I've often been fascinated with the kind of dawning horror that takes place when people call someone a dangerous monster, then try and attack that person only to find they are hopelessly outmatched. What did they expect to happen? That this powerful person who they keep ranting will kill them all, would suddenly become weak enough for them to kill? And if they were weak enough for them to kill, were they even a threat to begin with?
Bullying a dragon (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BullyingADragon) on Tv tropes covers it well. I've often thought "No one would be actually stupid enough to do that, right?" , but we all know there actually people out there like that.
"Captain, are you going to punch me again, over and over, until your arm weakens? Clearly, you want to."