Badass Family

The family that kicks ass together, stays together.


"Holy crap that family is awesome."
—Max, The Fancy Adventures of Jack Cannon

You have your Badasses, your Little Miss Badasses, your Badass Grandpas, and your Badass whatevers, etc.

But then there is the Badass Family. Awesomeness seems to be either inherited, instilled at an early age, or both. There is at least one Wall of Weapons somewhere in the household. Nearly every member of the family could kick ungodly amounts of ass. They may be Super Heroes or Badass Normals in a Super Family Team. Even the cute little 5-year-old child could do things that would net most professional soldiers a Medal Of Honor or similar medal—and s/he does this kind of stuff daily. But the real magic of this family? Their indestructibility as a team. As strong as any member may be individually, when fighting together, their strengths balance their weaknesses and they support each other to the bitter end - and meanwhile will remind each other to pick up the groceries.

Needless to say, take on this family, or threaten one of its members, at your own peril—and don't be surprised when you lose badly to them.

On account of their (usually) unspoken reliance on The Power of Love, the Badass Family tends to be good guys, though maybe more Chaotic than Lawful. The matriarch is likely to be an Action Mom. Even if she's not, she'll surely be a Mama Bear. Any kids they might have will be in distinct age groups - only one baby, or one "kid", or one teenager, unless there's a twin, in which case watch out. Harming the children of a Badass Family is generally a VERY bad idea.

Compare: The Family That Slays Together.

A Badass Family minus the family equals the Badass Crew. A Badass Family minus the children is a Battle Couple. A Badass Family that stays badass over many years through descendants is called a Heroic Lineage. Some Master Apprentice Chains can also be depicted like this.

Examples of Badass Family include:

Anime & Manga

  • The Middlefords in Black Butler. All of them. Including Elizabeth
  • Most of the members of the Takamachi family in Triangle Heart 3 ～sweet songs forever～ are martial artists or ninja, and some have even taken on terrorist organizations and won. Even the Token Mini-Moe of the family gets to become a badass in her own Spin-Off show, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha.
    • And it gets bigger. Kyouya eventually marries his childhood friend Shinobu, a Japanese Vampire. Meanwhile, Nanoha officially adopts Vivio, a Clone Jesus Of Mass Destruction.
    • There's also Hayate and the Wolkenritter. They aren't actually biologically related, but they have a very definite "family" dynamic nonetheless. They're also easily the most powerful group in the series. May God be with you if the Yagami family shows up to kick your ass.
      • And while we're on the subject, it seems the the Nakajima family has absorbed any convertable Number Cyborg Girl that they can. Nove Nakajima is befriending Einhart Stratos; aka Belkan Ruler Ingvalt in cute little girl form; and should Dark King Ixpellia (again, in cute little girl form) wake up; she's going to make a beeline to being adopted by Subaru.
      • Admiral Lindy Harlaown has a biological son, Chrono, and ends up adopting Fate, who later adopts Caro and Erio. Fate also serves as Vivio's other mommy.
    • The Huckebein family is an (extremely) villainous example.
  • The Zaoldyeck family from Hunter X Hunter are a family of super-assassins who are so badass that they let the location of their spacious mountain estate be common knowledge, and the giant, snazzy front gates to their property are actually a tourist attraction. Their actual mansion is hidden in a dense forest, and you have to get past a 10-foot-tall attack dog automated killing machine and a small army of Battle Butlers before you stand a chance at actually finding it.
  • The Nanayas from Tsukihime are definitely a family of badasses, hunting down demon-hybrids with nothing more than minor psychic abilities and ordinary weapons. The head of the clan slaughtered dozens of people with nothing more than a pair of metal sticks. Although, the things they do to keep their psychic abilities in their bloodline is Squick.
  • The Ds of Pet Shop of Horrors are all master illusionists who can converse with the animals they sell (which are what you'd expect), and at least one of them knows magic kung fu.
  • The Lupin dynasty. Arsène the First is the archetypical Gentleman Thief with all that that implies, and his grandson is a Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Kaitou who has been known to hold his own against a sword while armed with only a wrench. Any attempts made by the police to capture them tend to fail, usually embarrassingly.
  • The Sons are an extended Badass Family. Goku's the hero of the world and his sons and granddaughter are usually quite competent, but his wife, father-in-law, adopted grandfather, daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law's father are all world-class martial artists in their own right. His father too and Vegita's and Bulma's also to some extent.
  • One Piece:
    • The Monkeys (and Portgas D. Ace)]]. The eldest, Monkey D. Garp is called the Hero of the Marines. He's strong enough to hurl cannonballs as if they were baseballs, and when he does, they're faster than they would be if fired by actual cannons. Garp was powerful enough to corner freaking Gold Roger, the god damn PIRATE KING!
    • Not much has been revealed about Garp's son, Monkey D. Dragon. But what has been revealed is impressively badass. He's the most wanted criminal in the entire world. Why? Because he's started a revolution against the World Government.
    • Whitebeard almost beat the marines in a war. The marines consider Dragon even more dangerous than him!
    • By the time Captain Smoker first appeared, he was the most badass character seen thus far and easily defeated Luffy. As he was capturing him, daddy Dragon makes his appearance. All Dragon does, is talk calmly as he hold on to the jutte Smoker had on his back, and the tough Marine Captain is practically pissing his pants.
    • Monkey D. Luffy himself, our hero, the man with the 400 million bounty. Within a year, Luffy defeated the strongest pirates of the East Blue, kicked the asses of two Warlords of the Sea, saved three separate nations and a city from destruction, punched out a Celestial Dragon, and successfully attacked all three of the world governments most heavily defended bases. One of them, he attacked twice
    • Portgas D. Ace, Luffy's older brother by adoption. within the first year of his pirate career, he was offered the chance to become one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. And fought Jinbe for five days without rest. And then he joined Whitebeard's crew. And his actual father is Gold Roger, the Pirate King. Plus his mom held him in her womb for 20 months out of sheer force of will.
    • And, Ace isn't Luffy's only sibling. His other brother Sabo is the Number Two in Dragon's army, his most notable feat (well, the most notable feat witnessed) crashing the Block D fight, a tournament where big-name fighters were competing for Ace's priceless Devil Fruit, which had regrown after his death. Sabo clobbered all of them and took it for himself, inheriting Ace's power and becoming even stronger.
    • No information has been given about either Dragon or Luffy's mothers. But in order to attract Garp or Dragon, you have to be a total BADASS.
    • Due to implications that they're all related, you could also say the D's as a whole.
    • Considering that Whitebeard regards every member of his crew as his son, the Whitebeard Pirates can definitely be considered this.
  • Ranma ½ has the Saotomes. The son is a teenaged master of Supernatural Martial Arts, meaning he has Super Strength, Super Speed, a Healing Factor, and is Made of Iron—to the extent that he shrugged off, in a matter of moments, an impact that his opponent was certain had shattered every bone in his body. The father trained the son to be as good as he is, could originally fight him on equal terms and win at least half the time before he started slacking off and was Overshadowed by Awesome, and created two schools of Dangerous Forbidden Techniques, with such tricks as the ability to rip out an opponent's heart and to cut opponents apart with Razor Wind. The mother is something of a Cloudcuckoolander Dojikko, but even her husband is afraid when she reaches for her katana.
    • It also has Shampoo and Cologne, who might be indirect relatives (Shampoo is Cologne's great-granddaughter), but are still Badass. The former is a Hot Amazon with Boobs of Steel who is the most formidable fighter amongst Ranma's fiances, while the latter is a Miniature Senior Citizens Old Master and Trickster Mentor who can take out Pantyhose Taro with one wave of her staff.
    • While in another series they would be considered pretty Badass, the Kuno and Tendo families aren't really qualified for this trope even if one takes into account the fact that they are Overshadowed by Awesome. Tatewaki and Kodachi Kuno are both Joke Characters in anime/manga form, while their father has no fighting skill of his own and instead uses bombs and tricks to mess with people. In the Tendo family, only Akane and her father Soun have any fighting skills (and Soun seems to have much less then his daughter), while the other daughters consist of Nabiki "The Barnum" Tendo, who almost got herself killed the first time she tried to actually plan to swindle money from somebody instead of capitalizing on a chance event, and Kasumi Tendo, who contents herself with looking after the housework and leaving the chaos to Akane and Ranma.
  • The Elrics and the Armstrongs. Even Alex Armstrong's meek and shy little sister can effortlessly lift a piano over her head with one hand USING THE METHOD THAT HAS BEEN PASSED DOWN THE ARMSTRONG LINE FOR GENERATIONS!
    • The Homunculi and Father are related to the Elrics by blood thanks to Hohenheim so anyone related to Hohenheim is a Badass by default.
    • And since those serving under Armstrong at Fort Briggs are thought of and treated as family, Buccaneer falls under the Armstrong qualification of Badass Family.
  • The Magari family of Nora
  • The Ushiromiya Family of Umineko no Naku Koro ni also qualifies as a Big Screwed-Up Family, oddly enough. Grandfather Kinzo has no talent for magic, but through several years of research and determination, managed to become a master summoner. He may not be able to use magic to even heat water to brew tea, but can summon a demon able to boil an ocean. Eva is very skilled at martial arts, and Eva-Beatrice may be a sadist who likes to kill people in gruesome ways, but is pretty badass herself. Rosa managed to put a fight with a army of goatmen with only a gun, a purse, a pen and a gold bar. Jessica and George are Normal Badasses able to channel Supernatural Martial Arts with sheer willpower. And there's Battler aka, the Endless Sorcerer.
  • The Steam Family from Steamboy. Mrs. Steam even manages to clock one of the bad guys with a pillow.
  • Sango, Kohaku, and their father came from a badass village. Then there's also Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru, and their father. And let's not forget Sesshoumaru's mother, a youkai queen.
  • The Black Siblings. That is all.
  • Sakura Li, Syaoran Li, and the "twins", Syaoran Jr. (birth name Tsubasa) and "Watanuki", birth name also presumably Tsubasa. Enough said.
  • Baccano!: The Gandor brothers, including and especially the adopted and little-known fourth one you might recognize as Claire Stanfield.
  • Thorfinn's family in Vinland Saga, starting with Thorfinn we move up to Thors his father then on his mother's side her father Sigvaldi, Chief of the Jomsviking and her Uncle Thorkell the Tall. His mother herself for being able to cow Thors back when he was the Norse equivalent of an Arrogant Kung Fu Guy, and his sister Ylfa who is more than capable of taking care of herself, quickly joining in on the whale hunts.
  • Mahou Sensei Negima: We have Badass Teacher Negi, Nagi (his invincible father), Chao (his descendant from 100 years in the future), and Arika (his Badass Princess mother)..
    • The Konoe family too. The patriarch is the Headmaster of Mahora and a Cool Old Guy, his son-in-law Eishun was a close friend and fighting companion of Negi's dad Nagi, Eishun's wife who hasn't been seen but is mentioned to be a Magic Knight and currently Walking the Earth, Eishun's daughter Konoka is a powerful White Magic user and healer in her way to become a Magistra Magi, and said daughter's girlfriend childhood friend and bodyguard Setsuna is a badass Action Girl and Konoka's Ministra..
  • Most of the Joestar line from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is well acquainted with ass-kicking. Joseph Joestar and his grandson Jotaro Kujo even make it an inter-generational thing in Part 3.
  • The Jurai royal family in Tenchi Muyo. The 'normal' members are ludicrously powerful by most standards (e.g., the king usually doesn't bother with bodyguards because he doesn't need them), while several of them are actually gods/goddesses -- Tenchi is the avatar of a cosmic entity more powerful than the three goddesses that created the universe and Sasami is actually Tsunami, one of the three goddesses that created the universe.
  • Somehow, the Hargreaves Family of Count Cain strikes me as badass... Sure, they don't have a knack for Shounen fighting, but Cain, Alexis and their closer relatives are/were devout poison collectors, Alexis upgraded a leetle occult club to something to be feared and Augusta was a Magnificient Bitch that was behind it all. I'd call that badass. Oh, and little Merryweather is a fortune teller.
  • Nonhuman example from Pokémon Special. Red's Pika, Yellow's Chuchu, and their kid, Gold's Pich. Because nothing says badass family more than having all three of them launching themselves into the air on a surfboard to finish off a massive Kyogre-shaped blob of energy with a triple Volt Tackle. The surfboard is technically part of the family, due to it being part of Pika via the Substitute move.
  • Bleach
    • ... turns out Ichigo's not the only badass. Who would've thought that Doting Parent Isshin Kurosaki would turn out to be a former Captain-level Shinigami? And don't even get me started on chapter 397. Squee indeed.
    • The Kuchiki clan should also qualify, even though only two ever make an appearance. Captain Byakuya is an absolute no-brainer, while adoptive sister Rukia, a main character, begun as a lowly unseated officer (though she had the skills to be seated) and spent much of the Soul Society arc as a Damsel in Distress, but she Took a Level in Badass in the following arc by taking on a (wounded) 6th Espada and killing the 9th, nearly dying in the process. Byakuya's grandfather, Ginrei, who appeared in the Turn Back the Pendulum arc, was the head of the Sixth Division before Byakuya.
    • Though he's the Big Bad of the filler arc, Kouga extends this one more level, and Muramasa stretches it by way of being his zanpakutō.
    • In the recent chapters, Rukia is now a lieutenant of of her squad.
  • Naruto
    • Most characters belong to one established ninja clan or another, many possessing natural or artificial mutations apart from the standard ninja-wizard training that virtually every character goes through. Also, it's often emphasised that the ninja villagers, the Leaf villagers in particular, treat each other as family, meaning this trope can extend to virtually the entire cast. Even many of the main villains would be badass black sheep of a huge ninja family.
    • To say nothing of Naruto himself, whose father is one of only two ninja in history to be given a "flee on sight" order in the Bingo book, and whose mother's chakra had the special property of being able to chain, restrain, and contain the most powerful of the Bijuu, who are already established as the measuring stick by which all other creatures power is measured. Also she did this mere minutes after giving birth AND having the beast ripped out of her, normally a fatal action. They both then stopped the demon's claw from killing Naruto by putting themselves in it's way, as close to obliterating their torso's as possible, and still managing to complete the jutsu used to seal the beast into Naruto. A jutsu which the Sandaime, known as the "God of Shinobi," barely had enough power to seal away a mere mortal's arms and two already dead souls. (Said Sandaime was by that point far past his prime: a fight in which he defeated two of the strongest ninja in history and a major antagonist was described as "miserable" in comparison to his former abilities.)
    • Then there are the three sand siblings, Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara. All three start out in the series as very talented ninja, especially Gaara, who has one of the tailed beasts sealed inside of him. Adding to that is the fact that their father was the leader of the sand village. All three have become even more powerful post-Time Skip, and Gaara has become the new Kazakaga. Also, three of them are in their teens, with Gaara being the youngest.
  • Rosario + Vampire
  • Acrobunch gives us the Randou family. All of which are accomplished explorers and pilot the title mech.
  • The Legend of the Legendary Heroes has the Eris siblings.
  • The Hellsing family is full of noblemen and vampire hunters, with the most recent three generations being able to control the most powerful vampire ever after great-granddad Abraham flattened him personally.
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Ikari family. Let's see: boy is the textbook example of Beware the Nice Ones, girl is the resident Apocalypse Maiden, father is The Chessmaster while the mother is... well... you don't want to know.

Expanding the parameters to "family friends and associates", boy's caretaker is an Action Girl and genius tactician, boy's other partner is a Fiery Redhead who can wipe armies when she's in the adequate mood and position, caretaker's best friend and father's lover is a Hot Scientist with genius-like intellect inherited from her mom alongside the "father's lover" deal, caretaker's ex-boyfriend kept his cool in any situation including his own death, and kid who has Ho Yay with the boy is a freaking Angel in human form.

  • The Furunji family in Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple. Grandfather Hayato's nickname is the Invincble Superman, the granddaughter Miu is no slouch, The father is the head of Yomi and the mother was a Pregnant Badass.
  • The Kabuto family from Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger, featuring badass super robot pilot Kouji Kabuto and his Mad Scientist grandfather Juuzo, as well as another badass super robot pilots Tetsuya Tsuurugi and Jun Hono, who are adopted children of Kouji's father, Kenzo, who is also someone you do not want messing up with (and who somehow manages being both an Abusive Parent and a Papa Wolf). Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-hen has an addition to it in form of Tsubasa, ruthless leader of powerful criminal organization and master strategist, who is both Kouji's mother and Tetsuya's sister.
  • Speed Racer: The Racer family. Pops was a wrestling champ in his highschool days and has gotten bigger and stronger since. Rex and Speed are both talented fighters, and Spritle can make grown men regret messing with him.

Comic Books

  • The Marvels.
  • The Fantastic Four. Utterly dysfunctional when things are quiet, nightmare of cosmic beings when things get rough.
  • X-Men: The Summers' have an extensive and Tangled Family Tree. Every family member can kick ass: they are poster children for eugenics. To elaborate: Daddy was a space pirate. His three (confirmed) sons are two superhero team leaders and a supervillain who conquered his own space empire.

His grandchildren include (but may not be limited to) a world-conquering time-travelling messiah so powerful he was able to fight the Silver Surfer to a standstill while simultaneously repairing all the collateral damage from their confrontation, a time-travelling celestial avatar who fought Galactus to a standstill, a trans-dimensional messiah and a world-class supervillain. Known spouses/girlfriends include another celestial avatar, the daughter of the Big Bad, a supremely Badass mercenary, an insane galactic warlord, a Catgirl space pirate, and Deadpool (sort of).

Oh, and his daughter-in-law regularly becomes a living avatar of wanton galactic destruction, dies, and comes back to life. When she's not busy running the universe from beyond the bounds of space and time, anyway.

  • The Diggers family from Gold Digger is made of this trope. You've got the Adventurer Archaeologist Gina, her adopted werecheetah and bodyguard sister Brittany who can run at mach speeds, the third sister Brianna who's known for making her own power armor and being a crack shot with a gun besides, the parents, an archmage (Theo) and the greatest warrior and martial artist of a parallel fantasy world (Julia), then finally Stripe, Brittany's husband, who's the apprentice of their world's superman after being bonded to some alien artifacts... from his world, he being an alien prince. Oh, and then there's young Tiffany, it's just a matter of time before she grows her badass wings ^^
  • The Furst Family. I mean, come on. Julius and Augustus, the family's patriarchs, are pushing 70 and still inventing new technologies (Augustus) and kicking crazy ass (Julius). Although, admittedly, Julius and Augustus are the only Fursts to actually be Fursts; Nick and Natalie are the kids of Gus' third wife and one of his greatest enemies, and thus Astra (daughter of Natalie and Rex Zaurus, son of one of his other greatest enemies) isn't related to them, either.
  • The Phantom is a long line of Badasses. Killing one just means their heir will come after you later.
  • Apollo, Midnighter and Jenny Quantum. What's the only thing in the Wildstorm universe more badass than Apollo and Midnighter? Their adopted daughter Jenny, the embodiment of the 21st century who took over as their boss at the age of eight. As a family, they are so awesome they're terrifying.
  • The Bat-Family:
    • Start with patriarch Bruce Wayne aka Batman, the Badass Normal. He's adopted three sons and a daughter: Nightwing aka Dick Grayson, the original Robin, and the undisputed leader of a generation of superheroes; bitter middle son Red Hood aka Jason Todd (formerly the second Robin), with Batman's badassery and none of his mercy; Tim Drake (the third Robin), following in his adopted father's footsteps so closely that it's difficult to separate the treads; Cassandra Cain, Batman's sole adopted daughter, former Batgirl, now Blackbat and the world's single best martial artist, who can wipe the floor with all four of them. Probably at once.
    • Then we have his actual biological children: Damian Wayne who is badass by default; Terry McGinnis as the son who eventually goes on to not only become the Batman but the leader of the Justice League; and the Huntress, Helena Wayne, Batman's AU daughter with Catwoman who was too badass to be 'Bat-anybody' after her mother's death.
    • You've also got the Fire-Forged Friends: Barbara Gordon, the original Batgirl, and current hacker supreme and Handicapped Badass Oracle; and Stephanie Brown, third and current Batgirl, who won't stop being a superhero. Not even if you ask, tell, torture, or otherwise encourage her otherwise. Even the dog, Ace, is a Badass. That's not counting Badass parents, children, servants and baby mommas like Huntress, Catwoman, Batwoman, Commissioner Gordon, Talia al Ghul, and Alfred. Any one of whom could kick your ass so hard that it turns inside out. Oh, and Superman's always willing to babysit. Even though technically, only Batman, Robins, Cass, and Damian are related, crime fighting brings them all together as a family. Gotham wouldn't be the same without any of them.
  • And what about Superman himself? There's his cousin, Kara Zor-El (aka Supergirl), half-clone and adopted brother, Kon-El (Superboy) and adopted son, Chris Kent (who'd better get to grow up to be Superboy), and his friggin' DOG, Krypto. And if you want to count best friends and family of same, well... look above. And then run.
    • In the Generations series (as the name implies), Superman, Batman, and several other heroes have children with some intermarrying between the lines. Batman actually acquires immortality and superpowers and marries Superman's great granddaughter (who is centuries old by this point but, like him, ages very slowly after adulthood.)
    • Chris actually becomes Nightwing.
  • Along the same line is the other Badass Normal family - Clan Arrow. Though, it might be better not to ask how many kids Ollie has actually sired.
  • Even though Jaime Reyes is the only one with powers, his entire family have done badass things. His mother talked down Guy Gardner, and his father beats Mooks with his cane. According to Fanon, his little sister is going to be a Green Lantern one day.
  • The Umbrella Academy.
  • Arguably, the Parker family from Spider-Man. Obviously, there's Peter Parker himself but it doesn't stop there:
    • His parents areRichard and Mary Parker, SHIELD agents who worked for Nick Fury and once saved Wolverine's life.
    • Peter's uncle Ben fought in World War II and told his nephew stories of Captain America (comics) (it's not certain if he met Cap personally or just knew of him). There is also the pre-Spidey story in which Ben and Peter escaped from a giant monster.
    • His Aunt May once poisoned the Chameleon and was gutsy enough to swipe Wolverine's cigar and tell him to smoke outside.
    • His wife Mary Jane was no slouch in the badass department either since she once handled a hostage crisis and cold-cocked sleazy Daily Bugle reporter Nick Katzenburg.
    • Then there's the Marvel Comics 2 reality in which Peter has Plucky Girl daughter May (aka Spider Girl). Ben Reilly, ex-killer clone Kaine, and Ben's son Reilly Tyne. And Baby Ben will probably go into the family business, too.
      • In yet another alternate future, (Earth X timeline), Peter has another version of May who is no less badass and still takes up superheroing.
  • Also arguably, the House of M, although just who counts (*coughmagicchildrencough* ) is still in flux, and they're just as likely to fight each other than you.
  • What about the West/Allen family? Barry Allen, Wally West, Bart Allen, and a whole slew of adopted speedsters like Johnny Quick, Max Mercury, and the original Flash Jay Garrick. Barry's been dead for twenty years, but he doesn't let that keep him down. at least until Final Crisis, wherein Barry returned to life.
  • Please, don't fuck with the family of Casanova Quinn! His father runs E.M.P.I.R.E., his twin sister is a top agent of W.A.S.T.E. and Casanova himself isn't afraid to kill, mess with reality, get high on super drugs or even turn himself into his twin sister to make things go his way.
  • The Banner family. We have Bruce, his cousin Jen, his (sadly deceased) wife Caiera, and his children, Skaar, Hiro, and Lyra.
    • And with recent developments, we now have Red She-Hulk aka Betty Ross joining the team, with buddies Rick Jones (A-Bomb) and Korg rounding out this Badass Crew. If you weren't fucked when Hulk got back, you will be.
    • There's also Bruce's father-in-law General Thunderbolt Ross (aka Red Hulk).
    • It's also been heavily implied, though never confirmed, that Carmilla Black, the current Scorpion and daughter of Monica Rappaccini (the head of AIM), is also Bruce's daughter.
  • The Ninja Turtles, depending on the universe. The Turtles themselves are never confirmed to be related, but they consider each other brothers and Splinter their father. The 2003 cartoon and 2007 movie especially make this clear. In the '80s cartoon, however, they tend to act more like a Badass Crew with an Old Master.
    • Lampshaded in Turtles Forever, where the '87 turtles are startled to hear the '03 turtles refer to Splinter as "Father".
  • The Hall family. Includes two Hawkpersons, one Helm of Nabu-bearer, and the incumbent anthropomorphic personification of dreams.
  • One of the main families from "Fables". Snow White and Bigby Wolf, the former Big Bad Wolf, are now married. They have seven children—six shapeshifters and one invisible zephyr. Bigby's father is the North Wind, and Snow's sister, Rose Red, is a battle-ready wild child. This family could (and does) wreak some serious damage when they have to.
  • Mack "Clownface" Delgado and his daughter Panda from Body Bags. His partner and honarary brother Pops Sekula acts as the Badass Grandpa to Mack's Badass and Panda's Little Miss Badass Daddy's Girl.
  • The Metabarons. Each male member of the family tree is so badass it's almost ridiculous: it begins with Othon, who kills an army of 1500 armored guys equipped with laser rifles with a knife, and it ends with Nameless, who's got implanted with bombs that make nukes look like petards, and can destroy entire universes almost at will...
    • Honorata is Badass herself too. She's a trained assassin and possesses mental power that can bend space and time.
  • The Endless from The Sandman definitely qualify. They are all siblings that are more powerful than gods and have been around almost since the beginning of everything. When a family consists of the anthropomorphic personifications of Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair, and Delight/Delirium, it's a good idea to stay as far away as is (in)humanly possible.
  • Nemesis the Warlock is undeniably badass, being a powerful Magic Knight, holder of one of the deadliest swords in the galaxy And fused with a member of the ABC Warriors, greatest robot warriors in history. His uncle Baal, while old and rather out of his mind, is said to be an even more powerful wizard than him. It's often said that female Warlocks are much more powerful and dangerous than males and Nemesis' wife Chira lives up to that title. Their son Toth is insanely powerful having inherited his mother's powers after her death and adopts Satanus, a gigantic tyrannosaur who once fought Judge Dredd himself, as his pet. Nemesis' second wife, Magna, also quallifies, being able to give Chira a run for her money and having magic powerful enough to make Nemesis stop caring about war with Termight. And her father was once a powerful wizard. Nemesis kills Magna the moment he finds out about her part in Chira's death, but it was after they got married.
    • Satanus' family is pretty badass itself, being made of tyrannosaurs and all - aside from him there is his mother, Old One Eye, who has fought time-travelng cowboys, and his son, Golgotha, fought the ABC Warriors, a team of deadly robots. And if thought of as a family, rather than a Badass Crew, the ABC Warriors themselves are this and have a connection to Nemesis' family.
  • The Carter lineage most definitely qualifies. While Peggy Carter fought with the French Resistance in World War II, her niece Sharon continues the kick-assery in the modern day, often teaming with Captain America to fight bad guys.
    • In the Marvel Comics 2 continuity, there's also Sharon's niece, Shannon Carter, who becomes "American Dream", a proud and worthy successor to Cap's shield.


Film

  • The |Parks. True, for most of the movie they're shown as bumbling idiots...until they meet up with the giant mutant that killed their youngest member. Cue the slow-motion and the classical music as they take turns stabbing, burning, shooting, and impaling it...while standing unprotected in a cloud of toxic gasses.
  • The Corleones. Except for Fredo.
  • The Cortez family from Spy Kids.
  • The family in The Mummy Trilogy. Except for Jonathan, but he does try.
  • Likewise the Zorro sequels, although they suck.
  • The McClanes.
  • The Addams
  • The Marshall family from Up, Up, and Away, though some of them were old enough to be past their badass prime.
  • Tremors: Gummer family in the first movie. Sequels have Burt being badass by himself.
  • Kick-Ass: Hit-Girl and Big Daddy.
  • The Skywalker/Solo family, complete with two badass Action Moms! Lampshaded in later years by Genre Savvy villains, who make it a priority to hamper the family's ability to compare notes and coordinate their efforts. Allana beat Aurra Sing, a dark Jedi/bounty hunter, at the age of four (with help from her father).
  • The Incredibles (pictured). Action Mom, baby, kid, teen: check, check, check, and check.
  • The Shafts. Given that in a mid 90's movie adaptation the titular Shaft is the nephew of the original and played by Samuel L. Jackson, being Badass is a given.
  • The McManuses.
  • There is the family that takes keeping up with the Joneses to a whole new level. The family that the Fuhrer declared war on? Not including friends of the family which include (but may not be limited to) a Determinator kid, John Rhys-Davies, and a few Oxford professors and federal agents, just to recap...
    • Dr. Henry Jones Sr. a Crazy Awesome Badass Bookworm who takes out Nazis with fake Ming vases, ballpoint pens, an umbrella and a knowledge of Charlemagne's writings.
    • Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones Jr. also known as Mr. "Hey let's take a poll on who here has survived an atomic bomb. Oh wait, that would be me, Superman and the Hulk". Let the record show that this man has bested a tank and three Nazi trucks in one sitting, a Dragon in every film, aliens, supernatural forces, light sensitive rocks, angry natives and once stood face to face with Hitler, and got his autograph. BAD. ASS.
    • Henry "Mutt" Jones the Third. a Badass Biker who fences against highly trained psychic Russian spymasters, swings around in trees with monkeys and carries a comb with him wherever he goes.
    • And then Marian Ravenwood who (while not technically a true Jones) is the best drinker this side of the Himalayas and was willing to put on a pretty dress just to have the opportunity to knife her friendly captor and escape. She also survives snakes, Nazis, and oh yeah, the wrath of God.
      • She also drove a car through the jungle to rescue herself, Indy, and Mutt from their Communist captors. And ultimately rescued them all by driving off of a cliff and into a river with nary a scratch on any of them. A maneuver which freaked out Indy. Oh, and since she and Indy get married by the end of the fourth movie, it's safe to say she's in the family.
  • Then there are the Mc Candles in Big Jake. Led by guess who?
  • The Racers in the film adaptation of Speed Racer and extended family all apparently know how to deal out some awesome whoopass. Except Sparky.
    • Who still tries and manages to help out in his own way.
  • Tackleberry has founded one in the later Police Academy films. They all sleep with a weapon under their pillow, and woe the burglar that picks their house as a target.

Father: Should we call for backup?
Son: No. We can handle it.


Literature

  • Plenty of families in the Bigtime novels:
    • Father/daughter: Mr. Sage and Fiera.
    • "Johnny Angel" is a hereditary superhero, with three generations of Belluci men playing him, only one of whom has a power and is not a Badass Normal. The lone female, Bella, is not a superhero but has a superpower (luck/electricity).
    • The Quicke/Dash/Caleb family. All but one member of the family (and with regards to her, who knows?) is a superhero.
  • The Shaftoe family in Cryptonomicon are this. And, apparently the same holds true for their ancestors in The Baroque Cycle.
  • From Harry Potter, the Weasleys, including those who married in.
  • The Dresden Files
    • The Carpenters. Dad's the Fist of God, Mom's his sparring partner, blacksmith, and an incredible Mama Bear who assaulted the castle of the Winter Queen, and the oldest kid has a natural talent for magic. Also, they've got direct angelic protection because of the aforementioned "Fist of God" thing. As of the latest book, Ghost Story, the next oldest kid is a Badass Normal who holds his own in a knife-fight against an older, more experienced and super-powered opponent thanks to training from his parents. And surely there's more to come...
    • And that's not even going into what we know about Harry's family. We have a Badass Longcoat wizard who throws around Hellfire on occasion and has an intelligent, highly magical dogasaurus. His mom was an even more badass wizard who flouted the White Council's rules and got away with it. She got it from her father, Ebenezar McCoy, who is now regarded as one of the seven most powerful wizards in the world and is the only member of the White Council allowed to break the Laws of Magic. And then there's Thomas, Harry's long-lost half-brother, White Court vampire, and generally pretty awesome. Better hope he doesn't have any more family hanging around, or the Black Council is going to be crushed, fast.
      • Elaine Mallory (technically Harry's sister since they were both adopted by Justin DuMorne) is also a badass wizard. Magically, she's strong enough to be on the White Council and has a lot of the same intensive training that Harry has. What she lacks in power compared to Harry, she more than makes up for in control and finesse. Just don't think about the part where she's also Harry's former lover.
      • Harry's faerie godmother is the Leanansidhe (goes by "Lea" in a pinch). In the Winter Court, she's second in power only to Queen Mab herself.
      • Even Harry's pets are badass. Mouse is a huge doglike sapient magical being that even members of the White Council respect. Mister is an apparently ordinary (if huge) housecat that somehow manages to cow Mouse.
  • In John C. Wright's War of the Dreaming, there's the Waylock family: three generations (and a distant ancestor) of badass.
  • Philip José Farmer's Wold Newton Family is a mixture of this and Massive Multiplayer Crossover. The family tree includes: Solomon Kane; Captain Blood; The Scarlet Pimpernel; Sherlock Holmes's nemesis Professor Moriarty; Phileas Fogg; The Time Traveller; Allan Quatermain; A.J. Raffles; Professor Challenger; Richard Hannay; Bulldog Drummond; the evil Fu Manchu and his adversary, Sir Denis Nayland Smith; G-8; The Shadow; Sam Spade; Doc Savage's cousin Patricia Savage, and one of his five assistants, Monk Mayfair; The Spider; Nero Wolfe; Mr. Moto; The Avenger; Philip Marlowe; James Bond; Lew Archer; Travis McGee; Monsieur Lecoq; and Arsène Lupin.
  • Raptor Red, her sister and her chicks, and eventually Red's male consort. Which just goes to show that raptors really DO make everything better.
  • In the Star Wars Expanded Universe, the Solo-Skywalker clan. It got to be so obvious than when Jacen Solo became a Sith, his mentor advised him to divide them first, as when they work together they frequently prove to be unstoppable. It still didn't work: his sister, Jaina, working in tandem with Luke, is the one to finish him off.
    • Taken Up to Eleven if you include the Legacy era family ties. The Skywalker/Solo's family tree includes the Fel's (meaning the Antilles, by extension), the Yage family via Morrigan Corde, and the Vos Clan via Rawk. Although they probably won't be on good terms, the Khai family (Fate of the Jedi) will likely come into the mix as well.
  • In Christopher Stasheff's Warlock novels, Rod and Gwen Gallowglass and their four kids are, one and all, in possession of kickass Psychic Powers. Taking on the bad guys is nearly always a family affair.
  • The... Coulter, Asriel, and Silvertongue (can't be plural because none of them have the same last name), with some help from the Parrys.
  • The Murrys of Madeleine L'Engle's Time Quartet.
  • The Abhorsen family.
  • Lazarus Long and his very, very extended family.
    • Oh, very much one of Heinlein's favorite tropes. Consider the family in Friday, where a guy who pilots intercontinental suborbital flights is the underachiever. It gets to the point where Manuel O'Kelly Davis is considered to be the closest thing to an Idiot Protagonist in Heinlein's works: poor dumb Manny was an engineer who discovered (or even helped create) the first artificial intelligence in human history, as well as one of the leaders of a successful war of independence against an enemy several thousand times the size of his nation, but it's not like he was one of Heinlein's more competent heroes...
      • Manny has no fewer than seven artificial arms, only one of which is intended for use at social functions. The man can build practically anything once you show him the diagrams, and was the only competent computer engineer in the mooon. Oh, and he could also run a farm and raise a family. And he was a miner before he lost his arm. And he was a judge for a while. And went to college on Earth. And was the entire government of Luna and sole architect of its foreign policy in the last days of the revolution. And how does Manny get included in this? Because he was one of the four leaders of the revolution, but half of his co-husbands and wives were the next tier down.
  • John Ringo apparently thinks highly of this trope:
  • In the Amelia Peabody mysteries, the Peabody-Emerson family consists of: Badass Archaeologist Radcliff Emerson; his Action Mom wife, Amelia Peabody Emerson, for whom a parasol is a deadly weapon; their son Ramses who reduces even them to quivering terror; foster-child and later daughter-in-law Nefret, who wields a mean knife; and Uncle Sethos, the former Master Criminal! Throw in ferocious Arab in-laws, a Battle Butler and household staff to match and you have a crew feared by enemies of knowledge and justice everywhere.
  • Twilight's Cullen coven. A family of extremely sexy vampires that includes a mind-reader, a psychic, and an emotional sonar. Those that aren't gifted with extra powers are ALL Badass Normals. And they're exceptionally rich. Yeah, they're badass, all right. Jasper could manipulate people's emotions, Edward could delve into the deepest secrets of anyone's mind (save Bella), and Alice can see the future (not to mention all the others). They press in on the enemy from all sides.
    • Carlisle compassion and Esme's love is the glue that keep the family together and Bella completed the family power's vault when she married Edward, with a powerful shield that can protect them all from mind based powers.
  • Discworld
    • The Oggs. Sometimes they're fighting each other, but piss any Ogg off and the rest of the Oggs will come after you too. And there are a hell of a lot of Oggs, including one witch and several Badass Normals.
    • Judging by Thud, the Vimeses are on the way as well.
    • And if/when Carrot and Angua have cu- bab- whatevers, (of which there will be several) AM will have it's own royal werewolf family, raised as dwarfs... Run now.
  • The Verginix family. At least three of the family's members have been sky pirate captains, and one of them, Rook Barkwater, ends up as an equally badass warrior.
  • The family of sorcerers in The Belgariad. Belgarion gets to keep the McGuffin on the pommel of his sword, Polgara combines extreme Mama Bear tendencies with some Heroic Sociopath traits, Belgarath is the most powerful man in the world and is described as being able to rip the tops off of mountains if he really wanted to, Durnik comes back from the dead and sends a Demon Lord back to the underworld by relentlessly pummeling him with a hammer...and that doesn't even start in on the rest of the disciples of Aldur.
  • The Zilwicki family from the Honor Harrington universe by David Weber. Mother Helen took out a Peep taskforce using only a couple of smallerships, dying in the process, to save the unarmed convoy her husband and daughter were on; for it, she was awarded Manticore's highest decoration for valor. Father Anton is a champion wrestler, expert hacker, and master spy. Daughter Helen is a martial arts expert who escaped from super-soldiers and killed three men with her bare hands when she was only 14 years old. Stepmom Cathy Montaigne is an incredibly wealthy noblewoman and House of Commons politician once she resigns the title over a matter of principle; she helps finance ex-slave terrorists in their war against the slavers and is THE galactic expert on slavery. Adopted daughter Berry managed to talk down a planet of revolting slaves and was made their Queen. Adopted son Lars is supposed to be following in Anton's footsteps. And that doesn't even begin to count family friends Master Tye (one of the greatest martial artists in the galaxy), Jeremy X (ruthless terrorist and firearms master), Thandi Palane (the soldier who super-soldiers are afraid of), and Victor Cachat ( Thandi's boyfriend and Haven's hatchet-man), all of whom are incredibly badass in their own special, terrifying ways.
  • Also by David Weber, we have the Caliraths from the Hell's Gate series. Let's see, Daddy's The Emperor, the son is a Warrior Prince, the oldest daughter is a Badass Princess, they get not one but two Badass Creeds and then there is the little matter of the entire family having Psychic Powers.
  • The Vorkosigans. All four generations of them. (Granted, Miles' and Ekaterin's kids just came out of the replicator, but one can safely assume they'll be badasses.)
  • At the end of The Saga of Darren Shan, it is revealed that Steve and Darren are brothers and Mr.Tiny's sons. Badass family that hates eachother.
  • You don't get to see them kicking ass together, but the Starks from George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire are undeniably an example of this trope. First of all, it's grim up north, and did we mention winter is coming? Family patriarch Ned Stark wields a monster sword and a righteous sense of justice; his oldest son Robb becomes a king at age 16, younger daughter Arya repeatedly takes a level in badass on her travels, younger son Bran becomes paralyzed but then learns to mind-meld with his direwolf, and bastard brother or nephew, depending how much fan speculation you believe Jon Snow goes from oath-sworn realm defender to turncloak spy and then becomes Lord Commander of the entire Night's Watch.. And if you wonder where matriarch Catelyn and older daughter Sansa fit in, the first is Back from the Dead (though, uh, wrong) and has become a ruthless Knight Templar who lives and breathes for revenge, and the latter is currently taking Manipulative Bitch lessons from the Big Bad himself.
    • Why stop at the Starks? Every family in the series is a Badass Family. Every single family. Lannisters, Targaryens, Greyjoys, Baratheons, Mormonts, Tullys, Martells, Tyrells, Boltons, even the Freys, in a more devious way; possibly the only family that is not badass is the Arryn family, because it consists of a crazy woman and her epileptic son.
  • The Butlers of Artemis Fowl have a long and storied history. There's a reason they named the word "butler" after them. Most notable are Juliet and the current Butler, Domovoi. He's usually just called Butler.
    • Also the Fowls themselves, although not so much physically. Two criminal genies (Artemis and his dad) and Angeline, though she gets less chance to show it, is hardly a slouch either.
  • No matter how big and tough you are, even if you're a terrifying demon from another plane of existence, it's a very bad idea to mess with anyone named Borenson.
  • JRR Tolkien is full of these, including the house of Finwë (even if they do spend quite some time fighting each other), the House of Elendil, the Children of Hurin and so on. Even the Tooks qualify, compared to other Hobbits that is. As do the Brandybucks.
    • Notably, based on the geneological tables, every single Man and Elf Badass Family is related by marriage, and it all comes down to a point in Aragorn and Arwen, whose children have entirely too much to live up to, being the descendants of every hero the world has known except the hobbits and dwarves.
    • We could just say "Anyone descended from Beren and Luthien" and leave it at that.
  • Tamora Pierce is the queen of this trope. Most characters have, upon conclusion of their personal stories, moved on to found Badass Families if they weren't a part of one already. They include:
    • The Coopers, who at first appeared to just be a really cool guy and his really cool mom, but now has extremely badass ancestors and equally awesome offspring.
    • The Conte house, who aside from being the Royal Family are perhaps the coolest royal family ever. Quote from memory - "Next time you have to go out and chase down bandits, change out of your nice ballgown first, dear?" And, uh, yeah.
    • The Mindelan family, who are like the Weasley clan but with more daughters and cool in-laws and important political figures and Lady Knights.
    • Large parts of the cast also can be clumped together into several different overlapping sets of True Companions.
    • Briar, Sandry, Tris, and Daja are four great mages soul bound to each other and possibly the strongest mage team in the world. And their foster mothers? Great mages. Their teacher/foster father? The most famouse sight mage in the world. Their family friend? Great mage. Sandry's uncle? A badass pirate-fighting duke.
    • Their own students, most of whom are well on their way to badassery themselves. Evumeimei (or Evvy), Briar's stone mage student, has already managed to communicate with fire spirits and save an island from destruction through volcanic eruption.
  • Inheritance Cycle - Eragon and his family are all extremely badass. To wit:
    • Eragon, who is a dragon rider who fights off a Shade in (mostly) single combat, kills thousands of men at a time, and can kill with one of 12 words. Also, his new sword is magically tuned to burst into flame whenever he damn well feels.
    • Roran, his cousin, who embodies the Determinator and Badass Normal tropes. He is a normal man, but he led a farming village on an epic quest to Surda, killed two immensely powerful magicians, killed 193 men in a house-sized pile... it goes on.
    • Selena, Eragon's mother. How awesome is she? Took on twelve expert soldiers with no weapons, and only a healing spell at her disposal. She healed them of what drove them to kill (anger, hate, fear) and then slit their throats with their own daggers.
    • Murtagh, Eragon's half-brother. Also a rider, and is actually a better sword-fighter than Eragon, as well as far more powerful. Personally hands Eragon's ass to him at the end of Eldest, and then goes on to hold his own against Eragon, Saphira, and thirteen elves at once in the next one.
    • Brom, Eragon's father. Killed 3 of the Forsworn personally, had another 4 or so poisoned, and defeated a Rider and Dragon without his own dragon, who had been killed. He is also notable for founding the Varden, the main rebellious organization in the series.
  • The Basheres in The Wheel of Time. Davram, one of the Five Great Captains, Faile, the politically savvy knife-wielding wench. Finally Faile's husband, Perrin Aybara, the hulking, axe/hammer-wielding, 'Wolf King' blacksmith. Her mother, Deira walks into her tent, finds two bad guys in it who attack her, to paraphrase: "...So of course I stabbed one and hit the other with a chair."
  • Nearly everyone in Percy Jackson and The Olympians. Every single one of the demigods has Greek god parentage, which makes them related on technicality to everything and everyone in the Greek Parthenon, and then Percy and Annabeth are shown to have some pretty badass parents, what with Annabeth's dad flying a plane THROUGH THE MIST (both kinds) AND DISTRACTING ATLAS, and Percy's mom and second step-dad defeating several monsters blind.
    • How did Annabeth's father create such a distraction? He slaughtered dozens of monsters in the Titan army with only a plane and gun he made in his garage.
  • The Henrys in Winds of War/War and Remembrance.
  • No Atreides? First of all, the family is descended from Agamemnon. Badass Grandpa died bullfighting. His son Leto leads an army so badass that The Emperor has to relocated them to a desert planet and send his own Badass Army to deal with him. Leto's concubine Jessica is an Action Mom with a Compelling Voice and Flash Step skills. Their son Paul has all the skills of both parents and is a seer, The Emperor, the leader of a Badass Army of Proud Warrior Race Guys (which his concubine Chani is a member of), and The Messiah. Paul's son Leto II is a Nigh Invulnerable God-Emperor.
    • By the time of the later books, the Atreides have spread to much of humanity, including all of the Bene Gesserit (The Siona Gene, which makes someone invisible to seers), but those with stronger connections, such as Miles Teg, still stand out. Teg can accelerate his metabolism, and sense no-ships
  • The Varyl ilian in the One Rose Trilogy. A family group of eleven highly-trained warriors? They have magic that hasn't been seen in a thousand years? Yeah.=
  • Almost any High Lord's House in Codex Alera counts, since they're noble families whose dynasties were established by way of Asskicking Equals Authority. Tavi, his aunt Isana (actually, his mother), his uncle Bernard, and Bernard's wife Amara really take the cake this way... As does the other branch of Tavi's family- the House of Gaius!
  • The Sadiablo family of Black Jewels is a prime example. Family patriarch Saetan Daemon Sadiablo is the strongest male in the history of the Blood until his son Daemon comes along as well as the first Black Widow; he also ruled Hell while he was STILL ALIVE. His sons are a collection of the most terrifying, powerful, brutal, feared males the Blood have ever heard of. Oh, and his adopted daughter is Witch herself. That's not even considering the collection of nieces and nephews he picks up through his connection to Jaenelle.
  • The Wiggins of Ender's Game. The parents are already geniuses, and all of their children are badasses before the even hit their teens. Ender, the military genius who nearly wipes out a starfaring RACE, and Peter and Valentine, who start off with just a blog and eventually manage to rule the world. And if you include Jane as Ender's adoptive "daughter", you get a whole new class of badass.
  • Arutha and his family from the The Riftwar Cycle. He took down Murmandamus, his wife lived with thieves for weeks to escape capture, his twin sons saved Kesh from itself, and his youngest son conquered new land for the Kingdom of the Isles. And if you add in his siblings, it gets even better: his brother Lyam becomes a great king, his half-brother Martin was raised by elves and is freaky good with a bow, and his sister Carline fights as well as a man in Magician.
  • The Kholins from The Stormlight Archive are mostly pretty awesome, Dalinar's a Shardbearer at least until he gave them up and all around awesome fighter, Adolin is ALSO a Shardbearer and awesome duelist, Elhokar is the king and ALSO a Shardbearer, Jasnah is a renowned scholar and has badass innate Soulcasting powers, Navani is a brilliant engineer, and Renarin charged a massive monster of death at one point, despite being one of very few Non Action Guys in the book, Also Renarin now has Shardplate courtesy of Dalinar, awesomness is expected to be upcoming.
    • All of them except Navani have been confirmed via Word of Brandon to have the potential to become Knights Radiant.
  • The Kinnison family from E.E. "Doc" Smith's Lensmen series.
    • Father Kimball Kinnison is the only human Lensman who has learned to use his psionic abilities without his Lens, and without his psychic powers can still defeat a dozen thugs at once.
    • His wife, Clarissa McDougal Kinnison, is at least as powerful as her husband, though she generally doesn't fight (there are two spectacular exceptions in the final novel). She's a nurse and sometimes an infiltrator, and the only woman ever to be made a Lensman.
    • Their children are even mightier, fully capable of coordinating and channelling a massed telepathic assault by a many million mind strong army upon a world of almost unkillable protean aliens. After the kids broke the world's primary mental defences. Alone. All this is justified in-universe in that they are the end result of a breeding programme stretching throughout the entire history of the human race, and their parents are the penultimates.
  • The Royal Family of Amber from The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny. The most murderin', schemin', backstabbin' bunch of Machaivellian bastards around! Hell on other people when they're not killing each other.
  • Tavi's extended family of Codex Alera. Tavi himself is crazy like a fox, his uncle is a potent earthcrafter and woodcrafter, his mother is usually just a healer, but when Tavi is threatened she does things like throw a shark onto the deck of a ship. Then there's Gaius Sextus, who needs no introduction. Then marriages start occurring. Amara is the fastest flyer in the realm, and a Fragile Speedster who's reasonably good with a sword. Araris Valerian is the best swordsman in Alera, and his little brother is up there. Kitai is a good deal stronger than she looks even before she gets furycrafting, and her dad is stronger than he looks as well, and he looks like he bench-presses refrigerators and is bonded to Walker.
  • Those Longknifes.
  • The descendants of Bink in Xanth are all magicians, all slated to be Kings, and all have to go on adventures because something. The series gets pretty silly eventually, but for the first dozen books or so, the family is pretty legitimately awesome.
  • Cthulhu Mythos has children of Idh-yaa, quasi-woman creature from Xoth - Cthylla, who is source of all legends about giant squids, Ythogtha, who has been bind by the Old Ones with seven chains and when first one broke, it caused entire continent of Mu to sink, and two other gods, Ghatanoth and Zoth-Ommog, who remains msytery, but possibly are pretty badass as well, considering who is all four's dad. You might have heard of him, he is quite famous. His name? Cthulhu.
  • Time Scout: Meet Kit Carson, his granddaughter Margo Smith, and her fiance Malcolm Moore.


Live-Action TV

  • The Campbell-Winchesters
    • Which includes the Harvelles and Bobby Singer as well as at least two of:
    • The Angels: Castiel, Gabriel and until she went all Xanatos Gambit: Annael.
  • The Cartwrights of Bonanza.
  • The Bauers (sans Kim).
    • Not true, she busted a cap in a wife-beater and then helped capture the Big Bad in season 3.
  • The Bristows.
    • Also, run if you hear the name "Derevko".
  • The Bartowskis
  • The Reagans of Blue Bloods. With Tom Selleck as The Patriarch no less.
  • The Connors: Sarah (the Action Mom), Kyle & Derek Reese (the resistance fighters), and John who becomes the leader of mankind. Then, depending on whether you consider them a part of the family, there are Ahnold and Cameron, the reprogrammed terminators.
  • The Adamas, both in Battlestar Galactica and its prequel Caprica:
    • William Adama, who's in his sixties at the least, won a brawl with a Cylon man who although sick was strong enough to tear a pipe out of its fittings. He beat him to death, as he'd done to a CENTURION when he was young. He also actively fought in combat to retake his ship from mutineers. Oh, and if you count the Old Man's True Companions, which he explicitly regards as surrogate family: Saul Tigh, Laura Roslin, Chief Tyrol, Karl "Helo" Agathon, Sharon "Athena" Agathon, and Kara "Starbuck" Thrace, who he refers to as a daughter.
    • As for Lee...In or out of the cockpit, you do not mess with him.
    • Sam Adama, who by his job regularly kills people and appears badass and snazzy as he does so. And he is the only Adama family member in the two series so far who is happily married.
    • Even Bill's father Joseph, initially a Non-Action Guy, gets in on the action when he goes Papa Wolf on a Drag Bar filled with gangsters that is standing between him and finding Tamara. The flashback episode The Dirteaters shows little Joseph Adama, killing three soldiers with a handgun, then performing a Mercy Kill on his father. The same episode has Grandpapa Adama describing the Adama family motto to Joseph and Sam, which amounts to "When we start a war, we end it. We don't quit halfway through". Thats right folks. The Adama badasserry is hereditary.
    • Tamara Adama, who goes from meek and frightened girl to full-fledged Badass Adorable in the space of one episode (the first episode, in fact, to feature her prominently at all) and goes on to become something of a legend in cyberspace.
    • Then there's William Adama, who even at age ten, shows he's capable of kicking ass, when he beats the crap out of a (much) older boy who was making racist jeers in his direction.
    • Grandma Ruth, Sam and Joseph's mother, who as an old woman proved capable of taking down an assassin. We then learn that she knew all the assassin's tricks because she had formerly been one herself.
    • The Greystones aren't too bad themselves either.
  • Unlike most seasons (which only get as far as a pair of siblings), Power Rangers Mystic Force had a mother-father-son-niece combo of White-Purple-Red-ally, an unrelated set of fraternal twin girls as Pink and Blue, and the Queen of Vampires and her daughter.
  • The Charmed Ones in Charmed. They are sisters who fight demons on a weekly basis. One can blow stuff up. One can move anything. And the third can do kung fu.
    • Then there's the half-sister, with various Whitelighter powers, including orbing (tranporting), healing, and other angelic/white mage-esque powers.
  • On Heroes, The Petrellis and The Bennets. In the Petrellis, there's Arthur, the father, who can take other people's powers through physical touch. He's in charge of Pinehearst, which recruits people with abilities for nefarious purposes. His wife, Angela (formerly Angela Shaw) who can see the future through dreams, tries to stop him. She also has mysterious connections and is a very strong woman, even without her powers. Angela's long-lost sister, Alice Shaw, can control the weather including lightning and summoning floods. She's a bit crazy, however. Angela and Arthur, have two sons, Peter and Nathan. Peter has "power mimicry" and can copy other people's powers, with various levels of effectiveness throughout the series. He eventually helps save New York from getting blown up by a man with nuclear powers. His future self comes back to the past and shoots his brother, Nathan. His future self has shapeshifting powers and a badass scar. Nathan Petrelli, his brother, is an ambitious anti-hero senator with the power of flight. He is an intense hypocrite, and goes on to try to capture many people with abilities because they're "dangerous". Nathan's biological daughter, Claire, has regenerative powers and helps her uncle, Peter, to save the world. She's a cheerleader and is incredibly tenacious. Claire's biological mother, Meredith Gordon, has pyrokinesis, and eventually sacrifices herself to save Claire, Nathan, and Angela from Sylar. Claire's adoptive father, Noah Bennet, is a Badass Normal man who works for several companies and the government and eventually helps Nathan hunt people with abilities. Flint is Meredith's brother, making him Claire's uncle. She has a really screwed up family once she starts digging into it. This family tree looked like it was going to get even crazier when Angela and Arthur told Sylar that he was their son. That turned out to be a lie.
    • The Nakamuras are a superpowered family but maybe not quite Badass as Hiro's parent's powers don't seem to be immediately useful in a fight (though healing is useful for afterwards.)
    • The Bishops. Elle has electrical powers and her father can do alchemy.
    • The Sanders-Hawkins family. Niki was a Mama Bear with a Super-Powered Evil Side, D.L. can phase through things and was a firefighter, and little Micah can talk and use computers to his advantage. Plus, there's Niki's long-lost sister Tracy who can freeze things and turn into water, and Micah's cousin Monica, who can imitate any physical action.
  • The Tracy family in Thunderbirds
  • The David/Haswari family of NCIS. Ari was a double agent (well, actually, he was more like a triple agent), a doctor, and an assassin. Ziva starts out as an assassin and becomes a talented investigator while working at NCIS, and as for Daddy Eli David? He's the freaking director of Mossad! Admittedly, Ari is a villain and Eli... is not a nice guy either, but they all still qualify.
  • Walter and Peter Bishop of Fringe. Walter's a genius, albeit not entirely sane, whose work is part of what caused the whole story arc of the show. Peter is equally smart, but also very street-smart, and he can fight. Walter even traveled to a parallel universe when his son died to get a new version which apparently had to happen because Peter is the Destroyer of Worlds
  • Dog the Bounty Hunter. That also have pretentions to Real Men Love Jesus.
  • While in Burn Notice Michael Westen is the main Badass of the Westen family, both mom Madeline and brother Nate occasionally show some badassery. Especially Madeline, who's gone from a chain-smoking hypochodriac to taking at least three levels in badass.
  • The Teller/Morrow family of badass bikers in Sons of Anarchy, including Clay, Jax and mama Gemma, none of whom you'd want to cut off on a California highway.
  • Smallville has two examples. The first is Clark and his extended families the Kents and the Els. On the Kent side we have Badass Normal Johnathan Kent, who will do anything to come to his son's defence, from cutting deals with the Fortress AI, to threatening the Big Bad with a shotgun; and Martha, a developing Chessmaster recently outed as Checkmate's adversary, the Red Queen. On the other side, there's his cousin Action Girl Kara Zor-El, his scientist father Jor-El and his clone who Minored in Asskicking, and his Mad Scientist Evil Uncle Zor-El, who among other things, helped blow up Krypton. Then there's Clark himself. The other example would be the villainous Luthors. Between Badass Long Hair and Magnificent Bastard Lionel, his son Lex, a Badass Normal and Evil Genius who becomes Clark's Arch Enemy, and illegitimate daughter Tess Mercer there's a lot of Badass to go around.
  • Doctor Who has The Pond family. Amy fights pirates and tells an army to be afraid of what's coming for them and, in an alternate timeline, lead her own army. Rory is known as the Last Centurion, blew up a Cyberman fleet and generally kicked ass. And Melody grew up to become a woman who makes Daleks beg for mercy. And guess who is married into the family now...
    • The Tylers. Rose killed a Dalek Emperor and spaced the Devil in a human body. "Our" Earth's version of Pete made a Heroic Sacrifice to prevent a time paradox, while "Pete's World" Pete is part of that world's Torchwood (as is Rose, after she ends up there) and fought the Cybermen on both worlds. Jackie (besides being the first person to slap the Doctor) gets to blow up a Dalek herself during series four. Oh, and then there's the half-human clone of the Doctor who Rose finally ends up with...
  • The Tams. Simon broke into a high security Alliance facility to rescue his sister, who by the way can kill you with her brain.
  • Married... with Children: The Bundys are not afraid to kick ass individually or as a family. Even Peggy and Seven get their shots in.
  • Against the Wall: The Kowalski cops. The Papa Wolf Badass Grandpa patriarch, the SWAT team member eldest brother, the two other beat cops and the youngest sister, and Internal Affairs detective. Not to be trifled with.
  • Buffy and Dawn Summers. Buffy is a Slayer, kicking all kinds of vamp and demon butt. And Dawn steps up her game in learning to fight from Buffy. Technically Dawn isn't really a sister so much as a clone but the mystics that created her from Buffy's blood implanted Buffy (and everyone else) with a full set of kid sister memories. Mother Joyce may be a regular amidst the supernaturals, but when Spike threatens Buffy in season 2 she goes Mama Bear and floors him. They also have a badass extended family with Witch Willow, Vamps Angel and Spike, ex-demon Anya, Badass Normals Xander and Giles (who do save the day once or twice) and eventually a whole gang of fellow Slayers
  • Once Upon A Time gives us an interesting version: Snow White and Prince Charming are a Battle Couple in the fairy tale world but have been turned into strangers in the real world, but their long-lost daughter Emma is an Action Girl who goes after bail jumpers. Emma's long-lost son Henry is also proving to be quite the Guile Hero and isn't the least bit intimidated by his adopted mother (step great-grandmother's) bullying, either.


Mythology And Religion

  • Greek Gods - all of them badass, almost all related in one way or another. All children of Zeus were badasses, including several demigod heroes like Heracles, Perseus or brothers Castor And Polidekus. There's also Typhon's family - dad is Eldritch Abomination that make gods flee from Olympus, mom, Echnida, is a giant multiple-headed snake and their children are several well-known monsters, including Cerberus, Hydra and Chimera.


Tabletop Games

  • The Oberlindes Family in Traveller. They are a dynasty of frontier Merchant Princes who rose from being a band of Free Traders to almost Mega Corp status. In the process they had more then one Crowning Moment of Awesome. The most notable was when they bought a war surplus ship, fitted it out with weapons by convoluted and extralegal means and sent it to trade through Vargr space scareing off every corsair with their firepower.
  • Warhammer 40,000
    • The Emperor and his sons. A godlike saviour of humanity, and twenty sons survived being scattered by Chaos across the galaxy, all growing up to be the progenitors of armies of super-soldiers. Shame about the whole Horus Heresy deal.
    • The protagonist of the Enforcer trilogy, Shira Calpurnia, seems to be upholding the family business of Professional Badass. The Calpurnii are from Ultramar, homeworld of the Ultramarines, a famous chapter, even if not the biggest nor the most badass. Calpurnii are rogue traders, Imperial Guard officers, lord admirals, Arbites commanders - Shira had a great cousin who was a fucking Ultramarine Terminator during the first Tyranid invasion. Shira herself is a lethal combatant in hand-to-hand or with a maul and shotgun, and proves repeatedly that solid fucking steel runs in her veins rather than blood. This is even brought up as a point in the story. Another arbiter notes that, by the standards of the Imperium as a whole, Calpurnia has a better pedigree and lineage than virtually all the nobles on Hydraphur.
  • In the BattleTech games's Future History, a half-dozen families and their descendants were so epically badass in both giant mecha fighting and dominating people through sheer testicular fortitude that each family spawned an entire interstellar civilization.
  • The "Action Family" ensemble from the Feng Shui supplement Friends Of The Dragon is essentially this—a Player Character ensemble that kicks ass as a family.


Video Games

  • The Kongs, especially in Donkey Kong 64.
  • The family of Yume Koujou mascots, whatever their surname is supposed to be, in Yume Koujou: Doki Doki Panic.
  • The Belmont family of Castlevania may be the ultimate example. However, since they are rarely portrayed together (only the "side story"-canon Castlevania: Order of Shadows cell phone game, which stars 3 sibling Belmonts in co-operation, Christopher vs. Brainwashed and Crazy Soleiyu in Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge and the completely storyless cross over game Castlevania: Harmony of Despair thus far.), this may be considered closer to a kind of Badass Clan. Considering every time a member of Dracula's family shows up, they're also doing some pretty Badass things, they also probably count. Good thing Alucard has daddy issues.
  • The ENTIRETY of Fire Emblem 4 could be defined by this trope. (Well, this, Brother-Sister Incest and Game Breaker. And occasionally Ship-to-Ship Combat (No Really, that happens. In Game.))
    • The Odo bloodline is the most famous one. It includes: Tsundere Ayra, Fallen Prince Holin, Future Badass Shanan, Cute Bruiser Lakche, and Celice's Lancer Skasaha. And in Thracia we see two more members, the insanely Badass Galzus and his Hot Chick with a Sword daughter Mareeta.
    • The Hezul bloodline, though to be fair Lachesis's kids Delmud and Nanna vary between "just okay" and "awesome" depending on who you pair her with. Then again, we still have Lachesis herself, her half-brother/first love Eltoshan and specially his Black Knight son Aless.
    • What about the Holsety bloodline? We got Levin, and if Thracia 776 is to be trusted, it also includes Sety. And if Sety is in, then so is his sister Phee...
      • If Sety and Phee are in, then their Badass Normal mother Fury counts too.
    • Despite all of their HUGE flaws, the Tordo bloodline members aren't bad either. Patriarch Leptor can handle the Thorhammer rather dangerously and so can son Blume and granddaughter Ishtar, younger or better said middle daughter Tiltyu is a decent spellcaster as well, grandson Ishtore is a pretty good Magic Knight, daughter-in-law Hilda (originally a member of the Fala bloodline) was as powerful as she was damn evil, grandsons Arthur and Amid manages to master other types of magic alongside thunder (in their case, wind and it's slightly implied in other material that Arthur was trained by Levin himself), and granddaughters Teeny and Linda do their best to catch up. The only one we don't see in action is youngest daughter Ethnia, and she's still mentioned to have joined the army to avenge Tiltyu (in the case Tiltyu died child-less) and have mothered the aforementioned Amid and Linda.
    • The Fala bloodline gives us Magnificent Bastard Alvis and his Magic Knight brother Azel, and the aforementioned . Alvis's kids can also be pretty badass, but due to their heritage they more exactly belong in the Lopto bloodline (Julius) and the Narga one (Julia), with the exception of Heroic Bastard eldest son Cyas who is 100% Fala. (An his Hot Mom, Aida, is hinted ti be Alvis's most trusted advisor and a decent fighter in her own right.
    • The siblings Dain and Noba founded their own bloodlines, named after them. The Dains include Trabant and Areone, and the Nobas have Cuan, Altenna and Leaf.
    • The Baldo bloodline gives us Sigurd. And other members include patriarch Vylon, daughter Ethlin (married into the Nobas, thus also bringing her own family in), son Celice, daughter-in-law Diadora who belongs to the Narga and Lopto lines and then is Brainwashed into joining the Fala one.
    • Blaggi bloodline is a little more shady, but still qualifies. The leader is the clairvoyant White Mage Claude, among the most powerful healers in the first generation; then we have Sylvia, who may be either his sister or his cousin, but is still a long-lost member and a Spoony Bard with high resistence and a very decent capability as a support unit. Whether Sylvia's kids Corpul and Leen are badass or not, eh, it seriously depends on who's their daddy, but they're still badass enough to join Celice's adventures.
    • Ulir bloodline now. We don't really know if daddy Ring fitted in, but The Archer eldest daughter Bridget and White Mage younger daughter Adean definitely do. Their kids (Faval, Patty, Lana and Lester) depend a lot on their dad's heritage, but if the Dads are the right ones they definitely count, and like Leen and Corpul they still are badass enough to help Celice directly.
  • More than one of these shows up in Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, too.
    • Renais: Daddy King Fado may have kicked the bucket early, but we have his children: Badass Princess Eirika and The Ace Ephraim. Their entourage and associates include Seth the Silver Knight and three Knights, Kyle and the brothers Franz and Forde, who can grow into phenomenal charas if used well and are the sons of a long-deceased Knight who was pretty badass, if the records are believed. Aside of this, we have Garcia the Retired Badass and his son Ross, the Poster Boy for Magikarp Power.
    • Frelia: Daddy King Hayden is a Reasonable Authority Figure and an expert at Bow and Sword in Accord, son Innes is a former Child Prodigy turned into both Guile Hero and The Archer, daughter Tana is a Plucky Girl who evolves into a badass Pegasus Knight and prospect Dragon Rider. Associates include the Pegasus Sisters Vanessa and Syrene, Stone Wall Genius Bruiser Gilliam and Staff Dude Moulder who can be promoted into Bishop or Sage depending on your choice.
    • Jehanna: Queen Ismaire may have met a rather sad end in-story, but she was the highest Guildmaster and leader of the Jehannian mercenary guilds, ruled Jehanna alone and very wisely when her husband died, and when unlocked she's a pretty competent Lady of War. Her son Joshua is strongly hinted to not be a slouch on swordfighting either. If you count True Companions as family we have Gerik's mercenary, with Team Dad Gerik as the biggest example AND his friends/followers Saleh, Tethys, Ewan and Marisa following eagerly.
    • Grado: In royalty fields we have Emperor Vigarde, a wise leader who was also a Genius Bruiser even when he Came Back Wrong as an Empty Shell. Son Lyon is a genius-level dark magic user and maybe one of the most powerful magicians alive in that whole universe, period. Too bad It Got Worse. In other fields we have Sunstone Glen, already a top general in the Grado Army, and his brother Cormag who can be recruited into your army.
    • Rausten: While Pontifex Mansel was a Non-Action Guy, he was Genre Savvy enough to mantain a Church Militant army in his surroundings. The badass fighting part comes with his niece and heiress L'Arachel, the most badass White Magician Girl in that world, who can become a very powerful Lady of Black Magic when promoted. Let's not forget her guardian, either: he might have pathetic dodge, but Dozla is still a pretty strong axe user.
  • The Reeds, from Fire Emblem 7. Patriarch Brendan Reed is a Worthy Opponent who founded his own guild of assassins, and a pretty nice guy, if something of an Unwitting Pawn, when he's not burying an axe in your head. His second wife (much younger than he), Sonia, is a Lady of Black Magic Matriarch who's up there with Lust in terms of sexy evil. Brendan's two sons from his first marriage are disciplined master Lloyd and Blood Knight Linus, loyal only to their father and his best killers. Finally, Brendan and Sonia have an adopted daughter, Nino, a card-carrying Woobie Magical Girl Warrior with Magikarp Power. And if we're counting her biological family, her uncle is the resident Game Breaker. Brendan's first wife's identity is unknown, but she was probably very awesome indeed.
    • And one ending has that Nino marries Jaffar, one of the most powerful members of the Black Fang, so he'd be in there too.
      • And their sons, who are both extremely good with their chosen schools of magic.
      • Can't forget Canas, his mom Niime, and his son Hugh.
    • Other families would include the Lords families (Lyn, Eliwood and Hector, as well as their entourages) given who they can marry, and their kids. It applies to all Pegasus rider sisters as well (Thany, Thite and Yuno in the sixth game; Fiora, Farina and Florina in the seventh), and Karel's family (Karel himself, younger sister Karla, Karla's rival-turned-husband Bartre, and daughter Fir).
  • Arguably Greil, Ike and Mist from the Fire Emblem Tellius Saga.
    • Arguably? Greil was Retired Badass General Gawain who severed the tendons in his hand at some point as self-punishment for accidentally killing his Plucky Girl wife Elena) and yet still held his own. Daughter Mist is a pretty decent White Magician Girl (and notice that the Greil Mercenaries kept her out of the battlefield but she Plucky Girl-ied her way in) and can go to awesome if well-raised, and she's still badass and emotionally stable enough to wield Lehran's Medallion aka the Fire Emblem without going crazy... like her Missing Mom Elena also did. And son Ike is, well, The Hero and a freaking awesome one.
      • If we count the Greil mercenaries as a part of the family, then we also can add Oscar, Boyd, Rolf, Rhys, Mia, Titania, Soren... their level of badassery varies, but they still stick with Ike no matter what.
    • Aside of them we the have Brother-Sister Team Geoffrey and Lucia, the long-separated sisters Sanaki and Micaiah (thought Micaiah's case very much depends on you), as well as Soren's real family (with the physical exception of Almedha, but she was still no-nosense enough). There's Magnificent Bastard / Complete Monster Ashnard, Almedha's brothers Rajaion and Kurthnaga, possibly Rajaion's lover Ena... and definitely the father of Rajaion, Amedha and Kurthnaga, King Dheginsea.
  • The Mishima family, especially after Tekken 5 and the appearance of Jinpachi Mishima. Even Heihachi's ADOPTED SON Lee is a badass! As well as being a White-Haired Pretty Boy Rival to the REAL son Kazuya, who has been deified by TV Tropes as the god of protagonists who first appear to be heroes and then are found to be absolute magnificent bastards. Hell, even Heihachi's bastard son Lars (from Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebeillion is a total badass hero.
    • The Kazama count as well, and might as well be merged with the Mishimas considering Jin is a product of Kazuya Mishima and Jun Kazama. Jin's cousin, Asuka, does a pretty good job holding her own, even owning most of the students in her dojo. And if you want to include non-canon, Unknown counts as well.
  • In the The King of Fighters universe, we have the Sakazaki family (Takuma, Ryo and Yuri, and several other accomplished students like Marco Rodriguez and Robert Garcia), the Bogards (Jeff Bogard, who adopted then-street urchins Terry and Andy), the Howards (Geese and his son Rock, who'd become Terry's adoptive son) and the Kusanagis (Saisyu, Kyo, Shouji, Aoi, and to a degree Shizuka who may not be a frontline fighter but has the wits and the naginata to handle herself well). Also count family friend and Kyo's fanboy Shingo, as well as Kyo's partners Daimon and Benimaru).
    • If we go to Fatal Fury we can also include the Kims (patriarch Kim Kaphwan, sons Jae Hoon and Don Hwang, and by extension: family friend Jhun Hoon; disciples Chae Lim and Jinju May Lee, recruits Choi Bunge and Chang Koehan), the Shiranuis (never shown but always mentioned leader Hanzou, granddaughter and star pupil Mai, disciples Andy Bogard and Hokutomaru, family friend Jubei Yamada), and the Heinleins (leader Kain and his nephew Rock Howard)
  • The Simpsons do this a few times in their video game adaptions. The earliest being The Simpsons Arcade Game.
  • Devil May Cry gives us Dante, his twin brother in blue Vergil, and their father Sparda who sealed the evil demons out of the human world.
  • The Azzameens of the Star Wars: X-wing games. You kill the patriarch and oldest son? Well, their youngest son shoots down dozens of fighters, fucks up half your fleet of warships, and blows up your superweapon while your Emperor's on board, bitch. You don't want to know what the middle son, the daughter, and the family droid get up to.
  • The Royal Family of Daventry. Patriarch Graham defeats a giant, a witch, a dragon, and deceives an underground family of gnomes in his very first adventure, and he has two more. his children, Alexander and Rosella are badasses too, with Alexander fighting off minotaurs and evil wizards, being an accomplished sorcerer, and Rosella slaying evil fairies. Mother Valanice doesn't spend much time onscreen, but when she does.... It isn't just by genetics, either. You're required to banish an evil wizard or cross a desert, barefoot with whatever random stuff you have in your pockets to marry in to this bunch. Cassima earns the title by helping out Graham in KQ5, and by stabbing the Big Bad to save Alex's life in the sixth game. Prospective son-in-law Edgar spent a lot of time under More Than Mind Control, but was more than capable of throwing the proverbial Spanner in the Works.
  • Desmond Miles of Assassin's Creed I comes from a long line of Badasses Assassins, from Altair of the Crusades to Ezio of the Renaissance.
  • The Snake family (Big Boss, Solid, Liquid, Solidus) from Metal Gear Solid. On that note, Ocelot's family, whose parents, The Joy and The Sorrow, were both badass soldiers.
  • In Final Fantasy IV, you have Cecil, strongest knight in the world, his girlfriend (wife in the ending) Rosa, the most powerful white mage in the world, his uncle Fusoya, alien master magus, his father Kluya, who put the seal on the Sealed Evil in a Can, his brother Golbez, who could shrug off the most powerful black magic spell out there, and the sequel puts his and Rosa's son in the main role. Also, while you only really get to see Edge in action, he does come from a long line of Ninjas.
  • In the fifth entry of the popular RPG series Dragon Quest, your player character is not just the son of a king and a saint, your very own children even end up fighting the forces of evil on your side. A nice plot twist in this regard is that you are not the legendary hero destined to save the world, your son is.
  • The main characters of the NES game Legacy of the Wizard. The grandfather, since deceased, trapped a powerful dragon in a painting, and his descendants (and their pet creature) are the ones who make sure it gets destroyed once and for all. They all throw around magic; while dad can crush boulders, mom can fly, the daughter can leap the entire height of the screen, and their pet is Nigh Invulnerable. Meanwhile, the son is The Chosen One who can wield the sword that can actually kill the dragon.
  • The Yakumo famliy of Touhou is one of these, although the members are all effectively adopted. The Scarlet family is comprised of very old, very powerful vampires, making theirs In the Blood. The Miko Sanae Kotiya lives with her ancestor and Goddess she worships (as well as her roommate and fellow Goddess Kanako) as a family, as well. All three families are at Physical God levels of power.
  • Some of the installments in the The Legend of Zelda series imply that this is the case with Link's family; for example, The Legend of Zelda a Link To T He Past clearly states that he is the last surviving member of a family of prestigious knights.
    • Also, in The Legend Of Zelda Four Sword Link's dad is the head of the Hylian knights and towards the end of The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker, Link and Tetra are revealed to be descended from the original Princess Zelda and the Hero of Time.
  • Resident Evil
    • The Redfields
    • In an evil way, the Ashfords.
  • Super Robot Wars brings up the Branstein (Maier, Elzam, Rai, Leona [cousin]) clan, the Ardyguns, the Schoolchildren (adopted, but still family), and the Zoldarks (Bian and Lune). ALL of these families are QUITE capable at kicking ass.
  • Dynasty Warriors gives us the Sun family: patriarch Sun Jian and his children Sun Ce, Sun Shang Xiang and Sun Quan are all formidable fighters. You could also count Da Qiao and Liu Bei by marriage, although Da Qiao is discontinued as a playable character as of the sixth installment. As for Liu Bei, his relationship with the Sun family goes pretty spectacularly to hell after a certain incident at Fan Castle... Since Dynasty Warriors is based on Romance of the Three Kingdoms which is in turn based on history, there is some Truth in Television to this one.
  • While not a straight example, in BioShock (series) 2, Subject Delta and Eleanor Lamb become this in the end when you get the final plasmid. Which is called "Bring your Daughter to Work Day".
  • Mario & Luigi. Their girlfriends can also sometimes be grouped with them. And if Wario and Waluigi are their cousins then they are part of it as well.
  • Bowser's family from the Super Mario Bros. series. A Royal Who Actually Does Something, an Overlord, Jr., and seven additional offspring co-horts.
  • Ace Attorney
    • Unconventional example in the dysfunctional Fey clan, a group of otherwise staid women who are frequently locked in bloody conflict. Badasses for good include Iron Woobie Maya, Badass Teacher / Hot Chick in a Badass Suit Mia, Yamato Nadeshiko Iris, and Mama Bear Misty. Badasses for evil include Manipulative Bastard Morgan and Complete Monster Dahlia. It's really a disproportionate amount of badass to be spread over two generations of the same family, and may explain why they're always trying to murder one another. The final case of the third game is something of a master class in badass, culiminating in Mia giving a Reason You Suck Speech to Dahlia so hardcore it sends her back to Hell. Child Prodigy Pearl is nine in her first appearance but is reputedly more powerful in terms of spiritual power than Maya—according to Maya herself, too!
    • And an evil(ish) example in the von Karmas. Manfred von Karma, his daughter Franziska von Karma, and his adopted son Miles Edgeworth are all prosecutors so perfect and amazing that the only person to ever defeat them in court is the protagonist Phoenix Wright. Manfred's nearly penalty-free flawless record stretches out for decades, Miles is so ruthless and effective that he's been called The Demon Prosecutor and Franziska passed the bar at thirteen.
    • In the Apollo Justice arc, the Gavin brothers. You have the older brother Kristoph Gavin, defense attorney extraordinaire. Always a calm, cool and collected person who is not afraid to own your ass in court while being very courteous. That is, unless you happen to reject him as a lawyer over a game of cards. And then you have rocker Klavier Gavin. Has his own band and has a very good reputation. Always willing to help Apollo secure a conviction for one of his own bandmate/decetive, even helping Apollo own Kristoph in court with the Jurist system.
  • Two families in Brave Soul: Rudy and his father, who are the best Hunters of their respective generations; also Claire and their father (and by extension Alicia), who managed to re-seal Demon King Caraile before it escapes again in the game only to be finally killed by the combined effort of (depending on your party choice) Rudy, Alicia, and Claire. As a bonus, in Claire's ending, Rudy married her, in effect creating his own badass family.
  • The ENTIRE Raglen family line can be seen as this in the Record of Agarest War. Five generations of the Raglen family can sure kick ass.
  • In the Nasuverse, any family is this. Shirou's True Companions, and the Tohno family both qualify. The latter also counts as a Big Screwed-Up Family, though.
  • In Golden Sun: The Lost Age, Badass Normal Pirate captain Briggs would like to introduce Felix & Co. to his wife, his baby boy, and his Adept-blacksmith grandmother. They end up as allies.
  • The Amell Family appears in Dragon Age and Dragon Age II. The Human Magi orgin was our first introduction to this family, and considering how Game Breaker mages are in that game... Then we find out what Hawke's mother's maiden name is, which adds both him/herself and his/her younger siblings Bethany and Carver.
    • Given that their father was an apostate mage who apparantly stayed one step ahead of the Templars his whole life, even with another mage (possibly two) as a child, the Hawkes count too. Making Hawke a melding of two badass families, which explains a lot.
    • The Couslands, at least before Howe's betrayal. A female Cousland can marry Alistair, who comes from a line of Royals Who Actually Do Something (his grandmother Moira started a rebellion against the Orlesian occupation of Ferelden, and his father Maric eventually won that war and became king).
  • World of Warcraft gives us the Saurfangs and the Crowleys.
  • In Baldur's Gate Throne of Baal, you, a Bhaalspawn capable of turning into an embodiment of murder, can team up with your half-sister Imoen, a decent thief and more powerful wizardess who also gains Bhaalspawn powers, and your Back from the Dead half-brother Sarevok, the strongest fighter you can recruit. If you are a male and romance Aerie, she will be a Pregnant Badass cleric/mage, a very powerful character if used correctly. Your late foster father Gorion was also a Badass Harper who teamed up with the likes of Elminster and once fought and wounded a red dragon.
  • The Seyfarth clan in Rosenkreuzstilette counts as quite a Badass Family: they've wielded the Demon Sword Grollschwert and the Devil Scythe Grassense and have been Blood Knights over the years, after all.
  • Suikoden V gives us the Royal Falenan Family who was able to win the Armes war before the events of the game, and has one of the most badass Warrior Prince we ever get.
  • In Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse, the entire Al-Hazrad family are quite the badasses. The player character is a corsair and plows through pirates, genies, sorcerer's dungeons and evil plots all by his lonesome. While your family is not playable, your elder brother Tarik is a corsair and Merchant Rogue himself, your elder sister Aliya is a sorceress who can fly, your father and aunt are both accomplished sorcerers themselves. Only your mother is a quiet homemaker. Although she does command a genie, as does the rest of your family.
  • In Hyper Princess Pitch, the family of the protagonist, a pugnacious princess who decided to become the personal nemesis of MechaSanta, her mother, the Goddess of Explosions and her father, the Bear Miner.
  • The Simpsons family definitely become this while on their quest to save Maggie in The Simpsons arcade game.
  • Rance has a Battle Harem in a World of Badass. This is inevitable.
  • Monster Girl Quest:
    • Alice I, the Anthropomorphic Personification of darkness itself, and her descendants (also named Alice). They are the only ones to have ever held the position of Monster Lord, in a society that runs on Asskicking Equals Authority.
    • On the other hand, there's Ilias, the Anthropomorphic Personification of light, and her three "daughters", the Seraphs Micaela, Lucifina and Eden. They aren't biologically related, as they're all beings of holy energy, but in other aspects they still fit.
    • Luka, the main character, is the son of Marcellus, who was also a hero who managed to defeat a Monster Lord, Alice XV. And it turns out that they're descended from another hero, the even-more famous Heinrich, who defeated the legendary tyrant Alice VIII. Luka's mother also qualifies: she's the aforementioned Lucifina.
    • Monster Girl Quest Paradox introduces the two siblings Nero and Neris. Both of them are One Man Armies, who (at least in the first two chapters) never lose a fight on-screen. They're the children of Luka and Alice from an alternate universe, and their parentage gives them power over both light and darkness.


Web Animation


Web Comics

  • Kitty's family from Kokoart. Her father is a big guy with big muscles and lots of scars. Yet, he gets beaten by his wife with a single punch (here). Then, later in the comic, it's revealed that the whole family can bend iron bars in their hands and Kitty learns matrial arts as her mother advised her, because people don't lose body pieces while she defends herself and it's easier to clean after the fight.
  • The Heterodynes and their longtime friends, the Wulfenbachs. Who may, indeed, be unified by the end of the story, though this might not be a good thing.
  • The Deegan family. Mother Miranda, retired head of the Quiral School of the Arcane Arts and as an arch-mage, a powerful wizard in her own right; father Donovan, a master swordsman, renowned duelist and bard trained by elves; Jacob, the first son, a powerful necromancer trained by one of the oldest known necromancers in the series history; main protagonist and second son Dominic, who is a master at second sight magic and has a keen knack for planning numerous steps ahead (and also gets visions); and youngest son Greg, who is a perennially cheerful white mage and skilled musician in his own right. Also, there is Dominic's fiancee, Luna, who has a knack for illusion magic and once humiliated an old enemy of the Deegan family in combat.
  • The Walkertons boast Linda Walkerton, one of the first and arguably most successful alien hunters in that world (Though her claim that she singlehandedly killed all the Martians on Earth turned out to be an... exaggeraton), as well as David "Walky" Walkerton and his Separated at Birth twin sister Sal Walters, who are all-but-said to be the two most powerful Abductees in existance. Honorable mention goes to Stephen "Beef" Walkerton, who is not actually related to Walky but was raised as his brother (He was Switched At Birth with Sal).
  • The Verres could count; Mr. Verres is a Papa Wolf, his son Tedd is a Mad Scientist who's been glowing lately so something's bound to happen. His cousin Nanase is a Magical Martial Artist though she's been Brought Down to Normal temporarily after using a near-lethal angel spell. And the Shape Shifting Half-Squirrel Girl Grace lives with them and is Tedd's girlfriend.
  • The Cannon family. The father takes down Hackers with his bare hands while wearing a pink Kiss The Cook apron. The mother throws knives with devastating accuracy, and may or may not be a ninja. And the son? Among other moments of extreme badassery, took down a Hacker combat expert WITH HIS OWN KNIFE, punched his way back up to the surface when a Hacker had buried him deep underground, and is perhaps the only person in the world who can "bro-pound" with Max Facepuncher without shattering his hand. That last part is especially badass when you read the 24 hour comic "So Now I Hate The Moon", and realize that Max Facepuncher can punch people into the sun, and once killed the moon with a double facepunch. So Now I Hate The Moon starts here: https://web.archive.org/web/20150426180746/http://forums.pulpfaction.net/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=4033
  • The McNinja family of The Adventures of Dr. McNinja is one of the most badass familly out there. On top of being four of the deadliest ninjas in the world, one of them is also a doctor of EVERYTHING, one designs technology so advanced as to be indistinguishable from magic in his spare-time, the mom is a Complete Psycho, and the dad assumed the leadership role of all American ninjas by virtue of the authority in his mustache (he also sets himself on fire for fun sometimes). On top of that you've got the Doc's sidekick, the sharpshooting-acrobat raptor-riding-bandito mustachioed-12-year-old Gordito along with loyal receptionist Judy the GORILLA.
  • The Bloodrage tribe in Looking for Group lives up to their name. The chief and his sons are particularly fearsome; DO NOT ask them to surrender. Even the adopted unknown race granddaughter/niece/daughter is a Badass.
  • Order of the Stick may be seeing the beginnings of one; see this t-shirt: http://www.cafepress.co.uk/orderofthestick/6985506
  • The River family from Irregular Elis. A family of "Superheroes" with Hanna-Barbera influence.
  • The Andreyasn from Schlock Mercenary are an interesting case. We've only seen Kevyn and Breya, but they can both fight ("I have four brothers", "I'm one of her brothers"), and their mother doled out some interesting childhood advice.

Kevyn: Well, you know what mom always said...
Breya: If you swing first, swing hard, and connect.


Web Original

  • In The Gamers Alliance, Clan d'Zarnagon, House Aurelac and House Ardyn definitely count. Their members have proven their mettle many times in fields of battle as well as in political scheming.
  • The entire Von Shrakenberg clan in Tech Infantry.
  • The Wilson family of the Whateley Universe. Daughter Billie is Tennyo, one of the most powerful mutants on earth. As a teenager. Parents? Oh, they happen to be Flashlight (laser powers) and Weasel (strength, agility, second-storyman too), superheroes who secretly work for the CIA. Older brother and younger brother? Still teenagers and already working for the CIA too, since they have superpowers as well.
  • Several agents of the PPC have formed family groups, and all of them fall under this heading by default.
  • The Harper Family in DC Nation. Let's see...BadassNormal Roy Harper and Action Mom Troia. Then, there's Lian, who's twelve and becoming Little Miss Badass. Aiden is too young to manifest anything at this point, but that's probably going to change. Then you factor in the extended family of Arrows, Amazons, and Titans, some of the most fanatically family-oriented groups in Nationverse...
  • The Freemans in Half Life: Full Life Consequences. We have Gordon Freeman, who's already badass, his brother John Freeman, who when he "has to kill fast and bullets too slow", starts killing Combines with his "bear hands", and shrugs off being hit by a rocket, his son Henry Freeman, who gives the humans humens "hop", and rallies an army against the Combines. The only exception in the family might be Mom/Wife, who gets "shot in head", setting off the events of Hero Beggining.
  • The Cthoniques in Castle Terribel, are a rather goofy version of this. Four Dark Lords, one of whom is undead, and all of them seem more enthusiastic about their hobbies and home life than causing trouble.
  • The protagonists in Strange Little Band are this in spades. You really don't want to make them angry. And being borderline Villain Protagonists they mix it nicely with The Family That Slays Together.


Western Animation

  • The Powerpuff Girls
    • Parodied with the Smiths.
    • The Utoniums themselves qualify: Supergenius dad, and three superhero daughters, and that's when the Professor Utonium is just his normal self. This guy has the skill to create nearly any weapon he could imagine and has, on some occasions, donned a Powered Armor suit of his own and helped out. He can get carried away, but still.
  • The Robinsons.
  • The Bennets from Bionic Six.
  • The Saturday family. The father is a Genius Bruiser with a power glove, the mother is a martial artist Action Mom with a Flaming Sword, one of the 'kids' is a super strong Gorillacat and the guardian of an ancient doomsday beast, and the son is able to control cryptids, the most powerful animals on earth, and is the reincarnation of the God of the Cryptids. Even the family pets are Badass.
  • The Riveras. In this family, being a super hero/villain is litterally in the genes. Nearly every Rivera male known has been one.
  • The Tennysons. Even Ben's Muggle dad turns out to be a badass in the episode "Goodbye And Good Riddance".
  • Hanna-Barbera has a few of these:
  • The Longs.
  • Kim Possible
    • The Possibles.
    • The Gos, too.
  • A Kind of Magic has a French family steered by magical Badassery.
  • In Avatar: The Last Airbender, the Ursa/Ozai and Hakoda/Kya families. Which are related, spiritually, at least if one assumes Aang marries Katara. Aang's the reincarnation of Roku, who is Zuko's maternal great-grandfather. We should also count Uncle Iroh as Zuko's Parental Substitute. Toph isn't technically related either, but she is part of Team Avatar.
  • The Fentons from Danny Phantom (though Jack is one only under pressure).
  • Do the Mallards from Darkwing Duck count? Only two members, but...
    • If we're talking about avians, the McDuck dynasty is a badass dynasty with its own Ominous Latin Badass Creed: Fortuna Favet Fortibus"... Yes, it probably is a Shout-Out to the Duke of Wellington's Regiment, but hey
    • If the Mallard Clan wasn't one before the new comic series, they sure are now. We have Badass Normal Darkwing, Girlfriend/Sorceress Morgana, Daughter/Little Miss Badass Gosalyn who is the new GizmoDuck, and best friend/BenevolentBoss Launchpad, who has an army of Crimebots Herobots at his beck and call.
  • The Venture Family, from The Venture Brothers. Jonas Venture, Jonas jnr, and the possible mother of Rusty's children Myra Brandish are all certifiable badasses. Helper the family robot at least looks badass in its battle mode too.
  • In Dexter's Laboratory, Dexter's family counts, especially in the episode where they have to use Dexter's robots to destroy an ancient evil Dexter accidentally released. Somewhat lampshaded by the background music that plays. "Go, Dexter Family go!"
  • The Royal Flush Gang from Batman Beyond: A family of burglars pulling heists based on playing-cards. .. their daughter's relationship with Terry McGuiness was strangely deja vu.
  • Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers
    • The Foxx family. Patriarch Zachary is Team Dad to his Badass Crew of Series 5 Rangers, but his kids have had a couple Day in The Limelight episodes proving they can do pretty well at taking care of themselves. Even Eliza, who spends most of the series trapped in a Soul Jar, has an Awesome Moment beforehand - fighting off an armed Space Pirate and committing a Heroic Sacrifice so her kids could escape!
    • Zozo's family also counts. From Zozo, the Ambadassador, to his loudmouthed Shorttank brother, and his nieces and nephews who can be pretty clever when they want to be.
  • Street Sharks. Four brothers who are all now shark mutants, plus there dad who is apparently a genius and is doing really helpful stuff in the sidelines (even if he's kind of vanished).
  • The Simpsons. But only a couple at a time are allowed to be badass together.
  • The Chans in Jackie Chan Adventures. There's an Adventurer Archaeologist version of Jackie Chan who fights dragons when not on digs; his niece, Jade, who can pull off Stealth-hi-byes in outer space and grows up to be the leader of Section 13; and Uncle, a Witch Doctor whose magic gets more impressive with every season and also taught Jackie everything he knows about martial arts. There's also a criminal enforcer turned Gentle Giant who isn't related to them but is still considered part of the family (and who has a mother you don't want to mess with). To top it off, they have equally badass ancestors dating as far back as the Old West.
  • In My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic, the Apple family is fairly close to this. Applejack is the incarnation of the Element of Honesty, Big Macintosh is capable of pulling a house off of it's foundations (while bouncing), Applebloom has performed dozens of death-defying stunts with her friends in their quest to earn their Cutie Marks, and Granny Smith was one of the founders of Ponyville who, in her youth, braved (literal) timber wolves in order to get the magically-charged apples that helped kick-start her family farm.
    • Celestia and Luna, being sisters, also qualify.
      • Their niece Cadence turns out to also be a Badass Princess too. And since she married Twilight's brother, Twilight and her captain of the Royal Guard brother are now added to the list.
  • Gargoyles consider their entire clan to be family.


Real Life

  • The Norman De Hauteville family. Tancred De Hauteville was a minor baron in Normandy with and father of 12 sons. His eldest son William and the second eldest Drogo went to Italy to earn their fame as mercenaries. They enlisted in a Norman company in the south of Italy. William quickly became the second in command of the large group and lead the Norman's during the invasion of Sicily. During one battle he cut the Emir of Syracuse in half at the waist earning him the name Iron Arm. Later he fought in the Lombard rebellion against the Byzantium Empire. He defeated the Imperial army several times and was made Duke of Apulia and Calabria and Overlord of the Normans in Italy. Later after William died of fever Drogo took over and began to expand Norman power before he was assassinated in a church. A younger Brother Humphrey then took control. Later the Pope, who was annoyed by the Norman power in Italy sent the Papal Army and the Imperial army of the Holy Roman Empire south to destroy them. Humphrey defeated them and took the Pope captive for a year. The De Hautevilles then conquered Sicily becoming Kings in 1127.
  • Kublai Khan and his family. Thirteen sons and two daughters, each with their own provence, between them they managed to take over heaps of China and become extremely famous in Europe.
  • The Tenzings . A number of whom became great climbers including Tenzing Norgay Sherpa.
  • The Scipios who provided several generals including one that defeated several members of another Badass Family, the Barcids. Including the most famous Barcid of them all, Hannibal.
  • The Picards. Auguste, the grandfather, flew into the stratosphere in balloons and invented vehicles for deep-sea diving. His son, Jacques, refined those vehicles and became the first person to dive to the bottom of the deepest trench in the ocean. HIS son, Bertrand, became the first to fly around the world in a balloon.
  • Niccolo, Maffeo, and Marco Polo.
  • Owen and Richard Garriott and Aleksandr and Sergei Volkov, the only children of astronauts/cosmonauts to follow their fathers into space.
  • The Borgias deserve mention here, if not for actual butt-kicking (which was present), then for becoming one of the most INFAMOUS families in history.
  • Dog the Bounty Hunter is about a whole family who cooperates in hunting bail jumpers and then rubs it in by gently telling the miscreants to get right with the Lord
  • The Gracie family. The late Helio and Carlos Gracie essentially created Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and left a legacy of legendary fighters who have competed at the international level in both Jiu-jitsu and MMA. Some of the better know ones are Royce, the first UFC champ. Renzo, Royler and Ryan all competed in PRIDE. Rickson and Relson were supposedly even better than Royce but were too old to have a large impact when MMA really started and now Kyra Gracie is looking to enter into female MMA.
  • The aristocratic Richtofen family managed to turn out no less than three ace pilots during World War I. The most famous was Manfred von Richthofen, known better as the Memetic Badass Red Baron . Manfred's younger brother Lothar and his fourth cousin Wolfram were also flying aces. There were also several other members of the family who gained fame of some sort, but not for badass deeds.
  • During the second Philipines Campaign in 1944, Mrs Jean Mac Arthur and the son Arthur Mac Arthur sailed to Manila and billeted in the ruined city before the fighting was even over. Mrs Mac Arthur went into her son's room and found him trembling. Then little Mac Arthur said, "Are those our guns, mom?" On being assured that they were, little Mac Arthur leaned back on the bed and just went to sleep. Like Father, Like Son indeed.
  • The Royal House of Wessex. Not only did it bring forth Englands greatest monarch, but his son and daughter were themselves to win a Curb Stomp Battle over the Danes at the Battle of Tettenhall. That family started a Kingdom that actually did manage to Take Over the World for a while. They definitely qualify as a Badass Family.
  • Theodore Roosevelt, the least of his badassery being completing an hour and a half long speech with a bullet in his chest, and volunteering to fight in World War I despite being in his 50s. All of his sons were in the military, two of whom served in both World War I and II. There are only two father and son pairs who received the Medal of Honor, and their names are McArthur and Roosevelt. Theodore Roosevelt III was a Navy pilot, and Theodore Roosevelt IV was a member of one of the Navy's Underwater Demolition Teams, the precursors to the Navy Seals. You'd have a hard time finding a more Badass Family.
  • The Kelly brothers. Both Scott Kelly and his twin brother Mark Kelly are US Navy combat and test pilots and NASA Astronauts. Mark Kelly is married to US Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who returned to work on 2011 Aug 1, eight months after being shot in the head.
  • Lighthouse Keepers were often whole families tending a lighthouse and several did heroic deeds.
  • There are records of cases where a family's tradition seems to be being Badass which can be easily found in places like US Marine Enlistment Roster. Some have been in the Marines since it was founded.
  • Any sort of family with a military tradition, where members volunteer for the military even without a pressing national need to serve.
  • Jane Austen. She had two brothers who became admiral and lived in a circle of gentry who were very warlike despite their dandyish appearance. They may have had Big Fancy House s and gone to Dances and Balls. But all that was unwillingly subsidized by the French government.
  • America has a lot of really formidable familes too. The richest are hidden behind suits and cocktails, and the middle class ones hide themselves in suburban obscurity. A number of highly placed families go all the way back to Jamestown and Plymouth. Many of these got their fortune, clawing their way in capitalistic free for all and braving the seas and frontiers. And in fighting in various wars. Some of these had professions which were not very nice like being drug lords (for a while the only export to China that could be counted on was opium) or slavers (which was an evil trade obviously but also a dangerous one). These could at least qualify as Magnificent Bastards. Other families that came later had less old but no less sharp credentials. These often faced persecution, peril, or just poverty in the Old Country. And when they came over to America they had to fight (sometimes literally, usually politically and economically) to get a place. This continues to the present day when you can still find people who have a recent ancestor who was an Indochinese Highland Warrior, or carried a tatoo telling that they survived Auschwitz. Or whatever. And more are still coming in. And whatever ones opinion about policy in such matters, at least some are either badass families themselves or the founders of future badass families. As with practically any country, no one can get to the end of the badassery buried in American geneology.
    • The Forbes family are best known for a famous business magazine. Their ancestors were clerks at the Canton merchant district, and sailors braving Cape Horn.
    • The Dulles family is best known for international intrigue. It traces it's line to a man that stepped off the boat at Plymouth. A man by the way, who would roll over in his grave to find his latest famous scion to be Avery Cardinal Dulles. A Jesuit priest of all things.
  • The Junii of Ancient Rome. You know your street rep is good when you have a reputation for murdering tyrants.
  • Israel is of course composed of the people whose ancestors didn't die turning a swamp into farmland or fighting interminable wars.
  • It is a fairly good bet that either you are from a Badass Family, or know someone who is.
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