History RankScalesWithAsskicking / Film

* Apparently, being Secretary of Defense in the live-action ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' movie provided enough badass to try blowing away an alien robot with a shotgun.

* Played for comedy in ''Film/BlackDynamite'', where Black Dynamite's greatest physical test is his final martial arts showdown with ''Richard Nixon''.

** In ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' and ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', [[BigBad Thanos]] is the leader of his empire, and he is the most powerful fighter in it. He ripped apart Tony Stark's [[NanoMachines nanotech]] [[PoweredArmor armor]] barehanded; the same armor that Cull Obsidian could not penetrate even with weapons. [[spoiler:With his [[CoolSword double-bladed sword]], Thanos broke Captain America's NighInvulnerable vibranium shield, which was able to NoSell ''everything'' prior.]]

** In the first movie, ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}, Elsa holds her own against two of the Duke of Weselton's guards trying to kill her with arrows. Bonus points for becoming more powerful the night after she's crowned queen, when she decides to embrace her ice magic, which makes her the most powerful fighter in the franchise as well as the highest-ranking in political power. Princess Anna's [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower strongest powers come from elsewhere]], but she's capable in a fight as well. She manages to fight off a pack of wolves that attack her and Kristoff, and she singlehandedly pulls him to safety when he nearly falls off a cliff after the chase. [[spoiler:It's also her who rescues Elsa in the end.]]

* Skipper, the penguin leader in ''WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}}'', pulls off some of their most crazy stunts himself.

* In ''Film/FistOfLegend'', the Japanese general is an incredibly powerful martial artist.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Epic}}'':

* In the ''Film/{{Ultraviolet}}'' film, also directed by Kurt Wimmer, the government's leader [[spoiler:Vice-Cardinal Ferdinand Daxus]] is the hero's most physically dangerous adversary. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] or {{handwave}}d by the fact that [[spoiler:he was one of the original lab technicians researching and infected by the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent hemophage virus]] and used the abilities it granted him to aid his rise to power.]]

* ''Film/ResidentEvil'' film series places badass Albert Wesker as the chairman of Umbrella Corp, thus implying that he was given his superhuman abilities at his own order.

* In ''Film/HangmansKnot'', Major Stewart proves his fitness to command TheRemnant by laying a NoHoldBarredBeatdown on PsychoPartytMember Rolph Bainter after Bainter's AttemptedRape of Molly.

* In the 1989 film of ''Film/{{Henry V|1989}}'', as in the original play, King Henry leads his men into battle at Harfleur and Agincourt. In the film, Henry is shown at Agincourt kicking all kinds of French ass.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'': Shan Yu and his council are the only Huns Badass enough to come popping out of the snow! Like daisies! During the climactic fight, Shan Yu does things like chopping through columns and bursting through roofs.
* Skipper, the penguin leader in ''WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}}'', pulls off some of their most crazy stunts himself.
* Jack Skellington in ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' is [[{{Leader}} King of the Pumpkin Patch]], and thus more than a match for Oogie Boogie, even in the seat of his trap-infested powerbase.

* ''WesternAnimation/StrangeMagic'': Marianne is the heir to the throne and the best warrior of the fairy Kingdom. The Bog King rules the goblins and is their best fighter.

* In ''Film/{{Commando}}'', Arius sees little action. But at the end of the movie, he ends up presenting a far more significant challenge to Matrix than his entire army was, with the exception of [[DragonInChief Bennett]].
* In ''Film/IndependenceDay'', the president is a former Air Force fighter pilot who leads the air attack at the end of the movie that destroys the alien mothership.
* ''Film/ABridgeTooFar'' includes a scene in which Creator/RobertRedford participates in a dangerous river crossing. Even though he is a Major, he does a great deal of the asskicking personally. In later interviews, Redford would point out that his character would have been directing the maneuver, and would have only actually fired his weapon in an emergency.
* In ''Film/{{Equilibrium}}'', [[TheDragon Brandt]] fails to live up to his BadassLongcoat despite fighting Preston to a standstill in an earlier training match.[[note]]There was supposed to be a closely fought final duel between them but Brandt's actor was unavailable for an extended shoot so the scene was shot as a CurbStompBattle instead[[/note]] By contrast, [[spoiler:Vice-Counsel [=DuPont=]]], the real leader of Libria, is a bureaucrat who seems harmless without his complement of bodyguards... but actually has GunKata skills almost on par with Preston himself and the ensuing final duel lasts longer than most of Preston's skirmishes with the FacelessGoons. Then again, there was foreshadowing in that [[spoiler:[=DuPont=] is earlier glimpsed ''teaching'' a class of gun-kata students.]]
* In ''Film/RikiOhTheStoryOfRicky'', the toughest opponent Riki fights in the prison is the warden because as everyone knows "The warden of any prison has to be the very best in kung-fu".
* In the ''Film/{{Ultraviolet}}'' film, also directed by Kurt Wimmer, the government's leader [[spoiler:Vice-Cardinal Ferdinand Daxus]] is the hero's most physically dangerous adversary. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] or {{handwave}}d by the fact that [[spoiler:he was one of the original lab technicians researching and infected by the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent hemophage virus]] and used the abilities it granted him to aid his rise to power.]]

* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** Yoda in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' and ''any'' of his appearances that chronologically take place after that. There's a reason why he is called the Master. Mace Windu too, to a lesser extent.
** Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' and ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''. After being a NonActionBigBad in the first two prequel films, he battles Mace Windu and Yoda in two different lightsaber duels as such a formidable opponent that by the latter film, Yoda explicitly warns Luke to not underestimate him.
** Jedi are made generals during the Clone Wars, for apparently no reason other than this trope.
** Princess Leia is a [[ImprobableAimingSkills very good shot with a blaster]], despite being mainly a diplomat and having no reason to believe she'd be involved in combat.
** Poe, the second in command of the Resistance [[spoiler:(first in command after Leia dies)]] is also their [[AcePilot best pilot]], capable of pulling off nigh-superhuman feats of piloting and wiping out [[OneManArmy entire squadrons and space battleships]] alone.
* Apparently being Secretary of Defense in the live-action ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' movie provided enough badass to try blowing away an alien robot with a shotgun.

* In ''Film/ShaPoLang'', the Triad boss Wong Po turns out to be even faster and tougher than TheDragon, his personal assassin Jack. Not only can he throw down with the main character, who can literally ''punch people stupid'', and take him and two of his partners at the same time, but he can [[spoiler:survive getting over-the-head body-slammed into a giant tower of beer bottles and drinking glasses and then stand up a minute later to throw the hero out the window]]. Of course, the guy's played by Sammo Hung, who is known for his kick-ass action roles in the Hong Kong scene.

* Seen in the finale of ''[[Film/XXx xXx: State of the Union]]'', where after easily subduing in hand-to-hand combat a few dozen marines, a couple squads of EliteMooks, and a TheDragon Navy SEAL, the hero finds himself being outmatched by the 60-year-old Secretary of Defense.
* In ''Film/MenInBlackII'', [=MiB=] leader Zed, despite being a 70-year-old administrator, nevertheless manages to deliver a rapid series of improbable flying kicks to the face of the main villain.
* Subverted in the climax of the film ''Film/{{Wanted}}''. Although [[spoiler:Sloan]] is briefly shown to have the same superpowers as the other master assassins, he's too smart to actually confront the hero directly in a fair fight (the hero, for his part, is also too smart to fight fair).
* In ''Film/CurseOfTheGoldenFlower'', the Emperor > you. Both in kung fu and {{magnificent bastard}}ry.
* In ''Film/BatmanBegins'', Batman utterly owns everyone he fights pretty much instantly, including (leading up to the final fight) 4 ninjas in full body armor who presumably have the same training and skills as he does. However, Ra's al-Ghul, the leader of the League of Shadows and Batman's BrokenPedestal mentor, is able to match Batman blow-for-blow and ultimately "wins" the fight, despite Batman wearing a high-tech suit of hardened combat armor, and Ra's [[BadassInANiceSuit wearing what's essentially very nice formal wear]].
* ''Film/JamesBond''
** Bond's official rank in Her Majesty's Navy is Commander, making him a moderate example, although very little of his career in the Navy has been shown onscreen.
** ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' ends with Film/JamesBond and [[spoiler:Dominic Greene battling on a collapsing catwalk inside an exploding building which is also ''on fire'']]. Greene doesn't exactly do ''well'', but he puts up a much longer and involving fight than you'd expect a 5-foot tall, physically unimpressive corporate suit to do so against the world's most famous British murder machine, especially considering how Bond dispatches mean-looking, highly-trained professional killers ''much'' more quickly on several occasions earlier in the film.

* In ''Film/{{Scanners}}'', Revok is not only the leader of the evil scanner underground, but also one of the two most powerful scanners in the world -- which is, of course, how he started the underground in the first place.
* At the climax of ''Film/{{Cliffhanger}}'', effete villain John Lithgow (!) proves to be a match for musclebound Sly Stallone.

* In ''Film/FistOfLegend'', the Japanese general is an incredibly powerful martial artist.
* In ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' [[ColonelBadass Colonel Quaritch]] has his dropship severely damaged when [[spoiler:Jake Sully]] throws a missile into a turbine. Despite this, and having his shoulder on fire, he climbs into a mech as the dropship spirals out of control, pats out the flames, and jumps out of the dropship to land safely as it crashes in a hulking flaming mass behind him. Half of this he does while holding his breath. Earlier in the film, he kicks open a door without an oxygen mask and unloads an assault rifle and a pistol into an escaping gunship. And finally, in the final battle he fights hand-to-hand (albeit in a mech) with two Na'Vi and one palulukan, and again a portion of this is done holding his breath.
* ''Kick-Ass''
** Frank D'Amico in the climax of ''Film/KickAss'', as foreshadowed by earlier scenes of him practicing martial arts, although he also has a couple of factors tipping the balance in his favor, such as the fact that he's, you know, fighting a ten-year-old girl. Hit Girl previously mows down his Mooks by the dozen in a firefight, but she runs out of ammo by the time she faces D'Amico and is forced to resort to kung-fu fighting him, getting completely thrashed in the ensuing fight.
** In ''Film/KickAss2'' it is inverted and playing straight. It is playing straight at the "superheros" of "Justice Forever" because their leaders, Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl, are by far the strongest fighters among them. Likewise was Colonel-Stars-and-Stripes, the former leader of the strongest fighters among them. With the "supervillains" of "Toxic Mega Cunts" but it is inverted. Red-Mist is a weak fighter and buys other criminals to fight for him. Probably could defeat him almost any of his followers in combat.
* The main villain is the only one in ''Film/TheTransporter'' to test the hero in a one-on-one fight. And he's even nicknamed "Wall Street", making it seem like he's just a corporate suit. So, for the final fight, both fight without their suits.
* In ''Film/LegendOfTheGuardiansTheOwlsOfGaHoole'', Metalbeak and Nyra are able to hold their own in battle, and will fight alongside their armies.
* The Emperor from ''Film/TheMummyTombOfTheDragonEmperor'' was a prodigy in every skill, surpassing all his teachers in [[ElementalPowers elemental magic]], martial arts, military strategy and pretty much everything else. How he lost to Brendan Frasier and co is a mystery.
* In the 1989 film of ''Film/{{Henry V|1989}}'', as in the original play, King Henry leads his men into battle at Harfleur and Agincourt. In the film, Henry is shown at Agincourt kicking all kinds of French ass.
* ''Film/TheThreeMusketeers2011'' briefly shows [[MagnificentBastard Cardinal Richelieu]] sparring with three {{Mook}}s at once. Possibly partly RealLife, since he received a military training before becoming a priest, and was still known as a good rider and fencer twenty years later.

* In Creator/RomanPolanski's adaptation of ''Film/{{Macbeth|1971}}'' the eponymous character just destroys a bunch of mooks trying to kill him.
* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
** ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'':
*** Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., jumps out of an out-of-control helicopter and shoots down a plane carrying a nuclear warhead with an unguided anti-vehicle rocket, among other things. His subordinates are not nearly as impressive, with some exceptions of course.
*** Likewise, when ComicBook/CaptainAmerica orders police officers to get people to safety and set up a perimeter, they initially question why they should be taking orders from him... until he quickly disposes of some attackers right in front of them.
** [[spoiler:Aldrich Killian]] in ''Film/IronMan3'' is the most dangerous foe to the title character, despite the fact that most of his {{Mook}}s are veteran soldiers who have been enhanced by the Extremis SuperSerum, while he himself was [[spoiler:a cripple until recently]]. Despite this, he survives what some of his Mooks don't. He can also [[spoiler:[[BreathWeapon breathe fire]]]].
** Deconstructed in ''Film/BlackPanther2018''. Wakanda's monarch are determined by ritual combat with only the strongest becoming king and gaining the title of Black Panther. [[spoiler:The Killmonger crisis showed that choosing a king based on fighting prowess is a terrible idea. Killmonger, who is as poorly unsuited to ruling as he is good at killing people, manages to take over the nation in hours and create a totalitarian state]].
** In ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' and ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', [[BigBad Thanos]] is the leader of his empire, and he is the most powerful fighter in it. He ripped apart Tony Stark's [[NanoMachines nanotech]] [[PoweredArmor armor]] barehanded; the same armor that Cull Obsidian could not penetrate even with weapons. [[spoiler:With his [[CoolSword double-bladed sword]], Thanos broke Captain America's NighInvulnerable vibranium shield, which was able to NoSell ''everything'' prior.]]
* The French General Delatombe in ''Film/TheBrothersGrimm'' spends most of the film sitting around. However, when necessary, he shows that he handles a sword ''very'' well for an old man and nearly dispatches one of the brothers. His aide-de-camp is also pretty good, despite not looking it.

* In ''Film/WarCraft2016'', pretty much everyone in position of authority is a badass. Lothar has probably the highest kill-count in the film, his brother-in-law king Llane leads the army and kicks serious amounts of orc ass, and warchief Durotan and SorcerousOverlord Gul'dan resolve their differences in a [[DuelToTheDeath mak'gora]].
* Played for comedy in ''Film/BlackDynamite'', where Black Dynamite's greatest physical test is his final martial arts showdown with ''Richard Nixon''.
* In ''Film/JurassicWorld'' it is first inverted, because the "alpha male" of the pack of Velociraptors is a human. But later it plays straight, because the [[http://villains.wikia.com/wiki/Indominus_rex Indominus Rex]] the new alpha male is.
* ''Film/NaturalBornKillers'': [=McClusky=], the Warden of the prison that Mickey and Mallory are held at, is no pencil pusher, personally breaking up a fight between two of the inmates without asking the guards for help. Lampshaded by Scagnetti, who says that he should appear on ''Series/AmericanGladiators''.
* ''Film/PlanetOfTheApes2001'': General Thade is a FrontlineGeneral despite his advancing age. Earlier in the film he also murders two gorilla soldiers who tower over him by doing a backflip over them to kill them both from behind.
* ''Film/JohnnyReno'': Mayor Yates boast that he can lick any man in town, and attempts to beat Johnny Reno into submission. He doesn't succeed, but he comes closer to beating Reno than anyone else in the film.

* General Miura from ''Film/IpMan'' throws down with three guys in his first appearance and takes them down without much fuss. Ultimately he is the only one who actually manages to land real hits on our hero.

* In the 1989 film of ''Film/HenryV'', as in the original play, King Henry leads his men into battle at Harfleur and Agincourt. In the film, Henry is shown at Agincourt kicking all kinds of French ass.

** In addition to the times the source material uses this trope, the fight with the Uruk-hai at the end of ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' shows the Fellowship effortlessly mowing down the Uruks, until the [[{{Leader}} orc chief Lurtz]] shows up. Lurtz fatally wounds Boromir with his arrows, and he's only defeated after a drawn out, one-on-one fight with Aragorn, King of Gondor. Of course, Lurtz also had the InverseNinjaLaw on his side.
** Legolas is an elven prince. He also [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome quite memorably]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=132WIdxvgdo brings down an Oliphaunt singlehandedly]].

* ''Disney/{{Mulan}}'': Shan Yu and his council are the only Huns Badass enough to come popping out of the snow! Like daisies! During the climactic fight, Shan Yu does things like chopping through columns and bursting through roofs.

** In the first movie, ''Disney/{{Frozen}}, Elsa holds her own against two of the Duke of Weselton's guards trying to kill her with arrows. Bonus points for becoming more powerful the night after she's crowned queen, when she decides to embrace her ice magic, which makes her the most powerful fighter in the franchise as well as the highest-ranking in political power. Princess Anna's [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower strongest powers come from elsewhere]], but she's capable in a fight as well. She manages to fight off a pack of wolves that attack her and Kristoff, and she singlehandedly pulls him to safety when he nearly falls off a cliff after the chase. [[spoiler:It's also her who rescues Elsa in the end.]]
** In the sequel, ''Disney/FrozenII'', Elsa spends most of the movie as the most politically and physically strong character, being queen of Arendelle and having magic powers she uses to fight several magic spirits. Near the end, [[spoiler: Elsa levels up in physical/magic power, but then abdicates the crown to spend time further embracing that physical power.]] Anna, who is not the physically strongest or most likely to win a physical fight, although a capable [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething Royal Who Actually Does Things]] and very emotionally and mentally strong, [[spoiler:becomes queen.]]

* In Creator/RomanPolanski's adaptation of ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' the eponymous character just destroys a bunch of mooks trying to kill him.

* ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'': Queen Elsa and Princess Anna are not just the heads of state for Arendelle, but also formidable fighters of their own. In the first movie, Elsa holds her own against two of the Duke of Weselton's guards trying to kill her with arrows. Bonus points for becoming more powerful the night after she's crowned queen, when she decides to embrace her ice magic, which makes her the most powerful fighter in the franchise as well as the highest-ranking in political power. Princess Anna's [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower strongest powers come from elsewhere]], but she's capable in a fight as well. She manages to fight off a pack of wolves that attack her and Kristoff, and she singlehandedly pulls him to safety when he nearly falls off a cliff after the chase.

* Jack Skellington in ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' is [[{{Leader}} King of the Pumpkin Patch]], and thus more than a match for Oogy Boogy, even in the seat of his trap-infested powerbase.

* ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'': Queen Elsa and Princess Anna are not just the heads of state for Arendelle, but also formidable fighters of their own. In the first movie, Elsa holds her own against two of the Duke of Weselton's men trying to kill her. Anna manages to fight off a pack of wolves that attack her and Kristoff, and she singlehandedly pulls him to safety when he nearly falls off a cliff after the chase.

* ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'' and ''Disney/FrozenII'': Queen Elsa and Princess Anna are not just the heads of state for Arendelle, but also formidable fighters of their own. In the first movie, Elsa holds her own against two of the Duke of Weselton's men trying to kill her, while the sequel shows her battling and defeating a water spirit on a stormy sea. Anna manages to fight off a pack of wolves that attack her and Kristoff, contributing more to said fight than Kristoff, and she singlehandedly pulls him to safety when he nearly falls off a cliff after the chase.

** Deconstructed in ''Film/BlackPanther''. Wakanda's monarch are determined by ritual combat with only the strongest becoming king and gaining the title of Black Panther. [[spoiler:The Killmonger crisis showed that choosing a king based on fighting prowess is a terrible idea. Killmonger, who is as poorly unsuited to ruling as he is good at killing people, manages to take over the nation in hours and create a totalitarian state]].

* ''Film/NaturalBornKillers'': The Warden of the prison (Tommy Lee Jones) that Mickey and Mallory are held at is no pencil pusher, personally breaking up a fight between two of the inmates without asking the guards for help. Lampshaded by Scagnetti who says that he should appear on ''American Gladiator''.