History Main / BigManOnCampus

The Big Man on Campus is the most popular guy in the HighSchool. He is handsome, charming, a superb athlete, and usually pretty smart and an A student. Most importantly, he is a subversion of PopularIsEvil. Unlike his peers, the AlphaBitch (usually his girlfriend until he realizes how awful she is) and the JerkJock (usually his friend until he realizes how awful ''he'' is) the Big Man on Campus never bullies anyone: he rules through charisma and general awesomeness rather than fear and manipulation. But like the LovableJock (with whom he is often close, if not one and the same), woe to anyone who trifles with him. He'll probably grow up to become TheAce.

* ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'': Parodied with Snoopy's "Joe Cool" persona. (There was also a one-off strip in which his persona was actually called "Big Man on the Campus").

* ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'': Steve Holt is a classic Big Man on Campus. Never mind that he's been a senior for five to six years by the time the series ends.

Generally this character is either the protagonist himself, [[SingleGirlSeeksMostPopularGuy or the chief love interest]] in a story about a CoolLoser heroine. He rarely turns up if the story is about male outcasts (as the existence of a benign popular kid makes it harder to use jocks as villains) or about a popular girl (as those sort of stories usually give her an outsider love interest).

The next step up from this is the SchoolIdol, who even the Big Man On Campus looks up to. Compare and contrast with CoolLoser.

The next step up from this is the SchoolIdol, who even the BigManOnCampus looks up to. Compare and contrast with CoolLoser.

** [[CatchPhrase Steve]] [[PokemonSpeak Holt!!!]]

* {{Film/Mean Girls}}: Aaron seems to be this, he is popular, briefly dates the Queen Bee, Regina George before she loses this to Cady, then dates Cady after she loses her position as the most popular girl in school, is on the Soccer and Swim teams and thinks he does well in school when Cady fakes being dumb to get closer to him, only for her to explain later he is the dumb one.

* ''LightNovel/MushokuTenseiJoblessReincarnation's'' main character Rudeus Greyrat at Ranoa Magic Academy. Even though he wants to maintain a humble facade, he made various achievements before (his renown as an A-rank adventurer is one of the reasons why he was scouted by the school) and during his life there, which include defeating a princess' previously unbeatable bodyguard in his entrance exam duel, "taming" most of the school's problem children, and even [[DefeatMeansFriendship defeating then befriending]] a Demon Lord, among other things, all within just his freshman year. This leaves the rest of the student body and even some teachers both in awe and fear of Rudy's potential, much to his chagrin.

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/SeventeenAgain https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/untitled_1_972.png]]]]

* ''Film/SeventeenAgain'': Mike O'Donnell was this in his youth (portrayed by Creator/ZacEfron, who is also the current page photo) as the beloved star basketball player. However, his life becomes derailed when he gets his teenage girlfriend pregnant and he grows up to become quite the sad sack: separated from his wife, hated by his kids, and recently fired from his job. When he gets turned back into his 17-year-old self, he once again becomes this and takes the opportunity to try to repair his falling apart life.

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/SeventeenAgain https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alg_17-efron.jpg]]]]

Compare and contrasts with CoolLoser.

The Big Man on Campus is AlwaysMale. For the [[DistaffCounterpart female equivalent]], see the LovableAlphaBitch and ClassPrincess. For his EvilCounterpart, see BigJerkOnCampus. Compare SchoolIdol and LovableJock. For settings outside of HighSchool, compare MagneticHero.

Generally this character is either the protagonist himself, [[SingleGirlSeeksMostPopularGuy or is the chief love interest]] in a story about a CoolLoser heroine. He rarely turns up if the story is about male outcasts (as the existence of a benign popular kid makes it harder to use jocks as villains) or about a popular girl (as those sort of stories usually give her an outsider love interest).

The Big Man on Campus is the most popular guy in the HighSchool. He is handsome, charming, a superb athlete, and usually pretty smart and an A student. Most importantly, he is a subversion of PopularIsEvil. Unlike his peer, the TheQuarterback and the JerkJock (usually his friend until he realizes how awful ''he'' is) the Big Man on Campus never bullies anyone: he rules through charisma and general awesomeness rather than fear and manipulation. But like the LovableJock (with whom he is often close, if not one and the same), woe to anyone who trifles with him. He'll probably grow up to become TheAce.

The Big Man on Campus is the most popular guy in the HighSchool. He is handsome, charming, a superb athlete and usually pretty smart and an A student. Most importantly, he is a subversion of PopularIsEvil. Unlike his peer, the TheQuarterback and the JerkJock (usually his friend until he realizes how awful ''he'' is) the Big Man on Campus never bullies anyone: he rules through charisma and general awesomeness rather than fear and manipulation. But like the LovableJock (with whom he is often close, if not one and the same), woe to anyone who trifles with him. He'll probably grow up to become TheAce.

The Big Man on Campus is often found in Prep school fiction, as being suave, well-read, athletic, ''and articulate'' man is the epitomizes the image.

* ''Manga/BlueFlag'': Touma Mita is the star of the school's baseball team. Every man wants to be his friend, with Taichi's friend even mentioning that he seems to live in a complete different world from them. Every girl in the school appears to have a crush on him an desperately seek his attention. This however, separated him from his very much average ChildhoodFriend and [[spoiler:FirstLove]], Taichi, though they start to rebuild their friendship.

* ''ComicBook/Robin1993'': At the fifth high school Tim Drake attended, one of the tennis players was incredibly kind, attractive, talented and got decent grades and was quite popular as a result.

* In ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' fanfic ''Fanfic/ResurrectedMemories'': Dash Baxter ''used'' to be this, he is the school quarterback and male head of the A-Listers, but ever since the Disasteroid, Danny has him beat. Heck, it's implied that the ''only'' reason he is still in charge of the A-Listers is because Danny didn't want to join them.

* ''Film/SeventeenAgain'': Mike O'Donnell was this in his youth (portrayed by Creator/ZacEfron, who is also the current page photo) as the beloved star basketball player. However, his life becomes derailed when he gets his teenaged girlfriend pregnant and he grows up to become quite the sad sack: separated from his wife, hated by his kids, and recently fired from his job. When he gets turned back into his 17 year old self, he once again becomes this and takes the opportunity to try to repair his falling apart life.

** Cedric Diggory is captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, a ChickMagnet and almost annoyingly likeable and popular.

** Harry's dad James and godfather Sirius were considered "the height of cool" in their own schooldays, to hear it from others. James in particular was apparently always seen as the noble, intelligent and athletic one (although unlike Harry and Cedric, it's never specified if he was a Quidditch captain). Harry is a bit dismayed to learn that this meant they could be, in Sirius's own words, "arrogant little berks" to people they disliked - most famously, his mutual hateship with Severus Snape.
* ''Literature/KingOfTheBench'': Jimmy Jimerino considers himself one, despite being only the second best athlete in the school, right behind Becky O'Callahan.

* Finn prior to joining glee club on, well, ''Series/{{Glee}}''. He is even dating the [[DefrostingIceQueen defrosting]] AlphaBitch Quinn, best friends with JerkJock Puck (being oblivious to them falling for each other behind his back) and is attracted to loser diva Rachel.

* ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'' character Steve Digaetano, probably the most popular guy in the V3 highschool: Southridge. He isn't perhaps a {{Jerkass}} of the highest order, but he certainly has his moments.

* Even though he's at college, Fiyero Tiggular from ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'' is a perfect example. He is handsome, very shallow and popular and has a reputation for being "scandalicious" and everyone worships him. He even goes out with a ''Libby''ish girl (though she turns out not to be) until he [[spoiler:dumps her for Elphaba.]]

** Akihiko Sanada from ''VideoGame/Persona3'', although unlike other examples, he is [[CluelessChickMagnet unaware of his popularity, especially with his hordes of fangirls.]] He's also hopeless in romantic situations.

* Elias Goldstein in ''VisualNovel/ShallWeDateWizardessHeart'', although overshadowed by [[SchoolIdol his brother Klaus]], is very successful in his classes and popular around the school, with quite a few female admirers. He can be a little stuffy, but overall Elias is helpful and conscientious toward the heroine and their other fellow students, and was the only person willing to be [[MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold Yukiya]]'s roommate when everyone else refused for fear of being cursed.

* Nick Mallory in ''WesternAnimation/GrojBand''. Nick is the coolest 16-year old kid in school, whom all the girls in school adore, especially Trina. He is sometimes referred to as "Hunky Nick Mallory" by Trina and many others around him. [[ThirdPersonPerson He always refers to himself in the third person]], but isn't inherently antagonistic, and will sometimes aid the band when they see use of him.

** Josh Mankey might better qualify...smart, cute and popular. He was with Kim for the first two seasons before ending up with Tara and being PutOnABus.

* In ''WesternAnimation/PixelPinkie'', AlphaBitch Suzi's boyfriend Max is the captain of the basketball team, and gets on well with everyone in school, including Nina and Anni (who are the usual targets of Suzi's spite).

* Johnny Hitswell in ''WesternAnimation/TheReplacements''. He is the subject of Riley's affection and her middle school sweet heart. Even though every girl in the school is all over him, he tends to pay no attention to them most of the time, except for his annual Kumquat Day card readings.

The Big Man on Campus is the most popular guy in the HighSchool. He is handsome, charming, a superb athlete and usually pretty smart and an A student. Most importantly, he is a subversion of PopularIsEvil. Unlike his peers the AlphaBitch (who is usually his girlfriend until he realizes how awful she is) and the JerkJock (usually his friend until he realizes how awful ''he'' is) the Big Man on Campus never bullies anyone: he rules through charisma and general awesomeness rather than fear and manipulation. But like the LovableJock (with whom he is often close, if not one and the same), woe to anyone who trifles with him. He'll probably grow up to become TheAce.

The Big Man on Campus is ''very'' popular in Prep school fiction, as a well-read, handsome, athletic, affable, and articulate man is the epitome of prep.

The Big Man on Campus is AlwaysMale. For a "popular but good-hearted" HighSchool [[DistaffCounterpart female equivalent]], ClassPrincess is the trope of choice. For his EvilCounterpart, see BigJerkOnCampus. Compare SchoolIdol and LovableJock. For settings outside of HighSchool, compare MagneticHero.

* {{Film/Mean Girls}}