History Main / BornWinner

%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample. This explains how he's TheAce, but not whether he was born that way or earned it.
* ''ComicBook/RickAndMortyOni'': Doofus Jerry is definitely this. He's even the literal definition of success.

%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample. This explains how he's TheAce, but not whether he was born that way or earned it.* ''ComicBook/RickAndMortyOni'': Doofus Jerry is definitely this. He's even the literal definition of success.

* ''Fanfic/LightningAndWind'': Descendants, who inherited a High Spirit or god’s power through legacy. Contrast Saints, instead of having a body similar to the Son of God, they have received a very small fraction of power from a powerful ancestor.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'', Elsa was born with her [[AnIcePerson extremely powerful ice powers]], and she's the only human character in the movie to have any magic. It's zigzagged; her powers aren't always predictable and can be ''both'' dangerous as well as beautiful. At the end of the first movie, ironically, it is "completely ordinary" Anna who helps Elsa reach her inborn potential and reconcile the complicated nature of her powers. In [[WesternAnimation/FrozenII the sequel]], Pabbie suggests Elsa's powers make her Arendelle's only hope. [[spoiler:They certainly are helpful, although in the end, not enough in themselves. She and Anna - who has no inborn powers - end up ''both'' having to play a role in saving the day, Elsa with her magic and Anna with her determination to keep doing the next right thing.]]

* In ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'', Elsa was born with her [[AnIcePerson extremely powerful ice powers]], and she's the only human character in the movie to have any magic. It's zigzagged; her powers aren't always predictable and can be ''both'' dangerous as well as beautiful. At the end of the first movie, ironically, it is "completely ordinary" Anna who helps Elsa reach her inborn potential and reconcile the complicated nature of her powers. In [[Disney/FrozenII the sequel]], Pabbie suggests Elsa's powers make her Arendelle's only hope. [[spoiler:They certainly are helpful, although in the end, not enough in themselves. She and Anna - who has no inborn powers - end up ''both'' having to play a role in saving the day, Elsa with her magic and Anna with her determination to keep doing the next right thing.]]

* ''LightNovel/TrinityBlood'' - Vampires. And Crusniks even more so.

* ''LightNovel/VampireHunterD'' - Vampires (and [[HalfHumanHybrid dhampyrs]]) again.

* Franchise/{{Superman}}, particularly UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}} one.
* Basically any of Marvel's mutants (although many of them have drawbacks). That said, most of them manifest as {{puberty superpower}}s.
* Subverted in ''ComicBook/{{Normalman}}'' who was the only person on the planet Levram without superpowers... but it might also be a double subversion in that he was ultimately destined to rule Levram as President and stuff...

* ''ComicBook/RickAndMortyOni'': Doofus Jerry is definitely this. He's even the literal definition of success.

* In ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'', Elsa was born with her [[AnIcePerson extremely powerful ice powers]], and she's the only human character in the movie to have any magic. It's zigzagged; her powers aren't always predictable and can be ''both'' dangerous as well as beautiful. At the end of the first movie, ironically, it is "completely ordinary" Anna who helps Elsa reach her inborn potential and reconcile the complicated nature of her powers.
%% In the second Frozen II trailer, Pabbie suggests Elsa's powers make her Arendelle's only hope, [[Administrivia/SpeculativeTroping although how this plays out remains to be seen.]]

** Most later Gundam series tend to play around with this in that much of a protagonist's power comes from the fact that they have a Gundam that's much more powerful than most of the other stuff they have to fight. However it's also mentioned that it takes a certain amount of skill to use them. Not just any idiot could hop into the Strike Freedom and start kicking ass.

** Their {{exp|y}}ies from the more recent Cosmic Era timeline (''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED Gundam SEED]]'' & ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny Destiny]]''), the Coordinators, seem like [[AccidentalPun Natural]] candidates for this trope, being [[DesignerBabies genetically engineered superhumans]]. Kira points out it's a downplayed example, since they have to put in hard work like everyone else to actually live up to their potential.

* ''Anime/BurstAngel'' - {{Artificial Human}}s. Meg doesn't counts for being a FauxActionGirl.

* ''Anime/BloodPlus'' - [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Chiropterans]]
* ''Anime/BlueGender'' - Yuji and the other Sleepers' with their "B-cells"

-->--'''Sam''', ''Trouble in Tahiti''

* Examined in ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDXD''. The born winner is [[TheRival Vali Lucifer]] - as a direct descendant of his namesake, he's already an incredibly power Devil, plus he was born with [[ManaDrain Divine Dividing]], which make it even easier for him to grossly overpower his enemies. All this is seen through the eyes of series protagonist Issei, a [[{{Foil}} bog-standard human]] [[FirstEpisodeResurrection (read: mediocre Devil)]] who, despite possessing [[AmplifierArtifact Boosted Gear]], has to [[TrainingFromHell work his ass off]] to even keep up with any of his enemies.

* In ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'', the Elsa was born with her [[AnIcePerson extremely powerful ice powers]], and she's the only human character in the movie to show any magic.

* In ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'', the King comments that Elsa was born with her [[AnIcePerson ice powers]]. She had perfect control over them as a child, and only develops her deadly PowerIncontinence from fear that they would hurt her sister and others. [[spoiler:ThePowerOfLove gives her back her perfect control at the end.]]

* This is how Force sensitivity works in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' universe. Granted, some individuals are stronger than others in the Force. The Skywalkers in particular stand out due to being a family of {{Chosen One}}s. In the [[Franchise/StarWarsLegends Legends]] continuity, thanks to an ExecutiveVeto preventing any of the big three (Luke, Han, and Leia) from dying, Luke Skywalker became continuously more powerful until he was basically a Force [[PhysicalGod God]]. The Skywalker clan drama became more prominent and more central to the universe, because you can't seem to have a story with galaxy-wide repercussions without a Skywalker being involved.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' got [[BlessedWithSuck 'lucky']] and was born a Potential Slayer. Once her predecessor died, she got 'lucky' again and became The Slayer. which grants her amazing strength and reflexes. Of course, she didn't get her powers until she was 15. So really it's a PubertySuperpower.
** At the end of the series, they manage to give all potential Slayers their full powers, so we get an entire army of Born Winners...
** At least in this case, the BornWinner is not even remotely the most powerful person in the series. Looking at you, [[DarkMagicalGirl Willow]]...

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': Katsuki Bakugou isn't one, but has a deep ingrained belief he is. At the age of 4, he developed a powerful quirk, combat-oriented and got a sort of group of followers at that age from nursery school, so he genuinely started believing himself to be naturally better than everybody else, this adoration from his classmates and teachers following him into middle school. It's not until he joins UA that he is forced to see reality that he is a NormalFishInATinyPond, being beaten by [[TheStrategist his favorite bullying victim, Midoriya]], receiving a long [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech lecture on why he lost]] from [[TeenGenius Yaoyorozu]] and being showed off when TheAce clears an assignment he failed in mere seconds.

** Until Goku unlocked his Super Saiyan transformation, Frieza was by far the most powerful mortal in he universe, and fans spent years speculating about how and why Frieza came to be so strong. Was there an entire race of beings as strong as Frieza? Did he do some sort of special training? Eventually the answer was revealed, and [[spoiler: neither is correct. Frieza didn't get his power from training, nor is his power normal for his species. He's simply a mutant that was born with an abnormally high power level.]]

** Just like her father and brother, Hela was born with immense innate powers.

* Thor is one of the few characters in the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' whose powers are innate. As revealed in ''Film/ThorRagnarok,'' he is even stronger than his father Odin. He still has to learn to control them and to assume the responsibility associated with them.

* ''Manga/DragonBall'' - [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Saiyans]] and their [[HalfHumanHybrid descendants]] eventually overpower ''everything'' (including {{Physical God}}s) by a wide margin.

** Gemstone Espers are espers who were born with their powers, as opposed to having to have to develop one. An example would be Academy City's #7 Level 5 esper, Sogiita Gunha. On the magic side, Saints are similar, allowing them to access a part of God's power.

* ''Anime/{{Naruto}}'' spent some time early on trying to {{avert|edTrope}} this by emphasizing that just because you're a Born Winner doesn't mean you're all that special and anyone can reach your level with a bit of gumption and elbow grease. [[DoubleSubversion This was quickly thrown to the wayside]] as the main character and nearly every other character of any significance became stronger and stronger by virtue of the [[InTheBlood legacies that]] were [[GenerationXerox passed down to them]] (in Naruto's case, no less than four ultra-powerful legacies, on top of the [[SealedEvilInACan all-powerful demon sealed inside of him]]) leaving everyone who isn't a [[SealedInsideAPersonShapedCan Person Shaped Can o' Evil]] or named [[ItsAllAboutMe Uchiha]] (and most of those besides) far behind in the dust.
** However, there's a bit of a deconstruction in that the Uchiha Clan's broken, inherent powers come at the crippling cost of their sanity.

** Charlotte Linlin, better known as Big Mom, was a freak of nature from the start, and her path towards becoming one of the Yonkou barely involved any training at all; it was simply what happens when someone so freakishly powerful that she can accidentally kill a BadassGrandpa giant hero at ''five years old'' is nudged into the path of piracy. The downsides are clearly visible, however: [[RealityEnsues How do you take care of someone that freakishly strong, and as terrifyingly ravenous as her?]] No one ever knew how to properly take care of such a monstrous little girl, and as an adult she is ''[[TheCaligula messed]] [[PsychopathicManchild up]]''.

* ''Anime/{{Scryed}}'' - "Alters"

* ''Anime/MyHeroAcademia'': Katsuki Bakugou isn't one, but has a deep ingrained belief he is. At the age of 4, he developed a powerful quirk, combat-oriented and got a sort of group of followers at that age from nursery school, so he genuinely started believing himself to be naturally better than everybody else, this adoration from his classmates and teachers following him into middle school. It's not until he joins UA that he is forced to see reality that he is a NormalFishInATinyPond, being beaten by [[TheStrategist his favorite bullying victim, Midoriya]], receiving a long [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech lecture on why he lost]] from [[TeenGenius Yaoyorozu]] and being showed off when TheAce clears an assignment he failed in mere seconds.

* Creator\StevenSeagal describes all of the characters he plays as having been "born perfect", displaying no limitations, character flaws, and thus no character development.

The heart of this trope is that a Born Winner is absurdly powerful because they were ''born'' that way, not because of anything they ever ''did''. They have some innate trait that makes them awesome; no one lacking that trait can ever acquire it, and anyone without it is doomed to mediocrity. Done badly, it comes off as a cheap ploy to make the BornWinner seem more awesome by dropping the effectiveness of his companions to somewhere just above that of the RedShirtArmy (and often has a ThisLoserIsYou [[WhatMeasureIsANonSuper side effect]], seeing as viewers would presumably identify more easily with the now-useless BadassNormal than the alien/demon/vampire/whatever Born Winner). When it's done well, it can be a compelling reason for why the main character is the OnlyOne without relying on a blatant BecauseDestinySaysSo. When it's done badly, it becomes a case of an InvincibleHero who never really suffers through and overcomes any kind of struggle and thus becomes difficult to relate to and root for. Many writers who introduce a GodModeSue love to make them a BornWinner too.

Compare PunyEarthlings, where the earthlings are ''so'' puny that not even TrainingFromHell or a CharlesAtlasSuperpower lets them overcome it; they simply CantCatchUp. Born Winners are a leading reason why HardWorkHardlyWorks. They may or may not have been BornLucky. Beware those who are WeakButSkilled, though...

The heart of this trope is that a Born Winner is absurdly powerful because they were ''born'' that way, not because of anything they ever ''did''. They have some innate trait that makes them awesome; no one lacking that trait can ever acquire it, and anyone without it is doomed to mediocrity. Done badly, it comes off as a cheap ploy to make the BornWinner seem more awesome by dropping the effectiveness of his companions to somewhere just above that of the RedShirtArmy (and often has a ThisLoserIsYou [[WhatMeasureIsANonSuper side effect]], seeing as viewers would presumably identify more easily with the now-useless BadassNormal than the alien/demon/vampire/whatever Born Winner). When it's done well, it can be a compelling reason for why the main character is the OnlyOne without relying on a blatant BecauseDestinySaysSo.