Normally, a straw man is "fought" only in a debate. It's fairly easy to defeat a Straw Character with words, after all, but far harder to take a hammer and knock it down. But a Literal Strawman is one who actually enters the field of battle, makes a few weak gestures, and then is killed off in one or two hits.
Please note that the Literal Strawman does not need to actually be made from straw. [...] [tvtropes.org]