Discussion GoneHorriblyRight / Webcomics

Removed this:

• The first fight shown in Grrl Power involves an opponent named Vehemence, in charge of the group attacking the heroes of ARC-Swat; his ability involves getting physically stronger whenever a fight happens near him, even if he's not directly involved — and his aura can also make the people around him want to fight, in a reinforcing cycle. So, Vehemence decides he wants to test himself against the recently revealed group of super heros. As it turns out, Lt. Col. Maxima Leander gets so invested in taking him down, that she blows an arm off, and states her intention to remove his head. Even with him developing the ability to regenerate at least his arm, Vehemence pegs Maxima as "too violent even for him" and gets set to try to take her out first; luckily, Sydney figures out a peaceful way to end the fight.

This is a case of Underestimating Badassery (with a touch of Smug Super), not this trope. Maxima (being, by far, the strongest super in the comic to that point) doesn't realize Vehemence can ramp up his powers even past hers, thanks to his violence-enhancing aura able to keep his power at max, while Max burns through hers trying to keep up. Vehemence admitted that if Max had gone all out from the start, she'd have taken him down, but now couldn't take the chance of her coming after him later. If Sydney hadn't figured out how to neutralize his powers ^note Using her force field to cut his aura off from the still-brawling supers and their energies from him, than having Jiggawat neutralize his lightning, giving Max room to recover and turn the tide, he kills Max and then strolls away to do it all again later.