Lex Luthor and Batman are commonly thought of as the two smartest people on Earth in DC Comics. Both of them have built empires based on their creations. The two of them are more than just scientists, playing in the worlds of business and politics. They are the kind of polymaths that don’t really exist anywhere but the DC Multiverse. They are part of one of the most impressive intellectual food chains in fiction, both of them sitting comfortably at the top. The power levels in the DC Multiverse are sky high, as the limits of their intellect. Batman and Lex Luthor have been able to keep the top spots, always the smartest people in any given room.
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However, being the smartest doesn’t mean that you’re unbeatable. Both of them have been outsmarted numerous times, often by people less crafty than they are. Looking at the many super-scientists of the DC Multiverse, there are some out there who couldn’t outsmart Luthor and Bats, but they could challenge them. These five DC geniuses would be able to challenge Lex Luthor and Batman, showing that they are among the smartest people out there.
5) T.O. Morrow
The Justice League faces the most formidable threats, but not all League villains are created equal. One of their most interesting enemies is T.O. Morrow. He doesn’t have superpowers or anything like that, he’s just a genius in the field of robotics. He’s been able to create robots that could fight the Justice League, which is no easy task. However, that’s not what makes him such a great roboticist. Morrow’s expertise lies in creating the minds of robots. Morrow created the personalities of both Red Tornado and Tomorrow Woman, both of whom broke their programming and became heroic.
This is honestly a major achievement, because it means he was able to create sentient beings that could make their own choices and knew right from wrong. While Bats and Lex could definitely create better weapons than him, he can create robots that could fool them. Knowing his luck, the robots will probably turn on him, but even that would be interesting to them. Morrow doesn’t get the credit he deserves and maybe showing up the two smartest around would make a difference.
4) Mr. Terrific II
Batman and Lex Luthor are the top, with number one changing between the two of them depending on who you talk to and when you talk to them. However, the person under them has long been known – Michael Holt, the second Mr. Terrific. Holt has multiple PhDs and iss a gold medal Olympic decathlete, becoming a superhero after the death of his wife in a car accident. He joined the Justice Society and became its longest tenured modern leader (although he’ll never beat all the decades Hawkman was leader) and has since become the de facto leader of the Justice League, monitoring all situations, making plans, and sending out teams.
Terrific is one of the most underrated heroes in the DC Multverse. He’s the Batman of the modern Justice Society and, honestly, he’s kind of better. However, as far as it goes, he doesn’t cheat nearly as well as Luthor or Batman and that means that he could probably never beat them. However, he could make it so they would have to cheat, which isn’t something too many other people would be able to do in this situation.
3) DeSaad
The New Gods have changed the DC Multiverse since Jack Kirby created them, creating the twin worlds of New Genesis and Apokolips, one a world of happy and plenty and one a world of fire and hatred. Both of them are peopled by gods, creating powerful technologies beyond anything on Earth. The planet Apokolips is home to some of the most frighteningly intelligent beings out there, and even among that number DeSaad is looked at with scorn and renown. There are few out there who can create implements of torture like him.
However, that’s not all he can make. He’s also Darkseid’s chief weapons scientist, creating some of the most dangerous weapons in the dark lord’s arsenal. Some of the greatest advances in New God technology came from him. While it’s hard to judge whether he’s smarter than Luthor and Bats – both of them have been able to reverse-engineer his tech – they have both successfully dealt with him before. However, they weren’t able to get out of these battles without some losses because DeSaad is very good at what he does. He would give them a run for their money, but lose in the end.
2) Brainiac 5
Before we get into the meat of this one, I just want to establish something right away – Brainac 5 is smarter than both Batman and Lex Luthor. While you could say, “Well, obviously he is, David, he’s a thousand years more advanced,” that’s not the reason why. He has a higher level of intelligence than them. He’s smarter than everyone on the planet Colu in the 31st century. That means that he’s easily smarter than anyone else in the 21st century or just about any other time period you can name.
That said, I still think that in the end, Bats and Luthor would be able to outsmart him. Brainy has dealt with both of them in the past and has showed the ability to surprise and confound both of them. So, he could definitely challenge them. However, even though he’s smarter and knows more, they’re older, wiser, and craftier. These factors will give them the advantage, but they’ll know they just got the business.
1) Brainiac
Brainac is one of Superman’s greatest foes and he’s another person on this list who I can pretty confidently say is smarter than both Batman and Superman. The Coluan cyborg has spent years traveling the vacuum of space, trying to gain as much knowledge as possible. He usually ends up stealing cities and destroying the rest of the planet, shrinking them down and keeping them in his macabre collection. His ship is full of drones and technology and he understands all of it.
Both Batman and Lex Luthor have been able to outsmart Brainiac in the past, so they’d be able to do it again. However, he’s also given them the business over the years as well, finding ways to trick and surprise the two of them. That’s the thing about him – he has access to things that no one else even knows exist. He always some surprise that he can throw at you. It would be an interesting contest even though we know the outcome, just to see what Brainiac would throw at them.
What DC characters do you think could outsmart the team of Batman and Lex Luthor? Leave a comment in the comment section below.
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Image Courtesy of DC Comics
