History BadassBookworm / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'':
** [[BigBadSlippage Lex Luthor]]. He's an avid reader who likes to apply what he's learned to situations in his life. He's also a highly skilled fighter who can beat Green Arrow, the series' most notable BadassNormal.
** Lex's father, Lionel, is no slouch in this department as well. Frequently [[WickedCultured quoting classic literature]], [[TheChessmaster outsmarting his foes]], and [[ManipulativeBastard manipulating]] his way to the top. He has no problem beating anyone who crosses him either.
** Brainiac. He's a skinny guy who [[BadassTeacher masquerades as a History Prof]]. He's also a RoboticPsychopath out to [[KillAllHumans wipe out the human race]] and can go mano-a-mano with Franchise/{{Superman}}.

* A very dark variation of this can be found in the title character of ''Series/{{Dexter}}''. Dexter is a forensic blood spatter analyst and often called a "lab nerd" by the more macho police officers. Despite this, he can kill anyone. He's also a surprisingly beefy specimen under that shirt, which is more obvious while wearing his form-fitting murder clothes. He's bested [[spoiler:Doakes, an ex-Special Forces member and ultra-badass cop, twice in hand-to-hand combat, despite being shot in the leg right before round two. He also killed The Skinner, who was the leader of a Nicaraguan interrogation unit, with his bare hands. He did so one-handed because he crushed his own hand to escape his bindings.]] Most recently, he has [[spoiler:taken down one of the most skilled cops in Miami, herself a murderer, in close combat]].

** ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' Billy Cranston and to a lesser extent Trini Kwan are the franchise's original examples. Both are highly trained martial artists, with Billy serving as the team's science expert while Trini is his TranslatorBuddy. Billy continued to aid the team well into the ''[[PowerRangersZeo Zeo]]'' years even after he could no longer serve in the field, showing how invaluable he was to the Rangers.

** ''Series/PowerRangersNinjaStorm'': Cameron "Cam" Watanabe at first appears to be more "bookworm" than "badass", serving as their GadgeteerGenius and MissionControl. We get a glimpse of Cam's potential in "Nowhere To Grow" when he fights off a bunch of {{Mooks}}, reminding Shane and by extension the audience that Cam grew up in a ninja school. Cam officially [[TookALevelInBadass takes a level in badass]] after he comes TheSixthRanger.

* [[AgentPeacock Job]] from ''Series/Banshee''. When Job first appeared, he seemed like an eccentric if brilliant hacker, it doesn't take long before he's blowing people away with firearms and providing backup for the protagonist's insane missions of violence and mayhem.

* ''Series/UltramanGaia'': Both Gamu/Ultraman Gaia and Fujimiya/Ultraman Agul qualify as this; the former is [[BadassCrew XIG]]'s scientist and developed their tech, whilst the latter designed a supercomputer and possesses the tech to control monsters. Worth noting is that, unlike most Ultraman protagonists, both of them built their own TransformationTrinkets to contain Gaia and Agul's light.

* Tucker from ''Series/Danger5'' leads a team that fights Nazis, Nazi dinosaurs, Nazi robots, [[WidgetSeries and all manner of dangerous monstrosities]]. He relaxes in-between missions by reading a good book or stuffy magazines like ''Sensible Chuckles''.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode "The Obsolete Man" has Mr. Wordsworth the condemned MeaningfulName librarian in a totalitarian state, who faces off with a state official to prove who has more courage.

* Lennier from ''Series/BabylonFive'' is a highly intelligent, studious and soft-spoken aide, but he's also well trained in martial arts. He's highly skilled in combat and far stronger than he appears.

** Perconte to a lesser extent. During one episode he's trying to read while on watch and gets annoyed at his partner for making too much noise. His Italian temper needs no elaborating.

* Amy of ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'' is quite possibly the biggest nerd in the state of New York. Able to read 802 words a minute, skipped the fourth grade and proudly boasts how cool a week-long math camp was. She's also a decorated detective, and repeatedly demonstrates she can kick the ass of men twice her size.

* ''Series/{{Chuck}}'' Bartowski. Even before he gets the Intersect 2.0, Chuck's intelligence, resourcefulness and GenreSavvy allows him to outwit and defeat trained spies and hardened criminals practically at will. By the end of the series he's completely capable of kicking [[spoiler: Shaw's]] ass even ''without'' the Intersect.

** Rossi the author, interrogation specialist and video-game player.

** JJ, soccer player, butterfly collector and communications specialist who can take down a psycho killer through a plate-glass door in a ''perfect headshot''.

** Only Elle, Todd and Seaver don't fit the trope, and Todd and Seaver really wasn't really around for long enough to even show potential.

* A very dark variation of this can be found in the title character of ''Series/{{Dexter}}''. Dexter is a forensic blood spatter analyst and often called a "lab nerd" by the more macho police officers. Despite this, he can kill anyone. He's also a surprisingly beefy specimen under that shirt, which is more obvious while wearing his form-fitting murder clothes. He's bested [[spoiler:Doakes, an ex-Special Forces member and ultra-badass cop, twice in hand-to-hand combat, despite being shot in the leg right before round two. He also killed The Skinner, who was the leader of a Nicaraguan interrogation unit, with his bare hands. He did so one-handed, because he crushed his own hand to escape his bindings.]] Most recently, he has [[spoiler:taken down one of the most skilled cops in Miami, herself a murderer, in close combat]].

*** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E9ForestOfTheDead "Forest of the Dead"]] the Doctor faces a microscopic swarm which can strip people to bare bones in a matter of seconds. His response? He tells them to ''look him up'' (they're in a library the size of a planet at the time). They do and immediately back down.

*** Many of his incarnations are the very embodiment of this trope. Take Eight: he's only 5'8", and, in the [[TieInNovel Tie-In Novels]], he starts out well-built, but as he ForgetsToEat, it seems he gets skinnier as the series goes on. Moreover he's naïve, at least in the novels [[ChasteHero all manner of flirting and dirty jokes goes right over his head]]. And except for occasional detours into NoIndoorVoice in dramatic situations, he really is quite soft-spoken. Naturally, he's a genius, although of the AbsentmindedProfessor variety, and given the opportunity to use his brain can defeat almost any evil plot. What's more, the first thing he ever really does is knock a huge steel door off its hinges, and while he [[TechnicalPacifist doesn't like to fight]], on a couple of occasions he's proven to be not half-bad at GoodOldFisticuffs. And he once [[{{Determinator}} saved the world]] [[NormallyIWouldBeDeadNow despite having a huge hole in his chest]].

** Noah "HRG" Bennet. At the start of Season 2, his boss at Copy Kingdom berates him and sneers at him for failing to respect the art of photocopying papers. A short session with Mr. Horn-Rimmed Glasses in the backroom, though, ends with two broken fingers and a never-to-be-repressed terror of his new employee. He doesn't have any powers, and still manages to match everyone else by knowing how they work. And then, in a two-part episode, everyone loses their powers. And Sylar makes him mad

* Aunt Marie from ''Series/{{Grimm}}'': a retired librarian and terminal cancer patient, she's also one of the last living descendants of Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm and her Airstream trailer has an arsenal, armory, pharmacopoea, and archive giving one the knowledge and tools to deal with vampires, werewolves, ogres, witches, trolls, jaegerbaern, and all other manner of nasties. She bequeaths it to her nephew, but unfortunately dies before she can teach him how to use it all.

** Come to think of it, ''Series/{{Lost}}'' might as well be MADE of Badass Bookworms (which makes sense considering it's an [[GenreRoulette action adventure series with prevalent philosophical undertones]]). You have [[NiceGuy Desmond Hume]], the resident ''Creator/CharlesDickens'' fanboy who plans to read ''Literature/OurMutualFriend'' before he dies, but is MORE THAN CAPABLE of holding his own in a fight. Then there's [[SugarAndIcePersonality Juliet Burke]], who holds book clubs when she's not taking down [[ActionGirl KATE]] in fights. But the crowning example has got to be [[TheChessmaster Benjamin]] [[AntiVillain Linus]], an [[TheNapoleon unimposing]], bespectacled 40-something who speaks several languages and might as well live in a library, he has so many books. [[OhCrap He can also wreck you and your entire group of friends with his trusty telescopic baton]].

* Illya Kuryakin from ''Series/TheManFromUNCLE'' holds a Masters degree from the Sorbonne and a [=PhD=] in quantum physics from the University of Cambridge and is demonstrated several times in the series to be doing tech work at U.N.C.L.E. Headquarters between field assignments. Nonetheless, he is one of the two top field agents in that ''multinational'' intelligence agency and hence gets frequent opportunities to demonstrate how utterly badass he is.
* ''Series/{{MASH}}'''s [[BadassPreacher Father Francis John Patrick Mulcahy]]. A gentle, cheery, soft-spoken man of the cloth, he once performed a tracheotomy on a wounded soldier under shell fire with nothing more than [[NoodleImplements an eyedropper tube, a pocketknife, and a bottle of rubbing alcohol.]] He also disarmed a man who had a rifle on him at point-blank range, studied Plato, and taught boxing in the CYO. Despite having ''no'' training as a psychologist, he's usually the one to provide comfort to the wounded or the staff, and went head-to-head with black marketeers to get the unit the supplies they desperately needed on multiple occasions.

* Barney from the ''Series/MissionImpossible'' TV show usually has a role designing gadgets or working complex machinery, but he is also often used for hand-to-hand combat. In one episode, he was revealed to have been a sixth fleet boxing champion, and while impersonating another boxer, wins several times against other skilled boxers without outside assistance.
* Archeaologist Matt Bellows from ''Series/MythQuest'' takes out two armed Egyptian guards. When asked where that came from, he says, "You don't spend as much time as I do dealing with shady antiquities dealers without learning how to protect yourself."

* Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold from ''Series/OnceUponATime'' has been working his way up to this, from the unremarkable [[ExtremeDoormat peon]] hobbling around with a crutch, no discernable aggressive traits whatsoever and no options under attack but pleading and almost breaking into tears, to [[EvilSorcerer the Dark One]], who still looks like a bantam weight but with plenty of magical knowledge, power and the nastiness to crush you under foot, rip your heart out or stop a war, to finally [[TheChessmaster Mr. Gold]]: Fiftyish, (mostly) soft-spoken Pawn Broker with a limp who puppeteers the entire population of Storybrook (including one [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen evil Queen]]) through his decade-long plans and shows a surprising ability to wreak havoc with that cane of his. The one thing all three have in common is looking like they have not one spare ounce of flesh on them.

** ''Series/PowerRangersTimeForce'': The Green Ranger Trip Regis is a somewhat [[DownplayedTrope downplayed example]]. He is the weakest fighter on the team and his attempts to emulate the other Rangers' moves only ends in disaster. Fortunately, Trip decides to play by his strengths and uses his ingenuity to defeat the MonsterOfTheWeek in "Uniquely Trip".

*** There's also one Dr. Thomas "Tommy" Oliver, science teacher, paleontologist and the whole franchise's [[TheAce Ace]]. The Badass Bookworming of Tommy was even lampshaded in an episode of ''Series/PowerRangersOperationOverdrive'', where a former teammate of Tommy's even remarked that he found it hard to believe that ''Tommy'' became a Badass Bookworm. The series even parodied the trope in an episode of ''Dino Thunder'', where LovableJock Conner [=McKnight=] temporally became a Badass Bookworm thanks to a meteorite which changed the three Rangers' personalities (CuteBruiser Kira became a dainty girly-girl and video game nerd Ethan became a JerkJock).

** Nick Cutter, a quiet, brooding, maverick scientist who can punch a Velociraptor in the face while reciting its biology, taxonomy, behavior and feeding habits.

* Djaq and Tuck from ''Series/RobinHood''. Though both only get their hands on one book each during the show's run, they are clearly well educated and have a love of reading, and are debatably the most badass characters on the show.

** Metatron was God's Scribe and when God disappeared he went to Earth and spent all that time reading any and all books he could find. In his human form he looks unassuming and rather harmless until one realizes that Metatron spent more time with God then any of the other angels and thus possess Divine knowledge that even the archangels do not know. He runs circles around both the good and bad guys and almost becomes the new ruler of Heaven. Part of his duties as God's Scribe was to be God's editor ie he pointed out God's mistakes. When Metatron calls God out for being a selfish jerk, God listens.

%%** Tosh, Owen and Jack

* ''Series/UltramanGaia'': Both Gamu/Ultraman Gaia and Fujimiya/Ultraman Agul qualify as this; the former is [[BadassCrew XIG]]'s scientist and developed their tech, whilst the latter designed a supercomputer and possesses the tech to control monsters. Worth noting is that unlike most Ultraman protagonists, both of them built their own TransformationTrinkets to contain Gaia and Agul's light.

** Vampire Stefan. He is highly intelligent, scholarly and academic... and he can also kick ass.
** Alaric. He is knowledgable and well-read. Not to mention that he is also a vampire hunter.

* Hit man Brother Mouzone from ''Series/TheWire''. Inspires fear and respect in the entire Baltimore drug organization, with good reason, despite his small stature, bow tie and glasses, devotion to Harper's magazine, and frequent use of big words and carefully crafted sentences.

** Mulder is actually a bit of a subversion, since Mulder and Scully were designed to [[MasculineGirlFeminineBoy invert traditional gender roles]]. Scully is an excellent shot and skilled (especially for her size) in hand-to-hand combat. Mulder, on the other hand, ''sucks'' at fist-fighting and loses his gun so much that he starts carrying an extra in an ankle holster and {{lampshades}} it. However, he is an excellent profiler and capable of making insane leaps of logic. He's more likely to use both to bring down his opponent without needing to physically kick his ass.

** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': Commander Spock, and the Vulcan species. What could be more non-threatening than a science officer ({{geek}}) with no emotion or ego? Well, screw with his ship or [[HeterosexualLifePartners his]] [[TheNotLoveInterest captain]] and you'll find out pretty quick he'll neck pinch you into submission. You may also find out that Vulcans are, on average, [[SuperStrength three times as strong as humans]]. And if you '''really''' provoke him he ''will'' [[ShootTheDog shoot the damn dog. Just to prove the point]]. And God help you if you say anything bad about [[BerserkButton his mother]]. He says at one time that the Vulcans were once barbarians who nearly killed one another off before adopting the teachings of Surak; it is strongly implied (and confirmed in the expanded universe and in ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'') that the Romulans are descendants of Vulcans who would not or could not embrace Surak's philosophy. The Vulcans rejected violence because they were so very, very good at it. By TNG Spock has retired from Starfleet and become an {{Ambadassador}}.

** Kate Stewart, daughter of the dear old Brigadier himself. She will defeat the alien of the week with ''SCIENCE!!'' -- or, failing that, FiveRoundsRapid. "Science leads," but Kate always carries a gun -- just to be safe.

* Cosimo de' Medici from ''Series/MediciMastersOfFlorence'' is a banker who wanted to be an artist. He is also a skilled politician and orator, and at least as ruthless as any of his rivals. Fits with the historical Cosimo, who is famous for finishing a cathedral dome, building multiple public libraries, and ruling Florence as king in all but name for thirty-five years.