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The DCU - TV Tropes

  • ️Sat Mar 25 2023

Genius Bruiser in this franchise.

Comic Books

  • Batman:
    • Batman is a brilliant detective and scientist as well as one of the world's greatest martial artists and stealth fighters. He only seems lacking in a world filled with superpowered heroes and villains.
    • Bane was designed explicitly as a total package villain: a ruthless criminal with both superhuman strength and a genius intellect that rivaled Batman's own. Adaptations have not always been kind to the character, sometimes making him a Dumb Muscle instead, but The Dark Knight Rises and Batman: Arkham Origins provided the definitive adaptations.
    • Batman’s various sidekicks/adoptive children also fit the bill being all great detectives and peak human martial artists. Among them Barbara and Tim are considered the smartest though are no less strong being able to take on the residents of Apokolips and come back alive. Jason and Cassandra are considered the physically strongest (the former thanks to Venom) but are also keenly intelligent. Dick Grayson being the first sidekick takes after his adoptee mentor the most so therefore has the best balance of brains and brawn.
    • Killer Croc was this in his very early appearances having both greatly enhanced strength and a scaly hide as well being surprisingly clever being able to get the jump on Batman and even outwit him. Unfortunately for Croc his Badass Decay came in thick and fast soon after and he’s been written to be savage animal who gets beaten up easily for the majority of his appearances since. Only a select handful of comics such as Batman: Earth One and Suicide Squad and Redhood And The Outlaws reestablish the fact he’s actually a case of Smarter Than They Look.
    • Mr. Freeze in addition to being a genius cryogenicist is incredibly formidable in a fight thanks to his cryo-suit that keeps his body cool doubling as Powered Armour that greatly increases his strength. He’s been able to give Batman a helluva a fight multiple times in many different continuities and when teaming up with the Dark Knight they prove to be a devastating duo.
    • Clayface surprisingly is a case of this Depending on the Writer, being a shapeshifter he’s remarkably cunning and at times quite ingenious with the weapons and people he can turn his body into. His strength is also insane being able to beat up even the likes of Wonder Woman due to the fact he researched Diana learned she was made from clay and absorbs her essence to become massively stronger. As he says himself “A good actor always does their homework”. Averted at other times where he’s just a dumbass Blob Monster though.
    • "Hardback" Bock, a Scary Black Man Gotham police detective, who gets his nickname because he's always carrying one.
    • The criminal robotic and cybernetics expert Nathan Finch, aka Gearhead. When his kidnap scheme is foiled by Batman, an accident leaves him a quadruple amputee; he later develops incredibly powerful cybernetic limbs, and comes gunning for revenge against the hero, now a physical match even for Batman because of them.
    • Kate Kane is a highly educated and ranking former West Point cadet, knows over a dozen forms of martial arts, is a multilinguist, and has training from the likes of the FBI, SAS, SEALs, and Green Berets, among others.
    • Recurring Silver Age Private Investigator Hugh Rankin is a quick-fisted brawler, but is no fool. He comes up with a Batman Gambit to get Elongated Man to help him close a case and nearly figures out what Batman looks like under his mask through forensic science.
  • Shazam!
    • A 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 technology and was the scientific rival of Mad Scientist Dr. Sivana.
    • Another 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.
    • Captain Marvel's main rival, Black Adam, has as much physical power as Superman (he practically beat the entire Justice Society on his own), but he's also superhumanly intelligent.
    • Really, the Big Red Cheese himself qualifies — "Wisdom of Solomon" and all that.
  • Victor 'Cyborg' Stone of the Teen Titans started out a downplayed version in his backstory, having an I.Q. of 196 but focusing on his athletic prospects rather than following in the footsteps of his top-tier scientist parents. After his father put him back together following the lab accident that ate his mother and much of him, he came to make a virtue of of necessity and expand his expertise in cybernetics to well-reputed authority levels by studying his own Artificial Limbs.
  • Darkseid is one of the few villains who can take on Superman in a fight and is also a brilliant tactician who constantly manipulates everyone around him into getting him what he wants.
  • Deathstroke is basically Batman if he became a mercenary Super-Soldier and used lethal force. This means that he is both one of the best fighters in the DC Universe, as well as extremely intelligent and Crazy-Prepared.
  • Gorilla Grodd, one of The Flash's enemies, is a killer gorilla who's also a superintelligent Mad Scientist and Manipulative Bastard.
  • Kilowog of the Green Lantern Corps is another one. He's one of the biggest Corps members, always fighting up close and personal and calling people "poozers", but he's also so smart that he designed the Rocket Red battle suits for the Soviet army.
  • Gen¹³: Grunge is genius-level, with a photographic memory. He just puts a lot of effort into pretending to be a dumb slacker.
  • The Justice League of America villain Prometheus, a Gadgeteer Genius who invented a helmet that allows him to download knowledge, including martial arts training, directly into his brain. He's one of a handful of individuals in the entire multiverse who have beaten Batman in hand-to-hand combat.
  • Justice Society of America:
    • The Golden Age Hourman, career superhero and founding member of the Justice Society of America. He's a genius Chemist who created Miraclo, the chemical he uses to achieve his godly strength, speed, agility and endurance for one hour at a time. He's also an extremely successful businessman.
    • The Golden Age Atom was typically depicted as a short-tempered Pint-Sized Powerhouse who met problems head-on... yet he's a PhD-holding Physics College Professor who is officially listed as possessing Genius-level intellect. Originally, he was as strong as humanly possible, patterned after a Circus Strongman. Later he gained superpowers, being able to bench press the weight of an entire train, survive a nuclear detonation point-blank and flatten Tanks with just one of his patented Atomic Punches.
  • Lobo is rather dumb most of the time, but he is a genius when it comes to doing anything that can cause destruction. For example, he can't cure a deadly disease, but he did create a horde of mutant insects that acted as carriers for one and the vaccine for it (that's why he's the last Czarnian: he killed them all that way, with the vaccine created to make sure he survived). And he's strong enough to hold his own against Superman.
  • In the Metal Men's feature in Bizarro Comics, the originally incredibly unintelligent Lead is quite loquacious. Also, Doc Magnus organizes a mission just to build his creations' confidence.
  • Monsieur Mallah, the second of four of DC's resident mad scientist gorillas to appear on this page, and a recurring foe for the Doom Patrol.
  • Superboy has shown to possess superior intellect to what humans could ever have. His mind works with incredible speeds, and combined with his TTK-powers, it might be one of his greatest assets.
  • Supergirl: One of the most powerful heroes of the DC universe, her official power list includes "Genius-Level Intellect". And in fact she's considered a genius by Kryptonian standards, and is daughter of one of the best scientists of Krypton. In Supergirl (2016), Director Chase notes that Earth science is primitive for her newest Flying Brick agent's standards.
  • Superman:
    • Superman is one of Earth's most powerful heroes, but he is also a master in the use of Kryptonian technology, which is far more advanced than Earth technology. He can learn at a faster rate than humans. He is the son of Krypton's finest scientist, so the scientific skills must be a family trait.
    • Eidetic memory and super intelligence are considered part of his power set (Depending on the Writer). Modern interpretations have the habit to make him somewhat of a Dumb Muscle to contrast Batman or other smart guys. Then there are the times villains assume Superman is just a big dumb Flying Brick, like Lex Luthor and the Joker. It always bites them in the ass. (Well, unless there's a Writer on Board.)
    • All-Star Superman is probably the definitive modern example of this for him. On top of his Fortress being laden with technology he's suggested to have invented himself (or at least figured out), he's also able to keep up in conversation with superscientists like Lex Luthor and Leo Quintum, and he resolves dozens of problems over the run of the comic (including most of the ones considered to be his Twelve Labors) through the use of science or guile rather than his strength.
    • Clark Kent is also a Pulitzer prize winning investigative journalist and a best selling fiction author.
    • In most depictions, General Zod is visibly larger than Superman, and doesn't pull his punches. He's also Superman's tactical superior, and at least as cunning in the use of his powers as Superman himself.
    • Mongul has the general distinction of being one of Superman's villains who has the refined manners of a cultured gentleman and someone who's capable of running the technologically advanced Warworld, but is also a powerhouse who can exchange blows with the Man of Steel.
    • Since the year 2000, Brainiac has consistently been shown to be Superman's physical superior, able to manhandle the Man of Steel with little effort. This makes him one of the most physically powerful beings in the DCU. His true form is also about seven feet tall and built like a super heavyweight MMA fighter. But it speaks to his immense power that his physical strength is probably the least dangerous thing about him: as a "12th-level intellect", he's the smartest being in the DCU bar none (for comparison, the entirety of 21st century Earth's population amounts to a 6th-level intellect). His brain is capable of storing and processing octodecillions of minds worth of information (which he has, in the process of assimilating the many civilizations he's destroyed) and grants him superhuman calculation abilities, enhanced memory, and advanced understanding of mechanical engineering, bio-engineering, artificial intelligence, physics and other theoretical and applied sciences. He has invented tech that lets him shrinking entire planets, create impenetrable force fields (in New Krypton, Zod tries to destroy his ship with a Kryptonian super-weapon. The weapon does zero damage to the ship on part of Brainiac's forcefield, but the collateral alone flat-out kills hundreds of Superman-level Kryptonians who were standing nearby), transfer his mind digitally, and travel through time. This is on top of being The Chessmaster and creating armies of robotic bodies that are each able to rival and even kill Kryptonians.
  • Tom Strong, who is usually portrayed as a cross between Reed Richards, Doc Savage, and Hercules.
  • The Ultrahumanite, DC's first resident mad scientist, who eventually transferred consciousness into that of a large muscular gorilla, was originally written to be Superman's arch-enemy.
  • Wonder Woman:
    • In addition to having god-like strength and unrivalled combat skill, Wonder Woman is exceptionally intelligent, being gifted at: diplomacy, multilingualism, equestrianism (horse riding), piloting, and weapons handling. Diana’s career in her civilian alter ego has also included professions such as military intelligence officer, astronaut, antiquities dealer, army nurse, businesswoman, and even secretary.
    • The Golden Age Giganta may have started out as Dumb Muscle, given she was just a particularly angry and violent gorilla, but after Dr. Zool put her through his Evolution Machine she became a very large, Super Strong woman who swiftly became more adapt at using the hapless Dr. Zool's genius inventions than he. The rage that had made her dangerous as a gorilla only became more pronounced and sophisticated as a "human", making her incredibly dangerous.
    • The Post-Crisis Giganta was a dying Mad Scientist who discovered a way to transfer her consciousness into anothers body whose assistant transferred her into a gorilla to save her life. She later transferred herself into the body of a size shifting metahuman, though she would have a more difficult time thinking logically the larger she grew and at her larger sizes was more Dumb Muscle than genius.

Film

  • In The Dark Knight Rises, Bane looks like a gorilla wearing a Darth Vader costume. But he's a match for Batman tactically as much as physically. He's also highly cultured and well-spoken, he even holds the front of his coat like he's giving a speech like Winston Churchill. And one line even indicates that he has a good working knowledge of nuclear physics.
  • The Batman: Heavily downplayed, as the Bruiser part is perfectly fine, but Bruce Wayne's (The Batman) working on the Genius part, especially when it comes to detective work. He's able to make very good deductions and is quick to notice when he's missed something, but he still relies on Gordon and Alfred for a lot of help, and he makes mistakes. That being said, it's clear he's got a sharp mind, has an innate talent for lateral thinking, and he's usually the first to solve Riddler's puzzles. He's still got quite a ways to go with his gadgetry, though.
  • DC Extended Universe
    • Man of Steel:
      • Superman himself, in line with his comic book counterpart. He's shown reading philosophy texts as a teenager, and demonstrates a good working knowledge of medicine (when he treats Lois' wounds) as well as physics, and also displays more creative use of his powers than most adaptations. He also uses a fair level of skill in hand-to-hand combat despite lacking any combat training whatsoever, as opposed to relying on strength alone.
      • Jor-El might have been Krypton's greatest scientist, but he still dishes out a severe beating to Zod while buying time to launch Kal-El's ship.
      • Zod himself is a genetically bred and trained Super-Soldier who modified Jor-El's Phantom Zone drive into a working Warp Drive for interstellar travel.
    • Wonder Woman (2017): Wonder Woman is powerful enough to punch through solid brick walls and lift a 29 tonne tank while also being an Omniglot and master tactician thanks to her Amazon upbringing. Word of God states that she is the best fighter in the entire DCEU.
    • Aquaman (2018): Aquaman is a self-identified "blunt instrument" who "... [solves] my problems with my fists and rage"... but also speaks at least five languages (English, Italian, Atlantean, Icelandic and Russian), knows enough history to identify who Roman statues are meant to portray and rattle off a list of their accomplishments without pausing, and quotes German 18th-century poetry.
    • The Suicide Squad has quite a few. Polka-Dot Man engineered gauntlets to utilize his Having a Blast polka dot power, Bloodsport built a transforming gun and has other Batman-esque gimzos, and Peacemaker (played by the hulking John Cena) is shown to be extremely well read, formidably tactical and has as many gadgets and murder tools as Bloodsport.

Live-Action TV

  • Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke from Arrow. While his genius side isn't seen much in the flashbacks, it takes a certain kind of intelligence to engineer his entire plot in the present, and to constantly adapt to changing scenarios. The bruiser part is pretty much self-explanatory.
  • The Flash: Eobard Thawne is an Evil Genius from the future, being one of the smartest characters in the whole franchise (except, possibly, for Clifford DeVoe, the aptly named Thinker). He's also an evil speedster, who is also pretty good in hand-to-hand combat and can slaughter an entire room full of trained cops in a split second. To a lesser degree, there's Zoom (he managed to develop the Velocity drug), Cisco (designs most of the S.T.A.R. Labs equipment and can kick ass as Vibe), and Caitlin (a brilliant bio-engineer, who can slaughter Nazis with the best of them as Killer Frost). Another evil version is Grodd, an evil psychic gorilla with a genius-level intellect.
  • Wonder Woman (1975): Wonder Woman helps out by solving complex theoretical scientific problems for Professor Warren in "The Pluto Files". In "Anschluss 77", she stops a tank cold with her bare hands.

Video Games

  • Batman: Arkham Series:
    • Batman: Arkham City: The title character, but also Mister Freeze. Trying to fight him head on is comparable to trying to fight a hand grenade using hugs, and he's also the only smart enough to manufacture the cure to the disease that everyone's been catching.
    • Batman: Arkham Origins: While he didn't completely fulfill the role in the first two games due to his overexposure to Venom and Titan, Bane more than makes up for it in the prequel. Of all the assassins that Joker hires, Bane is the most patient and calculating while also dwarfing everyone in the room even without his Venom injection. This ends up making him the biggest overall threat and he acts more as a very open and unsubtle Dragon with an Agenda to the Joker than a lackey. The only reason he ends up only sharing Big Bad status with the Joker rather than taking it away from him completely is due to the Joker's sheer unbridled insanity.

Western Animation

  • Batman: The Animated Series: It took Batman (Bruce Wayne) most of his childhood and the early part of his adulthood to get there, but he's equally capable with physical and mental tasks. He's capable of handling whole gangs of armed thugs with his bare hands, concocting brilliant plans on the fly, utilizing advanced scientific equipment, performing intricate detective work.
  • The Batman (2004)
    • Killer Croc, especially when compared with his Dumb Muscle portrayal in Batman The Animated Series. Ironically, this is much closer to his original comic characterization, before Flanderization kicked in.
    • Riddler relies heavily on his intellect to create traps and gadgets but is also a competent martial artist.
  • Batman: Caped Crusader: Upon going on the warpath against Throne, whilst proving to be an extremely strong and highly capable fighter, what makes Harvey Dent (Two-Face) so dangerous is just how smart and strategic he is, with him proving to be a capable detective to the point of finding Zito's safehouse in a manner of hours, and a cunning tactician, to the point of nearly casually wiping out all Thorn's muscle within his own stronghold.
  • Creature Commandos (2024): The Bride is physically one of the strongest members of the team and a surprisingly observant investigator who was able to figure out Ilana's Batman Gambit before anyone else.
  • Harley Quinn (2019): King Shark is a skilled hacker, engineer and social media expert who could easily bite your head off with his powerful shark jaws. Notably, he prefers to be used for his hacking expertise instead of just being seen as a Threatening Shark.
  • In Justice League, the Ultra Humanite is a criminal genius who has transplanted his brain inside an albino gorilla, further transforming this new body to gain enormous strength. He's still a genius, and in fact, was persuaded to turn against the Injustice League because he felt his talents were being wasted working for Luthor.
    • This show's version of Superman also counts, as he was revealed to have created robotic Supermen in the Justice Lords arc, suggesting he may have Super-Intelligence in addition to being a Flying Brick.
  • Subverted in My Adventures with Superman with the Mad Scientist Dr. Ivo. He was a Gadgeteer Genius, but his Parasite Powered Armor started to consume his mind due to Evil Is Not a Toy and his strategy against Superman basically boiled down to Attack! Attack! Attack!. Soon he's little more than a rampaging beast and after he's forced to join the Suicide Squad, Waller outright says that his mind is rapidly deteriorating to the point they soon won't be able to even use his smarts anymore.
  • Teen Titans (2003)
    • Robin, of course, has had many of Batman's skills rub off onto him and it gives him an elite deductive mind as well as superb melee combat skills (particularly with a staff). That said he tends to let his brilliance overwhelm him at times and he loses focus on what's really important when he's fixated on a task.
    • Cyborg is both the team's second physically strongest member (surpassed only by Starfire) and the resident technology expert, qualified to build, modify, or repair anything you can think of. Having a computer built into your head helps.
    • Season 5's The Dragon is Monsieur Mallah, who is a tactically clever, Gadgeteer Genius talking gorilla.
    • Slade, who has more than enough combat skill and strength to take on the team 5-to-1 and keep up, and more than enough brainpower to stay on top in terms of gambits throughout the entire show. He rarely needs to directly intervene, but whenever a lot of violence is required, he's happy to do it himself.