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On the left, shown with The Lancer on the right for scale.

"It's not my fault being the biggest and the strongest. I don't even exercise."
Fezzik, The Princess Bride

In any decent team, someone's gotta be the powerhouse.

Like the name implies, they're usually the largest and/or the strongest member of the team, in charge of heavy lifting. If someone needs to bust open the door, hold the line against the enemy, break down boulders, or help you move your furniture, they are the one to turn to.

In a fight they're often the one who holds off the army of Mooks while the others challenge the Big Bad. While The Leader and The Lancer often fight side-by-side, The Big Guy can be a One-Man Army. Against stronger enemies they might end up suffering The Worf Effect; i.e. getting trounced to set up the villain as an unusually grave threat.

While most are passionate and unflinchingly loyal, what holds them back from leadership among the core team is being Dumb Muscle. They know how to knock heads together but don't do much in the way of strategy. Despite this, as renowned warriors, they may still exercise authority over the supporting troops.

Note: The Big Guy may not necessarily be the strongest on the team (and usually isn't by the end). They just have to be the one who specializes in fighting or physical duties.

Common traits and subdivisions of the Big Guy include:

Powers and skills common to the big guy:

Originally, this trope was Always Male, but in modern times, more and more women are filling this role, which used to be a rarity unless the whole team was composed of women. Since physical strength is usually a masculine trait, she may be a Tomboy, Lad-ette, or mannish, but you can flip this on its head by making her a Girly Bruiser, allowing her to be both strong and feminine, or by making her the Amazon, big and beautiful. If she's playing the tough guy straight, her softer side is often a secret cache of girlish habits which she finds embarrassing. On rare occasions, she may be revealed to be a Butch Lesbian, a Tsundere, or even a Violently Protective Girlfriend. When there are Two Girls to a Team, the Big Girl is often the tomboyish half of a Tomboy and Girly Girl duo.

Not to be confused with The Strongman (though overlap is not unheard of) or that other Big Guy.

Can have some overlap with Scary Black Man, The Strongman and the Proud Warrior Race Guy, especially when dealing with dwarves. Due to their status as the biggest, most physically dangerous person on The Hero's team, they often fall victim to Big Guy Fatality Syndrome. They often form a Brains and Brawn relationship with The Smart Guy in the group, or will be used as a Foil for them a la Brains Versus Brawn.


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Comic Books 

DC Universe:

  • Batman:
    • Cass, Batgirl II/Blackbat, is the Class 5 for the Bat-family.
    • Robin: In Tim's group of civilian friends Callie Evans is the one the others turn to for protection if they think they are going into a situation where they might be attacked. At least two of her basketball teammates feel the same way, asking her assistance when confronting a football player that tried to rape a classmate.
  • Green Lantern:
  • Brute from Hunter's Hellcats, is a hulking, well, brute of a man with a short fuse whose typical reaction to any problem is to attempt to smash it with his bare hands.
  • Justice League of America:
    • Superman is usually considered the big guy or the big gun for the team, and is a mix of Class 2 and Class 5, although he's simultaneously The Leader and The Hero.
    • Wonder Woman arguably fits this better than Superman. She has strength comparable to his, which combined with her martial arts skills make her a force to be reckoned with. Batman has called her the best melee fighter on the planet. She has also occasionally been depicted as the team's Blood Knight.
  • Justice Society of America:
    • Hourman, being the physically strongest and toughest of the original line-up, is the original Big Guy of the Genius Bruiser kind (being a genius Chemist who achieves his power through a pill he created) for the team, since Superman was usually little more than cover-decoration. Though the magnitude of his power varies in how it is depicted, within his Hour of Power, the Man of the Hour has even fought Superman toe to toe. And, though not typically showcased, his Miraclo pill also gives him superhuman speed, making him the second fastest JSAer after The Flash himself.
    • After acquiring his atomic powers and his Atomic Punch, the original Golden Age Atom, Al Pratt, also would qualify as the Big Guy of the JSA, of the Pint-Sized Powerhouse variety.
    • During the Post-Crisis years Power Girl spent a long time as the strongest member of the JSA and the most quick to jump to a physical altercation, despite her fluctuating backstory.
    • Atom Smasher (formerly Nuklon) was the Big Guy and Gentle Giant for the original Infinity, Inc., an incarnation of the Justice League of America and much of the Justice Society of America, until he did a Face–Heel Turn (he later turned back). His godbrother Damage has more or less taken up this role in the current JSA, who until Gog repaired his face was definitely a Class 1. Atom Smasher is presumably a reserve member and still drops in on occasion, usually when the team takes on Black Adam.
  • Teen Titans:
    • Like her sister in the Justice League, Donna Troy served this role on the team, being a Flying Brick and Lightning Bruiser with martial arts training.
    • Starfire, Cyborg and Donna occupied this role in the New Teen Titans era. Cyborg was a Genius Bruiser while Donna and Starfire were Girly Bruisers. Starfire herself was a Flying Brick and had combat training since she was a child. Donna mentions that she frequently lost to her in sparring sessions.
    • The Dan Jurgens run featured Risk who had enhanced strength, speed, agility, durability and regeneration. Unlike most of the team, he had no long range abilities making him the Big Guy.
  • Wonder Woman:
    • Wonder Woman (1942): While Etta Candy was not the strongest nor biggest of the trio consisting of herself, Diana and Steve Trevor, she was the one who would confidently charge in and fight rather than try for sneakiness like Steve or talking the villains down or pretending to be captured in order to learn more about their opponents. For this reason she was often kept back to charge in once Steve and Diana's attempts at a less violent solution failed.
    • Wonder Woman (2011): Diana's half-brother Lennox serves this role. He can change his skin to stone and fights with a hammer, making him the team's "tank" character.

Marvel Universe:

  • The Avengers had too many varied line-ups in their history, but their "classic" big guy is Thor.
  • Ben aka The Thing of the Fantastic Four is a Trope Codifier for superhero comics.
    • She-Hulk when she was with the team as well.
  • Whenever the Hulk teams up with other heroes, he generally fulfils this role.
    • The exception being the Warbound, where Hulk is the Leader and Korg is the Big Guy.
  • "Gothic Lolita" from Adam Warren's Livewires miniseries is a textbook Cute Bruiser.
  • Ultimate Marvel
    • Ben Grimm/The Thing from Ultimate Fantastic Four is the strongest and largest member of the team. He's also pretty big when he's human, too.
    • All-New Ultimates have Bombshell, whose power is to make things explode.
    • The Ultimates: The whole team combined had a hard time dealing with Hulk, but then Thor came and smashed his head into the pavement.
    • Ultimate X-Men: By far the biggest and strongest of the team. He is the "go-to" guy when physical strength is needed.
  • X-Men:
    • Piotr aka Colossus of the X-Men is the poster child for Class 2, who replaced Class 5 Genius Bruiser Hank McCoy/The Beast when he first appeared. Sometimes they're both on the team together...at which point the bad guys should generally start running.
    • "Strong Guy" of X-Factor, whose name came from him explicitly Lampshade Hanging this trope during a press conference.
  • Hulkling in Young Avengers is a Class 2.

Other Comics:

  • The Authority: Apollo, the team's calm, cheerful Flying Brick.
  • Circles: Arthur Korsky is a Genius Bruiser and a Gentle Giant who is an expert painter and prefers to paint rather than fight. But with his strength, he can chase down criminals and knock them out with a mighty punch.
  • Cossacks: Vika is the tallest and strongest man in the Cossack settlement where the protagonist is Going Native.
  • Double Jumpers: Milo The Barbarian from the video game "Dungeon Lords 2" fit this role. Said role fell to Milo Jenkins after the two swapped bodies.
  • Dynamo5: This role is shared by Scrap and Scatterbrain. Scrap is a Cute Bruiser, while Scatterbrain has sheer size on his side (he's a star football player.)
  • Mesmaeker from Gaston Lagaffe is a very big man.
  • Sin City: Marv was designed to be one of these. In Frank Miller's words: "Conan in a trenchcoat". He's seven feet tall, he's at least four feet wide, he's big and boisterous and strong. When he teams up with Dwight in "A Dame To Kill For" it's especially apparent.
  • Star Wars: Invasion: The huge warrior Arbeloa serves as the towering bruiser who enforces the authority of the much smaller but more charismatic Princess Kaye Galfridian.
  • Tintin: Captain Haddock is a big man, and though he isn't especially skilled in a fight, those he does hit stay hit. He once ripped a wooden chair in half with his bare hands when angered. While the director of the space center was still sitting on it.
  • Transmetropolitan: Channon Yarrow is a relatively subtle Big Girl— to be fair, being physically imposing by comparison with Spider Jerusalem isn't that hard. Still, she doesn't easily fit into any of the subtropes.

    Fan Works 
  • Cross Cases: Sam Winchester is the tallest character in Supernatural at 6'5" (195cm), a fact that he is evidently used to when he first meets the 6'9" (206cm) Harry Dresden and is surprised to have to look up at someone for once. This is Played With a bit in that the shorter of the two, Sam, fights like a brawler and is, in Harry's words, built like a brick wall, contrasting against Harry's aikido fighting style and lanky build. Sam lampshades it in his narration by calling the two of them a pair of scruffy NBA rejects.
    Crowley: "I didn’t think they came bigger than you, but you’ve gone and found yourself a giraffe."
  • Mortality Watson is the Cute Bruiser type, as well as the Gentle Giant (that shouldn't be pushed too far) type. Go ahead. Mess with his friend. He will cause you a life of SERIOUS pain and agony and not show an ounce of mercy while doing it. Basically, you're dealing with someone who's ruthless if you mess with his friend.
    • Mycroft is taller, but doesn't do the things Watson does, though he is loyal.
  • Hefty and Duncan McSmurf (the Captain Ersatz of Gutsy from The Smurfs film series) in Empath: The Luckiest Smurf.
    • Evac could also be considered this to a lesser extent, though he mostly only qualifies for his size (he's even bigger than Grimlock). He could be considered a Mighty Glacier.
  • Erin Suda, Shun Daimonji, Ban Chosuke and Kamen Rider Amazon for Horseshoes and Hand Grenades, In its sidestory Month of Sundays, this role is filled by Rumi Egawa and Taira Katagiri.
  • Hugh from The Night Unfurls is an unorthodox example, given his lean physique, his usage of skill-based weapons (Threaded Cane, Chikage, Simon's Bowblade) rather than power-based ones like BFSs, axes or hammers, and his graceful fighting style instead of brute force all the way. What makes him firmly this trope is that he is mute ("dumb", but not stupid), and that among the Five-Hunter Band, he is considered the most deadly, due to his proficiency in both swordsmanship and marksmanship that allows adaptability in close-quarters and long-ranged fights respectively.
  • Pokémon's Send Your Original Characters fanfic, Pokemon Take Two, gives us Raion, the protagonist. She may not be anything special when it comes to Pokémon training, but has more physical strength than a ten-year-old child should.
  • The Pieces Lie Where They Fell: Vix-Lei the minotaur is the biggest and muscliest of the group, relying on raw physical might. Wind Breaker starts as a second one of these for the group, who sometimes fights up close but gradually becomes more of a Long-Range Fighter.
  • Pokémon Reset Bloodlines: Iris takes this role as the most physically capable member of Ash's group, which is justified as she grew up in the wild raised by Dragon Pokémon. She is a mixture of types 2 and 5, as she's physically the tallest and most athletic of the group, but for the most part very kind and caring in her own way. Over the course of the story she takes to physically train Ash and the others in both physical capacities and the use of their bloodliner powers.
  • Achmed from The Secret Life of the Backyard Kids. He's not "big" or "strong" but he's definitely a Boisterous Bruiser Rock Star, putting him squarely in Class 4.
  • Rika, Ryo, Beelzemon, Kazu and, surprisingly enough Jeri all fit this role in the Tamers Forever Series, being the best straight up fighters on the team.
  • Grimlock is a Class 1 this in Transformers Meta.
  • Ragna is this to Team RNJR in BlazBlue Alternative: Remnant, as he's the most experienced and powerful member of the team by a country mile, being able to best the likes of Team CFVY and Pyrrha Nikos in single combat. The rest of his team even call him their "big gun".
  • Unlike his counterpart in Prehistoric Earth, who largely served as The Generic Guy, Adrian Sky is much more clearly defined as the comparatively most physically capable member of the rescue team in subsequent Continuity Reboot Prehistoric Park Reimagined. For bonus points, he's also the comparatively least talkative member of the team.

    Films — Animation 
  • Pumbaa from The Lion King is Class 2.
  • In Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Brent becomes this after his rebirth as Chicken Brent. He single-handedly holds off a squadron of sentient roast chickens so Flint can go stop the FLDSMDFR.
  • Wreck-It Ralph: The titular Ralph is a 9-feet-tall and 643 pound Hot-Blooded Destructive Saviour, something that he himself lampshades in the opening of the film.
  • In Turning Red, Abby fills this role which is ironic since she's the shortest member of Mei's friend group. She acts as a bouncer for the group's red panda racket, and since she can knock down Mei with a single punch, they're aware that she's probably the strongest of the four.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Star Wars:
    • Chewbacca. Class 2 or 3, depending on how you look at Wookiees. True to form, Chewie was portrayed by the 7'2" Peter Mayhew, although his official height is 4" more than that.
    • Reprogrammed Imperial security droid K-2SO from Rogue One is only a little shorter (being, probably coincidentally, 7'2" tall) and looms over all the other characters, especially Jyn Erso (whose actress is 5'3"). He's a type four: his actual job is strategy (while his vocation is providing snark and Brutal Honesty), and being huge and very durable is just a tactical advantage as proven when it takes a hail of blaster fire quite a while to kill him on Scarif. To a lesser extent, there's Baze Malbus, who is only 6' tall, but makes up for it with a giant gatling blaster; he's mostly type one.
  • DC Extended Universe:
  • Blood Quantum: Bumper is a burly man who carries a large axe as his favorite weapon and is one of the group's main fighters. When someone asks who has "the most meat on them", everyone looks at Bumper.
  • One in The City of Lost Children. Definitely class 2. Unusual in that he's the main character.
  • Raven in Cecil B. Demented, being the Boisterous Bruiser/Perky Goth/Cloudcuckoolander that she is.
  • Wang Fu-Ming in Bodyguards and Assassins.
  • Fezzik the Giant in The Princess Bride.
  • Vasquez from Aliens, unusual for being the only female member on a mostly-male team aside from Ripley, and for being shorter than everyone else.
    • Actually, there is Dietrich and Ferro who are wasted earlier but it doesn't matter. Vasquez is the clear point and the Berserker of the group.
  • Boromir and Gimli from The Lord of the Rings. There are also Dwalin, Dori and Beorn from the 2012 film adaption of The Hobbit.
  • Heavy Duty and Snake Eyes from GI Joe The Rise Of Cobra.
  • Roadblock and Snake Eyes in G.I. Joe: Retaliation.
  • Andy Knightley from The World's End.
  • The Avengers:
  • Spice World: Sporty Spice Melanie C, of course. Especially when she dives into the drink to deal with Victoria and the two girls who fell over the party boat.
  • The War Lord: Bors (Richard Boone). Despite being an Old Soldier, he's the tallest and strongest of Chrysagon's men and his trusted sidekick.
  • X-Men Film Series
    • Colossus is the strongest member of the X-Men and his power revolves around hitting hard and shrugging off blows that could take out most other mutants.
    • Arclight in X-Men: The Last Stand.
    • Fred Dukes in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. In many ways.
    • In X-Men: First Class, despite not being the largest or physically strongest, Alex's powers are much more destructive than the other young mutants and he's far more likely to pick a fight than the more docile Hank.
  • Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. For you.
  • Kai from Robot Holocaust is this with a bit of Barbarian Hero & The Speechless.
  • The Russian machinegunner in Predators
  • Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) has two, Class 1 Drax and Class 2 Groot.
  • Volstagg from Film/Thor.
  • In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014), all of the Turtles are much larger compared to their traditional appearances, but Raphael is noticeably the bulkiest of the four, standing at 6'5". Donatello, while thinner, towers over him at 6'8".
  • The film version of Film/Speed Racer presents Pops Racer as a mix of Class 2 and Class 5. A genius automotive designer and mechanic, he is also generally soft-spoken and polite even when addressing the worst sorts of people. Until someone tries to attack his sons, in which case he subjects them to a comprehensive wall-to-wall beat-down.
  • The Scorpion King:
    • Balthazar in the first movie, though he has traits of The Lancer due to bickering with the main protagonist until they learn to set aside their differences and respect each other.
    • Enkidu in the fifth one, by virtue of being a super-strong, mace-wielding Golem.
  • The hulking Obobobo in Posse, played by Tiny Lister. He is undoubtedly the strongest and physically toughest member of the eponymous posse.
  • Tremors and it's sequel have a unique example in Burt Gummer, local survival expert and gun nut, when the giant worms attack. The reputation of the series of him being the main character would make some forget that he was the big guy in the first two films. A combination of him having some of the most iconic moments in the films, notably gunning down one of them with a Wall of Weapons alongside his wife, and Michael Gross willing to return to the role led to him being The Hero of the franchise.

    Myths & Religion 
  • Heracles takes on this role when part of an ensemble, and is one of the earliest recorded Big Guys in human culture. There's a reason why we use the adjective "Herculean" even today.
  • Ajax, being described as a giant of a man towering "head and shoulders" above the rest and incredibly powerful. He is called the "bulwark of the Achaeans" as their strongest warrior and second-best fighter after Achilles himself. He is never described as receiving in injury in The Iliad.
  • Sir Gawain of Arthurian Legend is traditionally described as the biggest and strongest of all King Arthur's knights (though whether he's the most skilled varies). According to some stories, his strength triples at noon.

    Podcasts 

    Tabletop Games 
  • The special character Nork Deddog in Imperial Guard Codex of Warhammer 40,000 is definitely a Class 2. While he is proud of his many shiny buttons and is a genius in Ogryn terms (N is for Nork), he remains in the Guard because of the content feeling fighting alongside his fellow troopers gives him.
    • While all Astartes are a minimum of seven feet tall with Power Armor and huge weapons to match, personality-wise the Space Wolves (Space Vikings) best fit the bill, followed by the White Scars (Space Mongols), being loud, proud, and in the Wolves' case, protective of those weaker than them, an attitude which has not gotten them many friends in the Inquisition.
      • The Salamanders and Ultramarines chapters arguably come in before Space Wolves as Class 2 or 3. The former chapter has a doctrine of compassion, duty and self-sacrifice; lives among the people of their homeworld when off-duty (rather than holed up in a mountain fortress); and are the only chapter said to have fought for the people during the 2nd and 3rd wars for Armageddon, defending hive cities, supply lines, and evacuees. Chapter master Tu'Shan even reportedly came to blows with the Marines Malevolent for shelling an invaded refugee encampment. They can also count as Genius Bruisers, even among most other Space Marine chapters, due to their ties and training with the Adeptus Mechanicus. The Ultramarines control a small 'sub-empire' surrounding their homeworld; governed according to the egalatarian ideals of meritocracy and common good instilled in them by their founding Primarch, Roboute Guilliman, and which the Ultramarines despair to find lacking in their brother chapters and other imperial star systems.
  • Giants in Warhammer have a spotty history as allies and mercenaries, usable by most if not all armies. (most notably in the form of the brothers Bologs and Cachtorr from the mist-shrouded isle of Albion) They tend to be more solidly and permanently associated with destructive factions, such as the various forces of Chaos, greenskins, and Ogre Kingdoms. (The latter as the biggest guy in a whole army of big guys.) However, the human Imperial city of Middenheim had it's own resident giant in the background: Thunderball, employed as the loader for Middenheim's giant cannon Ulric's Thunder. He was eventually mutated with warpstone by Skaven infiltrators.
  • In Rocket Age Julandri labourers, Maduri and Venusians tower over nearly everyone else and are often wider.

    Toys 
  • Most Toa of Stone fill this role on their respective teams in BIONICLE. They tend to be Boisterous Bruiser types. Toa of Earth may also qualify, but they tend to be Genius Bruisers and better suited to being The Smart Guy.
  • Transformers: Sludge of the Dinobots, usually serving as the Dumb Muscle of the team, mixed with Gentle Giant (in as much as any Dinobot is "gentle"). His IDW comics incarnation actually is the largest of the team, thanks to an attempt at realistic scale.

    Web Animation 
  • Dreamscape: Vampire Lord is The Big Guy of the Five-Man Band. He is very strong and strong-willed, and he's also a bit of a smartass.
  • Inverted in Lackadaisy, with the diminutive, baby-faced Freckle, whom his cousin Rocky claims "provides the muscle" for their Caper Crew of late night booze-runners. Much to Freckle's horror, he doesn't just mean heavy lifting, as he presents Freckle with a Tommy gun stored in his violin case, exploiting Freckle's tendency to become The Berserker around guns, and thereafter pressganging him into the role of team heavy in a Car Chase Shootout.
  • Red vs. Blue:
    • Maine of is a classic Class 1. He's huge, terrifying in combat, and can take unbelievable amounts of punishment. And he doesn't much care if you have a nice day or not.
    • Tex and Sheila/FILSS also apply. Both pretty well fit in the Giantess category; one is only ever seen in full body armor and is an AI in a robot body anyway while the other is literally a tank (and a Cool Ship). Sheila is undeniably the toughest and best fighter in the series (she's a tank and a spaceship with an enormous gun), but Tex is one of the best as well.
  • Mister Brave from Dusk's Dawn. He can ram though tornadoes.
  • RWBY: Yang is the power-fighter of Team RWBY, the only one to fight with her fists. She's designed her weapons to be shotgun gauntlets that increase the attacking and damge power of her strikes. Her Semblance allows her to tank damage from attacks, converting the kinetic energy to power her up and dish out even more powerful attacks than before. She therefore gets stronger the more she's injured.

    Webcomics 
  • The Order of the Stick- In most of the agreed Five-Man Band allocations, the role of The Big Guy goes to either Durkon, a hammer-wielding dwarf cleric whose signature spell involves growing to great size, or Belkar, the halfling Heroic Comedic Sociopath. Both fit the 'small guy, big influence' variant as well.
  • Curse Quest: Mogarth the Unbreakable. He towers over Captain Walrus significantly and is definitely the strongest of the team being able to take on three owl-bears single-handedly.
  • In The Sins, The original Envy was The Big Guy of the Gentle Giant kind. Since his departure this role has been filled by Anger, the new Envy filling a very different trope.
  • Bun-Bun from Sluggy Freelance is one of these, despite being the smallest (and arguably cutest) member of the cast. He's the Killer Rabbit trope cranked up to eleven and given a Hammerspace switchblade and glock.
  • Krunch Bloodrage of Looking for Group is a Genius Bruiser example.
  • Yeager from Nodwick. Class 4.
  • No Heroes: Guard Captain Slania is shown to be towering over pretty much everyone else (besides drak, who are naturally that big). She is also physically very strong and capable in a fight, to the point where she takes on four people at once (and wins) while on a rescue mission with the protagonists, giving them a chance to get close undetected.
  • Mr. Mighty from Everyday Heroes, at least in his current team. He could be either Class 2 or Class 5; in practice bouts with his teammates, he wins by strategy rather than pure strength. Has often fought solo in the past, and has learned to outsmart opponents.
  • Reginald from Parallel Dementia. Class 2: Gentle Giant and Class 5: Genius Bruiser
  • Eddie from Emergency Exit. Definitely Class 4: The Boisterous Bruiser
    • Alternatively, Bob while in Nefarious form. Not sure which class he'd be though...
  • Pauline from Our Little Adventure is a female Class 4, and Lenny is a male Class 2.
  • Marlene of Jet Dream is a Class 5 Big Girl, both a genius scientist and T-Girl strongwoman after her sex change.
  • Rumors of War has Illyra, a Class 5, who uses her feminine wiles to manipulate and her destructive magic to dominate.
  • Iratu in Slightly Damned is the biggest demon so far in the comic.
  • Homestuck's Equius Zahhak is somewhere between a Type 3 and Type 5.
  • The Water Phoenix King doesn't have a standard Five-Man Band, more an Ensemble Cast with shifting/shared roles, but Commander Corva has proven to be this this, having the size, the strength, the axe, the hick accent, but at once the Gentle Giant — usually quiet, almost unprovokable outside of battle with a MAJOR loyalty-to-friends loophole — a Lightning Bruiser in combat, and a Genius BruiserDeadpan Snarker and the leader of her own group, in her own right, with limited but real Theurgy powers as a priestess of the storm god making her practically a Paladin on top of it all. Definitely someone you want on your side and not the other! If it were a Five-Man Band setup she'd take turns with Anthem being The Lancer to Gilgam (except when he's being The Lancer to Anthem) but since it isn't and she's also a Amazonian Beauty without this being at all controversial it's unsurprising that they've ended up the Battle Couple now. More Meet Cutes should involve KillerRobots.
    Corva: Who yelled? What's the trouble? Who needs a hatchet in 'em?
  • Big Ears the paladin in Goblins is stockier and more visibly muscular (if not particularly taller) than the rest of the goblins. He's a type 2.
  • In Consequences of Choice Merror is a class 2 Big Guy. He's a gentle giant and a pacifist.
  • Derk in The Fourth is Class 2, and actually doesn't like violence.
  • Grace and Nanase of El Goonish Shive are both female type 3. Grace because she's a powerful shapeshifter and Nanase because she is a skilled Supernatural Martial Artist.
    • Justin, while not yet physically adept as Grace or Nanase, shows signs of becoming a Class 2 as of New and Old Flames giving him non-illusory magical powers, seemingly related to punching, when he is not acting as a back-up The Smart Guy instead.
  • Rocko Sasquatch from The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob! is the Gentle Giant type. And hey, he punched out a giant robot! (Well, he punched it right in the off-button without realizing it).
  • Adrestia in morphE is a female type 2. She was a gang member before being kidnapped and brought to the mansion and is the only member of the Five-Man Band who is physically strong outside of magic use.
  • Muneca Powell from Pacificators is an interesting mixture of Class 2 and Class 4. She's not quite a Gentle Giant towards people she dislikes, but she's great with children. She's also smart (she knows the rules inside and out - and she can actually tolerate and understand all that legalese)... and dresses like a Proper Lady, complete in Victorian era style. But piss her off, and she'll curb-stomp you with her gravity powers. Oh, and did I mention that she's over six feet tall, fights with a Sword Cane (it's hidden in her Parasol of Prettiness), and actually is pretty strong to boot?
  • About 90% of the cast in Schlock Mercenary. It is a story about mercenaries, after all.
    Kevyn: I've also prepared for nearly every contingency by selecting the grunts with the widest possible range of potentially useful engagement skill sets.
    Tagon: I didn't realize we had that much range among the grunts.
    Kevyn: Mostly it boils down to 'hurting people' and 'breaking things,' but there are a lot of variations on those two themes.
  • Several characters in Tower of God fulfil this role. Giant alligator Rak Wraithraiser is the Big Guy (and also astonishingly keen and intuitive), Kurdan is a really big Big Guy for Yuri's team and Kang Horyang is the Big Guy for the season two team.
  • Orrig from Daughter of the Lilies is an orc, acts as big guy and also as the leader of his band of mercenaries. Partly explained by the fact that the other two fighters lack common sense and the mage is a rather new addition to the team.
  • Runners team has two of those, Bennesaud and Sky.
  • Blizzor from Project Blackfire is 8'5", 865 lbs, has massive super strength and endurance, and is stubbornly loyal.
  • Sleepless Domain: Gwen Morita fills this role in the Magical Girl group Team Alchemical. She's the team's tomboyish physical fighter with control over earth, and she never says more than she has to.
  • Tuesday Titans: While all Titans are this by default, Excel stands out among them. While the Dies Martis Peninsula is under attack, she intercepts the Autocarrier that's breached the city's defenses and faces it alone, holding her own while the defenders repel the invaders.

    Web Original 
  • QUINCY from The Last Stage by NatOne Productions is a #1. He has the most amount and most powerful weapons, is physically imposing, and considers himself a tool to be used by the other members of The Detachment.
  • Torq, the Half-Orc fighter from the Critical Hit Podcast, is a bit of #4, though he's not always Boisterous. He is almost a Cloudcuckoolander normally, but becomes a whirling, athletic menace in combat. His player, Matthew, specifically statted him this way.
  • Critical Role
    • Vox Machina has Grog, a massive, hulking goliath barbarian who absolutely towers over all of his friends. What he does not have in brains, he more than makes up for in raw physical power.
    • The Mighty Nein has Yasha, an aasimar barbarian. She's not the tallest of the Nein, as Caduceus has her beat in that department, but in contrast to his tall and lanky physique, Yasha is broad-shouldered and all muscle. Unlike Grog, she is a very soft-spoken Shrinking Violet, and tries to be as gentle as possible with those smaller than her... although you would do best to not find yourself at the wrong end of her five-foot greatsword.
    • Bells Hells has Ashton, an earth genasi barbarian who, while not exceptionally tall, is still one of the tallest and easily the strongest of the Hells. On top of being large, broad-shouldered, and literally made of solid rock, Ashton wields a massive warhammer made of crystalline glass which they swing around like it weighs nothing.
  • Evan of Everyman HYBRID, who is actually smaller than Jeff and Vince but knows martial arts, is always carrying a weapon, and is by far the most intimidating. Subverted, however, in that the only time the group has been antagonized by a human instead of an Eldritch Abomination, he got stuck holding the camera while Jeff tackled the security guard.
  • Sura Verandis of Ilivais X. Even his Avespia is heavier and more melee-oriented than the others.
  • Lancer of Team Kimba in the Whateley Universe. He's the Flying Brick with no magical or psychic powers. He's the strongest and toughest team member and the one most likely to step in front of an attack to protect someone else.
  • Borky the orc barbarian of The Unexpectables is strong and he hopes you know it.
  • Matthew Santoro: Matt Santoro's clone, Big Shine. He's tough, and beats up anyone who leaves a troll comment on one of Matt's videos.
  • Peter Panda in Past Division wields a giant maul and is the most physically strong of the party. He's also a 350-pound bear.
  • SMPEarth: Deo serves as this to Business Bay, which is known as one of the weaker factions. Deo is one of the strongest and most feared members on the server, and often is the one to threaten or intimidate people who cause problems for the Bay.

    Real Life 
  • In historical armies, grenadiers were selected among the strongest and largest soldiers. Early grenades were softball-sized iron balls filled with explosives, and were thus very heavy; the grenadiers, who were responsible for throwing them, needed to be tall and strong enough to hurl them at the enemy without risking the lives of their comrades.
    • The Potsdam Giants were an entire regiment of Big Guys, with a minimum height of 6 Prussian feet (6'2", or 1.88 meters). They were recruited (or drafted, or outright pressganged) from all over Europe and even the Ottoman Empire for their height because taller men could load muskets faster. King Frederick William I of Prussia tried to breed men with gigantism by forcing the Giants to marry taller-than-average women (it didn't work). Subverted in that the health problems associated with gigantism made them less-than-effective soldiersnote , and Frederick the Great ultimately downsized the unit to a battalion. They were eventually defeated by Napoleon and disbanded as a unit in 1806.
  • Charles Barkley was known, among other things, as the Round Mound of Rebound. Despite being listed at 6'6" (1.98 m) and actually standing a little less than 6'5" (1.95 m), which was short for an NBA power forward, he was very thick, heavy, and strong, and would win rebounds and score putbacks by physically clearing the taller, scrawnier players out of the way with brute force.
  • Zdeno "Z Train" Chára, most famous for his long tenure with the Boston Bruins, is very tall for a hockey player, standing 6'9'' (in fact, he's the tallest player in NHL history). He's also quite strong, even by hockey standards, and during his playing career was no stranger to fighting when someone started with him or teammates.
    • The late Derek "Boogeyman" Boogaard was 6'7'', arguably stronger than Chára, and was pretty much a designated fighter.
    • Inverted in hockey player Martin "Mighty Mite" St. Louis. He's 5'8'' and a full 80 pounds lighter than Chára. However, he's earned his nickname by showing he's not afraid to throw his body around and stand his ground against much larger players when warranted.
    • In general, one of the unofficial "roles" in a hockey team is the Enforcer, who basically acts as the Hero Secret Service, both proactively and reactively punishing attempts to injure other members of the team, especially the star player, by both checking, and simply pounding the crap out of them.
  • Pier Gerlof Donia was a Frisian warrior known as "Grutte Pier" - Great Pier - due to his legendary size and strength. Described as "a tower of a fellow as strong as an ox", he was said to be seven-foot tall and wielded a BFS just as large as him in one hand.
  • At 6'7", Lucca Schmerler is by far the tallest member of Mental Cruelty, to the point of being the subject of many memes from the fandom (which the band regularly shares). He lampshaded it in a Digital Tour Bus walkthrough, where he admitted that he had to claim the largest bed meant for two people in the RV that the band was renting because he couldn't comfortably fit anywhere else. A photo that he took with Dave Simonich in front of a height chart showed that he towered over Simonich, who, at 6'1", is not a small man himself.
  • Similarly, Krist Novoselic, also 6'7", towered over fellow Nirvana members Kurt Cobain (5'9") and Dave Grohl (6'0").
  • The French expression "faire le mariole" ("acting like Mariole"), meaning "clowning around", is said to have come from an incident where a Big Guy in Napoleon's army was found presenting arms with a small cannon rather than a musket.

 
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Junko saves the day

Junko is the muscle of the team, and his Knuckle Busters make him even stronger. When another ship crashes into the Condor, he uses his enhanced strength to separate the two ships, and then to save the other ship from crashing.

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