History Main / CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass

* Though often DependingOnTheWriter, [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Bruce Wayne]] is sometimes seen as a foppish UpperClassTwit that many Gothamites believe couldn't put on his own pants. This is, of course, [[MemeticMutation all part of the plan]].

* Franchise/TheFlash villain and member of the ComicBook/SuicideSquad Captain Boomerang is a comedic ButtMonkey with a goofy gimmick who [[UnderestimatingBadassery people keep on forgetting]] is also extremely dangerous and by far the most ruthless of the Rogues.
* [[Characters/GLOrangeLanternCorps Larfleeze]], the wielder of the orange light in the Franchise/GreenLantern universe. Most of the time, he comes off as completely insane, with a Gollum-like drive to own ''everything'' and a tendency to talk to himself. At one point, Sinestro and [[Characters/GLRedLanternCorps Atrocitus]] get so annoyed by him they suggest just killing him and taking along whoever his ring goes to next. Despite his {{Cloudcuckoolander}} tendencies, however, he's incredibly powerful, as his light represents avarice, and is at its most potent when wielded by one lone ringslinger. In terms of sheer raw power, he's probably the strongest Lantern as his ring is capable of charging to ''100,000 percent energy'' -- in comparison, Hal Jordan's maxes out around 210% under certain circumstances, and it's explained any more might blow up the ring and take his hand with it. Insane? Yes. Take him lightly, though, and you're dead. All those Orange Lantern constructs he has hanging around? He killed them and took their identities to serve him.

* ComicBook/{{Impulse}} may be a {{cloudcuckoolander}} [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny with ADHD]] but he is also a speedster with access to the Speed Force, training by a Golden Age hero (Max Mercury) and a [[PhotographicMemory photographic memory]].
** His cousin, ComicBook/WallyWest, the third Flash/original Kid Flash, was initially mostly known for being the first Flash who ''isn't'' a genius, instead being a college drop-out who had a HotBlooded temper and a childish personality. Even today, he's still the most comical Flash, the one most likely to make snarky comments and joke around, and generally acting as TheHeart. But he's also ''the'' Fastest Man Alive, being the person who has both the strongest connection to the Speed Force and the most instinctive understanding of it, and subsequently his status as TheHeart means he can use ThePowerOfFriendship to ''overpower'' the Speed Force's PowerLimiter and use it's power for speeds that would make other speedsters lose themselves to the Speed Force's pull.

* Subverted in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade''. Indy has given his father's Grail Diary to Marcus Brody, an apparently goofy, harmless professor. The villains indicate that Brody will be easy to find, but Indy tells them that Brody fits this trope.
-->'''Walter Donovan''': [[FishOutOfWater He sticks out like a sore thumb.]] We'll find him.\\

* ''ComicBook/GrooTheWanderer,'' though the badass part isn't really hidden. Most of the time, Groo is a complete {{Ditz}} who can be easily confused by polysyllabic words. But when there's a fight -- against anyone -- he's an unstoppable killing machine, and if you're in his sights, your only hope of survival is to try and direct him towards anyone else.

** Giovanni Potage is introduced as an enthusiastic but incompetent supervillain who can't even manage dramatically turning without smacking himself in the face with his overly dramatic bad-guy cape. Over the course of the Museum and to a lesser extent Western Arcs, it turns out that he's [[SwissArmySuperpower built himself quite a broad toolkit of effects from the ability to conjure soup]], [[IKnowMaddenCombat developed his baseball gifts into at least a workable combat style]], and [[GeniusDitz has surprisingly keen social senses and high emotional intelligence]], and his CriticalHit abilities aren't the joke they appear to be but are in fact as devastating as he says they are. [[spoiler:He's the one who delivers the final blow to Mera at the end of the Museum Arc.]]

At first glance, they're TheFool. TheDitz. [[TheKlutz The sort of person you wouldn't trust to screw in a lightbulb without hurting themself]] or [[StrawLoser someone who continually makes a fool of themself]] around others who find them a total embarrassment. And no, it's not the act of just ObfuscatingStupidity — they're really like that.

* ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTailFievelGoesWest'': The only nice cat, who gets repeatedly pushed around, abused, and chased (either by dogs, native american mice, or even dog fish!) all the way to the American west, takes a level in badass when he gets trained by an aged canine gunslinger. When he sees his love in danger, he goes into a literal barking rage and takes down almost the entire Big Bad's cat mook army.

* ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTailFievelGoesWest'': The only nice cat, who gets repeatedly pushed around, abused, and chased (either by dogs, native american mice, or even dog fish!) all the way to the American west, takes a level in badass when he gets trained by a reluctant aged, canine gunslinger. When he sees his love in danger, he goes into a literal barking rage and takes down almost the entire Big Bad's cat mook army.

* Natalie Voss, the rich girl in ''TheChase''. Kidnapped at a convenience store, she begs for her life, vomits in terror, and [[ScreamingWoman shrieks so loudly and shrilly]] that her suave, dark-haired kidnapper (who else but Creator/CharlieSheen?) [[PityTheKidnapper can just barely tolerate her]]. As the getaway car heads to Mexico and Natalie gets to know her captor a lot more, learning that he's actually an unjustly accused criminal acting out of desperation, she not only [[StockholmSyndrome grows to like him]] but realizes that he's her ticket out of her stiflingly buttoned-down existence. When Sheen's character is finally caught just short of the border, Natalie sees him getting hauled into a police car in handcuffs and, realizing this is her last chance to escape her former life, and despite never having handled a gun before and in fact [[DoesntLikeGuns finding guns repellent]], steals a gun from one of the police officers, puts him in a headlock...and after her father scolds her for [[LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt pretending to defy him]], shoots a nearby hovering helicopter right out of the sky with one shot from the pistol. This sudden feat takes ''everyone'' aback - not least of all Natalie herself, who for a moment can do nothing but stare saucer-eyed at her handiwork as if to say, [[Series/FamilyMatters "Did I do that?"]]

* Count Vile from ''Film/PressStart'' spends most of the movie acting like a complete dolt, leading many to question how he managed to assume total control, only revealing his true power and psychopathic ferocity in the final battle.

* The eccentric old man "Kit Carson" from William Saroyan's ''Theatre/TheTimeOfYourLife'' seems like nothing more than a crazy, aged drunk telling silly tall tales about his exploits. The vindictive local vice cop Blick, who likes to torment and beat those he perceives to be easy targets, decides to rough up "Kit Carson". A few minutes later, Blick is [[spoiler: found dead in the street from a gunshot wound]], and Kit Carson returns to the bar to brag about what [[spoiler: having shot Blick]] in the same tone as the rest of his seemingly far-fetched tall tales.

* In the final act of ''Theatre/TitusAndronicus'', Titus' enemies, the Empress Tamora and her sons Chiron and Demetrius, think he's completely mad and visit his house with the intent of laughing at his state and tormenting him some more. Thinking him harmless, Chiron and Demetrius stay behind after their mother leaves to laugh at him some more. In the next scene, Titus has them bound and prepares to make meat pies out of their flesh to feed to their mother at a banquet.

* In Lyle Kessler's ''Theatre/Orphans'', Harold is introduced as a drunken buffoon singing and dancing at a bar as he leaves a briefcase full of money unattended. Treat, a young delinquent, thinks Harold will be an easy target for robbery and kidnapping, until Harold (who turns out to be a powerful mob boss) sobers up, unties the ropes used to restrain him, and proceeds to punch out and disarm Treat.