History Main / SurprisinglyEliteCannonFodder

* This would be the case with the Arcturus's Mengsk Dominion Trooper from the Co-op mode of ''VideoGame/StarcraftII''. Despite their cheapness and initially unimpressive stats, these troopers can be upgraded with upgraded weapons and construct defensive structures on the fly. Alongside this already powerful versatility, these troopers can switch into their suits to become Dominion Laborers at a nearby Enlistment Center or Supply Bunker, which the player can combine with the "Forced Conscription" topbar ability that drops a Supply Bunker with six additional Troopers to clear out and saturate a resource expansion in record time.

* ''Fanfic/YourMoveInstigatorDrawYourWeaponAndHoldYourTongue'' does this with ChildSoldiers. Sakura, Kiba and Tenten were among those pressed into service at obscenely young ages due to the Third Shinobi War [[ForWantOfANail continuing for years longer than its canonical length]] -- Sakura and Kiba both started their training at ''four'' and were on the battlefield at five, and Tenten's barely a year older than them. What makes them a SpannerInTheWorks to [[TheManBehindTheMan Danzo]] is the simple fact that they keep ''surviving'' -- and in doing so, serve as [[MoralityPet a collective reminder]] to the rest of Konohagakure's shinobi that they have been using ''children'' as cannon fodder. This effect only strengthens once [[spoiler:all of the other child soldiers have perished, so that the only other kids their age are those who were protected from being forcibly enlisted by their status]].

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A close relative of ReassignmentBackfire, except this turns out rather well for the superiors. This is when your RagtagBunchOfMisfits are a bunch of assholes or at least out of favour with high command, and [[UriahGambit their superiors are clearly deliberate in sending them off to their certain demises]]. The problem is that, through sheer luck, ruthlessness, or [[LetsGetDangerous actual competence and skill,]] they keep returning, sometimes even accomplishing the [[ImpossibleTask impossible missions.]]

* The Organization in ''Manga/{{Claymore}}'' has a standard practice of sending the warriors they deem unreliable [[spoiler:actually, all who come close to Awakening]] on {{Suicide Mission}}s, yet some like Miria and Clare manage to survive against all odds, resulting in a win-win for the Organization. This did eventually end in the Battle of Pieta, where all current undesirables are rounded up in one place and massacred to hold off an army of Awakened Beings until they could scramble to deploy their real weapon, which they did. Pieta, however, backfired again: seven Claymores survived and deserted, but until that point it had been quite nice for them.

* An episode of ''Anime/GundamWing'' had a disillusioned [[CharClone Zechs]] pair up with a pair of asshole soldiers to take out a few of the remaining Earth Sphere Alliance strongholds. The pair assign Zechs to make a very visible attack on the base's main defense (a large beam cannon), figuring that Zechs's conspicuous new mobile suit and high-profile reputation will make him a ripe target. Meanwhile they'll be free to sneak in unnoticed and take out the base themselves. Unfortunately, they greatly underestimated Zechs' skills, and failed to realize that the "conspicuous new mobile suit" was [[SuperPrototype the Tallgeese]]. Zechs not only survived the encounter but is in perfect shape to fight when he discovers his partners killing soldiers who have already surrendered, and proceeds to [[CurbStompBattle deal with the situation accordingly.]]
* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'': At one point, the main characters wonder if [[BigGood General Revill]] sees them as this, since despite making sure they get resupplied even in enemy territory he also keeps sending them into the most dangerous battlezones. It's not hard to see why, though: despite being made up mostly of civilians forced into combat, by that point of the story the crew of the White Base have not only repelled the dreaded [[RedBaron Red Comet]] Char Aznable on multiple occasions, they also managed to ambush and kill Garma Zabi, the supreme commander of Zeon's Earth Invasion force.

* The basic set-up for "ComicBook/HuntersHellcats" in ''Our Fighting Forces'' from Creator/DCComics. The Hellcats were a group of convicted felons sent on dangerous missions behind enemy lines during WWII.
* Creator/MarvelComics had ''Combat Kelly and His Deadly Dozen'', which was heavily inspired by ''Film/TheDirtyDozen''.
* During the '80s the [[Characters/XMenBrotherhoodOfMutants Brotherhood of Evil Mutants]] was retooled into "Freedom Force", a team that was basically Marvel's answer to the Suicide Squad above.

* What TheSquad of {{Boxed Crook}}s, and especially their commander Tung Ming-sun (Creator/SammoHung), turn out to be in ''Film/EasternCondors''. Originally sent in as a disposable distraction to cover a special ops raid, the squad are TrappedBehindEnemyLines with little in the way of equipment when the special ops team is destroyed. With no other means o extraction, the team takes on the mission the special ops team was supposed to undertake and succeeds, although not without casualties.

* At the end of ''Literature/HarryPotter'', Harry [[spoiler: begins to think of himself as this, after learning of Dumbledore's manipulative plans.]] Whether or not this was the truth is up in the air.
-->[[spoiler:''Of course there had been a bigger plan; Harry had simply been too foolish to see it, he realized that now. He had never questioned his own assumption that Dumbledore wanted him alive. Now he saw that his lifespan had always been determined by how long it took to eliminate all the Horcruxes. Dumbledore had passed off destroying them to him, and obediently he had continued to chip away at the bonds tying not only Voldemort, but himself, to life. How neat, how elegant, not to waste any more lives, but to give the dangerous task to the boy who had already been marked for slaughter, and whose death would not be a calamity, but another blow against Voldemort.'']]

* The ''Literature/JacksonLamb'' books veer into this. The “Slow Horses” are incompetent, inconvenient or otherwise unwanted [=MI5=] agents who’ve been reassigned to Lamb’s team at Slough House. They occasionally get drawn back into active duty, though - and in some of those cases they’re clearly seen as expendable. More than a couple of them get killed over the course of the series.

* The "Penal Legion" regimental option for ''TabletopGame/OnlyWar'' has this as the implicit expectation: you play a squad of troops in a regiment assembled from people who were sentenced of some crime, but whose skills were too useful (or for whom death would be too quick and painless to truly be recompense for their sin) to simply be subject to summary execution. Thusly they're given ''just enough'' gear, intel and support to successfully complete a SuicideMission, emphasis on the suicide. Ostensibly, any PC surviving the first mission should probably be pardoned, but this being the [[CrapsackWorld unfair galaxy]] that is ''Warhammer 40K'', you're more likely to just get shipped off to a slightly different meat-grinder.

* This is the entire premise of ''VideoGame/StarWarsBattlefrontII'', where you play as the [[OpeningACanOfClones 501st Legion]], which "has a history of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat." They grow out of it though: By the end of the Clone Wars, the 501 is easily the most effective non-special forces unit in the entire GAR, serving as Darth Vader's own unit until they were disbanded following Vader and the Emperor's death in the Legends continuity.
** In truth, this is the role of the Imperial Stormtrooper altogether in the Expanded Universe. They’re stripped of their identities, given a number and hidden behind a mask, and they’re treated as completely disposable. They are the designated cannon fodder of the Original Trilogy. And yet they’re actually highly trained EliteMooks, with the actual Imperial Army still below them. The only reason our heroes cut through scores of them and come out unscathed is PlotArmor at work.
* ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'' plays with this, with Ziggurat-8. Rather than someone else sending him on {{Suicide Mission}}s, he sends ''himself'' on suicide missions, because he ''wants'' [[DeathSeeker to die fully]] ([[ICannotSelfTerminate but can't kill himself outright due to programming]]). The problem (for him), is that he's just too good to die, and ends up being recruited for a very important mission due to his skill.

* ''VideoGame/AceCombat'':
** The PlayerCharacter in ''VideoGame/AceCombatZeroTheBelkanWar'' starts off as this - his first true famous action in the war is getting sent out over the "Round Table" without any support beyond his wingman, as nothing more than a distraction while the main attack commences elsewhere, and defeating an elite squad of Belkan aces ''anyway''. Come the end of the game, he has near single handedly obliterated the best the Belkan Air Force [[spoiler: and the defectors to the cosmopolitanist terror organization A World With No Borders from both sides of the war, including his former wingman]] has to offer and essentially won the war single handedly.
** ''VideoGame/AceCombat7SkiesUnknown'' has player character Trigger assigned to a penal squadron. Despite flying clapped-out rustbucket planes only barely flying in an attempt to confuse the enemy and act as decoys, Spare Squadron (read: mostly Trigger) deliver some of the most decisive blows of the war. [[spoiler: It turns out Trigger was falsely convicted and his extreme performance gets the penal squadron pardoned, with him and the second best in the group, Count, being transferred to a special forces wing where the trope no longer applies. Trigger goes on to destroy a rogue super submarine attempting to desrtoy Osea's capital nuclear weapons, something on the order of two massive fleets, several ground divisions and multiple air armadas, becomes the only person to shootdown possibly the only person who was better than the previous games protagonists and destroys two super drones in a ZerothLawRebellion.]]
* The player character in ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'' for most of the game. You have no sire (because he/she broke the law in creating you), no standing in the Camarilla (because the Camarilla executed him/her for it), and the only person who claims responsibility for you is the city's prince (who passed the sentence - popular opinion spared you from the same fate). Said prince repeatedly sends you off on UriahGambit missions because your continued existence is an eyesore to him, and you keep coming back with success stories. [[spoiler:After two or three missions of this, said prince wises up and decides to send you on a mission that he expects you to come back from -- if only because it's a planted murder scene and he wants you, the politically naive newbie whose word would be relatively more trusted, to be the UnwittingPawn who implicates one of his political rivals.]]

--> '''Prophet of Mercy:''' The tasks you will undertake as the Arbiter are perilous, ''suicidal''! You will die, as each Arbiter has before you! The Council will have their corpse.

* ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII:'' Gael is an old undead who used to serve as a Slave Knight, an expendable servant used as respawning cannon fodder in countless wars. Most Slave Knights were driven to madness by their never-ending duty, but Gael kept his sanity and has outlived his masters by what is implied to be millennia. He can be summoned for two battles in which the [[PlayerCharacter Ashen One]] is outnumbered and can stand his ground rather well. He also guides the Ashen One through the Dreg Heap, leaving messages that point out places where you can survive the long falls throughout the area, and at the end of the Ringed City he [[spoiler:devours the blood of the Pygmy Lords for their Dark Souls, becoming the incarnation of the very Dark Soul itself]].

* Happens in ''Videogame/JakIIRenegade'' during the first act of the game. Justified, since Jak ([[AndZoidberg and Daxter]]) just joined LaResistance who regards him as lowly expendable grunt, and sends him to various dangerous missions that need to be done but that they'd rather not waste core members on. One mission then grants you the privilege of meeting with the leader of the rebels. After that, Jak is still sent on dangerous missions that need to be done, but now it's because he's ''guaranteed'' to get the job done. In [[VideoGame/Jak3Wastelander the sequel]] this is more or less repeated due to the change of the setting with the new characters requiring you to earn ''their'' trust, and once you return to Haven City and reunite with your former allies, they treat you as the elite member you've become in the previous game.

* ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'' has the corporate version of this trope. Due to the policies of the new manager of the Pournelle/Niven Transfer Station, any new employees require an immense array of certifications and qualifications before they can even think of entering the lowest rung of the station's workforce.

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGalaxyRangers'': The Series Five team is hinted to be this in canon. Doc and Niko have [[MysteriousPast mysterious pasts]]. Goose is the lone member of his failed SuperSoldier project to stay loyal to his handlers. Even Zachary, a respected officer, has people from politicians to low-level security guards questioning his sanity. The {{Fanon}} merely makes it ''very'' explicit.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice'' animated series, they are described as (paraphrasing) "The best, most expendable guys we've got". They take it as a compliment.

* Happens in ''Videogame/JakIIRenegade'' during the first act of the game. Justified, since Jak ([[AndZoidberg and Daxter]]) just joined LaResistance who regards him as lowly expendable grunt, and sends him to various dangerous missions that need to be done but that they'd rather not waste core members on. One mission then grants you the privilege of meeting with the leader of the rebels. After that, Jak is still sent on dangerous missions that need to be done, but now it's because he's ''guaranteed'' to get job done. In [[VideoGame/Jak3Wastelander the sequel]] this is more or less repeated due to the change of the setting with the new characters requiring you to earn ''their'' trust, and once you return to Haven City and reunite with your former allies, they treat you as the elite member you've become in the previous game.

* Happens in ''Videogame/JakIIRenegade'' during the first act of the game. Justified, since Jak ([[AndZoidberg and Daxter]]) just joined LaResistance who regards him as lowly expendable grunt, and sends him to various dangerous missions that need to be done but are waste of core members on. One mission then grants you the meeting with the leader of rebels. After that Jak is still sent to dangerous missions that need to be done, but because he's ''guaranteed'' to get job done. In [[VideoGame/Jak3Wastelander the sequel]] this is more or less repeated due to the change of the setting with new characters requiring you to earn ''their'' trust, and once you return to the Haven City the former allies treat you as elite member you've become in previous game.

* ''Film/TheLivingDaylights'': Necros, a ruthless assassin and TheDragon of the movie, is silently killing his way through a country house that is actually an [=MI6=] compound while disguised as a murdered milkman, when random agent "Green 4" walks in on him trying to hide another body in a kitchen. Green 4 immediately attempts to call in an alert but Necros stops him, leading to a short but surprisingly even fight between one of the main villains and a random scrub, with Green 4 getting some good attacks in and nearly winning at different points before Necros knocks him out, and even this means that Green 4 at least survived.

* After attempting to blackmail a general, military PR flack William Cage in ''Film/EdgeOfTomorrow'' is reassigned to the front lines in a war against StarfishAliens that humanity is losing, badly. In the process he's unwittingly exposed to their SaveScumming RippleEffectProofMemory tactics through a GroundhogDayLoop and with the help of another soldier who previously had the power he [[TookALevelInBadass becomes an unstoppable killing machine]].

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGalaxyRangers'': the Series Five team is hinted to be this in canon. Doc and Niko have [[MysteriousPast mysterious pasts]]. Goose is the lone member of his failed SuperSoldier project to stay loyal to his handlers. Even Zachary, a respected officer, has people from politicians to low-level security guards questioning his sanity. The {{Fanon}} merely makes it ''very'' explicit.

* The Red and Blue armies from ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' are a collection of [[JadedWashout washouts]], [[NewMeat trainees]], [[CloudCuckooLander outright lunatics]], and other undesirables picked to run mock battle simulations for the agents of Project Freelancer to test their skills and equipment on before deployment. The two teams that get the most focus are even worse, yet through a combination of their own quirks and sheer dumb luck they manage to dismantle Project Freelancer, defeat and/or kill ''four'' Agents, and undo a massive FalseFlagOperation by Freelancer's rival, Charon Industries.

* The Red and Blue armies from ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' are culled from a collection of washouts, trainees, [[ShellShockedVeteran former soldiers]], and other undesirables to run mock battle simulations so the agents of Project Freelancer can test their skills and equipment before deployment. The two teams that get the most focus are even worse, yet through a combination of their own quirks and sheer dumb luck they manage to dismantle Project Freelancer, defeat and/or kill ''four'' Agents, and undo a massive FalseFlagOperation by Freelancer's rival, Charon Industries.

** Polish troops were ''theoretically'' cannonfodder for three of the combatants fighting UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, but in practice they were never actually used in this capacity due to their tendency to surrender to the enemy. The Polish-Russian dual monarchy (commonly called 'Russia'), Austro-Hungarian dual empire, and German kingdom ''all'' fielded combat units composed largely or even entirely of ethnic Poles during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. However the German ''Polnische Wehrmacht'' (headed by the future national hero and authoritarian president of Poland, Joseph Piwsudski) and Austro-Hungarian ''Polnische Legion'' were only very small with the former never having more than 10,000 men and the latter no more than 60,000. While the Polish-Russian kingdom fielded as many as 200,000 Polish troops, including some with very good (in relative terms) training and morale, they were as unreliable as their German and Austro-Hungarian counterparts and were never used in combat if STAVKA could avoid it.

** Polish troops were ''theoretically'' cannonfodder for three of the combatants fighting UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, but in practice they were never actually used in this capacity due to their tendency to surrender to the enemy. The Polish-Russian dual monarchy (commonly called 'Russia'), Austro-Hungarian dual empire, and German kingdom ''all'' fielded combat units composed largely or even entirely of ethnic Poles during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. However the German ''Polnische Wehrmacht'' (headed by the later military dictator of Poland, Joseph Piwsudski) and Austro-Hungarian ''Polnische Legion'' were only very small with the former never having more than 10,000 men and the latter no more than 60,000. While the Polish-Russian kingdom fielded as many as 200,000 Polish troops, including some with very good (in relative terms) training and morale, they were as unreliable as their German and Austro-Hungarian counterparts and were never used in combat if STAVKA could avoid it.

* The PlayerCharacter in ''VideoGame/AceCombatZeroTheBelkanWar'' starts off as this - his first true famous action in the war is getting sent out over the "Round Table" without any support beyond his wingman, as nothing more than a distraction while the main attack commences elsewhere, and defeating an elite squad of Belkan aces ''anyway''. Come the end of the game, he has near single handedly obliterated the best the Belkan Air Force [[spoiler: and the defectors to the cosmopolitanist terror organization A World With No Borders from both sides of the war, including his former wingman]] has to offer and essentially won the war single handedly.
* ''VideoGame/AceCombat7SkiesUnknown'' has player character Trigger assigned to a penal squadron. Despite flying clapped-out rustbucket planes only barely flying in an attempt to confuse the enemy and act as decoys, Spare Squadron (read: mostly Trigger) deliver some of the most decisive blows of the war. [[spoiler: It turns out Trigger was falsely convicted and his extreme performance gets the penal squadron pardoned, with him and the second best in the group, Count, being transferred to a special forces wing where the trope no longer applies. Trigger goes on to destroy a rogue super submarine attempting to desrtoy Osea's capital nuclear weapons, something on the order of two massive fleets, several ground divisions and multiple air armadas, becomes the only person to shootdown possibly the only person who was better than the previous games protagonists and destroys two super drones in a ZerothLawRebellion.]]

* The Organization in ''Manga/{{Claymore}}'' has a standard practice of sending the warriors they deem unreliable ([[spoiler:actually, all who come close to Awakening]]) on {{Suicide Mission}}s, yet some like Miria and Clare manage to survive against all odds, resulting in a win-win for the Organization. This did eventually end in the Battle of Pieta, where all current undesirables are rounded up in one place and massacred to hold off an army of Awakened Beings until they could scramble to deploy their real weapon, which they did. Pieta, however, backfired again: seven Claymores survived and deserted, but until that point it had been quite nice for them.

* ''VideoGame/AceCombat7SkiesUnknown'' has player character Trigger assigned to a penal squadron. Despite flying clapped-out rustbucket planes only barely flying in an attempt to confuse the enemy and act as decoys, Spare Squadron (read: mostly Trigger) deliver some of the most decisive blows of the war. [[spoiler: It turns out Trigger was falsely convicted and his extreme performance gets the penal squadron pardoned, with him and the second best in the group, Count, being transferred to a special forces wing the trope no longer applies. Trigger goes on to destroy a rogue super submarine attempting to desrtoy Osea's capital nuclear weapons, something on the order of two massive fleets, several ground divisions and multiple air armadas, becomes the only person to shootdown possibly the only person who was better than the previous games protagonists and destroys two super drones in a ZerothLawRebellion.]]

* In the backstory to ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'', the Romulans create a clone of Picard for infiltration purposes, but abandon the project when a new government takes power. The clone is left to die amongst [[FantasticRacism Remans]], whom the Romulans used as cannon fodder during the Dominion War. This human clone led over a dozen ''successful'' engagements.
* ''Film/XXx'': Xander has been chosen by the NSA to be their agent to infiltrated Anarchy 99, because he's a GeniusBruiser, he blends well with the people in it, and is considered expendable. But he later gets the job done, and stops them from initiating their plan.

* An episode of ''Anime/GundamWing'' had a disillusioned [[CharClone Zechs]] pair up with a pair of asshole soldiers to take out a few of the remaining Earth Sphere Alliance strongholds. The pair assign Zechs to make a very visible attack on the base's main defense (a large beam cannon), figuring that Zechs's conspicuous new mobile suit and high-profile reputation will make him a ripe target. Meanwhile they'll be free to sneak in unnoticed and take out the base themselves. Unfortunately, they greatly underestimated Zechs skills, and failed to realize that the "conspicuous new mobile suit" was [[SuperPrototype The Tallgeese]]. Zechs not only survived the encounter but is in perfect shape to fight when he cases his partners killing soldiers who have already surrendered, and proceeds to [[CurbStompBattle deal with the situation accordingly.]]
* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'': At one point, the main characters wonder if [[BigGood General Revill]] sees them as this, since despite making sure they get resupplied even in enemy territory he also keeps sending them into the most dangerous battlezones.
** It's not hard to see why, though. Despite being made up mostly of civilians forced into combat, by that point of the story the crew of the White Base have not only repelled the dreaded [[RedBaron Red Comet]] Char Aznable on multiple occasions, they also managed to ambush and kill Garma Zabi, the supreme commander of Zeon's Earth Invasion force.

* The French Foreign Legion were this through much of their history. Many of their most notable battles involved them fighting over whelming odds. In many cases, they were not expected to win the battle, just buy time for other French forces to position themselves or to wear down enemy soldiers before an attack. In most wars, the Foreign Legion would generally become more and more elite, since Legionnaires that survive battles tend to keep surviving. This is generally helped by the fact the Legion has a history of recruiting mercenaries and soldiers from other countries.

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[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/JusticeLeagueVsSuicideSquad https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cannon_fodder.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:That's a group of expendable {{Boxed Crook}}s going up against the heaviest hitters in Franchise/TheDCU. And it ain't a CurbStompBattle!]]

* In ''Literature/BelisariusSeries'' Damadora's Rajput Army was assigned to a diversionary task. In the process it became the best army in the Malwa service and made Damadora TheEmperor.

** {{Subverted|Trope}} horribly in ''Fire Caste''. The Arkhan Confederates succeed where countless other Guard battalions have failed, routing legions of turncoats and aliens, eventually pushing the Tau back to their base of operations, "The Diadem". [[spoiler:This is the exact opposite of what the [[DefectorFromDecadence Sky Marshal]] wanted; the Arkhans turning out to be Surprisingly Elite Cannon Fodder does not benefit the Marshal at ''all''.]]

* This is the entire premise of ''VideoGame/StarWarsBattlefrontII'', where you play as the [[OpeningACanOfClones 501st Legion]], which "has a history of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat." They grow out of it though: By the end of the Clone Wars, the 501 is easily the most effective non-special forces unit in the entire GAR, serving as Darth Vader's own unit until just after Hoth in the Legends continuity.

SubTrope of WeDoTheImpossible. Contrast EliteMooks, who are actually intended to be elite, as well as OneRiotOneRanger, where the superiors send out someone who is meant to be elite from the start.