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"There's nothing mere about that mortal."
In a world with supernatural dealings or superpowers, this character is the one who is able to keep being useful through intellect, martial arts abilities, general ruthlessness, or just being Crazy Prepared.
They notably have none of the fantastic enhancements, magic or special powers that others do. It might even be a sore point for them, but that just makes us encourage them more. Female versions are usually Action Girls with a Girl Posse or Lovely Angels.
It's become increasingly common for the Badass Normal to be a protagonist, in contrast to the ideal lead, as it supposedly makes him easier to relate to. However, in ensembles, they are usually the leader, or at least the brains of the outfit, to compensate.
Sometimes a person is normally superpowerful, then Brought Down To Normal only to reveal that they remain just as badass.
If a Badass Normal is capable of things that should only be superhuman, then they have a Charles Atlas Superpower (But isn't mutually exclusive). If Badass runs in their family, it's because Lamarck Was Right. If they are given superfluous superpowers (especially in Fan Fiction), you get a Badass Abnormal.
The Badass Normal only happens in a world of superpowers or widespread genetic engineering or other artificial enhancements. Just because someone was able to kill one Super Soldier out of ten in the world does not make them a badass normal. Likewise, this is not a character who is ill equipped with outdated technology while their enemies have top-of-the-line gear. They have to be at an extreme disadvantage and regularly deal with enemies or even allies with an inherent advantage (And not just with Puny Earthlings either). If all things were equal, a Badass Normal would win every time. The primary thing is how do they compare to other normals (of their species) and how do they compare to super-powered beings. So please remember this when you put your favourite character/military force in this page. You may want to distinguish your favourites from the typical Bad Asses, but it's not a bad thing if they don't qualify for this particular trope.
Compare with Overshadowed By Awesome, where a character is by reasonable means strong compared to regular people or even superpowerful, but can only be considered "normal" when compared to the people they hang out with, who are vastly stronger. Because of this they often Cant Catch Up.
A Sub Trope of Badass. Compare Arthur Dent, Weak But Skilled, Puny Earthlings. Super Trope of Badass Bystander. One of the potential levels a character can have.
Just to reiterate, if they have strange or superhuman abilities, and this isn't the arc where these powers have been excised, they are not normal. This is a character type, not a plot trope.
Examples
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- Batman fills this role when he's required to be in an ensemble. Despite having no inherent superpowers, he's earned a spot in the inner circle of the Justice League Of America, fighting alongside the likes of Superman courtesy of a steel-trap intellect combined with a bit of a mean streak that means he can consider plans other members can't, and consider them well. Batman has the proven ability to develop the means to disable each of his fellow Leaguers — proven when those plans were stolen by villains and used to great effect. This has likely become a case of Memetic Mutation, as Batman's badassery has been stretched to ridiculous proportions, and many comic readers firmly believe that Batman is invincible. And writers agree.
- Heck, Batman is the King of this trope!
- To put it another way, whenever a Justice League villain mockingly says of Batman, "He doesn't even have any powers!", get some popcorn.
- In a similar vein, The Joker is considered to be one of the most dangerous beings in the DC Universe, due to his intellect and planning ability which, at times, rival Batman's, his unpredictable nature, lack of weaknesses, and complete lack of care for anyone or anything besides causing more pain. This separates him from his peers; Lex Luthor and Darkseid do evil acts to further their own quests for power, while often the Joker does so for no reason at all. It doesn't help that anyone who isn't already cautious of him tends to dangerously underestimate him.
- Robin is likewise the one without super powers in Teen Titans, yet is their leader. He, too, is the one with the brains on the team and knows exactly how to take them down. Demonstrated when he becomes Red X and takes down the entire team in the space of one minute.
- Nightwing is likewise unpowered and is on par with Batman in most of Batman's skills. He surpasses him in leadership ability: he's about the only person in the world that every superhero would listen to without question.
- In the Marvel Universe, Hawkeye has no powers, just a bow. And, when alien invaders summon a zombie army to destroy the universe, guess who is one of the only two people standing at the end of it. Go on, guess. Not bad for a carny.
- Plus Hawkeye II (also known as Golden Archer, Wyatt McDonald of Squadron Supreme) and Hawkeye III (Kate Bishop, jokinging called "Hawkingbird"), the latter shows up the Young Avangers, all either superpowered or having fantabulous armour, during a botched hostage situation and saves the day, later to become the offcial "Bad Ass" member of the team.
- Mockingbird
- Also Nick Fury (superpowers limited to halted aging) and Dum Dum Dugan, of SHIELD!
- Most members of S.H.I.E.L.D even.
- Bucky, prior to the cybernetic arm and becoming Winter Soldier.
- Black Widow "world class athlete and gymnast, expert martial artist (including karate, judo, aikido, savate, various styles of kung fu, and boxing), markswoman, and weapons specialist as well as having extensive espionage training. She is also an accomplished ballerina." Says Dr Wiki.
- Lady Bullseye
- Almost every Daredevil Villain
- Barracuda
- Similarly, The Punisher has no superpowers, but more than makes up for it with deadly martial arts skills, a brilliant tactical mind, and enough firepower to destroy a
small country. The skills of both the Punisher and Captain America are such that they've repeatedly tangled with superhuman foes and come out ahead by using their skills in clever and creative ways. (The MAX (mature readers) Punisher story Born may subvert this by implying that he may have made a deal with the Grim Reaper to continue to live in order to keep killing, but it is the only such hint in all of MAX Punisher. Otherwise, he's just a Badass Normal who looks his age and has been confined to bedrest multiple times from severe injuries.)
- Notably, during an obligatory (albeit justified, insofar as Cap does not approve of Punisher's approach) tussle at the start of one of their team-ups, Punisher knocks Cap's flying shield down. Cap is shocked, to say the least.
- Sadly he has no social life and spends absolutely no time in having fun (unless you call killing criminals fun) which weakens him slightly but makes him more physically and mentally hardy.
- He does try and have fun once in a while, like seeing a movie. He calls this "Cinderella Moments". Of course, Microchip mellowed him out lot, until Frank blew up his head. Downer.
- He does have something resembling a social life in the MAX series, where he is shown visiting a few bars or diners from time to time. Also, he has a brief and rather bloody relationship with Kathryn O'Brien.
- On the other side, there's Lex Luthor, who has no intrinsic powers, yet is a match for Superman. He is one of the primary villains in Justice League, and has dominated most supervillains who do have powers.
- Although this is less being a "badass normal" and more likely because most heroes will not kill or maim, and thus the only way to STOP Luthor is to leave him alive and able to escape.
- Similarly, Marvel Comics' Kingpin uses both his powerful brains and even more powerful brawn to keep the costumed villains in their place, and screw over the heroes.
- Alex Wilder, from Runaways, who's also team leader. It turns out he's The Mole, but that in no way reduces the badassitude of his actions.
- Chase Stein, despite being considered the least intelligent of the group, has street smarts enough to figure out how to outwit the Gibborim while he also forcibly recruits the geek squad who worked for Wilder Senior.
- Mina Murray, from The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, is the team leader by dint of her sheer force of personality.
- In the Adaptation Decay-filled movie, Mina gains Vampire powers, and the Badass Normal team leader mantle is handed off to Allan Quatermain. Considering that he's played by Sean Connery, it's one of the few changes that works.
- Christopher Rudd from the Lucifer comics is a normal human, torn from the painfields of hell and soon entangled in the plots and betrayals of the most mighty beings in the universe, up to and including God himself. He still manages to kill at least one major demon in single combat, obtain rulership of hell and even lead it's legions into heaven's walls as a victorious army. During his last scenes he actually manages to wound the living incarnation of the apocalypse itself, something Lucifer himself struggled to do.
- Karate Kid (not that one) of the Legion Of Super Heroes. Badass enough to be accepted into the Legion in spite of a rule requiring all Legionnaires to have an inherent super power, which technically he doesn't.
- Thug Boy from Adam Warren's Empowered takes this trope a step further. He's a Mook who'd made a successful living at getting the better of both superheros and villains alike.
- The Minutemen from 100 Bullets are exceptionally trained gun fighters who can take down hoards of mooks with just a simple handgun. Even unarmed they're still a force to be reckoned with.
- The Green Arrow Family (Green Arrow, Green Arrow II, Red Arrow, and Speedy) are all unpowered. Improbable Aiming Skills and Trick Arrows aside, Green Arrow II is one of the best martial artists in the world, Speedy is an HIV-positive superheroine, Red Arrow is the fastest archer in the world, and GA himself is mostly a being of pure, unbridled moxie. He's one of the few people that are completely unafraid of Batman.
- Lobster Johnson from the Hellboy-verse. Armed only with guns, bombs, and a glove for burning the Claw of Justice onto his enemies' foreheads, the Lobster manages to hold his own against The Mafia, Nazi cyborgs, Yetis, Ninja, and a Yellow Peril villain attempting to summon Eldritch Abominations.
- Marvel Comics recently came up with the character "MVP" who manages to become the best human possible, by various exercise programs and diets. Yes, he ate his veggies and did his pushups in just the right combination and everyone thought he had superpowers.
- Pretty much everyone in the Blue Beetle cast that doesn't have superpowers, especially
Anger Girl and Stick Boy Brenda and Paco .
- One issue of Superman, pastiching the Silver Age, had a story where practically everyone in Metropolis gained superpowers identical to Superman's, going so far as to don capes and costumes (and the titular character having to don a rather tacky costume while still masquerading as Clark Kent) and the mayor proposing the city name be changed to Superpolis. Then Metallo shows up and exposes everyone to his kryptonite, and they start dying from it like Superman would... until Detective Dan Turpin (who appeared earlier and disparaged Superman over how real crime fighters don't need superpowers), dressed in normal clothes, walks out of the crowd, unaffected, and arrests Metallo and saves everyone. It turns out the whole situation was set up by Mr Mxtyplk to give everyone superpowers - along with a kryptonite weakness - but since the detective wholeheartedly didn't want to get powers, he didn't get kryptonite vulnerability either. Then he gives Myxtpkl a note to read, tricking him into banishing himself to the fifth dimension again. In other words, several dozen superpowered people lay around gasping for breath while a portly detective in a bowler hat outwitted two major villains.
- Dan "Terrible" Turpin is pretty much that badass in every adaptation, especially Superman The Animated Series where he stood toe-to-toe with Darkseid and didn't blink. It cost him his life, of course, but he knew that going into it and still stood up to the Man.
- How badass is he? He's so badass Darkseid used him for his new body
- Ultimate Marvel had a similar story where everyone had super powers because the Skrulls gave them a magic pill. Unfortunately, the pill would eventually kill everyone who took it, which was the Skrull's way of conquering worlds. The Skrull leader claims to be invincible because he wears a suit that copies the powers of anyone. Ben Grimm is the only one who didn't take the pill, and when the Skrulls inevitably kill all the supers they empowered, leaving the emperor with no one to copy except Ben-normal, he defeats the Skrull leader. Then it all got erased through time travel, but still.
- Cassie Hack of Hack/Slash habitually fights superpowered Ax Crazy undead with no more than combat training, ferocity, and a very large friend.
- New York in the Marvel Universe is both hero and villain central, so the NYPD came up with Code B.L.U.E., a police unit that uses training, tactics, Wonderful Toys, and brilliant improvisation to deal with superhuman beings. They've taken down Gods.
- Also in the MU, Storm of the X-Men lost her powers for some time, made do as a Badass Normal, and still proved a great field leader of the team, beating out the powered Cyclops for the leadership position (although Cyclops was mentally influenced into losing by Madelyne Pryor). It even proved an advantage at one time, when the team was trying to stop the infamous massacre of the Morlocks. During that battle, a villain who could neutralize powers with his touch tried to do so with Storm, but she had no powers to affect and he left himself wide open for a knockout punch by her to put him out of action. She's also taken out Callisto and Crimson Commando in hand-to-hand combat, both of whose mutations make them nearly superhuman fighters, and she did so without using her powers.
- The earliest Grendels all fit into this category, being only humans armed with an electrified Blade On A Stick who can take on Anti Hero werewolf Argent.
- Captain America is a borderline example - yes, the Super Soldier Serum worked on him, but he's generally taken to be "peak human". Exactly what that means depends on the writer; generally it's interpreted as being essentially the Charles Atlas Superpower, bringing him to about the level that any human could get to given the right combination of genes, upbringing, and extensive training. And yet he's in the thick of all the big world-threatening events, and tends to win due to ingenuity and determination. Popularity Power does have an effect too.
- Do not underestimate the Human Warriors in the Transformers Film Series; what they lack in physical-size and brute force they are still more-than a match for the Cybertronians with superior organization, tactics, firepower and sheer numbers. This Megatron learnt the hard way after underestimating them during his battle with Optimus Prime in Downtown-L.A.
- Star Wars examples:
- Jango Fett, "father" of Boba Fett, is able to fight Obi-Wan, one of the most skilled Jedi in the entire series (for example, despite the fact that Anakin vastly overpowered him in their duel in Episode III, he won through superior tactics), and is so badass that he becomes the blueprint for an entire army. He also kills a Jedi — a distracted Jedi, but still a Jedi — with a blaster pistol. In a lovely subversion of the trope however, when he tries to fight Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson as a Jedi), he gets decapitated, and Windu doesn't even spare him a second glance.
- He only died because his jetpack failed after the rhino thing charged him.
- Boba Fett is shown to be even more a badass than his father in EU material, being shown to be extremely physically strong (and being able to handle a lightsaber much like a Jedi!) and fighting Mace Windu to a standstill in a novel. It could be assumed that if Boba fought Obi-Wan in the same manner his father did, Obi-Wan would not have been so lucky.
- In one of the comics Boba Fett fights Darth Vader over the severed head of a seer and though he is rather badly outclassed (and he knows it) he still is able to, by fighting smart, survive and even make a profit.
- If it counts, look at the video game Battlefront 2's Hero Assault, where the only characters without lightsabers who can still score plenty of kills are the two Fetts- on a battlefield loaded almost exclusively with Jedi.
- This troper would like to point out that the Mandalorians in general are known for being Jedi killers during the many wars that dealt with force-users.
- The protagonist in Gattaca, who does not have the genetics to compete on a purely physical level with rival Gattaca Babies. However, through gumption, moxie, and no small amount of chutzpah, he shows himself better able to achieve his ambitions than the more naturally gifted.
- Park Gang-Du in The Host. His sister's a national bronze medallist archer, his brother's a college graduate and skilled protestor — and he's an overly clumsy guy with a slow mind and mild narcolepsy. And yet, by the end of the movie, he's broken out of a (small, but still well-armed) American military station and executed a brilliant Finishing Move on the tadpole monster, skewering him on a street sign that he broke the sign and the concrete base off.
- Likewise, there's Dr. Daisuke Serizawa who is the only human in the entire series to successfully kill Godzilla.
- Gordon form Final Wars, counts too, he can go head to head with Super Soldiers who can take on gaint monsters on food.
- In X-Men Origins, while Sabretooth, Gambit, The Blob, and the clearly overpowered Deadpool all fight against Logan and are eventually beaten, the non-mutant William Stryker managed to shoot him seconds before being beheaded by a very angry wolverine.
- R.J. Mc Cready in The Thing. He becomes the leader of the group and manages to kill the creature several times. All he is is a helicopter pilot.
- Roland Cox (Samuel L Jackson) in Jumper, is a normal man with some badass equipment that allows him (and his mostly anonymous team of Paladins) to go toe-to-toe with people who can teleport at will.
- Cheradenine Zakalwe from Iain M Banks' Use of Weapons epitomises this trope. He gets a little less cocky about it after being decapitated, though.
- "Gentleman" Johnny Marcone in Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files. Managed to bring Chicago's organized crime under his (relatively organized) reign, and has gone to ground with the things that go bump in the night on multiple occasions. Small Favor ends with him becoming a recognized body in the supernatural community, able to defend his rights if any signatories to the Unseelie Accords infringe on them. There are twenty such bodies throughout the world, and Marcone's the only mortal.
- On that note, Karrin Murphy from the same series. She's faced down rampaging werewolves, vampiric minions, and an army of ghouls, despite being a squishy mortal. It does help that she's an experienced cop and damn good at aikido, though.
- This editor believes Johnny Marcone qualifies as a Chessmaster, since he controls much of the plot in Death Masks (the bit that hasn't got Denarians in, at any rate) and successfully maneuvers his way into becoming said supernatural body, as well as hiring a Valkyrie.
- Charity Carpenter was once a practitioner of magic, but gave it up after Knight of the Cross Michael Carpenter rescued and married her. In Proven Guilty she takes on the Badass Normal (and Mama Bear) role in the team assembled to rescue her daughter Molly from Arctis Tor. She uses no magic, only the muscles and skills she has built up as her husband's armorer and sparring partner.
- Tavi in Jim Butcher's other series, Codex Alera. He is uniquely powerless in a world in which all humans can control elemental spirits called Furies, though he compensates for this near-crippling deficiency by becoming a courageous, insightful, empathetic, and generally badass leader. This may be a slight
subversion exaggeration of this trope, as while he is normal by our standards, in his world he is considered a (sub-normal) freak. By the end of the third book, it is explicitly stated in-story that he is far more capable than most people with great Fury-powers.
- Carmela in Diane Duane's Young Wizards series seems to qualify, given that she destroys the Lone Power's body in Wizards at War.
- Geoffrey Spazmo from Ben Elton's Gridlock. Spastic, but smart and brave as a lion. Kills two professional assasins with a coffee maker and a bottle opener. still dies in the end... sniffle...
- Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen has a number of these, with the assassin/warrior Kalam Mekhar being perhaps the most obvious.
- Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar series is chock-full of these, but usually the magic-users deal with The Affairs of Wizards and the normals deal with problems that swords can solve. Special mention, however, goes to Jimmy the Hand. He routinely takes on the plots and schemes of wizards and demons with nothing more than a quick blade, a quicker wit, and a lot of street-bred cynicism, before his Heroic Sacrifice when he destroys half the Serpent Queen's army by luring them into taking his home city and setting off a fuel-air explosion.
- Waylander from David Gemmell's Drenai books is the epitome of this trope. Despite being rather mediocre with a sword, his nerve, accuracy and ruthlessness (and a nifty double crossbow thing) mean he is the world's foremost assassin. In the later books he becomes known as "The Gray Man" (apparently one of the embodiments of death) and leads the resistance against a bloody demonic invasion despite being an octogenarian.
- Arguably three of the other recurring characters of the series (Druss the Slayer, Skilgannon the Damned and Talisman/Ulric) would easily qualify, as each one of them can only be described as a force of nature incarnate but as they, individually, at some point have received magical weapons/enchantments which have made them stronger than before.
- Although, in the cases of Druss and Skilgannon, they were massively badass both before the magical weapons and after they had put aside their weapons (Skilgannon,) or taken a terrifying jaunt through hell that rid their weapon of its power (Druss.)
- In Walter B. Gibson's novels about the Shadow, the Shadow relied on the techniques of Houdini (which Gibson had gotten the permission to use and write about from the estate of same) to rescue himself.
- Chase from Terry Goodkind's Sword Of Truth series has no magical ability, but can outfight pretty much anybody on the planet, and in the beginning of the series has a dayjob that involves him fighting demonic hounds that hunt by the sound of human hearts. He's mentioned as being "far tougher than he has any right to be", and carries enough weapons to equip a small army. Not surprisingly, his adopted daughter becomes a Badass Lolita later in the series.
- In C.S.Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia the two Pevensie brothers (Edmund and Peter) are subtly shown to be examples of this trope. Peter fights Jadis the White Witch hand-to-hand without instantly dying (despite the fact she is immortal, ageless and can tear iron bars "like barley sugar"). Edmund is given a "stunning blow" across the face by the same Jadis and his reaction is to feel sorry for someone else. He also fights his way through "three ogres" to reach Jadis and break her wand. Not bad for two PRE-TEENS.
- Perry Moore's Hero has Major Might and Dark Hero.
- From Garth Nix's The Old Kingdom series, we have Touchstone, and in the novelette, Nicholas Sayre. Both take on a variety of supernatural entities and (at least in Touchstone's case) come out on top.
- Keladry of Mindelan, the only one of Tamora Pierce's primary protagonists without magical powers. Liam Ironarm, the Shang Dragon, also counts, although he's not a main character.
- Many of the non-magical human characters in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series of novels would qualify as a Badass Normal or as having a Charles Atlas Superpower, including Captain Carrot, Cohen the Barbarian, and many others.
- Sam Vimes. Who else could take out squads of heavily armed dwarf guards, some of them armed with flamethrowers, while simultaneously fighting off the dreaded Summoning Dark? (See Thud).
- Kaycee in Magellan aspires to be a Badass Normal in a world of Super Heroes.
- Black Company.
- Tisiphone (and her late partner Katrina) from S.M. Stirling's Changed World series. They're ninja-style spies and assassins, but portrayed as being normal humans whose only abilities come from intensive training. Occasionally they skirt the edge of CharlesAtlasSuperpower, but never quite slip over.
- Alexander Storm from the Deathstalker series. He was one of the few characters not either a cyborg, super-gladiator in disguise, or afflicted by an ancient alien maze...and yet he still managed to survive half the fights that hit him, right up until his Face Heel Turn.
- Edward from the Anita Blake series has no superpowers whatsoever and regularly goes up against vampires and shapeshifters for money and at one point against a creature that turns people into pulp for no apparent reason. Similarly, the members of RPIT, most notably Dolph and Zerbrowski, are at least acknowledged and often feared by members of the supernatural community.
- Earth-born Hari Michaelson in Matthew Stover's The Acts Of Caine is, in his Caine persona, a superstar in a D&D-inspired parallel universe. He goes up against the most brutal warriors of a fighting species, thaumaturgists, humans channelling the powers of their gods, and, well, gods. He beats them all through a combination of training, a few semi-magickal meditative disciplines, his knives, and, when he's physically incapable of anything else, extraordinary tactical ability and a healthy dose of badassery.
- Several in Quantum Prophecy inluding Batman Expy Solomon Cord and most notably Razor, teenage delinquent, gadgeteergenius and by book 3 defacto leader of the New Heroes.
- At least half of The Lonely Winds apply to this trope.
- Rod Gallowglass (A.K.A.Rodney [too many middle names to list] D'Armand)is the Badass Normal in Christopher Stasheff's Warlock of Gramaraye books, or at least until around the end of the third book. In a world where everyone is at the very least a latent telepath, a few thousand people are full-blown, teleporting, levitating, telekenetic, you-name-it-it's-there telepaths. All he has is an advanced knowledge of Science and History, an epileptic robotic horse, training in all types of weapons, and an 8th degree black belt. He still manages to fulfill his role as The Chessmaster in guiding the planet towards democracy, plus raise the four most powerful telepaths to be born...ever. Even after he discovers his own "witch-powers" he prefers to rely on the skills he learned beforehand.
- Later in the series, Yorick becomes the Badass Normal. Specifically in The Warlock is Wandering. Isn't it amazing how well a Neanderthal, who can't manipulate symbols due to a lack of prefrontal lobes, can manipulate the rules and people around him?
- Even later, in the semi-spin-off Wizard series, Magnus Gallowglass takes on a partner, Dirk Dulaine, who is decidedly a Badass Normal. Hell, you don't get much more "normal" than Dirk's genetics. His entire ancestry comes from maybe 100 individual people, who were then cloned. A few centuries later, and the servant population bears a striking resemblence to each other.
- The Seekers Of Truth have a couple. Trigger uses technology and an eagle eye, and Grizzly has lived in the woods for the last twenty-five years honing his body and his instincts, until he can read the sounds of every animal in his woods.
- As explained on the page, the pilots of Rogue and Wraith squadrons. In a galaxy where Jedi and trained commandos struggle, pilots still hold their own. Wedge Antilles might not be as physics-defying as a Force-Sensitive pilot, but he's counted with them as the best pilot alive.
- Hugh the Hand from the Deathgate Cycle. After being forcibly resurrected and not being able to kill himself again, he manages to hold his own in The Labyrinth, an insane twisted prison of magic.
- Sensei Tetsuo Ito, martial arts instructor at Whateley Academy in the Whateley Universe. A little old man, he starts every term's aikido classes by picking the most dangerous mutant in the room and demonstrating that he can kick said mutant's ass.
- On Angel, Gunn is the epitome of the Badass Normal in the first four seasons. He's the only one who's received no special training, isn't a centuries-old demon or magically empowered in some other way. He's been fighting vampires since he was fourteen and, in the fourth-season episode "Players," he took out six Asian warrior monk-types without getting hit once.
- Gunn and the street-gang members he used to lead fought vampires with more success and less casualties, using improvised melee weapons, than the US government's secret black-ops demon-fighting organization was able to manage even using chemically-augmented super-soldiers and energy weapons.
- Halfway into the second season (exhibiting signs as early as the Season 1 episode "The Ring.") Wesley started to evoke some measure of usefulness beside being The Smart Guy and hit his stride in the third season while growing a Perma Stubble. Wesley may have had special Watcher training, but he apparently wasn't good at it, or whoever trained him sucked. It's a pretty big acheivement to go from being the male Distressed Damsel, to being a Badass Normal. By the fifth season he would shrug almost anything short of Angel's level.
- Noah Bennet in Heroes. He has defeated superpowered people simply by knowing how they work and going around them. He thought in Japanese to counteract telepath Matt Parkman's mind reading, arranged an escape from a prison meant to contain superpowered people, and kept an electrically-powered super under control by soaking her in water. In one of the online comics available, he defeats a man who can destroy things with his hand by grabbing him by the wrist and beating him unconscious with a baseball bat. Why not shoot him? It was inconvenient to figure out a way to go get his gun which was near his family.
- During the two-parter Eclipse coupling, he became the most powerful character in the show after all the others lost their powers. Suffice to say quick wits, extensive knowledge of powered individuals and a handgun are all he needs!
- Pretty much the entire Bennet family is pretty Bad Ass (ignoring superpowered Claire), considering Sandra goes with her daughter on a rescue mission to save Meredith and Lyle goes after Ted with a baseball bat and throws a bucket of water on Elle, in the style of dear old dad.
- Ando, Hiro's best friend and somewhat-sidekick with absolutely no powers whatsoever. In the first three volumes at least. "Somewhat-sidekick" because Ando's common sense and steadfast loyalty to his geeky, Idiot Ball carrying buddy has a tendency to save the day more often than any superpower.
- Volume 4 gives us Emile Danko, a veteran soldier who, while he does occasionally need some help from the likes of Noah or Syler due to his inexperience at dealing with superpowere people, proves to be a very dangerous adversary due simply to his cunning and creativity (like framing a hero as a suicide bomber).
- Xena Warrior Princess, who nearly killed Hercules in Hercules The Legendary Journeys before her Heel Face Turn and starting her own series. She's taken down monsters, rival warriors and has even taken on gods such as Ares. While Hercules is a demi-god and thus able to see gods who are watching while invisible, Xena can tell just through a sixth sense. All this, and she's just a mortal (though fan speculation on her ancestry is rampant). Arguably qualifies for Charles Atlas Superpower instead however, as even in the nature of the series she is probably just a bit too good to qualify.
- Autolycus from the same verse qualifies however.
- Gabrielle too. She Took A Level In Badass from being a village girl who dreams of adventure to taking Xena's place in the series finale, with no suspect ancestry.
- Iolaus too. The man hangs out with Hercules and regularly aids him in combat, and saves his ass more than a couple times.
- While the Doctor of Doctor Who is not quite normal, many of his companions fall into this category as well, particularly Leela, Jamie, Ian, Martha and Jack (at least before the whole "immortal" thing).
- Ace can arguably lead the pack of the companions, being of a quick temper and always carrying with her a backpack full of homemade explosive charges that she's not afraid to use.
- From "The Next Doctor" Jackson Lake. An amnesiac victorian gentleman who believes himself to be The Doctor and does very well, to the point of saving the real Doctor from cybermen with a hastily improvised weapon, at least twice.
- Davros. Period. The man is a blind cripple with one working arm, but his enormous intellect, horrific cruelty, and sheer tenacity had the fandom calling him the Doctor's greatest enemy after his first apperance. If that isn't Badass Normal, nothing is.
- In Eureka, Sheriff Carter is one of the few people in town that isn't a super genius, he also winds up always being the one that solves the problem of the week.
- In Supernatural Dean hunts supernatural creatures with nothing but holy water, a shotgun full of salt, and maybe some Latin. He doesn't have his brother's psychic powers, but he can still hold his own against the monster of the week whether it's a ghost, demon, or shtriga.
- Plus, he slept with an angel. Score one for the human.
- Semi-lampshaded in Power Rangers Operation Overdrive for the series' 15th anniversary Reunion Show. Four recent rangers with civilian form-only extra powers were teamed up with Adam from season two. After a straight martial arts fight scene, Adam commented, "It may be old school, but it gets the job done." Considering how the fandom has complained about civilian powers and the fact that the actor's face was always visible (to assure the audience that no stunt double was being used), probably overlaps with Fanservice.
- Most every ranger has some badassitude without their powers, showing them fight the mooks of the season is supposed to help the transition to the Super Sentai costume footage.
- Dr. K took down the current dragon by playing the violin. Twice.
- Honourable mentions go to Takaoka Eiji from Gougou Sentai Boukenger. Before he becomes BoukenSilver, he is so badass that in his human form he can beat up two Ashu demons, whom the five other Boukengers together, in their Ranger form, were unable to defeat.
- Kung Lao, Siro, and Taja, the protagonists of Mortal Kombat: Conquest, are all ordinary human beings who regularly face off against supernatural opponents who can shoot ice, throw fire, teleport, devour souls, re-animate the dead, etc. Not only do they stand toe to toe against these enemies but they usually win. In one episode Tsang Tsung, Kung Lao's primary rival, decimates an entire military encampment with his powers because he was just that pissed off. Had he thought of doing that when he faced Kung Lao in Mortal Kombat, Earth Realm would have been doomed before the series even began.
- When Quan Chi and Kung Lao first fought, Quan Chi attempted to use his sorcery but was immediately stopped by Raiden in the name of "a fair fight."
- Farscape's John Chriton easily applies as a Badass Normal, if only because of the fact that he's a plane-jane human stuck amongst god-knows-how-many different alien species - each of which are vastly superior in some form or another - if not completely superior all together. This is lampshaded brilliantly in the season 2 episode Crackers Don't Matter, where John's inferior biology actually allows him to save the crew... albeit while stark raving mad.
Myth And Legend
- Mythology is a place where one can't swing a metaphorical cat without hitting a half-god, quarter-god, or similar. For this, the non-god-blooded Beowulf deserves a spot here for (in the original poem):
- Swimming for six days in chain mail with a sword, killing nine sea monsters on the fifth night. (Note: This is his boast, so it is unconfirmed.)
- Tearing out Grendel's arm.
- Wielding a giant's sword.
- Standing up to a dragon's breath for a long time and, with a timely distraction, killing the dragon.
- Ajax from The Iliad. All of the other mighty warriors have either gods helping them or are nearly invincible to begin with. Not only does he never get help from any of the gods, he also singlehandedly holds off the Trojan army during their assault on the Greek ships. He also fights Hector to a draw, twice.
- Patroclus' badassery is sadly underappreciated. Not only is he completely mortal and not aided by any gods, but when he leads the Myrmidons into battle on Achilles' behalf, he beats the Trojans back from the ships, across the beach, and all the way to the walls of Troy, slaying several god-assisted heroes on the way, including Sarpedon, who is the son of goddamn Zeus. And then, when he tries to take Troy itself, it takes the physical intervention of Apollo to slow him down long enough for two — two! — Trojan heroes to finally kill him. He even tells Hector, just before the man delivers the killing blow, "You are only my third slayer." And you thought he was just Achilles' boyfriend.
- Diomedes deserves special mention here, too. He's a normal human who manages to stab Ares — yes, the Greek God of War — in the stomach. Granted, he gets some special help from Athena on that one, but it takes major stones to attack the anthropomorphic manifestation of combat. Not to mention that he defeats Ajax twice, and bests both Hector and Aeneas on different occasions — the best combatants on the Trojan side. In addition, after he crushes Aeneas' hip with a boulder (which he hefted around like a feather pillow,) Diomedes manages to wound Aphrodite, ANOTHER god — this time without divine intervention.
- Odysseus doesn't do too badly either. While not quite as formidable in combat as the above Trojan War participants, he still owns a bow that only he is strong enough to use, and comes up with the Trojan Horse to win the war- and in his following adventures, displays amazing cunning and wit despite being only a normal human, opposed by as many gods as favoured.
Tabletop Games
- The Tanith First and Only from Dan Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts line of Warhammer 40000 novels. They are an Imperial Guard regiment, which means they are individually the second weakest of all of the factions and alien races, as they lack advanced technology (compared to say, the Eldar or Necrons), psychic powers, and are only human. Yet that doesn't stop them from pulling off feats that would get other Imperial Guard units annihilated. Most of these feats consist of winning against vastly superior numbers of Chaos forces. Individual characters and squads have been known to kill all sorts of things that could easily wipe away enemies and units that could potentially destroy entire armies of Imperial Guardsmen all by themselves. These include, but are not limited to: numerous Chaos warlords, a Dark Eldar assassin, high-level psykers, a Chaos Dreadnought, and an entire squad of Chaos Space Marines.
- In fact, all Imperial Guardsmen of Warhammer 40000 could be considered Badass to some degree or another. To paraphrase a line lost to the Data Vampires from the Badass page due to The Great Crash, "it takes some major cojones to stand up against a 20-foot overarmed demon with little more than flak armour, bayonets and the 40k equivalent of a peashooter."
- It should probably be noted that the Tanith books were so successful that the entire Imperial Guard army in the tabletop game was recreated in their image as a professional, competent, technologically advanced modern fighting force. Their previous incarnation was that of a WWI-style trench warfare conscript army composed of little more than useless cannon fodder punctuated by the occasional unit that could actually fight.
- Unfortunately, not true. Whilst they changed the background information around a bit, the actual game-rules side of thing for the Imperial Guard still very much subscribes to the WWI-style walking into the machine guns until the enemy runs out of ammunition style of attrition warfare. That, and tanks. Lots of tanks.
- The new Codex one the othe hand you can make an army of small elite Bad Ass Normals (Stormtrooper's hellgun can how rip threw Space Marine armour, still need tanks however, but that's just because Imperial Gaurd tanks are awesome.
- One also can't leave out Ciaphas Cain, HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!, in Sandy Mitchell's novels, who has managed to defeat everything from psykers and Greater Daemons of Slaanesh to Necron warriors, Dark Eldar Reavers, an Ork Warboss, Khornate Berserkers, and Tyranid Hive Tyrants, Broodlords, and Genestealers, along with countless mooks and minions of all of the above.
- He does generally outwit them first, and his ultimate goal is to not be fighting at all, he just fights with the desperation of a cornered rat.
- His motives don't change the fact that several of those victories (an Ork Warboss, a great many Genestealers, two and a half Khornate Berserkers (one was killed by Jurgen with his trusty meltagun, but Cain still fought it to a stand still) and the Greater Daemon of Slannesh) were in single combat and all he had was a laspistol and chainsword. He's also taken on at least one Inquisitor and managed to live long enough for reinforcements to arrive.
- He's described by Vail to be one of the best marksmen and duelists she's ever known. Coming from an Inquisitor, that's extremely high praise.
- Lets not forget Commissar Yarrick, a perfectly human man who had his arm torn off by a massive ork warlord and responded by tearing off said ork's own cyborg arm, ataching it to himself, killing the hell out of the ork and leading his army to victory before allowing himself to pass out. And he's only got harder since then.
- In the related video game, La'Kais probably qualifies as well. Sure he's an alien, but he's a Tau, which means he's shorter lived and physically weaker than the average human. And yet, according to the One Man Army page, on his first day of live fire combat, he personally killed "several battalions of the Imperial Guard, large numbers of Space Marines and several Dreadnaughts, a good deal of Chaos Marines and several Daemons including a God by himself, he does it all within the timespan of twenty four hours." Alas, he breaks down after that, but still, that's pretty f***ing Bad Ass.
- The Tau in general managed to survive an Imperial crusade, a Tyranid splinter fleet, defeated an Ork Waaaaagh, and supposedly killed a daemon prince. The last in particular is quite an accomplishment since killing a daemon prince without the proper warp killing tools at hand is still an admirable effort.
- As for the Demon Prince, it might have helped that the Tau have no warp presence whatsoever.
- They do, however, have BFGs, which help a lot more.
- The Novel revealed The Chaos God Khorne, was helping him
- The Horus Heresy novels also contain a fair amount of them. The one that stands out particularily was the mute bodyguard Maggrad, who was by the standards of ANY universe containing Space Marines, an extremely proficient killer. This was further emphasised later when he was able to almost best an extremely experianced Space Marine captain. Dinas Chayne, another bodyguard, was also an incredibly talented soldier who was, even more amazingly, capable of briefly matching a Primarch in term of swordplay. Many of the Imperial Army soldiers of the era were also pretty badass.
- Guardsman Hawke. In Graham Mc Neill's Storm of Iron, he escapes the initial assault (blowing away a couple of Chaos Space Marines with an assault cannon as he does), hoofs it to an orbital torpedo silo, and takes out half of the Iron Warriors Chaos Space Marines besieging the Citadel. He's also the only Imperial to survive the whole war, not counting slaves hauled off to Medrengard. To put that in perspective, he had been written off by his superiors as a useless, foul-mouthed, insubordinate and ill-disciplined Guardsman barely worthy of the name prior to the attack.
- The Sisters of Battle qualify too. Though they are occasionally used as a scratching post for new armies (Tyranids, Tau, and Necrons thus far) and are neglected when it comes to background material— the background that they have is often pure win. Special notice to Canoness Praxedes, who single-handedly slew a Hive Tyrant— who can often slay entire squads of Space Marines in a single round of combat— in hand to hand combat. And then she led a small group of Sisters in a hit and run campaign that stalled a full on Tyranid invasion. She was so successful that it's believed that she's still fighting on that planet after several decades of non-stop Tyranid invasion.
- Pretty much any high-level martial character in 4th edition Dungeons And Dragons. Fighters? Yes. Warlords? Yes. Rangers? Yes. Rogues? HELL yes. Same goes for fighters, rogues, and barbarians in 3.5 and before.
- In The World Of Darkness, the Hunters are the ordinary humans who take on the supernatural. And then there's the Slashers, humans that can be just as dangerous as horrors...
Video Games
- Denise Marmalade, a cute glasses girl from The Misadventures of Tron Bonne (a Mega Man Legends spinoff), who could beat up Tron's mecha bare-handed.
- Sgt. Johnson from the Halo video game series holds his own in battles against the Covenant and the Flood, and even manages to play a significant part in the defeat of one of the primary villains, despite being a normal human.
- Somewhat ironically, he's finally killed off in Halo 3, by the most harmless thing in the whole series, 343 Guilty Spark.
- Debatable, in that he might be a Spartan-I, although we don't know for certain, nor do we really know what was done to them.
- Also, the Expanded Universe does reveal he is immune to the Flood, and it's Handwaved that contact with the Flood gave him regeneritive properties, which is kind of useful.
- The ODST's should also count, considering they're an all-volunteer unit of unaugmented marines who're hardcore (or crazy) enough to take dangerous unguided HEV drop pods to the surface of planets, rather than the relatively safer Pelican dropships. As a matter of fact, before the Spartans came out, the ODST's had already been the UNSC's most elite troops for quite a while.
- The unnamed ODST from the upcoming Halo 3
Recon ODST should count. You've gotta be pretty bad ass to survive behind enemy lines in a city infested with 8 foot tall armored Gorrila Bears.
- Lets not forget Sgt. Forge, from Halo Wars, who went one on one with an Arbiter and won.
- In the SNES RPG Earthbound, all of your party has access to powerful psychic attacks except for Jeff. However, he is the only party member who thinks to use a bazooka.
- Likewise to most of the cast in the sequel, MOTHER 3. Both Flint and Duster posses no PSI like Lucas and Kumatora, but are still able to take on the same powerful enemies as them. If it counts, even two of the oldest men on Nowhere Island - Alec and Old Man Wess - are able to provide plenty of backup for fighting against mechanized dinosaurs, giant water snakes, and fortified army tanks; at least until the new society deems them useless and throws them in a retirement home.
- The first game in the series had the prototype for Jeff, Roid/Lloyd, who similar could not use PSI but could use a flamethrower. Then there's Teddy, who is the leader of a gang and has a katana as his ultimate weapon.
- Also from the first game, Pippi. Yes, she's a little girl, but she boasts insane stat boosts with each level up that are about on par with Teddy's. It's pretty funny to watch her do near double the damage Ninten can do...until, tragically, you have to return her home to advance the plot.
- Although he spends half of Final Fantasy IX portrayed as the Butt Monkey, Steiner is the only character in the game (if not the entire planet) who isn't either a Super Prototype creature, a Half Human Hybrid that can call destruction from the heavens, a petting zoo person with natural gifts, or some chi master who can jump 100 feet in the air and throw fireballs at people. He just hits people really hard with swords, and is the only party member who can hit for max damage unaugmented.
- Kai Kitamura (and arguably Katina Tarask and Russel Bagman) in Super Robot Wars Original Generation, who are implied to fight through several major battles against rebels and alien invaders in grunt-level mecha, as opposed to the many Super Prototypes and Super Robots used by the other heroes. When Kai can get a badass Humongous Mecha of his own in the second game, even that drives the point home, as it looks exactly like his old grunt unit (in OG Gaiden, he officially gets another mecha, which is literally just a customized version of his grunt mech). One of his battle quotes handily sums up the role of a badass normal: "One fist may not be able to destroy the world... but it can certainly destroy you!"
- In a way, Elzam von Branstein (also known as Ratsel Feinschmecker) also applies. Most of the more skilled Real Robot pilots generally have some variety of psychic powers, and characters who don't generally balance this out by pilotting the more powerful but generally less maneuverable Super Robots. Elzam, however, pilots the Huckebein Mk-II and Mk-III — both Real Robots designed for use by psychics - far better than any of the psychic characters ever could. He's just that good. When he finally does receive a Super Robot, he loses some of what makes him "normal", but gains the equivalent in pure Badass. And he still dodges better than the psychics.
- Outside the OG Series, there's also Judgment's Calvina Coulange. While most of the originals here (friends or enemies) are of the Fury race in general (including Touya, who is Half Fury), she just happens to be a normal human, who used to be a genius Ace Pilot. And when presented with a mecha designed to be ridden by Furies... all she needs is just a little adjustment and then she resumes her old days of metal ass-kicking, piloting something she's supposedly not be able to drive.
- Lady from Devil May Cry 3 has no demonic powers to call her own but slaughters lower demons easily, has sufficient agility to dodge and survives brief clashes with the Sons of Sparda.
- Amagi Saeko in the H-game Pretty Soldier Wars A.D. 2048, whose Charles Atlas Superpower brings her into the ranks of Extraordinarily Empowered Robot Girls... Or So I Heard.
- In the Fire Emblem series some of the best units are from classes that are "grunts" (Soldiers and Mercenaries). In addition Leaf, in the 4th game doesn't get one of the game's Game Breaker legendary weapons, but is still one of the better characters in the game, although the fact that he promotes into a Master Knight (one of if not the most broken classes in the series) might void him from qualifying as a Badass Normal.
- Leaf definitely qualifies for this trope in Thracia 776. He's exactly the same after promotion as he was before. Even story-wise, Leaf feels inadequate next to other resistance leaders, like Celice, Shanan, and Sety, who carry legendary weapons. Sety, Leaf's Obi-wan, tells him his struggles are what makes him a Holy Warrior.
- Ike, from the Radiance arc, may count. He first appears as nothing more than an honest, if blunt, young man who happens to be rather skilled with the sword. So skilled, actually, that not only does he grow into one of the best characters in both games, mobilize the Crimean Liberation Army to victory over Big Bad Ashnard, and take command of one of the greatest mercenary companies in history, but eventually ends up slaying a goddess. That's pretty badass for the first main Fire Emblem character to not be a royal.
- If we're talking about Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, Jamuka can't be left out. He's one of the few main characters from the first part of the game who's got no Holy Blood, but he's still a very solid unit with or without his Killer Bow.
- If we go for normal, it's hard to get any more normal amongst the main characters than Sothe in Radiant Dawn. A number of endgame bosses expresses their surprise at seeing "a shabby little burglar" amongst the heroes.
Sephiran: Hello, child... I'm a little surprised to see an ordinary boy like you, fighting for the world. This day is full of surprises!
Sothe: No one's more surprised than me. I can't read people's feelings like Micaiah... I'm not invincible in battle like Ike... Between all these laguz kings and great beorc heroes, I don't really belong here.
- The Vault Dweller in Fallout is able to trek across the desert on foot for months at a time, go toe-to-toe with heavy-weapon-wielding Super Mutants, rabid Deathclaws, crooked gangsters, and psionically empowered masterminds, salvage equipment from a highly radioactive hole in the ground with no lasting ill effects, create two new radioactive holes in the ground and even talk the last boss into killing himself — not bad for a guy who just wanted a water chip.
- His grandson/daughter does most of this too, but without the the crossing the desert thing (he has a car). This may or may not be an example of Lamarck Was Right, as a possible ending you can get when you're a male has your own illegitimate offspring taking over New Reno when he's twelve and dying in his sleep of old age seventy or so years later.
- Also keep in mind that, a) he spent his entire life in a nuke proof hole in the ground; b) him going on this mission was due solely to him literally picking the short straw. He was not necessarily the best man for the job.
- And in Fallout 3, the Vault Dweller was literally forced to leave because the Overseer wanted him dead after being told all his life that the outside was hideously unsafe, with only a pistol and a jumpsuit to his name unless you did some looting on the way out. And then he steps into legend.
- Ayla from Chrono Trigger. Most of the party has powerful magic granted to them by the God of War. Ayla beats the crap out of things with her fists. And yet, she's a strong contender for the best party member.
- At higher levels, her fists upgrade to the point where she deals the damage cap on a critical. And by most of the party getting magic, we mean all but her, the laser-spewing robot, and the guy who already had magic to begin with.
- Chrono Cross has a Badass Normal in the form of Miguel. Many people get hung up on fighting him and die countless times to him. What's his claim to fame in the Chrono Cross universe? He was the main character's neighbor when the main character was a child. That's it.
- The Boss of Metal Gear Solid 3. While the other members of the Cobra Unit had supernatural powers or equipment that let them do things like talk to the dead, turn invisible, or be covered in bees, all The Boss had was an uncanny sense of perception, enough skill in fighting to kick anybody's ass, ever, and a really enormous pair of balls — kind of ironic, considering the whole "being a woman" thing.
- Also, The Fury. "I don't need any fucking magic powers to help me kill people."
- Solid Snake and Big Boss also qualify. Despite living in a world of everything from nuclear armed walking tanks, to genetically engineered super soldiers, they are each universally considered the greatest soliders of their time.
- Solid Snake IS a genetically engineered supersoldier, a better example would be Revolver Ocelot who only had a set of revolvers to compete with the Cobras and the other members of Foxhound and managed to outlive all of them.
- Urban Chaos: Riot Response. The play character, severed in the marines for three years, joined T-Zero because his father was killed by the "Burners". Halfway through the game he has arrested over three hundred gang members (Not including the ones you do on screen), saved thousands of civilians, and at one point shoots a burner through the neck to save a firefighter. With a pistol, over fifty feet away.
- In the game City of Heroes, you begin your early career fighting demonically powered street gangs, work your way up through fighting psychic robots, hordes of demons, eight-feet-tall genetically altered supersoldiers, cyborg criminals, and lab grown supervillains. The final, and most difficult enemy faction of the game however, is a group of normal humans armed with tasers and six-shooters.
- And their allies, basically Ninjas to the max. Not to mention the "Natural" origin for heroes or villains was originally intended for, and is still used by, player characters whose concept is a Badass Normal.
- Of course, Natural simply means "nothing my species can't normally do" — if the player character is an alien, those "natural" abilities can go a long way. Like, say, if you're Kryptonian.
- Within the lore of the game itself, there's one of the iconic heroes, Justice Leag- I mean, Freedom Phalanx member Manticore. Similarly to Batman, he is the only member on the aforementioned team who has no supernatural power granted to him by the gods, was not experimented on by evil scientists, and was not born with any great psychic ability. His real claim to fame? Really, really good aim with a bow and arrow. Although having more money than God probably helped. Also, the first arc of the Top Cow comic series gave him teleportation ability, which he can use with clever results such as shooting explosive arrows into a room half a mile away. Despite this new ability, however, he's still perceived as nothing special in terms of power compared to his teammates, and yet he's often the one they turn to when their leader is out of commission. Not bad.
- I like to call Manticore "Bat-Arrow with a Killing Edge". Cuz that's basically what he is. Batman with a Bow and willingness to Kill. Hell he has his own sub-faction called Wyvern who are specifically contracted to do jobs that no one else will.
- B.B.Hood (Bulleta) in Darkstalkers is the only one who doesn't use supernatural abilities. But she still manages to take down monsters with nothing more than heavy weaponry. That's despite being a young human girl.
- Luca Blight from Suikoden II fights with only a single sword and heavy armor in a world where magic is pretty commonplace. He ends up tearing through the protagonist's army when they try to target him in a battle. He is nearly undefeatable, only dying when he is ambushed by the 18 strongest member of the opposing army (protagonist included) plus some archers. He's riddled with cutscene arrows, fights six party members, riddled with some more cutscene arrows, fights six more party members, fights six MORE party members, gets riddled with more cutscene arrows, then finally dies in a duel against the protagonist. This is generally considered his best CMOA, although there are several more.
- Almost the entire Nanaya clan of demon hunting assassins in Tsukihime. They're supposed to have some psychic abilities, but otherwise fight demons and half-demons with pure physical talent. Shown very well in a Kagetsu Tohya side story with Nanaya Kiri (Shiki's real father) and his hit on a certain demon-blooded family, kicking much ass, up to and including disassembling his primary target when backed into a corner...wielding nothing but a pointed stick (metal, granted, but still).
- Shiki, the main game's protagonist, comes close to this trope. His ability to keep up physically with supernatural opponents (mostly vampires) is the result of ingrained training...but his ability to kill literally anything he can reach is decidedly abnormal (not just supernatural, but possibly unique).
- It is unique according to Word Of God, which states that there can only be one holder of the Mystic Eyes Of Death Perception, and thus that Tsukihime and Kara No Kyoukai are mutually excusive.
- The playable characters in Xenosaga include a cyborg, a robot, a Realian, a URTV, the handmaiden of Mary, the universe's fail-safe, and Jin. Though he is a thoroughly ordinary human, Jin manages to slice Humongous Mecha in two, stop a blade with his bare hands, hold off waves of gnosis before his Heroic Sacrifice, finish off one of these gnosis after being impaled with a BFS, and be an all-around badass.
- Two characters from Raidou Kuzunoha Vs The Soulless Army. First, the obvious: Satake, leader of the local Yakuza gang. He beat up one of the game's heavily-armored Super Soldiers with his bare hands, only suffering some broken ribs (troper suspects he got hit by one of their roundhouse kicks). Second, the not-so-obvious: Raidou's perfectly un-supernatural employer, Shouhei Narumi. He somehow got to the end of a dungeon crawling with demons he can't see, and Super Soldiers that, while he could see them to fight, are heavily armored. Now, did the troper mention he was only armed with a gun, which, in this setting, have proven largely useless against the majority of enemies? And by the end, he was injured, but still standing and able to walk.
- Heihachi Mishima, the former leader of the Mishima Zaibatsu in Tekken. With a demon-powered father, son, and grandson, this guy still manages to stay standing, survive an explosion while being at Ground Zero, and manipulate events all around him. Fight on, Mystic Man Bentley, fight on.
- Kyle from Lunar: The Silver Star. He can't use the legendary Dragon Magic like The Hero Alex, use healing powers like his girlfriend Jessica, or rain down destructive magic like Mia or Nash, but give the man a sword, and he could singlehandedly cut down a thousand bandits/monsters/whoever forgot to pay their "protection fee" that day.
- Ray from Disaster: Day of Crisis this trope, incarnate. This guy survives two volcano eruptions, an earthquake, two tsunamis, a flood, and a hurricane, and he still comes out smelling like roses, all while saving people and taking out countless mooks from an incredibly elite former elite special forces unit. God damn. And apparently he stops a meteor.
- Of all of the classes in Mass Effect, the Soldier is probably one of the most difficult to kill in the entire game - especially when fighting enemy Soldiers. They have no superhuman abilities beyond simply being tough and having versatile weapons skill. Nonetheless, they can be much more difficult enemies than enemy technicians or biotics precisely because of their durability, regeneration, and raw firepower.
- In fact, that durability and versatility is what makes Ashley a useful squad member. She's the single toughest member of your squad - even tougher than Wrex - and has the widest arsenal of weapons to choose from. Sure, she may lack any biotics or tech abilities, but when it comes to ruining people's faces with hypervelocity slugs or withstanding enough damage to destroy a medium-sized army, no one can beat her.
- Star Wars: Knights of the old Republic have numerous badass normal characters such as the droids and Canderous Ordo aka Mandalore to only scratch the surface.
- Carth Onasi also counts, being a damn good soldier if chosen instead of Canderous or HK-47. Give him a double sided sword and the appropriate feats. He kicks Dark Jedi ass!
- Carth also hints that Vibroswords and Vibroblades were made so that they could combat lightsabers in a universe where swords that aren't lightsabers should be worthless due to blasters and light-sabers being able to pierce armour and deflect blasters.
- Subverted in KOTOR 2, in which many characters have their own feats such as Atton Rand's luck (And his ability to just get back up when he's not the last-man standing) and Mira having a rocket launcher that gave her her own set of items she could use. On top of being able to make almost every party member who isn't a droid or Mandalore into Jedi, that is.
- Orgrim Doomhammer and Anduin Lothar, the leaders of the Horde and Alliance respectively in Warcraft II: the Tides of Darkness (and later retellings of the Second War). In a world war with dragons, undead sorcerer knights, paladins, magi, ogre-magi, submarines and countless other magical and technological weapons and persons of mass destruction, the Warchief and Grand Marshal still stand out as the two most dangerous beings present. Doomhammer gets props for being one of the few orc leaders who did not drink demon blood to gain super strength and Lothar gains props for being sixty.
- Action Girl Ashelin in the later Jak And Daxter games.
- Also, Sig the Wastelander mercenary. When you can survive being taken down by a giant Metal Head centipede monster and appear in all future games, you qualify as a Badass Normal.
- In Saga Frontier II, one of the two main characters, Gustav XIII, is an exiled prince who is incapable of channeling and using magic. This is significant because, in a world where people are so dependent on magic that they have to use wooden swords and armor to channel their energy for combative use, he conquers the known world by simply using iron equipment (which negate magic powers.)
- Resident Evil is packed with these. None of the protagonists have any special powers besides army training, and one (Claire) is just a college student. They bring Action Survivor to a whole new level.
- In keeping with the above, the survivors of Left 4 Dead count. 4 regular humans against a horde of zombies backed up by superppowered sub-boss zombies. Oh, and Zoey is a total Expy of RE's Claire.
- STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl has the titular stalkers... all of whom survive (and thrive) in a radioactive wasteland covered in patches of land where the laws of physics have gone bananas, all of which is ruled by psychotics with various levels of firearms. All of whom will kill you just as soon as they will trade with you. Anyone who can thrive in that environment is a badass normal.
- Frank West from Dead Rising. He was just a reporter who wanted to find out why the government quarantined Willamette, but finds himself in a literal sea of zombies. He can use pretty much anything as a weapon, but as you upgrade, he can kill zombies with his bare hands.
- Despite setting out to skewer every Silver Age trope going, it took until the sequel for the Freedom Force series to roll out some Badass Normals with the Wartime Heroes, capable of standing toe-to-toe with the worst Energy-X powered monstrosities Blitzkreig can devise.
- Specialist Cross in Prototype is a Blackwatch agent who specializes in hunting down and killing "Runners" like Alex Mercer, and as a result, he's one of the toughest boss fights in the game. If you expect an easy fight with him because he's just a puny mortal, you will get your face stove in by his electric staff very quickly.
- In Nexus War the Eternal Soldier's power come from being a Bad Ass; he compares favorably with angels, demons and powerful wizards.
Web Comics
- While the world of Errant Story is filled with powerful time ninja, mages, elves and other overpowered sorts running about, Jon Amraphel is just good at shooting things with a gun. While his relative lack of power is something he complains about often, it hasn't stopped him from killing or subduing many of those mentioned above with the skills he has.
- Jason Chesterfield of It's Walky! is about the only character who's an entirely normal human, and yet also among the only ones who's never had a severe mental incident. In the finale, he's gotten so annoyed with people telling him he and the human species have to wait for their god-like protector to show up, he knocks out the person who claims this, takes command, rallies everybody to fight an unstoppable extreterrestrial invasion with his commanding voice, takes control of the the conspiracy that was trying to kill him minutes before with a bit of charisma and a well-placed kick, and is the only one who isn't moved by the climax. And he never stopped being snarky.
- Susan from El Goonish Shive has shown to be a calm, competent fighter when necessary, even though she has no actual powers save summoning of hammers, even getting a mass-evacuation of Moperville High during the Omega Slime encounter.
- Anyone in Antihero For Hire not relying on truly epic amounts of Applied Phlebotinum, particularly the titular character, Shadehawk.
- The titular character of The Adventures Of Dr Mc Ninja. Ninja status aside, when you're a (relatively) normal human that can punch Dracula in the face without flinching, you know what you are. His Sidekick Gordito on the other hand is a Badass Normal among Badass Normals, a twelve-years-old Gunslinger able to hold his own among a family of ninjas.
- The Doctor also punched out DEATH. Between that and Gordito's growing a Mustache from force of will alone, we have this trope somewhere over... Must resist obvious joke.
- Girl Genius has a plethora of badass normals, but Airman Third Class Axel Higgs takes the cake. He may be a nobody in the Baron's fleet without any special training, fancy gadgets, or a mysterious family past, but he's so badass that his introduction is a Crowning Moment Of Awesome.
- To expand: He is awakened from a peaceful sleep (in a ship that had previously been hit by cannons) by the alarms set off by getting shot, rather than the shot itself. He then finds the crewmates he was summoned to assist were totally dead in the first place. He dual-wields wrenches to fight off the Sturmhalten-sewer-native monsters and finds an unconscious Baron von Wulfenbach. Then, while attempting to get the Baron to safety, he goes through the following: he encounters Bangladesh DuPree, who breaks his arm and who he knocks out, breaking her jaw in the process; MacGyvers an autopilot for the escape gig; gets his leg broken by DuPree; is bitten by her; lands in a farmer's pond; has his other arm broken by an angry swan; and is shot in the leg by soldiers who mistake him for a Revenant. His resolute disposition only breaks after he has had a great deal of rum, at which point he very agitatedly informs his maimers and rescuers just what he has been through in the process of rescuing these two.
- Moloch von Zinzer is more of an Action Survivor but he briefly ascends into badassery by having a trained (if by her own admission rather inept) ninja go wow over his survival skills.
- "Commander Kickass" from Looking For Group. The first time we see him, he defeats most of the hero party by turning a table on them and disarming their caster with a thrown helmet. From all we know, he's just a standard human (or half-elf).
- Nanashi from Earthsong. She's now in possession of All Your Powers Combined, but before that, she attacked the physical incarnation of a planet. With a stick.
- The main cast of characters from Faans! before they all got implanted superpowers. To start out, the only real muscle they had on their side was a quiet martial arts expert and a big bruiser. The leader was scrawny and two others had/have severe weight problems. Nevertheless, they hold their own against demigods, vampires, government agents, just plain stab-happy psychopaths, time-traveling warlords, frost giants, mental-brainwashing...the list just goes on. Granted, they did tend to grab their enemies weapons and unlease a wave of energy-blasts but that is just common sense. And the returning threat against all this is a simple rapist/cult leader. Badass normal villain. The 'Faans' make gods run in fear but this creepy bastard has scored some nasty wins.
- Roy, Belkar and Haley in Order Of The Stick. There's a reason OOTS churns out CMOAs like it does.
- Lindsey from Shadowgirls, who does pretty well against lovecraftian monsters for a teenage girl with no special powers or equipment.
Web Original
- Tech Infantry is a world with vampires, mages, werewolves, and eight-foot insectoid alien killing machines, and yet Erich von Shrakenberg, Icarus Hicks, James Welthammer, and the entire personnel of Earth Fleet and the Light Infantry manage to hold their own.
- "Red Panda Adventures" has both the Red Panda and his sidekick being ones.
Western Animation
- Avatar The Last Airbender:
- Sokka is the only non-bender of the main group. Despite his near-uselessness in battle and lack of spirituality (and role as the comic relief), as the show progresses, we see his engineering and strategy prowess improve to the point where he is openly labeled as the "idea guy" of the team. More recently, his inferiority in combat spurred him to seek out training in that area, plus he acquired a unique sword, making him even more badass despite the fact that he is still inherently normal.
- Early in the second season, we are also introduced to Mai, an elegant shuriken specialist, and Ty Lee, a Kyusho Jitsu user and acrobat/gymnastic, both non-bending Dark Action Girls. Both have been able to take down elite fighters and even the main characters with little difficulty numerous times.
- There is also the Lady Of War Suki, who kicks all kinds of ass even without weapons or bending powers.
- Of the Order of the White Lotus members who we see fight, only one is a non-bender, Piandao, who, not so incidentally, is the one who gave Sokka his training, and more than holds his own.
- Get Ed has Ol' Skool, the old Mentor of the main group of heroes. Every other character has high tech Hoverboards, Jetboots, Jetpacks, etc. and top-of-the-line protective gear to use. Ol' Skool has a conventional skateboard & a simple construction helmet. With just these things he is able to outrace pretty much anything in the series without getting hurt or breaking a sweat.
- WITCH: Caleb never has any more powers than your basic fit young man, yet he somehow is just as effective in a fight as the main girls who, kinda, control the essence of the five elements! By the end of the second series, even Will's pet dormouse has more powers than him, and he still manages to hold his own in a fight. If that isn't badass, nothing is.
- In the first season, Will more or less is a Bad Ass Normal, as her powers hold no use in battle, unlike in the comic. So the writers have to improvise, giving her what nonmagical actions she needs to fight the bad guys. However, in the second season, once she gains the power of Quintessence, she no longer fits this trope.
- Robin from Teen Titans, though it frequently escalates into the Charles Atlas Superpower level. Slade is a villainous Bad Ass Normal except in the fourth season where an intergalactic demon resurrects him and grants him fire powers, removing the "normal."
- As one fan put it, "Robin's superpower is insanity! He jumps off a building and figures out how to not die on the way down".
- Justice League Unlimited made sure the normals were all badass in their own way. Though it was a sore spot for Wildcat, believing that just with no superpowers besides being an excellent fighter made him obsolete in the League. He even said that while Black Canary was mostly a badass normal fighter, the fact she had the canary cry sonic scream made her much more useful to the team.
- Band manager Charles Foster Ofdensen of Metalocalypse, who can kick the ass of a man twice his size and be thrown from a top story window and land like a cat. He also runs the twelfth largest financial empire in the world.
- Transformers Animated has Sari, the human sidekick to the giant robot Autobots. Okay, she's not completely human, but she's at a human power level so it counts for the first two seasons- the season three premiere turns her into a Badass Abnormal. Usually she's background support, but character development's slowly made her a better planner and fighter — chasing off the Constructicons was a particularly notable incident. And then she got an upgrade.
- Mighty Max and his allies Virgil and Norman all count, as they often had to defeat super-powered villains while possessing no actual powers of their own aside from Norman's great strength and swordfighting skills.
- Although Norman is a LOT older than he looks and is immortal (but not invulnerable), so whether or not he qualifies as normal is debatable.
- Jackie from Jackie Chan Adventures. He pulls off many stunts including the classic Improvised Weapons and a great deal of other things that would be impossible if he weren't a cartoon character. He also doesn't use the magic on the show as much as other characters, using his own skills instead. Lampshaded by Ratso when Chan ran back up a train as it was falling off a cliff.
"No way he's human."
- Uncle, Tohru, Viper, El Toro, Valmont and Chi Fu also have moments of badass normalcy.
- In the world of She Ra Princess Of Power, almost every female character is either a super powerful Action Girl or Magical Girl, and even the James Bondage Straight Arrow male was a pretty good illusionist. Even then, the sniper Netossa and the space pirate Sea Hawk manage to hold their own when they're in battle despite their lack of magic powers.
- Elisa Maza in Gargoyles. She can't fly, break rocks with her fingers, zap things, or even have access to high technology like practically everybody else, but all she needs is her handgun, a running start, and an attitude to help take down characters with far more advantages than she has. Sure, she loses quite often, but then so does pretty much everybody.
- Macbeth also qualifies as he is able to deal with the gargoyles even without his suit on some occasions. But probably the best example is King Arthur Pendragon, who manages to defeat Macbeth with his powered suit in outright combat one on one, something Goliath was never able to do despite his physical advantage. Note that he did this without Excalibur, just an ordinary mace.
- In Wild CA Ts Grifter is the only member of the team who is full-blooded human, while the rest have superpowers due to being descendants or full-blooded members of an ancient alien super-race. His only powers are trickiness, good aim, and general badassery.
- Darkwing Duck, once he put his ego aside.
Fan Fic
- Black Dragon 6's Ranma 1/2 story Guardian features a character named Ken "Snake" Yakata, a Jewish gun nut who is routinely billed as the most deadly fighter in the Department of Abnormal Phenomenae Containment with the sole exception of Ranma. This is in spite of the fact his other officers are: A powerful psychic psycho capable of cutting the heads off powerful vampires, a superhuman capable of going toe to toe with cyborgs and the worst boss enemies in the Resident Evil series, and a bloody Zergling. All Snake has is a shotgun.
- To further emphasis the extent of this, it should be mentioned that Snake terrifies every single one of his fellow officers, save Ranma. To an extent, anyway. They know he can't shoot them and thus they feel somewhat secure around him, but around his evil clones they are terrified.
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