History Main / InvincibleIncompetent

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': DependingOnTheWriter, Homer Simpson is this. His continuous stupid bumbling has caused much more trouble than it's actually solved and he is stupid enough to walk into bad situations, but he's also been able to [[StatusQuoIsGod keep his status quo]] when other characters nearly (or ''did'') lose everything and has some interesting stories to tell as a result (like [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E15DeepSpaceHomer having been an astronaut]] or [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E13TwoBadNeighbors meeting former President]] UsefulNotes/GeraldFord). The episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E23HomersEnemy Homer's Enemy]]" is all about a LogicalLatecomer lampshading this and [[SomebodyDoesntLoveRaymond developing everlasting emnity as a result.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/FantasticFourWorldsGreatestHeroes'': While the [[Characters/FantasticFourTheFantasticFour Human Torch]] and Characters/TheThing are often reasonable fighters, they are a lot more effective against ComicBook/DoctorDoom by accident in "[[Recap/FantasticFourWorldsGreatestHeroesDoomsWordIsLaw Doom's Word Is Law]]", dodging missiles because they're fighting each other and using a two-pronged attack because they couldn't agree on a plan.

* ''WesternAnimation/FantasticFourWorldsGreatestHeroes'': While the ComicBook/HumanTorch and ComicBook/TheThing are often reasonable fighters, they are a lot more effective against ComicBook/DoctorDoom by accident in "[[Recap/FantasticFourWorldsGreatestHeroesDoomsWordIsLaw Doom's Word Is Law]]", dodging missiles because they're fighting each other and using a two-pronged attack because they couldn't agree on a plan.

* Wrestling/MikeyWhipwreck was the epitome of this trope in Wrestling/{{ECW}}. Despite going for months on end without managing to land a single offensive move, Mikey somehow managed to wrack up an impressive winning streak due to coincidental outside interference or just sheer dumb luck. This culminated with him winning the ECW Television Title ''and'' successfully defending it for a while, despite his numerous attempts to vacate the title.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':
** In the Unova League, Ash's new rival Cameron has intelligence that makes Ash look smart by comparison, frequently misses important facts and information yet still proves good enough to beat 8 gym leaders to get to the League. [[spoiler:When the two face off, Cameron handicaps himself with 5 Pokémon to Ash's 6 and ends up facing half his team with only Riolu, and still manages to win. Subverted moments later when Cameron gets eliminated in the next round.]]
** Ash's Kalos companion, Serena, is something of a novice FauxActionGirl who never really improves in battle skills throughout her run. However, she ends the series with her team having not lost a ''single battle'', and rarely even getting scratched, either due to outside intervention, one of her Pokémon evolving at the right time, or most of her opponents being even lower level battlers such as Team Rocket.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'',
** Rincewind is noted for trying to run away from the plot action, yet invariably winning somehow. It's been noted that he has the favour of the Lady, goddess of luck. It's also been noted that she will lose interest if he ever ''acts'' like someone with divine protection.
** The elderly faculty of Unseen University display this trope in a different way. Despite being a group of old men who like nothing more than to eat huge dinners and bicker with each other, they manage to stroll out of situations which should have left them dead a dozen times over. This really annoys anyone who comes into contact with them. There are hints they could be properly dangerous if it came down to it, but danger almost always gives up and goes away before it comes down to it. In the early books Unseen University was a very dangerous place to work at and was filled with powerful mages prone to KlingonPromotion and ChronicBackstabbingDisorder. The current faculty all lived through that time, survived it and came out on top. They simply decided that not trying to kill each other was more restful.
** Explored in ''Literature/{{Sourcery}}'' where a [[RealityWarper sourcerer]] is born that acts as a font of magic. He encourages the Wizards to exploit their powers, as the Unseen University's actual purpose is to teach Wizards how to not use magic, instead letting them spend their time on academic politics and massive lunches. As soon as he does, the old, overweight and lazy Wizards immediately [[spoiler:conquer Ankh-Morpork, set up a massive tower and start a devastating war amongst each other threatening to destroy the world. Only after the sourcerer decides to retire to his own pocket dimension do they calm down and return to their normal bumbling selves]].
* ''Literature/CiaphasCain'': Has a dark and dramatic take on a protagonist who attempts to run away from the action yet always ends up winning. The difference being that he is actually competent, or he would not have survived very long, let alone lived [[RetiredBadass to retire]] in [[CrapsackWorld the Warhammer]] [[EverythingTryingToKillYou universe]]. However, [[HeroicSelfDeprecation he refuses to admit this]]. Only the first short story actually fits the trope, its plot boiling down to [[spoiler:"I tried to run away but ended up exposing an enemy surprise attack from that direction and looking heroic."]] It's something of a RunningGag in the later books that Cain narrates about how he manages to hold his own in a duel through sheer luck, only for the exasperated editor (who fought beside him many times) to point out that he was actually an incredibly skilled swordsman in a footnote.

* King in ''Manga/OnePunchMan'' has accidentally acquired an entirely undeserved reputation of being WorldsStrongestMan and slayer of giant monsters, earning the ranking of an S-Class hero, and now goes around being terrified at being so out of his league. He can't actually kill giant monsters; those were all one-shot by [[ComicallyInvincibleHero Saitama]]. However, he still manages to defeat several monsters and villains just by talking to them, thanks to his reputation as TheDreaded and accidentally coming across as sounding really badass. One minor monster even accidentally kills ''itself'' out of fear of King, who at the moment doesn't even know it's a monster, but happens to say things that sound like he saw through its disguise.

* ''Literature/CiaphasCain'': Has a dark and dramatic take on a protagonist who attempts to run away from the action yet always ends up winning. The difference being that he is actually competent, or he would not have survived very long, let alone lived [[RetiredBadass to retire]] in [[CrapsackWorld the Warhammer]] [[EverythingTryingToKillYou universe]]. However, [[HeroicSelfDeprecation he refuses to admit this]]. Only the first short story actually fits the trope, its plot boiling down to [[spoiler: "I tried to run away but ended up exposing an enemy surprise attack from that direction and looking heroic."]] It's something of a RunningGag in the later books that Cain narrates about how he manages to hold his own in a duel through sheer luck, only for the exasperated editor (who fought beside him many times) to point out that he was actually an incredibly skilled swordsman in a footnote.

* ''WebComic/SluggyFreelance'': Sam, as a vampire, is almost invincible against unprepared humans, being ImmuneToBullets and stuff. But against other vampires, or a competent VampireHunter, he's [[SuperLoser just someone who's dumb as a brick]]. Yet he manages to survive not only brush-ins with vampire hunters but being hunted by all of the Vrykolakas vampires for years. It's all dumb luck, like when he discloses his location online but gets the state wrong, causing the vampires hunting him to crash a vampire hunter convention instead. [[spoiler: It gets to the point that one of his former enemies wants to make him a ruler of vampires because he's the only one who's survived against all the three clans of vampires.]]

* This is the concept behind the "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSK0AcFqkyU Build Murray]]" character build on the ''WebAnimation/AnimatedSpellbook''. The idea is to play a character who has no business getting into adventuring, but is such a [[BornLucky lucky]] [[TheFool idiot]] that he succeeds regardless. Manipulating the random dice mechanics as a Halfling Diviner allows the player to fortuitously bumble their way to victory. This build is intended to evoke Creator/BillMurray's various characters.

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''Fanfic/PerfectionIsOverrated'' argues that WishFulfilment characters succeed despite going about tasks incompetently, become popular even when their personalities are repulsive, and survive mistakes that should have killed them. The [[ParodySue SUEs]], the main antagonists of the fic who represent such archetypes without the PlotArmor or [[CreatorsPet author favoritism]], end up losing to the [[Anime/MyHime Himes]] because they continue to act as though they're invincible, even when they're not, and it's briefly suggested that their reason for wanting to change the world is because they can't function in it the way it is.
[[/folder]]

* Inspector Clouseau of ''Franchise/ThePinkPanther'' series is a shining example, combined with BatDeduction in that his profoundly stupid and illogical actions often save him and/or destroy his attacker and/or solve the case he's supposed to be working on. Many skilled assassins try to kill him, but Clouseau inevitably survives by some absurd accident, almost always unknowingly killing the assassin(s) in the process. All for the sake of RuleOfFunny, of course.

** In the Unova League, Ash/Satoshi's new rival Cameron has intelligence that makes Ash look smart by comparison, frequently misses important facts and information yet still proves good enough to beat 8 gym leaders to get to the League. [[spoiler:When the two face off, Cameron handicaps himself with 5 Pokémon to Ash's 6 and ends up facing half his team with only Riolu, and still manages to win. Subverted moments later when Cameron gets eliminated in the next round.]]
** Ash's Kalos companion, Serena, was something of a novice FauxActionGirl that never really improved in battle skills throughout her run. However she ended the series with her team having not lost a ''single battle'', and rarely even getting scratched, either due to outside intervention, one of her Pokémon evolving at the right time, or most of her opponents being even lower level battlers such as Team Rocket.

* ''Anime/YuGiOh'': Katsuya Jonouchi (Joey Wheeler) perpetually comes from behind to win. Granted, everyone does this, but Jonouchi never seems to be picked as a favorite to win anything, despite several finals showings. Jonouchi's an odd combination of IdiotBall and InformedFlaw. For no explained reason except poverty, his deck is mostly full of [[TheLoad weak cards]], in hard contrast to Kaiba, who owns and runs some of [[PowerEqualsRarity the rarest and most powerful cards]]. To compensate, he also uses many luck-based cards, which have frequently given him victory over stronger opponents, though this is a double-edged sword, seeing as luck could play against him sometimes.

'''Dreyfus''': Good? Ha, he's not good, he's terrible; he's the worst.

->'''Bruce the Knife''': Why don't we take care of it ourselves?\\

->'''Marty the Mugger''': You have several of the world's greatest criminal minds right here, in this very room.\\
'''Bruce the Knife''': Yeah, why don't we take care of [killing Clousseau] ourselves?\\
'''Dreyfus''': Because you wouldn't stand a chance.\\
''disbelieving murmur''\\
'''Dreyfus''': You don't know Clouseau.\\

->'''Johnny:''' How did Brer Rabbit get away, Uncle Remus?\\
'''Remus:''' Who say he git away?\\
'''Toby:''' Brer Rabbit always gits away.\\
'''Remus:''' Don't you be too shure... ain't I done tol'd you that Brer Rabbit, bein' little and without much strength, he's s'posed to use his head instead o' his foots?
-->-- ''Film/SongOfTheSouth''

* ''Fanfic/PerfectionIsOverrated'' argues that essentially, the MarySue [[DeconstructedTrope boils down to this]], as they succeed despite going about tasks incompetently, become popular even when their personalities are repulsive, and survive mistakes that should have killed them. The [[ParodySue SUEs]], the main antagonists of the fic who represent MarySue archetypes without the PlotArmor or [[CreatorsPet author favoritism]], end up losing to the [[Anime/MyHime Himes]] because they continue to act as though they're invincible, even when they're not, and it's briefly suggested that their reason for wanting to change the world is because they can't function in it the way it is.

* ''WesternAnimation/FantasticFourWorldsGreatestHeroes'', "[[Recap/FantasticFourWorldsGreatestHeroesDoomsWordIsLaw Doom's Word Is Law]]": While Johnny and Ben are often reasonable fighters they are a lot more effective against Dr. Doom by accident in one episode, dodging missiles because they're fighting each other and using a two-pronged attack because they couldn't agree on a plan.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': DependingOnTheWriter, Homer Simpson is this. His continuous stupid bumbling has caused much more trouble than it's actually solved and he is stupid enough to walk into bad situations, but he's also been able to [[StatusQuoIsGod keep his status quo]] when other characters nearly (or ''did'') lose everything and has some interesting stories to tell as a result (like having been an astronaut or meeting former President Gerald Ford). The episode "Homer's Enemy" is all about a LogicalLatecomer lampshading this and [[SomebodyDoesntLoveRaymond developing everlasting emnity as a result.]]

* ''Fanfic/PerfectionIsOverrated'' argues that essentially, the MarySue [[DeconstructedTrope boils down to this]], as they succeed despite going about tasks incompetently, become popular even when their personalities are repulsive, and survive mistakes that should have killed them. The [[ParodySue SUEs]], the main antagonists of the fic who represent MarySue archetypes without the PlotArmor or [[CreatorsPet author favoritism]], end up losing to the [[Anime/MaiHime Himes]] because they continue to act as though they're invincible, even when they're not, and it's briefly suggested that their reason for wanting to change the world is because they can't function in it the way it is.