We all know the cliche from numerous comics, cartoons, anime shows, video games, etc: some members of the society are vastly more powerful than others. (These are called 'superheroes', 'wizards', 'martial artists', etc, etc).
Especially some of such works tend to correlate a character's asskicking¹ power with authority. The mightier a character is, the higher they are likely to be put in the social ladder of the work's world.
Is this indeed what would be likely to happen?
Let's assume that, in our fantastic world, for every two people of comparable power there is one that can defeat them both; and for every ten people of comparable power there is one that is ten times more powerful than each of them; and for every 100 people of comparable power there is one who is 100x more powerful than each of them or just as powerful as all of them combined; etc. So, to borrow a term from Dragon Ball, power level is inversely proportional to the number of people possessed of this power level.
On the first glace it would seem such a setting would almost necessarily result in feudalism. Each hero would be able to vassalize those immediately below them; each of their vassals would also vassalize those immediately below them in power; and so on, and so on, until a social ladder in the form of a pyramid is formed, where each answers to the one who is a little stronger than them.
However, it is also important to note that combat prowess is a completely different skill than leadership and administration. A hero, whether trained or not, will most likely be able to defeat those naturally 100x weaker than them; however, whether a hero spends their time training for combat or not may easily decide whether they're able to defeat those of comparable power levels. Thus, it would seem, most people higher up the power chart would spend most of their time training for combat rather than learning administration.
Wouldn't this, contrary to the cliche, result in a situation where people who are weak (combat-wise) but highly skilled in administration would be put in leadership positions, while mighty heroes, one-man armies² would actually respond to those politicians in a similar fashion how modern generals respond to ministers and parliaments?
¹See TV Tropes Rank Scales with Asskicking and Asskicking Leads to Leadership
²See the TV Tropes article One-Man Army