History Main / OneManArmy

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Subverted in ''VideoGames/ConquerorsBlade''. Your hero is a pretty awesome fighter compared to the lowly rank and file, but ''no'' hero can charge right into the middle of the enemy army all by himself and expect to come out alive. It's even difficult to take on one ''unit'' of troops all by yourself. Heavy classes and the self-healing Nodachi can survive better than the rest, but even they will still die eventually.
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* Subverted in ''VideoGames/ConquerorsBlade''. Your hero is a pretty awesome fighter compared to the lowly rank and file, but ''no'' hero can charge right into the middle of the enemy army all by himself and expect to come out alive. It's even difficult to take on one ''unit'' of troops all by yourself. Heavy classes and the self-healing Nodachi can survive better than the rest, but even they will still die eventually.

'''[[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]]:''' We have a [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]].

'''Tony Stark:''' We have a Hulk.

** In the finale, the "insane Cultist" [[spoiler:assigned to capture the pirates and take them to [[BigBad Iris]]]], Ohca, is able to go up against about ''sixteen'' different pirates and lasts a substantial amount of time before being taken down, even [[spoiler:killing five people]] and ''water-bucket clutching'' in the fight.[[note]]They're played by [[TheDanza Acho]] [[ActingForTwo the content creator]], for the record.[[/note]]

* [[Website/SCPFoundation SCP]]-[[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-076 076-2]]

* ''LetsPlay/DreamSMP'':

** Technoblade, with virtue of being played by [[LetsPlay/{{Technoblade}} the content creator of the same name]], is proficient in combat to the point of being able to equally match three people in a fight with a [[PowerfulPick pickaxe]]. Quackity even identifies him as "the next best thing" to an army during the Red Banquet.

* ''WebVideo/SMPLive'': Sneeg [[spoiler:takes out 5 people in a short amount of time in "INSANE MINECRAFT 1v5"]].

Compare ShowyInvincibleHero and TheAce. See also ConservationOfNinjitsu, which postulates that being outnumbered ''is'' what gives the character the advantage. Compare GideonPloy for a more literal one-man army. A subtrope of QualityOverQuantity. Related to LawOfOne.

In a series aimed at younger audiences, they may [[NonLethalKO simply defeat]] large masses of people rather than outright kill them. In playing this trope, it is useful to have TheEvilArmy try to ZergRush said character in TheWarSequence. This trope caters to everyone's inner {{Munchkin}}; 99% of {{First Person Shooter}}s ever made fall under this.

Sometimes TheHero (or TheBigGuy in their {{team}}) will face a large horde of Mooks and tell their [[BigBad leader]] they're going down. The leader will often say, "YouAndWhatArmy", then discover that the hero doesn't ''need'' one. This one person ''is'' the army and can go around killing ''thousands'' of enemies.

->'''ComicBook/{{Loki}}:''' I have an army.\\
'''[[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]]:''' We have a [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]].
-->-- ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}''

Compare ShowyInvincibleHero and TheAce. See also ConservationOfNinjitsu, which postulates that being outnumbered ''is'' what gives the character the advantage. Compare GideonPloy for a more literal one-man army. A subtrope of QualityOverQuantity.

* [[Wiki/SCPFoundation SCP]]-[[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-076 076-2]]

* ''Every. Single. Freelancer. Ever.'' from ''Machinima/RedVsBlue''. Season 9 makes this ''very'' apparent.

'''[[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]]:''' We have a [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk Hulk]].

* As a result of the Mob's total inability to switch out Pokemon, some Mons in ''LetsPlay/TwitchPlaysPokemon'' tend to fall into this category. Pidgeot ("Bird Jesus") from the first run is the primary example, but Feraligatr ("LazorGator") and Azumarill ("M4 Moe") also have this status.

* OneManArmy/{{Music}}

->'''ComicBook/{{Loki}}''': I have an army.\\
'''[[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]]''': We have a [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk Hulk]].

* OneManArmy/{{Anime}}

* Several characters in ''Webcomic/TheGodOfHighSchool'' are this, but very few can match Jin Mo Ri's feat of [[spoiler:wiping out over 180,000 angels the size of skyscrapers in ''under thirty seconds'' after unlocking his power as the Monkey King.]]

* The ''Pinball/AirborneAvenger'' is implied to be one.

* ''VisualNovel/GrisaiaSeries'': Though the previous novels in the series handled protagonist Yuuji's capabilities with at least a touch of realism, by the end of ''[[VisualNovel/TheEdenOfGrisaia Eden]]'', [[spoiler: when he assaults Oslo's base in the climax, he carves a bloody path through his private army, taking down 40-50 armed mercenaries.]]
* In ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'', [[spoiler:Peko Pekoyama becomes one in her execution (which is even called "One-Woman Army" in English), taking down numerous Monokuma attackers armed solely with her sword. In the process, she accidentally slashes out Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu's eye, at which point she gives up and allows herself to be killed.]]
* ''VisualNovel/CiconiaWhenTheyCry'' revolves around a new invention, the Gauntlet, that allows its wearer to [[{{Flight}} fly]], [[BarrierWarrior project protective barriers]], and [[BagOfHolding carry tons of weaponry]]. The Gauntlets can only be used by a small group of soldiers who [[ChildSoldiers have been trained since infancy and are still quite young]], meaning that all the military power in the world has suddenly been put in the hands of idealistic youths. The story {{deconstruct|edTrope}}s the idea of these kids being given so much power: Miyao, the protagonist, is an idealist who formulates a plan for world peace and decides now's the only time it could work, before the Gauntlet Knights get older and become corrupt adults, and convinces several elite Gauntlet Knights from other nations' armies to go along with him, but ultimately, they are still dependent on adults to refuel their Gauntlets, so going against their military interests ends up having unexpected consequences.

* ''Website/CollegeHumor'' video "Video Game Boss Lament" has villains expressing shock to their minions at how a protagonist is able to get through them.

* In Episode 67 of ''WebAnimation/TheMostPopularGirlsInSchool'', Brittnay [[spoiler: kills all four of ''Film/TheExpendables'', in self-defense.]]

* ''WebAnimation/{{Dreamscape}}'': Implied with Melinda, considering it took the ''entire population of her MirrorUniverse'' to weaken her enough to seal her away, as seen in the flashback in "The Mystery of Melinda".

* In ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'',[[spoiler:Peko Pekoyama becomes one in her execution (which is even called "One-Woman Army" in English), taking down numerous Monokuma attackers armed solely with her sword. In the process, she accidentally slashes out Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu's eye.]]

** Axonn and Brutaka are each worth a team of Toa by themselves, and together they once handled an army of Skadi warriors and only handicapped by the fact they were there to broker an alliance and thus not (intentionally) trying to kill any of them. A Skadi is usually about as physically strong as a Toa, for the record.
** The Makuta, however, take the cake thanks to their ComboPlatterPowers and the fact they can literally spawn their own personal army of kraata and Rahkshi. [[BigBad Teridax]] once [[HoldTheLine held his own]] and survived fighting odds of ''100,000'' to 1, albeit with his robot vessel beaten to a barely-functioning pulp by the end of it.
* [[Franchise/MastersOfTheUniverse He-Man]], the Most Powerful Man in the Universe. Of course, he doesn't always fight the forces of evil by himself...

[[folder: Manhua]]

[[folder: Pinball]]

[[folder: Theatre]]

-->There is a thousand Hectors in the field:
-->Now here he fights on Galathe his horse,
-->And there lacks work; anon he's there afoot,
-->And there they fly or die, like scaled sculls
-->Before the belching whale; then is he yonder,
-->And there the strawy Greeks, ripe for his edge,
-->Fall down before him, like the mower's swath:
-->Here, there, and every where, he leaves and takes,
-->Dexterity so obeying appetite
-->That what he will he does, and does so much
-->That proof is call'd impossibility.

[[folder: Toys]]

[[folder: Visual Novels]]

[[folder: Web Animation]]

[[folder: Web Original]]
* The [[BadassArmy Kriegan Army]] from ''Literature/{{Lambda}}''. Each soldier is trained to take down dozens of enemies by themselves. Higher up, their elite Knights of Grabacr are up there at PersonOfMassDestruction.

* As a result of the Mob's total inability to switch out Pokemon, some Mons in ''LetsPlay/TwitchPlaysPokemon'' tend to fall into this category. Pidgeot ("Bird Jesus") from the first run is the primary example, but Feraligatr ("LazorGator") and Azumarill ("M4 Moe") also have this status.
* LetsPlay/{{Galm}} comments on this when he plays ''VideoGame/SniperElite III'': "I am the most interesting man in this world. We need like fifty of me."
* ''[[https://youtu.be/8vYFFx4whoE Knight of Hope]]'' sees a single KnightInShiningArmor take on an entire bandit camp by himself to save a woman they'd been keeping as a SexSlave. While he does come out of it exhausted and injured, he successfully kills them all by himself. Even more to this trope is the bandits do not abide by MookChivalry, he's just that skilled, [[ArmorIsUseless full-plate armor]] is [[SubvertedTrope far more useful]] than Hollywood would have you believe it is, and it's heavily implied [[DivineIntervention God himself is behind him]]. Notably, this isn't as outlandish as it would seem, as a well trained, fully armored knight would have a serious advantage against unarmored, untrained opponents, especially given few of the bandits have the proper weapons to damage him through his armor.

Compare ShowyInvincibleHero and TheAce. See also ConservationOfNinjitsu, which postulates that being outnumbered ''is'' what gives the character the advantage. A subtrope of QualityOverQuantity.