall behind in his training later on. However, an UpgradeArtifact granted by the Elder Kai soon re-establishes him as one of the most powerful fighters. But it doesn't help that Adult Gohan is a fairly consistent Jobber, meaning that even when he's the Ultimate Fighter that SUPPOSEDLY surpasses any Super Saiyan, he becomes weaker then Goku and Vegeta since he doesn't train to maintain his power. In GT and canon movies set after Z, Goku and Vegeta naturally get even better power ups.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'' the Straw Hat Pirates generally all undergo [[TookALevelInBadass badass level-ups]] at around the same time every other arc or so. Despite this, [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking Captain Luffy]] and Zoro are always at the top, followed closely Sanji, and the three of them are consistently considered to be leagues above the rest of the crew.

* Franchise/{{Digimon}} tends to have a pretty easily broken down power scaling among the main characters through the seasons. TheHero and TheLancer are generally the ones whose partner Digimon reach one evolution level higher than the rest of the group. However, there are notable subversions and outright aversions in certain cases.
** In Anime/DigimonAdventure, Tai and Matt's Digimon are consistently the ones who are the first to reach a new evolution stage and are the ''only'' digimon to reach Mega Level among the eight Chosen children. However, before said highest evolution, their younger siblings' partner Digimon were by far the strongest and the most effective against the villains. This is because Kari and TK's digimon were Angelic in nature and naturally effective against evil and wicked digimon.
** The aversion comes in Anime/DigimonSavers. All four main characters reach the same level of power, even if one of them temporarily outpaces the other, said person will quickly close the gap. This is the ''only'' series where the supporting cast is able to keep up with and fight on the same level as TheHero.

* HunterXHunter subverts this for three of the four main characters. Their [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative displayed fighting strength]] changes ([[PutOnABus as far as we can tell]]) from approximately

* ''DragonBallZ'':

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* Torg in ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' is arguably the lead, and is pretty much the weakest character on the strip until he got a demon slaying sword and TookALevelInBadass (which means he's still clumsy, but slightly less so). Riff, Aylee, Bun Bun and Gwynn are all far more combat capable, Zoë being the weakest character at this point.

[[AC: WesternAnimation]]

* Season 1 of ''Series/AgentsOfShield'' had a pretty steady set up, with May and Ward being orders of magnitude more {{Badass}} than anyone else, and May slightly tougher than Ward, the next toughest was Coulson, who was more skilled than Skye but not by a huge degree. Fitz and Simmons were the [[NonActionGuy Non-Action Guys]], though Fitz was slightly more collected and effective in a combat situation than Simmons. This rough distribution was maintained in Season 2. Though several new agents were added who were all roughly as good in a fight as Coulson, but nowhere close to May and Ward. Skye got more skilled as time went on, but was still the rookie among the field agents, and Fitz lost whatever combat effectiveness he had as a result of [[spoiler: Brain Damage]]. [[{{Pun}} Shaken up]] further towards the end of Season 2, where the team begins working with superpowered characters who function as {{Glass Cannon}}s to May's JackOfAllStats.