Badass Bystanders in Comic Books.
- Bruce Wayne: Not Super: Alfred finally gets onboard with helping Bruce after witnessing people being attacked by muggers on the street. As he leaves, it is shown that the victims have turned the tables and are beating the muggers up.
- In Diabolik the title character is rightly known as the King of Terror for, among other reason, his enormous body count and the fear he inspires, but once in a while he has to deal with random citizens who take a stand against him. Some notable examples:
- In "On the Morgue's Table" there's an insomniac guy who, upon seeing him and Eva (actually two very convincing impostors, but this insomniac man believed them to be the real deal), first called the police and, upon seeing they would get away before the police arrived, grabbed a precision rifle and gunned them down.
- In another story the police knew Diabolik was on a certain mountain road, and broadcast a warning on the radio. Two truckers on the same road heard the broadcast, realized they would run into him in minutes, and occupied the entire road with their trucks to try and kill him, nearly succeeding at the job.
- The Marvel Comics story Fear Itself. Insane murder god Cul, allied with supernatural Nazis in giant mecha suits, is about to start mass murdering everyone on Earth, starting with the citizens of Broxton, Oklahoma. The Broxton citizens form a line with pickup trucks and shotguns. The citizens of Broxton have stood up to all sorts of insane nonsense, because they are friends with the Asgardian gods. Many times the citizens have fought back against overpowering evil while the Asgardians were elsewhere.
- In Final Crisis: Revelations, Cain (yes, that Cain) is about to unmake reality with The Spear of Destiny by forcing The Spectre to say the Anti-Life Equation. He then gets tackled by the three men who killed Sister Clarice, giving Renee Montoya enough of an opportunity to save The Spectre. Also falls under Dying Moment of Awesome and Redemption Equals Death.
- In the Justice League of America arc "Syndicate Rules," the Antimatter Universe Johnny Quick and his teammate Power Ring (disguised as the Flash and Green Lantern) are having their asses handed to them by Computron and the Rainbow Raiders. The civilians are thoroughly stunned to realize the two "Leaguers" are having a hard time with these D-List (at best) supercriminals, and immediately rush in and beat the crap out of the Raiders with makeshift clubs, shovels, and two-fisted bystander action.
- Knightfall: When Victor Zsasz takes a group of college students hostage, one of them repeatedly calls him a monster and tells the other girls that they can overpower Zsasz if they rush him together. The others repeatedly refuse out of fear, but she still tries to take on Zsasz alone when he decides to pick more victims (which nearly gets her killed).
- The Mighty Avengers (2013) tie-in to Infinity, sees Proxima Midnight, one of Thanos's generals, leading an army into New York City and demanding everyone's surrender. One old woman's response is to pick up a brick and chuck it at Proxima's head, shouting "No pasaran!"
It touches off a mass response from the gathered crowd, and while "No pasaran!" doesn't have much effect, "Avengers Assemble" does. - Robin (1993): When Tim has to flip off the semi Riot Act is speeding down the highway to avoid getting shot onto the roof of a random sedan, the Gothamite driving it leans out their window to make sure he's okay, then speeds up and pulls alongside the out of control semi so he can get back to apprehending the villain.
- A random Lacroix resident in Swamp Thing stands up to Jason Woodrue with his chainsaw, "Evangeline." It doesn't work, but points for trying.
- In What If?: House of M, every superhero and villain loses their powers. This leads to the Red Skull, with the combined forces of the Hand, A.I.M., and Hydra to try and take over New York, now that they have no competition. Iron Man tries to save the day, with the help of the other un-superheroes in new iron suits, but gets their asses handed to them. This leads Peter Parker, formerly known as Spider-Man, to jump into the fray with a Badass Speech and, with his old web shooter, smashes the cosmic cube the Red Skull is holding. The result: the entire city of New York Zerg Rushes the Red Skull and his minions.
- In the X-Men graphic novel God Loves, Man Kills, main villain and Sinister Minister William Stryker is about to shoot Kitty Pryde after she gives him a "The Reason You Suck" Speech on live TV. In the book's climax, Stryker aims his gun and the X-Men stand their ground. A shot is fired, but it's Stryker who falls over, as he was shot (non-lethally) by a police officer working security. The cop states rather obviously that Stryker was about to shoot an unarmed little girl, which is not the Word of God.Officer: If that's the Word o' God, it's sure changed some since Sunday school.
