Something that always bothered me about comics is how the bad guy was almost always the intellectual who used their brain to solve / create problems while the good guys solved conflicts by punching things.
I don’t know about DC (I know Batman and Mr. Terrific exist, but that’s about it; also Blue Beetle might be somewhat of an Iron Man expy, I think?), but when it comes to Marvel…
Peter Parker is a world class chemist and engineer. He created his web fluid and designed his web shooters, which definitely counts as using his brain to solve crime.
Tony Stark, world class engineer, designed and built the armours he uses to fight crime.
Reed Richards is one of the topmost scientists and engineers in the world in practically any field. Using his brain to solve / create problems is what the Fantastic Four do (fighting crime is incidental, really).
Hank Pym, aka Ant Man, aka Giant Man, aka Yellowjacket (on a bad day), is up there with Richards at the top, when he isn’t suffering from mental illness or depression. He discovered the particles that bear his name and give him (and others) his powers, which he uses to fight crime.
Bruce Banner is almost up there, above them when it comes to nuclear physics. He uses his mind to… OK, fine, I’ll give you this one, most of the time.
Hank McCoy, aka Beast, also top level engineer and general scientist. He designs and makes most of the tools (except the ones made by Forge, or by Kitty Pryde) the X-Men use to, uh… well, mostly try to defend themselves and other mutants from human racists trying to kill them, or humans from mutant racists trying to kill them, and sometimes to try and take over the world, I think…? I don’t know, I haven’t read the X-Men in a long time but it seems they’ve been drifting from light to dark grey this last decade; but, still, he uses his brain, is what matters. Fists and feet too, but also brain.
And those are the top ones that come to mind, but with the exception of Captain America that’s basically core Marvel right there.
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.
Well I think a big part of that is also that the people who people like get famous and then being famous makes it easy to get money. So idk that it would be possible to have rich and famous people in general and not have society be obsessed with them. America is just weird in that their famous people are not the historically normal famous people. Like it used to be that the famous people were the ones making big impacts on societies. Now it’s who can put on the biggest spectacle.
Something that always bothered me about comics is how the bad guy was almost always the intellectual who used their brain to solve / create problems while the good guys solved conflicts by punching things.
I don’t know about DC (I know Batman and Mr. Terrific exist, but that’s about it; also Blue Beetle might be somewhat of an Iron Man expy, I think?), but when it comes to Marvel…
Peter Parker is a world class chemist and engineer. He created his web fluid and designed his web shooters, which definitely counts as using his brain to solve crime.
Tony Stark, world class engineer, designed and built the armours he uses to fight crime.
Reed Richards is one of the topmost scientists and engineers in the world in practically any field. Using his brain to solve / create problems is what the Fantastic Four do (fighting crime is incidental, really).
Hank Pym, aka Ant Man, aka Giant Man, aka Yellowjacket (on a bad day), is up there with Richards at the top, when he isn’t suffering from mental illness or depression. He discovered the particles that bear his name and give him (and others) his powers, which he uses to fight crime.
Bruce Banner is almost up there, above them when it comes to nuclear physics. He uses his mind to… OK, fine, I’ll give you this one, most of the time.
Hank McCoy, aka Beast, also top level engineer and general scientist. He designs and makes most of the tools (except the ones made by Forge, or by Kitty Pryde) the X-Men use to, uh… well, mostly try to defend themselves and other mutants from human racists trying to kill them, or humans from mutant racists trying to kill them, and sometimes to try and take over the world, I think…? I don’t know, I haven’t read the X-Men in a long time but it seems they’ve been drifting from light to dark grey this last decade; but, still, he uses his brain, is what matters. Fists and feet too, but also brain.
And those are the top ones that come to mind, but with the exception of Captain America that’s basically core Marvel right there.
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.
Why? That’s what american culture is.
We think scientists are evil and football players are heroic.
The only time american culture lauded scientists was post ww2, but that didn’t last very long and the national push for sciences declined by the 70s.
We also love rich and famous people, don’t forget.
Well I think a big part of that is also that the people who people like get famous and then being famous makes it easy to get money. So idk that it would be possible to have rich and famous people in general and not have society be obsessed with them. America is just weird in that their famous people are not the historically normal famous people. Like it used to be that the famous people were the ones making big impacts on societies. Now it’s who can put on the biggest spectacle.