History DumbMuscle / Comicbooks

* Thoroughly subverted in ''The Manhua/RavagesOfTime'', it's ''Genius Bruiser'' which is closer to the norm. After all, the "big dumb brutes" from [[Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms the novel]]? What fool would leave ''them'' in command of an army? [[spoiler:Lu Bu]] and [[spoiler:Zhang Fei]] are the most prominent examples of this subversion, but as a general rule, if someone looks like Dumb Muscle they're almost certainly faking it... yes, even [[spoiler:Xu Chu]].

* [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel's]] naïveté tends to come across this way, but since he's a kid in an adult's body, it's excusable.

* Dumb Bunny, aka Mrs. ComicBook/AmbushBug, from the ''Inferior Five''. The name says it all.

* Jitterjack from ''ComicBook/AstroCity''. To wit: his first words on panel are "HURR HURR". The combined version of two men whose minds were turned to mush as they were unified, but with strength far beyond that of any two ordinary men.

** Most incarnations of Killer Croc particularly in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' and current comics. The exception here is ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'', which, in addition to a RaceLift making him Cajun, made him a bona fide criminal mastermind of his own. This was actually truer to the original version of Croc introduced in the comics of the early '80s, before {{Flanderization}} set in and writers portrayed him as nothing but a [[TheBrute savage brute]]. Though, on the other hand, Killer Croc in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' did pull off a very intelligent frame job against Harvey Bullock in his first appearance. Then he basically just became comic relief DumbMuscle.

* Most incarnations of Killer Croc in ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'', particularly in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' and current comics. The exception here is ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'', which, in addition to a RaceLift making him Cajun, made him a bona fide criminal mastermind of his own. This was actually truer to the original version of Croc introduced in the comics of the early '80s, before {{Flanderization}} set in and writers portrayed him as nothing but a [[TheBrute savage brute]]. Though, on the other hand, Killer Croc in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' did pull off a very intelligent frame job against Harvey Bullock in his first appearance. Then he basically just became comic relief DumbMuscle.
** Other villains in the ''Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse'', like Rampage, Solomon Grundy, and (the first) Blockbuster, also count, as do their comics counterparts (though Rampage and Grundy are occasionally good guys).

** Played straight with the Jotuns Hymir and Hrugnir, however, both of whom are physically powerful (Hymir more in that he's built for manual labour than an outright fighter; he is able to pull whales out of the ocean when fishing) but also dumb as a post. Hrugnir is also extremely crude and short-sighted; Tjalfe is able to trick him into letting his guard down by convincing him that Thor can through Mjollnir through the Earth and attack people from below.

* ''ComicBook/{{Valhalla}}'': Thor is a subversion. His plan A is always "[[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer Hit it with Mjolnir until it stops resisting.]]" and given his strength and weapons, there is rarely a need for plan B. However, Thor is more thoughtless and impulsive than stupid, and displays a lot of cunning when circumstances force him out of his comfort zone.

* Though you wouldn't know it most of the time, this role is often filled by {{Wolverine}} of all people in the ''ComicBook/XMen''. Yes, the expert survivalist who speaks 17 languages. Of course, Wolverine's a moron in a more ''social'' sense, and while he is very knowledgeable in areas concerning, to be frank, killing guys, he can have trouble with almost anything else.

** Hydro-Man has Sandman's problems taken UpToEleven; his water control could make him a global threat or [[CutLexLuthorACheck filthy rich]], but Hydro can't think of anything better to do with it than clobber Spider-Man... and he's so careless that he keeps defeating himself while he's at it.

* The mysterious Zombie, alias John Doe, from ''ComicBook/NickFury's ComicBook/HowlingCommandos''. Big, strong, and with ''extremely'' stunted intelligence. This might actually be a StealthPun: Zombie could use some brains.

* Most incarnations of Killer Croc in ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'', particularly in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' and current comics. The exception here is ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'', which, in addition to a RaceLift making him Cajun, made him a bona fide criminal mastermind of his own. This was actually truer to the original version of Croc introduced in the comics of the early '80s, before {{Flanderization}} set in and writers portrayed him as nothing but a [[TheBrute savage brute]]. Though, on the other hand, Killer Croc in WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries did pull off a very intelligent frame job against Harvey Bullock in his first appearance. Then he basically just became comic relief DumbMuscle.
** Other villains in the Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse, like Rampage, Solomon Grundy, and (the first) Blockbuster, also count, as do their comics counterparts (though Rampage and Grundy are occasionally good guys).

** And their fellow Blackgate inmate Titus Czonka, the Baffler. Very stupid but phenomenally powerful, he made the mistake of trying to be a more traditional Batman villain as The Baffler, a second-rate ripoff of his cohort the Cluemaster who was himself a second-rate ripoff of the Riddler. So the stupid guy starts leaving ridiculously simple clues for the authorities to catch him with. The only time he almost succeeded with a plan it was because [[ComicBook/RobinSeries Tim and Steph]] didn't take him seriously and he nearly got himself killed as well.
* Prester John (yes, ''that'' one) in ''ComicBook/CableAndDeadpool'', a gigantically muscled man who dwarfs even Cable in size. Among other things, he is utterly perplexed at the motive behind the murder of the Creator/MarvelComics equivalent of Osama bin Laden. As it was explained to him, "He wanted him to stop being the world's most wanted terrorist." His reply? "Well, it worked."

* ''Comicbook/TheFlash'' villain Big Sir, who was born with severe mental deficiencies and a glandular problem that caused him to grow into an extremely large man of over eight feet. The Monitor gave him equipment to become a supervillain, taking care to include a headset that periodically emits a beeping noise so he'll remember to stay on task.

* Dengar from ''Franchise/{{Star Wars|Expanded Universe}}''. A big, beefy lunkhead, he at least has the excuse of having suffered brain damage in a swoop bike race with Han Solo. Combine that with the loss of sanity from the experiments the Empire did on him afterward to program him as an assassin, it's actually a wonder that Dengar functions as well as he does.

* Kaliber from ''ComicBook/SuperboyAndTheRavers'' is a [[{{Superstrength}} Quardian]] with a very simple worldview who luckily idolizes heroes and is therefore generally on the same side Superboy, although he's easily duped.
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':

* Thor in ''{{ComicBook/Valhalla}}'' is a subversion. His plan A is always "[[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer Hit it with Mjolnir until it stops resisting.]]" and given his strength and weapons, there is rarely a need for plan B. However, Thor is more thoughtless and impulsive than stupid, and displays a lot of cunning when circumstances force him out of his comfort zone.
* Maul of the ''ComicBook/WildCATsWildStorm'' actually gets dumber as he gets bigger. He once got so big he ''forgot how to return to normal size''.
** Maul is a bizarre case: while his power is that he can swap brains for brawn, in his "normal" form he's a Nobel laureate: so, when he doesn't grow ''too'' much, he retains enough smarts to be more like a GeniusBruiser.
* The Lifter (an airheaded superhuman weightlifter) and Mover (a GentleGiant who lets his girlfriend Shaker do that thinking) from ''ComicBook/{{Wildguard}}''. American Icon and the Romancer are arguable examples as well, while the Human Shield is a giant beast who only recently overcame his lifelong struggle with illiteracy.

* The mysterious Zombie, alias John Doe, from ''Nick Fury's Howling Commandos''. Big, strong, and with ''extremely'' stunted intelligence. This might actually be a StealthPun: Zombie could use some brains.

* Maul of the ''ComicBook/WildCATs'' actually gets dumber as he gets bigger. He once got so big he ''forgot how to return to normal size''.

* Moose from the ''ComicBook/ArchieComics''.

* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'' is usually portrayed as childlike in his simplicity. (and his stupidity is very ironic considering Hulk's the alter ego of an OmnidisciplinaryScientist)
** His original characterization, circa joining Comicbook/TheAvengers, had him as more of a temperamental, rebellious teenager. Though note there is a difference between childlike and stupid, and the Savage Hulk can be [[GeniusBruiser remarkably cunning and shrewd]] when the situation calls for it.
** Although, really, ''most'' Hulk villains besides the Leader and MODOK are brawny, brainless monstrosities.
** This side of him is played up considerably in ''Twisted Toyfare Theater'', which also features Bizarrobama, the Prime Minister of Canada and an imperfect clone of Barack Obama.
* [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel's]] naïveté tends to come across this way, but since he's a kid in an adult's body, it's excusable.
* Captain Everything in ''ComicBook/{{normalman}}''. Cap is, well, a moron who has been known to forget how to fly in midflight, but he's so childlike it's hard not to like him anyway. So, while he causes needless destruction and fights his own friends just because he thinks the scene needs action, he's still completely guileless and doesn't have a mean bone in his body.
* ''ComicBook/TheTick'' himself is a combination of this and {{Cloudcuckoolander}}.
* Several Creator/MarvelComics villains like the Rhino, the Sandman, the Blob, and the Ox.
** The Ox can trounce She-Hulk with minimal effort and punch colossal holes in brick walls but doesn't grasp the concept of figurative language; when his and Boomerang's lawsuit against the Vision is settled "for an arm and a leg", he violently insists he wants cash and couldn't care less about having a robot's limbs. This is the result of heavy {{Flanderization}}: while Ox was always the strongest of the Enforcers, he originally was just somewhat stronger than ComicBook/SpiderMan and somewhat less clever than Montana or Fancy Dan.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
** Doomsday barely has any mind to speak of at all. Due to the ''multiple'' deaths he suffered during the experiments that created him, Doomsday is little more than a frightened and enraged baby. Imagine an infant trying to swat away something scary with his little baby fist. Now imagine that said baby could topple a mountain with that swat and you've got Doomsday. The one time he was given intelligence it rendered him weaker because it exposed his true nature as an infantile coward terrified of death.
** ComicBook/{{Bizarro}} and ''ComicBook/{{Bizarrogirl}}'', though not to the same degree as the usual Bizarros. Bizarrogirl is capable of learning from her mistakes -even though she needs a bit of help of ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}- and doesn't get everything backwards.
* Kaliber from ''ComicBook/SuperboyAndTheRavers'' is a [[{{Superstrength}} Quardian]] with a very simple worldview who luckily idolizes heroes and is therefore generally on the same side Superboy, although he's easily duped.
* Moose from the ''ComicBook/ArchieComics''.
* Though you wouldn't know it most of the time, this role is often filled by {{Wolverine}} of all people in the ''ComicBook/XMen''. Yes, the expert survivalist who speaks 17 languages. Of course, Wolverine's a moron in a more ''social'' sense, and while he is very knowledgeable in areas concerning, to be frank, killing guys, he can have trouble with almost anything else.
** And several other X-Men, as well. Sunder of the Morlocks (virtually retarded, mountainous size and strength), Basilisk (in Xorn's "special" class, giant-sized, weight off the charts), Rockslide (a muted example; not the strongest X-Man around, but just a tad above "moronic" intelligence wise), and Onyxx (who seems to have stopped developing mentally around age 12).
* Dumb Bunny, aka Mrs. ComicBook/AmbushBug, from the ''Inferior Five''. The name says it all.
** She meets her match in the first issue of their own series: Mr. Mental is an extremely powerful telepath who is really really really stupid. "Try your helmet! Hit 'em with a blast of telekinetic power!" "Oh, is ''that'' what this is for? I thought we'd been playing soldier!"

* Dengar from ''Franchise/{{Star Wars|Expanded Universe}}''. A big, beefy lunkhead, he at least has the excuse of having suffered brain damage in a swoop bike race with Han Solo. Combine that with the loss of sanity from the experiments the Empire did on him afterward to program him as an assassin, it's actually a wonder that Dengar functions as well as he does.
** Gamoreans are a species whose entire [[PlanetOfHats Hat]] is being DumbMuscle.

* Maul of the ''ComicBook/WildCATs'' actually gets dumber as he gets bigger. He once got so big he ''forgot how to return to normal size''.
** Maul is a bizarre case: while his power is that he can swap brains for brawn, in his "normal" form he's a Nobel laureate: so, when he doesn't grow ''too'' much, he retains enough smarts to be more like a GeniusBruiser.
* Gorgilla and Elektro of the ''Fin Fang Four''; Elektro is a robot with a 32k processor (later upgraded to 64k; as Elsa Bloodstone puts it, "I've got ''[=JPEGs=]'' smarter than him."), while Gorgilla has grade-A HulkSpeak and intelligence. Both are also incredibly powerful and destructive given the proper motivation.
* Mongrol and Mek-Quake from the ''ComicBook/ABCWarriors''; Mongrol is a battered, punch drunk colossus whose mind was scarred by war and torture until he considered his brain to be a second party that he must occasionally parlay with, while Mek-Quake is a one-mek wrecking crew whose only aptitude and only joy is in violent acts, known to him as "big jobs".
* The Lifter (an airheaded superhuman weightlifter) and Mover (a GentleGiant who lets his girlfriend Shaker do that thinking) from ''ComicBook/{{Wildguard}}''. American Icon and the Romancer are arguable examples as well, while the Human Shield is a giant beast who only recently overcame his lifelong struggle with illiteracy.
* Jitterjack from ''ComicBook/AstroCity''. To wit: his first words on panel are "HURR HURR". The combined version of two men whose minds were turned to mush as they were unified, but with strength far beyond that of any two ordinary men.

* Played with in ''ComicBook/SinCity''. Marv is not educated and considers himself stupid but he displays a knack for solving mysteries and figuring out a way to defeat a skilled opponent.

* Two deputy Plexus Rangers in ''Comicbook/AmericanFlagg'': the robotic Luther Ironheart and the HuskyRusskie Yuri Kholyakov.

* DCU villain General Wade Eiling was originally a very clever villain but was reduced to this when he transferred his brain patterns to a Shaggy Man body to avoid dying of cancer. The Shaggy Man's brain was incompatible with Eiling's mind and he became a dumb brute as a result.

* Roxy from ''ComicBook/JemAndTheHologramsIDW'' is TheDitz of her band, is the most muscular main character, and likes boxing (like her bandmate Jetta). The fact she NeverLearnedToRead is unrelated to her ditziness and never gets poked fun at.

* Roxy from ''ComicBook/JemAndTheHolograms'' is TheDitz of her band, is the most muscular main character, and likes boxing (like her bandmate Jetta). The fact she NeverLearnedToRead is unrelated to her ditziness and never gets poked fun at.

** SelfDemonstrating/{{Bizarro}} and ''ComicBook/{{Bizarrogirl}}'', though not to the same degree as the usual Bizarros. Bizarrogirl is capable of learning from her mistakes -even though she needs a bit of help of ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}- and doesn't get everything backwards.

* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'' is usually portrayed as childlike in his simplicity.

* Thor in ''{{ComicBook/Valhalla}}'' is a subversion. When circumstances force him to use his head, he can be quite cunning, but his plan A is always "Smash it!" and given his strength and weapons, there is rarely a need for plan B.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': Giganta starts out as a KillerGorilla, and after her transformation into a large [[SuperStrength Super Strong]] woman her mental capacity is unchanged. The fact that the heroes know this becomes an issue after Dr. "fixes" this mistake since they're still expecting her not to do much thinking and she's become quite clever and calculating, and no less pissed off at the world at large making her far more dangerous.

* Moose from the ''Franchise/ArchieComics''.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': Giganta starts out as a KillerGorilla, and after her transformation into a large SuperStrong woman her mental capacity is unchanged. The fact that the heroes know this becomes an issue after Dr. "fixes" this mistake since they're still expecting her not to do much thinking and she's become quite clever and calculating, and no less pissed off at the world at large making her far more dangerous.

** As well as Amygdala, who is missing the part of the brain he's named for.

* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'' is usually portrayed as childlike in his simplicity. His original characterization, circa joining Comicbook/TheAvengers, had him as more of a temperamental, rebellious teenager. Though note there is a difference between childlike and stupid, and the Savage Hulk can be [[GeniusBruiser remarkably cunning and shrewd]] when the situation calls for it.

** And their fellow Blackgate inmate Titus Czonka, the Baffler. Very stupid but phenomenally powerful, he made the mistake of trying to be a more traditional Batman villain as The Baffler, a second-rate ripoff of his cohort the Cluemaster who was himself a second-rate ripoff of the Riddler. So the stupid guy starts leaving ridiculously simple clues for the authorities to catch him with...