Basic Trope: Evil uses brains, good uses brawn.
- Straight: Captain Bob is stronger than Doctor Evulz; Doctor Evulz is more intelligent than Bob.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob is Dumb Muscle; Evulz is a Squishy Wizard.
- Every heroic character is also an idiot. Every evil character is a genius.
- Reason and logic are intrinsically evil. All the intelligent people are criminals and every single scientist a Complete Monster. Meanwhile, every single strongman has Incorruptible Pure Pureness.
- Downplayed:
- Bob is a Genius Bruiser; Evulz is a Badass Bookworm.
- Smart Jerk and Nice Moron
- Justified:
- In this setting, the intelligent and well-educated have a great deal of contempt for others.
- Doctor Evulz is a Combat Pragmatist, while Captain Bob relies more on fighting honorably.
- Evulz suffers from Complexity Addiction, while using Captain Bob isn't above using brute force.
- Inverted: Bob is The Smart Guy; Evulz is The Brute.
- Subverted: After playing the trope straight for most of the work, Bob overcomes Evulz by outsmarting him.
- Double Subverted: ...Except Evulz had anticipated Bob's trump card and Bob ultimately wins by punching out Evulz.
- Parodied: Bob is wearing a dunce cap; Evulz is wearing a graduation cap.
- Zig Zagged: Bob and Evulz take turns outsmarting one another.
- Averted: Bob and Evulz aren't contrasted by their strength and intelligence.
- Enforced:
- A magical artifact requires a person to sell your soul to gain true knowledge.
- The author is aiming for an anti-intellectualistic message.
- Lampshaded: Bob: "Let's find smart guys doing very bad things and hit them with sticks, like heroes do."
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Bob and Evulz are equally clever and equally strong.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: "I hate it when the brainy guys are all villainous and the good guys only survive thanks to random fairies helping them."
- Deconstructed:
- Things get worse after Bob kills Evulz because he didn't have a plan about what to do afterwards whereas under Evulz The Trains Run on Time.
- Because all villains seem to use brains, a stigma arises against intelligent people, so Alex and Daniel, a pair of Guile Heroes, are treated with suspicion.
- Reconstructed:
- Bob ultimately wins because he knows his intellectual limitations and isn't afraid to ask others for help whereas Evulz is too proud to consult others.
- Eventually, Bob and the other people realize that your intelligence and your strength does not determine your morality, and they accept Alex and Daniel.
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