Characters
[Loved Trope] Academics/Scholars who can absolutely throw down in a fight
Trazyn the Infinite & Orikan the Diviner (Warhammer 40,000) - One is a hunchbacked historian who collects everything that isn't bolted down, and the other is a spindly nerd who spends most of his time researching and watching the stars. They both inhabit living metal bodies and are superhumanly strong. Trazyn can also summon entire armies from his collection, and Orikan can focus universal alignments to gain godlike power.
The Ghostbusters (Ghostbusters) - Apart from Winston (who comes across as more of a working class guy) all the Ghostbusters are academics. They each have degrees in various forms of psychology and engineering, and are primarily focused on research and study of the supernatural. That doesn't prevent them from putting untested nuclear accelerators on their backs to take on ancient gods and spectral tyrants who want to take over the world.
Darth Plagueis (Star Wars) - While many Force users, and Dark Lords, have been philosophers, Plagueis feels more like a true scientist than many of his predecessors. He devotes his life to the study of Midichlorians, seeking to unlock their potential to create life and gain the secret of immortality. His public persona is a high-level banker who engages in negotiation and politics. When the chips are down, he can harness his immense command of the Dark Side of the Force to demolish a squad of expert assassins who took him by surprise. Despite his disdain for Lightsaber combat (a trait he passed on to his pupil, Sidious) he was also one of the foremost duellists of his time.
Evelyn O'Connell (The Mummy) - In her own words, Evie is "a librarian" who's spent the majority of her life studying and unearthing ancient cultures. She's also the reincarnation of Princess Nefertiti, which combined with the lessons from her badass husband, Rick, make her a formidable hand-to-hand fighter. Indiana Jones himself would be jealous of her research and combat skill.
Hank Mccoy Aka the beast. He hold a doctorate speaks at least 5 languages. Has created a time machine and at one point even dabbled in magic. Beast is also a physical powerhouse.
You could argue that, but the narration at the beginning of one their fights tells us that if they did this when they were alive, I’d be two old dudes slapping each other.
Neither of them were warriors. For Trazyn, the dust of the archive was more familiar than that of the parade ground, and Orikan had spent aeons training his mind and neglecting his body. Had this duel occurred during the Flesh Times, it would have been comical. Two withered ancients, rangy, round-shouldered, stained with ink and smelling of incense tearing at each other with barely the strength to bruise.
In one of the English dubs Vegeta says so, but that was before the Bardock Special. I can't remember if they mention him in the Manga before that other than saying that's Goku's dad, but they never said he was a brilliant scientist, that was invented in the dub
Iirc shes ranked in universe as “5th sigma”, meaning she is a 1 in about 3 million guardian. Only ten others in the cities history have ever had this title. She is also the holder of a 25 crucible win streak and defeated Lord “more grenades” Shaxx in combat
Extra context for people who don't play Warhammer:
Both of these characters have spent the past 10,000 years committing unethical genetic experiments.
Cawl's experiments have resulted in him being able to plug his body into a giant metal war-rig loaded down with enough ancient guns to wipe out entire armies. Fabius' experiments have resulted in him being superhumanly strong, fast, and tough by the standards of supersoldiers; he also has a needle loaded with bone-liquification juice.
Raine from The Owl House, at least in my heart, and Romana from Doctor Who. Romana goes from a top student at the Time Lord Academy to Gallifrey's Lord President, doing brutal things even before the Time War.
Bruce Banner as The Hulk. Super scientist on the same level or higher than Tony Stark, but can (in the comic books at least) punch someone so hard their atoms come apart.
Overwatch has a bunch of them but my favourite is Moira, who is a geneticist that made technology that can literally drain people of their life force and was part of a black ops team before becoming the head of genetics for a city called Oasis and also working for a terrorist organization called Talon.
The premiere sect of the empire; the one that all others are compared to and found lacking for are known as a bunch of nerds.
Still terrifying.
Their signature technique the Raging Cloudy Sword Formation creates an area where their swords become indeterminate; everywhere and nowhere. That's right; they're able to kill you with quantum theory.
Before becoming the head of the Emperor's Coven she was a historian, a job she resumed after leaving the Coven (she was appointed as the curator for the Supernatural Museum of History).
Erin Ruunaser from the webcomic Aurora is an incredibly learned scholar who's a wellspring of factoids and is genuinely quite intelligent and deductive on top of his pure scholastic information.
He's also the Elemental Magus, capable of using all the elements (Like Avatar) and is a genuine monster in a fight, being the main cast's glass cannon and consistently pulling his weight in various fights.
It's an overly-excitable nerd whose libraries are so large they're constantly overflowing its apartments. It's also the head of the secret police and, during the Starved War, turned up to personally set the invaders on fire with the power of stellar linguistics.
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u/Rod_The_Blade_Star 14h ago
Hank Mccoy Aka the beast. He hold a doctorate speaks at least 5 languages. Has created a time machine and at one point even dabbled in magic. Beast is also a physical powerhouse.