History GoodIsNotSoft / LiveActionTV

** Mary too. She is shown to [[CoolBigSis genuinely like Sherlock]], and most certainly seems to get along with [[TeamMom Mrs. Hudson]], as well, despite the fact she's an [[CoolOldLady old lady.]] But she was an assassin from the CIA. Plus, her husband is an adrenaline junkie who, like her, is not one you'd want to mess with. It doesn't help she's an adrenaline junkie herself. You don't want to mess with her and don't get any ideas about messing with John-or Sherlock. Pissing off those two by attacking the other? Lame idea. It doesn't help that [[BadassAdorable John]] and [[RetiredBadass Mary]] are [[ImprobableAimingSkills darn good shots.]]

* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'': pretty much applies to all the main characters, save Ward. They're nice, kind-hearted folks as long as you're not a HYDRA mook or head -- or [[spoiler: Grant Ward]] -- in which case they'll kill you in cold-blood or order same. Coulson, May, Skye (especially [[spoiler: after she gets her superpowers, though she is later shown slaughtering a group of HYDRA soldiers using a regular gun]]), Bobbi, Hunter (a close-to-comic-relief character who midway through Season 2 [[spoiler: commits an unambiguous cold-blooded murder of a HYDRA leader on Coulson's orders, with Bobbi watching]]), and even Simmons, [[spoiler: who attempts to murder Ward and spends most of Season 2 devising ways to kill people with superpowers]].
* Laurel Lance in {{Series/Arrow}} is generally kind to those around her and has made a career of helping those who need it most, but that doesn't mean she's going to let the bad guys get away with abusing people.
** Oliver starts out as JudgeJuryAndExecutioner but eventually takes up ThouShaltNotKill. After a while in this mode, we find out his attitude on it stops short of the Batman level; killing isn't a non-option, it's just a ''last resort.'' {{Mooks}} in his way get the fight taken out of them with tranq or taser arrows. {{Mooks}} chasing him once his work is done get left in the dust with smoke or flashbang arrows. The VillainOfTheWeek gets captured. ...And villains who convince him they're too dangerous to live get ''pointy'' arrows. Also, 'captured' can still mean "impaled to the wall [[OnlyAFleshWound through a non-fatal part of your body]]."

* Claire Temple from ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'' is an ER nurse who first met the eponymous hero when she hauled him bleeding from a dumpster and tended his wounds when he refused to be taken to a hospital, and she continues to stitch him up on occasion, as well as have a minor [[LoveInterest romantic subplot]]. You'd expect a nurse to be nurturing, gentle, meek, and generally an AllLovingHero, right? As it happens, while Matt[=/=]Daredevil is interrogating a {{Mook|s}} in order to find a kidnapped child in a human smuggling ring, she goes from too horrified to speak to instructing Matt precisely how best to make him ''[[ColdBloodedTorture hurt]].'' She is brisk, calm and will not accept Matt nearly dying in her apartment and then leaving without explaining how he's any better than the people he goes after. A reason she helped him in the first place is that she believes the scum of Hell's Kitchen deserve punishment, having seen the pain they cause on a daily basis in the ER.
** The titular character himself counts. He goes for bone breaks to incapacitate his opponents and can be quite brusque when dealing with civilians as Daredevil. But he's as gentle as possible when dealing with victims, especially children. A good example of this is "Cut Man", where he tears through a small army of human traffickers, then takes his mask off so the little boy he's rescuing won't be scared.

** Michael Crichton is a NASA astronaut and a scientist who just wants to find a way home, and at the beginning of the series he would prefer to avoid a fight rather than start one, but when he's pushed too far or backed into a corner he's just as capable of dishing out violence as [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Aeryn and D'Argo]]. While he never really stops being "good" he also becomes more willing to resort to violence and ruthlessness as time passes, with the [[CrapsackWorld crapsack nature of the galaxy]] steadily wearing away at his [[ViolenceReallyIsTheAnswer pacifism]], [[HeWhoFightsMonsters morals]], and [[SanitySlippage sanity]]. The various traumas he endures cause him to develop a "done with this shit" attitude and culminates in him [[GodzillaThreshold activating a wormhole weapon]] that could destroy the ''entire universe'' - with only a narrow window of opportunity to snuff out the reaction before it grows too big to stop - in front of the Peacekeepers' and Scarrans' respective leadership just to make both sides leave him the fuck alone.

** The Federation as a whole, while fairly idealistic, is very capable of doing hard, even cruel, things when needed. Especially in ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''. On [=DS9=], Quark {{lampshades}} this, describing the Federation in general and humans in particular at various points as being both insidiously sweet and capable of terrifying violence if the situation calls for it.
** All the ''Trek'' crews can fall under this trope, being friendly, peaceful explorers, but [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Captain Picard]] may be the best example. Any adversary that underestimates the polite, [[GuileHero diplomatic]], [[CulturedBadass Earl Grey-sipping, Shakespeare-quoting]], FatherToHisMen does so at their ''extreme'', if not terminal, peril. There's a ''reason'' why the [[ProudWarriorRace Klingons]] ask him to settle disputes for them.

---->"I lied. I cheated. I bribed men to cover the crimes of other men. I am an accessory to murder. But the most damning thing of all... I think I can live with it. And if I had to do it all over again, I would."

---->'''Kurn''': Because Gowron underestimates the Federation. He thinks they're soft, weak, but he is wrong. Sooner or later, there ''will'' be war.\\
'''Worf''': A war the Empire may lose.\\
'''Kurn''': Yes.

* In the ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episode [[Recap/SupernaturalS02E22AllHellBreaksLoosePartTwo "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part Two" (S02, Ep22)]], Jake does not believe Sam is willing to kill, as he was unwilling to finish Jake when he had the upper hand in Cold Oak, but Sam is determined not to make that mistake twice.

* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'': While Rick and his group may have started off [[WideEyedIdealist naively optimistic]] for such a CrapsackWorld, by a few seasons in they're [[KnightInSourArmor fully adjusted to that harsh reality]] and willing to do whatever it takes to survive. Anyone who chooses to antagonize them expecting they'll just roll over and take it or show them mercy is in for a very nasty surprise.

** And then we have [[UpToEleven the]] [[TheNthDoctor Eleventh Doctor]], who demonstrates a great deal of compassion and caring for his friends. But that doesn't stop him from trying to wipe out [[OmnicidalManiac the Daleks]], erasing The Weeping Angels from time, and tricking the Silents into ordering their own execution at the hands of mankind. The Eleventh Doctor practically [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] this in the episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar "A Good Man Goes to War"]].

** Mary too. She is shown to [[CoolBigSis genuinely like Sherlock]], and most certainly seems to get along with [[TeamMom Mrs. Hudson]], as well, despite the fact she's an [[CoolOldLady old lady.]] But she was an assassin from the CIA. Plus, her husband is an adrenaline junkie who, like her, is not one you'd want to mess with. It doesn't help she's an adrenaline junkie herself. You don't want to mess with her and don't get any ideas about messing with John-or Sherlock. Pissing off those two by attacking the other? [[WhatAnIdiot Lame idea.]] It doesn't help that [[BadassAdorable John]] and [[RetiredBadass Mary]] are [[ImprobableAimingSkills darn good shots.]]

'''Brea:''' No. You did. (...) I guess soothsayers can't see everything.

** Series/KamenRiderExAid is a [[OlderThanTheyLook baby faced]] pediatric intern, whose dislike for callousness, manipulation and violence may cause him to appear as an example of GoodIsImpotent. To the [[OhCrap surprise]] and [[HorrifyingTheHorror horror]] of many, being a [[IncorruptiblePurePureness sweet]], [[AllLovingHero gentle]] soul doesn't stop him from utilizing his vast capabilities of a ruthless [[TheSocialExpert Social Expert]] and [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]] to make sure that everyone is alive and healthy at the end of the day. Prefferably also happy, as the mental state of his patients and coworkers is also important to him, but he is aware of how much harder that is to achieve.

** Like A Song of Ice and Fire above, this trope works with Daenerys Targaryen, who is forced into an arranged marriage with a barbarian king. She quickly takes to the customs of her new husband's society and pushes him to treat her as an equal, which earns his respect. She begins standing up to her abusive brother, as well as to the practice of RapePillageAndBurn. After her baby is threatened, Daenerys approves of death by immolation, an act she would later do herself. She frees the slaves of her tribe and promises those who would harm them will [[BewareTheNiceOnes die screaming]], sets about bringing justice to the cities she comes across and shows that she is a master at DisproportionateRetribution. [[spoiler:The trope is then deconstructed in the final season, as she's so used to brutality and cruelty towards the deserving that it's easier for her to inflect it on morally grey characters and then on innocents who get in her way.]]