[[AvatarTheLastAirbender http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sokka-badass.jpg]]
[[caption-width:320:It's amazing, the difference a couple of seasons can make.]]

->"Danny-boy, you've changed considerably... into a badass, if I may!"\\
-- '''Curtis Blackburn''', ''{{Killer7}}''

->"Why aren't you a joke anymore?"\\
--'''{{Spider-Man}}''' (about Hammerhead [[spoiler:through a dislocated jaw]]), ''The Amazing Spider-Man''

So you're flipping channels looking for something to watch and you come across a battle scene in a familiar show. One character in particular is making a very good showing, doing at least as much as the main character to save the day. But who is this mysterious BadassLongcoat? Did you miss the episode where they were introduced? Why the nagging feeling of familiarity? And then it hits -- you ''know'' this guy. It's just that last time you saw him, he was a nebbishy wisecracker with the constitution of a glass-jawed squirrel. What happened to transform him so completely? Simple: last time he leveled up, he TookALevelInBadass.

The phenomenon is the opposite of BadassDecay, and frequently just as unjustified. In some particularly [[TvTropesDrinkingGame egregious]] examples, a character’s personality does a complete 180 in a single episode. Instead of being the meek and intelligent person they once were, they may turn into an arrogant JerkAss because of their recent leveling.

On the plus side, it can be the capper to an entire series worth of CharacterDevelopment, and, if well-done, can make even TheWesley into an [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap interesting part of the show.]]

If the change is a result of a FaceHeelTurn, see SuperpoweredEvilSide and GoodIsDumb. If it's a result of a HeelFaceTurn, then it's a case of EvilIsDumb. If the change is due to time travel, see FutureBadass. If it is the result of finding a powerful object, see AmuletOfConcentratedAwesome. This can also happen because PrisonsAreGymnasiums

There is also the SuperHeroOrigin, where [[DareToBeBadass the first story gives some explanation for why they became the badass hero]].

The reference comes from roleplaying, where it's sometimes possible to "take a level" in a completely different class. For instance: a level ten Fighter ''could'' take a level in Wizard, therefore being both a level ten Fighter and a level one Wizard. Although truer to the trope would be a level ten Wizard taking a level in Fighter and thus becoming significantly tougher and better with weapons, instantly.

If they were already Badass to begin with and notched it UpToEleven, it's BadassAbnormal.

Contrast BadassDecay.

Compare ObfuscatingStupidity, LetsGetDangerous, CowardlyLion, and NotSoHarmless, where actually competent characters who have been hiding their powers finally reveal their abilities.

AdrenalineMakeover is when the love inerest does this. Also see MisfitMobilizationMoment, when a group of losers ''collectively'' takes a level in badass.

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[[foldercontrol]]

!!Examples

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* One particularly magnificent example is [[BadassAdorable Eve]] from ''BlackCat'', who begins the story as a {{Tykebomb}}-turned-[[DamselInDistress Damsel-In-Distress]] before joining the heroes as the {{Tagalong Kid}}. For the first few volumes it seems all she ever does is get captured or beaten by whatever villain the heroes are facing this chapter, but Eve resolves not to be TheLoad after the first time this happens... thus beginning a series-long tale of {{Character Development}} and badass level-grinding, ending with Eve being one of the strongest and most versatile fighters in the whole series. [[BadassLolita Hot]] ''[[BadassLolita damn]]''.
** What makes Eve so noteworthy is that her level-grinding progress can be tracked over the course of the series by tracking her {{Crowning Moments of Awesome}}, which start happening around chapter 35 ("Eve vs Flora") and become fairly common occurrences after that point. Not surprisingly, Eve's CMoAs usually happen when she reveals a newly-developed application of her powers, like shedding nanomachines to make a replica of Hades, or curbstomping an EliteMook with RazorFloss.
* [[spoiler:Kouhei]] from ''MoonPhase'', previously a [[spoiler:bumbling magic-less thick-head, suddenly becomes a powerful mage after taking some serious TrainingFromHell]] after the 20th episode.
* Akasaka in ''HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi'' definitely did some LevelGrinding in BadAss between his first fight against the Yamainu mid-first season and [[BigDamnHeroes the rematch]] against them by the end of the second one.
** And how about [[spoiler:Keiichi Maebara]] toward the end of the second season? Granted, he went the inspirational leader route rather than the ass-kicking one, but he did it with such panache that I almost expected him to bust out a pair of distinctive [[CoolShades pointy orange sunglasses]] and scream "[[TengenToppaGurrenLagann GATTAI!]]"
** What about Rika? In the Eye Opening arc, she quickly goes from a cute little girl to a person who would rather [[spoiler:stab herself in the neck ''seven times'' than allow Shion the pleasure of torturing her]].
*** Don't forget the way she acts, [[spoiler:when she isn't acting cute. Pummeling Satoko with a chair? Drinking wine in plain sight?]]
* ''UminekoNoNakuKoroNi'' lets almost every character get at least one of these. Most notably, [[spoiler: Shannon going from the blushing Moe maid in the first arc who's among the first to die to insanely awesome in the second, or George and Jessica's fights against Ronove and Gaap in the fourth arc...not to mention most of the adults, including but not limited to Rudolf and Kyrie's fight (and VICTORY) against demonic stake-girls or Krauss showing off his mad boxing skills against a giant goat-headed butler.]] It's pretty much a guarantee that by the time this series ends there won't be a character left who hasn't become a total badass.
** As of the fifth arc, Battler has them all beat. And it was awesome.
* In the first season of ''ShakuganNoShana'', Hecate (an important member of the Evil Council) was portrayed as a cute, harmless girl who just prayed all the time and was doted on by another member. Even in the anime-original climax arc, the most she did was "[[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything synchronize]]". Her eventual reappearance in the second season quickly corrects this notion with ''liberal'' BeamSpam, [[SphereOfDestruction Spheres Of Destruction]], and a loaded "gun" to the face.
** Yuji of ''ShakuganNoShana'' fits the "super-powered girlfriends do the fighting for him" part, but eventually takes a level in badass near the end of the second season. Suddenly he's [[spoiler:impaling people with giant swords, blowing them up with balls of silver fire and '''''crushing necks''''']]. ''Wow''.
* Kei Kurono of ''{{Gantz}}'' starts the series as a repulsively selfish, sex-obsessed high school brat, but after surviving multiple rounds of the ''Gantz'' game, a berserk, suicidal DeathSeeker phase, and [[spoiler: the brutal, splattering deaths of all of the people he never realised he actually cared about]], he becomes a hardcore survival machine and capable leader. Also happens to a lesser extent to ''anyone'' who survives a round of Gantz...
** Kurono is in interesting case since his natural survival instincts make him a serious badass right from the first time he puts on the suit- he debatably never "levels up" at least not with regards to his own skill. However his CharacterDevelopment into the Gantz team's leader turns the team from an assorted group of bewildered innocents who are mostly fodder into a hardcore combat unit who can cut their way through armies of enemies without losing a man. This makes him ''many times'' more BadAss.
* In ''{{Naruto}}'' Sakura post-timeskip is another good example. Training with Tsunade, or any of the Sannin for that matter, pays off in many levels in Badass.
** Shikamaru might have been the first of the Konoha gang to make chuunin, but he was regarded as not being very strong and mostly a TeenGenius. That changed when [[spoiler:his teacher Asuma was killed and he took down an Akatsuki almost singlehandedly]] and became more of a BadassBookworm.
** Recently, [[spoiler:[[BrattyHalfPint Konohamaru]]]] was revealed to have taken one, as he is now able to [[spoiler:use the Rasengan and take on one of [[PersonOfMassDestruction Pain's]] [[AGodIAm bodies]]. He didn't really win, but it still counts]].
*** Let's not foreget a not so little detail... [[spoiler: The mere fact that the [[ShyBlueHairedGirl always shy]] [[ShrinkingViolet and insecure]] Hinata was willing to face ''Pain'' of all people to help Naruto, and even manages to briefly ''hold him back'' until he unleashed the attack that got her partially down, proves that Hinata has ''finally'' taken levels in badass too]]
* In Animerica there's Makoto, who's been shown several times in both {{Canon}} and specials that he can kick ass even while being the PluckyComicRelief at the same time.
** There's also Takuya, who's first sign of badassery was shown when [[spoiler:he saved Mischa from Kiyone by finally being able to conjure up a powerful lightning bolt and aim it at him perfectly. The second was when he stood up against Thalin by cleverly making use of his special KillerYoYo and totally pwning him with it. It's because of these acts that he earns the heart of his LoveInterest. You see Takuya, you're not such a loser after all!]]
** Where to begin with Ron?! Well, he [[spoiler:''turns the BigBad good'' with a classic YouAreNotAlone speech, saves his girlfriend and her brother by beating up ''two of the major villains in a funny, yet awesome manner'', and finally turns into a BadassNormal when he fights and ''defeats'' Shiragane, an act which prompts Kiyone to say that he's even ''better'' than him in battle. Ron truly deserves his place as a RegularCharacter.]]
* Takeru "TK" Takaishi went from cute TagalongKid in ''DigimonAdventure'' to a "veteran" Chosen who [[http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i320/mpcp13/TakeruDarkAmusement.jpg unflinchingly took the Digimon Kaiser/Emperor's whip strikes]] before beating the crap out of him in ''DigimonAdventure02''.
* Simon of ''TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' is a pretty crazy example. Starting the series as a digger living underground, he then got by as TheSoCalledCoward sidekick to the living incarnation of awesome, suffers a HeroicBSOD, but bounces back, ''hard'', taking new levels in badass so frequently that he maxes out. [[BeyondTheImpossible Then he takes EVEN MORE LEVELS]].
**Simon takes so many levels he uses them as a raw power source. Seriously.
** There's also [[spoiler:Viral]], who, in a total [[EvilIsDumb inversion]] of GoodIsDumb, makes a HeelFaceTurn that changes him from a heavily {{Villain Decay}}ed IneffectualSympatheticVillain, to a guy that who in his first fight along with Simon [[spoiler:''destroys an entire fleet of enemies by the sheer force of their combined awesomeness'']].
** In TheMovie, we even get Nia piloting her own Ganmen in the final battle, who normally tends to not be one of the fighting characters, more serving as TheChick than as an actual pilot.
* Shiro Emiya, the most pathetic mage in the [[FateStayNight Fifth Holy Grail War]]. He gets pretty badass by the end of the series. [[spoiler:[[FutureBadass Give him another couple of years]], and you get Archer, a man so epic, they had to create the word {{gar}} to describe people like him]].
** Only in the original game, unfortunately. In the Fate route and the anime (which follows Fate fairly closely) Shirou's still rather pathetic at the end of the series and never quite manages to get rid of his "[[StayInTheKitchen Fate/Stay in the Kitchen]]" image despite changing that attitude about halfway through the story. In Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven's Feel, on the other hand, he racks up a laundry list of [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Crowning Moments of Awesome]] and arguably becomes even more {{badass}} than Archer at his best thanks to his unstoppable {{Determinator}} status.
* Kazuma of ''KazeNoStigma'', in the backstory. Exiled a few years ago for getting his ass handed to him by his little cousin, by the present action he's become the most badass character in the show, basically handily defeating anyone and everyone (including his dad) without breaking a sweat.
* This sums of the basic plot of ''[[KenichiTheMightiestDisciple History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi]]''.
* Series ButtMonkey Keitaro spends the eleventh volume of the ''LoveHina'' manga off on an archeology dig with [[TheAce Seta]] and returns an omnicapable dreamboat that can face Motoko on near-equal terms and generally radiates awesome. Fans are split between those who see this as a logical outgrowth of man's growing self-confidence and the ones who call it a near-JumpTheShark moment for abandoning the premise of the "adorkable" landlord steadily earning ever deeper love/respect from tenants who in several cases casually outclass him. This was foreshadowed when it was mentioned that Seta, Keitaro's {{Badass}} mentor, failed the exam for Tokyo University three times as well.
* In the ''{{Read or Die}}'' {{OAV}}, Wendy Earhart is just a goofy, [[{{Dojikko}} clumsy]] comic relief secretary. Then in the sequel ''R.O.D. the TV'', [[spoiler:she's a cold uber-assistant; assassinating non-combatant scientists and ordering {{MIB}} to conquer countries]].
* Itsuki Iba, the president of Astral in ''RentalMagica'', starts off as largely useless except for a magic eye that [[BlessedWithSuck frequently hurts him to use]], and is constantly rescued by the others. Eventually, he [[IKnowKungFu starts studying martial arts]] as a semi-magical discipline, and combines that with his magical sight to become fairly effective, at least in situations where hand-to-hand combat becomes necessary. Otherwise, he's still largely useless.
* Sheeta in Miyazaki's ''Laputa: CastleInTheSky'', starts off the movie as a quiet damsel in distress. By the end of the film, [[spoiler:she's allowing the BigBad to shoot off her pigtails and reacting with only a wince]].
** Of course, she did rescue herself right in the opening of the movie by smacking a guard with a bottle and jumping out of the airship.
*** That would be [[spoiler:the Big Bad before he took his own level in Badass]].
* Maya in ''{{Fafner of the Azure}}''. Sat on the sidelines for the first two thirds of the series, finally got her chance to pilot... and turned out to be an absolutely awesome sniper.
* In ''{{Grendizer}}'', Duke Fleed's neighbor and best friend was the NaiveEverygirl Hikaru Makiba, who soon becomes a DistressedDamsel. She realizes this won't get her anywhere, so she's PutOnABus for some episodes and returns both wearing [[SheIsAllGrownUp sexier clothing]] (miniskirts, boots and denim > gowns and pretty hats) and with a tougher, yet still gentle attitude. By the end of the series, Hikaru has become one of Duke's more trusty sidekicks, along with Koji and Maria Grace.
* The robot Mic Sounders the 13th from ''{{GaoGaiGar}}'' actually seemed to be built around this theme. In his first appearance, he was little more than a gigantic little kid's toy with an annoying, childlike personality who can't even hope to scratch the MonsterOfTheWeek. (In fact, he gets flicked away as nothing more than a fly) However, then his restraints are de-activated, and he transforms into his "Boom Robo" mode, with a keytar and soundstage powerful enough to tear giant robots apart at the molecular level... and then levels back down after he's done fighting, into his lame toy-looking "Cosmo Mode" again. Apparently his fluctuating Badass level was on purpose: He could accidentally destroy the Earth otherwise.
* Aki in ''TekkamanBlade'' was TheChick in the first series, but in the second, takes at least '''two''' levels in Badass: Not only has she become the hard-nosed commander of the Space Knights in the intervening ten years, but has also become a Tekkaman herself. This is revealed by her Tek Setting (with her own Pegas robot, even!) and ''slaughtering'' an entire squad of Radam Tekkamen that had been giving the heroes problems, just to show them how it's done.
* Previously in ''{{Claymore}}'', [[spoiler:Raki who served as TheLoad and MoralityPet to the main character]] turns into a badass swordsman over the timeskip, using an ordinary blade to slay a Youma in pretty much two strokes. And then going "Pimpin!", all Dante-like.
** Clare herself also takes several levels in badass throughout the course of the series.
* As ''MahouSenseiNegima'' completed its [[GenreShift transformation]] into a fighting {{shounen}}, the ([[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters many]]) characters went and plundered the {{badass}} warehouse :
** The [[CastHerd Library Trio]] (Nodoka, Yue, and Haruna) went from [[AdventurerArchaeologist adventurous]] [[HotLibrarian Cute Bookworms]] to {{Badass Bookworm}}s via, respectively, [[MinMaxing looting powerful artifact to multiply her combat usefulness]], becoming a full-blown BlackMagicianGirl, and [[ArtInitiatesLife lucking out]] on the SuperpowerLottery.
** Asuna has recovered from negative levels, remembering long-buried memories of past powers to become the kind of BarrierMaiden that [[ActionGirl can bloody the nose]] of any BigBad that tries to mess with her.
** Kuu Fei has gone from just [[IKnowKungFu knowing]] WaifFu to mountain-shmashingly mastering it.
** Negi himself very quickly took one to stop being an IneptMage. Ever since, he's kept on growing badasser, especially since he's started using [[spoiler: BlackMagic]].
*** Badasser?
**** Badassiest.
* Erstin Ho got this treatment in the anime-to-manga transposition of ''{{Mai-Otome}}''. In the former, [[spoiler:she was TheMole for the Schwartz, who was too weak and gentle to actually fight, got hurt quite often and eventually died [[TearJerker in a very heart-breaking manner]].]] In the manga, however, while retaining her meek and gentle nature, she's shown as an extremely capable and powerful fighter, [[spoiler: almost defeating Arika of all people in the first volume (even if she was, at that point, [[BrainwashedAndCrazy under Shiho's mind control]]), and later, after a very close brush with death, receiving a Meister Robe just like Arika and Nina, and playing a vital role in defeating [[BigBad Evil Manga Sergei]].]] This is mainly due to manga Erstin being a master of [[BoobsOfSteel Boob Fu]], and has trained her breasts to be lethal weapons.
** Just so we're clear here: [[http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/3751/e4f81460bn2.png her breasts]] are ''literally'' lethal weapons.
* In the second season of ''{{Gundam 00}}'', [[spoiler: Saji Crossroad goes from OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent to Celestial Being's [[TagalongKid Tag Along Guy]] and then to [[BashBrothers Setsuna's partner]] and [[SixthRanger pilot of the 00-Raiser]]. His girlfriend Louise Halevy, crippled in season 1 and taken in by the A-Laws, becomes a BrokenBird DarkActionGirl. And Setsuna himself pretty much ''lives'' to take levels in badass, to the point of becoming ''The Ultimate Innovator'' almost at the end of the series. And that Patrick's HeelFaceTurn actually made him [[EvilIsDumb stronger]] than he ever was... enough to survive an HeroicSacridfice and [[EarnYourHappyEnding earning his and Kati's happy ending]].]]
* Though ''{{Hellsing}}'''s Seras Victoria was a moderate badass for the first two-thirds of the series, she still remained a mostly terrified girl-turned-vampire who was totally in over her head... until [[spoiler: Zorin kills Pip. Seras turns around and drinks Pip's freely offered blood, and her first taste of ''real'' human blood triggers an [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome impossibly awesome]] UnstoppableRage.]]
*''OnePiece'': [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2brhmiyCh5M Sogeking.]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAXefstE6aI (his CMoA)]]
** Koby too. Apparently, he had a good (but [[TrainingFromHell not nice]]) professor.
** [[spoiler:Buggy, arguably.]]
*** [[spoiler:He mans up considerably, in a way, after everyone escapes Impel Down and his past as a member of Gold Roger's crew is revealed, leading the Marines and most of the escapees to believe that he's as strong as his old mate Shanks, who is now an Emperor. With this new found fame, he declares his intention to sail into Marineford and strike at Whitebeard, the strongest man in the world. He may still be a wimp, but he's a badass wimp.]]
** [[spoiler:Mr. 2]], on the other hand, has most definitely taken a level in badass. Several even. To the point where [[spoiler:he stayed behind in Impel Down in order to fight the warden Magellan (who neither Luffy, the high-ranking Revolutionary Ivankov, or the Blackbeard Pirates could beat) alone and surrounded by guards while the rest of the escaped prisoners flee from the prison.]]
* In ''VinlandSaga'', Canute goes from being a shy girly boy who can barely manage to say a word in front of the other Vikings, into Canute the Great, Emperor of the North and greatest king in Viking history after [[spoiler: His father figure Ragnar is murdered by Askeladd]]
* In ''CodeGeass'', Jeremiah Gottwald caused more than a few "Holy ''shit''" jaw drops from the audience when he reappeared near the end of season one. And then he came back in season two with even ''more'' badass.
-->'''Jeremiah:''' I have a favor to ask you! ''Please, die''.
* Jomy from ''{{Toward the Terra}}'', after the ''TimeSkip''. Jomy goes from being an unwilling and sort of whiny kid to becoming an admirable leader of the Mu when we see him again after 12 years.
* Teana at the start of ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha [=StrikerS=]'': Immature rookie that almost caused a friendly fire incident and likely deserved the [[FingerpokeOfDoom little head cooling from Nanoha]] and [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan punch to the face from Signum]]. Teana by the end of ''[=StrikerS=]'': SmartGirl that took down [[spoiler: [[QuirkyMinibossSquad three Number Cyborgs]] [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome on her own. While crippled]]]].
* Shiki from ''{{Tsukihime}}'' is normally a laid back guy, but anger him enough so that he [[TheGlassesComeOff takes off his glasses]] and he'll instantly take like five or six levels in badass at the same time. Or, y'know, make him give in to [[spoiler:his [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Nanaya side]]]], and by the badassness alone you're pretty much screwed.
** After the original Visual Novel he's apparently even ''more'' badass without having to give in to his Nanaya side. [[AllThereInTheManual He's apparently killed three Dead Apostle Ancestors since then.]] [[spoiler:His Nanaya side is actually the thing that scares him the most because he's afraid it's merely an unstoppable [[strike:killing]] murdering psychopath.]]
* ''VampireKnight'': Yuuki Cross is a straight example, going from something of a DistressedDamsel to an ''awesome'' ActionGirl after [[spoiler:Kaname transforms her back into a vampire]]. Chairman Cross is a subversion; he was a former [[spoiler:vampire hunter]] before the series, and returned to being badass later in the series.
* Yukiteru from ''MiraiNikki'', after his father dies and he decides to start playing the game to win, not just to survive. He vanishes for five days, and when he returns mysteriously, he's gone from helpless [[TheWoobie woobie]] relying on his [[{{Yandere}} psychopathic girlfriend]] to survive into a badass secret agent type, with the girlfriend clinging to him like a Bond girl (symbolizing that he's the one in charge now).
* Hiro in ''PrincessResurrection'' is a good example of the trope. In the early series he was a complete deadweight, whos only real job was to do repair jobs around the house since he was... you know... useless at fighting. And then he almost singlehandedly wiped out an entire army of mummies with a hatchet.
* Kuwabara from ''YuYuHakusho'' was just an ordinary street punk who was only a mildly better fighter then the average street punk. Through his association with Yusuke and the spirit world police he became quite proficient and certainly helpful with his spirit awareness.
** Yusuke, being the main character, does a few major jumps in ability, but considering the SortingAlgorithmOfEvil his first fight remains just about as tough as the later fight. Kuwabara on the other hand, shows a marked improvement in dealing with the demons, while still not at the same level as Yusuke.
* Sylphiel Nels Lahda from ''{{Slayers}}''. Though she's a very competent [[WhiteMagic healer]] in her own right, her skill in [[BlackMagic offensive magic]] in the first season is extremely lacking, to the point where her attempts at casting Flare Arrow result in Flare ''Carrots'' appearing instead. However, by the time her appearance in the second season rolls around, [[spoiler:not only has she taught herself one of the most destructive spells ever devised, the Dragon Slave, in the interim, but she nearly manages takes out the season's big bad with it as well when she stacks it on top of Lina's.]]
* Chinami between Code-E and Mission-E. Although she still only qualifies for FauxActionGirl. Her sidekick does most of the fighting.
* Much of ''ShikabaneHime: Kuro'' is taken up with Ouri taking a level in badass. Six episodes in and he's capable of going toe to toe with the Seven Stars.
* Shu in ''{{Now and Then Here and There}}''. He spends the entire series being kind, idealistic, and an extreme pacifist. When [[spoiler: Nabuca dies]], Shu drops the cheerful disposition, becomes hard as stone (at least for the time being), and singlehandedly succeeds in freeing all the prisoners, rescuing the [[MysteriousWaif Magical Girl]], and beating the crap out of the BigBad.
* This trope is practically defined by ''{{Flame of Recca}}'''s Domon Ishijima. Being TheBigGuy in a series that seemed to [[FollowTheLeader copy]] ''YuYuHakusho'', people expected him to be the [[ButtMonkey comic relief guy]] that [[CantCatchUp couldn't catch up]]. He still provides comic relief, but along the way, he evolves from being the weakest of the team into potentially one of the most powerful team members ever. And his fighting record keeps getting better and better... His crowning moment of taking badass levels? Magensha shot him with a cannon that can shred people into pieces...and Domon simply ''punches'' the hell outta it, deflecting it. ''Awesome''.
* Ash Ketchum picked up one of these during the Sinnoh arc of ''[=~Pokémon~=]'', hitting his stride after his second battle with Fantina.
** He may have done that much earlier, when he passed the baton of being new to training Pokémon to May (and she did the same for Dawn).
* Bat from ''{{Fist of the North Star}}'', where he went from a {{bratty halfpint}} in the first series who would literally wet his pants at the first sign of danger to a [[BadassNormal badass]] resistance leader capable of holding his own against the bad guys. Ken even notices this by telling Bat that he has "become a man". Coming from a guy that makes people explode by punching them, that's something special.
* In ''KatekyoHitmanReborn'', after about nine volumes of absolute fail and Tsuna being pretty much the physical [[{{YouSuck}} Embodiment of Suck]], No-Good Tsuna finaly took ''multiple'' levels in badass. This was due to the unveiling of his [[{{Tranquil Fury}} Hyper Dying Will]] mode, in which he becomes a calm, cool, level-headed fighter that can do things from [[IncendiaryExponent lighting his hands on fire]] to ''flying''. It gets even better in the future arc, where [[spoiler:after receiving a MindScrew, courtesy of the Vongola Boss Right of Passage accompanied by the clostrophobia and lack of air of TYL Hibari's hedgehog dome, Tsuna gets another level in badass.]] Not to mention that ''everyone'' took one when they [[spoiler:put on those [[{{ImpossiblyCoolClothes}} Impossibly Cool Battle Suits]].]]
** Yamamoto is ''very'' subject to taking multiple levels in badass. Even [[{{TricksterMentor}} Reborn]] has expressed that the unfailably naive nice guy is actualy a natural born killer, and will probably be very good at being a [[{{CareerKillers}} Career Killer]]. This is surprising to the rest of the cast, because Yamamoto is pretty much the nicest guy in the world who fought using the back of his sword during the important battle over the Rain Ring. Even [[spoiler:TYL]], he was borderline on being a BadassLongcoat. The guy's just the physical embodiment of the CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass trope.
*** Oh look. He's taken ''yet another'' level in badass. Accompanied by a [[spoiler:[[{{CoolPet}} Cool Box Weapon]] that carries around ''[[{{SwordsAkimbo}} three swords]]'', more [[{{ImpossiblyCoolClothes}} Impossibly Cool Japanese Clothes]], and [[{{OnlyAFleshWound}} very cool face bandages]].]]
* In the manga adaption of ''Dragon Quest'' (titled ''Dai no Daibouken''), the title character Dai's meek sidekick Pop goes from a total loser to one of the most heroic characters in the series.
* ''RurouniKenshin'' has three instances of levelling in BadAss, two of them on screen:
** Sano undergoing the TrainingFromHell to learn his ultimate technique. His mentor even notes Sano's almost overnight maturity.
** Kenshin learning ''his'' ultimate technique and taking his first steps towards coming to terms with himself.
** Yahiko shows off his level of badass (of which he'd been steadily gaining experience points in throughout the series) in the DistantFinale by pulling off a BarehandedBladeBlock...with two ''fingers''.
* Although even putting the name [[NeonGenesisEvangelion Shinji Ikari]] and the word badass in one sentence may sound like the ultimate Oxymoron, the theatrical retelling ''Rebuild of Evangelion'', now at the second film(of a planned four) Evangelion 2.0 may be trying to paint a very different picture of Shinji to his original TV series self. [[spoiler: During the climax of 2.0, Shinji takes on the angel Zeruel in a fashion much like the same battle in the original series. However, instead of going blank and having the Unit-01 become sentient on its own...Shinji himself reactivates the Unit-01 into berserker moder off of his sheer will to save Rei Ayanami. (whose Unit-00 had been eaten by said angel previously, after a failed attempt to kamikaze the Angel like in the TV series.) With red eyes, and a nearly feral expression as well as a temperment of sheer anger and altruistic determination...this may be one of the most dramatic examples of having taken a level in badass that Japanese animation has ever seen when one considers the character.]]
** Although he's still generally the passive and despondent teen we all know and love(or hate), Shinji has also generally had a much more forward and direct personality. [[spoiler: Being more forward in bringing Rei out of her shell, taking more chances in the battle against Ramiel, rampaging around the Geofront after the Unit-03 incident, and even confronting his father in a more direct manner.]] So far anyways...
* In the "The One to Carry On" ''[=~Ranma ½~=]'' [=OAV=], after suffering a disastrous defeat to the SiblingTeam of Natsume and Kurumi, both Ranma and Akane train very, very hard for a rematch -- Ranma trains specifically in female form to compensate for her inexperience with it, but Akane endures an even harder training regimen with Ryōga that improves her overall performance. The differences in her skills and demeanor surprise everyone who sees her.
* Kamishiro Yuu from ''{{Holyland}}'' is a loner and weakling who constantly gets shoved around by bullies. But once he stumbles across a book that shows how to throw a proper punch, he practices punching a thousand times and begins beating up bullies and learning other martial arts moves.
* When [[GentleGiant Chad]] realizes that he's [[CantCatchUp fallen far behind Ichigo]] and [[DeadpanSnarker Uryuu]] loses his Quincy abilites, they each go through their own TrainingFromHell. The end result turns two people who'd be lucky to fight a lieutenant and win into powerful fighters, each roughly on par with Ichigo without his mask. They both shred through their respective opponents in the Hueco Mundo arc...until they meet the Espada at least. But hey, they were each more than a match for a Privaron.
** Ichigo himself has undergone numerous levels in badass during the course of the shows history. He goes from being barely able to hold a severely weakened lieutenant in check to being able to take down one of the most formidable captains of the Gotei 13... and then he gets his {{Superpowered Evil Side}} to upgrade. The {{Big Bad}} might want to kill this one off before he finishes levelling...
* Tenma and Nina in ''{{Monster}}'', who are promptly de-{{woobie}}fied by their gun training and [[DarkerAndEdgier grim]] [[TheFettered determination]].
* Tetsuo Shima in AKIRA goes from an inferiority-complexed nube in a biker gang to an almost god-like psychic in about an hour into the film capable of exploding peoples' heads, leveling bridges, surviving a satellite laser canon (and destroying it in the vacuum of space), and damn near absorbing a city into himself. Heck, at the end he is implied to be God in a new universe of his creation. However, topping all that is he never manages to defeat his {{Badass Normal}} friend Kaneda.
* In ZatchBell, when the heroes are training in preparation for the battle with Clear Note, [[spoiler:Kanchome]] takes several levels in badass, moving up from being one of the weakest demons in the battle to [[spoiler:becoming the second strongest demon in the entire series, able to force Zatch to use Baou Zakeruga just to survive a fight against him, and completely demolishing Clear's [[TheDragon Dragon]], Gorm]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Board Games]]
* Pawn promotion in {{Chess}}.
** And likewise the upgrade the queen underwent in the fifteenth century. Before that it was limited to moving one square diagonally, making it not even as powerful as a king, which can at least cover all eight squares around it. Afterwards the new rules variation (orthogonal and diagonal travel without limit where unobstructed) became tellingly known as "madness chess" ("That much power wielded by ''a woman''? [[TitleDrop Madness!]]") and the Italians called the piece ''rabioso''.
*** If it comes to that, the ancient bishop was even weaker, moving diagonally two squares ''exactly'', which restricted it so that 56 of the 64 squares were permanently off-limits.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Card Games]]
* This happens to numerous characters in ''[=~Magic: The Gathering~=]''. Crovax and Ertai each take about twenty levels in badass when they sign up with the Phyrexians. Kamahl takes a level in badass when he becomes the Fist of Krosa, and his sister takes a level in badass when she becomes Phage the Untouchable.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comics]]
* Just about every single character who comes into contact with some kind of weird GreenRocks that give them superpowers.
* Joke character Hammerhead from ''Comicbook/{{Spider-Man}}'' got this treatment, as part of becoming TheDragon for BigBad Mr. Negative. He got a reinforced skeleton (made out of canonical NightmareFuel) and strength and durability upgrades. The very first thing he does is utterly stomp Spidey. As Peter is lying on the floor [[spoiler:''with a gorram dislocated jaw'']], he says "[[LampshadeHanging Why aren't you a joke anymore?]]"
** KEVLAR. THROAT.
** Oh, and I forgot. He now has his [[RetCon real memory]] of being a Russian. So now he's a near-invulnerable Russian hitman with a skeleton that looks a lot like the Terminators. Pleasant dreams.
* Grunge of the newly rebooted ''{{Gen 13}}'' series is a slightly different example. He starts out as your more than average nerd with genius IQ and photographic memory. And the first name... Percy. So he starts working out, hides his book smarts and his photographic memory, starts using his middle name, trains in martial arts and starts skateboarding. And turns into a stereotypical 'stupid' musclebound frat boy slacker by the start of the series when we first see him. And then he gets superpowers.
* Storm from ''{{X-Men}}'' is an interesting example; she started off as a fairly strong Claremont Woman, but a bit unsure of herself. After some time with the team and a radical makeover in Japan, however, she became less an African YamatoNadeshiko and more of an ethnic ActionGirl. She still used SpockSpeak, however, and continues to do so to this day.
** Kitty Pryde. Hints of her ability were dropped from day one, but few who read her of late would [[strike:believe the [[GenkiGirl Genki]] TeenGenius TagalongKid of a DistressedDamsel she once was]]... scratch that, the CharacterDevelopment was well done enough that she remains wholly recognisable.
* In the ''Comicbook/SonicTheHedgehog'' comic book, Evil Sonic, Sonic's EvilTwin ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin duh]]), is nothing more than a minor pest, at best. He spends his time either playing underling for more powerful villains, or behaving like a glorified thug. However, when the new writer comes into the comic, Evil Sonic gets jacked up on chaos energy, gets a makeover, changes his name to "Scourge", and proceeds to kick his threat level up a notch. It doesn't stop there, however -- after a few "inspiring" words from Sonic, he returns to his home dimension, applies himself, and conquers his own version of "Moebius" in a matter of DAYS.
** An even better exemple would be Antoine D'Coolette. Starting out as a bit of a [[MilesGloriosus cowardly, uppity jerk]], over the course of the series he grows as a character, becoming more likable, [[TheSoCalledCoward growing a backbone]], becoming a competent swordsman and even scoring one of the hottest girls in the Freedom Fighters. One can actually track each time he takes up a level in badass over the series, up to his current level.
* Yorick in ''[[YTheLastMan Y: The Last Man]]'' starts as an inept loser who's often beaten up by women (including his sister) but with the help of some traumatic incidents, and training by Agent 355, becomes more adept at defending himself. Subverted also in one scene when a non-action character suddenly whips out a sword in an apparent elevation to Badass, only to be easily defeated by the more experienced villain.
* Lawrence Dobson from ''{{Firefly}}'' received a Level of Badass in the ''{{Serenity}}'' comic books.
* In the ''Villains United'' and ''SecretSix'' comics, former {{Batman}} whipping boy Catman has graduated to a capable threat, fighting the Caped Crusader to a standstill in one issue.
** Just to give you an idea how big the change was, the last time we saw Catman before ''Villains United'' was ''Archer's Quest'' where he was a fat slab doing grunt work for [[spoiler: the Shade.]] First scene with him in ''Villains United'' has him, very fit, leading a pride of lions and telling the Secret Society of Super Villains where they could put their recruitment drive.
* In the first issue of ''G.I. Joe: Cobra'', we watch Chuckles gain Badass XP in a training sequence with Jinx.
* In the MarvelUniverse, Anthony Davis was a second-rate {{C List Fodder}} supervillain known as the Ringer, who was humiliated by {{Spider-Man}} before being [[DroppedABridgeOnHim unceremoniously murdered]] along with 17 other supervillains by the villain-killing Scourge. A later {{retcon}} would reveal that Davis was {{Not Quite Dead}} when he was found by a group of agents from the technological terrorist group A.I.M., who were investigating the site of the massacre to steal the technology of the dead villains. {{He Got Better}} when A.I.M. turned him into a cyborg with advanced laser weapons and teleportation powers. Now calling himself Strikeback, Davis proved to be a much better fighter than he ever was as the Ringer, defeating the Vulture, Stegron, Boomerang and Swarm one after another when he reappeared in the {{SpiderMan}} comics.
* The first volume of French comic ''Dungeon'' pretty much revolves around initially helpless and cowardly lead character Herbert the Duck Taking a Level in Badass over and over again. By the end, he has a magic sword he's one Great Deed away from being able to wield, that, if touched by another, will turn him into one of its previous bearers to defend itself -- unfortunately, not all of them are awesome, and it can be exploited by forcing him to cycle through forms too quickly to actually react -- can't be killed by normal means because [[SoulJar his heart was first removed, then eaten by a Bewmew]] -- granting it a soul, and the now-sapient... blob-thingy now acts as his loyal servant and bodyguard in thanks -- and is a master of the stick and the feather -- since he's a duck and ''covered'' with feathers, this means he can dismember and eviscerate opponents completely unarmed.
* An issue of ''Ambush Bug'' from the 1980s once listed a bunch of corny silver age characters that should never be mentioned again because they could not possibly work in modern comics. Grant Morrison has since made them all awesome.
* Recently in the ''Incredible Hulk'' book (the one Written by Greg Pak), Bruce Banner took a level in Badass. Proving he's not as useless as people think he is.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* Prince Charming from ''{{Cinderella}}'' goes from a guy with ten lines and who's greatest piece of character development is yawning boredly at the ball in the first movie, to a man who leaps from his horse to a moving ship, slides downs the sail using his sword, and uses that same sword to block magic spells. Not to mention that in the sequels he's voiced by friggin' Spider-Man.
* Kadaj from ''FinalFantasyVII: Advent Children'' can teach a class on taking levels in badass after [[spoiler:''literally becoming Sephiroth'']] in the blink of an eye.
** Cloud himself took a few levels in badass in Advent Children. [[spoiler:''First he was no match for the Silver Haired Men, then he defeated Bahamut Sin, and then the aforementioned Silver Haired Men, and then Sephiroth himself.]] Of course, PlotArmor does help.
*** It seems suggested that he simply gained back levels he had lost. At first, he was angsty and ill, but before the dragon fight, he gained his self-confidence back, and by the end he had been physically healed as well. Tifa also spoke of the strength [[{{Nakama}} the lot of them]] had felt near the end of the game and how they had already lost it, except that, near the end of the movie, Cloud had regained it.
* In ''Up'', Carl Fredericksen is a 78-years grumpy, sour, etc., old man who is completely obsessed by his house, which he considers as the last remnant of his late wife, who he feels he "betrayed". He even goes as far as [[spoiler: to let the BigBad capture a rare bird he earlier swore to protect to save the same house]] (and gets a "WhatTheHellHero"). But when a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming makes him [[spoiler: realize at last that the house is nothing but a house, that his memories are what are keeping his wife alive within him, and that he never "betrayed" her]], he immediately goes from old grumpy selfish almost-{{Jerkass}} to happy and brave BadassGrandpa, recovers the energy and strength of his youth, and [[spoiler: sacrifices the remnants of his house to be able to go and save the bird.]] ''Never'' underestimate ThePowerOfLove!
** ItMakesSenseInContext.
* Parodied in ''Team America: World Police'' with the "montage" song.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live Action]]
* Accomplishing this may, in fact, be the central thesis of ''{{Wanted}}''.
* [[TheChosenOne Neo]] in ''TheMatrix'' has many levels of Badass [[UpgradeArtifact uploaded into his brain]], most memorably [[IKnowKungFu Kung Fu]]. Later in the film he then takes some more when he [[HollywoodHacking hacks the system]] and starts to see everything in green.
* Survivor Girls in horror movies usually make this change going from scared n' sexy to fighting the monster hand to hand.
** Barbara in the color remake of ''Night of the Living Deads'' goes from fetal position to super-zombie hunter.
** Sarah Connor.
** ''Halloween''
** ''The Mask'': Rise of Leslie Vernon.
** ''Return of the Night of the Living Deads''
*** Intelligent zombie who turns her body into an unliving weapon by shoving shards of class and nails through it.
** Clarice throughout the ''Hannibal'' series. Starts somewhat baddass and comes out crazy-scary.
*** Though its implied that much of it is due to Hannibal.
** More than one ''Friday the 13th''.
* Pasha Antipov, a minor character in ''DoctorZhivago,'' begins the movie as an utter wimp. He's a cuckold, a bespectacled naif, and an ineffective revolutionary. Even his ''name'' is a bit puny. But then he's hit by a bomb on the Eastern Front and drops out of the movie--only to return in an [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome impossibly cool scene]] as the enigmatic "General Strelnikov," a [[BadassLongcoat]] with his own armored train.
** In the book , it's Red Commander, not General. The Reds did not use officer and general ranks until WWII.
* In the second ''{{Pirates of the Caribbean}}'' movie, delicate but spirited {{Damsel in Distress}} Elizabeth Swann has become a quite competent sword-wielding {{Action Girl}}. This is {{handwave}}d in a throwaway line: her fiance Will Turner, the best swordsman in the series, has been teaching her for the past year. Then again, she ''is'' hanging around with pirates...
** Even more so when she becomes the captain of a ship, escapes from Davy Jones, and then becomes the Pirate King (King, not Queen).
* One of the most jarring examples would be Sarah Connor's transformation between the first two ''{{Terminator}}'' movies: She (and the actress) was a normal, happy-looking girl in the first one, but looks like she lost about thirty pounds of body fat and transformed the rest into solid muscle by the second one, as well as going from DamselInDistress to Psycho ActionGirl. Of course, a decade of preparing for TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt will do that to a person.
* Another alarming one was ''StrawDogs'', in which Dustin Hoffman starts out as, well, Dustin Hoffman, in the role of a mathematician. As the local louts gradually cause him more and more grief, however, he goes a bit mad, and ends up [[spoiler:brutally murdering them all when they try to break into his house]].
* ''GalaxyQuest'': "By Grabthar's hammer, ''you shall be avenged!''" is a level-up moment if there's ever been one.
** More of a [[BerserkButton Berserk Button press]], really.
* As a general rule, the less someone did this in ''TheDescent'', the faster she died.
* River Tam, though she had her [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Crowning Moments of Awesome]] during the ''{{Firefly}}'' series, levels up in a big way during ''{{Serenity}}'' when her [[WaifFu deadly martial arts killing machine programming]] is activated at the Maidenhead bar. She eventually goes on to [[spoiler: wipe out a whole mess of Reavers in order to save the crew of the titular ship]].
* In ''{{Michael Clayton}}'', Arthur Edens does this when he escapes his hotel room in the dead of night leaving a message "Make believe it's not just madness."
* In ''{{Feast}}'', when all the hero types are dead and hope is lost, the mother who lost her son (Tuffy) "levels up" and becomes Heroine 2. Then she proceeds to punch all the monsters teeth out with the butt of her gun and punch its stomach through the mouth, choking it to death. [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Crowning Moments of Awesome]]? Yes, you could say that.
** In ''Feast 2'' she spends much of the movie surviving, but surviving through a ''Feast'' movie is a pretty big deal.
* Captain Sulu's 10 level Badass upgrade is completed with the [[BigDamnHeroes final battle]] in ''StarTrek VI''. At the end of the movie he's reached full Badass status.
** One could argue that Sulu's leveling in Badassery continues (started?) with ''Star Trek XI'' when he opens up a can of whoop-ass on some Romulans with a retractable katana.
** While we're on that movie, one of the changes caused by Nero was that Christopher Pike also Took a Level in Badass.
** David Marcus, Admiral Kirk's nerdy son, takes it up a few Badass levels between ''{{Star Trek}}s II & III'' (see also HeroicSacrifice).
* ''StarWars'': Luke Skywalker may have set the record for most levels in Bad Ass taken up in a single trilogy. He's a naive, whiny teenager who complains about having to clean droids at the beginning of the first movie and becomes the man who rescues a princess, nukes a Death Star, becomes an ace pilot and a celebrated war hero, amputates a number of bad guys, takes out a giant fucking Walker with a hand grenade, survives an endless fall with the use of only one hand, gets into several lightsaber duels, rescues his friends from Jabba the Hutt and Boba Fett, gives the Emperor the finger, and even brings his dad back to the Light.
** And some credit where credit is due: Wedge and Lando, being a former rookie pilot and a former businessman, respectively, took out the second Death Star.
** Can a CoolShip TakeALevelInBadAss? If so, the ''Millenium Falcon'' counts. A dingy rustbucket only good for outrunning Star Destroyers at first, it actually vaporizes the Second Death Star from the inside out in the third movie.
*** If you look at the stats for the ''Falcon'' in the RPG handbook, you can see that compared to the standard freighter it started out as, it is a Super Badass.
****Technically, the Falcon was Badass from the beginning. [[spoiler: The Falcon broke loose of the construction yard and destroyed most of the others on the line at the time, before it even got a pilot.]]
* Sgt. Powell in the first ''DieHard''. Munching donuts and relegated to desk duty in the beginning his gets a huge CrowningMomentOfAwesome at the end when he [[spoiler:shoots the final bad guy dead in the face complete with the RousingMusic playing in the background]].
* ''EvilDead'': "Groovy."
** THIS IS MY BOOM STICK!
* Done to Abe Sapien between ''{{Hellboy}}'' I and II. He goes from the geeky, psychic NonActionGuy to someone that carries a gun and has enough martial arts ability to at least evade and stall a troll three times his size, if not actually damaging it. Still geeky and psychic, but a bit more power behind it.
* Done in ''Paul Blart: Mall Cop'' where Paul initially manages to defeat the LeParkour TotallyRadical mall robbers through large amounts of dumb luck, upon learning that his daughter is amongst the hostages he takes a massive level in badass, setting up a fair amount of traps and managing to stealthily take out the remaining goons with a combination of [[MasterOfDisguise disguises]] and using his location (IE getting them to come to the Rainforest Cafe and hiding amongst the animatronics).
* Johnny 5 went this way in ''ShortCircuit 2''. After being nearly destroyed, he rebuilds himself as a crazy-ass punker robot and goes on a rampage.
* Between the second and third ''{{Back to the Future}}'' films, Doc Brown ([[AbsentMindedProfessor of all characters]]) takes a level in badass. The third film sees him toting a big bad rifle, saving (and subsequently wooing) a damsel in distress, standing up to the local gunslinger, hijacking a train and driving it off a cliff.
** While we're on ''{{Back to the Future}}'', let's look at George [=McFly=]. With an assist in the past from his as-yet-unborn child, he goes from a mousy, cowardly junior-level worker to a highly successful writer... and along the way, Mrs. [=McFly=] gets a little spillover badassery (or at least some weight loss and athletic skills).
* Jason Tripitikas takes several levels in badass in the movie ''Forbidden Kingdom'' after he trained with Lu Yan and the Silent Monk. It isn't enough for him to take on the Dragon (Ni Chang), but it's still a vast improvement. Then again, it's Jackie Chan (Lu Yan) and Jet Li (Silent Monk), the two of them combined could grant a 90 year-old grandmother several levels in badass.
* In ''Moonwalker'', Michael Jackson mostly does shit like running through a field of flowers with some children. However, at one point, he takes a level in badass by grabbing a Tommygun and mowing down a bunch of ghetto stormtroopers. Toward the end, he takes another level in badass and turns into a ''giant fucking robot'' and blows the shit out of a bad guy's evil lair.
** Only through the amazing power of children's wishes!
* Several characters in the latest ''StarTrek'' movie have apparently taken ''retroactive'' levels in Badass: notably Sulu, who is now pretty decent in combat, and Uhura, who is now [[WhatKindofLamePowerisHeartAnyway demonstrating exactly what a "communications officer" is good for.]]
** Considering that in ''TOS'' Sulu collected weapons as a hobby, and in the episode "The Naked Time" he ran around the Enterprise terrorizing the crew with a rapier, it seems he was something of a closet badass to begin with.
*** [[BigDamnHeroes *Cough*]] ''StarTrekVI'' [=*Cough*=]
* The character of Hudson in ''Aliens'' goes from whiny soldier to Level A Badass with a moment of YouShallNotPass.
* Optimus Prime in ''Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen''. The original didn't really do him justice, but his latest appearance shows him for what he truly is. Pure. High-Octane. Badass.
* Rocky Balboa, the titular character of the ''{{Rocky}}'' series of films must always have a mandatory {{montage}} in the films where he trains hard...and I mean HARD. Pushing the absolute limits of his body, will, and even expectations of him...these montages always end up with Rocky gaining a new "power" and thus...a new level of his already noteworthy badass status. You can even visually see his badass level go up. Set to the song ''Gonna Fly Now'', this montage is one of the most famous film conventions of the modern age. If you don't feel pumped up and ready to cheer by the end of at least one of these, you're not alive.
** In the first he gets the dedication and conditioning necessary to "go the distance" with Apollo Creed.
** The second sees Rocky gain some speed and the ability to switch his dominant fighting hand.
** Third gives Rocky a tremendous boost in speed and offense.
** The fourth gives Rocky the ability to show Russia just how awesome he is by training in the snow by pulling chains.
** The sixth (we'll skip the fifth) sees an aged Rocky gain overwhelming power to compensate for his erroded speed due to age.
* Over the course of ''District 9'', Wilkus from goes from sweater vest wearing pansy to badass who single-handedly breaks out of a fortified government facility and then later choses to ''break back in''.
* In ''28 Days Later'', main character just barely flees [[spoiler:the soldiers about to execute him]], and sees jet trail above, realising there's still civilisation intact from ZombieApocalypse. Before, he was [[BewareTheNiceOnes wimpy bike courier boy]], but when he leaves HeroicBSOD caused by this realisation, he switches into utter {{badass}}mode, wreaking havoc, killing with bare hands, performing {{offscreen teleportation}} and spouting [[OneLiner one-liners]]. While to us, the audience, this is a good example of CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass, Jim's friends are so surprised by his sudden acts of badassery that they think he's become Infected.
* Daphne from the ''ScoobyDoo'' moive mentions how she is sick of being the DamselInDistress and thus takes kung fu lessons to defend herself. This pays off when she defeats a masked wrestler guy, even taunting him. "Now who's the DamselInDistress?"
* In ''Apocalypto'' when Jaguar Paw reaches the forest while being chased by the bad guy Mayans: [[TiredOfRunning "I am Jaguar Paw. This is my forest. And I am not afraid."]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* Despite many of the [[{{Discworld}} Disc's]] more iconic (and recurring) characters having a mostly constant level of badass (Vimes, Granny Weatherwax, Rincewind, Death, the Librarian) certain ''Discworld'' characters gain quite a few levels by the end of their books. Among the more notable are Brutha [[spoiler:(Bishops move diagonal)]] and the great god Om from Small Gods.
** The Librarian becoming an orangutan.
** Agnes levelled up quite a bit in the course of ''Discworld/CarpeJugulum''.
* Neville Longbottom of ''HarryPotter'', previously a bit of a ButtMonkey, gets some character development in Book 4, then actually starts showing some competence in Book 5. This pays off in Book 7; the PowerTrio misses out on what he's up to for much of the year, but when they see him again, he's clearly leveled up in Harry's absence and has become a leader in his own right. He's a key player in the final battle, and actually ends up [[spoiler:destroying the last Horcrux: he pulls the Sword of Gryffindor out of the Sorting Hat]] and uses it to [[CrowningMomentofAwesome lop the head off]] of [[spoiler:Nagini, leaving the way free for Harry to kick Voldemort's scaly ass one final time. Did we mention Neville was ''[[IncendiaryExponent on fire]]'' during all of this?]]
** He wasn't [[spoiler:on fire]] in any meaningful way because [[spoiler:Harry taking the bullet for all his friends prevented Voldemort from doing them any damage. "Haven't you noticed that none of your spells are binding?"]] But he's still a Badass for keeping his head, [[spoiler:noticing he could break Voldemort's body-bind curse]], and [[spoiler:remembering where the Sword of Gryffindor would be when needed.]]
** The fandom has turned this up to about 90, with things such as "What happens if you break the Unbreakable Vow? Neville."
** Also, "NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH!" [[MuggleCast Give it up for]] [[spoiler: [[MamaBear Molly Weasley]]]], [[MuggleCast everyone]]!
* Edmond Dantes becomes ''{{The Count of Monte Cristo}}'' to get revenge on his enemies.
* As does Gulliver Foyle, of ''TheStarsMyDestination''. He was always an asshole, but now he's an obsessive one.
** Gully Foyle takes this trope to BeyondTheImpossible levels.
* Happens to [[spoiler: Admiral Daala]] from the ''StarWars'' ExpandedUniverse. In her original appearances, during the 90's, she was an overblown VillainSue, repeatedly stated as being a tactical genius, but her strategies were [[WallBanger highly incompetent.]] On her return in the Legacy of the Force series, she not only lives up to the reputation she was given in-universe, but manages to kick all kinds of ass using ''a fleet consisting mainly of obsolete starships.'' On top of everything else, she has an eyepatch now, not to mention a full name. [[spoiler: Natasi Daala]]
** However, most people contribute Daala's sudden 'competence' to the fact that the Author didn't do the research. As always, its a Travissity. Not only that, the ultimate salt in the wound is said war criminal becoming Chief of State.
* In ''{{War and Peace}}'', Dolokhov returns from being PutOnABus at an opera house the Rostovs attend. Rumors fly about concerning [[NoodleIncident the adventures in Persia he has been on]], and the new sword sheathed at his side shows he's not just a [[ManipulativeBastard conniving swindler]] anymore. Nikolai Rostov also levels up when he goes hunting with his uncle during the book's ChristmasEpisode, as he transforms from a coward during battle to a war hero.
* In ''{{The Lord of the Rings}}'', Gandalf's evolution from Gandalf the Grey to Gandalf the White is arguably a levelup, as exemplified in [[http://www.geneticanomaly.com/RPG-Motivational/slides/leveling.html this poster]].
** Enough so that, in an initially niche Russian internet/pirate-distributed parody consisting of the movies' video and completely revoiced quirky audio that enjoyed such success that it vastly surpassed the original films in popularity across the former Soviet Union, Gandalf in fact utters "I fell into the white and gained a levelup" upon his return.
** Eowyn took a discernible level in badass in the third book, in the movie it's still badass, but less so. You can't even tell [[spoiler: that she's the soldier Merry rides into battle with]] in the book. You don't know until her big reveal.
*** In the movie she doesn't really level in badass, the implication is that she's always been that good and just needed a chance to show it.
** Samwise Gamgee takes a big level in badass when Frodo is incapacitated by the GiantSpider Shelob and taken by the Orcs in ''Return of the King''. He takes up the Ring in Frodo's stead to keep the Orcs from taking it, takes up Sting and takes Shelob down. ''Then'' he heads for [[strike: Barad-dur]] the Tower of Cirith Ungol and takes down every Orc standing between him and Frodo.
*** How about Merry, who helps [[spoiler: take down the freaking Witch-King!]], or Pippin, when he... you know what? Every single hobbit in the Shire ends up taking a level [[spoiler:in the Scouring of the Shire]]! This was proof that Hobbits can be tough when they want to be, they just prefer being lazy.
**** It's implied that all hobbits have the potential to be badass, due to their stubborness. There are many examples, but a good one is when a cursed sword breaks off in Frodo's arm about halfway through the first book and later Gandalf tells him that he lasted seventeen days with it in him, while an ordinary man would have died long before then. Gandalf doesn't attribute it to Frodo's individual toughness, but says that hobbits can be amazingly tough when necessary.
**** As long as we're talking about Hobbits, how about Lobelia Sackville-Baggins, who goes after a human ruffian ''with her umbrella''?
* In the Latin textbook series ''Ecce Romani'', Sextus spends a whole two years worth of lessons being annoying, whiny, and cowardly. Then, being his usual wimpy self, he goes back to the changing room at the public baths because the water's too hot, sees a thief stealing his clothes and chases the guy halfway across the bath complex on slippery tiles, then pushes him into a ''frigidarium'' (that's the cold pool, for you non-Latin-students). Unfortunately, he goes right back to being a wimp after this chapter.
** On the subject of Latin textbooks... the ''Cambridge'' series! In the first book, Quintus has such exciting adventures such as going to a debate and being in the garden... then his dad gets killed in a volcano and all of a sudden he's a world traveler, fighting rowdy Egyptians, hangin' with kings, and just generally being ridiculously kick-ass...
* ''The Laughter of Dead Kings'', the most recent ElizabethPeters Vicky Bliss book, reveals that [[spoiler: Schmidt]] has had a hidden level of badass all along, and actually ''is'' the Greatest Swordsman in Europe.
* In ''[[{{Narnia}} Prince Caspian]]'', when the Pevensies return to Narnia, they regain all the fighting skills they had learned in the fifteen years they were in Narnia the last time. They return as children, except the relatively inexperienced children you had read about in ''The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe'' are now a bunch of young badasses. The difference is even more noticeable in TheFilmOfTheBook.
* In the ''{{Malazan Book of the Fallen}}'' innocent n00b characters will invariably become demon-slaying demigods within a few dozen chapters of their first appearance, whilst the already-extant badasses will become elite super-badasses in the same timespan.
* The ''{{Wheel of Time}}'' novels, although granted [[AWizardDidIt magical reasons]] are usually given for the level-gaining, such as [[spoiler:Mat's implanted fighting and tactical planning memories turning him literally overnight into a canny warrior and general, or Rand having his former, much more experienced and competent incarnation pumping advice directly into his brain, like Yoda-on-Tap]]. The only unexplained levelling up takes place with regards to [[spoiler:Gawyn Trakand, who goes from a decent swordsman to somehow being able to take down experienced Warders twice his age to later wiping out attacking bands of Aiel warriors, trained since birth to be badass, by himself]].
* Susan from ''TheDresdenFiles'' between ''Grave Peril'' and ''Death Masks''. At the end of the former she turns down Dresden's proposal of marriage to leave Chicago to find a way to deal with her [[spoiler:half-vampirism, which she had gained after being taken hostage to try and manipulate Dresden]]. When she returns, a combination of the increased physical capabilities granted by her state, and training and mystic tatoos given to her by an organisation which is a combination of focus group for people like her and covert organisation fighting against vampires leave her a competent combatent (who at one point is able to match a surprised sorcerer ''being powered by a fallen angel'') who is a useful asset to Dresden during his case in that book. At the end, she returns to South America (where she had spent the interim between books) to take in the fight against the dominating vampire faction based there.
** Do inanimate objects count for this trope? If so, Harry's shield bracelet between Proven Guilty and White Night took a couple of levels, going from a burnt-out talisman that only blocked kinetic energy and spat out sparks every time he used it to a shiny new trinket interlaced with several precious metals that blocks "heat, cold, electricity - even sound and light". Even Elaine, whose specialty was in subtle and varied magics, was impressed by the versatility of it.
** How did we leave out Harry himself? He's been getting steadily more awesome since the start, but after Dead Beat ([[spoiler:He rides a zombie ''T. rex'' through Chicago!]]), he's been getting EXPONENTIALLY more awesome. Especially in Turn Coat.
*** During the first few books Harry would burn out after a couple of spells. Now he can blast spells like crazy in a fight, due to his toning of his metaphysical muscles. And the firepower of his gun has gone steadily up too. Not to mention he is becoming adept at [[XanatosSpeedChess Xanatos Speed Chess]].
** The Alphas. They go from a bunch of high-school senior/college age nerds who wear too much leather and Old Spice and just happen to be werewolves to a pack of fit, healthy young men and women who transform into a virtual army of monster-shredding fangs and claws; enough to strip a professional ghoul assassin to the bone. Mentioned by Harry in ''Summer Knight''.
** Murphy, though her increase in badassness has less to do with actually getting more badass and more knowing how to be badass to the latest [[MonsterOfTheWeek monster of the week]]. Storm Front, does nothing. Fool Mool, wounds a loup-garou with a pistol. Summer Knight, defeats an ogre and a plant monster with a chainsaw.
*** Small Favor [[spoiler:drives off a Denarian by pulling Fidelacchius ''two inches'' out of its sheath]].
* Kim Kinnison, in E.E. Smith's ''{{Lensman}}'' series, does this, going in a few chapters of ''Galactic Patrol'' from relying almost wholly upon brawn and gadgets to [[spoiler:not only taking over ''multiple'' enemy officers' minds to achieve his ends undercover, but controlling ''guard dogs'' in order to turn off shield generators that are blocking him, and more besides]]. Lampshaded by Mentor, the DeusExMachina who grants him his powers, who tells him [[spoiler:the advanced training he's getting was inevitable if he survived long enough, and if his mind became mature enough to appreciate the need for it]].
* Julie Sims of ''1632'' goes from being an energetic high school cheerleader at the beginning of the book to a ruthless, crack shot sniper by the end. (True, as a cheerleader she'd also been training to be an Olympic markswoman, but it's still a noticeable change in ''additude'', if not in ''aptitude'')
* Tally Youngblood in Scott Westerfeld's ''{{Uglies}}'' seires. She starts out as a normal Ugly kid and quickly becomes a rebel with insane [[HoverBoard hoverboarding]] skills who thinks her way out of [[BrainWashed brainwashing]] (twice) and eventually turns into something called a Special complete with crazy techno tattoos, long claw-like nails, and sharp teeth. Also she overthrows the government, unbrainwashes everyone, and then [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome disappears into the wilderness after warning the new government to step lightly because she's watching their every move now]]. And apparently she [[TrilogyCreep wasn't kidding]].
** Shay also fits this trope pretty well.
* Most of the major characters from ''{{Percy Jackson and the Olympians}}'' go through this, but a special mention for Nico di Angelo, son of Hades. When we first meet him, he's a somewhat nerdy little kid who's really into a collectible card trading game and is [[TheUnfavorite ignored in favor of his sister.]] By the last book, [[spoiler:he shows up in a BigDamnHeroes moment, dressed in skull motif armor, radiating an aura of death, wielding a sword of three-foot long Stygian iron, and at the head of an army of the dead, with his father Hades, his stepmother Persephone, and his grandmother Demeter right behind him.]] Damn.
* As if the '''real''' Roman Republic wasn't {{Badass}} enough, John Maddox Roberts' AlternateHistory ''Hannibal's Children'' has them take a level or three in reaction to being exiled north of the Alps. When they '''come back''' one hundred years later, a Greek thinks that the sound of Roman laughter reminds him of swords clashing against shields. They don't swagger or bully; they're too badass for that. In one battle, an "inexperienced" Roman army under a "second-rate" general faces a veteran mercenary force twice their size and led by Carthage's best general. The Romans are wiped out -- but the Carthaginian army is '''wrecked''', with two-thirds of its troops killed outright, and most of the rest badly battered.
* In Stephen King's ''Dark Tower'' series, most of Roland's katet go from regular folk to badass gunslingers.
* In Frederik Pohl's ''Gateway'' series, the protagonist Robinette Broadhead (a male, he assures) goes from a Wyoming mold miner to a man who survies an encounter with a black hole then, after his death, saves some children from escaped convicts as a digtally stored personality.
* In ''{{Shannara}}'', Menion Leah goes from ditzy prince who's constantly getting lost to savior at least two cities, defeater of [[strike:Grima Wormtongue]] the mystic Stenmin, and rescuer of two elves, a mighty warrior, and an awesome dwarf. Oh, and he picks up a hot girl along the way.
*The Bible: Jesus does this when he's baptized in the Jordan.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* Michael's mom (Madeline) in ''BurnNotice'' who is going from a nagging, hypochondriac chain smoker to some sort of super spy in season 3.
** Best demonstrated in an episode where Sam and Fiona are interrogating a pilot to find out where Michael has been taken. Sam gives up the questioning when the pilot makes it clear he's not afraid of anything, and goes to think through new options with Fiona. Madeline calmly walks out to the garage where he's being kept, and comes back 4 minutes later with the coordinates, having not even had to TOUCH the pilot.
* Joel Fleischman, in his final season on ''NorthernExposure'', went from a clean-cut, irritable FishOutOfWater to a grizzled Zen master survivalist.
* Examples from ''{{Buffy the Vampire Slayer}}'' and ''Angel'':
** Wesley on ''{{Angel}}'' is one of the more long-term, visibly executed cases, marked with actual CharacterDevelopment. It wasn't just the writers' decision to make him suddenly "cool" -- it was the ''character's'' decision to.
** Before his actual level-up, Wesley is a subversion of TookALevelInBadass. When first seen in ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'', Wes was a weak, weaselly wimp. When he first appears in ''Angel'', he seems to be leveled. He rides a motorcycle, dresses in badass chic, and claims to be a "rogue demon hunter". Turns out, though, he's just as pitiful. [[spoiler:Then he nearly dies...]]
** And in ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' itself Willow starts as geek and a bookworm, helpful only as research type. Her powers increase with time until by the end of Season 7, she is a super-powerful witch (and fully in control of her abilities).
** Giles is retroactively given levels in badass in Season 2, when it turns out he used to be a badass before putting his skills on hold when he joined the Watchers, but occasionally trots them out when the need is great. Best examples: unexpectedly beating the crap out of Ethan and later attacking Angelus with a flaming piece of wood and, momentarily at least, gaining the upper hand. Also: end of season 6, anyone? Giles full of magic = crowning moment of awesome.
** The Scoobies seem to accumulate levels of badass over the course of the show, particularly over the summers of 1998 (between season 2 and 3) and 2001 (between season 5 and 6), to compensate for the Slayer's absence.
** The entire graduating class of 1999 gains a level in badass when they take off their graduation robes to reveal their arsenal of medieval weapons.
** Dawn is a relatively mild (or at least non-flashy) but still striking example, being a fairly normal high school kid who manage to pick up reasonably fluent Turkish and Sumerian, apparently in her spare time.
*** Not to mention scaring the ''crap'' out of Spike in Season 7.
** Ultimately, it can be argued that ''any'' character who interacts with the main cast in the Buffy/Angelverse for a reasonable stretch of time ends up gaining levels in Badass, to the point where you have half a dozen "normal" human characters taking down beasts and monstrosities that previously were considered unkillable by anything but a supernatural hero like the Slayer.
*** Because the only choices for people around The Slayer and The Champion are: run far, far away; get horribly killed; or level up.
** Xander during Halloween is turned into a super soldier and later retains memories and skills (plot dependent) even though no one else retains them from their transformations
*** Also in the season eight comics [[spoiler:Xander has become a high tech battle watcher for Slayer Inc. He also wants people to call him [[NickFury Sgt. Fury]]]]
* Quinn Mallory from ''{{Sliders}}'' apparently took a level of badass during the ChannelHop from Fox to Sci-Fi. This was mostly a result of Jerry O'Connell's increasing creative control over the show, and, like pretty much the rest of the show by this point, came off as contrived and meaningless.
* Peter Petrelli takes a level of badass from Season One to Season Two of ''Series/{{Heroes}}''. Unfortunately, [[IdiotBall his intellect fails to keep up]].
** In the Dystopian future of the 1st season episode "Five Years Gone", Future Peter, Hiro, and Sylar have all taken ''multiple'' levels.
*** The season 3 premiere is full of characters taking a level: Suresh by injecting himself, and future Ando (yet to be explained)
**** Ando previously Took a Level in Badass when he challenged Sylar with nothing but a sword in the finale of season 1.
*** In all honesty, Hiro started taking severeal levels of BadAss from the first three episodes. He flirted with full BadAss status in the last episode of season 1.
** Matt Parkman and Mohinder Suresh have taken up several levels of BadAss in season 2. Micah Sanders has potential to to do the same in season 3.
** In the dystopian future revealed in Season 3, Claire has clearly taken a level in badass.
** Apparently, all the villains Claire defeated over the course of volume 3 were enough XP for her to gain a level in Badass by the volume finale, culminating in her defeat of Sylar.
* Daniel Jackson started ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'' as the team's SmartGuy, and was at most armed with a Beretta, tasked mainly with translations and exposition on Earth's various pantheons. A couple seasons later, and he's upgraded to whatever automatic weapon the rest of the team's using, and holding his own as much as the career military characters.
** Someone (possibly Jackson himself) handwaved this by mentioning that Jackson had received some form of combat training since joining SG-1. Which is rather understandable, given the kinds of situations SG-1 found itself caught up in on a regular basis.
** In ''StargateAtlantis'', Rodney followed in Daniel's footsteps. In a first season episode he's terrified of the idea that he might actually have to use a gun to defend himself. Not too long later, he's laying down covering fire with a [=P90=] and using cover like a trained soldier. Probably justified in both cases, as it wasn't an immediate change, and it seems like a matter of necessity given the situations they find themselves in. Rodney himself may be a partial subversion, as he still freaks out while killing Wraith, even though he seems good at it. This is also possibly due to his internal ''Chance of Imminent Doom'' meter; when it redlines, he gets [[{{CrowningMomentOfAwesome}} Awesome]].
*** Which was nicely [[{{LampshadeHanging}} Lampshaded]] in the second season episode "Inferno" where Rodney yells at Shepherd for putting pressure on him and Shepherd point out this fact to him.
** More recently, Dr. Keller is seen fighting off a Wraith with a stick long enough for [=McKay=] to shoot it. He asks where she learned to fight, and she mentions she's been taking sparring lessons.
** Teyla had a hand-waved level in flying the ship single-handedly badass. Apparently a short lesson with the weapons officer is enough to run the entire ship.
*** Since most ships in the gateverse seem to be partly flown by psychic powers -- including the Goa'uld's motherships, that isn't particularly surprising.
* In ''{{Smallville}},'' Lana Lang, of all people, has traded the {{Wangst}} that made her TheWesley of the show for so long for running her own secret organization and being prepared to kill if necessary. They may have gone a skosh too far for it to be believable, though.
** It also went away after about half a season so she was back to the same old [[TheScrappy Lana]] [[TheWesley Lang]]
** Clark himself ''finally'' became a decent fighter in the sixth season when he dealt with a phantom zone thug in an illegal TNA-like match. Most other times when he dealt with an enemy of a comparable power level, he would get thrown around like a rag doll before a DeusExMachina ended the fight. With this match Clark was in a bad mood and legitimately traded blows with the guy, winning through skill and strength, not dumb luck. Ever since Clark has done markedly better with these throw-downs.
* {{Dexter}} took a level in Badass in one of the late season two episodes:
-->'''Dexter:''' In that case... let me put this out in the open for you. No matter what you try, no matter when, no matter how hard you work, I'll always be one step ahead of you for one simple reason.\\
'''Doakes:''' And what's that?\\
'''Dexter:''' I own you. ''(HEADBUTT!)''
* A long-term-development example: in ''XenaWarriorPrincess''. In episode 10, "Hooves and Harlots", Gabrielle had her first lesson in staff fighting. She kept hitting her own head. Over subsequent episodes, she practiced and got good at it. In later seasons she takes multiple levels with her fighting skills increasing until she's almost on a par with Xena.
** Culminating in the Season Six finale, when she becomes one of the few people other than Xena to catch the Chakram and, in the last ever scene of the show, appears to be taking up Xena's legacy as a full blown hero.
* Mickey Smith of ''DoctorWho'' does this ''twice.'' Or maybe it took two stages. At first a cowering if sweet natured nerd, he moves up a level during the year he's falsely suspected of his girlfriend's murder. He becomes a lot braver, even willing to die to protect his girlfriend's mother, as well as developing some impressive hacking skills. He goes up another level offscreen after several years of fighting Cybermen in an alternate universe. Last time we saw him as a full BadAss complete with deeper voice and {{BFG}}.
** [[spoiler:Rose becomes]] equally badass by the end of season 4.
** We can't forget Rose's mum Jackie, who got to carry a [[spoiler:{{BFG}} and shoot a Dalek to smitheerens alongside Mickey]].
** They're not the only ones to do it. Between her departure and visit in the middle of season four, Martha joined UNIT and is now quite {{Badass}} herself.
*** Anyone who watches ''{{Doctor Who}}'' knows the Doctor has the tendency to turn his companions into badasses. It could be argued that it's part of the reason why he takes companions in the first place. Davros, one of the Doctor's oldest enemies, accuses him of this specifically, saying that while he may have created the monstrous Dalek killing machines, the Doctor has transformed innumerable innocent normal people into weapons himself.
* John Connor takes a long-anticipated level of badass in the first episode of the second season of ''TheSarahConnorChronicles'' when he [[spoiler: violently stops a rape attempt on his mother and in doing so throws his old standard of ThouShaltNotKill out the window]].
** And in "The Last Voyage of the Jimmy Carter", John shows he's continued leveling up in badass when he confronts Jesse and [[spoiler: tells her he figured out who and what Riley really was, casually takes her pistol from her, lays out why he is and will be the future leader of mankind, and tells her that her plan to make Cameron kill Riley never would have worked to break them apart.]] Thoroughly ''awesome.''
* ''[[TwentyFour 24]]'' is full of characters who have taken up multiple levels of Badass. These include Teri Bauer, Kim Bauer, Chloe O'Brien in season 4 (see also CrowningMomentOfAwesome), George Mason (see also HeroicSacrifice), Wayne Palmer, and even Milo Pressman (total geek in season 1; to taking bullets in season 6). Some of the bad guys pull this off as well (Behrooz Araz and his trusty shovel in season 4 is the premier example)
* John Crichton from ''{{Farscape}}'' takes multiple levels of badass over four seasons: he starts out as a clueless nerd, and by series end is so badass he manages to intimidate two entire galactic empires into leaving him the [[PardonMyKlingon frell]] alone by threatening to wipe out the universe. THE ENTIRE FREAKING UNIVERSE! And what makes it BadAss is ''he can pull it off''.
** Of course, a big part of it is that he's gone so insane that he's come out the other side.
* In ''{{Babylon 5}}'' Lennier is introduced as a mild-mannered, monk-like Minbari religious caste-member with a zen-like philosophy who is surprisingly shown a few episodes later to be able to defend himself with martial arts and take out a whole room full of drunk people, which is fair enough. However, by Season 4 he is fully capable of taking out multiple opponents belonging to the Minbari warrior caste trained almost from birth in the art of unarmed combat. This is before he joins the thousand-year-old organisation of elite badasses from beyond badassery in the final season who train up his badass skills to [[BeyondTheImpossible something on the other side of preposterousness]].
* Sayid on ''{{Lost}}'' is a badass to begin with, but in the post-island flashforwards, he's graduated to international hitman. Sun is also seen in "There's No Place Like Home" to take a level (or two).
* Hoshi Sato, the nervous alien language specialist in ''StarTrekEnterprise'', is given retroactive martial arts skills which she uses during Dr Phlox's kidnapping. While it's likely Hoshi would have become more assertive after her experiences during the Xindi conflict, it would have made more sense for her to have used the more simple takedowns taught to the crew by Major Hayes during this time. But less cool, I'm sure.
** And she even levels up in the Mirror Universe, too. Empress Sato, anyone?
* Another ''StarTrek'' example. Like the Millenium Falcom, the USS ''Enterprise'' NX-01 is another spaceship that takes multiple levels in badass. But this was a logical progression, when the ship first left Earth, Starfleet had no clue of the kinds of dangers out there. As the ship encounters various threats, the crew upgrades the ship's ass-kicking abilities on the go, Trip and his team build phaser cannons from scratch, Reed creates the proto-type force field and comes up with the Red Alert system, and T'Pol routinely improves the ship's sensors. Of course, after the Xindi invasion, the ship is literally retrofitted into a ''war''-ship, complete with the introduction of the famous photon torpedoes.
* Interestingly, the civilian characters of Ron Moore's ''BattlestarGalactica'' have been immune to this (with the exception of those revealed to be Cylons), although Laura Roslin becomes a political {{badass}}. Considering military officers like Adama and Cain, the badass market of ''Battlestar'' is pretty much cornered.
** However, the [[TV]] movie ''Razor'' is all about Kendra Shaw being molded into a badass by Cain.
** Also: Saul Tigh. In the first two seasons he's basically an alcoholic CommanderContrarian, but in the first five episode of Season Three alone he [[spoiler:[[EyepatchofPower loses an eye]], sends men on suicide missions against the Cylons, shuts up Laura Roslin, poisons his wife, and executes collaborators by airlocking them.]] He has remained awesome ever since.
* In the ''{{X-Files}}'', Skinner took a level up in badass when he beat up Mr. X in the elevator. Don't mess with 'Nam vets.
** Then there was his complete and utter owning of Cancer Man:
--->'''CSM:''' Listen to me--\\
'''Skinner:''' No, you listen to me, you son of a bitch! This is the part where you pucker up and kiss my ass!
* To a certain extent, Jadzia Dax in ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''. She starts off as a reserved, quiet young woman, but (especially after her experience meeting an incarnation of her high-living former host Curzon) abruptly metamorphoses into a blood wine-chugging, ''bat'leth''-swinging, Samoan-fire-dancing, blood-oath-honouring, Worf-marrying-and-rough-Klingon-sex-having BadAss. Interestingly, Dax's next host Ezri went through an abbreviated version of this after she was introduced at the beginning of the seventh season, starting as a bewildered FishOutOfWater and going on to do such things as hunting a serial killer and confronting her gangster-involved family (particularly after Garak [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech reads her beads]] in "Afterimage").
* Both played magnificently and deconstructed a bit in ''PowerRangersRPM''. The yellow ranger was initially a RichBitch who took a level in badass to survive the razing of the planet, but she runs into problems when her new ActionGirl career is interrupted by pre-badass commitments.
** The green ranger first gets his powers without any kind of training whatsoever. And it is made ''very'' clear in his first battle. However, as the season is progressing, he, while still the least skilled fighter of the team, is undeniably improving, as he is no doubt receiving training off screen.
* ''{{Chuck}}'''s second season finale. "Guys, I know kung-fu," indeed.
* Gwen from ''{{Torchwood}}'', who starts off fairly incompetent and has no idea how to handle a gun. By the second episode of ''Children of Earth'' she's [[spoiler:jumping sideways out of an ambulance firing two guns at once]], interrogating [[spoiler: a would-be assassin]], and infiltrating a military installation to [[spoiler: rescue Jack]]. Seriously, the best word to describe Gwen in season 3 is "badass".
** Though sadly, she backslides and [[TookALevelInDumbass takes a level in dumbass]] in the closing seconds of the third episode, when she is shocked, ''shocked!'' to hear that [[spoiler: in 1965 Jack gave 12 human children to the 456]], having apparently forgotten what happened in the season one story "Small Worlds".
*** Terrible remark, as in "Small Worlds" [[spoiler:it was just ''one'' kid, and she was happily willing to go away with the fae people.]]
* Subverted in MontyPython's "Marriage Guidance Counsellor" sketch, in which mild Arthur Pewtey finds his wife stolen from under his nose by the title character. A cowboy gives Pewtey a level-up in badass -- "you gotta turn, and you gotta fight, and you gotta hold your head up high" -- which lasts for as long as it takes the marriage guidance counsellor to tell Pewtey to go away.
* To a lesser extent, JJ from ''CriminalMinds''. She is almost always portrayed as the perky blonde. Cops always assume that she's just the media liason, and most of the time she's displayed as such. It changes slightly when she takes out three dogs with three shots in Season Two's ''Revelations''. And then she becomes one of the coolest people, ever, when she gets a ''headshot'' on a criminal ''holding a hostage at gunpoint''. If this doesn't sound particularly awesome, consider the fact that she shoots through the FBI seal on a ''solid glass door''.
* Annie in ''BeingHuman'' definitely takes a level after [[spoiler: refusing to pass to the other side]] although one could argue that it began [[spoiler: after she breaks her emotional bond to her boyfriend/killer]].
* [[JeevesAndWooster Gussie Fink-Nottle]] seems to magically develop the ability to stand up for himself to a certain degree by his last episode.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
* Japanese professional wrestling does this in a number of ways. Most Japanese wrestlers start out as lower-than-dirt {{Jobber}}s who lose pathetically unless they're wrestling each other, in which case they use stock moves to decide the victor (the German Suplex is a huge crowd-pleaser in Japan partly because it is the official finisher of anyone who doesn't have a distinct finisher yet). After spending a few years as total losers, these wrestlers will then get PutOnABus to wrestle overseas, after which they come back with a more distinctive wrestling style and a new, more badass FinishingMove that allows them to climb the ranks. This gets taken even further in some promotions, in which the new finisher becomes SoLastSeason and the wrestler breaks through to the very top with another finisher and another level in Badass.
** One of the most famous uses of this was the All Japan Pro Wrestling 1995 Champion's Carnival. Akira Taue had spent years as a bit of a [[TheWesley Wesley]] because, while a competent grapler, he was constantly OvershadowedByAwesome in his tag team with [[BadAss Toshiaki Kawada]] and was given top billing despite being nowhere near the level of fantastic main-event technicians like [[BoringInvincibleHero Mitsuharu Misawa]], [[FutureBadass Kenta Kobashi]], [[EvilForeigner Steve Williams]], and the aforementioned Kawada. However, during the Carnival (a round-robin tournament for a title opportunity), Taue discarded his goofy agility-based offense in favor of brutal power moves that better suited his height and awkward build. The more power-based moveset and accompanying winning streak made a DarkHorseVictory look ''very'' plausible going into a match with the nigh-unbeatable Misawa.
** One somewhat related example is Kazushi Sakuraba, who wasn't anything remarkable as a pro wrestler, but then switched to real-life fighting and became one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* While no ''[[DungeonsAndDragons Dungeons & Dragons]]'' PrestigeClass is explicitly named "Badass", there are many, many candidates, such as:
** Heir of Siberiys -- {{Eberron}} dragonmark, turned UpToEleven.
** Extreme Explorer -- Kind of like being IndianaJones, really.
** Archmage -- is able to sacrifice high-level spell slots to get things like [[strike:''[[KillItWithFire six fireball spells per day]]'']] 2 '''Time Stops''' (9th level spell) a day at the cost of a tth level slot (and it can be done 5 times).
** Pyrokineticist -- KillItWithFire, well, psionic fire anyway.
** Risen Martyr -- "Hey look, I died, and now I can do all this awesome shit!"
*** Wait, SERIOUSLY? ''D&D'' includes a prestige class that makes you JESUS? HOLY SHIT!
*** Increasing in level in ''any'' class arguably makes one more of a badass (that 1st level wizard having troubles fighting kobolds? He's having troubles fighting Pit Fiends now). It's just that the badassness is split out over twenty levels, which generally makes the shift somewhat gradual.
* Any RPG character will level up through the course of the game. Unless they die, of course.
** Although, if you're playing ''{{Deadlands}}'', death can be step one to taking that level. Just ask [[spoiler: Abe Lincoln]] who came back from the to run the Union's monster-hunting agency.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* In ''Xenosaga'', MOMO proved quite useless, serving as little more than a plot device; in battle she had a high MP count but was pathetically weak and virtually any other character was better. In the sequel she had aged up slightly and become more competent, but most notably had suddenly become an absolute god in combat: High speed, high evasion, high attack power, excellent heals, excellent buffs, and the largest mana pool in the game had her far outstriping any other playable character. Her low HP was her only remaining flaw, but considering her ridiculous evasion meant she didn't really get hit anymore anyway...
** There's also Allen, a NonActionGuy who CannotSpitItOut, and a lovably pathetic ButtMonkey. He has a crush on his boss, Shion, who he calls "Chief," but even the biggest supplier of {{wangst}} in ''{{Xenosaga}}'' is still laughably out of his league. He's not even a regular party member. Then comes ''Episode III'', and Allen stands up to [[spoiler:Kevin, Shion's ex-boyfriend]] and the beating he takes [[spoiler:negates Shion's FaceHeelTurn and]] sparks her interest in him. In the ending, a Gnosis threatens Shion, and Allen pounces on it, ''beating it to death with an assault rifle''. The end shows Shion finally returning his affections.
* Raiden in ''MetalGearSolid 2'' started life as a naive dork, albeit one with a nasty secret and a bit too much talent at chopping people up. In ''MetalGearSolid 4'', he's turned into a homicidal, husky-voiced, immortal cyborg ninja capable of killing things with antigravity kung-fu and his feet. It was a backlash against him being TheScrappy, probably. He also appears to have [[spoiler:taken a few levels in "Lightning Deity", since he was capable of killing soldiers with bolts of lighting from inside a properly grounded ship.]]
** Surprisingly enough, [[spoiler:Johnny Sasaki, the recurring joke character]] takes a level in badass in ''Metal Gear Solid 4'' by [[spoiler:removing his mask, but only gets to show it in the cutscene where he admits his love to Meryl and makes a CombatProposal]]. The rest of the cutscene is then nothing but pure badassery.
* Leon from the ''ResidentEvil'' series. The idealistic NaiveNewcomer who just began his first day of duty at the Raccoon Police Department in ''RE 2'' had somehow became almost as badass as Albert Wesker by the time of ''[=RE4=]''!
** At least Leon was a trained cop in ''[=RE2=]'', and was hired on by the U.S. Government before ''[=RE4=]''. Claire Redfield's level-up has no similar justification. She goes from being a college student in ''[=RE2=]'' to a certified ass-kicker in ''RE: Code Veronica''.
*** Notable in that Albert Wesker HIMSELF takes a level in between ''Resident Evil'' and ''Code: Veronica''-- notable in that said level was taken AFTER he was STABBED THROUGH THE CHEST, and was shown off in a brilliant CrowningMomentOfAwesome as he smacked ''Code: Veronica'''s virus-injected baddie around like a ping pong ball, completely outshining the game's own protagonists. And Leon's ''[=RE4=]'' incarnation is almost as badass as this new Wesker.
*** Leon gets yet another upgrade in the movie ''Degeneration'', although it seems to come at the expense of his personality and sense of humor, since he ends up pulling double duty as the film's MrExposition.
*** Albert Wesker. ''[=RE5=]''. Suffice it to say that if he'd had that kind of power back in ''Code: Veronica'', Alexia wouldn't have lasted ten seconds.
** Before Leon was Jill, who got more and more badass throughout the series, from RE to RE3 to [[spoiler:RE5]]. Chris fits the trope as well.
* ''SuperRobotWars'' manages to do this to ''[[NeonGenesisEvangelion Shinji Ikari]]''. And it ''works''. (Partially OrSoIHeard due to translation issues.)
** That said, word was that was partly thanks to Captain Bright's infamous bright slaps, which has been scientifically proven to turn wimps into men of awesome (MEN OF DESTINY are another thing).
*** Also, Shinji freaked the hell out during the last two missions in the End of Eva Route of ''SuperRobotWars Alpha 3.''
** In addition, one of the main characters in ''SuperRobotWars Alpha 3'' starts out as a delivery boy with a minor Karate background. Then he trains with certain members of the Alpha Numbers--this includes, but is not limited to: cyborgs (Guy and Hiroshi/Jeeg), combat pros (the Wing boys, Banjo, Tsurugi Tetsuya...), a yokozuna, masters of various martial arts (Camille, Wufei, Yun Lee...), a dude who cleaves evil, gods, and battleships (Zengar), [[BoisterousBruiser a dude who smacks stuff around in space with a ball and chain]] ([[ThemeMusicPowerUp ware koso wa~ waRE koso wa~ Baran Doban! fire!fire!fire!fire!]]), and various characters voiced by Kamiya Akira. By the end of the game, he's kickin' gods around.
** In the ''Compact'' series of ''SuperRobotWars'', Leina Ashta of ''[[{{GundamZZ}} ZZ Gundam]]'' fame. Considering that, in the series, [[spoiler:she got kidnapped by Gremmi Toto a few episodes in, and spent her time either waiting for Judau to rescue her or being thought dead after almost getting crushed by a MS]] you'd think her to be a useless character... WRONG! She's, in fact, pretty powerful if used correctly, reaching a Newtype Level of 6 (Amuro, Camille and her brother reach Level 8, just to give a comparision) and becoming quite destructive if placed in a Mobile Armor. From personal experience, I managed to take down Bask Ohms' flagship just using her.
** The original ''SuperRobotWars 3'' on the SNES does this with Kou Uraki, hero of Stardust Memory. Starting with less than half the levels of most of the worthwhile characters and piloting a unit meant only for skirmishes, the GP-01. However, as soon as you head off to space and it's upgraded to the Full Vernian model, he proves to be a nimble character if you put effort into training him. Near the end of the game, upon gaining the GP-03, Kou ends up being a proverbial tank in a top-notch Mobile Suit.
** Of course, they couldn't go for too long without doing this to one of their original characters. ''OriginalGeneration'' features a character named Ryoto [[MookFaceTurn who first appeared as a scared enemy mook]]. He remains a very minor character until the end of the game, piloting only his original mook mecha or a hand-me-down from more important characters. By the time he rejoins the crew in OG2, however, he's spent the last six months testing [[SuperPrototype Super Prototypes]], and pilots one that can combine with either his girlfriend's tank-thing or a suit of PoweredArmor that can detach and turn into a weaponized flying surfboard. Oh, and he almost single-handedly holds off a giant robot dragon that routinely crushes more important characters long enough for said girlfriend and his co-workers to escape. Appropriately enough, this is the point where his theme song upgrades to one called "Ace Pilot" ("Ace Attacker" in the original Japanese).
** Does this also apply to Setsuko Ohara of ''SuperRobotWars Z''? She starts out as the lowest of her team, is quite [[ShrinkingViolet timid and unsure of herself]]. Her debut actually starts with ''being shot down by [[ZetaGundam Kamille Vidan]]''. But then, she is subjected with [[BreakTheCutie lots and lots of]] [[TraumaCongaLine traumatic event]]. And when she eventually gets pissed, not only her emotions evolve her {{BFG}} into a much more dangerous version, she discards her timid and unsure persona into a badass, yet still gentle, soldier, then proceeds to one shot the guy who breaks her with her new {{BFG}}.
* Muse from ''RomancingSaGa3''. She shifts from IllGirl to LadyOfWar instantly. Also Sharl who is upgraded from BrokenHero provided that you got the [[spoiler: Silver Hand in Muse's Dream]]
** Also in addition, the Pirate Black, who regains his youth if you bring him to the fight with Forneus, you don't even need to place him in the active battle party which is good since his stats are quite sucky as an old man.
* Mickey Mouse in ''KingdomHearts 2'' You'd have to see it to believe it.
**Lets not forget Sora himself. Two words, Reaction Commands
**Don't forget Kairi who in KingdomHearts 2 gets a level from Riku, in the form of her own keyblade (while granted, all she fought were Shadows, that's the ideal Heartless for ANY beginner to take on, and in this case, there were a helluva lot of them and they gave even the more experienced Riku trouble.)
** Riku himself, after a frusturating period of BadassDecay, is finally granted a new level of badass once [[spoiler: he gets his original body back, after being stuck in the form of Ansem for most of the aforementioned period.]]
**Roxas takes several levels in badass after [[spoiler: absorbing Xion]]. Kind of explains Sora's upgrade as well.
** In-universe, Sora gets another one after fully merging with Roxas.
* Phoenix Wright in ''[[PhoenixWrightAceAttorney Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney]]''.
** It's debatable if he's actually badass in that game rather than just being frustratingly cryptic. If anything, the rather competent attorney he became by the third game has been downgraded.
* Rydia from ''Final Fantasy IV'', who begins as a crybaby kid with weak magic. After a period of time training in another dimension, she returns, now not only knowing the strongest attack spells in the game (summons), but being the only one to learn them. Her training also gives her a more mature appearance (ie, she gets cleavage) and a much more revealing outfit to show it off.
* Leo Stenbuck from ''ZoneOfTheEnders'', who started out in that game as a (justifiably) [[TheEeyore depressed street kid]], apparently spent the four years between the plotlines of ''ZoE 1'' and ''ZoE 2'' frantically leveling up in {{Badass}} until he emerged in the second game almost as a wolf among lambs, capable of piloting his non-Unobtainium LEV against full-on [[AppliedPhlebotinum Orbital Frames]] and more than holding his own.
* In ''ValkyrieProfileSilmeria'', Alicia starts off the game with such fight quotes as "Do we have to fight?" and "My hands are stinging." Three-fourths of the way through the game [[spoiler:ironically, after Silmeria, the titular warrior maiden, is stripped from her]] she takes a real role as leader, gets an upgrade to her special attack, and is practically thirsting for blood in her fight quotes.
* In ''{{Half-Life}} 2'', Alyx Vance practically has to be babied by the player during the sequences where she tags along. Valve paid attention to these complaints and from ''Episode One'' on, she's a capable shooter who takes out wave after wave of zombies and soldiers, both during the gameplay and in the scripted events. In one level with a shortage of ammunition (which doesn't affect Alyx's gun), the player spends a lot of time using the flashlight to illuminate targets for Alyx to shoot, turning the first half of the stage into a sort of reverse EscortMission.
** Not really, while ''Episode One'' makes her even more NighInvulnerable, even in ''Half-Life 2'' she can take tons of punishment as long as you at least try and shoot a few things for her.
** The Vortigaunts started off as low-level {{mook}}s in ''HalfLife'', but keep leveling up until they are full-fledged {{Warrior Poet}}s in Episode 2. [[CrowningMusic/VideoGames Vortaaal Combat!]]
*** Gordon Freeman himself could qualify. He went from a simple scientist to a man whose name alone sparks hope in the people and fear in his enemies and is usually associated with his famous crowbar.
**** And he wasn't even a good scientist to begin with. He majored in what, cart pushing and switch flipping?
* In ''FireEmblem: Path of Radiance'', Haar was a fairly average unit who joined [[OverratedAndUnderLeveled too late to be useful]]. Come ''Radiant Dawn'', Haar joins earlier (among other things) and is now in the [[CharacterTiers top tier]].
** In the gap between ''The Binding Blade''/''Fire Emblem'' (AKA ''Blazing Sword'') we have Barte (to a degree) and Karel, depending on whether you go by chronological order (Karel) or release order (Barte).
** The first part of ''FireEmblem: Genealogy of the Holy War'' has Oifaye and Shanan as [[TagalongKid tag-along cute kids no older than 14]], and the second showes them as quite capable fighters and leaders.
** Then there's Elincia, who starts out as a quiet princess sitting at the sidelines and cheering for her bodyguard and his mini-army to win. By the end of the story, she hops on a pegasus, picks up a sword, and decides that [[AxeCrazy Ashnard]] bitch is going down. Three years later, after being [[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask pushed around by her fellow nobles]], she too jumps on the top-tier boat to show the country who's queen.
* [[TheLegendOfZelda Zelda]], previously a DistressedDamsel, leveled up in ''Ocarina of Time'' with her alter ego Sheik, and has ever since had the tendency to assist Link in the final battle, even though she's still a DistressedDamsel for part of the game just before that fight.
** Continued further in ''The Wind Waker'' with her identity of Tetra and assistance in the final battle. Likewise, she assists in the second-to-last battle of ''Twilight Princess'', and her period of captivity in that game is of her own choice (to protect her people) rather than because she was kidnapped.
** Link himself is pretty much an incarnation of this trope; he starts pretty much every game as an unarmed kid in a backwater and ends up BadAss enough to believably take down the BigBad. Differs from the standard RPG hero listed above by being more of an ActionAdventure character.
* ''[[BaldursGate Baldur's Gate]]'' saw several characters take levels in badass at various points-Sarevok, Nalia, Aerie, and Imoen in Throne of Bhaal come immediately to mind. (the protagonist) seems to take his/her biggest round of badass in Spellhold in ''[=BG2=]''.
** The change is especially notable in Aerie, who is initially the most timid and insecure character in the entire game. And then, suddenly, she blurts out the battle cry, "This will hurt '''you''' ''a lot'' more than '''me'''!". Even Minsc's battle cries can't beat that one...
** For a quite literal example, Dual-classing Imoen to a Mage in [=BG1=]. It's such a big boost the sequel just assumes you did it.
*** In the ''NeverwinterNights'' expansion, Hordes of the Underdark, Deekin undergoes this as well. Formerly he was a kobold (weakling level one type creature) musician with the barest hints of magical power. In this expansion he becomes a half-dragon and helps your hero take on a greater devil, Mephistopholes-- ruler of Cania, the eigth hell (making him the second most powerful devil in existance!)-- eventually defeating him. Also note, Deekin is the only character that will not turn away from the hero as Mephistopholes attempts to persuade them to join him, showing his true colors as a very good and loyal creature, which is almost opposite of most Kobolds.
**** The ''good'' is the opposite of most kobolds. They are, however, extremely loyal, being [[AlwaysChaoticEvil Always]] LawfulEvil.
* Zack, the titular character in ''Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure'', is one of the more feeble game protagonists. He can flip switches, set off cannons, and use enemies' strength against them, but if he were to encounter a common goon who isn't asleep or distracted, and he's done for. In the penultimate mission, however, Zack finds a sword and is actually able to duel and destroy roaming guards the old-fashioned way.
* Metal Sonic in ''[[SonicTheHedgehog Sonic Heroes]]''. He manages to augment himself with "data" samples from Sonic, Tails Knuckles, Shadow, and ''Chaos''. The result is an obscenely powerful, fast, intelligent machine made out of liquid metal and possessing the power of Chaos Control. Now compare that to his [[EvilKnockoff first appearance.]]
** Even then, he was badass. And the whole point of his creation was to be a robot that could fight Sonic on equal terms -with the addition of built-in weapons. What about Eggman in SA 2, when he puts a gun to Amy's head (TWICE)? Not to mention in ''Sonic Adventure'' how Amy herself Took a Level in Badass.(Beware. That. Hammer. It should not be called the Piko-Piko Hammer, not in her hands. In her hands it should be called Mjolnir.)
* In his first appearance, Wally in ''[=~Pokémon~=] Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald'' is quite sickly and needs help in catching his first Pokémon (Ralts), and moved to a cleaner town to recover. He later shows up partly recovered but still only has that one mon and is easily beaten. Much later he shows up right at the end of Victory Road and has an almost full team of mons levelled in their forties.
** A lot of Pokémon fit this trope, evolving from cutesy but weak creatures to powerful menacing badass monsters. In the anime, this happens to May's Torchic while fending off a herd of Breloom.
*** [[MagikarpPower Magikarp's evolution into Gyarados]], in any of the games.
*** A Pokémon with rather bad-to-moderate moves can learn a super-powered move by just gaining a level.
* While already a Badass, Boss from ''SaintsRow 2'' does what he did so well in the first installation and adds a more brutal touch to it in the sequels. Feats include putting radioactive liquid in Maero's tattoo ink just to show he won't accept 20 percent of the town, saving his hideout from gangsters while high on drugs as well savagely beating up most of his enemies if possible. Events in the finale of the first game inspired him to stop being a SilentBob, stop being "A bitch who keeps his mouth shut and does what he's told".
* ''StarFox'': Team [[TheRival Star Wolf]] were once generic [[QuirkyMiniBossSquad boss enemies]] who soon developed character (at least, Wolf and Leon) and kicked the two [[CardCarryingVillain typical baddies Pigma and Andrew]] and replaced them with [[SuckMyRose Panther]]. They also become involved in the story.
* In ''SuperSmashBros. Brawl'''s Subspace Emissary mode, Lucas [[spoiler:is pretty much characterized as a scared little kid, despite his psychic powers. He spends half a level running away from a [[{{ImplacableMan}} giant hopping statue]] that Ness offs with one PK Flash. Then, after Wario attacks the two of them, Ness makes a HeroicSacrifice for Lucas, who then runs away from Wario and the trophy-ified Ness without trying to save him. He makes some progress since then; several stages later when Wario shows up to attack him and the Pokémon Trainer, and instead of running away, he steps up and takes Wario out.]]
** This mirrors his growth in ''{{Mother 3}}''. His twin brother Claus [[SiblingYinYang is much braver]]... [[spoiler: though this leads to Mecha-Drago nearly killing him when he goes to avenge his mom's death, and Porky reformatting him as his army's general]].
* The ''Sly Cooper'' series of games has Murray and Bently. Murry goes from just being big to actually being somewhere near as strong as he thinks he is from the first game to the second. Bently is an even more obvious example. He acts strictly as [[MissionControl Mission Control]] in the first game, actually starts going out and doing stuff in the second and by the third has tricked himself out so that Sly is really only the leader of the gang in name. Many fans actually consider Bently, not Sly, to be the true hero of the franchise thanks to this and his overall characters development.
* Happened twice to [[JakAndDaxter Jak]]. There was a little incident involving ''two years of Dark Eco experimentation'' at the beginning of ''Renegade'', and then during ''Jak III'' he gained Light Eco powers. Also happens to other characters -- Tess goes from simple {{Fanservice}} to being a scarily competent weapon developer between 2 and 3, and ''everyone'' (except Tess and Samos) becomes an expert driver in ''Jak X''. Even a ''vehicle'' gets RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap with the aid of a level in badass; the Hellcat cruiser was useless in ''Renegade'', but an upgraded version appears in ''Jak 3'' so Jak can take on an entire flying war factory of tanks and drones [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome by himself]].
** Don't forget Daxter! Even though he stays mostly the same in terms of personality, he gets more screen time as the series progresses: from completely unplayable in ''TPL'' to being invaluable in the later games. A few in-game comments on Daxter's badassery include:
*** Jak's "I'm proud of ya, Dax," after Daxter wins the Class Two Race. Ironically, one of the only times Daxter shares credit.
*** Samos admits that Jak could never have succeeded without Daxter in the prologue to ''Daxter'', since Daxter is responsible for not only saving Jak but also [[spoiler:taking down Kor's [[TheDragon Dragon]]]].
*** In ''Jak 3'', Daxter has to ride a missile with Torn occasionally chiming in comments and encouragement over the radio: one line you can hear while playing is "You're braver than I thought, Daxter."
* In ''{{Siren}}'', [[spoiler: Kyoya Suda]] and [[spoiler:Yoriko Anno]] take serious levels in badass.
* In ''CrisisCore: FinalFantasyVII'', Zack takes several levels throughout the story majorly when [[spoiler:he is forced to kill his mentor, Angeal, gaining the Buster Sword and a new hairdo.]] Cloud also takes some serious levels within the literal ''last two or three minutes of the game'', going from a simple SOLDIER grunt to the asskicker you know and love from ''FinalFantasyVII''.
** Well the level taking may have occurred earlier when he [[spoiler:picks up the Buster Sword after Zack was defeated and thrusts it into Sephiroth's midriff and when Sephiroth returns the favor grabs the Musamune's blade, lifts Sephiroth up and tosses him across the room.]]
* ''{{Knights of the Old Repulbic}}'': T3 M4 in the second game. Flying a ship to safety, Locking the navigational controls so only her can guide the ship, and deactivating an assassin droid? Tell me he didn't take a few levels [considering the droid had almost no personality in the first game and only one required instance.
* Every single one of your opponents in the Wii ''PunchOut'' Title Defense Mode. They all spend the time after Little Mac kicks their asses to learn new and more devastating tricks. Yes, even Glass Joe.
* You the pilot in the ''AceCombat'' games. The first plane is almost always a dinky, outdated model, and even the relatively modest starter F-16 in ''6'' is not top tier. By the time endgame arrives, you're using a faster, more agile and survivable CoolPlane, to say nothing of the GameBreaker superfighters turning on a dime with FrickinLaserBeams or MacrossMissileMassacre on tap. Beyond that, however, is going back to the dinky planes and CherryTapping people to death. In fact, the same could be said for many combat flight-action games in the similar vein.
* In the five years between his appearances in ''StreetFighter Alpha'' and ''StreetFighter IV'', Dan must have been training; he's gone from '''''the''''' JokeCharacter to a LethalJokeCharacter that's surprisingly high on the tier list. It's even reflected in the game; his face is much more serious (though he still gets excited when he wins).
* In the most recent ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' game, ''Smash Up'', the Utroms, a naturally peace loving race, suddenly get an Utrom with a mecha and guns, making this something interesting for some, or [[{{WallBanger}} just not desired.]]
** The development team says Utrominator is "An upgrade to the Krang character", meaning that, the developers may be hinting that the Utrominator ''is'' Krang, therefore, ''Krang'' has taken a level in badass.
** Oh, and the Fugitoid seems to have taken a level in badass too, yes, his weapon is a hammer, but now, ''he can actually fight'', how is that not taking a level in badass?
* Cecil's ascension from [[spoiler:Dark Knight to Paladin]] in FinalFantasyIV.
* Broly in ''DragonBall Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3'', actually: his Rush Attacks happened to become more brutal, he smashes his opponent into the ground, grabs them, kicks them into the air, grabs them in the air again, smashes the opponent in the ground again, but he punches them away for good measure.
** And Broly is getting a ''Super Saiyan 3'' form in the latest game. [[{{AndZoidberg}} And Vegeta]].
* The Grunts in ''{{Halo}} 3''. Suicidal Grunts, My God.
* [[WorldOfWarcraft Gryan Stoutmantle.]] One first encounters him as a lowbie quest-giver in westfall. Next time you see him, he's a level 75 elite in Northrend. Commanding the Westfall ''Brigade''. On some servers he's amassed quite a fan following.
* Though he starts off pretty badass in ''{{Prototype}}'', Alex Mercer eventually [[spoiler: is infected by a parasite that saps his powers and severely weakens him.]] Once he gets over it, though, he takes ''many'' new levels in badass, complete with [[spoiler: the Armor and Blade powers]]. He sums it up best with two simple words: [[HesBack "I'm back."]]
* [[spoiler: Kogasa Tatara]] of ''TouhouProject: Undefined Fantastic Object''. Starts off as [[spoiler: a weak umbrella Youkai,]] ends up being [[spoiler: the Extra Stage miniboss.]]
* Tokugawa Ieyasu in ''SengokuBasara 3''. What was once a really ineffectual BrattyHalfPint JamesBondage has now grown up and kicks butt with just fists and feet, no longer needing to be overdependent on his [[strike:Gundam]] [[FanNickname Hondam]].
* ''[[MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story]]'' does this to Bowser, since the game [[ADayInTheLimelight focuses on him as a main character]] (with some help from the Mario Brothers). He performs several [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Crowning Moments Of Awesome]] and becomes the savior of the Mushroom Kingdom rather than the terrorizer (that role belonging to Fawful).
** Also, Princess Peach demonstrates some quite potent psychic powers (her "wish power").
* The ''Death Jr.'' series does this to Pandora. The first game she served as a DistressedDamsel while in the sequel she's a fully-playable character.
* ''Warcraft III'' custom map Footman Frenzy has the Death Sheep. Its maximum attack speed is 1 attack per 6 second with laughable damage, crappy HP to the point that a wind walking Blademaster can 1-hit KO it, have the movement speed of a snail that you need a zephyr to really go anywhere. On top of that, it only has TWO inventory slots as oppose to normal hero's six which it desperately need for HP item. The catch? It has the listed skill: Star Fall, Tranquility, Big Bad Voodoo and Stampede, all ultimate skills. Starfall at the very beginning of the match against a throng of footman battling out in a 4 way match can result in the Death Sheep User a lot of gold.
* In ''CallOfDuty 4: ModernWarfare'', your player character, "Soap" [=MacTavish=], is an {{AFGNCAAP}} (well, aside from the GN part) whose Captain Price continually ribs for being the FNG (Fuckin' New Guy). Despite this, you still manage to pull off some badass moments during the game, most notably during the final level when you manage to shoot the BigBad while he's distracted. This is ratcheted UpToEleven for the sequel, ''ModernWarfare 2'', where you find out that [=MacTavish=] not only survived the ordeal, but became a totally badass captain in his own right and plays essentially the exact same role to the new player character that Captain Price did for him. The student learned his lesson well.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* Tucker, the lazy pimp wannabe from ''[[RedVsBlue Red vs. Blue]]'' suddenly becomes effective once he gets his energy sword. He takes another level when Wyoming locks the whole canyon into a time loop. Tucker is left immune to its amnesia-inducing effects (due to the sword), allowing him to act with advance knowledge of the situation.
-->'''Church''': Hey you know what, I kinda like this new all-knowing badass Tucker. He's certainly a lot better than the old one.
** Similarly, in the climax of ''Red vs. Blue: Reconstruction'', [[spoiler:Church embraces his [=AI=] heritage and stops [[TheJuggernaut The Meta]] by entering its collective mind. Previously, he was unable to even hit a target at point-blank range.]]
** In Recreation, [[spoiler:Tucker returns and shows off his mad skills by taking on the entire digging team, seemingly by himself.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* Done in the ''D&D''-based ''{{Order of the Stick}}'', where Elan ''literally'' takes a level in badass -- or, rather, in the Dashing Swordsman prestige class.
** Vaarsuvius also does this (albeit only temporarily through a [[spoiler:DealWithTheDevil]]) in order to [[spoiler: save [his|her] children from a really pissed off dragon]].
* ''ZebraGirl'': [[spoiler: Jack / Jack The Plaid. Complete with [[LampshadeHanging LoTR quote and the villain noting he 'pulled a Gandalf']].]]
* In ''{{Narbonic}}'', the character Seth was a pimple-faced girl-shy role-playing nerd. Then he got sent to hell, [[LikeABadassOutOfHell where he fought his way out]] after obtaining the [[{{BFS}} demonic axe Zürrr]] by defeating the devil queen Sh'zk'ra. And picked up a BadassLongcoat somewhere along the way.
* Torg of ''SluggyFreelance'' took his level in badass during the That Which Redeems arc. Being stuck in an alternate universe with demons hunting you all the time will do that. Afterwards he seems to have settled back into a CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass.
** It's easy to forget that, yes, he still owns a sword that can kill demons and gods if he allows it to feast on the blood of the innocent. Untill somebody gives him a reason to pick it up again.
*** It's also worth keeping in mind that, prior to That Which Redeems, he succeeded in killing off Aylee's [[CloningBlues Evil Clone]], who had just defeated [[KillerRabbit Bun-Bun]]. Bun-Bun prefers to pretend that the whole thing [[DisContinuity didn't happen]], and nobody feels like arguing the point.
**** From the time Torg got the sword in the Stormbreaker Saga, his badassery was more or less incidental/accidental. It wasn't until after That Which Redeems that it became remarkable. He appears to have taken another level during Aylee-Code Boom, becoming a casual zombie-slayer.
***** [[http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=090205 And again.]] Perhaps it has become a {{Running Gag}}.
***** Demons are obviously tougher than the different "zombies", so it doesn't really suggest a further level-up.
* Under the tutelage of her "Kolee", her teacher Zeetha, Agatha's most literal level-in-badass in ''GirlGenius'' appears to be a work in progress, though the mere evolution from hopeless klutz of Polygnostic University to a Spark on the level of any previous Heterodyne would certainly qualify.
** Gil's evolution from a bored pupil constantly tested by his father for basic worth into a man capable of facing down his father, and an army of war clanks, is a clear example. See [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20071121 here]] for evidence.
* [[spoiler:Steve]] from ''QuestionableContent'', in what doubles as an ''epic'' BigLippedAlligatorMoment...unless, of course, it's mentioned again.
** [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1406 Mentioned again.]] This is either a single continuity nod to the fans who insisted it was real, or will become the most epic [[ThirdLineSomeWaiting 3rd line]] ever.
* The character [[spoiler:Cale'Anon]] from the webcomic ''{{Looking for Group}}''. He starts the series off [[spoiler:rather clueless and useless, and in the first comic gets blasted to cinders by Richard.]] By the third or fourth issue, he's [[http://www.lfgcomic.com/page/91 changed a little]] and very soon is pulling stunts like [[http://www.lfgcomic.com/page/96 this]] and [[http://www.lfgcomic.com/page/241 this]] .
* For some of the more unconventional crossovers in the ''{{Hellsing}}'' fancomic ''AndShineHeavenNow'', the characters from that crossover have done this. The prime example is Madeline from the books of the same name: a sweet schoolgirl in the books, a regenerating vampire hunter in ''Shine''.
* Rumy from ''{{Fans}}!'', like everyone else, had already come a long way from TheOrdinaryHighSchoolStudent with martial arts training by the end of the fifth book, but after the five-year TimeSkip she comes off as a battle-hardened LadyOfWar.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Emma in ''{{lonelygirl15}}'' appears to have done this in between "I Love You All" and "Operation Emma", largely as a result of having to fend for herself and [[spoiler:witnessing Elizabeth's murder]].
* Three words: [[DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog "Brand. New. Day."]]
* Dave (or Dawei) of ''PurePwnage'' was a quiet, withdrawn sort of guy at first. He absolutely refused to play any video games until a furious micro (a combat skill based on game-playing ability) battle threatened the lives of his friends. After a flashback showing [[spoiler:a tragic gaming incident that killed/injured his sisters]], he finally snaps and proves to be an incredible user of micro, effectively taking a level in badass and reverting to the arrogant, snarky personality he had in his past.
* Simon Wood from ''{{Survival of the Fittest}}'' is nigh-unrecogniseable in [=SOTF=] spin off [[EverythingsDeaderWithZombies SOTF Zombies]]. He goes from RomanticRunnerUp to somebody who will not hesitate to punch his undead adversaries in the face. On one occasion, this actually ''killed'' one.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Not to throw in another ''[=~Avatar: The Last Airbender~=]'' example, but many people found Katara's sudden leap from being second to Aang in waterbending to being Aang's infinitely more skilled trainer rather jarring (the fact that her training was handled entirely [[SecondHandStorytelling offscreen]] and concluded with the use of AsYouKnow does little to rectify).
** Don't you think "infinitely more skilled" is a touch hyperbolic? Not to say that there wasn't a substantive off screen level up, but it's hardly as extreme as all that. Besides, they spent an entire episode establishing her getting a trainer, you want to spend another one on more training and put the plot on hold?
** Sokka, who was previously just a comic relief character took his level in badass when he [[spoiler: got his space sword, made actual plans for an ''army'' and wore that cool wolf armor]].
* Played for laughs in the ''TheFairlyOddparents'' MadeForTVMovie, ''Abra-Catastrophe!'', where Cosmo briefly helps Timmy combat an all-powerful Denzel Crocker after watching an 11-second workout video and gaining Hulk Hogan pecs.
* All the [[{{Transformers}} Autobots]] should qualify for this trope, since they were designed for civilian use. Extensive after-market tuning turned a loser into the Optimus Prime we know and love today.
** Reversing this seems to be the main point of ''TransformersAnimated'', where the Autobots were all workers on a space bridge, and only have a weapon or two each, all of which, with the exception of Optimus's axe, had non-combat purposes in mind. This was to keep the Decepticons from suffering from {{villain decay}} (which is also why there are more human villains). In fact, they're armed to the teeth and it takes all of the Autobots to just take down one or two of them.
*** Sort of subverted by the second season. Not only did Optimus Prime come close to being in the Elite Guard (making Prime rank despite being kicked out), Bumblebee and Bulkhead were at boot camp for a while, Prowl has had cyberninja training, and Ratchet lived through the Great War. They're not just handymen.
*** Not quite... with the exception of Ratchet (who wanted a quiet job out of the limelight), they were all failures. Bulkhead and Bumblebee were kicked out, Optimus Prime was kicked out, and Jazz immediately realizes that Prowl hasn't completed his Cyber-Ninja training.
*** During Transwarped, [[spoiler: Sari of all people]] took a level in badass. In fact, [[spoiler: she had to take a level out of badass, because powering up her newly-discovered-to-be-technoorganic self made her an out of control juggernaut that nearly killed Bumblebee and endangered most of the city. Now she just shoots energy blasts from her hands, can program space bridges, and is actually mature.]]
** Wheelie of all people took a level in badass after season three. He lost the rhyming speech disability, got drunk, and beat up several Decepticons in succession in the Headmasters pilot.
*** After season 3? Try after TheMovie - in the five-part season premiere, he shoots a Sweep ''right in the face while free-falling'', simultaneously breaking from his rhyming to deliver the OneLiner "Galvatron is strong, but Wheelie is '''mean'''!"
** Let's not forget Galvatron. As Megatron, "Decepticons, REEEETREEEEEEAT!" was pratically his catchphrase, uttered about three times per episode. His high-pitched voice (second only to Starscream) didn't add {{Badass}} points, either. Then he gets upgraded into [[TheNthDoctor Leonard Nimoy]] temporarily. ''Then'' he goes ''mad, permanently'' and becomes a much more interesting villain and unpredictable threat. Unfortunately, crazy Galvatron was as likely to pound [[BadBoss his own minions]] as he was the Autobots. Other versions of Megatron get upgraded into Galvatron as well, but for the first Galvatron, it's about the personality change even more than the increase in power.
*** More recent incarnations of Megatron have themselves become [[MagnificentBastard far more intelligent]] and dangerous in their skills and motives to the point where it feels they don't need an army to win. Perhaps the most notable of them is the Animated Megatron, who is so much of a threat that he considers the Autobots as little more than pests for most of the time (even going so far as to not acknowledge them by name).
** Cheetor from ''BeastWars'' got noticeably more capable with his own abilities. Originally just a scout and little skill in combat, he eventually became TheLancer to Optimus Primal during ''Beast Machines'' and a competent leader in his own right.
** Does it count when a ContinuityReboot gives a new version of a character more {{Badass}} points than the previous? If so, look no further than Starscream. The original Starscream was mostly comic relief, pulling transparent betrayal schemes, getting smacked down, and making everyone wonder why Megatron doesn't [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim just shoot him]]. Then come the two latest versions: Cybertron Starscream is much like the original, but he knows how to keep his mouth shut. He winds up with enough power to challenge a god and completely outclass the Autobots and Decepticons alike. And Animated Starscream is stronger than the main Autobots put together ''without'' a MacGuffin, nearly took down Megatron in the premiere movie, becomes ''immortal'' when he ''does'' get some Macguffinry, creates his own clone army, and takes over the giant Autobot Omega Supreme, all the while being the best LargeHam since BeastWars Megatron. Just about every scene of his is a new CrowningMomentOfAwesome.
*** And of course this would also apply to the live-action movie as well. As soon as Ironhide realizes the F-22 fighter jet circling above them is Starscream he seems to react with almost [[OhCrap genuine fear]]. Later in the movie, Starscream fights both Ironhide AND Ratchet at the same time and manages to incapacitate them. He only retreats when one of them lands one square hit [[NotInTheFace and his chest/face]] but when he does, they are down.
* Certain versions of ''TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'', like the recent [=CGI=] movie, have April O'Neil learning [[HighlyVisibleNinja their brand of ninjitsu.]]
** Serling, a butler robot in Fast Foward, actually saved his master's life in probably one of the most [[{{Crowning Moment of Awesome}} impressive]] fashions.
* In the animated version of ''Series/{{The Legion of Superheroes}}'', the entire ''series'' takes a level in badass between the first season and the DarkerAndEdgier second season. Several of the male characters bulk up significantly, especially Superman, Brainiac 5, Timber Wolf, and Lightning Lad (who also [[GrowingTheBeard Grows the Beard]]). On top of that, it also introduces a second FutureBadass version of Superman. At least in the case of Superman (the original one) this is justified as Brainiac intentionally went back in time to get him, but not as far back in time, so the Superman he brings back is older and more experienced.
* Enzo Matrix from ''{{ReBoot}}''. Even more jarring come Season 4.0, when both the Before ([[BrattyHalfPint Enzo]]) and After ([[TheLancer Matrix]]) versions exist simultaneously.
* Ofdensen in ''{{Metalocalypse}}'', starting with the first season finale. Because sometimes a LizLemonJob requires you to kick some ass.
* Here's a fun game: take some buddies who are familiar with the ''{{Superfriends}}'' and show them either the ''JusticeLeague'' episode "The Enemy Below" or "The Terror Beyond". Once they're done, tell them that the crazy blonde {{badass}} dude with the hook for a hand is, in fact, the once [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway incredibly lame]] Aquaman. We would like pictures of their reactions.
* The [[GodzillaTheSeries cartoon version]] of the American ''{{Godzilla}}''. Sure, it's technically his last-surviving offspring. But, the fact that he has nuclear breath and fights other monsters like his Japanese counterpart [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap really helps]].
** Don't forget that a three-part special has the ORIGINAL American ''{{Godzilla}}'' [[spoiler:being turned into a surprisingly powerful cyborg.]]
* Ron Stoppable from ''KimPossible'' took a severe level in badass the first movie, the Grand Finale and the episodes where he is turned evil.
** In the ''KimPossible'' movie, '''A Sitch in Time'', the future version of Monique has clearly taken several levels in badass since we last saw her-- she's gone from having to duck and weave and run away from every bad guy she faces (when she subs for Ron as Kim's sidekick in the present), to helping Kim kick some serious ass in the future. (Of course, Ron is still the one who ultimately saves the day.)
* In the Disney short "Lambert The Sheepish Lion", Lambert is a lion that is always hiding behind his sheep mommy when the other sheep tease him. Up until a wolf tried to eat his mom.
* In ''BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' the episode "{{Mad Love}}" shows the character, Harley Quinn taking a level of badass on multiple people. She utilizes a thrown away plan by The Joker positively, stabs Batman {{in the back}} (of the neck), and has Batman out to the point where he later admits to Joker, "You know, she came closer to killing me than you ever have. Puddin'." Of course her [[CrowningMomentofAwesome CMOA]] vanishes when she gets knocked out a five story building.
* Remember when Cobra Commander of ''GiJoe'' was a whiny twit of silly schemes? When he [[spoiler:destroys Moscow as a show of force]], in ''GiJoeResolute'', you will know you are dealing with a badass BigBad who would give anyone nightmares.
** Basically, ''Resolute'' was a DarkerAndEdgier version of the classic cartoons, but they took away all the PlotInducedStupidity. Hell, Cobra Commander even has a speech where he says ''[[ObfuscatingStupidity he was only pretending to be an idiot to try and have his men come up with better ideas]]'', and that [[NotSoHarmless now he's playing for keeps]].
* Valerie Gray of ''DannyPhantom''. She started out as a rather spoiled, superficial girl, and by the end of the second season, could kick major ghost butt without her suit using little more than her ''housekeys.''
** Arguably Danny himself through CharacterDevelopment. Compare his first few episodes to the latter ones. In the beginning he was awkwardly stumbling with his powers. By end though, he had enough strength to kick ''God-like ghost beings''!
* In the ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'' TV series, Princess Jasmine was noticably more of an {{Action Girl}} than in the two preceding films. This got even more pronounced when certain spells got put on her:
** In "Sandswitch", Jasmine is given memories of a life as a street rat. The new Jasmine is introduced effortlessly beating up four of the royal guards to rescue Abu and Iago.
** In "Forget Me Lots", Jasmine's memory is removed and she's told that she is HarmlessVillain Abis Mal's daughter, and one of the most evil and feared people in the area. This causes her to instantly become a marvelous DarkActionGirl who takes over the palace almost singlehandedly, then gives herself a KlingonPromotion when she realizes how useless Abis Mal is.
** In "Eye of the Beholder", Jasmine is turned into a naga. Even though she's horrified of her snake tail, she puts it to very good use a few times on the way to find a cure.
** This carries over into the final sequel, ''The King of Thieves'' where she holds her own against the Forty Thieves, all of which are at least twice her size.
* In ''{{Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers}}'', Walter Hartford spent most of the series as a DeadpanSnarker and "computer guy" who was nowhere ''near'' the other three when it came to a fight. But when a EvilChancellor steps in and threatens to kill the king they're trying to ally with? Doc picks up a sword, brawls him, and hands said evil adviser his ass. All the while admitting that he learned fencing from "Miss Abercrombie's Charm School!"
** Which has led a great many fanfic authors to wonder just what ''kind'' of Charm School Miss Abercrombie was running in the first place.
* Aelita from ''CodeLyoko'' spends the first two seasons as a DistressedDamsel needing the protection of the HeroSecretService (and sometimes picking the DistressBall herself, to the point of being considered TheLoad by part of the fandom). Then by Season 3 she gains an attack power and no longer can be killed just by losing all her {{Hit Point}}s. She also progressively gets more confident, turning into a full-fledged ActionGirl. She is still XANA's DesignatedVictim throughout Season 3 and 4 thanks to her {{MacGuffin Girl}} status, but now she's certainly fighting back.
* Spyke from ''X-Men Evolution''. True to the name, Spyke went through a major Evolution over the course of the series. He went from being [[TheScrappy the slacker all the internet fans hated]] in season one and two, to being put on a bus in season 3, [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap to emerging as a new found badass that people suddenly liked]] in Season 4.
*Henchman 21 from ''Venture Bros'' is a prime example of this trope. From Season 1 to Season 3, he was blubbery, lazy and inept. But when [[spoiler:his best/only friend Henchman 24 was killed]], his personality changed radically, and he started training. Now instead of being the Monarch's pudgy, occasional go-to guy, he is officially his most fearsome and competent henchman, now sporting a heavily muscled frame, as well as wrist-blades and greatly improved fighting skill.
** Of course, this is still Henchman 21, and this is still TheVentureBrothers . While more competant than he had been in any previous season and arguably more competant than his boss, he's still a {{fanboy}} whose GenreSavvy is based more on RuleOfFunny than RuleOfCool, making him still prone to solutions that are AwesomeButImpractical.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* In the UK, after secondary school, students of age 16-18 can take a series of two year courses called ''A Level''s at "Sixth Form" colleges, usually as a way of meeting entrance criteria for a university course. Unfortunately, most sixth form colleges don't allow students to take ''A Level'' in "Badass". Though, nothing's stopping you from taking regular A Levels while taking a level in badass. If you do, [[BadassBookworm you have an exciting future ahead of you]], I'm told.
* You remember that puny kid, or the fat pudgy one? The ones you ''always'' picked last? Yeah, well, they joined the Reserve Officers Training in college. You will now address them as "Badass, sir!"
* Stevie Wonder began his career as Little Stevie Wonder, recording undistinguished albums of soul and big band covers under the creative control of Berry Gordy's Motown. At the age of 21 he threatened to quit the company unless he was allowed to do things his own way; Motown gave in, and Stevie Wonder went on to record a string of innovative albums that made him one of ''the'' key stars of the 1970s.
* There was a preacher who notes that nerds have a different moniker when they are adults: "Boss".
* Marines, after boot camp.
** And another level, after School of Infantry.
*** And still again, for Recon Marines.
[[/folder]]

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