History Main / EliteMooks

* ''TabletopGame/SentinelsOfTheMultiverse:

** In ''Series/MashinSentaiKiramager'', the MonstersOfTheWeek are actually upgraded mooks, so they kinda fit here.

[[caption-width-right:350:Valedictorians of the ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy.]]

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' features, in the ninth season, a flamethrower-wielding soldier who manages to give a couple of the top Freelancers a tough fight. Lampshaded by Wash when he first appears: "What the fuck is with this guy?" Later in the same mission, a few jetpack-equipped soldiers prove a challenge.

** The Stern Ritter are the elite fighting force of the Vandenreich, and their effectiveness against the rank-and-file Shinigami is shown in spades in the first invasion, and prominently in the second invasion. As it stands, the only true defeats inflicted upon the Stern Ritter have been by Zaraki, who is one of the Special War Potentials, Yamamoto, and Renji, Rukia and Byakuya after their Royal Guard training. While Kyoraku and Ukitake have yet to get into a serious fight, the rest of the Captains - barring Mayuri - have either been steam-rolled or won [[PyrrhicVictory pyrrhic victories]]. The strongest of them '''[[ColonyDrop could drop a meteor on the Seireitei]]''', and these are just Yhwach's mooks.

* The SS battalion in ''Film/{{Fury}}'' that show up at the movie's climax. Whereas other Wehrmacht forces in the movie were disorganized, demoralized and undersupplied already, and many of them quickly surrendered, these guys are boldly marching to combat, singing, fully armed, and when they come across [[TankGoodness Fury]] and find that she's operational, they make it their top priority to get rid of it and refuse to give up, even after taking heavy casualties.

** ''Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger'' has the Sugormin, evolved from regular Gormin with the addition of chunky blue armor. They can [[MakeMyMonsterGrow go giant along with the monster]] as well as [[TransformingMecha turn into plane-like vehicles]]. They get a red PaletteSwap called the Dogormin, used only by the king and his court.

** Both [[TheMafia Intergang]] and the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast the Secret Society of Super-Villains]] were secretly organized by ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} to act as his elite mooks on Earth in various 1970s comics, with the latter intended to replace the former. The Secret Society was reformed by Darkseid's pawn Libra for this reason in ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'' [[ContinuityNod as well]]. Darkseid also has his own Elite on Apokolips, who stand above and beyond his Dog Soldiers and Parademons, though they're more of a QuirkyMinibossSquad.

** Ghasts are a more powerful variant of ghoul whose touch can paralyze even elves, who are normally immune to ghoul paralysis.

** Most common monster races for mooks have an elite mook variant. Gnolls have the nunchuk-wielding flinds, goblins have the militaristic hobgoblins and bullying bugbears, lizardfolk have the fiendish Lizard Kings, and orcs have numerous variations.

* In ''Film/RedDawn1984'', the town of Columette, Colorado is taken over by a crack unit of Red Army para troopers in avicious battle. However, once the front lines stabilize, the town is relegated as a back water outpost, and patroled by rear echelon Red Army troops, supplemented by unists of the Cuban and Nicaraguan armies. However, once [[LaResistance The Wolverines]] carry out a successful guerrilla campaign, and after summary execution, after summary execution does not get them closer to capturing the Wolverines, Col. Strelnikov and his elite Spetnaz unit is brought in. Strelnikov's first act is to ask General Bratchenko to stop the executions, [[AttackBackfire as they only shows weakness and desperation]] and [[OccupiersOutOfOurCountry encourages the conquered population to aid the rebellion]]. Second, rather than sending soldiers out to be inevitably ambushed, Strelnikov carries out more proactive counter insurgency operations, which in the end does [[spoiler: end the Wolverine guerilla campaign, but bit he and the general are killed]].

* ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'' has both [[spoiler:the Fusion Dimension's Obelisk Force and the Synchro Dimension's Security]]. They're all duelists with definitive skill, defeating several characters and always putting up a fight, and [[spoiler:Security]] take this UpToEleven by not even dueling after that fails the first few times and just outright arresting their targets.

* ''Series/Daredevil2015'': A couple of Wilson Fisk's henchmen seem to fill this role, particularly the ones that are able to pose a challenge to Matt. Rance in the first episode of season 1 (the assassin sent to kill Karen in her apartment) is a KnifeNut and martial artist. John Healy in "Rabbit in a Snowstorm" similarly gives Matt a run for his money. The standout one is Benjamin "Dex" Poindexter in season 3, who is responsible for both of season 3's major character deaths (Father Lantom and Ray Nadeem), as well as a large number of minor character killings or hospitalizations (Ellison, Jasper Evans, etc) and whom manages to best Matt in combat twice.

** The flamethrower equipped soldier, referred to as Sharkface because of the decorations on his armor, is just one member of an elite squad among the Insurrection. The others appear in season nine and ten, and include TheLeader, who uses a pair of collapsible tomahawks that he can use hand to hand, or accurately throw great distances. He’s also [[spoiler: C.T.’s lover, and after her death in season ten, he takes her identity, setting up his reappearance in the chronologically later season seven.]], [[TheBrute The sleeveless soldier]], who physically can match any of the freelancers but [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter Maine]]. Demo Man, who holds a grudge against the freelancers for causing him to lose an arm the first time they meet face to face, TheChick, who is a KnifeNut and is a rival to Carolina, the ColdSniper, and the twins, two creepy, mostly silent soldiers that carry [[GatlingGood miniguns]].

** Near the end of the "Enies Lobby" arc, 200 Marine Captains attack the Straw Hats at the Bridge of Hesitation. The Straw Hats has spent the rest of the arc taking out several thousand standard {{Mooks}}, as well as fighting the government's resident assassin team, [[PsychoForHire CP9]], so these Elite Mooks did pretty well against the worn out Straw Hats. Still got their butts handed to them, though. One of them, Shu, scored a victory for mooks everywhere when he actually managed to destroy one of Zoro's swords. Usopp ended up sniping him down, but his actions left Zoro unable to use his strongest techniques for most of the next arc.
** The Pacifista Units became this after the Timeskip. Before, the one that the Straw Hats defeated was a legitimate boss, but then they were hit with [[DegradedBoss degradation]] two years later. Justified as those were outdated models and it's stated that there are actually upgraded Pacifistas now[[note]]In ''One Piece'', unless a cyborg -such as the Pacifista- is modified, they cannot grow stronger[[/note]], meaning that there's now Elite ''Elite'' Mooks.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' introduced the BX-series commando droids, the Elite Mook version of the standard battle droids. They had enhanced armor, nearly General Grievous-level agility, and a number of neat tricks such as magnetized feet to resist Force pushes (at least when there's a metal floor to attach to). They were a decent threat to clones, but still no match for the Jedi (although they were at least able to put up some resistance). In addition to enabling their enhanced agility, the more compact frames and smaller heads that lack the standard B1 battle droid's distinctive "snout" allows BX commando droids to [[MuggedForDisguise wear clone trooper armor]] for infiltration purposes. Though this is hindered by their retaining the tendency to finish conversations with [[VerbalTic "Roger Roger"]].

** Beholders are already very strong monsters so most of the beholder variants are actually weaker than standard ones. So in a hive of beholders the standard ones will be the elite mooks. Above them will be the tougher Elder orbs. And even higher will be Overseers, and the rulers will be Hive Mother. Both of those last two have the ability to control other beholders.

** Elder orbs are unusually long-lived and ancient beholders that are biologically immortal and develop sorcerous powers.

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' features, in the ninth season, [[FanNickname Sharkface]], a flamethrower-wielding soldier who manages to give a couple of the top Freelancers a tough fight. Lampshaded by Wash when he first appears: "What the fuck is with this guy?" Later in the same mission, a few jetpack-equipped soldiers prove a challenge.

-->-- '''Dr. Robotnik''', ''[[ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics Sonic Issue #74]]''

* In ''Manga/VinlandSaga'', the viking kings call upon the Jomsvikings, a mercenary band for hire made up of war veterans, for elite muscle. Outside of fighting named characters with CharacterShields, they're pretty much unstoppable and manage to combine an unusual mix of being [[BloodKnight blood thirsty]] [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy warriors]] and [[ConsummateProfessional super diciplined]] demonstrated by them hacking a larger peasant militia to threads while laughing with joy while maintaining an ordered formation.

* In ''Manga/VinlandSaga'', the viking kings call upon the Jomsvikings, a mercenary band for hire made up of war veterans, for elite muscle. Outside of fighting named characters with CharacterShields, they're pretty much unstoppable.

** An odd example occurs in the movie. While the majority of the combats in the series make it look like a big boss rush, the final battle in the movie is against a group of identical mooks that even carry "Mass Production" in their names.

** Near the end of the "Enies Lobby" arc, Captain level Marines attack the Straw Hats at the Bridge of Hesitation. The Straw Hats has spent the rest of the arc taking out several thousand standard {{Mooks}}, as well as fighting the government's resident assassin team, [[PsychoForHire CP9]], so these Elite Mooks did pretty well against the worn out Straw Hats. Still got their butts handed to them, though. One of them scored a victory for mooks everywhere when he actually managed to destroy one of Zoro's swords. Usopp ended up sniping him down, but his actions left Zoro unable to use his strongest techniques for most of the next arc.
** The Pacifista Units became this after the Timeskip. Before, the one that the Straw Hats defeated was a legitimate boss, but then they were hit with [[DegradedBoss degradation]] two years later. Justified as those were outdated models and it's stated that there are actually upgraded Pacifistas now, meaning that there's now Elite ''Elite'' Mooks.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'': Of Frollo's soldiers, the ones who have visored sallet helmets are portrayed as this. Compared to the rank-and-file guards wearing kettle hats, they suffer almost no slapstick at all and have no incompetent moments. In fact, their presence helps to accentuate the edginess of the situation at hand almost as much as that of [[BigBad Frollo]].