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Brains Evil, Brawn Good: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
{{quote|"''Well, as far as brains go, I got the lion's share, but when it comes to brute strength, I'm afraid I'm at the shallow end of the gene pool.''"|'''[[Lean and Mean|Scar]]''', ''[[The Lion King (Disney)|The Lion King]]''}}
 
It seems that heroes in fiction are held to higher standards of physical strength than villains are, and that depending on the style of the work, villains are held to higher standards of intellect than heroes are, (see also [[The Law of Bruce]]) leading to an apparent trend in some styles of works (especially those of the [[Disney Animated Canon|Disney-style]] variety) that evil uses brains while good uses brawn.
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* ''[[The Incredible Hulk]]'' and The Leader. Though Hulk, depending on versions, is smart. And Bruce Banner is a genius.
** Though more recent stories tend to play with Banner being a less than morally outstanding individual, himself.
* Somewhat inverted by ''[[Spider -Man]]'' who has a lot of villains stronger and dumber than him. (The Rhino, Venom, Carnage).
** Played straight by some of his more prominent foes (the Green Goblin and Doc Ock) where they tend to edge him out in terms of brains and he edges them out in strength.
* [[The Mighty Thor]] and his evil half-brother, Loki.
** Only in comparison to ''each other''. Loki is actually super-stong, durable, and able in combat by Earth standards. He's only weaker in that area by ''Asgardian'' standards, since the kids there are, by [[Word of God]], as strong as Spider-Man. And Thor is [[Guile Hero|not particurally slow on the uptake, either]], he's just surrounded by too many geniuses like Loki, [[Iron Man]], and Odin, for it to show.
* The prequel comic to ''[[DoctorDr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (Web Video)|Doctor Horribles Sing Along Blog]]'' reveals that this is the reason Billy decided to become a [[Villain Protagonist|supervillain]] in the first place. Another one also reveals that [[Smug Snake|Captain]] [[Dumb Muscle|Hammer]] has deeply anti-intellectual beliefs, telling kids that anyone who is "different", such as being good at math or science, is a potential supervillain and should [[Family-Unfriendly Aesop|be reported to the police]].
* Averted in [[Watchmen (Comic Bookcomics)|Watchmen]]: Ozymandias is reputed to be the smartest man in the world, but he's also more than a physical match for most other heroes. Dr. Manhattan, in turn, is the most powerful hero ''and'' a scientist too.
* M.O.D.O.K. and Captain America follow this trope as well. Although both are pretty smart, M.O.D.O.K. is essentially a living supercomputer. M.O.D.O.K. even mentions this trope in [[Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (Video Game)|MvC3]].
* In ''[[Scott Pilgrim]]'', Scott isn't very bright but he is the "best fighter in the province" according to Kim. Gideon, on the other hand, is a genius inventor who cannot defeat Scott without stealing his sword or utilizing his technology.
* Granted everyone in [[The Tick]] seems to have a few screws loose, but The Tick himself is most definitely Brawn=Good.
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*** Subverted, since while Scar is a cunning and Machiavellian politician, Mufasa is wise, just and existential.
*** During the second half of the film, Mufasa's son Simba actually takes over as the brawny hero.
** ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney film)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]'' has Quasimodo using his strength for usually justified (or at least well-intentioned) purposes, whereas the physically weak (and morally weak) elderly [[Manipulative Bastard]] Frollo emotionally abuses Quasimodo into an extreme of self-loathing that is in some ways comparable to being weak until he overcomes said self-loathing.
** Disney's ''[[Hercules (Disney film)|Hercules]]'' pits sleazy [[Manipulative Bastard]] Hades against naive farmboy-ish Hercules who trades almost solely on his superstrength
** ''[[The Emperor's New Groove (Disney)|The Emperors New Groove]]'''s villains include Yzma, the main villain, who is [[Lean and Mean]] but clearly cleverer than the physically-stronger [[Anti-Villain]] Kronk. Its "heroes" include [[Anti-Hero]] Kuzko, also skinny, and [[It's All About Me|profoundly self-centered]], and Pacha, a more unambiguously good character who is noticeably physically stronger and nowhere near as self-centered.
** Sort-of inverted in ''[[Beauty and The Beast (Disney)|Beauty and Thethe Beast]]'', which has the smart Belle on the side of good and the dumb, muscle-bound Gaston as the main villain. Still, Gaston is defeated in a physical battle with the Beast, who is not particularly intelligent.
*** Whether or not Gaston was even that dumb in the first place is subject to [[Alternate Character Interpretation]] anyway; it is plausible that he was just [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]. That he thought up {{spoiler|that scheme for blackmailing Belle into marriage}} shows some level of cleverness, and that the people he associates with call thinking a dangerous pastime would easily provide an incentive to play dumb.
*** Could be just [[Book Dumb]].
** Also inverted in ''[[Atlantis: theThe Lost Empire]]'', with scrawny but brainy Milo up against {{spoiler|muscley and only slightly less intelligent Rourke.}}
*** Inverted with ''[[The Great Mouse Detective]]'' as well. Basil and Ratigan are evenly matched in wits. However, Ratigan far outweighs Basil in physical abilities.
* [[Megamind]] vs Metro Man. {{spoiler|Inverted at the end with Megamind and Titan.}}
* ''[[Kung Fu Panda 2 (Animation)|Kung Fu Panda 2]]'' has the burly, dim-witted panda Po pitted against the evil, scrawny but superintelligent [[Evil Albino|albino]] peacock Shen.
* ''[[Despicable Me]]'' has the hulking [[Villain Protagonist]] Gru and the more sinister and intelligent but inept Vector.
** Well, Gru is a supergenius too - it's by no means a given that Vector is the smarter of the two, that's really the main point of their rivalry - and is only "hulking" in that he's taller than Vector and rather rotund ... on the other hand, Gru and Vector are both ''villains'', Gru just happens to be the more sympathetic one. So the movie definitely has the "Brains = Evil" part of the trope at the very least.
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== Films -- Live-Action ==
* ''[[Die Hard (Film)|Die Hard]]'': [[Cowboy Cop]] John McClane Vs criminal mastermind Hans Gruber. There's a reason it was the former [[Trope Namer]] of [[The Villain Makes the Plot]].
** Although it should be noted that McClane is far from stupid. While he isn't a genius at plotting like Gruber, he does a fairly awesome [[Sherlock Scan]] and proves himself to be [[Awesome By Analysis]] and pretty good at the [[Indy Ploy]].
* Averted in the ''[[Indiana Jones (Franchise)|Indiana Jones]]'' films, where Indy is a rugged tough adventurer and a clever scholar as well. The antagonists tend to be thuggish [[Mooks]] led by a [[Big Bad]] who, like Indy, is both smart and adventuresome.
 
 
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== Live Action TV ==
* Inverted with ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]''. As Craig Ferguson put it, the one constant of the show is the triumph of "intellect and romance over brute force and cynicism".
* The selection of the two tribes during ''[[Survivor|Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains']]'' pre-production was geared toward this. Before the merge, the Villains won 7 out of 8 challenges on the merit of their cleverness--the only challenge the Heroes won over this stretch was an [[Flawless Victory|unprecedented 8-0 sweep]] in a purely physical, one-on-one sumo wrestling challenge.
 
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== Video Games ==
* ''[[Mega Man (Videovideo Gamegame)|Mega Man]]'' is a naive little robot who can bench-press a small building. His greatest villain is the brilliant but maniacal Dr. Wily. Then again, Mega Man has at least two benevolent scientists backing him up (one of which is Dr. Light, being Wily's equal).
 
 
== Web Original ==
* Slightly inverted in ''[[Dr. HorriblesHorrible's Sing -Along Blog]]'' with the [[Evil Genius]] Dr. Horrible, who is actually, a nice guy when he's not doing evil things, and the superhero Captain Hammer, who is a dumb [[Jerk Jock]]. The prequel comic seems to indicate that brains and brawn are polar opposites here. When Dr. Horrible previously tries to inject himself with a [[Super Serum]] made from Captain Hammer's DNA, he becomes as strong and tough as Hammer but also just as dumb. They just keep [[Megaton Punch|Megaton Punching]] each other until Dr. Horrible decides to go back to being smart.
** Averted with the other heroes and villains in the related comics. For example, Johnny Snow (mentioned in the show itself) is smart enough to build himself a [[Freeze Ray]], which he uses to stop the [[Department of Redundancy Department|Evil League of Evil]], when Captain Hammer is out of town.
 
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