History Main / BadassInDistress

A subtrope of BOTH DistressedDamsel and JamesBondage.

We all have the DistressedDamsel and JamesBondage for our heroes and {{Badass}}es to save. But what if our Badass is slowly growing [[ShowyInvincibleHero too powerful and invincible]]? Sure, it's [[RuleOfCool really cool]], but nobody likes a GodModeSue. What shall we do?!

For starters, we can have them [[AllUpToYou trade places]]. What if the Badass (or ActionGirl, if the character in question is female) gets put in the JamesBondage's shoes? Suddenly our Badass finds himself in a situation where he cannot use his magnificent escape skills, and there's only one thing he can do: wait for someone else to rescue him. He's NotSoInvincibleAfterAll...

* [[TheDresdenFiles Harry Dresden]] gets tied up/manacled/[[JamesBondage whatever]] on a regular basis and often needs to be rescued, but gets himself out of the situation just as often and [[BadAss kicks]] [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome so much]] [[CrazyAwesome ass]] that no one really holds it against him.

* [[Film/IronMan Tony Stark]] is ambushed by Obidiah Stane, hich literally leaves him crawling around with a hole in his chest. Cue his [[BlackBestFriend buddy]] [[ColonelBadass Col. Rhodes]] coming to his aid (with a removed assist from Pepper). After he pops in a spare reactor, he promptly leaves to kick Stane's ass.

* Basically the premise of ''Rambo III''. Rambo gets Trautmann out of a Soviet prison in Afghanistan, and the two of them proceed to destroy half the Red Army.

[[quoteright:326:[[BatmanTheAnimatedSeries http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Batman_Distress_copy_8109.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:326:You'll never believe who rescues him.[[hottip:* : [[ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman Aquaman?]] ]]]]

* [[OnePiece Ace,]] during the Impel Down and Whitebeard War arcs.

* In SplinterCell Conviction [[WhereDoesHeGetAllThoseWonderfulToys Victor]] [[FireForgedFriends "Vic"]] [[BashBrothers Coste]] is captured by [[PrivateMilitaryContractors Black]] [[EvilArmy Arrow]]and is interrogated and he [[FramingDivice tell them]] [[BadassBoast how Sam Kicked their asses.]] In the last cutscene he tells them that Sam is [[PapaWolf taking care of he's family]] and that he said that he [[LikeFamily loved him like a brother]] and that is family then the alarms [[OhCrap sound]] [[TheCavalry signaling the arrival of Sam.]] And we have a cut of Vic trough a camera saying [[BondOneLiner "Though so"]] in the most Badass way possible.

* Mewtwo in ''{{Pokemon}}: Mewtwo Returns.'' He spent the first movie being a total badass villain, and never actually being defeated. He has a few badass moments in the sequel, where he fends off Team Rocket. Even when he's captured [[spoiler: due to some Pokemon being held hostage]], he never gives in, [[spoiler: resisting the pain of the device being used at him nearly at the expense of his life]]. Naturally, Ash and co. are there to save him using the {{Phlebotinum}} of the week. What does he do after being rescued? [[spoiler: He wipes the memory of at least 50 people simultaneously and moves part of a ''mountain'', evacuates his Pokemon telekinetically to various places, and then produces hot air balloons to get the Rocket Trio and Ash and his friends to their destinations]]. He handles the whole thing with a fair amount of angst as per his character, but no pleading, no crying, and no caving in.

* In ''[[SonicTheHedgehog Sonic Adventure 2]]'', Sonic escapes from GUN once, but is captured again partly due to Shadow. He gets rescued by Tails and Amy, and proceeds to kick ass. [[spoiler: The game culminates in Shadow calling him the Ultimate Lifeform, a title Shadow once claimed for himself, if you take long enough against the final boss. Guess which one of three characters survives that final battle with their memory intact? It sure isn't Shadow, and we know it wasn't the [=FinalHazard=].]]

* [[TheLegendOfZelda Toon Link]] has a history of this. He may be very badass, but if he acts without thinking or gets hit by a surprise-attack, he's quite easy to take down. Ganondorf gets him almost killed twice in the game [[spoiler: ([[LittleMissBadass Tetra]] saved him both times.)]] and later, in Phantom Hourglas, he loses his sword and gets caught by [[spoiler: Bellum's tentacles]]. Surprisingly, [[spoiler: Linebeck]] saves him.
* Played straight AND subverted in the storyline for SuperSmashBrosBrawl: Multiple times, characters are defeated and captured, ([[spoiler: including more than two dozen of them at one point]]) and proceed to kick ass after being freed. Subverted in that [[spoiler: the Master Hand was Tabuu's prisoner, but when it attacks Tabuu after being freed, Tabuu defeats and possibly kills the Master Hand effortlessly]].

* ''[[SuperMarioBros Super Princess Peach]]'' is this trope turned into a game. The premise is after all is for the local, daily DistressedDamsel Princess Peach to save the day, saving the local, daily hero Mario, now turned JamesBondage. It only lasts for one game.
** In Super Mario 64 DS, Mario actually starts out kidnapped by Bowser (along with Luigi and Wario). You start off as Yoshi, who was LateToTheParty.
** On that note, let's not forget [=~Luigi's Mansion~=], where Mario is kidnapped by King Boo. Or the first time our favourite plumber was kindapped, ''{{Mario is Mis|sing}}''... okay, maybe we can forget that...

** Heck, even when she was a prisoner, she remained quite rebellious. Punching the fuck outta Suzaku [[FrillsOfJustice while wearing a]] PimpedOutDress, anyone?

[[caption-width-right:326:You'll never believe who rescues him.]]

* Inverted by the title character in TheChroniclesOfThomasCovenant. He possesses magic that can literally break time itself, but can't consciously control it (and spends most of his travels being saved by the powerful characters he travels with until his moments of uber-distress when his Badass kicks in.

** After defeating [[BigBad Kaptain K Rool]] in [=DKC2=], he stands up again, seemingly NighInvulnerable. Donkey Kong decides he's had enough, bursts from his ropes and [[Shoryuken uppercuts]] K Rool [[MegatonPunch out of the air ship,]] [[HumiliationConga bouncing him off of each stage of Crocodile Isle before he chomped by a school of sharks.]]

** After defeating [[BigBad Kaptain K Rool]] in [=DKC2=], he stands up again, seemingly NighInvulnerable. Donkey Kong decides he's had enough, bursts from his ropes and [[PunchedAcrossTheRoom uppercuts]] K Rool [[MegatonPunch out of the air ship,]] [[HumiliationConga bouncing him off of each stage of Crocodile Isle before he chomped by a school of sharks.]]

* Many of the more recent animated ScoobyDoo features have upgraded Daphne from the standard DistressedDamsel of the original and earlier works following the first live-action movie's portrayal by SarahMichelleGellar of BuffyTheVampire fame.

We all have the DistressedDamsel and JamesBondage for our heroes and {{Badass}}es to save. But what if our Badass is slowly growing [[FlashyInvincibleHero too powerful and invincible]]? Sure, it's [[RuleOfCool really cool]], but nobody likes a GodModeSue. What shall we do?!

We all have the DistressedDamsel and JamesBondage for our heroes and {{Badass}}es to save. But what if our Badass is slowly growing [[BoringInvincibleHero too powerful and invincible]]? Sure, it's [[RuleOfCool really cool]], but nobody likes a GodModeSue. What shall we do?!

* When Seto Kaiba gullibly tested out his virtual reality program on Yugioh. Mokuba summons Yugi and his friends to save him. However, Mokuba gets to Kaiba significantly before the rest of the gang. By the time Yugi, Joey and Mai have made it, Kaiba has already kicked the ass of his captors.
** It actually happened earlier than that too, when Kaiba dueled Pegasus to rescue Mokuba and lost thanks to the others's Millenium Eye. He was not only taken out of the fights, but lost his soul and was imprisoned until Yugi and the Pharaouh beat Pegasus.

** Not sure if this counts but in ''JusticeLeague'' Batman was captured yet again and spends the remainder of the episode restrained while the rest of the League try to figure out what's going on. He eventually escapes and then claims he could have gotten out anytime he wanted but he may have only said that to mess with the Joker.

** Of course, the more stubborn, proud or simply skilled players will likely never go to that point unless they intentionally loose to ThatOneBoss. This troper, belonging to the middle category, refuses to loose to Ser Cauthrien no matter what.