Hyper-Competent Sidekicks in Comic Books.
- Archie Comics: A lot of the time, Jughead's implied to be a lot smarter and more sensible than Archie. He usually knows when Archie's plans aren't going to work but gets roped into them anyway.
- Atomic Robo: Jenkins, who is entirely human but a complete One-Man Army. Word of God even jokingly declares that Robo is Jenkins' sidekick.
- Batman: Alfred is often this to both Bruce Wayne and Batman. And most of the other members of the Batfamily too, Nightwing, Batgirl, Robin... they all turn to Alfred for help on not-so-rare occasions.
- Lieutenant Pamela Mae Snap in Brewster Rockit: Space Guy!. She actually was lined up to command of the station, but willingly became this after seeing Brewster's dedication to his crew.
- Boo of Copperhead thinks of himself as one, given that he served as interim sheriff before he was redemoted to deputy.
- For Deadpool, it's Weasel and Al who play this role. Weasel does pretty much everything but the actual grunt work while Al tends to provide some helpful insight in between tormenting her captor by doing things like telling him the salt is sugar (which Pool then proceeds to heap on his cereal, making for a funny spit-take).
- In Diabolik both the titular Villain Protagonist and inspector Ginko, while far from incompetent, tend to pick these:
- Diabolik has Eva, his lover and accomplice, who started out as a skilled former corporate spy capable with a decent number of side skills and under his tutelage became almost as formidable as him.
- Before Eva, Diabolik's lover was Elisabeth Gay. While she only knew him as the wealthy businessman Walter Dorian he at times asked her help for some "business troubles", with her invariably proving herself extremely cunning and, as a result of her job as a psychiatric nurse, really versed at identifying functional madmen on sight and manipulate them with ease. It's been made explicit that Diabolik had considered coming clean with her, and didn't only because she was too honest.
- Whenever Diabolik needs an additional accomplice they tend to be extremely competent at what they do. The classic example is Valentino Alder, just as agile as Diabolik and one of the best men in Clerville at breaking into safes, plus smart enough to realize the man who was pointing him at targets was Diabolik and to shut up lest Diabolik murders him until the freedom of both depended on him revealing said knowledge (out of respect, Diabolik involved him in a bigger heist and shared the loot equally).
- Ginko has the habit of surrounding himself with talented cops and train them to become the best police officers they can be, becoming competent enough that in more than one occasion they foiled Diabolik simply by guessing what he was about to do and acting on it the same way Ginko would have done, or providing Ginko with what he needed to solve a particular problem just as he voiced said problem. Also, in one occasion Ginko had been framed by criminals they solved the case with ease, also taking down the criminal organization, simply starting by asking themselves "This isn't Diabolik's job, so who else could have pulled this?" and working on answering said question.
- Ginko himself started as one: before meeting Diabolik he was just a talented cop who happened to be too honest and skilled for his corrupt superiors to let have a career but not good or experienced enough to overcome them until the retired commissioner Polè noticed him and taught him all he knew so he could help in an investigation. Ginko quickly proved his skills and, once his direct superiors were exposed and arrested, put on the fast track-and on the path to become Diabolik's nemesis.
- Diabolik has Eva, his lover and accomplice, who started out as a skilled former corporate spy capable with a decent number of side skills and under his tutelage became almost as formidable as him.
- Italian Disney Ducks Comic Universe stories tend to have them around-often for equally competent characters:
- Since the whole point of Paperinik, Donald Duck's superhero/antihero identity, is about making him more competent, he is far from incapable. However One from Paperinik New Adventures is a master hacker, can create incredible machines in little time and has knowledge about practically every subject. Both would probably be offended if you call the computer "sidekick", however: they are partners.
- Jeeves is supposedly just Rockerduck's personal secretary, if a very good one. He's also an effective corporate spy, a Master of Disguise, and even his Battle Butler.
- Jubal Pomp is usually just a not-so-competent businessman. Whenever Brigitta recruits him for some business, however, they form a pair capable of making Scrooge tremble, with Brigitta in charge and forming the plans and Jubal, who is a much better talker, being the one to put them into practice and, whenever Brigitta goes into Woman Scorned mode, keep her grounded.
- Ms. Quackfaster is supposedly just Scrooge's personal secretary. She also runs his office (to the point that the rare times she got angry enough to quit her job Scrooge found himself lost and had to convince her to come back), can run the Money Bin's defenses well enough to take down the Beagle Boys and Magica and consider it business as usual, and has picked up some of her boss' adventuring skills.
- Most people think Quackmore is just Scrooge's butler. He's actually the world's best butler and a Living Legend among his peers, thanks to his skills at keeping the Money Bin clean and his inhabitants well fed with an incredibly small budget, decent Battle Butler skills, and much better skills as an artilleryman (the Money Bin's defenses include artillery, ranging from old carronades to more modern pieces-and he's the one to keep them efficient and load them in combat).
- Scrooge's other workers in the Money Bin are extremely competent at their job, a result of working directly under someone who not only expects the best from his subordinates but actually takes steps to make sure they meet his expectations. The clearest examples are Donald and Daisy: Donald has temporary jobs at the Money Bin and not only is quite good at whatever Scrooge is asking but is also the world's foremost expert on coin polishing (to the point one of the world's most prestigious coin collectors faced a long travel and paid to learn from him on how to care of his collection), and Daisy, at time working as Scrooge's secretary, is not only one of two people capable of keeping up with Scrooge's workaholic habits (the other being ms. Quackfaster), the rare times she had to take his place taking business decisions she easily impressed him
- Magica's raven familiar Ratface is show to be highly intelligent (not just for an animal, but in absolute senses) and skilled. Best shown when Magica faced the 99 Caves of Spelonca (each of which containing an ingredient for a potion that would allow to inherit the powers of Spelonca, the mighiest witch ever): everyone else faced them alone and had to retire from heavy injuries without ever going past halfway, but Magica took on them with Ratface and got to the final cave unharmed, with him being explicitely crucial to pass a number of the challenges.
- In Double Duck, Zig Zago is presented as the personal secretary for the director of The Agency. When however the Agency is disbanded and the remnants have to go rogue to keep protecting the peace due their replacements being ridiculously incompetent, she takes over the Agency and runs it successfully in spite of the much reduced budget and resources, and immediately starts rebuilding it once a mysterious individual starts providing funds.
- In the original Carl Barks Gyro Gearloose comics, Gyro is a genius inventor but can be absent-minded or bumbling when it comes to using his inventions. Fortunately his lightbulb-headed robot helper is always there to save the day.
- Dr. Blink: Superhero Shrink has his receptionist, Tracy. When he first meets her, she's already reorganized his appointments around his book tour, adjusted his rates, built up his client base, and brought a bag of extra-sour candy for Emma... all before he's put up a want ad for a new receptionist.
- For a while, Green Lantern Alan Scott was sidekick to... a dog.Note
- Hawkeye: In Hawkeye (2012), Clint Barton pretty much admits that his sidekick/partner Kate Bishop is the better Hawkeye of the two.
- Disney Comics have recurring stories featuring Sherlock Holmes parody "The Sleuth" with Mickey fulfilling the role of Watson. Seeing as The Sleuth seems to have the same investigative capabilities as Inspector Gadget, it's not hard to guess who fulfills this trope...
- Iznogoud: Wa'at Alahf, Iznogoud's henchman. While he acts and looks dumb most of the time, he tends to have sudden Let's Get Dangerous! moments where he reveals he can be very competent when needed. He's also far more lucid than his master about the fact they can't win.
- Johnny Thunder was like this, being in possession of a basically omnipotent genie who will do whatever he says. Unfortunately, he can do only what Johnny says, and Johnny isn't the brightest guy around. His Legacy Character Jakeem Thunder is brighter (and Johnny himself has merged with the genie), but also thirteen years old and lacking in maturity.
- In his earliest appearances, Johnny wasn't even aware of the genie. He'd accidentally say the magic phrase ("Cei U", pronounced like "say you") that summoned the mystic thunderbolt, and then whatever Johnny idly wished for ("I sure wish I could find a way to get over that fence") would mysteriously happen.
- With Knight and Squire, the British equivalent to Batman and Robin, Squire (Beryl Hutchinson) is a more accomplished detective and organizer than her boss, Knight. More often than not, it's she who's saving him from danger, as seen in Batgirl (2009) #22. Of course, Knight is pretty badass in his own right, but he's also pretty unstable and unlucky.
- Lucky Luke, being a Born Lucky Parody Sue cowboy who can Quick Draw faster than his own shadow, put the entire Improbable Aiming Skills gallery to shame and outsmart any crook he cannot beat with gunplay or fisticuffs, tends to be this trope to whichever Historical Domain Character he happens to team up with. Jolly Jumper, on the other hand, is all Luke could only ever hope to be: He is better at wooing women than Luke, he can beat Luke at any game they decide to play (even though he's, according to Luke, a slow chess player), he's better at brewing coffee, he's a better tree climber, he's better at fishing, etc... Makes sense that Luke's horse would be a Parody Sue version of the Hyper-Competent Sidekick.Lucky Luke: You fishing I can understand, but how do you put the worm on the hook?
Jolly Jumper: Like everyone else does: with disgust. - Nodwick, on a good day, is this rather than a Beleaguered Assistant. Don't expect him to stop with the snark, however.
- In a notable difference to other continuities where Robotnik surrounds himself with idiots and backstabbers, his right hand man in Sonic the Comic is his chief scientist Grimer, who is loyal, dedicated and professional. As well as being the primary designer of many of Robotnik's most dangerous war machines, he personally comes to Robotnik's rescue on several occasions. The only area Robotnik is more dangerous is direct combat being a Genius Bruiser where as Grimer is a Non-Action Guy and can't fight without machines. His finest moment came when he was jailed after Robotnik was apparently destroyed by the Chaos Emeralds, where he took control of his prison, hacked into the Kintobor computer to keep Sonic under absolute surveillance and ultimately outsmarted and outmaneuvered the heroes to find Robotnik.
- In Sonic the Comic – Online! he chessmasters his way into discrediting Sonic, leaving Mobius to the mob, and starting a destructive chain reaction of volcanoes before escaping to another universe. He appears near the end to gloat to Sonic, as a hologram. Badass.
- Over the course of Star Wars: Legacy, Darth Wyyrlok gradually becomes this to Darth Krayt as the latter's Villainous Breakdown gets worse and worse, causing him to become a threat to his own evil plans while Wyyrlok works tirelessly to keep the wheels from coming off the wagon. Pretty soon, Wyyrlok betrays and kills Krayt... not for the sake of power, but because Wyyrlok loves and respects his master and cannot bear to watch him self-destruct any longer. He sets to work taking over the galaxy properly, continuing to loyally and competently serve Krayt's goals even after murdering the man.Darth Wyyrlok Sometimes for the dream to live, the dreamer must die.
- Poor, poor Arthur from The Tick. Then again, he might not be hypercompetent, just far more competent than his boss, which isn't exactly difficult. See also the animated version.
- In Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Soundwave serves as this for Galvatron. Galvatron is the superior warrior by far, but those are his main leadership credentials; he's a Bad Boss who considers most of their current operations to be cowardice. By contrast, Soundwave is intelligent, pragmatic, and actually has a sense of morals and restraint. Whenever negotiations occur, we see Galvatron itching to start a fight and going on the verge of an outburst, at which Soundwave steps in, calms the situation, and comes up with an actual plan and sensible terms.
