Bare-Handed Truck Stop



You've Seen It a Million Times—it's the classic way to handle The Reveal that a character possesses Super Strength and/or Nigh Invulnerability. They stop a speeding vehicle by simply putting out their hands and halting it. Sometimes the momentum isn't entirely stopped cold, and they get pushed back a short distance, maybe even tearing up the pavement with their feet in the process.

Contrast Trainstopping, which is less a reveal and more a rite of passage.

Anime and Manga

 * In World of Narue, one of the characters is revealed in-universe to be an android by stopping a truck that was about to hit one of the main characters.

Comic Books

 * We've Seen It a Million Times in superhero comics.
 * Similar to the Superman film example below, the Saint of Killers in Preacher got hit by a car. He was untouched, the car considerably less so.

Fan Works

 * In chapter 15 of The Federation Lives Forever! from Undocumented Features, Shimakaze saves Ui Hirasawa from being hit by a truck by interposing herself and taking the hit herself. As she's the Mental Model of a Fleet of Fog ship, doing so wrecks the truck rather than her (or Ui), but also reveals her nature to the "junior varsity" of the Sato Academy Light Music Club.

Film

 * A variation is seen in Superman II: a taxi cab hits Clark as he's crossing the street. The cab is stopped cold, with a deep indent in the front.  Clark is unmoved.
 * This happens in Twilight when a van almost crashes into Bella, so Edward jumps in front of her and stops the van with his bare hands, which leaves a massive dent in the vehicle. This results in Bella becoming suspicious that Edward is not completely normal.

Literature

 * As stated above, this happens in Twilight when Tyler's van almost crashes into Bella, and Edward stops it with his bare hands to protect her.

Live-Action TV

 * The title character doesn't even bother to raise her hands to stop a speeding 18-wheeler cold (and catapult its driver through the windshield) in the pilot episode of Supergirl.
 * In a flashback in the first episode of the Korean series Strong Girl Bong-soon the title character is shown stopping a speeding car with one hand when she is no more than 7 or 8 years old.

Web Animation

 * As seen in the page image, Penny halts a truck—getting pushed back only a couple yards amidst shattering asphalt—in Volume 2 Episode 3 of RWBY.

Real Life

 * Averted in Brazil in 2021, when a comedian dressed as Superman tried to stop a bus with one hand. It didn't go very well.