History Main / RidiculouslyAverageGuy

* PlayedForLaughs in ''VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet'' with the [[ElementalRockPaperScissors Normal-type]] Gym Leader Larry, a [[TheStoic stoic]] {{salaryman}} who treats his role like a typical job. His AnimeHair is the only thing that makes him stand out from the crowd, and he has some fun with his unimpressive appearance [[HeWasRightThereAllAlong by posing as one of the hint-giving NPCs in his own Gym trial]].

* ''Literature/{{The Howling|1977}}'': Roy Beatty is mentioned as being a pretty normal 29 year old middle-class man, who had an uneventful upbringing in California, never moved out of his home state, did well at school and college, has a stable job, a nice house in the suburbs and is planning to start a family with his wife of one year. He's completely thrown for a loop when Karyn is [[RapeAsDrama violently raped]]; it never occurred to him that he might be affected by such a crime and it's implied that because he's never experienced anything like it, [[DeconstructedTrope he doesn't know how to deal with it or properly help Karyn cope]]. Roy thinks that if he and Karyn try hard enough to forget about the rape, everything can just go back the way it was two months ago and he's increasingly frustrated that things don't turn out like this. He's wilfully oblivious that there's something abnormal about [[TownWithADarkSecret Drago]] and is highly susceptible to Marcia's charms, remarking that she's like no one he's ever met, which only draws him to her more strongly.

* ''Literatuere/{{The Howling|1977}}'': Roy Beatty is mentioned as being a pretty normal 29 year old middle-class man, who had an uneventful upbringing in California, never moved out of his home state, did well at school and college, has a stable job, a nice house in the suburbs and is planning to start a family with his wife of one year. He's completely thrown for a loop when Karyn is [[RapeAsDrama violently raped]]; it never occurred to him that he might be affected by such a crime and it's implied that because he's never experienced anything like it, [[DeconstructedTrope he doesn't know how to deal with it or properly help Karyn cope]]. Roy thinks that if he and Karyn try hard enough to forget about the rape, everything can just go back the way it was two months ago and he's increasingly frustrated that things don't turn out like this. He's wilfully oblivious that there's something abnormal about [[TownWithADarkSecret Drago]] and is highly susceptible to Marcia's charms, remarking that she's like no one he's ever met, which only draws him to her more strongly.

* [[CopsAndDetectives Detective]] [[TheDanza Wataru]] [[ActionSurvivor Takagi]] from ''[[Manga/CaseClosed Detective Conan]]'' is noticeably normal in comparison to the other cast especially in constant to his ActionGirl LoveInterest Detective Miwako Sato. [[TropesAreTools However, this gives in a unique perspective on the events unfolding around him]] and [[AudienceSurrogate makes him relatable to viewers]].
* Tsukune from ''Manga/RosarioPlusVampire'' is probably king of this trope. A dead-average guy sent to a school full of monsters, he has every single woman he meets either wanting to be his one true friend, his girlfriend, his wife, or his... uh, devourer, but still. The only thing that isn't average about him is how ridiculously average he is.
** He ''does'' get [[spoiler:Ghoul powers]] later on in the manga, and once he controls it, he [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass swiftly kicks ass with them]]. Of course, since it's a highly dangerous (to him) SuperpoweredEvilSide, he stops using it voluntarily and goes back to Rosario removing.
** Even apart from that, it does help that [[ShroudedInMyth his reputation is much better than truly warranted]] before too long.
** As the series goes on, this becomes less and less true as he goes from a painfully average student to an [[spoiler:absurdly powerful Shinso vampire. The gradual adaptation to his Shinso blood caused by his Holy Lock also causes him to become increasingly attractive over the course of the series, to the point where he's considered far above average in looks, even pulling the attention of human girls while advertising for a small hotel. Also worth noting is that his body at this point is both muscular and covered in large scars from the countless life-threatening injuries he sustained during the course of the series. Needless to say, he becomes anything but average.]]
** The anime, on the other hand, more or less keeps his ridiculously average guy persona throughout both seasons.
* Most of the guys in ''Anime/MyHime'' are just sort of background noise, unless (or until) they're plot-relevant. And yet they have some of the prettiest and most popular (and superpowered) girls in school longing for them, and in the [[Manga/MyHime manga]], one of them became the main character and had Mai and Natsuki actively fighting over him. (At least there they came up with the excuse that he could unleash their full powers.)
* In ''[[Anime/BubblegumCrisis Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040]]'', Linna's mother sets her up on an omiai date with a nice, normal, unexceptional guy. Linna is actually tempted into giving up her life of independence and excitement in the city (and moonlighting as a Knight Saber) to settle down and marry the guy.
* Keitaro from ''Manga/LoveHina''. Struggling to squeak by on his grades, average as far as looks go, and for most of the series, his only exceptional physical trait is his ability to survive the horrendous amounts of abuse Naru, Motoko, and Kaolla heap on him. But practically every girl in Hinatasou (and a few without) wind up falling head-over-heels for him, and in the end, he gets to marry his chosen one, while several of the others are left quietly pining over him.

* ''Manga/KongohBancho'': Hikyou Banchou looks like this when not in his ''banchou'' getup, which he often uses to get close to his enemies and sabotage them.
* Keita of ''Manga/GakuenHeaven'' is an ordinary boy who sticks out like a sore thumb in a school full of handsome, talented males. Said males find his lack of extraordinariness the very attribute that makes him so interesting to them.
* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' has Ojiro Mashirao. He has probably the most mundane Quirk in his class: a sturdy and durable tail. For reference, the classmate who sits behind him can [[ShockandAwe aimlessly discharge electricity]], the person who sits on the right of him from his perspective can shoot shiny lasers from his belly button, and the classmate who sits on the left of him can duplicate his limbs on his arms. He’s even been nicknamed in-universe “the Hero Department’s King of Normal”. It sort of became an insecurity for him.
* ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'': Tenchi Masaki was this before he started getting [[PowerCreepPowerSeep power upgrades]]. While he did have a laser sword and was actually pretty good with it, most of the female characters dwarfed him in power. Special abilities aside, he still fits the type to a T... he's average in looks, sort of bland in personality, and doesn't seem to be of particularly remarkable intelligence. And one of the most recurring plots of the franchise is still "some ridiculously powerful female falls in love with him and tries to take him for herself".
** The manga (possibly unintentionally) lampshades just how fully this trope is in effect. Ryoko has memories of a Tenchi-like boy she met and embraced tightly long before coming to Earth and begins to fear that what she feels for Tenchi is actually just a shadow of what she felt for him, her true love. When they finally meet this character, he pretty much has all of Tenchi's good qualities, but even moreso; he's handsome, extremely brave, kind to a fault, [[JumpedAtTheCall heroic without being pushed into it]], and outspoken in his love for Ryoko. Eventually, Ryoko finds out that because of a TimeyWimeyBall, what she felt when she embraced this guy all those years ago was actually an echo of her affection for ''Tenchi'' instead, and she happily bids him goodbye forever to go back to squabbling with the others for the chance to marry Tenchi and settle down to farm carrots.

* Page three of ''Manga/MissionSchool'' states this trope straight out in regards to its male protagonist, essentially defining the whole phenomenon:
-->This is the protagonist of our story. His grades are lower middle. Athletic ability is nonexistent. No special skills. No motivation.
* Shiraishi from ''Manga/ZeroIn'' is a completely and totally average high school boy, who is constantly beaten up by bullies and lets them push him around endlessly. This continues even after he joins the supposedly elite private police force Minkei (whose other agents are capable of near-superhuman feats)... he still lets bullies beat him up, and he usually stumbles through missions like an unlucky civilian who just happened to be dragged along.

* Takashi Kosuda from ''Anime/BGataHKei'' is the sex target of the protagonist Yamada because he ''is'' that plainly normal and obviously a virgin like her. She immediately forgot his face after he ran away from her question if he's a virgin. And other characters forget his name sometimes, calling him "Kobayashi" or "Kosoda" etc. His photo album reveals that he has been plain since birth.
* Nemo from ''Anime/LittleNemoAdventuresInSlumberland''. What makes him different than any other kid? In the movie, he mostly just says "Yippee!"
* Played for laughs in the ''Anime/YokaiWatch'' anime, which has the running gag that people comment on the fact Nate is completely average and does things in a completely average way. Nate doesn't like being called average and often attempts to do things to make himself not seem average, but his attempts just come across as average in themselves. Of course, [[FridgeBrilliance the other joke is that the fact that Nate's actual life is so far from normal that his actions being labeled as average is kinda ironic]].
* In the early chapters/episodes of ''Manga/MinamiKe'', Chiaki gives everyone in her class a nickname. Shuuichi was given the nickname "Plain Yogurt" because of obvious reasons. This bugs him so much, he [[OnceDoneNeverForgotten never lives it down]] for the rest of the series.
* Chapter 180 of ''Manga/TheDisastrousLifeOfSaikiK'' introduced Hiroshi Satou, a second-year high school student who is ridiculously average in every aspect, ranging from his name[[note]]Satou is the most common Japanese surname, and Hiroshi is also a very common Japanese male name[[/note]], to his grades[[note]]he is always ranked exactly in the middle of his cohort[[/note]] and even his social circle. This impresses the main character [[ComicallyInvincibleHero Kusuo Saiki]] so much that he declared Satou to be a "genius of normalcy" and tries to [[IJustWantToBeNormal emulate him]]. And of course, Satou, being the average guy he is, completely fails to notice Saiki and his not-so-normal school life.

* Kazundo Gouda from ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex 2nd Gig'' was originally like this (as commented on by Batou when he gets a look at an old photo of him.) When an accident left his face hideously disfigured, he decided ''not'' to fix the disfigurement because it made him look more memorable.

* ''ComicStrip/ForBetterOrForWorse'': [[CreatorsPet Anthony friggin' Caine]]. Absolutely average, yet everyone in the cast is convinced he's the best man on earth, and of course, the lovely Elizabeth gives up her exciting life teaching in a native village to move back to her hometown to settle down and live a nice, respectable life with him.

* Danny from ''WesternAnimation/CatsDontDance'' is incredibly nondescript, average, and normal, being nothing more than a young cat from a small backwater town, contrasting the ludicrous and over-the-top animals and humans he meets in Hollywood.

* "The Eye" from ''Film/EyeOfTheBeholder''. It's a plot point that he's so average-looking that no one can remember anything distinct about him when asked to describe him. This is how he's able to effectively tail the woman he's after for such a long time without being noticed.
* ''Film/TheSecretLifeOfWalterMitty'' has the title character, at least until he starts to go on a real adventure.

* ''Film/TheTrumanShow'': It appears that a big part of the appeal of the titular ShowWithinAShow is that Truman is a fairly average person, but a very nice and likable one--he comes off as someone you could be friends with if you happened to meet him. The in-universe viewers find his rather mundane everyday life to be engaging for this reason.

* Kyle Griffin from ''Literature/TheImpairment'' is described in the book's synopsis as "just another ordinary freshman college student with an ordinary life and problems". [[SarcasmMode He sure is glad]] that all changes the night he returns from a party heavy intoxicated and next thing he knows, he's framed for the murder of his roommate by an extra-terrestrial and it's all on him to attempt to clear his name against near possible odds.
* ''Literature/MurderForTheModernGirl'': [[JustifiedTrope Justified]]. Thanks to his [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshifting abilities]], Guy Rosewood intentionally designed his face to be the most unremarkable as possible and uses it to slip into places without anyone noticing.
* In the short story "Null-P" by Creator/WilliamTenn, it is discovered that a man named George Abnego happens to be statistically average in every way. This makes him a celebrity of sorts, and he ends up becoming President.

* The hero of ''Zarkorr The Invader'' was apparently TheChosenOne because, of all the people on Earth, he's dead average on every axis. He's a schlubby white middle-class American.
* ''Dreams of Yoghurt'' by Neil T Stacey features Average Man, whose characteristics at any given time reflect the average of the planet's makeup. At most times, he is an Asian woman named Mohammed Smith. He gets kidnapped by the CIA, who intends to interrogate him instead of collecting census data.
* In the ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'' novels, Grey Murphy's driver's license lists his eye color as "Neutral" and his hair as "hair-colored". [[spoiler:He's the son of the Magician Murphy and the Sorceress Vadne, and a Magician in his own right. His magical talent is to temporarily nullify magic, so being average is a PersonalityPower for him.]]
* John Doe from ''Literature/JPod'', who grew up in a lesbian commune in British Columbia. To compensate for is insane upbringing, he has dedicated his life to making himself as statistically average as possible up to and including his favorite snack foods.

* Creator/AgathaChristie uses this a couple of times; "Mr. Brown" in the first Literature/TommyAndTuppence book, or [[spoiler:the murderer]] in CURTAIN.

* ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'': Bella Swan, to a ridiculous degree. Entirely average looks, and is nothing special at all -- WordOfGod is that she was intentionally left as an ordinary girl so readers could step into her shoes. Strangely, the way she's written it's like Creator/StephenieMeyer wants to have her cake and eat it too -- this "completely ordinary protagonist" considers herself above her peers because she reads [[Creator/GeoffreyChaucer Chaucer]], [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Shakespeare]], [[Creator/JaneAusten Austen]], and other classical authors for fun, she's [[InformedAttribute supposedly]] very mature, and she's immune to all vampire abilities, which would seemingly contradict her status as an average girl.
* ''Literature/TheHobbit'': Bilbo Baggins is this, or at least he and most other people think he's this. It turns out to be more of AnAesop about how everyone has the potential to be extraordinary.
* Aragorn invokes this trope in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', or at least attempts to. With him, it's used to show that he's not power-hungry [[spoiler:and thus worthy of ruling basically the entire world and marrying Arwen the elf princess. Did we mention Arwen is 1/4 angel (Maiar)? Yeah, that's a thing...]] However, the bad guys aren't fooled which means [[DoomMagnet he's constantly harassed by their minions]]. This clues in some of the more observant good guys that [[SecretIdentity he's not who he says he is]]. He does successfully invoke the trope for a while when he goes to Rohan, which is part of why [[WarriorPrincess Eowyn]] falls in love with him (the other reason is that he's not sexist like most of the guys she knows). Faramir actually is this trope, [[spoiler:which is why Eowyn ends up with him in the end instead]]. The only thing remotely interesting about him is that he happens to be Denethor's son (but he'd just as soon NOT be since Denethor is [[AbusiveParent not a great Dad]]). Samwise also appears to be this trope at first but actually isn't: due to just being way too much of a badass. Merry and Pippin, however, definitely fit.
* ''Literature/{{Domina}}'': Most changelings have bizarre skin, hair, and eye colors, the result of random experimentation by the fey. However, there are also "meddy" changelings, with medium height, medium build, and medium features. [[spoiler:"Pam," actually Eccretia of the Never-Known Thieves]], is one. After the reveal of her identity, it's pointed out that in a city where cosmetic surgery costs a few bucks, the fact that she still has acne should have been a pretty big red flag.
%%* Sakai Yuuji from ''Literature/ShakuganNoShana'' fits this trope.
* Kyon of ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'' paints himself as this, though he's [[UnreliableNarrator probably lying]] about not being very smart. Still, he is the normal hole in the SOS Brigade's [[RealityWarper donut]] [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien of]] [[TimeTravel secret]] [[PsychicPowers weirdness]]. And still manages to be [[BadassNormal awesome]] instead of [[OvershadowedByAwesome drastically overshadowed.]] Itsuki even says that his Agency has run checks on him and found him to be "completely normal". But then again, he's not totally straightforward with the truth either.
** Kyon is essentially [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools the exception that proves the rule]] on this trope being an annoyance. He's a very average guy... but he's a ''realistic'' average guy, instead of the bland doormat other uses of this trope usually are. He actually hits that range of being easy to relate to because he completely avoids the pitfall of ThisLoserIsYou.
* In ''Literature/TheGardenOfSinners'' of the Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}, we have Mikiya Kokutou. The concept of reincarnation is explored in the form of the Origin, a universal law that serves as an individual soul's root for what type of creature or person it will become. While villains have Origins such as [[TheStoic Stillness]] or [[WarmBloodbagsAreEverywhere Hunger]], [[spoiler: and his love interest is the Origin itself,]] Mikiya's is Normalcy.
* ''Literature/ClassroomOfTheElite'': By his own admission, Kiyotaka Ayanokōji has no distinctive characteristics, hobbies, or interests and makes no effort to stand out. His grades are also 50s across the board. The second episode, however, indicates that he's hiding something. [[spoiler: By the halfway mark, we learn that he's been ''invoking'' this due to his past as one of a few lab rats with exceptional ability, pushing him into TheNondescript territory.]]
* ''Literature/HowToRaiseABoringGirlfriend'': Megumi Katou being average is the main point of the series (even though this is mostly an InformedAttribute).

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E14Tapestry Tapestry]]", Captain Picard is given an opportunity to avert a near-fatal barfight in his past and thus avert dying in the present thanks to the artificial heart his injuries necessitated. He finds, however, that by [[ForWantOfANail undoing this formative incident]] and erasing the lessons it taught him, he sets himself on a path to become a nobody - a man with no ambition, drive, or passion.
--> '''Q''': That Picard never had a brush with death, never came face to face with his own mortality, never realized how fragile life is, or how important each moment must be. So his life never came into focus. He drifted through much of his career, with no plan or agenda... going from one assignment to the next, never seizing the opportunities that presented themselves. He never led the away-team on Milika III to save the ambassador or take charge of the Stargazer's bridge when its captain was killed. And no one ever offered him a command. He learned to play it safe... and he never, ever got noticed by anyone.
* In one episode of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', Captain Janeway is sincerely tempted to give up her life as a Starfleet captain and her promise of getting her crew home to settle down with a decent but fairly bland guy she met on a planet and become a minor power plant supervisor.
* Todd Dempsey on ''Series/{{Outsourced}}''. One of the main reasons the show received claims of being racist was because there was so much focus on him when the Indian characters had better personalities.

* On ''Series/TheColbertReport'' and ''Series/TheDailyShow'', there was a RunningGag that Mitt Romney is an extremely bland guy, with [[TheNondescript generic looks]] and a middle-of-the-road conservative doctrine. During his campaign for presidency, the right-wing Colbert character would constantly forget his name. He also described him as "a particularly spicy Wheat-Thin."
* Justin Price in ''[[Recap/ColumboS10E14 Columbo Likes the Nightlife]]'' is an AntiVillain example, bearing a striking resemblence to the example image on this page. In actuality, he doesn't just own a new nightclub, but that club is being financed by money from [[TheMafia a mafia]]. When the son of TheDon, Tony Galper dies by accident in a post-divorce argument with his ex-wife Vanessa over her dating Justin, a {{Paparazz|i}}o Linwood Cobin photographs Justin unwittingly arriving to see Tony's body and blackmails him. This drives Justin to murder him to keep things secret.
* Xander Harris from Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer embodies this trope, even if he's not technically the main character.
* This is why Jack [=McGee=] has so much trouble tracking down his "John Doe" on ''Series/TheIncredibleHulk1977''. David Banner is pretty non-descript, so Jack keeps getting descriptions like "average height, brown hair." It's even funnier when Jack has to ''give'' that description to someone when he's trying to track down David. Every time he does, Jack actually looks embarrassed, because he knows the description he's giving is no help at all.
-->'''Dock Supervisor:''' This guy you're trying to find, what's he look like?\\
'''Jack:''' Medium height, medium build, brown hair, brown eyes.\\
'''Dock Supervisor:''' You just described half the guys on this dock.

* In ''Series/{{MASH}}'', Hawkeye laments every time his father sends an article about a "friend" of his, incredibly average Dr. Vernon Parsons, who keeps getting grant money for research since he is just about the only surgeon back home who is available.
* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': [[spoiler:After getting betrayed and attacked by Adar, Sauron, feeling down, decides to go incognito. He intentionately chose to pass as a [[HumansAreAverage mere Man dressed in rags when he could have passed as a much noble Races, or at least as a rich lord in fine clothing instead of a wandering vagabond]], reflecting that he was really at his lowest point]].

* Aran Ryan was this in ''[[VideoGame/PunchOut Super Punch-Out!!]]'', a series known for wild characters, but thankfully, Next-Level Games gave him a HotBlooded {{Scotireland}}/border-line AxCrazy personality in the Wii version of the game. Now, he's probably the most memorable character in the entire cast!
** Ryan's original gimmick was that of a [[TheStoic granite-faced]] Irishman who can't be dazed by blows to the face. A closer example would be Mr. Dream, the plain vanilla champion who replaces Tyson in the NES re-release.
** Also, based on seeing his name in the game's code, Kid Quick from the original arcade ''VideoGame/PunchOut'' was supposed to make a comeback in the Wii version, and it's assumed he was "cut" because his only trait in his original appearance was his speed. However, it seems Next-Level Games tried so hard to give Kid character, he became an entirely new character: [[DiscoDan Disco Kid]].
* PlayedForDrama in ''VideoGame/RainbowSix''. TheDragon, RenegadeRussian Dmitriy Popov's features are so unremarkable that no one really knows how to look out for him until [[spoiler:learning the extent of the BigBad's plan prompts an EvenEvilHasStandards reaction and something of a HeelFaceTurn, causing him to voluntarily approach John Clark.]]
* Russel Bagman is the most normal guy in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars''. Literally. As a result of this, he stands out even more. Ironically subverted by {{Fanon}} though, considering he gives his HotBlooded commander a BrightSlap once, leading many to apply MemeticMutation and refer to him as the OriginalGeneration Bright Noah.
** Which merely continues the {{Irony}} as, MemeticBadass and MemeticMutation aside, Bright is fairly normal himself.
* The protagonist of [=MDickie=]'s ''VideoGame/TheYouTestament'' is just some generic schmuck (so that you can use a photo of your own face to make him you) who fulfills the role of every incidental person in Literature/TheBible who encounters Jesus without becoming a dedicated disciple. This occasionally necessitates that a story be mangled out of shape so that "some generic schmuck" can learn the lesson instead of "the very specific person who Jesus actually talked to in the Bible whose very identity was instrumental in giving the lesson meaning".
* Bartz, the protagonist of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'', is not only this in-game (he's the only character [[spoiler:who isn't royalty]], for one), he's also this ''across the entire Franchise/FinalFantasy series.'' He's fairly generic-looking compared to the more {{Bishonen}} male protagonists like [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV Cecil]] or [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud]], is [[WalkingTheEarth a wanderer for the sheer hell of it]] (and goes back to doing that at the end of the game), and is a MasterOfNone (which is a base for the game's Job System, but even in ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'', he's not much of a specialist). Top that with the fact that he is ''incredibly'' easygoing, and there you have it.

* The psychological video game, ''VideoGame/TheStanleyParable'', is all about an average guy named Stanley, who spent his whole life working as employee 427 at a corporate office. He does nothing but push buttons on a monitor, until one day he noticed no orders were appearing on his monitor, and all of his fellow employees suddenly disappeared. The game questions the concept of being an [[ThisLoserIsYou average person of society]] and the possible power, or lack of power, when making a choice.

* In the pre-made neighborhood of Strangetown in ''VideoGame/TheSims2'', your neighbors are mad scientists; actual, Little Green Men aliens (and their abductees); serial killers and the ghosts of their victims; power-mad militia; the son of the Grim Reaper; and, in some spin-offs, insane werewolves, friendly neighborhood vampires, sentient robots struggling to be freed from their creators, ancient gods worshipped by secret cults, and mind-controlling supervillains. Then there's Ajay. His backstory? Um, he moved here for work...
* ''Videogame/{{Stellaris}}'' occasionally has an event where a recently scanned planet triggers the anomaly sensor which checks for distinguishing features. Why? Because it has ''no'' distinguishing features. No volcanoes, no mountains, no marshes, no deserts, no glaciers, no asteroid belt, no rich or poor minerals, no ''nothing''. As such, it trips the sensor because the fact [[LogicBomb that it has no distinguishing features whatsoever is a distinguishable feature in itself]]. In gameplay terms, this translates to a completely generic planet with no modifiers nor terrain penalties... and, [[SimpleYetAwesome more importantly]], no expensive tile blockers to clear.
* ''VideoGame/LastScenario'' has a party full of characters of varying degrees of importance in the game's world. And then there's [[spoiler: the protagonist, Hilbert]], who is completely unimportant in any way and is just some random schmuck [[spoiler: that the Rosehart Kingdom picked out to perpetuate a long con of him being TheChosenOne and a descendant of the ancient hero Alexander, all so that they could use him as a puppet figure to fulfill their own secret agenda. Even his character design manages to stand out with its sheer averageness, looking like a random NPC tagging along with more main character-looking party members, and even averts HeroesPreferSwords in favor of a bow.]] However, he still manages to carve out a name for himself anyway [[spoiler: becoming TheUnchosenOne who saves the world and even gets the still-alive Alexander to personally acknowledge his strength.]]
* Tomoya from ''VideoGame/EnsembleStars'' is a very average guy who doesn't have any especially strange interests or quirks, tends to react to things the way a normal person would, and is pretty unremarkable in appearance as well (having mousy brown hair and eyes). However, this very normalness marks him as different in a school for training up budding idols and definitely sets him up as a StraightMan in comparison to his senior in the theatre club, the ginormously LargeHam Wataru. To an extent, Midori also fits a similar niche, being the one student there who never intended on joining an idol school (he simply applied to the school nearest to his house without realising he was applying for the idol course), but Midori's extreme apathetic nature and constant {{Dismotivation}} also sets him apart, especially when compared the eternally chipper sentai fan [[GenkiBoy Chiaki]], his bandmate.
* ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'': Central Officer Bradford, the player character's NumberOne, suffers from this: He has the least impact on the plot, generally acting as TheWatson and MrExposition while Doctors Vahlen and [[GadgeteerGenius Shen]] do things that advance the plot, and has little characterisation beyond "polite and professional". And just to add insult to injury, he bears a striking resemblance to the picture at the top of this page! To the dev-team's credit, they responded to these criticisms by giving him a genuinely badass moment (albeit in a cutscene) during the much-hyped [[HoldTheLine "base defence"]] mission from ''[[ExpansionPack Enemy Within]]'', and in ''VideoGame/XCOM2'' his characterisation gets expanded significantly.
* One of the [[MultipleChoicePast Origins]] available to the player in the Arena Mode of ''VideoGame/MadnessProjectNexus2'' is "Noob". In addition to looking like any other civvy or Grunt and having nothing of note occur in his life prior to starting the mode, he has no immediate drawbacks or bonuses and no skill focuses or Origin-unique abilities.

* Chadwick Strongpants from ''WebAnimation/PuffinForest'' has this as his schtick. Ben made him as a punishment for a player he was supposed to make a character for, but who never bothered to tell him what kind of character they'd like to play. The result was Chadwick Strongpants, a guy with absolutely no bonuses, powers, or skills.
* Downplayed and deconstructed with Jaune in ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}''. In his debut, Jaune has a mundane appearance with minimal fighting ability in contrast to everyone else who have fantastical looks and advanced combat skills, yet he was able to get into an elite school for training Huntsmen. It turns out [[spoiler:he faked his transcripts]] and really is just a normal person with no qualifications whatsoever, which poses a danger to him for very obvious reasons. He gets stronger overtime, though.
* WebAnimation/JoCat [[ParodiedTrope parodies this]] in "Crap Guide to [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons D&D]]" with the Fighter class, depicted as [[BoringButPractical an incredibly simple, yet very practical]], and thus extremely common character archetype. The representative character is named [[LukeNounverber "John Fighterman"]], a [[ActionGenreHeroGuy white human male]] with a sword and [[TheGenericGuy no personality to speak of]], with just about the only thing descript about him being [[AllThereInTheManual an offhand mention]] that he's dating Hutrax the Wizard.

* In ''Webcomic/TheDragonDoctors'', Greg makes a speech about being this type in the storyline where he is introduced, including the line, "You could forget I'm there if you so much as blink while talking to me." Of course, it turns out there's a couple of HiddenDepths to him.

* Elliot, in ''WebComic/ElGoonishShive'' sees himself that way, [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=1731 at least until it's pointed out]] [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=1732 that he isn't]].

* Adlai Atkins from the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "The Cyber House Rules". He's probably above average when it comes to qualities that attract women ('''Leela:''' "A tall doctor you say?"), but in everything else, he strives to be average. This includes having his Hawaiian shirts "toned down" (by taking out the colors and replacing them with greys), wearing ties with square bottoms, and generally wearing grey and beige tones around the clock. He gives Leela surgery to make her look like a normal human and then starts dating her. His desire to be average cause him to give Leela some humorous "compliments":

* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': [[spoiler:After getting betrayed and attacked by Adar, Sauron, feeling down, decides to go incognito. He intentionately chose to pass as a [[HumansAreAverage mere Man dressed in rags when he could have passed as a much noble Races, or at least as a man who belonged to some nobility]], reflecting that he was really at his lowest point]].

** PlayedForLaughs in ''VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}'': it has a monster called "Unassuming Local Guy".

* ''ComicBook/{{normalman}}'' himself is so unremarkable that ''his name is never capitalized''. In fact, you may know that in comics, ''every'' letter in ''every'' word is usually capitalized, but ''none'' of the letters in norm's name ever are. ''Damn''. Of course, that's mainly because he's the only guy without powers on the planet Levram, where being completely mundane makes him incredibly important to several key figures, from the Ultra-Conservative, who wants to give him powers so he won't disrupt the status quo to Sophisticated Lady, who finds his scrawny figure and utter helplessness maddeningly attractive.
* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'':

* ''ComicStrip/ForBetterOrForWorse''--[[CreatorsPet Anthony friggin' Caine]]. Absolutely average, yet everyone in the cast is convinced he's the best man on earth, and of course the lovely Elizabeth gives up her exciting life teaching in a native village to move back to her home town to settle down and live a nice, respectable life with him.
* There is a WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck short comic spoofing the story "Null-P" mentioned below: Donald is selected by a computer to be completely average, which makes him an instant celebrity. However, he does not get to enjoy it much, and in the end, is saved by a ''literal'' computer bug.
* A non-romantic example is Tyler Marlocke from ''ComicBook/PS238''. He's a completely average kid who has been sent to a grade school for superheroes because his parents refuse to believe he isn't one. [[spoiler:Except that he's the future Nightwing.]]
* It's noted that ComicBook/TheSpirit is this, due to his generally blandly nice personality and lack of any distinguishing features. When someone asks him why he only ever wears a DominoMask to protect his identity, he asks her to describe what he looks like without the mask off, and she comes up short.

* In the QuirkyTown of ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', everyone is a tad strange -- except for [[IronicName Tad Strange]], a nondescript white man in standard businessman's attire. The funny thing is, there's so much emphasis on him being "normal" that it crosses a line and somehow comes off as incredibly weird.
-->'''Tad Strange:''' Hi, guys. Tad's the name and being normal's my game.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Carson Daly. On ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'', a skit about TRL had this line -- "Hi I'm Carson Daly, and I'm average in every way."
* To political satirists, UsefulNotes/GeraldFord had this reputation. His lack of standout physical features, mild personality and quiet policy achievements stumped many of the same cartoonists and comedians who previously had a field day with Richard Nixon. To demonstrate, perhaps the most famous satirical depiction of Ford is Creator/ChevyChase's impression of him on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'', where he completely abandoned any pretense of getting his appearance or mannerisms accurate and instead portrayed him as TheKlutz.
* One study found that the most typical face on Earth was that of [[https://web.archive.org/web/20111127144805/https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1362709/Typical-human-face-28-year-old-Chinese-man.html a 28-year-old Chinese male.]]
* Dev Patel was chosen for the part of Jamal in ''Film/SlumdogMillionaire'' because the director wanted a completely ordinary-looking guy to play the role rather than any of the muscle-bound guys which had auditioned for the role before. For exactly the same reason Cillian Murphy got his part in Boyle's ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater''.
* Tim Burton chose Michael Keaton rather than an action star for the role in ''Film/{{Batman|1989}}'' because Bruce Wayne was an "average" (albeit rich) guy who became a vigilante.
* [[TruthInTelevision Believe it or not, this is the kind of person espionage agencies]] [[ExploitedTrope look to recruit to become spies.]] Someone [[MrFanservice ridiculously good-looking]], [[TheBigGuy extra tall]], [[TopHeavyGuy extremely muscular]], or with [[RedRightHand other abnormal features]] [[OvertOperative is going to be easy to spot]] and pick out of a crowd. But a guy who's 5'9" with medium length brown or black hair, brown eyes, and an average build? [[HiddenInPlainSight There's tons]] [[BeneathNotice of them]].
* The wild-type coloration or colorations in a given species or subspecies of animal is usually an example of this trope as wild-type colorations are usually the most common colorations in a given species or subspecies as well.
** Subverted with many domestic animals, however. The wild-type colorations of domestic dogs (called wolf grey) and horses are rather uncommon.
** Played straight for the domestic forms of rock doves (Columba liva), house mice (Mus musculus), brown rats (Rattus norvegicus), European or coney rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), and Near Eastern wildcats (Felis silvestris lybica), whose wild-type colorations are the most common colorations like they are for their wild forms.
* Serial killer Ted Bundy was able to evade capture for so long by exploiting his effectively anonymous appearance, looking different in almost every photograph that was taken of him. Bundy could easily conceal his one distinguishing feature, a mole on his neck, by wearing sweaters and turtlenecks. One judge said that he was a "changeling."
[[/folder]]

* Kyle Griffin from ''Literature/TheImpairment'' is described in the book's synopsis as "just another ordinary freshman college student with an ordinary life and problems". [[SarcasmMode He sure is glad]] that all changes the night he returns from a party heavy intoxicated and next thing he knows, he's framed for the murder of his roommate by an extra-terrestrial and it's all on him to attempt to clear his name against near possible odds.

* In ''LightNovel/TheGardenOfSinners'' of the Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}, we have Mikiya Kokutou. The concept of reincarnation is explored in the form of the Origin, a universal law that serves as an individual soul's root for what type of creature or person it will become. While villains have Origins such as [[TheStoic Stillness]] or [[WarmBloodbagsAreEverywhere Hunger]], [[spoiler: and his love interest is the Origin itself,]] Mikiya's is Normalcy.

* ''LightNovel/HowToRaiseABoringGirlfriend'': Megumi Katou being average is the main point of the series (even though this is mostly an InformedAttribute).

* The original ''VideoGame/StreetFighterI'' had a few characters that never appeared in anything else, and therefore never got any character development, and are much more bland as a result. The standout examples, however, are Joe and Mike, who can't really be described as anything more than "white guy with no shirt and red jeans" and "black guy with red shirt and bluejeans" respectively. They look like nothing more than generic enemies you might face in VideoGame/FinalFight.

* PlayedForLaughs with Tadano Hitohito in ''Manga/KomiCantCommunicate''. His very name is a pun on "just another guy" (''tada no hito''), and as such in a school full of weird and strange people he's the one who doesn't have any particular personality or peculiarity: his test scores are exactly the class average, and his teachers skip his fitness measurements because all his stats are exactly the national average anyway. His most outstanding feature is his ability to read the mood, which he is so good at that he is basically psychic and is what allowed him to befriend Komi in the first place. It's revealed early on that he is purposefully doing this due to a particularly embarrassing incident back in middle school, caused by him being a {{Chuunibyou}} at the time (as in, the total opposite of "being a regular guy"). He's also somewhat of a JackOfAllTrades, as he has average skills in a fair number of things you wouldn't expect, like ice skating or obstacle courses.

%%* Sakai Yuuji from ''LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana'' fits this trope.

* Kyon of ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'', though he's [[UnreliableNarrator probably lying]] about not being very smart. Still, he is the normal hole in the SOS Brigade's [[RealityWarper donut]] [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien of]] [[TimeTravel secret]] [[PsychicPowers weirdness]]. And still manages to be [[BadassNormal awesome]] instead of [[OvershadowedByAwesome drastically overshadowed.]] Itsuki even says that his Agency has run checks on him and found him to be "completely normal". But then again, he's not totally straightforward with the truth either.
** Kyon is essentially [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools the exception that proves the rule]] on this trope being an annoyance. He's a very average guy... but he's a ''realistic'' average guy, instead of the bland doormat other uses of this trope usually are. He actually hits that range of being easy to relate to because he completely avoids the pitfall of ThisLoserIsYou.

* In ''LightNovel/TheGardenOfSinners'' of the Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}, we have Mikiya Kokutou. The concept of reincarnation is explored in the form of the Origin, a universal law that serves as an individual soul's root for what type of creature or person it will become. While villains have Origins such as [[TheStoic Stillness]] or [[WarmBloodbagsAreEverywhere Hunger]], [[spoiler: and his love interest is the Origin itself,]] Mikiya's is Normalcy.

* ''LightNovel/ClassroomOfTheElite'': By his own admission, Kiyotaka Ayanokōji has no distinctive characteristics, hobbies, or interests and makes no effort to stand out. His grades are also 50s across the board. The second episode, however, indicates that he's hiding something. [[spoiler: By the halfway mark, we learn that he's been ''invoking'' this due to his past as one of a few lab rats with exceptional ability, pushing him into TheNondescript territory.]]

* ''LightNovel/HowToRaiseABoringGirlfriend'': Megumi Katou being average is the main point of the series (even though this is mostly an InformedAttribute).

* ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'': Central Officer Bradford, the player character's NumberOne, suffers from this: He has the least impact on the plot, generally acting as TheWatson and MrExposition while Doctors [[HotScientist Vahlen]] and [[GadgeteerGenius Shen]] do things that advance the plot, and has little characterisation beyond "polite and professional". And just to add insult to injury, he bears a striking resemblance to the picture at the top of this page! To the dev-team's credit, they responded to these criticisms by giving him a genuinely badass moment (albeit in a cutscene) during the much-hyped [[HoldTheLine "base defence"]] mission from ''[[ExpansionPack Enemy Within]]'', and in ''VideoGame/XCOM2'' his characterisation gets expanded significantly.