[[FinalFantasyVII http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1151616432454-resized.jpg]]
[[caption-width:200:See ya soon, Sephiroth.]]


->"When kind men grow angry, things are about to change."\\
-- '''Harry Dresden''', [[TheDresdenFiles ''Blood Rites'']]

->"I had no idea this Kofi Kingston existed, and I've been in the ring with Kofi!"
->--''Matt Striker, Monday Night Raw''

Sometimes, trying to BreakTheCutie can have consequences. Sometimes, the nicest person in the story gets pushed to the limit of what they can take and the results... are not pretty.

The sweeter, gentler, more polite, and overall [[NiceGuy nicer]] a character is, especially if they're female, the worse it will be for the planet when they're subjected to one too many rounds of BreakTheCutie, or DudeWheresMyRespect, RantInducingSlight, or hitting their BerserkButton. What was once a sweet and nice individual suddenly ''snaps'' and becomes something far worse then the BigBad could have expected.

It's called UnstoppableRage for a reason, you know.

Things get even worse if they're a TechnicalPacifist, and worse still if they're an ActualPacifist, since outright villains will only ''kill'' you. If a sweet, gentle soul snaps, all you can do is pray for a [[AFateWorseThanDeath quick death]].

This is also why pushing the GentleGiant too far is generally a bad idea, and why [[TeachHimAnger Teaching Him Anger]] is a ''suicidal'' idea.

See also GoodIsNotNice, where one condition is when a normally nice character realizes that nice will not get things done in a situation. They can coincide, if the realization and the outrage are triggered at the same time. The results are quite similar if they MaddenIntoMisanthropy, the difference being the new misanthrope isn't so much a violent dynamo as a care free JerkAss.

LetsGetDangerous, CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass, CrouchingScholarHiddenBadass, TheSoCalledCoward, and [[WhosLaughingNow Who's Laughing Now]] can be seen as subtropes of this. A [=~This Means War!~=] declaration may be delivered as a result of it. The polar opposite of IFeelAngry. See also: {{Yandere}}, {{Yangire}}, MamaBear, KillerRabbit, and ActionSanta. While [[MST3K Mike Nelson]] [[MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds may be a destroyer of worlds in his own right]], he's not a [[TheWoobie woobie]]...we think.

----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Manga & Anime ]]
* Belldandy from ''AhMyGoddess'' is a prime candidate, with her always presenting a quiet and [[YamatoNadeshiko gentle personality]]. Her sisters in particular treat her actually getting upset as dangerous and genuine cause for worry, because Belldandy's self-control ''IS'' largely why she's allowed access to tremendous powers, and the instances where this slips range from blowing out the lights in buildings to vaporizing an enormous summoned demon.
**Actually She only sent Garm back to the Underworld, since in Norse Mythology he is the guardian of that place
* Ray and Charles from ''EurekaSeven'' at first were ''perfect'' "parents" for Renton after he runs away. Especially compared to the captain of the ship he ran away from, Holland, who had been physically abusive. They were so nice and so perfect, you knew the writers were up to something, because they had to reestablish who the DesignatedHero and the DesignatedVillain are.
** Note that this fits the trope only in name; the Beams do not at any point snap, but rather are actually just genuinely nice people who happen to be on the wrong side of the conflict, and do their job ''very'' well.
* [[spoiler:Grell Sutcliffe]] from Kuroshitsuji. Through most of the Jack the Ripper arc, he's the quiet/suicidal/crossdressing butler of [[spoiler:Madame Red]] who more or less functions as comedy relief through his epic failure at being a butler. Until you catch him, of course. Then he pulls a grin that can be [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel nightmare-inducing at best]] (In this troper's opinion, the anime version is worse but {{YMMV}}), proceeds to change his appearance dramatically and turns into a chainsaw-wielding transvestite psychopath that is very forward about his attraction to Sebastian, ''within the same five minutes'' talking about both wanting to cut him into pieces and bear his child. [[spoiler:It's revealed that he's a shinigami gone pseudo-rogue, and has been the half of Jack the Ripper allowing Madame Red to commit her crimes without being under notice. He possesses supernatural speed allowing him to move across the city rapidly. The useless butler routine was just to keep suspicion off of him.]] He helps [[spoiler:Madame Red]] kill the prostitutes because it's a distraction and he's bored with sticking to his list.
* {{Baccano}} seems to like this trope a lot: many of the characters come across as very amiable individuals, that is until you push them too far. For example: [[spoiler:The resident {{shrinking violet}} Jacuzzi Splot once shot up eighteen Mafia speakeasies single-handedly, in one day, on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge after the Russo family kills several of his friends.]]
** [[spoiler: Claire Stanfield]] wasn't planning to kill you -- no, siree. All he wanted to do was conduct his train, ogle that cute girl in the first class car, and tell silly ghost stories to pass the time. But no, you just ''had'' bring this whole "train hijacking" thing into this. And [[{{Retirony}} Tony]] -- did you ''really'' have to kill Tony? What did he ever do to you? Oh well, it's too late now. He's just gonna have to [[TortureTechnician teach you a lesson]] now. [[AxCrazy A very painful, bloody lesson]]...
** In the LightNovels, Eve Genoard also enacts this trope. When [[spoiler:Gustavo Baggeta]] brags to her that he killed her father and oldest brother, she almost immediately casts aside her status as TheIngenue, picks up a dropped revolver, and tries to blow his head off.
* ''{{Bleach}}'': The more straight example of this one is probably Captain Unohana Retsu. She is generally considered as a 'motherly' captain of a squad full of healers, often bullied by the battle-happy Squad 11. But apparently, the data book entry for her indicates she is the third most powerful captain, and when her squad gets bullied, one twisted look from her is enough to drive the bullies away. Also notable is that it has been revealed in the prologue arc that she is one of the original captains; the Fourth Division has never, ''ever'' had a captain besides her. Basically her personality does not fit her division, her division fits her personality.
** In particular near the end of the Soul Society arc, a pair of 11th Division members were complaining about not being treated like kings by the hospital staff. Unohana shows up and makes a few veiled threats against their physical well-being and they start pissing themselves.
** Also, towards the end of the Hueco Mundo arc, a group of Arrancar show up to kill [[GentleGiant Chad]], and Unohana shows up with her Vice-Captain Isane. The leader of the Arrancar group scornfully demands to know who they are. Captain Unohana calmly and quietly states her name, her squad number, and her purpose. The leader calmly takes in this information, then starts practically screaming for his men to retreat.
** And also? Do ''not'' piss [[TheMedic Orihime Inoue]] off. If you're lucky, you'll get an ArmorPiercingSlap to the face; if you're unlucky, you'll be outright torn to pieces. Haha, just kidding. We're kidding. ''Maybe not''.
*** Even if she hasn't done anything too obviously violent yet, it's probably a bad idea to push someone whose powers involve ''retconning the fabric of reality'' into anything she wants.
** GentleGiant Hachigen Ushoda manages to stay calm and polite even when he reveals himself to be [[spoiler:''pure BadAss''.]]
** And there was Momo Hinamori, the sweet little YamatoNadeshiko of the Fifth Division until she cracked and [[spoiler: tried to kill her best friend and a captain thinking they were the murderers of her own captain.]]
**And who can forget Nel, the BadAssAdorable? Definitely not me. You mess with Ichigo, Pesche, or Dondochakka, and [[spoiler:she'll unleash her ressurecion and spear you to death.]]
* [[OnePiece Monkey D. Luffy]] is generally a happy-go-lucky guy, and very cheerful...until you hurt his {{nakama}}, or his friends...or ''your'' {{nakama}}. Heaven help you if you do. It's about the only time that he ever takes off his NiceHat.
** Luffy's not the only Straw Hat that qualifies. Witness, Tony Tony Chopper the hyper-cute reindeer doctor, cute, innocent and cuddly one moment but make sure your will is updated before you decide to do something stupid like make him mad.
* Hayate Yagami from ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' is the master of a [[TomeOfEldritchLore dangerous book]] that her guardians want to complete, as well as a sweet and caring girl that wouldn't hurt anyone. You can see where this is going. It does take a massive XanatosGambit to both give her the power to do this and a reason to snap, but snap she does.
** Then we have Nanoha herself, whose sweet and innocent persona distracts from the fact that she has the power of a PhysicalGod. Her favorite method of making friends seems to be [[DefeatMeansFriendship beating them to near death]] and [[WarriorTherapist asking questions while she does it]]. And heaven help you if she actually gets ''angry''. The oft-cited example of her blasting Teana to smithereens ("Shall I... cool your head a little?") for disappointing her doesn't even come close to receiving her ''real'' wrath, which involves being on the receiving end of an EarthShatteringKaboom. [[DungeonBypass From across a battleship, if she has to]]. On a side note, blasting of Teana wasn't so much carried out of disappointment, but as a lesson to show her that shooting magic ([[OlderAndWiser in which both of them specialize]]) hurts like a bitch.
** And the ''[[ChurchMilitant battle nuns]]'' of the Saint Church, who can go from caring nurse to hard-boiled soldier in a matter of seconds.
** Most of Riot Force 6's combatants are generally nice people that have combat capability equal with (at least) heavy artillery. And they can be really, really scary when they [[UnstoppableRage snap out]].
*** Especially Caro Lu Rushe. A gentle, big eyed, shy little girl, a [[RankInflation B Class mage]] [[TheMedic specialising in buff spells,]] what could she possibly do? Piss her off enough [[spoiler:[[BerserkButton by destroying her home]]]] so she actually taps into her summoning magic and run for your SuperRobot, because whatever she summons [[PhysicalGod would be more than appropriate to fight it.]] That said, your SuperRobot needs to be LARGE to even stand a chance...
*** Subaru Nakajima is known as "Gaogaigar-tan" for the enormous number of shout outs in her combat style, [[spoiler:and the fact that she's ''literally'' a cyborg who resembles a young girl but was built for all-out physical combat ([[RousseauWasRight not that her origins matter much]] in ''that'' setting)]]. Her berserker moment [[strike:would be a CrowningMomentOfAwesome if it weren't so damn terrifying]] is [[CrowningMoment/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha SO SCARY IT'S AWESOME]]. "Give...''her''...'''''BACK'''''!"
* We also have another Hayate, this time the eponymous ''[[HayateTheCombatButler Hayate the Combat Butler]]'' who does this in both the anime and the manga whenever Nagi gets kidnapped. First during the first episode and more comically when he takes down a giant mecha with an ''machine gun.''
** Maria certainly qualifies, arguably in a greater extent. Just say something about [[BerserkButton her age.]]
*** The ''narrator'' is afraid of her!
*** Let us clarify: The narrator, which is voiced by NorioWakamoto, is scared of her. let that sink in for a minute....
* When Nausicaa's father King Jil dies in ''NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind'', the kind-hearted princess becomes a murderous embodiment of berserker rage who appears to revel in slaughtering the enemy (one man in the manga, an entire squad in anime) until Yupa stops her. Afterwards, though, she is devastated by the thought that that her heart could contain such rage.
* In a flashback, we see [[{{Yandere}} Kaede Fuyou]] from ''[[{{Shuffle}} SHUFFLE!]]'' go off the deep end on the male lead after her mother's death (''Boxcutter Kaede''), an effect that is repeated near the end of the series when the lead starts seriously going out with another girl. Kaede and the lead, Rin, have effectively been living as husband and wife for close to ten years, which can be seen as Kaede [[TheAtoner trying to repair the damage her other self caused to Rin]].
* ''{{Mai-HiME}}'' positively ADORES this trope:
** [[TheOjou Polite and graceful]] [[SchoolgirlLesbians Schoolgirl Lesbian]] Shizuru Fujino had been nothing but kind and supportive to her best friend and object of her affections, [[TallDarkAndBishoujo Natsuki Kuga]], for half of the show. Near the end, though, [[LoveMakesYouEvil that same love made her evil]], sending her on a rampage to eliminate anyone who came between her and Natsuki. Shizuru's fandom remained loyal, though [[WallBanger irritated that the writers went a cliched route]], and because it happened so close to the end of the series to have any real emotional impact. Consider for a moment that she [[DrivenToSuicide gets so depressed that she kills herself]] in the DatingSim based on the anime if the protagonist decides to wind up with Natsuki, and the previous event may not seem quite as WallBanger-y. Her [[EnsembleDarkhorse popularity]] possibly gives her ending a note of hope, though, as well as a more sympathetic role in ''{{Mai-Otome}}''.
** Similarly, the normally [[{{Kawaiiko}} bubbly and cheerful]] Shiho Munakata lets her [[ClingyJealousGirl jealousy]] [[{{Yandere}} overcome her sanity]], eventually leading to a showdown with the female lead Mai [[spoiler: over a guy whom they ''both'' share as a [[LoveInterests Love Interest]]... leading to a no-win situation for poor Yuuichi. Who ends up pulling an HeroicSacrifice in the end to stop both Mai and Shiho from fighting.]].
** Oh, and Reito Kanzaki? Mai's ''other'' love interest? The soft-spoken guy who wears all black? [[spoiler:It turns out he's had the BigBad [[DemonicPossession living inside him for quite some time]].]] One PostEpisodeTrailer has Nagi [[LampshadeHanging lampshade this]] by saying something like "Come on...you mean to tell me he [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight didn't seem suspicious from the start]]?"
** Hell, ''[[TheHero Mai]] herself'' went into snap-out mode when she learned that [[spoiler:Mikoto's actions led to Takumi's death]]. When you see her biting her lip and drawing blood, you ''know'' you screwed up big time.
** Don't forget [[ManipulativeBastard Wataru]] [[ScaryShinyGlasses Ishigami]], [[NunsAreMikos Sister]] [[StraightArrow Yukariko]]'s [[RapeIsLove controversial]] love interest. One of his earlier apparitions had him dorkily spinning around Mai's brother Takumi and begging him to be his model for his next painting... [[spoiler: And later he worms his way into Yukariko's heart, turns her against the other girls, harasses Yukino through text messages to break her, etc.]]
* Joked around with in ''{{Mahoraba}}'' because it has two such characters. The first is Tamami who has her eyes closed and generally acts nefarious to the protagonist and to others. The second is the protagonist's teacher, Shirogane-sensei, who throws bad students into "[[SaunaOfDoom the Closet]]".
** Saki, one of Kozue's alternate personalities, could arguably apply, though she wouldn't necessarily become a threat to health and sanity. Her BreakTheCutie threshold is insanely low.
* Used in ''[[RanmaOneHalf Ranma 1/2]]'' with regards to Kasumi: When the family goes out to dinner without her, everyone is terrified that, since she's usually angelically nice, this will mean that she'll snap and go psycho. When a knife is found stuck in the floor the all make for the door. [[spoiler:It turned out that she dropped the knife when she noticed the neighbor's cat. When Ranma gets blamed for the ordeal, she merely gently pokes Ranma in the forehead while telling him "Bad", something that is generally done to young children, and then she wonders out loud if she went too far]].
** This is also used straight in one of the {{manga}} chapters and an {{OAV}} ("Faster, Kasumi! Kill, kill!"). Kasumi is possessed by a vengeful ogre and everyone is afraid of her, but she acts as sweet as always... well, with a twist. [[spoiler:She gains small ogre horns and longer nails, and performs her daily routine but adds something "evil" to it. i.e.: when she checks on Ranma's ripped shirt to sew it, she embroiders the word "Okama" ("queer" in Japanese) on its back instead]]. Since she's so angelic and sweet ''even'' when possessed, everyone is shit scared of her. [[spoiler: Though her behavior while possessed could also be chalked up to the oni [[PokeThePoodle being too stupid to be really evil]] instead of her being so saintly that she didn't have any evil for the oni to use.]]
** FanFic writers seem to like this trope in regards to Kasumi.
** {{Your Mileage May Vary}}, but Akane Tendo can come off as one of these as opposed to being a {{Tsundere}}. With just about everyone, she's kind, forgiving, patient, sweet and generally easy to get on with unless you happen to make her mad. Ranma, however, actually seems to be able to tick her off with even greater ease then {{Spoiled Brat}} and (un){{Loveable Sex Maniac}} Kuno, who routinely {{Glomp}}s and otherwise harasses her. And when Ranma gets her mad, he usually ends up getting pummeled for it.
** Ranma's mother [[HotShonenMom Nodoka Saotome]] is a rather nasty swing on this trope. She's a kindly, sweet woman whom both Ranma and Akane look up to, with the latter being implied to consider her almost a substitute mother... however, she is even more prone to put HonourBeforeReason than any of the other cast members. Even though the {{Seppuku}} pledge her husband made is so vague that nobody else would even consider it to be worth the paper it was scrawled on, she's so devoted to it that she carries a sword everywhere she goes, just in case she meets Ranma and she decides he's unmanly. And this troper means ''everywhere''- she's even shown sleeping and bathing with it. And it doesn't exactly take much for her to start pulling it out, either.
**Ranma himself, despite being a [[JerkwithaHeartofGold jerk]] can fall into this category. Under normal circumstances, Ranma is a rather cynical, reserved un-socialized jerk, but despite his tendency to insult people, usually by accident and being [[RaisedbyWolves unware of normal social mores]], will go out of his way to even help people that have in the past tried to kill, humiliate and/or rape him/her. If you want to know the result of getting Ranma actually angry, all you have to do is ask Saffron what made him re-incarnate most recently.
* Son Gohan in most of ''{{Dragonball}} Z'', is apparently a pacifist, but, when provoked, can fly into a near psychotic rage and suddenly increase his strength to colossal heights. Through this, he was the first to achieve the level of Super Saiyan 2, although this ability seemed to be removed after the end of the Cell Saga...
** Part of that was because the power was channeled into his new Ultimate form in the Buu saga. He was also much more mature now, and not as easily angered. However, he almost did this again when Videl was getting her ass kicked by Spopovich.
** His father Goku qualifies, being a fairly nice guy even when beating - and occasionally killing - the people who threaten him and his loved ones. He always manages to keep fairly coolheaded about it and treats it all like sport, even when the stakes are deadly serious. Then he meets Freeza, who admits to enslaving and killing Goku's entire race, [[ManlyTears makes Vegeta cry in humiliation]] before killing him when he's helpless, seriously wounds Piccolo while trying to kill Goku's son, and then [[AndyourLittleDogToo blows up Goku's best friend Krillin]] just for the sadistic hell of it. This finally pushes Goku over the edge and triggers his [[SuperMode Super Saiyan]] transformation. After a couple minutes of humiliating, torturing, and smacking Freeza around, he regains his composure, though. This just makes him [[TranquilFury more dangerous]].
* In the last episode of ''DeathNote'', TheDitz character Matsuda, [[spoiler:upon learning that Light is actually Kira, breaks emotionally and shoots Light's hand when he tries to use a piece of the Death Note. When Light tries again, Matsuda flies into a furious rage and then seriously wounds Light with a barrage of bullets, only prevented from delivering the CoupDeGrace by the other officers]].
* Nyu from ''[[ElfenLied Elfen Lied]]'' counts: she's usually a bubbly, cheerful, super-cute blank slate girl, but try to hurt her and she will become Lucy, she will suddenly get HiddenEyes and start speaking in a low, ominous voice, and it's instant [[YourHeadASplode Head A Splode]] for you! (in fact, the first time that happens, Lucy gouges out Bando's eyes and rips his arm off).
** Lucy's first major massacre was a textbook example of a BewareTheNiceOnes snap-out: [[spoiler:as a child, she lived at an orphanage where [[KidsAreCruel the other kids were absolutely cruel]], tormenting and harassing her for her "cute little horns" and [[EmotionlessGirl emotionless nature]]. They finally pushed Lucy too far when she started caring for a puppy and they [[MoralEventHorizon forced her to watch as they kicked it around and beat it to death with a vase, just to get her to show]] ''[[MoralEventHorizon something]]''. Lucy unleashed her diclonius powers for the first time, leaving no witnesses]].
*** And [[BlackJack This Troper]] wouldn't have shown ''that much'' mercy. They got what they had coming.
* {{Naruto}}. The title character, [[spoiler: who recently refused to give in to his emotions and extract vengeance upon the man who just [[MoralEventHorizon killed both of his teachers]] and [[WhamEpisode leveled his village with the ground]], in order to [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism break the chain of hatred]]]] has [[SealedEvilInACan a malevolent, nine-tailed demon fox of immeasurable power sealed into himself]] - and this fox's power has a habit of seeping out of him whenever he loses his temper.
** Also, [[DarkMessiah Nagato]], [[spoiler: the man who leveled the title character's village to the ground,]] who was [[TheMessiah unusually kind and sensible as a child]], but made a complete 180 after [[spoiler: he was given the ultimatum of killing his best friend or seeing his other best friend get killed, and his first friend forced his hand and made him take the former option, all this after Nagato had made it his purpose in life to [[LoveMakesYouEvil protect both of his friends, no matter what]]]].
* In one episode of GhostInTheShell:StandAloneComplex Batou and Togusa are called to a subway station where police has cornered a suicide bomber. When they arrive the terrorist turns out to apparently be a 16 year old girl (who still seems pretty scared, though).
* After getting forced to play the sycophantic second fiddle to [[{{Yandere}} Akira Kogami]] for 19 episodes only to get sent out to hike up Mount Fuji for three weeks and lose his spot to a dumb {{bishounen}}, [[EnsembleDarkHorse Minoru Shiraishi]] of ''{{LuckyStar}}'''s ShowWithinAShow finally lets Akira and her new assistant have it and trashes the set.
** He's even drawn slightly differently after the event, changing from his [[EyesAlwaysShut permanent closed eyes]] to tiny, pissed off ones. Even when he's ''not'' pissed off.
* Komachi in ''[[YesPrecure5 Yes! Precure 5]]'' is easily the most passive member of the cast, and her power is just a shield. Near the end of the series, someone manages to ''really'' piss her off. Turns out that shield can be used as an offensive weapon after all--and she carves out an interesting new feature in the landscape.
* At the start of ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'', Shinji Ikari is a loner and obviously has issues, but he's still generally quiet, kind and courteous. However, throughout the series, when the pressure on him proves to be too much, there's several occasions where he completely snaps and shows a violent, rage-filled side to his personality.
** Let's not forget that this manic rage is mirrored in his Eva's attitude, as Shinji goes insane with bloodlust, ''so does Unit 01'', [[spoiler:actually snapping off the limiters controlling it, after eating Zeruel]].
* [[TheOjou Kotonoha Katsura]] from ''SchoolDays'' is polite, shy, naïve and gentle, as well as somewhat of a doormat. But if you push her too far? See Kotonoha get MindControlEyes, grab her saw and [[{{Yandere}} show you how well she can use it]].
* Wolfgang Grimmer from ''{{Monster}}'' is possibly one of the nicest people you will ever meet... But do ''not'' upset him. [[StepfordSmiler Really]], [[UnstoppableRage don't]]
* In ''HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi'', Rika herself notes, regarding the main cast, that, "They are all caring, gentle individuals. And yet, [[spoiler: once the wheels of fate go awry]], they become controlled by delusion and start committing deadly acts of violence." Considering how much this anime seems to enjoy [[BreakTheCutie breaking cuties]], this shouldn't come as a surprise.
** In the end however, the ''BigBad'' plotting all the terrible occurences turns out to be an apparent Nice One as well, [[spoiler:even if she (Miyo Takano) looks half-stoned at all times, moonlights as a [[HelloNurse nurse]], and apparently dies early into every cycle]].
**More so. [[spoiler: Her StartOfDarkness shown in last arc, reveals that Takano is infact a [[BreakTheCutie broken cutie]]. While she was a nice young child... having her parents die and then getting sent off to a OrphanageOfFear leads her to angrily defy god.]]
* Quatre Raberba Winner, TheSmartGuy of the ''GundamWing'' team, is sweet, sensitive, and polite, but once he loses [[spoiler: his father and one of this sisters]] and the people in his colony turns against him, he goes into a pretty much UnstoppableRage, destroying an entire ''space colony''. [[spoiler: Until he almost kills his [[strike: crush]] best friend.]]
* Gentle, selfless, fatherly [[NonActionGuy Shuuichirou Oishi]] from ''ThePrinceOfTennis'' is pretty much the TeamMom of the Seigaku team. But press the ''very'' few buttons that can make him lose it when pressed? Let's just say that pretty much [[UnstoppableRage ''no one'' can stop him]] when he throws one of his extremely rare hissy fits.
** And it's not only Oishi, either! [[EyesAlwaysShut Shuusuke Fuji]] also looks and acts cheerful, pleasant and polite, but if you do anything to piss him off (specially if you threaten his friends [[BigBrotherComplex or his little brother Yuuta]]), you should ''pray'' he's not your next tennis opponent or isn't near to you for quite a while.
** Outside of Seigaku, there's little Data Player [[CuteShotaroBoy Taichi Dan]] from Yamabuki. Sweet, feminine-looking, naïve, etc - and is capable of yelling at [[{{Jerkass}} Jin Akutsu]], one of the most violent players in the whole circuit.
* ''CodeGeass'''s Princess Euphemia doesn't count [[spoiler: since her genocidal rampage was caused by Geass and not any of her own pent-up aggression]], but [[ShrinkingViolet shy little]] {{fangirl}} [[{{Meganekko}} Nina Einstein]] certainly does. She's almost perfectly normal, aside from her deep-seated fear of Japanese people and her [[SchoolgirlLesbians rather obvious crush on Princess Euphemia]], who intervened to [[RescueRomance save her from Japanese terrorists]]. [[spoiler: When Euphinator was killed by Zero]], though, she promptly turns a previous offhand mention of her technical skill in a prior episode into [[spoiler:building a hybrid nuclear/sakuradite bomb that causes an instant stalemate between Britannia and the Black Knights, as it's theoretically powerful enough to destroy all of the Tokyo Settlement if she triggers it, which the emotionally distraught girl is perfectly willing to do just for a chance to kill Zero]].
** A running gag among certain circles is that the sweetest, most innocent character, Nunnally Lamperouge, actually hides a [[http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h201/jin0014/Code%20Geass/code1_tomatopoza.jpg horrible dark side]] that will surface if she ever gets a Geass of her own or indeed regains sight.
*** Considering what happens in the ''Nightmare of Nunnally'' AlternateUniverse manga [[spoiler: and what happened in episode 22 of R2]], the possibility ''is'' out there.
** Suzaku definitely counts, though. He's an all-around nice guy who just wants peace, but will destroy pretty much anyone who threatens to upset the current peace. After the Euphemia example above, it just gets worse, since he outright stops being nice.
* In ''{{Dangaioh}}'', an ex OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent and ShrinkingViolet is the leader of the group that pilots the huge SuperRobot that gives its name to the series. Why? Because Miya Alice is capable of unleashing ENORMOUS PsychicPowers once she's mad, frightened, or determined to fight and protect her partners: [[FragileSpeedster Roll]], [[BrokenBird Pai]] and [[ExtraordinarilyEmpoweredGirl Lamda]].
* Rika from ''KareKano'' for most part is a quiet, unassuming girl but when she was a kindergartener, Rika found out that Kyo, an older boy who usually looks after her, was getting picked on, she saved Kyo from the high school bully by [[spoiler: bashing him with a baseball bat. She really must have done a number on the guy, as she had blood splatter over her face]].
* In ''DigimonTamers'', Takato is the least HotBlooded out of all the goggle boys of the series. Guilmon was this by default ([[LetsGetDangerous naive, yet a powerful fighter]], [[PigeonholedVoiceActor voiced by Masako Nozawa]] -- [[DragonballZ remind you of anyone on this page?]]), but Takato [[UnstoppableRage snaps]] when [[spoiler:Beelzemon kills Leomon permanently]]...he was already not willing to forgive [[spoiler:Beelzemon]] right before that moment, [[DeadlyUpgrade but what happens next]] is reminiscent of ''[[DigimonAdventure Adventure]]''.
** Well, reminiscent... [[spoiler: Taichi forced Greymon to evolve into a mindless monster that attacked everything in sight due to hotblood. Takato made [=WarGrowlmon=] turn into the EMBODIMENT OF APOCALYPSE itself, whose mere existance was a hazard to the integrity of the world, and sent it to EAT his opponent.]]
* Chrono of ''ChronoCrusade'' is a CuteShotaroBoy that often gives speeches about ThePowerOfFriendship and behaves politely even to people that don't trust him because he's a demon. But he ''is'' a demon, and when his powers are unsealed he turns into his true form--a bishounen powerhouse with massive amounts of power. When his BerserkButton is pushed, he's been known to fly into UnstoppableRage fits with little thought to any collateral damage that may occur.
* Don't mess with [[TengenToppaGurrenLagann Simon the Digger]]. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_ls5IP-SCA Seriously, don't.]]
** Don't forget Nia! For the bulk of the series, she's just about the nicest, politest, most innocent character in the entire show. Until you find out she's actually [[spoiler:an Emissary of the Anti-Spirals, in charge of the extermination of Mankind.]]
* Played completely straight near the end of ''{{Inukami}}''. The local YamatoNadeshiko (appropriately named Nadeshiko) finally snaps when the BigBad of the series [[spoiler:kills her "master" and love interest, Kaoru, after leading him in a massive XanatosGambit designed solely to cause Kaoru to suffer utter despair.]] Nadeshiko prays to the Heavens for a power [[spoiler:that she gave up because of nearly killing an entire human village after losing herself in bloodlust]] and proceeds to wail on the BigBad for some time.
* ''{{Narutaru}}'' loves this trope, but the best example by far would have to be the local LonelyRichKid, Hiroko "Hiro-chan" Kaizuka. She's a quiet {{Ojou}} in sixth grade who is mercilessly bullied at school over her excellent grades, while at home her parents berate her whenever she gets anything less than a perfect score on any test (even though she's pressured by the bullies to do badly lest they torture her more). She tries enduring this abuse as best she can while remaining unconfrontational, but when the bullies [[CompleteMonster take their actions to]] ''[[CompleteMonster monstrous]]'' [[CompleteMonster degrees]] and her father tries cutting off her ties with her only friend... well, let's just say she puts her new [[{{Mon}} shadow dragon]] to ''very'' good use. [[ItGotWorse The results are messy, to say the least]].
* Currently being toyed with in ''DetectiveConan'' with Okiya Subaru, a friendly Sherlock Holmes-loving grad student living in Conan/Shinichi's house [[spoiler:who also gives Sherry the chills, which only happens around Black Organization members. Most likely it's just a "friends close, enemies closer" plan]].
** Conan's excuse for letting the fox-faced Subaru stay at his house: "A person who loves Sherlock Holmes ''couldn't possibly'' be evil!"
* StepfordSmiler Kafuka Fuura from ''SayonaraZetsuboSensei'' hides a bloodlust that makes those who are acutely aware of her cheerful facade mortally terrified of her. Her classmate Meru takes one look in Kafuka's eyes and is confident that one day, she will [[KillEmAll kill them all.]]
* ''{{Hitohira}}''. Beware of Nono when she's angry.
* [[MahouSenseiNegima Negi-sensei]] is a prime example. Normally the ten year-old teacher is kindly to the point of adorable, but in more recent manga chapters he has been a particularly ''awesome'' example of this trope. At one point, he finds that [[spoiler: three of his students have been enslaved, and one is being ''[[ChainOfCommand tortured by shock collars]]''. [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Negi gives exactly one warning, and prepares to beat the guy to a pulp]] when he chooses not to listen.]] In addition, his recent acceptance of [[spoiler: the [[BlackMagic power of darkness]]]] makes him so fearsome that even his ''students'' are uneasy.
** There's also an incident where Satsuki freaks out a couple of guys who try to start a fight in her restaurant.
** Another incident where a group of girls are playing KeepAway with Negi's ring/secondary wand in the bath. One of them grabs it and dashes across the water (it's a ''big'' bath) on magic shoes, leaping high into the air to get away. Tall, quiet Akira, who was helping Negi look for it, ''catches'' her in midair, hurls her into the water, then does the same to everyone else who was teasing him.
** Chapter 265. [[http://www.mangafox.com/manga/mahou_sensei_negima/c265/8.html HOLY SHIT]].
* Subaru from ''[[DotHack .hack//SIGN]]'' is about the most likeable character in the show. Then in comes the ''GIFT'' AffectionateParody {{OVA}} where she poleaxes Ginkan for disregarding her orders so brutally that CensorSteam is employed in the scene (implying that it wouldn't be appropriate even for 17+ audiences).
* Kurama of ''YuYuHakusho'' is generally polite to everybody else and arguably the nicest member of the cast... unless you piss him off [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas (threatening his mother is a good way to do that)]]. Then he will kill your ass in very brutal and bloody way that involves [[GreenThumb lots of pretty flowers.]] [[LotusEaterMachine Or]] [[FateWorseThanDeath worse.]]
** Hiei noted this in an early arc, saying that Kurama's [[TranquilFury calm mind allows his be as calculating and brutal as he wants]] without being distracted. He even says that, back when he was a PsychoForHire BigBad, he brought Kurama along as a partner to avoid gaining his ire in the future.
** [[spoiler:And in the dark tournament someone plays on his sympathy for an early lead and regresses his age back from his normal form all the way back to infancy and ''then'' to Yoko Kurama. Bad move there, buddy.]]
* Henrietta in ''GunslingerGirl'' is as cute as a button... until an assault on her beloved handler Giuseppe brings back subconscious memories of her own childhood trauma. Then she proceeds to kill everyone in sight.
* In ''AxisPowersHetalia'', Hungary, the cute young girl who was Austria's maid and later advisor before marrying him, will not hesitate to invoke her [[NinjaMaid massive fighting skills]] (which she acquired [[CuteBruiser when she was a pint-sized warrior girl]]) and maul you if you hurt her husband (Well, [[YaoiFangirl she might hesitate if you're a cute male and you're molesting him]]. And not ''always'', mind you. You're warned, France)
** And Lithuania? That nice guy? Quite a good spy and fighter who won't hesitate to put a knife to your neck if your threaten someone he cares for, specially his old friend Poland. You're warned, Prussia.
*** As a rule, ''everyone'' in the Baltic/Soviet region is a case of BewareTheNiceOnes. Even the ShrinkingViolet little brother of Lithuania, Latvia... Having a PsychopathicManchild as your boss leaves marks on you, indeed.
** As a child, [[spoiler: Italy]] at one point completely kicked Turkey's ass. Turkey's 'I really hate kids' says it all. [[http://i40.tinypic.com/29ol451.png Greece is amused.]]
** Let's not forget that, if you make the sweet {{Meganekko}} [[RomanticRunnerUp Canada]] lose his patience, you'll find yourself on the receiving end of an hilarious yet absolutely ''epic'' TheReasonYouSuckSpeech. If America couldn't get his brother off his back for ''three'' hours straight, then so won't you.
* Mitsukuni "Honey" Haninozuka from ''OuranHighSchoolHostClub'' is a short, [[HairOfGold blond]] cutie with a love of sweets and cute things, and is classified as the "[[{{Shotacon}} lolishota]] type" member of the club. [[OtakuSurrogate Renge]] cheerfully squeals about how he's so {{Moe}}. Harmless, right? [[KillerRabbit WRONG!]] Honey just happens to be [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass a black belt and heir to a family of VERY skilled martial artists]]. He's kicked the ass of grown soldiers twice his size, and strikes terror ''with a single look'' into the other hosts when they accidentally spill tea on his favorite stuffed rabbit.
** That's his dark side, Dark Honey.
* Nadeshiko Fujisaki of ''ShugoChara'' sweet, calm, polite, and all around pleasant...that is, unless, [[BerserkButton you happen to spark her character change]]. Note: [[spoiler: I know Nadeshiko is actually a boy but I don't want to spoil people who don't know this yet]]
* Shiho from ''ZettaiKarenChildren'' gets more and more aggressive tendencies as the series progresses--sometimes to sadistic levels. You ''really'' don't want her to use her telepathic abilities on you when she is in one of those moods.
** Episode 40 confirms that this applies to Minamoto as well. Piss him off and you risk ''[[spoiler: getting a bottle smashed against your skull]]'' or having him ''[[spoiler: remotely operate a giant drill vehicle and demolish the premises]]''.
* Haruka Minami from ''{{Minami-ke}}'' is actually the scariest character in the entire franchise... in addition to being a YamatoNadeshiko in development (and an OneeSama). She acts as a mother towards her two younger sisters. Remember how scared you got when you messed up & your mother lost her temper?
* Hotaru Tomoe in ''SailorMoon S'' is a nice, peaceful girl... who can beat the demons just by looking funny at them.
* ''GundamSEED'': Kira Yamato is generally a polite, soft-spoken person who [[WaterWorks cries easily]], and as TheMessiah, he's careful not to kill his enemies in combat, preferring to just disable their mobile suits, at least after he gets the [[MidSeasonUpgrade Freedom]]. However, when the BigBad [[ForTheEvulz needlessly]] [[StuffedIntoTheFridge kills]] his FallenPrincess ex-girlfriend Flay ''right in front of him'' (and right after they had just found each other, [[BreakTheHaughty after]] [[BreakTheCutie much misfortune]]), Kira chucks his [[ThouShaltNotKill "No Killing"]] rule out the window, resulting in a ''spectacular'' fight sequence that culminates with him ''ramming a beam saber through the villain's cockpit'' and leaving him in front of his KillSat as it fires.
**Another Gundam SEED example would be Miriallia Haw. As Gundam pilot Dearka Elsman finds out, Do Not make a snide remark to her when she's grieving and there is a sharp object nearby. You WILL regret it.
* [[FairyTail Mirajane.]] Read the most recent two chapters and... well, yeah...
* Fuyuki from ''KeroroGunsou'' fits this tropes.
* Cho Hakkai in ''{{Saiyuki}}'' is polite and quiet-spoken and generally the nicest of the protagonists... unless he's pushed too far. When he really lets loose, he terrifies even Goku.
* For the most part, [[FullmetalAlchemist Major Alex-Louis Armstrong]] is the epitome of a LargeHam GentleGiant. Emotionally scarred by the idea of killing civilians, always trying to give his opponents the chance of surrendering, had a ''terrible'' HeroicBSOD during the Massacre of Ishbal, etc... Then a homunculus goes and tries to kill his older sister. ''BAD'' idea.
** Also, do NOT piss off Alphonse "Al" Elric. Seriously, DON'T. If his older brother Ed can't beat him in a fight, you won't.
* GalaxyFrauleinYuna's title character: [[GenkiGirl sweet, bubbly]], loves making friends [[TheMessiah with everyone she meets]], whether they [[DefeatMeansFriendship started out hostile]] or not. If you value your continued existence, ''absolutely do not [[UnstoppableRage kill any of her friends]]''. Beating them up but letting them survive is apparently okay, but Genmu [[BerserkButton crossed the line]] and paid for it.
* Tsubaki from ''SoulEater'' is usually [[YamatoNadeshiko shy and humble]]. Thus, when she finally and truly stands up for herself in the fight against [[spoiler: her brother]], [[ActionGirl the result]] was pure [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome awesome]].
** Similarly, this series' personification of Death is not only a good guy, he's funny-looking and goofy -- [[spoiler:but that's just a form he uses to avoid scaring his students. ''Pity'' the villain who's dangerous enough to make Shinigami-sama go old-school.]]
** Same goes for Demon Hammer Marie Mjolnir, a lovely, sweet lady who is also known as the 'Crushing Weapon' for a reason. When confronting the murderer of BJ, [[spoiler: Justin Law, she reacts to the possibility of him harming her students by landing a punch on his chest so hard he's thrown into the air. This comes after Justin, having clearly forgotten what series he's in, points out that though he and Marie are both Death Scythes, she has only a "woman's power".]].
** Spirit, a decent, caring guy despite his faults shows hints of this, particularly when he loses his temper with Medusa. The rest of the time, he's fairly calm when he's not being silly around Maka.
* When it comes down to it, [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Yamamoto Takeshi]] from [[KatekyoHitmanReborn Katekyo Hitman Reborn]] definitely fits this. Put a [[SeriousBusiness baseball]] in his hands, or tell him to throw or hit something, expect him to get a serious samurai look and go absolutely all out on a simple game or task. Ask a poor, injured [[ButtMonkey Lambo]] who just wanted to play catch. Though... [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1tcAAMmCE8&fmt=18 This comes in handy sometimes.]]
* Gon from ''HunterXHunter''. Cute, lovable, Gon... don't hurt or threaten any of his Nakama. Seriously, don't. He's scarier than Killua when pissed.
* ''FruitsBasket'' has at least two examples, if not more. Kagura Souma is usually a cute, sweet girl with a cheerful disposition, but she actually shows her love for Kyou by beating him to a pulp on sight, especially if he refuses her advances. This frequently leads to Shigure's house being broken, and when they were both little kids apparently she got Kyou to propose to her by threatening him with a knife (or a big rock in the anime). Hatsuharu Souma is usually kind, if eccentric and a little out of it, but when he snaps, he turns into "Black Hatsuharu," a bloodthirsty version of himself with a whole lot of attitude. Both are not to be trifled with, and whatever you do, do NOT touch their love interests.
* Andromeda Shun of SaintSeiya is a TechnicalPacifist and is, on more than on occasion, called the kindest and gentlest of the five main Saints. He's the kind of guy who begs his enemies not to fight and lets them beat him within an inch of his life rather than fight a battle he doesn't believe in. That is, until you try to kill one of his friends. And lord help you if you're the bastard who [[Main/YouKilledMyFather murdered his teacher...]]
** This trope is also the hallmark of the various incarnations of Hades, God of Death, mortal rival to Athena, and the instigator of the various Holy Wars throughout history. [[spoiler: Andromeda Shun is the newest incarnation of Hades in Saint Seiya]]. Meanwhile, in the prequel series Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas, [[spoiler: a meek to a fault young boy named Alone is Hades' next vessel]]. [[spoiler: He is the best friend of the current Pegasus Saint, Tenma, as well as the current incarnation of Athena, Sasha]]. His first act upon his transformation to Hades is to burn down their home town and massacre everyone in it.
* In [[{{Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds}} Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's]], Carly Nagisa is a sweet, eccentric girl whose love of [[TheLancer The Lancer]] Jack Atlas is incredibly cute. However, [[spoiler: when she gets killed in a Psychic Duel trying to get information about the Arcadia Movement to help him, she turns into a Dark Signer]] and unleashes a certified, factory-sealed can of whoop-ass on [[spoiler: her murderer, Divine, for robbing her of a chance to be happy with Jack.]] This is done in a fashion that would be [[NightmareFuel Nightmare Fuel]] if the bastard didn't completely deserve it.
** Somehow, [[spoiler: Divine survives the whole thing,]] but still. 'Dang.'
* Kamijou Maki from HayateCrossBlade is perhaps the most notable example in her series. For almost 6 volumes, the readers hardly ever see her making an appearance for more than a couple of pages (which was even lampshaded in a side story), and when they do, she's portrayed as a whipped, mild-mannered, low-profile dork. [[IAmNotLeftHanded Then one opponent breaks her right arm]]. Her response? [[LetsGetDangerous "The judges can't stop me here. How lucky."]]
* Miu in KenichiTheMightiestDisciple. Normally she's very amiable and rather pacific, but if you [[spoiler:put all her friends on the verge of death? She ''snaps'' and can no longer recognize friend from foe and will kill anyone who gets in her way. Not that she actually managed to before Kenichi stopped her.]] Miu mentions offhandedly that one of the reasons her grandfather traveled with her as a child was probably to get her immense rage under control. [[spoiler:Possibly runs in the family, judging by her father.]]
*Rurouni Kenshin as Battousai.
**[[http://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-11664/LMouse+Unseelie.htm Vampiric Kenshin]]
*Seras Victoria from ''{{Hellsing}}'' seems to start off as a sort of a [[WideEyedIdealist Wide-Eyed Idealist]] until the Valentines' attack on the Hellsing base sends her into an [[UnstoppableRage Unstoppable Rage]] which you might think hails from her vampiric nature. However, a detailed look into Seras "Kitten" Victoria's back history reveals she's had a vicious temper as far back as her childhood in an orphanage when she brutalized a fellow orphan that was tormenting her, and that she's been actively keeping that violent part of herself in check since ''long before'' becoming a vampire.
*Yuuki Juudai from ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh GX}}''. Completely lovable guy who gets along with everyone, including people who have tried to kill him: right up until five of his best friends end up dead (or so he thought at the time). Cue {{Unstoppable Rage}} on Brron and the advent of Juudai's "if I have to be evil to stop evil, then I will be" philosophy.
* Anehara Misa from ''{{Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou}}'' is usually laid back and playful but is actually one of the most powerful modern-day magicians and deadly when serious.
* [[PokemonSpecial Yellow is everyone's friend.]] But if you threaten her forest in ''any way'', you will be thoroughly stomped on by her usually-normal Pokemon roster...boosted to the mid level-80's on good old Viridian ragepower. Good luck, you'll need it!
* [[{{Yu-Gi-Oh}} Yami Yugi]] was never that patient with his opponents, but at least he tried to take a kinder route to defeating them, even if they threatened his friends. However, when he lost the soul of his partner, and local JerkAss Insector Haga tricked him into believing he had torn up the card that held it during their duel on a train during the DOMA arc...well, let's just say that it's a good thing that duels are ''supposed'' to end when a player's life points hit 0.
** ThisTroper recalls more specifically the episode after that one when Yami Yugi "meets" Yugi's lost soul in a kind of cursed land - and Yugi forces him into a duel, all the while snapping accusations at the pharoah, and throwing Yami's earlier, cruel tractics right back at him. It was a being cruel to be kind-type situation, but the fact that Yugi could be that harsh ''at all'' was a shock to many fans.
* Sasame from ''{{Pretear}}'' is one of the kindest members of the Leafe Knights. He's always supportive towards [[MagicalGirl Himeno]], tries to be the voice of reason among the older knights and resolves fights...[[spoiler:And he's secretly in love with the DarkMagicalGirl. When he realizes that she can't turn from the dark side, he snaps, performs a FaceHeelTurn, and then tries to kill the other knights under her orders.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* Subverted at least twice in ''Comicbook/{{Superman}}'' comics (perhaps to be expected, featuring as it does the ultimate [[TheCape Nice Guy]]):
** An issue of ''{{Superman}}'' entitled 'What's So Funny About Truth, Justice and the American Way?' sees Superman challenged by a DarkerAndEdgier superteam who aren't afraid to kill and maim their enemies, and deride Superman as a moral weakling who's past it and afraid to deal with issues [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism 'properly']]. Eventually, challenging Superman to a fight, they pound and pound and seamingly break him -- but, in a completely unstoppable explosion of pure superhuman rage, he seemingly destroys and kills each one of them, and uses his X-ray vision to completely destroy the tumor in the head of his opponent that was giving him his powers. However, it's revealed that Superman was ''still'' holding back. Each member of the 'dark' team is alive and well (if somewhat battered) and the leader's powers still remain, and he has merely given them "a psychic concussion" -- because, as he explains to the leader, he wanted to give them a sense of what it felt to be powerless under such unstoppable brutality (namely, [[NotSoDifferent the feeling their victims had]] and a sense of what it would be like if he was ''actually'' like that). It wouldn't be pretty.
** A sequel to this story sees the leader of this team, in an attempt to yet again break Superman, apparently kill Lois Lane, and the issue follows an enraged Superman beating the leader to a pulp before killing him. However, in yet ''another'' subversion, it's revealed that this was [[IndulgentFantasySegue just a momentary fantasy]], and Superman, although enraged and grief-stricken, merely intends to arrest the leader and then mourn his wife. Astonished, the leader asks him why -- and Superman merely replies that neither beating nor killing him would bring Lois back, and would in fact shame her memory. Broken when he realizes that Superman is the genuine article, the leader reveals that Lois' death was merely an illusion.
* In an actual example, there's the Superman story "[[http://www.supermanhomepage.com/comics/pre-crisis-reviews/pre-crisis-mmrs-intro.php?topic=c-review-pc-sa11 For the Man Who Has Everything]]", in which Mongul traps Superman in a [[LotusEaterMachine Lotus Eater Dream]] of a Krypton that never blew up by means of an evil plant called the Black Mercy. The dream gradually turns into a nightmare as the Justice League battles Mongul, and when Batman finally frees him from the plant, Superman proceeds to [[UnstoppableRage unleash his rage in full upon Mongul]], including one memorable scene in which he blasts the tyrant with his heat-vision: "BURN."
** Probably the best Superman example was the famous "Death of Superman" arc. Losing to a monster that took out the entire Justice League with one hand tied behing its back, he comes to a grim decision. "To stop him I'll have to be as ruthless as he is." To which Lois replied with "But he wants to kill, and you CAN'T" also qualifies as a Last Stand, as he truly intended it to be a fight to the finish that would claim the lives of both combatants.
***Then there's AlanMoore 's SilverAge Superman swan song, 'Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow'. The alt-future adult Legion Of Super-Villains joins the attack on the historically-doomed Man Of Steel [[spoiler: killing the empowered Jimmy and Lana as they go.]] When Cosmic King taunts him to toss them Lois, so that [[spoiler: so that they can kill her like his 'other girlfriend']] his eyes burn red--the heat vision is a mirror of the pure rage on his face. He burns Lightning Lord's arm, and then, Saturn Queen reveals via telepathy [[spoiler: that he's not kidding, and means to kill them all.]] Their locked-in victory no longer certain, they beat a very hasty retreat to the future.
* In the second issue of John Byrne's ''AlphaFlight'', the 'til now sweet and innocent Marrina figures out she's an alien. Another of her teammates is still in hospital three issues later...
* In issue 42 of Marvel's "What If?" comic, we see an alternate universe where Susan Richards [[DeathByChildbirth perishes in childbirth]] due to actions by the villain Annihilus. Driven mad with grief, Reed Richards turns his considerable mental chops from creating gadgets to getting the most violent, terrible revenge he can. He proves to be a ''far'' deadlier unhinged genius than Doom ever was, and even causes [[TheLancer Namor]] to tell him to [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan calm the heck down]]. This being an out-of-continuity tale, it ''doesn't'' work.
** Reed isn't exactly a nice guy. Sure, the lesser of two evils but still far from nice.
*** Reed is or is not nice DependingOnTheWriter. As with many other characters who've existed for decades and gone through multiple creative teams. In the ''What If'' story referenced, he was definitely portrayed as a nice, decent man up to the point of Sue's death.
* Another from TheDCU: Plastic Man. Although he's normally the team clown, he can get... ''testy'', if pushed. In "The Obsidian Age", he helps the team recover from the psychological effects of time-travel with bad jokes. Then, when Rama Khan ''sets the Martian Manhunter on fire'', Plastic Man uses his own ductile body to choke the dude into unconsciousness ("You like burning? How about the burning on the inside on your lungs right now, like that?") and subsequent brain-damage.
**Not to mention the fact that he went toe-to-toe with Fernus The Burning after the baddie in question had already curb-stomped the entire Justice League. Yeah, it was due largely to the fact he was the only member of the team who was immune to Fernus' telepathy, but seeing the PluckyComicRelief putting the guy who just bitch smacked Superman in a headlock still sends shivers down my spine.
* In the ''[[AlternateUniverse House of M]]'' version of ''New X-Men: Academy X'', Laurie Collins (in the original series, something of a {{Woobie}}) [[spoiler:uses her power to make Quentin Quire commit suicide and then tries to make the opposing squads of New Mutants (her own squad) and Hellions kill each other. It turns out she is TheMole from SHIELD.]] This troper isn't sure if this is a subversion, or playing it straight, or just the writers having fun [[RoyallyScrewedUp royally screwing the characters up.]]
* Colossus from the ''{{X-Men}}'' is normally the team's GentleGiant, except for when Nightcrawler and Shadowcat are gravely injured by Riptide and Harpoon during the ''Mutant Massacre.'' On a single page that still gives this troper chills, Colossus snaps Riptide's neck and swears to do the same to Harpoon.
** This troper seems to remember that the incident was a little more like Colossus intentionally putting Riptide in the position of pretty much accidentally snapping his ''own'' neck, more or less...
*** Actually, in the next issue or two Colossus outright states that he snapped Riptide's neck and again vows to do the same to the other Marauders.
** Or in ''Days of future past'' when [[spoiler: Wolverine and Storm]] are killed. One panel focuses on Colossus' grief-striken face. The next panel shows us a sentinel getting thrown through a skyscraper.
* ''SpiderMan''. Oh sure, he's a little hot-headed and reckless at times, but for the most part he's a good guy. He's also one of the few superheroes who makes a rule of not killing and manages to be cool in spite (or even because) of it. But if you mess with him, and I mean ''really'' mess with him...well let's just say if Norman Osborn's glider hadn't made a Goblin Kabab out of him when he killed Gwen Stacy, Spidey's arm would have.
** And he became downright scary in Back In Black. I doubt Kingpin will ever mess with him again (Oh wait, that didn't happen now). And let's not forget the whole "throwing a Jeep through a wall at the sniper" thing.
*** And then there's the What If?: Back In Black issue. He beats the crap out of Iron Man (Multiple times) and murders Kingpin.
** At one point in the continuity-that-no-longer-exists, a sleazy tabloid photographer makes the completely untrue claim that Mary Jane's been having an affair with Tony Stark. Logan makes the stupid mistake of cracking sarcastic about MJ just after Peter's heard about the article. We get one panel of Peter looking extremely pissed, then the next panel, Luke Cage and Jessica Drew are looking at the hole in the supposedly unbreakable glass where he just pitched Wolverine through the plate window. Several stories up.
** Quick tip for villains - if Spider-Man is fighting you, make sure he's joking around. If he isn't, then congratulations -- you've succeeded in ''really'' pissing him off. You will now get your ass handed to you. ''Very'' painfully.
* Mrs. Jean Grey, also of the ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}''. Despite that she has an occasional temper and [[NeverLiveItDown she is most known for her]] [[HeroicSacrifice tragic sacrifice]] in the Dark Phoenix Saga, she is mostly a very compassionate and loving woman who cares for just about everyone around her. ''Mostly'' is the key word here as when she found out that RichBitch Emma Frost had a telepathic affair with her husband Scott, she broke into Emma's mind and [[MindRape humiliated her severely]]. Also, when a team of mutant organ harvesters known as the U-Men attacked the X-Mansion, she used her powers to [[HumiliationConga make them vomit and defecate in their suits]] before she tore them off and made them flee.
* Let's not forget ''SquirrelGirl''. Sweet disposition, friendly, a noticeable lack of Angst and apparently the loser in the SuperpowerLottery. She's taken down a wide swath of A-list villains.
* Clearbrook in ''ElfQuest'' is usually the calmest, most rational elf you could hope to meet, but after [[spoiler:her lifemate One-Eye]] is killed by trolls she briefly becomes a trollicidal berserker during the subsequent elf-troll war. Definitely not played for laughs, as the other elves know her rage could destroy her.
* Of all the YoungAvengers, shapeshifter [[TheBigGuy Hulkling]] is probably the sweetest, most polite guy on the team. But... [[BerserkButton don't hurt his boyfriend]]. They don't call him "Hulkling" just because he's ''green''.
* There was once [[ThePunisher this really nice guy,]] who had finally come back from the Vietnam War and just wanted to spend it with his family. He was an ordinary retired Marine, who loved his wife and two children wholeheartedly. Then, he took them to a picnic in Central Park....
* DCU's Miss Martian. M'gann is notoriously sweet, charming and really just the kind of person that likes cute puppies, however [[spoiler:she is actually a member of the stupefyingly powerful [[AlwaysChaoticEvil White Martian]] race, and although she isn't a bad guy in the slightest whether or not she'll [[InTheBlood succumb to her baser instincts]] is always up for debate. In later issues she fights and then merges with an evil future version of herself who apparently committed and instigated such unspeakable crimes against humanity that the entire White Martian race was captured and enslaved because of her.]]
** M'gann's teammate Kid Devil is also one to beware. While Eddie projects the image of a loveable loser, he hides a lot of anger from constantly being underestimated by villains and his peers. In one instance, while drugged up by the Dark Side Club and thrown into a death match with Hardrock (a teenage Thing), he's beaten to the point that he suddenly loses it, turns the fight around in just a few punches, and almost kills Hardrock by ripping his jaw off. It takes Miss Martian to talk him out of it, reminding him that he's a good guy. The second instance comes when Eddie and Blue Beetle are tracking down supervillain Shockwave, whom had mockingly called Eddie Beast Boy the first time they fought. They split up to look for Shockwave, but he's in the wrong city. Upon finding out, Eddie loses his temper, furious that he's been upstaged by Beetle yet again. In his rage, he creates a portal for the first time and teleports to Salt Lake City to viciously beat up the villain and melt his armor.
*From all the members of the Batfamily you wouldn't expect Nightwing to be the baddest but he has proven he is.Just ask Blockbuster.He also beat the Joker to death(of course he is later revived).
* Dr. Magnus, creator of the DCU's ''MetalMen'', is normally a fairly timid guy. As [[FiftyTwo 52]] showed us, though, [[spoiler:after being kidnapped, forced to recreate the [[CompleteMonster Plutonium Man]], pushed to the breaking point by Chang Tzu, and deprived of his medication, he battles, and defeats, a member of the Great Ten with nothing but a group of makeshift six-inch Metal Men and a particle wave weapon. He even frightens off other {{Mad Scientist}}s, after they had previously been almost eager to confront the JSA.]] As he puts it: [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome "I DO CRAZY THINGS WITHOUT MY MEDS!"]]
** There's also Tin. Tin is a shy, meek little milquetoast with a pronounced stammer and a very slight physique. However, he's got something to prove and is repeatedly shown to actually be the bravest of the Metal Men when it comes down to it. Also, ''he will fuck you up'' given half a chance and proper motivation.
* [[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk Bruce Banner]] is usually a pretty nice guy. Just don't get him angry. [[YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry You won't like him when he's angry]].
** Bruce Banner himself isn't exactly helpless either. WordOfGod confirms that his intelligence is on par with [[IronMan Tony Stark]] or [[FantasticFour Reed Richards]]; he's been able to avoid the authorities countless times and was able to hold his own in a few fights without turning into the Hulk. If you are [[TooDumbToLive dumb enough]] to piss him off, [[HulkingOut he]] [[UnstoppableRage WILL]] [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge smash]] [[CurbStompBattle you.]]
* Wedge Antilles is a self-possessed heroic AcePilot who is about as NeutralGood as you can get. He's got ''far'' less of a temper than most of his pilots, is loyal to his friends, and is [[EasilyForgiven unusually welcoming]] of people who have defected to his side from the Empire. But in ''[[XWingSeries Mandatory Retirement]]'', one of his pilots died rescuing a high-ranking Imperial defector. Said defector objected to being transported in the same shuttle as "animal filth"(the dead Rogue [[FantasticRacism happened to be nonhuman]]). Wedge responded by grabbing the man by the collar, doing a two-handed NeckLift, and saying "[[ParentheticalSwearing Don't make me go Vader on you]]. Ibitsam was a pilot and a friend and she died to save your sorry hide."
** Oh, also... don't be the man who [[YouKilledMyFather caused his parents' deaths]] and then taunted him about it. Yikes.
** Summed up quite nicely by Commander Rootrock on New Plympto in the ''StarWars Clone Wars'' comics, referring to the Jedi:
-->"He begged them to surrender...to allow him to be merciful. They refused. [[CurbStompBattle The fight lasted four seconds.]]"
* Sam, from ''SamAndMaxFreelancePolice''. He's that scary when he gets angry that, ironically, [[HeroicSociopath Max]] has to calm him down.
* Lahr the Gelfling from the ''{{The Dark Crystal}}'' prequel manga. He starts the story as a laidback shepherd. Then [[spoiler: [[EliteMook Garthim]] [[DoomedHometown destroy his village]], kidnap all of his friends and family, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking break his flute]].]] Lahr reacts by [[spoiler: stabbing a Garthim to death with the broken flute and [[http://chibimaryn.deviantart.com/art/Chapter-Break-1-63315665 wields the flute like a sword for the rest of the book]]]] He later helps convince a nearby Gelfling village to take up arms against a Garthim swarm. This when Gelflings were an artistically inclined, peaceful race who had believed Garthim to be indestructible.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film ]]
* Shaun in ''ShaunOfTheDead'', whilst not exactly sweet and gentle, is almost supernaturally willing to put up with the slobby, selfish and lazy behaviour of his best friend Ed, and will defend Ed to anyone who criticises Ed for these qualities. Then, Shaun has an epiphany, the Dead rise and start to claim the Earth, and Ed makes the mistake of pushing Shaun's tolerance of his self-centred and increasingly reckless behaviour a little too far when he takes a trivial phone call on his mobile and puts everyone at risk:
-->'''Shaun''': What you doing, you stupid moron?
-->'''Ed''': Fuck off!
-->'''Shaun''': You fuck off! ''Fuck'' fucking off! I've spent my whole life sticking my neck out for you, and all you ever do is fuck things up! Fuck things up and make ''me'' look stupid! Well, I'm not going to put up with it anymore, okay?! ''Not today!''
* In a similar vein, [[ViewAskewniverse Silent Bob]], of the various movies made by Kevin Smith, finally reaches his limit for Jay's abuse and idiocy and ''yells'' at Jay. Though the explosion is short-lived, it is the only time Silent Bob raises his voice.
-->'''Silent Bob''': THE '''SIGN'''! ON THE BACK OF THE CAR! SAID "''[[ThisIsSparta CRITTERS!]]'' ''[[ThisIsSparta OF]]'' '''''[[ThisIsSparta HOL-LY-WOOD]]'''''"!!! YOU DUMB '''FUCK'''!!!
** This example is also one of the few times that we see Jay -- who never stops crudely mouthing off and throwing his weight around -- shocked into meek compliance.
** Similarly, whenever there is fighting to be done in ''Dogma'', Silent Bob is in the thick of it. He knocks out the Golgothan with his trusty deodorant spray, and throws both Bartleby and Loki from the commuter train.
*** "[[ShoutOut No]] [[IndianaJones ticket]]." Hee...
* Yoda, when [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome facing a Sith Lord]] in ''StarWars: The Clone Wars''.
** Speaking of Star Wars, remember that sweet kid Anakin in Episode I? Whatever happened to him?
*** He was [[HeroicBSOD broken]] by the sheer badness of the movies he was in.
** And in the original and far better trilogy, Luke is trying to fight Vader calmly and peacefully. Until Vader threatens to corrupt [[BerserkButton Leia]]. Luke promptly removes Vader's hands.
* In ''SkyHigh'', Leila refuses to use her plant-control powers for violence, even when being taunted by the self-replicating cheerleader Penny - until Penny slaps her.
* ''[[RepoTheGeneticOpera Repo! The Genetic Opera]]'' has Nathan Wallace, a sweet, loving, gentle, somewhat campy man who dotes on his daughter, [[IllGirl Shilo]]. He also happens to be a [[PsychoForHire Repo Man]]. [[spoiler:In 'Let The Monster Rise', when he realises that Rotti has stolen Shilo from him, he completely snaps. It ain't pretty]].
* ''{{Gremlins}} 2: The New Batch''. Gizmo, tired of the Gremlins abusing his gentle nature, fashions a flaming arrow out of office materials and burns Spider Mohawk alive.
--->'''Murray Futterman''': What happened to him?
--->'''Billy''': I don't know. I guess they pushed him too far.
* At the beginning of ''Film/DeathWish'', Paul Kersey is a kind, patient man who loves his wife and daughter. A conscientious objector, he served in the Korean War as a battlefield medic, and currently makes his living as an architect in New York. One day, his home is broken into by three men who rape his daughter and kill his wife. Kersey goes to town on the local criminal scum, killing eleven men before being told by the police to leave town. But it seems there are still thieves and murderers in Chicago...
* John Candy had moments like this in his movies sometimes.
* Pretty much the entire plot of ''{{Carrie}}''.
* Optimus Prime in ''Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen''. Sure, he's Optimus Prime, who willingly takes orders from humans, and would like nothing more than to find a diplomatic solution to the war that wouldn't mean killing any more of his kind, but let us not forget that he's supposed to be the single greatest Autobot warrior of all time. Don't believe me? In ''Revenge'', he [[spoiler:fights Megatron, Starscream and Grindor, all at the same time. To a standstill. And kills Grindor. And comes close to killing Starscream before getting backstabbed by Megatron.]]

* The 1960 Japanese film ''Yoshiwara: The Pleasure Quarter'', directed by Tomu Uchida, can best be described as, "Picture ''The Blue Angel'' if it had ended with Emil Jannings taking a samurai sword and going medieval on Marlene Dietrich's ass."
* In the first ''Transporter'', Frank Martin completes a delivery, then is asked to carry another package .. which blows up his car at a chance moment he's not driving it. UnstoppableRage ensues. Also CurbStompBattle.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature]]
* ''{{Discworld}}'' has:
** Magrat Garlick, "the nice one" of the main witches of Lancre, a kind, romantic GranolaGirl who just wants to help people and who seems used to being treated as a doormat and a wet hen. She's also demonstrated a willingness [[MamaBear to fight viciously if pushed too far]] (witness what she does to the "Sisters" in ''[[Discworld/WitchesAbroad Witches Abroad]]'', or the elves in ''[[Discworld/LordsAndLadies Lords and Ladies]]'').
*** She's like a small, furry animal. "And the trouble with small furry animals in a corner is that, just occasionally, one of them's a mongoose."
** Though not as obvious as Magrat, Nanny Ogg is definitely someone you don't want to piss off. Contrast to Granny Weatherwax, Nanny is the nicest person you're likely to meet([[EvilMatriarch unless you're one of her daughter-in-laws]]), but pushing her is a very bad idea, evidenced by her threatening the Elf king.
*** "A mind like a buzzsaw behind a face like an old apple. She may actually be more powerful than Granny."
** Heck, for that matter, Granny Weatherwax is a semi-example. She's not exactly what you would picture when you think "nice" but what you see ''is'' her nice side. You don't want to see her when she's being mean.
*** Lest we forget what she does to the would-be-robbers in Maskerade, there is nothing more terrifying than Granny Weatherwax about to do ''what is right''.
** There's also a rare male example of this trope in Carrot Ironfoundersson, a six-foot-six tall dwarf (adopted human, of course). [[TheCape He is perfectly kind, lawful, and incorruptible in a city that is far from any of the above, always sees the bright side of things, and is friendly to everyone he meets]]. He can convince bloodthirsty desert tribesmen ''not'' to charge (or, as one who knows said tribesmen says, "Make water run uphill"), get rival street gangs to play football, and have a friendly chat with a dictatorial if cultured tyrant. He's also strong and skilled enough to fight hand-to-hand with an alpha male werewolf and survive (in ''[[Discworld/TheFifthElephant The Fifth Elephant]]''), has a punch that will knock out a troll (those are guys made of solid rock, for those keeping score), and along with having a sword sharp and strong enough to do it, push a sword through a stone pillar like a knife through butter (in ''[[Discworld/MenAtArms Men At Arms]]''). It is ''not'' a good idea to give him a reason to take the gloves off, as the man standing between Carrot and said pillar found out.
*** Oddly enough, Carrot also ''subverts'' the trope by his buttons not being pushable by most personal methods. When his girlfriend/lover/person-with-whom-he-has-an-Understanding is kidnapped (in ''[[Discworld/{{Jingo}} Jingo]]'') and skips town (in ''[[Discworld/TheFifthElephant The Fifth Elephant]]''), he ''informs the proper authority before trying to go after her''. This is because he believes with all his heart that personal is not the same as important.
*** I'd say this makes him MORE dangerous. How many heroes have been dissuaded from doing in the bad guy by a convenient personal appeal?
*** Remember, Boys and Girls; ''"If you have to look along the shaft of an arrow from the wrong end, if a man has you at his mercy, then hope like hell that man is an evil man. Because the evil like power, power over people, and they want to see you in fear. They want you to know you are going to die. So they'll talk. They'll gloat ... A good man will kill you with hardly a word."''
*** At one point Angua asks him if he'd kill her if she'd let her werewolf instincts get the better of her. He ponders the question and replies that yes, he would. It was the answer she wanted to hear, though.
*** Carrot is also scary for one very particular reason: There is exactly one scene, lasting all of a single page, which is written from his point of view. That nobody knows what he's really thinking is an important part of his overall character.
**And Mort in ''[[Discworld/{{Mort}} Mort]]''. Death's controlling ways and preference for ''extreme'' consequences causes him to challenge the [[GrimReaper Grim Reaper]] himself in one-on-one combat. "My name is Mort, you bastard!"
* The angel Aziraphale of ''GoodOmens''. Members of TheMafia that threaten his bookstore are never heard from again.
* StephenKing's ''{{Carrie}}'', who on top of all the abuse heaped on her [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer at school]] and [[AbusiveParents by her mother]], has [[BreakTheCutie one too many things go wrong]] on prom night, and thus goes on a killing spree.
** Stephen King excels at this trope; ''{{Cujo}}'' was another example, and Jack Torrance (though he did have a history) in ''TheShining''.
*** Not movie Torrance, though. We all know he was [[AxCrazy crazy from the start]]. He's played by Jack Nicholson, that should be a warning sign.
*** And let's not forget Jake of the ''DarkTower'' series. A nice normal little kid - but capable of being as ruthlessly efficient a killing machine as any other Gunslinger when necessary.
* Near the end of ''[[ASongOfIceAndFire A Storm of Swords]]'', Tyrion Lannister finds out that his horribly abused first wife Tysha, who he thought was a prostitute, actually loved him. This is the last straw, and he swears vengeance on his family [[spoiler:and kills his father (on the privy, no less) along with his former concubine (who had humiliated him during a show trial). *And* he tells his older brother Jaime that sooner or later he'll kill him too, for obeying their dad's orders of following the charade]].
** And let's not forget CuteBruiser Arya Stark. Remember, the precocious little tomboy who just wanted to be treated equally with her brothers? Yay, you do not want to fuck with her, especially after she starts going ''[[ArcWords valar morghulis]]'' on anyone who gets in her way.
** And Arya's older sister, WideEyedIdealist Sansa. As of book four, [[spoiler: she's currently taking [[MagnificentBastard Magnificent Bitch]] lessons from none other than [[BigBad Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish]] himself]].
* ''HarryPotter and the Deathly Hallows'' has at least one lovely example of this. Molly Weasley is normally a pretty sweet-natured lady. However, [[spoiler:make the mistake of threatening her baby girl, as Bellatrix Lestrange did, and [[MamaBear you'd better hope your life insurance policy is up to date.]]]]
** Personally, this troper considers the bit in Order of the Phoenix where Harry is this close to hexing Dudley into oblivion to be a BNO. In the previous books, he just sort of takes everything in stride, but after he witnessed Voldemort's return, it was kind of like all bets were off...
** And Hermione Granger. Good Lord, [[WomanScorned Hermione Granger]]. Nerds are scary when they angry. Her list including: [[spoiler:punching Malfoy straight in the face, scare the shit out Weasley twins, putting Rita Skeeter under her thumb.]]
*** Keep in mind, her method of scaring the Weasley twins was threatening to tell their mother what they were up to.
* Edmond Dantes from ''TheCountOfMonteCristo''.
** To elaborate, Edmond was a guy who had everything going for him, then lost ''everything'' thanks to being screwed over by whom he thought were his friends. What ensues is a gigantic XanatosGambit to take revenge on every last one of them and their families.
* In ''{{The Dresden Files}}'' book Summer Knight, [[spoiler: the faerie Aurora, the Lady of the Summer Court (which is generally much, much nicer than its counterpart the Winter Court), gets so sick of seeing the suffering caused by the continual war between the two Courts that she kills Summer's human Knight (their emissiary to the mortal world), stores his power in a changeling girl, turns said girl into a statue, and plans to sacrifice the girl in order to transfer the power to Winter, tipping the balance of power in Winter's favor and causing the end of the world as we know it.]]
** In the same book, Changeling Fix [[spoiler:beats the crap out of the Winter Knight Lloyd Slate with a wrench after he mortally wounds Meryl.]]
*** And now Fix [[spoiler:is the new Summer Knight, with the powers that come with the office.]]
** Don't forget Ivy. A child with all the accumulated knowledge of the ''entire'' human race, and more then enough magic to back it up. [[spoiler:She effortlessly kills fallen angels while being carried by Harry in Small Favors, her magical prowess allowing her to fight multiple fallen angels ''at once''.]]
** For that matter, Harry Dresden himself can be considered one of these. He comes off as cheerfully geeky, quoting comics and movies in the middle of dangerous situations, which sometimes leads people to forget he's a damn decent wizard in his own right.
* In the first book of Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts's ''Empire Trilogy'', the basically sweet and gentle Mara, who has had the position of ruler thrust upon her, marries a young man who [[spoiler:starts abusing her on their wedding night. In response, she [[MagnificentBastard manipulates him]] into a position where he's forced to commit ritual suicide]].
** Heck, messing with Lady Mara is generally a VERY bad idea. Consider the way she snaps in ''Mistress of the Empire'', when she [[spoiler: has her spymaster eradicate an entire order of assassins because they killed her son, another not-yet-born child of hers and very nearly herself.]]
* ''HonorHarrington'' in the eponymous series. Even though warfare is her business, when she's ''not'' doing that, she pours her personal resources into public and charitable works. She'll even [[{{TheStoic}} take it]] when abuse gets heaped on her head. But harm somebody she considers to be [[{{MamaBear}} under her protection]], and you unleash an UnstoppableRage that ''will'' [[{{Determinator}} run you to the ground]].
* The nicest character in the ''WheelOfTime'' is Perrin Aybara, a henpecked husband, thats basically his wife's bitch. In one memorable scene after [[spoiler:his wife has been kidnapped]] he chops off an Aiel's hand, orders an Aes Sedai to heal the stump, and then tells the Aiel that unless he talks Perrin will cut off his other hand and his feet, and then dump him into a town, so the Aiel can beg for a living. Then he walks away.
** The Ogier are an entire race of nice guys (on the main continent, at least). The saying 'To anger an Ogier and to pull a mountain over your head' is thought to refer to two impossibilities. Events show that it might have originally read 'To anger an Ogier ''is'' to pull a mountain over your head.'
* The ''BetsyTheVampireQueen'' series gives us Laura, daughter of Satan and one of the nicest people you could meet, since she's trying to be an AntiAntiChrist. Problem is, when she gets mad, she breaks out a sword of hellfire and slaughters everything in the area. Those instincts are a ''bitch'' to keep restrained.
* More of a "Nice Civilization" than "Nice Person", ''TheCulture'', the society in Iain M. Banks' series of novels, makes a point of being morally and ethically spotless, considers it their mission to find and improve the lives of "lesser species" and likes to ensure its denizens live happy and carefree. When you threaten this mission, they ''will'' go to war, and you will ''lose''.
** Not only that, but the Culture is basically a civilisation of space hippies, whose [[PlanetOfHats Hat]] is "Make love, not war": they are so reluctant to go to war that it takes years long debate among its 30.000+ ''billions'' citizen to makes the Culture go to war. When the [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Idiran Empire]] crossed the line in ''Consider Phlebas'', the war that followed cause the destruction of more that 14,000 space colonies, the death of over 850 ''billion'' intelligent beings, and the destruction of more than 50 [[EarthShatteringKaboom planets]] and 6 ''stars'': When you encounter space hippies, remember to be polite, courteous, and do not accuse them of being a threat to your way of life: if pissed off, they will blow up your [[ApocalypseHow home solar system]]. They may be softly spoken, but they carry ''really'' big sticks.
*** Stick here being translated as the ability to reduce whatever patch of existence it's being fired at into absolute nothingness. Oh, and every single one of their warships is capable of reducing an entire world to slag, ...on their own....
** Lampshaded in that one of their spaceships is actually named ''I said, I've got a big stick'' ([[StealthPun which is supposed to be spoken ''softly''...]])
** There's the saying, quoted in several books "Do Not Fuck With The Culture." This is proved rather horrifically in ''Look to Windward''.
* The Mord Sith in the ''Sword of Truth'' series are the kindest, gentlest and most sensitive girls that can be found. They make the best torturers once they've been [[BreakTheCutie broken]], because the greatest cruelty comes from the greatest kindness.
* In the book ''The Last Knight'', Sir Michael is constantly honest, chivalrous and idealistic, much to his streetwise squire Fisk's disgust. But after Michael has spent a few weeks in a dungeon being force-fed experimental potions, even Fisk notes that he "preferred the crazy Sir Michael to the ruthless one."
* Cassie from the ''{{Animorphs}}'' series. Sure, she might be in a war, but only reluctantly (and she's usually the one pushing for 'plans other than kill them all'). But if you piss her off, heaven help you. Just ask Davis, who made the mistake of [[BerserkButton calling her the n-word]] - whereupon she ''[[CrowningMomentofAwesome turned into a polar bear and pinned him to a wall]]''.
** She also suggested David's FateWorseThanDeath, being {{Mode Lock}}ed as a rat and stranded on a small island.
** Likewise the Chee - immensely strong androids, and hard-wired pacifists. Except the one time Erek was freed from that part of his programming, and proceeded to wipe out an entire strike force single-handed. It's mentioned at some point that he did more damage in one or two hours than the Animorphs themselves did in months of missions.
** And the Hork-Bajir are BewareTheNiceOnes writ large: an entire race of peaceful, not-very-smart herbivores that are covered in blades so that they could strip bark from trees. The Yeerks happened to think they would make excellent shock troops, and Aldrea, the lone Andalite on their planet, encouraged them to fight back, instigating a very long, bloody war. They lost that one, but the Hork-Bajir who escaped have "Free or dead!" as their motto, and have become very willing to fight and kill to protect what they have, as Dak Hamee sadly observed.
* Two notable examples within [[http://thelonelywinds.com/library.php The Lonely Winds ]]: George Manor and Nails. Nails, while generally laid-back, gentle and amiable in spite of his nickname, has had several instances of hitting a berserk button when he sees others being hurt or abused, up to and including a CrowningMomentOfAwesome. George, [[TheDumbledore the ordinarily loopy and silly-seeming mentor]], has on occasion been observed to break bones and in one instance [[spoiler: to ''immolate an opponent with magic'']] when his charges or other innocents are threatened or hurt.
* In the WhateleyUniverse, Jade Sinclair (Generator) qualifies. Normally the cute, shy, wacky 'little sister' figure, when she's [[BreakTheCutie pushed too hard]] one day, and then attacked by Bloodwolf (an avatar of the werewolf spirit) and two fellow Ultraviolents, she snaps. Bloodwolf ends up nailed to a tree. ''With railroad spikes.''
** Lately she seems to be actively considering a potential career as the Psycho Babysitter From Hell -- perfectly harmless to her future charges, but woe to whoever thinks to threaten them.
** It bears mentioning that, of those among her circle of friends who have killed other people (which include a terrifyingly powerful mage, a girl who wields a sword that can cut through anything, a soul-eating demon and ''[[PersonOfMassDestruction Tennyo The Motherfucking Destroyer]]''), Jade's kill count exceeds the rest ''combined'' by a factor of four. At the very least.
** Speaking of which, Tennyo herself is a very kind, if somewhat somber, person who spends a lot of time worrying about accidentally hurting others with her powers. Considering how powerful she is, she has good reason to worry, so it is generally considered a ''very'' bad idea to give her a reason not to care about this.
**In fact, let's put the entirety of Team Kimba, plus Carmilla, on the list.
* [[TheBible The New Testament]] has Jesus, who is willing to forgive all the sins of humanity. But, when you reject God, turn the temple into a black market bazaar, and in this way prevent believers from worshipping God...I'd say "God help you," but I doubt He will.
** Even this atheist troper thinks that was [[{{Take a Level in Badass}} taking a level in badass]]
* The book series ''[[MurphysLore Murphy's Lore]]'' takes place in a supernatural pub. The owner of said establishment is a kindly leprechaun named Padriac Moran, or Paddy for short. Normally, he's wise, gentle, and refuses to kill anything, including undead, because all life is sacred in his eyes. However, if you were to, say, [[spoiler:desecrate the memory of his dead wife on the anniversary of her death, which the devil unwisely chose to do, at which point he will have enough alcohol in him to pickle a sperm whale]], you will probably find yourself getting crushed as Paddy makes the floor beneath you turn into a mouth and bite you.
* [[TamoraPierce Daine]] is a nice young girl from the mountains with frizzy hair and a good hand with animals. Then tell her [[spoiler:that her beloved teacher is murdered. She'll reanimate dinosaur fossils, tear down a palace, specifically destroy tax rolls and imperial records to make the damage ''last'', and get the entire nation's rats to infest the ruins for a year and a day.]] In the next book, when she finally corners the man responsible, [[spoiler:not that Numair actually died, but still: She goes after him [[FullFrontalAssault buck-ass naked with a badger claw]] and ''tears his throat out''.]]
* [[spoiler:[[WarriorCats Ashfur]]]] began literary life as a sweet, shy young apprentice. Then he became the series' most shining example of BreakTheCutie, when [[spoiler:his best friend is abducted by humans (though only temporarily), his mother is brutally murdered, his father (if you believe the family trees) is killed in battle, he loses the love of his life to the son of the cat that killed his mom, and finally is forced to mentor their kit.]] He'd always been sweet, gentle, and friendly, but then in Book 5 of the Third Series, he [[spoiler:goes insane and tries to kill all three main characters, one of which is his own apprentice]]. No wonder his fangirls were upset.
* The Scolosaurus in ''[[TheFantasticFlyingJourney The Fantastic Dinosaur Adventure]]'' is extremely timid and terrified of humans, but when he is cornered by the Tyrannosaurus, he loses his temper. The results are rather bloody.
* In Agatha Christie's {{Literature/And Then There Were None}}, Vera Claythorne appears to be a [[NaiveEverygirl very sweet, sensible person]]... at first. [[spoiler: And if you're not scared by the fact that [[{{Yandere}} she killed her former pupil so her lover could inherit the child's estate]] four years before the events of the novel, just wait and see what [[MindRape four days of psychological torture]] does to her...]]
* In the ''[[NightsDawn Night's Dawn]]'' trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton, the always polite and civilised Edenists go to great lengths to avoid killing, but when Al Capone sends a force to conquer a nearby Edenist habitat it gets wiped out. To the man.
* David Eddings seems to enjoy this one. Belgarion is a generally nice guy who tries to do the right thing, and if you go after his family or murder some farmers, "the right thing" tends to involve you, his {{BFS}}, and a demonstration of why he's allowed to put "Godslayer" on his official letterhead. Polgara has spent most of her life as a doctor and taking care of children, but can give you a matinee of your worst nightmare or turn you into a snake, and she isn't afraid to ShootTheDog. But for the gold, there's Aphrael and Sephrenia in ''The Tamuli'': upon learning that [[spoiler: Zalasta had been plotting to kill Aphrael for several centuries]], Aphrael begins planning to eat his heart, and Sephrenia enjoys breaking his spells (which hurts, oh sweet Edeamus it hurts) just a bit too much.
* [[EndersGame Ender Wiggin]] isn't "a sweet little kid", he's "even sweeter". He "doesn't want to hurt anyone." He loves everyone he meets the way they love themselves. And if he determines someone should no longer be able to cause harm, he makes sure that someone will ''never'' be a threat, ''ever''. [[spoiler:[[{{understatement}} He wasn't called the Xenocide, in the following novels, because he was the Formics' drinking buddy during the first book, after all]].]]
* The [[CharacterTitle titular society]] of the FreeholdWar series. Basically TheCulture when it was a kid. [[LovableSexManiac Sex-crazed]] [[EverythingsBetterOnDrugs stoner]] [[LifeOfTheParty party animals]], the lot of them, and they always have room for company. And if you [[StopHavingFunGuy have enough a problem with that]] to invade their planet over it, they will [[KillSat blast]], [[ColonyDrop bomb]] and [[PersonOfMassDestruction terrorize]] ''yours'' back to the Stone Age.
*''TheDarkElfTrilogy'' has Drizzt Do'Urden, who at first is depicted as the WideEyedIdealist with a [[FriendToAllLivingThings heart of gold]]. His enemies make the unfortunate mistake of assuming that he's weak and wind up having the living shit being beaten out of him in one of his biggest {{Unstoppable Rage}}s in the history of dark elves. Oh yeah, did I mention that he's ''completely outnumbered and severely injured'' in most of these battles?
* This is one of JRR Tolkien's favorite tropes.
* Talia of Sensholding, [[HeraldsOfValdemar Royal Advisor/Confidant/Babysitter]] and generally softhearted little YamatoNadeshiko sort complete with empathic powers. Sure she has had some self-defence training as a Herald, but one would think that her [[CoolHorse Companion]] is a bigger threat than she is, right? Well, those who have pushed her too far would be glad to inform you otherwise... [[MindRape if they stop screaming long enough]].
* Kaitlynn in ''Privilege'' seems to be a Nice Girl, to the point where Ariana swears revenge on the girl who framed her...but when she fails to get her hands on the girl's inheritance, Kaitlynn snaps and reveals her true form: [[spoiler: she was guilty after all, and is in fact quite the vicious little cold-blooded killer.]] She then becomes [[spoiler: the series antagonist]].
* Mendoza from TheCompanyNovels, left to her own devices, is a quiet botanist. Give her a love interest, and she turns spy. Kill him, and suddenly she starts throwing human heads around.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* Willow's transformation from meek geek to BigBad in ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' after Tara's murder. Her evil CatchPhrase is "Bored now," and you had better keep your head down. [[spoiler:Warren, Tara's killer, gets ''flayed'' soon after she speaks said phrase -- and that's after she does some ColdBloodedTorture on him with the bullet used to kill Tara]].
** They foreshadowed this quite a bit earlier, when Glory dared to mess with her girlfriend. It's almost a prequel of the later incident -- Willow gets [[GlowingEyesOfDoom Scary Obsidian Eyes]] and tries her very best to ''kill'' the attacker. The only differences are the PowerLevels on both sides and this little exchange:
--->'''Glory:''' What's this? Bag of tricks?
--->'''Willow:''' ''Bag of knives''.
** And they foreshadowed it even earlier, back in Season Three, in the episode "Dopplegangland", when we see that the vampire Willow is sadistic, kinky, and bisexual. When Willow complains, "I'm so evil, and skanky... And I think I'm kind of gay!", then Buffy has to shut up Angel when he's about to explain that yes, the character of vampires really does reflect that of their inner selves. And indeed, Willow eventually becomes everything that she observed about Vampire Willow.
** In a GenreSavvy moment, ex-demon Anya saw it coming:
--->'''Buffy:''' But I think she'll be fine. You know, it's Willow, she of the level head.
--->'''Anya:''' Well, those are the ones you have to watch out for the most. Responsible types.
--->'''Buffy:''' Right. She might go crazy and start alphabetizing everything.
--->'''Anya:''' Responsible people are always so concerned about being good all the time that when they finally get a taste of being bad, they can't get enough.
** During Season Four, shortly after Willow's first BreakTheCutie moment when Oz leaves, Riley asks her for help courting Buffy. After he charms her into becoming his accomplice, she coaches Riley in detail at a party, ending with "and remember, if you hurt her, I will beat you to death with a shovel. A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend. Have fun!"
** From the same 'verse, an ''{{Angel}}'' example: Fred was sweet, gentle, and just generally the nicest gal on the team. But on two occasions, she had her inner badass released and it was not pretty: In "Deep Down" she goes wacky on Connor with a taser when she discovers his complicity in [[spoiler: Angel being sent to the bottom of the ocean]] and then, upon discovering in "Supersymmetry" that [[spoiler: her physics professor sent her to Pylea]], she plotted all sorts of nasty revenge, leading to the immortal line "You know what they say about karma? Well, I'm the bitch."
*** And in the hell dimension in which she was trapped for five years, the cave she hid out in had a handy near by ravine that she used to dispose of bodies.
* The Tenth Doctor in ''DoctorWho'' is, for the most part, a cheerful, bubbly and fun-loving character -- unless, of course, you happen to ''really'' piss him off, in which case he'll incinerate and drown your (overgrown spider) children ("The Runaway Bride") or make you immortal and subject you to a [[FateWorseThanDeath horrific eternal prison from which there is no escape]] ("The Family of Blood"), amongst others. "No second chances," indeed.
** And seriously, don't harm a hair on Rose's head, because then NOTHING can stop him.
** Lampshaded in [[spoiler: "Forest of the Dead"]] when the Doctor gives the villains an ultimatum to leave him alone or suffer. The villains, after realising just who the Doctor ''is'', immediately back down and let him do whatever he wants.
*** This is one of the Doctor's most {{Badass}} scenes. Saying "look me up" in a library really gets into the over-the-top coast.
** A lot of the other Doctors can be like this as well, sometimes as part of an ObfuscatingStupidity routine, but in many cases often going out of their way to reason with or persuade the villain to stop their plan and take the Doctor's compromise solution instead. The arrogant villain will often reject the Doctor's overture in over-confidence and push him ever further, only to quickly learn that this was a big, ''big'' mistake.
** Arguably, the Fifth Doctor from the older series fits into this category almost as well as the Tenth. While often trying to find non-violent and death-free solutions to the problems surrounding him, a lot of his adventures wind up with [[spoiler:most everything around him dead - though arguably not always his fault]]. "Earthshock" is probably the best example - he spends much of the story trying to talk the Cyberleader our of destroying the earth, but then when that fails... he rubs gold into his respirator, then shoots him. Twelve times. Just to be sure.
* Also from DoctorWho, and definitely a failed BreakTheCutie, is Rose Tyler. Rose is a very nice, very normal 19 year old Londoner. She also happens to be in love with the Doctor. When the Doctor is facing the Dalek fleet and tries to save Rose by sending her and the Tardis back to 2005, she loses it and attempts to break into the Tardis' central console. When she eventually does, she [[spoiler: absorbs the entire Time Vortex]], takes the Tardis [[IncrediblyLamePun back to the future]], and uses its power to [[spoiler: [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome destroy the Dalek fleet]] and resurrect Jack.]]
* James May on ''TopGear'' usually endures his co-presenters' antics with good humor, but when they really irritate him, he can be pretty mean. Case in point: In a challenge to buy cheap Alfa Romeos and enter them in a car show, May had carefully cleaned and polished his car and was using it to tow Richard Hammond's. After Hammond "accidentally" bumped into his car one too many times, May disconnected the tow rope without a word and left him stranded.
* Annie of ''{{Being Human}}''. A ghost who is generally sweet and shy, who's never actually been in a fight, and comes across as being the most soft and kind of the threesome (the others are a vampire and a werewolf). But then she remembers her ex-fiancee killed her. At first her attempts to spook him meet with epic fail. Then she corners him, reveals what her flat mates are. And then she whispers something so horrifying to him that he breaks down in tears, runs screaming and BEGS the police to protect him. Bear in mind her ex had previously been completely unrattled by coming face to face with a ghost and was a psychotic smug snake with no redeemable traits. A complete monster and she reduces him to a whimpering baby with a few words. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5hZEIxgGKQ DO NOT get on this girl's bad side.]]
** Later, she finds out that the vampires have started to kill some people they were keeping as a herd; she shows up at their HQ in full on poltergeist mode, ripping doors out of their hinges and sending multiple vampires flying into walls hard enough to be knocked out. It was a {{Crowning Moment of Awesome}}.
* In the British detective series ''NewTricks'', Jack Halford is a quiet, softly-spoken and wise old cop who acts as a mentor to the rest of the team... who possesses, if sufficiently roused, a fierce and at times even violent temper. [[BerserkButton Do]] ''[[BerserkButton not]]'' [[BerserkButton taunt him about his dead wife, either.]]
* ''{{Supernatural}}'': Sam Winchester will most certainly fuck you up if you even think about hurting his older brother. Just ask Gordon Walker [[spoiler:(beheaded with barbed wire)]] or the Crossroads Demon [[spoiler:(shot in the head)]] .
* ''GetSmart'': KAOS has created an evil robot and CONTROL's robot, Hymie, must stop him. Hymie decides he wants to be nice, and tries to make friends with the enemy robot. It does not work and the evil robot finally goes too far. At that point Hymie notes, "Hey! Nice is nice, but enough is enough!" and fights the robot and defeats it with the help of Maxwell Smart.
* ''SpaceCases'': On the ''very second episode'', the normally [[{{TheWoobie}} shy and self-effacing]] Radu [[spoiler:gets infected with a virus, planted onto a teddy bear by an alien race as a form of biological warfare]], and [[{{UnstoppableRage}} goes berserk]]. Before his illness-induced rampage is halted, the 'recreation room' is trashed, the ship's dotty android is in pieces, and Harlan almost gets ThrownOutTheAirlock.
* {{Firefly}}: Why is the [[RetiredBadass elderly, fatherly preacher]] a better shot than hardened mercenary Jayne when he chooses to fight?
* [[Series/{{Heroes}} Happy-go-lucky Hiro Nakamura]] gets some pretty dark revenge on immortal KnightTemplar Adam Monroe for [[YouKilledMyFather killing his father Kaito]]. [[spoiler: He [[BuriedAlive buries him alive]] in the same graveyard where his father was buried, with nothing to keep Adam company [[NightmareFuel but his own screams]]]]. Do NOT piss off Hiro.
** His FutureBadass self in "Five Years Gone" should have been a warning...
*** Adam himself, arguably. He comes across as a friendly guy, decent and caring (At least in modern times. In the past he's been a mercenary on at least four separate occasions) he just happens to want to wipe out billions of people and choose who survives to live in his new perfect world is all.
*** Future!Sylar is shown as [[BumblingDad a doting father,]] who loves to bake waffles for his son. Then [[TheCorpsIsMother Company]] appears. [[InnocentBystander Syndicate shot his son.]] [[PapaWolf Sylar]] [[UnstoppableRage goes nuclear.]] [[EarthShatteringKaboom LITERALLY.]]
**** The really cool thing about this scene is how he's taking blows from a guy with super strength to protect his son. When that guy crushes his son with a table, Sylar steals his ability, beats the living crap out of him, then FRICKIN EXPLODES. Don't kill his son.
**** Only character to come out of Volume 3 BETTER. Who'da thunk it?
** From the GN's, Linda Tarvara. A friendly, personable young girl with a caring demeanour who is often polite to people. She's a dedicated and takes pride in her work. She also murders people by RIPPING OUT THEIR SOULS so she can FEED on their abilities. Her first human victim? A sweet, lovely old woman who she tricks, traps and murders, all while acting kind and considerate. This girl makes Sylar look like a candidate for sainthood (Season 1 Sylar mind you, the emotionless murder machine, not the "Morally Grey" character of Season 3)
** Matt Parkman. Good natured, loving surrogate father to Molly and a man who desperately wants to be the best husband he can. But: Mess with his family or friends and expect trouble, as the fascist soliders under the command of Emile Danko learned when Matt forced them to slaughter each other.
* In ''{{Ideal}}'' Steve is part of a small gang and is the buttmonkey. At one point he snaps cuts off Cartoon Head's ear (he's got a mouse face glued on his head so think more plastic, less blood) and knocks out Psycho Paul and becomes the leader of the gang for a few episodes. It turns out he just can't keep up the tough guy facade and tries to get everybody back to normal by apologising and asking for Paul to become leader again. Paul accepts but not before removing one of his eyes. Did I mention the show is a comedy.
* [[TheWestWing President Jed Bartlet]]. Most of the time, a [[OurPresidentsAreDifferent charming, amiable and folksy]] man with [[BenevolentBoss genuine affection for his staff]] (and who is greatly respected and admired by them in return), with a keen intelligence and encyclopedic knowledge of trivia. However, in the second episode, terrorists shot down a US military medical plane with the loss of life of all on board, including Bartlet's personal physician, for whom he had a great deal of affection for. And a different side of Bartlet emerged:
--> ''[[[TranquilFury chillingly calm]]]'' I am not frightened. I am going to blow them off the face of the Earth with the fury of God's own thunder.
** And pretty much all of the next episode revolves around Bartlet's increasing desire for his military aides to devise a plan which will [[DisproportionateRetribution literally wipe them off the face of the planet]], and his frustration when they tell him that this is neither practical nor politically desirable.
* All of the main cast of ''{{NCIS}}'', being a team of {{Bunny Ears Lawyer}}s, are capable of surprising would-be bad guys with their competence, but especially notable is Abby, the PerkyGoth [[TheLabRat Lab Rat]] who, as a civilian scientist and all-around GenkiGirl, seems like an easy target... and manages to beat the stuffing out of almost every villain who's made that unfortunate assumption.
* Frank Black from ''{{Millennium}}'' is mild-mannered, law-abiding, honorable, and dearly loves his family. It's also heavily implied through the first season that the reason he is so gifted in understanding the minds of serial killers is that he has the traits of a killer himself ("I become the capability, I become the horror, what we know we can become in our heart of darkness") [[spoiler: culminating in him brutally butchering the man who kidnapped his wife.]]
* Despite having the strength of ten men and the ability to calculate frankly incredible statistics in mere seconds, ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration''[==]'s Lt. Commander Data is generally a nice, good natured, pacifistic guy, and it takes a lot to get him riled due to the whole [[EmotionalEmotionlessPerson no emotions thing]]. Anyone who doubts his ability to totally kick ''ass'' when necessary, however, should really, really watch the episode "Descent I & II". And "Redemption". And "The Most Toys", for that matter. Seriously just... ''don't screw with him'', okay?
-->'''Data''': I assume your handprint will open the door, whether you are conscious or not.
* [[StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Quark]] feels this way about humans. Sure, as a whole they're nice, but push them too hard and you'll have some of the nastiest hitters in the galaxy. The Federation itself can be considered this too. Sure, they're all about peaceful coexistence and exploration, but they also have a super secret organization that will commit genocide on their behalf if pushed too hard, and they've built escort vessel-sized warships that could go toe to toe with the dedicated war vessels of their contemporaries and can level planets from orbit.
** Basically, one way to look at it could be to say that humans are basically, in the 'Trek century, a bunch of fairly genuine pascifists who would rather use words than weapons... but the only reason that philosphy works is because they're so armed up to the back teeth that they don't NEED to use anger and violence as a line of defence. Then when enemies like the Borg come along and terrify the life out of us... well, then you get movies like ''First Contact''.
* And ''[[StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]'' gave us perpetual newbie and resident ButtMonkey Ensign Harry Kim... who in "The Chute" managed to hand beatdowns to hardened prison inmates in defense of his [[HeterosexualLifePartners Heterosexual Life Partner]] Tom Paris, before finally snapping and turning on Paris himself. He was on aggression-enhancing drugs, but still. There was also his HeroicBSOD at the end of "Timeless."
* [[{{TheMiddleMan}}The Middle Man.]] An old-fashioned, milk-drinking, seldom-swearing, well-dressed, earnest, polite, and naive gentleman who [[spoiler: tortured a mob leader for info in front of his own bar, while drinking a tall, frosty glass of milk.]]
* ''BattlestarGalactica'': You won't believe who overthrew the Galactica's military. [[spoiler: Felix Gaeta! Not only that, he ordered the murder of President Roslin!]]
* Vir Cotto from ''[[BabylonFive Babylon 5]]'' is usually a milquetoast... unless you're trying to recruit him to TheDarkSide. When asked what he wants:
-->"I'd like to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike as a warning to the next ten generations that some favors come with too high a price. I'd look up at your lifeless eyes and wave like this. Can you and your associates arrange it for me, Mr. Morden?"
** A milquetoast who, at one point, organizes an underground railroad at the risk of his career and possibly his life. As was lampshaded in the final episode, the story of Vir Cotto is the story of how Flounder became Badass.
* [[BlakesSeven Vila Restal]] is a [[ObfuscatingStupidity cowardly drunken safecracker]] who drops a Federation officer with one punch after [[spoiler:she shoots Dayna.]]
* Stan from ''InPlainSight'':
-->'''Malone''': So, Stan [=McQueen=]. "Little Jack," I used to call him.
-->'''Marshall''': Why is that?
-->'''Malone''': Because he's like a Jack Russell Terrier. Pound for pound, probably the toughest man I know.
-->'''Mary and Marshall''': Stan?
-->'''Malone''': Well, you know, he plays that shy, quiet thing pretty well, but you don't want to be the guy he's looking at when the switch flips.
-->'''Mary''': I didn't even know he had a switch.
* [[RoyalPains Divya]]: "Evan, if you breathe a word of this to anyone I will find a medically plausible way to kill you, and get away with it."
* While Rodney Mckay of {{Stargate Atlantis}} isn't really nice per say, he's the most non violent character on any offworld team, and his wide blue {{woobie}} eyes make him victim fodder, not to mention the many times he's kidnapped. But he will often unleash a barrage of infinite {{The Reason You Suck speech}}es at the bad guy, or even his own team members when particularly stressed. That said, please don't give him wraith enzyme. Ever.
* The eponymous {{Merlin}}. Adorable, loyal, and a bit of a Dojikko, but help you god if you ever try to kill anyone he cares about, because that is last thing you will ever do. His anger is sudden and his powers are fierce and he ''will'' blast you off the face of the earth.
* Perhaps best summarized in the pilot episode (and opening) of the 1970s IncredibleHulk. "Mr. McGee, don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry." Remember that in this version, the Hulk essentially is Banner, but with tremendous strength, and a child's mentality.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* Kenny Roger's classic "Coward of the County". A man who'd turned his back on fighting all his life beats three men to a pulp after they rape his wife.
* Lemon Demon's "Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny" brings together absolutely everyone in a BattleRoyaleWithCheese, from Batman to Godzilla to Chuck Norris. The winner? [[spoiler:Mr. Rogers in a bloodstained sweater.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Professional Wrestling ]]
* Often used for a FaceHeelTurn; for example, when Bob Backlund made his early '90s return to {{WWE}}, he was portrayed as a nice older guy who loved to compete and served as a mentor to the younger wrestlers on the roster -- right up until he snapped, putting Bret Hart in the crossface chicken-wing out of jealousy, and becoming an uber-reactionary psychopath. {{WWE}} owner Vince [=McMahon=]'s evolution from goofy good-guy announcer to maniacally lecherous and evilly manipulative corporate boss following the Montreal Screwjob (see DroppedABridgeOnHim) is another good example, also an example of RealLifeWritesThePlot.
** Though sometimes the face doesn't turn heel, they just reveal that they've TookALevelInBadass. The Undertaker is particularly adept at this.
* John Cena can typically be counted on to be a guy who's pretty calm and relaxed and willing to joke around and playfully mock his opponents, and when competing in fair fights will still find plenty of time to have fun. Piss him off a little too much, though, and he'll start doing things like throwing around 500-pound men and ripping pipes out of the machinery and taking them to someone's face.
* Kofi Kingston is a pretty level-headed guy who is often seen with a smile, but if you push him over the edge, he'll hit back hard. On the 10/26/2009 edition of ''WWERaw'', after losing the WWE Championship in an Iron Man match to John Cena the previous night at ''Bragging Nights'', a livid Randy Orton ambushed Kofi, claiming he was the reason he lost, with Kofi clearing Orton's Legacy teammates out of the ring, after getting blamed by them for costing team Raw the 7-on-7 tag team match. A little later, Orton's Legacy teammates tried to calm him down with a custom Nascar car. Soon after that, while Legacy was in the ring, Kofi broadcasted himself on the titantron as he defaced Orton's car, his face alternating from mischevious glee to uncharacterisitic anger. It got worse in the following weeks.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Religion]]
* Ar-Rahman and Ar-Rahim both mean "The Merciful, Compassionate, Benevolent, Gracious, etc..."
Ar-Rahim means that straight forwardly, but Ar-Rahman is actually used ironically to show that some infidel screw up big time and made Allah extremely cross with him!
** Some think that Ar-Rahman means the same as El Shaddai "The Almighty, The Highest, The Most High, The Mountain Dweller, The Austere, The Destroyer, The Annihilator, The Terminator, etc.." Especially meaning since there is a mountain with said name near Mecca! Also sound really really Shiva-esque!
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Videogames]]
* [[SonicTheHedgehog Amy Rose]]. Nuff said.
** Her sidekick [[{{Cheerful Child}} Cream the Rabbit]] and ''her'' pet sidekick Cheese the Chao. She's amazingly polite, gentle, and nice to everyone. However, if you try to diss her off in anyway (particularly you, Dr. Eggman), she'll beat the living daylights out of you using her pet Chao. As if her GameBreaker status in her debut title wasn't enough of a clue.
*** Just ''try'' to kill Sonic when [[TheSmartGuy Tails]] is around. Just try it. He'll end your ass if you do. Just ask Eggman in [[SonicAdventureSeries SA2.]]
* In the ''FateStayNight'' visual novel, the "Heaven's Feel" scenario branch culminates in [[spoiler:shy and gentle YamatoNadeshiko Sakura metamorphosing into a soul-devouring borderline UltimateEvil.]]
** Happens a lot with {{Nasuverse}} characters. The ever happy [[spoiler: Kohaku]] is completely insane. Even [[{{Tsukihime}} Arcueid]] has her moments of this.
* An example from a videogame, which surprisingly wasn't added in for a while is ''MegaManX''. Having just watched Zero [[spoiler:sacrifice himself against Vile]], X regains all his health and proceeds to dispense an asswhooping on Vile and then Sigma. Seriously, what took so long to put this in here?
** Maybe because X wasn't really one of the titular "Nice Ones," just a TechnicalPacifist, and has been beating up robot masters for quite a while before the scene you're referring to takes place.
** The predecessor Rock, though. Rock would be happy to while away his days as a lab assistant. When someone tries to use robots to attack people, though, he becomes MegaMan. He will plow through their forces, [[MegaManning take their weapons]] to become a [[MoreDakka walking arsenal]], and dismantle everything that stands between him and the threat. Lest you think HumongousMecha will faze him, fuggedaboutit.
** X in the ''Maverick Hunter X'' movie ''Day of Sigma'' definitely counts. Since it's set before the game, X was nothing more than a hesitant, unsure Hunter who took down criminals. Zero even remarks on how kind and sensitive X is. Then X ''scars Sigma's face with his bare hands'' after being stabbed in the gut.
** Let's not forget Iris from X4. Kill a girl's brother, and that sweet little british girl in a beret will come after you in a giant purple mecha suit.
* Patrick Sprigs from ''MegaManStarForce'' generally acts mild mannered and sympathetic, yet secretly harbors hatred towards the parents who abandoned him, which violently manifests itself as his SplitPersonality Rey.
** In ''MegamanBattleNetwork 3'' LittlestCancerPatient Mamoru [[spoiler:owns the [[WretchedHive Undernet]], yes, the same Under-net that [[strike:many]] most shady characters in the series call home.]]
*** Which is justified by the nature of the thing in question, as well as the fact that [[spoiler:most of the shady characters more-or-less worship Serenade, the cyber-side keeper of the Undernet server and implied to be Mamoru's Navi]].
* Hibiki Takane of the ''LastBlade'' series is usually a kind, meek individual, who fights reluctantly. However, if the player keeps killing her opponents, she'll gain new win quotes and win poses (SlipknotPonytail included), and eventually a new ending that show her to have become a deranged murderer.
* Vivi of ''FinalFantasyIX'' is sweet, innocent, kind, and despite his species, looks massively adorable, so naturally he has powerful black magic up the ying-yang. Most notably during the battle with Black Waltz 3 where the little guy just went ''ballistic''.
* In ''SuperRobotWars Gaiden'', Tytti Noorbuck is considered one of the more nicer, gentle-hearted pilot. Except at one occasion when she found out that [[BoisterousBruiser Ricardo Silvera]] have attempted a prank on her 'little brother' Masaki. What happens next was her furiously choking Ricardo, while keeping a smiling face (good thing she's stopped early). Conversely, she completely drops the 'Nice one' persona when she faces her arch-enemy [[PsychoForHire Lubikka Hakinnen]], due to [[ItsPersonal many reasons]].
* The Seraphim, and to a lesser extent, the Aeon Illuminate of ''{{Supreme Commander}}'' are more or less defined by this trope-they're normally devoted to nothing but peace, love, and hope. Force them into fighting, and they try to make the fight as short and painless as possible. In this case, "short and painless" involves genocide in the form of planetary-scale bombing runs, nuclear strikes, liberal usage of {{Humongous Mecha}}, and massive waves of land, air, and naval robots of increasing size and firepower.
** I don't think the Aeon can really even come close to this. While the bulk of them are all about peace, love & happiness, a large number of them realise that violence is neccesary, and cut themselves off from the holy hivemind, pretty much damning themselves to eternal hell, losing all their emotions in the process. Sounds more nasty than nice to me.
** Except the Aeon soldiers would really prefer that they not need to ''do'' that. They don't want to fight, but as long as war looms over the Illuminate, there will always be those willing to damn themselves to save the rest. Remove the threat of war, and the Aeon are all about love, happiness, and bunnies.
* The Turians of ''MassEffect'' are generally pretty nice guys. They're heavily militarized, but strongly civic-minded, highly responsible, steadfastly loyal, place the greater good before the individual, and are quite willing to work with and protect other, weaker civilizations or species. However, if you provoke them into war, they make ''damn'' sure you are ''never'' able or willing go to war with them again. ''Ever.''
**The only ones who ever fought a war of any kind with the turians and didn't end up horribly mauled and/or reduced to a client species in recent memory was humanity, and that was because of Council intervention.
** Then there's Liara. Her level of niceness is over nine thousand, but her powers are such that she can telekinetically bench-press a Geth Colossus, and launch people practically into orbit by thinking at them hard. Even [[BadAss Wrex]] makes of point of noting how damn powerful she is.
*** In a similar vein, Kaidan Alenko is a relaxed, dorky type with absolutely no weapon skills availabe. But he can fire people into the sun -with his mind- and cause biological enemies to have toxic flavoured seizures. [[spoiler: He even ends his TrainingFromHell by snapping his turian instructor's neck with a biotic kick whilst defending another poor schmuck]]
** Heck, arguably all the Council Member races are like this. Including humanity. The Salarians might seem weak and scienc-y but cross them and they'll wipe your species out.
*** Exactly. The Codex says that the Council races are more or less equal in terms of military power, but they excel in different areas. Turians have discipline and ruthlessness among the ranks; asari commandos are the strongest individual warriors in the galaxy; humans are suprisingly versatile and responsive to any strategy used against them; and the salarians are masters of espionage and special warfare. It's even explicitly stated that salarians have started every war they've ever fought, and they've done so without any warning.
* ''WorldOfWarcraft'''s draenei are often stereotyped as [[LawfulGood goody-two-shoes]]. However, [[http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=9711 this Bloodmyst Isle quest]] requires players to capture the zone boss's chief flunky. In a cut scene after the quest is complete, the flunky repeatedly taunts a draenei [[KnightInShiningArmor paladin]] NPC [[spoiler:by [[KickTheDog bragging about how he tortured the paladin's mentor]]]]. The paladin snaps [[spoiler:and [[OneHitKill strikes the flunky dead on the spot]]]].
* Guildmaster Wigglytuff of ''PokemonMysteryDungeon: Explorers of Time'' and ''Explorers of Darkness'' is a fluffy pink rabbit who just wants to be everyone's friend. However, at one point in the game, [[spoiler:he gets attacked from behind by three criminals he'd trusted. The outcome? All three of them are beaten to a pulp.]] This is mentioned as happening before when [[spoiler: his team partner got knocked out by some bandits.]]
* Selphie of ''FinalFantasyVIII''. She's a cute, perky, friendly sixteen-year-old GenkiGirl. She's also a trained mercenary with a highly-developed sense of [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill overkill]], and if you make her mad, she'll see to it that you become a smear of red gel on the pavement. Or, if you make her ''really'' mad, she'll ''[[TheTwilightZone wish you into the cornfield]]'' with her [[LimitBreak Limit]] [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "The End"]].
* [[ApeEscape Monkey Pink]] just wants to be a [[IdolSinger star]]. But if you screw up her performance, she ''will'' try to kill you.
* Flonne of ''{{Disgaea}}: Hour of Darkness''. The TropeNamer for LoveFreak, and a complete [[TheDitz airhead]], she will nonetheless go into a [[GlowingEyesOfDoom fiery-eyed rage]] if she's angered. [[DeadpanSnarker Etna]] says that Flonne is as bad as the demons, and that's probably true.
* If ''KingdomHearts'' has shown ThisTroper one thing, it's that it's probably ''not'' a good idea to hack off Mickey Mouse...
** To say nothing of the series' main character Sora. A happy-go-lucky kid who to date has defeated one thousand enemies in one fight, defeated most of the Disney villains at least once, and once cut a skyscraper ''in half'' and threw the pieces back at his opponent.
** We also learn that Goofy is capable of killing a man. OrSoIHeard.
* [[StaffChick Yuna]] of FinalFantasyX. More in the sequel, but still in the original. To point: Yuna is captured by the Al Bhed. Tidus, Lulu, and Kimahri try to rescue her. After beating a boss, Yuna walks out of the hold on the boat she was imprisoned in, completely unharmed, and a guard slumps to the ground.
--> '''Lulu:''' I hope you hurt them.
--> '''Yuna:''' (modestly) A little.
** Yuna is mostly the type who rather stays back in a fight and lets Auron, Khimari and Wakka handle the physical fighting. Or large magical monsters. Though she keeps to casting healing and protective spells, you later [[HeroicSacrifice learn why]] everyone is practically falling on their knees before her, and BadassLongcoat Auron and {{Kuudere}} Lulu allow her to run the show entirely as she sees fit.
* [[LegendofZelda Link]] is a good example of this trope. He is usually an all-around good person, but cross him or his loved ones...
* On the same note as Link, {{Mario}}. He's a happy midget Italian plumber much of the time, but Bowser usually gets a major asskicking whenever he kidnaps Peach. Keep in mind that even Bowser knows not to bring her harm; as Mario mistook Link for doing in ''[[SuperSmashBros The Subspace Emissary]]'', hurting Peach is taking your life into your own hands.
* While more know for his [[MascotWithAttitude attidude]] than his rival Mario, SonicTheHedgehog is generally an easy-going free spirit with no real ill will towards anyone. Cross anyone he cares about, however, and he'll plow through armies at Mach 3 to neutralize you, and that's when he's not even angry.
* In ''{{Bioshock}}'' you see the aftereffects of an object lesson in just how dangerous Little Sisters' NighInvulnerability can make them if they're pushed far enough -- in the area where they're converted, trained, and harvested, you find a corpse nailed to a wall with about a half-dozen of their giant syringes.
* When Aeka told Antoinette to kill her in YumeMiruKusuri to just get it over with and kill her already instead of needling her, it wasn't her being suicidal. It was a warning that if you keep pushing her she's eventually simply going to ''snap''. [[spoiler:The route ends with [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Kouhei taking down the gang trying to rape Aeka single handed]] before he starts strangling Antoinette. Aeka tells him to stop... so that ''she'' can do it. They throttle her together until she shits herself at the verge of death, both unwilling to take more abuse from her and wanting to end it here.]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics ]]
* White Mage from ''[[EightBitTheater 8-Bit Theater]]'' shows this after rebuilding a city and its inhabitants from destruction at various hands (although mostly Black Mage) only to have the city yet again annihilated at the hands of, apparently, Black Mage. Feeling distressed and angered (also mostly due to Black Mage, although Fighter had an unwitting hand in it), she changes her robes and begins bestowing her mediocre evil upon the world for a couple comics until changing back after a strange talk with Fighter.
** A better example would be Fighter, the nicest, friendliest, [[TheDitz ditziest]] character in the comic who has a very potent BerserkButton whenever his friends, especially Black Mage, are threatened. He went into an UnstoppableRage when Black Mage was killed, fought a ''fire demon'' to a standstill after she [[spoiler:killed Black Belt]], and [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2007/12/11/episode-930-turnabout/ this comic]].
--->'''Fighter''': Also, I can block any attack and kill '''anything''' that bleeds. '''Hint'''.
** Thief and Red Mage better watch themselves... they [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2008/06/28/episode-1010-nightmare-fuel/ almost made that mistake again]].
--->'''Thief''': Yes, it is a good thing. Leaving him to rot would be wrong.
--->'''Red Mage''': So very wrong.
--->'''Fighter''' (holding up a sword): Kind of '''chainsaw''' wrong.
--->'''Thief''': Okay, good thing we're all on the same page then!
** While he is in no way [[{{Jerkass}} a nice one]], a case can be made for [[spoiler: Sarda]] given that [[spoiler: he used to be the Onion Kid whose life Black Mage repeatedly ruined and seeks revenge against the Light Warriors for doing nothing to stop Black Mage.]]
* ''ElGoonishShive'' has Grace, super cute pacifist who just [[InnocentFanserviceGirl wishes people wore less clothes.]] You can tie her up, torture her, even tell her you are going to use her for a ''breeding'' program. Make her believe you have hurt one of her friends though and there is [[SuperSoldier no power on Earth or beyond that can save you]].
* Rikk, the leader of the Science Fiction Club in ''{{Fans}}!'', is as nice, gentle and forgiving a man as you're ever likely to meet. However, during a storyline in ''{{Fans}}!'' which sees a bitter ex-boyfriend of Alisin's blackmail her into joining him, while simultaneously attempting to destroy the fan-club and replace it with a [[DarkerAndEdgier new, darker version]] - Rikk is finally pushed too far, and beats the ex-boyfriend to a pulp before someone stops him from going too far.
* Piro from ''MegaTokyo'' is an example, as a group of perverted otaku voyeurs in a restaurant found out. This is more obvious in Piro's online alter-ego ''Piroko'', and associated wallpapers/[[http://www.megagear.com/product_p/1010.htm tshirt]] with a cute girl carrying a big gun, and the phrase "Ph34r t3h cute ones".
** Ping from the same comic could be an example, as well. She's normally sweet, cute and caring, but get her angry and she proves to have the strength to uproot a street lamp and use it to beat a [[{{Kaiju}} giant monster]] into submission.
* Nice people in the {{Walkyverse}} usually get this. Joyce is a prime example. So is Walky himself, for that matter. Not to mention Amber... SoYeah, this list could go on for a bit.
-->'''[[http://www.itswalky.com/d/20001018.html Joyce]]''': "This is for the thousands of little comments that are hammered into me every day! "Stop giggling, Joyce!" "Put down your dumb toys, Joyce!" You can only take so much... Until you ''snap''."
* In the ''RescueRangers'' fan comic ''Of Mice and Mayhem'' [[spoiler: Gadget, usually the epitome of kindness, attacks the men who were after her when Chip gets shot trying to protect her.]]
* Lemmy in ''{{Fanboys}}'' is a genuinely nice guy, but woe be unto anybody that says Nintendo is a kiddy system.
** [[http://fanboys-online.com/index.php?comic=61 ANGRY CLOWN MODE.]]
** An impact to the head can do it. When running from a crazed feral crab in the BeachEpisode, he crashes headfirst into a sign, which triggers the aforementioned Angry Clown Mode, allowing him to handily demolish his tormentor.
* [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1108 Surprisingly]], Hannelore, ''QuestionableContent'''s resident {{Woobie}}. Not to mention her [[http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1171 dreams]].
* Out of ''[[CtrlAltDel Ctrl+Alt+Del]]'s'' "Four Players" side story, Player Three, the yellow one, is the one to be careful of. Sure, he starts out as the ButtMonkey of the other three players, each more sadistic than the next, but has been known to ''snap'' while put under extreme duress. Player Two fell victim to this, as Three grabbed him and slammed him against the wall until he ragdolled all while shouting, ''"STOP IT<"''. He then came to and tried to apologize for what he just did.
* In ''[[DanAndMabsFurryAdventures Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures]]'', it's [[http://missmab.com/Comics/Vol_293.php Mab]].
** For that matter, Dan. While normally a nice guy with a vague career of adventuring behind him, [[http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_971.php recent events]] [[http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_972.php have]] [[http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_973.php shown]] just how [[http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_974.php dangerous]] he really is after being pushed over the edge. It's [[http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_981.php not pretty]].
* In Bun-Bun's continuing feud with Santa Claus in ''SluggyFreelance'', Mrs. Claus is the one pushing for the two of them to just let it go, but she's also the more dangerous Claus when she has to be. Bun-Bun [[http://sluggy.com/daily.php?date=991226 acknowledges her as a better shot than Santa]], and it's her who [[spoiler:sets up the XanatosGambit that stops Bun-Bun from [[TakeOverTheWorld taking over the world]]]].
* [[GirlGenius Gilgamesh Wulfenbach]]. Just... [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20080303 Gilgamesh]] [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20080305 Wulfenbach.]]
** [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060303 Here]] [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060306 too.]]
** To explain, he's a genius who never even bothered to build a death ray, and who will put up with massive annoyance to avoid killing people he neither likes nor respects, but when an enemy army really gets in his way, he smashes it in about five seconds.
*** [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090323 "If I let everyone I thought was an idiot die, there wouldn't be many people left."]]
*** Incidentally, it is not a good idea to [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070117 push Agatha too far]] either.
* Liza from ''TonjaSteele'' is a good [[http://tonjasteele.comicgenesis.com/d/20031230.html example]], as she's usually a sweet-natured schoolteacher. Some of it is explained when we meet her [[http://tonjasteele.comicgenesis.com/comics/ts20040120a.jpg parents]].
* Elan in most of ''OrderOfTheStick''; naive, sweet-natured but [[TheDitz ditzy]] {{Cloudcuckoolander}}. Elan in strip #[[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0594.html 594]], after SmugSnake Kubota poisons his lackey Therkla (who was in the midst of a HeelFaceTurn) and she dies in Elan's arms; {{Unstoppable Rage}}-driven BadAss. It's only Kubota's swift-but-slimy opportunism that prevents him from getting a severely lethal ass-kicking at Elan's hands, and even then he still gets a black eye for his trouble.
** Black Eye? That's a black eye to you? He got [[spoiler: reduced to dust by V]].
*** There's also the Monster in the Dark. While he (she? it?) has not yet gone past the breaking point, strip [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0475.html #475]] suggests that making the monster angry is an idea so stupid that it borders on TooDumbToLive.
* Quentyn of ''TalesOfTheQuestor'' gets his sword stolen, and in the course of retrieving it gets arrested multiple times, mugged, shot at, dropped through a roof, stripped naked in front of a crowd of toffs (and his childhood crush), and then violently beaten and tossed in a dumpster. He promptly girds up his loins and proceeds to utterly wreck not one, but TWO street gangs singlehandedly and literally pull an entire building down around their ears... and would have REALLY torn them a new one had the city guard not intervened.
[[BreakYa http://web.archive.org/web/20031226121457/www.cartoonresearch.com/micdvd4.jpg]]
** The Raccoonan nation topped that in the companion strip, ''Quentyn Quinn, Space Ranger''. In there, the horrific cannibal species, the Kvrk-Chk, made a public show of what they would do the Raccoonan race when they ate a number of them on camera, The Raccoonans retaliated the next day by [[spoiler:destroying one of the heavier populated Kvrk-Chk solar systems and gave the race a very good reason to fear the Raccoonan people.]]
* Plant Woman. It's one thing if you've only built *two* machines of death and destruction. The first law of robotics is thrown out the window completely when you announce the third.
* [[http://drmcninja.com/page.php?pageNum=70&issue=14 This strip]] from [[TheAdventuresOfDoctorMcNinja The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]] plays this straight. Could we make panel #6 the new page image?
* Faen from {{Drowtales}}. She's a rather shy, sensitive girl, who also happens to be a powerful [[TheEmpath Empath]] with less than perfect control over her powers. Strong fear/anger cause PowerIncontinence and since she's a projective Empath, [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?order=chapters&id=278&overview=1&chibi=1&cover=1&extra=1&page=1&check=1 people]] [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?id=472 get hurt]].
* Calvin/Freckle from ''LackadaisyCats''. Shy, scared, and gullible, but put him in a life-or-death situation and [[http://www.lackadaisycats.com/comic.php?comicid=49 give him a gun]]...
[[/folder]]

[[folder:WebAnimation]]
* Shandala in ''BrokenSaints''. Can you say HighOctaneNightmareFuel, kiddies?
[[/folder]]

[[folder:WebOriginal]]
* Codex of The Guild is shy and accomodating to the point of being an ExtremeDoormat, but when she found out her boyfriend had dumped her for another man she set fire to his cello. [[spoiler: Which does not bode well for Wade, Riley, Zaboo and/or Clara in Season 3]]
* TheSagaOfTuck has several perfectly nice, ordinary characters who are all but trained covert operatives in intelligence, counterintelligence, black propaganda and sabotage.
* FanFic/{{Stray}} contains an incident where this trope is applied to Otacon, of all people. It turns out that the quirky, tenderhearted, [[NonActionGuy non-action]] anime geek can be dangerously resourceful when backed into a corner.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Gwen Tennyson and Grandpa Max Tennyson in ''Ben10AlienForce'', besides the obvious fact that Grandpa Max is a BadAssNormal, he's super, super nice to everyone, but when you push his buttons it's not pretty. Same with Gwen, she's the nicest of the PowerTrio, but when she blows up, THINGS BLOW UP WITH HER. (Obvious example: "Max Out")
* The primal example: Mickey Mouse, though the classic nice guy and often rather hapless in gag situations, is nevertheless a force to be reckoned with when pushed too far. Even today in ''Kingdom Hearts'' he's a dynamic fighter in dramatic situations. Originally, the entire point was that you didn't expect to see a lovable guy like Mickey in a battle royale, so the sight on its own was funny.
** In the older cartoons, before he gets significantly watered down to {{The Freddie}} of the group, he's just as aggressive as Donald when pushed to the limit - ultimately in Symphony Hour, he pulls a Pistol(!) on Donald when the duck tried to skip out on a concert {{Gone Horribly Wrong}}. Notably this is the last time until House of Mouse we see this side of the mouse.
** How about in ''{{Fantasia}}'', where the innocent SorcerersApprentice brings his broom to life, finds that it is doing its job [[GoneHorriblyRight a little too well]], and attempts to rectify the situation... by brutally chopping it to smithereens [[AnAxeToGrind with an axe]]. [[GoryDiscretionShot We only see their shadows on the wall...]]
* Mitsuki from ''KappaMikey'' is generally good-natured and level-headed to the point of ridiculousness, given what goes on around her every episode. But she can be shockingly devious when the situation warrants it, and she knows her castmates frighteningly well. So far, only Lily and Gonard have been unfortunate enough to provoke her ire. Unusually for this trope, she got her revenge without resorting to violence... in one episode, Lily's computerized vanity put a pretty big bull's-eye on her head, and in another, Gonard's [[AnnoyingPatient faked-injury ploy]] was easily turned against him.
* Posey in ''MissionHill'' may be the resident pacifist and airy GranolaGirl, but she can be made rather sadistic when [[KarmicProtection insulted and her friends threatened.]] Read the exchange quote in this articles' [[Quotes/BewareTheNiceOnes Quotes page.]]
* When the usually sweet [[{{Pollyanna}} Bubbles]] of the ''PowerpuffGirls'' is sufficiently provoked, she's been shown to eclipse ''both'' of her sisters Blossom and Buttercup in terms of raw anger and violence.
** That's because every single one of her emotions is exacerbated to the extreme. When she's happy, she's bursting with happiness. When she's sad, she loses all will to live. When she's afraid, she's paralyzed by fear. So, naturally, when she's angry, she is rage incarnate.
* Rhinox, from ''{{Transformers}}: BeastWars'' is another male example, of the standard GentleGiant variety. Once something ''does'' get through his skin, he's a raging mass of strength and firepower that even ProudWarriorRaceGuy Dinobot has learned to tread lightly around.
** Not to mention that chapter where the Predacons capture him and [[FaceHeelTurn make him evil]]. [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder Destrucity ensues]].
** And Primus help you if you even ''think'' of hurting [[DarkActionGirl Blackarachnia]]. Even if you can lay a hand on her, she's got Silverbolt, her KnightInShiningArmor who ''breathes'' this trope, and '''will''' make you regret touching the "dark poison of his heart."
** Hell, Optimus. He'd rather not fight, even trying to reason with BigBad Megatron ("Why start this up again?"). Sufficiently pushed, he becomes a {{determinator}} who will forcefully remind you that he ''is'' a Prime. (well, Primal. Same thing)
** In ''TransformersAnimated'', we've also got Bulkhead. Usually a GentleGiant, though very good in battle, but if he even thinks you hurt his human friend Sari, prepare for a beatdown.
* Though more selfish and self-centred than most examples on this page, GIR of ''InvaderZim'' is a sweet GenkiGirl of a robot with an obsession for fast food and small animals, but when in "duty mode" it becomes a frighteningly efficient minion of TheEmpire. Mercifully, it usually only lasts for a few seconds, but on the one occasion it was [[ModeLock Mode Locked]] not only did GIR accomplish more in ten minutes than Zim had over the entire series, it almost killed him.
* In the ''TaleSpin'' episode "In Search of Ancient Blunders", AdventurerArchaeologist Myra is as friendly and polite as you could hope--but she has her limits. After she, Baloo and Wildcat spend a day being chased around a pyramid by the Air Pirates (who want to loot it) and a mummy (who wants to protect it), Myra finally loses her temper and yells at the mummy: "We're trying to help you! You can stomp around all day growling like an idiot, or you can give us a hand!" The mummy takes Myra's advice and gets rid of the Air Pirates.
** Then, there's [[CheerfulChild Molly's]] shin attacks on Covington and his goons in "Molly Coddled".
* In the ''{{Droopy}}'' cartoons, the title character is a stoic and monotone character unfazed by any problem. However, if you do something truly petty in cruelty (especially to "The Dame"), he will walk up to you and note in the same monotone, "You know what? [[ThatMakesMeFeelAngry That makes me mad]]." Then he proceeds to demolish you with the same dispassion as before.
* Shirley the Loon of ''TinyToonAdventures'' is the very model of serenity and inner peace, but when a plan for her and the other girls to abscond to the prom of a rival school ends with Miss Loon doused in punch, she snaps, in an obvious nod to ''{{Carrie}}''.
** In another episode, Shirley is driven to distraction by Plucky when he wants her to channel a genius into him to help him ace a math test he didn't study for. She ends up finally snapping and killing him with kindness by channelling Albert Einstein. It seems that Einstein wasn't that good at math...
* Gadget from ''[[ChipAndDaleRescueRangers Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers]]'' snaps twice: in "The Case of the Cola Cult" when her friends are endangered and her inventions are sabotaged and, in "Dirty Rotten Diapers", when her repeated attempts to solve the situation peacefully are met with nothing but extreme hostility and violence from the subject in question.
* Marge, the matriarch of ''TheSimpsons'' family, has snapped on a few occasions when Homer screwed up once too many (especially in TheMovie).
** In one of the Halloween Specials Flanders was the devil. In his own words "It's always the one you least suspect."
* Aang, from ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'', is endearingly sweet and bubbly (if badass), until you piss him off one degree too far. Then he goes into the Avatar state where he's so terrifyingly powerful and destructive he scares the crap out his enemies, innocent bystanders, his friends and even himself. When that happens, he turns into [[http://iroh.org/screencaps/ep61/ep61-355.png an atom-shaped sphere of pure elemental badass, from which he will own everything around him straight into the ground]]. At this point, just stop moving and silently await your doom. There's not much else you can do. Apart from crap your pants, but you've probably done that already.
** Iroh too. He's a lovable, good humored, old man, with a penchant for fine teas and board games...then [[spoiler:Admiral Zhao threatens to kill the Moon Spirit.]] It remains this troper's favorite moment in the entire series, and still gives me chills whenever I see it. Seeing such righteous rage come out of that sweet old man like that has cemented General Iroh as one of this troper's favorite characters in any medium of entertainment.
* In the series finale of both ''SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' and ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'', Superman (see the comics section below) encounters situations that stretch even his patience. In TAS, after taking some of it out on a few humans (some more deserving of it than others), he goes into UnstoppableRage mode on the cause of it all. In ''Justice League'', he finds it an excuse to cut loose on an ''extremely'' powerful foe - the same one who pushed him over the edge last time, in fact - all the while [[WorldOfCardboardSpeech ranting about how nice it is to let go of his inhibitions when he normally has to be so careful]], because as far he's concerned the world might as well be cardboard.
** The comic saga ''Superman Rex'' shows what happens when Superman gets REALLY angry at humanity.
** And of course, the episodes featuring the Justice Lords provide a pretty terrifying example of what happens when Luthor pushes Superman too far.
*** The Justice Lords are a modified version of Wildstorm's ''The Authority''. The "Justice Lord Superman" is a combination of Jenny Sparks and Apollo.
** TheFlash gets his own shot at this too. The next time you start thinking that he doesn't extend much beyond being the goofy, flirtatious, practical joker of the League, just remember that this is the man who can ''make you explode'' with his bare hands or rip you to pieces by circumnavigating the globe and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=326s1ISaVRI coming back to smack you one.]]
* ''TheSpectacularSpiderman'': Otto Octavius. The mainly kind, over apologetic and overall shy fantasizes about killing his boss, Norman Osborn. Then after his big snap, he manages to at least slam him around a bit. Surprises me that Norman hasn't become a recluse after all the incidents with insane coworkers he's had.
** The whole "Otto Octavius became Doctor Octopus because he was pushed too far" thing was also used in ''{{Film/Spider-Man}} 2'', in one of Alfred Molina's best perfomances.
* Arguably, Jack Fenton from ''DannyPhantom''. Often the BumblingDad, he retains an optimistic, jolly attitude. But when his loved ones are threatened, he turns into a straightforward BadassNormal and then his victims are in for a world of hurt.
** Jack? JACK? No no no no no. [[MamaBear MADDIE]].
** Danny himself may apply. he's normally a laid-back, lazy kid... when he's human. It's when he's not that you ''really'' have to watch out for, as numerous lesser foes found out... as did Vlad, if in [[BadFuture another future]].
* Gi from ''CaptainPlanet'' is usually the TeamMom and peacemaker who tries to [[RousseauWasRight see the good in all humans]]. She also tried to drown someone when she found out he shot her good friend. You won't like her when she's angry.
** Oh we really like her when she's angry. Punk should be thankful she didn't have the gun she took from Wheeler. She'd have used it, no debate.
* The title character from ''TheIronGiant'' is a GentleGiant that lost his memories when he crashlanded on earth and befriends a local boy. [[spoiler: But when he thinks that the boy is killed during an attack by the army he turns into a literal killing machine armed with WaveMotionGun, ChestBlaster, and FrickinLaserBeams and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBlweHRITsA destroys, no, ''annihilates'' the army with terrifying ease.]]]]
** [[spoiler: It's pointed out in the film that the Iron Giant was actually intended to be a ''ludicrously'' powerful defensive device. It's your best friend so long as you don't point something identifiable as a weapon at it or its friends. Once you ''do'' that though, the only thing that will save your puny, pitiful life is ThePowerOfFriendship]]
* Do ''not'' [[BerserkButton be rude to Triana Orpheus]] in the presence of [[TheVentureBrothers Dean Venture]]. He may throw sissy punches, but he'll throw a ''lot'' of them, and he won't give you any warning first.
** Dr Orpheus, for all his melodramatic flair, is generally a decent guy. Loving father, good friend to the Venture Family and, of all the people seen in the show, the most genuinely heroic. HOWEVER: Push him too far and you'll pay for it. As "TWO FOUL MOUTHED RED NECKS!" learned to their regret.
* In a recent episode of ''{{Metalocalypse}}'', Toki Wartooth had been pestered by a fan who kept shouting in his face during a show. He grew infuriated and pummeled (possibly even killed) the guy to no end. Even Murderface, who was going to kill him for taking his domain page name, quickly changed his mind.
** This was foreshadowed in Dethdad. [[spoiler: Senator Stampington explains Toki's pent-up aggression and flat out says "Toki Wartooth will kill us all."]]
* {{Tintin}}'s Professor Calculus is normally a soft-spoken, mildly eccentric, rather charming old man, who, by virtue of his poor hearing and generally good demeanor, does not notice most of the jokes at his expense, and doesn't care about those he does hear. But then Captain Haddock [[BerserkButton accused him of "acting the goat"...]]
**Also happened in the comic.
* The strong but good-natured Ed in ''EdEddNEddy'' is normally a GentleGiant who doesn't even get mad when his bossy kid sister Sarah (AKA the "rotten-to-the-core cherished one") abuses his trust. But when he's in a bad mood in the episode "Little Ed Blue", even Sarah is intimidated by him:
-->'''Sarah:''' You can't kick me out, I live here too!
-->'''Ed:''' So '''''move!'''''
* Ron Stoppable in ''KimPossible''. He's a generic goofy sidekick that mostly gladly acts as a distraction, but if you get him pissed of by either hurting Kim or boasting about destroying Bueno Nacho he gets in such a Mystical Monkey Rage that he will kick your ass.
* [[LooneyTunes Of course you know, this means war!]]. Practically it was the case with the whole cast, but one such member made it his catch phrase.
* ThisTroper remembers an episode of ''CasperTheFriendlyGhost'' from when he was a kid. Casper spends an entire episode trying to befriend a fox cub, which starts out scared of him (just like everything else), but eventually warms up to him. Then a couple of hunters shoot the fox. Casper goes into an UnstoppableRage, and for what this troper belives the first time ever, actually TRIES to scare someone, and conjures up a rather terrifying form. The hunters are incredibly frightened, practically pissing their pants before fleeing. Fortunately, we get a happy ending when the fox cub comes back as a ghost to play with Casper.
* Ned Flanders of ''TheSimpsons'' started off as the nicest person in Springfield. Then we find out he's been repressing for 20 [[RetCon (or was it 50?)]] years, and when he finally snaps he ''epically'' chews out the townsfolk for being incompetent, selfish, annoying, obnoxious and all round horrible people.
* In TeenTitans, lovable and quirky Beast Boy, who usually runs away from anyone powerful and evil, has most of his [[CrowningMomentofAwesome Crowning Moments of Awesome]] when sufficiently provoked:
** In Season Two, he fights evenly (for a while) with Slade, and after [[spoiler: Terra´s Betrayal]], Beast Boy, angst done with, manages to make ''Cyborg'' slack jawed after easily [[LetsGetDangerous ripping apart]] two robots that the half-robot was having trouble with, as well as reaching the BigBad's base like a pro.
**In Season Three, "The Beast Within", he ''owns'' Adonis (who was giving trouble to all the other Titans) on his first appearance, and gives us a very good reason why we ''''don't want'''' him as a carnivore. He later defeats Adonis ''again'', now another beast, with impressive speed and skill.
**Finally, in the second to last episode of Season 5 (starting off with his growling "NOW try and follow me!" and blowing up some fallen robots, right after the Brain is done gloating over his victory over '''all''' the other Titans) Beast Boy assembles a rag-tag team, leads it properly, and takes on '''all of the show's villains''' at the same time. He closes it by quipping "Brain Freeze", after freezing... the Brain.
** Another TeenTitans example: When [[TheHeart Starfire]] drops her usual sweet, gentle, FriendToAllLivingThings persona and goes into full on [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Tamaranian battle mode]], ass-kicking ''will'' ensue. Guaranteed.
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[[folder:Real Life]]
* The Semai of Malaysia are an anthropological rarity and a good example of this trope. They are a society with almost no interpersonal violence, with words for warfare not even existing in their language. During a communist insurrection in Malaysia, some Semai were involved in the fighting and they became effective fighters, almost fanatical ones. The Semai who fought described themselves afterwards as "drunk on blood," and they surprised themselves by their behavior, although they weren't upset by it.
* Canada... though, when you think about it, really dumbed down, and very stereotypical. As peacekeepers, Canadians... well, keep the peace. Canadians are notoriously known as a pacifist country, to only fight if absolutely necessary (e.g. War on terrorism, to keep people from being terrorized). The Canadian military, though very few, are very, ''very'', good at what they do. Military training for Canada makes it so that every soldier that comes out has [[TookALevelInBadass taken a level in badass]]. This Canadian Troper's uncle is living proof, though it only shows when someone manages to say something stupid, or insult him. Don't say something stupid and derogatory to a Canadian Soldier. Just don't.
** Credit for the longest confirmed sniper kill in history goes to a soldier from...? Canada. Over a MILE AND A HALF.
*** Nearly two miles in fact. That's just over three kilometers. Most snipers and their weapons are considered effective at HALF that range.
** The same goes for any given ANZAC (Australia/New Zealand Army Corps) unit. The Australian and New Zealand Defence Forces take a great deal of pride in having some of the best military forces in the world, despite their small numbers.
*** A significant example was the Siege of Tobruk, where 14,000 Australian troops held off the Afrika Korps war machine led by Erwin Rommel, equipped and prepared for an eight-week period between reinforcement, held Tobruk for eight ''months'', not only losing very few troops over the time, but actually bolstering their defences by ''chasing down enemy tanks on foot'', blowing them up, then salvaging their weapons, ammunition, and food from enemy incursions.
*** Further, when leading the Afrika Korps (the first real 'tank division' in military history, after being deflected by an ANZAC infantry unit, none other than Erwin Rommel was quoted to say: "If I had to take hell, I would use the Australians to take it and the New Zealanders to hold it."
** The term "Stormtrooper" was coined during World War I, where it was actually used by Kaiser Wilhelm II to describe the Canadian forces.
** But seriously, the United States (or its immediate predecessor colonies) has had a military with a long and successful record of invading and defeating other nations... with one rather significant exception.
** The first invasion of Canada during the American Revolution failed only because Montreal fell too quickly. The portion of the army intended to take Quebec (the only other important Canadian city at that time) was outpaced by the swarm of retreating troops, and lost the advantage of surprise.
* Most Western militaries can fit this, as they can go from explosively dismantling the place with advanced weaponry, to building schools and handing out candy to kids, and back to the dismantling if provoked.
* German counter-terrorism unit GSG9 was created in 1973 in response to the complete failure of german police at the olympic games hostage situation in Munich the previous year. In 30 years of service they completed over 1,500 missions, with weapons being fired only during five of them.
** During their very first mission in 1977 they ended a plane hijacking with only one officer and one hostage wounded.
*** The Terrorists were armed with pistols and handgrenades, were ready to murder the hostages any minute, and even then the GSG9 took one of the 3 Terrorists alive.
* The Icelandic Víkingasveitin or [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast "the Viking squad"]] in English, has never had to take a human life in the application of their duties, but have halted hijacked airliners, fought eco-terrorist and regularly train with GSG9, Norwegian Delta's, and the S.A.S.
* Does anybody else notice that some serious martial artists tend to be [[NiceGuy pretty swell guys?]] Guys like Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Chuck Norris seem like they could be pals with anyone, even you and me. Bruce was also a fighting man-god who believed the first rule of self defense is that there are no rules, and recommends going for the [[GoForTheEye eyes]] and [[GroinAttack groin]] whenever possible, among other things. Jackie could grab the nearest lampshade and toilet brush and use them to ruin your day in ways you'd [[NightmareFuel rather not even imagine]], let alone [[LaserGuidedAmnesia remember afterward]]. And Chuck... well, [[MemeticMutation we all know about Chuck]].
** Ironically, Chuck Norris has been described as a hugely arrogant asshole by those working with him.
*** Well, when you're a MemeticBadass...
** Every one of the multiple martial arts [[JoshtheAspie this troper]] has has trained in, or seen actual training occur in encourages one to be emotionally and mentally balanced. The best outcome of all is for conflict to never reach the point of violence in the first place. If violence must occur, then do what it takes to get out of it alive. That might involve removing your opponent's ability to breath, or receive blood to their brain, or their ability to stand, or throw strikes. Then again, it might just involve throwing them, then running the other direction, if you can get away with it. In fact, in some martial arts there are some honors that one can only receive after having attempted to diffuse a situation multiple times, in order to seek peace. The majority of martial arts emphasize defense over offense, because many martial artists are just nice guy's that would rather no one get hurt - if possible.
*** This troper would like to nominate krav maga as an exception: from what I gather, krav maga mainly trains the berzerk button. Maybe it's just a little too young to have developped the mental mindframe, though.
** The martial art Aikido has been developed by a pacifist and consists mostly of moves to deflect attacks and restrain attackers. By using an attackers strength and momentum against him, it doesn't require much strength or weight. It is however very simple to use a restraining technique to break arms and hands, or use a deflecting technique to smash an attacker to the ground with his head first.
* The Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union in 1939-1940. The big, bad Soviet Union? 1 million men and 6 thousand tanks. The Finnish? 250,000 men, 30 tanks, and [[strike: Christopher Lee]] [[http://www.badassoftheweek.com/hayha.html Simo Häyhä]]. The winner? Well, it is [[strike:Christopher Lee]] [[OneManArmy Simo Häyhä]]. Kinda hard to go up against that.
** While it's hard to say that the Russians didn't lose here (horrific casualties,) the Finns didn't win. Stalin (being Stalin) kept piling up bodies against the Mannerheim Line until they were about to break through; the Finns were forced to sue for peace and hand over territory... which they took back during Operation Barbarossa, while allied with Nazi Germany... but wisely refused to go any further into Russia.
*** So we'll call it a stalemate. Still shows Finland is not to be fucked with easily.
*** It's not a stalemate if you lose and Finland definitely lost.
*No mention of the playful, boyish, merry, little Nepali, and their playful, boyish, merry way of dissecting the Queen's Enemies with their merry little kukris?
**Technically, the gurkhas rarely use their Kukris for actual combat, it is more commonly used as a machete or a utility tool.
***Of course. The modern world lacks a true sense of artistry about killing. But there's more then enough stories about it and it's part of the tradition.
* Pick a school shooting, any school shooting, from Columbine to Virgina Tech. Invariably, the murderer(s) will be described as quiet guys whom no one would ever suspect of committing such a crime.
** Actually, that's pretty much how ANY murderer is described. Psychopaths do not act crazy (perhaps a little 'off') until they are finally pushed past their limits. Even seemingly normal people acting out of anger or revenge do not show why it's never a good idea to mess with them until it's too late.
**It's also worth considering that, perhaps, this is because the ones that you ''would''suspect get locked up somewhere before they can go this far. The ones who are free to do such things are, if this is the case, the ones who have not given reason to be suspected of such tendencies. That, and a lot of these guys ''are'' described as being seriously disturbed, they just don't fit the "violent pyscho" image.
* George Carlin said that the tendancy of people to say "It's the quiet ones you gotta watch", seemed, to him, "like a very dangerous assumption."
->''"I will bet you anything that while you're watching a quiet one, a noisy one will fucking kill you! Suppose you're in a bar and one guy's sitting over on the side reading a book, not bothering anybody; another guy's standing up at the front with a machete, banging it on the bar, saying "I'll kill the next motherfucker who comes in here!" Who ya gonna watch?"''
*Take a look at dear little lovable Fido. He is still a WOLF underneath.
**And don't forget that cute miniature lion playing with the catnip mousie.
*C.S. Lewis once pointed out that the ideal Medieval warrior was "Fierce in the field and meek in the hall." Of course it really didn't come out that way but that is why we call them ideals.
* The Shaolin Monks are a prime example of this trope; they were peaceful till a group of bandits pushed them to the edge. Then they developed shaolin and tested it out on said bandits.
* Reinhard Heydrich was born to artistic parents, and was by all accounts a shy, sensitive child. His mildly Semitic features did not go down well in early-20th century Germany, and he was frequently bullied as a child. From young adulthood onwards he transformed himself into a dashing naval officer and womaniser, and later climbed the ranks of Hitler's SS, becoming the kind of Nazi official that Nazi officials were frightened of. The general competence of "the blond beast" gave the Allies nightmares that he might succeed Hitler. Upon his assassination in 1942 the world sighed with relief; all except for the populations of the Czech villages of Lidice and Ležáky, who were murdered in reprisal. "The towns were burned and the ruins leveled."
* Many sports journalists say that of all the athletes they interact with, hockey players are the nicest. These are the same athletes that seem to want to send each other's teeth into the 20th row.
** See "Canada" above.
*America during WWII. America tried to stay neutral (mostly), didn't want to get into another war. Until the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Next thing you know, the "sleeping giant" was awake and chasing the Japanese across the Pacific AND the Germans across Europe. A few years and two atom bombs later, Hitler had killed himself and Japan had no military.
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