History Main / PositiveDiscrimination

* In ''WesternAnimation/YinYangYo'', the two main leads are girl and boy versions of each other. Yin is the overly girlish girl who likes ponies and anything pink and naturally is the more studious, mature, and level-headed of the two. Yang is a crass, crude-humor spouting blue bunny who likes boyish things like monster trucks, mindless video games, fighting anything that moves, and not studying. Also, Yang is more likely to receive [[AmusingInjuries physical slapstick]]. Once again, the three shows share writers and directors, it is not much of a surprise. Subverted later on when Yin herself is more prone to the dark side because [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys she love bad boys]] and that Yang shows that he's more competent and talented than he looks because he prefers to hide it so he can get away with his BookDumb status. FridgeBrilliance since Yin is the name of darkness while Yang is the name of light.

* ''ComicBook/FutureQuest'' (the HannaBarberaBeyond cross-over of their 1960s action-adventure animated series) might be better named ''Invasion of the Mary Sues''. For example, Cobalt, a female [[TheImpossibles Impossible]] introduced in the series, [[SpotlightStealingSquad immediately proves more powerful and useful than all three male characters combined]] and frequently treats the trio condescendingly while [[BlaseBoast casually commenting about how easy it is for her to use her superior powers]]. Similarly, Professor Linda Kim-Conroy, a replacement for [[WesternAnimation/FrankensteinJr Buzz Conroy's]] conveniently dead 'dad-scientist', is [[SpotlightStealingSquad gratuitously retconned]] to have created the famous [[WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest spider-bot of Doctor Zin]], [[KillSteal gaining authority as a character]] [[CharacterShilling by theft from the character of Doctor Zin]]; in one issue, she is shown a number of times with Doctor Benton Quest and Doctor Zin, and in almost every scene, she looms in the foreground [[DemotedToExtra while even the famed Dr. Quest is relegated to a background character]]. This becomes even more noticeable because all the male characters respond to the female characters as unquestioned equals (or superiors) and do nothing to merit any contempt; not even the villains are sexist.

* ''WebAnimation/TheMostPopularGirlsInSchool'':
** [[MagicalMinorityPerson Matthew Derringer]] and [[MagicalQueer Tanner Christiansen]] play the OnlySaneMan role to DumbJock Blaine, douchebag Than, and the [[YourCheatingHeart occasionally annoying]] Justin.
** Surprisingly for a such queer-friendly show, the two openly non-heterosexual female characters avert this: Jenna Darabond is a manipulative and even downright dangerous DepravedBisexual, and Lunch Lady Belinda is a DirtyOldWoman AbhorrentAdmirer who targets both males and females (but don't worry, the latter's loony behaviour is PlayedForLaughs).

** [[MagicalMinority Matthew Derringer]] and [[MagicalQueer Tanner Christiansen]] play the OnlySaneMan role to DumbJock Blaine, douchebag Than, and the [[YourCheatingHeart occasionally annoying]] Justin.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

* Penny of ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget'', the most down to earth person on the show and several times more competent than her Uncle Gadget and the entire police department combined, it is not rare for her to save the day almost single-handedly while the latter completely screw things up (she is a 10 year old girl). Granted Brain is near equally skilled, if far more blundering and neurotic in execution. Other female characters such as bumbling MAD agents appear but are rare. This probably has less to do with her gender than her age and status as an AudienceSurrogate character. [[WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget2015 The 2015 series]] gives Penny more flaws, though she still looks far more competent than Gadget.

* The major reason for the general fandom rejection of [[TheScrappy Lola Bunny]] in ''Film/SpaceJam'', who aside from being the only newcomer that didn't follow any of the usual humorous slapstick conventions. For instance, later, Bugs pushes her out the way when one of the Monstars is about to squash her, as though she, unlike all the other toons and Bugs himself afterwards, will not just get flattened like a pancake or some other [[AmusingInjuries temporary cartoon injury]] that is easy to recover from. Even a ''human'' gets flattened and did not receive permanent damage. One could argue this is less a case of Positive Discrimination and more WouldntHitAGirl. That said, Lola exemplifies CloserToEarth, and she's the most talented basketball player of all the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes.

* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' has gotten some flak for trying a little too hard to push the ActionGirl trope. Originally the show had two combat-capable male characters (Coulson and Ward) and one female one (May) though May was generally regarded as the best of them. This got a little more complicated as the show progressed - Ward left the team, his replacement Triplett [[spoiler: was killed off]], and Coulson was promoted to Director and stopped doing fieldwork nearly as often. Meanwhile, Skye TookALevelInBadass (rather quickly, considering her rather lack of fight scenes the season prior) and Lance Hunter and Bobbi Morse were added to the team. Mack was also introduced, and eventually revealed to be pretty tough, though he dislikes fighting and won't do it unless forced (and in fact spent the first half of season 2 pretending he couldn't). This left a ratio of roughly one active male fighter to three female ones on the team, and again, the women were usually portrayed as better. When the agents fight each other, the fights have always either ended ambiguously (May's first fight with Ward), with the woman winning (May's second fight with Ward, Bobbi sparring with Mack), or otherwise shown her as the better fighter despite a loss (Bobbi's fight with Ward, where she manages to fight him evenly until Kara, another female character, joins the fight on his side, despite Bobbi having spent the last few hours ''being tortured'' and not being in any condition for a fight).them.

* ''Film/IronMan''
** In ''Film/IronMan2'', ComicBook/BlackWidow causes the very problem she later blames Tony for on his evaluation (she gets close to him and then, aware that he's dying even though he doesn't know she is, tells him he should go out and do whatever he wants... and then slams him in the report for his irresponsible and impulsive actions) but is still held up as an insightful, intelligent agent. And when it comes time for her to fight, she defeats something like two dozen trained security personnel (all male) not only without any of them actually managing to challenge her, but without her even looking like she's trying. Just to drive it home, they include a male character who struggles with defeating ''one'' of these bad guys in the time she knocks out twenty. And he's supposed to be a bodyguard.
** Also, while Pepper Potts is not portrayed as an ActionGirl, the second and third movies especially try to drive home that she's much [[CloserToEarth more sensible]] than Tony (even as she spends the entire movie being passive-aggressive and rude) and [[WomenAreWiser morally superior as well]]. In the second movie, she becomes the company's CEO despite spending most of her career as a secretary.
** [[BlackBestFriend The lead's buddy]] [[ComicBook/WarMachine James Rhodes]] is also much more responsible, level-headed, and reasonable than Tony, to the point that he really does seem to be a much better choice for keeping the Iron Man suit.

** In ''Film/IronMan2'', ComicBook/BlackWidow causes the very problem she later blames Tony for on his evaluation (she gets close to him and then, aware that he's dying even though he doesn't know she is, tells him he should go out and do whatever he wants... and then slams him in the report for his irresponsible and impulsive actions) but is still held up as an insightful, intelligent agent. And when it comes time for her to fight, she defeats something like two dozen trained security personnel (all male) not only without any of them actually managing to challenge her, but without her even looking like she's trying. Just to drive it home, they include a male character who struggles with defeating ''one'' of these bad guys in the time she knocks out twenty.

* ''Film/GetOut'' takes this trope in a very interesting direction. The satire in the film's plot revolves around [[spoiler: a group of old white people who feel that African Americans are physically superior to whites.]] However, they also believe that [[spoiler: White people are mentally superior to African Americans,]] and in their mind the perfect human [[spoiler: is a black person's body with a white mind, and thus the Cuagula procedure was developed that would [[GrandTheftMe allow an old white person's brain to inhabit and control the body]] of [[AndIMustScream a young African American whose mind was forced into "the Sunken Place."]]]]

* ''Film/GetOut'' takes this trope in a very interesting direction. The satire in the film's plot revolves around [[spoiler: a group of old white people who feel that African Americans are physically superior to whites.]] However, they also believe that [[spoiler: White people are mentally superior to African Americans,]] and in their mind the perfect human [[spoiler: is a black person's body with a white mind, and thus the Cuagula procedure was developed that would [[GrandTheftMe allow an old white person's brain to inhabit and control the body]] of [[AndIMustScream a young African American whose mind was forced into "the Sunken Place."]]

* ''Film/GetOut'' takes this trope in a very interesting direction. The satire in the film's plot revolves around [[spoiler: a group of old white people who feel that African Americans are physically superior to whites.]] However, they also believe that [[spoiler: White people are mentally superior to African Americans,]] and in their mind the perfect human [[spoiler: is a black person's body with a white mind, and thus the Cuagula procedure was developed that would [[GrandTheftMe allow an old white person's brain to inhabit and control the body]] of a young African American.]]

** Subverted in the short [[http://video.adultswim.com/robot-chicken/12-angry-little-people.html 12 Angry Little People]] in which the only black juror starts to loudly complain about how the police once took his shoe-shine box and beat him with it while using a stereotypically unaware inflection. When the others stare at him in disgust he says, "What? Every black man on the TV gots to be a posi-a-tive role model?" Done again immediately afterwards when the other minority juror (a dog) gives a technical explanation and another juror interrupts him with, "Uh, you're a f**king dog."

* On ''Series/{{Glee}}'', some of the more well rounded characters are minorities, like Kurt (gay) and Mercedes (black), as well as Santana ([[TwoferTokenMinority a latina lesbian]]) often being the voice of reason in later seasons.
** Tina and Mike being Asian always get good grades. Still, Tina did find her calling as an AlphaBitch when she decided she was the new Rachel.

** Tina and Mike being Asian always get good grades.

* Delta, the only black cast member of ''ComicStrip/{{Luann}}'', is the smartest and most level-headed of the entire group. Unless you count "being a workaholic" as an actual flaw, she's about as absurdly perfect as they get.

* Nils Nielsen is the only genuinely black Gunpla Fighter in ''Anime/GundamBuildFighters'', and one of the precious few black people in the entire Franchise/{{Gundam}} world in general. He's a 13-year old ChildProdigy with several [=PhD=]s, as well as the son of a [[GreatDetective famous detective]] and a prominent female martial arts champion. On the other hand, he does mix up his Chinese and Japanese cultures when building his "Sengoku" Astray, something {{lampshade|Hanging}}d by the show's Japanese cast members.

* Tends to happen when an [[TheAnimeOfTheGame anime of a game]] that allows the player to pick between a male and female protagonist does a WhatIf episode showing what would happen if the female protagonist [[SchrodingersPlayerCharacter got to the plot first]]. ''Anime/YokaiWatch'' had one where Fumika was shown to be better at collecting medals than Keita would have and was much more helpful and respectful to Whisper, and the last episode of ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy'' had Djeeta steamroll the same plots Gran went through and accomplish near all the classes, with just enough time to have a BeachEpisode with her crew and team up with fan-favorite characters.

[[folder:Web Comic]]
* [[https://iwastesomuchtime.com/63313 This comic]] shows that the only one sane enough to go for a managerial position is a female employee, since she dressed as her boss. The other employees, likely male, dressed up as [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Vader,]] [[ComicBook/XMen Wolverine,]] [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Gandalf,]] [[SafeSaneAndConsensual a gimp,]] [[UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} Jesus Christ,]] and a {{Cowboy}}. There's even a guy who wants to be a woman.
** The last one maybe trying indicate that [[ComingOutStory he's brave enough to come out as transgender.]]
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!!Examples

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* In ''Manga/{{Eyeshield 21}}'', Patrick "Panther" Spencer, a well-known, dark-skinned individual, gets this treatment. By the final story, where a chapter or play doesn't seem to be able to go by without saying he's greater than everyone else due to "his black genes", it truly sticks out.
** Though early on, Panther's main trait was his being a {{Determinator}} (he worked hard to impress his racist coach, misinterpreted the racism as his not being good enough, and worked even ''harder''). While his race did come into it as described, it's not like they had the "he's awesome because he's black!" attitude the whole time.

** Shirow Masamune loves this trope.
** Deunan from his previous manga ''Manga/{{Appleseed}}'' is much less perfect and relies heavily on her much more level-headed partner/boyfriend Briareos. Yet she is still the only woman of the unit and by far the most badass officer on the force.

* Harvey Bullock and Renee Montoya of the ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' universe are both Gotham City police detectives, and Commissioner Gordon always puts them at the forefront of any "major crimes" case. Bullock, who first showed up in the original comics in the mid-1980s, is a large white man (albeit a vaguely "ethnic" one, as he was voiced by an Italian-American actor in [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries the animated series]]). He was originally a plant installed in the police department by an underworld syndicate, only to perform a HeelFaceTurn and [[BecomingTheMask start working for Gordon for real]]. Despite this, Bullock is still a loudmouthed, hot-tempered, stubborn, self-important FatBastard type who [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking eats too many donuts]] - and, to top it off, is also commonly shown to be a hypocrite, such as when he chides Batman for working outside the law but also regularly flouts police procedure himself (and in the comics, after Bruce Wayne has his back broken by Bane and is replaced by his apprentice Jean-Paul Valley, Bullock actually praises the new Batman for being excessively violent with criminals, even helping him by giving him files on suspects that the police can't finger). Then we have Montoya, [[CanonImmigrant a character created for the animated series who subsequently found her way into the original comics]]. She is a Latina, and (in the comics at least) a lesbian; she is also a much more pleasant person to be around than Bullock, is athletic and beautiful (although somewhat mannish in the early years of the animated series), always (with a few exceptions) obeys Commissioner Gordon, and has no flaws other than [[WideEyedIdealist being a little too idealistic about crime-fighting]]. The discrepancy between Bullock and Montoya was never worse than when the two of them battled the hulking vigilante Lock-Up hand-to-hand: Bullock did most of the work but couldn't quite bring the big guy down, only for Montoya to jump onto Lock-Up's back and easily knock him unconscious by hitting him in the head with her pistol; when the other cops arrived, Montoya got all the credit. This is subverted by the Bullock and Montoya [[{{Expy}} Expies]] in ''Film/BatmanBegins'' and ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', the first two movies of Creator/ChristopherNolan's ''Batman'' movie trilogy. It's not that the Bullock character here is depicted in a positive light (he's ''even worse'' in this version), but the Montoya character, Ana Ramirez, turns out to be a weak, weaselly woman who betrays two of her best friends to SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker (getting one of them violently killed) for her own purposes. She pays for it by being held at gunpoint and forced to submit to a [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech Reason You Suck Speech]] from [[EvenEvilHasStandards Two-Face of all people]] - and then, when Two-Face's coin lands with the "good" side up, sparing Ramirez's life, Two-Face just [[WouldHitAGirl punches her in the mouth]], knocking her in a heap.
* In issue ten of ''Franchise/{{Batman}} and Robin'' (Comicbook/{{New 52}} version), a BigBad gathers together various people that feel like they've been injured or wronged by Batman. Almost all of them were injured through the results of their own actions and stupidity, or in one case, were simply embarrassed. The lone female of the group is also the only one whose injuries were purely the result of Batman's actions towards her, thereby making her the only one with some small amount of legitimacy to her anger. Her injuries are also relatively minor and no more disfiguring than many body piercings... that apparently she simply decided to keep rather than have them removed.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'', Astrid has established that she is not only the most competent trainee but the ''only'' competent trainee. The others (who are mostly boys) barely do anything to the dragons.
** Astrid's distasteful physical abuse of Hiccup is [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale treated as comedic flirting]] which he comes to accept as [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale her right]].

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

-->'''Joy:''' We're gonna require a second opinion from a real doctor. You know, a Jewish one.
-->'''Doctor:''' I'm Indian. We're the new Jews.
-->'''Darnell:''' I thought that was Koreans.
-->'''Doctor:''' They wish!

* ''Series/KeyAndPeele''
** [[PlayingWithATrope Played With]]in the "Racist Zombie" sketch, where the planet is hit by a full-on ZombieApocalypse, with the narrative following two black guys and a white guy. In a subversion of the BlackDudeDiesFirst trope, the white guy is violently killed and eaten while the zombies ignore the two black guys, who eventually realize that the zombies are racist and refuse to eat black people. The sketch ends with a group of black survivors having a massive, jovial barbecue while the [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt rest of the world goes to hell around them]].

* ''Series/{{Orange is the New Black}}'' has a relatively minor example. While the show is filled with well-rounded characters of almost every imaginable race, gender race and sexual orientation, it's somewhat noticeable that the most good-natured prisoner at Litchfield--by a pretty wide margin--is the sole transgender character, Sofia Burset. Tellingly, her closest competition in the niceness department is probably Sister Ingalls, the former ''nun''. While Sofia has her share of personal drama, she's one of the only prisoners who's consistently friendly to Piper from the beginning, she had one of the most stable pre-Litchfield lives of any of the prisoners, and her crime (stealing credit cards) is one of the most minor of any of them.

* The seventh season of ''Series/RedDwarf'' introduced a female crewmember who quickly proved the most competent of any of them (not a challenge given the competition, granted...) They thankfully backed off this some in later episodes. It should be pointed out, however, that she came from an alternate universe where the Red Dwarf crew were ''all'' more competent than their "regular" universe counterparts. A recurring theme had Kochanski berating Lister for not being as competent as ''her'' Dave. However, there was a lot of implication that they were more competent ''because'' of her, so it still stands.
** A subversion was Holly from Series 3-5, played by Hattie Hayridge. The character admitted in one episode to being a "deranged, half-witted computer" and in another couldn't even count without banging her head on the screen.
*** That being said, Holly still seemed smarter as a female, especially in episodes like "Backwards" with her theory on "The Big Crunch" and in "Polymorph" she was actually able to recognize the creature (a shapeshifter) when even Rimmer (who is always insulting Holly's intelligence) was too distracted by its current shape (his mother).
* In the comedy ''Chalk'', Suzy Travis is the sarcastic, intelligent straight man to the rest of the teaching department's idiotic fools - especially deputy headmaster Eric Slatt. However, this is subverted in the second season as she slowly turns into Slatt herself. Likewise, Eric's wife Janet is a typical CloserToEarth sitcom wife. However, it's averted entirely with Ms Trippley, a complete mess of a woman who ''sacked'' all the students at Galfast High School. Twice. There's still something to be said for the fact that while there are {{Straight M|an}}en amongst the female staff, all the male staff have individual quirks and flaws.

* ''Series/{{iCarly}}'' has the episode "[=iHireAnIdiot=]" where Carly and Sam hire a male intern based on the fact that he's handsome, despite him being idiotic. For revenge, Freddie hires an attractive female intern who is also idiotic. At the end of the episode, it turned out that she was actually a brilliant college student intentionally pretending to be stupid.
* ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'' does this with Bonnie, who is always lauded, never judged. She betrays Elena by pretending to de-curse the vampire weapon, knowing it will affect Stefan and Damon, and no one pulls her up on it. Season two, when [[spoiler: Caroline becomes a vampire]], Bonnie immediately snubs/judges her instead of being a friend - again, this is never addressed. She also {{Mind Rape}}s a sorta friend and no one who matters in the show bats an eye.
** The creators always try to force TheWoobie card, too. When something bad happens to Bonnie, she's treated like her life is a cesspool. Most notably in season three when her [[spoiler: Mum - who she doesn't really know ''or'' like - is vamped up:]]
--> '''Caroline:''' Bonnie's always the one who gets hurt.
** This quoted by a character who had been [[spoiler: murdered and turned into a vampire, tortured twice (once by her own ''father''), and whose boyfriend is magically bound to the enemy]].

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* Scott Adams, the writer/artist of the comic strip ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'', has trouble including minorities in his central cast because he loves [[{{Jerkass}} deeply]]-[[ButtMonkey flawed]] characters, and doesn't want get angry letters by creating dumb, criminal or lazy minority characters. So he created Asok, an intern from India who's a foil to the rest of the cast. He's technically brilliant, hardworking, honest and nice. His only flaws are inexperience and wide-eyed naivete. He's TOO nice and TOO trusting. Adams still got letters.
** Following reader complaints that Tina the Tech Writer was too stereotypically female, he created Antina, the "anti Tina," a female character who had liking for sports, a muscular build, and short hair. Adams claimed that readers were not happy with her either, because they thought he was making fun of lesbians.
* Delta, the only black cast member of ''ComicStrip/{{Luann}}'', is the smartest and most level-headed of the entire group. Unless you count "being a workaholic" as an actual flaw, she's about as absurdly perfect as they get.
* Dr. Liz Wilson, the female veterinarian of ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}, has it all. She's a hot babe, a caring doctor, and she's smart. Back when the strip played up the romantic antagonism between her and Jon Arbuckle (before she and Jon finally became a couple), Liz was consistently portrayed as a goddess whom Jon could never measure up to, and he was lucky to be even breathing the same oxygen as she. Really, her only perceptible flaw was her DeadpanSnarker behavior toward Jon (which Jon never seemed to notice). Just to make things even, though, she ''did'' shoot down Jon so many times, and so coldly, that after a while, people stopped laughing at Jon being idiotic and becoming resentful towards Liz for being so mean to him. Played more straight in ''WesternAnimation/TheGarfieldShow'', where Liz is far less snarky and irritable and willingly dates Jon from the get go. Jon, while not quite as brainless as his comic counterpart, is still pretty pathetic.
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[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]

[[folder:Web Original]]

* Inverted in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imQSuJVFUSU this video]] by WebVideo/MachoSauceProductions where the only black guy of the team are dense and considerably less intelligent as the other 3 members (who are white).
* On the blog [[http://www.regretsy.com/ Regretsy]] (which mocks pretentious or ridiculous items on the craft site Etsy), people who leave honest criticism in threads full of fawning approval have their own name and avatar replaced by a default one made up by Regretsy and the name "[[OnlySaneMan The Only Sane Person in the World]]". The icon is of a black woman.

* {{Deconstructed}} in [[http://koritha.blogspot.com/2011/07/american-way-mediocrity-when-white.html this]] blog post. The author argues that having a single highly-competent black person in the company of many white people of varying competence only shows that black people have to work harder than white people for the same rewards. According to an article she quotes “...one of the ways in which we will know when black people in the United States are truly liberated and equal to their fellow white citizens will be when there are as many mediocre blacks in academia as there are currently mediocre whites.”
* Mocked in Creator/HarryPartridge's "[[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/655933 ChangeTheBees]]". In it, Dr. Bees isn't allowed to make a comic cover that shows a woman getting attacked by bees (out of fear of offending women) but ''is'' allowed to depict [[DoubleStandard a woman gruesomely murdering a sentient bee]]. The video is a parody of the RealLife incident where a ''{{ComicBook/Batgirl2011}}'' cover was changed.
* In some Internet communities this is referred to as "the Galbrush Paradox". Someone complains about there not being enough female or minority characters, only to then complain when those characters are depicted as equally flawed as the straight white male characters. The result is a SelfFulfillingProphecy: creators using white male leads over and over because those are the only type of people they feel they can depict as realistically flawed without offending someone. The name is a reference to ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland'', with the theory positing that if Guybrush was a woman named Galbrush instead, the writers wouldn't be able to depict her as the bumbling idiot Guybrush is without being [[EverythingIsRacist accused of sexism]].
* An early "parents'-guide" film review website, Screenit.com, invoked this trope [[UnfortunateImplications inadvertently]] in its discussion of film characters as "role models." At the beginning of each "content" analysis, the reviewer would list all the major characters in a film and determine whether each one was a good role model (while occasionally admitting the absurdity of considering fictional characters, some of them quite fantastical, to be role-model material). The male characters were judged entirely based on their moral virtues (or lack thereof), but the female ones (at least if they were supposed to be heroines) would often have to "prove" their ActionGirl status, with "ability to beat people up" listed alongside their moral strengths or failings. Apparently, a heroine's inability to punch out anyone even the slightest bit physically stronger than herself made her a borderline disgrace. True, there is [[ARealManIsAKiller a male equivalent to this "moral" hypocrisy]], but Screenit.com never invoked ''that'' one.

* Gwen of ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'' was TheLoad in the beginning. Later events generally portrayed her as smarter, more competent, and all around better than Ben, despite Ben being the main hero. It culminates in the TV Movie, in which Gwen is portrayed as selfless and Ben as pettily selfish, respectively.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'':

** Also happens in ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution''. Humans in their area (who seem less ethnically diverse than the mutants) find out about the mutants and freak out. So the X-Men take a Caribbean cruise to 'take a break' from the bigotry. They are exposed as mutants and treated as freaks/outcasts by the other passengers (almost all of whom are white) when Jean uses her powers to put out a fire. They visit an island where they are again revealed to be mutants, though the dark skinned islanders are shown to be extremely friendly and actually admire them for their abilities.

* ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken''

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', Azula is a villain more competent than Zuko, apparently quicker, smarter, and much better at firebending. Justified because Zuko is a NobleDemon, while Azula is a straight villain.
** Then again, she seems to be more competent than most other straight-up villains are, the ''possible'' exceptions being Fire Lord Ozai (who isn't seen employing very much strategy) and Combustion Man (who didn't have an army under his command). Note that Azula is 14. [[spoiler: In particular, fans have noticed that aside from a temporary defeat by Aang (who she later not only gains victory over but almost ''kills)'', no one in the series ever beats Azula in a straight fight. Her defeat has just as much to do with her own decaying mental state as the heroes' capabilities, if not more.]]

[[folder:Other]]
* In the Franchise/{{LEGO}} series ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'', each Toa team has only one female on it, the main three so far being Gali, Nokama and Hahli. In the latter two cases, they are the least flawed and the wisest members of their teams. Particularly noticeable in ''Legends of Metru Nui'' in which each Toa Metru is given a major character flaw which they must overcome to unlock their individual mask powers, such as Vakama's lack of confidence and Matau's inability to stop and think before rushing in. Not only is Nokama's flaw relatively small (not admitting when she's wrong), [[InformedFlaw it is only referenced once and she overcomes it very early on, extremely quickly.]] Note that this stopped applying to her after her team's transformation into Turaga elders.\\\
As for Gali, this is kind of zigzagged depending on the story, as Onua, a male, was just as wise and never argued with the others, whereas Gali frequently argued with [[HotBlooded Tahu]] and [[IneffectualLoner Kopaka]], although that was mainly trying to get the two to stop their own fights. Notably, Gali was also the only Toa who properly heard the vision about the Toa Kaita (the others tried to fight it) and the only one to protest the Toa Nuva going solo before all went wrong (proving to be wiser than Onua), however in TheMovie, Gali became just as arrogant to Tahu as he was to her.
** It gets better after a ReTool that switches settings to focus on a world with GladiatorGames. The one girl there, Kiina, is brash, aggressive, and blunt; traits that help her in the arena but make her a pain to deal with outside of it. Though, TheMovie actually shows her as a GenkiGirl with a little {{Tsundere}} thrown in the mix.
** Partially justified with Hahli in the Mahri Nui Arc; she is stronger, faster, and more aggressive ("Hahli the barbarian") because she is literally in her element, while the team leader Jaller is severely weakened by being constantly submerged in water.
* Natalie Breez of ''Toys/HeroFactory'', the only female Hero ever to be featured prominently, was for the most part a minor character who didn't have much to her. Suddenly, in the animated special ''Invasion from Below'', she becomes the most competent of the bunch: She defeats a giant beast all by herself when the rest of the Heroes can't deal with them even in their mechs, learns that the beasts can communicate, finds out why they are attacking by reading ancient carvings (the others dismiss her), and at the end saved the day by offering peace to the beast queen. [[spoiler:After that, the beasts attack again and the Heroes kill them, but that wasn't her fault.]]
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