History Main / JustOneMan

* ''Film/Blade'': (1998): Deacon Frost, telling his security guards to capture the titular hero alive:

* A subversion took place in the lead up to WW-I, when pretty much everyone knew that war was just a matter of time. The commander of the British Staff College, Brigadier General Henry Wilson, was talking to his counterpart in the French Ecole Supérieure de Guerre, General Ferdinand Foch:

-->''[Lara is [[MookHorrorShow gunning down every mook in the area]]]''\\
'''[[GenreBlind Mook 1]]:''' She's [[JustOneMan just one girl]]!\\
'''Mook 2:''' [[LampshadeHanging That]] ''[[LampshadeHanging one girl]]'' [[LampshadeHanging is]] ''[[LampShadeHanging kicking our asses!]]''

* ''VideoGame/WolfensteinIITheNewColossus'' has Commandant Mannheimer invoke this trope when talking to Frau Engel over the radio about [[OneManArmy "Terror-Billy"]] -- [[TemptingFate right as BJ is lurking behind him]] [[AnAxeToGrind with a hatchet in-hand]].

* ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife'': [[BigBad Hopper]] is very aware that while one single ant standing up to him isn't a problem on its own, that single ant can turn into [[ZergRush thousands of ants]], and that if the ant colony ever realize this, they would easily overthrow his gang of grasshoppers. He demonstrates of this to three of his {{Mooks}} who dismiss a single ant by throwing a small piece of grain at each of them, each one used to represent a single ant, which they laugh off. He then proceeds to bury the three of them alive in thousands of pieces of grain to drive his point home to the rest of the grasshoppers.

* ''Film/TheMaskOfZorro'' (1998)

* ''VisualNovel/GrisaiaNoRakuen'': At the climax of the story Oslo's right hand man Travis thinks it won't take long to capture Yuuji since he is severely outnumbered and is just one kid. [[spoiler: He doesn't outlive that sentiment by much.]]

* Very common in ''Manga/OnePiece'', especially during Enies Lobby. The most notable instance is when [[spoiler:Luffy knocks out ''50,000 fishmen'' with a '''glare'''. A DeathGlare powered by {{awesomeness|IsAForce}}, but still-a ''glare''.]]

* ''Film/TheDarkKnight'': Batman (who should have learned from all the people who underestimated him) gives this line:

* Batman (who should have learned from all the people who underestimated him) gives this line in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'':
-->'''Batman:''' [[ComicBook/TheJoker One man]] or the entire mob? [[TemptingFate He can wait.]]

All in all this tends to be a StockPhrase used whenever a OneManArmy appears, or when the battle becomes OneRiotOneRanger. However this applies to any time a character asks what one person can do, whether it be against his army of Mooks or just his own superior strength. See also UnderestimatingBadassery and WeDoTheImpossible. Or perhaps ''TemptingFate''.

* Repeatedly shouted in the ''[[VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon FEAR]]'' games by assorted human villains as the Point Man and Michael Beckett tear through their troops. Norton Mapes comments on it in the first game while you're blasting through the ATC troops in the Vault ("Come on, he's just one guy? [[SurroundedByIdiots What good are you jackoffs?]]") and Colonel Vanek berates his men repeatedly while fighting through the labs under Wade Elementary, before finally admitting to Beckett's OneManArmy status. The Phase Commanders and other ATC officers in ''FEAR 3'' understand how dangerous the Point Man is, and instead of berating them for being overwhelmed, they just order their men to stay in position [[BadBoss under pain of dismemberment.]]

In fiction ConservationOfNinjutsu is powerful beyond compare. One ninja, or frankly any humanoid, will have no problem taking out an entire army. Unfortunately for the army's leader, they're GenreBlind. Of course the only thing they can think, and thus shout, when seeing the carnage laid out is, "It's just one man!" or, "What can one man do?"

-->'''Soldier:''' B-b-but it's just three kids!\\
'''Blue:''' Just '''one''' of those kids wiped out both Silver Corps and White Corps! Now I've learned that Squad B was pulverized by the old man and the woman! [[ItMakesSenseInContext And they didn't even have to unleash the turtle!]]

* In ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' ActionAdventure [[GaidenGame spin-off]] game, ''Redguard'', this is requently said by Imperial guards as [[PlayerCharacter Cyrus]] gleefully fences his way through dozens of them.

* One could make a drinking game out of every time the MonsterOfTheWeek on ''Series/DoctorWho'' said something along the lines of, "He's just one man! WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong? Nobody could stop me now!" As it happens, the universe is ''littered'' with the bodies of people who underestimated the Doctor.

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* ''Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan'' had this as almost a stock phrase on many episodes. In one episode the same bad guy had a sequence of schemes ruined by Steve Austin, to the point that at the end, he gets a call from some mooks: "What? ONE MAN?... This has a depressingly familiar ring to it."
* ''Series/Daredevil2015'' introduces The Punisher in this method in the second season, with Matt initially thinking a mercenary group is behind a series of mass murders of gang members.

-->'''Zukan:''' You do not trust your own men, Commissioner?
-->'''Servalan:''' It isn't a matter of trust so much as... matching ability.
-->'''Zukan:''' Against one man?
-->'''Servalan:''' Against Avon.
-->'''Zukan:''' You make me wonder if I didn't [[WeCanRuleTogether choose badly]]. You fear him. He and I, together we could have been invincible.

** For context, take a look at one of his {{Badass Boast}}s from the episode ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E6Extremis Extremis]]'':

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* In ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' ActionAdventure [[GaidenGame spin-off]] game, ''Redguard'', this is requently said by Imperial guards in as [[PlayerCharacter Cyrus]] gleefully fences his way through dozens of them.

'''PM:''' There was only one Gandhi once. One anorexic little looney in a loincloth and we lost a whole subcontinent!

* In ''VideoGame/FarCry1'', Enemy mooks say this about Jack Carver, speculating about how one person could not possibly pull off the stunts he does.

* Creator/GrantMorrison's ''[[JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA]]'':
** The White Martians have captured the entire League... [[Awesome/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica almost]].

-->'''Servalan:''' It isn't a matter of trust so much as... [[WorthyOpponent matching ability.]]

-->'''Zukan:''' You make me wonder if I didn't choose badly. You fear him. He and I, together [[WeCouldRuleTogether we could have been invincible]].