History NotSoHarmlessVillain / AnimeAndManga

* In ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'', first introduced as a decrepit old demonic man, Hantengu would make one wonder why he is the Upper Rank 4 at first, as he seemed rather weak and acted like a constantly shriveling old man, contrasting with other Kizuki demons who seem more battle ready than him. However, as the Swordsmith Village arc unfolds, Hantengu shows exactly why he is Upper-4: his Blood Demon Art is quite versatile in separating his body into living emotions who make it extremely hard to take him down for good, as they all easily regenerate, and even that is just the beginning of Hantengu's onslaught. The main four emotions aren't all that strong in the end; it is their fusion, Zohakuten (Hatred), that really contains all of Hantengu's physical might, and true to form he is actually never [[spoiler:beaten straight in a fight; Tanjiro, Mitsuri, Nezuko and Genya had to work together to stall Hatred as long as possible to kill Fear instead, Hantengu's core emotion, which ends Hatred by proxy]].

* In the [[Manga/TheLegendOfZeldaAkiraHimekawa manga adaptation]] of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'', the Deku Scrubs manage to outnumber, overrun, and capture Link despite being small wooden gnomes.

** Evil Natural Water might look like a {{Mook}}, but he's actually quite powerful (able to shoot jet streams of water strong enough to pierce metal), surprisingly able to reasoning, and nearly impossible to kill through pure physical force, as none of Atomic Samurai's Disciples could cut him and even Child Emperor ran out of tactics against him. Iairon notes that if it managed to assimilate the ocean it would be all but unstoppable. [[spoiler:Sure enough, he becomes upgraded to Evil Ocean Water when he connects with the ocean itself and is now easily one of the greatest threats to humanity alongside Sage Centipede. Thankfully, [[InvincibleHero Saitama]] takes care of him.]]

** The Red Ribbon Army in the original ''Manga/DragonBall'', while capable of threatening Goku and his friends on occasion, were mostly pushovers even to a young Goku[[labelnote:Note]]the only member they had that was capable of fighting Goku head-on was [[WakeUpCallBoss General Blue]][[/labelnote]] and absolutely nothing compared to the later threats in both ''Dragon Ball'' and ''Anime/DragonBallZ''. Then in ''DBZ'', the Red Ribbon cyborgs/androids created by Dr. Gero in order to exact revenge on Goku for taking down the army -- and with it his funding -- came along, who were all an order of magnitude more powerful than even Super Saiyans, and who exterminated all but one of the protagonists in an alternate future. And then there is Cell, who was also part of the Red Ribbon Cyborg project and prompted Goku to do an unsuccessful HeroicSacrifice to try to stop him, technically fulfilling Dr. Gero's revenge.
** When Babidi first resurrected Majin Buu, everyone was surprised that he was a childish fat pink alien, to the point where Babidi and Dabura doubted that the resurrection had worked correctly. And then he wipes out Dabura (who at this point was at least as strong as Perfect Cell) in one shot.

** Black Sperm might look like a rejected teletubby, but he is one of the Association's strongest members. He is deceptively fast and proves to be the perfect counter for Atomic Samurai's cut-until-it-dies tactic as he [[MesACrowd keeps multiplying]] [[AsteroidsMonster infinitely]] each time the Samurai cuts him, and even when the hero develops a way to end him permanently, he still delivers a beatdown to him. [[spoiler:and that's before [[OneToMillionToOne he combines 43 trillion of his cells (10 trillion in the webcomic)]] and becomes Golden Sperm, who is strong enough to defeat Fuhrer Ugly and Superalloy Blackluster along; and goes even futher along in the manga when he becomes Platinum Sperm, who is fast enough to fight both Garou and Flashy Flash for a while before being obliterated by the former.]]
** Fuhrer Ugly, despite his position and fighting style of breaking his opponents in both body and spirit, was PlayedForLaughs in his first fight with Amai Mask, where he is treated with much more silliness than the other executives who nearly kill their hero opponents. After Orochi's defeat, [[spoiler:he reveals a much more cruel and sadistic side, brutally injuring several heroes in quick succession and even coinciding with an ArtEvolution in the manga which makes him more outright grotesque than simply Gonk. And when he becomes [[OneWingedAngel Vomited Fuhrer Ugly]] by getting eaten by Gums, pretty much nobody on either side can finish him off for good as he kills even half of the Council of Swordsmen, until Monster Garou one-shots him.]]
** Evil Natural Water might look like a Mook, but he's actually quite powerful (able to shoot jet streams of water strong enough to pierce metal), surprisingly able to reasoning, and nearly impossible to kill through pure physical force, as none of Atomic Samurai's Disciples could cut him and even Child Emperor ran out of tactics against him. Iairon notes that if it managed to assimilate the ocean it would be all but unstoppable. [[spoiler:Sure enough, he becomes upgraded to Evil Ocean Water when he connects with the ocean itself and is now easily one of the greatest threats to humanity alongside Sage Centipede. Thankfully, [[InvincibleHero Saitama]] takes care of him.]]
** Despite looking like a humanoid house cat, Nyan[[note]]who first appeared in the manga[[/note]] is frequently seen along side the rest of the Dragon-level monsters whenever they're mentioned or shown together. Despite faring poorly against Puri Puri Prisoner and running away from Saitama, he proves why he's Dragon-level when he runs into a group of lower-ranked Heroes on the surface and completely curbstomps them.

* Pesci from Part 5 of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind Golden Wind]]'' starts off as an incredibly weird-looking, cowardly sidekick to the more competent Prosciutto and has a seemingly weak [[FightingSpirit Stand]] ability as well. Upon Prosciutto's defeat, however, he suddenly gains new resolve, comes up with [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower lethal new ways to use his Stand]] and ends up becoming one of the most dangerous foes the gang faces during the part.

** Buggy and Mr. 3 found out this the hard way that Impel Down's Vice-Warden Hannyabal is not so harmless despite not having a Devil Fruit or the reputation of his fearsome boss, Warden Magellan. The funny thing is he was going to ''allow'' them to get past him so his boss will get in trouble, but they had to go ahead with their [[strike:suicidal]] [[strike:idiotic]] [[strike:somewhat predictable]] otherwise ingenious plan of taking him out, only to face an ass-kicking for it.

** "Wet-Haired" Caribou mainly exists to show of how strong the Straw Hat pirates got after the TimeSkip. Nothing goes right for him in their presence, he's basically a ButtMonkey. But thing is, he's only a joke to people who are notoriously dangerous themselves. To everyone else he's a SerialKiller who buries his victims [[BuriedAlive while they are still alive]], with Logia Devil Fruit powers which allows him to transform into, create, and control a mud-like substance and gives him a massive {{Hammerspace}}. And also he has the tendency to eavesdrop on conversations. Due to this and after the events of Wano, [[spoiler:he knows the whereabouts of two of [[WeaponOfMassDestruction three Ancient Weapons]]]].

** Wanze. When Sanji, Usopp, and Franky meet him on the Sea Train, he offers them noodles from his nose and has an equally wacky face to match. The three heroes immediately proceed to blow him off and try going to the next car to confront the actual Big Bads, only for Wanze to get serious and do everything in his power to stop them. He ''is'' an agent of Cipher Pol after all, and he later shows that most of his various silly expressions and quirks are actually just acts to mislead his opponents. While his main power is still ''making noodles from his nose'', he manages to use it to great effect and even overpowers the strongest of the three, Sanji. Too bad he picked the wrong opponent for a one-on-one fight, as he's ultimately HoistByHisOwnPetard as Sanji is a chef, and him using food as his weapon allows Sanji to use techniques he usually reserves for cooking and not fighting [note]He is the only enemy that forced and allowed Sanji to use his hands in a fight[/note]. As Sanji gets the upper hand, Wanze takes his danger progression up to eleven by throwing a poisoned knife at Sanji at relatively close range, though he ultimately misses and is defeated.

** Wanze. When Sanji, Usopp, and Franky meet him on the Sea Train, he offers them noodles from his nose and has an equally wacky face to match. The three heroes immediately proceed to blow him off and try going to the next car to confront the actual Big Bads, only for Wanze to get serious and do everything in his power to stop them. He ''is'' an agent of Cipher Pol after all, and he later shows that most of his various silly expressions and quirks are actually just acts to mislead his opponents. While his main power is still ''making noodles from his nose'', he manages to use it to great effect and even overpowers the strongest of the three, Sanji. Too bad he picked the wrong opponent for a one-on-one fight, as he's ultimately HoistByHisOwnPetard as Sanji is a chef, and him using food as his weapon allows Sanji to use techniques he usually reserves for cooking and not fighting. As Sanji gets the upper hand, Wanze takes his danger progression up to eleven by throwing a poisoned knife at Sanji at relatively close range, though he ultimately misses and is defeated.

* Toshiya from ''Manga/TheWorldIsMine'' starts out as [[ChaoticEvil Mon]]'s weak-willed bitch, even wearing a [[VillainousCrossdresser female disguise]] and pretending to be Mon's girlfriend in public. Things begin to change after they're [[spoiler: killed by "Hakumadon"]] and Mon can't stand to kill. In addition to becoming the primary murderer of the two, he's also considerably more tech- and social-savvy than WildChild Mon and he becomes increasingly vicious and [[ManipulativeBastard manipulative]] as the story goes on.

** ''Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF'': After Pilaf rightfully tells Mai and Shu that they shouldn't trust Sorbet, they think because he's no bigger than they are they'll be able to take him down easily, he sees through their plan and shoots their weapons out of their hands with his ring, he then tells them not to take him lightly because of his size, amd later his ring's beam is able to pierce Goku's heart while he is distracted in Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan form.

** Otaki/[[DubNameChange Crump]], the DarkChick of ''Anime/YuGiOh'''s Big Five is a joke in his first appearance. His obsession with penguins makes him rather ludicrous, and he ultimately loses a match against Anzu/[[DubNameChange Téa]], one of the hero's cheerleaders. He returns a few episodes later, and alongside the rest of the Big 5, engages [[TheHero Yugi]] and [[TheLancer Jounouchi]] in a team duel--where he performs exceptionally well, using his Deck Master ability to power up Oshita's/[[DubNameChange Ganzley's]] WATER monsters, and maintaining control of the duel for the Big Five. It's not until the Big 5 move away from playing WATER creatures that he's forced to yield to Ooka/[[DubNameChange Johnson]], and in terms of overall performance, he's just behind [[TheDragon Daimon]]/[[DubNameChange Lector]]. Justified by the fact that Otaki doesn't lack dueling skill, but does suffer from a near-crippling obsession with penguins--left to his own devices he'll select a deck full of low-level Penguin cards who can't accomplish much, but when given the rest of the Big Five's cards to play with, he can realize his full potential.

* An arc in ''LightNovel/KyouranKazokuNikki'' introduces Gouyokuou. In the episode he is introduced, he seems to be a hilariously FishOutOfWater alien looking for the woman he loves and so weak that Kyoka is able to punch him into the air with ease. Then it's revealed that he is so powerful, if even one of his PowerLimiter rods is removed, he can level a city with no effort. If all of them are removed, it's EarthShatteringKaboom time. The end of the second episode of his arc hints at a darker side of his personality; a StalkerWithACrush willing to use his world-destroying powers to get the woman he wants.

* In ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'', first introduced as a decrepit old demonic man, Hantengu would make one wonder why he is the Upper Rank 4 at first, as he seemed rather weak and acted like a constantly shriveling old man, contrasting with other Kizuki demons who seem more battle ready than him; however, as the Swordsmith Village arc unfolds Hantengu shows exactly why he is Upper-4, his Blood Demon Art is quite versatile in separating his body into living emotions who make it extremely hard to take him down for good, as they all easily regenerate, and even that is just the beginning of Hantengu's onslaught. The main 4 emotions aren't all that strong in the end, it is their fusion, Zohakuten (Hatred), that really contains all of Hantengu's physical might, and true to form he is actually never [[spoiler:beaten straight in a fight; Tanjiro, Mitsuri, Nezuko and Genya had to work together to stall Hatred as long as possible to kill Fear instead, Hantengu's core emotion, which ends Hatred by proxy]].