Top Ten Trope Thursdays: Science Hero

*Note: My father was in the hospital for surgery, and I moved back home to help out for a week. Hence the lack of a post last week. Apologies.

Also...spoilers ahead, me mateys.*

We did the cunning, witty, charming Guile Hero. We did the "rush into battle" Action Hero. So there's only one part of the triangle left. Get out your beakers and test tubes, we're talking about the Science Hero.

Now, this isn't someone you see very often anymore. The Science Hero had something of a golden age while science was still this growing, thriving wilderness that needed to be hacked apart. Science for the sake of science rather than science for the sake of man. That was a big thing back in the day, but as that attitude changed we saw the Science Hero give way to our other archetypes. And, as far as I can tell, we actually saw the rise of Villainous Scientists. It coincided roughly with World War II and I think it was fueled by the experimentation done by Nazi scientists.

But all that speculation aside, we're here to talk about Science Heroes and…okay, I have to be frank with you, Action Heroes are my least favorite of the three in general terms. Guile is my favorite, but science is right up there. Especially in science fiction? We should have scientists at least sometimes. So these are my personal top ten examples of Science Heroes…or sometimes Anti-Heroes.

10: Kurotsuchi Mayuri (Bleach)

In the Guile Hero list, we opened with Kisuke Urahara. Now, his counterpart…replacement…whatever. Largely acknowledged as being not quite as brilliant as Urahara, Mayuri is still a solid scientist and researcher, and he's made incredible strides in his research. From hacking his own body and his own zanpakuto, to manufacturing an entire soul reaper from scratch, to a serum that can regrow limbs after they've been cut off.

Mayuri places low because, at best, he's an anti-hero, but even though I'm putting him on this list, I can't fully get my support behind that. Left to his own devices, Mayuri would be kind of an evil mad scientist. He tortured people and performed vivisection. He implants bombs into his subordinates without telling them so he can use them in battle. And he's invented countless horrific things in his experimentation. Even his zanpakuto modification was awful: poison that starts to kill on contact…unless you're related to Mayuri…and it spreads into a 200 meter wide area and just basically kills everyone.

He's a hero because people annoyed him, or a fight intrigued him intellectually, or he knew he wouldn't be able to complete his research with them destroying X, Y, or Z. And so he worked for himself, but certainly not for anyone else.

9: Bruce Banner (Marvel Comics)

The Incredible Hulk is, in a lot of ways, nothing but a modern Jekyll and Hyde story, just written for the nuclear age instead of the chemical. But the Hulk is, at best, an Action Hero, and at worst a force of nature.

However, Bruce Banner himself is a brilliant scientist, and hardly the only one in the Marvel Comics universe. He's easily the preeminent nuclear scientist in the comics, especially where it comes to how radiation changes biological tissue…I mean, obviously, right?

He's got other smarts to lean on as well, can build computers and all that stuff. But nuclear physics, that's where he thrives. It's where his expertise lies, and Bruce Banner is really, really good at it. When Dr. Doom says "Yeah, this is the guy I need to talk to," you know he must have something going for him.

8: Tony Stark (Marvel Comics)

See, I told you there were a lot of them. A lot of comic book franchises have Science Heroes, but Marvel really seems to have a monopoly on them…or at least on the really captivating ones. And Tony Stark is probably the single biggest example in comics, at least in some ways. You can and possibly should argue that Hank Pym is a better fit for Science Hero, since Tony Stark is also a clear and absolute action hero, but when it comes to popularity and notability? Tony Stark all the way.

And he is incredibly smart. I'm dying? Let me fix that. The thing that saved me is killing me? Let me fix that. I need to synthesize a brand new element? Give me a couple days.

But more than that, Tony Stark is one of the most interesting science heroes in Marvel Comics. He has one of the most dynamic character evolutions. Even in the comics, he was a billionaire playboy philanthropist at the start. He was an arms dealer. He wasn't a nice guy, and seeing him switch from a smart dick to a smart but genuinely nice person is what makes Tony Stark work so beautifully. He becomes more heroic while still keeping the "science" part of the title, and that's why he just works so well.

7: Agatha Heterodyne (Girl Genius)

I mean, how was she not going to make this list? In the realm of webcomics, there are some great characters, and there are some smart characters…but nobody like Agatha or any of the other "Sparks" from the Girl Genius universe.

The genius energy they have is a force of nature, one that descends on Sparks and sends them into literal madness. Megalomania, delusions of grandeur…it basically turns them into stereotypical Mad Scientists. Each Spark is special, only works for certain fields of study. For Agatha, she can work with small scale robots and arms. It is very specialized, but damn it all if she can't do some amazing things within that field. Come to find out she's the heir to a great and powerful family of other Science Heroes…the final, lost heir to that family.

So no pressure. But if anyone can handle it, it's Agatha Heterodyne. Not only is she a mad scientist, but she's emotionally and physically tough, too. Her inventions basically just help her be more of a badass…well, there was the one time her invention helped her make perfect coffee, but how do you expect her to function without a good mug of that dark delicious brew?

6: Lloyd Asplund (Code Geass)

There are a lot of bit part characters in Code Geass, and a lot of particularly captivating ones at that. Prince Clovis is barely on screen, but important. Milly Ashford is there for most of the series, but hardly an important player. You can even argue that a lot of the Black Knights aren't that vital, even the ones that are actually given characters.

But, with very few exceptions, no bit character is so intriguing as Lloyd Asplund. A duke of the Brittanian Empire, but he could give two shits about that. He doesn't actually care about…well, anything that's important to the rest of the series. He doesn't care who wins the war. He doesn't care if anyone lives or dies. He doesn't care about what's right or wrong, and doesn't really have any opinion on what right or wrong means.

What Lloyd cares about is science. He developed the first seventh generation Knightmare frame, and there was really one person who could pilot it. It didn't matter if that pilot was an Eleven or not to Lloyd. He was nothing but a piece in that properly functioning machine. Suzaku was important to Lloyd not on a personal level, but on a technical level: the Lancelot doesn't work without Suzaku, so keeping Suzaku alive is important.

In the truest, purest sense, Lloyd is a Science Hero. The kind that went to the wayside after World War II here in America. He cares about advancing his research, not about the results of it. It's a success that his Knightmare frame is one of the deadliest and most efficient ever created. Unlike the rest of the cast, Lloyd is unbothered by the tragedies of war constantly before his eyes. In fact, the only times we see him upset are when something might happen to his work. Not even when he or his assistant might be in danger.

And while I wouldn't ever want to hang out with a man like that, by GOD he makes a beautiful character who just happens to fall on the likable side of this Gray and Grey Morality show.

5: Dr. Temperance Brennan (Bones)

Point of immediate note: I haven't read the books, so this is all on the TV show. That said…God I watched a lot of this show. I wrote multiple novels with this show on in the background. And what makes this show work is the smart people. Temperance Brennan, of course, gets the most screen time. She is the title character, after all.

She's not quite as blasé about human life and emotion as Lloyd Asplund, but she's still very science focused. What matters are facts, even if you don't like them. She's intelligent and at the top of her field, and she's not going to stand for being questioned when she knows she's right…or sometimes if she just thinks she's right. Smart and stubborn and that normally gets her her way.

And, you know, since she's the title character, she also tends to be right, so hooray for plot armor.

But in all seriousness, she gets the bonus points that get her this high up for two reasons. One: she has compassion that really helps define her character. She's put into these situations where she has to see people suffering firsthand. She goes out into the field and handles the families and friends of murder victims. And even though she doesn't handle the social aspect that well, it really gets to her. That's clearer in one episode than any other: "A Boy in a Bush." The victim is a child, and while the rest of the team is breaking down, she has to tell them to separate themselves. She's been here before, she's felt those emotions, and she knows that they don't get anything done. But it shows right away that she feels them.

And two: this was written by Kathy Reichs. You know, an actual forensic anthropologist? You can just about guarantee that the science behind this particular Science Hero is right.

4: Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth (Futurama)

Heroic? Not often. Scientific? Probably more than anyone else. By pure virtue of what he's managed to accomplish, he qualifies here. And he is a part of the protagonist side of things.

But let's face facts: the entire series hinges on his scientific advancement. The show wouldn't work if it wasn't for the Planet Express ship. The drive that moves the universe around the ship so you can break the speed of light and literally move faster than just about anything.

And while that is the main caveat of the series, having this ship, his achievements hardly stop there. From robot sex change operations to the crafting of alternate universes and, after that, storing the entire universe inside of itself.

If Futurama was a drama series, you know full well Hubert Farnsworth would be a force to be reckoned with. I mean, he does make doomsday devices for fun…just hope that he never decides to be a villain.

3: Dr. Louise Banks (Arrival)

When I first saw this movie, I hailed the fact we had a sci-fi movie with a scientist for a hero. And as a writer I was very interested that it was a linguist, but that's another story.

I find her entirely fascinating, and completely vital to everything that went down. She was none too interested in working for the government at the start, but in true Science Hero fashion she decides she's going to do it once they suggest they'll go to someone else who she doesn't think is as good as her.

 It's still questionable whether or not she wants to work for them even after that, but she's damn sure not going to let an inferior linguist get the job.

And then, of course, she translates a totally foreign form of communication from the ground up. Something humans can't reasonably use, at least not at that point. I've already written an entire article about theSapir-Whorf hypothesis in regards to this movie already, how it's largely disproved, but suffice it to say that doesn't ruin the experience for me, and doesn't ruin the character and the sheer power that linguistics grants her. Mastery over time? Hell yes, let's make linguistics cool again.

Or for the first time.

Or whatever.

2: Mark Watney (The Martian)

Come on, you knew he'd be here, right? "I'm going to have to science the shit out of this." That's the ultimate Science Hero line, and I can't even fathom something that will ever knock it down from that pedestal.

The reasons why he deserves to be this high seem obvious: he survived on Mars, alone, for over a year, and he managed to get back to Earth when there was no way he should have pulled that off. But he did. He grew potatoes from the rations that were sent with them. So, you know, the first farmer on Mars, the first Martian potatoes, and the first somewhat successful attempt at terraforming.

On top of that, he also communicates with nothing but a still camera, he makes water from the supplies available, and he rewires life support systems into a manned rover.

There's so much he does, and the combination of that scientific chutzpah with his determination to simply survive puts him up here at number two. And on paper he should be number one, but I'm just a little biased…

1: Dr. Gregory House (House)

See, my bias is that House is my favorite character. End sentence, full stop. I can't get over him. I compare almost every character to his gold standard, including my own. He's simultaneously brilliant and antisocial. Compassionate and hard-edged. Arrogant. Addicted. Broken. And, much to the chagrin of anyone who has to try and control him, indispensable. All of that, and yet he's somehow also charismatic.

He's a genius on multiple levels. Medical, that part's obvious. But he's incredibly self-aware. He's absolutely and totally focused on his chosen field, and he's amazing at it, but he also knows himself well enough to know what he needs: he needs Vicodin if he's going to function. There's a very powerful scene where he says, "I'm an addict." Wilson offers him help and he says no. He's an addict, but he's functional. He holds down a job as a world-renowned doctor while he's addicted to Vicodin.

And not only does he know himself, he knows you, too. He knows how to play people, because when you're as stubborn and unpleasant as him, you have to learn to play those games. He's not winning friends and influencing people as much as winning arguments and manipulating people.

But at the end of the day, he does his job. He does the impossible again and again and again. And for me, the perfection of his character and the fact that he's a dyed-in-the-wool Science Hero, puts him at the top of this list.