Who ARE the smartest people in the Marvel U?

[prez]

Pretty much since he was introduced, Amadeus Cho has been described as "The Seventh Smartest Person in the World." No less than Reed Richards says this. But this has continually brought up one question in my mind - as perhaps it's supposed to.

Who ARE the smartest men in the Marvel U? No. 1 and No. 7 are obvious, but filling in the rest is hard. Where would someone like Bruce Banner or Beast fall? What about all the super-genius villains? We're discounting robots like Ultron and MODOK and gods and such, I assume, but what about the multitude of scientists and mutants in the Marvel Universe?

Here are my best guesses on the list. I'd love to see everyone else's.

1. Reed Richards (duh)

2. Hank Pym

3. Doctor Doom

4. Tony Stark

5. The Leader

6. Mad Thinker?

7. Amadeus Cho

[Guest]

As much as it annoys me, Valeria is already confirmed as being smarter than Reed. If we're only counting men, than Reed is still the smartest.

I think I'd have to put Peter somewhere in the list too.

[Missy]

01. Reed Richards

02. Doctor Doom (He could top the list, but his ego and hatred of Reed gets in the way.)

03. Tony Stark

04. Hank Pym

05. Bruce Banner

06. Peter Parker

07. Amadeus Cho

[Missy]

As much as it annoys me, Valeria is already confirmed as being smarter than Reed. If we're only counting men, than Reed is still the smartest.

Has it? I thought it's been said she will be smarter than Reed, not that she is.

[Guest]

As much as it annoys me, Valeria is already confirmed as being smarter than Reed. If we're only counting men, than Reed is still the smartest.

Has it? I thought it's been said she will be smarter than Reed, not that she is.

She flat out says it in the Fantastic Four book I had for IIWY?

She's already smarter than him, but she's been hiding it.

[Stavros]

As much as it annoys me, Valeria is already confirmed as being smarter than Reed. If we're only counting men, than Reed is still the smartest.

I think I'd have to put Peter somewhere in the list too.

Wasn't the deal that she would be smarter than Reed but wasn't yet? Besides, raw intelligence still needs to be tempered with experience and all around knowledge.

A recent Mighty Avengers also placed Pym lower than Stark, although they did cite those three as the principle scientific geniuses of the marvel U.

1. Reed

2. Stark

3. Doom

4. Pym

5. Beast

6. Banner

7. Cho

I can't say Mad thinker or Leader just because they are defeated so easily so regularly.

I also can't put Pete high on the list because he doesn't really use his smarts. Yes, he occasionally uses basic science to beat Electro or Sandman but he's primarily a fists and webs kinda guy. You couldn't argue that he was smarter than some of his own rogues, Doc Ock, The Lizard and The Jackal would all be examples of guys whose research and application of knowledge far exceed Peters.

[Missy]

Ohhh, I forgot about good ol' Henry McCoy. I might swap him out for Peter. Hmm...

[Missy]

And what about Mr. Sinister?

[JackFetch]

It's really hard to judge who's smarter than who. Peter invented his web fluid as a teenager when multi billion dollar companies couldn't come up with the stuff. I think once you reach the point these guys are in, it really doesn't matter anymore. They are just super fucking smart.

Hank McCoy is really smart, but he did accidentally turn himself blue and furry.

[Missy]

Hank McCoy is really smart, but he did accidentally turn himself blue and furry.

Reed accidentally turned himself and his best friends into freaks, Doom blew his face off, Pym created Ultron, and Banner's bomb created the Hulk. Pretty much all of the guys on the lists have fucked up in one way or another, resulting in horrific results.

[SuaveStar]

Hank McCoy is really smart, but he did accidentally turn himself blue and furry.

Reed accidentally turned himself and his best friends into freaks, Doom blew his face off, Pym created Ultron, and Banner's bomb created the Hulk. Pretty much all of the guys on the lists have fucked up in one way or another, resulting in horrific results.

Except Peter, he never did anything stupid, like go to the devil and trade his marriage for his aunt to live...

That would be pretty fucking stupid.

[JackFetch]

Reed accidentally turned himself and his best friends into freaks, Doom blew his face off, Pym created Ultron, and Banner's bomb created the Hulk. Pretty much all of the guys on the lists have fucked up in one way or another, resulting in horrific results.

I wouldn't call 3 of the Fantastic 4 horrific results. Ben is the only one that got screwed over. I never really understood why he didn't become a bad guy and go after Reed for that. I know I would have.

And yes, trading a supermodel wife for an old woman that "dies" every few years is stupid.

[Doug]

01. Reed Richards

02. Doctor Doom (He could top the list, but his ego and hatred of Reed gets in the way.)

03. Tony Stark

04. Hank Pym

05. Bruce Banner

06. Peter Parker

07. Amadeus Cho

08. Professor X.

09. Hank McCoy.

[Molly]

My list would be the same as Yoda's, with one change, drop Hank McCoy to #10 and put Stephen Strange at 9.

[dc20willsave]

1) Dr. Doom

2) Reed Richards

3) Tony Stark

4) Hank Pym

5) Valeria Richards

6) Bruce Banner

7) Amadeus Cho

8) Dr. Kavita Rao

9) Moira MacTaggert

10) The Leader

[Missy]

My list would be the same as Yoda's, with one change, drop Hank McCoy to #10 and put Stephen Strange at 9.

My list only went to seven spots. Doug quoted me then added in a few more.

[Molly]

Oh, well then. All the same, Stephen Strange might be bursting with Magical knowledge, but it's knowledge all the same.

[Missy]

But we're talking about the geniuses here. Scientists and inventors. Stephen is a medical doctor and he knows magic better than anyone else in the MU, but that doesn't make him what the title asks for: one of the smartest people in the MU. If we lumped arcane knowledge in with hardcore science, then Doom tops Reed because he has book smarts and magical knowhow.

[Molly]

Reed himself has admitted that magic is its own science with rules and physics. Just because Strange doesn't work within the normal boundaries doesn't make him any less brilliant.

[Koete]

I think we're all forgetting about the mad genius that is the Hypno Hustler.

[Missy]

In its own way, magic is a science, so my wording earlier was poor. That said, I just don't see Dr. Strange anywhere near this list.

Not to (sort of) change the topic, but I wanted to see what Dr. Strange's official intelligence ranking was on Marvel.com, and those things are all fucked up! Out of seven they rank him a four. That I could see. But where it gets wonky is here:

Kitty Pryde, who is bright, especially with computers, is also a four.

Magneto is listed as a six. Though I'd put him at a five.

Storm, like Magneto, is a six.

And the kicker? Moira MacTaggert, a geneticist, is a one out of seven. That's lower than Ka-Zar! Huh?

[dc20willsave]

In its own way, magic is a science, so my wording earlier was poor. That said, I just don't see Dr. Strange anywhere near this list.

Not to (sort of) change the topic, but I wanted to see what Dr. Strange's official intelligence ranking was on Marvel.com, and those things are all fucked up! Out of seven they rank him a four. That I could see. But where it gets wonky is here:

Kitty Pryde, who is bright, especially with computers, is also a four.

Magneto is listed as a six. Though I'd put him at a five.

Storm, like Magneto, is a six.

And the kicker? Moira MacTaggert, a geneticist, is a one out of seven. That's lower than Ka-Zar! Huh?

Their power ratings are kinda wonky. Jean Grey is listed as all sevens, while Mephisto (one of Marvel's ninety millions Satan analogues) is mostly sevens except for a six in intelligence. For that matter, being the manifestations of the most absolute forces of the universe, you'd think that Infinity, Eternity, Death, and Oblivion would have a seven in each score. Eternity does but apparently the embodiment of space is a drooling idiot who can't move and isn't aware of it's own existence. Yeah, better just to just ignore them.

[Koete]

Mary Jane's intelligence is 5 and Peter Parker's is 4.

[Dread]

First, they were all born human (Uatu, through the powers of observation alone should be smarter than any human on the planet). Second, intelligence is non-power based (removing Valeria from the mix as she is not smarter than dad but will be soon and this is a result of her irradiated parents as well as Xavier whose intelligence is just that of any other Phd but also has the ability to steal any other human's intelligence).

1. Dr. Doom-combining Richards level intelligence and one of the best knowledge of the arcane in the universe, no one is smarter than Doom.

2. Reed Richards-a close second.

3. Hank Pym-the man created an artificial intelligence capable of crafting its own artificial intelligence. The very existence of Ultron has me with second thoughts over who the number one is.

4. Tony Stark-the guy could make a robot battlesuit out of a pipecleaner and a floatation device if you gave him enough bourbon.

5. T'Challa-He runs an African country that happens to be a world superpower. His scientific prowess is legendary and his knowledge of the natural world is unrivaled.

6. Hank McCoy-on the cutting edge of gentics and I distinctly remember Moira telling him at one time how honored she was to work with the world's foremost geneticist. This coming from her is a pretty ringing recommendation

7. Bruce Banner-Hulk 601 says he's one of the eight smartest

8. Amadeus Cho-eighth smartest in the world

9. Arnim Zola-he clones people for a living for fuck's sake!

10. Mad Thinker-he's really smart, it's the mad thing that makes it tough for him.

Parker doesn't rate for me. To say he never made the mistake that the others did is bunk. He stood directly under a radioactive test. He should have died of cancer in the early seventies.

[prez]

First, they were all born human (Uatu, through the powers of observation alone should be smarter than any human on the planet). Second, intelligence is non-power based (removing Valeria from the mix as she is not smarter than dad but will be soon and this is a result of her irradiated parents as well as Xavier whose intelligence is just that of any other Phd but also has the ability to steal any other human's intelligence).

1. Dr. Doom-combining Richards level intelligence and one of the best knowledge of the arcane in the universe, no one is smarter than Doom.

2. Reed Richards-a close second.

3. Hank Pym-the man created an artificial intelligence capable of crafting its own artificial intelligence. The very existence of Ultron has me with second thoughts over who the number one is.

4. Tony Stark-the guy could make a robot battlesuit out of a pipecleaner and a floatation device if you gave him enough bourbon.

5. T'Challa-He runs an African country that happens to be a world superpower. His scientific prowess is legendary and his knowledge of the natural world is unrivaled.

6. Hank McCoy-on the cutting edge of gentics and I distinctly remember Moira telling him at one time how honored she was to work with the world's foremost geneticist. This coming from her is a pretty ringing recommendation

7. Bruce Banner-Hulk 601 says he's one of the eight smartest

8. Amadeus Cho-eighth smartest in the world

9. Arnim Zola-he clones people for a living for fuck's sake!

10. Mad Thinker-he's really smart, it's the mad thing that makes it tough for him.

Parker doesn't rate for me. To say he never made the mistake that the others did is bunk. He stood directly under a radioactive test. He should have died of cancer in the early seventies.

That's a good list. Like I said, I had doubts about Hank McCoy and Banner. You're the only person who had T'Challa listed at all. That's surprising to me, as I didn't know that he was any kind of genius.