Asskicking Leads To Leadership / Western Animation

• According to Word of God, the title of Fire Lord in Avatar: The Last Airbender is completely up for grabs as long as the ambitious firebender is able to defeat the current Fire Lord in battle. Due to this, the Fire Lord tends to be the strongest Firebender in the Fire Nation. Fire Lord Ozai himself is said to be powerful enough that only the Avatar would be able to defeat him. His brother Iroh and his kids Zuko and Azula, all of whom had the title at one point, are all no slouches either. The only Fire Lord who hasn't been confirmed to be a bender is Zuko's daughter Izumi in The Legend of Korra but her son who's presumably the crown prince ^note  He has a sister whom they couldn't fit into the show but he's older than Korra and she was supposed to be one of her friend's Love Interest so she's probably roughly her age is a bender.
• In Ben 10: Alien Force, this is an interplanetary law, allowing anybody who's powerful enough to beat the strongest person on a planet control over that planet. Vilgax conquers planets this way.
• Junko in Storm Hawks grew disappointed not that his people were obsessed with being strong, but that the leader of his people sided with the evil Cyclonians because he interpreted their mantra of "the strongest rule because strength brings power" into one that the Wallops should ally with the strongest faction out there rather than fight it. This was either smart with how close the finale was, or pretty dumb considering the Storm Hawks consistently thwart them. Junko calls him on it twice, accusing him of being afraid of Cyclonia, and later denouncing that Strength without the will to use it for good is worthless.
• Beast Wars:
  • The Predacons seem to operate on this principle — when Optimus Primal is kidnapped by the Vok, turncoat Dinobot insists that he should lead the Maximals because he's the strongest. Unfortunately for his ambitions, Maximals elect their leaders by secret ballot.
    • This actually explains why this Megatron's leadership was fraught with multiple Starscreams. In Predacon society, it is considered the duty of an underling to betray his superior if his superior is a poor leader. A superior's duty is to prove he is worthy to lead, by stopping any possible betrayal from their underlings. This often means being smarter and failing that stronger than your underlings.
  • Their ancestors (the normal evil faction), the Decepticons, make this policy very explicit. Since the entire faction is made up of vicious murderers, the only leader who'll survive is one strong and smart enough to terrify them into submission.
• This is repeated with the Predacons in Transformers: Prime: Predacons Rising. Darksteel and Skylynx refuse to follow Predaking until he hands them their skidplates.
  Darksteel: And who made you boss?
  Predaking: I am not your boss, I am your KING!
• Ninjago: The Serpentine tribes decide their leadership with the "Slither Pit", a gladiatorial arena tradition that can take place in different locations and which they also sometimes have as a sport with no serious outcome.
• The Powerpuff Girls episode "Impeach Fuzz" has the Mayor ousted from office by Fuzzy Lumpkins. He beats him in a wrestling match to regain control. Granted, this was Fuzzy's idea.
• The TMNT episode "The People's Choice" involves two aliens whose electoral process involves combat with the current ruler. Donatello remarks that the way we choose our leader is more peaceful, with Raphael adding "most of the time."
• In ThunderCats (2011), this is the ethos of the Catfolk-populated kingdom of Thundera, who style their ThunderCats as the bringers of "law and order to a world of warring Animals" assuming that only their race is the one "strong enough to maintain this fragile peace!" This culture is reflected in Old Soldier Panthro's refusal to accept young king Lion-O as his liege until Lion-O has proven his prowess with the Sword of Omens.
• The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes Man-Ape became king of Wakanda by killing Black Panther's father (he cheated).
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • Princess Cadance and Shining Armor became the leaders of the Crystal Empire by kicking King Sombra's ass, and Twilight Sparkle became a princess thanks entirely to her powerful magical abilities. According to The Journal of the Two Sisters, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna became the leaders of Equestria by being able to raise the sun and moon, which was beforehand done by volunteer unicorns who would be left permanently drained of their magic by doing it.
  • In "Gauntlet of Fire", it is revealed that the dragons operate very openly under this mindset. They are ruled by Dragon Lords, absolute monarchs with term limits — after an unspecified amount of time, the Lord must step down and allow other dragons the chance to become the Lord. This is done through the eponymous Gauntlet, an insanely dangerous Death Course through an unstable "flamecano" designed to weed out all but the strongest of the dragons, as they believe that only the largest and strongest dragons can make good Dragon Lords. The episode itself subverts this trope, as Ember and Spike manage to get through the Gauntlet and make Ember the new Lord by virtue of being smarter than the other contestants and working together while the others all tried to tough it out alone.
• Played with in Generator Rex. Since the most dangerous people in the world are ranked on just that rather than fighting skill, beating one of them in a fight or being a better fighter in general does not immediately give a higher ranking. They are still all very good fighters of course. Played straight with the bug jar, where No-Face is the undisputed master of a city filled with feral EVOs.
• Garnet from Steven Universe is easily the strongest out of the Crystal Gems, and the unofficial leader of the team. She doesn't talk much, but when she does, everyone listens. Her future vision often guides the Gems around/away from danger. All of the Gems make suggestions about what to do, but most of the time it's Garnet who makes the final decision.
  Amethyst: Yeah, Garnet's the boss.
  Pearl: Well, we're all a team. Garnet just has heightened perception that guides us towards our mission objective.
  Amethyst: Yeah, she's the boss.

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