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All our beloved favorite super-heroines have boobage by the truckload. The problem is, most actresses don't. Comic book proportions are relatively hard to find in Real Life (especially among the acting population), so more often than not, the folks behind the movies simply won't try to replicate the sizable endowments of their comic book counterparts, and will cast actors who are noticeably more commonly proportioned.
Of course, slim actresses with large breasts usually can't get work because the industry considers anything above a C to be "huge" and will only cast her as eye candy. And the majority of actresses who have G-cups and bigger tend to be Hollywood Pudgy.
Anime and Manga[]
- Mahou Sensei Negima is known for the bust size of some of its girls and staff (in particular, Shizuna). This didn't spill over into the live action adaptation.[1] In-story, Asakura attempts to imitate Shizuna, but this trope tips off her target.
- The stage adaptation of Bleach featured a less-than-busty Orihime. The same happened to Matsumoto. Her shirt was kept loose though, so the joke could still be made.
- Averted in live versions of Cutie Honey, where Honey is usually played by professional models (Eriko Sato [dead link] in The Movie and Mikie Hara (center) [dead link] in The Live).
- Sailor Jupiter is known to have a large chest (or, is quite talented). She's rather flat comparatively in both the Sera Myu and Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. The Starlights were even more noticeably flat (comparatively) when in Senshi form in the Sera Myu since their costumes were much more revealing than the bulky costumes worn by the other Senshi.
- Kei Kishimoto from Gantz had very large breasts, to the point where the title character actually nicknamed her "Miss Melons". The actress playing her in the Live Action Adaptation, Natsuna, is far less gifted in that regard.
Comic Books[]
- A Cavewoman series titled Cavewoman: The Movie, played this for laughs, as the actress set to play Cavewoman (in-universe) was a few cup sizes short of her comic book counterpart, and didn't she know it.
Film[]
- The very busty Nancy Callahan from Sin City was portrayed on the big screen by the more modestly endowed Jessica Alba.
- Mary Jane Watson, girlfriend and later wife (until recently) of Spider-Man, is pretty much always drawn with breasts rivaling if not exceeding the superpowered women surrounding her. In the first three 2000s movies she's played by Kirsten Dunst, who didn't quite measure up.
- The Lara Croft Tomb Raider films. In the video games, Lara Croft's breasts are exceedingly generous. In the films, Angelina Jolie is padded to a D-cup. In an interview Angelina said that anything larger would have made it difficult to do her own stunts.
- Somewhat averted with the 2018 film - Alicia Vikander isn't particularly busty either, but the film is based in the 2013 Tomb Rider game reboot, where Lara's proportions are closer to realistic standards and there are more emphasis on her athletic physique than in her cup size.
- Most of the ladies in the X Men films.
- Averted with the film adaptation of Barb Wire, which had Pamela Anderson in the lead role. Pam's breasts were actually larger in the movie than the original comic character.
- Batman and Robin with Poison Ivy and Batgirl.
- In Batman Returns Catwoman lacks what are perhaps the most notable features of her comic book counterpart—at least when drawn by Jim Balent or Adam Hughes.
- The Dead or Alive movie
- Jaime Pressly, Tina's actress.
- Devon Aoki who is almost flat playing busty Kasumi takes the cake.
- In the film of Watchmen, the less curvy Malin Ackerman as the Silk Spectre II provided a straight, although not quite as extreme example of this trope.
- As seen in the image above, Jessica Alba leapt to the screen as The Invisible Woman in Fantastic Four. However, Sue Storm's mega cupsize is a Depending on the Artist matter in the comics. Jack Kirby's original character design had fairly realistic proportions.
- Ming-Na and Kristen Kreuk, portraying Chun-Li in the live action Street Fighter films. Both of them being small, thin women, neither of them resemble the character much outside of being Asian. Though with Chun-Li, Big Stockings To Fill might be more appropriate - and none of the actresses can fill those either.
- Neither of the actresses who portrayed April in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live action movies (Judith Hoag in the first, Paige Turco in the next two, Megan Fox in the Michael Bay reboots) could really fill out a jumpsuit like their animated counterpart. Likely justified in that the first three movies were based of the original comics and not the animated series. In the comics, she's more average.
- In The Clique books, Alicia is renown for her giant, fake boobs but the movie iteration is...less giant.
- Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The casting director wisely went for acting talent over accuracy to the book character's massive rack.
- Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as played by Scarlett Johansson - while not quite comic-book proportions, Scarlett is pretty big by Hollywood standards.
- The remake of The Fog cast the flat-chested Selma Blair in a role originally played by the busty Adrienne Barbeau. To make this work, the director outfitted Blair with additional padding to increase her character's bust size.
- Julia Roberts' portrayal of Erin Brockovich in the film of the same name garned quite a bit of attention due to how Julia needed some boosting in this area to match the real Erin. In a post-release Oprah interview, their enhancement were the prominent topic of discussion, rather than the remarkable achievements of the women they based their movie upon.
- Her depiction varies more than most heroines Depending on the Artist, but Helen Slater portrayed a very modestly-endowed Girl of Steel in 1984's Supergirl.
Live Action TV[]
- Jenny Humphrey from Gossip Girl has enormous boobs as a prominent character feature - if any boy is attracted to her it's because of her breasts, and she laments them despite the fact that she's aware of the sex appeal. She was played by tall, skinny Taylor Momsen in the TV show.
- Also inverted with Fred/Illyria in the Angel comics, which gives her a very large chest in comparison to the very petite actress.
- Sookie Stackhouse from True Blood although pointed out in every book that she was pretty well endowed, in the series she is played by an average if not almost small chested, Anna Paquin (who is a second offender after not being able to fill Rogue's bra in X-Men). They try to make up though by giving her skimpier and skimpier outfits and stuffing her bra more and more as the show progressed.
- In the Dexter novels, his sister Deb is described as very busty, but on the show Deb is portrayed by (relatively) flat-chested Jennifer Carpenter. The show version at one point even laments her small bust!
- Detective Sara Pezzini of Witchblade very much suffers from The Most Common Superpower, but the live action adaptation cast Yancy Butler, who is a much more modest size.
- Inverted in the TV movie The Audrey Hepburn Story...starring Jennifer Love Hewitt. As one reviewer noted, "Hepburn was famously flat-chested. Hewitt is famously not."
Video Games[]
- In Need for Speed: The Run, one of the main female characters is voiced by Christina Hendricks. The character model is based on her, but in a surprising inversion actually has significantly smaller breasts.
Webcomics[]
- Occurs in-universe in Spinnerette when said character and Mecha Maid question who would play busty super-villain Greta Gravity if a superhero movie about her life was made. Spinnerette even brings up the idea of making CG boobs.
Other[]
- Korean singer Ivy replicated a scene from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children for one of her music videos. Needless to say, Tifa's bra is not filled.
- A fansite tried to avert this by casting heroines with actresses from the one genre where bra size truly matters.
- ↑ Although this is the least of the live action adaptation's problems