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"You have lost... Because you underestimated humans."
"No way he's human."
"I put on the boots and kicked some monster ass. I dropped the ghoul, and I'm the one who rammed a chainsaw through the head of that plant monster thing. Crippled the ogre too. What did you do? You threw a can of Sterno at him. That's barely an assist."
A character who might only be slightly less powerful or skilled than the rest of the cast, but notably has none of the fantastic enhancements, magic or special powers they do. It might even be a sore point for them, but that just makes us encourage them more. However, in ensembles, they are usually the leader, or at least the brains of the outfit, to compensate.
Female Badass Normals tend to take the initiative of a group, usually as a Girl Posse or Lovely Angels. The others may have super powers, but tend to succumb to the negative of the feminine ideal of submissiveness. Sure they might get kidnapped, but their attitude is what differentiates them from a Distressed Damsel. They know they're going to be rescued, and will stick it to the villains while waiting.
It's become increasingly common for the Badass Normal to be a lead character, in contrast to the ideal lead, as it supposedly makes him easier to relate to.
If a Badass Normal is portrayed as too strong, they stop being normal and are considered to have a Charles Atlas Superpower. If others in their family are similarly badass, it's because Lamarck Was Right. If they are given superfluous superpowers (especially in Fan Fiction), you get a Badass Abnormal.
A subtrope of Badass. Compare Arthur Dent.
Examples:
Anime
- Rock Lee in Naruto is severely lacking the flashy powers of the main characters, but is "realistically" strong through sheer training and effort. (He is, however, very superhumanly fast by real-world standards. But the Narutoverse seems to use a different scale...)
- His mentor, Might Guy, appears to be like this entirely by choice. The only ninjutsu he ever performed was when he ostensibly summoned a tortoise (that we never see again) offscreen. He has still been shown to use the Walk On Water and Wall Climbing powers.
- Hugue de Watteau from Trinity Blood is characterized as being the only ordinary human in the main cast who can stand his ground and actually persevere in a fight against vampires, a proficiency stemming only from extreme training and fitness and reflexes honed to perfection.
- Krillin's slow evolution in Dragonball Z to comic relief belies the fact that he is, in normal human terms, one of the strongest men on Earth. This is demonstrated by his ability to generally take about 2 or 3 punches from whatever Big Bad the show is on this Saga, usually during a all-or-nothing charge. It should be noted that these foes are almost universally capable of blowing up the entire planet. Hell, he's even been able to seriously threaten some of them.
- There's also Tenshinhan, who was able to pin Imperfect Cell down to the ground with his signature move, Kikouhou, at a point in the series when he had been irrelevant for literally decades. Although this doesn't actually damage Cell one bit, it frustrates him greatly and would have given the androids time to run away. While he quickly tires to the point where his life is in danger, it is still one of the character's finest moments. Tenshinhan is also one of the few survivors of Buu's Human Genocide Attack seven years later, and briefly saves Gohan, Dende and Mr. Satan in a Big Damn Heroes moment.
- Gohan's Love Interest, Videl, was stronger than her father, Mr. Satan, even before she learned how to fly! She also helped fight in some of the movies, if not effectively, and was capable of kicking her daughter out of the air and through a building or two while Brainwashed And Crazy.
- Hell even Yamcha falls under this category even if he did spend most of the series getting the shaft, he was still qite strong for a human.
- Mr. Satan, a character who completely lacks any abilities whatsoever, and is largely a joke character, could be considered a badass normal in this respect. While not much of a feat for the main cast, in a later story arc Mr. Satan closes distance on two men armed with guns and successfully defeats and disarms both men. Heck, he basically defeated that arc's Big Bad Majin Buu with the power of friendship. Other personalities and version of that character were bad guys, but it's pretty clear he's the reason that particular personality made a heel face turn.
- Jounouchi/Joey from Yu-Gi-Oh. He's the only duelist in the core cast without a mystical Millennium item or reincarnation, but is still a pretty skilled player, regardless of what Kaiba thinks. (The only time he had a MacGuffin on his side would be during the Atlantis/Doma filler arc.) It should be noted that he's also considered the third best player in the entire world by GX.
- Nenene Sumiragawa from the Read Or Die TV series is one of the only normal humans in the series. However, she is the strongest-willed, and dealing with her leads to the fall of not one, but two Ancient Conspiracies.
- It should be noted that, as a popular and talented author in the would of the series, her ability to write is itself something of a "superpower".
- Mireille Bouquet is one of the best assassins in the world, but compared to the rest of the cast of Noir is mundane. However, her refusal to bend ultimately brings down an Ancient Conspiracy (or at least, one branch of it).
- Natsuki Aki aka "Naachan" in Re: Cutey Honey inspires Cutey Honey to fight, after laying siege to a villain's hideout with just the artillery on her back and sheer guts.
- Kaname Chidori from Full Metal Panic also has an iron will (and a fan to match). Sousuke, the other main character of the series, concludes she is the strong one of their pairing, despite him having the knowledge in firearms and mecha.
- She is quite a badass indeed, but her normality is debatable, as she is another Whispered.
- From Ranma 1/2, we have Tatewaki Kuno, who, despite being on the far low end of the main cast's power levels, is still strong enough to beat up pretty much the entire male population of Furinkan High School (minus Ranma, of course) with zero effort, slice fully-grown trees in half, and shatter stone walls with his wooden Kendo sword. The mere fact he survives the punishment thrown at him would probably be enough to have him classified as a Badass Normal. (For those who know the series, yes, it does hurt to call him badass. It just proves you can be badass and yet not be anything close to cool.)
- Really most of the cast of Ranma fits this category. The only "power" most of them have is a curse that transforms them into something different, and often weaker, than their normal form (such as a cat, duck, or a little black pig. A panda is stronger than a human, but it doesn't really help Gendou fight, and Ranma's female form is described as "not as strong, but faster" than his male form. Another troper's take on this can be found in detail here.) While most of the cast is ridiculously strong and agile, this is all put down to training (sometimes taken to a ridiculous extreme), and they live in a world where such things are commonplace. There are a few characters who legitimately have Magic and Powers, but these are usually either played down, or else belong to a character of the week.
- Souichirou Kuzuki from Fate Stay Night, a stoic teacher with no magical abilities whatsoever. His position with his Servant is reversed, in that he fights while his Servant supports him with spells. With his Servant's significant enchantments and his unique assassination stance, he manages to overwhelm Saber, the best close-range fighter. Without enchantments, he stands absolutely no chance against other Servants, but even then, he does not flinch or back down despite his certain doom.
- And in a way, Servant Assassin—at least compared to the other Servants. Whereas they each get a unique power/weapon as their symbol of heroism, Assassin's ultimate technique is simply pure skill, a katana technique honed to the point of 'dimensional diffraction'.
- Kiyone in Tenchi Muyo Tenchiverse timeline had none of the exotic magical or Sufficiently Advanced powers enjoyed by most of the main cast, or even her partner Mihoshi's consistently extraordinary luck, but still managed to at least register on their scale thanks to great skills with her array of high-tech weapons and gadgets.
- The samurai in Samurai 7, save for the cyborg, are all Badass Normal, taking on massive cyborgs and even levitating warships, armed with just swords.
- Chad from Bleach starts out the series without even the ability to see spirits. However, he can knock Hollows silly with his punches (provided someone points them out for him), plus survive being hit by a motorcycle and carry the rider to the hospital, before he actually gains any powers. Unfortunately, once he does he's usually feeling the sting of The Worf Effect. Tatsuki and Karin take over the role as the series progresses; they can see spirits but have no transformations or special attacks, but they are still able to fight Hollows with basic combat techniques.
- Rukia turned into one during the first arc. She had barely any powers at all, but the 4'8, powerless Shinigami still did her best to kick ass, once high-kicking a Hollow in the face and still trying to fight it despite it all. She could also kick Ichigo around when she needed to and could carry his body around if he left it behind, like in volume 3.
- Even Zaraki Kenpachi could be considered a variation of this trope. While he is certainly not normal, he is to only captain who is unable to fully release his zanpakutou, and also lacks the ability to use kido. And he is more badass than the rest of the cast together.
- Despite being the Butt Monkey and The Chick respectively, Usopp and Nami of One Piece occasionally show the potential for this. Zoro and Sanji don't really count, as they have non-supernatural, but still impossible powers.
- Shuraiya from the fourth movie even more so. He fights without special techniques or equipment, using just his agility, his wits, and his trusty shovel, and still manages to take out large groups of enemies and superhuman opponents.
- Nicholas D Wolfwood of Trigun. At least in the anime, he was basically just a regular if not well trained guy with a really big gun. Despite this he's able to go head to head with large groups of angry thugs, a killer robot and was at least Vash's equal in a quick draw tournament.
- Integra Hellsing is fast and smart enough to hold off superhuman foes like Anderson and Nazi vampires attacking from the front despite being a fully un-powered human.
- Not to mention shooting a perfect cross of blessed silver bullets into the forehead of a moving vampire. With a Walther PPK. At 20 yards. In a crowded conference room.
- And don't get me started on Walter...
- Genjyo Sanzo in Saiyuki, while being a normal human, manages to keep up with and, if anything, outstrip his magical youkai companions' fighting skills.
- Togusa from Ghost in the Shell is noted several times as being the only member of Section 9 who is not heavily cyberized. Despite this, he is a crack shot with his revolver, survives battles with several cyborgs, and manages to get critical data on the Laughing Man Case, among others.
- Major General Olivier Milla Armstrong in the Fullmetal Alchemist manga, is the older sister of Alex Lousi Armstrong. She's also a sword-wielding maniac who terrifies the Elric brothers. Even though she has no alchemic abilities, and relies only on her sword, she has put more fear in them then the Homonculus, Scar, and Father combined.
- Lt. Colonel Hughes is also badass normal to a particular degree, wielding push knives with deadly skill and holding his own against two homunculi until a third one kills him him.
- Teana Lanster of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Strikers. In a team made up of S-Ranks, Ancient Knights, Artificial Mages, Combat Cyborgs, and Summoners, she's the only normal mage among the Forwards. Yet, her leadership skills, tactical mind, and mastery of the skills she does have make her invaluable. She was pivotal in the success of one mission, and was capable enough to take down three Numbers while isolated and crippled.
- Akagi. Breaks minds and bones with ease. Just don't fuck with him. It's even said that you should not look him in the eye if you're in a group of less than five people.
- Shishido Ryoh in The Prince Of Tennis acknowledges that he's not particularly strong, tall, nor does he have any special (nature-defying) tennis shots, and this is his incentive to push and train himself into becoming a formidable opponent through sheer will power.
- We also have Jackal Kuwahara from the Rikkaidai team, who's pretty much among the few who use normal tennis to cover up for his more flashy partner, Bunta Marui.
- And in the Seigaku team, where tennis that defies nature is pretty much a normal thing... there's Takashi Kawamura, a selfless and humble sushi chef in training who only has his physical power (adquired after years of working part-time in his family's sushi shop, delivering sushi and carrying huge boxes around) to rely on, though this is a double-edged sword since he gets badly injured twice. In fact, Kawamura seems to consider himself a sort-of burden in the team due to his lack of flashy techniques when compared to the others, even when his teammates tell him that he's no luggage.
- In the same vein as Kuno, Fujii from 3x3 Eyes. He's immortal ageing wise and immortal damage-wise. Unfortunately he's not superpowered immortal and has an average 16 year old's strength. He pretty much winds up pulling pseudo-heroic sacrifice moments almost every page, acting as Pai's living meat shield until she can work up enough power to smush the Big Bad. "Stand here and get shot. And also hold off this mutant crocodile" "Okay. OOF AUGH URGH AAHH {splitch}" "Don't be a baby, it'll go away after a few minutes." "aaauuuwwgh" What a life!
- The most infamous example of Bad Ass Normal, and also an example of martial arts training lets you do anything, Kenshiro Kasumi and the rest of the main cast of Fist Of The North Star/Hokuto no Ken. Mad Max + head-exploding touch. Seiji and Rei can slice people to ribbons. With their bare fingers. What? Yes, the series is also an example of Made Of Plasticine.
- Kai, David, and Lewis from Blood+ could fit the bill, seeing as they are ordinary humans who regularly wade into battle with powerful Chiropterans armed only with simple firearms (which the series establishes as being next-to-useless against them), and emerge almost unscathed every time. Out of all them, Lewis and Kai probably emphasise the "normal" aspect the most, since one is a fat, awkward slob, and the other is an ordinary teenage boy. David definitely fits the "badass" part, since he survives being shot, getting slashed by monsters, and jumping out of a helicopter moments before it exploded, despite requiring realistic medical treatment in each case, and when he infiltrated a secret research facility and found himself surrounded by armed guards, he escaped by grabbing a hostage and threatening to kill him with a ballpoint pen.
- Limelda Jorg in Madlax is an ordinary military officer positioned as The Rival to the titular Extraordinarily Empowered Girl, who is Cursed With Awesome, Immune To Bullets, sports Gun Kata and whatnot. That Limelda survives the show where Anyone Can Die also speaks a lot about her skills.
- Daisuke Ido from GUNNM is likely the only Hunter-Warrior in the Scrapyard who is not a cyborg.
- Guts, the Determinator protagonist of Berserk, can carve his way through the very worst that Hell's armies can throw at him, despite just being a regular (if heavily armed) human. Actually, probably ascended a long time back to Charles Atlas Superpower.
- Colonel Shikishima from Akira. While perhaps more impressive overall in the manga, surviving not one but two apocalypses, the film's image of him facing down a rapidly-mutating Tetsuo with nothing but a sidearm and a grunted "C'mon", for this editor, exemplifies the trope.
- Kaneda himself is another example. Anyone who can face down a superpowered psychic psycho with nothing but a laser rifle without getting splattered definitely qualifies.
- In a school inhabited by super-powered Magical Girls, Haruka Suzushiro from Mai-HiME counts, if only for the fact that as the head of Fuuka Academy's Executive Committee, she has a whole legion of students at her direct command, and her utter refusal to take "no" for an answer even when faced with death after Yukino gets WTFpwned by a freshly Face Heel Turned Shizuru.
- Plus she kicks a tank, come on people!
- Despite fighting zombies, near-infinitely strong angelic beings and people with way too many guns, Rin from Mnemosyne stands out simply for being able to competently fight and win despite only having the ability to slowly regenerate from death. Having a chainwhip and SHOTGUN KNUCKLES helps.
- In Slam Dunk there's Kiminobu Kogure, the gentle sub-captain and Nš1 reserve. He openly aknowledges he's not as skilled, strong and fast as the Fab Five of Shohoku, but when needed, he can pull quite awesome actions like not even blinking when Mitsui, back then still a Delinquent, slaps and berates him repeteadly; being among the few who really get the respect of the unruly Hanamichi Sakuragi; getting his team to wake up and stop bitching in the Ryokufu game in the OAV's via Heroic Sacrifice (as much as sport manga allows) and shooting a wonderful 3-pointer that is vital for Shohoku's victory over Ryounan
- While several of the characters in Baccano! are immortal beings that have drank the elixir of life, many of the most amazing fights and other feats are performed by completely normal humans such as Claire Stanfield, Chane Laforet, Jacuzzi Splot, and Ladd Russo.
- In Negima, most of the characters at the least use some kind of given magic or Ki. But some of them are at least able to touch ground with the more powerful people. Asakura showed sly cleverness - enough to manipulate anyone in the class - long before she got her spying device pactio weapon. Evangeline, even with her Power Limiter, was able to bash Samurai girl Setsuna from sheer martial arts skill. Kuu Fei in particular was only recently able to properly utilize Ki, and even then hold her own against the more magically capable opponents. The mercenary Gunslinger Mana might also count.
- Rosette from the Chrono Crusade manga is the only one in her group that doesn't have any magical or spiritual energy, just some special bullets, but she's still easily the biggest badass of her group. She's defeated countless demons with powers that make them much stronger than her, and in the final volume even shoots the horn on her brother's head, even though those horns give him superhuman speed and strength and the ability to stop time. All this while a demon is draining away her soul to supply his power. Sadly, this isn't the case in the anime.
- Yoko of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. While she has access to Spiral Energy like all humans, it's nothing compared to the likes of Kamina, Simon or Kittan, but with her trusty BFG she remains a formidable presence in the Dai-Gurren Brigade from the very beginning, and is the only character in the series to have destroyed Ganmen without one of her own.
- Although much of the cast of Eyeshield 21 should qualify, the title really belongs to the team's manager, Anezaki Mamori. She remains to date the only member of the team (and most of the cast) to defy Magnificent Bastard Hiruma's will to his face, and she does so on a regular basis, armed only with a mop. I don't care if you intuitively know that he's not going to actually shoot you, it still takes all kinds of guts to confront someone armed with semi-automatic weaponry, when all you've got is a basic cleaning instrument.
- In the anime version of Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch, Nagisa, despite being a Dogged Nice Guy with little to no knowledge of the Masquerade, has a few moments of his own... like resisting a spell to immobilize humans, attacking the person responsible and destroying the item he was using to do it, despite being one of the only two normals in the entire cast, simply because Hanon was in pain.
- No less than three protagonists from the Gundam multiverse fit this bill by having started out as normal (IE: Not being Newtypes, Coordinators, or naturally gifted aces) and remaining so while taking copious levels in badass. They are, in order:
- Birdy from Birdy The Mighty. Fights robots and mutants with nothing but acrobatics.
- Geronimo from Kinnikuman. In his first fight, he's just an ordinary person, but manages to not only survive getting crushed and stabbed in the torso, but destroy his opponent by screaming at him, only stopping to make his stopped heart start beating again by reaching into his own chest and massaging it. The fact that he's not even technically a superhero at this point makes this even more amazing.
Comic Books
- Batman fills this role when he's required to be in an ensemble. Despite having no inherent super-powers, 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 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.
- 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.
- In the Marvel Universe, Captain America is a borderline case; his body was artificially raised to slightly above maximum human potential, but is still dwarfed in power by people with superpowers. However, his leadership of The Avengers is typically undisputed, considering he had gained years of superhero combat experience, both on his own and as leader of the Invaders, since before his modern colleagues' parents were born, to say nothing of a mind that qualifies as an organic tactical computer.
- 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 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.)
- 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.
- 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.
- That and being >12th level intelligence.
- That, and he has money.
- Similarly, Marvel Comics' Kingpin uses both his powerful brains and even more powerful brawn to keep the costumed villains in their place.
- Alex Wilder, from Runaways, who's also team leader. Subverted when it turns out he's The Mole.
- 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 Bad Ass Normal team leader mantle is handed off to Allan Quatermain. Considering that he's played by Sean Connery, its 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 of the Legion Of Super Heroes. He was accepted into the Legion, because he could put pre-Crisis Superboy in a headlock.
- 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.
- Watchmen is an inversion of the trope, considering that it centers around a number of superheroes, only one of whom (Dr. Manhattan) actually has powers. Still, Ozymandias is depicted as essentially the peak of physical and mental perfection, capable of catching a friggin' bullet in mid-air and seeming particularly badass in his normality.
- The main character of the original graphic novel version of A History of Violence definetly qualifies due to the fact that he was only 14 years old when he and a friend managed to pull off a successful revenge hit/robbery on a mob boss's HQ armed only with a pair of Uzis and a tear gas gun. Many years later he is still pretty good at killing people.
Film
- Two words: Han Solo.
- Also of Star Wars, Wedge Antilles is the only character outside of the Big Eight--Han, Luke, Leia, Chewie, Obi-Wan, Vader, R2, and 3P0--to appear in all three movies, and the only character period to fly a fighter against both Death Stars without buying the farm. A fan favorite, much like Boba Fett (who also counts as a Badass Normal; at least in the Expanded Universe, as while he's a clone he's an unaltered clone), Antilles has appeared in much of the Expanded Universe, and even has a nine-book series centered on him and the fighter squadrons he has led. For someone with a Red Shirt (or more accurately, orange jumpsuit), he did rather well.
- Jango Fett, "father" of the aforementioned 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 Bad Ass 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 (imagine Samuel L Jackson as a Jedi), he gets decapitated, and Windu doesn't even spare him a second glance.
- Frodo Baggins (and all those little hobbits for that matter) in the Lord Of The Rings books and movies.
- Frodo was nothing compared to Sam, who among other things fought off a nearly unkillable giant spider, and hefted Frodo himself on his shoulders to finish their quest.
- A certain gentleman by the name of Ashley J. Williams.
- The protagonist in Gattaca. Superpowers aren't involved, but by rigorous training he becomes about as physically able as the Gattaca Babies of the world he inhabits, and able to pass for one.
- 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.
- "Normal" may not be the word for him, but Anguirus from the Godzilla franchise, a giant dinosaur whose only power is his huge size and strength (no flight, no transformations, no crazy energy beams), is the trope's kaiju equivalent.
- From Gorgon's Eye: pick a CIA agent, any CIA agent.
- WALL-E is a centuries-old (and showing his age) trash compactor who somehow manages to hang on to the outside of a rocket ship when it's lifting off. And that's not the last of his feats.
- As pretty much the only non-robot character that affects the plot, Captain B. Mc Crea possibly falls under this heading as well.
Live Action TV
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, a 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.
- In a variation, when acting as the Blue Spirit in season 1, and while on the lam throughout most of season 2, Zuko is forced to hide his fire abilities to avoid recognition and capture. He proves himself repeatedly to be just as skilful a dual-blade warrior as firebender, with his fight against the reverse-blade wielding Jet in the streets of Ba Sing Se being a particularly outstanding example.
- Anyone that has seen "The Boiling Rock" will know how much of an understatement this is for Suki, who kicks all kinds of ass without even any weapons.
- Even Azula can get by without her Fire Bending, as demonstrated by Day of Black Sun.
- 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.
- Code Lyoko: In addition to their weapons, each of the Lyoko Warriors also has some super power like "Telekinesis" or "Triplicate"... each one except Odd, who it was revealed lost his "Future Flash" power since Jeremie decided (in all honesty, quite accurately) that it was "useless." The episode that centered around Odd's bitterness about this ended with him wholeheartedly embracing the Bad Ass Normal role.
- 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.
- Likewise Hawkgirl, in Justice League. Beyond flight (which hardly counts for anything in a 'verse where nearly every metahuman could do it), all she has is military training and a mace. Despite this, she's Bad Ass enough to take on Cthulhu. And win.
- To be fair, Hawkgirl's mace is a ridiculously powered Nth-metal mace, which basically means that it's an anti-magic singularity on a stick. It's been used to defeat Greek Gods, ghosts, Dr. Fate, magical forcefields, chaos-magic imbued zombies that even Amazo couldn't stop and a walking suit of armor that gets stronger the more you fight it combined with the ghost of a sorcerous Freddy Krueger. It's less of a Badass Normal situation and more of a Green Lantern Ring situation, but mitigated by the fact that there's an actual Green Lantern on the team.
- 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".
- In the DCAU, Superman often crosses into this level whenever he's robbed of his powers, with a resourceful intellect that falls just short of Batman's. In one episode, a stranded, powerless Supes quickly masters blacksmithing, swordfighting, and dogsledding, among other obscure skills in the course of a few weeks.
- 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.
- 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.
- Jackie Chan from Jackie Chan Adventures. He pulls off many stunts that prove just how much badass he is, providing the source of one of the quotes above. He also doesn't use the magic on the show as much as other characters, using his own skills instead. Justified of course by being Jackie Chan.
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.
- The nameless Space Marine from Doom epitomizes this trope to the level of De Terminator or Charles Atlas Superpower. He singlehandedly takes down everything from zombified soldiers to The Legions Of Hell with nothing more than some guns that he took from said zombie soldiers. The marine never gives up, and has, throughout the span of three games, traveled to Hell multiple times, and has actually destroyed Hell in Doom 2.
- Though to be more specific, the destruction of hell came from the Big Bad's death throes, not the marine himself.
- So he killed a guy who could accidentally destroy hell. Even more badass.
- 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.
- 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.
- As mentioned in Bad Ass, Serious Sam from the eponymous game series, who defeats armies of aliens, a boss 50 times his height and a deity despite having no more powers than a seriously over-armed human.
- 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 recieve 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.
- Gordon Freeman from Half-Life wears one of recent fiction's thickest pairs of Nerd Glasses and starts with practically no combat training, but quickly becomes proficient in an impressive variety of weapons and shoots through veritable swarms of aliens and opposing military personnel, eventually getting something of a legendary reputation.
- Link. The most supernatural power he appears to gain from his Triforce of Courage is the ability to immediately become proficient in the use of whatever gadget he happens to find.
- 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.
- The Silencers from Crusader might or might not be Badass Normal. It's unknown for certain if they were genetically or cybernetically modified, or just had Training From Hell. They are therefore quantum badasses.
- Wander from Shadow Of The Colossus kills sixteen giant constructs of destruction, varying in size from "rhinocerous" to "I need a Sherpa to reach the top," with nothing more than a sword, a bow and his horse. If that's not badass, I don't know what is.
- Captain Price from Call Of Duty 4.
- Also the player character from all games in the series. Actually, the player from pretty much every FPS grounded in reality probably qualifies.
- 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 the 5th game. 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 4, 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.
- 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 offsp
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