Not saying that that there are not intelligent good guys, but their intelligence is rarely what is highlighted or celebrated about them. It’s normally a side note or a quality leveraged by their more mundane alter ego rather than their more publicly visible super identity.
Peter Parker being seen as a nerd when out of his suit is one of the defining characteristics of Spider-Man.
Their intelligence the defining characteristic of Richards and Stark (also his money in the latter case, but he’s lost that on occasion without that making him not be Iron Man, in fact the one time he did stop being Iron Man was because his alcoholism was making him too irrational).
Banner’s intelligence is almost always a necessary counterpoint to Hulk’s brutishness.
Going to DC, Batman’s main asset is arguably his intelligence. Sure, he’s a ninja, sure, he’s a billionaire, sure, he’s dark and scary. But take all that away and his intelligence will still allow him to keep fighting crime.
Speaking of Batman, I forgot about Daredevil; sure, again, he’s a ninja with super-senses (except for sight), but we see a lot of him being a lawyer, and he sometimes wins in the court what he couldn’t win by beating people up. Also dude won against fucking Mephisto, obviously not by beating him with his little sticks, but through sheer conviction. It took Doctor Victor Von fucking Doom decades to beat that devil. Matt fucking Murdock beat him in four issues by essentially turning the other cheek.
Side notes? Far from it. (In Richards’ case, and arguably in Stark’s most of the time, heroing is the side note; the Fantastic Four almost never go looking for it, rather stumbling upon it from time to time, and Stark spends most of his time looking after his company, not seeking crime to fight.)
I should have been more specific. With a few exceptions (e.g. Reed Richards and Charles Xavier), the intelligence of the protagonists is mostly not revealed to or celebrated by the comic public. We, the reader, are aware of it, but their intelligence is not generally celebrated within the comic universe. What they are celebrated for, mostly, in the comic universe is their physical capabilites. I always thought that this his sends the message that intelligence is not as useful as being physical capable and / or that intelligence should be kept hidden and is not something to showcase or be proud of.
That’s just because of the medium right? It’s not just comics; many heroic stories are about someone performing great physical feats.
Hercules
Superman
Can’t be bothered thinking of more, but it’s basically most of them
There are stories about intelligence of course; but kids generally don’t find them interesting, and it’s not the demographic or genre most media is aiming for. Most media doesn’t make an effort to make it interesting.
If we take Spiderman as an example: we don’t really see the interesting parts of building the web slingers or any intelligence based skill check. He kind of just tinkers a bit, it magically happens, and is handwaved as “smart guy does smart thing”.
If you watch something like Dr Stone, Hunter X Hunter, Saw, National Treasure, Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, etc; those media are all about intelligent characters solving problems in creative ways. You’re not going to find intelligence being lauded or celebrated in Marvel because they spent 15 seconds being intelligent and the other 89:45 minutes web slinging and kicking baddies in the head
Not saying that that there are not intelligent good guys, but their intelligence is rarely what is highlighted or celebrated about them. It’s normally a side note or a quality leveraged by their more mundane alter ego rather than their more publicly visible super identity.
I’m sorry, what?
Peter Parker being seen as a nerd when out of his suit is one of the defining characteristics of Spider-Man.
Their intelligence the defining characteristic of Richards and Stark (also his money in the latter case, but he’s lost that on occasion without that making him not be Iron Man, in fact the one time he did stop being Iron Man was because his alcoholism was making him too irrational).
Banner’s intelligence is almost always a necessary counterpoint to Hulk’s brutishness.
Going to DC, Batman’s main asset is arguably his intelligence. Sure, he’s a ninja, sure, he’s a billionaire, sure, he’s dark and scary. But take all that away and his intelligence will still allow him to keep fighting crime.
Speaking of Batman, I forgot about Daredevil; sure, again, he’s a ninja with super-senses (except for sight), but we see a lot of him being a lawyer, and he sometimes wins in the court what he couldn’t win by beating people up. Also dude won against fucking Mephisto, obviously not by beating him with his little sticks, but through sheer conviction. It took Doctor Victor Von fucking Doom decades to beat that devil. Matt fucking Murdock beat him in four issues by essentially turning the other cheek.
Side notes? Far from it. (In Richards’ case, and arguably in Stark’s most of the time, heroing is the side note; the Fantastic Four almost never go looking for it, rather stumbling upon it from time to time, and Stark spends most of his time looking after his company, not seeking crime to fight.)
I should have been more specific. With a few exceptions (e.g. Reed Richards and Charles Xavier), the intelligence of the protagonists is mostly not revealed to or celebrated by the comic public. We, the reader, are aware of it, but their intelligence is not generally celebrated within the comic universe. What they are celebrated for, mostly, in the comic universe is their physical capabilites. I always thought that this his sends the message that intelligence is not as useful as being physical capable and / or that intelligence should be kept hidden and is not something to showcase or be proud of.
That’s just because of the medium right? It’s not just comics; many heroic stories are about someone performing great physical feats.
There are stories about intelligence of course; but kids generally don’t find them interesting, and it’s not the demographic or genre most media is aiming for. Most media doesn’t make an effort to make it interesting.
If we take Spiderman as an example: we don’t really see the interesting parts of building the web slingers or any intelligence based skill check. He kind of just tinkers a bit, it magically happens, and is handwaved as “smart guy does smart thing”.
If you watch something like Dr Stone, Hunter X Hunter, Saw, National Treasure, Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, etc; those media are all about intelligent characters solving problems in creative ways. You’re not going to find intelligence being lauded or celebrated in Marvel because they spent 15 seconds being intelligent and the other 89:45 minutes web slinging and kicking baddies in the head