History Main / HeroicBuild

->''"Men should be buff, women should be vavoom!"''
-->-- '''Creator/HiromuArakawa'''

* It is noted early on that those superheroes and supervillains who don't have this trait, but try to wear tight suits anyway, tend to come across as laughingstocks.

** Yonko Big Mom is [[StoutStrength fat]] old woman, [[spoiler: who wrecked Luffy with ease and walked through an iron door like it was cardboard]].

* Let's not forget [[http://superdickery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=36:stupor-powers-index&id=682:fatman-the-human-flying-saucer&Itemid=38 Fatman, the Human Flying Saucer]]!
* {{Subverted|Trope}} by ''[[http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/f/fatfury.htm Herbie the Fat Fury]]''. Superficially he is a fat, rotund, bespectacled loser with a [[Film/TheThreeStooges Moe Howard]] haircut, with a costume consisting of red long johns and a toilet plunger on his head. But armed with his magic lollipops, he has enough powers and abilities to take on anyone like bank robbers, alien invaders, and ''Satan''.

* In ''Manga/SailorMoon'' Minako, Haruka, Ami, and Michiru are the only ones among the Sailor Soldiers shown to actually work out (Minako) or otherwise do intensive sports (Haruka is a runner, and, at least in the anime, Ami and Michiru swim often). Fittingly, Minako and Haruka are stated to be the most in-shape of the Senshi-much to Minako's chagrin, as she had been ''tricked'' into starting to work out in [[Manga/CodenameSailorV her solo series]] and she only realized the result when her new muscles caused her to rip her costume's skirt.

*** Subverted however as Luffy can [[GrowingMusclesSequence expand his muscles]] at will and [[SuperMode Gear 4]] gives Luffy the muscle mass of [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk the Hulk,]] something Usopp lacks. Luffy also has gained a legitimately bulky build ever since the beginning of Wano Arc.

* Dr. Banner of ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'' is not particularly muscular or defined as himself (Creator/BillBixby, who played Banner in [[Series/TheIncredibleHulk1977 the TV show]], was widely regarded as having the proper physique); how sculpted he becomes when he Hulks out depends on the artist.

* Franchise/MastersOfTheUniverse introduced a highly exaggerated version of this trope into the action figure market, where every single character had a build like the ComicBook/IncredibleHulk, and it spawned many imitators over the next decade or so. Much of this owed to the series reusing molds a ''lot''.

* ''Webcomic/BeyondTheCanopy'' parodied this when Greliz draws a poster depicting Glenn (who's scrappy but not at all muscular) as a mix of Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian and the ComicBook/IncredibleHulk. Another character points out "Muscles don't work like that."

[[folder:Film]]

* ''Franchise/TheWitcher'' contrasts Geralt's relatively lithe build with Letho. Letho is absolutely jacked, including rather ludicrously proportioned biceps. Even among other more muscular characters (Skelligan tough guys, Eskel, and such), he stands out as remarkably swole. ''Literally'' remarkably, as when Geralt is asked early in the second game if he could identify Letho, Geralt's response is to say it won't be a problem, as he's never seen "such a mountain of a man."

This is mostly {{Justified|Trope}}, since many superheroes/supervillains seem to spend a great deal of their off time training rigorously, or for that matter, running around and getting exercise on the job (that goes double if it’s a BadassNormal superhero with no powers like [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Batman]] or [[ComicBook/GreenArrow Green Arrow]], or even if it’s a hero with skills centered on fighting and martial arts like [[Franchise/{{DragonBall}} Goku]]). Basically, being a hero or villain, especially a superhero/supervillain, often means that you’ll be getting a lot of exercise and physical activity on the job, so you’ll probably be losing weight and building muscle really fast. Or maybe they're this way [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatHotness after getting their superpowers]]. Although one should note that, for females at least, reducing body fat tends to make a figure a lot less lush than that of the typical superheroine/supervillainess. And forget about StoutStrength.

Some parts of this may be {{Justified|Trope}} since many superheroes/supervillains seem to spend a great deal of their off time training rigorously, or for that matter, running around and getting exercise on the job. Or maybe they're this way [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatHotness after getting their superpowers]]. Although one should note that, for females at least, reducing body fat tends to make a figure a lot less lush than that of the typical superheroine/supervillainess. And forget about StoutStrength.

* Subverted with ComicBook/{{Hulkling}} in ''ComicBook/YoungAvengers''. His heroic build is just shapeshifting to emulate the jocks at school. Before that, he was a runt. Annoyingly, Hulkling keeps this muscular build even after being exposed to a device that should reveal his true form.
* The Blob (one of the ComicBook/XMen's villains) is a NighInvulnerable FatBastard. His resistance to damage is derived from his excessive elastic-like skin. He's also [[StoutStrength quite strong]] and [[{{Acrofatic}} shockingly agile]] for his size and build.

** Nightcrawler is usually depicted with either a gymnast or a swimmer's body (or sometimes just out-and-out scrawny). When he is drawn especially muscular it's usually his legs rather than torso that are overdeveloped.
** X-Men leader ComicBook/{{Cyclops}} was initially quite a scrawny lad, hence his nickname "Slim." However, he has long since filled out.
* Ben Grimm, aka "The Thing" from ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'', is a mishmash. In the comic books, as Ben Grimm, he's fairly muscular; as The Thing, he's pretty much rectangular with no definition at all. In the movies, Creator/MichaelChiklis as Ben is less sculpted, but Thing has distinct abs, biceps, and triceps.
** Also on Creator/JohnByrne's run on ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' he drew both Reed Richards and Johnny Storm skinnier and less buff as they looked when they first appeared in 1961.
* Dr. Banner of ''Comicbook/IncredibleHulk'' is not particularly muscular or defined as himself (Creator/BillBixby, who played Banner in [[Series/TheIncredibleHulk1977 the TV show]], was widely regarded as having the proper physique); how sculpted he becomes when he Hulks out depends on the artist.
* Let's not forget [[http://superdickery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=36:stupor-powers-index&id=682:fatman-the-human-flying-saucer&Itemid=38 Fatman, the Human Flying Saucer!]]
* Subverted by ''[[http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/f/fatfury.htm Herbie The Fat Fury.]]'' Superficially he is a fat, rotund, bespectacled loser with a [[Film/TheThreeStooges Moe Howard]] haircut, with a costume consisting of red longjohns and a toilet plunger on his head. But armed with his magic lollipops, he has enough powers and abilities to take on anyone like bank robbers, alien invaders, and ''Satan.''
* ''[[ComicBook/AvengersTheInitiative Avengers: The Initiative]]'' member Butterball is overweight, and because his NighInvulnerability powers prevent his body from changing, will always be overweight.

* ComicBook/RedTornado of Franchise/TheDCU-- not the current Red Tornado, but the [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] Red Tornado -- a chubby, crimefighting housewife named Ma Hunkel.

** Likewise, in Franchise/{{Batman}} comics, Tim Drake (ComicBook/{{Robin|Series}} III[=/=]ComicBook/RedRobin III) is usually drawn as leaner than Nightwing. While they can both end up more muscled, DependingOnTheArtist, they are usually shown on the leaner side in comparison to Bruce and Jason.

* ''ComicBook/TopTen'' plays this straight only with a few characters: Smax, Peregrine, and King Peacock. Other than that, the cast ranges from scrawny (Shock-Headed Peter, Toybox) to paunchy (Spaceman, Irma Geddon, the Word) to simply average (Synaesthesia, Jack Phantom, Dust Devil). Of course, given the setting - a city where everyone is a science hero - this only makes sense.
* Lobo, supreme icon of Sheer Manliness (and example of TestosteronePoisoning), had kind of an average build in the first issues of ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational'' that he appeared in, but as his popularity grew, so did his physique. Depending on the artist, he makes Mr. Olympia look like Creator/WoodyAllen, often becoming TopHeavyGuy.
* Like Spider-Man, Franchise/TheFlash (any of them) are often drawn as "jogger" rather than "bodybuilder". Which makes sense since they're [[SuperSpeed fast]] rather than strong. This does vary between them, however, with [[MrFanservice Wally]] and Jay (who was a football player in college) tending to be closer to this trope than Barry and Bart.
* ComicBook/TheKingpin, of ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'' (and occasionally Spider-Man), is a borderline case; while he lives in a superhero universe, he has no powers. Thus, StoutStrength is invoked rather than Heroic Build.
* In ''ComicBook/JonathanHickmansAvengers'', Kevin Connor is a scrawny teenager who receives superhuman strength and durability (among other destructive powers) from the Starbrand, yet still stays just as physically skinny as he was before he got the powers.
* Kate Kane is drawn rather lean in ''ComicBook/BatwomanRebirth'', possibly to reflect her official height and weight (5'11" and 141 lbs, respectively). She resembles a boxer or MMA fighter more than a bodybuilder.

* As his name would suggest, Bouncing Boy from ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes is usually depicted with a big round belly, and he actually inflates when he bounces.
* The ComicBook/NewMutants were all drawn as scrawny, gawky teens, and it wasn't until years down the line- after puberty and intensive training in the Danger Room- that they gained the standard superhero body. The one exception is [[ComicBook/{{Sunspot}} Roberto]], who was always in shape due to being a star football player before his mutant power appeared.

* Steve Rogers (aka ComicBook/CaptainAmerica) has a rather impressive physique, justified by the [[SuperSerum Super-Soldier Serum]] that turned him into the peak of physical perfection.
* Franchise/{{Batman}}. We see him training all the time, and his abilities solely come from that physical training. Same with Jason Todd, ComicBook/GreenArrow, Wildcat, etc.

* Justified with Archangel from ''WesternAnimation/XMen'', since zero body fat and peak human musculature to support his {{Wing|edHumanoid}}s are explicitly part of his mutation.
* Justified by ''ComicBook/PowerAndGlory'', as A-Pex is the product of a government-sponsored project to create a patriotic superheroic ideal. Too bad he has a crippling fear of disease that leaves him incapable of fighting anyone...
* Teddy Altman aka Hulkling in ''ComicBook/YoungAvengers'' has a perfectly muscular classical build because he's a shapeshifter and deliberately changed his body to look more like the [[HoYay buff boys he saw in the school locker rooms]].

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

** The adult Superman is one of the earliest and most blatant examples since in the comics and cartoons he is nearly always shown to have a bodybuilder's physique, despite the fact that his powers originally came from his species [[EvolutionaryLevels being highly evolved]]. Later this was changed to sunlight AND Krypton having a higher gravity, then just sunlight.
** In Superman's earliest appearances, he was fairly lean. Later interpretations generally gave him a bodybuilder physique, or at-least a fairly buff one.

* Strong Guy from ComicBook/XFactor has an immensely exaggerated musculature. Also justified in that a childhood accident with his mutant powers permanently deformed him (he didn't learn until afterward that he needed to quickly use his enhanced strength, i.e. hit something, in order to shed the excess bulk), and he's in constant pain because of it.
* TheJuggernaut is often depicted often almost as broad as he is tall, with fists bigger than his head. This insane physique comes from the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak, which makes him unstoppable (and makes him resemble [[PhysicalGod Cyttorak himself]]). When he's not using the gem's power to its fullest, his physique remains big, though the proportions are considerably less impressive.
* ComicBook/TomStrong has the title character parody both this and TopHeavyGuy. He's drawn with a physique that is just slightly exaggerated. He's got a huge torso and comparatively skinny legs--not to the point of cartoonishness, but more like he's very slightly deformed. Indeed, it's actually implied he is, being described by multiple characters as looking like an upside-down triangle -- which just happens to be his ChestInsignia.

* Danny from John Byrne's ComicBook/NextMen is this and a bit of an inversion of TopHeavyGuy. A kid speedster, from the waist up he is toned, but otherwise has the average proportions of a mid-teen. From the waist ''down,'' his thighs and calves are massively disproportionally muscular, (To be fair, his universe lacks a handwaved energy source that other speedsters derive their energy from). On average, he seems to have a pro bodybuilder's legs. Drawn at its most exaggerated, his legs are drawn even bigger, as in; ''just one leg is wider than an adult's torso,'' bigger!

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]

* In ''''Webcomic/CKarrus'' most of the men seem to have this, heroes and villains alike.

** Shanks is a good example as while he has a relatively fit build, he doesn't have the enormous muscular figures that Whitebeard and Kaido possess and is tiny compared to them; but he still matched the humongous Whitebeard in a clash... [[HandicappedBadass one-handed]]. Likewise for Shanks' FriendlyRival Hawkeye Mihawk, the world's greatest swordsman who effortlessly wields [[{{BFS}} a sword taller than his own body]] and is fit but relatively slender.

* In ''Manga/{{Devilman}}'', the demonic fusion that grants Akira his powers also gives him an impressively athletic figure in his default human state. Just how dramatic the change is varies by installment or adaptation, ranging from fairly subtle in the manga to impossible to ignore in ''[[Anime/DevilmanCrybaby Crybaby]].''

** Attempts to duplicate the Exemplar trait by Devisors and Wizards are frequent, and almost invariably fail. The closest successes to date were Compiler (who gained a Barbie-doll like figure by means of nanotechnology but [[GoneHorriblyRight now cannot control her super-strength or super-speed]]), Spark and Reach (who did it by accident), [[{{Transgender}} Delta Spike]] (who entrusted her life to a MadScientist and who might have been brainwashed into total subservience in the process), and [[OurElvesAreDifferent Jobe's Drow]] (who were completely transformed into dark elves by the serum) [[note]]For those counting, that makes a total of eight partial successes out of literally hundreds of attempts[[/note]]. For the majority, such as Migraine (who became [[AndIMustScream trapped in an immobile exoskeleton and went insane]]), it didn't work out at all. Outside of the school, there are several examples as well, such as [[HotScientist Dr. Venus]]' treatments (both those she [[ProfessorGuineaPig uses herself]] and [[SuperEmpowering those for her]] [[FemaleGaze 'studmuffins']]), Akelarre's potion, and whatever it was which [[spoiler:Belphegor]] appears to have used by 2016, but most have some limitations attached to them (for example, Dr. Venus' treatments only last a limited time, and eventually need to be renewed, or replaced by some new treatment).

* A fair number of Series/{{Heroes}} don't fit into this trope, including but not limited to Hiro Nakamura and Matt Parkman.
* A lack of this is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in [[Series/TheFlash2014 The Flash]] by the fact that Barry has both a healing factor and a metabolism that is extraordinarily fast. When he first gains his powers, he keeps blacking out due to low blood sugar. Cisco states that he needs to consume the equivalent of 850 tacos ''a day'' just to break even on his energy consumption. For those playing at home, that's ''tens of thousands'' of calories. This explains his lean, low-body fat build common to long-distance runners, as getting fat or building more muscle mass would require even more food. As he finds out in the first episode, the [[LightningCanDoAnything lightning]] that gave him his powers threw in another bonus...

* ''Webcomic/GrrlPower'': Apparently, whatever it is that causes humans to manifest superpowers also causes them to develop a perfect build, regardless of whether this should have anything to do with their powerset. Sydney (whose powers come from the orbs she carries rather than being innate) occasionally feels intimidated by this effect.

* ''Anime/DragonBallZ''

* ''[[Comicbook/AvengersTheInitiative Avengers: The Initiative]]'' member Butterball is overweight, and because his NighInvulnerability powers prevent his body from changing, will always be overweight.

* Lobo, supreme icon of Sheer Manliness (and example of TestosteronePoisoning), had kind of an average build in the first issues of ''Comicbook/JusticeLeagueInternational'' that he appeared in, but as his popularity grew, so did his physique. Depending on the artist, he makes Mr. Olympia look like Creator/WoodyAllen, often becoming TopHeavyGuy.

* ComicBook/TheKingpin, of ''Comicbook/{{Daredevil}}'' (and occasionally Spider-Man), is a borderline case; while he lives in a superhero universe, he has no powers. Thus, StoutStrength is invoked rather than Heroic Build.
* In ''Comicbook/JonathanHickmansAvengers'', Kevin Connor is a scrawny teenager who receives superhuman strength and durability (among other destructive powers) from the Starbrand, yet still stays just as physically skinny as he was before he got the powers.

* In ''WebComic/AxeCop'', RealityWarper superhero Uni-Man was originally drawn as a deliberate aversion -- he originally gained his powers from being really smart, so he looked like a stereotypical skinny old professor. Eventually, though, he transformed himself to become really buff, dwarfing the other male heroes who usually play the trope straight. A couple of others are also exceptions, though, including the skinny Leaf-Man and Mr. Stocker, the superhero with no powers who also doesn't look like a superhero at all.

[[folder:Video Games]]
* While still quite fit, Link from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' is very short and slender, dwarfed even by the petite Princess Zelda. Several [=NPCs=] he runs into will express disbelief that he's the Hylian Champion and chosen wielder of the Master Sword simply because he looks too slight to even use it properly.
* Leon S. Kennedy from ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' has a pretty skinny frame but still displays feats of SuperStrength and equals the muscle-clad Chris Redfield in physical combat.
** The same [[MusclesAreMeaningless logic]] applies to [[BigBad Albert Wesker]] even though he has visible muscle mass but lacks the sheer bulk of Chris (but nevertheless [[CurbStompBattle demolishes]] the latter in their fights). This trope applies to the lithe RE ladies such as Jill Valentine, Claire Redfield, and Ada Wong.
* Geralt of ''Franchise/TheWitcher'', while taller than most characters and visibly muscular, is rather lean, built more like a distance swimmer than a bodybuilder or heavyweight fighter. This is in stark contrast to Letho, as noted in the exaggerations below.
[[/folder]]

* Caitlin Fairchild of ''ComicBook/{{Gen13}}'' went from a HotLibrarian to AmazonianBeauty because that's part of the powers she gained, as evidenced by an attempt to copy her SuperStrength that also resulted in [[MostCommonSuperpower another superpower]]... on a guy.

* The ''Videogame/WiiFit'' trainer has the body one would expect out of a fitness professional (slender and curvy as a female, muscular as a male). Although the character's feats only turned superheroic on ''Franchise/SuperSmashBros''...

* Part of the premise of ''WebComic/SidekickGirl'' is that the Hero Agency actually ''selects'' for this, so almost all heroes are buff and heroines are bombshells. For the ''exceptions'' to that rule (who become sidekicks), see the Webcomic folder on the 'exceptions' section.

* Tiger from ''WebComic/{{Spinnerette}}'' was revealed to have gotten his bulky musculature, at least in part, from the Spirit of the Tiger. When he and [[MadScientist Dr. Universe]] had [[SuperStrength their]] [[SuperIntelligence powers]] swapped, Tiger became much leaner, while Universe puts on a lot of muscle overnight.

* ''{{Superman}}''

* ''Comicbook/MegatonMan'' was specifically designed to lampoon this trope with everything from his overly muscular physique to a lantern jaw larger than the rest of his head.

* On WesternAnimation/{{Max Steel}}, Steel becomes obsessed with comic books and alter the suit. One of the changes he makes is giving Max 20 abs. This is promptly mocked by everyone else.