History Main / ChildProdigy

** The sequel series ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' episode "Welcome to Republic City" shows us Aang's successor, young Avatar Korra of the Water Tribe. She is introduced having taught herself rudimentary [[MakingASplash Waterbending]], [[DishingOutDirt Earthbending]] and [[PlayingWithFire Firebending]] by the tender age of four, in a universe where an Avatar is traditionally not notified of their status and multiple ElementalPowers until their DangerousSixteenthBirthday. By the age of sixteen, she has already mastered three of the four elements -- although airbending proves to be a rather significant hurdle for her to overcome.

* In ''VideoGame/NoUmbrellasAllowed'', you can buy and sell one of Deok Gong's violin compositions from when he was less than 10 years old, which you can confirm by using the Year Estimator on it.

* The protagonist is apparently a battling prodigy in ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}''. S/he begins their journey years before most other people, at age 10-14 ([[WordOfGod 11 in]] ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' and their remakes). You not only beat everyone in your region (two for ''GSC'' and ''HGSS'') with ease, including the EliteFour and [[ToBeAMaster Champion]] but take down a gang of terrorists (two gangs in ''Emerald''). There are also various Gym Leaders who seem to be barely older than the protagonists, or even younger in the case of Tate and Liza from ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'' and Allister in ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield''. One particularly ridiculous example is Poppy in ''VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet'', who's '''an EliteFour member''' while looking like she's a preschooler at the oldest.

* The protagonist is apparently a battling prodigy in ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}''. S/he begins their journey years before most other people, at age 10-14 ([[WordOfGod 11 in]] ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' and their remakes). You not only beat everyone in your region (two for GSC and HGSS) with ease, including the EliteFour and [[ToBeAMaster Champion]] but take down a gang of terrorists (two gangs in ''Emerald''). There are also various Gym Trainers who seem to be barely older than the protagonists, with one particularly ridiculous example being Poppy in ''Videogame/PokemonScarletAndViolet'', who looks like she's a preschooler at best.

* The protagonist is apparently a battling prodigy in ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}''. S/he begins their journey years before most other people, at age 10-14 ([[WordOfGod 11 in]] ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' and their remakes). You not only beat everyone in your region (two for GSC and HGSS) with ease, including the [[ThatOneBoss Elite Four]] and [[ToBeAMaster Champion]] but take down a gang of terrorists (two gangs in ''Emerald'').

** Seto Kaiba is not only a TeenGenius, but he beat Gozaburo in a chess match in order to get him and Mokuba adopted. When he was TEN. THAT takes SKILLZ!
*** In the manga, he cheated. Though considering the kind of person Gozaburo was, he might have been just as impressed if Seto did cheat.

* The backstory for Sheldon Cooper in ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' as he went off to college at 11. Another TeenGenius turned OmnidisciplinaryScientist when he went to Germany at age 15, he was a visiting professor, not a student, and he got his first [=PhD=] (he has two at present) at age 16. May possibly be seen as a Deconstructed adult version of this trope. His early successes have fueled his large ego, making him quite insufferable to those around him. He's around 30 but still has the emotional capacity of a kid since he didn't have a normal childhood. And his vast intelligence alienated him from his own family.

* ''Series/{{CSI}}'' featured a rather twisted example: when a teenage boy Marlon West is on trial for killing the AlphaBitch of his school, his sister Hannah West, a 12-year-old who's skipped grades and attends the same high school with him, confesses that she really did it. Unfortunately for CSI, she's not just book-smart; she's also TheChessmaster and manages to manipulate all the facts and people involved in the case. She finally tells Sara [[spoiler: her brother did do it all along after her brother's been acquitted]].
** The siblings are involved again in the episode "Goodbye and Good Luck" at a university crime scene where Marlon is a student and Hannah is a [[ImprobableAge grad student and Teacher's Assistant]]. [[spoiler:This time it's Hannah who killed Marlon's girlfriend but on her own accord, and frames him for it because his imprisonment means he can't have other girls in his life]]. CSI Sara points out that while Marlon's life was actively changing growing up, Hannah's life didn't as even with her prestige she was still viewed as some anomaly.

* Subverted in an episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent''. A young boy appears to be a prodigy, but it's eventually revealed that while he was certainly a smart kid, he wasn't that level of genius. His father had become convinced his son was a prodigy when he was little and had basically forced him to pretend to be one for years.
** Played straight with some of the other kids in the program the boy was attending. It's comparing their work with his that leads Goren to realize the truth about the boy.

-->"The way my brain works is like a beehive. And every one of the bees is like your brain."

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Cybersix}}'': [[TheHeavy Jose]] has an intellect far beyond anyone would expect from a kid his age. He can create mutant creatures by himself, or enhance Von Reichter's creations in order to destroy Cybersix.

* In ''Film/Amadeus'', a biopic about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, he is shown as a child who is composing and performing harpsichord at an advanced level.

* Sunny from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'' is a computer prodigy. She was raised by a computer for most of her developmental years. In ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'', she's an engineer who has designed and overseen the construction of an aircraft capable of travel at Mach 23. Revengeance takes place in 2018. She is ''ten''.

** Also in ''[[VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheAzranLegacy AzranLegacy]]'' Hershel [[spoiler: i.e. Descole]] was mentioned to be one.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{CyberSix}}'': [[TheHeavy Jose]] has an intellect far beyond anyone would expect from a kid his age. He can create mutant creatures by himself, or enhance Von Reichter's creations in order to destroy Cybersix.

* [[ComicBook/RobinSeries Tim Drake]] who started out as a PlayfulHacker amateur photographer who had figured out Batman and Robin's secret identities by accident when he was ''nine'' and is expected to eventually surpass Bruce as the World's Greatest Detective. Tim also takes after Bruce in regards to being a CrazyPrepared ScienceHero who relies on {{Batman Gambit}}s against foes he knows he can't take in a fair fight.

* ''Literature/ThirdTimeLuckyAndOtherStoriesOfTheMostPowerfulWizardInTheWorld'': At twelve years old Magdelene could already see through a spell her master Adar used to disguise himself that several fully qualified wizards could not.

* ''WesternAnimation/JimmyNeutron'', Boy Genius.

* Link from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' was incredibly skilled with a sword from a young age. Reading through Mipha's diary in "The Champions' Ballad" DLC reveals that he was already able to best grown men in single combat by the time he was ''four.''
** The sequel ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'' has Tulin, Teba's son. Despite still being a kid, Tulin was able to develop his own gusts of wind and quickly managed to be far more reliable than any other Rito adult (even his ''dad'') as a Rito warrior. [[spoiler:It really helps that Teba's side of the family turns out to be the descendant family to the Rito Sage of Wind, whose title Tulin inherits.]]