History Main / Heavyworlder

** Meanwhile the settlers of the high-gravity worlds near the galactic core gradually became shorter and stouter, developing into [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame the Leagues of Votann], aka "the Squats."

** Meanwhile the settlers of the high-gravity worlds near the galactic core gradually became shorter and stouter, developing into [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame the Squats]].

* ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'': Samus Aran is a Heavyworlder, though outside of ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'', she rarely gets a chance to show this off due to her [[PoweredArmor Power Suit]]. She was fostered by the Chozo on the high-gravity planet Zebes, and had to undergo some BioAugmentation to survive there. Just how much is debatable -- [[WritersCannotDoMath one number thrown around is that Zebes had]] ''[[WritersHaveNoSenseOfScale 950 times Earth's gravity]]'' -- but the fact remains that even as a child, Samus was able to leap forty feet high in Zebes' increased gravity, and could stick a ThreePointLanding off a cliff that resulted in a small crater. If she ever took the suit off and ran around on a planet like Earth, Samus could probably bench-press several tons. Naturally, she avoids the usual squat-broad Heavyworlder body type, and as of ''VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns'' she's depicted as an AmazonianBeauty.

* The creature in the BMovie ''Film/ItConqueredTheWorld'' (1956) was originally conceived as short and squat, due to the heavy gravity of its native planet. Actress Beverly Garland was unimpressed by the vertically-challenged villain -- approaching it within hearing of director Roger Corman she cried "So, you plan to take over the world do you? Take that!" and kicked it in the head. Corman agreed to redesign the creature to [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/itconqueredtheworld_7117.jpg more menacing proportions]].

* Charlie-27 of Creator/MarvelComics' original ''ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' is a Jovian, a member of a human subspecies genetically engineered to colonize Jupiter. As such, he's broadly-proportioned, super-strong, muscular and [[MadeOfIron very tough]]. Implicitly he's even stronger and tougher than the typical Jovian, as he was a career military man. He's also not short at all despite his "squished", squat frame -- the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe lists him at an even 6', slightly taller than the average adult human male[[note]]Given that the original ''Guardians'' took place in the 31st century and average human height has tended to increase over time (due to improved medicine and especially nutrition), it seems likely that 6' would be fairly average for human male height a thousand years in the future.[[/note]], and he's often drawn as the tallest of the team, at times even taller than Yondu's fin.

One factor common to nearly all Heavyworlders is [[SuperStrength prodigious physical strength]][[note]]Physical ''stamina'' would be just as important if not more when carrying around twice your weight every day, but strength tends to be the focus as feats of strength are more exciting than just not getting tired[[/note]]. Many versions will therefore be TheBigGuy, because size is so commonly associated with strength. Other (some might say more realistic) depictions will be short and squat, because basic mechanical considerations and the SquareCubeLaw show that it's much more advantageous for a Heavyworlder to have a compact, stout, but ''short'' body, not unlike common portrayals of [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Dwarves]] in fantasy.[[note]] In terms of team composition, they are still fairly likely to function as TheBigGuy[[/note]]

** Several minor characters and extras in the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse are also mentioned to be Heavyworlders -- however, unlike Jek, they're generally portrayed as being short and stout. It's possible that Jek Porkins was adapted to a heavy world, and gained weight from the sudden drop in exercise upon moving to standard-gee worlds.

* The ''Creator/MarvelComics'' Kree are super strong due to the high gravity on their homeworld, Hala

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
** Before he started flying and shooting laser beams out of his eyes, the late [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] and full [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] explanation for Superman's powers was that his home planet, Krypton, had exceptionally high gravity (the first explanation given in ''ComicBook/ActionComicsNumber1'' was EvolutionaryLevels -- Superman had originally been conceived as being from the future). Even after the yellow sun explanation came into play, Krypton was still described as having a much greater mass than Earth.

** In ''ComicBook/TheSupergirlFromKrypton'', Superman mentions he owes his powers to this while he examines his cousin's rocket.

* ''Franchise/TheFlash'': Thondor Allen, a "fifth-generation Jupiter colonist" and distant future descendent of The Flash Barry Allen, who appears to exist largely for the visual humour of [[{{Acrofatic}} a really massive speedster]].

* ''ComicStrip/DanDare'': The short and stocky Verans from Jupiter are a good example of this trope. When one visited Earth, he fell flat on his face and needed a couple of industrial cranes to get back on his feet.
* The ''Creator/MarvelComics'' Kree are super strong due to the high gravity on their homeworld, Hala

** King Kai, his pet Bubbles, and anime-only Gregory are the first characters introduced as Heavyworlders: they live on a planet small enough to see the curvature from wherever you're standing, but also has a force of gravity ten times stronger than Earth's. According to the Kai, the high-gravity training on his planet is so intense, it's roughly equivalent to thousands of years of training on Earth. But Kai admits this even ''this'' would be nothing to...

* Not quite the same thing, but the idea that ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}'s incredible strength and durability come from he and his fellow Atlanteans adapting to the "crushing ocean depths" is related to this trope.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Starfinder}}'' has a rather surprising downplayed example in [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter skittermanders]], who hail from a world with half-again standard gravity. While they're solidly-built little fuzballs, "little" is the operating word; they're about the size of a three-year-old human child, and their HeavyWorlder status manifests in the ''absence'' of the Strength penalty that other small species (such as [[RatFolk ysoki]] and [[{{Hobbits}} halflings]]) typically suffer.

** The Saiyans hail from Planet Vegeta, with gravity 10x that of Earth. Goku and Vegeta also routinely train in high-gravity chambers, with Vegeta once turning it up to ''450 G''. This was used hilariously when a lower level EliteMook named Pui Pui in the beginning of the Buu saga challenged the Saiyans, thinking that changing the environment to ''his'' home planet, which had 10 times Earth's gravity, would give him a sizable advantage. ''Boy'' [[CurbStompBattle was he wrong]].

* ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'': Taken to an extreme by the "[[FanNickname lobster]]" form that [[TheSymbiote Kheldians]] can take; a previous common host for Kheldians were the inhabitants of a ''white dwarf star''.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': An early episode involves a high-gravity planet. The only person they meet on the planet is quite short and wide and incredibly strong.

* ''WesternAnimation/RoswellConspiracies'': The Aesir are from a planet with heavy gravity, making them nearly indestructible.

** Before he started flying and shooting laser beams out of his eyes, the late [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] and full [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] explanation for Superman's powers was that his home planet, Krypton, had exceptionally high gravity (the first explanation given in ''ComicBook/ActionComicsNumberOne'' was EvolutionaryLevels -- Superman had originally been conceived as being from the future). Even after the yellow sun explanation came into play, Krypton was still described as having a much greater mass than Earth.

** In ''ComicBook/ActionComicsNumber252'', Superman mentions he owes his powers to this while he examines his cousin's rocket.

One factor common to nearly all Heavyworlders is [[SuperStrength prodigious physical strength]] (even though logically, physical ''stamina'' would be more important when carrying around twice your weight every day). Many versions will therefore be TheBigGuy, because size is so commonly associated with strength. Other (some might say more realistic) depictions will be short and squat, because basic mechanical considerations and the SquareCubeLaw show that it's much more advantageous for a Heavyworlder to have a compact, stout, but ''short'' body, not unlike common portrayals of [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Dwarves]] in fantasy.

Usually they have personalities to match (imagine [[PlanetOfHats an entire race]] as TheBigGuy). A few exceptions are noted below. In fights, a Heavyworlder is usually a OneManArmy.

* According to ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'''s [[AllThereInTheManual official data]], the Covenant has a few Heavyworlders in its ranks. The [[PredatorPastiche Sangheili/Elite]] homeworld Sanghelios has 1.375G, Doisac (the [[KillerSpaceMonkey Jiralhanae/Brute]] homeworld) has 2.1G, and the [[InsectoidAliens Yanme'e/Drones]] call Palamok, with 2.2G, their home. Fittingly, all three races are quite physically strong -- Elites & Brutes can match [[SuperSoldier Spartans]] in close combat, and Drones are strong enough to lift full-grown armored human marines into the air. Additionally, Te (the [[TheWormThatWalks Lekgolo/Hunter]] homeworld) has ''4''G. Appropriately, the Lekgolo are actually small wormlike creatures that live in massive colonies, and the only reason they didn't develop space travel despite their [[HiddenDepths surprisingly advanced technological civilization]] was because they couldn't overcome said high gravity.

** The elcor absolutely fit the bill: they come from Dekuuna, a world with crushing gravity by Earth standards. This not only shaped the elcor into being [[MightyGlacier extremely strong and durable]], but it also colored their psychology as a species that's always careful and conservative -- hasty movement might lead to falling, which in their world's high gravity tends to be lethal. In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', their status as Mighty Glaciers comes to prove incredibly beneficial; if Shepard rescues the elcor survivors trapped on Dekuuna, they're awarded the remnant army of the elcor to combat [[EldritchAbomination the Reapers]], who use their status as heavyworlders to act as ''[[ShoulderCannon Shoulder Cannon-wielding infantry]]'', made even more capable with complex VI systems. While there's a TearJerker to be found in the elcor ambassador breaking down at [[spoiler:how only a few elcor survived the onslaught of the Reapers]], one can't deny what the elcor ambassador describes as "living tanks" are nothing short of an OffscreenMomentOfAwesome.
** ''Mass Effect'' also has the volus. The volus homeworld has a high pressure atmosphere and a gravity of 1.5gs, making the volus rather short. They have to wear a pressure suit to keep their skin from splitting open when in environments that are suitable for the other council species.

* In ''VideoGame/MasterOfOrion II'', races with the High-G World trait gain an extra hit in ground combat and do not suffer production penalties when colonizing other high-gravity planets, though they still suffer a production penalty when colonizing low-gravity worlds.
* One of the Biotechs in ''VideoGame/SwordOfTheStars'' that allow colonists to be genetically tailored to their environments is Gravitational Adaptation.

* In ''VideoGame/StarOceanTillTheEndOfTime'', the Klausian people are from a planet with a gravity roughly twice that of Earth's. True to form, they possess heightened speed, strength, and stamina relative to Earthlings.
* ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' protagonist Samus Aran is a Heavyworlder, though outside of ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'', she rarely gets a chance to show this off due to her [[PoweredArmor Power Suit]]. She was fostered by the Chozo on the high-gravity planet Zebes, and had to undergo some BioAugmentation to survive there. Just how much is debatable -- [[WritersCannotDoMath one number thrown around is that Zebes had]] ''[[WritersHaveNoSenseOfScale 950 times Earth's gravity]]'' -- but the fact remains that even as a child, Samus was able to leap forty feet high in Zebes' increased gravity, and could stick a ThreePointLanding off a cliff that resulted in a small crater. If she ever took the suit off and ran around on a planet like Earth, Samus could probably bench-press several tons. Naturally, she avoids the usual squat-broad Heavyworlder body type, and as of ''VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns'' she's depicted as an AmazonianBeauty.

* Humans in ''Literature/TheJenkinsverse'' are heavyworlders compared to the rest of the galaxy. While the difference between Earth gravity and galactic standard is comparatively small, it was just enough for natural selection to prefer our comparatively denser and harder bones and simpler but powerful muscles over the fragile silicate bones and multifunctional but weak muscles most aliens have. Humans are also comparatively short, the only shorter sentient creatures are the Corti (whose diminutive physical size is the result of genetic engineering) and the Gaoians (who come from a planet with a gravity fairly close to Earth's and are borderline deathworlders themselves).
* The ktrit'zal in ''Literature/JunctionPoint''. Their homeworld has five times the surface gravity of Earth, and they are appropriately squat quadrupeds. Liu mentions that Rudak's arms are nearly as thick as her torso, and apparently females are even ''bigger''.
* ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'' has numerous races designed and redesigned for high gravity planets, such as the [[https://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/47e86bc153833 Anakim]] and the [[https://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/47fc240a5e94f Kobolds]]. They're also well-suited to spaceships accelerating at high speed, since the acceleration results in a high ArtificialGravity.

* An early ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode involves a high-gravity planet. The only person they meet on the planet is quite short and wide and incredibly strong.
* Tug-Mug from ''WesternAnimation/{{Thundercats}}'' is strong enough to make incredible leaps and snap the Sword of Omens itself due to growing up on a high gravity world.
* In ''WesternAnimation/RoswellConspiracies'', the Aesir are from a planet with heavy gravity, making them nearly indestructable.

* One of Creator/RumikoTakahashi's comedic one-shots was ''Maris the Chojo'', about a bounty hunter whose family was from a high-gravity world, and had proportionate strength, so they had to wear special restraints in order to keep from destroying everything around them by accident. The antagonist was also a super-strong Heavyworlder, though not to the degree of the protagonist.
* Not a person but a machine: in ''[[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Zeta Gundam]]'', BigBad [[DarkMessiah Paptimus Scirocco's]] final mobile suit, The O, is designed for operations in Jupiter's gravity. As such it's incredibly heavily armoured and features massive thrusters to allow it to move at all. Turn it loose in space or Earth's atmosphere and it becomes a LightningBruiser and OneManArmy.

* Franchise/{{Superman}}:
** Before he started flying and shooting laser beams out of his eyes, the late [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] and full [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] explanation for Superman's powers was that his home planet, Krypton, had exceptionally high gravity (the first explanation given in ''Action Comics'' #1 was EvolutionaryLevels -- Superman had originally been conceived as being from the future). Even after the yellow sun explanation came into play, Krypton was still described as having a much greater mass than Earth. This might be the inspiration for ComicBook/TomStrong's origin.
** Creator/ElliotSMaggin, a prominent Superman writer, once wrote that Krypton's gravity was so great that every explorer from another planet who had landed on, or even approached Krypton was unable to ever return. Krypton gained an ominous reputation as a "black hole planet", whose gravity was inescapably strong.
** Possibly as a reference to this fact, Stan Lee's presentation of Superman was a policeman from an alien world with high gravity.

** In ''ComicBook/TheSupergirlFromKrypton'' Superman mentions he owes his powers to this while he examines his cousin's rocket.
* This was also the explanation for the powers of ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} back in the Silver Age, combined with the yellow sun factor.

* Franchise/TheFlash: Thondor Allen, a "fifth-generation Jupiter colonist" and distant future descendent of The Flash Barry Allen, who appears to exist largely for the visual humour of [[{{Acrofatic}} a really massive speedster]].

** To a lesser degree, Scirocco's three previous mobile suits fit this model as well. He's got a godlike ability for cranking out one-shot, scratch-built [[SuperPrototype Super Prototypes]]. His first known mobile suit, The Messala, is a TransformingMecha and arguably the deadliest suit on the field for the first half of the series.

** In ''Comicbook/TheSupergirlFromKrypton'' Superman mentions he owes his powers to this while he examines his cousin's rocket.
* This was also the explanation for the powers of Comicbook/{{Supergirl}} back in the Silver Age, combined with the yellow sun factor.
* Not quite the same thing, but the idea that Comicbook/{{Aquaman}}'s incredible strength and durability come from he and his fellow Atlanteans adapting to the "crushing ocean depths" is related to this trope.

* ''Comicbook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'':

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'':

* ''Franchise/MassEffect''

Usually they have personalities to match (imagine an entire race as TheBigGuy). A few exceptions are noted below. In fights, a Heavyworlder is usually a OneManArmy.

* In ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'', there are several genetically-engineered human variants, including people who breathe water and Heavyworlders. Captain Dylan Hunt's mother is a Heavyworlder, so he has genes that almost make him a physical match for a Nietzschean SuperSoldier.
** In a straight fight against a Nietzschean with equivalent hand-to-hand combat, he'd lose. This is acknowledged by [[WordOfGod the producers]] in commentary tracks. [[spoiler:Remember, Gaheris Rhade was eventually revealed to have thrown that fight]]. It helps that Dylan has Argosy Special Operations training and tends to fight smart.

** He's also much shorter than the green-skinned [[MultiArmedAndDangerous Tharks]], although he's the same size as the local humans. His SuperStrength isn't shown much, although he easily breaks through the first chains that the Tharks put him in. They put him in heavier chains and attach them to a huge rock. Carter manages to throw the rock. He also kills a Thark with a single punch.