Muscles Are Meaningless / Film

Useless muscles in Film.

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Animated

• Disney's Hercules was small and gangly in his youth but already possessed Super-Strength thanks to his godly parentage. He does grow into a properly Heroic Build after training, but the demonstrable difference is more of control than power.
• In How to Train Your Dragon, Astrid doesn't seem to have much muscle mass at all, and yet she can still hurl giant hammers with enough force to knock out dragons. She can also push her scrawnier Love Interest Hiccup around like a rag doll.
• The Incredibles invokes this frequently.
  • Elastigirl is very small (though shapely) compared to her husband Mr Incredible and other supers, yet utilizing her elasticity she can easily knock dozens of burly dudes (even shoving a bunch armed guards in a closet), throw a manhole cover around, stop a train and generally be an Action Mom.
  • Frozone is also much less burly than most heroes shown and focuses on using his An Ice Person powers but he can still carry multiple people over his shoulder inside a burning building.
  • Dash is a small boy who can stagger and knock over full-grown men with his Super-Speed as well tank punches.
  • Voyd in Incredibles 2 is far stronger than her figure would suggest, able to knock Violet around like a ragdoll.
• In Kung Fu Panda, all of the Furious Five seem to have about the same amount of strength. It seems semi-plausible (Tigress is the biggest and seems to be the strongest), until you get to Mantis, who is an actual praying mantis. He has no problem throwing Po around. And though he does struggle to hold up the rope bridge that all the others plus Tai Lung are fighting on, he still holds out a lot longer than he reasonably should have.
• The titular character in the Pecos Bill segment of Melody Time possesses superhuman strength despite his scrawny build and lack of muscles.
• Although it isn't really focused on, just noted in passing, Peter Pan is really strong but built like an ordinary pre-teen.
• Son of Batman: Damian Wayne, despite being an 11 year old kid, is able to overpower grown men and hurl them around.
• In Tangled, Rapunzel can haul a grown woman up the height of the tower, without so much as a pulley, and inflict serious damage with her frying pan. And remains a slight little waif.
• Wreck-It Ralph: Despite being a tiny, skinny-armed little guy, Fixit Felix is able to hold Calhoun (who's twice his height and covered in armor) with one arm and hang onto a piece of Laffy Taffy — supporting the weight of both of them — with the other. She's noticeably both surprised and impressed.

Live-Action

• In Blade Runner 2049 Luv, being a Nexus-9 Replicant, is far stronger than any normal human woman. In her second scene she shoves open a heavy vault door and even succeeds in overpowering the protagonist K who's a Replicant like her.
• DC Extended Universe:
  • Averted with most of the Kryptonians in Man of Steel with Superman and Zod being muscle-bound, however played straight with Faora (Zod's Dragon) who is smaller and more petite than her male colleagues but still capable of throwing the muscly sun-powered Superman around. Ursa in Superman II is of the same mold.
  • Wonder Woman is the best example of this. Some of the fanbase were initially against Gal Gadot's casting as Diana in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. On the one hand, she was Miss Israel in 2004, which fits Diana's canonical designation as the World's Most Beautiful Woman. On the other hand, while she's certainly not willowy, neither is she the very defined Amazonian Beauty which is often depicted in present-day comics. The complaining died down when Gal turned out to be very good at playing this trope in both Batman v Superman and her solo movie, looking and acting like a warrior goddess despite being smaller than, for example, Ben Affleck as the genetically gifted and incredibly well trained, but still human and mortal, Batman. Possibly her service in the Israel Defense Forces had something to do with this. Of course, it is clear Gal Gadot did bulk up to play Diana.
  • Enchantress from Suicide Squad at one point beats up most of the cast despite being a comparatively smaller woman. Though being controlled by Eldritch Abomination is obviously a strength boost.
  • Mera from Justice League and Aquaman is less buff than Wonder Woman, but she’s still an Atlantean, making her strong enough to physically defeat the heavily armored Men-of-War.
  • In SHAZAM! (2019), Doctor Sivana, unlike the titular hero doesn't get any muscle mass when he gets his superpowers, yet he is just as strong and fast as Shazam. Mary and Darla when they get their Super Modes aren't as bulky as their adoptive brothers but no less super strong.
  • The only male hero who isn't a super muscular powerhouse is The Flash in Justice League though his powers mean he hits hard without the need for muscle.
• Kick-Ass takes this almost to the point of parody with Hit-Girl, a character who can stab someone so hard that her blades penetrate through the door behind them and can take a man's leg off below the knee with a single cut, despite being a prepubescent 11 year-old schoolgirl.
• Deadpool gives us an interesting case. While Angel Dust is a powerfully built woman (played by Gina Carano), she's still significantly smaller than Colossus and lacks his organic steel skin. Despite this, she matches him in both strength and durability.
• Played for laughs in The Gamers, a film based on a Tabletop Game where the player characters are at the mercy of the Random Number God. Faced with a locked gate, the muscular Barbarian Hero lands a Critical Failure and throws his back out, so the reedy elf forces it open without effort.
• Barring Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack!, none of the various Godzillas of the Millennium series have been as ripped as the Heisei and Monsterverse Godzillas — and are still no less powerful. In fact, the Godzilla of Final Wars is both the slimmest and, before the anime trilogy, arguably most powerful Godzilla.
• In The Guardian (2006), a movie about the US Coast Guard's rescue swimmers, one of the candidates is extremely well built and is washed out on the first day due to cramping up during a swim. Kevin Costner's character dismisses him with a comment that muscle doesn't float. Truth In Television, as being a rescue swimmer is more about stamina than strength, and heavily muscled people tend to gas out quicker. Even NAVY Seals tend to have lean builds with a bit of flab.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, is no beanpole, but he's nowhere near as muscular as Cap, Thor, or even Hawkeye. As seen in Iron Man 2, Tony does do boxing with his bodyguard Happy and can whack Whiplash on the head with a racecar door but aside from his suits of armor, wealth, and extreme intelligence, he's just an average human. In Iron Man 3, Tony takes down a dozen guards with no Iron Man suit at all (though, in fairness, he is using ''heavily'' modified Home Depot gadgets) and in Captain America: Civil War, Tony briefly holds his own against Bucky using a combination of martial arts (Robert Downey Junior knows wing chun) and a wristwatch gauntlet. In Avengers: Infinity War Tony even physically grapples with the titan Thanos without his nanosuit. Sure he quickly gets beaten and impaled but the fact Tony remained conscious when the likes of Captain America and Hulk were taken out instantly by Thanos in a close-quarters fight is a compliment to Tony’s fortitude.
  • Played very straight with Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow. Though she's got a lithe figure, she can still take down Happy in one move and defeat an army of henchman in Iron Man 2. Natasha goes on to knock Hawkeye out cold and kills multiple Chitauri in The Avengers and most impressively holds her own against Bucky Barnes in Winter Soldier and Civil War despite his explicit Super-Strength. Natasha also duels Promixa Midnight and grievously wounds Corvus Glaive, two very deadly children of Thanos, which means Black Widow may well be the stronger than a Super-soldier.
  • Loki is probably the least muscular Asgardian/Ice Giant, or God for that matter, and is especially scrawny compared to his older brother Thor (thanks to him being played by Chris Hemsworth). However, as seen in Avengers, Loki can still effortlessly Neck Lift Tony Stark and throw him out a window as well as beat the very muscled Captain America around with ease. Plus, Loki can fight his brother Thor equally, as seen in the climax of his first movie and the first Avengers. Though he is still ultimately overpowered by his brother, the Hulk, and eventually Thanos.
    • Hela, Thor and Loki's older sister introduced in Ragnarok, is skinnier and smaller than Loki but she still mopped the floor with both her younger brothers. Took over Asgard single handedly and less we forget crushed Mjölnir (which is made from a dying star) in her barehand.
  • Bruce Banner when he isn't his near-unstoppable massive green alter-ego is a simple scientist who's shorter than Cap, Thor, and most of the cast (Mark Ruffalo ain't a big dude). Though in Ultron, Banner can still put Scarlet Witch in a headlock which she can't escape, and if she even attempted to...
    Wanda: I know you're angry.
    Banner: Oh, no, we're way past that. I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade.
  • Gamora, from Guardians of the Galaxy has the lithe, toned figure of the professionally trained dancer that Zoe Saldaña is. She effortlessly overpowers Peter Quill, who's taller and bulkier than she is. Even more impressively in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, she stops Drax (played by WWE's Dave Bautista) from flying out of the airlock by holding onto his safety rope. She later picks up and fires a gun that's the size of a small car and has to weigh at least a metric ton. This is justified since Gamora has Bio-Augmentation and cybernetic upgrades. Nebula is just as thin as Gamora, but just as strong and more savage, though she's an outright Cyborg.
  • Played within that, while she's stronger than any normal human or near-human species, she's far weaker than fellow teammate Drax (who effortlessly overpowers with one arm and nearly chokes her to death by accident), who has many times her muscle mass. Meanwhile, Drax himself gets overpowered by the tall and lean but (compared to Drax) much scrawnier Ronan.
  • Rocket can wield weapons bigger than he is, despite being a small Racoon. Like Gamora, this is justified due to Bio Augmentation.
  • Vision from Avengers: Age of Ultron, despite being very tall, is actually quite lean and not as cut/ripped/jacked as Thor, Cap, etc. Still, Vision is one of the strongest Avengers as a true Flying Brick.
  • Hope van Dyne, aka Wasp 2, isn't developed like Scott, aka Ant-Man (played by a bulked-up Paul Rudd). But with one punch to the nose, she floors him quicker than the Scary Black Man who punched down Scott in jail.
  Hope: That's how you punch.
  • Peter Parker aka Spider-Man fits this trope better than the rest of the Avengers, thanks to being the youngest hero and making him a Pint-Sized Powerhouse. Like his comic counterpart, Tom Holland who plays Spidey is quite wiry; pretty trim under his clothes (as seen in Homecoming) but still nowhere near as massive as the rest of his male peers. But this is to Peter's advantage as Bucky quickly found out in Civil War when he tried to punch Spidey with his cybernetic arm and Spidey effortlessly caught his fist, something not even Cap could do. Spidey, when not holding ferries together, also has enough super strength to knock around Cull Obsidian and Thanos around despite being a quarter their size. Lampshaded Out-of-Universe as several members of the cast in interviews lightheartedly tease Tom for being so small, but conversely they also marvel over how athletic he is.
  • Valkyrie in Thor: Ragnarok is shorter than Loki, but beats said demigod and capture him. She can even drag Thor around after knocking him out.
  • Thor in Avengers: Endgame loses his Heroic Build and becomes quite chubby due to his depression, but as the Final Battle shows Thor is still a super strong, super fast Demigod Lightning Bruiser who can take on Thanos. Though it's implied he has become rusty in the fives years since Avengers: Infinity War where he was at his peak.
• Justified in The Matrix by the obvious:
  Morpheus: Do you believe that my being stronger or faster has anything to do with my muscles in this place?
  Neo: (shakes his head)
  Morpheus: You think that's air you're breathing now?
  Neo:...!
• Miller's Crossing: The Bruiser of a Mook duo rolls up his sleeves to administer a warning beatdown on Tom, giving him a sporting chance to remove his own coat. Tom uses that chance to swing a chair into the bruiser's face. The bruiser whimpers and waddles from the room, pathetically nursing a bloody nose. A second later, the tiny old man slams open the door, speed-marches toward Tom, and his fist hardly fills the screen before blackout.
• Justified for force users in Star Wars in that the force is much more powerful than mere physical strength and can even enhance it, which means that both Jedi and Sith don't need to be extremely fit in order to defeat an opponent twice their size or lift heavy objects that would crush a normal person.
• In Terminator while the T-800 averts this what with being portayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, all the Terminators after him the T-1000, T-X, Marcus, Cameron, T-3000 and the Rev-9 aren't as nearly as muscly but are all twice as strong as the T-800. Also played straight with Grace from Dark Fate who while tall isn't noticeably muscular but thanks to some cyberntic upgrades has incredible strength.
• Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen has Optimus Prime dominating Megatron in battle, despite Prime being smaller and getting beat up by the latter in the first film. Justified in that Prime was distracted by his fear of collateral damage in the first film, whereas he can cut loose with no problems in the second.

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