Click HERE to see this thread with all of the graphics, features, and links.

So, I watched Hobbs & Shaw yesterday, which gave me an idea for this.

As we all know, some films/shows take liberties with what human beings should be/are capable of, and have non-superpowered characters perform feats that no real life human could replicate.

So, name the strongest "normals" in fiction.

And, obviously, one of my nominations is Hobbs. He was ridiculous before, but he's basically half a step away from a Super Soldier at this point. In the new film, there is a scene where they are on a truck, and pulling a helicopter along, which is hooked to the truck with a chain. At one point, the chain comes loose from the winch, so Hobbs grabs the winch bar and the chain (still attached to the helicopter), and actually holds it all together for a good couple of seconds. And then takes it a step further by actually yanking the chain (again, still attached to said helicopter) back far enough to re-attach it to the bar. He also outright tears the armrest from a metal chair with one hand, and he does this pretty casually... after repeatedly being electrocuted.

Just for clarification though, the helicopter in question was in flight, carrying someone Hobbs and Shaw were trying to get to.

Is it just physical strength you're looking for?

And would you count martial artists in some eastern films that technically are not indicated to be superhuman, but display blatantly superhuman abilities, like in Kung Fu Hustle?

Originally posted by NemeBro
Is it just physical strength you're looking for?

And would you count martial artists in some eastern films that technically are not indicated to be superhuman, but display blatantly superhuman abilities, like in Kung Fu Hustle?

I was mostly looking at strength, but notable examples in other areas are also fair game. So, if you have any good suggestions, go for it.

As for overall theme, I was thinking more Western/Hollywood, as the list would get extremely long if we started including classic Eastern martial arts-related stuff. The stylistic elements they often employ lends itself a lot to this kind of thing, even if it's not specifically their intent, like people even doing things as outlandish as running on air.

And lol, Stephen Chow characters often tend to operate on cartoonish levels. Even the characters from Shaolin Soccer are outright superhuman in many of the things they do. I feel like that's a step too far for this thread though, as it's outright going for outrageously goofy and unrealistic scenes, whereas, with characters like Hobbs, they more write the action sequences and then just have the characters perform superhuman feats in order for these things to happen. So, like the difference between running unrealistically fast vs actually portraying your characters as making Roadrunner-style wheels when they do.

I know the Punisher has pretty much superhuman durability. But yeah, nearly every Dwayne Johnson character has superhuman strength.

Originally posted by FrothByte
I know the Punisher has pretty much superhuman durability. But yeah, nearly every Dwayne Johnson character has superhuman strength.

Do you know how weird it is to actually watch a movie where he is portrayed as a normal, realistic person? I watched this one film, Snitch, where he was the lead, but it was a grounded, serious movie. And it was weird seeing him act all nervous at different points, and actually get laid out embarrassingly easily by a pair of punks with a bat.

But anyway, to put more clear parameters on this thread, it's basically Western/Hollywood characters, but nothing that's bordering on outright Toon-force. So, no Zohan, Kung Fury, Scott Pilgrim etc. But guys like Jaws, from Bond etc., are fair game.

Schwarzenegger as in Commando.
Ripped Car seats out, huge telephone booths out, broke chains, etc.

Did anyone working on Bond ever consider Jaws "normal"?

Chuck Norris

Originally posted by KingD19
Did anyone working on Bond ever consider Jaws "normal"?

Well, normal in the sense that he wasn't given SS serum or hit with gamma rays or anything.

Marv is pretty beastly

Originally posted by TheVaultDweller
Well, normal in the sense that he wasn't given SS serum or hit with gamma rays or anything.

Yeah, but like he falls out of planes and jumps out of the hole. Stops vehicles from moving. Beats up sharks, etc... He's way above normal.

Originally posted by KingD19
Yeah, but like he falls out of planes and jumps out of the hole. Stops vehicles from moving. Beats up sharks, etc... He's way above normal.

Crossbones couldn't be read by Daredevil and raped werewolves.

Kingpin made Spider-Man regret being born.

Jarvis took a savage beating from Mister Hyde.



Unlike them, Jaws had visible enhancements (teeth).

Originally posted by TheVaultDweller
I was mostly looking at strength, but notable examples in other areas are also fair game. So, if you have any good suggestions, go for it.

As for overall theme, I was thinking more Western/Hollywood, as the list would get extremely long if we started including classic Eastern martial arts-related stuff. The stylistic elements they often employ lends itself a lot to this kind of thing, even if it's not specifically their intent, like people even doing things as outlandish as running on air.

And lol, Stephen Chow characters often tend to operate on cartoonish levels. Even the characters from Shaolin Soccer are outright superhuman in many of the things they do. I feel like that's a step too far for this thread though, as it's outright going for outrageously goofy and unrealistic scenes, whereas, with characters like Hobbs, they more write the action sequences and then just have the characters perform superhuman feats in order for these things to happen. So, like the difference between running unrealistically fast vs actually portraying your characters as making Roadrunner-style wheels when they do. Well, in terms of strength, one obvious example comes to mind.

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/DeepOpenBubblefish-size_restricted.gif

As far as I know there is nothing in the film which indicates Fisk is a metahuman. He's also easily the strongest depiction of the Kingpin character in film or television thus far.

Originally posted by KingD19
Yeah, but like he falls out of planes and jumps out of the hole. Stops vehicles from moving. Beats up sharks, etc... He's way above normal.

That's the point though. Humans in Western/Hollywood films that are technically not supposed to be superhumans, but clearly are if we go by screen feats.

Originally posted by NemeBro
Well, in terms of strength, one obvious example comes to mind.

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/DeepOpenBubblefish-size_restricted.gif

As far as I know there is nothing in the film which indicates Fisk is a metahuman. He's also easily the strongest depiction of the Kingpin character in film or television thus far.

Damn, good one. I totally forgot about him. Because, yeah, Kingpin was insanely strong in that film. IIRC, he was even out-muscling Miles in a few instances. Even his size is superhuman, as he dwarfed the vast majority of other characters. Seriously, imagine him actually trying to get into the taxi he catches lol.

Yeah Vault I was saying Jaws is one of those guys.

And I know KP isn't supposed to be superhuman, but he axe-hammer smashed a full fledged Spider-Man to death when super Goblin couldn't do it.

Not just in a few instances, and not just Miles. Fisk in Into the Spiderverse never loses a one on one contest of brute strength in the film.

Originally posted by NemeBro
He's also easily the strongest depiction of the Kingpin character in film or television thus far.

90s TAS Fisk has toppled a Sentinel-sized robot by lifting its foot...

bruce lee.. the man hardly ever went down. he hardly was ever touched

So, I had a few minutes to kill and my curiosity got the better of me. So, I took a pic I found of Fisk catching that car, which looks to be a classic Crown Victoria yellow cab, and worked out what the ratio was (which is pretty easy to do by using the pixel count). The car is about 365-odd pixels, whereas Fisk is around 180 pixels. So, roughly half. And a Crown Victoria is 5.3-odd meters in length. So, yeah, Fisk was friggin' huge (over 8 and a half feet) in Spider-verse, especially if you consider how broad he also is.

For comparison (at least IIRC, based on behind the scenes VFX stuff I checked out for DP2), Fox Colossus is about 7'6" and Juggernaut around 9 feet. And neither were nearly as broad as Fisk.

Arnold Schwarzenegger in Twins. He lifted a car so high the alarm stopped.

I'm thinking of Wilson Fisk. The guy was breaking through walls with his bare hands.

Originally posted by Josh_Alexander
I'm thinking of Wilson Fisk. The guy was breaking through walls with his bare hands.

Pointing at the Netflix personification BTW.

Machete from the Machete/Spy Kids series.

He once cut 3 men in half with a single swing of his machete. And also cut a guy in half vertically with one hand. He's done a bunch of other crazy stuff too.

Originally posted by KingD19
Machete from the Machete/Spy Kids series.

He once cut 3 men in half with a single swing of his machete. And also cut a guy in half vertically with one hand. He's done a bunch of other crazy stuff too.

He can even interrupt someone's psychic precognition lol.

Keaton Batman: lifting two grown men off the ground - one in each hand - for a solid head smashing, punching through the Batmobile's floor board, catching and swinging Vicky Vale when the Joker pulls the fake hand prank on her on the cathedral ledge. Since Keaton/Kilmer/Clooney are all the same Batman in-verse, Clooney's gliding double-fisted windshield smash on Mr. Freeze's Freeze-mobile is a good feat as well.

Jaws is the numero uno for Bond henchman, and I thought of Mr. Hinx from SPECTRE as well, but let's consider Gobinda from Octopussy crushing the craps dice into powder with one hand. That dude was one of the coolest Bond henchmen of all-time.

Technically, Black Manta pre-suit should be considered: getting slammed by Aquaman and taking an oxygen tank or torpedo or whatever it was to the head without having his head crushed is action-movie durability.

Here's one out of left field: Dwight Yoakam in Panic Room. Jodie Foster literally swings for the fences with a sledgehammer shot to his face, he falls over a stair landing railing from the second floor of the house to the first, crawls back up to the second floor, punches Kristen Stewart like 5 feet backwards, and nearly kills Jodie Foster with the same sledgehammer until Forest Whitaker shoots him. For a grounded home invasion from the director of Se7en that took me out of the viewing experience back when I first watched it as a teenager.

Originally posted by KingD19
Machete from the Machete/Spy Kids series.

He once cut 3 men in half with a single swing of his machete. And also cut a guy in half vertically with one hand. He's done a bunch of other crazy stuff too. Originally posted by TheVaultDweller
He can even interrupt someone's psychic precognition lol.

Machete was insane. Like one step from Zohan insane.

Some of the Into the Badlands characters are also clearly superhuman, even if we account for the cinematic style they use. Because beyond ragdolling people with his hits and kicks, Sunny has done things like dropkick someone through a brick wall, tear the back door off an old taxi and bent a roughly 1-inch thick metal rod with his bare hands. And Quinn has driven his sword straight through a solid wall, and casually broke a piece off a stag's antler, which is a lot more impressive than I thought it was. Those things are actually crazy durable.