Rank Scales with Asskicking in webcomics.
- Dragon Ball Multiverse: U8 King Cold, who is inexplicably far more powerful than Cold as depicted in the original manga, is the strongest fighter in his universe.
- Mr. Verres of El Goonish Shive has shown his offensive magical abilities and is relatively high up in the local paranormal division of the FBI. Assistant Director Liefeld, his boss, is an extremely beefy man which means he probably has significant physical fighting prowess even if he is not a magic user.
- In Erfworld the higher level your chief warlord is, the higher a bonus your troops get. This means that chief warlords are almost always the most powerful speaking unit around, Which makes people wonder why Parson ever becomes chief warlord.
- Played with in Errant Story. The most skilled members of the Ensigerum, a group of warrior/monk/time-mages, are generally the highest level initiates and newly raised monks as the older members lack recent combat experience and have grown too dependent on magic. The trope is played straight for their leader, Imperatrix Anita, who is without a doubt the deadliest member of the order.
- It's demonstrated
in The Fancy Adventures of Jack Cannon. Who knew Principals had so much power? It's implied that the General is also powerful, but we have yet to see him in action. - The Mayor from Freefall may not be much of an actual fighter, but she's clearly not someone to mess around with.
- Girl Genius:
- The webcomic is a rare example of this rule being used by mad scientists. Most of the Sparks that have appeared in the comic so far have proven to be quite competent fighters — part of this may be justified by them often having a Death Ray or two in their pockets, but even in unarmed close combat, several Sparks have demonstrated high levels of skill. Gilgamesh Wulfenbach demonstrated an ability to smack a BIG Jäger around while injured (but flipped out). Baron Wulfenbach has also had action hero-level fighting skills, but that may be attributed to his past adventuring with the Heterodyne Boys. The Heterodyne Boys themselves may also, technically, be said to use this, seeing as they were the hereditary rulers of Mechanicsburg. Agatha "doesn't fence", but she's quite the slugger with a 3/17 Occipital Left-Leaning Heterodyne Wrench. Or any heavy wrench, for that matter.
- Justified for the noble-born Sparks who have access to higher education so they have a better idea of what to make with their possibly supernatural inspiration, and live surrounded by armed guards who can keep the Torches and Pitchforks at bay or rescue them from their creations run amok. Relatively few common-born Sparks survive their first breakthrough.
- Additionally, the paranoia the spark brings isn't really unjustified, as few sparks actually survive to adulthood due to the usual torch-bearing mobs and the danger of their own creations. Even a spark in the rational state is liable to see some advantage to augmenting themselves being the toughest thing in the immediate vicinity at all times. If not for the law that dying causes one to lose one's properties, most of Europa's rulers would probably be undead abominations by now.
- There's also the strong implication that the Baron experimented on himself to keep going in his adventures (much like Othar), and there's the possibility that Gil inherited some of those... improvements.
- Don't forget the Jager generals. On the Castle Wulfenbach one take a crashing plane head-on. When they fight, even the lesser Jagers don't want to be around. Later Oggie thought that being "detatched" is a sufficient reason to disobey Mamma Gkika — see the result on the next page. Presumably, you get to be a Jager general by being tougher than any other Jager around you.
- And then they get to the actual fighting...
- Opinion is divided as to how much of Tarvek's "spoiled aristocrat" image was Obfuscating Stupidity.
- The webcomic is a rare example of this rule being used by mad scientists. Most of the Sparks that have appeared in the comic so far have proven to be quite competent fighters — part of this may be justified by them often having a Death Ray or two in their pockets, but even in unarmed close combat, several Sparks have demonstrated high levels of skill. Gilgamesh Wulfenbach demonstrated an ability to smack a BIG Jäger around while injured (but flipped out). Baron Wulfenbach has also had action hero-level fighting skills, but that may be attributed to his past adventuring with the Heterodyne Boys. The Heterodyne Boys themselves may also, technically, be said to use this, seeing as they were the hereditary rulers of Mechanicsburg. Agatha "doesn't fence", but she's quite the slugger with a 3/17 Occipital Left-Leaning Heterodyne Wrench. Or any
- Royce from Heart Core fits this trope, considering how he almost killed the protagonist of the story without using his full powers. Being the king of demons and fiends does help, though.
- Justified in Homestuck, as Sburb is effectively a video game and thus needs to provide some bosses for its players to defeat. The Kings and Queens of Derse and Prospit aren't very strong on their own, but they are all provided with items (rings for the Queens, scepters for the Kings) that provide power boosts which elevate them far above the rank-and-file. Like many things in the medium, these power boosts are tied to the prototyping of the player's Kernelsprites. The Black King of the Troll's session was prototyped a whopping twelve times and proved an absolute monstrosity to defeat.
- The White Queen in the Alpha session has been shown to be able to beat down Jack Noir , with little effort.
- L's Empire has a literal example, where the king or queen of Kayoss is granted the ability of Strong as They Need to Be.
- Everyone in the Galactic Union, the government of pretty much the whole universe in Luminary Children, seems to be very strong, and very cruel.
- Kill Six Billion Demons: Being The Ageless and having Resurrective Immortality (all angels were born around the same time, but most of them have died in the line of duty and resurrected at least a dozen times since), Angels tend to follow 'length of current life' rules and the oldest tend to be in charge. Since angels do not age and do nothing but hone their martial arts skill, detain lawbreakers and fight enemies of existence all day, this also means their elders are also the most fearsome examples of their kind.
- MSF High: Any teacher at MSF High has this. Any Legion Queen has this, with access to all ten Legion 'facets'. Principal Kasumi? Don't even ask. Keiri is not to be messed with as well.
- Raizel from Noblesse, who is the True Noblesse, the leader of all nobles. He won EVERY FIGHT he got into, which all ended in a Curb-Stomp Battle. This is later downplayed; While Noblesse is an important title, it is not for the leader of the nobles; nevertheless, the actual leader, titled the Lord, is nothing to sneeze at either. And the Lord's seconds-in-command, titled the Clan Leaders, are also much stronger than normal nobles. Their enemies, the Union, also follow the same hierarchy, with the leading Union Elders being scarily powerful. Made worse by the fact that one of those Elders is actually a Clan Leader who defected.
- The Order of the Stick:
- Subverted when Roy mistakenly assumes that Lord Shojo is a high-level paladin when he is, in fact, a non-combatant aristocrat.
- Later played straight with his nephew, Hinjo, who is a very capable paladin and becomes the leader of the Sapphire Guard and exiled Azurites after Shojo's death. And then Hinjo goes on to somewhat subvert it later in the story. While he's focused on trying to keep the survivors of the Azure City battle together, looking for a place to settle them, and dealing with treacherous aristocrats, some of his fellow paladins are fighting against villains and other hazards and continually getting stronger. Eventually Hinjo admits that he's fallen well behind them in level, and when a few paladins are needed for a task vital to saving the world, he opts to remain behind, leaving the job to his more powerful subordinates while he concentrates on keeping his people afloat. He still kicks ass, just not as much as some of the people below him.
- Magical Rulers in Roommates tend to be quite formidable thanks to several things. Powerful linage, You Kill It, You Bought It and because they personify their subjects hopes/dreams/fears.
- Rusty and Co.: The Princess is the absolute ruler of the land and such a formidable Action Girl that even a Hero Killer Bounty Hunter and his organization of contracted mercenaries take care to avoid her at all costs.
- Schlock Mercenary has almost everyone using various forms of Super-Soldier "boosts", but there are some clear examples:
- Captain Tagon is no slouch: a trained, experienced, and highly skilled soldier, he isn't someone you'd want to cross. Still, in a fair fight, he'd probably be creamed by any number of his enlisted beings. Good thing he cheats.
- Kevyn, the second in command, isn't all that tough physically; but between the antimatter-bomb epaulets and just being the Mad Scientist, everybody reacts like he could kick their asses. Also, he and his sister are good enough at it to surprise the unarmed combat instructor.
- The trope is used even further when Xinchub, a fat general who is mostly into politics, manhandles a bounty hunter. He explains that he has "boosted" (meaning enhanced in various ways) more than she has, probably because he has the political clout to get away with it.
- Captain Tagon is no slouch: a trained, experienced, and highly skilled soldier, he isn't someone you'd want to cross. Still, in a fair fight, he'd probably be creamed by any number of his enlisted beings. Good thing
- In Sluggy Freelance, being promoted to aristocracy makes a normal demon at least larger and much more powerful, and becoming a Demon Lord grants Nigh-Invulnerability and a fiery Battle Aura as well as, apparently, Super-Strength.
- Tower of God: Rankers are ranked mainly on their performance while they climbed the Tower. Which is kind of a big deal. This goes extra for High Rankers, the top 1% of all Rankers. With decently ranked Rankers becoming empire agents, test administrators and other positions of great authority, it's no wonder that being a test administrator equals major asskicking abilities.
- Rulers, the people that rule over and govern an entire Floor (by proxy)note , can only be chosen if they are High Rankers. Put simply, these guys are monsters.
- Evankhell, the Ruler of the Second Floor, achieved his position by killing the previous Ruler, playing this trope quite straight.
- Zokusho Comics: If Clash is anything to go by, Master Byron is quite capable of opening up a rather large can, despite his age.
