Hafthor Bjornsson, better known as “The Mountain” from his time of “Game of Thrones,” recently set a world record. He lifted 501kg/1104lb off the floor, 1kg more than the previous record.
At 6’9” tall and 425lbs, there’s no arguing he’s a massive human. But what if someone bigger and stronger came along?
For starters, it will undoubtedly happen. Records get broken. The story I have in mind could be similar to Superman’s origin story. A boy grows up in a small town, hiding his real strength levels until an event comes along where he’s needed to save people. Or someone he loves.
What could make this interesting is if he was the product of drug-addicts, from a broken home. It would make him more relatable and remove the blind positivity of Superman.
The story could be about him trying to escape the small town. He accepts work as muscle-for-hire in exchange for the erasure of his parents’ drug debt. If the parents made the exchange themselves, there could be this giant chip on his shoulder throughout the book.
His real strength could be unknown until they test, and he lifts everything around, like the scene in “Unbreakable” when Bruce Willis bench presses all the weights in his house.
Book one would be about his time working for the drug lord, performing jobs on the wrong side of the law. At the end, when he realizes his parents have put themselves into debt once again with the drug dealer. At this point, he leaves them and that life behind, knowing that they won’t change.
Book two could be about him trying to do good but not knowing where to start, and he ends up in poverty-fighting his drug addiction. At the end of this book, he finds out his drug addiction has prevented him from saving the love interest in the book, so he quits drugs.
Book three could be his ascension to prominence. He focuses himself and puts the work in to break every world record that exists. This book would be a lot like “Rocky.” In the end, he ties the current record, but only because he didn’t start training sooner. The previous record-holder could marvel that he got so strong within years, instead of training for a lifetime.
