Retired Badass / Western Animation

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• Billy from Adventure Time. He was Ooo's previous greatest hero before Finn, who idolized him. Among his exploits, he killed an Evil Ocean by punching it, rescued a princess from the evil Fire Count, and most impressively, imprisoned the Lich in amber in order to save the entire world. How does that get even more badass? He imprisoned the Lich by pummeling him into the tree! He retired due to finding the fight against evil pointless since more bad guys always showed up. In the end, Finn and Jake convince him that fighting evil, while not a permanent solution, still helps protect people, inspiring him to consider coming out of retirement. Unfortunately the Lich got to him before he could do much more than think about it.
• Slappy Squirrel from Animaniacs. The premise behind her segments is that she's a veteran from The Golden Age of Animation, and as a result, is wise to the tricks that cartoon villains pull. (Most of her enemies are from that era too, and bother her out of an obsession for revenge, but they aren't nearly as smart.)
• Arcane: Some of the other characters tend to make comments about Vander being a far more brutal and efficient fighter in the past before he mellowed out and turned to bartending. Even with Shimmer massively boosting his muscles and speed, the best Deckard can do with an out of practice Vander with little more than two improvised knuckledusters is to match him until Silco takes the opportunity to stab Vander in the back.
• Malory Archer of Archer is long retired from field agent work. That doesn't mean she's to be trifled with. She's a crack shot with her weapon of choice (A .44 Magnum) and is capable of escaping underground imprisonment without any assistance.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender:
  • Jeong Jeong is a former admiral of the Fire Nation who, disillusioned with the war and killing, deserted the navy, turned into something of a pacifist, (and not the technical kind either), and soon had a group of followers with no apparent goal other than to keep from getting caught or killed until Aang showed up. Jeong Jeong reluctantly taught him some rudimentary firebending, but disappeared at the end of the episode and did not return...until the finale.
  • Iroh might also count as a temporary example. Although not really active anyway through the first two seasons, he is genuinely willing to chuck all other concerns to run a tea house in Ba Sing Se.
  • Piandao is similar to Jeong Jeong, minus the pacificism and the bending. It's All There in the Manual that after he left the military for similar reasons he wandered around the world and studied under several masters before moving to his house. Then the Fire Nation sent one hundred soldiers, and he beat them all himself. After that they left him alone.
  • It's worth noting that all of the above are, along with Pakku and Bumi, revealed to be members of the Order of the White Lotus, which is more or less a secret society of retired badasses.
  • On a very different note, Hama, The Puppet-Master. She is still a formidable opponent at least into her eighties, and when you see how many Fire Nation soldiers they ended up sending to capture her and her alone. There must have been a reason for them sending quite that many troops.
• As in the other incarnations, Alfred shows to be a pretty competent combatant and capable of other heroics in Batman: The Animated Series, especially in the James Bond-like episode "The Lion and the Unicorn" where he defeats two mooks by himself, and with some quick thinking, he delays a terrorist from achieving her goals by fooling her into thinking that he's resisting her truth serum even when he isn't.
• Bruce Wayne does much the same in Batman Beyond, where he serves as a mentor to a new young Batman... although he also proves in a few scenes from the show that he can still kick ass, especially in the first episode with a gang called The Jokerz who assume that such an old man is harmless...
• Grandpa Max from Ben 10. In the original continuity, anyway. Max Tennyson was one of the top operatives in the Earth chapter of the Plumbers, a intergalactic police organization, before retiring a few years before his grandchildren were born. The events of the first series reigniting alien activity on the planet forces him back into action, and by the end of the fourth series, he's the director in charge of the Earth Plumbers.
• In Ben 10: Alien Force, Ben starts the series as one, having chosen to remove the Omnitrix and live a normal life sometime after the Original series.
• One of the youngest examples is 10-year-old Huey Freeman from The Boondocks. Retired from Domestic Terrorism.
  Huey: Eh. I'm retired.
• Dofus: Kerub's Bazaar. The ecaflip Kerub may be long in the tooth now, but back in his heyday, he was a daring adventurer who fought, loved, and lost with the best of them, and has the flippin' great pile of memories to prove it. He currently makes a living as a humble shopkeeper, but he enjoys sharing stories of his exploits with his son, his live-in maid, or any friends or acquaintances who should stop by.
• DuckTales (2017) has Uncle Scrooge retired from adventuring, albeit far more reluctant about it than his comic book counterpart who was perfectly fine with handling the business side of finance. He actually misses going on regular expeditions, but it isn't until the nephews bring up how much of a big deal he used to be that he's prompted to plan a new adventure in order to salvage his ego.
  • Donald Duck is "one of the most daring adventurers of all time", but whatever that incident resulted in the disappearance of his twin sister Della cause him to give up adventuring and cut ties with Uncle Scrooge, instead focusing his efforts on raising his sister's kids. Even once he's brought back into the action, he adamantly tells an old friend that he doesn't want to be a hero anymore, and that his only motivation these days is to keep his nephews safe.
  • Bentina Beakley in this continuity was an agent and later director of secret agency S.H.U.S.H. In her past. However, at the time the series takes place, she left her days as a spy behind and now works as Scrooge's housekeeper.
• In Futurama: after taking up an interest in cooking, Bender finds himself a retired cook/mentor in Helmut Spargle, who lives just long enough to attempt to give Bender a lesson or two, (despite Bender's literal lack of taste), and a secret ingredient. With the confidence instilled by Spargle and the secret ingredient, Bender wins an Iron Chef style cook-off with famous cook Elzar. The stock twist comes when the Professor does an analysis on the secret ingredient, revealing it to be nothing but water... laced with LSD.
• Hudson in Gargoyles left his position as leader of the Gargoyle clan before the series began, but he's still a cunning fighter and often gives some wise advice to Goliath, the current leader, and to other members of the clan.
• In He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983) there was Granamyr, an ancient dragon who was the second-oldest being on Eternia and likely one of the most powerful. In his first appearance (the memorable episode "The Dragon's Gift") he only sent He-Man and Teela on a Secret Test of Character (and had the attitude of a Grumpy Old Man) but in his second appearance, he proved he was still a force to be reckoned with, where he kicked an evil dragon's ass but good in a rather epic aerial battle. This is not a guy you mess with. (Oh and he has a pretty Cool Helmet too.)
• In Hey Arnold!, Grandpa Phil, notorious for his tall tales, claims to have beaten Hitler in a fistfight in WWII. He quickly takes this back... only to reveal on a strikingly serious note that he did beat up Goebbels.
• Kim Possible's Grandmother Nana Possible can give her a run for her money.
• By the time of The Legend of Korra, the surviving members of the Gaang have all become this in varying capacities. Katara is still a master healer and is the one who taught Korra Waterbending, but is not nearly as active as she once was, Zuko has abdicated his Fire Lord title to his daughter, but still acts as an advocate for world peace, and Toph has retreated to a solitary life in the Foggy Swamp. Only Toph and Zuko "come out of retirement" by doing any actual prolonged fighting. Since they're all in their 80's, Zuko is floored with little fanfare^note Though he made a good showing considering that he was fighting under the worse possible terrain effects for his skillset — a newly-trained Katara handed his ass to him under similar conditions back in the first series, while Toph comes out looking better, but aside from her knocking Korra around for fun, she sticks to long-range attacks and claims her back is killing her in the end. She claims that this is the reason Katara, the most sensible of the three, has largely stayed out of the fighting even during the Water Tribe Civil War.
• Molly of Denali: Daniel used to be in the Coast Guard before moving to Qyah with his daughter, Trini.
• My Life as a Teenage Robot has Nora Wakeman. Most people think she’s just an old woman and a Mad Scientist, but she was once a part of Skyway Patrol and can still kick some ass.
• My Little Pony:
  • My Little Pony 'n Friends: In "Would-Be Dragonslayer", Sir Huguenot is described by Alonzo as the bravest knight of all time. He's also retiring, as he's getting too old for heroics, and is on the lookout for a replacement.
  • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were the original wielders of the Elements of Harmony in ancient times and used them to save the world from Discord's tyranny. Then Luna fell to evil and became Nightmare Moon, forcing Celestia to save the world from her. In modern day, Twilight Sparkle and her friends now wield the Elements (which they used to restore Luna to good), so the Princesses largely stick to their official business. However, a bit of Celestia's former badass reappeared when confronting Discord. She was even more badass during the Season 2 finale, when she blasted Queen Chrysalis with magic in order to protect her kingdom. Chrysalis ended up beating her anyway, but only because her power was increased from absorbing Shining Armor's love.
• The Owl House: Amity's father Alador competed in the Bonesborough Brawl when he was younger and even won the championship belt on at least one occasion. While he's put his fighting days behind him and now considers them to have been a waste of time, it's clear that his combat skills haven't dulled in the slightest.
• The Simpsons:
  • On some episodes that take place in the past, Grandpa Simpson is revealed to have been a really awesome war hero. He is shown saving his comrades from a grenade and rescuing Santa Clause from a younger Mr. Burns. He was in nearly every branch of the military and fought in both world wars. This makes his current position as the useless, senile old man even more depressing. He occasionally gets to do something cool, though, like when he and Bart tried to steal the Hellfish treasure or when he helped catch the Springfield Cat Burglar.
  • Principal Skinner is a jaded educator easily cowed by his mother and frequently outmanoeuvred by a ten-year old, but he was also a Green Beret in Vietnam, which occasionally shines through, most notably when he effortlessly beats up a lawyer and two goons sent by Disney to shut down the school carnival.
• In Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Captain America fought on a team of six other superheroes, who are drawn back into Nazi fighting when they are in their 70s.
• Lucas Hall of StarCom: The U.S. Space Force was the greatest Star Ranger in his youth. He’s been retired for fifteen years and is an elderly man now, but while age and inactivity have slowed him down, he’s still a force to be reckoned with. He comes out of retirement to rescue a StarCom team that got trapped in an old Star Ranger base, where his knowledge of the base’s traps and protocols prove invaluable.
• Rex, Gregor, and Wolffe in Star Wars Rebels, three clone troopers who went into hiding after the Clone War ended, living in a beat-up AT-TE on a desert planet fishing for Sandworms. The main characters try recruiting them for the Rebellion but they aren't interested until the Empire attacks and they have a chance to prove they're not obsolete yet. Though now past their prime (clone troopers age twice as fast as ordinary humans, so despite only being 32-years-old, they're biologically 64) and slightly overweight, they're still much more capable than the modern stormtroopers.
• Hinted to be the case with Varian's father, Qurian, from Tangled: The Series. He even has a hidden trunk of gear and looks over some of it while looking at a family portrait.
• Transformers: Prime:
  • Special Agent William Fowler is a retired Army Ranger (And a bit out of shape) but still fully capable of piloting a fighter jet (Still Got It) and whooping some Mook ass. He's even able to hold his own, however briefly, against Silas.
  • To a lesser extent, Ratchet and Soundwave. Ratchet is one of Optimus Prime's oldest allies, and even though he is still capable in combat, he generally serves as Mission Control and stays off the front lines unless his expertise is needed. Meanwhile, Soundwave was Megatron's first follower; despite being the only bot capable of holding his own against the Decepticon leader in the gladiatorial pits, he also stays away from combat preferring to be the "eyes and ears" of the Decepticons. But when push comes to shove, it appears he hasn't lost his touch.
• The Chief in T.U.F.F. Puppy used to be T.U.F.F.'s top agent and able to take out a legion of villains single-handedly. He comes out of retirement in one episode to catch the Chameleon with Dudley. While things don't go very well at first, after some encouragement from Dudley, he shows he's still got enough badass in him to get them out of a jam, then beat the stuffing out of the Chameleon.
• The Venture Bros. has several:
  • The original main members of Team Venture, Col. Gentleman, The Action Man, and Kano (Captain Ersatz's of Allan Quatermain, Captain America, and Kato respectively) were the world's most prolific adventurers in The '60s to the point where comic books were made based on their adventures. And even in the present day, they're more or less just as capable of kicking ass as they were in their prime.
  • Billy Quizboy's mother Rose was once a superhero known as Triple Threat, based on Zatanna, Black Canary, and several 20th-century performers according to Word of God. She presents herself in the present day as a kindly old woman who coddles Billy relentlessly despite him being in his 30's and hides her past from him, but her Mama Bear tendencies present themselves whenever he's threatened.
    Rose: I'll let you take the first swing. And if you don't put me down, I'll beat the living shit out of you till my arthritis kicks in. And I just took my Humira.
• Yan Lin in W.I.T.C.H, as well as her companions in the former Five-Man Band (Halinor, Katma and Cassidy). When Nerissa restores their youth and powers and brainwashes them in the TV series, holy CRAP, the girls are in quite the trouble.

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