History ObfuscatingStupidity / ComicBooks

** ComicBook/{{Sabretooth}} both [[FaceOfAThug looks]] and sounds like a DumbMuscle bruiser. And he plays that role often, and to the hilt. Never mind that he's an accomplished hacker capable of stealing encrypted government files, and the ''changing'' the encryption so that the original owners can't access them anymore, or that he's an experienced black ops agent whose file was once quoted to be "longer than ''Literature/WarAndPeace''". Or that he [[{{Polyglot}} speaks at least four languages]], reads voraciously, and is [[ExperiencedProtagonist over 140 years old]]. Or that he can continually run circles around people who should be much better manipulators than he is, including Charles Xavier, Mystique, and Mister Sinister. Or that resident [[ProperlyParanoid most paranoid man]] on Earth ComicBook/NickFury considers him one of the single most dangerous people on the planet, based solely on his ability to manipulate others. Pay no attention to any of that, he's rude, crude and blunt, and therefore immanently worthy of dismissal.
** Nate Grey a.k.a. Characters/MarvelComicsXMan, son of ComicBook/JeanGrey and {{ComicBook/Cyclops}} from the ''ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse'' spends most of his early career being perceived - and sometimes intentionally acting - like fiery tempered teenage meathead who leads with his fists. However, this is the half-brother and alternate counterpart of {{ComicBook/Cable}}, one of Marvel's master strategists. From his earliest appearances, he demonstrates some extremely sophisticated uses of his powers, adapts extremely quickly to their tendency to malfunction without warning, and is later acknowledged as ''the'' X-Men associated expert on multiversal travel and alternate he realities. He even proves to be such a skilled strategist that he almost dismantles Norman Osborn's entire power-base in ''ComicBook/DarkReign'' in the space of a day. And while Norman survived that one, given Nate's plan was to accelerate his inevitable SanitySlippage to reveal his true face (a.k.a. the Green Goblin), and Norman went full Goblin very shortly after, one could argue Nate had the last laugh on that.

** Paperinik himself: in his civilian identity of freakin' ''WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck'' he acts like a lazy and bad-tempered idiot, but as Paperinik he's a frighteningly competent [[TheCowl Cowl]] with a penchant for humiliating his foes and dropping much bigger enemies with his bare hands (the temper is still there, he just vents in less obvious and more satisfying manners). It's most evident in the second series story "All and Nothing", where Donald at one point [[SecretIdentityIdentity has to make a conscious effort to not act as Paperinik]] while in civilian identity]], as well as some of the non-''New Adventures'' Italian stories where he intentionally hams up his apparent incompetence as a ploy to outsmart Scrooge (who, by now, reacts to Paperinik showing up with an obvious OhCrap, especially if Paperinik has reasons to be pissed at him), Gladstone (who was once led to believe that Donald had successfully took away his outrageous good luck and duped into buying a manual on banishing bad luck he had previously mocked), and everyone else.

** ComicBook/TheJoker. He looks and acts like a clown and often comes up with ridiculous schemes that seem to genuinely make no sense (the most infamous example being the time he tried to patent his brand of poisoned fish). He can also be suicidally reckless and he frequently resorts to petty pranks even when he has Batman firmly at his mercy. But beneath his foolish façade lurks one of the most diabolically brilliant psychopathic minds Batman ever faces, and he regularly proves himself capable of not only keeping pace with, but actually frequently outsmarting, both the Dark Knight and a host of other extremely intelligent heroes and villains, with even Lex Luthor thinking he is one of the few minds who can actually keep up with him. The Joker is a brilliant chemist who invented his own lethal laughing gas and various other concoctions, has proven himself to be an expert in a range of fields ranging from engineering to psychology and even meteorology, is a masterful escape artist and magician easily on par with his nemesis, and regularly organises and executes acts of robbery and terrorism of such sophistication that they have been compared to military operations. It is very often implied that he is more than capable of killing Batman and everyone else if he really put his mind to it (and that he has intentionally passed up opportunities to do just that), and that the only reason he doesn't is that he thinks [[VictoryIsBoring actually winning would be boring]].
** Bruce's middle two boys often rely on other's misjudging them as less sharp in order to carry out their plans. In ''Comicbook/RedHoodTheLostDays'' Jason pretends not to understand German causing others to discuss a child slavery ring in his presence. And while most people know Tim is smart he manages to surprise classmates repeatedly in ''ComicBook/Robin1993'' with his knowledge and observational skills, without seeming too skilled and causing any of them to suspect him of being more than he is. Except perhaps Ives (who had already demonstrated that he would go out his way not to learn any of Tim's secrets without Tim telling him directly) and Bernard (who suspects ''everyone'' is up to something).
** ComicBook/HarleyQuinn is usually depicted as this. Harley can be quite introspective when she wants to be. After all, while she appears ditzy and goofy, she ''was'' a trained psychologist (with many comics making her a psychiatrist, which means she passed med school) and her getting work at Arkham Asylum despite being a recent graduate is a major plot point. Harley was originally depicted as faking her way past school by sleeping with teachers, but CharacterizationMarchesOn and most writers have since preferred to treat her as BrilliantButLazy in that regard. At one point, Poison Ivy notes that Harley usually has serious troubles focusing on anything, up until the point someone gives her a reason to focus, at which point she becomes ''[[RoaringRampageOfRevenge frighteningly]]'' on task.
** Barbara Gordon is considered genius-level and is one of the best hackers in the DC universe, which came into being once she became Oracle. However, this isn't readily noticeable in her other personas, especially when she's in civilian form or working as Batgirl.
** Oliver Queen in ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDoomThatCameToGotham'' plays the part of the IdleRich man who wastes his money on frivolous vacations and spends his time hunting exotic animals. In reality, he spends all of his "vacation time" training his body and has been working to prevent TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt via Ra's Al Ghul's Lovecraftian death-cult.

* ''Comicbook/TopTen'': Officer Joe Pi, an android, is highly intelligent, empathetic and an expert in human behavior. However, he is more than willing to lean into stereotypes of robots as awkward and excessively logical when convenient for him. Most notably, he "fails" to convince a serial pedophile to leave his fortified home and instead drives the man to suicide by bluntly telling him he has no means of escape and detailing how he will fare in prison.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
** Some incarnations of Superman (especially the iconic portrayal by Creator/ChristopherReeve) have their ClarkKenting rely almost completely on Clark Kent being a clumsy, timid stick-in-the-mud, so nobody would seriously entertain the notion that this farm boy could be the Man of Steel. Indeed, it was a running joke throughout the Golden Age that Clark couldn't get a date with Lois Lane because she was only interested in the brave, physically-capable Superman.
** Superman is the TropeCodifier, for DC Comics. The fact that he can disguise himself with a pair of glasses and nobody ever figures it out themselves, is a testament either to human stupidity or his awesome acting skills. This is even ''{{lampshaded}}'' in ''Series/LoisAndClark: the New Adventures of Superman'', where Lois is told point blank, "Hello! Duh! Clark Kent is Superman!"
** In ''ComicBook/TheSupergirlFromKrypton2004'', his cousin Kara notes that his disguise works because nobody would believe the Earth's champion is a mild-mannered, clumsy salaryman.
** In one [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] story Lois herself used this trope; while disguised as a blonde to get close to a story she bumps into crooks who notice her '[[IdenticalStranger resemblance]]' to Lois Lane. She pretends to be a DumbBlonde gangsters' moll and goes along with the crooks plan to use her as a 'fake' Lois to trap Superman.
** In ''ComicBook/AllStarSuperman'', it's pointed out that Clark exploits the identifying power of mannerisms and posture to better his disguise. Luthor even outright ''says'' that if Kent stood up straight and worked out more, he could have a body that looked like Superman.
** A subversion came when Lex Luthor fed all the evidence he had regarding Superman's identity into a supercomputer, and it told him that Superman's secret identity was Clark Kent. Luthor then destroyed the machine and ignored the results, but rather than thinking that someone as bumbling and timid Kent could never be Superman, he believed that someone as powerful as Superman would never demean himself with such a disguise.
** Modern versions of the character go back and forth with this trope though, since while Clark Kent ''sometimes'' acts clumsy and dumb, he is also a prize-winning investigative journalist for a major metropolitan newspaper and it's a little difficult to believe that he could hold such a position and reputation and have too many people think he is an idiot. Of course, obfuscating stupidity comes in handy for a job like that as well...
** In ''ComicBook/TheUntoldStoryOfArgoCity'', Linda Danvers is riding Comet the Super-Horse as her boyfriend Dick Malverne is watching. Then she realizes that seeing her riding ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'s horse is raising Dick's suspicions about her secret identity again. Quickly, Linda falls off Comet intentionally clumsily in order to throw Dick's suspicions off.
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':

* It's also true of Franchise/SpiderMan. In the early days, no one would have suspected bookish, shy Peter Parker of being the web-slinging, wise-cracking Spider-Man. This remained true as he entered adulthood and became a science teacher (and, for a time, tech company CEO). This is one of the few cases where the "stupid" act is a part of the superhero persona more than the civilian/secret identity; Peter Parker is well-known as a bright and educated man who avoids physical work whenever possible, whereas he does his best to have Spider-Man appear to be a dumb jock who solves problems by punching them in the face and taunting them. All of the technical and scientific aspects of the hero-persona's work are only revealed to a handful of other people he specifically trusts. At one point, he managed to escape a fight using a complex network of bugs, tracers, and detectors to track his targets, but masked all that strategy as "spider sense" and getting lucky. More generally, he's got an IQ high enough to hang with the likes of the Illuminati (a.k.a. the smartest heroes in the Marvel Universe), and stuns ''Bruce freaking Banner'' with his understanding of Gamma Radiation (and what Loki had done with it) during the ''Immortal Hulk'' run, a subject which none other than Reed Richards admits is just about the one science that he ''doesn't'' get.
* Grunge of ''ComicBook/Gen13'', both pre- and post-Worldstorm. The post-Worldstorm version works very hard to give the impression that he's a stupid slacker, due to bad experiences when he was younger and still extremely nerdy. Pre-Worldstorm, he took the same advanced biology classes as the team's resident genius, Fairchild.
* ''ComicBook/GreenLantern1941'': The villain The Fool would act like a silly, harmless prankster who knew all his stupid plans just couldn't work against GL, but there was always a twist that made his "silly" pranks dangerous.
* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'':
** Grimlock of ''ComicBook/{{The Transformers|Marvel}}'' (at least in the [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Grimlock_%28G1%29 Marvel comics]]) was depicted as affecting his speech impediment to both make opponents underestimate him and because of his own belief that intellectuals are inferior.
** In [[ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye more recent Transformers material]], Rodimus spends his time acting like a juvenile ass, but he knows ''exactly'' how people will react to each individual display of assishness. He mostly seems to think that if he acts like a child, naps on the job, pretends to be dead when asked difficult questions and so on, he can get other people to do the difficult parts of his job and leave the awesome parts up to him, and the distressing thing is that most of the time it seems to be working.
--->[[spoiler:'''Megatron]]:''' When did you first realize that he uses bad grammar to distract you whenever you raise an objection to something he wants to do?\\
'''Ultra Magnus:''' He does ''WHAT?''
* While it's not always clear that he's doing it ''on purpose'', it's been said more than once that one of ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'s "superpowers" is actually the ability to distract and confuse people by rambling on and on about stupid things until you either want to surrender or commit suicide from all the inanity -- and yet, the whole time he's rambling, he's efficiently killing or otherwise getting on with whatever task is at hand. Often people underestimate him as a complete idiot because of all the talking, although occasionally someone will say he's an idiot but ''not'' underestimate his fighting abilities.

** Deadpool also says to Cable in the Cable and Deadpool comic something along the lines of "It's fun playing the fool, but do you know when it stops being fun? When you actually start to believe it."

* 11-year-old [[CuteBruiser Molly Hayes]], the youngest of the ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', seems to have the mentality of a six-year-old most of the time. However, she sometimes reveals herself to be at least as mature as her teammates, who are all in their mid-to-late teens. At one point, Molly's telepathic father states that she "acts childlike to lower people's defenses", but actually has "a ferocious intellect". Reaches its [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments funniest point]] when [[spoiler:time-displaced Geoff Wilder]] calls her on it.
-->'''Molly:''' Please, mister! Don't hurt me!\\
'''[[spoiler:Wilder]]:''' Skip the waterworks, kid. Your cloying Rudy Huxtable routine is just an act you put on to get attention from your older friends. Why don't you behave like the bright young woman we both know you are?\\
'''Molly:''' Fine. [[spoiler:Your son took after you, you know. He was a total frickin' failure.]]
* ''ComicBook/BoosterGold'':
** Booster Gold acts like a publicity-seeking fool to cover up the fact that he's been tasked with protecting the timestream, since this would bring about [[RetGone Kill Him in His Crib]]. Although he's not exactly a genius, he is a much more competent superhero than he seems to be. Booster's mentor [[spoiler: and [[KidFromTheFuture future son]]]] Rip Hunter made it clear how important this was, since it was too late to just make Booster's entire identity disappear like Rip had done with himself. When Batman found out about this (in the ''ComicBook/DCOneMillion'' storyline), he encouraged Booster to keep up the act: "Let the world think you're crazy if that's what it takes to be the best you can be, Michael."
** Booster's longtime buddy Ted Kord[=/=]ComicBook/BlueBeetle II invoked this as well; he was a wisecracking prankster who was also a technical genius with his own company.
* ComicBook/PlasticMan is usually portrayed as being ''genuinely'' a bit dopey. During "World War III," in ''ComicBook/JLA1997'', however, he reveals that, thanks to his longtime friendship with a CListFodder hero named the Red Bee, he knows just about everything there is to know about "apian management." Since an alien [[EvilOverlord Evil Overlady]] named the Queen Bee is taking over New York City, and all the big-name heroes are busy on the Moon, Plastic Man ends up masterminding their victory. [[ComicBook/NewGods Big Barda]] even mentions how out of character this is for him, remarking, "This almost seems like a plan." To which he responds (while disguised as a big clown), "I only act dumb, sister."
** Batman has said that if Plastic Man decided to go evil, not even the entire Justice League could stop him.
** In the Kyle Baker run, local ActionGirl Morgan wonders if letting Woozy Winks [[SwissCheeseSecurity wander around FBI headquarters completely unattended]] is really a good idea, as "a spy should appear foolish and unkempt". Of course, this is ''[[IdiotHero Woozy Winks]]'' we're talking about. As it turns out, [[spoiler: the actual spy is a {{Subversion}}, as it's the hyper-competent Morgan herself who is manipulating the system to her own ends.]]
* In "I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League" ComicBook/ElongatedMan tells Booster Gold that "the difference between you and me is that I only ''act'' like an idiot".
* Near the end of ''ComicBook/StrangersInParadise'', it is revealed that [[spoiler:Casey]] was doing this all along; [[spoiler:while posing as a DumbBlonde aerobics instructor, she was actually keeping an eye on Katchoo for Tambi.]] This may or may not be an AssPull.
* Jack Point, the titular character of ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' spinoff ''The Simping Detective'', dresses as a combination of a stereotype Private Eye and a clown. His reasons are threefold: To get criminals to underestimate him, conceal gadgets and weapons in his clown gear and to allow bloodstains to be easily washed away. This is also on top of his penchant for whiskey.
** The main ''Dredd'' strip gave us a particularly tragic version in the form of Tweak, an alien in the "Cursed Earth" story. Tweak was a genius and the ruler of his planet, but intentionally entered slavery on Earth and pretended to be a dumb animal to prevent the [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters evil, greedy humans]] from returning to his planet in order to strip it of resources and enslave his species.
** There's also PJ Maybe, a child prodigy who puts on a big show of being borderline retarded so as to avoid his teachers taking any interest in him. By the age of 14, he's already Mega-City One's most dangerous {{serial killer}}.
** {{Averted}} in the case of the Wally Squad's Dirty Frank. He really is that crazy, but is dangerously effective nonetheless, in part because nobody thinks such a maniac could possibly be an undercover Judge.
* Ben Grimm of ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' often acts like a dumb palooka who doesn't understand Reed's "big words" and loves to clobber. But he's well-educated - a trained test pilot and astronaut (who ''happens'' to love clobberin'!)

* Ultra Boy, Jo Nah, of the ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'', is presented this way in the reboot continuity, partly to explain why he's a dumb jock sometimes, and a clever guy other times. The cover story is that he figured out early on that one of the LSH's enemies was manipulating events, and he presented himself as dumbish to keep the enemy's guard down.

* In ''ComicBook/Marvel1602'', [[spoiler: [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica Rojhaz]], the suspiciously-tall-and-blond Native American who doesn't speak much. The colonists assume he's descended from Welsh traders and Native Americans. He's this universe's version of Captain America, right? Well, yes, but only because he's ''the'' Captain America, thrown back in time from a dystopian future, with all the brilliance that implies.]]
* According to one strip of Creator/WalterMoers, infants are not only able to talk, but discuss complex topics of philosophy, psychology and the like and only use this trope if adults are around. "Ducky make toot!"
* A one-shot ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' comic published in the Tales series depicts a nervous, stuttering freighter pilot landing at a backwater space station for repairs to his ship. After demonstrating his skill in a gunfight, the unfortunate man is coerced into an Old West style showdown with the local crime boss, who is always on the lookout for promising new opponents. The crime boss, Shoto Eyefire, wore body armor and had snipers stationed above them to kill his opponent if he was in trouble. And with these odds stacked horribly against him, the pathetic, stuttering pushover pilot shoots Eyefire through both knees and in the shoulder and fights his way out of the fortress. TheReveal comes when he opens a fake power pack for his blaster to reveal a lightsaber.
-->'''Eyefire''': Non-lethal wounds...stun grenades...stun beams...lightsabers...I '''''HATE''''' Jedi Knights.
* ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}'':
** Cinderella acts like a slutty ValleyGirl in public, but is really a highly trained Black-Ops agent.
** That bumbling little woodcarver who the Emperor inexplicably likes? [[spoiler:He's the Emperor's ''[[BigBad dad]]''.]]
* Done twice in ''ComicBook/LesNombrils'': First in volume 3, [[spoiler:when John John reveals that he ''does'' know how to read, and has been deliberately failing classes to prolong high school]], then in volume 4, [[spoiler:when Karine uses this to make Melanie drop her guard.]]

* In ''ComicBook/AstroCity'' story "Pastoral", the CloseKnitCommunity's means of acting as a collective SecretKeeper is this. They do it so well that Cammie feels like they are in an ExtraStrengthMasquerade that only she can see through.

* A more limited version occurs in ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'': while still a child, Ozymandias received a lot of unwanted attention (and was suspected of cheating) by getting perfect scores on his tests at school. He notes that he "carefully achieved only average scores thereafter". Obfuscating ''Normality'', anyone?
* ''ComicBook/LesNombrils'': At the end of book 4, [[spoiler: Karine uses this to trick Mélanie into an EngineeredPublicConfession]]. This is a new EstablishingCharacterMoment for her.
* ''ComicBook/NewAvengers2015'': Team leader ComicBook/{{Sunspot}} appears to be an idiotic [[TheGadfly gadfly]] who only knows how to solve problems with money, described by Maria Hill as "a martini-sipping lounge lizard." Both SHIELD and the Maker (an alternate version of Reed Richards, one of the smartest men on the planet) find out the hard way that he actually has a plan for every situation and almost always knows what everyone is doing or plans to do.
* The Witless Minions gang of ''ComicBook/{{Empowered}}'' made a living off this: they'd work as henchmen for supervillains, then go StealingFromTheTill, claiming to have "misplaced" all those death rays and nuclear batteries and exotic crystals. As supervillains are already egotistic and used to the idea that henchmen are stupid, they'd usually take those claims at face value. This would continue until the villain was robbed blind--or, as they unfortunately discovered, until the villain figures out what you're doing and decides to immolate the lot of you.
* In ''Comicbook/TopTen'', Officer Joe Pi, an android, is highly intelligent, empathetic and an expert in human behavior. However, he is more than willing to lean into stereotypes of robots as awkward and excessively logical when convenient for him. Most notably, he "fails" to convince a serial pedophile to leave his fortified home and instead drives the man to suicide by bluntly telling him he has no means of escape and detailing how he will fare in prison.
* ComicBook/{{Sabretooth}} both [[FaceOfAThug looks]] and sounds like a DumbMuscle bruiser. And he plays that role often, and to the hilt. Never mind that he's an accomplished hacker capable of stealing encrypted government files, and the ''changing'' the encryption so that the original owners can't access them anymore, or that he's an experienced black ops agent whose file was once quoted to be "longer than ''Literature/WarAndPeace''". Or that he [[{{Polyglot}} speaks at least four languages]], reads voraciously, and is [[ExperiencedProtagonist over 140 years old]]. Or that he can continually run circles around people who should be much better manipulators than he is, including Charles Xavier, Mystique, and Mister Sinister. Or that resident [[ProperlyParanoid most paranoid man]] on Earth ComicBook/NickFury considers him one of the single most dangerous people on the planet, based solely on his ability to manipulate others. Pay no attention to any of that, he's rude, crude and blunt, and therefore immanently worthy of dismissal.
* Nate Grey a.k.a. Characters/MarvelComicsXMan, son of ComicBook/JeanGrey and {{ComicBook/Cyclops}} from the ''ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse'' spends most of his early career being perceived - and sometimes intentionally acting - like fiery tempered teenage meathead who leads with his fists. However, this is the half-brother and alternate counterpart of {{ComicBook/Cable}}, one of Marvel's master strategists. From his earliest appearances, he demonstrates some extremely sophisticated uses of his powers, adapts extremely quickly to their tendency to malfunction without warning, and is later acknowledged as ''the'' X-Men associated expert on multiversal travel and alternate he realities. He even proves to be such a skilled strategist that he almost dismantles Norman Osborn's entire power-base in ''ComicBook/DarkReign'' in the space of a day. And while Norman survived that one, given Nate's plan was to accelerate his inevitable SanitySlippage to reveal his true face (a.k.a. the Green Goblin), and Norman went full Goblin very shortly after, one could argue Nate had the last laugh on that.
* ''ComicBook/BeastsOfBurden'': In ''Occupied Territory'', when Jonathan and Emrys meet with the colonel in his office, Emrys wanders over to look at the report on his desk. Because he appears to be an ordinary dog, this does not raise suspicions. Later, alone with Jonathan, he relays the info from it.

** During ''Comicbook/CivilWar'', he used the phrase "addled moron that I am (or pretend to be)". This being [[CrazyIsCool Deadpool]], it's entirely possible the "or" should be taken at face value, and he's ''genuinely too crazy to know how intelligent he is at any given moment''.

** Bruce's middle two boys often rely on other's misjudging them as less sharp in order to carry out their plans. In ''Comicbook/RedHoodTheLostDays'' Jason pretends not to understand German causing others to discuss a child slavery ring in his presence and while most people know Tim is smart he manages to surprise classmates repeatedly in ''ComicBook/Robin1993'' with his knowledge and observational skills without seeming too skilled and causing any of them to suspect him of being more than he is saving perhaps Ives who had already demonstrated that he would go out his way not to learn any of Tim's secrets without Tim telling him directly and Bernard who suspects ''everyone'' is up to something.

** Batman relies quite strongly on his public persona of "Bruce Wayne, [[RichIdiotWithNoDayJob idjit]]." Averted in the [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries animated series]], where he's portrayed as the head of Wayne Enterprises and a shrewd businessperson, [[BunnyEarsLawyer but still having a rather... enthusiastic attitude towards social activities]].

* There's a couple in ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures'':
** The first is Paperinik himself: in his civilian identity of freakin' ''WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck'' he acts like a lazy and bad-tempered idiot, but as Paperinik he's a frighteningly competent [[TheCowl Cowl]] with a penchant for humiliating his foes and dropping much bigger enemies with his bare hands (the temper is still there, he just vents in less obvious and more satisfying manners). It's most evident in the second series story "All and Nothing", where Donald at one point [[SecretIdentityIdentity has to make a conscious effort to not act as Paperinik while in civilian identity]], and some of the non-''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures'' Italian stories (the early and the more darker of the modern ones), where he intentionally hams up his apparent incompetence only to outsmart Scrooge (who, by now, reacts to Paperinik showing up with an obvious OhCrap, especially if Paperinik has reasons to be pissed at him), Gladstone (who was once led to believe that Donald had successfully took away his outrageous good luck and duped into buying a manual on banishing bad luck he had previously mocked), and everyone else;
** the other is Xadhoom, a perpetually furious PhysicalGoddess with an outrageously high IQ (she comes from Xerba, [[PlanetOfHats where everyone holds at least a doctorate]] and you have to be incredibly smart to get in politics. She ''ruled it'' after proving herself the greatest astrophysicist in Xerba's history and topping the previous greatest astrophysicist's greatest achievement at a very young age, before [[ProfessorGuineaPig testing on herself a method to solve Xerba's energy crisis and aquiring her powers]]) who tends to just charge at the Evronians and exterminate them and generally acts as a BloodKnight. Turns out she charges at the Evronians because she knows they can't harm her (and they only try and fight her only when desperate or believing they have something that could defeat her. Even those times they're right, she easily outplays them), has learned a branch of Evronian science that has no equivalent on Xerba, can easily see through Evronian traps (and still charges at them because she knows they'll fail, or, in one occasion, plays along to see when they'll realize she saw through their act), has an amazing self control, and the one time she played a stint as TheChessmaster she fooled everyone who didn't know beforehand. The Evronians realizes early about her origins and real identity (and thus her smarts), but believed her grief and rage had dulled both her intelligence and self-control until too late (their Emperor even [[LampshadeHanging admitted they underestimated her big time]] exactly ''one panel before losing the only leverage he had on Xadhoom to keep her prisoner'').

** Grimlock of ''ComicBook/TheTransformers'' (at least in the [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Grimlock_%28G1%29 Marvel comics]]) was depicted as affecting his speech impediment to both make opponents underestimate him and because of his own belief that intellectuals are inferior.

* ComicBook/PlasticMan is usually portrayed as being ''genuinely'' a bit dopey. During "World War III," in ''ComicBook/GrantMorrisonsJLA'', however, he reveals that, thanks to his longtime friendship with a CListFodder hero named the Red Bee, he knows just about everything there is to know about "apian management." Since an alien [[EvilOverlord Evil Overlady]] named the Queen Bee is taking over New York City, and all the big-name heroes are busy on the Moon, Plastic Man ends up masterminding their victory. [[ComicBook/NewGods Big Barda]] even mentions how out of character this is for him, remarking, "This almost seems like a plan." To which he responds (while disguised as a big clown), "I only act dumb, sister."

** Some incarnations of Superman (especially the iconic portrayal by Creator/ChristopherReeve) have their ClarkKenting rely almost completely on Clark Kent being a clumsy, timid stick-in-the-mud (albeit not stupid), so nobody would seriously entertain the notion that this farm boy could be the Man of Steel. Indeed, it was a running joke throughout the Golden Age that Clark couldn't get a date with Lois Lane because she was only interested in the brave, physically-capable Superman.
** Superman is the ''TropeCodifier'', for DC Comics. The fact that he can disguise himself with a pair of glasses and nobody ever figures it out themselves, is a testament either to human stupidity or his awesome acting skills. This is even ''{{lampshaded}}'' in ''Series/LoisAndClark: the New Adventures of Superman'', where Lois is told point blank, "Hello! Duh! Clark Kent is Superman!"
** In ''ComicBook/TheSupergirlFromKrypton'', his cousin Kara notes that his disguise works because nobody would believe the Earth's champion is a mild-mannered, clumsy salaryman.

*** Quote from Bruce/Batman to ComicBook/{{Robin|Series}}[=/=]Tim Drake in 'Penguin Triumphant': "Everyone seems to consistently underestimate the Penguin — myself included. In point of fact, Cobblepot is ruthless, vindictive, calculating, inventive — and perhaps the most brilliant man I've ever fought."

** Bruce's middle two boys often rely on other's misjudging them as less sharp in order to carry out their plans. In ''Comicbook/RedHoodTheLostDays'' Jason pretends not to understand German causing others to discuss a child slavery ring in his presence and while most people know Tim is smart he manages to surprise classmates repeatedly in ''[[ComicBook/RobinSeries Robin]]'' with his knowledge and observational skills without seeming too skilled and causing any of them to suspect him of being more than he is saving perhaps Ives who had already demonstrated that he would go out his way not to learn any of Tim's secrets without Tim telling him directly and Bernard who suspects ''everyone'' is up to something.

* It's also true of Franchise/SpiderMan. In the early days, no one would have suspected bookish, shy Peter Parker of being the web-slinging, wise-cracking Spider-Man. This remained true as he entered adulthood and became a science teacher (and, for a time, tech company CEO). This is one of the few cases where the "stupid" act is a part of the superhero persona more than the civilian/secret identity; Peter Parker is well-known as a bright and educated man who avoids physical work whenever possible, whereas he does his best to have Spider-Man appear to be a dumb jock who solves problems by punching them in the face and taunting them. All of the technical and scientific aspects of the hero-persona's work are only revealed to a handful of other people he specifically trusts. At one point, he managed to escape a fight using a complex network of bugs, tracers, and detectors to track his targets, but masked all that strategy as "spider sense" and getting lucky.

* ''ComicBook/NewAvengers2015'': Team leader ComicBook/{{Sunspot}} appears to be an idiotic [[TheGadfly gadfly]] who only knows how to solve problems with money. Both SHIELD and the Maker (an alternate version of Reed Richards, one of the smartest men on the planet) find out the hard way that he actually has a plan for every situation and almost always knows what everyone is doing or plans to do.

* Ultra Boy, Jo Nah, of the ''ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}'', is presented this way in the reboot continuity, partly to explain why he's a dumb jock sometimes, and a clever guy other times. The cover story is that he figured out early on that one of the LSH's enemies was manipulating events, and he presented himself as dumbish to keep the enemy's guard down.