History Main / LoadBearingHero

Rather than let their friends be squished like a bug by a DescendingCeiling, falling boulder, or one of those [[CollapsingLair hero-seeking falling pillars]], the BigGuy will [[TakingTheBullet step in, catch the falling object]], and hold it up long enough for their friends to escape. Often utilizes the AtlasPose.

Characters don't need to have SuperStrength or [[MusclesAreMeaningful huge muscles]] to use this trope, so almost anyone can invoke it. However, weaker characters will likely face a HeroicSacrifice as they are stuck holding up something that ''will'' crush them if/when they let go. That said, expect [[BoisterousBruiser melodramatic characters]] intent on being a MartyrWithoutACause to be pulled to safety by their allies.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThunderbirdsAreGo:'' Happens twice in ''Grandma Tourismo'': First, Gordon's "Jaws Of Life" power-suit holds up the roof of a flimsy shed that's being crushed by the building sand from a windstorm. Then, right as the suit nears its limit, Grandma appears in the [[DrillTank Mole]], which simply sits there as if holding up not just the shed's roof but the untold tons of sand above it was trivial.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' cartoon, Bouncing Boy holds up a ferris wheel so Superman can fix it.

** In the earliest and most iconic case, Spider-Man remains pinned helplessly crushed under a hundred tons of metal. In Doc Ock's leaking underwater base. While his Aunt May lies dying, and the only cure for her disease lies 6 feet in front of where he is pinned to the ground. In a stunning show of willpower and self-hype, he manages to lift the structure and limp out before the entire base is flooded.

** He held up a corner of the Daily Bugle to keep it from collapsing in ''Peter Parker: Spider-Man'' #98 (the last issue before an attempted relaunch).

* Franchise/{{Superman}} does this a lot, but is [[NighInvulnerable almost never in any danger,]] considering he often can easily throw the load aside, crawl to safety or if necessary, dig or drill his way out if he's buried completely.

* Franchise/SpiderMan as well, but he tends to be in a lot more danger. One instance is near the end of ''Film/SpiderMan2'' when Spidey does this to save Mary Jane from a falling wall. ''"This is really heavy,"'' indeed.

** Spiderman is forced to hold up a collapsing sewer tunnel until the Avengers can rescue him and Cap.

* Film/{{Superman}} does this a lot, but is [[NighInvulnerable almost never in any danger,]] considering he often can easily throw the load aside, crawl to safety or if necessary, dig or drill his way out if he's buried completely.
** In the first Christopher Reeve movie, he becomes the load-bearing support for the ''entire Pacific tectonic plate''. Holding up a passing train afterward is child's play by comparison.

* In ''LightNovel/TheDevilIsAPartTimer'', Maou uses his demonic telekinesis to hold up a collapsing bridge. Sort of subverted when he realizes he can just carefully place the smashed roadway on the ground instead of holding it in the air indefinitely.

[[quoteright:303:[[ComicBook/SecretWars1984 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/HulkHoldsUpAMountain.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:303:"Beneath 150 billion tons, stands ''[[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk The Hulk]]'' -- and he's not happy!"]]

* ''Series/{{Bones}}'' had “The Patriot in Purgatory” where a homeless war vet helped people escape the Pentagon on Sept.11th 2001 by holding up debris weighing over 400lbs. He later died from his injuries.

* [[WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles Mr. Incredible]] does this in the final battle of the movie to keep his kids from being crushed by the robot.

* Used very effectively in season 4 of Marvel's Series/AgentsOfSHIELD:\\
Several members of the team had been trapped in an[[AlternateUniverse alternate]] [[InsideAComputerSystem virtual]] MirrorUniverse called The Framework, where [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Hydra]] is in charge. Agent Melinda May is working for Hydra, while Director Jeffrey Mace is leading LaResistance as The Patriot (with actual super powers in this world). When the good guys storm a Hydra Reeducation Center, May is sent to stop them. She orders an airstrike on the building- before she discovers there are children inside who were being brainwashed. Naturally, Hydra refuses to call off the strike, so May gets to witness the last thing necessary to trigger her HeelFaceTurn. Jeffrey dives under the collapsing structure and holds it up just long enough for the children to be taken to safety, sacrificing his life in the real world at the same time (The Framework operates on Film/TheMatrix rules).

[[caption-width-right:303:"Beneath 150 billion tons, stands ''[[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk The Hulk]]'' -- and he's not happy!"]]

* [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk The Hulk]] in ''ComicBook/SecretWars1984''. He held up a ''mountain range'' (said to be larger than the Rockies), creating an air pocket for several other heroes to survive. It wasn't easy, though: after a few minutes his stamina started to fail, and he warned the others that he couldn't support the weight much longer. Knowing the Hulk's strength magnifies with his rage level, Reed "Mr. Fantastic" Richards opted for the rather risky strategy of taunting and belittling Banner, making him angry enough to support the mountainous mass up long enough for Richards to devise a means of escape. Reed made a point to swiftly explain and apologize to the Gamma Goliath immediately upon escape.

* [[Characters/GreenLantern1941 Solomon Grundy]] in ''Comicbook/{{Starman}}'' (the Franchise/DCUniverse comic) held a blown-up building.
* Colossus, whenever something falls on ''Comicbook/XMen.''

* UpToEleven and [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed]] with Fluttershy in the ''Fanfic/PonyPOVSeries'' who ends up [[spoiler:taking all of the pain, prejudice, knowledge, hate and sin of Equestria upon herself.]] It ends badly, to say the least, causing her to [[spoiler: turn into Nightmare Whisper, a RealityWarper that hides under the appearance of Princess Gaia. By the time her friends find out she has already died twice. Pinkie Diane]] ends up helping her share the burden because she couldn't stand to see Fluttershy suffer so much. [[spoiler: Thankfully their friends are able to convince them that people need their pain in order for "the caterpillars to become butterflies."]]

* Domon does this in ''Manga/FlameOfRecca'' when the gang is storming Kurei's mansion to rescue Yanagi. Kaoru (before his HeelFaceTurn) activates a giant stone wall that would permanently cut them off, and [[TheBigGuy Domon]] jumps in at the last second to hold it up so Recca and Fuuko can continue on. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]], because they immediately [[PowerOfFriendship try and help him hold it up instead of abandoning him.]] They become stuck under it until Mikagami shows up and destroys the wall completely.

Not to be confused with LoadBearingBoss (but that may very well lead to this trope). {{Barrier Warrior}}s will frequently do this. [[BellisariosMaxim Don't think too much]] about why the falling object doesn't break under its own weight and collapse all around the character, or how the ''ground'' underneath the character can support all that weight being channeled through the LoadBearingHero's feet.

* In ''Manga/FushigiYuugi'', Tamahome does this to keep Miaka alive after a gazebo comes crashing down on her, [[WhatAnIdiot after she insulted Hotohori's army]]. Unlike most examples, both survive, as Nuriko uses SuperStrength to dig them out of the rubble.

* The Titan [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_(mythology) Atlas]] used to hold up the sky on his shoulders (preventing it from falling down and crushing the world), as a punishment for siding with Kronos in his war against the Olympian gods. Then he met Perseus who turned him into stone, forming an entire [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Mountains mountain range]].

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': When Silver Swan attacks [[ComicBook/WonderGirl Cassie]]'s school Cassie's secret identity goes out the door when she quickly flies overhead to grab and hold up a section of hallway wall and lockers that was falling on some of her classmates, giving them time to escape. Unfortunately some of the debris struck and killed her friend Tammy while she was saving the others.