Needs More Examples, Needs Related Tropes

The villain stands atop his throne and sends his legion of minions against the hero. The hero leaps forward, cuts away a few of them, then unleashes a super-attack to blast the entire group away. The villain simply mutters "impressive" or some similar word, such as "interesting" or "well done". Smirking or smiling are optional. Likely to only be one or two words.

This type of scene serves to underscore how powerful both hero and villain are. The hero Took A Level In Badass, did something awesome, and has earned praise from the villain. Particularly effective if the villain has looked down on them as weak or is The Stoic. However, the villain's simple response establishes that they really aren't impressed, the hero has only barely attained their notice by this epic action.

See Deadpan Snarker, a character type that may use this trope. Compare Hannibal Lecture or The Reason You Suck Speech, which this trope may turn into if the villain turns his words of praise into a speech about how the hero is still too weak to stop them.

Examples

Anime

• True to their Crazy Awesome creed, in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Simon gets into Lordgenome's lair by standing on the bow of Dai Gunzan and having the bow launched like a missile to impale on the wall of said lair. Lordgenome's response -- "Impressive".

Film

• Batman Begins, Ra's Al Ghul claps a few times and calls "impressive" when Bruce manages to defeat Ducard in his final test.
• Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back, when Luke shows his new Jedi skills.

Video Games

• In Megaman Battle Network 3, Bass mutters "interesting. I shall enjoy testing your theory" when he confronts an opponent wielding Dark Aura against Bass's his Life Aura and declares the Dark Aura stronger.
• Final Fantasy XIII-2, Caius says "impressive" in response to Lightning reaching him to attack him during his siege of Valhalla.
• Dissidia Final Fantasy, Golbez says "impressive" when an opponent survives his EX Burst.