History Main / InexplicablyAwesome

* The Lady of Pain in ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'' manages to be this, which is quite a feat in a setting where the actual gods are an important element. Partially because she's capable of keeping them out of Sigil, and even seems to be responsible for ''killing'' a god who tried to set up shop in her town, and partially because nothing about her is ever explained. We don't even know her CharacterAlignment or if "she" is actually female. But don't, ''don't'' try to worship her. Because of the more philosophical nature of the setting, the creators went out of their way to keep her an enigma, including vetoing any and all attempts to attach stats to her. (The closest they got to giving her any kind of stats was in the 3rd Edition sourcebook ''Planar Handbook'', in which she is described as LawfulNeutral and female. This alone was too much for some older fans to stomach.) She is also one of the few entities to avert the LordBritishPostulate. NEVER challenge or anger her - you can't withstand her wrath.

* The Imagine Breaker of ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' fame; it merely ables its wielder [[AntiMagic the ability to dispel and negate supernatural powers, such as Magic and Esper abilities]]. InAWorld where magic and superpowers reign supreme, a power which perfectly counters said powers was very much a GameBreaker for both Sides. It's also an interesting variation of the trope, being a ''mere weapon/ability'', which isn't really common within the standards of the trope, and it having very slight hints of a personality (very clingy, chooses the ideal wielder of its time based on certain criteria).
Only a handful are aware of its origins, very few are capable of using it to its full potential, and its existence as a sentient entity (and thus in a way is its own character) which chooses its wielder, raises the question just ''how many'' had possessed it in the past before [[TheHero Kamijou Touma]] came along.

* The Imagine Breaker of ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' fame; it merely ables its wielder [[AntiMagic the ability to dispel and negate supernatural powers, such as Magic and Esper abilities]]. InAWorld where magic and superpowers reign supreme, a power which perfectly counters said powers was very much a GameBreaker for both Sides. Yet despite its strengths, [[BlessedWithSuck drawbacks]] [[LogicalWeakness and weaknesses]] only a handful are aware of its origins and are capable of using its full potential, and its existence as a sentient weapon which chooses its wielder raises the question of ''how many'' had used it in the past before [[TheHero Kamijou Touma]] came along.

** [[Anime/DragonBallZBojackUnbound Bojack]] is about as generic as {{Generic Doomsday Villain}}s get, yet has a power equal to Super Perfect Cell and surpassing that of Frieza, who the Kais explicitly considered at the time of his arc to be the greatest mortal power in the universe. No explanation has ever been given as to why Bojack is so strong, or why a character at his level of strength is and was content to be a mere SpacePirate.

* Claire Stanfield and Graham Specter of ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}''; Claire's explaination of attributing his [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower incredible strength]] to his time as a circus acrobat only explains ''half'' of the things he has done so far, while Graham's unmatched skill with his wrench and similar strength to Claire's are never explained. Then [[WordOfGod Narita states]] that [[TheDreaded Ronny Schiatto]] is probably the ''only one'' who can match Claire. As to what this means [[spoiler:Ronny is for intents and purposes TheOmnipotent in a show filled with eccentric characters and immortals, MadScientists, and AxCrazy hitmen/mob enforcers, yet somehow [[BadassNormal Claire]] can give him '''trouble'''.]]

* Claire Stanfield and Graham Specter of ''LightNovel/Baccano''; Claire's explaination of attributing his [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower incredible strength]] to his time as a circus acrobat only explains ''half'' of the things he has done so far, while Graham's unmatched skill with his wrench and similar strength to Claire's are never explained. Then [[WordOfGod Narita states]] that [[TheDreaded Ronny Schiatto]] is probably the ''only one'' who can match Claire. As to what this means [[spoiler:Ronny is for intents and purposes TheOmnipotent in a show filled with immortality-granting elixirs, MadScientists, and [[AxCrazy Ladd Russo]], yet somehow [[BadassNormal Claire]] can give him ''trouble''.]]

* Claire Stanfield and Graham Specter of ''LightNovel/Baccano!''; Claire's explaination of attributing his [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower incredible strength]] to his time as a circus acrobat only explains ''half'' of the things he has done so far, while Graham's unmatched skill with his wrench and similar strength to Claire's are never explained. Then [[WordOfGod Narita states]] that [[TheDreaded Ronny Schiatto]] is probably the ''only one'' who can match Claire. As to what this means [[spoiler:Ronny is for intents and purposes TheOmnipotent in a show filled with immortality-granting elixirs, MadScientists, and [[AxCrazy Ladd Russo]], yet somehow Claire can give him ''trouble''.]]

** Super 17 in ''Anime/DragonBallGT'', prior to the [[Anime/DragonballSuper DBS]] retcons, was this. He was initially just a fusion of Android 17 and an EvilCounterpart of 17 produced in Hell, both of whom had long since succumbed to the CantCatchUp nature of the series, yet somehow their fusion was capable of taking on the entire DBGT Saiyan squad without breaking a sweat and even matched Goku in his Super Saiyan 4 state. Gero suggested that 17 was a failed SuperPrototype and that Super 17 was actually 17 in his complete state as Gero intended him to be, but it wasn't until DBS that the matter was definitively resolved.

** Ferb. A walking FunnyBackgroundEvent who only gets one or two lines [[OncePerEpisode per episode]], he's fluent in such languages as dolphin and Martian and is quite possibly the entire reason the kids are able to defy the laws of physics (Phineas is the idea guy, but Ferb draws up the actual blueprints). At one point, even his name was shrouded in mystery, as his name was revealed to Vanessa, leading him to explain it was short for something[[note]]Turns out, it was just "Ferbs".[[/note]]. Also, [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair he has green hair]]. This never gets explained.

* The limitless potential of the [[TangledFamilyTree Summers/Grey family tree]] in ''ComicBook/XMen'' has been a cornerstone of the series ever since [[StalkerWithATestTube Mr. Sinister]] showed up in the 80's, but to this day we don't know exactly ''why'' the Summers/Grey line is so special, or what about it causes it to produce SuperpowerLotteryWinner level mutants with such regularity. A special shout-out goes to Vulcan, the long-anticipated 'Third Summers Brother' who debuted in 2005's ''Deadly Genesis'' story. While his brothers Cyclops and Havok are strong Alpha-level mutants, Vulcan surpasses them by orders of magnitude, to the point of boasting a power comparable to Dark Phoenix Jean Grey despite ''not being a Phoenix Force host''. Indeed, in a ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' tale where he '''did''' become a Phoenix Force host, Vulcan immediately incinerated the Shi'ar homeworld and went on a galactic cosmic temper tantrum before coming to Earth and nearly roasting that to a crisp as well. On a less galactic scale, this also applies to the elite few mutants born before the atomic age such as ComicBook/{{Apocalypse}}, Selene, Exodus and the Externals. For decades it was strongly implied that [[ILoveNuclearPower the advent of nuclear power was responsible for the emergence of mutants]], hence their early sobriquet of "the children of the atom". While this has since been downplayed as the trope has declined in popularity, even in recent years it has been suggested that the detonation of atomic bombs triggered an explosion in mutant birth rates. And yet, the mutants above and a few others were born well before the atomic age, and several of them have immortality as part of their power sets as well.

* ''FanFic/ChildOfTheStorm'' has TheArchmage [[DoctorWhomage Doctor Strange]], an incredibly powerful Master Sorcerer who can make the Gods themselves dance at his whims.

* Mr. Bonding, a minor character who first appeared in ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'', is a man in a pink tux who grants the players O-Powers (a mechanic that buffs things such as EXP bonuses, increasing the chances of capturing Pokemon or hatching eggs faster). What puts him into this territory occurs in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire]]'' where it's revealed that [[spoiler: he's a [[FusionDance fusion]] of 6 people: 5 strange old men who also grant O-Powers and are inexplicably awesome themselves, and a once "powerless man" who was previously on a DespairEventHorizon who now serves as the "main host" for the 5 old men.]] Absolutely nothing in the series really explains what happened and how he came to be.

** Pinkie Pie regularly [[BreakingTheFourthWall ignores]], [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall leans on]] or [[FourthWallObserver stares at]] the fourth wall, [[ToonPhysics defies the laws of physics]] [[MagicAIsMagicA and magic]] whenever plot or [[RuleOfFunny humour]] convenient, and [[ThatRemindsMeOfASong launches into musicals]] when no one else does. She's popped out of locations too small for her to fit, appeared inside of mirrors, and even fought the [[IrisOut closing circle]] at the end of the episode. While this itself isn't unusual for a cartoon, ''she's the only one'', and everyone else is well aware that Pinkie Pie doesn't really work with the same rules as anyone else, and just does their best to ignore the weirdness. Her strange actions drive the plot in several episodes. Twilight actually ''tried'' to figure out one of her nonsensical abilities, and ended up being so frustrated she gave up trying. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in ''[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E5MagicDuel Magic Duel]]'', Pinkie Pie loses her mouth and is later made to play several instruments at once, including a tuba, by Twilight. When asked how she could play a tuba with no mouth, Twilight responds "That wasn't magic. That was just Pinkie Pie."

** Many of the other main villains get this too; there has been a lot of still-unconfirmed speculation on the origins of Queen Chrysalis and the changelings, King Sombra, and the nightmare forces that corrupted Luna.

** The Doctor, towards the start of their [[LongRunners decades long run]], was a bizarre man with no solid explanation for his story-generating time-travelling abilities. Since then much background information has been stated, but the most important piece ― that their species are [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien ultra-powerful]] masters of time and they're on the run from them ― was revealed back in 1969, and large gaps in the Doctor's past and character are half-shrouded and still strange. Various {{Retcon}}s and attempts to explain things (or make things more complicated) have been attempted, but it's generally accepted the Doctor will always retain some level of mystery.

* Genjuro Kazanari of ''Anime/SenkiZesshouSymphogear'' is considered one of, if not the, strongest characters in the franchise, capable of absolutely curbstomping most of the cast with his SuperStrength. This is despite the fact that while most of the cast have ancient {{Magitek}} weapons that grant superhuman abilities, Genjuro has no such weapon and seems to owe his strength entirely to CharlesAtlasSuperpower; the only reason he rarely fights himself is his lack of defensive abilities (Noise disintegrate humans on contact and no amount of muscle would make him immune to that). Whenever asked, he credits his skills to [[ItRunsOnNonsensoleum watching lots of action movies.]] [[spoiler:Then it turns out his father is just as inexplicably strong despite being an eighty-something old man, which raises about as many questions as it answers.]]

** Hashirama Senju - the First Hokage, was widely considered to not only be the strongest ninja in the Fire Nation, [[WorldsStrongestMan but the strongest ninja in the world]]. He had a unique set of skills that were very distinct from his brother Tobirama Senju - such as a Wood Style kekkei genkai, and an impressive HealingFactor without the use of hand seals, rivalling even Tsunade's Creation Rebirth - Strength of a Hundred. Not even [[spoiler:being the reincarnation of the Sage of Six Paths' youngest son]] explains how exceptional he was as a ninja.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': It's never explained why the Nine Tails is so much stronger than the other tailed beasts, but a mere ''half'' of its power is enough to equal six of its brethren at once.

* [[MarySue Ebony]] of ''Fanfic/MyImmortal''.

** Goku's father, [[Anime/BardockTheFatherofGoku Bardock]]. Despite being born and classified as a lower class Saiyan, he has a power level around 10,000 before he died. For reference, Goku didn't get that high until he trained with King Kai and he was still only around 8 to 9,000 without the Kaioken. That also makes him much stronger than Nappa, an elite soldier. In fact, he's about as strong as King Vegeta. It can be explained to an extent by Bardock frequently returning from missions on the brink of death, and receiving zenkais[[note]]the Saiyan race's ability to grow stronger after recovering from near-fatal injuries[[/note]] from it, but the very existence of the class system indicates it must have been quite rare for a low-class Saiyan to exceed the power levels of the elites.
** For decades, no one knew why [[Characters/DragonBallFrieza Frieza and his family]] were so powerful. His power was so unrivaled that it took a legend to defeat him and every villain afterwards were either demonic in nature or created to be the strongest in the universe. It's not until a 2014 interview that we learn that Frieza's family are mutants among their race and Frieza himself is a prodigy even among them. This was foreshadowed years earlier, actually, but only to people lucky enough to own and be able to read the ''Akira Toriyama - The World'' artbooks, which revealed that Frieza's QuirkyMinibossSquad the Ginyu Force was also made up (''entirely'') of freakishly strong mutants.
** [[Anime/DragonBallZBojackUnbound Bojack]] is about as generic as {{Generic Doomsday Villain}}s get yet has a power equal to Super Perfect Cell and surpassing that of Frieza, who the Kais explicitly considered at the time of his arc to be the greatest mortal power in the universe. No explanation has ever been given as to why Bojack is so strong, or why a character at his level of strength is and was content to be a mere SpacePirate.

** Whis, Beerus' assistant, isn't a god as far as anyone knows, but [[spoiler:he's stronger than Beerus and has the power to rewind time for the entire universe]]. When Vegeta asks exactly what Whis is, he's given a non-answer. However, [[spoiler:it's shown from U7's Supreme Kai that he's a type of angel who looks over the God of Destruction]].
** Jiren [[spoiler: is stronger than the Gods of Destruction, despite being mortal]]. No one knows why, he just is that strong from a lifetime of training. Not even Jiren himself knows how his training got him to be ''that'' strong.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': It's never explained why the Nine Tails is so much stronger than the other tailed beasts, but a mere half of its power is enough to equal six of its brethren at once.

** There is no logical explanation for how Saitama obtained his [[WorldsStrongestMan godlike strength]], since he was shown to be a rather ordinary man before he started his training. Saitama himself chalks it up to his training regimen... which isn't TrainingFromHell, but just a moderately difficult, realistically possible, strength training regimen[[note]]Each day: 100 sit-ups, 100 push-ups, 100 squats, and a 10 km run[[/note]], so there's no way he could have become so strong just from that. Many characters {{Lampshade}} this, and believe that Saitama has some other secret he isn't telling anybody, but it's suggested that even Saitama doesn't really know how he got so strong.

* ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} was like this for ''years'' after he was introduced. His face went unrevealed for about six months, the nature of his claws for a bit longer, several of his powers (healing factor, unbreakable bones) were unmentioned for years, the name "Logan" wasn't revealed until months after ''that,'' and his true origin took decades to come out. Creator/MarvelComics was genuinely worried that his mysterious past was what made him cool, and if they revealed too much, they would not only ruin Wolverine, they would ruin the X-Men, and thus ''destroy Marvel Comics.'' They may well have been right; his original backstory had him being ''[[spoiler:a wolverine that had been hyper-evolved into a human somehow.]]''

* During Marvel's run of ''[[ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel G.I. Joe]]'', Zartan was very much this. How can this assassin/biker gang leader make himself look like anyone within seconds? Never answered! The closest we got was outside speculation that it is "a mixture of hypnosis and holograms". Later on Devil's Due as well as IDW's reboot both gave their own origin to Zartan, and they had one thing in common: they do not explain the full extent of his ability.

* During Marvel's run of ''[[ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel G.I. Joe]]'', Zartan was very much this. How can this assassin/biker gang leader make himself look like anyone within seconds? Never answered! The closest we got was outside speculation that it is "a mixture of hypnosis and holograms". Later on Devil's Due as well as IDW's reboot both gave their own origin to Zartan, and they had two things in common: they do not explain the full extent of his ability, and they both sucked.

* PlayedForLaughs with [[AlwaysGetsHisMan Sergeant Cosgrove]] in ''WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}}''. He's a heavyset, gruff cop who [[TheStoic never seems fazed by anything]], and often the OnlySaneMan in the WorldFullOfHam that Freakazoid and his allies and enemies inhabit. However, Cosgrove also possesses strange powers: he can always find Freakazoid no matter where he is--largely so he can invite him to odd events like "the Honey Harvest Festival in Acton"--has complete and total knowledge of evil schemes (bordering on TheOmniscient) without any explanation (in every episode, he rattles off precise details of the VillainOfTheWeek and their latest plot during the previously-mentioned odd events)), and has the ability to cause anyone and anything to instantly calm down and stop whatever they're doing just by pointing and declaring "Hey--cut it out." In a spin-off comic, Cosgrove was able to get [[WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}} Yakko, Wakko, and Dot Warner]] to "cut it out"--something ''Death himself'' wasn't able to do. No explanation is ever given for any of Cosgrove's skills: he's just that good of a cop.