History Main / CapeBusters

** The Sentinels are [[GiantRobot Giant]] {{Killer Robot}}s equipped with gene-scanning equipment created to track down and fight mutants. They vary between being intended as "police", being programmed to track and capture mutants so they can be imprisoned for life in internment camps, or just being anti-mutant soldiers for a foreseen war, but they have a bad tendency to [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters go rogue and attempt to wipe out all humans as well]].

** [[ComicBook/MarvelUniverseVsThePunisher Later still]] Frank is killing off Marvel superheroes again... except they're all zombies now.

* Several organizations in the [[TheEmpire Imperium of Man]] in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' fill this role. Of particular note is the Inquisition, that consists of 3 major branches: Alienhunters, Daemonhunters and Witchhunters.

-->-- ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'', "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS2E9QuestionAuthority Question Authority]]"

* The U.S. government's anti-superhuman organization, Cadmus, became the primary enemies for a decent-sized portion of ''[[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Justice League Unlimited]]'''s run, but they're really a Deconstruction of the whole concept. Despite their noble stated goals, they cause as many problems as they solve to the point where they're indistiguishable from the supervillains the League usually fights. [[spoiler:Considering they're really being controlled by Lex Luthor and Braniac, this isn't an accident.]]

* ''The Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' features both Checkmate in the United States and the Longsword program in France. Both groups are highly-trained normal soldiers using very high-tech weaponry and low-grade PoweredArmor.

* In ''ComicBook/RatMan'', this is essentially [[TheHeavy Janus Walker]]'s government job: murder any superhero the government finds inconvenient. He's tremendously effective at his job thanks to his immense combat pragmatism, utter lack of fear or respect for superheroes (he once mentioned he divides superheroes in two categories, the ones who think they can stop bullets with their hands and the ones who thinks he won't shoot. He then showed off his collection of bullet-pierced superhero gloves and masks), and being generally very good at killing anything and anyone. In fact the only creature who ever survived getting on his wrong side without him being recalled was Rat-Man, and that's because, in a rare moment of cunning, he ''stole his gun before he decided to kill him''. On the other hand, in the GrandFinale he killed [[spoiler:''[[BigBad the Shadow incarnated as Topin]]'']] by stomping on his head while he was weak, [[BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork neatly solving the problem that Rat-Man would never kill anyone]].

* ComicBook/MarshalLaw ,the titular protagonist predates ComicBook/{{Stormwatch}}Team Achilles And ComicBook/{{TheBoys}}, also being a super being himself, initially concepted as a parody of ComicBook/{{JudgeDredd}}, to becoming a "hero hunter". This concept would later on be VindicatedbyHistory .
''[[{{Catchphrase}} -I'm a Hero Hunter. I hunt heroes. Haven't found any yet.]]''

-->-- ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited -- "Question Authority"''

''[[{{Tagline}} -I'm a Hero Hunter. I hunt heroes. Haven't found any yet.]]''

[-I'm a Hero Hunter. I hunt heroes. Haven't found any yet.-] ]]

* ComicBook/MarshalLaw ,the titular protagonist predates ComicBook/{{Stormwatch}}And ComicBook/{{TheBoys}}, also being a super being himself, initally concepted as a parody of ComicBook/{{JudgeDredd}}, to becoming a "hero hunter".
would later on be VindicatedbyHistory .

** In the third season, Grodd describes the Legion this way as one supervillain to another, but without the ideals of muggles feeling like the earth is threatened by this new development so much as, "if ''they're'' gonna band together..."

Unlike MutantDraftBoard, the Cape Busters are primarily composed of mundane, non-powered humans, rather than being an organization of government Supers attempting to assimilate all other Supers. The Cape Busters may or may not employ one or two super-powered individuals themselves, but the vast majority of the organization's forces lacks any superpowers (other than assault rifles and-or supertech of some nature).

* In the {{Elseworld}}s comic ''Comicbook/NightwingTheNewOrder'' Nightwing leads a government task force that ruthlessly tracks down and depowers meta-humans, and those their devices can't yet depower are put into stasis. It's eventually revealed that the technology that powers the devices in question is from [[spoiler:Apokolips and was originally designed to depower meta-humans in order to weaken the planet's defenses against an invasion]].
* The {{ComicBook/OMAC}}s in the ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'' DCU continuum. While Franchise/{{Batman}} had programmed a spy satellite to keep tabs over the metahuman community, an unfortunate combination of external tampering, hostile takeover and [[AIIsACrapshoot inherent programming flaws]] led the satellite to rechristen itself ''Brother Eye'' and turn millions of individuals, preinfected with a special nanovirus, into an army of Cape Busters, [[PeoplePuppets devoid of free will but physically enhanced with armor and stock superpowers]], remotely controlled by Brother Eye itself to wage its battle against metahumans.

Unlike MutantDraftBoard, the Cape Busters are primarily composed of mundane, non-powered humans, rather than being an organization of government Supers attempting to assimilate all other Supers. The Cape Busters may or may not employ one or two super-powered individuals themselves, but the vast majority of the organization's forces lacks any superpowers (other than assault rifles).

** Most notably, during the Civil War arc, when [=SHIELD's=] primary mission was to hunt down heroes who refused to comply with the Superhuman Registration Act. SHIELD agents were then given the derogatory nickname "Cape Killers". [[FridgeLogic Which is odd given that relatively few supers in the Marvel universe actually wear capes.]]
*** This was at first a derogatory nickname, but has since been adopted (especially under Norman Osborn's HAMMER organization) as their official designation. They operate as a SWAT-esque subdivision of regular agents, backing up any government-backed metahuman operatives (Thunderbolts, now the Dark Avengers) when confronting non-registered metahumans or metahuman criminals (which SHIELD/HAMMER never seemed to see any distinction between).

* The U.S. government's anti-superhuman organization, Cadmus, became the primary enemies for a decent-sized portion of ''[[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Justice League Unlimited]]'''s run, until it turned out they were [[HijackedByGanon really being controlled by]] Lex Luthor/[[spoiler:Brainiac]].

* ''Film/{{Jumper}}'' presents us with the Paladins, a group of individuals with training and equipment to hunt down and kill any [[TeleportersAndTransporters Jumper]]. Their reasoning for this is because they believe only God can be anywhere. This is deconstructed to a frightening degree as they do not care about civilian casualties and while some Jumpers have committed crimes, this does not justify the actions done (heck, some have turned to crime as a result of the Paladins). The protagonist is technically this; [[spoiler:it turns out his mother left him and his dad when she discovered he had powers and since she was affiliated with the Paladins, she couldn't bear the thought. This left the dad a broken man and made him a cruddy parent to his son. It was this unstable life that would convince the protagonist to try and steal to live.]]

[[folder:Anime]]

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' has Anti-Skill, a group of people dedicated to keeping order in a town full of espers. Said people have no powers, just modern armor, plastic shields and automatic weapons. They are considered superior to Judgement, a group composed primarily of espers. Probably because these espers are children, and adults try to avoid putting them in too much danger.

[[folder: Comic Books]]

* Post-''ComicBook/New52'', from the pages of ''[[ComicBook/GrantMorrisonsBatman Batman Incorporated]]'', Franchise/TheDCU now has Spyral. At least one of their ploys was to create the FemmeFatale Batwoman, hoping she'd get close enough to Bats to uncover his identity (instead she pulled a HeelFaceTurn). They know full well how unpopular this agenda would make them, so they prefer to recruit rebels, rogues and washouts over genuine patriots, and operate heavily in secrecy.

* The Department of Extranormal Operations is supposed to be safeguard the world and employs various metahumans. However, a short story in a "Secret Files" special has a whistleblower relating how the DEO spends billions to find measures to take down any metahuman. This includes a team who will swallow pills to make them faster than the Flash for one minute before their bodies burn out, weapons that can melt robots like the Metal Men and more. The man thinks this is wrong and so decides to hand the only disc with the information to one person he thinks can be trusted: ComicBook/LexLuthor.

* The ''Creator/{{Wildstorm}}'' universe had two versions of {{ComicBook/Stormwatch}} along these lines: Team Achilles and the [[ComicBook/StormwatchPHD PHD]] (Post-Human Division), although each had a few superhuman members. The former were an entirely military unit and occasionally used high-tech equipment, while the latter were street-level operatives with a wide range of specialties.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Rat-Man}}'', this is essentially [[TheHeavy Janus Walker]]'s government job: murder any superhero the government finds inconvenient. He's tremendously effective at his job thanks to his immense combat pragmatism, utter lack of fear or respect for superheroes (he once mentioned he divides superheroes in two categories, the ones who think they can stop bullets with their hands and the ones who thinks he won't shoot. He then showed off his collection of bullet-pierced superhero gloves and masks), and being generally very good at killing anything and anyone. In fact the only creature who ever survived getting on his wrong side without him being recalled was Rat-Man, and that's because, in a rare moment of cunning, he ''stole his gun before he decided to kill him''. On the other hand, in the GrandFinale he killed [[spoiler:''[[BigBad the Shadow incarnated as Topin]]'']] by stomping on his head while he was weak, [[BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork neatly solving the problem that Rat-Man would never kill anyone]].
** In the final arc the superheroes are outlawed, and with Valker [[spoiler:being currently dead]] the job falls to the normal police. [[RealityEnsues They quickly find out they cannot compete with people with superpowers]].

* ''{{Film/Glass}}'' has [[spoiler:the unnamed organization that appears in the final act. Denoted by a three-leaf clover insignia, they have been suppressing the knowledge of the existence of superhumans, both good and evil, for over 10,000 years. Though their methods have been typically fatal, the film features an experiment by one of their operatives, Dr. Ellie Staple, to gaslight three superhumans into believing they had imagined their powers as the result of mental illness. The experiment is technically a success, though footage of a superpowered battle in the film's climax is uploaded to the internet, effectively destroying millennia of progress.]]

* The hazekillers in ''{{Franchise/Mistborn}}'' are ordinary soldiers trained specifically to fight [[WhateverMancy Allomancers]].

* Laura Anne Gilman's Retriever novels have the Silence; a secret society out to protect the normal people from the Cosa Nostra.

* In ''Literature/WearingTheCape'', the Department of Superhuman Affairs is the federal agency tasked with assessing superhuman threats to national security and assisting local authorities who can't deal with their superhuman problems. The DSA, with ties to the Secret Service, FBI, and US Marshals Service, and run by former US President Kayle--the man who created it--has a shadowy reputation and is every conspiracy theorist's Holy Grail.
* In ''Literature/ShadowOps'', the US military's Supernatural Operations Corps (SOC) has containment of "Latents" as one of their primary jobs. Any Latent who manifests powers and doesn't cooperate is deemed a "Selfer" who is targeted for death or imprisonment, using an almost fascist justification that supernatural abilities demands great responsibility, with the caveat that it also means that [[FantasticRacism Latents don't have the same rights as normal humans]]. Needless to say, the SOC's actions are controversial in-universe, and were apparently established by a President who felt that the brutal policies of the SOC were the only way to safely contain Latents.
* In ''Literature/TheReckonersTrilogy'', where superhuman powers always and without fail [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity turn their wielders evil]], the mundanes have been reduced to little more then pawns and serfs under the tyrannical rule of the psychopathic Epics. The only ones who still try to hold the Epics accountable are the shadowy order known as the Reckoners.
* Yoi helps one in a chapter of ''Literature/MagicalGirlHunters''. It turns out they're even harder to kill than magical girls.

* All police officers in the world of ''Literature/{{Vicious}}'' have some trained to deal with [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividuals [=EOs=]]], while officers Stell and Dane specialize in cases involving [=EOs=].

[[folder: Live Action TV]]

* NTAC in ''Series/TheFortyFourHundred'' was tasked with dealing with the assorted problems caused by the sudden integration of 4400 super-empowered individuals into normal society.
* In ''Series/MutantX'', the main enemy in Season 1 was the GSA (Genetic Security Agency), a biotech firm's [[PrivateMilitaryContractors Private Military Contractor]] tasked with recapturing all the firm's [[SecretProjectRefugeeFamily escaped Mutant refugees]]. Their ranks mostly comprised of [[RedShirt non-powered stormtroopers]], although they semi-regularly fielded one or two SuperpoweredMooks (who were typically [[HumanPopsicle flash-frozen]] at the end of each episode by BadBoss Mason Eckhart for [[YouHaveFailedMe failing him for the last time]]).
* The [[Creator/{{Syfy}} Sci-Fi Channel]] program ''Series/{{Warehouse 13}}'' is basically The Wiki/SCPFoundation (see below) the series, set in ''Franchise/IndianaJones''' huge-ass warehouse. The only operatives are a pair of tough but bewildered government agents and their eccentric supervisor.

* In ''Series/{{Highlander}}: The Series'', the Hunters are a group of rogue Watchers who, instead of observing the immortals, stalk them and kill them, up to and including ignoring the rules of engagement followed by all immortals (most notably Hunters will kill on holy ground).

[[folder: Tabletop Games]]

* The default ''TabletopGame/MutantsAndMasterminds'' setting, TabletopGame/FreedomCity, has the non-powered S.T.A.R.S police division, who deal with rogue metahumans.
** Along with their federal sister-agency (and professional rival) AEGIS ({{Expy}} of [[Franchise/MarvelUniverse Marvel's]] ComicBook/{{SHIELD}}), and the international counterpart, UNISON.
** While the above agencies are presented in a generally positive light, Freedom City's [[UsefulNotes/TheIronAgeOfComicBooks Iron Age]] had the brutish POF (Price of Freedom)-SWAT, courtesy of the oppressive policies of [[CorruptPolitician mob-affiliated Mayor Moore]].
* Several organizations in the [[TheEmpire Imperium of Man]] in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' fill this role. Of particular note is the Inquisition, that consists of 3 major branches: Alienhunters, Daemonhunters and Witchhunters.
* There are several organizations like this in the ''{{TabletopGame/Champions}}'' Universe. [=UNTIL=], the United Nations Tribunal on International Law, has taken this role since the game's first edition. [=PRIMUS=] and [=SAT=] (Special American Tactics) were added in other editions as American-only anti-supervillain organizations. The ''Millennium City'' sourcebook added [=MARS=] teams to the Millennium City police department; these are basically [=SWAT=] teams that specialize in supervillain crime.
* In the dark magical girl setting "[[http://arpg.neko-machi.com/mw/mw.html Magical World]]", magical girl hunters are those humans who have taken it upon themselves to take down magical girls, who often cause serious collateral damage in their battles against the youma and other bad guys of the world. Some hunters see this as a righteous cause (as not all magical girls in this setting are good and righteous), but just as many are sadistic cutekillers who despise and want to destroy anything cute (and many magical girls fit this description).
* Heroes Unlimited has S.C.R.E.T., the Superbeing Control, Registration, and Elimination Team. Each nation tends to organize their own.

[[folder: Video Games]]
* The titular organization in ''VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon'' is a small group of U.S. soldiers dedicated to combating paranormal threats to national security. However, the F.E.A.R. organization actually plays very little role in the game, as they prove ineffective against both Fettel's army of clone soldiers and the apocalyptically-powerful psychic ghost Alma. The game's main focus is the player character, the super-powered Point Man (who has SuperReflexes and turns out to be not so much a member of F.E.A.R. and more like [[spoiler: a personality-less engineered weapon that was loaned to them just a few days ago]]).
** In the introductory briefing, one of your coworkers responds to the report of psychically-controlled clones by [[LampshadeHanging noting that "this is why nobody takes us seriously".]]

* The [[EliteMooks Tyger Mercs]] in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'' were trained specifically to take down Batman (and keeping all the supervillains within the prison). Doesn't stop him from easily kicking their butts.
** The [[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight Arkham Knight's]] militia are a massive army brought into Gotham City and specially trained for the sole purpose of killing Batman. But not even thousands of heavily armed soldiers, elite thugs, armed drones, snipers, armoured jeeps, tanks, helicopters, and sentries can defeat Batman.
* In ''VideoGame/InFamous2'', gives us the Militia, a bunch of FantasticRacism TriggerHappy mooks that wish to keep their city clean of any Conduits.
** The next game in the series, ''VideoGame/InFamousSecondSon'', introduces the Department of Unified Protection, a new branch of the military created in the wake of the Beast's rampage specifically to capture or kill Conduits. Ironically, [[WellIntentionedExtremist their leader]] is a Conduit who's capable of [[SuperEmpowering imbuing her soldiers with weaker variations of her powers]], making them even tougher.

* The eponymous organization of ''GeminiDivision'' exists to take down [[ArtificialHuman SiMS]].
* The Wiki/SCPFoundation deals with and keeps imprisoned many strange people, but enough about the staff: Notable charges include a BigBadWannabe PsychopathicWomanchild with {{Plaguemaster}} powers, a shape-shifter that becomes a [[TwentyPercentMoreAwesome 30 percent better version]] of anyone/thing else it encounters, [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway Cactusman]], [[PsychicChildren Cameron]] The [[TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior Crusader]], Cain and Abel themselves [[note]]Cain is a gentle man who happens to be a WalkingWasteland, while Abel is a BloodKnight with ResurrectiveImmortality. Site lore generally has it that Cain has had a few dozen millennia to come to regret the deed on which the Biblical event was based, while Able CameBackWrong and rather pissed off about the whole "murder" thing.[[/note]], and [[{{Sentai}} The Black Rabbit Company]] [[note]]a team of cybernetically enhanced genetically engineered CatGirl commandos and their slightly less competently enhanced but [[TheHeart good-hearted]] TokenGuy[=/=][[TheFace party face]] tormented by his own lack of self confidence and an eldritch parasite[[/note]].
** A better example is the [[http://goc.wikidot.com/ Global Occult Coalition]], whose purpose is simply to hunt down and kill any "paranatural" individuals.
* The Literature/WhateleyUniverse had the Dragonslayers, a group which shot to fame when they [[spoiler:put down a mutant rager who had killed dozens of people and done a whole lot of damage to the city of Darwin]]. The Dragonslayers had pretty much retired until they [[spoiler:mixed it up with the Lamplighter when said super"hero" decided to pick on a bunch of teenagers]].
** They seem to have been replaced by the Knights of Purity, a bunch of baselines in powered armor who fight mutants. We have seen from various points of view that some seem to help mutants (one protected Chaka and offered medical assistance), while others seem to hate mutants (Knight Commander Vernon Swive not only hates mutants but has made it his personal mission to kill all the Loose Cannons before anyone can find out that he shot one of them in the back).
** Making sure that mutants don't become a menace to baseline humanity is precisely what the much-maligned Mutant Commission Office is technically all about. In practice, they tend to fall into the 'covert black ops' category while doing their best to keep looking ''officially'' legitimate because they're an international organization that needs government permission in order to be able to legally operate in a given country at all. Thus far, they do have that permission in a ''lot'' of countries (with a couple of small nations ruled by supervillains as the main exceptions), and their presence in the US in particular is certainly felt.

* ''[[http://dcnation.wetpaint.com/page/No+Gods%2C+No+Capes%2C+No+Masters No Gods, No Capes, No Masters]]'' are a political organization that wants to outright ban superhero activity in Roleplay/DCNation. Other activist organizations and civil libertarians are also shown in Nationverse to be uneasy about "capes." Nationverse's talk radio stations are usually VERY savagely critical of the "capes," and at least one celebrity doctor has made a small fortune doing armchair psychoanalysis of active heroes & villains, making utterly no distinction between them.
* ''Literature/LegionOfNothing'' has Syndicate L, a shadowy organization opposed to supers and destined to do appear more and more often, with cooler and cooler anti-hero weaponry.
* ''The Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' features both Checkmate in the United States and the Longsword program in France. Both groups are highly-trained normal soldiers using very high-tech weaponry and low-grade PoweredArmor.

* ''Series/WarpZoneProject'' Episode 7 introduces a man known to be a super-hero and super-villain serial killer.
* In ''Literature/EnterTheFarside'', Containment Squads of the National Farside Unit are unpowered humans who fight and capture Eldritch, sometimes with the assistance of Fargraced Agents.

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* The U.S. government's anti-superhuman organization, Cadmus, became the primary enemies for a decent-sized portion of ''[[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Justice League Unlimited]]'''s run, until it turned out they were [[HijackedByGanon really being controlled by]] Lex Luthor/[[spoiler:Brainiac]].

* The WesternAnimation/SWATKats were, when you ultimately boiled it down, two mechanics in a SuperPrototype jet who held down a second job dogfighting the assorted homicidal mutant freaks that would regularly attack their city.
** And just in case you think a [[SwissArmyGun Swiss Army Jet]] with [[WhereDoesHeGetAllThoseWonderfulToys All These Wonderful Toys]] is close enough to a superpower, the [[RedShirtArmy Enforcers]] are charged with taking down both the aformentioned homicidal mutant freaks ''and'' the [=SWAT=] Kats.
* The main foes in ''WesternAnimation/WolverineAndTheXMen'' are a government-sanctioned, anti-mutant military force known as the Mutant Response Division (MRD, aka 'the Mardies.')
* Syndrome from ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' is a villainous version. The Omnidroid may be just OmnicidalManiac, but the zero field is clearly designed against supers.
* The ARC Troopers in the 2003 version of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars'' were a borderline case of this. They were genetically engineered super-soldiers who, using squad tactics (and heavy supporting firepower and air support), were able to at least hold their own against [[TheDragon General Grevious]] to rescue a group of wounded Jedi knights. Although they were super-soldiers, against Force-users like the Jedi Knights or the Sith, even their genetic augments wouldn't be enough to qualify them as supers in their own rights.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'', the Forever Knights are a secret society/paramilitary dedicated to keeping Earth devoid of alien lifeforms. Given most aliens in TheVerse have superpowers, they certainly qualify.
* MECH from ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' arguably functions as a villainous version of this trope. Though they started out as simply a terrorist syndicate with a lust for advanced technology, as soon as they encountered Cybertronians for the first time, they immediately began tailoring their tactics toward specifically combating the robots. They make use of EMP-like weapons to instantly incapacitate Transformers, giving them a chance to slice them open and gain knowledge of how they work. This culminated in the creation of their very own Transformer, Nemesis Prime, whom they promptly put to work fighting the Autobots.

* The [[Film/SuicideSquad2016 Suicide Squad]] was partially created as a response to Superman, with Waller gathering a group of dangerous metahumans/criminals (and Harley Quinn) to form a black ops unit for the purpose of tackling a Superman-level threat. Of course, none of the members are even close to being able to deal with Superman save for perhaps [[spoiler:Enchantress, who ends up going loose and summoning a demon army]].

* The Japan branch of the witch-hunting organization of ''Anime/WitchHunterRobin''. All the agents are supposed to have some sort of witch power, however only Robin's pyrokinesis is explicitly shown.

* The anti-Kira Taskforces in ''Manga/DeathNote'', if only because they're built to target a specific person/power.

* Tsumugu Kinagase in ''Anime/KillLaKill'', a BadassNormal who goes after Ryuko because of her [[ClothesMakeTheSuperman Kamui]]. By extension, the whole Nudist Beach organisation can be considered as this. Although, their problem is not specifically the superpowers Life Fibers clothes grant, but more the fact that [[spoiler:said clothes are actually hostile aliens.]] Their effectiveness at it varies, Tsumugu is able to take Ryuko down fairly easily early on, but later the power levels start escalating far out of their league, and by the end, compared to everyone else he (and Nudist Beach as a whole) is little more than comic relief.

** Also in the X-Men stories, there was [[PuttingOnTheReich Genosha]], the high-tech nation which dealt with its "mutant problem" by [[MutantDraftBoard "conscripting the mutants into government service"]] -- a fancy way of saying "enslaved them and used them as expendable, brutally treated workers". They had an unusually high mutant population (hundreds/thousands for a population of a few million) and were deadly afraid they'd go rampant and take over the country (which also [[TheExtremistWasRight actually happened]] later on, when international opinion forced them to liberalize and mutant villain Fabian Cortez came along to exploit the bad blood during the ''Bloodties'' event), so they employed a specially trained and equipped militarized police force to keep them in check. Enter the Magistrates, a [[BadassArmy heavily armed gendarmerie]] in [[DoomTroops cool, "evil" uniforms]] who fought the X-Men on various occasions when they tried to incite rebellion among the Genoshan mutants.
* The ''Creator/{{Wildstorm}}'' universe had two versions of {{ComicBook/Stormwatch}} along these lines: Team Achilles and the [[ComicBook/StormwatchPHD PHD]] (Post-Human Division), although each had a few superhuman members. The former were an entirely military unit and occasionally used high-tech equipment, while the latter were street-level operatives with a wide range of specialties.
** Members of Team Achilles actually comment when the ratio of superhumans to normal humans in the team gets too skewed.

* The Department of Extranormal Operations is supposed to be safeguard the world and employs various metahumans. However, a short story in a "Secret Files" special has a whistleblower relating how the DEO spends billions to find measures to take down any metahuman. This includes a team who will swallow pills to make them faster than the Flash for one minute before their bodies burn out, weapons that can melt robots like the Metal Men and more. The man thinks this is wrong and so decides to hand the only disc with the information to one person he thinks can be trusted: Lex Luthor.
* And post-''ComicBook/New52'', from the pages of ''Batman Incorporated'', the DCU now has Spyral. At least one of their ploys was to create the FemmeFatale Batwoman, hoping she'd get close enough to Bats to uncover his identity (instead she pulled a HeelFaceTurn). They know full well how unpopular this agenda would make them, so they prefer to recruit rebels, rogues and washouts over genuine patriots, and operate heavily in private.
* One of Creator/GarthEnnis' first jobs for Marvel was the "What If?" comic ''Comicbook/ThePunisherKillsTheMarvelUniverse''. Instead of mobsters, Frank Castle's family is killed in the crossfire of a brawl between superheroes and supervillains, and he reacts violently. A SecretCircleOfSecrets of similar survivors and casualties of superpowered violence use their immense wealth and influence to keep Castle out of jail and killing all the supers he can. [[spoiler:He kills them all, then kills himself.]]
** The main protagonists of Ennis' ''ComicBook/TheBoys'' are a group of CIA-affiliated Cape Busters. Unlike other groups however, they actually have superpowers (albeit mainly super strength, to be able to fight on par with the resident "[[SmugSuper Superheroes]]").
** [[ComicBook/MarvelUniverseVsThePunisher Later still]] Frank is killing off Marvel superheroes again... except they're all zombies now.
* [=ThugBoy=], ''Comicbook/{{Empowered}}'s'' boyfriend, used to belong to a group dedicated to destroying capes, both villains and [[BlackAndGrayMorality "heroes"]].
* The {{ComicBook/OMAC}}s in the ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'' DCU continuum. While Franchise/{{Batman}} had programmed a spy satellite to keep tabs over the metahuman community, an unfortunate combination of external tampering, hostile takeover and [[AIIsACrapshoot inherent programming flaws]] led the satellite to rechristen itself ''Brother Eye'' and turn millions of individuals, preinfected with a special nanovirus, into an army of Cape Busters, [[PeoplePuppets devoid of free will but physically enhanced with armor and stock superpowers]], remotely controlled by Brother Eye itself to wage its battle against metahumans.
* E.A.G.L.E. troops in ''ComicBook/AstroCity'' are normally called in for support and cleanup after super-hero incidents. During the "Confession" story arc, however, they became CapeBusters when directed by the mayor to enforce the SuperRegistrationAct. [[spoiler: It turned out to be all part of a plot by shape-shifting aliens to neutralize the supers ahead of a planetary invasion.]]

* In the {{Elseworld}}s comic ''Comicbook/NightwingTheNewOrder'' Nightwing leads a government task force that ruthlessly tracks down and depowers meta-humans, and those their devices can't yet depower are put into stasis. It's eventually revealed that the technology that powers the devices in question is from [[spoiler:Apokolips and was originally designed to depower meta-humans in order to weaken the planet's defenses against an invasion]].

* ''Film/{{Jumper}}'' presents us with the Paladins, a group of individuals with training and equipment to hunt down and kill any Jumper. Their reasoning for this is because they believe only God can be anywhere. This is deconstructed to a frightening degree as they do not care about civilian casualties and while some Jumpers have committed crimes, this does not justify the actions done (heck, some have turned to crime as a result of the Paladins). The protagonist is technically this; [[spoiler:it turns out his mother left him and his dad when she discovered he had powers and since she was affiliated with the Paladins, she couldn't bear the thought. This left the dad a broken man and made him a cruddy parent to his son. It was this unstable life that would convince the protagonist to try and steal to live.]]

* The [[Film/SuicideSquad2016 Suicide Squad]] was partially created as a response to Superman, with Waller gathering a group of dangerous metahumans/criminals (and Harley Quinn) to form a black ops unit for the purpose of tackling a Superman-level threat. Of course, none of the members are even close to being able to deal with Superman save for perhaps [[spoiler:Enchantress, who ends up going loose and summoning a demon army]].

** In the TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness there is also a government run organisation by the name of [[TabletopGame/HunterTheVigil Task Force: VALKYRIE]] whose main goal is to [[TheMenInBlack police supernaturals and hide their existence from muggles]]. They're not out to destroy all supernaturals, but rather stop the troublemakers and leave the law abiding ones alone. After all, [[FriendlyNeighbourhoodVampire vampires are tax paying citizens too.]]

** The next game in the series, ''VideoGame/InFamousSecondSon'', introduces the Department of Unified Protection, a new branch of the military created in the wake of the Beast's rampage specifically to capture or kill Conduits. Ironically, [[WellIntentionedExtremist their leader]] is a Conduit whose powerful enough to [[SuperEmpowering imbue her soldiers with weaker variations of her powers]], making them even tougher.

** One series featured a team made by Amanda Waller equipped with Kryptonite weapons. She made the questionable decision to fill it with people who had psychological problems and a personal grudge against Superman. They also had a Kryptonite Doomsday as the ultimate anti-Superman weapon.

* The Department of Extranormal Operations is supposed to be safeguard the world and employs various metahumans. However, a short story in a "Secret Files" special has a whistleblower relating how the DEO spends billions to find measures to take down any metahuman. This includes a team who will swallow pills to make them faster than the Flash for one minute before thier bodies burn out, weapons that can melt robots like the Metal Men and more. The man thinks this is wrong and so decides to hand the only disc with the information to one person he thinks can be trusted: Lex Luthor.

* ''Film/{{Jumper}}'' presents us with the Paladins, a group of individuals with training and equipment to hunt down and kill any Jumper. Their reasoning for this is because they believe only God can be anywhere. This is deconstructed to frightening degree as they do not care for civilian causalities and while some Jumpers have committed crimes, this does ot justify the actions done (heck, some have turned to crime as a result of the Paladins.) The protagonist is technically this; [[spoiler: it turns out his mother left him and his dad when she discovered he had powers and her being affiliated with the Paladins, she couldn't bare the thought. This left the dad a broken man and making him a cruddy parent to his son. It was this unstable life that would convince the protagonist to try and steal to live.]]

** The military in ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'' is eventually equipped with "cure weapons", firearms and indirect fire weapons that contain a serum which disables mutant powers on contact. [[spoiler: Or does it?]] They even manufacture plastic and glass versions of the weapons to fight Magneto. As appropriate for the themes of the movie, the serum ''permanently'' disables mutant powers and its use as a weapon is highly controversial.

* The [[Creator/{{Syfy}} Sci-Fi Channel]] program ''Series/{{Warehouse 13}}'' is basically The Wiki/SCPFoundation (see below) the series set in ''Franchise/IndianaJones''' huge-ass warehouse. The only operatives are a pair of tough but bewildered government agents and their eccentric supervisor.

* [[WesternAnimation/TheDisneyAfternoon Disney's]] ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' added a group of these in it's last season. The thinly-veiled [[FantasticRacism KKK knockoff]] known as the Quarrymen had the sole purpose of eliminating all gargoyles [[ObviouslyEvil at any cost]].

* ''WesternAnimation/SabrinaTheAnimatedSeries'' had Tim the Witch Smeller, a MuggleBornOfMages with a ridiculous motive who hunted witches due to being bullied by them for not having any powers. Unfortunately for said witches, the guy is [[BewareTheSillyOnes actually a very serious threat]] as he can track witches anywhere [[ScarilyCompetentTracker thanks to his pet aardvark's scent tracking]] and tends to attack when they're in crowds because he knows they won't use their powers out of fear of breaking TheMasquerade.