History Main / StrongGirlSmartGuy

* ''Manga/TheQuintessentialQuintuplets'' features a somewhat realistic example. Male lead Fuutarou Uesugi is a straight-A student whose physical capacities are below average, while the quintuplet he eventually marries is [[spoiler:Yotsuba, who is the most athletic among her sisters, but also the one who struggles the most with her studies]].

* An interesting case with Arnold and Helga from ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' While she's quite smart, Helga is mainly known as a CuteBruiser bully who does not hesitate to use physical force. Arnold, however is mature, never resorts to violence, and gives advice to everyone.
* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'':
** Marie Kanker is the AbhorrentAdmirer to Edd and the Strong Girl to his Smart Guy; Marie is a thuggish, belligerent lout while Edd is a mild-mannered child genius.
** Sarah is the Strong Girl to Jimmy's Smart Guy. While Sarah can be manipulative, Jimmy has proven himself to be an extremely cunning mastermind, as shown in the episodes "If It Smells Like an Ed," "Stuck in Ed," "Cleanliness Is Next to Edness," and "Tinker Ed".

* [[TheDon Bozzok]] and [[TheDragon Crystal]] from [[WebComic/TheOrderOfTheStick The Order Of The Stick]] are a dark take on this. Bozzok is a half-orc rogue and crime lord who relies primarily on his subordinates and his [[SmugSnake overestimated wits]] for his dirty work. Crystal is a[[AxCrazy hyperviolent]] assassin with more confirmed kills than brain cells and Haley's rival. Their dynamic is one of [[PragmaticVillainy convienience]] : she would not survive a week in [[WretchedHive Greysky City]] without his guidance and he sees her as a weapon or attackdog to point at people, [[spoiler: a literaly example when he has her revived... as a flesh golem (a Frankenstein's Monsteresque entity) and he notes how easier she is to control since she's not impeded by her petty bloodlust.]] This backfires when [[spoiler: Haley is able to point out this dynamic to get Crystal to attack Bozzok and then relying on Bozzok's ego to infuriate Crystal to finish him off. Crystal later dies being tricked by Haley into a pit of molten metal.]]

** Jiraiya and Tsunade are a downplayed example. He's far from a wimp, and she's far from unintelligent, but Jiraiya is somebody whp specializes in ninjutsu, seals, spying and intelligence gathering, while Tsunade is better known for relying in her SuperStrength in combat, despite also being a prodigial medic.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'', one of the most powerful superheroes and her well-known love interest, ''ComicBook/SteveTrevor'', an ordinary human who also happens to be an intelligent, crafty spy.
* ''ComicBook/{{Cyclops}}'' is known for being a manipulative [[TheChessmaster strategist]] and ''ComicBook/JeanGrey'' is one of the most powerful psychics in the world, especially when possessed by the Phoenix Force.
* ''ComicBook/MisterFantastic'' is a genius in nearly every field while ''ComicBook/InvisibleWoman'' has been repeatedly noted to be the most powerful of the Fantastic Four.

* [[ActionGirl Hungary]] and [[PrincelyYoungMan Austria]] from ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia''.

* Creator/LindseyDavis uses this trope in her crime novels of AncientRome. The primary pairing is strong-minded aristocrat Helena Justina, who finds her smart guy in streetwise private investigator Marcus Didius Falco. A sub-plot involves the romance between Falco's clever but socially disadvantaged sister, Maia Favonia, who shucks off a deadbeat husband to take up with tough street cop Lucius Petronius. The third significant pairing, in later books, concerns Falco's spiky private investigator daughter, Albia, and her on-off almost-romance with magistrate Tiberius Faustus ( a rare uncorrupt lawman).

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* ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'' has [[CuteMonsterGirl Celty Sturluson]] and [[NightmareFetishist Shinra Kishitani]]. Celty is a BadassBiker with SuperStrength while Shinra is a BackAlleyDoctor and NonActionGuy.

* ''LightNovel/LordElMelloiIICaseFiles'': Waver Velvet/Lord El-Melloi II is a detective who has magical powers, but is non athletic and has no talent for combat, so he depends on his assistant Gray to fight for him.

* In ''LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana'', Yuji Sakai, despite having the truth of the world only recently revealed to him, manages to figure out how his enemies' Unrestricted Methods work and find the weaknesses in them, and excelled in both analysis and long-term strategy. Shana, meanwhile, was raised to be the perfect fighting Flame Haze with vast power, but had a tendency to rush her opponents head-on. [[spoiler: This is even reflected in their signature Unrestricted Methods by the end. While Shana manifests her fire to do solid physical damage, Yuji's own unique spell allows him to do basically anything by deconstructing the principles of the world and then reconstructing it as he sees fit.]]
* ''Manga/DetectiveConan'': Shinichi Kudo and Ran Mouri have this general dynamic, especially once the former got [[FountainOfYouth turned into a six-year-old]]. Before that, Shinichi was in at least ''decent'' shape (having been the school's soccer ace for several years), but still far behind Ran, who could ''punch holes in stone pillars'' without blinking.

* ActionGirl Hungary and PrincelyYoungMan Austria from ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia''.

* ''Creator/DCComics'':
** Mister Miracle uses his genius intellect and various gadgets to become the world's greatest escape artist. His wife, Big Barda, is an AmazonianBeauty who was once the head of the Female Furies, an elite squad of female warriors.
** The parody comic ''The Inferior Five'' featured Dumb Bunny, a superheroine described as "strong as an ox and almost as intelligent", and Merry Man, the 98 pound weakling son of the world's two most powerful heroes who used his intelligence to to survive as a costumed hero. They were teammates and an on-again-off-again romantic couple.
** When Cass came to Bludhaven to [[LikeBrotherAndSister help out]] Tim, [[Comicbook/Batgirl2000 Batgirl]] and [[Comicbook/RobinSeries Robin]] had this dynamic.
** Nightwing and Starfire if paired up. He's a highly skilled fighter but is also a trained strategist while she's an alien with firebolts, super strength, super durability, and flight.

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[[caption-width-right:350:He crunches numbers while she crunches spines]]

!Examples:

* Literature/{{Cryptonomicon}}'': Amy Shaftoe is an ActionGirl from a long line of adventurers. Randy Waterhouse is a bookish tech genius. They get into a romance.

** Marie Kanker is the AbhorrentAdmirer to Edd; Marie is a thuggish, belligerent lout while Edd is a mild-mannered child genius.

** Marie Kanker is the AborrhentAdmirer to Edd; Marie is a thuggish, belligerent lout while Edd is a mild-mannered child genius.

* ''Disney/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'': Kida and linguist/explorer Milo Thatch. She's defended the borders of Atlantis for thousands of years, while he's the first person to accurately pinpoint the sunken city in centuries.

* ''Disney/TreasurePlanet'': Captain Amelia and Doctor Doppler. She's a hardened war veteran with the scars to prove it. He's an awkward astronomer, frustrated with how little his intellect can actually help people.
* ''Disney/{{Zootopia}}'': Rabbit officer, Judy Hopps, is not an imposing figure, but can use her speed and agility to take down opponents ten times her size. Nick Wilde, on the other hand, is a shifty ConArtist who knows the titular city and its citizens like the back of his hand and can talk his way out of almost any situation.

** Season 2 introduces Jason Wilkes, a black scientist trying to make it in 1950's California. He gets inadvertently roped into this season's conspiracy, and the sparks fly between him and Peggy.

* Shikamaru and Temari of ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' are close friends with each other [[spoiler:and they eventually end up as husband and wife]]. The former has an IQ of 200 and fights with deep tactics, utilizing his ShadowPin technique to take control of his opponent's body, and his techniques are used more for submission or incapacitation rather than doing heavy damage. The latter is a girl of strong personality and fights by blowing massive cutting winds at her opponents to overwhelm them.