Summary
Some video game characters are fast. Others are smart. Some are just really good at collecting stuff and jumping. These guys? They punch gods through planets, toss tanks like toys, and redefine the term “overpowered,” all without picking up a weapon or stepping into power armor. That said, it sometimes takes more than a strict regime of squats and burpees to take on cosmic entities.
Some of these bodybuilders gained their power through divine chance or dark science. However, others got ripped and fighting fit via sheer willpower alone. Whatever the case may be, these muscular icons have one thing in common: ridiculous, bone-crunching, biology-defying physical prowess. These video game characters are the strongest of the strong, ranked by sheer brawn, lifting feats, and raw durability.
Heihachi is so hard that even his hair seems to be flexing at all times. Heihachi might be a grumpy old man, but he’s also still an iron-fisted tank by the time ofTekken 8. His years of merciless training between each tournament have allowed him to survive explosions, electrocution, meteor strikes to the noggin, and even a dip into a volcano since his debut.
He can dish out more than he can take, even athis advanced age, having demonstrated the power to handily throw down massive enemies (including his bodyguard and sparring partner, Kuma the bear), smash foes through walls, and fight demonsmano-a-mano.
There are some tough characters inResident Evil. For example, Chris Redfield looks like he’s just about smuggled watermelons up his arms inRE5. However, when it comes to raw power, that distinction goes to Albert Wesker, whoseplot-retroactive mastermindingputs him not only at the top of the food chain in terms of power but also planning.
Under his dark, edgy clothes and black sunglasses, Wesker conceals super speed, supernatural healing and regeneration, and, most importantly, super strength, with which Wesker could make quick work of entire strike teams, or even a T-virus Tyrant, before they even realized he’d entered the room.
The Dragon of Dojima is a mortal unimbued with the power of demonic energy or nano technology, and yet, byYakuza 6: The Song of Life, through his sheer strength alone, Kiryu has managed to best everyone and everything the criminal underworld could throw at him.
That includes a building packed with hundreds of angry Yakuza, rabid animals, and even gunshots and explosions. With or without a technological edge, eventhe greatest fighters from theYakuzaseries, including the Amon clan, found themselves outmatched by his raw muscle in one-on-one fights, making Kiryu easily the strongest man in Japan, if not further afield.
Given his diet and lifestyle choices, it is clear thatDevil May Cry’s Dante inherited his great strength from his father, Sparda, thestrongest demon hell has to offer, rather than through the kind of hard work and nutritional dedication that building muscle mass requires of mortals.
Dante is shown clapping down foes far above his pay grade, be it the devil prince Mundus, enemy of his father, in the firstDmC, hordes of demons inDevil May Cry 2, or even a gigantic stone statue brought to life by world-conquering cultists inDevil May Cry 4.
Armstrong isn’t just a jacked senator but a walking mountain of nanomachine-enhanced outrage. While most politicians flex on C-SPAN, Armstrong flexes against high-frequency blades, concrete, and highly trained cyborg soldiers. While he may claim that his strength is built on American ideals and hard work, in truth, his body’s massive frame is, partly, the result of nanomachine enhancement.
Regardless, his strength is so off the charts that inMetal Gear Rising: Revengeance, he breaks swords with his abs and goes full football linebacker against Raiden,a super-soldier ninjaknown to have cut helicopters in half for style points. With every punch, Armstrong shows that speeches and spin aren’t the only things he delivers with crushing force.
The Doomslayer has two workout routines: rip and tear, and he’s been working out using these two techniques for almost an eternity. During the first few moments ofDoom (2016), the slayer is seen snapping off steel manacles with his bare hands like they were tags on a new shirt.
The Slayer (also known as “Doom Guy”) seems to take pleasure in bending and snapping modern technological trash such as magnetically-locking doors, computer screens, and weasly, lanyard-wearing lab workers, but his real joy is taking down monstrous beings witheven more monstrous weaponsthat could weigh down an aircraft and, ocassionally, with his bare hands.
Alex Mercer is a shapeshifting biomass god who makes most superheroes look like amateur playfighters in tights. InPrototype, Mercer can lift tanks, toss cars like baseballs, and cleave entire mobs with an organic blade arm the size of a surfboard.
He doesn’t just hit hard—he becomes the weapon, sprouting claws, tendrils, and even hulking armored fists mid-fight. Alex Mercer isn’t just super-strong; he’s a super-strong science experiment that said “yes” to every horrifying power upgrade that came his way.
By working his impossible muscles, this Spartan-turned-demigod-turned god-slayer has ripped off the heads of immortals, toppled mountain-sized Titans, and snapped the neck of Zeus himself like it was a breadstick doused in a hearty dose of olive oil. Kratos has left a trail of crumbling realms behind him in both Greek and Norse mythologies.
He’s decapitated gods, dragged massive beasts by chain, and ripped apart colossal titans with divine strength and bottomless fury, all without losing a shred of his shredded bod, and somewhere along the way, even learned to be a good father (or at least a better father).
