| 1 | %%% |
| 2 | %% |
| 3 | %%This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks! |
| 4 | %% |
| 5 | %%% |
| 6 | |
| 7 | %%Image kept per Image Pickin' thread: |
| 8 | %%https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16907013650.36091800 |
| 9 | %% Previous threads: |
| 10 | %%https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1603694401048722400 |
| 11 | %%https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1317849582034160100 %%https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1314900782079342400 |
| 12 | %%https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1311461277037900100 |
| 13 | %%https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1295442379011542800 %%https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1333928793023087700 |
| 14 | %%DO NOT start a new IP thread for this image without a concrete replacement suggestion. |
| 15 | %% |
| 16 | [[quoteright:350:[[Series/TheBigBangTheory https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sheldonsnark1.png]]]] |
| 17 | [[caption-width-right:350:"Could these calculations ''be'' simpler?"\ |
| 18 | "No... now calculate the chances you're getting punched."[[note]][[NotHelpingYourCase If you haven't figured it out, it's 100%.]][[/note]]]] |
| 19 | %% |
| 20 | %%Caption selected per above IP thread. Please do not replace or remove without discussion in the Caption Repair thread: |
| 21 | %%https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1404492079030138900 |
| 22 | %% |
| 23 | ->''"A shame. If you were anything akin to me, perhaps we could've become friends. Then again, you would need an IQ of more than 200 to meet the minimum criteria."'' |
| 24 | -->-- '''Bedman''' to... [[MirrorMatch himself]], ''VideoGame/GuiltyGearXrd'' |
| 25 | |
| 26 | %%Quote changed per [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1327331003042025100&page=264#comment-6593 this]] thread. If you want to change the quote, take it to the thread. |
| 27 | |
| 28 | At first glance, Adam the Insufferable Genius appears to be exactly the type who's doomed to learn AnAesop about humility: he's very talented, he ''knows'' he's very talented, and he doesn't mind telling you repeatedly what a talented person he is. But the difference between him and your [[SmallNameBigEgo standard-issue loudmouth]] is that he really '''''IS''''' that good, and when you need someone with his skills to save the day, he always comes through. So you have to concede that at least a ''little'' of his arrogance is justified -- not enough to make you forget that he's got the [[InsultToRocks social skills of a chainsaw]], but enough that you can tolerate his ego if that's what it takes to keep him around. Not that he can't ever be hit with AnAesop of some kind. In particular, every Insufferable Genius constantly runs the risk of humiliation if they ever make a mistake -- which they are more or less bound to do eventually, by simple probability theory. |
| 29 | |
| 30 | May overlap with BrilliantButLazy. Often easily EnragedByIdiocy. Depending on their overall skill and/or hamminess, they may be an AwesomeEgo. May join in a BattleOfWits, if anyone is in the right league. Compare GentlemanSnarker, TallDarkAndSnarky, KnowNothingKnowItAll, TooCleverByHalf, BunnyEarsLawyer, TheProudElite. Often leads to the grudging conclusion that JerkassHasAPoint. Contrast with characters that ''do'' get their [[AnAesop Aesop]], who may [[PrideBeforeAFall fall quickly]] or be [[BreakTheHaughty slowly broken]]. This character is often given a foil by pairing them with a less intelligent sidekick in a SmartJerkAndNiceMoron pairing. Not often, but they certainly can be an AwesomeEgo if their antics are rather entertaining or amusing. Pretty much AlwaysMale due to MostWritersAreMale. |
| 31 | |
| 32 | A lot of the time, in some way or another, the [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex Insufferable Genius' inflated ego is merely a facade that compensates for any insecurities]] or shortcomings, perceived or otherwise. They could also be legitimately delusional and truly believe they're "above" everyone else. If they are aware of their poor reputation and the large amount of people who have serious problems with them, they will often view it as further evidence that they're in the right, with their justification usually being something along the lines of "the strong needn't concern themselves with the opinions of the weak" or "if you're not divisive, you either surround yourself with yes men or have never done anything". |
| 33 | |
| 34 | If faced with consequences for their behavior, they will almost never accept them or recognize where they went wrong -- as far as they're concerned, it's just a case of TallPoppySyndrome and/or useless people trying to bring down someone else because they have nothing to offer. Occasionally, they might display [[TookALevelInKindness a personable and compassionate side]] of them sometimes along with [[FreudianExcuse a deep, dark secret]] revealing why they're the way they are, in which case they have BigEgoHiddenDepths. People having the right to boast about themselves doesn't automatically mean there's a reason to do so in such an overt manner, especially if their talents can indeed be backed up. Despite any justification, arrogance is usually indicative of weakness, immaturity, stupidity, poor character and the like; something an Insufferable Genius would be too proud [[JerkassRealization to realize]]. |
| 35 | |
| 36 | Also contrast with GentlemanAndAScholar (whose intelligence does not prevent him from being gracious, friendly, and polite), SmallNameBigEgo (who thinks he's an Insufferable Genius but is merely Insufferable, if not an InsufferableImbecile) and AcademicAlphaBitch (who is the high school version of the Insufferable Genius and feels the need to [[ControlFreak order the school]] to her specifications). See KindheartedSimpleton which is the opposite of this trope. Compare RightlySelfRighteous if it's the character who is morally right despite how condescending they are. Compare also SmugSuper and the ArrogantKungFuGuy, whose egos come from personal strength instead of intelligence. See TallPoppySyndrome for how they're often reacted to. Related to but distinct from AcademiaElitism, which is more about educational status than intelligence. |
| 37 | |
| 38 | !Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamples please! |
| 39 | ---- |
| 40 | !!Examples: |
| 41 | |
| 42 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 43 | |
| 44 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 45 | * ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'' Skuld practically ''oozes'' this trope, and never receives anything to cut down on her massive ego. In order to balance this out, the writers had to have her fail constantly at her main goal in breaking up Keiichi and her sister Belldandy. |
| 46 | * Ranpo Edogawa from ''Manga/BungoStrayDogs'' is often boastful and claimed that the agency would be nothing without his "[[SherlockScan ability]]". [[spoiler:Subverted before he met [[ParentalSubstitute Fukuzawa]]]]. |
| 47 | * ''Anime/CodeGeass'': |
| 48 | ** Lloyd, an Insufferable Genius MadScientist who is something of a JerkWithAHeartOfGold. |
| 49 | ** And Lelouch, who, when not intentionally restraining himself, has a very much "I'm better than you" outlook on life. However, the only people who really see this from him are Kallen and Suzaku. |
| 50 | * ''Manga/DeathNote'': |
| 51 | ** L is this, at least as far as Aizawa is concerned. |
| 52 | ** Light is an interesting variation. He doesn't let it show [[FauxAffablyEvil much]], but with individuals he's allowed to speak honestly to, he makes it clear very quickly. |
| 53 | ** Near [[strike: has a bit of]] ''exemplifies'' this as well: "Please don't make me repeat myself." Especially when he does his "Look what I got from Santa!" -- face. |
| 54 | * ''Franchise/DragonBall'': |
| 55 | ** Bulma occasionally falls into this, especially in [[Manga/DragonBall the first show]], and in the ''[[Anime/DragonBallZ Z]]'' days before she married Vegeta and had a son. Although she is super-intelligent, even more so than her father, she can be whiny and selfish. |
| 56 | ** Her husband, Vegeta, is [[BirdsOfAFeather almost as bad]] but in a different way. He is a fighting genius and won't hesitate to remind everyone just how good he is. After all, he is the [[BadassBoast Prince of all Saiyans]]. Most of the characters find his ego to be almost unbearable, but his strength and fighting talent are second only to Goku. He does get a little better by the end of Buu Arc though. |
| 57 | * ''Manga/Eyeshield21'': |
| 58 | ** Agon Kongou is considered the most talented athlete of the century and never lets anyone forget it. He never trains and regularly mocks the efforts of normal people or as he calls them, "trash." It doesn't help that he's a sadist with occasional AxeCrazy moments. "My strong point is that I'm invincible!" Sadly, that's ''almost'' true. |
| 59 | ** Hiruma also shows obvious signs of this. He's definitely a genius, whether it's about American Football or anything else, and apparently, that gives him the right to carry around firearms and abuse everyone. The only way he knows off to show people he cares is by kicking them. HIS strong point? "My strong point is that I win!" |
| 60 | ** Clifford Lewis and Mr. Don of team America are this and then some, unfortunately, they can back up their words. |
| 61 | * In ''Manga/FoodWars'' the cast is largely filled with them to varying degrees. The three most obvious are probably Erina Nakiri, Subaru Mimasaka and Souma himself. |
| 62 | ** Erina Nakiri is probably the most obvious of them and is known as God's Tongue in the culinary world for her picky tastes and perfectionist attitude. Unfortunately, her arrogance is entirely warranted and further amplified by her just having [[NoSocialSkills terrible social skills in general]]. When tasting dishes as either part of her job or just because she can, she's able to make extremely detailed observations like noting someone cooked a single ingredient for several seconds too long, skipped a particular step in the cooking or at best noting exactly what steps someone took in cooking, what ingredients they used and most other things about the preparation. |
| 63 | ** Subaru Mimasaka. He is a genuinely highly skilled and innovative cook with excellent technical skills, great attention to detail, and a great theoretical grounding. All in all, he is able to match several of the series' top players ''within their special fields''. His only flaw is his personality, which is widely considered so vile that no kitchen would hire him. He is obsessed with winning cooking contests and does so by stalking his opponents, goading them into matches, stealing their recipes and improving on them just enough to win. Then, to cap it off, he rubs their faces in the fact that he could improve recipes they've spent their life perfecting enough to wipe the floor with them in days. |
| 64 | ** Finally, Souma himself is generally pretty easy going, but he does start the series by taunting Erina so much that she gives him a failing grade on the exam out of irritation and wounded pride. Petty, but understandable. During his introduction to the student body, he scoffs at the lot of them, calls them a bunch of stepping stones to further his career and declares he'll never lose to mere students with no professional experience. A few chapters later he's booed as he enters his first cooking duel and hasn't the faintest idea why everyone is against him. His attitude however is downplayed by the fact that, unlike the previous two, he doesn't gloat over his achievements, and is capable of recognizing when someone is better than him. |
| 65 | * ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'': |
| 66 | ** Edward Elric is a TeenGenius with alchemy skills that are the envy of alchemists who have been doing this much longer than he has, an impressive head for deduction, and many other skills besides. He's also a BrattyHalfPint ([[BerserkButton don't tell him that]]) with an ego as big as he isn't. This arrogance brought a heavy price on him and his brother, as they attempted the forbidden practice of human alchemy and it left him missing two limbs and his brother missing all his body. |
| 67 | * ''Anime/FutureGPXCyberFormula'': Karl Lichter von Randoll. While Randoll ''is'' a legitimately talented athlete, he talks down those who aren't on his level in Cyber Formula racing and lets his talent go through his head. He got over it little by little as the series progresses. |
| 68 | * ''Anime/{{Geneshaft}}'': Dolce, the genius programmer, with the added bonus that she herself seems to be very quiet, while she lets her ''puppet'' do all the bragging. So she's one hell of a ventriloquist too. |
| 69 | * ''Manga/GetBackers'': Ban Midou is this, all the way. He's characterized and {{lampshaded}} numerous times as being a major Insufferable Genius that insults and looks down on (almost) everyone he meets, and loves to flaunt his superiority. In fact, according to his profile in the manga omake, he's described as an extremely prideful person whom most people dislike initially. In the ''Birth'' Arc (which chronicles when Ban and Ginji first became Get Backers), he's shown to be even ''more'' big headed, telling Ginji to call him "LORD Ban," and gloats about how he's a genius, demanding Ginji to praise him for figuring out a strategy to defeat Takuma Fudou. Of course, all of this is completely justified, seeing how he is ''the'' strongest and smartest character in the entire series. As a matter of fact, he actually has the power to [[spoiler:bend things to his will if he believes it]]. |
| 70 | * ''Anime/GhostHunt'': Shibuya Kazuya AKA ''Naru'' is the epitome of this trope, bonus point that he is a [[spoiler:certified genius and a living legend in his field. In the sequel manga adaptation, he is revealed he has a doctorate and skipped admission to university]]. However, he is also prone to BrutalHonesty which consist of admitting out loud he seldom met people smarter than he is. This is balanced by the author, while he was an academic genius, his common knowledge outside of his research field is almost non-existent. He claims he didn't care about anything else aside from his research. |
| 71 | * In ''Manga/GreatTeacherOnizuka'', Urumi used to be this in elementary school, which led to Ms. Fujimori eventually snapping, giving her a BigShutUp, and blurting out her secret to the class, which caused her to hate teachers. By the time she's in high school, she's weaponized her intelligence to play pranks on teachers and make them feel stupid for not knowing the answer. |
| 72 | * Klim Nick from ''Anime/GundamReconguistaInG'' is known to the Amerian forces as "Genius Klim" for his tactics and piloting skill. He's also known to ''himself'' as that and often boasts of his brilliance while he's fighting. When he's outwitted or his plans otherwise go pear-shaped, he tends to flip out that his opponents have the effontry to be as smart as he is. |
| 73 | * ''Manga/HajimeNoIppo''. Takamura Mamoru. He has an ego of the size of a planet and believes himself to be the strongest man in the history of men. Well, it's just that this may very well be true since he is the strongest boxer in the entire manga. His daily {{jerkass}} habits contain bullying Aoki and Kimura and rubbing the fact that they're... not the best boxers... in their faces. |
| 74 | * Megumi of ''Manga/HikaruNoDensetsu'': Despite being stuck-up and condescending to the main character, she's genuinely talented and skilled at gymnastics, and if it wasn't for Shiina and Hikari, she'd be the most talented gymnast of Aikoh. |
| 75 | * Saya Takagi from ''Manga/HighschoolOfTheDead''. Her tendency to insult everyone around her, whine, and use her friends as meatshields hasn't made her very [[TheScrappy popular with fans.]] |
| 76 | * Toru Muhyo of ''Manga/MuhyoAndRoji'' is the youngest Executor in history, has an incredible amount of tempering and can use highly advanced magical laws to sentence dangerous spirits. He also frequently talks down to other MLS agents, belittles Roji, and mocks people who try to get ahead through hard work alone (which is a personal issue for him, since his best friend struggled to become an Executor to support his mother, then turned evil after he lost his mother and was passed over for the position almost simultaneously). |
| 77 | * ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': |
| 78 | ** Neji Hyuga starts out as one of these before [[DefeatMeansFriendship his defeat]] by Naruto Uzumaki. |
| 79 | ** Sasuke also showed some signs of this, but usually got knocked down a peg before he could get too conceited. And then, he got much, much worse. |
| 80 | ** Kakashi also started out like this, mainly toward Obito. He insists on taking point against an enemy ninja to try out his new jutsu, Chidori, destroying almost all the ninja's clones and almost taking down the ninja, but being limited by the jutsu's tunnel vision, and having to be saved by his teacher. Kakashi gets better by the end of Kakashi Gaiden, and by the start of the series, is a relatively modest individual who bears regret for his decisions. |
| 81 | * ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'': Kurt Godel, who is identified as a genius, and is extremely {{smug|Snake}} about it. |
| 82 | * George from ''Manga/ParadiseKiss'' is a genius [[SeriousBusiness fashion designer]]. He's also a complete [[JerkAss jerk]]. |
| 83 | * Ryuunosuke in ''Literature/ThePetGirlOfSakurasou'' shows streaks of this after coming out from [[{{hikikomori}} being a reclusive]] GadgeteerGenius for five months: he doesn't even bother listening to the teacher's lecture and also eats [[TrademarkFavoriteFood tomatoes]] in class, which the teacher finds irritating. |
| 84 | * ''Manga/ThePrinceOfTennis'': |
| 85 | ** Ryoma Echizen. At twelve, he beats high school players with ease, before revealing that he's [[IAmNotLeftHanded really left-handed]], and, if you watch the anime, also defeats professional players in the US Open. Frequently taunts his opponent with "Mada Mada Dane" ("You still have lots more to work on"). A prick, really. Made all the more obvious by titling the chapters as 'Genius #'. |
| 86 | ** Keigo Atobe is quite like that, being a mix of the PrincelyYoungMan with MagnificentBastard ''and'' LargeHam. And what makes it worse is that he's the biggest DracoInLeatherPants within [[PortmanteauSeriesNickname Tenipuri]] fandom. |
| 87 | * ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'': Homura initially has this personality, acting haughty and holier-than-thou and refusing to explain herself; yet she seems to have [[AwesomenessByAnalysis comprehensive knowledge of both magical girls and witches, allowing her to easily defeat any opponent despite her weak offensive magic]]. Just to emphasize the "genius" part, she also breezes through ridiculously difficult math problems and claims to know where the BigBad will appear through "statistics." [[spoiler:Her knowledge and skill mainly come from experience, though, not intelligence -- she's spent ''years'' stuck in a GroundhogDayLoop. That insufferable personality is a facade to help her remain detached and focused on her virtually-impossible quest to save Madoka.]] |
| 88 | * Ranma Saotome of ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf''. He even has a whole move (the Moko Takibisha) that's powered by his massive overconfidence. But even most of the characters who hate him for his ego will grudgingly admit that he has the combat skill to back it up. His ability to improvise strategy is, if anything, even MORE impressive. As he himself says, "if [[MartialArtsAndCrafts it's got martial arts in it]], I can beat it!" And he '''will'''. |
| 89 | * ''Manga/Reborn2004'': Lord, Kyoya Hibari is so insanely egotistical, proud, condescending, and brutally violent. Yet his sheer genius and strength in combat (along with his [[{{Bishonen}} incredibly good looks]], which [[DracoInLeatherPants win over the fangirls]]) manages to compensate and even ''justify'' his attitude. Oh, and he [[KarmaHoudini gets away with basically everything]]. His sort-of-loss in an [[CombatPragmatist unfair fight]] with [[MagnificentBastard Mukuro]] is a ''gigantic'' blow to his ego, and results in his obsessing over proving his superiority over him. Well, [[spoiler:10 years into the future, he apparently got over it. And he's ''still'' an Insufferable Genius]]. |
| 90 | * Hiko from ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'' loves bragging and calling himself a genius, but he really is much stronger than any other character in the series. |
| 91 | * Subverted in ''Franchise/SailorMoon''. Ami Mizuno/Sailor Mercury is a ShyBlueHairedGirl, whose classmates ''think'' her an Insufferable Genius and [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer shun her away]]. Played straight with Shingo Tsukino, though. He's a great student, his sister is a BookDumb [[TheDitz Ditz]] and he won't let her forget it. |
| 92 | * ''Manga/SgtFrog'': Sergeant Major Kururu has a mischievous streak a mile long, and seems more interested in amusing himself than completing the invasion of Earth. However, he's still a (technically senior) member of the Keroro Platoon and the group's "ideas" guy. |
| 93 | * Zelgadis Graywords, a book-smart chimera from ''Literature/{{Slayers}}'', shows signs of this in newer anime and manga adaptations; he dismisses his companions mostly because he has intellectual skills that they don't really have, such as strategizing in battle, cartography skills, a knowledge of magical lore, and in the third anime series, is good at maths. Unfortunately, [[{{Hypocrite}} this doesn't always show when he fights]]. |
| 94 | * ''Manga/SoulEater'': Excalibur would like you to know that his legend began in the twelfth century. And that he had written several books: [[ItsAllAboutMe "First Excalibur," "Breakfast with Excalibur," "Lunch with Excalibur," and "...it's Excalibur!"]] |
| 95 | * ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'' and ''Anime/TenchiUniverse'': Washu claims to be 'the greatest scientist in the Universe' and really is. She even invented tiny robot mascots to proclaim her greatness whenever she needs an ego-boost. Also insists on being called 'Little Washu' and being treated with all the indulgence due to a child, despite the fact that she is over 10,000 years old and virtually omnipotent, capable of suspending the laws of physics or even destroying the Universe if she so pleases. Somewhat subverted in that she is still fairly nice to the people around her and gets along with them fairly well. |
| 96 | * In ''Anime/TomicaHyperRescueDriveHeadKidouKyuukyuuKeisatsu'', Karigari is a massive egomaniac, [[InsistentTerminology insisting that people call him things like "The Number One Genius Scientist in the World."]] He loves to assert his intelligence and superiority over the Mobile Rescue Police any chance he gets, and he actually has a point. |
| 97 | * There's a reason the titular Yugami of ''Manga/YugamiKunNiWaTomodachiGaInai'' has a small social circle. His self imposed isolation and attitude pisses most people who know him off, especially when he just does his own thing regardless of opinion. But he's just so ''good'' at everything he does, from sports to academics, that no one can really call him out in a way that matters to him. |
| 98 | * ''Anime/YuGiOh'': [[Characters/YuGiOhSetoKaiba Seto Kaiba's]] one of the most advanced minds in the world, is an expert strategist, and an amazing inventor, and ''will'' let you know any time it's relevant. |
| 99 | * ''Manga/ZatchBell'' -- [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] -- Kiyo starts out despising his intellectual inferiors (read: everybody) and the feeling's mutual. On the other hand, his unpopularity actually seems to bother him a lot than he'd admit and apparently, he was pretty all right back when he was younger, implying TallPoppySyndrome was in play. Once Zatch enters his life and Kiyo becomes more involved, he actually becomes ''very popular'' in school (to where one of his school breaks has him surprised at how much time he agreed to spend with his fellow students.) |
| 100 | [[/folder]] |
| 101 | |
| 102 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 103 | * In ''ComicBook/AllFallDown'', AIQ Squared is this in spades. |
| 104 | * ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' can be this, especially when he does team-ups. |
| 105 | ** There's also ComicBook/TheRiddler, from his RoguesGallery, who frequently taunts [[GeniusBruiser Batman]] about his supposed stupidity. |
| 106 | * Arion, at least in the Superman story "Camelot Falls." He believes that Superman must die, leave, or otherwise stop interfering with humanity. He saw a BadFuture where mankind got complacent due to Supes helping all the time, ending with the human race getting wiped out. His problem is that he thinks his plan (destroy Supes) is the only option, instead of just cooperating with Supes to fix it. Arion also mocks and puts down anyone who tries to give him advice. |
| 107 | * [[DefrostingIceQueen The female Dr. Light]]. During ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', she angrily storms out to find the BigBad after one of her allies is seemingly crushed. Franchise/{{Superman}}, worried that she'll get into trouble, flies after her. He not only finds that she's okay, but she has discovered and analyzed the BigBad's machine of destruction. She sternly informs him that she knows what she's doing. |
| 108 | * ''ComicBook/DoctorDoom'': Victor Von Doom! of the Marvelverse is renowned for his villainous arrogance. His original enmity with Reed Richards came about because he refused to consider the possibility that he could make an error, then, when the machine blew up in his face (literally), he concluded that Richards had sabotaged it. |
| 109 | ** On several occasions, it's been plainly stated that Doom is more than smart enough to easily figure out the secret identities of every hero in the Marvel Universe. Fortunately, his arrogance means he doesn't give a crap who any of them are under their masks and isn't going to waste time on it. |
| 110 | * Doom's nemesis, Reed Richards of the ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'', approaches this occasionally. He actually uses his genius for the betterment of mankind ([[ReedRichardsIsUseless sometimes]]). |
| 111 | ** In one notable example, he got into an argument with Hank Pym when he claimed that he knew more about Pym particles than Hank did. Hank called him a bitch for that insult. |
| 112 | ** The [[ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour Ultimate]] version of Reed Richards is even worse in this regard, to the point where he [[spoiler:undergoes a FaceHeelTurn because he thinks that only he can make the world a better place]]. |
| 113 | * ComicBook/Hardware1993; see Creator/DwayneMcDuffie[='=]s run on ''ComicBook/JusticeLeague'' for numerous examples. He spends most of this time snarking about how easily he was able to break into JLA headquarters and how easy it was to hack into their communicators system. This angers [[Franchise/GreenLantern John Stewart]] who at one point angrily yells "Okay, we get it! You're smarter than us." |
| 114 | * ''ComicBook/IronMan'': [[Characters/MarvelComicsTonyStark Tony Stark]] has been like this since his conception, though the actual strength of it depends on the writer. |
| 115 | ** The ''Superior Iron Man'' is basically Tony taking this trait to even more obnoxious levels. |
| 116 | * Brainiac 5 of the ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'', particularly in the current reboot and the one after the "Zero Hour" CrisisCrossover. |
| 117 | ** His ancestor, Vril Dox II of [[ComicBook/LEGIONDCComics L.E.G.I.O.N.]], has a pretty big head as well. |
| 118 | ** Humorously, when three alternate Legions are brought together to face Superboy Prime, the three Brainiacs 5 bicker over which one of them should be the authority; None of them can stand any of the others (albeit for different reasons; One of them is distrustful of an older Brainiac 5 because he's never trusted any adults before and isn't about to get in the habit of it.) |
| 119 | ** During The Final Night, a CrisisCrossover, the Legion found themselves trapped in the 20th Century, and Brainiac 5 and the aforementioned Lex Luthor were forced to work together to solve the problem of the Sun-Eater. A humorous moment came when Brainiac 5 complained degradingly about how "primitive" the 20th Century tech was. Luthor loudly proclaimed to the entire room, "Young man, you're so much more advanced then we primitive cavemen, surely you must have already solved our dilemma!" Brainiac 5 promptly shut up. |
| 120 | ** One of the (surprisingly many) post-crisis reimaginings of the origins of Superman involves his first meeting (as Superboy) with the Legion, who have violated the laws of time and causality to meet him out of hero-worship. When he discovers this, Brainiac 5 delivers a pompous lecture about the possible effects this could have. One of the Legion 'innocently' challenges him to work out the exact odds of his disastrous predictions coming true, riling Brainiac 5 up so much that he immediately leaves to do just that -- leaving Superboy to hang out with the other members of the Legion, which was, of course, the whole point. |
| 121 | * [[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Lex Luthor]] might not be the smartest man in the DC Comics continuum, but he's close. And he's going to let you know it, any second now. |
| 122 | -->'''Lex Luthor:''' [[Film/SupermanTheMovie Lex Luthor, the greatest criminal mind of our time!!]] |
| 123 | * [[Characters/MarvelComicsLoki Loki]] of ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'' usually ventures here when his plans are working (especially against Thor, since intelligence and magic are the only places he can outclass his older brother). Seeing as how he's often shown to be the Marvel Universe's resident master of the whole spectrum of ThePlan, he sometimes deserves it. |
| 124 | ** Notably, he has tricked Tony Stark (and the rest of the Avengers), Dr. Doom, and Mephisto. That's two other people on this page and the devil. You might get to gloat a little for that. |
| 125 | * ''ComicBook/MetalMen'': The Metal Men's creator Dr. Magnus can be irritatingly boastful of his intelligence at times, to the point that the backup feature appearing in the first seven issues of Keith Giffen's run on ''ComicBook/DoomPatrol'' at one point has him make the claim that his intellect is superior to 99.9% of humanity. |
| 126 | * The first arc of the ''ComicBook/MisterTerrific'' series involves a supervillain named Brainstorm who is able to raise other people's intelligence at the expense of their social skills, effectively turning them into insufferable geniuses. |
| 127 | * The last DC Comics story of ''ComicBook/ThePowerpuffGirls'', "Smart And Smarter" (Issue #59 of ''ComicBook/CartoonNetworkBlockParty'') had Blossom being admitted to a school for exceptionally smart children. Of course, this goes to her head as after Bubbles draws a rainbow, Blossom details what causes rainbows in a condescending manner. When she starts ragging on Buttercup and Bubbles on their battle techniques against Mojo Jojo, breaking down every movement to a science, even Mojo has had enough and challenges Blossom. Eventually at the end, [[TeamRocketWins Mojo outwits Blossom]], with Bubbles' and Buttercup's blessings! |
| 128 | * [[Characters/RobinDamianWayne Damian Wayne]], the fourth (or fifth, depending on the continuity) ComicBook/{{Robin}}, is a bonafide genius who claims to have written doctorate-level papers before he finished growing baby teeth. By the time he's thirteen, he's already a skilled surgeon, a master of hand-to-hand combat, a keen detective, among many, many other skills. However, his spoiled and amoral upbringing with the League of Assassins made him arrogant and self-entitled, bringing him to blows with his adoptive brothers on multiple occasions when he insists that he's Bruce's rightful heir. Years of CharacterDevelopment have made him far more tolerable (and sometimes even cute) but he still won't hesitate to rub his skillset and intelligence in other people's faces when given the chance. |
| 129 | %% * An early plot turned Tails from ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'' into one temporarily. Sadly, he shows occasional traces of it now in his regular [[TookALevelInJerkass "good"]] persona. |
| 130 | * Arguably the most insufferable of insufferable geniuses, ''ComicBook/TheSpider'' from the British comic book ''Lion'' is all the more insufferable because he's exactly as clever as he thinks he is, being both a ''GadgeteerGenius'' and a brilliant improviser, and he's never shy about telling everyone within earshot just how magnificent he is, including himself (in his thoughts) when there's nobody else there to listen to him. |
| 131 | * ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': |
| 132 | ** [[Characters/MarvelComicsOttoOctavius Doctor Octopus]] is particularly bad about this, especially when gallivanting around as ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan''. Notably, he scoffs at Peter's lack of scientific advancements, despite knowing he invented the advanced web shooter tech when he was fifteen and has been too busy saving the world since then (often from Ock himself) to do much research. But nope, Ock's still "superior" to all other scientists. It gets so bad that, after he is told by Spidey about his HeelRealization and HeroicSuicide at the end of the ''Superior'' saga, he comes to the conclusion that the only reason he would do such a thing is that Peter's brain couldn't handle his genius and it affected him. |
| 133 | ** Mysterio is a bit of a snob when it comes to his expertise in practical effects when the movie industry he was a part of has started to veer towards computer-generated visuals. |
| 134 | * Brainstorm of ''ComicBook/TransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'' is incredibly self-important and narcissistic, but is tolerated nonetheless because of the never-ending stream of outlandish (and highly effective) weapons he's constantly producing. |
| 135 | %%* ''ComicBook/UltimateOrigins'': What does Henry Pym say when he meets Franklin Storm for the first time? "What's 3,424,235,235,345 x 2,352,532?"[[note]]It's 8,055,622,966,676,643,540[[/note]] |
| 136 | * Wobbly-Headed Bob, one of [[Creator/JhonenVasquez Jhonen Vasquez]]' side projects. Admittedly, everyone around him really ''is'' incredibly stupid so Bob's pronouncements aren't unjustified. |
| 137 | * Dr. Nemesis combines this with SesquipedalianLoquaciousness to insult and berate those anyone around him whom he believes less intelligent than himself. That is to say, ''[[SurroundedByIdiots everyone]]''. In one case, when reimplanting ComicBook/{{X 23}}'s claws at the beginning of Necrosha[[note]]Kimura cut off her arm during Not Forgotten, and Laura retrieved her adamantium claws to replace the natural bone ones once her arm grew back[[/note]] he insulted her "amateurish" job extracting them from her old arm. For reference, Laura is one of Marvel's ''top assassins'' and her skill with her claws has been described as surgical in precision. |
| 138 | * Layla Miller of ''ComicBook/XFactor'' is often seen doing this. |
| 139 | * ''ComicBook/XMen:'' On his worse days, [[Characters/MarvelComicsBeast Beast]] will fall into this category. As of the 2010s, he's been here more and more. |
| 140 | ** Worse still, Reed Richards, Iron Man and Beast have worked together in the Illuminati. More than one event-level disaster has been spawned for their arrogance and refusal to look for other solutions, and shooting down anyone who dares to suggest they were wrong (during Jonathan Hickman's ''New Avengers'', they immediately booted Steve Rogers out for trying to call them on this). |
| 141 | * Sapientín from ''ComicBook/ZipiYZape''. |
| 142 | [[/folder]] |
| 143 | |
| 144 | [[folder:Comic Strips]] |
| 145 | * Marigold the unicorn from ''ComicStrip/PhoebeAndHerUnicorn'' gets insufferably smug from time to time. This has been shown to be a shared trait among most unicorns. |
| 146 | * Caulfield in ''ComicStrip/{{Frazz}}'' is way past his grade level in knowledge but too lazy to skip grades. His main hobby is starting highbrow conversations that few people besides Frazz seem to appreciate. |
| 147 | [[/folder]] |
| 148 | |
| 149 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 150 | * After managing to save Jesse's life after her mission in Chernobyl in ''Fanfic/AWEArcadiaBayRogueDemon'', Underhill goes on to remark that it would have been wiser of Jesse to send more rangers instead of going herself, both for her own health and for the medical expenses, and that the mission was a waste of Bureau time and money. Emily calls her out for her tactlessness. |
| 151 | * The main characters of ''Fanfic/Swing123AndGarfieldodiesCalvinverse'' mostly fall into this somehow. |
| 152 | ** Calvin's a GadgeteerGenius, later becoming TheChessmaster, and also a pretty big {{Jerkass}}; |
| 153 | ** Hobbes is extremely proud of his animal roots; |
| 154 | ** Socrates is an insane [[ThePrankster prankster]] doubling as TheFriendNobodyLikes; |
| 155 | ** Finally, Sherman is a BunglingInventor who is nonetheless extremely smart (''speaking'', no less!), but has a nasty case of SmallNameBigEgo. |
| 156 | ** The only one who doesn't fit this mold somehow is Andy, tying into his role as the OnlySaneMan. |
| 157 | * [[AuthorAvatar Daneel Randt]] from the ''Fanfic/TamersForeverSeries'' is a bright but arrogant young technician. |
| 158 | * Partly subverted in ''Fanfic/EquestriaAHistoryRevealed''. The [[LemonyNarrator narrator]] certainly sees herself as one, possessing a harsh personality despite her genius in uncovering the ancient conspiracies of Equestrian history. However, as the fic goes on, it becomes clear that her works of genius are powered by InsaneTrollLogic, leaving her mostly just insufferable. |
| 159 | * In ''Fanfic/ImaginarySeas'', Athena is the goddess of tactical warfare and wisdom, but is ''especially'' proud and confident in herself, treating others like morons to be educated or chess pieces to move. Percy refers to her as a "heartless, cast-iron bitch", but is able to abuse her pride to manipulate her into being more helpful. |
| 160 | * Maggie Pesky throughout the vast majority of ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/17055872 The Buzz On How Maggie Got Fondled By Flecko]]'', starting with her unbeknownstly entering [[MyBelovedSmother Virginia Wolfe's]] brain (through her [[SuperSenses certified canine ear canal]], no less) with her uncle [[PaedoHunt Flecko]] in tow and immediately proceeding to waste a positively ''ridiculous'' amount of precious time [[GenkiGirl hyperactively]] and extensively [[NightmareFetishist fetishizing]] about every possible detail of said brain's internal anatomy...then escalating with the fact that she already knows ''exactly'' how to [[BrainWithAManualControl manipulate Virginia's body into doing whatever she wants on her]] ''[[BrainWithAManualControl very]]'' [[BrainWithAManualControl first time manning the brain's cockpit controls]]...and then finally reaching its peak when she ''amazingly'' has the foresight to [[ManipulativeBitch turn on Virginia's]] "[[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext Brain-Cam-to-TV-Link]]" [[ManipulativeBitch switch]] while Virginia and the rest of her family are tightly BoundAndGagged so that they'll have [[ForcedToWatch no choice but to helplessly watch]] as Flecko inevitably ends up [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raping her in the absolute most horrific way possible]], so that she'll have [[TelevisedTorture undeniable video proof that she can use against him]] when she inevitably ends up being [[Film/ATimeToKill put on trial]] for [[CrimeOfSelfDefense murdering him]]. |
| 161 | * ''WebVideo/UltraFastPony''. While Twilight Sparkle in ''My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' would occasionally dip her hooves into the insufferable pool (see Western Animation, below), Twilight in ''Ultra Fast Pony'' dives straight into the deep end. She's so irritatingly self-assured that the other ponies tell her outright that they hate listening to her. |
| 162 | -->'''Spike:''' I just don't understand why you can't let her be?\ |
| 163 | '''Twilight:''' Let her continue to live her life believing in something that is ''wrong?'' \ |
| 164 | '''Spike:''' Why not?\ |
| 165 | '''Twilight:''' Spike, listen. I am the smartest and wisest pony in the whole town. Everything I do works and everything I do makes perfect sense, and shut up about the burrito. My way of living is vastly superior to anyone else's, and it is ''my duty'' to have everypony do exactly as I do. My thoughts and reasonings are always rational and correct, and I will not rest until everyone else has the same opinions as me! |
| 166 | * Rose Weasley in ''Fanfic/{{Returning}}'' has inherited her mother's "bossy know-it-all" tendencies along with her brain. Scorpius Malfoy is intelligent but, unlike his father, doesn't really see himself that way -- as such, he interprets Rose seeing him as TheRival as her being a {{Jerkass}}. |
| 167 | * ''Fanfic/TheMansionverse'''s ghosts can be quite smug about how good at scaring they are, and the worst is easily the Portrait Man, NightmareFuel personified when on the job but insufferably smug (and chatty) about it during 'breaks'. |
| 168 | * Ash's Pokédex in ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'' never ceases to remind everyone of how smart it is. |
| 169 | * Much like in [[WesternAnimation/{{Trollhunters}} the series]], Merlin in ''Fanfic/GrowingDaylight'' is particularly hard to cooperate with. He had agreed to apprentice Claire in the mystic arts. The only problem is that he has a habit of disappearing for weeks or months at a time without warning. He also knew that Claire was pregnant -- or had known that she would have been in spite of their differing species -- and completely neglected to tell them. When he confesses this to Claire, she tries prying more from him, only for him to disappear again. |
| 170 | * RM from ''Fanfic/ThePokemonSquad'', especially after he TookALevelInJerkass. Hell, the episode "The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Life of Timothy Green" has him admit that he's a pretty bad person when Clemont comments on it. He once even rebuilt a robotic suit just to reprimand the citizens of Unnamed Town over [[AllCrimesAreEqual petty crimes]]. Almost always PlayedForLaughs, of course. |
| 171 | * Zhuge Liang in ''Fanfic/FarceOfTheThreeKingdoms.'' Even in Shu, no one except Liu Bei actually likes him, for [[JerkAss good reason.]] |
| 172 | * Because so many of his inventions are fatally flawed, Sniffles from {{WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends}} is often potrayed as this in most fanfictions and fanart centered around him. |
| 173 | * Galeem in ''[[https://incorrectsmashbrosquotes.tumblr.com/ Incorrect Smash Bros Quotes]]''. {{Jerkass}}, DeadpanSnarker, easily EnragedByIdiocy ([[HairTriggerTemper or in general]])...and also the resident OnlySaneMan, meaning more often than not, he ''is'' the smartest person in the room. |
| 174 | * Drew from ''Fanfic/TotalDramaLegacy''. One character describes him as "the embodiment of 'Um, ACTUALLY...'". |
| 175 | * Simon Skinner-Chalmers from ''Fanfic/TheSimpsonsTeamLASH'' is highly intelligent and at the top of his class, and is often very smug about this. |
| 176 | [[/folder]] |
| 177 | |
| 178 | [[folder:Films — Animation]] |
| 179 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King|1994}}'': |
| 180 | ** Scar reminds everyone how smart he is a little too often. |
| 181 | --->'''Scar:''' Well, as far as ''brains'' go, I got the lion's share, but when it comes to brute strength... I'm afraid I'm at the shallow end of the gene pool.\ |
| 182 | '''Scar:''' I'm ''surrounded'' by ''idiots''. |
| 183 | ** He also does this throughout the song "Be Prepared". |
| 184 | --->'''Scar:''' It's clear from your vacant expressions/ That the lights are not all on upstairs./ But we're talking kings and successions/ Even ''you'' can't be caught unawares. |
| 185 | [[/folder]] |
| 186 | |
| 187 | [[folder:Films — Live-Action]] |
| 188 | %%* Mozart, as portrayed in ''Film/{{Amadeus}}'', is this trope to a T. |
| 189 | %%* John Nash of ''Film/ABeautifulMind'' has traces of this. |
| 190 | * Mark "the Meach" Meacham in ''Film/TheGamersHandsOfFate'' is an Insufferable Genius of card games. |
| 191 | * Matt Damon's character from ''Film/GoodWillHunting'' can be this at times, particularly when explaining to Stellan Skarsgaard's character how frustrated he is. Most of the drama of the film comes from the fact he uses his genius to drive everybody who tells him to do something, ''anything'', better with his life than being a two-penny janitor and construction worker completely crazy. |
| 192 | * ''[[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 Godzilla: King of the Monsters]]'' (2019): Dr. Mark Russell is a self-centered, self-righteous asshole to everyone around him, but he's genuinely competent at predicting the {{Kaiju}}[='s=] behavior in this film (in [[Film/GodzillaVsKong the sequel]], this trait [[TookALevelInDumbass completely disappears]]). To a lesser extent, Dr. Rick Stanton is a supporting smart character; a snarky functional alcoholic who specializes in tracking the monsters' bio-acoustics. Dr. Russell's ex-wife Emma Russell is also characterized this way in the film's prequel comic. |
| 193 | * ''Film/TheImitationGame'': Alan Turing is this a lot of the time, lampshaded when he's told that "in order to play the 'irascible genius', you do have to actually be a genius," and he's working with people who qualify for genius in their own right. However, even surrounded by such bright minds, he is still far enough ahead of the game that his arrogance is (by the skin of his teeth) tolerable enough to work with him. This has drawn a lot of criticism from historians, since the real Alan Turing, though certainly an eccentric loner, was, by all accounts, actually quite friendly to those he knew. |
| 194 | * ''Film/ImNotThere'': Jude Quinn, the Music/BobDylan {{Expy}} played by Creator/CateBlanchett, has shades of this. |
| 195 | * Dr. Michael Hfuhruhurr in ''Film/TheManWithTwoBrains''. |
| 196 | * ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:'' |
| 197 | ** Tony Stark. In ''Film/IronMan1'', he is an engineering genius, billionaire, and ladies' man, and he's got the ego to match. He enjoys putting the boot to his rivals and opponents, but he's usually having too much fun to be a dick to anyone else. In ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', he keeps it up and spends most of the non-action scenes striking a perfect balance between indispensability and insufferability. Summed up perfectly in this well-known exchange: |
| 198 | --->'''Steve:''' Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?\ |
| 199 | '''Tony:''' Genius billionaire playboy philanthropist. |
| 200 | ** Loki in ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}''. Massively intelligent even by the standards of an Asgardian, and he doesn't mind reminding people how great he is: |
| 201 | --->'''Loki:''' '''''Enough!''''' You are all of you beneath me! [[AGodAmI I am a god]], you dull creature! |
| 202 | :::This backfired, because he said it to Film/{{The Incredible Hulk|2008}}, who proceeded to grab Loki by the ankles and slam him repeatedly onto the ground before offering up this witty rejoinder[=:=] |
| 203 | --->'''Hulk:''' Puny god. |
| 204 | ** [[Film/DoctorStrange2016 Doctor Stephen Strange]] is no slouch in this regard, either -- he's a brilliant surgeon with an ego [[{{Pun}} the size of]] a [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2 living planet]]. In fact, come ''[[Film/AvengersInfinityWar Infinity War]]'', this causes friction with Tony Stark -- [[TooMuchAlike both are]] Insufferable Genius {{Deadpan Snarker}}s [[TooMuchAlike who are evenly matched in both regards]]. |
| 205 | ** Princess Shuri has a moment in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' when she asks Bruce why he didn't find a simpler configuration for Vision's neural structure. Bruce, who is a gamma radiation physicist and not an engineer or neurologist, admits that it didn't occur to him and Tony. Shuri sardonically says she's sure he tried his best. |
| 206 | * Henry Higgins from ''Film/MyFairLady'' has this in spades. He is incredibly intelligent and has a near encyclopedic knowledge of linguistics. However, he's also arrogant, misogynistic, and completely selfish. Even his own mother gets annoyed with him and delights in seeing Eliza [[BreakTheHaughty put him in his place]]. |
| 207 | * Duncan from ''Film/MysteryTeam'' fakes the genius part, but gets the insufferable down pat. He spent his childhood memorizing bits of trivia, and assumed this was enough to make him a "Boy Genius." |
| 208 | * Just about everyone in ''Film/NowYouSeeMe'', though Atlas and Bradley stand out. |
| 209 | * Herbert West, ''Film/ReAnimator'', is a young medical genius who has discovered the secret of bringing the dead back to life, but he pisses off so many people with his condescending attitude that no one likes him. Also, the zombies probably don't make him very popular. |
| 210 | * In ''Film/Rush2013'', Niki Lauda is madly talented, knows it and will not hesitate to let everyone else know. |
| 211 | * Aptly, Iron Man's actor (Creator/RobertDowneyJr) also plays the title character of ''Film/SherlockHolmes2009'' as well, who is much the same (a genius investigator with more than his fair share of bothersome quirks). |
| 212 | * Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Website/{{Facebook}}, as portrayed in ''Film/TheSocialNetwork''. However, it's left ambiguous whether he really is that obnoxious or if his jerkass behavior in some of the flashbacks is the result of [[UnreliableNarrator unreliable witness testimonies]]. |
| 213 | * ''Film/SonicTheHedgehog2020'': Dr. Robotnik is a brilliant and revolutionary scientist whose expertise in robotics makes him a very valuable ally to the government. And yet, the government and the military don't want to deal with him at all, since he is extremely arrogant and narcissistic. His EstablishingCharacterMoment has him immediately declare himself superior to Major Bennington, and then claiming that nobody cares about him since Robotnik already outdid him in everything. |
| 214 | -->'''Robotnik:''' [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness In a sequentially ranked hierarchy, based on level of critical importance, the disparity between us is too vast to quantify.]] Agent Stone?\ |
| 215 | '''Agent Stone:''' [[LaymansTerms The doctor thinks you're basic.]] |
| 216 | * This is an InformedFlaw of [[BigBad Norman Osborn]] in ''Film/SpiderMan1''. While he appears [[BewareTheNiceOnes quite genial]] before becoming the Green Goblin, a FreezeFrameBonus of the news article about him early in the film notes that he was infamous among his colleagues for having an abrasive, arrogant side that led to him dismissing their ideas and possibly contributed to the breakdown of his marriage. The PsychoSerum only made it worse. |
| 217 | * ''Film/TheSquidAndTheWhale'': Bernard is a haughty and arrogant novelist who thinks he's superior to everyone else, doing things such as calling his (separated) wife's new boyfriend a philistine and assuming that his son's school's psychologist is unsophisticated because he doesn't have a [=PhD=]. His teenage son Walt, who idolizes him, blindly parrots Bernard's pretentious opinions on literature and seems to be shaping up to become just as insufferable as his father [[KnowNothingKnowItAll despite having not actually read the books he talks about]]. |
| 218 | * ''Film/VictorFrankenstein'': Only Igor is willing to support and tolerate Victor's radical ideas and eccentricities. Almost everyone else views the latter as an embarrassing nuisance at best, or at worst, a lunatic who will bring ruin to the natural order. |
| 219 | * ''Film/YoungFrankenstein''. Frederick has his moments. |
| 220 | [[/folder]] |
| 221 | |
| 222 | [[folder:Jokes]] |
| 223 | * Authors and other artists are infamous for this trait everywhere. An anecdote told (probably about more than one author) has him talk with another guy, and all the time he's just talking about his new book. Finally, even he seems to get that he spoke enough, so he turns to the other guy and says: "But enough about me. Tell me something about yourself. -- How did you like my new book?" |
| 224 | [[/folder]] |
| 225 | |
| 226 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 227 | * T'Passe from ''Literature/TheActsOfCaine''. She's very much philosophically inspired by Caine, the series protagonist. She meets him in prison and is proud to discover Caine could hear her lecturing the other prisoners from his separate cell -- until Caine explains that he was desperately waiting for someone to knife her. |
| 228 | * ''Literature/AndreaVernonAndTheCorporationForUltraHumanProtection'': This is Inspector Well Actually's power. He has superhuman perception powers and deductive powers, but can only use them when correcting someone else. His catchphrase is "Well, ''actually''..." [[PowerIncontinence He can't turn this off,]] and almost destroys the world when the BigBad says there's no way he can defeat the heroes now. His girlfriend Kayla has the literal job of making leading statements so that he can correct her in a condescending tone; everyone else in the corporation agrees that she's a saint. |
| 229 | * ''Literature/AngelaNicely'': Tiffany Charmers is a snooty girl who’s always making fun of Angela, and she’s also the top student. |
| 230 | * In ''Literature/AnimalFarm'', Snowball is more of a benevolent leader than the other pigs on the farm, but he does act condescending to the other animals while explaining his plans, and he doesn't always like listening to criticisms of his ideas. |
| 231 | * Both Artemis and Foaly from ''Literature/ArtemisFowl''. They both explain things as if ''everyone'' is that smart. |
| 232 | ** Artemis pulls off an EvilPlan in the first book that leads to him getting a large part of a ''metric ton'' (literally) of gold, despite being up against fairies with considerable magical powers and a very vested interest in making sure he doesn't get away... |
| 233 | ** Foaly is so smart that he's described as the only reason that fairies have kept ahead of humans, being a combination GadgeteerGenius and MissionControl. |
| 234 | ** EvilGenius Opal Koboi also counts, as well as Artemis' DistaffCounterpart Minerva Paradizo from the fifth book. |
| 235 | * In ''Literature/{{Baccano}}'', Claire Stanfield is so acutely aware of his own awesomeness that he has quite literally come to the conclusion that [[AGodAmI the universe actually revolves around him]]. This wouldn't be so bad if he also wasn't just a tad AxCrazy. |
| 236 | * ''Literature/TheBagthorpeSaga'': |
| 237 | ** Three of the four Bagthorpe siblings are immensely multi-talented ([[OnlySaneMan 12-year-old "Ordinary" Jack]] is the exception); 16-year-old William is a maths, drums, and electronics and ham radio prodigy, 14-year-old Tess is a French, judo, piano, and oboe prodigy, and 10-year-old Rosie is a maths (again), violin, cello, painting, and photography prodigy. Unfortunately, ''they know it'', and never miss a chance to brag about their achievements. As a result, they have almost no friends (not that they care), and their headmaster is so sick of their egotism that he leaves the comments section on their end-of-term reports blank for fear that anything even remotely complimentary will just inflate their egos further; they respond by steaming open the envelopes before their parents can get to them and forging gushing comments themselves. |
| 238 | ** In ''Bagthorpes Unlimited'', we see that even William, Tess, and Rosie have standards when it comes to insufferable geniuses when we meet their cousins, Luke and Esther. Luke has a wealth of trivial knowledge that has earned him a ''Young Brain of Britain'' championship, while Esther is a published poet, and this combined with the fact that they're both dull as dishwater socially leaves their cousins absolutely detesting them. |
| 239 | * ''Literature/BazilBroketail'': Alsebra is an exceptionally intelligent dragoness and likes to rub it in other people's faces occasionally. She usually has more to say on any subject than other dragons and is generally more civilized and open-minded than them. She even outtalks ''Relkin'' at some point when she feels offended by his remark. |
| 240 | * Belgarath in ''Literature/TheBelgariad'' is very old (as in thousands of years old), very smart and good at magic, and generally very cranky. Beldin is not quite as old, but even smarter (and considerably crankier). Both of them are definitely on the side of "good", but that doesn't mean they're pleasant to be around. |
| 241 | * The Hideous Hog in the ''Literature/BridgeInTheMenagerie'' series. While he is by far [[TheAce the best bridge player]] in the group, he's all too quick to puff up his own importance. Themistocles Papadopolous, a.k.a. Papa The Greek, is just as bad about proclaiming his ability, though he usually [[TooCleverByHalf outsmarts himself]]. |
| 242 | * Melvin Sneedly in ''Literature/CaptainUnderpants''. He's the smartest student at George and Harold's school, and he's not only a dullard and a know-it-all, but also [[ProfessionalButtKisser a shameless brown-noser]] and stool-pigeon. |
| 243 | * Dedicate Crane from ''Literature/CircleOfMagic''. Although he does recognize others' potential, he won't be told that he doesn't know how to care for a thing and sounds exasperated that Briar didn't know that he's one of the two greatest plant-mages on the continent (the other is Briar's teacher Rosethorn). It's even PlayedForLaughs in a later book, when Daja gets rid of an overbearing noblewoman by channeling Crane. |
| 244 | -->'''Daja:''' Forgive me, ''Ravvi'' Ladradun, but we speak of things magical, which cannot be known by those without magical power. |
| 245 | * Professor Berthold, from Daniel Pennac's ''Cycle of Malaussene'', has an extremely high opinion of himself, calls his students "band of gnomes", and is quite prone to make disasters. However, he's an excellent surgeon, and even his "disasters" require an incredible amount of medical skill to pull them off. |
| 246 | * ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'': Raistlin Majere is another arrogant TallDarkAndSnarky magician who is ''really'' that good. He managed to defeat all the gods of Krynn and achieve godhood in an alternate timeline, after all... admittedly, it was the ultimate PyrrhicVictory -- he destroyed all of the gods and killed every living thing, leaving behind a barren wasteland where he would try and fail to create life to replace the old, but descend into madness when forced to confront the fact that his evilness made him suffer from a CreativeSterility that made him incapable of such a feat -- but, still, he was a mortal who killed ''three'' CharacterAlignment pantheons of gods and destroyed all life on the planet by accident in the process. He lost in the main timeline only because he chose to surrender when Cameron told him of the BadFuture that would result if he went through with his plans. |
| 247 | * Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald of ''Literature/FateZero'' is a powerful Mage and lecturer at the [[WizardingSchool Clock Tower]], and is so full of himself that it's coming out of his ears. However, it is his own arrogance that does him in. He's so convinced that his victory in the [[VisualNovel/FateStayNight Holy Grail War]] is just a matter of time, and had it been a contest of magical strength, it would have been, but he is twice outdone by Emiya Kiritsugi's [[CombatPragmatist unconventional tactics,]] losing first his base of operations and then his own magical abilities. By the end, Kayneth just wants to get out with his life...[[spoiler:and he doesn't even get that]]. |
| 248 | * ''Literature/FullMetalPanic'': Sousuke certainly has his moments. Especially so in the novel, where more of his thoughts are shown, as well as extra dialogue displaying more aspects to his character (especially in regard to his sense of pride). Also, his pet peeve seems to be people calling him an amateur or hobbyist when it comes to Arm Slaves, as he'll very indignantly correct them that he's not an amateur -- he's a "specialist." He is also more than willing to taunt his fallen enemies for being losers, as well as telling them why their tactics were inferior to his. Justified in that he really ''is'' that good, and definitely qualifies as a TeenGenius. |
| 249 | * The bookish Tash Arranda of ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'' doesn't usually trend this way, but she does to some extent in ''The Brain Spiders'', when she's trying to stand out more from her younger, more impulsive and non-homework-interested brother Zak. It's encouraged by another character, who's taking advantage of her susceptibility to flattery. |
| 250 | * Michael Grant's ''Literature/{{GONE}}'' series: |
| 251 | ** Astrid Ellison is the absolute Queen of this trope. Many characters (most notably Howard, Quinn and on occasion even her boyfriend Sam), have called her out on being too expressive with her knowledge. Many of the Perdido Beach kids end up resenting her for it, and even the fandom has an Astrid hate club on Facebook. (On the other hand, she has many militant fans too). |
| 252 | *** Computer Jack also starts out being described as "condescending" and "haughty" with his borderline super-human skill in computer science. He gets better, though. |
| 253 | * ''Franchise/HarryPotter'': |
| 254 | ** Harry's least favorite teacher, Severus Snape. He made improvements to his textbook and invented his own spells while at school, is one of the few wizards capable of brewing the Wolfsbane Potion, and is the only wizard other than Voldemort capable of flight. Also, in the words of his actor in the films, he is a very interesting character. |
| 255 | ** Hermione Granger. She's a bright, high-achieving witch who constantly tells her friends off for not studying as hard as she does. She also used to be an annoying MotorMouth. |
| 256 | ** Voldemort is evil, but also brilliant. At the end of the fourth book, he delivers a speech to his minions for a whole chapter. It basically consists of, "Let me tell you in excruciating detail [[{{Narcissist}} how awesome and brilliant I am]] and [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech how you are all morons]]." |
| 257 | ** Albus Dumbledore was like this when he was young. After his arrogance led to certain tragic consequences, he learned to keep his ego in check, pointing out that people who don't often wind up turning into self-destructive fools. However he still has his moments in the series proper. |
| 258 | --->'''Dumbledore:''' In fact, being, forgive me, rather cleverer than most men, my mistakes tend to be correspondingly huger. |
| 259 | ** James Potter and to a lesser extent, Sirius Black as teenagers. Teachers recall that they were the best at practically anything they tried, in classes and out, and they became Animagi at the age of fifteen (even helping their not as talented friend in doing so). However, this arrogance got on some people's nerves (or at least Snape, who was another Insufferable Genius and Lily, mainly because of Snape and James' fighting). He grows out of it. |
| 260 | ** Draco Malfoy is also implied to be highly intelligent, as he was able to [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets conjure an entire snake in his second year]] while most kids his age couldn't turn a rat into a cup. He's certainly a sovereign of insufferables. |
| 261 | ** Percy Weasley is incredibly pompous and thinks very highly of his own achievements, but he ''is'' a very successful student, prefect, and Head Boy, and what's shown of his duelling gives the impression he didn't neglect practical studies either. |
| 262 | * ''Franchise/HerculePoirot'' never gets tired of explaining his genius, but since he's only ever failed to solve ''one'' case in a thirty-year-plus career, one might consider cutting him a little slack. Even Creator/AgathaChristie thought Poirot was an insufferable know-it-all and grew tired of writing him. Perhaps this is the reason that Poirot admits to that he too finds his own arrogance obnoxious, but explains it away as part of his facade of ObfuscatingStupidity. |
| 263 | %%* Marvin the Paranoid Android from ''Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', with an extra emphasis on the insufferable part. |
| 264 | %%-->"I'm much smarter than you. Think of a number, any number."\ |
| 265 | %%"Err... five?"\ |
| 266 | %%"Wrong. You see?" |
| 267 | * ''Literature/HIVESeries'': Otto is one of these, completely under the impression that being snarky (and therefore appearing more intelligent) will get him out of any situation. The series overall is pretty much a nine-book-long BreakTheHaughty as increasingly tragic events happen around and to him. |
| 268 | * ''Literature/{{Hothouse}}'': The morel and the Sodal Ye are genuinely and by a good margin the most intelligent, imaginative and well-informed characters in the story. They are also intensely arrogant and condescending, and make little secret of their contempt for other beings. |
| 269 | * ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': Haymitch Abernathy, back in the day. He still definitely has traces of this attitude but most of it has been beaten out of him. |
| 270 | * ''Literature/InDeath'': Dick "Dickhead" Berenski. He has an egg-shaped head, he is considered creepy by a number of characters, he whines a lot about how every cop expects him to put his or her case at the top of the list, and he often has to be bribed with alcohol, sports tickets, and what have you to get him to put said case to the top of the list. He is also the chief lab tech, and he is a genius in his work. |
| 271 | * ''Literature/JohnPutnamThatcher'': |
| 272 | ** Recurring character Paul Jackson is a celebrated attorney who is always supremely confident in his eventual victory. His skill in the courtroom is everything he implies it is. |
| 273 | ** Scott Wenzel from ''Green Grow the Dollars'' is a self-absorbed botanist (albeit with some {{Morality Pet}}s) who thinks that he's miles ahead of his rivals and doesn't hesitate to mock them. [[spoiler:He has single-handedly outpaced the efforts of a big corporation by a wide margin and the people he's most contemptuous of are indeed incompetent and/or crooked.]] |
| 274 | * Kirsty from the ''Literature/JohnnyMaxwellTrilogy'' is a recognized genius and tends to win absolutely everything. However her constantly explaining to everyone just how stupid they are tends to drive most people away from her, which she assumes is a character flaw in everybody else. |
| 275 | ** Creator/TerryPratchett later reused this basic interpretation of the trope when he created Susan Sto Helit for his ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' series. It's most heavily present in ''Literature/SoulMusic'' when she is still a teenager, and somewhat justifiable as a combination of considerable intelligence, an upbringing in cold, hard, rationalism and an innate awareness of the ''true nature'' of things due to her supernatural heritage. It still makes her be regarded as rather annoying or obnoxious by most who meet her -- the primary exception are children, who take well to her view of them as basically being small adults and thus treating them as such. |
| 276 | ** The witch Granny Weatherwax is an unusual combination of this and BookDumb. Her spelling ([[{{Pun}} heh]]) and grammar are on a First Grade level at best, and she considers plenty of things most people take for granted to be stupid or unworthy of her time. She also has [[{{Pride}} an ego the size of the Disc itself]], [[BadassBoast names herself the best Witch in the world]], and [[RankScalesWithAsskicking constantly]] proves [[AwesomeEgo it]], being both a powerful sorceress and a genius GuileHeroine who's knocked around [[EvilOverlord tyrants]], [[TheFairFolk elves]], [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires]] and her evil sister in her time. Sure, she's an arrogant jerk, but she [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold really does care]], is by far most insufferable to [[TooDumbToLive idiots]] and [[WideEyedIdealist idealists]], and reserves her [[FateWorseThanDeath worst punishments]] for the utterly vile. |
| 277 | * British statesman Lord Chesterfield warned his son not to become this in the ''Literature/LettersToHisSon'': "Wear your learning, like your watch, in a private pocket: and do not pull it out and strike it; merely to show that you have one. If you are asked what o'clock it is, tell it; but do not proclaim it hourly and unasked, like the watchman." (letter 30) |
| 278 | * Sir Austin Cardynge in the Literature/{{Lensman}} series is Earth's mightiest mathematical brain, able to think in the language of mathematics. He's also a "conceited old goat" full of fury, but Kinnison notes that "you can afford to make concessions to a man with a brain like that." Furthermore, he's just the one named example of the Conference of Scientists, ''all'' of whom are insufferable geniuses and who collectively (with much friction and argument) develop the theory for two of the superweapons in the LensmanArmsRace. |
| 279 | * Harrow of ''Literature/TheLockedTomb'' series is smug and arrogant, but she really ''is'' a hugely talented necromancer, assuredly one of the most powerful of her generation. And she won't let anyone forget it. |
| 280 | * The Wizard Saruman from ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'' is like this. But Denethor is an even better example. Both are even insufferable toward Gandalf, which in Saruman's case is somewhat justified (as he is the head of the Istari, thus outranking Gandalf, and also widely acknowledged to be the smartest of them too -- it's just that Gandalf is Saruman's superior in wisdom, integrity, and basic social skills), but in Denethor's case is remarkably cheeky. |
| 281 | ** Gandalf, for those not familiar with Tolkien's 'verse, is basically a ''demi-god'' working for ThePowersThatBe. So is Saruman, but he defected. |
| 282 | * ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' shows us that Sauron was also this, before going full-on MagnificentBastard. He is still very smart, even in [=LotR=]. It's just that by this point, the good guys have figured out that forcing him into a fight is the way to win. |
| 283 | ** This book also has Fëanor. Fëanor excelled at everything he turned his hands and mind to. While is most famous feat was the creation of the Silmarils, he was also a skilled worker of metals, a puissant warrior and brilliant strategist, as well as a genius scholar who essentially created written Quenya out of whole cloth. He was also arrogant, hotheaded, had [[FreudianExcuse mommy issues]] out the wazoo, deliberately surrounded himself with people who fed his absolutely worst traits, and responded harshly and often violently to even the most carefully couched criticism of any of his actions. |
| 284 | * In the ScienceFiction novel ''Macroscope'' by Creator/PiersAnthony, an experiment breeds high-IQ men and women and places the offspring into an intensely educational environment to see if it will produce super-geniuses. The adults running the experiment think it failed because the smartest kids pretend to be average ForTheLulz. One boy is so off-the-charts smart that he gets bored with the whole thing by the age of five and hides by shutting down most of his intellect and reprogramming himself with a completely different persona. When a galaxy-threatening danger piques his interest enough to bring him out of hiding, he's so insufferable that his comrades wonder if it's worth it. |
| 285 | * ''[[Literature/AMagesPower A Mage's Power]]'': Dengel is famous throughout Tariatla because of his accomplishments in codifying the science of magecraft and he fills Eric's mind with bragging about his personal legend. |
| 286 | -->'''Dengel:''' ''My lectures are brilliant and I never brag''. |
| 287 | * The title character of the ''Literature/MediochreQSethSeries'' is an example. Unlike some, however, he is human enough to [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold start being nice to people when they need it]]. |
| 288 | * Literature/NeroWolfe isn't exactly shy about pointing out how intelligent he is, which often leads his assistant Archie Goodwin to [[DeadpanSnarker snark about it at length]]. |
| 289 | * David Audley, the lead character of Creator/AnthonyPrice's spy thrillers, is ferociously intelligent and doesn't make much allowance for people who aren't. Nearly everybody who knows him respects him, but apart from his wife and daughter almost nobody ''likes'' him. |
| 290 | * Lily Moscovitz from ''Literature/ThePrincessDiaries'' is [[InformedAbility said to be brilliant]] but has absolutely no people skills. Whatsoever. |
| 291 | * ''Literature/QualiaThePurple''. Alice makes no attempt to hide her attitude to those without special gifts, although she does act incredibly friendly to those with them. |
| 292 | * In ''Literature/RainbowsEnd'', Robert Gu is considered one of the greatest living poets, and he loves using his gift of language to humiliate others and put them in their place. When she finds out his Alzheimer's is being cured, his ex-wife fakes her own death, rather than have to face him again. |
| 293 | * Skull Skelton, an intelligence officer who pops up in several novels by Creator/DerekRobinson. He's almost always right, especially when pointing out the shortcomings of military tactics directly to the men responsible for those tactics, but no one likes him for it. A superior officer once threw a telephone at him. Or was it a bottle of rum? Probably both. |
| 294 | * [[GeniusBruiser Daylen]] in ''Literature/ShadowOfTheConqueror,'' is very aware of how knowledgeable and [[GadgeteerGenius skilled]] he is compared to most of the people in the world, and is [[{{Pride}} not at all shy]] about reminding them all of what a genius he is whenever a situation arises where his smarts are needed. |
| 295 | * ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' very seldom brags about how smart ''he'' is, but he is always ready to snarkily disparage the intellect of anyone who fails to keep up with his deductive leaps. Watson is really a paragon of self-restraint considering the verbal abuse he takes from Holmes. Resentment toward this conceited attitude is probably why it takes so long for the Scotland Yard detectives to (grudgingly, at first) admit that he really ''is'' as brilliant as he thinks he is. |
| 296 | -->'''Sherlock Holmes:''' You mean well, Watson. Shall I demonstrate your own ignorance? |
| 297 | ** When we meet Mycroft (Sherlock's brother), however, Sherlock is quick to point out, matter-of-factly, that his brother is the smarter of the two. Watson suggests that Sherlock is just being modest, but Sherlock says it's just as much of a sin to have too ''low'' an opinion of your skills as too ''high''. It is also worth noting that Holmes is [[SnarkKnight just as hard on himself as on anyone else]] when he fails to live up to his own standards. |
| 298 | * Harold Lauder of ''Literature/TheStand'', especially early on. Smarter than anyone else in the book. And he knows it. And he was bullied mercilessly and sees no reason to let go of old grudges just because the world ended and all those people are dead now. At one point, Fran mentally compares Harold to a defective oracle -- balky, a little bit frightening, but ''incredibly'' useful to have around. |
| 299 | * ''Franchise/StarTrek'': |
| 300 | ** Mor glasch Tev from the ''Literature/StarfleetCorpsOfEngineers'', who generally gives the impression that, as far as he's concerned, the rest of the team is simply holding him back. His engineering skills are incredible, but his social skills need a lot of work. |
| 301 | ** Professor Vard from ''Literature/StarTrekDepartmentOfTemporalInvestigations''. He's utterly convinced the villains of the book are after him because of his time travel theory, and has the social skills of... well, he has no social skills, being unable to remember anyone's names no matter how many times he's corrected. It turns out the villains aren't after him at all. |
| 302 | * In the ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'', Wedge Antilles maneuvers around this trope depending on the book and who he's around. In the ''Literature/XWingSeries'', he's quietly confident about his skills around his military superiors and the Rogues and the Wraiths -- he's observant, [[BornLucky consistently lucky]], highly adaptive, and much more aware of long-term ramifications and politics than most people of his rank, not to mention being [[ImprobablePilotingSkills the greatest pilot alive]]. In that series, his ego is largely an InformedFlaw; he's just ''better'' at most of what he does than anyone else, but he doesn't show off, and a certain amount of UnderestimatingBadassery gets directed at him. Later-set books change this, though he's still not as bad as some -- in ''Literature/LegacyOfTheForce'' he calmly informs [[BigBad Jacen Solo]] that Jacen knows he wasn't involved at all in one operation ''because that op failed''. Jacen grits his teeth and reminds himself that belligerent cockiness is one of the Corellian [[PlanetOfHats hats]]. |
| 303 | * ''Literature/StrikeTheZither'': Zephyr is Xin Ren's highly intelligent strategist and is far from the humblest person in her employ. |
| 304 | ->Some say the heavens dictate the rise and fall of empires. Clearly, those peasants have never met me. |
| 305 | * Professor Augustus Van Dusen, Ph. D.,LL. D., F.R.S. M.D. M.D.S, etc., a.k.a. 'Literature/TheThinkingMachine'. After nearly being killed in "The Problem of the Deserted House", he remarks: |
| 306 | -->"And, gentlemen, if I had been killed one of the most valuable minds in the sciences would have been lost. It would have been nothing less than a catastrophe." |
| 307 | * ''Literature/TheTraitorSonCycle'': |
| 308 | ** Harmodius is both one of the most powerful and one of the most skilled sorcerers of his era, and he's acutely aware of both of those facts. As a result, while a great help to the heroes, he has the mentality of "of course I'm right" and "if I can't see a solution, it doesn't exist", which infuriates other characters to no end. |
| 309 | ** The Red Knight is a brilliant tactician, an avid schemer and a great sorcerer to boot, but he's an insufferable AttentionWhore with the need to always be the smartest person in the room. While not as infuriating as Harmodius is, he still leaves many of his allies rolling their eyes. |
| 310 | * Literature/VanManderpootz is so conceited that he thinks Einstein can be ranked as equal to or ''just below'' himself, and in the machine that allows one to see one’s ideals, when he thinks of an ideal man, he sees his own unchanged reflection and thinks Dixon forgot to start the idealisator (just for comparison: Dixon, thinking of an ideal girl, sees a vision of a famous actress with a heavy dose of AdaptationalAttractiveness and pines for days afterwards). |
| 311 | * The German Staffie Armin von Roon in ''Literature/TheWindsOfWarAndWarAndRemembrance''. One cannot possibly be a Wehrmacht General Staff officer without at least the beginnings of genius. But he was most definitely insufferable. |
| 312 | [[/folder]] |
| 313 | |
| 314 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 315 | * ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'': As an advanced alien, Dick Solomon is extremely intelligent by human standards and doesn't mind constantly insisting that he's the smartest man on the planet. His only mental shortcoming is his [[NoSocialSkills unfamiliarity with Earth ways]]. |
| 316 | -->'''Nina:''' You think you're the smartest man on the planet, don't you?\ |
| 317 | '''Dick:''' For the thousandth time, ''[[RhetoricalQuestionBlunder yes]]!'' |
| 318 | * ''Series/AdamRuinsEverything'': Adam Conover (the character, not the actual comedian) means well, and he doesn't exactly flaunt his intelligence. The problem is his compulsive need to correct people and the delight he takes in pointing out the AwfulTruth behind common misconceptions to people who just don't want to listen. |
| 319 | * ''Series/AwkwafinaIsNoraFromQueens'': Nora's cousin Edmund, a Silicon Valley whiz kid. Every word that comes out of his mouth is delivered in such a patronizing, haughty tone. |
| 320 | * ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'': Gaius Baltar. He ''is'' a genius. He has in-universe fans. He also (indirectly) caused the nuclear holocaust of the Twelve Colonies and if you say you never wanted to strangle him you're lying. |
| 321 | * ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'': Sheldon Cooper. The general template for the characters usually involves Sheldon being an Insufferable Genius and the other three main characters, themselves extremely intelligent but comparatively more normal, acting as his foils. Often played with, as there is also an element of KnowNothingKnowItAll to his character at times; generally, Sheldon will be shown to excel, or at least demonstrate genuine intelligence, within his particular fields of interest and expertise, but will often completely flounder outside of these areas while still refusing to acknowledge that he could possibly be wrong at anything. [[Series/YoungSheldon He was apparently just as bad as a child]], although this also ties in with FreudianExcuse, as it’s also suggested that he was heavily picked on and excluded because of his intelligence. There’s also elements of RuleOfFunny or DependingOnTheWriter since his intelligence also tends to vary depending on what will be most funny or convenient for the plot at any given moment. The following quote pretty much sums it up: |
| 322 | -->'''Sheldon:''' (to the others, regarding overcoming his fear of public speaking) I'm smarter than you and I haven't figured it out.\ |
| 323 | '''Penny:''' Yes, but you're not smarter than all of us put together.\ |
| 324 | '''Sheldon:''' I'm sorry, that is what I meant. |
| 325 | ** ''Series/YoungSheldon'' confirms this has always been the case with Sheldon when -- even ''especially'' -- he was a ChildProdigy. A constant source of friction with him and his parents is that Sheldon ping-pongs from InnocentlyInsensitive to outright {{Jerkass}} when it comes to his intelligence; while his parents try to impose on him that Sheldon being smarter than everyone doesn't give him the right to be disrespectful, Sheldon often disagrees, feeling that it's not disrespect, but just honest facts. |
| 326 | * ''Series/BlakesSeven'': Avon is a prime example. |
| 327 | -->'''Dayna:''' Don't you ever get bored of being right?\ |
| 328 | '''Avon:''' Just with the rest of you being wrong. |
| 329 | * ''Series/{{Bones}}'': |
| 330 | ** If one wished to summarize Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan in a single phrase, it would be: "An insufferable and very hot genius." She's one of the best forensic scientists on Earth, a skilled marksman, bestselling novelist, and wouldn't know social graces if they bit her legs off. Possibly her most abrasive habit is that she sees nothing wrong with correcting anyone who says or does anything she disagrees with -- including, say, family members who say goodbye to a loved one at his funeral (since she considers the belief in an afterlife irrational). That being said, she is usually not abrasive by design; she simply sees no point in following rules she views as unecessary or pretentious. |
| 331 | ** "The Science in the Physicist" has a whole research institute filled with these. |
| 332 | *** Bones reveals she wanted to join the institute, but they rejected her because their research is focused on the future, not the past. |
| 333 | ** Dr. Zack Addy is a little bit of this, too, in that he's not shy about his high IQ and general intelligence. He tends to annoy the crap out of Booth, but everyone else at the Jeffersonian accepts it as 'just Zack'. Plus, he is genuinely brilliant. |
| 334 | *** In "The Woman in the Car" there's a particularly notable exchange: |
| 335 | ---->'''Booth:''' Alright, Zack! Zack! ''(Zack turns around)'' This guy, Decker, he's like you. He's in the whole stratosphere, IQ-wise.\ |
| 336 | '''Zack:''' What's his IQ?\ |
| 337 | '''Booth:''' It's 163.\ |
| 338 | '''Bones:''' Oh, he's not where Zack is.\ |
| 339 | '''Zack:''' If he's in the stratosphere, I'm in the ionosphere. |
| 340 | ** Oliver Wells loves to interrupt people and show that he is smarter than them. [[spoiler:Only Fisher likes him (He says so in the episode The Woman In White)]]. |
| 341 | * ''Series/BostonLegal'': Denny Crane has a good bit of this. He's rather off-putting to the people he meets, acting infinitely superior to everyone while simultaneously behaving like either a senile old man or a mental patient. But then he steps into a courtroom and shows them all just why he's... well, [[ShapedLikeItself Denny Crane]]. |
| 342 | * ''Series/BreakingBad'': Walter White is ridiculously smart and has an in-depth knowledge of how meth should be properly made. And he only gets more annoying from there by the time Season 3 rolls around, browbeating his partner Jesse constantly no matter how hard the kid works. |
| 343 | ** In a flashback scene in ''Series/BetterCallSaul'', Saul asks Walt where he would go if he had a time machine as a hypothetical question to pass time. Walt's response is to angrily go off on a rant about how time travel isn't scientifically possible since it violates the second law of thermodynamics. |
| 344 | * ''Series/BreakoutKings'': Lloyd is a behaviorist with NoSocialSkills. His ability for understanding people doesn't mean he ''understands'' why everyone gets so ''pissed'' at his conclusions about why they act the way they do. For instance, once he figures out what makes Erica tick, he blurts out his conclusions and ''won't shut up'' until [[spoiler:she breaks his nose]] -- at which point he won't shut up about '''that'''. |
| 345 | * ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Gives us an interesting inversion with Wesley. While he does possess a genius-level IQ, his intelligence is actually the one thing he is never seen boasting about. His insufferable nature comes from his overblown sense of importance and his pride in being a Watcher. |
| 346 | ** And judging by what we've seen of the other Watchers, it appears this is pretty much standard fare for their lot. Giles is apparently the exception to the rule, while Wesley in his early days represents the attitudes held by the majority of the council. |
| 347 | * ''Series/{{Charite}}'': Professor Robert Koch and Doctor Emil Behring, both of which are busy with important medical projects -- developing a remedy for tuberculosis and one for diphtheria, respectively -- and constantly lord it over everyone around them. Admittedly, Koch doesn't let it on quite as much because he's already on top of his career and thus doesn't have the same frail ego. He seldom misses an opportunity to rub his success in [[TheRival Behring's]] face, though. |
| 348 | * ''Series/{{Cheers}}'': |
| 349 | ** Diane Chambers, on her worse days. The thing is she ''is'' smarter than everyone else at Cheers, but a recurring thread is her having to acknowledge she's not as smart or accomplished as she'd like to think, or just NotSoAboveItAll. And the gang often can't stand her because she's insufferable. |
| 350 | --->'''Diane:''' I'm here for you, Carla. I ''want'' to be here for you. Please, benefit from my depth. |
| 351 | ** Diane's ex Sumner Sloane is an even more insufferable jerk, but without any of Diane's better qualities. |
| 352 | ** Frasier himself veers into this on occasion, though not anywhere near the amount he does in his spin-off. While he occasionally grumbles about the gang going to him for free psychiatric advice, Carla notes he'll pout and sulk if they didn't (Frasier's response to being told this is [[IResembleThatRemark to pout and sulk]]). |
| 353 | ** Ma Calvin is just like her son [[KnowNothingKnowItAll Cliff]], except all of ''her'' LittleKnownFacts are true. |
| 354 | * ''Series/Chef1993'': Gareth Blackstock was a classic example of this, although he would occasionally bestow compliments as well. "Everton, let me explain things to you. In the world of cooking, I am Einstein. Lucinda is Isaac Newton. And you are a mud-dwelling unicellular bit of jelly with a predilection for consuming its own excrement." |
| 355 | * ''Series/CombatHospital'' has Rebecca starting out as one of these, but slowly getting CharacterDevelopment over the course of the first season to mature out of it. |
| 356 | * ''{{Series/Cracker}}'': Fitz is considered to be a complete bastard by his workmates at the Manchester Police and has zero respect among his academic peers. But he is also very, very, ''very'' good at profiling. |
| 357 | * ''Series/CriminalMinds'': |
| 358 | ** Both Reid and the entire cast are pretty much aversions of this trope. While all extremely smart and knowledgeable, they never act with arrogance or hostility to the local forces they are working with and never denigrate or insult others. In the second episode, Gideon refuses to brag about a genius call he made and preferred to have people work it out for themselves. Rossi is about as close as we get and that is more about him not being used to teamwork. |
| 359 | ** When characters who act like this trope do appear, they are usually the killer. Examples include the sniper who believed himself to be much smarter and sabotaged by his co-workers and the killer who tried to get revenge on Rossi by trying to trick the team into a trap. |
| 360 | ** Dr. Spencer Reid has an IQ of 187, can read over 20,000 words per minute, has an eidetic memory, three [=PhD=]'s, [=BA's=] in Psychology and Sociology, can solve the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacon%27s_cipher Bacon Cipher]] longhand, and almost played through every single possible move in chess. The only reason his coworkers haven't shot him yet is that he [[BadassBookworm uses his powers for good]], is a source of endless amusement due to his ignorance of pop culture, and the team's protective of him as their Little Brother-type. |
| 361 | *** Reid only really seems to slip into the Insufferable Genius mould when he's trying to annoy his teammates on purpose -- again, very much like a little brother would. He's not really arrogant, though. In fact, in the pilot, someone asks him if he is a genius and he's kind of reluctant to say yes. He's just a bit over-eager to share information with people at the most inappropriate of times. |
| 362 | ** Prentiss does threaten to kill him once over his genius. He solved a 3D puzzle she had been working on for days (and declared impossible) in about three seconds. |
| 363 | %%* ''Series/{{Crusade}}'' had the archaeologist/linguist. |
| 364 | * ''Series/{{CSI}}'': David Hodges has shades of this. He is rather smart and loves to say it, and sometimes he does manage to do something that gets noticed. |
| 365 | * ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}''': Topher, who is tolerated by dint of being the only one around who knows how all the big shiny brain-scrambling devices work. |
| 366 | ** Also Bennett, although in her case it's less because of arrogance and more because of craziness. |
| 367 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': |
| 368 | ** The Doctor is fond of explaining how brilliant he is to his companions, but as this is usually at the point where he has just solved whatever problem they're in, he tends to get away with it. Plus, he's saved the universe several times over as well. |
| 369 | --->'''Rose:''' ''[to Sarah Jane]'' With you, did he do that thing where he'd explain something at, like, ninety miles per hour, and you'd go "What?" and he'd look at you like you'd just dribbled on your shirt? |
| 370 | *** Eleven does this more humorously than some of the others: |
| 371 | ---->'''The Doctor:''' Doctor Song, you've got that face on again.\ |
| 372 | '''River:''' What face?\ |
| 373 | '''The Doctor:''' The "He's hot when he's clever" face.\ |
| 374 | '''River:''' This is my normal face.\ |
| 375 | '''The Doctor:''' Yes it is.\ |
| 376 | '''River:''' Oh, shut up.\ |
| 377 | '''The Doctor:''' Not a chance. |
| 378 | *** This trope is reason why Liz Shaw, the Third Doctor's first companion who is an OmnidisciplinaryScientist herself, decided to leave. As the Brigadier noted, she often remarked all the Doctor needed "is someone to pass you your test tubes, and to tell you how brilliant you are." In short, she had enough of his ego and walked. That said, after the Doctor was granted back complete control of his TARDIS, he soon mellows into the nicest and more gentlemanly of the incarnations. |
| 379 | *** Twelve, like One, has NoSocialSkills, and his first meeting with Danny Pink as an adult is absolutely CringeComedy worthy. While doing his science-y SaveTheWorld thing, he nicknames Danny "P.E." and refuses to acknowledge that he's a maths teacher because, in his own words, "No, I can't retain that". |
| 380 | *** This is one of the Doctor's qualities that backfire on him in the episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E10Midnight "Midnight"]]. The Tenth Doctor is characteristically flippant about assuming authority over the humans in his company, responding to the comment "Oh, like you're so special" with "As it happens, yes I am," and even after belatedly realizing that they aren't feeling it and trying to backtrack, he loses patience and snaps that he just knows what to do "because [he's] clever." This almost ends up being the death of him, as he becomes the focus of their WitchHunt mentality. |
| 381 | ** Adric very much wanted to be one of these, but his sheer incompetence at pretty much anything outside of mathematics pretty much scuttled the character. As such, he frequently came across as being more "Insufferable" than "Genius", which went a long way towards cementing his status as the series' [[TheScrappy Scrappy]]. |
| 382 | ** River Song. She appears to know as much as the Doctor due to [[spoiler:being his "wife" in ''his'' future]] and acts suitably insufferable a fair share of the time, but isn't one to sit about with her mouth open when things get hairy. |
| 383 | ** Romana I came across as this, sometimes, but mellowed a little later on. Romana II, while a genius, was more good-natured about it. Combined, the Doctor and Romana (and K9) were formidably brilliant, though not that insufferable (mostly). |
| 384 | ** Of course, loads of villains fall into this category, given the number of evil scientists and [[EvilGenius geniuses]] the Doctor has faced, Luke Rattigan from [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E4TheSontaranStratagem "The Sontaran Stratagem"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E5ThePoisonSky "The Poison Sky"]] being a shining example. The Doctor tends to have a lot of fun letting them ramble on about how intelligent they are, then simply shutting them up by easily proving how much smarter than them ''he'' is. |
| 385 | --->'''The Doctor:''' Terraforming, biospheres, nanotech steel construction. This is brilliant. Do you know, with equipment like this, you could -- ooh, I don't know -- move to another planet or something.\ |
| 386 | '''Luke Rattigan:''' If only that was possible.\ |
| 387 | '''The Doctor:''' If only that ''were'' possible. Conditional clause. |
| 388 | ** The Doctor to the Cybercontroller in "The Age of Steel": |
| 389 | -->I'd call you a genius but I'm in the room. |
| 390 | * ''Series/{{Elementary}}'': Sherlock Holmes starts out this way, insisting that his brilliance should exempt him from most social niceties. Over time he has [[CharacterDevelopment mellowed considerably]] and started to treat those around him with more grace, largely due to Joan Watson's absolute refusal to tolerate his more insufferable behaviours. |
| 391 | * ''Series/{{ER}}'': Kerry Weaver is of the opinion that she is an outstanding emergency physician who is pretty much always right about everything. Despite having NoSocialSkills where her colleagues are concerned, she is [[JerkassHasAPoint entirely correct]] in this opinion -- it is shown more than once that she is probably the most capable emergency physician the department has, she spends most of the show as ''everybody's'' boss, and without her, the ER tends to rapidly fall apart. |
| 392 | * ''Series/{{Farscape}}'': Sikozu is very intelligent, although her knowledge is mostly book smarts with little practical experience, but so annoyingly self-important that the rest of Moya's inhabitants can barely stand her. |
| 393 | * ''Series/TheFlash2014'': The Season 4 BigBad, Clifford De Voe. Interestingly enough, ''Therefore, I Am'' revealed that back in 2013, he was actually a shy, somewhat incompetent history professor at Central City University, but after being hit with dark matter, he gained superhuman intelligence. |
| 394 | ** Pretty much every version of Harrison Wells that's shown is this, with the only examples shown defying it being HR as well as the members of the Council of Harrisons. Cisco even admits that finding versions of Wells that wasn't a pain in the butt to deal with was borderline impossible. |
| 395 | ** [[spoiler:Barry as of the second episode of Season 7, ''The Speed of Thought''. He stands by and watches Caitlin get blasted by Mirror Master's mirror gun, admitting later that he did so after calculating that it was the best course of action, and developed a complete lack of respect for his fellow teammates, eventually deciding to use his powers to take them all out so they'd stop being nuisances to him.]] |
| 396 | * ''Series/{{Frasier}}'': |
| 397 | ** Frasier himself sometimes, with the joke being he's not quite as smart as he clearly thinks he is, and how it irritates everyone around him, friends and family alike, even when it's not bringing disaster down upon his head. |
| 398 | --->'''Frasier:''' POMPOUS AND SANCTIMONIOUS, AM I?! |
| 399 | ** One thirteen-year-old caller to Frasier's show (played by Creator/ElijahWood) calls about bullies picking on him for his smarts. After Frasier advises him that he'll get the last laugh later in life, the caller immediately turns into this, picking apart Frasier's advice and outright insulting him for it. Frasier then in turn takes a certain amount of vindictive glee in pointing out that the caller had now just announced to any of his bullies who might have been listening exactly where he is. |
| 400 | * ''Series/{{Friends}}'': Ross tends to be right on many subjects and he always has to prove that he is right whenever someone says something grammatically incorrect or state a wrong fact. His friends naturally get annoyed by this. Ross's desire to be right very likely stems from his childhood where his parents praised him over every little thing because he was their "miracle baby" (doctors said his mother couldn't conceive) and they never disciplined him if he did something wrong. The fact that his sister, Monica, was TheUnfavorite didn't help matters. |
| 401 | * ''Series/{{Galileo}}'': Yukawa is this to a T, being a genius physicist and more or less a RenaissanceMan. It annoys Kaoru and Misa to no end. |
| 402 | * ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'': This is [[OnlySaneMan Dorothy]] at her worst, as she believes herself to be SurroundedByIdiots in such moments, resulting in [[ButtMonkey her being knocked down a notch by people around her or life itself]]. Case in point: She eagerly auditions for Series/{{Jeopardy}} in one episode and actually manages to answer every answer correctly, only for the audition judge to end up rejecting her because of her cocky attitude, which comes as a blow to her, as she makes it clear that she ''wants'' to be on the show. Her mother states after the fact that Dorothy was already like this in her younger years as a student. |
| 403 | * ''Series/HannahMontana'': Rico skipped three grade levels, has an eidetic memory, can do complex equations in his head, and is a {{Jerkass}} who believes anyone less intelligent than he (read: everyone) is his to manipulate. |
| 404 | ** And yet, he ''still'' didn't figure out that Miley Stewart was Hannah Montana. He is floored that he was fooled once Miley went public, which leads him to a near mental breakdown until Jackson snaps him out of it. |
| 405 | *** There's also the fact that due to his aforementioned "Everyone is mine to manipulate" attitude he has ''no'' friends, many of whom are ''suing him.'' |
| 406 | * ''Series/{{Hoarders}}'': Vance (S5 E10) the book hoarder has a self-professed IQ of over 200 and is very snarky and sharp-tongued. |
| 407 | * Frank Pembleton of ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'' is a highly intelligent but haughty and snobby man who feels he's SurroundedByIdiots and isn't afraid to let everyone around him know. However, he's such an excellent detective that his abrasive personality is tolerated, because he AlwaysGetsHisMan. Midway through the series, he suffers a stroke that humbles him somewhat and makes him more empathetic. |
| 408 | * ''Series/{{House}}'': The title character manifests his arrogance in different ways (he prefers putting others down to puff himself up), but he justifies his attitude by always being one intuitive jump ahead of the rest of the staff. It makes it very difficult to train his staff because he'd rather cut them off at the knees than let them draw their own conclusions. (House's worst nightmare, according to "No Reason", is his subordinates solving the cases before he can.) His behavior is appropriate given the connections between House and Holmes (see Literature section above). |
| 409 | ** There was also an episode featuring a super-genius who couldn't deal with the pressure of the expectations everyone had in him, [[spoiler:so he intentionally drugged himself into a permanent dumbness haze to be [[DumbIsGood happy]]. Which is what put him in hospital]]. When the effect wears off, he more or less immediately becomes this. Notably, he rants that considering the IQ difference between him and his girlfriend, having sex with her might as well be bestiality. |
| 410 | * ''Franchise/KamenRider'': |
| 411 | ** Jun Shibaura from ''Series/KamenRiderRyuki'' is a villainous example, he is in fact a genius, but his arrogance leads to him toying with people's lives simply for the thrill of it. |
| 412 | ** Souji Tendou from ''Series/KamenRiderKabuto'' carries himself with a confidence that almost suggests that he sees himself as more than mortal. One can't exactly fault him for it, however, because [[TheAce in addition to being a master chef, he's as good as any given expert at pretty much anything he can be bothered to try.]] To the point where, in an episode where he was involved in a plan to rescue a little girl, he rejected the plan to put sleeping drugs in the guards' lunches and instead cook them meals so good they'd be too distracted to stop them. [[RefugeInAudacity And it worked.]] |
| 413 | ** Tsukasa Kadoya of ''Series/KamenRiderDecade'' is essentially Diet [[LastNameBasis Tendou]], sharing the attitude of knowing they're great at everything, but Tsukasa doesn't show off those elite skills as often as Tendou did. (Although it can easily be assumed that the only reason for that is that Decade was twenty-odd episodes shorter and Kabuto didn't have any world-hopping shenanigans to distract him.) |
| 414 | ** Sento Kiryu of ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'' is Tendou 3.0 for those who thought that the original was ''too'' insufferable. [[note]] With the added value of his actor, Atsuhiro Inukai being a [[PromotedFanboy Kabuto fan]]. [[/note]] He is a genius physicist with love for his inventions and intellect. The opening narration starts with line ''The handsome and brilliant scientist, Sento Kiryu'' spoken by him. When you look away from the gloating, he [[ComesGreatResponsibility is]] the [[GoodFeelsGood sweetest]], [[ThinkNothingOfIt kindest]] Insufferable Genius possible. |
| 415 | * ''Series/{{Leverage}}'': Hardison, Nate, and Sterling all tend in this direction, although all of them grow a little humbler [[CharacterDevelopment as the series progresses]]. [[EvilGenius Chaos]], Hardison's EvilCounterpart is a full-on example, respecting absolutely no one but himself, and not a few of the villains also fall into this category, especially Victor Dubenich. |
| 416 | * ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'': Malcolm, which overlaps with his petulance and selfishness. He even {{Lampshades}} it in a couple of episodes. |
| 417 | ** Another episode examined it with Malcolm becoming infuriated with his family's and everyone else's comparatively low intelligence and meeting Leonard (Creator/JasonAlexander), a genius who spends all his time playing chess in the park, insulting his opponents and complaining about everything. His life is a complete mess as he could never tolerate being around anyone who doesn't share his skill and indulge his ego, blaming his poor life on everyone else. The episode ends with him leaving and Malcolm complaining about him in the same manner Leonard complained earlier. |
| 418 | ** Oddly (or [[TeensAreMonsters not-so-oddly]]) enough, this trope was strongly inverted in the earlier seasons, where Malcolm viewed his intelligence as something that made him a freak and was extremely self-conscious about alienating his friends and family if he demonstrated it. |
| 419 | * ''Series/{{MASH}}'': Charles Emerson Winchester is one of the best-known examples -- puffed up and pompous, but a skilled surgeon. While he does get cut down to size a bit from time to time, it is never in proportion to his ego. |
| 420 | ** In one episode, after Winchester has deftly saved a patient's leg from being amputated, Colonel Potter says that Winchester has "A silo full of smug", but definitely knows which end of a scalpel is up. |
| 421 | ** In another episode, Father Mulcahy is trying to come up with something nice to say about Winchester. He finally says "He's a VERY good doctor." |
| 422 | ** Compare this with Hawkeye, Trapper, and BJ, who use their mad surgical skills as a WeirdnessCoupon rather than boasting about them, and contrast with Frank Burns, who is [[SmallNameBigEgo just as convinced of his ability despite having none]]. |
| 423 | * ''Series/ModernFamily'': Alex Dunphy is a smug, arrogant kid who repeatedly antagonises both her siblings and even her parents while acting smarter than everyone. She has no friends for a reason. |
| 424 | ** Her mother Claire qualifies as well. Though her IQ isn't shown, she is smug and arrogant, and a SoreLoser. |
| 425 | * ''Series/{{Monk}}'': One of the title character's catchphrases is "unless I'm wrong, which I'm not," but otherwise he's not at all arrogant. Well, except when [[FlowersForAlgernonSyndrome on medication]]. |
| 426 | * ''Series/MrBrain's'': Even though quirky, yet brilliant neuroscientist Tsukumo Ryusuke usually solves the crimes long before anybody else, he is still considered insufferable by many of his superiors. |
| 427 | * ''Series/TheMrPotatoHeadShow'': One episode (appropriately with a Sherlock Holmes ShowWithinAShow theme to it) had Potato Bug use a brain enhancer. She's an atypical example in that she isn't just a know-it-all, and doesn't even go out of her way to prove she knows it all, either -- when other characters ask her trivia questions, she gets bored with that quickly. The problems begin when she starts enhancing equipment around the kitchen in ways only she can understand. |
| 428 | * ''Series/TheMysticKnightsOfTirNaNog'': Garrett, the SixthRanger. He would tell anyone willing to listen about his supposedly great abilities (for example, the ability to calm animals by looking at them). But then, we learn he's actually ''able'' to do these things. |
| 429 | * ''Series/NeverHaveIEver'': |
| 430 | ** Devi is a TeenGenius and abrasive. |
| 431 | ** Ben is a TeenGenius and highly pretentious. |
| 432 | * ''Series/{{Numb3rs}}'': Charlie Eppes is usually a [[GentlemanAndAScholar quite nice genius]]. But every so often he becomes a wee bit irritating. |
| 433 | ** Fellow professor and friend Larry Fleinhardt once called him "a talented theoretician with an ego problem." |
| 434 | * ''Series/{{Pandora}}'': Jax's roommate Pilar is incredibly intelligent and can be an arrogant know-it-all at times since she views her superiority to her peers as a simple empirical fact and doesn't get why they would be offended by the attitude. |
| 435 | * ''Series/{{Probe}}'': Austin James, from this short-lived '80s sci-fi mystery show, is the smartest man on the planet. And he never lets you forget it. Ever. |
| 436 | * ''Series/ProjectRunway'': Jeffery is talented, but also snarky and condescending from the beginning [[spoiler:until he wins]]. |
| 437 | * ''Series/{{Psych}}'': Downplayed example with Shawn Spencer. He is an insufferable detective, disrespectful to [[TheHumphrey more than a few people]], who makes his best friend do all non-detective work for him, brazenly lies to the police, and solves a homicide or heinous crime every week. It's gotten to the point where [[TheLestrade the real detectives]] know he'll probably solve the case, but try to keep him away anyhow because he's ''just that annoying''. Though ''usually'', Shawn is more childish than insufferable. |
| 438 | ** However, Shawn is genuinely kind and caring and the one he has any vitriol with is Detective Lassiter who is more insufferable than Shawn. Shawn's childish nature is more due to his own issues with his father, Henry, who is a ''notorious'' control freak and the one who honed Shawn to be the detective he is, at the cost of a normal childhood. |
| 439 | * ''Series/{{QI}}'': John Sessions generally gets this reaction from the audience, who either love or hate him for knowing rather obscure answers and explaining them at length, usually in a way that isn't all that funny, or his equally long, very dry humorous asides. His buzzer in one episode was "Sir, sir, I know the answer!" |
| 440 | ** Rory [=McGrath=] came off as this in his first appearance as well. |
| 441 | ** Creator/StephenFry is an exception; despite brimming with meandering anecdotes of his own he frequently downplays his intelligence, even though he's often the smartest person on the panel even without his presenter cue cards. On those occasions he gets called out on it it's very much [[https://youtu.be/Fki5pi_Y5IY played for laughs]], and tends to be more based around his "[[Main/QuintessentialBritishGentleman posh background]]". |
| 442 | * ''Series/{{Sanctuary}}'': |
| 443 | ** Tesla is apparently always like this. Getting superpowers doesn't help. |
| 444 | ** Then there's Adam Worth, who ''was'' an insufferable genius back in the day (to the point where the Five rejected him), before going batshit insane after his daughter died. |
| 445 | * ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'': Creator/DakotaFanning, as portrayed by Creator/AmyPoehler in the ''Dakota Fanning Show'' skits. A RunningGag was her belittling the lowbrow tastes of Reggie (Kenan Thompson), her house band leader. |
| 446 | -->'''Dakota:''' You could turn a ''microwave'' on and Reggie would watch it! |
| 447 | * ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'': Dr. Cox is so over-the-top narcissistic that he actually enjoys being called a genius, ''even if'' the person saying it obviously does not mean it. At one time, he was named the best doctor in the city by a local magazine, and forced everyone in the hospital to line up and answer his question of who the best doctor is with "You are!" For another extreme example, '''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdLXfGTNBgE watch this]]'''. There was a LampshadeHanging in one episode where people were comparing him to House and he went through the same summation that he usually does. ''Scrubs'' fans might note that their series ''predates'' ''Series/{{House}}'' by three years, to wrongly imply that House is some sort of rip-off of Cox. Outrageous! At one point he reminds Elliot that he has a ''giant ego'' and to get his help, she'll have to flatter him. |
| 448 | ** A visiting surgeon named Russell Vaughn in the episode "Our Dear Leaders" is also this. Having traveled the world and done many amazing things, Russell is a skilled surgeon and a cultured individual. He also comes off as a remarkable douche, constantly interjecting with stories of his travels and even condescendingly offering to let Turk, Sacred Hearts' Head of Surgery and a highly competent doctor in his own right, help out with a tricky surgery as 'a feather in [his] cap.' |
| 449 | * ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'': The title character; to be expected, perhaps, given the source material. |
| 450 | -->'''Sherlock:''' What ''is'' it like in your funny little brains? It must be so ''boring''. |
| 451 | ** And again: |
| 452 | --->'''Sherlock:''' Look at you lot: you're all so ''vacant''. Is it nice not being me? It must be so relaxing. |
| 453 | ** And ''again'': |
| 454 | --->'''John:''' Why didn't I think of that?\ |
| 455 | '''Sherlock:''' Because you're an idiot. No, no, no, don't be like that; practically everyone is. |
| 456 | *** Worth mentioning that all those quotes are within ''[[Recap/SherlockS01E01AStudyInPink the same episode]]''. |
| 457 | ** Viciously [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed]] in "[[Recap/SherlockS02E03TheReichenbachFall The Reichenbach Fall]]". [[spoiler:Moriarty counted on this to sow doubt in Scotland Yard's mind regarding Sherlock's legitimacy.]] |
| 458 | * ''Series/{{Smallville}}'': Lex Luthor. [[spoiler:[[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute Major Zod]]]] also likes to remind people that the Kryptonians' intelligence is highly evolved. |
| 459 | * ''Franchise/{{Stargate|Verse}}'': |
| 460 | ** When he was introduced on ''Series/StargateSG1'', Rodney [=McKay=] -- prickly, whiny, and arrogant -- continually got shown that he was not always right. In ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', he doesn't have to worry about being upstaged since Carter, the one person possibly smarter than him, is at least two galaxies over, so his brains, and considerable courage under pressure, have been critical in saving the day so many times that his friends and the rest of the Atlantis team is willing to accommodate him. And, of course, he's always willing to brag about how he is the smartest guy in the world at the drop of a hat. In one scene, his password consisted of three birth dates: Newton's, Einstein's, and ''his'', upon which Sheppard mused, "Never underestimate that man's ego." |
| 461 | --->'''Maj. Lorne:''' Wow. You really must be some kind of genius.\ |
| 462 | '''[=McKay=]:''' Well, as a matter of fact I-- eh, wait. Why would you say that right now?\ |
| 463 | '''Maj. Lorne:''' ''Something'' has to have kept Col. Sheppard from shooting you all this time. |
| 464 | *** Then there's this jewel from "Brain Storm": |
| 465 | ---->'''[=McKay=]:'''Hey, I'm Dr. Rodney [=McKay=], all right? Difficult takes a few seconds; impossible, a few minutes. |
| 466 | ** Even Daniel Jackson could be considered that, at least in his own field. This is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by Colonel Martin Edwards in "Enemy Mine", after Daniel peacefully resolves the situation with a bunch of angry Unas. |
| 467 | --->'''Martin Edwards:''' O'Neill was right about you. You are a pain in the ass… But well worth it. |
| 468 | ** ''Series/StargateUniverse'' has its own example with Dr. Rush, although his insufferability is played '''much''' less for comedy than with [=McKay=], and more to show that he's batshit nuts. For example, he's responsible for stranding the series' characters on the other side of the universe in the first place. (Ironically, now that they're there, he's the guy most able to help them with the LostTechnology they found there.) |
| 469 | *** Interestingly, Rush ''does'' admit at one point that, in some respects, Eli is smarter than him, although he immediately asks that Col. Young keep this to himself. |
| 470 | * ''Franchise/StarTrek'': |
| 471 | ** ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': |
| 472 | *** Seven of Nine, being a former Borg drone, has definite Insufferable Genius tendencies. She does back up her superior attitude by saving the crew's collective ass a little more frequently than she almost destroys them all, which is more than can be said for a surprising number of her crewmates. |
| 473 | *** ''Voyager'' also gives us the Doctor ([[Series/DoctorWho not that one]]), who was programmed to be the ideal doctor, and knows it. His constant preening doesn't stop him from becoming [[EnsembleDarkhorse a much-loved character]], though. In fact, it may even have helped. Like Seven of Nine, the Doctor has a great deal of knowledge but little social experience -- it's hardly surprising that they form an OddFriendship. |
| 474 | *** And then there's one-shot character Mortimer Harren from "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS6E20GoodShepherd Good Shepard]]", who boasts about his theoretical knowledge and talks down to everyone -- including TheCaptain herself. |
| 475 | ** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': |
| 476 | *** Dr Julian Bashir. In the early seasons, he's considered unbearably smug by many of his colleagues boasting about beating Vulcans in tennis matches, curing planetary plagues, and almost being valedictorian. This is usually done humorously and often ends with him learning to temper himself. As a result, thanks to CharacterDevelopment, by middle seasons of the show, he's settled down and, while still retaining a brash flair, he's much more tolerable to both his colleagues and the audience. [[spoiler:Then, in Season 5 it's revealed he was illegally genetically engineered as a child and has, in fact, been holding back his genius all this time. After that reveal, the writers once more make him an Insufferable Genius to LudicrousPrecision, ImprobableAimingSkills, InstantExpert, [[SuddenlyAlwaysKnewThat New Knowledge as the Plot Demands]] and all-round MartyStu levels, and without any of the [[AnAesop aesops]] or humour of the earlier seasons. Even the ''actor'' hated this development]]. |
| 477 | *** [=DS9=] also gives us, in a one-off example, Professor Gideon Seyetik, whose very first appearance in "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E09SecondSight Second Sight]]" involves talking [[LargeHam very loudly]] about how awesome he is. Later, he turns out to be rather self-aware about his ego complex, and [[spoiler:eventually sacrifices himself to preserve his wife's health]]. |
| 478 | ---->'''Seyetik:''' A great {{terraform}}er has the green thumb of a gardener, the eye of a painter, and the soul of a poet. And of course, it doesn't hurt to be a raging egomaniac!\ |
| 479 | '''Kira:''' Which makes you eminently qualified.\ |
| 480 | '''Seyetik:''' Of course! ''[laughs]'' |
| 481 | ** There's Q, who in addition to being godlike has an IQ in the quadruple-digit range. At the start of the series, he's also beyond insufferable, planning on wiping out "less advanced" species and examining humans like they're simple toys. He gets less insufferable in later appearances, partly from time with Captain Picard and partly from his species (who are apparently not appreciative of his behavior) briefly stripping him of his powers. Still, he always retains this. |
| 482 | --->'''Vash:''' It's over, Q, I want you out of my life. You're arrogant, you're overbearing, and you think you know everything.\ |
| 483 | '''Q:''' ''[nonplussed]'' But I ''do'' know everything.\ |
| 484 | '''Vash:''' That makes it even worse. |
| 485 | ** In fairness, he's hardly the only member of his species to suffer from this... witness this exchange from ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'''s "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS3E10TheQAndTheGrey The Q and the Grey]]": |
| 486 | --->'''B'Elanna Torres:''' You know, I have really had it with this superiority complex of yours.\ |
| 487 | '''Female Q:''' It's not a complex, dear; it's a fact. |
| 488 | * ''[[Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody The Suite Life on Deck]]'': |
| 489 | ** Cody Martin became one of these after he TookALevelInJerkass. |
| 490 | ** Bailey Pickett, while not nearly to the extent as Cody, also has her moments of insufferability. |
| 491 | --->'''Miss Tutweiler:''' Look, not everything is about school and grades and studying!\ |
| 492 | ''[Bailey and Cody stare at her in disbelief]''\ |
| 493 | '''Cody:''' Exactly where did you get your teaching credentials?\ |
| 494 | '''Miss Tutweiler:''' The University of None-Of-Your-Business!\ |
| 495 | '''Bailey:''' I bet she barely got in. ''[rolls her eyes]''\ |
| 496 | '''Cody:''' Mmm. ''[smirks and nods]'' |
| 497 | * Professor Karl-Friedrich Boerne, the pathologist in the Münster ''Series/{{Tatort}}'' is not only the best there is at dissecting and analysing corpses, but also an expert on several other subjects, is fluent (though not accent-free) in English, Spanish, French, and Russian, has given piano recitals and performed as a stage magician, has won prizes playing golf and showjumping, and is an expert fencer. He is also a lover and connoisseur of fine wine and classical music (which he listens to at ungodly hours and volume). And he's always ready to let you know how good he is at everything, and absolutely ''loves'' it when people have to admit that he was right all along… |
| 498 | ** [[HiddenDepths Despite this, Boerne qualifies]] also as a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, as his medical persona is far more ingrained as he likes to make people believe, causing moments of unexpected compassion and kindness as well as some of his Idée-Fixe-style crusades when he believes someone to be innocent[[note]]most famously in second Münster episode ''Fakten, Fakten'' (Facts, Facts)[[/note]] or something to be wrong. |
| 499 | * Mocked on sketch comedy ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'', as a neurosurgeon at a party always topped someone else by saying "[[ThisAintRocketSurgery Well... that isn't exactly brain surgery]]." |
| 500 | -->'''Lionel:''' So, how do you earn a crust?\ |
| 501 | '''Jeff:''' Well, I'm a scientist. I work mainly with rockets. It's, um, pretty tough work. What do you do?\ |
| 502 | '''Lionel:''' Well, I don't mean to boast, but, uh... I'm a brain surgeon.\ |
| 503 | '''Jeff:''' Brain surgery? ''[{{beat}}]'' [[HoistByTheirOwnPetard Not exactly rocket science, is it]]? |
| 504 | * This is nicely [[AvertedTrope averted]] with Neal and Mozzie on ''Series/WhiteCollar''. They're both exceptionally brilliant, and they definitely know it, but they don't feel the need to point it out to everyone around them. |
| 505 | [[/folder]] |
| 506 | |
| 507 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 508 | * Music/ShaniaTwain's PrinceCharmingWannabe in "That Don't Impress Me Much" is like this. |
| 509 | -->''I've known a few guys who thought they were pretty smart\ |
| 510 | But you've got being right down to an art\ |
| 511 | You think you're a genius, you drive me up the wall\ |
| 512 | You're a regular original, a know-it-all\ |
| 513 | Oh, oh, you think you're special\ |
| 514 | Oh, oh, you think you're something else\ |
| 515 | Okay, so you're a rocket scientist\ |
| 516 | That don't impress me much'' |
| 517 | * Subject of the short Music/{{TISM}} track "I'm A Genius": |
| 518 | -->Creator/DylanThomas was a piss head\ |
| 519 | Jackson Pollock was a prick\ |
| 520 | Creator/NormanMailer hates women\ |
| 521 | It's an end of season trip!\ |
| 522 | Heroes seem so from a far\ |
| 523 | [[WartsAndAll But if you meet 'em you'll think twice.]]\ |
| 524 | Genius is different from the rest of us...\ |
| 525 | Most of us are nice! |
| 526 | [[/folder]] |
| 527 | |
| 528 | [[folder:Pro Wrestling]] |
| 529 | * This was what Matt Striker becomes when he wrestles. As a commentator, he is much more tolerable, freely sharing his knowledge and breaking down things other people don't understand. |
| 530 | * Nemesis was voted PGWA's "2010 New Comer Of The Year" despite being an obnoxious braggart. Going into 2011, Tracy Taylor granted Nemesis a title shot and agreed to defend her non-PGWA belt too, to shut her up. Then Taylor found out Nemesis had been undergone a physical transformation for the sole purpose of beating her, smugly stating she knew Tracy Taylor better than she knew herself. |
| 531 | * Wrestling/DamienSandow's feud with Wrestling/{{Sheamus}} on Monday Night Raw basically boiled down to Sandow flaunting his larger knowledge base and mocking Sheamus's lack of intellect till Sheamus kicked him. |
| 532 | * [[Wrestling/BlackRose La Rosa Negra]] had this attitude on Caged Heat Radio, to the chagrin of Jorge Alonso. |
| 533 | ->"No worries I respect all opinions, I respect whatever peoples say. So pero, I show you, you's wrong!" |
| 534 | [[/folder]] |
| 535 | |
| 536 | [[folder:Radio]] |
| 537 | * Douglas of ''Radio/CabinPressure''. When asked if there is anything he isn't "very good at", he admits: "There are things I haven't tried yet. I suppose it's ''possible'' I'm not very good at some of those. Theoretically." |
| 538 | * Eugene Meltsner of ''Radio/AdventuresInOdyssey'', though he softens a bit over time. |
| 539 | [[/folder]] |
| 540 | |
| 541 | [[folder:Roleplay]] |
| 542 | * ''Roleplay/DawnOfANewAgeOldportBlues'': |
| 543 | ** Finn believes himself to be far above his peers -- and given that he's a ([[SmartPeoplePlayChess literal]]) [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]] who's deftly able to manipulate events behind the scenes, he's not too far off the mark. |
| 544 | ** Benedict's superpower boosted his already-impressive intellect to an [[SuperIntelligence extraordinarily high level]]. His ego grew to match it, as evidenced by his multiple proclamations that he's the 'smartest man in the universe'. |
| 545 | ** Katheryn likes to arrogantly lord her intelligence over others, which is particularly annoying because she really ''is'' just that smart. |
| 546 | ** {{Downplayed|Trope}} with Irene: she's very smart, likes to feel intellectually superior, and can get annoyed if other people show her up, but also tries not to rub it in other people's face. |
| 547 | [[/folder]] |
| 548 | |
| 549 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 550 | * Leonardo de Montreal in ''TabletopGame/ChuubosMarvelousWishGrantingEngine'', who even gets XP for going off on speeches about how much smarter he is than everyone... but at the same time he's a master of [[MadScience Nightmare Science]]. |
| 551 | * ''TabletopGame/GeniusTheTransgression'': Many Lemurians, and a significant number of high-ranking Peers. Many of the Inspired come across this way to {{Muggles}}, thanks to [[{{Technobabble}} Jabir]]. |
| 552 | ** It doesn't help that the typical Genius won't even allow a Muggle to lay hands on one of their inventions or examine how it works. From the perspective of the normal person, this is the height of arrogance and condescension. From the Genius' perspective, it's justified paranoia and common sense, because their creations will almost always break (or worse) if touched by a normal human. |
| 553 | ** The Unmada are particularly insufferable, as they're in permanent IRejectYourReality mode, will simply not realize the facts are against them and have the little quirk that reality nearby tends to be influenced into making them ''be right'' about their crazy/stupid ideas. Not a good recipe for a plentiful social life, that's for sure. |
| 554 | * ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'': |
| 555 | ** Niv-Mizzet combines a phenomenal magical genius that with a titanically swollen ego. Of course, he's a dragon. If you were several thousand years older and several times more brilliant than everyone around you, you'd probably have a bit of an ego problem too. |
| 556 | ** Also, Jace Beleren. He is a powerful mage genius with several deficiency in social skills. Bonus points for actually realizing this in one of the stories. Through telepathic shenanigans, he manages to meet a copy of himself within the recesses of his mind. He finds the experience deeply frustrating. |
| 557 | --->''[the copy taps his foot in a way Jace recognizes all too well]''\ |
| 558 | '''Jace:''' ''[in a melodramatic manner]'' I don't know if I can ever interact with another human again. I'm too annoying to be with. |
| 559 | ** Ertai of the ''Weatherlight'' saga was a magical prodigy and liked to make sure everyone knew it. At one point, Mirri gets so tired of his litany of his own virtues that she has to resist the urge to murder him, and even he suspects that Barrin taught him meditation just to get him to shut up. |
| 560 | --->'''Ertai:''' There is nothing you can do that I cannot simply deny. |
| 561 | ** A common pattern in the game is to assign the flavour text for blue countermagic to some particularly insufferable blue mage talking down to their opponent. Noyan Dar, cited on [[https://scryfall.com/card/roe/59/deprive Deprive]] mocking his adversary, would later get [[https://scryfall.com/card/bfz/216/noyan-dar-roil-shaper his own card]] and some storyline prominence, but many others are around, both named and otherwise: [[https://scryfall.com/card/dka/33/counterlash Counterlash]], [[https://scryfall.com/card/ktk/37/disdainful-stroke Disdainful Stroke]], [[https://scryfall.com/card/dst/23/last-word Last Word]], [[https://scryfall.com/card/khm/76/saw-it-coming Saw it Coming]], [[https://scryfall.com/card/m14/72/spell-blast Spell Blast]]... |
| 562 | [[/folder]] |
| 563 | |
| 564 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 565 | * John Adams in ''Theatre/SeventeenSeventySix'' is [[PhraseCatcher obnoxious and disliked]]. It's a huge concession for him to say that Jefferson writes better than any man in Congress, "including me." Adams' continued high-handed behavior, even after the Independence faction suffers a seemingly fatal reverse over the slavery clause, causes Benjamin Franklin to snap and [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech rip him a new one]] over his counterproductive hectoring of men who have been chosen, ''just as he has'', to be the best and most effective representatives of their colonies. Obnoxious and disliked he may be, but Adams still has a brilliant legal mind and an intimate understanding of the stakes and a bottomless well of determination to get it done. |
| 566 | * Lancelot's IAmSong in ''Theatre/{{Camelot}}'' brags about his prowess in battle and spiritual purity. Everyone at court finds him intolerable until the joust when he proceeds to do everything he says he can, up to and including bringing a man he (accidentally) killed back to life. |
| 567 | * Freddie Trumper of ''Theatre/{{Chess}}'' is a [[MyCountryRightOrWrong jingoistic]], [[HeManWomanHater misogynistic]], [[CrazyPeoplePlayChess certifiably-insane]] {{Jerkass}}, who nobody would give the time of day if he weren't every bit as good as he thinks he is at chess. |
| 568 | * ''Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac'': Cyrano invokes this because his great intellect is used to humiliate everyone who is not his friend. This is not so much to show he is a genius, but to show Viscount de Valvert that [[JerkAss Cyrano is truly Insufferable]]: |
| 569 | -->'''Viscount De Valvert:''' A ballade?\ |
| 570 | '''Cyrano:''' Belike you know not what a ballade is.\ |
| 571 | '''Viscount De Valvert:''' But...\ |
| 572 | '''Cyrano:''' ''[reciting, as if repeating a lesson]'' Know then that the ballade\ |
| 573 | should contain\ |
| 574 | Three eight-versed couplets...\ |
| 575 | '''Viscount De Valvert:''' ''(stamping):'' Oh!\ |
| 576 | '''Cyrano:''' ''[still reciting]'' And an envoi\ |
| 577 | Of four lines... |
| 578 | * Professor Abronsius from ''Theatre/TanzDerVampire'' has undergone AdaptationalIntelligence and sings a whole song about how smart he is and proving it later on by singing a song consisting entirely of authors whose books he read. Apart from those two songs (and his bit in the finale), he is not overly boastful, but his exceedingly inquisitive nature combined with a certain amount of tactlessness doesn't make him very popular with the villagers, who live in denial. |
| 579 | * Alexander ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'' is a sophisticated man of letters, a most talented lawyer, and successful statesman, and he will talk about this NON-STOP! During said song, Aaron Burr asks several times, "why do you assume you're smartest in the room?" |
| 580 | [[/folder]] |
| 581 | |
| 582 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 583 | * In ''VideoGame/{{APICO}}'', Dr. Beenjamin is an arrogant scientist who thinks he's better at studying bees than you, although he begrudgingly supports you in discovering and rehabilitating rare bee species. While he reluctantly gives you hints on how to find them, he outright refuses to tell you where to find the Rusted Bee... when the hint can be found in Beelia's Almanac. |
| 584 | * Severin Cocorico in ''VideoGame/AviaryAttorney'', at least if you were to ask his "rival" Jayjay Falcon. He's a ''very'' good lawyer, TheStoic to a tragic degree, and doesn't bother hiding his disdain for the more excitable, less-polished Falcon. |
| 585 | * [[TokenEvilTeammate Edwin Odesseiron]] from ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' and ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII''. He spends most of the time calling everyone around him brainless monkeys -- his 18 Intelligence, however, is the highest of any NPC you can pick up, and in addition, he has a unique and non-removable magic item that further enhances his spellcasting. His arrogance (combined with his ''significantly'' lower Wisdom stat) gets him in trouble a few times, though it hardly prevents him from becoming a DracoInLeatherPants for the fandom, who seems really into it. |
| 586 | ** That magic item? That was only included because they wanted him to be ''really, really good'' at spellcasting, but the game code wouldn't let them apply the bonus directly to Edwin. |
| 587 | * The Riddler, as part of his InferioritySuperiorityComplex, acts like this all throughout the ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries''. "And as you lie blubbering on the floor like an ignorant child, you'll know...that the Riddler is better than you!" is actually one of his ''tamer'' quotes. To the point where even his own Mooks hate his guts. |
| 588 | * Patricia Tannis of ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'' varies between this and [[CloudCuckooLander complete and utter insanity]]. |
| 589 | * Floofty of ''VideoGame/{{Bugsnax}}''. The resident scientist, and legitimately smartest person on the island. And they will ''never'' let anyone forget it. Unable to go 2 sentences without talking to [[PlayerCharacter Buddy]] like they're a drooling toddler who is incapable of getting what they talk about. Their smug attitude is why no one in the village is in a great hurry to bring them back. |
| 590 | * From ''VideoGame/TheCaligulaEffect2'', we have Ryuto Tsukishima. A teen prodigy who figured out the [[GildedCage virtual world]] he was trapped in through use of the scientific method. After concluding his research, Tsukishima dismissed the idea of him going mad just because he considered it less probable than the world being virtual reality. He is not particularly impressed with the efforts of the new Go-Home Club, both in their approach towards learning about the opposing faction of the Musicians and their combat tactics and is willing to let his allies know it. |
| 591 | * Daoming Sochua, the leader of the Pan-Asian Cooperative, in ''VideoGame/CivilizationBeyondEarth''. Raised as a ChildProdigy through Chinese state-sponsored schools for gifted children and holder of ''four'' [=PhDs=] by the age of thirty, she is also a condescending and blunt DeadpanSnarker, but [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold she does really want nothing but the best for her people and for humanity]]. |
| 592 | * ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'': |
| 593 | ** MentorInSourArmor [[AdaptationalJerkass Johnny Silverhand]], a DitzyGenius who despite being well-read on a number of subjects, including topics like art history, political theory, cryptography, and computer science, is completely incapable of interacting with the world through [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold methods other than violence, insults,]] or SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll, and completely willing to alienate people he can't afford to alienate in the long-term for short-term gratification or amusement. |
| 594 | ** HotBlooded [[WrenchWench Techie]] Panam Palmer has some shades of this. She's a [[ActionGirl brilliant strategist]] and mechanic while also being stubborn as a mule with a "my way or the highway" attitude that causes her to butt heads with a lot of people, [[DefrostingIceQueen including V when the two first meet]]. As she partially represents the [[TarotMotifs reversed Strength arcana]] which indicates [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex vulnerability and lack of confidence]], this is a defense mechanism for her as she quickly goes [[MoodSwinger from playful and jokey to snappish and sullen on a dime]] whenever her plans are questioned. |
| 595 | * Special Agent Francis York Morgan in ''VideoGame/DeadlyPremonition'' doesn't hesitate at all to point out that he's a much more experienced detective than anyone else in Greenvale, at least when the game first starts. He tones down the attitude a bit once he warms up to the rest of the town. |
| 596 | * ''VideoGame/DemonHunterTheReturnOfTheWings'': Dayl often complains how nobody gives enough respect to a scientist like him. Davichi similarly complains that hunters are only good for killings and he shows no respect to Gun. |
| 597 | * Osiris from ''VideoGame/{{Destiny}}'' and [[VideoGame/Destiny2 it’s sequel]] truly is a genius, one of the smartest Guardians alive. He’s also so ridiculously, insufferably arrogant that he inspired a ''cult'' who mistook his bizarre theories and self-aggrandizing as proof he was a prophet. Saint-14 eventually [[KickedUpStairs promoted him to the Vanguard]] in the hopes that it would force Osiris to grow up and get his head out of his ass... [[GoneHorriblyWrong but instead]], Osiris just took it as a validation of his massive ego, using the authority and resources of his new position to fund all his pet projects at the expense of the Guardians’ actual duties, which [[TheExile got him kicked out of the City]]. When you meet him yourself in the present day, he’s just as much of SmugSnake as he was back then, and even his student/[[LikeASonToMe surrogate daughter]], Ikora Rey, complains that he never seemed to learn that being a [[OurMagesAreDifferent Warlock]] means more than being the smartest person in the room. |
| 598 | * Pritchard, your VoiceWithAnInternetConnection in ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution''. He's a hacker, and a good one and he will never miss an opportunity to tell you so at great length with particular emphasis on how stupid ''you'' are in comparison. Adam is always willing to knock him down a peg by pointing out when he mispronounces a word, or when fixing a security hole Pritchard didn't know about. |
| 599 | * ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor'' has Naoya, [[HelloInsertNameHere the hero's cousin]] and a programming genius. Only twenty-four years old, yet capable of ''amazing'' programming feats, like converting handheld gaming systems into weapons able to summon demons and let humans fight toe-to-toe with them. He doesn't brag so much as treat his incomparable genius as proven fact; if the hero proves to have a canny mind, he acts as if it's just an offshoot of ''his'' brilliance. (If you play the hero as a [[TheDitz ditz]], however...) |
| 600 | * In ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'', your Intellect skills can become this if they're leveled high enough, and they can push you to be this in turn. In particular, Logic, Rhetoric, and Encyclopedia love to point out minor flaws in others' statements and encourage you to be pedantic and corrective, simply so everyone else can see how goddamn ''smart'' you are. |
| 601 | * Mao, the main character of ''VideoGame/Disgaea3AbsenceOfJustice'', is this in spades, always bragging about his 1.8 million EQ (That's right, ''EQ''.) However, a combination of his ego and being WrongGenreSavvy makes him prone to astonishingly bad decisions (no, actually, calling yourself a hero doesn't make you invincible) and easy to manipulate. |
| 602 | * ''VideoGame/Dota2'' gives us Invoker. Absolutely ''loves'' being as condescending and arrogant in his dialogue and responses as possible, when he's not praising himself. This is a bit of GameplayAndStoryIntegration, as Invoker is one of the [[DifficultButAwesome hardest characters to play effectively]], so if you're doing well with him, you probably ''do'' have some serious skill. |
| 603 | -->'''Invoker:''' What joy it is beholding me! |
| 604 | -->'''Invoker:''' You die as you lived: insipid and ignorant. |
| 605 | * ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors'': Many of the officers of the Kingdom of Jin are the brightest strategists and shrewdest politicians of their generation, and they are firmly convinced it's their right to rule China because the other realms are headed by unimaginative and unworthy fools. What stops this from being misplaced arrogance is that by the time of their campaign many of the greatest officers of Shu and Wu were slain in battle or died of old age years ago, and their successors are clearly not of the same quality. And it is telling that canonically, Jin did ''win'' the War of the Three Kingdoms over Wu and Shu (through military conquest of the former, and politically outmaneuvering the latter). |
| 606 | * ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'''s ''Dragonborn'' DLC has Master Neloth, a Councilor of the Dunmeri [[TheClan Great House]] Telvanni who previously appeared in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]''. The rather [[MightMakesRight lax rules]] in House Telvanni foster an environment in which EvilSorcerer and magical MadScientist types flourish, and Neloth is the epitome of that. He doesn't give an [[DudeWheresMyRespect iota of respect]] to even world-saving heroes like the [[PlayerCharacter Nerevarine or Dragonborn]]. [[TheArchmage Archmage]] of the [[WizardingSchool College of Winterhold]]? Still condescending. In fact, he treats the position as if it's just barely qualified to be his ''apprentice''. Similarly, his reasoning for refusing to train your Enchanting past level 90 is that he doesn't want you to potentially get better than him. |
| 607 | * ''Franchise/{{Fallout}}'': |
| 608 | ** [[TokenEvilTeammate Myron]] of ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' is a brilliant teenager responsible for the creation of [[FantasticDrug Jet]][[note]]prior to {{retcon}}s by Creator/{{Bethesda}}[[/note]], one of the most potent and addictive drugs available in the post-apocalypse. However, he's more or less designed to be a HateSink as he's annoying, amoral, condescending, and has a SmallNameBigEgo. |
| 609 | ** Mr. House of ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' doesn't bother to hide his condescension for... well, anybody and has a clear disdain for the other factions out to rule New Vegas. He is, however, a genius of several stripes, who not only earned his fortune before he was thirty but was also responsible for preserving what remains of Vegas through the nuclear apocalypse through IfMyCalculationsAreCorrect. If you choose to betray him, either for the NCR, Legion, or for yourself, he'll ask you why you did it. You can declare your allegiance to the faction of your choosing... or you could bluntly tell him, "I don't like you." After you do the deed, his obituary, entitled "A Tragedy Has Befallen All Mankind", states that he was a man of incredible vision and genius that will likely never be replaced, recognizes him as the best hope for a prosperous future, possessed incalculable knowledge of several key subjects, and generally talks about him like he's a MessianicArchetype. It all sounds like a WhatTheHellPlayer until you realize from the note at the end that ''House wrote the obituary himself''. [[BigBad Caesar]] mentions reading the obituary and dryly comments that whoever Mr. House really was, he was a guy who had a ''very'' high opinion of himself. |
| 610 | ** [[HypocriticalHumor Funnily enough]], Caesar himself was a WickedCultured {{narcissist}} who believed that other people only exist to serve him. When the Courier asks him what [[WordSaladPhilosophy Hegelian dialectics]] is, he responds that the simple explanation is that it's something that they would know about if they read books ([[CommonKnowledge while ironically mixing Hegel up with Fichte]]). |
| 611 | --->'''Caesar:''' I don't have to explain the reasoning behind my commands. I just give them, and you do them. That said, every once in a while I hear something so ignorant, I have to respond. This is one of those times. |
| 612 | ** ''Vegas'' also had Poindexter, a SmallNameBigEgo NCR Trooper who speaks exclusively in SesquipedalianLoquaciousness and is TheFriendNobodyLikes as a result of being an annoying smartass who can't follow orders. His "brilliant" solution for the sidequest revolving around improving his squad is to simply hack their records to make them look better [[spoiler:([[TooDumbToLive getting them either curbstomped by the Legion or hanged for deserting]])]]. |
| 613 | * Palom from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' is an overconfident and arrogant Black Mage whose attitude doesn't improve much even after his puberty as he becomes a jerkass mentor. Nevertheless, he is still a genius in his field. |
| 614 | * Shinra in ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2 Final Fantasy X-2]]'' fits this as well, though when pushed about something he doesn't know he responds with "I'm just a kid." |
| 615 | * ''Franchise/FireEmblem'': |
| 616 | ** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'' has Lute, a young mage who openly claims to be capable of memorizing anything she reads, to the point of being able to quote sentences from specific pages and '''paragraphs''' of books. |
| 617 | ** Shinon from Tellius games. Textbook {{Jerkass}} and blatant [[FantasticRacism racist]]. While he is not constantly reminding us that he is brilliant, he does boast about his skill with a bow in his first appearance and obviously has a pretty big ego. However, not only IS he really an incredible archer (not so much in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'', but in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'', he's practically a GameBreaker) but also seems to be a very skilled person in general (exemplified by his ability to make one of, if not the best, bows in the game and his epilogue even implies him to be an InstantExpert at pretty much anything he tries). He also seems to be a pretty savvy guy, both tactically (being one of the first to realize Daein's true intentions during their first ambush) and in general life situations, as shown in his conversations with Gatrie. No wonder he looks down on many people around him. |
| 618 | * A blatant example is seen in the ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'' series. Baird is the resident tech guy, shown to be well versed in many forms of academics beyond the expected technology (even having a scholarly interest in the Locust enemy). His {{jerkass}} behaviour, however, is the only thing keeping him from the promotion he feels he deserves. |
| 619 | * Sohee in ''VideoGame/GuardianTales'' calls anyone not as smart as her (read: basically everyone) a gorilla and boasts about her intelligence regularly. Marianne (who's also a case of this but isn't nearly as insufferable as Sohee) sometimes calls Sohee a sociopath. |
| 620 | * The Asura in ''Franchise/GuildWars'' are a whole race of Insufferable Geniuses, who are quite certain they are the only ones who can create the {{Magitek}} weapons that can save the world from the Destroyers. Fortunately for the world, they turn out to be right. |
| 621 | * Arne Magnusson from ''VideoGame/HalfLife2: Episode Two'' also embodies this trope. He names a weapon after himself, and is painfully short with ''everyone''. Even Gordon Freeman, who has up until that point, been practically showered with praise from every NPC that isn't trying to kill them. |
| 622 | ** The Vortigaunts have great respect for him, so either they forgive him his quirks or are still a little too alien to notice them. |
| 623 | ** In fairness, you ''did'' kinda blow up his [[FreudianExcuse casserole.]] Of course, if we had known Magnusson before that incident, cause and effect may have been reversed. |
| 624 | * ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'': |
| 625 | ** 343 Guilty Spark is the ''embodiment'' of this trope. He brags about his own intellect, actually ''has'' said intellect, and '''never''' stops telling you (and ''himself'') so. He's also a backstabbing {{Jerkass}}. |
| 626 | ** Though Dr. Halsey is quite nice to those dear to her, she does ''not'' suffer fools gladly. Her insufferableness worsens considerably after ONI throws her under the bus; in ''VideoGame/Halo5Guardians'', even [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure the Arbiter]] has trouble standing her. |
| 627 | * ''VideoGame/IntoTheBreach'': Archimedes is a highly advanced AI from a timeline that has had ''way'' more AI research done in it than ours, and he ''knows'' it. If another pilot kills two Vek with one shot, he can comment that the other pilot is coming ''close'' to his standards or must have learned from his example (even if he's in a mech with no damaging weapons), and having him block an emerging Vek or repair his own mech is likely to draw snotty comments about how that should be the work of a less advanced system. When he levels up, he'll proudly proclaim himself "more superior than ever." On the other hand, with enough power cores, he can be a very useful unit, particularly in a high-mobility mech; the tactical utility of being able to shoot an enemy, then reposition an entire second move, is pretty high. |
| 628 | ->(Response to time pod landing) "I do hope the Pod contains an intelligence I can have a decent conversation with." |
| 629 | * ''VideoGame/JaggedAlliance:'' |
| 630 | ** Daniel "Danny" Quinten is a skilled and capable battlefield medic, known for airdropping to dying soldiers and refusing to evacuate until the patient was safe. He tends to lord this skill and ability over everyone else, constantly speaking with a subtle arrogance in his voice lines. |
| 631 | ** Dr. Mitch Shudlem has one of the highest Wisdom scores in the entire game and is the second-best medic. His way of speaking makes it clear he is certain that his presence is carrying the team and everyone should be grateful for his presence. |
| 632 | * [[VideoGame/JumpStart Polly Spark]], the villain of ''VideoGame/JumpStartAdventures3rdGradeMysteryMountain''. The whole plot of the game happens because she gets a 0 on a test for giving absurd answers to all the questions. Suffers from a bit of VillainDecay in later appearances. Then again, she's more of a brat than outright evil. |
| 633 | * ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories'' gives us [[AnIcePerson Vexen]]. While he is insufferable to Sora, this tends to be par for the course for him when it comes to Organization members due to their cryptic JerkAss natures. Vexen truly cements his Insufferable Genius status when it comes to his fellow Organization members. He spends the group meetings constantly bragging about how much smarter he is and how he has the highest rank in Castle Oblivion [[SelectiveObliviousness (even though Organization ranks are determined only by how early they joined rather than their actual power within the group. Hence why number 7, Saix, is second-in-command ahead of numbers 2-6).]] [[spoiler:[[AssholeVictim This comes back to bite him when Marluxia orders Axel to kill him off, and Axel obliges despite being on Vexen’s side of the conflict. Axel probably considered Vexen an acceptable sacrifice for Marluxia’s trust due to how unbearably annoying Vexen was.]]]] |
| 634 | ** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' continues this with a twist. [[spoiler:He has actually become TheAtoner, and acts as TheMole to take the new Organization’s replicas for the good guys to use. While still an Insufferable Genius, he is at least a good person now.]] |
| 635 | * Zetta, the "most badass overlord in the entire universe" of ''VideoGame/MakaiKingdom'', actually is as powerful as his near-constant boasting would suggest. [[spoiler:Then we find out that he unknowingly had a bit of help in that department]]. |
| 636 | * Durandal and Tycho of ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}''. They are very smart, they know it, and they will make sure everyone else knows it as well. |
| 637 | -->'''Tycho:''' Don't sweat the details, little monkey. Leave the strategy to those of us with planet-sized brains. |
| 638 | * ''Franchise/MassEffect'' has Joker, the Normandy's helmsman. If you chat him up, he'll brag on endlessly about his skill. However, stick around for three games and he'll show you that he has skills to back up his talk and some to spare. There's a reason Alliance brass thought he was the guy to fly their latest over-engined prototype frigate. |
| 639 | * Leo in ''Super VideoGame/MondayNightCombat,'' a clone of Creator/LeonardoDaVinci. He's the smartest guy in the room and he knows it, constantly talking about his genius and his many incredible achievements while looking down on every other pro in competition. |
| 640 | -->'''Leo:''' I invented the hang glider while waiting for some pasta to boil; I think I can handle this. |
| 641 | * Jonas from ''VideoGame/TheNamelessMod'', is this so much, that if you knock him out at PDX headquarters, King Kashue won't come downstairs and mop the floor with you like if you knocked anyone else out. If you kiss his ass, however, he'll give you extra goodies for missions. |
| 642 | * ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'' has both SquishyWizard henchmen, [[TheSociopath Qara]] and, to a greater extent, [[DeadpanSnarker Sand]]. |
| 643 | ** ''Mask of the Betrayer'' follows up with Gannayev, who is very confident in his status as Rasheman's best, brightest, and most beautiful spirit shaman, and will helpfully remind anyone of this fact should the opportunity arise. [[InsultBackfire Trying to knock him down a peg only encourages him]]. |
| 644 | * ''VideoGame/NoStraightRoads'' has DJ Subatomic Supernova, a man whose life goal is to send his music out into space to play on an endless loop and an egotistical {{Jerkass}} who treats everyone else around him as though they are insignificant. He's also a former astrophysicist and university professor, and is described in an [[https://mobile.twitter.com/NoStraightRoads/status/1318135385168449537 unused briefing profile]] as the smartest member of NSR. |
| 645 | * ''VideoGame/TheOuterWorlds'': Celeste Jolicoeur is ''the'' pre-eminent fashion designer in the setting, and ''boy'' does she know it. That said, she is also a JerkWithAHeartOfGold who takes her craft seriously and is more than willing to drop everything to help a grease-spattered ugly duckling of a tramp freighter engineer find the perfect dress for a date. |
| 646 | * Jubilost Narthropple of ''VideoGame/PathfinderKingmaker'' is an interesting example of the trope. On the one hand, he is ''very'' much an insufferable genius and never stops abrasively reminding everyone around him of how much smarter he is than them, which frequently lands him in hot water. On the other hand, he does legitimately have the skills to back up his claims and is [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold strongly motivated]] to make life better for the same "simpletons" he constantly derides. |
| 647 | * Deconstructed in ''VideoGame/Persona4''. Naoto Shirogane is known as [[GreatDetective "the Detective Prince"]], considered one of the greatest investigators the world has ever seen... and boy, Naoto will ''not'' let you hear the end of it. As it turns out, [[spoiler:''she'' is desperately trying to compensate for what she views as her twin weaknesses of being both a teenager in an adult's profession and a woman in a man's world. Her attitude, as well as her (justified) conviction that Mitsuo isn't the actual killer, eventually gets her thrown off the Inaba murder cases entirely, forcing her to take her life into her own hands to prove the killer is still out there. She defrosts greatly after the Investigation Team rescue her.]] |
| 648 | * There is often (but not always) a character with this disposition in the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games who function as TheRival: [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Green/Blue/Gary]], [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Silver]], [[VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2 Hugh]], [[VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon Gladion]], and [[VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield Bede]] fall into this category, as they are all some of the greatest trainers of their regions and are always neck-and-neck with the PlayerCharacter to the very end, but they are incredibly smug, look down on everyone around them, and won't hesitate to flaunt their superiority to whomever they feel like. Bede is a {{Deconstruction}} of sorts, as his assumption that he's always right leads to him [[spoiler:severely damaging a national monument in Galar thinking there's something he needs hidden in it, which gets him disqualified from the Gym Challenge.]] |
| 649 | * ''VideoGame/QuakeIV'' has Johann Strauss, Rhino Squad's technician. He constantly brags about his intelligence and his abilities (including being one of the few humans to fluently speak the language of the game's enemies, the Strogg), has a tendency to berate others for not being as intelligent as him, and is always complaining about being placed in immediate danger, as he believes himself to be highly important. Fortunately for the rest of the squad, he really is that good -- amongst other things, his ability to hack into the Strogg systems to open otherwise unlockable doors is a necessity. |
| 650 | * In ''[[VideoGame/QuernUndyingThoughts Quern -- Undying Thoughts]]'', Maythorn can come across as this. In his letters, he often talks about how incredible his inventions are and how only a genius would be capable of figuring out how they work. |
| 651 | * Genius Weisheit from ''VideoGame/RadiataStories'' with him constantly pestering the sentries to the City of Flowers to let him in and his general pretentious attitude towards people who don't share the same amount of knowledge he does. |
| 652 | * In ''VideoGame/SamuraiWarriors'', Mitsunari Ishida is portrayed as this, with quite a bit of DeadpanSnarker to go with his insufferableness as well (though it is said that he was like this in RealLife as well). |
| 653 | * ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' has Mori Motonari, who never seems to get tired of telling people how futile their attempts to either foil or understand his plans are, or how worthless and idiotic they are compared to him. And, while his demeanour is usually cold, he can become rather smug when proved right (as he always is). |
| 654 | * ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' |
| 655 | ** [[MadScientist Dr. Eggman]] loves to boast about how much of a genius he is and rub it in everyone's faces. |
| 656 | ** Wave the Swallow from the ''VideoGame/SonicRiders'' series is as snarky as she is intelligent. She makes it her personal business to insult the younger and more humble genius Tails every opportunity she gets. |
| 657 | * Purge in ''VideoGame/SpaceChannel5'' Part 2 may brag about how he's a genius and amazes himself, but he really is smarter than the average villain in the series. He has a plan for everything, should you beat him here, he'll have a backup idea at the ready. [[spoiler:That is, until the ending, when Ulala has him beat. And then he shows up at the end of the credits march. Cue KaizoTrap]]. |
| 658 | * The science officer in ''VideoGame/StarcomNexus'' is respected and appreciated for his skills by his co-workers, none of whom will say it to his face as he hasn't gotten along with people since the incident. ("What incident?" "Being born.") Limited dialogue options mean the player will probably hassle him over and over again about getting around to an unimportant side job - something that'd usually not be presented as really happening in-universe, but here it is just to annoy him. |
| 659 | * ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'': The Consular's healing companion Tharan Cedrax certainly has his moments. Like many of the other examples, his scientific prowess and intelligence certainly do match up to his boasts. [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold He also is a surprisingly loyal and compassionate fellow when the chips are truly down]]. [[spoiler:He won Holiday's freedom from a Hutt by challenging a BountyHunter to the death ''and'' gave up eternal scientific glory to upgrade her to full sentience. Then, he was willing to tell the First son of the Emperor to get lost and release his friend Syo Bakarn, despite the First Son being a powerful Force User and Tharan being a relatively squishy {{Muggle}}]] A good way to gain affection with him is to help others but point out how their foolishness got them into a mess in the first place. |
| 660 | * ''VideoGame/SunHaven'' has Xyla, the Architect of Withergate, a bustling modern metropolis for monsterfolk with all the amenities you'd expect of a modern city, like indoor plumbing, massive sewer systems, an impressive power grid that keeps the whole place lit-up 24/7 without issue, and conveniences such as elevators. Considering the magical medieval level of technology most everywhere else, this is doubly impressive. Xyla herself, however, is a DeadpanSnarker who never passes up an opportunity to insult and demean the player character and everyone else, openly pokes and criticizes the actions of the royal family who's she supposed to be subservient to, and even if you romance her, she'll never lose her thorniness. |
| 661 | * ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'': Look no further than Jade Curtis. This is also in addition to being a StepfordSmiler, DeadpanSnarker, and JerkWithAHeartOfGold. |
| 662 | * ''VideoGame/ThemsFightinHerds'': While Oleander is definitely a powerful dark magic user, she can be very smug and egotistical about her skills, setting herself much higher than she actually is and underestimating the other fighters. And then there's Velvet. While the best in her home at fighting and utilizing Winter Magic, her privileged background, desire to show off, and [[TheFightingNarcissist narcissistic tendencies]] make her even ''worse''. |
| 663 | * A great number of them abound in ''Franchise/TouhouProject'', or at least are depicted as such typically by the fandom. Patchouli Knowledge and Alice Margatroid are among them, as is (slightly less commonly) Satori Komeiji. In canon, Eirin Yagokoro, as the Lunarians' most brilliant scientist and a TimeAbyss of sorcery and knowledge, is often guilty of this as well. |
| 664 | * Victor Niguel from ''VideoGame/TraumaCenter'' is simultaneously a genius, a narcissist, and a misanthrope with little patience for anyone less intelligent than him. Which is just about everyone. And in the very, ''very'' few cases where he's wrong, he's the only one who beats himself up over it. |
| 665 | * Almost all battle quotes of Lezard Valeth from ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfile'' take shots at how pathetic and unworthy his opponents are, or how much superior he is over them. Granted, this is the man who [[spoiler:survived the end of the world to travel back in time, become a god, and screw history]], [[StalkerWithACrush all to grab the attention of his beloved Lenneth]]. |
| 666 | -->'''Lezard Valeth:''' I will not deny you tried, but crude efforts are no match for true ability. |
| 667 | * ''VideoGame/TheEndTimesVermintide'': Kerillian is a [[OurElvesAreDifferent wood]] elf [[ForestRanger Waystalker]] who is the best shot of the Ubersreik Five by far, an excellent hand with a sword or a knife, great at tracking, and also one of the most knowledgeable about the world from her long life experience... but she's a complete condescending ''[[{{Jerkass}} twat]]'' who regularly calls her human (and singular dwarf) teammates such endearing names as [[WeAreAsMayflies "Mayflies"]] and "Lumberfoots". Besides the fact she really ''is'' good at fighting and killing, it's also TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt and the Ubersreik Five all know they need to band together if they want any hope of surviving (which they likely won't because the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' world is DoomedByCanon to become TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar). |
| 668 | * ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'': |
| 669 | ** Game Master Minamimoto is, to paraphrase the man himself, an "asshole of petametric proportions," working a liberal dosage of mathematical vocabulary into everything he says. It's guys like this dude that make some folks [[DumbIsGood hate maths]]. He's not much better on this front in [[VideoGame/NeoTheWorldEndsWithYou the sequel]], either. |
| 670 | ** We have Joshua, who Neku decides isn't so bad to have around because he can decipher whatever the hell Minamimoto decides to send them for mission messages, only to correct himself five seconds later when his smug personality reappears and Neku remembers why he hates the kid. |
| 671 | [[/folder]] |
| 672 | |
| 673 | [[folder:Visual Novels]] |
| 674 | * ''Franchise/AceAttorney'': |
| 675 | ** [[EvilOldFolks Manfred von Karma.]] He's been a prosecutor for [[LongRunner forty years]] and hasn't lost a single time, but that's because he resorts to doing downright illegal things, from forging evidence to tampering with witnesses. He also tends to take control of the courtroom with his intimidating personality, shutting everyone down at every opportunity. Not only that, but he'll throw anyone under the bus to keep his record going, or to get back against [[spoiler:Gregory Edgeworth.]] [[spoiler:Finding out that he is a murderer and exposing him]] is ''very'' [[CatharsisFactor satisfying.]] |
| 676 | *** His daughter Franziska also falls under this, although [[DefrostingIceQueen she gets better]] after realizing and accepting [[BrokenPedestal what a horrible person her father was,]] becoming a JerkWithAHeartOfGold (albeit with emphasis on "Jerk"). |
| 677 | *** His protege Miles Edgeworth is also this to an extent. Prior to his HeelFaceTurn, he is a straight example of this. After his HeelFaceTurn, he becomes a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, although he's still strictly professional and lacks social skills in some situations, often becoming easily flustered when something awkward happens, or whenever his StalkerWithACrush Wendy Oldbag is within earshot. Despite this, he can be extremely empathetic when the situation calls for it, because he's no stranger to trauma himself. |
| 678 | ** Nahyuta Sadmadhi. He's a religious zealot and is EnragedByIdiocy, but he's good at what he does. Even before TheReveal that he was GoodAllAlong, he [[WorthyOpponent shows respect for those who manage to best him in court.]] |
| 679 | ** Some culprits -- even the more intelligent ones -- tend to fall into this, especially when confronted. |
| 680 | ** Subverted with Phoenix in the first half of Turnabout Revolution. It seems as though he TookALevelInJerkass, but Apollo and Athena eventually figure out the [[IHaveYourWife reason]] for his strange and desperate behavior, after which he immediately turns against the [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating horrible]] [[SleazyPolitician scumbag]] he is defending. |
| 681 | * ''Franchise/DanganRonpa'': |
| 682 | ** ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'': Kokichi Oma brags about being an evil genius, [[ConsummateLiar lies to everyone]], and constantly acts superior, making the cast despise him. He is known for taunting the rest of the cast, and creates schemes he includes people in if he wants to manipulate them. Kokichi oozes the trope in chapter four, where he condescendingly guides Shuichi along in the trial, and provides vital clues only when he gets bored or upset. However, [[BunnyEarsLawyer he finds out more about the killing game than anyone else, and proves useful in detecting lies]]. [[spoiler:After his death]], it turns out Kokichi was hoarding ridiculous amounts of evidence from old cases, and he knew even more about the killing game than he let on. This information ends up being crucial for Shuichi to finally end the game. |
| 683 | ** ''V3'' has [[Characters/DanganronpaMiuIruma Miu Iruma]], a GadgeteerGenius who like Kokichi was also TheFriendNobodyLikes as she spends most of the game insulting the others on their appearances while arrogantly touting her talent, intelligence, [[ShamelessFanserviceGirl and beauty]] as reasons why she's better than them. [[spoiler:She was also intelligent enough to finger the killer in every trial she participated in, but [[DitzyGenius lacked the deductive reasoning skills]] to [[RightForTheWrongReasons answer the how and why]].]] |
| 684 | ** The FanGame ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaAnother'' has Rei Mekaru, the "[[TheAce Ultimate]] Professor" who's a ChildProdigy that lectures at universities despite being in high school, with her EstablishingCharacterMoment being her deciding she's too good for the [[AcademyOfAdventure world's best high school]] after deciding her classmates don't live up to her standards. When the DeadlyGame starts she spends her time antagonizing everyone around her and [[WeAreStrugglingTogether outright refuses to cooperate with the others during the Class Trials]] unless it becomes necessary because [[ItAmusedMe watching them struggle to figure out something she already had amused her]]. |
| 685 | ** ''VisualNovel/SuperDanganronpaAnother2'' has Kanade Otonokoji, the Ultimate Guitarist. Although her talent is musical, she is an avid fan of medical dramas and murder mysteries, making her quite GenreSavvy in the trials. But the "insufferable" part [[BitchInSheepsClothing doesn't really show itself]] until Chapter 2, when she takes center stage as the one helping Sora find the culprit. Whenever her theories are questioned, she busts out a [[NightmareFace frightening]] DeathGlare and viciously insults whoever dared to disagree. Not even her own twin sister is safe from her wrath! |
| 686 | --->'''Kanade:''' Peh! What a disappointment. I never expected you all to share a single-digit IQ like my sister. To think I could easily die if you halfwits vote wrong... Disgusting! |
| 687 | * Doctor West in ''VisualNovel/{{Demonbane}}'' loves proclaiming that he is the "ultimate genius chosen by heaven". Most of the time he's regarded as a completely insane nuisance. But when he accomplishes such feats as building a fully sapient gynoid and [[spoiler:reconfiguring Demonbane to be used without a grimoire]], the story's characters find themselves forced to admit that he really ''is'' a genius engineer. |
| 688 | * Tohsaka in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' is matter-of-fact about her superiority, combining this with being TheTease for additional help making Shirou feel like a moron. On the other hand, it's Downplayed because [[spoiler:while she is every bit as good as she says, that's ''only'' as good as she is. Shirou is not a genius like she is, but he tends to accomplish a lot cooler and supposedly impossible things because unlike her, he pushes his limits [[{{Determinator}} and doesn't quit when that's not enough]].]] |
| 689 | * ''VisualNovel/{{Last Chance in Xollywood}}'': Rinaldi the scenographer and set designer is great at his job, as the fact that he makes great sets for Love Dies Screaming with Last Chance's minimal budget shows. However he's also very self-important, and the reason he works for such a small studio is because he burned a lot of bridges in Xollywood. One of the ways the player can get a better relationship with him is to help him find a better job. |
| 690 | * Yaginuma in ''VisualNovel/KaraNoShoujo'' is a grade-A jerkass, but he does have the reputation to back it up. |
| 691 | * ''VisualNovel/{{SOON}}'': ''Both'' Atlas and Fang at any point of the timeline, with baby!Atlas being the only exception. Extra points to Fang, who titled her autobiography "My life as a genius". Even for the author of the scientific research that helped to save the world from GlobalWarming and Nobel peace prize laureate, that's pushing it. |
| 692 | * In ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'', [[DefectiveDetective Erika]]'s brains are certainly nothing to laugh at, but she's also prompt to rub it on everyone's face. Cue cheers from the fans when Battler infuriates her by out-cultivating her on the topic of mystery novels. |
| 693 | -->'''Erika:''' Oh, please! Don't tell me you have to waste several seconds to solve this problem? |
| 694 | [[/folder]] |
| 695 | |
| 696 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 697 | * ''WebAnimation/AttackOnMika'': [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5seblIFZQU0 Tsueno]] is a rich classmate who is a studious student but he is arrogant and is always bragging about his intelligence. He looks down on Mika constantly who is poor and must work hard to support her family. |
| 698 | * ''VisualNovel/DateWarp'': Janet used to be one of these, and it came very close to screwing her over. In the backstory we learn at the start of the game, Janet's classmates previously bullied her because of her Genius. Because of that, Janet wouldn't join any extracurricular activities with the girls, which is understandable. The "Insufferable" part came into play because Janet ended up not joining any extracurricular activities with anyone, and she forgot that the college she was applying to strongly prefers girls with lots of social experience on their applications, so Janet almost didn't make it into college as a result. |
| 699 | * ''WebAnimation/DSBTInsaniT'': Robo has signs of this, such as finding it frustrating when someone rephrases his wordy explanations and sticking with the original meanings of certain words despite not being LiteralMinded. |
| 700 | * ''WebAnimation/EpithetErased'': Sylvie is, academically, a very clever guy, having a doctorate at age 15 that, despite some ambiguity relating to his stat card, WordOfGod consistently treats as legitimate. On the other hand, as a ''person'' he's such an obnoxious, entitled dork that it becomes very easy to understand [[FriendlessBackground how he got to 15 without making any friends at all]], to the point where he decides to stay behind in a museum after closing hours for no reason other than that he thinks he's better than regular museum-goers and as such shouldn't ''have'' to wait to see the Arsene Amulet. When [[https://jelloapocalypse.tumblr.com/post/702337926079692800/the-sequel-to-epithet-eraseds-first-season info cards]] were released as part of the leadup to ''Literature/EpithetErasedPrisonOfPlastic'' coming out, each character got a unique stat, such as [[HarmlessVillain Giovanni getting 1 for Pure Evil]]; Sylvie's unique stat is "Um, Actually," and it's simply listed as "MAX". He is, at least, a JerkWithAHeartOfGold version, proving to be a surprisingly loyal friend to Molly within about 20 minutes of their first encounter. |
| 701 | -->'''Sylvie:''' ''I'' am a highly trained epithet user who graduated college and became a psychologist at the age of 15! Like I'd ever cooperate with criminal scum like you!\ |
| 702 | '''Giovanni:''' Hm. [pulls out bat] I'm gonna hit him.\ |
| 703 | '''Molly:''' [[OnlySaneMan No, don't, we need his help!]]\ |
| 704 | '''Giovanni:''' But I wanna hit him! |
| 705 | * In ''WebAnimation/IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice'': |
| 706 | ** The Emperor is this trope personified. Despite being a barely-living husk of a body reduced to speaking through a text-to-speech device, he will brag endlessly about how smart he is, how perfect he is, how powerful he is, etc. The thing is, he's kind of right: he is the most powerful human psyker in existence, he conquered the entire human race (which was spread out across ''millions'' of planets, mind you), his Warp presence appears to nearly be on par with the Chaos Gods themselves (who refer to him as "The Anathema"), and his series-spanning plans, while convoluted and very odd, actually seem to be ''working''. |
| 707 | ** One of the Emperor's sons, Magnus, gets some of this attitude by the episode sixteen, treating those who are under him in terms of power and warp-related knowledge (which is everyone apart from Tzeentch and the Emperor) as morons. On the other hand, he ''is'' third most powerful psyker in the universe, and the only ones above him are a PhysicalGod and SentientCosmicForce, so he has every right to brag. |
| 708 | * Arthur Watts of ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' is a top Atlesian scientist turned EvilGenius of Salem's followers, who spends most of his screentime insulting everyone else for not being as smart as he is. The others in the inner circle have dark backstories explaining why they joined Salem, but Watts was passed over for a project ''once'', in a lifetime of getting everything else he could have wanted, and decided to [[DisproportionateRetribution destroy the entire kingdom out of spite]] for not "appreciating my genius". [[spoiler:He's finally done in when [[ManipulativeBitch Cinder]] plays to his ego, pretending that she finally realized how he was always smarter than her, and the glee of getting what he wanted blinds him to the fact that she's set him up to die.]] |
| 709 | * Yahtzee of ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'' is widely viewed as one. He once wrote a sarcastic poem entitled "[[AskAStupidQuestion Where I Get My Ideas"]] in reaction to the countless times he'd been asked that at conventions. In reviews, he sounds genuinely mournful at how idiotic everyone else is, and employs suicide threats as a running gag. |
| 710 | [[/folder]] |
| 711 | |
| 712 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 713 | * Paige of ''Webcomic/AgentsOfTheRealm'' likes to remind people that she studied very hard to get a full ride scholarship. Once she has a chance to shine, though, this is easily forgiven. |
| 714 | * The titular Frost from ''Webcomic/DrFrost.'' His LackOfEmpathy, arrogant remarks and cold demeanor definitely rub people the wrong way, although there is little doubt that he is a genius. |
| 715 | * Suspiria from ''Webcomic/{{Flipside}}''. She's the youngest third-level mage in history and won't let anyone forget it. But her lack of practical experience paired with a consistent overestimation of her own power has led to tragedy and/or humiliation nearly every time she's tried to show [[TooCleverByHalf "what she can really do."]] You'd think a "genius" would be better at learning from her mistakes. |
| 716 | * Sollux Captor in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' can be a bit of an [[VerbalTic iin2ufferable geniiu2]] when it comes to computers. |
| 717 | -->TA: iif you cant fiigure 2hiit out by fuckiing around you dont belong near computer2.\ |
| 718 | TA: kiind of liike wiith regii2tered 2ex offender2 and 2chool2.\ |
| 719 | TA: iif you move two a new town you have two go up two your neiighbor2 door and warn them about how 2tupiid you are.\ |
| 720 | TA: and giive them a chance two hiide all theiir iinnocent technology.\ |
| 721 | TA: and vandaliize your hou2e. |
| 722 | ** Doc Scratch, crossing over with SmugSuper. He is legitimately close to omniscience, but he loves reminding everyone of just how smart he is in comparison to them. He compares his machinations to playing a game of chess in which you provide your opponent with a list of all the moves you are going to make beforehand, and still win regardless. [[spoiler:Which he proceeds to do. ''Everything'' up to the end of Act 5 happened exactly as he planned it.]] |
| 723 | * In ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' Galatea has a ''very'' high opinion of her intelligence. And she's right, too, she really is brilliant. But she's blind to how [[TaughtByExperience inexperienced and naive]] her [[YoungerThanTheyLook extreme youth]] makes her. |
| 724 | * Rowan in ''Webcomic/LeifAndThorn'' is a variation: he's friendly and laid-back a lot of the time, and regularly charms people all the way into bed, only to [[http://leifandthorn.com/comic/the-incredibly-successful-dating-life-of-rowan-muscade/ snap and pick fights if they get something wrong about science]]. |
| 725 | * Celebrity chess grandmaster Billy Thatcher in ''Webcomic/{{Morphe}}'' is a self-described {{Jerkass}} who cares for little besides his chess career. He's also good enough to [[spoiler:beat a TimeMaster who [[{{Retconjuration}} rewrote his personal history to become a chess prodigy]] and repeatedly cheated with Time magic -- all while Billy was [[{{Determinator}} passing out from blood loss]]]]. WordOfGod also confirms that he's the most intelligent and quick-witted cast member. |
| 726 | * Arthur 'Artie' Narbon, originally from ''Webcomic/{{Narbonic}}'' is frequently completely insufferable, though he's portrayed a bit more positively than many of the other characters who display this trope. It helps that when it comes to their own specialties, almost every ''other'' character is ''also'' an Insufferable Genius in their own way. It plateaus in ''Webcomic/SkinHorse'', though, where he comes off as almost as smug and condescending as H.T., who at least has the excuse of being a cat. |
| 727 | * ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': |
| 728 | ** Vaarsuvius is a brilliant spellcaster who has spent decades studying the craft and saved the team's bacon several times, and will never let them forget it. Although this eventually gets taken to the point of [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]], as it [[BreakTheHaughty bites them in the ass big time]]. |
| 729 | ** [[UnequalRites Most wizards from the Order universe are like this]], comparing sorcerers to idiot savants and proclaiming that divine magic isn't ''real'' magic. In fact, Eugene Greenhilt's contempt towards Fighters ended up souring his relationship with both his father and his son and his mentor's [[BullyingADragon arrogant mocking of]] Xykon ended with his skull caved in. |
| 730 | * Occasionally, Tycho from ''Webcomic/PennyArcade''. The real Tycho [[SelfDeprecation paints himself this]] way, [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/2010/9/10/ at least]]: |
| 731 | -->'''Tycho:''' [My mother] was made to endure much as I transitioned from absolutely insufferable teenager to an adult who had found a way to get paid for being insufferable. |
| 732 | * ''Webcomic/SandraOnTheRocks'': While fashion photographer Domenico is not just a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} but vain to the point of {{narcissis|t}}m, he is clearly very good at his job, having an international reputation in the business. Notably, his ex-wife Zoé, who finds him ''very'' annoying, still continues to work with him when she could doubtless do very well independently. |
| 733 | * Schtein and Langstrom in ''Webcomic/StringTheory2009''. |
| 734 | * And then there's Dr. Roykirk in ''Webcomic/TwentyFirstCenturyFox'', who is this combined with the trope CatsAreMean. |
| 735 | * Hyeonjin from ''Webcomic/WeakHero''. For as much as a pain it can be for the rest of the band to deal with his pretentious attitude, he is genuinely a musical genius. Gerard argues with Hyeonjin the most, and yet is also the one most besotted by Hyeonjin's musical pieces. |
| 736 | [[/folder]] |
| 737 | |
| 738 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 739 | * ''Lightning Sentai Blitzenger'': Kimura Sanjou, AKA Jade Lightning, is a TeenGenius, and the narration remarks that it led to him developing a sense of arrogance that requires the other Blitzengers to keep under control. |
| 740 | * ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': Quite a few, especially among the [[GadgeteerGenius Gadgeteer]] and [[MadScientist Devisor]] students. Plenty of the Exemplar students -- especially ones from wealthy, prestigious, or in some cases, [[TheFamilyThatSlaysTogether supervillainous]] families -- also tend to be a bit too proud of their cleverness and learning, particularly those looking to become [[TheChessmaster criminal masterminds]]. |
| 741 | ** Jobe Wilkins. In a [[SuperheroSchool school]] full of genius devisers and gadgeteers, plus the people smart enough to teach said inventors, he treats everyone else like they're a moron compared to him. He could be right. |
| 742 | ** Ayla Goodkind (Phase) often comes across this way as well, especially regarding financial matters, with an extra icing of ''[[ChronicHeroSyndrome noblesse oblige]]''. Turning 300 million into over a billion before the age of fifteen may have something to do with this. When he and Jobe collaborated, it took all Phase's massive self-control to keep from tearing the Crown Prince(ss) to pieces. |
| 743 | ** While she's a bit more subtle about it, She-Beast (Jadis Diabolik)'s smug brilliance does grate on Gloriana's nerves over time. |
| 744 | ** Belphegor (Philip Blackadar) ''thinks'' he's a genius, and is certainly insufferable. He is extremely smart, but not ''nearly'' as smart as he thinks. |
| 745 | ** Stopwatch (Nigel Ridgely), the snide and self-important leader of the [[Characters/WhateleyUniverseSchoolClubsAndCliques Masterminds clique]]. |
| 746 | [[/folder]] |
| 747 | |
| 748 | [[folder:Web Videos]] |
| 749 | * LetsPlay/{{Chuggaaconroy}} is a rather mild (and likely unintentional) version of this, in regards to how to properly raise a team of Pokemon and use them in battle, if his LP of ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Pokemon Emerald]]'' is anything to go by. Even then, it seems to only apply to ''Pokémon'', as he's rather humble (but still smart) the rest of the time. |
| 750 | * Tom from ''WebVideo/EchoChamber'' shows shades of this. |
| 751 | * ''WebVideo/EscapeTheNight'' has Matt and [=DeStorm=] who switch between this and KnowNothingKnowItAll. [=MatPat=] is a straight example, though. |
| 752 | * In ''Franchise/{{Noob}}'', Bartémulius and Nostariat are the best alchemists of the Empire, remind it to players whenever they get the opportunity and are a walking incarnation of the EntitledBastard video game QuestGiver archetype. However, the webseries and comic have shown that when they get the impression that a bad situation that is threatening to the Empire or the world can only be resolved by them, they're actually quite helpful and whatever they come up with usually works. |
| 753 | * PlayedForLaughs in ''WebVideo/SwordArtOnlineAbridged''. The series counterbalances the canon Kirito's InvincibleHero status by portraying him as one of these, with his [[BunnyEarsLawyer immense skill at the game being his only redeeming quality]] in most people's eyes. Kirito's FriendlessBackground in the original series was an InformedFlaw, while here they fully lean into LonersAreFreaks. |
| 754 | [[/folder]] |
| 755 | |
| 756 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 757 | * The titular character of ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'' is definitely this. A significant portion of each episode is caused by him insisting that he has to be the smartest person in the room, which more often than not causes trouble in some way, shape, or form. One notable instance was him getting a job at a fast-food restaurant and arguing with his manager about referring to table salt as sodium chloride, [[MemeticMutation with the show's now-grown fans often mocking him over this incident online]]. |
| 758 | * Owl from ''WesternAnimation/TheAnimalsOfFarthingWood'', she constantly uses phrases or quotes famous philosophers but her 'wisdom' is nearly always unwanted or inappropriate for the situation, often resulting in the other animals telling her to simply shut up. Also, within the first season, she constantly believes that she would make the better leader rather than Fox or Badger despite both showing more competency in the position than she ever exhibited. |
| 759 | * [[Comicbook/IronMan Tony Stark]] from ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'' starts out as a condescending jerk to everybody, friends and foes alike. He does have some moments of mellowing out, though. Such as when he realized an aggressive business decision he made led to rival Simon Williams joining the Masters of Evil and becoming Wonder Man. |
| 760 | * ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': Deconstructed by Temple Fugate, a ScheduleFanatic with NoSocialSkills that is in the middle of a court hearing appeal about a $20 million dollar judgment against his company and is haggard and nervous. Fugate is aware that his personality plays against him, but not of what to do to change that. |
| 761 | * Tarantulas of ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'', is rampantly treacherous... often to Megatron's face, but Megatron can't afford to dispose of him or even punish him too badly because he can't do without his scientific know-how. [[spoiler:Though when Tarantulas eventually gets Megatron thrown into a vat of lava, Megs finally decides enough is enough]]. Though it's not the fact [[spoiler:Tarantulas betrayed him yet again]] that Megatron was angry with, but that he failed. "I can suffer your treachery, Lieutenant, '''''but not your INCOMPETENCE!'''''" Granted, it is expected of Predacons to attempt to depose their leaders and take their place. A leader who allows himself to be betrayed doesn't deserve to be in charge. |
| 762 | * Azmuth of ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'' and later [[WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien Ultimate Alien]] is frequently stated to be the smartest being in three galaxies ([[RunningGag arguably five]]), a title backed up by being the inventor of the Omnitrix and other incredibly advanced technologies. And he is also an insufferable {{Jerkass}} usually appearing before Ben with an insult, or a statement regretting how the Omnitrix wound up on him. |
| 763 | ** On the plus side, his attitude helps keep Ben's own egotistical tendencies in check, reminding him of the responsibilities that come with wielding the Omnitrix. Most of the time. |
| 764 | * The titular ''WesternAnimation/CaptainStar'' will have you know that he is the greatest hero any world is ever known and that he is simply entitled to the praise and admiration of all, and he will bluntly and matter-of-factly tell you how great he is. And he is absolutely right. It's a RunningGag in the series that the overly dramatized and actionized InUniverse tv series based on his exploits is a disservice for how over-the-top it portrays his heroism, since it reduces the calm and professional expertise he uses to save the day in real-life to lowest-common-denominator action shlock where he just runs around beating his foes up and spouting {{One Liner}}s. Yes, depicting him as a OneManArmy ''is an understatement''. This exchange with Science Officer Scarlett, where they discuss a LoonyFan[=/=]StalkerWithACrush who literally grovels at Star's feet, which he says without even a hint of humility, says it the best: |
| 765 | -->'''Scarlett:''' Star, has it struck you that Bloater is a bit too enthusiastic about you? |
| 766 | -->'''Star:''' Too enthusiastic? No. I think he's just about right. |
| 767 | * XANA from ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'' might qualify, despite the fact that he is TheVoiceless most of the time. In one episode, Jeremie cries out in despair at his inability to stop the villain's plan, yelling that "XANA is a perfect machine! I'm only human..." |
| 768 | ** Which is interesting since Jeremie could be considered a [[SubvertedTrope Subversion]] of this trope much like Reid of ''Series/CriminalMinds'' (see above), generally not being condescending on purpose unless he's playfully teasing one of his teammates (frequently [[BookDumb Odd]]) |
| 769 | * ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'': Di Lung, as part of the ''massively'' blatant "[[NouveauRiche rich]] and spoiled [[AsianRudeness Chinese asshole]]" stereotype caricature that he is; Courage's Computer also easily qualifies due to its Main/BritishStuffiness. |
| 770 | * Gyro Gearloose has shades of this in ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017''. He's introduced in "The Great Dime Chase" barging into Scrooge's board meeting to declare "Shut up, everyone, I've done something brilliant!" |
| 771 | * Edd, or Double D, from ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' is mostly a GentlemanAndAScholar. [[JerkassBall On his worst days]], however, he can become this as his high intelligence can make him very condescending, even in front of his fellow Eds. For instance, in the episode "Dim Lit Ed", he notices how all the other kids in the cul-de-sac are acting not that brightly during their Summer Break from school, so he prepares an impromptu classroom and ScavengerHunt, hoping it will stimulate their minds. Nobody is pleased with his idea or reward, and when his efforts fail in the end, he bitterly says he is SurroundedByIdiots. |
| 772 | * Professor Algernon in ''WesternAnimation/ExoSquad''. In his first appearance, we find him painting with a VR helmet on. When asked by his Neosapien colleague why he would paint something only he could see, the prof derisively states that only he could appreciate it. If there was any doubt that he deserved his planet-sized ego, it's put to rest near the end of the series when he puts the recently obliterated planet Mars back together again! |
| 773 | ** "Phaeton's mistake was that he thought that the ultimate display of power was to destroy a planet!" |
| 774 | ** Also from ''WesternAnimation/ExoSquad'', the Neomegas seem to have this programmed into their DNA. |
| 775 | *** "Modesty is a Terran weakness, like pity." |
| 776 | * AJ from ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents''. He takes pride in his brains and loves to rub it in everyone's face. One episode had him push it on Timmy so much that he wished that he knew everything, and as a result [[AcquiredSituationalNarcissism Timmy becomes one as well]]. When the wish gets cancelled, Timmy admits that, unlike AJ, he never even worked to earn the right to be so smug. |
| 777 | * Ogden Wernstrom from ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''. |
| 778 | ** Not as much later on, though, as he became ''slightly'' more humble, but not quite enough to break free of this trope. The best example of an Insufferable Genius on this show might be Cubert. |
| 779 | ** ''Futurama'' also portrays Creator/StephenHawking as this: an arrogant womanizing genius... which is part of the joke, of course. |
| 780 | ** Every resident on Creator/LeonardoDaVinci's home planet are geniuses; he's actually the local idiot who came to Earth to be a NormalFishInATinyPond. They mock him (and Professor Farnsworth) for it. Of course, we don't see them do anything particularly brilliant (whereas Leonardo built a functional robot and a working spaceship -- with Renaissance-era materials!), and when he unveils his masterpiece [[spoiler:-- aka the giant Renaissance-era deathbot intended to seek bloody revenge -- they flee in terror, leaving Fry to stop it. And then immediately go back to mocking Leonardo once it's safe again.]] |
| 781 | * ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': [[spoiler: [[Characters/GravityFallsTheAuthor Stanford Pines]]]], who was a child prodigy and the author of the 3 Journals has a whole helluva lot of pride, and definitely looks down upon [[spoiler:his brother, Stanley, due to him costing Ford his dream college and being a con artist]]. When he asks [[spoiler:Stanley]] to take one of his Journals and bury it so it doesn't fall into the wrong hands, he tries to [[StatingTheSimpleSolution simply burn it instead]], but the author gets into a fight with him because the Journal contains his research and he can't bear to see it actually destroyed despite how dangerous it is. [[spoiler:This trait nearly costs the good guys the final battle with [[BigBad Bill Cipher]], as Ford condescendingly correcting a grammar error by Stan causes the latter to snap and attack him, interrupting the ritual they were attempting and distracting the group long enough for Bill to arrive]]. |
| 782 | %%* Mentok the Mindtaker from ''WesternAnimation/HarveyBirdmanAttorneyAtLaw''. |
| 783 | * ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'': While most other media usually portray him as a NiceGuy, this show's version of Professor Ludwig von Drake is far more full himself, often praising his own genius. It's highlighted in the episode "Ask von Drake!" where Mickey is so annoyed by Ludwig's "I know everything"-attitude that he challenges him in a bet. He's also portrayed this way in the ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouseWorks'' shorts which are [[ShowWithinAShow shown in the House Of Mouse]]. |
| 784 | * ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueAction'' has the Riddler appear in "E. Nigma, Consulting Detective" as an ally of the Justice League (based on the period in the comics where he reformed and operated as a detective), but he's still rather arrogant about his intelligence. He berates Wonder Woman and Green Arrow for not being able to solve riddles as quickly as he can and even rubs it in their faces that they needed his help to save Batman and stop the Joker at the end of the episode. |
| 785 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': |
| 786 | ** Mr. Cat is really smart anyway, but when you compare him to [[SurroundedByIdiots the people around him]], he seems like a super-genius. As a result of this, he considers himself to be above the rest of the cast. |
| 787 | ** When Stumpy is given SuddenIntelligence in one episode, he turns into a know-it-all and becomes so annoying that [[AxCrazy Mr. Cat]] considers killing him. |
| 788 | * One episode of ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' had a classmate, Justine Flanner, act in a way towards Kim.She was exceptionally gifted in her intelligence, but was such a show-off about it that it annoyed Kim to no end. However, she does mellow out when danger arises (namely Drakken & Shego's partnership with [=DNAmy=] resulting in monstrous sabertoothed dinosaurid monster wrecking town) and Kim recruits her. Namely her project that can project a wormhole. Notable that Kim did go through her notes and did read up alot to ensure Justine it worked. [[FireForgedFriends The experience does have them bond consideably.]] For more of this, she's voiced by Mayim Bialik, who would be the actress for Amy Farrah Fowler of ''Big Bang Theory'' as Sheldon's girlfried/[[spoiler:later wife]]. |
| 789 | * Brainiac 5 from the ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperHeroes2006'' occasionally shows signs of this trope, more in the second season. He mentions his twelfth level intelligence practically every episode. "You're good...but you don't have a twelfth level intelligence." "A twelfth level intelligence has no need for improvisation, Bouncing Boy." Gaaaah. |
| 790 | * ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'': [[Westernanimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner Wile E. Coyote]] acts as one in the shorts where he speaks and/or goes after WesternAnimation/BugsBunny. Wile E. Coyote [[MyCard shows off his business card]] where [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_wile_businesscard.png his profession is labeled as "Genius"]], and he introduces himself to Bugs as a "super genius". All the while, the coyote is claiming how intelligent he is, and how everyone else is beneath his notice or his concern. In practice, he's more of a SmallNameBigEgo. Wile E. Coyote has as much success outsmarting KarmicTrickster Bugs Bunny as he does at catching the Road Runner -- which is to say, no luck at all. Every one of his inventions or tricks is always going to backfire on him, with Bugs or the Road Runner always coming away with the last laugh. |
| 791 | * In ''WesternAnimation/MummiesAlive'', Rath is the easily the smartest one of the titular mummies and has a tendency to be arrogant at times. |
| 792 | * ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': [[Characters/FriendshipIsMagicTwilightSparkle Twilight Sparkle]], the main protagonist, has some elements of this. In the pilot, she's forced to work alongside the other Mane Five because together they are the Elements of Harmony, but at first, she was rather rude towards them and her prideful attitude is one of her flaws, since she is the student of Princess Celestia and Twilight views herself as the OnlySaneWoman. She almost died by Nightmare Moon's hooves because of it. As the series moved on, she became [[CharacterDevelopment much more humble]] but still sometimes acts like this unintentionally thanks to her somewhat poor social skills. For example, she flat out told Pinkie Pie that she couldn't handle babysitting on her own (and ''thoroughly'' insulted her), but was actually only trying to offer assistance rather than offend her. |
| 793 | * ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'': Kowalski. Dear, sweet Newton's apple, ''Kowalski''. He is ridiculously intelligent, constantly builds things, working inventions that no human has thought of yet (A shrink ray, an invisibility ray), but the level of arrogance he displays borders on narcissism. |
| 794 | %%* The Brain from ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain''. Or is he? According to WordOfGod, the title song says "One is a genius, the other's insane," [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation but not which is which...]] |
| 795 | * ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'': Mitchell is often the condescending and cynical know-it-all and his snide attitude often gets on other people's nerves. Especially in both of the show's Halloween episodes. He crushes Mindy's hopes of seeing a witch fly on a broom across the moon, then keeps insisting that [[StopHavingFunGuys Halloween isn't magical]] to Mindy and Lillian. |
| 796 | * ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'': In the episode "The Brain of Evil", Mordecai and Rigby accidentally release a brain who is as annoyingly condescending as he is [[EvilGenius evil]]. Most of his lines either boast about his own intellect, insult Mordecai and Rigby's intelligence, or both. |
| 797 | * [[Characters/RickAndMortyRickSanchez Rick Sanchez]] from ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' is the WorldsSmartestMan and views everyone else as inferior because of it with a condescending StrawNihilist attitude. Furthermore it's mentioned he has [[HollywoodAutism high-functioning autism]] which potentially contributes to his [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold partial]] LackOfEmpathy. |
| 798 | ** The [[LivingDinosaurs dinosaur]] {{ultraterrestrials}} in Season 6 were almost as bad. While Rick bludgeoned people over the head with how smart he was, the dinos were on the other extreme and treated everyone with passive-aggressive CondescendingCompassion. When they [[VichyEarth solve all the world's problems]] and [[VictoryIsBoring leave humanity with nothing to strive for]], their only response to a man contemplating suicide is [[CantArgueWithElves an aloof "Don't do that."]] Rick himself initially enjoyed having what he believed were intellectual equals around, but the moment he realized they were smarter than him his InferioritySuperiorityComplex made him [[ScrewYouElves immediately turn on them]]. |
| 799 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' spoofed this in "HOMЯ", where [[Characters/TheSimpsonsHomerSimpson Homer Simpson]] has a crayon removed from a brain and receives a dramatic surge to his intelligence, jumping up to an IQ of...105. He becomes a genius only in comparison to the rest of Springfield (minus Lisa), and insufferable only because he behaves like a somewhat normal human being. For example, he actually does his job at the nuclear power plant, reporting it to the Nuclear Safety Commission for its countless safety violations, which causes massive layoffs and gets the plant shut down until it could be brought up to code. Ironically, Homer is the safety inspector for Sector 7-G, which means that he's basically reporting all the safety violations that happened while he was on duty. Later on, he goes to a Creator/JuliaRoberts movie and gets thrown out because he's the only person in the theater who recognizes that the plot is an absolute ClicheStorm (everyone else thought Roberts was going to marry the [[DisposableFiance rich jerk]]). Eventually, he becomes so unhappy that he has Moe re-insert the crayon, [[StatusQuoIsGod returning to his normal dumb self]]. |
| 800 | ** [[Characters/TheSimpsonsLisaSimpson Lisa Simpson]] herself often qualifies to this as well, in her worse moments. She longs to be challenged, but at times it's clear she enjoys feeling smarter than her peers. |
| 801 | ** All the characters who make up the UsefulNotes/{{Mensa}} group of Springfield were this. Oddly, with the exception of perhaps Comic Book Guy and Lindsey Naegle, this was a break away from their usual characterizations. |
| 802 | * [[Characters/SpongeBobSquarePantsPatrickStar Patrick Star]] becomes one of these on an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'', where he becomes super smart and rejects Spongebob's childlike behavior, insults Squidward's clarinet playing, and calls Sandy an idiot. All of this is because Spongebob accidentally replaced the top of Patrick's head with [[{{Pun}} brain coral]]. |
| 803 | ** Sandy was this in the early seasons. As the show progresses she became more of a SmallNameBigEgo rather than this trope. |
| 804 | * In ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', Ahsoka Tano was this before her CharacterDevelopment made her [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap much more endearing]]. She was a TeenGenius who managed to master two [[SupernaturalMartialArts lightsaber forms]] by herself as an Initiate, something that even Jedi Masters would struggle to do. As a result, she started off as an arrogant MouthyKid (earning herself the AffectionateNickname "Snips") but a combination of Anakin's {{Big Brother Mentor}}ship and [[WellTrainedButInexperienced real-world experience]] led to her becoming a HumbleHero. |
| 805 | * ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'': |
| 806 | ** Krang of ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'' is a genius, and he knows it, (His IQ is in the ''900s''), but he's not above making Shredder's life difficult whenever he can get away with it. In one episode, he forces Shredder to wait for supplies being transported from Dimension X on a ''garbage barge'' which Shredder accurately guesses is to annoy him. Shredder makes it quite clear that he only puts up with Krang for his weapons. |
| 807 | ** Baxter Stockman from ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003'' borders on being and subverting this trope. It's also the reason he's been reduced to a brain and an eye. |
| 808 | ** Dr. Rockwell in ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'' exhibited this after being experimented on by the Kraang and joining the Mighty Mutanimals, claiming himself superior in intellect than the resident TeenGenius Donatello. He got somewhat better about it after helping the Turtles save New York. |
| 809 | ** Amusingly, [[TheSmartGuy Donnie himself]] is one in ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheTeenageMutantNinjaTurtles''. He's much more standoffish and snarky than he is in previous incarnations, not to mention his ControlFreak and MadScientist tendencies (the latter of which is usually PlayedForLaughs). That being said, however, [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold he is shown to legitimately care about his family and April]], and it's implied that a lot of his worse traits stem from [[WellDoneSonGuy a desire for validation]]. |
| 810 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TimonAndPumbaa'', after (Beetle) Timon sneaks into Pumbaa's brain and turns it back on in order to re-activate Pumbaa's intelligence, Pumbaa becomes a combination of an Insufferable Genius and a living embodiment of Main/BritishStuffiness, to the point where he is no longer even able to say something as utterly simple as "burp you out" without seemingly-deliberately making himself sound as "intelligent and dignified" as he possibly can while doing so; naturally enough, this ends up [[LampshadeHanging pissing Timon off so much]] that [[IDontPayYouToThink he actually turns Pumbaa's brain back off just to shut him up]]. Unfortunately, however, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard this results in Pumbaa eating Timon yet again due to no longer being smart enough to recognize him in his new beetle form]]. |
| 811 | * ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'' |
| 812 | ** Noah is BrilliantButLazy, sarcastic, antisocial, condescending, and boastful about his intelligence. All these qualities meant he was eliminated first on his team in ''Island'' for getting on everyone else's nerves and refusing to help them at all. He learns his lesson in ''World Tour'' and starts to become more involved in the challenges, cooperate with his team, and make friends. |
| 813 | ** Harold takes immense pride in his knowledge and intelligence, often gets frustrated with those who know less than he does, and will not hesitate to correct others whether wanted or not. Not surprisingly, most of the characters find him annoying, but he's generally a decent guy despite that. |
| 814 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'': Highbrow, who's so egotistical he makes Sky Lynx look modest by comparison. Think of him as [[Series/TheBigBangTheory Sheldon]] as a robot helicopter and you're about right. |
| 815 | * Albert Mouse in ''WesternAnimation/TwasTheNightBeforeChristmas'' believes strongly that there is no Santa Claus and isn't shy about voicing his opinions. He also seems to know quite a bit about how clocks work -- although maybe not as much as he thinks since the first time he visits the clock tower it ends in disaster. He does fix the clock later, and also learns about the importance of both humility and having faith. |
| 816 | * The titular character of ''WesternAnimation/WhateverHappenedToRobotJones'' will occasionally anger others by gloating about how his being a robot makes him smarter than them. The one most frequently cheesed off by this behavior is his math teacher Mr. [=McMcMc=]. |
| 817 | [[/folder]] |
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/context.php
FollowingContext Main / InsufferableGenius
Go To
- Show Spoilers
- Night Vision
- Sticky Header
- Wide Load
