History Main / DavidVersusGoliath

If the villain is literally ''physically'' larger than the hero, that's EvilIsBigger. [[ExaggeratedTrope Up the scale]] and [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu You Just Punched Out Cthulhu]]. See also PintSizedPowerhouse. In some works, this trope is why ElephantsAreScaredOfMice as their prey is a ResourcefulRodent.

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Bosses tend to be much bigger than the protagonist in a lot of games, especially 2-D side scrollers.
* Most of the bosses in ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'' fought by the heroine are the size of skyscrapers (at least!). Ironically, to humans, Bayonetta is quite the StatuesqueStunner.
* ''VideoGame/{{Cuphead}}'' and Mugman are always much smaller than their opponents as well as only being able to take a few hits, while the bosses can take numerous and dish out loads of BulletHell in return.
* Ever played ''VideoGame/DarkSouls''? Nearly every boss fight is against something massively bigger and more powerful than your puny undead warrior character. But no matter how mismatched or daunting the fight may seem, [[WeakButSkilled you can win with clever tactics, great reflexes]] and a {{Determinator}} attitude.
* In the final route of ''VideoGame/DuelSaviorDestiny'' you're required to [[spoiler:beat Downy with Sel]]. Not only is your opponent ''way'' stronger in terms of story, he's also at a much higher [[CharacterTiers tier]] than the character you have to use. In fact, [[spoiler:Selbium]] is actually significantly ''weaker'' than the normal units you use, though his style matches up against [[spoiler:Downy]] fairly well.
* ''VideoGame/EmpireAtWar'': The [[TheAlliance Rebel Alliance]] specialize in using fighters and bombers to destroy menacing star destroyers (indeed, bombers are the only way to take out a Super Star Destroyer) and also small fast corvettes for HitAndRunTactics. On the ground, a few rebel infantry with rocket launchers can annihilate an AT-AT walker, only to [[CarFu get stepped on or run over by it's supporting units]].
* You can get mods for ''VideoGame/EmpireTotalWar'' and ''VideoGame/NapoleonTotalWar'' which allow you to play as the tiny emergent factions, such as Scotland, Punjab, or Mexico. Surpassing the major world powers is very difficult, but certainly doable.
* ''VideoGame/EnterTheGungeon'' has the Sling weapon as an allusion to the trope namer. It's stated that the weapon should only be used as a last resort but it does decent damage the larger enemies are, and gives a massive 4X boost to its already respectable damage when fighting a boss.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'', the Railroad is made up of a loose confederation of idealistic Wastelanders operating from underground safehouses, with a handful of Synths and scientists of note. Their main rivals, the Institute, are arguably the single-most powerful faction in the entire Commonwealth, with vast stockpiles of resources and a monopoly on advanced technology. [[spoiler:[[MeleeATrois Then]] the Brotherhood of Steel turn up with their CoolAirship and armies of knights in PoweredArmor. It's possible for the Railroad to smack down both of these factions in their ending.]]
** One possible outcome features the Minutemen, an army of wastelander militia with weapons which qualify as jury-rigged SchizoTech, versus [[spoiler:the Brotherhood of Steel with their Vertibirds and high-tech armoured Knights. Depending on how much you built up the Castle, it can either be a hard-won fight or an [[CurbStompBattle absolutely humiliating thrashing]] for the Brotherhood]].
* Two major fights in VisualNovel/FateStayNight. The first on the horribly unbalanced seeming nature of the fight is Shirou Vs Berserker [[spoiler:which is won due to an EleventhHourSuperpower projection of Caliburn plus Saber's assistance]]. The second is less jarring in appearance but a ''far'' bigger upset in actuality when [[spoiler:Shirou takes down Gilgamesh essentially singlehanded, chopping his arm off and about to deliver the final blow before the Grail opens on him and Archer has to save Shirou from trying a TakingYouWithMe]].
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII''. The Adamantoises and Long Gui are ridiculously huge compared to the party.
** Hell, just about everything is significantly bigger than your party. Behemoths, anyone?
* In ''VideoGame/HouseOfTheDead'', there's always at least one fight, most times more than once, where the two not-so-physically-imposing AMS agents face off against a giant behemoth (Chariot in the original, Strength in ''II'', Death in ''III'', and Temperance in ''IV'').
* The plot of ''VideoGame/{{inFAMOUS 2}}''. It begins with The Beast, an incredibly powerful Conduit, [[HopelessBossFight nearly killing the main character]], requiring him to retreat to increase his powers. Once you finally confront him again you can [[spoiler: pull a HeroicSacrifice and use the RFI to kill all conduits on the planet, sacrificing yourself to stop The Beast from annihilating the human race]].
* Happens often throughout the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series, though noticeable examples include Ursula in [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 Atlantica]] [[spoiler: and [[VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance Destiny Islands]]]], Sark in [[{{Film/Tron}} Space Paranoids]] and Gantu in [[WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch Deep Space]].
* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' is all about a small boy/young man named Link who defeats Ganondorf, a [[LargeAndInCharge large]] man from the desert, who often becomes a giant boar monster named Ganon. Most bosses in the series also qualify.
* The [[labelnote:bosses]]Apocalypse, Onslaught, Abyss and Galactus[[/labelnote]] in the ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom'' series.
* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'', you have the battle between the outdated, and damaged Metal Gear Rex, versus the ''Anti-Metal Gear'' unit, Metal Gear Ray. Despite having the better machinery, Snake still manages to defeat Liquid and his Ray. However, [[spoiler: it's only because he ''[[ILetYouWin let him win]]'']].
* ''VideoGame/MobileSuitGundamClimaxUC''. Have fun fighting the [[MightyGlacier Psyco Gundam]] with your Gundam Mark II.
* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter''. Big scary wyvern (or [[KillerGorilla gorilla]], or [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragon]], or GiantEnemyCrab, etc.) the size of a truck takes on a human. The human, with their advanced armor and weaponry, wins ''regularly'' (though it helps that said gear is made from ''another'' one of said beasts.)
* ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'' and its [[VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes2DesperateStruggle sequel]]: we have bosses using huge laser cannons (Speed Buster), a huge sentient earthquake machine (Letz Shake) and a crazed tycoon that first bloats into a hulking bloke, and eventually inflates ''to the size of a blimp''(Jasper Batt Jr.)
* ''VideoGame/NoStraightRoads'' includes battles against a DJ that turns into a giant, a giant digital mermaid, a child prodigy's mother that's ''already'' turned giant, and a cyborg admiral that pilots a [[HumongousMecha robot dispenser]].
* In ''Mike Tyson's VideoGame/PunchOut'', protagonist Little Mac fights a series of boxers who are all at least twice his size.
* The first two stages against [[{{BigBad}} Otto Destruct]] in ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankSizeMatters'' shows him towering over the titular heroes. In the third and final stage, though, the size differences are similar.
* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' has an interesting example. While pretty much any main character vs boss can qualify an interesting example happens in chapter 3-4 of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4''. Common mooks that both Ada and Leon can dispatch very easy become more dangerous as the player has to play as the civilian Ashley. Leon is already taller than her and the male mooks are taller than HIM! Furthermore since Ashley has no combat ability seeing Ashley facing one is a sight to behold.
* The entire premise of ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus''. The hero, an ordinary young man, fights a series of creatures ranging in size from a large bull, to a literal skyscraper... and wins, mostly due to being clearly MadeOfIron. Plus some help from a horse that's apparently Made of Adamantium.
* ''VisualNovel/ShiningSongStarnova'' revolves around the conflict between Starnova (a small, recently-formed idol group whose members are complete newbies or washed-up has-beens) and Quasar (a massive, highly-experienced and well-funded idol group which has dominated Tokyo’s entertainment industry for over a decade).
* ''VideoGame/TheSimpsonsBartVsTheJuggernauts'': All of Bart's opponents are grown, muscular adults. It's even [[LampshadeHanging brought up in-game]] when Monroe points out that Bart is, you know, ''10-years old'', and even the smallest of the Juggernauts is an amazonian woman weighing in at around 160 lbs. Most of them are much bigger.
* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'':
** Sonic versus the Death Egg Robot in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2'' -- also against similar mechas in ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles''. Also, the Egg Emperor in ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes''.
** Somewhat of a staple for final bosses in later games which adopt the MonsterOfTheWeek formula, especially [[VideoGame/SonicUnleashed Dark Gaia]] who's roughly the size of a ''continent''. That Sonic usually handles such enemies in his SuperMode however removes any pretense of him being at a disadvantage.
* ''Franchise/StreetFighter'':
** Ibuki, a tiny lightweight weak but skilled female fighter who stands at 5'3 and weighs 101 pounds, but battled the massive 8 foot Abigail in the latter's story mode. The height difference is remarkable and he is taller than a fully standing Ibuki while crouching on his knees.
** Ibuki also has a battle with final boss Gill, who while massive in his own right at 6'10 isn't as tall as Abigail, but outweighs Ibuki by an entire 644 pounds, and no that massive weight difference isn't caused by Obesity. Those Psycho Lariats are going to hurt.
** Her rival battle teaming with Rolento against King and Craig Marduk in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterXTekken'' is based on this. While Rolento is no small man, being a full head taller than Ibuki, King and Marduk are both among the tallest humans in ''Franchise/{{Tekken}}''. Both dwarf Rolento and Ibuki herself looks pint sized in comparison to them. In the cutscene from the ''Tekken'' character's size Ibuki has to jump to try and hit Marduk in the head, which he easily proceeds to knock back the petite ninja.
* The final boss fight of ''VideoGame/{{Struggling}}'' pits the hero against a giant...[[spoiler: duck?]]
* ''VisualNovel/{{Sunrider}}'': Depending on the player’s choices, the three-kilometre long PACT dreadnought Legion can finally meet its end when the Sunrider, a ship less than a quarter of its size, fires its [[WaveMotionGun Vanguard Cannon]] straight down the barrel of the Legion’s own WaveMotionGun at point-blank range.
* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' has Mario (and Luigi) vs Bowser. Especially evident when he does AttackOfThe50FootWhatever.
* Generally averted in ''VideoGame/SwordOfTheStars''. Superior micro will only take you so far in a tactical encounter when the enemy outnumbers or outmasses -- or both! -- you, at least in a straight fight as opposed to [[WeHaveReserves repeatedly throwing ships at the enemy]] [[DeathOfAThousandCuts to wear them down]]. To reinforce the need to outnumber, you get extra command points for every so many ships of each class more than the enemy you have, up to a certain limit, allowing you to field more ships than the Arbitrary Headcount Limit would normally give you. Get enough and you can deploy extra dreadnoughts. While destroyers can occasionally beat dreadnoughts, this relies on swarming and the dreadnought-user failing to include light weapons on his ships and is far from foolproof.
* In ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', the Scout and the Heavy have a fierce in-universe rivalry. The Scout is a beanpole-thin, short guy, while the heavy is a ''huge'' muscleman. Of course, which is the hero and which is the villain depends on which team each is on, and whether or not the Scout can actually defeat the Heavy in a fight depends on how good (or how poor) a player is using one of them, but one good example where the Scout does win occurs in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geNMz0J9TEQ "Meet the Scout"]].
* ''VideoGame/TransformersFallOfCybertron'' ends up having this on both ends. For Autobot segments, most anything that tries to stop Grimlock (who dwarfs most everything in the game) is the David to his Goliath, particularly with the target of his RoaringRampageOfRevenge [[EvilGenius Shockwave]], one of the smaller characters in the game that doesn't even come up to Grimlock's knee, but is much smarter than his adversary, though it isn't enough to stop him. For when the player is the David, using Jazz against Bruticus, the former being the shortest playable character in the game, and the latter being by far the largest.
* Kishima Kouma as Goliath vs. Nanaya Kirei as David. Kouma has essentially no skill whatsoever because he doesn't ''need'' any. His skin is tougher than steel, he can punch through trees effortlessly and doesn't tire. Kiri is essentially the most skilled assassin on Earth. Unfortunately, he's an assassin and not a magus or anything like that, so he's reduced to hammering at one side of Kouma's neck and then hitting the other to try and break it. The difference in skill is so huge that his opponent doesn't even realize he almost died with that attack. Key word: Almost. [[SubvertedTrope Goliath wins]]. Foregone conclusion, though, if you've played ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sports]]
* [[http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/05/11/090511fa_fact_gladwell?printable=true How David Beats Goliath]] is an article in ''Magazine/TheNewYorker'' about this trope and its subversions. It talks mainly about a girls' basketball team reaching the National Junior Basketball Championships due solely to the full-court press (Instead of the 'normal' method of immediately retreating to guard your own basket when the other team has possession, the full-court press is aggressively defending against the other team in their own court.) The main reason that the full-court press worked is that it wears down both teams' stamina much faster -- and the girls' team had worked almost solely on building stamina. The girls' team rode roughshod over other teams with taller girls and better shooting technique due to the fact that the other team couldn't get shots off due to having the ball stolen when they weren't expecting it, or losing possession for not bringing the ball back into play or in the other team's court fast enough. In some cases, they had 25-0 leads over other teams. The girls were then castigated by the other teams for playing 'unfairly' and not letting the teams 'develop basketball skills' -- to the degree that fights nearly broke out. The team then lost its final game by caving to pressure and playing the 'proper' way after the referee (supplied by the opposing team) called excessive amounts of fouls. The general moral of the story is that when David plays by Goliath's rules, David usually gets crushed. However, by changing his tactics, David can become the favorite over Goliath. However, Goliath will respond in kind by using social pressure to force David to fight by Goliath's rules.
* Essentially the reason why a lot of people dislike or even hate certain successful sports sides like Manchester United (association football) or Australia (many sports, but especially cricket). Also part of the reason why StopHavingFunGuys get on people's nerves: many if not most people prefer siding with underdogs.
** Any team playing the New York Yankees, but specifically, the Brooklyn Dodgers.
* Super Bowl III. The AFL was largely considered a second-rate league behind the NFL and had lost the previous two Super Bowls to that league. The AFL champion New York Jets were now handed the daunting task of taking on the Baltimore Colts, a 13-1 team that would overwhelm opponents with stingy defense and potent offense. The Colts were favored by a ridiculous 22 point spread, but that didn't stop Jets quarterback Joe Namath from guaranteeing a win. The Jets would go on to shock the world, winning 16-7.
* Super Bowl XXXVI. The St. Louis Rams were coming off a 14-2 season with the NFL's top offense, the league MVP Kurt Warner, and the Offensive Player of the Year Marshall Faulk. They were just one year removed from winning one of the greatest Super Bowls of all time, and were largely considered a better squad than 1999. They would have to play against a scrappy New England Patriots squad that came in at 11-5, barely (and controversially) won their two playoff games to reach the big game, was led by a backup quarterback[[note]]some guy named Tom Brady[[/note]] after their starter severed an artery in his chest, and were 0-2 in Super Bowls prior. The Patriots had to play 60 minutes of near-perfect football to do it, but they escaped with a 20-17 win in the final seconds.
* Super Bowl XLII is an absolutely perfect example of this trope. The New England Patriots (boasting what many called the greatest offense in NFL history), led by quarterback Tom Brady (league MVP by a large margin, with stats worthy of some deeming his 2007 season the best ever of any NFL quarterback) and Randy Moss (who had scored the most touchdowns of any wide receiver in NFL history that year), went undefeated in the regular season, a 16-0 mark that no other team had ever accomplished, and on top of that, defeated the same New York Giants they would face in the Super Bowl in Week 17 of the regular season in what was an extremely climactic battle. Their opponents, the aforementioned Giants, were a Wild Card team who had barely made it into the Playoffs, had to eke out wins in the post-season on the road by slim margins, and had many players sidelined by injury. The Giants, however, used their effective pass rush to force Tom Brady into quick throws. The Patriots were unable to score the large amount of points they were accustomed to, and this kept the Giants in the game. Despite Brady still performing at a high level in the game, his team scored only two touchdowns (in ironic fashion, before the big game, Brady literally laughed at the fact that Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress claimed that the Patriots would only score 17 points in the Super Bowl -- the team averaged roughly 35 points per game in the regular season). The Giants would win the game after an improbable play in which Eli Manning escaped the grasp of numerous would-be New England tacklers and hurled the football down the field, which was caught by David Tyree by pinning it against his own helmet as New England's Rodney Harrison forcefully tackled him and attempted to pry the ball loose. New York would then score the winning touchdown and force a turnover on downs as the Patriots attempted to get in field-goal range with 29 seconds remaining.
* Super Bowl XLIII: The Arizona Cardinals, a franchise known for its inability to go to the playoffs and who has the second longest championship drought in American professional sports, facing off against the Pittsburgh Steelers, quite well known for their ability to make it to Super Bowls. In fact, they've been to more Super Bowls than any other team in the league minus the Cowboys. The Cardinals nearly won on a valiant, almost inhuman fourth-quarter effort by receiver Larry Fitzgerald, but the Steelers came back and earned a 27-23 win to obtain their sixth Super Bowl.
* In college Football September, 1 2007 Appalachian State (a Division I-AA school) defeated #5 ranked Michigan. '''''At''' Michigan!''
* Also in college Football, 2006 Fiesta Bowl. Boise State-Oklahoma. Heck, when the broadcast team openly acknowledge the trope ("This is truly a David and Goliath situation" etc), and an undefeated team goes up against one of the winningest teams in the history of the sport. And pulls off one of THE most improbable and thrilling wins....yeah, I think it qualifies.
* In College Basketball March 26, 2006. University of Connecticut, a team with 6 players that would be drafted in the NBA, a 1 seed in their bracket in the NCAA tournament, and the odds-on favorite to win the whole thing, takes on George Mason, a school that had only 3 tournament appearances before the 2006 tournament. The Patriots, no relation to the cheaters from New England mind you, shock everyone with an 86-84 overtime victory, sending them to the Final Four and [=UConn=] players to the coldness of the NBA.
* The ultimate David in the 1980 US Hockey team, a bunch of College kids that defeated the all mighty Soviet team...after getting creamed by THE SAME TEAM 13 days earlier.
* Baseball has this at times, but the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays have to take the cake. They play in the AL East division, home to the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox (teams with virtually limitless coffers and very solid teams; their payrolls are about $200 million and $150 million, respectively). With a payroll of ~$40 million, they ''win the AL East outright'', and they make it to the World Series before losing to the Phillies after being tabbed as the underdogs in every round (especially the AL Championship Series, which they barely took over the Red Sox).
* Football (Soccer) has a version of this which is known by fans and insiders as Giant Killing, where a small team who would usually have no chance of beating a huge team will pull it off. UsefulNotes/TheFACup is usually where to find it, happens more than you might imagine...
** It's worth noting that this is actually ''expected'' in the FA Cup - if at least one giant-killing doesn't happen per season, then cue countless pundits and commentators bemoaning the loss of "the magic of the Cup", and the general corrupting influence of money in the game.
** One of the most legendary modern examples was the 2015-16 Premier Leauge season. Going into it, Leicester City were 5,000 to 1 outsiders, who had avoided relegation the previous year by the skin of their teeth, managed by beloved but not especially highly rated manager Claudio 'The Tinkerman' Ranieri. Cue an absolute fairy story, where a team of rank outsiders, made up of obscure signings, young talent, over-the-hill pros, and in the case of star striker Jamie Vardy, comeback stories from the very bottom of the football pyramid, who were rewarded with pizza for each 'cleansheet' (getting through a game without conceding a goal), won the title, providing the first new champions in ''decades''.
** The 2005 European Champions League final: on one side, AC Milan, a European giant and five times winners, a team that had won the Champions League 2 years earlier, stocked full of legendary players. One, Clarence Seedorf, had already won the Champions League with three separate teams. On the other side, Liverpool FC. A former European giant, four times winners, but with no domestic Championships in the last 15 years, and their last Champions League final appearance being exactly 20 years earlier, reaching the final through luck and sheer stubbornness. Having finished outside of the top four places in the Premier League, they had failed to qualify for the next season's Champions League. One of their few star players, Michael Owen, had moved to Real Madrid the previous year and the other, Captain Steven Gerrard, seemed to be on the verge of leaving for rivals and current English champions Chelsea. Milan promptly scored after 38 seconds, and were 3-0 up at half-time and cruising. Cue a tactical reorganisation by Lierpool, and what was later characterised as 'six minutes of madness' - after 53 minutes, Milan were still 3-0 up. Liverpool promptly equalised on the hour mark. After that, Liverpool stubbornly held on for over an hour of normal, added, and extra time, including an astounding point-blank double-save by Liverpool goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek from Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko that was later voted the greatest Champions League moment of all time, to take it to penalties. Liverpool promptly won, earning the right to wear a multiple winner badge and keep the trophy, with the match becoming known as 'the Miracle of Istanbul'.
** Great example was the 2011 Women's UsefulNotes/FIFAWorldCup. Two times champion United States, home of great players such as Abby Wambach, Hope Solo, Alex Morgan, and Megan Rapinoe, pulled many victories such as defeating the strong Brazilian team ''in a 122 minute plus penalties match'', was in the finals against Japan, which reached there mostly through upsets (including defeating home team and defending champions Germany). Amazingly, the American AmazonBrigade that towered over the Japanese (literally. Some of the above-listed names are almost 6 ft, while the average height of the Japanese players was under 5'5'') failed to score only on seemingly endless opportunities and the [[PluckyGirl Nadeshiko Japan]] resisted until the penalty shootouts, [[DarkHorseVictory which they won]].
** The 2004 UsefulNotes/EuropeanChampionship saw an extraordinary feat of serial giant-killing. Greece arrived as rank outsiders, having only qualified once before when they were knocked out at the group stage. They were widely expected to repeat this feat. But they won their first group match against the hosts, Portugal. Still, they only just reached the quarter-finals ahead of Spain and Russia, and only beat Spain on goals scored. Nobody expected them to win their quarter-final against France, the defending champions and one of the pre-tournament favourites. But they did, and found themselves up against the Czech Republic in the semi-final. The Czechs were considered the form team, having won all three of their group matches and having won their quarter-final 3-0. Surely Greece couldn't beat them? They could, and reached the final. Could they somehow possibly be able to beat Portugal on their own soil for a second time? Yup, somehow they did, and took the trophy home.
** 12 years later, rank outsiders Wales, at their first tournament since 1958 (when they'd been knocked out by a young Pele), mowed through all opposition, including Belgium's 'Golden Generation', widely considered to be the most talented side on the planet. Unfortunately, they ran out of steam in the second ahlf against a wily old Portugal siude that picked them off on the counter-attack.
** The legendary ''Alcorconazo'', in which the most successful European side in history, Real Madrid, were swept away by third-tier Alcorcón in the Spanish King's Cup. By the 50th minute of the first leg, the score read Alcorcón 4 -- 0 Real Madrid. Madrid, in fact, did not score until the 80th minute of the second leg, when the outcome was already all but settled.
* Not entirely uncommon in roller derby; some smaller players have made an art out of taking out larger ones. It involves a certain level of momentum and landing a shoulder check in just the right place, in such a way as to lift the other player into the air without very much effort. And, since most jammers are the smallest, lightest players on any given team, pretty much every jam involves a certain level of David v. Goliath for them to get through the pack in the first place.
** Roller derby also has inversions at times; while jammers are typically small, super fast players who can get through the pack without being hit at all, some teams have "heavyweight jammers," large women who are nearly impossible to knock down, who can clear their own path, or who can wipe smaller jammers clean off the track.
* The 2010 Seattle Seahawks were the first NFL team in a non strike shortened year to win a division with a losing record. Their playoff game was against the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints. How much of an underdog were they? Before the game Website/TheOnion posted a picture of the Seahawks with the caption, "Saints get first round bye." Despite being double-digit underdogs, Seattle pulled out the victory propelled by an amazing touchdown run, leading to the infamous headline, [[https://sports.theonion.com/new-orleans-saints-lose-first-round-bye-1819590105 "New Orleans Saints Lose First Round Bye."]]
* The 2001 World Series featured The New York Yankees who were playing for the 4th consecutive World Series vs the Arizona Diamondbacks, who were playing their fourth season. Despite multiple comebacks from the Yankees and having to face the greatest closer in baseball history, the Diamondbacks prevailed
* The Louisville women's basketball team faced several Goliaths during their 2013 NCAA tournament run.
** A 5-seed entering the tournament, the Cardinals won their first two games to make the Sweet 16. There they met Baylor, the reigning national champions who were 74-1 over the past 2 seasons (with the only loss coming against #4 Stanford when their second best player was injured). Bonus points for Baylor having a literal Goliath on their roster, 6'8" player of the year, Brittney Griner. Louisville played a very physical game to limit Griner, and made a tournament record 16 3-pointers to find themselves up late in the game. One of the game's signature moments was when Louisville point guard Shoni Schimmel, nearly a foot shorter than Griner, drove on her, scored, drew a foul, and turned to briefly stare Griner down. After Schimmel fouled out with 4 minutes to go, the Cards remained in the game, but fell behind with [[DownToTheLastPlay 9 seconds to go]]. They then drove the length of the court and drew a foul. Monique Reid, a player who had missed a key free throw only minutes earlier, was taking the shots. She made both, and Louisville pulled off what many thought was an impossible upset.
** In the Elite 8, they met Goliath #2, Tennessee. The Lady Vols had won 8 national championships in their history, more than any other team of the time. It was an admittedly down year for the program, but they were still a very good team. Louisville built up a lead and managed to hang on in the second half to get another upset, and advanced to the Final Four.
** In the Final Four, they faced Cal. Not as much of a Goliath as the other two, but still a good team and favored to beat the Cardinals. After falling behind by 10 points at the half, Louisville made a [[MiracleRally comeback]] and took the lead late in the game, ultimately winning and becoming the lowest seed ever to reach the championship game.
** In the National Championship, they faced powerhouse [=UConn=], a program with (at the time) 7 national championships, and a team that had beaten Louisville handily during the regular season. A win against this Goliath would secure their run as the greatest in tournament history. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, reality ensued, and they wound up on the losing end of the [[CurbStompBattle largest blowout]] [[DownerEnding in championship game history]].[[note]]This would be the first of four straight national titles for [=UConn=].[[/note]]
* The NCAA Men's Tournament in general features several opportunities in the early rounds for David to fell Goliath before Goliath gets a chance to make a deep run. More often than not, another Goliath restores order as early as the second round, though David occasionally runs as far as the Final Four.
** The 1985 Villanova Wildcats were a rare David to run the full March Madness gauntlet. The Big East emerged as a powerful conference in short order after their inception in the 1979–80 season. The Georgetown Hoyas and St. John's Red Storm pressed forward as championship favorites while the Wildcats were an afterthought, entering the Big Dance with an 18-9 regular-season record (9-7 vs Big East opponents).
*** The Mideast 8-seed Wildcats first edged out 9-seed Dayton 51-49. Dayton played on their home court in the game.
*** Nova then took down 1-seed Michigan 59-55. Michigan featured eventual first-round selections Roy Tarpley and Gary Grant.
*** Nova then upset 5-seed Maryland 46-43 in a Mideast semifinal.
*** The Wildcats defeated 2-seed North Carolina, a perennial power, 56-44 in the Mideast final.
*** In the semifinals, they bested Midwest 2-seed Memphis State (since renamed the University of Memphis) 52-45.
*** In the national championship game, the Wildcats faced off against Georgetown, who featured Patrick Ewing, David Wingate Jr. and Reggie Williams in their starting five. The Hoyas became heavy favorites after settling one final score with West 1-seed St. John's 77-59. Behind two late free throws and an intercepted pass in the closing seconds, Villanova upset Georgetown 66-64 and emerged with the program's first national title. They were the lowest seed ever to win an NCAA Tournament.
** Other notable Davids:
*** The 1986 LSU Tigers, the first 11-seed to reach the Final Four, still tied for the lowest seed to do so. It took them two overtime periods just to get past their first opponent, 6-seed Purdue, but they kept rolling after that, and unlike future 11-seeds, they went through the toughest possible path, facing the 3-seed, 2-seed, and 1-seed in the following three rounds (the three later ones would face a 7, 10, and 7, in chronological order, in the Sweet 16 rather than a 2, and the most recent one played a 9 in the Elite Eight instead of a 1).
*** The 2002 Missouri Tigers, the only team seeded 12 or lower to reach the Elite Eight. While this accomplishment is slightly dulled by the fact that unlike most 12-seeds who reach the Sweet 16, they were spared from playing a 1-seed, it should also be noted that the 8-seed that took care of said 1-seed the previous round was ''UCLA'', the most successful program in the sport's history.
*** The 2011 VCU[[note]]Virginia Commonwealth University[[/note]] Rams. Five years after George Mason's run (see above), the Rams, coming from the same conference,[[note]]At the time, Mason and VCU were members of the Colonial Athletic Association. VCU left for the Atlantic 10 Conference, considered by some to be a major basketball league, in 2012; Mason rejoined them a year later.[[/note]] were considered a controversial at-large pick, but due to the newly expanded field, they had to play in the "First Four", forcing them to win just to reach the Round of 64. They easily handled their fellow borderline at-large selection, then crushed their next two opponents, 6-seed Georgetown and 3-seed Purdue. They struggled with fellow low seed Florida State, a 10-seed, in the Sweet 16, but rebounded to beat top seed Kansas, 71-61, to reach the Final Four, whereupon they ran into...
*** The Butler Bulldogs. Already notable after losing in the Championship Game the previous year as a 5-seed, the Bulldogs, like the Rams a "mid-major" team, were an 8-seed in 2011. The 8-vs.-11 was by far the lowest seeding matchup ever in a Final Four game. The Bulldogs lost the Championship Game to Connecticut, who was a "mighty" 3-seed from a power conference... in which they'd been the ''9-seed'' in the conference tournament, forcing them to play the maximum five games to take the conference title, which they did.[[labelnote:Postscript]]The Bulldogs are no longer a basketball mid-major; they became part of the reconfigured non-football Big East when it launched in 2013.[[/labelnote]]
*** The 2013 Wichita State Shockers, another lower-half-of-the-bracket, mid-major team that made the Final Four. They aren't ''as'' strong an example since their path through the region featured a pure David (13-seed La Salle, which managed to pull a pair of upsets of their own to reach the Sweet 16, also having to get through the First Four to even make the Round of 64) and a David-turned-Goliath (Gonzaga, a mid-major darling in the late 1990s, had seen their rise to basketball powerhouse culminate with a ''1-seed'' in 2013, which ended with the 9th-seeded Shockers sending them packing in the Round of 32).[[labelnote:Postscript]]The Shockers followed that up the next season by entering the NCAA tournament unbeaten—the first D-I men's team to do so in over 20 years—but lost narrowly in the second round to Kentucky. After three more NCAA tournament appearances, they definitively left the ranks of basketball mid-majors by joining the American Athletic Conference, the other half of the split of the former Big East.[[/labelnote]]
*** The 2013 Florida Gulf Coast Eagles. They became just the seventh 15-seed in tournament history to upset a 2-seed (Georgetown) in the Round of 64, then took it a step further than the previous six by upsetting 7-seed San Diego State to reach the Sweet 16.
*** The 2016 Syracuse Orange. Unlike the other members of this list save for the two sets of Tigers, the 10th-seeded Orange came from a major conference, and their run was at first seemingly a fluke of getting upsets to happen in front of them: 2-seed Michigan State, which was actually considered the favorite to win the region, was bounced in the first round by Middle Tennessee (the first 15-2 upset since FGCU's run), and Gonzaga, back in their old stomping grounds as a dark horse, reached the Sweet 16 as an 11-seed. Even their first opponent, 7-seed Dayton, wasn't from a major conference. Then they ran into the champion of '''their ''own''''' conference, top seed Virginia, in the Elite Eight, and won, becoming the first 10-seed to reach the Final Four.
*** The 2018 tournament was loaded with these... especially in the South Region, which we'll get to in a bit.
*** The other three regions had a few surprises, though they were ultimately won by two 1-seeds (Villanova in the Midwest and Kansas in the East) and a 3-seeded traditional power ([[UsefulNotes/UniversityOfMichigan Michigan]] in the West). In the Midwest, Syracuse made the field as a very controversial 11-seed (i.e., not a few commentators believed they shouldn't have been in the tournament) in the Midwest and got to the Sweet 16; Marshall scored a big upset over Wichita State in the East; and Michigan beat 9-seed Florida State in the regional final after the Seminoles had taken down 1-seed Xavier and 4-seed Gonzaga in the prior two rounds. Now, we'll get to the South...
*** In Thursday's first-round action, Loyola–Chicago took down Miami (the one in Florida) on a buzzer-beater in an 11-over-6 upset, and 13-seed Buffalo blasted 4-seed and trendy Final Four pick Arizona.
*** Friday's first-round action saw unquestionably the biggest upset in the history of the NCAA (men's) tournament. Ever since the tournament field expanded to 64 teams in 1985, no 16 seed had ever beaten a 1 seed.[[note]]It ''had'' happened in the women's tournament in 1998, though that was a fluke that involved a matchup between an underseeded Harvard team and a Stanford team that lost its two best players to knee injuries in the week before the tournament.[[/note]] Enter UMBC.[[note]]University of Maryland, Baltimore County[[/note]] The Retrievers faced top overall tournament seed Virginia... and didn't just beat them, but turned it into a CurbStompBattle, never trailing in the second half on their way to a 20-point win.
*** In the second round, Loyola used another last-second shot to beat 3-seed Tennessee, and Nevada[[note]]Nevada–Reno; there's also a Nevada–Las Vegas, but that school calls itself UNLV.[[/note]] took down 2-seed Cincinnati. Reality ensued for UMBC, which lost a hard-fought game to 9-seed Kansas State. Still, all this made the 2018 South the first region in the history of the men's tournament in which none of the top four seeds made it to the Sweet 16.
*** The insanity continued at the regional site in Atlanta. In the Elite Eight, K-State took down the region's top remaining seed, traditional superpower Kentucky, and Loyola scored [[RunningGag another last-second win]] over Nevada. This resulted in the first 9-and-11 matchup ever in a regional final... which [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers Loyola won by double digits]]. Loyola's run not only made them the fourth 11-seed to get to the Final Four, but also turned their team chaplain, 98-year-old nun Sister Jean, into a national and even international media sensation.
* Marion Bartoli does this with some regularity. Her [[DarkHorseVictory 2013 Wimbledon win]], however, is ''not'' a good example; Bartoli won the title over lower-seeded Sabine Lisicky, who arguably did most of the giant-killing by beating Serena Williams and 2012 finalist Agnieszka Radwańska.
* The 1960 World Series: The Pittsburgh Pirates were grossly outmatched by a New York Yankees team who outscored, outhit and outplayed them in almost every category except wins. The Yankees defeated them in three of the games with scores of 16-3, 10-0 and 12-0 but the Pirates' victories were close (and the Yankees still outhit the Pirates in 3 of those 4 wins). Game 7, which the Pirates won 10-9, was the first to have the series end on a game-winning home run.
* The 2019 Washington Nationals had this happen twice during their postseason run:
** After making the playoffs as the first wild card, few expected the Nationals to get past the Los Angeles Dodgers, the number one seed in the National League and the team with 2nd best record in the 2019 MLB regular season, especially because they had a history of [[EveryYearTheyFizzleOut underperforming in elimination games]] and had not made it into the National League Championship Series in their franchise history; indeed, the Dodgers shut out the Nationals in Game 1 of the Divisional Series. However, the Nationals took Game 2, and after a loss in Game 3, the Nationals won two straight to advance to the NLCS for the first time in franchise history; where they proceeded to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals.
** And then the Nationals faced the Houston Astros, who had the best record in the major leagues. The Nationals took Games 1 and 2 in Houston, and returned home to lose the next three games. Returning to Houston, the Nationals won Game 6 and 7 back in Houston [[EarnYourHappyEnding for their first World Series championship in franchise history.]]
* The 2020 Carolina Hurricanes had this happen during a regular season NHL game against the Toronto Maple Leafs after both of their goalies went down with injuries and they had to resort to the EBUG -- Emergengy Back-Up Goalie -- who was a [[MemeticMutation 42-year-old Zamboni driver who worked for the Leafs]] [[note]] To be more specific, he worked for their farm team, the Toronto Marlies [[/note]]. David Ayres -- the EBUG in question -- allowed goals on the first two shots that he faced before stopping the next eight shots on goal and Caroline won the game 6–3, David Ayres becoming the first emergency goaltender to record a win in NHL history. [[NeverLiveItDown The match lives in infamy with the Leafs fanbase to this day]].
* Boxing:
** David Haye at 6'3" and 215 pounds took on the 7'0" over 22 stone (310 pounds) Nikolai Valuev, the heaviest boxer in history -- 'Goliath Versus Bigger Goliath' if you will. Even though he broke his wrist in the attempt he came out on top. "He is the ugliest thing I have ever seen. I have watched ''Lord of the Rings'' and films with strange looking people, but for a human being to look like he does is pretty shocking." -- Haye. ** Every match David Haye had at heavyweight, really. Audley Harrison, Monte Barrett, John Ruiz, Dereck Chisora, Mark de Mori, and Arnold Gjergjaj all outweighed Haye by between 10 and 40 pounds in their respective fights- and all of them got [[CurbStompBattle crushed]]. His athleticism, skill, and [[MegatonPunch insanely disproportionate punching power]] carried him to victory. The exception was when he challenged unified world heavyweight champion [[StrongAndSkilled Wladimir Klitschko]], who was actually [[LightningBruiser faster]], [[MusclesAreMeaningful harder-hitting]], and [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter at least as skilled]] as Haye, on top of being [[MusclesAreMeaningful 6'6 and 245 pounds]]. Haye lost handily, though it should be noted that unlike most of Wladimir's other opponents, Haye did manage to put in a decent showing by winning a few rounds and finishing the fight on his feet without major damage, which is a small victory.
** Possibly the best example in boxing was Evander Holyfield vs Nikolai Valuev. Holyfield was a bit smaller than Haye; Valuev, as noted, was seven feet tall and weighed over three hundred and ten pounds. Valuev also ended his career with a 50-2 record (having never been knocked down, stopped, or even UD'd) and 34 knockouts, so MusclesAreMeaningless was definitely ''not'' in effect. On top of this, Holyfield was ''46'', practically ancient by boxing standards; even taking on a respectable contender his own size at that age would have been considered extremely impressive, much less a world heavyweight champion over a foot taller than him, whose weight advantage over Holyfield was bigger than the advantage Holyfield would hold over a flyweight. Despite this, Holyfield put up a damn good fight and only lost by a close majority decision -- and many commentators still contend that he won the fight.
** Inverted by Manny Pacquiao against the taller, longer-reaching Oscar de la Hoya on their December 8th, 2008 "Dream Match" for eight rounds. As [[http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/fightcred/round?id=3733277 ESPN's analysis]] put it in round 5, "Forget pull the trigger, De La Hoya doesn't even have a gun." Inverted again, this time against Antonio Margarito in the Pacquiao Versus Margarito fight. Pacquiao did such a good job in the fight that pictures of a Asian boxer are currently going around while people claim it's really Margarito. [[spoiler: It is.]]
** Perhaps the most extreme examples (and one of the earlier ones caught on video) was the title bout between Jess Willard and Jack Dempsey in 1919. Many people thought the fight would be a mismatch as Willard had about 6 inches and 60 pounds on the smaller Dempsey. Instead Dempsey unleashed perhaps the most savage and brutal NoHoldsBarredBeatdown in boxing history on Willard and forever etched his legend into boxing lore. To this day Dempsey's name is synonymous with the words ruthless and relentless in boxing circles, and many latter days fighters such as Creator/MikeTyson purposefully adopted and imitated a number of Dempsey's mannerisms.
** Speaking of Mike Tyson, he was exceptionally short for a heavyweight, with a short reach, meaning he was often the smaller fighter and yet routinely destroyed his opponents. While him losing to mid-level contender Buster Douglas at the height of his career is shocking, it is less so when you consider that Douglas had 4-5 inches of height, a lot of reach, and around 20 pounds of muscle on Tyson. Even more so when you consider that the death of Douglas' mother inspired Buster to make a once-in-a-lifetime effort in the ring that night.
** Rocky Marciano vs Joe Louis in 1951, both ways. On one hand, Louis was more experienced, stronger, and much bigger, at 6'2 and 214 pounds to Marciano's 5'10 and 184 pounds (that fight wouldn't even be allowed today due to the weight disparity; the cutoff for heavyweight was changed to 191 pounds in 1979 and 201 pounds in 2003). On the other, Marciano was younger by nearly a decade. Louis had in fact come out of retirement the previous year to fight Marciano, and while Louis wasn't totally out of practice (he had beaten eight fighters in the preceding year) and still possessed his signature power, his stamina and speed had noticeably degraded. Louis was slightly favored to win, and got in a few good licks early on, but Marciano came to dominate the fight and knocked Louis out in the eighth round.
** Similar story with Evander Holyfield vs George Foreman in 1991. Both were top-ranked heavyweights, but Foreman had such a big advantage in both experience and size on Holyfield that it was ridiculous- he went into the fight at 257 pounds with a 69-2 record, while Holyfield was 208 pounds with a 25-0 record.[[note]]To give you some idea for how insane a disparity of fifty pounds is: the max allowable size of a welterweight (147 pounds) is also about fifty pounds less than the max allowable size of a crusierweight (200 pounds), with that range encompassing ''six'' weight classes (welter, super welter, middle, super middle, light heavy, cruiser).[[/note]] The disparity is even greater when you consider ''only'' heavyweight experience, i.e. fights where their opponent weighed over 200 pounds (Holyfield was a former cruiserweight champion, not heavyweight, and Foreman's career started in an era where heavyweight started at 175 pounds instead of 200 pounds as it does today); in that case Foreman's record was 52-2 and Holyfield's was 7-0. Balancing this out was that Foreman was 42 years old while Holyfield was just shy of 30- while Foreman was if anything [[StoutStrength even stronger and tougher]] than he was in his youth (he did gain forty pounds, after all), he was also [[MightyGlacier slower]]. While it wasn't totally one-sided, Holyfield consistently beat Foreman to the punch with his superior reflexes and had him severely hurt in the later rounds, while not allowing himself to fall victim to the OneHitKill MegatonPunch of his giant opponent as future champ Michael Moorer would. He outboxed Big George for a win by unanimous decision.
* Randy Couture's UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts victory over Tim Sylvia, a man seven inches taller, forty pounds heavier, and thirteen years younger. "Big man versus small man" MMA fights are very popular in Japan. Fedor Emelianenko (183 cm and 100 kilos) has faced and defeated the aforementioned Tim Sylvia (203 cm), Mark Hunt (125 kilos), Zuluzinho (201 cm and 177 kilos!), and Choi Hong-man (166 kilos and an unbelievable 218cm)... all in one round each. He also has a notable win by decision over Semmy Schilt (212 cm and 133 kilos). However, the smaller man in these matches is invariably far more skilled than his opponent and highly favored to win.
** Eventually inverted in both men's cases. Couture moved back to Light Heavyweight after losing Heavyweight title to Wrestling/BrockLesnar and Fedor was completely dominated by Antonio Silva (194 cm and 130 kilos). In early days of MMA big fighters usually coasted on their size (or in case of Hunt and Schilt were kickboxers with almost no grappling skill) and could be defeated by smaller, skilled guys. Modern Goliaths like Lesnar, Alistair Overeem, and Antonio Silva bring both size and skill, meaning former Heavyweight greats who weigh around 100 kg (Fedor, Mirko Cro Cop, Couture, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira) are no longer as dominant as they used to be.
** The secret is that unlike kickboxing an MMA fight can go to the ground, where the height and weight can ''sometimes'' be a disadvantage when grappling there. While Fedor basically slugged out Zuluzinho and Sylvia on their feet, Choi actually took Fedor down and Hunt almost submitted Fedor on the ground before he eventually came back to beat them on the ground.
** There was also the 2009 Super Hulk Tournament where four guys of varying lighter weights were put up against four apparent behemoths -- middleweight Ikuhisa "Minowaman" Minowa against Bob Sapp, middleweight Gegard Mousasi against Mark Hunt, light heavyweight Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou against Jan "The Giant" Nortje, and the debuting ex-Major League Baseball player Jose Canseco against Choi Hong-man; with the exception of the untrained, mid-40s Canseco all of the "Davids" won, complete with Bob Sapp (getting a bye thanks to the "injured" Mousasi withdrawing) being eliminated twice, and the finals are between the middleweight Minowa and light heavyweight Sokoudjou.
* These fights happen all the time in K-1 kickboxing, where the only weight classes are at 70kilos and unlimited. This has lead to such notable matchups like Mighty Mo (slightly over 6 feet) vs Choi Hong Man (towering over 7 feet), where Mo KO'd the Korean giant with a single punch, Kaoklai Kaennorsing (80 kilos) vs Mighty Mo (at 130 kilos), where Kaoklai knocked Mo out with a flying kick to the head, and Nicholas Pettas (at less than 6 feet) vs Kim Young Hyun (almost as big as the aforementioned Choi Hong Man) where Pettas thrashed the Korean giant with a fury of ruthless kicks.
** Speaking of K-1, Kid Yamamoto of the now-defunct K-1 Hero's and now, DREAM promotions made it a point to fight at the 155 lb. weight class, while he walks around at 143 lbs and 5'4. He fights people who weigh in at 155 lbs. and regain all their water weight before the actual fight (We're talking 10 pounds or so, here). He has a record of 17-1 - I think you can figure out the rest. 20 pounds isn't that huge of a number but size definitely matters in this sport. That's why there ARE weight classes.
* Somewhat a case of "Goliath Versus Bigger Goliath," but Cain Velasquez (6 foot 1, weighed in at 244) defeated Brock Lesnar for the UFC heavyweight championship (6 foot 3, weighed in at 264) when his wrestling skill was at least roughly on par with Lesnar's but his striking skill was ''that'' much better. (It should be noted that heavyweight has a much, MUCH wider range of allowed weights than any other weight class.)
* Played straight and ultimately inverted by Royce Gracie. With an unimpressive-looking physique and anywhere from 175 to 180 pounds (he'd be a middleweight under the modern weight classes), he didn't look very imposing. In fact, that's why Rorion Gracie, the founder of UFC, chose him instead of Rickson to be their torchbearer, to prove that the style could overcome physical limitations. For a while, it looked like the classic scrappy-little-guy-finds-a-way-to-prevail story. Then a few ugly facts entered the picture...like, while he may not have been massive, he had tremendous speed, flexibility, stamina, and toughness, and he had ''tremendous'' strength for a middleweight. Not to mention that he was a master of ground fighting, something most of his opponents didn't know the first thing about. By the time UFC 5 rolled around, he was downright legendary, so much so that ''Wrestling/KenShamrock'' was frightened of him. This was almost certainly the main reason Gracie was able to escape with a draw in their matchup, as Shamrock (who actually had a pretty good chance of winning) was too intimidated to get any real offense going.
[[/folder]]

* ZigZaggingTrope at one point in ''Literature/{{Uprooted}}'' when we see WarriorPrince Marek, a physically powerful man in full armor who has trained for battle most of his life, is on trained warhorse, and has minions behind him to pass or toss any weapons that he does not have on him; attacking Kasia, a teenaged peasant girl who hardly knows more than what end of the only sword she has to hold... [[CursedWithAwesome and whose strange woodlike flesh will turn any weapon Marek can hope to get his hands on atop granting her at least as much strength as his warhorse]].

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* Most ancient matches of ''Series/DeadliestWarrior'' have a fast, lighter warrior fighting a larger, stronger warrior.
* Happens all the time in ''Series/DoctorWho,'' with the Doctor (a lone MartialPacifist who DoesntLikeGuns, with almost no powers beyond SuperIntelligence and ResurrectiveImmortality) against armies and empires. Result? Almost every time, the Doctor wins.
-->'''Dalek 1:''' [[AC:But you have no weapons! No defenses! No ''plan''!]]
-->'''The Doctor:''' Yeah! And doesn't that scare you to death?
* Season 3 of ''Series/TheExpanse'' has the former MCRN light frigate ''Pinus Contorta'' (formerly the ''Rocinante'') engage an unnamed UNN ''Leonidas''-class battleship. While MCRN ships are typically better than their UNN counterparts, it's still a fight between a frigate and a battleship -- completely different weight classes. Through some ingenious maneuvering and novel use of torpedoes, the ''Contorta'' is able to outmaneuver and disable the larger warship.
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
** Pretty much every fight the Mountain gets in is one of these ([[Creator/HafthorJuliusBjornsson the actor]] is a multiple-time WorldsStrongestMan, the book version is medically speaking a giant at eight feet tall). While he does messily destroy Oberyn Martell (a FragileSpeedster), it was a MutualKill that ended in [[spoiler:his returning as an even stronger TechnicallyLivingZombie]], and ruling out anyone relying on TrialByCombat to overturn Cersei's decisions. As of the final season [[spoiler:he gets into another such fight with his brother Sandor, who ends up dropping the both of them hundreds of feet into a burning city.]]
** Lampshaded and averted when Littlefinger gives his backstory, in which he fought a duel for the hand of the woman he loved. Unfortunately, Littlefinger lost out to the betrothed of the woman he loved, and he realises [[ManipulativeBastard he's got to play things his way]].
-->"So I challenged him to a duel. I mean why not -- I'd read all the stories. The little hero always beats the big villain in all the stories. In the end, she wouldn't even let him kill me. [snip] Do you know what I learnt, losing that duel? I learnt that I'll never win. Not that way. That's their game, their rules. I'm not going to fight them, I'm going to fuck them. That's what I know, that's what I am. And only by admitting what we are can we get what we want."
* ''Series/KnightRider'': Garthe Knight drives a BigBadassRig he ''named'' Goliath, which is made of the same nearly indestructible alloy KITT is made of. In their first battle, Goliath wrecked KITT, but Michael and KITT were able to win both rematches.
* The series ''Series/{{Kings}}'' is a modern-day retelling of the David story. In the pilot, plucky young soldier [[TheChosenOne David Shepherd]] goes behind enemy lines to rescue some hostages -- one of whom turns out to be the crown prince -- and single-handedly goes up against a "Goliath" tank.
* In ''Series/MasterChef'', Season 9 contestant Shanika refers to the story after being picked to go head-to-head in Episode 14 in a black forest cake challenge where the odds were against her (her opponent Emily is a strong cook who also specializes in baking, she was chosen by Emily specifically to be knocked out, and was allergic to the main ingredient (chocolate) so she couldn't taste her dish to be sure it was presentable)...and ''winning''.
-->'''Shanika:''' David has beat Goliath.
* Villainous example, inverted: In the original ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'', normal-size Tommy has a typical CurbStompBattle with four Rangers (Jason being captured), and they summon the Megazord, which quickly overpowers him. When he is later grown to giant size by Rita, he returns the favor.
* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' "Scott of the Antarctic" sketch. Scott does this while facing the 20-foot high Electric Penguin, even the extent of taking off his jock strap and using it as a sling.
* Prince James vs. The Brute in ''Series/OnceUponATime''. Like [[Series/GameOfThrones Oberyn vs. Gregor]], this doesn't end well for either man.
* In ''Series/RobotWars'' the House Robots were producer-created enforcer robots that [[MyRulesAreNotYourRules weren't built with any regard for the restrictions placed on competitors]] and used as rolling hazards and [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown executioners of competitors that had been counted out]]. Occasionally the contestants would have a go at the House Robots themselves and sometimes even beat them, particularly the lighter ones like Shunt and Matilda, but the big boys Sir Killalot and Mr. Psycho were normally too much for even the most foolhardy roboteers to take on. However, during the Commonwealth Carnage event in the Extreme 2 series, the 99kg Firestorm IV tried to get under Mr. Psycho (who weighed ''750kg'') as he was disposing of Firestorm's beaten opponent, Panic Attack, and, well... it's the page video for a reason.
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'':
** In the episode "Valiant", the titular ''Defiant''-class ship goes up against a Dominion super-battleship in every way their superior, confident that they (a literal cadet crew, caught behind enemy lines when the war started and the senior officers killed) can exploit a design weakness to destroy it. However, it doesn't work, and the ship is [[CurbStompBattle appropriately stomped]]. That's what happens when your crew is called [[RedShirt Red Squad]].
** In another episode, Sisko takes a parallel-universe ''Defiant'' and defeats a much larger, much heavier armed battleship. The ''Defiant''[='=]s smaller profile and maneuverability win out over the larger ship, flying so close to the thing they couldn't get a lock on it. The main difference is that [[TheCaptain Sisko]] is the one in command, and his skill and experience (and some backup from the Mirror Bashir and Dax) allow him to pull off what Red Squad would later fail at.
* ''Series/StarTrekPicard'':
** In "[[Recap/StarTrekPicardS1E04AbsoluteCandor Absolute Candor]]", ''La Sirena'' versus Kar Kantar's Bird-of-Prey, with a surprise assist from Seven of Nine; the heroes in their small vessels manage to disable the warlord's larger ship.
** In "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1", the Coppelian Orchids are dwarfed by the Borg Cube, but three of them are able to neutralize the Artifact and drag it down to the planet surface.
* ''Series/{{Survivor}}'' did David vs. Goliath as a theme for their 37th season of Survivor, pitting a group of underdog people with hard lives against people who live successful and rich lives. [[spoiler: Much like the biblical story, a David ultimately managed to win.]]
* In ''Series/That70sShow'' Kelso attempts to beat up a guy who Jackie kissed ([[spoiler:totally ignoring the fact that he's done ''far worse'' with other girls at the drop of a hat]]), but he and his friends are quite shocked to find he's just picked on a black belt.
* In the ''Franchise/UltraSeries'', more often than not the main Ultra will be pitted against the MonsterOfTheWeek which is at least a head taller than the Ultra. And sometimes, they will be fighting against Dai-kaiju, monsters which absolutely towers over the various Ultramen.
** From ''Series/ReturnOfUltraman'', there is Ultraman Jack defeating Vacummon, a ''[[PlanetEater planet-devouring]] monster the size of galaxies'', by flying into the monster's mouth and destroying its guts from the inside.
*** In the same series, later on Jack fights against Paragon, an [[MasterOfIllusion Illusion Master]] kaiju which, although not the size of a mountain as it initially appears, is at least 4 times larger than Jack and towers massively over the Ultra. Jack defeats Paragon nonetheless.
** In ''Film/UltramanStory'', which is the compilation film of ''Series/UltramanTaro'', Taro single-handedly defeats the hulking and nigh-unstoppable behemoth of a kaiju called Grand King by [[AllYourPowersCombined absorbing the powers from all his brothers]].
** The final arc of ''Series/UltramanTiga'' have Ultraman Tiga unlocking his GoldenSuperMode, which allows him to [[CurbStompBattle completely obliterate]] Ghanathor, an ancient evil that existed before time and absolutely dwarves the Ultra.
** From ''Series/UltramanGaia'' comes Zogu, the BigBad and [[NamesToRunAwayfromReallyFast Fundamental Destruction Angel]], whose true form is a bipedal, dragon-like monstrosity capable of stomping Ultramen like ants. Ultraman Gaia and Ultraman Agul eventually defeats her despite the sheer differences in size.
** The final kaiju of ''Series/UltramanMax'' is Berserkes, an ancient juggernaut of a machine created by the Delos civilization, and can be described as a city-sized mechanical dai-kaiju. Max defeats it after an insane amount of effort in the end.
* The first episode of ''Series/WorldOnFire'' features the RealLife example of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defence_of_the_Polish_Post_Office_in_Danzig Defense of the Polish Post Office in Danzig]] (now Gdansk). This trope is also name dropped when Nancy Campbell comments on the inequality between the German Army and the Polish Army:
--> '''Nancy:''' You know what the Poles have got? Bicycles. You know what the Germans have got? Tanks! Panzers. I reported on David versus Goliath in Spain, it didn't turn out like it did in the Bible.
[[/folder]]

If the ''villain'' is the underdog, you may be looking at VillainousValour. If a monster is underestimated, see KillerRabbit. [[TheBrute Brutes]] easily lend themselves to being Goliaths but they are disqualified from that trope if they are also LargeAndInCharge. ConservationOfNinjutsu is when Goliath's superiority is in the numbers, while NeverBringAKnifeToAFistFight is when Goliath's superiority is having a weapon against the unarmed David. A [[SmugSuper sufficiently confident Goliath]] may see fit to start JustToyingWithThem.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* This trope makes frequent appearances for comedic effect in martial arts movies, where the hero must fight a towering character who cannot be affected by his "weak" attacks.
** ''Film/GameOfDeath'', pitting Creator/BruceLee vs. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. This was a bit of a subversion as not only did KAJ's character possess a significant height, strength, and reach advantage, but was also [[LightningBruiser remarkably fast and agile for his size]] while being a match of Lee's character in terms of fighting ability.
** Nearly every Creator/JackieChan movie.
* Subverted in ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', where size and power differences are generally respected. [[spoiler:Trudy's Scorpion plane realistically loses against Quaritch's Dragon flying fortress after he manages to flush her into open air (she was holding her own when hiding in the rocks), and the bullet-proof giant rhino things absolutely crush the tiny powered armor suits the humans use.]] It is played straight with [[spoiler:Jake and the toruk]], though.
** Inverted at the end with Quaritch's last stand.
* ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' has this when ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, who's just a human with enhanced durability and strength, is forced to singlehandedly fight [[Characters/MarvelComicsThanos Thanos]], [[WorldsStrongestMan one of the strongest beings in the universe]], once his fighting partners ComicBook/IronMan and [[Characters/TheMightyThorThorOdinson Thor]] are taken out. However, once Cap manages to combine his borderline indestructible shield with Thor's hammer Mjölnir, he manages to stand his ground until Thanos overpowers him.
* ''Literature/ACivilAction'' is the story of Jan Schlichtmann, a lawyer specialized in personal injury law and his small law firm representing eight middle-class families in a civil action against two mega-corporations and their first-rate lawyers. So, in [[TheFilmOfTheBook the film inspired by it]], this trope is invoked almost since the beginning and even lampshaded in the main character’s v.o. monologues. [[spoiler:It is however ultimately cruelly subverted, in that Jan’s firm is conducted on the verge of bankruptcy, one corporation (apparently) gets out scot-free and the other settles the case for next to nothing, compared to its huge profits. Remarkably, Jan loses not only because his opponents are richer and more powerful, but also because their lawyers are better.]]
* The documentary ''Film/DragonTheBruceLeeStory'' features Bruce Lee battling a demon clad in samurai armor.
* Yin Yang vs. Gunnar Yensen in ''Film/TheExpendables'', with Yin Yang as the David and Gunnar as the Goliath. Later, Barney vs. [[TheDragon Paine]] and Toll Road vs. Paine. In those fights, Barney and Toll Road are the David and Paine is the Goliath.
* Like the title says, ''Film/FacingTheGiants'' has the Giants as the Eagle's OpposingSportsTeam. [[MeaningfulName Bonus points too,]] as the Giants contained ''85 players'' compared to the Eagles' thirty-or-so players.
* ''Film/FridayThe13thTheFinalChapter'' has Tommy Jarvis vs. Jason Voorhees.
* In ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'', relatively speaking, Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra are all significantly smaller in size compared to Ghidorah. This backfired against Rodan when he engaged in aerial combat against Ghidorah, with [[CurbStompBattle Ghidorah easily overpowering Rodan]].
* ''Film/{{Hoosiers}}'' is based on the true story of the tiny, country school of Milan (Hickory in the movie) defeating the big city school of Muncie Central (South Bend Central), a very rare feat given the advantages a bigger school would have. The movie even included a prayer before the championship game that featured the Bible verses of David versus Goliath.
* An inversion of this appears about halfway through ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'' (2008 film), when the still-human SAS agent Emil Blonsky goes toe-to-toe with the Hulk in melee combat (thanks to a dose of SuperSoldier serum). Similar to the Superman example, despite being the villain, Blonsky looks much cooler simply for being able to go up against the Hulk without being instantly killed (although the point where he abandons his mobility advantage is the point he ends up in a body cast).
* ''Film/IndependenceDay'' has an invincible fleet of alien spaceships proceeding to wipe out human cities, and after the world's militaries fail to stop them, the person who figures out a clever way to defeat the aliens is a nerdy Jewish cable repairman named [[MeaningfulName David]].
* Franchise/IndianaJones is usually the "David" in a fist-fight against a bigger opponent. It's particularly PlayedForLaughs in the "Arab Swordsman" scene from [[Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk the first movie]] -- Indy faces a large swordsman who pulls some WeaponTwirling with a SinisterScimitar and calmly [[NeverBringAKnifeToAGunfight pulls out a gun and shoots him]].
* [[spoiler:Everyone vs the Giantess]] in ''Film/IntoTheWoods''.
* Film/{{Ip Man|2}} versus the Twister in the second film is this very straight. TheHero may have got his badass cred down pat earlier, but the Twister is not only physically larger, he had destroyed the OldMaster who fought Ip to a draw [[spoiler: and killed him]], so there is a definite underdog vibe.
* Referenced in ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'', when a real estate agent warns Mr. Potter that the Bailey Building and Loan is cutting into Potter's business; "Your Potter's Field, my dear Mr. Employer, is becoming just that. And are the local yokels making with those David and Goliath wisecracks!"
* Film/JamesBond is often the David in his movies, facing a TheDragon often either stronger -- [[Film/{{Goldfinger}} Oddjob]] -- or [[GiantMook bigger]] -- [[Film/{{Moonraker}} Jaws]].
* In ''Film/JurassicWorld'', Owen's remaining ''Velociraptors'' take on the ''Indominus rex'' near the end of the film. In the end, it takes a [[spoiler: ''Tyrannosaurus rex'', ''Velociraptor'', and ''Mosasaurus'']] to finally bring the beast down. Also in the [[Film/JurassicPark first film]], with the aforementioned ''Tyrannosaurus'' taking on the last two raptors of Isla Nublar, allowing the humans to escape.
* Max vs. Rictus in the climax of ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad''.
* ''Film/{{Miracle}}'' is the story of the United States men's ice hockey team consisting of college-aged players from several very heated rivalry schools (especially Boston University and Boston College) in the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid as major underdogs, especially when facing off against [[TheRival the Soviet Union]]. A Soviet Union team that had won gold at every Olympics since 1964 and less than two weeks prior had kicked their ass in an exhibition at Madison Square Garden 10-3.
* ''Film/MyRebelliousSon'': The protagonist, a diminutive Kung fu trainee (played by the relatively short, 26-year-old Creator/AlexanderFuSheng), have to do battle against two Western brawler brothers, Johnny and Thomson, both of them which are at least three times larger and loaded with {{Kevlard}}. The hero wins all the same.
* You would have thought the story of impoverished orphan newsboys going on strike against newspaper tycoon Joseph Pulitzer was already an obvious David Versus Goliath story, but just so we didn't miss it, one of the main characters of ''Film/{{Newsies}}'' is named "David", another character draws his attention to the coincidence ("As in David and Goliath?"), and then there's a further reference in one of the songs ("We'll slay the giant!").
* ''Film/ThePunisher2004'' with Frank Castle as the David. The Goliath is The Russian, a hulking brute of a man at least a head taller than Frank, who is MadeOfIron and doesn't even flinch from being stabbed by Franks' switchblade or being hit by a crowbar. [[spoiler: The battle finally, ''finally'' turns in to Frank's favour when both combatants crashes into a kitchen, and Frank managed to fling a saucepan of boiling water into the Russian's face.]]
* In the Hindi film ''Film/RabNeBanaDiJodi'', Surinder, a mild-mannered geek, engages in battle with a sumo wrestler in order to win a trip to Japan for his bride. After taking some abuse, Surinder won by hanging onto the wrestler's ankle and at just the right moment, when the wrestler had all his weight on the opposite leg, he was able to overbalance him and topple him to the ground like a ton of bricks.
* The final fight of ''Film/RealSteel'' with Atom, a GoodOldRobot built specifically as a sparring robot souped up by a young GadgeteerGenius and Zeus, the undefeated reigning champion that has always won within two rounds. The announcers even advertise it like this; [[spoiler: while Atom doesn't win the fight, he's still considered the moral victor as he lasted longer than any prior opponents]].
* Pretty much every ''Franchise/{{Rocky}}'' movie have him as the underdog, against world champion Apollo Creed, rougher fighter Clubber Lang, downright murderous Ivan Drago, and the decades younger Mason "The Line" Dixon. ''Film/{{Creed}}'' follows suit with both a world champion and Ivan Drago's equally strong son.
* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** Both times Luke Skywalker went against Darth Vader, who's taller, stronger, more experienced, and more powerful than him. He's more the underdog in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' than in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', as by the latter film he's more or less Vader's equal in the Force, but in both cases, he's still a 5'7" man going up against a 6'7" {{cyborg}}, living up to the name.
** Strictly going by size, 2'2", 13 kg Yoda vs 6'4", 86 kg Count Dooku, a man three times his height and seven times his weight. In terms of Force power, they're pretty even, but Dooku's greater reach [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome gives him a distinct advantage]], as Yoda has to expend tons of energy leaping around to fight him.
** And the Death Star is very David and Goliath. Here, we have a couple dozen Rebel fighters, versus a space station the size of the moon.
** Taken [[ExaggeratedTrope Up to Eleven]] in ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' when the Resistance (who were made even smaller after the First Order destroyed the system housing the New Republic) destroys Starkiller Base, a ''planet'' converted into a star-powered superweapon, which they show in the film as many, many times bigger than the Death Stars were. Though they do lose the majority of their fleet
** In the Battle of Endor, Admiral Ackbar apparently didn't expect to ''[[https://youtu.be/6Y_nuURKCBg?t=140 destroy]]'' the Super Star Destroyer. As its bridge tower is on fire and it careens out of control into the Death Star, [[AndMissionControlRejoiced his bridge crew cheers]] and he just flops into his chair, jaw agape in disbelief as he watches it erupt into a fireball.
* Invoked in ''Film/TowerHeist'' when [[spoiler:Miss Iovenko states her intention to essentially blackmail the FBI- and by extension the United States Government- in order to get a favourable outcome for the rest of the Tower employees on her ''third day'' as an officially-qualified lawyer]].
* Used in many different ways in the ''Film/TransformersFilmSeries''. First off it depicts the human military as having reasonable success fighting against the Decepticons and thus depicts regular soldiers going up against robots that are, on average, 20 feet tall or bigger. It is also the first time in the franchise that they actively avoided YourSizeMayVary and realistically showed that the highway vehicles the Autobots typically turned into would be dwarfed by the military and construction hardware the Decepticons became. Their largest warrior, Optimus, was a massive semi-truck and was still much smaller than most of the 'Con forces.
* During the climax of ''Film/{{Tron}}'', the villain Sark is enlarged by the Master Control Program until he towers over the hero, re-enacting "David Versus Goliath" quite literally.
* ''Film/TheVerdict'' has a washed-up attorney representing a small family in their malpractice suit against the Archdiocese of Boston and a high-payed attorney with a large legal team.
* ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'':
** ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'': Kitty Pryde, played by 5'1" Creator/ElliotPage, humiliates the Juggernaut, portrayed by 6'2" Creator/VinnieJones, by taking advantage of Leech's PowerNullifier ability. She tricks her much bigger foe into using his own momentum to knock himself out when he smacks his head against a wall.
** ''Film/XMenApocalypse'': On a mental battlefield, Professor X faces off against a behemoth-sized Apocalypse, and unlike most other examples, this good vs. evil clash goes ''horribly'' wrong for the underdog hero. However, Xavier's situation is a little closer to the biblical tale because in the trope's description, it's stated that David admits he had won only because of DivineIntervention, [[spoiler:so it's fitting that a "goddess" in the shape of the Phoenix comes to Charles' aid and becomes his weapon in his time of need]].
[[/folder]]

* DavidVersusGoliath/LiveActionFilms

*

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* The basic premise of ''Manga/AngelicLayer'' revolves around Misaki coming to terms with being small and choosing a small Angel. Hikaru, naturally, ''never'' fights anyone smaller than she is; they're all bigger, heavier, and initially have a strong upper hand.
* [[spoiler:Nagisa]] vs. [[spoiler:Takaoka]] in ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom''. The former is a teenage boy who's small even for his age and has just a few months of assassin training, while the latter is a muscular adult who's a veteran soldier. [[spoiler:Nagisa]] wins thanks to psychologically rattling his opponent.
* Deconstructed to absolutely ''horrifying'' degrees in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan''. Humanity are the underdogs in every way to the Titans, and this usually means a very gruesome death. On the other hand, the trope is played absolutely straight with Mikasa and Levi Ackermann, both coming from family line with SuperpowerfulGenetics. This allows them to devastate the ranks of normal Titans and even present a credible threat to the more dangerous [[spoiler: Human-controlled]] ones. [[spoiler:On the outside world, this is pretty much what non-Marley nations are when they're up against Marley, that is until technological improvements starts to level the playing field.]]
* ''Manga/BattleAngelAlita'':
** Alita is a female cyborg 5 foot tall and that doesn't appear to be more than 20. She routinely defeats foes many times her size (however, her battle style being designed to handle larger foes, said foes' overconfidence, and the fact that [[CuteBruiser her bodies]] [[PintSizedPowerhouse are most of the time advanced combat models]] are important factors). In almost every important battle she fought, she was stated as WeakButSkilled (and lost to more skilled and stronger opponents), and the 2 important battles she was stronger, one she only won because her flesh-and-blood opponent though it'd be appropriate, and the other she toyed with her opponent [[spoiler:until her body was hijacked by the superpower she was stealing her power source, and got punched to pieces. She survived and may get better..]].
** Sechs taking on the Jovian seeded team by him/herself and putting up a fight (the first form of said "team" was about 500 meters wide, and got larger), Zazie and her relatively weak body (and [[MoreDakka tons of guns]]) fighting in the ZOTT semifinals and finals (where 2 superpowers try their latest MDW, and those LOST before the finals), and Caerula Sanguis fighting a cyborg with Chinese Swords.
* Asta from ''Manga/BlackClover'' is very short, standing at 155 cm (5'1"), and fights against the tall and beastly Vetto, whose brute strength has to be sapped by Asta's anti-magic sword before he defeats him with Finral and Vanessa's help. This trope happens again when faces off against the tall, imposing Dante. Even moreso when Dante uses his Body Magic to turn gigantic and muscular when Asta fights him alongside Yami.
* [[EvilDiva Diva's]] [[NighInvulnerability Chevaliers]] in ''Anime/BloodPlus'' are more powerful than [[WeakButSkilled Saya's]] as the former receive much more [[BloodyMurder blood]].
* Touma in ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex''. Seriously, [[AntiMagic complete invulnerability to all supernatural powers]] ''sounds'' awesome, but let's think about this. A. [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer It's his only power]]. B. Against [[BadassNormal non-powered opponents]], if anything it works again him by influencing his [[BornUnlucky luck]]. C. It doesn't protect him from the effects of said powers such as shrapnel. D. Using this ability means he can't use any sort of weaponry and therefore has to get into punching range of his opponent. E. It's only a single limb, not his entire body. Opponents so far: An esper with extremely potent electric abilities. An essentially all-powered magician able to draw on what is apparently the entirety of magical knowledge. A RealityWarper who can literally kill with a thought or do anything he thinks of. [[SuperPowerLottery Accelerator, who can not only take a nuke head on but hit you back with it even harder.]] [[spoiler:Fiamma of the Right, a magician who has an undodgeable and always lethal attack and can level cities without effort. ''The ArchangelGabriel, second most powerful angel in existence who can end all life on Earth in minutes.'']] Basically, a partial immunity to their abilities on his side and ''street fighting skills.'' David Versus Goliath much? [[spoiler:And naturally, any opponents who don't rely entirely on these abilities tend to crush him. Kanzaki and Tsuchimikado, basically, who go for a wide range of abilities instead of relying on the raw power of whatever their ability is.]]
** Shiage is an even bigger underdog in his fights against superpowered enemies, he doesn't have any superpower at all. He becomes very interested in magic when he learns of it, but is quickly told that he can't use magic: while he's a Level 0, he's still an esper, and therefore incompatible with magic. Sucks to be him.
* While most fights with the outclassed characters in ''Manga/DragonBall'' results in a straight up CurbStompBattle, the exception occurs at the end of the Saiyan Saga. [[KidHero Son Gohan]] and [[CantCatchUp Krillin]] end up having to stop Vegeta when [[TheHero Goku]] wasn't able to. Krillin and Gohan were no match for Vegeta's flunky Nappa (who Goku flattened), and even though Vegeta is [[WorfHadTheFlu injured out from his fight with Goku]], he still has enough fight the two of them can't even scratch him. However, despite the odds, they manage to narrowly win after hitting him with leftover energy from Goku's Genkidama and Gohan using the artificial moon Vegeta created to [[OneWingedAngel turn into an Oozaru]] and injures him enough to force him to (barely) retreat.
** In fact, ''Dragon Ball'' is one of the ultimate subverters of the trope. Vegeta, Freeza, Majin Buu and Beerus were either small characters or their final forms were not their largest. Not to mention Goku as a kid, who for most of his childhood looked like an eight year old, took down characters much bigger than him, especially Great Demon King Piccolo.
* ''Manga/Eyeshield21'':
** The titular Eyeshield 21 vs. just about anyone he goes head to head with, especially Shin and Agon. In reality, however, neither Agon or Shin are especially tall, Sena's just ''that'' short.
** A better example would be the lanky Mizumachi vs the stout Komosubi. Their entire challenge is about who is more stronger between a tall end a short guy.
* ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'': Kenshiro isn't exactly a small guy, but he usually takes on huge people, sometimes ''twice'' his size, and wins handily most of the time (keeping in mind that Raoh is also bigger than him).
* Soccer manga and anime ''Manga/GiantKilling'' is basically about this: the protagonist is a coach whose mission is to bring a bottom-feeder Japanese team (for which he played in his professional career and was an idol before moving to an English team in the same situation) up to top contender level. The term "Giant Killing" redirects here because it is a common saying for this trope as applied to association football.
* ''Manga/KurokosBasketball'': Kuroko versus Murasakibara. To put this into perspective, Kuroko is 168 cm (5'6") and 57 kg (~126 pounds). Murasakibara is ''208 cm'' and '''99 kg''' (6'10" and 218 lbs). It's like pitting an adult against a child. If that wasn't bad enough, Murasakibara is physically the most gifted player in the league by an ''enormous'' margin, while Kuroko is unarguably the weakest starter Serin has, possibly the weakest player, physically, in the series. In real life, a mismatch of that degree wouldn't just be sad, it'd be outright ''dangerous'' for the smaller player. Nonetheless, [[spoiler:Kuroko wins their one-on-one by using their disproportionate strengths and his lack of presence to make Murasakibara forget that he's being marked, and then ducks into the path of his movement to draw a foul as Murasakibara turns around carelessly]].
* Repeatedly for the eponymous character of ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha''. [[Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha Fate]]: More experienced. [[Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs Reinforce]]: More powerful. [[Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikerS Vivio]]: More powerful. [[Manga/MagicalRecordLyricalNanohaForce Thoma]]: ...Yeah. Bonus points for all of them being taller than her (in Fate's case, a little bit).
** Nanoha's {{Expy}} [[Manga/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaViVid Miura]] also tends to face Goliaths, all of them (Micaiah, Vivio and Erie) happen to be much taller than her. Both, Micaiah and Erie are much older and more experienced than her and they are also Inter-Middle favorites with a pretty good Inter-Middle record history. Micaiah is a OneHitKill expert, while Erie is a BeamSpam specialist, but Miura manages to defeat both of them with a very strong FinishingMove while she's on the edge of defeat. And her other opponent, Vivio, is only a little more experienced than her, but Vivio is also the ''main character'' of ''[=ViVid=]'', who should be protected from PlotArmor. Even that isn't enough to make Miura fall. It does help that Miura is a LightningBruiser, while her opponents are either a GlassCannon, a FragileSpeedster or a SquishyWizard; with her being tough, fast and strong, she can endure most of their attacks until she retaliates with fast and powerful moves.
** ''[=ViVid=]'' tends to avert this trope in general. Characters who are weaker or less experienced than their opponents cannot win against them.
* Whenever Izuku "Deku" Midorya has to fight a supervillain in ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia''; while monstrously strong, Midorya [[HowDoIShotWeb doesn't have complete control over his Quirk]], and even if he did he's still a scrawny teenager going up against villains in their twenties and thirties who are a few heads taller than him. The most notable examples would be his fight against Muscular (who almost crushed him to death until a distraction gave Midorya a chance at a HeroicSecondWind) and Overhaul (who had used his Quirk to morph himself into a building-sized Kaiju; Midorya only won that fight because the little girl he was protecting had a Quirk that could heal the damage he causes to his limbs when using One For All at 100%, allowing him to cut loose without risk of crippling injury).
* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'', Negi's fight with Jack Rakan. Negi was training most of the series to defeat a KnightOfCerebus named Fate Averruncus, and through some circumstances, he's fighting Jack, a character so overpowered that not only does Fate actively avoid fighting him, but considerable humor is made from how invincible he is. For the most, Negi is losing, Jack [[NoSell No Selling]] everything he does, Negi only surviving because Jack only wants to test him, not kill him, but he does manage to fight to a draw by prodding Jack's ego and causing him to use an attack that Negi uses his new EnergyAbsorption trick that he came up with to take the power from and injure him enough that with the power he has left after putting everything into his Titan Slayer Spear move, he and Jack end up [=KO'ing=] each other.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'' has the protagonist Monkey D. Luffy do this constantly when he takes on foes [[TheDreaded who are renowned for their might]].
* ''Webcomic/OnePunchMan'':
** Parodied constantly when the main character Saitama goes up against creatures many times his own size, quite often reaching {{Kaiju}} proportions, nevertheless keeping him the overdog of every fight he's in because he defeats ''every'' opponent with no real effort. Some fights involving the stronger S-class heroes are portrayed like this as well.
** Played straight with Saitama's fight against Crablante, as it was before he had his powers. Same goes for Mumen Rider vs. The Deep Sea King.
* In many ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' battles, Ash's Pikachu is the David to Goliaths that include Dragonite, Tyranitar, Metagross, Regice, etc. Either Pikachu will pull off an underdog victory, or he'll go down after a grueling fight.
* Referenced by name in ''{{Anime/Robotech}}'' where it compares the battle between the SDF-1 and the Zentraedi fleet to this.
* In ''Anime/TurnAGundam,'' this sums up the tense stand-off between Earth-bound humanity and the Moonrace. Which wouldn't be so bad except that the Moonrace is a technologically advanced society while the people on Earth have ''at best'' little more than UsefulNotes/WorldWarI technology. Even though biplanes, artillery and concentrated attacks do ''some'' damage, it's not until the Turn A steps into the picture and the discovery of mobile suit caches from the Dark History that they actually stand a chance. [[spoiler:We later find out that every single fight in the series is a David to the Turn A's Goliath since it's essentially the most powerful mobile suit ever built.]]
* Thorfinn versus Thorkell in ''Manga/VinlandSaga'', with no clear-cut victor in either of their two fights, though Thorkell concedes the second fight after Thorfinn tears out his eye.
* ''Franchise/YuGiOh'': Generally, this trope comes in whenever there is a duel between Yugi and his expies against Kaiba and his expies. Kaiba, [[Anime/YuGiOhGX Kaiser]], [[Anime/YuGiOh5Ds Jack]], [[Anime/YuGiOhZEXAL Kaito]] and [[Anime/YuGiOhArcV Reiji]] usually use monsters with high ATK, but none of them is UnskilledButStrong -- they ''are'' highly skilled. Yugi and his expies usually use monsters that are weaker in battle, but they use more combos to overcome their powerful foes. In the end, the winner is who is more skilled.
** And speaking of Yugi, there's his duel against his own SuperPoweredAlterEgo, Atem. At this point, Atem has the power to top-deck whatever card he needs, and he possesses the three [[PhysicalGod Egyptian God Cards]], even having all of them on the field at once. Yugi destroys all three in one turn by [[HoistByHisOwnPetard turning their powers against themselves]].
* In ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'', Manjoume's duel against his CorruptPolitician (and [[{{Jerkass}} complete jerk]]) of a brother Chosaku clearly fit the Trope, but whether it was a straight example or an inversion is hard to determine, because it's hard to say who was David and who was Goliath. Chosaku was using a deck full of powerful Dragon beatsticks, while Manjoume had a deck full of monsters will only 0 Attack Points, and seeing as Manjoume won, the obvious answer is, the Trope was played straight. On the other hand... Seeing as Manjoume had built his deck using a careful and clever strategy, while Chosaku was sloppy and used almost ''no'' strategy other than [[AttackAttackAttack "hit him with everything you have"]], you might argue that the opposite was true, and that Manjoume was more of a Goliath here than his SmallNameBigEgo brother ever could be.
* ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'' gives the straightest example the franchise can give with [[spoiler:the BigBad Zarc not only being the World Duel Champion but also has the power of a god due to fusing with his dragons vs Rei, a pro duelist armed with four cards meant to counter Zarc's power. Despite all odds, she was able to defeat Zarc, kick starting the series]].
[[/folder]]

!!Examples:

* Toothless from the ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'' movies is middling sized at best by dragon standards[[note]](twenty-odd feet from nose to tail-tip, max wingspan around fifty feet, and rather low-slung)[[/note]]. In the first film he and his rider faced down what could best be described as a flying {{kaiju}} capable of swallowing them both whole, while the climax of the [[WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon2 sequel]] involved an even bigger aquatic creature with mind-control powers.

[[folder:Myths & Religion]]

[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

[[folder:Web Videos]]
* In the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUEFxSOVd6A very first episode]] of ''WebVideo/CauseOfDeath'', the protagonist battles a ''much'' larger man than he. [[spoiler: He wins. With help from a granola bar.]]
[[/folder]]

* Wolverines are said to be able to kill a moose.

If the ''villain'' is the underdog, you may be looking at VillainousValour. If a monster is underestimated, see KillerRabbit. [[TheBrute Brutes]] easily lend themselves to being Goliaths but they are disqualified from that trope if they are also LargeAndInCharge. ConservationOfNinjutsu is when Goliath's superiority is in the numbers, while NeverBringAKnifeToAFistFight is when Goliath's superiority is having a weapon against the unarmed David. A [[SmugSuper sufficiently confident Goliath]] may see fit to start ToyingWithTheirEnemy.

* Franchise/SpiderMan versus [[MeaningfulName The Rhino]]. Taken [[ExaggeratedTrope Up to Eleven]] in two instances where he fought an enemy outside his RoguesGallery. One with Fire Lord, a [[PersonOfMassDestruction Herald of Galactus]]. For the most part, he [[NoSell tanks]] everything Spider-Man throws at him and Spider-Man only wins at the end through PopularityPower allowing him to KO Fire Lord even though it didn't make any sense. The hardest case of it being played straight was when he fought the ComicBook/{{Juggernaut|MarvelComics}} , a villain who has fought the ComicBook/XMen's entire lineup single-handedly and proven too strong for them to take head even for their strongest members. Naturally, their first fight ends with Spider-Man flattened and Juggernaut only stops because kidnapping his target would require taking her off life support. Spider-Man's second attempt fares no better and only wins by getting Juggernaut to walk into a pit of cement.

* Franchise/SpiderMan versus [[MeaningfulName The Rhino]]. Taken [[ExaggeratedTrope Up to Eleven]] in two instances where he fought an enemy outside his RoguesGallery. One with Fire Lord, a [[PersonOfMassDestruction Herald of Galactus]]. For the most part, he [[NoSell tanks]] everything Spider-Man throws at him and Spider-Man only wins at the end through PopularityPower allowing him to KO Fire Lord even though it didn't make any sense. The hardest case of it being played straight was when he fought the Characters/{{Juggernaut}}, a villain who has fought the ComicBook/XMen's entire lineup single-handedly and proven too strong for them to take head even for their strongest members. Naturally, their first fight ends with Spider-Man flattened and Juggernaut only stops because kidnapping his target would require taking her off life support. Spider-Man's second attempt fares no better and only wins by getting Juggernaut to walk into a pit of cement.

If the villain is literally ''physically'' larger than the hero, that's EvilIsBigger. [[UpToEleven Up the scale]] and [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu You Just Punched Out Cthulhu]]. See also PintSizedPowerhouse. In some works, this trope is why ElephantsAreScaredOfMice as their prey is a ResourcefulRodent.

* The Creator/MarvelComics storyline ''ComicBook/ActsOfVengeance'' worked in this manner as a team of villains gathered together to pit heroes against foes they likely never faced before. This saw oddball match ups such as ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} against ComicBook/{{Ultron}}, ComicBook/AlphaFlight against [[Characters/MarvelComicsMacGargan the Scorpion]], ComicBook/PowerPack against Typhoid Mary and more.

* There have been times where [[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk the Hulk]] is in the David position. Of course, he's usually still the stronger one.

* Franchise/SpiderMan versus [[MeaningfulName The Rhino]]. Taken UpToEleven in two instances where he fought an enemy outside his RoguesGallery. One with Fire Lord, a [[PersonOfMassDestruction Herald of Galactus]]. For the most part, he [[NoSell tanks]] everything Spider-Man throws at him and Spider-Man only wins at the end through PopularityPower allowing him to KO Fire Lord even though it didn't make any sense. The hardest case of it being played straight was when he fought the [[Characters/MarvelComicsJuggernaut Juggernaut]], a villain who has fought the ComicBook/XMen's entire lineup single-handedly and proven too strong for them to take head even for their strongest members. Naturally, their first fight ends with Spider-Man flattened and Juggernaut only stops because kidnapping his target would require taking her off life support. Spider-Man's second attempt fares no better and only wins by getting Juggernaut to walk into a pit of cement.
* Unintentional evocation of this trope is the reason it's hard to write good Franchise/{{Superman}} villains. Unless you make them even more powerful than Superman (which gets boring after a while) or have them regularly exploit one of his weaknesses (The Kryptonite Man, Metallo, Ruin, etc.), many of Supes' villains [[VillainousValour end up looking better by simply being able to go up against him]] -- most notably normal humans like the Prankster, Toyman, and of course [[ComicBook/LexLuthor Luthor]]. Prankster and Toyman are generally in it for the laughs (the Prankster has been seen complaining to ComicBook/BlackCanary that she hit him harder than Superman ever does). Lex has been accurately described as "a man fighting God".

* ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' has this when ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, who's just a human with enhanced durability and strength, is forced to singlehandedly fight ComicBook/{{Thanos}}, [[WorldsStrongestMan one of the strongest beings in the universe]], once his fighting partners ComicBook/IronMan and [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] are taken out. However, once Cap manages to combine his borderline indestructible shield with Thor's hammer Mjölnir, he manages to stand his ground until Thanos overpowers him.

** Taken UpToEleven in ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' when the Resistance (who were made even smaller after the First Order destroyed the system housing the New Republic) destroys Starkiller Base, a ''planet'' converted into a star-powered superweapon, which they show in the film as many, many times bigger than the Death Stars were. Though they do lose the majority of their fleet

:: The movie version turned this UpToEleven as Creator/WilliamDaniels is 5'7" like Adams but Ken Howard is 6'6" -- even taller than the historical Jefferson.

** In [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Metal Sonic]] vs [[VideoGame/MegaManX Zero]], this trope is taken UpToEleven when Metal Sonic transforms into the battleship-sized [[SuperMode Metal Overlord]] against the 5'6" Zero. [[spoiler: Zero easily slices through Metal Overlord.]]

* Often occurs in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' when Batman has take a superpowered enemy without the help of the guest hero. Despite the show's RefugeInAudacity, he has often ended losing, notable instances being against Professor Zoom, a temporarily evil Superman, and ComicBook/{{Darkseid}}, which ended with a flat CurbStompBattle against him.

*** This fits perfectly into the show's FishOutOfWater premise. Much like in the biblical story, Goliath is a [[ProudWarriorRace warrior who fights with brute strength]], while "David" survives by his charisma and smarts. Goliath comes from the Middle Ages, where the stronger warrior always triumphs...but he finds out that in the Twentieth century, the Goliath, not the David, is always the underdog.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' vs. just about anybody and any monster, but most notably the mega-Mojo Jojo in [[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirlsMovie the movie]].

* In an episode from ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'', Clockwork Smurf becomes the proverbial David to the Goliath that is Gargamel and Balthazar's wrecking machine giant that they use against King Gerard's castle. Clockwork attempts to fell this machine giant with just a rock and sling. It bounces off the machine with no effect. The two wizards use the machine to pound Clockwork to a pulp. Fortunately, Bigmouth the ogre, whom Clockwork befriended in the episode, comes and picks up the machine giant, tosses it, and destroys it in one throw, sending Gargamel and Balthazar swimming away in fear.

* ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'' at the start of the show's third season when the X-Men go to stop TheJuggernaut, who in their previous fight, the most they could do was remove his helmet and allow Xavier to use his PsychicPowers to telepathically knock him, which they only were able to pull off with the Brotherhood's help. Now they were on their own, with no help, and despite their teamwork, the most they can do is avoid dying till ComicBook/{{Rogue}} manages to use her PowerParasite ability to knock him out.

* During the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo Battle of the Bulge]] an American [[FragileSpeedster M8 Armored Car]] was hidden alongside a road near St. Vith, Belgium, when a German [[MightyGlacier King Tiger]] rumbled up. Waiting until the tank passed, the M8 then charged at it from behind and fired three 37mm armor-piercing rounds [[AttackItsWeakPoint into the Tiger's engine bay from 25 yards]], causing it to explode. They almost didn't make it, as the Tiger's commander spotted them coming and ordered the turret to swing around, but it wasn't quite fast enough. If it had, the [[{{BFG}} 88mm high velocity gun]] would have [[OneHitKill blasted the M8 into confetti]].

* During the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo Battle of the Bulge]] an American [[FragileSpeedster M8 Armored Car]] was hidden alongside a road near St. Vith, Belgium, when a German [[MightyGlacier King Tiger]] rumbled up. Waiting until the tank passed, the M8 then charged at it from behind and fired three 37mm armor-piercing rounds [[AttackItsWeakPoint into the Tiger's engine bay from 25 yards]], causing it to explode. They almost didn't make it, as the Tiger's commander spotted them coming and ordered the turret to swing around, but it wasn't quite fast enough. If it had, the [[BFG 88mm high velocity gun]] would have [[OneHitKill blasted the M8 into confetti]].

* Season 3 of ''Series/TheExpanse'' has the former MCRN frigate ''Pinus Contorta'' (formerly the ''Rocinante'') engage an unnamed UNN ''Leonidas''-class battleship. While MCRN ships are typically better than their UNN counterparts, it's still a fight between a frigate and a battleship -- completely different weight classes. Through some ingenious maneuvering and novel use of torpedoes, the ''Contorta'' is able to outmaneuver and disable the larger warship.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' has few cases of this:

** The FinalBattle between Aang and [[BigBad Ozai]], which also combines a KidHero facing a LargeAndInCharge villain. While Aang has learned to use all four elements, Sozin's Comet made Ozai so powerful that even though Aang has learned firebending he can barely slow him down, with the closest thing he gets to winning being able redirect Ozai's lightning attack, which thanks to Aang's refusal to kill, he blows. [[spoiler: [[ItMakesSenseInContext Aang only wins because a hit from Ozai]] [[NiceJobFixingItVillain accidentally allows Aang to enter]] the [[SuperMode Avatar State]].]]

* The ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf/Anime/DragonBallZ'' crossover ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/456898/1/Human_Saiyajin Human Saiyajin]]'' gives us [[strike: [[ThatManIsDead Ranma]]]] Ranko Saotome vs Perfect Cell. Even after several power-ups, Ranko doesn't even have the ki levels necessary to level a few city blocks, where Cell is ''far'' past being capable of causing an EarthShatteringKaboom. This difference in power also translates into their physical attacks; Cell can KO Ranko in one solid hit, where Ranko has to resort to DeathByAThousandCuts just to ''annoy'' Cell... but Ranko isn't the greatest martial artist in the world for nothing, and she manages to keep up with Cell by invoking WeakButSkilled ''HARD'', capitalizing on her knowledge of the art to predict where Cell is going to move and strike, basically fighting the entire battle a step ahead of Cell and using every trick in her arsenal to keep her opponent off balance and unable to counterattack. It's only after Cell figures out how to see through the Umisenken that Ranko goes down, but not before she snaps off a [[FinishingMove Hiryu Shoten Ha]] powerful enough to spawn a gods-be-damned ''hurricane''.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''/''{{Manga/Bleach}}'' crossover ''Fanfic/AHollowInEquestria'' has a fight between Ulquiorra and a colossal dragon, who the David and Goliath is relies on what you know about Arrancars.
* ''Fanfic/KingsOfRevolution'' features [[Anime/CodeGeass Lelouch vi Britannia]], posing as Zero, going up against [[Franchise/LyricalNanoha Nanoha Takamachi]]. Overall, the fanfic is about the Black Knights going up against [[TheEmpire Britannia]] while also having to deal with police interventions from the [[SpaceNavy Time Space Administration Bureau]]. And even they are confronting one another with an organization that is PlayingBothSides.
* Happens a lot with Harry in ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm.'' While he's won the SuperpowerLottery, his powers are taking a long time to fully develop. Unfortunately, this makes him a MacGuffinSuperPerson whom many villains want to either capture and use, or get out of the way, before he can grow into his full abilities. As a result, in almost every major battle he's in, he's up against villains at least as powerful as him, usually much stronger. The cases where he wins pretty quickly are usually cannon fodder for something worse.

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* ''Manga/KurokosBasketball'': Kuroko versus Murasakibara. To put this into perspective, Kuroko is 168 cm (5'6") and 57 kg (~126 pounds). Murasakibara is ''208 cm'' and '''99 kg''' (6'10" and 218 lbs). It's like pitting an adult against a child. If that wasn't bad enough, Murasakibara is physically the most gifted player in the league by an ''enormous'' margin, while Kuroko is inarguably the weakest starter Serin has, possibly the weakest player, physically, in the series. In real life, a mismatch of that degree wouldn't just be sad, it'd be outright ''dangerous'' for the smaller player. Nonetheless, [[spoiler:Kuroko wins their one-on-one by using their disproportionate strengths and his lack of presence to make Murasakibara forget that he's being marked, and then ducks into the path of his movement to draw a foul as Murasakibara turns around carelessly]].

* Unintentional evocation of this trope is the reason it's hard to write good Franchise/{{Superman}} villains. Unless you make them even more powerful than Superman (which gets boring after a while) or have them regularly exploit one of his weaknesses (The Kryptonite Man, Metallo, Ruin, etc.), many of Supes' villains [[VillainousValour end up looking better by simply being able to go up against him]] -- most notably normal humans like the Prankster, Toyman, and of course [[ComicBook/LexLuthor Luthor]]. Prankster and Toyman are generally in it for the laughs (the Prankster has been seen complaining to ComicBook/BlackCanary that she hit him harder than Superman ever does). Lex has been accurately described as "a man fighting God".

* Comicbook/DoctorStrange routinely fights above his weight class (and he's a borderline RealityWarper on a good day, so you can imagine how powerful his foes must be) to defend Earth. He's taken on and beaten {{Physical God}}s, {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, and {{Dimension Lord}}s, largely by outthinking them or maneuvering them into a position where he has a fighting chance.
* Franchise/TheSmurfs versus Gargamel, or versus any human that is their designated villain.
* Comicbook/{{Asterix}}: The Gauls who remain undefeated against the entire Roman Empire. Asterix, in particular, is also an example of a very small man defeating opponents who are taller than he is.
* ComicStrip/{{Popeye}}'s foes, especially Bluto, are far taller than him, but of course they ''always'' regret taking on the smaller sailor-man.

* The Creator/MarvelComics storyline ''ComicBook/ActsOfVengeance'' worked in this manner as a team of villains gathered together to pit heroes against foes they likely never faced before. This saw oddball match ups such as ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} against ComicBook/{{Ultron}}, ComicBook/AlphaFlight against [[Characters/MarvelComicsMacGargan the Scorpion]], ComicBook/PowerPack against Typhoid Mary and more.

* Toothless from the ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'' movies is middling sized at best by dragon standards[[note]](twenty-odd feet from nose to tail-tip, max wingspan around fifty feet, and rather low-slung)[[/note]]. In the first film he and his rider faced down what could best be described as a flying {{kaiju}} capable of swallowing them both whole, while the climax of the [[WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon2 sequel]] involved an even bigger aquatic creature with mind-control powers.

* Subverted in ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', where size and power differences are generally respected. [[spoiler:Trudy's Scorpion plane realistically loses against Quaritch's Dragon flying fortress after he manages to flush her into open air (she was holding her own when hiding in the rocks), and the bullet-proof giant rhino things absolutely crush the tiny powered armor suits the humans use.]] It is played straight with [[spoiler:Jake and the toruk]], though.
** Inverted at the end with Quaritch's last stand.
* ''Literature/ACivilAction'' is the story of Jan Schlichtmann, a lawyer specialized in personal injury law and his small law firm representing eight middle-class families in a civil action against two mega-corporations and their first-rate lawyers. So, in [[TheFilmOfTheBook the film inspired by it]], this trope is invoked almost since the beginning and even lampshaded in the main character’s v.o. monologues. [[spoiler:It is however ultimately cruelly subverted, in that Jan’s firm is conducted on the verge of bankruptcy, one corporation (apparently) gets out scot-free and the other settles the case for next to nothing, compared to its huge profits. Remarkably, Jan loses not only because his opponents are richer and more powerful, but also because their lawyers are better.]]

* Film/JamesBond is often the David in his movies, facing a TheDragon often either stronger - [[Film/{{Goldfinger}} Oddjob]] - or [[GiantMook bigger]] - [[Film/{{Moonraker}} Jaws]].
* In ''Film/JurassicWorld'', Owen's remaining ''Velociraptors'' take on the ''Indominus rex'' near the end of the film. In the end, it takes a [[spoiler: ''Tyrannosaurus rex'', ''Velociraptor'', and ''Mosasaurus'']] to finally bring the beast down. Also in the [[Film/JurassicPark first film]], with the aforementioned Tyrannosaurus taking on the last two raptors of Isla Nublar, allowing the humans to escape.

* ''Film/MyRebelliousSon'': The protagonist, a diminutive Kung fu trainee (played by the relatively short, 26-year-old Creator/AlexanderFuSheng), have to do battle against two Western brawler brothers, Johnny and Thomson, both of them which are at least three times larger and loaded with {{Kevlard}}. The hero wins all the same.

* Literature/JackTheGiantKiller
* Literature/JackAndTheBeanstalk
%%* Literature/HopOMyThumb
%%* Literature/TheBraveLittleTailor
* Literature/HanselAndGretel versus the Witch
* Literature/TheThreeLittlePigs versus the Big Bad Wolf
* [[Music/PeterAndTheWolf Peter versus the Wolf]]
%%* Renfield vs. Dracula

* In ''Literature/GorgoTheOgre'', the titular hero, a small ogre child, has to face the Slobbering Monster, who's so big it fills a whole giant crevice with his body. Gorgo manages to kill it using his wits, bravery and a good dose of luck.
* ''Literature/AllForTheGame'' pits the main characters, the Palmetto State Foxes, against the Edgar Allen Ravens. Palmetto State is the worst team in the league and the laughingstock of college [[FictionalSport Exy]]. The Ravens are the undefeated champions.
* In the climax of second book of ''Literature/TheDinosaurLords'', Karyl - a regular and currently mightily exhausted man - is pitied against [[spoiler:Raguel]], a three-metres-tall avatar of destruction mounted on a ''[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Tyrannosaurus Imperator]]''.
* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': Eric often phrases his battles in terms of himself being small and his foe being large. For instance, when he triumphs over a certain orc his victory thought is "And the wasp defeats the lion!" This also happens when fighting mages with greater experience, raw power, or knowledge (which is most of them).
* In ''Literature/HoratioHornblower'' novel ''Hornblower and the Hotspur'', Hornblower's little sloop ends up fighting against a large French frigate, the ''Loire''. Despite being in a tricky area to navigate in weather that gives the ''Loire'' an additional advantage, Hornblower's maneuvering is so clever that he not only evades the bigger ship, he actually gets it into a position where he can fire a broadside unopposed. Although he doesn't destroy it, he confounds its attempt to chase him away from his station and forces it to run off home.
* ZigZaggingTrope at one point in ''Literature/{{Uprooted}}'' when we see WarriorPrince Marek, a physically powerful man in full armor who has trained for battle most of his life, is on trained warhorse, and has minions behind him to pass or toss any weapons that he does not have on him; attacking Kasia, a teenaged peasant girl who hardly knows more than what end of the only sword she has to hold... [[CursedWithAwesome and whose strange woodlike flesh will turn any weapon Marek can hope to get his hands on atop granting her at least as much strength as his warhorse]].
* ''Franchise/HarryPotter'': The main conflict of the series is Harry Potter, an average and normal (for a wizard) teenager who must face off against Lord Voldemort, a much older and more powerful dark wizard, potentially one of the most powerful wizards to ever live. [[SelfFulfillingProphecy It started back when Harry was a baby, as Voldemort tried to kill him then due to a prophecy saying that this trope was going to come into effect with regards to Voldemort]].

* Scout-Sergeant Oan Mkoll, Chief Scout and bone-deep badass, goes one-on-one with a [[spoiler: ''Chaos Dreadnaught'' in a ''Literature/GauntsGhosts'' short story. Granted, it was blind and distracted, but this is a MiniMecha weapons platform capable of laying waste to ''Space Marine Squads'', and Mkoll soloed the damn thing]]. [[HumbleHero Then refused any recognition for it.]]

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'':
** In the episode "Valiant", the titular ''Defiant''-class ship goes up against a Dominion super-battleship in every way their superior, confident that they (a literal cadet crew, caught behind enemy lines when the war started and the senior officers killed) can exploit a design weakness to destroy it. However, it doesn't work, and the ship is [[CurbStompBattle appropriately stomped]]. That's what happens when your crew is called [[RedShirt Red Squad]].
** In another episode, Sisko takes a parallel-universe ''Defiant'' and defeats a much larger, much heavier armed battleship. The ''Defiant''[='=]s smaller profile and maneuverability win out over the larger ship, flying so close to the thing they couldn't get a lock on it. The main difference is that [[TheCaptain Sisko]] is the one in command, and his skill and experience (and some backup from the Mirror Bashir and Dax) allow him to pull off what Red Squad would later fail at.
* ''Series/StarTrekPicard'':
** In "[[Recap/StarTrekPicardS1E04AbsoluteCandor Absolute Candor]]", ''La Sirena'' versus Kar Kantar's Bird-of-Prey, with a surprise assist from Seven of Nine; the heroes in their small vessels manage to disable the warlord's larger ship.
** In "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1", the Coppelian Orchids are dwarfed by the Borg Cube, but three of them are able to neutralize the Artifact and drag it down to the planet surface.
* In ''Series/That70sShow'' Kelso attempts to beat up a guy who Jackie kissed ([[spoiler:totally ignoring the fact that he's done ''far worse'' with other girls at the drop of a hat]]), but he and his friends are quite shocked to find he's just picked on a black belt.

* The series ''Series/{{Kings}}'' is a modern-day retelling of the David story. In the pilot, plucky young soldier [[TheChosenOne David Shepherd]] goes behind enemy lines to rescue some hostages - one of whom turns out to be the crown prince - and single-handedly goes up against a "Goliath" tank.
* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' "Scott of the Antarctic" sketch. Scott does this while facing the 20-foot high Electric Penguin, even the extent of taking off his jock strap and using it as a sling.
* Villainous example, inverted: In the original ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'', normal-size Tommy has a typical CurbStompBattle with four Rangers (Jason being captured), and they summon the Megazord, which quickly overpowers him. When he is later grown to giant size by Rita, he returns the favor.
* Prince James vs. The Brute in ''Series/OnceUponATime''. Like [[Series/GameOfThrones Oberyn vs. Gregor]], this doesn't end well for either man.

* The first episode of ''Series/WorldOnFire'' features the RealLife example of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defence_of_the_Polish_Post_Office_in_Danzig Defense of the Polish Post Office in Danzig]] (now Gdansk). This trope is also name dropped when Nancy Campbell comments on the inequality between the German Army and the Polish Army:
--> '''Nancy:''' You know what the Poles have got? Bicycles. You know what the Germans have got? Tanks! Panzers. I reported on David versus Goliath in Spain, it didn't turn out like it did in the Bible.

* Season 3 of ''Series/TheExpanse'' has the former MCRN frigate ''Pinus Contorta'' (formerly the ''Rocinante'') engage an unnamed UNN ''Leonidas''-class battleship. While MCRN ships are typically better than their UNN counterparts, it's still a fight between a frigate and a battleship — completely different weight classes. Through some ingenious maneuvering and novel use of torpedoes, the ''Contorta'' is able to outmaneuver and disable the larger warship.
* Happens all the time in ''Series/DoctorWho,'' with the Doctor (a lone MartialPacifist who DoesntLikeGuns, with almost no powers beyond SuperIntelligence and ResurrectiveImmortality) against armies and empires. Result? Almost every time, the Doctor wins.
-->'''Dalek 1:''' [[AC:But you have no weapons! No defenses! No ''plan''!]]
-->'''The Doctor:''' Yeah! And doesn't that scare you to death?
* In ''Series/RobotWars'' the House Robots were producer-created enforcer robots that [[MyRulesAreNotYourRules weren't built with any regard for the restrictions placed on competitors]] and used as rolling hazards and [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown executioners of competitors that had been counted out]]. Occasionally the contestants would have a go at the House Robots themselves and sometimes even beat them, particularly the lighter ones like Shunt and Matilda, but the big boys Sir Killalot and Mr. Psycho were normally too much for even the most foolhardy roboteers to take on. However, during the Commonwealth Carnage event in the Extreme 2 series, the 99kg Firestorm IV tried to get under Mr. Psycho (who weighed ''750kg'') as he was disposing of Firestorm's beaten opponent, Panic Attack, and, well... it's the page video for a reason.
* In ''Series/MasterChef'', season 9 contestant Shanika refers to the story after being picked to go head-to-head in episode 14 in a black forest cake challenge where the odds were against her (her opponent Emily is a strong cook who also specializes in baking, she was chosen by Emily specifically to be knocked out, and was allergic to the main ingredient (chocolate) so she couldn't taste her dish to be sure it was presentable)...and ''winning''.
-->'''Shanika:''' David has beat Goliath.

* Marko Stunt of Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling is 5'2" and 123 pounds - and he wrestles all of his opponents (generally in the 5'8" - 6'3" range) as if they were seven foot monsters that he can only take down with titanic effort.

* [[http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/05/11/090511fa_fact_gladwell?printable=true How David Beats Goliath]] is an article in ''Magazine/TheNewYorker'' about this trope and its subversions. It talks mainly about a girls' basketball team reaching the National Junior Basketball Championships due solely to the full-court press (Instead of the 'normal' method of immediately retreating to guard your own basket when the other team has possession, the full-court press is aggressively defending against the other team in their own court.) The main reason that the full-court press worked is that it wears down both teams' stamina much faster - and the girls' team had worked almost solely on building stamina. The girls' team rode roughshod over other teams with taller girls and better shooting technique due to the fact that the other team couldn't get shots off due to having the ball stolen when they weren't expecting it, or losing possession for not bringing the ball back into play or in the other team's court fast enough. In some cases, they had 25-0 leads over other teams. The girls were then castigated by the other teams for playing 'unfairly' and not letting the teams 'develop basketball skills' - to the degree that fights nearly broke out. The team then lost its final game by caving to pressure and playing the 'proper' way after the referee (supplied by the opposing team) called excessive amounts of fouls. The general moral of the story is that when David plays by Goliath's rules, David usually gets crushed. However, by changing his tactics, David can become the favorite over Goliath. However, Goliath will respond in kind by using social pressure to force David to fight by Goliath's rules.

* Super Bowl XLII is an absolutely perfect example of this trope. The New England Patriots (boasting what many called the greatest offense in NFL history), led by quarterback Tom Brady (league MVP by a large margin, with stats worthy of some deeming his 2007 season the best ever of any NFL quarterback) and Randy Moss (who had scored the most touchdowns of any wide receiver in NFL history that year), went undefeated in the regular season, a 16-0 mark that no other team had ever accomplished, and on top of that, defeated the same New York Giants they would face in the Super Bowl in Week 17 of the regular season in what was an extremely climactic battle. Their opponents, the aforementioned Giants, were a Wild Card team who had barely made it into the Playoffs, had to eke out wins in the post-season on the road by slim margins, and had many players sidelined by injury. The Giants, however, used their effective pass rush to force Tom Brady into quick throws. The Patriots were unable to score the large amount of points they were accustomed to, and this kept the Giants in the game. Despite Brady still performing at a high level in the game, his team scored only two touchdowns (in ironic fashion, before the big game, Brady literally laughed at the fact that Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress claimed that the Patriots would only score 17 points in the Super Bowl-- the team averaged roughly 35 points per game in the regular season). The Giants would win the game after an improbable play in which Eli Manning escaped the grasp of numerous would-be New England tacklers and hurled the football down the field, which was caught by David Tyree by pinning it against his own helmet as New England's Rodney Harrison forcefully tackled him and attempted to pry the ball loose. New York would then score the winning touchdown and force a turnover on downs as the Patriots attempted to get in field-goal range with 29 seconds remaining.

** The legendary ''Alcorconazo'', in which the most successful European side in history, Real Madrid, were swept away by third-tier Alcorcón in the Spanish King's Cup. By the 50th minute of the first leg, the score read Alcorcón 4 - 0 Real Madrid. Madrid, in fact, did not score until the 80th minute of the second leg, when the outcome was already all but settled.

* The 2020 Carolina Hurricanes had this happen during a regular season NHL game against the Toronto Maple Leafs after both of their goalies went down with injuries and they had to resort to the EBUG -Emergengy Back-Up Goalie- who was a [[MemeticMutation 42-year-old Zamboni driver who worked for the Leafs]] [[note]] To be more specific, he worked for their farm team, the Toronto Marlies [[/note]]. David Ayres -the EBUG in question- allowed goals on the first two shots that he faced before stopping the next eight shots on goal and Caroline won the game 6–3, David Ayres becoming the first emergency goaltender to record a win in NHL history. [[NeverLiveItDown The match lives in infamy with the Leafs fanbase to this day]].

** David Haye at 6'3" and 215 pounds took on the 7'0" over 22 stone (310 pounds) Nikolai Valuev, the heaviest boxer in history - 'Goliath Versus Bigger Goliath' if you will. Even though he broke his wrist in the attempt he came out on top. "He is the ugliest thing I have ever seen. I have watched ''Lord of the Rings'' and films with strange looking people, but for a human being to look like he does is pretty shocking." - Haye. ** Every match David Haye had at heavyweight, really. Audley Harrison, Monte Barrett, John Ruiz, Dereck Chisora, Mark de Mori, and Arnold Gjergjaj all outweighed Haye by between 10 and 40 pounds in their respective fights- and all of them got [[CurbStompBattle crushed]]. His athleticism, skill, and [[MegatonPunch insanely disproportionate punching power]] carried him to victory. The exception was when he challenged unified world heavyweight champion [[StrongAndSkilled Wladimir Klitschko]], who was actually [[LightningBruiser faster]], [[MusclesAreMeaningful harder-hitting]], and [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter at least as skilled]] as Haye, on top of being [[MusclesAreMeaningful 6'6 and 245 pounds]]. Haye lost handily, though it should be noted that unlike most of Wladimir's other opponents, Haye did manage to put in a decent showing by winning a few rounds and finishing the fight on his feet without major damage, which is a small victory.
** Possibly the best example in boxing was Evander Holyfield vs Nikolai Valuev. Holyfield was a bit smaller than Haye; Valuev, as noted, was seven feet tall and weighed over three hundred and ten pounds. Valuev also ended his career with a 50-2 record (having never been knocked down, stopped, or even UD'd) and 34 knockouts, so MusclesAreMeaningless was definitely ''not'' in effect. On top of this, Holyfield was ''46'', practically ancient by boxing standards; even taking on a respectable contender his own size at that age would have been considered extremely impressive, much less a world heavyweight champion over a foot taller than him, whose weight advantage over Holyfield was bigger than the advantage Holyfield would hold over a flyweight. Despite this, Holyfield put up a damn good fight and only lost by a close majority decision- and many commentators still contend that he won the fight.

* Every scenario in the Gray Death Legion and Black Thorns sourcebooks for ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' has the player, as the protagonists, constantly outnumbered and outgunned, sometimes by a considerable margin. The best example of such an underdog battle is the Gray Death Legion battle "Alone on Trellwan," where a lone Gray Death ''[[MasterOfNone Shadow Hawk]]'' piloted by Grayson Carlyle himself is challenged by a ''[[MacrossMissileMassacre Crusader]]'' and a ''[[TheDreaded Marauder]]'' and is expected to escape alive as well as destroy the ''Crusader'' on his way out.
** In the lore, the Reunification War is generally seen as this, pitting the 1000+ world-sized Star League, backed with the latest technology from the Terran Hegemony and no Ares Accords holding them back, against the Periphery realms of the Magistracy of Canopus, the Outworlds Alliance and the Taurian Concordat (combined having around 130 worlds, and stuck on opposite sides of the Star League with no ability to form a united front). The war took the Star League 20 years, mostly from having to fight the Taurians inch by inch. The Rim Worlds Republic, also a hypothetical target, averted the trope by [[KnowWhenToFoldEm surrendering almost immediately]].

* The entire premise of ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus''. The hero, an ordinary young man, fights a series of creatures ranging in size from a large bull, to a literal skyscraper... and wins, mostly due to being clearly MadeOfIron. Plus some help from a horse that's apparently Made of Adamantium.

* In ''Mike Tyson's VideoGame/PunchOut'', protagonist Little Mac fights a series of boxers who are all at least twice his size.
* In ''VideoGame/HouseOfTheDead'', there's always at least one fight, most times more than once, where the two not-so-physically-imposing AMS agents face off against a giant behemoth (Chariot in the original, Strength in ''II'', Death in ''III'', and Temperance in ''IV'').
* Kishima Kouma as Goliath vs. Nanaya Kirei as David. Kouma has essentially no skill whatsoever because he doesn't ''need'' any. His skin is tougher than steel, he can punch through trees effortlessly and doesn't tire. Kiri is essentially the most skilled assassin on Earth. Unfortunately, he's an assassin and not a magus or anything like that, so he's reduced to hammering at one side of Kouma's neck and then hitting the other to try and break it. The difference in skill is so huge that his opponent doesn't even realize he almost died with that attack. Key word: Almost. [[SubvertedTrope Goliath wins]]. Foregone conclusion, though, if you've played ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}''.

* ''VideoGame/MobileSuitGundamClimaxUC''. Have fun fighting the [[MightyGlacier Psyco Gundam]] with your Gundam Mark II.

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'':
** Sonic versus the Death Egg Robot in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2'' - also against similar mechas in ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles''. Also, the Egg Emperor in ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes''.
** Somewhat of a staple for final bosses in later games which adopt the MonsterOfTheWeek formula, especially [[VideoGame/SonicUnleashed Dark Gaia]] who's roughly the size of a ''continent''. That Sonic usually handles such enemies in his SuperMode however removes any pretense of him being at a disadvantage.
* ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'' and its [[VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes2DesperateStruggle sequel]]: we have bosses using huge laser cannons (Speed Buster), a huge sentient earthquake machine (Letz Shake) and a crazed tycoon that first bloats into a hulking bloke, and eventually inflates ''to the size of a blimp''(Jasper Batt Jr.)
* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'', you have the battle between the outdated, and damaged Metal Gear Rex, versus the ''Anti-Metal Gear'' unit, Metal Gear Ray. Despite having the better machinery, Snake still manages to defeat Liquid and his Ray. However, [[spoiler: it's only because he ''[[ILetYouWin let him win]]'']].
* In ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', the Scout and the Heavy have a fierce in-universe rivalry. The Scout is a beanpole-thin, short guy, while the heavy is a ''huge'' muscleman. Of course, which is the hero and which is the villain depends on which team each is on, and whether or not the Scout can actually defeat the Heavy in a fight depends on how good (or how poor) a player is using one of them, but one good example where the Scout does win occurs in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geNMz0J9TEQ "Meet the Scout"]].
* Generally averted in ''VideoGame/SwordOfTheStars''. Superior micro will only take you so far in a tactical encounter when the enemy outnumbers or outmasses - or both! -you, at least in a straight fight as opposed to [[WeHaveReserves repeatedly throwing ships at the enemy]] [[DeathOfAThousandCuts to wear them down]]. To reinforce the need to outnumber, you get extra command points for every so many ships of each class more than the enemy you have, up to a certain limit, allowing you to field more ships than the Arbitrary Headcount Limit would normally give you. Get enough and you can deploy extra dreadnoughts. While destroyers can occasionally beat dreadnoughts, this relies on swarming and the dreadnought-user failing to include light weapons on his ships and is far from foolproof.

* Bosses tend to be much bigger than the protagonist in a lot of games, especially 2-D side scrollers.
* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' has Mario (and Luigi) vs Bowser. Especially evident when he does AttackOfThe50FootWhatever.
* In the final route of ''VideoGame/DuelSaviorDestiny'' you're required to [[spoiler:beat Downy with Sel]]. Not only is your opponent ''way'' stronger in terms of story, he's also at a much higher [[CharacterTiers tier]] than the character you have to use. In fact, [[spoiler:Selbium]] is actually significantly ''weaker'' than the normal units you use, though his style matches up against [[spoiler:Downy]] fairly well.
* Most of the bosses in ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'' fought by the heroine are the size of skyscrapers (at least!). Ironically, to humans, Bayonetta is quite the StatuesqueStunner.
* The [[labelnote:bosses]]Apocalypse, Onslaught, Abyss and Galactus[[/labelnote]] in the ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom'' series.

* ''VideoGame/TransformersFallOfCybertron'' ends up having this on both ends. For Autobot segments, most anything that tries to stop Grimlock (who dwarfs most everything in the game) is the David to his Goliath, particularly with the target of his RoaringRampageOfRevenge [[EvilGenius Shockwave]], one of the smaller characters in the game that doesn't even come up to Grimlock's knee, but is much smarter than his adversary, though it isn't enough to stop him. For when the player is the David, using Jazz against Bruticus, the former being the shortest playable character in the game, and the latter being by far the largest.

* Happens often throughout the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series, though noticeable examples include Ursula in [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 Atlantica]] [[spoiler: and [[VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance Destiny Islands]]]], Sark in [[{{Film/Tron}} Space Paranoids]] and Gantu in [[WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch Deep Space]].
* You can get mods for ''VideoGame/EmpireTotalWar'' and ''VideoGame/NapoleonTotalWar'' which allow you to play as the tiny emergent factions, such as Scotland, Punjab, or Mexico. Surpassing the major world powers is very difficult, but certainly doable.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'', the Railroad is made up of a loose confederation of idealistic Wastelanders operating from underground safehouses, with a handful of Synths and scientists of note. Their main rivals, the Institute, are arguably the single-most powerful faction in the entire Commonwealth, with vast stockpiles of resources and a monopoly on advanced technology. [[spoiler:[[MeleeATrois Then]] the Brotherhood of Steel turn up with their CoolAirship and armies of knights in PoweredArmor. It's possible for the Railroad to smack down both of these factions in their ending.]]
** One possible outcome features the Minutemen, an army of wastelander militia with weapons which qualify as jury-rigged SchizoTech, versus [[spoiler:the Brotherhood of Steel with their Vertibirds and high-tech armoured Knights. Depending on how much you built up the Castle, it can either be a hard-won fight or an [[CurbStompBattle absolutely humiliating thrashing]] for the Brotherhood]].
* ''VisualNovel/{{Sunrider}}'': Depending on the player’s choices, the three-kilometre long PACT dreadnought Legion can finally meet its end when the Sunrider, a ship less than a quarter of its size, fires its [[WaveMotionGun Vanguard Cannon]] straight down the barrel of the Legion’s own WaveMotionGun at point-blank range.

* Ever played ''VideoGame/DarkSouls''? Nearly every boss fight is against something massively bigger and more powerful than your puny undead warrior character. But no matter how mismatched or daunting the fight may seem, [[WeakButSkilled you can win with clever tactics, great reflexes]] and a {{Determinator}} attitude.

* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' has an interesting example. While pretty much any main character vs boss can qualify an interesting example happens in chapter 3-4 of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4''. Common mooks that both Ada and Leon can dispatch very easy become more dangerous as the player has to play as the civilian Ashley. Leon is already taller than her and the male mooks are taller than HIM! Furthermore since Ashley has no combat ability seeing Ashley facing one is a sight to behold.
* ''VideoGame/EnterTheGungeon'' has the Sling weapon as an allusion to the trope namer. It's stated that the weapon should only be used as a last resort but it does decent damage the larger enemies are, and gives a massive 4X boost to its already respectable damage when fighting a boss.
* ''VideoGame/NoStraightRoads'' includes battles against a DJ that turns into a giant, a giant digital mermaid, a child prodigy's mother that's ''already'' turned giant, and a cyborg admiral that pilots a [[HumongousMecha robot dispenser]].
* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter''. Big scary wyvern (or [[KillerGorilla gorilla]], or [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragon]], or GiantEnemyCrab, etc.) the size of a truck takes on a human. The human, with their advanced armor and weaponry, wins ''regularly'' (though it helps that said gear is made from ''another'' one of said beasts.)

* In ''Webcomic/NipAndTuck'', in the [[ShowWithinAShow movie within a movie]] storyline "Rebel Cry," it is first subverted at the beginning of the storyline when the small, scrappy Rebel forces are thoroughly trounced by the Federation military... then played straight through the rest of the arc when the the pilot of the Rebel Cry, pushed one step too far by the Federation's punitive rules, steals back his own ship and proceeds to make monkeys out of (in order) a Federation battleship commander, an Federation battle fleet, and the all-powerful Federation itself...

* Taylor, the protagonist of ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', frequently goes up against characters who massively outclass her in SuperWeight, and wins (or at least survives) through [[AwesomenessByAnalysis analysis]], [[IndyPloy improvisation]], [[FlawExploitation manipulation]], and a sizable helping of [[CombatPragmatist viciousness]].
* In ''LetsPlay/TwitchPlaysPokemonRed'', one of the attempts at the battle with Lance included a one-on-one match between Red's Venomoth, ATV, and Lance's notoriously powerful Dragonite twenty-six levels higher than it. ATV poisoned Dragonite, and proceeded to [[DeathOfAThousandCuts take it down]] [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu without suffering so much as a scratch.]] It did not end up being the winning run, but ATV had suddenly earned a lot of respect by the mob.

* WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse versus any foe he may come across, be it WesternAnimation/{{Pete}}, Willy the Giant, or someone else entirely.
%%* WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry: Jerry versus Tom.
%%* WesternAnimation/TweetyAndSylvester: Sylvester versus Tweety.
%%* WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}}: Popeye versus Bluto/Brutus.
%%* WesternAnimation/TheRoadRunner versus Wile E. Coyote.
%%* WesternAnimation/{{Droopy}} versus his opponents.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', Timmy regularly contends with TheBully Francis. The episode "Kung Timmy" has them actually fight.

* [[AcePilot JT Marsh]] vs [[SuperSoldier Emperor Phaeton]] at the end of Season 1 of ''WesternAnimation/ExoSquad''. Marsh's jet-type frame is completely outclassed by the unit Phaeton is using. It shrugged off his missiles. It survived being dipped in lava. Marsh only won through a clever gambit and superior piloting.
* On ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'', Jimmy was a wrestler in one episode, often in this situation. It was a CurbStompBattle until Heloise stepped in.
* One fight featured in ''WesternAnimation/CelebrityDeathmatch'' was ''quite literally'' a David vs. Goliath match: ''Creator/{{David|Spade}}'' [[Creator/DavidSpade Spade]] vs. Creator/StevenSeagal (a ''Goliath'' compared to him). The "literal" aspect even applies to the killing move: Spade using an improvised slingshot.
* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot''. During the start of the third season its Enzo as David and Megabyte as Goliath, and Enzo completely fails to beat him. Megabyte could kill Enzo anytime he wants to, and there's nothing Enzo can do about it. Enzo needs a TimeSkip just to reach Megabyte's level, which renders them the same size.
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' vs. just about anybody and any monster, but most notably the mega-Mojo Jojo in [[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirlsMovie the movie]].

* Often occurs in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' when Batman has take a superpowered enemy without the help of the guest hero. Despite the show's RefugeInAudacity, he has often ended losing, notable instances being against Professor Zoom, a temporarily evil Superman, and ComicBook/{{Darkseid}}, which ended with a flat CurbStompBattle against him.
* ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'' at the start of the show's third season when the X-Men go to stop TheJuggernaut, who in their previous fight, the most they could do was remove his helmet and allow Xavier to use his PsychicPowers to telepathically knock him, which they only were able to pull off with the Brotherhood's help. Now they were on their own, with no help, and despite their teamwork, the most they can do is avoid dying till ComicBook/{{Rogue}} manages to use her PowerParasite ability to knock him out.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' has few cases of this:
** In "The Waterbending Master", Katara gets angry with [[OldMaster Pakku]]'s sexist belief in not teaching women [[MakingASplash waterbending]] meant for fighting and challenges him. As Katara is still learning waterbending herself and has had no formal training and is going up against a master, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome it ends as well you'd expect]] although making Pakku exert himself ''at all'' before witnesses proves Katara's point even before recognizing her necklace reminds Pakku of what his sexism drove away decades ago.
** In "Sokka's Master", Sokka can't take hiding from the Fire Nation MasterSwordsmen Piandao that he's from the Water Tribe, leading to Piando challenging him to a duel. Sokka, only having a day of training with the sword and was never that good at in the first place, goes up against the man regarded as the best swordsmen in the history of the Fire Nation. While he ultimately loses (and Piando spares him, having always known where he was from and not caring), he manages to hold out for surprisingly long period by blinding Piandao and using his quick thinking to stay away from him.
** Both fights in the GrandFinale "Sozin's Comet." As Zuko is taken out his fight with [[TheDragon Azula]] thanks to [[TakingTheBullet diving in front of lightning attack aimed at Katara]], Katara is left to fight Azula while Sozin's Comet has greatly enhanced her [[PlayingWithFire firebending]] to the point where Katara can barely block a single strike from her. But thanks to Azula's overconfidence and mental instability, Katara manages to lure her over grate over water and restrain her, barely stopping her.
** The FinalBattle between Aang and [[BigBad Ozai]], which also combines a KidHero facing a LargeAndInCharge villain. While Aang has learned to use all four elements, Sozin's Comet made Ozai so powerful that even though Aang has learned firebending he can barely slow him down, with the closest thing he gets to winning being able redirect Ozai's lightning attack, which thanks to Aang's refusal to kill, he blows. [[spoiler: [[ItMakesSenseInContext Aang only wins because a hit from Ozai]] [[NiceJobFixingItVillain accidentally allows Aang to enter]] the [[SuperMode Avatar State]].]]
* Creator/HannaBarbera has what must have been the two tiniest heroes--[[WesternAnimation/TheAtomAntShow Atom Ant]] and WesternAnimation/InchHighPrivateEye. While Atom Ant had atomic superpowers, Inch High used his wits, ascribing to the adage "the bigger they are, the harder they fall."
* A week after Atom Ant premiered, Hal Seeger's ''Fearless Fly'' surfaced on ABC's ''WesternAnimation/MiltonTheMonster'' show.
* In an episode from ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'', Clockwork Smurf becomes the proverbial David to the Goliath that is Gargamel and Balthazar's wrecking machine giant that they use against King Gerard's castle. Clockwork attempts to fell this machine giant with just a rock and sling. It bounces off the machine with no effect. The two wizards use the machine to pound Clockwork to a pulp. Fortunately, Bigmouth the ogre, whom Clockwork befriended in the episode, comes and picks up the machine giant, tosses it, and destroys it in one throw, sending Gargamel and Balthazar swimming away in fear.
* ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'':
** The confrontation between She-Ra and Catra in the first season finale has very heavy overtones of this. While Catra has her own share of SuperStrength she would have no chance of winning an extended exchange of blows; so she relies on speed, agility, [[WeUsedToBeFriends a talent for getting into her oldest friend's head]], and [[DrawAggro superior tactical acumen]] to gain an advantage in the greater battle for Bright Moon. The visual element is also present, with She-Ra being a broad shouldered giantess who looms over most of the cast while Catra is a wiry {{catgirl}} of middling-for-humans height at best.
** The fight between Catra and [[spoiler:Hordak]] at the end of season 4 has elements of this. [[spoiler:Hordak is twice her size, endowed with SuperStrength due to his cybernetic exoskeleton, armed with a laser cannon, and ''enraged''. At first, Hordak has Catra on the run through the Fright Zone, but she subdued him through a combination of superior agility and exploitation of his AchillesHeel (ripping out the First Ones crystal powering his cybernetic armor).]]
* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'': In "Temporal Edict", Commander Jack Ransom is dwarfed by the humongous Vindor, but the former defeats the latter during the TrialByCombat.

* The Battle of Rorke's Drift, during which a platoon of around 150 men - a considerable proportion of which were ill - successfully stood off between 3 and 4,000 veteran Zulu warriors for over twelve hours with few casualties... after an army of British veterans had been massacred almost to a man (barely 50 of over 1700 troops) by the army of which said Zulu warriors were but a detachment (one that hadn't seen action) earlier the same day at the Battle of Isandlhwana.

* The Creator/MarvelComics storyline ''ComicBook/ActsOfVengeance'' worked in this manner as a team of villains gathered together to pit heroes against foes they likely never faced before. This saw oddball match ups such as ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} against [[Characters/MarvelComicsUltron Ultron]], ComicBook/AlphaFlight against [[Characters/MarvelComicsMacGargan the Scorpion]], ComicBook/PowerPack against Typhoid Mary and more.

* The {{trope namer|s}} is the aforementioned story in the [[Literature/TheBible Old Testament]] [[Literature/BooksOfSamuel Book of 1 Samuel]], where David kills the large and fearsome Goliath first by [[SufferTheSlings knocking him down with a rock launched from a sling]] and then [[OffWithHisHead cutting off the giant's head]] with [[{{BFS}} his own sword]]. Goliath, depending on translation, was either just under seven feet tall or just under ''nine feet tall'' and clad in nearly 150 pounds of bronze armor; David was in his late teens and completely unarmored. [[note]] From the biblical account, it has been argued that Goliath was suffering from complications of gigantism that affected his mobility and vision, making him slow to react and blind from some angles. The Bible account stresses that Goliath needed an attendant to place his shield and guide his steps. While this was not unknown in armies of the day - the shield referred to was a large slab of wood and hide that could not be carried and needed to be emplaced - circumstantial evidence strongly suggests Goliath suffered from aggravated gigantism, which would allow a smaller, nimbler, foe to attack from his blind sides.[[/note]][[note]]Claims about Goliath being disabled by gigantism, however, does require one to disregard the fact that Goliath was the ''champion'' and greatest fighter among the Philistine army, which would certainly imply great prowess and an ability to handle major combat; this was not a cripple with a glaring weakness, it was a hardened veteran who knew what he was doing.[[/note]] The application of this trope in the story has suffered somewhat from TechnologyMarchesOn; a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sling_%28weapon%29 sling]] is ''not'' a slingshot, it [[LethalJokeItem hits like a bullet]]. What David did was essentially the same thing as [[CombatPragmatist pulling out a pistol]] and [[BoomHeadshot shooting Goliath in the face]]; compare the scene in ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' when Franchise/IndianaJones immediately grabs his revolver and disposes of the goon waving a sword at him. It was also something of a cultural in-joke; Hebrew militia units frequently deployed slings in large numbers thanks to shepherds using them against predators.

* The Creator/MarvelComics storyline ''ComicBook/ActsOfVengeance'' worked in this manner as a team of villains gathered together to pit heroes against foes they likely never faced before. This saw oddball match ups such as ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} against [[Characters/MarvelComicsUltron Ultron]], ComicBook/AlphaFlight against [[Characters/MarvelComicsMacGargan the Scorpion]], ComicBook/PowerPack against [[Characters/MarvelComicsTyphoidMary Typhoid Mary]] and more.

If the villain is literally ''physically'' larger than the hero, that's EvilIsBigger. [[UpToEleven Up the scale]] and [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu You Just Punched Out Cthulhu]]. See also PintSizedPowerhouse. In some works, this trope is why ElephantsAreScaredOfMice.