Smartest Marvel Comic Character - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

KellyC · 05-30-2006, 12:58 PM

This has been on my mind ever since I read a comment online that says Reed Richards is the smartest guy in the Marvel universe and that Dr. Doom is jealous of his genius so that's why he hates him so much. Now I have to admit that I know very little about comic book, let alone Marvel, so I wonder/question its validity and I'd like the more knowledgeable folks here to either verify or refute this claim. Why Reed Richards ? What makes him smarter than the others?

If he's not the smartest, then who, in your opinion, is the smartest? Be it a superhero, villain, or an average Joe in Marvel.

There are a few I have in mind:

Iron Man/Tony Stark. Says to be genius level intellect, went to MIT at the age of 15 and graduated at the top of his class in engineering. Built the Iron Man suit which becomes the model for a bunch of other fighter suit and some more highly advanced tech stuff which I won't bother going into details.

Hulk/Bruce Banner. Boy genius, an expert in nuclear physic, gamma radiation and weapons design for the military.

Beast/Hank McCoy. I don't know much about him, just that he's a scientist who talks smart and a bookworm. Bookworms are smart, right?

Professor Xavier. A genius and an expert in genetics, mutation, and psionic powers. A Harvard graduate at the age of 16 with honors. Him building Cerebo gotta mean something.

Over all, I think Xavier is the smartest, his powers help a great deal too. Then it's a tie for the rest.

Edited: Reed Richards, thanks Fremen.

aberkok · 05-30-2006, 01:17 PM

This is gonna be a tough one. There are a lot of omnipotent characters in the Marvel universe whose intelligence would make Xavier's seem tiny. Galactus and people like Uatu the Watcher spring to mind. I wonder if there's a way to make this more specific, like perhaps smartest human/mutant character?

Willravel · 05-30-2006, 01:22 PM

I'd say Tony Stark, but he's gotta be ratarded to make Spiderman look like this:

Fremen · 05-30-2006, 01:38 PM

First off, it's Reed Richards.

And I do believe he's supposed to be the smartest superhero.
I don't know about the smartest human, though. Probably not.
Peter Parker/Spiderman is supposed to be a genius, as well. Not in league with Richards or Banner, though.

It's a good question, Kelly. Gilda can hopefully shine a light on the correct answer.

Redjake · 05-30-2006, 01:49 PM

when I saw the title, I thought Reed Richards, so I'm sticking with that

KellyC · 05-30-2006, 01:52 PM

aberkok - Yeah, I was only thinking about humans when I made this topic.

Fremen - I'm waiting for Gilda to come in here as well.

She's the first person I think of when I made the topic.

Redjake - can you shed some insight as to why Reed Richards is the smartest guy?

MPower · 05-30-2006, 01:57 PM

High Evolutionary. Followed by Richards, Doom, Stark, Pym, Banner, Parker.

Redjake · 05-30-2006, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KellyC

Redjake - can you shed some insight as to why Reed Richards is the smartest guy?

I've read this in numerous magazines/comic books/comic cards/novels/websites. I'm sure there may be someone who is smarter, this is just who I always thought was the smartest. Seems to be the widely known belief.

Charlatan · 05-30-2006, 02:18 PM

I'd probably go with Richards as well but there is just something about him that I don't like... perhaps I understand Victor Von Doom better than I care to.

Fremen · 05-30-2006, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charlatan

I'd probably go with Richards as well but there is just something about him that I don't like... perhaps I understand Victor Von Doom better than I care to.

Charlie Von Doom, perhaps? *twirls moustache maniacally*

Willravel · 05-30-2006, 08:50 PM

So yeah, Richards wins the 'smartest' award, though he also wins the 'dumbest powers' award. I call that equilibrium.

Zeraph · 05-30-2006, 08:55 PM

I dislike richards for some reason as well.... willravel why is it the lamest powers though?

As far as F4 I always thought the things powers were kinda lame, good character, but not very imaginative powers. He's tough, so what?

Willravel · 05-30-2006, 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zeraph

I dislike richards for some reason as well.... willravel why is it the lamest powers though?

As far as F4 I always thought the things powers were kinda lame, good character, but not very imaginative powers. He's tough, so what?

Well compare him to the rest of F4....the ability to combust, fly and control fire; the ability to become invisible and telekenisis (and be really freaking hot); invulnerability and superhuman strength...Reed got the short end of the stick. I can't think of many characters that have powers of an equal level of lame, espically of such fame.

Zeraph · 05-30-2006, 09:04 PM

The way I see it though is that Mr Fantastic's toughness is almost to the level of the things because you just can't pierce him, so its super stretchiness vs super strength, I just see stretchiness as a little more useful and more creative. But I can see your point.

Charlatan · 05-31-2006, 04:26 AM

Sure Reed Richard's power is practical... it just isn't all that cool. It should also be noted that Mr. Fantastic is one of the worst superhero names ever... I suppose it fits with with someone who is a super genius. He's busy thinking about higher complex calculations and such, coming up with a cool name and costume would be far from something he'd worry about (my friend who is a particle physisist is a good example of this... no fashion sense, no social skills but he is a mad genius who gets to smash particles together in Geneva and Chicago).

djflish · 05-31-2006, 09:27 AM

Between humans, It's a close call between Tony Stark and Reed Richards.
Maybe they could play Trivial Pursuit against each other or something to find out who was smartest

docbungle · 05-31-2006, 11:32 AM

Doctor Strange should be in the mix.

Poppinjay · 05-31-2006, 02:13 PM

Iron Man/Stark was always my favorite. Richard's ego seemed to get him into hot water. No other superhero seems to so consistently misjudge villains and land him and his buddies in jeopardy.

If a bad guy is waking up from a beat down, Richard's back is to him.

For superheroes named Marvel, I like Captain Marvel/Billy Batson for Billy's career. Unfortunately, Captain Marvel is not a Marvel franchise.

MPower · 05-31-2006, 02:23 PM

Ah, add Connors, McCoy and Sinister if you are tossing genetisists in the mix.

hilbert25 · 05-31-2006, 10:22 PM

The Leader is probably the smartest non-cosmic character http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leader_%28comics%29

Otherwise it's probably Galactus, Order, or Chaos, but they aren't really bound by limits.

Poppinjay · 05-31-2006, 10:26 PM

The Leader was a direct beneficiary of Bruce Bannon. He was originally a dumbass.

And thus I display my comic geekiness.

Fremen · 05-31-2006, 11:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poppinjay

The Leader was a direct beneficiary of Bruce Bannon. He was originally a dumbass.

And thus I display my comic geekiness.

-5 geek-points for getting Banner's name wrong.

MPower · 06-02-2006, 12:05 PM

I still stand by the high evolutionary as the smartest and still human.

http://www.marveldirectory.com/indiv...olutionary.htm

highthief · 06-05-2006, 10:47 AM

Meh, why couldn't Reed permantly fix The Thing, like Ben always wanted? Why couldn't Banner cure himself of the Hulk? Why do all of Doom's plots fail?

These guys aren't smart. Man, if Reed was smart, he'd give himself a real superpower.

Fremen · 06-05-2006, 09:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by highthief

Meh, why couldn't Reed permantly fix The Thing, like Ben always wanted? Why couldn't Banner cure himself of the Hulk? Why do all of Doom's plots fail?

These guys aren't smart. Man, if Reed was smart, he'd give himself a real superpower.

Think about it. The Invisible Woman stays married to Richards.
It's not because his brain grows.

MichaelFarker · 07-04-2006, 08:04 PM

I think the High Evolutionary should be classified as a god. One of the smartest ones though, and certainly once a smart human.

How about Cable? He could take Reed Richards easily.

highthief · 07-05-2006, 02:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fremen

Think about it. The Invisible Woman stays married to Richards.
It's not because his brain grows.

Pfft - who wants a chick you can't see? If Reed was smart, he'd be all over Storm or Scarlet Witch or at least some chick he could ogle.

Gilda · 07-05-2006, 12:30 PM

Reed Richards.

The OP does name most of the major candidates, with the exception of Hank Pym, and in addition has identified the cabal that's been running the United States as a kind of shadow government for quite some timem namely Reed, Tony, Dr. Strange, and Xavier.

Peter Parker has been identified as having Stark/Richards level scientific intelligence and has been apprenticed to each on occasion.

Of the non-cosmic powered entities, Reed is generally accepted as the standard by which all scientific intelligence is measured, with Doom just a slight bit lower down.

In Mark Waid's run, he explained the silly name in a speech Reed makes to Valeria. The celebrity lifestyle and the ego-driven name were part of an attempt to compensate for the pain he infliced on his friends by miscalculating the effects of the cosmic storm.

Gilda

longbough · 07-08-2006, 03:14 PM

Vision is an android ... so he's gotta be pretty smart, too.

Agatha Harkness is quite wise - that's gotta count for something

The Beast is quite learned and articulate (though probably not a genius).

Let's not forget about Eternity.

thespian86 · 07-09-2006, 06:14 PM

i hate to step on some toes but if a writer would like to create a fictional character (like every one of these characters) they could do it no? So who's to say who is smarter?

By the way, I just made up the smartest comic book character named SmarGenio-Tron, half man, half brain, who uses his brain to create elaborate yet extremely useless plans that will always amuse the average man.

longbough · 07-09-2006, 08:36 PM

punkmusicfan21, you're taking this discussion more seriously than we are.
Of course it's all fiction ... but most of us are here just for the spirit of discussion.

DouglasFir · 07-10-2006, 04:16 AM

It depends how you define smart - if you're talking about knowledge then no-one knows more than Uatu, the Watcher - he has seen everything that has ever happened in the history of the Earth and has an encyclopedic knoweldge of... well of everything! You can't get much smarter than that!

Willravel · 07-10-2006, 06:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DouglasFir

It depends how you define smart - if you're talking about knowledge then no-one knows more than Uatu, the Watcher - he has seen everything that has ever happened in the history of the Earth and has an encyclopedic knoweldge of... well of everything! You can't get much smarter than that!

This is a good way to describe what we're talking about in my mind.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

Intelligence is a most complex practical property of mind, integrating numerous mental abilities, such as the capacities to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend ideas and language, and learn.

Although many generally regard the concept of intelligence as having a much broader scope, for example in cognitive science and computer science, in some schools of psychology, the study of intelligence generally regards this trait as distinct from creativity, personality, character, or wisdom.

So reasoning, comprehension, problem solving, and learning, as oposed to creativity, personality, character, or wisdom, is the 'smart' we are talking about.

My final answer is probably Eternity or Death, but I can't really back it up citing examples.

DouglasFir · 07-10-2006, 07:06 AM

Shame we're not talking about the DC Universe here because I know who the smartest DC character is...

Yup - Ambush Bug!

And he's officially the smartest character in the DC Universe because he's the only character who knows he's a comic-book character!

meanSpleen · 07-10-2006, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DouglasFir

It depends how you define smart - if you're talking about knowledge then no-one knows more than Uatu, the Watcher - he has seen everything that has ever happened in the history of the Earth and has an encyclopedic knoweldge of... well of everything! You can't get much smarter than that!

The problem with that, is that there are more than one Watcher, yes? They only meet every so often to pass information (except to that one guy who intervened and is now unable to do so)

There is a definite possibility in this case that another Watcher, of a generally "more smart" sector of the universe will know more than the "Earth and surrounding areas" watcher.

thespian86 · 07-10-2006, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by longbough

punkmusicfan21, you're taking this discussion more seriously than we are.
Of course it's all fiction ... but most of us are here just for the spirit of discussion.

No sir, you are taking me too seriously. Of course I don't think you are all delusional, I just wanted to be a smart ass. plus... I like the idea of SmarGenio-Tron. mmmmmm.... he's so smart that I would sleep with him.

PhilMcKrakken · 08-08-2006, 09:50 PM

the marvel illuminati: Dr. Strange, Xavier, Iron Man, Reed Richards, Blackbolt, and Prince Namor

those six would be, what i consider, the smartest marvel heros, though you may say that the black panther is smarter for not joining the group

05-30-2006, 12:58 PM	#1 (permalink)
KellyC Comment or else!! Location: Home sweet home	Smartest Marvel Comic Character This has been on my mind ever since I read a comment online that says Reed Richards is the smartest guy in the Marvel universe and that Dr. Doom is jealous of his genius so that's why he hates him so much. Now I have to admit that I know very little about comic book, let alone Marvel, so I wonder/question its validity and I'd like the more knowledgeable folks here to either verify or refute this claim. Why Reed Richards ? What makes him smarter than the others? If he's not the smartest, then who, in your opinion, is the smartest? Be it a superhero, villain, or an average Joe in Marvel. There are a few I have in mind: Iron Man/Tony Stark. Says to be genius level intellect, went to MIT at the age of 15 and graduated at the top of his class in engineering. Built the Iron Man suit which becomes the model for a bunch of other fighter suit and some more highly advanced tech stuff which I won't bother going into details. Hulk/Bruce Banner. Boy genius, an expert in nuclear physic, gamma radiation and weapons design for the military. Beast/Hank McCoy. I don't know much about him, just that he's a scientist who talks smart and a bookworm. Bookworms are smart, right? Professor Xavier. A genius and an expert in genetics, mutation, and psionic powers. A Harvard graduate at the age of 16 with honors. Him building Cerebo gotta mean something. Over all, I think Xavier is the smartest, his powers help a great deal too. Then it's a tie for the rest. Edited: Reed Richards, thanks Fremen. __________________ Him: Ok, I have to ask, what do you believe? Me: Shit happens. Last edited by KellyC; 05-30-2006 at 01:53 PM..

05-30-2006, 01:17 PM	#2 (permalink)
aberkok “Wrong is right.” Location: toronto	This is gonna be a tough one. There are a lot of omnipotent characters in the Marvel universe whose intelligence would make Xavier's seem tiny. Galactus and people like Uatu the Watcher spring to mind. I wonder if there's a way to make this more specific, like perhaps smartest human/mutant character? __________________ !check out my new blog! http://arkanamusic.wordpress.com Warden Gentiles: "It? Perfectly innocent. But I can see how, if our roles were reversed, I might have you beaten with a pillowcase full of batteries."

05-30-2006, 01:38 PM	#4 (permalink)
Fremen With a mustache, the cool factor would be too much Location: left side of my couch, East Texas	First off, it's Reed Richards. And I do believe he's supposed to be the smartest superhero. I don't know about the smartest human, though. Probably not. Peter Parker/Spiderman is supposed to be a genius, as well. Not in league with Richards or Banner, though. It's a good question, Kelly. Gilda can hopefully shine a light on the correct answer. __________________ Google

05-30-2006, 01:49 PM	#5 (permalink)
Redjake I'm a family man - I run a family business. Location: Wilson, NC	when I saw the title, I thought Reed Richards, so I'm sticking with that __________________ Off the record, on the q.t., and very hush-hush.

05-30-2006, 01:52 PM	#6 (permalink)
KellyC Comment or else!! Location: Home sweet home	aberkok - Yeah, I was only thinking about humans when I made this topic. Fremen - I'm waiting for Gilda to come in here as well. She's the first person I think of when I made the topic. Redjake - can you shed some insight as to why Reed Richards is the smartest guy? __________________ Him: Ok, I have to ask, what do you believe? Me: Shit happens. Last edited by KellyC; 05-30-2006 at 01:57 PM..

05-30-2006, 01:22 PM	#3 (permalink)
Willravel ... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.	I'd say Tony Stark, but he's gotta be ratarded to make Spiderman look like this:

05-30-2006, 01:57 PM	#7 (permalink)
MPower Psycho	High Evolutionary. Followed by Richards, Doom, Stark, Pym, Banner, Parker.

05-30-2006, 02:18 PM	#9 (permalink)
Charlatan Getting it. Super Moderator Location: Lion City	I'd probably go with Richards as well but there is just something about him that I don't like... perhaps I understand Victor Von Doom better than I care to. __________________ "My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars." - Old Man Luedecke Last edited by Charlatan; 05-30-2006 at 02:22 PM..

05-30-2006, 08:50 PM	#11 (permalink)
Willravel ... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.	So yeah, Richards wins the 'smartest' award, though he also wins the 'dumbest powers' award. I call that equilibrium.

05-30-2006, 08:55 PM	#12 (permalink)
Zeraph Banned Location: The Cosmos	I dislike richards for some reason as well.... willravel why is it the lamest powers though? As far as F4 I always thought the things powers were kinda lame, good character, but not very imaginative powers. He's tough, so what?

05-30-2006, 09:04 PM	#14 (permalink)
Zeraph Banned Location: The Cosmos	The way I see it though is that Mr Fantastic's toughness is almost to the level of the things because you just can't pierce him, so its super stretchiness vs super strength, I just see stretchiness as a little more useful and more creative. But I can see your point.

05-31-2006, 04:26 AM	#15 (permalink)
Charlatan Getting it. Super Moderator Location: Lion City	Sure Reed Richard's power is practical... it just isn't all that cool. It should also be noted that Mr. Fantastic is one of the worst superhero names ever... I suppose it fits with with someone who is a super genius. He's busy thinking about higher complex calculations and such, coming up with a cool name and costume would be far from something he'd worry about (my friend who is a particle physisist is a good example of this... no fashion sense, no social skills but he is a mad genius who gets to smash particles together in Geneva and Chicago). __________________ "My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars." - Old Man Luedecke

05-31-2006, 09:27 AM	#16 (permalink)
djflish The Mighty Boosh Location: I mostly come out at night, mostly...	Between humans, It's a close call between Tony Stark and Reed Richards. Maybe they could play Trivial Pursuit against each other or something to find out who was smartest __________________ Europes two great narcotics, Alcohol and Christianity. I know which one I prefer.

05-31-2006, 11:32 AM	#17 (permalink)
docbungle It's all downhill from here Location: Denver	Doctor Strange should be in the mix. __________________ Bad Luck City

05-31-2006, 02:13 PM	#18 (permalink)
Poppinjay You had me at hello Location: DC/Coastal VA	Iron Man/Stark was always my favorite. Richard's ego seemed to get him into hot water. No other superhero seems to so consistently misjudge villains and land him and his buddies in jeopardy. If a bad guy is waking up from a beat down, Richard's back is to him. For superheroes named Marvel, I like Captain Marvel/Billy Batson for Billy's career. Unfortunately, Captain Marvel is not a Marvel franchise. __________________ I think the Apocalypse is happening all around us. We go on eating desserts and watching TV. I know I do. I wish we were more capable of sustained passion and sustained resistance. We should be screaming and what we do is gossip. -Lydia Millet

05-31-2006, 02:23 PM	#19 (permalink)
MPower Psycho	Ah, add Connors, McCoy and Sinister if you are tossing genetisists in the mix.

05-31-2006, 10:22 PM	#20 (permalink)
hilbert25 Psycho Location: nOvA	The Leader is probably the smartest non-cosmic character http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leader_%28comics%29 Otherwise it's probably Galactus, Order, or Chaos, but they aren't really bound by limits.

05-31-2006, 10:26 PM	#21 (permalink)
Poppinjay You had me at hello Location: DC/Coastal VA	The Leader was a direct beneficiary of Bruce Bannon. He was originally a dumbass. And thus I display my comic geekiness. __________________ I think the Apocalypse is happening all around us. We go on eating desserts and watching TV. I know I do. I wish we were more capable of sustained passion and sustained resistance. We should be screaming and what we do is gossip. -Lydia Millet

06-02-2006, 12:05 PM	#23 (permalink)
MPower Psycho	I still stand by the high evolutionary as the smartest and still human. http://www.marveldirectory.com/indiv...olutionary.htm

06-05-2006, 10:47 AM	#24 (permalink)
highthief Junkie Location: Ontario, Canada	Meh, why couldn't Reed permantly fix The Thing, like Ben always wanted? Why couldn't Banner cure himself of the Hulk? Why do all of Doom's plots fail? These guys aren't smart. Man, if Reed was smart, he'd give himself a real superpower. __________________ Si vis pacem parabellum.

07-04-2006, 08:04 PM	#26 (permalink)
MichaelFarker 2+2=5? Not again! Location: Dallas, Texas	I think the High Evolutionary should be classified as a god. One of the smartest ones though, and certainly once a smart human. How about Cable? He could take Reed Richards easily.

07-05-2006, 12:30 PM	#28 (permalink)
Gilda 32 flavors and then some Location: Out on a wire.	Reed Richards. The OP does name most of the major candidates, with the exception of Hank Pym, and in addition has identified the cabal that's been running the United States as a kind of shadow government for quite some timem namely Reed, Tony, Dr. Strange, and Xavier. Peter Parker has been identified as having Stark/Richards level scientific intelligence and has been apprenticed to each on occasion. Of the non-cosmic powered entities, Reed is generally accepted as the standard by which all scientific intelligence is measured, with Doom just a slight bit lower down. In Mark Waid's run, he explained the silly name in a speech Reed makes to Valeria. The celebrity lifestyle and the ego-driven name were part of an attempt to compensate for the pain he infliced on his friends by miscalculating the effects of the cosmic storm. Gilda

07-08-2006, 03:14 PM	#29 (permalink)
longbough Soylent Green is people. Location: Northern California	Vision is an android ... so he's gotta be pretty smart, too. Agatha Harkness is quite wise - that's gotta count for something The Beast is quite learned and articulate (though probably not a genius). Let's not forget about Eternity.

07-09-2006, 06:14 PM	#30 (permalink)
thespian86 change is hard. Location: the green room.	i hate to step on some toes but if a writer would like to create a fictional character (like every one of these characters) they could do it no? So who's to say who is smarter? By the way, I just made up the smartest comic book character named SmarGenio-Tron, half man, half brain, who uses his brain to create elaborate yet extremely useless plans that will always amuse the average man. __________________ EX: Whats new? ME: I officially love coffee more then you now. EX: uh... ME: So, not much. Last edited by thespian86; 07-09-2006 at 06:27 PM..

07-09-2006, 08:36 PM	#31 (permalink)
longbough Soylent Green is people. Location: Northern California	punkmusicfan21, you're taking this discussion more seriously than we are. Of course it's all fiction ... but most of us are here just for the spirit of discussion.

07-10-2006, 04:16 AM	#32 (permalink)
DouglasFir Upright	It depends how you define smart - if you're talking about knowledge then no-one knows more than Uatu, the Watcher - he has seen everything that has ever happened in the history of the Earth and has an encyclopedic knoweldge of... well of everything! You can't get much smarter than that!

07-10-2006, 07:06 AM	#34 (permalink)
DouglasFir Upright	Shame we're not talking about the DC Universe here because I know who the smartest DC character is... Yup - Ambush Bug! And he's officially the smartest character in the DC Universe because he's the only character who knows he's a comic-book character!

08-08-2006, 09:50 PM	#37 (permalink)
PhilMcKrakken Upright	the marvel illuminati: Dr. Strange, Xavier, Iron Man, Reed Richards, Blackbolt, and Prince Namor those six would be, what i consider, the smartest marvel heros, though you may say that the black panther is smarter for not joining the group