Strong And Skilled / Comic Books

• Aquaman:
  • Aquaman has been trained to fight since he was a child allowing him to make effective use of his Atlantean physiology which grants him super strength, speed, agility, and durability, s. He's also got hydrokinetic powers thanks to his Trident and of course can communicate with ocean life, making them aid him in battle.
  • Aquaman's wife Mera has the standard Atlantean physiology (which has allowed her to fight Wonder Woman and even send Superman flying with a punch). She also has water powers even greater than her husband's and is quite skilled with them.
  • Garth, the original Aqualad, has an Atlantean physiology and has been a superhero since his teens. He is also a powerful and skilled sorcerer.
• Batman:
  • Whenever Bruce gets into Powered Armour he becomes this trope in full force having all his skills backed up with genuine Super-Strength. The Justice Buster and Hellbat suits in particular highlight how devastating Batman's experience is when he's enhanced by the suits, going toe to toe with some of the most powerful beings in existence all while still putting his genius intellect to good use.
    • Even without Powered Armor, the Batfamily are incredibly strong and fast for normal humans. An early and very clear example is when Batman faced a highly ranked heavyweight boxer in a pure boxing match and won in a single round through superior strength and fighting tactics.
  • Cassandra Cain is definitely this. She is one of the most skilled fighters in the DCU period and has surprisingly great strength, being capable of breaking steel swords and smash through concrete. Among the Bat-Family, she's only somewhat rivaled by Nightwing, Batman's Number Two, but on more than one occasion she's given both Bruce and Dick an extremely hard time. Although considering she's Lady Shiva's daughter this is unsurprising. Ironically, being so skilled at fighting has actually left Cass near-useless at everything else.
  • Jean-Paul Valley is the first first metahuman member of the Batfamily. A product of genetic experiments by the Order of St. Dumas, Jean-Paul possesses superhuman strength, speed and agility. He is also a trained martial artist, assassin and swordsman, having matched or defeated the likes of Batman, Bane, Deathstroke and Cassandra Cain. However, Azrael is more of a downplayed version of this trope as he is somewhat Unskilled, but Strong compared to these characters; when Deathstroke engaged Jean-Paul in a swordfight, he observed the latter's lack of technique with a sword.
  • Bane exemplifies this trope best out of all Bats's Rogues Gallery. Already very strong thanks to growing up in a prison, Bane also trained his mind studying books in his cell and became a Genius Bruiser in the process. If that wasn't enough Bane frequently injects Venom into his bloodstream giving him super strength to the extent where he can fight several metahumans and give Batman a very hard time. Like his nemesis, Bane is also an expert martial artist having received training from the League of Shadows.
    • Batman and Red Hood have taken Venom themselves and drastically enhanced their prowess as vigilantes but Batman swore off it after becoming addicted.
  • Killer Croc while overshadowed and subjected to The Worf Effect is actually quite skilled as well as strong being proficient at street fighting and wrestling. Indeed Croc actually overpowered Batman his first appearance, but later portrayals however would degrade him into Dumb Muscle (especially in comparison to Bane) with only a few exceptions Depending on the Writer.
  • Clayface is also one of the strongest of Batman's Rogues Gallery and thanks to his extensive shapeshifting ability is highly versatile in combat. One time Clayface went to Themyscira and absorbed the powers of Wonder Woman who, pre-New 52, was born from clay, and in another comic he even gave Supergirl a hard time.
• Blade may only be half vampire, but he clearly doesn't have half power. Even when he's using nothing other than melee skills, he typically dominates the average vampire or monster with nothing more than superior martial prowess.
• Black Canary. Besides her Super-Scream which is strong enough to shatter an entire city and hurt the likes of Superman and Amazo, she's an exceptional martial arts master, easily one of the best in her universe and has even sparred with Wonder Woman on multiple occasions.
• Black Panther in addition to having superhuman physiology thanks to the Heart Shaped Herb, is a martial arts master who has constantly fought the likes of Captain America and Spider-Man and easily kept up with them. T'challa is also strong and skilled enough to bring down charging rhinos and even fight the hulking Black Dwarf.
• Black Widow spent many years going through Training from Hell in the Red Room to become a Professional Killer, long before she got a Super Serum which made her strong enough to snap a man's neck with one kick. She also frequently fought superhumans, aliens and once ripped off a lizard man's tail and used it as a weapon.
• Captain America was elevated to just below superhuman levels by the Super Soldier Formula, but he's spent years gaining the discipline and training necessary to apply his abilities in situations far beyond what the formula's designer could have anticipated.
  • Bucky Barnes is of similar mold, having decades upon decades of training as a Kid Sidekick turned Professional Killer and topped it off by getting a cybernetic arm (which could break the cosmic cube) and after nearly dying was given the Infinity Formula which made him more superhuman. Bucky has regularly equaled Cap and even Wolverine in combat.
• Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel, is strong enough to lift trains and K.O T-Rexes all helped by the fact she's had extensive combat training in the military on top of being an ace pilot.
• Captain Marvel aka Shazam, is generally considered Superman's equal in strength but thanks to the Wisdom of Solomon he's extremely intelligent and skilled, though his immaturity (being a kid in a grown man's body) does get the better of him sometimes.
• In Disney Ducks Comic Universe Italian stories, Magica De Spell's just plain unstoppable thanks to great magic power and even greater skill— hence why she was given a Weaksauce Weakness.
• Fantastic Four:
  • Ben Grimm once fought Titania, a skinny snip transmuted into a Cute Bruiser by Doctor Doom. Though Titania is nearly as strong and as durable as Ben, Grimm still made short work of her, mentioning that he'd learned a few things in his years of battling baddies.
  • The Invisible Woman herself also qualifies, possessing Invisibility and an Imagination-Based Superpower, both of which she is very creative with. She is considered the most powerful and dangerous member of the Fantastic Four.
  • Doctor Doom much like Iron Man is a Gadgeteer Genius in Powered Armour who can lift buildings and go hand to hand against the likes of Spider-Man and even Hulk and is proficient in Functional Magic like Doctor Strange. Besides his strength Doom was taught martial arts by the monks in Tibet allowing to easily match both Captain America and Black Panther in a fight.
  • The Super Skrull has all the powers of the Fantastic Four and uses them in extremely creative and brutal ways as seen in his comic tie-in to Annihilation.
• The Flash: Wally West became this after he Took a Level in Badass and broke through the limitations on his speed. He frequently used his speed in all manner of creative ways and eventually surpassed his predecessor Barry Allen.
• The Incredible Hercules: Hercules is Marvel's most standout example of this trope. Possessing strength on par with the Hulk and Thor, he is also much more proficient at hand-to-hand battle than the Hulk, and possibly somewhat more than Thor. He has grappled the Hulk to the ground, easily defeated The Thing in a wrestling match, and almost choked out Thor. In some depictions, he is also a Walking Armory skilled in every form of combat, able to utilize anything from melee weapons like clubs, spears, and swords to long-range weapons like arrows, guns, and even grenades. Sometimes, all at once!
  • His half-brother Ares is this as well, as expected of a War God.
• The Incredible Hulk:
  • Hulk himself becomes this in Planet Hulk. Partaking in the Gladiator Games on Sakaar, he soon understands strength alone is not enough to make it by and quickly becomes more crafty to ensure his victories, especially since he was suffering from Drama-Preserving Handicap. Cut to World Breaker Hulk and Hulk is outwitting as well as overpowering his opponents on Earth, like exploiting The Juggernaut's inability to stop and explaining to Wolverine that taking Hulk-punches to his Adamantium skull isn't healthy for his poor rattling brain. Other Hulk forms such as Grey Hulk, The Professor, and Immortal Hulk also have skill and smarts to back up inestimable strength.
  • His cousin She-Hulk also qualifies. She has received combat training from Captain America and Gamora and even in her human form has enough skill to dispatch several would be muggers. After being defeated by the Champion of the Universe, She-Hulk exercised for several months in her Jennifer Walters form, resulting in a significant gain in strength and muscle mass in her She-Hulk form and allowing her to soundly defeat the Champion in a rematch. She has also defeated the Abomination, one of her cousin's toughest foes, using superior fighting techniques.
  • Caiera, the Hulk's wife in Planet Hulk. She was a trained martial artist, swordswoman and knife fighter. She also possessed the Old Power, an energy force native to her home planet, which granted her super strength, speed and stamina and control over tectonic energies. This power was passed on to the Shadow Priest Hiriom and later to Skaar, the son of Caiera and Hulk. Both are well-trained combatants just like Caiera.
  • Lyra, Hulk and Thundra's daughter from another timeline. She has received training in battle since she was a child and has super strength just like her parents.
• Tony Stark aka Iron Man, a genius billionaire Gadgeteer Genius who's had martial arts training from both Captain America and Black Panther is Strong and skilled whenever he gets into his iconic Powered Armour. Tony has repeatedly and happily gone up against some of the most powerful beings in the universe and held his own thanks to his technology and skill, he's also first human being to wield and use Infinity Gauntlet.
  • Tony's buddy Rhodey aka War Machine is no slouch either. Before he even got his own Powered Armor he was a trained Marine, and with his Sunday best has kicked as much ass as Tony, despite lacking his friend's super intellect. Rhodey has fought and matched many foes more powerful than him including Mandarin and Storm.
• Iron Fist isn't a super martial artist for nothing, Danny has often gone up against opponents who could reduce him to a smear and prevailed thanks to his years of training and Ki Manipulation abilities. The only other martial artist who can equal him is Shang-Chi who's just as skilled and strong thanks to Chi.
• Martian Manhunter besides being a telepathic Flying Brick whom Superman fears to tangle with J'onn is a genius with Combo Platter Powers and shapeshifting abilities that he uses in various crafty ways.
• The Mighty Thor: Nearly all Asgardian deities are trained warriors, and the weakest of them at least have the ability to lift about 20 tons. Thor himself has the greatest physical strength of all Asgardians, and he is quite possibly their most talented warrior. In one comic Thor carefully focuses his power and is able to generate a rainstorm to save an alien planet similar to what Storm does.
• Lobo while most of the time he can rely on enough brute strength to kick Superman's ass, Lobo is also super smart and extremely resourceful being able to forge a BFG out of junk. He also once analysed the speed and momentum Flash was running at, and managed to to hook Flash with his chain at the right moment to bring him down.
• Luke Cage while he might seem Strong, but Unskilled on the surface thanks to training from his best buddy with Iron Fist is far from Dumb Muscle. Luke is such a powerful hand to hand combatant, he has been able to take on the likes of Namor, Promixa Midnight and famously even handed Doctor Doom a rare defeat due to targeting a weak point in his armour.
• New Gods:
  • Orion possesses super strength to match that of Superman and Darkseid and is a well trained soldier.
  • Big Barda possesses strength and speed rivaling if not equaling that of Superman and Wonder Woman and is the former leader of the Female Furies, Darkseid's elite all-female fighting squad. She has held her own against Wonder Woman and the two were able to defeat Barda's former team together thanks in part to Barda's familiarity with their tactics.
• Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics): Best shown after stealing Enerjak's power. In addition to being a borderline Reality Warper, Mammoth Mogul has had over a millennium to learn and master multiple different forms of combat, and was a match for Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles' super forms simultaneously.
• Spider-Man:
  • Spidey started off as Unskilled, but Strong due to unfamiliarity with his powers, but he eventually becomes the most proficient Spider-based hero due to his years worth of experience above his successors. It also helps in that he's a natural bookworm, since he also had academic science skills on his side when it mattered the most.
    • Best shown in Secret Wars (1984). Titania (the new villainess of the comic and basically just a bully on a power trip) fights Spidey fresh from a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown of She-Hulk that left her hospitalized. Spidey, who had a clear advantage in speed, agility, and reflexes and also a lot more fighting experience than her, inflicts a glorious Curb-Stomp Battle on Titania. She never lands a single hit on him and is reduced to panicked and pleading for mercy before Spidey, satisfied that she had been taught a lesson, defenestrates her through a concrete wall. For years afterward, Titania had a crippling phobia of him.
    • Another time Spidey lost his Spider-Sense and trained with Shang Chi who instructed him to stop the quips since it wasted energy and to just fight, Spidey equaled the martial arts master perfectly and developed his own martial arts style due to Shang Chi's teachings.
  • Venom and Carnage while they appear to have a mindless fighting style are actually very skilled physical combatants thanks to The Symbiote replicating Spidey's strength, skill and powers. On a few occasions Venom and Carnage have overpowered Spidey and held their own against stronger opponents such as Hulk, Juggernaut and Sentry. Also due to nature of the Symbiote they can craft weapons and objects out of themselves making them all the more deadly in combat.
  • The Puma, a Spider-Man ally also qualifies. He can transform into a puma-like creature with enhanced strength speed, reflexes and agility. He is also a highly trained martial artist and tracker. During one of their earlier fights, Peter found that his spider-sense had trouble keeping up with Puma's attacks.
  • Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) out of all the Spider ladies comes closest to Peter. She's strong enough to lift 7 tons and kill several Skrulls with her bare hands. Jess was also trained by Taskmaster and can generally keep up with Spidey's own Le Parkour.
  • Wilson Fisk aka The Kingpin has ridiculous strength for a normal and seemly fat man but he also backs it up with a variety of martial arts skills such as sumo wrestling, judo, and hapkido. Fisk has beaten 8 martial artists in 17 seconds, overpowered the likes of Daredevil and Captain America and has even given Spidey trouble... before Spider-Man decided not to hold back against him.
• Virgil Hawkins aka Static possesses power over electricity and has a gifted, scientific mind that allows him to take full advantage of the versatile nature of his powers.
• Superman:
  • On top of years of experience to learn how to use his powers, Superman has also received martial arts training by the likes of Batman and Wonder Woman to the point he can often keep on fighting even after instances his powers get significantly weakened or lost entirely.
  • Superman: Secret Identity has Clark develop amazing techniques with the use of his powers, to the point that his twin daughters compliment him over his ability to catch a falling train and twist the fall in such a way that it didn't buckle like an accordion. As his powers fade with age, he becomes a more Weak, but Skilled superhero (well, weaker by his own standards).
  • While she may start out as Unskilled, but Strong, Supergirl has the full Kryptonian powerset, and in most of continuities has been trained by Batman, Batgirl and Wonder Woman's Amazons. Additionally she knows at least one or two Kryptonian martial arts like Klurkor and Torquasm Rao. Reactron found out about it, to his regret, when she kicked his butt while depowered in Who is Superwoman?.
    Supergirl: I trained with Batman. With the Amazons. I know first level Klurkor. Just because I can't use heat vision doesn't mean I'm helpless.
  • Power Girl has the standard Kryptonian powerset and has received martial arts training from Wildcat and Mongo Krebs. She's also a brilliant computer scientist and has at times surprised villains with how smart she is.
  • Faora Hu-Ul made her first appearance in The Great Phantom Peril, where she showed that, in addition to the Kryptonian powerset -plus several extra powers- she's an accomplished and lethal martial artist able to take on Superman himself.
  • Jonathan Samuel Kent works on mastering his abilities and gaining more experience to handle himself alone and with others after his powers stabilise.
• Taskmaster, no he isn't gonna be overpowering the likes Hulk or Thor any time soon but regardless thanks to his photographic memory and empowered physiology Tasky has taken on Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man, Bucky, Punisher, Wolverine, Venom, Deadpool and many more. Only a handful of heroes have managed to overpower his photographic reflexes, usually by overwhelming him with strength and speed (Spidey) using Confusion Fu (Deadpool) or just surprising him with abilities he's never seen before, like X-23 did since he was so used to fighting her Opposite-Sex Clone, Taskmaster was unaware Laura had blades in her feet as well, completely throwing him off his game. Still he's won more fights than he's lost.
• Teen Titans:
  • Starfire is a Flying Brick who has has been trained in armed and unarmed combat since she was a child, with particular skill in use of a staff. Combine this with her solar radiation powers and she is one of the most dangerous Titans in existence.
  • Blackfire, Starfire's evil sister has similar powers and is also a well-trained fighter. She is also a cunning manipulator and deceiver.
  • Deathstroke has enhanced physiology due to experimentation and is one of the greatest martial arts masters in the DC universe. He once took on the entire Justice League (minus Superman) and defeated almost all members before Green Arrow finally put a stop to him. Slade is also a master tactician and strategist.
• Thanos is a Hero Killer for a reason, even without his iconic gauntlet he's an immensely strong Genius Bruiser Eternal who has repeatedly enhanced himself with Bio-Augmentation, learned the mystic arts and is a devastating physical combatant. He's curbed stomped Marvel's heaviest hitters such as Hulk, Thor, Black Bolt, his own son Thane (who was powered up with Phoenix Force) and even Mjölnir wielding Silver Surfer). He's also skilled strategist and teacher having passed on his deadly knowledge to his allies.
  • Thanos's adopted daughter Gamora is considered The Deadliest Woman In The Galaxy and for good reason. She possesses incredible strength, speed, agility, endurance and healing thanks to cybernetic enhancements bestowed on her by Thanos and is versed in various forms of armed and unarmed combat.
  • In general Thanos's Black Order from Infinity namely Black Dwarf, Corvus Glaive and Promixa Midnight can be categorised as this. They're not only extremely strong, being able battle the combined forces of The Avengers, Kree Empire, Super Skrull and Annihilus but they're highly tactical, Glaive and Midnight in particular were able effectively fight The Hulk and trap him.
• Vampirella has the strength, speed, agility, endurance and durability of a vampire but with none of their traditional weaknesses. She has shown proficiency with various weapons such as stakes, crossbows and guns and is a crafty and pragmatic fighter.
• Wild CATS: Lady Zannah aka Zealot, is a Coda warrior with super strength, speed, agility and centuries of combat experience. She is virtually unmatched in terms of fighting skill and is considered one of the best assassins and fighters in the universe.
• Wonder Woman:
  • Diana has strength, speed and durability that rivals that if not equals that of a Kryptonian and is a highly trained hand-to-hand fighter, tactician and strategist as well. Batman has at one point referred to her as the best melee fighter in the DCU.
  • The Wonder Girls Donna Troy, Cassie Sandsmark and Yara Flor have similar powers to Diana and have also received extensive combat training.
  • Artemis, Diana's friend and rival, is also a trained warrior. During the tournament to decide the new Wonder Woman, she received a portion of Diana's power and kept it for a time. Her return in Red Hood and the Outlaws has her with super-strength again and all the training expected of an Amazon.
  • Nubia has years of experience as the singular guardian of Doom's Doorway. Her fighting skill, standard Amazon powers and Staff of Understanding make her a formidable foe.
• A lot of the X-Men can be this as time in the Danger Room pays off. In general Mutants such as Cyclops, Angel, Wolverine, Gambit, Psylocke, Kitty Pryde, Storm, Nightcrawler, Emma Frost and X-23 have Charles Atlas Super Power to back up their powerful Mutant abilities. Wolverine in particular is ridiculously skilled having been a soldier in both WW1 and WW2 as well as being very strong thanks to his Unbreakable Bones. Though Cyclops, Gambit, Psylocke and Nightcrawler have matched him in combat in the past.
  • Genius Bruiser Beast balances brute strength with scientific guile to an excellent degree, in one comic when Juggernaught is middle of a rampage, Hank figured out to use Juggs's mass and inertia against him by literally flipping Juggernaut on his head.
  • Colossus has extreme strength and durability but thanks to training with Wolverine in the Danger Room is also highly skilled as well. Colossus often utilizes judo and wrestling moves in the numerous battles he's been in.
  • Rogue, while her power fluctuates Depending on the Writer at her best is an extremely strong Flying Brick who can craftily use her Power Parasite ability to enhance skills and power thanks to absorbing her foes's memories as well. One time Rogue absorbed Colossus's steel skin and combined it with her Flight and Super-Speed to destroy Master Mold.
  • Magneto, an Omega-class mutant with a genius-level intellect, has studied magnetism and other related scientific fields in depth, in order to perfect his gift. As a result, he is a much more formidable opponent than his daughter Polaris even though her powers are comparable. However, it should be noted that Magneto is also more ruthless than Polaris.
  • Cable thanks to inheriting his mother Jean Grey's telekinetic powers is very powerful but he's also a Cyborg who uses Tactile Telekinesis to make himself strong enough to fight the likes of Hulk and Apocalypse. Cable has also had decades of experience as a soldier in the Bad Future and only few Mutants can rival him in terms of power, his Alternate Universe counterpart Nate Grey is a borderline Physical God.
  • Speaking of Nate, while he was originally Unskilled, but Strong, albeit with a few fancy tricks, after the Shaman era stabilised his powers, he learned to use them with incedible precision and extraordinary skill - while he was actually more powerful than before, he understood his abilities far better. Manipulating brain chemistry and existing without the need to eat, sleep, or breathe were at the low end. Treating the multiverse as a stepladder, stepping in and out of time at will, and treating death as a minor inconvenience were at the high end.
  • Similar to Cable, Bishop is extremely powerful thanks to his Energy Absorption which can him give super strength, and he's a very skilled combatant having had years of experience.
  • Sabretooth is both distressingly strong and incredibly skilled having been a soldier for most of his very long life and personally trained by the CIA and Weapon X. He easily rivals Wolverine in savagery.
  • Warpath from X-Force besides fluctuating super strength is a formidable highly trained melee fighter.

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