Hunk

“Honey, you mean HUNKules."

"It was like being in love with a statue. A sexy, handsome, chiseled statue of a Korean Eric from 'The Little Mermaid'. He was just too perfect, you know?"

— Sasha about Brandon, Always Be My Maybe

The classic Western standard of male beauty,^note there was a period in the 18th and 19th centuries when Pretty Boy was the standard, at least among the elites, but hunks have been more commonly admired at other times the hunk is two things: handsome and manly.

His face tends to be squarish and sharp-featured, often with a prominent chin. He has big, well-muscled arms and a large torso with a slim waist with pronounced muscles. He also has fairly thick, muscular legs, though they get less attention. It is often implied that he is as well-endowed between the legs as in the arms. The hunk may or may not have body hair, depending on the time period, and facial hair is negotiable. Guaranteed, however, to adopt Perma-Stubble during his choice moments as Mr. Fanservice.

Clothing tends to be simple and timeless. Nowadays, a hunk's casual wardrobe will consist of tight jeans and either a tank top, tight T-shirt, or flannel shirt (if he wears one at all...works oriented to a female audience have him not in increasing numbers). For work and formal events, a smart suit is a given.

The hero of a story, if male, is frequently a hunk, particularly in an action series. If the lead character is a woman, the leading man or the heroine's Love Interest, if not both, tends to be a hunk.

It is rare for a hunk to be an outright villain. However, a nasty hunk is often used to deliver An Aesop. In this case, the (usually young, often teenage) heroine will imagine him to be a perfect Knight in Shining Armor type, but he's actually a Prince Charmless, Jerk Jock or vain prick, thus proving that one should not judge another based on appearances.

This trope is extremely common in video games, nearing ubiquitous in the sixth generation of video games. As graphical fidelity improved, it was almost inevitable. A grizzled white guy who either fits this trope or is a good shower and haircut away from it is an extremely common design for the main character. As the video game industry's audience has diversified, there have been more diverse protagonists. However, the Hunk isn't going anywhere — even when he's not the protagonist, he'll be around. Being a hunk is a common fantasy, but so is having one around as a friend or love interest.

Mr. Fanservice is usually one of these. Contrast Pretty Boy. East Asian pop-culture tends to use Bishōnen as the go-to "hot guy standard" instead, although the two tropes can cross over for pretty characters that happen to be manly or muscular (such as with Vega from Street Fighter). For its Distaff Counterpart see Amazonian Beauty. For the long-haired version, see Barbarian Longhair.

For the 1987 comedy film, see here.

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Examples:

Advertising

• Brawny brand paper towels has their classic mustachioed hunk and their newer clean shaven lumberjack hunk. In their newer ads their new hunk is now portrayed as a giant, something that appeals to some people.

Anime & Manga

• Akame ga Kill! has Bulat, a towering Manly Gay resistance fighter who likes to demonstrate his appreciation of the male body by taking excellent care of his own. Even his heterosexual comrades tend to get occasional Stupid Sexy Flanders moments around him.
• Takamatsu and Noda from Angel Beats!. It is revealed that Takamatsu has a very well built muscular figure, compared to his 'genius' looks, and while Noda is not as muscular, he is still chiseled and athletic, as shown in episode 4.
• Dark Schneider from Bastard!! (1988). 192 cm (6'3) tall and as his numerous nude scenes show, he is totally ripped. Yep, he definitely counts.
• Guts of Berserk is very handsome and very manly. Sure, he gets overshadowed by world-class Bishōnen Griffith when they're in a scene together, but he's a bona fide Chick Magnet on his own merits and even major antagonist Rosine admitted that he was quite handsome. As for his manliness, he's got a deep voice, strong jaw, heroic musculature, and is tough enough to perform feats like catching blades between his teeth.
  • Roderick as well stocky but muscular.
• Asta from Black Clover. Especially if you think he's a boy who is just 15, he's insanely muscular, and doesn't look bad by any means. There's a reason he's nicknamed by fans as "Chadsta" and "Absta".
• Senji Kiyomasa perfectly qualifies as the Hunk in Deadman Wonderland. With a well-built torso, a Walking Shirtless Scene underneath his Badass Longcoat and a cool Big Brother Mentor to Ganta.
• Delicious in Dungeon: Laios and Shuro. Both are handsome and well built men.
• Tengen Uzui from Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. Tengen is very tall, very muscular and, according to several characters, very handsome.
• Akira Fudo from DEVILMAN crybaby. Following becoming a Devilman, he gets a lot of muscle, height, a strong and athletic build and a nice package.
• Dragon Ball
  • Goku as an adult. He goes from a small cute kid, to a muscular handsome adult that a lot of ladies fall for. Even Bulma begins to pine for him before she courted Vegeta. In the dub, he has a deep voice that becomes deeper when he's mad or when he goes Super Saiyan 3 and 4.
  • Goku's son, Gohan. After he gains his Ultimate form, he becomes noticeably more muscular to the point that he surpasses his father. Before then, he had a more lean build... which he recovered somehow by the events of Dragon Ball Super.
  • Vegeta thanks to being Progressively Prettier, is frequently seen as a lust inspiring muscular sex symbol from the fandom nowadays despite being quite short. Hilariously in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 even Happily Married Chi-Chi claims Vegeta’s physique is “incredible” during her commentary in the bios. He’s also generally got a deep voice.
  • Future Trunks. Hell he manages to be both a hunk and a Long-Haired Pretty Boy during the Cell Games, Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan and Dragon Ball Z: Bojack Unbound. Safe to say, there was a fair amount of disappointment when Dragon Ball Super redesigned him to be skinny.
  • Nappa. Just Nappa.
  • Tien who is muscular (with particularly enormous biceps), has one of the deeper voices in the cast (both sub and dub), and is one of the tallest heroes. He also has quite a following from the women, especially Launch who falls hard for him.
  • Yamcha although often regarded as a Memetic Loser, was still enough a musclebound handsome hunk to turn City Mouse Bulma into a drooling Smitten Teenage Girl. While he lost Bulma to Vegeta, Yamcha like Tien is still very popular with women being a star baseball player.
  • Broly has become this, thanks to his canonisation. Previous regarded as a unattractive Hulk-like slab of evil and insane muscle, his revamp into a tan-skinned, tall, scarred Gentle Giant has been met with lust from female and even male fans alike. It helps he already had a deep voice. In-Universe, Cheelai is stunned by his physique as she looks over his body with her scouter.
• Fairy Tail:
  • Most of the male cast that aren't flat-out Bishōnen combine at least decent facial looks with rock-hard abs and muscles.
  • The most noticeable examples in the titular guild include Elfman (who got even bigger latter), Gajeel (who's got the abs while having a Face of a Thug), Laxus, and Gildarts (confirmed to have slept with at least a dozen women in his life).
• Archer from Fate/stay night. While not hulking like Berserker, Archer is still very muscular and broad shouldered, which is especially prominent once his cloak comes off to use Hrunting. Which makes it all the more hilarious when Shirou, despite being fairly muscular himself and the past self of the aforementioned Archer, complains about how scrawny he is.
• Souther and Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star, with the former being a rare villainous Hunk. Generally, if you're a male in this series and are not a Gonk, you're this.
• Fullmetal Alchemist: There's Major Alex Louis Armstrong, Scar, Van Hohenheim, Greed (at least in his first form, and Sig Curtis. There's a hefty dose of Author Appeal, as Hiromu Arakawa prefers muscular men.
  • Colonel (later Brigadier-General) Basque Grand is a giant of a man who towers over even Armstrong.
• Worick Arcangelo from Gangsta.. He's sexy, muscular, great in bed — is it any wonder women are all over him?
• Agito Makishima from Guyver regularly trains for strength and martial arts. His school uniform doesn't show this well, but when he's naked, shirtless or wearing a tanktop, the camera does not shy away from showing some serious muscle.
• The Captain from Hellsing. Handsome, muscular, and manly. It goes nicely with Alucard's Tall, Dark, and Handsome and Andersen's Silver Fox.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure seems to take place in a World of Muscle Men, to the extent that nearly all significant male protagonists and something like half of the male antagonists end up being hunks. This is especially so in the first 3 parts, where almost every significant male character is a towering mass of abs and biceps.
  • Jonathan Joestar, his grandson Joseph Joestar (even in old age), and his grandson Jotaro Kujo (and son Josuke Higashikata).
  • Dio Brando, Vanilla Ice and Hol Horse from Stardust Crusaders are bad guy examples, as are Diavolo and Risotto Nero from Vento Aureo.
  • The Pillar Men are a trio (technically a quartet if one includes Santana) of villainous, gorgeous hunks that are thousands of years old. Esidisi is a Silver Fox, Wamuu is as huge as he is handsome, and Kars has Beauty, Brains, and Brawn all in one package. Their perfect bodies are used in If the Emperor Had a Text-to-Speech Device for the Macho Camp Fabulous Custodes Karstodes, Custodisi, and Wamuudes.
  • President Funny Valentine from Steel Ball Run is yet another villainous example, despite/especially with the scars on his back in the shape of the U.S. flag.
  • Though he's more "pretty" than your usual example Kira Yoshikage (yet another villainous example) from Diamond is Unbreakable is this in the eyes of many readers, despite (or to some, because of) being a creepy, sociopathic Serial Killer. He even manages to pull this look off while taking on another man's identity.
• Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple: There are many male characters that are very handsome and very well-built: Shio Sakaki, Apachai Hopachai, Isshinsai Ogata, etc.
• Most of the fighters in Kengan Ashura and its sequel Omega, sport Heroic Build, and many of them are good-looking. Wakatsuki is shown to have a sizable female fanbase when he appears to fight, while Muteba is a Sex God.
• Uzu Sanageyama, Tsumugu Kinagase, and Ira Gamagōri from Kill la Kill. Also Mikisugi in his true form (and to some, in his disguise as well).
• Umetarou Nozaki from Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun is this, in contrast to the other main male characters who are Bishōnen. He actually regrets this somewhat, since he's a shoujo manga artist and thus he can't use himself as a model for male characters since readers of shoujo manga generally prefer Bishōnen boys. However, this doesn't stop Sakura from crushing on him, however oblivious he is to that.
• Ryoji Kaji from Neon Genesis Evangelion. He's tall, pretty muscular, and has a somewhat gruff look compared to other male characters, but is undeniably handsome.
• Hiiragi in Onegai My Melody. He's loved around the world for his hunkiness as well as his violin playing. His superhero alter ego weaponizes his handsomeness by having an "Ikemen Beam".
• One Piece
  • Portgas D. Ace. He may be on the lean side, but he's definitely a hunk given his muscular build that would make any man jealous. The fact that he is often seen without a shirt highlights his powerful figure. In and out of universe, he is popular with women.
  • Roronoa Zoro. He is also on the lean side and isn't as muscular as Ace. However, that does little from keeping fangirls for wanting him. In the Time Skip he’s massive. It also helps that he has one of the deeper voices in the series, both the original Japanese and the English dub.
  • Luffy and Sanji may look like beanpoles, but whenever they remove their tops for swimming, training or get Clothing Damage, it’s shown they are indeed as hunky as Zoro. They also get even more muscular post time-jump. Bonus points for Sanji since he has a deep voice in both original Japanese and English dub.
  • A lot of male characters fall into this, such as Dracule Mihawk, (young) Edward Newgate, Rob Lucci, and Charlotte Katakuri, among many others.
  • King. Once his mask comes off and his face is properly shown, he looks quite handsome, with a good looking face, rugged hair style and muscular upper body.
• Gene Starwind of Outlaw Star fame despite being also being Covered in Scars is considered an iconic muscular anime hunk and often a Walking Shirtless Scene.
• Shinya Kogami and Sakuya Tougane from Psycho-Pass. They're well-built, sharply dressed and carry an aloof attitude that attracts others to them
• Kamina from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. He’s the poster boy for both Walking Shirtless Scene and Perverse Sexual Lust pages entirely for this reason. Simon himself becomes this in the Time Skip, taking after his Big Brother Mentor.
• Millions Knives from Trigun Stampede. Contrasting Vash and his softer look, under his cloak Knives is surprisingly buff and he wears a skin-tight body suit to show it off. He looks much more threatening and masculine beside his brother, who's more of a Pretty Boy and dresses to downplay his own equally muscular build.
• Kurogane from Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE-. Although given the fact that it's a CLAMP work, he's a bit more slender than your average hunk.

Comic Books

• Most male comic book heroes, really. It would probably be quicker to list the aversions of this trope.
• Batman: Batman is (a) one of the world's greatest martial artists, and (b) able to present a convincing cover identity as a handsome, charming playboy. This trope goes with the territory, and even his Arch-Enemy the Joker comments on his 'perfection'.
• The Incredible Hulk: Bruce Banner averts it, being short and skinny. His alter ego doesn't fare much better, as he is generally drawn as extremely muscular but troll-faced. However, starting in the 1990s, Bruce Banner and the Hulk were sometimes merged into a single persona, the Genius Bruiser 'Professor Hulk', and this new incarnation was drawn with the Hulk's body and Banner's face, creating a (green) hunk. Also, while Banner was initially skinny, he was vey fit, and the physical exertion caused by being years of being on the run caused him to develop muscle mass, leading to several comments on it.
• The Mighty Thor: Thor might as well be the hunk of the Marvel Universe. While he’s exact attractiveness does varies from artist to artist with some having him look like a caveman rocker while others keep him a comely long haired stud - his literal god-like muscular physique stays the same. Naturally scores of women are in love with him along with multiple Goddesses such as Amora, Lorelei and Hela.
• The Sandman (1989): In The Sandman: Endless Nights, the man the protagonist Kara eventually marries in "What I've Tasted of Desire" is handsome, muscled, cocky, and very capable of defending their small village.
• Spider-Man: Peter Parker is usually drawn to be like this, particularly when out of costume. However, in the last decades, more than a few artists have him be more of a beanpole. Regardless he’s a famous Chick Magnet.
• Sub-Mariner: Namor is very much so.
• Superman: Superman is usually drawn this way. Clark Kent varies by the artist. It serves two purposes - both to show off his physical perfection as the Man of Steel and to make him look more like a back-country farmboy (farm work being famous for building big, heavy muscles).
• Thunderbolts: Atlas/Goliath becomes this after he is given a facial disguise by Techno/Fixer. He likes it so much he asked him to make it permanent.
• Wonder Woman
  • Wonder Woman's usual love interest Steve Trevor, especially as drawn in Wonder Woman (Rebirth), is a well muscled military man who tends to lose his shirt fairly often. During Lazarus Planet: Revenge of the Gods Yara Flor calls Steve "the hunk" while complaining about Diana saving him from Hyperion instead of helping her against Eros.
  • The depiction of Kane Milohal in Volume 3 might be the hunkiest hunk in the entire sub franchise, if not DC as a whole. He's got a huge jaw, huge muscles, smooth skin, is perpetually clean shaven, always tidy hair and only wears enough clothing to avoid indecent exposure charges.
• X-Men: Colossus is extremely muscular and he's a very good-looking Husky Russkie.

Fan Works

• In The Awakening of a Magus, Harry's transformation changes him to such an extent that Hermione calls him a hunk outright.
• In A Dance on the Mats, Anon is described as being made of muscle and with a perfect jawline, attracting the attention of the Rainbooms and Caramel.
• Equestria Girls: Friendship Souls: Pharynx, in contrast to his effeminate brother Thorax, is described as a chiseled and toned mass of muscle that's easy on the eyes. Adagio actually admits to herself they are both quite attractive in their own ways.
• In How Bad Can A Little Gossip Be, where the Underdogs are young adults, Alberto has grown up into a handsome and muscular young man who makes girls dreamily swoon.
• In The Night Unfurls, Vault is described as "huge, almost herculean in physique", with chiseled features. However, his appearance of a hero of old hides a nasty ambition to replace the current regime with a Sex Slave Empire, making him a rare villainous example. A perfect foil to the Lean and Mean, anti-heroic protagonist, Kyril Sutherland.

Films — Animation

• Beauty and the Beast:
  • Gaston is a rare villainous example and goes straight into Testosterone Poisoning territory. His Villain Song says it best:
    The Bimbettes: For there's no one as burly and brawny
    Gaston: As you see, I've got biceps to spare
    LeFou: Not one bit of him's scraggly or scrawny
    Gaston: That's right! And every last inch of me's covered with hair!
  • The Beast in his human form as Prince Adam, with his strong build, chiseled facial features and large mane of blond hair.
• Mariano Guzmán from Encanto is not only considered "The Man of my Dreams" by Dolores, but the fans also fell in love with him thanks to the fact that he is a muscular hunk with nice hair and sun-kissed skin. The fact that he has Maluma's voice helps a lot.
• Joaquin from The Book of Life. Many female citizens think so. And even some of the bandits, who describe him as 'The Beautiful Hero' completely seriously.
• Brave: The only other guy Merida seems impressed with at all if only because of his sheer size, is a guy who looks like this. Too bad he's not really Lord Dingwall's son. Also, that guy ends up being interested in Maudie, the maid.
• The Emperor's New Groove: Yzma's assistant Kronk is very top-heavy. Not much of a Chick Magnet, but then again, the only women in the movie are either old, a child, or Happily Married.
• Kristoff, the hardy ice-harvesting mountain man from Frozen, has an appropriate heroic build (and a Lantern Jaw of Justice to boot).
• Golden Films uses this trope frequently in their attractive male characters, putting them a muscular shape and beautiful faces.
• Hercules from, well, Hercules. A render of him from Kingdom Hearts Recoded provides the page image. The filmmakers didn't want to have his body look like Gaston's, so they gave him more of a male pro swimmer's build. It's even invoked:
  Thalia: Honey, you mean Hunk-ules!
• Phoebus from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney). He's a broad-shouldered knight with a fine beard.
• Shrek:
  • The franchise has Prince Charming, another villainous hunk.
  • Shrek in his human form, in the second film.
• The Super Mario Bros. Movie has Donkey Kong, a buff gorilla who is quite the Chick Magnet in the Jungle Kingdom, so check this out! A mountain of big muscles. Cue Female Gaze.
• King Magnifico is an evil example from Wish (2023). While not outstandingly large, Magnifico is quite muscular. Is it any wonder why his subjects adore him for his handsomeness?
• Chief Bogo from Zootopia. He's designed with broad shoulders and very powerful arms to emphasize his imposing personality.

Films — Live-Action

• Always Be My Maybe: Sasha describes her Disposable Fiancé Brandon (played by Daniel Dae Kim) as "a sexy, handsome, chiseled statue".
• Many Batman live-action movie adaptations have the hero played as one:
  • George Clooney, long considered one of the most handsome actors in Hollywood, had this going for him in Batman & Robin.
  • Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne in The Dark Knight Trilogy had multiple Shirtless Scenes and Training Montages, in addition to being Tall, Dark, and Handsome.
  • Ben Affleck plays the Batman of the DC Extended Universe, and while he's playing an age lifted and Older and Wiser take on the character, it doesn't take away from his Tall, Dark, and Handsome looks (with some elements of Silver Fox thrown in). Harley Quinn even mentions having a crush on Bruce himself (though she doesn't know he's Batman, making this an ironic case of a Villainous Crush) in Birds of Prey.
• The Film of the Book film version of Divergent:
  • Tobias Eaton is this here as well as in the the book. Played by the gorgeous Theo James who adds Tall, Dark, and Handsome and a couple of Shirtless Scenes with his rugged handsome self.
  • Eric is this after getting an upgrade thanks to being played by actor Jai Courtney, although in the book, he's described as not being this type.
• In the film version of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Viktor Krum is portrayed as this, despite being unattractive and gangly in the books.
• In Hunk, a Deal with the Devil transforms nerdy computer programmer Bradley Brinkman into a muscular hunk named Hunk Golden.
• I Want You Back has Noah, a buff gym trainer who is described as 'classically handsome' and 'look[ing] like a superhero'.
• Could be said about all the James Bond actors, but Sean Connery and Daniel Craig are probably those who pushed the envelope the most in this department.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • The eponymous Thor. He's ruggedly handsome and his wardrobe on Midgard fits the description above exactly. And of course, he has a rather epic Shirtless Scene, later followed by mud-wrestling in a tight, rain-soaked T-shirt. This makes him a perfect foil to Loki's Pretty Boy looks. His hunkiness is acknowledged multiple times in-universe with multiple female characters, and the occasional man, commenting on how attractive he is.
  • Captain America, at least after he gets injected with Super Serum.
  • Peter Quill, aka Star Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).
  • Tony Stark, to a lesser extent than the above examples. He is a ladies' man, very attractive, and underneath his nice suits and other suits, he is very well built. Out of universe, while playing a game of guessing which biceps belong to whom, both Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth were stumped when they saw Robert Downey Jr.'s guns.
  • Namor, the God-Emperor of Talokan in BlackPanther. He's a Tall, Dark, and Handsome Walking Shirtless Scene who wears only tiny green shorts and jewelry. Namor is notable because he's an Indigenous Mexican MCU hunk, and he's an Anti-Villain, rather than a straight-up hero.
  • On the side of the villains, Thanos is one, due to looking like a purple, bald version of Josh Brolin, who is also one in real life.
  • Kang the Conqueror is a very attractive and very muscular bad guy.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger in essentially every movie he's ever been in. It's especially over the top in Commando and True Lies.
• Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's role as the name role of The Scorpion King was parodied in MAD. Let's just say they named the parody The Scorpion Hunk. The Rock is cast this way in virtually every role.
• Superman:
  • Man of Steel. The titular superhero ticks all the boxes. Heroic Build, Lantern Jaw of Justice, Carpet of Virility, Tall, Dark, and Handsome, a deep, powerful voice courtesy of Henry Cavill... there's no doubt that this version of Superman is a perfect example of Hunk.
  • Superman: The Movie: Christopher Reeve when he was going for that look as Superman qualified too.
• X-Men Film Series
  • Colossus. He's the largest of the X-Men and quite good-looking.
  • Wolverine is definitely ruggedly handsome. He also ticks off Badass Biker and a couple of hot Shirtless Scenes, and is portrayed by the Tall, Dark, and Handsome Hugh Jackman.

Literature

• Conan the Barbarian, of course. There is a reason famous hunks like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jason Momoa have played him in film adaptions.
• Carrot Ironfoundersson in Discworld is described as being pretty hunky.
• Paulo D'arrezo from the Honor Harrington novels. He was born a Mesan pleasure slave, and was genetically engineered to be handsome.
• The Hunger Games: Gale Hawthorne, to contrast Peeta's "boy next door" looks.
• Ward of Hurog is a human Gentle Giant, and good looks run in his family.
• That Irresistible Poison by Alessandra Hazard: Prince Ksar is tall, strong, and handsome. His love interest is Prince Seyn, who is a very Pretty Boy with long, silver hair.
• While he was the Pretty Boy in his youth in The Kharkanas Trilogy, attracting every female in sight, fully grown Spinnock is firmly in hunk territory by the time Toll the Hounds comes around.
• In Lolita, Humbert Humbert fancies himself a handsome manly man and mentions several times that he's really good-looking and women swoon over him. Readers are supposed to admire his "clean-cut jaw, muscular hand, deep sonorous voice, broad shoulders"... He also says he looks like some celebrity actor or singer that Lolita has a crush on. Humbert happens to be extremely skilled and seductive with language as well. He's also an Unreliable Narrator.
• Every werewolf in the Mercy Thompson series. And since the series is written in first-person from Mercy's point of view, there is a lot of well-described male eye candy. Though you sure wouldn't know it from the covers.
• Robert Baratheon from A Song of Ice and Fire was this as a young man, contrasting Pretty Boy Rhaegar Targaryen. Once he becomes king, however, he really lets himself go, overeating and drinking heavily due to a combination of the stress of his position, depression from the death of his fiancée Lyanna Stark (whom he genuinely loved despite his womanizing ways), and possibly wartime trauma.
• Jacob Black, and basically every other male werewolf. Also, Emmett is consistently described as muscled "like a serious weightlifter" and bearlike, and is apparently so huge and energetic that he scares Bella a little. This places him in stark contract to every other male vampire, except maybe Felix from the Volturi.

Live-Action TV

• Both Dylan Hunt and Tyr Anasazi in Andromeda. Again, Hunt and Hercules are played by the same actor.
• Arrow has Oliver Queen, John Diggle, Slade Wilson, and Roy Harper for a cast full of hunks.
• Booth in Bones, who shares an actor with Angel.
• Terry Jeffords in Brooklyn Nine-Nine is tall, muscular to the point that his physique is visible even through loose fitting clothes and gets shirtless scenes, workout scenes and often flexes his pecs.
  • An episode reveals Scully and Hitchcock used to be hunks in The '80s. Hitchcock was a mix of a hunk and a Long-Haired Pretty Boy.
• Angel in both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, so much so that Even the Guys Want Him. By 2004, he was essentially Seeley Booth in Matrix-wear. (Possibly because he is Seeley Booth!) His attractiveness is actually how he got his nickname: A monster with "the face of an angel."
• Frequently mentioned on Check It Out! With Dr. Steve Brule, as the primary "antagonists" of Steve Brule. He will often accuse others of being "stupid hunks" if they appear more attractive or successful than him, or try to correct his "wisdom."
• Chuck has the often-shirtless Captain Awesome.
• Constable Benton Fraser in Due South.
• John Crichton and Cameron Mitchell, both played by the◊ absurdly◊ attractive◊ Ben◊ Browder.◊ You're welcome.
• Khal Drogo, played by Jason Momoa, in Game of Thrones is an Ensemble Dark Horse with fans, both for being a Barbarian Hero and Mr. Fanservice.
  • Ser Criston Cole in House of the Dragon fits the trop the closest in the series with his looks, which charm Princess Rhaenyra about as much as his battle prowess. It all goes downhill from there.
• Don Draper in Mad Men (and of course, the actor that plays him, Jon Hamm).
• From Merlin: Arthur◊ and the Knights◊ of◊ the◊ Round◊ Table◊. They even have a pet Pretty Boy.◊ Or Merlin has them. No one's really sure which.◊
• Person of Interest gives us the very attractive Jim Caviezel.
• Riverdale: Archie, Reggie, and Chuck, who are all also not surprisingly football players, with the latter two fitting the BMOC mold, while Archie achieves this ‘status’ after getting buff the summer between freshman and sophomore year. Fangs in later seasons.
  • Kevin also fits this, though not in-universe.
  • Of the parents, Sheriff Keller gets his very own shirtless workout scene in Season 2 and Hiram Lodge has multiple shirtless scenes throughout s2-5.
• Schitt's Creek: The tiny rural town of Schitt's Creek has a high number of hunks, including Mutt, Ted and Jake.
• Clark Kent from Smallville is a rare example which mixes this with Pretty Boy.
• Spartacus: Blood and Sand is Walking Shirtless Scene: The TV Show, so most of the male cast counts as this.
• Sam Winchester from Supernatural, starting around Seasons 4 and 5, when he fully grew into his features. Before, he was more a Pretty Boy like Dean.
  • Silas. Especially now that his true form (which is identical to Stefan) has been revealed.
• Most of the Vikings from Vikings, with Rollo in the lead.
• The White Queen: King Edward IV is tall and traditionally handsome, although his good looks wane after he grows fat. It's because he's a magnificent, chiseled image of manhood that Elizabeth Woodville becomes infatuated with him despite the fact that her family had fought a war against him.

Pinball

• The shooter in Eight Ball Deluxe is either this or a Mountain Man.

Pro Wrestling

• Due to the nature of the form of fiction, almost every male wrestler ever, including Rocky Johnson, Tony Atlas, Batista, Chris Masters, Chris Jericho, Goldberg, Rick Rude, Sheamus O'Shaunessy, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Val Venis, among many others.
• This was the aim of the "Hot Like Lava" NWA Tag Team of Shawn Banks and Cru Jones, the latter whom typically floated between Jerk Jock Lovable Jock with an American football gimmick.
• Roman Reigns is a standout example if the reaction to Triple H ripping off his vest at Payback 2014 is anything to go by.

Video Games

• Both of Arc System Works poster boys, Sol Badguy of Guilty Gear and Ragna the Bloodedge of BlazBlue are tall, handsome and with muscular bodies. Of course, meant to run counter their rivals, blonde Bishōnen Ky Kiske and Jin Kisaragi. Aside from them, we also have, from Guilty Gear, Axl Low, assassin Zato-1, and Leo Whitefang, and from BlazBlue, we have Kagura Mutsuki, Bang Shishigami and Azrael. Of them, the only pretty boy is Axl, and even then, he's not such a bishie compared to Ky and Jin.
• Devil May Cry: Dante's Older and Wiser incarnation in DMC4, in contrast to the Bishōnen that he was in the third game. He's visibly more muscular, has a rugged quality to his good looks and an extremely nonchalant swagger to go with it; and Reuben Langdon gives him a noticeably deeper voice than he did for the teenage Dante in DMC3, all of which contributes to the effect.
• Final Fantasy:
  • Jecht from Final Fantasy X and Dissidia Final Fantasy is described as having "the body of a bronzed god," which is in stark contrast to the many bishies in the series.
  • The more recent games have had at least one hunk in them. Basch, Snow Villiers, and Gladiolus especially, though Basch manages to combine this with Pretty Boy qualities such as a slender build, delicate features, and flowing reddish-blond hair.
• Fire Emblem:
  • Priam, Ike's descendant, in Fire Emblem: Awakening. In fact, most of the male characters in Awakening are this trope, including protagonist Chrom, as they're all good-looking and quite brawny compared to the Bishōnen types predominant in some other games in the series.
• Guilty Gear:
  • Sol Badguy, the local Anti-Hero is a tough-talking, square-jawed, all-American badass with a lot of muscle. This is to further contrast him with his rival Ky, who goes the other direction.
  • Axl Low is also massively ripped for his size, though it is often hard to see under the concealing clothing he wears in the second game. Xrd brings back the "never skip leg day" Axl from the first game. Combine with his charming English accent and Nice Guy personality and it's not hard to see why he has so many fangirls.
• In Hundred Days, Anna rambles on about Teo's broad shoulders and his generally toned build before Emma meets him in person. True enough, he fits Anna's description of him.
• I Was a Teenage Exocolonist: Working as a farmer at Geoponics makes Cal a handsome, muscled man in his late teenhood/early adulthood, with a chiseled face and a stubble to match.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • Ganondorf is a more subtle example; except in The Wind Waker, he's a ruggedly handsome and extremely buff older man (and even in Wind Waker, it's mostly the art style that makes him look a bit off). Hyrule Warriors shows it off best, where his wild heavy-metal hair and other aspects of his design make him look downright sexy.
• Mass Effect: All human male military personnel, including Male!Shepard, technically qualifies because this is the default body rig for the male character model. Only older males and civilians seem to avoid this. Special attention goes to James Vega, who is shown working out and/or shirtless numerous times (and actually seems to be even burlier than the standard character model), Steven Cortez, the burly Manly Gay shuttle pilot, and Kaiden Alenko, who, provided you let him live in the first game, is shirtless for almost the entire first act of the third game, solely to draw attention to his lovingly rendered chest muscles.
• Pokémon:
  • Non-human, non-fanservice example: There are a few Pokémon with muscular Heroic Builds, invoking this trope among others. The Machop line (mainly Machoke and Machamp) are the most noteworthy examples.
• Red Dead Redemption II:
  • Arthur Morgan is a tall, handsome and rather charismatic cowboy with rugged, masculine features, with a very pleasant-sounding Southern accent that's both badass and attractive in a bedroom-ish way, and light blue eyes. The real-life people he's often compared to are Chris Pine, Bradley Cooper, Brad Pitt, Chris Hemsworth, and especially a young Clint Eastwood. Many characters, both female and male, are even quick to compliment him on his good looks, depending on how well-groomed his appearance is. Even when he is overweight or underweight he is still clearly quite a Hunk. Players would have to try their absolute hardest to not make him look attractive. Most players will spend most of their time dressing Arthur up to make him look dapper and some also tend to make him look like Leon Kennedy from Resident Evil. You can also have him bath, showing off his well-muscled body. Just be sure not to call him a "pretty boy", though.
  • John Marston, even after getting his scar, qualifies as an attractive and manly guy, although he has a much slimmer frame than Arthur. Especially his appearance in the second game where he's younger, where he clashes with both this and Pretty Boy. It also helps that in the epilogue of the second game, the game devs reused Arthur's model and pulled John's skin over it (possibly due to lack of time building out a second incredibly customizable rig), resulting in John inheriting a lot of Arthur's looks and suddenly looking very different from the first 6 chapters.
• Resident Evil:
  • Chris Redfield and Billy Coen. There's only one known picture of his face^note Shown in his epilogue from
  • The bombastically hammy and all-around badass Lord Heisenberg from Resident Evil Village counts, being tall, muscular, ruggedly handsome, and almost as hairy as the beastly lycans that he orders around.
  • Somewhat living up to his codename, HUNK is actually a ruggedly handsome blond man underneath his gasmask.^note How do we know? He takes it off in the epilogue of 3, and you need to beat the game eight times to see him.
• The End Times: Vermintide: In-universe, sergeant Markus Kruber is a handsome and broad-armed man who draws the eye of Kerillian, Sienna and (unfortunately) Olesya, who apparently uses her seer magic to spy on him when he bathes in the morning.
• William J. Blazkowicz from Wolfenstein is very handsome and very manly with a heroic build and strong jawline and deep voice.
• Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed: In contrast with his younger Kid Hero appearance in Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Rex has transformed completely into a muscular titan of a man strong enough two weild a greatsword in each hand. His more ruggard appearance contrasts with Shulk, who's long hair and softer features makes him more Long-Haired Pretty Boy.
• The Yakuza-series has plenty.
  • Series main protagonist Kazuma Kiryu is quite possibly the iconic Japanese example of this type of man. Tall, broad-shouldered, deep-voiced and muscular, the only point he doesn't hit is his clothing, which is a grey disco-suit with a maroon shirt. Still, he makes it look good.
  • Kiryu's best frenemy Goro Majima also hits many of the marks. In spite of being a Practically Joker with even worse dress sense, and having some rather impressive scars, women swoon at his chiseled jaw and washboard abs.
  • Taiga Saejima, Majima's sworn brother (and possible lover) is also tall, brick-jawed and ripped. In fact, he is one of few people who can make Kiryu look petite and slender. Though his appearance shifts around a bit depending on the game and game engine, he is generally quite handsome.

Webcomics

• Justin, of El Goonish Shive, clearly counts as a hunk, as does anyone transformed by Male Variant 4 or 5.
• None of the characters in Emergency Exit are this by default, but Bob becomes one when Nefarious makes his presence fully felt. At least according to Saya.
• The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob! has two examples, both antagonists: Jean's ex-boyfriend slick, a charismatic but slimy jerk, and Fructose Riboflavin's human disguise (his real body is an old, frail insect creature).
• Estanislau Catita, in Sarilho, just happens to be surprisingly good looking. Too bad he spends such a long time wearing a mask and a cape.
• Jun-Yeong Jeon in Forestdale is practically the poster boy for hot single dads everywhere, possessing an extremely muscular build that could make Hercules green with envy.

Western Animation

• Trevor Belmont from Castlevania (2017). He has a Rugged Scar, Perma-Stubble, and is very handsome.
  • Mizrak from the sequel series "CastlevaniaNocturne''. A big, beefy slab of a man who multiple characters note the attractiveness of. It's the first thing about him that gets Olrox's attention.
• Herry from Class of the Titans; he probably inherited it from his ancestor, Hercules, who is mentioned on this page a few times.
• For Scent-imental Reasons: Penelope comes to see Pepe as this after he loses his odor and she notices his muscles.
• In Grojband this is part of the reason why Trina Riffin finds Nick Mallory so dreamy; she even sometimes refer to him as "Hunky Nick Mallory".
• The aptly named He-Man from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983). He-Man is tall and has a physique like a bodybuilder, with an outfit that shows a lot of his muscles. His alter-ego Prince Adam is also muscular (though he tries to hide it with a Clark Kent Outfit), even if he doesn't have He-Man's Super-Strength.
• Riot from Jem is an 80s rock star with long blonde hair, a muscular physique, and an alluring voice. He's a complete Chick Magnet. However, the one woman he does want, Jem, is completely uninterested in him. The Jem and the Holograms (IDW) comic reboot changed his design so that he's a Pretty Boy instead (and in this continuity, Jem actually does fall for him, which is troublesome because she already has a boyfriend).
• Johnny Bravo. Despite having the looks, Johnny is more often than not repulsed by women because he is such a preening dumbass.
• The Real Ghostbusters: Peter Venkman, believe it or not. Several episodes play him as quite buff, despite his apparent laziness.
• SpongeBob SquarePants: After Squidward gets plastic surgery, SpongeBob calls Squidward this, though at that point it's just his face. When Spongebob tries to make him uglier, it only makes poor Squidward more and more handsome, to the point that he looks like a gorgeous sculpture.
• Star Trek: Lower Decks: Commander Jack Ransom has broad shoulders and a very muscular build which he maintains by exercising with a lot of free weights. Ensign Mariner thinks he's hot despite hating him.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003): One of the more common criticisms of the series was how buff the turtles were when compared to their 80s' counterparts. Between their muscular designs and their mature voices, the turtles◊ did not appear to be teenagers to a lot of fans.
  • The Casey Jones of this series was also a hunk—but it made more sense for his character, since Casey was portrayed as being in his mid- to late-20s.
  • To name a few others, Shredder, Silver Sentry and the Justice Force, Hun (leader of the Purple Dragons), the entire Triceriton race◊. Frankly, it might be easier to list the male characters that were not designed this way.
• Lion-O from Thundercats. This image ◊ prove us one thing: Attractiveness and a well-developed musculature with a hefty dose of Anthropomorphism can lead to very INTERESTING results.

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