History Main / UnderestimatingIntelligence

** In "Confrontation", Lila and Chloe hatch a plan to sabotage their classmates' applications for high school and then blame it on Marinette. The plan relies upon Sabrina forging documents, but they aren't especially concerned about that, because Sabrina is neither particularly clever nor very brave, so she dutifully forges all the documents for them, What they fail to account for is that while Sabrina isn't clever, she ''is'' smart enough to call up Marinette for advice, and Marinette concocts [[BatmanGambit a plan]] that only requires Sabrina to react the way [[DirtyCoward she normally does under stress]] in order to lead Chloe and Lila into an EngineeredPublicConfession.

* ''WesternAnimation/AtomicBetty'': In "Space Brains", Maximus IQ has Sparky compete in an intergalactic game show and tries to trick him into answering a question about where Betty's homeworld is located. However, when Sparky is asked that question by the gameshow host he answers with: "Well, if I told you what the secret location of Atomic Betty's homeworld is, then it wouldn't be a secret now would it?" Ironically, the host accepts that answer, and Sparky wins the competition, to Maximus' horror.

* ''WesternAnimation/AtomicBetty'': Maximus IQ has Sparky compete in an intergalactic game show and tries to trick him into answering a question about where Betty's homeworld is located. However, when Sparky is asked that question by the gameshow host he answers with: "Well, if I told you what the secret location of Atomic Betty's homeworld is, then it wouldn't be a secret now would it?" Ironically, the host accepts that answer, and Sparky wins the competition, to Maximus' horror.

There are some rare cases where the manipulator knows the person they are trying to outwit is intelligent, but underestimates just how smart they are; if a person tries to outthink a smart person's plan, they might fail to take into account that said smart person could have contingency plans. Someone who's arrogant might acknowledge someone's intelligence but also overestimate their own intelligence so greatly that they underestimate their intelligent foe.

Intellectual counterpart to UnderestimatingBadassery. Compare OutGambitted. This is a common blunder by people who are either TooCleverByHalf, an InsufferableGenius, or a KnowNothingKnowItAll. Overlaps with ItCanThink if a person assumes the being they are trying to trick is only a mindless beast. NobodysThatDumb is common reason why stupid characters don't fall for the deception.

** The Pirate Finnegrin frequently insults and demeans his wood golem, Deadwood, thinking him too dumb to ever disobey him, despite being immune to his most effective means of coercion, [[spoiler: freezing the blood in someones veins.]] This backfires tremendously when [[spoiler: Soren inspires Deadwood to throw Finnegrin into a leviathans mouth, definitely saying his real name; Elmer.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince'': Soren, is tragically underestimated by his own family when he tries to tell his sister their father, Viren, wanted him to [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident get rid]] of their friends, Callum and Ezran, to seize the throne for himself, Viren successfully gaslights Claudia into thinking Soren misunderstood what he said, which she is more willing to belief both out of denial and because Soren, while [[BunnyEarsLawyer a skilled swordsman, is also a bit dense]]. However, he later proves critical in thwarting his father by freeing Ezran and fully defecting to them once he sees his dad for the villain he is and that he must be stopped before he can grow more powerful.

[[ManipulativeBastard Manipulating]] and tricking people isn't easy; one reason why is because there is no guarantee that the target of manipulation or trickery will fall for it. Even if the target of manipulation is [[TheDitz stupid]], naïve, or gullible, and the manipulator is intelligent, there is always the possibility that the target of manipulation will see through it and catch the would-be manipulator off-guard.

The reason why someone might underestimate another's intelligence can vary; perhaps the manipulator looks down on the manipulated party for one reason or another and assumes them to be easily tricked; for example, an old person might assume that a younger person is easily manipulated because of their lack of experience. Someone who's skilled at manipulating others might get cocky and assume that no-one can see through them, and end up being [[DidntSeeThatComing caught off guard]] when someone they tried to dupe does just that.

There are some rare cases where the manipulator knows the person they are trying to outwit is intelligent, but underestimates just how smart they are; if a person tries to outthink a smart person's plan, they might fail to take into account that said smart person could have contingency plans. Someone who's arrogant might acknowledge someone's intelligence, but also overestimate their own intelligence so greatly that they underestimate their intelligent foe.

Can sometimes overlap with SmarterThanYouLook. Contrast SeeminglyProfoundFool and MistakenForProfound, which involve people's intelligences being overestimated. Also contrast TooDumbToFool, where it is ''because'' someone is dumb that the manipulation fails.

* ''Fanfic/PurpleDays'' (''Franchise/ASongOfIceAndFire''): Joffrey after centuries of enduring his GroundhogDayLoop, paying for his mistakes and witnessing the end of the world by the Others over and over again have completely reshaped Joffrey from the psychopathic, idiot {{spoiled brat}} he started out as into a very intelligent and compassionate person. Because of who Joffrey was before he began looping, everyone around him at the starts of his loops naturally sees and treats him as an idiot green boy who can be easily manipulated to their own political agendas, and they -- particularly Cersei and Baelish -- are blindsided when it's as if Joffrey suddenly woke up one morning with a radically different personality to the brat they're used to and the ability to see right through them.

* ''Film/LAConfidential'': Everyone thinks Bud White is a mere DumbMuscle, including Bud himself, and the BigBad [[spoiler:Dudley Smith]] assumes he'll be an easily duped pawn. Bud turns out to be a very intelligent and skilled detective, and helps stop the villains' schemes.
* ''Film/LegallyBlonde'': In the beginning of the film, a saleswoman tries to sell Elle an old, discounted dress as a full price, one-of-a-kind dress, seeing her as a rich, DumbBlonde who is irresponsible with money. Elle instead catches her in a lie about the fabric and remembers having seen it in ''Vogue'' a whole year before, humiliating the saleswoman. This foreshadows that Elle is a lot smarter than most give her credit for.

** ''Film/KongSkullIsland'': This happens at the climax of the movie, when a character unsuccessfully attempts to outwit a monster that turns out to have the intelligence needed to catch onto his game. [[spoiler:[[Characters/MonsterVerseSkullIslandExpedition Captain Earl Cole]] tries to bait the [[BigBad Skull Devil]] into eating him while he's holding an armed grenade. Unfortunately, the Skull Devil realizes something is up by how Cole is walking right up to it instead of running away, and it {{tail slap}}s him away from itself, rendering his attempted sacrifice [[SenselessSacrifice pointless]]]].

* ''Series/HannahMontana'' has a episode where a harsh critic named Barney Bitman, played by Creator/GilbertGottfried, is going to be reviewing the titular character. In order to help her avoid this, her brother, Jackson comes up with a plan to dress up as Music/OzzyOsbourne and trick the critic into coming with him. It looks like it might work until...

* ''WebVideo/SwordArtOnlineAbridged'': Yolko and Kains fake their deaths to try and manipulate Schmitt into confessing to the murder of Griselda. They didn't expect Kirito and Asuna to get involved, but they figured they could fool them to their scheme as well, given the intelligence of the average SAO player. Unfortunately, Kirito is an InsufferableGenius, and he figures out what they're up to.

--> '''Sledge Bro:''' Putting on a little weight aren't ya, Mario?
* ''WesternAnimation/AtomicBetty'': Maximus IQ has Sparky compete in an intergalactic game show and try to trick him into answering a question about where Betty's homeworld is located. However, when Sparky is asked that question by the gameshow host he answers with: "Well if I told you what the secret location of Atomic Betty's homeworld is, than it wouldn't be a secret now would it?" Ironically, the host accepts that answer, and Sparky wins the competition, to Maximus' horror.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince'': Soren, is tragically underestimated by his own family when he tries to tell his sister their father, Viren, wanted him to [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident get rid]] of their friends, Callum and Ezran, to seize the throne for himself, Viren successfully gaslights Claudia into thinking Soren misunderstood what he said, which she is more willing to belief both out of denial and because Soren, while [[BunnyEarsLawyer a skilled swordsman, is also a bit dense]]. However he later proves critical in thwarting his father by freeing Ezran and fully defecting to the once once he sees his dad for the villain he is and that he must be stopped before he can grow more powerful.

** In "Confrontation", Lila and Chloe hatch a plan to sabotage their classmate's applications for high school and then blame it on Marinette. The plan relies upon Sabrina forging documents, but they aren't especially concerned about that, because Sabrina is neither particularly clever nor very brave, so she dutifully forges all the documents for them, What they fail to account for is that while Sabrina isn't clever, she ''is'' smart enough to call up Marinette for advice, and Marinette concocts [[BatmanGambit a plan]] that only requires Sabrina to react the way [[DirtyCoward she normally does under stress]] in order to lead Chloe and Lila into an EngineeredPublicConfession.

--> '''Plankton:''' Gee, and I thought you were stupid.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'': In the episode "Prime Target", Lord Chumly tries to take advantage of Optimus' ChronicHeroSyndrome by using a seemingly chained up woman begging for help. However, to Chumly's surprise, Optimus doesn't fall for it, as the woman turns out to be a hologram to trigger a booby trap. Something that Blitzwing finds out the hard way.

* Franchise/MonsterVerse:

'''Note:If the "underestimated" guy actually attempts to hide their knowledge/intelligence by pretending to be stupid, then the trope is ObfuscatingStupidity. This trope only requires another person to underestimate someone's intelligence, without considering whether the latter actively hides it or not. '''

-->'''Barney''': Okay, I'll go but, uh, just one question. (Takes off Jackson's wig) [[SuddenlyShouting HOW STUPID DO YOU THINK I AM]]?
-->'''Jackson''' (still acting): I-I was hoping a lot.

* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'': Should you accept [[MurderInc the Genoharadan]]'s offer of membership, one of the targets you're hired to eliminate is Vorn Dasraad, a brutal Gamorrean bounty hunter. Because Gamorreans are commonly stereotyped as DumbMuscle, you have the option of planting a mine on his speeder or reprogramming his assault droid to attack him, assuming he'll just blunder into your trap. However, Vorn isn't fooled: he'll immediately notice the sabotage in either case, easily undo your handiwork, and then go hunting for ''you.'' It's later revealed that [[spoiler: Vorn is actually one of the Genoharadan's four Overseers - and the Genoharadan accept only the best.]]

-->'''Yolko''': How did you realize I was lying?
-->'''Kirito''': Ah, well, that part was quite simple. You see... I'm not an idiot.
-->'''Kains''': Yeah, that'll do it.

--> '''Sledge Bro''': Putting on a little weight aren't ya, Mario?

--> '''Plankton''': Gee, and I thought you were stupid.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In "Plankton!," Plankton tries to manipulate [=SpongeBob=] into giving him a Krabby Patty by claiming it's his birthday tomorrow. While [[TheDitz [[Characters/SpongeBobSquarePantsTitularCharacter SpongeBob]] isn't exactly a genius]], he is smart enough to realize that Plankton is trying to get his hands on the Krabby Patty formula, much to Plankton's surprise.

** In "Revelation", Gabriel Agreste fires Lila Rossi from the ad campaign for his Alliance, intending to replace her with his son Adrien and Kagami Tsurugi, the daughter of his business partner. While he fully expects her to seek revenge against him, and thus declines to akumatize her at that moment, when she later turns her wrath against Marinette Dupain-Cheng for an unrelated slight, he ''does'' akumatize her, figuring that she'll be distracted from her grudge against him. This turns out to be false; her subsequent rampage is actually a ruse to distract him while she manipulates his assistant Nathalie into raiding his personal safe, allowing her to obtain proof that he's the villain Monarch.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In "Plankton!," Plankton tries to manipulate [=SpongeBob=] into giving him a Krabby Patty by claiming it's his birthday tomorrow. While [[TheDitz SpongeBob isn't exactly a genius]], he is smart enough to realize that Plankton is trying to get his hands on the Krabby Patty formula, much to Plankton's surprise.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince'': Soren, is tragically underestimated by his own sister when he tries to tell her their father, Viren, wanted him to [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident get rid]] of their friends, Callum and Ezran, to seize the throne for himself, and Viren successfully gaslights Claudia into thinking Soren misunderstood what he said, which she is more willing to belief both out of denial and because Soren, while [[BunnyEarsLawyer a skilled swordsman, is also a bit dense]].

'''Indices'''
* MoreThanMeetsTheEye
* IndexMyopia
* IndexFailure
* PridefulTropes
* IntelligenceTropes

The reason why someone might underestimate another's intelligence can vary; perhaps the manipulator looks down on the manipulated party for one reason or another and assumes them to be easily tricked; for example, an old person might assume that a younger person is easily manipulated because of their lack of experience. Someone who's skilled at manipulating others might get cocky and assume that they no one can see through them, and end up being caught off guard when someone they tried to dupe sees through them.

In some cases, the target is genuinely stupid, but not as stupid as the would-be manipulator thinks; perhaps the manipulator puts so little effort into their manipulation that their target easily sees through them. If the target [[DumbassNoMore used to be stupid but became wiser]], then manipulator might assume that their target is the same idiot they always were, and will become blindsided when someone they could once trick now sees right through them.

[[ManipulativeBastard Manipulating]] and tricking people isn't easy; one reason why is because there is no guarantee that the target of manipulation or trickery will fall for it. Even if the target of manipulation is [[TheDitz stupid]], naive, or gullible, and the manipulator is intelligent, there is always the possibility that the target of manipulation will see through it and catch the would-be manipulator off-guard.

[[ManipulativeBastard Manipulating]] and tricking people isn't easy; one reason why is because there is no guarantee that the target of manipulation or trickery will fall for it. Even if the target of manipulation is [[TheDitz stupid]], naive, or gullible, and the target is intelligent there is always the possibility that the target of manipulation will see through it and catch the would-be manipulator off-guard.

* ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'': This is essentially how [[spoiler:Alita Talia's]] plan to [[spoiler:frame Wocky Kitaki for the murder she committed]] fell apart; [[spoiler:Alita hired Apollo under the assumption that since he is a rookie defense attorney with only one case under his belt, it meant that he was too incompetent to properly defend Wocky. Unfortunately for Alita, not only was Apollo smart enough to be able to find Wocky innocent, he was also able to deduce that Alita was the real murderer]].

* ''WebVideo/SwordArtOnlineAbridged'': Yolko and Kains fake their deaths to try and manipulate Schmitt into confessing to the murder of Griselda. they didn't expect Kirito and Asuna to get involved, but they figured they could fool them to their scheme as well, given the intelligence of the average SAO player. Unfortunately, Kirito is an InsufferableGenius, and he figures out what they're up to.

[[folder:Films - Animated]]

[[folder:Films - Live-Action]]