Super Strength: Difference between revisions

 

 

 

Very common power from [[The Silver Age of Comic Books]]. Usually does not [[I Know Karate|know Kung Fu]]. Usually, this is the linchpin power of a [[Flying Brick]]. Characters with [[Combo-Platter Powers|a wide variety of Superpowers]] will very frequently include this as a baseline ability. Characters with super strength may demonstrate it with a [[Neck Lift]]. A must for [[The Big Guy]]. This is also the most common [[Charles Atlas Superpower]].

* In ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'', Teana made the mistake of telling Subaru to put more strength into boosting her up during a wall climbing exercise in the Ground Forces Military Academy. Subaru did... and accidentally threw Teana all the way up to the sky in the process. {{spoiler|This was our first clue on Subaru's [[Hollywood Cyborg|cyborg nature]]}}.

** In ''[[Magical Record Lyrical Nanoha Force|FORCE]]'', most members of the Huckebein family sport some degree of boosted physical strength but so far Fortis is the only one who has done a clear demonstration by crushing a soda can to a little marble with barely an effort.

** This one is demonstrated more brutally on other occasions. During a flashback sequence in Volume 3, Integra's father tells her during a lecture that vampires can rip humans apart, "like wet rags." [[Sociopathic Hero|Alucard]], naturally, does exactly that in the same chapter to a SWAT team, including one instance of apparently bitch-slapping a man in half.

* ''[[Strike Witches]]'' implies that the characters have Super Strength, what with their ability to carry around huge guns. Gertrude really shows off her strength in episode 12 when she throws an I-beam.

** Unlike her cousin, [[She Hulk]] doesn't get stronger when she's angry. However, her strength when she's "hulked out" is exponentially proportional to her strength as a normal human. A month of exercise and an extra pound or two of muscle mass can make her as strong as the Hulk at baseline; too bad for her she never goes to the gym except to show off when she's already big and green.

* The [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]] have had many examples, with Beast being the earliest and Colossus probably being the best-known.

** Note that Spider-Man's "proportional strength of a spider" line crosses with [[Square-Cube Law|another trope]] as well.

* Usually a default benefit of [[Powered Armor]], especially if in comics, such as [[Iron Man]], [[Doctor Doom]], etc.

** On one occasion only Obelix was given a tiny dose... so that he could punch his way out of a ''pyramid''.

* [[Popeye (comic strip)|Popeye]] - even without his spinach he is still capable of feats of strength even the strongest man can't do. With it? He's [[Strong as They Need to Be|as strong as he needs to be]].

* Old characters in both ''[[The Beano]]'' and ''[[The Dandy (comics)|The Dandy]]'' employ this trope examples include Pansy Potter from The Beano and Desperate Dan from The Dandy.

* ''[[The Tick (animation)]]'' has the proportional strength of a tick his size who engages in routine exercise.

 

== Fan Works ==

* Sarah Squall, aka Stratogale, from ''[[Rise of the Galeforces]]'', practically rivals ''[[The Incredibles|Mr. Incredible]]'' in terms of physical strength. [[All There in the Manual|Note that this power was one of her abilities in canon, at least according to her official NSA profile.]]

* In ''[[Renegade (fanfic)|Renegade]]'', Kaidan Alenko has superhuman strength thanks to being a Tiberium mutant in this timeline, to the point that he can chuck a two-ton [[Mini-Mecha]] with a bit of help from his biotics.

* The recent CG-film version of ''[[Beowulf (film)|Beowulf]]'' certainly implied that the title character has beyond normal strength and fortitude. As he should: The original poem states that he had the strength of 30 men.

** In each arm.

* While not Superman level, David in ''[[Unbreakable]]'' can rip car doors off and lift over five hundred pounds.

* Fezzik in ''[[The Princess Bride (film)|The Princess Bride]]''. Most noted during Westley's first encounter with the giant, as Fezzik holds an enormous boulder in one hand, and nonchalantly chucks it over his shoulder when they decide to fight hand-to-hand combat.

* ''[[The Adventures of Captain Marvel]]'' film serial of 1941 showcases one of the earliest film examples (which makes sense, given its the first superhero film of all time) with the titular [[Shazam|Captain Marvel]]. Throughout the 12 episode serial, the Captain lifts enormous stone columns, large fallen trees, elevator cars, and other feats of strength, to the point where he ends some of his fist fights with criminals by ''casually slapping them''.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* Fezzik in ''[[The Princess Bride (novel)|The Princess Bride]]''.

* Eponymous character in ''Aatomik'' has super strength as his main power.

* Jim Powell on ''[[No Ordinary Family]]'' is super-strong.

* Niki on ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' has super-strength. Too bad it [[Blessed with Suck|drives her insane]].

** There was also Mohinder, after he injected himself with a formula for super people. It started to kill him, but he got an improved formula that allows him to use without fear.

*** The writers seem to really hate this power, which is strange considering it's one of the cheapest effects to do. Volume four Mohinder is the first character with this power that wasn't either killed off in one episode, permanently insane from his power, or required some gimmick to make it work (such as fear).

* In the ''[[Resident Evil]]'' series, [[Big Bad|Wesker]] is capable of lifting missiles with one hand, piercing through his enemies' chests with his fingers, and holding Chris with one hand by the throat, among other feats of strength after his last upgrade in ''[[Resident Evil 5]]''. The man's practically a [[Implacable Man|living]], [[Lightning Bruiser|breathing]] [[Back From the Dead|machine]] and shows almost no damage after having a crane full of steel girders dropped on his head. Then again, he's not exactly [[The Undead|human]] after the [[Resident Evil 1|first game]], either.

* [[I Call It Vera|"Sasha"]], the [[Gatling Good|minigun]] of the Heavy Weapons Guy from ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'', is said to weigh 150 kilograms (a bit over 330 pounds), but he has no problems lifting it. Or running around with it. He also dishes out the same melee damage with his bare hands that the other characters need bats, wrenches, shovels, and huge knives to deliver, and in one of his taunt animations, he effortlessly spins his holdout weapon, a 12-gauge shotgun, like it was a pistol.

** [[Final Fantasy VI|Sabin/Mash Rene Figaro]] is also noteworthy for [[Load-Bearing Hero|supporting a collapsing building and later a collapsing ceiling]].

** And for suplexing a friggin' train.

* From ''[[Halo (series)|Halo]]'', all of the Spartans are capable of lifting a few tons and running at in-human speeds.

* Done subtly in ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' with Commander Shepard, who is [[We Can Rebuild Him|rebuilt]] with extensive cybernetic upgrades. The super strength isn't obvious, but Shepard is shown to be capable of wielding weapons that would be impossible for normal humans to use, i.e. a shotgun that would break normal humans' arms or carrying an antitank rifle that normally can only be fired while prone (or used by geth). Shepard can also lift and push aside heavy steel girders or debris, can punch out [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|krogan soldiers]] in hand-to-hand combat, knock out fully-armored soldiers with his/her bare fists in the ''Arrival'' DLC, and take on the Shadow Broker in hand-to-hand combat (the Shadow Broker being a {{spoiler|three meter tall alien massing several times that of a normal human}}).

* In ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'', both [[Robot Buddy]] and [[Hot Amazon|Ayla]] display feats of massive strength:

** In the factory level in 2300 AD, Robo holds a steel security door that must weigh several tonnes open.

* In the [[Walkyverse]], the majority of abductees have superhuman strength and durability as standard powers.

* [[Cute Bruiser|Nova]] from ''[[Overlord Academy]]'' has this power.

* Demon Lord Horribus from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' was treated as an [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain]] for years, until his demons finally got their own major story in "That Which Redeems". When he finally confronts [[Arch Enemy|Torg]] in the climactic ending, the gloves really come off. Though it has already been hinted that a Demon Lord is very powerful, his true power is revealed when he attacks the heroes by knocking down stone buildings, picking them up and using them as projectile weapons.

 

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

** An example of the first would be [[Badass Normal|Audrey Cohen]], a seven year old girl featured in a People Magazine cover story in 1995. In front of a dozen witnesses, Ms. Cohen lifted nearly two hundred pounds over her head. She was retested in 2010 at age 21, where it was shown that her maximum lift capacity was about 320 pounds.

** An example of the second would be the supervillain [[Unstoppable Rage|Rampage]], for whose strength no upper limit has ever been found.

** Rolf and Sarah are also shown to be incredibly strong.

*** It's justified differently in-universe for each of them: Ed is too dumb to know he can't be that strong, Sarah's a product of her extreme temper, and Rolf gets it from backbreaking farm work.

** Whilst shedding [[Manly Tears]] (the car in question being {{spoiler|his own beloved Charger}})

* On ''[[The Fairly Odd Parents]]'', [[Show Within a Show|The Crimson Chin]] has this power. Francis and Trixie get it briefly in "The Big Superhero Wish".

* The protein [[wikipedia:Myostatin|myostatin]] limits muscle growth in people and other mammals. Rare mutations can suppress the production of myostatin, or reduce the body's sensitivity to it, resulting in heightened muscle development. Scientists bred this condition into "[[Mighty Mouse|mighty mice]]", and at least one German child was born with the condition, resulting in double the normal amount of muscle mass. The obvious drawback to this condition is that subjects would starve to death much more quickly than normal because they could not catabolize their muscle mass properly.

* A normal human being has the capability to lift over a ton in emergency situations, and only emergency situations. It shuts down the immune system and digestive system when it happens, however (not permanently, of course), and doesn't last more than a minute.

 

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