History HypercompetentSidekick / ComicBooks

* In Comicbook/{{Hawkeye}}, Clint Barton pretty much admits that his sidekick/partner Kate Bishop is the better [[LegacyCharacter Hawkeye]] of the two.

* In ''ComicBook/TransformersRobotsInDisguise'', Soundwave serves as this for Galvatron. Galvatron is the superior warrior by far, but [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority those are his main leadership credentials]]; he's a BadBoss who considers most of their current operations to be cowardice. By contrast, Soundwave is intelligent, pragmatic, and actually has a sense of morals and restraint. Whenever negotiations occur, we see Galvatron itching to start a fight and going on the verge of an outburst, at which Soundwave steps in, calms the situation, and comes up with an actual plan and sensible terms.

* Jughead from ''ComicBook/ArchieComics''. A lot of the time, he's implied to be a lot smarter and more sensible than Archie. He usually knows when Archie's plans aren't going to work but gets roped into them anyway.
* Jenkins from ''Comicbook/AtomicRobo'', who is entirely human but a complete OneManArmy. WordOfGod even jokingly declares that Robo is ''Jenkins''' sidekick.
* To those who don't know better, Lucius Fox is this to [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Bruce Wayne]].
** Alfred is often this to both Bruce Wayne and Batman. And most of the other members of the Batfamily too, [[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} Dick Grayson]], [[Comicbook/{{Batgirl2000}} Cassandra Cain]], [[ComicBook/RobinSeries Tim Drake]], Damian... they all turn to Alfred for help on not-so-rare occasions.

* With ''ComicBook/KnightAndSquire'', the British equivalent to Batman and Robin, Squire (Beryl Hutchinson) is a more accomplished detective and organizer than her boss, Knight. More often than not, it's she who's saving ''him'' from danger, as seen in Batgirl Vol. 3 #22. Of course, Knight is pretty [[BadassNormal badass]] in his own right, but he's also pretty unstable and unlucky.

* ''Webcomic/{{Nodwick}}'', on a good day, is this rather than a BeleagueredAssistant. [[SarcasticDevotee Don't expect him to stop with the snark, however]].
* Disney Comics have recurring stories featuring Sherlock Holmes parody "The Sleuth" with Mickey fulfilling the role of Watson. Seeing as The Sleuth seems to have the same investigative capabilities as WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget, it's not hard to guess who fulfills this trope...
* Lieutenant Pamela Mae Snap in ''ComicStrip/BrewsterRockitSpaceGuy''. She actually was lined up to command of the station, but willingly became this after seeing Brewster's dedication to his crew.

* ''ComicBook/{{Iznogoud}}'': Wa'at Alahf, Iznogoud's henchman. While he acts and looks dumb most of the time, he tends to have sudden LetsGetDangerous moments where he reveals he can be very competent when needed. He's also far more lucid than his master about the fact they can't win.
* For ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}, it's [[PlayfulHacker Weasel]] and [[NeverMessWithGranny Al]] who play this role. Weasel does pretty much everything but the actual grunt work while Al tends to provide some helpful insight in between tormenting her captor by doing things like telling him the salt is sugar (which Pool then proceeds to heap on his cereal, making for a funny spit-take).
* Poor, poor Arthur from ''ComicBook/TheTick''. Then again, he might not be ''hyper''competent, just far more competent than his boss, which isn't [[CloudCuckoolander exactly]] [[FearlessFool difficult.]] See also the animated version.

* For a while, ''Franchise/GreenLantern'' Alan Scott was sidekick to... ''a dog''.[[labelnote:Note]] (Streak the Wonder Dog, not to be confused with ComicBook/RexTheWonderDog, though both were Creator/DCComics characters, and Rex was largely based on the earlier canine star.)[[/labelnote]]
* Johnny Thunder was like this, being in possession of a basically omnipotent genie who will do whatever he says. Unfortunately, he can do ''only'' what Johnny says, and Johnny isn't the brightest guy around. His LegacyCharacter Jakeem Thunder is brighter (and Johnny himself has merged with the genie), but also thirteen years old and lacking in maturity.
** In his earliest appearances, Johnny wasn't even ''aware'' of the genie. He'd accidentally say the magic phrase ("Cei U", pronounced like "say you") that summoned the mystic thunderbolt, and then whatever Johnny idly wished for ("I sure wish I could find a way to get over that fence") would mysteriously happen.
* In a notable difference to other continuities where Robotnik surrounds himself with idiots and backstabbers, his right hand man in ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'' is his chief scientist [[TheIgor Grimer]], who is loyal, dedicated and professional. As well as being the primary designer of many of Robotnik's most dangerous war machines, he personally comes to Robotnik's rescue on several occasions. The only area Robotnik is more dangerous is direct combat being a GeniusBruiser where as Grimer is a NonActionGuy and can't fight without machines. His finest moment came when he was jailed after Robotnik was apparently destroyed by the Chaos Emeralds, where he [[spoiler: took control of his prison, hacked into the Kintobor computer to keep Sonic under absolute surveillance and ultimately outsmarted and outmaneuvered the heroes to find Robotnik]].
** [[spoiler:In ''Webcomic/SonicTheComicOnline'' he chessmasters his way into discrediting Sonic, leaving Mobius to the mob, and starting a destructive chain reaction of volcanoes before escaping to another universe. He appears near the end to gloat to Sonic, as a hologram. Badass.]]

* With ''ComicBook/KnightAndSquire'', the British equivalent to Batman and Robin, Squire (Beryl Hutchinson) is a more accomplished detective and organizer than her boss, Knight. More often than not, it's she who's saving ''him'' from danger, as seen in Batgirl Vol. 3 #22. Of course, Knight is pretty [[BadassNormal badass]] in his own right, but he's also pretty unstable and unlucky.

* Boo of ''ComicBook/{{Copperhead}}'' thinks of himself as one, given that he served as interim sheriff before he was redemoted to deputy.
* Jughead from ''ComicBook/ArchieComics''. A lot of the time, he's implied to be a lot smarter and more sensible than Archie. He usually knows when Archie's plans aren't going to work but gets roped into them anyway.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Diabolik}}'' both the titular VillainProtagonist and [[SympatheticInspectorAntagonist inspector Ginko]], while far from incompetent, tend to pick these:
** Diabolik has Eva, his lover and accomplice, who started out as a skilled former corporate spy capable with a decent number of side skills and under his tutelage became almost as formidable as him.
*** Before Eva, Diabolik's lover was Elisabeth Gay. While she only knew him as the wealthy businessman Walter Dorian he at times asked her help for some "business troubles", with her invariably proving herself extremely cunning and, as a result of her job as a psychiatric nurse, ''really'' versed at identifying functional madmen on sight and manipulate them with ease. It's been made explicit that Diabolik had considered coming clean with her, and didn't only because she was too honest.
*** Whenever Diabolik needs an additional accomplice they tend to be extremely competent at what they do. The classic example is Valentino Alder, just as agile as Diabolik and one of the best men in Clerville at breaking into safes, plus smart enough to realize the man who was pointing him at targets was Diabolik and [[SecretSecretKeeper to shut up lest Diabolik murders him]] until the freedom of both depended on him revealing said knowledge (out of respect, Diabolik involved him in a bigger heist and shared the loot equally).
** Ginko has the habit of surrounding himself with talented cops and train them to become the best police officers they can be, becoming competent enough that in more than one occasion ''they'' foiled Diabolik simply by guessing what he was about to do and acting on it the same way Ginko would have done, or providing Ginko with what he needed to solve a particular problem just as he voiced said problem. Also, in one occasion Ginko had been framed by criminals they solved the case with ease, also taking down the criminal organization, simply starting by asking themselves "This isn't Diabolik's job, so who else could have pulled this?" and working on answering said question.
*** Ginko himself started as one: before meeting Diabolik he was just a talented cop who happened to be too honest and skilled for his corrupt superiors to let have a career but not good or experienced enough to overcome them until the retired commissioner Polè noticed him and taught him all he knew so he could help in an investigation. Ginko quickly proved his skills and, once his direct superiors were exposed and arrested, put on the fast track-and on the path to become Diabolik's nemesis.

* Creator/FrankMiller's ''Comicbook/TheBigGuyAndRustyTheBoyRobot'' ([[WesternAnimation/BigGuyAndRustyTheBoyRobot later made into an animated series]]). The titular big guy was the result of research to create an autonomous robot to protect the USA against the USSR. However while the body was functional, no one could code a proper AI for it, and thus the government converted the big guy into a piloted robot, keeping the fact that it had a human pilot rather than an AI secret. Two decades later, the corporation that built the big guy has a break-through in AI research. The trick is however that the AI can only be coded to be of a similar mentality as a child, and that it needs to learn like a child to that it can grow into the adult, soldier-like mind the US government wants. Equipped with energy weapons, Rusty, the boy robot, is paired with The Big Guy (whom he is led to believe to be a real robot, so that Rusty will try to emulate him and model himself on him). Thing is, despite being an eighth of the big guy's size, Rusty has more firepower than the big guy and only his immaturity keeps him in line and acting as sidekick to the Big Guy, whom he's supposed to replace eventually. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU_ljMDJ4uk Really, the theme song says it all]].

** Since the whole point of Paperinik, DonaldDuck's superhero/antihero identity, is about making him [[TookALevelInBadass more competent]], he is far from incapable. However [[ArtificialIntelligence One]] from ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures'' is a master hacker, can create [[GadgeteerGenius incredible machines]] in little time and has knowledge about practically every subject. Both would probably be offended if you call the computer "sidekick", however: they are ''partners''.

* With [[ComicBook/KnightAndSquire]], the British equivalent to Batman and Robin, Squire (Beryl Hutchinson) is a more accomplished detective and organizer than her boss, Knight. More often than not, it's she who's saving ''him'' from danger, as seen in Batgirl Vol. 3 #22. Of course, Knight is pretty [[BadassNormal badass]] in his own right, but he's also pretty unstable and unlucky.

* With Knight and Squire, the British equivalent to Batman and Robin, Squire (Beryl Hutchinson) is a more accomplished detective and organizer than her boss, Knight. More often than not, it's she who's saving ''him'' from danger, as seen in Batgirl Vol. 3 #22. Of course, Knight is pretty [[BadassNormal badass]] in his own right, but he's also pretty unstable and unlucky.

* Jughead from ''Franchise/ArchieComics''. A lot of the time, he's implied to be a lot smarter and more sensible than Archie. He usually knows when Archie's plans aren't going to work but gets roped into them anyway.

*** Whenever Diabolik needs an additional accomplice, they tend to be extremely competent at what they do. For example, Valentino Alder was just as agile as Diabolik and one of the best in Clerville at breaking into safes, plus smart enough to realize the man who was pointing him at targets was Diabolik and [[SecretSecretKeeper smart enough to shut up lest Diabolik murders him]] (Diabolik instead involved him in a bigger heist and shared the loot equally), while Elisabeth Gay (Diabolik's lover before Eva, who, differently from the latter, didn't know he was the King of Terror) was extremely cunning and ''really'' versed at identifying functional madmen on sight (the latter being the result of her job as a psychiatric nurse).

* For a while, ''Franchise/GreenLantern'' Alan Scott was sidekick to... ''a dog''.[[labelnote:Note]] (Streak the Wonder Dog, not to be confused with RexTheWonderDog, though both were Creator/DCComics characters, and Rex was largely based on the earlier canine star.)[[/labelnote]]

** Alfred is often this to both Bruce Wayne and Batman. And most of the other members of the Batfamily too, [[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} Dick Grayson]], [[Comicbook/{{Batgirl2000}} Cassandra Cain]], Tim Drake, Damian... they all turn to Alfred for help on not-so-rare occasions.

* With Knight and Squire, the British equivalent to Batman and Robin, Squire (Beryl Hutchinson) is a more accomplished detective and organizer than her boss, Knight. More often than not, it's she who's saving ''him'' from danger, as seen in Batgirl Vol. 3 #22. Of course, Knight is pretty [[BadassNormal badass]] in his own right...

* Lieutenant Pamela Mae Snap in ''ComicStrip/BrewsterRockitSpaceGuy''.

* Poor, poor Arthur from ''ComicBook/TheTick''. Then again, he might not be ''hyper''competent, just far more competent than his boss, which isn't [[CloudCuckoolander exactly]] [[FearlessFool difficult.]]
** See also the animated version.

* For a while, ''Franchise/GreenLantern'' Alan Scott was sidekick to... ''a dog''[[labelnote:Note]] (Streak the Wonder Dog, not to be confused with RexTheWonderDog, though both were Creator/DCComics characters, and Rex was largely based on the earlier canine star.)[[/labelnote]]
* Creator/FrankMiller's ''Comicbook/TheBigGuyAndRustyTheBoyRobot'' ([[WesternAnimation/BigGuyAndRustyTheBoyRobot later made into an animated series]]). The titular big guy was the result of research to create an autonomous robot to protect the USA against the USSR, however while the body was functional, no one could code a proper AI for it, and thus the government converted the big guy into a piloted robot, keeping the fact that it had a human pilot rather than an AI secret. Two decades later, the corporation that built the big guy has a break-through in AI research. The trick is however that the AI can only be coded to be of a similar mentality as a child, and that it needs to learn like a child to that it can grow into the adult, soldier-like mind the US government wants. Equipped with energy weapons, Rusty, the boy robot, is paired with The Big Guy (whom he is led to believe to be a real robot, so that Rusty will try to emulate him and model himself on him). Thing is, despite being an eighth of the big guy's size, Rusty has more firepower than the big guy, only his immaturity keeps him in line and acting as sidekick to the Big Guy, whom he's supposed to replace eventually. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU_ljMDJ4uk Really, the theme song says it all]].

** Jeeves is supposedly just Rockerduck's personal secretary, if a very good one. He's also an effective CorporateSpy, a MasterOfDisguise, and even his BattleButler.
** Jubal Pomp is usually just a not-so-competent businessman. Whenever Brigitta recruits him for some business, however, they form a pair capable of making ''Scrooge'' tremble, with Brigitta in charge and forming the plans and Jubal, who is a much better talker, being the one to put them into practice-and, whenever Brigitta goes into WomanScorned mode, keep her grounded.

** In ''ComicBook/DoubleDuck'', Zig Zago is presented as the personal secretary for the director of [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction The Agency]]

* Since the whole point of the [[ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures comic]] is about making him [[TookALevelInBadass more competent]], Paperinik, DonaldDuck's superhero identity, is far from incapable. However [[ArtificialIntelligence One]] is a master hacker, can create [[GadgeteerGenius incredible machines]] in little time and has knowledge about practically every subject. Both would probably be offended if you call the computer "sidekick", however: they are ''partners''.