The Power Of Potential

"See... I've always wanted to try this, but never had an arena big enough to practice in."

"That bloody-looking guy in the corner, that's me. Can't say this in my little shy moment but everyone says I've got all this potential, potential's good. I'm feeling good about being potentially good."

—Kyle Travers, Final Fight: Streetwise

There are characters who are known for their talent. Others that are known for being a Determinator to achieve their goals. Others have experience on their side. But what makes a character stand out among the rest when they lack those qualities? The answer is potential. The Power of Potential is when a character's potential is used as a character trait. More specifically, it's used to set them apart from those who are more talented or experienced because of their ability to grow.

Potential can be used as a way to make the audience admire the characters because we can see how the character Took a Level in Badass throughout the story and how they become a better person through Character Development as well.

Occasionally, because of a character's potential, they may meet a Renowned Selective Mentor who is capable of seeing the character's hidden potential where not even their student can see it. This may lead to Unlocking the Talent so that the character can begin to use their potential.

May overlap with The Gift if the character had the natural qualities to succeed before they realized it. Compare with Magikarp Power if the protagonist is very weak at first but ultimately turns out to be far stronger than expected. For those who are self-aware of this trope, then they will resort to Time to Unlock More True Potential to improve themselves.

---

Examples:

Anime & Manga

• In Bleach, Ichigo is included among the Wandenreich's five Special War Powers due to his "latent ability"; that is, his untapped potential for growth due to being a perfect hybrid of a human, Shinigami, Hollow and Quincy. Even as he reaches the peak of his strength in the finale, Ichigo himself states that he has yet to master his powers, and it is later implied in supplemental materials that he will only continue to grow stronger with age.
• Dragon Ball:
  • Gohan is known for his insane potential, as this is seen when he lands a successful hit on Raditz when not even Goku and Piccolo could hurt him at the age of 4. Part of the main focus of Dragon Ball Z was developing Gohan's fighting potential. By the end of the Cell Saga, Gohan is the first person to achieve Super Saiyan 2. Later on, he becomes the strongest non-fusion character in the story after achieving his true potential in the Buu Saga.
  • Dragon Ball Super continues to emphasize how amazing Gohan's potential is, by having multiple characters (Goku, Piccolo and Vegeta) remind the audience and Gohan himself that he could surpass Goku and Vegeta if he keeps training instead of neglecting it. Gohan usually stops training during peace time, and now that Goku and Vegeta are much stronger than him, he thinks he doesn't have to worry about Earth being in danger, despite multiple threats having disproven that it's not true. And whenever he does neglect his training, Gohan usually grows weaker, which is why he has to keep up with it, so that he can rival Goku and Vegeta. Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero implies that he does train from time to time, but not seriously enough. His full potential does allow him to reach the same level of power his father and Vegeta have.
• Eyeshield 21:
  • Hiruma chose the best members of the Devil Bats based on their natural abilities and how they could be applied to football. Sena was chosen to be a member because Hiruma witnessed his incredible speed running from bullies, realizing that Sena would be a perfect member. Likewise, Monta was recruited because his catching abilities were more suited to football rather than baseball. Sure enough, Sena and Monta are among the best players of the team, especially when they work together.
• Megumi Tadokoro from Food Wars! starts as an insecure chef during her introduction. However, with Soma's help, she develops confidence in her cooking skills which make her a worthy student of Totsuki. Her potential is acknowledged by many judges even when she loses against a superior opponent. By the end of the series, she's a member of the Elite Ten, the best cooks in the school. And in the final arc, she is one out of three students to join BLUE, the best chef competition for young cooks.
• Tadao Yokoshima from Ghost Sweeper Mikami starts as Mikami's sidekick and resident Butt-Monkey during the first chapters. However, he has untapped spiritual powers that are unlocked by a goddess. As Yokoshima develops his powers, he becomes stronger than Mikami, defeating the Big Bad of the series.
• Hunter × Hunter:
  • Deconstructed with Gon at the end of the Chimera Ant arc when he sacrifices all of his Nen for a Plot-Relevant Age-Up that allows him to use his full potential to kill Pitou. The drawback is that Gon nearly dies in the process, requiring a wish-granting character to save him. Even after healing, Gon is unable to use Nen for the time being. His father Ging states that, even if he recovers the ability to use Nen, Gon will never be as strong as he could have been had he not sacrificed his potential to kill Pitou.
  • Played straight with Leorio. Despite being Overshadowed by Awesome by his friends, Leorio nearly wins the Chairman Elections due to his own charisma (punching Ging in the face for being a Disappeared Dad and expressing his desire to save Gon) making him very likable to the other Hunters. The next arc shows Cheadle, the new Chairman of the Hunter Organization taking Leorio under her wing and making him a part of the Zodiac Hunters, making Leorio one of the twelve most influential Hunters in the Hunter Organization.
• Koichi Hirose from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable is acknowledged as having great potential by his soon-to-be girlfriend Yukako. Her prediction turns out to be right when Character Development kicks in and Koichi becomes a brave young man. He is also the first character who has an evolving Stand, which highlights his potential being released.
• Kengan Ashura:
  • Imai Cosmo is the youngest member of the tournament at 19 years old due to being a prodigy in Brazilian Jiujitsu. However, his main weapon is his potential of becoming stronger by fighting powerful adversaries. His fights with Akoya, Lo Ming, and Ohma allowed him to increase his fighting ability. His manager actually enrolled him at the Kengan Tournament to make him stronger. The next time Imai appears in the sequel, he shows his progress by being a better striker.
  • Rihito was an Unskilled, but Strong fighter who relied on his Razor's Edge to win. After being humiliated by Kuroki Gensai, Rihito starts training under him. Once he reappears in Omega, Rihito displays a more technical fighting style with Ryuki noticing that he was still developing. During the Berserker Bowl, Gensai praises Rihito, pointing out that he will be unstoppable once he perfects his fighting style. As predicted by Gensai, Rihito perfected his fighting style and won the Berserker Bowl.
  • Koga, the protagonist of the sequel is Incompletely Trained and therefore not on the same level as a Kengan Fighter in spite of his talent. After receiving training from veterans, Koga starts improving. One of his training partners acknowledges that Kona's learning growth rate is abnormal. His potential is highlighted in the Time Skip where Koga receives training from multiple fighters in the Kengan Association and Purgatory, which severely improved his fighting skill and even defeated three opponents that used to be stronger than him prior to the Time Skip.
• One-Punch Man:
  • Humans are stated to have infinite potential, which partly accounts for how some humans (usually Heroes/Villains) can develop superpowers, and perform feats that would not be possible for regular humans.
  • Downplayed when it comes to Saitama, who was born with no special potential or ability, and gained his Charles Atlas Superpowers through sheer hard work.
• Some Ranma ½ chapters show characters using magical objects to unlock their true potential, allowing them to give Ranma a Curb-Stomp Battle to show their newer powers. Since Ranma is a Sore Loser when it comes to fighting, he works hard to get rid of the potential enhancing objects so that he can remain the strongest between him and his rivals.
  • One chapter has Ryoga having a seal written in his stomach that allows him to use his full potential to give Ranma multiple defeats, even in his cursed form as a little piglet. The drawback is that the mark is a silly face painted in his stomach, which makes Ryoga feel self-conscious. He only gets rid of the mark by bending his body to distort the mark, allowing Ranma to defeat him with a mallet strike.
  • Another chapter has Akane smell an incense that puts her to sleep until spring. However, Akane has lucid dreams that cause her to act odd in class. Ranma tries to restrain Akane to prevent her from being hurt, but she easily knocks him away from her with martial arts. Apparently, being asleep allows Akane to use her full potential, making her stronger than Ranma until she wakes up.
  • In another instance, Akane gets a battle suit that increases the power of their wielder by unlocking their potential. Akane gives Ranma one Curb-Stomp Battle after another, which causes Ranma to try to get rid of her battle suit so that she can be weaker than him again.
• Yahiko from Rurouni Kenshin starts as a pickpocketing ten-year-old. However, after meeting Kenshin and Kaoru, he develops unusually fast in the art of swordsmanship by analyzing techniques and incorporating them into his own style. He copied one of Kenshin's Hiten Mitsurugi techniques and learned the Kamiya Kashin succession techniques by age 10. By the end of the series, he is a Master Swordsman at age 15.
• Hanamichi Sakuragi from Slam Dunk is a self-proclaimed basketball genius when he's actually an amateur. Regardless, Hanamichi possesses exceptional athleticism that allows him to become one of Shohoku's best players in four months after training in basics.
• Katsuya Jonouchi/Joey Wheeler from Yu-Gi-Oh! starts as an amateur duelist. But his debut in the Duelist Kingdom has him develop his skills as he keeps winning duels. By the end of the arc, he gets second place after Yugi. He later makes it to the final four in the Battle City tournament. His Red-Eyes Black Dragon even contrasts Kaiba's Blue Eyes White Dragon because while Red-Eyes is weaker, it has the ability to turn into stronger forms.
  • The connection of Red-Eyes Black Dragon to potential is explored in a 1999 film of the first Yu-Gi-Oh! series. Shogo Aoyama is the owner of the Red-Eyes Black Dragon, a rare card that is said to bring out the potential of any duelist who wields it. Shogo himself is an unremarkable duelist but Yugi is able to show the hidden potential of the Red-Eyes in a duel against Kaiba by fusing it with Meteor Dragon to create Meteor Black Dragon.

Comic Books

• Batman:
  • Tim Drake is stated to have the potential to be a greater detective than Batman once he unlocks his potential. He figured out that Dick Grayson was robbing because he saw his show at four years old and then saw Nightwing perform the quadruple somersault that Dick did that night in the circus. From there, Tim figured out Batman's identity, becoming the third Robin. His potential rose with Batman's apparent death in an encounter with Ra's Al Ghul, who called him detective, a title he only reserved for Batman.
  • Deconstructed with Damian Wayne, who was trained by the League of Assassins to be a successor to Batman and Ra's Al Ghul by undergoing training at a young age. Damian has the potential of being a better crime fighter compared to the other members of the family. However, Damian is a Broken Ace with a lot of Pride that hinders his growth.
• X-Men: Jubilee was always stated to have extreme potential. Early on, believing Wolverine was dead, she actually blew up a considerable chunk of The Mandarin's mansion. During the Phalanx Covenant, Emma Frost psychically links Sync to Jubilee to unlock her full potential with his mimicry, because she says Jubilee has a mental block that won't allow her to use her full power out of fear. It detonates the Phalanx at the subatomic level. Jubilee finally accesses that level of power on her own when facing a godlike being, chiding Boom Boom for bringing a rocket launcher, then unleashing her full power, so intense her whole body glows and her skeleton is visible within her.
  Jubilee: Really, Boom Boom, a rocket launcher?
  Boom Boom: Well, we're fighting a god. I thought we needed the big guns.
  Jubilee: Dumbass! We ARE the big guns!

Films — Animation

• Though implied in the first movie, Jack-Jack in Incredibles 2 is depicted as someone with true potential. He is a polymorph, which gives him Combo Platter Powers as a result. Edna Mode points out that, as a baby, Jack-Jack has unlimited potential, which materializes in a myriad of powers.
• This is a recurring thing in the Spider-Man: Spider-Verse films, as they explore how Miles has the potential of having a successful future as a promising young man and as the new Spider-Man.
  • The first film shows that Miles is a young man with the necessary intelligence to enter an elite school, but struggling to fit in at first. Both of his parents want Miles to be there because they believe that the education that he will get there will allow him to do great things as he grows up. This also applies to Miles once he becomes Spider-Man once his version of Peter Parker dies. He lacks the experience that his predecessor had, but Miles has invisibility and the ability to use lightning. Realizing his potential is what ultimately allows him to defeat Kingpin at the end of the story.

Films — Live-Action

• Everything Everywhere All at Once features The Multiverse as a centerpiece. Characters are able to tap into the history and abilities of their Alternate Selves, but this "verse-jumping" has an algorithm that prioritizes more accessible life paths. The protagonist Evelyn turns out to be an incredibly potent verse-jumper because she made the 'worse' choice at every turn, meaning that she has a great number of awesome potential alternate selves to harness. She turns out to be the key to saving the multiverse.
• Sing from Kung Fu Hustle was stated to be a natural born Kung-Fu master as a child. Subverted when the Kung-Fu techniques he learned as a child were worthless to fight. Double subverted after getting a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown from the best that realigns his qi-flow, allowing him to become the fighter that he was meant to be.
• Michael Corvin from Underworld (2003) is the only living descendant of Alexander Corvinus, meaning that his blood is compatible with vampires and Lycans. As such, he is captured to become the first Vampire/Lycan hybrid in history.

Literature

• Colas Breugnon: This is how Colas explains his love for his granddaughter.
  Glodie slept, and as I sat by her side I could not help the thoughts that rushed over me: — Why is this little creature so unutterably dear that nothing seems worth while without her, and with her the worst that could happen would be bearable? Hers is the only life that matters; in comparison my own seems valueless, and yet here am I active of body and mind, with some talents, and what is even better, plenty of good sense; loving life, and made to enjoy it, in short a good Burgundian workman, and I would freely sacrifice all this for the sake of a little creature I do not even know; who is nothing as yet but a sweet face, a pretty plaything, but who will be something perhaps, — and for this possibility I am willing to give up my own "I am." Ah! it is because in this "perhaps" lies enfolded the fine flower of my existence, the best that is in me, and when I lie below the sod, and worms have destroyed this body, then will arise another self better and happier than the old one, yes, better, because I shall serve as a stepping-stone from which to see more clearly than I did.
• His Dark Materials: Dæmons are the physical manifestations of human souls in Lyra's world, which take animal forms that shift throughout childhood, representing their unformed potential, until settling into a single permanent form when the person reaches maturity. This shifting potential of childhood allows the dæmons to explore and adapt to multiple environments.
• The Midnight Library (2020): Nora Seed finds herself in a mysterious library after trying to kill herself, where she can experience all the lives she could have lived. Slowly, by seeing these alternative lives, some where she was wildly successful, she learns to see the value in her life: As long as she keeps living, she is a "Seed" — full of potential. While this untapped potential initially depresses her, she later sees the beauty in it. This encourages her to fight to regain the life she tried to leave behind.

Live-Action TV

• Doctor Who: Played for drama with the Weeping Angel. One touch sends a person back in time to live out the rest of their lives, while the angel feeds on all the potential they had in the present.
• The Mandalorian: Grogu the alien baby is sought after by assassins and bounty hunters because, due to his ability to use the Force (a property of the Star Wars universe that gives users Psychic Powers), he has the potential to become a powerful warrior.
• Tommy Oliver from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers became the Sixth Ranger because of his potential. Rita Repulsa chose to make him her evil Green Ranger upon seeing him fight Jason equally in a karate tournament and then making him fight her Putties in his human force. Sure enough, Tommy proves to be a threat to the other Power Rangers until he's released from Rita's control and joins the team. Even after he loses his Green Ranger powers, Zordon makes him the White Ranger and The Leader of the group because he senses that Tommy has a greater potential to do good rather than evil.
• Lil Ricky from On My Block was considered the Big Good of the series. One of his abilities was to see the hidden talent and potential of those he knew. And he used that ability to turn them into the people that they were supposed to be so that they could have a better life away from Freeridge.
• Ted Lasso:
  • Ted's talent as a coach is recognizing and encouraging the potential for growth in others, as seen with multiple characters throughout the series:
    • Early on, Ted pinpoints team captain Roy Kent as the "first domino [that needs] to fall" in order to change the Greyhounds' team culture as a whole. Ted helps him recognize his ability to step up as a leader and look after others' well-being, which gets Colin and Isaac to stop bullying Nate. In Season 2, after Roy's retirement as a player, Ted, seeing Roy's potential as a coach, gives him the opportunity to help a former teammate. This encourages Roy to realize he wants to "look [players] in the eyes and encourage them to be better than they ever thought they were capable of being", joining the Richmond coaching staff.
    • In turn, Roy sees Isaac's potential as a leader when he shows his passion and ability to wrangle others' behavior, promoting him to team captain at the end of Season 1.
    • Jamie Tartt was already a talented player, but a shallow, selfish one who wanted to outshine everyone else. After two seasons of Ted and others helping him learn to rely on his teammates, learn when to and when not to be cocky, and confront his abusive father, by Season 3 he is the Voice of Reason suggesting that the other players use him to make passes instead of him being the one to make the goal.
    Ted: (to Jamie, in Season 1) [I]f you just figure out someway to turn that 'me' into 'us'...the sky's the limit for you.
    • Other players, like Sam in Season 1 and Colin in Season 3, are able to play more to their potential when they get the support they need.
    • Zig-Zagged with Nate Shelley. Nate was the neurotic, bullied kitman when Ted met him. Ted recognized Nate as a potential genius in strategy, but just needed more support. Season 1 plays this straight, ending with Nate getting promoted to Assistant Coach, but gets deconstructed in Season 2, as Nate's development as a coach dovetails with a descent into self-hatred-induced Acquired Situational Narcissism, ending with Nate as lead coach for a rival team. Season 3 reconstructs this as Nate learns some humility in his relationships with Rupert, Jade, and his distant father, learning that success and love are mutually exclusive, and that he never needed to be impressive or aggressive to get what he needed.
  • Rebecca similarly recognizes that model Keeley Jones would make a good PR person for Richmond, despite a lack of qualifications. When Keeley becomes successful enough to start her own PR firm in Season 3, she tries to pay it forward by doing for her model friend Shandy what Rebecca did for her. Shandy subverts this by being too much of a loose cannon to properly develop under Keeley, forcing Keeley to fire her.

Video Games

• This trope is the bread and butter of Final Fight: Streetwise, in which Cody's little brother Kyle Travers is been training by him to be a Street Fighter in underground tournaments like in Fight Club since Cody always says his brother has the potential to be a great fighter. After being kidnapped by a mafia, Kyle will have not just to rescue Cody but improve his skills to become better and so defeat the mafia. Gameplay-wise, also this works by experience points and levels and even learning new moves, including those from Cody's old partners Haggar and Guy.
• Final Fantasy XIV:
  • Zenos has the Warrior of Light dead-to-rights at Rhalgr's Reach, having soundly defeated them in a Curb-Stomp Battle. But Zenos then notices that the Warrior managed to break off a piece of his helmet. Intrigued, Zenos turns around and lets the Warrior live to fight another day. He does so again when the Warrior tries and fails to assassinate him with Yugiri in Doma, saying that he was right to let the Warrior live. Zenos then demands they live so they can have a final, climatic clash in Ala Mhigo when they're strong enough to face him on even terms.
    Zenos: Hear me, hero. Endure. Survive. Live. For the rush of blood, for the time between the seconds, live. For the sole pleasure left to me in this empty, ephemeral world? LIVE!
  • Master Sari or rather, the egi based on him notes that the Warrior of Light has "immeasurable" aetheric potential and takes a keen interest in them. The Warrior's potential as a summoner is so high that Sari's summoning node wants to kill the Warrior to create an extremely powerful egi from their soul.
• Fire Emblem Heroes has the Unlock Potential mechanism that increases the character's star rarity after achieving Level 20. The mechanism will revert the characters to Level 1, but they get to keep the skills that they had before and can obtain more powerful skills and stats as they level up.
• In the Persona games, the protagonist character is often associated with the Fool arcana. The arcana is represented by the number zero — empty, but full of limitless potential, fitting for characters who can hold multiple persona and fight deities.
• X from Mega Man X is referred by Dr. Light as having limitless potential many times. This is mainly due to X having an Adaptive Ability that allows him to grow stronger with each fight.
• Eevee from Pokémon is most famously known for having the largest amount of evolutions out of any Pokémon, at eight possibilities. As such, having an Eevee as a Pokémon is very useful because players can evolve it into a more suitable type.

Web Animation

• Tucker from Red vs. Blue starts the series as the lazy second in command of the Blues. As the series progresses, he becomes a Master Swordsman and receives training from Agent Washington that improves his fighting and leadership skills. This makes Tucker the most skilled member of the Blood Gulch Crew if one excludes the Freelancer members.
• Jaune Arc from RWBY starts the series as a civilian who entered Beacon Academy to become a Huntsman despite having no training, no Aura, and fake transcripts. His partner Pyrrha unlocks his Aura, noticing that he has a huge amount of it compared to the average student. While Jaune is not on the same level as the protagonists, he is still a good leader with a knack for strategy, becomes a better fighter, and unlocks a Semblance that allows him to empower his teammates.

Webcomics

• Muko from Furry Fight Chronicles is a Naïve Newcomer with zero experience in athletics and no knowledge of furry fighting. However, she displays great resistance to damage, agility, and has shades of Determinator that cause her manager Cookie to hire her. Despite her lack of experience, Cookie considers Muko a Diamond in the rough because of these traits. And she's proven right during the final fight of Arc 1, where Muko is capable of fighting equally with a champion Combagal.
• Homestuck: The Page Class is known for its Magikarp Power. Its representatives are extremely powerful, but they spend most of their time remaining the weakest in the team. Both Tavros and Jake are more known for the abuse they suffer from people who want to prematurely reveal their potential than for their own actions.

Web Video

• Critical Role:
  • Dunamis is a type of magic in the world of Exandria based on potentiality and probability, supposedly powered by a deity called The Luxon. It allows skilled users to affect luck, time, and gravity.
  • In his backstory, Caleb Widogast, then known as Bren Ermendrud, and his classmates Astrid and Eodwulf were handpicked to study magic with Trent Ikithon due to their potential to use dunamancy, spells that manipulate dunamis. Played for drama, since Trent used this potential to brainwash and experiment on them.
  • U'kotoa encourages his follower Fjord Stone to develop his potential as a hexblade warlock. This later turns out to be for nefarious reasons, as U'kotoa wants his followers to grow powerful enough to free him so he may take over the Lucidian ocean.
  • Fate-Touched, in Exandria, tend to be the center of world-shifting events and able to sense the threads of fate. Vax, born a bastard half-elf who spent much of his youth wandering Exandria, stealing, and doing odd jobs, is one of these. He eventually becomes a Protector of the Realm of Tal'dorei and later the Champion of the Matron of Ravens.

Western Animation

• Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Avatar themself generally grows up not knowing their status and only bending one element, since that is the norm of their birth nation. It is only when they turn 16 (or 12, in Aang's case) that they are told of their potential to learn the other three elements, as well as connect to the Spirit World, due to their past lives.
  • Double Subverted with Korra. Her Establishing Character Moment shows her knowing she's the Avatar at a young age, able to bend fire and earth along with water by the time the White Lotus find her. However, by the time she is 16, she still has yet to unlock airbeinding or spiritual powers, and spends the first two seasons trying to improve in this department.
• Ron Stoppable from Kim Possible starts the series as Kim's bumbling sidekick. However, he proves to be a competent villain when brainwashed once, hinting at his true potential. As the series progresses, Ron learns how to fight, becomes Kim's equal, and he's the one who takes out the Final Boss in the series finale.
• The ninjas from Ninjago can only use their Elemental Powers after unlocking their True Potential. As acknowledged by Master Wu, the ninjas normally achieve peak physical prowess, but they can only use their powers by surpassing a mental or spiritual block to be able to use their powers.
  • Zane unlocks his True Potential after discovering that he is a Nindroid and discovering his missing past. By coming to terms with his past, Zane is capable of using his ice powers.
  • Jay unlocks his True Potential during his first date with Nya. Despite turning into a serpent monster, Nya tells him that she likes Jay for who he is rather than how he looks. This causes Jay to use his lightning powers to save Nya from a rollercoaster accident.
  • Cole unlocks his True Potential by coming to terms with his father. After his reconciliation, Cole can use his earth powers to protect his father.
  • Kai unlocks his True Potential when he lets go of his obsession with becoming the Green Ninja. Apart from unlocking his fire powers, Kai realizes that Lloyd is the Green Ninja as well.
• The Owl House: Willow is initially looked down upon for being a weak and unskilled witch, and performs miserably in the Abomination track at school. However, it's quickly revealed she is actually capable in Plant magic and has the potential to be a very strong witch. After Principal Bump witnesses her talent, he agrees to transfer her to the Plant track, and she quickly becomes extremely powerful.
• Omi from Xiaolin Showdown has been trained to be the Xiaolin Dragon of Water since he was a kid, making him the most skilled of the monks. His potential is such, that Chase Young, the Big Bad of the second season, tries to make Omi commit a Face–Heel Turn to prevent Omi from truly defeating him once Omi grows up. Notably, Omi joining the Heylin side increases Chase's power to such a level that he is able to conquer the world until Omi's friends bring him back to the Xiaolin side.

---