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{{trope}}
[[File:beast2.jpg|link=X-Men (Comic Book)|frame|
{{quote|'''Breadbun''': I'm sorry. Being a powerful barbarian woman, you probably don't care about any of this...
'''Saurkraut''': Saurkraut has master's degrees in liberal arts and finance. Saurkraut slayed many men to pay for it herself and admires Breadbun for doing the same.
'''Breadbun''': ...I guess you really '''can't''' judge a book by its cover.
'''Saurkraut''': Indubitably.
|''[[The Last Mystical Legend of the Fantastic Fantasy Trigger Star]]''}}
A [[Big Guy]] who is also a geek or tech-head. Often coupled with [[Gentle Giant]] in a dual subversion (not to be confused with a [[Double Subversion]]).
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The diametric opposite of [[Dumb Muscle]]. This guy has not only huge muscles and fists, but a very bright brain! There ''is'', however, a difference between "especially smart" and "not a total moron"; keep that in mind when adding examples. Here's a tip: A character who is strong but displays frankly average intelligence is simply not an idiot. But if they constantly spout [[Techno Babble]] and are considered an expert in some scientific field, that's especially smart. Similarly, if they're especially smart, they must also be unusually strong to qualify. "Beats people up" or "very physically fit" don't exactly count.
The inversion is the [[Badass Bookworm]]. In general, a
In fantasy, a
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* [[Golgo 13]]: medical knowledge? check. Mathematical genius? yup. Oh and he's the world's deadliest assassins with insane combat skills from hand-to-hand to sniping.
* Germany and America from ''[[Axis Powers
* Jim Austin from ''[[Genesis Climber Mospeada]]'' (and his counterpart, "Lunk" from ''[[Robotech]]'').
* Peace from ''[[Corrector Yui]]'' is a wise, cranky old man who just happens to have the ability to summon and use [[BFG|giant, really effective firearms]].
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** Lastly, there's Agon. Strait A student and legendary player without any effort. To bad he's the worlds biggest jerk...
** The most prominent example might be Akaba Hayato. Despite his skinny stature, he had skills that enables him to throw ''[[The Big Guy|Kurita]]'' with ease, and talented enough to be Technical Advisor for his team, to the point he can ''recognize every player's movement weakness and shares them with his teammmates''.
* Alphonse Elric from ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' is a genius alchemist who has seen the gate, and is also a soul trapped in a giant suit of armor Major Alex Louis Armstrong is also a genius alchemist, and is built like Arnold Schwarzenegger. [[Anti-Villain]] Scar is another capable alchemist (noticing a pattern here?) and a religious leader and is only slightly less hulking than Armstrong. Due to the intelligence it requires and the rigours of the job, most State Alchemists (and their enemies) will be either Genius Bruisers or [[Badass Bookworm
* ''[[The Prince of Tennis]]'' has several of those. Choutarou Ohtori is a very polite musician as well as a youth around 180 cms tall with an frighteningly powerful serve. Gin Ishida is a huge player form Shitenhouji who has developed the Hadokyuu, a tennis shot with ''108'' variations, two of them also used by his younger brother Tetsu and by [[Badass Normal|Takashi Kawamura]]. Munehiro Kabaji is around 192 cms tall at the age of 13 (I swear) and can copy almost any tennis style with ease. Both Sadaharu Inui and Renji Yanagi, the most famous [[Badass Bookworm|Data Players]], are both over 180 cms tall as well; in fact, Inui's serve is the second strongest one in the circuit, right after Ohtori's. Genichirou Sanada is a fearsome leader and player as well as a kendo practitioner...
** [[All There in the Manual|In the fanbooks]] Kabaji is also confirmed to have an exceptionally high IQ, with a mention of him possibly becoming a brilliant lawyer or doctor in the future.
* All the center players in ''[[Slam Dunk]]''. Specially Takenori Akagi, who's 197 cms tall and is not only the Shohoku captain, but a straight A student (There's a quite funny scene where Kogure explains this to Sakuragi and both he and Rukawa imagine a gorilla in a school uniform).
* Kogarashi the Maid Guy in ''[[Kamen no Maid Guy]]'' reveals that he attended MIT (gives lectures, point of fact) and is quite intelligent, even if his idea of service tends to be a bit rough. Not quite what one would expect from his appearance as a musclebound man in a dress.
* Jotaro Kujo from ''[[
** As well as ''every other "JoJo"'' from Part 1 through 4. Despite being hulking masses of muscle, or at least having their major fighting ability being pure fists, their wit and quick thinking are what get them out of otherwise fatal conundrums.
* The title character from ''[[Space Adventure Cobra]]'' has superhuman levels of strength, agility and endurance, as well as a deadly [[Arm Cannon]]. But he's primarily a [[Gentleman Thief]] with numerous talents, from mechanic to art history, and he often beat his enemies by outwitting them rather than by brute force.
* Viede from ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'' is implied to be one of
** Note that this is only in the manga. In the anime, most of his appearances on screen seem to consist of him punching his fist into his hand and laughing evilly.
* ''[[Vinland Saga]]'': [[Magnificent Bastard]] that he is, Askeladd can tear heads off with the best of them. And "the best of them" in this case can take out 30+ experienced warriors with their bare hands.
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** In his own words, he's more experienced than smart. Any sufficiently advanced knowledge is indistinguishable from intelligence.
** Negi plays this the most straight, having surpassed university level, knowing several languages and being able to throw around enemies 10 times his size (or being able to actually fight on equal terms with normal sized, but insanely powerful ones).
* Marco Owen from ''[[King of Thorn]]''. A [[Tattooed Crook]] and extremely [[Badass]] [[Action Survivor]], he's also a brilliant computer hacker. In fact, that's what got him sent to prison in the first
* ''[[Soul Eater]]''. [[Meaningful Name|Franken Stein]]. [[Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate|PhD]]. [[Comedic Sociopathy|Vivisected his best friend on a regular basis]]. [[Ax Crazy|Has issues differentiating between reality and his own stream of consciousness]]. And is the absolute hands-down strongest fighter for Shibusen when he is in his lucid phases.
** Though he was anything but lucid when he sliced Medusa in two. In fact, his madness at that point is the reason why he was capable of striking even when the snake's arrow was at his neck.
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* Leo Regulus from ''[[Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas]]'' may be Leo Aiolia's expy, but he has something Aiolia never had: brains. Not only is he a "fighting genius", he's a child prodigy (it was implied that he was one in general) and can outwit much older and more experienced opponents even without his considerable strength. {{spoiler|Too bad [[Hoist by His Own Petard|his ultimate technique backfired on him]] because his body couldn't handle it.}}
* From ''[[Digimon Savers]]'', we have Masaru's dad, Professor Suguru Daimon. Brilliant scientist who designed and built the Digivice iC, and considering he did it in the Digital World, he probably had less to work with than [[Iron Man|Tony Stark's box of scraps]]. He is also a massive [[Hot-Blooded]] badass, who can punch out even the strongest Digimon, fought his partner BanchoLeomon to a standstill with his fists in their first meeting, and saved the Holy Captial by smashing a hole in the ground with his fist, making water burst out. {{spoiler|And he actually survives getting a huge hole punched in his chest long enough to transfer his spirit to his partner's body.}} One of the most badass ass-kicking scientists ever.
* ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' has Son Gohan. [[Training
* Akisame from ''[[
* Kai Hiwatari from ''[[Beyblade]]'' is the muscle hound of the Bladebreakers, and pretty much gifted.
* Whitebeard in ''[[One Piece]]'' is the [[World's Strongest Man]] and yet able to match wits with Sengoku during the Marineford battle. If it wasn't, the Whitebeard pirates and their allies would have been finished earlier than expected. In fact, it seems that both Sengoku and Whitebeard consider the other their [[Worthy Opponent]].
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* Lordgenome of ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]''. Genetic engineer responsible for the entire Beastman race. Master hacker. Thousands of years old, with an immense and thorough knowledge of the Anti-Spirals and the workings of Spiral Energy. Considers using his mecha in a fight to be ''holding back''. Trashes mecha several times larger than himself. ''[[Incendiary Exponent|Catches on fire from sheer manliness when he's about to beat the shit out of things]]''. '''[[Serial Escalation|Instead of being vaporised by a big bang, he turns it and himself into a giant drill]]'''. Yeah.
* Admiral Dozle Zabi of ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'' is a brilliant commander and a seven-foot [[Badass]] who pilots a walking [[Weapon of Mass Destruction]] (the infamous Big Zam). His [[Dying Moment of Awesome]] remains one of the most epic moments in the franchise.
* ''[[Speed Racer
* Shinobu Sensui from [[Yu Yu Hakusho]]. The man is a brutal fighting machine and [[The Chessmaster|a brilliant strategist]].
* ''[[Goblin Slayer]]'' - the protagonist practices a grimdark variation of "fighting smart". He's a heavily armored brutal melee warrior first and foremost... but also very good at planning ahead, learning every trick in the book, and when he got magical support, he commands a spellcaster for maximum efficiency.
{{quote|'''Goblin Slayer''': The imagination is a weapon. Those who don't use it die first. }}
== Comic Books ==
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** Hulk's cousin, Jennifer Walters aka [[She Hulk]], is both a [[Hot Amazon|super-strong superheroine]] and a practicing lawyer.
*** Fellow lawyer Augustus "Pug" Pugliese made his way through law school working as a bouncer, and is still a very powerful guy for a normal human.
* A second-tier hero of the Thing/Hulk type: ''[[Alpha Flight]]'''s Sasquatch, a brilliant scientist who's usually in full command of his mental faculties. Notably also a genius bruiser ''before'' developing superpowers (he was a football
* [[Ant-Man|Dr. Hank Pym]], founding member of the [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|Avengers]], could easily make the top ten list of most [[Omnidisciplinary Scientist|brilliant scientific minds]] on the planet. In his identities as Giant-Man and Goliath he is a towering behemoth.
* From [[The Ultraverse]] title ''Sludge'' come the Bash Brothers (No, not THAT kind of [[Bash Brothers]], but they do come awful close); Burke (the lawyer) and Monroe (the doctor) Basherowski, complete with [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness]].
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* [[Thanos]], in the Marvel Universe, has constructed space vessels, cloned himself, and has often outsmarted superheroes and cosmic entities. He also has enough strength to hold his own against Thor and Thing simultaneously. But not [[Squirrel Girl]].
* Thunderball, aka Dr. Eliot Franklin, of the Marvel villain team the Wrecking Crew. Thunderball's intelligence is made all the more obvious by the fact that the rest of his team are rather dim-witted mooks.
** Not only smart, but he also has a streak of good. He once literally smacked around the rest of the Crew to save John Porter of [[Damage Control]].<ref>John had previously helped him recover his wrecking ball from the Lost
* A [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] [[Captain Marvel]] villain called King Kull (not related to the Robert E. Howard character), a muscular, club-wielding, loincloth-wearing protohuman who nonetheless invents [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien|Sufficiently Advanced]] technology and was the scientific rival of [[Mad Scientist]] Dr. Sivana.
** Another [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] Captain Marvel villain was a criminal who went to prison for over 70 years and spent the entire time reading and working out until he was the smartest, most physically capable 100-year old man around.
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* [[Strangers in Paradise|Tambi Baker]] is a Genius Bruiser; her twin sister is just a [[Dumb Muscle|Bruiser]].
* In the [[Metal Men]]'s feature in ''Bizarro Comics'', the originally incredibly [[Dumb Muscle]] Lead is quite loquacious. Also, [[Jerkass]] Doc Magnus organizes a mission just to build his creations' confidence.
* Bane is both a muscled madman and mentally on par with Batman, the world's greatest detective. Of course, the super strength is the only thing that seems to get through to any adaptations. ''[[Batman: The Animated Series|Batman the Animated Series]]'', ''[[The Batman]]'', ''[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'' and ''[[Batman: Arkham Asylum]]'' don't make him ''stupid'' per se, but no focus is put on his great intellect. ''[[Batman and Robin (film)|Batman and Robin]]'' on the other hand portrays him as a [[Dumb Muscle|Dumb]] [[The Brute|Brutish]] [[Giant Mook]]. Strangely, the only version that has any hints of
** To go a bit further: the reason why Bane was able to break Batman nearly in half is because he engineered a mass Arkham break-out, so that Batman and crew were run ragged. He has also taken over leadership of the [[Secret Six]] at one point.
** If the trailers are anything to go by, he will FINALLY be portrayed this way in ''[[The Dark Knight Saga|The Dark Knight Rises]]''.
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*** When Iron Man dons the Hulkbuster or Thorbuster armors, then he definitely qualifies. The former looks like a huge sumo wrestler (or in some versions, The Juggernaut), while the latter looks like [[Thor|The Destroyer]].
** Boris Bullski, the original Titanium Man. A master spy and KGB agent, he stands well over seven feet tall and can lift 1.5 tonnes ''without'' the armour.
* Despite writers tending to forget that the "peak of human perfection" thing would also include ''brains'', [[Captain America (comics)]] sometimes shows flashes of strategical and mathematical brilliance to go along with his strength.
** Although his most commonly used brilliance is his shield. Aerodynamic or not, made of [[Phlebotinum]] or not, it's amazing how he throws it to return to him. Others who've tried to use the thing have tended to embarrass themselves. Cap has to calculate those trajectories ''in his head, in a fraction of a second''.
* [[Scary Black Man|Barracuda]] from ''[[The Punisher]]''. During his time in the military he showed exceptional intelligence and cunning while leading his team in toppling whole governments by themselves.
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*** Defeating 13 of the Dsir during [[Siege]] single-handed with very little magic.
* [[Darkseid]]. [[Badass|He is one of the few villains who can take on Superman in a fight]] and is also a [[Magnificent Bastard|brilliant]] [[The Chessmaster|tactician]] who constantly [[Manipulative Bastard|manipulates]] everyone around him into getting him what he wants.
== Films -- Animation ==
* Dr. Jumba from ''[[Lilo and Stitch]]'' is smart enough to create an incredibly powerful genetic experiment, and strong enough to go toe to toe with said experiment in order to obtain amnesty for the crime of creating him. Hell, he did better against Stitch than a 20-foot tall whaleman who was an expert in combat.
* Professor Padraic Ratigan from ''[[The Great Mouse Detective]]'' is the rodent [[Captain Ersatz]] of Prof. Moriarty, plus is very physically imposing due to him being a.. ahem.. big mouse.
== Films -- Live Action ==
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* John Candy also played with this a little bit. ''[[Stripes]]'' for example has Ox.
* Xander Cage in the movie ''[[XXX]]''.
* The musclebound Luther Stickell in the ''[[Mission: Impossible (film)||Mission Impossible]]'' films and video games is also one of the world's foremost computer experts.
* Killjoy in ''[[The Ice Pirates]]'', played by the late John "[[The Goonies|Sloth]]" Matuszak, is not only the biggest of the pirates, but also the smartest and most [[Genre Savvy]].
* ''[[Star Wars]]'':
** Chewbacca is an enormous Wookiee who has the strength to tear your limbs off if you get him angry enough. He's also quite the engineer, able to keep the Millennium Falcon running, chart hyperspace routes, and repair C-3P0 from virtual scrap. In ''[[Revenge of the Sith]]'', Chewie is a high-ranking commander of the Wookiee forces, so he must be skilled at strategy and military tactics.
** Darth Vader is a huge guy with extensive cybernetic implants. He also built C-3PO as a child and modified his star fighter extensively.
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* Arnold Schwarzenegger's character in ''[[Twins]]''. He was a result of an experiment of producing an advanced human being by combining sperm from six fathers who are athletes and scholars. Being raised by a doctor, he's physically strong, spiritually pure, and excels in history, science, mathmatics, literature, and can speak twelve languages. Until he learns he has a fraternal twin played by Danny Devito who inherited the leftover genes and living in shady lowlife schemes.
* A dock worker in ''[[Eraser]]'' hints at being a Genius Bruiser while he and his colleagues are observing an arms deal between the bad guys and some men from the former Soviet Union.
{{quote|
'''Bruiser''': Actually, Sir, they're not Communists anymore. They're a federation of independent, liberated states. }}
* In ''[[X-Men: First Class|X Men First Class]]'', the character best known as Beast goes from being a [[Badass Bookworm]] at the beginning to being a
* [[El Santo]], the famous [[Masked Luchador]] hero of Mexico, was always portrayed as highly intelligent and cultured, and often as a true genius. To take just one example, in ''[[Santo en el Tesoro de Drácula|Santo En El Tesoro De Dracula]]'', Santo invents ''a working time machine'' all by himself!
* In ''[[Sherlock Holmes (film)|Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows]]'', Professor Moriarty was a boxing champion at Oxford. Holmes himself is quite capable at deduction and hand-to-hand.
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** Also, Jason is an excellent [[Improbable Aiming Skills|marksman]], sometimes bordering on [[Daredevil|Bullseye]] territory.
* [[The Bourne Series|Jason Bourne]] is this in spades. He [[Omniglot|speaks multiple languages fluently]], can perform a [[Sherlock Scan]] that would make [[Sherlock Holmes|the original]] cry, plans and executes attacks and escapes in crowded areas with little to no prior notice, ''singlehandedly infiltrates the freaking CIA headquarters,'' takes down no less than ''three'' similarly trained Treadstone operatives in the first movie alone, and beats nine kinds of hell out of countless assassins and mooks with brutal efficiency.
== Literature ==
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* Most of the male characters in R. Scott Bakker's ''[[Second Apocalypse]]'' series. Kellhus and Cnaiur best represent this as extremely powerful warriors with ridiculously penetrating, [http://onemansblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/inconceivable.jpg Siscilianesque] intellect.
* Stephen King and Peter Straub's "[[Black House]]", a sequel to "[[The Talisman]]", features not one, but a group of examples for this trope. The "Hegelian Scum" are a small motorcycle club [[All Bikers Are Hells Angels|just like any other]], except for two things. They manage a Brewing Factory for their favorite beer and are all, at the very leasy, graduates from areas like literature and medicine. Best example of this is Doc, who enjoys some poetry between the drugs and the bashing skulls.
* Loial in the ''[[Wheel of Time]]'' series is basically a giant bear who has also been reading books for almost a century.
* Anastasius in [[David Drake]] and Eric Flint's ''[[Belisarius Series|Belisarius]]'' series is a huge and ugly brute of a soldier, who wields an enormous longbow which only someone as hugely strong as him can pull, and yet is immensely fond of deep, philosophical musings.
** Also from that series, Ousanas (wields a ginormous spear, fond of debating philosophy with Anastasius, to everyone else's dismay), Eon (warrior-king...who has one of the largest libraries in the known world and has read most of it), Raghunath Rao (the best assassin in India, one of only two men in the world to have survived a fight with Rana Sanga, argues Ousanas's favourite Greek philosophers are full of it).
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* ''[[Doc Savage]]'' is repeatedly described as a bronzed Adonis, and those Doctorates weren't honorary. Not to mention his brilliant but simian looking lieutenant 'Monk' Mayfair and the gigantic 'Renny' Renwick. The other three of the 'Fabulous Five' fit the [[Badass Bookworm]] trope.
* Leland ''Hobie'' Hobart from [[Michael Flynn]]'s ''Firestar'' tetralogy.
* ''[[Honor Harrington]]'' is positively in love with this trope. The examples start just from its title character, Honor Harrington, who, in addition to her military genius, is also a ''very'' big and strong [[Heavyworlder]] woman with a 7'th degree black belt in ''coup de vitesse''. There are also Anton Zilwicki (the genius hacker and intelligence officer built like a brick outhouse and a three times Greco-Roman wrestling champion in Manticoran Games) and Sir Horace Harkness, another brilliant hacker and engineer who fights with [[Space Marine
* Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt from ''[[Gaunt's Ghosts]]''. Two meters twenty (That's 7' 4") of solid muscle and capable of going head to head with a Space Marine, but also a tactical genius with the undying support of his men.
* Far from the lumbering moron of the film adaptations, ''[[Frankenstein's Monster]]'' is a full Genius Bruiser in [[Mary Shelley]]'s original novel. "The creature" educates himself very quickly by spying on a girl's lessons through a crack in a wall, growing into a remarkably intelligent, eloquent, and philosophical man. He is also an extremely powerful physical specimen, resistant to cold and injury as well as immensely strong, fast, and agile.
* Similarily, Edgar Rice Burroughs's [[Tarzan]] is not quite the muscular simpleton portrayed in the films. Raised by the (naturally) illiterate Great Apes, he ''teaches himself to read and write English from a bunch of books'' after finding his dead (human) parents' long-abandoned cabin, then rapidly learns half a dozen other spoken and written languages when introduced to civilization while also picking up the manner and social skills of a well-to-do gentleman, along with developing a witty, somewhat dark sense of humor.
* Also, Robert E. Howard's ''[[Conan the Barbarian]]''. Most people only know the [[Arnold Schwarzenegger|Ahnuld]] movies where he acts like just a big dumb lump of muscle, largely because the young Governator had trouble with his English lines so they gave him as few as possible, but in the original stories he's one of the smartest men in the world - not given to academic study before he became king and it became a necessity, but a very quick practical thinker (it's a big part of what makes him so incredibly dangerous) with a vicious cunning, a prodigious gift for languages, and surprising depth of thought when called for. He repeatedly survives bad odds not through doing stupid things, after all. This aspect of the character is probably highlighted most clearly in ''The Dark Stranger'', basically a pirate yarn in which he single-handedly outfights and outwits Pictish warbands, viking raiders, cut-throat pirates, an exiled noble ''and'' a hunting demon... most (if not quite all) at once. He also apparently wrote the poem ''Road of Kings'', used as chapter heads in ''Phoenix on the Sword'', his debut story - and is introduced to the world as a king, drawing up a map of the Northern lands hitherto largely unknown to his Hyborian subjects. And he's a benevolent and quite ''competent'' ruler, at that!
{{quote|
** In fact, Howard hints Conan was actually ''the most competent ruler of the entire world at his time'', if you consider balance between taxes and quality of life a way to know how good a ruler can be:
{{quote|
** Howard's earlier character King Kull, often seen as a sort of proto-Conan given more to dizzying philosophical musings than the Cimmerians decidedly more Epicurean pursuits of wine, women and violence (in no particular order), is even more of this.
** In fact, a lot of Howard's larger-than-life pulp heroes - Conan, King Kull, [[Solomon Kane]], etc. - are not just Genius Bruisers, but
*** This is kind of bizarre, given that Howard once said in a letter to a friend that he preferred to write [[Dumb Muscle]] heroes whose response to a dangerous situation would be to just punch, shoot, or swordfight their way out.
* In ''[[Temeraire]]'', dragons in general can be bruisers, but Maximus—possibly the biggest, strongest dragon seen yet in the series—has little problem working out mathematical problems with Temeraire, who's smarter than almost any other character.
** To put things in perspective, Temeraire is a bit less than half Maximus' size... and Maximus is almost ''50 tonnes'' when healthy.
** Perspicia is a subversion of this because although she's a dragon and therefore automatically a bruiser and is smart enough to have independently come up with logarithmic tables and the Pythagorean Theorem she's also a self admitted coward.
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* King Anheg of Cherek in [[David Eddings]]' ''[[Belgariad|Belgariad/Mallorean]]'' stories is a large, Viking-looking man, quite capable of wreaking havoc in battle, but is also considered clever and scholarly, spending many hours in his extensive library.
** Ulath, of it's [[Spiritual Successor]], ''[[The Elenium]]'' is seven feet tall, grim-looking and [[The Quiet One|quiet]]. He also possesses remarkable intellectual depth in the fields of religious study, history, and philosophy. Bhlokow, the Troll-Priest may be another example, being a Troll who cheerfully engages Ulath in philisophical debate.
* Jean, partner to [[Gentleman Bastard Sequence]] Locke Lamora, is officially the brawn to his friend's brains, but is book-smart to Locke's cunning. Being the son of a merchant, he's also gifted with numbers.
* The eponymous [[Villain Protagonist]] of ''[[Space Vulture]]''.
* Captain Otto Harkaman of ''Space Viking'' is used at least once as a byword for [[The Big Guy]], but he's also an extremely well-read historian who rarely fails to grab a few new history books every time he loots a city. Justified, because there's absolutely frak-all to do on board a ship in [[H. Beam Piper]]'s Terrohuman Future History during a thousand or so hours in hyperspace before your arrival, leading all officers to adopt hobbies - his crew includes a gunnery officer who's a landscape painter, and an astrogator who's attempting to express physics in music.
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** That may technically make her a Gifted Bruiser.
* Most [[Animorphs|Hork-Bajir]] are rather dim, but one in every ten thousand has intelligence on par with other more intelligent species. Oh yeah, and they are also seven-foot-tall behemoths covered in blades.
* Justicar Alaric from the ''[[Warhammer
** The previous point were commented by some [[The Chessmaster|Tzeentch]] [[Eldritch Abomination|daemons]], the fact he managed to outhink them puts him in the level of [[Magnificient Bastard]].
* Charles Beckendorf from ''[[Percy Jackson & the
* This trope does exist outside fantasy and sci-fi too... Henry, a college student from ''[[The Secret History]]'', is a brilliant linguist and scholar, whose physical strength comes as a shock to most people. Including, sometimes, himself. {{spoiler|It's implied that he broke open a man's skull by punching him..}}
* [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|Brendan Sealock]], in William Barton and Michael Capobianco's collab novel ''Iris'', is a hulking, craggy-faced amateur boxer... who just so happens to also be a technological genius.
* Dr. Impossible, the [[Villain Protagonist]] of ''[[Soon I Will Be Invincible]]'', began his career in supervillainy after a [[Freak Lab Accident]] gives him super strength and speed, to go along with his 300 IQ and mastery of all things technical. He's not nearly as strong or fast as any of his heroic nemeses, but he's more than capable of ripping an ATM out of the wall or overturning a semi, he can move in [[Bullet Time]] when he concentrates, and bullets simply bounce off his skin (although they do leave nasty bruises).
* Uther Doul, the soldier/philosopher/historian/possibility theorist from ''[[Perdido Street Station|The Scar]]'' embodies this trope so hard it's almost a [[Stealth Parody]]. Although his fighting style is so ruthlessly perfected and artful, you'd be better off calling him a Bookworm Badass than an anything-Bruiser.
* Shadow, the protagonist from Neil Gaiman's ''[[American Gods]]'', is definitely this trope. It's revealed as the book goes on that as a child he was a nerdy, bookish kid, but by adulthood most people tend to treat him as [[Dumb Muscle]] and he actually comes out and says he ''likes'' being [[The Big Guy]]
* [[Mary Gentle]]'s recurring character Baltazar Casaubon. [[The Big Guy|Very tall]], [[Stout Strength|very fat but very strong]], [[Cloudcuckoolander|somewhat spacy]], and ''always'' an absolute prodigy in his field (which changes from book to book).
* Derek Souza of the ''[[Darkest Powers]]'' trilogy. He's in grade ten, but is taking college-level courses in pretty much everything, and is a damned good strategist and tactician. As for the bruiser part, he's over six feet tall, built like a linebacker... and is a werewolf. As such, he has enhanced strength, to the point where he once [[Does Not Know His Own Strength|(accidentally)]] broke a kid's back and quite possibly paralyzed him by tossing him at a wall. ''Without looking''.
* In ''[[The Squire's Tales]]'', Gerald Morris writes Sir Gawain as one of these.
* Doroga from the ''[[Codex Alera]]''. He's a [[Cool Old Guy]] from the Gargant Clan of the Marat, a [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]] so musclebound he [[Sleeves Are for Wimps|has to rip the sleeves off to get shirts to fit him]]. He also learned to read extremely quickly, is a pretty good tactician, has a talent for figuring out the emotions and motivations of others and for[[The Plan|plans of many kinds.]].
** Ambassador/Warmaster Varg of the Canim from the same series also qualifies. Any Cane is an 8+ foot tall [[Wolf Man]] [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]], but Varg is big, strong, and a skilled warrior even among his own people- and he's also a highly skilled Chessmaster (both metaphorically and [[Smart People Play Chess|literally]]), a shrewd tactician, and something of a student of military history as well. It's very telling that [[Guile Hero]] Tavi picked up a fair bit of what he knows via interacting with Varg.
* Fandarel of the ''[[Dragonriders of Pern]]'' series. He is the Mastersmith, basically the highest-ranking Smith on the planet. He is described as being a giant of a man, tall, broad, and heavily muscled. But he is also a genius when it comes to machinery. In the first book he {{spoiler|rebuilds a [[Lost Technology]], namely flamethrowers, after a very short period of studying one example.}} In later books he is shown {{spoiler|creating a telegraph system for Pern, as well as building a set of backup batteries for AIVAS}} and other feats of ingenuity and reverse engineering. {{spoiler|Though AIVAS did help him with the batteries, they were based on a design he had used in making the telegraphs.}}
** Contrast Robinton, the Masterharper, who fits the Badass Bookworm trope perfectly by being the power behind the throne (so to speak) in F'lar's efforts to {{spoiler|get the Holders to take the threat of Thread seriously again (and in the process completely revolutionize their society).}} Robinton and Fandarel are like the black-square and white-square bishops in chess: between the two they cover the whole board.
* Murtagh in the ''[[Inheritance Cycle]].'' He is a master warrior, possesses superhuman speed and strength, regularly goes toe-to-toe with Eragon himself, and is {{spoiler|the acting champion of the Empire, second in power and status only to King Galbatorix.}} At the same time, he's also a skilled tactician who enjoys reading and scholarship, and is complimented for his intelligence by several other characters.
* As said in [[Our Dragons Are Different]] page, Western dragons were considered to be unintelligent until [[The Hobbit (novel)|Smaug arrived.]]
* Deconstructed and Reconstructed with Major O'Mara from ''[[Sector General]]'': he always wanted to be a psychologist but was always assigned manual labor because of his enormous build. This drove him to become a foul-tempered [[Deadpan Snarker]], which made him a better psychologist when he finally became one.
* Egyptologist Radcliffe Emerson, husband of [[Amelia Peabody]], is described by his wife as "Herculean" and also as "the greatest archeologist of this or any other age." His daughter-in-law can do charity medical work safely in the worst slums partly because she is widely loved, but also because "I will tear out your liver" if a hair of her head is mussed.
* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''[[Prospero's Daughter|Prospero in Hell]]'', Calvin, Mephisto's "Bully Boy", [[Hidden Depths|turns out to be]] a college professor.
* "Cujo" Hendricks from [[The Dresden Files]] is actually one, though his status as [[The Brute]] and tendency to not talk much causes Harry to think he's just [[Dumb Muscle]]. In the short story ''Even Hand'', however, he's shown to be quite intelligent -He has a degree in Philosophy, is seen writing a thesis, and regularly quotes classic literature when he disagrees with his boss Johnny Marcone.
** Bob the Skull would qualify since, in addition to being a spirit of intellect, he also has considerable magical power to throw around.
** The same can be said of Ivy, since despite being a little girl, she knows all knowledge that has ever been recorded and is powerful enough to take on the Denarians, fallen angels who wield powerful magic of their own.
** Dresden himself applies here. He's [[Book Dumb]] and [[Dumb Muscle]] ''by the standards of leading wizards'', which still requires being smarter than the average human in this setting, and he happens to be physically fit and experienced in combat. Although not being a genius in any sense, he is well-versed in making potions and weaving powerful wards, which takes considerable skill to do. As for the bruiser part, ask Cassius, Nicodemus, the skinwalker, the gruffs, and the Ick how much of bruiser Dresden is.
* Roman in [[Sergey Lukyanenko]]'s ''[[Competitors]]'' looks like a heavyweight boxer and is not shy about punching people out when he has to. He is often seen beside Zinovy, the head of the Seekers, and most assume he is just dumb muscle. Then he gets back to their base and puts on his labcoat. Turns out Roman has a Ph.D. in Computer Science and specializes in AI research. He also barters well. Also Oleg, who is a sysadmin for a local newspaper but is in excellent physical condition and loves sports.
* Taran'atar in the [[Star Trek Deep Space Nine
* [[X Wing Series|Voort SaBinring]], aka "[[Pig Man|Piggy]]". Able to calculate hyperspace coordinates ''mentally'' (generally, this task is handled by a navigation computer). Get into a fight with him, you'll almost certainly be incapable of coherent speech for the next half hour or so.
* Ivor in ''Perseus Spur'' is a massive fitness trainer who can use a high-tech collar to enhance his already insane muscle development until he can lift a couple of hundred kilograms, and who is smart enough that he speaks in [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness]], such as referring to his job as "quotidian ennui". He's also a talented chef.
* The Boneys from ''[[Xeelee Sequence]]'' novel ''Raft''. Despite their tribelike mannerisms, they play with orbital mechanics with an ease that rivals trained scientists.
* Honoria Glossop from the ''[[Jeeves and Wooster (novel)|Jeeves and Wooster]]'' series: "...in addition to enlarging her brain to the most frightful extent, she had gone in for every kind of sport and developed the physique of a middle-weight catch-as-catch-can wrestler." The same trope applies to her [[Uncanny Family Resemblance|identical-looking cousin]] Heloise Pringle, who went to the same school as Honoria, but is even smarter.
* Fyodor from ''[[Forgotten Realms|Starlight and Shadows]]'' trilogy by Elaine Cunningham is a big lad with an [[Big Freaking Sword|enormous sword]] and all the education non-witch can get in average Rashemaar village, [[The Berserker]], and ''[[Power Incontinence|uncontrollable]]'' one at that. He also got a magic sense, can see spirits, is a good storyteller and smart enough to outtrick a drow. Sort of [[Lampshaded]], as he carries a sword that is ''blunt'' piece of metal he normally cannot swing, but fits his strength well while in [[Unstoppable Rage]] (and the sword's sheer mass makes it truly unstoppable) and bears a strong enchantment, so it can cut or chip even things immune to normal weapons, blunt or not.
== Live-Action TV ==
* In ''[[Sanctuary]]'' ; ''[[The Big Guy]]'' is a sasquatch, also deeply philosophical, knows and makes vintage alcohol, and almost on par with Henry , the designated techie, on mechanical matters. Henry himself, not exactly wimpy, is a mechanical genius. {{spoiler|Not to mention a werewolf, and that all werewolves in this series are mechanical geniuses}}
* Eliot Spencer from the show ''[[Leverage]]'' seems to fit this trope. If not, he sure looks the part.
** No, he definitely fits the part. In fact, it's been [[Obfuscating Stupidity|repeatedly lampshaded,]] since the guy is a tactical expert and a [[Real Men Wear Pink|really good chef]], among other skills. He can identify CIA agents by their stance, Ex Marines by their knife fighting style and Spetznaz operatives by their shoe prints in the snow. Complete with [[Mad Libs Catchphrase|Catch Phrase]] "It's a very distinctive (impossibly small detail he can use to identify something or someone)."
* Speaking of [[Christian Kane]], over on ''[[Angel]]'', Lindsey fits the bill. A lawyer who taught himself several magical and martial arts, he gives the title character a run for his money once or twice.
* Dean Winchester of ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' even though both his family and the demons think Sam's the 'smart one' Dean's actually been [[Obfuscating Stupidity|shown, repeatedly]] to be the genius: building a EMF out of an old cassette player, rebuilding the Impala from scraps after it's totaled, building an EMP OUT OF A CAR BATTERY. Basically [[MacGyvering|hand him some tools, metal and duct tape and he'll make something]] [[Awesome Yet Practical|that is both totally insane and also totally useful.]]
* K'a D'Argo of ''[[Farscape]]'' slowly develops into this over the course of the show: while not a scientist like [[The Hero|Crichton]] or [[Magnificent Bastard|Scorpius]], he's skilled enough to build the odd weapon or musical intrument out of the junk he finds aboard Moya. Plus, let's not forget the fact that his [[Cool Starship]] Lo'La was little more than floating wreckage until D'Argo rescued and repaired it.
* Derek Morgan is one of a small group of elite profilers in ''[[Criminal Minds]]'', but he is also the muscular guy who tends to tackle inanimate objects. For indisputable proof, when Hotchner temporally left his position as leader of the team, Morgan was the one selected and he took over admirably.
* ''[[Mission: Impossible]]'': A chart-breaking IQ is a must in the
* ''[[Human Target]]'' Christopher Chance fits this to a "T." The character looks like the result of a transporter accident involving [[G.I. Joe]] and [[Barbie|Malibu Ken]], but in almost every episode demonstrates a wide range of knowledge (e.g., speaks Japanese, Russian,
** Guerrero is on the [[Badass Bookworm|opposite spectrum]]. The guy doesn't look like much and calls everybody "dude", and the pilot shows two thugs threatening to rough him up, only for him to calmly tell them their names, as well as the names of their children, and what he plans to do with them in their sleep. His fighting skills are on par with Chance, and his ''name'' alone is enough to break prisoners without him having to start his "interrogation".
* ''[[Star Trek:
** Lt. Commander Worf. When the Jem'Hadar figure all they can do to you is kill you, but not actually ''break'' you... He's a Starfleet Academy graduate, a Mok'bara instructor, a capable love poet and Klingon Opera singer, has native-level understanding of Klingon language and culture (which wouldn't be surprising, excepting that he was raised on Earth), can manipulate and scheme at the highest levels of Klingon politics, keeps his wits about him under virtually any conditions (incomplete information, starvation, torture, extreme pain, maybe even Klingon rage) and can outsmart Captain Picard in ship combat exercises.
* ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'': Malcolm Reed, the ship's armoury officer can build phase cannons from scratch, invent stable force fields and instruct a layman on how to diffuse a high-tech mine. He can also kill you using any one of a hundred weapons. Or, he may just beat you into a pulp and blow up your spaceship for good measure. It depends on his mood.
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* TJ in ''[[Power Rangers in Space]]''. Not only was he one of the strongest members, but he was also a great combat planner. Not surprisingly, considering he was an ex-Red Ranger.
** Almost every Ranger team has at least one geeky Ranger (Billy, Kai of ''Lost Galaxy'', Ethan of ''Dino Thunder'', Chip of ''Mystic Force'') and another that's more meek and intellectual (Trini, Kendrix, Madison, Rose), who could take out supernatural threats on a weekly basis.
* Dot Com from ''[[30
* B.A. Baracus of ''[[The A-Team]]''.
* Paladin of ''[[Have Gun — Will Travel]]''. While not particularly huge, Richard Boone is a good sized man, and Paladin's intelligence is a defining characteristic.
* Leo Knox of'' [[The Finder]]'' who is played by Michael Clarke Duncan, was shown in the pilot to be able to take down a hulking tough in one move (although usually he's a [[Gentle Giant]]) and is also a lawyer.
* [[The Addams Family|Wednesday Addams]] in ''[[Wednesday]]''. While not the brutish type of Bruiser, she is an expert in many fighting techniques, including fencing (learned from her father), martial arts (from her uncle), archery, and acrobatics. She certainly fits the Genius part, skilled in engineering, botany, and forensics; she also speaks English, Spanish and German fluently, can read Italian and Latin, and is a master tactician, [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique| interrogator]], and [[Amateur Sleuth]].
== Music ==
* ''Rummelsnuff'' looks like a [http://cdn.prinz.de/imedia/925/601925,UXBIcrnvf1hmy4rOGx8x_jyZ9inPXZZse1JhSbXc5lM=.jpg real life german Hulk]{{Dead link}} with the brain of a fly, whom you'd rather expect to work as an enforcer for the Mob. However, both of his parents were classical mussicians and music teachers. The working class image is part of his art.
== Myths and Religion ==
* Most [[Greek Mythology|Greek]] heroes are Genius Bruisers. The ancient Greeks believed as much in exercising the mind as the body.
** King Odysseus of Ithaca is the epitome of this trope in Greek mythology. Odysseus was the Achaians' most cunning general as well as one of their best warriors. Most notably he commissioned the Trojan Horse used to invade Troy. At the end of the ''Odyssey'', he demonstrates that he's still a [[Badass]] after all these years by performing some [[The Archer|archery]] feats and then slaughtering a roomful of younger men. His combination of brains and brawns makes him the favored hero of Athena. However, like many Greek heroes, some of his best work was possible only with substantial help from the gods.
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** Hercules was no egghead, but his Twelve Labors required a substantial amount of [[Indy Ploy|cunning as well as strength]]. When he found out that the Nemean Lion's hide was impervious to weapons, he strangled it. To fight the Hydra, which could grow its heads back, he seared the stumps with a torch. And to clean up the enormous and never-cleaned Aegeans Stables, he uses his strength to alter the course ''of two nearby rivers''. Athena was the Olympian who liked Hercules best, excluding his father anyway.
** Hephaestus, the god of the forge and Zeus' main artificer, was able to take on and humiliate Ares, the god of war, with cunning, trickery, and his technological genius.
* The old [[The Bible|Christian martyrology]] has several cases of Genius Bruisers who were high-ranked Roman soldiers before their conversions, becoming [[Badass Preacher
** [[wikipedia:Saint George|Saint George of Lydda]]. Assuming that he
** [[wikipedia:Saint Sebastian|Saint Sebastian]]. This ex-captain of the prestigious [[Praetorian Guard]] (meaning, the guy was among the guards that protected [[The Emperor]]) was so badass that he had to be martyred ''twice'' (first by arrow shooting, later by flogging).
** [[wikipedia:Saint Christopher|Saint Christopher]]. A man over
* Ogma of [[Celtic Mythology]].
** Cu Chulainn as well - he even courted his wife through the use of ridiculously complicated riddles.
== Professional Sports ==
* [[wikipedia:Chess boxing|Chess boxing]] is a sport designed for genius bruisers. The players alternate between rounds of boxing and rounds of speed chess. You can win by a knockout, a checkmate, judges' decision or by your opponent running out of time in the chess game.
* Rich Franklin, who is considered one of the top fighters in the UFC and the promotion's former middleweight champion, was a high school math teacher at one of Ohio's top public schools. He holds a master's degree in education and a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Cincinnati.
* A number of [[Mixed Martial Arts]] fighters are surprisingly intelligent.
** Rich Franklin is famously a former math teacher with a Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics and a Master's Degree in Education.
** Matt "The Law" Lindland ran for Oregon state representative but lost partially due to his opponent's anti-MMA ads. He also earned his nickname by successfully litigating to overturn a wrestling match he lost via illegal move. He went on to win the rematch.
** Chael Sonnen also ran for state representative. More infamously, he took part in a money laundering scheme as a real estate agent while fighting professionally at the same time.
** Shane Carwin is a full-time mechanical engineer and showed up to work as usual at 9:00 a.m. on March 29, 2010... two days ''after'' he won the UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship.
** [[Not That Kind of Doctor|Dr.]] Rosi Sexton has 10-2 win record and a Ph.D in theoretical computer science. She is one of the rare female examples.
** Nick "The Goat" Thompson achieved his J.D. in Law and became a practicing attorney while amassing more than 50 fights across almost every major fighting promotion.
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* Along with the fighting examples, one must remember that most NFL players actually do finish college, many of them using their 5 years of scholarship (yes, they actually get 5 during which 4 are eligible as playing years), many of them actually earn Masters Degrees.
* Bills Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick was an economics major at Harvard and interned at a hedge fund.
* Similarly, Andrew
* Offensive lineman Ron Mix, the second ever American Football League player inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame,<ref>his longtime teammate, Lance Alworth, was the first</ref>
* Alan Page, Hall of Fame defensive end for the Minnesota Vikings. Practiced law after his playing days, eventually becoming a Justice on Minnesota's Supreme Court.
* "Touchdown" Tommy Vardell, longtime NFL fullback, once was late to workout for NFL scouts, because he was back at Stanford giving his Master's Thesis in Computer Science.
* Shaquille O'Neal is widely recognized as one of the best centers in the history of professional basketball who often used his size (over
== Professional Wrestling ==
* George "The Animal Steele, Bill "Masked Superstar"/"Demolition Ax" Eadie, Little Spike Dudley and Matt "Prince Albert"/"A-Train"/"Giant Bernard"/"Lord Tensai" Bloom all were teachers before getting into pro wrestling. Steele would mostly wrestle during summer vacations. Matt Striker had to resign from his teaching position because the school system found that he had taken "sick days" when he was actually wrestling in Japan, or, as in the incident that caused his dismissal, wrestling a try-out match for [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]].
* "Precious" Paul Elllering, best known for his work in the 1980s as the manager for the Road Warriors [[Kayfabe|on television]] and [[Pro Wrestling Is Real|off]] roles, is a member of [[Mensa]] and carried copies of the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times with him to the ring during the Road Warriors' early days in Georgia in 1983. Despite this, he still accepted the ridiculous Rocco the ventriloquist dummy gimmick in 1992 WWE.
* Scott Levy, better known to [[Professional Wrestling]] fans as [[Raven (wrestling)|Raven]], has an I.Q. of about 160.
* Similarly, pro wrestler [[John Bradshaw Layfield]], who's about 198 cm and 130 kg, has made millions with his keen stock market acumen, makes frequent appearances on financial programs to dole out advice, and is a Senior Vice President with Northeast Securities, as well as CEO of Layfield Energy. And you thought the whole [[Screw the Rules, I Have Money]] thing was all an act...
** Doubly appropriate as he's apparently a complete jerk in real life too.
* Likewise, Accie Julius Conner (a.k.a. D-lo Brown) is a Certified Public Accountant.
* WWE NXT participant David Otunga is a Harvard Law grad.
** And a licensed attorney, having passed the Bar in Illinois.
* Former wrestler and WWF Tough Enough season 1 finalist Chris Nowinski was also a Harvard grad. He went on to be signed by the WWF, and did quite well for himself until forced to retire due to post-concussion syndrome. He now heads the Sports Legacy Institute, a non-profit group dedicated to researching the long-term effects of concussions and other injuries in sports and sports entertainment.
* Female wrestler [[Ms Chif]] is a genetics scientist outside the ring.
* Modern pro wrestling is particularly good for these. When on the road, wrestlers have a lot of time in cars and on airplanes, so they take to reading to pass the time, which ends up with quite a few rather knowledgeable autodidacts. Mickie James has been slowly but surely working toward a Business degree, Shantelle Malawski (TNA Knockout Taylor Wilde) retired to focus on her psychology studies, and bodybuilder Chris Mordetzky (Chris Masters) is fond of reading books on politics on the road.
* Michelle McCool is a former 7th grade science teacher.
* Paul Levesque ([[Triple H]]) isn't just the "Cerebral Assassin", he's the guy currently transitioning quite nicely from wrestler to corporate business-runner. His initiative on hyping up incoming talent has led to nice starts in the WWE careeers of Sin Cara (the former Mistico) and Kharma (the former Amazing/Awesome Kong).
* Glen Jacobs, better known as [[Kane (wrestling)|Kane]], has degrees in English and Teaching, and has said that if he weren't wrestling, he'd be teaching.
** He's also a quite knowledgeable blogger in political matters. Check out "The Adventures of Citizen X in the Land of the Free" sometime.
== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' has those simply by virtue of having lots of people ranging from "really tough" to "ludicrously tough".
** This it taken to an extreme ([[Serial Escalation|As usual]])
*** The Space Marine Librarians are also an inversion of [[Squishy Wizard]]. They have both great [[Psychic Powers]] and... all the strength and equipment of a regular [[Space Marine]]!
** [[The Emperor]] himself was a giant of a man, and pretty much a [[Physical God]], but also an [[Emperor Scientist]] who labored for years to create what would become the Space Marines, figured out and restored some ancient artifacts including the Golden Throne and, oh, personally dragged the humanity for a smoking wasteland of warring tribes to one of the greatest powers in the Galaxy, and that was but an early stage of his grand plan at which he was interrupted. One notch below are His "sons" (tweaked clones) the Primarches, all are exceptionally intelligent with superhuman strength, most of them are either powerful warriors, great statesmen, brilliant scientists, or any combination of the three. To put this in perspective, normal people saw them as obviously demigods when they were babies, and after being reunited with Emperor, they did not have to keep up with [[Super Soldier]]s stuffed with specialized implants, it's the Space Marines who used to look up at them.
** In ''[[Necromunda]]'' spinoff set in the Underhive of the planet of the same name, the Heavy has to have both copious amounts of brawn to carry the massive squad-support weapons they use, and just as much technical skill to maintain them.
** The Orks grow bigger as they become more important and aggressive, but this is a common trait which applies just as well to Big Meks, who design some formidable stuff and build it from scraps. As to the Warbosses - those who big and tough rule, those who win grow larger, but those who also understand strategy (and politics) also tend to stay around longer. Warlord Gazghull Mag Uruk Thraka has to qualify; not content with being as big as a Space Marine Dreadnought, he's brought the Imperial planet of Armageddon to its knees twice (the first time was just a test run, see) and, unusually for an Ork, has learned from his experiences to the extent that he can outwit most Imperial field commanders before they even make their decisions. And all whilst fighting in the front lines with his ladz.
*** Another Ork worthy of mention is [[Dawn of War|Kaptin Bluddflagg]], who can tell that Adrastia was an Inquisitor by her uniform, which is remarkable as Orks have a biologically enforced [[Large and In Charge]] thing going for their race (Adrastia is a mite shorter than the soldiers with her) and have no concept of uniforms (though more understandable for the Freebooterz, as they dress in a distinctive way to set themselves apart from their former clans). He also deduced Kyras' location very intelligently, not just by Ork standards, but by any standards. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0vDQWMJNbE Don't believe me...]
**** It should be noted that pretty much all the other factions, including [[Our Elves Are Better|the eldar]], need external factors to help them figure this out. Bluddflagg manages it by logical deduction alone. So yes, for the purpose of the game Bluddflagg is actually above the average in smarts.
* The Ogre warlord Greasus Goldtooth from ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]] Fantasy'' is both a stunningly powerful (if also very lazy) warrior and an incredibly shrewd businessman who has built his empire on physical conquest, intimidation, bribes, and cunning trade agreements in equal measure. It helps that he commissioned a magic crown that increases his intellect.
** From the same game, there's a Dwarf master engineer who, when not maintaining cannons, is ripping goblins in half with his [[Steampunk]] [[Artificial Limbs|prosthetic claw-arm]].
** And Malakai Makaisson, the Slayer Engineer, responsible for, among other things, a fully automatic throwing-axe launcher, various successful modifications to the repeater cannon known as the Organ Gun, and the Warhammer world's first successful airship. All of this whilst under an oath to [[Death Seeker|seek an honourable and violent death]]. And he's a [[Violent Glaswegian]] in all but name, right doon to th'accent.
** Don´t forget our very own Gotrek Gurnisson: former engineer (DWARF engineer. Given the extremes to which everything is turned in the Warhmmer world, that should say a lot), now turned into what must be the single most dangerous creature in the Warhammer world, which is no small feat.
** Also Azhag The Slaughterer, one of the strongest Orc warlords, who happens to have a crown that "gives him good ideas", probably because it contains the spirit of [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Nagash]] the [[A God Am I|strongest wizard ever]], inventor of necromancy and all around [[Big Bad|evil dude]]. Most of the other famous Orcs and Goblins qualify too, especially Grobad Ironclaw, Grom the Paunch, Grimgor Ironhide and Skarsnik (if you count Gobbla).
* The [[Badass|Adamantine]] [[Super Soldier|Arrow]] of ''[[Mage: The Awakening]]'' endeavors to train all of their members to be formidable physical combatants (''without'' the use of their magic) as well as highly capable with a wide range of mental skills. As their [[Badass Creed|creed]] goes, "Adaptability Is Strength".
* Many Euthanatos of ''[[Mage: The Ascension]]'' may also fall under this category. To counter the effect their assassin training has on their psyche, many of them dedicate what's left of their "normal" life to various forms of science and academics - from medicine, to philosophy, to computer science.
* In ''[[
** In fourth edition, Assault [[Magic Knight|Swordmages]] and Tactical/Resourceful Warlords rely on both strength and intelligence, and unlike the gish example above their strength is not a result of magical buffs, thus making them even better examples of this trope.
** Too many canonic ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' characters, for some of whom this comes with the territory - from a weretiger mage to the followers of Red Knight (the goddess of strategy).
** Ogre Magi. They are as strong as regular ogre, but they are smarter than average human. [[Oh Crap|And they can use magic.]]
** While most of the [[Demon Lords and Archdevils|Lords of the Nine Hells]] are both very intelligent and dangerous fighters, Bel, Lord of the First fits this trope best. He's the largest and most physically powerful of the Archdevils, but is an absolutely brilliant military mind. Indeed, most all of his type of devils, Pit Fiends, fit this very well.
* Beckett the [[Animorphism|Gangrel]] [[Badass Bookworm|scholar]] from ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]''.
** Clan Brujah tends to have quite a few of these. To the common outsider they may just look like your average street punk, caring little about any intellectual pursuits, but the facts are more complex than that. Back in the days of the medieval era they were known as the Learned Clan, and housed many [[Warrior Poet]]s who were skilled both physically and intellectually. While this has detoriated quite a bit over the centuries, this bit of intellectualism crops up more than once in a while to further reinforce the clan's passions.
* Given that high intelligence adds bonuses to hit ''and'' damage in ''[[Villains and Vigilantes]]'', how likely Heightened Intelligence is to come up on the randomly-rolled power tables, and how rarely the Reduced Intelligence weakness can be rolled, it is not uncommon for combat monster characters to be at the very least very smart, if not superhumanly intelligent.
== Toys ==
* Onua from ''[[Bionicle]]'', typically regarded as one of the wisest of the Toa, and possessing [[Super Strength]].
== Video Games ==
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* Lexaeus (''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'') is a good example of this trope (or, at least, this would be more apparent if he got more than a few lines of characterization before his death); he's the musclebound, [[Dishing Out Dirt|Earth elemental]] [[Big Guy]] of [[Organization Index|Organization XII]], who knows when it's a good idea to wait for events to develop (rather than immediately charge into the action like your standard [[The Brute|brute]]). In addition, in his cutscenes in ''[[Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories|CoM]]'', he's usually seen pondering, or holding conversations with [[Master of Illusion|Zexion]]. [[Fan Dumb|Now, if only the fandom would realize this...]]
** [[Blow You Away|Xaldin]] is almost as large, and also one of the original six.
* Demon King Odin from ''[[Odin Sphere]]'' is a gargantuan mountain of muscle whose weapon of choice is a ball and chain [[
* Don't let his ridiculous getup fool you: Birdie, from ''[[Street Fighter]]'', is pretty on the ball, and has designs on Shadowloo.
* Bentley the Yeti from ''[[Spyro the Dragon|Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon]]'' is a mountain dweller with a [[Drop the Hammer|huge ice club]], but speaks in [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness]] and comes up with a variety of barely pronounceable insults for [[Honest John's Dealership|Moneybags]].
{{quote|
* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'':
** Thrall is mostly represented as a magic type character (he is a Far Seer). But other sources show that he is just about as accomplished in physical fights. Being raised as a Gladiator really helps.
** Shamans in general fit this trope, mostly. Even allowing for specialization, they excel in both spellcasting and melee combat.
** Ogre-mages especially in ''Warcraft II''. [[Dumb Muscle|Ogres]] upon being upgraded even say "we're not brainless anymore!"
*** Although their next quote disputes the "genius" part a bit, when they go "I've got the brain!" "Nuh-uh!"
*** Cho'gall is an interesting example, as while he does qualify for the trope, his right head sounds lucid, but his ''left'' one is hopelessly insane.
** Anduin Lothar: An accomplished warrior, commander of the Alliance forces, and skilled diplomat who cemented the Grand Alliance.
** The ogre chieftain Mog'dorg the Wizened is believed to be this by other ogres, although Mog'dorg himself questions this; supposedly, they only call him "wise" because he was smart enough not to side with the Burning Legion.
* Damon Baird from ''[[Gears of War]]''. He doesn't just shoot people and take steroids like all the other Gears! He has some understanding of the Locust language and a head for technology and mechanics. He fixes nearly anything and everything that ever breaks in the game. When asked to improvise a bomb with few parts available, he replies, "Regular or extra strength?"
* In ''[[The Sims|The Sims 2: Bon Voyage]]'', if you can persuade him to join a playable family, Bigfoot begins play with all his skills and talents maximized.
* Very strong and a remarkably skilled fighter, what made the Practical Incarnation in ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'' such a dangerous and effective person was his cunning and near complete lack of morals: a
* He doesn't display much sign of higher education in his actions or dialogue, but as he player is him, [[Badass Biker]] Ben of ''[[Full Throttle]]'' shows a great deal of unconventional genius. How many other bikers would think to use mechanical toy bunnies to clear a minefield?
* Fawkes from ''[[Fallout 3]]''. Game Informer describes him as being "smart, funny, and damn near unkillable". He's an enormous green beast who looks like Nemesis' down syndrome-afflicted half-brother, and yet is very intelligent and philosophical.
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*** This is actually a plot point in the previous Fallout games. {{spoiler|The Forced Evolution Virus, which "perfects" humans by turning them into Super Mutants, also grants them genius level intellect... or rather, is supposed to. Unfortunately, one of the problems that can't be solved even with 200 years of slow but steady progress in the field of retroviral evolution is the fact that the IQ upgrade only works on the unmutated genetic structures of Vault Dwellers. Apparently after a single generation of exposure to the titular Fallout, human genetic damage isn't enough to markedly impact human appearance or skills, but it is enough to react unpleasantly with the FEV to reduce the minds of the Super Mutants created from them to that of particularly dim-witted children. Later in Fallout 3, this is the revealed as the motivation behind The Enclave's plan to introduce their plague into the water... it's designed not to kill all the people in the Capitol Wastelands, only those whose genetic structures have been too badly damaged to be converted into Super Genius Mutants. So the Vault inhabitants survive, everybody else dies.}}
** With the right levelling, perks, and chems, the player character in a ''[[Fallout]]'' game can become one as well: able to hack any computer, pick any lock, smooth talk any merchant, and, if need be, kill Super Mutant Behemoths. ''[[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|Bare handed.]]''
** Let's not forget Marcus
** Also in [[Fallout: New Vegas]], Legate Lanius is a brutal [[Blood Knight]] who revels in bloodshed and quite tough in direct combat. However, he's actually a relatively decent tactician who if you decide to engage him in conversation is actually a surprisingly intelligent man who will not toss away the lives of his men pointlessly and will actually retreat if the player makes a very good argument (most of which has to do with logistics).
* Frank Gaunt of ''[[Operation Darkness]]'' is a heavy machine-gunner and close-combat specialist who also seems to have some knowledge of nuclear physics and other specialized fields.
* Steroid Gontarski in ''[[Jagged Alliance]] 2'', one of the strongest mercs in the game AND when dealing with repair and electronics is one of the best mercs outside of the ones who assign both specialty options as one of the two. He is hindered only be his lack of agility, but he is also very cheep to hire.
** He also refuses to work in the same team as Ivan Dolvich (one of the designated [[Badass
* There is [[Metal Gear|a series]] about some guy who had a [[Badass Bookworm|genius-level IQ]], [[Translation Convention|fluency in a half-dozen languages]], and [[Improbable Aiming Skills|enough skill with a vast array of weaponry]] (from [[Beat Them At Their Own Game|sniper rifles]] to [[Non-Lethal KO|tranquilizer darts]] to [[Improvised Weapon|aerosol spray cans and matches]]) to [[Badass Normal|bring down]] [[Psychic Powers|telekinesis masters]], [[Humongous Mecha|armed tanks]], [[Mascot Fighter|overmarketed yellow rodents]], and [[Artificial Human|berserk clones of a legendary villain.]]
** Vulcan Raven from the same series is a villainous example. While he's best known for his fondness for [[BFG|serious firepower]], he's also a shaman and a graduate of the University of Alaska.
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** Potemkin also counts. While he looks like the ridiculously [[Dumb Muscle]] right hand of President Gabriel of Zepp, he is also very polite, erudite, and must be smarter than he appears if he's been directly tasked by his own president to undertake covert missions on his behalf. Not to mentions he's also a talented artist.
* ''[[Prototype (video game)|Prototype]]'''s Alex Mercer is a human superweapon that shrugs off antitank missiles and can throw cars hundreds of meters. He also has a PhD. he earned himself, and by the end of the game, the combined knowledge of practically the entire field of genetics and the operations of military equipment.
* Adell from ''[[Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories]]: Cursed Memories'' is a surprise example. A [[Hot-Blooded]] fist-fighter who puts [[Honor Before Reason]], he manages to shock the entire rest of his adventuring-party when, during the [[Tournament Arc]], he solves a highly complex Geo-Puzzle after a brief glance and two seconds of thinking-time. As it turns out, he doesn't charge headfirst into every conflict because he's too stupid to think of anything else - but simply because that's his style.
{{quote|
* Edgar of ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' is a talented engineer, having designed an entire castle capable of subterranean travel, a small arsenal of machine weaponry, and is capable of repairing practically any broken equipment you come across. Oh, and put a spear in his hands and he'll make shish kebab out of you in about three seconds flat. His twin brother Sabin is no idiot either, despite being a [[Bare-Fisted Monk]] and one of the stronger players in the game.
** Cid from ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'' is a much better example. As the game's resident Cid, he's the engineer in charge of the airships, but is also a formidable physical fighter too, preferring to bash his enemies in with hammers and wrenches.
** Cid Highwind of ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' is also an excellent example. Featuring some of the highest HP and Strength stats in the game, the second-best limit break damage, serious muscles and a nasty mouth, he also has stacks of engineering blueprints in his house and a massive airship named after him, presumably because he designed the damn thing himself.
*** Oh, and he's the world's first astronaut (is hinted to have had a hand in building the rocket too), runs a town, has flown a light plane, a jet powered airship
* You can play Commander Shepard as one of these in ''[[Mass Effect]]''. Arguably Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams fits the trope as well.
{{quote|
** No matter how you play Shepard, s/he shows him/herself to be very intelligent throughout the series, quite [[Genre Savvy]], and capable of coming up with [[Take a Third Option|creative solutions to many problems.]]
** Grunt, the genetically-engineered [[Super Soldier]] Krogan in ''Mass Effect 2'' is raised via Neural Imprinting. While he's [[The Big Guy]] of the party, he's actually quite articulate and contemplative for a Krogan (if still just as much of a fight-happy [[Boisterous Bruiser]] in the field). The Shadow Broker DLC reveals that he's into [[Ernest Hemingway]] on his spare time.
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* Pick any member of [[Castlevania|the Belmont family,]] and you've got a pretty good chance of finding a Genius Bruiser. Notable examples include Juste, Richter and Julius. Alucard is also a fairly sharp guy, particularly in his ''Aria/Dawn of Sorrow'' persona of Genya Arikado.
** Justified in that he is [[Dhampir|Dracula's son]], and immortal, meaning he has lots of free time.
* Iron Tager from ''[[
* Ganondorf is usualy portrayed this way whenever he's not a drooling beastie, but sometimes even then. He always plans ahead of time and is rather methodical. Tricking Link into opening the sacred realm so he could get the Triforce (''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time|The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time]]''), setting up plagues and curing them through Aganihm in order to gain (political) power (''[[The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past|The Legend of Zelda a Link To T He Past]]''), and apparently setting up several resurrection plans are some of his highlights. Even when things don't go his way, he can salvage the situation. Feeding on the Twili's hate and allowing Zant to release him, as well as getting around every seal placed on him are examples of this. He is also a beastly fighter: in his human form, he's a good seven feet tall, and deadly with swords and his bare fists, while his true form is a gigantic [[Full Boar Action|boar]] more than capable of crushing Link with his sheer size.
** Although not technically canon, he appears in a fairly high-tech-looking computer lab in the Subspace Emissary in ''[[Super Smash Bros.]] Brawl'', overseeing everything as it transpires. Given that his only immediate ally {{spoiler|besides Master Hand}} is [[Super Mario Bros.|Bowser]], it's not too much of a stretch to assume that ol' Ganon's technologically savvy, too.
* It may not look like it, due to his recent portrayal as a comic relief and his overall lack of common sense, [[Super Mario Bros.|Bowser]] is far from idiotic. Similar to the 300 IQ [[Sonic the Hedgehog|Dr. Eggman]], Bowser designs and builds all of his technological contraptions, and while his plans usually fail because [[The Good Guys Always Win|the good guy always wins]], they are well thought out by the big man.
* ''[[Wild
* In ''[[Halo]]'', [[Super Soldier|Spartans]], [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Sangheili/Elites]], and to a lesser extent [[Killer Space Monkey|Jiralhanae/Brutes]]. Though they don't often show it, Mgalekgolo/Hunters are quite intelligent, too.
* ''[[Resident Evil]]'': Albert Wesker. Described as a child prodigy, one of Umbrella's top researchers, master of [[The Plan]], and is capable of punching people through walls [[Badass Abnormal|after his viral upgrade.]]
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* Eddie Riggs of ''[[Brutal Legend]]'' is not only a [[Hot-Blooded]] warrior, but being that his life as a Roadie requires him to maintain others' equipment, he's also mechanically adept enough to build practically anything as long as he has the tools around with him. Being a roadie is also where he picks up his strength, heavy lifting and all.
* Piers in ''[[Golden Sun]]: The Lost Age'' is [http://goldensun.wikia.com/wiki/File:PiersNintendoPower.png a beefy sailor] and a textbook [[Mighty Glacier]]. He also has [[Combat Medic|powerful healing spells]] and indicates in some cutscenes that he's trained as a medic, figures out ancient [[Magitek]] in moments, infiltrates a town under security upgrades for a special occassion, discusses at length the state of the world since [[The Magic Goes Away|the decline of Alchemy]]... oh, and it's implied in some of the Lemuria cutscenes that he was originally going to leave the country as a spy for King Hydros. There might be some justification in his age, but [[Crowning Moment of Funny|he refuses to disclose his age]], so we don't know if he's [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]] or ''not''.
** [[The Brute|Agatio]], from the same game, gets points in this category in his [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|intro scene]], just for telling [[The Chessmaster|A]][[Magnificent Bastard|l]][[Evil Genius|e]][[Big Bad|x]] to his face that he ''[[Genre Savvy|knows]]'' Alex is [[Unwitting Pawn|using him]] as [[Dumb Muscle]], and ''doesn't care'' [[Pragmatic Villainy|as long as it gets the job done]]
* [[God of War (series)|Kratos]], who despite being a brute who kills anything that so much as looks at him funny, is still intelligent enough to succeed at obtaining pandora's box, a task many adventurers before him failed, the path to it requires as much wit as it does brute strength. In fact, he spends just as much, if not more of his time solving puzzles than he does killing monsters and Gods.
* [[Tales of Graces|Malik Caesar]] is the most muscular and tallest man in your party but instead of using them to fight, he uses his magic to fight. Magic, in turn, is based off the intelligence of the mage. He is also the person that the other characters turn to due to both his experience and his knowledge.
* [[Anti-Villain|Golbez]] of ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'' is an ''eight-foot-tall hulk'' of a [[Tin Tyrant]] with [[Shoulders of Doom]] and marked proficiency in the use of [[
* [http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/rpg/starocean3/images/0/83/ Adray Lasbard] from [[Star Ocean: Till the End of Time|Star Ocean 3]]. He's 6'2", immaculately muscled, totes around a big frickin' Katana, and, oh yeah, he's considered [http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100420182661/starocean/images/9/90/Adray_Symbology.jpg a Wizard].
* Seven of ''[[Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors]]'' is first described as 'a mountain of a man', but employs strategies such as putting in objects to stop the doors locking after going through them. {{spoiler|He was also a detective.}}
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* Oleg Kirlov of ''[[Saints Row]]:''The Third. Outsizes everyone by about 3 feet,(Up ''and'' across)can shove cars aside like nothing, was the genetic model for The Brutes...and is well read, speaks with impeccable dictation, and loves playing chess.
* Michael Thorton from ''[[Alpha Protocol]]''. Depending on the background you chose, Mike can have multiple PhDs, crack ciphers in his spare time, learn foreign languages amazingly fast... Even in gameplay, you can make Mike a technical whiz without compromising too much on his killing prowess.
* Minute Man in ''[[Freedom Force]]'' is a [[Captain America (comics)]]-themed hero who can leap tall buildings and has enormous strength. He's also a nuclear physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project. In one mission, a villain sets off the timer on a nuclear bomb. Guess who has to disarm it?
* Winston from ''[[Overwatch]]''; take [[The Flash]]'s enemy Gorilla Grodd and give him the personality of the Beast from [[X-Men]] and you've got the general idea.
== Web Comics ==
* Klaus and Othar from ''[[Girl Genius]]'' are prime examples. They are both immense men, towering over most normal people but they are also ''[[Mad Scientist
** Also, the constructs known as Punch and Judy are pretty big and tough. A member of one of the "traveling Heterodyne shows" based on the adventures of the previous generation cheerfully plays Punch as the big, slow and stupid type that folklore would have him... until he meets someone who knows [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050914 what he was ''really'' like]. Then we find out that aside of repairing tractors and building toys, he's
** The Jäger Generals. Big, heavy-hitting bruisers... and extremely intelligent, at least in tactics-savvy and world-wise ways.
* In ''[[Looking for Group]]'', Krunch Bloodrage, the <s>Tauren</s> minotaur-like member of the main group is known to be part of two brothers, one a scholar and one a warrior. While he is confirmed to be the scholar and is generally the most knowledgeable of the party, he often relies on pure brute strength in battle and to solve other problems.
** And despite being "the scholar", he has been shown to be capable of [http://lfgcomic.com/page/11 taking down a dragon] [http://lfgcomic.com/page/12 and killing it without much effort].
** Later, we see what Krunch's brother, a proper warrior, actually looks like. Suffice to say Kruch finds it amusing that other races could mistake ''him'' for a warrior.
* Parodied with Dr. Birding in ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'', who is a genius with the ability to turn into a Hulk-like monster. He ''would'' be a
* In ''[[Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire]]'', both Godots are extremely strong and tough, thanks to [[Heavyworlder]] physique, but also shown to be quick thinkers. Buck have a reputation of "the human who gets things done" - he's able to outsmart his enemies (and occasionlly employers) and come up with complex plans at moment's notice...
* In the fantasy theme of ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]'', although Alvissia has the most common sense of the party, Draak has the most book smarts. He is also clearly the physically strongest member of the party.
* Sauerkraut of ''[[Trigger Star]]''. The party's [[The Big Guy|Big Girl]] sports dual master's degrees in literature and finance.
* Uni-Man of ''[[Axe Cop]]'' starts off as a [[Badass Bookworm|normal-looking, albeit extremely intelligent, man]] with a magical unicorn horn ([[It Makes Sense in Context]]). Events through the story see him use his own magic to permanently transform into a muscle-bound [[Mighty Glacier]] who keeps his intelligence and later builds an invisible lab. He's now seen with a lab coat instead of a suit and tie.
* ''[[Homestuck]]'': Equius [[The Big Guy|Zahhak]] loves being [[Super Strength|STRONG]] and also [[Mad Scientist|builds robots]]. And then [[Unstoppable Rage|destroys them in steel-cage brawls in order to blow off steam]]. [[Badass|With his bare hands.]]
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* More combative members of [[Digger|the Veiled]] tend towards the gray area between this and [[Badass Bookworm]]. [[Action Girl|Murai]] says it all in one simple sentence: "Our specialties are hand-to-hand combat and comparative theology."
* In ''[[The Whiteboard]]'', Doc easily qualifies, being a polar bear and built like one would expect of a member of the bear family who builds things like pizza teleporters, mecha, and reality-altering devices (as a paintball gun!) as a hobby.
* Roy from ''[[The
* In ''[[Jet Dream (webcomic)|Jet Dream]]'', Marlene is both the team's strongwoman and a brilliant scientist capable of achieving [[The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra|actual advances in the field of science]]!
== Web Original ==
* In ''[[The Gamers Alliance]]'', [[Bald Black Leader Guy|Ismail]], the captain of the Black Guard, is quite a strong and skilled warrior but also has a good understanding of politics and magic thanks to having been taught by his friend [[Magic Knight|Belial]].
* [[Marz Gurl]]
* In ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'', professional boxer Bobby Jacks stands at
* In the RPs ''[[Insane Cafe Series|Insane Cafe
* Zachary, Kozlov and O'Neill from ''[[Darwin's Soldiers]]'' are very well-respected scientists. And each of them are blessed with
** Hans Donitz in the story ''Ship Of State'' is capable of understanding and explaining how the [[Cool Gate|Einstein-Rosen bridge]] works. He is also a huge man with great strength and extraordinary combat prowess.
* [[Odyssey|Odysseus]] and Attila the Hun from ''[[Fate Nuovo Guerra]]''. One's a [[Guile Hero]] best known for the original [[Trojan Horse]] and a [[Lightning Bruiser]], and the other's a tactical genius who also happens to be a [[Mighty Glacier]].
* Ultra-Man, a stalwart member of the [[Global Guardians PBEM Universe|Global Guardians]] is a bit of a mix between the [[Gentle Giant]] and the
* At the [[Super-Hero School]] Whateley Academy in the [[Whateley Universe]], there are plenty of examples. Pyrs is a huge, brutish mutant 'with a brow ridge you could camp under', but obviously knows just what people think of him. We see him at the Whateley Weapons Fair (don't ask), looking for holdouts because he knows everyone assumes he wouldn't use anything other than a fist.
** Maybe a better example: Montana, who looks like a huge blond Sasquatch. But his real power is a genius-level ability with small electronic gadgets.
*** Phase is almost as strong as Lancer, has beat Chaka and Tennyo in fair fights, throws giants around like large balloons, can take Phobos on when she's raging, and she knows more about accounting than the accounting professor, can speak multiple languages, can type Paradise Lost in twenty minutes, knows classical literature like the back of his hand, reads several books a day, stores every bit of intelligence her network gives her in her mind, and is probably the most intelligent person at Whateley without their powers.
* Ashpaw Longstripe in ''[[Tasakeru]]'' treads the line between this and [[Badass Bookworm]].
* ''[[Zoofights
* ''[[SCP Foundation]]'': SCP-082 (aka Fernand the Cannibal) is pretty much what [[The Silence of the Lambs|Hannibal Lecter]] would be if imagined as a hulking, super-strong ogre. While Fernand ''seems'' highly intelligent, he also has a more dubious grasp on reality than Lecter, often believing everything he sees, hears and reads (including fiction) to be real.
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Spider-Man: The
* ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'
* Panthro in ''[[Thundercats]]'' and ''[[Thundercats 2011|ThunderCats (2011)]]'' is another example.
* Rhinox from ''[[Transformers]]: [[Beast Wars]]''. The fact that he turns into a rhino (well, a [[Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale|really tiny rhino that's smaller than a gorilla...]]) is one half of the equation; the fact that he's usually the only Maximal with a clue is the other. These smarts carried over after his eventual {{spoiler|[[Face Heel Turn]] after his spark took over Tankor}}.
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*** The idea was to turn him into a Predacon. What no one (even Megatron) anticipated was that he would prove such a ''good'' Predacon. He very nearly succeeded in outmaneuvering everyone, including Megs. Correction, Optimus knew ''exactly'' what would happen and just waited for Rhinox to make his move instead of mounting an attack on the Predacon base.
** Megatron is another example, being a huge, physically imposing [[Chessmaster]]. [[The Juggernaut|Rampage]] also counts in a Hannibal Lecter-ish sort of way.
** [[Transformers: Shattered Glass|I, Grimlock.]]
* ''[[Freakazoid!]]!'' villain Cave Guy is one of the series' stronger ''and'' smarter villains, being a large and powerful neanderthal with the mind (and dialect) of a Yale graduate/''New Yorker'' subscriber. His dialogue has often been compared to that of [[Gilligan's Island|Thurston Howell III]].
* In ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures]]'', there's Farmer MacDonald's gargantuan sons Buford and Cletus. Cletus graduated from Stanford Phi Beta Kappa, and Buford is a renowned nuclear physicist. Jackie's read his books on the subject.
** Similarly, Ratso of the Dark Hand is sometimes very perceptive for [[Dumb Muscle]]. Oh, and he used to study theoretical physics before becoming a thug.
* Rare case in Jack Fenton from ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' in that he doubles both as a [[Dumb Muscle]] (because he's a [[Bumbling Dad]]) and [[Genius Ditz]]; his ghost invention works. One episode has also stated he held straight 'B-'s throughout his school years.
* Marsala in ''[[Exo Squad]]'' is this and a [[Gentle Giant]] (and even the personal [[Beast and Beauty|Beast]] for the resident [[The Chick|Chick]]): he is both physically intimidating, like most [[Artificial Human|Neosapiens]], and a surprisingly insightful orator and tactician. This also applies to Phaeton and, perhaps, Shiva, the two Neosapien villains who rose out of nowhere and freaking conquered most of the Solar system through cunning strategic planning.
** There were several [[The Chick|chicks]].
* During a flashback during an episode of ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', a big brawny soldier who is called Ox (short for "Oxford" as it turns out, not a reference to a farm animal) effectively explains the concept of a "tontine":
{{quote|
** The funny part was that he spoked like a dumb muscle before he turned out be educated on difficult English.
* Jack Bennet and his adoptive son JD, codenamed Bionic-1 and IQ respectively, from ''[[Bionic Six]]''.
* Winsor from ''[[My Gym Partner's
* Sherman Cortez is half of the team's strategic, tactical, and tech support on ''[[Hot Wheels Battle Force 5]]''. He uses his math skills to ''perfectly'' time his escape from a [[Death Trap]] corridor. Keep in mind that the time each trap has before activating is faster than any human being should be able to ''react'', let alone do calculations. Sherman is just that awesome.
* {{spoiler|Bulkhead}} is a cross between this and [[Genius Ditz]] in ''[[Transformers Animated]]''.
** Bulkhead could be considered a double subversion of this.
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** Of course, individually, they're not really bruisers; sure, they're no slouches in the physical strength department, but it's not till they form Devastator that they really exemplify the physical half of this trope. Then he is/they are as dumb as a brick.
* Cyborg of ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' is both the team's second physically strongest member (surpassed only by [[Cute Bruiser|Starfire]]) and the resident technology expert, qualified to build, modify, or repair just about ''anything'' you can think of. Of course, having a computer built into your head helps.
** As a villainous example, [[The Dragon]] of the fifth season villain is Monsieur Mallah - a tactically clever, [[Gadgeteer Genius]] ''talking gorilla''.
** Another villainous example is Slade.
* Megabyte from ''[[ReBoot]]'' is urbane, intelligent, and just about the strongest regular character on the show. This makes the rare occasions he goes bestial even more frightening.
* Occasional ''[[Kim Possible]]'' villain Motor Ed is a large, muscular, mullet-haired mechanical genius who even outsmarted Wade at one point. As Wade put it, "He's not as dumb as the hair-cut would lead you to think." [[Verbal Tic|Seriously.]]
* [[Husky Russkie|Exile]] from ''[[Road Rovers]]'' also qualifies. He's one of the largest and most muscular members of the team and has super strength, but he also serves as the team's mechanic. Several episodes has him fixing (or breaking) some very complex vehicles or electronics.
* Thailog from ''[[Gargoyles]]'' is smarter than Xanatos and stronger than Goliath.
** Goliath himself is no slouch at this either. Yeah, he's a hulking [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]], but while he doesn't have Xanatos and Thailog's brand of cunning, he's very well-read, perceptive, and cultured.
* Taurus Bulba is a huge bull who likes to pick up and manhandle both his own henchmen and [[Darkwing Duck (animation)|Darkwing Duck]], but who is at the same time a [[Diabolical Mastermind]] so clever he's not only running his operations from inside prison but also has an entire flying base constructed inside it just waiting to take off at his convenience.
* Octus from ''[[Sym-Bionic Titan]]''.
* Buford from ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]''. He's definitely [[The Big Guy]], and is also the resident bully ([[You Kill It, You Bought It|though he was just saving his goldfish,]]) but he's also fluent in French and has quoted Voltaire.
* Muzzy from ''[[Muzzy in Gondoland]]''. While being a [[Gentle Giant]], he uses advanced alien technology and is very skillful with computers.
* Helga From ''[[Hey Arnold!]]!'' is already fairly known among her classmates as a formidable bully. She's also a talented writer/poet, and quite intelligent for her age.
* Big Macintosh from ''[[My Little Pony:
* Amon, the [[Big Bad]] from ''[[The Legend of Korra]]'', a very agile fighter who is perfectly willing to fight benders along with his followers and is also an incredibly charismatic public speaker and utterly brilliant [[Chessmaster]].
* In ''[[Miraculous Ladybug]]'', the heroine Majestia has strength on [[Superman]]'s level (being at least a partial [[Expy]] of him and [[Wonder Woman]]) and is also skilled enough at engineering and robotics to build and/or program sapient androids, proven by her [[Robot Kid|"daughter" Aeon.]]
* ''[[G.I. Joe|G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero]]'' in the episode "The Gamemaster", the [[Antagonist Title|villain of the same name]]. Flint at first assumes he's just the brains of the operation and isn't very tough, only to find that the Gamemaster is a ''hulking'' muscleman over twice his size.
* Ultra-Humanite in ''[[Justice League (animation)|Justice League]]'', much like he is in the comics.
* George the rooster from the ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' short “Easy Peckin’s”. He's a strong, tough, muscular fellow, but also smart enough to use a chemistry set to make something he combines with corn mash that causes a hen who eats it to lay an egg that functions as a grenade.
== Real Life ==
* The majority of people who work for the FBI, CIA, or hell, any intelligence agency in the entire world qualify as this. Not only do you have to have above average intelligence to even qualify to work for them, but after you become accepted into the job you have to go through rigorous physical training every month, or even every week to keep yourself in shape. Operatives especially have to keep themselves and their bodies well-built and muscular, seeing as how they often put themselves in harms way all the damn time.
** This also holds true for many special operations units. While they do have to be in incredible physical condition, their training is frequently described as being primarily a mental test - which makes sense, given the huge breadth of skills each man has to master. Every soldier in the US Army Special Forces (the Green Berets), for instance, has to master at least one foreign language just to get the job in the first place, to say nothing of learning advanced emergency medicine or applied chemistry
*** The Military Channel series ''Surviving the Cut'', which looks at the selection process for elite American military units demonstrates this. The Special Forces episode showed that one of the toughest challenges faced by the candidates wasn't hauling a 440 pound barrel several miles: it was ''designing'' the jury-rigged cart they'd use to haul it.
* Given how many military people of all branches have master's degrees or higher, examples could go on all day. In fact, pretty much anyone in a military "technical" field, given how much material they must commit to memory. Especially pilots. They practically get a degree in aeronautical engineering before ''ever'' planting their butt in a seat. [[Acceptable Political Targets|Even Dubya]]. Even in general this holds true: considering how the military is much more technical, computerized, and robotic in many ways nowadays, you don't just need to be an ass-kicker anymore, you also need to be a techno whiz.
** US Navy and Air Force senior NCO's (E-6 and above) are required to complete a bachelor's degree, and officers of all branches of the US armed forces are required to be college graduates.
* The Wonderlic Personnel Test is an intelligence test frequently given to NFL pre-draft prospects. The highest scorers tend to be offensive linemen (generally some of the biggest, strongest guys on the field). The quarterback, often regarded as the [[The Smart Guy|smartest]] on the
* [[Dolph Lundgren]], the well-muscled actor famous for playing Ivan Drago in ''[[Rocky IV]]'' and He-Man in the live-action ''[[Masters of the Universe (film)|Masters of the Universe]]'', has a master's degree in chemical engineering. He also received the Fulbright Scholarship to MIT, though he quit when he pursued an acting career. Also fluent in three languages and can get by in two others. Rumours that he has a 160 IQ score are however "exaggerated" according to him. Back on the brawn side, besides his generally muscly action hero persona a la ''Rocky'' and ''[[Masters of the Universe (film)|Masters of the Universe]]'' and impressive build, he's a black belt who's won a variety of martial arts competitions, and served in the military as a special forces team leader.
* Carlo Pedersoli, better known as "Bud Spencer" of [[Spaghetti Western]] fame. 193 cm of pure muscle and fat, a pilot, a degree in law, holder of several patents... On a side note, you wouldn't believe, seeing his fat, Hulk-like stature in the movies, that he was also a professional swimmer before he took up acting.
* Though he probably hasn't beat anybody up since high school (if he ever did at all), physicist [[Neil De Grasse Tyson]] described his cool, muscular, black high school self as a "nerd who could [[Gosh Dang It to Heck|kick your butt]]".
** He was captain of his high school wrestling team and wrestled at the collegiate level during his undergraduate years at Harvard (earning a letter his senior year). No doubt much butt-kicking was involved.
* Chess-boxing. Yes, it exists.
* Ice hockey players Douglas Murray and George Parros are both the epitome of a stereotypical hockey player (large, heavy hitters who are not afraid to get physical during a game), yet they're also both Ivy League
* [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] is one of the most decorated bodybuilders in history. He also has a history of intelligent investments with his fortunes, and use to work as the [[Fan Nickname|Governator]] of California. Even back during his bodybuilding days, he came across as a student of psychology and a master manipulator. Reportedly, he would sabotage other contestants by deliberately lying about his workout regimen so his opponents who were listening would deliberately over- or under-train and ruin their chances. When he became known as an action star, he had already been a self-made millionaire for years.
* Recently retired Mexican boxer Marco Antonio Barrera is a qualified lawyer.
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* Byron White, who was one of the greatest running backs in University of Colorado history before pursuing a career in law which took him to the Supreme Court.
* Heavily muscled punk icon [[Black Flag|Henry Rollins]] is also a writer and a poet who owns his own publishing house.
* Chris Langan, measured IQ around 200, is a certified MENSA member. He currently works as a rancher in Missouri and can bench press 500 lbs. He may also serve as an example of the dangers of correlating IQ with scientific authority. Langan has proposed various theories, including his prized CTMU (Cognitive Theoretic Model of the Universe), but most of the scientific community regards him as a crackpot.
* [[wikipedia:John Knox|John Knox]], one of the leading theologians of the Protestant Reformation, began his involvement with the movement as a bodyguard for George Wishart. His [[Weapon of Choice]] was a two-handed sword.
** He also survived 19 months of being a [[Made a Slave|galley slave]] when he was captured by the French.
* Vladmir Putin, Premier-Minister of Russia, is a black belt (6th Dan) in Judo.
** [
** [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Your Mileage]] [[Magnificent Bastard|May Vary.]]
* Whilst boxer Nikolai Valuev looks like he's carved from stone, apparently he's a pretty smart guy.
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** Chimpanzees and dolphins too. Chimps can use tools and have surprisingly good memories, and are several times stronger than a similar sized human. Dolphins, while being incredibly strong and fast aquatic acrobats, appear to have a language of their own, in addition to being able to solve puzzles, help humans in danger, and even learn rudimentary math concepts.
** On land we have the elephants who have the largest brain of any land based animal today. Elephants can feel a lot of the same emotions we do and are considered by some scientists to be on level with great apes and perhaps approaching dolphins. They are also so big and strong they can casually knock down trees for food and can curb stomp pretty much any other land animal. In the sea we have the orca who can learn strategies to hunt its prey in any situation (knocking up ice floes, beaching, spy hopping) which are taught and passed down through generations, and demonstrate problem solving abilities (like when they steal fish from fishermen by splitting into different groups). They are also one of the most powerful hunters in the sea to the extent that some orcas have developed a taste for the great white shark; now let that sink in for a moment.
* Genius Composer Georg Friedrich Haendel ("The Messiah" etc. etc.) was a big, strong man with a hair-trigger temper. He is said to have made a difficult
* Ancient Greek philosophers, orators and poets were all former hoplite soldiers. Greek culture prized both physical and mental achievement.
** According to at least some sources, [[Plato]], the ancient Greek philosopher and founder of the first institution of higher learning in the western world, was a two-time [[Olympic Games|Olympic]] champion in [[Blood Sport|pankration]]. "Plato" is actually a nickname meaning "broad shoulders." He was apparently a pretty burly guy.
** Plato's teacher [[Socrates]] was not only a hoplite, but served with distinction at the battles of Potidaeum and Delium in the [[Peloponnesian War]] and may have earned his living as a [[Working Class Hero|stonecutter]]. Even by ancient Greek standards he was a force to be reckoned with!
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/sports/ncaafootball/25rolle.html?_r=1 Myron Rolle]. Rhodes scholar and 6'2" 215 pound safety for Florida State University.
* [[Benito Mussolini]] was arguably a subversion. He talked a good game, and boasted an impressive intellectual background, but once he actually gained power he screwed things up so badly in both both the political and military spheres it was hard to tell if he was a more incompetent general or statesman.
** However, he actually was pretty smart, writing highly influential works on fascism that were actually coherent, if repulsive, and creating a genuine political theory (something you can't really say about ''[[Mein Kampf]]'').
** Also, one might argue that Mussolini's problem wasn't his brain but his birth: he was Italian. Modern Italy had always been the sad sack among the Great Powers of Europe, with regionalism, low levels of development in the South, and general political apathy dragging it down. It didn't help (from Mussolini's perspective) that Italy had been on the ''winning'' side of [[World War
** On the brawn side, Mussolini was one of the few world leaders to be willingly [[Shirtless Scene|photographed shirtless]], and it wasn't bad.
* [[I'm a Humanitarian|Cannibalistic]], [[A Love to Dismember|necrophilic]] and 6'9" serial killer Edmund Kemper was discovered to have an IQ of 136 when he was tested at the age of fifteen.
* Kevin Grevioux, the [[Scary Black Man]] who played werewolf Raze in the ''[[Underworld (film)|Underworld]]'' movies, was working on his Master's degree in genetic engineering until he decided to go Hollywood. Oh, yeah, and he ''wrote'' ''Underworld'', basing the script on his knowledge of interracial dating.
* [[wikipedia:Chris Ferguson|Chris "Jesus" Ferguson]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20070709085745/http://m.fulltiltpoker.com/video/LFTP_Jesus_throws-2.m4v can cut vegetables with a thrown playing card]. While he is certainly an imposing figure at the poker table, the five-time bracelet winner (including a main event title in 2000) owes his success largely to his knowledge of game theory and development of computer simulations, as he has a Ph.D. in computer science.
* [[wikipedia:Descartes|Rene Descartes]], the great 17th century French mathematician and founder of modern philosophy, also served as a mercenary soldier in Bavaria and seems to have drawn inspiration from his battlefield experiences.
* Tim Ruddy, former center for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Miami Dolphins football teams, who at 6'3" and 300 lbs. easily manhandled
* All
** Specific case: Buzz Aldrin, second man on the
* Any heavy fighters from the [[Society of Creative Anachronism
* Most NCAA athletes fall into this category. Universities insist on both academic and athletic prowess, and a lot of coaches aren't afraid to bench a player who is struggling in their classes.
** The NCAA even uses this as an advertising
* Szeklers (Transylvanian ethnic Hungarians) are generally seen as aggressive, violent and in general, very strong fighters. One of their prominent figures (Janos Bolyai) is known for being the first person to discover non-Euclidean geometry. Another (Sandor Csoma) is best known as the author of the first English-Tibeti dictionary.
* Former boxing champion - and Mensa member - Bobby Czyz.
* Japanese famous writer Mishima Yukio, who was also a first-rank kendo master and had an impressive physique; however, this case is a little bit different, for the reason he trained himself so hard in order to reach this impressive physical abilities was part and parcel of his own philosophy of Existence and Beauty. In a [[True Art Is Incomprehensible|very strange and
* Alexander the Great is a preeminent example of the Genius Bruiser. Most people know him as just the conqueror, but the kid was educated by Aristotle and managed to impress foreign dignitaries with his genius. He outdid his much more experienced father in generalship when he was just 18. He then proceeded to create one of the largest land empires in history. A personal favorite story: after his conquests in Persia, part of his spoils was a beautiful chest. He set it aside to carry his equally beautiful and painstakingly written copy of Homer's poetry, a gift from Aristotle.
* [[Charlemagne]]. The guy was over
* Saladin probably counts. His brilliance as a military leader was well known, but he was also well versed in science, mathematics, and poetry.
* Dr. John Turner, senior citizen, psychiatrist, and [https://web.archive.org/web/20110710222035/http://www.zeigermann.com/oldblog/images/2007/05/11/old.jpg can probably hand your ass to you.]
* Ernest Rutherford, Nobel winning scientist and keen rugby player (at least as a university student).
* Meet [[wikipedia:Alexander Karelin|Alexander]] [http://www.badassoftheweek.com/karelin.html Karelin]: law school graduate, opera lover, and unstoppable heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler legendary for regularly lifting his 300 pound opponents off the ground. Considered one of the strongest men in the world, Karelin once got a 500 pound refrigerator to his apartment by bear-hugging it and walking up eight flights of stairs.
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YxFPG6Gcx2w This kitten] is both smart and strong enough to move the object out of away to get the toy back.
** They also seem to pay respect to their dead, the only creatures apart from humans to do so.
* Dromaeosaurid dinosaurs. Fast by dinosaur standards (comparable to a modern bear), very strong (lots of kicking and biting power), and very smart by dinosaur standards (about as smart as an ostrich and other dumb modern birds and mammals, with an EQ about half that of a cat or dog)
** Even [[Tyrannosaurus Rex]] could count. It wasn't as intelligent as the Dromaeosaurids, but it was close to it. And, obviously, it was a Bruiser (the speed of T-rex is a hotly debated issue, it may not have been much faster than a human, despite its big strides).
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** Josh Waitzkin, the former chess prodigy whose early career was portrayed in ''[[Searching for Bobby Fischer]]'', doesn't box. Hopefully his black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu makes up for it.
* Meme macro [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/professor-badass Professor Badass] - Kevin Stewart: fashion designer, style director for ESPN Magazine, co-owner of Roger Charles New York design studio (and no, the photo doesn't come from a shoot, this is just how he rocks it on a daily basis)
* Players of [[American Football]] can look to an untrained eye like armored apes beating each other up. However every team has a playbook requiring dance-like coordination akin to an eighteenth century drill manual. And the intellectual demands on coaches and quarterbacks for choosing plays and game plans can be akin to chess.
* Sir Henry Rawlinson was a military man. This guy traveled 750 miles by horseback in the span of 150 consecutive hours. His hobby was being an Orientalist, including being a, probably ''the'', leading scholar of Assyriology. Seriously, the guy is sometimes called the Father of Assyriology. By the time he died he knew multiple languages some of which he played a role in bringing back from [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinct_language extinction]. Rawlinson climbed a ~300 foot cliff so he could copy [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behistun_Inscription an inscription] so he could translate it. And he made the climb multiple times to access more of the inscription.
{{reflist}}
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