History TheDreaded / LiveActionFilms

* After Sonic knocks out the power in ''Film/SonicTheHedgehog2020'', a general in the military recommends that Dr. Robotnik investigates the cause of the outage. The other members of the board immediately don't like the idea of having him onboard. But they're not actually afraid of him, Robotnik's just a major asshole.

* ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'': The T-800 in the [[Film/TheTerminator first film]]. In the [[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay sequel]], Sarah Connor reacts with horror when she sees the new T-800 for the first time. By the time the T-1000 comes along, she's better prepared for it.
** Indeed, the first time she sees the T-800 in ''T2'' is the only time in the entire movie when she absolutely '''panics'''.

*** Nearly every character treats the transformation from Bruce Banner to [[Characters/IncredibleHulkBruceBanner The Incredible Hulk]] as a threat comparable to that of a nuclear bomb. ''Especially'' notable in the case of Black Widow, who thus far had been one of the most unflappable people in the MCU. An encounter with a rampaging Hulk aboard S.H.I.E.L.D.'s helicarrier leaves her a ''shuddering and trembling mess'' until a call for backup brings her back to her senses. Another notable case is Loki, after being ragdolled by Hulk. By the time [[Film/ThorRagnarok Loki sees Hulk again]] the first thing he tried to do is ''abandon the planet''.
*** TheStinger of the movie shows that humans have reached this status among the Chitauri (who, according to Thor, have this reputation themselves) by [[spoiler:beating the crap out of their invasion force in short order before nuking their mothership]]. ''Series/Hawkeye2021'' shows that the Avengers' reputation made even people like Wilson "Kingpin" Fisk look nervous to have one in the vicinity, even if the Avenger in question is [[BadassNormal Clint Barton]].
*** [[Characters/TheMightyThorThorOdinson Thor]] (to an extent) and the rest of the Asgardians are also this to S.H.I.E.L.D., causing them to [[spoiler:use the Tesseract and the remains of the Destroyer to create super-weapons in order to fight them, along with other extra-terrestrial beings]]. Loki's actions also make Fury desperate enough to assemble the Avengers in the first place.
** ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' has the title villain. Black Widow is even more apprehensive of him than she is of Loki and ''the Hulk'', and it becomes clear early on that the only person capable of stopping him is Steve. ''His own support staff'' are afraid of him. Which makes it something of a villainous SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome when [[spoiler:Alexander Pierce]] walks in to one scene and casually backhands him.
** [[Characters/MarvelComicsThanos Thanos]] however, is the ultimate BigBad. Though we have only seen him briefly and have set to witness his power, he is widely feared throughout ''the entire galaxy'' if not [[ExaggeratedTrope the Nine Realms.]] When he finally takes center stage in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', he ''thoroughly'' backs up his reputation.

*** Carol picks up this reputation after unlocking her binary state. [[spoiler:She blows up a bunch of Kree warheads that were deployed to bomb Earth, annihilates Ronan's entire fighter screen, and destroys an Accuser battleship with ease by flying through it. Seeing this, Ronan to decides to flee, and despite knowing Earth has no planetary defense system (other than Carol), the Kree have not tried to attack it since. Carol's reputation is such, that, in ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', Thanos' ship prioritized her over the rest of the targets (The rest of the targets ''including Wanda Maximoff,'' see below), shooting at Carol immediately at the very moment they detected her. And we have to take note that this Thanos came from 2014, while the movie happens in ''2023'', meaning that Carol had been feared for at least a decade.]]
** In ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'', five villains from the [[Film/SpiderManTrilogy different]] [[Film/TheAmazingSpiderManSeries universes]] cross over to the MCU thanks to Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. One of them is [[Characters/MarvelComicsNormanOsborn Norman Osborn / the Green Goblin]]. Peter's SpiderSense considers him (or more specifically, [[JekyllAndHyde the Goblin]]) simply ''being there'' as much more dangerous than ''[[EvilerThanThou the other four villains]] '''[[ExaggeratedTrope combined]]'''''. To be specific, when the Goblin persona takes control, the SpiderSense starts going apeshit crazy in a way that hasn't been seen since ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', where Peter was [[spoiler:literal seconds way from dying]]. Doctor Octopus and [[spoiler:the Peter Parker of Goblin's world]] are as scared of him as the MCU Peter is.
** The Characters/ScarletWitch aka [[spoiler: Wanda Maximoff]]. Everyone [[Series/WandaVision that knows]] [[Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness about her legend]] is scared shitless of her. And for good reasons, considering she's established to be able to either rule or destroy the Multiverse.

*** Nearly every character treats the transformation from Bruce Banner to [[Characters/IncredibleHulkBruceBanner The Incredible Hulk]] as a threat comparable to that of a nuclear bomb. ''Especially'' notable in the case of Black Widow, who thus far had been one of the most unflappable people in the MCU. An encounter with a rampaging Hulk aboard S.H.I.E.L.D.'s helicarrier leaves her a ''shuddering and trembling mess'' until a call for backup brings her back to her senses. Another notable case is Loki, after being ragdolled by Hulk. By the time [[Film/ThorRagnarok Loki see Hulk again]] the first thing he tried to do is ''abandon the planet''.

** Exceeding even Godzilla, however, is [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 King Ghidorah]]. ''Everyone'', from Monarch to Rodan to entire ancient civilizations to ''Godzilla himself'' fear Ghidorah, which ancient civilizations actively trying to forget him because they were ''that'' terrified of him. And for good reason, as Ghidorah is not only the only ''genuinely'' evil Titan so far introduced, but both [[OmnicidalManiac willing]] and [[PersonOfMassDestruction capable]] of bringing about the end of the world. [[spoiler:This is continued into ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'', where his mere ''skull'' is enough to make Team Godzilla ''terrified''. Apex is the only ones who don't seem to fear him, [[EvilIsNotAToy until they realize]] [[EvilerThanYou he's now possessing MechaGodzilla]].]]

** In ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'', Krypton's Council considered creatures like [[Characters/SupermanDoomsdayCharacter Doomsday]] too monstrous and dangerous to even be allowed to exist. Too bad Lex Luthor ended up creating one on Earth. Speaking of Luthor, his frightening words at the end of the film imply the Earth would have very good reasons to fear the cosmic threat he witnessed whil looking in the Kryptonian archives.

*** Nearly every character treats the transformation from Bruce Banner to [[Characters/IncredibleHulkBruceBanner The Incredible Hulk]] as a threat comparable to that of a nuclear bomb. ''Especially'' notable in the case of Black Widow, who thus far had been one of the most unflappable people in the MCU. An encounter with a rampaging Hulk aboard S.H.I.E.L.D.'S helicarrier leaves her a ''shuddering and trembling mess'' until a call for backup brings her back to her senses. Another notable case is Loki, after being ragdolled by Hulk. By the time [[Film/ThorRagnarok Loki see Hulk again]] the first thing he tried to do is ''abandon the planet''.
*** TheStinger of the movie shows that humans have reached this status among the Chitauri (who, according to Thor, have this reputation themselves) by [[spoiler:beating the crap out of their invasion force in short order before nuking their mothership]].

** Exceeding even Godzilla, however, is [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 King Ghidorah]]. ''Everyone'', from Monarch to Rodan to entire ancient civilizations to ''Godzilla himself'' fear Ghidorah, which ancient civilizations actively trying to forget him because they were ''that'' terrified of him. And for good reason, as Ghidorah is not only the only ''genuinely'' evil Titan so far introduced, but both [[OmnicidalManiac willing]] and [[PersonOfMassDestruction capable]] of bringing about the end of the world. [[spoiler:This is continued into ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'', where his mere ''skull'' is enough to make Team Godzilla ''terrified''. Apex is the only ones who don't seem to fear him, [[EvilerThanThou until they realize he's now possessing MechaGodzilla]].]]

* ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'': The T-800 in the [[Film/TheTerminator first film]]. In the [[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay sequel]], Sarah Connor reacts with horror when she sees the new T800 for the first time. By the time the T1000 comes along, she's better prepared for it.
** Indeed, the first time she sees the T800 in ''T2'' is the only time in the entire movie when she absolutely '''panics'''.

* ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'': The T800 in the [[Film/TheTerminator first film]]. In the [[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay sequel]], Sarah Connor reacts with horror when she sees the new T800 for the first time. By the time the T1000 comes along, she's better prepared for it.

* Lawrence Makaore's character from ''Film/DeadLands'' is feared by the BigBad Wirepa.