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Let's give a big hand to the Space Marines!

"One fist may not be able to destroy the world... but it can certainly destroy you!"

There's just something primal and gratifying about the image of bare hands beating swords. However, it gets really, really ridiculous when the main character has to try and do that every episode.

Solution? Weaponise the fist.

Brass knuckles, possibly spiked. Armored gauntlets, with or without taloned fingertips. A set of blades strapped to the back of the fist and used like claws, Wolverine-style. Some hardcore mix of the above.

Or perhaps a deeper affectation? Perhaps a giant bear paw, with claws like knives. Perhaps a petrified fist of granite. Maybe someone even grafted the devil's own unholy mitt onto your forearm to replace a lost hand - a literal Red Right Hand, maybe. A lot harder to hide without shapeshifting, and perhaps even despite shapeshifting, but hey, it probably represents the character's inner rage or something. The advent of high technology gives even more options. Going back to the gauntlet, you can add powerful servos to give you a crushing grip, field emitters or energy projectors for added offensive or defensive power. Or maybe you can just launch the whole thing at 'em. If you have a mechanical arm, these features may be built into it.

May enable such various powers and Limit Break super-attacks as: Megaton Punch, Rocket Punch, or Hand Blast. Occasionally, someone will use special combat footwear, either as a complement or alternative to this.

See also Tricked-Out Gloves for a non-offensive version, Handwraps of Awesome for a mundane version, and Power Palms for a more open source.


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Anime & Manga 
  • 12 Beast has the Gigas Slayer, Eita Touga's weapon of choice, aside from his PSP and tablet. The Golem girls in his army also utilize this, alongside their built-in arm cannons.
  • Berserk: It's not often touched upon, but Guts has used his mechanical hand as a weapon in itself against several of his more human enemies.
  • Black★Rock Shooter: Strength uses two of these. Either one is bigger than her entire body.
  • Blaster Knuckle: Victor Freeman's weapon of choice are his titular knuckles. It's a gauntlet with four bullet chambers over each knuckle that shoot silver bullets when he punches monsters. The result is a wonderfully gory explosion.
  • Bleach: Chad, and his Right Arm of the Giant. Later, he adds the Left Arm of the Devil which takes on the offensive role. The right arm now acts as a shield.
  • Bubblegum Crisis: Knuckle Bombers, which are shaped charges attached to a guard over the fist of the heroines' Powered Armor. Understandably, getting punched by this hurts.
  • Buso Renkin: Peaky Gulliver, the buso renkin of the humanoid homunculus Kinjo, takes the form of an armoured gauntlet. The gauntlet is able to boost Kinjo's attack power, as well as spin around like a drill, has rocket boosters that can propel his attacks and grow to a massive size.
  • Code Geass: The Guren's Radiant Wave Surger is basically a Power Fist with wicked-looking talons and a Wave-Motion Gun built into the palm.
  • Corpse Princess: Minai fights with spiked armored gauntlets.
  • Deadline Summoner: The Golem girl has two of these as her arms, and a cannon built into at least one of them.
  • D.Gray-Man: Allen Walker, and his left arm. Normally, it's an unsightly Red Right Hand, though he's one of the nicest guys, ever. When activated, it becomes a monstrously huge metallic paw with large, wicked claws. There is actually a scene where he points out that his claws are too big for him to make a fist. From the same series, there's also Lenalee Lee, whose special weapons are the Dark Boots, which allow her such awesome speed and mobility she might as well be flying, and deliver brutally hard kicking attacks. As his left arm evolves, though, it becomes able to turn into a BFG and a Beam Saber before becoming a smaller, sleeker claw with a prehensile cape, and finally a BFS.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist:
  • Ghost in the Shell: One of the weapons used by the operatives of Section Nine in the anime can essentially be summed up as tazer knuckles. They're primarily for use against combat-rated cyborgs.
  • Gundam Build Fighters Try: One of Fumina's Winning Gundam's "Winning Road" modes was the Winning Knuckle, a massive fist that would combine with Sekai's Build Burning Gundam. It was used a few times but abandoned after Fumina made the Star Winning Gundam instead.
  • Hell Teacher Nube's hand, in which a supreme Oni is sealed, is overwhelmingly powerful on its own for ordinary (or not so ordinary) fisticuffs... but later on, Nube learns to release just enough of the Oni's power to turn it into bladed weapons, shields, gigantic "nets" made of blades and spikes and bone, or even let it take over the rest of his body to overcome particularly nasty foes.
  • Kotetsu Jeeg: It has TWO different versions of Rocket Punch. Also, their fists are reinforced.
  • Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear has an especially adorable and ridiculous example with Yuna's Bear Puppet Gloves. As the name suggests, they appear to be cloth hand-puppets shaped like teddy bears but as long as Yuna has them on, a simple jab becomes a devastating Kuma Punch capable of knocking out foes and monsters alike with ease. Just a handful of repeated blows is enough to temporarily disfigure a man's face beyond recognition. The only real downside is it's embarrassing to wear and Yuna oftentimes finds herself needing to fight as people think she's insulting the adventuring profession with how ridiculous she looks.
  • Lyrical Nanoha:
    • Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS: Subaru and Ginga have one gauntlet each from the pair of Devices that was once owned by their mother. They each get their own set of armored roller-blades as well. Much cooler than it may sound. Also, Fate's armored left gauntlet (with the "Thunder Arm" ability) is a defensive variant.
    • Magical Record Lyrical Nanoha Force: Veyron's "Claw Grab" seems to fit this trope as it's a claw-shaped gauntlet that allows him to fire non-magical explosive attacks with internal fluids and also seems to enhance his already impressive strength as one of its first demonstrations was blocking and damaging Subaru's own powered gauntlet mentioned above. As its name implies, it's really good for grabbing things and making them explode ...like limbs ...or heads.
  • Macademi Wasshoi: Tanarot has a pair of oversized boxing gloves that serve as her primary weapon. This is a perfect match for her personality, which is a ball of energy bound to blow up things. She's very good with them. Also due to the creator being an Otaki, they are shaped like cat paws.
  • Macross:
    • The Daedalus Attack used in Super Dimension Fortress Macross is basically the Humongous Mecha version of a power fist, surrounding an aircraft carrier-sized arm with energy shields to pierce enemy armor, and then firing countless missile batteries while the arm is still inside the target. Later Macross and New Macross-class ships can also do this.
    • Macross Frontier notably uses this a few times, once as a homage to the original Macross, with the Grand Finale having a multi-kilometer mecha get obliterated by the Power Fist of another multi-kilometer mecha.
    • Macross Plus: The aforementioned energy shields have been miniaturized to the point where standard Valkyries have them, and a few pilots in Plus, Macross 7, and Frontier have used them to perform a "Pinpoint Barrier Punch".
  • Mazinger Z: The titular mecha not only sported a Rocket Punch -it is the Trope Namer and Trope Maker, in fact-, but in one episode extendable cutters were added to the forearms (the Iron Cutter). And in another episode, its fists got reinforced to make them sturdier.
  • Itsuka Kendo of class 1-B in My Hero Academia has the quirk Big Fist. It lets her hands grow really big and she often uses it to punch with a giant fist.
  • Negima! Magister Negi Magi: Chao Lingshen had one of these to suit her Powered Armor so she could stand against the more magical or ki-empowered characters. It was later parodied in the Alternate Continuity Omakes. Later, Chapter 278 has Jack Rakan summoning a huge one, which he uses to smash Fate Averruncus into the ground with a piston-powered punch.
  • Occult Academy: Generally played for laughs, but when Maya gets angry at the male lead, her response will sometimes be to take the bracelet she wears on her right wrist, slip it over her fingers, and use it as an impromptu brass knuckle.
  • One Piece introduces Gedatsu with a variation of this trope. He basically puts rockets on his elbows to make his punches faster and therefore stronger.
  • Reborn! (2004): The X-Gloves worn by Sawada Tsunayoshi (and their predecessor, the I-Gloves worn by Vongola I.) Not only do they light on fire, but they allow flight, absorption of other flames, and the ability to FREEZE.
  • Rebuild World: The Ninja Maid Kanae, one of Reina’s bodyguards, uses a set of power gloves and boots to fight with martial arts, which is very conspicuous in a setting where most characters rely on guns. She has force field shields on her arms to let her handle enemy bullets. Part of why she prefers to fight this way is that she’s a Blood Knight.
  • Saint Seiya: All fighters wear armor, so they have this by default, but the Dragon Cloth includes a reinforced right gauntlet that is far harder than it should be, allowing the Dragon Saint to punch much above his weight.
  • Metroid: Samus and Joey: Joey's trademark weapon is the field knuckle, a force field that covers his two fists, allowing him to punch things without hurting himself.
  • Scryed's lead, Kazuma. While most alter users can assemble mech-like constructs and beings from nearby matter, Kazuma’s power is a rare "alloy type" that turns his own right arm into a bionic weapon.
  • Symphogear: Hibiki Tachibana has Pile Bunker gauntlets that are very effective when combined with her Kung Fu training. In season 2, they get an upgrade to Rocket-Powered Weapon.
  • World Trigger: Reiji uses his Raygust in a unique way: by gripping the default "handle" in his fist and using its Thruster to boost his punches. This Thruster powered punch is strong enough to inflict visible damage to Hyuse's Trion Body and smash a Dog's head into pieces in one hit.

    Comic Books 
  • Astro City: Both versions of Goldengloves use super-powered alien boxing gloves as their main gimmick.
  • Battle Chasers: Gully has her father's gauntlets which seem to provide the wearer with Super-Strength and invulnerability. Bonus points for Gully being a cute little ten-year-old.
  • The DCU:
    • Batman:
      • A Silver Age story has Batman gain this power temporarily as a result of an experimental chemical splashing on Bruce Wayne's hands, which was later activated when Batman got splashed by a fire hose from a criminal (this isn't Super-Strength; his hands were just reinforced to withstand impact). This example overlaps with Blessed with Suck as Batman realized this meant he can't fight someone directly, as punches that could dent wrecking balls or smash through brick walls would kill people outright.
      • Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and The Dark Knight Strikes Again: Batman wears gloves made out of kryptonite to give him an edge when handing Superman his ass.
      • Batwoman: Batwoman has tasers installed in her gloves in the New 52. Even without these, her gloves also feature knobby protrusions along the top knuckles, making them functionally similar to brass knuckles.
    • Green Lantern: The original prototype for the Green Lantern Ring was in power glove form.
    • Hawkman: Hawkman wore a Magitek glove called the Claw of Horus that drew power from the magnetic core of the Earth and knocked the Man of Steel out with one punch. The glove was later a plot point in Brightest Day.
    • Mother Panic: Mother Panic wears attachments on her gloves that are covered in nasty-looking knobby protrusions and greatly resemble the ancient Roman cestus.
    • Wonder Woman (1987): During her time as an Anti-Hero Substitute for Diana, Artemis wielded the Gauntlet of Atlas which granted her super strength. Cassie Sandsmark, the second Wonder Girl, also used the Gauntlet until her own demigod powers were unlocked.
  • Donald Duck:
    • In his usual stories, Donald's superhero alter-ego Paperinik favors spring-loaded punches, usually from his belt but also from all sorts of traps, including a comfy armchair and a small trunk.
    • Paperinik New Adventures: Paperinik's favored function of his Extransformer shield is the Crusher, a powerful and extendible power fist. The Crusher has become so iconic that "classic" Paperinik stories (that ignore the Paperinik New Adventures continuity) from Denmark have given him a multi-purpose gauntlet as his main weapon.
  • Hellboy: Hellboy's Right Hand of Doom is technically a key to unlock the monsters which will bring about the apocalypse, but since it's made out of an indestructible holy rock Hellboy primarily uses it to punch Lovecraft monsters in the face.
  • Marvel Universe:
    • Fantastic Four: The Super-Skrull likes to turn his hands into copies of The Thing's (no, not that one) and combine rocky-skinned superstrong punches with the long reach of Mister Fantastic and sometimes adds a flame and forcefield combo to add to his punches', er, punch. In fact, he once used this destructive combo-punch and his Voluntary Shapeshifting powers to impersonate Powe...I mean, Iron Fist.
    • Iron Fist: Iron Fist's superpower is the ability to concentrate his chi in any part of his body, most commonly his fist, and render it "like unto a thing of iron." The better to punch you with, my dear. His charged-up fist also glows and shows the Kirby krackle, because.... hey, why not?
    • Runaways: Chase wore the Fistigons, "the most powerful gauntlets ever invented" for a while. And he has recently retrieved them thanks to the wonders of Time Travel.
    • The Satan Claw worn by Baron von Strucker, the original Supreme Hydra. Unfortunately for him, the first person he used the metal weapon on was Magneto. Later, The Punisher acquires one of the Satan Claws and proceeds to beat the snot out of Rhino with it.
    • Southpaw from She-Hulk and Gauntlet and Armory from The Initiative, all created by Dan Slott, and all possessing alien gloves that project energy fists, but can't be removed. All three weapons are related (Southpaw and Gauntlet's were worn by the same alien; Armory's belonged to the one he was fighting.)
  • Shakara: The appropriately named Fist is an alien mercenary whose body is about 50% giant fist that he uses to punch through pretty much anything.
  • Strontium Dog: Johnny Alpha uses Electro-Knux when engaging in hand-to-hand combat. Having been created by the same writer, the technology has also appeared in Judge Dredd.
  • The Warlord (DC): After Travis Morgan cuts off Machiste's right hand to free from possession by a cursed axe, Machiste has his stump fitted with a spiked mace head.

    Fan Works 
  • Chapter 5 of The Good Hunter features the debut of the Fist of Gratia, described as "a hulking clod of iron fitted with finger holes". Cyril uses it to effortlessly incapacitate Wilmarina during their duel, barely using his Saw Cleaver all the while. Talk about disrespect.
  • Here Comes The New Boss: Taylor picks up a set of brass knuckles dropped by a gang member in a Bar Brawl, and uses them to put another ganger down — although it's mostly a cover for her Super-Strength, which is entirely capable of punching someone out without any weapon. When she tries to claim afterward that she doesn't intend to get into any similar fights, she then realises that not only did she take the knuckles with her, she even instinctively used Stoneknapper's power to reshape them to properly fit her.
  • In My Huntsman Academia, Izuku's weapon, Emerald Gust, consists of a pair of shotgun-equipped gauntlets and a pair of similarly equipped boots. They go off whenever he punches particularly hard, but can also function as typical ranged weapons if he decides to punch the air, subverting Short-Range Shotgun. Katsuki's own gauntlets, King Explosion Murder and Lord Explosion Murder, are gauntlets designed to focus his Semblance's explosions while also serving as handy melee weapons and defensive tools.
  • The Night Unfurls:
    • Sanakan has a heavy bracer that protects the arm/wrist instead of the fist but works pretty much in the same way as a gauntlet. One blow is strong enough to break the opponent's neck.
    • Kyril's Stake Driver is a heavy gauntlet that works like a Pile Bunker.
  • The Pieces Lie Where They Fell: One of Xvital's preferred weapons, as she wears a pair of knuckle dusters on her main hands.
  • This Bites!: Cross's fighting style is originally "brawler", and he got Usopp to create him a pair of gauntlets (and greaves) to help with this, but once he has access to Dials, he upgrades his gauntlets with a Flash Dial and an Impact Dial. In Chapter 53, they're upgraded with sea prism stone knuckles and reinforcement.

    Films — Animation 
  • Wreck-It Ralph: Ralph is designed/programmed to wreck things with his humongous bare hands.
  • In Turning Red, the partial transformation of Mei's arm into a highly muscled red panda arm serves as this as it enables her to throw a dodgeball hard enough to break a window.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • The main villain of Crippled Avengers wears iron gauntlets with razor-sharp fingers as his preferred weapon. Made by his father, no less.
  • The Dark Knight has Batman's hydraulic gauntlet, which can bend gun barrels and pierce the bodywork of a van.
  • Gamera in the film Gamera 3: Awakening of Irys gains the ability to form a fist out of plasma after his real hand is amputated. He uses said plasma-fist to Punch a hole into Irys and kill him.
  • The Man Who Saves the World: Prior to the final battle, the protagonist melts down his golden BFS and turns it into a pair of magic golden gloves.
  • Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem: The Wolf Predator has one, but he uses it more like a sledgehammer (a tool) than an actual weapon.
  • Inglourious Basterds sees Omar and Donny using punch guns, firearms that slip over the hand and are triggered by the impact of a punch, just before they break into Hitler's theater box.
  • The killer in Don't Open Till Christmas kills an undercover police officer by punching him in the neck several times with a spiked pair of brass knuckles.
  • Star Wars Anakin/Darth Vader would use his Artificial Limb as one. Anakin's arm could punch realistically harder than a normal hand and has a powerful grip.
  • Army of Darkness has Ash switch his trusty chainsaw for a mechanized fist.
  • Near the end of Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Optimus Prime deploys a claw attachment to his punching hand, allowing him to basically tear an enemy in half. Of course, since Optimus is 40 feet tall and made entirely of metal, his hands fit this trope all the time.
  • In an obscure John Saxon movie, The Glove, prominently features a so-called "riot glove", armored with metal plates and allegedly used by police to beat up hippie demonstrators.
  • Pacific Rim: Cherno Alpha, the Russian Jaeger, has disproportionately large fists when compared to the rest of its body. Said fists have hydraulics to add some power to the punches and Tesla coils that shock Kaiju on impact.
  • Turbo Kid: The Kid has the Turbo Fist which can blast baddies to meaty chunks and the Big Bad's Dragon, named Skeletron, has his Buzz-saw Fist similar to the Fallout: New Vegas weapon the Industrial Hand with the added bonus of being able to launch the blades.
  • Terminator Genisys: To fight T-3000, whose only weakness is magnets, the good T-800 crafts a pair of gauntlets out of magnetic coils scavenged from loudspeakers.
  • Captain America: Civil War: Crossbones' fists are covered with piston-like devices that allow him to punch Captain America hard enough to send him flying.
  • In Silent Night (2012) Jim has his head beat in with brass knuckles that read "Ho Ho Ho".
  • In Birds of Prey (2020), Renee Montoya uses her handcuffs as a set of improvised brass knuckles when fighting Harley Quinn.
  • In The Kunoichi: Ninja Girl, Shimotsuki uses a pair of spiked knuckledusters to discipline Kanna: warning her not to squirm because, if she does, he might hit a major organ.
  • In Vicki, Lt. Cornell plants a set of brass knuckles in Steve's apartment to frame him for Vicki's murder, and then attempts to rough Steve up them; planning claim that he resisted arrest.

    Gamebook 
  • In the first Way of the Tiger book, if your character Avenger finds and kills a Two-Headed Giant, he discovers a magical Gauntlet of Striking which improves his combat roll when he punches. Unfortunately, having this encounter prevents Avenger from getting an event that'll get a bonus to kicking as well as a new special kick move.

    Literature 
  • Discworld: In Night Watch, both Vimes and Carcer make frequent use of brass knuckles (amongst other inventions of Sir William Blunt-Instrument).
  • One Jules de Grandin story has ordinary humans rendered able to punch supernatural creatures by using brass knuckles soaked in lime juice.
  • In Eragon, the title character magically alters his hands so that they have lumps of callus and cartilage over the knuckles, because otherwise his hands would fracture every time he hit something too hard. He's inspired by a dwarven procedure where they surgically implant metal spikes into their knuckles for extra punching damage.
  • In The Malloreon, Zakath uses a cestus (essentially a boxing glove that's weighted and spiked to hurt more instead of less) in his first fight after joining the group because he's out of practice with his sword.
  • In Animorphs, Marco uses his gorilla morph's fist. "Gorilla. The outward expression of my inward rage". There are also many remarks in other books about his 'canned ham' sized fists.
    • Also many instances of Rachel's bear paws coming into play in this manner.
  • Downplayed in A Song of Ice and Fire when Jaime Lannister has his right hand cut off and straps a solid gold gauntlet in place of it. As he soon discovers, the sheer weight of the thing lets him throw backhands that knock people clear off their feet. Unfortunately, it seems to be the only thing the prosthetic hand is even remotely good for.
  • Worm has Tecton, whose suit incorporates "piledriver gauntlets". He usually uses them to aid his geokinesis, but they can also be used directly as fearsome weapons.
  • In Uncommon Animals, Sam and Rick make use of brass knuckles to even the odds when fighting werewolves.
  • The Big Bad of The Kite Runner, Assef, was infamous in his youth for attacking other kids with brass knuckles. He still has a pair as an adult member of the Taliban, beating Amir half to death in their encounter.
  • In The Outsiders, Bob wears three heavy rings on his right hand for punching. Before the events of the story, Bob had beaten up Johnny with them and left him with a scar. When Bob meets Johnny again to attack him and his friend Ponyboy, the rings prove useless against a quick stab from Johnny's switchblade.
  • The Dresden Files: In Cold Days, when Harry subverts Squishy Wizard by running up to a demon and punching it while it expects a magical attack, a thick layer of ice forms over his fist and forearm mid-swing, letting Harry strike like a piledriver without breaking his arm. The demon goes flying into the opposite wall.
  • Gearbreakers: Eris' cryo gloves can freeze metal, and Jenny's gloves shoot magma serum.
  • Dolphin Trilogy: In Dolphin Boy, Oswald Raynor gives John a pair of knuckledusters with sharp points, partly so he can defend himself against sharks and partly to weigh him down and help him stay below the surface more easily.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The lightning-shooting Glove of Myneghon in the episode "Revelations", which may have inspired the Doctor Who example in this section.
  • Cobra Kai: Tory Nichols has a spiked bracelet that she can fold around her knuckles for punching.
  • Doctor Who: In "The End of Time", Rassilon wears a medieval-style gauntlet on his left hand that can act as a remote control for other devices and can vaporize a Time Lord with a gesture (sorry, no regenerating!). He also used it to reverse the Master's transformation of the entire human race into copies of himself. Beyond that it wasn't used much, so we don't know what else it's really capable of.
  • Firefly: In "Shindig", Atherton Wing stamps on the blade of Mal's sword, breaking it off at the hilt. Mal uses the basket hilt for an impromptu knuckle-duster.
  • Kamen Rider:
    • This is one of Kamen Rider Fourze's signature attacks, which is a jet-powered fist in the shape of a rocket.
    • Kamen Rider Gaim: The Walnut Lockseed used by the appropriately-named Kamen Rider Knuckle comes with the Walnut Bombers, a pair of massive boxing gloves.
    • Kamen Rider Ex-Aid: Ex-Aid's first upgrade Gashat, Gekitotsu Robots, is equipped with a big robotic left hand. His penultimate upgrade, Maximum Mighty X, comes with a pair of power fists with stretchy limbs as part of its Powered Armor.
    • Kamen Rider Build: The Robot Fullbottle comes with a bulky clawed gauntlet for the user's left hand. The same gauntlet was later reused for Kamen Rider Grease Blizzard. Grease normally wields the Twin Breaker, a knuckleduster that can flip between a jackhammer for stronger punches or a gun for ranged combat.
    • Kamen Rider Zi-O: Most of Zi-O's early Rider Armors turn one of the Rider's handheld weapons into a gauntlet, which he proceeds to use to perform a parody version of their finishing move to the original Rider's irritation. Later in the series, Geiz Revive comes with a knuckleduster that can swap between a buzzsaw when he wants to punch hard, or Wolverine Claws when he wants to punch fast.
    • Kamen Rider Revice: Kamen Rider Demons specializes in stacking Power-Upgrading Deformities, some of which take the form of mutating one or both arms into large gauntlets.
  • Marvel Cinematic Universe:
    • Luke Cage (2016):
      • Luke Cage always pulls his punches because unrestrained, a punch of his could kill someone.
      • Willis "Diamondback" Stryker has a gauntlet he slips over his right hand, which can hit with such impact it can break through Kevlar, send people flying 20 feet into the air, and pretty much kill with one punch.
    • Iron Fist (2017): Danny Rand can light up his right hand and deliver the same force as Luke Cage if not more.
  • Demon hunter Walker Chisum on Midnight, Texas wears a wrist-mounted device that allows him to tear the hearts out of demons.
  • Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers/Ninja Sentai Kakuranger: the Ninja Megazord/Kakure Daishogun has one on the end of each arm. Their Finishing Move is a powered blow with both of them together.

    Music 

    Podcasts 
  • Gol in the Cool Kids Table game Star War wields brass knuckles with small lightsabers coming out of them.
  • In Sequinox, Autumn's weapon is a pair of gauntlets. Shaula also wields a pair with built-in knives.
  • The Thrilling Adventure Hour: Sparks Nevada has his trademark robot fistsnote . They were his present for graduating from the Academy.

    Pro Wrestling 
  • The NWA Texas Brass Knuckles Title was established in 1953, and though the basic stipulation was simply to have matches where punching was legal, taped fists and yes, brass knuckles, often did enter into the equation. Several territories started their own brass knuckles divisions as it gained popularity, a World Title for it being started in the 1970s(though it was dead by the 80s). The AWA and FMW had some of the more famous Brass Knuckle divisions outside of the NWA, even though it was pretty redundant in the latter.
  • Dominican Republic wrestler Jack Veneno would wrap his fist in tape that was apparently cursed by a Dominican sorcerer. Iron Fist also taped his hands and boasted he could strike down anyone with it.
  • William Regal, for a while, had a gimmick where he would win his matches thanks to "The Power of the Punch". Unbeknownst to the Easily-Distracted Referee, said punch was powered by a set of brass knuckles secreted in his trunks.
  • The famous WWE SmackDown's "closed fist" design in the entrance ramp from 2001-2008.
  • The Gameboy Max Morrison, who wields a giant power glove.
  • CHIKARA took this to a comically ridiculous level. In order to counteract Mike Quackenbush's powerful palm strike attacks, Mecha Mummy unleashed palm strikes with a giant, metal hand of his own.
  • Techno Destructo has a giant wrench he can fit around his arm.
  • During 2014 event WWC Lockdown - Day 2, Invader #1 beat Bronco #1 in a Loaded Punch vs Brass Knuckles match.
  • Wrestler Marcus Anthony would wear a Power Glove during his time in OVW.
  • MJF frequently uses the Dynamite Diamond Ring, an implement he's won in each of the three times it's been contested in AEW. Doubles as Gemstone Assault.

    Tabletop Games 
  • Warhammer:
    • Warhammer 40,000:
      • The Trope Namer, from where our Crimson Fists friend in the picture above comes from, which features among its close combat weapons, massive mechanical fists a good three to five times regular size that are loaded with servo-motors that radically increase the user's strength and wreathe in an energy field that tears apart anything it touches on the atomic level.
      • Power claws, which are the same thing but with giant crushing blades instead of fingers;
      • Lightning claws, which are four or five giant blades in the place of the fingers (or on some other units, Wolverine Claws on the back of the hand) wreathed in an armour-ignoring energy field in the same way as power fists;
      • The Scorpion's Claw, a powered scorpion claw with a built-in gun that fires thousands of molecule-thick ninja stars;
      • The chainfist, a power fist with a giant chainsaw also wreathed in the aforementioned destructive energies bolted to the knuckles, which is canonically capable of tearing through metres of nigh-indestructible adamantium with no problems. It is, however, so heavy it can only be used by suits of power armour so tough they, or rather, the user, can survive being trampled by hundred-meter-tall Humongous Mecha.
      • The Unique Power Fists used by some of the independent characters, like Huron Blackhart's "Tyrant's Claw", which has a heavy flamer built into the palm, or "the Talon of Horus", Abaddon's lightning claw with a Twin-Linked Bolter.
      • Titan close combat weapons are often enormous Power Fists. One type is the Corvus Assault Pod, which is a combination of a power fist and huge drill with room to house a boarding party inside. It's used to punch a hole into the enemy titan or building and release the boarding party to kill anybody who survived being punched by a Humongous Mecha.
      • Marneus Calgar, Chapter Master of the Ultramarines, has "The Gauntlets of Ultramar", two power fists with storm bolters loaded with Abnormal Ammo strapped to the underside of each, just to add that extra dash of badass and dakka.
      • When the Primarch of the Ultramarines himself, Roboute Guilliman, awoke from stasis, he did not reclaim the gauntlets of ultramar. Why? Because he brought in something bigger; the Hand of Dominion. It's a one-gloved version of the Gauntlets, but with a built-in heavy bolter instead of the normal one.
      • Commissar Sebastian Yarrick lost an arm up to the elbow to an Ork Warboss. Yarrick, being the badass that he is, would not stand for this and immediately decapitated the Ork, and now uses the Ork's power klaw in place of his severed limb.
      • And then there's Tyberos, The Red Wake, who combines power fist, chainfist, AND lightning claw into two giant shredding devices named Hunger and Slake. Run away.
      • Now even the Tau have their own version: the Onager Gauntlet. Created during the Damocles Gulf Crusade, the Gauntlet was meant to allow battlesuits to take on heavy Imperial armor when ammo was running low. One description describes it as being able to falcon punch tanks.
    • Warhammer:
      • The ogre ironfist is a sort of hybrid shield and punch dagger.
      • The Dwarf engineer Burlok Damminson wears a Steampunk claw.
      • Ghoritch, a Norse warrior walking around in a huge cyborg rat monster body following a brain transplant experiment, has a pair of sharpened mechanical claws in place of hands, driven by warpstone-powered pistons and capable of handily carving through enemy armor.
  • "Gauntlets of Ogre Power" are a classic Dungeons & Dragons item, though the manual strength enhancement isn't limited to bare hands. In the 5th Edition of the game it sets your Strength score at 19 if it wasn't already higher, which is just one point short of the maximum score you can have in that stat without magical enhancement.
    • Among the "components" available to warforged in Eberron is the battlefist, a +1 weapon that looks like a massively oversized spiked gauntlet and increases the damage of the warforged's natural slam attacks.
      • A prestige class introduced in Magic of Eberron, the Renegade Mastermaker, is basically a magitek cyborg, capable of replacing one hand with a metal one for a slam attack of his own.
      • And it's survived into the 4th edition; now an artificer paragon path called the "Self-Forged." It begins with replacing one hand/forearm with a "Battlefist," a magitek prosthetic that counts as a mace-class weapon in combat and which is used for the path's attack powers... the second of which is effectively a Rocket Punch!
    • In Forgotten Realms, this is the weapon of choice for the Lawful Evil War God Bane. His "Black Hand of Bane" is a +5 weapon that does extra damage to creatures of the Chaotic end of the morality spectrum.
  • Rifts has its own claw-based variation, usually of Wolverine-esque vibroblade claws mounted on the vambrace of a suit of armor or Powered Armor, and normally three in number.
  • SLA Industries has several examples of this trope. The three main ones are the GASH Fist (a powered fist with a large blade attached, much like a katar), the ITB Mutilator (a powered fist that, for unspecified reasons, causes more damage due to vibrational actions), and the JOLT fist, which deals no damage but acts like a finger tip-mounted taser instead.
  • Exalted has smashfists, an artifact weapon that is pretty much Exactly What It Says on the Tin. In addition, Lunars can incorporate special tattoo artifacts into the full-body moonsilver tattoos that every Lunar in the Silver Pact possesses; at the expense of having to permanently attune to the artifacts in question, they can't be stolen and are always available to the Lunar, even when shapeshifted. Smashfists are among the artifacts compatible with this method, making it possible to have a literal Power Fist.
    • It also has the aptly-named God-Kicking Boots, for when your martial artist wants to kick things up a notch.
    • Then there's Alchemicals, who can install a "Transcendent Multimodal Artifact Matrix" to transform their hands into smashfists (or just use regular ones - artifacts are nice and cheap when you live in the heaviest magitech environment known to man), and a Piston-Driven Megaton Hammer in their wrists to produce a lot of damage.
  • Magic: The Gathering has more than one red enchantment that follows this trope, among them Granite Grip, Stonehands, and Fists of the Demigod. Similarly, the latest art for Kird Ape has power fists made of rock.
  • GURPS:
    • Brass knuckles only slightly increase damage but also allow you to attack targets that would otherwise damage your hands.
    • GURPS: Martial Arts has the Bagh-Nakh, bladed hand, cestus, myrmex, and sap glove.
    • GURPS Ultra-Tech has an advanced version of brass knuckles and zap glove, along with a system that makes your punches stick grenades to the enemy.
    • GURPS High-Tech has the Pistol Glove, which shoots a bullet when you land a punch.
  • 7th Sea: there are two preeminent fighting styles in Eisen. One involves a Zweihander and your face. The other involves a regular broadsword, a Panzerhand (lit. Armored Fist, a heavy plate glove, possibly made of the local Adamantium), and your face. It may not be as graceful as Montaigne fencing or as subtle as Vodacci dagger-fu, but by God it's efficient. There's also a lesser-known fighting style where a panzerhand is worn on both hands at once. Its primary move is just yanking the weapon out of a person's hands and then beating them silly.
  • Battlemachines' power fists are mounted onto giant giant mecha and can throw anything they kill around. You can also upgrade one to set stuff on fire or explode.
  • The Retribution of Scyrah faction in Warmachine can field Battle Mages, who are equipped with magically-enhanced gauntlets to punch the enemies of their people into next week.
  • While BattleTech traditionally relies on its Battlemechs blasting each other to bits with some flavor of BFG, hand-to-hand combat (be it with fists or some sort of BFS) is surprisingly effective, especially on mechs built for it. Some 'mechs are equipped with Battlefists, which are hands balanced for punching and more accurate than normal hands. The Triple Strength Myomer upgrade kicks in when a mech is Overheating, allowing it to run faster and turns its punches and kicks into cockpit-crushing pain trains. There is also the rare Claw melee weapon, which replaces the 'Mech's hand. It does about 30-40% more damage than a standard punch, but due to the size and bulk of the Claw, it is more cumbersome and therefore slightly more difficult to land a blow.
  • The Star Wars: Roleplaying Game has the Repulsor Fist a cybernetic forearm that can deliver a devastating punch once every few turns. There are also "Blast Knuckles", an armored glove that's designed to fire blaster bolts when the user connects with a punch. Causing quite a bit of damage but also strain to the user.
  • Cyberpunk 2020 features the SPM-1 Battle Glove for those who do not want to have their meat arm(s) replaced by cybernetic one(s) for whatever reasons. A punch of one hurts as much as one given with a cyber arm, and those gizmos allow several of the available options for the latter.

    Toys 
  • The Transformers franchise has a few examples:
    • The Japanese version of the Transformers: Prime toyline had a miniature version of Bulkhead who turns into a giant fist for other figures to wield.
    • The "Combiner Wars" subline is made up almost entirely of Combining Mecha, most of which can turn into an arm or a leg and include a gun that turns into a hand or foot. Rook has a unique front-mounted hardpoint on his hands so that he can use his weapon in fist mode even when not combined. This is a bit of a Fandom Nod, as fans have been doing this with other figures for years, but it's the first time it's seen use in official art.
      • Many fans also like to give him a second fist from one of his teammates (or any spares they may have lying around) for some good old-fashioned giant fisticuffs.

    Video Games 
  • In Assassin's Creed II you can buy a Metal Cestus for Ezio. Oddly enough, it's only for one hand.
  • Savyna's weapons in Baten Kaitos are all some variation of brass knuckles or fist blades. Ayme also uses certain tonfa-like weapons in this manner.
  • Attikus from Battleborn has the Hedronic Collector. It's a device grafted on his right arm which ends in a mechanical fist that can project energy Wolverine Claws. This thing in particular was what gave his intelligence as a side effect. In combat, this gives Attikus a passive in which he gains 1 charge per kill (5 for major enemies) up to a maximum of 5. While Fully Charged, the next ability he uses consumes all charges for an added effect.
  • In the older Bionic Commando games, the bionic arm acted as a sort of secondary weapon, allowing you to block shots and push enemies around. The recent remake allows you to use it to more directly kill stuff.
  • In the BlazBlue series, Iron Tager fights with cybernetically-enhanced forearms and hands that provide his attacks with an electric punch, in addition to using magnets to draw his opponents in.
  • The Glutton of Bloodline Champions wear wooden spikes on their right hand, with other alternate weapons for them being even fancier weapons to cover their hand. Except for the one which is basically a hollowed-out log on their hand.
  • Bloody Spell has a rather badass-looking pair of gauntlets called the Tiger Heads, which, true to it's name, resembles heads of oriental tigers. It deals as much damage as edged weapons, with the bio describing it as "weapons for crushing mountains and rivers"!
  • Robo of Chrono Trigger fights with his fists, which he can replace with better fists through the game, so he mostly counts. He's also got a kind of rocket punch. Cavewoman Ayla fights completely barehanded, and so falls under a different trope until she gains a high enough amount of levels then she starts putting on weapon gloves and gets stronger ones when she reaches certain level thresholds.
  • Stone Melee Heroes and Villains in City of Heroes and City of Villains can make their own granite fists for some of the earlier attacks. There's also the Energy Melee set, which focuses on this.
  • The player may choose to do this in Crysis with their 'Nano Suit' in Strength Mode, and with a little file tweaking, you can send enemies ''flying'' with a single blow from your fists.
  • The Gorilla Arms in Cyberpunk 2077 are cybernetic arm replacements that give you increased punching power and greater strength for tasks like forcing open doors.
  • Darksiders features the Tremor Gauntlet, a huge lighting-wreathed glove granting War a powerful area-effect attack. It bears a striking resemblance to the Power Fists of Warhammer 40,000.
  • The titular weapon in Daemon Claw is a golden gauntlet that can destroy enemies by punching, where you spend the entire game using it to pummel every mook in your way. There's even a special uppercut attack for targeting enemies above you.
  • Dark Souls has several fist weapons such as cestuses, genuine-looking Wolverine Claws, and a huge fist carved of dragon bone.
    • Dark Souls II gives us back cestuses and claws, which can now be powerstanced for a quick combo of punches.
      • Then there is the Bone Fist that after strapping to your fists as a weapon, allows the player to fight in martial arts moves, a mixture of Bājíquán with Muay Thai and Ryu's moves, "as if the very spirit of the bone's malicious owner had taken control".
      • Also, there's a special ring that gives your bare fists a massive boost and allows powerstance for them as well.
  • Being a Warhammer 40,000 game, Dawn of War features Power Fists as melee weapon upgrades for Space Marine and Chaos Marine officers, switching out the barely weaker Power Swords. They ignore armor which means a nasty surprise to anyone who decides to charge the squad (since Assault Marines and Chaos Raptors are better at close combat than their regular counterparts). Ork Warbosses and Nobz can also be upgraded with Power Klaws which perform the same function.
    • A pair of Wolverine Claws is the weapon of choice for the Imperial Guard general, with the right one mounting a bolter as well. In Dark Crusade, the bolter can be upgraded first into a double-barreled one, then into a plasma gun, while the claws themselves can be upgraded first into master-crafted ones, then straight-up replaced with a pair of golden power fists that do even more damage despite no longer having the claws.
  • Devil May Cry:
  • Fist weapons are a main class of weaponry in the Disgaea series. While they all look alike, their description varies between realistic knuckle-type weapons, monstrous appendages, martial-arts techniques, and comic relief (including the Megaton Punch, "Guaranteed to turn your enemies into A Twinkle in the Sky!"). The magichange weapons are more distinctive, being visible during attacks, and generally looking like the hand or head of the monster that created it.
    • Known wielders of Power Fists in the Disgaea universe include Adell, Jennifer, and Mr. Champloo. Thanks to Magichange, Jennifer actually becomes one!
    • Taken to extremes in Disgaea 4, where magichanging a giant monster gives you a power fist that's almost as big as the wielder, on top of allowing you to wield two of them at the same time.
  • In the games where monks/martial artists appear in Dragon Quest games, there are at least a few weapons of this type (although most monk and martial artist weapons are of the claw variety).
  • Meng Huo from Dynasty Warriors fights using a giant pair of metal gloves.
  • The third Endless Nightmare begins with you obtaining a Tech Glove, a mechanical gauntlet that enhances your strength and can generate a Charged Attack with each punch, even capable of breaking walls and sending zombies and mummies flying across an area.
  • In Evil West, the signature weapon of the vampire-hunting Rentier Institute is the Rentier Gauntlet. This Steampunk contraption fits over the right hand and can pop out Wolverine Claws to rake foes and it can deploy a fold-out "stamp" (similar to a branding iron) that hits with so much force that it'll send 8-foot tall vampires flying. The Gauntlet can also inject healing medicine into its owner.
  • Fallout's got the lot:
    • Fallout had the "Big Frigger" Power Fist. Fallout 2 adds the Mega Power Fist which was the same except, you know, fistier.
    • Fallout Tactics adds the Impact Gloves ("Pneumatic Power Fist" in Fallout 3) and Punch Gun, a leather and metal gauntlet that would fire a shotgun shell point blank on impact.
    • Fallout 3 returns to the Pneumatic Power Fist (and two unique ones The Shocker [an electrical power fist] and Fisto! [exclamation mark included]) and also includes the Deathclaw Gauntlet, which consists of strapping the hand of the titular wasteland beastie to the end of one's arm. This doesn't sound much until you try it and realize that it ignores the target's armor.
    • Fallout: New Vegas loves these:
      • The Pneumatic power fist from Fallout 3 returns.
      • The punch gun is back in glorious form with the Ballistic Fist: a full-on power fist with a double-barreled shotgun attached to it which triggers on contact. Uppercut a Deathclaw with it, go ahead.
      • There's also the (slightly less destructive, as well as much rarer) Displacer Glove, which displaces things you punch with predictable results. Its unique model "Pushy" pushes everyone's shit in faster than literally nothing else except the Industrial Hand (and even then it's only the blade having the massive damage per second).
      • The Zap Glove electrifies anything you punch with it for extra damage against robots.
      • It's possible to learn to craft dog tags into a set of Wolverine Claws, essentially holding sharpened tags between one's fingers. There's a unique version appropriately named "Recompense of the Fallen".
      • And lastly, there's plain jane knuckle dusters, in both the brass and the spiked varieties.
      • Old World Blues adds the steriliser glove and corrosive glove: rubber safety gloves covered in chemicals that set enemies on fire and drain health over time, respectively. There's also the Saturnite Fist, which is a slightly more powerful version of the normal Pneumatic Power Fist made out of a special alloy called "Saturnite"note , but taking it to your world-destroying toaster (yes) will give you the option to superheat it, which makes it stronger and lights targets on fire.
      • Oh, and you can't forget how some of the Ghost People in Dead Money have a weapon that is literally a bear trap strapped to their fist.
      • And in Lonesome Road comes the Industrial Hand, which adds a rather gruesome buzzsaw blade where the weapons punch so you can slice and dice as you ground and pound.
      • Then there's Greased Lightning, a unique version of the regular Pneumatic Power Fist, which allows for some impressive Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs. Fist of the North Star jokes optional.
      • Speaking of which, there's the Fist of (the North) Rawr. Assuming, of course, you can take it from Rawr.
      • From Honest Hearts is the Yao Guai Gauntlet, similar to the Deathclaw Gauntlet but worn as a glove. Its specialized variant is She's Embrace, your prize after you kill Ghost of She.
      • One last piece of DLC goodness ... the Two-Step Goodbye. Power fist, check. Shotgun, check. Critical kills cause a grenade-like explosion? Ka-boom.
    • Fallout 4 still has the Pneumatic Power Fist, here being Pre-War power tools instead of military hardware. It can be upgraded to be Puncturing for armor piercing (by chaining some old concrete and rebar to it) or adding a Heating coil for 20 extra points of energy damage. Unfortunately, you won't get as much mileage as you can't use fist weapons with Power Armor and there are much better weapons to put Perk points in.
      • On the other hand, you can actually build power armor mods that effectively function as an integrated power fist, though they still won't bring you up to New Vegas levels of fisticuffery.
  • Familia: Lono, Poki, and Red are monks that equip gauntlets and elemental claws.
  • Final Fantasy games often have weapons like this for the Monk or Monk-analogue. Mash/Sabin of Final Fantasy VI, Tifa of Final Fantasy VII, Zell of Final Fantasy VIII. Though sometimes they just wear really durable, cool-looking gloves. Monks in Final Fantasy XI also have the above-mentioned footwear, that boosts the power of their kick attacks (although you wouldn't know unless someone told you).
    • Yang Fang Leiden only uses claws to add elemental properties or debuffs to his attacks. Then again, this is a man who used his body to make the Tower of Babil's cannon misfire, so what's a weapon gonna do for him?
    • Rikku's in Final Fantasy X. All of her weapons are fists, including her best, the God Hand. And many, like any other weapon in the game, had extra properties, ranging from status effects, to element affiliations, to the vaunted No MP ability.
    • Hand-mounted weapons, including brass knuckles and claws, are the weapon of choice for the Pugilist class and Monk job in Final Fantasy XIV.
    • In Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and Tactics A2, knuckles range from reinforced gloves to wrist-mounted claws and are the weapon of choice for the Bangaa White Monk, the Moogle Gadgeteer/Tinker, and the Seeq Berserker.
  • F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch has the rabbit protagonist Rayton using one of the biggest power fists in video game history. It's an arm from a damaged mech he used to pilot and so large that it's installed on a special backpack/harness rather than worn on the hand.
  • Gang Wars: To enter the innermost sanctum of the Shaolin Temple, the players must beat up a boss, a muscular fighter wearing steel gauntlets for fists.
  • My arm, My arm, My arm, My arm, MY ARM, MY ARM, WILL SUMMON UP THE POWER OF THE GOD HAND!
  • God of War:
  • Grandia III: The Brute Kornell wields a spiked gauntlet, called "Iron Fist". Much like with weapons of other humanoid bosses, it's classified as an enemy on its own, which effectively gives Kornell two separate cooldowns, albeit with different actions. The fist's actions include punching the ground so hard, it impacts everyone around. The fist also has its own HP, and you can break it, which is not easy, as has two thirds HP of the man himself. The fist will also "die" if you take out Kornell and it won't come back even if his partner revives him.
  • Potemkin of Guilty Gear both uses and subverts this. Mounted on his fists are extremely heavy gauntlets with built-in shotguns - but his instant kill attack involves him stripping off all the heavy metal gear he's wearing, which are actually inhibitors to prevent him from misusing his physical strength. He then punches his opponent. Once.
  • The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction featured Steel Fists, where the Hulk could rip a car in half and wear it as gloves.
  • The Arm weapon type in Kid Icarus: Uprising, especially the Bomber Arm.
  • Variation: In La-Mulana, Rock Hand, an enemy in the Mausoleum of the Giants, is a disembodied stone fist that charges at Lemeza when he crosses its path.
  • Vi the Piltover Enforcer from League of Legends fights with two giant hextech gauntlets she salvaged from a piece of broken mining equipment and improvised as weapons. Not only her fighting style but practically her entire character revolves around nothing but punching people in the face. It's what she lives for.
  • The Legend of Zelda CD-i Games: Link and Zelda use them. Link also tends to use magic gauntlets in regular games, when they're not bracelets instead.
  • Tia in Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals uses punching gloves as her weapon of choice. Punching gloves that fire out of a luggage case. Which also contains a hook-shot, a giant drill, and a freaking chainsaw!
  • In Mario Super Sluggers, Donkey Kong uses a boxing glove to hit the baseball. Not any less powerful than an actual bat.
  • In Mass Effect 3 multiplayer, Batarian players have a heavy melee attack that involves delivering a Megaton Punch with a bladed gauntlet that will messily decapitate anyone killed by it. There's also an item that, if equipped, will grant that attack to every other character. This means that a Volus who's half the size of everyone else can use his Power Fist to punch enemies in the junk.
  • MechWarrior 5 describes one of its melee weapons as a Trench Blade, but it is really little more than an enormous hand-shaped slab of steel designed to punch opponents in the face more effectively than usual. Notably it does not require power or generate heat; its utility comes from its effortles brute force.
  • Several of Mega Man's weapons are Power Fists, such as the Hard Knuckle in Mega Man 3, the Mega Arm in the Gameboy V, and the Super Adapter in Mega Man 7.
    • Zero's "Z-knuckle" (a chip embedded in both hands) expands his Power Copying ability; it allows him to steal weapons from normal Mooks so he can use them for himself. And, according to official art, his Evil Twin Omega Zero also has one, and is supposedly the basis for the Giga Attacks in the X series (appropriate, since Zero in his original body AKA Omega always performs his Giga Attacks by punching the ground).
    • Grizzly Slash, from Mega Man X 5, has a Power Fist that can change into a Power DRILL! Just take a look!
      • Spark Mandrill gains this ability in the remake of the original Mega Man X.
    • After Duo crash-landed in Mega Man 8, he was so badly damaged that Dr. Light had to completely rebuild his body. The only features left from his original body were the jets on his back and the Duo Knuckle on his left arm.
  • In Monster Hunter, while it entirely depends on the monster you make them from, this weapon type would normally fall under the category of the Dual Blades.
  • Mortal Kombat:
  • Overwatch has Doomfist, who, as his name implies, uses a gigantic mechanical gauntlet that takes up his entire right arm. In-universe, he's actually the third character to hold the title, with previous Doomfists all being wielders of the gauntlet.
  • In the Persona franchise, Akihiko Sanada from Persona 3 and Makoto Niijima from Persona 5 both fight with an assortment of fist weapons, Akihiko's standard being a pair of blue boxing gloves and Makoto's standard being a pair of spiked knuckles.
  • Phantasy Star Online and its sequel have fist weapons, which range from simple gloves to massive gauntlets several times larger than your character's actual hands.
  • Planescape: Torment seems to be unique among DnD-based video games in devoting an entire non-monk discipline to fist weapons. Many of these were Blade Below the Shoulder-type weapons like katars and Wolverine-style claws, along with enchanted brass knuckles and one set of man-eating gauntlets. Annah fights exclusively this way, typically using punch daggers but she's also capable of equipping spiked gauntlets.
  • Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time has the Jurassic Rockpuncher zombie who uses the Bamboo Technology version of this — rocks tied to his fists. It's a surprisingly effective weapon since one smash from it will not only One-Hit Kill a plant, it will also leave a temporary unplantable crater behind!
  • [PROTOTYPE]: One of the powers of Alex Mercer is turning his fists into huge bashing clubs.
  • Ratchet & Clank has a metal boxing glove called the Walloper, as well as other gloves that dispense weapons such as bombs and automatic turrets.
  • The Loader from Risk of Rain and Risk of Rain 2 worked as a cargo loader on the UES Contact Light before the start of the game, and was equipped with a pair of large hydraulic gauntlets to allow them to lift heavy cargo. After the ship crashes, these gauntlets are instead used to tear through the hordes of bloodthirsty aliens trying to kill the player.
  • In RosenkreuzStilette Zorne Sepperin's claw gauntlet can produce bombs and cling to walls. Especially useful for someone like her.
  • Rune Factory 4 introduces a new class of weapon: Gloves. Using gloves lets the Player Character fight using martial arts, as well as allowing them to grab enemies and throw or piledrive them.
  • The Counter Sword in S4 League keeps a small sword in the right hand, but it's only used for the weapon's weaker attacks. Counterattacks and the weapon's uber-powerful Jump Attacks and Strong Attacks instead use a massive armored gauntlet, nearly as large as the player character.
  • Sacred Odyssey: Rise of Ayden: Ayden's limb is injured by the Giant Acidbeetle boss, and couldn't heal in time. So Dentoras the enchanted Wise Tree grants Ayden the Fabled Gauntlet of Brakor, a magic gauntlet made of gold fused to Ayden's left arm for the rest of the game which allows him to pummel enemies with his fists. Said gauntlet can even unleash a Charged Attack to destroy barriers.
  • Samurai Shodown series: Neinhalt Sieger has a large, Steampunk power fist as his melee weapon. It's also an Arm Cannon.
  • Gracia from Samurai Warriors 2: Xtreme Legends fights with her bare hands while wearing special bracelets. Unusually for this trope, her attacks are incredibly weak, much moreso than the other characters who use some sort of weapon. She compensates by having one of the best musou attacks in the game, and exceptionally powerful and useful musou-meter-powered special moves.
  • Master Monks in Shining Force II equips fist weapons to counter their abysmal base Attack power, due to being healers previously before promoting. They still manage to turn the class into a walking death machine though, due to the fists having the highest attack ratings of all the game's weapons.
  • Six-Guns: Gang Showdown has a few melee weapons amongst its vast collection of guns. Among these are the Hellraisers. These metal gauntlets are designed to encase the hands in such a way that they're always in a closed fist position and so can only punch. However the Hellraisers have steam-generators so powerful that these weapons are constantly leaking electrical arcs and they hit with a force that'll make a steam locomotive proud.
  • Drachma from Skies of Arcadia fights with various attachments to his mechanical arm. As appropriate for the Sorting Algorithm of Weapon Effectiveness, you find various outlandish attachments of all kinds (such as a hook, an ancient magitek grappling claw and a drill), all of which are perfectly compatible with his arm, all over the place. Apparently there are a lot of other people running around with robot arms; you just never meet 'em.
  • Skyrim has one obscure encounter with an enemy wearing the magic Gloves of the Pugilist. And getting these gloves is almost the only way (besides an expensive Heavy Armor perk) to increase your weaponless Brawl damage, which is required for a few missions and "negotiations."
  • Sonic the Hedgehog: Knuckles the Echidna has the Shovel Claws in Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2. In the former game, he also gets the Fighting Gloves. They're yellow.
  • Stinkoman 20X6: Stinkoman kills a giant robot in one level of his game, and then attaches the robot's fist to his own arm for no apparent reason. It's the size of his entire body, and he doesn't even punch anyone with it, he uses it as a giant shield.
  • Area from Street Fighter EX 2 and EX 3 fights with a miniature rocket launcher attached to her right arm.
  • Super Robot Wars:
  • Regal from Tales of Symphonia fights with various greaves around his shins for kicking, leaving his hands purely for balance as he's sworn never to use them for killing. Not that his hands could be used since they are shackled, which he prefers. (He gets rid of them in the sequel, apparently.)
    • A better example would be Yuri Lowell from Tales of Vesperia, as he can use an assortment of power gloves and spiked knuckles as a secondary weapon.
    • Senel and Jude fight primarily with fist weapons, averting Heroes Prefer Swords.
  • In Team Fortress 2, the Heavy received a pair of unlockable boxing gloves: the Killing Gloves of Boxing. They're actually a bit of a variation, in that the gloves don't directly increase his melee attack power; rather, after killing someone with the KGB, the Heavy gets 5 seconds of 100% critical hit chance, which apply to any of his weapons... But if he just keeps using the gloves, the timer tacks on another five seconds with each kill, allowing him to rack up a chain of deadly fistings. He's since gained access to the Gloves of Running Urgently, which make him much faster but drain his health or leave him much more vulnerable to damage depending on the update), and the Fists of Steel, an actual pair of metal gauntlets which shields Heavy from 40% of the damage ranged attacks but forces him to take 100% damage from melee attacks (with the Tough Break update he also holsters 100% more slowly which makes the previous weakness hurt so much more).
    • The Engineer update yielded The Gunslinger, a mechanical replacement hand that boosts the Engie's health and makes mini-sentries. On top of that, every third punch with the mechanical hand that connects has a 100% chance of a critical hit.
  • Toukiden has the Gauntlet weapon type. Like all weapons, they're mostly made of body parts from defeated Oni. They're also around the size of a character's torso.
  • Vindictus has the Cestus weapon series for Karok, which allows him to build up a focus meter that he can then use to power various explosive techniques.
    Gallagher: Some people might get a little nervous about strapping experimental explosives to their hands, but I know you're braver than that.
  • Comes in two flavors in Warframe:
  • World of Warcraft has Fist weapons, often of the claw variety. Back at the game's advent, they were generally overlooked and not too common to begin with. Starting with the first expansion, however, Blizzard recognized the potential greatness of this trope and fist weapons became vastly more common; there is usually a fist weapon in every freshly released raid dungeon, and it is often looking awesome and is a great choice for any melee specialization that uses the Agility stat - namely Combat (non-dagger-user) Rogue, Windwalker Monk, and Enhancement Shaman.
  • In Wynncraft, Earth-based weapons for Assassins appear as studded gauntlets instead of daggers.
  • The Kinetic Strike Module in XCOM: Enemy Unknown outfits a MEC suit with a massive, rocket-assisted brass knuckle on the left arm. It's the most powerful weapon in the game, can destroy cover, and sends enemies flying. Using the Strike Module to finish off an enemy Giant Mook results in a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown with the MEC ripping the enemy to pieces.
  • One of the Blade weapon types in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 are gauntlets referred to as Knuckle Claws, which the Driver uses to deliver punches to the enemy as part of their auto-attacks and Battle Arts. Contrary to what one might expect, however, the Knuckle Claw weapons fall under the Healer class, specialising in generation of HP potions.
  • In Xenoblade Chronicles 3, the Martial Artist hero class (conferred to the Ouroboros by Ghondor) grants the use of large mechanised gauntlets as its associated weapon to the party member that equips it.
  • Xenosaga featured Ziggaurat 8 ("Ziggy"), a cyborg whose left arm and both legs are visibly robotic and used to devastating effect. Shion used an odd sort of power-knuckle device equipped with various gadgets and weapons.

    Web Animation 
  • RWBY:
    • Yang Xiao Long of the titular Team RWBY wields a pair of wrist bracers that, when activated, extend over her arm from elbow to knuckles, allowing her to use wrist-mounted shotguns. These allow her to fight at range, reinforcing the power of her fisticuff fighting style. Her weapon is modified in Volume 7 to allow her punches to deliver sticky bombs that explode on detonation.
    • Theodore, the eccentric Headmaster of Shade Academy, wears a pair of signature ruby gloves that are equal part flashy accessory and devastating weapon. Gravity Dust is woven into the fabric, creating a pair of sparkly gloves that can generate a thunderous boom when clapped together or enhance his already-famous strength to the point of hurling the largest opponents across the room.
    • Harriet Bree uses a pair of gauntlets called Fast Knuckles. They are connected by an exoskeleton that covers Harriet's arms and upper back, and are strong enough to pulverize a caved-in rock face with one hit.

    Webcomics 
  • The Adventures of Dr. McNinja featured a person who invented rocket boots. He used them to kick people, a rare example of a kicker for this trope and a practical use for otherwise silly technology. He was killed one night by assassins because he didn't wear his rocket boots to bed.
    Alt Text: Always wear your rocket boots to bed.

    Web Original 
  • Whateley Universe:
    • At Whateley Academy Chaka gets a set of power gauntlets as a Christmas present. They only work twice a day and require her to call her attack but they will go through the local power armour with little difficulty.
    • There's also "Dark Claw," the leader of a gang of thugs working for Lady Jettatura who was given a massive magical gauntlet to make him more useful.

    Western Animation 
  • Arcane: As one might expect from an Origin Story for Vi from League of Legends, power fists play a big role.
    • Vander wielded two home-made looking cast-iron fists in his rebellion against Piltover but hung them up when he adopted Vi and Powder. Vi wields Vander's gloves to defend him against a small army of Mooks, only being driven back by a Shimmer-boosted Deckard.
    • The show also changes the backstory on the Atlas Gauntlets that Vi wears. Jayce shows off a prototype mining glove capable of crushing a boulder with ease. In "Oil and Water" Vi sees it in Jayce's shop and takes it for a raid, and keeps it afterwards.
  • Kim Possible:
    • When Shego isn't using her glowing energy as a ranged attack, she uses it to power up her punches in combat. The energy exerts concussive force on her target, and she can even use it to burn things to ashes.
    • Gemini has a prosthetic hand that can deliver electrical shocks and launch miniature missiles.
  • Masters of the Universe: This is Fisto's power. In the 1983 version, it's just a glove, while it's a mechanical prosthesis in Classics. In the 2002 series, it's explicitly shown that while he is wearing a glove, the hand under it really is that huge. In one episode of the remake, he successfully uses it to distract an enemy so that he can punch him with his other hand.
    Fisto: See this hand?
    [Mook glares at giant hand, Fisto punches him with his normal hand]
    Fisto: Should've paid attention to the other hand.
  • SuperMansion: Subtopians appear to have metal gauntlets on their right arms, but these are natural parts of their body. They can transform into arm cannons, but it usually requires training to unlock this function.
  • Transformers:
    • Lugnut of Transformers: Animated can perform "the Punch of Kill Everything." His fist produces a bomb, and when he punches the ground with it (which he sometimes does with a jet engine), it sends a devastating shockwave (no, not that Shockwave) in all directions (somehow not damaging him). Of course, it can also be an Achilles' Heel: hit his fist before it hits the ground, it goes off early and he takes the brunt.
    • From Fun Publications' fiction based on Transformers: Cybertron and Transformers: Animated come the Nucleon Shock Gauntlets.
    • Transformers: Cybertron joins this with Combining Mecha to give us Savage Claw Mode. Leobreaker transforms into a massive arm that can take the place of one of Optimus Prime's arms (Optimus must be in Super Mode, though). It becomes even more devastating when Leobreaker deploys his Cyber Key-activated claws, which extend over the fist. With the claws out, Optimus can perform an attack inspired by Goldymarg's Shining Finger move. After Megatron creates Nemesis Breaker, an Evil Knockoff of Leobreaker, he can combine with N.B. for Dark Claw Mode.
  • Gargoyles: Owen Burnett has a solid stone fist which he clubs people with when defending his boss, David Xanatos.
  • Huey Freeman of The Boondocks uses the "Black Power Fist" (basically a taser glove) in the episode "Let's Nab Oprah."
  • Futurama: The (Robot) Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings, but they're pretty handy for playing golden fiddles.
  • Batman:
  • Used a few times in Avatar: The Last Airbender, mostly by earthbenders to surround their hands with stone (or in Toph's case, metal via metalbending. The Dai Li agents late in the second season use special stone gloves that they can detach and launch at opponents.
  • In The Legend of Korra, the Equalists use electrocution gloves to dispatch their enemies, which Asami Sato uses against them. The shock glove becomes her signature weapon.
  • Junko from Storm Hawks has his "Knuckle Busters", which enhance his already superhuman strength and punching power when activated to the point that he can lift an entire ship on his own. He doesn't usually need them as his normal strength is enugh for most situations. They're pretty much useless for non-Wallops since, as Finn found out the hard way, the force they create is more then enough to pull a human around uncontrollably.
  • Generator Rex: One of the machines Rex can generate are a giant pair of gauntlets dubbed "Smack Hands". They seem to be his favourite so far.
  • Xiaolin Showdown: The Shen Gong Wu Fist of Tebigong grants the user this ability.
  • Garnet from Steven Universe has gauntlets she can summon at will. She also seems to have a fair amount of super strength to use in tandem with said gauntlets, so punching through walls and tossing cars around aren't a problem.
  • In C.O.P.S. (Animated Series), mob kingpin Big Boss has a cybernetic hand that gets a workout whenever he's really steamed.
  • Yin Yang Yo!: The Paws of Power (or Paws of Pain, as Yang prefers), a physical Woo-Foo technique, summons giant spectral fists to the user's hands. Predictably, they pack quite a punch, and can even be shot as projectiles, but can't do much else, as Yang finds out when he tries using them to fix his hoverboard.
  • Partway though the second season of The Owl House, Amity turns this into a Signature Move by coating her hands in Abomination slime and morphing it into a spiked gauntlet to enhance her punches. Because of its malleable nature, she can also lauch it as a Rocket Punch (and further enhance the projectiles by enchanting it with Luz's Ice glyphs). The season 2 finale implies that she was inspired to create this technique from her father's habit of using his own abomination magic to make mittens for her whenever she was cold as a child.

    Real Life 
  • Brass knuckles, also called knuckle dusters, are one of the most common versions. They're illegal in many countries, and outright banned in almost half of the United States as well while the rest of the country either requires a concealed weapon permit or allows free ownership. Some manage to get around this with plastic ones, but many of the U.S. states that ban metal ones ban them too while places like Canada ironically let them slide.
  • SAP gloves are partially filled with lead shot or powdered metals to add more "oomph" to a punch while reducing the chances of injuring one's hand when hitting someone. They see some use among law enforcement officials.
  • Gangbangers and low-lifes often use a simple roll of quarters as an improvised alternative to brass knuckles, adding weight and support to the fist, though providing no protection to the bones.
  • The Sedgely Glove Gun, which featured in the film Inglourious Basterds, was a weapon developed for use by the US Marines and Navy during World War II, and was essentially a single-shot .38 fitted onto the back of a glove. It was fired by means of punching someone, with the trigger mechanism being a plunger that was pressed down upon impact.
  • The tarch, a combination of a metal glove, a sword, and a shield, all rolled into one. Used by 16th-century Russian soldiers when defending against a siege. Not very useful in open combat. See here for an image.
  • The cestus, the classical precursor to the boxing glove. It started out in ancient Greece as a hand-guard of woven leather thongs used in pankration. Later the Romans added metal plates, spikes and studs for bloody gladiatorial combat. These things statistically triple the wearer's punching force.
  • General Electric's "Hardiman" system has particularly terrifying hydraulic claws (as may be seen here). They'd need the whole exoskeleton to be worn to use in a standalone fashion (funny enough, the whole rig looks almost exactly like the Power Loader from Aliens), and GE never solved potentially lethal positive feedback loops in the control system. Man amplifiers are coming back into fashion though...
  • For kids, there's also the B.I.G. Power Hand, a toy composed of a giant mechanical hand with a small glove rigged so that each finger is independently movable by the wearer.
  • The stun glove, a glove that shocks anything it touches when turned on. Another variant is Taser knuckledusters, brass Knucks combined with a taser.
  • Combat sports that involve punching will usually feature some sort of glove for the fist. People commonly assume that these gloves are to soften the blows to the opponent and are used as a safety measure, when in fact, it's the opposite. Padded gloves are intended to protect the fist, allowing fighters to throw full-force punches at their opponent's heads with near-impunity. Fighters' hands and wrists are also often taped up beneath the glove, turning their fists into virtual clubs. Ultimately, gloves make striking sports more dangerous rather than less, as far as long-term injury goes anyway. In the short term, gloves also reduce cuts on the receiver, which lessens concerns of contracting blood-transferred disease and simple blood loss-induced stamina degeneration...but the longer fights just make the long-term injuries caused by gloves even more likely to happen.
  • Somebody defictionalized the power fist from Fallout 4. The thing can punch through a door or cinderblocks in one hit. The creator also noted how the device required a few cosmetic additions to make it look like the one in game and runs off the same mechanical principle (pneumatic pressure). One wonders if someone at the studio wasn't building their own.
  • The heavy brass guards used on cutlasses and sabers can both protect the sword hand and serve as an improvised punching weapon.
  • Marine biologists have discovered that humpback whales actually use the barnacles that attach themselves to the whales' long pectoral fins this way. When fighting off orcas, humpbacks will use their pectoral fins to slap the orcas, and the hard, sharp-edged shells of barnacles means that whales with large barnacle colonies on their fins hit harder than whales that don't.

 
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Alternative Title(s): Power Fists

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Jeanne The Hellfire Witch

Centuries ago, Jeanne was known as the Hellfire Witch, infamous for being a bourreau that singlehandedly slaughtered more than a thousand vampires that sided with humans during the war. Her primary weapon is a blood red gauntlet that shoots powerful flames.

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