Why are fictional space military people so badass?

[CaptJohnSheridan]

I am talking about military people who operate in outer space with cool looking spaceships. Commander Shepard, Captain Sheridan, Kirk and Picard, Honor Harrington, Master Chief John-117, Jack "Black Jack" Geary, Poe Dameron, Wedge Antilles, Starbuck, etc.

I have always found characters like those so badass.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Because...they're fictional? Like, creating badass characters is really so damn easy, I don't think many people understand this when it comes to writing. You feed all the virtues while feeding the masculinity/dominance desires that people seem to crave so often. You make them (almost? Pretty much?) infallible because as a writer, it is the power trip that is indulged during creation.

 

[MrCalavera_v1legacy]

Because you have to be pretty "badass" to become an astronaut, in real life. Some of that rubbed into science-fiction.

 

[madwarper]

Because, if they weren't badasses, they would have been weeded out of the military. Or, at least kept from commanding positions.

ie. TNG episode Tapestry [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapestry_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)]; Picard "dies" and Q gave him the opportunity to go into his past and undo a fight he picked, which caused his death in current the time. But, that changed his personality, and instead of being brash and taking risks that paid off in his career advancement, he played it safe and was only a lieutenant first grade. Then, he got Q to undo the change to the past, saying he'd rather die as a Captain, then live on as a nobody.

 

[Secondhand Revenant]

Because that's how they're made to appeal to people? Ordinary people aren't usually the most exciting

 

[Secondhand Revenant]

Because, if they weren't badasses, they would have been weeded out of the military. Or, at least kept from commanding positions.

ie. TNG episode Tapestry [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapestry_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)]; Picard "dies" and Q gave him the opportunity to go into his past and undo a fight he picked, which caused his death in current the time. But, that changed his personality, and instead of being brash and taking risks that paid off in his career advancement, he played it safe and was only a lieutenant first grade. Then, he got Q to undo the change to the past, saying he'd rather die as a Captain, then live on as a nobody.

If the writers desired it then someone who wasn't could easily advance. That's just a less interesting character to follow

 

[Erttheking]

Because they were designed to be that way. I mean, I'm a writer, I've written plenty of characters like that, there's nothing magical about it.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Lets break it down mathematically. The spaceitude is directly proportional to the badassitude of the space goer. The more space you travel, the more badass you are. John Glenn? Decent badass. Shepard? Okay badass. Picard? Yeah, alright, props badass. Horus the Warmaster? Legit badass.

 

[Hawki]

Should I be suspicious that a user named CaptJohnSheridan lists the actual Captain Sheridan as his second "badass" of choice?

Also, I'm not sure if I'd call Starbuck, Wedge, Poe, Picard or Geary "badass," per se. That's not to say they're bad characters, but, well, Poe is a very good pilot, but that's about it. So's Wedge, but he's more or less the everyday man, a face to give to the X-Wing pilots who manages to survive the OT. Starbuck (can only comment on the rebooted series) is a great pilot, but a very tempremental one. Geary and Picard are sound tacticians, but I'm not sure if "badass" is the word I'd use for them. That's not a slight against any of these characters, but "badass" isn't the word that comes to mind when I think of them. Not initially at least.

 

[Namehere]

Yea... Gonna have to second Hawki's questioning of Picard in 'badassery' territory. I never really got the 'badass' feel from Picard. That was more the Kirk school of command. And he was so badass it was cheese we've all come to love with two fisted hammer blows representing the epitome of human martial arts.

A large chunk of the reason is as already stated: Military commands. As much as it sucks to admit, even Star Fleet is very militaristic. And Sheridan was like George Washington with fleet of warships. How could that character not be badass? Really?

The Master Chief is essentially Captain America minus the patriotism and plus the power armour and the Si-Fi backdrop. His personal story in Halo is the classic super soldier tale.

I always felt Wedge wasn't all that badass. He did seem like the 'every man' recruit to me.

Can't say much about the other characters you mentioned, I don't know where some are from and I was never a big Battle Star fan.

But basically you found a bunch of military captains who happen to be in space, badass is sort of a job requirement.

 

[PainInTheAssInternet]

Being in the military on Earth is hard enough when you can technically leave the battlefield at any time and recuperate. In space, where you are completely reliant on your technology for surviving longer than 30 seconds and you are impossibly far from any kind of refuge, you really do have to be daring and intelligent at the same time. It really is a position that would call for the absolute top of the top of the top to be in charge. Only about 550 people have been in space and 12 have actually landed on a totally foreign object for very good reasons.

 

[Kyrian007]

I'm not exactly sure Starkiller Sheridan really qualifies. His big moment in the Minbari war was cheapshotting a Minbari cruiser while playing possum. And in the Shadow and Earth wars he consistently had superior forces and/or technology. He was a fantastic leader, but not as much personally "badass." Marcus and G'Kar without question... badass. Alfred Bester... so badass that even being portrayed by Walter Koenig (and who could even imagine an evil Checkov) he still came across as a legitimately dire threat. A testament to the writing around Bester and the very talented Koenig.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

12 have actually landed on a totally foreign object for very good reasons.

I'm not sure "Space Imperialism" is a very good reason for landing on the moon.

 

[Zontar]

only a lieutenant first grade

Actually he was a Lieutenant third grade. Lieutenant Commanders are Lieutenant first grade.

 

[Harrycanyon1982]

What about the ones in Aliens? coolest military in Sci-fi ever with the Starship Troopers

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Because the fuck-ups and wastrels that make up a decent minority of military service don't tend to get put into command positions on flagships or lead elite military units.

Make a sci-if series about the low level security personal pulling guard duty or police work on a second line ship or home base position and you'll start getting to the hilarious hijinks of the common military.

 

[Frankster]

Hum..I came in expecting to see the colonial marines, imperial guard, adeptus astartes, mobile infantry and their book counterparts from starship troopers. etc..

So gotta admit OP's choices take me by surprise. As much as i like a lot of those characters, "badass" isn't really what comes to mind for most of them and "space military" is..kinda stretching it in some cases.
Wedge Antilles was a rebel for example if we are going to be technical, never joined any official military (at least until he makes an appearance in some new disney EU material showing him in a military position in the new republic) and i was under the impression Starfleet didn't consider itself military but more a very fancy explorer/survey corps that also doubled as peacekeepers.

Hum i came in expecting to answer "its cos they got cool gear and armor and fight xenos who would kill them in horrible ways" but in light of OP's choices.. I say it's more because it's space navy, navy tends to be portrayed as badass, with their gallant officers total masters of their ship lost in the vast sea, and these characteristics are magnified in the cases of space naval officers.
All of OP's choices represent a different facet of the awesome naval leader tropes, ex: you got the more aggressive hands on explorer/adventurer type such as sheperd yet you also have the suave and diplomatic earl grey sipping picard.