History BadassNormal / LiveActionFilms

* Col. Hardy in ''Film/ManOfSteel''. He shows no fear in fighting the Kryptonians and does his level best to kick some ass. Even the [[WorthyOpponent Kryptonians are impressed]].
* Several examples from the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, which may cross over with comics examples listed on that page:
** ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} agents Phil Coulson, Maria Hill, Clint Barton a.k.a. ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}}, and Natasha Romanoff a.k.a. Comicbook/BlackWidow. They all serve under undisputed Badass Normal ComicBook/NickFury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D. And, if Coulson's description is accurate, the whole of S.H.I.E.L.D. is an example.
** Apart from ComicBook/CaptainAmerica and Bucky, every other member of the [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger Howling Commandos]] is a Badass Normal. Peggy Carter and Col. Chester Phillips from the Strategic Scientific Reserve are certainly no slouches in the badass normal department themselves, either.
** Ivan Vanko fits, while he did have a laser-whip harness, he was otherwise unprotected when he was hit by a car, a metal door, and by Film/IronMan himself. He stayed conscious through all of this.
** In ''Film/IronMan3'' both Tony and Rhodes show they are capable of fighting supervillains without armor.
** Unfortunately, this was averted in the case of Happy Hogan, who confronted a supervillain and was immediately put in a coma for his troubles. [[spoiler:He gets better in the end, though.]]
** Also, the first time Emil Blonsky faced the [[Film/TheIncredibleHulk2008 Hulk]], he was just a soldier. He didn't fare well but was seemingly the only survivor against Hulk's rampage and certainly the only one left standing by the end of it. That says something.
** In ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', Helmut Zemo has no advanced tech (the most he pulls out is an EMP), no powers and no special origin. He's not the head of a billion dollar company or the leader of a terror group. At best, he was a former military colonel. What he does have is patience, wits and ThePowerOfHate. [[spoiler: He's also the '''ONLY''' MCU villain under TheBadGuysWin.]][[spoiler: At least until ''[[Film/AvengersInfinityWar Infinity War]]''...]]

* A unusual example of this occurs in ''Film/SpiderMan2'', where the citizens on the train that Spider-Man just saved see him with his mask off and realize that, despite having super-powers, the "guy behind the mask" is actually just a normal human teenager, who presumably goes to school, and has a normal life like every other teen. Although unacknowledged, it's this fact that makes them all stand up to Doc Ock, to try and protect Spidey. [[spoiler:Who just uses his "robotic arms" to move them out the way.]] Another twist on this occurs earlier in the film. Peter Parker had lost his powers due to stress and decided to give up on being Spider-Man, but he still ran into a burning building to save a child as himself.

* ''Film/WonderWoman2017'': Steve is a World War I pilot, spy, and saboteur and skilled in his own right, he just isn't a demi-goddess with SuperStrength, divine armor, and weapons. His aim with a gun is enough to provide cover fire.
* In the ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'', the average cop or soldier is capable of fighting against mutants, even if the former may not always win.
** ''Film/X2XMenUnited'':
*** William Stryker is as intimidating as Magneto, without any superpowers!
*** One cop briefly took Wolverine down with a shot to the head.
** ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'':
*** The military is smart enough to go after Magneto with non-metal weapons and took out quite a few members of his mutant army before the X-Men showed up to lend a hand.
*** A random security guard was the one who eventually took down Mystique.
** ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'': Stryker was the one responsible for [[spoiler:shooting Logan in the head with an adamantium bullet, giving him amnesia]].
** ''Film/TheWolverine'':
*** Shingen Yashida. No mutant powers, no supertech, just a katana. Nonetheless, he holds his own against the Wolverine himself. Oh, and [[spoiler:Shingen was weakened by Viper's poison at the time, which was intended to kill him.]]
*** Harada is a mundane [[TheLeader leader]] of a clan of mundane ninja.
*** Logan has a very difficult time with the two determined Yakuza on top of the bullet train, who do all the same death-defying stunts as Wolverine without any superpowers at all.
** ''Film/XMenApocalypse'': The Ancient Egyptians of 3600 BC defeated En Sabah Nur and his Four Horsemen without the benefit of superpowers or modern technology.

** Apart from ComicBook/CaptainAmerica himself, every other member of the [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger Howling Commandos]] is a Badass Normal. Peggy Carter and Col. Chester Phillips from the Strategic Scientific Reserve are certainly no slouches in the badass normal department themselves, either. Special mention to Bucky, who keeps up with him for most of the film despite being normal.

** ''The Force Awakens'' has an even better example with a [[{{Mooks}} random Stormtrooper]] (canonically named "FN-2199", but better known to fans as [[IncrediblyLamePun TR-8R]]), who is able to take on Finn while the latter had a lightsaber with nothing but a stun baton and some serious Chutzpah. He would have killed Finn, too, had it not been for [[BigDamnHeroes Han and Chewie intervening]]. Though, as noted above, since [[WorfHadTheFlu Finn had never trained with a lightsaber before]], this isn't saying much.

* Of the "Big Three" slasher villains, Michael Myers from ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}'' is best known as this. Whereas Jason Voorhees from ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'' started out as this but is most famous in his RevenantZombie form from the later sequels, and Freddy Krueger from ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet'' is a ghost with DreamWeaver powers, Michael is known for getting no such explanation for how tough he is: as his former psychiatrist Dr. Loomis puts it, he's simply evil. Of course, he has countless superhuman feats in every continuity (knowing how to drive despite being imprisoned since childhood, pulling a headstone out of the ground, shrugging off gunshots, regrowing eyes after they were shot out) that strongly imply Loomis is onto something about him being anything but "normal." ''Film/HalloweenTheCurseOfMichaelMyers'' tried to tie him to an ancient Celtic curse to explain his apparent powers, but that movie was [[CanonDiscontinuity swiftly disregarded]] by later entries.

* The ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' films have an interesting example of how a group of characters grow into the role of BadassNormal. When they start off human soldiers were completely helpless against the Decepticons, as they would shrug off .50 cal machine guns and anything lower with no problem. Lennox and Epps managed to discover (almost by accident) that they were vulnerable to HEAT (High Explosive Anti-Tank) rounds, which they fired from hand-held weapons, as well as the ''really'' [[{{BFG}} heavy weapons]] fired [[GunshipRescue from artillery platforms]]. But due to difficulties mobilizing support crafts and hand-held weaponry not capable of extensive enough damage, they were still relying heavily on Autobot support during the course of ROTF. By DOTM you see soldiers training directly with Autobots in how common infantry soldiers can do real damage against the big robots: using trip wires, blinding them with parachutes or sniper rounds, planting grenades on their feet to disable them... using BadassNormal strategies over heavy firepower. In the final battle of DOTM it effectively becomes BashBrothers with equal footing with the Autobots and Human Soldiers just decimating the Decepticon ranks. Even Sam is able to take down Starscream.
** The trailers for the fourth film show the government hunting down all Transformers, claiming that Autobots are not needed anymore. Naturally, the Decepticons return to show them they're wrong.

* Of the "Big Three" slasher villains, Michael Myers from ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}'' is best known as this. Whereas Jason Voorhees from ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'' started out as this but is most famous in his RevenantZombie form from the later sequels, and Freddy Krueger from ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet'' is a ghost with DreamWeaver powers, Michael is known for getting no such explanation for how tough he is: as his former psychiatrist Dr. Loomis puts it, he's simply evil. ''Film/HalloweenTheCurseOfMichaelMyers'' tried to tie him to an ancient Celtic curse to explain how he kept coming back, but that movie was [[CanonDiscontinuity swiftly disregarded]] by later entries. ''Film/HalloweenKills'' takes it to the next level, showing Michael [[spoiler:getting up from a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown at the hands of an [[TorchesAndPitchforks angry mob]] and proceeding to slaughter ''all'' of them]], while Laurie can only speculate as to whether or not he's even still human.

* Lord Cutler Beckett from ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' is a particularly terrifying example. He doesn't have any supernatural powers or combat ability, but more than makes up for it in manipulation, blackmail, and sheer heartless cruelty, [[CorruptCorporateExecutive all in the name of defending his business.]] By the third movie, ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd At World's End]], he's subjugated the devil of the sea, Davy Jones, even mocking him to his face and forcing him to unceremoniously kill off his beloved Kraken, a huge threat to the pirates in ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest Dead Man's Chest]]'' that succeeded in killing Jack Sparrow. Beckett so strongly exemplifies this trope that his very presence signifies [[EndOfAnAge pirate mythology itself dying]].

* ''Film/GodzillaFinalWars'' has Captain Gordon. He defeats superpowered mutants and aliens armed with laser guns using only his fists and a katana. He was also able to survive a few encounters with Godzilla himself.
** In a kaiju example we have Gorosaurus, who is little more than a giant theropod who can only bite, claw, kick and slash. Yet he is strong enough to physically overpower King Ghidorah and take his gravity beams head-on without much trouble.

** Finn, as seen in ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', is able to hold his own in a lightsaber battle with trained Force-sensitive Kylo Ren despite the former's only having been trained in the use of Stun Batons (best exemplified by FN-2199 AKA 'TR-8R') which absolutely does not translate to the bottom-heavy lightsaber(it's worth noting that on close inspection, Finn has a tendency to overswing in his fight with Kylo, which is remarkably realistic, considering) and Kylo's being a trained Dark Side wielder hopped up on rage and pain (though, admittedly, also badly wounded with a weapon we've seen send Stormtroopers in full armour flying).
** ''The Force Awakens'' has an even better example with a [[{{Mooks}} random Stormtrooper]] (canonically named "FN-2199", but better known to fans as [[IncrediblyLamePun TR-8R]]), who is able to take on Finn while the latter had a lightsaber with nothing but a stun baton and some serious Chutzpah. He would have killed Finn, too, had it not been for [[BigDamnHeroes Han and Chewie intervening]]. Though, as noted above, since Finn had never trained with a lightsaber before, this isn't saying much.

* The ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' films have an interesting example of how a group of characters grow into the role of BadassNormal. When they start off human soldiers were completely helpless against the Decepticons, as they would shrug off .50 cal machine guns and anything lower with no problem. Lennox and Epps managed to discover (almost by accident) that they were vulnerable to HEAT (High Explosive Anti-Tank) rounds, which they fired from hand-held weapons, as well as the ''really'' [[{{BFG}} heavy weapons]] fired [[GunshipRescue from artillery platforms]]. But due to difficulties mobilizing support crafts and hand-held weaponry not capable of extensive enough damage, they were still relying heavily on Autobot support during the course of ROTF. By DOTM you see soldiers training directly with Autobots in how common infantry soldiers can do real damage against the big robots: using trip wires, blinding them with parachutes or sniper rounds, planting grenades on their feet to disable them... using BadassNormal strategies over heavy firepower. In the final battle of DOTM it effectively becomes BashBrothers with equal footing with the Autobots and Human Soldiers just decimating the Decepticon ranks.

* A unusual example of this occurs in ''Film/SpiderMan2'', where the citizens on the train that Spider-Man just saved see him with his mask off and realize that, despite having super-powers, the "guy behind the mask" is actually just a normal human teenager, who presumably goes to school, and has a normal life like every other teen. Although unacknowledged, it's this fact that makes them all stand up to Doc Ock, to try and protect Spidey. [[spoiler:Who just uses his "robotic arms" to move them out the way.]]

** Also, the first time Emil Blonsky faced the [[Film/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]], he was just a soldier. He didn't fare well but was seemingly the only survivor against Hulk's rampage and certainly the only one left standing by the end of it. That says something.

** All of the titular team in ''Film/RogueOne'', but especially Chirrut Îmwe who is not only lacking in Force-powers but is also ''blind'' and can still curb-stomp stormtrooper squads and shoot down ''TIE Fighters'' with nothing but a wooden staff and a crossbow, respectively.

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** ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} agents Phil Coulson, Maria Hill, Clint Barton a.k.a. ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} and Natasha Romanoff a.k.a. Comicbook/BlackWidow. They all serve under undisputed Badass Normal ComicBook/NickFury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D. And, if Coulson's description is accurate, the whole of S.H.I.E.L.D. is an example.

** Unfortunately, this was averted in the case of Happy Hogan who confronted a supervillain and was immediately put in a coma for his troubles. [[spoiler:He gets better in the end though.]]

** Jango Fett from ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' has about the best record in the ''Star Wars'' films of a normal fighting the Force-using Jedi. First, he fights Obi-Wan using gizmos and gumption. Jango gets the worse of the combat, but his gadgets last just long enough to allow a quick escape, and Obi-Wan is certainly inconvenienced. Later he manages to kill a distracted Jedi RedShirt with some blaster sharpshooting. This must have gone to his head, because he ultimately [[spoiler:tries to take on Mace Windu and gets rather anticlimatically curbstomped -- note that Windu was absolutely elite even among the Jedi.]]

* Lothar and Llane from ''Film/WarCraft2016'' stand out among other heroes as being regular humans, as opposed to the rest of the characters - a half-orc, an actual orc and a pair of wizards. They keep up with orc-slaying just fine.

* In the ''Franchise/StarWars'' universe, there are many who can perform amazing feats even if they lack Force-sensitivity: