Quite a shocking knockout!
- Mugman proves himself as the cool little brother in "Carn-Evil" when he figures out how to help Cuphead escape the Devil at the carnival. They don't have their finger-guns from the games or any powerups. He figures out by logic, however, that if the Devil is stealing souls, then the soulball machine is one source of it. So he goads the Devil into firing at the soulball machine and takes advantage of the distraction to run off with Cuphead.
- When Mugman sees his brother's soul being sucked away into the Soul Ball machine, he quickly gets onto the machine with a boost from Cuphead's zombified body, reaches into the vacuum, grabs the soul by the tail end and pulls it out of there before running back and uniting the soul with Cuphead's body, reviving him with a Gasp of Life.
- From a villainous (or anti villainous) perspective, the ghosts' creative ways of scaring and taunting Cuphead and Mugman in "Ghosts Ain't Real" are pretty awesome. For example, there's one part in the ghosts' Villain Song where Cuphead and Mugman are running along a straight path. The ghosts casually float towards them, riding an invisible bicycle, and actually go ahead of them. They're not trying to catch the boys, they're just showing off how they can outrun the boys with minimal effort.
- In "Roll the Dice", King Dice attempts to cheat his way into a Near-Villain Victory by forcing Cuphead into the "prize room" trap after the latter lost at rolling the dice, and his brother Mugman is too paralyzed with stage fright to save him. Then one elephant in the audience realizes that the game has been rigged and tells off on King Dice to let Cuphead go. When the villain tries to dissuade him, the rest of the audience has had enough and joins in rallying to Cuphead's aid, causing such a rabble that wins over the latter, allowing him to leave along with Mugman with his dignity (and soul) intact.
- In "Sweater Off Dead", when the Devil uses heat from the fires to force Cuphead to take off the protective sweater, Mugman suddenly remembers Quadratus' words of advice ("When in doubt, young manly mug, / Give your brother one last hug"; the last half of which Mugman finishes on his own), and gives his dear brother a quick one. When the Devil gets infuriated and unleashes a powerful firestorm, their hug combined with the sweater creates an invisible forcefield that protects them from the intense flames that scorch the entire forest area around them, leaving behind an untouched circle in the area where they are when the smoke clears away. Brotherly love wins.
- The Devil gets his combined with Nightmare Fuel in "Sweater Luck Next Time". After many failed attempts to steal Cuphead's soul, he and Cuphead are sharing their bonding time by a pat on the shoulder... and then the Devil realizes that Cuphead doesn't have the sweater on him. With that, he starts advancing on Cuphead and corners him with a cackle of glee and raises his hand to grab Cuphead's soul as the laughter reaches a crescendo. Not even the queue of terrified crowds could stop him, as they can only stand there and helplessly watch as the Devil shows them that he means business as he grabs Cuphead's soul with a Slasher Smile and the reflection of the soul in his eyes. This is soon followed by Mugman's Moment of Awesome, pictured above, as he rushes into the fray with the sweater in his hands, shouts out the following Pre-Asskicking One-Liner to distract the Devil from stealing Cuphead's soul, puts the sweater on the former, and revives Cuphead once again by pushing his soul back into his body before they watch the Devil get electrocuted before their eyes. Talk about a Badass Normal Moment of Awesome!Mugman: You're right, Devil! He's not wearing the sweater! You are!!!
- In "Dangerous Mugman", from the time that Mugman puts on the goggles that Cuphead wore, the former is brave enough to go through the Inevitable Waterfall with him on a raft. Though it cost Mugman his goggles, he still bravely manages to avoid the traps that his brother often falls into, such as the acid spit and a Man-Eating Plant (the latter from which Mugman even rescues him). He is even brave enough to climb an erupting volcano with Cuphead until they reach the dragon egg, after which Cuphead tells him he's not wearing the goggles anymore. Though Mugman is distressed by the news, he nevertheless reassures himself that he is "still dangerous" even without the goggles on.
- Cala Maria is a villainous version of this in spades. She is the ocean's most feared "dreaded sea beast" responsible for many a shipwreck and petrified pirates. Not only that, this is a title she’s made for herself through her own ambition and very proud of it, calling it her career. Notably, she's also totally undefeated in this episode, with strong indications that if she hadn't been so touched by Brineybeard's gift and genuine love, our heroes would be, as she puts it, dinner!
- Brineybeard un-petrifying himself not once, but twice, out of his love for Cala Maria. Even she can't help but be a bit impressed, as no one has ever done this before.
- Mugman again braving great perils to fulfill his promise to help Brineybeard. Including fighting off a giant crab from trying to steal the sweets intended for Cala Maria and determinedly still saying his piece on Brineybeard's behalf to deliver said sweets after Cala Maria herself makes her intentions to eat him known.
- Brineybeard recognizes this courage, too; at episode's end, he declares Mugman a real pirate.
- When Cuphead meets Baroness Von Bon Bon, he's instantly Genre Savvy and books it rather than deal with the nutjob. When she keeps trying to tempt him into gorging himself on Sugarland, he turns her down flat because he knows how this story goes. Given Cuphead can be impulsive to an extreme and not always the brightest guy, it's pretty sharp of him to instantly see through Bon Bon and make the smart choice to walk away before there's trouble. Even when she does start getting in his head, Cuphead still has the wherewithal to take off before he does something he'll regret.Cuphead (dead serious and matter-of-fact): I've read the fairy tales. I eat your candy, I end up in an oven. You just want to eat me.
- Elder Kettle vs Werner Werman in "Rat's All, Folks!".
- Cuphead, Mugman, and Miss Chalice getting the best of the Birnbaum quadruplets and trapping them in a single painting for 100 years in "Dead Broke".
- Their initial scam as well.
- Both The Devil and King Dice get villainous moments in "Release the Demons!" For the Devil, it's the simple fact that he reduced two rooms worth of terrifying, monstrous demons into ash on accident. And on King Dice's side, he effortlessly manipulates the demons sent after Cuphead into destroying each other so he can get sole credit, despite the fact that they all have powers or a physical advantage while he doesn't.
- Cuphead gets a moment of his own just based on the fact that the Devil- i.e. the incarnation of all evil- has been so stymied by Cuphead that he can barely focus on anything else, to the point of wiping out his finest and second-finest demons! Cuphead is thus technically responsible for their deaths, if only because he enrages the Devil so much. When the Devil himself describes his plan in this episode as "I'm throwing everything I've got at that cup!", you know Cuphead's hit the big-time!
- Mugman gets his moment of awesome too, albeit by accident. When the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse the Devil sends petrify Cuphead, King Dice, and the others upon seeing them, Mugman, still unaware of their presence, wonders what happened to his brother until he turns around toward them while wearing the horse mask; said horsemen's horses, on seeing the mask and thinking it's a dead horse head, become frightened so much that they knock their riders off of them into the pool of water before running away. How cool is that?
- Credit where credit's due, Stickler is awfully smart for wearing the invisible, impenetrable sweater that makes him immune to anything the Devil throws at him. And all Big D can do is shout and throw a temper tantrum.
- Although Cuphead doesn't know it, he gets his moment of awesome when he manages to keep his own soul safe from the Devil (with help from Mugman, of course), from the day that he lost at Soul Ball in the previous season up to the day that he manages to get through the corn maze in this episode. What a swell day for our hero!
- Mugman constructing himself a full log cabin shelter in "Lost in the Woods". His decorated Cub Scouts banner certainly isn't just for show!
- After the numerous humiliations he's suffered, and being unable to collect Cuphead's soul directly due to the soul debt having expired, the Devil ultimately gets the last laugh in "The Devil's Pitchfork", by kidnapping Mugman and dragging him off to the Underworld in retaliation for Cuphead stealing the titular pitchfork.
- Mugman's optimism that Cuphead will come to his rescue in "The Devil's Revenge!" is a sight to behold. Even though he's in the Underworld, Mugman never loses his cool and is able to shrug off the Devil's attempts to break his spirit.
- The rescue Cuphead pulls to save Mugman is no slouch itself. Throughout the entire ordeal, Cuphead never loses sight of the pitchfork, even though he barely knows how to use it. He's not just able to wound THE DEVIL with it, but uses The Big D's own rage to destroy his precious soul vault; freeing the captive souls in the process!
- Henchman gets a pretty awesome moment himself with making a bet with his boss that Mugman won't break, a very risky move betting against the Devil, but bold. And in the end when he wins his bet, he gets to go on an all-expenses paid tropical vacation. Considering everything Henchman deals with? He earned this!
- Cuphead humiliating the Devil in front of all of Inkwell Isles at the end of the "The Devil and Ms. Chalice" by beating him at Rock–Paper–Scissors, saving himself, Mugman, and Chalice.
- Before that, Chalice and the Devil make cool dance moves in a dance-off, always avoiding the dangers ahead. Just when the applause meter is at its highest point, it looks like Chalice is winning... then things get sour when the bag of marbles opens up from her pocket and the marbles spill out, causing her to trip and fall on them and leading to an Epic Fail.
