History Main / PowerfulButIncompetent

* Creator/{{Terrytoons}}' 1967 crimefighters the Mighty Heroes are so inept that a Goodhaven citizen quipped "With heroes like these, who needs enemies?" It's after they get their second wind in act two that the heroes deliver the goods.

* Franchise/MonsterVerse: [[Characters/MonsterVerseHumans Apex Cybernetics]], the human villains of ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'', are this trope comparative to the guerrilla [[EcoTerrorist eco-terrorists]] from ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019''. Apex have far more resources as a leading hi-tech corporation TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, as well as a [[VillainWithGoodPublicity decent public image]]; yet unlike the eco-terrorists, whom were able to [[XanatosSpeedChess think on their feet]] against Monarch, [[CrazyPrepared deployed]] [[TaughtByExperience contingencies]] when Monarch came close to catching onto them, and technically achieved the best of their end-goals in a roundabout way; Apex place all their eggs in one basket, they have no in-case-of-emergency backups (at least not any that come into effect), and they're [[SelfDisposingVillain defeated]] '''[[SelfDisposingVillain entirely]]''' [[SelfDisposingVillain by their own hubris (without the heroes needing to do anything)]] when they unwittingly unleash ''the mirror opposite'' of [[MugglePower what their agenda was all about]] upon Hong Kong.

* In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' while Joshua Graham is far from stupid, as a military commander he had no real ability when it comes to actual strategy or tactics and had no mind for logistics by his own admission since his primary goal was to kill people and relay Caesar's orders. While this served him well enough when fighting tribals and raiders when he was pitted against the NCR, a well-armed military force that had both numbers and tech led by a competent tactician, he fared poorly. His replacement Legate Lanius is stated to be slightly better as a tactician but since he has no talent other than violence this mostly means that he's just smart enough to recognize that the Legion has severe logistical problems and if put in a position of power other than military commander he'll run the Legion to the ground because he lacks the vision and foresight to do anything but wage war even when he loses more than he gains.

** ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': Owen Reece, the Molecule Man, has the power to transmute anything into anything else and telepathically control his creations, and yet he's only a minor villain because he lacks imagination, intelligence, and a killing instinct. If he was actually competent he'd be one of the biggest threats in the world. When he ''does'' level up, realising that what he arguably manipulates is narrative, his sole limitation is his occasionally weak will... and even then, a newly empowered Lifebringer Galactus treads very carefully around him, noting that Reece could eradicate him with a thought.

** Zigzagged with Cinder. She is intelligent and possesses Maiden powers alongside a deadly Semblance. However, she's very unstable and has serious self-worth issues stemming from her FreudianExcuse. At her best she's one of the most effective agents on [[BigBad Salem's]] side, as she can play an effective game of XanatosSpeedChess and her fighting abilities and the Maiden powers she gained in Volume 3 are a threat to all the heroes, even [[BigGood Professor Ozpin]]. At her worst her name might as well be LeeroyJenkins, as she ruins several of Salem's plans by either attempting to solve problems by brute force or by biting off more than she can chew. For bonus points, her sadistic tendency to be extra-cruel to defeated foes has resulted in them gaining a HeroicSecondWind and her getting maimed more than once. Despite how good she ''can'' be, Salem keeps her on an increasingly short leash because she just can't trust Cinder to ''not'' mess everything up at the last second. All of this, combined with her almost pathological need to steal more of the Maiden powers, results in her becoming a SpannerInTheWorks for both sides, kneecapping herself due to her own pride.
** Adam Taurus is a force of nature on the battlefield, a powerful and vicious warrior capable of casually defeating [[HunterOfMonsters Hunstmen]], [[AnimalisticAbomination Grimm]], or entire squads of soldiers. He's also a ''deeply'' mentally unstable megalomaniac who is prone to being BlindedByRage, turning allies and average people alike against him due to his bloodthirsty ways, [[RevengeBeforeReason obsessing over petty grudges]] to the point that it undermines his greater goals, and such a GeneralFailure that in Volume 5 [[spoiler:he causes his terrorist faction to implode due to his terrible leadership abilities mere months after taking it over]]. In Volume 6 [[spoiler:he kills most of the remains of his group in a fit of rage when they refuse to acknowledge or follow him any longer]], reducing him to a crazed and increasingly delusional fugitive whose only remaining motivation left is [[PsychoExBoyfriend lashing out at the ex-girlfriend]] who refused to stay under his thumb.

* ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'': Upper Moon 5, Gyokko is able to teleport, and his Blood Demon Art can unleash devastating sea-themed attacks from his various pots. And then there's his extremely broken "[[OneWingedAngel true form]]" which gives him immense speed and flexibility, scales as hard as diamonds, and the ability to transmute anything he touches into fish. Personality-wise however, he's an arrogant braggart who has a habit of underestimating his opponents. In addition, doing anything that [[BerserkButton hurts his ego]] [[MadArtist as an artist]] makes him completely loose his composure. [[spoiler:These traits allow him to be easily and comically defeated by a Demon Slayer Mark enhanced Muichiro Tokito.]]

* ''Manga/BungoStrayDogs'': Akutagawa struggles with this, which is Lampshaded frequently. His Ability, Rashomon, enables him to manifest a sort of monster in the clothes he wears, enabling him to use to create [[AbsurdlySharpBlade razor-sharp]] CombatTentacles, armor and even ''swallow space''. Unfortunately, he has a one-track mind and isn't particularly creative, severely limiting the effectiveness of his powers as he is unable to come up with more effective uses for them and tends to become extremely AxCrazy. However, he learns to be more inventive over time.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Yammy Llargo is Espada #10, which makes him the 10th strongest of the entire Hollow species. However, Yammy is TheBrute and is exceptionally moronic and short-tempered. When faced with enemies close to his power level, he inevitably takes a beating. [[spoiler:It's later revealed that he's actually ''Espada #0'', which means he's actually the ''strongest'' of all the Hollow... but only in terms of raw spiritual energy (WordOfGod reinforces this). Yammy's ability, "Ira", allows him to [[HulkingOut get stronger as he gets angrier]]... but ''that's all''. He's still all brute force, and he's still an idiot, which leads to him getting trounced so badly even in his strongest form that one of the Court Guard Captains who defeated him, Kenpachi, considered the fight to be "boring as hell". While the other Espada manage to defeat or at least fight on-par with Ichigo and other Captains, the only victories Yammy manages to claim are on people much, ''much'' weaker than himself or suffering some sort of handicap, with anyone on an equal scale basically treating him as a ButtMonkey.]]

** ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'': In contrast to most of the other MonsterOfTheWeek Stand-users in the part, Rubber Soul has a terrifyingly powerful ability in the form of Yellow Temperance: a shapeshifting BlobMonster that can expand in size by consuming organic material, take on virtually any form and color, and surround the user to serve as a shield. It's impervious to blunt force or slashing, can't be burned or frozen, and its shapeshifting means it can also serve as a perfect disguise for the user. All told, it's not for nothing that Rubber Soul brags about being invincible. Fortunately, the Stand does have one weakness: Rubber Soul himself. Not only does Rubber Soul [[PerfectDisguiseTerribleActing put no effort into the "disguise" part of the Stand]], such that Jotaro figures out he's a fake within minutes, but he's also so swollen with ego that he passes up countless opportunities to kill Jotaro in favor of random acts of violence and sadistic playing with his food. Ultimately, Jotaro defeats him by luring him over a drop into a nearby bay--as it turns out, his Stand can't protect him from drowning.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Yammy Llargo is Espada #10, which makes him the 10th strongest of the entire Hollow species. However, Yammy is TheBrute and is exceptionally moronic and short-tempered. When faced with enemies close to his power level, he inevitably takes a beating. [[spoiler:It's later revealed that he's actually ''Espada #0'', which means he's actually the ''strongest'' of all the Hollow... but only in terms of raw spiritual energy. Yammy's ability, "Ira", allows him to [[HulkingOut get stronger as he gets angrier]]... but ''that's all''. He's still all brute force, and he's still an idiot, which leads to him getting trounced so badly even in his strongest form that the Court Guard Captains who defeated him considered the fight to be "boring as hell". While the other Espada manage to defeat or at least fight on-par with Ichigo and other Captains, the only victories Yammy manages to claim are on people much, ''much'' weaker than himself or suffering some sort of handicap, with anyone on an equal scale basically treating him as a ButtMonkey.]]

** Envy is an near-immortal homunculus with the unique power of shapeshifting, though the usefulness of this ability is hampered by their numerous flaws. Envy is easily provoked and extremely impulsive, which others will take advantage of to defeat them, but sometimes Envy will just screw themself over. Their drive to [[KickTheDog kick any and every dog they find]] causes them to make ''very'' bad decisions as they'll go out of their way to upset someone even if it's an obviously terrible idea. This officially places them in the TooDumbToLive category when they [[spoiler:fight Mustang after having ''forgotten'' he burned Lust to death. They use their monster form to fight, not realizing that makes them an easier target and intentionally provoke him into a RoaringRampageOfRevenge beforehand. Their only trick left at that point is a ShapeshifterGuiltTrip, and they have absolutely no fallback when it fails and just makes him even angrier]]. Needless to say, things do not go well.
** Like Envy, Gluttony is near-immortal homunculus, who can easily overpower most human characters with his massive bulk. And when he gets angry he can turn his jaw and ribcage into a fake Portal of Truth which can teleport anything and anyone in his way into a dimension between reality and Truth, from Mustang's extremely powerful flame alchemy, to [[spoiler:other homunculi, as he accidentally swallows Envy.]] However he's very childish and dim-witted, and although agile, he's also a rather sluggish fighter. As a result, he's usually takes a [[GoodThingYouCanHeal lot of abuse when fighting characters]] to the point where he almost dies from exhausting his regenerative abilities.
** Possibly the biggest offender is Sloth. He is also a near-immortal homunculus, although he's shown to be significantly stronger physically. He takes the appearance of a colossal muscular behemoth, and his skin is so tough that he's impervious to bullets, and it takes a significant amount of effort to even damage him. Oh yeah, he's also [[spoiler:the self-proclaimed fastest homunculus, and can move so fast, that he can't be traced by the human eye.]] However, true to his sin, he is extremely lazy and sluggish, thus wasting his potential strength and making him a very poor fighter. [[spoiler:In addition, he can't even use his immense speed properly, and he's so uncoordinated that he ends up randomly dashing into walls.]]

** Ungalo, of ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean'', is practically the pinnacle of this in the franchise. Ungalo's Stand is Bohemian Rhapsody, which lets him [[ArtImitatesLife bring characters to life.]] As in, any character, anywhere, created by anybody, as long as they exist in some kind of visual medium. These characters have all the abilities they did in their original stories, with the added benefits of being able to draw people that empathize with them into their stories and reenact their events. The power has infinite range and no clear limitations, and would enable just about any person to think about the power for more than five minutes to do just about anything with it. However, it ''also'' happens to be in the hands of Ungalo, an AddledAddict and LazyBum who has no interest in using the power to actually do anything creative. The only use he can come up with is to activate the power worldwide while he's on a plane flight and [[PowersDoTheFighting hope that the resulting chaos kills the main characters while he never so much as sees them]]. Because he has no control or care for how to use the power, he ultimately gets defeated by ''himself'' when Weather Report (with the help of a painting of Vincent van Gogh) creates the character Put Back, whose power is to negate Bohemian Rhapsody.