Halo: How Strong Is Master Chief Really?
We all know that the Spartan II super soldiers of Halo were physically enhanced and augmented to be a lot stronger than regular human beings and soldiers. In that regard, being a Spartan-II, who are the strongest out of all of the Spartans, the Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 is regarded as the greatest out of all of the Spartan super soldiers due to his combination of skills, strength, and luck. But how strong is Master Chief?
Master Chief is able to lift up to three times his body weight without his armor. He is around 290 pounds, and that means that he can easily lift 870 pounds with no problem whatsoever. However, with his armor, that number increases to up to five times. That means that he can lift up to 2 tons.
The fact that Master Chief and all of the other Spartan-II soldiers went through physical enhancements is the reason why they are very strong and are capable of lifting objects that normal people aren’t capable of lifting. That is why these soldiers are able to stand up against the powerful forces of the Covenant. That said, let’s look at what we know about Maser Chief’s strength.
How Strong Is Master Chief Without His Armor?
The entire Halo franchise has always focused on the story of Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, who is one of the most prominent Spartan soldiers that Earth has on its side and is arguably the most decorated out of all of the different soldiers fighting on the side of humanity. Of course, as a Spartan-II soldier, which is the strongest out of all of the different Spartan super soldiers created, Master Chief is a considerably strong character.
Since his youth, John-117 was already trained for the purpose of becoming a subject for the Spartan-II program, which included several physical enhancements that allowed him to grow into a big, strong, powerful, intelligent, and disciplined man. While he may not have enjoyed the same kind of childhood that some children had, he surely received physical and chemical enhancements that allowed him to become far stronger than any other man. Of course, the reason why the Spartan-II soldiers needed to be quite strong was the fact that the Mjolnir armor or exoskeleton that they wore required them to be incredibly strong.
In that regard, we’ve seen Master Chief displaying his strength in a lot of different ways throughout the entire Halo franchise, especially when he was up against the different alien races of the Covenant. It is the fact that the Covenant is full of different powerful and strong aliens that Master Chief and the other Spartan soldiers became necessary. And he is strong enough to be able to tear through Elites and Brutes alike among the Covenant, and we all know that these aliens are powerful in their own right.
But just how strong is Master Chief? Well, different Spartan soldiers have different strength levels. But the Spartan-II soldiers are actually the strongest out of all of the different Spartans due to the fact that they underwent more enhancements than the other generations of Spartan soldiers. Of course, let’s not forget that Master Chief and the other Spartan-II soldiers wear Mjolnir exoskeletons that enhance their strength to levels that are almost unbelievable.
Even without the Mjolnir armor, the Spartan-IIs are incredibly strong and are far stronger than the strongest regular human beings. That being said, they are capable of lifting at least three times their own body weight due to their physical enhancements.
So, if we do the math, Master Chief is around 290 pounds without his armor. That would mean that he is capable of lifting at least 870 pounds without his armor. This number might not sound impressive when you look at the current Strongman records in real life. However, the fact is that Master Chief is quite lean at 290 pounds and has a good combination of agility, speed, athleticism, and reflexes.
If we compared Master Chief’s strength to strongman Tom Stoltman, who weighs right around 400 pounds, John-117’s ability to lift at least 870 pounds is already quite impressive, considering that he isn’t as big as the 2022 World’s Strongest Man. Stoltman’s deadlift record is 950 pounds, which is just around 2.38 times his body weight. So, the fact that Master Chief can carry around three times his body weight makes him far stronger than one of the strongest men in the world despite the fact that he is more agile and can move faster.
How Strong Is Master Chief With His Armor?
As mentioned, one of the reasons why the Spartan super soldiers are physically and chemically enhanced is the fact that they need to be able to be strong enough to handle the physical strain of the Mjolnir armor, which is capable of enhancing the strength and speed of a person to greater levels. In fact, regular human soldiers were test subjects for the Mjolnir armor, but they couldn’t handle the strength and movement acceleration that came with it.
In that regard, whenever Master Chief wears his armor, he is much stronger than he is in real life. This is what allows him to match the strength levels of the Brutes and Elites of the Covenant. He is also capable of pushing entire tanks and ripping through metal doors when wearing this armor. So, how strong is Master Chief with his Mjolnir armor?
The different generations of Mjolnir exoskeletons tend to have different specifications. However, the latest version is said to allow a person to lift five times what they are regularly capable of. That means that Master Chief should be able to carry more than 2 tons whenever he is in his Mjolnir armor.
Still, we’ve seen Master Chief dragging and carrying things that are supposedly heavier than 2 tons. In that regard, he is incredibly strong whenever he is in his Mjolnir armor. And that is the reason why he is able to stand up to powerful alien species like the Brutes, Elites, and even the Hunters.
How Strong Is Master Chief Compared To Other Spartans?
Even though Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 is said to be the greatest out of all of the Spartan soldiers, he isn’t the strongest. That’s because, as said, Spartan II’s ability to lift objects is based on their size. And there are several other characters who are bigger than him.
The most notable out of all of the Spartan-II soldiers in terms of size is Samuel-034, who stood at 7’4” with his armor on. That made quite arguably the strongest out of all of the Spartan soldiers in terms of pure strength alone, as he was bigger than any of the other Spartans. However, he died at the tender age of 14, and that means that he was unable to reach his full potential.
Frederic-104 was also said to be very strong because he was also one of the few Spartan-II soldiers that stood over seven feet tall. He is said to be the second best at almost everything that a Spartan can do and was known to be strong enough to kill Covenant forces with only a knife.
But while Master Chief isn’t the strongest among all of the Spartan-II soldiers, what makes him the most notable out of all of them is the fact that he has incredible luck and is known as a great military commander with the skills, experience, and leadership abilities to back up his impressive physical strength.