History Main / StrongerThanTheyLook

** Jill Valentine stands at a slim 5'5 and weighs at ‎50.4 kg yet Jill can still push heavy stone blocks around, overpower numerous foes with SheFu and in [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis RE3]] she's strong enough to shove the hulking [[ImplacableMan Nemesis]] off a bridge. In [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil5 RE5]] Jill becomes outright superhuman thanks to BioAugmentation.

* The titular Bug from ''VideoGame/{{Bug}}'' appears to look like a small green bug that's decidedly not muscular, and relies on a stinger tail for a physical attack. However, he's capable of pushing blocks that are larger than him -- the manual even tells you he's stronger than he looks, by virtue of being an insect.

* ''Manga/DragonBall'' Every Saiyan and half-Saiyan as a child, as well as characters like smaller characters like Krillin pack a massive amount of strength and power. Until he was a late teen Goku, for example, was a short messy-haired kid with a tail who in his first appearance lifted a car. Which itself is nothing compared to the amount of times he effortlessly defeats much larger opponents in tournaments or battles many of whom such as Pamput severely underestimated him due to his stature and age. In spite of his deceiving size, Goku as a preteen and young teen defeated the entire Red Ribbon Army by himself, almost won two world tournaments and killed the infamous King Piccolo whom not even Roshi could defeat.

* ''Literature/VillainessLevel99IMayBeTheHiddenBossButImNotTheDemonLord'': Many people refuse to believe Yumiella being Level 99, due to that level being way above anything heard of before and her frail physical appearance. The Second Prince even tried to get her expelled by claiming she was lying. It isn't until she demonstrates how powerful she is that people start to accept that she's telling the truth.

%%* ''Anime/BirdyTheMighty''. Birdy Cephon Altera runs along walls and jumps over rooftops like it's nobody's business. She can also punch through walls, robots and people without breaking a sweat.

* Spider-Ham from ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'' looks a harmless cartoon but as Scorpion learned to his [[CurbStompBattle cost]], this little piggy is badass with a HyperspaceMallet.
** Also [[TeensAreShort Miles Morles, Gwen Stacy and Penni Parker]] are ridiculously strong for their size.

''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'': For a mage with an Arcane Warrior specialization, their spellpower becomes a limiting factor for available armor and weapons instead of physical strength. Therefore your PC could be a delicate elven maiden in full adamantium plate swinging a zweihander that is longer than she is tall. Also, since the other go-to magical specialization is BloodMagic which requires a ton of HP to cast spells from, said maiden will most likely be secretly beefier than the resident beefcakes like Ogren or Sten.

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'':
** Knuckles is the strongest character in the Sonic [[TheVerse universe]], even if he's as small as Sonic or Tails.

* The [[DivineParentage demigods]] in ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' look like ordinary teenagers. However, each of them is superhuman strong. An exception might be the children of Ares and Hephaestus, who can look very muscular.

* [[TheOldGods Ryn]], the main character of Literature/TheOneWhoEatsMonsters, looks like a slightly underfed five-foot tall, sixteen-year old girl who weighs "one hundred and three pounds." She's actually the oldest monster in the world, can pummel a pair of gang enforcers so fast and so hard they literally don't know what happened, and can throw ''cars'' at people.

* ''TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness'': Vampires grow stronger as they age, and their physical strength is no longer connected to their appearance. An ancient vampire, or one with high level of Potence, might look like a slender woman, an old man, or a child and yet have the strength to rip a man's head off]]

* ''TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness'': Vampires grow stronger as they age, and their physical strength is no longer connected to their appearance. An ancient vampire, or one with high level of Potence, might look like a slender woman, an old man, or a child and yet have the strength to rip a man's head off.

* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'': For a mage with an Arcane Warrior specialization, their spellpower becomes a limiting factor for available armor and weapons instead of physical strength. Therefore your PC could be a delicate elven maiden in full adamantium plate swinging a zweihander that is longer than she is tall. Also, since the other go-to magical specialization is BloodMagic which requires a ton of HP to cast spells from, said maiden will most likely be secretly beefier than the resident beefcakes like Ogren or Sten.

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* ''TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness'': Vampires grow stronger as they age, and their physical strength is no longer connected to their appearance. An ancient vampire, or one with high level of Potence, might look like a slender woman, an old man, or a child and yet have the strength to rip a man's head off.
* The nature of the ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'' character-building system dictates these -- damage is determined by Strength + skill, and speed is determined by Strength + Dexterity + 5. If you have high strength, you're quick and powerful.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'': since there's nothing whatsoever preventing you from buying, say, Melee, Athletics and Resistance (for Solars), Dexterity and Stamina (for Lunars), or Malfeas and Adorjan (for Infernals), these tend to emerge quite rapidly. A Malfean soak/damage build using Adorjani run-like-the-wind and hurricane flurry magic is something you do ''not'' want to meet in a dark alley - her ridiculously high Soak and Hardness mean all but the most brutal attacks will just bounce off, and she's likely able to outrun a Bugatti Veyron and rip off enormous rains of radioactive blows. Solars are just as unpleasant, albeit more focused on technical skill and proficiency than weird [[LovecraftianSuperpower Primordial power]].

** Gyutaro had a very scrawny body when he was human yet he apparently was very strong, he himself seems surprised by this fact, once Gyutaro became proficient with a sickle he played with by himself, he could overpower men bigger than him to collect debts; as a demon Gyutaro got big muscular arms but his torso remained extremely thin.

* In ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'', Gyutaro had a very scrawny body when he was human yet he apparently was very strong, he himself seems surprised by this fact, once Gyutaro became proficient with a sickle he played with by himself, he could overpower men bigger than him to collect debts; as a demon Gyutaro got big muscular arms but his torso remained extremely thin.

* ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'': In terms of build, Mitsuri looks to be about on par with Shinobu, who describes herself as the physically weakest Hashira. However, she has a unique muscle composition that results in her being eight times stronger than what said build would suggest, being capable of lifting a pickling stone with ease when she was a toddler and an image ranking the Hashira by who would win in an arm wrestling contest has her as interchangeable with Sanemi, Giyuu, and Rengoku. [[spoiler:She was also strong enough to effortlessly rip one of Muzan’s arms off with her bare hands during the final battle.]]

* ''VideoGame/WildArms2'' has the protagonist Ashley Winchester who fits this trope like a glove. Even though his build is average, he's got a pretty good HP, can ''insanely'' be fast even without his Accelerator Force Action, can deal good damage, and yet wields a bayonet that looks like a {{BFS}}. And that's not even getting into his [[spoiler: SuperpoweredEvilSide]].

* ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'': In terms of build, Mitsuri looks to be about on par with Shinobu, who describes herself as the physically weakest Hashira. However, she has a unique muscle composition that results in her being eight times stronger than what said build would suggest, being capable of lifting a pickling stone with ease when she was a toddler and an image ranking the Hashira by who would win in an arm wrestling contest has her as interchangeable with Sanemi, Giyuu, and Rengoku.

* ComicBook/SpiderMan has enhanced strength, reflexes, and agility. Despite that, as Peter Parker he's has been known as "Puny Parker" and treated as a skinny nerd. Most villains and even some heroes write off Spidey as a lightweight ''to their cost''. During ''ComicBook/SecretWars1984'' Spider-Man at one point dropped Bulldozer of the Wrecking Crew with a single punch right in front of the Absorbing Man (whose thought bubble acknowledges the "squirt" is ''trouble'') and quickly absorbs some alien steel before he even tries fighting Spidey.

%%* In ''Fanfic/TheWizardInTheShadows'', Harry moves ''very'' fast and happens to be a PersonOfMassDestruction as well as doubling as FlyingFirepower. Also, Aragorn, from the more mortal side of things.

* ''Literature/VillainessLevel99IMayBeTheHiddenBossButImNotTheDemonLord'': Many people refuse to believe Yumiella being Level 99, due to that level being way above anything heard of before and her frail physical appearance. The Second Prince even tried to get her expelled by claiming she was lying. It isn't until she demonstrates how powerful she is that people start to accept that she's telling the truth.

* ''Literature/AkuyakuReijouLevel99WatashiWaUraBossDesuGaMaouDeWaArimasen'': Many people refuse to believe Yumiela being Level 99, due to that level being way above anything heard of before and her frail physical appearance. The Second Prince even tried to get her expelled by claiming she was lying. It isn't until she demonstrates how powerful she is that people start to accept that she's telling the truth.

%%** ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Birth By Sleep's]]'' [[BonusBoss Mysterious Figure]] takes this trope up to ten thousand. Almost ''every'' hit he lands on you will knock you back to one HP- and that's only because of Second Chance and Once More. If you ''[[OneHitKO didn't]]'' have those abilities equipped....

%%* ''VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptuniaMk2'' has the protagonist Nepgear herself. She's pretty fast, deals a lot of damage, and can hold on her own ground because she can take a lot of punishment. The one thing that makes her a GameBreaker? She has to be placed ''in support role'' because the only way you can get rid of the [[{{Cap}} Damage Cap]] throughout the entire game (unless you defeat and acquire the [[BraggingRightsReward rare item from]] the highest leveled BonusBoss of the game) is by placing her as support.

** Rogue is a slim lady, most X-Men tower over her and Rogue's LoveInterest (now husband) Gambit is much more muscly than her. Of course, Rogue is actually far stronger than him and most X-Men to boot being a FlyingBrick able to go toe to toe with the freaking Juggernaut.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}''- Many of the top tier Naruto shinobi move insanely fast & yet can hit deceptively strong. Some prominent examples would be Minato, Maito Gai, Rock Lee etc.

* ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'': Shizuo Heiwajima looks like a pretty ordinary guy, albeit dressed up like a bartender. But people quickly learn not to cross him because this guy ''routinely'' rips vending machines out of the concrete and heaves them at people he doesn't like. He can literally leave people PunchedAcrossTheRoom.
* ''Manga/InuYasha'' has the titular hero, who does not look very muscular, but he is one of the strongest characters in the anime. Generally this is true for a lot of [[HalfHumanHybrid hanyou]], as well as [[{{Youkai}} youkai]] that can shapeshift into human-looking forms.

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'': Touma Kamijou may look like a scrawny teenager, but he is shown to [[PunchedAcrossTheRoom have punched people across varying distances]], [[MegatonPunch with varying degrees of power]], and once used his unnatural strength to knock away a large metal cross that looked like it would've weighed several tons. ''Using his completely normal human left hand''.

* ''LightNovel/AkuyakuReijouLevel99WatashiWaUraBossDesuGaMaouDeWaArimasen'': Many people refuse to believe Yumiela being Level 99, due to that level being way above anything heard of before and her frail physical appearance. The Second Prince even tried to get her expelled by claiming she was lying. It isn't until she demonstrates how powerful she is that people start to accept that she's telling the truth.

* ComicBook/TheEnchantress is, to all appearances, simply a tall, [[WorldsMostBeautifulWoman impossibly-attractive]] woman, usually wearing either expensive, designer outfits in the style of Midgard, or ornate and revealing costumes suitable for the most decadent assemblage of courtly nobility. In neither case is she carrying any sort of weapon, and her bearing is one of elegantly-graceful poise and sensuality, ''not'' anything that implies physical danger or even dangerous athleticism. However, she is ''Asgardian'', which means the tall slim woman you and your mugger friends just cornered on that darkened street is significantly stronger than ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'', and has the speed and endurance to chase you down and destroy you with her bare hands, all without even bothering to use her immense array of magical abilities (and also while wearing [[CombatStilettos 6-inch stiletto heels]])

** ComicBook/{{Nightcrawler}} is skinny as Spider-Man, yet he can lift an entire woman above his head one-handed and has even given ComicBook/{{Sabretooth}} a run for his money in a close-quarters fight.
** ComicBook/{{Storm|MarvelComics}} is a willowy African woman, who can pull Stonewall (who apparently weighs over a ton) one-handed out of a swamp, even he couldn't believe it.

** ComicBook/{{Rogue}} is a slim lady, most X-Men tower over her and Rogue's LoveInterest (now husband) Gambit is much more muscly than her. Of course, Rogue is actually far stronger than him and most X-Men to boot being a FlyingBrick able to go toe to toe with the freaking Juggernaut.

* The Vord Queen in the ''Literature/CodexAlera'' books is ''terrifyingly'' powerful. While she looks a bit like a CuteMonsterGirl (or at least [[UncannyValley tries]]), she's faster and stronger than Aleran crafters using BulletTime and SuperStrength, crafts better than pretty much anyone anyway, can run up walls and ceilings, and is generally able to slice you to little pieces. Oh, and [[ImmuneToBullets balest bolts]] ''bounce off her skin''. To make matters worse, she's a brilliant commander with a [[ZergRush massive]], {{Hive Mind}}ed army consisting in large part of lesser {{Lightning Bruiser}}s.