Bow before Heat Man's awesomeness,
bitch!If I was in Superman's place, I'd be totally lording my powers over all the other Superfriends. "Hey Batman," I'd say, "Nice utility belt! Got anything in there that would help you lift an oil tanker? I didn't think so. Hey Aquaman! You realize I could pretty much kick ass over any sea creature you cared to summon, don't you? Wonder Woman! Your magic lasso makes me tell the truth: You suck!"
Normally,
Super Heroes are modest, and failing that at least they're rarely vain. But then again, if you had superpowers, wouldn't you be the
tiniest bit tempted to lord it over the foiled bad guys? Well the Smug Super thinks so, and in fact he'll
tell you about it. At
great length. In fact, he
won't shut up about it!
The Smug Super is a super hero or villain who knows they've won the
Super Power Lottery and won't hesitate to remind others, especially if they're beneath him on the
Super Weight scale. This character is similar to the
Smug Snake, though rather than be manipulative and sneaky, he's very up front about his opinion of himself and is an active fighter who is at least on an equal footing with the rest of the cast. Also similar to the Smug Snake, he can be a very enjoyable to see in action for the
Scenery Chewing Bad Ass One Liners they deliver. Likewise, he might fall over the edge into camp.
In combat, he's likely to
hold back, taunt his opponents, and
Trash Talk with the best of them. Though he might occasionally suffer setbacks due to his
Pride and underestimating opponents. Especially if they're
mere mortals.
This trope can also form a mild version of
Beware The Superman — in this case, whilst the Super might not actually be malevolent and will still do the right thing, they're still a bit of a bullying, arrogant
Jerk Ass. In more
cynical universes, the
Smug Super may consider himself — and may even be widely considered — to be
The Cape; they very much aren't, however.
May be (in fact, quite often) a target of
Break The Haughty, and is generally a "stronger"
Arrogant Kung Fu Guy. Compare with
Ted Baxter, who
thinks he's this trope. May overlap with
Super Loser when the arrogance is undeserved... either by not having much power or not knowing how to use it well.
Examples:
Anime and Manga
- Dragon Ball Z has Gotenks (and possibly Vegeto).
- Vegetto is questionable as an example because no one's really quite sure how much of the was genuine ego and how much was just an act.
- DBZ villains are all like this, always going on about how great they are compared to their puny foes. Frieza and Cell may be the worse offenders.
- And Vegeta, of course, with his undeniably genuine ego (Cell could not have reached his "Perfect" form otherwise).
- Saint Seiya is all over this trope like bishonen on albino. Every. Single. Enemy the Bronzies face will spend about half the fight lording it over them about how, though it's "admirable you made it this far", they're doomed to fail because they are the most powerful enemy they will ever face. The Silver Saints and later Spectres had a special narcissistic knack for it.
- Phoenix Ikki does this sometimes too, despite being a hero. Of course, by being the stongest Bronze Saint in history he does sometimes beat his opponents with ease.
- Although it's more Charles Atlas Superpower, Ranma from Ranma 1/2 can get really smug about his level of skill. In the few arcs where Akana is gifted martial arts skills she tends to give Ranma a taste of his own medicine.
Comic Books
- It seems to me that Batman is made into this by Memetic Mutation, because he's the Goddamned Batman. And he doesn't even have any goddamned superpowers.
- Most of the other heroes in Empowered are of this nature. Unfortunately for the titular heroine, who is their frequent target, they're also pretty much just overgrown and overpowered high school bullies for the most part as well.
- Pretty much everyone with superpowers in The Authority. The superpowered bad guys tend to be the most arrogant, civilian-oppressing bastards in any comic, who apparently delight in finding the worst possible use for their gifts. As for the actual heroes... well try, less heroic, more sociopathic. The Authority are, basically, what would at best be supervillains in any other universe. They mutilate and kill with wanton abandon, show no consideration for things like "laws" and "national sovereignty" and basically do as they please. The kicker is they honestly think they're some kind of idealists, if only because their enemies are so completely inhuman, and their replacements were even more monstrously inhuman. The trope Light Is Not Good comes to mind, or more accurately, "Fighting Evil Does Not Make You Good".
- While on the subject of Ellis and his imitators... The Boys from Garth Ennis is a situation where both the "heroes" (the eponymous Boys) and the villains, a Justice League ripoff, are both smug, sociopathic, borderline-inhuman killing machines. Garth Ennis is utterly married to this trope, with a pre-nup.
- A similar situation would be the Ultimates, created by Mark Millar of Authority fame, who are basically overpowered bullies (Giant-Man), rich bitches (the Wasp, Scarlet Witch), bigots (Captain America) or simply hired killers (Black Widow). Really watching them get pwned by the Liberators and have to earn their pay was quite cathartic. Incidentally, the series is brilliantly well written, because of the characters, not in spite of them.
- Guy Gardner, in Justice League International was the embodiment of this trope. Especially ironic, as he hadn't really won the Super Power Lottery; he was one of the original Green Lantern Corps, and wasn't even the greatest GL on Earth (let alone the greatest hero) in anyone's mind but his own. He's gone through some Character Development since then, though.
- Guy still has his ego in spades, but he can back it up. He's about the best you can get when you've got a smug super on your hands nowadays.
- Crackerjack in Astro City, despite not actually having superpowers.
- Doc Magus of Marvel Comics 2. Apparently being Dr Jerk is is in the blood.
Film
- Handsome Jack from The Incredibles.
- What about Dash? He takes after his daddy.
- And, of course, Syndrome. The guy's ego is as big as his hair.
- Darryl Revok of Scanners is genuinely evil, and thinks that his psychic powers mean he should Take Over The World.
Literature
- CoreFire from Soon I Will Be Invincible. Though it's implied that he doesn't do this quite to the extent that Dr Impossible makes it out to be. Also, one of the two superheroes who interrogate Dr. Impossible in jail. He learns to regret it.
Live Action TV
- Also has cropped up on My Hero from time to time.
- Excelsior from No Heroics has every cool superpower you care to name, always saves the day and the public loves him. He is also an enormous dick and takes every opportunity to bully Alex, mocking his powers and referring to him as "Hotpants", "Hotpocket" and "The Gayness".
- The Doctor. Just... the Doctor. His dismissal and disdain for any individual or civilisation he decides is beneath him is legendary and one of the only constant facets of his personality (though it is decreased when the writers want him to be more sympathetic), and he ensures that everyone from allies to villains to background characters are aware of how massively inferior they are compared to his big sexy brain.
Webcomics
Web Original
Western Animation
