History Main / BadassBystander

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_Man Tank Man,]] who to this day has his true identity unknown. Also a BadassPacifist.

* In 2019, Toni Doherty from New South Wales [[https://allthatsinteresting.com/video-koala-bush-fire-rescue?fbclid=IwAR0egKZxXRMtLIRr7MfOTJebc2kfel_yniUZ8jWB8VDZpcvLMG7znIXcd3o charged into a bushfire to rescue a koala]].

* Retired [[UsefulNotes/NepaliWithNastyKnives Gurkha soldier]] Bishnu Shrestha sat quietly while forty bandits robbed the train he was in, until the bandits decided to try and rape the young girl next to him. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishnu_Shrestha Bad move.]] He pulled out his service {{kukri|sAreKool}} and proceeded to kill 3 of them, and injured 8 more, until the rest ran for their lives. As a result, he was briefly un-retired so he could get a medal.

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/TheDarkKnight https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dark_knight_bystander_2.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[BankRobbery Bank robberies]] go differently when the manager is [[RobbingTheMobBank in the mob]].]]

* During the riots in Seattle following the death of George Floyd, some of the rioters got the idea of stealing rifles that were stored in the trunk of some parked police cars. [[https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DaVAMUejexa0&ved=2ahUKEwjLm72emOTtAhUDrFkKHUS3DswQo7QBMAB6BAgDEAE&usg=AOvVaw1LS4c3tyF78uls4ymAEuE_ An armed ex-marine who was guarding a news crew covering the event had other plans.]]

* ''Film/AnnaAndTheApocalypse:'' Two teenage girls with no names or audible dialogue swat at a pack of zombies with their backpacks for several seconds while trying vainly to get the DistractedFromDeath Anna's attention and warn her to get to safety.

* Subverted in ''Film/HoboWithAShotgun'' by a random doctor, who flips out and opens fire on the Plague when they first burst into his hospital. While he does get killed in the end, he at least still had the guts to face and attack TheDreaded head on.

** In ''Film/TheLivingDaylights'', TheDragon Necros, a dangerous assassin, infiltrates an [=MI6=] safehouse, quietly murders his way through numerous guards... and is discovered by a random security officer known only by his radio callsign (Green 4), a OneSceneWonder who immediately gets in a fight with him and manages to give Necros a ''very'' serious challenge, and is only defeated when Necros knocks him out with a frying pan. Green 4 not only held off the man who gives Bond himself trouble for several minutes, but also (probably) survives the attack.

* ''Film/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen:'' When Quatermain is attacked at his club, one of the other hunters there gets out his own rifle, getting a shot at the assassins which lightly injures one of them. After being forced to dive for cover, he still yells out a warning to Quatermain when another killer comes at him from behind.

** In ''Film/IronMan2'', when the Hammeroids start attacking people, one person who's not even trying to run away (he's literally just standing in the middle of a crowd while everyone else is running away in a full-on panic) is a little kid wearing toy replicas of Iron Man's mask and repulsor--the kid stands up to one of the Hammeroids at the Stark Expo and manages to stall it long enough for the real Iron Man to show up and defeat it (and thank the kid for his help). When you really think about it, that kid not only saved the lives of numerous people, but he also likely prevented some major collateral damage.[[note]]What makes this even better is that WordOfGod has confirmed that [[HeroicBystander the kid]] was in fact [[Franchise/SpiderMan Peter Parker]], who must've been around only 7 or 8 when this happened.[[/note]]

** ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' has a minor character (credited simply as "Old German Man") [[DefiantStoneThrow who decides that he'd rather be]] DefiantToTheEnd [[BigBad against Loki]] [[KneelBeforeZod instead of kneeling before him]]. And (though not confirmed) given the man's age, the dialogue ''and'' the fact that he's German, [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII he was probably old enough to remember when]] [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler this same situation happened before in Germany]] -- and he'll be ''damned'' if he just sits around and lets it happen again.

** While the Newark Mayor, he was on his way home one night when he saw that his neighbor's house was on fire and their daughter was trapped inside. He immediately ran into the flaming building and carried the girl out safely. People immediately started joking about the new standard for government service.

* In 2015, a gunman attempted to open fire on a crowded train in France. As soon as he exited a lavatory with weapons ready, two French passengers who happened to be nearby tried to disarm him, followed by a Briton and three Americans, including two US military personnel [[BusmansHoliday on leave]].

* In 2001, a young boy named Jessie Arbogast was swimming at a Florida beach when he was [[ThreateningShark attacked by a bull shark that bit off his right arm and tore out a piece of his right thigh]]. His uncle, Vance Flosenzier, grabbed the shark by the tail and dragged it to shore where a park ranger shot it. Flosenzier's actions prevented the shark from attacking anyone else and also allowed Jessie's severed arm to be recovered from the shark's mouth and eventually reattached.

* ''[[Film/DiscoGodfather The Avenging Disco Godfather]]'' has the title character (played by Rudy Ray Moore) yell to a random jogger while fighting drug pushers, "Howard, these men are ''angel dust dealers!''" The jogger replies, "Okay, Godfather," and joins the fray. "Howard" was actually Rudy Ray Moore's martial arts instructor in real life.

** In ''Film/IronMan2'', when the Hammeroids start attacking people, one person who's not even trying to run away (literally just standing in the middle of a crowd while everyone else is running away in a full-on panic) is a little kid wearing toy replicas of Iron Man's mask and repulsor--the kid stands up to one of the Hammeroids at the Stark Expo and manages to stall it long enough for the real Iron Man to show up and defeat it (and thank the kid for his help). When you really think about it, that kid not only saved the lives of numerous people, but he also likely prevented some major collateral damage.[[note]]What makes this even better is that WordOfGod has confirmed that [[HeroicBystander the kid]] was in fact [[Franchise/SpiderMan Peter Parker]], who must've been around only 7 or 8 when this happened.[[/note]]

** ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' has a minor character (credited simply as "Old German Man") [[DefiantStoneThrow who decides that he'd rather be]] DefiantToTheEnd [[BigBad against Loki]] [[KneelBeforeZod instead of kneeling before him]]. And (though not confirmed) given the man's age, the dialogue ''and'' the fact that the man is German, [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII he was probably old enough to remember when]] [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler this same situation happened before in Germany]] -- and he'll be ''damned'' if he just sits around and lets it happen again.

* In ''Film/{{Unknown|2011}}'', Gina's a mere taxi driver and waitress, but she ends up killing three assassins (the first by sneaking up on him while he's strangling the hero and then injecting him with his own poison, the next two with CarFu). The hero only kills one.

** Deconstructed in one episode with an ex-cop who deliberately engineered a hostage situation in order for him to appear as a BadassBystander to defuse a situation as a way to regain his career, join the SRU after failing to be accepted and prove specifically to Parker that he was SRU material. Unfortunately for him, things spiraled out of his control and he ended up accidentally shooting the hostage.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' fanfic [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/14792883 Fox Rain]] this is how Lila meets Master Fu: as she was going back home after her original Akumatization she spotted [[MuggingTheMonster four delinquents her age trying to mug Master Fu]] and scared them off by pretending Ladybug was about to jump them-and was actually ready to ''physically beat them up'' if that failed (and hopeful it happened and gave her the chance to vent some of her anger on them). She then escorted the old man to his home.

* 2 examples in ''Fanfic/MyRidonculousRace''. The 1st is Anjel Williams, who offers to drive Jordan and Fabian throughout London when they blow all their money on a hospital visit. 2nd are [[spoiler: the Gym Rats Gabriella and Nekota]], an already eliminated team who not only find one racer's stolen passport but also offer to drive their team around Washington DC.
* [[https://nobodyfamousposts.tumblr.com/post/184924129505/ladybugout-roses-stand Rose's Stand]], a RecursiveFic for ''Fanfic/LadyBugOut'', centers on Rose using the self-defense tips she got from the titular blog to defend herself against an akuma, knocking them out cold [[TheCavalryArrivesLate before Ladybug gets there]].
* ''Fanfic/TheSecretReturnOfAlexMack'': The Macks get kidnapped, but before the kidnappers can drive off, they're confronted by the neighbours. [[spoiler: Turns out that traces of GC-161 have been getting into the town water supply, giving superpowers to a significant fraction of the population.]]

* In the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series, as well as ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'', random people will try to take you out if you try to do something evil close to them, and will pick up random weapons like assault rifles and submachine guns lying around nearby to do it with. Sometimes (especially in ''Oblivion'') tries to ShopliftAndDie.

* In an interesting variation, Wiki/SCPFoundation's usual {{Red Shirt}}s are "D-class agents": death row criminals apprehended from all over the globe [[AssholeVictim who nobody is going to miss]], used as test subjects for anything that they can't use to their advantage, terminated if they survive through enough experiments. So, by Foundation standards, they're Bystanders. [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2439 SCP-2439]] is... the latest number that the D-class knew wasn't taken when they scrawled the Containment Procedures on the wall where the lamp is kept. It's an EldritchAbomination that causes victims to start HearingVoices, designated as Keter (same ranking as [[OmnicidalManiac 682]]) by the last D-class who knew what Keter meant. If it infects someone long enough, it'll turn them into PeoplePuppets. If it gets ahold of [[BenevolentConspiracy Foundation staff]], the D-class reckon that the entire world is fricked. So they keep the information just between themselves, wreck anyone who tries to tell the Foundation staff about it, kill the Foundation staff who manage to find out about it anyways, and make sure that the ''some'' of the other D-class agents know about it before their termination comes up. Every D-class who knows about it is (a) containing it voluntarily as TheAtoner, (b) containing it voluntarily ForTheEvulz, or (c) is about to get his head bashed in because he's not willing to contain it.

* Mayor of London [[http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/nov/03/boris-johnson-attack-camden-london1 Boris Johnson]] encountered a woman being attacked while out riding his bicycle. He proceeded to take their pipe and chase them down the street calling them "Oiks!!!"

* A similar act of heroism occurred a year later in Sydney when three men pinned another KnifeNut [[https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/police-praise-heroic-bystanders-who-used-chairs-a-milk-crate-and-an-axe-to-stop-sydney-knifeman/news-story/cd96652a0d04ca17c8fdde34c30550c6 using a chair and milk crate].

* Trolley-Man, [[https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/nov/09/trolley-man-passers-by-use-chair-and-trolley-to-try-to-take-down-melbourne-attacker a Melbourne-based man who used a shopping trolley to ram a homicidal maniac in 2018]]. A similar act of heroism occurred a year later in Sydney when three men pinned another KnifeNut [[https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/police-praise-heroic-bystanders-who-used-chairs-a-milk-crate-and-an-axe-to-stop-sydney-knifeman/news-story/cd96652a0d04ca17c8fdde34c30550c6 using a chair and milk crate].

* Trolley-Man, [[https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/nov/09/trolley-man-passers-by-use-chair-and-trolley-to-try-to-take-down-melbourne-attacker a Melbourne-based man who used a shopping trolley to ram a homicidal maniac in 2018]]. A similar act of heroism occurred a year later in Sydney when [[https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/police-praise-heroic-bystanders-who-used-chairs-a-milk-crate-and-an-axe-to-stop-sydney-knifeman/news-story/cd96652a0d04ca17c8fdde34c30550c6 three men pinned another KnifeNut using a chair and milk crate].

-->-- The '''''[[UsefulNotes/BritishNewspapers Daily Record]]''''' headline, summing up what bag handler John Smeaton did during the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Glasgow_International_Airport_attack 2007 Glasgow Airport attack.]]

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':

** In episode 2, [[spoiler:Minami Suzuhara has spent the episode blaming herself for her gymnastic coach's abusive treatment of her. But when Ai gets blinded by goop during the fight against the Wonder Killer, Minami suddenly defies her coach by shouting directions to Ai so that Ai can still dodge attacks and land hits even while blinded.]]
** At the beginning of episode 4, [[spoiler:Miko and Mako prevent the Wonder Killer from skewering Ai by playing a video of the idol Yu-Yu, because since the Wonder Killer is based off Yu-Yu's stalker, the Wonder Killer would never skewer a girl while her idol is watching.]] Simultaneously, [[spoiler:while Momoe is fighting the Wonder Killer based off the executive who harassed Miwa, Momoe starts to have trouble when the Wonder Killer fires a red square of energy and she needs to block it with her umbrella. Suddenly, Miwa pretends to give into the Wonder Killer's advances, causing the Wonder Killer to let its guard down so Momoe can break through the red energy square and stab it to death.]]

* The ''ComicBook/MightyAvengers2013'' tie-in to ''ComicBook/{{Infinity}}'', sees Proxima Midnight, one of ComicBook/{{Thanos}}'s generals, leading an army into New York City and demanding everyone's surrender. One old woman's response is to pick up a brick and chuck it at Proxima's head, shouting [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_shall_not_pass "No pasaran!"]] It touches off a mass response from the gathered crowd, and while "No pasaran!" doesn't have much effect, "Avengers Assemble" does.

* In ''ComicBook/WhatIf: ComicBook/HouseOfM'', every superhero and villain loses their powers. This leads to the ComicBook/RedSkull, with the combined forces of the Hand, A.I.M, and Hydra to try and take over New York, now that they have no competition. ComicBook/IronMan tries to save the day, with the help of the other un-superheroes in new iron suits, but gets their asses handed to them. This leads Peter Parker, formerly known as Franchise/SpiderMan, to jump into the fray with a Badass Speech and, with his old web shooter, smashes the cosmic cube the Red Skull is holding. The result: the ''entire city of New York'' {{Zerg Rush}}es the Red Skull and his minions.
* In the ''ComicBook/XMen'' graphic novel ''ComicBook/GodLovesManKills'', main villain and SinisterMinister William Stryker is about to shoot ComicBook/KittyPryde after she gives him a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech on live TV. [[spoiler: In the book's climax, Stryker aims his gun and the X-Men stand their ground. A shot is fired, but it's ''Stryker'' who falls over, as he was shot (non-lethally) by a police officer working security. The cop states rather obviously that Stryker was about to shoot an unarmed little girl, which is ''not'' the Word of God.]]

* Matheson in ''{{Cliffhanger}}''. The villains are conducting a daring plane-to-plane hijacking in midair, and Matheson is one of the doomed {{Redshirt}} FBI agents on board. He's shot multiple times in the chest, but gets back up while they're transferring the money cases over to their plane by cable, grabs an Uzi, shoots one of the hijackers, then riddles the bad guys' plane with bullets, mortally wounding another one of them and making them lose the money cases ''and'' crash their plane because his bullets hit the hydraulic system. Long story short: this one random guy manages to screw over the villains singlehandedly!

* ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet2FreddysRevenge'': One of the guests at Lisa's party tries talking Freddy down while he is on a killing rampage.

* By definition, [[WorldOfBadass EVERYONE]] in second-edition's version of ''TabletopGame/DarkSun'' that isn't a specific monster or named NPC falls into this category. To whit: in all other campaign settings, average [=NPCs=] had no level and anything done to them was "critical fail or total success." In Athas, a world where EverythingIsTryingToKillYou is as literal as possible, the ''average'' person on the street is a level 3 Fighter. Later editions toned this down rules-wise, but it's still generally accepted that, with levels and such being a "relative" thing, everyone walking the blasted desert of a planet is functionally tougher than anyone from any other D&D world.

** In "Chemistry" from ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', ComicBook/PoisonIvy's just revealed she set up Gotham's wealthiest to fall for a bunch of plant people she created to get their attention, marry them, and kill them to get their fortunes. Ivy planned to kill all the respective millionaires during their honeymoon cruise, but gets momentarily distracted when she realizes Susan Wayne (the plant woman who married Bruce Wayne) hasn't joined them yet before the ship's destroyed. It's at this point a rich woman asks her compatriots why they're simply letting Ivy do this and incites them to fight back against Ivy's plants.

** Earlier, when Dan Turpin single-handedly turns the tide against {{ComicBook/Darkseid}} in ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries''. With Superman [[BadassInDistress captured and publicly humiliated]] in order to cow humanity into hopelessness, Dan Turpin alone flips off the triumphant Darkseid and rallies the crowd behind him. Dan leads a counterattack, singlehandedly frees Superman, defeats several Parademons, and helps fend off the forces of Apokolips until [[GondorCallsForAid the forces of New Genesis arrive to liberate the Earth]]. Now, while it's true that the ''viewers'' already knew Turpin was a tough cop, Darkseid had no clue who this guy was and thought he'd conquered the Earth by defeating its greatest champion. Unfortunately, this also counts as a DyingMomentOfAwesome, as the fleeing Darkseid kills Turpin out of spite.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'':
** One day, the girls get tired of always saving the townspeople from monsters and invoke this trope by spending the entire episode getting them to actually figure out HOW to destroy it. Granted, for quite some time they were [[IdiotBall total MORONS]], [[ItMakesSenseInContext having reasoned that soggy toast would fend off the monster]], but finally figure out how to destroy it.

* In one of the episodes involving the Lizard in ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderman'', a little old lady saves Spider-Man's life by attacking the Lizard [[HandbagOfHurt with her handbag]].
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock'' begins with the QuirkyMinibossSquad of metahumans robbing mallgoers. One promptly gets a facefull of pepper spray from [[NeverMessWithGranny an old lady]].

* Senator Cory Booker.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_Man Tank Man,]] who to this day has his true identity unknown.

** ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' has a minor character (credited simply as "Old German Man") [[DefiantStoneThrow who decides that he'd rather be]] DefiantToTheEnd [[BigBad against Loki]] [[KneelBeforeZod instead of kneeling before him]] -- given the man's age, the dialogue and the fact he's supposed to be German, [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII the man was probably old enough to remember when]] [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler this same situation happened before in Germany,]] and he'll be ''damned'' if he just sits around and lets it happen again.

* Matheson in ''{{Cliffhanger}}''. The villains are conducting a daring plane-to-plane hijacking in midair, and Matheson is one of the doomed {{Redshirt}} FBI agents on board. He's shot multiple times in the chest, but gets back up while they're transferring the money cases over to their plane by cable, grabs an Uzi, shoots one of the hijackers, then riddles the bad guys' plane with bullets, mortally wounding another one of them and making them lose the money cases ''and'' crash their plane because his bullets hit the hydraulic system. In short, this one random guy basically screws the bad guys over singlehandedly!

* When a gang of Yakuza pull swords on Bae-dal in ''Film/FighterInTheWind'', some guy in a hat (later revealed to be an old friend) leaps out of the crowd and fights them to a standstill - despite only having one hand.

** In ''Film/IronMan2'', when the Hammeroids start attacking people, one person who's not even trying to run away (literally just standing in the middle of a crowd of people running away in a full-on panic) is a little kid wearing toy replicas of Iron Man's mask and repulsor--the kid stands up to one of the Hammeroids at the Stark Expo, confusing it and managing to stall it long enough not only for the real Iron Man to show up and blast the droid--the kid also likely prevented the deaths of numerous people as well as massive collateral damage.[[note]]What makes this even better is that WordOfGod has confirmed that [[HeroicBystander the kid]] was in fact [[Franchise/SpiderMan Peter Parker]], who must've been around only 7 or 8 when this happened.[[/note]]

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock'' begins with the QuirkyMinibossSquad of metahumans robbing mallgoers. One promptly gets a faceful of pepper spray from a [[NeverMessWithGranny little old lady]].

* Be careful which civilians you pick a fight with in ''VideoGame/SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters''. [[UpToEleven Some of them are tougher than the final boss.]]