Badass/Western Animation

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Subpages

Other works

  • Both the eponymous Aeon Flux and Trevor Goodchild. Unlike most of the examples of this list, Aeon is particularly known to constantly subvert her own badassery by making incredibly stupid mistakes.
  • Brock Sampson from The Venture Brothers is the epitome of brutality and machismo. Over the course of the show, he is seen maintaining a vicious death-grip on a man while being shot with at least 20 tranquilizer darts and run over by a van, killing two men with his rectum, and tearing out a man's eyeballs and making him dance like a marionette with his optic nerves (these are only a few instances).
    • All while protecting charges that he'd rather throw off a cliff.

Brock Samson: Now, Hank, touch your throat. That tube you feel is your trachea. Think of it as your handle. That thing your thumb is on is your carotid artery. Think of it as your button. I want you to grab the handle, push the button. Can you repeat that, Hank?
Hank Venture: [gasping] Grab the handle, push the button.
Brock Samson: Let go of your own throat, Hank.

  • Since Brock Samson is in this list, why not mention the original? That's right: Roger "Race" BADASS Bannon, of Jonny Quest fame.
  • The main character from Korgoth of Barbaria, Korgoth, is an almost stereotypical example of a badass.
  • Leela from Futurama.
    • And Zoidberg, who survived a vivisection and when enters in mating rage he is able to hack opponents to pieces with his pincers.
      • the decapodian themselves, who conquered Earth and enslaved mankind in something like 10 minutes and have crab-shaped warships that destroy enemy warships by eating them!
  • There's a pretty good number of badass Transformers:
    • Anyone from Beast Wars at some point, including Dinobot and Depth Charge constantly. Every character gets a chance to shine, usually by beating characters from the other side into springs and slag. Hey, war's in the title.
    • The Dinobots from G1, especially in the comics. They're vicious, savage, completely out of control, and on the side of the good guys.
    • G1 Mirage, at least in the cartoon, was incredibly badass. He pulled daring stunts, and was a match for most of the Decepticons be it in gun battles or hand-to-hand combat. He could even give Megatron a run for his money. Mirage didn't want to take part in a war... so he's going to make the Decepticons pay for not leaving him any choice in the matter.
    • The 2007 Live Action Adaptation is built on robot badassery.
    • Megatron in Animated can beat all of the Autobots single-handedly and is one of the few version of the character to actually punish Starscream for his betrayal.
      • At one point in the series, he gets contained in a force field with an Omega Supreme clone, set to self-destruct at a power sufficient to destroy everything in a hundred-mile-radius. He survives.
      • In the same vein, Animated Optimus Prime is pretty badass too. He fights this Megatron solo, which takes ball bearings in itself, and once entered an Autobot ship that had been captured and rescued all four captured Elite Guard bots, beating five Decepticons, all of which were combat-ready and willing. He also spends his free time being one of Detroit's superheroes and the leader of the other four heroes.
    • Optimus Prime, no matter what the incarnation, is the one true badass of Transformers. He's a pacifist and tries to solve things non-violently, but when you mess with peace, you can expect to lose a face...
  • As well, Optimus Primal—who, while being the analogue for Optimus Prime for Beast Wars was a unique Transformers leader the likes of which wouldn't be seen until Animated. He was once quoted as saying "Sometimes crazy works," which, while not his Catch Phrase, was his modus operendi.
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender
  • The Legend of Korra continues its predecessor's tradition of bursting at the seams with badasses.
    • We have Korra, the cocky, perky hero who can take on anyone and anything and started bending three elements at four years old
    • Aang's son Tenzin, the Mentor figure and the last Airbending master on the planet, who lives with his family on a private island
    • Chief Beifong, Toph's daughter and head of Republic City's metalbending police force and has been essentially stealing the show in every combat scene she appears in.
    • Mako and Bolin are major badasses as well - professional athletes that compete in battles against other benders. Just moments after we meet him, Mako finds himself alone against three opponents in a probending match, takes the third round in an impressive show of skill, and wins it by himself when he knocks all three of his opponents into the water, by tiring them out while he dodged everything they threw at him, while teetering on the arena's edge.
    • And Katara is still alive, appears to have been Korra's waterbending teacher, and may possibly be a Grand Master of the Order of the White Lotus. She's the only member of the Gaang left alive, at 84 years old, and somehow found time to give birth to three kids.
  • In Gargoyles, we have David Xanatos, who, in addition to being a proficient asskicker, gains true badass status for his intellect, what with being the Trope Namer for the Xanatos Gambit... as evidenced here.
    • And we certainly shouldn't rule out the titular Gargoyles either, particularly Goliath, who's voiced by Keith David.
  • Kung Fu Panda
    • Tai Lung. Nowhere is that truer than when he escapes his prison: 1000 guards, giant crossbows, a holding cell a mile underground and personal restraints specifically designed to neutralize his kung fu abilities; the warders didn't have a chance. This becomes even more evident when you learn, as revealed in the Art of Kung Fu Panda, that a) the prison was built specifically for him, and him alone (after the creators decided this would build him up into even more of a threat) and b) he learned his signature nerve-paralyzation move from the very restraints holding him prisoner.
    • A certain "crazy old turtle" who defeats Tai Lung with a few hand gestures.
    • Furious Five in that battle on the "Thread of Hope". That was BADASS!
    • Lord Shen in the sequel. Sure Shen was more about brain than brawn, but when he does fight...
  • Many Disney characters
  • Quite a few characters in Justice League
  • Darkwolf the prehistoric Batman with an big axe from Fire and Ice.
  • In Samurai Jack the eponymous character defeats an army of specially built warbots with nothing but a bamboo stick to prove to the resident samurai that he's the real deal.
  • All the main characters of Teen Titans fit this trope at one point or another, but the creators paid special attention to making Robin as Badass as possible, to the point where he hits the bad guys just as hard as his superpowered comrades.
    • And Slade trounces them all in Badassitude. How badass is he? He's voiced by Ron Perlman; he's that badass.
  • Coop from Megas XLR simultaneously subverts AND supports every fat character trope there is, while throwing a fair bit of audacity and affection into the mix. Coop is loving Deconstruction of the hot-blooded Super Robot pilot. A deconstruction because he regularly fights and promptly destroys many thinly disguised icons in anime, and pop culture in general...but the very fact he's a fat guy and the protagonist is unusual in itself. Loving because he also embodies everything that makes hot-blooded, screaming heroism so awesome. And it's that quirky mix of his purpose, his appearance, and his personality that make him badass.
  • The Swat Kats.
  • Tombstone and Venom from The Spectacular Spider-Man consistently count, though most villains and Spidey himself get plenty of moments on that show.
  • Look at the 2003 version of The Shredder, then, look at 1987 version, what's the difference?
    • The Turtles themselves!
    • Also, Bishop.
    • And then Turtles Forever gives us the original Turtles, who tops everyone else. The Shredder mentioned above? He's even scared of them!
  • Not sure if he belongs here or on the Film page, but Buck from Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs more than qualifies.
  • He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and She-Ra.
  • Xiaolin Showdown: Raimundo simultaneously beat up an uber-powerful witch, two fallen warriors, and a demonic bean.
  • Kimberly. Ann. Possible. Essentially, she started kicking Buffy levels of ass at an even younger age.
  • Bugs Bunny.
  • According to the boy himself, Bart Simpson: Son, Brother, Badass
  • "A Platypus? Perry the Platypus!"
    • From the movie, we have Candace-2.
  • Matrix. Even if he did name his gun "Gun"... because he doesn't need it.
  • ThunderCats (2011) has Panthro, who, according to Michael Jelenic, is "a pretty cool character, just like on the old show." He repeatedly mows through multiple foes with ease, whether in his personal tank, or toe-to-toe against a group of lizards while armed with only one nunchaku.
  • Charles Foster Ofdenson. You do not F*(guitar riff)*k with his bread and butter.
  • About 99% of the characters from Codename: Kids Next Door It's that kind of show.
Back to Badass
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Badass/Western_Animation?oldid=1959158"