Underestimating Badassery: Difference between revisions
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* The four, who mostly look normal and wimpy, take advantage of being underestimated whenever possible in ''[[With Strings Attached]]''. In fact, they win the day because the skahs (and Jeft, for that matter) cannot conceive of them being competent, especially after George and Ringo are [[Brought Down to Normal|depowered]].
* ''[[Ultimate Sleepwalker|Ultimate Sleepwalker: The New Dreams]]'' features [[Psycho for Hire]] Bullseye, who brags about being an A-list supervillain and mocks the supposedly C-list 8-Ball when they end up fighting during a [[Mob War]]. {{spoiler|The ensuing fight ends with 8-Ball using his jet-propelled cue stick to flick Bullseye's detached head into a garbage can.}}
* In the ''[[Black Lagoon]]'' part of the massive anime crossover ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20181029074217/https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2793918/1/Ever-After Ever After]'', Balalaika, [[Magnificent Bastard|of all people]] ends up doing the underestimating. No, not any of the main characters, but rather -get this- Yukio Washimine. You see the events of the Fujiyama Gangster Paradise arc ended... Differently. Yukio ends up making a deal with her, her Yakuza wipe out one of her enemies in exchange for their lives. Balalaika thought they'd either be destroyed or they'd succeed but be so decimated that they'd be even easier to take out. However, it turns out Yukio had learned quite a few things from watching Hotel Moscow rip them a new one... ...When the dust settles, the Italians have all been killed with minimal losses on Yukio's side, the Yakuza are now staying in Roanapur, and Balalaika now has to explain to all the other crime bosses that [[This Is Gonna Suck|she just added another potential enemy to a city that's already full of them.]]
== Films -- Live Action ==
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** Also not a direct fight, but in several of Wedge's appearances in the ''[[New Jedi Order]]'' and later ''[[Legacy of the Force]]'', people underestimate his abilities in all kinds of things. Not piloting, but things like the ability to tell when he's being used as a political pawn about to be sacrificed, and in general his extraordinary resourcefulness and endless skill with the [[Indy Ploy]] and, sometimes, [[Xanatos Speed Chess]].
* ''[[Codex Alera]]'': Anyone who is in a fight with [[Badass Normal|Tavi]]. Period. That [[The Call Put Me on Hold|"furyless freak"]] ''will'' hand you your ass if you get him angry.
* ''[[Harry Potter
** Most people don't take the three main characters too seriously, either, until they start winning. Meanwhile, Neville, Luna and Ginny ran a successful resistance against Voldemort's reign for the better part of the school year.
* In [[Larry Niven]]'s ''Known Space'' setting, the [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Kzin]] first encountered humanity in the form of an unarmed colony ship from a pacifist world, carrying only a skeleton crew. Seeing easy prey, they attacked. Unfortunately, "unarmed" and "pacifist" don't add up to "harmless"...
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* ''[[Doctor Who]]''. "Oh look, here comes this weirdo in stupid clothing. He couldn't possibly be that smart...how dangerous could he be?" Just... look him up.
** Another time, a Dalek (who are supposed to be pure evil) assumes that, as a companion, the person in front of him will be compassionate and merciful. The person in question merely says, "I'm River Song. Check your records again." It then begs for mercy... ''three times''... and it '''still''' didn't work.
** "{{
*** [[Doctor Who/Recap/S32/E07 A Good Man Goes to War|And the Cybermen would also later discover that when he asks a question, best not push him to repeat it.]]
** Daleks have underestimated companion badassery before. "[[Batter Up|Who are you calling small]]!?"
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* The Jews in the the [[Jewish Revolts]] were a tiny province that gave ''Rome'' the hardest fight she had had for ages. So hard that just subjugating them was considered worthy of a triumph and made the commander [[The Emperor]].
* In the 12th century, the Khwarezmian emperor who ruled much of Greater Iran, thinking that Genghis Khan was only the leader of a small, weak group of nomads, killed and shaved his messengers to humiliate him. The Mongols responded by completely demolishing his empire and adding it to their own in a campaign that was brutal even by their own standards. In large part because they ''also'' have underestimated how troublesome the locals can be. Instead of an expected limited and straightforward action (yet another punitive raid against yet another depraved envoy-killer, and perhaps a small conquest) they met [[The Hashshashin]]s and found themselves in an entirely new area of the "ugly mess" scale - somewhere between an anti-insurgency campaign and Inquisition.
* In November 2010, two drunken yobs thought that it would be a good idea to start a fight with three men they met in the street. Unfortunately for the two, the three people that they picked a fight with were George Cross winners Peter Norton of the British Army and Matt Croucher of the Royal Marines plus Victoria Cross winner Mark Donaldson of the Australian Special Air Service Regiment. It didn't end well for the both of them. Read about it here: https://web.archive.org/web/20120616044026/http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/campaigns/our_boys/3227540/Military-heroes-in-yobs-rout.html
** It's actually a rather common occurence for thieves to horribly underestimate the people they rob. On any given occassion, that random passerby they attempt to hold up might just be a [[Badass Normal]] or packing heat...
** Yeah http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1218651/Thugs-attack-men-dresses--turn-cage-fighters.html
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