Okay, there are two types of holding back. There is,
Conscious holding back. This is, for example, with say Superman or Spider-Man against normal thugs. They have to consciously pull their punches or else they are going to cave someone’s skull in. Then there’s,
Unconscious holding back. This is when someone calls on way more strength than they believed originally had in a moment of crisis. This is like in Spider-Man Homecoming when Peter gets trapped by the rubble and is calling for help. He’s not choosing not to lift it. He just believes that he’s at his limit and genuienly can’t lift it. This holding back generally leads to a rush of insane strength when they finally stop holding back since he didn’t know he was that strong before.
Mark’s is the second type. He didn’t know he was that strong against the Maulers. He thought he was genuinely outgunned. But if it took three Viltrumites to go after Nolan, then it’s safe to assume he’s stronger than the others. So it stands to reason that Mark, even an inexperienced one, can call on immense strength. We also see him and Mark switching off, so Nolan was beating on her too. On top of that, he still lost. Whether he had her beat or not, he still needed Nolan’s help at the end to not die.
Okay, there are two types of holding back. There is,
Conscious holding back. This is, for example, with say Superman or Spider-Man against normal thugs. They have to consciously pull their punches or else they are going to cave someone’s skull in. Then there’s,
Unconscious holding back. This is when someone calls on way more strength than they believed originally had in a moment of crisis. This is like in Spider-Man Homecoming when Peter gets trapped by the rubble and is calling for help. He’s not choosing not to lift it. He just believes that he’s at his limit and genuienly can’t lift it. This holding back generally leads to a rush of insane strength when they finally stop holding back since he didn’t know he was that strong before.
Mark’s is the second type. He didn’t know he was that strong against the Maulers. He thought he was genuinely outgunned. But if it took three Viltrumites to go after Nolan, then it’s safe to assume he’s stronger than the others. So it stands to reason that Mark, even an inexperienced one, can call on immense strength. We also see him and Mark switching off, so Nolan was beating on her too. On top of that, he still lost. Whether he had her beat or not, he still needed Nolan’s help at the end to not die.