Science Hero: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"We are not just [[For Science!|men of science]]: we are [[Blatant Lies|men of hope]]."''|[[The Venture Brothers (Animation)|Dr. Jonas Venture]]}}

The [['''Science Hero]]''' has become something of a [[Discredited Trope]] with the onset of [[Post Modernism]] because post-modernism rejected progress for progress's sake -- whichsake—which is a favorite motivation for a Science Hero -- andHero—and allowed a resurgence of [[Science Is Bad]], [[Nature Hero]], and [[Rock Beats Laser]].

It also demanded personal motivations for characters. Classic Science Heroes tended to do their science for the good of society/humanity/the universe/etc. or [[For Science!]], and viewers were expected to be inspired by them. Modern Science Heroes are expected to have a personal or psychological reason for getting into science. Some reasons make the character a [[Mad Scientist]], with all the craziness that implies. It's good craziness used for a good cause, but we're not supposed to take that kind of character as a role model! Other reasons allow the pursuit of science to end or be shoved in the background because it is a means to a reachable end or to an end that can be better reached some other way. And, in modern fiction, even a Science Hero can be thrown off track by [[The Power of Love]] -- and—and more likely than not, this will be expected to be seen as a good thing...

For these reasons, it is hard to find new, unambiguous Science Heroes. It's a pity -- wepity—we still need to inspire the scientists.

See also [[Giving Radio to Thethe Romans]]. Compare [[Nature Hero]] and [[Badass Bookworm]]. Contrast [[Science Is Bad]] and [[Mad Scientist]]. Often a champion of the Enlightenment in works featuring [[Romanticism Versus Enlightenment]].

* [[Tom Strong (Comic Book)|Tom Strong]]. Indeed in the whole America's Best Comics universe [[Science Hero]] is actually the preferred term for what are commonly called [[Superhero|Superheroes]]es. Note that though called Science Heroes, not all the characters in that multiverse fit this trope (For example, Splash Brannigan is called a [[Science Hero]] despite having no scientific knowledge, background or indeed, common sense. His powers even derive from the fact that his body is composed of MAGIC four-dimensional ink)

** [[Spider -Man]] is often a stellar example of this trope.

** Reed Richards stands out in this regard - his stretching abilities are usually used to make his research easier, not so much for fighting. In an issue of Marvel Team-Up from the 80's with [[Spider -Man]], he lost his genius, and was ''extremely'' upset, even telling [[Spider -Man]] that he has always considered his mind to be his true super-power.

* [[Tintin (Comic Book)]] is usually this trope when he's not brawling or using stealth.

* [[Paul Dini]]'s ''Madame Mirage'' revolves around both [[Science Hero|Science Heroes]], and [[Mad Scientist|Mad Scientists]]s and other [[Science Is Bad|science-abusing]] villains.

* ''[[Astro City]]'' has Augustus and Julius Furst, the scientist/adventurer brothers. Augustus is the head of the [[Badass Family|First Family]], and while the rest of the team charges into battle with their super-powers or [[BFG|BFGs]]s, Gus will hang back and analyze the enemy's weakness to six decimal places, then whip up some [[Applied Phlebotinum]] to finish it off. Julius is the true [[Badass Normal]] of the family, and can hold his own against all manner of nefarious superhumans with a badass cigar and a home-built [[BFG]].

* The second [[Blue Beetle]] Ted Kord had elements of this, as seen in his cameo on ''[[Batman: theThe Brave And The Bold (Animation)|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]''.

* The [[X -Men (Comic Book)|X-Men's]] X-Club is an entire ''team'' of Science Heroes.

* Both Jay Garrick and Barry Allen, the first and second [[Flash|Flashes]]es respectively, are both experts in science. Jay is the director of a laboratory which was crucial in protecting Earth-Two, and Barry is a police scientist who uses his speed in creative ways in conjunction with his science knowledge.

== [[Fan FictionWorks]] ==

* The entire cast of ''[[Real Genius (Film)|Real Genius]]''.

* Most of the crew of the Icarus II in [[Danny Boyle]]'s ''[[Sunshine (Filmfilm)|Sunshine]]'' (2007), especially Capa, are intended to be this. There ''is'' action, but there's also at least as much thinking.

* In ''[[Cloudy Withwith a Chance of Meatballs]]'' Flint Lockwood wants to be one of these, but his inventions (usually created to address a specific need in his community) have a tendency to either fail horribly or cause more problems than they solve.

* Dr Emmett Brown of ''[[Back to Thethe Future (Filmfilm)|Back to The Future]]'' fits. [[Alternate Character Interpretation|Unless]] [http://io9.com/5673855/why-doc-brown-is-the-real-villain-of-back-to-the-future he was the villain all along].

* Bernard Quatermass of the ''[[Quatermass]]'' movies fits the trope to a T. He is a rocket scientist who battles alien invaders and always manages to dispatch them by using science to uncover their weaknesses.

* Most of the heroes of ''[[The Core]]'' were scientists -- whichscientists—which is mildly ironic, given that on the [[Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness]], [[They Just Didn't Care|it isn't]].

* Ellie Arroway from ''[[Contact (Filmfilm)|Contact]]'' is a [[Science Hero]]. The writer of ''Contact'', [[Carl Sagan]], was one too.

* Richard "Dick" Seaton in [[EEE. E. "Doc" Smith]]'s ''[[Skylark Series|Skylark]]'' stories.

** Most of Smith's heroes. The ''[[Lensman]]'' series starts off with science heroes ''and'' villains, then quickly spins [[Serial Escalation]]. A specific example is [[La Verne]]LaVerne Thorndyke: "If it could be built, 'Thorny' Thorndyke could build it. If it could not be built, he could build you something just as good." Arguably a prototype for [[Star Trek: The Original Series|Montgomery Scott]]. The Virgil Samms era has Fred Rhodebush and Lyman Cleveland, but they are contracted civilian scientists who are sometimes needed near the front line rather than serving combat officers.

* Arcot, Wade, and Morey, a trio of science heroes created by [[John W. Campbell]].

* While stretching the term of the word 'Hero' [[Heroic Sociopath|Emiya]] [[I Did What I Had to Do|Kiritsugu]] of [[Fate /Zero]] frequently does battle with magi who are almost universally more skilled and powerful than he is. His solution? Don't use magic, use a sniper rifle. The target is using magic? That increases body temperature, use infrared lenses. Magi do not guard against purely physical dangers and are almost always caught completely off guard by such methods. The mere fact that he ''does'' use technology makes many view him as worthless, weak scum. When he finally combines the two, he has an intensely powerful gun that uses bullets that happen to carry the trait that they [[Power Nullifier|sever the magic using ability]] of those they are used on. You can't use mere armor to stop the bullet, and if you use magic to do so ''all your organs will be horribly ripped apart by the backlash of your magic circuits disintegrating.'' [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|Oh, and he attaches normal cameras to the underside of bat familiars because you can't trick a camera with magic like you can the eye or brain and it also records better.]]

* {{spoiler|Anton Pendrake}} from [[John C. Wright]]'s ''[[War of the Dreaming (Literature)|War of the Dreaming]]''.

* In ''[[Dune]]'' Liet-Kynes is both a [[Science Hero]] and a [[Nature Hero]].

* Olaf Neddelsohn in ''[[The Cambist and Lord Iron (Literature)|The Cambist and Lord Iron]]'' is, unusually, an ''Economics'' Hero.

* The ''[[Myth BustersMythBusters]]''.

* In ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'', The Doctor in most of his incarnations, though he wasn't averse to [[Badass|less refined tactics]] when necessary.

* The members of ''[[The A-Team (TV)|The A-Team]]'', while not scientists per se, usually found themselves [[Locking MacGyver in Thethe Store Cupboard|imprisoned in a location with sufficient junk metal and obsolete machines]] to build an armored, armed, yet [[A-Team Firing|non-lethal]], [[Military Mashup Machine|battle machine]]. Call it the [[Engineer Hero]] sub-trope.

* On ''[[Stargate SG-1 (TV)|Stargate SG-1]]'', Samantha Carter's physics/technological knowledge and Daniel Jackson's linguistic/archaeological/anthropological knowledge end up saving the day numerous times, justifying their inclusion on a front-line team. They can [[Badass Bookworm|kick ass when necessary]] too, though.

** Science is also [[Insufferable Genius|Rodney McKay]]'s preferred weapon on ''[[Stargate Atlantis (TV)|Stargate Atlantis]]''.

* In ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'', Billy, the original Blue Ranger. When the team transitioned to ''[[Power Rangers ZEOZeo]]'', he stepped back from heroics to support the Rangers from the lab full-time (though he still got into the occasional fight).

* Ross from ''[[Friends (TV)|Friends]]'' wrote a comic about a [[Kid Hero]] names "Science Boy", who had a superhuman desire to learn.

* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (Tabletop Game)|Dungeons and& Dragons]]'' of all games eventually added a class based on this: the Artificer, technomagical engineers from the ''[[Eberron]]'' setting.

* The Sons of Ether in ''[[Mage: The Ascension (Tabletop Game)|Mage: The Ascension]]'', gloriously so; they even have an informal Adventurers faction that's expressly made up of Science Heroes. Some members of the Technocracy might count as Science [[Anti-Hero|Anti Heroes]].

** And of course, this is a common character type for players of ''[[Genius: The Transgression (Tabletop Game)|Genius: The Transgression]]'', even having as far as a ''merit'' called Science Hero.

* Artificers and Scholars are based on this concept in ''[[GURPS (Tabletop Game)|GURPS]]: Dungeon Fantasy''.

* Lucca of ''[[Chrono Trigger (Video Game)|Chrono Trigger]]''

* Dr. Hawkins of ''[[MDK 2MDK2|MDK]]'' exemplifies this trope.

* The cast of ''[[Science Girls]]!'' ... when they're not just [[Magic -Powered Pseudoscience|using magic by a different name.]]

* A number of player characters in ''[[City of Heroes (Video Game)|City of Heroes]]'', as well as canon example Positron. The character creator specifically lists "Science" and "Technology" as two of the 5 selectable origins for a player character.

* In ''[[Champions Online (Video Game)|Champions Online]]'' the "Gadgeteering" power set appears to be specifically made to accommodate player characters using this trope, complete with rayguns, robots and other near little science-y toys. A canon example is seen in Dr. Silverback, the settings big name Science Hero... who's also a sentient talking gorilla wearing a lab-coat.

* ''[[League of Legends]]'' has a few, such as Heimerdinger, along with [[Mad Scientist|Science]] [[Villain Protagonist|Villains]], such as Singed. The heroic ones tend to hail from Piltover, which the evil ones come from Zaun.

* Dr. Mordin Solus of ''[[Mass Effect (Video Game)|Mass Effect]]'' may not be human, but his character is probably one of the straightest mainstream examples of this trope out there. Particularly in that he brings back the "scientists live by a code of ethics" part most seem to overlook.

* In ''[[Fallout]]'', a character with a high Science skill can become this, solving problems with their advanced knowledge. This especially comes into play in the [[Fallout: New Vegas]] DLC Old World Blues, which takes place in a facility for a group of [[Mad Scientist|Mad Scientists]]s and where the Science skill gets quite a bit of work. In fact, if the main quest is completed with Good/Neutral karma, the epilogue states that the Courier becomes the caretaker of the technologies of the Big MT until the day they can be used to benefit mankind.

* ''[[Girl Genius (Webcomic)|Girl Genius]]'' lives and breathes this trope. Naturally, the best example is the eponymous heroine, Agatha Heterodyne. Othar Tryggvassen ({{smallcapssmall-caps|[[Gentleman Adventurer|GENTLEMAN ADVENTURER]]!}}) is a [[Troperrific]] example, with the dark-ish twist that he's also trying to kill all the others, and then ultimately himself.

* A [[Science Hero]] makes a brief appearance in one strip of ''[[Narbonic]]''. The Science Villain title character finds such ''good'' [[Mad Scientist|Mad Scientists]]s decidedly creepy.

* ''[[DoctorDr. HorriblesHorrible's Sing -Along Blog]]'' features a science [[Anti-Villain]]. {{spoiler|Until the end when he drops the 'anti', anyway.}}

* ''[[Freakazoid!]]'' brilliantly spoofed this trope with "Toby Danger", a parody of ''[[Jonny Quest]]''.

* [[DextersDexter's Laboratory|Dexter]] (and later [[The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron|Jimmy Neutron]]) embodied this trope for kids shows. (Even though they ''cause'' nearly as many problems they solve.)

* ''[[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (Animationanimation)|Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers]]'': Gadget Hackwrench fulfills this trope with ease. Plus, she is both a [[Gadgeteer Genius]] and a [[Wrench Wench]].

* The Venture family of ''[[The Venture Brothers (Animation)|The Venture Brothers]]'' has a long line of "superscientists," essentially superheroes who use science. While the current patriarch Rusty Venture flounders in his father's shadow, he's still a true superscientist. In one episode he shows that he can replicate all of a wizard's powers using science. He seems to have a love-hate relationship with the superscience racket, and considers it a mercy that he's not forcing his [[Book Dumb]] son Hank to follow in his footsteps. However, he does eventually say the page quote at one point, apparently having forgotten that it's his father's [[Catch Phrase]].

* In ''[[Batman: theThe Brave And The Bold (Animation)|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'', Batman is a science hero, moreso than in some other incarnations, as was his friend Ted Kord (second Blue Beetle) when he's shown in flashbacks.

* [[wikipedia:Alexander Fleming|Every]] [[wikipedia:Einstein|scientist]] [[wikipedia:Copernicus|and]] [[wikipedia:Galileo Galilei|rational]] [[wikipedia:Johannes Kepler|thinker]] [[wikipedia:Francis Crick|whose]] [[wikipedia:Jack Kilby|inventions]] [[wikipedia:Richard Feynman|and]] [[wikipedia:Newtonian mechanics|theories]] have lead to the decrease of famine and disease, the rise of technology and civilization, the expansion of the breadth of humanity's knowledge and in general the increase in the quality of life for the average human across the board is a [[Science Hero]]. [[Rousseau Was Right]], indeed.

** Dr. Jonas Salk - developer of Polio vaccine, and lauded as a [[Science Hero]] after the discovery.

* Everyone in ''[[Symphony of Science]]'', as [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|the name]] suggests.

[[Category:The Utterly and Completely Definitive Guide Toto Cool]]

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