->"Mr. Speaker, Members of the House, I shall be brief, as I have rather unfortunately become Prime Minister right in the middle of my exams."\\
-- '''Pitt the Younger''', ''{{Blackadder}} the Third''

[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin As the title suggests]], the TeenGenius is just that: a genius who happens to be a teenager. This character is responsible for coming up with the magical answer to any given episode's problem, while at the same time being generally angsty and teen-like. May be exposed to discrimination by those that don't know him, because he's JustAKid.

Oddly, the TeenGenius will not normally have any of the odd behavioral quirks of the {{TV Genius}}, even if the series [[LongRunners lasts long enough]] to let him mature into an adult.

On a show with an ensemble cast, the teen genius is usually included as a (generally misguided) attempt to appeal to a teen audience. On a show with a teenaged CompetenceZone, this is about the only way for the FiveManBand to include the requisite SmartGuy.

A TeenGenius may sometimes also be BookDumb, despite the apparent contradiction. A female TeenGenius may be a GeniusDitz.

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[[foldercontrol]]

!!Examples

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* Theresa "Tessa" Testarossa, Sagara Sōsuke, and [[spoiler:Kaname Chidori]] from ''FullMetalPanic''.
* Mizuno Ami/Sailor Mercury from ''SailorMoon''.
* Yukishiro Honoka from ''FutariWaPrettyCure''.
* Shirogane Ryou from ''TokyoMewMew''.
* ''All'' the main characters in ''DeathNote'', though you could argue Misa's case. Especially Light. Words can't describe his level of thinking.
** Not quite all of them -- though he most certainly would have been a teen genius, L is in his twenties when the events of the series take place.
* Shikamaru Nara from ''{{Naruto}}''.
** Let's not forget Neji, Sasuke, Itachi, and Kakashi [back when he was a teen].
* ''CodeGeass'' has [[ChessMaster Lelouch]] [[DarkMessiah Lamperouge]], who planned on toppling a continent-spanning empire even before he gained HypnoticEyes. [[TheScrappy Much maligned]] [[ShrinkingViolet Nina]] [[MeaningfulName Einstein]] also qualifies for inventing and [[spoiler: (almost) building the first nuclear bomb from the contents of a school lab. She later succeeds when provided with some funding.]]
* Kotomi in ''{{Clannad}}''
* Seto Kaiba from ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh}}!''.
* Both Miki and Mikage in ''RevolutionaryGirlUtena''.
* While it is not mentioned very often in the anime, Asuka from ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'' has already graduated from college at the age of fourteen, making her a candidate for this trope.
** Except that she never uses those skills for anything during the anime.
*** It's quite important for her CharacterDevelopment (c.f. the whole of "Magma Diver"). It doesn't affect the plot because all the brains in the world won't help you stop the apocalypse.
* Akagi Shigeru in ''{{Akagi}}''.
* Thomas/Touma Norstein in ''DigimonSavers'', and, to a (much) lesser extent, Koushirou "Izzy" Izumi in ''DigimonAdventure'' and Ken in ''DigimonAdventure02''.
* 17-year-old Shinichi Kudo and Heiji Hattori in ''DetectiveConan'' both have vast amounts of knowledge and mental abilities superior to most of the adults around them. [[{{Kuudere}} Ai Haibara]], on the other hand, led {{The Syndicate}}'s lab before she's 18. This trope tends to be somewhat obscured by the fact that the above except Heiji spends most of the series in an ''even younger'' body.
* Chiyo-chan from ''AzumangaDaioh'' is a ''pre''-TeenGenius who starts 10th grade at the age of 10, yet still gets the best grades in her class ''and'' helps her classmates with their homework.
* Fuu Hououji from ''MagicKnightRayearth''.
* Irina Woods from ''{{Mai-Otome}}''. In addition to her normal Otome duties, she also studies engineering and computers, and is very good friends with [[HotScientist Professor Youko]].
* Another pre-teen genius example: It's revealed in the [[ComicBookAdaptation supplementary manga]] of ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' that the math used in earth and Mid-Childa are very similar, and using advanced magic requires a firm grasp of mathematical formulas. Needless to say, Nanoha and Fate are Math geniuses who always aces the subject in school, much to the chagrin of the competitive [[ThoseTwoGuys Alisa]], and Fate even helps Nanoha's older sister Miyuki with her school work.
* Ryu Amakusa, Megu Minami, Kyuu [[spoiler: Renjou]] (though he's more of a GeniusDitz) and Kazuma Narusawa from ''Detective Academy Q''. Their other teammate, Kintarou Touyama, is the BadassNormal.
* [[AcePilot Trowa]] [[ColdSniper "No Name"]] [[GadgeteerGenius Barton]] of GundamWing. The other guerilla Gundam pilots also probably qualify, but he's the only one who [[spoiler: manages to infiltrate Oz]], probably because unlike the other four boys he doesn't have a massive case of ChronicHeroSyndrome to screw things up for him.
* In ''StarshipOperators'', even you're a veteran tactician, you do not mess with Shinon Kouzuki. Trust us, it's a very bad idea fighting her.
* As a pre-teen nation-tan, Japan from ''AxisPowersHetalia'' started working on ''his own alphabet'' few moments after his brother, China, taught him to write.
* Yue in ''MahouSenseiNegima'', a [[ThePhilosopher philosopher]] who's strategic abilities have allowed her to even be a threat to magically over-powered foes in the [[MagicalLand magic world]].
* Thanks to ten years of TrainingFromHell, [[RanmaOneHalf Ranma Saotome]] is a TeenGenius in the area of [[MartialArtsAndCrafts Martial Arts]]. Of course, also thanks to the ten years of training from hell, he is also pretty BookDumb and something of a GeniusDitz about everything else. Frankly, ThisTroper blames [[AbusiveParents his parents]].
** Considering that he spent most of that time traveling and only a few years in school, to be able to be in the same class as his peers is rather impressive.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comics]]
* Dilton Doily from ''ArchieComics''.
* Brainiac 5 from ''{{The Legion of Superheroes}}''. All Coluans are smarter than humans, and his family moreso than everyone else.
* Kitty Pryde of the ''{{X-Men}}'' was introduced as this. So was her friend Doug Ramsey in the ''New Mutants'' -- [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway his powers had to do with languages]] and he was unfortunately [[BlessedWithSuck incapable of contributing anything else to the team]].
* [[IncredibleHercules Amadeus Cho]], of MarvelComics, who frequently refers to himself as the seventh-smartest person in the world, though the origin of that determination is suspect.
** There's a ludicrous number of Teen Geniuses in Marvel right now. Amadeus is probably the smartest but there's also David Alleyne/Prodigy with the Young X-Men, Victor Manchas with the {{Runaways}} and Jonas/Vision II and Kate Bishop/Hawkeye II with the YoungAvengers. And that's even without including the ghost of Alex Wilder (Runaways again) and the currently MIA Kristoff Vernard von Doom.
* Valeria "Val" Richards, the second child of [[FantasticFour Reed and Susan Richards]], was recently revealed to be a ''pre''-teen genius.
** She took it after her good old dad Mr. Fantastic, who not only is the biggest nerd in the world ''and'' a RubberMan BadassBookworm, but was attending university at age 14 ''and'' by the time he turned 20 had several science degrees under his belt.
* Hiro Okamura from TheDCU. He builds a composite robot to save the world from a kryptonite meteor, and even {{Batman}} states that Hiro's smarter than him.
** This is made even more evident in the movie ''{{Superman}}/{{Batman}}: Public Enemies.''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films]]
* All the main characters in ''RealGenius'' apply, even though half of them are over 19. The main character is only 15, and Jordan (at 19) is also a GeniusDitz.
* Josh Waitzkin on ''Searching for Bobby Fischer''. Despite the name he was a nice fellow whereas the original has a reputation as sort of a Chessmaster AxeCrazy
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[[folder:Literature]]
* Hermione Granger from the ''HarryPotter'' series.
* ''ArtemisFowl''. Technically not a teen in the first book, since he was twelve then, though he gets older later on.
* Another pre-teen is Dairine from the ''YoungWizards'' series. At age 3 she decided that she was going to learn '''everything''', by age 4 she taught herself to read, and by age 5 was reading from encyclopedias all by herself.
* Lilly Moscovitz from ''ThePrincessDiaries''. She has an IQ of 170.
* Frank Hardy from ''TheHardyBoys''.
* Practically ''every single character'' in the ''EndersGame'' series of novels. Spooky geniuses.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* Doogie Howser from ''DoogieHowserMD''. The show is unique in that it completely centers on a Teen Genius.
* Bryce Lynch from ''Max Headroom''.
* Willow from ''{{Buffy the Vampire Slayer}}''.
* Mac from ''VeronicaMars''.
* Malcolm from ''{{Malcolm in the Middle}}'', as well as his classmates Lloyd, Dabney, and Stevie.
* Lucas Wolenczak from ''SeaQuestDSV''.
* Wesley Crusher from ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', an example of what can [[TheWesley go wrong]] with this trope.
** Ian from ''Stargate Universe'' is dangerously close to heading down this dark road; he spent a month of his life solving an Ancient mathematical formula that no one else could figure out, so he's obviously brilliant, but his irritating, Rodney [=McKay=]-like personality and tendency to whine -- especially given the difficult situation that is the series' premise -- makes you want to see him catch a bullet between the eyes.
* Will Robinson from ''{{Lost in Space}}'', definitive child genius, though probably too young to be called "teen".
* Doctor Zee from ''[[BattlestarGalactica Galactica 1980]]'' was not only a TeenGenius, he was weird and fey enough to qualify as an OracularUrchin.
* Adric from ''DoctorWho''. And Luke Rattigan from the latest series.
* A less common example would be Quinn Mallory from ''{{Sliders}}'', who, although not a teen at the time of the series, falls under the category by virtue of being young, brilliant, and angsty.
* The show ''Series/SmartGuy'' was centered around this type of character, although he's a ten-year-old in high school.
* River Tam from ''{{Firefly}}'', who is seventeen years old and makes her "top three percent" brother Simon look like an idiot child (and can read minds to boot). The angst factor comes from the fact that she's crazy, as a result of the cruel experimentation done to her at the Academy.
* Billy from the original ''MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' team.
** Rose from ''PowerRangersOperationOverdrive'' was this in the backstory, but by 18 years old, she was already out of Harvard and working in a university in London. Of course, if she's 18, she's technically still a teenager.
** Also Dr. K in ''PowerRangersRPM''. She starts with "abducted into government think tank by age 6" and goes from there (she's about 18 at the time of the series).
* Alex P. Keaton from ''FamilyTies''.
* Steve Urkel of ''FamilyMatters''.
* The 12-year-old Micah Sanders from ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' is shown as being gifted in Season One. His first appearance has him building a new motherboard for his computer. [[spoiler:In Volume Four, he puts his brains to use organizing a resistance against the government roundup efforts.]]
** Didn't he turn out to be a {{Technopath}}?
* Danny Saunders and Reuven Malter from ''TheChosen''. Especially Danny.
* ''{{Lost}}'' contains a former TeenGenius: Daniel Faraday was a ''professor at Oxford'' and doing time travel experiments by the time he was 19 and he had already graduated sometime in his early to mid teens-explicitly said to be the youngest ever graduate. Then he did said experiments ''on his own girlfriend'', something that went so badly that Oxford ''wiped any record of him ever having taught there''-and by the time we meet him, he's 27 and has memory problems so bad he needs a constant caretaker.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* Ertai, from the "Weatherlight Saga" of ''MagicTheGathering''; subverted when he's captured and transformed into a half-mechanical monstrosity who hates his former friends. Squee (not ''that'' {{Squee}}), the young [[OurGoblinsAreDifferent goblin]] cabin boy, is also a genius by goblin standards, though by human standards that amounts to "merely functioning".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Jeff Andonuts in ''{{Earthbound}}''.
* Genis Sage in ''{{Tales of Symphonia}}''. Somehow he is the best friend of BookDumb Lloyd Irving and is 12 years old. In the Japanese version his name was [[MeaningfulName very obvious]] ("Genius").
* Franziska von Karma from the ''PhoenixWright'' games became a prosecutor at age 13 and went undefeated for five years.
** Klavier Gavin too, although he's no longer in his teens by his first appearance.
* Lucca from ''ChronoTrigger''.
* [[EnfanteTerrible Evil loli]] Kira Daidouji from ''ArcanaHeart'' is only 11 years old, but already has a [=PhD=]. in elemental science, and has since constructed her own [[TheBlob sentient ball of slime]] that can do anything she wants it to. [[BellisariosMaxim Don't ask.]]
* Coco Bandicoot from ''CrashBandicoot'' was a tech-genius well before her teenage years.
* Rebecca Chambers from ''ResidentEvil'' had graduated from college and joined up with the elite S.T.A.R.S. police force as a medic by the time she was eighteen, William Birkin became Umbrella Corp's top scientist at sixteen, and finally, Alexia Ashford took it a step beyond this trope by also becoming a top Umbrella scientist at age ''ten''.
* Dmitri and Reese of ''BackyardSports'' are younger than teenagers, but they fit the trope.
* Shinra from ''{{Final Fantasy X-2}}'', though his age is not specified (as far as I know).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* Tedd in ''ElGoonishShive'' is a TeenGenius overlapping with MadScientist. As time has passed, most of his wacky inventions have been {{retcon}}ned to no longer be his own, edging him out of this trope, but he's still the smartest member of the cast.
** He's still managed to adapt the technology alot and the Aliens who gave it to him in the first place couldn't even begin to fix it, so his genius title remains.
* Molly & Galatea in ''{{The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob}}'' are both child geniuses, able to perform technological wonders with minimal effort. Considering that they are artificial life forms less than a year old, they are in fact ''very'' young. Molly's personality is overtly and unapologetically childlike. Galatea's speech patterns are [[LittleProfessorDialog much more adult-sounding and pretentious,]] but her naivete still displays her extreme youth.
* Ventura in ''SchlockMercenary'', a nineteen-year-old expert in robotics and AI [[FutureSlang growpramming]]. She also has a moment of CuteBruiser-dom thanks to her company's standard-issue PoweredArmor giving her SuperStrength.
* [[{{Ptitlejmt00a4r}} Felicia Whitewind]] is only sixteen years old, and already she has mastered six of eight ElementalPowers, ''and'' is going to become a mentor. Words cannot describe the sheer [[BadassBookworm awesome]] that exists around her.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* A lot of the devisers and gadgeteers at SuperheroSchool Whateley Academy in the ''WhateleyUniverse''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Jérémie from ''CodeLyoko'' (though angst is more Ulrich's department). Aelita certainly also qualifies in this area (but she's [[OlderThanTheyLook older than she looks]]).
* In ''TransformersAnimated'', Sari became one of these in Season Three.
* Jim, Tim, and Wade from ''KimPossible''. Following its return, the character designs for the twins were altered to make them look more adolescent: all three are just 12, but fill the same role, as they are still younger than the main (teen) characters, and are subject to the same ageism.
* Cyborg from ''TeenTitans'', most of his angst derived from his [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman cybernetic limbs]].
* Johnny's twin older sisters, Mary and Susan, in ''JohnnyTest''.
* Velma from ''ScoobyDoo''.
* Although not quite a teen, the title character of ''[=~Dexter's Laboratory~=]'' fits, as does his nemesis Mandark.
* Cody and Starlee from ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fast Forward]]''.
* ''JimmyNeutron'', although as the show's title states, he's more of a ''boy'' genius than a teenaged one.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* John Stuart Mill was raised by his economist father John Mill and philosopher Jeremy Bentham (each of whom was a genius in his own right) as an experiment for Bentham's ideas on education and to create the genius they needed to carry on their work in utilitarianism and ethics. J. S. Mill could read Greek by the age of three, and he was so well-versed in economics and political theory that he was editing and writing his father's textbooks by the age of eleven. He had a nervous breakdown by the age of twenty, but eventually recovered.
* Another real life case is that of Sho Yano, who started university by age 9 and is in medical school and studying for a [=PhD=] on the side by age 12.
* WolfgangAmadeusMozart.
* Seiyuu HirokoKasahara debuted in a lead role when she was 12 years old.
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empress_Shoken Empress Shoken]], wife of [[MagnificentBastard Emperor Meiji]]. She learned to read complicated poetry at age 4, started writing at age five, started reading Chinese at age 7, and by age 12 she was an expert koto player.
* Shouldn't any well-known real-world prodigy fall under this trope?
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