# Looking for more movies with the Hidden Badass **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 21, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-more-movies-with-the-hidden-badass/572138 "2011-02-21T19:14:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-more-movies-with-the-hidden-badass/572138/21 "2011-02-22T11:12:46Z")
Does TV count? Kwai Chang Caine from Kung Fu, all he does is mind his own business until local Yahoos mess with him. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-more-movies-with-the-hidden-badass/572138/22 "2011-02-22T11:47:48Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Except that is anyone surprised that the star of the movie, Steven Seagal, turns out to be a badass? Those who hadn’t heard of him before. The trope is there, even if the title already points “there’s going to be things making lots of noise”. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-more-movies-with-the-hidden-badass/572138/23 "2011-02-22T11:49:53Z")
Not a movie, but this happens in the Avatar-Last Airbender series, most noticeably with a certain mad old man. …and then there’s the eponymous [Drunken Master](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drunken_Master), of course. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-more-movies-with-the-hidden-badass/572138/24 "2011-02-22T15:24:33Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > Does TV count? Kwai Chang Caine from Kung Fu, all he does is mind his own business until local Yahoos mess with him. Y’know, if Caine really believed in peace, he would have learned that Americans [del]have[/del] had a tradition of testing people for weakness and cowardice, and that if he only made a show of standing up for himself fewer people would have messed with him. As it was, he practically baited bullies into harassing him. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-more-movies-with-the-hidden-badass/572138/25 "2011-02-22T20:58:21Z")
Willow got pretty badass in Buffy. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-more-movies-with-the-hidden-badass/572138/26 "2011-02-22T21:14:55Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > [TvTropes link.](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HiddenBadass) > > I just watched [The Man from Nowhere](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_from_Nowhere_%28film%29) where a former government operative is hiding out as a non-descript pawn shop owner, and then starts kicking ass when the bad guys show up. > > Any more? Particularly, I want to see more scenes where the badass is dramatically revealed. > > Also, I would prefer if the badassery is revealed in hand-to-hand combat. NOT following a TVTropes link. Do amnesiacs count? If so, _The Long Kiss Goodnight_ is pretty awesome on that count. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-more-movies-with-the-hidden-badass/572138/27 "2011-02-24T05:05:56Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > Willow got pretty badass in Buffy. Yeah, but it was a long time coming. I don’t think it was particularly hidden by the time she turned all veiny. ---
**Author:** ![Wheeljack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@Wheeljack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheeljack)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-more-movies-with-the-hidden-badass/572138/28 "2011-02-24T23:57:28Z")
> [@kelly5078](#): > > Yeah, but it was a long time coming. I don’t think it was particularly hidden by the time she turned all veiny. Giles, on the other hand… that vicious ass-beating he gave to Ethan Rayne in _Halloween_ came out of nowhere. Prior to that, we hadn’t seen him hurt a flea. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-more-movies-with-the-hidden-badass/572138.md?page=1)