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Narrative
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Forlong: I thought this page could use a pic, and I found a pic of Batman with a lightsaber! How Badass is that? Anyone disagree with me putting that pic up?
Peteman: I think that works better with Badass Abnormal. Badass Normal should be an unaltered Batman, likely from Justice League Unlimited or some other animated/comic continuity, where he's actually side by side with superpowered people. I just put it there.
Looney Toons: Kaname Chidori from Full Metal Panic isn't exactly a normal — she's one of the Whispered, although she doesn't really have much access to the racial memory thing that makes the Whispered what they are. Andyzero: I considered that. But she never uses them to DO anything. They're more a Mac Guffin for heroes and villains to be interested in her. In fact, it barely comes up in the the second season (Second Raid) at all. What makes Kaname Kaname is...er...Kanami. xwingace:I agree with Looney Toons, though. It could be argued that he Whispered status is what gives her the ability to deal with all this. On another series, would Kamiya Kaoru from Rurouni Kenshin fit here? Wolviepris: The Kenshin page seems to refer to Sanosuke as the badass normal. In my opinion, it's a tricky one because both start as badass normals but over time Kaoru stops being badass and Sano stops being normal. Desertopa: None of them count, since there are no supernatural characters in the setting for comparison. All the characters are simply more or less Badass. Sanosuke, and to a lesser extent Kaoru, are examples of The Krillin. Some Sort Of Troper: Took out Kaname Chidori a) yes she does have abilities that others don't and b) the others are normals, there's no "super" levels for her to compare to. Ununnilium: The problem with Kiyone is, she's not exactly Bad Ass. Ultimatum479: I deleted Solid Snake, since he's hardly normal; he's genetically engineered. Would Tiana of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Striker S count? Considering she's in a strike force comprised of Aces, Wolkenritters, Artificial Mages, Cyborgs, and a Summoner, she's pretty downright normal in the context of her world. Some Sort Of Troper: No, characters who are powered and supered up but just not as much as others in the world are The Krillin. Besides she does have her own particular special abilites, right? Servbot: Thing is, in StrikerS and beyond, the average citizen is a mage. In fact, it's explicitly mentioned that the reason for her bitterness in Episode 7 (I knew it! The only normal person in the unit is me!) and the reason why the cyborgs have no qualms for killing her in the finale (You're not someone we're supposed to capture. No one will get mad if we kill you.) is because she's the normal one. She has no inherent abilities of her own. Both of her "special abilities" (guns and illusions) can be learned by anyone if they're dedicated enough (in fact, she taught herself the latter in her spare time when she was younger because she saw it as useful). Koveras: Yeah, I've also always considered Teana a Badass Normal because her badassitude stems from careful observation, fast thinking, and lots and lots of training, not from inherent talents. In Nanoha setting, it's those inherent talents that count as superpowers, e.g. Nanoha's own ability to channel magical power equivalent of a battleship barrage, Hayate's bond with the Book of Darkness, Subaru's being a combat cyborg, Erio's talent for lightning manipulation, etc. Teana has nothing of that, so any other mage could've taken her place in Riot Force 6, yet she made it and could keep it up with the rest. In the Lord of the Rings badass normals, the biggest badass is Faramir because he's the only one in the whole series (besides an abnormal whose name I can't remember) who isn't tempted by the ring. The others fight to resist when Frodo inevitably tries to pawn the ring off on them. Even Frodo in the end can't resist the allure of the ring. Only Faramir is pure enough that the ring holds no power over him. I don't see either Frodo nor Faramir as Badass Normal. Both are way to introspective, sensible and motivated by responisbility to qualify as Badass. Also, Faramir lack distinctive 'Normal' quality. If there is a Lord of the Rings Badass Normal, I would say it's Sam. Patsy: Can I point out that none of these guys would stand a chance against Gandalf, Galadriel or any of the few characters in LOTR who actually aren't 'normal'? I thought this trope was for a normal who is so badass that he is not at a disadvantage when leading or fighting characters with unnatural superpowers (Batman, Rock Lee, Ty Lee, Walter, etc.) Suggestions like Sokka, Xander, Usopp, and Samwise Gamgee would seem more like 'unpowered character who is nonetheless not useless'. Am I talking sense here?
Surely Jack Bauer doesn't count. Does he ever face anyone who isn't normal? Thief might be comparatively normal next to the other Light Warriors, but he IS an elf. He claims a natural racial superiority over the humans at every possible opportunity. Sure it's probably lies, but he's still not actually normal. Question: I was thinking about the starship captains in Trek series: All of them (the main leads of each series- Kirk, Picard, Sisko, and Janeway) are badasses (some drastically more so than others), and most of them are normal, but Sisko was Touched By Vorlons, so does he count? For that matter, does Captain Sheridan of Bab5 count? Can you be Touched By Vorlons and still be a badass normal? I'm not counting Archer from Enterprise, I hated that show, and all he was hardly a badass. Man Without A Body: Removed the "Real Life" examples, because the very point of this trope is a character who retains their badassery even if the face of supernatural competition. Real Life doesn't have any of that. Patsy: Ok, fairly extensive edits by me here...if you disagree with any of it, feel free to stick it back up. Removed natter:
TMX: I have not played COD 4, but it's my understanding that it's a relatively realistic game, in which none of the characters have superpowers. So why is Captain Price listed? Elaborate or remove.
Mars Dragon: I'd argue that Elzam from Super Robot Wars is in no way a "normal". Sure, he pilots Huckebeins, but he always pilots the prototype versions, which isn't nearly as impressive as making an actual mass-produced mech shine. Remember, the prototype is always better. Plus he himself isn't normal; he and Rai are both natural geniuses at piloting. It's why they have the 'Genius' skill. And he's a Branstein and raised to go into the military and be awesome. These are both advantages that take him pretty far out of "normal". And it's not like everything that's said about him doesn't also apply to Rai, sometimes more. Rai's stuck on a team specially made of psychics, on a mech that was originally made for psychics a lot more than the Huckebein prototypes, and is still the best pilot they have. Sure he's piloting a custom mech, but it's a custom mech that doesn't really fit him. He has the lowest defence and highest evade out of anyone on the SRX team and the R-2 is basically a tank. He still makes it dodge. But he still doesn't count as a Badass Normal for the same reason Elzam doesn't. Natural genius, raised to pilot well. In short, Kai and maybe Katina and Russel (if they count as 'badasses') are all way way more normal than pretty much the entire rest of the cast. Uknown Troper: Can somebody tell me what the frak Zaraki Kenpachi is doing on this list? He's about as badass normal as Ichigo, what with his humongous reiatsu. He's more of an example of When All You Have Is A Hammer. Some Sort Of Troper: Starting a clear up here. At the moment i have deleted the protegonist from Call Of Duty, Gordon Freeman and Colonel Jack On'Neil from SG-1. The first is a normal, surrounded by normals, fighting normals, there are super- or higher tiers to compare against. Similar idea with the next two, they fight against some pretty weird and powerful stuff but so do other normals and there is nothing to set the idea that what they do transcends the capabilities of normal men. Jack's being compared to his own team, who are all either just slightly smarter (in their own field) or slightly stronger and part of the point is they work as a team, for cryin' out loud. They may be Bad Ass but not Bad Ass Normal. Update: Deleted some more, especially those who are "only" very effectively armed, are naturally more skilled than everyone else, and receive help and teamwork. Austin: Yeah. I'm cutting Bruce Lee. He has a big reputation, but there's no evidence that he was one of the most strong and fit people ever. Look at this link and do ctrl f "underweight", for some reference. http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread160834/pg2 
His own doctor disagreed, but that's not an issue. Real people can't be Badass Normal by definition, there being no supernatural abnormals for comparison.
Bink should not be on this list. His power protects him from all supernatural threats (albeit in a really indirect way). He can only really be harmed by a human using mundane means (which in Xanth, is pretty damn rare). Anicomicgeek: I removed Birdy from Birdy the Mighty as she's not mormal; she's an alien with super-strength and agility, and some durability (enough to deflect bullets). KJMackley: I did an overhaul of the page, I thought someone else was going to do it from a YKTTW a few weeks ago. Examples would label people who were normal doing impressive things despite the lack of superheroes or magic. If we take Batman as the quintessential Badass Normal, then this is supposed to be a person who remains a relevent badass despite being at a superpowered disadvantage. So I made it clear in the description that the Badass Normal doesn't happen if:
St Fan: I'm removing Cobra (from Cobra Space Adventure), as he's anything but normal. It is obvious through the series that he has enormous psychic and psychometabolic abilities. It is even straight out pointed out in the show that he is "far from an ordinary human".
Peteman: removed:
Peteman: Sherlock Holmes is not a Bad Ass Normal due not living in a fantastical setting.
Dangermike: Removed Gibbs of NCIS, as he's a normal among normals— the definition of BN is a normal who can mix it up on equal terms with superhuman or supernatural foes, and he's got neither. He is undeniably Bad Ass, but per the description on the main page, he's not a Badass Normal, if only because of lack of opportunity. Let them write some mutants or vampires into the show for him to out-badass and he'd qualify. Xavius: Does Davros really count, seeing as he has been shown at at least one occasion to be able to hurl Palaptine-esque lightning from his fingers? Peteman: cut:
Some Sort Of Troper: Removed Giles and Xanderfrom the Buffy the vampire slayer examples. Giles messed about with some magic when he was young and got people hurt and killed, he also killed an ordinary man which is fairly common in real life, he never was able to act as a force that could compare with a slayer and when facing vampires like Angelus, got his arse kicked. Xander got one episode where he actually acted very much out of the group dynamic that he was normally in so it's not really representitive of his character. Most of the time, sure he may manage to not suck but he never compares on the level of the supers of his world - the slayers, demons and witchs- in the importance of his roles. He did save the world in season 6 but that wasn't by any talent of his, that was by being the person Willow cared about most in the world and the one who knew her best. He certainly couldn't apply that in a fight against kakistos. These sorts of character help by being the support of others and do not make Badass Normals. Also took out the Doctor from the Doctor Who examples. Yes the others fit but his villains are on one side trying to defeat him and the Badass Normal ones can claim that because they can compare to the weird super leveled villains while on the hero side, the most super is the Doctor with his ancient technology, stunning levels of knowledge and ability to come back from the dead and all the others can apply be comparing with him so he can't qualify. Oh and the Han Solo example. Firstly Two words obvious trope is silly because it's never obvious. What did Han Solo actually do against jedi and other "super" level beigs in his word? My second point is the answer to that question; he got totally pawned by them all. When he's up against characters who only have great piloting skills and blasters themselves then he excels and he's great and badass and we love him but put him against the supers of his world (which actually rarely happens) and they can just catch the blaster shot in their palm and then freeze him in carbonite. In the world in which he inhabits, he doesn't actually pull himself out of the level of the other normal characters and start play around in the force using levels. Look at what he actually gets involved in and he doesn't even get the chance to be compared to the supers. Some Sort Of Troper: Here were some examples taken out because they were Brought Down To Normal plots (plus some I took out myself to be held here while we mull over them). The current line "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." is recent so we should maybe discuss it. Brought Down To Normal
Now i put my concerns about taking out these examples on the forums, to reinterate here more briefly since Brought Down To Normal is a plot and Badass Normal is characterisation, can we really say they are exclusive?
Could you not see these episodes as the writer saying "See, my character even without the powers is still heroic enough to function as a Badass Normal"? We must still insist that they are operative at effective "super" level- as far as I can tell the DCAU example has Superman doing only what any typical caveman could do, there aren't the typical justice league villains or other super members to compare him to, so discard him. On the other hand, Storm still manages to be effective part of the X-Men, so if you only saw her for that issue, you would think she was a badass normal.
KJMackley: I clarified one of the rules regarding this trope (with accompanying clean-up), mostly being that the character in question needs to constantly be dealing with these super-powered beings. Just because superpowers exists in their universe doesn't mean they are a badass normal. Jim Gordon can be badass but how often does he deal with supervillains with superpowers? Likewise, Kou Uraki from Gundam0083 exists in a universe that has newtypes, but he doesn't confront a newtype himself. Same with Bernie from Gundam0080. And I cleaned up some other examples, either being merely competent (not badass) or talking about equipment like Gundam00. —- Peteman: took out:
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