History Main / WeDoTheImpossible

* ''Film/DieHard:'' Nevermind anything else this overworked NYPD cop does, he ''takes out a helicopter with a police car''. He's just a mook that always ends up in the wrong place at the right time, or as they say in ''Film/LiveFreeOrDieHard'': "That's what makes you That Guy."

* ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'': The Professor regularly sends the Planet Express crew on [[SuicideMission missions that he doesn't expect them to survive]]--not because he wants to kill them, but because he views them as completely expendable.

* {{Invoked}} in the ''WesterAnimation/TeenTitans'' episode "How Long is Forever?" when Starfire thinks defeating Warp and changing the BadFuture is impossible.

* John Franchise/{{Rambo}} arguably meets the first three criteria.

* This trope is used as a [[LampshadeHanging lampshade-hanging]] HandWave in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft: Warlords of Draenor'' for how a certain NPC is able to sell you a new copy of the expansion's epic/legendary ring, ie. the ring equivalent of an InfinityPlusOneSword.

* This trope is used as a HandWave in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft: Warlords of Draenor'' for how a certain NPC is able to sell you a new copy of the expansion's epic/legendary ring, ie. the ring equivalent of an InfinityPlusOneSword.

** At one point the Man in Black deems a task impossible, until they had a wheelbarrow and Holocaust cloak, and then suddenly he has a plan that works perfectly with only these two items.

** His father, Kiritsugu Emiya, in ''LightNovel/FateZero'' is hired for his reputation as an effective assassin against even the most powerful mages, mostly for [[CombatPragmatist fighting dirty]].

* ''Series/{{Rome}}'': After Vorenus and Pullo report that they'd encountered Pompey, but didn't kill him, Caesar's advisor recommends they be punished. Perhaps in a moment of {{Genre Savvy}}, Caesar responds, "Any other man, certainly. But those two, they found my stolen standard, now they survive a wreck that drowned an army and find Pompey Magnus on a beach. They have powerful gods on their side and I will not kill any man with friends of that sort."

* Subverted in the backstory of ''Penric's Mission'' by LoisMcMasterBujold. Penric is so good at sorcerous healing that his local hospital assigns him all the hopeless cases, including the patients even sorcery can't cure. After an emotionally draining period of seeing most of his patients die and never being given any easy successes, he burns out and seeks a different career.

* Mat Cauthon, Perrin Aybara, Lan, Thom Merril, even Jain Farstrider from WheelOfTime have this quality and Lan, Mat and Perrin have all unwittingly received followers for it. Granted, Mat IS that lucky and Perrin can talk with wolves, but hey...

* ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}''. In the sequel, Peter lampshades this:

* Subverted in the backstory of ''Penric's Mission'' ([[Literature/Chalion]]). Penric is so good at sorcerous healing that his local hospital assigns him all the hopeless cases, including the patients even sorcery can't cure. After an emotionally draining period of seeing most of his patients die and never being given any easy successes, he burns out and seeks a different career.

* ''Film/TheFifthElement:'' Korben Dallas is an overworked and unappreciated cabbie who ends up having to save the universe. Helps that he's BruceWillis, which crops up in many of his roles.

-->"Nightwing": Good. If memory serves, we've done the impossible before.

** The entire city of Ankh-Morpork has gained this reputation by ''Discworld/TheLastHero''; According to Lord Vetinari, the reason the people of the Counterweight Continent ask him, and by extension the city's people, to stop Cohen the Barbarian from blowing up the Disc is because, in his words, "They believe us to have zip, zing, get-up-and-go, and can-do." Notably, the crew selected to go after Cohen consists of; Rincewind, IneptMage, CosmicPlaything and ActionSurvivor, Captain Carrot, TheAce and TheUnchosenOne who may be the last son of the city's royal family, and Leonard Da Quirm, a brilliant inventor who designs weapons of mass destruction as a hobby. The Librarian, who has been an orangutan and the only member of UnseenUniversity's staff who really knows what to do, ended up part of the crew by accident.

* ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}. In the sequel, Peter lampshades this:

* ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'' is a subversion. He's got a rep for being the great and powerful wizard who can solve any problem, but he's really a fake.

** Played with by giving you a whole squad of badasses in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2''. [[BadassCrew Every squadmate]] is either the best in their profession or just ridiculously tough - [[BadassGrandpa Zaeed]] in particular is described as just like Shepard except for the fact he takes cheques. According to the squad, they're also sent into suicidal odds about twice a day.