Hey all,

I'm working on an article for a website and I want to list a few characters who started off as being very lame and eventually evolved into total badasses and am looking for suggestions.

Right now I'm thinking things like Wesley from Buffy/Angel and Dr. Light from DC comics - characters who were at one point laughed at and now get total respect/badass points within their own universes. Comics, movies or TV.

Any other thoughts?

Thanks guys.

Tobias Beecher from Oz and Giles from Buffy come to mind.

Giles was never lame....

Todias Beecher is a great example, good call on that one

Maybe Dutch from The Sheild? He may not be a badass, technically, but he did emerge throughout the series as more than a meek detective looking to catch a break.

Lester Freamon and Ellis Carver from the Wire.

Freamon was more the other characters assuming he was lame before the rather quick reveal.

Carver developed into a much better policeman over the run of the show.

Ben from Lost. When Sayid had him locked up to torture you got to see how evil and badass Ben really was.

I agree. Giles was more secretly badass for awhile. I'm looking more for characters who were wimps/pushovers at first and developed naturally into awesome characters.

I don't watch the Shield or Oz but I will look in to those. Thanks!

James Trivette played by Clarence Gilyard on Walker Texas Ranger.

When the show originally premiered back in 1993, it was produced by Cannon Films and they made it all about Norris. Trivette wore big geeky glasses and was essentially Walker's by the book nerdy sidekick. He was that way for the 1st few seasons. Then Norris and his brother Aaron took over as showrunners after CBS took over as producer of the show and revamped Trivette making him more badass and just as equal to Walker in fight scenes and action sequences. As you can probably tell, I was a huge fan of this show.

Ben was always faking though so does that even count?

Chloe O'Brian comes to mind.

My first thought was Tony Almeida.

Tony was not lame. He was more of a dick when 24 first started. If you remember he was pissed at Jack because he got to tap Nina Meyers before he did. He didn't really become Jack's friend/ally and badass until season 3.

Indeed.

^I think I just had a seizure.

Felix Gaeta on Battlestar Galactica



Chloe Sullivan on Smallville

Henchman 24 -- he can't quite take on Brock Samson yet, but he can hold his own in a fight with him.

Nog and Rom on DS9 -- Nog didn't exactly become a badass, but he was a competent Starfleet officer by the end, while Rom went from Quark's bumbling sidekick to a quirky engineer who occasionally made Starfleet engineers go, "Whoa."

You should look at Took a Level in Badass on TV Tropes.

EDIT: looking at TV Tropes reminds me of one of the greatest examples of all time -- Neville Longbottom, going from a complete wimp in the first Harry Potter book to one of the most important players in the final battle of the seres.

Hudson(Bill Paxson) in Aliens. Don't know if it counts as he started off as very braggadocios then under seemingly unsurmountable odds wanted to turn tail. But he ended going down in a blaze of glory.

Eric from True Blood

Desmond from Lost -- not so much a badass, but thought he was kinda lame when he was introduced in the Hatch. Turned out to be the most interesting character on the show.

not tv, but...

He didn't exactly start out as lame, but Avon from Blake's 7 certainly became something of a badass over the course of the series, especially in the fourth series.

I would pick Ronnie Gardocki over Dutch.

Gus Fring from Breaking Bad