History Main / CharlesAtlasSuperpower

* ''Literature/YumiAndTheNightmarePainter'': Yumi's ability to stack rocks into towers twenty or thirty high, and arrange those stacks into breathtaking artistic displays, is nothing more than pure skill augmented by seventeen centuries of practice.

* Taken to extremes by just about every single character in ''[[Manga/KenichiTheMightiestDisciple History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi]]''.

* ''Franchise/{{Bakugan}}'': Dan and Shun both display some pretty surprising physical prowess despite only being in their teens.

* Guts from ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' is a monster of a man who swings a {{BFS}} with frightening speed and has survived more than two years' worth of relentless demon attacks, many of which would have killed a normal man many times over. The justification is that he has spent literally his entire life on battlefields, meaning he's also spent most of it in battle. Wielding a sword most of the day for every day of your life will eventually add up, it seems. His unique capacity to swing around a 400-pound blade started with being made to swing a regular longsword at ''6 years old'' and going from there. The manga states that surviving the [[{{Hellgate}} Eclipse]] left Guts on the boundary between the physical world and the SpiritWorld where [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve belief shapes reality]], allowing him to gradually turn himself into a literal superhuman through sheer willpower... but he was [[OneManArmy tough enough to fight and wipe out a 100-man unit]] even when he was a perfectly normal soldier.

* ''AnimeAndManga/{{Bakugan}}'': Dan and Shun both display some pretty surprising physical prowess despite only being in their teens.
** In Shun's case, of particular note, during the final arc of the first season, he fights through an army of mini-Bakugan clones, armed with only himself and a series of ninja tools, to save Skyress. And survives. For him, it's chalked up to the fact that he was trained as a ninja ever since he was a child.
** For Dan, on the other hand, while he's shown training at certain points, the furthest that's shown is him exercising on the playground and dragging tires behind himself. Not very impressive...and then, in the final arc of Season 1, during the journey in Vestroia, he manages to run across a canyon, and cross a gorge filled with lava by leaping across giant stalagmites, with the last one collapsing on him and Dan just managing to leap to safety in time. And ''then'' he's finally out of breath. Oh, and the kicker? At this point in the series, Dan's only ''12 years old.''

*** This applies to the use of the [[MakeMeWannaShout Thu'um]], the draconic LanguageOfMagic. Anyone can learn to use it with enough training, though it often takes years to gain even the simplest understanding of it. The [[OldMaster Greybeards]] are a group of monks who have devoted their entire lives to learning to use the Thu'um, and most can no longer converse with normal people; their Thu'um is so powerful that even a whisper could be lethal. [[RebelLeader Ulfric Stormcloak]] trained in this fashion in order to learn to use it. What makes those who are [[TheChosenOne Dragonborn]], such as the PlayerCharacter, special is that, due to their [[DragonsAreDivine immortal draconic souls]], they possess an innate understanding of the language.

** Pfft, Chris may of become superhuman by the time of ''[=RE5=]'' but Leon S Kennedy upgraded from [[BadassNormal rookie cop]] in ''Videogame/ResidentEvil2'' to absolute Super Agent in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' ''very quickly''. Leon can suplex monsters, equal Chris in combat, kill multiple [[MonstrousHumanoid Tyrants]] and [[PalatePropping keep open the jaws]] of a mutant shark with his bare hands.
** Jill Valentine, Claire Redfield, and Rebecca Chambers deserve a special mention: Jill for killing the [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis Nemesis]] which is like a Tyrant x10 all by herself, Claire for avoiding a helicopter’s turret fire at point-blank range and then taking out a swat team with one bullet and a propane tank in [[VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica Code Veronica]] (she’s trained by Chris) and lastly Rebecca Chambers despite having only a few months training kills the Proto-Tyrant before Alpha Team even ''see'' a zombie in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil0''.

** Thanks to some slightly buggy code in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', Sabin the martial artist achieved MemeticBadass status by being able to suplex a [[AfterlifeExpress Soul Train]]. In the actual game, he also held up a giant collapsing mansion for several minutes by simply standing under the doorframe and posing heroically; in the ending cinematic, he also saves Edgar from an I-beam that, if Sabin were not in the party, takes three people to lift.

** Thanks to some slightly buggy code in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', Sabin the martial artist achieved MemeticMutation by being able to suplex a [[AfterlifeExpress SoulTrain]]. In the actual game, he also held up a giant collapsing mansion for several minutes by simply standing under the doorframe and posing heroically; in the ending cinematic, he also saves Edgar from an I-beam that, if Sabin were not in the party, takes three people to lift.

** Thanks to some slightly buggy code in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', Sabin the martial artist achieved MemeticMutation by being able to suplex a SoulTrain. In the actual game, he also held up a giant collapsing mansion for several minutes by simply standing under the doorframe and posing heroically; in the ending cinematic, he also saves Edgar from an I-beam that, if Sabin were not in the party, takes three people to lift.

* ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'' has Touma Kamijou. The kid's [[MadeOfIron inhumanly resilient to pain and injury]], having survived been shot, severe beatings, tanked ''explosions'', has PlotPoweredStamina, and is [[SuperStrength strong enough to]] [[PunchedAcrossTheRoom punch people so hard they are sent flying]] and make craters on impact. He has once knocked away a gigantic metal cross that looked like it would've weighed several hundred pounds, with his left hand. [[KidHero Quite impressive for a teenaged boy.]]
** Touma's [[AntiMagic Imagine Breaker]] allows him to negate supernatural powers and magic; however its limited range means that Touma can ''only'' negate said powers with his right hand, basically making him fight with one hand tied behind his back. As a result of countless fights against espers and delinquents Touma possesses great reflexes, able to place his hand ''at the right moment'' to negate his enemy's attacks. The narrative (and eventually several characters) have noted that, had someone used the Imagine Breaker other than Touma they wouldn't be able to utilize it to the same extent he had in the story. As Lessar put it (after witnessing Touma battle Accelerator during WorldWarIII):

** It's best displayed during the Buu saga during the Tournament where the Dragon Team use the punch machine but control their ki to hold back their result. Regular old Earthlings can get up to 97 points but Krillin, even with a love tap, gets 192. Goku, with his amazing ki control, couldn't even go lower than 186. Vegeta, not holding back, destroys the machine completely, leading Videl to justly question Gohan whether his friends are human or not.

* In ''Film/BehindTheMaskTheRiseOfLeslieVernon'', the titular aspiring [[SlasherMovie slasher killer]] is an ordinary man who rigorously trains himself to pull off the feats that slashers normally do in the course of a night of hacking up teenagers. He has learned how to [[PlayingPossum slow his heartbeat to almost nothing]] in order to [[NotQuiteDead fake his death]] and come back for another massacre, and PowerWalk faster than most people can run. During the third act, he gets to put all of these skills to use. In the film's universe, slasher movie villains like [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Jason Voorhees]], [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Krueger]], and [[Franchise/{{Halloween}} Michael Myers]] were likewise [[OurSlashersAreDifferent ordinary spree killers]] whose feats were so badass and horrifying that UrbanLegends arose attributing supernatural strength and powers to them.

** Solid Snake is a clone of a legendary soldier, and picks up some impressive gear of the course of his adventures, but is otherwise “mostly” normal. That doesn't stop him killing {{Mind Screw}}ing floating psychics and [[HumongousMecha giant nuclear-armed walking tanks]], and in ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 4|GunsOfThePatriots}}'', he cuts through three war zones and two enemy bases while having ''the body of a seventy-year-old''. In ''Videogame/MetalGearSolid'', he destroys a tank using only ''grenades'' because he didn't have any anti-tank weapons. This is referenced to by Otacon in ''Guns of the Patriots'', in which Otacon calls him "the most hardcore badass on the planet" for managing it.

* ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 2'' multiplayer allows you to do things like becoming immune to falling damage via the Commando Pro perk by killing enough people with your knife. Or carry extra ammo by Scavenging ammo from corpses enough times. Etc. etc.

* The player-character in the ''Roleplay/RecordOfLodossWar'' Dreamcast game learns magic like a child learning algebra, so most of the time you must rely on physical attacks. At level 100 you can punch sandworms and 'lighter' golems to death, despite the fact he's supposedly just an average well-trained knight once you take off his magical armours and weaponry. (And one of those swords, the Hakuring, was the sword of an OGRE. Yes, it is expectedly slow as molasses, but if he were so 'normal' it should be CRUSHING him! Cloud's cricket bat pales in comparison and isn't even double-sided like this is. The hilt alone is the size of your shortswords.)

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Parodied in ''Anime/WelcomeToTheNHK'' when Satou decides to test if he has gained powers like those characters have from training alone on a mountain from living alone in his apartment. He successfully karate-chops a beer bottle but cuts his hand.

* Due to the game's mechanics, ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' and the spin-off ''Cityof Villains'' includes 'natural' characters who shield themselves with protective balls of fire, regenerate instantly from near-fatal wounds, phase out of normal existence, or ''fly''. Canonically, Malta's paramilitary forces have been quite capable of facing down evil interdimensional invaders assuming even numbers (who seldom took casualties when facing the American military) and can put up a hefty challenge to individual [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual Heroes and Villains]]. Manticore's archery ability is similar to Green Arrows, in addition to being [[ImplacableMan nearly impossible to kill]]. Of particular note is the Ninjitsu power set; most of its powers are fairly reasonable (increased agility, better perception, etc.), but the final power in the set (Kuji-In Retsu) allows you to ''alter the way time and space affect you'', turning you into a nigh-untouchable blur of attacks.

*** MVP's incredible physical capabilities mirror those of [[Characters/MarvelComicsSteveRogers Captain America]], but are due to a severe, revolutionary diet and exercise regimen that he'd been put through since ''infancy''. Contrary to what was assumed when MVP was recruited, his great-grandfather being the inventor of Captain America's SuperSerum was more or less a coincidence. Former [[StupidJetpackHitler Nazi scientist]] Baron von Blitzschlag is stunned to hear this; he'd never have imagined such a perfect specimen would be the sole product of eating right and working out.

** Gaeric from ''Videogame/PokemonLegendsArceus'' has trained himself to the point that he can walk around Hisui's tundra with no shirt on whatsoever, climb a tower of ice several stories tall and so slick that a Pokémon adapted to sheer cliff faces couldn't, and then jump from the top and land unharmed.

** Another variation is Fujiwara no Mokou, a [[PlayingWithFire phoenix-themed pyromancer]] BonusBoss, which puts her at a pretty high SuperWeight even by Touhou's standards. Unlike most of them, she isn't of a Youkai super-race or blessed by triple 7's in the SuperpowerLottery - she just has CompleteImmortality and honed her skills to that level over time.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', all that is required to literally fight your way to Hell and back is to have trained at boot camp. The story goes that Doom Guy was apparently a fairly/very competent trooper, who got reassigned to Mars as a grunt after punching out a superior officer when given a direct order to fire on innocent civilians. Of course, shortly after he arrived, shit hit the fan. Figures, huh? In the first novel, he gets the hell beat out of him a lot and has a lot of trouble going on. Thank goodness for the in-canon magical healing balls of creepy. And if you believe [[Comicbook/{{Doom}} the comic]], Doom Guy was quite unhinged and seemed likely to be the kind of guy who you'd expect to be able to survive a trip to hell and back just because of his sheer lack of a grip on reality. Whether or not this came before or as a result of the Hell invasion is open to interpretation, however.

* DSS agent Luke Hobbs from ''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious'' series sometimes demonstrates outright ''superhuman'' strength. In ''Film/TheFateOfTheFurious'', he is able to ''toss humans around like paper'', punch dents into ''steel walls'', ''rip off metal handcuffs'', ''shrug off rubber bullets'' and even break through ''barricades of police officers with riot-control shields without slowing down''. Considering ''[[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson who]]'' portrays him, this shouldn't come off as a surprise.

* Tomoyo Sakagami from 'VisualNovel/{{Clannad}}'' is known to be incredibly strong and fast. An example of her abilities is when she takes down some Gang Members riding motorcycles using a spin-kick to take one down, and a Chun-Li style Lightning Kick to take down the others, while the motorcycle is torn to bits. Spectators only see her do these insane attacks within two seconds.