History Main / RenaissanceMan

* ''Fanfic/HeyThereClearEyed'': After dying and being reincarnated, Ander decided he needed "to cover all bases" in order to be prepared no matter the kind of insanity his new world would throw at him. When he finishes high school, he speaks several languages, is a respected Eagle Scout, has practised markmanship and fencing, and is actively studying rhetoric to become a lawyer or politician. Unfortunately for him, such broadness of knowledge turns him in a ''very'' attractive ChosenConceptionPartner for the Greek goddess of wisdom, who muses it's been a long time since she got to meet a proper polymath.

* In post-apocalyptic ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'', the ideal in the [[ThoseWackyNazis Northern Confederation]] is that every officer, and educated man generally, should have a solid grounding in the classics essentially amounting to this. Protagonist [[AuthorAvatar John Rumford]] has mastered multiple foreign languages, classical literature and poetry, history, philosophy, theology, and the military arts, and then farming, too.

* Izaya Orihara from ''Literature/{{Durarara}}'' understands and speaks three languages (Japanese, English, and Russian). He studies Norse and Celtic mythology. He knows [[LeParkour parkour]] and is a good enough street fighter to mess around with [[WorldsStrongestMan Shizuo "God of Destruction in a Bartender Suit" Heiwajima]] on a regular basis. He dicks around with social psychology, mostly to carry out completely unethical social experiments (will exposing suicidal girls to near-death experiments make them more or less likely to kill themselves? Let's find out!). He's set himself up as a very successful KnowledgeBroker before even turning twenty-three. Not bad for someone who never went to a single class when he was in college.

* Naofumi Iwatani from ''Literature/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'' gains a variety of marketable skills as time goes on. He's an expert cook, a talented apothecary, an expert businessman, and an artisan capable of making some high-quality accessories and jewelry. Justified, as his blacklisting by King Aultcray means he's on his own when it comes to financial support.

* Kotaro Tatsumi from ''Anime/ZombielandSaga'' has spent years mastering every form of showbiz - marketing, makeup, music composition, choreography, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick necromancy]], gig-landing, fashion, and so forth. The only showbiz-related fault he has is [[TerribleArtist graphic design]]. The biggest non-showbiz related fault? [[CloudCuckooLander Sanity]].

* Marie-Josephe Delacroix in ''The Moon and the Sun'' (a Creator/VondaNMcIntyre novel) is a Renaissance ''woman''--her areas of expertise include mathematics, "natural philosophy" (i.e., natural sciences), and music. She can also draw reasonably well, which is a very useful ability for a scientifically inclined person to have in the days before photography.
* In the short story "The End of the Whole Mess" from Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/NightmaresAndDreamscapes'', the main character's brother studies in various different research areas including archaeology and zoology.
* ''Polymath'', by Creator/JohnBrunner, deals with a man in training to be able to head the colonization of a new planet (with the omnidisciplinary knowledge and skills that this would re%%quire, including some physical modifications) when his own homeworld is destroyed. He's part of a group of refugees to land on another planet, but it's not the one he's spent most of his life to date studying and preparing for...
* A rather dark version is Hannibal Lecter from ''Literature/RedDragon'' and ''Literature/SilenceOfTheLambs''. He was an extremely skilled psychiatrist and surgeon, a world-class SupremeChef, is often at the symphony, can lecture professionally about Renaissance art, speaks Japanese, knows quite a bit about physics... oh, and he's a serial killer who fed his victims to party guests.

* ''Literature/{{Baccano}}'''s Huey Laforet: Brilliant scientist, ingenious inventor, intuitive sociologist, cunning entrepreneur, inspiring leader, devoted father, and excellent conversationalist.

* ''ComicBook/AllStarSuperman'' is "Superman as a renaissance man, perfect in mind, body, and intention"

* This is immensely common amongst BadassNormal Superheroes, with Franchise/{{Batman}} arguably being the best known, to the point where his "training to be the best at everything" (general sciences, criminology, martial arts, detective skills, escape artistry, disguise skills, the list goes on) is a running gag amongst the fandom.
* ComicBook/DoctorDoom specializes in physics, robotics, cybernetics, genetics, weapons technology, and biochemistry. He also has natural talents for leadership, strategy, politics, and manipulation. He invented time travel and created a device capable of opening inter-dimensional gateways whilst in college. He conquered his homeland more or less single-handedly, using mostly his own inventions. He has trained with the best fencers in Europe and is a very competent hand-to-hand fighter in general. He is also a highly accomplished sorceror and can perform advanced surgery. He isn't even a real Doctor[[note]]legitimately anyway, he probably granted himself an honorary degree after conquering Latveria[[/note]]; he got kicked out of college because said inter-dimensional gateway exploded (though it has been established that it worked perfectly; he just looked in a very bad place).
* ''WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck'', of all people. He's a skilled mechanic, pilot of [[UniversalDriversLicense everything from cars to planes and starships]], truant officer, swordsman, shoemaker, [[SupremeChef cook]], bodyguard, spy, mall guard, explosion expert, and ''many'' other things, with his usual undoing at a job being that he goes overboard even for his skills.
* Mr. Terrific from the ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica also fits this definition, being described as "having a natural aptitude for having natural aptitudes", being a prodigious scholar, athlete, engineer, martial artist, medical practitioner... (again the list goes on). This all applies to his [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] predecessor, too.
* ComicBook/LexLuthor. He pretty much has to be in order to be of any challenge to his [[Franchise/{{Superman}} nemesis]].
* Dr. Otto Octavius in ''The ComicBook/SecretWars1984''. When the Molecule Man is badly injured and his girlfriend Volcana pleads with Dr. Octopus to do something since he's a "Doctor", Octavius replies, "I'm a nuclear physicist, not an MD!" However, Otto is also apparently a genius robotics engineer; he is credited as inventing and upgrading his robot arms. He just happened to invent the robot arms so he could better handle radioactive materials. But where or when he learned the skills to engineer his arms was never explained. And if you suggested that these accomplishments were the result of work-for-hire, he would probably pull your limbs off!
** Notably, he appears to have taken his above inability to practice medicine as a fault to be corrected, because by the time of ''Superior Spider-Man'', he's able to perform ''brain surgery'' to such a degree that a trained surgeon and fellow supervillain is in awe of him.

* The ''other'' Dr [=McCoy=], Beast of the ComicBook/XMen. He normally relies on his skills as a biochemist, geneticist, and physician but canonically he speaks at least 50 languages, maintains a comfortable income from electronic engineering patents, and can fight well enough to hold his own against ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} (he does have low-level superhuman strength and agility, but it usually takes quite a bit more than that to be more than B-list claw-fodder when going up against Logan).
* In the DC crossover miniseries ''War of the Gods'', the Godwave affected even heroes without paranormal abilities - implying that they in fact have a very subtle power which might be termed "Super-Competency".
* Ozymandias, the world's smartest man, from ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' is another of these, having studied religion and philosophy, being a world expert on Quantum Physics, Engineering ''and'' Genetics, running a [[MegaCorp world-spanning corporation]], while maintaining [[spoiler:physical conditioning sufficient to catch a bullet]].

While the Renaissance Man is similar to the OmnidisciplinaryScientist, his fields don't need to be limited to science. He also isn't necessarily a master of all known science, just a good chunk of it. The Renaissance Man may suffer from MDEnvy if people object to calling him a "doctor" because he doesn't practice medicine. This trait may be used to show that yes, TheAce is just ''so'' insufferably cool. Many a CulturedBadass will, after close examination, turn out to be a RenaissanceMan. If this person is TrappedInAnotherWorld and wants to end the MedievalStasis, the Renaissance Man may also be a OneManIndustrialRevolution.

* Dan [=''=]Grind[=''=] Tracey of ''WebOriginal/AcademyOfSuperheroes'' has this explicitly as his superpower. He is essentially in the 99th percentile of aptitude for every skill a normal human can learn.

* Ken Hayakawa of ''Series/KaiketsuZubat'' is this trope to a ridiculous extreme. No matter what form of MartialArtsAndCrafts you have mastered for the sake of killing people, [[CatchPhrase you're only second-best in Japan.]]

* Jane of ''Series/{{Degrassi}}'' is a great football player, valedictorian of her class, is part owner of a babysitting business, and is the lead singer for Janie and the Studs.

** Asami Sato runs the enormous company Future Industries, helped re-design a considerable portion of Republic City, designed the airbender squirrel suits and [[spoiler:a flying two-person mech]], [[UniversalDriversLicence can operate anything]] from a moped to a racecar to a biplane to a [[MiniMecha mecha-tank]], and is a skilled BadassNormal martial artist. She's also twenty-two years old, ''post''-TimeSkip.
** While he's not a fighter, Varrick is an accomplished businessman who built his corporation by himself, the creator of the film industry, a talented con-artist/schemer, and a highly accomplished scientist whose experiments include magnetic PoweredArmor, maglev trains, and (by accident) a FantasticNuke.

** Sunset Shimmer, Princess Celestia's former student. She's highly intelligent and very well-educated. She has good intuition and a quick wit, adjusting well to chaos and confusion. She's incredibly physically fit, able to run like the wind, throw herself horizontally like a javelin, and handle a sledgehammer like a baseball bat. She's very charismatic despite her [[FieryRedhead fiery]] temper, a good if impetuous leader, enormously brave, and strikingly beautiful. All this made her a pretty impressive villain, coming close to conquering Equestria despite having [[BadassNormal the most limited resources and powers of any major antagonist we've seen on the show]]. After she turned herself around (or more specifically, [[HeelRealization after she recoiled from what her ambition had led her to,]] [[HeelFaceTurn and decided to try another way of life]]), she's done some pretty impressive things for the forces of harmony. (She's also had both ends of the spectrum of GoodWingsEvilWings, so there's that, too. But she's hot-headed and tends to go off half-cocked; she's not exactly self-aware or reflective; and she thinks, incorrectly, that she's really good at being sly.)
** Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia's current student, is much less physical and athletic than Sunset; but she's more magically powerful; and while Sunset is well-read, Twilight's an academic-level researcher. She knows less about horse princess magic than Sunset does, but she has {{Magitek}} neurology equipment in her basement and knows quite a bit about how to use it -- and she's also a very talented physicist, chemist, and historian, among other things. Her good study habits even allowed her to do quite nicely in a Ponyville marathon, despite her being a little on the chubby side. (But before she was sent to Ponyville with a specific royal order to make some friends, she was a shut-in, with no significant friendships and no particular interest in them.)
** Pinkie Pie, the playful, perky, pink premier party planner of Ponyville, is a Renaissance Mare in her own way. She's the most social pony in Ponyville; she knows everyone's names and birthdays, and keeps detailed psychological profiles in a hidden room under her bakery; and she has all the skills she needs to support her love of parties: she's a superb baker, a good singer and musician, a good decorator and event planner, an excellent psychologist, a skilled zoologist, a talented artillerist, a brilliant mechanic, and a genius engineer. She's also the TropeCodifier for WrongContextMagic and can travel through mirrors more conveniently than the most talented wizards of her setting.
* [[TeenGenius Sabine Wren]] from ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'' is a younger version of this. She's a DemolitionsExpert, [[CunningLinguist polyglot]], techie, tactician, [[TheGunslinger gunslinger]], and artist. Later episodes reveal that she was a prodigy fast-tracked through the Imperial Academy in espionage, before she [[HeelFaceTurn defected]] and became a bounty hunter where she picked up her other skills.