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* The ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' franchise both uses and justifies this trope. ''Film/{{Alien}}'' has one Xenomorph Drone terrorizing a ship of miners, and Film/{{Alien 3}} has one Xenomorph Runner menacing a prison colony. ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' (the second installment) and ''Film/AlienResurrection'' (fourth installment) feature entire hives of Xenomorph Drones that just seem far easier to kill off. The in-universe justification is that there was rather weak weaponry present and the ExplosiveDecompression potential the Alien's HollywoodAcid blood posed in the first film, and also absolutely no weaponry whatsoever present in the third film. The lone specimens were explicitly every bit as vulnerable to gunfire as the hordes.

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* The ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' franchise both uses and justifies this trope. ''Film/{{Alien}}'' has one Xenomorph Drone terrorizing a ship of miners, and Film/{{Alien 3}} has one Xenomorph Runner menacing a prison colony. ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' (the second installment) and ''Film/AlienResurrection'' (fourth installment) feature entire hives of Xenomorph Drones that just seem far easier to kill off. The in-universe justification is that there was rather weak weaponry present and the ExplosiveDecompression potential the Alien's HollywoodAcid blood posed in the first film, and also absolutely no weaponry whatsoever present in the third film. The lone specimens were explicitly every bit as vulnerable to gunfire as the hordes.hordes, but pose a much more grave threat without any guns available.
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** Later subverted when Fezzik and Inigo are discussing the castle defenses they need to get past; both readily admit that, even between the two of them and with their respective prodigious combat skills, they could not take on thirty guards at once, and subsequently decide to seek out a strategist (the Man in Black) to figure out a way in without having to fight.
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* In ''Film/KillBill Volume 1'', the Bride is able to slice through the numerous Crazy 88 members like butter with her superior katana, only having trouble when she faced the General and Gogo Yubari one-on-one. They weren't technically Crazy 88's but rather [[TheDragon co-dragons]] but there's nothing to distinguish them from O-Ren's other {{Mooks}} aside from the fact that they had names and fought the Bride one-on-one.

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* In ''Film/KillBill Volume 1'', the Bride is able to slice through the numerous Crazy 88 members like butter with her superior katana, only having trouble when she faced the General and Gogo Yubari one-on-one. They The last two weren't technically Crazy 88's but 88's, rather they were [[TheDragon co-dragons]] co-dragons]], but there's nothing to distinguish them from O-Ren's other {{Mooks}} aside from the fact that they had names and fought the Bride one-on-one.
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* ''Film/DungeonsAndDragonsHonorAmongThieves'': Xenk the paladin is able to easily dispatch a huge group of Thayan assassins on his own. But the last one standing, their leader Dralas, ends up being much more dangerous than all of his subordinates put together, proving to be a challenging foe for Xenk.
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* The ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' franchise both uses and justifies this trope. ''Film/{{Alien}}'' has one Xenomorph Drone terrorizing a ship of miners, and Film/{{Alien 3}} has one Xenomorph Runner menacing a prison colony. ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' (the second installment) and ''Film/AlienResurrection'' (fourth installment) feature entire hives of Xenomorph Drones that just seem far easier to kill off. The in-universe justification is that there was rather weak weaponry present in the first film, and also absolutely no weaponry whatsoever present in the third film. The lone specimens were explicitly every bit as vulnerable to gunfire as the hordes.

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* The ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' franchise both uses and justifies this trope. ''Film/{{Alien}}'' has one Xenomorph Drone terrorizing a ship of miners, and Film/{{Alien 3}} has one Xenomorph Runner menacing a prison colony. ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' (the second installment) and ''Film/AlienResurrection'' (fourth installment) feature entire hives of Xenomorph Drones that just seem far easier to kill off. The in-universe justification is that there was rather weak weaponry present and the ExplosiveDecompression potential the Alien's HollywoodAcid blood posed in the first film, and also absolutely no weaponry whatsoever present in the third film. The lone specimens were explicitly every bit as vulnerable to gunfire as the hordes.
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* Subverted in ''Film/BlackWidow2021'', where Natasha at first is able to hold off a whole class of Black Widows...for roughly a minute. They use their superior numbers to overpower her even after she decides to just shoot them (non-lethally), and they only stop when [[BigDamnHeroes Yelena intervenes]]. Bonus points for doing the standard MookChivalry thing where most of them just stand around waiting for openings or trying to flank her, and they still manage to beat her silly.

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* Subverted in ''Film/BlackWidow2021'', where Natasha at first is able to hold off a whole class of Black Widows...for roughly a minute. They use their superior numbers to overpower her even after she decides to just shoot them (non-lethally), and they only stop when [[BigDamnHeroes Yelena intervenes]]. Bonus points for doing the standard MookChivalry thing where most of them just stand around waiting for openings or trying to flank her, her [[note]]and/or observing her fighting style, on account of being intelligence agents[[/note]], and are explicitly told to "make her suffer", and they still manage to beat her silly.
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* When Optimus Prime fights Megatron in Mission City during ''Film/{{Transformers}}'', he gets his ass beat. When he fights the upgraded Megatron, Starscream and Grindor at the same time in a forest during ''Revenge of the Fallen'', he holds up pretty well and manages to kill Grindor, and take off Starscream's arm in the process. It's implied that Optimus held back in the first since there were bystanders, whereas he could cut loose in the sequel, proven in the forest battle where Optimus revealed he has ''two'' swords. In a real world justification, ILM wasn't too sure about the CG effects in the first film, so they kept the robots in the background. They went into the sequel knowing the CG was viable. Also, [[spoiler:Optimus ''lost'' the second fight, fatally, when [[BackStab Megatron snuck up on him while he was finishing off Grindor]].]]

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* When Optimus Prime fights Megatron in Mission City during ''Film/{{Transformers}}'', ''Film/{{Transformers|2007}}'', he gets his ass beat. When he fights the upgraded Megatron, Starscream and Grindor at the same time in a forest during ''Revenge of the Fallen'', ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'', he holds up pretty well and manages to kill Grindor, and take off Starscream's arm in the process. It's implied that Optimus held back in the first since there were bystanders, whereas he could cut loose in the sequel, proven in the forest battle where Optimus revealed he has ''two'' swords. In a real world justification, ILM wasn't too sure about the CG effects in the first film, so they kept the robots in the background. They went into the sequel knowing the CG was viable. Also, [[spoiler:Optimus ''lost'' the second fight, fatally, when [[BackStab Megatron snuck up on him while he was finishing off Grindor]].]]
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Green links.


** {{Justified}} in the case of certain styles of Lightsaber combat, such as Form 1 (Shi-Cho), which is geared towards fighting multiple opponents and battlefield situations, but does poorly in single combat against a trained opponent (unless said opponent is using the same style or similar, such as Form 7 Juyo) because it emphasises sweeping offences at the expense of defence. Jedi Master Kit Fisto, for example, regularly cut through entire ''armies'' while fighting and was regarded as a master lightsaber combatant, but he was defeated by Asajj Ventress, a dangerous Sith assassin and Jedi killer, but one who was regularly bested by other high-level Jedi duellists such as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker; on the flip side, Fisto had little issue fending off the even ''more'' dangerous Jedi killer General Grievous because the latter was MultiArmedAndDangerous...which meant, fighting Grevious was like fighting multiple opponents at once, exactly the sort of engagement Fisto was optimised to fight against.
* ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' averts this, surprisingly. While the Turtles are able to defeat individual Foot Ninjas with ease (and Raph takes out a small group at once thanks to the element of surprise), a large group of them at once beats Raph nearly to death and forces the other three to retreat. Played straight later where the Turtles defeat an army of ninjas but then have trouble against The Shredder alone. Although with Shredder, it's played with: [[JustifiedTrope The Foot ninjas were intentionally leading the Turtles to the rooftop where he was waiting and partially tired them out so he could take them on fresh. He stepped in after his ninja were beaten and fights defensively using minimal movements and turning the Turtles' aggression against them, making him the freshest and most conservative fighter]]. But as the fight drags on, this approach starts to fail him; [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome he is fighting four skilled opponents half his age]], as ''Leonardo'' draws first blood, something that we never saw Shredder do to the Turtles. Shredder admits the Turtles might have won eventually with only the loss of one turtle.

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** {{Justified}} [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in the case of certain styles of Lightsaber combat, such as Form 1 (Shi-Cho), which is geared towards fighting multiple opponents and battlefield situations, but does poorly in single combat against a trained opponent (unless said opponent is using the same style or similar, such as Form 7 Juyo) because it emphasises sweeping offences at the expense of defence. Jedi Master Kit Fisto, for example, regularly cut through entire ''armies'' while fighting and was regarded as a master lightsaber combatant, but he was defeated by Asajj Ventress, a dangerous Sith assassin and Jedi killer, but one who was regularly bested by other high-level Jedi duellists such as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker; on the flip side, Fisto had little issue fending off the even ''more'' dangerous Jedi killer General Grievous because the latter was MultiArmedAndDangerous...which meant, fighting Grevious was like fighting multiple opponents at once, exactly the sort of engagement Fisto was optimised to fight against.
* ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1990'' averts this, surprisingly. While the Turtles are able to defeat individual Foot Ninjas with ease (and Raph takes out a small group at once thanks to the element of surprise), a large group of them at once beats Raph nearly to death and forces the other three to retreat. Played straight later where the Turtles defeat an army of ninjas but then have trouble against The Shredder alone. Although with Shredder, it's played with: [[JustifiedTrope The Foot ninjas were intentionally leading the Turtles to the rooftop where he was waiting and partially tired them out so he could take them on fresh. He stepped in after his ninja were beaten and fights defensively using minimal movements and turning the Turtles' aggression against them, making him the freshest and most conservative fighter]]. But as the fight drags on, this approach starts to fail him; [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome he is fighting four skilled opponents half his age]], as ''Leonardo'' draws first blood, something that we never saw Shredder do to the Turtles. Shredder admits the Turtles might have won eventually with only the loss of one turtle.
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* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManAcrossTheSpiderVerse'': Miles Morales, a relatively-inexperienced Spider-Man fighting alone, ends up taking on hundreds of other Spider-Men from across [[TheMultiverse the multiverse,]] many of whom were [[HeroOfAnotherStory the main characters of their own superhero adventures,]] and winning. Downplayed in that Miles only manages to run away and escape the other Spider-Men chasing him rather than beating them all in a fight (still an impressive feat), and that [[TooManyCooksSpoilTheSoup the other Spider-Men aren't that used to fighting en-masse and get in each other's way.]]
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-->'''Juni''': There's five hundred total, Dad. We need one more person. [[spoiler:(''Cue [[Creator/DannyTrejo Machete]] [[DynamicEntry bursting through a window]] to join them.'')]]

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-->'''Juni''': There's five hundred That's 500 total, Dad. We need one more person. [[spoiler:(''Cue [[Creator/DannyTrejo Machete]] [[DynamicEntry bursting through a window]] to join them.'')]]
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* Despite being a singular entity, the [[OurHydrasAreDifferent purple-skinned hydra]] from Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'' perfectly demonstrates the general nature of this trope in microcosm. During the first half of his duel with the [[ProtagonistTitle titular hero]], the hydra only has one head, but said lone head manages to spar with Hercules on even ground, knock his sword away, hurl him into the the air using an unconventional move, and then [[SwallowedWhole swallow him whole]]. It would've won if Hercules hadn't gotten his sword back the moment before. After that, though, the hydra grows countless new heads that don't dodge (granted now they know they don't need to), miss their mark, bite and crash into each other, and rarely try anything other than lunging at Hercules. Plus, help from the body is their only available method of regaining control of the fight once the heads become especially numerous.

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* Despite being a singular entity, the [[OurHydrasAreDifferent purple-skinned hydra]] from Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'' perfectly demonstrates the general nature of this trope in microcosm. During the first half of his duel with the [[ProtagonistTitle titular hero]], the hydra only has one head, but said lone head manages to spar with Hercules on even ground, knock his sword away, hurl him into the the air using an unconventional move, and then [[SwallowedWhole swallow him whole]]. It would've won if Hercules hadn't gotten his sword back the moment before. After that, though, [[HydraProblem the hydra grows countless new heads heads]] that don't dodge (granted now they know they don't need to), miss their mark, bite and crash into each other, and rarely try anything other than lunging at Hercules. Plus, help from the body is their only available method of regaining control of the fight once the heads become especially numerous.
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* Despite being a singular entity, the [[OurHydrasAreDifferent purple-skinned hydra]] from Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'' perfectly demonstrates the general nature of this trope in microcosm. During the first half of his duel with the [[ProtagonistTitle titular hero]], the hydra only has one head, but said lone head manages to spar with Hercules on even ground, knock his sword away, hurl him into the the air using an unconventional move, and then [[SwallowedWhole swallow him whole]]. It would've won if Hercules hadn't gotten his sword back the moment before. After that, though, the hydra grows countless new heads that don't dodge (granted now they know they don't need to), miss their mark, bite and crash into each other, and rarely try anything other than lunging at Hercules. Plus, help from the body is their only available method of regaining control of the fight once the heads become especially numerous.
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Authority Equals Asskicking has been renamed.


* The assassins in ''Film/Hero2002'' effortlessly carve through thousands of palace guards in order to reach their target, the Emperor, who by himself is [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking much tougher than his men]]. This being a {{Wuxia}} film, this is hardly surprising, as the assassins' abilities are the very model of a CharlesAtlasSuperpower.

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* The assassins in ''Film/Hero2002'' effortlessly carve through thousands of palace guards in order to reach their target, the Emperor, who by himself is [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking [[RankScalesWithAsskicking much tougher than his men]]. This being a {{Wuxia}} film, this is hardly surprising, as the assassins' abilities are the very model of a CharlesAtlasSuperpower.
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* ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' has this especially bad. The large hordes of "upgraded" Ultrons in the film's climax manage to prove less of a threat to the Avengers than the small number of prototypes (who very explicitly aren't a SuperPrototype) encountered early in the film. It's possibly justified : They were taken by surprise , ambushed, fought in close quarters, and were without their body armor, weapons , and fantastic tech gear ( Examples : Hawkeye's special arrows and Black Widow's spacesuit that seem to leave her strong enough to physically take on robots ) .

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* ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' has this especially bad. The large hordes of "upgraded" Ultrons in the film's climax manage to prove less of a threat to the Avengers than the small number of prototypes (who very explicitly aren't a SuperPrototype) encountered early in the film. It's possibly justified : justified: They were taken by surprise , surprise, ambushed, fought in close quarters, and were without their body armor, weapons , weapons, and fantastic tech gear ( Examples : (Examples: Hawkeye's special arrows and Black Widow's spacesuit that seem to leave her strong enough to physically take on robots ) .robots).
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* ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' has this especially bad. The large hordes of "upgraded" Ultrons in the film's climax manage to prove less of a threat to the Avengers than the small number of prototypes (who very explicitly aren't a SuperPrototype) encountered early in the film . It's possibly justified : They were taken by surprise , ambushed , fought in close quarters , and were without their body armor , weapons , and fantastic tech gear ( Examples : Hawkeye's special arrows and Black Widow's spacesuit that seem to leave her strong enough to physically take on robots ) .

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* ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' has this especially bad. The large hordes of "upgraded" Ultrons in the film's climax manage to prove less of a threat to the Avengers than the small number of prototypes (who very explicitly aren't a SuperPrototype) encountered early in the film . film. It's possibly justified : They were taken by surprise , ambushed , ambushed, fought in close quarters , quarters, and were without their body armor , armor, weapons , and fantastic tech gear ( Examples : Hawkeye's special arrows and Black Widow's spacesuit that seem to leave her strong enough to physically take on robots ) .
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* ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' has this especially bad. The large hordes of "upgraded" Ultrons in the film's climax manage to prove less of a threat to the Avengers than the small number of prototypes ( who very explicitly aren't a SuperPrototype ) encountered early in the film . It's possibly justified : They were taken by surprise , ambushed , fought in close quarters , and were without their body armor , weapons , and fantastic tech gear ( Examples : Hawkeye's special arrows and Black Widow's spacesuit that seem to leave her strong enough to physically take on robots ) .

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* ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' has this especially bad. The large hordes of "upgraded" Ultrons in the film's climax manage to prove less of a threat to the Avengers than the small number of prototypes ( who (who very explicitly aren't a SuperPrototype ) SuperPrototype) encountered early in the film . It's possibly justified : They were taken by surprise , ambushed , fought in close quarters , and were without their body armor , weapons , and fantastic tech gear ( Examples : Hawkeye's special arrows and Black Widow's spacesuit that seem to leave her strong enough to physically take on robots ) .

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Alphabetizing


* ''Film/Oldboy2003''. On the very impressive one-take scene in the hall, the main character takes on countless mooks by himself aided only by a hammer. Sorta justified in that the main character spent over 10 years working out and practiced fighting, whereas the extent of practice the gangbangers he faced had was probably limited to intimidating people with weapons. And he didn't make it out unscathed.
* ''Film/ResidentEvilAfterlife''. Numerous clones of Alice are used almost as cannon fodder whereas one is the epitome of ''badass''.
* Played with and lampshaded in ''Film/SpyKids1'', when two good guys are easily overpowered by two robots... then later in the film, four good guys come up with a plan ''under the assumption'' they can hold their own against 500 of those same robots. [[spoiler:Luckily. Floop ends up reprogramming them to render them harmless just in time.]]
-->'''Gregorio''': I'll take the hundred on the right… Ingrid, you take the hundred on the left. Carmen, hundred center-left. Juni, center-right. [[TemptingFate It'll work. It'll work.]]
-->'''Juni''': There's five hundred total, Dad. We need one more person. [[spoiler:(''Cue [[Creator/DannyTrejo Machete]] [[DynamicEntry bursting through a window]] to join them.'')]]
* ''Film/StarTrek2009'' movie:
** Any time a group of ships appear, be it Klingon or Federation, count on them getting wrecked. A single ship, especially if it's named ''Enterprise'', is going to kick ass. This is hilariously evident in the series even moreso (see TV examples). Of course, in the film, the one and only time that happened was when everyone was showing up without a clue that there was an enemy, and the same ship could have wrecked the single ship too at that time, even with warning.
** Inverted in a deleted scene from the same movie; right after we see the ''Narada'' destroy the ''Kelvin'', a large number of Klingon ships decloak and are able to capture it. (Granted, the ship had been somewhat damaged already.) Later, it's flipped again, Uhura picks up the Klingon transmission that a Romulan vessel wiped out over 40 Klingon ships during their escape.
** ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'': Several squads of heavily-armed Klingons vs. three Starfleet main characters. Three guesses who wins and the first two don't count. [[spoiler:And you're wrong. The heroes only "win" because Khan shows up and saves them for his own mysterious purposes, because one genetically superior augment beats two regular humans and a half-Vulcan.]]
** Inverted then Played Straight again in ''Film/StarTrekBeyond'': [[spoiler:''Enterprise'' vs. Krall's swarm? ''Enterprise'' is obliterated. ''Franklin'' vs. the same swarm? ''Franklin'' kicks their ass, thanks to learning their weakness.]]

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* ''Film/Oldboy2003''. On the very impressive one-take scene in the hall, the main character takes on countless mooks by himself aided only by a hammer. Sorta justified in that the main character spent over 10 years working out ''Film/ThirteenAssassins'' both justifiably invokes and practiced fighting, averts this trope. The thirteen are almost all skilled samurai, who have either participated in real duels and battles or have been trained by those who have, whereas 99% of the extent of practice the gangbangers he faced had was probably limited to intimidating people with weapons. And he didn't make it out unscathed.
* ''Film/ResidentEvilAfterlife''. Numerous clones of Alice are used almost as cannon fodder whereas one is the epitome of ''badass''.
* Played with and lampshaded in ''Film/SpyKids1'', when two good guys are easily overpowered by two robots... then later in the film, four good guys come up with a plan ''under the assumption''
small army they can hold their own against 500 must face have no real experience. The outcome - [[spoiler:they kill everyone, but nearly [[BittersweetEnding all of those same robots. [[spoiler:Luckily. Floop ends up reprogramming them to render them harmless just in time.]]
-->'''Gregorio''': I'll take
the hundred on the right… Ingrid, you take the hundred on the left. Carmen, hundred center-left. Juni, center-right. [[TemptingFate It'll work. It'll work.]]
-->'''Juni''': There's five hundred total, Dad. We need one more person. [[spoiler:(''Cue [[Creator/DannyTrejo Machete]] [[DynamicEntry bursting through a window]] to join them.'')]]
* ''Film/StarTrek2009'' movie:
** Any time a
group of ships appear, be it Klingon or Federation, count on them getting wrecked. A single ship, especially if it's named ''Enterprise'', is going to kick ass. This is hilariously evident in the series even moreso (see TV examples). Of course, in the film, the dies.]]]]
* The ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' franchise both uses and justifies this trope. ''Film/{{Alien}}'' has
one Xenomorph Drone terrorizing a ship of miners, and only time Film/{{Alien 3}} has one Xenomorph Runner menacing a prison colony. ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' (the second installment) and ''Film/AlienResurrection'' (fourth installment) feature entire hives of Xenomorph Drones that happened was when everyone was showing up without a clue just seem far easier to kill off. The in-universe justification is that there was an enemy, rather weak weaponry present in the first film, and also absolutely no weaponry whatsoever present in the same ship could have wrecked third film. The lone specimens were explicitly every bit as vulnerable to gunfire as the single ship too at that time, even with warning.
hordes.
** Inverted in a deleted scene from ''Aliens'' is one of few cases where this trope actually doesn't make the same movie; right after we see enemy any less menacing or threatening. They're in big enough hordes to be gunned down easily, but still able to hold the ''Narada'' destroy upper hand for 90% of the ''Kelvin'', a movie due to the combination of their [[ItCanThink surprising intelligence]] and [[ZergRush sheer numbers]].
* ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' has this especially bad. The
large hordes of "upgraded" Ultrons in the film's climax manage to prove less of a threat to the Avengers than the small number of Klingon ships decloak prototypes ( who very explicitly aren't a SuperPrototype ) encountered early in the film . It's possibly justified : They were taken by surprise , ambushed , fought in close quarters , and are able to capture it. (Granted, the ship had been somewhat damaged already.) Later, it's flipped again, Uhura picks up the Klingon transmission that a Romulan vessel wiped out over 40 Klingon ships during were without their escape.
** ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'': Several squads of heavily-armed Klingons vs. three Starfleet main characters. Three guesses who wins
body armor , weapons , and the first two don't count. [[spoiler:And you're wrong. The heroes only "win" because Khan shows up fantastic tech gear ( Examples : Hawkeye's special arrows and saves them for his own mysterious purposes, because one genetically superior augment beats two regular humans and a half-Vulcan.]]
** Inverted then Played Straight again in ''Film/StarTrekBeyond'': [[spoiler:''Enterprise'' vs. Krall's swarm? ''Enterprise'' is obliterated. ''Franklin'' vs. the same swarm? ''Franklin'' kicks their ass, thanks
Black Widow's spacesuit that seem to learning their weakness.]]leave her strong enough to physically take on robots ) .



* In ''Film/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld'' Scott has little trouble mopping the floor with Lucas Lee's (the second evil ex's) stunt team, while only being able to defeat Lee by goading him into doing an insanely dangerous stunt on his skateboard. It helps that the stunt team [[RuleOfPerception only seem to be competent when they're on camera]].
** Repeated just before the battle with [[spoiler: Gideon]]. Scott effortlessly mops up mooks en masse before settling into a one-on-one BossFight that goes wrong.
* The list just wouldn't be complete without robots. In ''Film/IRobot'', Creator/WillSmith's character Spooner is able to survive and utterly destroy two massive truckloads worth of corrupted robots during the highway sequence, but the scene gets really serious when he realizes that there is one (albeit handicapped) robot leftover. Partially justified in that he defeats the two truckloads worth of robots with CarFu and his gun and the single robot he faces unarmed.

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* In ''Film/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld'' Scott has little trouble mopping the floor with Lucas Lee's (the second evil ex's) stunt team, while only being Subverted in ''Film/BlackWidow2021'', where Natasha at first is able to hold off a whole class of Black Widows...for roughly a minute. They use their superior numbers to overpower her even after she decides to just shoot them (non-lethally), and they only stop when [[BigDamnHeroes Yelena intervenes]]. Bonus points for doing the standard MookChivalry thing where most of them just stand around waiting for openings or trying to flank her, and they still manage to beat her silly.
* Averted in ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife''. Flik is well aware of the fact that even the mightiest grasshopper can't
defeat Lee by goading him into doing an insanely dangerous stunt on his skateboard. It helps that the stunt team [[RuleOfPerception one hundred ants, and one hundred grasshoppers can't defeat one thousand ants.
* ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' has both titular characters mow down several {{mooks}} easily, and
only seem to be competent when they're on camera]].
** Repeated just before the
have a truly difficult battle with each other. It's justified in that Cap and the Winter Soldier are the only enhanced beings in the movie -- everyone else, while extensively trained in combat and dangerous in their own rights, are still baseline humans.
* In ''Film/TheChroniclesOfRiddick'' Toombs attempts to invoke this by going after Riddick with a four man crew, but Riddick takes a very dim view of this, and dispatches them easily.
-->"A four man crew for me? Fuckin' ''insulting''."
** He comes with more people next time.
[[spoiler: Gideon]]. Scott Just five. And Riddick allows himself to be captured.]]
* In ''Film/{{Commando}}'', when [[Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger Ahnold]] comes across Arius after mowing down countless soldiers simply by [[MoreDakka pointing his gun in their general direction and firing]], his aim suddenly deteriorates into [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy that of the countless soldiers]] he just killed. Luckily for him, Arius's aim is just as bad, and after a few moments of the two firing at each other and missing while ''twenty feet from each other'', Arnie kills Arius. Bennett, Arius's DragonInChief, is a vastly more cunning and formidable opponent than either Arius or his dozens of soldiers; Arnie has to provoke him into fighting one-on-one rather than just using his daughter as a human shield; even then, he almost wins.
* In ''Film/DawnOfTheDead1978'', Roger and Peter frequently punch out and knock back zombies with ease when facing them all at once. And then a lone zombie "disguised" as a mannequin catches Roger off guard and has to be dispatched without any ease at all.
* At various points in the Film/DollarsTrilogy, Creator/ClintEastwood
effortlessly mops up guns down three or more men with his trusty pistol. The only times where there is any doubt of him being successful is when he's only facing one or two opponents.
* ''Film/{{Equilibrium}}'': In the final fight scenes, Preston is surrounded by six elite
mooks en masse before settling and takes them down in about five seconds flat. There follows a duel with TheDragon ... well, kind of, since, in defiance of the trope, TheDragon, who fought Preston to a draw in a sparring match earlier in the movie, [[spoiler:is taken down with three invisibly fast swipes, the last one of which ends with TheDragon's ''face getting sliced off''. And then comes the BigBad, who has more ninjutsu than any of his men combined, and who matches him gun for gun in the movie's final duel.]]
* ''Franchise/EvilDead''
** Ash only fights one deadite at a time in the first two films. He ends up getting thrown
into a one-on-one BossFight lot of shelves when facing a single one. But once he has to fight a whole army of deadites in ''Film/ArmyOfDarkness'', he conveniently gets a sword and starts slashing them up left and right.
** He also took a serious [[TookALevelInBadass level in badass]] near the end of ''Film/EvilDead2''. As can be seen in the theatrical ending to ''Army of Darkness'', single deadites aren't much a problem for him anymore either.
* In ''Film/FaceOff'' it seems
that goes wrong.
all FBI agents, cops, security staff, and special agents are inept at facing off against Castor Troy. In just the opening shootout, Castor offs FBI agents single handedly with just two pistols (and at one point a shotgun he takes from a dead SWAT officer) until Sean Archer has a chance to face him one on one (for some reason the dozens of other agents stay out of the action - but then again, Archer's pursuit of Castor is more or less driven by personal issues). Castor reduces these agents to mere [[RedShirtArmy red shirts]] all throughout the film, when in reality said agents should be much better trained to have the upper hand in a gunfight. Not even the SWAT teams are immune as many of the agents shot dead during the shootout at Dietrich's loft are wearing paramilitary gear and submachine guns. Seriously, the Los Angeles FBI field office has to be running short of men to adequately staff it by the end of the movie.
* The list assassins in ''Film/Hero2002'' effortlessly carve through thousands of palace guards in order to reach their target, the Emperor, who by himself is [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking much tougher than his men]]. This being a {{Wuxia}} film, this is hardly surprising, as the assassins' abilities are the very model of a CharlesAtlasSuperpower.
* ''Franchise/IndianaJones''
** In ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'', Indy fairly easily takes out half a dozen Nazis on the truck transporting the Ark. But he nearly gets killed when there's
just wouldn't be complete without robots. one Nazi left.
** When Indy faces multiple mooks in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom'', he knocks each of them out in quick succession, but when a single mook tries to garrote him earlier in the film, it leads to a not-so-quick struggle.
*
In ''Film/IRobot'', Creator/WillSmith's character Spooner is able to survive and utterly destroy two massive truckloads worth of corrupted robots during the highway sequence, but the scene gets really serious when he realizes that there is one (albeit handicapped) robot leftover. Partially justified in that he defeats the two truckloads worth of robots with CarFu and his gun and the single robot he faces unarmed.



* ''Film/IronMan3'': In previous films when Tony only had one suit it was virtually invincible. When he attacks with a dozen they get torn torn to bits in short order and he keeps swapping them out. Sort of justified in that they were fighting super powered mooks and they were all prototypes Tony had put together as stress relief.
* The trope is played straight in any of ''Film/TheKarateKid'' movies whenever Mr Miyagi gets involved in a fight. Three, four guys, one big Caucasian guy ... doesn't matter. Old guy always wins.
** Arguably an extreme case of CoolOldGuy, since he fights one-on-one in the second movie, and it still lasts seconds, without him not even having to land a hit. When the same opponent comes back in the third movie with a friend, they actually manage to fare better (meaning they still get mercilessy [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomped]], but they last a bit longer).
* In ''Film/KillBill Volume 1'', the Bride is able to slice through the numerous Crazy 88 members like butter with her superior katana, only having trouble when she faced the General and Gogo Yubari one-on-one. They weren't technically Crazy 88's but rather [[TheDragon co-dragons]] but there's nothing to distinguish them from O-Ren's other {{Mooks}} aside from the fact that they had names and fought the Bride one-on-one.
* In ''Film/KungFuHustle'' this trope is mixed in with a SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome, the Axe Gang that attacks Pigsty Alley in the so numerous, that they can't really fight without getting in each other's way. It's to the point that those in the back can only uselessly fail their axes around menacingly rather than actually attack due to fear of accidentally hitting their own guys. Thus the slum's fighters are really only realistically fighting maybe three guys at a time.
* Any Creator/BruceLee movie, where he's outnumbered 80:1; and when they use weapons, he whips out his nunchucks to do things the ''lazy'' way. Lazy, as in [[CombatPragmatist "smart"]]. Funnily, in real life Lee noted he would have used guns if available, [[BoringButPractical but that doesn't look as cool]].
* In ''Film/TheLegendOfHercules,'' Hercules and his friend Sotiris have to fight a gladiator named Humbaba; it takes a while, and Sotiris is injured. That means that Hercules will be alone in his next fight, against the top six gladiators ''in the world.'' And...he one-shots each of them, with the whole fight being quicker and easier than the two-on-one fight with Humbaba.
* ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings''
** Aragorn faces dozens of orcs at a time throughout his adventures. The only time he seems to be having any difficulty is fighting one-on-one with the Uruk-hai leader and the troll.
** A single troll was giving the entire group of heroes a hard fight in ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing The Fellowship of the Ring]]'' in a rare heroes vs. villain example.
* In the ''WebVideo/MegaManEddieLebron'' FanFilm, the Blue Bomber gets into a confrontation with all six robot masters at once before the individual fights begin. Fighting the whole gang is no problem, but alone we get real fights. [[ThatOneBoss Elec Man]] [[spoiler: nearly kills Mega Man, until he gets [[BigDamnHeroes saved by Blues/Proto Man]].]]
* ''Film/NinjaAssassin'' plays with this trope a bit. Raizo needs about 2 minutes work to take down a lone ninja, but when faced with dozens later, he is able to take down several. However, all of his fights with multiple opponents end with him severely injured and only surviving through luck or a rescuer, whereas he comes out of his one-on-one fights unscathed.
* In a rare example of this trope being used against the good guys, the titular characters of "Ninja Cheerleaders" go through large groups of big mean men like it was clearance day at Macy's, but are completely overmatched by a single Dark Ninja during the climactic battle of the film.
* ''Film/Oldboy2003''. On the very impressive one-take scene in the hall, the main character takes on countless mooks by himself aided only by a hammer. Sorta justified in that the main character spent over 10 years working out and practiced fighting, whereas the extent of practice the gangbangers he faced had was probably limited to intimidating people with weapons. And he didn't make it out unscathed.
* In ''Film/TheOne'', it is a law of the multiverse that "power" is spread between the different incarnations of a person across universes, and criminal abuse of this has naturally ensued. The BigBad and sort-of EvilTwin to the hero partakes in killing off their "other selves", such that by the final fight both are superhumanly capable.
* In ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd'', toward the end when [[spoiler:the pirates find themselves outnumbered and outgunned and standing off against the East India Company's hundreds strong fleet it turns out that the EIC only bothered to send one ship into combat -- Davy Jones's ship. The rest stood back and didn't bother joining in the battle. It kinda makes sense to send an extremely powerful and essentially immortal ship to do battle with a single pirate ship, especially if you can take the other ships alive when they surrender. saves lives, saves money, and it's just good business.]]
* ''Film/{{The Princess|2022}}'': Most of the {{mooks}} attack the princess singly, to be easily killed. At one point though she's cornered by many and in real trouble, having to jump down several stories with one as a cushion.



* ''Film/ResidentEvilAfterlife''. Numerous clones of Alice are used almost as cannon fodder whereas one is the epitome of ''badass''.
* In ''Film/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld'' Scott has little trouble mopping the floor with Lucas Lee's (the second evil ex's) stunt team, while only being able to defeat Lee by goading him into doing an insanely dangerous stunt on his skateboard. It helps that the stunt team [[RuleOfPerception only seem to be competent when they're on camera]].
** Repeated just before the battle with [[spoiler: Gideon]]. Scott effortlessly mops up mooks en masse before settling into a one-on-one BossFight that goes wrong.
* Played with and lampshaded in ''Film/SpyKids1'', when two good guys are easily overpowered by two robots... then later in the film, four good guys come up with a plan ''under the assumption'' they can hold their own against 500 of those same robots. [[spoiler:Luckily. Floop ends up reprogramming them to render them harmless just in time.]]
-->'''Gregorio''': I'll take the hundred on the right… Ingrid, you take the hundred on the left. Carmen, hundred center-left. Juni, center-right. [[TemptingFate It'll work. It'll work.]]
-->'''Juni''': There's five hundred total, Dad. We need one more person. [[spoiler:(''Cue [[Creator/DannyTrejo Machete]] [[DynamicEntry bursting through a window]] to join them.'')]]
* In ''Film/StarshipTroopers'' the bugs are incredibly strong when there's just one or two of them in the screen, with close range and concentrated fire from multiple machinegun-equipped soldiers being required to kill them. When the troopers are defending the fortress, they can just spray down hordes of the same bugs with the same rifles that barely worked before.
* ''Film/StarTrek2009'' movie:
** Any time a group of ships appear, be it Klingon or Federation, count on them getting wrecked. A single ship, especially if it's named ''Enterprise'', is going to kick ass. This is hilariously evident in the series even moreso (see TV examples). In the film, the one and only time that happened was when everyone was showing up without a clue that there was an enemy, and the same ship could have wrecked the single ship too at that time, even with warning.
** Inverted in a deleted scene from the same movie; right after we see the ''Narada'' destroy the ''Kelvin'', a large number of Klingon ships decloak and are able to capture it. (Granted, the ship had been somewhat damaged already.) Later, it's flipped again, Uhura picks up the Klingon transmission that a Romulan vessel wiped out over 40 Klingon ships during their escape.
** ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'': Several squads of heavily-armed Klingons vs. three Starfleet main characters. Three guesses who wins and the first two don't count. [[spoiler:And you're wrong. The heroes only "win" because Khan shows up and saves them for his own mysterious purposes, because one genetically superior augment beats two regular humans and a half-Vulcan.]]
** Inverted then Played Straight again in ''Film/StarTrekBeyond'': [[spoiler:''Enterprise'' vs. Krall's swarm? ''Enterprise'' is obliterated. ''Franklin'' vs. the same swarm? ''Franklin'' kicks their ass, thanks to learning their weakness.]]



** {{Justified}} in the case of certain styles of Lightsaber combat, such as Form 1 (Shi-Cho), which is geared towards fighting multiple opponents and battlefield situations, but does poorly in single combat against a trained opponent (unless said opponent is using the same style or similar, such as Form 7 Juyo) because it emphasises sweeping offences at the expense of defence. Jedi Master Kit Fisto, for example, regularly cut through entire ''armies'' while fighting and was regarded as a master lightsaber combatant, but he was defeated by Asajj Ventress, a dangerous Sith assassin and Jedi killer, but one who was regularly bested by other high-level Jedi duellists such as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker; on the flip side, Fisto had little issue fending off the even ''more'' dangerous Jedi killer General Grevious because the latter was MultiArmedAndDangerous...which meant, fighting Grevious was like fighting multiple opponents at once, exactly the sort of engagement Fisto was optimised to fight against.
* In ''Film/KillBill Volume 1'', the Bride is able to slice through the numerous Crazy 88 members like butter with her superior katana, only having trouble when she faced the General and Gogo Yubari one-on-one. Of course, they weren't technically Crazy 88's but rather [[TheDragon co-dragons]] but there's nothing to distinguish them from O-Ren's other {{Mooks}} aside from the fact that they had names and fought the Bride one-on-one.
* In ''Film/StarshipTroopers'' the bugs are incredibly strong when there's just one or two of them in the screen, with close range and concentrated fire from multiple machinegun-equipped soldiers being required to kill them. When the troopers are defending the fortress, they can just spray down hordes of the same bugs with the same rifles that barely worked before.
* In ''Film/TheOne'', it is quite literally a law of the multiverse that "power" is spread between the different incarnations of a person across universes, and criminal abuse of this has naturally ensued. The BigBad and sort-of EvilTwin to the hero partakes in killing off their "other selves", such that by the final fight both are superhumanly capable.
* ''Franchise/IndianaJones''
** In ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'', Indy fairly easily takes out half a dozen Nazis on the truck transporting the Ark. But he nearly gets killed when there's just one Nazi left.
** When Indy faces multiple mooks in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom'', he knocks each of them out in quick succession, but when a single mook tries to garrote him earlier in the film, it leads to a not-so-quick struggle.
* ''Film/{{Equilibrium}}'': In the final fight scenes, Preston is surrounded by six elite mooks and takes them down in about five seconds flat. There follows a duel with TheDragon ... well, kind of, since, in defiance of the trope, TheDragon, who fought Preston to a draw in a sparring match earlier in the movie, [[spoiler:is taken down with three invisibly fast swipes, the last one of which ends with TheDragon's ''face getting sliced off''. And then comes the BigBad, who has more ninjutsu than any of his men combined, and who matches him gun for gun in the movie's final duel.]]
* The trope is played straight in any of ''Film/TheKarateKid'' movies whenever Mr Miyagi gets involved in a fight. Three, four guys, one big Caucasian guy ... doesn't matter. Old guy always wins.
** Arguably an extreme case of CoolOldGuy, since he fights one-on-one in the second movie, and it still lasts seconds, without him not even having to land a hit. When the same opponent comes back in the third movie with a friend, they actually manage to fare better (meaning they still get mercilessy [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomped]], but they last a bit longer).
* ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings''
** Aragorn faces dozens of orcs at a time throughout his adventures. The only time he seems to be having any difficulty is fighting one-on-one with the Uruk-hai leader and the troll.
** A single troll was giving the entire group of heroes a hard fight in ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing The Fellowship of the Ring]]'' in a rare heroes vs. villain example.
* When Optimus Prime fights Megatron in Mission City during ''Film/{{Transformers}}'', he gets his ass beat. When he fights the upgraded Megatron, Starscream and Grindor at the same time in a forest during ''Revenge of the Fallen'', he holds up pretty well and even manages to kill Grindor, and take off Starscream's arm in the process. It's implied that Optimus held back in the first since there were bystanders, whereas he could cut loose in the sequel, proven in the forest battle where Optimus revealed he has ''two'' swords. In a real world justification, ILM wasn't too sure about the CG effects in the first film, so they kept the robots in the background. They went into the sequel knowing the CG was viable. Also, [[spoiler:Optimus ''lost'' the second fight, fatally, when [[BackStab Megatron snuck up on him while he was finishing off Grindor]].]]
* ''Franchise/EvilDead''
** Ash only fights one deadite at a time in the first two films. He ends up getting thrown into a lot of shelves when facing a single one. But once he has to fight a whole army of deadites in ''Film/ArmyOfDarkness'', he conveniently gets a sword and starts slashing them up left and right.
** He also took a serious [[TookALevelInBadass level in badass]] near the end of ''Film/EvilDead2''. As can be seen in the theatrical ending to ''Army of Darkness'', single deadites aren't much a problem for him anymore either.
* In ''Film/{{Commando}}'', when [[Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger Ahnold]] comes across Arius after mowing down countless soldiers simply by [[MoreDakka pointing his gun in their general direction and firing]], his aim suddenly deteriorates into [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy that of the countless soldiers]] he just killed. Luckily for him, Arius's aim is just as bad, and after a few moments of the two firing at each other and missing while ''twenty feet from each other'', Arnie kills Arius. Bennett, Arius' DragonInChief, is, of course, a vastly more cunning and formidable opponent than either Arius or his dozens of soldiers; Arnie has to provoke him into fighting one-on-one rather than just using his daughter as a human shield, and even then, he almost wins.
* In ''Film/DawnOfTheDead1978'', Roger and Peter frequently punch out and knock back zombies with ease when facing them all at once. And then a lone zombie "disguised" as a mannequin catches Roger off guard and has to be dispatched without any ease at all.
* In ''Film/FaceOff'' it seems that all FBI agents, cops, security staff, and special agents are inept at facing off against Castor Troy. In just the opening shootout, Castor offs FBI agents single handedly with just two pistols (and at one point a shotgun he takes from a dead SWAT officer) until Sean Archer has a chance to face him one on one (for some reason the dozens of other agents stay out of the action - but then again, Archer's pursuit of Castor is more or less driven by personal issues). Castor reduces these agents to mere [[RedShirtArmy red shirts]] all throughout the film, when in reality said agents should be much better trained to have the upper hand in a gunfight. Not even the SWAT teams are immune as many of the agents shot dead during the shootout at Dietrich's loft are wearing paramilitary gear and submachine guns. Seriously, the Los Angeles FBI field office has to be running short of men to adequately staff it by the end of the movie.
* In ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd'', toward the end when [[spoiler:the pirates find themselves outnumbered and outgunned and standing off against the East India Company's hundreds strong fleet it turns out that the EIC only bothered to send one ship into combat -- Davy Jones's ship. The rest stood back and didn't bother joining in the battle. Of course, it kinda makes sense to send an extremely powerful and essentially immortal ship to do battle with a single pirate ship, especially if you can take the other ships alive when they surrender. saves lives, saves money, and it's just good business.]]
* Any Creator/BruceLee movie, where he's outnumbered 80:1; and when they use weapons, he whips out his nunchucks to do things the ''lazy'' way.
** By lazy, we mean [[CombatPragmatist "smart,"]] of course. Funnily, in real life Lee noted he would have used guns if available, [[BoringButPractical but that doesn't look as cool]].
* ''Film/NinjaAssassin'' plays with this trope a bit. Raizo needs about 2 minutes work to take down a lone ninja, but when faced with dozens later, he is able to take down several. However, all of his fights with multiple opponents end with him severely injured and only surviving through luck or a rescuer, whereas he comes out of his one-on-one fights unscathed.
* ''Film/ThirteenAssassins'' both justifiably invokes and averts this trope. The thirteen are almost all skilled samurai, who have either participated in real duels and battles or have been trained by those who have, whereas 99% of the small army they must face have no real experience. The outcome - [[spoiler:they kill everyone, but nearly [[BittersweetEnding all of the group dies.]]]]
* In the ''WebVideo/MegaManEddieLebron'' FanFilm, the Blue Bomber gets into a confrontation with all six robot masters at once before the individual fights begin. Fighting the whole gang is no problem, but alone we get real fights. Especially noteworthy is [[ThatOneBoss Elec Man]] who [[spoiler: nearly kills Mega Man, until he gets [[BigDamnHeroes saved by Blues/Proto Man]].]]
* The ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' franchise both uses and justifies this trope. ''Film/{{Alien}}'' has one Xenomorph Drone terrorizing a ship of miners, and Film/{{Alien 3}} has one Xenomorph Runner menacing a prison colony. ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' (the second installment) and ''Film/AlienResurrection'' (fourth installment) feature entire hives of Xenomorph Drones that just seem far easier to kill off. The in-universe justification is that there was rather weak weaponry present in the first film, and also absolutely no weaponry whatsoever present in the third film. The lone specimens were explicitly every bit as vulnerable to gunfire as the hordes.
** ''Aliens'' is also notable in the fact that it's one of few cases where this trope actually doesn't make the enemy any less menacing or threatening. They're in big enough hordes to be gunned down easily, but still able to hold the upper hand for 90% of the movie due to the combination of their [[ItCanThink surprising intelligence]] and [[ZergRush sheer numbers]].
* At various points in the Film/DollarsTrilogy, Creator/ClintEastwood effortlessly guns down three or more men with his trusty pistol. The only times where there is any doubt of him being successful is when he's only facing one or two opponents.

to:

** {{Justified}} in the case of certain styles of Lightsaber combat, such as Form 1 (Shi-Cho), which is geared towards fighting multiple opponents and battlefield situations, but does poorly in single combat against a trained opponent (unless said opponent is using the same style or similar, such as Form 7 Juyo) because it emphasises sweeping offences at the expense of defence. Jedi Master Kit Fisto, for example, regularly cut through entire ''armies'' while fighting and was regarded as a master lightsaber combatant, but he was defeated by Asajj Ventress, a dangerous Sith assassin and Jedi killer, but one who was regularly bested by other high-level Jedi duellists such as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker; on the flip side, Fisto had little issue fending off the even ''more'' dangerous Jedi killer General Grevious Grievous because the latter was MultiArmedAndDangerous...which meant, fighting Grevious was like fighting multiple opponents at once, exactly the sort of engagement Fisto was optimised to fight against.
* In ''Film/KillBill Volume 1'', ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' averts this, surprisingly. While the Bride is Turtles are able to slice through defeat individual Foot Ninjas with ease (and Raph takes out a small group at once thanks to the element of surprise), a large group of them at once beats Raph nearly to death and forces the other three to retreat. Played straight later where the Turtles defeat an army of ninjas but then have trouble against The Shredder alone. Although with Shredder, it's played with: [[JustifiedTrope The Foot ninjas were intentionally leading the Turtles to the rooftop where he was waiting and partially tired them out so he could take them on fresh. He stepped in after his ninja were beaten and fights defensively using minimal movements and turning the Turtles' aggression against them, making him the freshest and most conservative fighter]]. But as the fight drags on, this approach starts to fail him; [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome he is fighting four skilled opponents half his age]], as ''Leonardo'' draws first blood, something that we never saw Shredder do to the Turtles. Shredder admits the Turtles might have won eventually with only the loss of one turtle.
* In ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2014'', the four turtles and Splinter have no problem fighting off
the numerous Crazy 88 members like butter with her superior katana, only having Foot soldiers but have significant trouble when she faced the General and Gogo Yubari one-on-one. Of course, they weren't technically Crazy 88's but rather [[TheDragon co-dragons]] but there's nothing to distinguish them from O-Ren's other {{Mooks}} aside from the fact that they had names and fought the Bride one-on-one.
* In ''Film/StarshipTroopers'' the bugs are incredibly strong when there's just one or two of them in the screen, with close range and concentrated fire from multiple machinegun-equipped soldiers being required to kill them. When the troopers are defending the fortress, they can just spray down hordes of the same bugs with the same rifles that barely worked before.
* In ''Film/TheOne'',
it is quite literally a law of the multiverse that "power" is spread between the different incarnations of a person across universes, and criminal abuse of this has naturally ensued. The BigBad and sort-of EvilTwin to the hero partakes in killing off their "other selves", such that by the final fight both are superhumanly capable.
* ''Franchise/IndianaJones''
** In ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'', Indy fairly easily takes out half a dozen Nazis on the truck transporting the Ark. But he nearly gets killed when there's just one Nazi left.
** When Indy faces multiple mooks in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom'', he knocks each of them out in quick succession, but when a single mook tries to garrote him earlier in the film, it leads to a not-so-quick struggle.
* ''Film/{{Equilibrium}}'': In the final fight scenes, Preston is surrounded by six elite mooks and takes them down in about five seconds flat. There follows a duel with TheDragon ... well, kind of, since, in defiance of the trope, TheDragon, who fought Preston to a draw in a sparring match earlier in the movie, [[spoiler:is taken down with three invisibly fast swipes, the last one of which ends with TheDragon's ''face getting sliced off''. And then
comes the BigBad, who has more ninjutsu than any of his men combined, and who matches him gun for gun in the movie's final duel.]]
* The trope is played straight in any of ''Film/TheKarateKid'' movies whenever Mr Miyagi gets involved in a fight. Three, four guys, one big Caucasian guy ... doesn't matter. Old guy always wins.
** Arguably an extreme case of CoolOldGuy, since he fights one-on-one in the second movie, and it still lasts seconds, without him not even having
to land a hit. When the same opponent comes back in the third movie with a friend, they actually manage to fare better (meaning they still get mercilessy [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomped]], but they last a bit longer).
* ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings''
** Aragorn faces dozens of orcs at a time throughout his adventures. The only time he seems to be having any difficulty is
fighting one-on-one with Shredder. Justified in that Shredder is far better trained and stronger than the Uruk-hai leader and the troll.
** A single troll was giving the entire group of heroes a hard fight in ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing The Fellowship of the Ring]]'' in a rare heroes vs. villain example.
average Foot soldier.
* When Optimus Prime fights Megatron in Mission City during ''Film/{{Transformers}}'', he gets his ass beat. When he fights the upgraded Megatron, Starscream and Grindor at the same time in a forest during ''Revenge of the Fallen'', he holds up pretty well and even manages to kill Grindor, and take off Starscream's arm in the process. It's implied that Optimus held back in the first since there were bystanders, whereas he could cut loose in the sequel, proven in the forest battle where Optimus revealed he has ''two'' swords. In a real world justification, ILM wasn't too sure about the CG effects in the first film, so they kept the robots in the background. They went into the sequel knowing the CG was viable. Also, [[spoiler:Optimus ''lost'' the second fight, fatally, when [[BackStab Megatron snuck up on him while he was finishing off Grindor]].]]
* ''Franchise/EvilDead''
** Ash only fights one deadite at a time in
''Film/VanHelsing'' has Conservation of ''Vampirism'': the first two films. He ends up getting thrown into a lot of shelves when facing a single one. But once he has to fight a whole army of deadites in ''Film/ArmyOfDarkness'', he conveniently gets a sword main antagonist is Count Dracula and starts slashing his trio of Brides are his [[TheDragon dragons]], all four of them up left and right.
** He also took a serious [[TookALevelInBadass level in badass]] near the end of ''Film/EvilDead2''. As can be seen in the theatrical ending to ''Army of Darkness'', single deadites aren't much a problem for him anymore either.
* In ''Film/{{Commando}}'', when [[Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger Ahnold]] comes across Arius after mowing down countless soldiers simply by [[MoreDakka pointing his gun in their general direction and firing]], his aim suddenly deteriorates into [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy that of the countless soldiers]] he just killed. Luckily for him, Arius's aim is just as bad, and after a few moments of the two firing at each other and missing while ''twenty feet from each other'', Arnie kills Arius. Bennett, Arius' DragonInChief, is, of course, a vastly more cunning and formidable opponent than either Arius or his dozens of soldiers; Arnie has to provoke him into fighting one-on-one rather than just using his daughter as a human shield, and even then, he almost wins.
* In ''Film/DawnOfTheDead1978'', Roger and Peter frequently punch out and knock back zombies with ease when facing them all at once. And then a lone zombie "disguised" as a mannequin catches Roger off guard and has to be dispatched without any ease at all.
* In ''Film/FaceOff'' it seems that all FBI agents, cops, security staff, and special agents are inept at facing off against Castor Troy. In just the opening shootout, Castor offs FBI agents single handedly with just two pistols (and at one point a shotgun he takes from a dead SWAT officer) until Sean Archer has a chance to face him one on one (for some reason the dozens of other agents stay out of the action - but then again, Archer's pursuit of Castor is more or less driven by personal issues). Castor reduces these agents to mere [[RedShirtArmy red shirts]] all
being credible threats throughout the film, when in reality said agents should be much better trained to have movie, though obviously the upper hand in a gunfight. Not even Brides are picked off over the SWAT teams are immune as many course of the agents shot dead during story with Drac himself being the shootout at Dietrich's loft final boss. It's played completely straight around where the second and third acts meet: there are wearing paramilitary gear suddenly ''hundreds'' of vampires who serve Dracula attending a masquerade ball at his summer home and submachine guns. Seriously, they all converge on the Los Angeles FBI field office has to be running short of men to adequately staff it by the end of the movie.
* In ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd'', toward the end when [[spoiler:the pirates find themselves outnumbered and outgunned and standing off against the East India Company's hundreds strong fleet it turns out
heroes. [[ChekhovsGun It just so happens that the EIC only bothered they have a secret weapon to send one ship into combat -- Davy Jones's ship. The rest stood back and didn't bother joining use again such a huge number of vampires, teased early in the battle. Of course, it kinda makes sense to send an extremely powerful film,]] and essentially immortal ship to do battle with a single pirate ship, especially if you can take the other ships alive when they surrender. saves lives, saves money, and this obliterate that army of vampires more or less instantly. And it's just good business.''awesome''.
* Briefly discussed in ''Film/TheWarriors'' with regards to [[HarmlessVillain The Orphans]]:
-->'''Swan:''' Numbers?
-->'''Fox:''' Full strength, maybe thirty.
-->'''Vermin:''' [[TrappedBehindEnemyLines Thirty's a hell of a lot more than eight.
]]
-->'''Ajax:''' Not if they're wimps. And I'm getting sick of this "running" crap.
* Any Creator/BruceLee movie, where he's outnumbered 80:1; and when they use weapons, he whips out his nunchucks to do things At the ''lazy'' way.
** By lazy, we mean [[CombatPragmatist "smart,"]]
start of course. Funnily, in real life Lee noted he would have used guns if available, [[BoringButPractical but that doesn't look as cool]].
* ''Film/NinjaAssassin'' plays
''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'' three Sentinels [[spoiler:make a total party kill]] with this trope a bit. Raizo needs about 2 minutes work to take down a lone ninja, but when faced one only losing an arm. For the finale [[spoiler:even after bottle necking the ships with dozens later, he is able to take down several. However, all of his fights with multiple opponents end with him severely injured stormy weather and only surviving through luck or a rescuer, whereas he comes out of his one-on-one fights unscathed.
* ''Film/ThirteenAssassins'' both justifiably invokes and averts this trope. The thirteen are almost all skilled samurai, who have either participated in real duels and battles or have been trained by those who have, whereas 99% of
an exploding aircraft]] the small army they must face have no real experience. The outcome - [[spoiler:they kill everyone, but nearly [[BittersweetEnding all of the group dies.]]]]
* In the ''WebVideo/MegaManEddieLebron'' FanFilm, the Blue Bomber gets into a confrontation with all six robot masters at once before the individual fights begin. Fighting the whole gang is no problem, but alone we get real fights. Especially noteworthy is [[ThatOneBoss Elec Man]] who [[spoiler: nearly kills Mega Man, until he gets [[BigDamnHeroes saved by Blues/Proto Man]].]]
* The ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' franchise both uses and justifies this trope. ''Film/{{Alien}}'' has one Xenomorph Drone terrorizing a ship of miners, and Film/{{Alien 3}} has one Xenomorph Runner menacing a prison colony. ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' (the second installment) and ''Film/AlienResurrection'' (fourth installment) feature entire hives of Xenomorph Drones that just seem far easier to kill off. The in-universe justification is that there was rather weak weaponry present in the first film, and also absolutely no weaponry whatsoever present in the third film. The lone specimens were explicitly every bit as vulnerable to gunfire as the hordes.
** ''Aliens'' is also notable in the fact that it's one of few cases where this trope actually doesn't make the enemy any less menacing or threatening. They're in big enough hordes to be gunned down easily, but
remnant still able to hold destroy more Sentinels than at the upper start.
* ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice''. The massive army of ninja is slaughtered when it initially attacks Blofeld's lair. They become incredibly effective after Bond and Tiger Tanaka takes a
hand for 90% of the movie due to the combination of their [[ItCanThink surprising intelligence]] and [[ZergRush sheer numbers]].
* At various points in the Film/DollarsTrilogy, Creator/ClintEastwood effortlessly guns down three or more men with his trusty pistol. The only times where there is any doubt of him being successful is when he's only facing one or two opponents.
help out.



* In a rare example of this trope being used against the good guys, the titular characters of "Ninja Cheerleaders" go through large groups of big mean men like it was clearance day at Macy's, but are completely overmatched by a single Dark Ninja during the climactic battle of the film.
* ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice''. The massive army of ninja is slaughtered when it initially attacks Blofeld's lair. They become incredibly effective after Bond and Tiger Tanaka takes a hand and help out.
* At the start of ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'' three Sentinels [[spoiler:pretty much make a total party kill]] with one only losing an arm. For the finale [[spoiler:even after bottle necking the ships with stormy weather and an exploding aircraft]] the remnant still destroy more Sentinels than at the start.
* In ''Film/TheChroniclesOfRiddick'' Toombs attempts to invoke this by going after Riddick with a four man crew, but Riddick takes a very dim view of this, and dispatches them easily.
-->"A four man crew for me? Fuckin' ''insulting''."
** He comes with more people next time. [[spoiler: Just five. And Riddick allows himself to be captured.]]
* ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' averts this, surprisingly. While the Turtles are able to defeat individual Foot Ninjas with ease (and Raph takes out a small group at once thanks to the element of surprise), a large group of them at once beats Raph nearly to death and forces the other three to retreat. Played straight later where the Turtles defeat an entire army of ninjas but then have trouble against The Shredder alone. Although with Shredder, it's played with: [[JustifiedTrope The Foot ninjas were intentionally leading the Turtles to the rooftop where he was waiting and partially tired them out so he could take them on fresh. He stepped in after his ninja were beaten and fights defensively using minimal movements and turning the Turtles' aggression against them, making him the freshest and most conservative fighter]]. But as the fight drags on, this approach starts to fail him; [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome he is fighting four skilled opponents half his age]], as ''Leonardo'' draws first blood, something that we never saw Shredder do to the Turtles. Shredder admits the Turtles might have won eventually with only the loss of one turtle.
* In ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2014'', the four turtles and Splinter have no problem fighting off the numerous Foot soldiers but have significant trouble when it comes to fighting Shredder. Justified in that Shredder is far better trained and stronger than the average Foot soldier.
* The assassins in ''Film/Hero2002'' effortlessly carve through thousands of palace guards in order to reach their target, the Emperor, who by himself is [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking much tougher than his men]]. This being a {{Wuxia}} film, this is hardly surprising, as the assassins' abilities are the very model of a CharlesAtlasSuperpower.
* ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' has both titular characters mow down several {{mooks}} easily, and only have a truly difficult battle with each other. It's justified in that Cap and the Winter Soldier are the only enhanced beings in the entire movie -- everyone else, while extensively trained in combat and dangerous in their own rights, are still baseline humans.
* ''Film/IronMan3'': In previous films when Tony only had one suit it was virtually invincible. When he attacks with a dozen they get torn torn to bits in short order and he keeps swapping them out. Sort of justified in that they were fighting super powered mooks and they were all prototypes Tony had put together as stress relief.
* Subverted in ''Film/BlackWidow2021'', where Natasha at first is able to hold off a whole class of Black Widows...for roughly a minute. They use their superior numbers to overpower her even after she decides to just shoot them (non-lethally), and they only stop when [[BigDamnHeroes Yelena intervenes]]. Bonus points for doing the standard MookChivalry thing where most of them just stand around waiting for openings or trying to flank her, and they still manage to beat her silly.
* ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' has this especially bad. The large hordes of "upgraded" Ultrons in the film's climax manage to prove less of a threat to the Avengers than the small number of prototypes ( who very explicitly aren't a SuperPrototype ) encountered early in the film . It's possibly justified : They were taken by surprise , ambushed , fought in close quarters , and were without their body armor , weapons , and fantastic tech gear ( Examples : Hawkeye's special arrows and Black Widow's spacesuit that seem to leave her strong enough to physically take on robots ) .
* Briefly discussed in ''Film/TheWarriors'' with regards to [[HarmlessVillain The Orphans]]:
-->'''Swan:''' Numbers?
-->'''Fox:''' Full strength, maybe thirty.
-->'''Vermin:''' [[TrappedBehindEnemyLines Thirty's a hell of a lot more than eight.]]
-->'''Ajax:''' Not if they're wimps. And I'm getting sick of this "running" crap.
* In ''Film/KungFuHustle'' this trope is mixed in with a SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome, the Axe Gang that attacks Pigsty Alley in the so numerous, that they can't really fight without getting in each other's way. It's to the point that those in the back can only uselessly fail their axes around menacingly rather than actually attack due to fear of accidentally hitting their own guys. Thus the slum's fighters are really only realistically fighting maybe three guys at a time.
* ''Film/VanHelsing'' has Conservation of ''Vampirism'': the main antagonist is, of course, Count Dracula and his trio of Brides are his [[TheDragon dragons]], all four of them being credible threats throughout the movie, though obviously the Brides are picked off over the course of the story with Drac himself being the final boss. It's played completely straight around where the second and third acts meet: there are suddenly ''hundreds'' of vampires who serve Dracula attending a masquerade ball at his summer home and they all converge on the heroes. [[ChekhovsGun It just so happens that they have a secret weapon to use again such a huge number of vampires, teased early in the film,]] and this obliterate that army of vampires more or less instantly. And it's ''awesome''.
* ''Film/{{The Princess|2022}}'': Most of the {{mooks}} attack the princess singly, to be easily killed. At one point though she's cornered by many and in real trouble, having to jump down several stories with one as a cushion.
* Averted in ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife''. Flik is well aware of the fact that even the mightiest grasshopper can't defeat one hundred ants, and one hundred grasshoppers can't defeat one thousand ants.
* In ''Film/TheLegendOfHercules,'' Hercules and his friend Sotiris have to fight a gladiator named Humbaba; it takes a while, and Sotiris is injured. That means that Hercules will be alone in his next fight, against the top six gladiators ''in the entire world.'' And...he basically one-shots each of them, with the whole fight being quicker and easier than the two-on-one fight with Humbaba.

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