History Main / SouthpawAdvantage

** Movie villain Broly is very different from regular Super Saiyajins, as his Legendary Super Saiyajin Form is a huge bulk of muscle with no lack of speed. He tends to use most of his attacks with his left hand. Due to him being left handed, his intended final blow on Son Goku was performed with his left fist and Goku nonchalantly catches it with his right hand.

* ''Manga/BlackCat'''s Train Heartnet was born left-handed and became ambidextrous through training, though his left hand is still slightly faster and more accurate when he uses his gun. Notably, he spends the entire Battle on Clarken Island using his left hand alone, partly to show how [[LetsGetDangerous seriously]] he is taking the job and his opponents.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* Subverted in an episode of the ''Series/{{Highlander}}'' TV series. [[TheHero Duncan's]] immortal friend Carl Robinson is challenged by [[VillainOfTheWeek Myron]] [[WeHardlyKnewYe Corman]], a fellow Immortal. Corman mentions this trope and notes that Robinson, who is a baseball pitcher, has a lot of difficulty facing left-handed batters, and wonders if that is true in sword fighting as well. Corman then goes into a left-handed sword stance, brimming with confidence -- [[SubvertedTrope and is soon beheaded by Carl.]]
* Also subverted in ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'', where dimwitted boxer Ken Clean-Air Systems is due to fight shorthand typist Petula Wilcox. In an interview before the fight Petula predicts that Ken will be confused because she's a southpaw. Come the match she still gets curbstomped.
[[/folder]]

* In addition to the baseball and boxing examples above, bowling is another sport that favors the left-handed. This is because bowling alleys have oil spread out onto the lanes, and at the professional level, most right-handed bowlers will trace similar paths down a lane. As they keep doing this, the bowling balls shove the oil to the side, creating grooves in the oil that throw off the ball's path more and more. Left-handed bowlers, however, are less common, and as they trace a mirrored path down the lane, they get to play with much fresher, flatter oil. This is, of course, not accounting for the off chance there happens to be more left-handed bowlers in one place than right-handed ones, but that applies to all the examples in this tab.

** In ''Anime/VividStrike'', Vivio, who is right-handed, switches to southpaw style during her match with Rinne. Rinne is unable to adapt to Vivio's new style and ends up losing the match.

* Similarly, some Roman camps were designed with a right-turning wall just behind the gate, forcing attackers to expose their unshielded right sides to attackers on the wall.

* In boxing, left-handed fighters are often considered a more difficult matchup, because the change in stance and positioning of the hands and feet causes unique problems for right-handed fighters. How you have to move, (in order to avoid tripping over the other fighter or stepping on their foot) what punches are effective or that you become more susceptible to, the angles those punches come from and what tactics must be used all change, and in many cases become the exact opposite of how a fighter has trained all their life. It often takes a conscious effort for the right-handed fighter facing the southpaw to remember all this, instead of being able to automatically fall back into years of training and conditioning, leading many to say DamnYouMuscleMemory On top of that, the right-hander has to keep this all together while getting punched into the face, and possibly while only being semi-conscious. Meanwhile for the left-handed fighter, fighting a righty and using all those tactics and moves is just another day at the office.

* Fencing is yet another sport where this occurs, since right-handed fencers are almost always used to dueling other right-handed fencers, so when they go up against lefties they tend to get thrown off in how to guard and attack. Left-handed fencers, of course, have no such disadvantage.

* {{Implied}} in Franchise/{{Tron}} with the title character. No other Program appears to be left handed like he is. Throwing a DeadlyDisc left-handed would but a spin and angle on it that his opponents likely found difficult to counteract.

[[folder: Films -- Live-Action]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* Subverted in an episode of the ''Series/{{Highlander}}'' TV series. [[TheHero Duncan's]] immortal friend Carl Robinson is challenged by [[VillainOfTheWeek Myron]] [[WeHardlyKnewYe Corman]], a fellow Immortal. Corman mentions this trope and notes that Robinson, who is a baseball pitcher, has a lot of difficulty facing left handed batters, and wonders if that is true in sword fighting as well. Corman then goes into a left handed sword stance, brimming with confidence--[[SubvertedTrope and is soon beheaded by Carl.]]

[[folder: Religion & Mythology]]
* Literature/TheBible has the tribe of Benjamin, who were overwhelmingly left-handed; in a civil war between the tribes of Israel, the sons of Benjamin fielded three hundred left-handed slingers who were able to preferentially target the unshielded sides of their opponents.

[[folder: Visual Novel]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]
* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Homer At The Bat"; Mr. Burns benches ''Darryl Strawberry'' and replaces him with Homer because both Strawberry and the pitcher are left-handed, and Homer bats right-handed.

[[folder: Real Life]]
* In boxing, left handed fighters are often considered a more difficult matchup, because the change in stance and positioning of the hands and feet causes unique problems for right handed fighters. How you have to move, (in order to avoid tripping over the other fighter or stepping on their foot) what punches are effective or that you become more susceptible to, the angles those punches come from and what tactics must be used all change, and in many cases become the exact opposite of how a fighter has trained all their life. It often takes a conscious effort for the right handed fighter facing the southpaw to remember all this, instead of being able to automatically fall back into years of training and conditioning, leading many to say DamnYouMuscleMemory On top of that, the right hander has to keep this all together while getting punched into the face, and possibly while only being semi-conscious. Meanwhile for the left handed fighter, fighting a righty and using all those tactics and moves is just another day at the office.
* A lot of right-handed baseball players learn how to hit left handed because the left-handed batter's box is closer to first, giving them an edge on close plays. Also pitches that normally move away from righties will come inside on lefties, either giving them more pitches to hit or limiting a right-handed pitcher's repertoire.
** Subverted, however, when it comes to fielding. Left-handed fielders are almost unheard of at positions outside of pitcher, first base, or outfield because making a throw to first would require them to throw across their body.

* In cricket, left handed batters have a distinct advantage as bowlers have to correct their line when delivering to them, which breaks their rhythm. Left arm bowlers also have a big advantage bowling to right handed batters, since the ball cuts across them at a less familiar angle.
* Something seen in medieval castle tours (and linked to ASinisterClue) is that spiral staircases in castle turrets give the advantage to the defender (the one on the higher step) if both are right-handed, as the attacker's sword movements are hampered by the ceiling and central axis. A left-handed swordsman would not have this disadvantage.
** There is a persistent myth that Ferniehirst Castle, in Scotland, was built with a spiral staircase running the opposite direction (counter-clockwise if you are looking up) to give left-handed defenders the advantage because the Kerr clan, who built the castle, were mostly lefties. There is indeed a "left-handed" spiral staircase in the castle, but no one seems sure if the Kerr clan really had an unusual number of lefties.

* In construction teams of riveters would if possible include a left handed riveter as they would be able to work at angles that would be awkward to right handed people.
[[/folder]]

Traditionally, baseball fields were oriented so that the batter, catcher, and umpire faced east to ensure that the setting sun wasn't in their eyes. As a result, when a pitcher is on the mound facing home plate, his left hand pointed south, so lefty pitchers came to be known as southpaws. The term has since entered general usage to indicate left-handed people which is how the trope got its name.

** There's also Ehud (another Benjaminite who's left-handed) who hides a sword by strapping it to his right thigh (where he can easily draw it) before paying a visit to [[AdiposeRex King Eglon]]. Although the passage doesn't explicitly say so, the [[LawOfConservationOfDetail fact that it emphasises Ehud's left-handedness and which side he strapped the weapon to]] suggests that the guards missed the weapon because it was on the side they were expecting.

* In addition to the baseball and boxing examples above, bowling is another sport that favors the left-handed. This is because bowling alleys have oil spread out onto the lanes, and at the professional level, most right-handed bowlers will trace similar paths down a lane. As they keep doing this, the bowling balls shove the oil to the side, creating grooves in the oil that throw off the ball's path more and more. Left-handed bowlers, however, are less common, and as they trace a mirrored path down the lane, they get to play with much fresher, flatter oil. This is, of course, not accounting for the off chance there happens to be more left-handed bowlers in one place than right-handed ones.

* In cricket, left handed batters have a distinct advantage as bowlers have to correct their line when delivering to them, which breaks their rhythm. Left arm bowlers also have a big advantage bowling to right handed batters, since the ball cuts across them at a less familiar angle.
** There is a persistent myth that Ferniehirst Castle, in Scotland, was built with a spiral staircase running the opposite direction (counter-clockwise if you are looking up) to give left-handed defenders the advantage because the Kerr clan, who built the castle, were mostly lefties. There is indeed a "left-handed" spiral staircase in the castle, but no one seems sure if the Kerr clan really had an unusual number of lefties.

* Subverted in an episode of the ''Series/{{Highlander}}'' tv series. [[TheHero Duncan's]] immortal friend Carl Robinson is challenged by a fellow immortal. The other immortal mentions this trope and notes that Robinson, who is a baseball pitcher, has a lot of difficulty facing left handed batters, and wonders if that is true in sword fighting as well. The other immortal then goes into a left handed sword stance, and is brimming with confidence. Carl proceeds to defeat the man easily.

* In the first ''Film/{{Rocky}}'' film, Apollo's trainer cite the left handed fighter's advantage as a reason why Apollo should either not fight Rocky, or should at least take the fight more seriously.

Since the vast majority of the human population is right hand dominant, meeting someone who is the opposite isn't something most people would expect. Some would think that because left-handed people live in a world that is geared toward those who are right-handed that that would be a handicap but it has quite a few perks. Left-handed characters often have to adapt to the world by forcing themselves to use their right hand, which can overtime cause them to be adept at using both of their hands/feet (as well as both sides of their body).

* In ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', there is George [=McFly=]'s famous [[TookALevelInBadass badassery level up]] scene where he decks his lifelong BarbaricBully tormentor Biff Tannen with a single left jab to protect the girl he loves. In an early draft of the script, [[{{Foreshadowing}} there was a scene where George discovers that his left arm is for some reason much stronger than his right]].