Super Cop

Meet the cop who can't be stopped.

— Super Cop

One step up from the Cowboy Cop who enters Hot Pursuit with no regard for their own safety or anyone else's, here you have the police who have the equipment, the powers, or whatever else that puts them above and beyond the capabilities of the average police officer. This is common to the point where one of the Stock Superhero Day Jobs is police work, though they don't always do both at once.

Often takes the form of a Superhero who works for the police, a Cyborg, or a Humongous Mecha. A particularly Badass Normal can qualify if the criminals they chase are superpowered and they are not.

Overlaps with the Vampire Detective.

Not to be confused with Always Gets His Man, which is a freakishly perfect cop (though the tropes can obviously overlap). It also does not usually overlap with Police Psychic, which is when a psychic helps the actual cops out in some way, although there are examples of that trope who are actual members of law enforcement.

Compare and contrast this trope with Super-Soldier and Military Superhero.

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Examples:

Anime and Manga

• Used in many works by Shirow Masamune:
  • Appleseed's ESWAT units (mecha).
  • Section 9 Public Security in Ghost in the Shell and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Cyborg bodies, advanced weapons, Tachikomas, super-hacker skills, etc. It helps that most of their field operatives are former soldiers.
  • Averted with Patlabor. They could be Supercops, but regulations have them stuck in the station until a crook brings out his own Humongous Mecha. For regular criminals, they have to go on foot just like all other cops and face the same obstacles.
  • Dominion Tank Police probably counts, since the heroes are cops... with TANKS. Really BIG tanks, at that. And unlike the Patlabor dudes, these fellows DO move against any and all crime, with superior firepower through and through. Unfortunately for the city, they're also all Cowboy Cops... can you say 'Collateral Damage'?
• In Lyrical Nanoha, most named members of the Time-Space Administration Bureau's Enforcer division would fall under this. However, special mention goes to Fate Testarossa-Harlaown, who also happens to be a genetically-engineered Artificial Mage.
• Codename: Sailor V and its better-known spin-off Sailor Moon have a strange example in Minako Aino, alias Sailor V and Sailor Venus: Minako has a rather vocal dislike for police officers, yet both the manga and anime continuities show her befriending some officers and acting like a Japanese cop when superheroing (and getting mistaken for a Super Cop by a youma during her early days as Sailor V), with the anime even having her as a Super Cop in London for a while as part of her background and the Codename: Sailor V manga ending with Minako accepting to work for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, meaning she was a Super Cop for the whole run of Sailor Moon without it ever coming up. She still dislikes your average Japanese cop. In fact, she initially took on the role, not for justice, but to stick it to Tokyo's cops by making fools out of them.
• The title character of Birdy the Mighty. She has superhuman strength, speed, agility, and durability. She's also a bioengineered Super-Soldier.
• Dragon Ball has quite a few instances of these:
  • Jaco the Galactic Patrolman will not stop reminding you he's a member of a "super elite" police force (even adopting "Super Elite" as a pseudonym when he was stuck in East City for a while), and often shows superhuman prowess. However, he's quite low in the power totem pole, as in his solo series he flat-out admitted he'd have been no match for any adult Saiyan back when they were still working for Frieza (by the time of Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' he's grown strong enough to easily defeat Frieza's Mooks, but he was still no match for his stronger soldiers, let alone Frieza himself).
    • To give a perspective, back in his solo series Jaco was the weakest and less competent of the patrol, and yet could easily kick a giant container of rocket fuel at dozens of kilometers in the air without blowing it up. Other members of the Patrol (among which there was a Namekian) were much more formidable-but in the end, they aren't capable of taking on Frieza and his army.
  • As of Resurrection F (and by extension, Dragon Ball Super), Krillin has joined Satan City's police force. Bear in mind that he is arguably the strongest non-augmented Earthling, with enough ki to slice the planet in two, if not destroy it outright. However, as he takes his job very seriously, he will only use the vehicles and equipment issued to him for their intended purposes, using his absurd power only as a last resort.
  • When he returns in Dragon Ball Super, Android 17 is a park ranger, single-handedly defending an island with many rare animals from poachers. As the rare animals in general and the last minotaurus are extremely valuable on the black market, poachers generally show up in small armies with cannon-equipped armored cars and bazookas... And remain so outmatched that the only reason they last a few minutes against him is that he holds back to not damage the island or kill them.
  • The Pride Troopers are an interplanetary police force in Universe 11, very similar to Universe 7's Galactic Patrol except in power: Toppo, the leader of the Pride Troopers, is strong enough to be training to become a God of Destruction, and Jiren is simply the mightiest mortal of all universes, stronger than even a God of Destruction (as verified by Belmod, Universe 11's God of Destruction).
  • Katopesla from Universe 3 is a Space Cop, and, thanks to his super suit, can fight in the Tournament of Power alongside the likes of Goku, Vegeta, and fellow Super Cops 17, Krillin and the Pride Troopers (and in fact went toe-on-toe with many of them without getting smashed).

Comic Books

• Dan Garrett, the original Blue Beetle, was a police officer in Powered Armor.
• Marshal Law: "I'm a hero hunter. I hunt heroes. Haven't found any yet."
• Alan Moore's Top 10 series (and its spinoffs) is set in a city where all the cops are superheroes because everyone is.
• Superman:
  • Supes frequently has to remind people that he's not one of these, but because since he has such a good relationship with the Metropolis PD and the citizens of Metropolis, they often treat him like one. Though at one point in the comics he did actually register in the police department so he could legally arrest supervillains.
  • The Metropolis Special Crimes Unit (later the Metropolis Science Police) has Powered Armor and other gear to fight supervillains when Superman isn't available. They even had superhuman members briefly during the late '90s.
• Batman: In stark contrast to most contemporary depictions of the character as a vigilante, during most of the Golden Age and Silver Age, Batman was a deputized officer of the Gotham City Police Department. While his precise official status is seldom explicitly brought up, he and Robin essentially functioned as special cops reporting to Commissioner Gordon, albeit cops who wore costumes and masks and used their own resources.
• Orion Pax in The Transformers (IDW) comics is a Point One Percenter and a genius investigator who routinely arrests dozens of criminals. This turns out to be good practice for when he becomes Optimus Prime.
• Judge Dredd:
  • While Dredd himself is not an example, being merely a very well-trained Badass Normal, the Justice Department have their own division of Psi-Judges, the most notable of which is Judge Anderson.
  • One could say Judge Dredd is a Downplayed Example, since his eyes were replaced with Electronic Eyes after he travelled into a Bad Future, making him a low-key cyborg and boosting his already impressive marksman skills considerably. However, because they are electronic, they can also be an impediment under the right circumstances. Say, if a perp uses an EMP on him or an influential Dirty Cop with the proper access codes...
  • Justice Department's history with robo-judges is... complicated. Most of the Mechanismo projects have failed because of bad AI, and even after the Day of Chaos, when they finally got most of the problems ironed out, they're still only used as back-up for human Judges. Some Judges are cyborgs, having lost one or more bodyparts in the line of duty, though these don't always afford superpowers.
  • There's a What If? story where Joe Dredd himself was never cured of his lycanthropy after his encounter with a pack of werewolves. His Heroic Willpower allows him to regain control over his wolf form and he becomes a crimefighter in the Undercity.
• Meet the Savage Dragon, the Chicago Police's best weapon against super-human crime. Taken even further because there have been many times when he's been able to handle superhuman rampages by talking down the suspect instead of applying violence like cops are trained to do.
• Rising Stars: One of the supers hides his powers and works as a cop. When his secret is out and he's banned from working in uniform, his coworkers (who very much like having a superpowered ally) make him a custom one.
• In the Elseworlds tale Justice Riders, Diana Prince is a super-powered sheriff in the Wild West.
• Nightwing served as a police detective in his civilian identity for a time.

Film

• Maniac Cop: Matt Cordell was once considered to be a "supercop" by the media and his fellow officers in the NYPD, considering his merits. This carries over in later movies, both literally and figuratively.
• One word: RoboCop. An officer dies and is rebuilt by the Mega-Corp that owns Detroit's PD as a cybernetic anti-crime Immune to Bullets One-Man Army.
• Police Academy borders on this when the Ragtag Bunch of Misfits turn into Bunny Ears Lawyers. The animated series, definitely.
• Of course, there's the movie Short Time (a.k.a. Super Cop, on some markets) in which the cop was trying to get killed in the line of duty before he retired in a few days because of a pretty bad case of Mistaken for Dying (and thus invoked Retirony) meeting Springtime for Hitler (and thus coming off as a Cowboy Cop).
• In the Police Story series, Jackie Chan (mostly) becomes this by necessity. The third movie is even called this in Western markets.
• The Super Fuzz movie, pictured above, with Terence Hill in the lead role.
• Scanner Cop and Scanner Cop II are a set of B Movies about a cop with Psychic Powers. This doesn't just help him in dangerous situations with armed suspects or in interrogations, but the paperwork as well. He reviews a hundred case files in a few minutes, and can actually scan the office computer to speed up a facial composition.
• The low-budget film WolfCop is about an inept policeman who gets turned into a werewolf by way of a satanic ritual through no fault of his own. He's at least as competent in his Beast Man form as he is while drunk...

Literature

• The Night Watch from Discworld may fit in this trope. Living in a fantasy world, they've got trolls, dwarves, golems, zombies, vampires and werewolves in their ranks; and Carrot Ironfoundersson. Of course, criminals can also belong to any of those supernatural species, which makes The Watch even more impressive because their superpowered members don't necessarily have an edge because of their superpowers.
• In the X-Wing Series, Corran Horn discovers that his father, who was part of the Corellian Security Force all his life and got Corran into it too, was the son and the student of a Jedi Knight. Both of them did rely a bit on their Force-sensitivity. I, Jedi also notes that Corellian Jedi, including Corran's grandfather, tended to work closely with the Corellian Security Force on the tougher cases.
• The Aurors (and also the poor forgotten Hit Wizards) of Harry Potter, including Aurors Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. Mad-Eye Moody was a legend amongst them.

Live-Action TV

• Season 7 of Arrow has Oliver Queen joining the Star City Police Department, as the exposure of his Secret Identity, coupled with anti-vigilante legislation, makes it impossible for him to continue to operate as a masked vigilante. He continues to wear the Green Arrow suit, albeit without the now-redundant hood and mask.
• The Boys (2019) has two villainous examples. Blue Hawk is a police-themed "superhero" and Politically Incorrect Villain who performs like a Rabid Cop, curb-stomping a black man he thinks looks suspicious. Arc Villain Soldier Boy is a Corrupted Character Copy of Captain America who was used as an attack dog by the government to do things like put down protests.
• Future Cop features an android programmed to be the perfect cop.
• In his first episode of Heroes, cop Matt Parkman is able to telepathically hear a little girl calling for help. In later episodes and seasons, he uses his powers to also try to help people, even when he is no longer a cop.
• The robot Yoyo from the TV series Holmes & Yoyo.
• Three Kamen Rider shows have featured superpowered cops tasked with dealing with the show's villains:
  • Kamen Rider Agito had the Kamen Rider G3 suit and its variants, which were worn by several different operators throughout the show, although Makoto Hikawa was the primary wearer.
  • Kamen Rider Double had police superintendent Ryu Terui, who would become Kamen Rider Accel to deal with Dopant-related crime waves.
  • Kamen Rider Drive puts its super cop front and center as the title character.
• Most Metal Heroes take on this role. In fact, the first three, Gavan, Sharivan and Shaider, all share the title Uchuu Keiji, which literally translates to Space Sheriff.
  • The "Galaxy Federal Police" all three of them report to effectively functions as an organization of Super Cops, with the Space Sheriffs being One Man Armies sent to defend planets from the inexplicable number of alien crime syndicates marauding across the galaxy.
  • Rei Yagyu and her partner Rin Asuka in Sekai Ninja Sen Jiraiya, both being ninjas who work for Interpol.
  • The titular protagonist of Kidou Keiji Jiban was a rookie detective who was fatally injured in an attack by the resident Nebulous Evil Organisation and rebuilt into a superpowered Cyborg, a la RoboCop.
  • The protagonists in the "Rescue Police Trilogy" all wear Powered Armor that makes them more durable and agile.
• Has occurred a few times in Super Sentai (and by extension, Power Rangers):
  • Signalman from Gekisou Sentai Carranger (and the Blue Senturion from Power Rangers Turbo) is a Super Traffic Cop.
  • Mirai Sentai Timeranger/Power Rangers Time Force is about a team of Time Police from the year 3000, chasing a villain who travelled a millennium back in time with an entire prison of criminals in tow.
  • The S.P.D. from Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger (where it stands for Special Police Dekaranger) and Power Rangers S.P.D. (where it's Space Patrol Delta) plays the police theme much heavier, down to having Finishing Moves that can only be used when the team's superpowered badges judge an enemy guilty. The team even have a "SWAT Mode" as their Super Mode.
  • Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger features a team of Super Cop heroes competing with a team of Phantom Thief ones to get their hands on the lost fortune of Arsène Lupin.
• Witchblade: Sara Pezzini is a detective in the NYPD homicide department who gains the power of a magic artifact known as the Witchblade.
• Roswell, New Mexico: Max Evans is a sheriff's deputy with alien powers, though he rarely uses them on the job.

Radio

• The Brewing Network: In Lunch Meet, when an article mentions a police officer by the name of J. R. McKnight, they immediately make jokes about him being this tough, no-nonsense cop who can take care of anything (as well as using a fake voice to give him lines). From then on, when they talk about situations that need a tough hand to fix it, they mention that J. R. McKnight is on the case.

Tabletop Games

• "Officer Prometheus" from Silver Age Sentinels. A combination between the powers of the Human Torch, the mentality of Captain America, and an allegiance to the NYPD (well, Empire City PD, actually). He prefers not to think of himself as a (super-) hero (even actively declining membership with the local super-teams), but rather as just one more cop — one that can be an equalizer when his brother cops have to deal with a super-criminal.
• The Adeptus Arbites of Warhammer 40,000, due to their paramilitary like nature and being Judge Dredd's expy.
• The policing forces of the various human factions in Infinity.

Video Games

• ESWAT. Once your character achieves chief rank he gets a cyber suit with turbo-thrusters and armor.
• Future Cop: L.A.P.D., where you play a heavily armed Transforming Mecha fighting all kinds of criminals.
• City of Heroes features Blue Steel, a Memetic Badass and the only major superhero who works directly for the police force. There are also cops in Powered Armor, cops with Psychic Powers, and the Awakened division of alien symbiote-infused cops. There's also nothing stopping player character concepts from being cops.
• You play one in Crackdown. Morality optional.
• Konoko from Oni. Helps that she was secretly bred to be a One-Woman Army capable of handling anything the Syndicate could field.
• A rare glitch in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City would sometimes render a single random police officer invincible. There were also rumors that he could arrest you anywhere, including magically teleporting from the ground onto your helicopter and playing the arrest animation.
• Mortal Kombat has Kurtis Stryker. Just a regular guy but packs some ordnance to make up for it. Fights otherworldly monsters so he's going a bit above the line of duty.
• Chun-Li of Street Fighter is an Interpol agent, always hot on the trail of M. Bison.
• Lei Wulong of Tekken, which makes sense since he is an Expy of Jackie Chan.
• Project × Zone puts Chun-Li together with Rikiya Busujima from Zombie Revenge and Bruno Delinger from Dynamite Cop/Die Hard Arcade.
• Astral Chain has you playing as a police officer wielding weapons named Legions. Most people are unable to see them. People who wield a Legion are synchronized to it, and with a high enough sync rate (as you are) your own abilities are boosted and you are able to control the legion as easily as your own body.
• Disco Elysium's protagonist, an unnamed police detective, can hear the city's voice talking to him. This has enabled him to close cases that were impossible for other cops, many of whom bemusedly recognize his ability.
• The Trails Series has the Special Support Section, protagonists of the Crossbell games. Officially they're just a branch of the local police department meant to deal with street crimes. However, throughout the series they've dealt with everything from criminal organizations to doomsday cults and have risen from being seen as plucky underdogs to the heroes of the city to eventually helping save the continent from a dark god in the climax of Trails of Cold Steel IV
• The Scramble Vice, has the titular group. Officially designated as the 9th Mobile Unit, they are a special task force that employ a Humongous Mecha to take down powerful criminals that also use a mech. They have a reputation for their destructive tendencies, as cities are often engulfed in flames whenever they are deployed.
• X Com Chimera Squad focuses on a special forces unit of police that consists of both humans and the remnants of the alien invaders from XCOM 2 who have chosen to live among the humans.

Web Animation

• The titular Inferno Cop pursues criminals and other miscreants using the powers of Hell. His police car's siren lights are actually flames.

Webcomics

• Axe Cop, who upon finding the perfect fireman axe uses it to behead every evil he encounters while building an ever-expanding team of do-gooders.
• In The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob! space cops wear "strength rings" which give them Super-Strength and Flight. Officer Krelch has additional powers by virtue of being a Cyborg.
• In Grrl Power ARCHON is organized under the DOD, making them technically Military Superheroes, but most of their work is based on policing supers.
• Inhibit: Urquhart trains variant officers who deal with variant-related crimes.

Western Animation

• The animated series C.O.P.S. (Animated Series) was about a team of these.
• Inspector Gadget. In the revival series, he gets promoted to a secret agent (and becomes Lieutenant Gadget).
• From ThunderCats, Mandora the Evil Chaser.
• The metalbending police force from The Legend of Korra have Supernatural Martial Arts on their side, which is pretty impressive against innocent non-Benders. Against Benders or non-Benders who prepared to fight them (such as the Equalists) they are just a Redshirt Army. Notably they suffer from Crippling Overspecialization, as they never use conventional earthbending, even in cases it would be more effective. They do seem to learn their lesson, as the police force becomes more diverse in later seasons.

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