Overshadowed By Awesome / Webcomics

• Cinema Bums illustrates this for Hawkeye in the Avengers movie in this strip.
• This Darken strip sums it up. One's a rogue who hunts down giant abominations for fun, the others a worshipper of Mephistopheles and the last remaining member of the city guard of the Drow's second most important city. But when they're on the same side as a half-dragon high priestess and a disciple of the devil bearing one of the most powerful artefacts in the world?
• Dragon Ball Multiverse:
  • Many characters feel they are this after watching Vegetto and Broly's fight.
  • Yamcha continues his own Running Gag using this as an excuse. Smart.
• In Homestuck, Dave Strider and his Bro get into a swordfight. Dave is awesome, but Bro is Crazy Is Cool, starting off by beating Dave up with a marionette. This is, however, part of Bro's Training from Hell. He knows Dave would always try to beat him, so he makes sure that while Dave can't beat him, he could beat anyone else. Then Bro dies and Dave becomes the arguably most powerful protagonist... only for John to go God Tier. Ouch.
• I Don't Want This Kind of Hero: The gist of Sasa's competence problems as a hero: he's by no means incompetent, but he's not remarkably great in any area, and when you're surrounded by flashy telekinetics, witches, shamans, people with Super-Strength, etc., you don't look that impressive.
• In The Intercontinental Union of Disgusting Characters and its sequels, Ringman would by most rights be considered a very powerful character: a 9th level AD&D paladin with 18/92 Strength, + 5 plate mail, and an intelligent + 5 holy avenger at his disposal. However, he pales to insignificance next to the overly-muchnkinned-out characters who're the stars in that universe, one of whom eventually gets a literal + infinity sword.
• Cale of Looking for Group is actually an aversion: He starts out overshadowed by everyone, but once he takes a level in badass, he's much better. Krunch, the one who is introduced by tackling a dragon, is one of a pair of brothers, a scholar and a warrior. They both think it's hilarious that anyone could ever mistake him for the warrior.
• In The Order of the Stick this occasionally happens when Vaarsuvius or, less frequently, Durkon, show what a 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons wizard or cleric is really capable of. At one point Malack (another cleric), Durkon, and Vaarsuvius have a discussion about dealing with other people's "Tier envy". Elan, on the other hand, knows how to cope.
  Elan: I don't know why everyone complains about being overshadowed in combat. I always found it very relaxing.
• Stand Still, Stay Silent: In the Denmark portion of the prologue, Deadpan Snarker Michael Madsen, exasperated that his boss is mad at him for taking his cat to his sister's place on Bornholm island too close to the very meeting that will keep him from caring for it (rather than leaving him in a cat hotel, which he considers cruel) lashes out at him by sarcastically claiming to actually be on a business trip and having accidentally taken his cat with him. Soon, sudden travel restrictions make Michael's promise to be back in mainland Denmark by the next morning much harder to keep, which causes him to threaten to get all the boat's waiters in a Frivolous Lawsuit unless they make the ferry turn back. Signe, the waitress who ends up dealing with Michael because he's scaring everyone else, beats him out on being THE Deadpan Snarker in the room:
  Signe: Oh no, an important meeting? I'll call the captain right away on our direct emergency line! [picks up imaginary phone] Hello Captain! Oh yes, I'm fine, how are you? So hey, I have a passenger here who would like you to turn back to Ystad...Oh? Oh dear, how unfortunate. I'm sure he'll understand, he seems like a reasonable man. [mimes hanging up] I'm sorry, another passenger already asked to be taken to the Bahamas, so we're heading there now. But you're next in line with your request!
• Alex Hawke of Terra is a military-trained Action Girl and is thus a competent markswoman and hand-to-hand fighter. And she's paired with Grey O'Shea, a former special forces sniper, and Agrippa Varus, a seven-foot-tall Proud Warrior Race Guy and One-Man Army who's been described by commenters as an "alien space ninja". Oh, and Agrippa's training Grey, so...
• Weak Hero:
  • Alex is a competent fighter in his own right, but he just can't hold a candle to the insurmountable Ben and cunning Gray. Even Gerard managed to make his way onto the in-universe fighter ranking where Alex did not. When Alex realises it, he wonders if he's supposed to be a meter for power like Yamcha. Though initially Played for Laughs, Alex constantly being overshadowed by his friends is portrayed more seriously in Season 3. He feels terrible that Ben always has to save him while he can't help Ben in turn, and so trains harder than ever so he can be on equal footing to the rest of the gang. When he still ends up losing to Dongha, it has a devastating effect on him.
  • Jimmy is ranked seventh on the Shuttle Patch and is recognised as a strong fighter, but often ends up losing by virtue of going up against opponents that are unquestionably stronger than him. Though one of these losses is against Doyun, his strength is still acknowledged and Doyun is intimidated by how strong the rest of the Union is if Jimmy is their lowest rung.
• The first comic of Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Game Gusto Fan Comic shows Caam in a Corner of Woe because her fellow clan members have awesome Synchro-Monster forms: Daigusto Eguls (Windaar), Daigusto Gulldos (Wynnda) and Daigusto Sphreeze (Reeze)

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