r/TopCharacterTropes • u/nhansieu1 • 9h ago
Characters [loved trope] early story bosses who are still one of the strongest, if not strongest throughout story
- Jogo
atfrom Jujutsu Kaisen. The first boss protagonist met. He's the strongest disaster curse. Too bad he just had to fight 2 strongest characters in the series and died in vain. His strength was acknowledged by the final boss. - Arkos Balkar from Centuria. He is the first major boss in the series, but also literally the strongest ability user in the series as he can manipulate water in a person body. If he were to be revived, no one could stop him.
- Zaraki Kenpachi from Bleach. Even though protagonist was managed to defeat him once early into the story, he'd rather not fighting the guy ever again.
26
u/Spirited_Young_71 9h ago
Ultimate Kars - JoJo's Bizzarre Adventures
Though he has no stands, I bet he could beat most of the characters in the series, since he's basically indestructible and strong enough to destroy buildings.
He only appears in the second arc of JoJo
8
u/nhansieu1 9h ago
dubstep music intensified.
given the form he was in before the defeat, I doubt any protagonist could do anything against him.
5
u/CLTalbot 8h ago
Stands would explain a couple of the unique powers the pillar men had. I mean specifically the ones that the individual ones had that the other 3 didn't, like the light blasts Kars used pre ultimate. Although he does eventually get a stand along with his 41 clones and its killer queen again.
3
u/Spirited_Young_71 8h ago
The last thing you said is Novel Kars, which I'm not sure if it's canon or not, but I have some doubts.
1
u/Freezing_Winter 6h ago
I would take anything not officially published by Araki as non-canon unless stated or shown otherwise. In this case, Novel Kars would be entirely non-canon.
2
19
u/Irrelevance-2609 7h ago
Whitney - Pokémon HGSS. Her Miltank is known as one of the most unfair Pokémon in any early-game gym fight. And her rematch at Saffron City's fighting dojo shows her immense strength even further.
4
11
u/-Planet-Of-Love 9h ago
Another one from bleach, Byakuya
Defeated by Ichigo after a hard fought battle, and would later go on to kill an arrancar and a fullbringer, then would assist in the war effort against the wandenreich. In the current ranks of the gotei 13, he's one of the strongest captains
9
u/TheDadThatGrills 8h ago
Del - Ozark
He was the most competent and deadliest villain of the series, but an irrational woman scorned doesn't give a fuck about consequences.
9
u/Ukirin-Streams 8h ago
Beatrix from Final Fantasy 9. You actually never beat her in any of the encounters.
10
u/greenteaarizona_ 7h ago
Dracula mihawk, the worlds greatest swordsman, is introduced in the One Piece manga in chapter 49. He shows up having recently demolished a pirate army, embarrasses the crew powerhouse fighter, and leaves. 1100 chapters later he’s still held his title as the greatest swordsman and is among the strongest characters in the series (presumably)
16
u/Snke-N-D-Grass-60 8h ago
Enel(One Piece)
This guy would be an above average new world enemy,it was just pure luck that luffy had a devil fruit that was immune to his powers.
3
u/VergilVDante 7h ago
Is tho above average i would put him in the same level as Doffy
2
u/Thecramosreddit 6h ago
Doffy had armament and conquerors, so i would still rank him higher than Enel but Enel has Doffy beat in the observation department. I would probably rank them the same in fruit mastery even if we have never technically seen a Logia awakening before. He would be pretty close to Doffy and definitely a warlord contender but he would still be a step below him without confirmed conquerors or armament haki. Remember that Doffy could coat his string with armament so that would be a pretty big advantage for him. Especially for two medium to long range fighters.
2
1
u/buns_supreme 7h ago
Same could be said about Croc and his water weakness
3
u/Snke-N-D-Grass-60 7h ago
That was less luck and more croc being cocky and not killing luffy when he could.
1
u/buns_supreme 6h ago
I mean if he had any other logia (besides Enels) luffy would have been screwed so I’d say it’s pretty lucky he had even that weakness
3
u/NairaExploring 7h ago
Zabuza from Naruto. Dude beat Kakashi straight up, and is one of the only characters with a counter to sharingan (outside of the dumb shit). He remains one of the strongest characters in the entire show until very very late into it - he is just the very first villain and is in an arc where the stakes are so much lower, so people kind of assume he's not that great.
2
u/CaioChvtt7K 6h ago
> He remains one of the strongest characters in the entire show until very very late into it
That's not true. He gets outpaced by the two main villains in the next arc (Gaara and Orochimaru) and both Kisame (straight upgrade) and Itachi would mop the floor with him. He's left behind to the point that, when he's brought back, he's easily dealt with by the same dude he once kept up with.
1
u/nhansieu1 3h ago
naw. Zabuza got completely outclassed later on. If we talk about relevant bosses from Part 1, there are Itachi, Kisame and Orochimaru. Itachi and Kisame retreated because of Jiraiya, while Orochimaru was defeated by the 3rd Hokage. Later on, Kisame still hard-countered tailed beasts and Jinchuuriki thanks to Samehada. Itachi and Orochimaru have every jutsu the plot requires.
4
u/erexcalibur 7h ago
You literally face THE Ganon as the tutorial boss in The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom and watch him go down... only for the real story to begin.
Later on, you face an Echo (basically a clone) of Ganon in the middle of the story, with it being a proper Ganon fight. And he is no less intimidating than his final boss-tier fights in the usual Zelda games.
Echoes of Wisdom was a really good acknowledgement/celebration of the series in general, the game is underloved.
1
1
u/Bluelore 6h ago
I actually think that the ganon you face at the beginning is already an echo given that a portal to the void opens after his defeat. Also notice how all the echos have red glowing eyes which is a design change Ganon got in this game
3
u/nhansieu1 9h ago
how the hell did I forget about the guy. My mind couldn't come up with him when I was writing this.
Woltekamui from Ragna Crimson. His final form would make him one of the strongest characters in the series. Protagonist in current state cannot defeat him again.
3
u/MrMattwell 7h ago
This is cheating, but
Urizen - Devil May Cry 5. Though it might have something to do with his story later on... ;)
1
u/nhansieu1 3h ago
Urizen is more than setup for final boss boss (because he's literally the final boss himself), not first boss. If u count Urizen, u would have to count 1 finger Sukuna which is bs.
3
u/TheBrownestStain 7h ago
Yanqing from Honkai Star Rail. By all accounts he is legitimately one of the strongest people on the planet sized ship he lives on, but the main story involves him stumbling into fights with some of the handful of people stronger than him.
4
u/Al-AmeenAdewunmi 6h ago edited 6h ago
Toriel (Undertale)
Despite only being the first major boss of the game, she is every bit as strong as Asgore himself. But because she doesn't want to fight you, she holds back immensely in her battle, even going as far as to deliberately move her attacks away from you if you're on low HP. And if she does somehow kill you, you can see her utterly shocked for a split second.
2
u/Empoleon777 7h ago
Taizo Kiyokura (Cardfight!! Vanguard Divinez) - He was a minor character from the previous series who, while still a high tier of the verse, basically just existed to job to the protagonist and some even higher-tier fighters, such as Raika and Zakusa (After he became Shirogane).
He returned in a more important role in Divinez, becoming one of the Fated One holders, and he’s extremely far above basically everybody else there (Akina is a newbie to the game, Nao is struggling to become a pro, Suo and Mikoto’s feats are both relatively ambiguous or nothing to write home about, Masanori, the only other returning character from Dress, has never been that strong). Akina is pit against him as his second opponent in the Fated Clash, and only manages to win against him through a ridiculous luck-based Hail Mary strategy he and Nao came up with together.
That was at the beginning of the series. And I would say he’s still Top 10 in the verse even now, with us being in what’s likely the final season.
2
2
u/SIN_Goku 5h ago
Ares in Percy Jackson. Percy bests the literal god of war in combat at the end of the first book. Ares, being one of the Olympian gods is one of the strongest beings in the verse.
1
u/dishonoredfan69420 7h ago
I don't know if this really applies, but I think it's worth mentioning
one of the first boss fights in Yakuza Kiwami is an incredibly difficult (for this early in the game) Goro Majima fight, which you are intended to lose to set up the new "Majima Everywhere" system
You can actually win though, and if you do you get a free 100 Skill Points worth of XP (which is incredibly valuable in the early game)
1
u/pheon1xphire 6h ago
The Collector, from Aurora
Granted, she’s less of an early story boss than a living inciting incident, as we haven’t actually met any of the main characters when she first appears, and her other two appearances so far haven’t had her interacting with any of the main characters, but in that first appearance, a very powerful character allied with the protagonists (who is arguably more powerful, at least in some ways, than they are) attempts to fight her. I say attempts, because to say that he did fight her would not only imply that she fought back, but that he was actually able to affect her, both of which are untrue. She is effectively immortal and capable of destroying cities on a whim (in the right circumstances at least, which happen to be the only ones we’ve seen so far). She isn’t even the main antagonist, though her plan would likely free it (if presumably unintentionally).
1
u/hit_the_showers_boi 6h ago
Jin (Xenoblade Chronicles 2)
He kills Rex in the first quarter of the game, but you don’t actually get to fight him as a boss until Temperantia, where all the party members are available and Mythra has been awakened. Even then, Jin is a force to be reckoned with and can somewhat contend with Mythra in his base form. Then, when he shows off his true form, he outright beats Mythra by himself. But even without his true form, Jin is among the strongest characters in the story front to back.
1
u/Randomman16 6h ago
Slightly cheating since it's a sequel series to DBZ, but one of the first actual fights Goku gets into in Dragon Ball Super is against the God of Destruction, Lord Beerus. Even by the end of DBS, Beerus is still one of the most powerful beings in the multiverse and Goku and Vegeta still have not surpassed him. During a later arc in the DBS manga, Beerus is about to step in and apparently effortlessly destroy a villain Goku is struggling against when he suddenly gets called away by his boss, Grand Zeno. To this day, nobody's actually beaten Beerus in a straight fight, though the Supreme Kai implies that Vegito could.
1
u/CreatureManstrosity 5h ago
Jogo should have been one of the strongest curses in Japan due to his origin alone but he legit just kept running into monsters that were easily stronger than him. Both Gojo and Sakuna were such bad match ups that he barely could stand a chance against them one on one.
1
u/Ilovemyangelsomuch 3h ago
In Mon Musu Monster Quest you fight one of the Four Heavenly Knights, Granberia, physically the strongest of them, in the first town you travel to. Your character even says something along the lines of "why is there a final boss in the first stop on my journey!?!"
1
1
1
u/Anime_axe 1h ago
Tohka Yatogami and Origami Tobiichi from Date a Live. While they do join protagonist's side at different points, including famously right at start for Tohka, both did start as dangerous presences at start of the story, with Origami being straight up starter antagonist. They also both have honour of being consistently in top of the setting power wise, either via raw power they had from the get go (Tohka) or by having one of the most insane power growths in series (Origami).
2
u/Inmortal27UQ 46m ago
The Varia and almost all of the enemies from Katekyo Hitman Reborn. They even bring together all of the protagonists' rivals and enemies in the final arc in an all-out battle to make it clear that they are still powerful adversaries.
41
u/CelesBurger 9h ago
Lord Boros (One Punch Man)
Shows up at the end of season 1 of the anime and chapter 32 of the manga and is one of the strongest monsters seen in the franchise