Super Strength - Television Tropes & Idioms

Likely the most primal super-power. Super Strength doesn't require any long-winded explanations and it's not at all nerdy.

Super Strength doesn't work in a physically consistent way, mind you. A bullet fired from a 9mm usually packs less force than a freaking baseball. However, because the bullet's contact area is much smaller, all the power is focused on a tighter space . This is called pressure

(a knife concentrates your hand's strength into a thin area as well). Now think what happens when Superman is holding a giant asteroid dozens of time bigger than him. It would be something like a butter block speeding into the tip of a pencil at a few hundreds feets per second. It also often ignores structural integrity (when Superman picks up a building, why doesn't it fall apart?).Hence the "super". Though some people try to justify this by the theory of Tactile Telekinesis - they are really just kidding themselves.

Very commom power from Silver Age. Usually does not know KungFu. Usually, this is the linchpin power of a Flying Brick. Characters with a wide variety of Superpowers will very frequently include this as a baseline ability. Characters with super strength may demonstrate it with a Neck Lift. A must for The Big Guy.

See also Worlds Strongest Man and Required Secondary Powers. Villains show this off with a Neck Lift or Barrier Busting Blow, heroes do it by being a Load Bearing Hero. Characters with this power may sometimes not know their own strength.

Examples:

Anime and Manga

In Ranma One Half, most of the martial artists seem to have some level of greater-than-human strength, implicitly because of the fact they practice martial arts. Akane Tendo, generally considered the least skilled of the group, can carry a refrigerator up and down a flight of stairs in her arms, single-handed and at a jogging pace. Mousse, who generally prefers fighting with weapons to bare hands, is capable of splitting a huge temple bell with one punch. Ranma Saotome himself is generally considered Weak But Skilled because he prefers agility and technique to brute force, as opposed to Ryoga Hibiki, who tends to break things around him without meaning to, but is still capable of feats like lifting multiple tons, smashing through solid rock and wood with his bare hands, bending steel and leaping multiple stories.
In Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, Teana made the mistake of telling Subaru to put more strength into boosting her up during a wall climbing exercise in the Ground Forces Military Academy. Subaru did... and accidentally threw Teana all the way up to the sky in the process. This was our first clue on Subaru's cyborg nature.
Apparently a standard ability of the vampires in Hellsing. Alucard dual-wields Really Big Guns that are explicitly said to be beyond human ability to lift, while Seras's BFGs keep getting bigger and bigger.
- This one is demonstrated more brutally on other occasions. During a flashback sequence in Volume 3, Integra's father tells her during a lecture that vampires can rip humans apart, "like wet rags." Alucard, naturally, does exactly that in the same chapter to a SWAT team, including one instance of apparently bitch-slapping a man in half.
Strike Witches implies that the characters have Super Strength, what with their ability to carry around huge guns. Gertrude really shows off her strength in episode 12 when she throws an I-beam.
The Tower Of Druaga has ten-year old Coopa be capable of carrying Utu and Melt's rod bag with little difficulty.
- In the end of Season 2, she was able to pull up the entire Nakama from a dangling cliff.
Don't people in Dragonball Z regularly punch apart entire mountains and such? That seems pretty strong to me.
Eclair from Kiddy Grade has super strength as one of her main powers.
Cyborg 009 has Geronimo Jr., a.k.a., Cyborg 005, a massive Native American who has this as his main ability.
In Axis Powers Hetalia, America could lift a buffalo as a toddler. He's also seen once dragging a jeep with one hand (and apparently he was walking about with said jeep for an hour).

Comic Books

Superman is the standard comic-book example (indeed, it's because of him that we call it Super Strength), as well as one of the most over-the-top due to Power Creep Power Seep. During the Silver Age, he regularly juggled planets. He wasn't the first comic book character with Super Strength, but those who came before him just don't matter. It's pretty much accepted that Superman is the strongest comic book character out there, regardless of publisher.
At baseline, the Incredible Hulk sets the bar for Super Strength in the Marvel Universe, and he only gets stronger as he gets angrier. Of course, no one else can lift the bar, but that's OK, because they can always throw a bus or small house at anyone impudent enough to heckle them for not being as strong as the Hulk.
- Unlike her cousin, She Hulk doesn't get stronger when she's angry. However, her strength when she's "hulked out" is exponentially proportional to her strength as a normal human. A month of exercise and an extra pound or two of muscle mass can make her as strong as the Hulk at baseline; too bad for her she never goes to the gym except to show off when she's already big and green.
  - The issue of whether She Hulk gets stronger with her anger has never really been covered as it's probably less relevant given that she retains her intellect when she changes and it would make her even more like the Hulk - however, there have occasionally been issues which indicate that her state of mind DOES affect her power level but merely in more subtle ways... Depending upon the writer, of course.
The X-Men have had many examples, with Beast being the earliest and Colossus probably being the best-known.
Ghost Rider, Spider Man, Silver Surfer, Superman, Darkseid, Apocalypse, Sentry, Thor, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Ms Marvel, Rogue (until recently), etc. are all cases in point of Super Strength being a "basic feature" included for characters with Combo Platter Powers.
- Note that Spider-Man's "proportional strength of a spider" line crosses with another trope as well.
Usually a default benefit of Powered Armor, especially if in comics, such as Iron Man, Dr. Doom etc.
The Asterix comic books are about a village of Gauls who fend off the Roman empire with the aid of a magic potion that grants them the power to send Roman legionaries flying with their punches. Asterix's friend Obelix doesn't get a dose of the potion when all the other villagers are lining up for it, since he fell into the cauldron as a baby, an event which increased his strength permanently.

Film

The film version of Ghost Rider gives an impressive visual example of super strength violating the laws of physics, as the Rider snares a helicopter with his chain and pulls it down. Unless he's heavier than a helicopter, tugging on the chain should have launched him toward it. Whatever demonic powers were at work somehow knew which he was trying to achieve.
- Sarcasm will get you nowhere.
- You don't understand the concept of supernatural powers? They violate the laws of physics. That's the whole point of what they do.
  - The guy rode a motorcycle with flaming wheels up the sheer side of the skyscraper to get to the roof where he performed this stunt. Physics be damned!
  - Please note the Required Secondary Powers.
Mr. Incredible from The Incredibles has Super-strength and (apart from some degree of implied invulnerability) that's pretty much it. It's actually quite a hassle, because if he doesn't concentrate on keeping it in check he can accidentally saw a plate in half when cutting his steak or indent his fingerprints into his car, and the only way he can believably work out is to rig up an exercise machine with entire locomotives used as weights.
The recent CG-film version of Beowulf certainly implied that the title character has beyond normal strength and fortitude. As he should: The original poem states that he had the strength of 30 men.
- In each arm.
Mr. Hyde, in — among other things — The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
While not superman level, David in Unbreakable can rip car doors off and lift over five hundred pounds.
Fezzik in The Princess Bride. Most noted during Wesley's first encounter with the giant, as Fezzik holds an enormous boulder in one hand, and nonchalantly chucks it over his shoulder when they decide to fight hand-to-hand combat.

Literature

Golden Boy in the Wild Cards franchise had super strength that the authors tried to portray realistically. If a speeding car or tank slammed into him, for instance, his super strength did nothing to anchor him to the ground and he'd get tossed around like a ragdoll — he had to drop down to the ground and let the tank run part of the way over him, then lift it up and hurl it aside.
Earthcrafters in the Codex Alera can give themselves super strength by using their furies. Particularly powerful ones tend to wade into battle wielding huge BFSs and warhammers to get the most out of this ability.

LiveActionTelevision

One of the basic abilities of a Slayer in Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
- Vampires also have super strength, though it's unclear whether they have it to the same degree
Elliot Reid from Scrubs has it. What? She has the finger strength of a rock-climbing jazz pianist, once lifted J.D. off the ground by his neck, and is described to be "thick through the trunk"!
Niki on Heroes has super-strength. Too bad it drives her insane.
- Volume 3 introduces Knox, a villain who's Super Strength is powered by fear. It's Better Than It Sounds because while Niki has run-of-the-mill super strength, as long as Knox is surrounded by fear he can get stronger and stronger, kinda like The Hulk is with anger. On the other hand, he's powerless if nobody around is afraid.
  - And later in the third season we're introduced to another Super Strength character, a Pinehearst Marine named Scott. All set up to be the new super strong hero, until Knox kills him in the very next episode.
- There was also Mohinder, after he injected himself with a formula for super people. It started to kill him, but he got an improved formula that allows him to use without fear.
  - The writers seem to really hate this power, which is strange considering it's one of the cheapest effects to do. Volume four Mohinder is the first character with this power that wasn't either killed off in one episode, permanently insane from his power, or required some gimmick to make it work (such as fear).
In No Heroics She-Force is the world's third strongest person. And apparently sexually clumsy...
Brutally subverted in The 4400, when a guy gets super strength, and uses it to kick the drug dealers and hoodlums out of his neighbourhood park. Then one stabs him. Fortunately, his death inspires the people of the neighbourhood.

Mythology

Hercules, Samson, Gilgamesh, and a host of other heroes from legend and myth have all had it, making it Older Than Dirt.

Video Games

"Sasha", the minigun of the Heavy Weapons Guy from Team Fortress 2, is said to weigh 150 kilograms, but he has no problems lifting it. He also dishes out the same melee damage with his bare hands that the other characters need bats, wrenches, shovels, and huge knives to deliver, and in one of his taunt animations, he effortlessly spins his holdout weapon, a 12-gauge shotgun, like it was a pistol.
While a number of characters in Final Fantasy VII have displayed Charles Atlas Superpowers, Sephiroth, the main villain of the game, has explicit Super Strength, wielding his [[BFS 12-foot]] Masamune as if it were a dagger, and at one point, impaling a subway-train sized snake with a tree.
Super Strength is a powerup in Backyard Football.

Web Comics

A standard trait of Constructs in Girl Genius, as shown by the Jagers, Punch and Judy, and Von Pinn. This fact has led to some Wild Mass Guessing on whether or not Gilgamesh is a Construct after he managed to lift and throw a Humongous Mecha.
Subverted in Van Von Hunter. The magic gauntlets acquired by Van's sidekick let her lift very heavy things, but not throw them, push them, or manipulate them in any other way.

Web Original

Pretty common in the Whateley Universe, ranging from Exemplars who are just really strong to 'flying bricks' like Lancer who has a PK field so he can lift that car without breaking it.
Let us all not forget that Tristan Taylor's Voice gives him Super Strength.
Also common in the LessThanThree-Verse. Mr Perfect, The Richards Brothers and The Freak all have super strength, as do a number of background characters.

Western Animation

One of Bravestarr's animal-based powers is "strength of the bear."
Hego from Team Go in Kim Possible has Super Strength as his power.
Lisa Simpson had this power in a Treehouse of Horror episode of The Simpsons.
From Teen Titans, Cyborg, Starfire, Beast Boy (depending on form), Pantha, and Believe it or not, Aqualad. (Hey, YOU try breaking down the doors to Titans tower with your bare hands!)
Ed from Ed Edd N Eddy is shown to have incredible feats of strength such as lifting the pavement out of a sidewalk, uprooting a tree and carrying it along with him, carrying a cow on his shoulders while running, bending swing sets and monkey bars into the shapes of chickens, lifting a whole house off the ground,etc.
- Rolf and Sarah are also shown to be incredibly strong.
Brock Sampson of Venture Bros fame has what's best described as Charles Atlas Superpower but there are times (particularly when angry) when he pushes into the realm of Super Strength like when he ripped apart a car that had been programmed to kill him with his bare hands.
On The Fairly Oddparents, The Crimson Chin has this power. Francis and Trixie get it briefly in "The Big Superhero Wish".

Tabletop Games

Mutants And Masterminds separates this out from enhanced strength. Enhanced Strength applies to all abilities using strength such as increased lifting capability, melee damage, and skill checks and for all practical purposes, just directly increases your strength score. Super-strength only applies to lifting and "feats of strength" involving sustained force like forcing open doors, grappling, etc, but is available at a fifth of the price. It's also traditional used for power stunts like super-breath, GroundPounding, and the like.
GURPS lets you buy Lifting or Striking strength separate from normal strength. To simulate people like Superman or the Hulk the Super Effort enhancement increases normal strength exponentially when you really need it.
Represented in the old Marvel Super Heroes RPG with a good roll for your Strength stat...if you were playing a character type with access to the upper echelons, that is. (Incredible is about Spider-Man strength. Monstrous or...whatever the level after that was...lets you hit people with oil tankers.)