I find the analogy of the immune system useful in this respect: a tiered response, where the initial response is mainly about recruiting useful cells to the area. Some immune cells work by immobilising a pathogen and signalling to more specialist cells to come in and properly sort stuff out (prize for the most badass sounding cell is the T-killer cell). In this analogy, the people with regular bats are the ones immediately disabling the Nazi, keeping them down until the specialists with nails come along