History Main / FourStarBadass

* In ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series backstory, Tiber Septim, the [[FounderOfTheKingdom founder]] of the Third Tamriellic Empire who [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence ascended after his death]] as [[DeityOfHumanOrigin Talos]], the Ninth Divine, was a peerless General. He commanded the [[BadassArmy Imperial Legions]] into forging the first truly pan-Tamriellic Empire. He crossed over with FrontlineGeneral (and RiskingTheKing, naturally), at least early in his campaigns, though this was justified as he could use the [[MakeMeWannaShout Thu'um]], a very powerful weapon.

* After two seasons of handling things from the backseat as a proper general, James Ironwood from ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' shows that he is more than capable of throwing down with the rest of them. To show how much of a badass he is, he is able to solo an Alpha Beowulf with his personal sidearm [[CurbstompBattle without much effort]]. [[spoiler: It helps that he's also a {{Cyborg}}.]]

* General Shepherd from ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty: Modern Warfare 2'', who barehandedly defeats even [[spoiler:Captain Price, who is ''de facto'' the resident ColonelBadass]].

** Harrington starts the series as a space-naval Commander and, much like her inspiration Horatio Hornblower, [[spoiler:gets promoted through the ranks until she is the supreme field commander of her nation's space navy, as well as one of its dozen or so most powerful citizens]]. Throughout her military career, she commands her battles from the lead ship. She also has a black belt in a fictional martial art that was proven effective when she killed a group of assassins with her bare hands, and skilled shooter who personally killed 2 people responsible for[[spoiler:her boyfriend's death]] in a duel.

** While Weber's universe features competent commanders as a standard, there are also plenty of examples of (sometimes grossly) incompetent ones.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'':

** [[Characters/EldenRingMalenia Malenia]] had the weakest conventional starting position of any of the demigods; her fief of the Haligtree is a small kingdom located in the remote far north, greatly removed from any location of strategic relevance. It's mostly populated by [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits exiles and outcasts from the rest of the continent]] and was founded fairly recently. Yet her army is both [[MagneticHero totally devoted to her]] and [[BadassArmy utterly elite.]] Malenia marched her host from the Haligtree all the way down the length of the ''entire continent'' with [[EasyLogistics no noted]] [[UndyingLoyalty difficulties]], fighting through Liurnia, Limgrave, and Caelid in the process, and only facing heavy resistance when facing the after-mentioned General Radahn's Redmanes, said to be an elite army that "knew no weakness", and held the upper hand till the two armies destroyed themselves during the Battle of Aeonia. On a personal level, Malenia is a WorldsStrongestMan contender who stands head and shoulders above practically anyone else in the setting in both [[StrongAndSkilled strength and skill]] despite being [[HandicappedBadass a blind triple amputee]], with only [[MagicKnight General]] [[TheJuggernaut Radahn]] capable of stalemating her in a duel (and even then, [[BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind only so long as she]] [[WillfullyWeak holds back the Outer God of Scarlet Rot]]). She's the game's SuperBoss for a very good reason.
** [[Characters/EldenRingMorgott Morgott]] inherited command of the main royal army in the capital region of Altus-Leyndell after his parents disappeared, and commanded it to victory after victory in the Shattering despite most of the other claimants targeting him by default. He repulsed campaigns against the capital by both Radahn and Godrick in decisive triumphs. His offensive against Rykard's fief of Mount Gelmir was not totally successful and had him taking heavy losses, but by the time of the of the game he has still basically totally neutered Rykard's faction and pushed them back to a single fortress, arguably making him the victor of their conflict. While not up to par with Malenia or Radahn, Morgott is also an amazing warrior. During the Shattering he took to the field [[KingIncognito disguised as a common Omen soldier]] and "stacked high the corpses of heroes." It's no wonder that he serves as both the WakeUpCallBoss ([[WorfHadTheFlu when limited to projecting his power from far away]]) and the game's main ClimaxBoss.

* ''VideoGame/EldenRing'': The [[CrapsackWorld wrecked setting]] is the result of a world-rending civil war known as the Shattering, where [[PhysicalGod demigodly]] princes and princesses led their armies against one another in an attempt to claim the throne. While they were all implicitly renowned fighters and leaders prior to the Shattering, three of them were particularly notable for their deeds during it:

'''Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease''' With thousands of years of recorded history, '''[[NoRealLife/TooCommon there are enough of them to crash the entire wiki]]'''. Given the fact that being Badass is a requirement, every general in history, [[ModernMajorGeneral excepting]] those in militaries where money or [[BlueBlood family]] connections are considered more important than ability, is an example. [[noreallife]]

** ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' showed that Captain Janeway became FAR more badass when she became a Vice Admiral in the future. We later see her as an actual Vice Admiral in ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'' and ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekProdigy''.

* Although General Iroh of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' is [[RetiredBadass retired]], he was once the Fire Nation's most fearsome general. By the time we meet him, he has dedicated his life to drinking tea, eating, shopping, playing pai sho, and making sure Zuko grows up right... but is still the only person besides Aang who has any chance of matching [[BigBad Ozai's]] combat prowess

* Raj Whitehall, the titular General from ''Literature/TheGeneral'' series, does his own scouting when he can get away with it and is deadly with a sword, an excellent rifleman, and a fair pistoleer. When Center is helping him, his skills at all of the above reach absurd levels.

* General George ''Film/{{Patton}}'' who is a TropeCodifier if there ever was one. Apparently, he felt he was so badass he could shoot down warplanes ''with a pistol''. But then again he did outsmart the Desert Fox, so maybe he ''was'' pretty badass after all.

** [[Characters/EldenRingRadahn General Radahn, the Red Lion]] is the ''epitome'' of this; being a collective MasterOfAll; a 27-foot giant who could [[LightningBruiser defy physics with his movements]]; a master of MountedCombat; a MasterArcher; and a fearsome warrior DualWielding a pair of ''tremendous'' cleaver-shaped swords made of black steel with great skill, but was on top of all that also TheArchmage, having [[GravityMaster mastered gravity sorcery]] to the point where he could cast devastating spells while only needing his ''swords'' as foci. His leadership qualities towards the Redmanes, such as being AFatherToHisMen and an [[TheStrategist expert strategist]] are quite impressive, leaving the Redmanes as Malenia's [[EliteArmy Cleanrot's]] only real rival in terms of renown during the Shattering. He and his army fought Malenial's "undefeatable" legions to a indecisive draw in Caelid after recovering from several costly defeats, battled her one on one to a stalemate in perhaps the most dramatic duel of the entire Shattering, and remains a terrifying force of nature despite being a ''mad invalid whose body is half-rotting''.

** [[Characters/EldenRingRadahn General Radahn, the Red Lion]] is the ''epitome'' of this; being a collective MasterOfAll; a 27-foot giant who could [[LightningBruiser defy physics with his movements]]; a master of MountedCombat; a MasterArcher; and a fearsome warrior DualWielding a pair of ''tremendous'' cleaver-shaped swords made of black steel with great skill, but was on top of all that also TheArchmage, having [[GravityMaster mastered gravity sorcery]] to the point where he could cast devastating spells while only needing his ''swords'' as foci. His leadership qualities towards the Redmanes, such as being AFatherToHisMen and an [[TheStrategist expert strategist]] are quite impressive, leaving the Redmanes as Malenia's [[EliteArmy Cleanrots]] only real rivals in terms of renown during the Shattering.

* ''VideoGame/EldenRing'': The [[CrapsackWorld wrecked setting]] is the result of a world-rending civil war known as the Shattering, where [[PhysicalGod demigodly]] princes and princesses led their armies against one another in an attempt to claim the throne. While they were all implicitly renowned fighters and leaders prior to the Shattering, two of them were particularly notable for their deeds during it:

** [[Characters/EldenRingRadahn General Radahn, the Red Lion]] is the ''epitome'' of this; being a collective MasterOfAll; a 27-foot giant who could [[LightningBruiser defy physics with his movements]]; a master of MountedCombat; a MasterArcher; and a fearsome warrior DualWielding a pair of ''tremendous'' cleaver-shaped swords made of black steel with great skill, but was on top of all that also TheArchmage, having [[GravityMaster mastered gravity sorcery]] to the point where he could cast devastating spells while only needing his ''swords'' as foci. His leadership qualities towards the Redmanes, such as being AFatherToHisMen and an [[TheStrategist expert strategist]] are quite impressive, leading the Remanes only rivals as Malenia's elite Cleanrots in terms of renown during the Shattering.

** [[Characters/EldenRingMalenia Malenia]] had the weakest conventional starting position of any of the demigods; her fief of the Haligtree is a small kingdom located in the remote far north, greatly removed from any location of strategic relevance. It's mostly populated by [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits exiles and outcasts from the rest of the continent]] and was founded fairly recently. Yet her army is both [[MagneticHero totally devoted to her]] and [[BadassArmy utterly elite.]] Malenia marched her host from the Haligtree all the way down the length of the ''entire continent'' with [[EasyLogistics no noted]] [[UndyingLoyalty difficulties]], fighting through Liurnia, Limgrave, and Caelid in the process, and explicitly going undefeated in every single one of her battles (as stated on the description of the Cleanrot Set). General Radahn's Redmanes, said to be an elite army that "knew no weakness", lost every battle they fought against Malenia's forces despite having the home field advantage, with signs of their struggles visible all around Caelid (including Sellia, Aeonia, the Forsaken Ruins, and the Wailing Dunes). On a personal level, Malenia is a WorldsStrongestMan contender who stands head and shoulders above practically anyone else in the setting in both [[StrongAndSkilled strength and skill]] despite being [[HandicappedBadass a blind triple amputee]], with only [[MagicKnight General]] [[TheJuggernaut Radahn]] capable of stalemating her in a duel (and even then, [[BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind only so long as she]] [[WillfullyWeak holds back the Outer God of Scarlet Rot]]). She's the game's SuperBoss for a very good reason.

* Reinhard von Lohengramm is the main character of ''Literature/LegendOfTheGalacticHeroes'' and the Imperial equivalent of a FourStarBadass at the start of the series, becoming a Five-Star Badass very shortly after.