History Main / UnskilledButStrong

*** Fairy Knight Lancelot is naturally so fast and strong that she never had to train a day in her life to be practically unbeatable. She has Eternal Arms Mastership, but it is noted that she does not benefit from it at all since she has no fighting skills to lose.

* Star Butterfly from ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'' [[IneptMage lacks control and finesse in her spell-casting]] and, as seen in the episode "Baby", has a poor grasp of simpler fundamental spells. However, she is also capable of casting high-level magic with relative ease, and many of the spells she uses (often to great effect) are ones she made up on her own. In fact, Star's magical potential is described as being on a level that hasn't been seen since her distant ancestor [[spoiler:[[TheDreaded Queen Eclipsa]]]].

* ''Series/{{Arrowverse}}'':

* ''Series/{{Supergirl|2015}}'': [[Characters/SupergirlTheCharacter Kara]] heavily relies on her superpowers to win any fight. So when a guy nearly as strong fights her for the first time, she loses badly. After another Curb-Stomp Battle at the hands of her Aunt Astra in Episode 2, she asks her adoptive sister Alex to continue their hand-to-hand combat training until she's just as good as Alex is. Later episodes show continued improvement in hand-to-hand combat, and when she fights the escaped prisoner in "Livewire" she's begun incorporating her powers other than pure strength. By "Hostile Takeover" she can go toe-to-toe with Alex while powered down.

* ''Seroes/{{Arrowverse}}'':

* Laurel Lance in ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' is this when she becomes the new Black Canary. She gets beaten up easily for how unskilled she is, but she makes up with much force.

* In ''Series/TheFlash2014'', the titular character himself. Barry Allen gained powerful superspeed and healing abilities normally story-breaker powers. However, criminals will get the jump on him because he's an ordinary person unused to fighting and crime so he often gets blindsided by sneak attacks, dirty tricks, and traps. He's a foil to [[Series/{{Arrow}} Oliver Queen]] who despite being a BadassNormal is ruthless and experienced enough to go toe-to-toe with him.

* ''Series/{{Supergirl 2015}}'': [[Characters/SupergirlTheCharacter Kara]] heavily relies on her superpowers to win any fight. So when a guy nearly as strong fights her for the first time, she loses badly. After another Curb-Stomp Battle at the hands of her Aunt Astra in Episode 2, she asks her adoptive sister Alex to continue their hand-to-hand combat training until she's just as good as Alex is. Later episodes show continued improvement in hand-to-hand combat, and when she fights the escaped prisoner in "Livewire" she's begun incorporating her powers other than pure strength. By "Hostile Takeover" she can go toe-to-toe with Alex while powered down.

* Franchise/SpiderMan:

** However, like Cable, he's scarily smart, learned fast, and [[PowerCopying copied a lot of tricks]]. Following the Shaman Reboot, he solved the problem of his genetic flaw and TookALevelInBadass, and was arguably one of the most skilled psychics in the Marvel Universe. In ''[[ComicBook/UncannyXMen2018 X-Men Disassembled]]'', the only fellow psychic to even lay a glove on him was [[Characters/MarvelComicsJeanGrey Jean Grey]], while she was literally inside his head. [[Characters/NewMutants Legion]], for instance, tried the reverse complete with illusion. It worked for five minutes, before Nate [[AGlitchInTheMatrix realised what was going on]]. Legion confronted him directly. Five seconds and one [[BreakThemByTalking Breaking Speech]] later, Legion got body-jacked for his trouble.

** When Wonder Woman fights Supergirl in ''[[ComicBook/Supergirl2011 Kara's Post-Flashpoint book]]'', she remarks that while they are closely matched in strength and speed, she is much more experienced and skilled while Supergirl lashes out with no thought or strategy.

* ''Literature/VillainessLevel99IMayBeTheHiddenBossButImNotTheDemonLord'': Sparring with Patrick makes Yumiella realize that the ''only'' thing she has any actual skill with rather than just raw power is magic, and even then only her innate dark magic, whereas weaker but more skilled mages can use more than one element. Even though said raw power is so ridiculous that it hardly matters, she still decides she should start learning actual techniques because with her level already maxed out that's the only way she can get "stronger" than she already is.

* Allison in ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'' has phenomenal power, but even a TimeSkip full of training hasn't given her the ability to plan ahead more than the next, ooh, couple of minutes.

* The Irken Empire as a whole in ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim''. They elect their leaders based on height, consider turning an entire planet into a food court to be a good use of resources, and generally exhibit the tactical skills of a turnip... but it doesn't matter, because they have such absurd technological superiority over everything else as to be unstoppable.

** In a weird way, the main character. He has the raw power to produce a solid, stable patronus at 13, and is able to access a fairly large reservoir of magical power (enough to face down Death Eaters and Voldemort when he's 17). However, he is continuously outclassed by Hermione, who is incredibly skilled, and any other wizard or witch who doesn't just rely on raw power for their magic. Harry ends up inverting this, in a sense, as he's a supremely skilled ''duelist''. Interestingly, dueling isn't even mentioned as one of his skills until the [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix fifth book]], at which point it becomes clear that we've watched him live the past four years on his wits and creative uses of magic. While Hermione is capable of far more advanced magic, Harry is very good at managing pitched battles and out-hexing wizards with access to powerful dark magic through good aim, honed reflexes, and an ability to take advantage of his environment. So yeah, "in a weird way". The movies also show Harry as being extremely good at pulling up combat spells quickly, so he definitely skilled at ''casting'' spells. The best way to sum it up is that Harry's repertoire of spells may be more limited than someone like Hermione or Dumbledore, but he gets ''excellent'' mileage out of what he's actually good at.

** Ron, in a way -- BookDumb he may be, but he still has a fairly keen grasp of magic. For instance, the students learn nonverbal spells in their sixth year, but Ron successfully casts one in his ''second'' year (although it backfires, because he was using a broken wand at the time. Still, the fact that he ''is'' affected indicates that he successfully cast the spell). In the seventh book, he notices that Voldemort's name "feels like it's jinxed" several chapters before it's revealed to ''actually'' be jinxed. In short, while Ron struggles in the classroom, he has a strong ''intuitive'' grasp of magic. [[FridgeBrilliance Makes sense since he's the only one of the main trio to have actually grown up in the wizarding world]].
** Neville Longbottom actually starts the series as being neither skilled nor strong, due to a lack of self-confidence and a weak academic aptitude. After getting Harry's tutelage in the fifth book, however, despite lagging behind the other students in progress, he actually becomes very capable of holding his own in a fight, arguably becoming second only to Harry himself in this regard. His academic record never really improves, but by the time of the final book, he's an extremely accomplished duelist.

* ''Film/BackToTheFuture'': George [=McFly=] has less skill and experience fighting than a street punk, but he throws a haymaker that knocks out the much larger Biff Tannen with a single blow.

** And of course, the Hulk. He has no combat style or real skill, but is so strong and [[NighInvulnerability Nigh-Invulnerable]] that he doesn't ''need'' any. The [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome unfortunate end of this]] is shown in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' where he fights [[Characters/MarvelComicsThanos Thanos]], who is not only strong enough and tough enough to take on the Hulk but a skilled fighter to boot. Thanos [[CurbStompBattle quickly and effortlessly]] defeats the Hulk. He even toys with him, like a professional boxer would a rookie.

" ''Series/TheMick'': Played for laughs when Jimmy starts to get beaten up by members of a high school girls soccer team, taking some fancy kicks, knees and other blows. Jimmy isn't a particularly tough guy, but he's still a full-grown man and a former jock, so when he finally starts defending himself (while [[ApologeticAttacker apologizing profusely]]), he does so with full-strength haymakers and body slams, allowing him to hold his own for some time before he's overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

* ''Comicbook/CaptainAmerica'': [[AntiHeroSubstitute John Walker]] was established as this in relation to Steve Rogers. Even after government-sponsored training to bring him up to speed as Captain America, Walker did not even approach Rogers in actual skill. However the Power Broker's treatments gave him SuperStrength and SuperToughness that eclipsed his rival/predecessor along with [[LightningBruiser speed and agility which at least approached his]], meaning most of their early encounters left Steve ''barely'' holding his own.

* Steven Stone criticizes many of Ash's Pokémon for this in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13023277/18/Legend Legend]]'', as they favor too much of their raw power in order to overwhelm an opponent but lack the sufficient training to back up their power. He is particularly concerned about Ash's Metagross, as the Stones have been guarding the colony he originally came from and is insisted on training him when the time comes.

** Wanda Maximoff (Characters/ScarletWitch) in ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' and ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' has very general control over her psychic abilities, being able to MindRape others, direct energy blasts, and levitate herself and objects. Unfortunately, her powers at their strongest are downright destructive and if she's not being utterly reckless with them, she's lacking the finesse to be able to keep them under her control. Casualties/collateral damage can be expected to happen in either case. Her lack of combat experience doesn't do her any favors, either. ''Series/WandaVision'' gives her her full-on RealityWarper powers but she comes to realize that she has no knowledge of magic in an academic sense and Agatha Harkness, who has nowhere near her raw power, gets the better of her with a simple piece of magic that Agatha says any witch should know.

** ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol3'' introduces Adam Warlock, a NighInvulnerable FlyingBrick who was bred specifically to kill the Guardians. However, he ReallyWasBornYesterday, and as a result he has no real strategy or finesse with how he fights, allowing the considerably-weaker Guardians to get the upper hand on him in every encounter. [[spoiler:The first post-credits scene seems to show him growing out of this now that he's become a member of the Guardians.]]

* The Titans from ''Literature/TheDeathGateCycle'' -- huge golems created by the Sartans in the World of Fire to serve as simple workers. The Sartans gave them access to the most basic level of magic, in order to help with their work -- the kind of spells a 4-years-old Sartan child could weave. But they made the mistake of granting them enormous, primal power to back it up with. Thus, when the titans inevitably got TurnedAgainstTheirMasters, they proved to be quite dangerous to the WeakButSkilled Spartans. (Oh yeah, and they're huge, {{nigh invulnerab|ility}}le giants, so there's that too.)

* ''Literature/AnUnattractiveVampire'': Modern vampires are basically just immortal socialites who spend most of their time training to act more beautifully. They're happy to act as muscle when the need arises because they are far stronger and faster than any mere human. But they have absolutely no combat abilities and the rather glaring weakness of instantly turning to ash if staked through the heart; an 8-year-old human boy racks up a kill count in the double digits. On the other hand, the Elder Vampyres are all SkilledAndStrong; not only are they the original cursed ones and thus far stronger, faster, and harder to kill than modern vampires, they were all mass-murdering psychopaths ''before'' they become immortal abominations (the traditional way to become a vampire is to just be "too evil to die"), so they are much more experienced in combat.

** [[spoiler:This is one of many elements that]] Comes to bite [[ComicBook/TheBoys Homelander]] in the ass big time during his fight with [[ComicBook/{{Invincible}} Omni-Man]]. Wiz sums it up best by pointing out that one is a warrior while the other is a bully. Homelander has never fought somebody on his level and thus has no experience in a proper fight or even to throw a punch effectively (something Omni-Man even mocks him for) but compensates by being so above everyone else in his universe that he doesn't need to seriously try to kill even a fellow superhero, while his opponent is from a warrior society of Superman-like entities where he's had to fight with his life on the line to stand on the top. [[spoiler: Omni-Man toys with Homelander the entire fight, takes superficial damage at most, and disembowels him at the end of the fight.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn'' Clayface is this both as an actor/infiltrator and a fighter. His ability to shapeshift into anyone lends him a massive advantage that sometimes manages to compensate for his actual acting skills being terrible, and his clay body makes him almost indestructible and lets him NoSell a variety of attacks, which is the only thing keeping him alive.

* ''WesternAnimation/MonkieKid'': The titular character, most prominently in the episode after the pilot. He has all the powers of the Monkey King, which let him defeat a foe as powerful as the Demon Bull King, but has only had them for a few days, meaning [[HowDoIShootWeb he has little idea of how to use them]]. This is deconstructed in that it makes him more of a danger to his ''allies'' than his enemies, spending most of his second serious fight beating himself and others up rather than his opponent, and by the end accepts having the bulk of them sealed away until he has a better handle on them.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'': Sandman, Electro, and Rhino have powers that make them very formidable opponents to Spider-Man (who often has to rely on a plot device or weakness exploitation to defeat them). Despite this, they're often demoted to TheBrute when more intelligent characters like Doc Ock and Tombstone are around.

* SupermanSubstitute [[BigBad Homelander]] in ''Series/TheBoys'' is the WorldsStrongestMan who never had to formally learn combat or push himself as a result of being so much more powerful than everyone else, [[BrilliantButLazy normally just one-shotting foes with his]] EyeBeams. As a result, the few characters experienced in combat and durable enough to avoid getting killed instantly by him (namely [[CaptainPatriotic Captain America knockoff Soldier Boy]] & WonderWomanWannabe Queen Maeve) are able to take advantage of this and fight him to a draw.

** [[spoiler:This is one of many elements that]] Comes to bite [[ComicBook/TheBoys Homelander]] in the ass big time during his fight with [[ComicBook/{{Invincible}} Omni-Man]]. Wiz sums it up best by pointing out that one is a warrior while the other is a bully. Homelander has never fought somebody on his level and has no idea how to actually fight or even take a punch, (something Omni-Man even mocks him for), while his opponent is from a warrior society of Superman-like entities where he's had to fight with his life on the line to stand on the top. [[spoiler: Omni-Man toys with Homelander the entire fight, takes superficial damage at most, and disembowels him at the end of the fight.]]

-->-- '''Elliot''', on Damien, ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive''

** [[spoilerThis is one of many elements that]] Comes to bite [[ComicBook/TheBoys Homelander]] in the ass big time during his fight with [[ComicBook/{{Invincible}} Omni-Man]]. Wiz sums it up best by pointing out that one is a warrior while the other is a bully. Homelander has never fought somebody on his level and has no idea how to actually fight or even take a punch, (something Omni-Man even mocks him for), while his opponent is from a warrior society of Superman-like entities where he's had to fight with his life on the line to stand on the top. [[spoiler: Omni-Man toys with Homelander the entire fight, takes superficial damage at most, and disembowels him at the end of the fight.]]

** Brought up during ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' vs ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong''. Unlike Jake, Danny has no actual training in martial arts, but shows both greater flight speed and durability. [[spoiler:Ulimately, Danny takes the win, as not only is he the faster and potentially more powerful in terms of raw power, Jake had no counters to Danny's powers outside of being able to hit him while he's intangible]].
** Comes to bite [[ComicBook/TheBoys Homelander]] in the ass big time during his fight with [[ComicBook/{{Invincible}} Omni-Man]]. Wiz sums it up best by pointing out that one is a warrior while the other is a bully. Homelander has never fought somebody on his level and has no idea how to actually fight or even take a punch, (something Omni-Man even mocks him for), while his opponent is from a warrior society of Superman-like entities where he's had to fight with his life on the line to stand on the top. [[spoiler: Omni-Man toys with Homelander the entire fight, takes superficial damage at most, and disembowels him at the end of the fight.]]

** Comes to bite [[ComicBook/TheBoys Homelander]] in the ass big time during his fight with [[ComicBook/{{Invincible}} Omni-Man]]. Wiz sums it up best by pointing out that one is a warrior while the other is a bully. Homelander has never fought somebody on his level and has no idea how to actually fight or even take a punch, (something Omni-Man even mocks him for), while his opponents from a warrior society of Superman-like entities where he's had to fight with his life on the line to stand on the top. [[spoiler: Omni-Man toys with Homelander the entire fight, takes superficial damage at most, and disembowels him at the end of the fight.]]