What distinguishes this trope from Church Militant and Badass Preacher is the emphasis. A Religious Bruiser may or may not kick ass, but if he does, it's his primary occupation. For the Badass Preacher, ass-kicking is secondary to his vocation (or if Church Militant is at play, ass-kicking is his vocation). This is also partially an audience or character reaction trope. With the Badass Preacher, characters will be surprised to learn that the man in the white collar can kick ass. With the Religious Bruiser, the characters will be surprised that the man who kicks ass wears the white collar from time to time.
Compare All Monks Know Kung-Fu, when a Christian monk is presumed to be a martial artist just because he is... well, a monk, and Warrior Monk when that assumption is correct. Closely related to Real Men Love Jesus. A Badass Israeli may well be one of these also. If it's the Lord Himself kicking ass, that's Kung-Fu Jesus. A supertrope to Holy Hitman, and might be a case of Martial Pacifist. If he uses that religion in the form of Holy Magic, he might be The Paladin.
Anime and Manga
- In Brave10, Seikai is The Big Guy of the team, and essentially a pantheist monk who invokes all the gods in his attacks.
- D.Gray-Man Cross Marian seems to fit here. He's known for being a badass character. Formerly an Exorcist General of The Black Order. His Innocence (weapon) was a powerful revolver named Judgement, which had homing bullets that never missed their target. In addition to having another power called Arrow of Original Sin, in which he can use his weapon as a powerful bow and arrow. He has the ability to turn Akuma good, and have them work for him temporarily, and they self-destruct if they try to kill anyone. Known to be a very gruff character -Allen being slightly afraid of him when he first laid eyes on him. He likes to smoke, and drink, while also having fondness for women, along with interest in visiting the red-light districts. But he's a man of the cloth nonetheless. He is referred to as a priest by villagers who have met him. Allen mentions him being very threatening despite his priest attire after meeting him in Reverse. And seems to own his own church. He takes Allen to the church, where he meets up with Mother. He stays there while nursing Allen back to health. It's revealed in Reverse that Mother just watches over the church when Cross is away, which also answers the question of why Cross has his own personal room there.
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba:
- Gyomei Himejima was a Buddhist monk living peacefully in the mountains and caring for orphaned children before becoming a demon slayer by a meeting of fate, Gyomei himself reflects he would have lived his entire life peacefully, being completely unaware he actually was inhumanly strong if he hadn't been the target of a demon attack, as he held the demon off by pummeling its head for hours on end till sunrise. Once Gyomei became a demon slayer, and the elite as a Hashira, he never forsake his buddhist practices, he just isn't a monk living in reclusion anymore.
- Tanjuro Kamado, Tanjiro's dad, was never a demon slayer, the Kamado family passed the Hinokami Kagura style generations down the line till it became a religious ceremony to them, Tanjuro specifically performed it on scheduled repetition as means to ward off evil spirits and bring good fortune to his family, it is just that Hinokami Kagura made him a person with superhuman prowess despite his ill and frail body, Tanjuro used his unexpected strength in practice to easily drive away dangerous wild animals from his family home, such as gigantic bears.
- Nam of Dragon Ball is a devout Buddhist, which means despite being a warrior he does his best not to kill anyone, though he has no problem putting opponents to sleep.
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
- Battle Tendency has two heroic Catholics in Caesar Zeppeli and Lisa Lisa, although their religion is only mentioned in their character profile pages (meaning it's unknown to most anime-only fans). Both are very capable Ripple warriors.
- In contrast, Stone Ocean has Enrico Pucci, the Big Bad of the part and Final Boss of the original continuity. He is an amoral, corrupt priest who is very out there theologically (and in general) to the point of apostasy. Being a fanatical follower of Dio Brando (and his Dragon Ascendant), he "loves Dio like he loves God" (apparently unaware that this breaks the first commandment) and wants to recreate the universe into Dio's liking. He is willing to use pretty much any means to reach this goal and is arguably the most powerful villain in the series. Minor villain Kenzou also founded his own religion at some point.
- Funny Valentine, the Big Bad of Steel Ball Run, is likely Protestant given the setting and his status as the President of the United States (it could be that he's Hiding Behind Religion). Like Pucci before him he's a ruthless bastard, except with an actual noble goal: acquiring the Corpse Parts of the Saint in order to turn the world into a utopia led by the USA. His Stand makes him Nigh-Invulnerable in combat. Also, Hot Pants from the same part is a nun who was sent to the race by the Vatican to find the Corpse Parts (their motives are never made clear).
- Goemon Ishikawa XIII of Lupin III fame is a believer in Buddhism and Shinto.
- One Piece:
- The Giant tribes are race of religious warriors, who worship multiple gods, like the Sun God or the God of War. Fighting to the death is considered honorable and is part of their religion. Dorry and Brogy are prime examples of this, as they often preach about their God of War, and that all the bad fortune that does happen to them is considered as them either lacking their god's protection or them being forsaken by their god.
- The Shandians are also a very religious folk who believe in their gods. Calgara, Wyper's ancestor, however, has his belief questioned by Noland, and part of his character development was that having too much faith in his religion was not a good thing. Once Calgara killed one of their "gods", he finally accepted that he had to accept the help of strangers in order to save his people.
- Bartholomew Kuma, one of the biggest and strongest characters, carries a Bible everywhere he goes, and was a priest for most of his life before he became a pirate. The god that he worships is the Sun God Nika, also known as the Warrior of Liberation.
- Rurouni Kenshin: A rare villainous (or at least, very mentally broken) example: Anji Yukyuzan, a fallen Zen Buddhist monk who was an even match for Sanosuke when they faced off, and taught him his most powerful technique earlier in the story. After his defeat, he pleads guilty and goes to prison to atone for his crimes.
- Soul Eater: Justin Law is quite devout and quite deadly in a fight. Partly cause-and-effect, since the god he worships so fervently is Death, who appears slightly uncomfortable with the whole thing. The only type of music he listens to is Death Metal, which he considers part of his worship. And he never takes out his ear buds. Additionally, he wears a priest's habit most of the time.
- Zakuro from Tokyo Mew Mew is a Christian Magical Girl whose weapon, ZaCross Whip, is cross-shaped.
- In Yuki Yuna is a Hero, Heroes are Magical Girl Warriors chosen to fight by a god, the World Tree Shinju-sama.
Literature
- Michael Carpenter of The Dresden Files. Rarely ever swears. Happily married. Devoted family man. Will tear you ass to ears if you dare hurt an innocent, or worse, his children. He's not called "The Fist of God" for nothing, folks. (By his friends, no less. His enemies mostly refer to him as OHSHITOHSHITOHSHITWE'REDEAD!). His wife, Charity, is a blacksmith who favours long swords, chain mail and war hammers with spikes. Touch her kids and she will mess you up and trash your pad to boot. Who do you think Michael sparred against all these years to become a master swordsman? Also a former semi-dark wizard.
- Ex-Heroes: Billie Carter is one of the main Badass Normal characters in the series and is familiar with the Book of Revelations, although she isn't outspoken about her religious beliefs and doesn't share the opinions of the After Death pseudo-cult in Ex-Communication.
- Klaus/Lohengrim from Wild Cards. His ace power summons a magical armor with the Holy Grail engraved on it.
- Commander Krause in The Good Shepherd by C S Forester, is a Stoic Spock-like naval officer who is very pious and very efficient at sending Those Wacky Nazis to face their final judgement
- Milo Anderson from Monster Hunter International usually functions as the resident firearms expert of MHI (and holds a Federal Firearms License as a dealer). However, he is also a devout Mormon (as is the author, who also used to hold an FFL) and strong faith of any sort can be a very effective weapon against monsters (his faith is far stronger than most other Hunters, so he is able to do a Holy Hand Grenade that probably counts as a Crowning Moment of Awesome).
- Abigail Hearns of the Honor Harrington universe is definitely this. She's screwed with every villain who screws with her and is thinking of relevant quotes from her religion as she does.
- Renee is a born again Christian, but she is also the one who taught Andrew how to fight.
- Joe Pickett: The Brothers Grim are two of the deadliest non-ex-military fighters in the series, and each of them carries half of The Bible, with Caleb keeping the Old Testament with him while Camish carries the New Testament.
- Norris of the Stories of Nypre is priestess Lina's personal body guard. He's a massive, fully armored warrior ready to kill to protect her in the name of their goddess.
- Auk in "Book of the Long Sun" is mostly shown in his good light (pious, generous to the church, devoted to Patera Silk) but in his day job, well, night job really, he is known as a break-and-enter thief and murderer, and depicted as a strong, scarred and intimidating individual.
- Relg from The Belgariad. Yes, he's a Fundamentalist whack-job who spends most of his time Wangsting about sin, but he is also not a man to be trifled with. A highly skilled stealth expert, he at one point uses his ability to walk through stone to kill silently by pushing a man into a rock and leaving him there.
- By the same author, The Elenium has several good examples. The main characters are Church Knights, members of religious military orders, though their personal levels of reigiousness vary. The best fit is probably Bevier. Bevier is a deeply devout man, who is considering trading his armor for a priest's cassock, has never married (the Church Knights are, for historic reasons, not necessarily celibate) and spends a lot of time praying and thinking about sin. However, his preferred weapon is a lochaber axe (which is more like a halberd than a conventional battle-axe) which he uses to enormous effect, and as long as he is certain he is on morally and theologically sound ground, he is completely comfortable with violence on a level which makes the other Church Knights in the party (four men with about six decades of campaign experience between them) shocked, appalled and slightly queasy.
- Carlisle Cullen from The Twilight Saga-a devoted son of a priest, who decorated his home with a seriously large cross. He's also a vampire, a talented doctor and very powerful in face-to-face combat. While not as overtly religious as Carlisle, all Cullens fit this trope, being practically immortal all-powerful vampires and mormon fantasy material.
- Christian in The Pilgrim's Progress, when he fights the dragon-like Apollyon while clad in the Armor of God and equipped with a two-edged sword (referencing Hebrews 4:12). The armor only protects him from the front, which gives him a good reason not to run from the fight.
- A Symphony of Eternity: Commodore Horatia TJ Jackson, a pious eight legged giant tarantula that wields several melee weapon all at once and is considered unstoppable when unleashed, nuff said!
- The Traitor Son Cycle, being set in a faux-medieval era, naturally has quite a few of those.
- Most members of the Red Company are religious, and while most aren't very devout, quite a few react with terror whenever their leader starts spouting his Nay-Theist views.
- The Order of Saint Thomas is an entire group of warrior monks, who are noted as Alba's greatest fighters.
- Father Ricard is a chaplain (from the aforementioned order) and a knight, but he acts in the latter capacity far more often even though he has time to spout religious wisdom to Red Knight and take confessions from everyone in the company.
- Pavalo Payam is a practicing Muslim and a fighter so good, he's the one guy they've entrusted with this world's ancient sword of ultimate smiting.
- Bad Thom is a double subversion. He's outwardly very Christian, but eventually reveals that he mostly acts his way to stop religious folk from pestering him - because he's actually a devout follower of Outwaller goddess Tara.
- Evraine of The Witchlands is a Warrior Monk who's religious to the point of fanaticism.
- Almost every character in Warriors displays some level of religious belief, often quite heavy religious belief. They are also feral cats who will do anything to protect their Clan.
- While a non-traditional example, Gary Karkofsky a.k.a Merciless: The Supervillain without Mercy in The Supervillainy Saga is repeatedly shown to be a faithful Jew and interprets things through the lens of his religion like meeting the Anthropomorphic Representation of Death.
- All the characters in Survivors believe in the Spirit-Dogs. While some characters are less fearsome than others, most are ready to fight claw and nail for their pack and other loved ones.
- Temeraire: Downplayed with the protagonist Will Laurence, a veteran Royal Navy captain and Dragon Rider who's quietly, devoutly Christian. It rarely comes up outside his dragon's occasional confusion over his beliefs, but his faith is shown several times to guide his actions, and an old friend once apologizes for speaking disparagingly of "God-is-in-my-pocket types" in his presence.
- Wearing the Cape: The superterrorist Seif-al-Din believes that his powers were given to him by Allah. He's also one of the strongest supers in the setting and even manages to kill the Superman Expy Atlas.
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