Nerds started kicking some ass in the 2000s as well, with bespectacled Peter Parker showing off as the web-slinging Spider-Man.
Related: Napoleon Dynamite: 15 Heck Yes Facts
2010s – Jesse Heiman
Jesse Who Now? See if this face rings a bell.
jessehieman.com
If you’re looking for Heiman as a movie’s lead nerd, you won’t have much luck. But in the background? Heiman is everywhere. The guy barely ever gets a line, but you’ve possibly seen him in (deep breath) American Pie 2, Old School, Austin Powers in Goldmember, Reno 911, Arrested Development, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Social Network, Parks and Recreation, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Big Bang Theory, Neighbors, Silicon Valley, and The Goldbergs. He’s basically the Where’s Waldo of funny nerds.
And after kissing model Bar Refaeli in a 2013 Super Bowl commercial? “Ever since I got booked as that nerdy guy who kisses hot chicks,” Jesse told eBaum’s World, “all the girls wanna kiss me.”
We’d be remiss if we didn’t shout out another 2010s Jesse — that would be Mr. Eisenberg, who proved in The Social Network and Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice that a nerd can now be the villain. Progress? In the case of his twitchy Lex Luthor, definitely not — but it did open our eyes to all the ways the nerd can continue to evolve through the next generation of comedies.
How about a wizened old nerd mentor? A nerdy temptress, preferably one who leaves her glasses on? A geeky serial killer in a comedy/slasher franchise? With nerds, the possibilities are endless.
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Top image: 20th Century Fox