Martial artists in fiction often use only one particular martial art, with stories focused on martial arts typically having characters use their own fighting style exclusively. However, just as people combine things like recipes, music genres, and art techniques, some martial artists mix things up by combining different fighting styles together. The result usually makes someone much more powerful than if they had stuck to only one fighting style.
How exactly the combination works can vary. Sometimes a character might primarily use one fighting style but incorporate techniques from others. Other times a character might know multiple styles that they switch between using as needed. Still others will blend together the techniques and principles from various styles to effectively create a new fighting style.
These types of characters are typically highly skilled in fighting. They might be people who have mastered many different styles of fighting, masters of one particular style who decided to supplement their skills with other styles, or prodigies who are able to learn different fighting styles quickly. However, this isn't a guarantee, as some can be average or below average fighters who mix together different fighting styles without having mastered any of them, at best being okay fighters whose mix of techniques makes up for their lack of mastery, and at worst a Master of None using a mishmash of different techniques without any real skill.
Many martial arts-based Superheroes often use this, especially if they are a Badass Normal or rely on Charles Atlas Superpower. Spy Fiction often has spies being this. In Fighting Games, it's not uncommon for some of the cast to use techniques from multiple styles as part of their moveset.
See also The Red Mage, for characters who use multiple types of magic, Multi-Melee Master, for characters who use multiple types of melee weapons, Multi-Ranged Master, for characters who use multiple types of range weapons, and Omnidisciplinary Scientist, for characters who are experts in multiple areas of science. This trope can apply to real martial arts as well as Supernatural Martial Arts and Fantastic Fighting Styles. Overlaps with I Am Not Left-Handed if someone initially pretends to only know one martial arts style. In Fighting Games, these types of characters will likely be Ditto Fighters.
See Mixed Martial Arts for the combat sport that contains many examples of these types of fighters.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Booty Royale: Never Go Down Without a Fight!:
- Discussed in the Tournament Arc when main character Haebaru Misora, who practices classical Okinawan karate, faces off against Muay Thai fighter Chompoo Shinlat. The announcer compares this to a historical exhibition match at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Thailand where three karatekas faced three Muay Thai practitioners, which led to modern karate styles adapting some techniques from Muay Thai.
- Chae Yun-Hui is primarily a taekwondoin, but after sparring with Misora, she adopts a few tricks from Okinawan karate: having learned that blocks can be just as damaging as strikes, she wins her opening bout in the Tournament Arc in a Single-Stroke Battle by blocking Beatrice Kromkamp's opening kick so hard with her knee she breaks both Kromkamp's lower leg bones.
- In an I Am Not Left-Handed fashion, Ukrainian judoka Alevtina Guseva is revealed in the semifinals to also practice Muay Thai on the side.
- Defied by Maria Louisa Riviera, who practices pure Brazilian jiu-jitsu. However, her father is quoted as saying that even though few MMA fighters use pure jiu-jitsu anymore, nearly everyone in the sport studies it.
- Fist of the North Star:
- While Kenshiro's primary martial art is the Pressure Point-based Hokuto Shinken, he knows a decent amount of Nanto Seiken techniques due to the fact that one of Hokuto Shinken's techniques, Suieishin, allows him to copy techniques by seeing them, and a number of his opponents use Nanto Seiken. He later masters the Musō Tensei, which allows him to copy the techniques of his fallen rivals and allies by communicating with their souls.
- Raoh's primary style is his own variant of Hokuto Shinken, Gō no Ken but during his conquest he also stole fighting techniques and styles from his conquered enemies.
- Jagi is a Master of None variant, as while he has experience in Hokuto Shinken and a little knowledge of Nanto Seiken, he's an amateur compared to more skilled practitioners, as rather than blend the styles together in a way that compliments the other, he just uses them as individual gimmicks without refinement and tries to make up for his relative lack of skill with dirty tricks, though even that doesn't help against Kenshiro.
- Kaguya from Kaguya-sama: Love Is War is stated to be trained in aikido, kyudo, naginata-jutsu, and judo. That said, this mostly just exists as a way to show how her rich upbringing has given her a wide variety of skills due to there not being any actual fighting in the series, and only her skill in kyudo is even remotely relevant to the plot.
- Kengan Asura:
- Naoya Okubo is a mixed martial arts fighter, which more or less requires some degree of this in real life. He preceded his MMA debut by becoming a professional-quality fighter in both boxing and freestyle wrestling, making him into something of a Jack of All Stats among the Kengan competitors, since the two styles do a good job of covering each others' weaknesses.
- Kaolan Wongsawat is introduced as a heavyweight boxer, but his fight with Agito reveals that he actually got his start as a nak muay. Like Okubo, he did so to cover his weaknesses, but unlike Okubo, he's much more clearly a striking specialist: boxing for his punches, muay thai for everything else.
- Agito's "Formless" style is a Master of All variant: by most accounts, it's less of a single style and more a vast collection of moves derived from any style you can think of. When Agito fights someone, he focuses on piecing together a set of moves from his collection that can counter what his opponent is doing, until he effectively creates "a martial art that beats yours."
- The style of "baritsu", used by Mokichi, is a fictionalized example of the real-life bartitsu, being a hybrid of boxing and judo.
- In Omega, Ohma goes from a Niko Style specialist to adding a number of Kure techniques to his repertoire.
- Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple: By the end of the series. Kenichi Shirahama learns Karate, Muay Thai, Jujutsu, Chinese Kenpo, Kōsaka, and Fūrinji Style (Seikūken, Ryūsui Seikūken and Korui Nuki). From all of his Badass Teachers.
- One Piece:
- While Roronoa Zoro primarily fights with three swords, he's also skilled in using one or two. During the fight against the Foxy Pirates, Zoro also reveals that he has a No-Sword Style that allows him to use some of his sword techniques without actually using a sword.
- While Jinbe is a master of Fishman Karate, having obtained a black belt as a child, he also has expertise in Fishman Jujitsu.
- Ranma ½: The Anything Goes Martial Arts school is an entire fighting style that incorporates the techniques and principles of various martial arts styles, keeping what works, discarding what doesn't, and adapting techniques to be flexible in battle rather than limiting themselves to one style.
- Record of Ragnarok: Kojiro Sasaki is a Master Swordsman who initially uses the Ganryu style with an ōdachi. After Poseidon breaks his sword it reforms into two katanas, with Kojiro revealing that he's not only capable of Dual Wielding but also spent both his life and afterlife copying and perfecting the techniques and styles of various swordsmen he's met to the point where he's created a unique fighting style known as Niten Ganryu Style which combines every technique he's learned into one style.
- Undead Unluck: Andy/Victor has Complete Immortality so NOTHING can kill him. Whatever you're thinking, no he can't die from it. Given all that time, he has learned plenty of martial arts and weapons-based combat techniques. Normally, Andy uses ranged combat in tandem with Fuuko; but he carries an Unbreakable Katana in his arm for close quarters fights and to slice any part of him he needs faster.
Comic Books
- DC Comics:
- Batman: Batman (Bruce Wayne) is often stated to be a master of several styles of martial arts, with the exact number, if given, Depending on the Writer, with Batgirl #7 going so far as to state that Batman knows 127 different styles of martial arts.
- Legion of Super-Heroes: Karate Kid is a member of the Legion who is a Badass Normal whose "superpower" is that he knows every single martial arts technique known to the 30th century.
- Marvel Universe:
- Black Widow: Given her background as a spy and assassin, Black Widow (in her various incarnations) has an eclectic fighting method made up of various styles, including aikido, boxing, savate, and others.
- Captain America: Cap's fighting style is often referred to as a mixture of boxing, judo, and his own brand of acrobatic hand-to-hand fighting, given his peak-human capabilities.
- Daredevil: In most of his depictions, Matt Murdock (Daredevil) uses a fighting style that's an eclectic combination of boxing, judo, and mixed martial arts, as well as some ninjutsu that he picked up from his Old Master Stick.
- Iron Fist: As the last in a long line of unparalleled warriors, Iron Fist is a master of virtually every style of kung fu and martial arts that exists on Earth, as well as the mystical martial arts of K'un-Lun.
- Black Panther: T'Challa is a martial arts master on par with the greatest fighters in the Marvel Universe, and his fighting style is often described as a combination of styles from all over the world.
- Blade: To become a better vampire hunter, Blade has mastered a multitude of styles, including boxing, capoeira, escrima, and ninjutsu, among others. Combined with his Dhampyr agility and senses, this makes him a deadly opponent.
- Elektra: Elektra's assassination-focused fighting style is mostly made up of East Asian martial arts, including but not limited to aikido, karate, and ninjutsu.
- Moon Knight: Owing to his career as a soldier and mercenary, Marc has trained in a wide range of styles, such as boxing, judo, krav maga, and muay thai.
- The Punisher: While Frank is a master of multiple fighting styles, explanations of his style tend to focus on the gritter, military-focused styles (like American CQC, systema, and krav maga) to emphasize his no-holds-barred approach to dealing with enemies.
- Shang-Chi: Shang Chi's martial arts depend on the depiction; sometimes he's specifically a master of all kung fu styles (as well as the Way of the Deadly Hand), and at other times, he's a master of all martial arts styles across the globe. More recently, he's usually depicted as a master of all martial arts styles, but with an emphasis on Chinese martial arts.
- The Taskmaster has "photographic reflexes" which allow him to copy the physical movements of others, including fighting styles. Thus, he's capable of using every fighting style of everyone on this page, as long as he's seen them.
- Wolverine: As Logan has lived such a long time, he's collected quite the assortment of fighting styles from across the world (and history). He's often the de facto martial arts expert and instructor of the X-Men, whenever they need someone to fill the role.
Fan Works
- Peeking Through the Fourth Wall: Discussed when Carl lies that he knows "taikidofujitsu" in an attempt to sound tough.
Films — Live-Action
- The Matrix (1999): In one of the most exaggerated uses of this trope, members of the Resistance have combat training programs of every fighting style imaginable downloaded into their brains. While Neo is undergoing the process, the audience sees jujutsu, karate, kempo, taekwondo, and drunken boxing appear on the screen depicting his progress, but it's implied that there are many others, which altogether comprise his hyper-versatile fighting style.
- Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows: While Sherlock Holmes relies on flashy bartitsu moves in combat, Professor James Moriarty is a former boxing champion who prefers straightforward, but devastating punches. However, it turns out that Moriarty also has a decent enough knowledge of bartitsu to efficiently counter Sherlock's more sophisticated techniques. In their hypothetical imagined fight, Sherlock (who is already at a disadvantage due to a recent shoulder injury) predicts himself losing.
Literature
- Forges of Mars: As they spar, Dahan (a veteran Secutor of the Adeptus Mechanicus) studies Yael (a rookie Black Templar) and identifies the specific mixture of styles he's using, a Thibault-style grip combined with Chemosian footwork and Bonetti defenses. Dahan, who's had all those styles and more broken down and analyzed in his combat database, is confident he can predict all Yael's moves. When he's shocked to lose anyways, Yael tells him that a warrior's heart matters more than his techniques.
- Reign of the Seven Spellblades:
- Lanoff Style is considered the easiest of the three main schools of sword arts to learn, so it's commonly taught to Mages Born of Muggles like Pete. However, after struggling to develop as a swordsman and getting some extra practice with the other Sword Roses, Pete incorporates techniques from the competing Rizett Style into his personal style.
- After Oliver defeats Tullio Rossi's entirely self-taught style of swordplay in a duel, he recommends that he go back and learn the Koutz Style from scratch. Rossi takes this to heart, and also incorporates some magicombat techniques he learns from Lesedi Ingwe.
- Alvin Godfrey is mainly known for his facility with fire magic, but is an accomplished duelist as well: he practices Lanoff Style sword arts and mates them to unarmed magicombat, and wins the elimination round match in the Tournament Arc in volume 8 while depowered by getting his opponent Efler in a sleeper hold and choking him unconscious.
Efler: …Y-you bastard…! This isn’t how a mage fights…!
Godfrey: No. This is how you fight a mage. The Watch has learned how to fight you.
- Worm: Grue is able to pick up the basics of a martial arts style quite fast, and has explored various styles as a result, being interested in the differences between them, rather than dedicating himself to any specific one. His overall hand-to-hand skill serves him well since his power means everyone else on the battlefield is effectively blind.
Video Games
- Dead or Alive:
- Raidou has the ability to copy fighting techniques by seeing other people use them. Initially, his moveset primarily consisted of moves copied from other fighters, though he later gained some moves of his own.
- Honoka possesses a similar ability to Raidou and has copied so many moves and techniques that she's created her own fighting style "Honoka Fu", though her techniques aren't always as powerful as actual specialists.
- Mila is an MMA fighter whose fighting style is a mixture of boxing, kickboxing, vale tudo, and wrestling.
- Fatal Fury:
- Terry's fighting style is a mix of boxing, karate, kung fu, kickboxing and Hakkyokuseiken. He possesses both formal training from his father Jeff Bogard and his master, Tung Fu Rue, as well as experience fighting on the streets.
- Rock Howard is the son of Geese Howard and was adopted and trained by Terry. He possesses Terry's moves due to said training but also knows aikijutsu instinctively due to his father Geese being a master of it.
- In Final Fantasy XIV, a Warrior of Light who becomes a monk will first start as a student of the Puglists' Guild in Ul'dah, which is best described as mixed martial arts with an emphasis on boxing and powerful kicks. They then learn the ways of the Fist of Rhalgr, a once-extinct group of Warrior Monks, from one of its sole surviving members, blending their schooling into a unique and flexible fighting style. This becomes critical in the Stormblood Monk quests, as the newly reformed Fist of Rhalgr is able to overcome the Corpse Brigade, which trained specifically to counter the Fist of Rhalgr's techniques, thanks to the Warrior teaching the monks to include Ul'dahn pugilism in their fighting style.
- Jade Empire: The Spirit Monk is a martial arts prodigy who learns many different hand-to-hand combat forms throughout the game and can switch them in the middle of battle to adapt to their current opponents.
- Mortal Kombat: In Deadly Alliance and Deception, every kombatant has two martial arts styles and a weapon in their fighting style. However, in Armageddon, it is simplified to a single martial arts style and a weapon due to its massive roster.
- Pokémon: Some of Machamp's Pokédex entries state that it has mastered every type of martial art in the world.
- Cal Kestis in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and especially in sequel Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is able to take advantage of the modular design of his lightsaber and masters a variety of fighting styles — traditional single saber, dual saber, crossguard saber, double-ended saber, and saber and blaster.
- Soul Series: Edge Master is an ancient warrior who's mastered combat with every single weapon in existence. His Ditto Fighter status of only using one character's fighting style at a time is a Self-Imposed Challenge to provide some measure of a chance to those he fights. Olcadan has the same thing going on and fittingly, in the past the two of them once faced each other and fought to a draw.
- Street Fighter:
- Gen is a master of multiple martial arts, mainly the Mantis and Crane styles of Kung fu. In gameplay, he's a Stance Fighter who can swap between the two styles as needed.
- Seth is an Artificial Human who possesses the Tanden Engine, which allows him to copy the techniques of other fighters. In gameplay, most of his moves come from other members of the cast, though he has a few moves exclusive to himself.
- G's fighting style is listed as "All martial arts from around the World", which is fitting due to him claiming to be the president of the Earth who is also implied to be a Cosmic Entity who is the incarnation of the Earth itself.
- Tekken:
- Jin Kazama zigzags this trope. In Tekken 3, Jin uses a combination of his father's Mishima-style Fighting Karate and his mother's Kazama-style Traditional Martial Arts. In Tekken 4, his hatred of his father's side of his family results in him unlearning his previous fighting styles and using Traditional Okinawan Karate exclusively. During the final battle of Tekken 8, he uses all three fighting styles.
- Ogre's moves are primarily made up of moves from various other fighters. In Tekken 3, its moves are copied from missing fighters from Tekken 2, while in Tag Tournament 2, it gains moves from other characters.
- Combot initially downplays this trope. In Tekken 4, it was programmed with the fighting styles of the entire cast, but due to a glitch, it can only use one fighting style per fight and the style it uses is random. It plays the trope straighter in Tag Tournament 2, as it has the ability be customized by granting him select moves from other members of the cast.
- Reina uses a mixture of Taidō and Mishima-style Fighting Karate, using the agility of the former and the heavy blows and techniques of the latter. Her knowledge of the Mishima-style isn't a coincidence, as she's Heihachi's daughter.
Visual Novels
- Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc: Sakura Ogami is the Ultimate Martial Artist, and unlike other Ultimates with martial arts talents in the franchise, Sakura is a master of multiple martial styles, stating in her first free-time event that she's studied jujutsu, aikido, wrestling, and boxing, with her overall style being mixed martial arts.
Web Animation
- DEATH BATTLE!: While not crucial to their victory, characters who have multiple combat styles tend to fare much better the more they have.
Webcomics
- Kill Six Billion Demons:
- Solomon David is a Person of Mass Destruction thanks to his mastery of the Supernatural Martial Art Ki Rata alone, but he also likes to flaunt his superiority by defeating his opponents with their own signature styles.
- Musko Reeve, author of the in-universe Manual of Hands and Feet, inadvertently became one of the most Badass Bookworms in the multiverse by learning a huge variety of Supernatural Martial Arts in order to document them.
- Solomon David is a Person of Mass Destruction thanks to his mastery of the Supernatural Martial Art Ki Rata alone, but he also likes to flaunt his superiority by defeating his opponents with their own signature styles.
Western Animation
- Avatar Legends:
- The Avatar themselves must master the four Bending Arts which are rooted in four different real-life Chinese martial arts styles. This typically involves a World Tour to learn them from their native people in their respective native lands.
- In The Legend of Korra, Korra, in addition to the various bending styles, also incorporates pro-bending into her fighting style which is an analog for American boxing and MMA tactics, initially to the chagrin of Tenzin who prefers the traditional styles.
- Ben 10:
- Zig-Zagged with Ben Tennyson himself, who has a number of Melee Aliens like Four Arms, Rath, Crashhopper, and Kickin Hawk. Depending on the Writer, Ben himself may train on fighting techniques to use with his aliens outside of transformations or let the Omnitrix give him all the knowledge he needs.
- Rook Blonko is a Badass Normal alien with a Swiss-Army Weapon. "Rook Tales" also shows that even when fighting against a master of his planet's dominant martial art without his Proto-Tool, Rook is still able to win because he’s learned many different martial arts to fight various kinds of aliens.
- Kim Possible: Kim states in the episode "Hidden Talent" that she knows sixteen different styles of Kung-Fu.
- Samurai Jack: As a child, Jack traveled all over the world to study under various martial art masters to one day return home and liberate the land from the demon Aku. Some of his lessons included learning kung fu from Shaolin monks, horseback riding from Arabian sheiks and later mounted combat from Mongols, axe throwing from Russian boyars, and even archery from the Robin Hood. Even thousands of years into the future where Aku rules the world, Jack still continues to learn and master new and bizarre forms of combat.
