History Main / SuperLoser

Contrast WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway, where it is the superpowers themselves which are less than spectacular; while this is often a part of being a Super Loser, it is possible to have superb powers and still be a loser, while for others HeartIsAnAwesomePower that only makes them even ''more'' cool. Similarly, merely having a [[UselessSuperpowers ineffectual]] or EmbarrassingSuperpower does not necessarily make one a loser, even if word of it getting out hurts one's reputation.

Contrast WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway, where it is the superpowers themselves which are less than spectacular; while this is often a part of being a Super Loser, it is possible to have superb powers and still be a loser, while for others HeartIsAnAwesomePower that only makes them even ''more'' cool. Similarly, merely having an EmbarrassingSuperpower does not necessarily make one a loser, even if word of it getting out hurts ones reputation.

Contrast WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway, where it is the superpowers themselves which are less than spectacular; while this is often a part of being a Super Loser, it is possible to have superb powers and still be a loser, while for others HeartIsAnAwesomePower that only makes them even ''more'' cool..

** Fitting for someone who was set up to be an EvilCounterpart to Izuku, Shigaraki was also one at the beginning. In spite of having a Quirk that allow him to [[MakeThemRot rot]] everything he touched, Shigaraki behaved like a PsychopathicManchild who spoke almost entirely in gaming lingo and routinely threw tantrums every time things didn't pan out as he wanted. The fact he also got kicked around by far more competent evildoers like [[/{{Yakuza}} Overhaul]] and [[HeroKiller Stain]] didn't help his image one bit. And just like Izuku, he also went through a great deal of personal revelations and eventually become a genuine villain and a force to be reckoned with.

This trope is easily explained when the transformation is BlessedWithSuck, so only characters who were extremely cool beforehand can keep a measure of that afterwards. Sometimes, if this character is from an older franchise and is a member of a TokenMinority, they may be a victim of SeinfeldIsUnfunny more than anything else - since, [[FairForItsDay compared with other members of their group during their own time]], they ''were'' amazingly competent.

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in ''Film/BatmanReturns'': Selina Kyle was a ButtMonkey before her transformation into Catwoman... and after that, while she ''did'' become more assertive and powerful, she still ended up getting pushed around by the film's three male leads -- Batman, The Penguin, and her old boss, the man who had tormented her and tried to murder her in the first place. Of course, all Selina ever really craved was not physical strength or athletic ability (although she does receive a little of those gifts) but [[YouGoGirl the courage to stand up to sexist men]], which in itself counts for something. She's head and shoulders above any other female character to have appeared in the ''Batman'' series [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny up to that time]]. And it's all ultimately subverted when [[IronWoobie Selina's suffering renders her heroic]]: shot four times by her ex-boss, she just [[TheDeterminator sucks up the pain and keeps coming at him till he runs out of bullets]]; then she lashes them both to an electric generator, electrocutes them both... and survives, leaving her nemesis behind as a [[NightmareFace charcoaled, steaming, bug-eyed mummy]].

* Dick Dastardly had a perfect 0-34 record on ''WackyRaces,'' mainly because he pisses away his leads and invokes DickDastardlyStopsToCheat. He fared no better on [[WesternAnimation/DastardlyAndMuttleyInTheirFlyingMachines either of his]] [[WesternAnimationYogisTreasureHunt two follow-up shows.]]

** The same applies to Peter Stone in the same author's ''Literature/StraightOuttaFangton'' novel series. Peter is a vampire who literally does work in a conveinance store outside of New Detroit. He is not particularly sex, cool, or rich despite this being very common among vampires. No, it turns out that it is only common among ''old'' vampires who are willing to kill or abuse their powers to become rich in the first place. Sadly, Peter is of the FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire sort (unless you piss him off).

-->''Evidently vampirism does have its perks.''

* ''Series/TrueBlood'' features vampires, whose power grows as they become older, though a newborn vampire is still at least ten times faster and stronger than a regular human.
** But then, there is Steve Newlin, who was wimpy and cowardly as a human and remains so as a vampire, despite his increased physical capabilities.

Rather than become a fearsome vampire, they won't even inspire fear in old ladies... who [[ApronMatron will kick]] [[BadassBystander their ass]]. That gigantic dork who just became a FlyingBrick? Far from Franchise/{{Superman}}, or even an {{Expy}}, he's just a gigantic dork with heat vision. Kind of like a [[LawsAndFormulas Law of Conservation]] for ButtMonkey status. If lucky, but only then, and not likely then, they'll escape the PretenderDiss.

* Late in its run, ''[[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes The Road Runner]]'' book from Gold Key (billed as ''Beep Beep, the Road Runner'') billed Wile E. Coyote as "the world's greatest loser."

** Buffy herself was portrayed along these lines in the original 1992 movie (which may or may not be considered reconcilable with the TV series). Ironically, in the very beginning Buffy was ''very'' cool (at least, within the sphere of her little high-school world). But once she's informed of her secret abilities, it becomes clear that, for the moment, Buffy is just another mortal with an interesting family legacy. She can defend herself handily thanks to her uncanny reflexes, but when it comes to all the other job requirements of being a Slayer she's almost completely inexperienced at combat and has to be patiently shown the ropes by her Watcher, Merrick. To make matters worse, Buffy's habit of devoting a great deal of private time to honing her craft, coupled with her brooding about things to which most teenage girls would hardly give a thought, convinces almost everyone else at Hemery High that [[LonersAreFreaks she's a weirdo]] and deserves to be [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer treated with contempt]], even to the point where she winds up a wallflower at the very school dance she helped to prepare. Add to all this her recurring fears and self-doubts, as well as her continuing [[TheDitz ditziness]] (although this may well have been ObfuscatingStupidity all along), and the movie Buffy is much more an underdog hero than a superhero.

* In the ''LightNovel/VampireHunterD'' films, only the top ranking vampires (Magnus, Mier, and Carmilla) come across as suave. Even Lamika is pretty much a LonelyRichKid turned HarmlessVillain. Rei Ginsei angrily demands Count Lee make him a full vampire; Count Lee just laughs at him.

* ''Manga/OnePunchMan'' gives us Saitama, who somehow managed to break all the limits of human abilities through casual exercise and determination and became an InvincibleHero (the title refers to his ability to destroy monsters that ''the Justice League'' would find problematic with a single (half-assed) punch, he is just '''that''' strong). The comedy (and some of the drama) of the story then is that Saitama just doesn't look or act like a proper hero would, being bald, plain-looking and perpetually bored while having very little recognition, many haters and no money. It doesn't help that he seems to have more trouble dealing with everyday annoyances than actual supervillains (ex. A RunningGag is that he has more problems trying to kill a little regular mosquito when he easily destroys a humanoid monster-mutant mosquito earlier in the manga).

* ComicBook/SpiderMan:

** Mac Gargan. While Spider-Man makes fun of most of his foes while fighting them, the Scorpion has always gotten an extra dose of it. This didn't change at all after Mac got an upgrade when he bonds with the Venom symbiote. He gets no more respect than before from Spider-Man, who states that a loser with a Venom symbiote is still a loser, and that's right after he bonded with it. Furthermore, Gargan was never able to have as much control over the symbiote as any of its other hosts. Lastly, when Gargan joins Norman Osborn's Dark Avengers, he is the butt monkey of the team, inspiring no fear in his non-powered teammate Bullseye and being constantly picked on by Daken. When the team is publicly introduced on television, Spider-Man comments to his New Avengers teammates that he's embarrassed that Mac Gargan is masquerading as Spider-Man because it's "not even the good Venom."
** Speaking of the symbiote, there's the oft-forgotten [[LegacyCharacter second Venom]], Angelo Fortunato. Before his Maggia Don father acquired the Venom symbiote for him, he was little more than a timid loser pushed around by everybody, [[AbusiveParents including his own father]]. After getting the symbiote, he got a boost in confidence, but was ultimately still the same timid loser at heart and he cowardly ran away once he started losing his fight with Spider-Man. Both Peter and the symbiote [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech call him out]] on how pathetic he is--the latter right before it ditches him mid-leap between buildings.

* ''ComicBook/JimmyOlsen'' has the titular character randomly obtain and lose superpowers, and no matter what he does, every superhero still thinks of him as just a regular guy, and not even a third rate sidekick.
* Late in its run,''[[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes The Road Runner]]'' book from Gold Key (billed as ''Beep Beep, the Road Runner'') billed Wile E. Coyote as "the world's greatest loser."

* Syndrome from ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' is a terrific villain and a horrible superhero. No matter how many gadgets he has, becoming equal to supers, he is still a loser. For reference, when he shows off in front of civilians after "stopping" the invading Omnidroid, he absentmindedly tosses a tanker he was levitating into the distance while power posing. The rest of his "fight" with the Omnidroid consisted of him getting pimp-slapped into a building and passing out.
* Titan started out this way in ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}''[[spoiler:... then crossed the MoralEventHorizon into the [[BigBad completely villainous]] "Tighten" who is a [[FromNobodyToNightmare genuine force to be reckoned with]].]]

* In ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'', the titular organization often has to deal with "lesser" VillainOfTheWeek vampires who see themselves as cool, but are rarely more than a SmugSuper who makes short work of some hapless RedShirtArmy only to be quickly cut down by one of the main characters. Ironically, Seras, who plays the PluckyComicRelief role, is the only vampire character who comes across as legitimately tormented; Alucard is a PsychoForHire AntiHero, and Integra is TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask. Alucard basically calls several VillainOfTheWeek vampires wimps to their face before killing them. Of course, he's nearly an EldritchAbomination himself.

** More pathetic yet are Leet and Uber, a pair of supervillains with a video game schtick. One reason for their lack of success has to do with their rather lackluster powers--Uber can mimic skills at near-master levels of ''normal'' humans, while Leet can build gadgets that only work properly once--but a larger reason is that they are just incompetent. There are plenty of characters with lame powers who still manage to be creative and clever with them, bit this pair is mocked as being incompetent by pretty much everyone in the story.

* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', one of the supervillain gangs of Brockton Bay is The Merchants, led by a meth addict supervillain called Skidmark. Even ignoring the weakness of his superpower (laying an effect on a surface that pushes things in one direction) he's considered a total nobody -- as of the start of the story, his gang only 'holds territory' that no-one else is interested in.
** More pathetic yet are Leet and Uber, a pair of supervillains with a video game schtick. One reason for their lack of success has to do with their powers--Uber can mimic skills at near-master levels of ''normal'' humans, while Leet is a tinker whose devices tend to malfunction--but a larger reason is that they are just incompetent. This pair is mocked as being incompetent by pretty much everyone in the story.

* There was a circus strongman character on the 1980s Disney kids' series ''Dumbo's Circus'' named Q.T. Despite his Herculean strength (he could lift a ton of rocks over his head with almost no effort), Q.T. was very shy and naive, even to the point of being a ManChild, and consequently came off as a sort of sympathetic dork.