History Main / GeniusCripple

* {{Morbius}} was this before being 'cured' by becoming a living vampire. He won a Nobel prize but couldn't attend the ceremony due to his frailty. He walked with a cane and lifting a full cup of tea would break the bones in his fingers.

* [[http:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles Proteus Steinmetz Charles Proteus Steinmetz]] was a mathematician and electrical engineer whom we owe a lot of progress in electric industry. He suffered from a number of problems, including hip dysplasia, hunchback and dwarfism. His co-workers also considered him a nice and funny guy.

* SamuelLJackson's character Elijah Price in the movie ''{{Unbreakable}}'' fits this rather well, [[spoiler:[[EvilCripple in the villain sense]]]].

* The main character of ''MyLeftFoot'' could only move his left foot due to cerebral palsy, but still wrote several poetry books and became a very famous in the Irish literary circles. DanielDayLewis won an Oscar for his portrayal.
* ''PacificRim'' has Dr. Hermann Gottlieb, who is able to use mathematics to predict [[spoiler:that three kaiju of unprecedented power are going to come out of the portal]] and uses a cane to move around.

* Although a fairly mild example, High Loremaster Teclis from ''TabletopGame/Warhammer'' qualifies. Teclis suffers from considerable physical infirmity - highly unusual among the normally disease-free High Elves - such that he is only kept alive thanks to magical potions and the powers of his formidable magical items. Were it not for these measures he would probably have died in childhood, and even with them he is still more feeble than any other elf in the game. Teclis is, however, the most powerful wizard in this age of the world, and possessed of a brilliant, obsessively analytical mind.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40,000'' has Gideon Ravenor, a very intelligent and highly psychic Inquisitor whose body was completely crippled thanks to an aircraft crashing into it during an attack on a religious parade. He operates from within a sealed life support chair, and occasionally possesses his followers to make use of their physical abilities.

* Bentley of the ''SlyCooper'' games becomes this in the third game after he was crippled at the end of the second. This does not hinder him from making a wheelchair fitted with gadgets as well as making him a [[HandicappedBadass better fighter than he was before]].

** His ''1602'' counterpart Carlos Javier has to be carried everywhere, as the wheelchair was a recent invention not available to anyone at the time.

* OlderThanFeudalism: Hephaestus, the ancient Greek god of the forge (counterpart to the Roman Vulcan), is disabled -- according to one version of the story, he was severely injured as a child when he tried to intervene in a quarrel between his parents, Zeus and Hera, and was hurled off Mt. Olympus. Nevertheless, he's the local UltimateBlacksmith, able to invent robots and the ancient version of HumongousMecha.

* Roger Bochs from ''AlphaFlight'', who invented a robot called Box and controlled with a mental interface helmet; a later version allowed him to physically merge into it, making him a GeniusBruiser.

* The ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'' has the High Priest [[AmbiguousGender (Priestess?)]] of Helgrind. He/she possesses incredible magical skills and PsychicPowers, and very nearly out-magicked four skilled magicians in a mental battle. Did I mention he/she is missing both legs, both arms, and [[TongueTrauma part of his/her tongue?]] He/she also qualifies as an EvilCripple because let's face it, leading a ReligionOfEvil that practices ritual mutilation [[hottip:*:which is how he/she lost all those body parts]] and HumanSacrifice kind of makes you a dick.

* The ''MetalGearSolid'' series has Huey Emmerich, father of Hal "Otacon" Emmerich, and one of the minds behind the predecessors to the Metal Gears. He suffers from a malformed spine that leaves him wheelchair-bound. Around the time of ''MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'', he has invented his own wheelchair that can navigate stairs, and by ''MetalGearSolidV'', seems to have replaced them with mechanical leg braces.

* Wiz Kid and Professor Xavier from ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}''.

* In ''Series/{{Fringe}}'', Dr. Walter Bishop is clinically insane and a drug addict.

* Dr. Arliss Loveless in the film version of ''Film/WildWildWest'' did not have congenital dwarfism like his TV counterpart - he was literally half a man, missing from about his hips downward, in a steampunk whellchair. That sometimes sprouted legs. And not just two - sometimes four.

* Dr. Kerry Weaver of Series/{{ER}}'' uses a cane and is revealed to have an IQ of 145.

* Dr. Kerry Weaver of ER uses a cane and is revealed to have an IQ of 145.

** The Face of Boe is a virtually all-knowing entity that has been around for billions of years...and just happens to be a gigantic, withered head in a life-support tank. [[spoiler:He seems to be what's left of a man who [[AgeWithoutYouth aged for billions of years without youth]], and the revelation of who this man probably is - Jack Harkness, specifically - is quite a shock.]]

* OlderThanFeudalism: Hephaestus, the ancient Greek god of the forge (counterpart to the Roman Vulcan), is disabled -- according to one version of the story, he was severely injured as a child when he tried to intervene in a quarrel between his parents, Zeus and Hera, and was hurled off Mt. Olympus. Neverhteless, he's the local UltimateBlacksmith, able to invent robots and the ancient version of HumongousMecha.

* The Face of Boe is a virtually all-knowing entity that has been around for billions of years...and just happens to be a gigantic, withered head in a life-support tank. [[spoiler:He seems to be what's left of a man who [[AgeWithoutYouth aged for billions of years without youth]], and the revelation of who this man probably is - Jack Harkness, specifically - is quite a shock.]]

* ''HarryPotter'': Over the course of his career as an Auror, Alastor "[[MadEye Mad-Eye]]" Moody lost a leg, an eye [[note]]Though this wasn't crippling at all, as he got a magical replacement that allowed him to see in all directions and through solid objects.[[/note]], and part of his nose, and acquired a series of nasty scars. He's still an extremely skilled wizard and strategist, even though he's pretty kooky and paranoid. He's also an incredible Dark Wizard hunter, and it's said that half the cells in [[TheAlcatraz Azkaban]] are filled because of him.

* Over the course of his career as an Auror, Alastor "[[MadEye Mad-Eye]]" Moody from ''HarryPotter'' lost a leg, an eye [[hottip:*:Though this wasn't crippling at all, as he got a magical replacement that allowed him to see in all directions and through solid objects.]], and part of his nose, and acquired a series of nasty scars. He's still an extremely skilled wizard and strategist, even though he's pretty kooky and paranoid. He's also an incredible Dark Wizard hunter, and it's said that half the cells in [[TheAlcatraz Azkaban]] are filled because of him.

* KatawaShoujo gives us Rin Tezuka, an artistic child prodigy and a genius in every sense of the word (remember that, in real life, "genius" doesn't refer exclusively to people who are good with numbers) who gets accepted on a full scholarship to a prestigious Tokyo art school at the age of 18, and was born with no arms (and is heavily implied to also have an autism spectrum disorder on top of that). Then there's Shizune Hakamichi, who is basically perfect at everything she does [[spoiler: except for interpersonal relationships]], is academically excellent, a master manipulator and can effortlessly beat a chess enthusiast at her own game ''while giving her a psychological analysis based on her play style'', who was born deaf.

* Oracle from ''Comicbook/{{Batman}}''. Especially interesting in that she started out as [[BadassNormal Batgirl]] and was shot and paralyzed by the Joker; she became [[BadassBookworm Oracle]] because she [[PluckyGirl refused to stay helpless]].

* Dr Connors in ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan'', whose right arm was amputated above the elbow, though he himself thinks otherwise: "I'm not a cripple, I'm a scientist, and I'm the world's foremost authority on herpetology."