History Main / InvincibleIncompetent

* Parodied in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'', where Dr. Claw finally puts two and two together and turns Gadget into Film/TheTerminator to kill Penny.

** In the Unova League, Ash/Satoshi's new rival Cameron has intelligence that makes Ash look smart by comparison, frequently misses important facts and information yet still proves good enough to beat 8 gym leaders to get to the League. [[spoiler:When the two face off, Cameron handicaps himself with 5 Pokémon to Ash's 6 and ends up facing half his team with only Riolu, and still manages to win. Averted moments later when Cameron gets eliminated in the next round.]]

** In the Unova League, Ash/Satoshi's new rival Cameron has intelligence that makes Ash look smart by comparison, frequently misses important facts and information yet still proves good enough to beat 8 gym leaders to get to the League. [[spoiler:When the two face off, Cameron handicaps himself with 5 Pokémon to Ash's 6 and ends up facing half his team with only Riolu, and still manages to win.]]

'''Remus:''' Don't you be too shure... ain't i done tol'd you that Brer Rabbit, bein' little and without much strength, he's s'posed to use his head instead o' his foots?

!!Examples

* ''Anime/YuGiOh'': Katsuya Jonouchi (Joey Wheeler) perpetually comes from behind to win. Granted, everyone does this, but Jonouchi never seems to be picked as a favorite to win anything, despite several finals showings. Jonouchi's an odd combination of IdiotBall and InformedFlaw. For no explained reason except poverty, his deck is mostly full of [[TheLoad weak cards]], in hard contrast to Kaiba, who owns and runs some of [[PowerEqualsRarity the rarest and most powerful cards]].
** To compensate, he also uses many luck-based cards, which have frequently given him victory over stronger opponents, though this is a double-edged sword, seeing as luck could play against him sometimes.

* In the Unova League in ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', Ash/Satoshi's new rival Cameron has intelligence that makes Ash look smart by comparison, frequently misses important facts and information yet still proves good enough to beat 8 gym leaders to get to the League. [[spoiler:When the two face off, Cameron handicaps himself with 5 Pokemon to Ash's 6 and ends up facing half his team with only Riolu, and still manages to win.]]
** Ash's Kalos companion, Serena, was something of a novice FauxActionGirl that never really improved in battle skills throughout her run. However she ended the series with her team having not lost a ''single battle'', and rarely even getting scratched, either due to outside intervention, one of her Pokemon evolving at the right time, or most of her opponents being even lower level battlers such as Team Rocket.

* ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' gives us [[TheDitz Jar Jar Binks]], who almost singlehandedly wins the Battle of Naboo for the Gungans due to his bumbling antics accidentally dealing serious damage to the droid army over and over again. He clearly has no idea what he’s doing for the entire battle and yet is somehow alive, unscathed, and victorious in the end despite it.

*** Explored in ''Discworld/{{Sourcery}}'' where a [[RealityWarper sourcerer]] is born that acts as a font of magic. He encourages the Wizards to exploit their powers, as the Unseen University's actual purpose is to teach Wizards how to not use magic, instead letting them spend their time on academic politics and massive lunches. As soon as he does, the old, overweight and lazy Wizards immediately [[spoiler:conquer Ankh-Morpork, set up a massive tower and start a devastating war amongst each other threatening to destroy the world. Only after the sourcerer decides to retire to his own pocket dimension do they calm down and return to their normal bumbling selves]].

* ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'': Ziggy the Green Ranger is several leagues behind the other Rangers in fighting skills - and not just the ones on his own team, but just about every other Ranger, period -- but he manages to bumble his way through fights, providing support for his teammates rather than drag them down.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* This is the concept behind the "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSK0AcFqkyU Build Murray]]" character build on The WebVideo/AnimatedSpellbook. The idea is to play a character who has no business getting into adventuring, but is such a [[BornLucky lucky]] [[TheFool idiot]] that he succeeds regardless. Manipulating the random dice mechanics as a Halfling Diviner allows the player to fortuitously bumble their way to victory. This build is intended to evoke Creator/BillMurray's various characters.
* In ''Franchise/{{Noob}}'', Sparadrap, one of the worse players, tends to be this on and off. The only situation consistently having it happen is his "fights" against [[PlayerKilling Dark Avenger]], to the extent of becoming a RunningGag.

* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo'' has this trope in two flavors. The later shows and movies, though still often playing on this trope, gave the gang a bit more of a CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass cred, displaying more acts of genuine competance and bravado.

* ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget'': Gadget thwarts Doctor Claw again and again, almost solely on the strengths of his {{Hyper Competent Sidekick}}s or [[TheFool well timed]] [[SpannerInTheWorks slapstick bumbling]]. On the ''very'' rare occasions [[SanityBall he gets a clue what's going on]] however, he is shown to be [[LetsGetDangerous surprisingly competent]].

* DependingOnTheWriter, [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Homer Simpson]] is this. His continuous stupid bumbling has caused much more trouble than it's actually solved and he is stupid enough to walk into bad situations, but he's also been able to [[StatusQuoIsGod keep his status quo]] when other characters nearly (or ''did'') lose everything and has some interesting stories to tell as a result (like having been an astronaut or meeting former President Gerald Ford). The episode "Homer's Enemy" is all about a LogicalLatecomer lampshading this and [[SomebodyDoesntLoveRaymond developing everlasting emnity as a result.]]
-->'''Frank Grimes'': [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech If this was any other country, you would have died of hunger long ago!]]\\
'''Bart''': [[JerkassHasAPoint He's got you there, Dad.]]

* In the ''Anime/IrresponsibleCaptainTylor'' nobody can decide if Justy Ueki Tylor is this or he's just that good but prefers to ''[[ObfuscatingStupidity look]]'' like it.

* ''Anime/YuGiOh'': Katsuya Jonouchi (Joey Wheeler) perpetually comes from behind to win. Granted, everyone does this, but Jonouchi never seems to be picked as a favorite to win anything, despite several finals showings. Jonouchi's an odd combination of IdiotBall and InformedFlaw. For no explained reason except maybe poverty, his deck is mostly full of [[TheLoad weak cards]]. While his [[XanatosSpeedChess quick-thinking]] and [[GameBreaker few strong cards]] make up for his weaker monsters in life-threatening scenarios, he'd be MUCH more effective if he'd try a more effective deck-type.
** He also uses many luck-based cards, which have frequently given him victory over stronger opponents, though this is a double-edged sword, seeing as luck could play against him sometimes.

* DependingOnTheWriter, [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Homer Simpson]] is this. His continuous stupid bumbling has caused much more trouble than it's actually solved and he is stupid enough to walk into bad situations, but he's also been able to keep his status quo when other characters nearly lose everything and has some interesting stories to tell as a result (like having been an astronaut or meeting former President Gerald Ford). The episode "Homer's Enemy" is all about a LogicalLatecomer lampshading this and [[SomebodyDoesntLoveRaymond developing everlasting emnity as a result.]]

*** Explored in Discworld/Sourcery where a [[RealityWarper sourcerer]] is born that acts as a font of magic. He encourages the Wizards to exploit their powers, as the Unseen University's actual purpose is to teach Wizards how to not use magic, instead letting them spend their time on academic politics and massive lunches. As soon as he does the old, overweight and lazy Wizards immediately [[spoiler:conquer Ankh Morpork set up a massive tower and start a devastating war amongst each other threatening to destroy the world. After the sourcerer decides to go to his own pocket dimension do they calm down and return to their normal bumbling selves]].

** Ash himself also comes across as this often, if nothing else than because his intelligence seems to get reset to novice level at the beginning of each new arc, made worse by how he immediately benches all of the trained, powerful Pokemon he had captured previously at these points as well, save Pikachu (whose competence and power ''also'' inexplicably resets).
** Speaking of Pikachu, he is not only deceptively powerful compared to his species in the games, but he wins a lot of battles he shouldn't have simply because of PlotArmor. The incompetence factor comes into play considering that he refuses to enter his Poke Ball even when his life is in danger, he refuses to evolve despite being unable to get any stronger or learn better moves unless he does, and typically goes along with all of Ash's ideas, no matter how stupid they are.

** The elderly faculty of Unseen University display this trope in a different way. Despite being a group of old men who like nothing more than to each huge dinners and bicker with each other, they manage to stroll out of situations which should have left them dead a dozen times over. This really annoys anyone who comes into contact with them. There are hints they could be properly dangerous if it came down to it, but danger almost always gives up and goes away before it comes down to it. In the early books Unseen University was a very dangerous place to work at and was filled with powerful mages prone to KlingonPromotion and ChronicBackstabbingDisorder. The current faculty all lived through that time, survived it and came out on top. They simply decided that not trying to kill each other was more restful.

* ''Literature/CiaphasCain'': Has a dark and dramatic take on a protagonist who attempts to run away from the action yet always ends up winning. The difference being that he is actually competent, or he would not have survived very long, let alone lived [[RetiredBadass to retire]] in [[CrapsackWorld the Warhammer]] [[EverythingTryingToKillYou universe]]. However, [[HeroicSelfDeprecation he refuses to admit this]]. Only the first short story actually fits the trope, its plot boiling down to [[spoiler: "I tried to run away but ended up exposing an enemy surprise attack from that direction and looking heroic."]]

-->-- ''Disney/SongOfTheSouth''

* ''Anime/YuGiOh'': Katsuya Jonouchi (Joey Wheeler) perpetually comes from behind to win. Granted, everyone does this, but Joey never seems to be picked as a favorite to win anything, despite several finals showings. Jonouchi's an odd combination of IdiotBall and InformedFlaw. For no explained reason except maybe poverty, his deck is mostly full of [[TheLoad weak cards]]. While his [[XanatosSpeedChess quick-thinking]] and [[GameBreaker few strong cards]] make up for his weaker monsters in life-threatening scenarios, he'd be MUCH more effective if he'd try a more effective deck-type.

* Inspector Clouseau of ''Film/ThePinkPanther'' series is a shining example, combined with BatDeduction in that his profoundly stupid and illogical actions often save him and/or destroy his attacker and/or solve the case he's supposed to be working on. Many skilled assassins try to kill him, but Clouseau inevitably survives by some absurd accident, almost always unknowingly killing the assassin(s) in the process. All for the sake of RuleOfFunny, of course.

This trope caters to audiences who like to identify with the "weaker" side in any conflict. A downside is VillainDecay; it is hard to present a villain as a credible threat if they repeatedly fail to stop the bumbling hero.

* ''WebComic/SluggyFreelance'': Sam, as a vampire, is almost invincible against unprepared humans, being ImmuneToBullets and stuff. But against other vampires, or a competent VampireHunter, he's [[SuperLoser just someone who's dumb as a brick]]. Yet he manages to survive not only brush-ins with vampire hunters but being hunted by all of the Vrykolakas vampires for years. It's all dumb luck, like when he discloses his location online but gets the state wrong, causing the vampires hunting him to crash a vampire hunter convention instead. [[spoiler: It gets to the point that one of his former enemies wants to make him a ruler of vampires, in spite of knowing what an idiot he is, because he's the only one who's survived against all the three clans of vampires.]]

* ''WebComic/SluggyFreelance'': Sam, as a Vorpyr vampire, is almost invincible against unprepared humans, being ImmuneToBullets and stuff. But against other vampires, or a competent VampireHunter, he's [[SuperLoser just someone who's dumb as a brick]]. Yet he manages to survive not only brush-ins with vampire hunters but being hunted by all of the Vrykolakas vampires for years. It's all dumb luck, like when he discloses his location online but gets the state wrong, causing the vampires hunting him to crash a vampire hunter convention instead. [[spoiler: It gets to the point that one of his former enemies wants to make him the leader of their side in a war between vampires, in spite of knowing what an idiot he is, because he's the only one who's survived against all the three clans of vampires.]]

* ''WebComic/SluggyFreelance'': Sam, as a Vorpyr vampire, is almost invincible against unprepared humans, being ImmuneToBullets and stuff. But against other vampires, or a competent VampireHunter, he's [[SuperLoser just someone who's dumb as a brick]]. Yet he manages to survive not only brush-ins with vampire hunters but being hunted by all of the Vrykolakas vampires for years. It's all dumb luck, like when he discloses his location online but gets the state wrong, causing the vampires hunting him to crash a vampire hunter convention instead. [[spoiler: It gets to the point that one of his former enemies wants to make him the leader in vampire war, in spite of knowing what an idiot he is, because he's the only one who's survived against all the three clans of vampires.]]

* ''WebComic/SluggyFreelance'': Sam, as a Vorpyr vampire, is almost invincible against unprepared humans, being ImmuneToBullets and stuff. But against other vampires, or a competent VampireHunter, he's [[SuperLoser just someone who's dumb as a brick]]. Yet he manages to survive not only brush-ins with vampire hunters but being hunted by all of the Vrykolakas vampires for years. It's all dumb luck, like when he discloses his location online but gets the state wrong, causing the vampires hunting him to crash a vampire hunter convention instead. [[spoiler: It gets to the point that one of his former enemies wants to make him a ruler of vampires because he's survived against all the three clans of vampires.]]

* The main character of ''Webcomic/ArtificialTimeXS'', Sheath, is essentially a teenager with a Ralph Wiggum level of intelligence. Several people try to kill her. None of them succeed. This even carries over into ''[[VideoGame/ASuperMarioThing A Second Mario Bros X Thing]]'' where she survives [[spoiler:the end of reality (granted, she receives a McGuffin that lets her keep existing just before everything else is gone)]], and somehow failed to notice every single thing that happened in the preceding cutscene (including the [[spoiler:end of everything]])

* Rufus and Amberley from ''WesternAnimation/TheDreamstone'' were bumbling kids somewhat a cut below BadassNormal, however since they're the foes were [[HarmlessVillain the Urpneys]] and most of their allies were immortal {{Invincible Hero}}es, they usually didn't have to achieve much to win the day.

* Parodied in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'', where Dr. Claw's finally put two and two together and turns Gadget into Film/TheTerminator to kill Penny.

** The elderly faculty of Unseen University display this trope in a different way. Despite being a group of old men who like nothing more than to each huge dinners and bicker with each other, they manage to stroll out of situations which should have left them dead a dozen times over. This really annoys anyone who comes into contact with them. There are hints they could be properly dangerous if it came down to it, but danger almost always gives up and goes away before it comes down to it.