History DavidVersusGoliath / LiveActionFilms

** Highlighted in ''Film/Bumblebee'': with the titular character being presented as shorter than average, in line with his classic portrayal, being physically dwarfed by the Decepticons he comes up against over the course of the film, with Bumblebee relying heavily on being a CombatPragmatist to survive.

* ''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.

** 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.

* 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.

* ''/FilmMasterAndCommander'': The HMS Surprise is a Unity class corvette of about 650 tons, with a nominal armament of 28 guns and an actual armament in RN service closer to 36 guns. The Acheron is based on the real USS Constitution, a 1,600 ton United States class frigate with a nominal armament of 44 guns and an actual armament of 50. But counting guns makes the fight seem fairer than it is. Acheron's guns are much larger, longer-ranged, and fire heavier shot. Surprise's broadside throws 328 pounds of metal to the Acheron's 1,408 lb broadside. Furthermore, American ships of that era were often built of live oak, an unusually dense and strong wood that gave Constitution its famous nickname. The two ships are barely in the same class, as the sailing master points out after the first engagement.

* In ''Film/{{2001ASpaceOdyssey}}'', in the confrontation between HAL, who controls the Discovery, and astronaut Dave Bowman. In a classic image, Bowman finds himself locked out of the larger ship without a space helmet in his tiny space pod, which facing the larger ship head-on looks even more pitifully weak as the pod's mechanical arms are holding the lifeless body of Frank Poole in a silent, visual plea for reentry. Bowman manages to reenter the ship via a brief jump into the vacuum and use of manual access doors which HAL does not control, and silently, ruthlessly deactivates HAL, ignoring the latter's mechanical pleas.

* In ''Film/2001ASpaceOdyssey'', in the confrontation between HAL, who controls the Discovery, and astronaut Dave Bowman. In a classic image, Bowman finds himself locked out of the larger ship without a space helmet in his tiny space pod, which facing the larger ship head-on looks even more pitifully weak as the pod's mechanical arms are holding the lifeless body of Frank Poole in a silent, visual plea for reentry. Bowman manages to reenter the ship via a brief jump into the vacuum and use of manual access doors which HAL does not control, and silently, ruthlessly deactivates HAL, ignoring the latter's mechanical pleas.

* In ''Film//2001ASpaceOdyssey'', in the confrontation between HAL, who controls the Discovery, and astronaut Dave Bowman. In a classic image, Bowman finds himself locked out of the larger ship without a space helmet in his tiny space pod, which facing the larger ship head-on looks even more pitifully weak as the pod's mechanical arms are holding the lifeless body of Frank Poole in a silent, visual plea for reentry. Bowman manages to reenter the ship via a brief jump into the vacuum and use of manual access doors which HAL does not control, and silently, ruthlessly deactivates HAL, ignoring the latter's mechanical pleas.

* In ''Film/{{Serenity}}'', the small, unarmed Firefly spacecraft is threatened by the much larger and heavily armed ships of the Alliance. But the developing psychic powers of their passenger/crewmember River Tam both lead them to uncover a secret which, once revealed, spells the downfall of the Alliance government, and helps them battle large masses of Alliance soldiers until they can broadcast the information more widely.

** 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.

* Partly subverted in ''Film/TheBlackHole'', where the smaller, unarmed, but more advanced USS Palomino meets the larger but older USS Cygnus, now under the control of the mad scientist Reinhardt. When one crew member tries to escape in the Palomino, its relatively greater maneuverability is of no avail, and it is summarily blasted away. However, as with the Star Wars films, the macro-confrontations between spacecraft is mirrored by micro-confrontations between individuals, in this case the older, more heavily armored robot Maximillian and the the more advanced, smaller, but more maneuverable V.I.N.C.E.N.T. However both robots can levitate, and Maximillian's armor and weapons bring this battle to a draw. It still might be counted as a success for V.I.N.C.E.N.T. as this helps the surviving crew escape immediate death at the hands of Reinhardt, so that they manage to survive the passage through the black hole as individuals, while Reinhardt survives only by merging with Maximillian in a hellish landscape.

** In most of the movies, a macro-battle between large masses of spacecraft is paralleled by micro-battles between two individuals or small groups thereof, usually occurring on a large Empire spacecraft or an Empire-controlled planet. In the latter cases, not only are the Rebel fighters (e.g., Luke Skywalker, Yoda, etc.) either less powerful or smaller than their adversaries, but they could potentially be threatened by all the other Empire forces in their immediate vicinity. However they can either win, or bring the battle to a draw, through skillful use of The Force or other means. Even when the individuals are more evenly matched, e.g., Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader in ''Film/StarWarsANewHope'', this second factor employs this trope by pitting Obi-Wan in effect against the entire Death Star, both when he uses his Force powers and technical skill to reach and deactivate the tractor beam controls, and again when he sacrifices himself to Darth Vader's lightsaber to allow his friends to escape.

* In ''Film/Serenity'', the small, unarmed Firefly spacecraft is threatened by the much larger and heavily armed ships of the Alliance. But the developing psychic powers of their passenger/crewmember River Tam both lead them to uncover a secret which, once revealed, spells the downfall of the Alliance government, and helps them battle large masses of Alliance soldiers until they can broadcast the information more widely.

* Partly subverted in ''Film/TheBlackHole'', where the smaller modern, unarmed, but more advanced USS Palomino meets the larger but older USS Cygnus, now under the control of the mad scientist Reinhardt. When one crew member tries to escape, the Palomino is summarily blasted away. However, as with the Star Wars films, the macro-confrontations between spacecraft is mirrored by micro-confrontations between individuals, in this case the older, more heavily armored robot Maximillian and the the more advanced, smaller, but more maneuverable V.I.N.C.E.N.T. However both robots can levitate, and Maximillian's armor and weapons bring this battle to a draw. It still might be counted as a success for V.I.N.C.E.N.T. as this helps the surviving crew escape immediate death at the hands of Reinhardt, so that they manage to survive the passage through the black hole as individuals, while Reinhardt survives only by merging with Maximillian in a hellish landscape.

* Partly subverted in ''Film/TheBlackHole'', where the smaller modern, unarmed, but more advanced USS Palomino meets the larger but older USS Cygnus, now under the control of the mad scientist Reinhardt. When one crew member tries to escape, the Palomino is promptly blasted away. However, as with the Star Wars films, the macro-confrontations between spacecraft is mirrored by micro-confrontations between individuals, in this case the older, more heavily armored robot Maximillian and the the more advanced, smaller, but more maneuverable V.I.N.C.E.N.T. This battle is a draw, but might be counted as a success for the Palomino crew as it helps them escape immediate death at the hands of Reinhardt, so that they manage to survive the passage through the black hole as individuals, while Reinhardt survives only by merging with Maximillian in a hellish landscape.

* 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).