Badass Normal/Western Animation: Difference between revisions

* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)|Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'':

** Sokka is the only non-bender of the main group. Despite his near-uselessness in battle and lack of spirituality (and role as the [[Butt Monkey|comic relief]]), as the show progresses, we see his engineering and strategy prowess improve to the point where he is openly labeled as the "idea guy" of the team. More recently, his inferiority in combat spurred him to [[Took a Level Inin Badass|seek out training]] in that area, plus he acquired a [[Thunderbolt Iron|unique sword]], making him even more badass despite the fact that he is still inherently normal.

*** Especially Jet. Yes, he's a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|well-intentioned extremist]], but he's ''incredibly'' skilled with his Twin Tiger hookswords, to the point where he can {{spoiler|defeat an (admittedly in-training) ''Avatar''. If Katara hadn't gotten involved, Jet would have won.}} He's smart, he's cocky, he can hold his own against powerful benders, and he gives us one of the best fight scenes in the entire show (a personal favorite of Mike and Bryan's) when he {{spoiler|has a hooksword vs. double broadsword battle with an incognito Zuko. We still don't know who would have won if the Dai Li hadn't interfered.}}

* From ''[[The Legend of Korra (Animation)|The Legend of Korra]]'', we've got an entire organization, the Equalists, who are attempting to eradicate bending completely. They are led by the [[Big Bad]] Amon, a [[Magnificent Bastard]] through and through, who has no problem getting his own hands dirty. He's faced several benders already and always gives them a chance to fight back before {{spoiler|he takes away their bending.}} None of them have succeeded in fighting him off.

* ''[[WITCH (Animationanimation)|WITCH]]'': Caleb never has any more powers than your basic fit young man, yet he somehow is just as effective in a fight as the main girls who, kinda, ''control the essence of the five elements!'' By the end of the second series, even Will's ''pet dormouse'' has more powers than him, and he still manages to hold his own in a fight. If that isn't badass, nothing is.

* Robin from ''[[Teen Titans (Animationanimation)|Teen Titans]]'', though it frequently escalates into the [[Charles Atlas Superpower]] level. Slade is a villainous [[Badass Normal]], except in the fourth season where an intergalactic demon [[Back Fromfrom the Dead|resurrects him]] and grants him fire powers, removing the "normal" - until his powers are removed again, and he returns to [[Badass Normal]] status by ''killing a flaming-axe-wielding guardian of the underworld'' with nothing but tactics and martial arts.

* Hobgoblin in ''[[Spider-Man: theThe Animated Series]]''. In this universe, he predates the Green Goblin, and while his weapons came from Norman Osborn there was no strength-enhancing formula involved. Unfortunately for him, when the Green Goblin does turn up, he's at least as strong as the comics version.

{{quote| '''Amazo:''' You don't have any special powers.<br />

** Special mention needs to be given to the head of [[Cape Busters|Cadmus]] Amanda Waller. Not only is she able to intimidate ''Batman'', she has absolutely no combat training, and yet still goes up against Brainthor along with the original seven with nothing but a handgun, even pulling a brief [[Back-to-Back Badasses]] with [[Green Lantern (Comic Book)|Green Lantern]].

* Jackie from ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures (Animation)|Jackie Chan Adventures]]''. He pulls off many stunts including the classic [[Improvised Weapon|Improvised Weapons]] and a great deal of other things that would be impossible if he weren't a cartoon character. He also doesn't use the magic on the show as much as other characters, using his own skills instead. [[Lampshaded]] by Ratso when Chan ''ran back up a train as it was falling off a cliff.''

{{quote| "No way he's human."}}

* In the world of ''[[She -Ra: Princess of Power (Animation)|She Ra Princess of Power]]'', almost every female character is either a super powerful [[Action Girl]] or [[Magical Girl]], and even the [[Distressed Dude in Distress]] [[The Archer|Archer]] male was a [[Master of Illusion|pretty good illusionist]]. Even then, the sniper Netossa and the space pirate Sea Hawk manage to hold their own when they're in battle despite their lack of magic powers.

* Jake's Dad in ''[[American Dragon Jake Long (Animation)|American Dragon: Jake Long]]'' is this. Jake is a dragon, Rose is a born dragon hunter [[Action Girl]], [[Cloudcuckoolander|Spud]] [[Book Dumb|is the embodiment]] of a [[Genius Ditz]], and Trixie just has street smarts. Jake's Dad is a Cougar Scout, has extreme parent insticts, and that's it. However, he unknowingly defeated the Jersey Devil with a trombone and a can of bear spray. He also held his own against [[Badass]] dragon blood drinking vampires for over four minutes with his bare hands in the episode, "Bite Father, Bite Son". During the final episode, he used a vase to kill an army of demons. Pretty good, considering he did it without knowing his son was a dragon (except the last one of course and even then he had just learned). All the above had powers, he didn't.

* Elisa Maza in ''[[Gargoyles (Animation)|Gargoyles]]''. She can't fly, break rocks with her fingers, zap things, or even have access to high technology like practically everybody else, but all she needs is her handgun, a running start, and an attitude to help take down characters with far more advantages than she has. Sure, she loses quite often, but then so does pretty much everybody.

* While Walter "Doc" Hartford of ''[[Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers (Animation)|Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers]]'' has a Series 5 implant, his "superpowers" [[Technopath|merely enhance his already genius-level hacking ability]], and are useless in combat. When the fight starts, he holds his own with a standard issue blaster, [[Took a Level Inin Badass|a sword]], his fists, and [[Deadpan Snarker|copious wit]]. Not bad for a dude who is fighting alongside a [[Cyborg]] with an [[Arm Cannon]], a genetically-engineered [[Super Soldier]], and an [[Action Girl]] with [[X -Men|Jean Grey]]-type [[Psychic Powers|Psionic abilities]].

* Terry McGinnis in ''[[Batman Beyond (Animation)|Batman Beyond]]''. Yes, he has the suit. But he has taken on explicitly superpowered villains without it, including psychics, shapeshifters, aliens, and mix-and-match creatures, even when he is at a distinct disadvantage. And won. He, armed only with one of his mentor's utility belts, also went up against his own suit when it was taken over by a rogue AI. He won that, too.

* In ''[[Freakazoid!]]'', Cosgrove is so [[Badass Normal]] that all he has to do is point and say "Hey, cut it out!" to stop someone, from a burglar to a pterodactyl to [[Animaniacs (Animation)|the Warner siblings]]<ref> in a crossover comic</ref>.

* Lt. Dwayne Hunter in ''[[Big Guy and Rusty Thethe Boy Robot (Animationanimation)|Big Guy and Rusty The Boy Robot]]'' proves his military skills in Double-Time part one, rigging up a pair of [[Arm Cannon|Arm Cannons]] powered by an [[Iron Man]] style chest piece in an abandoned mechanics shop to take out four Seek and Destroy scouts from Legion Ex Machina after the Big Guy suit has been heavily damaged.

* ''[[Xiaolin Showdown (Animation)|Xiaolin Showdown]]'' brings us self proclaimed boy genius Jack Spicer, who is generally too incompetent to be holding a lot of the show's [[MacGuffin|MacGuffins]], too lazy to learn physics bending Xiaolin arts or Heylin sorcery, and about as fit as you'd expect from someone who travels exclusively by helicopter backpack. {{spoiler|Now -WHO- actually ends up taking over the world in the alternate future?}}.

* [[Codename: Kids Next Door (Animation)|The KND]] are a paramilitary organizating entirely of kids, who fight villians who either have superpowers, or use technology that's to be considered alot more advanced (or at least more sophisticated) when compared to the KND's [[Bamboo Technology|2x4 technology]]. While the KND, on the other hand, use strictly military training and the aforementioned 2x4 tech when engaging in combat.

* Applejack from ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'', despite not having any overt magical or reality-bending talents, can keep up with the rest of the Mane 6 and often surpasses them with her physical prowess, ropesmanship, and herding skills that she gained through pure hard work and practice. Though it's hard to determine what a talking magical horse is considered normal relative to a human being, especially when some of the things she does seems to put her into [[Charles Atlas Superpower]] territory.

* Definitely Lucas Amato from [[Cybersix]] counts. He saves the life of the titular heroine almost as many times as she saves his, despite having no super powers to speak of.

[[Category:Badass Normal{{TOPLEVELPAGE}}]]