History Main / BrainsAndBrawn

Usually, in such a pair like this, TheSmartGuy would usually communicate vital information to TheBigGuy, so that TheBigGuy would utilize this information to his advantage. Other times, TheSmartGuy would provide items and equipment for TheBigGuy to utilize. Regardless, while TheSmartGuy provides resources and information, TheBigGuy must protect TheSmartGuy with his life, so that he could gain more information and resources from TheSmartGuy.

Typically, since [[BrainsVersusBrawn one person has brain but not brawn and the other brawn but not brains]], the brawn half of this trope is also an example of DumbMuscle.

* Jake and Tom from ''Film/AliensInTheAttic'' could count as this, with the former as the brains and the latter as the brawn.

* Big Shorty and Short Biggie from ''WesternAnimation/BozoTheWorldsMostFamousClown'' follows the smart short guy/dumb big guy routine. It doesn't guarantee their plans will succeed.

* The upcoming RPG Maker game ''[[https://gamejolt.com/games/thebrainsandthebrawn/271140 The Brains and The Brawn]]'' literally features the trope with the title characters being named after it. Brains, a nerd who tends to be smart and confident, and Brawn, a tall, red haired bully who messes with her along with several other characters, including a prestigious boy known as the Gambler and the ice cream obsessed girl Jeanne. They really like to mess a lot with Brains...

%%* Though they're not really a ''team'' as such, Dilton Doiley and Moose Mason from ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'' get on better than most peripheral characters when they do meet -- possibly because Dilton has little real interest in girls (beyond anatomy, and that's not a double entendre), so Moose doesn't have to beat him up for hitting on Midge.
%%* ComicBook/{{Asterix}} is the Brains and his buddy Obelix is the Brawn.
%%* Whenever Franchise/{{Batman}} and Franchise/{{Superman}} work together, they respectively serve as this to one another.
%%* ComicBook/BlackCanary (brawns) and ComicBook/{{Oracle}} (brains) in ''ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey'' (the comic book version).
* Tz'how and his wife Jessica in ''Comicbook/BowlingKing''. Tz'how is a bowler with powerful arms, but he thinks it's an astonishing coincidence that Music/MichaelJackson and Janet Jackson resemble one another and has a pretty advanced case of amnesia. Jessica, meanwhile, uses his lacking intelligence to keep him from regaining his memories of their past together and constantly plots to live comfortably with him.
* Early in ''Comicbook/{{Daredevil}}'' comics, Mr. Fear specifically hires the Ox and the Eel as his enforcers because they're, respectively, incredibly powerful but too slow to challenge his leadership and cunning but lacking the strength to oppose him.
* The central characters of Creator/MarvelComics' ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules'' are the titular legendary Greek hero, one of the strongest men to ever walk the Earth, and his teenaged travelling companion, Amadeus Cho, who is inexperienced but incredibly smart; they often work for/with Herc's sister Athena, another genius, though of the [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]] type.

%%* ComicBook/LukeCage and ComicBook/IronFist are best friends and frequent partners. Fist is the brains, and Cage is the brawn.

* Like their fathers, [[Characters/{{Robin}} Damian Wayne]] and [[ComicBook/{{Superboy}} Jon Kent]] have these respective roles when working together in the field, with Damian being the TeenGenius BadassNormal to Jon's NaiveNewcomer FlyingBrick. Interestingly enough, their personalities invert the traits associated with this trope from time-to-time, with Damian being prone to "punch first and ask questions later" to Jon's greater willingness to slow down, negotiate, and think things through.
* Another Creator/NeilGaiman example from ''ComicBook/{{The Sandman|1989}}''. Brute and Glob are two 'Major Arcana' (the most powerful and significant of dreams) who go rogue during Sandman's imprisonment. Exploiting Dream's law against killing mortals, they manage to create a barrier [[PoweredByAForsakenChild inside the mind of an abused child]] even Morpheus can't easily penetrate.
* Dwight [=McCarthy=] from ''ComicBook/SinCity'' is capable of handling himself in a fight but if he can help it, he likes to think his way through problems while his friends kill the bad guys. He often has Miho do all the dirty work but the story that introduced him, ''A Dame to Kill For'', involved him enlisting Marv's help to handle the ScaryBlackMan who handed him a painful asskicking.

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman''

* [[PhysicalGod Xadhoom]] and [[ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures Paperinik]] does this with a catch: Xadhoom is a GeniusBruiser and perhaps the smartest person in the universe, but she is also carrying around the power of the sun, so her strategies rarely go beyond being TheBerserker since she very rarely needs anything else. Paperinik, on the other hand, is BookDumb but also a BadassNormal who knows how to think on his feet and figure out plans that ''don't'' require Xadhoom to detonate half a solar system.
** Paperinik and One form a more traditional pair. One is a BadassNormal superhero, the other is his MissionControl and artificial intelligence.
** There is also a whole planet (Vanium) where each member of the strong but dumb race lives in symbiosis with a member of the weak but smart race.
* ''ComicBook/XMen'' allies-and-sometimes-enemies, the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, has B'nee and C'cill, two symbiotic mechanoids who could have inspired [[Film/MadMaxBeyondThunderdome MasterBlaster]]. One is big, clunky, armored, and sub-sentient, the other is small, agile, and has tactical skills. They are apparently named after ''WesternAnimation/BeanyAndCecil''.
** Among the ComicBook/XMen themselves, one of the more iconic romantic pairings was between computer geek Kitty Pryde and team powerhouse Colossus.
** And their enemies, Juggernaut and Black Tom Cassidy. They're of comparable intelligence, but Black Tom is a plotter and Juggernaut is an enforcer.

If combined with BigGuyLittleGuy, the Little Guy is almost always the Brains and the Big Guy the Brawn. See also, BeautyBrainsAndBrawn, a feminine variation of the Trope with a third member -- a Beauty -- added, StrongGirlSmartGuy, for when the Brawn is a girl and the Brains is a guy, and SmartJerkAndNiceMoron where the Brains is the Smart Jerk while the Brawn is the Nice Moron.

* ''VideoGame/EldenRing'': This is the dynamic held by demigod twins Miquella and Malenia. Malenia is by no means ''stupid'', being a brilliant FourStarBadass, but it's Miquella who's TheArchmage and a reknowned inventor, and Miquella who had the vision to create the Haligtree, while Malenia's claim to fame was being an undefeated swordswoman.

%% * ''VideoGame/StarFox'' respectively has Slippy Toad and Peppy Hare.

** {{Invoked|Trope}} in the manual for ''VideoGame/MarioParty1'', which describes Luigi as the brains, and [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]] as the brawn.

* Robin and Superboy are often teamed up this way in ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', though Robin is still good in a fight and Superboy is still plenty intelligent. The best example would be their [[spoiler:take down of Batman and Superman in the finale, where Superboy ''throws'' Robin hard enough that he knocks Batman into a wall and stuns him, then pulls out the Kryptonite to stun Superman while Superboy has him in a hold]].

* Flug and Demencia from ''[[WesternAnimation/VillainousCartoonNetwork Villainous]]'' respectively. Demencia even says in the {{Crossover}} with ''WesternAnimation/VictorAndValentino'' that Flug's the one who actually makes their plans, and she just runs into things without thinking too far ahead.

* Mentioned, in name if not in spirit, in ''Literature/TheShipWho'' -- each "brainship" is assigned a "brawn" who acts as companion, ambassador and muscle for the immobile cyborged pilot encased inside the ship. Averted because brawns are also required to be pretty damn smart in order to come close to the pilot's abilities. As mentioned below, they also serve as someone to say to the other, "why are we heading to [planet/space station/NegativeSpaceWedgie] again?".

* [[MadScientist Drakken]] and [[TheDragon Shego]] from ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'': He invents plans to TakeOverTheWorld, she beats up people in their way. An unusual case in that Shego is ''far'' more intelligent than Drakken at everything except [[MadScientist inventing bizarre gadgets]] -- she simply prefers to [[BrilliantButLazy let somebody else do the planning]] while she does the fighting. She does take over the world on her own in ''[[TheMovie A Sitch in Time]]''.

* ''WebAnimation/FreezeFlame'': Two pairs of Koopalings from ''WebAnimation/BowsersKoopalings'' have this dynamic.