Charles Atlas Superpower: Difference between revisions

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Although most of the western versions of this trope don't actually have explicitly supernatural abilities, they can do things that would be absolutely impossible for normal humans.

This syndrome is usually the result of the [[Badass Normal]] being portrayed as a little ''too'' [[Badass]]. [[Lamarck Was Right|May run in families.]]

 

 

 

The standard line here is that "the average person only uses ten to fifteen percent of their potential strength." It is possible for the brain to use far more muscle power than the person would normally consider their limit, but usually only by shutting down most other major body processes- digestion, the immune system etc.- and flooding the body with adrenaline. Otherwise known as the "fight or flight" response. In other words, it's a [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique]] only ever used for [[Big Damn Heroes]] moments.

 

 

The inverse to this trope is [[Boxing Lessons for Superman]], where an already-superpowered character trains in a mundane skill.

 

Compare [[Art Major Biology]], [[The Power of Acting]], and [[Supernatural Martial Arts]]. Contrast [[Enlightenment Superpowers]]. When repetitive training grants a character powerful skills without their knowledge, that's [[Wax On, Wax Off]]. If it turns out the "mundane"-level power actually ''was'' a gift, that's [[Real Life Super Powers]].

 

== Anime & Manga ==

* ''[[Sket Dance]]'''s Himeko (the "Onihime") is a [[Action Girl|beautiful bruiser]] who can take on an army of delinquents with nothing but her natural strength and a WOODEN hockeystick.

** Played for laughs with Koma-chan who scares away/injures her suitors with her freakish strength. She also breaks her cellphone's keypad because of it.

* In ''[[Naruto]]'', even without the [[Functional Magic]] using [[Mana|chakra]], ninja can [[In a Single Bound|jump dozens of meters]], hit targets with inhuman accuracy, punch down stone walls, beat two-story tall bears in sumo wrestling contest, and [[The Nose Knows|gain a sense of smell equal to or greater than that of a dog]] through nothing but physical training.

** Chakra is a fundamental part of the human anatomy in the series, so it is sort of [[Justified]]. The entire premise is that everyone is a potential Charles Atlas.

** Not to mention Rock Lee who practically embodies this trope, even by ninja standards. Not having the ability to control chakra, he constantly trains with insane exercises like always wearing leg weights that appear to have the same mass as a small house. Each.

** On a similar note, the show, and in particular, Rock Lee, seems to reference the unconscious inhibition that the mind places on the body via the Eight Gates. However, opening them to go into [[Super Mode]] will quickly lead to exhaustion, and [[Up to Eleven|opening all 8 gates]] leads to ''[[Deadly Upgrade|death]]''. The purpose of the Gates is essentially to allow the user to go past the basic human limitations and use 100% of their full physical power.

* Luffy, Sanji and Zoro, amongst many others from ''[[One Piece]]'', can casually slap away sea monsters the size of whales and throw a whole building with minimal effort just because they've trained hard enough. Luffy has a [[Rubber Man|superpower]], but it has little to do with that.

** In Luffy and Zoro's case, be glad that they actually showed/mentioned tedious training (Zoro exercises with weights roughly the size of monstertruck wheels). Almost every character in the series whose combat ability does not solely revolve around weapons possesses at least some form of super strength/speed, or at least a massive damage soak (seriously, Usopp surviving a 4-ton bat slammed into his skull? While being dragged along the ground at 30 MPH?).

** CP9's ''Rokushiki'' are six specific Charles Atlas Superpowers, [[Flash Step|Soru]], [[Made of Iron|Tekkai]], [[Double Jump|Geppou]], [[Ragdoll Physics|Kami-E]], [[Finger-Poke of Doom|Shigan]], and [[Razor Wind|Rankyaku]]. There is also a [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique|secret seventh skill]], Rokuougan.

** Haki is also a good example in One Piece. It could be considered a super-power by real standards. Haki makes you able to nullify Devil Fruit powers (which are the series' resident ''actual'' superpowers), feel an opponent's strength and predict their movements and, finally, knock out thousands of weaker opponent by your mere spirit - and to people who have never heard about it, it's often thought to be magic. Every human (and human-like beings) in the series has the potential for it, but only few manage to awaken that potential. So that way, it seems like an extraordinary superpower even though it's a power that every human has.

** Being an alien (Saiyan) also doesn't hurt, but then the human members gain strength far surpassing what is possible (although they're still extremely weak in comparison to said aliens).

* Whenever Hayate from ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler]]'' does something impossible (like pedalling a bicycle faster than a car (a common anime technique) or surviving a hit from [[Humongous Mecha]]), the only comment he or some other [[Combat Commentator]] will make is "It's all right, ''he trains''."

*** Well technically only {{spoiler|Infinity Fortress was a quasi-virtual reality the rest was all real.}}

* Parodied in ''[[Welcome to The NHK]]'' when Satou decides to test if he has gained powers like those characters have from training alone on a mountain from living alone in his apartment. He successfully karate-chops a beer bottle but cuts his hand.

** He was even more badass during [[World War II]], when he was only fourteen years old. Case in point: he jumped out of an Allied spyplane, hundreds of feet above the ground, carrying a coffin that probably outweighed him, ''without a parachute'', and landed completely unharmed on the enemy leader's dining room table.

* ''[[Fist of the North Star]]''/''Hokuto no Ken''. Everybody without a mohawk has a CAS. Everyone with a mohawk is just cannon fodder, as weak and defenseless as [[Mook|fanged bunnies]].

** Some people have theorized that his constant contact with the spirit world via the Brand has had a hand in increasing his capabilities beyond human norms.

* Taken to extremes by just about every single character in ''[[Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple|History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi]]''.

* Gourry Gabrieve of ''[[The Slayers]]'' is able to flick acorns with enough power to put serious holes in the bodies of trolls (Lina had cast a spell on them to reverse their usual regenerative skills, but being able to put those holes there was all Gourry).

* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' has several: [[Highly-Visible Ninja|Kaede]], [[Waif Fu|Ku Fei]], and Mana (the mercenary). Makie is on her way to this trope too.

** Ku Fei has taken down demons in fights.

** Mana is apparently strong enough to flick coins at people with enough force to knock them over. This, at least, ''could'' be a faint residual from the earlier time in her life when she received regular physical enhancement from her mage partner. She does have weak unrelated magical powers (as well as the contacts to purchase enchanted ammo).

** Recent revelations show that Jack Rakan started out as a slave in a gladiatorial combat arena and became uber strong through 40 or so years of fighting in tournaments and wars. He also used magic, of course, but in the world he lived in this was hardly a superpower.

*** He is stated to be stronger than {{spoiler|[[Big Bad|Fate]]}}, who could almost beat Negi in a stand up fight at the {{spoiler|very end of the series}}. He {{spoiler|breaks out}} of a dimension imprisoning him through willpower alone. He survives {{spoiler|his own unmaking, though only briefly,}} by focusing hard enough. He is... [[The Most Interesting Man in the World|well, you understand]].

** Also, Killua (and indeed, his entire family) is not only immune to every single poison in the world because he has ingested them when he was an infant, but he is also immune to ''electricity'' because [[You Fail Biology Forever|he received electrical shocks along with the poisons]]. He can still feel pain, though.

** Young Netero is shown {{spoiler|practicing a thousand punches everyday, doing it faster and faster until he actually punched ''faster than the speed of sound''. Even after turning into a 150-year-old geezer, he still moves so fast that superhuman creatures have no idea what's going on.}}

** [[Large Ham|THE SUPER STRENGTH HAS PASSED THROUGH THE ARMSTRONG LINE FOR GENERATIONS!!!]]

* Thoma from ''[[Fantastic Children]]'', who can knock out even ''giant robots'', for crying out loud!

** Arguably one's strength is not dependant on their handedness. Weight lifters for example don't lift with just one arm. Actual throwing accuracy however with one's off hand however would take a lot of training, just as writing with that hand would. But then it takes a while to learn to throw properly with your dominant hand as well when you're a kid.

** Although it's nowhere near as crazy as [[Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter|Chane]], who can [[Implausible Fencing Powers|deflect bullets with knives]] (including ones fired from ''a shotgun'') or Graham, who can catch bullets ''with his wrench'' or disassemble entire cars ''midair in seconds''.

*** Actually, the author has said that the reason Claire doesn't get his own plotline is because he IS the strongest character in the series, and a story that consisted solely of Claire beating the heck out of everyone else wouldn't be a very interesting read.

* [[Gentle Giant|Chad]] from ''[[Bleach]]'' gains actual powers early in the first arc, but before he does he's shown to be inhumanly strong. A steel beam falls on him from several stories up, and he takes it like it was a weak punch. Also, his first encounter with a hollow was before he was able to see them, so Rukia told him where to swing his bat. Or at least the telephone pole he uprooted and was using as a bat.

** Go Koga, a filler character, manages to beat up Ichigo using only his physical strength, which is odd at first because his race was established to rely exclusively on familiars to fight. He then explains that his strength is not the result of his Bount powers, but rather, it's the inherent strength of his human body.

* ''[[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]]'''s Syaoran Li. In a fight, he will kick damn near anything from a giant icicle blade, big muscular guy with superhuman strength granted by magic to a God Bird Thing. Might be why Syaoran is so awesome.

** Kurogane, who, not counting his sword skills, can punch down a stone wall barehanded.

** Similarly, Shizuo's archnemesis Izaya is faster and more agile than any supposedly "normal" human has a right to be, and that's before we get into his ability to routinely shrug off physical abuse from Shizuo that should have left him a bloody pulp.

* ''[[Baki the Grappler]],'' full stop. Martial artists can easily hold their own against various wild animals such as bears, tigers and wolves, and Yujiro once punched out an ''earthquake.'' And it's relatively realistic for martial-arts anime.

** {{spoiler|He might not be quite so pure anymore. His latest appearances have been showing signs he might be partially tainted from a combination of the Destroyer's spikes and left overs from Priscilla's hand. The left side of his body, the side he was most injured, especially seems to have veins popping out while fighting, while the other side doesn't. That said it's only speculation based on the art itself. Though one of the twins did say she could feel his strength.}}

* Genjuro from ''[[Senki Zesshou Symphogear]]'' can do absolutely insane things like blocking [[Magical Girl Warrior]] attacks with his fists or stomp so hard it sends parts of the road flying because of his martial arts training. Martial arts training whose sole purpose seems to be copying the movesets of [[Street Fighter|Akuma]] and [[Bruce Lee]].

'''Genjuro:''' I neutralized the explosion using a martial arts technique. }}

 

* [[Batman]] seems to have miraculously avoided being shot in any way that could hurt him, recovered from having his back snapped in half with no ill effects (albeit with the help of a friend with healing powers), and constantly goes toe to toe with superhuman foes and triumphs, just because he's trained that hard. His various pupils, including all the Robins, show similar abilities.

** More recently, Batman has moved away from this; he wins battles less because of training and more because of tactics. One could say that Batsy's power is [[Awesomeness By Analysis]] to an amazing degree; he makes sure he can analyze any weakness as quickly as possible. You never see him fight an amazingly powerful superhuman straight on. More often than not, he avoids gunfire by staying in the shadows where Mooks can't see, wearing the best bulletproof suit millionaire playboy money can buy, and/or disabling enemies before they have a chance to shoot.

** In ''[[The Batman Adventures]]'' #6, it was a plot point that Bruce Wayne is capable of an unassisted ten-foot vertical jump. The world record is ''four''.

* Cassandra Cain as [[Batgirl]] is possibly one of the most over-the-top examples in Western comics. [[Tyke Bomb|Being raised as an assassin from birth]] is used to explain how she can dodge bullets being fired directly at her head from less than a foot away. As a means of explanation that strains credulity, she was not taught to interpret speech or writing but instead taught human movement as a language (e.g. through recognition of tensing in specific arm and hand muscles, avoids gunfire by reacting first away from the direction of a pointed gun). She is actually shown on multiple occasions as basically having Spider-sense. The list goes on with her, but the instances listed contradict the vast majority of her appearances, and are generally ignored.

** Even when she is actually hit by a bullet, she can do so without flinching, because she was conditioned from when she was very young to ignore the pain.

** She's kicked a man-sized hole in a steel-reinforced concrete wall

* [[wikipedia:Richard Dragon|Richard Dragon]] and Lady Shiva, who both helped train Batman and Vic Sage's Question, also exhibit this. Lady Shiva has very close to the same abilities as her daughter, Cassandra Cain.

* Huntress has dead-eye aim with her crossbow and has unusually high endurance and fighting abilities, with her backstory establishing that she was trained to take vengeance on her family's killers. Also, she can perform acrobatics in [[Combat Stilettos|high heels]].

** ''"Being blind, physics no longer applied to me."'' -- [[Riff Trax]] version of the ''[[Daredevil (film)|Daredevil]]'' [[The Movie|movie]]

** His archnemesis, Bullseye, is another example; he has no superpowers, but both his ability to aim and his ability to throw projectiles (including incredibly un-aerodynamic things, such as playing cards and straightened paperclips; indeed, it's been said that anything is a deadly weapon in his hands) to lethal effect basically is one. It's one thing to be a brilliant marksman with thrown weapons. It's quite another to make the objects you throw defy the laws of physics.

* Sometimes, writers go a ''little'' overboard. The Quality Comics hero Black Condor was raised as a [[Wild Child]] by (ahem) super-intelligent condors ... and as a result, learned to ''fly''. When the character was incorporated into the [[The DCU|DC Universe]], [[Retcon|retroactive continuity]] was invoked to credit the power to [[I Love Nuclear Power|irradiation by meteor]].

* Unsurprisingly, [[Grant Morrison]] drove this trope to the hilt in his run on ''[[Doom Patrol]]'' with [[Flex Mentallo]], a forgotten hero obviously modeled after old Charles Atlas ads with the ability to ''[[Reality Warper|warp reality]]'' by flexing his muscles.

** Somewhere along his history, the ability to [[Awesomeness By Analysis|inherently determine the weaknesses of opponents]] became the official justification for why he was more than just a martial artist.

*** Hell, he even beat Batman. Once. It wouldn't happen again.

* In the world of [[Warren Ellis]]'s ''[[Global Frequency]]'', biofeedback not only allows you to unlock greater control of pain and strength, but ''accelerated healing'', raising the question of why Mother Nature would lock away normal humans' potential in the first place. In ''GF'' #10, two biofeedback nuts throw down against each other. They ignore blow after punishing blow, shrug off gunshot- and stab-wounds, and continue functioning despite bent-backwards joints and a plucked-out eye. The fight only ends when one ''rips the other's arm off with his bare hands''.

** Which arm is then ''forcibly fed'' to its former owner.

** It's worth noting what the backup plan if the good biofeedbacker lost was - destroy the entire building complex with an air strike.

** The sheer absurdity of this did eventually lead to him being explicitly given psionic powers.

* While most of [[Marvel Universe]]'s [[The Inhumans|Inhumans]] get superpowers from ritualistic exposure to the mutagenic [[Applied Phlebotinum|Terrigen Mist]], Karnak forewent the ritual and instead spent his adolescence in a monastery, training in physical and mental discipline. This left him with super-calloused skin, complete conscious control over his body's autonomic functions, and the extrasensory ability to sense the structural weakness in anything or anyone, allowing him to beat stronger opponents and shatter objects as hard as steel with a single well-aimed blow.

*** In fact, the Gorgon is so ridiculously badass that literally no one (That [[SHIELD]] can call in anyway) can beat him. Wolverine has to [[Hoist by His Own Petard|hoist him by his own petard]] to win.

*** Gorgon's badassery is proved beyond any shadow of doubt in ''Secret Warriors'', when he kills {{spoiler|Phobos, yes, the son of Ares, a freaking greek god}}.

* The [[Taskmaster]], aside from his "[[Awesomeness By Analysis|photographic reflexes]]", has no superpowers at all. Yet he still can stand toe to toe with plenty of heroes or villains by virtue of the fact that he's incredibly fit, and those reflexes. He even can achieve a limited form of superspeed by watching recordings of himself in fast-forward.

** One of the Taskmaster's favorite trainees in ''Avengers: The Initiative'' is Melee, whose power is that she knows martial arts. ''All of them''.

* John Doe of ''[[Nth Man: The Ultimate Ninja|Nth Man the Ultimate Ninja]]'' is, by all accounts, a non-powered ordinary man. Even so, he can dodge bullets with [[Super Reflexes]], kill a roomful of men in several seconds, and alter the perceptions of everyone nearby with a chant. Justified in that he has been trained as a [[Ninja]] since the age of nine.

* [[Sin City]] has its fair share. Miho, Kevin, and Wallace all perform feats that should be impossible for normal humans, apparently due to their martial arts abilities. Miho kicked a man's head off his shoulders (granted, she sliced his neck first but that's still damned impressive), Wallace used a meditation technique to remember events after he was drugged and could catch a thrown knife in a dark forest despite not knowing he was being watched, and Kevin can apparently make people go numb with a quick jab. There was also the [[Elite Mook]] from ''Big Fat Kill'' who could cause intense pain just by touch.

* ''Elektra'' as seen in her ''[[Dark Reign (comics)|Dark Reign]]'' crossover was dodging bullets. Mostly. Corrupt government agents were plinking at her. The commanding officer figures out the best BLAM! Don't go on about it too much and she can be hit.

* When [[X-Men (Comic Book)|Storm]] lost her powers, she just relied on her natural abilities. She could have taken on Galactus like that. Same thing when Wonder Woman lost her powers too.

* [[Moon Knight]] is also a notable example, being basically an [[Axe Crazy]] [[Alternate Company Equivalent|Batman in white]].

 

== Film ==

* Chiun in ''Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins'' is a master of Sinanju, and by virtue of this ultimate martial art is able to dodge any attack, including bullets at any range, as well as run on water near the end of the film.

* ''[[Kill Bill]]'', where the bride punches her way out of a coffin and the rest of the cast are no slouches, either.

* Pretty much every non-powered hero from the ''[[Watchmen]]'' movie. The Comedian is able to punch through brick, survive getting his head slammed into a granite counter-top and jump from an aircraft that looks to be almost 3 men off the ground and not give a damn. Ozymandias is not only able to catch a bullet, but can jump nearly his entire height (almost six feet) from a sitting position. Rorschach is shown to practically run up a tower in one instance.

* ''[[Kick-Ass (film)|Kick-Ass]]'': Hit-Girl

* Any ninja in ''[[Ninja Assassin]]'' can do things like "shadow-blending" (where they can literally disappear ''in front of you''), moving at ridiculous speeds, and self-healing with sufficient training. Halfway through the film, they slice up a well-trained Europol squad but get the tables reversed on them at the end in a [[Big Damn Heroes]] moment. Can't really "shadow-blend" with floodlights in your face.

* In ''[[Cinderella Man]]'', Jim Braddock explains that he developed an unusually strong left arm when he had to use it to haul fish for his day job after injuring his right.

 

** The Honored Matres are even ''more'' badass.

** Mentats as well are "human computers". They are trained to possess photographic memories and deduce perfectly logical conclusions from the barest minimum of information. A Mentat Advisor is one of the most valuable assets that a noble house can have.

** And what happens when you combine them? Duncan Idaho, Charles Atlas Squared. Generations of breeding, then brought back from the dead, a master swordsman with Mentat powers unlocking a millennium of genetic memory of Bene Gesserit training.

** Not to mention the Mentat Emperor Paul Atreides, the Kwisatz Haderach.

*** It gets even MORE insane in Paul's case. He spent some of his life as a Fremen, which means he, in addition to being the product of generations of breeding, and very intensive training all round (Bene Gesserit, Mentat AND physical combat), he can do all the Fremen tricks. Yes, this includes riding the worms.

* Rincewind from the ''[[Discworld]]'' series could probably qualify: he has spent so much of his life running away from things that he is almost supernaturally good at it, at one point briefly running across the surface of water.

** Cohen The Barbarian is a better Discworld example. This very old man, having survived a lifetime of adventuring as a barbarian hero, is now, for all intents and purposes, unstoppable. The question one must ask oneself when confronting the aged barbarian is how Ghengiz Cohen came to be an aged barbarian in the first place.

** Captain Carrot also has some degree of this, exemplified by being able to pierce stone column with his sword. When the above Silver Horde was confronted by him, they wisely chose to give up.

* [[Tarzan]]'s abilities are mostly this; growing up under very harsh conditions and among apes much stronger than any normal human, he grew to be able to keep up.

* The protagonist of Kristin Cashore's novel ''[[Graceling]]'' has this as a magical talent. In a setting where certain people are "Graced" with a magically-enhanced natural talent that can range from mind control to swimming to cooking, the heroine Katsa is Graced with superhuman survival skills that let her function perfectly without sleep or food for days, withstand blizzards, instinctively know how to live in the wilderness, see in the dark, navigate without a compass, defeat anyone in any kind of combat, and kill anything that she sees as a threat with her bare hands.

* Claw from the [[Andrew Vachss]] Burke book ''Terminal'' trained himself to be able to crush steel, gaining his moniker through his vice-like grip.

** The aforementioned Ser Loras, AKA 'The Knight of Flowers'

** Jaime 'The Kingslayer' Lannister is quite possibly the most talented swordsman alive

** Syrio Forel: The First Sword of Braavos does not run

 

 

* Ask any guitar hero (or any great or at least techincally advanced musician) why they're so good, even if they seem able to pull things off that no human being should be able to do, and the response is the same: "Practice."

** [[Steve Vai]] is one of the more extreme modern examples. Back in the 80's and early 90's, he practiced ''10 hours a day.]] Now he's regarded as one of the best and most important guitarists of the twentieth century.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** [[Ciaphas Cain]] can match genetically engineered super soldiers.

*** Subverted; Cain said he wouldn't have the endurance for a long fight against a traitor marine. His fight with the traitor marines and the ork warboss were won by cunning and practice rather than his ability to punch them through mountains.

*** Destroyed an entire enemy armored column by booby trapping an entire ravine

*** Captured an enemy command post singlehandedly and killed the commander and his entire bodyguard.

** The special abilities many classes gain bear some mentioning. Rogues can hone their reflexes to the point where they can dodge a fireball--''while standing at the epicenter of its explosion'' (though a more technical read of the rules might indicate that they need at least a little cover or wiggle room to evade an explosion capable of leveling mountains unscathed), and Barbarians become so resistant to damage that an ordinary human with an ordinary knife could never hope to hurt them. Monks take this trope to a whole other level, training so hard that they ''literally'' no longer count as mortals and become Outsiders, stop aging, become immune to poisons, have fists that count as harder-than-steel magical weapons, and can heal wounds by meditating on them. And dodge fireballs like a rogue.

* This is explicitly the case in [http://aarnblog.blogspot.com The World Of Aarn]. In the setting, magic is a simple fact of life, often taking the role that electricity does in our world, and it's also present in every living thing. As a result, Mundanes, those who don't use straight out magic, end up having their intrinsic magic express itself physically, so they can hit much harder, take harder blows, jump 12 feet in the air, and resist magical attacks to a greater degree than mages can.

 

== Video Games ==

* Chris Redfield of [[Resident Evil]] fame is nothing more than a highly competent (supposedly unpowered) cop... who can [[Memetic Mutation|punch a fucking boulder]] out of his way.

* In ''[[Doom]]'', all that is required to literally fight your way to Hell and back is to have trained at boot camp.

** Ironically averted in the case of Zell in ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'', whose extreme physical power comes from [[Powers as Programs|junctioning Guardian Forces]] to boost his physical abilities.

*** Well, except for that one limit break where he ''runs a lap around the entire goddamn planet'' and uses the inertia to damage the enemy.

* Nero from ''[[Devil May Cry]] 4'', discounting the demonic right forearm called the Devil Bringer, is supposedly human, yet he can jump (several time) his own height, reload superhumanly fast, fight in air-to-air, ''parry the thrust of a massive demon one-handed'', and do much of what half-devil series lead Dante can. {{spoiler|Subverted when it's learned that [[Badass Abnormal|he's a descendant of über-devil and father-of-Dante Sparda, so he innately has ''some'' superhuman ability]]... but it's not stated when the child of Sparda Nero descends from was born, so the extent of purity of Nero's demonic power is in doubt.}}

*** {{spoiler|Given that Sparda only had two children (even accounting for the ham-handedness of the game's story, this detail seems to remain solid), Nero would have to be at least a quarter demonic. Supposedly, there is a novel floating around that gives official answers to many questions left open by DMC 4's story, including clarifying that Nero is Vergil's son.}}

*** Not to mention the fact that she had only trained for a year or less, before then having been a normal human.

*** What's also quite bizarre is that considering how much the thigh stab pained her, {{spoiler|when Dante defeats her he has to have done one or more of the following- shot her, stabbed her, slashed her, beat the shit out of her with nunchaku, beat her up with spiked metal gauntlets, [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|played a guitar]] at her in order to hit her with bats and/or lightning, etc.}}. And she apparently survives this despite being clearly a strong but not supernaturally so human.

* The ''[[Crusader: No Remorse|Crusader]]'' games both use and subvert this trope. In the first game, the opening cinematic shows a single mech killing two Silencers, though to be fair it caught them off guard. The third (the eventual player character), not embroiled in their argument, managed to get out of its field of view and toss a grenade. The character then goes on to mow his way through hundreds of enemies in the game, shrugging off ''grenade'' blasts, and destroying a few dozen of the mechs that killed his compatriots. Then, in the second game, after sitting in a cramped lifepod for almost two days, he proceeds to kill two guards at range firing a burst from his assault rifle ''one-handed''. Finally, the second game seems to take roughly a week, with no noticeable breaks for rest, or even eating or drinking.

* ''[[Lost Odyssey]]'' is a recent example. Main character Kaim Argonar is shown in the opening scene working as a mercenary for Uhra, in the midst of a heavy battle. While Kaim's allies are getting stomped (roughly 20 of them seem to die for every one enemy soldier they manage to kill), Kaim is busy tearing the enemy to shreds by the dozens, and even killing an enormous war engine equipped with flamethrowers with a single blow. However, considering the fact that Kaim has lived 1,000 years and spent most of them fighting, the superhuman combat prowess and unbelievable swordsmanship he displays aren't really that surprising.

** And in the [[Manga]] backstory, during their final battle, Gouken and Akuma leveled a ''mountain range'' with a ''barrage'' of aerial Hadoken shots, even though firing a single one is already supposed to be extremely impressive.

** Parodied with [[Cute Bruiser|Sakura]]'s backstory. After seeing her erstwhile teacher, [[Joke Character|Dan]], perform a pathetic little Hadoken ''once'', she's able to toss a full-powered Hadoken with very little effort. What makes her scary is that she's a normal schoolgirl who had never trained before in her life, indicating she could potentially become the most powerful warrior in the franchise ''before her 16th birthday'' if she had half of Ryu's dedication to training. (And she does.)

*** Let's not forget the Church's Executors. Magi like Tohsaka Rin and Emiya Shirou can magically buff themselves up and sprint over fifty kilometers per hour. Exceptional Executors like Kotomine Kirei can do this ''without any magic''; Kirei himself once smashed a tree trunk in half using just his legs.

** Assassin from ''[[Fate/stay night]]'' has Tsubame Gaeshi, a sword strike that contains three slashes happening at the same time. This initially doesn't seem like a big deal, especially in comparison to some of the more ridiculous Noble Phantasms, like a sheath that bequeaths immortality and a spear that hits before it attacks, instead of the regular way around. The difference is that Tsubame Gaeshi is not a Noble Phantasm. It's not even magecraft. It's a physical technique. He was sitting around trying to think of how to cut down a swallow in flight, and decided that you'd have to be able to perform more than one slash at a time. He promptly decided that this was impossible, [[Beyond the Impossible|and then did it anyway]]. [[All There in the Manual|According to extra material]], he actually brute forces one of the 5 remaining true magics [[Rule of Cool|by swinging his sword really fast.]]

** Not to mention in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'', he destroys a tank using only ''grenades'' because he didn't have any anti-tank weapons. This is referenced to by Otacon in Guns of the Patriots.

** His clone brother Liquid Snake is similarly impressive, shooting down F-16s with a HIND helicopter, which he's able to pilot in the middle of a ''blizzard''. Surviving the crash of said HIND, the destruction of Metal Gear REX with him aboard, falling 3 stores off REX's remains after a fistfight with Solid Snake, and being repeatedly shot with a machine gun. It takes {{spoiler|FOXDIE}} to actually kill him.

** There's also Gray Fox who is also known as {{spoiler|Null}} who even before he gained his exoskeleton was capable of blocking machinegun fire with his sword. Gene from ''Portable Ops'' was also disturbingly fast. To the point of dodging rail gun fire at ''point blank range''

* Due to the game's mechanics, ''[[City of Heroes]]'' and ''[[City of Villains]]'' includes 'natural' characters who shield themselves with protective balls of fire, regenerate instantly from near-fatal wounds, phase out of normal existence, or ''fly''. Canonically, Malta's paramilitary forces have been quite capable of facing down evil interdimensional invaders assuming even numbers (who seldom took casualties when facing the American military), and can put up a hefty challenge to individual [[Differently-Powered Individual|Heroes and Villains]]. Manticore's archery ability is similar to Green Arrows, in addition to being [[Implacable Man|nearly impossible to kill]].

** Of particular note is the Ninjitsu power set. Most of its powers are fairly reasonable (increased agility, better perception, etc.), but the final power in the set (Kuji-In Retsu) allows you to ''alter the way time and space affect you'', turning you into a nigh-untouchable blur of attacks.

* Partly averted in ''[[The King of Fighters]]'' series, where several of the characters introduced in that series have powers due to "Orochi blood", and the China team's powers come from being psychics (and Athena's partly because she's the reincarnation of a goddess). The rest of them, though, can throw fireballs just because they practiced.

** As the announcer incessantly reminds you.

** You forgot that training with explosives makes the same grenades you pick up off gang corpses explode bigger and harder.

** Though the main character is {{spoiler|[[The Chosen One|The Slayer of God]]}}, so it's probably more than [[Justified Trope|justified]] for him.

** [[Xenosaga]] does the same thing, if not to the same extent; most of the characters are cyborgs, synthezoid, or {{spoiler|some Biblical figure}}, but [[Aloof Big Brother|Jin]] [[Everything's Better with Samurai|Uzuki]] ''slices through a '''mecha''' with a [[Katanas Are Just Better|katana]].'' He's one of the few non-special-powered-people in the game, and while it could be argued that {{spoiler|sharing the same mom with Shion might make him special}}, nothing is said to that end.

* A strange example is found in ''[[Touhou]]''. Marisa is, originally, a [[Muggle]] and normal human who gained expressly magical powers through sheer training alone. Using this, she can compete with various Gods, demons, and monsters who by all rights should squish her into a thin red paste, while matching the growth of the power of the few other humans in the series, who all have innate superpowers. Her signature attack even seems to show this sort of clumsy mentality - [[Kamehame Hadoken|Master Spark]] can be described as analogous to taking the magical equivalent of C4, placing it in a metal bowl to make an ad-hoc shaped charge, pointing it at the enemy, and detonating it without the [[Law of Inverse Recoil|bone-snapping recoil]] that would entail.

** In a nutshell, her co-main character is said to never need to train because her natural magic power is just that good. Inversely, Marisa spends all her time practicing, copying spells from other characters, and looting spellbooks from the local librarian. After all that, she can only use her powers in the first place because she carries around what is essentially a magic battery (prior to gaining the Mini-Hakkero, she used magic mushrooms to fuel her spells).

* Ayla of ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'' may not be able to learn magic like most of the other playable characters, but what she ''can'' do is beat the shit out of bosses with her bare hands. Her sheer physical damage output outranks ''Chrono's'' by the endgame, and has been hitting the damage cap with her critical attacks well before that point.

* ''[[Scarface the World Is Yours]]''. The extreme difficulty of killing Tony is remarked upon in game dialogue. One of your abilities is a [[Limit Break]] that grants invincibility, [[Bottomless Magazines]] and [[Life Drain]], apparently through sheer Balls. To a lesser extent it is part of the game dynamics.

* Non-magical classes in ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'', especially in ''[[Oblivion]]'', can achieve superhuman abilities simply by training enough. When their skills are high enough, they can outrun deer and kill them in one punch, jump the length of some buildings, turn invisible simply by crouching, and kill bears with their bare hands.

* The player-character in the [[Record of Lodoss War]] Dreamcast game learns magic like a child learning algebra, so most of the time you must rely on physical attacks. At level 100 you can punch sandworms and 'lighter' golems to death, despite the fact he's supposedly just an average well-trained knight once you take off his magical armours and weaponry. (And one of those swords, the Hakuring, was the sword of an OGRE. Yes it is expectedly slow as molasses, but if he were so 'normal' it should be CRUSHING him! Cloud's cricket bat pales in comparison and isn't even double-sided like this is. The hilt alone is the size of your shortswords.)

* ''[[Alpha Protocol]]'' is a fascinating example. Through experience, Michael can learn to do things such as:

** Passively lower the vision range of enemies while remaining aware of their location and facing even without line of sight, as well as invisibility from humans either as an active ability or a "panic button" when almost detected

** Increase his health and shrug off an otherwise fatal attack

* Similarly, the Barbarian from [[Diablo]] 2 and 3 is described this way in a number of places. Most fitting is the natural resistance skill, which helps the barbarian resist several types of magic damage, and is said to come simply from surviving tough environments.

* In ''[[Battlestar Galactica Online]]'', the skills your avatar picks up enable your starships to do longer FTL jumps, fly faster, make your guns more accurate and a variety of other things.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* From ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'', the "Anime Style school of martial arts" originally seems to be this. {{spoiler|Turns out it is actually a form of magic.}}

* Maytag and Bernadette of ''[[Flipside]]'' regularly perform combat feats that are physically impossible outside of Wuxia films.

** Two things to be noted: First off, Fighter can obviously survive being stabbed in the brain for the same reason that most people are fine with having their appendix removed. Second off, for Charles Atlas Superpower to apply, he would actually have to be known to have trained. While Fighter is called Vargus' best student, he seemed to have spent most of Fighter Camp '86 watching TV. Let's also not forget to include Thief. Whereas Fighter is 'merely' able to wield four swords at once, Thief is able to regularly break enchantments and laws of physics by legal mumbo jumbo and just being that good and, amongst other things, he stole his class change from the future. To quote him, he's "stolen things that weren't even there."

** Also, according to Thief his law ninjas are so well trained they are capable of being deployed and following people ''even though they are dead.''

** According to the comic, the greatest master of this was Bruce Lee, whose final act of body mastery was ''jumping to the moon''. He teaches the titular character how to jump back. (Which ''is'' six times easier.)

** There was on old friend of [[McNinja]] who did so much body building that his back muscles formed a ''biological jetpack''.

'''Doctor McNinja:''' No. Animals have wings, man has jetpacks. }}

* Naturally, [[Girl Genius|Othar Tryggvassen, Gentleman Adventurer]] really ''does'' run on this trope. We're talking about the man who survived ''[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040714 this]'', and then shortly afterward [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040927 this]. His adventurers in his Twitter feed are even more ludicrous.

** To be fair, Othar Tryggvassen ([[Gentleman Adventurer]]!) is also a Spark. Who knows what kinds of mad science he's got up his sleeves. A better example might be [[Hot Amazon|Zeetha]], who happily goes toe-to-toe with [[Super Soldier|Jaegermonsters]] and usually wins, with no known mad science assistance.

* O-Chul of ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'', exemplified [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0542.html here.] Hands bound, dumped into a pool of acid (while being dumped, knocks a goblin into the pool with his feet), lands on a pit of spikes, uses the spikes to cut through the bonds on his wrists, is attacked by an acid-breathing shark, punches it, breaking multiple teeth, gets to the surface. Finding himself unable to get out of the pool, owing to high walls, taunts the shark to attack him, uses the momentum from the shark jumping and biting him to get out of the pool, falls a fair distance to the floor, still covered in acid. Still conscious, he rushes the [[Big Bad]] Epic Level Lich Sorcerer, intending to take him down with his bare hands.

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in the blog-novel ''[[Flyover City]]!'', when the Hero / [[The Load|Load]] decides to pursue a career in crimefighting after his beloved 1975 Vespa is stolen.

* Journeyman of the [[Whateley Universe]] is a baseline but incredibly well trained in martial arts to the point that he can take on superpowered characters like Bladedancer, ki mistress Chaka, and [[Person of Mass Destruction]] Tennyo. He once sparred with all three at the same time. And won.

 

== Western Animation ==

** Ty Lee has always fit this trope even more what with all the [[In a Single Bound|multi-story leaping.]]

** Ty Lee's teammate Mai is a slightly milder case; similar to [[Marvel Comics]] villain Bullseye (mentioned above), her skill with throwing blades is basically superhuman.

** Zuko of course has ''actual'' superpowers in the form of martial arts pyrokinesis, but given he's insecure about his bending and all he seems to have paid special attention to developing some of these. He's not much better than Suki, but he's pulling this stuff all the damn time. These appear to be the standard for 'accomplished martial artist' in the setting, mind.

** Do take into account this is a world where people can shoot lightning out of their finger tips. Maybe stuff like this isn't very strange there.

* This is the ''de facto'' way to learn spells in ''[[Huntik Secrets and Seekers]]''.

* In an episode of ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'', Wildcat becomes so frustrated with his lack of superpowers that he ''punches through a brick wall.''

 

== Real Life ==

* Some unscrupulous martial arts "masters" claim to have achieved supernatural abilities through training. The website bullshido.net is dedicated to debunking them. In spite of this, several martial artists and fighters have developed reputations for seemingly superhuman physical abilities.

** There is also badmartialarts.com to debunk these things.

** Mas Oyama, who was said to kill bulls by punching them in the face, before or after hacking their horns off with his bare hands. He was also said to crush rocks with his hands and fight one hundred people in a row with minimal breaks. The degree of truth to these stories is debatable. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MapyZq4YIo Youtube] features a video of his bull exploits, though it only shows Oyama wrestling a harnessed bull to the ground and features a clearly faked portrayal of him hacking off a horn.

*** There is a testimony of an acquaintance floating around the net which claims he witnessed him punching a bull to the ground, but there had been an old an crippled bull.

** A popular legend states that former boxing Lightweight champ Roberto Duran once knocked out a horse with one punch.

* Many physical stunts appear to display superhuman abilities, but are not quite as impossible as they seem:

** Even as [[Hell Hound|fighting dogs and attack dogs are terrifying for most people]], enough to blame it on some genetic memory of being [[Big Badass Wolf|chased by wolves]] in the distant past, trained dog breeders can neutralize the attack of the beast by simply sticking a closed fist between its jaws to keep them open and unable to bite. It's [[Don't Try This At Home|too counter-intuitive to be performed at home if untrained]].

* History is filled with people who thought they could perform supernatural feats with enough training and other preparations, but were proven quite mistaken:

* Tribal cultures who have not been exposed to the [[Instant Death Bullet]] trope sometimes get a reputation for unnatural toughness during warfare due to the fact that they haven't been conditioned to fall down after they realize they've been shot. In truth, most gunshot victims are physically able to remain mobile for at least a few minutes.

* This is also why ''grand mal'' seizures are so dangerous; such involuntary convulsive movements use all available muscle power, and a person experiencing one is not only at risk of biting through their tongue or breaking their own spine, but unnervingly difficult to restrain.

* Similarly, a drowning person in a state of panic may exhibit much greater strength than normal for that individual, due to the rush of adrenaline. This is why lifeguards and others responsible for water safety are strictly cautioned to swim out to still-conscious drowning people only as an absolute last resort, when other methods of rescue such as poles, ring buoys and boats aren't available or feasible, due to the risk of becoming victims themselves.

* It has been found that one can increase bone strength through their density but this requires heavy physical training and does not aid much more then allowing for a fewer broken bones later on. The easy way is to train in martial arts or other physical combats that create micro-fractures in the pores of the bone and allow them to heal and fill.

* [http://www.cracked.com/article_16449_7-people-from-around-world-with-real-mutant-superpowers.html Well-disciplined Buddhist monks can reduce their metabolism by 64% and raise the temperatures of their fingers and toes by 17%, just by meditating].

** Actually, it is possible for anyone to do a less extreme version of this using [http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/biofeedback-000349.htm biofeedback].

* Tori Allen, a champion rock wall climber, got that way by climbing trees constantly from the age of four. By chasing after her pet monkey when her own limbs were maturing, she acquired phenomenal grip strength and a disproportionately-powerful bone structure. Now, she could give Spider-Man a vertical run for his money.

* Although films like ''[[James Bond]]'' and the ''[[The Bourne Series (film)|Bourne Series]]'' get panned for showing the titular protagonists doing unbelievable stunts, in reality most of the actions shown are actually possible. Various studies and TV specials, including two from Discovery and the Science Channel, show that there are people who can pull off those insane driving scenes, marksman who can hit a dozen targets at various ranges with a pistol, and fighters that can take on five men at once and curb stomp them. The biggest problem in the portrayal is that NOBODY can do all of this; it requires an enormous amount of training not just to learn these skills but to maintain them as well.

* There are plenty of stories of people who survived things that should kill most people. For example, [http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=4646774 this 7-year-old girl] who took six bullets and not only survived, but is able to walk and talk like normal even after doctors predicted she'd be paralyzed and mute for life.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Superhero Tropes]]

[[Category:Skills and Training Tropes]]

[[Category:Magic and Powers]]

[[Category:Power]]