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{{trope}}
* [[
** [[Wesley Willis]] put him [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ogid9D0rcEI in his place], though.
** To put it another way, whenever a Justice League villain mockingly says of Batman, "He doesn't even have any powers!", ''[[Pass the Popcorn|get some popcorn]]''.
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** Honestly, Batman's Badass Normal status is cemented by the fact that several high-profile beings (including the above mentioned Spectre and Superman) have such high regard for a "mere mortal". [[Mysterious Waif|Harbringer]] once referred to him as "the Scourge of all Evil."
** Batman is such a badass normal, current Batman writer [[Grant Morrison]] has stated that he actually does have superpowers. What is his superpower? Being Batman.
** It got to the point where when [[Neil Gaiman]] wrote Batman's funeral in [[Whatever Happened to
** He actually JUDO-FLIPPED SUPERMAN across a god damned ROOM during World's Finest in [[
* [[Nightwing]] (the original [[Robin]]'s adult superhero identity) is likewise unpowered and is on par with Batman in most of Batman's skills. He surpasses him in leadership ability: he's about the only person in the world that every superhero would listen to without question. Heck, Nightwing actually [[Grant Morrisons Batman|became Batman]] for a time, so it comes full circle.
* Cassandra Cain (the third [[Batgirl]]) is another example of this. Through physical conditioning alone, she has the ability to perfectly read body language and anticipate her opponent's next move. Not to mention she's been trained by Batman, and is arguably a superior fighter, having beaten the best martial artist in the DC Universe, Lady Shiva (another example of this trope).
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* Minor Batman villain [[Secret Six|Catman]] used to be a walking joke, but now he's an incredibly dangerous mercenary for hire who lived with a pride of lions.
* The top guard in Arkham Asylum, Aaron Cash, is a tough-as-nails and brutal man, often using extreme force to keep the inmates in line. Don't get the wrong idea, though: he's also a noble man with a good heart and moral compass. He's ruthless because he's outnumbered by the most sadistic, evil, and insane people in Gotham, and he and the other guards are the only thing keeping them from terrorizing the city. So what makes him a Badass is that he ''does'' manage to keep control of them. He's a man who will go toe-to-toe with the Joker, Two-Face, Zsasz, and Killer Croc (until the accident...) without a moment's hesitation. [[Badass Decay|Shame they essentially made him a tough talking damsel in distress in Arkham Asylum and Arkham City...]]
* Superman's [[Arch Enemy]] [[Lex Luthor]] glides under the radar on this one, but gets his due from time to time. [[Superman: Red Son]] outlines his whole get-up rather neatly: "What was the point of Lex Luthor? A human who dared challenge a [[Physical God|god]], surely he was the greatest of his kind."
** [[Grant Morrison]], in [http://www.newsarama.com/comics/100827-Morrison-Superman-05.html this] exit interview for [[All
* Post-Crisis [[Lois Lane]] as well. A few abilities are due to her exposure to a lot of weapons and physical skills while growing up on military bases and all, but for the most part it's just that she apparently has cojones the size of Metropolis. Who has the luxury of being incinerated by that alien overlord or getting gunned down by a gang of mob members when you promised Perry White you'd get back to the ''Daily Planet'' with a front-page story before 8:00?
** Weirdly double-subverted with Clark Kent — everyone who doesn't know he's also [[Superman]] ''thinks'' he's this trope, since daring to muckrake around Lexcorp and Intergang would be badass as hell for someone who isn't invulnerable to bullets and doesn't have the ability to fight off frickin' [[Darkseid]]. On the other hand, he manages to survive this kind of [[Death Seeker]]-worthy behavior using ways that don't blow his secret identity, generating the weird conclusion that Clark Kent is a badass normal if there are people watching that prevent him from using any superpowers.
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* Mockingbird. "I may not have the claws and the webs... but I know a thing or two about a thing or two. Yeah, that's right... run like a bitch."
* The ''[[Squadron Supreme]]'' also has Nighthawk, an alternate-universe [[Captain Ersatz]] for [[Batman]].
* Also [[Nick Fury]] (superpowers limited to halted aging). As proof of his badass normal credits, he's in charge of the world's biggest secret organization of, well, secret agents, he's in charge of the Avengers, a team that contains the greatest human-who's-still-only-human, the world's smartest man, the freaking Hulk, and a GOD, a living, breathing, lightning controlling GOD, he's not nearly as powerful as either of these but if he wanted to he could upside their heads. DO NOT FUCK WITH HIM! On another note, try saying ''I'm Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD'' without sounding like a total badass, try it! ''[[
** Dum Dum Dugan, of [[SHIELD]]! He is the only person ever to be in a fist fight with Godzilla.
** Most members of S.H.I.E.L.D even. Especially Sharon Carter.
** To clarify just how badass and awesome Nick Fury is, his [[Ultimate Marvel]] version is based on (and in the [[Iron Man]] films, portrayed by) [[Samuel L. Jackson]].
* [[Captain America (comics)|Bucky]], prior to the cybernetic arm and becoming Winter Soldier.
* [[Black Widow (
* Almost every ''[[Daredevil]]'' villain. Of particular note is the (non-female) Bullseye, who started out as a professional baseball pitcher who somehow developed enough skill to turn ''anything'' he got his hands (or feet, or teeth) on into a lethal throwing weapon. While Bullseye generally plays this trope straight, it is occassionally subverted when he goes up against superhuman beings ''far'' out of his league. In one instance when [[Incredible Hulk
** Daredevil himself, while possessing a [[Disability Superpower]], is essentially a guy who likes to work out. He's tussled with Mr. Hyde, the Absorbing Man, and Ultron, villains who typically give the Hulk, Thor, and/or the Avengers trouble... and ''won''.
* [[The Punisher]] has no superpowers, but more than makes up for it with deadly martial arts skills, a brilliant tactical mind, and enough firepower to destroy a country. The skills of both the Punisher and [[Captain America (comics)]] are such that they've repeatedly tangled with superhuman foes and come out ahead by using their skills in clever and creative ways. ({{spoiler|The MAX (mature readers) Punisher story ''Born'' may subvert this by implying that he may have made a deal with the Grim Reaper to continue to live in order to keep killing, but it is the only such hint in all of MAX Punisher. Otherwise, he's just a Badass Normal who looks his age and has been confined to bed rest multiple times from severe injuries.}})
** Notably, during an obligatory (albeit justified, insofar as Cap does not approve of Punisher's approach) tussle at the start of one of their team-ups, Punisher ''knocks Cap's flying shield down''. Cap is shocked, to say the least.
** In the ''Welcome Back Frank'' storyline, Punisher is about to take out a criminal with a sniper rifle when he is suddenly confronted by Daredevil. Punisher ''allows'' Daredevil to hit him a few times because, as he puts it, "Daredevil is about to have a very bad night." He then activates a device that generates an extremely loud noise, causing Daredevil to collapse in pain due to his enhanced sense of hearing amplifying it even more. Afterward Punisher beats and restrains Daredevil and finishes his assassination mission.
** In The Punisher's Marvel Knights series he beat Wolverine by Slamming a baseball bat in to Wolvie's groin,then shot him in the crouch 9 TIMES with a submachine gun,then covers him in gasoline and is about to set him on fire before being interupted....AFTER blowing Wolvie's face off with a shotgun and at the end he runs Wolverine over with a steam roller so he loses Frank's scent and while only sustaining minor cuts from Wolvie.
* Similarly, Marvel Comics' Kingpin uses both his powerful brains and even more powerful brawn to keep the costumed villains in their place, and screw over the heroes. Oddly enough, he started off as a Spider-Man villain where it was specifically stated that he had superstrength, the origin of which, was a mystery. It was to the point where it was all but stated he was stronger than Spidey who can life roughly 10 tons. Once he shifted over to a Daredevil villain, he had a [[Retcon]], explaining that he was just a really strong human. After that, whenever Kingpin showed up in Spidey comics, he curiously turned into a master-manipulator type instead of the brawler he once was.
* Alex Wilder, from ''[[
** Chase Stein, despite being considered the least intelligent of the group, has [[Book Dumb|street smarts]] enough to figure out how to {{spoiler|outwit the Gibborim}} while he also {{spoiler|forcibly recruits the geek squad who worked for Wilder Senior}}.
▲*** [[media:poor_upbringing.jpg|Chase demonstrates the trope.]]
** Alex's father, [[Diabolical Mastermind|Geoffrey]] [[Knife Nut|Wilder]], is a villainous example in both his 1985 and 2000s incarnations. He's been the leader of The Pride (a group that includes [[Mad Scientist|Mad Scientists]], aliens with [[Light Is Not Good]] powers, time-travelling criminals, [[Evil Sorcerer|Evil Sorcerers]] and [[Mutant|Mutants]]) since day one on the force of personality alone, and took control of most of LA, while the rest of The Pride handled out of town affairs. When his 1985 incarnation is brought to the future he proceeds to give the Runaways a serious fight, ultimately kidnapping Molly and {{spoiler|killing Gert}} before being banished back to his own time.
* Mina Murray, from ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]'', is the team leader by dint of her sheer force of personality. In the movie, Mina gains vampire powers, and the Badass Normal team leader mantle is handed off to Allan Quatermain. Considering that he's played by [[Sean Connery]], it's arguably one of the few changes that works.
* ThugBoy from Adam Warren's ''[[
** Also from Empowered, the Goddamn Maidman, who is also [[Crazy Awesome]] and a [[Wholesome Crossdresser]]. He fights and acts like Batman...in a skirt, garters, and stiletto heels.
* The [[Green Arrow]] family (Green Arrow, Green Arrow II, Red Arrow, and Speedy) are all unpowered. [[Improbable Aiming Skills]] and [[Trick Arrow|Trick Arrows]] aside, Green Arrow II is one of the best martial artists in the world, Speedy is an HIV-positive superheroine, Red Arrow is the fastest archer in the world, and GA himself is mostly a being of pure, unbridled ''moxie.'' He's one of the few people that are completely unafraid of Batman.
** Considering that Green Arrow was originally conceived as a [[Captain Ersatz]] for Batman, this isn't surprising.
** As of ''Green Arrow and Black Canary #14'', Connor (Green Arrow II) has been [[Badass Abnormal|granted healing powers]] by the genetic manipulations of [[Mad Scientist|Dr Sivana]]. [[Sarcasm Mode|Much rejoicing ensued among the fans.]]
* Lobster Johnson from the ''[[Hellboy (
* The Marvel character "MVP" manages to become the best human possible, by various exercise programs and diets. Yes, he ate his veggies and did his pushups ''in just the right combination'' and everyone thought he had superpowers.
* Pretty much ''everyone'' in [[Blue Beetle|Jaime Reyes']] supporting cast that doesn't have superpowers, especially [http://pics.livejournal.com/jasper_stars/pic/00004dkp/ Brenda and Paco], aka Anger Girl and Stick Boy.
** And let's not forget Jaime's predecessor Ted Kord.
* One issue of ''[[
** Dan "Terrible" Turpin is pretty much that badass in every adaptation, especially ''[[Superman:
** How badass is he? He's so badass {{spoiler|[[Final Crisis|Darkseid used him for his new body]].}}
*** His original [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]], back in the original ''[[New Gods]],'' was attacking Kalibak with nothing but a tommy gun and getting mauled within an inch of his life--all to keep Kalibak distracted until he could be fried with all the electrical power in Metropolis, ''knocking him out—'' so the son of Darkseid, god of evil, could be ''arrested.''
** ''[[Ultimate Marvel]]'' had a similar story where everyone had super powers because the Skrulls gave them a magic pill. Unfortunately, the pill would eventually kill everyone who took it, which was the Skrull's way of conquering worlds. The Skrull leader claims to be invincible because he wears a suit that copies the powers of anyone. Ben Grimm is the only one who didn't take the pill, and when the Skrulls inevitably kill all the supers they empowered, leaving the emperor with no one to copy except Ben-normal, he defeats the Skrull leader. Then it [[Reset Button|all got erased through time travel]], but still.
* Cassie Hack of ''[[Hack
* [[Big Applesauce|New York]] in the [[Marvel Universe]] is both hero and villain central, so the NYPD came up with Code B.L.U.E., a police unit that uses training, tactics, [[Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?|Wonderful Toys]], and [[Indy Ploy|brilliant improvisation]] to deal with superhuman beings. They've taken down ''Gods''.
* Also in the MU, Storm of the ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' lost her powers for some time, made do as a Badass Normal, and ''still'' proved a great field leader of the team, beating out the powered Cyclops for the leadership position (although Cyclops was [[Worf Had the Flu|mentally influenced into losing by Madelyne Pryor]]). It even proved an advantage at one time, when the team was trying to stop the infamous massacre of the Morlocks. During that battle, a villain who could neutralize powers with his touch tried to do so with Storm, but she had no powers to affect and he left himself wide open for a knockout punch by her to put him out of action. She's also taken out Callisto and Crimson Commando in hand-to-hand combat, both of whose mutations make them nearly superhuman fighters, and she did so ''without'' using her powers.
* The earliest [[Grendel|Grendels]] all fit into this category, being only humans armed with an electrified [[Blade
* [[Captain America (comics)]] would be this [[Depending
** Parenthetically, there's one fairly big caveat here: the outcome of the matches was decided by reader vote. All the Cap/Bats fight really tells us is that a lot of fanboys ''believe'' the super-serum takes him above and beyond [[Badass Normal]] territory and into the Low-Powered Super realm. (This doesn't, of course, mean they're ''wrong'' about that.)
*** Point of order: in ''Marvel vs. DC'', the winner was decided by winner vote and Batman won. However, when the two faced off again in [[JLA-Avengers]], Batman acknowledged that Cap was perfectly capable of beating him, though it would take a while.
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* [[Iron Man]], before the Extremis.
* Alec Swan, protagonist of [[The Ultraverse]]'s ''[[Firearm]]'' is a former [[Cloak and Dagger|secret agent]] turned [[Private Detective]] armed with nothing more than his wits and a [[Hand Cannon]].
* In ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20190216202011/http://www.johnnysaturn.com/ Johnny Saturn]'', both Johnny Saturn I and II are badass normals. Indeed, in a world full of high-powered superheroes, non-powered vigilantes are referred to as ''Mystery Men.'' Mystery men get by on martial arts, toughness, and willpower.
* Most of the heroes in ''[[Watchmen]]'' lack superpowers (the exception would be Dr. Manhattan) and yet are extraordinarily skilled fighters.
* Rictor, after losing his powers during House of M/Decimation, has turned into this. [[Peter David]] describes him as the "moody former mutant who believes he’s useless and yet keeps happening to save the day." He's saved Siryn from a kidnapper, beaten the Isolationist and Arcade, programmed Danger Room technology to create a very convincing illusion, and helped stop Quicksilver from blowing up any more former mutants.
* This trope isn't exclusive to heroes, either. the [[Evil Albino]] [[Spider-Man]] villain Tombstone originally had no powers, and was, in Spidey's words, "Just a guy." He was just a guy with a tendency to [[Neck Lift]] people while strangling them to death -- one-handed. When he and Spider-Man finally fought after a several-issue storyline, Tombstone gave the overconfident superhero a [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown]] at first using just his hands and then a metal pipe. Once Spidey realized that he was actually dangerous, he got serious and served up a [[Curb Stomp Battle]] to the mob enforcer. Eventually he crossed over to become a [[Badass Abnormal]] with brick powers after his old "friend" Robbie Robertson trapped him in an airtight chamber filled with gaseous [[Applied Phlebotinum]].
* Obregon Kaine from ''[[Cross Gen|Negation]]''. He's a soldier trapped on a prison planet with a bunch of aliens, many of whom have incredible super powers. He wants to organize a jailbreak, but everyone hates his guts because they've become resigned to their fate and they think he's making a bad situation worse. Eventually he gets them to cooperate long enough to escape, and throughout the majority of the series, it's Kaine who holds the small group of super-powered fugitives together by being tougher, smarter and more dogged than anyone else, despite having no powers of his own.
** Arwen from ''[[Cross Gen|Sojourn]]'', who at the beginning of the story attempts to hunt down and kill the undead [[Touched
* Jenkins from ''[[Atomic Robo]]''.
* Any human [[
** This is helped by the fact that two of them (Hal Jordan and John Stewart) either serve in or have served in the armed forces.
*** In the relaunched Green Lantern, Hal jumped out a window to reach the building across from his where a woman was being domestically abused. Later he got a weaker copy of the ring. He proceeded to outrun an entire planet of super-villains with nothing but a ring powered motorcycle.
* Debatable, considering the nature of the universe they are in, but ''[[Dreamkeepers]]'' characters definitely have elements of this trope going for them.
* German comic strip detective ''[[
* Stephanie Brown originally [[Overshadowed
* [[Wolverine]] once went to prison and remarked that when supervillains are in the pen, power-nullifying technology tends to be employed. This means that Badass Normals, like Batroc and the Kangaroo, are the big men nobody messes with - since they have the most straight hand to hand combat experience and ability.
* Both [[Quantum and Woody]] qualify. Most notable in Woody's case, as he ''doesn't'' have the military training or combat experience Quantum has.
* In the Star Wars "[[What If|Infinities]]" comic for "A New Hope," Han joins Luke in going to face both the Emperor and Darth Vader, armed with nothing but his trusty blaster. While Luke does the vast majority of the fighting, Han does manage to take down an imperial guard, and very briefly [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|wields a dual bladed lightsaber]].
* ''[[Gold Digger]]'' has a lot of them, but certainly the most prominent is Gina's mother Julia, greatest warrior of Jade Realm, who routinely takes down monstrously powerful supernatural opponents with nothing but her sword, martial arts, and her brain.
* [[Magnus, Robot Fighter]] was this [[Gold Key Comics|originally:]] a martial artist so [[Badass]] he could [[Exactly What It Says
* In ''[[
* The titular character in "[[Paperinik New Adventures]]",Donald Duck's(yes [[Took a Level
* Ben Grimm - aka [[the Thing]] - isn't exactly "normal", but often in the history of [[The Fantastic Four]], Reed or someone else manages to cure him and make him human again, even though it's always temporary. During these times, Ben certainly fits the description, often able to fight alongside the team with nothing more than what he learned when he was in the Yancy Street Gang.
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