History Main / AllAmazonsWantHercules

* ''Very'' prevalent in ''Fanfic/IzukusProHeroHaremLife''. Nearly every one of the women who become romantically involved with [[FutureBadass Iz]][[WorldsStrongestMan uku]] are [[ActionGirl athletic superheroines]] themselves, though they're frequently attracted to qualities other than just his physical strength. Played the most straight with Rumi AKA Mirko, who is an outright AmazonianBeauty who finds Izuku's incredible strength contrasted with his gentleness of character ''extremely'' attractive.

* In ''LightNovel/IsItWrongToTryToPickUpGirlsInADungeon'', the Amazons are a OneGenderRace obsessed with producing the strongest warriors. Because of this, they have a tendency to instantly fall in love with any man who manages to best them in combat, and are often very ''forward'' with their affections even if the person who beat them isn't interested.

* An odd example in ''Literature/AccelWorld'' comes with the school idol [[AloofDarkHairedGirl Kuroyukihime]], known as [[ActionGirl Black Lotus]] and the [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking Black King]], one of the most powerful players in the "Brain Burst" program. She became enamored with [[BadassAdorable Haruyuki]] (a short, fat boy with severe self-esteem issues due to his appearance and bullying) after seeing his [[{{Determinator}} speed and drive in his squash games]], and the only reason she got higher scores than him, for the purpose of getting his attention, [[spoiler:is she had to cheat to even surpass him]]. He himself [[ICantBelieveAGuyLikeYouWouldNoticeMe still can't believe she honestly likes him in that way]]. The way it's presented, this in turn makes Haruyuki an unusual kind of "Hercules", but replace physical prowess with video game skill, though within a virtual game world, it still translates to physical prowess in a sense.

* ''Film/ThreeHundredRiseOfAnEmpire'': Artemisia spends much of the film searching for "someone to stand at my side". She offers this to Themistocles, but he denies her. [[CoitusEnsues After sex, of course.]]

This trope is not universal enough for aversions to be meaningful; examples saying "averted in..." will be mowed down like grass.

* An odd example in ''LightNovel/AccelWorld'' comes with the school idol [[AloofDarkHairedGirl Kuroyukihime]], known as [[ActionGirl Black Lotus]] and the [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking Black King]], one of the most powerful players in the "Brain Burst" program. She became enamored with [[BadassAdorable Haruyuki]] (a short, fat boy with severe self-esteem issues due to his appearance and bullying) after seeing his [[{{Determinator}} speed and drive in his squash games]], and the only reason she got higher scores than him, for the purpose of getting his attention, [[spoiler:is she had to cheat to even surpass him]]. He himself [[ICantBelieveAGuyLikeYouWouldNoticeMe still can't believe she honestly likes him in that way]]. The way it's presented, this in turn makes Haruyuki an unusual kind of "Hercules", but replace physical prowess with video game skill, though within a virtual game world, it still translates to physical prowess in a sense.

* The [[SeasonalRot early episode]] of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' "Angel One" had Riker and the leader of a Women-Dominant society.

* ''LightNovel/TheEminenceInShadow'': The Shadow Garden is a mysterious assassin group comprised of beautiful ladies. Many members are in love with their founding leader, [[{{Chuunibyou}} Cid Kagenou]], who is the WorldsStrongestMan.

* Chris Hargenson experiences something like this in ''Literature/{{Carrie}}'' while, as your standard AlphaBitch she is used to wrapping boys around her little finger but is drawn to Billy Nolan because he is the first boy she hasn't been "able to dance dandle at her whim" and he controls '''her''' in the relationship.

* ''LightNovel/TheEminenceInShadow'': The Shadow Garden is a mysterious assassin group comprised of beautiful ladies. Many members are in love with their founding leader, [[{{Chuunibyou}} Cid Kagenou]], who is the WorldsStrongestMan.

* ''Literature/WhoNeedsMen'' has a post-{{Gendercide}} all-female society who go game-hunting for the last enclave of men, in Scotland. The protagonist, a hunter of escaped men, ends up in their settlement and falls for the leader.

* {{Subverted|Trope}} in ''Reality Check'' by Charlie Brooks. Anne Westfeld is essentially an amazon who begins the novel dating the equivalent of Hercules in Jesse Gondolin, aka the Jungle Cat. However, [[spoiler:it turns out she really wants Greg Crispin, a physical weakling]].

* Creator/AynRand is well known for this trope, as it falls in line with her [[AuthorAppeal personal fetishes]]. Rand liked strong, take-charge men and bodice-ripping, ravishment-type sex.
** Dagny Taggart from ''Literature/AtlasShrugged'' is a modernized version of this.
** Dominique from ''The Fountainhead''.
** {{Parodied|Trope}} in ''[[Literature/{{Illuminatus}} The Illuminatus! Trilogy]]'''s Rand spoof ''Telemachus Sneezed''.
** Rand also wrote an essay arguing that no rational woman would ever want to be president because "[[FemaleMisogynist the essence of femininity is hero worship — the desire to look up to man]]." A woman president, being the supreme authority of the land, would have no superior man to admire.

* ''Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian'': In the story ''Literature/QueenOfTheBlackCoast'', the pirate princess Belit becomes Conan's lover after witnessing him singlehandedly slay hordes of her crew.
* This trope is {{subverted|Trope}} in ''Literature/AppointmentWithDeath'', in which the protagonist Sarah has broken off her engagement with her strong-willed fiancé. She ends up with a rather hen-pecked MommasBoy, and with Sarah wearing the pants in the relationship, the two are [[HappilyMarried perfectly happy together]].
-->''Sarah admired strength, and she thought she had wanted to be mastered. But once she met a man capable of taming her, she didn't like it at all. A high-spirited woman [[WeaknessTurnsHerOn secretly wants a man that needs looking after]].''
* ''Literature/{{Gor}}'' infamously applies this idea to ''all'' women. In the first book, Tarl doesn't rape the woman he kidnaps; at first, she is [[ArentYouGoingToRavishMe offended]], then she decides he isn't a real man and nearly manages to kill him. Once she does get enslaved she's totally into him after some token complaints.
* Played with in ''Literature/CreaturesOfLightAndDarkness''. Megra insists on fighting Wakim before she'll sleep with him... because she has genetic SuperStrength, and wants to make sure that she doesn't [[ManOfSteelWomanOfKleenex break him accidentally]].
* Another male version of this is Peaceable Drummond Sherwood from ''Literature/TheSherwoodRing''. His response to a woman who manages to outsmart him (something he's never seen before) is to propose to her... before passing out from the drug that she just convinced him to drink.
* {{Invoked|Trope}} in ''Literature/OrlandoFurioso'', in the LadyLand visited by Astolpho and Marfisa as the reason for their unusual marriage custom: the only way a man can avoid being enslaved is to defeat ten champions and then bed ten women in a single night -- he then has to marry the ten women and becomes the new champion. This was started when the queen's daughter desired a particularly worthy fighter, a close descendant of Hercules.
* {{Subverted|Trope}} in Creator/MatthewReilly's book ''Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves''. Mother, a six-foot-four, [[BaldHeadOfToughness shaved]], foul-mouthed [[TheSquadette female marine]], second only to [[TheHero the Scarecrow]] himself in terms of badassery, initially seems like she might have fallen for [[LargeHam Baba]], her French [[SpearCounterpart equivalent]] who, in his own words, eats like a bear, drinks like a Viking, kills like a lion and makes love like a silverback gorilla. However, when it really comes down to it, she realises that, no matter how badass Baba may be, he just isn't her Ralphy (her tiny trucker husband).
* ''Literature/QueenOfZazzau'': Amina is already a warrior of Zazzau when the story begins, and initially falls in love with her bodyguard's brother Suleyman, the commander of Zazzau's army. After he's murdered, she enters a sexual pact with Ruhun Yak'i, the god of war himself, and falls hard for him.

* [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk The Hulk]] has this effect on women much like Herc does. [[Comicbook/PlanetHulk Just ask Caiera]].

* [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk The Hulk]] has this effect on women much like Herc does. [[Comicbook/PlanetHulk Just ask Caiera]].

* In ''Manga/BlackLagoon'', there is a certain degree of {{U|nresolvedSexualTension}}ST between TheBaroness and the local [[HeroicBloodshed Chow Yun Fat]] character {{Expy}}. It has been implied that they were one of the few people to have fought the other to a stalemate. At the very least Chang is one of the few people besides Rock that Balalaika seems to flirt with but the idea of anyone dominating Balalaika is too ridiculous to contemplate.

* Alluded to in ''Manga/TheKingOfFightersKYO''. [[Characters/{{Athena}} Athena Asamiya]] is hinted to have a crush on [[Characters/TheKingOfFighters94Part1 Kyo Kusanagi]] ever since he defeated her in one of the KOF tournaments, and she transfers to his school to keep an eye on him and his powers. Unfortunately for Athena, Kyo ''already'' has a girlfriend named [[GirlNextDoor Yuki]] so she has no romantic chance with him; after a skittish beginning, she [[IWantMyBelovedtoBeHappy backs off]] and settles for staying friends with them both.

[[folder:Folk Lore]]

* An old novel called ''Who Needs Men?'' had a post-{{Gendercide}} all-female society who go game-hunting for the last enclave of men, in Scotland. The protagonist, a hunter of escaped men, ends up in their settlement and falls for the leader.
* ''Literature/TheCourtshipOfPrincessLeia'' has Luke as even more of a ChickMagnet than the rest of the ExpandedUniverse, bedding not one but ''two'' women from matriarchal societies. Of course, [[FemmeFatale one is just trying to kill him]] and [[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale the other uses the Force to arouse him]].
* Inverted in ''Bethany's Sin'', where the Amazon-possessed women of the town not only browbeat their cringing husbands but [[spoiler:amputate a limb from each, as they think that being amputees will concentrate the men's fertility and increase their own chances for daughters]]. They don't just spurn Hercules, they deliberately turn their men into his hapless, weakling opposites.
* Subverted in ''Reality Check'' by Charlie Brooks. Anne Westfeld is essentially an amazon who begins the novel dating the equivalent of Hercules in Jesse Gondolin, aka the Jungle Cat. However, [[spoiler:it turns out she really wants Greg Crispin, a physical weakling]].
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' by Creator/TerryPratchett.

* Played with in the ''Literature/{{Hurog}}'' duology. There is a woman who is as good a fighter as hero [[GentleGiant Ward]]. He has a crush on her. She, on the other hand, appreciates his prowess in battle but is not in love with him [[spoiler:She falls for him eventually, but only once she gets to know him better ... and his personality his rather sweet and caring]]

** Parodied in ''[[Literature/{{Illuminatus}} The Illuminatus! Trilogy]]'''s Rand parody ''Telemachus Sneezed''.
** Rand also wrote an essay arguing that no rational woman would ever want to be president because "the essence of femininity is hero worship — the desire to look up to man." A woman president, being the supreme authority of the land, would have no superior man to admire.
* Gender-swapped in Franchise/StarWarsLegends:

* Played straight in Robert E. Howard's Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian story ''Literature/QueenOfTheBlackCoast''. The pirate princess Belit becomes Conan's lover after witnessing him singlehandedly slay hordes of her crew.
* This trope is subverted in Creator/AgathaChristie's ''Literature/AppointmentWithDeath'', in which the protagonist Sarah has broken off her engagement with her strong-willed fiancé. She ends up with a rather hen-pecked MommasBoy, and with Sarah wearing the pants in the relationship, the two are [[HappilyMarried perfectly happy together]].
-->Sarah admired strength, and she thought she had wanted to be mastered. But once she met a man capable of taming her, she didn't like it at all. A high-spirited woman secretly wants a man that needs looking after.

* Played with in Creator/RogerZelazny's ''Literature/CreaturesOfLightAndDarkness'': Megra insists on fighting Wakim before she'll sleep with him--because she has genetic SuperStrength, and wants to make sure she doesn't break him accidentally.
* Another male version of this is Peaceable Drummond Sherwood from ''Literature/TheSherwoodRing.'' His response to a woman who manages to outsmart him (something he's never seen before) is to propose to her. Before passing out from the drug she just convinced him to drink.
* Invoked in ''Literature/OrlandoFurioso'', in the LadyLand visited by Astolpho and Marfisa as the reason for their unusual marriage custom: the only way a man can avoid being enslaved is to defeat ten champions and then bed ten women in a single night -- he then has to marry the ten women and becomes the new champion. This was started when the queen's daughter desired a particularly worthy fighter, a close descendant of Hercules.
* Subverted in Creator/MatthewReilly's book ''Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves''. Mother, a six-foot-four, [[BaldHeadOfToughness shaved]], foul-mouthed [[TheSquadette female marine]], second only to [[TheHero the Scarecrow]] himself in terms of badassery, initially seems like she might have fallen for [[LargeHam Baba]], her French [[SpearCounterpart equivalent]] who, in his own words, eats like a bear, drinks like a Viking, kills like a lion and makes love like a silverback gorilla. However, when it really comes down to it, she realises that, no matter how badass Baba may be, he just isn't her Ralphy (her tiny trucker husband).

* ''Fanfic/WithThisRing'': Maxima (mentioned above) switches targets from Superman to Grayven!Orange Lantern after he killed Klarion, a Lord of Chaos, something only an extremely capable warrior could do. Grayven, who is in a relationship already, and not anymore interested in Maxima than Superman was, ends up convincing Maxima how stupid this trope is since she's specifically seeking a co-ruler and a father for her children. A co-ruler needs to ''compliment'' her own talents as a leader, not just be another version of her, and an alien is extremely unlikely to be able to procreate with her naturally, so even if Grayven or Superman were interested, they'd have to create offspring through cloning. She ends up deciding to marry her current advisor instead, who happens to be a woman.

* Dwight from ''Comicbook/SinCity'' is already MrFanservice but his relationship with Gail is a good illustration of this trope. Case in point: ''The Big Fat Kill''. When he returned to Old Town after the events of ''A Dame To Kill For'' (and because he had gotten them into some trouble in this very story), Gail had a gun pointed at his head. He didn't flinch and instead, formulated a plan to get them out of the current mess they were in. He then demanded that she take the gun away. She didn't listen so he slapped her. She responded with [[WhatTheHellHero "You bastard!"]] which was followed by, [[LightningBruiser "I forgot how quick you were"]] which was then followed by her [[SlapSlapKiss pulling him in for a quick makeout session.]]
* {{Downplayed|Trope}} in an issue of Marvel's [[Comicbook/TheTransformers Transformers]] comic, where Cloudburst unintentionally gained the favor of the queen of a race of alien giant amazons, but she was as impressed by his intelligence and diplomatic talent as by his fighting ability. She was... disappointed by his robotic inner self.

* Many women lauded for their combat prowess throughout history would reportedly refuse to take a husband unless the husband could beat her at her preferred combat style/weapon proficiency, invoking [[BestHerToBedHer a variation of this trope]]. (Example: the Mongol princess [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khutulun Khutulun]], daughter of UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan's great-grandson Kaidu Khan of the Chagatai Khanate, who would not marry any man who could not best her in traditional Mongol wrestling.)

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[[quoteright:349:[[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/all-amazons-want-hercules3b_9520.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:349:Not necessarily this literally.]]

* ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' did this in a Season 6 episode. Will gets beaten up by a girl at the gym. The next day, he comes back and beats her. She immediately throws herself at him.

* Gender-swapped in Franchise/StarWarsLegends: One character notes that the only person AcePilot Jag Fel would ever have a relationship with would be one who could out-fly him. [[WillTheyOrWontThey The jury's still out]] on whether he'll ever, ''ever'' get with the girl who did, much as he might want to. Given that they're currently engaged, and a comic book series set a century later strongly implies that he founded a new Imperial dynasty with her, it seems that the jury has delivered its verdict.

* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' devotes an entire episode to subverting this, and establishing that Zoe is firmly devoted to her geeky husband and does not, nor has ever, felt any attraction to Mal. Although Wash is brilliant as a pilot, he never beats Zoe at "her own game" so to speak.

* Subverted in Creator/MatthewReilly's book ''Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves''. Mother, a six-foot-four, [[BaldWomen shaved]] {{bald|OfAwesome}}, foul-mouthed [[TheSquadette female marine]], second only to [[TheHero the Scarecrow]] himself in terms of badassery, initially seems like she might have fallen for [[LargeHam Baba]], her French [[DistaffCounterpart equivalent]] who, in his own words, eats like a bear, drinks like a Viking, kills like a lion and makes love like a silverback gorilla. However, when it really comes down to it, she realises that, no matter how badass Baba may be, he just isn't her Ralphy (her tiny trucker husband).

* Defied like in the [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger original film]] in the [[Recap/WhatIfS1E1WhatIfCaptainCarterWereTheFirstAvenger first episode]] of ''[[WesternAnimation/WhatIf2021 What If...?]]''. Even after becoming a SuperSoldier instead of Steve Rogers, Peggy Carter loves Steve [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan because he's humble, supportive, kind, and good to her]], and doesn't care if he's short, scrawny, sickly and asthmatic.