In every form of media, there are certain scenes, certain actions that are so awesome, and badass that they wow you. Sometimes these scenes are so memorable that they can define a movie, an episode, a chapter, and even a character. In this case though, these scenes are performed by characters who have…nothing particularly badass about them.
Mojo Jojo (PPG): Destroys a Giant Robot Even the PowerPuff Girls Can’t Beat
Mojo Jojo is a PowerPuff Girl villain who…has basically become a joke, easy enough for the PowerPuff Girls to easily defeat at any time. After his first few appearances, he’s mostly a mild annoyance at best. But in the episode “Forced Kin”, Mojo manages to redeem himself and more.
That’s the entire episode, where an alien force manages to beat the PowerPuff Girls so bad, they go to Mojo for help. He spends the episode trying to counter the alien’s plans, and succeeds for the most part…then as you can see in the above video (at about 13:30 and on), the alien comes down in the form of a giant robot and totally wrecks the PowerPuff Girls, and the city in a short amount of time.
The badass moment comes above (or at the end of the first video), when Mojo finally snaps, because the alien robot is using all of his ideas. Armed with just his hands and a particularly stale baguette, Mojo beats the robot into submission, and saves the planet, doing what the PowerPuff Girls could not.
Not bad for a seemingly harmless villain.
The Flash (Justice League Unlimited): Beating Brainiac
In Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, Flash is pretty much a low level hero, someone who’s fast but loses all the time due to literally running into still objects and getting clotheslined, or slipping on marbles or tripping over nothing.
He’s seemingly the biggest waste of potential, somewhat showcased when him and Lex Luthor switched bodies, and Lex used his powers to deliver a good beating to many of the Justice League. This changes in the episode “Divided We Fall” where Lex Luthor and Brainiac combine to form…Lexiac? Brainiex? Who knows, but they combine and give the Justice League a good fight.
After this, Lexiac goes for a power up and in the meantime makes the Justice League fight evil nanobot versions of themselves, fashioned after the Justice Lords (An alternate version of the Justice League that took over their world). The Justice League win, but are quickly taken out by Lexiac, leaving only the jokey hero, the waste of potential, Flash to fight. And boy does Flash fight.
Surprising everyone, Flash goes beyond full speed and absolutely destroys Brainex with power unseen from him before this. He quickly goes from pretty useless to the most powerful on the team in a span of minutes (speed has always been his thing), and beats the Brainiac out of Lex. Even more badass, he does this at the cost of himself, as he nearly dies and is absorbed into the Speed Force (an alternate dimension that’s the source of his powers), for moving so fast.
Flash proved he wasn’t just a jester of a hero, but a true powerhouse when the going gets tough.
Molly Weasley (Harry Potter): Killing Bellatrix Lestrange
In the Harry Potter series (both books and movies), Molly Weasley is a loving stay-at-home mother who cooks, cleans, and generally takes care of her large family of 8 (not including herself). She’s often seen as a mother hen type figure as she also takes Harry under her wing and treats him as if he’s part of the family.
On the other hand, Bellatrix Lestrange is an evil and vile witch, one who’s clearly insane and revels in torture and killing. She appears to be Voldemort’s second in command, and is responsible for the deaths of Sirius AND Dobby, and for torturing Hermione personally.
Because of this, when the two met on the battlefield, no one could expect what was to come.
As it goes, Bellatrix was battling several witches at once, Ginny Weasley, Molly’s daughter being one of them. When Bellatrix gets a near kill on Ginny, Molly steps in and takes on Bellatrix 1 on 1. In a shocking turn of events, Molly not only wins the battle, but kills Bellatrix flat out for messing with her daughter. That’s right, the housewife with no implications of battle prowess stepped up and took down the Dark Lord’s second in command. Truly unexpected, but awesome at the same time.
Carol (Walking Dead): Saving The Crew From Terminus
A Sweet old lady who’s not ready for the horrors of the zombie world, that’s what Carol from the Walking Dead was. The only thing she was notable for, was her daughter Sophia wandering off (stupidly) and dying to the Zombie Apocalypse, and being abused by her husband. As far as anyone knew, Carol was weak. Then one day she tried some cynical pragmatism and killed several sick people in the community, to stop the spread of disease, and was kicked out by Rick. And that was the end of Carol. Or not.
Later, Rick and the crew made their way to Terminus, who had fliers and other media up, advertising what a great place it was to live, a paradise. Well it turned out to be a trap and Rick and his team were tied up and being prepared to be eaten, yes eaten, by the people of Terminus.
But guess who comes to the rescue? That’s right, the sweet old lady from before, Carol. In true badass fashion, Carol doused herself in zombie guts, blew up some infrastructure, and led a horde of zombies to Terminus. This action allowed Rick and the crew to escape their bindings and ultimately took down their cannibalistic foes.
Carol proved herself to be more than just an old lady, and a battle-hardened warrior who’s ready to kill. This actually carries on for the rest of the show where Carol continues her legacy of badassery and brutality.
Amanda (Nikita): Taking down Alex with ease
Amanda was seemingly harmless, albeit cruel: a mere psychologist in a organization of trained killers. Every time Amanda was shown, she was definitely NOT combat ready, and one of those evil doctor kind of villains.
That’s why when Alex, a secret agent trained both by Division (The Secret Organization full of well-trained killers), AND Nikita (the best of said killers who went rogue) attacked her, everyone knew who would would: Alex. Apparently, Amanda didn’t get the memo, and easily countered Alex’s attack, and took her down in one blow, quicker than anyone else has or will, including Nikita herself.
Who would’ve thought that a random psychologist/evil doctor could take out a trained secret assassin/agent? Especially with such ease? Well apparently Amanda did, surprising everyone with her apparent skills, which is what allowed her rise to the ‘final boss’ of the series make sense. It was unexpected by all that she would take such a gigantic leap up the ranks.
Padme Amidala (Star Wars: Fighting of the Nexu)
Star Wars had established Padme as two things: a royalty, and a damsel in distress. In the first movie she needs the Jedi as well as her own guards to save her and Naboo from Separatist attacks, and in the beginning of Attack of the Clones, she needs the Jedi again, to thwart an assassination attempt.
That’s why it came as a surprise when Padme, who was locked up beside two Jedi (Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker of all people), was the first to escape her bonds, and the first to land a significant blow on the monster that came to kill her: the Nexu.
The Nexu is clearly some kind of mutant feline monster, and despite it’s sharp claws drawing blood, Padme manages to keep it off of her and even make it whimper in pain as she dropkicks it to oblivion. To make it clear, Padme, a former Queen and now Senator without ANY Force abilities, did what Obi-Wan and Anakin could not and escaped her bonds. She then fought a vicious monster and landed the first blow before her Jedi allies could. Even Obi-Wan remarks that she has things under control and seems impressed by her abilities.
She even holds her own and survives the rest of the battle as she blasts back at the droid army, something many other Jedi failed to do.
The unexpected show of skill and badassery provided good reason for Princess Leia to be as fiery and willing to fight as she was in the original trilogy, as her mother was the same.
Sing (Kung Fu Hustle): Hitting the Beast
This badass moment is less triumphant and less traditional than the others, but it might take more guts than the others combined. The Protagonist of Kung Fu Hustle, Sing, is a coward. He’s afraid of fighting anyone and steals candy from mute girls who try to be nice to him. Every time he tries to do something, he gets beat up and taught a lesson so he can go back and wallow in self pity.
But when Sing saw The Beast, an evil Kung Fu master who was previously locked away for the good of the world, fighting two heroes in a heavy struggle and restrained, Sing strikes. Literally. Taking a piece of wood, Sing swings for The Beast’s head hitting him as hard as he can. Unfortunately, The Beast isn’t hurt at all, and is actually enraged, breaking from his restraints to punch Sing so hard his shirt rips, Axe Kick him to the ground, and punch his head into a deep crater.
The most badass part? When The Beast questions Sing in his anger: “Why did you hit me?” Sing, barely alive at this point, musters up the remainder of his strength and bonks The Beast on the head again.
For a known coward, that is impressively brave and literally awesome.
Copyright © WarWithWords 2017
