Combat Pragmatist/Comic Books: Difference between revisions

* There is not a force on Earth that can get [[The Punisher]] to fight fair.

* Vick "The Rain" from [[100 Bullets|One Hundred Bullets]] is not above fighting dirty and will even use his own allies as human shields.

** Despite being better known to the casual fan for his ninja ways, never forget that Snake-Eyes is an Army Ranger, and is more than happy to go for the grenades or machine gun as a ninja armed with melee weapons advances.

* [[Cerebus]], being a veteran mercenary, knows better than to fight fair. Early in the series, he was face-to-face with a rebel [[Master Mind]] and as his opponent strode out onto a bridge, finally revealing his identity, Cerebus heaved a rock at his head, causing him to stumble off the bridge to his death. Afterward, this exchange took place:

'''Cerebus:''' ''He is dead and Cerebus is alive... You can't get much fairer than that.'' }}

* Throughout his adventures, [[Corto Maltese]] does his share of kicking people in the nuts and shooting them in the back.

* The following exchange from a comic where [[Deadpool]] and one of the forgettable 90s X-Teams are facing a villain who can dampen mutant abilities:

{{quote|'''Mutant Super Hero''': All right, just because our powers don't work, doesn't mean we're helpless. We should engage him one-on one in hand to hand combat with our strongest fighters going first until he drops.

'''[[Deadpool]]''': Or, hear me out here, or--

'''[[Deadpool]]''': [[Hired Guns|Yeah, I'll send you my bill for that.]] }}

* [[Warren Ellis]]' series ''[[Desolation Jones]]'' has the titular character lampshade his status as as a combat pragmatist. When attacked by a fearsome S&M clad bodyguard, Jones explains that the combatant who wins isn't the strongest but the one who cares the least for holding anything back. The sickly old man then [[Eye Scream|stabs his finger into the charging guard's eye socket]] and pulls him skull first into a wall, knocking him unconscious. He also makes liberal use of the [[Groin Attack]].

** Actually, most of Ellis' protagonists favor this approach to fighting.

* Parodied in ''[[Asterix]] in Britain''. The Romans, observing that the... British take a regular break every afternoon to have tea, decide to attack at tea-time.

* [[Moon Knight]] is more than happy to use truncheons, knives and a spiked steel cestus in the [[Blood Knight|fight]] for justice.

* This was a plot point in one ''[[Justice League of America]]'' arc - The Crime Syndicate of Amerika is impersonating the League and actually gets into a scrape with some low-level supervillains called the Rainbow Raiders. Despite being far more powerful, and the Rainbow Raiders being pathetic enough that just one superhero is usually enough to take them out, the CSA loses miserably. Why? Simple: They've never fought anyone who didn't play by the rules. Whether it's the heroes from their world or the Justice League themselves, the CSA never faced off against somebody who fought dirty and sincerely wanted to kill them.

** Actually the CSA fought plenty of people that wanted to kill them and prevailed. The reason they were losing to Z-list villains is because of some "rule of the universe" where the CSA was destined to fail on the regular Earth just as the Justice League was destined to fail on the CSA's anti-matter Earth.

* Marv from ''[[Sin City]]'' is physically capable of handling most opponents in battle but often uses whatever he can get his hands on simply because he's that damn crazy. Case in point: using a nearby hatchet to shove into a cop's groin.

* Lusiphur, the protagonist of ''Poison Elves'', almost never fights cleanly if he can help it. He isn't above such tricks as [[I Surrender, Suckers|pretending to beg for mercy]] in order to get the jump on a superior opponent.

* 2011 DC Universe reboot: [[Green Lantern|Hal Jordan]] starts boasting to [[Batman]] that with his ring, he can easily take down [[Superman]]. By the time Batman blinks, Superman has [[Flash Step|Flash Stepped]] up to Hal and punched him out.

* In ''[[Elf Quest]]'' when the Wolfriders are attacked without warning by Guttlekraw's trolls:

 

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