Characters who have Inferiority Superiority Complexes in Fan Works.
Crossovers
- Boldores And Boomsticks: Sabra's haughtiness turns out to be a product of trying to live up to her Totem mother.
- Children of an Elder God: Although she did not flaunt her skills as aggressively as in canon Asuka still tried to come across as a prideful, bombastic girl to hide her deep-seated insecurities. However, her mask cracks during the War and after a while, she stops wearing it.
- Equestria Girls: Friendship Souls: Gilda is a powerful Arrancar who loves to talk the talk and walk the walk, but it's clear she deeply resents Adagio's rapid rise in power in such a short period of time when she's had to struggle and claw her way up to her current level of strength the hard way over centuries. When she's made the Tenth Espada, these insecurities come out even more as she's scared of screwing up and being viewed as a liability, which makes her prone to taking big unnecessary risks (such as attacking Sunset at her apartment using outdated info on her strength, or attacking the weakened Smooze while Fluttershy and Timber are in the vicinity) to secure her standing. It turns out it all stems from her mistreatment in Guto's horde as a child and her desire to become strong enough that she never gets under his thumb again.
- Last Child of Krypton: When Shinji met Asuka she acted like an aggressive, boastful Attention Whore, but Shinji realized she was just trying to hide her insecurity and fear. Later Shinji saw first-hand how fragile and vulnerable she was inwardly when he fought to save her from Leliel's Mind Rape attack.
- The Night Unfurls: Alicia Arcturus develops this over the course of the remastered version. While Alicia isn't a braggart, like how most portrayals of this trope do, she prides herself on maintaining her reputation as a Knight in Shining Armor, and she takes that seriously. This is why Alicia is Jerkass to One towards Kyril, a foreigner with an aloof demeanour who doesn't show respect to her and the Goddess she believes in, like one would towards a noble of her station, yet is inexplicably more powerful than she could ever be, and is inexplicably able to gain her cousin Prim's trust — she feels that her honour as a knight is insulted, and she takes that personally. As the story progresses, Alicia is increasingly eager to prove her superiority, that she is better than Kyril. His Trial by Combat in Chapters 12-13 provides an opportunity for her to do so, yet she ends up suffering an effortless defeat at Kyril's hands, with the man even calling her a weakling upon her defeat. Her pride is injured. The next time the readers see Alicia, she does not take her loss well. Any reminder of her loss, weakness, or even Kyril's name infuriates her, to the point of violently lashing out at Soren, one of Kyril's companions, leaving the young man unconscious.
- Superwomen of Eva 2: Lone Heir of Krypton: As she told Shinji during a heart-to-heart talk in chapter 19, Asuka strove to be the best and boast about it because she was a lonely kid who thought no one would care about her unless she was the best.
- Thieves Can Be Heroes!: Bakugou suffers from this, and uses his brash arrogant attitude to cover it up; part of the reason he was so ruthless towards Izuku is that he honestly believed the other boy looked down on him when the truth was the exact opposite. His Shadow self is the personification of this, forcing him to admit to all the insecurities and self-doubts he hides, then spelling out that nobody, and least of all Midoriya, ever looked down or pitied him; even then, it takes Izuku and Makoto both admitting how much they admired Bakugou growing up for it to finally get through to him - and unlocking his Persona in the process.
- Thousand Shinji: Shinji was a Psyker. When he met Asuka he sensed right away that she exuded pride, confidence, passion, and rage but inwardly she was full of sadness, fright, and pain. Later he told her that he knew she had tried to become stronger but he could tell she was more vulnerable and fragile than she looked.
- to forget is unforgivable: After Izuku commits suicide, Katsuki's self esteem is slowly but surely crushed down by the changes around him. He quickly becomes a social outcast because everyone knows that he suicide baited Izuku, Izuku's constant presence as a cursed spirit drives him paranoid, he finds out that his efforts to master his quirk were All for Nothing against cursed spirits - especially after running into one in the alley - and after that it's repeatedly driven into his head that in the world of curses, he is at the absolute bottom. His perfectionist tendencies and It's All About Me attitude do NOT take that well, and mixed with his newfound Heroic Self-Deprecation, he reaches the point where he's Driven to Suicide himself and tries to make Izuku take his life, only for Izuku to refuse.
- In Harmless, Jazz believes that this might be the reason for the Box Ghost's behavior.
- In A Charmed Life, Light builds himself up as "God of the New World" because deep inside he feels incredibly insecure.
- Freudian: For all of his confident airs, Flynn secretly feels that he's not actually good enough for Rapunzel. His therapist speculates that this might be tied to how he was abandoned by his parents when he was younger.
- What If Krillin Became a Saiyan?: The whole plotline is kicked off by Krillin using the Dragon Balls to wish he was more like Goku, which Shenron interprets biologically. When the others learn about this, Roshi fears that Krillin's reverted back to the Bratty Half-Pint he was when they first met, and only made that wish as a quick shortcut. Krillin takes his disapproval hard; fortunately, Goku doesn't mind and offers him plenty of support and encouragement.
- In Mother's Legacy, Aerith despises her inability to surpass Sephiroth in battle, leaving her feeling deeply inferior. She covers this up by refusing to accept any offers of aid — or worse, pity, desperately striving to prove herself worthy through any means necessary.
- You'll Get No Answers from the Blue Sea Star: Jo struggles with this, especially once Seteth actually starts responding to her advances. In her eyes, her quick wit doesn't compare to having any kind of actual experience with romantic relationships, causing her to either shut down or babble uncomfortably.
- A Thing of Vikings: Snotlout feels overshadowed by Hiccup's successes, driving him to increasingly desperate measures to seek and seize glory. This eventually spurs him to leave for the Byzantine Roman Empire and join the Varangians; however, when he learns that Hiccup has grown even more successful in his absence, he goes on a disastrous bender.
- Deku? I think he's some pro...: Hound Dog recognizes this as being the base of most of Katsuki's issues, constantly seeking approval and validation from others in order to cement the idea that he's the best of the best... because if he's not, then that makes him practically worthless, doesn't it?
- Haigha: Katsuki already had trouble with this, but it only grew worse after the Sludge Villain incident. Since Izuku wasn't around to rescue him, he was held hostage for much longer before finally being saved, ending up with a bad case of pneumonia. This also wrecked his 'invincible' reputation at Aldera, and all his followers abandoned him. As a result, he's desperate to 'prove' that he's stronger than everybody else, especially Izuku.
- Karma in Retrograde: After Endeavor cast him aside in favor of Shouto, Touya considers himself completely inferior to his younger brother. Learning that he became Dabi only makes matters worse, as he sees himself as a failure who grew into the exact opposite of everything he wanted to become. He bottles all of these emotions up as best he can, not wanting to show any weakness or pain in front of others, turning snappish and defensive.
- The Scorpion Jar: Izuku brings this up when Katsuki confronts him over becoming a Knowledge Broker, noting that he's managed to develop both an inferiority and a superiority complex at the same time. This proves to be Katsuki's Fatal Flaw: Izuku's plan for dealing with him hinged entirely on Katsuki coming to him just to harass him. If Katsuki had simply left him alone, things might not have turned out so poorly.
- Sleeper Hit AU: Bakugou's utter hatred of Midoriya stems from the fear that if somebody who's Quirkless can challenge or even surpass him, then that proves that he isn't all that special. The realization that Midoriya wasn't broken by his expulsion from U.A. and, in fact, became the Quirkless Pro Hero Sleeper Hit utterly infuriates him, since it seems to confirm his worst fears.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- In Equestria: A History Revealed, the Lemony Narrator is extremely arrogant and often talks down to the reader, but in a later chapter reveals her deep-seated issues of self-worth, and her longing to prove that she's somebody.
- An Extended Performance: Trixie desperately clings to the notion that the main reason she's so lonely and isolated is that she's simply such an amazingly great and powerful pony that nobody else understands her. Notably, she tones this down whenever thinking about ponies whom she feels actually believed in her and her talent.
- Rainbooms and Royalty: While Rainbow Dash is openly brash and boastful, acting extremely confident in herself, secretly, she struggles with the pressure of being Princess Celestia's student. The fact that she hasn't been able to recreate the Sonic Rainboom also weighs heavily upon her. When she learns that Celestia chose not to confide in her about Nightmare Moon's impending return, she's left wondering whether she'd done something to make the Princess doubt her, heavily undermining her sense of self-worth.
My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!
- In Through the Looking Glass, the Katarina Claes from Fortune Lover is arrogant, vain, and demeaning to those she views beneath her, such as her step-brother Keith or the commoner student Maria. However, for all her talent and etiquette as a noblewoman, she was never able to win the heart of her fiancé Geord, a very painful sore spot for her. It became worse when she learned of another Katarina who, while lacking the restraint and behavior of a proper lady, is able to win the affection and love of those around her, including Geord's counterpart Gerald.
- Androgyninja's A Drop of Poison: This drives Sasuke to be incredibly cruel towards Sakura after she manages a Curb Stomp Cushion during a sparring exercise at the Academy. Unable to accept Iruka's remark that he'd underestimated her, he goes on a blistering rant about how she'll never be anything more than glorified Cannon Fodder. He keeps this up after they become teammates, repeatedly going out of his way to insult and demean her, while Kakashi encourages him and Naruto to get hung up on being outdone by a girl.
- Advice and Trust: In the first chapter, Shinji realizes Asuka's pride is nothing but a front and she is a lonely, hurt child, just like him.
- The Child of Love: In chapter 2 Misato tells Shinji about Asuka's past and her mother issues, and how her so-called arrogance is a mask to hide how fragile she is.
- A Crown of Stars: Asuka uses a façade of arrogance to hide a bunch of deep-seated insecurities, neuroses and fears, an unhealthy deal of self-loathing, and an utter lack of self-esteem. Although she constantly calls herself the Great Asuka Langley Sohryu, in reality, she thinks she is worthless and horrible.
- Doing It Right This Time: After returning to the past Shinji and Rei know Asuka's pride is a façade and she has no self-esteem (and Shinji realizes he was unintentionally poking her in her insecurities and neuroses the whole time). So they actively try to make her feel valued and reassure her that she is a damned good pilot.
- Evangelion 303: Initially, Asuka comes across like a very arrogant Ace Pilot than even refused calling someone her "peer"
. But in reality, her self-confidence is very fragile, and when everything begins to fall apart, she is prone to collapse and seeing herself as a failure. - Ghosts of Evangelion: Asuka used to be boastful, but in reality, she thought everybody -especially Shinji- showed her up and beat her.
- HERZ: All of Asuka's bluster, bravado, and arrogance were a mask to hide her feelings of inadequacy and worthlessness. Shinji is one of the few people who can see what is underneath, and he often has to reassure her he does not think she is ugly and he would never leave her.
- Higher Learning: As her canon self, Asuka acted like an arrogant girl so that nobody noticed how insecure she was. However, she gradually stopped trying so hard to stand out When she started dating Shinji.
- Neon Genesis Evangelion: Genocide: After having a heart-to-heart talk with Asuka and several conversations with Misato, Shinji realized that Asuka may look arrogant and boisterous, but she regards herself as someone worthless. Her pride is nothing but a mask to cover her non-existent self-esteem.
- Once More With Feeling (Crazy-88): Shinji does not care (too much) about Asuka's gloating because he knows that piloting Eva is all she thinks she has. He knows that her pride is the only thing holding her together, and he does not want to see her fall apart again.
- The One I Love Is...: Shinji used to envy Asuka's boastful arrogance and confidence... and then he saw her berating herself several times and losing her will to live after her Mind Rape and he realized her confidence was false and she was a very insecure, vulnerable person.
- The Second Try: During their wedding Shinji explains that he fell for Asuka, among other reasons, because he realized her arrogance was a façade to hide a vulnerable, terrified and lonely girl whom he wanted to help and protect.
- Common Sense: Misty, big time. She didn't take her defeat at the Cerulean Gym against Ash very well, refuses to acknowledge that he's grown stronger than her in a short time, and begins to dismiss his victories as flukes or cheating, even after she starts to try and copy his tactics to use against him. It takes up until Chapter 25 to realize that she hates him for no real reason than her own wounded pride, and from then on she decides to try and be nicer to him.
- The Pokémon Squad: RM looks like a pompous Insufferable Genius who thinks highly of himself, but he's also insecure about the fact that he can't find a date to save his life and as he admits in "Nobody Cares About the Bears":RM: I'm not arrogant, I have self-loathing issues.
- Villain: Buttercup suffers from one, which is only amplified by the way most of Townsville ostracizes her after she's badly scarred, making it seem as though she'll never be respected and admired the same way as her 'perfect' sisters.
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
- Cat-Ra: Catra might have become She-Ra here, but that only amplifies all her fears and concerns about not measuring up. Especially after she learns that she wasn't actually chosen to be She-Ra. She tries covering this up through an incredibly showy and smug attitude.
