Basic Trope: Mooks that have the same or similar abilities as the hero.
- Straight: The resident Action Girl knows Le Parkour and is a Master Swordsman in a world of unarmed, barely agile foes, but soon encounters Mooks that can also ninja their way around and use Implausible Fencing Powers.
- Exaggerated: The Mooks not only have the exact same kinds of abilities as the Action Girl, but are noticeably better than her at those things too.
- Downplayed: The Mooks are given swords and can jump from roof to roof, but nowhere near as good as the hero.
- Justified: As lesser minions are killed off, those in charge of training decide to equip and train their recruits to beat the heroes at their own games.
- Alice is a Phlebotinum Rebel and a Flawed Prototype: the super-mooks are the production model.
- Inverted: The Mooks have abilities the hero can't do, but eventually they win the Superpower Lottery to catch up.
- Kung Fu-Proof Mook: with abilities that counter or negate the hero's advantages, such as floor-freezing mooks immune to normal blades.
- Subverted: The hero, Alice, faces a Mook who boasts that anything she can do, he can do just as well... or better. Alice prepares for a serious fight... only for the Mook to go down like a sack of potatoes as soon as she throws one punch.
- Double Subverted: ...Except it turns out that the Mook had the ability to absorb or learn abilities that are learned against him. The next time Alice fights him, she barely survives.
- Parodied: The mooks are stronger than Alice, faster than Alice... and even dumber than Alice, to the point they end up falling victim to their own stupidity long before Alice gets to fight them.
- Zig Zagged: Some Mooks have abilities similar to the hero, while others either are mere Cannon Fodder or have abilities that differ greatly from the hero.
- Averted: The Mooks' abilities are completely different from those of the hero.
- Enforced: "We need to make a bad guy that can really challenge the heroes, or else this show is going to get pretty formulaic."
- Lampshaded: "Since when can the Mooks do everything I do? I never saw them training."
- Invoked: The Big Bad trains his Mooks to copy the Action Girl's moves.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: The Big Bad recoils at the mere thought of giving his servants the hero's abilities; why would he ever give them to ability to overthrow him?
- Deconstructed: Mook Chivalry and Conservationof Ninjutsu are not in play, meaning Alice is constantly finding herself outmatched and outnumbered without the edge her powers normally gave her. She is eventually overrun and overwhelmed.
- The arrival of the Super-mooks is a symptom of a greater arms race occurring in the background. Eventually, Alice's skills are So Last Season, and then she becomes outright obsolete.
- Reconstructed: While they're her equal in power and skill, they cannot match her experience or her cunning. Alice moved her focus from her swordplay to her tactical mind, running a guerrilla war against her opponents and proving herself formidable even without a Charles Atlas Superpower.
- An arm's race results in improvements on both sides, and Alice, inspired by the mook's example, begins training her own army of Superpowered Red Shirts. She retires from active work and becomes a teacher, allowing her allies to match and even exceeded her skills while retaining their own skills.
- Discussed: "I wonder if the Mooks will follow my every move?"
- Conversed: ???
- Played For Laughs: This Mook can do everything Alice can... except since Alice is an Idiot Hero with no real powers or combat skills, the Mook is functionally useless.
- Played For Drama: ???
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