History MemeticBadass / RealLife

* Creator/OscarWilde, at least on Wiki/{{Uncyclopedia}}.

* ''UsefulNotes/FormulaOne'': Red Bull's Sergio "Checo" Perez earns the fame as the Mexican Minister of Defense that helped his teammate, Max Verstappen to earn his first World Driver's Championship.

** UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini's [[RatedMForManly obsession for the physical fitness of the Italians]] originates from a simple fact: his time as a ''Bersagliere'' had convinced him that it was the best way to go. Also, differently from other similar dictators, he did his best to incarnate said ideal: he had a decent amount of StoutStrength, could swim for miles in the Strait of Messina, where tidal currents are so strong that myth attributed them to a sea monster, and his middle name means "manly". The kicker? His physical prowess was ''average'' for the ''Bersaglieri''! Let that sink for a moment, and you'll realize why the ''Bersaglieri'' are on this list.

* Cockroaches have the reputation for surviving even the most hostile conditions. A longstanding joke is that they would be the only survivors of a nuclear holocaust. In reality, cockroaches are tropical insects that need warmth. That's why they want to get into your house so badly. After a nuclear holocaust, urban cockroaches would freeze. Even Bayo-fucking-netta, who could be a Memetic Badass herself said that the only things she hates and or fears are Cockroaches and crying babies. And that a crying baby cockroach would be murder.

** And he invented [[BladeOnAStick the guan dao]], one of the most awesome weapons in history. It's a massive, curved blade on a pole which can slice the legs out from under a horse.

** As ''Magazine/NintendoPower'' once put it, "He could rip out your heart, show it to you, and then race through the original ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros'' before you died."

* One of the more memetic individuals to come out of the US's involvement in Afghanistan's internal conflicts was an Afghan National Army team leader simply known as "Jamsheed", who became a meme among internet military discussion communities around the world, after a US team he was operating alongside, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfx74JBz2EI filmed the man]] calmly displaying his world class rocket launcher skills by [[ImprobableAimingSkills nonchalantly destroying a distant machinegun nest with a single shot]]. Ever since, the man become something akin to a "patron saint" for the weapon's usage.

* UsefulNotes/JoeBiden was originally [[MemeticMutation "Diamond Joe" Biden]], a combination of TheCasanova, TheStoner, ThePrankster and a ButtMonkey. Then he was elected President and become this after the whole [[StealthInsult "Let's Go, Brandon"]] business [[InsultBackfire was turned around]] into Dark Brandon, a silver-haired man in a sharp suit with GlowingEyes who is going to [[ChewBubblegum eat ice cream and put an end to all your malarkey.]]

* [[WoodenShipsAndIronMen Horatio Nelson]] doesn't need an arm or an eye to smash the Spanish and French. At the same time.

* King St. Ladislaus of Hungary. Probably the only christian saint who's been attributed "miracles" like splitting a mountain in half (the hagiographys insist it was through prayer though), or coming back from the dead as a giant animated statue to fight mongols.

* General UsefulNotes/WilliamTecumsehSherman, the Union general during the American Civil War known for his [[SaltTheEarth March to the Sea]] in which he razed Georgia and gave absolute hell to all the Confederacy supporters living in the state, as well as his VictoryByEndurance tactics in which he and his soldiers inflicted absolute cruelty on the opposing Confederate Army. His tactics during the war remained the one thing he was unapologetic for during the rest of his life. He knew that WarIsHell, and weaponized it against the Confederacy.

* Sir UsefulNotes/IsaacNewton is [[VideoGame/MassEffect2 the deadliest]] [[ArbitraryMaximumRange son-of-a-bitch]] InSpace!

** Christopher Lee played Scaramanga in ''Film/TheManWithTheGoldenGun''. In real life, he was one of the people the character of James Bond was based on (British Intelligence agents).

* [[AwesomeEgo ZLATAN]]. [[PunctuatedForEmphasis IBRAHIMOVIC]]. Any Football forum or comments section will have at least one post dedicated to the (fictional) Chuck Norris-esque feats of everyone's favorite Swedish Egomaniac Footballer. Then again, [[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/01/29/zlatan-ibrahimovic-the-20-most-ridiculous-things-he-has-ever-sai/ his real-life quotes are pretty outrageous as well.]]

* General Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck. Quoting Wiki/TheOtherWiki: German colonial officer, East Africa. Remained undefeated right through the Great War, while being outmanned, outgunned, and cut off from Germany and resupply. Appointed black officers. Has been referred to as leading the single greatest guerrilla operation in modern history. Was offered an ambassadorship to Great Britain by Hitler, but refused (seemingly out of a dislike of ''Hitler''). Impressed his Great War foes enough that he got sent food packages by some of them after [=WW2=].

** He's not well known as a badass because he was so much of a badass that you can't make jokes about him, because anything you could think of as a joke, he really did. And then he'd punch you in the nuts with a burning tank. Seriously, just go read his entry on Wiki/TheOtherWiki, the guy is a real-life ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}.

* Creator/YoshiyukiTomino. For a RealLife person to be chosen as an illustration of the KillEmAll trope... is really something.

** ''A man named Richard Lawrence approached Jackson with two pistols both of which, for some reason, misfired...Jackson proceeded to beat Lawrence near death with his cane until Jackson's aides pulled him off the assassin. The guns were inspected afterwards and it was discovered that they were in perfect working order ... we're pretty sure that the bullets, like everyone else, were simply scared of Jackson.''

*** Jackson fought over a dozen duels, but the most badass one was when he fought Charles Dickinson, the only man Jackson ever killed in a duel. Apparently, Dickinson not only owed Jackson money for a horse racing debt, but he pushed Jackson's Berserk Button by insulting his wife. Jackson knew he was outclassed as a shot by Dickenson, so when the time came he allowed Dickenson to shoot FIRST; in the process catching a bullet in the chest, which was so close to his heart that doctors just left it there. Meanwhile, Jackson took careful aim while Dickenson was busy trying to reload and proved that it's not necessarily the fastest shot, it's the most accurate one that wins the day.

*** When slavery was restricted in the early 1800's, Southern politicians attempted to implement the legal concepts of 'interposition' and 'nullification' as a way to circumvent Congress. Jackson immediately started rallying troops and declared that he would personally kill the people responsible. The fear people had of Jackson was so intense that the Southerners backed down and the Civil War was delayed by 40 years, by which time the North far outmatched the South economically.

** Creator/BenAfleck once did an imitation of Morgan Freeman at his request. After seeing it, Morgan Freemon told Afleck he would kill him if he ever did it again. Yes, Morgan Freeman threatened Batman.

** Ukrainians in general are strong contenders. Grandparent-aged people think nothing of cursing Russian soldiers, wheelchair-bound seniors gather to make Molotov Cocktails while socializing, farmers steal Russian tanks...

* Strangely, America's chief badass Creator/AudieMurphy gets little recognition in these sorts of contests, likely because he had nothing particular to promote, had no ego, and felt no moral obligation to uphold his achievements like Lindbergh, preferring to fade away once the requisite movie was over and done with. According to Wiki/ThatOtherWiki: "Murphy had always wanted to be a soldier, and after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, he tried to enlist, but the Army, Navy and Marine Corps all turned him down for being underweight and underage." That's right. He's basically ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, if he was younger and ''didn't'' become a SuperSoldier.

* The blue whale. It's the largest animal on Earth right now and probably ever (''Argentinosaurus'' was a good deal longer, but due to the differences in sauropod and whale anatomy, probably wasn't as heavy), and people have come up with some rather Website/ChuckNorrisFacts-esque tall tales about exactly ''how'' big it is, most famously the line about blue whales reaching lengths of over 100 feet which, again, is ''probably'' true but not typical. Per Wiki/ThatOtherWiki, other badass memes about the blue whale include that a human can swim through its arteries, that its heartbeat can be heard 19 miles away, and that [[GagPenis it has a 16-foot penis]]. Admit it, until just now you thought all those things were actually true.