Tropes Media Browse Indexes Forums Videos Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Tools
Cut List New Edits Edit Reasons Launches Images List Crowner Activity Un-typed Pages Recent Page Type Changes Changelog
Tips
Creating New Redirects Cross Wicking Tips for Editing Text Formatting Rules Glossary Edit Reasons Handling Spoilers Word Cruft Administrivia FAQ
Tropes HQ
About Us Contact Us Advertise DMCA Notice Privacy Policy Report Bug
Go Ad-Free Changelog
  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Highlight Links
 

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Badass Boast / Live-Action Films

Go To

Examples of Badass Boast in live-action films.

    open/close all folders 

    #-F 
  • The 100 Best Movie Threats of All Time
  • 300 uses the famous Spartan boast from Herodotus' Histories:
    Persian Our arrows will blot out the sun!
    Stelios: Then we will fight in the shade!
    • The 300 last seconds of the movie are a big badass boast by Dilios.
    • But actually, you could say the whole movie is a badass boast from Dilios to the Spartan at Platae.
  • The Addams Family
    Gomez Addams: Has the planet gone mad? My brother, passion's hostage. I seek justice! Denied. I shall not submit! I shall conquer! I shall rise! My name is Gomez Addams, and I have seen evil! [Cut to Grandma and the baby] I have seen horror! [Cut to Lurch] I have seen the unholy maggots which feast in the dark recesses of the human soulnote ! I have seen all this, officer. But until today, I had never seen you!
  • Aguirre, the Wrath of God: "I am the great traitor. There must be no other. Anyone who even thinks of deserting this mission will be hacked into 198 pieces. Those pieces will be trampled until what is left can be used only to paint walls. Whoever takes one grain of corn or one drop of water more than his ration will be locked up for 155 years. If I, Aguirre, want the birds to drop dead from the trees... then the birds will drop dead from the trees. I am the wrath of god. The earth I pass will see me and tremble. But whoever follows me and the river will win untold riches."
  • Aliens: Hudson attempts one using the word "badass" itself as much as possible. It is centered around the More Dakka available from the APC and the Drop Ship, which is why the loss of both due to an Alien ambush (which proves the Xenomorphs are not only inhuman and deadly but SNEAKY!) leads straight to his Heroic BSoD.
    • Played straighter by the dropship's name and motto: "Bugstomper. We endanger species."
  • In Allied, the leads Max and Marianne go out to practice with the weapons they'll be using on their mission. Marianne fumbles hers, not having noticed that the safety was on. Max asks her if she'll be all right using the guns, and Marianne replies, "I'd be all right if I had to use cutlery."
  • American Justice: Justice has just been arrested, and Payden has announced that he will kill him. How does he respond? Like this:
    Your problem is you think you have Flipper in here. Well, motherfucker, say hello to Jaws.
  • Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy:
    Ron: I don't know how to put this, but...I'm kind of a big deal. People know me. I'm very important. I own many leather-bound books, and my apartment smells of rich mahogany.
  • From Apollo 13, Jim Lovell's mother talking about her son: "If they could get a washing machine to fly, my Jimmy could land it"
  • Liam Neeson's been getting a lot of these. In the film version of The A-Team, Hannibal and crew, after having broken out of various detention facilities, walk onto the rear of a C-130 and asks, "Do you know who I am?" "You're Hannibal Smith." "Do you know what that means?" "You're, uh, taking the plane?" "Bingo." Cue aircrew leaving the plane without offering any resistance.
  • The third Austin Powers movie had this when Michael Caine intimidated a mook this way.
    "Oh, what is this, your first day on the job? Do you know who I am? Do you know how many anonymous henchmen I've killed? I mean, look at you, you don't even have a nametag. You've got no chance. Why don't you just fall down?"
    • And he does!
  • The Basketball Diaries:
    Jim Carroll: If we go outside, one of us is going to get hurt.
    *Man beats up Jim and throws him down the stairs*
    Jim Carroll: I told you one of us was going to get hurt.
  • Beowulf — "I am Ripper... Tearer... Slasher... Gouger! I am the Teeth in the Darkness, the Talons in the Night. Mine is Strength... and Lust... and Power! I! AM! BEOWULF!!"
  • Black Cloud:
    Bud: Question him now.
    Lt. Yazzi: Without a lawyer?
    Black Cloud:(to sheriff Cliff) What do you want to know?
    Sheriff Cliff: Where is the bat you assaulted Eddie with?
    Black Cloud No bat. Just these. (holds both fists up)
  • Black Death has a great one. Doubles as a Dying Moment of Awesome
    Ulric: I am Death. Vengeance is mine.
  • Delivered by the title characters of the The Boondock Saints:
    "We will send you to whatever God you wish."
  • The Bourne Identity:
    Wombosi: If they want to kill me, they'd better kill me the first time! They'd better kill me dead! They'd better kill me when I'm in my sleep!
    • Ironically, he's immediately killed by a sniper.
  • In Brick, Brenden Frye offers up a pretty good one when squared off against half a dozen potheads. Notable in that this is the only time he does this.
    "Throw one at me if you want, hash head. I've got all five senses, and I slept last night. That puts me six up on the lot of you."
  • Future president Andrew Jackson gets one in the Yul Brynner film The Buccaneer.
    Jackson: If you put a bullet in my brain, I'll still live long enough to kill you.
  • Played for Laughs in The Castle when Darryl's normally mild-mannered neighbor Farouk tells Daryl about his encounter with a thug sent by the council and how he exploited an Arab stereotype in order to counter-intimidate him:
    Farouk: He tell me he have friend who come around and break my legs. You have friend, I have friend. My friend go to your house, put bomb under your car and blow you to fucking sky!
    Darryl Kerrigan: What did he do?
    Farouk: He get scared and he leave.
  • From Chicago, the lawyer Billy Flynn:
    Billy Flynn: "I don't mean to toot my own horn, but if Jesus Christ lived in Chicago today, and he had come to me and he had five thousand dollars, let's just say things would have turned out differently."
  • The Chronicles of Riddick:
    • "I'll kill you with my teacup." He does.
    • Could be considered Calling Your Attacks. "When we meet again, I'm going to bury this in your eye."
  • Film/Cobra: Stallone again "You're a disease, and I'm the cure."
  • In The Color of Money, Vincent goes back to play pool against Moselle, carrying his Balabushka pool cue in a case. When Moselle asks what's inside, Vincent grins and opens it, revealing the Balkabushka, and simply says "Doom" with a huge grin. He then proceeds to wipe the floor with Moselle.
  • Commando
    Cook: "You scared, motherfucker? This Green Beret's gonna kick yo' big ass!"
    Arnold: "I eat Green Berets for breakfast, and right now I'm VERY hungry!"
    Cindy: "I can't believe this macho bullshit!"
  • In The Cowboys, you've got this statement from Jebediah Nightlinger. After being tied up — in preparation for being lynched — Nightlinger asks for a moment to "make himself right with the Lord." Asa Watts, the film's Big Bad, consents, and this is Nightlinger's "final prayer." Remember, this is said while Nightlinger is tied up and about to be lynched.
    Nightlinger: "Lord... I regret trifling with married women. I'm thoroughly ashamed at cheating at cards. I deplore my occasional departures from the truth. Forgive me for taking your name in vain, my Saturday drunkenness, my Sunday sloth. (dramatic pause) Above all, forgive me for the men I've killed in anger..." (Nightlinger looks directly into Asa Watts eyes) ...and those I am about to."
  • Gene Hackman's call-and-response boast near the beginning of Crimson Tide counts.
  • Jen in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, while beating up an inn full of warriors, gets a pretty good one (loosely translated): "Who am I? I am the invincible sword goddess, armed with the incredible Green Destiny. Be you Li or Southern Crane, bow your head and ask for mercy. I am the desert dragon. I leave no trace. Today I fly over Eu-Mei, tomorrow I’ll kick over Wudan Mountain!"
  • Dad's Army (1971): When he and the Nazi photographer both have guns trained on each other, Captain Mainwaring warns him that if he is shot, there are seven men to take his place.
  • The Dark Knight Trilogy:
    • In Batman Begins, we get two for the price of one.
      Prisoner: You are in Hell little man, and I am the devil.
      Bruce Wayne: You're not the devil... you're practice.
    • The Dark Knight:
      • This is sort of done by proxy when the accountant is trying to blackmail Wayne and Fox, and Fox says:
        Let me get this straight: You think that your client, one of the wealthiest, most powerful men in the world, is secretly a vigilante who spends his nights beating criminals to a pulp with his bare hands. And your plan is to blackmail this person? Good luck.
      • When Gordon comes home to his family after faking being dead, his son asks, "Did Batman save you, daddy?"
        Actually, this time I saved him.
    • From The Dark Knight Rises, coming from Bane.
      Bane: When Gotham is ashes, you have my permission to die.
      Bane: I'm Gotham's reckoning.
      • Bane pretty much speaks in nothing but badass boasts for the entire movie.
  • DC Extended Universe:
    • Man of Steel: When Superman thwarts Zod's plan, by destroying the ship containing the genesis chamber (the only way to revive the Kryptonian race).
      Superman: Krypton had its chance!
    • Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: When Batman confronts Superman for the first time.
      Batman: (to Superman) Tell me... Do you bleed? [Beat] You will.
    • In Wonder Woman, Diana delivers an archetypal one near the end of the movie, but to the wrong person.
      Diana: I am Diana of Themyscira, daughter of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, and your wrath upon this world is over.
    • Aquaman: In the final Duel to the Death pitting Arthur/Aquaman against Orm, Orm brags that the people of Atlantis will never accept Arthur. His response:
      Arthur/Aquaman: Well then by bloodshed do the gods make known their will!
    • Zack Snyder's Justice League: Batman has only one thing to say when talking about the threat that Steppenwolf presents.
      Batman: I don't care how many demons he's fought in how many hells, he's never fought us. Not us united.
    • The Suicide Squad: While riding in the prison transport, Bloodsport has this little conversation with a Colonel.
      Bloodsport: Dim Mak.
      Colonel: What?
      Bloodsport: That's the Cantonese term for it. In Japan, it's Kyushojitsu. In English, it is simply the Death Touch, how to kill a man with a single blow.
      Colonel: Of course it's possible to kill a man with a single blow. But it's a matter of chance, and cannot be wielded with certainty.
      Bloodsport: That's what they say.
      Colonel: ...They?
      Bloodsport: Amateurs.
  • Deewaar: When Vijay faces down the racketeers, he locks himself in with the seven of them, and tosses the leader the keys with the following words.
    "I'll open this lock, only when I take these keys from your pocket."
  • The Devil's Rejects:
    • Otis B. Driftwood (Bill Moseley):
      • "I am the devil, and I am here to do the devil's work."
      • "Boy, the next words that come out of your mouth better be some brilliant fucking Mark Twain shit, 'cause it's definitely getting chiseled on your tombstone."
    • Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig): "If you're gonna start the killing, you best start it right here. Make sure I'm all the way dead, because I'll come back and make you my bitch!"
  • Vlad III Dracula delivers a few in Dracula Untold.
    Vlad III Dracula: Do you think you are alive because you can FIGHT?! YOU ARE ALIVE BECAUSE OF ME! BECAUSE OF WHAT I DID TO SAVE YOU!
    Vlad III Dracula: Never forget who I am!
  • Escape Plan: Breslin tells Warden Hobbs that if he lets him leave The Tomb and go free, he'll forget about the whole "wrongly held" thing. And if he doesn't?
    Breslin: I'll burn this fucking place down on my way out.
  • In The Forever Purge, Chiago has one when the Tuckers tell him and his other Native companions that this isn't their fight: "We've been in this fight for 500 years."

    G-L 
  • In Get Carter (1971), Jack Carter gives one to Cliff Brumby:
    Jack Carter: You're a big man but in bad shape. With me, it's a full-time job. Now behave yourself.
  • Ghostbusters had a couple of good ones:
    • The Ghostbusters theme song has the immortal line "I ain't afraid of no ghost"
    • Peter in the original 1984 movie:
    "Let's show this prehistoric bitch how we do things downtown!"
    "On a mountain of skulls in a castle of pain, I sat on a throne of blood. What was will be, what is will be no more. Now is the season of evil."
  • Ghost Rider (2007): Ghost Rider gives one to Gressil before he kills him.
    Gressil: Please... have mercy.
    Ghost Rider: Sorry. All out of mercy.
  • G.I. Jane: After one of the new recruits idiotically decides to laugh during Command Master Chief Urgayle's opening speech, the latter walks up to the recruit and responds with a boast where he basically compares himself to God.
    Urgayle: The ebb and flow of the Atlantic tides, the drift of the continents, the very position of the sun along its ecliptic. THESE are just a FEW of the things I control in my world! Is that clear?
  • Gladiator:
    "My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next."
  • Captain Gordon in Godzilla: Final Wars: "Listen, kid, there are two things you didn't know about the Earth. One is me, the other is Godzilla."
  • Happy Gilmore, although it results in an Insult Backfire:
    Shooter: I eat pieces of shit like you for breakfast.
    Happy: You eat pieces of shit for breakfast?
    Shooter: ...No!
  • Most of Clint Eastwood's lines in Heartbreak Ridge are made of it:
    • Highway informing a confrontational cellmate that he is Bullying a Dragon.
      Be advised that I'm mean, nasty, and tired. I eat concertina wire and piss napalm, and I can put a round through a flea's ass at two hundred meters.
    • Highway citing his credentials to the platoon:
      My name is Gunnery Sergeant Highway and I've drunk more beer and pissed more blood, banged more quiff, and busted more ass than all you numbnuts put together.
  • Heist (2001):
    Jimmy: So, is he going to be cool?
    Pinky: My motherfucker is so cool, when he goes to bed, sheep count him.
  • Highlander: The Kurgan's "I have something to say! It's better to burn out... than to fade away!" and also "Now you die!" from the final battle.
  • The Hobbit
    Gandalf: Those are Gundabad wargs. They'll outrun you.
    Radagast: These are Rhosgobel rabbits. I'd like to see them try!
  • Hobo with a Shotgun: The hobo is a fountain of these.
    • "Put the knife away, kid, or I'll use it to cut welfare checks from your rotten skin."
    • "I'm gonna sleep in your bloody carcasses ... tonight!"
  • Hudson Hawk: "We blow up space shuttles for breakfast. You and your friend Tommy are nothing more than a mid-afternoon Triscuit."
  • In The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, Katniss gives one via propaganda interview after shooting down the bombers that blew up the District 8 hospital, which gets taken up as a Battle Cry by other rebels.
    Katniss: If we burn... you burn with us!
  • The Hunt for Red October — while the sub in question is navigating a very tight undersea canyon. One of the crew gets nervous at the higher-than-usual speed they are travelling.
    Kamarov: Stop pissing, Yuri. Give me a stopwatch and a map and I'll fly the Alps in a plane with no windows.
  • King John in Ironclad:
    William d'Aubigny: You betray all that's meant to be king. You betray God!
    King John: I betray God!? My crown was passed to me by my brother, and my father before him. I was born to be a king! It is my birthright, given to me by God! You cry for the common man, and in the same breath, you curse the crown that protects him. You dare to question my reign? And the lineage of kings who have reigned before me? The great Amyrinthine royalty of Aquity! Who forged this land from barbarian hordes, who made it noble and pure, who gave it order, meaning, and even faith! To thousands of years of loyal subjects, and it is all now questioned by you! And we are forced to sign your precious Magna Carta! Forced by you — a wool merchant! I am the blood! I am God's right hand! And you will never dictate to me how I am to be king!
  • Pennywise/IT in Stephen King's It is practically made of this:
    • "I'll kill you all! Hahah, I'll drive you crazy, and I'll kill you all! I'm every nightmare you've ever had. I am your worst dream come true. I'm everything you ever were afraid of!"
    • "Kill me? Oh, you are a priceless brat. I am eternal, child. I am the eater of worlds... And of children! And you are next!"
    • "Silly boy. You still think you can see me? You'll never see me. You'll see only what your little mind can allow."
    • Bill has a bit of a badass boast of his own when he declares war on It.
    Bill: You killed my brother George you bastard, LET'S SEE YOU NOW!!!
    • Not to mention all the variants of "They float..And when you're down here with me, you'll float too!"
  • The remake has this, delivered by Richie just before the final beat down:
    "And now I have to kill this fucking clown. Welcome to the Loser's Club, ASSHOLE!"
  • In the 1952 version of Ivanhoe, once Cedric gets his hands on a sword:
    Cedric: "Show me a Norman throat! Can Saxons fight?"
    Ivanhoe: "All day and through the night!"
  • James Bond
    • In Dr. No, Honey Ryder manages to get one in when she meets James Bond;
    Bond: I promise you I won't steal your shells.
    Ryder: I promise you you won't either.
    Bond: Six bullets to your one?
    Scaramanga: I only need one.
    • From a later Bond movie, Never Say Never Again:
      Largo: Do you lose as gracefully as you win?
      Bond: I don't know, I've never lost.
    • In Tomorrow Never Dies, Kaufman claims he will shoot Bond and make it look like a suicide. Bond says that they'll be able to tell the shot came from a distance (goading Kaufman into coming close enough to disarm)
      Kaufman: I am a professor of forensic medicine. I could shoot you from Stuttgart and still create the proper effect.
    • Even the much-maligned Dr. Christmas Jones gets one in The World Is Not Enough:
      Bond: What do I need to disarm a nuclear bomb?
      Dr. Jones: Me.
  • Judge Dredd:
    • I am the law!
    • Also from Dredd, when Dredd is delivering what is his speech to the residents of Peach Trees and his threat to Ma-Ma and her gang:
    Judge Dredd: "Inhabitants of Peach Trees...this is Judge Dredd. In case you people have forgotten, this block operates under the same rules as the rest of the city. Ma-Ma's not the law. I am the law.
  • Roland Tembo of The Lost World: Jurassic Park has this:
    "Somewhere on this island is the greatest predator there ever lived. The second greatest predator must take him down."
    • In Jurassic World, Owen Grady has an off-hand one that works very effectively. Owen introduces his somewhat-tamed but still very dangerous Velociraptors, Echo, Charlie, Delta, and Blue, to Zach and Gray. Gray, noting the theme naming, confusedly asks Owen where "Alpha" is.
      Owen: You're lookin' at him, kid.
  • Kick-Ass: Hit-Girl gets a simple one.
    Mobster: Those comic books messed with your mind, kid. You can't do this Batman shit in real life. Nobody got that drive. Nobody got those moves. Nobody did all those mother-fuckin' pushups...
    Hit Girl: Except me.
  • From Kill Bill: "I can tell you with no ego, this is my finest sword. If on your journey, you should encounter God, God will be cut. "
  • Phoebe from Kindergarten Cop out-Schwarzeneggers Kimble in the climax: after being hit by a car driven by the Eleanor, she manages to limp her way inside and beat the woman with a baseball bat a second before the woman shoots the helpless Kimble. Then she says, "You're not so tough without your car, are ya?"
  • Saladin gets a couple of these in Kingdom of Heaven
    Mullah: (after demanding to know why Saladin has retreated from a fight) If you think that way, you will not be king for long.
    Saladin: When I am not king, I quake for Islam. (Beat) Thank you for your visit.
    • And after the Saracens have re-taken Jerusalem:
      Balian: (discussing the terms of surrender) When the Christians captured Jerusalem, they massacred every Muslim in the city walls.
      Saladin: I am not those men. I am Salah ad-Din. Salah ad-Din.note 
  • In Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects the child sex slaver Duke learns how his new cellmate plans to deal with him:
Hey, guys, I got me a new mama! And when I'm through with this bitch, she's gonna walk out of this cellblock wearing a strapless and heels!
  • Harry Lockhart in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, when he finds a creepy guy about to feel up a sleeping woman at a party and objects:
    Creepy Guy: What are you, her brother or something? It's none of your business, man. I will fuck you up.
    Harry: No. You'll try, and that little experiment will end in tears, my friend. So, again, for the cheap seats, do not think, walk the fuck away — or let's you and me go outside right now. It's past my bedtime. Make a choice.
  • Sarah in Labyrinth: "Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the goblin city, for my will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom is as great...You have no power over me." Slightly subverted in that they're actually lines from a play she'd been rehearsing, but when she has her epiphany, she makes them her own and they gain true power.
  • The Last Dragon has badass villain Sho'Nuff do a call-and-response boast with his crew, which goes something like this...
    Sho'nuff: Am I the meanest?
    Sho'nuff 's Goons: Sho'nuff!
    Sho'nuff: Am I the prettiest?
    Sho'nuff 's Goons: Sho'nuff!
    Sho'nuff: Am I the baddest mofo low down around this town?
    Sho'nuff 's Goons: Sho'nuff!
    Sho'nuff: Well who am I?
    Sho'nuff 's Goons: Sho'nuff!
    Sho'nuff: Who am I?
    Sho'nuff 's Goons: Sho'nuff!
    Sho'nuff: I can't hear you...
    Sho'nuff 's Goons: Sho'nuff!
  • Last of the Mohicans: "When the Grey Hair is dead, Magua will eat his heart. Before he dies, Magua will put his children under the knife, so the Grey Hair will know his seed is wiped out forever."
  • Auda Abu Tayi in Lawrence of Arabia:
    "I carry twenty-three great wounds, all got in battle. Seventy-five men have I killed with my own hands in battle. I scatter, I burn my enemies' tents. I take away their flocks and herds. The Turks pay me a golden treasure, yet I am poor! Because I am a river to my people!"
  • London Has Fallen has Mike give one on behalf of all of America to Kamran while fighting him during the Final Battle:
    "You know what you assholes don't get? We're not a fucking building! We're not a fucking flag! We're not just one man! Assholes like you have been trying to kill us for a long fucking time. But guess what? A thousand years from now? We'll still fucking be here."

    M-R 
  • In The Mad Magician, Don Gallico gives one for the furnace in which he intends to dispose of one of his victims (and in which the Great Rinaldi had already met a well-deserved end):
    Don Gallico: You should have seen how neatly this machine disposed of him! In no time at all, he was a handful of ashes!
  • There are a few in The Magnificent Seven, but Steve McQueen as Vin gets the best one, during the seven's first confrontation with Calvera:
    Vin: We deal in lead, friend.
  • Marvel Cinematic Universe:
    • From The Avengers:
      • This early exchange between Nick Fury and Loki:
        Fury: We have no quarrel with your people.
        Loki: An ant has no quarrel with a boot.
      • Tony's "Intimidation Scene".
        Loki: Please tell me you're going to appeal to my sense of humanity.
        Tony: Uh, actually I'm planning to threaten you.
        Loki: You should have left your armor on for that.
        Tony: Yeah, but it's seen a bit of mileage, and you have the uh, Glow-Stick of Destiny. Would you like a drink?
        Loki: Stalling me won't change anything.
        Tony: No, no, no. Threatening. No drink, you sure? I'm having one.
        Loki: The Chitauri are coming. Nothing will change that. What have I to fear?
        Tony: The Avengers.
        (Beat)
        Tony: It's what we call ourselves. It's sort of a team. "Earth's Mightiest Heroes", that sort of thing.
        Loki: Yes, I've met them.
        Tony: Yeah, it takes us a while to get any traction. But, let's do a headcount here: your brother, the demigod; a Super Soldier, a living legend who kinda lives up to the legend; a man with breathtaking anger-management issues; a couple of master assassins, and you, big fella, have managed to piss off each and every one of them.
        Loki: That was the plan.
        Tony: Yeah, not a great plan. When they come, and they will, they'll come for you.
        Loki: I have an army.
        Tony: We have a Hulk.
        Loki: Oh, I thought the beast had wandered off.
        Tony: No, you're missing the point — there is no throne. There is no version of this where you come out on top. Now, maybe your army comes, and maybe it's too much for us, but it's all on you. Cause if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damn well sure we'll avenge it.
    • Iron Man 2:
      • During Hammer's description of the Ex-Wife, which is mostly just him giving it flattering compliments that have little to nothing to do with its capabilities, he only gives one notable piece of technical information about it. He describes the missile as containing a 'cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine RDX burst'. He used two different terms for the same explosive (RDX) back-to-back. When War Machine uses it on Whiplash, it simply bounces off his armor and sputters on the ground.
        Tony: Hammer tech?
        Rhodey: Yeah...
      • Ivan gives one of his own to Tony over the phone:
        Ivan: What your father did to my family over 40 years I'll do to you in 40 minutes!
      • Tony gets one when he appears before the Senate Committee.
        Tony Stark: You want my property? You can't have it. But I did you a big favor: I have successfully privatized world peace.
      • Let us not forget his bombastic speech at the opening of the Stark Expo.
        Tony: I'm not saying that the world is enjoying its longest period of uninterrupted peace in years because of me. I'm not saying that from the ASHES! OF CAPTIVITY!... never has a greater Phoenix metaphor been personified in human history. I'm not saying that Uncle Sam can kick back on a lawn chair, sippin' on an iced tea, because I haven't come across anyone who's man enough to go toe-to-toe with me on my best day!
    • Iron Man 3:
      • The Mandarin ends his first terrorist video with one.
        Mandarin: You know who I am. You don't know where I am. And you will never see me coming.
      • Tony delivers one to the Mandarin via mobile phone.
        Tony: I'm not afraid of you. No politics here. Just good, old-fashioned revenge.
      • Tony's final thoughts before the credits.
        Tony: You can take away my house, all my tricks and toys. But one thing you can't take away? I am Iron Man.
    • Avengers: Endgame:
      • Wanda's response when Thanos says he doesn't even know who she is: "You will."
  • Masters of the Universe:
    Skeletor: People of Eternia! I stand before the Great Eye of the galaxy. Chosen by destiny by the powers of Grayskull! This inevitable moment will transpire before your eyes, even as He-Man himself bears witness to it. Now. I, Skeletor, am Master of the Universe! YES! Yes... I feel it, the power... fills me. Yes, I feel the universe within me! I am... I am a part of the cosmos! The power flows... Flows through me! Of what consequence are you now? This planet, these people. They are NOTHING to me! The universe is power! Real, unstoppable POWER! and I am that force! I am that power! KNEEL BEFORE YOUR MASTER! Fool! you are no longer my EQUAL! I am more than man! MORE THAN LIFE! I... am... a... GOD! Now. You... will... KNEEEEEL! KNEEEEL!
  • The Matrix:
    • The Matrix:
      • Morpheus delivers one about Neo to Neo himself as part of his You Are Better Than You Think You Are speech:
        Morpheus: I've seen an Agent punch through a concrete wall. Men have emptied entire clips at them and hit nothing but air. Yet their strength and their speed are still based in a world that is built on rules. Because of that, they will never be as strong or as fast as you can be.
        Neo: You trying to tell me I can dodge bullets?
        Morpheus: I'm trying to tell you that when you're ready, you won't have to.
    • The Matrix Reloaded:
      • Morpheus delivers one on behalf of the remnants of humanity during his speech to Zion:
        Morpheus: I remember that for 100 years we have fought these machines. I remember that for 100 years they have sent their armies to destroy us, and after a century of war I remember that which matters most... We are still here! Today, let us send a message to that army. Tonight, let us shake this cave. Tonight, let us tremble these halls of earth, steel, and stone, let us be heard from red core to black sky. Tonight, let us make them remember, THIS IS ZION AND WE ARE NOT AFRAID!
    • The Matrix Revolutions:
      • Captain Mifune's speech to the soldiers of Zion prior to the machine invasion:
        Mifune: If it's our time to die, it's our time. All I ask is, if we have to give these bastards our lives... we give 'em hell before we do!
  • Men in Black: Agent J's Establishing Character Moment sees him chasing down a suspect (who's actually a disguised alien) on foot. Once he catches the suspect he shoves his NYPD badge in the guy's face and delivers this gem.
    Jay: You see this? Huh? N-Y-P-D! Means I will Knock. Your. Punk-ass. Down!
    Suspect: He's coming. He's coming!
    Jay: Yeah, and when he gets here, I'll arrest his ass too!
  • Brassel's speech to Ethan while the latter is being held captive by the IMF in Mission: Impossible III:
    Theodore Brassel: [Looking down at Ethan from atop] Now I am not a stranger to disrespect, you don't get to where I am without developing a thick skin. But what I won't stand for. What I will lose sleep over — and I love my sleep — is the idea of an irresponsible, rogue Agent working in my office. So I'm going to slow things way down here.[draws his face nearer] You can look at me with those judgmental, incriminating eyes all you want, but I bullshit you not. I will bleed on the flag to make sure the stripes stay red.
  • Murder In Coweta County: Knowing Sheriff Lamar Potts needs Wilson Turner's body to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that he had committed the murder, John Wallace has the body burned to ash in the dead of night, with the help of two black accessories who would later testify against him and send him to the chair. As he watches Turner's funeral pyre, he dares Potts to try to nail him after that.
    Wallace: All right, Sheriff Lamar Potts, come and get me now!
  • Murder on the Orient Express (2017) has two, both by Hercule Poirot:
    • He gets a rather matter-of-fact one when first confronting all the suspects:
    "My name is Hercule Poirot. And I am probably the greatest detective in the world."
    "You tell your lies, and you think no one will know. But two people will know, yes two people. Your God... and Hercule Poirot."
  • Bully Hayes in Nate and Hayes, regarding his life in piracy:
    Hayes: Are you writing in that book that I'm a pirate?
    Clerk (nervously) Yes, I suppose I am.
    Hayes: Good, 'cause I am one. And a damn good one. Oh, I never flew the skull and crossbones, that's for your fictioneers. But I have sought pleasure and profit in every port known to man, without regard to any man's law. That's not to say without morals and standards. I've got morals and standards. I've never killed anyone who didn't have it coming, I've never cheated an honest man, I've never pillaged and I've never raped.
  • Atreyu in The Neverending Story: "I will not die easily. I am a warrior." Then when he lets G'mork know who he's dealing with: "If we're about to die anyway, I'd rather die fighting! Come for me, G'mork! I am Atreyu!"
  • Newsies: When ya got a hundred voices singin', who can hear a lousy whistle blow?
  • Cris Johnson in Next: "I've seen every possible ending. None of them are good for you."
  • The Night Comes for Us: From the main character as he confronts a gang of thugs:
    Ito:"If you know who I am, then know you're about to die at the hands of a Six Seas. If so...have at me!"
  • No Name on the Bullet: Gant while facing down the would-be vigilantes informs them that he does not kill without being paid...but they're tempting him.
  • Now You See Me: "First rule of magic — always be the smartest guy in the room."
    • Taking the twist into account, this makes the line doubly hilarious and doubly awesome, it's even lampshaded in the end reveal.
  • The One:
    Yulaw: I am Yulaw! I am nobody's bitch! You are mine. I don't need to know you. You only need to know me. I will be The One!
  • In Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, Greg Simmonds has a very good one when he makes it clear why Arnold and Trent shouldn't have backstabbed him.
  • John Herod (Gene Hackman) in The Quick and the Dead: "This is my town! If you live to see the dawn, it's because I allow it!"
  • From Pacific Rim, General Stacker Pentecost gets quite a few of these.
    "Today we are cancellin' the apocalypse!"
    • And from the prequel tie-in comic:
      "I've never believed in the End Times. We are mankind. Our footprints are on the moon. When the last trumpet sounds and the Beast rises from the pit — we will kill it."
  • Pitch Black: Riddick drops one as a Bond One-Liner after single-handedly slaughtering one of the aliens:
    Riddick: "Did not know who he was fuckin' with."
  • Predator gave us this all-time classic delivered by Arnold Schwarzenegger:
    Dutch: "If it bleeds... we can kill it."
  • Westley's To the Pain challenge in The Princess Bride. He knew Humperdinck was a coward, was too weak to stand, but still...that challenge was Badass Boast on its own.
    "Hello. My name is Iñigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."
  • The Archangel Gabriel in The Prophecy:
    I'm an angel. I kill firstborns while their mamas watch. I turn cities into salt. I even, when I feel like it, rip the souls from little girls, and from now till kingdom come, the only thing you can count on in your existence is never understanding why.
  • In Resident Evil: Afterlife, Wesker delivers a particularly awesome one to Alice, after she gloats about Chris and Claire showing up.
    Alice: I told you I'd be bringing a few friends.
    (Beat, while Wesker slowly removes his glasses)
    Wesker: You should have brought more.
  • RoboCop (1987) also has one (said in the original movie and the remake)
    Alex Murphy: Dead or alive, You're coming with me.

    S-Z 
  • Gonzo, from Salute To The Juggers has one during the final match which is all the more awesome for showing that he is, in fact, a Noble Demon and a Worthy Opponent to the heroes, rather than an out-and-out heavy.
    Lord Vile, I've broken Juggers in half, smashed their bones, left the ground behind me wet with brains. There's nothing I wouldn't do to win. But I never hurt anyone for any reason other than sticking a dog's skull on a stake. And I never will.
  • Secondhand Lions:
    • Hub (played by Robert Duvall, no less!) has a speech of this type:
      Hub: I'm Hub McCann. I've fought in two World Wars and countless smaller ones on three continents. I led thousands of men into battle with everything from horses and swords to artillery and tanks. I've seen the headwaters of the Nile, and tribes of natives no white man had ever seen before. I've won and lost a dozen fortunes, killed many men, and loved only one woman with a passion a flea like you could never begin to understand. That's who I am. Now, go home, boy!"
    • Also in the story of Hub and Garth's adventures in Africa:
      Narrator Garth: But Hub just said "Twice I have held your life in my hands. And twice I have given it back to you. The next time..."
      Young Hub: "Your life... is mine."
  • From Serenity
    Mal: "I don't murder children."
    The Operative: "I do. If I have to."
    • Matched by Mal in the climax:
      Mal: Y'all got on this boat for different reasons, but y'all come to the same place. So now I'm asking more of you than I have before. Maybe all. Sure as I know anything, I know this — they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, ten? They'll swing back to the belief that they can make people... better. And I do not hold to that. So no more runnin'. I aim to misbehave.
    • Jayne Cobb:
      "Let's be bad guys."
  • In Sherlock Holmes (1932), Moriarty makes one the dock just before the judge pronounces his death sentence; proclaiming that Crown Prosecutor Erskine, Col. Gore-King of Scotland Yard, and Sherlock Holmes.
    Moriarty: The rope that will hang me has not yet been made.
  • From Silent Hill:
    Alessa Gillespie: Now is the end of days, and I am the Reaper.
    • Somewhat ridiculous if one knows Leviticus and the description of the end of the world. "And in those days, Man sought death and couldn't find it, and then they chased death, and it flown from them". It is a paraphrase, but it make it out that death actually flees from people at the end of days. Badass quote, nevertheless
  • Sin City: Marv says, "And when his eyes go dead, the hell I send him to will seem like heaven after what I've done to him."
  • Buddy Holly and Death trade some good ones before their final fight in Six String Samurai:
    Buddy: Who are you?
    Death: Death.
    Buddy: Cool.
    Death: If I were you, I'd run.
    Buddy: If you were me, you'd be good-looking.
  • Solo:
    Han Solo: I heard a story about you; I was wondering if it's true.
    Lando Calrissian: Everything you have heard about me is true.
  • At the end of Sonic the Hedgehog (2020), Robotnik has been stranded on the mushroom planet, cut off from any resources besides what he could salvage from his aircraft;
    Robotnik: A lesser man would die here. (Whips out Sonic's energy-charged quill) I'll be home by Christmas.
  • Star Trek Into Darkness:
    • Big Bad John Harrison calmly boasts multiple times about his superhuman abilities.
      Harrison: I am better.
      Kirk: At what?
      Harrison: Everything.
    • Kirk makes an offhand boast while escaping with Spock and Uhura from a pursuing ship.
      Spock: This ship has no offensive capabilities.
      Kirk: It's got us; give me all six fuel cells.
    • There's also Sulu's calm threat to John Harrison
      Sulu: John Harrison, this is Hikaru Sulu of the U.S.S. Enterprise. A shuttle of highly trained officers is on its way to your location. If you do not surrender to them immediately, I will unleash the entire payload of advanced warhead torpedoes currently locked onto your location. You have two minutes to confirm your compliance. Refusal to do so will result in your obliteration. If you test me, you will fail.
      McCoy: (clearly unnerved) Mr. Sulu... remind me never to piss you off. (Sulu tries his damnedest to hide the shit-eating grin.)
  • Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: The first fight between the Reliant and the Enterprise saw Khan get the drop on Kirk, and he still managed to outmaneuver the genetically engineered superman. When they're set up for the rematch, Joachim is slowing the Reliant, anticipating the trap that is the Mutara Nebula. Kirk gives Khan incentive to pursue with this boast.
    Kirk: We tried it once your way, Khan. Are you game for a rematch? Beat Khan, I'm laughing at the "superior intellect".
  • Star Wars:
    "I am the Senate!"
    "POWEEER!!! UUUNLIMITEEEED POWEEEEEERRRRR!!!"
    • A New Hope:
      Obi-Wan Kenobi: If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.
  • The Substitute: Shale's speech after he gets serious about restoring order in the school and moving out the gangs that run it.
    "I'm in charge of this classroom. I'm the warrior chief, the merciless god of anything that stirs in my universe. You fuck with me, and you will suffer my wrath."
  • Taken:
    • The film's trailer is built around the main character's calm threat early on, very effectively delivered by Liam Neeson.
      "I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career, skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that will be the end of it. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you... and I will kill you."
    • Later, Bryan gives a much shorter boast while talking to Jean-Claude:
      Jean-Claude: You can't just go around tearing up Paris-
      Bryan: I will tear down the Eiffel Tower if I have to!
    • Bryan's brief speech to the Albanians from the sequel, regarding their vengeance plan against him:
      "This is not a game. I will finish this thing. You'll just have to die."
  • In Tall Tale it's no surprise there's some of these. Pecos Bill gets a particularly awesome one (done while lassoing a tornado).
    Pecos Bill: I am a ring-tailed roarer! I can draw faster, shoot straighter, ride harder, and drink longer than any man alive! I'm the rip-snortingest cowboy that ever rode north, south, east, or west of the Rio Grande! I'm Pecos Bill! Yee-haw!
  • Terminator Genisys has John Connor, now a terminator deliver one as Sarah and Kyle prepare to shoot him.
    "There aren't enough bullets in the world to kill me!"
  • Nada's famous line from They Live!: "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubblegum."
  • Thief: Frank the safecracker did One Last Job for Leo the crime boss, but Leo doesn't take retirement as an option, saying, "I own the paper on your whole fucking life. I'll put your cunt wife on the street to be fucked in the ass by niggers and Puerto Ricans. Your kid's mine because I bought it. You got him on loan. He is leased. You are renting him. I'll whack out your whole family. People'll be eating them in their lunch tomorrow in their Wimpyburgers and not know it. You get paid what I say. You do what I say. I run you. There is no discussion. I want, you work, until you are burned out, you are busted, or you're dead. You get it? You got responsibilities. Tighten up and do it."
  • A badass boast was pretty much a prerequisite to be a cowboy in Tombstone.
    Wyatt Earp: All right, Clanton... You called down the thunder. Well, now you've got it! You see that? It says "United States Marshal."... Take a good look at him, Ike, because that's how you're gonna end up!... The Cowboys are finished, you understand me?! I see a red sash, I kill the man wearin' it! So run, you cur... RUN! Tell all the other curs the LAW'S coming! You tell 'em I'M coming... and Hell's coming with me, you hear?! Hell's coming with me!
    • And one for Doc Holliday too.
    Billy Clanton: You couldn't hit nothin.' [draws a knife.] In fact, you're probably seeing double.
    Doc: [draws a second gun] I have two guns; one for each of ya.
  • Galvatron, or rather, Megatron via Brain Uploading, in Transformers: Age of Extinction gets an amazing one, showing that he is no mindless KSI drone: the Megatron of old is back, and badder than ever.
    Optimus: You have no soul! [thrusts his sword into Galvatron's abdomen]
    Galvatron: That is why I HAVE NO FEAR!
  • TRON: Legacy had a great example of this trope when Sam Flynn invades Clu's headquarters:
    Black Guard Program: Identify yourself, program.
    Sam Flynn: I am not a program. My name's Sam Flynn... (cue the off-screen ass-kicking)
  • Vincenzo Coccotti in True Romance: "I am the Anti-Christ. You get me in a vendetta-kind-of mood, you tell the angels in heaven you never saw evil so singularly personified as you did in the face of the man who killed you."
  • Unforgiven:
    • A poignant aversion, early on:
      The Kid: Say, Bill. That business in Jackson County... did that really happen? I mean how they say it happened?
      Munny: What business?
      The Kid: An' how there was two deputies up close pointin' rifles at you... had you dead to rights... an' how you pulled out a pistol an' blew them both away to hell... an' only took a scratch yourself. (pause) Uncle Pete told me he never seen nothin' like it, shootin' your way out of a scrape like that.
      Munny (uncomfortable): Well... I don't recollect.
      later...
      Ned: What he was talkin' about... how them deputies had the drop on you an' Pete...
      Munny: Yeah?
      Ned: I remember how there was three of them deputies you shot... not two.
      Munny (dismissing it): Well, I ain't like that no more, Ned. I ain't no crazy, killin' fool.
    • Played straight in the end when Munny reverts to his old ways.
      Little Bill: You be William Munny outta Missouri. Killer of women and children!
      Will Munny: That's right. I killed women and children. Killed just about everything that walks or crawled at one time or another. And I'm here to kill you, Little Bill, for what you did to Ned.
  • Jimmy Malone from The Untouchables (1987), giving advice on how to fight the mob.
    You wanna get Capone? Here's how you get him. He pulls a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue! That's the Chicago way, and that's how you get Capone!
  • V for Vendetta had a great one:
    Creedy: What'cha gonna do, uh? We've swept this place, you've got nothing. Nothing but your bloody knives and your fancy karate gimmicks, we have guns!
    V: No, what you have are bullets, and the hope that when your guns are empty I'll no longer be standing, because if I am... you'll all be dead before you've reloaded.
    • And the lines just before that:
      Creedy: Defiant to the End, eh? You won't cry like him, will you? You're not afraid of death. You're like me.
      V: The only thing that you and I have in common, Mr. Creedy, is we're both about to die.
      Creedy: How do you imagine that's going to happen?
      V: With my hands around your neck.
    • Pay extra attention to that scene and you'll notice that Creedy takes an appropriate step backwards during the boast... Oh yeah, and it ends with this exchange;
      Creedy: Die! (bang) Die! (bang bang) Why won't you die!? (bang bang bang click click) Why Won't You Die??
      V: Beneath this mask, there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask, there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof.
  • Watchmen
    Rohrschach: None of you seem to understand. I'm not locked in here with you... you're locked in here with me.
    ...
    Dr. Manhattan: I have walked across the surface of the Sun. I have witnessed events so tiny and so fast they can hardly be said to have occurred at all. The world's smartest man poses no more threat to me than does its smartest termite.
  • Bizarre variant in What's Up, Tiger Lily?
    Woody Allen: They wanted in Hollywood to make the definitive spy picture. And they came to me to supervise the project, you know, because I think that, if you know me at all, you know that death is my bread and danger my butter — oh, no, danger's my bread, and death is my butter. No, no, wait. Danger's my bread, death — no, death is — no, I'm sorry. Death is my — death and danger are my various breads and various butters.
  • In the initial training duel of When the Last Sword is Drawn, the narrator's opponent is given an armored headband in case the narrator misses and actually hits him. The opponent tells the narrator he should wear one too, but the narrator responds, "I won't need it."
  • X-Men Film Series
    • X-Men: The Last Stand:
      • A young Jean Grey gets a (mostly) non-verbal one in the prologue. Charles claims that he and Erik are "mutants, like you." Jean just says "I doubt that," and proceeds to casually levitate every single car in her neighborhood without the slightest sign of effort.
        Erik: I like this one, Charles.
      • "Don't you know who I am? I'm the Juggernaut, bitch!" Taken from the internet shorts.
    • Deadpool (2016):
    • X-Men: Apocalypse:
      • As Xavier lies on the ground and loses blood after being beaten to a pulp by Apocalypse during their Battle in the Center of the Mind, he still reminds Apocalypse that he is alone, and Charles is not. Cue Jean unleashing the Phoenix.
      • Apocalypse delivers one regarding how futile he regards nuclear weaponry.
        Apocalypse: You can fire your arrows from the Tower of Babel, but you can never strike God!
      • Erik and Charles have an exchange at the end mirroring the one they share at the end of X-Men.
        Charles: I feel a great swell of pity for the poor soul who comes to my school looking for trouble.
  • Frederick Frankenstein has one in Young Frankenstein as he's about to bring his Creature to life.
    Frederick Frankenstein: From that fateful day when stinking bits of slime first crawled from the sea and shouted to the cold stars, "I am Man", our greatest dread has always been the knowledge of our own mortality. But tonight we shall hurl the gauntlet of science into the frightful face of Death itself. Tonight we shall ascend into the heavens. We shall mock the earthquake. We shall command the thunders, and penetrate into the very womb of impervious Nature herself!

Previous

Index

Next

  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Wide Load

Important Links

Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Go Ad Free!
Crucial Browsing
Resources
Top