[[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/HulkFu.jpg]]
[[caption-width:284:[[ThisIsGonnaSuck ...We're doomed]].]]

-> '''[[KeanuReeves Neo]]:''' I know Kung Fu.
-> '''Morpheus:''' Show me.
--->--''TheMatrix''

-> '''KeanuReeves''': I know Kung Fu.
-> '''[[{{Jeopardy}} Alex Trebek]]''': For the last time, no, you don't.
--->--''SaturdayNightLive, Celebrity Jeopardy''

How did a character suddenly acquire a needed skill?

By an unrelated previous life experience he never knew would prove so useful, sometimes a RetCon. In other words, the character always had the skill, but YouDidntAsk.

A character who is an actor is a sharpshooter because he had to learn it for a role. A writer is an expert on medieval history because she had to research it [[ItsForABook for a book]].

Common with older, gray-haired characters. You never think that your mother or grandmother could've had a life before you were born.

The name of this trope comes from an oft-parodied scene in ''TheMatrix'', where Neo gets Kung Fu (and other combat skills) programmed into his head. In a case like that, though, you're actually dealing with an UpgradeArtifact.

Combine this with CharacterDevelopment to get TaughtByExperience and TookALevelInBadass.

See also IKnowMortalKombat, TaughtByTelevision. Not to be confused with IKnowKarate.

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!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* Sort of played in ''SuzumiyaHaruhi'', where Yuki suddenly shows up some awesome guitar skills that could leave [[GunsNRoses Slash]], Eddie Van Halen, '''and''' {{Buckethead}} shocked. Kyon, of course, makes some [[DeadpanSnarker snide remarks]] about how she learned such techniques.
** Not to mention that Haruhi suddenly has the voice of a well-trained [[strike:25]] ~18-year-old. But then, this trope is justified in both cases, as Haruhi is voiced by AyaHirano, and Yuki is [[GameBreaker Yuki]].
* One of the goals of Kirika in ''{{Noir}}'' is learning where she gained the skills of a master assassin.
* Parodied by Tristan in ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh The Abridged Series}}''; though he himself is a hapless bumbler, he claims his ''voice'' knows kung fu, as well as giving him super strength.
* In ''DeathNote'', L and Light both somehow have pretty good hand-to-hand combat skills. L's skill is somewhat [[RetCon Retconned]] in Another Note, a novel that takes place before the story. Light we just assume has every skill necessary at the moment. He tends to have that. Oh! Watari's also a sharpshooter! When the **** did that happen?!
** Duh, these are obviously cases of AwesomenessByAnalysis and BattleButler, respectively.
** And, to be fair, he ''is'' the personal assistant to the Best. Detective. Evar. He's pretty much contractually obligated to be a badass with wide variety of useful skills.
* In ''SpeedRacer'', every member of the Racer family knows martial arts. Sure, Pops used to be a wrestler, but still...
* In the ''PrettySammy'' OAV, Ayeka Takada knows martial arts and isn't afraid to use it, especially against Ryoko when it comes to Tenchi.
*[[strike:Wilford Brimley]] Dr. Reichwein of ''{{Monster}}'' used to work with the border police, but the two punks trying to beat him up in an alley didn't know that.
** Averted with Nina, who was shown practicing Aikido before it came in handy.


[[/folder]]

[[folder: Comics ]]

* In the ''JusticeLeague'' episode "Hereafter", Superman awakens on a wasteland planet with a red sun, robbing him of his powers, with only a city street's worth of objects to assist him. As he attempts to find a way off, the human-level Kal-El displays shocking aptitude in blacksmithing, sword fighting, and even dog sledding as he traverses the blasted landscape.
* Dr. Strange comics love this, in the storyline The Oath, Strange's opponent conjures a mystical artifact, that prevents any magic being used for a certain amount of time, thinking himself physical stronger than Strange and able to beat him in physical combat, Strange takes a couple of hits, before turning the tables and revealing that in addition to becoming Sorcerer Supreme, he had become a master at kung fu with help from his assistant Wong.
* In {{Watchmen}}, several characters' fighting abilities are partially explained by the fact that they are skilled in gymnastics. Whilst this makes sense for, say, Ozymandias, it does seem a little peculiar when it comes to Rorschach, who doesn't really seem the type.
**Rorschach's been boxing since he was a teen. Read the book.
** He also fights very, very dirty.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* In the film ''ThreeKings'', one National Guardsman is an airport baggage handler in civilian life. Amazingly, during his adventure in Iraq, a situation arises requiring a detailed knowledge of suitcases.
* In ''ThePoseidonAdventure'', Shelly Winters' character, while seemingly the least fit (and least useful) of the survivors, was able to swim a long distance underwater while carrying the end of a rope, because she was on the swim team in school. [[spoiler: Sadly, she dies of a heart attack immediately afterwards.]]
* Kar from the movie ''BulletProofMonk'' learned literal kung-fu by imitating the constant martial arts films playing at the chinese theatre where he lived.
** Though to be fair, the Nameless Monk quickly demonstrates that the knowledge Kar got that way isn't very useful against someone who actually knows what he's doing.
** And yet Kar instantly becomes [[spoiler:''Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon'' even before becoming the guardian of the Scroll]].
* This is extremely common in the novels of Michael Crichton. In ''JurassicPark'', one of the kids just happens to know {{UNIX}} (in the movie she claims to be a hacker). In ''TheLostWorld'' movie, Dr. Malcolm's daughter is a gymnast...and there just happens to be pipes to swing from. In ''{{Timeline}}'', one of the characters just happens to be an expert free climber, and they have to scale the outer wall of a castle. And so on.
* In ''{{Atlas Shrugged}}'' Dagny flies an airplane when she goes searching for John Galt. It is never mentioned why or how she knows how to fly.
* In ''{{My Blue Heaven}}'', Vinnie is a gangster who (comically) portrays himself as afraid of and unskilled with guns, [[spoiler: but in the final shootout proves to be an excellent from the hip marksman]].
--> '''Barney:''' ''You said you didn-''
--> '''Vinnie:''' ''ILied.''
* In ''DemolitionMan'', Sandra Bullock's character abruptly acquires high-kicking combat skills (in a society where even high-fives are considered too violent). Asked where she learned it, she replies, "Oh - um, JackieChan movies."
* In the film Three Amigos, Ned Nederlander managed to win in a quickdraw against a german weapons smuggler, because he had learned to be the fastest draw for his movies. The German in question was actually a huge fan of Ned's who learned to be a master shot by watching his old movies and copying them. Thinking Ned had been using trick photography to only look that fasst, he challenged Ned, and lost.
* A literal example in ''Brotherhood of the Wolf''. Until the last part of the movie the protagonist is presented as a BadassBookworm, a biologist who is competent with guns too, but it's his sidekick Mani who shows his skills as a superb martial artist. After [[spoiler: Mani is killed, the hero, all alone, raids the hidden base of the bad guys and kills a shitload of them - showing that he does, in fact, know Kung Fu too. Hey, maybe he didn't feel like showing off until Mani was around]].


[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action Television ]]

* In ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer,'' Xander (once mentally turned into a soldier by a spell) knows the layout and lingo for the local military outpost. When these turned out to be useful, the writers {{Hand Wave}}d them away... and Xander [[YouDidntAsk didn't even tell us about that]] until months after his implanted memories were gone.
** In the seventh season, the writers seemed so desperate to justify Dawn's very existence that she suddenly could translate old magical books from sumerian. It was slightly less justified than the same character demonstrating sword proficiency in the last episode of the sixth season. At the time, she at least said she learnt that by watching her sister fight demons.
* In ''{{Charmed}}'', despite Phoebe Halliwell having trained in martial arts, the third season shows auctioneer/photographer Prue Halliwell surpassing her in martial arts skills she has never learned.
** Also in ''{{Charmed}}'' in "That Seventies Episode", Phoebe suddenly reveals the ability to pick locks. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Prue, who rhetorically asks, "Why am I not surprised that you know how to do this?"
* Catherine, typically the classiest and snootiest character on ''NewsRadio'', nonetheless knows a little three card monte from a summer spent hustling with an uncle.
** Dave Nelson also has a surprising amount of skill in both knife throwing and tap dancing.
* Diane on ''{{Cheers}}'' was an excellent bowler because she had taken bowling for her PE credits in college.
* ''QuantumLeap'''s Dr Sam Beckett has seven degrees (most of them unidentified) and knows eleven languages. On the other hand, the TimeTravel process leaves his memory swiss-cheesed, so he can forget as well as remember things as needed by the plot. Also, any skill he doesn't have can be taught to him by Al, who has been an astronaut, a boxer, a stage actor, a baseball pitcher, and even teaches Sam how to out-draw an old West gunslinger. In fairness, if you were looking for someone to be a holographic observer you'd probably want to get someone who is pretty handy, especially since they can't physically help. And Al is clearly old enough to have been all these things.
** Al has also been married five times, and when information he gives Sam seems too arcane for even Al to have personally experienced, he often claims he learned it from one of his ex-wives.
* It's even in reality TV: In the ''{{Survivor}} All Star'' episodes, shortly after Richard Hatch gets voted off, we find out that Lex has a talent at fishing (which we never knew from ''{{Survivor}} Africa'', because the only water Lex encountered there was at the bottom of a muddy hole).
* In ''{{Lost}}'', several characters have developed useful skills that have proven critical on the Island. Sun's knowledge of the medicinal qualities of herbs found on the island exceeds those of a normal home gardener, and Kate's "tracking" skills came out of nowhere (explained by a YouDidntAsk). However, this may be still explained by the mysteries of the island.
* Shepherd Book of ''{{Firefly}}'' displayed an array of crime-related talents and knowledge that one wouldn't expect the average [[BadassPreacher priest]] to have, hinting at a MysteriousPast; however, it was never made quite clear what this past was, beyond [[spoiler: being former Alliance]] and his survival being very important to the authorities (except possibly non-canon ''Serenity'' book tie-in, where he reveals to Mal that he is [[spoiler:a former Operative]]).
** The ''[[{{Firefly}} Serenity]]'' RPG has characters buy their skills as they go, the justification being that we find some new facet of the character's backstory at that point.
** WordOfGod has said that's canon now, as "Book" is actually [[spoiler:the name of someone he killed]].
* On ''{{Friends}}'', Chandler has hidden from Monica that he's an excellent ping-pong player, because he didn't want her to enter them in doubles tournaments. When she hurts her hand during a game, he turns out to be a not-so-[[TheHopelessReplacement hopeless replacement.]]
* {{Chuck}} gets this after [[spoiler: uploading the neo-Intersect into himself]]. He even quotes the trope name.
* [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] with Sandra Bennet of ''Series/{{Heroes}}''. She can make fake IDs, a skill she used to sneak into Def Leppard concerts when she was younger.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* The computer game PlanescapeTorment gives us The Nameless One, an amnesiac immortal (or is it immortal amnesiac?) who, rather than learning skills from people that he meets, instead remembers whatever skill it was that he forgot, [[spoiler:that, occasionally, he taught the teacher ages ago]]. It goes a step further by having you relearn skills by [[spoiler: re-attaching severed body parts that you had already grown back, which involves [[BodyHorror re-severing them.]]]] And one of them is [[EyeScream your eye]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* ''HeyArnold!'', "Road Trip": See BrokenStreak for details on Helga's mom riding bulls.
* In one episode of ''KimPossible'', Dr. Drakken hypnotizes all the senior citizens in Florida, including Kim's Nana, who it turns out has had quite an interesting life and picked up an assortment of skills, including piloting, race-car driving, and of course, martial arts.
**Also, Kim's sidekick Ron is magically imbued with powerful "Monkey Kung Fu" skills, though typically he can only use the skills when he's ''not'' actually ''trying'' to or angry.
*** Or [[SuperpoweredEvilSide evil]].
* ''WinxClub'' had fashion-obsessed Stella solve a puzzle in one episode by remembering a minor detail from a field trip they took for magical history class. (It should be noted that this is a dub change: in the original, it's her love of fashion that helps her solve the puzzle, although with this method she essentially stumbles on the solution.)
* ''TheBoondocks''. Who knew Uncle Ruckus "had mastered the ancient and deadly art of the nunchaku".
* Bart spontaneously learns French in an early episode of ''{{TheSimpsons}}'' just by hanging around French people. Possibly justified because, as Skinner points out in the same episode, total immersion is a good way to learn a language quickly.
** It's possible that Bart is a language prodigy and no-one knows it yet. In the episode when they went to South America, Bart became fluent in Spanish by listening to a Spanish tape for a few hours. Of course, at Homer's behest he intentionally forgets it.
** Similarly, in the episode where the Simpsons end up in Japan, both Bart and Homer learn to speak Japanese fluently after spending somewhat less than four hours in a Japanese jail cell. They also get taught how to perform a tea ceremony. This is apparently part of the Japanese "prisoner rehabilitation programme" though...

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* How can we forget the excellent, real life example of UweBoll, the German film director who challenged his many critics to a boxing match. Turns out he was a semi-professional boxer before taking up direction and beat the ever-loving snot out of the 4 (?) critics who went into the ring with him.
** It should be noted that Boll openly cherry picked his opponents, choosing the ones least likely to put up a real fight (including Something Awful's Lowtax). When he realized that Seanbaby would give him a real fight, he called the whole thing off.
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