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| 7 | * ''Series/TwentyFour'': This show is full of characters who have taken up multiple levels of Badass. |
| 8 | ** Some examples include Teri Bauer, Kim Bauer, Chloe O'Brien in Season 4 (see also SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome), George Mason (see also HeroicSacrifice), Wayne Palmer, and Milo Pressman (total geek in Season 1; to taking bullets in Season 6). |
| 9 | ** Some of the bad guys pull this off as well (Behrooz Araz and his trusty {{shovel|strike}} in Season 4 is the premier example) |
| 10 | ** Perhaps the biggest example is Tony Almeida who began Season 1 as by the book systems analyst and by Season 7 reaches a level of badass that only Jack out badasses. This is never as evident as in Season 4 when Tony is who Jack calls when he needs a rescue. |
| 11 | ** Charles Logan: from hand-wringing, indecisive coward to [[spoiler: ringleader of massive conspiracy]] |
| 12 | ** Jack Bauer himself, who starts off as an (admittedly capable) secret agent-slash-family man who can eventually shrug off all forms of torture and come back from the dead. Also Nina Meyers, who starts off, again, a capable agent, [[spoiler: who's a mole, but a pretty plausible one, and ends up becoming an unstoppable force of pure evil.]] |
| 13 | * The trope as it applies to Oliver Queen is built into the premise of ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', but there are other examples: |
| 14 | ** Malcolm Merlyn joined the League of Assassins after his wife was murdered. He came back a powerful warrior, but with no measure of peace. |
| 15 | ** While presumed dead, Sara Lance trained with the League of Assassins. |
| 16 | ** Thea Queen is trained by Malcolm Merlyn in between Seasons 2 and 3 to the point where she can go toe to toe with Oliver. |
| 17 | ** Laurel Lance becomes a capable fighter, trained first by Ted Grant and later by Nyssa Al-Ghul. |
| 18 | ** In the flashforwards in the final season, Felicity Smoak, already a prodigious hacker, is something of a legend. |
| 19 | * In ''Series/AuctionKings'', Jon goes from being "the new picker" in Season 1, to being "my [Paul's] picker" in later seasons. |
| 20 | * ''Series/BabylonFive'': |
| 21 | ** Lennier is introduced as a mild-mannered, monk-like Minbari religious caste-member with a zen-like philosophy who is surprisingly shown a few episodes later to be able to defend himself with martial arts and take out a whole room full of drunk people, which is fair enough. However, by Season 4 he is fully capable of taking out multiple opponents belonging to the Minbari warrior caste trained almost from birth in the art of unarmed combat. This is before he joins the thousand-year-old organisation of elite badasses from beyond badassery in the final season who train up his badass skills to [[SerialEscalation something on the other side of preposterousness]]. |
| 22 | ** Lyta Alexander starts off as a fairly mild-mannered woman. After [[TouchedByVorlons telepathically scanning the injured Ambassador Kosh]], she is PutOnABus for two years before coming back as a much tougher, more skilled and more enigmatic character. Her increased telepathic (and beyond) powers are only revealed little by little, while at the same time she starts to show more vulnerability -- until the fifth season, when [[HerHeartWillGoOn the death of Byron]] causes her to stop playing it safe and show just how powerful she's become. |
| 23 | ** Vir Cotto starts off as an ineffectual, bumbling, yet thoroughly nice and sweet guy... yet slowly starts showing intelligence, confidence and deviousness to the point where he ends up succeeding Londo as Ambassador [[spoiler:and later as Emperor]], while throughout still remaining a thoroughly nice and sweet guy. When Vir takes a level in Badass by borrowing Londo's ceremonial sword and taking care of a Drazi spy, the result is so awesome they have to lampshade the lampshade. |
| 24 | --->'''Sheridan:''' What did Londo have to say about it?\ |
| 25 | '''Zack:''' He was like a proud father. "Now he is a man..." |
| 26 | * ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'': |
| 27 | ** The TV movie ''Razor'' is all about Kendra Shaw being molded into a badass by Cain. |
| 28 | ** Saul Tigh. In the first two seasons he's an alcoholic CommanderContrarian, but in the first 5 episodes of Season 3 alone he [[spoiler:[[EyepatchofPower loses an eye]], sends men on suicide missions against the Cylons, shuts up Laura Roslin, poisons his wife, and executes collaborators by airlocking them.]] He has remained awesome ever since. In fact, he seems to take ''another'' level in badass after [[spoiler: he finds out he's a cylon]]. One of his plans involves going and standing in an airlock threatening to space himself unless he gets what he wants (it makes more sense in context). |
| 29 | * ''Series/{{Being Human|UK}}'': Annie definitely takes a level after [[spoiler: refusing to pass to the other side]] although one could argue that it began [[spoiler: after she breaks her emotional bond to her boyfriend/killer]]. The biggest part of her level up occurred when she went from being a ghost to being a poltergeist. |
| 30 | * ''Series/BreakingBad'': |
| 31 | ** Walter White. The whole point of the series is his [[ProtagonistJourneyToVillain slow transformation]] from mild-mannered school teacher to evil criminal mastermind. |
| 32 | ** Jessie takes one in Season 4 [[spoiler: when he starts accompanying Mike]]. |
| 33 | * ''Series/{{Bridgerton}}'': Lady Danbury invoked this in her backstory, revealing she was once a meek, shy young woman who was afraid of her own shadow. Realizing she couldn't go on like this, she resolved to improve herself, and began her transformation into the sharp-tongued, elegant GrandDame we know and love today. She relates all this in her DareToBeBadass speech to a young Simon, encouraging him to rise to his full potential and prove that his abusive father is wrong about him. |
| 34 | -->'''Lady Danbury:''' I made myself frightening. I sharpened my wit, my wardrobe, my eye, and I made myself the most terrifying creature in any room I entered. |
| 35 | * ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' and ''Series/{{Angel}}'' examples: |
| 36 | ** Buffy, while always a badass, gradually becomes much stronger and a more capable fighter as the show goes on. Compare Buffy [[CurbStompBattle getting her ass handed to her]] by [[{{Mooks}} vamps]] in Season 1 with her [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu wiping the floor with the goddess Glory]] at the end of Season 5. |
| 37 | ** Angel's transformation as he moves from Season 3 of ''Buffy'' into his own spinoff ''Angel'' is particularly striking. From the very first episode of his spinoff, he's playing at the Badass [[{{Cap}} Level Cap]], drawing inspiration -- according to director commentary -- from the best moments of both Batman and John Wayne. |
| 38 | ** Wesley is a long-term, visibly executed case, marked with actual CharacterDevelopment. It wasn't just the writers' decision to make him suddenly "cool" -- it was the ''character's'' decision too. When first seen on ''Buffy'', Wes was a weak, weaselly wimp. In ''Angel'', he makes his entrance on a motorcycle, dresses in badass chic, and presents himself as a "rogue demon hunter", but still (initially) remains his old self. However, as seasons go by, Wesley becomes the series' Jack Bauer in every regard and is only overshadowed by Angel himself. |
| 39 | ** Willow starts as a geek and bookworm, primarily helpful in the research area. Her powers increase with time until, by the end of Season 7, she is a super-powerful witch (and fully in control of her abilities). |
| 40 | ** Giles' first appears to be a reversal when, in Season 2, it turns out he used to rank among the darker characters before joining the Watchers' Council. Shortly after, he proves to be ready to unexpectedly beat the crap out of his old friends and is one of the few who can stand up to Season 6's [[spoiler:Dark Willow]]. Another example from Season 5, episode 19 "Tough Love": |
| 41 | --->'''Slook:''' No words shall pass my lips that would bring peril to Glorificus.\ |
| 42 | ''Giles points his finger to the counter, without taking his eyes from the minion.''\ |
| 43 | '''Giles:''' Girls, get the twine that's on the counter. Let's tie him up.\ |
| 44 | ''Willow and Tara turn away, the camera is following them. Suddenly we hear a small, nasty cracking noise. Slook cries out in pain.''\ |
| 45 | '''Slook:''' Don't! Oh! I'll tell you... anything. Please! ... Whatever you want! Just--arg!--anything!\ |
| 46 | '''Anya:''' What happened?\ |
| 47 | '''Giles:''' ''(matter-of-factly, almost ironic)'' He changed his mind. |
| 48 | ** Dawn is a relatively mild example. Apparently in her spare time, she becomes fluent in Turkish and Sumerian, and eventually in [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS7E7ConversationsWithDeadPeople Conversations With Dead People]], she proves capable in magic. |
| 49 | ** Spike's flashbacks follow his progress from a vampire who gets lucky when fighting a Slayer to one that specifically goes out after slayers, confidently tracking down and killing his second. After going through a reverse process in ''Buffy'', his resurrection in ''Angel'' is every bit the badass, taking on the titular character Angel himself and winning. |
| 50 | ** Ultimately, it can be argued that ''any'' character who interacts with the main cast in the Buffy/Angelverse long enough ends up gaining levels in Badass, to the point where later seasons have a number of perfectly human characters taking down monstrosities that would previously be considered unkillable by anything short of a Slayer. The only choices for people around The Slayer and The Champion are: run far, far away; get horribly killed; or level up. |
| 51 | ** Xander goes from being rescued by Buffy in Season 1 to "Did you see that? I hit a guy!" to actually fighting off vampires for quite a long time in Season 2's "School Hard". He also changes from mocking how scared he is to standing up to Angelus. Angelus is ComicBook/TheJoker in vampire form, in a scene where his balls drop a foot and triple in size Xander scares him off to protect a sick Buffy. Also in the Season 8 comics [[spoiler:Xander has become a high tech battle watcher for Slayer Inc. He also wants people to call him [[ComicBook/NickFury Sgt. Fury]]]]. |
| 52 | ** Lilah Morgan spent the first two seasons of ''Series/{{Angel}}'' as an ineffective SmugSnake. Then in Season 3 she grew a spine and gained a lot of badly needed IQ points, turning her into a proper MagnificentBastard. |
| 53 | ** Cordelia gained a very noticeable level in badass at the beginning of Season 2 of ''Series/{{Angel}}'', jumping into the fray during fights, and when she saves Gunn's friend's life in "First Impressions". The latter can be directly contrasted to the third season of ''Buffy'', wherein she finds an unconscious Giles and her idea of helping him is slapping him until he wakes up; in "First Impressions", however, she calmly and competently administers life-saving First Aid to a heavily bleeding woman. This continues throughout Season 3 as she even trains with Angel to become better at hand-to-hand and sword fighting. |
| 54 | ** The Scoobies seem to accumulate levels of badass over the course of the show, particularly during between Seasons 2 and 3 -- and between Seasons 5 and 6, to compensate for the Slayer's absence. |
| 55 | ** The entire graduating class of 1999 gains a level in badass when they take off their graduation robes to reveal their arsenal of medieval weapons, prepared to fight back the AffablyEvil [[BigBad mayor of Sunnydale]] who turns into a giant snake demon during his Ascension after he finishes his commencement speech at their graduation ceremony. |
| 56 | ** During the final battle of Season 8 of ''Buffy,'' which occurs in a giant hole in the ground [[spoiler:that used be Sunnydale]], Andrew is seen killing several demons. He levels up again when he drugs Buffy and puts her mind into a buffybot he built so Buffy can be protected. Naturally, Buffy and Spike give him hell for it. |
| 57 | ** Harmony takes one in "Harm's Way," in which she stops a war between two demon races and finds and stakes the vampire who set her up for murder. |
| 58 | ** Lorne's last scene in ''Angel''. It is obvious that Lorne finds the act horrible and demoralising and afterwards, thoroughly disillusioned, he walks out on the team without so much as a goodbye. |
| 59 | ** The Senior Partners at Wolfram and Hart. Granted, it took them potentially millions of years: Illyria was aware of the original Wolf, Ram and Hart in her own time -- but then, they were only about as equivalent to the danger vampires present in the current day. It's immediately pointed out to Illyria that things have rather changed in the intervening aeons. |
| 60 | ** Between Seasons 2 and 5, Lindsey apparently learned a bunch of kung-fu and got a bunch of mystical tattoos making him invisible to the Senior Partners. |
| 61 | ** Inverted with the demon Sahjhan in Season 3, who instead of using his awesome power to go kill Team Angel and then kill the baby Connor to prevent Connor from killing ''him'' in the future, he went back in time to [[PropheticFallacy rewrite the prophecy of Connor killing him to the Father (Angel) killing the son (Connor)]]. This caused Wesley to make a huge mistake that ruined his life and even caused Angel to try to kill him in the hospital for taking away his son. [[SmugSnake And Sahjhan was very sadistic and bragged about what he did]] when Angel, Fred and Gunn interrogated him. But this still made him a DirtyCoward for making a glorified "duck and cover" when he should've had no trouble getting past Team Angel and he never had any qualms about killing a baby to save his own skin. [[YouCantFightFate And this didn't prevent Connor from killing him in the final season.]] |
| 62 | * ''Series/BurnNotice'': Madeline Westen might need to be the new poster woman for this trope. We've lost count of the actual levels she's taken, but she starts out a nagging, hypochondriac chain smoker in the pilot and over three seasons, has become virtually equivalent to a spy herself. |
| 63 | ** Best demonstrated in "The Hunter", where Sam and Fiona are interrogating a pilot to find out where Michael has been taken. Sam gives up the questioning when the pilot makes it clear he's not afraid of anything, and goes to think through new options with Fiona. Madeline calmly walks out to the garage where he's being kept, lights a cigarette, and comes back 4 minutes later with the coordinates, having not even had to TOUCH the pilot. |
| 64 | ** There's an excellent moment in the Season 3.5 opener, "A Dark Road", when she [[spoiler: outright blackmails a woman she's become friends with because the woman possesses information that Michael needs to save lives. She [[IDidWhatIHadToDo hates it]], but she stonewalls the woman and gets the files.]] |
| 65 | ** She shows off her MamaBear status in the Season 3 finale when [[spoiler: she stalls and misdirects a set of government agents who only very slowly come to realize that she's not an innocent old woman. She tips Michael off that the FBI is at the house, then sends the feds on a wild goose chase. This whole time she is interrogated in her own home, given photographs of bad stuff Michael has supposedly done and she doesn't even flinch, but she pretends to crack to keep the agents fooled. When they finally threaten to arrest her for aiding and abetting, she practically puts the handcuffs on herself, and oh, yes -- ''slaps'' a federal agent.]] |
| 66 | ** Season 4 has her delivering multiple WhatTheHellHero moments to Michael, helping Sam blackmail a senator, searching a suspect's house, distracting a cemetery guard for Fiona, and pulling a SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}} / SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome StealthHiBye on ''Michael and Jesse''. Maddie has become a full-fledged badass. |
| 67 | ** In the series finale, she takes [[spoiler: one last level at the end by sacrificing herself to buy Jesse and grandson Charlie time to get away from James' mooks.]] |
| 68 | * ''Series/CanadasWorstDriver'': The contestants are trying to take levels in ''competence''. The host, however, can genuinely be said to have taken a level in [[BadassDriver badass driving]] after ''eight'' seasons of demonstrating driving challenges. |
| 69 | * ''Series/{{Caprica}}'': Tamara-A does this within the space of ''[[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome one episode]]''. |
| 70 | * ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'': Piper deserves a mention. Between her [[spoiler:developing the ability to blow stuff up]] in Season 3, and her stepping up to the role of [[spoiler:eldest sister]], with accompanying increase in "don't mess with me" attitude, after [[spoiler:Prue dies at the end of the Season 3]], she certainly becomes more badass as the series progresses. |
| 71 | ** Also applies to each of the other sisters, as one premise of the show is the advancement of their powers. Prue progressively is able to lift larger objects and eventually able to apply her powers to hand-to-hand skills. Phoebe starts without an active power, so she has to progressively level up her hand-to-hand skills to compensate. Once she gains levitation she uses it to add force to her attacks, and once she becomes an empath she's almost on par with Piper in her skill at destroying demons. |
| 72 | * ''Series/{{Chuck}}'': |
| 73 | ** Chuck. The second season finale. "Guys, I know kung-fu," indeed. He takes additional levels throughout the series. After losing The Intersect he begins studying the spy craft on his own and claims to be gaining competency. This comes to a head in "Chuck Vs. The Santa Suit" where Chuck tricks Shaw into uninstalling his own Intersect, and then Chuck beats Shaw in a fair fight. Keep in mind that Shaw was still a fully trained, lethal CIA killer before The Intersect, and Chuck still beat that. Level up! |
| 74 | ** Chuck's friend, Morgan Grimes, also gets to take a level of bad-assery during the course of the show, with his awesome stunts impressing ''John Casey'', the Operation Bartowski team's resident badass. This comes to a head in Season 5. [[spoiler: As Morgan becomes the Intersect. It didn't stick, however.]] |
| 75 | * ''Series/ClassOf07'': Sandy, it turns out, survived being shoved out to sea on a raft by Saskia, turning into a hard-edged woman who's good with a knife, returning for revenge against both her, Zoe and [[RevengeByProxy the rest. Prior to this she was a girly, fashion-conscious, slightly ditzy woman.]] |
| 76 | * ''Series/TheCloser'': Captain Sharon Raydor used to be an ObstructiveBureaucrat who made life hard for Brenda and her team; now she's helping them [[spoiler: gun bad guys down in the streets. With a rifle.]] Perhaps unsurprisingly, Raydor went on to headline the spinoff series ''Series/MajorCrimes''. |
| 77 | * ''Series/{{Community}}'': Appears most notably in the paintball episodes where Greendale devolves into a chaotic paint-splattered warzone. Annie, who starts off as an [[TheCutie often naive and innocent young woman]], died rapidly and fruitlessly in the Season 1 paintball episode "Modern Warfare". By the time Season 2's western-themed "A Fistful of Paintballs" rolls around she's become a one-woman killing machine, dropping no less than ten opponents single-handedly on-screen; a higher kill total than the rest of the group combined. In the Season 3 episode "Remedial Chaos Theory", we discover that sweet, innocent Annie now owns and carries a revolver. She does, after all, live in a bad neighborhood. Awesomely enough, this may also [[FridgeBrilliance explain]] why Annie became a crack shot with paintball guns; she's been practicing with ''real'' ones. |
| 78 | * ''Series/CriminalMinds'': To a lesser extent, JJ. She is almost always portrayed as the perky blonde. Cops always assume that she's just the media liaison, and most of the time she's displayed as such. It changes slightly when she takes out three dogs with three shots in Season 2's ''Revelations''. And then she becomes one of the coolest people, ever, when she gets a ''headshot'' on a criminal ''holding a hostage at gunpoint''. If this doesn't sound particularly awesome, consider the fact that she shoots through the FBI seal on a ''solid glass door''. |
| 79 | ** Not so lesser: in early seasons she's rarely seen with a weapon and rarely on the scene during the capture/arrest/takedown. Lately she's just as likely as Prentiss to be busting into a building packing heat. If her family ends up threatened by a killer has have almost all the other members, one suspects a full blown MamaBear incident and local police cleaning up what's left of the threat in Aisle 5. |
| 80 | *** At the end of the most recent season, she [[spoiler: beat the tar out of a psychotic [=UnSub=] who had taken her son hostage.]] So I think the matter's been settled. |
| 81 | * ''Series/{{CSINY}}'': In Episode 2 of the seventh season, lab tech Adam Ross goes from shy geek to bad ass when [[spoiler: the killer of the episode tries to run him over with his car. Adam starts off with a flying tackle and manages to get in his share of punches then, when the killer turns his gun on Mac and Flack riding to the rescue, takes the guy down with a fluorescent light bulb to the back of the neck.]] |
| 82 | ** It helps that he's taking the murder of the week rather personally, having been talking to the victim on a video chat site just before the killing and therefore witnessed it. |
| 83 | * ''Series/TheDarkCrystalAgeOfResistance'': After absorbing the essence of the Sanctuary Tree, Deet is able to harness and channel energy in order to control the Darkening—which she does. Violently. |
| 84 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': |
| 85 | ** In the classic series, we go from the small, scheming and perpetually nervous [[Creator/PatrickTroughton Second Doctor]] to the [[IKnowKungFu Venusian-aikido]]-using, [[CulturedBadass wine-drinking]], elderly [[Franchise/JamesBond James Bond]]-esque [[Creator/JonPertwee Third]] Doctor. The fact that Three was stranded on Earth working with [[RedshirtArmy UNIT]] adds to his perceived levels of badass-ness. |
| 86 | ** Or going from the meek and gentlemanly Fifth Doctor to the maniacal and anti-heroic Sixth. The crowner has to be going from the sweet and ditzy [[NiceGuy Eighth Doctor]] to renouncing the very idea of being a "doctor" in the healing sense and becoming someone who ''could'' destroy both the Daleks and all of Gallifrey if it ended the Time War. |
| 87 | ** The Doctor has the tendency to turn his companions into badasses. It could be argued that it's part of the reason why he takes companions in the first place. Davros, one of the Doctor's oldest enemies, accuses him of this specifically, saying that while he may have created the monstrous Dalek killing machines, the Doctor has transformed innumerable innocent normal people into weapons himself. |
| 88 | ** Mickey Smith does this ''twice.'' Or maybe it took two stages. At first a cowering if good-natured nerd, he moves up a level during the year he's falsely suspected of his girlfriend's murder. He becomes a lot braver, even willing to die to protect his girlfriend's mother, as well as developing some impressive hacking skills. He goes up another level offscreen after several years of fighting Cybermen in an alternate universe. Last time we saw him as a full badass complete with deeper voice and {{BFG}}. |
| 89 | ** Captain Jack Harkness. He goes from a [[ChivalrousPervert charming coward]], albeit one who is willing to fight when he has to, to an immortal charming wisecracking badass. |
| 90 | ** They're not the only ones to do it. Martha did this either when she protected "John Smith" from the Family of Blood or when she [[WalkingTheEarth Walked the Earth]] for an entire year. |
| 91 | ** Rose gains this by the end of series 4. |
| 92 | ** We can't forget Rose's mum Jackie, who got to carry a [[spoiler:{{BFG}} and shoot a Dalek to smithereens alongside Mickey]]. |
| 93 | ** And of course Rory Williams becomes awesome [[spoiler:over the course of two thousand years protecting the Pandorica. Also his hand was briefly a gun.]] He even has a badass title: [[spoiler:The Last Centurion.]] He's considered one of ''the'' most badass characters in the series, and there are even Website/ChuckNorrisFacts-like lists about him. When he started out, the idea was basically "the real Mickey is a badass so we need a new one." He was the dorky ButtMonkey boyfriend of the 'real' companion. |
| 94 | *** Rory's other half Amy Pond goes from a flirtatious FieryRedhead to a full-on ActionGirl in her two series as companion. She even saved Rory from the Silence with two machine guns, and [[spoiler: kills Kovarian in cold blood]]! |
| 95 | *** Amy also takes several more levels of badass while spending a few decades being hunted by killer robots, [[spoiler:only to wind up RetGone when Rory SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong]]. |
| 96 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E12NightmareInSilver "Nightmare in Silver"]]: The Cybermen have apparently been spending their time off the show level grinding in both asskicking and cunning. The ''first one we see'' deactivates a self destruct device for the entire planet, and they only get tougher from there. |
| 97 | * ''Series/TheEvent'': Sean has been gradually taking one throughout the first season. Leyla isn't quite there but she's catching up. |
| 98 | * ''Series/{{Farscape}}'': John Crichton takes multiple levels of badass over four seasons: he starts out as a clueless nerd, and by series end is so badass he manages to intimidate two entire galactic empires into leaving him the [[PardonMyKlingon frell]] alone by threatening to wipe out the universe. THE ENTIRE FREAKING UNIVERSE! And what makes it badass is ''he can pull it off''. |
| 99 | ** There's also the interesting moment in the Peacekeeper Wars where he explains to a priestess that he and his friends aren't soldiers. To be fair, he really isn't, but with all the fighting they've all done over the course of the series, it's understandable one might make that mistake. |
| 100 | ** A big part of it is that he's gone so insane that he's come out the other side. |
| 101 | ** The follow-up comic reveals that Scorpius is far from being done with Crichton. The same comic also shows Rygel becoming a true warrior and leader instead of a lazy monarch expecting things to be done for him. It's this that finally convinces his subjects to back him instead of his corrupt cousin. The Hynerian Empire is powerful enough as it is. Now imagine it with the new-and-improved Dominar Rygel XVI at the helm, commanding his subject's loyalty not because of his ancestry but because of who he is. |
| 102 | *** Rygel's level up was foreshadowed by a spirit painting Zahan did of him early in the series. Such a painting depicts the spiritual self, rather than the physical, and this painting looks like Rygel the First, who commanded the Hynerean Empire because he was everything Rygel XVI would eventually become because of his exile. |
| 103 | *** Rygel also leveled up when he fought off repeated assaults by Charrids. This showed the other side of Hynereans: While they will prefer to run, hide, or bargain their way out of trouble, if you back them into a corner and give them no option but to fight you, they'll take you off at the knees to get the rest of you down where they can get at it. |
| 104 | ** Zhaan also quite literally took a level in badass when she moved from being a Ninth-Level Pa'u to a Tenth Level Pa'u. |
| 105 | -->Zhaan: I am now a Pa'u of the Tenth Level, able to protect. |
| 106 | * ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': Wash may be a great pilot, but until "War Stories" he's not much of a fighter. Then Niska tortures him. |
| 107 | ---> "Bastard isn't gonna ''get'' days." |
| 108 | ** Inara, starting in ''Film/{{Serenity}}'', when she sets off the incense flash bomb in order to allow herself and Mal to escape the Operative. Later on, in the last stand when she has the crossbow-thing, she fires with as much accuracy and skill as Jayne and Zoe. Granted, we are told in ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' episode ''Shindig'' that Inara can fence, but it isn't until ''Serenity'' that she proves her worth in battle. |
| 109 | ** River is a unique example. She had already been turned into a SuperSoldier by the [[SchoolForScheming Academy]] before the show began, but their MindRape techniques made her so [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity unstable]] that she wasn't able to do much at first. Quite a few of the earlier episodes revolve around the crew needing to rescue a helpless River, and it isn't until "War Stories" that we get a glimpse of what she can really do. "Objects in Space" then shows that she's gained enough presence of mind to develop a cunning plot, and by TheMovie she's [[CurbStompBattle unstoppable.]] |
| 110 | * ''Series/{{Friends}}'': Chandler is referenced as being mediocre in bed a couple times over the course of the early seasons, until the famous scene where Monica gives him a diagram-based crash-course in pleasuring the female body. His girlfriend literally runs across the hall to hug and emphatically thank Monica following their next lovemaking session. Ends up being a good call on Monica's part, as when her and Chandler later enter a relationship, she repeatedly describes him as the best sex she's ever had. |
| 111 | ** This trope applies to Ross in a similar way. In "The One With the Videotape", Rachel makes note of how Ross was working out before they conceived and, in the finale, upon waking up from having sex again, Rachel comments appreciatively that he's "learned some new moves" (which Ross attributes to receiving a copy of "Sex For Dummies"). |
| 112 | * ''Series/GameOfThrones'': |
| 113 | ** Daenerys Targaryen progresses from a timid maid sold by her {{JerkAss}} brother in exchange for an army, to becoming an emancipating conqueror. It's rather doubtful that any other of the show's noble-born girls could adapt to Dothraki culture as well as our dear Dany does. Her antagonists learn the hard way that time only empowers a dragon. She gradually gets free of her brother's dominance and outgrows her more prudent advisers. Her badassery rises multiple levels when she awesomely masterminds and leads the Sacking of Astapor and the Conquest of Meereen. She embraces her family's words in Season 6, burning down a temple full of khals to assume leadership of the Dothraki, then riding Drogon into battle to torch the slavers' navy, likewise leading the Dothraki against the Lannister-Tarly army aboard dragon-back then later facing-off against the Others themselves. |
| 114 | ** Heavily mixed with HadToBeSharp, all of the remaining Starks as a whole came back greater individually than at the beginning of the War of the Five Kings: |
| 115 | *** Arya is leveling up as the series goes on. Much of her story arc is how incredibly badass she becomes with every passing second. While she survives hiding from the Crown and being on the run, she stands up to bigger bullies, travels with the Night's Watch recruits, survives encounters with the Mountain, orders around a super-assassin, stares down Tywin Lannister without flinching, attacks the Hound with a knife and has to be restrained, frequently stands up to the Hound, kills the Frey soldier who defiled her brother's corpse and murders the shit out of Lannister toadie Polliver, psychotic rapist Rorge, and Kingsguard Meryn Trant. Eventually, she manages to escape Westeros and undergoes her TrainingFromHell in Braavos, acquiring the skills of the Faceless Men -- the deadliest assassins in the world. Unfortunately, it comes at a terrible psychological cost. |
| 116 | *** Robb manages to raise and lead an army, despite being less than half the age of most of his lords, proclaimed as [[spoiler:[[AwesomeMomentOfCrowning the King in the North]] by the Northern lords]]. |
| 117 | *** Jon, while he is loved by his family who he loves deeply, is initially an [[HeroicBastard outsider]] -- he was an outsider in general Westerosi society due to his status as an illegitimate son and was [[FishOutOfWater initially an outsider among the other recruits at Castle Black]] (before they became TrueCompanions) due to his highborn upbringing by his lord father in a castle. Over the course of the series, mainly through his term serving under Lord Commander Mormont and time spent among the Wildlings, Jon becomes a natural and charismatic leader and fighter among his fellows. By the end of Season 6, the whole North and the wildlings are ready to follow Jon and he is [[spoiler:proclaimed [[AwesomeMomentOfCrowning the second King in the North]] by the Northern lords]]. |
| 118 | *** Sansa starts as a NaiveNewcomer and ButtMonkey in King's Landing. All the turmoil she goes through in Seasons 2 and 3 definitely hardens her and toughens her up, but it doesn't really start to show until Season 4. By late Season 4, she's become a SilkHidingSteel type of woman who develops political acumen great enough to impress Littlefinger himself. Though she has long ways to go, she definitely has the most political intrigue out of any of the Starks and is able to use deception and manipulation to her advantage. Sadly, this leveling up is largely forgotten between Seasons 4 and 5 as she spends pretty much all of Season 5 being victimized worse than ever, her supposed desire for revenge never goes anywhere, and she ends up being rescued by Theon after her own attempt at calling for rescue fails completely -- though she does break herself out of her room with the corkscrew. In Season 6, she does manage to finally reunite with a loving member of her family -- her older brother, Jon -- and afterward, she levels up again, telling him that she'll rally the North and oust Ramsay by herself if he's unwilling to help, which Jon [[BigBrotherInstinct agrees to do]] once they receive Ramsay's threatening letter. When they finally corner Ramsay in "Battle of the Bastards", Jon literally beats Ramsay into the ground before deferring final judgment to his sister. Sansa decides to feed him to his own dogs -- and watches him die as he is devoured. |
| 119 | *** Bran discovers his warging and Greensight abilities after he is crippled and, over the course of the series, focuses on mastering them. In "The Rains of Castamere", he learns how to warg at will, allowing him to use Summer to attack some Wildlings. And as of "The First of His Name", he uses Hodor to ''brutally'' kill Locke. That's right — Arya is no longer the only Stark child with major confirmed kills. By the end of Season 6, Bran [[spoiler:succeeds the Three-eyed Raven, a powerful mystical force, when the Three-eyed Raven is defeated by the Night King and Bran becomes the new Three-eyed Raven]]. |
| 120 | *** Benjen went missing on a ranging for the Night's Watch early in Season 1. In Season [[spoiler:6, he simply CameBackStrong]]. |
| 121 | *** By the end of Season 6, the downtrodden Starks manage to gather many new allies, most notably Brienne of Tarth, Davos Seaworth, Littlefinger (for now), and the wildlings, while still having the support of their vassals. With their support, [[BrotherSisterTeam Sansa and Jon]] manage to defeat the Boltons for good and retake Winterfell, reclaiming the North and becoming one of the most united and powerful factions of the setting just behind Daenerys Targaryen's army. |
| 122 | ** Samwell Tarly progresses from cowering in the training yard to taking a meaningful part in the defense of Castle Black and encouraging those who are frozen by fear. |
| 123 | ** After Brienne starts training him, Pod's fighting skills improve. |
| 124 | ** Jaime Lannister, not as a fighter, obviously, but as a commander. Jaime learns from his earlier mistakes and successfully takes Riverrun from the remaining Tully loyalists and Highgarden from the Tyrells. He also seemed to have recovered from his lost hand as he can best Dothraki in mounted combat. |
| 125 | ** Season 6 sees Tommen gaining an urge to grow stronger, acknowledging that he should have executed the High Sparrow a long time ago. Subverted as his attempt to step up makes him someone else's pawn. A kid raised to be a puppet has no chance in a place full of schemers no matter how much he wants to be strong. |
| 126 | ** The tribesman on the way to the Eyrie is Tyrion's first kill. By the time he leads the defense of King's Landing against Stannis, he has taken several levels in badass. |
| 127 | ** Gendry hammers two Goldcloaks in the face to save Tyrion and Davos. Quite the significant leap for the boy that was hunted by them back in Season 2. |
| 128 | ** Prior to Season 6, the Greyjoys were largely seen as the ButtMonkey of Westeros, even after declaring their independence. They only attacked castles which were easy to take because their home armies were away, not really having a long-term plan for holding them once the armies came back. Even Theon's surprising capture of Winterfell itself was short lived. All of this due to the fact that Balon was a bitter, vengeful old man unwilling to enter into political alliances with anyone else and with no large-scale sense of military grand strategy. Enter King Euron, who is ''none of these things'': he's an insane but cunning pirate who is both deeply threatening and actually has a better long-term strategic goal of allying with House Targaryen to conquer ''all of Westeros'', playing to the strengths of the Greyjoys by sticking to their naval experience while House Targaryen provides the competent land-based army. It remains to be seen if Euron's ambition will outweigh his ability, given his plan hinges on an alliance with Daenerys. Unfortunately for them, this falls through, so he has to stick with Cersei, and oh boy, does he prove himself as the best naval commander in all Westeros. |
| 129 | * In ''Series/{{Gotham}}'', most of the heroes and villains have taken at least a level in badass at one point or another, which is to be expected, since the show is meant to be a {{prequel}} to the Batman universe, and involves a lot of origin stories for both future heroes and future villains. For the characters who are either relatively young or harmless when they're introduced, it's even more noticeable. |
| 130 | ** Ed Nygma, for example, starts out as a forensic scientist who regularly helps the heroes, and though he's already a genius when he's introduced, he is somewhat of a pushover and is treated as {{the friend nobody likes}} because of his [[NoSocialSkills lack of social skills]]. By Season 3, he's a criminal mastermind who isn't afraid to match wits with other dangerous characters, and is already calling himself the Riddler. |
| 131 | ** While it's implied that Jerome Valeska [[TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior was never completely harmless]], he starts out the series as a [[FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon relatively innocent-looking teenager]] who killed his abusive mother in a fit of rage. Less than a year later, at the age of eighteen, he breaks out of Arkham and leads several other escapees in committing several acts of terrorism [[TheHeavy (though he's secretly working for someone else)]]. A year after that, he is no longer working for anyone else and has his own following of deranged cultists that number in the hundreds. By the fourth season, at the age of twenty, he's become so infamous that [[TheDreaded even other major villains like Oswald Cobblepot are afraid of him.]] |
| 132 | ** Jerome's brother, Jeremiah Valeska, also takes several levels during the series. Like Ed Nygma, he is introduced as a relatively harmless genius who is shown to be ineffectual in combat. He has become much more proficient at physical combat and using weapons by the end of that season, though, and by Season 5, can hold his own against Bruce and Barbara Kean. [[spoiler: He also takes a level of badass in another way after becoming a villain. After being driven insane by Jerome's [[AppliedPhlebotinum insanity toxin]], he uses his engineering genius to create bombs, whereas before the toxin, he had plans to make clean energy generators, and also had a hand in the construction of at least one major building in Gotham. When his meticulous nature and genius level intellect is suddenly turned towards destruction instead of creation, it's a truly frightening sight to behold. By the series finale, he's fully transformed into [[ComicBook/TheJoker the Joker.]]]] |
| 133 | ** Bruce Wayne, [[Characters/BatmanTheCharacter of course]]. He starts the series as a normal twelve year old, but Alfred starts teaching him to fight not long after his parents' deaths, and he is also later trained by martial arts experts working for the Court of Owls. By the beginning of Season 5, he can take out a gang of regular criminals on his own, and by the end of the season, after ten years of traveling the world and presumably undergoing a lot more training, he has taken enough levels to fully become the Dark Knight. |
| 134 | * An episode of ''Series/HawaiiFive0'' has a piano teacher train himself to become a human weapon in order to avenge his daughter's murder. After a few years he can take out a room full of gangsters on his own. |
| 135 | * ''Series/{{Heroes}}'': |
| 136 | ** In the dystopian future of the first season's episode "Five Years Gone", future Peter, Hiro, Matt, and Sylar have all taken ''multiple'' levels. |
| 137 | *** After having met future!Hiro, Ando even comments to present!Hiro that he "looked badass". [[AscendedFanboy Hiro rejoiced]]. |
| 138 | ** After spending volume two wallowing in her own pain, Claire spent volume three [[CuteBruiser kicking ass and generally being much more proactive]] in dealing with life's hard knocks. |
| 139 | ** Matt seems to have taken at least half a level in Volume 4. |
| 140 | ** [[spoiler:Micah apparently took one in volume three. In volume four, he's adopted the codename "Rebel" and is organizing a resistance effort against the government's round-up of evolved humans.]] |
| 141 | ** Peter does this twice. First, by actually getting a grasp on his powers after his training with Claude. Later, when his DEPOWERING followed by his new NERFED ability, he becomes one of the most strategically intelligent characters of the show. |
| 142 | * Richie Ryan in ''{{Series/Highlander}}'' started out as a teenage thief and Duncan’s mortal sidekick but became more badass after becoming immortal in sSeason 2. Duncan trained him and then in Season 4 he got somewhat jaded by the Dark Quickening Duncan took during which Richie nearly died and left a string of beheadings across America. |
| 143 | * ''Series/{{House}}'' concludes with Chase becoming the brilliant diagnostician who gets the epiphanies and solves the cases, and he replaces House. |
| 144 | * ''Series/HouseOfAnubis'': This happened to virtually everyone, due to the mysteries. |
| 145 | ** Alfie went from being bullied by his best friend and [[DoggedNiceGuy trying hard to win Amber's affections]], but by Season 3 he had taken on a huge role in Sibuna, from coming up with plans, rescuing his friends and eventually attacking Sinner!Fabian to try and save KT. He also became much more serious and determined to follow through with the mystery. |
| 146 | ** Fabian was the [[NiceGuy nice guy]] who was also an [[ExtremeDoormat extreme doormat]]. He eventually started becoming much more assertive, virtually attacking anyone who wrongs him or Nina and proving himself much tougher than he seemed at first. He even won the school dodgeball tournament against the rival team, who had obliterated the rest of his team before. |
| 147 | ** Mr.Sweet is the dorky, lovable principal of the school, Eddie's father, and a member of Team Evil. His badass side showed in Season 3 when he started making plans and tricking Sibuna very well. However, this also made him take a [[TookALevelInJerkass level in jerkass]]. |
| 148 | * ''Series/IceFantasy'': At the start of the series Ying Kong Shi is a teenager and TheUnfavorite of his family. Then he magically turns into an adult, gains both fire and ice powers, learns the truth about his parentage, and eventually becomes the strongest immortal in all Three Kingdoms. |
| 149 | * ''Series/{{JAG}}'': Mikey, Bud's little brother, grows enough of a backbone to stand up to his father by the beginning of Season 8. |
| 150 | * ''Series/JeevesAndWooster'': Gussie Fink-Nottle seems to magically develop the ability to stand up for himself to a certain degree by his last episode. This may be a reference to the Creator/PGWodehouse novels, where Bertie comments on his sudden ability to speak in public. Turns out he got some help from Jeeves. |
| 151 | * ''Franchise/KamenRider'': This trope shows up multiple times: |
| 152 | ** In ''Series/KamenRiderKabuto'', both Sou Yaguruma and Shun Kageyama become this after gained Hopper Zecters. [[spoiler: Also Kagami, after gaining Gatack Zecter]]. |
| 153 | ** In ''Series/KamenRiderDenO'', Ryoutarou starts off as a pushover and is dependent on his Imagin allies [[PowersViaPossession taking over his body during fights]]. Later on, he gets his own fighting form and comes over as much more serious and determined than he was at the start of the show. |
| 154 | ** ''Series/KamenRiderKiva'': Wataru takes SEVERAL levels in badass for the finale. |
| 155 | ** In ''Series/KamenRiderDouble'', Shotaro, despite already being quite a tough character normally, takes several levels in badass after the Utopia Dopant attacks his friends. This results in him finally [[TakeUpMySword taking up his mentor's hat]], storming the Utopia Dopant's lair, outwitting and disabling one of the most powerful Dopants in the show, rescuing [[spoiler: Wakana]], and carrying her out of the base as it explodes, all without transforming. He also crosses over into EmpoweredBadassNormal when he becomes [[spoiler: Kamen Rider Joker]]. |
| 156 | ** ''Series/KamenRiderOOO'': Shintaro Goto has already being shown a few times as a very tough character without having to transform, but then in episode 38 [[spoiler: he finally transformed into Kamen Rider Birth and proceed to pull a BigDamnHeroes saving Eiji/OOO and epically [[CurbStompBattle curbstomping]] Kazari, Mezool and Gamel]]. |
| 157 | ** ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'' uses this as the distinction between the hero, MadScientist Sento, and his closest ally, former boxer Banjo. Where Sento grows in strength primarily by crafting new tools and more powerful forms for his hero suit, Banjo keeps perfect pace just by punching harder, with only two upgrades to his suit and those simply letting him use more of his natural potential. Attempts by one to use the other's method of getting more badass rarely work out. |
| 158 | ** ''Series/KamenRiderZeroOne'' secondary villain Jin starts out as a PsychopathicManchild of a robot, with falcon-themed powers that are swiftly outclassed by what Zero-One learns to do. Upon dying and being rebuilt, Jin comes back with a much more mature personality and new phoenix-themed powers that easily put him on par with everyone else. |
| 159 | * ''Series/KingdomAdventure'': Just after seeing the Prince murdered in the chronologically earliest on-screen events, Pokum was running away from [[SorcerousOverlord Zordock]] screaming. By the end of the series, he's armed with a sword and shield from the Emperor, and successfully goes toe-to-toe with Zordock and ''wins'', albeit not without help. |
| 160 | * ''Series/{{Leverage}}'': Realizing their situation after "The Nigerian Job," Nate and his new team know they all need a grounding in each other's area of expertise. By the second season, they're all adept at an opening strike, against opposition of identical training. (A SwappedRoles attempt, which is rarely completely successful, always ends in NothingIsTheSameAnymore.) Hardison and Sophie become more competent physical fighters, while Elliot and (especially!) Parker become [[DoubleEntendre stronger grifters.]] By the final season, as Nate and Sophie prepare to leave the game, they're ''all'' up at least one level across the board. |
| 161 | * ''Series/{{Lost}}'': Sayid is a badass to begin with, but in the post-island flashforwards, he's graduated to international hitman. Sun is also seen in "There's No Place Like Home" to take a level (or two). |
| 162 | ** [[spoiler:Claire]]'s turn to Rousseau clone in Season 6. |
| 163 | * ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'': Guinevere starts out the series as a ShrinkingViolet servant girl who has little to no combat training. However, she soon learns how to use her quick thinking to [[DamselOutOfDistress get herself out of trouble]]. By series five, she's a GoodIsNotSoft {{Magnificent B|astard}}itch [[spoiler: Queen regnant, and earns the title of being the only character to have deduced Merlin had magic]]. |
| 164 | ** Morgana, likewise, was the King's ward who spent most of her time being sheltered in the castle. Even though she was in combat training and could handle herself in a fight, became infinitely more badass in Season 3 when she came back with magical powers and a successful plan to take down [[spoiler:her father]] Uther and make herself queen. Unfortunately, the process getting there [[SanitySlippage cost her her mental health]] [[spoiler: as well as her [[FaceHeelTurn morals.]]]] She gets even more awesome in the seasons afterwards, when she becomes a {{High Priest}}ess of the Old Religion and the second most powerful mage in the series, to the point where everyone is terrified of her, even Merlin. |
| 165 | ** Merlin himself goes from moving things with his mind and no magical training at all to earning the title of "most powerful sorcerer ever" throughout the series. Morgana is the only one who poses any threat to him, and he [[spoiler: takes her down with one shot in the GrandFinale.]] Oh, and remember how he got stuck in the crystal cave and missed Camlann in the original legends? [[spoiler: In this version, he not only shows up to Camlann, but he curbstomps the entire Saxon army by making it rain lightning on the enemy troops. Too late for Arthur, unfortunately.]] |
| 166 | * ''Series/MakoMermaidsAnH2OAdventure'': In the first season, Sirena was the meek and naïve member of the mermaid trio, and spent the plots of various episodes getting jerked into whatever scheme Lyla or Nixie would come up with. In the second season, she's the mermaid with the most experience on land (besides [[TheMentor Rita]]), has a more assertive personality without losing her sweetness, and gets Ondina and Mimmi following her lead after the two of them realize she's not to be messed with anymore. It takes losing a MagicDuel to her for Ondina to start listening, which is a fight season one Sirena wouldn't have been able to win. |
| 167 | * ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'': SubvertedTrope in the "Marriage Guidance Counsellor" sketch, in which mild Arthur Pewtey finds his wife stolen from under his nose by the title character. A cowboy gives Pewtey a level-up in badass -- "you gotta turn, and you gotta fight, and you gotta hold your head up high" -- which lasts for as long as it takes the marriage guidance counsellor to tell Pewtey to go away. So much for pathos. |
| 168 | * ''Series/MotherlandFortSalem'': |
| 169 | ** In the finale of the first season, as a consequence of her symbiotic contact with the mycelium, Raelle, in addition to obtaining the ability to be able to resurrect herself every time she dies, obtains a significant increase in her magic that gives her a series of unique abilities (such as being able to create a considerable explosion capable of transforming any enemy into a whole with the fungal properties of the mycelium itself). Furthermore, she and Izadora discover that this symbiosis has significantly increased her ability to vocalize since the mycelium is none other than that remains of the magical essence of all witches when they die since the time of Salem and consequently Raelle herself has been chosen as the spokesperson for their collective power. Scylla is not wrong in considering her as one of the most powerful witches around. |
| 170 | ** In the second season Abigail, frustrated by not having control over her sentimental choices and the fact that she feels the weight of the magical feats of her ancestor Jem, who was masterfully able to create numerous tornadoes with which she wiped out her enemies, which weighs on their family since none of them have been able to replicate this vocalization, she begins to train in an extreme way in an attempt to replicate the same results as Jem, ending up straining her voice too much to the point that in the next episode she needs to recover. However when she is sent to capture the leader of the Spree, Nicte Batan, and falls under her illusion scenario, Abigail finally manages to master the magic. |
| 171 | * ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': Timothy "Probie" [=McGee=] began his NCIS career as a nervous, yes-man like team sidekick/{{chew toy}} whose primary contribution to the team was his tech savvy. While that is still his most prominent skill, he's developed his confidence and physical skills and has become a true team member -- able to give as good as he gets as far as his [[VitriolicBestBuds partner]] [=DiNozzo=] is concerned, make impressive pitches to the head of the entire place without blinking, and being the most quietly unnerving man in interrogation. |
| 172 | ** A more minor recurring character is Susan Grady, NCIS's polygraph technician, who is a nervous, easily intimidated individual and outright says that her people-reading skills are extremely lacking without her machines to help her. Then she reappears in Season 11, and she has transformed into far more confident investigator, successfully interrogating a misogynistic hitman pretty much solo and leaving Tony and [=McGee=] somewhat intimidated by her. |
| 173 | * ''Series/NCISNewOrleans'''s Sebastian goes from a nerdy lab tech who's "afraid of his own shadow" to handling himself so well when he's kidnapped that he decides to become an agent himself. Thus far, he's proven to be as badass as the rest of the team, beating up a guy twice his size and protecting his high school crush from bad guys. |
| 174 | * ''Series/NorthernExposure'': Joel Fleischman, in his final season, went from a clean-cut, irritable FishOutOfWater to a grizzled Zen master survivalist. |
| 175 | * ''Series/OnceUponATime'': After seven seasons as the TagalongKid, Henry Mills becomes a sword-swinging ActionHero in his own right in Season 8, after spending most of his twenties wandering TheMultiverse SettingRightWhatOnceWentWrong. Emphasised when Regina, who hasn't seen him since he left home at eighteen, runs into a fight to try and protect him, only for Henry to easily beat up his attacker before she can get a fireball off. |
| 176 | * ''Series/PersonOfInterest:'' Lionel Fusco started as a ButtMonkey DirtyCop who for the most part needed Reese to save him on several occasions, and was reluctant to help save the victims of the week. Then the first season finale came by. Fusco and Carter made like BigDamnHeroes, and then later on he protected a model from the Armenian mob (at one point going GunsAkimbo), identified and took out a team of hitmen in seconds, and defused an IED with only 3 seconds of advice, a Swiss army knife, and sheer determined balls. |
| 177 | ** In a much greater way than Fusco, the ''Machine'', who in "Mors Praematura" revealed itself to be a top-level chessmaster, brilliantly foiling Vigilance from two angles, and playing ''everyone'' to its own purposes. [[spoiler: And even manipulating Root into being captured and imprisoned by Team Machine.]] |
| 178 | * ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' |
| 179 | ** ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'': Both played magnificently and deconstructed a bit. Ranger Yellow was initially a RichBitch who took a level in badass to survive the razing of the planet, but she runs into problems when her new ActionGirl career is interrupted by pre-badass commitments. |
| 180 | ** Ziggy, Ranger Green, first gets his powers without any kind of training whatsoever. And it is made ''very'' clear in his first battle. However, as the season is progressing, he, while still the least skilled fighter of the team, is undeniably improving, as he is no doubt receiving training off screen. |
| 181 | ** In the original ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'', Adam is an example of this. While he was overshadowed by his other teammates and some unfortunate dialogue ([[Film/MightyMorphinPowerRangersTheMovie power of kissing]], anyone?) during his run as a Ranger (only second to Tommy Oliver in the entire series history), he returns twice having taken quite a few levels in badass after he stopped being a Ranger. First is in ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'' where he saves Carlos, the guy who replaced him, by jumping out of nowhere and attacking the Monster of the Week UNMORPHED. Later in the same episode when surrounded by the monster and a ton of mooks, he risks being destroyed when he uses his original damaged ''Mighty Morphin''' morpher to save the day. He then shows up again for the 15th anniversary episode to lead a team of veteran rangers. Not only is he a muscular martial artist who runs a dojo, but when the team is attacked by an ocean of mooks unmorphed, all the younger Rangers use their super powers to beat them. Adam, however, just proceeds to dispatch the most mooks by using nothing but his martial arts skills. Finally at the end of the special he takes on the Big Bad (Rita and Zedd's son no less) single-handedly. Levels in badass indeed. |
| 182 | *** What? No love for Billy? The guy started out not knowing how to fight and spent his early days flailing when he wasn't in his Ranger form. About a season later, he's a much more competent fighter along the lines of a GeniusBruiser. He kinda lost it after hanging back in the sidelines after ''Series/PowerRangersZeo'', though. |
| 183 | ** When we first meet Bridge in ''Series/PowerRangersSPD'', he's a competent Ranger but probably one of the looniest people who's ever been given a morpher. Flash forward to the 15th Anniversary Special and who enters the fray dual-wielding Delta Blasters at the bad guys? Bridge, who's now the S.P.D. Red Ranger, a much stronger hero, and still the loveable goofball we all know. |
| 184 | ** Noah of ''[[Series/PowerRangersMegaforce Power Rangers Super Megaforce]]'' decides to take it up a notch after getting stomped by the MonsterOfTheWeek. Realizing he's TheLoad, he puts himself through a bit of TrainingFromHell. It pays off when he goes in for round two and beats the monster using ''five swords''. Note that this is decisively different from ''Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger'' where Noah's counterpart, Joe, does this training just because he got humiliated. |
| 185 | ** Works for villains, too. Trakeena in ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy'' started out as the spoiled and whiny daughter of Scorpius. But after some TrainingFromHell and the latter's death, she takes command of his forces and becomes an even more dangerous villain Scorpius ever was. It gets even worse, when she gets forcibly fused with TheStarscream, causing her to also [[TookALevelInJerkass take a level in jerkass]], and turn all her Mooks into suicide bombers. |
| 186 | ** Elsa of ''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder'' was once hurt by a single unexpected strike from an ''unmorphed'' Kira, and another time she and Zeltrax had to retreat from a battle because again being hit ''once'' was enough to take her out of the fight. She had a decent SwordBeam move, but only used it once. Then Zeltrax is removed from the picture ([[spoiler:appears to die, later returns crazy, and rebels against boss]]) leaving Elsa the only [[TheDragon Dragon]]. She rises to the challenge by returning with a new, longer haircut, and being able to match even a ''SixthRanger'' on her own. And that once-used attack returns with a vengeance. Is she powered by the hair like Samson or something? |
| 187 | * ''Series/{{Primeval}}'': While they had already been improving during the show's first three seasons, Connor Temple and Abby Maitland both took a major level in badass when they were [[spoiler:stranded in the Cretaceous]]. |
| 188 | * ''Series/PsychopathDiary'': At the start of the series Dong-sik is an ExtremeDoormat. By the end he's outwitted [[AxeCrazy In-woo]] repeatedly. |
| 189 | * ''Series/RedDwarf'': One Arnold Judas Rimmer (you read that right). In the first six seasons of the series, he's a pathetic cowardly {{Jerkass}} who's terrified of the idea of being on the receiving end of ''any'' kind of violence. However, [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome eventually he ends up saving the entire crew from their future selves]], then later taking up the mantle of the dimension hopping hero [[TheAce Ace Rimmer]]. Probably justified in that it wasn't an immediate change. |
| 190 | * ''Series/{{Revolution}}'': |
| 191 | ** Danny appears to be trying this. He's developing talent as an escape artist, freeing himself from handcuffs ''twice'' (and eluding the militia for several hours the first time) and faking an asthma attack to lure a militia soldier who was taunting him into a near-fatal beating. He even manages to land a good punch on Neville during the impromptu boxing match. Neville, for his part, seems to be encouraging this in an offhand way [[spoiler: either out of sentiment as a father or possibly to recruit Danny to the Monroe side]]. |
| 192 | ** Aaron took a level when he [[spoiler: was forced by Drexler to duel with Nora--Aaron turned the gun on himself, shot himself in the chest (actually, where he kept his flask, which absorbed the shot)--and then shot Drexler when Drexler came to check the body.]] He's been leveling up in almost every episode since then, to the point where even ''Miles'' no longer intimidates him. |
| 193 | ** Charlie. She killed a militia lieutenant in episode 7 and didn't even blink, and this was after she agreed to kill other militia soldiers in cold blood. She can kill without needing her crossbow, and has become fairly proficient with actual firearms. It's almost like she's Miles's kid, not Ben's. |
| 194 | -->'''Rachel''' (to Miles): "How is it that you are better for Charlie than I am?" |
| 195 | ** The Rebellion collectively looks like it's about to, courtesy of aid and advisors from Georgia. [[spoiler: SubvertedTrope, because in episode 17, a drone strike reduced the army from 300 men to 30]]. |
| 196 | * Brutus on ''Series/{{Rome}}''. He starts out as a bit of a wuss and a coward and tries but fails to stand up to his mother. Even the murder of Caesar is unwilling on his part and he pretty much just succumbed to peer pressure, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone despairing once the deed is done]]. He hits a low point in Season 2 but then he pulls himself together, mans up and ends up commanding an army. |
| 197 | * ''Series/RuyisRoyalLoveInThePalace'': In her first appearances Hailan is timid and nervous (with [[MaritalRapeLicense good]] [[DomesticAbuse reason]]). After Ruyi's imprisonment she gains courage and goes as far as to [[spoiler: poison herself]] to prove Ruyi's innocence. |
| 198 | * On ''Series/SchittsCreek'', Johnny Rose begins as bewildered former mogul who can't catch a break, but when he witnesses two of his former friends ridiculing the town that saved his family, as well as his new friends Roland and Jocelyn, Johnny eloquently defends them and the town, and he calls his former friends out for writing him and Moira off. From this point on, the viewers know why Moira loves Johnny so much and how he made his fortune in the first place. |
| 199 | * ''Series/{{Sliders}}'': Quinn Mallory apparently took a level of badass during the ChannelHop from Fox to Sci-Fi. This was mostly a result of Creator/JerryOConnell's increasing creative control over the show, and, like the rest of the show by this point, came off as contrived and meaningless. |
| 200 | * ''Series/{{Smallville}}'': Lana Lang traded in {{Wangst}} for her own secret organization and a willingness to kill if necessary -- though she never actually did. And that was ''before'' she gained superpowers so she could hold her own against alien/mutant threats. |
| 201 | ** And let's not forget that in preparation for the superpowers, she underwent training to withstand torture, by doing things like applying hot metal to her own arms. |
| 202 | ** Clark himself ''finally'' became a decent fighter in the sixth season when he dealt with a Phantom Zone thug in an illegal TNA-like match. Most other times when he dealt with an enemy of a comparable power level, he would get thrown around like a rag doll before he could find a way to bounce back. With this match, Clark was in a ''really'' bad mood and legitimately traded blows with the guy, winning through skill and strength rather than dumb luck. Ever since, he has done markedly better with these throw-downs. And that's not even mentioning the fact that Clark's powers gradually increased each year as he matured and absorbed more solar radiation into his Kryptonian cells. He goes from being about as strong as Golden Age Superman in Season 1 (the season where bullets -- while not lethal to him -- could still slow him down, and your average mutant could still go toe-to-toe with Clark and give him a hard time) to the level of strength Superman has in the Creator/ChristopherReeve movies by the end. |
| 203 | *** Then there's Season 9: Clark's view of humanity was shaken by the events of Season 8 and he abandoned his human side to fully embrace his Kryptonian Destiny as Earth's protector. Cue him ''literally'' taking levels in badass from Jor-El's voice in the Fortress, resulting in Clark stopping trains from crashing to taking out entire rooms of Checkmate goons before they can kill a tied up Chloe. Beforehand, if Clark came up against another Kryptonian, he'd get his ass handed to him. In Season 6, he had to BatmanGambit Zod to beat him. In Nine? He goes toe-to-toe with an armed Kryptonian ''ninja'', and wins. He fights General Zod to a ''standstill'' when they both lose their powers. At this point onwards, whenever Clark loses his powers, he isn't BroughtDownToNormal, he's BroughtDownToBadass. |
| 204 | ** Perhaps just as importantly, the show's villains also take a level in badass as the show goes on. In Season 1, almost all the villains were relatively low-powered mutants (created by the [[GreenRocks kryptonite meteor shower]] in the Pilot) whose only motivation was [[StalkerWithACrush their mutual obsession with Lana]], and who were only able to challenge Clark because he himself was still low-powered and final battles often took place near the chunk powering the MonsterOfTheWeek. Then in Season 2, the meteor mutants are still around, but Clark is gaining more power...and the show starts to have him come into conflict with Lex's father Lionel, ''[[TropeNamers the]]'' MagnificentBastard -- the quote concerned UsefulNotes/ErwinRommel, but trope's named that 'cause it was Lionel's FanNickname. He takes over as the definitive BigBad of Season 3. Season 4 introduces magic (one of Superman's only canonical weaknesses besides kryptonite) being used by Clark's opponents, and a conspiracy plot that would be brought back in Season 7. Season 5 features the introduction of enemies from Krypton, including [[spoiler: General Zod]] and ComicBook/{{Brainiac}}, and has ComicBook/LexLuthor start to grow into his future role as a supervillain mastermind. Season 6 features more supervillainy from Lex, and the introduction of a plethora of alien super-criminals from the Phantom Zone. Season 7 features more of these, as well as the reintroduction of the conspiracy plot from Season 4 and the return of Brainiac. Finally, Seasons 8, 9, and 10 (during which the show could have quite reasonably been renamed "Metropolis") featured Clark going toe-to-toe almost entirely with canonical DC Comics supervillains, culminating with a season-long war against [[spoiler: Darkseid]], arguably the BigBad of the entire DC Universe. |
| 205 | ** The glimpse of the future in Season 10's "Homecoming" has future!Lois noting that by that point in the future, Clark has a whole collection of failsafes and alien tech ready and available to use against the increasingly powerful foes he's faced off against. |
| 206 | ** It's easier to tell who didn't take a level in badass in that show. Chloe got turned not only into a [[PlayfulHacker hacker]] and MissionControl, but also into an ActionGirl and Green Arrow's [[BattleCouple Battle Spouse]]. Martha became not only a senator, but also TheChessmaster. Even Jimmy "Henry James" Olsen got to play James Bond rather convincingly. |
| 207 | ** Martha Kent took a few levels, starting out as a farmer's wife, then getting appointed the U.S. Senate after [[spoiler: her newly-elected husband died]]. Then she created a SecretIdentity, beating Washington's best at their own game as the "Red Queen". |
| 208 | ** Arguably ''the show itself.'' It went from being what many people described as "''Series/DawsonsCreek'' with superpowers" in Season 1, to the ''first ever'' full-fledged Live Action DC Universe ever seen onscreen, complete with live action versions of even the most obscure characters from DC Comics, characters that one may never have expected to make it to live action. Nowadays, whenever anyone descries a live action show about superheroes, it's ''Smallville'' they compare it to. Not ''Series/{{Batman|1966}}'', not ''Series/LoisAndClark'', it's ''Smallville''. Whatever its flaws, the show at least deserves credit for that. |
| 209 | * ''Series/SonsOfLiberty'': Both Joseph Warren and John Hancock start out considerably less action-oriented than their peers. By the final episode, Warren is leading a battle and Hancock shoots a soldier who is about to kill Sam and Revere. |
| 210 | * ''Series/StargateSG1'': Daniel Jackson started as TheSmartGuy, and was at most armed with a Beretta, tasked mainly with translations and exposition on Earth's various pantheons. A couple seasons later, and he's upgraded to whatever automatic weapon the rest of the team's using, and holding his own as much as the career military characters. |
| 211 | ** Someone (possibly Jackson himself) handwaved this by mentioning that Jackson had received some form of combat training since joining SG-1. Which is rather understandable, given the kinds of situations SG-1 found itself caught up in on a regular basis. |
| 212 | ** This is also a big level up from how he was in ''Film/{{Stargate}}''. Although even there, he went from the nerd to staff weapon-wielding badass by the end of the film. |
| 213 | *** In a less spectacular form, when Daniel and Chaka have failed at diplomatic relations with the local Unas on a planet rich with Naquadah, and the human dig team were surrounded by hundreds of Unas lead by Iron-Shirt, Daniel suggests that they get down on the ground to avoid conflict. When the military man in charge of the dig team starts to refuse at this, Daniel gives him a glance, shouting that they have to drop down, and 'that is all' that they had to do. Made even more Badass due to the military man in question had yet to listen to Daniel in the first place. |
| 214 | *** The scene between Daniel Jackson and the enemy human form replicator is Samantha Carter's image, taking place entirely within his head, has Daniel take his Badass too new levels. |
| 215 | --->'''[=RepliCarter=]:''' You should never have told me.\ |
| 216 | '''Daniel:''' Too late, *beat* for you that is. (Replicarter goes to both attack Daniel and leave the mind palace they are in, but he stops her by grabbing hold of her arm and keeping it in place.)\ |
| 217 | '''Daniel:''' Trying to leave, sorry, a little more time in Danny's world.\ |
| 218 | '''[=RepliCarter=]:''' My Brethen will not stop. You cannot stop them.\ |
| 219 | '''Daniel:''' Not Yet. But I'm learning. [[Spoiler: He then goes on to stop all the replicators in place as he threatened to do.]] |
| 220 | ** In ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', Rodney followed in Daniel's footsteps. In a first season episode, he's terrified of the idea that he might actually have to use a gun to defend himself. Not too long later, he's laying down covering fire with a [=P90=] and using cover like a trained soldier. Probably justified in both cases, as it wasn't an immediate change, and it seems like a matter of necessity given the situations they find themselves in. Rodney himself may be a partial subversion, as he still freaks out while killing Wraith, even though he seems good at it. This is also possibly due to his internal ''Chance of Imminent Doom'' meter; when it redlines, he gets [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome Awesome]]. |
| 221 | *** Which was nicely {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in the second season episode "Inferno" where Rodney yells at Sheppard for putting pressure on him and Sheppard points out this fact to him. |
| 222 | ** More recently, Dr. Keller is seen fighting off a Wraith with a stick long enough for [=McKay=] to shoot it. He asks where she learned to fight, and she mentions she's been taking sparring lessons. |
| 223 | ** Teyla had a hand-waved level in flying the ship single-handedly badass. Apparently a short lesson with the weapons officer is enough to run the entire ship. |
| 224 | *** Since most ships in the gateverse seem to be partly flown by psychic powers -- including the Goa'uld's motherships, that isn't particularly surprising. |
| 225 | ** Rush in ''Series/StargateUniverse'' qualifies too, being even more of an InsufferableGenius than [=McKay=] (the insufferable part). When [[spoiler:his lover]] is killed by a former Lucian Alliance member, he hunts down the trained soldier on an uninhabited world and kills him by [[spoiler:causing a stampede of the local wildlife]] and finishing off with a close-range shot. |
| 226 | * ''Franchise/StarTrek'': |
| 227 | ** The finale of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' depicts an alternate future in which the ''Enterprise'' has been upgraded with a third warp nacelle, a [[InvisibilityCloak cloaking device]], and a [[WaveMotionGun bigass phaser cannon]] that blasts a Klingon battlecruiser into slag. |
| 228 | ** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': To a certain extent, Jadzia Dax. She starts off as a reserved, quiet young woman, but (especially after her experience meeting an incarnation of her high-living former host Curzon) abruptly metamorphoses into a blood wine-chugging, ''bat'leth''-swinging, Samoan-fire-dancing, blood-oath-honouring, Worf-marrying-and-rough-Klingon-sex-having badass. Interestingly, Dax's next host Ezri went through an abbreviated version of this after she was introduced at the beginning of the seventh season, starting as a bewildered FishOutOfWater and going on to do such things as hunting a serial killer and confronting her gangster-involved family (particularly after Garak [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech reads her beads]] in "Afterimage"). |
| 229 | *** The space station itself gets a badass upgrade in "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F8iNuRvZ5I The Way of the Warrior]]", in that [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome magnificent scene]] where panels slide open on the hull to reveal that the formerly decrepit station is now fully kitted out with an absolute ''[[MoreDakka shitload]]'' of brand-new [[BeamSpam phaser banks]] and [[MacrossMissileMassacre torpedo launchers]]. |
| 230 | *** Dr Julian Bashir. In the first couple of seasons, his highlights include awkwardly hitting on Jadzia and forgetting his dress uniform when greeting an ambassador. Little bits of badass start to peek through, mostly in medical situations, such as when he screams at ''Odo'' of all people during an emergency where he's trying to save Quark's life, or when he orders Major Kira to take medical leave for her stress without even a hint of backing down. By the end of the series, after years of subtle training from Garak and [[spoiler: once its revealed that he's an augment]], he's outthinking everything from shipboard computers to the head of Section 31. |
| 231 | ** In the finale of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', the titular starship gets upgraded with futuristic technology, including retractable armor and transphasic torpedoes that can one-shot a Borg cube. |
| 232 | ** ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'': Hoshi Sato, the nervous alien language specialist, is given retroactive martial arts skills which she uses during Dr Phlox's kidnapping. While it's likely Hoshi would have become more assertive after her experiences during the Xindi conflict, it would have made more sense for her to have used the more simple takedowns taught to the crew by Major Hayes during this time. But less cool, I'm sure. |
| 233 | *** And she even levels up in the MirrorUniverse, too. Empress Sato, anyone? |
| 234 | *** Like the Millennium Falcon, the ''Enterprise'' NX-01 is another spaceship that takes multiple levels in badass. But this was a logical progression, when the ship first left Earth, Starfleet had no clue of the kinds of dangers out there. As the ship encounters various threats, the crew upgrades the ship's ass-kicking abilities on the go, Trip and his team build phase cannons[[note]]like phasers, only without the 'r' due to TNG establishing that phasers won't be invented until the 23rd century[[/note]] from scratch, Reed creates the proto-type force field and comes up with the RedAlert system, and T'Pol routinely improves the ship's sensors. After the Xindi attack, the ship is retrofitted into a ''warship'', complete with the introduction of the famous photon torpedoes. |
| 235 | *** In the pilot episode, the ship is only armed with plasma cannons, which can't hit the broad side of a barn. They promptly forget about them and refit the ship to fire spatial torpedoes. |
| 236 | *** In addition to her combat capabilities, ''Enterprise'' also gets a boost to her engines, going from barely maxing out at warp 5 for only a few minutes to sustaining warp 5.2 for extended periods. |
| 237 | *** ''Enterprise'' demonstrates that Starfleet, and humanity itself will level up considerably. At the show's beginning, the Earth has all of one ship capable of real deep space travel and anything approximating real weapons. We know from the previous series (chronologically later adventures) what kind of force Starfleet will become, but in one episode, Daniels brings Captain Archer to the future to witness the battle of Procyon Five, wherein Starfleet is now going toe-to-toe with transdimensional beings who posess the ability to alter physical space. And according to Daniels, they win. |
| 238 | ** Commander Saru from ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' may come across as a LovableCoward early on, but he's still a LightningBruiser who simply avoids confrontations. After going through a process called ''vahar'ai'', he loses his constant sense of fear and becomes even more powerful, even growing {{Spike Shooter}}s. |
| 239 | ** After ''Discovery'' is sent forward in time to 3189 and reaches Federation Headquarters, she's upgraded with a boatload of 32nd-century tech, bringing her up to par with the ships of that era. |
| 240 | * ''Series/TeenWolf'': Several characters in Season 2 -- Scott can now beat the crap out of two betas at once without breaking a sweat; Derek goes from being a pretty badass Beta werewolf to being THE badass Alpha. Allison gets trained by her hunter family and transforms from helpless little girl to badass with a bow. |
| 241 | * ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'': John Connor takes a long-anticipated level of badass in the first episode of the second season when he [[spoiler: violently stops a rape attempt on his mother and in doing so throws his old standard of ThouShaltNotKill out the window]]. |
| 242 | ** And in "The Last Voyage of the Jimmy Carter", John shows he's continued leveling up in badass when he confronts Jesse and [[spoiler: tells her he figured out who and what Riley really was, casually takes her pistol from her, lays out why he is and will be the future leader of mankind, and tells her that her plan to make Cameron kill Riley never would have worked to break them apart.]] Thoroughly ''awesome.'' |
| 243 | *** Well, he knows [[spoiler:she won't shoot humanity's only chance against the machines]]. |
| 244 | ** [[RobotGirl Cameron]] herself levels up in the second season, though more subtly. For most of the first season and the first half of the second, she at best can draw even with other Terminators; being smaller than other Terminators makes her lighter and less physically powerful. She makes up for it, however, by fighting ''smarter'' and apparently doing research into various martial arts and weapons, until she's able to regularly tackle other Terminators and take them apart single-handedly. |
| 245 | *** Up to a point where a clever {{mook|s}} who knows about her weakness to electricity takes her down with a pool of water and a well-placed electrical cable. He then gets ready to cut open her skull while she's disabled, knowing precisely where her chip is and knowing he's got two minutes before she reboots....only to discover to his dismay that she's upgraded, right before his neck is pulverized. |
| 246 | * ''Series/TopGear'': Specifically, it's "Took a Level in {{Badass Driv|er}}ing". James May was originally viewed as a joke, with his slow driving speed and NoSenseOfDirection. Over time, however, he has taken tutorage from two different UsefulNotes/FormulaOne drivers and taken power laps with the Stig. Consequently, he has become considerably better at fast-driving. Best shown in the second US special, where James was easily capable of keeping up with Jeremy on a winding mountain road somewhere in Nevada, even though Jeremy was established as the best driver on the show ''AND'' had a more powerful car. Cue Jeremy's befuddled reaction: |
| 247 | -->'''Jeremy''': What's gotten into him!?\ |
| 248 | '''James''': Try 'n keep up, Jezza!\ |
| 249 | '''Jeremy''': He is ''really'' shifting now, Captain Slow! |
| 250 | * ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'': Any member. None of the primary characters (except for Jack, and if you count flashbacks, perhaps Ianto) started off as badasses. Owen was a doctor, Toshiko was a mild-mannered scientist, and Gwen was a police constable, whose job mostly consisted of making coffee, cordoning off crime scenes, and breaking up bar fights. As a PC, she wasn't even issued a gun (in the UK, only specially trained firearms officers are allowed to carry). By Series 3, Gwen is firing at government agents and, in [[Series/TorchwoodMiracleDay Series 4]], takes out a helicopter with a rocket launcher. |
| 251 | * ''Series/TrueBlood'': Jason Stackhouse is a weaselly ButtMonkey for the first season and a half. But then the Fellowship of the Sun turns on him and he fights back, then spends the rest of the season constantly topping himself in badassery. |
| 252 | ** In Season 4, Jason is now a full-fledged cop and is shown to be a lot more competent than the sheriff. All because [[spoiler:his sister disappeared for over a year]]. |
| 253 | ** A villainous example with Marnie, who was a self-described doormat, giving people psychic readings. After taking up necromancy, she summons the spirit of a pissed-off witch and later starts running the show. [[spoiler:It doesn't end well for her]]. |
| 254 | * ''Series/UchuSentaiKyuranger'' provides two examples. |
| 255 | ** [[PoisonousPerson Stinger]] took about a dozen of levels somewhere between his childhood, where he was shown as crybaby picked on by stronger tribesman, and adulthood, when he is among the strongest fighter the team has and generally a very bad choice of person to go against. |
| 256 | ** [[BadassAdorable Kotaro]] [[KidHero Sakuma]] started off as badass already as he was throwing rocks at monsters and keeping his cool under pressure at the age of ''12''. [[spoiler: Yet, training at Rebelion HQ made him even more badass as he could provide decent CurbstompCushion against the PsychoSerum empowered Stinger after coming back.]] |
| 257 | * ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'': Caroline takes one at the beginning of the second season. [[spoiler: This is a pretty natural reaction to becoming a vampire, but she manages to become a really awesome vampire with remarkable speed.]] |
| 258 | ** Elena, slowly but surely. It starts in "Haunted" when she goes after Vicki with nothing but a wooden plank to protect her brother, continues in "Unpleasantville" when she manages to hold off a vampire with just a few pencils long enough for Damon and Stefan to kill him, and becomes even more noticeable in "Let The Right One In" when she saves Stefan by staking Frederick with a vervain dart and momentarily incapacitating him and by offering Stefan some of her blood. |
| 259 | *** Then along came Season 3, in which this intensified noticeably. After Stefan leaves with Klaus, and later [[spoiler: turns off his humanity.]] Elena asks Alaric to train her, and not only does she do it physically (boxing, lifting weights) but also is instructed in weapons like stakes and vervain-granades and how to use them swiftly. The best example of this is a scene in 3x06, where she [[spoiler: stabs Stefan in the stomach with a hidden double-stake, just to show her that she could, that she was strong and not a weak damsel anymore.]] SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome, indeed. |
| 260 | *** She hits full badass on Season 4, after [[spoiler: she becomes a vampire.]] |
| 261 | ** Bonnie, as of late Season 1 can bring on a really nasty migraine in 160-year-old vampires with just a squinty, mean look. Throw in telekinesis and the ability to set fire to water with just her mind and she has the edge on most of the supernatural beings on the show except Katherine thus far. May become an example of LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards as the show progresses. |
| 262 | * It's probably easier to name the characters in ''Series/TheWalkingDead2010'' who don't undergo this trope than the ones that run headlong into it. |
| 263 | ** Carol is likely the most notable (and long-term) example of this. At the beginning of the series, she is a ShrinkingViolet who can't stand up to her abusive husband Ed, hides behind Shane during the fish fry attack, and is generally seen doing the group's laundry with the other women. Once Ed ([[spoiler:and later Sophia]]) dies, she begins coming out of her shell and begins to exhibit more character traits and a more proactive nature. At the beginning of Season 3, she (along with Beth, noted below) have become well-versed enough that she can fire a rifle without flinching, and defends herself at several points. By the time Season 5 rolls around, she ''single-handedly assaults Terminus by herself'' to rescue Rick and the rest of the group, then pulls a masterful gambit as soon as she reaches Alexandria by pretending to be the meek unassuming woman she was at the beginning of the series. It's at the point where she's become just as popular as Rick and Daryl, and is arguably the most popular female character on the show besides Michonne. |
| 264 | ** Carl starts out as a sort of Tagalong Kid/[[TheLoad load]], that gets shot and [[spoiler:ends up indirectly killing Otis due to needing medical supplies to survive the injury]]. In Season 3, after a time gap of about 7 months, however, he becomes a badass. His skills are able to rival adult members of his group, and he saves Tyreese's group from zombies by himself with little effort. Oh, and he [[spoiler:killed his own mother (at age 13), to stop her from returning to life as a walker]]. Without crying. Near the end of Season 5, when Rick finds his son outside the walls of Alexandria, they simply nod to each other and start carving up an attacking group of walkers. His level in badass was so profound it ruined the "Where's Carl" meme because that question became about as foreboding as "where's Daryl". |
| 265 | ** Tara is an ex-police recruit who never passed the academy training course and is generally useless in combat (to the point that it takes ''The Governor'' having to teach her to use headshots on walkers because she and her sister didn't understand that body shots don't kill them, and she somehow sprains her ankle while running from walkers). Later, she finds some brief happiness after meeting [[LesYay Alisha]], but suffers through a DespairEventHorizon after [[spoiler:the prison falls, Alisha is shot by Lizzie and her sister is overrun by walkers]]. However, when Glenn finds her in the ruins of the prison and asks her to help him find Maggie, she takes an immediate level and starts headshotting walkers one-handed while escaping the prison, takes out several walkers by herself in the episode afterwards and becomes a member of a three-person power trio with Glenn and Noah in Alexandria. |
| 266 | ** Beth was so underused in the second season that she was practically OutOfFocus, and her one memorable episode had her attempting suicide after believing that living in the current world was pointless. By the time Season 3 rolls around, however, she's ''much'' more capable with a gun and knife, and effortlessly dispatches walkers through the fence. When [[spoiler:her father is killed in "Too Far Gone"]], she immediately opens fire on [[spoiler:The Governor's troops]], and later gets several badass moments in "Slabtown" and "Coda". [[spoiler:However, she dies at the end of the latter]]. |
| 267 | ** Andrea starts out as nothing more than a lucky survivor with no combat skills, and by the end of the first season is outright suicidal. Over the course of the second season she trains hard and refuses to join the other women in the kitchen. By the midpoint of the season, she's wading in to kill zombies with agricultural tools. By the finale, [[spoiler:when she gets abandoned in the middle of a horde of walkers, she is able to keep running and scoring headshots ''all night'', and after she runs out of ammunition is still killing them hand-to-hand.]] |
| 268 | ** Eugene starts out as a nerdy and cowardly NonActionGuy who has to rely on his companions for protection. The only reason he's still alive is that [[spoiler:he lied about knowing the cure for the plague so that people would act like his bodyguards]]. In "Self Help" he starts to involve himself in fights against walkers and he slowly grows more confident afterwards. He begins training with weapons and before the end of the sixth season, he has killed quite a few walkers. And he gets a few other awesome moments like [[spoiler: biting his captor on the crotch so he can escape]]. |
| 269 | * ''Series/TheWilds'': Leah undergoes quite a lot from the start of the story, from being pretty naive and antagonistic to [[spoiler: a Chessmaster capable of outsmarting Gretchen and her organization, though it only gets her and the others so far...]] |
| 270 | * ''Series/TheWire'': Michael gets trained as a "soldier" (a hitman) for Marlo Stanfield's gang. Unlike most examples of this trope, this one is played tragically, and is meant to show how children in ghettos can be coerced into lives of violence. |
| 271 | * ''Series/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace:'' |
| 272 | ** ''Definitely'' Justin. In TheMovie, he saves Alex and Harper (while taking a moment to give off a well-deserved SmugSnake vibe), kicks ass windsurfing, nails the SixthRanger of the plot with magical blasts without even trying, does some adventuring that (with his brains) slips him into AdventurerArchaeologist territory, and throws down during the family wizarding competition like a true badass -- a competition that later on, he's sure to win (having gone through a personal mix of CrazyPrepared and CharlesAtlasSuperpower in his training). One can only hope that they won't hit the ResetButton on him -- but it is Creator/{{Disney}}, so StatusQuoIsGod. |
| 273 | ** Even before TheMovie, he has already gotten Alex out of trouble countless times, in spite of her crappy attitude towards him. |
| 274 | * ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'': A long-term-development example: Gabrielle starts the series off as a young, plucky, story teller, farm girl. Over the course of six seasons, she takes multiple levels, and develops her fighting skills until she's almost on a par with Xena, effectivley going from [[http://cdn.static.ovimg.com/episode/259677.jpg this]]. To [[http://images.fanpop.com/images/image_uploads/gabrielle-warrior-xena-warrior-princess-519249_284_386.jpg this]]. Culminating in the Season 6 finale, when she becomes one of 3 people other than Xena [[spoiler: to catch the Chakram]] and, in the last ever scene of the show, appears to be [[spoiler: taking up Xena's legacy as a full blown hero]]. |
| 275 | * ''Series/TheXFiles'': Skinner took a level up in badass when he beat up Mr. X in the elevator. Don't mess with 'Nam vets. |
| 276 | ** Then there was his complete and utter owning of Cancer Man: |
| 277 | --->'''CSM:''' Listen to me--\ |
| 278 | '''Skinner:''' No, you listen to me, you son of a bitch! This is the part where you pucker up and kiss my ass! |
| 279 |
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