History Main / ScienceHero

* Franchise/{{Batman}}. Yes, he's [[DarkIsNotEvil stealthy and scary]] [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower and crazy strong and skilled,]] but the reason he's the [[BadassNormal most dangerous human in the universe]] is that he's forced to use [[OmnidisciplinaryScientist scientific smarts]] to get the job done -- unlike [[ComicBook/{{Superman}} other superheroes]], his strength has ''limitations''. Which explains why he's defeated beings referred to as gods [[BatmanGambit with his wits alone.]] He can take down anyone because [[CrazyPrepared he has contingency plans for anything happening and anyone going rogue.]] He's also a GadgeteerGenius who's had a part in the design of most of his own gadgets. In addition, being the [[GreatDetective World's Greatest Detective]] means an extensive knowledge of forensic science which he puts to use [[AwesomenessbyAnalysis examining evidence]] and curing [[PerfectPoison toxins]] that villains like the Joker use.

* Both Jay Garrick and Barry Allen, the first and second Franchise/TheFlash respectively, are both experts in science. Jay is the director of a laboratory which was crucial in protecting Earth-Two, and Barry is a police scientist who uses his speed in creative ways in conjunction with his science knowledge.

* Franchise/{{Superman}}: One of Superman's many hobbies is fiddling with human or Kryptonian devices or phenomena and trying to make something useful. ''ComicBook/AllStarSuperman'' was made of this stuff. To compare, he's much more science oriented than even ''Batman''; Batman uses science for practical reasons and forensic work, while Superman tends to do it [[ForScience just 'cause]]... That aspect of the character, however, was greatly toned down ComicBook/PostCrisis.

* Franchise/WonderWoman [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 started out as a scientist with her own laboratory]] in which she and an Amazonian physician nursed ComicBook/SteveTrevor back to health, Diana aiding by inventing the Purple Healing Ray. She also flew an experimental stealth SpacePlane. Later writers moved her further and further from the role, instead [[DoingInTheScientist focusing on the ties her mother and birth via Aphrodite's aid gives her to]] Myth/ClassicalMythology, despite the original comics usually treating those Olympians that showed up more as aliens than gods.

* Franchise/{{Batman}}. Yes, he's [[DarkIsNotEvil stealthy and scary]] [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower and crazy strong and skilled,]] but the reason he's the [[BadassNormal most dangerous human in the universe]] is that he's forced to use [[OmnidisciplinaryScientist scientific smarts]] to get the job done -- unlike [[ComicBook/{{Superman}} other superheroes]], his strength has ''limitations''. Which explains why he's defeated beings referred to as gods [[BatmanGambit with his wits alone.]] He can take down anyone because [[CrazyPrepared he has contingency plans for anything happening and anyone going rogue.]] He's also a GadgeteerGenius who's had a part in the design of most of his own gadgets.

* Emperor Ravana is often thought of as the demonic villain of the {{Literature/Ramayana}}, but in his possibly native Sri Lanka folklore paints him [[AHeroToHisHometown in a very different light.]] Most record Ravana as a scholar king who improved the life of his people with advanced medicine and engineering, creating flying machines and floating bridges.

* While not as obviously impressive as the above examples, the Demon King from ''LightNovel/{{Maoyu}}'' is responsible for a scientific and cultural revolution among humans and demons alike. From four-stage crop rotation to public education to the potato to the greenhouse to the gun and even the printing press, she is unquestionably ''the'' mover and shaker of their history, whether through her own innovations or by expert diplomacy or by inspiring others (public education, after all) who share her ideals, often with them contributing in amazing ways themselves.

* While he is mostly a GuileHero, Shiroe of ''LightNovel/LogHorizon'' spends a lot of time examining the physics of his new world and inventing strategies and technologies to take advantage of them. The Roderick Firm is an entire guild of Science Heroes, to the point where their nickname is "Roderick Labs".

* In the Literature/WhateleyUniverse, this was a big trend back in the Fifties, with science heroes and heroines popping up, many of them teens, like the great-grandmother of Sophia Ferriss. In fact, the entire Ferriss line may be science heroes, since the women of the family have been combatting the supervillainess Deathmaiden with science for decades.

** When Ebola was getting a foothold in the U.S. and there were fears even amongst his fellow doctors about its infectivity, Fauci, who we remind you [[BadassInCharge was director of NIAID]], treated the patients himself, not just so that he could get better insight on how the virus worked by physically interacting with the patients, [[AFatherToHisMen but also to shield his younger colleagues while setting an example on treating the disease]].

* [[TheChick Bulma]] is pretty much the nearest thing to one that the ''Franchise/DragonBall'' setting can have, and the most prominent one on Team Goku; while she rarely, if ever, takes a front-line role (since it's very hard, at best, for tech-based heroes in this setting to keep up with ki-based fighters), her genius-level skill with gadgetry has given the Z Fighters a non-combat edge time and again.

* Jade Harley of ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' is a scientist with a '[[RealityWarper dog]]', regularly uses [[ILoveNuclearPower radiation]] and, when she gets access to ItemCrafting, creates [[SmallGirlBigGun multiple large rifles]] for herself. Did we mention she's ''13'' by her introduction?

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}'' is a MadScientist who chose to be evil because that's what he grew up believing mad scientists should do (and he was raised by convicts in jail). He undergoes a HeelFaceTurn when he finds out he has other options and becomes a hero outright when [[spoiler:Tighten threatens his hometown.]] He enters combat using whatever devices he has already built and can carry on his person, making up for his lack of physical strength by quickly adapting whenever the battlefield situations change and finding unconventional uses for those devices.

* The Film/{{Ghostbusters|1984}} are (mostly) doctors in various unusual fields who put their knowledge to work bustin' ghosts with a self-designed arsenal of anti-spook gadgets.

* Except for its female lead, the basic plot of ''Film/{{Gravity}}'' would not seem out of place in a fifties Golden Age of Sci-fi story.

* Bernard Quatermass of the Franchise/{{Quatermass}} movies is a rocket scientist who battles alien invaders and always manages to dispatch them by using science to uncover their weaknesses.

* Adam Royston from ''X the Unknown'', a CaptainErsatz of Quatermass that manages to find a way to trick and kill a monster with little more than his knowledge of radiation.

* [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk Bruce Banner]] is a great example, especially in the run-up to ''Fall of the Hulks'' where he spent a good while Hulkless. The man does such things as [[MacGyvering manufacturing his own super-tech mini-computer out of an old iPod]] and while men like Reed Richards and Tony Stark consider themselves smarter than him overall, they at least know when to bow to him as '''the''' eminent scientist in the field of nuclear radiation and its mutating effects on biology.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'', a character with a high Science skill and [[KarmaMeter Good Karma]] can become this, solving problems with their advanced knowledge. This especially comes into play in the VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas DLC Old World Blues, which takes place in a facility for a group of {{Mad Scientist}}s and where the Science skill gets quite a bit of work. In fact, if the main quest is completed with [[KarmaMeter Good/Neutral karma]], the epilogue states that the Courier becomes the benevolent caretaker of the technologies of the Big MT and kept them safe until they could be used to help mankind.

* Franchise/DocSavage and his team are the UrExample from TwoFistedTales.

-->'''Mark Watney:''' I'm going to have to science [[SophisticatedAsHell the shit]] out of this.

For these reasons, it is hard to find new, unambiguous Science Heroes. It's a pity -- we still need to inspire the scientists. There are, of course, a healthy number of real life role scientist role, but their stories are more about real life empowerment than fighting bad guys.

For these reasons, it is hard to find new, unambiguous Science Heroes. It's a pity -- we still need to inspire the scientists.

The Science Hero has become something of a ForgottenTrope with the onset of PostModernism. Post-modernism rejected progress for progress's sake, which is a favorite motivation for a Science Hero, and allowed a resurgence of ScienceIsBad, NatureHero, and RockBeatsLaser. Also, TheEveryman is just more relatable to the general audience.

The Science Hero has become something of a ForgottenTrope with the onset of PostModernism. Post-modernism rejected progress for progress's sake, which is a favorite motivation for a Science Hero, and allowed a resurgence of ScienceIsBad, NatureHero, and RockBeatsLaser.

* The [[ComicBook/XMen X-Men's]] X-Club is an entire ''team'' of Science Heroes. X-Men's founder ([[ComicBook/ProfessorX Charles Xavier]]) and one of its charter members (Hank [[ComicBook/BeastMarvelComics "Beast"]] [=McCoy=]) are two of the world's most prominent geneticists in the Marvel Universe. Beast is super-strong and agile, but compared to the likes of Colossus and Rogue he's not really one of the team's heavy hitters; it's his mind that makes him formidable, and he can often be found tinkering with the [[CoolPlane Blackbird]] or Cerebro or the ImportedAlienPhlebotinum of the week.

** Similarly, the Melissa of Earth 2018.65 designs must of her own gadgets with the help of her father, a ScienceHero in his own right. These include her TransformationTrinket, her CoolCar, and [[{{BFG}} web-cannons]].

See also GivingRadioToTheRomans. Compare NatureHero, BadassBookworm, OmnidisciplinaryScientist, and CelibateEccentricGenius if the Science Hero [[CelibateHero rejects romantic love in favor for benevolent use of science]]. Contrast ScienceIsBad and MadScientist though [[AntiHero heroic]] mad scientists are becoming more popular. Often a champion of the Enlightenment in works featuring RomanticismVersusEnlightenment and opposed by an EvilLuddite. If the work portrays them positively, it likely also ascribes to ScienceIsGood and, depending on certain situations, WorkingClassHero. A PuzzlerThriller is a good place to find them.

See also GivingRadioToTheRomans. Compare NatureHero, BadassBookworm, OmnidisciplinaryScientist, and CelibateEccentricGenius if the Science Hero [[CelibateHero rejects romantic love in favor for benevolent use of science]]. Contrast ScienceIsBad and MadScientist though [[AntiHero heroic]] mad scientists are becoming more popular. Often a champion of the Enlightenment in works featuring RomanticismVersusEnlightenment and opposed by an EvilLuddite. If the work portrays them positively, it likely also ascribes to ScienceIsGood and, depending on certain situations, WorkingClassHero.