Film — Live-Action
"I didn't come here as a witness!"
— Artemisia, 300: Rise of an Empire
Live-Action TV
"You cannot possibly defeat me. Do you know why? Because I was born to be king."
— Oma Zi-O, Kamen Rider Zi-O
Tabletop Games
Keep in mind that not every sovereign is necessarily an epic character. In fact, most probably aren't. Why? Simply put, bureaucracies are boring and a poor place to earn experience points.
— The Epic Level Handbook disputing this trope, Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition
Video Games
"A few of you have learned that Handsome Jack is my boyfriend. If you think I'm just a pretty face who got this town as an anniversary gift, you know where to find me."
—Nisha, Sheriff of Lynchwood, Borderlands 2
"If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight!' Sun Tzu said that, and I'd say he knows a little more about fighting than you do, pal, because he invented it! And then he perfected it so that no living man could best him in the ring of honor! Then he used his fight money to buy two of every animal on Earth, and then he herded them onto a boat and then he beat the crap out of every single one!"''
— The Soldier, Team Fortress 2
"Don't fuck with this senator!"
— Steven Armstrong, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
"Mind who you're dealing with. As lethal as you must be to become a lord, a Darth is the embodiment of death. Don't forget that."
— Darth Baras to his back-cheeking apprentice, Star Wars: The Old Republic
"This is the strongest Mechon ever built, controlled by me, Egil. Leader of Mechonis and agent of Meyneth!"
— Egil to Shulk, Xenoblade Chronicles 1
Many are willing to fight at the head for the Snow Realm's master, but this doesn't mean he won't himself fight. On the contrary, when he takes up arms, his enemies quake in response.
— A description of SilverAsh, Arknights
"The Dark Lord is the leader of Hell's armies. Not a king, but a warrior of the Dark Realm. The fiercest among them, as only the strongest could rule the demons. He is you, in their world."
— The Father, Doom Eternal
"Sheesh, why is every single general we know a superhuman monster on the battlefield?"
— Crow Armbrust, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV
Webcomics
"Contemplate these words, councilors: If you desire the crown — why here it is."
— God-Emperor Solomon David, Kill Six Billion Demons
Web Original
Chris: Aw yes, motherf**kin’ Shredder.
Matt: He essentially just falls into the shot from…the sky. Really, where did he come from?
Chris: Who cares? It’s awesome.
Matt: And then he just owns. The turtles can’t touch him...when you’ve got hundreds, if not thousands of kids and trained ninjas to do your work for you, why would you get your hands dirty unless it really mattered? Another thing: This is the first time the Turtles appear to not be having fun when they fight. Even when April’s house was coming down around them, they were enjoying it.
Chris: Yeah, they go from wisecracks to “oh this guy is going to kill us” pretty quick, which is something they didn’t even do when Raph was in a coma. Motherf**kin’ Shredder!
Matt: He essentially just falls into the shot from…the sky. Really, where did he come from?
Chris: Who cares? It’s awesome.
Matt: And then he just owns. The turtles can’t touch him...when you’ve got hundreds, if not thousands of kids and trained ninjas to do your work for you, why would you get your hands dirty unless it really mattered? Another thing: This is the first time the Turtles appear to not be having fun when they fight. Even when April’s house was coming down around them, they were enjoying it.
Chris: Yeah, they go from wisecracks to “oh this guy is going to kill us” pretty quick, which is something they didn’t even do when Raph was in a coma. Motherf**kin’ Shredder!
— Chris Sims and Matt Wilson on
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)The real star of this picture is the inimitable Lou Gossett Jr., who you may remember from his timeless role as pigeon-cooing, pregnant lizard-man Jerry in Enemy Mine. We're not going to claim he's more dignified here, since there are few things more humiliating than groveling to Kirk Cameron about finding Jesus, but at least he gets to put on a suit and pretend to be the President of the United States. And make no mistake, President LGJ is a man of action. He doesn't have time for meetings, or press conferences, or delegation of any kind. He's the world's first and last guerilla president, literally sneaking out the back door of the smoldering White House ruins every five minutes to go on solo black ops commando missions spying on the Antichrist's operations, blowing away peace-loving buddhist commie trash, stamping out the corruption of Roman popery, backflipping onto the wings of MiGs at mach speeds and ripping out their internal circuitry with his teeth to reprogram them to take giant, electric, freedom-loving Biblical napalm missile-shits all over heathens' faces, and most importantly, trying to suicide bomb the Russian (evil) Antichrist with a magic cruise-missile-summoning lapel pin. The scary part is, only some of that was even embellished by us.
"What's truly terrifying about [Freeza] is something we saw on a lesser scale in Vegeta. In Freeza's assault on Namek, we witness henchmen who dwarf our heroes in every manner at Freeza's beck-and-call, taking orders without the slightest argument and showing a bottomless fear at the slightest hint of his displeasure. He is their master, and as we see Vegeta struggling endlessly to even stay alive against these monsters, it's frightening what depths of power this Napoleonic madman could be hiding."
Web Video
Matt: ...So what is he? He's not... is he a cyborg, or...
Pat: He's a senator!
Matt: All senators have this hidden power!
Pat: He's a senator!
Matt: All senators have this hidden power!
